"You won’t tell me how to find Mitzrael?" Matthew asked once Tylith’s song was over.

"Why should I?" Vine asked him clearly drunk.

Matthew got quiet thinking. He had no way to sway the demon king.

"And if I ask nicely?" Tylith suddenly asked and sat on Matthew’s lap, passing her arms around his neck.

The demon king’s face contorted visibly in jealousy. But the promise of something more made him stay put.

"What do you mean by ’nicely’?" Vine asked.

"You know what I mean." Tylith’s voice went low and seductive.

"Really? Why?" The demon king was incredulous.

"You don’t need to do this, Tylith." Matthew protested. "I won’t harm you if you don’t help us."

"Oh dear..." Tylith caressed Matthew’s face. "It became obvious you wouldn’t a long time ago."

"Then why?" Matthew asked.

"Because I want a favor from you and you can’t say no." Tylith smiled and kissed his forehead.

"What favor?"

"It’s a secret dummy." She giggled and shifted to sit on Vine’s lap. "Deal? Or you’ll search for your angel all over Ira on yourselves?" The succubus asked playfully.

"Deal." Matthew responded, vexed.

The lion-faced demon didn’t wait a second and started to lick the succubus neck.

"You’ll finally have me, big guy." Tylith moaned.

"Where is Mitzrael?" Matthew asked, interrupting them.

"Tell Charon to ferry you to the temple of the Safekeeper. Tell him I allowed it." Vine got up, carrying Tylith in his arms, and hurried with her upstairs while she giggled.

Ffyr came to him after that and asked:

"Did he tell you?"

"He did. But because of Tylith. She wants something and I’m scared of what." Matthew commented.

"Good. Can we leave now?" Ffyr asked, holding herself.

The gazes of the other patrons on her gave her the shivers. A fight had broken out and a couple was having sex on top of a table. Things were getting more agitated.

"Yeah. It’s better we leave." Matthew agreed, taking her hand and leaving the palace with her.

Upon arriving in their room, Avariel quickly questioned him about the archangel.

"Vine gave us permission to go to the temple of the Safekeeper." Matthew said, taking off his jacket and drinking some water to dull the alcohol in his veins.

"So he has a secret temple that only few people know about?" Nanael thought out loud.

"The demon king said he still fulfills his duties, but doesn’t stay in the city." Matthew laid down. "He said to find someone named Charon and ask him to ferry us there."

"Then tomorrow we’ll go." Avariel said and held his sister’s hand. They were very close now.

Tylith came to them first thing in the morning. They met at the inn’s dining hall.

"Had fun last night?" Avariel asked in a bad mood.

"A whole lot." Tylith smiled, stretching herself. She had a big bite mark on her belly the shape of a lion’s mouth.

"So..." Matthew called her attention while eating some bread with sausages. "What did you want? For your help, I mean."

The succubus sat down in front of him and looked him in the eyes.

"A kiss." She smiled seductively.

"Stop playing games." Matthew warned her.

"Ok... Ok." Tylith sighed. "I want you to take me to Earth."

"Why?" Matthew asked.

"Because I’m tired of this place. The lower hells are too violent. The upper hells are too boring. I hear that on Earth you have huge buildings just for having fun. Billions of men for me to get my taste." She said, stealing one of Matthew’s sausages. "I’m bored here."

"I don’t think that’s wise." Matthew said, trying to dissuade her.

"I said you couldn’t say no." Tylith bit the sausage in a menacing way. "I can always ask the Black Rider to stop you from reaching the Safekeeper."

Matthew thought for a couple of seconds.

"Succubi aren’t as violent as imps and other demons. If she can control her more aggressive impulses, I think she can adapt to life on Earth." Nanael said.

"Nana!" Avariel admonished her. "She’s a demon regardless." The angel warned her sister.

"There are worse people down there than demons." Ffyr said, remembering their past with some vile people.

"Can you promise not to harm anyone on Earth?" Matthew asked Tylith.

