Trying to catch my bearings, it seems I could still hear the bar next door as muffled music reached my ears.  The card must have squeezed out from my back pocket because of the damn stool.  

I brought a tsunami of mana towards my arms reaching down to my fists, as I prepared to speak.  My blood was boiling, I didn't have time for this shit.

"I killed a homeless man that attacked me and took it from his ash."

"Huh," she squeezed out a high pitch note. She sounded more scared than demonish.

"Sorry, but I don't have time to play your game," I stated, trying not to let my anger spill out. I casually stood up, as the metal groaned, stretching and expanding until it snapped, and a loud TING bounced in the tiny room.

Reaching to remove the covering on my head, I saw her sitting, speechless at the back wall on a bed.  She had tattoos around her arms, chest and slightly up her neck.  Dark black hair, braided off to the side, with piercings on all her ears.  Eyes were glowing green, and she was pointing a small pistol at me.  

"Wait!" She blurted out, but I didn't care.

Finding the door, I opened it, ready to storm out.  I could hear her scrambling off the bed to follow me. 

"Maybe we can help each other," she said.

"Oh, what can you offer?" I demeaned her a bit with my tone.

"I saw a card just like this in my brother's room, the day before he went missing.  You… don't seem to be from around here, maybe I can be your guide of the city?"  She seemed desperate.

"Can you use magic?" I was a bit curious since her glowing eyes sparkled more than other demons.

She looked downwards, "Yes, but only a little, us lower demons don't get upgrades much."

Interestingly, it seems the more soul they get, the better magic they can perform.  She must have seen me as a higher demon breaking out of the chains.  This was useful information.  I had to be careful not to appear too ignorant, or she might figure out I was a human, or worse, discovering I'm the Soul Eater.

I stared at her a bit, as she grew nervous.  Finally, I said, "Very well, I wanted to investigate this card as well, but my phone got lost."

"Phone?  You mean pod?" She had a puzzled look on her face.

I just nodded, it seems there are subtle things I needed to learn.

"I stayed in the African reserve, so please teach me things I seem ignorant about."

Her eyes grew wide, but I think it was more amazement, than disgust, only time will tell.

"Here, you can borrow my brother's pod, he left it on the bed here.  He has been missing for two weeks," she appeared a bit vulnerable, but I had to remind myself she was still a demon.

She handed me the pod, and I inspected it.  Seems it was solid black, oval shape with no markings anywhere.  I couldn't figure out how to use it.  I guess she noticed my confusion, as she told me to add mana to it.  

The world around me went dark, as a bright, white screen engulfed my vision in front of me, making me feel like I lost my balance.  The screen changed and showed app icons, just like a smartphone's homescreen, but it appeared inside my vision.  As my eyes settled, I could see her standing there next to the floating screen, giggling at my reaction.

"You can imagine pressing the app, or say its name out loud if you want to appear antiquated," Well at least she has a sense of humor.

This technology was amazing, it was just like a virtual reality headset, but interfaced without all the gadgets on your head and hands. There were games and an assortment of utility apps.  I will have to investigate more later, as I could feel my breathing become a bit gluttonous.  I couldn't help it, my techie side was tingling!

"Hand me the card", I told her.

She reached out, and just as I touched the card, the screen faded into static, with colors flickering for a few seconds, and then transitioned, showing a dark silhouette of a hooded person facing me.

An anonymous voice, in deep pitch, asked me, "Are you ready to make the exchange?"

I didn't know what that meant, but if I wanted to make progress, I would have to play along.

"Yes," I replied.

A moment of silence followed, then the voice opened, "Be at Burnil Square in ten minutes."

The call hung up and I was back at the home screen. 

"Turn off," I shouted.

"Just let go of the pod for a moment, and it goes away," she helped me again.

"I have to be at Burnil Square in ten minutes," I told her, staring in her eyes.

"Hm, that's at least thirty minutes away."

Damn, if I fly over there with her to guide me, she will definitely suspect something.  Screw it, demons don't deserve my sympathy.  If I need to, I will erase her.

I stepped outside, passing through the bar I sat at, as she followed me, telling me I'm going the wrong way.  I didn't listen, I was looking for an alley to get away from prying eyes.

Finally away from the streets, I told her to climb on my back. She backed away with one side of her face lifted.  With little time to waste, I ended up showing her that I could fly.  She reluctantly accepted, and I took off, surprisingly it didn't feel like extra weight as I just calmly rose into the air without much effort.

She pointed in the direction to head, but I could tell she was a bit scared as her grip tightened on my neck.  She was stronger than she appeared!

Zipping through the air, the wind was stabbing at my eyes.  I planned to think about a solution later,  as we reached the square in about two minutes. It was eerily empty, a mostly open park spread with green grass, sparse trees scattered around the edges near the streets, and a large white structure in the middle.

I found another alley across the street and landed.  

"Stay here," I demanded, walking away without looking back.

If I wanted to work my way up the chain of demons that lie beyond this card, I will need to prepare myself for getting dirty.  This kind of setup was common in movies, it doesn't seem like these demons are very original.  I guarantee, they will show up in a van to pick me up.

