TRAMP CARD RECRUITING

"Run that by me again," the god replied, the dark clouds above swirling in fury.

"Hey Max? I don't think it's a good idea to provoke a god," Bradley mumbled.

"He can do nothing much to us. After all, he's still on the run. Isn't that right, dark god,"

I got no reply from above. He must be thinking of various ways to end my life. Too bad he can't act on his impulses.

"I'll need a little more info than just 'l want you'," the god finally answered.

"Sure. To be fair, I don't want you you. I want your powers,"

Bradley almost fainted when I voiced out my real intentions. He immediately floated towards the ground in a sort of prostrate manner and stared up to the skies. "Oh merciful one! Please ignore this ignorant child's words. He meant no disrespect to–"

"SILENCE WORM! I'm interested in what the kid has to say. Please, continue,"

Ha! I've got him in the binds haven't I. Now's just matter of whether he will agree to my request or not.

"Since I'm guessing you are familiar with my body, I'm sure you've already realized that the power I had just used was a once in a life time thing. So, essentially, I just lost one of my tramp cards and are in need of a new one. That's where you come along,"

"Hold on, hold on, boy! Slow down. What do you mean that that was your last time using that trump card? We're talking about enhancing your body to be more wolf like right?"

"Correct. Though I may appear fine, and although I could transform my body back into that form, my body would immediately shut down and then I die. And we really don't want me to die, do we?"

"Hmm... That's too bad. Hey, whatever is next to the boy–"

"I'm a system goddammit!"

"Don't care. Is what the boy has said the truth?"

"First time I'm hearing of it. But since it was his first time transforming, I'd say it might be possible."

The god went silent again. I hope that in this domain there is no time drifting away cause if there is...

"Okay. I think I understand. So, you want to learn dark magic?"

"Nope,"

"Wait what?! Then what do you want?"

"I want you to be my trump card. Also, my dark mana is not compatible with dark magic so there's that,"

"...I see. But all I'm hearing is what benefit it is to you. What about me? What do I get to gain from all this?"

"Well for starters, I won't rat you out to the gods. I know most dark gods shouldn't be allowed to exist. And believe me, I've got connections with a few gods,"

"You do remember I'm a god right? I could literally destroy you from where your standing,"

"Again with the 'I am a god' bullcrap. Give it a rest, dude. If you wanted to, you'd have already done so,"

"...suppose I were to degrade my self to such a level and become as you say, 'your trump card', you have to make the offer more appealing, dude. I may be a regressed dark god on the verge of extinction, but I'd rather die with dignity than be a servant of a mortal, let alone a monster!"

"Sure, sure. Then what would you like?"

"Your body,"

"Out of the question,"

"Fine then. Before I say what I would like, I'll have to ask, where did you find this guy?"

Dark lightning struck in front of me and a hooded person appeared. He rose his head at both of us and I was caught in surprise when the new individual stared at me with such hatred. The deep scar running through his face looked like a dark lightning bolt had just so happened to go through his face.

He was obviously a dark mage, so nothing interesting about him. But why would the dark god ask me if I knew who he was. Obviously, it's my first time seeing him. Unless... Wait, dark mage...around my body... No way!

"YOU!" I roared in anger and threw myself on him before he could react. He tried fending me off but was for some reason too weak to do so. We both collapsed on the ground, but not before I had landed a solid hit on his face.

I heard the satisfying sound of his nose breaking but I wasn't done with him. Not even close.

"Hey Max! What the hell?! Why did you just attack him out of the blue?!" Bradley screamed in shock.

I ignored him and kept punching that pathetic excuse of a monster while screaming in rage.

"BECAUSE OF YOU, ALEX LOST THE CLOSEST THING HE HAD AS FAMILIY!"

The mage just numbly stared up at me with his bloodied face as he took the punches willingly till I stopped. Then, under that toothless mouth of his, he forced a smirk. Why this little....

Something inside me broke. I don't know where it came from, but suddenly, I was holding the adamantium spear in my hands.

"Say your prayers, DICKHEAD!"

Before I could drive the spear home though, a invisible force stopped me in my tracks. I angrily stared up at the dark skies once again.

"I'm going to say this once, dark god. Let go of me!" I growled up to the skies.

"That's enough of that. Can't have you killing one of my minions here, can I?" the god spoke up.

"Okay then. How about I search for a good body for you? I'll even look for a rare kind, I'll just need you to let me finish this!"

"Tempting, but still no,"

The invisible force pushed me back to Bradley. Thankfully, I was in spirit form, so my knuckles were more that okay from my outburst. The dark mage has seen better days though.

"Dude, are you sure that guy is the same one who killed Mason? And even if it is, Mason was a real piece of work, so I'll have to ask, why care about him?" Bradley asked.

"You don't get it, do you?" I said as he helped me to my feet. "Even if Alex wouldn't admit it, I've seen how he forces himself to smile when he thinks he needs to. No matter how bad or how evil one's family is, the are still family. Plus, Alex is around ten, and the only sort of family that has ever shown him affection was his brother, even if he was messed up in his own way,"

"Yeah, but still..."

"COME ON BRADLEY! YOU DON'T HAVE TO PLAY DUMB! If it weren't for me, may be....may be Mason would still be alive!"

Bradley looked at Max in surprise and shook his head.

"You've been carrying this guilt all that time since Mason died by your corrupted hand, haven't you? I'm sorry that I didn't notice it sooner, Max. I don't know what to make of this, but I do know that this wasn't entirety your fault. If I had just been a bit stronger and hold the corruption back.... but it's not in my place to tell you this," he thought.

