The Price of Pleasure

In contrast with the ultimate privilege of eternal life and bliss in heaven, anyone who chooses to sell his soul to the devil must be crazy.

What are the things that people crave so badly that they would give up their soul?

Good looks? Fame? Riches? Sexual pleasures? Or to cure a disease that doesn't seem to get cured?

Some would actually want to escape from their responsibilities in their life, or even escape from their relationships in their life.

Most people are not aware, but there are also men who offer their soul to the devil so that they can escape from their current marriage and marry another person whom they crave.

Some offer their soul to the devil so that they can become good looking, famous, and rich.

Some may have suffered grave traumas that make them disappointed with God, and do so to get back at God and the world for what they have lost.

Some just want to indulge in their perverse desires all the way.

But all of these have something in common. The fear of death, and being unable to enjoy all these cravings for the rest of eternity once they die. It is the fear of living their life in vain, away from the pleasures they crave.

This is the story of one such man.

Anthony (Tony) Chang (Chinese: 张东尼), currently 51, is a Singapore-based watch magnate who shot from rags to riches at the age of 30. Now the charismatic CEO of Formidable Limited (冯威达手表有限公司), he was once an average looking person who wasn't doing well in his life when he was young. He started out as a watch salesman and was not earning much. He had problem getting himself a girlfriend, and when he did, she was actually hard to please, treated him badly, and eventually left him because she found someone who was better than him, probably in terms of looks and money. He was also a devout Catholic who was taught from young that as long as he is faithful to God, study hard, stay away from vice, he will be rewarded for his faith and good behavior with what he desires, which he eventually believed, was wrong.

After studying very hard, he managed to find a place in a business course in university. However, his first job in the financial sector was too tough and competitive for him, and he did not manage to stay long. He didn't stay long at any job and it can be said that with his average work and learning ability, it was not easy for him to get by any job without being berated by his supervisor and letting his pride hit the floor and making him feel like an idiot. Practically he lacked common sense and instinct to work with others and understand the instructions of others which led to misunderstandings, very angry customers, colleagues, and bosses. He judged people in his heart, called them bastards, bitches, people with bad attitude, inconsiderate people, superficial people, and was jealous of their good luck and good fortune, envious of them always earning better than him, always seen with better looking women, driving better cars etc. However, as time went by, it seemed that even as he judged them, their lives seemed to get better and didn't seem to get any worse, so much so that he resorted to finding reasons to find fault with them to console himself. For example, he said to his ex-girl that one day God will punish her by destining that her future husband will have other women outside their marriage, since she doesn't want a "faithful" person like him.

However, it wasn't working. The world was not meant to be like this. This was not what his parents and church taught him. What went wrong?

One day, while paying a visit to the library and reading up on books related to Christianity and other religions, he came across a book with strange symbols. He borrowed the book and took it home, and started to find out more.

The book actually talked about how the seven deadly sins are related to human needs, and expanded on the different demons that represented them. For example, Lucifer is the demon of pride, Mammon is the demon of avarice, Asmodeus is the demon of lust, Satan is the demon of anger, Beelzebub is the demon of gluttony, Leviathan is the demon of envy, and Belphegor is the demon of vanity and sloth. Apart from that, there were other demons that represented other minor things, such as the demon of a certain time of day or a certain day of the week.

Eventually he found something that was of interest to him. There was actually a spell to establish communication with the unseen world to actually genies that could grant him wishes, just like Aladdin. These genies were actually spirits made from smokeless fire, and just like humans, some were benevolent and some were malignant.

Purely out of curiosity and firmly believing that it won't work because of his strong devotion to God, he recited the spell.

And to his horror, a voice spoke back to him, offering him the way to success, the pleasures, and wisdom of the world in exchange for his faith towards God and his soul upon his death.

Burning with desire for revenge and the wish to make it big and enjoy the company of pretty girls, drive fast cars, live in big houses, travel around the world as and when he wanted, he said yes, also partially thinking that it won't come true.

However, he didn't realize that it was going to come true.

