At the same time—

It was dark everywhere.

The only thing that could give light was the miniature sun floating above oxy and Lucifer, while they walked past the junk's through the labyrinth-like basement. The clattering of metal filled the air, and their footsteps echoed.

"So, oxy. What's your opinion of the humans now?"

Lucifer asked as he glanced at oxy, who was silently following him.

Oxy, who was silent up till now, opened his mouth as well.

"I find that humans are...interesting."

Lucifer could see oxy's face twitching nervously, like he was trying to suppress some emotion, probably his disgust.

"It looks like I underestimated something."

Oxy muttered.

"I see, well it looks like we are making progress in that field."

Lucifer said to his companion.

"It would be good if he learn's to tolerate them somehow, we still have a lot of missions left until we can make our way to diamond rank."

"You seem to put a lot of trust in humans, Sato-san."

Oxy's voice was tinged with curiosity, he had noticed that Lucifer had been very calm and almost optimistic in their mission.

"Well, for starters humans are the dominant species on this planet so it's best not to make an enemy of them, it's also why I don't harbour animosity towards them as a whole."

"I may overstep my boundaries with what I'm about to say but Sato-san, you're clearly better than them. All of humanity should bow down to you."

"I do not think that lowly of them. I merely respect humanity as another form of life."

After a moment of contemplating, Lucifer gave his answer.

"I also do not wish to be worshipped by anyone, at the moment though. But, If I have to say something bad against humanity I'll say I'm not particularly fond of the way they're treating this planet. After we establish a decent foothold in this world, I plan to save It."

Lucifer then took a pause and asked:

"Well, do you think I'm capable of saving them?"

Lucifer questioned.

Oxy stopped and thought for a few seconds, then his lips twitched upwards into a slight smile.

"Yes! In this entire world, you're the only one who can do It."

Lucifer smiled at him.

"I'm glad to hear you think so highly of me."

"How will you save this planet, lord Lucifer?"

Oxy asked, his tone was sincere and respectful, since they were the only one's here he decided to address his master with the term which actually was fitting for him, not his alias as an mercenary.

Lucifer was slightly taken a back, he hadn't expected oxy to address him in that way. However he regained his composure soon enough and said:

"That is the question I'm trying to answer."

Lucifer replied.

"What do you mean, Lord Lucifer? I' didn't understand your words."

"Just call me Lord, that's fine. And it's fine that you didn't understand. Let me explain it to you."

Oxy nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Well, I'll put it simply.."

Lucifer paused for a moment and then said.

"What does it mean to save humanity? I'm still trying to answer that question. You see, this is my home planet. I was born here, I was raised here on these lands. Back when I was a kid, it was so great. The sun shined upon our house everyday, sometimes it rained and other times it was cloudy. When I look at the sky now, all I see are those huge clouds of smog and dust, it saddens me. I feel like an alien in my own world."

The tone of his voice was tinged with sadness, however, his face held an expressionless look, even though it was covered by his helmet.

"Can you blame me? For wanting it all back...to go back to the way it once was? No more smog and pollution. To go back to my family, my friends."

"No. I can't blame you."

Oxy replied, feeling like Lucifer was being too hard on himself.

"There are a lot of ways in which I can approach this mission of mine."

Lucifer took a pause and continued.

"But I would like to take my time before doing anything, that's why we are here in the first place, to become diamond rank mercenaries and gain influence, money, status. All of that would be needed to help us."

"But won't that take a lot of time?"

Oxy asked.

"No, I don't think it should. We've already done feats on the level of a diamond rank, The blood wolf's will help spread our legend once we're back in Neo-Tokyo and we also have the King of the Radiated forest with us to back out claims. This should be enough to give us a boost in our rankings and reputation, not to mention the money from this mission alone should keep us afloat for a while."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"I see.."

Oxy fell silent for a moment and then spoke up again. It was clear from his tone that he had a question in mind which he was contemplating in asking.

"Will we still venture with the blood wolf's after this?"

"I don't know, they're a means to an end."

Lucifer said in a cold, non-caring tone.

"Although it would be good to have their company for a little while more, I'm starting to like them."

He mused internally.

"Anyways, after we get to a decent enough rank, we have two options. Either we can grind slowly and rank up, or I can somehow stage a tragedy which will portray us as hero's."

"Ohhh.."

Oxy said, letting out an excited response.

"Tragedy like what?"

Oxy asked Lucifer.

"I'm sorry, I'm incapable of understanding the plans of someone as great as you, Lord."

"It's fine."

Lucifer replied with a slight smile.

Even though his voice was full of confidence, he didn't even know what he was talking about.

"God, what's the plan? I don't know myself."

As they continued walking, they made their way deeper in the basement until they reached a set of stairs, they looked to be almost brand new leading to a metal door showing a red holographic board saying:

["Warning, Authorised personall only."]

"Looks like we got the short end of the stick, since there were two entrances, this must be the one which is primarily used."

"And that means.."

"We'll probably be facing the bulk of the enemy force's, not that I am concerned for our safety but it's.. annoying?"

Oxy looked up at his master, hearing the annoyed tone in his voice, he clenched his hands tightly.

"You only need to give me an order, my Lord. I will clear this entire factory without you even needing to lift a finger."

Lucifer chuckled when he heard Oxy say that.

"It seems you're getting more and more attached to me."

"I..."

Oxy suddenly felt embarrassed as his face heated up, it was clear he was flushed.

