The arena's roar perfectly concealed that two figures emerged from one of the side tunnels. Since they came from my side, I noticed them. One was a tall, handsome man with massive horns in a suit with a greatsword strapped over his back, the other a semi-transparent ghost girl in a yukata, and the third one was Takezo chained up in the ghost’s chains, unconscious and badly beaten up.

  Well, fuck.

  My stomach dropped and I started furiously thinking about how to talk my way out of this. I had about fifteen seconds before they reached Kallisto.

  The delusion of Kallisto, who still stood next to me, laughed, and stepped aside so they wouldn’t pass through her.

  I focused on Takezo. Blood soaked through his torn suit, one arm hung at an unnatural angle, and the ghostly chains wrapped around his body so tightly he wouldn’t be able to escape even if he could move.

  The ghost girl was kind of cute though.

  Kallisto leaned forward on her throne, a delighted smile spreading across her face. "Oh, my, what an unexpected surprise."

  I breathed slowly, inhaling to the count of four, exhaling with the count of six. I had to calm myself to sound natural when I talked.

  The demon man walked past me, and slightly bowed to Kallisto. “I’ve caught an interloper, Goddess.”

  “How reliable of you. Siegfried.” Kallisto glanced at the ghost girl. “I don’t remember allowing you to leave the harem, Yushi.”

  The ghost girl, Yushi, flew closer to Kallisto, bowing deeply. “The interloper walked through the harem, so I fetched Siegfried to deal with him.” She dropped the unconscious Takezo at Kallisto’s feet, without removing the chains.

  Kallisto titled his head with a boot. She turned slightly towards me, pinning me with a glare. “So, Peter, why have my people caught your friend sneaking through my ship?"

  “Because he didn’t hide well enough.” I shrugged. “I assume he followed me into the portal and then tracked me to rescue me.”

  Yushi giggled. “Oooh, that’s so—”

  She shut up as Kallisto glanced at her, and covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Anyway,” Kallisto said, refocusing on me. “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”

  “I don’t think it matters.” I smiled. “Because he’s going to help me get Salieu back for you, and I’m sure we will be able to find an arrangement for you letting him go.”

  “Or I could stuff you two into my harem outright. Yushi here could surely use boys to play with.”

  Yushi giggled again, eyes sparking up.

  The delusion of Kallisto, still standing beside my chair, snorted. "How subtle of my real self. The ghost going to town on you would be fun to watch though."

  I forced myself to sit as casually as possible. "Making a deal is more fun though. I’ll bring you something great in exchange."

  “Like what?”

  “While I mean no offense, you seem to be bored. Watching your demon match number nine hundred and eighty-five is better than watching the paint dry, it’s still boring. Yet here on Earth, just not at the area that’s destroyed, we’ve got a lot of great entertainment. I could bring it to you from my timeline.”

  She braced her head with her hand. “Be specific.”

  "Movies, TV shows, music. There are centuries of human entertainment that you will enjoy, and I can put a lot of them onto the phone I will bring you the next time I come around. Together with a standalone electricity generator, so you can keep it charged up."

  Yushi made a sound like wind chimes in a graveyard. "They won't ever return if you let them go, Goddess."

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  "Of course they will," Kallisto said, not taking her eyes off me. "Won't you, Peter?"

  The way she said my name made it sound like a threat and promise combined. "We'll be back with Salieu and then with everything I promised a few days later."

  Siegfried stepped next to me, towering over me with an implied threat. “At your discretion, Goddess, I can take them to the portal.”

  Kallisto’s face split into a broad, satisfied smile. “Excellent. Siegfried, Yushi, escort them to their portal, and then bring Salieu back to me. He is due punishment for allowing himself to be captured."

  "Goddess." Siegfried bowed again, but then straightened without turning around. “As for Yushi, I believe her sense of duty deserves a reward.”

  “You mean her sense of trying to suck up to you,” Kallisto pointed out. “But entertain me.” She turned towards Yushi. “What reward would you imagine for your devotion?”

  “I would like a private room, and three catboys and two catgirls to play with for the next decade.”

  Kallisto laughed. “Good one. I’m already running low on catgirls. Pick yourself two catboys, but not the one with a sister. I don’t remember his name, but you know which one I mean. You’ll get the room, and it will be for a year.”

