Max sat across from Asmodeus in the now-silent office.
The velvet drapes swallowed outside noise. The air hummed faintly with layered enchantments, thick and heavy like perfume you couldn't escape. The luxury should've been comforting.
It wasn't.
"So…" Max said finally, straightening in his chair. "What exactly do you need me for?"
Asmodeus smiled slowly.
"It's Ozzie to friends," he corrected. "And considering you're engaged to Bee and tied to the Morningstar family… I'd say you qualify."
He leaned forward.
"Mister Overlord."
Max sighed.
Long. Tired.
"Bee told you."
"Yes," Ozzie said cheerfully. "The moment she found out. This appointment's been scheduled a week. And I must say… climbing to Overlord in under two years is impressive. Most souls rot in Pride forever."
Max rubbed his temples.
"So what? You're not the blackmail type. I was planning to tell everyone tomorrow anyway."
Ozzie waved a hand lazily.
"It's not blackmail," he said. "It's business."
His eyes sharpened.
"You've run into the Vees."
Pink and violet anger flickered around him like heat distortion.
Max raised a brow.
"You know about them?"
"I know everything in my Ring," Ozzie growled. "And I enforce one rule above all others: lust must be real. Chosen. Earned."
His claws dug into the desk.
"The Vees are selling Lust potions."
Max blinked.
"In Lust?"
"They're using hellborn to distribute," Ozzie snapped. "I can crush anything inside my territory. But I cannot touch their Pride operations. The Sins swore never to expand into each other's Rings. That's how Hell stays stable."
He turned toward the window overlooking the neon city.
"They're using Lust as a testing ground. I won't allow it."
Max folded his arms.
"So you want me to destroy the operation."
"Yes."
"And the transport method."
"Yes."
"And what's in it for me?"
He would've done it anyway.
But Hell punished charity.
Before he could focus, something inside his head snapped.
A flash of memory.
Not Earth.
Not Hell.
The fabricated human life he built to protect his identity.
The emotions tied to it crashed into him.
Max grabbed his temple.
"What the—"
Ozzie stepped forward.
"You okay?"
Max breathed through it.
Stabilized.
"Fragments," he muttered. "I'm fine."
Ozzie tapped his claws together thoughtfully.
"You get my backing," he said. "Anyone touches you or your girls, they answer to Lust. You get full privileges across my Ring. And I'll arrange the best engagement date venue in Hell."
He smiled sharply.
"Well?"
Max nodded.
"I hate the Vees," he said simply. "I'm in. Just keep my girls out of it."
"Done."
Max stood.
Nodded once.
Vanished.
Rooftop – Lust Ring
He reappeared atop the tallest tower in Lust.
Neon wind painted his coat in pink and red. Music pulsed below like a living heartbeat.
He ignored it.
"Let's try something new," he murmured.
He clasped his hands.
"Omnipresence."
His mind shattered outward.
Every street.
Every alley.
Every heartbeat.
Every whispered deal.
The Ring unfolded inside him like a map of nerves.
It almost drowned him.
Almost.
Three hotspots burned bright.
Distribution hubs.
Max pulled himself back into one body.
Grinning.
"Found you."
His form split like broken glass.
Two perfect clones stepped out, nodding once.
"You take the small ones," he said. "I'll take the heart."
They vanished.
Max teleported.
Warehouse – Central Distribution
He stepped into the center of the operation.
Vans lined the floor.
Crates glowed pink.
Imps barked orders.
Hellborn moved like assembly workers in a drug factory.
"Come on!" an imp shouted. "We need this shipment—"
Max stepped out of shadow.
"My, my," he said lightly. "That looks illegal."
Every head turned.
A hellhound snarled.
"Who the fuck are you?"
A demon raised a shotgun.
"You work against the Vees, you die."
Max tilted his head.
"Try it."
The gun fired.
His arm exploded off his shoulder.
It hit the floor.
Wet.
Heavy.
Silence.
Max looked down calmly.
"Huh," he said. "That's unpleasant."
The stump melted into shadow.
Reformed.
Perfect.
"Good thing this isn't my nice suit."
Panic detonated.
Gunfire erupted.
Max snapped his fingers.
"World Isolation Barrier."
A dome of black-violet force sealed the warehouse.
No escape.
No signal.
No mercy.
Demons slammed into the barrier and bounced back screaming.
Two hellhounds lunged.
Max appeared behind them.
Their heads hit the floor a second later.
Screams filled the room.
The fight lasted less than a minute.
He moved like inevitability.
Bones broke.
Weapons shattered.
Bodies fell.
No spells.
Just violence executed with surgical precision.
When the noise stopped, the warehouse was still.
Twenty corpses.
Crates humming quietly.
Max rested a hand on one glowing container.
"In another life," he murmured, "I might've used this."
His eyes darkened.
Violet fire burning inside.
"But I like who I am."
The Eyes of Destruction opened.
The crates dissolved.
The vans disintegrated.
The potions vanished at the molecular level.
No explosion.
Just erasure.
The barrier faded.
Max melted into shadow.
His voice echoed faintly behind him.
"I'll deal with Pride next."