Twenty did not speak again. He wiped his face slowly with a handkerchief, his mind racing in directions he could not control.

In that moment, it felt like he knew nothing about the man sitting before him. What kind of person could casually bring out two hundred million dollars and still choose to work as a junior associate in a firm?

With that kind of money, Damian could have built his own firm from the ground up without breaking a sweat.

Even before this, Twenty had always believed Damian was too good for that place. His mind alone made him stand out. Now, with power and wealth added to the equation, it no longer made sense.

At this point, the firm should be paying Damian just to exist.

Twenty was shaken. The more he learned about him, the less he understood. Every meeting came with a new revelation, a new layer that made everything before it feel incomplete. It had gone past surprising. It was becoming ridiculous.

"Are you worried about moving such a large amount? I can send it all in cash if you want."

Boom!

Twenty shot to his feet and began pacing the living room, his thoughts spilling over into movement. Damian chuckled softly at the reaction and leaned back, sipping his drink as if nothing had changed. This was exactly the response he expected.

After nearly five minutes of restless pacing, Twenty stopped in front of him and dropped to his knees.

"Bro, can you tell your master I want to sell my soul too?"

Buzz!

Damian blinked, caught off guard by the request. It was not something he had anticipated.

"Come on, man. I’m already a thug. We kill, steal, and sell drugs for a living. You and I both know I’m not seeing those damn pearly gates. Since I’m already in this life, shouldn’t I enjoy the best of it?"

For a moment, Damian did not know whether to laugh or take him seriously. The request was unexpected, but not entirely unreasonable. Someone like Twenty was already walking a path that led to hell. Wanting to extract the most from it was only natural.

The problem was simple.

He could not give him what he wanted.

’Can I actually give him powers?’ The thought surfaced quietly.

The initial Faustian agreement he made with Twenty had been about control, about securing leverage over his cartel. But if there was a way to take his soul directly in exchange for something greater...

[Yes, you can, but you have yet to unlock that function.] Rin responded.

Damian’s eyes narrowed slightly. The answer did not bother him. What lingered was something else entirely.

If he could do it now, would he?

If he could strike a deal with Twenty, take his soul years later in exchange for power and wealth, would he go through with it... even now?

He stared at him in silence for several seconds before letting out a quiet, defeated sigh.

He had grown attached.

More than he expected.

"Are you willing to pay the price for power?" Damian asked, raising a brow.

If he could not help him, then the next best option was to scare him away.

Twenty shot up immediately, taking a step back. Instinct kicked in before logic. Where curiosity might have pulled others closer, his screamed danger.

"I don’t like the sound of that," he said, his voice tight. "How bad is it?"

"For me, I can’t have kids, and I probably have ten years left to live," Damian replied casually, shrugging as he finished the rest of his drink.

Twenty froze.

His eyes widened, his entire body going still as the weight of those words settled in.

"No, cuz... that’s a bit too much!" he blurted out, shaking his head, and Damian burst into laughter.

He had not lied. In his mind, reaching the demigod realm and leaving Earth within ten years was as good as death. And the infertility... that part did not matter either.

But the effect was immediate.

Twenty returned to his seat and picked up his drink, taking a slow mouthful before letting out a long, exaggerated sigh.

The desire to become like Damian died instantly.

What was the point of wealth if you did not live long enough to enjoy it?

What was the point of power if you had no one to pass it on to?

Without life and legacy, everything became hollow.

’No wonder he’s working that job and married to three wives. Bro is just doing whatever he wants because he knows it’s all ending soon.’

Twenty exhaled deeply, his thoughts settling into something heavier.

Ten years.

In that time, he could build his empire, strengthen his position, and secure his future. Damian would help him do all of that. But after that...

He would be gone.

The thought sat uncomfortably in his chest.

He had not known Damian for long, yet he had grown used to him. The presence. The conversations. The unpredictability. The way every meeting left him thinking.

The idea that one day he would never sit across from him again, never drink with him, never be surprised by him... left a hollow space inside him he could not ignore.

"Sorry about that, man..." he muttered quietly.

Damian blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift. He had not expected this kind of reaction. Not from someone like Twenty.

But the heaviness was real. He could feel it.

And for the first time, he realized something unexpected.

There was someone else, outside of Clara, who would feel his absence.

"Actually, it’s nothing," Damian said, shrugging lightly while holding Twenty’s gaze. "This power saved me from death once, so I already knew I was living on borrowed time. It’s nothing to be sad about."

Twenty nodded slowly, his eyes widening with a quiet sense of understanding. Somehow, that made it easier to accept. It meant Damian had not stumbled blindly into a bad deal.

Of course, a man who could dismantle a murder case in a single hearing was not foolish enough to be tricked into selling his soul.

"I see," Twenty muttered, though the words felt thin compared to the thoughts behind them.

Damian did not respond.

The silence that followed was not awkward, nor was it forced. It settled naturally between them as both men leaned back into their seats, letting the moment breathe. Cigarette smoke curled into the air in slow, lazy spirals while the burn of whiskey lingered at the back of their throats.

They said nothing more.

Yet something had shifted.

The distance that once existed between them had quietly disappeared, replaced by something heavier, something real.

For reasons neither of them cared to explain, they felt closer than they ever had before.

For the first time, it truly felt like they were brothers.