From that day onwards, he started to see changes. Suddenly, visits to church didn't seem appealing to him anymore. Spiritual pursuits actually felt valueless to him already. It felt obligatory and he slowly stopped going. He suddenly developed common sense, and slowly won the respect of his colleagues, customers, and boss. He developed wit, and became more appealing to women. He frequented pubs, and had one night stands with attractive women on a regular basis. His money kept pouring in due to booming sales, and he became the employee of the month for many months straight. He eventually earned enough commission to resign and start his own watch company. He married Nargis Lum, a former Miss Singapore and had a beautiful daughter by the name of Chloe. He had everything now, a booming career, more money than he could ever dream of, a different car to drive every day of the week, holiday homes in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangkok, Phuket, Taiwan etc, and a company listed in stock exchanges all over Asia and also the NYSE. He also had a few mistresses whom his wife tolerated. How could one not envy him, since he already had everything? He won't have it if he didn't say yes to the voice that spoke to him while he was researching that book.

However, as his life nearly reached sunset, his fear of eternal damnation became more intense. It was becoming more of a reality. Of course, women were still climbing into his bed though less now because of his age. He kept having dreams of suffering in the fiery pits of hell which left him without peace for a long time. He wished to annul the contract and get back his soul. But he had already enjoyed all that the devil had given him so now there was no turning back for him. So how now?

Coming out of the lift were two ladies who were going to give him the answer, and into his posh office on the 20th floor they went. Following Baifin as an understudy to handle her new case, Yuko was naturally nervous. Yuko was supposed to watch and learn.

The man, now a charismatic individual in his early 50s, was pleased to receive the two young ladies. He was very comfortable and very used to the sight of pretty ladies. Of course, having a lot of money meant that they would come to him anyway and he didn't have to go all out to look for them, despite his age. He believed that he would have no problem getting both of them to sleep with him. However, that was not what he wanted now.

He told them his story, and showed him the random book he borrowed from the library and never returned.

He broke down and cried, fell at their feet and begged. "Please! Please save my soul! I don't want to go to hell!"

"Why don't you try going back to church?" Yuko asked.

"I have already done that, but I still keep seeing the flames of hell in my sleep."

"You're lying," Baifin replied curtly in his face.

"Baifin, why are you…" Yuko tried to stop her, but Baifin went on.

"There's something you can't let go of, or rather, are afraid to lose, right?"

Tony tried to say something, but couldn't get it out of his mouth. It was like the feeling of wanting to vomit but being unable to do so. Baifin spoke for him.

"The women on your bed, and the pleasure they give you in return for 10k plus cheques, you can't let go of them."

"No…" gasped Tony, but his eyes gave it all away that he knew it was the truth.

"Not only that", Baifin continued. "You've been cursed by a succubus."

Tony's face was contorted with shock. "Suck you...what?"

Baifin's finger travelled up Tony's neck. With her sultry lips, she continued. "You were part of a scheme conjured by an old friend of mine. Since you were a man of lust, you eventually fell right into her trap." And her finger finally reached his lip, and her eyes gazed into his.

She was right. He was a man of lust. And Tony was very sure he wanted Baifin there and then too. Yes, she did remind her of somebody. Someone who was very close to him...

Looking into his eyes, Baifin straightaway knew who her enemy was going to be.

"You can come out now, Nargis! I know you're there!" she called out in a fierce tone, as if talking to someone further away.

Tony's eyes widened. "Nargis?"

Situated a certain distance away from his table near a sofa at the reception area was a statue. A marble statue that had been in his office for more than 15 years. It was something that the he remembered the "devil" asking him to fashion before he realized the success that he was enjoying. It was a statue of a beautiful woman, dressed in nothing, but had a pair of bat's wings sprouting from her back, a pair of cow's horns sprouting from her head, and a tail which had an arrowhead at its end. A piece of art I should say.

The statue suddenly trembled, and an apparition suddenly emerged from the statue, as if it was being separated from the statue although they were once one entity. This entity did not appear to have a form, except that it formed a blur image at where it was standing. However, this formless being soon assumed a physical form, in flesh and blood. She looked so much like the statue, and her face looked very much like...Baifin herself.

"That's my wife!" Tony cried. "But why?"

"Isn't that..." Yuko asked. "Nargis Lum (林娜姬)? The former Miss Singapore?"

