Chapter 9 - Slavery Contract

A time before...

On a plain covered with endless brown grass, a young man with slightly long black hair was lying face down. His body and clothes were covered with blood and his skin was pale. His eyes slowly opened, they were a pair of cold, sharp golden eyes.

"That's the second floor..."

Uriel looked around as he stood up from the vast lawn. Just then, his face turned upwards.

'Soon it should begin... Then I should get ready too.'

He raised his hand slightly. A ring could be seen on one of his fingers—the Storage Ring. This ring was one of the only things Uriel managed to bring with him before he was 'expelled' from the Abyss.

A glow radiated from the ring and a cloak came out of it.

'The Cloak of Stealth.'

Uriel observed lightly.

This cloak was made using the skin of the Gray-Eyed Snake. This snake was one of the first beasts he killed in the Abyss. At the time it took him several days to find this snake. The Gray-Eyed Snake has a certain stealth effect. Its smell has the power to confuse a person's senses and make that person unconsciously ignore it, of course, if a person has a certain level of power or heightened senses it would be easy to find the snake.

The Cloak of Stealth was made using the skin of this snake and has the effect of making people unconsciously ignore everything within a 10-meter radius of the wearer.

'For what I'm going to do, it would be better to wear this cloak and not attract so much attention, at least for now...'

Uriel put on the Cloak of Stealth and in an instant, only his golden eyes could be seen over the cloak.

He smiled slightly over the cloak and his gaze turned to the sky.

'Normally this could not fool a Ranker's senses, however, it has a seventy percent chance that the Ranker assigned to the first 2nd Floor test is one of those types of people...'

A moment later...

Bzzzzz-

"Microphone test! One! Two! Three! Ah! Ah!!! Hello, folks! Regular members who have entered the Tower. This is the 2nd Floor, and I sincerely welcome you to the Testing Floor!"

An excited voice sounded coming from a strange cube floating in the sky echoed.

"The Testing Floor is called so because it is on this floor that you are tested if you are worthy of climbing this Tower! Well, well, let's forget the small details! Since I don't like things too complicated, in this test you must only survive for 30 minutes and you will automatically pass this test!"

Uriel smiled.

'A simple person who doesn't seem to particularly care about details.'

"So, Regulars! Good luck to you all and let the test begin!"

Step! Step!

Uriel began to walk calmly across the lawn.

When suddenly—

'Oh?'

He raised an eyebrow slightly and his hand moved like a blur.

"Keuk...!"

A groan of pain sounded behind him. His hand was holding the neck of a small boy. The boy was wearing strange black clothes and his body was writhing as he tried to remove Uriel's hand from his neck.

"Let me go!"

The boy looked at Uriel with anger in his eyes.

'An assassin? His senses nor his strength are enough to see through the Cloak of Stealth, did he see me putting on the cloak?'

Uriel watched carefully. His hand instead of relaxing its grip began to apply even more force on the boy's neck.

"Heok...! I said let go!"

The boy growled and his hand holding a small dagger moved like lightning towards Uriel's face. However, a cold glint flickered in Uriel's eyes, the strength in his hand increased, and...

"Aaaaargh!!! No, no...!"

Crack!

The boy's neck bent to the side and blood spurted uncontrollably. Uriel relaxed his grip and the boy's dead body fell to the ground.

"Anyway, thank you for your noble sacrifice, little assassin."

Uriel smiled and took the small dagger from the boy's hand. The next moment, he spun the dagger slightly and, struck towards the corpse on the ground.

Splash!

Blood splashed again, and Uriel held something completely bloody in his hand. A heart!

Uriel smiled deeply and stored the heart in his Storage Ring. He turned around and continued his walk across the lawn calmly.

'It would be perfect a minimum of fifteen before the end of the test... This Tower is really interesting, hehe.'

***

"No what?"

"Uh...?"

Arisha turned her confused little head toward the voice. There she saw the hooded man sitting on the grass looking at her curiously.

"Ah! You maybe...? You thought it was your end? Pfft... hahaha! You had to see your expression, it was hilarious! Puhehehehehehehehe...!"

The hooded man laughed and slapped his hands on his leg as if he had just heard a good joke.

"I... I..."

Arisha was confused. Hadn't she been split in half and died? She raised her hands slightly, and there she saw her perfect, beautiful hands.

'My arm came back...?'

She couldn't understand. Soon, a sense of joy came over her and she began to laugh along with the hooded man.

"Hehehehehehahaha...!"

"Puhehehehehehehehe...!"

"So I'm still alive? Hehehehahahaha...!"

"Puhehehe— Eh? Ah, that... You're definitely dead."

"Hahaha... haha... ha ha... huh?!"

Arisha's laughter began to stop, as a confused expression appeared on her face again. She saw the hooded man pointing at the ground and as she turned her face to the grass...

"Ahhhhhh!"

There she saw it, the lawn littered with blood, flesh, and organs were strewn about. And two halves of a body—her body!

"T-t-that... that's impossible!"

She shook her head desperately, in disbelief of it all. At that moment, a hand lightly touched her shoulder.

"You didn't think you were dead? What a sad thing."

