No, they said Fling... Abek. Probably a Minotaur's name. Nothing to do with me.

"He's a friend now," Skarak says to the Infernal, who glares at me. "He has a lot of knowledge."

"Well, about that. I might have a solution for whatever your Princess is suffering from."

The gigantic Infernal moves before I can even brace. He lifts me off the floor, and he slams me into the wall so hard that all the air leaves my lungs. Stone grinds through my back, and spots swarm in my vision.

"Do not mock Her Highness," the Infernal says. Tears run down his very red skin and leave clean tracks.

"I'm... not... mocking..." I force the words out one at a time.

"Eliskar, put him down," Skarak says, and he lays a hand on the giant's shoulder. "Cloud, do you know what you're talking about? You think you can help the Princess?"

"Well, I happen to read a lot about this King Baalrek of yours. My master is sort of an expert on him. He is a terrible, rotten character, yet his ways and Skills are deceptively simple because he was a simple‑minded, petty character."

All three Infernals nod when I say simple‑minded and petty.

I AM NOT...

Shut up. A Royal Infernal Princess might be about to be crippled because of your stupidity. Would you like to help someone in the Royal lineage or not?

I... I...

I hear King Baalrek hesitate and fall quiet.

Bring me to her. These children nowadays need their hands held at every step.

"If you bring me to her, I promise I will be able to help."

They trade a look, and then they lift me and run through the doorway. The corridor blurs, and the torches smear into orange streaks. The floor pounds under their boots, and the dormitory air smells like oil and hot metal.

* * *

They drop me beside a wide bed. It is not one of the Academy bunks. The frame stands carved with infernal glyphs, and the mattress sits thick and soft with a quilt that drinks the lamplight.

I barely see the bed because a woman lies on it, passed out. She looks like the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. My throat tightens when I take in the sheen of sweat that beads on her fully red skin and the fall of white hair across the pillow. Heat floods my face until I probably look like one of them. I pull my eyes to her breathing so that I do not stare where I should not.

"Princess Iskara's Skill... we don't know the name. She never told us. But it's a Constitution Skill. What can you do, Cloud? Can you help her?"

You can. It is manageable. Thankfully, this child, this daughter of my people, is strong, Cloud. Unlike you, it makes sense that she would survive one of my trials. She looks like one of the best of my kind I have ever seen. Her talent is so pure. Tell them to back away. You need their mana away from you. Five meters away.

More Royal Guards crowd the room with weapons at their hips and potions at their belts. I cough because the request feels awkward.

"So, I need everyone to step five meters away from me and from her. The mana is going haywire in here. I need your signatures out of the process."

"Is this serious? Are we letting this human touch Princess Iskara?" a guard I do not know growls through his teeth.

"He's a friend," Skarak says. "He seems to know a lot about our people."

"A human?!" another spits the word as if it carries poison.

"The Princess's condition has gone beyond what we can do," Eliskar says. He looks like the head of the Royal Guard. "Human, if you do anything funny, I will do things to your soul that make Divine Torture sound like a walk in the park."

"What's Divine... you know what, nothing. Okay, I'll start."

King Baalrek, what do I do?

I need to know, Cloud, which Skill is wreaking havoc in her body. My senses do not reach her soul because her mana is too dense.

I trigger the Grimoire and I whistle under my breath.

[Running the Analysis]

Skill Found.]

[Lucifer's Veins (Rainbow Skill)]

Dammit. She has Lucifer's Veins. Does that sound familiar?

King Baalrek's voice catches in my head. I do not know how that even happens, yet he sounds like he just inhaled his own spit.

She found THAT heritage? His voice trembles. Now I understand why it cripples her. She does not know how to control it. That was meant to be one of my most remote heritages. She found the Skill of our first progenitor. It appears once every five hundred thousand years.

Damn. It makes me jealous.

Whatever you used to peer into her soul tells me yours is not an Aetherium Skill, which I already suspect. Up to Aetherium, Skill cost scales with the Rank. You would burn your eyes and your soul every time you tried to activate an Aetherium Skill. You have a Rainbow Skill. Given your Class, you just confirmed which one. I regret that I cannot kill you anymore.

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What?

The Princess, King Baalrek sighs. Save her, and I will become your master. This girl is meant to bring the Infernals back. She is the true heir. But she found the right Skill at the wrong moment. That she could absorb it without dying speaks of immense talent. Save her life, Cloud, and I will mostly stop trying to kill you. I will never reveal your Rainbow Skill. You will swear to me, on your soul and not on blood, that you will never speak of her Skill to anyone outside me and her.

Wow, you are really serious.

I swear, Jacob Cloud, that I shall not try to kill you, whether to favor my people or because I hate you or for any other reason. I shall refrain from attempting to murder you in any way. I still refuse to interfere with your death. I may point you toward things you need that will get you killed if you do not rise to the occasion. I will, however, be more benevolent and try not to point you at things that are impossible for you. Now that I know your Rainbow Skill, that cursed book, I shall tailor challenges to your abilities. I will be your master, and I shall guide you in following the Infernal path that you have chosen. I will guide you in our customs and our culture, our Skills and our laws. You will be treated like a true Infernal by me. I swear on my soul. May it shatter if I break this oath.

