Jack turned, as he walked through the corridors back to his room, and looked to Eris. He reached out and lifted her face with his hand to look up into his eyes.

"Princess Eris, return to your room for now. I will call you later to discuss... This..." Jack pointed to his rib cage identifying the heart that laid within.

"But I wish to follow you," Eris spoke out against Jack's orders.

"Do not argue me. I have something I must do alone. Returned... Do not anger me, Eris." Jack tried his best to be as stern with this crazy thing. He needed to send her away as soon as possible, as he had already exposed too much.

Eris nodded and turned to walk down a different corridor.

Jack watched her disappear around the corner, as he hurried quickly to his room.

He waved his hand as he approached his door, but nothing happened. Jack continued to approach, and by hand opened his door.

He closed the door behind him, and took two quick steps, as he fell to one knee.

[...Oh man... Am I dying again?!?] Jack wondered and exclaimed in his mind. Since he performed the ritual, the amounting fatigue continued to build, and his power seemed to continue to drain... At present, he couldn't connect with his G.o.d-soul, and he felt his own cultivation falling.

Jack fell onto his hip bone, as he slid himself to the side of his evening tomb on the floor, as he opened his laptop with his strength, and tossed it to the side.

"Tux..."

"Yes, Creator."

"I remember you warned of a weakening from the ritual I performed... To what level are We talking weak, and I need estimated recovery time."

"Reporting to Creator, Creator breached the veil into another world's section of the Plane of Death..."

"Tux, I need a simple example right now. Explain the rest later."

"You have to pay the ferryman. The power you expended was the payment." Tux resounded... sounding annoyed for being interrupted.

"Alright, how long does this last?"

"How fast can you replace it?" Tux counter questioned.

"...Cheeky b.a.s.t.a.r.d..." Jack spoke aloud.

Tux squeaked in acceptance.

Jack was too weak care about this strange interaction.

[I'm going to personally cultivate while Jordan gets those snappy prayers together.] Jack closed his vision, as he barely crossed his legs.

He followed the instructions he followed before in the tome, "The Heretical Side of the Light," as he made a small connection to the plane of light, and began to siphon power from it.

*******

Leslie glided to the front of a battered undead, flanked by two of her Silent Scream agents. It was a dark area, that was barely lit with anything save for a single piece of Glowstone, that hung from the ceiling, as it wobbled back and forth causing the Light to s.h.i.+ft within the room.

The undead Leslie stared down was a male undead that had just been brought to the Black Prison of Deagoth. The prison used and only knew of by the Silent Scream agents and Leslie as the Shadow of Deagoth.

The male undead was a Zombie undead that looked worse for the wear, with his clothes half down, and multiple lacerations on his body. One could see that each of his fingers was smashed, and both of his legs were broken.

Leslie drifted in front of the male undead and used one of her sharp talons to lift the undead males head up to look at her.

"Merchant Stacy... What a fine Merchant you are! Age five hundred and thirty-nine. Currently married with two wives, but no children. Took over the business of your first wife at the age of Seventy-eight. Found cheating on your first wife, at the time only wife, five years later. Forced your wife to accept your mistress as your second wife." Leslie retracted her talon, as she drifted behind him in a shadow, as she spoke again, "One year afterward your first wife mysteriously disappeared, and the Officials of Undeath and Unlife were unable to convict due to lack of evidence. You then took full control of your first wife's business and her branch families' business at the age Eighty-five. It seems recently that you have thrown away pretense and forcibly married another woman after her longtime lover was killed accidentally during a s.h.i.+pping accident... It seems this case hasn't been sent to court just yet... Right? Merchant Stacy."

Leslie drifted to his side when she noticed the stern face of her interrogated target. This male undead acted as though he didn't hear her. Leslie stretched out her arm, as she took one of her talons to cut off one of his ears with a flick of her wrist, "I didn't seem like you were listening, so I got rid of one of these useless things." The ear flew into the darkness of the room, as the light above swung back and forth to only illuminate it for brief seconds." The male undead screamed as he attempted to cover hold the side of his head, that now bled black blood.

Thirty minutes later, Leslie came back to the male undead's face to speak again, "We have run out of fingers and now two legs... There aren't many more appendages left before we run out of things to break. Honestly, I want you to keep resisting... I find it fun to think up which part to break, least you can tell me what I want to know."

The male undead though regard heaving spat at Leslie, as the spittle went through her body to land on the floor behind her.

"Interesting. You know... I don't get many that last this long when I do this personally. I love a good challenge." Leslie spoke with a humored voice, as the two Silent Scream agents behind her giggled.

