Zoe looked back to the paladin, who was—for some reason—cautiously backing away. She frowned. What? How was she supposed to kill him? Why the fuck would I even try? Everyone else seemed to think that it was somehow reasonable, though, which left Zoe at a bit of a loss.
“If you have any desire to live, let him think he controls us for now. By which I mean, let him control us.” The other Zoe was whispering into her ear again, and the paladin looked torn between attacking her, attacking the other guy, or just running away. The cultist chief was just staring at her really hard. “Please just trust me. The only reason we aren’t dead yet is that he thinks he can make us into his servant.”
Zoe didn’t know that it was a good idea to trust the literal Demon that had tried to take over not just her body but her own mind as well. That’s what she is, isn’t it. She—it—is a Demon. Stealing Zoe’s own appearance even after she had accomplished a partial exorcism was just petty, she thought. But the thing was—Zoe didn’t have any better ideas than listening to the evil body-snatcher at present. And besides, I’ve already demonstrated that I can use my outsider title to kick her out.
That was yet another thing Zoe really needed to check on. She hadn’t thought to examine the title at the beginning, and she hadn’t had time since she realized it was extremely relevant. But now wasn’t the time either, given that the paladin had finally decided to attack her.
Shit.
Zoe may have gained a whole lot of stats and skills since arriving, but the gap between where she had started and where she was now was nothing compared to the gulf between her and everyone else. Zoe tried to dodge anyway, but it shouldn’t have helped.
Shouldn’t have helped, because Zoe ended up flinging herself to the side so hard and fast that she was equally surprised that the resulting fall and tumble didn’t break something. Rising back up, she stared at her new claws in wonder. She had still been singed by the attack—a bit of her hair was on fire—but that was a big difference from the spot where she had just been standing. Looking up from her strange new hands revealed that the ground there was on fire. I didn’t know that you could burn stone. Or that it burned hot pink.
It also revealed that the paladin hadn’t stayed still like Zoe had, and a golden fist was rapidly approaching. A reddish, whip-like black tendril smacked it out of the way—along with the angrily-glowing man behind it.
“Stop trying to kill my new pet!” Wait, what? Pet? “And you!” The cultist rounded on Zoe next. “Try harder to not die.”
“Agreed.” The return of the evil Demon-Zoe spooked her again. “Also, you should duck.”
Zoe whirled around. “Duck?”
The Demon-Zoe decided not to verbally respond in favor of just tackling her. Zoe was so surprised it worked that she offered no resistance, narrowly saving her from execution by deadly rainbow. “I said duck, dumbass.” Zoe ignored her in favor of trying harder to not die. The good thing was that the cult leader was still taking the brunt of the paladin’s assault to keep him occupied. Zoe didn’t think she would have lasted even close to this long otherwise. “Right, now what?”
“Now, you die.”
The cultist wasn’t talking to her, fortunately. The thunderous proclamation was probably the final line of his pretentious banter. Not that the paladin was bothering to fire back anymore—even his magic was exclusively aimed at Zoe until the cultist inevitably interrupted it. “Uh, why is he more interested in fighting me than the actually dangerous enemy?”
Zoe was crouched back behind the edge of the altar steps now, while her evil twin was casually lounging out in the open. “I’m pretty sure that was a rhetorical question. But I think you’re about to find out.”
Zoe swallowed. That didn’t sound good.
The cultist chief finally disengaged, giving the paladin another opening to turn Zoe into a crispy paste. He hadn’t actually seen her move behind the altar again, so it took him about a second to look around. Zoe used that delay to shrink away further—and to capitalize on one of her skills again too.
Mirage!
Did that actually work? He still hadn’t spotted her—the shimmering waves of magic distorting the darkness around her had concealed Zoe’s location. Now she just had to wait for the cultist to finally kill him or chase him off—assuming nothing revealed her presence in the meantime.
Zoe’s eyes flicked back to the chief. Even while holding off the paladin, he had still been tracing his hands through the air in a way that suggested drawing invisible runes. Now, his motions ceased—until he drew a pulsating, dim crimson light from the center of his chest.
Zoe could literally feel its presence. Not in the same way she had been coming to associate with using magic—no, she could literally feel its inexorable pull in her own chest. She could feel its faint light sparking and electric tingle across her bare skin. It felt good, honestly. Whatever it was, she wanted it.
The paladin must have been able to feel it too, because he recoiled as if struck, then whirled back around to attack the cultist himself for the first time since Zoe returned to consciousness as a Demon. He was fast, faster than Zoe could properly track even with her massively boosted perception. He wasn’t fast enough.
