When the all-powerful head of the Office of Darkness cannot crush a sixteen-year-old boy, this, you see, is terribly annoying... To get rid of his competitor, Ligul arranges a duel with Mefa with a monster from the depths of Tartarus. Methodius only miraculously survives, and the generous hunchback rewards him with darkh. As you know, there are no empty darkhs. And now a vile living icicle sucks the life out of Meph drop by drop. But this was not the only surprise from Ligul. It turns out that he has a pupil, the same age as Mefa. Everyone who knows her knows what happens when she laughs or cries. Loving her is also extremely undesirable, because Ligul intends to make Praskovya the new heir to darkness...