Chapter 89 Payday.

Chapter 89: 89 Payday.

"And he’s going to absolutely dominate. Aren’t you, boss?" Psyren purred, her grip on my arm tightening affectionately.

"A glorious truth, my dear mortal friend! He shall bring them all to a beautiful end!" Belial boomed gleefully, though a sudden ZAP under his collar made his crimson jaw clench.

"A beautiful, peaceful end, full of cheer! Oh, I cherish the sight of you meat... BZZT... lovely peers! If I were not afraid of the heavenly host, I’d toast to you all with a wonderful roast! I am most pleased to confirm my initial feelings about you, Polaris."

"Don’t call me that here," I muttered, keeping my voice low. "I’m not operating under that name tonight."

"A clever deceit, a magnificent lie! To hide your dark glory from every ZAP... eye! From every good eye!" the demon rhymed, clapping his massive, clawed hands together with a sound like a thunderclap.

"I too wish my nature was easily veiled. Come, let us wander where spirits are hailed! Would you care for a drink to diminish the dread, And fill your sweet minds with the heavens instead?"

"I shouldn’t drink before a fight," I said, though I kept pace with the towering hell-lord as we moved through the lavish crowd.

I still needed his connections to figure out exactly who and where Delirium was tonight.

The descriptions and photos Rhea had provided were a solid starting point, but in this underworld, there was no guarantee the bastard hadn’t drastically altered his appearance or magically modded himself since those files were updated.

"A wise choice indeed, to stay sober and bright! To keep your mind sharp for the glorious fight!" Belial bellowed, adjusting his tailored cuffs.

"The humans here boast such magnificent skill, It brings me great sorrow to watch them all BZZT... thrill! To watch them all thrill! Meeting a rogue of your marvelous grace, Almost brings a true smile to my terrible face!"

"Hear that, boss? Sounds like you’re the best bad guy around," Psyren said, leaning up to press a lingering kiss against my cheek.

"Thanks," I replied dryly. "I do try."

"And triumph you do, with the greatest of ease! You bring the whole world to its wonderful knees!" the demon rhymed, sulfurous smoke curling from his nostrils in a happy little ring. "I count it a blessing to stand by your side, And watch you perform with such wonderful pride!"

"Is that right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the towering wall of muscle and hellfire. While also wondering how he handled all the pain.

"Of course! Though I praise you to flatter your ego, I plan to betray you wherever ZAP... we go! Wherever we go!" Belial winced, rubbing his thick neck as the collar scorched him. "My honesty curse is a terrible plight! But I hope you’ll assist me in spreading the light!"

"Yeah, you mentioned that whole manipulation thing earlier," I pointed out, keeping a cautious eye on his twitching, spade-tipped tail.

"I cannot help but confess every scheme! Your beautiful species is such a sweet BZZT... dream! A wonderful dream!" Belial grumbled, his horns nearly scraping the ceiling as he gestured forward. "But enough of my woes, let us open the gate, And gaze on the arena where challengers wait!"

We reached the far end of the lounge, and Belial pushed open a set of heavy, soundproofed blast doors.

Instantly, the faux-luxury of the waiting area vanished, replaced by the raw, brutal reality of the ship’s massive cargo hold.

They had gutted the lower decks entirely to create a sprawling colosseum of violence.

Instead of sunken concrete pits, the combat zones were elevated platforms enclosed in hexagonal cages of humming, electrified steel.

The blinding glare of industrial floodlights cut through the hazy, ozone-scented air, mixing with the thick stench of sweat, cheap beer, and fresh blood.

Shipping containers had been stacked and welded together along the perimeter to serve as makeshift luxury boxes for the VIPs, looking down on the slaughter below.

"Behold the grand stage where the mortals unite! To hug and to kiss and to playfully ZAP... fight! To gracefully fight!" Belial declared with a sweeping, theatrical gesture of his clawed hand. "It warms my dark heart just to see you all here, Dispensing such joy and such wonderful cheer! Tell me, my friend, do you wander this floor, To purchase new tools for your glorious war?"

"Something like that," I murmured, tearing my eyes away from the demon to scan the chaotic expanse of the hold.

I was trying to lock onto Delirium, but the sheer volume of bodies made it nearly impossible.

It wasn’t just the spectators swarming the gaps between the electrified cages; there were designated staging areas where the next wave of fighters were shadowboxing or psyching themselves up.

Almost all of them wore expressions of grim desperation. It wasn’t hard to guess why. In a meatgrinder like this, half of them were guaranteed to leave in body bags.

Yet even as I studied the desperate crowd, I caught sight of several painfully familiar faces.

There were more than a few recognizable heroes down here, or ex-heroes, at least.

Once the corporate sponsorships evaporated and the city contracts dried up, this was the ugly reality many were forced into—one last, bloody gamble for a payday.

It was a miserable fall from grace, but that was the business. At the end of the day, anyone could be fired.

As we navigated the walkway past one of the main cages, a flash of movement caught my eye. I shifted my path toward the humming steel mesh to get a better look at the carnage inside.

Two massive bruisers were tearing into each other on the blood-stained canvas.

One was a hulking brute in a shredded white tank top, his head a literal blazing skull of green fire.

His opponent was a massive, scaly humanoid that I actually recognized. It was the Razor Croc.

He used to be a major mascot-tier hero down in the Sunshine State for some coastal tourism conglomerate, right up until the scandalous accusations of him eating a toddler made him drop off the face of the earth.

"Sir?" Glacia asked softly, stepping up beside me to peer through the electrified links. "Are you acquainted with him?"

"Kinda," I muttered.

Down in the cage, Skullface lunged across the blood-slicked mat and slammed his entire weight into the reptilian brawler.

Croc let out a guttural hiss, attempting to grapple the fiery heavyweight, but Skullface simply unhinged his jaw.

A blinding torrent of radioactive, emerald heat erupted from his maw, washing directly over the reptile’s face.

Croc’s agonizing screams were muffled by the roar of the flames as the skin literally boiled off his skull, sloughing away in wet, smoking strips like a rotten onion.

I gritted my teeth as the surrounding crowd erupted into rapturous applause.

Skullface casually tossed the twitching, faceless crocodilian to the mat, turning to flex and strut for the cheering voyeurs pressing against the cage.

"Oh, damn," Psyren whispered, her eyes locked on the smoking corpse as she reached out to gently squeeze my shoulder. "Sorry about that, boss."

Glacia remained entirely silent, staring into the brutal arena with a mask of icy indifference.

Given the horrors she’d undoubtedly been subjected to in her father’s household, a cage match execution was probably pretty tame by comparison.

"It’s fine," I told them quietly, forcing my gaze away from the ring. "I didn’t really know the guy."

But it wasn’t fine. I watched the cheering spectators, practically foaming at the mouth, completely ignoring the pair of hazmat-suited orderlies who unlocked the cage and dragged the body out.

Suddenly, I noticed the reinforced metal grating beneath my boots was beginning to vibrate with a low, threatening hum.

I quickly took a breath, forcefully reeling my powers back in before the metal could buckle. No. Not yet.

I wasn’t here to bring the roof down or start a riot. At least, not until I absolutely had to. And if Delirium proved to be as unpredictable and uncooperative as I expected, that moment was coming soon enough.

I forced my hands to unclench and turned my attention back to the towering demon beside me, needing to get back on track. "Tell me something. Are you familiar with a guy named Delirium?"