A sharp chime echoed directly inside his skull. The glowing blue interface flickered and rewrote the text right in front of her face.
[ Quest Updated: Convince the Demon Princess. ]
[ Reward: Survival. ]
[ Failure/Penalty: Death. ]
Vance stared at the revised text. The system had entirely removed the lust point and the SSS-rank weapon, reducing the grand prize to simply staying alive. He rubbed his bruised throat and glanced down at his left hand.
"I have a foolproof hiding spot," Vance said, raising his hand to display the platinum band resting on his finger. "This is an SSS-rank dimensional artifact with infinite storage capacity. If you voluntarily enter the void space inside this ring, the Heroes and guilds will never find you. You can recover your strength while I carry you out of this floor."
Asmodeus scoffed, baring her fangs in an open display of mockery. "You want me to lock myself inside a cage strapped to your finger? You could easily walk right up to an S-rank hero and dump me directly onto their swords. I refuse to hand you my leash."
"We form a Soul Binding Vow," Vance countered, lowering his hand. "We establish absolute terms and conditions. If either of us breaks the contract, the violator dies instantly. The magic binds our souls to the agreement."
Her wings twitched in consideration. "I accept the vow. I will dictate the terms of our arrangement, however."
"Absolutely no chance," Vance said, shaking his head. "You would just write a loophole to slaughter me the second we exit the Tower. We both set the terms together and sign the contract mutually."
Vance bit the tip of his thumb until a bead of crimson welled up on the skin. He pressed his bleeding digit against the cavern wall, invoking the laws of the Tower to initiate the contract.
A glowing golden parchment materialized in the space between them. He immediately began drafting his demands through pure thought, watching the golden text scroll across the magical document.
He outlined a completely one-sided agreement. Asmodeus had to follow his every command without question. She could never harm him, betray him, or defy his orders. She was strictly forbidden from attacking anyone else unless he explicitly commanded it. Every single line stripped away her autonomy and placed her entirely under his absolute control.
Asmodeus leaned forward to read the floating golden text. Her upper lip curled back, and her flawless features twisted into an expression of profound disgust.
"I would rather let the Vanguard chop me to pieces than sign myself over as your eternal slave," she spat, raising a clawed hand toward his throat. "You are trying to leash a royal demon with the collar of a street dog."
She pressed her own claw against the glowing parchment. The golden letters violently rearranged themselves under her command, erasing Vance's manipulative demands entirely. She replaced them with a strictly neutral pact.
Neither party could betray, harm, or abandon the other. They were bound by a pact of absolute mutual preservation. She added a final, unbreakable clause to prevent Vance from simply leading her into a death trap to free himself.
If one of them perished by any means, the other would instantly suffer the exact same fate. They were now permanently tethered together, forcing them to protect one another at all costs.
The golden parchment glowed between them, illuminating the dark dust settling over the cavern floor. Vance pressed his bloody thumb against the magically amended text, sealing the mutual preservation pact.
Asmodeus mirrored the gesture with her ink-black claw. The golden letters flared brilliantly before dissolving into two ethereal chains that sank directly into their chests.
"Do not make me regret this arrangement, mortal," Asmodeus warned, her violet eyes flashing in the gloom.
"You will never regret this," Vance promised, wiping the remaining blood from his thumb onto his trousers. "We both get exactly what we need to survive."
Asmodeus gestured toward his left hand. "Activate the artifact. I need to conceal myself before the Vanguard breach the cavern."
"You cannot go inside just yet," Vance said, pulling the platinum ring off his finger. "Think about the logistics. A thirty-sixth-floor boss intercepts a logistics team, everyone teleports away except the unawakened porter, and an hour later an army of S-rank heroes finds that same porter completely unharmed. They will drag me to an interrogation black site. They will confiscate every single item on my person, including this ring."
Her leathery wings twitched as she processed the tactical reality. "What are you suggesting?"
"I need to hide the ring somewhere in this cavern," Vance explained, scanning the fractured rock walls. "And you need to beat me until I am bleeding out on the floor. Avoid my vitals, but put me in a near-death state. Once the heroes find my mangled body, they will assume you tortured me and left me for dead before fleeing. I will return to this exact spot to retrieve the ring as soon as I recover."
Asmodeus stared at his frail human frame, extending her claws slightly. "Our souls are bound. If I misjudge my strength and accidentally crush your fragile heart, the contract will slaughter me instantly. I refuse to risk my life on a margin of error."
"You are the Demon Princess," Vance countered, injecting a heavy dose of reverence into his voice to stroke her ego. "A royal of your lineage possesses absolute mastery over her own power. I trust your control perfectly. You know exactly how to push a mortal to the brink without tipping them over the edge."
He walked over to a cluster of shattered stalagmites and crouched down. Finding a deep, narrow fissure in the stone base, he wedged the platinum band deep into the darkness where the ambient crystal light could not reflect off the metal.
Vance stood up and turned to face the towering demonic entity. His stomach twisted into a tight knot, his pulse hammering a frantic beat against his bruised throat. Dying right here remained an absolute certainty if he did not commit to the gamble. He spread his arms wide and braced his boots against the gravel.
"Make it look convincing," Vance muttered.
Asmodeus smiled. A deeply sadistic gleam ignited in her violet eyes. She closed the distance in a blur of crimson silk and leather. Her fist buried itself into his stomach, lifting him completely off his feet. The impact shattered a rib and forced every ounce of oxygen from his lungs. Vance collapsed to the stone floor, violently gasping for breath as blood flooded his mouth.
'Fuck she is going all out!'
Before he could even register the agony, her heavy boot slammed into his shoulder. Bone cracked loudly in the echoing cavern. Her fangs bared in a wide, genuinely delighted smile, relishing the opportunity to inflict physical torment without lethal consequence.
'It fucking hurts! Why did I come up with such a stupid plan?'
She hoisted him up by his uniform collar and hurled him into the cavern wall. The stone tore through his clothes and scraped his skin to the bone.
Agony flared through his entire nervous system. He coughed violently, splattering dark blood across the gravel, his vision instantly narrowing into a blurry tunnel. Asmodeus stood over him, admiring her handiwork as she prepared another strike.
'This bitch is enjoying this! I will take revenge some day!'
Vance squeezed his eyes shut as a final, crushing blow connected with the side of his head. The cavern spun violently, and the agonizing pain vanished into a sudden blackness.
Asmodeus watched his battered body go entirely limp. Stepping over his bleeding form, the demon princess dissolved into a stream of dark purple mist and funneled herself directly into the hidden crevice, vanishing inside the SSS-rank spatial ring.