The Ether city was one of the largest capitals for doing illegal activity. One could find anything they wanted in there easily: drugs, slaves, weapons, and much more.
"This shithole is exactly as I remembered it..." Ray whispered to himself as he walked in the streets.
The city was located underground; because of it, an artificial sun was made on top of the city, making the city always day. Unlike the surface, most buildings were made of stone and old materials.
The smell of drugs and smoke was the only thing in the air, and Ray in a minute had seen at least ten prostitutes in the street.
"You fucking losers, where can I find a person named Viper?" Ray yelled in the middle of the street.
All the eyes locked on him. Suddenly a boy so skinny that his bones were visible, with lots of marks of drug usage on his arms, came to him. "How much will you pay if I tell you where to find him?"
Ray's eyes shined with killing intent. "Tell me and I won't kill you."
"Sir, I think you are new to..."
Ray's knife appeared on his throat. "You have three seconds."
"Wh... In the topaz district he has a club..."
The knife disappeared in the darkness of his cloak; he ignored the man and walked toward the topaz district.
"By the time I reach there, the news should be spread to his club." Ray smiled at the familiar feeling in his blood. A demon's heart called to him.
Among the many people with demon affinity, very few could be actually harmed. Most of them were higher-ups in the military or in the underground organizations.
Although they always wanted to kill each other, their power balance kept them at bay; seven kings of the underground and the ten generals of the military were what stopped them from going on a rampage.
If one tried to hunt demons, they would turn into a target for the two sides stopping them from gaining more power. It was peace as thin as ice, yet it had worked for thousands of years.
Ray was aware of all the obstacles on his way; that was why he wanted to take risks no matter what. Going through the path of demons meant way faster growth in strength.
Under his cloak, his face was injured with many scars; using magic for changing form could easily be detected. So Ray had cut his own face to a point that none of his features could be pointed back to him. With his hair dyed silver, no one could recognize him.
In an hour, Ray reached the club that the man had told him about. It was only a staircase that went to the ground, with two men with shotguns standing guard next to it.
"I'm looking for Viper." Ray said to one of the guards.
"Pay the fee, and you can enter the club then. If he sees fit, you can see him there." One of the guards with arms covered with tattoos yelled at Ray.
"How much is the entrance fee?"
"200 dollars"
Ray gave them each 1000 dollars and one for his entrance fee. "Can I enter?"
The guards were surprised by the generosity. "Yes, sir, I hope you have a good time in there."
He ignored them and entered the darkness that awaited him.
The first thing that he saw was dancing red lights in a big room with the smell of drugs filling the whole room. About a hundred people were dancing on a crowded floor, or what they did resembled dancing.
The music was so loud that Ray couldn't even think without hearing it in his mind. He saw a bar at one of the corners and went straight to it.
"Need anything?" The bartender smiled at him; she was too normal for such a place.
"No." Ray just sat on a chair waiting for them to come after him. He had shown enough that he was looking after Viper; if he pushed it too far, they might get suspicious.
Not long after, a man with a dragon tattoo on his chest sat beside him.
"What do you want with Viper?"
Ray responded simply, "Business."
"What business?"
"I need dark crystals, and it happens that your boss is in control of a dark crystal factory." Dark crystals were the main part of Blackfire throwers; just the name could imply which group had sent him.
The man's turned serious: "How much money do you have?"
"Depends on your price. And I will trade with the likes of you; tell your boss that if he wants to make a deal, he must show up himself." Ray made his best attempt to make the deal under his conditions.
"My boss would want to see you, but before that I should make sure you are safe." The man took out a small gun out of his pocket. "It's a nuke pistol; one bullet and you are gone forever. Try to do anything stupid, and you are gone."
Ray was furious. "This fucking nobody has a nuke weapon, and I don't have one!" His breaths became slow for a few seconds, then he replied, "Trying to threaten me with a pistol?" He laughed from the bottom of his heart.
"You guys work under the Dragon Queen; you even have her tattoo on you. Do you really think we are stupid enough to make an enemy of her?" Ray was bored dealing with sidelines.
The man raised his eyebrows: "We?"
"Don't act a fool; I'm getting impatient too. Guide me to your boss."
"Follow me." The man put the pistol back in his pocket and walked toward the back room.
Ray followed him in silence; more eyes were watching him from the shadows, but he didn't care about them.
The man passed through a wall into another room.
"A hologram wall? That's stupid..." Ray didn't say his opinions about their security out loud.
After a few more rooms, he finally reached the place he wanted to be.
A bald man with a viper tattoo on his head awaited him at the center of the room.