"That's right! Tony had been married to Nargis Lum for 20 years already." Baifin replied. "Funny that she hasn't aged since her heyday even though their daughter is already 18. She was a succubus who has been living in the human world long enough living off her husband's energy and that of many other men. In addition, she has been doing so through her "daughter" and other marionettes who are extensions of her actual self. Those "marionettes" are the ones that have been sleeping with Tony, and he thought it was because of his money."

"That's right sister!" exclaimed Nargis, the naked demoness with wings, horns, and a tail. "Well never mind if you know my secret since both you and your understudy are going to die anyway. SOUL COMET!" Nargis fired a "soul comet" fireball at Baifin and Yuko, creating an explosion on the floor and setting a sofa set on fire. Tony ducked under his table in fright, clutching his book.

"Oh no you don't, darling! Give me back my book!" Nargis, the demoness wife of Tony, extended her hand forward. The book fought its way out of Tony's arms and flew into the hand of Nargis, and vaporized in her palm.

"Yuko! Put out the fire!"

Yuko used a water spell to extinguish the fire on the expensive sofa set while Baifin tried to attack Nargis one more time by trying to slash her with a blade, but Nargis effortlessly dodged. All of a sudden, a dimension portal with a hellish, reddish background appeared behind her, and Nargis just levitated backwards and went in. The portal sudden became a large vacuum that was attempting to suck Baifin, Yuko, and Tony in. Baifin grabbed on to Yuko who was grasping the carpet tightly, but to no avail. Yuko lost her grip, and Baifin and Yuko headed into the portal. The vacuum effect was so strong that the table Tony was hiding under was lifted up, and Tony flew straight in to the portal.

"Where are we?" asked Yuko.

"We're in her Dreamscape Reality (夢境結界). Inside her own dimension, separated from the rest of the universe, accessible only from where she opened the portal," answered Baifin. "A physical reflection of the state of her mind, and her view of the world. Such a wasteland is typical of hellish demons."

"HELP ME!!!!!!!" Tony screamed in tears. "PLEASE!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO HELL!!!"

"Hahahhahahahahahahahaha!" laughed Nargis. She extended her hand forward, and swung it behind as if she was tossing something away. Tony, who was floating in the air already, suddenly flew towards the lava pits below against his will.

"Tony!" Baifin called out.

Nargis lifted her arm upwards, and the falling Tony was suddenly telekinetically lifted up from the hot pool of lava back to levitating above the edge of the cliff they were standing on. Tony was in a pathetic state, soaked in tears, sweat, and urine, no longer the happy and satisfied man he was while basking in riches and pleasure. "My dear!" he pleaded. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I turned against you! Let this matter rest, can? Let's just go back to the way we were before!

"You still want me back when you know I am a demon?"

"I…I still love you…"

"BULLSHIT!"

He started free falling again towards the boiling lava below.

"Okay I'm sorry!"

Suddenly he rocketed upwards back to his original position.

"Tony!" Baifin and Yuko called out again. "What the hell are you doing?" scolded Yuko.

"What do you think?" Nargis retorted. "He knew from day one that this would happen if he tried to walk out of it. He placed his soul as collateral to the devil in exchange for the money, women, and other pleasures he desired. He was a dull and dumb pushover with little skills and abilities who would not have gotten all these if he had stayed this way. He has me to thank so I don't see why he should complain."

"I'm sorry," he pleaded. "I just wanted to go to heaven and enjoy eternal happiness, that's all."

"You want to go to heaven? You are the one who gave up Christ, are you one to talk? Listen up, where do you think all the money in your business and bank account came from? You think your newly acquired "sales charisma" and "investment knowhow" did all the work? The spell you invoked summoned the intelligence of the demons to assist you, and made you what you are today. And what about those investors that have been pushing your company up? Where do you think they came from? Do you even know what companies they are? Those are shell companies that are run by the True Knights of Asia, and their money comes from vice activities all over Asia, especially from the Golden Triangle. Drugs, prostitution, firearms. Can you spend your money with a clear conscience now? All those who tried to expose you had been bound by a spell to prevent them from saying anything. Basically I cast the spell. But if I die, the spell will be broken and everything you had will be gone. All hell will break loose. You'll probably hang yourself but you'll probably go to hell anyway even if you break the contract, since you betrayed God…"

"Shut up!" scolded Baifin. "A demon who manipulates the desires of human beings to take his soul is NOT QUALIFIED to talk about God. But you take a lot of souls on a regular basis! Why all the trouble for one soul?"