  The ghost girl's face lit up with something that might have been joy on a living person. She bowed deeply. "Thank you, Goddess."

  “Well then,” Kallisto waved with her hand towards the exit. “Bring me Salieu.”

  I got up. We started our awkward procession toward the exit, Takezo still hanging unconscious in ghostly chains.

  The delusion of Kallisto walked alongside us, shaking her head. "All the bitching and moaning and whining about seeing me, and then you get along with team horns just fine."

  I couldn't respond, not with Siegfried right there, but yeah, I knew. And I wasn’t sure if I should have been bothered by getting along with the real Kallisto. In a strange way, I felt like I fit in here perfectly.

  The thought wouldn’t leave my head. Yes, I was the son of the human mage once called Lucifer, but he wasn’t the real thing, was he?

  From what I knew, he just learned some of the powers of the true devil. He didn’t have anything demonic within himself, and neither did I. Or, at least I could move around sacred grounds filled with demon detection.

  The journey through the ship felt longer than it should have. Siegfried and Yushi kept silent, so when we walked through the demon steel hallways, all sounds were our footstep and blood dripping from Takezo’s mouth.

  Finally, we reached the elevator, the same one I took to get up, and we descended.

  After we got down, Siegfried turned to a different direction, and we entered what I could only call the stables. Six demonic horses, twisted aberrations of demonic steel, demonic flesh, and horses, awaited there in their compartments.

  Siegfried walked to one, a horse made of mostly black steel and lava, and petted his head. He opened the compartment. “You ride this one.”

  He then walked to the next compartment to free more fiery steel demon horse for himself.

  I walked to the beast, which curiously observed me.

  Yushi flew to me, almost hugging my back. “Don’t worry. He does bite, but he won’t bite you. Probably.” She giggled into my ear.

  How encouraging. I gulped, walking to the horse. “What do you even do with catboys, given you’re a ghost and all?”

  Yushi hugged my back, suddenly very physical. She caught her arms around my beck, and something hard pressed against my back. “When the Goddess gets tired of you, I’ll make sure to get you. I’ll have so much fun with your cute little ass.”

  Why did I ask?

  I caught the horse’s back, and flung myself up to what looked like a saddle. My ass hit solid steel, so this trip was going to hurt.

  The demon steed didn’t even move underneath my weight, as if I weighed nothing.

  Once Siegfried mounted his steed, the side wall opened, and we rode out. My horse moved by himself. The mounts picked up speed, so I had to hold myself fairly strongly to not fall.

  Yushi flew near us, whistling an eerie tune.

  All the demons outside stayed at a distance, so we rode through the city with ease.

  The portal finally shimmered into view, that beautiful black void ringed with orange. A person awaited us in front of it though. A samurai dressed in the traditional garb, with two katanas by his waist, and six horns on his head.

  Sora.

  I gulped dryly, and started sweating. He could see the future, and I would bet my gauntlets that he was summoned here to check whether we were going to bring Salieu. It made sense. If a future seer couldn’t see a future of us bringing him back, then we weren’t going anywhere.

  I had no choice but to set myself to doing what I promised.

  The horses brought us close, and Siegfried jumped off his horse. “What happened to the guards that were placed here?”

  Sora tilted his head to the side. “The boys cleared their way with a nuclear bomb before passing through.”

  Siegfried glanced at me.

  I shrugged. “It worked.”

  He turned back towards Sora. “Will they do it?”

  “Most likely.” Sora observed us for a short moment. “About eighty percent of the futures I see have Salieu returning through the portal.”

  “That doesn’t sound like much,” Siegfried remarked.

  “It’s a lot. In about nineteen percent of futures, they don’t pass through the portal.”

  So, if Siegfried let us go, our success rate was going to be seventy-nine out of eighty. I liked the odds.

  I glanced at Takezo. “You’ll need to let him go.”

  Yushi looked at Siegfried. He nodded. She flew closer to the ground, and finally removed her chains from Takezo. He stood up, slowly, gaze darting around. His hand lowered to the hilt of his remaining katana, but we all knew he wasn’t going to draw it.

  Siegfried motioned with his head towards the portal. “Well then, go through.”

  Takezo and I exchanged a glance, and walked through the portal back to Earth.