《The Twelve Apocalypses: A Damned Soul's Path to the Abyss》 Chapter 1: The Gates People like to imagine that pain has some arbitrary threshold, beyond which your senses blur and you can just sink into numb indifference. They are wrong. As I floated in the void, unable to move, every single moment of my temporary state was agony. Some force was slowly peeling away everything that came together to make up the very definition of who I was. One painful layer after another, that force was stripping me down to my very core. I could feel every change. Every fragment of my being, even as it flaked away, was fully capable of processing everything that was happening. The pain was like a white-hot blade, slicing through my essence. It kept me alert and awake and pointed in a single direction. A presence. Large, overwhelming, and so very, very hungry. It lorded over my painful reality, readily slurping away whenever a little slice of my essence came loose. With no doubt in my mind, I could tell that once the presence was done amusing itself, I would disappear, completely and utterly. I was desperate. I would do anything. Burn the world down. Sacrifice anything and anyone. Anything to get away from the pain. Or better yet, to flee from that unholy presence. That was when my surroundings shimmered. A vague silhouette of a man beckoned me from the other side of the presence. I latched on like a drowning man, struggling with all my might to avoid my fate. And somewhere, somehow, something heard my prayers. I could somehow wiggle. That clinched it. Normally, I¡¯d double and triple check before diving in. For now, all caution was thrown to the wind. I dived towards the silhouette, and¡­ My eyes blinked open. I was sprawled on my stomach on hard, rocky ground. Then I looked up. ¡°Huh?¡± The unintelligent sound escaped my mouth on its own. Not a hard thing to justify when the first thing I saw after untold ages of torment was the angry face of a monster, looming mere inches away. The monster had chalk-white skin and eyes that were black pools, deeper than any tar I ever knew. Its angry expression deepened into a scowl as I stared into its face. Before I could even begin to process anything, a heavy blow landed on the back of my skull. My face bounced off the ground, hard. I saw stars. My head was in agony. Still, after the unspeakable torture of having my essence slowly stripped away, feeling physical pain was almost a relief. ¡°Damn it all, wasting my bloody time!¡± the monster growled. ¡°If you¡¯ve made it through, then keep moving. I don¡¯t fucking need you holding shit up.¡± Its chalk-white hand grabbed the front of my shirt, dragging me up. For a moment I dangled, then it released me to totter on my feet. I only barely kept my balance. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± I managed to slur the words instinctively, and they actually seemed to defuse some of the thing¡¯s anger. It ¡ª no, he scoffed, waving something at my face. ¡°Move.¡± I did as I was told, but also managed to get a closer look at the item he held in his other hand. It was a necklace. Some sort of choker, really, like one would put on a prized pit-bull just to play up the species¡¯ supposed aggression and fierceness. It seemed to be made of some kind of red metal. Sharp-looking spikes jutted out of it in every direction, except at the front, where there was a blank plate. I tried to keep looking straight ahead. The instincts that drove my body onwards insisted that glancing around would be a bad idea. Despite that, I still caught a glimpse of what was happening. There were lines of tough men and women, all in their early twenties, stretched away on either side into what seemed like infinity. At the head of each row stood a monster, though they varied in color, shape, and even size. Most were decidedly humanoid, like my chalk-white, tar-eyed friend, but that only made them more intimidating. Their job, if it could be called that, was to drive a ball of red energy into those at the front of the line. A short-distance beyond the monsters were a series of booths, each containing one bored-looking clerk. They weren¡¯t doing much, considering they only had to process about one in five of the people who found their way to the monsters. The other four would fall, flail, foam at the mouth, and then lie still. It hurt to try and understand everything. My head was still pounding from experiencing intimate contact with the ground. I tried to work on the question of why some people were standing back up while others on the ground were collared and dragged away. Before I could make any progress, a voice interrupted me. ¡°Hrm, looked close, eh?¡± The red-tinted clerk spoke up when I reached him, shooting me such a vicious look that I was tempted to flinch. When I didn¡¯t, he gave a small smile. ¡°Not entirely useless, then. Hand.¡± Numbly, I raised my right arm. The clerk gripped it with his left hand. Grinning even more maniacally, he raised a stamp and brought it down on my flesh. The only thing that kept me from screaming was instinct. It was like a voice had suddenly surfaced in my brain, whispering advice. Make noise, and they¡¯ll only hurt you worse. Withstand it. Let it pass. Move on by meeting their tests perfectly, and claim your rightful place. The thoughts were all extremely helpful as they pushed their way through my mind. They were also distinctly not mine. And the instinctive thoughts were not alone. They brought with them a flood of scattered memories, each one almost overwhelming. I could smell the despair, taste the sweat, and feel the tears. Each memory came with its own emotion, overwhelming my mental barriers. In those memories, I had passed far worse challenges, knowing I would die if I succumbed. To be silent while a leering bureaucratic sadist drove a burning brand into your skin? According to my new memories, that was child¡¯s play. The memories also helpfully identified the race of my tormentors. These weren¡¯t generic monsters. These were demons. When the demon clerk in front of me pulled away his diabolical stamp, he shot me a look of deep disappointment. A memory surfaced. Someone screaming in pain and then getting slaughtered for being weak. The demon had been looking forward to making that my fate.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. He was just going to have to get over it. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s the marking done. You are now officially part of the legion,¡± the demon said like it was all business as usual. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ Here it is, recruit number 18234 of Ao. Taken name of Hayden Hall. Ah, I see. You¡¯re a legacy. No wonder you managed to pass in spite of such a pitiful reaction to infusion.¡± An intense surge of dysmorphia swept through me. That was not my name, and Ao was not my home. I was¡­ who was I? Fear kept me rooted in place as I cast about for an explanation and came up short. I knew the name of ¡®Hayden¡¯ didn¡¯t fit me. I also knew that my arms weren¡¯t supposed to look toned and trained, and that my chest wasn¡¯t broad and muscular. I knew all those things, but I also didn¡¯t know what the alternative was supposed to be. My new instinctive wisdom advised me to keep my mouth shut about this identity crisis as the demon rummaged through his paperwork. I tried to focus on why demons needed paperwork to begin with, especially since he seemed supremely annoyed by it. This was good advice. But the moment I finished ignoring my mental anguish, I started to feel uncomfortable in other ways. I was wearing only a thin shirt and pants. The clothes did nothing to shield me from the alternating waves of heat and cold rolling through the air. As one sensation reached a peak, it felt as if I could acclimate and push through. And then it would flip. Hot to cold, back and forth, never giving me a single second of comfort. Each wave was agony. So much so that I was surprised my body wasn¡¯t taking actual damage. The clothing was also getting too rough and scratchy. It irritated my skin and made me squirm, even if I knew squirming was a horrible idea. To top it all off, sweat that was generated by the heat and chilled by the cold dripped into my eyes. It was all I could do to keep my hands still, away from my face. ¡°A waste,¡± the demon spat. I was thankful to the red clerk demon for reclaiming my attention, but I didn¡¯t like the scowl he was giving me. ¡°A total waste. I can¡¯t believe¡­ Urgh, if it weren¡¯t for the Laws, I would not be doing this.¡± The demon kept grumbling as he stood from his seat, bent down, and started rummaging around the underside of his booth. The only wise thing to do was wait. For one thing, I knew nothing about what was happening. Another important fact was that this clerk could likely kill me with trivial ease. At least, my new memories believed that to be the case. Finally, the red demon popped up from under the desk, dragging a long, rectangular box and a simple drawstring bag attached to a belt. ¡°Here. This is your first and most important piece of equipment. If you¡¯re stupid enough not to take care of it or fail to use it, you deserve to die. It¡¯s just natural selection at that point. Do you know how to bind it? Of course, I can also¡­ assist you.¡± The demon raised another stamp model as he flashed crooked teeth. I didn¡¯t know how to ¡®bind¡¯ anything. But saying that was obviously inviting more trouble. Trusting my new instincts, I raised my hand, forced something to well up from within my chest, and brushed my hand across the bag. The bag glowed briefly, then settled down. ¡°Of course. Legacy.¡± The demon spat at the ground under my feet and threw the bag at me. I caught it awkwardly, tying the belt around my waist as he turned his attention to the box. ¡°You are lucky. Oh yes, so very lucky. Stuck with it, through life and death. Just to make sure you understand, no one can steal this from you, not even claim it after your death. Well, unless they¡¯re in the reacquisition department. Or they¡¯re in the will. Understood?¡± He shot another crazed smile and pushed the box forward. In one swift motion, he had both locks on the front of the box disengaged. Then he threw the cover back. Part of me thought the box would hold something horrifying, like a pile of innocent souls all screaming and begging for mercy. Another part of me expected gold, jewels, and other precious metals. No part of me suspected the box would hold a sword that looked like it belonged in a junkyard. The weapon might have once been beautiful. It still had sections that were a soft lemon-green color. Whatever metal it was made of was obviously some magical bullshit. I could tell just from the way it refracted light. All this, however, was overshadowed by the general state of the weapon. The sword looked like someone had done their best to destroy it. Most of the blade was blackened, chipped, and brittle. There were actual cracks running all the way down its length. And when the demon jostled the box impatiently, the blade rattled audibly inside the setting of its pommel. Now, I was by no means an expert, but I was pretty sure that the only thing you could do with a sword like that was scrap it. So why was the creepy demon looking at the weapon like it was a sumptuous meal he had to hand off to someone else? ¡°Well, boy? Are you going to bond with it or not? Or would you like for someone else to catch onto the fact that you, of all people, have a blade like that?¡± None of this made sense, but I was not a fool, at least never to egregious levels. If the clerk demon was showing such obvious greed, delaying would do me no good. So, as I¡¯d done with the bag, I bonded myself to the blade. I almost staggered when the weight of its connection settled on me. Unlike the bag, this sword was not to be underestimated. Hoping for some relief, I rushed through the motions of grabbing the extremely plain scabbard from the box and slamming the sword home into it. The feeling of weight on my shoulders ebbed, but didn¡¯t disappear entirely. ¡°Lucky bastard,¡± the demon muttered, then motioned to a stand with weapons on them. These, I noted, looked much better than the weapon I had just claimed. Gleaming daggers, swords that looked sharp enough to cut through razor wire, and shields that could both take and give a beating. ¡°Pick your standard-issue weapon.¡± It wasn¡¯t a hard choice. I grabbed a blade that was something between a dagger and a short sword. It didn¡¯t look particularly deadly, especially in comparison to some of the other stuff on offer, but my body gravitated towards it. The second I took it, the demon clerk loudly shouted ¡°Next!¡± and motioned me aside. For no other reason than a lack of better options and a desire to get away from the demon, I complied. Thankfully, ahead of me stood a line of people who looked to be in circumstances much like my own. They all held a weapon of some kind and had a bag hanging from their hips. They were also eying me hungrily, twigging every single self-preservation instinct I had. Violence wasn¡¯t on the menu, though. In fact, as I stood there, slowly feeling a pit of hunger build up in the pit of my stomach, I realized that nothing was on the menu. I didn¡¯t complain. My new instincts were telling me to stay still, keep quiet, and wait for instructions. For a long time, nothing happened. It was boring enough to sleep, but not safe enough for such a luxury. Eventually, I settled into some kind of half-awake trance. I must have zoned out for a while, or for a very long time indeed. The next thing I was aware of was the booming voice of a demon ringing through the cavern. ¡°Listen up, you lot.¡± The demon stood on a small stage beside the line of booths. He swept his head, so thick with horns that it looked like he was wearing a crown, over the gathered humans. ¡°Today, you join the glorious ranks of the Duke of Torment! You will spill blood for him, you will fight for him, and you will claim souls in his name!¡± He paused, like he was daring anyone to say something to contradict him. No one did, on account of not being idiots. In what was ostensibly an endless expanse of cavern, his voice should have been devoured by the sheer amount of empty space. Instead, the words were echoing. It sounded like he was standing right next to me. ¡°And you will claim souls,¡± he continued angrily. ¡°If you fail to bring ten souls on your way back to hell, I guarantee that you will be unmade. My best torturer will have their fun with you, and by the time they¡¯re through, you¡¯ll regret not extinguishing the everlasting flame of your own soul sooner. I hope we are clear on this.¡± We were. The demon radiated so much bloodlust and rage that I would have obeyed him even if I¡¯d been perfectly free, in control, and fully cognizant of what the hell was happening around me. ¡°Good. In that case, let¡¯s get this started. I declare a war of conquest against the plane of Berlis!¡± With those words, the demon spun and slashed one arm in a wide arc. His claws tore through the very underpinnings of reality, opening a rift directly onto a stretch of enchantingly picturesque grassy fields. Beyond the fields, I saw a scary fortress in the distance. ¡°Charge!¡± The demon released a guttural scream of pure violence, and countless throats echoed the sound. Including my own. Chapter 2: Obedience There wasn¡¯t time to process anything. I found enough time for one quick backward glance, showing me a crowd of countless demons in proper armor and fielding proper weapons. Then a wave of rage, obsession, and anguish rolled over me. I wanted to double over, or maybe puke outright. Instead, my new instincts pushed me to draw my weapons. Pulling my shoddy sword and half-way decent dagger from their sheaths, I gripped them with desperate strength. It was immediately obvious that my fellow armed humans on either side had it much worse than I did. As the demonic command swept over them, they all stumbled forward. Apparently, though, we weren¡¯t the command¡¯s real target. That honor belonged to the larger mass of mindless, collared humans milling around the portal in front of us. I fought a full-body shiver as the spikes of the collars all lit up, and then stabbed down into the humans¡¯ necks. The zombie-like humans roared in agony and clawed at their throats. Then the demons¡¯ rage-scream hit them. Abandoning all thoughts of pain or any sense of self, they charged the portal. As they passed through into the other world, a transformation swept over them. Their skin blackened and grew as rough as concrete. Glowing red veins popped out all over their bodies. Horns jutted out from their heads. And each and every one grew to at least four times their previous size. They almost put one of those collars on me. I barely woke up, and that asshole already had one in his hands. A moment later, and¡­ I shuddered, stopping my train of thought there. ¡°Perfect,¡± the demon commander declared. He hadn¡¯t moved from his stage. All the demons seemed content to wait as their mindless mutated war machines streamed through the portal. ¡°Now¡­ probationary troops, charge!¡± The words had an immediate effect, especially when echoed by the screams of the demonic troops behind me. Instead of keeping hold of my sanity, the unrestrained emotions and urges took over my actions. Along with the other human troops, I broke into an all-out sprint. The demonic command surged through me, pushing me onward, requiring everything my body had to offer. The only acceptable thought in my head was getting to that fortress city and killing every last creature inside, sentient or not. There were just a few issues with that. For one thing, the city was surrounded by massive walls, taller than any sword-wielding civilization should have been capable of constructing. Another important point was that the human defenders were doing an incredible job thinning out the numbers of mindless brutes rushing to attack those walls. As streaks of wildly vibrant colors shot down from the walls, hammering the mutated humans and obliterating my new comrades-in-arms, I didn¡¯t feel pride. I didn¡¯t feel calm and collected. I felt only mind-numbing fear. And enthusiastic bloodlust, of course. The demonic command wouldn¡¯t let me forget that. Unfortunately, that command didn¡¯t include any hint of interest in our survival. No matter how hard I tried, I could not stop the rage-wave from dragging my body ever onwards. My crazed autopilot was determined to drive both blades into the first living enemy combatant within reach. Getting to said combatants was my only purpose. Gigantic rocks were launched from within the city. Unlike the spell barrage, these weren¡¯t aimed at the front-line monsters. The missiles soared over the mutants¡¯ heads to land directly amidst the approaching group of much squishier humans. My group. Even then, I could not stop. Huge boulders crashed down mere meters away, pelting me with clumps of dirt and stones, or on multiple memorable occasions, blood and viscera. Still, the wave of obsession drove me forward. Seeing my comrades slaughtered, anger began to ignite in my chest. My instinct urged me to ride the wave instead of trying to fight it. Save your energy, the voice said. Focus on what lies ahead. We¡¯ll make them pay. The voice was right. That first line of mutated humans would be a deciding factor in my group¡¯s survival. Still running flat-out, I tried to see what was happening at the wall. To my relief, I saw signs of success. In favor of the demons. The spell barrage managed to cut down every four out of five mutants. But there were just too many attackers. Even taking out most of the mutants left hundreds who finished the charge and crashed straight into the walls. Crashed into them, and immediately exploded. Literally. Of course. Of course, these mutants were cannon fodder, figuratively and literally. I was reminded of which side I was on. The demon side had no concept of the ¡®sanctity of life.¡¯ Any other day, the gory scene would have paralyzed me. But in my crazed dash towards the fortress, all that mattered was that the mutants were doing something. Each explosion rocked the wall and made the proud structure wobble. Cracks were snaking their way up from the points of impact. The defenders must have noticed the issue as fast as I did. They doubled their efforts, refocusing on the front lines instead of lobbing stones at us. Even with that, they were losing. Every single mutant that made it through left an indelible mark on the city¡¯s defenses, chipping away at their foundation. And the attackers just kept coming. There was no end as they mindlessly sacrificed themselves.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The rage in my chest abated just a little, satiated by the realization that the mutant-bombs were clearing my path. If I got just a bit closer, I¡¯d be able to wet my blades with human blood. The enemy was, unfortunately, not stupid. They also chose that moment to remember that my group existed. I looked up just in time to see a wave of arrows launch from the walls, so thick it threatened to block out the sun. ¡°Well, fuck.¡± If I was about to be turned into a human pincushion, then I was damn well going to let everyone know how I felt about it. Suddenly, my newly acquired brain started firing like never before. In record time, I¡¯d cataloged all the facts and every single nuance of the battlefield. I saw that my group had made it quite far, almost halfway to the wall. We were charging through ground littered by bodies of the first mutant wave. More importantly, even though the force in my chest was still braying for the blood of its enemies, the quality of the demand shifted. Before, it felt like someone screaming directly into my brain. Now it was more of a very insistent gibbering to kill anything in sight that would dare oppose my demonic masters. I tried to fight the urges. They overpowered me. I tried to ignore them. They pushed through. Now, I¡¯m willing to admit that I am a prideful sort. I also like to think I can keep a solid head on my shoulders during an emergency. As the arrows came ever closer, I tried a couple different tactics. I can¡¯t kill things if I¡¯m dead. The urges didn¡¯t care. I want to kill things. The urges liked that. In desperation, I gave in to the murderous wave filling my chest. I pushed the full weight of my will behind the single thought of ¡®do grievous harm¡¯. Then I charted out a path to accomplish that purpose. The urges agreed. Twitching out of my current trajectory, I dived for one of the mutated dead. There was just enough time to pull myself mostly under its cover before the rain of arrows started to pierce the battlefield. The result was hell. The mutants hadn¡¯t screamed when they were struck, and they most definitely hadn¡¯t begged. They were single-minded engines of destruction that sought to complete their objective at all costs. My group, the humans enlisted into the demon army, weren¡¯t like that. I saw the despair in their faces when they saw death coming. And I felt that same despair mirrored in my own soul. Now, as I pushed away from my hiding place, I saw the crowd for who they were. Not elite soldiers sent from hell, but rather people thrown into the first real combat scenario of their lives. Some were yelling words of defiance, but most were sobbing in pain or begging for their lives. The anguished sounds wormed their way into my mind. Instead of dwelling on them, I followed my urges and broke into another run. With bitter fascination, I noted that even the most grievously wounded were trying to do the same. After all, the order was still driving us ever onwards, whether we wanted to or not. To my surprise, a stunning number of people survived. Even those who hadn¡¯t chosen a shield found some way of dealing with the rain of arrows. Granted, most were now bearing wounds, but it wasn¡¯t anywhere close to the outright slaughter I¡¯d initially feared. That was good. It meant more bodies between me and the weapons of my enemies, especially since my little stunt pushed me firmly towards the back of the group. While I ran, my eyes feverishly scanned the ground ahead of me, struggling to see past the ever-present stampede. When I spotted what I was looking for, I could have sobbed. With another smart use of will, I slammed my dagger back into its sheath. Then I bent down and used my newly free hand to scoop up a shield that had failed to protect its previous owner. A rough glance ahead showed the number of mutants had been cut by more than half. What they¡¯d accomplished, however, spoke for itself. With a final loud groan, a whole section of the wall simply collapsed. Gravity grasped the screaming defenders and sent them careening down to their deaths. It still wasn¡¯t enough to prevent another round of arrow fire. Looking around, I cursed. There wasn¡¯t a single nearby corpse I could easily hide behind. But I did have a decently sized shield that could cover more of my upper body. In that moment of dire need, I could have taken my chances. Instead, with the feeling of something snapping inside my chest, I pushed myself just a little more ¡ª just far enough to reach out and grip the shirt of the man running right ahead of me. His wheeze of surprise wasn¡¯t something I would ever forget. But when I collapsed to my knees, between him and my shield, I was fully covered. My meat shield, of course, was not quite as lucky. The thunk of arrows hitting flesh was nauseating even without feeling the impacts. Still, once the volley was over, it was surprisingly easy for me to push the man aside and keep running. When I gave myself to the demonic will, I felt empowered. My body never felt so light as I sprinted forward in search of my first victim. All concerns of morality fled my mind because of it. Or so I tried to convince myself, even as I felt a gaze burn itself into my back as the last sparks of life left my human meat shield. Crossing the last stretch of land to the fortress city was trivial. The mutants had already spread well beyond the breach they made, and I could hear the screams of the defenders¡¯ pain well before I could see their slaughter. Getting through the breach itself was another matter. Invaders like me were scrambling over the collapsed section of the wall, struggling against both the treacherous footing and the haste born out of bloodlust. More than a few times, a careless swing of a weapon at the hand of an ally brought an end to another life. As I scrambled over the last section of this collapsed wall and dropped down beyond it, I spotted my first local. A group of knights were trying to maintain a somewhat orderly retreat. They held shields large enough to cover their whole bodies. Pressing the shields together and jabbing between them with lightning-quick ripostes, they were able to hold back a significantly larger group of enemies. The weight of the demonic command swelled in my chest, but I kept moving at an angle. Somehow, it was getting easier to think, to subvert my orders to an interpretation that suited me. The city behind the fortress walls wasn¡¯t messy. If anything, it was the peak of efficiency, with streets laid out in an orderly grid. I took advantage of that to slip right past the group of knights, running down a road parallel to their retreat. Frankly, it was easy. All my nominal allies seemed incapable of higher thought. They just kept throwing their bodies at the defenders, burning up in the face of their orders. The knights, though pressured, were fully up to the task of cutting down this mob of mindless attackers. So when I snuck up from behind the knights and went for the kill, I had a completely clear shot. It was halfway through the motion that disbelief struck me. On instinct, I had ¡®bound¡¯ the sword that had been handed to me. On instinct, I had decided to keep the sword drawn, rather than my dagger. With widening eyes, I looked down the cracked blade¡¯s dull, unappealing edge right as I thrust it into a knight¡¯s back. I expected everything to go wrong in spectacular fashion. Perhaps my blade would just shatter, leaving me to face the rage of a whole group of knights. Perhaps my cunning ambush and lethal strike would turn into more of an ineffectual clubbing. Despite the weapon¡¯s faults and my own panic, the sword easily found purchase. Even with though it looked like it would shatter with the slightest contact, it bit deep. Blood fled the knight¡¯s body and immediately filled the blade¡¯s many grooves. With a rush of something passing through me, I felt the bag at my hip grow marginally heavier. Of course, that was when several angry knights spun around and spotted the intruder in their midst, their eyes alight with vengeance for the loss of their friend. Chapter 3: Killer Moves For a precious moment, as the knights rounded on me to avenge their fallen comrade, I stood perfectly frozen. The emotion that kept me rooted in place wasn¡¯t regret, disgust, or anything people might associate with a first-time murderer. It was fear, plain and simple. That fear wanted to take me away from the knights, to make me run when their gleaming swords turned in my direction. But the demon kill-orders pulsing through my veins fought back. The precious wiggle room I¡¯d been able to reason out with the demonic command was gone now that I was right in front of potential victims. The murder-compulsion jockeyed for control, won decisively against my fear, and dragged my body towards the knights. Instead of trying to fight the command and getting myself skewered for my trouble, I gave in. With a scream of bloodlust and panic, I drove my sword through the gap between a knight¡¯s helmet and the rest of their armor. The man choked on the steel and his own blood. My bag grew a tiny bit heavier. That should have been when I died. The other three knights were enraged at the sudden dispatch of their two friends, and I was right in the middle of the mess. My salvation came in the form of a frenzied mob. They fell upon the backs of the remaining knights, slashing, kicking, stabbing, and doing whatever else their crazed minds demanded, driven to end the lives of any humans free of demonic influence. The knights had broken ranks in their moment of anger, and the demonic slaves were taking full advantage of this opening. No, not slaves. The thought was mine, but it came with a kind of grainy, echoing quality. As my body gave in to the demonic command, images flashed in front of my eyes. Men, women, and children, dirty and underfed and all wearing manacles. They bore their blows silently, because they were already broken. But their tormentors were not demons. Other humans were making their lives hell, while demons watched and jeered and made bets on their survival. Those were the true slaves. We, despite everything I was seeing, were the lucky ones. Slowly but surely, the demonic command receded. When the last bits of the hazy memory went along with the command, I found myself on top of one of the knights. His face had been obliterated from repeated shield bashes and his chest plate was scratched and dented. In my left hand was a shield still dripping blood and my right wrist was burning in pain. Several of the other demonic soldiers were still around, hacking away at the knights¡¯ bodies like demented ghouls. I had been like that. The thought sent shivers down my back. A dry, sweet smell assaulted my nose. Blood. I stumbled up and away from the corpses, then paused, trying to get my bearings. I was reeling, both from the memory and what I had just done. It¡¯s kill or be killed. I can¡¯t fight the command. It took a couple of seconds to jump through all the mental hoops required to justify myself. But once that was done, I turned around and started examining the corpses. My left arm chose that moment to start throbbing painfully. A glance told me that one of the knights had managed to give me a long, angry gash. A nice souvenir to remember him by. I ignored it, concentrating on my search. It didn¡¯t take long to find what I was looking for. One of the knights, the first one I had killed, was relatively close to my new body¡¯s shape and size. Kneeling next to him, I tore off my thin, useless shirt and cut it into several long strips of cloth. I wasn¡¯t skilled at first aid. In fact, I didn¡¯t have a clue what I was doing. My new body¡¯s instincts had no relevant help to offer. Regardless, I bandaged the wound as well as I could, and then failed to tie it off several times. Hollywood lied when they showed how ¡®easy¡¯ it was to hold one end of a bandage in your teeth while tying it off. Who knew, right? I eventually managed. Then I fought to ignore the pain and the growing red splotch on the ¡®bandages¡¯ as I stripped the knight of everything he was worth. The armor I claimed instantly, even though it took a while to figure out how the two plates meant to cover my front and back were kept in place. Naturally, I also took the man¡¯s padded shirt, or gambeson, or whatever it was called. Sure, it had a hole where my sword had somehow punched right through. And it was soaked in blood, but so was I. This wasn¡¯t a time to be picky. The next thing I claimed was a tower shield. The one that I had picked up on the field was pathetic. The weapon crafters for the demonic forces clearly hadn¡¯t wasted much time or resources on the dregs of the army. For starters, it was barely big enough to properly cover my upper body. And at this point, the gear looked like it had gone to hell and back. Or the reverse, I suppose. Compared to the quality of the dagger, it was downright insulting. A way to force us not to waste time on defensive gear, perhaps? Regardless, the tower shield of the knights was a much better substitute. Then I got to the pants, and faltered. I wanted them, sure, but the smell alone was unbearable. The growing wet patch between the man¡¯s legs said exactly where all the unpleasantness was coming from, and I was pretty sure I could smell more than piss. I decided to keep my own thin pants for now. I did steal the man¡¯s boots though. The size of them was a tiny bit off, but it didn¡¯t matter. Anything was better than the flimsy things I was wearing, which were falling apart with every step. Finally, I tried on the man¡¯s helmet. Wearing it was a distinctly uncomfortable experience. It smelled of sweat and desperation, however the hell I was perceiving the latter. And, like everything else, it was just a tiny bit too small, so I felt like someone was clamping down on the sides of my head. It also looked a bit weird, like a cross between a bucket and some pointy implement. If I wanted to impale someone, I could just bend over and charge them. I¡¯m sure it made me look ridiculous.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I kept it on. Only an idiot gets killed by a stray arrow for the sake of style or extra comfort points. With the new loot, I was a new man. Literally and figuratively. For one, I was much better equipped than I had been at the start of the battle. For another, I now looked like all the other knights scurrying around the city, bloody and battered. As the command to kill once again rose to an intensity I couldn¡¯t ignore, a small twinge of worry pierced through my seemingly perfect plan. There I was, completely surrounded by unstable demon-controlled soldiers, and I had just decked myself out in the gear of our enemies. Before I could freak out, my new body¡¯s instincts assured me I¡¯d be fine. It took a brief moment of introspection to figure out why. I could feel the others. All I had to do was focus, and I could pinpoint the location of each and every demonic soldier in a couple yards¡¯ radius around me. It was like I had a built-in radar for friendlies. Thinking back, I realized I¡¯d managed to avoid hurting my nominal allies, and vice versa, even when I blanked out during the scuffle with the knights. So, I wasn¡¯t liable to get stabbed in the back by mistake. That was comforting. Less comforting was the realization that my body started moving, on its own, while I was thinking. I was now much deeper inside the fortress city. My legs were pumping against the stone road, in search of the nearest enemy. Apparently, any lapse in my concentration allowed the murder-command to take over fully. I swore quietly, then quickly dove into the nearest house. The door wasn¡¯t even locked, making the maneuver easy. I¡¯m not hiding, I¡¯m scouting for hidden enemies. Once I¡¯d repeated the mantra for the dozenth time, the command finally started to agree. It bought me just enough time to relax and look around. I was in a small foyer. A doorway at the other end of the room led to the rest of the house. Two pairs of boots stood right next to the door I¡¯d just come in, one larger than the other. The space wasn¡¯t furnished richly, but it did have a bench, hooks with coats hanging off them, a weapon stand, and a low table of some weird design. The table was knocked over and the weapon stand was empty. I crouched lower before going further. There was no door separating the foyer from the next room, which lessened the chances of an ambush. I still crept around the corner like I was expecting a hostile SWAT team to jump out at me. The caution proved unnecessary. The large room was empty. It was some kind of mix between a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. Knickknacks, personal items, and general proof of people living in the space abounded, but I paid them no mind. There was a door to my immediate left, probably leading to a room the same size as the foyer, and another door across from me. My stomach whined when I looked at the kitchen area, reminding me just how hungry I was, but I ignored it. Instead, I concentrated on taking a deep breath and busting down the door on the left with a movie-inspired kick. Or rather, I tried. The kick made my leg ache, and the door didn¡¯t budge. I cursed as quietly as could. With my face flushing with embarrassment, I just opened the bloody door normally. A wave of cold slammed me in the face. This was a pantry. Shelves full of food lined the walls, kept cool by a large basket of steaming ice in the center of the floor. For once, my inner geek came out to play as I marveled over the locals¡¯ solution to their food storage problems. The ice had to be magical somehow. It didn¡¯t look natural at all, not least because there was no water to be found at the bottom of the basket or on the surrounding floor. A quick assessment told me that I was now the owner of various staples that looked mostly familiar. Several kinds of possible fruits and veggies were completely alien to me, but some could have passed for Earth variants. Suddenly, a creak sounded behind me, the subtle yet unmistakable sound of someone placing their foot wrong. I whirled around as the murder-compulsion exploded in my mind. A terrified man was in the middle of the room, his eyes wide and full of desperation. He was clutching a knife in his right hand with a white-knuckled grip. But he had made up his mind. The instant I turned, he charged right for me with a scream. My movements were simple, almost mechanical. I stepped forward, took his knife¡¯s blow on my new shield, and then slashed out with my sword. And that was about where my newfound instincts stopped. I wasn¡¯t a master swordsman, merely a trained buffoon who knew just enough not to treat a sword like a bat but not enough to know where to place it. Instead of neatly ending the man¡¯s life with a blow to the neck, my blade raked across his face. Blood burst out of his cheek, and he instantly crumpled, clutching at his eye. His fingers were stained with red and white as I brought my sword down again. This time, I caught the back of his neck and a bit of his shoulder blades. He crumpled further, whimpering and gurgling now. And then I landed the killing blow. I wasn¡¯t shaking. My hands were completely steady and sure. I wasn¡¯t throwing up either. But deep inside of me was a mounting horror at what I was doing. My body was almost moving on instinct, thanks to the flare of the murder command and the pulse of something scalding hot inside my chest. It sent waves of heat through my body, relaxing muscles and banishing the ill effects of adrenaline. The warm, unnatural calmness was disturbing, but I couldn¡¯t focus on it. I was preoccupied by my feet. They kept moving, propelled by the command, dragging me towards the room I¡¯d originally ignored. The door was open now. I couldn¡¯t believe I hadn¡¯t heard the man when he started sneaking up on me or that I had been so stupid to have been distracted by the food. Hovering somewhere between demonic rage and a panic attack, I barged inside the room. My thoughts screeched and ground to a halt. I was obviously in a bedroom. It was a simple affair, with shelves on one side, a couple of storage chests on the other, and a bed in the center. At the other end of the room was a woman, likely the wife of the man who just tried to kill me. A ray of sunlight splashed across the top of her head from the small window behind her. My demonic compulsion drove me forward. Killing the man was one thing. I knew he was innocent, and that I was part of a demonic army invading his home. He had, however, taken up a weapon and tried to ambush me. I could reason something out there, find a way to feel a little less guilty. There was no such reprieve with the woman. She was crying and had her hands raised. She wasn¡¯t a threat, just someone caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I tried, with everything in me, to fight the compulsion. I tried to step away and just go raid the pantry. I tried to reason that my hunger, and the potential weakness that would ensue, was more important in that moment than cutting down a helpless woman. I failed. I was stuck there, screaming inside my mind, as I approached the woman and lifted my sword. Her eyes widened with terror as she bumped against the window. There was a subtle glow to the window frame, coming from runes etched into the trim. An instinct told me the runes were for muffling enchantments. The woman had heard her husband die. She watched the approach of the murderer, mouth open in a silent plea. I brought my blade down, right through her chest. (End of Book 1) Chapter 59: Crumbling Infinity The unpleasant smell of burnt, undead flesh felt like it would be a permanent stain on my life by the time the victorious army emerged from deeper within the city. They had a vaguely disappointed air about them, which I supposed I could understand. As far as I could tell, the capital city¡¯s entire supply of souls had ended up inside of Reliana. That meant the ¡®brave¡¯ soldiers of the demonic army, hyped as they were to slaughter some mortals and claim souls, were left with nothing to do as their general dueled and tried to recruit the enemy. I couldn¡¯t find it in me to pity them, but I did feel thankful as they effortlessly extinguished the burning remains of the dead. With the way clear, I could finally hop off the balcony and join their procession towards the camp. Naturally, Mia joined me, and the rest of the surviving recruits slowly trickled out of the house. The demons did nothing to stop us. We got a few odd looks, but that was the extent of it. It was when we made it back into the camp that something unexpected happened.
Alert! You have a new Merit added to your service record: Berlis Invasion Survivor (Radiant Merit x1)
The notification allowed a small part of me to relax, but I was mostly still on edge. It wasn¡¯t like the invasion was really over. I still had to turn over the stuff from the vault to Mercutio and see if he noticed anything. Honestly, I didn¡¯t think I would rest easy until I went through a portal and visited the Abyss for the first time. Maybe not even then. We were the first group of mortals to make it back to camp. In fact, I strongly suspected we would be the only group to make it back to camp. Even if the assassination attempt from the mutated recruit was a personal threat to me, the fire it started had done a lot to neutralize the undead near us. That, combined with the exceptional abilities of myself and Mia, had saved us from the massacre. The other groups likely weren¡¯t so lucky. At least I was treated to an amusing sight when we approached Mercutio¡¯s mobile home. The demon stood in front of it, face carefully blank, as a seething demoness paced next to him. I recognized her immediately as the wyvern rider. She actually stopped pacing and brightened up when she spotted us. ¡°Thank the Abyss,¡± she breathed wearily, then grimaced when she got a closer look at our actual numbers. ¡°I thought for sure this idiot had fed his entire allotment of recruits to the undead.¡± ¡°I could not have known they would encounter such a threat,¡± Mercutio assured her drolly. The only break in his mask was a small tightening of his eyes when they landed on me. ¡°They should have been perfectly safe.¡± ¡°For the last time, risk assessment and deployment are under our purview, not logistics.¡± The demoness whose name I still didn¡¯t know rounded on Mercutio with a hiss before managing to calm herself. ¡°Did we gain anything from this whole disaster, or did you just waste a bunch of lives?¡± I chose that moment to step forward, though it wasn¡¯t in an effort to save Mercutio¡¯s hide. ¡°We have completed our assignment,¡± I declared, holding up the dimensional bag for Mercutio to claim. He stared at me for a long moment before he accepted it, his eyes suspicious. But, just like I was hoping, he made no move to frisk me or threaten me into giving up anything I might have swiped from the vault. After all, if he tried, I was fairly certain the demoness would object, out of sheer spite if nothing else. ¡°Excellent. I commend you on performing your task. I will analyze these samples quickly so we may decide whether this world is worthy of our rule.¡± The second half of his little speech was clearly aimed at the demoness, who nodded reluctantly, giving him leave to retreat to his home. She stared after Mercutio for a long moment before turning towards us. ¡°Good job. Seriously. Didn¡¯t expect any of you to make it out of that city. Honestly, this whole thing was a mess,¡± she sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. ¡°If the general weren¡¯t here himself, he would have had our collective asses.¡± I hesitated to speak, but decided to go for it. She seemed to like us enough, so why not earn some brownie points? ¡°Nothing you could have done. I mean, the general himself was surprised by what happened here, wasn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°True.¡± She awarded me a smile and a nod of her head. ¡°Still, waste of time and energy. We only ever invade worlds this weak to test and train up recruits, and, well¡­¡± She trailed off, then gestured vaguely at our pitiful numbers. ¡°Granted, you¡¯re probably exceptional for having survived, but the eliminations will hurt our stats this time around. Ugh, at least everyone did poorly. This kingdom controlled the whole planet through magic, so their strategies were implemented worldwide once they figured out ¡®cheap¡¯ teleportation. I can¡¯t believe the number of demons we lost, either. SO much compensation required.¡± I smiled in what I hoped was a commiserating manner, and she shook her head, dismissing her thoughts. ¡°Anyway, you have a day or two while they make their final ruling on this world. Rest, relax, and get ready for a visit to the Abyss!¡± Her voice was cheerful, but I didn¡¯t miss the underlying tone of amusement. The piteous look she shot us also did nothing to quiet my unease. For better or worse, though, things were at an end. ¡ª In the end, a total of four other mortal survivors stumbled out of the city over the next few hours. They all looked worse for wear, and their injuries were heavy. One of them did have a dimensional bag clutched in his hands, though, which entitled him to a cold commendation from Mercutio.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Not, say, a healing potion, or a couple souls for his trouble. A stiff ¡®Thank you and be on your way now.¡¯ Born for leading people, Mercutio was not. At least he probably wouldn¡¯t try to kill you. So long as you weren¡¯t me, of course. It might have been foolish or irresponsible, but I didn¡¯t train or push myself in any way while we waited. I took the demoness¡¯s suggestion seriously and decided to rest. The only practical thing I did was shuffle some of my valuable possessions into the hidden dimensional bag. I somehow managed to stuff all the mana crystals in there, but that was just about pushing the already strained limits of its size. Mia had not claimed her weapon and grimoire yet. While we were safely over the first hurdle of smuggling our ill-gotten gains past Mercutio, we were camped out a very short distance away from his mobile home. If he deigned to venture out among us and spotted her with a brand new enchanted weapon and soul-bound grimoire, I didn¡¯t want to consider what he¡¯d do. So, for the first day and a half after the conquest of Berlis, I just lazed about, chatting and sharing meals with Mia. It was¡­ nice. The only thing that troubled me was the fear of another assassination attempt. I was still on high alert around the other recruits, shooting them suspicious glances whenever they got too close. Funnily enough, I could no longer bring myself to view Mia with the same suspicion. I had reached out to her originally out of guilt, but somewhere along the way, I genuinely came to trust her. She had more chances than anyone else to slit my throat or just leave me to die before claiming my possessions, but she didn¡¯t. As such, come hell or high water (and we were guaranteed to experience at least one of those), I resolved myself to be a friend and ally she could rely on. I didn¡¯t have a ton of stuff to share, but what I could, I would. Then, the second morning after the fall of the capital, the invasion of Berlis officially ended. We received no orders, from Mercutio or anyone else, but it was still obvious what was happening. The demons, who had spent the previous day and a half being just as lazy as the two of us, were suddenly moving with purpose and speed. Their camp was disassembled in record time, leaving us recruits to fumble in an attempt to keep up. At least we were already awake when the bustle started. I seriously doubt anyone would have thought to wake us up in timely fashion. It was a grand affair, the end of the invasion, even if we recruits had to witness it awkwardly from the sidelines. The general strolled out in front of his troops, emanating regal poise, power trailing him like a cape. ¡°This invasion was¡­ atypical. What started out as a chance to rest up and claim a salary turned into a scramble to get things over with quickly. However, this is a good reminder: you never know how a world might surprise you.¡± His voice rolled over the legion, effortlessly commanding the attention of every soul present. ¡°This time, we got complacent, and we paid for it. Genius is not limited by mana affinity or an abundance of resources. One¡¯s mind and soul are the most valuable treasures we possess, and we can achieve great things if we leverage them properly. ¡°None of you here will be punished. You did not truly fail me, not like others did. There will be no sanctions or reprimands for what happened. However, I want you to learn from this. Do not let yourselves be so careless again. Next time, I will not be as lenient. Do not let there be a next time.¡± He paused. The words sank into my brain even as they lingered in the air, filling mortals and infernals alike with chilling dread. Then the general raised his hand. ¡°Now, let us go home. There is nothing for us here.¡± He ripped open a portal, just like he did at the start of the invasion. Beyond, the sight of a grand street stretched into the distance. Demons lined the edges of it, cheering for their returning army. The legion surged forward. They blocked my view as they paraded through the portal. We recruits edged closer, looking for a chance to insert ourselves into the stream of soldiers. But before we could join the throng, I heard an odiously familiar throat-clearing behind us. It was with great reluctance that the surviving mortal recruits turned to face our current commanding officer. ¡°Excellent, you are all here, and right next to my path home.¡± Mercutio¡¯s voice was smug. My nerves clenched when I realized he was backed by a host of knights in full plate armor. I couldn¡¯t see their faces through their helmets, but their stillness as they all stood behind him was unnatural. That, and their ebony armor etched with golden runes, were enough to unnerve me. ¡°Your first return to the Abyss after being made a recruit is always special,¡± Mercutio opined, stroking his chin absently. ¡°This is typically reserved for your commander, but it so happens that you are under my command until you find your way back. How¡­ fortuitous, don¡¯t you think? Now, assemble yourselves into proper ranks, and kneel.¡± Slowly, hesitantly, we complied. There was nothing we could do to oppose him. My eyes strayed to the departing army only to see the last demons already passing through. The portal beckoned like a promise of safety, yet I knew I wouldn¡¯t make it, even if I made a run for it. As we knelt, the knights spread out. They stalked between our rows until every recruit had a knight hovering over their shoulders. Every recruit except me. A shiver ran down my spine. ¡°Good. Good. Now, look up. This isn¡¯t something you get to see very often, even as part of the legion.¡± I obeyed, curiosity winning over the need to keep Mercutio in my sights. At first, I had no idea what he was referring to. The sky was as corrupted by demonic mana as when the general claimed the world in the name of the Abyss. Then I spotted the lines of magic, slowly branching out over the sky from five separate points. I couldn¡¯t hold in my gasp when space itself shattered, revealing swirling red and black chaos beyond. A single hand, so large I couldn¡¯t even estimate its size, was slowly reaching out from beyond the rift. The hand was clad in a black gauntlet with red runic accents. Its sharp, metallic claws tore reality apart wherever they passed. As titanic as it seemed at first sight, the hand grew bigger as it drew closer. Swiftly, it blotted out the sky above us. Then, as if the hand¡¯s owner had curled their fingers, a sudden tremor rocked the entire world. My insides twisted in response. The hand was squeezing, pulling, and there was no denying its might. ¡°Glorious, isn¡¯t it, to see a world claimed? For a worthless piece of land like this one, to be made useful after all.¡± Mercutio looked at our pale, horrified faces, and scoffed. ¡°No matter. You were granted a great privilege, but that¡¯s not why we¡¯re here today. Let us proceed.¡± He lifted his hand, and the sound of swords leaving their scabbards rasped all around me. I tried to move, to run, to do anything, but mana erupted out of Mercutio and froze us all in place. I was locked with my eyes on Mia¡¯s, both of us beyond fear and incapable of releasing even a peep. Then Mercutio¡¯s hand fell, and I stared blankly as my friend was reduced to ash alongside every other recruit. His hold over me vanished, and I collapsed forward onto my hands with a strangled gasp. ¡°Shocking, I know,¡± Mercutio laughed, kneeling right next to my panting form. ¡°You just wouldn¡¯t die, would you? Couldn¡¯t do me this one favor?¡± His voice turned into an angry hiss as he gripped my jaw and forced me to look him in the eye. ¡°Parading in front of me with your smirks, and your looks, and that sword you don¡¯t deserve.¡± I considered trying to spit in his face, but I just felt¡­ tired. All that struggle, all that killing, all that guilt. For what? The pressure of his fingers digging into my face increased, making my skull ache. ¡°Well, at least I get this. Remember it. Remember it well. Because it¡¯s nowhere near how much you deserve to suffer.¡± He flexed his hand, and my world exploded into pain as his fingers easily dug past skin, flesh, and bone, pulping everything in their way. It was mercifully short. One moment I was wishing I was dead, and the next, with one final shot of pain, I was. My soul peeled away as my body dissolved into ash, and I was pulled from the crumbling world, out into a dark infinity. (Start of Book 2) Chapter 60: All My Children I was floating in a pitiless void, and I was familiar with it. This was the place not even my nightmares dared to explore. The one place I never wanted to see again, at any cost, no matter what I had to do. And it had claimed me. I wanted to scream. To cry and rage and beg or simply tear myself apart if all else failed. It was a far better fate than what awaited me here. Worse, I was even more cognizant than the last time around. My soul felt¡­ thicker, more condensed, weightier in a way I couldn¡¯t define. This weight let me cling to my sense of self, as corrupted and twisted as it may be. I knew it would only make what was coming all the more painful. I tried to prepare myself for the pain, to force my mind to welcome the slow eradication of my sanity, since it meant an end would eventually come. Yet, when I felt that hungry presence loom over me, I still tried to hurl myself away from it, like a pig frantic to escape the butcher. It was pointless, of course. Just like that pig, I felt bonds close around me, holding me still and pulling me closer. I couldn¡¯t even squeal as the proverbial knife drew near. I could only wait, helpless, for the first blow, the eventual chip against the very essence of my being. It never came. Amidst my panic and pointless thrashing, for the first time, I felt a glimpse of¡­ warmth. It¡¯s an insufficient description for what I felt, yet I have no other word for it. It was the warmth of a gentle summer afternoon. The warmth of a cup of hot chocolate, prepared by loving hands and pushed into your own after hours of playing in the snow. The warmth of a comfy bed or bath at the end of a horrible day, when you¡¯re exhausted and resigned and just done. The warmth of a mother gently pulling you into her embrace so she can chase the nightmares away. I couldn¡¯t resist it. The pain that would surely follow didn¡¯t matter. Gradually, reluctantly, I surrendered, even as my bonds inexorably dragged me closer to the presence that had once tried to consume me utterly. Except, this time, it was no longer so hungry, nor so cruel. Oh, even as I sank into it, I knew the hunger was still there. The presence longed to lash out, to consume, urged on by the ravenous void within itself. Yet, none of those vicious desires were directed towards me. Instead, it cradled and held me close, secured against all that might try to snatch me away or devour me. It sent waves of soothing emotions into me, driving out all my fear and rage until they were nothing but an unpleasant memory. I beheld it, then, in its entirety. A twisted spiral made of countless layers, big and small, complex and simple, linked and severed. A world, a hungry beast, a mother, and so much more. Its beauty startled me into awe. Its base nature shook me to my core. And I loved it, because it loved me in turn. Possessively, protectively, with unfailing intensity that filled my being with conviction. Not all was well, however. For all the bonds the presence had woven around me, there was another harness attached to my core, stretching away into the distance. It was thick and powerful and just as insistent in its claim on me. It fought hard to tug me away, to join my soul to itself. But it did so with all the dispassionate arrogance of a bored social worker, trying to wrest a child from the hands of a loving relative because of an estranged parent. A social worker who didn¡¯t give an inch of care about where the child might end up, or what it wanted. And yet, the tether¡¯s claim was strong. Strong enough to make me whimper, caught as I was between the two forces. My new parent wasn¡¯t going to tolerate the tug-of-war for long, though. More bonds lashed out and secured me more tightly, and then other strands of the presence manifested. These new strands sank into the foreign tether attached to me, piercing, tugging, sawing. Pain filled me, threatening to tear me apart from the inside. I panicked. Then, some ineffable sense gave me a perfect view of my current self. I was a glass-like figure, shot through with sealed-over cracks, the results of an effort to mesh together pieces that wouldn¡¯t quite fit. In some areas, the cracks had almost entirely faded, as the features of what used to be two people smoothed out into a new whole. Other cracks lingered, prominent and barely holding together. But now, caught between two opposing forces who both sought to claim me, the cracks were spreading. My glass self was splintering. What would happen if I shattered? I didn¡¯t know. And, for some reason, I didn¡¯t care. All that mattered was the one question pounding through my consciousness: If I did shatter, would my new parent still want me?This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Terror, pure and overwhelming, gripped me like a vise. Instead of scattering, my focus tightened, and I did what had become instinct to me over the last several weeks. I lashed out. I¡¯m not sure when it appeared in my hand, but suddenly, my sword bit deep into the harness that stretched off into the distance. The first blow made it quiver and spasm. The second increased the strength of the tether¡¯s pull to the point that, in those few moments, I felt like I really would shatter entirely. The third severed the connection, and it snapped, fading beyond my senses. I couldn¡¯t pant or sweat, but I still felt waves of fear and exhaustion rolling through me like the tide of an angry sea. Then the attention of that looming presence focused on me fully again, and its love and approval lulled me back into a state of pure bliss. This time, there was nothing to mar those feelings. No conflicting claims. No distracting thoughts. In that moment, I experienced perfect contentment. If it decided to devour me then and there, it would have been worth it. But it didn¡¯t eat me. Instead, a single tether unfurled from the presence I was curled up in. It stabbed gently into my chest. The feeling of warmth and safety redoubled, this time accompanied by a profound sense of belonging that lay claim to me utterly. I let it, elation singing in my heart. Faintly, through a haze, I was somewhat aware of a voice whispering to me. Connection forged. Permission to proceed with ascension granted. I didn¡¯t care about the words. I cared only for the presence, its warmth and its approval. I wished to stay there forever, content, safe from the universe and its demands. Free from panic. Free from despair. Free from the constant drive to be better, to become more, just so I might live. The euphoric sensations intensified, winding tighter around me as the Presence spoke directly into my mind. Welcome, my child. You are now my own. My flesh, my blood, my soul, my will. Then a blemish appeared in my world of bliss. A pouch was hanging from my hip, a simple drawstring purse that I knew contained souls. It annoyed me. I didn¡¯t need an object that would separate even an inch of me from the presence. The sword was irritating enough, even if it had helped me. Two more items appeared, slowly, almost hesitantly. Another pouch, then a fancy book whose covers glowed with an inner light. My frustration briefly surged, then it was banished by the soothing attention of the presence. The items were heavy. They tugged on me, trying to drag me away from the loving embrace. The purse, in particular, felt like a rock tied around my waist. It was pulling me, causing me to sink lower and lower, away from the place I wished to rest. I fought it, but I found no purchase as I scrambled. There was nothing for me to grab or cling to. Even worse, the presence no longer held me. Ever so slowly, its bonds unfurled, letting my gradual fall continue. Bitter remorse shot through my being. If I could have wept, I would have. What had I done wrong? Why was I being sent away? The further I fell, the heavier I became. Energy unlike any I had ever felt or wielded before swirled around me, seeping into my translucent form and giving me substance. It started from my fingertips. At first, it looked like little flakes of ash had somehow manifested there. Then the flakes clumped together, whitening and forming into skin. Flesh, blood, and bone followed, slowly transforming my ill-defined proportions into a real body. A body that dragged me down, pulling me away from the one place I felt I truly belonged. I regained my ability to cry, and tears unabashedly streamed down my cheeks. My mouth was open in a soundless wail that slowly became audible as my lungs formed. My heart, my core, were the last to form, almost simultaneously. Then mana was coursing through my veins, sealing my fate. My back slammed against something cold and hard, followed almost instantly by my limbs. I barely noticed. I was too caught up in the agony of existing, too angry at my pathetic body that tied me down to life and all its suffering. Not even the discomfort that speared through me a moment later could snap me out of it. The sensation of overwhelming heat and unbearable cold all at once, of every minor ache being amplified several times over, tugged at something in the back of my mind, but I dismissed it out of hand. All my attention was fixed on the fading impressions of that perfect moment of existence, and the faint red glow far above me. It reminded me of the Presence, of its benevolence and love, and only made me more miserable. Gradually, I became aware of the familiar discomfort, along with other sensations. I caught snippets of voices, of sounds I couldn¡¯t interpret in my dazed state. I made no effort to understand or react, content to be lost to the world as I was. Maybe someone is going to kill me, or maybe I¡¯ll just die of the cold, or heat. Then I would get to go back¡­ Disapproval surged in my chest, jerking me away from the idle thoughts. Though the emotion was foreign, I could recognize its source. It came from a tether connected to the center of my being, tying me to the Presence I so longed for. The message was clear: if I tried to get back through self-neglect or self-harm, the Presence would not be pleased. But I would be there again. Hope bloomed in me, and for the first time, I tried to move my limbs. They were a twitching, uncooperative mess, and I only barely managed to push myself onto my side. As I blinked my eyes rapidly to get rid of the tears, the world started to resolve itself into more than just vague blurs. The first thing I saw was red stone, cut into precise squares and adorned with fanciful demonic engravings. Then I saw the people. Just like me, they lay collapsed face-down on the ground. They were barely sensate and utterly naked. I recognized plenty of them, on account of the fact that I¡¯d had a front-row seat when Mercutio decided to shorten them all by a head. An unpleasant jolt of worry snaked through me. I groaned and tried to move, blushing furiously at the sight of my own naked body. Apparently, I was not an exception to the general state of undress. Twitching my limbs more insistently, I struggled to recover my control over them as quickly as I could. The sudden sound of confident footsteps added fear to my embarrassment. None of us currently lying about seemed capable of recovering so quickly from our apparent resurrections, so whoever was approaching was probably not a recruit. Then I thought of the mutated individual who had tried to kill me, most likely on Mercutio¡¯s orders. He was probably up and running by now. Recruits could be a threat too. As was typical of my luck, I wasn¡¯t even close to forcing my body into submission when the steps paused just a short distance away from me. ¡°You look like a mess, kid,¡± drawled a familiar voice. ¡°Need some help?¡± Exerting all my strength, I managed to push myself onto my back so I could look up at the speaker. There, standing in all his pinkish glory, was Bronwynn. I didn¡¯t expect the flood of emotions that surged through me. Regret over not being able to warn him in time. Sorrow at losing him. Profound gratitude for helping me, for giving me the information I needed, for healing my arms when he didn¡¯t have to¡­ So potent was the cocktail, it even banished the lingering cobwebs of my experience in the void, at least for a while. In the end, I could only squeak out two words in response. ¡°Yes, please.