"Ignorant fooll!" retorted Nargis. "The souls that I have taken were forced out of their bodies unwillingly, but getting a soul through the Mephisto Contract actually amplifies my power, granting me power which is the equivalent of 50,000 souls. Most souls stolen through the usual means would have qualified for heaven but I keep them captive within me for eternity to enhance my powers. However, to make a person's soul qualified to enter hell is not that easy. You'll have a lot of tempting to do, and he has to make a choice before he sins, and it is even harder to make him sin without feeling remorseful. The Mephisto Contract is a way to circumvent that long process, whereby the person willingly offers his soul to the devil for a strong desire, and he becomes qualified to go to hell no matter how much he prays or does good deeds. That is how desires have always led to the downfall of many great men. When he dies, there is no way his soul can return to God, unless he exchanges his fate for suffering on Earth for the rest of his life to pay for his past enjoyments."

"You're right!" Baifin said. "I do believe the Mephisto contract which Tony signed is probably irreversible. However, I'm very sure a very sincere desire to repent can still earn him some merits which will increase his chances."

"Naive! Stupid!" mocked Nargis. "The Mephisto Contract is irreversible! No amount of faith can save you. You're just like this foolish man whose fate has been sealed. So much for his faith in God in his younger days."

"Ya whatever, I don't know how true that is," retorted Baifin. "But I don't care. I believe in saving people who deserve to be saved. I won't know if I don't try. I will nullify the Mephisto Contract, with your blood and life, and send you back to hell."

"Yes, whatever. You have three hours do defeat me!" Nargis creates a giant hourglass out of nowhere also levitating a certain distance from the edge of the cliff which leads to the pool of volcanic lava below. After that, Tony suddenly fell onto the top of the hourglass from where he was levitating earlier. He gripped the edge of the hourglass tightly so as not to fall off from it. "Please do your best, Baifin! Jiayou!"

"Will you shut up?" Nargis shouted at him. "Don't make me push you off the hourglass…"

The trembling man shrunk back. Then Nargis's stern countenance suddenly turned into a smile. "But I won't, because I have decided to use your life as a wager. Baifin, what say you? You have three hours to defeat me, starting from the moment the sand starts falling. You don't beat me in three hours, the man dies, and so do you. Of course, if you can't even last three hours, no point talking. If you win me before three hours is up, all of you are free to go. Remember, even if you defeat me, your Grand Retour can't revive anyone who's supposed to go to hell. If he dies, he cannot be revived even if you defeat me with a Grand Retour. So you better make sure he doesn't die before you kill me."

Yuko then asked, "I thought the contract is supposed to end if we kill you?"

"The Mephisto Contract is cast in stone. What makes you think killing me will annul it? See, you weren't listening! Another bimbo!" Then she turned to Baifin. "Baifin, you'll fight me, one on one." Then she pointed at Yuko. "Understudy girl, you'll fight with my daughter, Chloe!" And suddenly, a fashionably slim and pretty young lady appeared out of nowhere from beside Nargis.

Yuko recognized her immediately.

Not too long ago, she read the news about a major sex scandal that shook Singapore, in which 48 men were charged for having sex with an underage prostitute, since in Singapore it is illegal to have sex with a prostitute under 18, and she was 17 years old at the time she had sex with her 48 clients. Once her agent was caught by the police, the 48 men were charged, their names and names of their family members were published in the media, and they were put in jail. Out of the 48 men, included are an ex-principal of a Primary School, a former senior legal consul of a competent agency in Singapore, nine Singapore public servants, army officers, a senior banker, a company director, a senior vice-president of a private company, lawyers, a senior police officer as well as a scholarship recipient. All their identities and the companies they worked at were published. By contrast, a gag order was placed on the girl's identity due to her young age, so nobody knew whether she was carrying on with this trade. Her actual identity was not revealed so she was presumed to have carried on with her life without fear of having her reputation damaged. However, some unofficial sources actually had photos of her and these sources claimed that the girl in the photos was her, and even revealed her name. Chloe Chang (张娔瑞), though she adopted the pseudonym of Chantelle when plying her trade. Some people speculated that whoever the girl was, she could be continuing this job to earn money to buy her Gucci and LV bags. However, given that her Dad was so rich, it's hard to imagine why she would need to do this.