"I can. I don’t really like violence... Well, I don’t like fighting. But it’s always fun watching some blood being spilled." She laughed.

"Don’t make people kill each other." Matthew sighed.

"All right, all right. No killing." Tylith agreed.

"Ok, now that that’s settled, let’s go." Avariel said, getting up and moving towards the city gates.

Just outside the city, crossing just a few yards of swampland, the river Styx roared violently. Thousands of Damanata fought each other in the turbulent waters, hurling curses and throwing punches.

There was a small house by the river where a big black boat was tied to a pier. There lived Charon, the boatmen. An old man with a very thin frame and long white hair and beard.

Charon was sitting on the pier with a crude fishing rod on his hand and covered with a dark blue robe.

"Greetings." He said without turning his head when they got near. "Got quite a party there." The boatman commented. "Very unusual indeed."

"We need to ferry across the river." Matthew asked.

"Why don’t you just fly? You angels keep just ignoring me and flying above my river nonetheless." He said bitterly.

"We don’t know where we’re supposed to go." Nanael said to him softly.

"Where do you want to go?" Charon asked, turning around and raising an eyebrow.

"The Safekeeper temple." Avariel said.

"Can’t take you there." Charon turned back to the river rudely.

"Vine gave us permission." Matthew said.

Charon turned to Matthew and stared at him for a while.

"Guess he did, didn’t he? Not many would use his name to lie in his own realm." The boatman got up and dusted his robe. Then the old man raised his hand expecting something to be given to him. "Payment."

"How much?" Matthew asked counting his inventory through his stat screen.

"A coin for each." Charon said.

"I don’t have coins. I only have crude crystals." Matthew said to him.

"You need coins." Charon insisted.

"Which type of coin?" Matthew asked.

"Any type." Tylith interrupted them, producing 5 copper coins from a small purse she had around her waist. "I knew you wouldn’t be ready." She smiled at Matthew.

"Good. Good!" Charon said, taking the coins and putting them inside his robe.

When all of them got inside the boat, the boatman took a huge wooden quant pole and pushed the pier away.

"Disregard the dead in the water, if you fall in the Styx you won’t come out. They will pull you in." Charon warned them while navigating masterfully through the troubled waters.

When one or another Damanata tried to climb the boat, Charon swiftly hit them with his quant and then resumed to push the boat.

"On the other side of the river lies the portals to Avaritia." The old man said, pointing to the distance where they could see some Damnata trying to cross the river only to be stuck in the troubled water fighting meaninglessly with other Damnata.

"Mitzrael is on that side?" Avariel asked.

"No. The safekeeper resides upstream." Charon said, turning his boat against the current.

After some hours, they noticed that the river was finally getting smaller, but the swamp surrounding it was getting thicker. Through the dense foliage they could barely see a pyramid made of gray stones, similar to the ones built by the Aztecs.

Charon brought them to a shallow part of the swamp that met the river.

"This is where I leave you." The old man said leaving them with water up to their knees and pushing his boat away downstream.

Slushing their feet on the stinking waters, they noticed that the Damnata all avoided that place almost like an instinct.

When their feet met solid ground, they realised why. That place had no demonic mana. It was filled with holy mana instead.

The dense swamp jungle gave way to a beautiful cultivated garden with plenty of flowers. The whole place smelled sweet from the aroma of flowers and fruits that grew all around.

Tending to the garden were all sorts of creatures, just like in Dis. Angels, demons and much more. Humans wearing white togas were also there with scars on their necks from their collars, Matthew assumed.

Tylith moaned in pain in a low voice when they entered the temple grounds. The holy mana stinging her skin.

"Are you alright? Do you want to stay outside? We can get you when we’re leaving." Matthew offered her.

"No need. It doesn’t hurt that much and I much prefer the smell of flowers than the smell of the swamp." The demoness said.

When the servants saw them entering the complex, one of them ran at full speed up the stairs to the room at the very top.

Avariel took the front of the group and waved to the angel that left the temple and looked down on them.

It was finally Mitzrael, the Safekeeper, the one who showed the right way.