¡± Chapter 61: A Helping Hand Bronwynn offered me his hand, and I successfully took it in only two attempts. The first time, my arm twitched and shot up, but fell short. The second time, I managed a relatively firm grip, even if that was mostly down to my muscles seizing up and clamping around Bronwynn¡¯s fingers. I was glad he was a demon because I probably would have crushed his bones otherwise. Getting pulled to my feet was an experience. I was trembling like a leaf, though I quickly discovered that cycling my mana through the strengthening technique actually did help. It sped up whatever process I was going through, making the new body I was inhabiting start to feel like my own. And isn¡¯t that a fun thought? This wasn¡¯t the body I had been shunted into when I joined the legion. Sure, it looked exactly the same, but the original ¡®Hayden Hall¡¯ was now a pile of ashes on some crumbling piece of rock in the middle of space. That body, along with the entire world of Berlis, was gone. Probably for good. So¡­ I¡¯m not a body-snatcher anymore? Yay? I was far from feeling secure in this new ¡®clone¡¯ body, however. Even with the mana coursing through me, I still felt terrifyingly weak. At least I wasn¡¯t the only one. All the recruits I could see around me were in as rough shape as I was, if not worse. Looking at the other recruits broke my contemplative mood. The sight of them reminded me that I, too, was in the middle of some strange demonic city square, wearing nothing but my birthday suit. I flushed scarlet again, but Bronwynn just huffed, rolled his eyes, and thrust a black piece of clothing into my chest. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but he had a whole stack of garments thrown carelessly over his other hand. The clothing turned out to be a robe, long and flowing and not at all comfortable. In fact, putting it on reintroduced the horrible scratching sensation I had experienced when I was inducted into the legion. I was briefly tempted to throw it off. I didn¡¯t, of course. My dignity, or what remained of it, was worth the discomfort. ¡°Why does everything feel so horrible here?¡± I grumbled. ¡°Because you¡¯re in the circle of torment, kid. Did you expect it to feel like a thousand succubi caressing you or something?¡± snarked the demon, making me roll my eyes at the imagery. ¡°You want shit like that, go to Ecstasy or Lust or what have you. Just know that most recruits who go there never make it back.¡± Shelving that little tidbit away, I dared another glance around me. Everywhere I looked, naked recruits lay on the ground. Some twitched. Others moaned. A small group of demons were making their way through the ranks, carelessly throwing robes over the prone mortals. I was trying to decide which vital question to ask Bronwynn next when my restless eyes finally landed on a familiar figure. I tried to lunge forward and almost took a tumble. Would have, if Bronwynn hadn¡¯t gripped the back of my horribly uncomfortable robe with a sigh. ¡°What is it now?¡± ¡°Mia. That¡¯s Mia,¡± I whispered, eyes wide with a desperate sort of hope. I had been so out of it at first, and then resolute in ignoring the pain that stabbed through my chest at the thought of her, but I realized I was an idiot. If I was there, and so many others were there, then of course she was there as well. Wouldn¡¯t make sense if we all got resurrected and she was left to rot as a snack in the void¡­ That last idea did all sorts of weird things to my brain. My feelings were caught up in such an unforgiving duality about that experience that my mind glitched, like my body needed another full post-resurrection reset. I shook my head. Important stuff now. Existential panic and dread later. An amused Bronwynn let me tug him along, making no fuss as I snatched a robe away from him and laid it gently over the twitching cat lady. Her eyes were still closed, moving wildly behind her eyelids. I wasn¡¯t sure whether I should wake her up or not. Thankfully, with my smarts somewhat recovered, I had enough presence of mind to turn to Bronwynn for advice. ¡°Can I help her somehow? Is it safe to wake her up?¡± He scoffed, but the sound was somehow friendly rather than derisive. ¡°Yes, you can. What you experienced¡­ it stopped before your body formed. Not sure how your brain interpreted it all, since it can be difficult for mortal minds to go through something like that, but your friend¡¯s fully there in her flesh.¡± I ignored the emphasis he gave the word ¡®friend,¡¯ along with the teasing lilt on the word ¡®flesh.¡¯ I was a ton of things, probably a war criminal at that point, but I wasn¡¯t about to ogle a woman having a weird seizure while her soul and body re-synced. Still, with that question answered, I couldn¡¯t hold back a flare of anger. ¡°Yeah, about that. What in the world happened? He¡­ he killed us. Executed us.¡± I shuddered. The memory of fingers slipping effortlessly through my face would definitely feature in my future nightmares. ¡°How are we still alive? Or¡­ alive again? We¡¯re not demons.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Bronwynn sighed. He bought some time for himself by throwing robes over the surrounding recruits. Even with all that was happening, without and within, I couldn¡¯t help noticing the bored, detached manner with which he regarded their bodies. ¡°Although the legion accepts a large number of mortals with each recruitment intake, not all of them are born with what it takes to be a soldier. Even with training, plenty of them panic, refuse to kill, or just let themselves die. Sometimes for moral reasons, sometimes out of spite.¡± The demon shrugged as he turned to look at me, his face carefully blank. I stayed silent and waited for him to get on with it. ¡°So, there are¡­ tests, rankings, and evaluations. Every recruit that makes it to the end of their first invasion receives a merit, as you might know. As a guarantee of their ability, it¡¯s a sign that the legion should take them more seriously than the other recruits, and allocate appropriate training and resources for their advancement.¡± ¡°And the dying? The execution?¡± I pressed bitterly, though I already had a sense of where this was going. ¡°It sounds like the process wasn¡¯t handled properly.¡± Bronwynn winced, the first sign of his mask cracking. ¡°But it was necessary, since it links your soul fully to the Abyss. It is strongly discouraged to share this fact with recruits, Hayden, but here it is. You belong to the Abyss. That was true ever since your induction. Whenever you die, you don¡¯t get to have a peaceful trip to the afterlife. You will continue to come back, like we do, until you fail to pay your resurrection toll, or you¡¯re slain here. Then, well¡­ you¡¯ll nourish the Abyss in a different way.¡± I shuddered, well and truly, from the top of my head to the bottom of my soles. I didn¡¯t need my imagination to know what ¡®nourishing the Abyss¡¯ meant. But I had no idea what to think about the rest of it. Why hadn¡¯t the legion told us that we would now resurrect, like demons? That seemed like a pretty important detail to omit. Then again, I guess it made sense. How would mortal recruits act, if they knew death was now just an inconvenience? A financial inconvenience, if I understood Bronwynn right, but a mere inconvenience nonetheless. Would they fight as ferociously? Would they sink to the same lows? Would I have? A part of me wanted to say that no, I wouldn¡¯t have been so desperate and set on murder. Another part of me laughed and called me a liar. I told both of them to shut up, and refocused on the present. ¡°But then why¡­¡± I trailed off, unsure of whether I wanted to voice my suspicions. ¡°Why what?¡± I looked at Bronwynn, at his regretful and sincere expression, and didn¡¯t know what to say. I wanted to ask why Mercutio had been so determined to kill me before the end of the invasion, when he knew I would just come back anyway. But how could I casually form a question about that? Glaustro¡¯s letter had made it clear that Mercutio was a powerful demon. The wrong words, even to Bronwynn, could be dangerous. Thankfully, I was spared the need to respond when I heard Mia moan in pain. I knelt next to her immediately, my hand pausing halfway to her face. Then her eyes fluttered open and landed on mine, and I forgot my hesitation. ¡°Mia? Hey, you¡¯re alright. We¡¯re both alright,¡± I whispered gently, unable to resist the urge to boop her nose before slowly helping her into a sitting position. Her face scrunched up in a rather adorable manner. ¡°Wuh-wat happened?¡± she managed to stutter. She didn¡¯t help me with the maneuvering, but she wasn¡¯t fighting me, either. Honestly, she was regaining lucidity faster than I had. And though her body was twitching all over, she was still able to hold on to the robe, keeping it in place. ¡°We¡¯re back in the Abyss,¡± I said calmly. Her eyes squinted at me in a way that meant she was displeased, and I rushed to clarify. ¡°Apparently, we resurrect the way demons do now. Although, uh¡­ you may want to get dressed?¡± She tilted her head, blinking at me. Then her eyes drifted over our surroundings. A blush fought its way across her cheeks and down her neck as she squeaked in indignation. I rushed to my feet and turned away, ignoring the sounds of cloth shuffling behind me. Bronwynn was watching us both with a smug smirk that made me want to¡­ well, not punch him, but maybe be mean. That was, of course, precluded by him being a demon who could vaporize me, for real this time. And, you know, the fact that I still carried a ton of guilt over his death in Berlis. The memory finally made the words leave my mouth. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Bronwynn.¡± I was whispering, but he still heard and shot me a confused look. ¡°I didn¡¯t catch on fast enough,¡± I explained. ¡°I warned Glaustro about the trap, but by that time¡­ and you were trying to help me, and I¡­¡± He looked startled, but then he sighed, giving me an odd look I couldn¡¯t decipher. ¡°Hayden, it¡¯s not your fault. We didn¡¯t notice. None of us did. And we should have, because from what I heard, that enchantment was still leaking mana, no matter how minute. We just thought spatial mana was lingering in the area because of the barrier, and we paid for it. Do you understand?¡± His eyes were intense. Intense enough to make me nod, however reluctantly. ¡°Sure.¡± Though he clearly didn¡¯t believe me, he just shook his head. ¡°And that reminds me, how are you managing your ascension? You didn¡¯t put more souls into it, did you? Because that would be stupid.¡± ¡°No, no, I didn¡¯t, all my souls are right¡­ here¡­¡± I trailed off, reaching for the purse that was always attached to my waist. There was nothing there. No purse. No sword. No grimoire or stolen dimensional bag. I spun on the spot, unable to fight off the rising panic, trying to remember where I had woken up from before rushing over to Mia. ¡°Hayden? Hayden!¡± Bronwynn snapped, grabbing my shoulders. ¡°Relax. Is this about your weapon and purse? They¡¯re soul-bound, you idiot. Just focus on them, imagine them, will them to your side.¡± I didn¡¯t understand what he wanted from me. I tried anyway, but my thoughts were buzzing, scattered, frantic. The panic only grew when my attempt failed. It was only when he gave my shoulders a rough shake that I thought seriously about his instructions. I focused on my items. I tried to feel the bonds I knew I had with them. Slowly, I calmed down enough to imagine each item in detail. That was when something snapped into place. I was always aware of the items on some level. They were a presence at my side, as reassuring as a background noise. Now, I felt every facet of each unique link, and I called out through them. Unfortunately, I yoinked on all the links at once. Four items materialized in front of me out of thin air, and I had barely a second to catch them before they started to fall. I chose to go for the sword and the book. It was a good thing the sword came with its own sheath, because I absolutely would have cut myself up as I hugged both items to my chest. My purse and bag fell to the ground, limp but unharmed. I let out a long sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s neat.¡± Mia¡¯s voice was right beside me, and I turned to look at the fully clothed cat lady. ¡°Now, tell me how to do it myself because my purse is missing.¡± I blinked. I thought I had simply left my stuff on the ground where I woke up. If that wasn¡¯t the case, then where was it all before I called to it? Still pondering, I bent down to pick up my purse. I froze. A shot of worry and frustration coursed through me. The purse was far lighter than it was supposed to be. Shuffling my sword and grimoire into one arm, I managed to push my hand into my purse, feeling out the pitiful number of souls inside. My feelings must have shown on my face because both Mia and Bronwynn looked worried about me. I stared at the demon, about ready to cry. ¡°Where did most of my souls go?¡± Chapter 62: Trust Bronwynn looked like he really, really wanted to laugh at me. He didn¡¯t, which made my esteem for the demon go up several notches. ¡°Hayden, I¡¯m sure you remember what happens to recruits when they die, right?¡± he asked patiently, like he was talking to a child. That tone of voice might or might not have been why I consciously stopped myself from pouting. ¡°Of course, I remember. They turn to ash and they leave behind some¡­ souls¡­¡± I grimaced. ¡°Exactly, kid. You are, unfortunately, a mortal. Your soul isn¡¯t meant to survive the death of your body. As such, your soul purse is designed to absorb the damage that death would otherwise cause your soul. But that messes with the other enchantments on it, so something like forty percent of your souls are lost every time you die.¡± ¡°Forty percent?¡± I asked, just to be sure. ¡°Yes. A few percent more or less, depending on the kind of death you suffer. Don¡¯t worry, the issue goes away when you become a demon. At that point, your soul will be robust enough to eat the damage on its own. Well, you¡¯ll still lose some souls to the Abyss, for the cost of reforming your body, but that¡¯s better than truly dying.¡± Things were still not computing, though. I was familiar with the weird enchantments on my soul purse, even if I didn¡¯t understand them. One of the more useful features gave me information about my purse¡¯s contents every time I dipped my fingers into it. At that moment, my purse was insisting that I had a grand total of 115 souls. I had ended the invasion with 357. ¡°I lost a lot more than just forty percent.¡± I scowled at the floor, like it would spit out my souls if I just intimidated it enough. ¡°Really?¡± Bronwynn frowned. ¡°How many did you have? And how many are you left with?¡± I told him, and his frown deepened. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. You¡¯re a recruit. The cost of resurrection for you should be a measly ten souls. How did you say you died again?¡± ¡°I think they cut off our heads.¡± Mia smiled as she eyed her own soul purse, which she had managed to materialize while we were talking. ¡°And my soul count is correct, according to what you just told us.¡± Once again, I started to explain what happened with Mercutio, then paused. A sword to the neck shouldn¡¯t have been all that different from claws to the face, as far as deaths go. ¡°What exactly makes the percentages vary?¡± I asked instead. Bronwynn eyed me, clearly sensing something was wrong. He could probably read my roiling emotions, but he shrugged it off. ¡°Mostly? If you¡¯re killed in a certain magical way. Spells designed to harm the soul will always incur a higher loss. I think I also heard something about mind spells costing more to come back from? Those can also leave some nasty side effects, but the Abyss clears most of those when putting us back together.¡± I thought back to my death. I really couldn¡¯t remember a single moment when it looked like Mercutio was casting a spell. ¡°And the difference should be a percent or two at most anyway, right?¡± I pushed again. ¡°Correct. The biggest deviations I¡¯ve heard of are five percent.¡± ¡°Then it still doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± I concluded, frowning. ¡°No matter how I died, it shouldn¡¯t have made this much of a difference. This is more like sixty percent of my souls, just¡­ gone.¡± ¡°Well, maybe we can go ask someone wiser. I¡¯m here to collect you, anyway,¡± Bronwynn declared. His smile definitely hinted this was good news, but that didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t confused. ¡°I thought you were here to distribute those robes?¡± I asked. The innocent question made the demon scowl, and he promptly dumped all the robes on top of a recruit who was still squirming on the ground. Most of them landed on the recruit¡¯s chest, but one robe landed right on his face. ¡°There, robes distributed. They stuck me with those when they saw me waiting. Not my job. Now, let¡¯s go.¡± I considered doing something about the poor recruit¡¯s state, but when Bronwynn started walking away briskly, I decided to follow. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s gonna suffocate or something from that single robe. Probably. Remembering to snatch up my dimensional bag, I fell in step with the demon. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°Sergeant Glaustro wanted to meet you.¡± Bronwynn glanced at Mia, who had appeared on the other side of me with the grace and stealth of a ghost. ¡°I suppose your friend can come too. I think I remember her being part of our unit, and she did make it to the end.¡± I shot Mia a grin and was glad to see her return it. No point in either of us lingering morbidly over our recent death. As we walked, I looked around the massive square. I was surprised at how many recruits I saw scattered around. I also didn¡¯t recognize most of them, not even vaguely. ¡°Where did all these people come from?¡± I asked idly. ¡°Do so many recruits really die all the time?¡± Bronwynn¡¯s answer was a genuinely amused laugh. ¡°Come now. You didn¡¯t think yours was the only group of recruits on the entire planet, right? The rest were hit pretty badly, what with all the nonsense that happened, but everyone you see here made it all the way to the end of the invasion.¡± Well, then. In that case¡­ ¡°So, everyone who made it to the end resurrected here? What about people who died before then? What happens to those recruits now?¡± ¡°They were funneled to other resurrection points, depending on how long they survived and how well they performed,¡± Bronwynn explained. ¡°Most of them who died early on will be delegated to roles in logistics or something similar. Some who died later on or who showed promise might be offered a chance to work their way up to a combat role. Honestly, you¡¯re lucky. Both because you¡¯re in this legion, and because you made it all the way to the end.¡± ¡°There¡¯s that big a difference in treatment?¡± I asked, forcing my tone to stay light and casual.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Of course. I transferred in, remember? And it took me a while to scrape together enough souls to do it. In the Legion of Torment, top recruits like yourselves get a monthly stipend of souls. You¡¯re pretty much guaranteed to become a demon. Unless you die somehow, of course. So, try not to do that.¡± The order was delivered in a stern tone that made me smile, but it did little to tamp down the churning in my gut. Most of those who die early on get sent to logistics. Well, now, who do I know that came from there and made my life a whole lot harder than it had to be? Mercutio¡¯s stupid face bubbled up to the surface of my mind, and I balled my hands into fists, clenching and unclenching them angrily. The demon had shown up one day, snatched the recruits away from our proper commander, Glaustro, and then proceeded to make us miserable. As if claiming all our hard-earned souls in the name of ¡®research¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough, he had also made multiple attempts on my life. Well, I was pretty sure it was him. Problem was, I had no real proof. Stories about a traitorous fellow recruit and a few possessed, mysteriously superpowered locals weren¡¯t exactly sufficient evidence. If I tried to level an accusation against Mercutio, would anyone listen? Or would they discount the whole thing as a lowly mortal¡¯s paranoid resentment? The thought was eating me up from the inside, and I had no idea what to do about it. Worse still, Bronwynn¡¯s information confirmed I was in more danger now than ever before. Within the Abyss, I was as killable as I assumed I was back on Berlis. It was nice to learn that I would just poof back here if I got killed on some other plane, during some future invasion. But if someone shanked me in an alley here, in my nominal home world¡­ there was no resurrection from that. ¡°Everything okay, kid?¡± Bronwynn asked quietly. I shoved my feelings down as deep as I could. I knew he would probably still feel them, being a demon and all, but maybe I could work on making them less obvious. After all, bottling up important emotions was a time-honored tradition in both the mortal and infernal realms. ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks. Where is the commander waiting for us, anyway?¡± ¡°Just down the street from this plaza.¡± Like the swell guy he was, Bronwynn went along with my blatant change of subject. ¡°There are plenty of inns and caf¨¦s and the like around here. He¡¯s waiting for us at Gates of Torment. I think you¡¯ll like the place.¡± The name of the establishment didn¡¯t do much to inspire confidence in me, but I chose to trust Bronwynn. He had given me plenty of reasons to. Sure enough, Gates of Torment turned out to be a very posh little restaurant. The decoration was understated, with soft colors, wooden paneling, and plush seats surrounding circular tables of various sizes. Private booths lined the walls, filled with customers engaged in quiet conversation. More importantly, the second we set foot inside, the sensation of constant discomfort faded away. Until it was gone, I hadn¡¯t realized just how much I was suffering. I had to catch myself to stay alert as relief flooded my system, leaving me strangely exhausted. I didn¡¯t let myself pass out on my feet, though. Instead, I hurried to catch up to Bronwynn, a dazed Mia right by my side. A glance at her face told me I wasn¡¯t the only one who suddenly felt much better. ¡°Ah, here they are!¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice boomed across the restaurant as he greeted us with a stunning smile. It really was unfair how much the kind expression improved the demon¡¯s appearance. All the sharp lines of his face melted away, transforming the harsh visage into something undeniably handsome. A shame, then, that the good sergeant spent most of his time glaring at the world like it owed him money. As we approached his small table, I snuck a glance at the unexpected addition to the meeting. Sergeant Graighast, my commander¡¯s brother, was there as well. Apparently, the events of Berlis¡¯ invasion had helped to mend the brothers¡¯ strained relationship. I bowed low to Glaustro. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet you again, commander.¡± I really meant it. Sure, my relationship with the man had started off on rocky ground. Hard not to dislike someone at least a little when they begin the acquaintance by berating you for your mortality and general uselessness. But once I proved myself, the sergeant had mellowed out significantly. He even tried to protect us from Mercutio, I think. At the very least, when Mercutio stole all the mortal recruits, Glaustro was the only commander who actually bothered to show up and explain to us what was happening. Glaustro laughed as I rose from my bow. ¡°No need for that. Not yet. Truth be told, I am not currently your commander,¡± the demon confessed. ¡°That¡¯s why I wanted to talk to you. With your first invasion over, you can now take up a permanent post under a commander. I came here to invite you into my troop. At this point, your ascension is guaranteed, and from what I saw of you, I would be honored if you chose to serve under me.¡± I managed to stop most of the shock from showing on my face, though the demons could probably sense it anyway. ¡°I would be honored to accept, commander.¡± Rough start or not, I had served under the man before, and I knew I could trust him. ¡°I would like to apply to join your troop as well, if you¡¯ll have me, commander,¡± Mia said quietly. The woman was much braver than I expected. But Glaustro seemed to approve of her boldness, if his small smile was any indication. ¡°And I would be happy to have you. You seem to have started down the same path as Hayden. Your mana core is not large, but it is impressive for a fresh recruit.¡± Graighast scoffed, though with a teasing smile. ¡°Typical. You get not one, but two promising recruits from a single recruitment pitch. You¡¯ve had quite the luck lately, brother.¡± For just a moment, something dark passed over my commander¡¯s face. Then he relaxed and shot Graighast a tentative smile. ¡°So it seems. Now, I¡¯ll send for a notary, and have him fetch your belongings, too. It would be a waste of time to go to their office just to finalize your transfer to my unit when we could have some excellent food instead.¡± He waved his hand carelessly towards the restaurant¡¯s entrance, where I noticed a demon nod and duck outside. ¡°Fetch our belongings?¡± I repeated. ¡°Well, yes. You made it to the end of the invasion.¡± Graighast sounded confused. ¡°Your death was a necessity, but you¡¯ll have all your belongings returned to you. Did the person in charge of your passing not inform you of this?¡± ¡°Not¡­ exactly,¡± I hedged, resentment flaring within me again. Mercutio had done no such thing. He rounded us up, taunted us, then summarily had us executed. But this news brightened my mood considerably. With my death, I thought I had lost one of the few possessions I genuinely cherished. My armor was a marvel. It was more of a gift than a purchase, handmade by the daughter of a renowned demoness armorer. Yules was her mother¡¯s apprentice, and though she wasn¡¯t yet skilled enough to display her work in the shop, she had done an amazing job with my armor. On numerous occasions, it had been the difference between a life-threatening wound and just a painful scratch. I loved it to bits and had taken great care to keep it in pristine condition. Knowing I would get to see it again was a relief I wasn¡¯t prepared for. The roiling bitterness inside me settled down to a simmer, and when I was offered a seat, I sank into it much more comfortably. The atmosphere relaxed significantly after that. Glaustro and his brother led the conversation towards some of the worlds and wonders they had seen, and while I knew they had only visited these places to kill and pillage and steal souls, it was hard not to appreciate their stories. Eventually, a squirrel-looking demon walked into the restaurant, followed by the soldier Glaustro had sent out. The demon looked nervous as he approached us, the olive-green skin of his face shifting to an unhealthy gray when he spotted the two commanders. ¡°Ah, you requested my presence, officers?¡± he asked tentatively, eyes skipping between them. Glaustro nodded. ¡°Correct. You will help my two new recruits sign up properly under my leadership. Tybalt, you have their belongings, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The soldier hefted the two wooden crates he was carrying. He checked the names, looked at us blankly, and then just proffered both crates to me. Amused, I snatched the top crate, spotted Mia¡¯s name, and handed it off. Scooting my empty plate aside, I eagerly placed my crate on the table. I cast my Cleansing spell over the entire thing a couple times just to be safe. I did die in this stuff, after all. Then I started digging through the crate. When my fingers closed around leather, I gave a little noise of happiness as I pulled out the marvelous armor. That happiness quickly died. Yules¡¯s work of art and craftsmanship was in ruins. Gouges were carved straight through the plate meant to guard my chest and back. Other metallic bits were partially melted off. It looked like someone had taken a knife to every inch of leather, leaving it in ribbons. At first, all I could do was stare. Then a strangled sentence escaped my mouth. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill him.¡± Chapter 63: The General Funny how you can give up on something, or at least convince yourself you¡¯ve given up. But if someone dangles that same thing in front of you, only to snatch it away¡­ Well, perhaps there are people out there who can remain unmoved. I wasn¡¯t one of them. My hands tightened on the leather. Without meaning to, I sent mana surging through my muscles, lending me enough strength to tear straight through what was left of my poor armor. I stared blankly at the plate as it clattered to the ground, heedless of the odd looks we were getting from other patrons. For that matter, I didn¡¯t pay attention to the odd looks of my companions. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill him,¡± I repeated. I wasn¡¯t sure who I was addressing. But as rage unlike anything I had ever experienced washed through me, I was absolutely sure I meant to follow through on my promise. In fact, I rose from my seat then and there, ready to charge out of the restaurant and scour the city for Mercutio. It didn¡¯t matter that he would rip me apart, and happily at that. I just wanted to try. To see if the poor mortal he had decided to toy with could leave a mark on that stupid smug face of his. Luckily, as I stood, a hand closed around my wrist. I eyed it with great displeasure, then followed the person¡¯s arm up to their eyes. Mia was staring at me. Her face was full of such confusion and worry that the rage inside me softened for a moment. Only for a moment, though. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill him,¡± I said for the third time, this time definitely addressing her. ¡°While I¡¯m not one to discourage murder, especially when motivated by vengeance, perhaps you would care to share who and why?¡± Graighast ventured, before his brother could. I didn¡¯t hesitate. Not this time. I had been able to talk myself into overlooking everything. I had reasoned that there was little hard evidence to support my claims. But with my mutilated armor on the ground, and this anger burning me from the inside? I was more than willing to share. So, I told them. I told them everything. About the stupid power games, the abuse of the brand, the hatred I saw in Mercutio¡¯s face, his comments and taunts, and all the times I was convinced he had tried to kill me. I wrapped up the story with my armor. The savaged, ruined armor I now stared at with regret as I gingerly lifted it off the floor. Losing my temper was one thing. Destroying a prized possession even further was quite another. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do,¡± I finally admitted, my voice ragged with desperation. Talking everything through didn¡¯t diminish my anger. If anything, it stoked it higher. But it also forced me to remember how helpless I was in the face of a high-ranking demon. My personal strength, my influence, my lineage: none of them matched up to Mercutio¡¯s. Well¡­ except maybe that last one. Amidst all his faults, the thing I hated most about the demon was that his despicable face was nearly identical to my own. If we stood side by side, you would easily mistake us for brothers. Or a father and son, perhaps, though I violently rejected the notion of both connections. We couldn¡¯t be related. We simply couldn¡¯t be. The demon was as posh and elitist as anyone I knew, and I didn¡¯t have a drop of demonic blood in me. My mother may have ascended and earned a soul blade before she died, leaving the weapon as my only legacy of her, but I had been born when she was still a human. Mercutio, meanwhile, acted like he was demonic royalty. ¡°This is¡­ troubling.¡± To my surprise, Graighast¡¯s face was pinched in consternation. ¡°If even half of what you said is true, then this man actively tried to cripple not just your advancement, but an entire group of recruits. That is not something that can be casually allowed.¡± I frowned. ¡°Really? Why? I remember our first battle, and right after it. A recruit got killed just for flirting with a demoness.¡± ¡°Because the longer a recruit survives, the more valuable they become,¡± Graighast replied. ¡°Think, was there anyone casually murdering recruits towards the end? Or sending mortals into reckless battles?¡± He gave me an apologetic look. ¡°Besides this Mercutio, I mean.¡± ¡°Well¡­ no.¡± It didn¡¯t feel nice to admit that, for some reason. I didn¡¯t want a lesson. I wanted to smash in a stupid, gray-skinned demon¡¯s face. ¡°Exactly. This kind of idiotic shit isn¡¯t allowed,¡± Glaustro snarled, his eyes narrowed on the ruined armor. ¡°Thankfully, that means we can do something about it.¡± The determination in his voice drew a questioning quirk of the eyebrow from his brother, but Glaustro ignored it. ¡°Go through your stuff and find something to wear. Then we have a plea to make. I trust you haven¡¯t used any of your merits?¡± That question was directed towards me. Confused, I responded with a question of my own. ¡°You can use those?¡± ¡°Ah, right, I forgot. You are way too fresh¡­¡± Glaustro shook his head. ¡°Yes, you can use them, and you might have to. The only one who can really help us is the general, but how cooperative he will be depends entirely on his own discretion. He might, however, be swayed by merits,¡± the demon explained. ¡°Don¡¯t expect miracles, but I suspect he¡¯ll at least ensure that you aren¡¯t assassinated in your sleep some time down the line.¡± I wanted to grit my teeth at that, but it wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t know my place. So, I nodded my head and rifled through my belongings, as directed. Frankly, it was a pitiful pile of stuff. Almost everything, not just the armor, was also shredded to bits. The only intact items I found were a faded shirt, a pair of underwear, and pants. I didn¡¯t even have shoes to wear, seeing as the pair that belonged to my armor set was both meticulously ruined and covered with stains I didn¡¯t even want to try to identify.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It hurt seeing all the damage done to the armor, but I still searched through the whole set for anything I could salvage. The best I came up with was the belt. Though most of the pouches and paraphernalia had been torn off, it was still serviceable. I headed for the restaurant¡¯s bathroom and changed there. This was a slightly awkward experience, since demons were apparently big fans of unisex facilities, but I managed, as did Mia. All her stuff hadn¡¯t been ravaged by an insane demon, so her gear was good to go. Of course, it was still composed of disjointed pieces she had scavenged from the battlefield, and it gave only the illusion of protection. Mundane armor did nothing against demons, after all. But at least she had stuff to wear. Other than the armor remnants, I tossed the rest of my stuff. The most valuable item was probably my ration pack, and I could get those from a quartermaster in ridiculous quantities every couple of weeks. Mercutio had probably poisoned my rations anyway. Maybe, if I ate them, I could take him down with me when the investigation began. But if that¡¯s how he killed me in the end, he would probably laugh himself to death. Bronwynn had been suspiciously quiet throughout my explanation, asking only a few clarifying question. Now, when I emerged from the bathroom, I found him arguing quietly with the sergeant brothers. He stiffened when he saw me approaching and went mum, but that was only more unsettling. ¡°I¡¯m ready, commander,¡± I said simply. It was hard to ignore their pitying glances when they took in my current state. I looked extra pitiful, since I had stolen these clothes from a civilian home at the start of the Berlis invasion, and they were both old and didn¡¯t fit. The lack of shoes was the finishing touch of shame. Sure, some demons didn¡¯t wear them, but that was because they had odd feet, or deadly claws, or hooves. I was just very poor at the moment. ¡°Let us go, then. We should take this to the general as soon as we can. He¡¯s been in a good mood, actually. I would almost say he enjoyed it when everything went wrong in Berlis,¡± Glaustro groused, sounding much more refined and formal. I found it a little funny that he always had to do a full reset of his speech pattern when he wanted to put effort into being taken seriously, but I appreciated it all the same. He was doing it for me, this time. ¡°U-Um, sir,¡± piped up the bureaucrat I had completely forgotten about. Glaustro had dismissed him to a nearby corner, both so he could wrap up our official transfer paperwork, and to prevent him from overhearing our conversation. ¡°We still need their signatures¡­ and¡­¡± He trailed off, cowering at our group¡¯s obviously grim mood. That¡¯s when something occurred to me, and I eyed him resentfully. ¡°You¡¯re not from logistics, are you?¡± Aggression roiled off all the demons around me, and even Mia seemed ready to stab the man. I felt genuinely touched that they would back me up in bullying a demon from Mercutio¡¯s department. Alas, it wasn¡¯t meant to be. ¡°N-N-N-No!¡± the squirrel-demon said wildly. ¡°I¡¯m from legislation! I don¡¯t like that lot! They¡¯re all horrible! Can¡¯t even get a piece of paper without pushing at least five signatures and three different forms through their inspection!¡± That mollified all of us. Bronwynn even clapped the poor demon on the shoulder with a smile and a muttered ¡®good man.¡¯ The smile our unlucky helper gave in return could be charitably described as ¡®wretched.¡¯ He did get our signatures, though. Then he ran, like he was sure we would take off after him and he wanted a good head start. I actually smiled a tiny bit at that. The hint of my good mood evaporated as soon as I looked down at the crate in my hands, now empty except for my ruined armor. Fighting down a snarl of rage, I followed the group outside. We didn¡¯t have far to go. Some administrative genius had decided the best location for the legion headquarters was right next to the resurrection plazas, so we actually doubled back the way we came. After the plaza, we only turned down a couple more streets before arriving at a massive compound. The titular headquarters of the legion was doing a good job of pretending to be a very large, sprawling mansion. Or maybe a small castle? Either way, it was imposing. I was surprised when we got through the front gate with relative ease. Then we approached a receptionist and requested a meeting with the general. That was when we hit a wall. As could be expected of a man who functionally ran the entire legion, his time was rather carefully portioned and managed. While the sergeant brothers argued with the receptionist, Bronwynn whispered to me that the general actually treated recruitment drives as a kind of short vacation. For a while every year, he got to visit a new world, toss around a couple of locals, and then kick back while evaluating recruit performance. As far as evil demonic overlords went, I supposed that was rather idyllic. The general wasn¡¯t the ultimate leader of the legion, of course. That dubious honor went to the Grand Duke of Torment himself, the man who ruled the very layer of the Abyss we were currently in, with totalitarian authority. The general was simply his most trusted aide and right hand, and as such, oversaw all important matters under the grand duke¡¯s purview. In other words, the duke got to do whatever he wanted, and the general had to deal with all the pesky little details of ruling, along with any invasions the duke started. Why the general hadn¡¯t tried to kill the duke yet was a mystery to literally everyone. Especially since the most expedient way to secure upward mobility in demonic society was to kill your superior and take their place. Somehow, we got lucky. The chaos on Berlis had disrupted the whole legion, what with the insane local mage figuring out how to wield spatial magic and burn souls for mana. Actual demons had died to her traps, which was a big no-no for such a weak world. The invasion had been forced into an early conclusion, which meant the general¡¯s schedule was emptier than usual. When the brothers hounded the receptionist into sending a message up to the general¡¯s aide, saying a couple of his sergeants wanted to see him, the receptionist actually agreed to let us through. I wasn¡¯t sure who was more shocked, the receptionist or the brothers. But we had our meeting. We were led down fancy corridors adorned with art, weapons, and random items I didn¡¯t recognize. It didn¡¯t take me long to realize that it was all one giant display of the general¡¯s conquests. When I made the mistake of walking too close to one of the displays, an unassuming dagger, I almost collapsed as a wave of malice and murderous mana washed over me. I barely managed to stumble past it, but I stuck to the very center of the hallway from then on. The experience led me to an important revelation. Everything on display was the most prized item of the world it came from. A legendary sword, warred over by many kingdoms. A grimoire with forbidden, ancient, and powerful spells. Unique materials that elevated their world¡¯s mages to new heights. All of it was cleaned, prepared, and put on display for the general and his visitors to marvel at. Not wielded, or honored, or coveted. Just displayed, like a useless trinket picked up from a souvenir shop. It set the right mood for our arrival at the study of the man himself. When his aide cracked the door open, we were almost floored by the amount of mana that seeped out. It wasn¡¯t something done maliciously to cow us. The general simply gave off that much power by default. At the sound of the opening door, he looked up from some documents with a confused ¡°Hmm?¡± Then he saw us, and the flood of mana immediately cut off as he leashed it. ¡°Ah, yes. You wanted to see me, sergeants. And I see you¡¯ve brought others with you.¡± Amusement was plain in the general¡¯s voice. ¡°Well, come in. Let¡¯s not waste time.¡± With a shuddering breath, I tried to fortify myself, and obeyed. Chapter 64: The Abyss The general¡¯s office was as impressive as you would assume. The floor was covered in plush carpeting that made me feel ashamed of my bare feet, all the furniture was made of richly colored wood of superb quality, and the shelving was filled to the brim with the man¡¯s most prized trophies. I couldn¡¯t even look at most of those. Their effect was even more overwhelming than the displays in the hallway. I tried to sneak a glance at some kind of sword, but looked away quickly when my head rang with a sudden dizzy spell. Of the few items I could look at without keeling over, the most notable was a massive, jagged crystal, featured prominently on the general¡¯s desk. My stomach twisted. This was a huge soul crystal, bearing closer resemblance to a Christmas tree than to the orbs I was familiar with. Countless souls were trapped within it, though one face was larger than the rest, taking up the whole center of the crystal: a single soul, caught in a moment of eternal agony. Glaustro and Graighast both jerked away from the crystal as if it would bite them, and the general smiled like a shark. ¡°I see you recognize the latest addition to my collection. The corrupted soul of one Reliana Tingent.¡± He spread his arms, as if showing off a precious gem. ¡°In all its twisted glory. Quite the unique item, I must say.¡± ¡°Ah, congratulations,¡± Graighast ventured. His smile was strained, but the general didn¡¯t seem to care whether the words were genuine. He simply waved his hand in a leisurely fashion, and a stunning amount of mana erupted from his skin. It all clumped together into the rough shape of five chairs. Then the whole world shimmered, like a mirage, and the mana constructs were replaced by very real, very physical, undeniably comfy-looking padded chairs. ¡°Sit,¡± was the extent of his order, but we all rushed to obey. ¡°Now, Glaustro.¡± The general leveled his gaze at my commander. ¡°You were cited as the primary petitioner. Explain what you want from me, that you would insist on such a meeting.¡± Naturally, Glaustro complied. I was impressed at how thoroughly the demon had memorized my account of events, down to the last detail. The general did not stop him, not even once. He asked no clarifying questions. The terrifying demon simply sat there with a thoughtful expression on his face, like he was enjoying the story. At long last, when Glaustro wrapped up the tale, the general nodded. ¡°I see why you came to me. Mercutio is not much of an issue, obviously, the boy is hardly competent, but Melchom is. Even so¡­ tell me, why should I act against one of my own aides? One who now heads an entire division?¡± He sounded more amused than anything, so I didn¡¯t immediately lose all hope. Glaustro, however, looked distinctly uncomfortable at still being the center of attention. ¡°Sir, Mercutio has gone too far this time. He lay claim to tested and promising recruits, and reduced their numbers to shambles. Our losses are extreme. Furthermore, he personally tried to assassinate a holder of two separate higher level merits.¡± ¡°Allegedly. He allegedly tried to assassinate him. And merits or not, we are still talking about a recruit.¡± Despite his protests, the general still seemed to be in a good mood. In fact, dare I say it, he looked like he was toying with Glaustro. Meanwhile, my commander was looking paler than I had ever seen him, but he forged ahead. ¡°We do these recruitment drives to find people with potential. Individuals who could truly assist us with rising higher in the ranks of the Abyss. Some of those recruits had that potential. Mercutio does not.¡± Suddenly, the general burst out laughing. When the sound petered off, he swept his eyes over all of us. ¡°True. It is unlikely that Mercutio will ever amount to anything. However, all he does, he does on his father¡¯s orders. And I am telling you now: I will not punish Melchom.¡± Equal parts disappointment and anger swept through me. I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to care that the demons around me could feel all of it. I always knew the idea of revenge against Mercutio was a long shot, but still¡­ To do everything I did, to struggle so hard, only for an entitled idiot to swoop in, wreck everything, and walk out unpunished? It felt, well, like a betrayal. To my surprise, the general laughed again. ¡°Oh, look at you all. Yes, I said I would not punish them. I never said I will do nothing.¡± The general¡¯s eyes fixed on mine with unearthly intensity, his voice inarguably final. ¡°They will not try to touch you again, recruit. You have my word on this. Likewise, logistics will never be allowed to meddle with soldiers again.¡± It wasn¡¯t much. It wasn¡¯t nearly enough. Still, Glaustro had gotten me exactly what he promised out of the meeting: safety. ¡°Thank you, sir,¡± my commander said quietly, and with genuine feeling. He looked so relieved, I realized I must have underestimated the danger I was in. ¡°Think nothing of it. I do, after all, regret what has happened. It should not have come to this. The loss of such a promising mutated recruit troubles me greatly too. I did not even get a report on that rising star, before or after his death.¡± The general went silent as he mulled over this. I hoped it meant Mercutio and his father would get into some trouble after all. The silence became uncomfortable as it stretched on and on. But when it was broken by the general¡¯s attention falling on me again, I realized I preferred the unsettling quiet. ¡°Do you have any questions for me, recruit, about this incident or its resolution?¡± I wet my lips, heart racing. The offer was extremely generous. He was basically a ruler of the legion, and I was a lowly recruit. The wise choice would be to thank him and then keep my mouth shut. Still, there was something I desperately needed to know. ¡°Why? Why did they do all this? And why not just kill me outright?¡± The general scoffed, eyes distant for a moment. ¡°A simple answer? Reputation. Your existence is¡­ inconvenient, but so is killing you openly, as it would invite far too much scrutiny. Unfortunately, I am not one to gossip about my subordinates.¡± I slumped a little in my mana-chair. I didn¡¯t expect much, but I had gotten even less than I hoped. Then a vicious smile bloomed on the general¡¯s face. ¡°Instead, why don¡¯t I share an inspiring story with you instead? You see, Melchom has set himself up as a shining example, an ideal ascended demon, with an exemplary rise to power. After all, it is not every day that someone joins the legion by offering up an entire world to the Duke of Torment.¡± The general gauged our reactions, apparently pleased by the shock he observed. ¡°You see, Melchom¡¯s family was a renowned household of mages. They had a peculiar tendency to birth twins. Every time, one twin would be raised in the art of magical warfare, while the other would be raised in the art of summoning, binding, and wielding familiars. The former sharpened themselves as blades, and the latter ruled the family.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I hung onto his every word, leaning closer for fear of missing something. A part of me that was definitely all Hayden craved this knowledge with an intensity that bordered on the unholy. ¡°When Melchom took over as head of the family alongside his twin brother, he delved deep into the summoning arts, deep enough to eventually summon a demon and bind them to his service. He forced as much knowledge as he could from his new familiar, and his hunger for more only grew. ¡°Slowly, he hatched his plan. A plan that would trade an entire world for the ascension of his family. However, rumor has it that Melchom¡¯s brother objected to this scheme. For these objections, the brother¡¯s entire branch of the family was¡­ purged. Still, I have it on good authority that Melchom was never one to waste resources.¡± The story didn¡¯t come with details. I couldn¡¯t even determine exactly where I would fit into the whole thing. Yet, I did fit. That, I was sure of. I could no longer deny that I was related to this monster. A monster who apparently sacrificed his entire world and a good chunk of his family in order to rise to power. ¡°Setting this grim topic aside, we have something more important to discuss,¡± the general declared, his eyes never once leaving me. ¡°You see, I am determined to right some of the wrongs wrought by Mercutio. And, as the primary victim of his hostility, you are also the main recipient of my benevolence. This armor you lost. Show it to me.¡± Somehow, I managed to stand. I was still holding the crate in which the armor was returned to me, so I rather dumbly presented the whole thing to the demon. Looking amused again, he picked up the ruined chest armor and held it almost gently. ¡°This symbol¡­ Amahis Armory? Tibath did sign up for this invasion, but I am surprised you met her, let alone that you could afford her work. Then again, this isn¡¯t her work, is it? Wrong mark.¡± My curiosity got the best of me. ¡°You know the armory, sir? And it¡¯s not Tibath¡¯s work. Her daughter, Yules, made the armor.¡± The demon sent me a sardonic smile. ¡°You could say we are familiar, yes. Did you note the mark? The hammer and needle are symbolic of Amahis Armory, but the number denotes the generation. Tibath¡¯s own mark bears the number four. Hmm¡­¡± He hefted the plate and leather in his hands as if weighing it. ¡°It is not particularly noteworthy on its own, yet as the work of a future master armorer, its value is considerable. I can see why you would react badly to losing something like this.¡± I wisely kept my mouth shut. Having my meltdown rehashed by Glaustro was embarrassing enough. I didn¡¯t need to explode in front of the general. Regardless, though, he seemed to understand. He returned the armor to the crate with great care. Then he fixed his gaze on me once more. ¡°I am going to, as some are fond of saying, lay our cards on the table. You have three options. First, I can give you enough souls to ascend on the spot, as well as replace your armor and any other material losses you may have suffered. Second, you can opt for a long-term approach. I will provide you with the right materials to aid your growth, so that when you ascend, you can do so as a powerful demon in your own right. Finally¡­ you can take a risk.¡± The general smiled enchantingly, even as my mind spun at the dizzying offer. I already had mana crystals, true, but if he could speed up my training¡­ ¡°What sort of risk, sir?¡± I dared ask, much to the demon¡¯s approval. ¡°You can complete your preparation to ascend, then decline to do it immediately. This would provide you with benefits and abilities that no regular mortal could match. Several important opportunities will open up to you. However¡­ I will warn you now that there is a reason most mortals choose to ascend immediately.¡± Judging by the harsh intake of breath from the ascendant demons in the room, I could only assume that the risk was considerable. Even so, I was rather upset that no one had explained any of this to me before. Thankfully, the general was determined to remove my ignorance. ¡°You see, when you completely convert your mana, you bring your mortal self in line with what resembles a demon. Unfortunately, mortal faculties and minds were never meant to process or withstand that kind of existence. The longer you tarry without completing your ascension, the more likely you are to lose yourself entirely. Afterwards, even if you ascend, and it¡¯s far more probable that you would be put down, the newborn demon would be so far removed from who you used to be that they might as well be considered a wholly new person.¡± I glanced at the brothers and Bronwynn, only to see grim looks on their faces. Not that I needed this confirmation. I wasn¡¯t entirely stupid. I had noticed¡­ issues with my behavior already. What would it be like, to fully sink under the influence of the Abyss? ¡°And if I succeed?¡± I asked tentatively. The general eyed me, leaning back into his chair. His answer, at first, made no sense at all. ¡°Our world is one of the most unique and powerful out there. Other than the Cradle of Reason, perhaps the most unique and powerful. Gods like to brag about their Divine Realm, and mages will forever strive to ascend their worlds above all others, but it is our world that stands at the apex. The few species who can match us have no need for a homeworld. They are creatures of mana and of the Void, and as such, are only passing visitors on any plane.¡± He paused, dramatically, then finally got to the point. ¡°Success would allow you to bridge the typically observed gap between ascended and Abyss-born demons. You would be stronger, your abilities more potent and far more unique than what your peers might attain upon ascension. Unfortunately, to do this, you will need to prove yourself worthy of the gift.¡± His voice seeped into my pores like ambient mana. I couldn¡¯t tear my eyes away from his, but the jagged soul crystal on his death churned in my periphery, Reliana¡¯s face screaming in silent anguish. ¡°What do you think the Abyss is?¡± the general went on. ¡°It is a confluence. The centerpoint of Emotion. Throughout creation, the feelings of all creatures, sentient or not, have echoed and pooled here. We, as children of the Abyss, are creatures of Emotion. Without the ability to shed madness for reason, you would not be worthy of the true gifts of the Abyss.¡± I felt a spark of defiance ignite in my chest. His language was fancy, but the message was simple: most ascendant demons were not worthy. But how can they be? When no one shares important information, when resources are scarce, and when methods to grow are guarded jealously? It was easy for Abyss-born demons to proclaim themselves ¡®superior.¡¯ Their birth gave them every advantage. They didn¡¯t have to fight for it. It was time for someone to prove them wrong. ¡°I want to do it.¡± My voice was quiet, but hardened. ¡°I will do it. I would choose the third option, every time.¡± Glaustro choked. Graighast looked grim. Bronwynn seemed to be watching my funeral unfold before his very eyes. Only Mia stared at me with a boldness that may have rivaled my own. The general¡¯s smile was victorious. ¡°I can appreciate ambition. Very well, then.¡± He extracted several sheets of paper from his desk, then quickly started to fill them out. ¡°In that case, I will issue you a grant of one thousand souls right now. I know you are halfway through your ascension already, but they will help. Likewise¡­¡± He paused, briefly, to rummage through his desk. When he found what he was looking for, he made a tiny noise of satisfaction that I found surprisingly mundane coming from the leader of the legion. ¡°Here we are. A voucher, for three thousand souls, that can be turned in at any armory. Personally, I think you already know where you should go, and your extra souls will easily afford you the passage fee for traveling between layers.¡± He finished scribbling and pushed one of the papers towards me, with a voucher card on top of it. I had to blink several times to shake off my disbelief. The card looked starkly modern. When I picked it up, it even felt like plastic. ¡°Ahhh, that,¡± he said, noticing my surprise. ¡°It¡¯s a relatively recent innovation, from one of our newer officers in acquisitions. They are quite useful for quickly handing out rewards. Do not think I forgot about you, either.¡± This comment was addressed to Mia, who looked startled as he slid a piece of paper to her, too. ¡°I did say I want to reimburse everyone affected. You didn¡¯t quite quality for a gift voucher, but your ambition is as clear to me as his.¡± I peeked at the paper. Just like mine, it entitled her to redeem a thousand souls at her convenience, at any bank within the Torment layer. Glancing up, I caught Mia¡¯s gaze. Her eyes were shining with determination. But the general wasn¡¯t quite done yet. ¡°I will leave you with this parting advice, just so you know what you are getting into. The Abyss is our mother. Our origin. Our cradle. She loves us, and we love her in turn. However... she is a parent. And like all parents, she has aspirations and expectations for her children. What she wants for us is not always what we want for ourselves. ¡°She is also a jealous mother. She clings to us, even in death, so none other than she may claim us. No matter how you might try to avoid this fate, you will fail. You belong to her. Now, and for all eternity.¡± His solemn face broke into another smile. ¡°It is not such a bad lot in life, however. She is a better parent than most. At the very least, she will never abuse or abandon you.¡± Then the general motioned us out of his office. Without a word, we stood and filed out. I was still numb with disbelief. Whatever my thoughts going into that meeting, I had not expected to walk away with rewards. But as I stared at the general¡¯s gifts, I resolved myself to make the most of it all. I would rise within the Abyss. No matter what. Chapter 65: Passion We were all silent on the walk out of headquarters. I couldn¡¯t speak for the others, but there was a tension in my shoulders that just refused to go away. It felt like some enormous predator was staring me down, and the feeling fled only when I stepped outside. Bronwynn immediately whirled around to glare at me. ¡°Of all the reckless stupidity,¡± he snarled. ¡°Making that claim in front of the general takes the cake! You do realize you are duty bound to follow through now, correct? Both of you. If you just choose to ascend without delay, he will hunt you down and punish you on principle.¡± ¡°Is it really so bad?¡± I shot back, that spark of defiance still blazing inside me. ¡°I don¡¯t want to have a regular ascension.¡± ¡°We will discuss this later,¡± Glaustro cut in, sounding utterly exhausted. ¡°We got most of what we wanted out of that meeting. We can count that as a victory, at least.¡± The demon then turned to look at me, and the turmoil in his eyes gave me pause. I had never seen him look so genuinely concerned for someone else before. ¡°Promise me this, both of you: do not do anything on your own. Not yet. We really do need to talk. I¡¯ll explain everything, including the benefits of delaying your ascension. I have it on good authority we are going to be deployed again soon, and we can handle it all then. Regardless, you have a week or so at least to rest and recuperate from everything. Do so.¡± This sounded like a reasonable request. I exchanged a look with Mia to confirm, then said, ¡°We will. And I promise. Though¡­ any advice on how to spend that time?¡± A hint of a smile swept across Glaustro¡¯s features, and he shook his head. ¡°Young and reckless. There are no set barracks for individual units. Officers can organize things at their leisure and offer or even insist on shared housing, but plenty of legion soldiers choose to rent or purchase a home of their own. With the teleportation network and its cheap fees, it doesn¡¯t matter where you set up, even if it¡¯s in another layer. The summons would reach you through your brand anywhere within the Abyss, too.¡± ¡°Speaking of¡­ how do I get to Passion, exactly?¡± I asked. ¡°You want to travel to a different layer right now?¡± Glaustro asked, slowly and with great intent. ¡°Yes? I need armor.¡± ¡°You will travel to a different layer¡­ wearing those clothes, and lugging that crate?¡± I flushed crimson, remembering what a sorry sight I was. My commander just shook his head again in exasperation. ¡°Find a bank. Get your souls. Buy some clothes, and then travel. Just approach any obelisk you see, and you¡¯ll be set. Now¡­ I think it¡¯s time I get some rest myself.¡± The other demons agreed promptly and vanished after a few quick goodbyes. All our nerves were shot. I was getting by, thanks to sheer spite and ridiculous emotional highs that were probably a portent of ascension, but I had to admit I was running on fumes myself. I did, however, feel rather awkward when I found myself standing there in the middle of a street, looking like a hobo and accompanied by a cat lady who seemed intent on following me around. ¡°So¡­¡± I trailed off awkwardly as I tried to maintain eye contact. Unfortunately for me, in true cat fashion, Mia just lazily blinked. I squared my shoulders. ¡°Right. Well, how about that bank, then?¡± It took a minute for us to find a bank. I tried to approach a few demons at first, but they didn¡¯t even break stride as they walked past me without a word. It was only when we ventured further into the absolutely massive city that we got lucky. Once we left the military section of the city, we encountered fewer purposefully striding demons and more friendly street hawkers. These demons, for the low price of purchasing their wares, were more than happy to give directions. The problem was, whatever uncomfortable effect made me want to squirm in my own skin also affected my taste buds. When I paid for our street food, some kind of meat wrapped in pastry, the first taste felt like I had bitten into a rotting, maggot-filled corpse. I didn¡¯t throw up on the spot, but I definitely made a face, which earned me the ire of a previously friendly stall keeper. At least he still gave us directions. Frostily, but he did. A few minutes later, we were walking into a stately building. It reminded me of the bank I visited way back in Fortress City 12, the city of my first invasion. Except this time, the teller was helpful without any creepy flirting! A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, especially since I didn¡¯t look like someone who belonged in a bank right that minute. With our funds secured, the Abyss was our oyster. Or more accurately, our oyster was a humble little shop that had needle and thread on a sign hanging outside its door. The polite demoness we found inside was more than happy to take our measurements and our currency. Twenty souls later, I had a full outfit of mundane clothing. They even sold shoes, which I was immensely thankful for. The streets didn¡¯t look grimy, but I was a mortal in a city of demons. I didn¡¯t want to catch some weird disease just because I was traipsing around barefoot. All haste aside, shopping for clothes was actually a fascinating experience. I was shown a whole host of garments in a dizzying number of styles, and when I asked about their size, my answer was amused laughter. The shop owner snapped her fingers, and with a wave of mana, every article of clothing in the shop adjusted itself perfectly to my size. I didn¡¯t question her after that. I just hunted down a beautiful black shirt with silver buttons and trim, a pair of sturdy pants that resembled jeans, and several pairs of underwear, just in case. The shoes I ended up with resembled hiking boots from my past life. Admittedly, I didn¡¯t pay much attention to them. I knew that I would be getting replacements as soon as I found my way to Yules, so I just picked whatever looked comfortable enough for the time being. Of course, compared to the unsettling effect outside, everything seemed comfortable. This store, like the restaurant and bank and every other establishment, was shielded from the strange discomfort of this Abyssal layer. But it was more than that. It had to be magic. I refused to accept any other explanation. Every article of clothing or shoes I ran my fingers over were superbly made and felt like soft, welcoming heaven. The irony did not escape me. I wasn¡¯t the only one who did some shopping. By the time I was done being picky and looking for clothes that felt as ¡®modern¡¯ as I could manage to find, Mia was already standing by the counter. The owner ushered her into a changing room, and a few minutes later, the cat lady emerged.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I flushed. I couldn¡¯t help it. I had seen Mia in armor, and I had seen her in what could be generously called ¡®casual wear.¡¯ Actually, when we woke up in that plaza, I had seen far more of her than propriety said was okay. In spite of that, I had rarely ever paused to take her in. She had chosen a dress. A midnight-blue dress that fell down her body in waves and rippled with every movement she made, briefly accenting her figure. The dress had a lot to accent. The garment even had a hole for her tail, which was now idly swaying side to side, freed of awkwardly fitted clothes and armor. Somehow, her animal features only enhanced her appearance, instead of making her look odd or unnatural to my eyes. I had to force myself to stop staring and focus on making my own purchases. The last order of business we handled in that store was to ask for directions yet again. If we had a week of free time and were allowed to visit other layers, then I refused to spend my mini vacation in the Torment layer. Thankfully, teleportation obelisks seemed to be remarkably common. We were soon standing next to one in a small park. Having no better idea of what to do, I gingerly laid a hand on the device. Instantly, information exploded into my mind. Suggestions, inquiries, and even what I was pretty sure were demonic ads swamped me. It took some doing, but I eventually managed to find a weird mental toggle that my consciousness insisted would act as an ¡®assistant.¡¯ I triggered it, and most of the information clawing for my attention faded instantly.
Greetings, how may I assist you today?
The words just unveiled themselves to me. It almost felt like they were visible, rather than a figment of my imagination. Not wanting to make a spectacle of myself, I covered my surprise and thought very hard in response. I need to travel to a different layer.
Of course, sir, but do you have a destination in mind?
Somehow, the words sounded mocking. I tried to sound more authoritative. Amahis Armory, layer of Passion.
I can deposit you at the teleportation anchor closest to the shop within the city of Gleiprith, Passion. Would this be acceptable?
Yes.
Excellent, sir. Are you traveling alone or in company?
Company. There are two of us.
I understand, sir. The standard teleportation fee is ten souls per person, would this be acceptable?
