Time

15 Minutes have passed since the start of the fight. It was ok, I still had plenty of time. I just need to get her to surrender in these remaining 15 minutes.

There is no way this haughty, delicate witch ever experienced pain. She will cave easily.

And so, I brutally assaulted Beatrice.

I stabbed her arms and legs repeatedly, punched her. I tried every horrifying thing imaginable to get her to give in. But Beatrice remained steadfast. And in the end, In my frantic attempt to get her to surrender, I finally pushed her too hard.

“The winner is Mari Beta!”

Dumbfounded, I stared at the lifeless, bloody corpse of Beatrice. It didn't remain lifeless for long, as right after Ben gave me this hollow victory she returned to life.

“You are a moron”, where the only parting words Beatrice left me with, before the two of us where teleported out of the arena.

Just as the last two times the official congratulated me on my victory and wished me luck in tomorrows battle.

Despite the fact that I had only about 12 hours left to life, I found myself remarkably calm. I decided to spend the time to get my affairs in order. I handed Fisti over to Aiju to move back with her to her home village. I also gave the two girls half of my price money and told them to forget all about me once my orders where carried out. They where devastated, but this was the only proper course of action.

That left Cassandra. The huntress didn't pay much attention to the proceedings, preferring to stare at the opposite wall instead.

“What will happen”, I finally asked. “To you.”

“Well”, Cassandra started with a sigh. “This is a bit of a grey area, but most likely I will be **** to commit suicide.”

“That wasn't what you said yesterday.”

Cassandra shrugged. “As it happens, safety orders do not prevent you from lying.”

“Are you lying to me right now? Is this a trick so that I let you go? Tell the truth.”

“No.” The response came instantly. “Based on how fucking thorough they are, this is not a loophole these fuckers would allow to remain unpatched.”

“This is insane.” I shook my head. “There has to be a way out of this. Can't I just order you not to die?”

“Of course not.” Cassandra gave me an indifferent look. “The whole point of the safety orders is to not leave a loophole like this. Maybe if we had more time and a lot more money we could go to Zeth. Have some of the mages there take a crack at the spell.”

“In that case lets do that!”, I proposed “We still have pretty much half a day of a head start.”

“Forget it”, Cassandra shot me down. “Once a devil contract is sealed, they will have their due. Even if you managed to somehow kill that smarmy bitch, another would take her place.”

“Oh...” I had nothing else to say, well besides. “I’m sorry.”

“Why do you care so much about what happens to me?” Cassandra looked genuinely taken aback. “I’m a slaver. You despise me. You should be happy that I won’t escape punishment.”

“That doesn’t mean you deserve to die”, I snapped.

“Daddy”, Cassandra smirked. “You have no idea what I deserve. But if it makes you feel better, can I ask for something?”

“What?”

“Let me spend my last hours as I please and also allow me to kill myself on my own terms.”

The remaining hours passed in a daze.

Strangely, the thought of spending my prize money for one last day in luxury did not appeal to me. Instead, I asked at the reception if it was possible to transfer my remaining money to my brother. It was and so I did. After that I merely waited calmly for Femto to show up.

“Morning, Loser”, she greeted me 10 minutes before ten. “Ready to give me your soul?”

I looked up at the devil with a surprising amount of disinterest. “What, dropped the sleazy salesman act?”

“Oh, we are way past that, sugar”, Femto groaned loudly. “You do know that this was just about the worst possible outcome for me, right? You have no idea what I just went through to explain to Bea why I was a no show for her fight. But, it’s ok. I pulled it off. It’s fine. Everything is fine.”

“Good for you. I care very much”, I replied sarcastically.

“Guess not. You probably do care about what is going to happen to you, right?”

For half a heartbeat I considered that the devil might have pity and spare me. “Tell me.”

Femto scratched her horns in an almost bashful gesture. “Well, you didn't rat me out and Beatrice did sorta plead with me to go easy on you. So here is the deal. I'm going to make this as painless as possible. One moment you will exist and then pop, you won't. Sounds good?”

“Sounds lovely.” And then, despite everything, I just had to laugh. “This is going easy on me?”

Femto showed me a vicious grin. “Oh, believe me. There are much worse fates out there then simply ceasing to exist.”

I suppose that was true. I took a deep breath. This is it, huh? End of the line for me.

“So, you ready?”, the devil asked.

“Ready as I will ever be. Just...” I hesitated. “Beatrice told you to go easy on me?”

“Sure did.”

I admittedly had a hard time believing that. I mercilessly tortured her and the haughty witch didn't strike me as a very forgiving person.

Femto gave me a surprisingly somber look. “Bea is a lot frailer then you think. She did not expect her plan to fail. And this outcome, its not something she desires. Frankly, you should have just surrendered.”

Maybe I should have. I sure made a botch of things.

“Aaaanyways”, the devil stretched herself. “Very tragic and all that but mind if we get this show on the road? Oh, anything you want me to tell, Bea? I do it free of charge, as long as it isn't detrimental for me, of course.”

I pondered that for a bit. These would be the final words of my existence after all. “Thank you.”

Femto chuckled at that. “Oh that...that is good. She will hate that.”

Then, the Devil stepped towards me and put her hand on my chest. “So long, Mari. Was fun.”

There was a strange warm feeling and then

Nothingness End