Okay, I mutter inside. I swear that I shall never speak of her Rainbow Skill without Princess... Iskara?

Yes.

I swear that I shall never speak about her Rainbow Skill without Princess Iskara's consent, not to anyone outside you and her. I swear that I will try my best to save her life. I swear that I will try to save her life to the best of my abilities. I swear on my soul. May it shatter if I break this oath.

I take a long breath.

Okay, this is good, I think, and I keep the thought away from the Royal Infernal in my soul. Now King Baalrek knows about the Rainbow Skill. He does not want to kill me, not that much at least. And I get an actual master. This Princess must be very important to him, which makes sense if she has a Rainbow Skill.

I flex my hands and I wait.

Undress her, King Baalrek says.

Wait, what?

You heard me.

I cannot undress a princess. Are you out of your mind? These Royal Guards will kill me.

Tell them you need to inscribe blood diagrams on her body. Tell them you can use Hellblood.

Can I?

Anyone with Infernal heritage can.

Wait, I also need to reveal that I am an Infernal?

Cloud, her time runs out. She is not about to be crippled. She is about to die.

I fucking hate this so much.

"Guys," I say to the Royal Guards. "I need to inscribe blood diagrams with Hellblood on her body to..."

Let the stagnating Mana that wreaks havoc in her body be released.

"Let the stagnating Mana that wreaks havoc in her body be released. But that means I need to undress the Princess."

The room erupts as I expect.

"Okay, I am killing this bastard," one says.

"Give the Princess another potion and then skin him alive."

"Find some hounds and play a game with him."

"SILENCE!" Eliskar thunders.

Every guard straightens.

"Do what you must."

"Yes, I will. I am sorry about—"

"START, HUMAN!" Eliskar shouts, and I jump.

"Yes, yes."

I turn to Princess Iskara and I work at the clasps with careful hands. I undress her because I have to, not because I want to. Her red skin looks soft and warm, and the heat that comes off her feels like a fever. My fingers brush her shoulder, and the skin yields under the lightest touch. I look away when I can because respect matters and because she does not know me. Something in my chest tightens when I see how strong and fragile she looks at the same time. I tell myself to move faster and to keep my eyes where they should be.

Fuck, I think, and I fight the urge to stare. What now?

Open your wrists. You will need your blood. Activate Infernal Veins.

"Wait, did the human say Hellblood?"

"Yeah? How does he think..."

Fuck my life.

I activate Infernal Veins. A translucent pair of long horns rises from my forehead, and thin black lines crawl across my skin like ink that chooses its path.

"ORDER!" Eliskar shouts. "ORDER!"

He catches the uproar before it breaks. The guards freeze and hold their tongues.

I cut my wrists and let the blood pour into my palms while I lean over her. I listen to Baalrek and I obey.

From her eyes, draw lines of blood to her shoulders along the sides of her neck. Bring them back to her mouth, but pass the clavicle first. From the clavicle, take them above the middle of the neck. Keep them straight and parallel.

I draw the lines he describes. The blood gleams like black wine on her red skin.

Good. Do not overlap the diagram you just drew. Start lower on the shoulder. Follow the clavicle and go one-third toward the center of her chest.

You do not mean...

Cloud, this is a ritual. Stay focused.

I breathe, and my hands still. Tears prick because I hate the position this puts her in, yet I see that Eliskar has turned every guard away to give his Princess privacy. Only he watches me, and his eyes warn me to keep my hands honest.

Finish the lines across the middle of the chest. Do not let your hand shake. Good. Loop them to the sides of her ribcage. Good. Take the lines back to the outside of her chest. Join them where they began.

I close the loop and steady my breath. My fingertips feel the warmth of her ribs and the rise and fall of her breath, and I keep my touch gentle.

Start from the bottom of her ribcage. From there, move to the side of her leg and reach her knee. Loop back. Touch the hip bone. From the hip bone, arch the lines of blood above her navel. From the navel, reverse the arch and bring it back to the side of the ribcage.

I trace the path Baalrek commands. Sweat runs down my temples and stings my eyes, and my arms ache from holding them out. The last line meets the first, and the pattern settles across her like a net.

Finally, the diagram stands complete.

Repeat every word after me. I will break it down for you. This is Ancient Infernal.

I repeat the words. They sound like gibberish to me, yet gasps rise behind us. The blood begins to move over her skin like a river in a storm. It races around the circuit that King Baalrek makes me draw.

A demonic face swells above Princess Iskara's body, and it lets out a cold laugh. It vanishes as fast as it came. Three tight spheres of Mana appear over her chest. Her body stops shaking. A giant lance of Mana erupts a heartbeat later, and it punches through the enchanted ceiling and spears the sky.

Later, we learn that the entire city sees the red ray pierce the clouds and hold for ten seconds.

I sigh, and my body trembles from the blood and the Mana I just spent. The words drain me in a way that leaves my knees weak.

You fulfilled your part of the oath, Jacob Cloud. I shall fulfill mine now.

I nod, and I fight the faintness.

Princess Iskara trembles once, and her chest steadies.

Eliskar steps closer, and he holds his breath.

Princess Iskara opens her eyes and looks at me with confusion.

She looks down at her naked body.

She looks at me again.

This time, confusion gives way to killing intent.

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