The cultist cocked his arm back, turned, and threw it straight at Zoe.
What.
The little ball of dull red light left a faintly glowing trail, removing any remaining doubt about Zoe’s position. The absolute joy of the bundle of euphoria striking her own chest and sinking lower towards her gut was sadly overshadowed by the realization of I’m about to fucking die.
For a few seconds—just a few—Zoe actually thought she died. When she realized that being able to think about it meant it hadn’t actually happened, she just became confused. Her vision was suddenly filled with motion. It was hard to track what was happening, but she was pretty sure she was moving way too fast—and she felt way too good for someone who was suddenly tanking hit after hit. It was still too hard to track visually, but Zoe was pretty confident she could tell when the paladin managed to get a strike in from his terrifying magic. She could tell by the way it tickled.
What?
Your level has been temporarily increased to 100.
All stats temporarily increased to 300.
Your Rank has been reevaluated.
You have been temporarily empowered with the Shadow, Blood, and Force elements.
Your rank has been reevaluated.
Blood Magic has temporarily reached level 5!
Your Infernal Alignment has increased.
Your Infernal Alignment has increased significantly.
…
Your Infernal Alignment has increased massively.
Regeneration has temporarily reached level 5!
…
You have temporarily gained the Rank B skill: Lashes of Hate at level 3!
You have temporarily gained the Rank C skill: Magic Resistance at level 5!
You have temporarily gained the Rank D skill: Aura of Contempt at level 5!
You have temporarily gained the Rank A skill: Rancor at level 2!
Your rank has been reevaluated.
The notifications just kept coming. Zoe could barely manage to track them as they flew by. It was way too much, even if she hadn’t been fighting to the death with a holy warrior who was—moments ago—infinitely more dangerous than her. She was also kind of kicking his ass, which was a bit weird. As the two of them smashed clean through a massive stone wall—how had they ended up outside of the ritual chamber?—an old question came back to the surface. The only difference now was the specific context.
Specifically—what the hell is going on?
“We’re kicking his ass.” Zoe hadn’t noticed that her freaky Demon-clone was following along with her. The Demon had changed form, though, now resembling something like a plush doll, puppet, and chibi vtuber model all at the same time. It was riding along on her shoulder, entirely unbothered by the utter chaos Zoe was unleashing all around them.
“So basically, our cultist friend had a great deal of his own power invested into that ritual, which is why he didn’t immediately kill this Hallowed chump. I think they’re both Rank B, but I also think he would normally be way stronger.”
Good to know, Zoe thought. Also, I have no idea how or why the other me would know that.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Anyway, he should be able to fully recover his power soon, but not while another Rank B is actively trying to kill him. He also probably has some skills for commanding Demons—you know, being a high-tier cultist and all.”
An explosion and subsequent avalanche temporarily interrupted the helpful little explanation, but then Zoe had burst back out and continued chasing down the fleeing paladin. It was still hard to tell, but it looked like he had given up fighting and was mostly trying to escape upwards.
“…anyway, us stealing the core from him means that all that power he invested in the ritual ended up bound in a link between the two of you. Our Outsider title can easily remove that later, but we obviously want to keep it for now.”
Huh, that sort of makes sense. Zoe was paying more attention to the Demonic little doll version of herself than combat at this point, which was honestly just hilarious.
“It still totally blows my mind that we’re a blighted Outsider, of all things. Like that’s completely ridiculous. But as I was saying—instead of trying to snatch back all that power for himself, he probably decided—correctly—that it would be easier to fully dump it into us. At least until the paladin is dead, and then he can work on fixing the mess we caused. That’s the point where we’ll have to figure out how to ingratiate ourselves with him. Or I guess we could try to just run.”
“I think I’m liking the second option there,” Zoe replied—out loud this time. They were rapidly ascending higher and higher through the cave system, and the paladin was actually getting away. That bothered her way more than it should have. “So uh, that doesn’t explain how I’m suddenly super good at using all of his powers though.”
“Oh, no, that’s because you aren’t. He’s just using you as a proxy. His body is probably just lying on the floor now while his mind is busy using us.”
Zoe had the impulse to blink, but her body wasn’t responding normally, so she just imagined she did it. I guess that’s because I’m basically a game avatar right now. At least that’s how she interpreted what her evil mini-me was saying.
“So yeah, you’re basically his game avatar right now.”