"I know what's on your mind, darling", said Chloe to Yuko. "I'm doing it because I love it. I'm a succubus after all, sex with mortal men is first nature to me. Feeds me with energy and mana. My surname is Lustbader, not some Chang or what. My daddy is no daddy. Just a seed provider like many other man who did it with my mummy so that I could be born. Human seeds don't provide the genes to produce the next generation of succubi. They just provide the ingredient, namely the protein we need to duplicate ourselves. Either through binary fission or multiple fission, we clone ourselves by creating marionettes and spread out our consciousness throughout our marionettes so that we can be in many places at the same time. Your Master Garaya destroyed Lilith, our original host, but many of her marionettes still remain, carrying her consciousness. All the marionettes have different independent minds, but still share the consciousness with the host. Right now, my mummy here is the host, darling, since Lilith has died. However, if mummy dies, her consciousness will merge with me and I will be the host. Of course, she can merge with another one of her marionettes as well. We are many yet we are one. We are one, yet we are many. I became her daughter more because she made me more powerful and she shrunk me into a baby so that I could play the role of a human daughter to her and my "daddy", right daddy?"

Tony sobbed. He couldn't actually believe what he was hearing. His own daughter actually disowning him, and reduced him to a mere "protein provider". The daughter that he loved and brought up. But then again, all this was a supernatural magic trick to make him believe that he was bringing up a normal human daughter. She didn't need him to materially provide for her in the first place.

"Rules of the game!" announced Nargis. "Baifin shall fight me and Yuko shall fight Chloe. If you are still alive and still have not defeated the both of us by three hours, the man dies and goes to hell."

With a snap of her finger, belts suddenly emerged from the top surface of the hourglass, strapping Tony tightly to it. Tony was like "wha-wha-wha-what the hell?" and struggled to break free, like a mental patient being strapped to his stretcher to prevent him from escaping or going berserk. After that, the hourglass was suddenly turned over so that the bottom portion that is filled with sand will become the top portion, and the sand will flow from the top to the bottom portion to represent the start of those three hours. Once the hourglass was turned upside down, Tony was at the bottom of the hourglass, tightly strapped to the "bottom" to prevent him from falling into the lava.

"Hahahhaahahahhahahahah" Nargis laughed. "That will add to the tension! Start now! Both of you, don't help each other and don't call for reinforcements or you'll be disqualified."

"What?" came the shocked reply from Baifin and Yuko.

"Come get me! Three hours! That's all you've got!"

"Bitch please, Cleo didn't even last 10 minutes. All I need is one hour to take you out."

The battle began. Furious exchanges of fireballs took place between Baifin and Nargis took place. Just like other succubi like Cleo, Nargis used the "soul comet" fireball, and Baifin countered with the "Sol cometa" fireball. Fierce arrays of punches and kicks visually multiplied their number of hands and legs.

"I should have just destroyed you back then before Garaya destroyed me. Then he would not have released you from the castle's dungeon and raised you to do his work," said Nargis.

Baifin responded. "So you have merged with the spirit of Lilith? I should have known that you resurrected her from hell so that all the succubi can merge together as one Lilith once more."

Before that, there was one queen of the succubi, which was Lilith. Lilith actually created many extensions of herself such as Cleo and Nargis, who were the marionettes whom she shared her consciousness with. Lilith was destroyed to revive her victims. However, destroying Lilith did not mean destroying her marionettes. The marionettes had their own victims who could only be revived if that particular marionette was defeated using the Grand Retour. To reunite the succubi of the Lustbader clan, Nargis summoned Lilith back from hell using black magic to merge with her. Nargis was a marionette herself without any soul (other than a random evil spirit piloting her body to behave according to the programming in her brain) who was basically reprogrammed to survive on their own and collect the energy and souls of more men to revive Lilith eventually. Whichever marionette hosts Lilith becomes the host marionette that controls the rest of marionettes. Nargis happened to be the one.