As I crossed the street and walked onto the square, I could feel the desolate air in this space.  I stared at the white structure which seemed to have a statue in the middle, but I couldn't get a good view from this distance.

A minute later, a black van came screeching around the street corners making its way in front of me with its blinding headlights, sliding to a stop. 

"Card!" A voice opened the side door and shouted.

"Show me your card!" 

I reached for my pocket and showed the card, as he scanned it with his pod.

"Get in!" He yelled.

As I got in, he told me to sit down and tried to put a sack over my head.  Fuck that, I'm not letting that happen twice.  I swirled mana towards my fist and uppercut between his arms straight for his chin. He went flying as his head bounced off the top of the van, denting both the ceiling and his skull, then slammed back down to the floor.  Quickly, I turned towards the driver whose eyes were emanating hatred.  

Hairs on my arms rose up, as I filled my whole body with mana and tossed myself to the side, colliding with the inner wall.  At the same time a pop was heard, and a narrow hole pierced through the van where I sat a second before.  The force of my body impacting the wall, tilted the van. When the wheels landed flat, his head bobbed and smashed into the driver window, shattering glass everywhere.

I reached towards the front and grabbed his throat.

"Give me your pod and take me to our destination," I didn't give him a choice.

As he was driving, I reached for the rear view mirror and twisted it up.  I pulled out my own pod and searched for the last messages.  I didn't even get her name, but luckily she was saved as 'sister'.

Navigating this phone, I mean pod, was so intuitive.  It felt natural already, the icons and contents were very similar to my era, only the interactions were different.  I texted ‘sister’, to go home and send me a picture of her brother.  

I squeezed the demon’s throat a bit harder, and asked, “Are we almost there?”

‘T-t-two m-m-m-minutes,” he barely coughed out.  With a couple minutes to spare, I started up his pod, but it showed a lock screen.  Of course.  I smacked the driver on the head, still bleeding from earlier, and demanded the code, and finally unlocked the pod.  It was eerie, it had no contacts, no messages, no calls, and no apps.  Just empty.  This must be a safeguard to protect the owner’s data from this exact situation.  

The driver turned into a parking garage under one of the skyscrapers, where two guards waiting at the gate were strapped with submachine guns.  I slid my hand away from the man’s throat and told him to get us inside.   The gate automatically opened without us having to stop, but I could see them giving suspicious glances at the driver who was bleeding.    

This was going to get ugly, I needed to have a forcefield ready.  Science fiction used electromagnetism or gravity, but I should be able to simulate one with just hardened mana, similar to my silhouette ability.  

He drove inside and parked next to an elevator with two more guards also carrying guns.  I slowly stepped out, and they saw the corpse on the floor behind me.  Flinching, they aimed their guns at me, asking what happened. 

“We had a disagreement, but I’m here for the exchange,” I calmly spoke up.

They just looked at each other confused, but slowly put their weapons away.  

“Fine, but don’t make a scene inside,” the one on the left with a blue glow in his eyes warned me.  

It seems my bet paid off.  These guys were scum, just like that Viscount Demon back in Sarconia.  This exchange must be extremely valuable for them to ignore murder so easily.  The production value I’ve witnessed for this exchange, told me as much.  

The card was magically enhanced to auto-call on the owner’s pod, which seemed like a sophisticated hack into proprietary technology.   The physical security system set in place at this underground entrance is not cheap, and neither is hosting the exchange in a skyscraper like the one we’re under with a private elevator.  It would be the equivalent of spending millions of U.S. dollars, to systematically farm whatever is being exchanged.  They must want a piece or all of the demon soul in exchange for money.  Or worse, end their life and give nothing.

Can a demon live with no soul?  The question lingered in my thoughts as I rose up in the elevator with one of the guards keeping a close eye on me.  The smooth acceleration was increasing towards the top floors.   Whoever owns this operation, probably owns the building too.  

As the elevator door slid open, a vast array of beds laid in front of this open space, lined up to tens of columns and rows spanning many meters.  There was a demon on almost every bed with a hose coming out of their chest connected straight to the floor.  

Someone came running up to us wearing dark blue scrubs and called out, “New patient?”  

His yellow glowing eyes looked me up and down, as he pulled out a device and started scanning my chest.  His eyes bulged out and a huge grin shined on his face.  

“Wow! Ten percent soul, that's a new record for me!  Please come this way, my distinguished guest.”

As I followed him, I scanned the area.  There were eight guards around the room, and an office hiding in the corner above some stairs with two more guards.    Tall windows surrounded the floor, letting me peek into the city surrounding us. 

I discreetly touched the pod in my pocket, and looked for messages from ‘sister’.  She was able to send a picture of her brother.  He had tattoos just like hers, which was weird, and shared the same green eyes, but his hair was a light brown, and he had a birthmark on his left cheek.  

Yellow siren lights started spinning silently, and the air grew frantic as the guards ran towards me.  Shit, did they detect me using the pod?

“Take out the pod now!” Screamed one of the guards, with red glowing eyes aiming the gun at me.   