The dark mage painfully rose from the ground and stared at us with a smug smile like he'd just won our fight. "Thank you, master, for saving my life! I'll always be in your–"

"Can it, mage! The only reason you are still alive is because I want you alive cause of your power. Hey, boy? Done with your temper tantrum? Then let's get back to business,"

"Why do you need him alive?" I growled when I finally calmed down.

"He's still useful to me. But that's besides the point. Now, due to your strong reaction, I'm guessing you have some idea of who this monster is so I'll go ahead and say a request I think will be agreeable with you,"

"Oh? And what's that?" I scoffed.

"You know my kind are all hunted to extinction due to our corrupt magic, and I'll need dark magic to recover, so how about this: Any place or any type of item that involves dark magic, I only ask that you allow this mage here to suck up the magic to get me back to full strength,"

"Really? You can't do that your self?" I asked the god.

"It would have been real easy to do that of course. Unfortunately, I'm having a bit of trouble maintaining this domain with the limited dark magic around. Thankfully, this mage here has focused all his training in absorbing such magic and transferring it here. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing he can do for now. But with a bit of training..."

"Yeah, whatever. I get you. So, we're in my index finger where I placed the ring containing the dagger, right?"

"How did you–"

"Wasn't that difficult figuring it out. Now, you got a name, or do you just like being called dark god?"

"Silence, Furrha! Don't speak to the master like tha–mmh!"

Bradley had pounced on the dark mage and was already suffocating him to death before he could utter any more words.

"Listen dude. You really don't wanna rile up that kid up right now,"

I nodded at Bradley then stared back up at the skies. "So, no name?"

"Ah... "

"Matter of fact, I'm getting a bit tired staring up at the sky. Why don't you come down from up there? A matter of mutual trust see,"

"B–but you're in spirit form, how are you getting tired?"

"Don't change the subject! Get down here you wuss!"

"Wuss?! I'll have you know–"

This god. Dodging again?! I stood up on one leg and placed my hand on my head with my pointing finger up.

"WUSS! WUSS!" I taunted the god.

The entire area rumbled in a large shock wave making me imbalanced. I could feel the vibrations through my spirit form. Guess taunting him worked.

Flashes of dark lightning blasted through the entire area, but I was sure none would come close to injuring me.

Even Bradley paused his suffocation process as he stared fearfully around him. At last, a large dark bolt that funnily reminded me of my locked spell 'Emperor's Judgement' struck just close to us.

A pissed off looking middle aged man appeared from the lightning as he stared angrily at me. He had long dark hair that flowed with the created wind in the domain. Just like any normal god, his eyes were glowing with power, but fainter than the others I saw. For a dark god, he looked very much alive, a sharp contrast to how they always appeared, almost half dead and with dark bags on their eyes.

At least, that's how they were always described. May be cause he's a god he looks a bit handsome? I'm not sure. But that Hawaiian shirt and dark jeans weren't doing a lot of justice for him. Is he really a dark god?

"Pfft..."

"See! I knew this would be be your reaction! Just because I'm a dark god, doesn't mean I can't have a vacation or two. They caught me at a bad time, those gods!"

"I–I see. I'll have to be the better man and *pfft* sorry, I didn't mean to... No I can't–HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Oh, grow up kid! It's not even that funny! Gah, whatever! So, how were you planning on sealing the deal?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

Bradley had appeared at my side and he too was having trouble holding back his laughter. The dark mage (don't care enough to know his name) was passed out cold.

"Okay... Okay. Just... a...minute. phew! I needed that. So, you're very cooperative now. You wouldn't be planning to gain enough power to steal my body now, would you?"

The god turned away from me as he scratched his chin. "No...?"

"Sure...Well, I could force you to swear on the river Styx, but I think that's over kill,"

"Wouldn't even dream of it. I'm the god Drax by the way. Just thought you should know, since we'll be doing each other favours from now on. Can't believe I'll have to depend on a mort–I mean mons–I mean friend." he said friend like it pained him.

"Doesn't make it better, but OK. I'm Max by the way. Bradley, got any ideas?" I turned to my system.

"That, I can do," Bradley produced a certain contract and passed it on to me. Surprisingly, all the details we had spoken with the god were already well written down.

"What the hell Bradley?! How did you manage to get everything down word to word?"

"I'd like to take the credit, but I'll just give you the simple truth. It's a contract. It's made to do that by their creator. And I just so happened to have one on me,"

"Seems like you are more useful than I thought, worm," the god commented, while he sat on a...wait where did he get the hammock?! More importantly, were the palm trees always there?

"Hey! Wake your bum up you lazy god! You still have to sign this document over here!"

"Ugh! Do I have to walk all that way?"

"All that wa–YOU'RE RIGHT NEXT TO ME!"

"Ugh, you're too loud. Fine already, I'm coming, I'm coming,"

To sign the contract, it required the drawing of blood and placing one drop on it. Once it was done, the contract burned up and disappeared.

Somehow I feel that crossing this contract would be a whole lot worse than than crossing the Styx curse. Better not test that theory.

"So, we done here?" the god asked as he walked back to his hammock. Did I really make the right choice with him?

"Nope, how long do I have here?"

"Probably one hour at best. I can only hold time here with new presences for so long."

"Good, then. How about you explain to me about your past? I'll have to know why you people were hunted by even the gods,"

"You want to know about my past?"

"Yes I do. And not just that, how were you able to escape from both powerful kings?"

"Well then," he stretched his hand upwards and a chair appeared in front of me. "Take a seat, kid. We're gonna be here for a while,"