Before Lilith was defeated, she actually tried to become more powerful by purging her conscience from her soul. That soul happened to be Baifin in her past life, which was inside Lilith all this while. "Die, Baifin! Return to hell and burn like I did! Tempête d'âme!" She created a hurricane of souls whereby each soul was shaped like a cherry blossom petal. Nargis then commanded the hurricane to move towards Baifin.

"Soul Pillar!" commanded Baifin, and a column of golden light emerged from the ground, effectively dispelling the storm of souls. Following that, Baifin created a bow and arrow made of golden yellow light. She pulled the string that was made of golden yellow light, commanded the phrase "shining arrow", and released from the string an arrow made of golden yellow sunlight. The arrow struck Nargis in between her chest and stomach, causing her to cough out blood. As if that was not enough, Baifin commanded "shining arrow rain", and a barrage of shining arrows came bombarding Nargis all over. In desperation, she made great effort amidst the barrage of blows to chant "intoccabile" to create an impenetrable shield around her. However, that didn't deter Baifin as she commanded "shining solar splendor" to create eight yellow golden suns around Nargis. Those eight suns were once demonic weapons used by a demon in China to create extreme heat and drought to make humans suffer, only to be shot down by a legendary warrior called Hou Yi, with the same bow and arrow Baifin is using. Those eight suns flew towards the shield-protected Nargis, and collided with her strong forcefield, endeavoring to break it.

Meanwhile, Yuko was having a harder time with Nargis' "daughter". Chloe was simply playing "tag" with her. Chloe flew very fast, and when Yuko tried to hit her, she would disappear in a flash. Chloe moved so fast that she created mirages of herself which disappeared when touched. Suddenly she will receive a kick from God knows where, and before Yuko can retaliate, the source of the kick will become instantly untraceable before she receives her next kick. Yuko was very frustrated and randomly fired shots of "piece d'etoile". All missed. "Where are you aiming?" Chloe mocked. "You're wasting your energy don't you know?" Yuko blew her top and shouted "Stand still, you stupid housefly!" Chloe only giggled, and sang "Come get me you little bitch!"

Yuko got so angry that she scolded "stop your stupid singing!" and punched the air blindly as a form of tantrum. Unexpectedly, she managed to deliver her first blow on Chloe's cheek.

It was Yuko's turn to get on the offensive and get cocky. Yuko kept slapping her, punching her, and cornering her to a rock to continuously punch her and not let her have a chance to escape.

After two hours, Baifin finally weakened Nargis to the extent that she could use the Grand Retour to finish off Nargis. After Nargis disintegrated and both her soul and Lilith's soul were returned to hell, Baifin was fully exhausted. The problem was that the battle did not end with Nargis' death, and Baifin was not even allowed to help Yuko. But she couldn't already. She was too exhausted. She just fell down, and passed out.

Things were looking prospective for Yuko had already overpowered Chloe and was about to use the Grand Retour to finish her. Unfortunately, before she could do so, Chloe regained full strength all of a sudden. Her eyes glowed red, and she spoke in Chloe's voice, "I'm Lilith. I went to hell a while ago and just came back," and giggled like a girl who has just gotten her favorite doll as a present. Suddenly Yuko felt a sharp pain in her chest and the irony was that she didn't even see Chloe move. And that was just the first of many other punches and kicks that came at her from all directions, abusing her like a punch bag. Yuko prayed in her heart in desperation for the power that Baifin displayed when fighting Nargis.

She prayed…in desperation.

Helpless and defenseless…

But to no avail. Yuko fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Hahahahahhahahahahahhaha!" cackled Lilith. "Now to finish you, and send all three of you to hell!"

"Yuko, can you hear me? Yuko!"

"Yuko, can you hear me? Yuko!"

"Who's that?"

"It's me! Baifin! Don't be deceived by her technique. She's using a powerful succubus magic called "trompe l'oeil". She's deceiving you into thinking that she's fast. She's not the only one fighting you. Use the "eye of your heart" to see!"

"Eye of my heart?"

"An eye which you can only use when your eyes are closed. Keep your eyes closed; I'm magically opening it for you."