Huh, so I was actually right—no, of course I was, obviously. Zoe mentally nodded to herself. Her physical skull was busy being smashed through the rickety wooden scaffolding now leading all the way up to the open sky far above. I guess this is finally where the exit from this stupid cave is. The frustrating part was that the paladin was very much not dead and also very much capable of flying, while Zoe was only the former. It was a real shame that the frankly absurd power-up didn’t come with aerial combat capabilities.
“Damn, I think he’s going to get away.”
Zoe’s little Demon partner was probably right. She might be too fast to even keep track of her own movement right now—but racing up the rickety wood platforms was still slower than just going in a straight line up. “Well that’s unfortunate.” The holy warrior-turned punching bag was now completely out of sight. It seemed that the cultist controlling her had given up too, because her body suddenly stopped and jumped all the way back down to the muddy floor. “So uh, do I get any benefit from this once he stops controlling me?”
“Probably? I mean it probably won’t be much, but I think we’re about to find out.”
Demon-Zoe was right. Not a moment later, the feverish thunder rolling through her entire body cut to an abrupt silence. Cut off from the staggeringly immense well of power, Zoe quite literally sagged like a puppet with cut strings.
Ironically—or perhaps not—the return of full control brought a heightened awareness of her surroundings and sensation of her own body as well. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. The system decided to announce itself just as she thought it was all over.
Your level and stats have returned to their expected values.
Blood Magic and Regeneration have returned to level 1.
Lashes of Hate (Rank B) has regressed to Blood Whip (Rank E) at level 1.
Magic Resistance (Rank C) has regressed to Mana Resistance (Rank D) at level 1.
Aura of Contempt (Rank D) has regressed to Cloak of Scorn (Rank E) at level 1.
Rancor (Rank A) has regressed to Mana Channeling (Rank F) at level 1.
Your rank has been reevaluated.
…
You have gained the Rank F skill: Unarmed Combat!
You have gained the Rank D skill: Mental Resistance!
Mental Resistance has been added to primary class: Demagogue.
You have gained the Rank E skill: Light Resistance!
You have gained the Rank E skill: Wind Resistance!
Your Nascent Fiend Core has absorbed Light Resistance and Wind Resistance.
You have leveled up two times! You are now level 4.
+30 stat points.
It wasn’t like Zoe had either the time or context to adequately understand what all of that meant, but it wouldn’t stop her from commenting on it. “You know—I mean I don’t really know what your idea of a lot is, but this actually seems like a lot. Thanks for uh, convincing me to play along.”
It took a moment for Zoe’s evil twin to respond. When she did—it—when it did, the Demon sounded a bit uncertain. “Yes—this is quite good, you’re right.”
Zoe smirked. I’m pretty sure my Demon is impressed. Returning her attention to her physical surroundings, she saw that she was still in a largely unremarkable, wide, muddy cave. It really was quite wide, but it was even taller. The small circle of bright blue sky far above only looked so small because of the distance. It looked like there had been a lot of plant growth until recently. It must have been all torn up and trampled down when the cultists brought in all their boxes, tents, workstations, and who knew what else. Zoe raised an eyebrow. That’s a lot of stuff… especially since she had only seen like, a dozen or so people so far.
Reading back over the most recent slew of system notifications, Zoe’s eye snagged on a few noteworthy bits. She decided it was about time to open her status again. Time to see whatever the hell turning into a Demon did to me.
Hah. Hell.
[ZOE BLACKWELL]
Level 4 | Rank F
Demagogue, Bloody Devotee
Higher Demon of Disdain (Lesser)
-Alignment-
> Infernal
> Disdain
-Active Quests-
> Claim Your Right
-Active Titles-
> Outsider
> Usurper
-Stats and Bindings-
Power 77
Perception 65
Acuity 26
Durability 74
Vitality 78
-General Skills-
> Identify 4 (Rank C)
> Hallowed Touch (Tierless)
> Mana Resistance 1 (Rank D)
> Mana Channeling 1 (Rank F)
> Unarmed Combat 1 (Rank F)
-Primary Class Skills-
> Acting 1 (Rank D)
> Persuasion 1 (Rank B)
> Mirage 1 (Rank E)
> Lesser Disguise 1 (Rank C)
> Cloak of Scorn 1 (Rank E)
> Mental Resistance 1 (Rank C)
System Display Privileges (Sys-Tier)
-Secondary Class Skills-
> Blood Magic 1 (Rank E)
> Regeneration 1 (Rank E)
> Rejuvenate 1 (Rank F)
> Mending Touch 2 (Rank D)
> Rending Touch 1 (Rank D)
> Surgeon’s Eye 1 (Rank E)
> Blood Whip 1 (Rank E)
[NASCENT FIEND CORE]
1% Developed | Rank A
-Traits-
> Demonite Claws
> Arcane Antennae
> Infernal Constitution
> Lesser Vampirism
> Bloodlust
> Heart of Alchemy
> Personal Inventory
> Light Resistance
> Wind Resistance
-Effects-
> +60 Power, +60 Durability
> Infernal Alignment
> Disdain Alignment
> Hallow Aversion
-Available-
> 30 stat points
“Wow, that’s really way too much for me to deal with right now.” Even just skimming through it left Zoe with the start of a headache. Actually, it’s kind of surprising that I don’t have one already. She did just get her head smashed through several walls. Even just trying to pick out the most important bits was a bit challenging.