"I'm just being a good servant, nothing else."

Lucifer raised his right hand up and put it on Oxy's head, gently patting him.

"You're doing a good job so far, I'm proud of you."

That was not the reply Oxy was expecting, though he was quite happy with the response he got. His face was completely red now. Lucifer chuckled again seeing how cute oxy was acting, like a attention seeking kid finally getting the praise he wanted from his dad.

"T..thank you. Lord Lucifer, Y-you're kind words..are wasted on me. I'll do my best to withhold your and the Angels of Hell's honour."

He replied with a nervous smile, looking up at his master, who was still patting his head in a fond manner.

"Do what you can."

Lucifer had to stop himself from going any further. A good boss praises his employee's to boost their morale but too much praise can sometimes create a negative effect.

"Supply and demand? I should start reading more business book's."

Ever since he had been transported to the future, he had been reading a lot of books on business, management and how one should lead their people in his free time. According to one such book, which he had read, praising your people's and employees is a very effective way of showing leadership, however, as all things go, there is a fine line between encouragement and stroking someone's ego. To be a good leader, a person has to learn how to balance their praise, and that was what Lucifer was trying to do.

It was working so far, seeing how Oxy's expression changed from a calm and collected one to a shy and timid one. Although, one little thing which he didn't know was that his creations no matter how they were treated would forever be loyal to him, no matter what. That is, if the game mechanics from Hollow were still working around him.

"Now."

Lucifer began, trying to switch the mood back to a serious one. Oxy's timid expression was wiped from his face as he stood straight at attention.

"Let us see what lies in front of us."

Lucifer walked over the stairs and towards the door, there seemed to be a small little camera just above it, a blue light came out from it, scanning his face which was immediately followed by a loud buzzing noise.

"A failure it seems."

Lucifer looked down at the door's hinges and raised up his legs, even though he was using such little strength, as his covered feet made contact with the door, a large burst of air followed through.

The impact was strong enough that the door broke easily, the metal door which would've taken a direct rocket at point black to even make it budge had a huge hole through it, as if a giant pressing machine had done it.

The door hung there by the hinges, it's edges were warped like it had been torn apart.

All of the bolts had snapped like toothpicks beneath an elephant's foot.

Lucifer retracted the foot and lowered it, and as he did, dust swirled around his foot. He peered through the massive hole where the door used to be. In front of him was a bright red hallway.

"I'm sensing a lot of living beings in here."

Oxy said as he stood beside Lucifer. It was true, there was a lot of life in the building.

"They're just enemies who need to be put down."

Lucifer said, with such disregard. Although it was true becoming a demon had suppressed most of his mortality and a sense of loyalty to his former species, It would be best to kill as little humans as possible. But, in this situation since they had to protect someone and couldn't use magic — It was needed.

"Well, let's begin."

Lucifer went through the door way that previously held the door, oxy followed silently behind him.

Once they stepped through to the other side, they found themselves in a long red hall. There were no windows, nor paintings. In the middle of the hall was a set of stairs leading upstairs and the rest of the hallway looked exactly the same as the one they were standing in. The hallway smelled of iron and dust.

Lucifer looked in front of him, his eyes scanning the room as he began walking. He hadn't taken more than a few steps inside when suddenly, with a extremely loud blast, an bomb went off in his face.

If a normal person had been in his place instead, they would've been blown to bits.

He, however was still standing tall and strong.

Not even bothered.

The explosion was loud, it echoed around the long hallway. It was loud enough that a normal person would've lost their hearing and would've been temporarily deafened. The explosion produced dust, which covered the hallway. It was almost like something from a movie. Lucifer, who just took the blast to the face was surrounded by smoke and dust. After a while, the smoke settled for a moment with bits of dust and debris continuing to fall to the ground.

Lucifer's armour hadn't been damaged one bit, not that such a weak explosion' could even harm his armour. But, there was some dust on his shoulder blades which he dusted off.

"Such cheap tricks, there's sensor's in the ground. Since I entered using force, they went off."

Lucifer said, sighing.

Oxy walked past him and into the hallway, standing beside him.

"There's probably more. Just wait here, Lord Lucifer."

Oxy said as he dashed towards the end of the hallway and back in a matter of seconds.

Since he had walked, any other bomb should've been triggered but none want off.

Upstairs the scene was a bit different, instead of a long hallway they found themselves in a roomy place. There was one door on the left wall which was labelled "Control room" and a metal door at the end and there was one room on the right labelled "living quarters."

From the room on the right, they could hear a lot of commotion, mostly human's talking, drowning each other's voices in a sea of noise.

Lucifer reached out and opened the door's to the living quarters, since there were atleast four hundred of them all over this facility, they needed to take breaks.

The inside of the living quarters was not an unpleasant sight, as it was clean and well maintained. The room was pretty big, and there were around 100 beds spread out and neatly arranged which took most of the room's space.

In the corners, there were two doors that lead to a bathroom as well as a shower, and on the opposite side of the bed, a mini fridge and a Tv. However, it was currently filled with people doing different things. Some were smoking, smoking's which had a foul smell. Some were drinking alcohol, and some looked high on something else.

All of them looked up when the door opened and immediately went silent. Their surprised faces showed their surprise when they saw Lucifer and oxy. Then after a tense moment, they immediately got up one by one, falling at attention.

"Let's get this party started."

Lucifer said, reached his hand behind him to grab the hilt of his broadsword.

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