I was honestly shocked. Being used to the cost of travel in my past life, I was expecting to be ripped off. Hell, a taxi would have been way more expensive than a measly ten souls. When I realized where my mind was going, I couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. Cheap¡­ yeah, right. Ten souls equaled ten lives, snuffed out and denied an afterlife forever. And there I stood, thinking how low the price was. I paid, of course. What else was I supposed to do? The obelisk rippled, the fabric of reality cracked, and a portal opened right in front of us. I urged Mia through quickly, then stepped forward myself. The change was as stark as it was immediate. One moment, existence was suffering itself, torment in every waking or sleeping moment. The next, the air felt lighter and even richer, like it carried a promise of growth and prosperity. Energy thrummed through me. My mind was more agile. I felt emotions bubble up within me, sensations I hadn¡¯t experienced so purely in a long time. I wanted to run, to laugh, to cry, to embrace everything life had to offer. I wanted to pursue magic with a single-minded obsession that only those truly awed by it could boast. I wanted to better myself, to grow and grow until every moment was a celebration of progress and sheer, unbridled passion. I stumbled and almost lost my footing before someone¡¯s hold on the back of my shirt made me jerk back into place. ¡°What?¡± I looked back to find a squinting Mia giving me the stink-eye. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You tried to run away without a word,¡± she informed me, pointedly refusing to let me go. ¡°Sorry, I just¡­ this place feels amazing!¡± I gushed, unable to contain myself. I needed to tell her all about exactly how amazing the layer made me feel, right then and there. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Nice. It¡¯s nice,¡± Mia cut me off, still squinting at me. ¡°Now, we¡¯re going to the armory you wanted. You can start moving, but don¡¯t think I won¡¯t get rougher with you if you try to wander off again. But we need to find someone to ask where the shop is first.¡± I tried to wander off. I tried to wander off several times, in fact. I couldn¡¯t help it. I would be totally focused on our goal, and then a flight of fancy would come out of nowhere, gripping me with such strength that I just had to pursue it. Mia pulled me back the first time, pinched the back of my neck with her claws the second, and started bonking me over the head from the third onwards, as soon as she noticed I was starting to get distracted. In the end, a distance that we should have covered in ten minutes took about forty, and it was entirely my fault. I was still trying to shake off the layer¡¯s effects, with only middling success, when I finally caught sight of the store. It was just as I remembered it. Instantly, my mind was wholly occupied by the thought of the store, and I lunged forward. I did tug a bit on Mia in my haste, but at least I now had my eyes on the prize. I burst through the door with a massive smile. ¡°Hello! Anybody home? I¡¯m here for some armor!¡± I giggled, both because I was being too loud and found it unbearably funny for some reason, and because I was finally back in the store. I had wanted so badly to come back for proper demonic armor. Something like manners or common sense weren¡¯t going to get in my way. ¡°Oh, oh dear. Well, he¡¯s truly drunk on passion, isn¡¯t he?¡± Recognizing the voice, I turned my beaming grin on the demonic shopkeeper. ¡°Hi! It¡¯s been forever! Let me just ¡ª urk!¡± I tried to rush to the demoness, intending, in my infinite wisdom, to go in for a hug. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t even get a step closer to her before my collar dug into my throat painfully, cutting off both my stupidity and my airflow. Mia had switched her hold to the back of my collar at some point, and was now giving me a distinctly unimpressed look. ¡°You keep hold of him. I¡¯m not letting him near my daughter like that. And I¡¯ll engage the purification wards. We don¡¯t typically need them, but¡­¡± the demoness trailed off, seeming amused rather than angry as she headed behind the counter. ¡°You mean Yules? Is she here? Hey, Yules, I¡¯m here to¡ª¡± I was in the middle of shouting towards the back of the shop when the wards snapped into place. Instantly, some of the bubbliness coursing through my brain faded. I was left blinking like an owl. With every passing moment, more of my sanity reasserted itself. By the time Tibath made her return, I was doing my best impression of a wet kitten getting carted around by its mother. With Mia¡¯s hand still on my collar, the image fit pretty well. Of course, to add insult to my injury, a younger copy of Tibath emerged from the back also, looking mildly confused. ¡°Was someone shouting my name?¡± The tall, muscular, shapely demoness looked around, then her eyes fixed on me and widened. ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s him. Now, tell me, what were you about to say to my daughter before the wards triggered?¡± Yules¡¯ mother teased, much to the girl¡¯s continued befuddlement. I got so red that I was giving their own skin color a run for its money, but at least this made Tibath erupt into laughter instead of getting me booted out. Passion¡­ Never again. Chapter 66: Enchantment So. Passion was one hell of a drug, and I was apparently an emotion addict. Or at least somewhat predisposed to emotional addiction? Regardless, I was vulnerable, and I didn¡¯t like it. Honestly, I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. All my previous experience suggested weakness in this area, starting with what happened when I decided to kick off my ascension with ¡®just one or two souls.¡¯ I got myself hooked on the feeling right away. Before I knew it, I was 500 souls down and several problems deeper into an already dangerous situation. Remembering how quickly that emotional tide pulled me under, I shuddered. Then I tried to stand a little straighter, despite Mia¡¯s grip on my collar. I knew I was blushing. I would have covered my face if I weren¡¯t still carrying the box. As it was, I tried to recover some level of dignity by staring fixedly at the wall, my expression carefully blank. I was immensely thankful for Mia. My original plan for visiting Passion hadn¡¯t included her, and without her¡­ Well, if I had even managed to reach Amahis Armory, who knows what mess I might have made inside the store itself? While Tibath was all smiley at the moment, I doubt her good mood would have lasted if I had charged in and hugged her. We had met only once. I was practically a stranger, and a mortal at that. Another shiver ran down my spine as I once again remembered the recruit who got killed for hitting on a demoness too aggressively*.* Huh. I guess she¡¯s actually alive again now. Wonder if she managed to fix that particular bad habit. Maybe behavior correction murder was a thing among demons? Yules¡¯ excited voice broke me out of my escapist introspection. ¡°I¡¯m so happy you¡¯re back!¡± She clasped my shoulders, her whole face beaming. ¡°You have to tell me all about how the armor worked out for you! Was it okay? Wait, you¡¯re not here to complain, right? I mean, you¡¯re not wearing the armor, and¡ª¡± ¡°The armor is amazing!¡± I cut her off quickly when I saw that her expression was veering into panic. ¡°I was the envy of all the recruits and quite a few demons, I bet.¡± I exaggerated a little, but only on the latter count. Then my tone became morose. ¡°It¡¯s better than amazing, really. Or rather, it was.¡± ¡°Was?¡± Yules asked, with just as much trepidation as I had experienced going into my first battle. ¡°A vindictive asshat ruined my armor,¡± I complained as I held the box out to Yules. She snatched it up, eyes widening as they landed on its contents. Then she rushed the box over to the counter for a closer inspection. Unfortunately, as she yanked the chest piece out, it finally gave up its last connection to life. The plate remnants snapped off the leather undershirt and clattered down to the ground, taking a few strips of leather with it. Yules stared at her ruined creation. ¡°Who did that?¡± The voice was cold, angry, and vindictive. A jolt of fear coursed through the very core of my being as my eyes snapped over to Tibath. For the first time since I had met her, the demoness was all fierceness and pure murderous intent. Her mana was leaking out, too. As I watched, it began to spontaneously ignite around her body. Except, instead of the normal orange-red flames, hers started out blue. ¡°Mercutio.¡± I threw the demon under the bus, immediately and willingly. ¡°Son of Melchom, of the logistics division in the Legion of Torment. I think we¡¯re distantly related, and he really doesn¡¯t like that.¡± Even such a tentative admission of that familial link made me want to throw up. But I wasn¡¯t going to lie to an angry demoness, especially one whose power level seemed closer to the general¡¯s than to most officers I had encountered. She looked from her distraught daughter to me, and back again. Then her face went blank. ¡°I see. Well, then. I suppose that particular division is going to be experiencing some issues.¡± The way she delivered the announcement left me no doubt that these issues would, in fact, be cropping up. ¡°It¡¯s all ruined. I can¡¯t even try to salvage this,¡± Yules pronounced sadly. ¡°Whoever ruined it, they used mana. Not even repair or mending spells would work.¡± Frowning, I tried to inspect the armor a little closer with my mystical senses. It was extremely subtle, so much so that I had entirely missed it, but there were traces of mana lingering in every cut, rend, and burn mark. Some of the mana had sunk deep into the leather remnants, infecting the armor itself. It was like a purposefully botched enchantment. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to remove such contamination in the future,¡± Tibath said. Yules turned to look at her hopefully, and the mother¡¯s expression brightened into a decent mask of her previous cheer, even if it was skin-deep. ¡°As long as your customer here doesn¡¯t mind, you can hang onto the armor and turn it into a proper exhibit someday. The first piece sold by the grandmaster armorer Yules Amahis.¡± Tibath¡¯s voice took on a teasing lilt, and she swept her arms out like she was presenting the armor to the crowd. It had the intended effect of making Yules blush and distracting her from the recent disappointment.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Honestly, I loved the armor,¡± I gushed, making my contribution to the change in mood. ¡°It was amazing while I had it. It¡¯s one of the main reasons I¡¯m here at all! And I was the most impressive recruit of my batch by a mile, thanks in part to that armor you¡¯re holding. Mia¡¯s alright too, I guess.¡± I tacked on the final comment with a smirk at the cat girl. Well, I tried to turn and smirk at her. She was still holding onto my collar, so my expression was reduced to a pout when I almost choked myself. ¡°Oh! I¡¯m so sorry, I¡¯ve been so rude! My name is Yules.¡± The bundle of energy rushed up to Mia, eagerly shaking her free hand. The cat girl looked startled for a second, then offered a tentative smile that did wonders for her typically expressionless features. ¡°I¡¯m Mia. Nice to meet you. You made the armor for this idiot?¡± ¡°Yep! All me! The first piece I ever sold.¡± A shadow passed over the demoness¡¯s brightened face as she looked down at the pitiful remnants in her hands. Then she looked back up at me, her eyes burning with enthusiasm. ¡°But I can do better.¡± I couldn¡¯t resist a smile. There was something bouncy and energetic about Yules that had pulled me in from the first moment of meeting her. The sheer¡­ well, passion she put into her work was infectious, making you like her all the more for it. To have that joyfully creative attention directed at you was a heady feeling. I started to say something, but a tug on my collar made me release just a ¡®glurk!¡¯ sound instead. A side-eyed glance at Mia showed her staring straight ahead. As usual, her face was blank, but I could swear I detected a hint of annoyance in her eyes. Glaring at the cat menace, I cleared my throat and tried again. ¡°Actually, Mercutio destroyed my armor illegally. It happened after the invasion was over. When we were¡­ inducted into the Abyss. I¡¯m guessing he destroyed it after my body collapsed into ash.¡± I enjoyed the way Tibath¡¯s eyes tightened for a moment. What I wouldn¡¯t give to see the encounter between her and that ass, if and when she eventually got her hands on him. But I wasn¡¯t just sharing the info to make Yules sad and her mother angry at Mercutio, even if I was unintentionally succeeding at both. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the only thing he did, either,¡± I went on. ¡°He pulled off a whole lot of nonsense, so the general is reimbursing all the recruits that were with us. In my case, among other stuff, I got this!¡± Reaching into the crate, I pulled out the gift card and held it aloft like a priceless treasure. For me? It honestly kind of was. ¡°A voucher for three thousand souls, to spend on armor!¡± I made my declaration grandly, yet my words had the opposite effect of what I was hoping for. Instead of looking excited to make another sale, Yules visibly drooped. A sad little ¡°Oh¡± was her only verbal reaction. ¡°Yules?¡± I shot her mother a confused look, only to find the woman watching us like she wanted some popcorn. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Nothing! Really, it¡¯s nothing,¡± the young demoness rushed to assure me, putting on a cheerful fa?ade. ¡°Well, then, I guess I¡¯ll go back to my practice. I mean, I¡¯m sure you have a ton of stuff to talk about with my mother. Congratulations, by the way. That¡¯s huge. You¡¯ll actually have some semi-decent enchanted pieces this time. Should keep you much safer until you ascend.¡± She retreated towards the back room, refusing to look at me. Then it clicked. After all, I wasn¡¯t a dense idiot of epic proportions. Just regular proportions. Didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t have a bit of fun, though. ¡°Yules? Where are you going? I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll need plenty of advice from you,¡± I began, injecting just enough confusion into my voice. She turned, giving me an expression that bordered on huffy. ¡°I¡¯m sure my mother will take care of you properly.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t¡ª Ow! Woman, would you stop that?¡± I hissed, rubbing the top of my head where Mia had chosen to bonk me without warning. ¡°He wants armor from you,¡± the cat menace said, her voice as blank and even as her features. Honestly, other than the mess that was our first meeting, had I ever seen her flustered? When I was nearly dead, maybe? ¡°I also want to purchase armor from you, but I don¡¯t have funds as generous as his.¡± Looking at Yules¡¯ face was like watching a sunrise occurring indoors. ¡°Really? You want my armor?¡± Then her expression dimmed, and she stopped herself from latching onto either one of us. ¡°But¡­ my mother is much better. The armor you could get from her would be superior to anything I can make.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± I stated bluntly, since it was working for Mia. ¡°She¡¯s a master of her craft. A grandmaster. Her work comes at a premium. So, with our funds, we could probably get better stuff from you. Besides, I want you to make my armor, not your mother. Even if she gave me a discount, I would still pick you.¡± That earned me a full flush from Yules, a look of vague disapproval from Mia, and an amused grin from Tibath. I barely noticed the other two, though. I kept my eyes mostly fixed on Yules, trying to convey my sincerity. While I was exaggerating a little, it wasn¡¯t a lie that her armor had saved my life. Maybe it didn¡¯t directly ward off killing blows, but just wearing it limited my opponents¡¯ options. It also adjusted to me constantly. I could move more nimbly and with far more comfort in my armor than other recruits, just by virtue of its excellent fit. That made all my maneuvers in battle more viable. Maybe I could have pulled them off with shittier armor, but could I have done so safely every time? No. I did, realistically, owe Yules. Especially since I was pretty sure she parted with that armor for less than she should have. When I said she was my first choice, I meant it. For a moment, Yules just stared at me. ¡°Oh,¡± she said blankly. Then I had my arms full of a young, jubilant demoness. Her muscular frame felt remarkably soft when pressed against my chest. ¡°Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I won¡¯t disappoint! You even got me a new customer!¡± I smiled awkwardly and patted her back, very aware of her dangerous, powerful mother watching the two of us with a growing smile. I also caught Mia¡¯s expression. The cat menace was not pleased, which was a whole new box to unpack, analyze, and figure out how I felt. Later. At the moment, I still had more happiness-ammunition to use against Yules. ¡°You¡¯re welcome, really. Also, two sergeants showed interest in your work. One of them is my commander, and the other his brother. I directed them to this shop, and they said they would definitely consider looking for you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± She looked at me with such adorably wide eyes, I couldn¡¯t resist twisting the knife. ¡°Yep. The general, too. You know? Of the Torment Legion? Amazing guy. He saw your armor and thought it was very impressive. He mentioned he should come by to visit at some point.¡± Okay, maybe I was enjoying myself a little too much, but seeing her practically pass out then and there was fun. The young demoness broke into a string of muttered exclamations I couldn¡¯t understand, which earned me another displeased sigh from Mia. Thankfully, Yules¡¯ mother seemed to know exactly what to do. Tibath rolled her eyes, grabbed her daughter¡¯s shirt, and dragged her towards the back room. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you begin discussing what kind of enchantments your customers might want?¡± she teased. This snapped Yules out of her daze. Her eyes lit up and focused on me, and I felt my own excitement surge. Enchantment fascinated me. It was especially fascinating now that I had a large enough budget to make it possible. Even without costly spells, Yules¡¯ armor had already kept me alive and helped me succeed. Now, with three thousand souls to play with? I was so very ready for that conversation. Chapter 67: Rest We soon found ourselves back in the same work area where I first met Yules and had my fitting. The young demoness was practically vibrating in place as she clutched a frustratingly modern notepad, her eyes doing a great impression of football stadium lights. ¡°So, first off¡­ what kind of design would you like? Full plate? Leather only? Ohhhh, would you like robes, maybe? Or something like your previous armor?¡± She was squeaking out offers so quickly that I felt the need to stop her, but before I could, she was done. Instead, I gave her an exasperated smile to which she was entirely immune. ¡°Like last time works. In fact¡­ think you could make armor that looks more or less identical, just enchanted? It would be a perfect way to rub it into the face of the guy who ruined the original set.¡± Yules¡¯ face went dark for a second, but the grimly vindictive smile that followed assured me she liked my suggestion. ¡°That works. That works great, actually! That was an inspired piece of armor, if I do say so myself,¡± she bragged, fully in her element now that she knew I was not going to replace her with her mother. ¡°Next is the matter of enchantments.¡± ¡°Well¡­ what sort of options would I have, for the amount of souls I¡¯ve got?¡± I ventured carefully, not sure what I could actually afford. The last time I was around, her mother had informed me that even her simplest work was way out of my budget. With Yules on the job, I still didn¡¯t need to worry about the premium a renowned smith would charge, but I assumed that enchantments weren¡¯t cheap, regardless. ¡°We have options,¡± she said firmly. ¡°The base armor set would cost around 500 souls, if I want to make it out of solid materials that can withstand good enchantments, so that does cut into your budget a little. But I¡¯m not charging you for the design process of a custom piece.¡± She held up a hand to silence my protests. ¡°It¡¯s not really a custom design if I¡¯m using the old base, right?¡± ¡°What about the enchantment schema?¡± I countered. By the way her eyes widened, I could tell she hadn¡¯t expected me to call her out on that. Unfortunately for her, or for me, really, I knew a bit more than a fresh recruit should. When I was serving under Glaustro before, one of my rewards for turning in a particularly valuable soul was a host of greater quality souls. Among them, I found a singular hidden gem which had allowed me to absorb Apprentice Enchantment Theory (Basic). Now, I would be the first to admit that demonic enchantment was probably leagues ahead of anything a mana-poor world like Berlis could offer. But some fundamental concepts had to carry over, right? One such concept was the idea of enchantment schemas. Enchanting an item was a complex process. Before you could begin engraving runes or entire runic matrixes onto the item at a conceptual level, you first had to plan out your work. If you just tried to dive in with no plan, the enchantments would begin conflicting with each other eventually and ruin the item. It wasn¡¯t just a matter of deciding which runes to use, and in what order. You had to calculate the maximum number of enchantments an item could hold based on its mana conductivity and material make-up. Then, you needed to determine and adjust the level of complexity you would use in every enchantment. Take something simple, like enchanting an item to light up and dim on command. That would require a whole runic matrix. A single ¡®light¡¯ rune would get the job done, but then the item wouldn¡¯t automatically draw mana from its environment to power the enchantment. It wouldn¡¯t accept mana properly if someone fed it in, either. It wouldn¡¯t be possible to turn the light on or off, or adjust the brightness. On and on the list went, and each specification just complicated the schema further. Oh, you could slap something together and call it a day. But it would waste your materials, barely work or be grossly inefficient, and might fall apart if you were too loud around it on the night of a full moon or some similar nonsense. Enchantment was kind of like coding, in a way. Except it happened in way more than three dimensions, relied on a substance that behaved differently based on ambient emotions, and was anchored in reality based solely on what, to me, were random symbols from a random ancient language, because fuck you, that¡¯s why. Any truly successful schemas were the work of generations of masters making small, incremental improvements. And while I only knew the bare bones of what went into it all, I could clearly see when someone was trying to undersell their work. My little moment of reflection bought the demoness enough time to gather herself. ¡°Listen,¡± she retorted, ¡°the schema are valuable, but I¡¯m nowhere near ready to make my own. This means we¡¯ll be working with my family¡¯s schemas. They¡¯re a bit rigid and will limit our options, but they¡¯ll do just fine, and it doesn¡¯t justify me charging you extra.¡± I mulled that over, but couldn¡¯t find it in me to protest more. I did need to budget carefully, and if she wouldn¡¯t have to spend hours bent over a desk designing the whole thing, I could be okay with it. ¡°What are our options, then?¡± I asked instead. ¡°Well, there are the basic ¡®mana resistance¡¯ and ¡®toughness¡¯ enchantments. They¡¯ll make it difficult for blades or spells to pierce your armor. Mana resistance will also make it hard for people to affect your armor directly with mana. In other words, it will prevent things like¡­ what happened with your old set.¡± My anger flared up with no warning at the reminder, and I gritted my teeth for a moment. Thankfully, what she was describing made me happy enough to push past the fury. ¡°That sounds amazing. How much would it be?¡± ¡°For the basic level enchantments? With the base armor included, the total would just about come up to 1000 souls. Past that, I can¡¯t recommend the automatic repair function enough. It¡¯s 500 souls all on its own, but it would be worth it.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I considered that. I didn¡¯t know how to make those, because they were way past anything considered ¡®basic¡¯, but I knew about them. Such enchantments stored information about the armor¡¯s condition at the moment of their installation, then constantly compared the armor¡¯s current and original state. If damage occurred, the enchantment would use repair spells to return the armor to that original condition. I could technically learn the relevant spells myself, but there were a thousand and one other things I wanted to learn. I didn¡¯t have the correct spell guides, anyway. ¡°That¡¯s an easy yes,¡± I said. ¡°Won¡¯t always have the luxury of repairing my items in the field.¡± Yules beamed at me when she realized I liked her suggestions so far. ¡°Okay, that leaves us half your budget to play around with. We can do a strong barrier spell with a decent separate mana storage for it. Those are expensive. It would cost about 1000 souls outright. Finally, for the last 500 souls¡­ I think I can put together a decent last-ditch attack spell for you, and maybe an automatic cleaning function? The latter is both cheap and simple, so I don¡¯t mind just throwing it in. It¡¯s pretty much default.¡± I chewed on that. Honestly, it sounded interesting. However¡­ ¡°You mentioned that the base protective enchantments and armor would cost 1000 souls, right?¡± She nodded, and I forged on. ¡°Then, I think I¡¯ll pass on the barrier. I can cast it myself. How about you put my extra 1000 souls towards Mia¡¯s armor instead?¡± The cat girl managed to keep her face relatively blank, but her ears shot up at the suggestion. Even her tail went still, pointing straight out behind her back. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary. Those souls are yours to spend,¡± Mia assured me, though her voice definitely sounded conflicted. ¡°I am spending them,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Just not on myself. What¡¯s your budget like, if I don¡¯t help out?¡± Her cheeks colored. ¡°It is¡­ well¡­ I have around four hundred souls to spend,¡± she finished lamely, looking away. ¡°See? Better we spend those souls on something else. Besides, I really don¡¯t need the barrier when I have my shield spell.¡± Maybe I was fibbing a little. An outside reservoir of mana for the barrier would be nice. But I really preferred that Mia got more defense instead. Now that I had finally let myself care about the frustrating cat, as a friend of course, I was starting to worry. She was running around with papier-mach¨¦ quality armor, and it caused me no end of stress to think of her on a battlefield surrounded by demons or equivalent combatants. ¡°We can make that work,¡± Yules stated confidently, wearing a small smile. She had tilted her head in confusion when I first made the suggestion, but then her eyes lit up, and she started eying Mia speculatively. She either liked what she saw or was just excited to make a second set of armor, because she was practically bouncing in place to get started. ¡°Hayden, are you¡­ certain?¡± Mia asked carefully. She looked strikingly vulnerable all of a sudden. I blinked at her, tilting my head in imitation of Yules¡¯ gesture. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m sure. We decided to fight together, right? What happens to me if someone skewers you because your armor is just a bunch of mismatched pieces?¡± ¡°You really do need to get out of that armor.¡± Yules, the lifesaver, jumped in. ¡°It¡¯s not your size at all, and it¡¯s of abysmal quality.¡± I snickered, and she turned to me. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well¡­ Abyss, abysmal, wouldn¡¯t that imply the armor is actually good?¡± Yules¡¯ lips twitched before she forced them into a stern expression. ¡°Don¡¯t encourage her! She¡¯s going to get stabbed, and then I¡¯ll be stuck making armor for you only. Male armor sets are so standard and boring!¡± she complained, though her tone of voice betrayed that she was just teasing. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dream of it, great armorer of legend,¡± I said haughtily, earning myself a blush and a giggle that she tried to cover up with a glare. ¡°You are contributing nothing of substance.¡± Yules stuck out her hand. ¡°Your voucher, please. I might be family, but Mother isn¡¯t going to just hand me the materials I need to make this. She only covers my training materials. Going to need proof of purchase and upfront payment.¡± I handed over the gift voucher eagerly. It wasn¡¯t like I could pull the souls off it or use it anywhere other than in an armory. Not that I was desperate to get more souls that very minute, anyway. With the general¡¯s reward, I had more than enough to reach my ascension threshold, and plenty to spare besides. I also had my grimoire and dimensional bag, as well as my sword and my soul purse. I hadn¡¯t retrieved it yet, but my dagger was somewhere in the crate with what was left of my armor, so I was set when it came to weapons. The only thing I really needed was a healing potion or two. Well, and maybe some other support potions. And knowledge on spells and mana techniques. Unfortunately, potions could get ridiculously expensive, and knowledge of any kind came at a premium around demons. My best bet would be to earn it during invasions, or maybe find someone willing to train me a little more. All of that could wait. As I handed over the voucher, I had one more important request to make. ¡°Can we watch as you make our stuff?¡± To my surprise, she blushed and stammered, refusing to look me in the eye. ¡°Uh, s-s-sure.¡± I ignored the awkward moment. Mia just rolled her eyes and shot me a displeased look, so it was easy to move past it. It was even easier when Yules threw herself into her work. Just like before, the demoness infused every moment of the process with creative joy. Designs were sketched out, adjusted, and discarded. Enchantment schemas were considered, selected, discarded, and then selected again. Then, at last, the work on the armor started properly. None of it happened quickly, of course, and we weren¡¯t even there for all of it. Mia and I did have basic mortal needs, after all, even if Yules seemed capable of working nonstop with no repercussions. Besides, though we were on break and instructed to rest, it wasn¡¯t like Mia and I had nothing to do. We still trained lightly, absorbed mana to improve our cores, and even sparred a few times just to stay in top shape. I can honestly say I enjoyed that period of time immensely, especially when I got used to Passion a bit and could channel the layer¡¯s influence into productive endeavors rather than a curiosity high. It was a fascinating feeling, to have an endless well of energy, creativity, and desire pushing me onwards. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t really learn much from watching Yules work. My knowledge of enchantments was limited to the basics of a lesser world. Hers was compiled from generations, refined and mastered in the layer of Passion. There was simply no comparison. Still, we were present for most of the process. Yules loved having us there, not just for input, but also for company. To be honest, I had a feeling the demoness was a bit lonely. She clearly loved her work, but it didn¡¯t exactly come with a lot of opportunities to socialize. So, on the day before the armor was finished, Mia and I were pressured into visiting one of the weird shell emporiums that were all over the place. I had spotted them back in the first city the demons conquered after my induction: enchanted shells, meant to function in any city containing a demonic obelisk, serving as communication tools. Well, both Mia and I were now proud owners of slightly advanced models. The shells set us back by fifty souls each, but they would let us contact Yules occasionally. Even so, when we departed the next day with our completed armor, Yules was reluctant to let us go. There was plenty of hugging to be had. I was surprised at how involved I got in all the affection, and that it wasn¡¯t only Mia Yules had grown fond of. All in all, as we made our way back to the local Apple Infernal branch, I could say I was content. I was carrying a box with my brand-new armor, we were not running late to the rendezvous with the rest of Glaustro¡¯s troops, and I had made an actual friend! Without even having to fight alongside them for our mutual survival! I could turn my gaze towards what was coming, safe in the knowledge that I was ready. As ¡®safe¡¯ as a recruit in a demonic army could be, of course. Chapter 68: The Unit Other than Bronwynn and Tybalt, the demon I met not so long ago, I didn¡¯t know anyone in Glaustro¡¯s official and brand new shiny unit. Mia didn¡¯t count. Obviously. When he took control of the unit I was originally part of, Glaustro did not have the leisure to choose his own men. He had come in to replace one Wilhelmina, a royal pain in my behind and the rest of my body besides. Wilhelmina had yoinked her batch of recruits and forced us, along with her demon troop, to march unreasonably hard in a wild attempt to win a ¡®bet¡¯ with her sister. Obviously, since these are demons we¡¯re talking about, the bet was a trap. It got Little Miss Nepo Baby temporarily demoted, and her post was given to Glaustro. This meant that all the demons under him were handpicked by Wilhelmina. Though Glaustro had managed to make things work, it was clear he regretted the arrangement more than once. He used some of the demons as aides or guards, but never the same ones for long. He didn¡¯t seem to trust or rely on them the way his brother did with his own troops. Now, this was probably due as much to Glaustro¡¯s many, many trust and identity issues as it was to the circumstances under which he became a sergeant. Still, I¡¯m sure he was thrilled to have the chance to assemble his own troop. I was glad for him, of course. He deserved it. But for me, this meant a brand new group of unfamiliar demonic personalities I would have to learn to navigate. So, it was with some trepidation that I approached the rendezvous point our brands had given us the day before. In the grand scheme of things, the rank of sergeant was neither too important nor too unimportant. It was just about in the middle. Digging into Hayden¡¯s memories had taught me the order of demonic army ranks: officer, lieutenant, captain, sergeant, major, colonel, lieutenant general, general. I had no idea how that translated into my previous world¡¯s military setup, and I didn¡¯t care. What I did care about was that, as leader of a division, Mercutio¡¯s father apparently bore the rank of lieutenant general. For this privilege, he had a compound almost as grand as the general¡¯s, and enjoyed plenty of other benefits, too. Glaustro obviously didn¡¯t quality for such treatment. What he did quality for was a small compound on the same street as the general¡¯s, near the plaza I woke up in. Apparently, that plaza was used only by official soldiers of the Legion of Torment, which vanishingly few recruits qualified for. Sergeant Glaustro¡¯s compound included a relatively nice barracks, a large training ground, some individual homes, and a small manor of his own. He had summoned us to the manor, but now that we were on the threshold of entering the compound, both Mia and I hesitated. It wasn¡¯t the two guards, who were watching us curiously from the entrance gate. It wasn¡¯t the overall atmosphere of violence and military toughness. No, what stopped us from entering was the fact that there wasn¡¯t a single other mortal around besides us. As we stood on the threshold, I kept eyeing the various demons who milled around the training field. Most of them were nothing to write home about. In other words, ¡®default¡¯ demons, whose disappointing lack of variety could be blamed entirely on their previous mortal status. Of course, exceptions existed. There was a demon with split scorpion tails that hung over his shoulders, dripping venom. The drops would splatter on his shoulders or arms occasionally, which I assumed is why he wore no shirt, but he could immediately use them to his advantage. Flicking them about or scooping them up with his daggers gave an instant boost to his threat level on the battlefield. There was also a demoness who had wings made of living flame. They typically stayed in the shape of wings, and I saw her fly with them, but she could also twist them into various forms. She could even detach them entirely and send them after someone in the shape of a small bird. Another curiosity was a demoness whose entire body looked to be made of some crystalline material. It only became apparent that the material was ice when I paid more attention to her tracks. She didn¡¯t wear any shoes, so every step left behind webs of frost and creaking ice. She also made for a stunning spectacle when the light struck her just right and sent rainbows cascading over everything. The final interesting demoness looked a lot like one of Mia¡¯s people, except instead of a cat, she resembled a bear. Her frame was bulky, and her hands and feet looked more like paws. She had a stumpy tail and enormous ears that swiveled constantly, on the lookout for strange sounds. Curiously, even though no one could deny the amount of demonic mana gushing out of her, she didn¡¯t have horns. In fact, the only identifying ¡®demon¡¯ markers were the mana and her eyes. They looked red and slitted, lit by an inner glow that refused to falter. My own enhanced eyes did another sweep of the training ground. Again¡­ no mortals. It bears repeating. Often. ¡°Can we help you two? Looking for something?¡± A surprisingly kind-looking demon turned from guarding the gates to face us fully. His compatriot, a sour demoness who really just looked like she wanted to get indoors and away from the layer¡¯s relentless torment, sighed and shook her head. ¡°Um, no,¡± I stammered. ¡°Actually, we were summoned here. Sergeant Glaustro had us sign on for his unit, so we were, you know, here to report.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The sullen demoness came alive. ¡°Really? I thought neither of the two brothers approved of mortal recruits, though for different reasons. I did hear they were forced to pick some up for one reason or another. You the only ones who survived out of your batch?¡± ¡°Something like that. We got lucky, really.¡± I tried to pretend like I wasn¡¯t ready to jump fifty feet straight up the second someone startled me enough, like something out of a cartoon. ¡°Anyway, seen the sergeant around anywhere?¡± ¡°He¡¯s currently out, I¡¯m afraid,¡± the first demon supplied. ¡°You can wait for him if you like. I promise you won¡¯t have any trouble from us. If you¡¯re here, it means you impressed him somehow.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, only mostly meaning it as we passed through the gates. To my regret, Bronwynn wasn¡¯t there to greet us, either. I did earn some brownie points when I asked around about him and learned that Bronwynn was quite popular among the unit. He was seen as something of an aide or advisor to Glaustro, and the big guy actually valued what the lower ranked demon had to say. As far as I was concerned, this was an amazing idea. Bronwynn had an extremely good head on his shoulders, and with Glaustro¡¯s backing, he could potentially accomplish a lot. Naturally, the sergeant¡¯s current absence gave all the newcomers time to gauge each other¡¯s levels. This meant that the show of everyone training was less real training and more¡­ show. Demons performed insane physical feats, displayed complicated bits of magic, and even preened with their equipment. The latter was rare. While everyone had a few pieces of nice equipment, I didn¡¯t see a well and truly kitted out demon among those gathered. They were, for lack of a better word, relatively fresh. Not as fresh as the demons who had accompanied us mortals in Berlis, of course, since I already knew those posts were used as a test of sorts. Want to prove you have what it takes to be a soldier in the Legion of Torment? Sure! Come show up, and we¡¯ll ship you off to a weak world where you can kill to your heart¡¯s content. Disappoint us with your lack of murderiness, though? Well, in that case, you¡¯re out. I wasn¡¯t sure how literal ¡®you¡¯re out¡¯ might actually be. In fact, of the demons who died on Berlis, Bronwynn was the only one I had seen alive again. Glaustro probably had something to do with this. What had Bronwynn done to get into the sergeant¡¯s good graces? Maybe I would ask him later. The atmosphere in the training yard, though? Now, that I could both understand and appreciate. These people were going strong despite the adverse conditions of the Torment layer. Even better, I could spot none of the fragmenting I had seen in Wilhelmina¡¯s troops. The demons in my original unit had immediately collapsed into cliques or ¡®solo rogues too cool for normal¡¯. Barely anyone was working together, they were all scrambling for their own souls, and more than a few were openly hostile to each other. Here, even when someone was defeated during sparring, this was typically met with applause and assurance about improvement, along with a few pointers from the victor. What a concept! Wilhelmina¡¯s troop would have been at each other¡¯s throats several days ago already, and the ass would have encouraged it. I felt the difference even in my own sense of relative safety. Now that I was pretty sure no one would stab me for my equipment, I was able to enjoy the envious glances the demons were giving me. I even allowed myself to perk up and strut a bit as we made our way towards the manor. I had to give it to Yules. This armor had turned out even better than my old set. It wasn¡¯t that the design itself was different. I had asked her to keep the armor looking the same, and the demoness had approved of my request. She was immensely proud of her creativity in putting that first set together, and rightly so. The only obvious addition was a blood-red headband, the same color as the feathers that made up my belt¡¯s decorations. It was unnaturally light, giving it an odd floating effect as it trailed behind my head whenever I moved. No, what really made the set stand out was its sheer quality, which was clearly visible even to an untrained eye. Every bit of the armor was spotless and practically shone. The leather gleamed in a dazzling way, the cloth bits looked like the softest thing you could ever dream of putting your hands on, and the feathers had such a vivacity to them that they looked like they might start dropping blood any second. The metal, too, was extremely impressive. It shone and reflected every source of light in a myriad of interesting ways. Best of all, the enchantments meant I would not need to worry about damage to the set, and my own cleaning spell would keep it looking spick and span. Mia¡¯s outfit was similar, and just as superbly crafted. Granted, hers wasn¡¯t as heavily enchanted, but she did have the basics that Yules had promised. She could even add enchantments in the future if she wanted, though Yules warned that her armor would not take to well to many new enchantments. Some of those had to be worked into the armor during its creation. That had been a shock for me. Berlis had no such enchanting methods, and everything was woven into an item after its creation. When I shared this with Yules, she didn¡¯t have a ton of good things to say about the mages of the world whose knowledge I had stolen. Still, that didn¡¯t discourage me from my intention to start working on my enchantment skills eventually. The only reason I hadn¡¯t tried some of the basic stuff already was a lack of materials and time. For materials, I didn¡¯t want to waste any of my souls before I learned about the world we were heading into next and what we could expect there. It would be awkward if I couldn¡¯t purchase some vital equipment to deal with an unknown environmental danger. For time¡­ I had judged it was better for me to prioritize spending those days off with Mia and Yules, instead of trying to puzzle out my stolen enchantment knowledge. Now that I was allowing myself to enjoy the company of others again, I could freely admit they were just plain fun to be around. Besides, Yules was a font of knowledge I would never be able to access easily out in the field. No, I didn¡¯t regret that decision one bit. Just like I didn¡¯t regret my decision to train and grow my mana on the side, despite all these distractions. This latter decision was validated when one of the demons, a younger member of the unit, stepped in our way with a grin. ¡°Well, hello there,¡± he purred. I had to blink when I realized that his assessing eyes were not lingering suggestively on only Mia¡¯s features. ¡°Would you two like to join us? I¡¯d be happy to spar. We need to¡­ get to know each other, after all.¡± I almost gaped at the blatant flirting, but I could also tell that the offer was genuine. So¡­ ¡°You know what? I¡¯d love to.¡± The demon¡¯s smile lit up with mischief, and he swept an arm out towards a clear patch of the training ground. ¡°After you, then.¡± I ignored the way Mia was looking at me as my fingers clenched and unclenched around the handle of my sword. Maybe it was stupid, accepting a sparring offer like that. But everything I had done, everything I had achieved, was so I could at least create the illusion of keeping up with demons. Without that, I would never be able to claim the souls and other resources I needed. Not until I ascended, at least. So, when I turned to face the ¡®friendly¡¯ demon, it wasn¡¯t just healthy apprehension spooling in my chest. It was excitement. Chapter 69: Lagyel It was a heady yet terrifying thing to face a demon in combat, however friendly. The demon in question had dark green skin, or maybe emerald colored would be more appropriate. He also didn¡¯t have many ¡®extra¡¯ features, being a relatively basic demonic template with horns, hooves, and clawed hands. He didn¡¯t even have wings! He did, however, have a tail. Once I got a good look at this feature, it worried me more than a little. The tail was barbed. This was easy to miss when it just hung limp from the demon¡¯s back, waving back and forth languidly. However, the second we took combat stances, the thing shot up to hover over the demon¡¯s shoulder, quivering in place. I even saw a few drops of some viscous liquid drip down to the demon¡¯s shoulder, then roll off into the sand that covered most of the training area. The liquid hissed and bubbled, and I didn¡¯t like the molten look of the sand once the demon¡¯s poison was through with it. Or was it venom? The idle thought as I stared at the hypnotically waving tail was almost my downfall, because the demon shot at me with no warning. Only the fact that I was already running my mana in technique patterns saved me. The demon plowed into and through me as my form collapsed into a cloud of mana. I reformed a few steps away, three duplicates forming up and flanking me immediately. I hadn¡¯t been able to dodge out of the way of his charge at all. If we had clashed, it would have been me splattered all over the training ground, rather than my mana. Thanks to my recent advancement in Mia¡¯s movement technique, I had avoided the attack by changing places with one of my clones. But the feat was still difficult for me to pull off. My veins were literally burning from the mana influx I had forced them to withstand. ¡°Amazing! I thought for sure I¡¯d have you there!¡± The demon was smiling happily, and I realized he didn¡¯t see the attack as something potentially lethal to me. No, he was just testing out another new soldier in Glaustro¡¯s unit. The fact that his casual opening shot almost killed me was¡­ irritating. Painfully so. This is probably why I decided to commit rather than begging off from the spar and running for the hills. With an unholy amount of effort, I forced my mind to work at its fullest capacity and my body to withstand uncomfortable levels of mana as my techniques slammed into place. When I was in Berlis, no matter how swiftly I switched between techniques, I could never run more than one at a time. Now? I had three up, and they were straining every bit of my mind, soul and body. Mana was literally streaming off my skin in vaporous form, even if it was thankfully whisked away and integrated into my shield instead of wasted. My clones moved in perfect sync with me, spreading out to then converge on the demon from the trickiest angles I could manage. Finally, my muscles bulged and strained as I ran the strengthening technique to the limits of my current abilities, which had definitely evolved past the Basic level of what body strengthening could achieve. In other words, I moved faster than any regular mortal could track, was defended by the full force of my mana pool, and you couldn¡¯t even tell which of the four bodies was my true self hiding behind mirages of mana. The demon laughed. He struck his foot against the ground and launched himself through a clone. Twisting in a way that should have been impossible midair, he dodged two different sword slashes. At the very moment he landed, he spun and lashed out with frightening swiftness, eliminating another clone. I pursued, of course, pushing to capitalize on the moment of relative vulnerability. The good news was that I forced him to take one of my blows. Less impressively, when my sword slammed into his palm, the most I achieved was a minor spray of blood as I cut through the skin and was then halted by the layer of muscle underneath. For the first time in my life, my sword failed to cut right through a person¡¯s unarmored body. The moment I afforded myself to gape did cost me this time. The demon¡¯s leg sounded more like a whip as it displaced air and landed square on my chest. I was blown away, barely able to breathe, my shield cracked and starting to splinter. Anger erupted in me at my blatant failure, and I switched places with my clone before I could even hit the ground. The demon had started to pursue me already, grin etched on his face, when I silently drove my sword into his back with all the strength I could muster. I had the advantage of an ambush, along with all the anger and mana I could leverage. Even so, the sword sank a mere inch into the demon¡¯s back as my clone landed and skidded over the ground, still occupying the man¡¯s attention until he registered the pain. His head snapped almost 180 degrees around to face me.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I didn¡¯t let myself flinch this time. Instead, even as the demon lashed out, I once again switched places with my clone, whose entire body was pulverized into a cloud of mana the next instant. Pausing, the demon actually frowned as he inspected his fist, then the cut in his back. ¡°Even more impressive! I didn¡¯t think you could switch places with your clones like that, not so seamlessly. How does that technique work? I can see mana, but it¡¯s not letting me detect the difference between what¡¯s false and what¡¯s real.¡± Mia visibly perked up from where she was observing us in the crowd, but I didn¡¯t have it in me to engage in banter. Truth be told, I didn¡¯t have it in me to do anything but fight. Even my consciousness was starting to blur at the edges, reducing my perception to mere pinpricks when it came to everything and everyone other than the demon. I had drops of condensation all over my skin, but it wasn¡¯t sweat I was shedding so readily. It was mana. I was pushing so much of it through my body that whatever I failed to use was seeping out of my pores. This would have been a massive waste, if it weren¡¯t all flowing to my shield with minimal effort on my part. Back on Berlis? I wouldn¡¯t have been able to replicate such a feat. I would have emptied my reserves halfway through the clash, and then I¡¯d have been forced to scrape together whatever bits of mana I could rip out of the air or crystals. The Abyss had no such limitations. I noticed as soon as I started actively training: everything here was saturated by mana, to a ridiculous degree. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to find mana crystals condensing randomly in fountains or even falling out of thin air. It was no wonder demons didn¡¯t value mana springs nearly as much as mortals did. Here in their homeworld, mana was an inexhaustible resource. It could power my techniques as long as I wanted. No, if anything gave out in these beneficial circumstances, it would have to be my body. My body, which already felt strained, pained, and on the verge of collapse. Of course, I couldn¡¯t just keep my mouth shut and take my loss gracefully. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen anything yet,¡± I managed to say, fully faking the confidence in my voice as I raised my sword again. The demon¡¯s smile widened. He looked ready to rush me again, though he was clearly holding back and giving me the right to attack first. I can¡¯t let this drag on. If I do, I¡¯ll make myself pass out, no need for anyone to knock me over the head. The only thing I can do is go in hard and¡ª My thoughts cut off as pain bloomed in my skull. Something knocked into the back of my head with enough strength to lay me out and force my face into the sand, hard. Hearing a boom, I peered up through bleary eyes to see the demon I¡¯d been fighting slide down to the ground from where he had crashed into the wall of the compound. His groans didn¡¯t make me feel better. ¡°How many times do I have to tell you idiots not to start trouble? But no, I leave for a while on an important meeting, and what do I see when I¡¯m back? One of you is trying to kill the mortal I recruited, and said mortal is trying to rush to his own death! Can you lot stop behaving like fucking stupid children?¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice echoed from above me. I barely managed to tilt onto my side and stare up at the demon, who speared me with a glare. I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. It wasn¡¯t because of the mild concussion he had given me. A flood of mana to my head made it tingle unpleasantly, but it got rid of any serious cognitive damage within moments. I was just¡­ speechless. ¡°Sorry, sir!¡± The demon jumped up with a grin fixed firmly on his lips. ¡°We were just sparring, I swear! No animosity or anything!¡± Seeing how easily the man got to his feet made me smile wryly as I picked myself up, too. He looked absolutely no worse for wear, while I felt like someone had torn all my muscles and nerves out and replaced them with burning wires. ¡°It¡¯s true, sir, it was just a spar,¡± I echoed awkwardly, not sure if I should even risk voicing my agreement. Glaustro eyed first me, then the other demon, before he snorted in dismissal. ¡°Forget it. I¡¯m not here to play a mother hen. That¡¯s my brother¡¯s method, and he¡¯s welcome to it. Still, I didn¡¯t bring you guys here to let you murder each other. We need to talk about our next assignment.¡± It was like a current passed through every single demon around us at those words. The good mood evaporated, replaced instantly by bloodlust, greed, and so many other emotions I couldn¡¯t identify. That I could faintly feel them at all was mildly concerning. ¡°We are ready, sir,¡± Tybalt declared, stepping up next to his superior with a determined gaze. The others echoed the sentiment, each in their own way. Some stepped forward aggressively, some voiced their agreement, and some were already reaching for weapons as if to draw them. Glaustro snorted again, though he looked considerably amused. ¡°That¡¯s good, but we won¡¯t be teleporting into battle immediately. We won¡¯t be teleporting today at all, which you would know if you idiots could keep track of the itinerary I sent you!¡± More than a few demons flushed and fidgeted, but none looked affronted or upset, which I was still not used to. They just tamped down their enthusiasm a little and proceeded like nothing had happened. Already, I was loving my new unit. ¡°Where are we headed, exactly? Tryglaph? Ferlorn?¡± Bronwynn melted out of the crowd, offering up a few guesses. A few demons echoed him, most seeming to favor his first suggestion. ¡°Neither, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Glaustro replied, and he actually did look regretful as he spoke. ¡°We¡¯ll be heading off to Lagyel.¡± The proclamation was met by silence, one which was swiftly interrupted by excited chatter. Judging by the happy glow on the demons¡¯ faces, this was supposed to be great news, but I just felt confused. My expression made Bronwynn sigh and shake his head as he approached me. ¡°What¡¯s so special about Lagyel?¡± I whispered to the demon. Then I flushed in overwhelming embarrassment as nearly every eye turned to look my way, including Glaustro¡¯s. Right¡­ demonic senses. ¡°Lagyel is a world the legion discovered several months back, before your initiation invasion, in fact,¡± Glaustro explained. ¡°The world is powerful, and rich in resources. However, the local resistance is, well¡­ far more fierce than anyone could have imagined. So, the general has ordered all available units to reinforce the world, regardless of level or competence. The only ones spared are recruits, which is probably why you didn¡¯t end up there for your initiation, too.¡± I couldn¡¯t lie and say the news didn¡¯t excite me. The fact that demons described the world as resource-rich was telling. Then again, my greed was tempered by equal amounts of trepidation. Glaustro hadn¡¯t come out and said it, because demons tended to cling to their pride even when it didn¡¯t help them, but the fact that resistance was ¡®fierce¡¯ on that world meant that our side wasn¡¯t winning. At least, we weren¡¯t winning as cleanly as we should have. Considering how ludicrously strong demons were and that they could resurrect, this was concerning. Still, as my eyes landed on Mia¡¯s to see my excitement mirrored in their warm pools, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to be worried. We had that advantage too now, after all. No more fearing death. No more cowering at every threat. I wouldn¡¯t throw my life away, obviously, but I was finally ready for more than just a scramble for my life. I was ready for a true adventure. I was ready to invade Lagyel. Chapter 70: The Sand As I stood in another plaza, waiting, I couldn¡¯t help but reflect on recent events. The previous day, Glaustro had handed out final orders and recommendations. He then dismissed us with a command to return to his compound the following morning at eight o¡¯clock sharp. Mia and I immediately followed his orders to the letter. That meant hunting down the closest equipment shop and purchasing several items that would make functioning on Lagyel possible: a set of goggles, an odd, mask-like air filtering device, and a large poncho that covered most of one¡¯s body and came with a hood. The total cost came to 200 souls, 100 per set, and it was only that cheap because it was standard kit for Lagyel. I gladly paid for both myself and Mia, even if it made the cat girl shoot me disapproving, embarrassed looks. If it was standard, perhaps the legion should have provided it for free. But it seemed to be yet another way for the demons to separate ¡®worthy¡¯ additions to an invasion from those who didn¡¯t deserve to be there. Which, frankly, yeah. A hundred souls should be nothing to a demon. The inability to afford that much would not speak well for their abilities. What confused me more was that, apparently, even demons were ordered to gear up in these. I couldn¡¯t for the life of me figure out why. Their natural toughness should turn any environmental danger into a trivial matter, so the precautions seemed excessive. Several demons had brought up the same protest when Glaustro told us to acquire all the gear, and were swiftly silenced. The sergeant seemed to take a perverse amount of glee in telling them they would understand soon enough, and that anyone who disobeyed would regret it. So, the next morning, there I was, herded from the compound to a small nearby plaza where a bored clerk waited with a clipboard. Unlike the last time I was preparing to invade a world, I actually knew what I was signing up for. Likewise, I wasn¡¯t part of a charging, screaming mob set on nothing but murder, fueled by an invasive command that twisted my mind into a turmoil of rage and desperation. In a way, it was all¡­ mundane. There was no grand speech. No threats or promises of pain if we failed. Just a clerk who kept ticking things off, then proceeded to pull a black crystal from a pouch very carefully before tossing it into the middle of the small plaza. The crystal cracked, and a surge of black energy snapped out in a corona that sliced through space itself. Several seconds later, the view stabilized into an expanse of sand¡­ and nothing else. No one made a move to pass through the portal. I could only stare blankly as the wind picked up and scattered some golden grains of sand onto the ground of the plaza. The clerk gave all of us a very displeased glare. It was Glaustro who finally urged us to action, even though the big demon himself didn¡¯t seem all that enthused by the prospect. ¡°Well, let us be off.¡± He rumbled the order, then pulled on all the equipment he already had hanging off him. The poncho went up, swiftly followed by the goggles and the breather. I tried not to gawk at my commander. If he was taking things so seriously, then¡­ I equipped myself quickly, ignoring the discomfort it caused. The breather was a piece with a short tube you stuck in your mouth, and it seemed to rely entirely on that to stay on top of your face. I was getting better at being in Torment, but gripping that short tube sent pain stabbing through my skull. The goggles and the poncho started itching immediately, worse than any regular clothes. At least I was getting into the right mindset. The combination of Torment with my new gear did, indeed, make me want to kill something. Demons filed through the portal reluctantly. I could see them stumbling and shivering on the other side, so it was with some dread that I crossed over myself. I hated Lagyel immediately. The sun beat down on us mercilessly, reflected on all sides by a sea of swirling sand. The sand itself felt like graters running over every bit of exposed skin, and I genuinely wished to hop back over into Torment for a second. Unfortunately, since Mia and I were among the last to step through, the portal slammed shut behind me. That¡¯s when the feeling of weakness hit me like a sledgehammer. I groaned and clutched at my chest as my heart and mana core stuttered. It felt like some invisible giant was squeezing down on me, assessing me, judging me. The giant must have found me unworthy, because it proceeded to squeeze down tighter, trying to force the life out of me. Except, a second before it could, the link that connected me to the Abyss pulsed in the depths of my being. Angry energy exploded into my body, shoving back the relentless pressure. My eyes snapped open, though I couldn¡¯t remember closing them in the first place, and I beheld more than a dozen golden chains wrapped around me. More than half of them started to glow red and disintegrated on the spot, but many still lingered, cutting into my flesh, constraining me, making me feel weak. I hurriedly dove into my mana core, and I didn¡¯t like what I found there. My regular mana was just fine, but the demonic fifty percent of me was¡­ dimmed. Made lesser. It was like looking at a picture you knew was supposed to be vibrant and beautiful, only to find the colors faded to nearly nothing under unrelenting sunlight.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I managed to recover enough to glance around me, and I saw those same golden chains around every single demon in Glaustro¡¯s unit, including the sergeant himself. In fact, their restraints were far more numerous, constricting them even more tightly than mine bound me. The only exception to all this was Mia. The cat girl had startled when the chains manifested around her, but they broke and fizzled out almost instantly, like they had failed to grasp onto anything at all. Everyone¡¯s chains were rapidly vanishing from sight. I couldn¡¯t touch them even when I reached out. My hand passed through them like a mirage, but I was under no illusions that they weren¡¯t real. They were disappearing, but they weren¡¯t gone. I could still feel them, after all, winding about my soul. Wow, everyone is a mess, I thought idly, looking at the demons in various states of pain and misery. Several had even fallen over, twitching in agony. To my shock, Glaustro erupted into laughter. ¡°Please, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve only ever invaded weak worlds before? Ha! Welcome to a real invasion, troops. Know that the world itself will oppose you from here on out. You will need to adapt to being here, slowly, and break those chains on your own. If you can.¡± Having said that, the sergeant flexed. His exertion briefly made his chains materialize again, only for several to crack under his strength and fade away as motes of light, for real this time. There was plenty of grumbling as the demons picked themselves up. It amused me that I was taking the development much better than they were. I definitely felt the effects of the chains, make no mistake, but my fifty percent of lingering humanity was doing wonders for me. What wasn¡¯t doing wonders for me was all the sand. It was easy to ignore initially, when the shock of the chains and the world¡¯s suppression had me preoccupied, but it was getting harder to do so by the second. I felt like the grains of sand were cutting into something deeper than just my skin. Despite the blazing sun, I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine. Almost on instinct, a shield popped up around me. My body strengthening technique came to life also, giving me a much needed physical boost to withstand all the nonsense. So imagine my surprise when grains of sand slashed right through my protections, then crashed into my skin, utterly ignoring the mana woven into that as well. I could do little more than stare in disbelief as my mana shield was obliterated rapidly by the countless grains of sand, one tiny hole at a time. I flexed my mana, regenerated the missing bits, and then tripled the amount I was using to shore myself up, but it did me no good. The sand just continued to pierce through with laughable ease. My eyebrow started to twitch in agitation. If I can¡¯t protect myself, then¡­ In that moment, I realized exactly how miserable my experience in the world of Lagyel was going to be. Another shiver of fear coursed through me, this time at the thought of what sand like this would have done to my eyes. As it was, my body¡¯s passive toughening was the only reason rivulets of blood weren¡¯t running down every exposed patch of skin I had. While the sand had no trouble cutting through mana, my enhanced, ¡®naturally¡¯ denser skin stopped the grains flat easily enough. Eyes, however, weren¡¯t as significantly affected by advancement through mage ranks. Neither were lips, for that matter. Or the inside of one¡¯s mouth. I shuddered to think what it would be like to breathe without proper protection on this hellish world. At least the legion¡¯s interest made a ton of sense. If the underlying value of the sand wasn¡¯t enough, then the sheer torment of living on a planet like this definitely would be. Our glorious supreme leader probably took one look at the world and creamed himself in ecstasy at the sheer inspiration it imbued him with, or something. The thought made me scowl. I hated the fact that we just might pop back into Torment to find it completely covered in howling sand. I shivered uncontrollably, then jumped when a mental presence pushed itself insistently into my thoughts. It was the voice of my commander, speaking directly into the minds of his troop. ¡°As you can probably surmise, Lagyel is a desert world. The relevant divisions still haven¡¯t figured out if the mana dampening and cutting effect is a natural property of the local sand, or if the trait is imbued into the sand by the local defenders. We would need to do extensive digging to find out, but the volume of sand available for research and crafting is already valuable on its own.¡± Glaustro looked mightily amused as he eyed the demons around him, all of whom were flinching and tightening their ponchos to minimize their exposure to the sand. Gazing at them myself, I realized the sand, like the chains, was affecting them even more than it was bothering me. Some of the demons were visibly bloodied already. ¡°The problem is, this sand is particularly troublesome for us to face. As beings largely composed of mana, it is a natural weakness of ours. So, you will need to work on your healing and defenses while we are here. I warmly recommend enchanted equipment, too, especially with self-mending properties. Otherwise, you run the risk of letting the sand wear away on your equipment until its enchantments fail.¡± I grimaced. Having seen the way Yules worked, I knew her enchantments were sunk deep into each item, protecting them from damage. However, seeing as the sand could so easily slice through mana, I sincerely doubted that my equipment had more than its natural toughness to face the damnable grains with. Glaustro¡¯s warning certainly rang true. If the sand could to enough damage to armor or weapons, then it would eventually destroy all their enchantments. This thought made me draw my sword from its scabbard in a panic. The soul blade was the most valuable thing I owned, and if the sand could just damage it into uselessness¡­ Thankfully, it only took a few seconds of examination while demons groaned around me to realize that I was worrying for nothing. Unlike my barrier and my armor, the blade didn¡¯t seem affected at all. It stood impervious in the face of the sand deluge, its soft green metal glowing as all the grains ricocheted off it harmlessly. Hells, as some of them landed on the edge of the blade, I watched the weapon slice them apart effortlessly. Now, there¡¯s an interesting thing to keep in mind. I frowned in consternation. So far, my sword had shown such effectiveness only against souls. It could slice through them, and the flesh they were tied to, with reckless abandon. But metal, wood, and other such materials? My sword was no more effective against them than a regular, somewhat dull blade would be. So, if it¡¯s cutting the sand, does that mean the sand¡­ has a soul? That it¡¯s alive, somehow? I pondered briefly, then decided to dismiss the idea for the time being. Even if it was somehow true, which I found highly doubtful, I could do nothing about it at the moment. Was I supposed to go around slashing at the sandstorm? What would that achieve? Besides, I didn¡¯t have any proof that the large grains of sand my sword had sliced through were truly ¡®harmed¡¯ by it. If the weapon somehow stopped their anti-mana properties, then maybe the information could be valuable, but I didn¡¯t even know how to go about testing that theory. Instead of wasting my time on that, I did as my commander bid. I dropped the strengthening and the shield, then drew heavily on my body refinement technique. Focusing it on my skin alone allowed me to heal quickly from the sand¡¯s minor abrasions, and even toughen up my defenses further. Of course, that made me realize the best approach would be to just strip down and let the sand have a go at me, so as to strengthen the entirety of my skin all at once. Which left me with a question: was I enough of a masochistic to do something like that, for an unknown and strictly potential boost to my toughness? Chapter 71: The Oasis I didn¡¯t strip down in xianxia hero fashion to cultivate myself against the rigors of the sand. I wish I could say it was because I had no intention of striving for the heavens, being halfway into hell already. Unfortunately, the main reason was my lack of desire to be nude in public. Again. Thankfully, our suffering didn¡¯t last long. It turned out our entry into Lagyel was meant as both a minor test and a warning to all invading demons. When we stepped through the portal, we couldn¡¯t see anything beyond a desolate expanse of endless sand stretching to the horizon. But all we had to do was turn around to spot civilization a short distance away. The sight of my first local city was¡­ odd. There were buildings, obviously, but they were both few and very short. I counted only six domes, rising barely two stories above the surface level of the sand. At least they were all painted in fantastical colors. Reds, blues, and greens spilled over the domes in stunning fractal patterns. The hues were so vivid that they captured and kept the attention of any observer. Even demons didn¡¯t seem immune. There was something about the colors that called to me on a spiritual level, appealing to a base level of my consciousness. It didn¡¯t take me long to puzzle out why. The buildings were a beacon within the desert. In an environment where it was difficult to see very far, they stood out like a sore thumb. The vibrant domes told everyone in the vicinity exactly where safety could be found and where civilization persisted. This must have been invaluable for the inhabitants of this desert wasteland, but in a time of invasion, it was an obvious weakness. If all their settlements were like that, I had little doubt the demons could easily zero in on them. And once discovered, I didn¡¯t think the locals could hold out for very long. Thanks to my enhanced ¡®fifty percent ascension¡¯ eyesight, I got a solid view of the city¡¯s interior as we approached. My first impression was disappointment. I couldn¡¯t make out a single street, shop, or stall. All I could see were the colorful domes, which had no doors or windows, and some sparkling construct in the middle. Of course, I understood that lively commerce was impossible in the middle of a sandstorm, but this didn¡¯t explain the lack of any amenities. ¡°This way.