I gently pulled it out of my pocket with two fingers and tossed it to him.  The door from the office in the corner swung open and slammed against the guardrail, echoing around the room.  

“What in the devil's name is going on?!” A short round man wearing a beige suit and purple shirt underneath stepped out yelling, with a thin mustache on his bloated face.   I guess he’s like the manager of this operation.

“Sir, please forgive him, he is a VIP.  Ten percent!  Ten percent!”  The doctor pleaded for my case. 

The air in the room calmed down dramatically after he said those words.  The stocky man had a big smile on his face.

“Why didn’t you say so?!  Please don’t let him stay down there, bring him up here to the private room.  Guards, give him back his pod, now!”

As we headed to the office, I was staring at the faces of the patients and saw the brother a row back from the walkway.  All of them seemed to be unconscious, which I couldn’t tell if that was for their own safety or against their will.  At least, that was one thing to check off my list.  Now, to deal with this potato looking demon.  

I settled into a chair in front of his desk.  

"Forgive me for that crude display.  My name is Jeremia Rigo, Director of this establishment.  Do you want some water?"  He was the nicest soulless bastard, but his black glowing eyes made my blood freeze.

Shaking my head, he asked, "Very well, and good sir, how much would you be willing to donate?"

"All of it, with just enough to live," I stared at him in the eyes, showing no emotion in my face.

His black eyes sparkled, the greed leaking out of his pores, he stood up and asked me to follow him.  We entered the private room, with one bed visible and another hiding behind a curtain.  

He asked me to please wait and closed the curtain, while he got the paperwork ready.  He showed me a red button that would call him over.

As he stepped out, I peeked into the curtain next to me.  

My heart sank to my stomach, then rose up as my adrenaline skyrocketed into overdrive.  My blood was boiling hot, fuming with rage.  

Allie, was that you?!  I stepped over to the little girl lying softly on the bed with a tear on her cheek.  My hands were shaking, as I gently pulled out the needle, and stared at her face. 

"Baby girl, dad is here," my voice was cracking.  

Wiping the tears, I noticed she was not my Allie.  But, my soul couldn't let it go.  No, this facility was past the point of redemption.  My chest ached at the thought of my daughter suffering through this procedure, losing her soul.  We struggled so much for her to fight the disease, strapped away in hospitals for half of her life.  These fucking demons!

On my left, I prepared ten blobs of mana and molded them, compressing them into tiny pellets of high density plasma burning with the fires of hell.  On my right, I focused an immense flow of mana through my blood and into my muscles.  

Finding my silhouette, I slowly walked towards the exit.  As soon as I swung the door open, I propelled myself forward, aiming straight for the round face.  Time slowed down, as I saw him painstakingly attempt to turn his jiggly neck.  My fist twisted forward ready to strike, inching closer.

The windstorm in my wake was blowing away papers and knocking down the ceiling panels.  Fire burst out of my fist from the pressure being exerted into the air, within an inch of his face.

At the moment of impact, a blob of black flickered into view, colliding with my fist.  The impact blew up the office, as the walls flew away and the ceiling collapsed.  The blob taking the full brunt of the impact shot out of the office, flying in a straight line.  Fire erupted in its wake, as it crashed straight through the windows and into the city.

Waving away the debris blocking me, I followed the dark mass out of the destroyed room jetting through the air.   Turning to fly backwards, I scanned the room for the guards.

One, two, three, four.  I released the pellets itching for destruction.  The hot fiery specks zoomed away, leaving a trail of smoke, instantly colliding with their target's head, piercing a small hole in the front, and exploding out the back.  Engulfing their victims in black flames, sending their brains flying and painting the floors red.

Turning to the other side, one, two, three, four, five, six.  Two were aiming at me, I released the remaining pellets as they crossed paths with several bullets speeding towards me.  I slammed mana in front of me, stopping the bullets, except for one hitting my waist.  The hot sensation vibrated through my ribs, as blood gurgled out. 

I gritted my teeth, watching as the remaining guard's fates were sealed, staining the floors and burning with fire, flames catching some of the beds.

Flying outside, I drew in mana.  The winds swirled around me, growing fiercer, whistling with destruction.  The air compressed, forming vapor as a storm erupted behind me, as I chased the black blob flying through the air.  Lightning struck out in all directions, thundering throughout the city.  

I needed more! I closed my eyes and reached out, expanding  up higher into the sky, grasping it and dragging it to me against its will.  A vortex formed, as it funneled into me, screaming like a speeding train.   Destroying the windows of the surrounding skyscrapers as I inched closer to the blob.  

It's flight path was interrupted as it flew through a window, crashing through wall after wall.  I was a mere step behind, as it began slowing down.

I forced the culmination of all my mana into a sharp point at the tip of my fingers.

Five meters.

Four meters.

Two meters.

One meter.

My hand sliced right through the protective blob, as I found his chest, piercing straight through.  I closed my fist, crushing whatever organ was there. I felt something break in the demon, not physically but something else.  Ignoring it, I stared at his evil face once more, drained of life.

The world goes dark.

Ding!