Arisha's body was trembling.

"You... you...!"

Her beautiful face contorted with hatred and she turned a punch toward the hooded man's face, however...

Woosh!

Her fist went right through his face.

"Opa, try again who knows you might hit it. Hehehe."

Arisha gritted her teeth in hatred and soon threw her fist again.

Woosh!

Woosh!

Woosh!

"Oh, that was close. Try one more time."

Woosh!

"Damn...! Damn...! Damn...!"

Woosh!

No matter how many times she give a punch, every time her fist went through the hooded man's head.

She soon gave up and crouched on the ground with a sad expression. She tried to cry, but the tears did not come out of her eyes.

"Damn... Sniff... Sniff... Why?"

'How could someone like me end up like that? Me, a direct descendant of the Arie Family? This damned guy...! Wait!'

Her eyes sparkled momentarily. If this guy made her like this, he must know how to get her back to normal, right? She pondered for a moment and quickly turned her face towards the hooded man.

"What do you want? You could have just killed me, but still only left me in this state. You must want something from me, right?"

As if expecting her to ask this, a smile appeared over the darkness in the hood.

"Weren't you the one who said you would be my servant? I don't believe in empty promises. Then..."

The hooded man tossed a strange piece of paper in her direction.

"Sign this."

Arisha frowned and held up the strange paper.

'What is it?'

Her eyes began to read the contents of the paper. A moment later, a deep frown appeared on her face. It was a contract of slavery. By signing this contract, she would be a true slave. Her life would be controlled by the hooded man and she would have to unconditionally follow anything he asked of her.

Arisha bit her lips hard.

'If he gave me this contract with such confidence, that means it is no ordinary contract. Maybe it can have some special effect that makes it impossible to disobey the rules of the contract.'

Her hands trembled. Signing this is the same thing as becoming his servant for the rest of her life.

However...

'This is the only way I can get out of this alive. Besides, who knows if there isn't a way to break this contract?'

She tried to relieve herself, but she couldn't. What if there was no way to get rid of this contract in the future? However, signing that contract is the only thing she could do now.

"Sigh..."

She gave a frustrated sigh and looked at the hooded man who was quietly watching her.

"Very well, I will sign that contract."

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Wonderful! You only need to make a bruise on your body, or soul, and pour on top of the contract the blood."

The hooded man clapped as he instructed her. Arisha's face contorted in disgust and she bit her finger and the next moment let the blood from her finger drip on top of the contract.

Flash!

A glow came off the contract and a sort of transparent chain seemed to connect her and the hooded man momentarily. She could feel a strange sensation between her and the hooded man.

'Done...'

Arisha can't help but moan softly. Now she would be a slave for the rest of her life. She, a direct descendant of the Arie Family!

Meanwhile, the hooded man, Uriel, smiled internally.

'Who would have thought that contract from that God of Suicides would come in handy sometimes in life. It was worth keeping.'

Previously he had planned to kill Arisha. However, after learning that she was a direct descendant, he only split her physical body in half and forcibly removed her soul. Even if he couldn't control a soul, his swordsmanship could cut a person's physical body and leave her soul intact. It was actually something very easy for people in the Abyss.

He squinted his eyes at Arisha who was crying with her shoulders slumped.

'Direct descendant of the Arie Family. For what I will be doing, a Princess of Zahard would be better.'

However, he didn't know if he would be able to find one in time, and besides, he didn't know if Zahard's power in their bodies could block the contract.

'But it's still fine. It's not very good to be too greedy. In this test, I can use her to collect some hearts, and for what I'm planning on this Floor she's going to be a very important piece. Overall, she will be useful until the 20th Floor, but after that...'

Uriel smiled silently.

'I can keep my promise too and bury the corpse of my first servant. After all I am an honest person who keeps his promises.'

Clap! Clap!

Uriel clapped his hands and drew Arisha's attention to him.

"Well done! Now that the contract is made, I will heal your corpse and return your soul to it."

Arisha nodded her head anxiously. Her eyes were shining brightly. She had signed this contract just so she could live again.

"Just be careful because if the process fails you might actually end up dying."

Arisha felt a twinge in her heart, but could only nod helplessly.

Uriel soon began to remove some things from his Storage Ring.

2 minutes later.

Uriel wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead and looked at the now fully recovered body of Arisha on the floor.

"Right. Now just close your eyes and touch your corpse, be careful."

"Yes, m-master!"

Arisha was anxious and worried. She quickly followed his instructions and closed her eyes and her hand touched the corpse.

"Ops, failed!"

Arisha's whole body shuddered upon hearing that.

"No! Please don't!"

"Hahaha, I was only joking. Didn't you realize that you can control your body again?"

Arisha was surprised and realized that she was lying on the vast lawn. She stood up and a relieved sigh came out of her mouth.

"Whew..."

She almost felt her heart stop as she heard Uriel's joke.

Uriel ignored her for a moment and turned his gaze in a certain direction. A solemn look appeared on his face.

'The Shinsu Flow over there is completely different. So that guy is there?'

He looked at Arisha with the corner of his eyes and started walking in that direction.

"Follow me, we are heading there."

"Yes, master!"