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice echoed in our heads as we reached the city. He led us towards the closest dome, walked right up to it, and knocked on the seamless exterior. We stood there for several tense seconds. The wind picked up, sending ever more sand to literally grate on us, before something finally changed. The dome emitted a low-pitched whine, and then a whole section of it slid back and to the side, revealing an entrance. Glaustro motioned with his hand for us to follow, and we eagerly complied. I must admit, the first moment of the wind and sand dying away was¡­ a relief. I hadn¡¯t noticed how much the constant whine of the wind was getting to me, and the absence of pain was a truly wondrous thing. We were in some sort of long, cramped tunnel. I guessed this was the wall of the dome, which had to be thick to protect the interior from the sand. From up ahead, a voice echoed oddly, drawing my eyes to a pink-skinned demon standing by the tunnel¡¯s other end. ¡°Welcome, sergeant.¡± The demon bowed. ¡°I¡¯m relieved to see you. We haven¡¯t had more trouble with the locals, but reinforcements are always welcome.¡± ¡°You realize that we cannot stay here, correct?¡± Glaustro crossed his arms instead of accepting the greeting. ¡°We have our orders, and they are definitely not to act as guards.¡± The demon chuckled as he rose from his bow, but he didn¡¯t contradict Glaustro. ¡°Of course. We only hope for your support while you are here. I hope we won¡¯t need it, but it is a relief nonetheless.¡± ¡°Hmm. I was told you have arranged our lodgings for the duration of our stay? And that the local quartermaster will be able to assist us with our supplies?¡± ¡°Correct. We have a decent flow of goods moving to and from the Abyss, so you won¡¯t find our hospitality lacking. As for lodgings, we have you set up in barracks number four. They have been reserved for you and your troops alone.¡± Glaustro nodded and relaxed fractionally, which told me the posturing was done with. For now, of course. He motioned carelessly at the demon. ¡°Very well, lead the way.¡± Without another word, the pink-skinned demon turned and vanished through the tunnel¡¯s other end. As we followed him through into a wide-open space, I looked up and caught my breath. The interior of the dome was like a honeycomb. Walkways wound around the interior wall and stretched across the open space. The walls were lined with nooks, used for shops and living quarters in a dizzying array of styles and colors. The locals seemed set on decorating everything as vibrantly as possible, and the inside of their domes followed the same vivid pattern as the outside. The colors glowed in the light of torches and gems embedded into the walls, warmly illuminating the hive-like interior.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. What really shocked me, however, was the presence of said locals. There were crowds of them milling around the inside of the dome. Some ran the many shops and stalls, some were serving or following demons, and a notable few just¡­ stood there, staring blankly straight ahead. This last category was the most fancily dressed, draped in silks so colorful and abundant that they were practically drowning. Occasionally, a demon would approach one of these silk-clad locals. As soon as the demon addressed them, it was like they came alive from some dormant state. They wouldn¡¯t speak, but they turned immediately and led the demon who had engaged them through the confusing maze of the dome¡¯s interior. The locals were also definitely not human. Oh, they had the general humanoid shape, and they didn¡¯t possess extra limbs or eyes or ears. But their skin was notably alien. They looked like they were clad in a tough exoskeleton of rock or some kind of mineral. I could immediately tell there was a whole culture built around their appearance. Some, the most shoddily dressed of the locals, looked to have skin made of common rock or other base materials. Those who were better off had more delicately textured skin. They glittered in a way that reminded me of watching sunlight play across sand. Finally, those richly dressed few who seemed dazed out of their minds had actual crystalline skin, sparkling in the glow of torchlight and reflective gems. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from staring. I had expected to find myself surrounded by a predominantly non-human mortal race eventually. Still, I was finding the experience difficult. The locals of Lagyel were just different enough to trigger my dysphoria, while simultaneously so familiar that spotting their differences was a shock every single time. But that wasn¡¯t the only problem at play here. ¡°How come they¡¯re just¡­ walking around, free?¡± The question just slipped out. I wasn¡¯t even sure who I was asking. ¡°Startling, isn¡¯t it?¡± It was the demon who greeted us that answered me, his skin color throwing me off all on its own with its similarity to Bronwynn¡¯s. ¡°No collars, no force required, yet we have a perfectly obliging populace to support our invasion!¡± ¡°How?¡± As she tended to do around strangers, Mia defaulted to short sentences. ¡°Well, simply put, this isn¡¯t unusual for them,¡± our demonic guide replied, making me blink in confusion. ¡°How much do you know about Lagyel?¡± ¡°Not nearly enough, for a world that has given us so much trouble,¡± Glaustro rumbled, looking distinctly displeased. ¡°I understand there are jinn involved?¡± ¡°That is correct, and I must apologize if your briefing was¡­ insufficient. We are doing our best to prevent information leakage, but it is an uphill battle when dealing with a race like that. To put things simply, mortals on Lagyel are used to serving a higher power.¡± ¡°The jinn are not uncommon here then, I take it?¡± And didn¡¯t Glaustro sound profoundly unhappy asking that particular question¡­ The pink-skinned demon nodded. ¡°Yes, they are. The ancestors of modern Lagyel mortals were reckless in their dealings with the jinn. They made requests without any consideration for the future, even wishing for lasting peace and prosperity. This eventually put them into such deep karmic debt that the jinn took over the world as its overseers.¡± ¡°Careless,¡± was Glaustro¡¯s profound response, leaving me even more confused. Hayden¡¯s training gave me nothing useful about this situation. Oh, he had vaguely heard about jinn during his studies, but he learned no details about them. In fact, I thought the memories from my own past life might be more useful than Hayden¡¯s, if I could just get some a bit of clarifying information. But before I could question our guide further, we reached a spiral staircase set into the floor and started descending deeper into the ground. I was a little reluctant to do so, especially as we passed through several yards of solid stone, but then my worries were blown away. The stairs didn¡¯t lead to a cramped underground chamber or dank cave. Instead, they opened up onto a sprawling sandstone city bathed in light. The sunshine was streaming through a massive glass dome high overhead. This was the crystalline structure I had seen amidst the colorful domes above ground. I could spot five more entrances into the ¡®underground¡¯ city from the other five domes, but they were a fair distance away. The city was a beautiful sight, sparkling and glittering like the skin of the locals. No two buildings were the same, and they all bore beautiful engravings, elaborate paint, or cloth tastefully attached to facades. Most importantly, the entire area was pleasantly cool, and I could feel the life-giving moisture in the air beading on my skin. The cause of these pleasant sensations was easy enough to spot: right in the middle of the city was a massive oasis. Plant life flourished there wildly. Water gushed from the small lake, stretching in all directions through meticulously maintained canals. The whole city was a testament to what could be achieved when designing a settlement around natural features instead of insisting on rigid guidelines. It was as inspiring as it was saddening. Inspiring, because I didn¡¯t think I would come across another world that employed a similar philosophy any time soon. Saddening, because the original inhabitants of the city had been cast out to live in the domes above. The city was full of demons, walking, lounging in outdoor seating areas, or hawking their wares from so many stalls that some streets were almost impassable. Images of what had happened to Berlis flashed through my mind, and I fought down a wave of bitterness. I really need to stop feeling sorry for every culture whose death I contribute to. Then I spotted the signature black obelisk near the city¡¯s heart, and the dome of the Absorption Station close by. It was the latter that set my heart pounding inside my chest. After all, knowing I was an active participant in the death of an entire world clarified exactly how far I was willing to go for personal gain. At that point, any feelings of regret or doubt felt more disingenuous than anything. As beautiful as the city was, and as excited as I felt to be facing action soon, I could remember Glaustro¡¯s promise well enough. With our arrival on Lagyel, it was time for him to follow the general¡¯s orders and give Mia and me more information on ascension. If he verified my suspicions and confirmed that maxing it out was worth it, then I was going to do so as soon as possible. I had little doubt I would receive more warnings about the process, but I had already made my stance clear to the general. To back away would potentially be seen as an insult, so even without considering my own desire for power, it wasn¡¯t a valid option. I glanced at Mia, just to check how she was reacting. The cat girl looked composed, but I knew her well enough at that point to catch the hints. The tip of her tail was slashing wildly through the air, giving away her own nerves. Neither of us was willing to wait much longer. Chapter 72: Whispers of Power The pink-skinned demon quickly led us to our lodgings, a small compound at the very edge of the shadows encroaching on the city from all sides. The compound was just barely within reach of the light seeping through the glass dome up above, and it would have been hellishly hot if not for the adjacent water canal. Thanks to this canal, which carried the benefits of the oasis out through the city, our lodgings were quite comfortable. The compound didn¡¯t contain much in the way of buildings, just two large dorms for soldiers and a small standalone house for a commander. Since Glaustro¡¯s unit contained a thousand soldiers in total, we filled out the two dorms to near capacity. The dorms were not segregated based on gender, which is how Mia and I ended up sharing a room. Honestly, more than anything, I felt reassured to have her near. After everything we had gone through together, I knew I could trust her, unlike all the new faces around me. Once inside the refuge of our room, we could shed the uncomfortable gear at our leisure. Taking off the breathing mask was a relief, since I definitely didn¡¯t enjoy the sensation of biting onto the mouthpiece to keep it in place. Likewise, while the goggles had protected my eyes, bits of sand had stuck to their edges, consistently irritating my skin. On the topic of sand, I had to cast my cleaning spell on myself a grand total of four times before I managed to get rid of it all. The spell could barely influence the stuff to roll away from me, and those grains that were stuck deep inside my clothes were not playing nice. Once I was finally done, I had to repeat the process for a pouting Mia, who just kept looking at me forlornly. I was finishing my fifth and hopefully final cast of the spell on her when there was a knock on our door. ¡°Who is it?¡± I asked cautiously, my mind immediately creating a list of potentially unfavorable encounters. To my immense relief, I instantly recognized the voice of our visitor. ¡°It¡¯s Bronwynn. Glaustro sent me to fetch you two.¡± I strode across the room to pull the door open, bringing me face to exhausted face with one of my favorite demons. ¡°We can go right now,¡± I said, then hesitated and glanced at Mia. ¡°Right?¡± The cat lady just rolled her eyes and sauntered up to me, carefully moving her limbs around as she did so to make sure there was no more sand stuck in her clothes or armor. When she realized there wasn¡¯t, seeing as it all lay in a small pile on the floor, she smiled and nodded. ¡°Follow me, then,¡± Bronwynn grumbled, rolling his own shoulders experimentally. ¡°I swear, I thought boredom was bad, but I think I almost prefer my life before the legion if we¡¯re going to be spending more time out in that blasted sand.¡± I winced, then took him in again. There were faint lines on his face and hands from where the sand had scored grooves into his skin, and bits of blood flecked his clothing. ¡°That bad?¡± ¡°You have no idea. Maybe I¡¯ve been spoiled, but¡­ it¡¯s been a while since something hurt me so easily. And it¡¯s sand. It¡¯s not even an enemy I can fight,¡± the demon continued to grumble, his eyes full of anger and resentment. I couldn¡¯t resist a small smirk. ¡°Trust me, I know how it feels to be vulnerable to the weather. We don¡¯t all have the leisure of being practically immune to temperature changes, you know.¡± Bronwynn turned to glower, but unlike with most other demons, I didn¡¯t detect any real intention to cow me into submission. ¡°You need to mind your words a bit more, brat. I swear, you¡¯re kind to someone once, and they think they can talk to you however they like.¡± I just grinned wider, which made the demon scowl and look away. Protest and bluster he might, but for better or worse, Bronwynn was genuinely kind. I knew that firsthand. My relaxed mood vanished as we approached Glaustro¡¯s lodgings. I knew there was no need to fear casual cruelty from the commander, but this conversation would impact my future like no other, so I couldn¡¯t help the anxiety. Bronwynn knocked on the front door once, then simply opened it and motioned us through. ¡°You¡¯re not coming in with us?¡± I asked. He shook his head, then pointed inside again. I took a deep breath and walked in. The commander¡¯s house was much better appointed than the dorms. Our assigned rooms were bare bones, little more than a bed and a desk in each. Glaustro¡¯s temporary home, on the other hand, had plush carpets, tapestries hanging from the walls, and what looked like sinfully comfy chairs and couches in practically every corner. The demon sat on one such couch, sipping from a teacup. A kettle steamed on a coffee table in front of him. His eyes tracked us impassively as we entered, flicking briefly to the sofa across from him as our only hint at what was expected of us. We sat, of course, then stewed in the silence for a minute or two as he continued to sip tea. ¡°Before we begin with¡­ heavier topics, was there something you would like to ask me? Perhaps about this campaign?¡± I didn¡¯t expect the sudden offer, and it threw me for a loop. Glaustro smirked at the surprise on my face. ¡°Don¡¯t look so shocked. As you might have noticed, I don¡¯t make a habit of recruiting mortals. You are an exception, and your friend here was a decent addition. I decided to extend an offer to her because of you. However, most of my other soldiers have sources and acquaintances that would clue them into what¡¯s happening on Lagyel, at least vaguely. You have no such sources to draw on, so I thought I could offer some help.¡± I considered that for a second. While the demons were shocked about the sand, I realized in hindsight that they hadn¡¯t reacted to what Glaustro was discussing with our guide, nor did they seem surprised by the underground city. Come to think of it, they might even have been warned about the sand, yet decided to ignore it in a typical display of demonic arrogance. Before I could recover, Mia beat me to the punch. ¡°What are the jinn?¡± Glaustro smiled at her and shook his head, as if amused that she would speak out of turn when he hadn¡¯t addressed her personally.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°They are, in a way, like us. A mana-based species, immortal by birth and imbued with great power. The trick with jinn is that they don¡¯t rely on war and conquest to worm their way into a world.¡± ¡°There was mention of wishes,¡± I supplied, remembering all the stories from my former world about twisted wish-granting. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s how they do it. When they first manifest in a world, they look for eager idiots and offer their services. They have the innate ability to conjure nearly anything with magic, but the twist is that they can only use the full extent of their power to grant the desires of others. They start small, at first. A bit of gold here, a healing miracle there. But it ramps up quickly, if they are allowed free reign.¡± ¡°How does that result in a conquered world, though?¡± Glaustro sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. He took another sip of his tea. ¡°You need to understand, while magic can be studied, a lot of it is¡­ conceptual, symbolic, and quite thoroughly mystical. Take Berlis, for example. By opposing us, that mad mage seized the power to represent her entire world. With the World Will¡¯s backing and the acknowledgement of the greatest kingdom in the world, she became the world¡¯s Champion. When the general killed her, it was easy for him to lay claim to the whole world in the name of the legion.¡± I nodded hesitantly, filing this new knowledge away. ¡°So¡­ all the jinn need to do is make a deal with a person who represents the world they¡¯re in?¡± ¡°Yes and no. They build up to it, as I said. They grant someone wealth, then influence, then power, until that individual becomes the world¡¯s chosen Champion. They don¡¯t just target a single person, of course. They spread their bets out. Once they have their hooks in the most influential local, they tempt that mortal into making a wish. Something like ¡®secure my reign¡¯, or ¡®guarantee my safety¡¯, or what have you.¡± ¡°And they regret their wish almost immediately?¡± I guessed, quirking a brow. Glaustro laughed. ¡°Of course. If they ask for safety, an army of jinn descends and takes control of the world, policing it. If they ask for immortality, they might find themselves caught in magical amber, preserved for eternity while the jinn rule in their place. They¡¯re tricky things, jinn, and always willing to twist a wish. They encourage the wisher to escalate more and more until they¡¯re in over their head.¡± We fell silent, each nursing our own thoughts. I was personally caught up in comparing this information to the stories from my old world. In that life, I was always convinced magic was a fantasy. A thing of dreams and imagination. With all I knew now, though¡­ how much had I missed on my homeworld? Of course, Glaustro wouldn¡¯t let us just sit there and luxuriate in the comfy sofa for too long. As he finally put down an empty teacup, his countenance shifted into something far more serious and severe. ¡°With your curiosity sated for now, let¡¯s talk about why I summoned you in the first place. Ascension.¡± The mere word sent a thrill shooting through my body and set my fingertips a-tingling. I swallowed, and found my throat to be uncomfortably dry. ¡°We¡¯ll appreciate whatever you can share on the subject.¡± The demon scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will. You do realize how hasty and risky it was for you to make a proclamation to the general like that, right? It wasn¡¯t a smart move, that¡¯s for bloody sure.¡± For a moment, Glaustro¡¯s fancy mode of speech faltered in his frustration, and I winced. ¡°I¡­ We need whatever we can get,¡± I stammered. ¡°I¡¯m not going to spend an eternity lagging behind everyone else just because I happened to be human once upon a time.¡± I regretted my words instantly. Of all demons, Glaustro knew exactly what the fate of ascended demons was typically like. The demon speared me with his eyes, pinning me to my seat. I couldn¡¯t even squirm. This continued for several long seconds until, finally, he snorted and shook his head. There was a sadness and resignation to the gesture I didn¡¯t quite like. ¡°Well, if you succeed, I suppose you won¡¯t have to worry about lagging behind. If.¡± The demon fell silent for a few more moments, weighing his words. ¡°Ascension was always a thing. However, it wasn¡¯t always so¡­ easy, or as streamlined. People used to have to offer sacrifices to the Abyss the hard way, through ritual and ceremonies. Things changed because of a war.¡± I leaned forward as the big demon paused again, my attention fully fixed on him. Finally, he continued, ¡°The Abyss fought the Cradle, both sides invading each other, and losses were mounting. So, the Abyss itself set up the first Absorption Stations, making it easier to ascend. You need to realize that the price of ascension is not nearly as low as it¡¯s made out to be. The Abyss itself sponsors most of the cost, so long as the subject does the minimum required to condition their soul enough to avoid instant failure. Maxing out your ascension isn¡¯t paying the full price. It¡¯s the minimum you need to do for guaranteed success. Such ascension leaves much to be desired, though.¡± My mind spun, and I remembered all the ascended demons I had ever seen. Frankly, I was getting rather good at guessing whether a demon had been born as such or ascended to their new form. The cookie cutter appearance was almost a dead giveaway, even with the minute differences and the lucky few who got unique features. ¡°But it¡¯s possible to go beyond that minimal success,¡± I ventured. ¡°The general said as much.¡± ¡°Yes, possible. The problem is, if you push past the basics, you also push past the safety features the Abyss installed in the stations. Just like with rituals of old. The process of improving your ascension pushes you forcefully past human limits. As the general warned, most ascend immediately after maxing out their ascension meter, to avoid problematic side effects.¡± ¡°What are they, exactly? Is it like what I¡¯m experiencing now?¡± I paused, shifting in my seat before I managed to force the words out. ¡°Problems with controlling one¡¯s emotions?¡± Glaustro shot me an unhappy look and nodded. ¡°It was reckless of you to ascend so quickly, but yes. That problem will only grow. There are also body mutations and improved senses to worry about. Things like eyesight, hearing, and even touch are relatively easy to deal with. Improved mana senses, though, can overwhelm mortals.¡± I furrowed my brow. I was always praised for my mana affinity and ability to handle it, so I wasn¡¯t too worried. Honestly, that seemed more like a boon than a drawback. It was the emotional issue that scared me. I was slowly getting better at keeping a lid on all my mood shifts, but I hadn¡¯t exactly mastered myself. And if things got worse¡­ I tried to steel myself. I would either succeed, or I¡¯d make the attempt and finalize my ascension shortly after. For all my bluster, it was admittedly better to be a ¡®weaker¡¯ demon than an utterly insane mortal. ¡°How do I improve past the basic ascension, though?¡± ¡°We. How do we improve,¡± Mia corrected calmly, her dry tone cutting through the eagerness that had infected my voice. I shot her an apologetic smile, but she just rolled her eyes at me. At least she didn¡¯t look too upset. Glaustro eyed us, then shook his head in frustration for what felt like the umpteenth time. ¡°Once your ascension is maxed out, you¡¯ll get the option of sacrificing more souls to the Abyss. The process is more instinctive and less guided by the system the Abyss put in place, but you¡¯ll be able to focus on the kind of improvements you want, more or less. I didn¡¯t get very far with it. I barely managed to sacrifice a couple dozen souls before it got to be too much for me, and I decided to ascend.¡± It looked like the admission pained the sergeant, but I politely chose to ignore that. I was far more intrigued by the possibility of specifying improvements. ¡°You mean we¡¯ll actually be able to invest souls into something specific? Like¡­ improving mana affinity, or even features like wings, or something?¡± Glaustro grimaced, wobbling a hand back and forth. ¡°More or less? It¡¯s not a precise science. Closer to shady sacrifices conducted over corpses by warlocks of old. You¡¯ll be bargaining with the Abyss itself, offering souls in exchange for boons. You might not get exactly what you want, but make enough sacrifices, and you¡¯ll at least get close to it.¡± He narrowed his eyes, fixing each of us with one more stern gaze. ¡°Just¡­ know that by going through with this, you¡¯ll be altering yourself closer and closer to an actual demon. This is how people used to do it. Keep going for long enough, and you will eventually stumble over a threshold that will cause you to ascend. If you don¡¯t go entirely insane before then, of course.¡± The proverb ¡®gaze into the Abyss, and it will gaze back¡¯ flickered through my mind at his warning, but I wasn¡¯t swayed. Maybe it was stupid. Maybe it was reckless. However, this was the surest path to what I wanted: the power to stand on my own two feet. I wasn¡¯t about to back down at the threshold of getting it. Chapter 73: Ascending Improvements We were excused quickly after Glaustro¡¯s final warnings on the dangers of ascension. His parting words were particularly impactful, even if they failed to dissuade either of us from trying. ¡°If you go too far, you¡¯ll cross the threshold of reality reserved for mortals. You will get a peek at things best unseen by more fragile minds. If you can¡¯t deal with that, it will break you, and not even ascension will fix you up.¡± Standing in front of the sergeant¡¯s temporary home, right under the sunlight streaming through the glass dome far above our heads, both Mia and I shivered. There was a coldness clinging to me in defiance of the balmy temperature. A coldness that stemmed from deep within my essence, rather than anything physical. It felt like the very bond I had forged with the Abyss itself was shivering in warning. My mind drifted and my guts churned. I started walking in silence, and Mia followed. In a way, my circumstances were not at all brought about by my own hands. Sure, I had decided to boost my ascension. I had killed and stolen and fought to survive. But the start of it all? Well, waking up in the body of a boy dying because demonic mana had shredded his soul wasn¡¯t an ideal start, and it was definitely not my choice. Sure, it beat being dead and getting slowly devoured by the Abyss, because my previous life had somehow sucked enough to land me straight in hell. But I wasn¡¯t the one who signed up for the Legion of Torment. It was Hayden who was raised to glorify the legion life, and who volunteered to have Abyssal mana shoved in his chest. No, winding up in the legion was not my choice. But after that, I couldn¡¯t deny that I did have choices. Not good choices. Not even remotely survivable choices. But I had them. I could have tried to run away, or even tried to help the locals survive. I would have one hundred percent gotten myself run through by a demon or another recruit, but I could have tried. Maybe, in spite of everything, it could have ¡®redeemed¡¯ me. The thought just never crossed my mind, even when I hadn¡¯t finished absorbing Hayden¡¯s memories. Of course, those memories made the point moot. They assured me no salvation was coming, regardless of what I did. I tried not to think about that topic, but with my education, it was hard to keep my head in the sand. After all, the Cradle of Reason was part of what they covered in the training camp I grew up in. That Hayden grew up in, I reminded myself half-heartedly, even if it was a losing battle. I wasn¡¯t Hayden. But could I even pretend I was the person I used to be? With who knows how much of my soul devoured by the Abyss, only for those bits to merge with the shredded remains of Hayden? And that was before I willingly shoved the remnants of other souls into my own through Abyssal surgery, in order to steal their knowledge. Clarinette was the one who impacted me the most, true, but all the souls had left a mark. I now walked with my back held unnaturally straight. I was ambidextrous and preferred to use my left hand instead of my right. I even had impeccable table manners. Since most of the powerful figures in Berlis were nobility, I had unknowingly picked up more than a few snobby habits. The only reason I wasn¡¯t sneering down my nose at people was the harsh reality of being a grunt in a demonic army. That fact was very effective at curbing any and all hints of pride. I let the distracting thoughts fall away with a sigh, letting my mind drift back to what I was so ardently avoiding. The Cradle of Reason. Heaven, in all its disappointing glory. Except, the Cradle was no more heaven than the Abyss was traditional hell. While the Abyss was ruled by emotion, the Cradle was¡­ reason. Pure, absolute, and unyielding. There was no ¡®afterlife¡¯ as I had always thought of it. No divine refuge for the souls of the dead. Just the Abyss and the Cradle. Emotion versus reason. Demons versus angels. Two directly opposing natures and aspects of reality, rather than bastions of good and evil. Even if the math could ever add up for me, would I want the Cradle? Rigid obedience and logical perfection, with no true feelings in sight, for all eternity? By comparison, shoving some souls into crystals and munching down on them almost didn¡¯t sound so bad. Almost. ¡°Are you¡­ alright?¡± Mia¡¯s hesitant voice snapped me out of my daze, and I shot the woman a confused look. ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°You seem troubled. I ¡ª I¡¯m not good at helping people. I don¡¯t know what to say, or do. But, I¡¯m¡­ here?¡± She sounded so uncomfortable, I almost laughed. The only reason I didn¡¯t was knowing it would likely hurt her. Instead, I stopped and properly took her in. Every line of her face, every inch of her body, betrayed how out of her depth she was. She held herself like she was about to bolt, and there was a deep wariness etched into her features. But in spite of that, she looked me right in the eye, her own eyes shining with concern. I wasn¡¯t sure what to say when faced by such earnestness. Though I did consider her to be a friend, and willingly shared my resources with her, neither Mia nor I were good at the touchy-feely stuff. To see her express her concern so openly threw me off balance.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I¡¯m not. Alright, I mean.¡± I faltered, emotion seeping into my voice for a moment as the dam I constantly kept up threatened to crack. ¡°All of this is¡­ too much.¡± I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before daring to look at her again. ¡°But I will be.¡± Mia bit her lip and visibly hesitated before moving towards me with glacial slowness. I let it happen, stiffening when her arms closed around me. Then, just as hesitantly, I returned the hug. We stood like that, frozen, for what felt like a small eternity. When we clumsily disengaged, I had to admit that a part of me had unclenched a little, and I felt just a bit more prepared to tackle what was to come. I cleared my throat, trying to keep the hint of a flush off my cheeks. ¡°Um, thanks,¡± I mumbled. Mia was now refusing to meet my eyes. Her ears were flicking in every direction, and her tail was slashing wildly through the air, but she was doing a remarkable job of keeping her features otherwise clear of emotion. ¡°You are welcome. Now, shall we?¡± Her question confused me until I took a proper look at my surroundings. In my daze, I had walked through the underground city with remarkable accuracy. We had almost arrived at the Absorption Station. I could just make out its dome of influence a few streets over, rising above the unusually low buildings that made up most of the local housing. I hadn¡¯t made a conscious decision to visit immediately, but in a way, this was for the best. For all my pretense of being one hundred percent ready and set on proceeding with the plan, doubt gnawed on me under the surface. I had already gotten myself into a ton of trouble just because I couldn¡¯t manage fifty percent of my ascension. Going over that number was, as everyone seemed keen to remind me, an incredible risk. Then I glanced at Mia. Neither of us had a place in this new world of ours without strength to back us up. And, judging by the determined look in her eyes, the cat girl was far more decisive than I was. Besides, looking at her reminded me that this time, I wasn¡¯t alone. I smiled. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± We walked on in a companionable silence. Both of us knew that what we were about to do was final, in a very real, irreversible way. Perhaps only one of us would emerge from the station with their mind intact. Perhaps neither of us would. Regardless, in that moment, we were content to share the walk with someone who was in the exact same situation, and whom we could call a friend. ¡°See you soon.¡± It was all I could bring myself to say when we finally reached the dome. She raised her eyes to meet mine, and in that moment, the rest of the world fell away. It was just the two of us, doubt and fear shining through both of our expressions. Finally, her gaze grew firm, and she nodded. ¡°See you soon.¡± With that, she plunged into the dome of the station and vanished from sight. I stood there for a moment, my hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. Then I summoned my own conviction and took that last step. The station¡¯s familiarity was both reassuring and ominous, considering all I had gone through under its protection. The perfect sphere of isolation was the Abyss¡¯s gift to its recruits. It was a safe, personal space to absorb souls, upgrade compatible soulbound items, or push one¡¯s ascension further. I brought up the summary of my progress effortlessly, eying the fifty percent mark on the ascension meter. I had treated it so casually at the start, with no real knowledge of what it meant or what it would do to me. Already, I was¡­ altered. My eyesight was far beyond what a human could boast of, even allowing me to see in darkness. My physical toughness and tolerance to temperatures were significantly enhanced. I was now careful to smile tightly and never open my mouth too wide, lest I reveal how inhuman my tongue had become. Frustratingly, even that final change was beneficial. It was much easier for me to form inhuman noises now. In fact, I was willing to bet that I could effortlessly speak any language, no matter how alien the anatomy of its origin species. All the changes held benefits. But they were still changes. I was changed. Even at fifty percent, I was fundamentally a different being from the soul that had woken up in Hayden Hall¡¯s body all those weeks ago. Nevertheless, my steps were steady as I approached the main feature of the station. When I reached the half-reclined surgical chair in the very center of the dome, I sat down without hesitation. Everything was just as I remembered from my last station visit. Around the chair, tendrils of some alien flesh swayed, bearing instruments of all sorts, each and every one menacing in its own way. Scalpels, tongs, grasping claws, and more wavered all around me. When the tendrils swayed out of my view and reemerged, I could swear that what they held shifted every time, switching to more and more alien items, all meant to pry apart and then stitch together a soul. My soul. The process was as disturbing as it was painful, so I was more than a little thankful that I had no use for that aspect of the station at the moment. Instead, I reached into the purse attached to my hip and slowly pulled out souls, counting until I had a nice even five hundred in a heap on my lap. For a torture device, the station¡¯s chair really was comfy when you lay back on it. Comfy enough that I almost wouldn¡¯t regret it being my final experience with a sound mind and clear consciousness. I allowed myself one final moment of reflection. Memories drifted past my mind¡¯s eye, both original and inherited. None of the lives I could remember were particularly great. Not my first, not Hayden¡¯s, and definitely not the lives of the souls I had absorbed. Struggle marked each and every one of them. Struggle against circumstances beyond one¡¯s control. Struggle against poverty, or sickness, or pain, or the forced railroading into a life governed solely by the whims of those with more power than you. That was what it all came down to, in the end. Power. The power to resist. To make your own way. To afford yourself the luxury of safety, friends, mercy, or even basic choices. It was for the sake of all those things that I forced myself to stop hesitating. I raised the first soul and willed the station to imbue it into my ascension. Instantly, that same feeling of euphoria I had experienced last time swept through me, engulfing me in tides of acceptance and warmth and encouragement. However, this time, there was a difference. This time, I kicked off the process knowing what was to come. I did it not as a simple mortal, but as one who had experienced death twice. As a mortal who had foresworn his old world of origin and forged a link to the Abyss. So, this time, I could keep track of what was happening. Sinking through all the emotions, I buried myself into the core of my being and beheld my soul in a way I had never managed before. I watched as the Abyss grasped the soul I offered it. Swiftly, the Abyss melted the soul in a stream of power, washing away all its memories until only its raw essence remained. Then, gently, the Abyss guided that essence into my soul. My soul devoured it eagerly, and the red swirls surrounding me grew by a fraction. Soul after soul, I focused on the absorption process, trying to ignore all else. I watched, enchanted, as the fundamental nature of my existence was altered. The red swirls grew, then merged, then gradually occupied more and more of my soul. I was tainted in the colors of the Abyss, claimed beyond my own declaration of allegiance, converted into something approaching its own true children. The final glimmer of my soul¡¯s original off-blue colorlessness held out in the very center of my chest. I¡¯d originally thought that all the red had leached into my soul¡¯s frame from there, but that was not the case. The Abyssal mana was swirling around the core of my soul, cradling it, longing to consume it. That core couldn¡¯t hold out forever. With the final soul I fed to the Abyss, a swell of Abyssal power swept into me, overwhelming all resistance. My eyes shot open. I gasped as my consciousness slammed back into my body. All my muscles seized, locking up. Then the visions drowned me. Chapter 74: Emotional Highs Visions slammed into me, one after another. A creature, tearing itself from the fabric of the Abyss itself, gasping for life as Emotion filled it, ruling its mind. A legion advancing through verdant plains of twisted, purple plant life that clutched at them, forcing the soldiers to cull the vegetation as they fought to secure a place where they could build their first city. A crumbling world, compressed, refined, reduced to its essential components, then thrust into a rapidly evolving void of chaotic red and black mana that absorbed it all, forming swiftly into land, and plants, and new life brimming with potential. The rustle and gleam of white feathers bringing pain and destruction, pierced through with countless burning eyes that stared down with calm indifference through the rift torn in the Abyss¡¯s boundary. The anguish, the flames, the blood and globs of flesh stomped by countless feet as armies clashed, Emotion and Reason warring wantonly across the stars, each attempting to snuff the other out, yet failing time and again. A soul, cradled in Abyssal will, twisted and altered until it was reborn into new life as a child of the Abyss. More and more images came, each painted by emotions so intense and alien that my mind began crumbling beneath their weight. My sense of self stretched, struggling to encompass each and every vision, to absorb them all into itself. My name fled me. My childhood disintegrated, the many pains and tribulations stripped away in the face of something greater. Friendship, love, hatred, fear, joy, ecstasy, regret, and more, all exploded against my tongue like the most exquisite flavors. I wanted to drown in them. I wanted to devour them all. I wanted to become their vessel, so as to possess them completely. Above it all, a cackling roar thundered in my ears. The impression of minds fracturing, of souls tearing themselves apart, of the most resolute wills bending, took root in my core. Madness reigned, and I delighted in it. Why ever pursue any other goal? Why ever indulge in any other pleasure, when Madness contained the totality of experience? I felt a smile twist my lips further and further as laughter continued to escape me. I wanted to share it, to force it on others, to spread Madness far and wide until all could witness its glory and welcome its calming embrace. Yes, I could start with Mia, then Bronwynn, then Yules, then¡­ Mia. Yules. Bronwynn. For the first time, glimmers of my own memories broke through the haze of Abyssal power. I brushed against them the way one might run their fingers over a dusty, forgotten book they were once fond of. Bronwynn¡¯s advice and reluctant care. Mia¡¯s steadfast presence, an offer of friendship, a hug. Yules¡¯ cheery disposition as she gushed about her love of crafting and her dreams for the future. Her mother¡¯s kindness. The vendor back in Fortress City 12, happy to chat and help out a lost recruit. Glaustro, and his growing acceptance. One by one, I remembered the people I had met. The few I cared about. Those whose kindness and acceptance I relied on. Other memories came, too. Of hatred, resentment, and fear. Mercutio. Wilhelmina. The accusing, terrified eyes of the people I had killed. I wanted to shy away from some of them. I wanted to embrace the others. And underneath all the memories, the threads of desire stretched. The basic need to be safe, warm, and full, in a home I knew was mine. A need for friendship and kindness, even though I was so very afraid it all would end in betrayal and cruelty. The yearning for something more, eventually. For quiet companionship I could lean on. The need for power, so I could earn and safeguard all those things. Bit by bit, I pieced myself together. My shattered mind¡¯s splinters clicked into shape, the edges raw and damaged and refusing to slot into place the exact way they had before, yet there nonetheless. I dragged myself out of the depths of Abyssal consciousness, tearing myself away from the devouring whole into some semblance of an individual. Ever so, so slowly, I stopped gazing at something far beyond me and focused on my immediate surroundings. They were calming in their familiarity, and I desperately clung to the physical sensations. The stark white of the station¡¯s chair, and its satiny feeling under my fingers. The way the chair enveloped me, making for the comfiest seat you could ever want. Even the swaying dance of the chair¡¯s tendrils, as mesmerizing as it was terrifying. It all distracted me from infinity, and dragged me firmly back into my own body. Back to Hayden, who most definitely wasn¡¯t just another fragment of the Abyss. In spite of that, my emotions still churned beneath the surface. They were powerful like never before, each one demanding my full capacity to feel. Fear was a mind-numbing, primal thing. Hope was a beacon on the horizon, a dream I wanted to chase after desperately until my body came apart at the seams. Affection was a bouncy, heady sensation I could hardly contain. Hate was a bonfire that made any life worth sacrificing in the name of vengeance.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I was pulled in so many directions at once that I felt like I was cracking anew. Deeper still, it was all underlined by other, equally fundamental changes. My mana was now a wild, powerful, churning substance rooted inside my core. It stretched and bent effortlessly according to my will. It was more than just a new limb. It was an essential part of my being that came to me as naturally as breathing or thinking. Likewise, my sense of it had exploded in quality and scope. I could feel every scrap of mana in my surroundings and visualize the exact ways it all shifted and flowed. I was almost able to detect an underlying rule of what drove it, some kind of elemental truth about the nature of mana. It was there, available for me to ponder, yet elusive and beyond description. A mild headache bloomed in the back of my head, and I grimaced. Just the mana around me was nearly enough to send me into conniptions, and the station was very limited in scope. I could perceive absolutely nothing beyond its starkly defined borders. What would happen to me when I dared to venture out? Was my brain just going to melt out of my ears? Fear surged beyond the boundaries I carefully kept around it, consuming all other emotions until it reigned supreme. It was a swirl of miasma, an inescapable vortex, and I was swept up in it. For several long minutes, I was a gibbering mess, seeking safety and solace above all else. When the raw edge of the emotion bled away, I found myself curled up under the station¡¯s chair. My fingers were raw and bloody. I had been clawing at the ground in my desperation to find a place to hide, to crawl into a hole somewhere and avoid any prying eyes. Disgust rose up and threatened to claim me next, but this time, I was a little more prepared. I shoved it back into its corner and held firm, choosing instead to flood my hands with the body refining technique as I simultaneously cast the cleaning spell. I was supremely delighted by how smoothly and deftly I was able to execute both tasks. The cleaning spell swept over me from head to toe, cleansing me of all dirt, blood, or any other pollutants, while the body refining took to my flesh with an ease I had never experienced before. I could practically watch my flesh knit together in real time as it simultaneously toughened. Even my shattered nails started to recover. Of course, I then had to clamp down on my happiness in a hurry to avoid laughing and dancing around like a drunken maniac. Deep breaths. Slow, deep breaths. I called on Clarinette¡¯s memories. Even with the barrier I tried to contain them in, they came to me more easily than ever. Sinking into her experience with meditation as preparation for circulating mana, I used it to center my being. When I opened my eyes again, I felt mostly like myself. My feelings were still there, raging under the surface, but they were mine to control and would only affect me if I let them. A life among nobility had prepared me well to keep up a fa?ade, so I could at least pretend to be calm, even if¡­ I grit my teeth and shook my head, shaking off the confusion caused by diving so deep into Clarinette¡¯s memories. I wasn¡¯t a noble. I had never been a noble. If I kept repeating that enough, maybe I could also stop feeling the need to keep my back straight and manners impeccable. Still, my identity crisis wasn¡¯t my biggest issue. While I had a strong feeling that I could be relatively functional if I decided to venture outside immediately, that didn¡¯t mean I would enjoy the consequences of my increased mana awareness. I needed to prepare myself better for leaving the safety of the station. How, exactly, was I going to do this? Technically speaking, I had two things I could try. The first optional solution was, ironically, the same thing that landed me in this mess. If Glaustro was to be believed, now that I had maxed out my ascension meter, I could continue to sacrifice souls to the Abyss in hopes of inducing helpful mutations. There had to be a brain-related mutation available that would help me process both my emotions and my mana senses better. In fact, that seemed like a relatively basic mutation all ascendant demons would need when the Abyss lifted them into their new bodies. The only problem was the cost. With the new requirement of bargaining with the Abyss, whatever that actually meant, I had no clue whether my remaining souls would be enough. Additionally, Glaustro¡¯s wording suggested that the process of continued self-improvement through soul sacrifice would come with additional pitfalls of its own. The second solution was simpler, even if it was more of a long-term project than something I could get done immediately. Raising my level as a mage would naturally grant improvements to my body, too. In fact, increased mana perception and sensitivity were benefits which that path granted to its adherents, even if the increase in both was much slower than what the Abyss offered. The problem with the second path was, of course, the relative limitation of what I had learned on Berlis. Berlis wasn¡¯t a powerful world. This led me to believe their mana accumulation technique wasn¡¯t all that advanced, either. The best proof of that claim was the strain it put on my soul whenever I used it. I had to assume that more powerful worlds with denser mana would develop a more optimized approach to handling the blessing of those resources. Likewise, while I was convinced that the Berlis path to power was universally viable, none of their people ascended past the level of a Grand Mage, defined by the nineteenth mana core layer limit. Not one ever managed to advance into the realm of Arch Mages. I myself was firmly at the top of the ninth layer, needing just another nudge to finally overcome the divide and become an Advanced Mage. I simply hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to sit down and make a serious push yet, distracted as I was by spending most of my time with Mia and Yules during my break. Yet, as I looked back at the period, even with my newfound difficulties that might have been eased by more practice, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to regret any of it. I learned so much about enchanting. I got to de-stress and relax for the first time in forever. And, most importantly, I got to make memories happier than most I had access to. It was, at least in part, those same memories that dragged me back from the brink. In that moment in the Absorption Station, it was the warmth and companionship I had enjoyed during my break that really jolted my mind from the downward spiral it was caught in. If, in my desperate struggle for power, I completely neglected to live, would it even be worth it? It was this thought that crystalized a resolution in my heart. When I was finally done with all the finicky preparation for my emergence from the station, I was going to enjoy myself. I would drag Mia off to a shop or a restaurant. We would make ridiculous purchases and sample local food and drinks. Whatever the city had to offer, we were going to savor it. Ever since Fortress City 12, the first city I invaded, I hadn¡¯t bothered to look closely at the many demonic shops available in claimed cities. Sure, most of them would be dedicated to war in some way, but not all of them were like that. Right? If there¡¯s even a single frivolous shop in this entire city, I will find it. With that vow burning in my heart, and my emotions firmly under control for the time being, I got ready to take just a few more minor risks. Chapter 75: Abyssal Evolution My previous manipulation of the Absorption Station¡¯s setup required me to focus intensely on what I hoped to achieve through it, or at least touch an item I wanted to work with. When I tried to do the same thing now, I failed. I grasped for the vague sense of hunger the ascension meter always imparted in me, and I could find not a trace of it. No amount of inner searching made the sensation resurface. So I turned my metaphorical eyes towards the next best thing. My bond with the Abyss. It was easy to tell things had changed there. With my maximized ascension meter, the connection had strengthened even further, becoming truly unbreakable. Before, I could vaguely sense the Will of the Abyss radiating along our link, and was even influenced by it on occasion. Now, I could definitely feel something, a vast and keenly intelligent presence lurking at the other end. Oddly, I couldn¡¯t describe that presence as fully ¡®alive.¡¯ It was certainly aware, but there was a weird underlying feeling to the presence that made it distinct from all other creatures and minds I had encountered. More than anything, I felt curiosity on the other end. A sense of amusement, too, like the Abyss was about to pat me on the head and ask what snacks I wanted while we headed out to a store. Maybe if I was a good child, I would get a few souls to spend on a new toy¡­ Despite the ongoing peril of my situation, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. What I wanted was unlikely to cost just a handful of souls, though. So, one by one, I counted out a total of two hundred precious crystals. Once I had them all awkwardly pressed to my chest, I extended my mana and wrapped it around the souls. At the same time, I pressed the idea of what I needed through the bond. Mind. Expansion. Strengthening. Enhancement. Faster. Thoughts. Our communication was a flurry of ideas, all blended together into a loose arrangement that would hopefully get my point across. The Abyss hesitated. Then its presence swept through our bond and directly into my soul, making me feel like I was about to burst. Pained gasps escaped my mouth as ¡®Mother¡¯ carefully evaluated my request and the offering intended to pay for it. Finally, with agonizing slowness, as if not quite sure the exchange was worth it, the Abyss reeled the souls in. The crystals popped like soap bubbles, releasing light and pure soul energy. The beauty dazzled me before everything was washed away along my connection to the Abyss. For a moment, the link was still and quiet. Then a wash of energy surged across it. This was nothing like the melted soul energy that had enhanced my soul during my ascension. No more gentle nourishment or systematic improvement. It was far more powerful, and far more violent. This was a steamroll-type upgrade, something an enchanter would force on an item rather than anything that should ever be done to a living creature. I couldn¡¯t stifle the scream that ripped out of my body. The energy rampaged its way through my chest, burned up my throat, and finally pooled within my skull. It obliterated everything there, melting my brain down into a useless goo I was afraid would leak right out of me. Yet, I was still aware. I could feel every moment of the agony. Worse still, this pain refused to transcend my consciousness and overwhelm my ability to process it. I was forced to witness every second, to experience every miniscule tremble and spark of torment, and to comprehend exactly what was being done to my body. The soup that now filled my skull churned, heating up past the temperature any mortal liquid should have been able to reach. The energy roiled through it, altering and refining as it sank more and more of itself into the brew. Not all of the energy stayed there, of course. Some of it seeped into my hair. Some streamed down the back of my throat, making me clench my teeth and lips even tighter out of fear that what I had paid dearly for would just trickle out of my mouth. Some streamed further down, back the way it originally came, then coursed through all my limbs in warm, itchy tingles. But the true agony only started when the energy hit my brain¡¯s connection to the rest of my body. My nervous system received a jolt of energy all its own, melting and warping as the Abyssal force went on a wanton blitzkrieg through my flesh. There wasn¡¯t a nerve that didn¡¯t get scorched. Not a single connection wasn¡¯t ruined beyond recognition and then reforged into something new and, undoubtedly, better. Finally, finally, the mess inside my skull began to cool. Starting from the center and extending outwards, my brain slowly reformed. I would have freaked out to witness the unnerving display in such cruel detail, had my pain not been so utterly overwhelming. As it was, I sobbed with relief at the sight, my fingers clenched on the station¡¯s chair until the knuckles were bone-white.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. When the last piece of my brain resolidified and the final remnants of Abyssal power faded, I was a limp, sweaty mess. My body was broken and wrung out. I had not a hint of desire to move, even if I could. My mind, however, was another story. With the process complete, my consciousness slammed back into my body, ending the odd separation that had allowed me to witness it all in the first place. And as soul and body synced up, my mind expanded, blooming in new and utterly beautiful ways. Each thought was sharp, focused, and beyond fast. Whereas before, I had struggled to keep my mental faculties firing off at their best during combat, I had a feeling I could handle it easily now. I also didn¡¯t need to worry anymore about getting overwhelmed by the demands of magecraft. The headache caused by my enhanced mana perception was violently excised. The magical world lay bare before me, all its mysteries mine to contemplate and pursue. At least until my mana perception level increased again. Then, I suspected, I would run into the exact same issue once more. I refused to worry about that. I just luxuriated in the dance and patterns of mana, watching it weave around me and swirl about the dome of the station. I didn¡¯t even know when I started to run my mana through my body. It came as an instinct, an innate need to try and duplicate the delicate dance of nature that was captivating me so. The mana shifted through me, assessing its old patterns of circulation and replacing them with much better alternatives. My core gave signs of activity, too. It had never stopped spinning after I put it into motion the first day I met Mercutio, but now its rotation sped up. Spurred on by my core, the circulating mana churned through my blood vessels, and its newly forged pathways snapped into place. The second that happened, my consciousness was sucked down to a pinprick in and around my core. I saw past its surface, deep within the crystalized mana that formed the mystical version of my heart. There, I bore witness to what it was hiding. The core was not a solid, unchanging mass. The layers themselves formed barrier after barrier, all trapping a viscous kernel of mana that gleamed in more colors than the human eye could perceive. Reds, blues, greens, and yellows were most abundant, and took up at least a quarter of the core¡¯s total capacity, but other mysterious hues were undeniably present. The more I looked, the more dissatisfied I got. I didn¡¯t know why, but the inside of my core seemed¡­ off, to me. Like it was waiting for something. Like it could be better. Greater. More efficient. Without meaning to, I reached out my mental fingers and prodded a section of the core¡¯s innards into motion. The mana in there shifted, responding sluggishly. Yet it did respond. I had all of a moment to question whether or not I should mess with something as crucial as my mana core. Then I dove into the work. Even in the midst of it, I couldn¡¯t explain how I was pulling it off. I tugged, prodded, urged, and pleaded. And, slowly, the mana started flowing to my command. When I was done, there was an ordered flow in my core¡¯s inner mana, just as there was a flow in its external expression. Some primordial pattern now ruled over my core, brought to life there through instinct and recklessness. And at the same moment the pattern locked into place, the mana circulating within my chest surged, sticking to my core¡¯s surface as it formed my tenth layer. A shock of power flashed through me for the second time that day, but there was no pain now. I experienced only pleasure and relief as my empowered, purified mana nourished my body, elevating it to a new level. Even my mind and mystical senses, strengthened as they were already, received a boost. That feels great, I mused as I experimentally moved my limbs. Moments before, I had been in too much agony even to twitch. I thought I would need hours to pull myself together and crawl out of the station¡¯s bubble. Now, just like that, my body was fully recovered. If anything, my previous state was actually a benefit. Wrecked and weakened as my body was by the Abyssal mana, my advancement had shored up my inefficiencies and made me all the more resistant. So I could hope that if, or rather when, I repeated a sacrifice to the Abyss, I would fare much better. Of course, having dragged myself up into a sitting position, I was finally afforded a decent view of my body and limbs. I froze instantly. My skin was all wrong. At first, I thought it was a mere trick of the light. But a closer inspection only confirmed the truth. Rather than the somewhat tanned color my skin had developed after weeks of campaigning on Berlis, my whole body was now tinted a light blue. The color was barely there, to be honest. The only reason I could pick up on it was my familiarity with my hands. After all, I saw them in the corner of my vision every day. They were my hands. Obviously, I would notice if they changed! My altered fingers were even more alarming. When the abyssal mana burned through my nerves, I did notice it lingering in my fingertips, but I hadn¡¯t considered the potential effects of that. Not until my new claws were staring me in the face. Well, not literally. They were perfectly mundane claws. They didn¡¯t have eyes of their own. They couldn¡¯t stare at anything. But I shouldn¡¯t HAVE claws! I had always known my ascension would change me, but I never expected said changes to be so physical and so obvious. That was why my altered tongue had freaked me out way back when, despite the potential spell-casting and linguistic benefits. I guess I always thought my physical changes would be subtle. Better eyesight. Tougher body. Greater reflexes. Stuff like that! But no, I was looking at very real claws, something like a cross between bird talons and what you¡¯d see on a cat. Long, tough, and deadly. Experimentally, I flexed my hands. It took a few tries, but a niggling at the back of my mind kept me going. When I finally locked my muscles just right, a tiny bit of my mana responded to the physical stimuli, and my claws receded into my fingertips. My nails were still unusually long and rather pointy-looking, but at least I didn¡¯t have murder weapons permanently attached to my hands. I let out a breath of relief, then winced when I remembered where else all that mana had escaped to. Gingerly running my tongue over the inside of my mouth, I couldn¡¯t quite hold back a forlorn sigh. Paired with my sinuous, snake-like tongue, I now had wonderfully sharp and pointy teeth. A bit of questing with my fingers over the lines of my face further revealed that my ears had also changed. They were pointed and longer than before. Not quite elf ears, but definitely not something you would see on a normal human, either. I didn¡¯t know how to feel. Sure, the process had been kicked off a long time ago. But all these sudden changes to the body I had come to see as mine were still unnerving, doubly so because they came without warning or consent. I was simply trying to make my mind and brain more resilient, and I had ended up a demon-lite humanoid. At least I don¡¯t have horns¡­ That thought made me scramble to check. A few moments later, I let my hands fall into my lap with a sigh. No horns. Not even stubby little things. I¡¯m not sure what it says about me, but I suddenly couldn¡¯t decide whether to be sad or happy about that. Chapter 76: Mana Experiments By the time I pulled myself together, my armor was actually in decent condition, with very few traces of my sweaty, messy state left. It was all thanks to the automatic cleaning enchantment Yules had thrown in. Already, I was immensely thankful for that feature. Even if it wasn¡¯t quite powerful enough to remove all of Lagyel¡¯s sand on its own. I cast a couple cleaning spells on myself anyway. The process felt almost effortless. The mana expenditure was nothing to me at all, and the runes were pretty much conjuring themselves on top of my skin! Though I was still a little disgruntled that bits of me had changed without explicit permission on my part, at least the mutations were a net benefit. To be honest, if I had known that a few demonic features could improve my spellcasting, I would have gone for them willingly. I didn¡¯t let myself get lost in mana experiments. Instead, I followed my conviction and left the station¡¯s sphere of influence to check on Mia. I honestly expected to find her waiting for me. After all, it had taken me a long time time to wrangle my emotions and pain into the semblance of something manageable. So when I stepped outside and saw no one, her absence was¡­ worrying. I hadn¡¯t anticipated the shot of dread that surged through me. I absolutely loathed the helplessness that set in the next moment. Even if Mia was in trouble, there was nothing I could do. It wasn¡¯t like I could bust through the station¡¯s protective bubble. The whole reason you could trust in the station so completely was the barrier¡¯s absolute impenetrability to any intruders. The only reliable way to remove this protection was to destroy the anchor that bound the demonic invasion in place. In most cases, this was the teleportation obelisk, though I had heard the choice of anchor was entirely down to the commander making the claim. They could designate an alternative right up to the moment of conjuring the Abyss. Regardless, I didn¡¯t think the legion would let me ¡®liberate¡¯ an entire city just to check on a friend. I stood there, staring at the Absorption Station, panic buzzing in my ears and making it difficult to think. I had just decided to go and find Bronwynn when the station¡¯s barrier rippled, then parted to let Mia emerge. Both of us froze in place, eying each other up. While Mia¡¯s changes weren¡¯t as extreme as mine at first sight, they were definitely noticeable. All the features that made her stand out in the first place were enhanced, almost exaggerated. Her hands, already clawed, were now fully covered in thick, fluffy fur. The same fur covered her arms, to the elbow. She had rolled up her sleeves to show this off. Likewise, her legs now boasted fur up to the knee, and they ended in paws rather than feet. Even the structure of her knee was altered to account for this, allowing her to maintain her balance. It was her face that had gone through the most startling change, though. The lines of it had shifted in a way I couldn¡¯t quite define, giving her a more dangerous and feral look. Her irises shone like molten gold against black sclera, and her hair was now a mix of actual hair and the fur of some large, predatory cat. Finally, her cat ears had grown larger and more prominent, though they still twitched in the familiar way that betrayed her anxiety. Neither of us was sure how to break the awkward silence that stretched between us, because neither of us knew how to ask the other if they were still in possession of their faculties. There was nothing for it but to take the plunge. ¡°You look much cuter than before. All fluffy and cuddly,¡± I teased, pitching my voice in a way that would hopefully tell her I was joking. In all seriousness, she looked lethal, like a primal predator stalking its prey with sure, steady steps. Danger whispered through every slight motion she made, betraying a level of grace that no human or even demon could ever hope to imitate. After all, nothing can ¡®stalk menacingly¡¯ better than a large, humanoid, mana-enhanced cat. This new, even deadlier Mia grinned at me, showing off rows of very sharp, very pointy teeth. ¡°Are you really turning blue?¡± I flushed. I¡¯d been hoping the color wasn¡¯t very noticeable, but I suppose I shouldn¡¯t have tried to delude myself . I wasn¡¯t about to just take the taunt lying down, however. I flexed my hand the way I had practiced. With the tensing of muscle and a twist of mana, my new claws burst from my fingertips. ¡°Among other things. Can¡¯t say that my skin is my favorite change, but it¡¯s worth it for the rest.¡± She regarded my claws with obvious interest. In fact, she even took a few steps closer to inspect them properly. I didn¡¯t bother to squish the pride surging through me in that moment. At least, not until said pride threatened to overwhelm me. My emotions were still volatile, after all. If I didn¡¯t concentrate on keeping them contained, they could make me say and do some truly stupid things.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. That did make me wonder, though¡­ ¡°How far did you go?¡± I asked. ¡°With the ascension meter, I mean?¡± ¡°All the way, of course.¡± Mia was still busy admiring my claws, so the faux casualness of her voice threw me off until I actually processed her words. All the way. Literally from zero to a hundred. This time, when I took her in, my gaze was more full of caution than admiration. ¡°I have to say, if that¡¯s the case, you¡¯re doing surprisingly well,¡± I conceded. The cat lady¡¯s eyes snapped up to mine. Their glow redoubled. ¡°Am I? Am I really?¡± she whisper-growled. For the first time, I saw the swell of emotion behind her mask. Hunger, rage, vindictiveness, madness, and several feelings I really didn¡¯t want to try and make sense of¡­ They all stared back at me, making my own fa?ade falter. I was sure she could see through my mask, too. But I didn¡¯t look away. Neither did she. We looked each other in the eye, fully aware of how messed up we both were at that moment, and incapable of doing anything about it. Well, maybe there was one thing we could do. ¡°Would you like to spend the rest of the day with me?¡± I offered, like we weren¡¯t practically glued together all the time anyway. ¡°We could go look around the shops they¡¯ve got here, actually check out some casual demonic wares, look for some food to eat¡­¡± I trailed off, my demonically potent anxiety fighting to take over. The relief I felt when she finally nodded was even more intense. Inordinately so. I wasn¡¯t exactly declaring my love for all to hear, after all. It was just an outing between friends. But rejection still would have stung, especially with our newly heightened emotions added to the mix. ¡°Sounds like a date,¡± I quipped anyway, just to tease her. I enjoyed the flush on her cheeks far more than I should have. ¡ª We soon learned that demons did, in fact, have a whole entertainment industry. They might not have had the internet, but they managed just fine. There were shops upon shops selling books written by authors from conquered worlds, or even by demons themselves. One of the most popular authors was an actual Grand Duke of the Abyss, one Alexandria Filmontrea, the Demoness of Woe. As far as I could tell, the demons were unhealthily obsessed with her. She did have quite the range of novels, though. That much I had to admit. Everything from thrillers to murder mysteries to romance stories was there for us to peruse, and peruse we did. ¡®Tablets¡¯ were another type of shop geared solely towards entertainment. They sold actual, crystalline slabs about two times larger than a book in height and width. These tablets contained all sorts of recorded ¡®plays.