Lilith, who has merged with Chloe, created an object which looks like a large electric hand drill.

Suddenly all the other "marionettes" who were previously invisible had become visible. These were the actual culprits who punched and kicked her around, while Chloe used the trompe l'oeil to create the illusion that she was moving around at fast speed, beating her up. The marionettes were cheering for the destruction of Yuko, all shouting "Finish her!" repeatedly.

Lilith thrusted the spinning drill bit towards where her heart was supposed to be. Upon contact, the drill bit broke upon hitting something "hard".

"What the..."

"Arrrgh!" Yuko woke up.

Apparently she was wearing some protective gear to guard her chest area so that her most vulnerable part of her body will not get damaged.

"Damn!" cursed Lilith. "But that's not going to stop me! All of you hold her still!"

The other marionettes obeyed, holding Yuko's hands and legs as she screamed and struggled.

"Don't move! Don't know how to listen to instructions ah? Doctor say don't move means don't move!" said Lilith.

Yuko spat on Chloe's face. Chloe responded with profanity.

Yuko channeled all her strength into her arms and legs. The marionettes holding her respective limb held it tighter.

Yuko's eyes suddenly glowed red, and fired a laser beam into Lilith's vagina instead.

"Arrrrrrgh!!!"

The marionettes were distracted by their master's ordeal, and Yuko took advantage of that to wrestle herself free. Without hesitation, Yuko created a snowstorm to freeze the rest of the marionettes. Distracted by her pain, Lilith was unable to defend herself fully from the freeze attack, and was weakened. Yuko fired a finishing fireball at Chloe at vaporized her.

"Arrrrrrrghhhhh!"

Yuko fired another shot at Lilith, weakening her further. Aawoot eventually appeared and fired a dragon shaped fireball and finished her and all the other marionettes with it.

The dimension disappeared immediately, and they were all back in Tony's office. Baifin was lying on the floor, and so was Tony. Lilith wasn't there already, so that was good news. Yuko went to wake them and told them the disaster was already averted. Whereas, Aawoot was nowhere to be found.

Baifin and Yuko joined Tony at his desk for tea, but the session was quiet and there wasn't much conversation. The atmosphere was very thick, with Tony's gloom. He had just lost his wife and daughter, or rather, it turned out the life he was living all this while was a total lie conjured up by an evil demon. His was as good as over. He had nothing left. His parents had passed away a few years back, and both his dad and mum were the "only child" in their families, so technically he had no living relatives now. And now, his wife, and daughter, actually didn't exist. What could be worse than that? It's going to be tough to continue living, but could he guarantee that he wouldn't go to hell in future?

"Well, how many years do you have in your life left?" asked Yuko. "I don't think it's too late to make a difference with the money you have."

"All those money were ill gotten gains! How can I use them with a clear conscience now?" asked the dejected Tony.

"Think of all the people you can help with all that money. You can donate to the church", answered Baifin.

"Or go volunteer in different countries to help out the less fortunate. You can go to Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos..." continued Yuko.

"Those were exactly the places where the money came from. From the vice activities there. Prostitution, drugs, firearms. What am I going to do there?"

"I think if you want to know the answer, you'll have to check with God," answered Baifin. "It's a good opportunity to reestablish that lost connection with him."

"It shouldn't be too hard," said Yuko. "Now we have smartphones. Shouldn't be too difficult to contact him. I think it was God's arrangement that you contacted us to come and save you. Even though you thought you were going to hell, I don't believe you didn't make a prayer before thinking of contacting us, did you?"

Tony's eyes looked downwards for a while, his cheeks flushed, and the answer was having some trouble coming out instantly and candidly. But when it finally did, after three seconds, it was a "yes".

"I think you should continue to talk to him Tony. He'll guide you. Meanwhile, here's the official invoice. It's not much anyway. Please pay within 30 days."

"Sure, no problem girls. I'll pay you now. After Nagis' spell was broken I don't know when they will start to freeze my account. But I have cash. Let me get ready for you."

The payment was made, addressed to Seishokai, Yuko's organization.

Tony personally saw them out, and started thinking about his next plan. Without the devil to help him, his finances would be in deep shit for sure. But he would manage. He learnt his lesson. He's putting his faith in God from this point going forward.