Leslie drifted around the undead, and reached out to his right arm, and snapped it right at the wrist before the male undead was able to resist. Another loud cry was issued, as it reverberated inside the room.

Leslie continued, as she questioned until the undead was now broken several times in his arms, legs, hands, feet, and ribs... Leslie didn't draw pleasure in interrogation, but the end justified the means.

"We have officially run out of limbs, so I wonder what We have to do now?" Leslie said with another humored voice as if she wasn't really bothered that the male undead wasn't speaking, as she thought of her next move... As if she didn't already have it planned.

"Well, alright then... Oh, before I proceed, Merchant Stacy, remember that there are things far worse than death."

A sealed container was brought over to Leslie by one of her agents, as she took the container, and released the seal.

She reached in, and took out a dangling creature, as she held it by her ghostly index finger and thumb. As she dangled the creature above the male undead that now stared at the creature that now was suspended above him.

"Do you know what this is?" Leslie asked.

The male undead finally spoke words, since he was kept in this room, "No..."

"Oh... This is a Gluttonous Soul Leech." Leslie said delightedly, as the creature struggled, wiggled, and lurched between her pinched fingers. The male undead's brow was now filled with black sweat, as he rolled to the side, as it streamed down his face and body.

"..." Only now did the face of horror appear on this male undead, until now, he had not buckled even a little to break, even though his screams.

"Oh, I see you have heard of this lovely little creature," Leslie said with a sickly sweet tone.

"That's right... This beastly parasite is going to wiggle it's way to your soul s.p.a.ce and slowly leech your soul until you wish you had died... I hear that as it leeches, it causes unspeakable pain. I believe I heard once it was like a meat grinder for the soul... Though, I don't know who survived to tell the tale... But, it's then going to slowly eat away at your soul until it collapses... It slow enough that your soul has time to repair before being eaten again, though it will at some point fail to heal properly. It's amazing how these creatures can prolong your suffering to feed themselves. I find it poetic in a macabre sense really." Leslie spoke, as she began to lower the creature to the face of the male undead, as she no longer asked any more question.

"Wait...! WAIT! DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LORD MONOCLE!?"

"Oh? I thought we pa.s.sed that already?" Leslie stopped her hand just a few inches away from the male undead's face. The male undead could only stare in horror of the creature he heard as scary bedtime stories as a child. Until a few minutes ago, he thought this creature was a myth, fairy tales, things made up to scare children!

"No! I'll talk... Just get it away! GET IT AWAY!"

"Oh... Well... I guess I could be persuaded, but I mean... You really wasted my time here. I'll tell you what. If you tell me what I want to know... I'll give you a quick true death, otherwise, this cute little beasty is going to get it's fill for the next hundred years." Leslie pulled her head back, as she stared at the leech in her hand.

"Fine! True death is fine! It's fine!" The male undead relented... True death was better than this fate... It was better...

"Ack... Always at the moment where the fun is going to begin... I'm sorry little fellow... Maybe next time you will get to eat a soul." Leslie said with a cute voice to the leech, as she put it back into the jar, again, handing it back to her agent, as she resealed it.

Leslie's att.i.tude abruptly changed, "How did Mark get the hexplosives into Saigunrai, and who remains that is still apart of his little clubhouse."

"Lord Mon-"

"Call him Former-Marquis Mark... He is no lord." Leslie reprimanded with a severe voice.

"Former-Marquis Mark... He... He smuggled in the Hexplosives through the South Eastern Undead Trading Company itself. I don't know about the rest, but I'm sure that's how he did it."

"What... Did he smuggle them in with..."

"Foods! Foods from Borda!"

"Borda? What food from Borda... Speak clearer, as my leech is still hungry!"

"Ah! Fruits! Fruits from Borda! Um. Um... Fleshy Baleful Fruit!"

[Hmmmm... The prized fruit of the Church of the Three G.o.ds... But Mark smuggled it in with those s.h.i.+pments... So, he has a connection with the Church of the Three G.o.ds... Interesting, Mark, interesting... So the clergy didn't properly check the goods coming from Borda... Lucius isn't going to be happy to hear this...] Leslie... Wasn't happy to hear this...

"Who else does he have here in the City? Huh?!?" Leslie's voice screeched.

"There are others! There are!"

"Agent Abigail, prepare to start writing," Leslie commanded.

"Yes, Mistress."

"Alright, little traitor... Speak the names, and you will know peace soon." Leslie's soothing voice drifted into the ears of the undead on the floor, as he felt like he was finally going to be released from this h.e.l.l.