¡¯ Now, they called them ¡®plays¡¯, but they were movies. Not only had demons managed to recreate movies, but they provided a way to watch them conveniently, wherever you found yourself. The tablet could be charged with mana and boasted a very healthy battery life. To download new plays, you just had to press the tablet against a massive enchanted mana crystal hanging at the center of the store. Mia was endless fascinated by the tablets and the plays they contained, since no such thing had existed on her homeworld. We spent hours just browsing and picking out stuff that would be interesting to watch. Then I paid for a pair of tablets and a good number of plays to go with them. Mia tried to protest, but when I argued that I actually had souls left over, and that it was a treat for both of us managing to keep our sanity, she dropped the subject. The final items we went on the hunt for were sweets, and by all that is holy and unholy, we found them. A benefit of roaming the cosmos and pillaging various worlds was that the Abyss turned into something of a melting pot for the civilizations it devoured. Not every single culture¡¯s traces were preserved, but food seemed to be something demons were willing to embrace universally. In other words, the sheer variety of sweet stuff on display was dazzling. There was plenty of chocolate, as well as every imaginable combo of chocolate mixed with something else. I tried a particularly delightful blend which featured a nutty kind of fruit nestled in dark chocolate. It reminded me of strawberries and blueberries simultaneously, and it was both comfortingly familiar and refreshingly new. As much as I wanted to, I didn¡¯t buy a full bag of those chocolates. It wasn¡¯t even because I was broke. It was because the sheer number of different sweets we tried thoroughly dissuaded me from taking any home with us. Sweet bagels, baked goodies of every kind, chips fried with sweet oils and sauces, cakes in every imaginable shape and intensity of sweetness¡­ the shopkeepers were sure to remember us, if only for the huge amounts of food we managed to stuff down our throats. Neither Mia nor I cared. Our personal challenge was to put ourselves into a food coma. We failed over and over, but we were determined to keep trying until we succeeded. Alas, by the time deep evening rolled around and we were forced to retreat, we still hadn¡¯t pulled off our noble goal. We were comfortably full, though. And, well, several hundred souls poorer. I had noticed some time ago that food was generally cheap among demons, but that rule only applied if you didn¡¯t try to put the sweets industry out of business with only your best friend by your side. We stumbled more than walked into the dorm, and then basically crawled up the stairs to our room on the second floor. We were giggling uncontrollably when we burst through our door, and for the life of me, I couldn¡¯t remember why. I didn¡¯t need to know. All that mattered was the reassuring warmth that spread through my chest, and the comforting presence of Mia as she draped herself over me and passed out. I was tempted to wake her up and get her into her own bed, but I quickly decided it wasn¡¯t worth it. She looked far more exhausted than I felt, and since she strongly disliked showing weakness, I could only imagine her actual state. I, on the other hand, didn¡¯t feel tired at all. Whether because of all the changes I had gone through or the amount of sugar in my bloodstream, I was wide awake and fully aware. Moving gingerly so I wouldn¡¯t wake up the cat girl, I raised my hand and willed my grimoire to it. The book was lying next to my pack, just a few feet away. As I watched, it faded into mana, then rematerialized in my grasp. I grinned like a kid. What else was I supposed to do, now that I knew I owned a teleporting book? I could likely do the same with all my other bound items. The trick would work wonders if it applied to my sword, but I could test that later. The last thing I wanted to do with a cat on my lap was end up awkwardly holding a sword. What I could test was my new understanding of the grimoire. I reached out with my mind once more. Without so much as a whisper or me lifting a finger, the book flipped open, and the pages turned until they landed on the text I was looking for. Wind Blade. The signature spell of every air mana lover on Berlis, and quite a few other worlds besides. Fire Ball was great, don¡¯t get me wrong, but I wanted to start with something more subtle and precise before leaping straight to ¡®I didn¡¯t ask how big the room was or how close my allies are! I cast fireball!¡¯ As I scanned through the text, its arcane knowledge was far more transparent to me than ever before. The instruction simply made sense. Every twist and turn of mana required came to me so naturally, it was almost disappointing. The runes, too, formed on the surface of my skin with remarkable ease. They formed so easily, in fact, that I was struck by a moment of inspiration. Unspooling the mana from my skin, I used my body as a springboard, then sent the runes spiraling around my hand. They wavered and shimmered in the air, floating in the exact same way I saw demons use them. The grin that stretched across my lips could only be described as feral. Chapter 77: Local Hegemons I didn¡¯t get any sleep that night. The wonders of mana kept me up well past the point when I should have stopped to rest. Not that I regretted it in the least. I had wasted so much time when I was first starting out as a mage, trying to get my spellcasting to work the way I wanted it to. The fact that I could now copy what demons were capable of was a heady reward to savor. Sure, I knew my emotions were driving my behavior once again. But this time, they aligned perfectly with the improvement of my long-term survival chances. Working with spells was both fun and practical. By the time the first rays of dawn peaked through the window of our shared room, I was confident I could cast the Wind Blade spell on command. In less than a second, too. I didn¡¯t actually test it out, obviously, but the rune formation came off without a hitch every time. Mia hadn¡¯t stirred the entire night. The cat lady was still strewn over me in the exact same position when morning came. This would have been murder on my legs and spine if I weren¡¯t cheating with the body strengthening and refinement techniques. As it was, all I had to complain about was some mild tingling where her knee was digging into my leg. I was just contemplating the idea of waking her up so we could hunt down a meal when the choice was removed from my hands. A thunderous noise rang out over the city. Startled, Mia jumped so high she almost hit the ceiling. She did hit me on her way down, leaving us both a little dazed as we struggled to figure out what was happening. Then the same noise rang out again. This time, I caught sight of dust and sand raining down over the city. ¡°We¡¯re under attack. I think,¡± I spat out quickly, maneuvering around Mia so I could snatch my sword from its place against the wall. I had just managed to clasp it around my waist when my brand started heating up. A brush against it confirmed my suspicions. Gather quickly. Enemy invasion in progress. I cursed on my way out the door, Mia on my heels. As annoyed as I was, though, a part of me felt impressed. This would be the first time I got to see a demonically conquered city come under local assault. Fighting on Berlis was more a mop-up than an actual war. For all the ingenuity of the local leader, she never managed to launch a reclamation attack. The jinn, on the other hand, had apparently taken great offense at what the demons were trying to do. The sound of shattering glass reached me before we made it out of the building. Bursting through the dorm¡¯s main entrance, I looked up to see a shower of sparkling glass shards raining down over the city, accompanied by a wave of sand that seemed intent on drowning everything out. And right in the center of the sky, where a dome had once denied him entry, hovered a jinn. He looked like a desert spirit. Sand spiraled around him and wound about his limbs, both protecting him and threatening retribution against any attackers. He wore a loose and somewhat skimpy silken outfit: a pair of puffed-up pants that reached only below his knees, and a large, flowing vest. The vest was unbuttoned, revealing a muscular stomach to the world. The jinn¡¯s skin was the color of charcoal. Glowing lines crisscrossed his body in a formation that made no sense to me, signs of the magma hidden under the jinn¡¯s exterior. But his most striking features were his hair and beard. Both were ruby red, and they glittered like jewels would under sunlight. All in all, he was quite the sight. He was also glaring down at all of us with murderous intent. To his credit, the jinn did not monologue or make long-winded threats. He merely thrust his hands forward, and an even bigger avalanche of sand erupted overhead, briefly blocking out the sun. That¡¯s when the enraged scream of a demon ripped through the air. I couldn¡¯t see the source of the magic at first. All I saw was a streak of lightning that erupted from the city. It bounced ruthlessly between every single grain of sand in an ever-expanding web, reaching the invader seconds later. The jinn¡¯s scowl turned into a pained grimace as his screams joined the demon¡¯s enraged screeching. The sand sagged and lost most of its strength. For a moment, I thought that would be it. Then the jinn burst into blue flames. The fire acted as a shield, igniting even the electricity that attempted to reach him. Worse yet, the heat he was radiating melted the sand in one unrelenting cascade. The substance shivered before it fused into mottled glass. This time, the shards coalesced to form wickedly sharp spears, each as large as an adult human. With another sweeping gesture, the jinn launched the glass-wrought spears down at the city. I couldn¡¯t keep up with all that was happening. The scope of mana I felt at work was far beyond my ability to process. My newly heightened emotions, which I had kept such a careful lid on, were threatening to swamp me. Panic and despair reigned supreme. I couldn¡¯t move. I couldn¡¯t speak. All I could do was stare at the spear hurtling towards me, waiting for it to reap my life.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Mia was just as new to her ascension. Newer, really. Yet, in that moment, she showed that her response to overwhelming odds was quite different from mine. She yowled and tackled me to the ground, covering my body with her own. Her eyes were wide pools of determination and acceptance. I briefly lost myself in them. It was a better alternative to staring at my approaching death, after all. Then the entire cavern shook, and the walls themselves came alive. Tendrils of rock shot through the air so quickly that I could barely track them. They latched onto each of the jinn¡¯s projectiles with uncanny accuracy, enveloping the spears in sheaths of stone. Then the tendrils dragged the spears back into the wall, encasing the glass weapons there. Even the jinn was left gaping as my angry commander stalked out of his house, eyes glowing with red mana. I distinctly remembered Glaustro telling me he was never gifted as a mage, not in comparison to his brother. In that moment, I realized this was pure bias. A powerful mage might not match up to a powerful genius mage, but at the end of the day, power is power. And Glaustro showed us power. The sergeant stomped, and the earth shook again. Spires of rock tipped by diamonds shot out of the ground, each and every one aiming unerringly for the jinn. The jinn tried to dodge. He wasn¡¯t a bad flier, either. He swam through the air quickly and with grace, yet there was simply nowhere to run. Glaustro¡¯s spires blocked out the sun as they pursued their target, and the jinn eventually gave up. He curled into a ball, his flames burning even hotter in an attempt to protect him. The rock refused to liquefy in the heat. The spires found their mark and stabbed deep into the jinn¡¯s charcoal flesh, drawing screams of anguish and a deluge of blood that resembled crimson gold in its viscosity. The first demon wasn¡¯t far behind Glaustro, either. I caught sight of a demoness with dusk-colored skin rising above the city on bat-like wings, wreathed in electricity. She laid a hand on one of the spires impaling the jinn, and electricity streamed from her. According to all reasonable laws of physics, such a move should have reduced the potency of her lightning considerably. Instead, it was like she was delivering her attack directly into the jinn¡¯s body. His screams were reduced to choked whimpers as his entire body spasmed, the electrical force straining and then tearing at his muscles. In spite of everything, his eyes were wide open and fixed on the city with hateful intensity. His flames erupted one final time, so blue it was sickening to look at them. They blazed hotter than anything I had seen before. They burned even their caster, but he persisted. Once the gathering of power reached a crescendo, the jinn sent the flames plunging down towards the city. Only then did his eyes go dim. His body slumped, held up solely by the rock spires impaling him. The last dregs of his crimson gold blood dripped down onto the buildings far below. None of this did a thing to decrease the potency of his final attack. The fire moved slowly, almost reluctantly. But in its wake, the air wavered, like the heat was devouring enough of it to cause something like a vacuum. The air in the cavern was getting baked out of existence. Though the flames were still high above the city, I was struggling to fill my lungs with enough oxygen for minimal function. ¡°Methialia!¡± Glaustro barked. His answer was a forlorn sigh that seemed to be filled with all the weariness of all the myriad worlds. A demoness stumbled out of the building, still dressed in a nightgown. Her flaming wings kept her upright as she gazed blearily at Glaustro. ¡°I can¡¯t even sleep now, is that it?¡± she demanded, then glared up at the approaching fiery death. With a flap of her wings, she was gone. She moved with truly unthinkable speed. All I saw was a flicker in my peripheral vision. Snapping my head to the side, I just barely caught the moment when she dove into the flames conjured by the jinn. The nauseatingly blue flames froze in place for all of a second. Then they imploded. Once a decent portion of the conflagration had faded away, I could see the fire getting sucked down into the demoness, like water pouring down a drain. Even the unnatural heat in the air vanished, whisked away by whatever Methialia was doing. When the flames were gone, the demoness stretched and yawned, not a hair out of place or a piece of clothing singed. Her wings flapped again, and then she was hovering in front of Glaustro. ¡°All done, boss? Are there more of them, or can I get some sleep now?¡± Glaustro sighed in a resigned way that made it clear this was not his first time dealing with the demoness. He shook his head. ¡°No, you can¡¯t. Get your ass into some actual clothes and come down here. This was the only attacker that we know of, but there could be more of them lurking around. We¡¯re on high alert until I say otherwise.¡± ¡°Awwws, but I need to make up for my beauty sleep!¡± ¡°Methialia, you did nothing but sleep for a week straight before I dragged you out of bed for that meeting a couple days ago,¡± Glaustro said in a pained voice, then motioned the demoness away. ¡°Just¡­ go, and obey your orders. I¡¯m not letting you get away with going back to bed. Again.¡± She grumbled fiercely, but to my surprise, the demoness did as she was told. Even if she was shooting our commander evil eyes the whole way. That¡¯s when Glaustro fixed his attention on me. His lips quirked up into an odd smile, and I realized Mia and I were still in the same position as before. Namely, she was still on top of me, glaring protectively at everything and everyone. ¡°Um¡­ Mia? Can you let me up now?¡± I asked quietly, cheeks flushed. When she ignored me, I wiggled my arm around until I could poke her cheek. ¡°Mia?¡± Finally, her eyes focused on me. She blinked like she was seeing me for the first time. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Get off me, please? Also, thank you for trying to protect me,¡± I added, utterly embarrassed by my pitiful reaction to danger. Justified terror or not, I had no business losing control to the point of locking up. Not when there was still something I could have tried. Mia¡¯s flush was even deeper than mine as she processed my words and scrambled away from me. She opened her mouth a few times as if to speak, but gave up and chose to hover awkwardly instead. I stood, trying to scrape together a bit of my lost dignity. ¡°Sir, what happened? Are attacks like this common?¡± The question made Glaustro scowl as he eyed the city. It wasn¡¯t as bad as it could have been, really. Everything was covered in a layer of sand. Glass shards from the protective dome littered the streets. Proper light was only beginning to peak through as Glaustro¡¯s rock spires slowly withdrew. Still, on the whole, the city was remarkably undamaged. ¡°No,¡± Glaustro growled. ¡°Attacks like that are not common. At least they didn¡¯t used to be. This city is relatively deep into the territories we¡¯ve claimed, so either the jinn have pressed their assault much further than the last reports suggested, or they¡¯ve found a way to sneak past our blockade. Regardless, this will mean trouble.¡± ¡°Could they actually reclaim some of the cities?¡± I asked cautiously, eyes straying in the direction of the obelisk. ¡°If it comes to it, even the civilians will fight.¡± Glaustro motioned towards the city, a smile playing over his lips at the reference to any demon as a civilian. ¡°However, yes. If a powerful enough jinn attacks, they might be able to destroy the anchor. In that case, our people would be considerably weakened. We need to discuss this, and prepare to move out as quickly as possible.¡± With those parting words, my commander strode away, leaving me to stew in newfound worries. This invasion would definitely be nothing like Berlis. Chapter 78: Strategic Insight It took a little while for Glaustro¡¯s unit to come together in our small compound, but not long. Apparently, most of the demons had been out in the city when the battle started, and chose to protect civilians instead of rushing to meet Glaustro¡¯s summons. Unlike cruel Mercutio, Glaustro didn¡¯t make the brands hurt when issuing an order, at least not now that he was working with soldiers he knew he could trust. This meant his troop actually had the choice to delay or disobey. Even so, I noted the gathering was more prompt than Mercutio had ever managed to achieve, and definitely with better morale. The demons trickled back into the compound in small groups or alone, all covered in sand. A few were even sporting wounds. The jinn had been shut down hard and quickly, but that didn¡¯t mean the first deluge of sand hadn¡¯t dealt some damage. Despite the fact that she never left the compound, Methialia was one of the last demons to gather. The sight of her genuinely shocked me. From a slovenly demoness in a nightgown, she had transformed into a pristine soldier clad in well-maintained armor, with an impressive sword hanging from her hip. I still didn¡¯t know a ton about demonic weapons, but I could recognize an enchanted item when I saw one. Even if I couldn¡¯t, the mana and heat radiating from the weapon would have been enough to clue me in. The demoness grinned and winked at me when she caught me staring. I flushed and look away. ¡°Good. Now that everyone is here¡ª¡± Glaustro was just starting up his speech when the sound of lightning erupted from outside the compound, followed shortly by a sharp knock on the closed gates. He eyed the entrance with distaste, but eventually sighed and shouted, ¡°Come in.¡± The visitor obliged. It was the demoness who had responded first to the jinn¡¯s attack. Pushing open the gates, she strolled inside and looked around with unconcealed curiosity. She wasn¡¯t sizing up the compound, though. It was the soldiers she was interested in, and her eyes lingered on several of the more notable demons under Glaustro. They even paused on me and Mia, though I was fairly sure that was due to shock more than anything else. ¡°I see you¡¯ve gathered an impressive band of soldiers, Glaustro,¡± the demoness purred. She looked at my commander the same way I had seen Mia stare at a particularly appealing cake the day before. ¡°Rosaveta. It is¡­ good to see you again.¡± Glaustro forced out the words, looking visibly pained. ¡°Yes, yes, I know I¡¯m a wonder,¡± she cackled, sauntering up to the sergeant. Her hips swayed as she walked, drawing attention to the fabric outlining her body with every step. Some demons took armor as a suggestion, so it wasn¡¯t too odd that she was wearing a cyan dress which complemented her purple skin quite nicely. It had patterns of some alien flowers woven into it, and they shimmered in every imaginable color whenever she moved. Since she seemed incapable of standing still, that meant they shimmered all the time. ¡°May I ask what you want from me? I¡¯m a little busy.¡± For emphasis, he gestured to us, all lined up and waiting like proper little soldiers. ¡°You¡¯re about to discuss military matters, in the middle of my city, and you didn¡¯t even think to invite me? For shame, Glaustro.¡± My commander started to answer, then restrained himself with obvious effort. ¡°I did not know you were stationed here, Rosaveta. It was a¡­ surprise¡­ when I saw you respond to the attack.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, the attack. The attack that almost flattened my city. The same attack that shattered our protective dome, leaving us at the mercy of this disgusting sand.¡± The demoness wrinkled her nose, staring at the sky like it owed her money. In truth, she was exaggerating a little. Sure, the dome was destroyed, and that did mean sand was drifting over the city constantly in a light shower. Things were still far better down here than on the surface. Up there, the grains hurtled at you via cutting winds that were threat enough on their own. Underground, the sand was just a minor nuisance. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will be able to fix the issue soon enough.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice was more devoid of emotion than I had ever heard it. ¡°You are a skilled manager and negotiator. There must be crafters or merchants here who can get you what you want.¡± ¡°That is true, but it will take time. Weeks, potentially. There are plenty of other cities, cities on the frontlines at that, which require similar services. Some are even paying for specially enchanted domes as an additional layer of defense. That means more waiting, and you know how much I hate to wait.¡± Glaustro glared at her now. I could tell he was losing his patience. ¡°What do you want?¡± The demoness giggled maliciously and sidled up to him. Glaustro narrowed his eyes. ¡°Your help, of course.¡± Rosaveta very deliberately didn¡¯t touch him, but she hovered close, her voice rich and silky. ¡°I know how good you are with earth elemental magic. Glass is just¡­ a hop, a skip, and a step away from that. I¡¯ve seen you use spells with glass too, after all.¡± ¡°No.¡± The answer was immediate, and it was final. ¡°Really, think about it. I could make it worth your while. Besides¡ª¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°No, Rosaveta. I¡¯m not playing your games, and I¡¯m not wasting days of my time just to spare you from having to wait. Deal with it on your own.¡± The demoness grimaced, then scowled. Her eyes flashed with lightning, and for a moment, I thought she would attack then and there. It was only when she glanced over at Glaustro¡¯s arrayed troops, all of us ready to fight at the first sign of aggression, that her mana died down. She stepped back. ¡°Fine.¡± With that angry word and a clap of thunder, the demoness was gone. I was still blinking away the afterglow of her transformation into living lightning when Glaustro sighed wearily. ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll have to be brief. Rosaveta does not like to be rejected, so she will make me pay for that. She¡¯ll probably take it out on you, too, so it¡¯s in all our best interests to get out of this city as quickly as we can.¡± Glaustro shook his head. ¡°It hasn¡¯t been as restful as I might have hoped, anyway.¡± ¡°I sent for supplies to be delivered to us, commander. They should arrive in another few hours at most, so we¡¯ll be free to set out immediately afterwards,¡± Tybalt offered from the side, earning a smile and a nod from the sergeant. ¡°Good. Thank you for your forward thinking. Now¡­ we have a problem. Either the jinn are far more successful in their campaign against us than we realized, or they are growing far too bold. No matter the answer, we need to respond to this attack swiftly. The death of that jinn means a city out there has been weakened, or lost its protector entirely. The kill was ours, so the spoils belong to us, too. I already have someone going through his belongings to try and pin down where he came from.¡± ¡°Will this expert be able to provide us with guidance to our destination, or will we need to procure the information on our own, commander?¡± Tybalt piped up again, already writing on a clipboard. ¡°They will provide the necessary guidance. Even if they can¡¯t find any identifying details from the jinn¡¯s belongings, they can cast a spell that will let us retrace his steps.¡± Tybalt nodded. ¡°Very good, commander.¡± Glaustro¡¯s wry smile was amusing, but his following command was not. ¡°Naturally, this means we have to rush things a little. We need to reach our destination before they can rally and replace the jinn. If he was the only defender of a settlement, we¡¯ll have more breathing room. If he wasn¡¯t, though, they¡¯ll know he¡¯s dead by now. That means we¡¯re racing against reinforcements.¡± Glaustro¡¯s eyes landed on me and Mia again, widening as he took us in more closely. The pride that bloomed in my chest made me smile toothily before I clamped down on it. ¡°Once we start, if anyone struggles to keep up with the speed and intensity of our march, speak up. We¡¯ll slow down if we have to. An element of surprise and a softened target are nice, but we need to be in the right shape to fight upon arrival if necessary. This applies to each and every one of you. If you overextend and fail because of it later, I will find out, and I will punish you for it.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice was an angry snarl. His suddenly glowing eyes promised swift and painful retribution against anyone who even thought about going against his orders. Only when he was sure that we were all suitably cowed did he look away. ¡°We¡¯ll depart as soon as our supplies are here, so get ready in the meantime.¡± With those parting words, Glaustro strode off into his temporary home, leaving us to relax. Not that we did, of course. Everyone was riled up by the jinn¡¯s attack, and the demons seemed eager to gossip. Mia and I had already fetched everything we owned from our room, so we found a nice little spot in the courtyard to sit down and eavesdrop. Well, I was eavesdropping. Mia plopped herself down, leaned against my shoulder, and proceeded to take a catnap. I noticed Methialia shoot the cat girl more than a few envious looks, but the flame-winged demoness remained sharp and focused, despite her obvious desire to copy Mia. The things I overheard were¡­ enlightening. I already knew a bit about the jinn. I also knew that war on Lagyel was not going according to the desires of the legion. Five months had passed since the initial demonic invasion, and contrary to their original expectations of steamrolling the world by now, the jinn were still holding strong. The demons around me placed the blame for this on the jinn¡¯s long entrenchment in the world. Apparently, they had ruled over the local populace for close to a millennium already. Over that time, they had managed to extort more and more wishes, which allowed them to wield far greater power than they would usually have access to. The jinn had taken advantage of their good standing to position members of their race in every city, town, and village on Lagyel. At least one jinn was tied to each settlement, backed up by wishes they had personally granted to the local community. This setup meant that our troops had to fight bitterly for every inch of land they wanted to occupy, The problem was exacerbated further by the world¡¯s natural environment. As a race, demons were among the most magically potent, to the point where they could be defined as a mana life form rather than creatures of flesh and blood. On Lagyel, this worked against them. It simply wasn¡¯t possible for demons to set up long-term sieges or holding camps out in the wilderness. The wards and enchantments that demonic war camps typically relied on simply weren¡¯t viable. Sandy winds constantly wore them down. The typical endurance and toughness of demons was sharply reduced, too, since the sand could actually cause them damage. Basically, the jinn couldn¡¯t have picked a better world on which to take a stand against the Legion of Torment, and none of the demons were too happy about it. Worst of all, no one was sure what world the jinn originated from. If they were an offshoot from one of the species¡¯ lesser worlds, then we didn¡¯t have to worry much. If this was an expansion backed by one of the jinn¡¯s core worlds in all its power? Well, then we had to be prepared to deal with the full resources they could field against us. The worst case scenario would be the arrival of a truly powerful jinn. If this happened, we¡¯d have to hope our own powerhouses could respond quickly enough to salvage the situation, or that the general himself would show up to strike down the fool who dared impede his plans. Unfortunately, the demons of my unit thought this was unlikely to happen. The general dedicated most of his time to the worlds with the fiercest combat. He even led campaigns against the Cradle of Reason itself. These were rare, but they were known to happen, especially in retaliation when the Cradle¡¯s forces attempted to claim one of the legion¡¯s worlds or invaded Torment. This was what left Lagyel in such an awkward position. The world was valuable enough to justify dedicating more and more resources to its conquest, but not valuable enough to pull in any of the legion¡¯s true heavy hitters. Not that anyone wanted my keen strategic insight. It was my job to follow Glaustro¡¯s orders. If my commander believed it was a good idea to take advantage of the jinn¡¯s death, then that¡¯s what we would do. At least I was surprised in a positive way when our supplies arrived, because I didn¡¯t just get rations. I received a brand new kit, with a premium soldier¡¯s pack, tent, and more! Best of all, I also received my monthly pay. I didn¡¯t think I would qualify for more than 100 souls or so when I was promised a stipend, but there it was: 250 souls for every month I had spent as part of an active campaign. That number would go up when I ascended, but as things stood, I wasn¡¯t in too much of a rush to do that. My power was growing. The progress was undeniable. I couldn¡¯t throw it all away now by getting ahead of myself. I was determined to take my time and do things right. Chapter 79: Desert Crossing Glaustro¡¯s expert failed to turn up a definitive location for the attacker¡¯s point of origin. The jinn did have a spatial artifact for storing some personal items, but it was both surprisingly small and sparingly used. The only contents were some local currency, changes of clothing, food and drink (some of which was distributed amongst the troops as a special treat, because it was of premium quality), and a batch of radiant mana crystals. No identification. No distinctive talisman. No labels saying ¡®If you happen to find this item, please return to the city Such-and-Such.¡¯ I was trivializing the work of Glaustro¡¯s expert seer, of course. The point was that the jinn had taken extra pains to make sure no one could easily track his origins. This meant we were stuck with plan B: get a magical compass of some sort and follow the trail the jinn had left during his journey to the occupied city. I honestly couldn¡¯t figure out what kind of trail a flying, sandstorm-resistant magical being would leave behind. But, apparently, powerful seers were good people to know in such situations. So, into the desert we went. As it turned out, the tents in our new equipment kits were not a rare show of generosity on the part of the legion. They were an absolute essential. Without the sand-proof tent, I would have gone insane the very first night of our desert crossing. When we first set foot on Lagyel, I assumed our experience was a preview of what we could expect from this world. The howling winds and swirling sands were a lot, but they were still possible to endure. Back then, of course, I also assumed that we were simply unlucky enough to land right in the middle of a mini sandstorm. Winds have to stop blowing eventually, right? Wrong. As we trekked across the desert, I decided Lagyel was a hellhole worse than Torment. Winds constantly howled in our ears. Sand got into everything. And. I. Do. Mean. Everything. After one terrible hour, I took up casting the cleansing spell every five minutes or so, just to keep the stupid sand from slipping into my underwear. I was not going to endure something like that twice. Of course, then Mia started sticking even closer to me so she could force me into casting it on her, too. It took me hours before I remembered that I had handed the grimoire over to her ages ago and let her copy the knowledge from it. The smug cat could cast the spell herself. Still, even when she realized I had remembered that little tidbit, she kept following me. Every so often, she would give me the signature cat look of superiority. Like the weak human that I was, I just kept serving as her personal cleansing spell dispenser. At least the spell was easier now than it used to be. Technically, I could cast it even without drawing the runes. My focus and the memory of how mana twisted to form the spell were enough. Not that I let it get to my head, mind you. I still needed to focus and follow the proper steps to cast Mage Shield and Mana Bolts, not to mention Wind Blade. But despite my newfound ability, I didn¡¯t skip the proper casting steps for the cleansing spell. If anything, I performed it even more meticulously. By drawing out the runes and making them spin around my hand, I could improve the potency of the spell immensely. This was very helpful when, you know, the thing you were trying to cleanse yourself of was literally all around you. For a very, very brief moment when it first took effect, my spell could even pause the grains of sand in their flight. Sure, the sand carved through the spell almost instantly, especially since it wasn¡¯t a sustained spell to begin with. But seeing that happen did make me decide to experiment. I was one rank away from the peak of power Berlis could offer. On a universal scale, that was thoroughly pitiful. On the scale of Berlis? Well, the spells I was using had to come from somewhere, and on Berlis, it was primarily Advanced and Grand Mages that made them. In other words, I now had the qualifications to start messing around with my spells. I didn¡¯t have any grand immediate aspirations. I wouldn¡¯t be crafting spells that could level cities any time soon. What I wanted was to turn my cleansing spell into something that could be channeled continuously, rather than a temporary effect that fizzled out shortly after casting. This turned out to be a more complicated task than I expected. The magical limitations of Berlis meant most of the world¡¯s spells were designed to be cast and forgotten about afterwards. Wind Blade, Mana Bolt, Fire Ball, and Cleanse all fell into this category. You couldn¡¯t continuously supply them with power, and you couldn¡¯t steer them once you fired the spell. But I knew both things were possible. First, because I did have one sustained spell in my arsenal. Mage Shield¡¯s sustainable mode linked the spell directly to my mana core, letting it drain my mana with every attack I took in order to maintain the defense.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Second, because I had recently watched Glaustro conjure rock spires and then send them chasing after the jinn. Now, it was possible that this effect was just baked into the spell. Some kind of tracking component, perhaps, that latched onto the mana signature of the target. I chose to ignore this suspicion. It made Glaustro¡¯s actions less amazing. Besides, I really wanted to believe it was possible to manipulate the elements like that, as if they were my own limbs. I need to find some grimoires or magic primers the next time we¡¯re in a friendly city, I thought idly, wondering what demonic magic was like. Far more advanced than Berlis spells, that was certain. As for whether I could afford such texts? Well¡­ I¡¯d worry about that later. For now, I had an immediate need for a more efficient cleansing spell, a deep interest in mana experimentation, and hours of desert journeying to fill. I summoned my grimoire to my hands, then carefully pored over the spell guide for my shield. It was¡­ not easy. The sand tried its best to obscure my vision. If not for the mutation my eyes had gone through, I probably couldn¡¯t have managed. Though I briefly worried about my grimoire taking damage, the book held out remarkably well. However, I was intimately aware every time a grain of sand impacted it. There was a tiny pull on something deep within me, as if some store of energy I couldn¡¯t tap into had been slightly diminished. It didn¡¯t take me long to come up with a theory about that. I wasn¡¯t sure how it was possible, but I strongly suspected my grimoire was pulling on my soul in order to remain unblemished. Still, this wasn¡¯t enough of a concern to make me put the book away. After all, I already knew soul energy could be harnessed. I was part of a demonic army. Even a hick mage on a middle-of-nowhere world like Berlis had managed to figure out how to sacrifice a soul and pull power from it. Her method was crude as hell, and most of the power was wasted, but it worked. The nice thing about souls is that they¡¯re not as fragile as people tend to think. They are tough little things that can take a hit. Hell, my own soul had been savaged and then shoved into the body of a dying teen, where it fused with the remains of his soul. And I was perfectly fine! Trauma and identity crisis notwithstanding. So, I kept the grimoire out. I kept analyzing the sustainable mode of Mage Shield. After several grueling hours, and one memorable occasion when Mia poked me with her claw as a reminder to cast Cleanse, my studies eventually yielded the runes I would need to make a sustained spell. The runes themselves were not a surprise, but the way they were implemented was a shock. The first time I studied the shield spell, I struggled with its five runes. ¡®Self¡¯, ¡®shield¡¯, ¡®harm¡¯, ¡®ward¡¯, and ¡®anchor¡¯ were tough to form and then maintain until the spell triggered. I had focused so closely on this step that I never paid much attention to the mana weaving and manipulation required to pull off the rest of the spell. That was a mistake. Now that I was digging deeper, what I found was fascinating. The spell¡¯s mana patterns naturally intersected to form more runes within my body itself. Once I began dissecting this formation and placement of ¡®core¡¯, ¡®sustain¡¯, and ¡®spell¡¯ runes inside my body¡­ well, I had to admit it: whoever first crafted the spell was, without a doubt, a genius. If I attempted to shift a single rune intersection, even by a little, the result was either extreme pain or a mana rampage. If I wanted to make a spell of my own, or even adjust a spell like I was trying to do for Cleanse, I would first need to understand any internal runes it required. Then I would have to figure out all the intricacies of mana weaving and manipulation necessary to cast the spell, and then find the places where I could insert the additional runes. Despite all my enhancements from the ascension boost and soul sacrifices, I soon realized this would not be a quick process. The effort still came with some quick benefits, though. Fiddling with the spells forced me to examine my shield a lot more closely, which led me to the conclusion that it wasn¡¯t running optimally. It definitely worked, and I could entrust my life to the spell in battle, but it was by no means as potent or as mana-efficient as it could be. The reason was that Mage Shield was meant to be a universal spell, accessible to all mages with the requisite mana and skill. The internal rune placement was generically applicable to all humanoid bodies, so it wasn¡¯t perfectly aligned within my specific body. The schema required adjustment to work at maximum capacity. It took me four days to discover the spell¡¯s optimal placement schema within my body. Four long, long days of traipsing through a hellish desert, with no weather improvements in sight and the constant burden of a thousand distractions. It was so, so worth it! The Mage Shield spell came faster, could handle more power, and even cost less mana to maintain. All the improvements made me feel like my shield¡¯s power had doubled outright, even if the direct improvement in toughness was only fifty percent. It both amused and annoyed me that my improved shield still couldn¡¯t help me with the sand. ¡®Fifty percent¡¯ didn¡¯t mean much when my mana¡¯s resistance to the sand was zero. In order to affect the sand, I would need to add an elemental twist to my shield. Maybe something like lightning to repel the grains. If I continued to count on my mana alone, it would stand up to Lagyel¡¯s assault just as well as any other pure mana construct. Read: poorly. I was excited to test out the shield in battle, though. With all the modifications I had implemented, the spell was, in my humble opinion, far closer to demonic-style casting than to its Berlis origins. True, my improved casting had some unexpected side-effects. As long as the spell was in effect, its runes constantly orbited my hand. This was¡­ distracting. It also prevented me from using my hand to cast other spells. I then had to make a point of casting the spell with my left hand, since that hand was typically holding my sword anyway. This would leave my right hand free for additional casting. Of course, that led me down the rabbit hole of trying to cast a spell while holding something in my hand¡­ On and on we walked. On and on I trained. I took to either clenching my sword or holding my arms out in front of me, palms pointed down and fingers splayed, for hours at a time. Eventually, I realized Mia was laughing at me. Granted, I¡¯m sure it was a rather humorous sight in the middle of a sandstorm, but I was her friend, damn it! The cat menace didn¡¯t find it as funny when she finally asked why I was making a fool of myself and I forced her to train with me. We almost lagged behind the rest of our unit, messing around and trying to trip each other up. Still, we managed to get away with a single scalding look from Glaustro. After that, we kept up our training, but we actually paid attention to our surroundings. As much as we could in a blasted wind-blown desert, at least. Chapter 80: Local Critters If it weren¡¯t for Glaustro¡¯s tracking device, we would have been lost to the desert sands. Lagyel was a world of great beauty in a select few places. Most of it, however, was nothing more than a collection of countless, ever-shifting dunes. They did their very best to devour us, or at least soften us up for the defenders we would eventually face. It was working. All of us were steadily growing more and more tired and grumpy. Ironically, the demons had it far worse than me and Mia. They could take the heat easily, but the sand was a relentless threat to their mana-based bodies. The only thing they could do in response was bundle up. A few days in, the demons of Glaustro¡¯s unit almost resembled mummies or wraiths moving through the sandstorm. Those most desperate to protect themselves wore several layers of clothing covered by large, bulky coats. Not even demonic physiques could prevent all these clothes from slowing them down a little, but I wasn¡¯t complaining. This actually helped moderate the overall unit¡¯s possible speed, which gave us mere mortals a bit more breathing room. In contrast, Mia and I were getting better by the day. With my breakthrough in the shield spell, I was able to start working on improvements for my body strengthening and refinement techniques. The former was still mostly useless against the sand, but the latter was getting a solid workout. The repetitive damage to my skin made the healing and refining cycle of the technique more effective than ever. After nearly a week of trekking through the endless dessert, the sand¡¯s effects had been reduced from a constant grating ache to a constant mild sting. I had real potential to shed my weakness to this aspect of Lagyel¡¯s environment completely, which was exciting. To be fair, Mia was doing even better than I was. She started out with a tougher body, and all the work she constantly put into her training wasn¡¯t failing her either. A week into our journey, she could almost ignore the sand, having to protect only the most vulnerable areas of her body. This made us the target of some deeply envious looks from a few demons. It was a very small minority that obviously resented the two mortals for having an easier time, but I still made sure to pay extra attention to them. For all the progress we had made, I didn¡¯t feel quite ready to tackle a real conflict with a demon. Thankfully, Bronwynn also noticed the threat. He tended to stick close to Mia and me anyway, occasionally chatting to help distract us all from the monotony of travel. When he first picked up on the resentful stares, he broke into a tirade of quiet curses. He did nothing at the time, but once we made camp that night, I did notice him stalking off in the direction of the relevant demons¡¯ tents. There was some shouting and a couple pained screams. When Bronwynn returned a while later, he had a satisfied smile on his face. I didn¡¯t see any envious glares the following day, or the day after that. Still, I kept my eyes open. I wasn¡¯t foolish enough to assume all was well. The journey settled into a painfully boring rhythm. We marched for days, Lagyel fighting us every step of the way. Dunes stretched in every direction. There wasn¡¯t even a smudge on the horizon to vary the stark landscape. Then, finally, we came across a large rock formation. It might once have been a mountain, but the sand and the winds had whittled it down considerably. The winds, in particular, had acted like a river, carving channels through the stone. We actually heard this monument to the wonders of nature before we saw it. The wind whistled and howled through the carved passages, producing a melody as loud as it was haunting. The sound resembled the moaning of some massive beast, accompanied by the screams of the damned. Not the friendliest of worlds, Lagyel. Still, that didn¡¯t mean we refused to take advantage of the natural wonder. Constant noise or not, the channels in the rock formation did a wonderful job of blocking at least a portion of the swirling sands and winds. The demons all but forced themselves into these passages, letting out breaths of relief. Then someone discovered natural caverns in one of the ravines, and commotion ensued. ¡°We are in a hurry,¡± Glaustro insisted, though his voice betrayed his own exhaustion and annoyance with Lagyel¡¯s environment. ¡°We can¡¯t call an early halt just because we found a decent place to camp.¡± ¡°Oh please, it¡¯s almost evening anyway! We¡¯re not losing days of progress. It¡¯s just a single afternoon,¡± a bear-like demon snapped, then froze and hurried to add, ¡°with all due respect, commander.¡± Glaustro stared at him for a few long seconds. I really had to wonder if I was about to see my commander rip someone¡¯s spine out. Thankfully for the rash demon, the good sergeant just sighed. ¡°Why are you so set on this, anyway?¡± he asked, addressing the entire group of demons who had approached him with the request to stop for the day. ¡°The tents are specially treated to resist these sandstorms. They keep the blasted stuff out perfectly, regardless of where we put them up.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Well, yes, but not having to dig ourselves out of almost a foot of sand every morning would be nice,¡± a crystalline demoness quipped, drawing a round of muttered agreement. I had to admit that was true enough. While the tents could withstand anything the storms threw at them, they couldn¡¯t ward off the simple accumulation of sand. The first morning of our journey, I had carelessly unzipped my tent only to have a deluge of sand stream right on in. Practically swimming out of my tent was not fun. It seemed like even Glaustro suffered from the same issues, earth magic or not. He grimaced in resignation. ¡°Fine. You do have a point. We¡¯ll stop here for the day, but I¡¯m setting a brisk pace tomorrow.¡± No one cared about his threat. Instead, a cheer went up, and I heartily joined in. Even Mia couldn¡¯t hide her smile. A few minutes later, we were exploring the biggest cave we could find. Once we were sure it was empty, we quickly began setting up our tents. The mood was festive. After so many days out in the open, the simple act of making camp in a sheltered, relatively quiet space felt like a luxury. Best of all, Mia broke out her cooking travel kit. She hadn¡¯t used it in a long time. The raging sand made it impossible outside, and neither of us was foolhardy enough to set a fire in our tents. It had been ration bars all the way for every meal. Mia was ecstatic at the chance to cook something better. She didn¡¯t show it, of course, but the light purr humming from her lips and the happy flicking of her ears gave her away. Our meal was simple fare, just a quick goulash, but it was delicious. Mia¡¯s spices and cooking skills were excellent as always, and we savored every last scrap of it. We even shared a bowl with Bronwynn. He enjoyed it, though he declined a second helping, since demons didn¡¯t draw any sustenance from mortal food. It was just as I was settling in with my grimoire for some extra study time that it happened. Mia suddenly shot up from where she was stretched out next to me, eyes wildly scanning the cavern. Her claws came out a second later, which was a surefire way for me to know something was wrong. I stood up, shoved my grimoire inside my dimensional pouch, and drew my sword. ¡°Mia, what is it?¡± ¡°Shhhh,¡± she hissed, then froze in place again. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the bear demon was having the same reaction as Mia. Other demons were also picking up on the behavior of the two beastfolk, which sent a wave of tension through the camp. These were demons, though. Instead of panicking, they fetched weapons or took up battle stances. Then everyone waited, eerily still as Mia and the bear carefully evaluated our surroundings. Mia¡¯s eyes widened. Falling to her knees, she pressed an ear to the ground. ¡°They¡¯re under us. I don¡¯t know what they are, but they¡¯re in the ground,¡± the cat beastfolk growled, just as the vibration of the cavern floor grew tumultuous enough for me to feel it. Moment by moment, the sensation intensified, until the ground was visibly shaking. Mia was back on her feet now. Her claws flexed as we pressed closer to each other, ready for whatever was coming. The first creature surfaced several yards from us, pincers leading the way as it tried to bisect a nearby demon. Said demon was more than agile enough to respond. With a roar, he brought a large hammer down on the creature¡¯s carapace. There was a crunch, and a piercing shriek like the grinding of metal on metal. But while the creature was stunned for a second, it didn¡¯t go down in one strike. This was enough to catch the demon by surprise. His distraction only lasted a second, but it gave another emerging scorpion-like thing the chance to pinch him. To everyone¡¯s surprise, a spray of blood erupted from the demon¡¯s leg. The creature¡¯s pincer didn¡¯t sever the limb, but it definitely penetrated a couple inches into the tough demonic flesh. Curses and exclamations of shock erupted around me as more critters emerged. The creatures were shaped roughly like scorpions, but the resemblance was only passing. Each was the size of a large dog. They had three tails curling over their backs instead of one, four pincers in front, eight legs that stabbed through the air like lances, and a mouth that belonged on an industrial shredder rather than a living creature of any description. Of course, ¡®living creature¡¯ was almost overselling their appearance. Rather than flesh and blood, the scorpions appeared to be made of rock and crystal. Most of their bodies were see-through. I spotted golden liquid circulating through channels carved within their frames, but no recognizable organs. Worst of all, the creature¡¯s armor had a rocky shine that reminded me a little too exactly of Lagyel¡¯s infamous sand. My suspicions were confirmed when a demon angrily cast a fire spell. Most of its force dispersed uselessly against the creature¡¯s defenses. ¡°Physical attacks only!¡± Glaustro roared, forcing order onto the panicking demons. ¡°Try to fight in groups, and don¡¯t let them catch you from behind!¡± Then, a second later: ¡°Dammit, Norfest, that doesn¡¯t mean you should fight with your back to the wall!¡± I spared a glance in Norfest¡¯s direction. Despite the attacking creatures¡¯ obvious ability to move through the ground, the demon had pressed himself against the cavern wall. Two scorpion nightmares were now attached to his back, and he was failing in his wild attempts to get them off. I didn¡¯t concern myself with his fate. I had my own battles to worry about. Five of the creatures were close enough to target me and Mia, and they didn¡¯t hesitate to do so. Flaring my mana as hard as it would go into my body strengthening technique, I surged forward. My first strike landed on a creature¡¯s carapace, pushing its head down and effectively warding off its pincer strike. The impact sent pain shooting through my hand and up my arm. I nearly dropped my sword, but managed to hang on and aim my second strike directly at another creature¡¯s mouth. The effect was shocking. My blade sheared right through, splitting crystalline flesh and spilling golden blood all over the place. The creature gurgled and flailed, catching one of its brethren in its rampage. The second scorpion responded by stabbing the first viciously with all three of its tails. As the two fell into their own battle, I hopped back. Glancing at Mia, I found her expertly chipping away at the two remaining creatures. This gave me a split second to breathe. I stared at the infighting scorpions, then at my blade. What the hell was that? It didn¡¯t take me long to find an answer. I hit its armor the first time, but that¡¯s not really part of its body. Whatever these things look like, they ARE living creatures. And all living creatures have souls, so¡­ I grinned a feral grin, then ripped into the scorpions. Of all the soldiers gathered in that cavern, I was perhaps best suited for slaughtering the annoying creatures. While the demons struggled against the scorpions¡¯ natural defenses, my sword carved through the beasts like butter. I just had to be sure to target a ¡®living¡¯ part of their bodies. As I finished off my three opponents, two with remarkable ease because they were still busy with each other, I relished the feeling of souls getting deposited into my purse. No moral qualms here. For the first time in forever, I had perfectly acceptable targets I could profit from. I eyed the rest of the cavern with avaricious delight. Chapter 81: The Useful Parts The demons were shooting me odd looks by the time the last of the critters was put down, which I found rather hypocritical. Sure, I was cackling. Sure, I was covered in the golden blood (or was it ichor?) of the scorpions. And sure, I might have been indulging in the emotional high of getting to earn souls without guilt for once. But who could blame me? It wasn¡¯t like they hadn¡¯t enjoyed at least one decent cackle rampage in their lives. They were demons! ¡°You might want to get that smirk off your face, kiddo. Oh, and the blood. Definitely get the blood off your face,¡± Bronwynn grumbled. ¡°You¡¯re all too sensitive.¡± I bounced on the balls of my feet, eyes flicking around the massive cavern in search of more scorpions. ¡°Stab a couple critters, and suddenly everyone¡¯s a critic.¡± ¡°Hayden, you had your arm fully embedded inside one of the things. I didn¡¯t know they had soft bits until you ripped them out.¡± Bronwynn paused, looking me up and down. ¡°You look like you took a bath in their blood. And if you¡¯re wondering why people are eyeing you like that, it¡¯s because you threatened to stab some of them when they tried to help you fight.¡± ¡°So it is blood!¡± I exclaimed happily, still bouncing. I ignored the rest of what he said. I would never threaten to stab a demon. Demons were scary! They would stab me back, and then I¡¯d be dead. I was smart like that. ¡°Yes, Hayden, yes you did threaten them,¡± Bronwynn sighed, massaging his forehead. My eyes widened. I never knew Bronwynn was a mind reader! Wait, were more demons mind readers? Were they reading my mind that very second? Oh no, what if they find out I did actually want to stab some of them for getting in the way of my hard-earned stress relief? The pink-skinned demon in front of me grit his teeth and looked skywards, which was silly, because we couldn¡¯t see the sky inside the cave. ¡°Hayden, I¡¯m not a mind reader. You¡¯re still saying all of your thoughts out loud. You have been, for the last good while. I tried warning you about this already. Could you please calm down and get a grip? I¡¯ve been following you this whole time so I can stop anyone from gutting you if you say something too offensive." I froze as my mind struggled to process what he was saying. At first, it was difficult to tamp down my nervous energy and the feeling of excited bloodlust. But the more I understood how far I had let myself slip, the easier it became. Probably because panic was rising up instead¡­ ¡°How bad was I?¡± I finally managed to whisper, my eyes still as wide as saucers. ¡°Wait, what about Mia? Where is she?¡± Bronwynn gave a relieved sigh, followed shortly by a scoff. He pointed somewhere behind me. I turned, then had to do a double take as I caught sight of a very self-satisfied cat carving apart dead mutant scorpions. With obvious delight, Mia pried off a pincer, followed shortly by the outermost layer of the thing¡¯s shell. It was the ¡®dead¡¯ part of the creature. Looking more closely, I guessed it was an accumulation of sand, coalesced into a uniform mass and transformed somehow into natural armor. Mia peeled all of it off, then proceeded to stuff the lot into a familiar-looking bag. ¡°Is that my dimensional pouch?¡± I asked no one in particular. Bronwynn nodded. ¡°Yes. You gave it to her a while back when she stopped trying to claw the things apart faster than you could kill them. She gave up and started harvesting your kills.¡± The demon sounded both proud and exasperated all at once, which sent my mind into another confused swirl. I didn¡¯t know how I should feel about any of this, either. I had apparently gone off the rails in an obsessive bug hunt. Now Mia was knee-deep in gore, lost in a looting haze. And we were surrounded by demons. ¡°We¡­ didn¡¯t piss off anyone too badly, right?¡± I asked carefully, not daring to look around and check the faces of our fellow soldiers myself. Bronwynn¡¯s amusement won out, and he laughed before clapping me on the back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, kid. If anything, you helped smooth over some of the resentment from the whole sand-resistance thing. Not with everyone, obviously. There are still some demons you should watch out for. But it helped.¡± ¡°It did? But¡­ I went on a kill-stealing rampage¡­¡± Now he looked at me like I was an idiot. ¡°Hayden, do you remember what happened when those things attacked? Some of the others actually got hurt. We would have won with or without you, but you definitely made the process much easier. Now, that¡¯s mostly down to that sword of yours, but no one can take it from you, so it doesn¡¯t matter. You contributed. Glaustro even got a few apologies from people who objected to your recruitment.¡± I blinked owlishly. ¡°He did?¡± ¡°He did.¡± Bronwynn grinned. ¡°Would I lie to you about something like this? Kid, it¡¯s been several hours. You¡¯ve hunted down over seven hundred of the things by yourself. Sure, the rest of us killed more than twice that number, but that¡¯s all of us. Together.¡± The demon shook his head, clearly amused.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I genuinely didn¡¯t know how to react. The slaughter was just a blur in my memory, a wash of sensations and satisfaction and rampant emotions. Sure, the purse on my hip felt heavier with souls, but their weight was barely noticeable thanks to the enchantments placed on the item. I would have to check and see if the souls were all ¡®lesser¡¯, of course. They did come from beasts. Regardless, it was still a nice little windfall. Though that begged the question: ¡°And everyone was really fine with me getting all those souls?¡± ¡°For how much they¡¯d have needed to work for them? Yes.¡± Bronwynn shook his head. ¡°I swear, we all heard about the locals¡¯ mana resistance, and how much of a pain they are to fight, but this was an eye-opener. Frankly, it¡¯s a good thing we got attacked here. It was a nice little preview of what we can expect to face in the city.¡± I furrowed my brows at that, but it didn¡¯t take me long to make the connection. With their mineral-type skin, the locals were remarkably similar to the scorpions. If they were protected in the same way the creatures were, then yes, they would be a nuisance for regular demons. Then again¡­ ¡°The jinn who attacked the city didn¡¯t have resistance to magic, right?¡± I asked. ¡°No, we haven¡¯t heard anything about jinn developing the resistance.¡± Bronwynn frowned suspiciously. ¡°Why?¡± I waved him off, trying to think without revealing any trace of emotion. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was my paranoia acting up or a genuine concern, but¡­ if all the locals eventually developed mana resistance due to their environment, what was stopping the jinn from doing the same? Now, I didn¡¯t know how jinn procreated, or how long such mutation would take. But I did know that they had been occupying the world for over nine hundred years. That was a lot of time. Maybe not according to immortal races, but still. Was there really a guarantee that not a single jinn would mutate in that time? And if they did, then their threat level would skyrocket far beyond a regular member of their species. The last jinn we encountered had only died so quickly because Glaustro and Rosaveta managed to snipe it down with magic. Without their demonic spells, the jinn would have been able to wreak significantly more havoc. Hells, maybe he could have seriously hurt one of the demon commanders. I hadn¡¯t witnessed the full extent of the jinn¡¯s abilities, but even his manipulation of the mana-resistant sand was impressively dangerous. ¡°Hayden? Don¡¯t do this again, now. The commander is here.¡± Bronwynn¡¯s voice snapped me out of another spiral. As I blinked back into awareness, I found myself staring at the smiling visage of Glaustro. I wonder if it will ever not be strange to see him smiling. Still, as always, I couldn¡¯t deny that the sergeant looked very nice when he wasn¡¯t scowling. ¡°Excellent work, soldier!¡± the demon boomed. His hand came down on my shoulder with some force. ¡°I knew recruiting you was the right choice. Besides, judging from your appearance, you are making excellent strides towards securing an ideal ascension. When you achieve that, you will become even more of an asset for our unit.¡± Unlike his normal, measured tone of voice, Glaustro was almost shouting. This confused me at first. Then I glanced around to find the attention of the surrounding demons firmly focused on us. ¡°Thank you for the praise, commander. I¡¯ll do my best to live up to your expectations,¡± I assured him. He gave me a satisfied smile, then strode off towards the demon with two scorpion tails I had noticed when I first arrived at the unit¡¯s compound. ¡°Thelrod! Don¡¯t you fucking dare¡ª¡± Glaustro cut off his warning and burst into curses when the demon jabbed one of the scorpions¡¯ stingers straight into his own stomach. A small argument broke out. Thelrod was turning rapidly pale, but he kept defending his decision. I tuned it out. I was far more interested in how the unit¡¯s perception of me was shifting in real time. I didn¡¯t know how much my critter-slaughter was contributing, but Glaustro¡¯s proclamation of my chosen ascension method was definitely working wonders. Since we joined the unit, none of the demons had been openly hostile towards me and Mia, but plenty of them had looked right past us. It was an ingrained response to ignore mortals in their midst. Until we finally ascended, we were lesser beings, unworthy of demonic attention. Now? Now they were all eying me, as though I was finally a true rival. After all, one of the reasons why mortals didn¡¯t deserve notice was our inability to compete for souls during major conflicts. With my ability on full display, and the promise of more in the future, my demonic comrades couldn¡¯t afford to ignore me. This was especially true if my suspicions were right and most of the demons in Glaustro¡¯s unit were ascendant. The rule that ascendant demons were weaker was often taken as fact. With me angling to become an exception, I wondered uneasily if I had made myself a target. But it wasn¡¯t true hostility I saw in their faces. If anything, their eyes contained shreds of respect. I didn¡¯t know how to deal with that, so I chose not to. For now. Instead, I focused on what Mia was up to. When I saw the best answer for that was ¡®up to her elbow in scorpion guts¡¯, I ventured closer with a sigh. I briefly considered keeping a distance from the splash zone. She was chopping bits off with gleeful abandon, making the remains rain down all around her. But, since I was already in a similar messy state, I just kept walking until I was right next to her. ¡°Hey, Mia. What are you doing with all the scorpion thingies?¡± I asked eloquently as she expertly stripped fleshy bits from yet another section of hardened, ¡®dead¡¯ armor. ¡°Hayden! Look at this.¡± The cat girl shoved a piece of dripping carapace into my arms. I complied with a grimace, even if I would have preferred to keep it at arm¡¯s length. ¡°Isn¡¯t it amazing?¡± ¡°Um, yes, amazing, but why are you collecting it?¡± Mia shot me a dazzling smile, then turned back to prying off the tails. ¡°For Yules. She loves unique materials, remember? I¡¯m not sure whether she can enchant these, since they don¡¯t like mana. But even if she can¡¯t, the armor alone would be incredible. Maybe weapons, too. I want something that¡¯s good for stabbing.¡± The cat girl paused, then looked down forlornly at her gold-covered claws, like they had betrayed her. ¡°My claws didn¡¯t cut all that great, and I didn¡¯t want to keep whacking the things with my sword,¡± she whined. ¡°It would have gotten damaged.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a lot of good points,¡± I muttered quietly, taken aback. The idea of materials hadn¡¯t even occurred to me. Somehow, since joining the legion, my notion of currency and value in general had gotten skewed. I was starting to see souls as the only thing of real value. That wasn¡¯t true though, was it? Without the mana crystals, I would be much slower getting through magecraft layers. Even the materials I stole from Berlis had been a wonderful gift for Yules, which she was ecstatic to receive and experiment with. Hell, some of those materials were in my armor. Mia¡¯s mention of an additional weapon further piqued my interest. My dual wielding style technically worked through a sword paired with a long dagger, yet I had all but dropped the dagger part due to the quality of my sword and the relative weakness of my off-hand. But if I had an impressive enough dagger¡­ I couldn¡¯t focus exclusively on acquiring souls. f I started to ignore everything else in favor of murder, my progress would stall out. At the very least, I would be closing off opportunities that could be highly beneficial. So, rather than try and talk the cat girl back to normal levels of excitement, I rolled up my sleeves to help her. Well, I tried to roll up my sleeves. They were so soaked in mutant scorpion blood that they clung to my skin. Giving up, I dug my hands into another critter carcass. I couldn¡¯t wait to finish harvesting so we could clean up. Chapter 82: A Defended City No matter how many cleansing spells I cast, I couldn¡¯t quite feel clean after I was done helping Mia. There was an oddly fishy smell to the scorpion creatures that clung to me throughout the work. Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear it was still clogging my nose days later. Mia, on the other hand, was downright chipper. She didn¡¯t go off the deep end again, but she always had a satisfied air about her, along with a small smile that lightened the mood effortlessly. Even trekking through the sands wasn¡¯t quite as horrible with a bundle of enthusiasm by my side. The smug looks she kept shooting at my dimension pouch were honestly adorable. Thankfully, the pouch wasn¡¯t overwhelmingly heavy from all the harvesting we did. Just as I had noticed back on Berlis, its enchantments reduced individual item weight to nearly nothing. I might as well have been carrying around an empty bag. Not that the cat girl¡¯s behavior left any doubt about the existence and worth of the bag¡¯s contents. She was oddly protective of the pouch while on her harvesting arc, but the second we were done, she had shoved it into my hands, watching closely for my reaction to the loot. When I openly thanked her for all the help, she flushed and ignored me for a while. It was just like dealing with a cat. She had dragged the equivalent of a dead mouse over to me and asked me to pet her (metaphorically, of course). Once satisfied that her performance had been properly appreciated, she hissed and trotted away. I was never going to let her hear the comparison, of course. I didn¡¯t want to start sleeping with one eye open for fear of getting stabbed. Funnily enough, while the result of the clash was a decisive victory in Mia¡¯s and my books, the situation was not the same for the rest of Glaustro¡¯s unit. The battle put them on edge. The sand had already put a dent in the illusion of their invincibility. Now, they knew it wasn¡¯t just the sand that posed a real threat to them. Anything crafted out of local materials had the potential to go straight past their defenses. Paired with the fact that locals were tougher than any one of us had suspected, the situation was¡­ cause for concern. None of the demons would ever admit outright that they were scared, but I didn¡¯t need demonic abilities to pick up on that emotion. I was worried at one point that Glaustro might have a revolt on his hands, particularly when some members of the unit demanded to hear his plans for our destination. The typical demonic approach of ¡®Burn it down. Questions? What questions?¡¯ was no longer enough. They wanted a proper strategy for tackling the local threats. This led to a rather enlightening conversation with Bronwynn. ¡°Why are they so worried?¡± I asked, exasperated. I had just watched Glaustro reassure yet another demon that yes, we had a plan, and yes, they would be informed in a timely manner when we were about to reach the city. ¡°It¡¯s not like we can permanently die so long as we¡¯re careful.¡± Bronwynn arched an eyebrow at me, then shook his head in that patented ¡®disappointed parent¡¯ manner. Not sure how he pulled that off. As far as I was aware, he didn¡¯t have any kids. ¡°Just because we can¡¯t be put down for good doesn¡¯t mean dying is an enjoyable experience. There¡¯s the cost in souls to consider, for one thing. For another, depending on the way a demon dies, they might come back weaker. No one wants to take chances with the power they¡¯ve been hoarding.