The only truly obvious thing was the whole giant NASCENT FIEND CORE SECTION. Not only was it big, completely new, and full of stuff—it also sounded scary. Hell, even the section name carried a foreboding feeling of being fully capitalized. Zoe wasn’t sure how she got that impression from what was a pure mental construct, but she wasn’t going to argue with it.
But maybe there was someone else who could help.
“Hey, can you see my status too?”
Hopping off of Zoe’s shoulder, the little Demon doll dropped to the ground and transformed back into a fully Human version of Zoe. Well, aside from the eye-catchingly monstrous bits like the claws, talons, horns, were those fangs?—and eyes that looked like—
“Yeah, I can.”
Zoe suddenly felt like she preferred the chibi version of the Demon, but now wasn’t the time to worry about cosmetic details. “Okay good, because you talk like you know way more about this stuff than I do, so how about I focus on getting the fuck out of here before evil murder cult guy shows up, and you read over this shit and tell me anything I should know?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” The evil Zoe nodded and pointed. “So the first thing to know is that you should look behind you.”
Huh?
“Well that was a bit unfair.”
Whirling around, Zoe’s eyes widened as she saw the cult chief strolling towards her. His head was tilted back, though, his gaze clearly following the path of the paladin’s escape. “Honestly, he wouldn’t be half so annoying if he just stayed on the ground like most reasonable people.”
He only looked at Zoe when he was just a few steps away. Then he slowly circled her, eying her up and down like a home construction contractor appraising an old shed. Zoe’s Demon self took the opportunity to get closer and whisper to her. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t hear you. But uh, that’s why you should just think really hard at me instead of talking out loud like that. Also, doing that is uncouth.”
So just think really hard… like uh… FUCK OFF?
Zoe didn’t get to enjoy a response. The cultist had stopped in front of her and was very obviously about to speak. He was taking a while, though, and Zoe mostly wanted him to just get on with it. “I still have absolutely no idea who you are, but honestly, nice work.” He paused. “You know, I also have no idea how a fucking high paladin managed to interrupt us. So I think it must be obvious that I’m going to ask—were you involved with him?”
An eerie compulsion to blurt out the truth bubbled up inside Zoe. The only thing that stopped her from stopping it with her mysterious Outsider title was the fact that she would have answered the question truthfully anyway. “No.”
The cult leader stared. “Hmm, that does not make any of this less concerning.” Zoe blinked. Wait, he’s just going to accept it like that? Maybe thinking he had her mind-controlled helped the deception. It also helped that she was actually mind-controlled, even though she knew instinctively that she could easily just break it.
“I suppose I need to introduce you to someone,” he continued, “very soon, actually. Ideally within the next few minutes. Come.”
Brushing past an uncertain and confused Zoe, he headed for the rotting wooden stairs. Shrugging, Zoe let her body turn to follow him. It was still quite surprising that he wasn’t violently killing her for ruining his ritual thing yet. Not that I’m complaining.
Upon reaching the base of the scaffolding, the cultist stopped and turned. Zoe stopped as well. “You must realize, I’m still very displeased by the way you ruined everything. That being said, you’re still useful. I’d prefer it if you try your best not to die.”
Gee, thanks buddy. Zoe almost rolled her eyes. Really appreciate it.
“With that in mind, I may as well go ahead and give you this.” Reaching underneath his silken, silver-threaded cloak, the annoyingly handsome mass murderer retrieved a small metallic object. Then he threw it at Zoe.
Tossed, really. She caught it easily. Turning it over in her hand, Zoe wrinkled her brow in confusion. She had already used identify on it, so she felt comfortable slipping it on. It was a fairly simple ring, all things considered. But like…
Why on Earth is he giving me a storage ring?