¡± The former wasn¡¯t news for me of course, but I didn¡¯t understand how the latter worked. Thankfully, this was Bronwynn. While the question was potentially insensitive, I knew he wouldn¡¯t punish me over it, even if he decided not to answer. ¡°How does that work, exactly? How would you kill a demon if you wanted to weaken them?¡± The question earned me a taunting smile. ¡°Planning to weaken any specific demons, hmmm? Maybe some whose name starts with an ¡®M¡¯?¡± I scowled at the reminder of Mercutio¡¯s existence. I couldn¡¯t say I expected the cold flash of rage that tried to consume me. Thankfully, I managed to get ahead of the overwhelming emotion, but not before Bronwynn flinched slightly. Since he was obviously aware of my emotions, I could only answer sincerely. ¡°You know what? I wouldn¡¯t mind a chance to do that.¡± ¡°I bet.¡± He shook his head, looking away. ¡°Anyway, it comes down to soul integrity, of course. Most of the time, when a demon dies, it¡¯s because their body was destroyed. Most civilizations out there either don¡¯t approve of soul and mind magic, or they don¡¯t have the power to wield them on a level that could hurt a demon effectively.¡± ¡°There are exceptions, of course,¡± I pointed out, because of course there would be. The sheer number of mage factions out there was kind of ridiculous. All it took was one mage growing powerful enough to leave their plane, and boom! Suddenly, their world entered an era of stellar exploration and invasion of other worlds.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The latter wasn¡¯t a requirement, of course. But judging from the little I knew, someone had neglected to tell mages that. Magic civilizations always grew as aggressively as the Abyss itself, simply on account of the need to sustain themselves. When a mage really got going, the material demands of their specialized craft ramped up exponentially. To create some of the items I glimpsed in the general¡¯s office would have required the resources of entire world clusters. So, a powerful mage had two choices. Escalate, or sit pretty until someone stronger came along to claim everything you owned. It wasn¡¯t a pretty choice. Yet, if one thing could be universally trusted, it was the greed of every thinking humanoid. Few were the races benevolent enough to escape its grasp. Even fewer had the power to cling to their beliefs without getting enslaved or horrifically slaughtered. With a start, I realized I had allowed my thoughts to drift away again. I forced my attention back to Bronwynn as he continued to explain. ¡°Of course there are exceptions. Anyone who wants to make it on the universal stage has to be able to put up a fight somehow, and there are few other ways to deter demons effectively.¡± ¡°I take it soul damage is much harder to come back from, then?¡± ¡°Much, much harder.¡± Bronwynn¡¯s face darkened, and he scowled at the world in general. ¡°The Abyss will always do its best to resurrect you. Always. That doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll enjoy the way you come back to life.¡± The demon fell silent, and I let him stew in whatever emotions he was feeling. I didn¡¯t want to push and potentially alienate one of the few people I liked. After a few moments, he went on. ¡°I once saw a demon who got torn apart by angels during a Cradle invasion. He came back as a screaming, sobbing mess, and then went catatonic for months. They barely put him together again, and that¡¯s because he had friends and family willing to shove souls down his throat until he recovered. Those who get savaged that badly and don¡¯t have a support network do not meet pleasant endings.¡± I imagined that for a second. Knowing what demons were like, a person left insensate on a resurrection square might not necessarily be killed on the spot, but I bet they would at least be robbed. And if someone was feeling petty enough, it would be easy to finish them off then and there. Better than dying over and over again? Maybe. But if the end result was that void where the Abyss slowly munched away at you for eternity¡­ maybe not. ¡°Well, I kind of regret asking, now,¡± I muttered honestly, receiving an amused snort for my trouble. ¡°So, try not to get killed. Got it. That was the plan already, so at least I don¡¯t have to shuffle things around to compensate for it.¡± I tried for a teasing tone of voice, but judging by the look Bronwynn gave me, he wasn¡¯t buying it. Probably because he could sense the dread coiling through my chest. ¡°There¡¯s also the fact that soul injuries are horrifically painful, and that at least some of the jinn are guaranteed to be able to cause them,¡± Bronwynn said. ¡°Add to that all the weird things we¡¯ve encountered on this world already, and yes, people are worried.¡± I sighed, turning to look again at the unit¡¯s demons. When all the mystique and power were stripped away, they really were like any other race. Well, maybe a little more murder-inclined, but we all had our flaws. ¡ª When Glaustro suddenly announced one morning that we would reach our destination in the early hours of the afternoon, the reaction was mixed. Sure, everyone was relieved that we wouldn¡¯t have to march through the excruciating desert anymore. But the recent blow to the demons¡¯ confidence muted the celebration significantly. Instead of marching in with their usual arrogance, people were checking over their gear, reading through spell books, and even practicing as we advanced. I admit I enjoyed watching the latter. An up-close, in-person view of demonic spellcasting was always fascinating, and this time had the extra benefit of not being on an active battlefield. The tricks I picked up in those few hours were well worth the stress my comrades were experiencing, even though they would blast my head off if they knew I was thinking that. Ready or not, we eventually caught sight of our destination. At first, it was just a hint of greenery rising among the colors of the desert. The closer we got, the more awe filled my heart. What we were approaching was an oasis, though only by the loosest of definitions. There was water there, of course. A large, expansive lake glittered under the sun, ringed by verdant plant life. But the central focus of the ¡®oasis¡¯ was the massive tree jutting from the lake¡¯s center. By comparison, the lake was a mere puddle gathered around the tree¡¯s roots. The titanic piece of flora was taller than even the highest towers of Berlis¡¯ capital city. Its branches stretched into the sky, blotting out sunlight for many a mile. Not that the area around the tree was dark or dreary. The opposite, in fact. The giant was made of some green, crystalline material that seemed to absorb and refract every ray of sunlight. Within its branches swam billions of light-dots like fireflies. They shifted about, winked in and out of existence, and made the foliage resemble the prettiest night sky I would ever have the privilege to see. The leaves were special, too. A radiant silver color, they shed just as much illumination as the rest of the tree. I wondered briefly if the gargantuan plant was actually using the absorbed sunlight to produce its spectacular light show, or if the glow was a display of some innate magic. Unfortunately, it made no difference when it came to the purpose of our presence there. Said purpose was, just as unfortunately, deeply interwoven with the tree. All through the tree¡¯s branches stretched stairs, bridges, and homes. They appeared to have been carved into the floral behemoth. Some of the extracted crystalline material had obviously been repurposed into construction, judging by the beautiful facades and stately, glowing appearance of the buildings. Interestingly enough, though the leaves were large enough to support such a thing, no one had made their home on the silver structures. The reason for this became apparent when one of the leaves detached itself from the tree and gently drifted down to the ground. Well, I say gently. This was a leaf bigger than a decently-sized apartment building. When it finally reached the ground, and it took a while for that to happen, it sent up an explosion of sand that made my eye twitch. We were ridiculously far away from the whole spectacle, and I could still swear that I felt the ground shake underfoot. Now, I was no expert on the subject of jinn strategies and troop placement. However, seeing such an impressive landmark with obvious magical properties and an untold number of magical uses, I could safely assume it would be well defended. There would be no easy victory here. And from the look on Glaustro¡¯s face, he knew it. I don¡¯t know when we stopped, or who was the first to falter. All I know is our entire unit of terrifying demons ended up standing there, perfectly still amidst the howling winds, staring blankly at the massive tree and its parasite city. We really couldn¡¯t catch a break. Chapter 83: The Contribution of a Mortal ¡°This is¡­ unexpected,¡± Glaustro ventured, eyes fixed on the massive tree-city in the distance. The demon¡¯s countenance was stormier than the weather, which proved just how much trouble we were in. ¡°What would you like us to do, commander?¡± Loyal as ever, Tybalt was already there and waiting to relay Glaustro¡¯s orders. The sergeant, though, struggled to formulate a response. I could tell he was tempted to back out, but there was something else in his eyes, too. It was hunger, greedy and eager. While not uncharacteristic of demons, it was a rare sight on Glaustro¡¯s face. The only time I could remember seeing it was when I offered him the soul of an important mage on Berlis and earned a commendation for the info it yielded. ¡°How did no one warn us about¡­ this?¡± Bronwynn gestured vaguely at the tree. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯d like to know. This isn¡¯t a landmark you can easily miss, but I don¡¯t remember seeing it on any of the reports. Don¡¯t we have lists of areas we shouldn¡¯t try to invade without a considerable force? This should have been included.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t too far-fetched that no one discovered this city before,¡± the crystalline demoness noted thoughtfully. ¡°The sandstorms prevent any long distance scrying, so we¡¯ve relied on scout reports so far. If none of them ventured this deep into enemy territory in this direction, we could have missed it.¡± ¡°This? This?¡± Bronwynn demanded, clearly not buying it. The demoness shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m simply presenting a theory. I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s correct.¡± Bronwynn scoffed, but Glaustro cut him off before he could argue further. ¡°Regardless of how our intelligence division missed such a glaring landmark, this is an opportunity. Even just a report of this place would be valuable. Of course, the exact value depends on how much information we can provide. It¡¯s a definite fact that the jinn who attacked us came from here. If there are other jinn who made incursions from this base, that only boosts the value of the information.¡± ¡°And also puts a time limit on how long we have until someone else reports it,¡± piped up the scorpion-tailed demon I had seen jab himself with a monster¡¯s stinger. ¡°After all, you¡¯re hardly the only one who knows a seer, commander.¡± ¡°It¡¯s less of a possibility on this forsaken world, considering how the storms affect seers. But yes, you¡¯re right.¡± Glaustro was eying the tree again, and there was something about his expression I didn¡¯t like. That hunger was growing in his face, replacing all former unease. As far as my hopes were concerned, this was bad news. Every instinct I had was warning me to stay as far away from that tree as I could. Methialia, unfortunately, did not share my reluctance to move forward. ¡°What do we do, then? Personally, I say we should at least try to get close enough to scout the place a bit better. If we just turn around now, we might catch flak from higher-ups for doing a subpar job.¡± ¡°You, of all people, are not someone I expected to volunteer for more work, Methialia,¡± the scorpion demon teased. The comment earned him a scathing look. ¡°Unlike you, Thelrod, I know when I need to push and when I should rest. I just don¡¯t want them to send us out again if they decide we¡¯ve been underperforming. If it¡¯s between doing a little scouting now, or trekking back to the nearest city only to be sent back to scout anyway, I¡¯ll always choose the former.¡± ¡°You seem to agree on what we should do, so cut out the bickering,¡± Glaustro snapped. Judging by his hardened eyes, I guessed he had made up his mind. I was, unfortunately, correct. ¡°We are moving closer to that thing,¡± the commander ordered. ¡°Make sure to be on the lookout for scouting spells and the like. Also, put up whatever camouflage or invisibility spells you have. I know the weather will wear at them, but we¡¯re doing this right.¡± Some of the demons complained, especially those who were put in charge of covering everyone who didn¡¯t know the relevant spells. Still, the troop got moving remarkably fast. The promise of rewards for the information within our grasp seemed to overcome the demons¡¯ initial concern. I was put into the same group as Bronwynn, Mia, the chipper demon who sparred with me when I first visited Glaustro¡¯s compound in Torment, and one very grouchy mage. We had just enough competent mages to assign ¡®only¡¯ four dependents to each, but they still grumbled. Apparently, it was hellishly difficult to maintain a spell over multiple people, especially with the sand tearing away at the connection between caster and target. So when we finally started inching closer to the tree, we weren¡¯t completely invisible. Instead, we moved as barely visible wraiths. The invisibility spells the demons could leverage were amazing, but not even superb spellcasters could get around several important limitations. Most notably, ¡®invisibility¡¯ was not the same thing as ¡®intangibility.¡¯ While no one could see us directly, it was easy to notice the large, suspiciously humanoid-shaped patches of empty space where sand couldn¡¯t pass through. According to our ranting mage, there was a whole subset of fiendishly complex spells that addressed this problem. But Lagyel¡¯s environment already made it difficult to maintain even simple spells over one person, let alone four. Because of this, it was impossible for our assigned mage to hide us completely.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. It obviously pained him to admit this, so none of us pushed. Most of the other groups were in the same boat anyway. The closer we got and the more we saw, the less I liked our situation. This wasn¡¯t some minor city with a single defender we had already slain. This was a major stronghold of our enemy, and it showed. Countless people were milling about the many bridges and open areas of the city. Worse still, above it all hovered the figures of multiple jinn. My eyesight was excellent, but from this distance, I was straining just to make out vague silhouettes. As such, I couldn¡¯t gauge exactly how many different jinn I had spotted. But judging by the colorful blurs of their clothing? There were at least seven different fliers lurking in the tree¡¯s branches. And that didn¡¯t include any that might be inside the palatial complex at the top of the tree, looming up like a massive crown. I thought it was a trick of the distance at first, but as we approached, I became absolutely certain of the thing¡¯s dimensions. The manor built around the trunk was big enough to house giants five times the size of an average demon. I wasn¡¯t strictly a betting man, but I knew a big boss lair when I saw one. If that thing didn¡¯t contain at least one high-level jinn who could ruin our day with laughable ease, I would cut my arms off and find a stretch of sand-blasted countryside to retire in. Surely, if I could recognize the truth of our situation, the unit¡¯s leadership could as well. But thanks to the work of our mages, I could only see the four people who were under the same invisibility spell as me. I had no way to gauge the reactions of Glaustro and the other important demons. Bronwynn, though, looked more tense than I had ever seen him. An odd sense of impending disaster settled on my shoulders, making my heart beat like a drum inside my chest. Something was telling me that I was about to die, horribly, and that I should flee at once. I ignored it, because what else could I do? This was a decision I came to bitterly regret twenty minutes later. That was when the first group of advancing demons crossed some invisible line, and the trap was sprung. Our only warning was the pained grunt of their mage as she fell to her knees. Then Glaustro¡¯s entire group, at the head of the procession, popped out of stealth as one. ¡°Stop! Someone support Kayla, we need to¡ª¡± Glaustro started shouting immediately, but it was already too late. A wind stronger than any before whipped up ahead of us, and countless streams of sand converged around an invisible nucleus. The swirling cocoon grew rapidly, towering over all of us in a matter of seconds. ¡°Group up! Prepare for combat! Formation¡ª¡± Glaustro tried, he really did, but the howling wind drowned out even snatches of his voice. Then the cocoon broke, and the life it had been nourishing spilled forth. It was some kind of golem or construct, which was better than a whole group of jinn, but only barely. The thing was a collection of huge rocks spiraled by pulsing rings of sand. From its formation, I already knew its mana resistance would likely be a massive pain. Worse, runes glowed all over its chunkier body parts, channeling so much power that they were practically bleeding mana. Even the sand twisted and snapped into runic patterns as it moved. Whoever had constructed this golem was a true master. To complete its awakening, six amber ¡®eyes¡¯ snapped to glowing life on the golem¡¯s approximation of a face, and the thing reared back. Far too belatedly, I realized it was gearing up for a blow. Its arm snapped forward like a whip, and a tendril of sand unfurled with unnatural speed to strike at us. The only reason I lived past the opening move was because it wasn¡¯t aiming near me. Sand exploded around us and shot into the sky in a blinding curtain. Screams filled the air. My mana senses were barely working, but I could still feel the implosion of mana as several demonic lives were snuffed out. A second explosion followed, and a third, and a fourth. Then Glaustro roared. His rage overshadowed even the noise of the storm. There was a tremor under our feet. The sand shifted and solidified. Glaustro was stabilizing the ground beneath the troop, allowing us to keep our footing. The next moment, a fist of stone larger than the golem burst out of the sand. It hovered for an instant, then came down on the construct with crushing force. If the distant city had somehow missed all the commotion up to this point, that boom and subsequent sand explosion definitely got their attention. Yet the construct didn¡¯t fall. As if the golem itself was screaming, the winds around it intensified, rising to a deafening pitch. Their force pushed all the raised sand away, and we were treated to the sight of the golem facing Glaustro¡¯s spell head-on. It was a contest of strength, and the golem was winning. Chunks of the fist were already missing where the sand had managed to wear away the mana keeping it together. Still, I thanked our lucky stars that Glaustro¡¯s specialty was earth. Any other element would have been blown away by now. Only the extreme stability and inherent physicality of earth elemental spells allowed Glaustro to put up a fight at all. The commander roared again as his mana erupted around him in a corona of red light. Rocks rose from underneath the sand to envelop him completely. In a show remarkably similar to the appearance of the golem, Glaustro turned into a titan of stone that rivalled our enemy in size. His previous, damaged spell was integrated into this new form, giving Glaustro¡¯s stone incarnation a lopsided appearance. It didn¡¯t seem to hinder him, though. In fact, the titan¡¯s footing seemed remarkably resilient. When the golem reared back and struck with the same kind of attack that had already claimed demonic lives, Glaustro¡¯s new form didn¡¯t even flinch. He just brought his massive fist around and pile-drove the thing into the ground, then continued to bash it again and again in a frenzy of violence. I could barely see what was happening, but I could tell Glaustro wasn¡¯t victorious when the golem¡¯s screeching winds picked up yet again. This time, its attack came in the form of gale force winds that whipped the sand against all of its enemies. The deluge slammed into me like a wall. I managed to stay upright, thanks only to my spell improvements and the stabilization of our footing from Glaustro¡¯s previous spell. But the sand still felt like a grater against my skin, and this time, someone was actually wielding the tool with considerable force and skill. Trails of pain burned all across my body. My breather and goggles felt like they were being hammered into my face. They didn¡¯t break, thank goodness. Demonic craftsmanship prevailed, but it hurt more than almost anything I had experienced before. If I was having it rough, the demons were far worse off. I heard screams all around me, barely audible over the howling winds. The one weakness of their bodies was working fiercely against them. If something didn¡¯t change soon, we would all be wiped out. The moment of realization filled me with a bitter sense of irony. Out of everyone there, Mia and I were best suited to assist Glaustro in his desperate efforts. Our purely physical bodies made us tougher against the sand attacks. And if that construct was high-level enough to start developing a sense of self, a real soul, then my sword could be one of the few things capable of damaging it. I had no clue how, but it was down to the contribution of two mortals to tip the scales in our favor. Chapter 84: The Death of a Defender With my startling realization came the need to act, and I gave it my best shot. Pushing as much mana as I could gather into my body strengthening technique, I strained against the wall of sand. I was just starting to make progress when the gale force winds suddenly ceased, and I shot forward like a rocket. I didn¡¯t even have time to yell before I landed in the sand face-first. Sitting up, I wiped my goggles clean and looked around. At least the sudden drop in the winds gave me a chance to assess the situation. Things weren¡¯t going great for us. Demons lay scattered across the battlefield, most of them alive, but so battered that they were struggling to heal. While regeneration came naturally to demons, extreme levels of it did not. Only those who knew the relevant spells could regain their footing quickly. Mia was doing much better. The cat girl was on her feet, and if her glowing golden eyes were any indication, she was angry. She pressed closer to the golem faster than I could move, but she didn¡¯t get very far before the thing acted again. The lull must have allowed it to regather mana. Despite Glaustro¡¯s repeated punches, it sent another wall of sand rocketing over the battlefield. I barely managed to reach Mia in time and tackle her to the ground. The sand swarmed over us. It dealt damage, yes, but at least it didn¡¯t blow us further away. We had to reach the golem before we could try anything. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the construct, the stronger the sand became. We had only managed to gain a few yards, but they made a difference. It was a struggle to get back on our feet, let alone push forward. I wasn¡¯t sure how many more sprints we had in us. Even if my sword could hurt the thing, getting close enough to strike was starting to look impossible. Didn¡¯t mean we wouldn¡¯t try, of course. We were ready the next time a break came in the golem¡¯s attack. As soon as the wind began to slacken, we forced our bodies up and started sprinting. By the time the sand curtain dropped, allowing us to see our position, we were a few yards closer. I didn¡¯t just focus on running, though. Instead, my eyes desperately scanned the body of the construct. Golems like this were far beyond a mage of my level, so I didn¡¯t have all the necessary background information. What I did know was that, even when they gained full sentience, they weren¡¯t perfect. An artificial creature like a golem does have many advantages over ¡®born¡¯ life forms. No leftover flaws from millennia of evolution. No limitations on energy reserves. No arbitrary lifespan to race against constantly. On the other hand, their limitations are just as significant. A golem, unless purposefully built for such a thing, doesn¡¯t have the ability to grow and improve on its own. Even if a construct developed high intelligence, it could never invent unique spells or applications for mana. It would always be dependent on the enchantments placed on it by its creator. Those enchantments governed everything about a golem, including its channeling of mana. Break the correct enchantments, and you could cripple the golem¡¯s mana-related powers until it got repaired. As for this construct¡¯s amazing ability to manipulate sand? That came down to its enchantments, too. The only question was which runic set fueled that ability. I focused my inspection on the thing¡¯s arms first, simply because I was betting on the good old human-ish tendency to stick to the familiar. Golem needs to shoot an attack? Bind the enchantment to its arms, of course, because that¡¯s where the mage would cast their spells from. Unfortunately, while I could make out a ton of runes around the golem¡¯s arms, they were all related to the whip attack. I couldn¡¯t find a string or matrix that would enable the wide-ranging wall attack the thing was currently ravaging us with. That¡¯s when memories from the golem¡¯s previous actions flashed across my mind. It sounded like it was screaming before it first pulled off the sand-wall, so¡­ I didn¡¯t fight the urge to smirk when my eyes landed on the golem¡¯s ¡®throat.¡¯ Like a beautiful, complex collar, a whole string of runes wrapped around the neck several times, stretching down and ending in a core matrix just above the center of the golem¡¯s chest. I wasn¡¯t an expert, but I could still spot several references to ¡®sand¡¯, ¡®control¡¯, and ¡®wave¡¯ among the runes. That¡¯s my first target, then. While I was busy sprinting and analyzing the runes, Glaustro was still hammering away as best he could. The golem¡¯s attack had ravaged his conjured form. This forced the demon to alternate between dealing further blows and scrambling to repair his own construct. It was an impressive sight. His gigantic left arm delivered punch after punch to the golem¡¯s center mass. His right arm transformed into a hatchet that he brought down in a rain of blows, aiming for his enemy¡¯s joints. Yet all the while, boulders kept snapping out of the ground to fix the damage to his own construct body. It almost looked like they were melting into him, flowing over his stone form to fill in the gaps caused by the powerful sand. His attack wasn¡¯t entirely useless. Miniscule cracks were spreading over the golem, so Glaustro¡¯s repeated strikes were doing something.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Unfortunately, just like Glaustro, the golem seemed capable of drawing on its environment. Grains of sand rolled constantly over its rocky exterior, slipping into the cracks and sealing them over in seconds. I had to throw myself to the ground again as the golem¡¯s next ¡®scream¡¯ reached fever pitch. Mia hit the sand next to me. Then the sand-wall surged over us, turning the world into a haze of darkness, pain, and frustration. This isn¡¯t going to work. It just isn¡¯t. The breaks are too short for us to advance fast enough, and this deluge is already pushing us away. I tried my best to hold on, to anchor myself, but I still slid a few inches backwards. There just weren¡¯t any convenient handholds available. Whatever Glaustro had done at the start of combat to stabilize the ground had dissipated. There was only sand under us now, and it definitely wasn¡¯t working our favor. If we tried to rush closer to the golem, we would be blown away by the next wall of sand, and then we would be even worse off than we were at the start. Frustration threatened to boil over in my chest. I thought of all the stuff I could do if I was just stronger, wiser, with more training and spells under my belt. Even the spell Glaustro used to communicate with us when we first entered Lagyel would have been invaluable, because I could ask for his support. But I can¡¯t even¡­ My thoughts trailed off. It was true that I didn¡¯t know the spell he had used, but that didn¡¯t mean I was without options if I wanted to communicate with him. Demons had the ability to sense the emotions of mortals. What better way to catch his attention than through that ability? I had never tried to invoke my feelings on purpose before. In fact, I had worked hard to keep them tightly controlled, for fear of losing myself to madness. Now, though? Now, I could only hope this vulnerability would become a strength. I focused on my what I wanted, on the desperate hope that I could assist Glaustro, on the need for my harebrained scheme to work, on the frustration that filled me when I realized I wasn¡¯t good enough even to make it to the golem. I gathered all of it, and then I tried to scream it to the world. I floundered. Rather than a psychic scream, I felt more like I was straining myself on a toilet. The lid I always kept over my emotions nowadays was still firmly in place. That made anger bubble up. And this time, instead of pushing it down, I embraced it. I let it flood every inch of my being, then struggled to direct it towards something productive. It was difficult. The need to thrash and scream and punch things like a toddler was overwhelming. Somehow, I managed to keep myself on track. I need you, I need you, I need you¡­ Please, help me! The words were my mantra. I wrapped my very soul around my memories of Glaustro, both the good and the bad, and fused them with my ardent desire to get us all out of this mess. With an instinctive twist of mana in my chest, the emotional tide came streaming out of me, like a high pressure valve had suddenly broken. For a beat or two, nothing happened. Then an outside force clamped me in its grip, prying my mind open with laughable ease. ¡°This better be good,¡± came the mental whisper of my commander. I could have wept. ¡°Or I will make you regret distracting me.¡± Well, he¡¯s a little grumpy. That¡¯s understandable. I winced when I realized I didn¡¯t know if he could hear idle thoughts. Come to think of it, I didn¡¯t know if I could reply on purpose at all, but I gave it a good ol¡¯ college try. ¡°I can hurt it. I can stop these attacks. I just need you to get me closer to it.¡± A beat. Then: ¡°Are you certain of this, soldier?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Definitely. Probably. Maybe? It was a distinct possibility, but I carefully kept all my creeping doubt out of our mental dialogue. If I didn¡¯t do anything, we were dead. If I tried and we died, then I would just get punished later, which was probably better than lying here and waiting to get smashed or grated to death. ¡°Be ready.¡± I didn¡¯t know what he wanted me to be ready for, but I obeyed anyway. Instinctively, my hand snaked out over the sand, searching blindly until my fingers brushed against Mia¡¯s arm. I traced it to her hand, and then I held onto her for dear life. The moment came as soon as the sand-wave began to slacken again. A massive fist of stone rose beneath us, lifting us up and closing around our bodies protectively. I thought he would slam us towards the golem, but instead, we soared through the air with blinding speed and crashed into the back of Glaustro¡¯s construct. The pain I expected never came. There was no impact. Like falling through the surface of the lake, the construct¡¯s back swallowed us, and I had to fight hard not to panic. I could feel the press of stone enveloping me on all sides, locking me into place, making it impossible to breathe. My mind swam, both from the lack of oxygen and my rising panic, but then I felt some force dragging us through the construct¡¯s body. With a boom of rattling stone, I found myself getting pushed out. That first gasp of air was the sweetest thing I ever tasted, however limited by the breather still attached to my face. The experience was only slightly soured by the fact that I was immediately dumped onto the golem¡¯s chest. Glaustro¡¯s construct had abandoned its more humanoid appearance. It now looked like it was melting over the golem, locking parts of the enemy¡¯s body in place. Already the thing¡¯s ¡®legs¡¯ were mostly immobilized, and Glaustro had one of its arms trapped as well. His massive stone fist was pressed against the golem¡¯s chest, which was where I had been thrust out, along with Mia. It was sheer preservation instinct that drove me onwards. The golem was already starting to whine with the rising winds that would send out a new wave of sand. From that close, I could see the runes around its throat slowly lighting up as they filled with mana. I scrambled further up the thing¡¯s chest. My sword came up, and then I drove it down with both hands. It parted the stone with remarkable ease, slicing straight through several of the glowing runes. I should have expected the result. A thrum like a hiss escaped into the air, and then a whole section of the golem¡¯s neck exploded. I was launched backwards, my momentum only bleeding away when someone snatched me out of the air and spun me around. I caught a hint of Mia¡¯s ears and tail, then I was pushed back onto my feet. I stumbled, but kept my footing, managing to dive straight down and stab the golem a second time. I dashed around, striking again and again, dealing as much damage to the golem¡¯s runes as I could. Each blow caused an explosion, but Mia followed me around, catching me before I could get blown away. Rune after rune was savaged, and the effects were showing. Slowly, the construct¡¯s whine grew discordant, then petered out entirely. It was still fighting in Glaustro¡¯s grasp. Sand was trying to climb up its form and fill in the cracks, but it couldn¡¯t move fast enough. Finally, when I drove my sword into a particularly complex rune matrix, the creeping sand stopped as well. A whoosh of wind streamed past me from the sheer amount of mana leaking out of the golem, but when that stopped, the construct was no longer trying to throw off Glaustro¡¯s massive stone form. It stood there, completely still, a lifeless hunk of rock. I practically collapsed as relief and exhaustion caught up with me. We did it. Somehow, we did it. My ears were ringing. My eyes were blurry. I could have passed out then and there. I would have, if the piercing sound of a horn didn¡¯t rip through the air in that moment. My head snapped up, my eyes fixed on the distant city. Already, a cloud of fliers was forming above the massive treetop manor. The city¡¯s forces were coming for us. And we had barely managed to kill one golem. Chapter 85: Laid Arms I stared at my approaching death with a detached sort of despair. It didn¡¯t feel quite real, to be honest. The distant dots of whatever fliers the jinn were preparing didn¡¯t look too dangerous. And if they were¡­ well, what exactly could we do about it? Mia, on the other hand, did not share my morose resignation. The cat girl placed herself in front of me, teeth bared and long claws glinting in the sunlight, ready to rip into anything that eventually descended upon us. ¡°Good work, you two.¡± Glaustro¡¯s pained grunt as he melted out of his rock construct snapped me out of my daze. Suddenly, I wanted to shout, or do something similarly inane. Approaching death, remember? But the calmness of my commander stopped that urge in its tracks. Instead, I watched silently as he strolled up to the center of the golem¡¯s chest, then stomped his foot down. The golem¡¯s body trembled, but that was it. The demon grunted again, this time in annoyance, as he took a knee. His hands lit up, then literally parted the rock, digging deep into it. Eventually, he tugged out a glowing orb the size of a watermelon, covered in densely packed runes. It was perfectly spherical, and it bled mana. The only blemish on it was a single crack, which I easily recognized as my sword¡¯s handiwork. I must have gotten lucky while indulging in my rune stab-fest. In my panic, I definitely hadn¡¯t thought to aim for a core. Not that I would have known where to look for it, of course. Golem makers could stick the core into any part of their creation. Still, this particular golem¡¯s crafter was definitely a stickler for tradition. The core had been treated as a literal ¡®heart¡¯, and placed accordingly. I wanted to scoff, but that had worked out in our favor, so the mage-creator got a pass. Even so¡­ ¡°Sir?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to ask him, so I settled on that one word. ¡®What the hell are you doing?¡¯ and ¡®Is that really important when we¡¯re about to die?¡¯ seemed a tad disrespectful. After all, it was only his intervention that had made it possible for me to go all stabby-stab on the golem in the first place. ¡°Keep this, soldier. You deserve it.¡± Glaustro held the core out to me with a smile, and I hesitantly took it. He turned away, took a deep breath, and then made his mana manifest around him again. I stared at the core for a second before shrugging. If he wanted me to have a little more loot before the end, who was I to say no? Come to think of it, thanks to my soul-bound dimensional pouch, I would get to keep the core even after our imminent death. This perked me up a little. While I was struggling to force the core into my dimensional purse, Glaustro raised his arms dramatically. Mana pulsed out of him, spreading much more easily now that the sandstorm wasn¡¯t backed by the golem¡¯s magic. All over our battlefield, rock constructs rose out of the ground, scooping up demons as they went. Some of these demons protested, and some even managed to evade capture due to their relatively stable condition, but most looked like they had been put through a blender. Sadly, that description wasn¡¯t too far from the truth. ¡°Let it happen,¡± Glaustro bellowed. After that, his conjured minions finished collecting demons in short order. Our losses weren¡¯t as bad as I had feared. The golem¡¯s initial attacks took out a bunch of demons, but the subsequent waves merely caused serious injuries. As far as I could gauge, we lost about 200 soldiers. A fifth of our forces. But when the alternative was a full wipe, it didn¡¯t seem so horrible. Face creased in concentration, Glaustro motioned with his hands. His gigantic construct, already half-melted over the golem, collapsed fully. Then it rose up again, forming into a massive snake. The rock-minions carrying demons walked straight into the snake, melting into it and taking their cargo with them. I blinked, then slowly turned to look at my commander. He quirked an inquisitive brow at me. ¡°Well? Are you coming, or do you need an escort as well?¡± Wisely, I decided to shut up and follow him. The snake opened its jaws. Its rocky tongue unfurled, presenting a perfect ramp for Glaustro, Mia, and me. We strolled down this ramp to join the rest of our unit inside the snake¡¯s belly. The space would have been cramped if not for the many nooks carved into the walls, where the most heavily wounded demons had already been laid. Some were unconscious. Still, the majority of the survivors were on their feet, waiting for us. I was relieved to spot Bronwynn towards the front of the group. Quickly looking over his injuries, I relaxed further. He had bloodstains on the front of his armor. His left leg was savaged, and it looked like he was barely able to stand. He had small cuts all over his exposed skin. But his eyes were bright and aware, and he was currently assessing me and Mia the same way I was assessing him. The snake¡¯s mouth closed behind us, plunging the space into darkness. The whole construct trembled as it began to move.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. A second later, light winked into existence above the crystalline demoness, her ice body twinkling softly under the illumination of her spell. ¡°Well, that was a right mess,¡± she said cheerfully, which earned her more than a few scowls. Glaustro just looked amused. ¡°I admit I did not expect them to be capable of weaponizing the local environment. Not to that extent. By all rights, it doesn¡¯t make sense. If the blasted sand is mana resistant, then they shouldn¡¯t be able to manipulate it so easily.¡± Was my mighty commander whining? It sounded suspiciously like he was. ¡°And yet they are,¡± his aide jumped in with a sigh. The normally impeccable Tybalt looked haggard. His clipboard was nowhere to be seen. ¡°We saw it when that jinn attacked the city, too. I should have prepared for something like this.¡± ¡°It was an unfortunate string of events, yes, but let¡¯s not act like we earned nothing. Just knowing that such golems exist will be invaluable for high command. Be proud. We survived, and we will be rewarded for it,¡± Glaustro declared, visibly lifting the spirits of everyone inside the snake¡¯s belly. Tybalt, however, seemed determined to force reality on us. ¡°Only if we get away, commander.¡± I was not the only one who grimaced at that. Anxiety briefly thrummed through my chest, but the placid look on Glaustro¡¯s face calmed me somewhat. ¡°We are currently underground. I am empowering my construct to burrow at top speeds. It¡¯s not faster than flight, but they will have a much harder time tracking us. Otherwise, well¡­ if we die, we die. If it comes to that, I will detonate my construct so they can¡¯t inflict a worse death on us.¡± My expression soured. I really didn¡¯t want to know that my commander¡¯s calm mood stemmed entirely from his confidence in an easy death. To my surprise, the reassurance actually did the trick for the rest of my comrades. Smiles slowly peeked through on the demons¡¯ faces, and some even began to chatter excitedly. I could do little but stare at them in shock before the mystery resolved itself in my mind. They were used to it. They were used to fighting all-out, to the very best of their ability, then laying down their arms and accepting death. As I scanned through the crowd, I realized that not a single demon looked tense or uncomfortable. How many times had they all died and then returned to life? How many times did someone have to go through that process before they became entirely indifferent to it? I didn¡¯t know, and I wasn¡¯t sure I would like the answer. I definitely didn¡¯t view the prospect with any degree of indifference. Judging by her stiff posture and the way her eyes were darting around, neither did Mia. ¡°You okay?¡± I whispered, trying not to bring attention to her emotional state, even if the effort was meaningless in a room full of abyssal empaths. ¡°I don¡¯t like being underground. Or in tight spaces. Or in tight underground spaces,¡± Mia hissed. I had to fight to keep my face blank. Mia was not, in fact, worried about our potential deaths. No, she was dealing with a phobia. Well, that makes me feel silly. I decided to drop it. It felt kind of nice to give up on the worrying anyway. Instead, I dragged Mia down to lean against the construct¡¯s wall. ¡°Come on,¡± I said, extracting my grimoire. ¡°We need to work more on your spell optimization. With your natural advantages, you should be much faster than me when we¡¯re both running the same technique, but you¡¯re barely staying ahead.¡± The cat girl bristled at the ¡®insult¡¯, but it did the trick. She held half the book while I held the other, and we bent our heads over the diagrams and detailed drawings of the human body. She grumbled fiercely about the drawings, saying the technique did not account for her ears and her tail, and that whole muscle groups were entirely different. Nonetheless, we studied diligently for a long time. It was a wonderful distraction, not to mention practical, but it didn¡¯t entirely drown out all the worrisome activity around us. I was keenly aware of Glaustro¡¯s rigid posture and pale, sweating face. I couldn¡¯t ignore the fact that his aide kept surreptitiously slipping mana crystals into the commander¡¯s hands. They were far shinier and larger than any mana crystals I had seen, but the exhausted sergeant still worked through each one in a matter of minutes. It was also hard to miss when, several hours into our retreat, the tremors of the construct¡¯s motion grew far more turbulent. At one point, an explosion rocked the snake¡¯s entire form, making chips of stone rain down from the ceiling. The demons all tensed at the sound, but their faces remained blank, maintaining the fa?ade that nothing notable was happening. I found it much harder to be so casual. Even knowing that I would come back, even having gone through the process once already, I felt like a vise was squeezing my chest. My pulse hammered away, so loudly that I was pretty sure Mia hear it. Regardless, she definitely sensed my anxiety. She made no comment, bless her heart, and even doubled down on her questions about the spell, but that only helped a little. ¡°Prepare to engage.¡± Glaustro¡¯s words were as sudden as they were disquieting. The next moment, everyone was on their feet with weapons ready, myself included. My eyes darted all over the snake, though there was no way I could spot an approaching throat through its walls. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long. With a low whine, something broke through the ¡®ceiling¡¯ and crashed down to the floor. I had just enough time to assess the intruder before the demons were on top of it. The creature, if it could be called that, was a short, stubby thing. The trunk of its body was a tube, adorned with runes and glowing with power. Its face was a collection of drill-like instruments, with an opening that accepted the incoming sand and dirt. It had four legs and a long, sinuous tail with a star-like shape at the end. Dirt was currently streaming out through that tip like water through a hose, but without new material coming in, the stream quickly petered out. It was obviously a construct, but I couldn¡¯t tell whether its original purpose was pursuit, or if the jinn were just using whatever they could get their hands on. Then I had no time to puzzle over such details, because dozens of the drilling constructs began breaking into the snake. I spun immediately towards the closest intruder, slashing my sword confidently at its spinning drills. Unfortunately, the impact rattled my arm and sent me skidding backwards. The incensed thing decided to pursue. I leveraged my strengthening technique, combining it with the movement technique Mia taught me. Flashing past the creature, I raked my sword along its side this time. Once again, my attack proved to be of little use. The only result was a shower of sparks. Then Mia descended on the construct like the wrath of some unholy god, her enchanted sword wreathed in flames. The thing faltered. The next instant, Mia stuck her implement of death in the creature¡¯s artificial jaws and poured all her mana into it. Flames blazed white, then blue. The thing finally stopped moving as its enchantments failed and its insides melted. ¡°Your sword defective?¡± Mia asked with a smirk, looking immensely proud to have scored the kill. I felt my lips twitch into a smile despite my annoyance. ¡°No. These things just aren¡¯t alive.¡± My voice was bitter. I had finally encountered it, my one weakness: fully artificial life forms. The golem skirted the rule, having been granted true life by its creator. But if anything lacked a soul, I could not cut through it with ease. Maybe if my sword was several upgrades closer to its final form, I could accomplish something. At the moment, though, I was stuck. Thankfully, the creatures went down quickly after that. The demons seemed to be taking all their frustrations out on the constructs. And unlike the scorpion beasts, these were not durable enough to shrug off unnaturally strong blows. Shortly after the final construct fell, the tremors of our ride evened out, returning to their pre-attack levels. I didn¡¯t quite dare believe it yet, but there was a strong chance that we were finally safe. TTA Book 1 - Now on Amazon! Calling all readers old and new! The reason I have gathered you here today is to share some exciting news. Namely, book one of The Twelve Apocalypses is finally out! Like most things, The Twelve Apocalypses is a team effort. I had an incredible editor who polished my roughest thoughts into bright diamonds, an awesome artist who designed a genuinely amazing cover art, and all the amazing readers who have followed the story from chapter 1. It means the world to me that you all have enjoyed my work, and that is a wonderful source of inspiration and desire to keep putting out chapters!Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. As most of you might know, the dream for every author is to publish their book. It¡¯s INCREDIBLY neat to see my name out there and have the opportunity to reach more readers. If you have a minute, could I ask you to borrow the book on Amazon (free if you have Kindle Unlimited) and leave a rating or review? The way that that Amazon works is that the more attention a book gets, the more their algorithms promote the story to potential readers. So every little bit helps. These past few months have been incredible, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you! AT Valentine -- Link to Book One Chapter 86: The Ties That Bind Our journey back to somewhat friendly civilization was not a comfortable one. Considering the value of the information we had acquired, Glaustro was convinced that someone would try to track us. As such, he persisted in his control of the snake construct. He couldn¡¯t keep it up indefinitely, though, nor could we actually go the whole way without surfacing for air. Some of the demons had air magic, true, and Glaustro was happily burning through mana crystals. But neither situation was sustainable for too long. So, we spent our nights inside the snake, with its head poking out of the sand. The open jaws looked like a cave. Of course, the fact that we were out of the wind was a vast improvement over the previous mode of travel. Not having sand constantly blowing in our faces had improved the demons¡¯ mood considerably. Mia, though? My poor companion¡¯s food intake was steadily declining as we stayed cooped up underground inside the construct. We weren¡¯t even allowed to stretch our feet outside at night. If the jinn that attacked our city had left enough of a trail for us to track him back to the tree, we would almost certainly produce traces our enemies could spot. Bronwynn did explain, when I pressed him on the subject, that the artifact Glaustro had used to track the jinn was built to detect souls and the energy they emitted. Demons were experts in these matters, so we had a pair of mages scrubbing our traces as we travelled. Still, with all the unexpected abilities the jinn had shown off already, no one knew exactly what they were capable of. Hence the high alert and maximum, snake-bound security. Glaustro¡¯s caution made sense, really, even though I¡¯m sure Mia thought it was excessive. I tried my best to distract her. Bronwynn joined the effort once he realized what the problem was. Still, things grew stale rather quickly. There was only so much conversation and magical research you could force on someone before they grew sick of it. I wasn¡¯t exactly at the height of my wellbeing, either. While most of my claustrophobia had fled, a mere temporary side effect of battle stress, some of it lingered. The more days that stretched by, full of bland food, cramped quarters, and demons who tended to quarrel when bored, I was hitting a hard limit as well. When Glaustro announced one morning that we would arrive at our destination a few hours after breakfast, the relief was as strong as it was universal. Even the commander seemed more relaxed, so much so that he let the construct travel aboveground. We were still in cramped quarters, and he was still burning mana so he could order the snake back underground instantly if needed. But he did cast an odd little transmutation spell that transformed some of the snake¡¯s sides into glass. This gave us an amazing view of¡­ well, boilerplate desert scenery. Still, after days of nothing but rock and the same old familiar faces, it was a significant step up. Mia took this as a sign that her tribulations would soon be over, which immediately improved her mood. After witnessing such variety in the first two cities on Lagyel, I had to admit I was anxiously awaiting this new one. After all, this was the city where the Legion of Torment had established its headquarters for this world. I had serious doubts it would beat the tree we were forced to flee, but compared to the copy-paste approach of Berlis, my time on this new world had been pretty rewarding so far in terms of life experiences. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t disappointed. The first glance I got of the city was a glittering jewel on the horizon. It glimmered and sparkled under the unrelenting desert sky, but I struggled to make out any detail that would explain why. Then I spotted the familiar sheen and spherical shape, and I was catapulted back in time. It was in the city of Flaurmere on Berlis that I saw my first spatial barrier. The shield had stretched over the settlement like a coruscating pearl, shimmering in every color of the rainbow. I could barely see through it, just enough to make out the humans patrolling the walls, glaring back at us with equal parts terror and defiance. This new city was definitely enveloped in a spatial barrier. However, unlike the rough construct deployed by the people of Berlis, this was a refined, stately ward. The glimmering colors were not opaque. They were accents, beautifying the city¡¯s sky. You could see right through the barrier if you so desired. I did desire to see through the barrier, because the city it protected was beautiful. The entire thing was constructed entirely out of some gleaming crystal, in line with the apparent tradition of Lagyel. But what really set the city apart was the fantastical plant life. Red vines wound around the streets and buildings. As we got closer, I spotted the same vines adorning more decorative elements like statues and fountains. The vines might have been an eyesore, a mere nuisance to get rid of posthaste. They would have been, were it not for the large, heavy flowers that draped off them. Blue, red, yellow, white, and green flowers of every imaginable shade refracted the light of the sun, washing the city in their colors. Because of course the creepy red vines would produce crystalline flowers of astonishing beauty.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Just as important for the city¡¯s atmosphere was the water. The city was built on one of the few areas of actual rocky land, a relatively tall hill. Buildings covered the top and sprawled down the sides, almost reaching the sands below. This layout had allowed the city¡¯s builders to craft a series of descending fountains and waterways, conducting a constant stream of the life-giving liquid down the hill¡¯s slopes to pool in a wide moat. The water sprayed clouds of mist, which caught the colored rays of sunlight from the flowers and added an enchanting touch to the whole ambience. Frankly, I couldn¡¯t wait to walk the city¡¯s streets. Just admiring it from a distance was doing wonders for my mental health. Even Mia had settled down to gaze at it with unblinking eyes. Once we were close enough to pick out all these details, Glaustro briefly paused our progress, breaking into a low chant. Runes swirled out of him and spun around his hands. He clapped his hands then spread them wide, and a hole opened in reality itself. A small, bird-like creature crawled from the hole. I didn¡¯t get to observe it closely, because it immediately threw itself into Glaustro¡¯s waiting arms, extracting a bounty in petting as the demon patiently whispered to it in a surprisingly soft voice. When he was done, he opened his arms, forcing the bird to flutter away from him with a protesting chirp. Then it took off towards the city, faster than my eyes could track it. That done, Glaustro got us moving again. Another hour brought us within a few feet of the barrier. I expected our commander to stop and order us to assemble so we could be admitted inside, but he did no such thing. He simply drove straight through it. Passing through the barrier was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. It felt like I was stretched in multiple directions all at once, each miniscule piece of me thrown to the furthest reaches of the universe before I slammed back together again on the other side of the crystalline dome. I was left panting and more than a little shaken, but at least I had an answer to something that was bothering me: how were they maintaining the barrier, spatial magic or not, in the face of the sandstorms? The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple. Namely, they never let the grains of sand touch the spellwork to begin with. The theory behind such a thing was so mind-boggling, I couldn¡¯t even begin to comprehend it, but I think I barely grasped the basic principle. The barrier erected a vast distance of empty space between itself and the outside world, all contained within less than an inch of its surface. Without the controller¡¯s permission, no invader could hope to approach the true barrier at all. It was an immensely impressive showing of all the advanced tricks demons were capable of when it came to magic, but I mostly appreciated how it kept the city blessedly sand-free. The barrier might have also been mitigating the heat issues related to desert-living. When the stone snake finally melted away, depositing us gently on the city¡¯s street, the air was pleasantly cool and even edging towards chilly. ¡°Brother!¡± The happy exclamation immediately drew my eyes towards an approaching demon, who I was shocked to recognize as Graighast. ¡°I got your message. I must say I was surprised to have you contact me this soon.¡± Graighast sounded so sincerely happy, I felt kind of bad to see the brief grimace flit over Glaustro¡¯s face, but my commander smoothed his expression into a small smile quickly enough. ¡°And I thank you for getting here so quickly. We had a bit of a¡­ situation.¡± At that, the somberness I associated with Graighast reappeared. His keen gaze swept over us. ¡°I see that. Unless I¡¯m mistaken, you¡¯re missing a good many of your soldiers. What happened?¡± ¡°I would rather not repeat this story multiple times, or in public.¡± Glaustro looked around, frowning. There weren¡¯t a ton of demons milling about, but our flashy entrance had drawn some attention. ¡°I know this might be a bit of an ask, especially with how recent your promotion is, but I need you to get us a meeting with Lieutenant General Crewe. I promise it¡¯ll be worth your time.¡± Graighast blinked, but he was quick to agree. ¡°Anything you need, brother. You know this. Is it really so serious, though?¡± Glaustro gave the man a pointed look, then glanced around again. ¡°Just trust me.¡± ¡°I do.¡± Graighast nodded, then smiled. ¡°Come on. I know a good restaurant close to the headquarters where we can relax while we wait for him to see us. I promise it won¡¯t take long, either. If you¡¯re this serious about things, I know he¡¯ll want to see you.¡± ¡°Just a second, but that sounds good.¡± Glaustro turned to look at all of us. ¡°For now, you are dismissed. You can spend your time at your leisure. I trust you not to get into undue trouble. I¡¯ll notify you if I need you, or if I manage to get us shared accommodations, but¡­ this is the current capital of our operations here. I doubt I¡¯ll be able to claim a compound.¡± ¡°Nonsense, we¡¯ll do something about this,¡± Graighast rushed to reassure him. ¡°We¡¯ll sort it out.¡± Glaustro returned his brother¡¯s smile, but I knew the commander well enough to see his expression was strained. As the two strolled away together, I stared after them thoughtfully. The first time I met Glaustro, he was on rather antagonistic terms with his brother. There was tension between them on account of Graighast¡¯s promotion ahead of Glaustro, especially since the latter was left to languish because, in his own words, he ¡®refused to suck up¡¯ to the right people. I couldn¡¯t know what they had done or discussed, but when I met them in the Abyss after my revival, their relationship seemed much better. Seeing them together now, though, I could tell some of those old issues were surfacing again. Still¡­ I suppose there¡¯s no avoiding some relationships, no matter how strained. I had a feeling the brothers wouldn¡¯t allow things to get as bad as they were before. Surely, in a place as surprisingly dangerous as Lagyel, there were more important things to worry about. I forced my attention away from the brothers. It wasn¡¯t like I could afford the time or energy to worry about my commander¡¯s family dynamic. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go find something to eat,¡± Mia demanded, gripping my wrist and dragging me off. To my surprise and amusement, not only had she caught Bronwynn with her other hand, but the demon was letting her manhandle him with only token protest. They had grown much closer over the last few days of travelling together. What began as shared space because they were both friends with me had grown into a quiet sort of friendship. They were both content to just hang out, without feeling the need to chatter much, if at all. It was kind of cute, to be honest, watching them be grumps together. At least, until they eventually teamed up on me. But even as I let them drag me into relaxing with them, I couldn¡¯t help feeling tense. Anxiety hummed constantly in the back of my mind. We had discovered a major base of jinn operations, and the legion leadership wasn¡¯t likely to ignore such a thing, even at the best of times. Since the discovery was the result of an investigation into an attack on one of their cities? Yeah, there would be hell to pay. Pun intended. As the discoverer of the city, Glaustro would probably be dragged into it. And as his unit, where he went, we would follow. In other words, over the course of however long the legion¡¯s leaders saw fit to let us rest, I was going to have to find some way to improve my combat potential. Significantly. Otherwise, I was going to get squished when the titans came out to play. Chapter 87: The Bounty of a Demon ¡°So¡­ Lieutenant General Crewe?¡± I asked as I gently stirred my drink, admiring the way colors swirled with every motion of my spoon. ¡°Who is that?¡± As much as I wanted to sequester myself in an Absorption Station and try to improve my chances of survival, I also didn¡¯t want to abandon Mia and Bronwynn immediately. Besides, both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves so much that I found myself gradually relaxing, too. ¡°One of our esteemed general¡¯s most trusted men,¡± Bronwynn quipped, sipping his own drink with a contented smile. We were in a fancy drinks store, but the infidel had gone with some kind of coffee-like grind. For only a single lesser soul, I had ordered the Galactic Berry Delight, which promised to let me ¡®taste the galaxy of berry flavors.¡¯ So maybe Bronwynn was right to play it safe. I was trying to be tactful. Sue me. At least I had nothing on Mia. She had latched onto the Amazing Meats Swirly and refused to be talked out of trying the abomination. Unlike my sparkly chemical spill, her drink was an off-brown reddish color that kind of reminded me of a roast. Worst of all, she was visibly enjoying the concoction, ears and tail flicking away as she bounced with a slightly goofy smile. I still hadn¡¯t dared take a sip of mine. Call me a coward, but the server had promised me the drink would remain nice and cool until I finished, so I was taking my sweet time. ¡°You do realize ¡®one of our esteemed general¡¯s most trusted men¡¯ tells me nothing, right? Right?¡± I pushed. Then, finally, I lifted my cup and took a sip. My eyes widened as flavor exploded across my tongue. It felt like I had just eaten a spoonful of mashed berries, except I was tasting every single one, distinctly, all at once. It was like someone had carefully segmented my brain and then disconnected the various pieces, dedicating each to experiencing a different flavor. It was overwhelming. It was kind of terrifying. It was¡­ tasty, and I wanted more. While I took a second sip, Bronwynn sighed. ¡°He rose to prominence by single-handedly butchering an army of rakshasa on the world of Greybolt, dealing a decisive blow to the enemy force that let us drive them out of the world and claim it for ourselves. Since then, he¡¯s gone on to lead no less than thirty-seven successful invasions, always in worlds that were either contentious or extremely well defended. Does that satisfy you?¡± ¡°No.¡± I grinned like the mischievous gremlin I was. ¡°I want to know what he¡¯s like and how he might react to the information we gathered.¡± Once more, Bronwynn sighed. ¡°He¡¯s levelheaded and fair. Despite his reputation as being reckless, he¡¯s not. He¡¯s one of the more preeminent military geniuses we have, if rumors are to be trusted. Of course, that doesn¡¯t really mean much in Torment. Ours isn¡¯t a very¡­ strategically minded layer. But he¡¯s still good.¡± ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll insist on taking that city?¡± I let some of my anxiety slip into my voice, though I tried to keep the emotion off my face. Bronwynn spent a few moments just staring at me, but he eventually nodded. ¡°Most likely, yes. You need to understand, the legion hasn¡¯t found any major jinn strongholds. Not until now. We¡¯ve been warring with them for months, and territories have exchanged hands multiple times, but we haven¡¯t had a real success. This is the lieutenant general¡¯s opportunity to show real progress.¡± The delightful drink was starting to taste a little more sour in my mouth. ¡°And it doesn¡¯t help that we only found the place because one of our cities was attacked, does it?¡± I asked. Bronwynn shrugged, which was really all the answer I needed. So it was war. True, that¡¯s what we came to Lagyel for, but I had kind of hoped serious engagements were still a few months away. That would have given us time to build ourselves up as a unit. Time to learn how to fight together, rather than as a mob of demons breaking down into individual duels. Time for me to advance further, and maybe even reach true ascension. If things were heating up, though, there was almost zero chance that Glaustro would do anything to keep us out of the action. Try as he might to overcome it, the demon was still driven by his brotherly rivalry. The only way out would be if the lieutenant general specifically ordered us not to fight. At least, that would have been my assessment before I found out Graighast got promoted. Now, though¡­ I was willing to bet Glaustro would fight even if he was ordered not to. It didn¡¯t take long after that for us to part ways temporarily. Mia wanted to stroll through the city and shop for more food, Bronwynn had his own stuff to do, and I begged off to visit the Absorption Station. In spite of the circumstances, I felt a dash of excitement take hold. I hadn¡¯t yet had a chance to really sit down and go through all the spoils I had earned since the jinn attack. I had done a few cursory sweeps, like after the scorpion battle, but that wasn¡¯t the same thing as properly counting out souls. So, when I entered the comforting protection of the Absorption Station¡¯s dome, the first order of business was a detailed inventory of my soul purse. The results were enough to leave me dazed, and more than a little lightheaded. 1422 souls. Between what I had left on me when we arrived on Lagyel, my monthly soul allotment, and the souls I earned from the local critters, there were 1422 souls in my possession. I had convinced myself that the scorpions would yield only lesser souls, since they were some weird kind of insect, but no. Each and every one of them was worth a regular, basic soul, which meant I now had a small fortune on my hands. Better yet, it was souls I had earned, rather than getting some generous gift from the general.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Don¡¯t get me wrong. I was grateful for those thousand souls he gave me. But it didn¡¯t feel real. Besides, I knew I would be spending most of those souls immediately. But now? I had personally spilled insect blood to earn these souls. I had pried each one from its body myself. And I didn¡¯t even feel guilty about any of it because¡­ well, scorpions. The real crowning jewel of my bounty, however, was the superior tier soul from the golem. The fact that I had landed the ¡®killing¡¯ blow was apparently enough for the Abyss to assign the soul to me, even though I never would have succeeded without Glaustro. Problem was, I didn¡¯t quite know what to do with it. Theoretically, I could absorb it or use it in place of a hundred basic souls, but the idea did not appeal to me. It felt disingenuous to use the soul of such a significant fallen foe just to further my progress by a little. The golem also had no skills worth plundering through the station¡¯s surgical powers. The station zeroed in on learned skills and hard-earned abilities, rather than any innate magical nature. Since golems could never develop such things, and the soul¡¯s previous owner had been stuck guarding a single border throughout its entire existence, all it could give me was some basic knowledge about the world of Lagyel. Honestly? The best option was to devour the soul like a demon would. That way, I could tap fully into its memories and live through the experience of being a construct. This wasn¡¯t just to sate my curiosity about such life forms. By reliving the golem¡¯s life, I would be able to sense every mana circuit, every rune, and every single component that went into building the construct. Golems were preternaturally aware of their bodies, after all. If all went well, I eventually would be able to recreate the construct, this time under my control. For this reason alone, the soul was immensely valuable. Valuable enough that, if I handed it over to high command, I might get showered in thousands of basic souls. Unfortunately, I felt strongly disinclined to do that. The last time I was in possession of a superior soul, I had no choice but to gift it to Glaustro. Trying to keep it would have led to my untimely demise, at minimum. Things were different now. I was building up my power, I had actual allies, and I might be claiming my own spot as a demon in the near-ish future. I wasn¡¯t a demon yet. I wouldn¡¯t be able to devour this soul until after my ascension. But its allure was intoxicating, and I refused to give it up. I even wondered sometimes how things would be different if I had been able to keep the soul of that Archmage. I pretended indifference, but I couldn¡¯t ignore that I was caught in an awkward situation: I was at the second highest tier of magecraft, and I had about 3.5 spells in my repertoire. As a mage, I was a disgrace. With the memories of an Archmage, one who had studied advanced forms of mana, I could have been so much more already. I sighed, rolled my shoulders, and cast off my regrets for the time being. Then I seriously considered my options. Unless I wanted to learn how to burrow, the scorpion souls were only good for purchases or trading. Likewise, I was definitely shelving the golem soul. That left me with the choice of whether or not to sacrifice a couple hundred souls in the name of further ascension. It was definitely something I had to do before we left the city, but¡­ As shameful as it was, I was afraid. Already, the side-effects of my ascension were getting out of hand, and it wasn¡¯t that long ago that I had gorged on the soul sacrifice. I wouldn¡¯t stop. I couldn¡¯t stop, but maybe I could afford to take a bit more time? At the very least, there was something I realized I would have to do if I wanted to maximize my advantages. Slowly and reverently, I drew my sword from its scabbard and let the station show me its traits again.
Legacy of Lethaniel: Demonic Soul Blade Tier: Damaged Demonic Weapon
Damaged demonic weapon. The sword that had saved my life time and again was a ¡®mere¡¯ damaged demonic weapon. Well, that simply won¡¯t do. I ran my fingers over the blade lovingly, then focused for a moment.
Would you like to nurture the blade through sacrifice?
Quietly, I pressed yes, and watched that same pedestal rise from the station¡¯s ground. It was worn and ancient-looking, yet it emanated such might that I wondered how I had missed the sensation the first time around. There was a groove on top clearly meant for my blade, a receptacle for souls, and channels connecting the two. I slotted my sword into the groove. Extracting a soul from my purse, I gently pushed it into the sacrifice receptacle. The soul dissolved. The light it released travelled along the glowing channels and covered my blade, which slowly absorbed it. One by one, the sword steadily gulped down the souls. But, just like last time, the changes were slow to appear. Some of the blade¡¯s cracks grew more defined, as if they were part of the design rather than just accidental damage. The edge grew a tiny bit sharper. That was it. Everything changed when I slotted in the thousandth soul. The day I bound the blade to myself, I was nearly overwhelmed by the power it had brought to bear against my soul. I was living through the same sensation now. A crimson glow erupted, and a wave of power slammed into me. The sword hummed and tried to rattle out of its groove. Light surged around the blade, equally blinding and hypnotic. When the show finally ended, I was breathless. The sword was beautiful. The blade now gleamed, its soft lemon-green color on full display. It looked like waves were constantly rippling over its surface, hinting at power trapped within. The ¡®cracks¡¯ had resolved themselves into vicious-looking grooves that ran from the tip of the blade down its full length. They culminated in the handle, feeding a gem that gleamed with cyan light. The gem looked like chaos itself was writhing in its depths, and its soft glow illuminated my hands as I gripped the sword and pulled it away from the pedestal. The Abyss thoughtfully provided the new description of my item.
Legacy of Lethaniel: Demonic Soul Blade Tier: Basic Demonic Weapon
I couldn¡¯t put my feelings into words. Warmth, trepidation, guilt, and a host of other nameless emotions all pooled in my chest. This was a true priceless gift, the gift which my mother had prepared for me. Compared to the last time I had upgraded the blade, there was no point denying how much of me was Hayden anymore. I could now let the tears slide down my cheeks freely as I indulged in feelings of affection for a parent I had never met. Gently, I brushed my thumb over the gem, then stiffened when a shock of power responded. The power reached out and brushed against my soul, searching for something.
Legacy of Lethaniel detected. Assessment in progress¡­ Error. User is not eligible for the full inheritance process. Further your ascension, and claim what is rightfully yours.
Chapter 88: A Minor Observation I still had no idea who my mother was. Lethaniel was a pretty name, but it didn¡¯t tell me much about the person who bore it. The only thing I knew for certain was that she loved me. No one would go out of their way to secure a legacy for their kid without some deep level of affection. But I wasn¡¯t sure if that made me feel better or worse. She was dead and gone, and I would never get to meet her. That just made the desire to claim her legacy rage even more fiercely in my chest. It didn¡¯t matter if the legacy was as useful as the sword itself, like a new level of unlocking the sword¡¯s abilities, or something entirely useless. I wanted it with a burning passion that made me clench my fingers around the sword¡¯s handle until my muscles threatened to tear. Slowly, ever so slowly, I forced myself to let go. Crippling one of my hands and having to go track down a healer or a healing potion would not help me in any way. Instead, with newfound determination, I stalked over to the station¡¯s chair and sank down into it. I hadn¡¯t done it on purpose, but I had been neglecting my base magical training recently. It was time to remedy that. To be fair, I had still done enough over the past several days to get to my twelfth core layer. But our travels limited my time and progress. I couldn¡¯t exactly absorb a mana crystal in the middle of the sandstorm. I had no excuses for our return trip inside the snake, though. That one was on me, even if I had spent most of that journey trying to comfort Mia. Now, with my safety absolutely guaranteed by the power of the Abyss itself, I could make up for lost time. Dipping into my dimensional pouch, I pulled out one of the mana crystals Glaustro had given me when I surrendered that Archmage¡¯s soul back on Berlis. I really couldn¡¯t overstate the value of that gift. I hadn¡¯t yet burned through half my supply, though the rate at which I could gulp them down had definitely increased. I relaxed back into the chair and sank deep into my core, just cycling my mana for a while. Then I pushed into the mana crystal and extracted its bounty. I did so forcefully, like when I had first used a crystal. This time, though, the ¡®flood¡¯ of mana that erupted was easily manageable. Really, it was more of a steady stream than something I struggled to corral. I luxuriated in the feeling, taking it as a sign of how far I had grown. However, as I drained one crystal after another, I noticed something odd. Even recently, I had only been able able to get seventy crystals in, if I really pushed. Now? After just a couple of hours, I managed to drain several hundred crystals, enough to get myself all the way up to the fourteenth layer, and I was barely slowing down. There was a pull on my soul, for sure. But rather than a deep-seated ache, it felt like a slight prickling. I could ignore it if I chose. I frowned, considering my situation. When I got the crystals, I was handed five thousand superior variants and fifty thousand greater variants. Though I had been doggedly burning through the greater crystals, there were still just under twenty thousand left. Sure, I could keep going with those greater variants. But it took time to drain a crystal of its mana. Was time something I could afford at this point? Maybe I should switch things up a little. Pulling out a superior mana crystal this time, I got back to work. The improvement was¡­ significant. The ranks of of mana crystals did not differ in terms of the mana¡¯s purity. What separated ¡®greater¡¯ from ¡®superior¡¯ was the degree of the mana¡¯s crystallization and compression. The same volume of mana within a superior mana crystal was several times denser and more potent than within a greater one. Ten times so, in fact. In other words, when the mana streamed through my channels and slammed into my core, I almost felt it quake. I loved it. Even better, interacting with these hyper-compressed mana crystals gave me a clue about my own advancement. With each layer, my core got ¡®bigger¡¯ in that odd, metaphysical way. It now took up half my heart¡¯s total volume. The size made it harder and harder to add more layers, which was a problem if I wanted to keep advancing to Greater Mage. I had been puzzling over how to manage the additional layers required, but now I had an idea. I needed to copy mana crystals, and compress my entire core into a smaller size. I was only guessing, of course. The literature Clarinette had copied into her grimoire was vague on the subject. She had never gotten close to reaching Greater Mage, which was the height of her world¡¯s power. And it wasn¡¯t like I had a human mage handy to interrogate about their advancement. Bronwynn was an ascendant demon, but he had admitted to me long ago that he had not taken the optimal path to demonhood. That meant his experience with mana growth post-ascension wasn¡¯t applicable to me. So, with no better ideas, I leveraged the full might of the mana crystal¡¯s reserves, wove them around my core, and squeezed. My first attempt was disastrous. Cold sweat broke out on my brow as I whimpered in pain, my whole body shaking. It felt like I was trying to push my heart through a strainer. I didn¡¯t give up, though. I varied my approach. Rather than outright squeezing, I tried to massage the mana deeper and deeper into my core. Then I gave my mana circulation a twist before running through different weaving exercises.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Dignified mages do not take breaks between mana stones to curse like sailors. But there was no one in the station with me, so¡­ no one can prove a thing. Unless the Abyss itself snitched. Though, if it had a tendency towards such behavior, I had far worse problems to worry about. It was a slow, frustrating process, but I gradually began to see the effects. Bit by bit, infinitely small amount by infinitely small amount, my core was shrinking. I simply didn¡¯t give it a choice to do anything but. The only issue was the pace. Every time I really pressed, my core produced some truly distressing sounds, and I almost passed out from the pain. It took me a frustratingly long time to remember that I shouldn¡¯t just concern myself with the outer layers of my core. This just proves that you can, in fact, be both powerful and an idiot. When I finally thought to peek into my core¡¯s interior, I almost panicked. The carefully arranged pathways and flow were starting to warp from all the pressure I was putting on them. I scrambled to fix things, and only let out a relieved sigh when I was sure I hadn¡¯t done irreparable damage to my future as a mortal mage. It would absolutely suck to miss out on advancing to Archmage before my ascension just because my dumb ass rushed things. After that, whenever I started pressing, I made sure I was also applying the right sort of force inside my core. It provided both an additional impetus for compression and a mana structure able to support my core¡¯s interior arrangement. And¡­ it made things so much easier. The pain that heralded the risk of cracking my core didn¡¯t vanish entirely, but it faded to a mere whisper. The process was far more efficient, too. I could visibly track my progress. Still, I wasn¡¯t sure how much time had passed when my core finally crunched down for the last time, and something clicked into place within my soul. The mana flowing throughout the station went suddenly still, then collapsed into me like I was a black hole. Streams of it became visible to the naked eye as they forced themselves into my body, elevating the quality of my core and my soul both. A smile played across my lips as I observed the results of all my hard work. My mana core was never ugly. Quite the contrary, in fact. But now, it had a sheen typically associated only with the most precious of gems. It was like my heart contained a galaxy, fueling my body with endless streams of power. Oh, I had no illusions that my mana capacity was suddenly on par with demons, but I didn¡¯t care. I was a Greater Mage! The only thing stopping me from reaching the Archmage level was the accumulation of more mana, and I had more than enough crystals to accomplish that. I was starting to feel that familiar strain, though. My soul was on the verge of weariness, so instead of pushing, I decided to be smart and get some rest before going for more. Didn¡¯t mean I was quite done with the station, though. The sword¡¯s message had lit a fire in me, just hot enough to tip my mental scales in favor of not dragging my feet about ascension. Besides, an idea had flitted idly through my mind earlier, and it wouldn¡¯t leave me alone until I confirmed whether or not it was a viable option. One of the biggest advantages of Abyss-born demons was their unique physiology. I had already proved that I could aim for certain demonic abilities when the Abyss answered my plea for help handling my mana senses. Theoretically, physical mutations were also on the table, but I had no clue whether I could actually guide them. I gathered up three hundred of my leftover souls and decided to take a risk. Hmmm. I should probably take off my top for this, just in case. Removing my chest armor and shirt, I settled back into the chair and started offering up souls. I focused on a childhood dream. Images of the sky filled my mind. I could easily imagine what it would be like to race through them, wind whipping around me in an attempt to curb my speed. I imagined wings spreading behind my back, cutting through the sky, bearing me aloft in direct defiance of gravity and a human¡¯s place in the world. The Abyss devoured my offering of souls, and pain screamed through my body. The last time I had made this kind of exchange, I was able to detect the Abyss¡¯s power as it surged across our link. I could trace where it went and what it was doing to me. This time, the power exploded throughout my entire form at once. It rippled over every muscle and sank into every bone, too fast and too powerfully for my mind to follow. And it wasn¡¯t just my body that was changing. The Abyssal power surged through my soul as well, making it bulge and squirm. Everything in me writhed in agony as the Abyss threatened to tear it apart. Just when I thought I had done something irreversibly stupid, tendrils exploded out of my soul¡¯s back, forming the vague outline of wings. My body responded instantly. There was a wet tearing sound and a lot of crunching in my back as things shifted, but it all ground to a halt before long. Just like last time, I was an exhausted mess when the Abyssal power finished its work. Unlike last time, I did not give myself a moment to rest. I immediately began twisting into all sorts of awkward positions, trying to gauge exactly what had happened to me. It took a lot of wiggling, but I eventually managed to get my head at an angle that let me take a peek. My feelings were¡­ complicated. It had worked. My attempt at specifying how I wanted the Abyss to alter me was a success. But I had definitely not offered up enough souls. My ¡®wings¡¯ were just the barest hints of their intended formation. Bits of bone protruded from my back. Skin stretched over them so tightly, it looked like I should be experiencing discomfort. I was, but mostly on the psychological side of things. It almost looked like I had two baby chick wings attached to my back. There was no way I could let anyone see me like this. Thankfully, I had armor I could put on. Dressing was an experience. My new body parts, which would hopefully evolve into real, majestic wings once I could offer more souls, didn¡¯t seem too fragile. My armor wasn¡¯t going to damage them. Still, my equipment and clothes no longer sat on my back quite right. The discomfort was minor, but it was constant. I would just have to keep forcing myself to ignore it. It was in this exhausted, mildly dazed state that I found myself stumbling out of the station. My brand hadn¡¯t alerted me that Glaustro wanted to see us or that he had organized lodgings, so I started to wander. As I walked, my mind drifted. I thought back to everything that had happened to me. My awakening in Hayden¡¯s body. My struggle to survive. My death on Berlis. My resurrection and arrival on Lagyel. Before I knew it, I was at the very edge of the city, almost to the moat. I would have to swim if I wanted to leave, but I felt no urge. There was nothing out there but the dangerous sand. Even this outer area of the city was infested by the stupid crunchy nonsense. Idly, I bent down to scoop up a handful of grains. They glittered in the sunlight, mocking me with their innocuous appearance. Yet it was this ¡®mundane¡¯ material that had held back the demonic invasion for so long. As I stood there, wavering between the present moment and my memories, a thought occurred to me. I remembered my first day on Lagyel, when I had sliced through one of the bigger grains of sand easily with my sword. My brow furrowed. The sand¡­ my sword¡­ Dropping the sand, I dipped into my dimensional pouch. It was always a bit of a struggle, putting in or extracting bigger items, but I eventually had a piece of scorpion carcass in my hand. I pulled out my sword and gently ran it across the scorpion piece. Sparks flew, but nothing else happened. I shoved the carcass back into my dimensional pouch. Then, looking around in a hurry, I located the biggest grain of sand I could find. It wasn¡¯t large, of course, but I managed to hold it steady between my pointer finger and thumb. Carefully, I touched my blade against it. As small as the grain of sand was, my sword easily sliced a piece of it away. I stared blankly at the grains of sand, my mind whirling with the implications. There was, after all, only one thing my sword was so effective against. Souls. Chapter 89: Massing Armies For a moment, I panicked. The idea of something that could stretch its soul over an entire world¡­ it was too terrifying to process. Could even the general pull off such a thing? Thankfully, it didn¡¯t take me long to remember that I didn¡¯t have to deal with everything on my own. I was just about to tear into my dimensional bag in search of the communication device I had purchased when my brand flared. Brushing my fingers against it, I received instructions for the troop to meet near a notable restaurant in the western part of the city. I briefly considered panic-dialing Glaustro anyway, but good sense prevented me. Maybe he was still in a meeting and had simply taken a moment to contact us. No, it was better to wait and convey my worries face-to-face. Fifteen minutes later, I was pacing anxiously in front of the restaurant, waiting while the other members of my unit slowly trickled in. It was an appealing setup. The restaurant¡¯s large courtyard was blocked off from the rest of the city by a low fence, which was entwined so thickly in those red vines that it looked more like a hedge. Demons filled the courtyard, each equipped with a large parasol. They sat around elegant tables, chatting pleasantly while waiters flitted about with food and drinks. To top off the ambience, a small waterway cut through the establishment and sent a low mist cascading around people¡¯s feet. I could see why Glaustro chose the spot for our meeting place, but I couldn¡¯t fully appreciate its appeal with a potentially world-ending secret on my hands. ¡°You are tense.¡± One of Mia¡¯s claws poked me in the cheek, and I whirled around to face her. She grinned like she had pulled off the prank off the century, then tilted her head at me inquisitively. Apparently, she thought she had trained me well enough to answer her questions without further prompting. And she was right, damn her. ¡°I¡¯m just a little anxious. Made a small discovery while I was wandering about on my own,¡± I explained, trying to wave off her concerns with a strained smile. No point in freaking her out until absolutely necessary. It was enough for one of us to be losing their marbles. She narrowed her eyes, but shrugged and just started pacing alongside me. Let me tell you, that completely kills the urgency and solemnity of a situation. Mia looked so endearingly serious, so ready to support me. I found myself relaxing simply because she was there. ¡°Fine, fine,¡± I eventually conceded. ¡°We can go inside and get a snack or something.¡± There wasn¡¯t a single doubt in my mind that she had spent most of the day sampling different local dishes. I was tempted to ask how she had space for more food, but the smile my surrender earned me was enough to make me hold my tongue. For the life of me, I can¡¯t remember what we ate at the restaurant. I ordered one of the least exotic options I could find. I think it tasted like chicken. The food was good, but my thrumming anxiety left me little to no appetite. I ended up handing more than half of it over to Mia. Bronwynn arrived shortly after we finished eating. He greeted us, but opted to join a group of demons he appeared to be close to. I had a sneaking suspicion he chose their table because a certain ice demoness was sitting there, but I held my curiosity in check. Finally, finally, Glaustro showed up. He looked mighty pleased with himself, even if he was accompanied by his brother. ¡°Our intel has earned us enough recognition to be granted a compound,¡± the demon announced. ¡°So, if you¡¯ll follow me, we can get settled in.¡± Without another word, he turned and started walking away. I valiantly resisted the urge to screech in frustration. What was it with demonic officers making their announcements and then flouncing off like no one else mattered? I wasn¡¯t sure, but I resolved that if I ever got enough power to claim an official standing in the legion, I would do things differently. I would probably still flounce, of course. But I¡¯d at least bother to ask if anyone had any questions first. In the end, I didn¡¯t have to wait long. Our destination was just a few blocks away, and it was nice. The compound didn¡¯t have a separate home for the commander, but the dorm looked more like a very fancy hotel rather than a military installation. There were even servants waiting inside to offer their assistance with chores and gear maintenance. The sight reminded me of my favorite hotel. For a moment, I almost considered ditching the place in favor of Apple Infernal. Then I glimpsed the two demon brothers heading up the main spiral staircase, and the reality of my situation reasserted itself. ¡°Can you please claim a room for me, too?¡± I asked Mia hurriedly. ¡°I need to talk to the commander, and I would rather we don¡¯t end up on opposite sides of the building. The cat girl blinked languidly at me, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be exploring the second floor for a nice room, so look for me there afterwards. East side.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. She was as succinct as ever, but that just made me smile. Even if the world was falling apart around us, I could count on Mia to be calm. Wait, that¡¯s not quite true, is it? I mused as I wove between chattering demons, making my way up the staircase. I had seen Mia look panicked and angry before. The chewing-out she gave me when I almost died was particularly impressive. Even the cat-lady can lose control sometimes. Then the sight of my targets just one floor up drove all other thoughts from my mind. I decided to be rude and take the stairs two at a time. ¡°Commander! Please, wait!¡± Glaustro turned with a furrowed brow, then relaxed when he realized who was approaching him. ¡°Ah, Hayden. Good timing, actually. I would have needed to talk to you sooner rather than later. Come along, we can have a chat in my quarters.¡± I almost opened my mouth to tell him there was no time, and that whatever he wanted from me could wait. But that wasn¡¯t true. The legion had been fighting the war on Lagyel for months now. As far as I understood things, the sand had been a factor the whole time. If it was a scheme by the jinn, then it didn¡¯t seem to be a fast-acting one. What were the chances their trap would close just because I took a few extra minutes to be polite? I forced myself to relax a tiny bit. Informing someone of a potential threat? Absolutely a good idea. Screaming about it in my commander¡¯s face? That was taking things a step too far. So, I shut up and followed them up the stairs to predictably fancy accommodations. The entire top floor was one single, massive suite. From the large central chamber, I could peek through the many open doors into the surrounding rooms. I glimpsed an office, a luxurious bedroom, and a glamorous pool-like bath before Glaustro closed the suite¡¯s main door and reclaimed my attention. He settled into one of the central chamber¡¯s plush couches with a contented sigh. ¡°Right, then. Before I get into why I wanted to talk to you, you had something to tell me?¡± ¡°Well¡­ yes.¡± I hesitated, my mouth suddenly very dry. What if they knew about this already? What if it was just an odd trait of the sand, and it was one of the reasons the legion valued it so much? For all I knew, it was a soul-like substance demons liked to huff or whatever. ¡°On with it, then,¡± Glaustro urged, an amused smile on his face. He seemed to have misunderstood the reason for my hesitation, because he followed up with, ¡°If you have some kind of request to make of me, don¡¯t hesitate. I can tell you now that unless it¡¯s excessive, I would feel inclined to help you.¡± ¡°No, no, it¡¯s just¡­¡± I took a deep breath, fidgeting with my hands like a schoolboy as I scooted to the very edge of my seat. ¡°I visited the Absorption Station today, and I upgraded my sword.¡± Glaustro blinked. ¡°Congratulations?¡± I winced. I was messing this up. ¡°Thank you. However, after I did that, it made me¡­ introspective, so¡­ I was thinking about some of the stuff that happened, and I remembered our fight against the golem, as well as our arrival on this world. When we got here, I was curious about how tough the sand was, you see. I found one of those large, rough grains, the ones you can really roll around between your fingers, you know? And I tried to cut it with my sword.¡± Glaustro¡¯s amusement seemed to increase at my mention of the golem, but switched to confusion as I meandered. ¡°Go on¡­¡± ¡°Well¡­ my sword cut it. Effortlessly. Except, well, the blade was extremely dull at the time. And then we fought those scorpion things, and, well¡­¡± I trailed off again, then simply decided to do a show-and-tell. I pulled out one of the exoskeletons, then drew my sword. Both brothers gasped in admiration at the sight of the weapon, but they frowned as I ran my blade over the scorpion piece with no effect. I followed that up by extracting one of the aforementioned large sand-grains, then easily sliced a small piece of it off. ¡°See? The problem is¡­ my sword is only this effective against living things. Things with a soul,¡± I wrapped up anxiously. I watched as they slowly processed my proclamation. If their suddenly grim faces weren¡¯t indication enough that something was definitely wrong, what happened next clinched it.
Alert! You have a new Merit added to your service record: Lagyel, world exploration (Ascendant Merit x1)
I stared blankly at the notification. ¡°Why did I just get an Ascendant Merit? I¡¯ve been stressing over this for a while now!¡± My exclamation only made the brothers more tense. Glaustro outright cursed, while Graighast scowled deeply. It was the latter who answered my question. ¡°The Abyss does not pay attention to every individual soldier all at once. It can¡¯t. It does, however, keep track of acknowledged military officials. That¡¯s why merits register once you share information with them.¡± ¡°And the fact that the Abyss reacted means this information is both new and important,¡± Glaustro added, cursing again. He turned to his brother. ¡°You realize we¡¯re going to have to talk to the lieutenant general again, right? And this time, he might not be happy with what we have to say.¡± Graighast grimaced. ¡°At least we found out now. Still¡­ do you think it¡¯s all of the sand that¡¯s affected by this? If I followed Hayden¡¯s story correctly, the last time he performed this¡­ test was near your original entry point to Lagyel. That was close to a city. Very close. Could they be doing something to monitor our settlements?¡± ¡°That would only be slightly better,¡± Glaustro retorted, looking constipated now. ¡°Sure, we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the entire world¡¯s worth of sand coming alive to obliterate us. But it would mean all of our intelligence, our troop movement¡­ it¡¯s all been under enemy observation. And let¡¯s not forget Crewe just ordered our troops to mass nearby in preparation for the march on that jinn base. If the sand is the work of the jinn, then they¡¯ll know immediately. Our cities would be vulnerable to ambushes, too.¡± ¡°This could be how they knew where to attack us in the first place,¡± Graighast mused, his scowl deepening. ¡°Other than the city you reinforced, all our settlements that have been attacked were either wiped out or reclaimed by the jinn. They knew those cities were only lightly defended.¡± I was getting used to Glaustro cursing like a sailor, but he broke out particularly foul phrases for the occasion. ¡°The lieutenant general will be furious. Furious. And we need to tell him.¡± Glaustro paused, then visibly shook himself. ¡°At least we¡¯ll be the ones to alert him. Even if he loses his temper, we won¡¯t bear the blame. If anything, he¡¯ll probably reward us. I do pity the scout division, though.¡± Even Graighast looked grim on behalf of those demons. ¡°We can expect this to blow up, yes. Give me a moment. I need to make a call to see if Crewe can meet with us right now. He¡¯s busy, what with all the prep, but I¡¯ll make sure we at least set a meeting time, and soon.¡± We watched the solemn demon stride into the office space and shut the door behind him. Glaustro rose and started pacing, still muttering curses under his breath. I, meanwhile, felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. The situation wasn¡¯t ideal, but I had done my job. It was up to much more powerful individuals to prepare us now. Chapter 90: When an Evil Man Goes to War ¡°So¡­ you wanted to talk to me?¡± It wasn¡¯t the best opener in the world, but I couldn¡¯t be blamed for a little awkwardness. I had just finished stammering out a convoluted explanation that might translate into things going very, very badly for my side of a war. Then I had to watch my direct superior officer stomp around his quarters like a caged animal. There was only so long I could put up with the pacing and the tension before it all lost a bit of its shine and I started getting bored. Boredom did not make me a better conversationalist. Glaustro paused mid-stride, then took a deep breath to center himself. With obvious reluctance, he mechanically strolled over to the sofa he was originally sitting on, then collapsed. ¡°Yes, I did need to see you. The lieutenant general was impressed by my report, and I was impressed by your help in the battle against that golem. What I wanted to say is that I¡¯m offering you a reward.¡± I perked up at that, sitting a little straighter. The last time I got a reward from Glaustro, he basically set me up with all the mana crystals I would ever need as a mortal. ¡°I see that¡¯s got you listening.¡± He was mocking me, but I didn¡¯t care. As long as he had rewards for me, he could mock all he wanted. ¡°However,¡± he went on, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know exactly what you need. Don¡¯t look at me like that. I¡¯m a demon, not omniscient. So, tell me: what would help you most at this point in your development?¡± I considered the question seriously. My first impulse was to ask for more souls, considering how much trouble I had collecting them in the past, but I swatted that idea down quickly. Lagyel was perhaps the best world for me to secure my earnings pre-ascension, seeing as demons were so disadvantaged here. On the other hand, I was about to hit a hard limit on what I could do as a mage. The leap from Grand Mage to Archmage was massive. For example: before Archmage, every mage was vulnerable and pitifully human. Each advancement boosted a mage¡¯s lifespan, but even a Grand Mage was still mortal at the end of the day. An Archmage, on the other hand, could theoretically live forever. That didn¡¯t matter so much to me, but it demonstrated the huge threshold I would have to cross. And I had no idea how. I didn¡¯t even know half the spells a Grand Mage was expected to master. My weakness was time. Time to grow, to accumulate knowledge, to experiment. Save for precious snatches of peace, which I mostly spent on recovery in order to avoid burning out like a comet, I was constantly getting jerked around by the demands of invasions. That made my choice much easier. ¡°I need help with growing as a mage. Spells, guidance, something. I couldn¡¯t steal the relevant knowledge from Berlis, and there¡¯s no guarantee I¡¯ll find it here. I don¡¯t even know how to become an Archmage. If you could at least get me information on that, I¡¯d be more than grateful.¡± I spoke honestly and kept my eyes fixed on Glaustro¡¯s. When I saw the gleam in his eyes, I knew he liked the suggestion. I had suspected he might. He was the one who had set me on the path of magecraft in the first place, with his gift of mana crystals. In a way, I was validating his investment and showing I had followed his advice. ¡°I can do that.¡± The demon looked much more like himself than the worry-wrecked officer of a moment before. ¡°I would warn you that advancing to the level of an Archmage is not easy, but the path you¡¯ve chosen is difficult in general. Didn¡¯t think you and your¡­ friend¡­ would hold up well with your ascension strategy, but look at you now!¡± I flushed a little at his continued prodding about my relationship with Mia, who was definitely just a very good friend, but I gave him a grateful nod anyway. ¡°I have you to thank for that, at least in part. Those mana crystal really helped.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie to stroke my boss¡¯s ego. Those crystals had done a lot to keep me alive in Berlis, and they were still paying off now. Still, I didn¡¯t mind the smug look that appeared on the sergeant¡¯s face. ¡°It is my job to look after the soldiers I was entrusted with. Now, these are just the broad strokes, but know that advancing to Archmage does not depend entirely on you alone. There is a ritual, but¡­¡± Glaustro trailed off, then thrust his hand forward. ¡°Give me your hand.¡± I was confused, but complied instantly. If he wanted to hurt me, Glaustro could have done so far too many times over. He focused. I could feel his mana sweeping through me, investigating. My own magical essence rose up to try and stop him, but I squashed the instinctive reaction. When he finished and leaned back, Glaustro gave me an odd look. ¡°You are doing far better than I expected. Your soul is somewhere in the upper superior range. For a human, this is exceptional. By the time you finish building up your mana core, you¡¯ll be at the peak of what that rank can offer, I reckon. Then there¡¯s all the physical changes you¡¯ve gone through¡­¡± Once more my commander trailed off, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what he was feeling as he stared at me. It was all I could do to keep from squirming. ¡°If you manage to see all your preparation through, you are going to become an exceptional demon,¡± Glaustro finally declared. A smile stretched across his features. ¡°I guarantee that much.¡± Was that pride radiating off him? I flushed, looking away. ¡°Thank you, commander. I will do my best, you can trust that.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I do. There is a reason you and that girl are the only mortals in my unit. Now¡­¡± Before he could get his next words out, the door to the penthouse office burst open, and Graighast emerged. He looked pale and somewhat shaken, but he nodded when his brother turned to look at him. ¡°I had to call in several favors and step on more than a few toes. There are a lot of people who want to see the lieutenant general before a major engagement like this one, and we¡¯ve already had several meetings with him. Still, I managed. He¡¯ll see us in two hours.¡± Glaustro looked equal parts relieved and terrified. I could only imagine the nerves he must be suffering, going to deliver such an important message to one of the few people in the legion with almost as much power as the general himself. I sincerely wished him luck. ¡°That¡¯s some amazing work, brother,¡± Glaustro finally allowed, running a hand over his face. Then he pointed at me. ¡°But are you sure we can present him to the lieutenant general looking like that? This doesn¡¯t give us much time to prepare him. I expected it would take at least a day for us to secure an audience.¡± Wait, what? ¡°Wait, what?¡± I didn¡¯t care that my mind had fully synchronized with my body. What I cared about was the fact that I was apparently expected to attend a meeting with high command. Detecting the absolute eruption of dread and a whole host of other feelings in me, Glaustro grinned mercilessly. ¡°You drop that shit on me, and then you expect to walk away? You¡¯re coming along, soldier. Neither of us two have a fancy soul blade to show off your discovery to the lieutenant general.¡± I got a rare glimpse of the person Glaustro really was, brash and foul-mouthed and completely irreverent. His new sergeant persona had cracked, and if I was in a better state, maybe I could have enjoyed it. Instead, I was moments away from gibbering in panic. ¡ª Looking like days-old roadkill after a major fight in a desert, followed immediately by mana training and sacrifices to the Abyss, was not the acceptable way to meet the general¡¯s second-in-command. Apparently. I found that kind of insulting. After all, I had been presented to the general himself in little more than a scrap of clothing to preserve my modesty, and no one seemed to care then! Crewe must have liked a bit more pageantry, because the first thing the brothers did was drag me off to a seamstress. After far too many souls changed hands and the demoness cursed me out quietly several times about the stressful rush job, I was the proud owner of a new suit. The whole ensemble was blue and white. The color of my jacket, pants, and most of the accessories was just a touch darker than my new skin. To ¡®make it pop¡¯, however that logic worked out. The dashes of white came mostly from the dress shirt, as well as the pair of fancy shoes. I felt overdressed. I felt underdressed. I felt like I was going to start panicking again. There was nothing I could do but follow the two demons. At least all three of us were dressed to the nines as we strolled down a remarkably plain corridor to the lieutenant general¡¯s theater room. Both Glaustro and his brother were in full body armor. It gleamed in the slightest exposure to any nearby light source, all dark and red with an abundance of jagged edges. They looked resplendent, but I had to work very hard not to refer to them as edgelords, even within the relative safety of my thoughts. The armor also exuded an immense weight of mana. The red coloring was mostly the result of the enchantments glowing across the armor¡¯s surface. I couldn¡¯t tell what the enchantments did exactly, but they had to be powerful. This did leave me with one question, though, and I couldn¡¯t resist whispering it to Glaustro. ¡°Why have I never seen you wear that armor? Just the way it feels is¡­¡± I trailed off, but the question was obvious. If he had something like that, he wouldn¡¯t have suffered nearly as much in the fight with the golem, or even just while traveling through the sandstorms. To my surprise, his answer was a dismissive snort. ¡°Please. I¡¯d give it to you in a heartbeat if didn¡¯t cost so damn much. I also need it for all the posturing we have to do, like right now. It looks impressive, sure, but that¡¯s its whole job. These enchantments? They¡¯re encrypted so no one can tell what they do, because ¡®what they do¡¯ is just make the armor look imposing.¡± I was briefly distracted even from my anxiety. My eyes widened as I gazed at the equipment. ¡°Are you telling me someone put this much effort into enchanting armor just to¡­ what, make it look cooler?¡± He chuckled, but it was a pained sound. ¡°Yes, and I had to purchase it just to fit in with the other officers. Fun, right? Maybe I could help you get the title. Make sure to prepare at least a hundred thousand souls beforehand, though.¡± I blanched at the number and shut up. At least that explained why they refused to let me appear in my armor. If a hundred thousand souls was the minimum acceptable standard, my ensemble might be considered downright insulting. The suit was just fine, after all, even if it made me feel terribly exposed. I tried telling myself that anyone in the room we were about to enter could flatten me just as easily with or without my armor, but that didn¡¯t make me feel better. Finally, it was time. After a brief, hushed conversation between Graighast and two guards, a set of double doors was thrown open, and we were ushered into the private sanctum of the lieutenant general. The room was massive, but it had to be in order to contain what Crewe kept inside it. In the center of the almost spherical space, a massive globe hovered. Most of it was completely covered in swirling sands, but patches of it were clear and showed off cities and settlements with unnerving accuracy. I spotted the city we were currently in. It was hard to miss. The tall, impressive demon standing next to the globe had his hand placed gently right next to the perfect miniature recreation of our settlement. I stared. I couldn¡¯t help it. Most of the demons I met looked fairly humanoid. Sure, they were a bit odd, and they had features that would never be seen on a boilerplate human, but the resemblance was clear. Crewe was an exception to that. His skin wasn¡¯t black. It was abyssal, a mass of writhing shadows that occasionally parted to expose gleaming fangs or blinking eyes. Two arms sprouted from his right shoulder, three from the left. Six pairs of tentacle-like wings fluttered in the air behind him. His hair was a stream of darkness that billowed around his head, writhing like an angry beehive. He turned to look at as we entered, and I realized I could see neither nose nor mouth on his face. Ears were entirely absent also. Instead, and in contrast to his arrangement of arms, three angry slashes of red blinked at us from the right side of his face, and two on the left. All of that was stuffed into a set of armor that was both excessive and covered far too little of his body. He barely had a chest plate. A single piece of thin metal covered the front of his chest, mirrored on his back and secured by the fewest amount of straps possible. On his lower body, he wore what resembled a seamless steel skirt that went all the way down to the floor. It scraped discordantly when he moved, producing an eerie symphony for the lieutenant general to enjoy. Leaning against a wall behind him was a battle axe bigger than I was. It was mostly made of some pitch-black metal, while the edge of its blade gleamed scarlet and released a continuous cloud of red smoke. The vapor hovered around the weapon, clinging to everything it touched. I could swear I heard a soft sizzling sound from that direction. Every gesture the lieutenant general made radiated a carefully constrained violence. I even noticed his body twitching as he looked at us, making me strongly suspect that he had to stop himself constantly from tearing us apart. This¡­ no matter how alien he looked, this was a demon dressed and ready for war. ¡°Ah, yes, Major Graighast. Back for another meeting with Sergeant Glaustro, I see.¡± I very pointedly did not shudder when a mouth ripped itself open on the demon¡¯s face. ¡°Tell me, why did you insist on speaking to me again so soon?¡± Chapter 91: Clash of Titans ¡°I am afraid we came by some crucial intelligence, sir,¡± Glaustro stated. ¡°Discovered by one of my soldiers, who has accompanied us here.¡± My commander kept his face perfectly still and serious under Crewe¡¯s gaze, but I swear he would have been grinning if he could as I realized exactly what he was about to make me do. ¡°Interesting.¡± That was all Crewe said before turning his full attention to me. I didn¡¯t like it. Or take it very well. A shudder ran down my spine. To look into those pools of crimson was to know the lieutenant general¡¯s true nature. The only thing that stared back at me was pure Terror. ¡°Pulling on all your favors,¡± Crewe went on. ¡°Making all those enemies. Just to make me converse with a mortal. A most interesting strategy. Let us see if it works out for you. Speak, mortal, and you better impress me.¡± He didn¡¯t say the words maliciously. They didn¡¯t come out as a threat. They were a simple statement of fact, and I felt that knowledge take root in my very soul. If I failed to perform up to his standard, then I would be dead. Simple as that. I tried very hard to avoid that route. I admit I was quite impressed later with the way I handled things. I didn¡¯t stammer. I didn¡¯t make as many detours in my explanation as I had when talking to the brothers. I laid out the facts, as succinctly as I could, and then I performed my little show-and-tell. Glaustro and Graighast had insisted we find the biggest grains of sand we could, and they spent some of their precious time to do just that while I was poked and prodded for my outfit. So, when the time came to slice through the grains, I did it easily. Again and again, for a total of ten times. With each perfect slice, I felt Crewe¡¯s body language shift. He had started out with his back straight and head held high regally. Now, he was practically a hunchback, hunger etched into every line of his face. I could see the flash of fangs as his mouth slowly ripped open again. To finish things off, I extracted a scorpion¡¯s pincer from my dimensional pouch and ran my blade over it. Just like every other time, the sword made no impact on the sleek, compact layer of sand covering the creature¡¯s exoskeleton. Thankfully, Glaustro had chomped down on one of the scorpion¡¯s souls as part of our preparation, so I had even more information to share with the good lieutenant general. ¡°We did some research on these critters, from one of their souls,¡± I explained. ¡°They slowly grow their exoskeleton and pincers by devouring sand. They process it within their bodies into a form they can expel to their surface. It starts off almost melted, but quickly hardens into new armor layers. We believe that the process, whatever it is, removes a soul¡¯s influence over the grains. This does hint that the sand¡¯s properties are natural, so whoever is controlling the sand is merely taking advantage of it.¡± ¡°Or the sand is a part of their body, and the bugs merely stole a piece,¡± Crewe mused. Though he wasn¡¯t raging or ordering my execution, I still shuddered. He was quiet for several seconds. Then, finally, he tilted his head at me. The motion was highly unnerving, since his neck bent far more to the side than it should have. ¡°Congratulations, soldier.¡± I was so thrown off, I couldn¡¯t stop the word that slipped out of my mouth. ¡°Sir?¡± The lieutenant general made some kind of an odd, clicking noise that I quickly realized was laughter. ¡°I said you better impress me, and you did.¡± He shook his head, straightening his posture as he strolled back over to the globe. I had to blink again. When had he drawn so close to me? I didn¡¯t even notice, but I could have reached out and touched him. Not that I felt an inkling of desire to do so. ¡°Do you know how rarely I am surprised? Taken off guard? I¡¯ve made my career out of slaughtering my enemies, yes, but few know how many resources I have invested into my intelligence agents. And they failed to bring this to me. Each. And. Every. One. It appears some changes are in order around here.¡± He still sounded perfectly personable. Kind, even, if such an emotion could be ascribed to him. But I was under no illusions. Whoever those intelligence agents were, they would all die. Multiple times, if the good lieutenant general wasn¡¯t feeling merciful. ¡°I am glad I could perform up to your satisfaction,¡± I answered sincerely. I didn¡¯t need to lie. Yay for survival, living to die another day, and all of that. I realized my anxiety was getting out of hand and starting to eat away at my rationality, but there was little I could do to stuff it back into its corner. ¡°Of that, I have no doubt.¡± Crewe laughed again in that alien manner. ¡°No doubt at all. However, you do not know how much you just changed. So many plans. Such careful calculations. I have suspected the jinn were watching. It was driving me mad, not understanding how.¡± He caressed the globe. It spun, and he let his fingers drift through the clouds of sand that obscured so much of it.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Now that I know, it has rendered most of my methods moot. The plan was to bait the enemy into attacking our cities by feigning a major offensive on this base we discovered. I¡¯ve had entire armies fake their journey here. We¡¯ve used exceedingly rare and powerful magics, artefacts¡­ even dummies crafted through the sacrifices of the local humanoids. And if things are as I now fear, those efforts are useless. One and all.¡± I winced. This was the moment. He would spin around and lash out, and I would end up in a billion little pieces all over the wall behind me. To my surprise, he merely laughed and speared me with another look. ¡°All because of a single new soldier! Practically a recruit still. Funny, how things work out. Funny, but fortuitous. No, that plan will no longer work. So, if that¡¯s the case¡­¡± The lieutenant general spun the globe and stabbed his hand at one of the landmarks, a cluster of floating metal pyramids that hovered far above the surface of Lagyel. Then he repeated the motions again and again, spinning and stabbing, faster and faster until I couldn¡¯t track the motions. He stopped at some kind of massive pit that covered a truly gigantic swatch of land and stabbed his finger forward for the last time. I watched, fascinated, as the pit shook. The effects spread quickly into the surrounding lands depicted on the globe. When the source of the disturbance revealed itself, my eyes widened in horror. Dozens upon dozens of creatures crawled out of the pit. They resembled worms, except with giant maws all over their bodies All of them were gargantuan, squirming things, and they had wings. I watched as fleshy, alien limbs sprouted from their sides and launched them into the air. They appeared to be for short-distance flight only, but they allowed the monsters to glide at a speed that could devour miles in seconds. ¡°If they think to outsmart me, I¡¯ll make it impossible for them to do so.¡± Crewe watched the spectacle with a placid expression. ¡°If they choose to fight through guile, then I will crush them under my heel. Subterfuge was never a requirement. I merely¡­ enjoy it. The buildup of terror. The crescendo of bitter hope. The quiet hopelessness of the epilogue¡­ yes, there is much to enjoy there.¡± I couldn¡¯t say anything, because what was there to say? If the globe really was enchanted to show events unfolding in the present moment, then Crewe had just unleashed an army of titans unlike anything I had ever seen before. Not even the golem compared favorably to them. ¡°We are ready to fight for the legion at any moment, sir,¡± Graighast declared solemnly. He made a military bow in sync with his brother, and I scrambled to copy them. I wasn¡¯t too successful, shock making me sluggish and uncoordinated, but the lieutenant general didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°As are all my troops, I am sure. Regardless, you do deserve to be commended. You did bring this fascinating mortal to my attention. Glaustro, he is yours, is he not? We will discuss a suitable reward for this at a later date. Whether they have multiple watchers close to our cities or one being that can cover the whole world, we have much to plan for. Dismiss your soldier, then join my council. I will smooth over the feathers you ruffled and negate the favors you had to call on. You deserve at least that much, before we settle the score fully.¡± Crewe waved one of his three left arms negligently in my direction, and Glaustro hastened to obey. He gripped my arm ¡ª not unkindly, more as support than anything ¡ª and quickly dragged me from the room. I said nothing until he had led me all the way out of the building. I knew a demon as powerful as Crewe probably had the entire city under his influence, but I still felt a weight lift from my shoulders as the unremitting rays of Lagyel¡¯s sun hit my skin. ¡°You handled that good, kid,¡± Glaustro whispered. He sounded oddly relieved for a man who had thrown me under the bus by making me present the whole thing. I would have glared at him if I had the emotional wherewithal, but he must have felt something from me anyway, because he chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t resent me. You had to do it. We needed to use your sword for the presentation. Bound weapons work only for their owners, remember?¡± ¡°Why make me talk too, then?¡± I wondered, though with far less fire in my voice than I would have mustered even moments before. ¡°Because Graighast knows Crewe, and Crewe hates gutless hangers-on. If we just presented him to you as a mindless puppet to show off our discovery, he would have treated you as such. Now, he remembers you as someone promising. Someone with potential.¡± I had to turn and stare at him. For the first time, it clicked that the brothers were doing me a favor. Even if all my ascension ambitions bore fruit, I would still be just another young demon. Someone worse off than having no family at all, in fact, with Mercutio and his grandfather gunning to kill me. The only way for me to succeed was to earn merits and make myself stand out. And Glaustro had just given up a chance to present my findings as his own, in favor of letting me do just that. I felt¡­ I didn¡¯t know how I felt. Overwhelmed? Thankful? Confused? It was all of that and much, much more. I settled on a simple, mumbled ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, kid. You¡¯ve pulled your weight and done your part. I take care of my soldiers when they put in the effort, and you¡¯ve been doing that. It¡¯s a shame you haven¡¯t ascended yet, or you could probably get better rewards from the lieutenant general, but it¡¯s better that you take your time. So long as you don¡¯t get overwhelmed along the way, of course.¡± I nodded and kept quiet, still stewing in my thoughts when he finally released me a block away from Crewe¡¯s headquarters. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen now?¡± My answer was a tired shrug. ¡°Now, it seems like we¡¯ll get that grand battle everyone thought would happen to begin with. What that¡¯s going to look like, I can¡¯t tell you yet, but it probably won¡¯t be pretty. We¡¯ll need to do our best to survive. So, go rest. Do some shopping for any essentials you might need. Train. Let your cat girl know what¡¯s coming too, I suppose. I¡¯ll most likely make an announcement tomorrow, but it¡¯s always good to have important news early.¡± Almost numb, I watched my commander walk away until he was entirely out of sight. Then, somehow, I got my feet moving again. My mind started to churn. So. A major battle. In a ¡®we-are-mobilizing-giant-monsters¡¯ kind of way. What are the chances I get to sit this one out and look pretty at home while all the killing happens? Do I want to do that? It felt strange to wonder whether I liked the idea of getting involved in a fight between titans, but I seriously considered it. The answer, unfortunately, was ¡®yes.¡¯ I wanted to be there. There would be risk aplenty, of course, but also opportunity. Most demons would not concern themselves with any mortal army the jinn chose to drag into things. Knowing demons, they would focus on killing jinn to earn honor and promotions. That would leave a whole host of enemy mortals up for grabs. I didn¡¯t relish the thought of killing intelligent beings again, humanoids especially, but¡­ they were soldiers, and we were bound to clash. And I needed the souls. I would like to say I grappled with the moral dilemma all the way back to the compound, but I really just felt tired, and still mostly numb. Thankfully, I had no trouble following Mia¡¯s instructions from before we parted, and the cat girl had thoughtfully left a door open to help me find her. She looked up irritably when I appeared in the door frame, then scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re late. You were making me worry.¡± I huffed right back at her, though a smile was starting to tug at my lips. ¡°I am. But do I have a story to share with you¡­¡± Chapter 92: The Field of Battle I had always assumed a whole army would move much slower than a single unit. It seemed like a fairly obvious universal truth. After all, you would need to account for logistics, maintaining discipline, balancing rival factions, dousing the inevitable conflicts, and far more. Apparently, that ¡®truth¡¯ did not apply to demons. It took Crewe only two days to assemble his entire army and send all of us marching straight towards that unfortunate tree-city. The lieutenant general had spared no expense, nor had he left us a way out if we somehow lost the battle. Every single combat-capable demon that could be spared was there. Only a bare minimum of demonic forces remained in each conquered settlement, just enough to keep the cities from crumbling into anarchy Massive demons with war drums led the way, beating on their instruments. The tune somehow made the mana in the surrounding air vibrate and infuse into my body. It bolstered me, keeping me fresh without any strain or side effects that I could detect. I could only assume the drummers had practiced this ability for centuries, if not millennia. That kind of skill with mana was not natural, even for demons. On either side of our marching army slithered the monstrosities I had watched Crewe summon. As it turned out, the globe had deceived me. The worms were not as large as they had appeared to be in that moment. They were bigger. It was like something straight out of my nightmares. Each creature utterly dwarfed Glaustro¡¯s snake construct, and that thing had transported eight hundred demons with ease. If these monsters attacked the gargantuan crystalline tree we were headed towards, they would resemble large snakes climbing up a relatively young sapling. And there were so. Many. Of. Them. Worst of all was whenever two of them got into a fight. Slithering all over each other as they were, it was inevitable that someone would get upset eventually. Then we were all treated to the spectacle of two beasts tearing into each other with their many maws, like two rotational saws clashing. Writhing limbs made of flesh strands erupted all over their bodies, blood flew everywhere, and they generally made a horrific nuisance out of themselves. Each time, their handlers eventually got them to back off and march again. And each time, the creatures healed from their spats within minutes. I still didn¡¯t know what exactly the things were called, or even what they were. I never asked, because I didn¡¯t want to hear some explanation that would stop me from sleeping for months. And that¡¯s if anyone even knew. There was every chance Crewe had found them in that pit and decided they were cute, so he¡¯d keep them. One thing was for sure: whatever those creatures were, the jinn were not going to have a very good time fighting them. In spite of the nightmare-inducing monsters and the relentless nature of our march, I was honestly quite comfortable. The drummers¡¯ mana shenanigans kept us going without need for rest, and they even minimized the need to eat. But the most notable advantage of our mass march was indisputably the lack of sand. Crewe had decided he no longer trusted that shit, so a team of mages was constantly maintaining a mobile spatial barrier over the entire army. From what I understood, all they had to do was keep powering the artifact that served as the barrier¡¯s source, but it was impressive nonetheless. Crewe also had another team of mages travelling ahead of us. Each one wielded fire elemental powers. Those poor souls were provided with unlimited numbers of ascendant mana crystals, and then ordered to blast the road ahead of the army continuously with their flames. The result was a massive stretch of sand melted down into glass, like a highway. This actually helped the speed of our march. Almost every demon had a superb sense of balance, letting them walk over the uneven, slippery surface with relative ease. I got the distinct feeling Crewe had gotten more than a little annoyed when the jinn decided to play games with him. The show of force he was putting on was designed to attract attention and telegraph where we were headed. There was absolutely no chance there wouldn¡¯t be an army waiting for us on arrival at the tree city, one that would have at least a tiny chance of stopping the lieutenant general. What that would look like, I couldn¡¯t imagine, but it didn¡¯t fill me with warm and cuddly vibes. In direct contrast to my worries about the upcoming battle, Mia was practically vibrating as we marched. The cat girl hadn¡¯t said it in as many words, but she was deeply upset about how little she had contributed in the last few clashes. The scorpion critters were too tough for her claws to pierce, and so magically resistant that they had snuffed out the flames of her sword. The golem battle had gone even worse, according to her, despite the fact that she had saved me repeatedly from getting blown away.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I tried to convince her that things with the golem would have gotten very dicey without her help, but she refused to listen. In her mind, she had never damaged the thing, so no contributions had been made. The chance to fight an army of enemies, at least some of whom would be vulnerable to her? The opportunity to fight alongside monstrosities and so many powerful demons? This was, apparently, her version of Christmas morning. I didn¡¯t try to dampen her enthusiasm, but I did force her to train with me. The march was orderly, there was no sand to bother us, and it didn¡¯t take much concentration to walk in a single direction for hours on end. So, early on, I forced a mana crystal into her hands and made her absorb it. She grumbled and pouted, but I kept pushing her until I knew she couldn¡¯t absorb any more. Just like me, she benefited from her maxed-out ascension. She could absorb a surprising number of crystals before she had to stop for the day. In fact, whatever the drummers were doing extended our limits there, too. It blew my mind that their music could heal soul exhaustion, even partially. I couldn¡¯t figure out how it was possible, but I also couldn¡¯t deny the difference it made. Between the incredible drum-power, my nagging, and her own desire to get stronger, Mia reached the fourteenth mana core layer as I got to the seventeenth. She was just a step away from joining me in the ranks of Grand Mages, but the process was turning out to be trickier for her than it was for me. I had guided her past the first two hurdles easily enough, but it seemed like nothing I said or tried to do made the idea of condensing a mana core click for Mia. Maybe this was because, due to my interference, she hadn¡¯t overcome the previous levels on her own. Or maybe I just had more natural talent with mana. I didn¡¯t know. Either way, she was stuck doing things the slow, hard way. She had to keep squeezing bit by bit, while constantly battling to minimize and then heal any damage to her core¡¯s interior. She simply couldn¡¯t manage both processes at once. With so much to occupy my thoughts, I all but lost track of time as we travelled. I was genuinely shocked when I caught a glimpse of the giant crystalline tree on the horizon. It was as beautiful and stunning as the last time I had seen it, but it was also not the same. Its color had darkened. Instead of radiating throughout the tree, the light was concentrated at strategic spots, shining with the intensity of miniature suns. Huge swathes of thin crystal bark had bulged outwards and enclosed the beautiful buildings carved into the tree¡¯s flesh, sealing them in while still allowing for some visibility. Thorns had emerged all along the trunk and branches, packed densely together like very pointy, very deadly scales. Finally, of course, there was the army. Camped out between us and the tree was a massive sea of people and various constructs. The locals and jinn mingled, training and preparing for war, while their constructs slithered, flew, and ran around underfoot. The sheer variety of constructs the jinn could produce was staggering. Each looked both unique and uniquely lethal. I didn¡¯t particularly want to go near any of them¡­ especially the swarm of medium-sized hornet constructs. Even if I was offered ten times my pay in souls. The most obvious threat, though, was the troop of golems. They encircled the entire enemy army, pressing together in numbers I was not happy to see. At the moment, they looked relatively harmless, save for their immense stature. There was no wind howling around them, and no streams of sand wreaking havoc. Obviously, I knew that would change the moment battle began. And with so many working at once? They would be able to weaponize the entire surrounding desert against us. I hesitated to admit it, but maybe Crewe wasn¡¯t just being petty with all his anti-sand preparations. After all the training he had forced them through, I had little doubt the fire elemental mages would be able to glass over huge amounts of sand, so long as they were kept well-supplied in terms of mana. That might actually put a dent in the golem¡¯s abilities, too. While the original jinn I saw in combat was capable of wielding flames and had transformed his sand into glass weaponry, the golem we fought hadn¡¯t done anything similar. The question was, of course, if this was a universal weakness among golems. I guessed I wouldn¡¯t have to wait long to find out. Still, I didn¡¯t feel the most threatened by the jinn¡¯s overt displays of power. The constructs were cool, sure, and the golems were intimidating. But these were all things we knew how to counter. No, I wondered if the jinn knew we were aware of whatever was going on with Lagyel¡¯s sand. And if they figured out that we were, in fact, in on their secret, what would they do? Were they hiding a tool or some unbelievably powerful individual, so they could ambush us later? Unpleasant emotions coiled inside my gut. I hated not knowing. It made me feel like I had no control over my life, even if no amount of knowledge would actually rectify that. To take my mind off my doubts, I kept a close eye on my commander as we approached the enemy front. Glaustro had told us all the officers were in some kind of mental communication network. So, every moment, I kept expecting him to relay the order to charge. As soon as he gave the word, our long trek over Lagyel¡¯s harsh landscape would culminate in one of the bloodiest battles the world would ever see. That word never came. Instead, when Glaustro¡¯s voice rang out confidently, it was to communicate a different order. ¡°Halt! Break formation and set up camp as we discussed.¡± That threw me for a loop. We had discussed how to set up camp for our unit in the context of such a massive army, but thanks to the drummers, we never had to stop. To hear the order now, within sight of the enemy? It was odd, to say the least. Nonetheless, we were soldiers of the Legion of Torment. It wasn¡¯t our place to disobey. We instantly began setting up our tents. Before long, Mia and I had ours arranged to our liking. It was our one frivolous expense: a large two-person tent with a whole host of comforts and conveniences. Individual tents were, for some reason, more expensive, and it wasn¡¯t like we weren¡¯t used to sleeping in the same space. As soon as that was done, I went looking for our commander with an unhappy cat girl on my heels. When we found him at the core of the camp, Mia actually spoke first, before I could even open my mouth. ¡°Why are we not attacking?¡± she demanded, refusing to be cowed by Glaustro¡¯s disapproving look. Eventually, the demon sighed and shook his head, his expression changing to something like approval. Then he stated simply, ¡°Because the lieutenant general ordered us not to, of course.¡± That was that. Crewe was playing some kind of game with the jinn, and we had no choice but to play along. Whether I was going to enjoy the game¡­ only time would tell. Chapter 93: Immortal Armies Even a blind man could tell that Crewe was carefully marshalling his forces the whole next day. But the jinn didn¡¯t take the opportunity to make the first move. It was like the two armies were perfectly content to stare at each other while preparing for what was to come, though some of the maneuvers were far more blatant than others. Ordering those poor mages who had blazed our path to blast all the sand around our camp with their flames, turning it into glass? Not subtle. Carving a billion small runes into that same glass? Admittedly more subtle, though I had no idea how far the perception of our enemies stretched. My personal theory was that extreme alteration of the sand grains could break the hold of the golems, or whatever else the jinn were using to run their souls over the entire planet¡¯s worth of sand. That appeared to be the case with the scorpion monsters. Crewe seemed inclined to test the theory, so maybe it held some weight. The most blatant preparation was, of course, the massing of the armies. I was convinced we would get shuffled to the frontlines. That seemed in line with my luck so far. Considering how insistent demons tended to be about proving their might and superiority, I couldn¡¯t even complain if my unit was given such a chance at glory. So, imagine my surprise when the good lieutenant general ordered us to one of the wings. And not even the first wave of advancing demons, nor the second. No, we were the third line of flanking infantry, meant to engulf the enemy soldiers if they tried to employ wave tactics against us or made a run for it. Glaustro was clearly excited by the arrangement. He would never admit it, but I could tell that he, too, was worried about the potential of our unit being placed in a position of ¡®prominence.¡¯ This was just close enough to the main action of battle to taste the delicious flow of souls, while still keeping a distance from extreme danger. ¡°We haven¡¯t had much of a chance to practice complex maneuvers,¡± the sergeant confided in us, eyes stern but determined. ¡°Which means we don¡¯t have any unique formations or arrays. We¡¯re also missing over two hundred of our number. However! We will not let that stop us from making the most of this opportunity!¡± Glaustro¡¯s words were a roar, and the response of his unit was just as loud. Even I was swept up in the wave of emotions the commander was releasing, yelling right alongside everyone else. ¡°We will claim the souls we are due! We will supplant the jinn! We will break their hold on this world, and claim it for ourselves!¡± There was no promise of righteousness here. No call to arms over protecting the weak or respecting the locals. He simply stated our goals, and exactly what we stood to gain. It didn¡¯t make the message any less inspiring. For a demon, there were few things as beautiful as the guarantee of profit, even long-term. If the campaign could ultimately benefit them beyond the cost of a single death, they would all dedicate themselves to it gladly. I noticed various other commanders addressing their troops, too. There were even majors out and about, convening with their sergeants. I heard whispers about a colonel, but we never laid eyes on the esteemed personnel just a step under lieutenant generals. What we did get to see were the preparations of our enemies. Our position at the flank, with only a sparse few other rows of soldiers ahead of us, granted us a perfect view of the enemy line. The jinn were massing above their army, all either hovering or outright flying. Below them, the first two defending lines consisted entirely of different constructs. Hornets buzzed around. Magitech hounds mingled in groups. The same kind of burrowers who had attacked our snake transport were scuttling in and out of the ground. And over all, of course, loomed the golem blockade. Behind these first defenders stood row upon row of locals. A single glance at them confirmed the merit of Mia¡¯s idea about materials. All the local defenders had weapons and armor crafted out of what was undoubtedly the unique sand of Lagyel, making the army glitter with a unique crystalline sheen. I resolved to snatch whatever I could when the chance presented itself. I still didn¡¯t have a good offhand weapon, so a temporary solution would be welcome. Besides, I needed some samples for Yules, to demonstrate a few possible uses for all the materials we were going to give her. In comparison to their armies, the jinn seemed almost¡­ lackluster. Sure, they were all dressed in extravagant silks. They certainly looked exotic. Each was also unique, their elemental power of choice showing plainly on their skin. I saw charcoal jinn like the one that had attacked our city, presumably wielding the same power over sand and fire. There were also aquamarine jinn, jinn that appeared to be made of living storms, jinn that resembled walking crystals, jinn whose very skin was pure flames, and so many, many more.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Yet, they all looked spoiled. Most were reclining as they hovered, like they were taking a nap in the air. Some chatted casually with each other as they flew around on floating pieces of furniture. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would say they were prepping for an afternoon tea party or some high society event, rather than a bloody battle of epic proportions. Was this a side effect of semi-immortality? Sure, jinn were not outright immune to death outside their homeworld, but they didn¡¯t have the limited lifespan of mortal races. Glaustro told us to treat them like very, very weak elementals. Those were primordial beings of incredible might, the true rulers of natural forces. As far as anyone knew, you couldn¡¯t kill an elemental. Even if you shred its mind and soul into the tiniest of pieces, they would eventually regenerate. Maybe in ten years, maybe a hundred, or maybe so many that the terror of the being¡¯s existence wouldn¡¯t even be remembered by anyone by the time it appeared. But it would appear. Thankfully, the jinn weren¡¯t that. Jinn were rumored to be distant, bastard offspring of those primordial giants. They had been granted incredible gifts, yes, but they were hardly unkillable. They were, however, still powerful enough to prepare the massive sandstorm lashing above their army. The storm was currently compacted into a tight ball, spinning and shivering while groups of jinn worked to keep it contained. That was the jinn¡¯s big answer to our posturing. A massive ¡®get lost¡¯ ritual that threatened to consume their own casters if they mishandled it. To my great disappointment, that didn¡¯t happen. What did happen was Crewe finally giving the order to move out. The first to make their move were the drummers. They had fallen silent the day before, gradually petering off at the lieutenant general¡¯s command. Now they took up their craft once more, and their song caused the savagery in my blood to erupt. I felt like one of my ancient ancestors, gathered around the fire before a hunt, liquid flames surging through my veins at the thought of the action to come. I wanted to chase my prey down. I wanted to force them into a corner. To watch them flag, and rip them apart. But unlike my first invasion back on Berlis, this newfound bloodlust was not accompanied by a loss of control. If anything, my mind sharpened, focusing wholly on the best ways to hurt my enemies. The full mental capacity of all the demonic troops, bent towards nothing but the destruction of our foes. Chilling, but strangely reassuring. The line advanced, and the spatial barrier over us advanced with it. Countless demons prepared to wet their blades with jinn blood. In response, the golems finally started to move. They raised their arms in unison, and countless sand whips struck out towards us with deadly intent. A ripple passed through our kaleidoscopic shield, but that was it. The barrier held. Unease surged through the enemy ranks. Again and again, the golems attacked, moving in mechanical lockstep. Lash out, step forward, lash out, step forward. The longer they went without producing any results, the more panicked the jinn got. Oh, they had probably accounted for demons having a decent weapon against their blasted sand, but the sheer effectiveness of it was throwing them off. Some of the jinn mages were ordered to the front. I could tell they weren¡¯t happy about it, but they brought their giant sandstorm forward, guiding it between themselves before finally pointing it at us and letting it rip across the battleground. Literally. The storm ripped up all the sand it could get its magical avaricious hands on, building into a funnel that poured directly into our advancing troops. It reminded me more of a railgun than anything else: the grains of sand were sucked in, accelerated to truly ridiculous degrees, and then spat out against the demonic army. Again, the spatial magic did not care. Our troops had already crossed a quarter of the engagement field at that point, and the enemy army was still paralyzed. The golems hadn¡¯t covered even half the same amount of ground. The jinn were beginning to panic in earnest. As we drew closer, I was able to read some of their expressions. A portion seemed to be arguing in favor of a speedy retreat, their eyes darting repeatedly towards our troops. A portion seemed annoyed that their comrades would be such cowards. The smallest and most alarming faction looked indifferent. These were the few jinn dressed in practical outfits. In fact, as a notable exception to the apparent cultural norm, they were wearing armor. I still didn¡¯t know why a whole civilization would glorify a refusal to wear armor. I did know that it was stupid. But these few jinn were clearly not stupid. They also didn¡¯t appear to be concerned, which was¡­ concerning. Then the first sign of demonic weakness showed itself, and the mood of the battlefield shifted. Like a signal from some unrelenting deity, a spray of sand cut through our spatial barrier and landed on the first line of marching demons. They froze for a second, no doubt uncomfortable amidst the anti-mana menace, but then they quickly shrugged it all off. Unfortunately, it was just the first sign of the deluge to come. With the barrier¡¯s integrity breached, it was only a matter of time. It didn¡¯t take me long to figure out how. In order to stay up, the barrier probably deployed the same trick as the city¡¯s barrier: expanded spatial layers. With so much space between the outer edge of the barrier and the inner core, what did it matter how close the enemy armies were, or what weapon they used? The only way to bridge the ward¡¯s defenses would be to fill up all of that empty space. The barrier couldn¡¯t be threatened. Of course, that was only under ideal circumstances. In order to make the thing portable, I was willing to bet the size of that empty space had been considerably constrained. Otherwise, it would be far too likely for the ward to destabilize, or even implode. The jinn¡¯s sand-funnel thing wasn¡¯t a very lethal weapon when compared to the spatial barrier¡¯s defenses. However, it was funneling tons of sand every few seconds. Eventually, all that sand would pile up in our barrier¡¯s empty space. It was stupid. It shouldn¡¯t have worked. Judging by the delighted looks on some of the jinn¡¯s faces, I wasn¡¯t even sure they were pulling off this bit of tactical genius on purpose. But they were doing it. And if the barrier fell, we would get decimated in a matter of seconds. A single golem had nearly wiped out Glaustro¡¯s troop. A whole group of them? Our glorious army didn¡¯t stand a snowflake¡¯s chance in a fiery hell. Your move, Crewe, I thought bitterly, eying the place within our ranks where I knew the lieutenant general lurked. If he waited too long, we wouldn¡¯t have much of an army left. Chapter 94: Elemental Manifestation The reversal came suddenly and without warning. One moment, the funnel of sand was about to demolish our defenses. The next, the world was on fire. Hidden within the ranks of advancing demons, mages had lurked, waiting for the most optimal moment. As soon as they got close enough to enemy lines, their rituals fired off. Summoning arrays and matrices lit up one after the other, spewing blue-white flames. From each set of flames emerged a hulking monstrosity. The creatures could be vaguely described as spindly humanoids swaddled in ashen cloth. Their limbs were bony and impractically long. The legs, in particular, looked barely functional, forcing the monsters to shuffle awkwardly forward in odd, loping lurches. Looking up at one of the things, I caught a glimpse of what was supposed to be its face. All I saw were the burned remnants of features hovering around a gaping maw. The horrible mouth flickered and glowed with the same blue-white flames that had brought the monster into existence on this material plane. My stomach was already churning, but then I looked down at the thing¡¯s body. That was worse. Every patch of burned skin depicted a different face twisted in burning agony. It was like the monster¡¯s very existence was a collage of suffering caused by fire. Even its arms, the most functional part of its body, crackled and snapped like bones made brittle by heat. Not that this stopped any of the creatures, of course. Their arms simply regenerated between one lurching step and the next. Then all the monsters opened their mouths, and the world turned into one continuous stream of flames. There were few creatures I had seen since my revival into Hayden¡¯s body that well and truly terrified me. Not even demons, as a general rule, inspired mind-numbing terror. But these creatures, twisting the air with their heat and making the whole world wail? Yeah. They terrified me, and I am not ashamed to admit it. The sand around them stood no chance. The air immediately started to shimmer in the haze of heat, and the sand became cherry red before suddenly reaching the melting point. It turned briefly into runoff, then solidified into glass with horrifying speed. Such was the force of the creatures¡¯ magic that it consumed the entire funnel of sand. But the jinn¡¯s giant weapon didn¡¯t harden into glass, though. Crewe¡¯s monstrosities ignited the sand-funnel, transforming it into a twister of flames. Then the new fiery funnel started growing. Mortals, constructs, and even jinn tried to get away from the flame-twister¡¯s rapidly expanding size. All were consumed with equal ease, going up like funeral fires made of the driest timber. The only defenders in its path who survived were the fire-attuned jinn. Even they stumbled around like they were drunk, their bodies flickering between their natural states and the blue-white color of the creatures¡¯ flames. That still didn¡¯t beat the horror of what happened next. Like they were sensing a feast, all the creatures surged forward. They rushed the defenders like a pack of hungry wild animals. The locals actually broke ranks to get as far away from the fire hazards as they could. The creatures didn¡¯t even chase them. Instead, each one snatched up a burning corpse, holding it in one hand as the other reached for the corpse¡¯s face. With a single, unnatural motion, the creature tore the burning face away, perfectly preserving its expression of anguish. As I watched, transfixed, the monstrosities slapped the torn faces down on their own bodies. The faces sank instantly into the creatures¡¯ skin, becoming a perfect piece of the already horrific skin. Then all the faces started to scream and moan, and I had to fight down an overwhelming wave of revulsion. If I felt like throwing up, then the locals and the jinn were far worse off. They had gone into combat feeling confident and relaxed. Now they were fleeing in terror, sobbing and rocking in place, or just entirely insensate. I didn¡¯t know what to think. On the one hand, they were definitely my enemies. On the other, the sheer vileness of Crewe¡¯s creatures was pretty much a step too far. Good thing the golems didn¡¯t care, then. The automated defenders reoriented on the new targets, then began raining down blows with even more enthusiasm than before. If their attacks on the mobile ward were slow and methodical, they seemed to be in a frenzy to kill off the shambling creatures as quickly as possible. Each strike took chunks out of the monsters¡¯ face-ridden hide. As summoned creatures, the monsters were highly magical to begin with. I doubted that they were particularly ¡®natural¡¯ even in their original plane of existence. So, the golems¡¯ anti-magic sand sheared through their bodies with unnatural ease, splashing bits of white-hot magma and other weird fluids all over the place. The creatures would not go quietly, though. They rounded on the golems, their flames still as much of a threat as ever. It was almost funny to watch. When the creatures struck, the stream of fire they released did almost nothing. The flames just washed over the magic-resistant bodies of the golems, leaving nary a mark. It was the heat of the flames that did the trick. The more flames the creatures spewed, the hotter the area around them became. Soon the air was practically imploding, and not even the best of golems could withstand those temperatures.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Enchanted bodies cracked and faltered. Sand evaporated into melted glass. Runes fizzled out, igniting into pure fire mana that, while it didn¡¯t do much to the golems directly, severely hindered their functionality. To my surprise, the horrid monstrosities weren¡¯t even the core of Crewe¡¯s plans. While everyone was busy tracking the damage the creatures could do, he was already moving. He had stepped out a little ways ahead of the first rows of advancing soldiers. Mana that was more black than red poured off his body, forming into ropes and chains. They snaked out to either side, then sank into the gliding worm monstrosities the lieutenant general had summoned in my presence back in the city. The effect was as immediate as it was obvious. Each of the worms swelled, grew, and gained far more exaggerated characteristics. I would almost call the transformation draconic, if it weren¡¯t a blatant insult to dragons everywhere. The beasts gained longer, more permanent wings that seemed capable of actual flight. Limbs sprouted, strong enough to support the critters¡¯ weight and send them careening over the land at terrifying speed. Dozens of new grotesque mouths, with some truly deadly fangs, opened along the length of the creatures¡¯ bodies. They didn¡¯t seem capable of differentiating between living and constructed enemies. Whatever moved and wasn¡¯t explicitly allowed to survive by their master, they devoured. Swaths of constructs, locals, and even jinn were snatched up and ground to little more than a mass of meat in the creatures¡¯ maws. That was about when the rest of the demonic army caught up. I was several layers deep in the right flank¡¯s wing, but that didn¡¯t matter at the moment. So many locals were trying to flee, and so many constructs were forced to scatter, that we all saw plenty of action. They were tricky things, the local mortals. Once I found a way past their armor, I usually won, but they seemed strangely aware that exposing even a small part of their bodies to me would result in tragedy. As a result, instead of sweeping attacks and charges, I was forced to fight methodically. I went for their arms and legs first. These were often unprotected, and my upgraded sword was more than capable of slashing straight through mundane clothing. Then it was just a matter of putting them out of their misery. After all, the pain they were flailing in didn¡¯t come from the flesh, but from the soul itself. They could brace themselves for the former. The latter? Unless they had some very specific and very scary training, they were all sitting ducks. Besides, soul-pain transcends physical limitations. There¡¯s only so much suffering a body can experience before it crumbles. The soul has no such boundary. At that point, ending their life was truly the most compassionate thing to do. Right? Right? An interesting side-effect of my strategy was that the demon soldiers were giving me nearly as wide a berth as they gave Crewe¡¯s monstrous abominations. No one seemed eager to fight alongside the insane new mortal who fought with a grin on his face while inflicting complete agony on everything within reach. No one except for Mia, of course. For the first time in a long time, the cat girl could fight without any hindrance from the sand. She moved like a wraith through the battle, switching among multiple copies of herself to feint and deal attacks with chilling precision. Her mage shield was up, which meant she was managing to run two advanced techniques at once. She was a right menace in combat. And if the glow in her eyes was any indication, she was loving every minute of it. Then we arrived at the area where, without other orders, the constructs still milled about. I sighed. If the point of my previous fights was to show off, get souls, and establish myself as someone important in the eyes of my commander and fellow soldiers, then this was about pure survival. These constructs were tough and generally on the smaller side. I couldn¡¯t tear them apart with casual ease, no more than I could tear apart sheets of magically reinforced metal. No soul for me to target, after all. In this stage of the battle, I couldn¡¯t advance too far past the nearest member of my unit without getting accused of rushing ahead. I had already earned several warning glances from Glaustro. While he seemed to support my bloodthirsty attitude, and downright smirked at the number of solo-kills I managed, he did not support my more reckless moves. Like when I pushed forward and encountered two dog constructs and one flying-type construct all at once. That one was¡­ close. The trio moved in perfect harmony. The left mutt barked, hissed, and generally made itself a major nuisance. This was such a blatant attempt to draw my attention that I wanted to laugh. However, the other canine construct was a decent distance away. I knew from experience that I could get to and cut up the noisy beast before the second one could catch up. So, I tried to do just that. I surged forward, stuck my sword inside the dog¡¯s messy, blood-stained mouth, and shoved the construct onto its back as I used my sword for leverage. The trick worked, and I was hacking away at the thing¡¯s throat in no time. Unfortunately, that was when the insect decided to teach me a few things. First, that the dogs weren¡¯t alone. Second, that the constructs¡¯ distraction action was not limited to pairs of similar-looking creatures. Last, that none of the constructs were as slow and clumsy as they first appeared. The lesson almost culminated in a stinger burying itself straight through my eye and into my brain. Faster than I could react, earth flashed in front of my face, turning into a solid wall a millisecond later. The wall formed just in time to stop the stinger from busting all the way through. Then it collapsed backwards on top of the constructs that had tried so hard to kill me. Standing on the other side was an absolutely livid Glaustro. He didn¡¯t shout me down then and there, but after that, there were no heroics to be had by anyone. He kept us in a tight cluster, fighting side by side and taking minimal risks as we advanced. Mia pouted, and I wasn¡¯t too thrilled myself, but the sergeant¡¯s order was final. So, while the surrounding units were losing members to the desperation of the locals, my unit stayed almost entirely intact. Several of our demons were severely wounded, sure, but none had outright died. Even the injured would be just fine. We could shuffle them to the back for treatment so fast, they wouldn¡¯t even have any lingering drawbacks. And our side was winning. The shambling fire-monstrosities were mostly gone, but they had taken out massive swaths of the defenders¡¯ golems. The worm-things were somehow multiplying every time I looked at them. I couldn¡¯t help but shudder, even if the abominations were responsible for sweeping away incredible numbers of ¡®low-quality¡¯ enemy combatants. Finally, the lieutenant general himself led the battle from the front, slicing through any serious opposition with such ruthless efficiency that it bordered on artistry. The battle was going so well, I really shouldn¡¯t have been surprised when it all suddenly went wrong. The first sign was a thrum from deep within the city shrouded in the crystalline tree¡¯s bark. The sound echoed over the battlefield, making both defenders and attackers freeze in place for a few seconds. The second sign was the cracking of the earth beneath our feet, massive fissures opening up seemingly of their own accord. The third was the low chanting that pulsed through the air. I whipped my head around to spot several jinn hovering just above the massive palatial complex at the top of the bark-encased city. The jinn had their arms raised far above their heads in supplication, sweat beading their brows as they focused on channeling insane amounts of mana. They were calling out to something. And, with an eruption of sand and earth elemental mana from within the palatial complex, something answered. Chapter 95: Conquest Unrelenting The earth rumbled under our feet as the deluge of sand dislodged itself from within the city. Oddly, it passed right through the protective bark layer like it wasn¡¯t even there, leaving the tree undamaged in its wake. Meanwhile, the shaking of the ground grew worse and worse, until an entire section of the battlefield caved in. Demons, locals, and jinn alike all fell into its depths. The fissure spread so quickly that any reaction other than instant flight would have been a vain hope. I could only be thankful that it stopped before reaching our section of the sands. The collapse revealed a sight as beautiful as it was harrowing. A vast underground lake chamber stretched underneath us, sparkling under the desert sun like a gem. The many bodies of the collapse¡¯s victims floated on the water. Few were still alive. Their blood stained the oasis red, spreading through the beautiful blue-white lake water in a coruscation of scarlet. Then the water rippled, and a golem core unlike any I had ever seen or imagined emerged from the depths. The core was only roughly spherical. Many of its runes were mostly gone, absorbed directly into the material. It looked like one solid chunk of crystal, reminding me of a soul crystal more than anything else. It drank in all the blood, draining the water of the scarlet intrusion in order to power itself with sufficient mana. Then, gently, it lifted into the air, spinning as it rose higher and higher. The sand flowed down to meet it. This wasn¡¯t quite the sand I was used to seeing, though. Rather than a monotonous gold, this deluge of magic-ending catastrophe melted from one color to the next, cycling through every hue of the rainbow several times per second. It¡¯s like the sand was determined to reflect all the colors of the world within itself, and it was making an admirable attempt. I glanced at Crewe, eyes wide. Most of us were spellbound by the show. It was difficult for anyone to move, on account of the absolutely massive amounts of mana the golem core was throwing around. Hells unholy, even Glaustro was looking green in the face as he tried to stagger forward. But if there was a single being in both armies that could still function, I guessed it would be Crewe. I was immediately proven right. While I was struggling just to take a breath, the lieutenant general was twirling his massive battle axe in a casual manner. With a smile on his face. I wanted to curse when I caught onto what the lieutenant general was doing. Something of this scale, involving this sheer amount of power, had to be related to the information I had brought him with the help of Glaustro and Graighast. Crewe was prepared. If he wanted, he could stop this thing in its tracks. But he didn¡¯t. Whether to pay back a humiliation or because he was simply bored, Crewe was allowing the summoning to happen. ¡°Emotions. High to low, weak to powerful, we¡¯re all slave to our emotions.¡± The quote rang in my head. I couldn¡¯t remember where it came from, but I knew I had never understood it as starkly as at that moment. I also knew that as long as he could leave unharmed, Crewe would sacrifice every last one us happily to speed along the thing forming above out heads. I guess I should be glad he didn¡¯t need to. There were already enough dead on the field to fuel the thing¡¯s growth. The floating golem core drained them all of blood at record speed, reducing them to mere mummy dust as it swelled and bulged. Finally, bits of the golem began to coalesce out of the special sand, slamming into place. Its torso formed first, then its limbs, and finally its head, eyes igniting with power. ¡°Fight.¡± The word shook me to my core. I felt like I had been gutted. Like some massive hand had reached inside me and simply plucked all my organs away. ¡°Struggle. Never surrender. Protect. Your. World.¡± Words echoed out of the thing. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was remembering its own orders, or giving them out. It didn¡¯t matter, because every single member of the opposing army suddenly looked ready to lay down their lives, just on the off-chance it would please the hovering golem. The locals hadn¡¯t exactly fled before. That was the jinn¡¯s contribution to the battle. But they had given into their panic, running around like headless chickens that could be easily harvested. Now, as newfound determination filled them, that weakness vanished. They closed ranks, coordinated, and advanced much more steadily towards their deaths. I say deaths, because there would be no other outcome for them unless the golem could somehow finish off Crewe¡­ which I seriously doubted. With a new rabid look in his eyes, the lieutenant general unleashed a whole new spell of his own.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Gather!¡± declared the mass of living shadow, with more force and personality than I could achieve in multiple lifetimes. What followed was less fun. Dozens upon dozens of demons simply exploded, gore and bits of bone raining down on the people unlucky enough to get caught in the blast radius. People like me and my unit. None of our troop exploded. That was good. But I was still reeling in a new round of trauma. I have no idea where these demons have been, and ewww, I can taste them in my mouth! Middle of the battle or not, I cast the cleansing spell on myself and immediately felt profound relief. After some intense tugging on my arm, I recast the spell on a very disgruntled-looking Mia. The rain of demonic bits and essence all landed on Crewe, making his own aura swell. By the time it stabilized, it was several times stronger than usual, and the lieutenant general was not done yet. ¡°Merge!¡± he screamed again. This time, it was the worms that responded to his call. Those close enough to him slithered at their top speeds. The others erupted into strings of black flesh, tearing through the air in their eagerness to reach their master. Regardless, their fate was the same. They all slammed into Crewe and vanished straight into his chest. For all of a second, nothing happened. Then the lieutenant general started to grow. His body shifted, elongated, and mutated, until he resembled some weird chimeric mix of a lamia and one of his worms. Just¡­ bigger, in every way. Bigger muscles, bigger body, and bigger weapon. The ground had produced the largest golem I had ever seen, but the transformed Crewe towered over the construct, still twirling his massive battle axe casually. ¡°Let us see what kind of challenge you can present!¡± Crewe declared. Then, his shadow-mouth ripping open into a terrifying smile, he dove down at the golem. Every single grain of sand on our battlefield started to shiver and rattle in place. He was drawing the wrath of the entire desert world upon himself, but he didn¡¯t seem to notice. He just kept smiling as he charged the golem that threatened the success of his conquest campaign. I could only partially pay attention to their battle. The apocalyptic ringing of blows and the devastating swipes of what seemed to be all the sand in the world were, at least for the moment, of secondary concern. My primary concern was the golem¡¯s effect on local morale. The defenders were going all out with a ferocity that would match a demonic recruit on their first invasion day. And remember, demonic recruits have a command planted in their brain, whipping their emotions into a murder-frenzy, so¡­ They just kept coming. Swipe after swipe, dodge after dodge, wound after frustrating wound. I mostly received those because I got sloppy, or because I got stupid, or because I was plain old not good enough. Mia, Bronwynn, and Glaustro rescued me from almost certain temporary death several times, throwing themselves in front of me or blocking attacks long enough for me to respond. At least I could reciprocate when it came to Mia. The cat girl needed her own fair share of saving, especially when her bloodlust got to her. It didn¡¯t happen often, but there were definitely a few times when she devolved into little more than pure murderous instinct. It was then that I intervened, both to protect her from unexpected blows she seemed incapable of caring about, and to remind her of where she was and what she wanted to become. Ironically, my emotions were fine. I definitely felt prickly at times as instincts and desires brushed uncomfortably across my mind, but the danger was actually helpful. I couldn¡¯t help but stress over the people who were important to me. So, whenever I was tempted to give into my own murder-y impulses, I channeled those less-than-stellar urges into helping me keep an eye on those people. Was it a healthy way of coping? Definitely not. Could it lead to some severe codependence later on, especially with how my heart already thundered in my chest when I lost sight of Glaustro, Bronwynn, and Mia for even a second? Yes. Did I care? No. If it meant boosting their chances of surviving this mess of a battle, then I didn¡¯t mind what it would do to me long-term. It didn¡¯t make any sense, considering that we could all just resurrect in the Abyss, but I wasn¡¯t exactly a creature of sense and logic at the moment. Overhead, the battle between a golem and a monster continued to rage. The golem seemed to have all the abilities of the baser variants, including the large scale area attacks, sand whips, and more. In spite of that, Crewe was doing a wonderful job containing it. Every time the golem tried to send out a sand wave, keratin shielding popped up all over the lieutenant general¡¯s snake body, halting the attempt in its tracks. When the golem attacked with whips or other physical attacks, Crewe deflected and dodged around them with monstrous ease, behaving like they were barely an inconvenience. And when it came down to a physical brawl, the golem couldn¡¯t afford to engage him for longer than a couple exchanges at a time. Glowing, red-infected cracks littered its form after every blow, spreading until it could absorb enough sand to heal. Soon, the golem looked like one of those expensive eastern vases which were broken on purpose and then fixed with gold lines. It had no source for more of the higher quality sand, after all, which forced it to rely on the local variant to heal all the damage Crewe was doing. Most shocking of all, however, was Crewe¡¯s relative immunity to the issues that tended to plague demons fighting in Lagyel¡¯s environment. Hurricane-level winds buffeted him constantly, backed by sand that was supposed to slice through mana. And he was one of the most powerful demons I knew. As a general rule of thumb, the more powerful a demon was, the more their body turned into mana masquerading as flesh. Add in Crewe¡¯s weird race? Well, he was supposed to be getting shredded out there every time the golem so much as looked at him funny. Instead, somehow, he was using his body to tank it all. And while I had only met him once and wasn¡¯t a great judge of such things, he looked like he was having the time of his life. It¡¯s the weird worm-things. It has to be. My mind was a whirlwind as I considered the way he had merged himself with the local super-fauna. The process must have strengthened his body against Lagyel¡¯s natural and unnatural environments. That is to say, Crewe was handily winning, at least for the time being. Unless the golem could pull off a miracle, it wasn¡¯t going to kill the lieutenant general. As if the construct had heard my thoughts, it paused in midair. Its body parts started to spin, drawing massive amounts of both sand and mana into the golem. I vaguely heard shouts of alarm and outright terror around me, but it was only when Glaustro lifted both me and Mia off the ground and started to sprint that I realized what was happening. The stupid thing was going to blow. It couldn¡¯t win, so it was trying to overload its own ability to gather and process mana and the sand. I didn¡¯t one hundred percent know what that would end up doing, but I could make a few healthy guesses. Grains of sand, launched at who-knows-what speeds, in who-knows-what quantities¡­. Yeah, staying to watch was a pretty good way to get killed. At the last moment, Glaustro dove for what cover he could find. Earth rose up to swallow us, shielding us in its embrace as a new, terrible sun lit up the world. Chapter 96: Broken Spirits Thankfully, Glaustro had gotten better at surviving traps that blow people up. As we crouched in his improvised earthen shelter, I remembered the last time he had saved me from an explosion. That spatial trap on Berlis nearly wiped him out. This time, though, he was upright and fully conscious. Sure, he was gritting his teeth and looked on the verge of snapping someone¡¯s neck, but at least he wasn¡¯t leaking blood and mana. Instead of pointing out this improvement, though, I just said, ¡°Thanks. Again.¡± Because, you know, I actually like having my head attached to the rest of me. The words drew a grim smile from my demonic commander, who waved a hand negligently to let us out of the impromptu bunker he had conjured. And he says he¡¯s not a good mage. I almost snorted, but settled on shaking my head. I can¡¯t believe a demon has self-confidence issues. I knew it was related to Glaustro¡¯s intense rivalry with his brother. The funny thing was, I had never received direct proof of Graighast¡¯s supposedly superior mage talents. Sure, he helped get us out of that spatial magic trap back on Berlis, but he and Glaustro had worked together on that. What was it about Graighast¡¯s magic that made Glaustro feel so inferior? I busied myself with these thoughts, because as Glaustro¡¯s defenses unfurled like a multi-layered rose, that was a much better alternative to immersing myself in reality. Reality was full of blood and mangled bodies and sights no sane mind would cherish and oh god did I step into someone¡¯s brains again?! Trying not to look at the bottom of my boot, I hastily conjured a few cleansing spells. I grimaced as I aimed them at myself, my companions, and the general vicinity. The spell wasn¡¯t a perfect ¡®scrub it all away and make it vanish¡¯ type, but at least it shoved all the dirt and¡­ stuff a decent distance from us. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not great, but it¡¯s not horrible, either,¡± I muttered, gauging the destruction. Though we were surrounded by a nightmare blend of rubble and viscera I was still trying to ignore, the explosion hadn¡¯t wiped out every living thing. Ironically, for once, Lagyel¡¯s environment had worked in our favor. The mana aspect of such a blast would typically be far worse than the actual exploding bit. Sand and rocks could do plenty of damage, of course, but it was the monster-wave of magical energy that you really had to worry about. Here, though? The sand had absorbed ludicrous amounts of mana before the mystical substance could wash over everything and devour us alive. Sure, the individual grains of sand had functioned like ammunition shot from a railgun, but that type of physical bombardment was still better than a mana tsunami. Better for mortals, at least. The ground was littered with the remains of a few unlucky demons who weren¡¯t smart enough to shield their heads when the explosion went off. I knew their race could survive pretty much anything, but I still didn¡¯t understand why demons put such little thought into protecting themselves. Most of them didn¡¯t even wear helmets. It¡¯s like ¡®stupid¡¯ was contagious and decided to manifest as ¡®forgetting to pick up some basic head protection.¡¯ ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± Mia asked, poking me in the cheek. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to be smiling.¡± ¡°It¡¯s either smiling or throwing up. Choose,¡± I stated honestly. Because, well, yeah. The view was lovely this time of year. Mia considered for a moment, then nodded sagely and left it at that. Unfortunately, the universe just couldn¡¯t throw me a bone. With a battle cry certainly worthy of a warrior, one of the locals rushed straight at me with her sword gripped in both hands. The woman was bleeding. She had an obvious head injury. She was missing most of her protective craggy layer of anti-magic skin. And she was still trying to take my head off, based solely on the last words of a golem that blew itself up. I raised my sword in a single smooth motion, slitting her throat easily. After killing my first three or four dozen locals, I had noticed they didn¡¯t have a ton of anti-mana protection around their necks. Their skin was softer there, too. And this is why EVERYONE should wear a helmet! It was one of the first things I ever stole off a soldier I killed, and I had never regretted it. All these killing-thoughts unfortunately killed my attempt to stay in la-la land. Forcing my brain to focus on the carnage around me, I looked around for some sign of the lieutenant general. That was when I noticed Glaustro standing as still as a statue, staring at the sky. I followed his gaze. Like some angry, vengeful god, Crewe hovered far above the battlefield. He was lightly scorched and perforated by the sand attack, but otherwise fine. The regeneration process was almost complete. His few wounds were mostly healed already. Obviously, he had received the memo about protecting his head. He did have an extremely sour expression on his face as he toyed with a fragment of crystal. I could only assume it was a fragment of the golem¡¯s core, probably the only shred left after the explosion.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. That explained the lieutenant general¡¯s scowl. Sure, he had won, but the golem had managed to keep its core out of enemy hands. The thing would have been a treasure trove of useful information. Crewe could have browsed its memories, even, and figured out a way to fix up the golem for personal use. That was certainly what part of me wanted to try with the core I had stashed away in my dimensional pouch¡­ I shook my head to clear it, then looked again at the battlefield for a more detailed assessment of the aftermath. The two armies had taken disproportionate amounts of damage. While outright death was a rarity on the demonic side, and Crewe¡¯s forces were already pulling themselves together, the opposite could be said of the jinn. Not only were most of their troops mortals and constructs, neither of which healed well, but the jinn themselves didn¡¯t seem to possess much regenerative ability. Definitely nothing on par with powerful demons, at least. The jinn were scattered and looked dazed, and I had to wonder how long it would take for someone to¡ª Ahhh, there he goes. I sighed as a maniacally grinning demon carved through a group of jinn before they even understood what was happening. That opened the floodgates. The demons finally realized that they were very much winning, and that the enemy had lost all hope of decent resistance. My own blood rose in response. Raising my sword, I threw myself back into the task of wiping out the defenders. I didn¡¯t feel any particular pity for the jinn. Perhaps it was callous of me, but they didn¡¯t seem to be entirely¡­ there. They all had faraway looks in their eyes, like they could only be forced back to reality at sword point. Overall, they struck me as a race of arrogant immortals who weren¡¯t even aware of the many ways they were using and abusing their mortal ¡®servants.¡¯ Sure, most demons were horrible sociopaths too. But you could still find plenty of them with some portion of empathy for others, if they cared about the people in question. More importantly, they were perfectly aware of all the terrible stuff they were doing. They just chose to do it anyway. In my mind, that was somehow better. At the very least, you threw away the notion of some vague moral superiority based entirely on a lack of your perceived fault. Jinn struck me as the type that would be super judgmental, then turn around and do the exact same thing without a second thought. Now where was I? I swung my sword and felt a bit of oddly fizzy blood splash onto my cheek. Looking down, I spotted one of the few jinn that was dazed enough for even my inexperienced human butt to take them out with relative ease. This was only my third. Even in my bloodlust, I was trying to be smart and avoid a one-way ticket to the Abyss. Still, I looked forward to what those three souls would yield! If just one of those three jinn happened to be old and knowledgeable, devouring their soul would bring me unimaginable returns. When most of the mop-up was finished, my eyes finally turned towards the city embedded in the tree¡¯s boughs. It still looked impressive, doubly so now that I was closer and could witness its glory in detail. But the bark cover and superficial damage ruined the view a little. So did the many terrified faces on the other side of the barrier. As it turned out, unlike with demons, kids weren¡¯t rare amongst jinn. Neither were they precious bundles of potential to be hidden away and nurtured until they reached some level of maturity, like demons tended to do with their young. No, the children of jinn lived in their cities, right alongside regular citizens. That meant they had just been treated to the display of all their most capable adults getting massacred. It also meant we had a whole city to pillage once we got through the barrier. I didn¡¯t want to complain, but I also didn¡¯t feel like slaughtering so many innocents. So, when Crewe¡¯s voice rang out like thunder through the air, I actually felt a hint of relief. ¡°Surrender! Surrender, and you will be allowed to keep your lives. Take down the barrier, and welcome your new rulers!¡± The lieutenant general¡¯s voice was as creepy as ever, but it was his words that caused a commotion. The surviving jinn assembled quickly above the tree to form a response. They were clearly divided. Some of them, the majority from what I could see, wanted to heed the lieutenant general¡¯s warning. I didn¡¯t know what demonic treatment of higher level species was like, but maybe they were hoping to get bailed out through some kind of prisoner exchange or ransom. Ransom was more likely. I wasn¡¯t sure that any intelligent race would actually keep captured demons as prisoners. It would be only to easy for demons to see the inside of enemy fortifications, off themselves, and then pop up in the Abyss some time later with all their valuable information. Regardless, the developing argument was way above my head, both literally and figuratively. No point in wasting time while I waited for the jinn to decide. Instead, I took a page from Mia¡¯s book and began scanning the fallen locals. Most of their equipment was damaged beyond use, but that just made me look around a bit more carefully. After only a few minutes, I found a knife in pristine condition, complete with matching sheath. Next, I managed to pry a set of mana-resistant armor off a woman that looked like she was around Mia¡¯s size, and got another set close to my size. Wasn¡¯t sure either of us were ever going to use them, but they would be nice reference points for Yules when she made alterations to our sets. I was in the process of prying a mostly okay sword from under a dead local¡¯s body when something thumped its way down the treetop and landed on the ground a few feet away. Several somethings, actually. Glancing casually in that direction, I did a double take. The ¡®somethings¡¯ were heads. The jinn were throwing heads down from the top of the tree. Heads which, only recently, had belonged to the high-ranking jinn who protested against accepting Crewe¡¯s offer. I glanced further up. Sure enough, the only remaining jinn were the proponents of peaceful surrender. They looked a bit worse for wear, but steely determination was etched in every line of their bodies. One of them, a female with aquamarine skin, called out to Crewe. ¡°We accept the terms of surrender you offered us!¡± The barrier instantly crumbled away, and the change that swept over the locals was¡­ remarkable. We had captured some of them. A decent number, really, since some commanders seemed to prefer taking slaves to claiming souls. Not so much Glaustro, but I could see at a glance that his brother had tried to secure as many living prisoners as possible. Up to the point when the barrier crumbled away like a dry leaf, those spared locals were still doing their best to kill their captors. It was sad, really, watching them snap their teeth like wild animals and try anything they could think of to hurt the demons around them. The moment the surrender was voiced, though? All the fight went out of them. They turned into the same locals I remembered from the last few settlements: perfectly placid, smiley, and willing to please in whatever way they could. It was creepy, and it was weird, and I distinctly didn¡¯t like it. ¡°Put this away, too,¡± Mia suddenly demanded from right next to me, throwing a pile of stuff at my feet. I jumped, dropping the sword I had finally managed to pry from the corpse. Then I scowled down at the huge bundle of weapons she had assembled. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t need anything else?¡± My voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the cat girl just blinked slowly at me. ¡°No.¡± I grumbled, but started shoving the many weapons into my dimensional bag anyway. There was no arguing with an obsessive loot goblin. Chapter 97: Feeble Minds Most of the army didn¡¯t get involved with the actual claiming of the city, and our unit was no exception. Only the lieutenant general, his aides, and his highest ranking officers ventured into the city ahead of us. Plus Glaustro, who was obviously thrilled to be invited. Not too long after, the old familiar spatial anomalies swept over the tree. Their effects on the city were¡­ interesting. The soft green of all the buildings and the tree itself was now tainted red and black, with the soft inner glow transformed from a radiant white to a sickly purple. It looked like the bark around the city structures was reacting poorly to the Abyssal mana, slowly rotting away. In reality, the only thing that changed was the color, but the shift was striking nonetheless. Thankfully, most of the tree wasn¡¯t affected by the change. The trunk that stretched beyond the highest reaches of the city was still a verdant green. The tree¡¯s many branches and beautiful silver leaves all looked the same as when I first saw them. I didn¡¯t know whether they would remain this way or eventually succumb to Abyssal corruption, but I privately hoped for the former. The tree was such a striking monument to nature that I didn¡¯t want it to change. The good part about the claiming was that it allowed us, finally, to climb up into the city. The experience was everything I had been hoping it would be. Despite the altered colors, just strolling past all the homes and shops carved into the tree made me feel giddy. For a moment, I felt sucked into some kind of fairy tale where I got to explore a secret realm of the elves. The wide smile on my face did not pass without notice. Both Mia and Bronwynn kept shooting me confused looks, but I chose to wave them off rather than explain myself. I was so immersed in the wonder of it all that I lost track of how high we were climbing. It felt like I blinked, and suddenly found myself staring down at the ground from a greater height than I had ever experienced outside of an airplane. My boosted physical condition and unending stamina had let me forge onwards without pausing to think if I should. And I was only halfway up the tree. ¡°Why did you stop?¡± Mia¡¯s question came suddenly. I whirled around to find both her and Bronwynn watching me with that same mild confusion. ¡°Weren¡¯t we going somewhere?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I mean, not¡­ really?¡± I blushed at her increased scrutiny and narrowed eyes. ¡°I got carried away, okay? This city is interesting! I don¡¯t really know where I was headed, just kind of¡­ exploring.¡± ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying, kid, is that you rushed off like a headless fly and led us on a merry chase, and you didn¡¯t even have a plan in mind?¡± Bronwynn¡¯s voice didn¡¯t sound dangerous, exactly, but the disappointment in it was lethal to my fragile heart. ¡°Yes?¡± I squeaked, blushing harder. It was hard to differentiate between my normal embarrassment and the part of my emotions constantly heightened by the Abyss, but I managed to tamp down both to what I thought were acceptable levels. The older demon just sighed, shook his head, and took over the lead position in our little procession. I followed him silently. He, at least, probably had some sort of plan. As we walked, I tried to look more closely at my surroundings instead of just admiring everything I saw. The result was not encouraging. Neither the locals nor the jinn we saw were in chains and slave collars. Not yet. But the former were staring around blankly, expecting someone to tell them what to do, and the latter were cringing away from every demon that passed. Considering the crowds of demons out and about in the newly claimed city, the jinn were cringing a lot. The dichotomy was interesting to witness, but it also cemented in my mind the fact that there was something wrong with the locals. They looked so tame, so accepting of their defeat, that I couldn¡¯t associate them with the fierce warriors whose blood still flecked my clothing. That thought made me cast a cleansing spell on myself. I repeated the cantrip on Bronwynn and Mia, who responded only with some noises of appreciation. My tendency to throw the spell around was so well known that it didn¡¯t merit more of a reaction. Bronwynn ended up leading us directly to a small tavern. I had no idea how he always managed to track down an eatery or watering hole within moments of entering a new city, but it was definitely a thing. Entering the tavern was one odd experience, let me tell you. I thought I was used to claimed cities by now. Demon vendors from the Abyss signed up for temporary licenses to operate on invasion worlds. In the cities I had visited on Berlis, every local building had been entirely replaced by demonic establishments. Each shop, restaurant, and hotel was completely unique, making the claimed cities a disjointed mosaic of demonic architecture. On Lagyel, this total transformation just didn¡¯t happen. The buildings of the treetop city hadn¡¯t changed at all. Their architecture was uniform, perfectly fitted to the whimsical tree-setting. I couldn¡¯t see any of the bizarre demonic shops I was familiar with. Looking back, I realized this had been the case in every city I visited on Lagyel. Even in the ¡®capital of the legion¡¯, all the local buildings were intact. Maybe I had been too distracted to notice before, or maybe this tree-city was so distinct that it forced me to pay attention. Regardless, it was clear that the demonic claim just didn¡¯t seem to have the same impact on Lagyel as it did on Berlis.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The only question was why? Then we stepped inside the tavern, and I forgot about everything else. From the outside, the tavern was just another Lagyel-style building carved into the tree¡¯s bark. Inside, though, it was one hundred percent a demon establishment. This is where the demonic claim took effect. The brick-and-mortar style building had a bar on one side, several tables around the edges, and a low ceiling. The air was warm and hazy. The tavern¡¯s primary feature was a sunken floor section that dominated most of the room¡¯s center. Several demonic patrons were already lounging there, all smoking some kind of long, thin pipe. ¡°You didn¡¯t take us into a drug den, right?¡± I mumbled, keeping my voice quiet so the other patrons or the owner wouldn¡¯t overhear. Bronwynn¡¯s answer was a menacing chuckle, which didn¡¯t do anything to reassure me. ¡°Right? Bronwynn?¡± He still didn¡¯t say anything, opting instead to stroll up to the bar and whisper with the proprietor. Then he motioned towards one of the tables against the wall, where the floor was the regular height. Surprisingly, as we followed Bronwynn to the table he¡¯d pointed out, I could barely smell any of the smoke from the sunken floor section. The fumes of whatever opiates they were indulging in seemed unusually thick, pooling around the demons¡¯ feet and lingering there like a heavy mist. Said ¡®mist¡¯ sparkled enchantingly and even briefly took on the shapes of exotic animals. I blinked in wonder. The spectacle was almost interesting enough to make me want to try out the pipes. Almost. My mind was enough of a mess without adding demon-strength chemicals into the mix, thank you very much. I would probably die on the spot anyway if I dared to try them. After all, I didn¡¯t have the constitution of a demon. Not yet. ¡°What is this place?¡± Mia asked, her gaze sweeping over the other patrons. It lingered on the smoking demons with something close to distaste. ¡°I happen to know the owner, so I¡¯ve visited a lot. You can get some excellent food and drinks here. I wanted to treat you two to something nice after that battle.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an answer to my question,¡± the cat girl pointed out, eyes narrowed dangerously at the friendly demon. He chuckled, clearly unconcerned, but gave in anyway. ¡°Officially? It¡¯s a tavern. Unofficially, it is a drug den. You can find just about every variety of mind-altering substances strong enough to affect demons here. But I don¡¯t recommend you try them, before or after you finish your ascension. They are not permanently harmful, and they are not addictive per say, but base demonic nature makes us very prone to picking up bad habits.¡± I dared another glance at the demons in the sunken floor sections, taking in the expressions of ecstasy and absolute peace on their faces. They seemed entirely unaware of the world around them. For some reason, I couldn¡¯t help but shudder. There was something deeply uncomfortable about the sight, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t think drugs appeal to me,¡± I mumbled. Then I tilted my head at Bronwynn as a thought crossed my mind. ¡°Why is this place not an official drug den, though? I mean, demons aren¡¯t exactly expected to be models of morality and all that.¡± ¡°What else?¡± The older demon huffed, then offered me a sly smile. ¡°Taxes. You wouldn¡¯t believe how heavily the ¡®powers that be¡¯ tax some of the more¡­ lucrative goods. Besides, some of the stuff you can get here is actually illegal. Some of it makes demons go berserk if they take too much, and that¡¯s always trouble. And some of it can even kill powerful demons. Death is an intended effect for certain drugs, actually.¡± ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me demons are prone to committing suicide?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the disbelief out of my voice. Of all the races out there, demons definitely didn¡¯t seem like the type to choose suicide as the best way to end their suffering. Violently taking their anger and misery out on others? That, I could imagine. Suicide? Not so much. To my surprise, Bronwynn laughed loudly. ¡°Hayden, where are we right now?¡± I scrunched up my face at him in disapproval before answering. ¡°Lagyel. No clue about this city¡¯s name, though.¡± ¡°Exactly. We¡¯re not in the Abyss. Death is costly, sure, but it¡¯s not final. You won¡¯t catch any demon using that stuff in the Abyss itself, which is why this particular tavern is never located there. The owner keeps hopping between invasion worlds. Legion demons are his best customers, after all. They just need to be careful not to get caught. If they do, the legion won¡¯t cover their resurrection costs.¡± ¡°The legion covers those? Since when?¡± I managed to keep the indignation out of my voice, but only just. No one paid me back for the money I spent to resurrect after my ¡®execution by Mercutio.¡¯ Not that I paid a ton, but still. ¡°Since always. You just need to be an official member, which you now are, and you also need to not get caught dying for a stupid reason. Like, say, drug use. That¡¯s why so many of them,¡± he nodded towards the demons in the sunken floor section, ¡°are here right now. When people start resurrecting from this last battle, they¡¯ll just get counted as losses from it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ weird. And wasteful.¡± Mia eyed the smoking demons like she wanted to finish them off herself. I had to agree with her. Bronwynn, on the other hand, looked unbothered. ¡°Most of them are content exactly where they are. They earn enough souls to get by and indulge in whatever they want to. None of them are trying to advance, and none of them are hoping to make it into officer ranks. So, dying early in an invasion doesn¡¯t make much difference to them.¡± Looking at the demons from the corner of my eye again, I found that I hated the sight of them. It wasn¡¯t because of disapproval or dislike or anything like that. It was because I had to wonder if I would end up just like them. Eternity was a hell of a long time. How long had they kept fighting, striving, and hoping before indifference set in? For all I knew, they could be tens of thousands of years old. If it was even possible to hang onto one¡¯s hopes and dreams for that long, I imagined it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Even with the heightened emotions of a demon, did there come a day when nothing could stir their hearts anymore? When suffering faded, pain became background noise, and all positive emotions were nothing but fond memories? Considering such a fate, it wasn¡¯t all that difficult to understand why someone would reach for anything that could provoke passion again, even if it resulted in a guaranteed trip back to the Abyss. Perhaps this was, ultimately, a proof of demonic doggedness. Any one of those demons could just choose to end their lives. But instead, they sought ever-escalating stimulants in an attempt to experience something, even for a moment. Was that why they didn¡¯t hesitate to die? I couldn¡¯t imagine anyone coming face-to-face with the enormity of the Abyss and not feeling a thing. Maybe that moment was the final thing making existence worth it for them. More importantly, what would happen if that, too, failed to be enough someday? Despite the sweltering confines of the tavern, I shivered. I was barely aware when our food and drinks arrived, and afterwards, I had no memory of what they were. The only thing I could taste was the bitter tang of trepidation. Chapter 98: A Second Meeting Bronwynn and Mia, no longer distracted by food and drink, had just noticed my foul mood and were trying to ask me about it when my brand suddenly blazed with heat. I knew immediately that it wasn¡¯t a message from Glaustro. With him, the brand would heat up very gradually, only reaching the point of discomfort if I didn¡¯t respond right away. This was an instant escalation to levels of heat that were almost scalding, making me wince a little when I brushed my fingers over the brand. As always, the scramble of ideas, impressions, and visions instantly resolved itself into something like a coherent sentence within my mind.
Report to high command immediately.
The words ¡®high command¡¯ were accompanied by a barrage of images of the palatial complex at the very top of the city, because of course demons would claim it as their own headquarters the second they had the opportunity. ¡°Sorry, but it seems like I¡¯ve been summoned.¡± I sighed out the words and accompanied them with a regretful smile, even if part of me was somewhat relieved that they couldn¡¯t continue trying to figure out what was bothering me. It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t trust them or want them to know, but it was awkward to admit to deep-seated fears about depression and general lack of will to live. Faced with basic survival needs, the promise of magical growth, and all the fascinating sights this new life of mine had to offer, I rarely had to worry about those things anymore. Back in my previous life, however, I had struggled with more than just the regular demands of survival. I didn¡¯t know if the switch in bodies had fixed whatever was once wrong with my brain, or if the issue was purely emotional and had nothing to do with biological chemistry, but I did not want such concerns to resurface. ¡°Would you like us to come along?¡± Bronwynn immediately offered, Mia nodding along. ¡°I¡¯m sure Glaustro will tolerate us.¡± Again, I felt oddly relieved when I could shake my head ¡®no¡¯ with a decent excuse. ¡°It¡¯s not Glaustro who wants to see me, I¡¯m afraid. It¡¯s high command. If I¡¯m right, it probably has something to do with that giant golem the jinn summoned. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve noticed, but the sandstorm outside is gone.¡± I enjoyed watching the way they froze, then scrambled after me to confirm my claim was real. It was. The absence of the storm that typically raged over Lagyel¡¯s surface was an easy thing to overlook. After all, we had just spent days marching under a spatial barrier, then fought a battle under the auspices of our mages, who did their best to protect us from all sand-shenanigans. The battle¡¯s aftermath and our exploration of the city had also provided plenty of things to focus on other than the lack of infernal sand-bearing winds. When we emerged from the tavern, though, we were served a rare treat: as far as the eye could see, the horizon was clear and peaceful. That, in concert with the twilight that ruled under the tree¡¯s canopy, made the scenery almost dreamlike. All was quiet and cast in gloom, spared from darkness only by the gently glow of the gargantuan tree itself. ¡°You were right,¡± Bronwynn whispered. ¡°The whole thing really wasn¡¯t natural. They have golems capable of covering such a large distance, and decided to use them to make our lives miserable? But¡­ why? As far as we could tell, the storms have been a thing for as long as the locals can remember. Way before we ever got involved with this world.¡± ¡°Control?¡± I suggested. ¡°If the entire world is a hellhole worse than Torment, then the locals wouldn¡¯t have any other choice but to depend on them. It¡¯s an easy fix for the jinn if all they wanted to do was maintain their grasp on the world.¡± Neither Mia nor Bronwynn offered a retort, so we just shared a quiet moment, awed by the vast stillness of the desert. I still had somewhere to be, however. ¡°I should go,¡± I stated, feeling reluctant to part now that the previous mood and subject had been dropped. ¡°The lieutenant general doesn¡¯t like to be kept waiting.¡± They quickly assured me they would see me later. Then I left them behind to start my climb. It was a hurried, if not entirely unpleasant affair. I did get to see more of the city, and this time I kept an eye out for any odd discrepancies between buildings and what they contained. I wasn¡¯t sure why, but as far as I could tell, every demon-claimed building had an inside that didn¡¯t match the outside. The only reason I could think of was the greater pushback this world offered compared to Berlis. In Berlis, the demons seemed capable of acting with impunity. In contrast to that, the moment we set foot on Lagyel, we had been bound by those glowing chains. Some of my chains broke almost instantly, but I still had a scant few tied around my soul. I was still aware of them. They were still there. Lurking, hidden, buried past the layer of the world you could perceive with your eyes and mana senses, but they were definitely real.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. As far as I could tell, they were weighing me down. They made it more difficult to drawn on mana, cast spells, or even perceive things magically. Not significantly so, perhaps. It was a low-percentage kind of thing. Honestly, the impact of the chains was so slight, I had almost forgotten about them. What about demons, though? The memory of how Glaustro, Bronwynn, and the rest of our unit had staggered when the chains emerged was fresh in my mind. Besides, while more than half of my chains shattered in those first few moments, the same wasn¡¯t true for the demons. They were still under the fullest suppression Lagyel could achieve. So, I could only imagine that the same rule governed any attempts to impose the Abyss onto the world. If that was true, then replacing the interior of a building instead of the entirety was probably much easier and less draining. My musings ended well before I reached my destination, so I let my head go pleasantly empty as I walked, just enjoying the moment. When I finally did reach the entrance to the palace, I couldn¡¯t shake off my feelings of awe, even if the two guards posted outside were glaring at me in a silent demand to move along or tell them what I wanted. The complex was definitely not built with human-sized creatures in mind. The arc of the entrance stretched a good forty yards into the air, and the width of the passage was at least half that. When I finally managed to tell the guards that high command had requested my presence, I was ushered inside, where I quickly learned that the inside of the palace complex was built to a similar scale. The hallways, doors, and the few rooms that were left open were all sized for giants. The walls bore massive engravings, all of them depicting creatures I couldn¡¯t recognize. The figures had several sets of arms, jaws bristling with teeth, and three eyes on their foreheads. They seemed to be bald, men and women both, and bore stunted wings on their backs. Their shape was vaguely humanoid, but it was hard to argue that with confidence when their backs were bent and their limbs were awkwardly proportioned in comparison to their torsos or even the size of their heads. Surely they didn¡¯t need limbs that long. I couldn¡¯t exactly pause and study the engravings, however. One of the guards was assigned as my personal escort, and he seemed intent on getting me to my destination as quickly as possible. When we reached the correct room, I couldn¡¯t, for the life of me, figure out why Crewe had chosen it. It was just another room in a long string of rooms on a stretch of corridor. The only thing marking it as different were the two guards out front. My guide briefly whispered with them, and then they pushed the massive double doors open, waving at me to proceed. Because of the doors¡¯ size, my entrance was anything but subtle. Every eye in the room turned to take me in, and I had to work extra hard to keep my face carefully neutral and my emotions tempered. To my utter shock, I succeeded. ¡°Ah, the mortal I told you about arrives!¡± Crewe exclaimed in his odd voice, though I detected some delight in his tone. ¡°That is as good a sign as any that our meeting has dragged on for too long. You are dismissed. We will convene tomorrow to expand on our plans for the rest of this invasion.¡± The many officers and high-ranking demons bowed, streaming past me with occasional glances in my direction as I fought to remain indifferent to their scrutiny. When the doors closed again, only Crewe, Graighast, and Glaustro remained. ¡°I owe you my thanks again, soldier.¡± The lieutenant general smiled at me in what I imagined was meant to be a reassuring or friendly manner, but the expression did things, bad things, to my stomach. ¡°Had it not been for you, that battle could have ended¡­ differently.¡± ¡°It is my honor to help, sir.¡± I bowed immediately, that familiar cocktail of fear and delight shooting up my spine. As good as it felt to be praised by a powerful demon, I did not want to slip into anything remotely resembling arrogance. That way lay getting splattered. Crewe laughed again, multiplying the dread and squashing the good feeling. ¡°No need to be so humble! I realize that I made it look easy, destroying that thing, but that was partly thanks to my lovelies. They were stunning, were they not? The dread wyrms are my favorite discovery on this world. Invading would have been worth it for them alone. Such unique creatures¡­¡± The lieutenant general trailed off, and I got treated to the sight of the nightmare creature before me looking downright starry-eyed. I kept my face blank and my mouth shut. There were many words I would use to describe the ¡®dread wyrms¡¯, but ¡®lovely¡¯ was not one of them. Glancing at the brothers, I saw Glaustro was watching me carefully. He gave the barest hint of a nod. I didn¡¯t dare return it, but it was nice to remember that I wasn¡¯t alone in Crewe¡¯s overwhelming presence. Then the silence stretched on long enough that my stupid instincts forced me to fill it. ¡°The wyrms were indeed a terrifying sight, sir,¡± I stammered to Crewe. ¡°I am sure none of our enemies will lay their eyes on them without experiencing true fear.¡± Again, no lying. Big bad demons can tell when you lie. To my relief, the lieutenant general beamed at my words, or tried to. That horrible fanged grin was supposed to be his version of beaming happily, right? ¡°Precisely so! They shall accompany me as we conquer worlds uncountable. I do wonder how difficult it will be to transform them into imps, but no cost will be too great to accomplish such a thing. Now, onto the subject I summoned you for. Your intelligence helped us prepare for this battle, which let us wrap it up with ease. As such, you must be suitably rewarded.¡± He looked me up and down in that intense manner of his, eyes lingering ever so briefly on my sword. He temporarily had no mouth, so I couldn¡¯t tell for sure, but I thought he looked smugly amused. I could just guess he had something prepared, and his next words confirmed it. ¡°I will present you with two choices. You can either accept five thousand souls right now, to be used as you please, or¡­ you can choose to have me help upgrade your sword once.¡± I didn¡¯t expect Crewe to be one for dramatic pauses, but there we were. His offer sent a jolt of anticipation and disbelief shooting through me. Five thousand souls¡­ that¡¯s not a low number. Not at all. On the other hand¡­ No matter what my recent tendency to take stupid risks might suggest, I wasn¡¯t stupid, or incapable of basic math. The pattern had established itself. I could safely assume that upgrading my sword from basic to greater would cost ten thousand souls. Besides, there was a sneaky undertone to Crewe¡¯s voice when he offered the second choice. In the end, it really wasn¡¯t a tough decision to make. Cold hard currency, versus something I would not be able to afford for a long time? Something which had already helped save my life even when it wasn¡¯t on basic rank, let alone greater? ¡°I would like to have my sword upgraded please, sir.¡± I tacked on the ¡®sir¡¯ just quickly enough for it not to sound unnatural, but my eagerness must have shown on my face. Crewe grinned like a cat that just got several canaries and the cream. A whole whipped cream company, in fact. ¡°Very well then, soldier. You shall have what your heart desires.¡± Chapter 99: Growing Hunger As I was starting to learn, Crewe was not a man to delay once he made a decision. The second after I voiced my request, he held out a hand to me expectantly. Since I have already established I¡¯m not an idiot, I didn¡¯t hesitate to obey. Smoothly, I pulled my sword from its sheath, moved my grip to its blade, and offered it to the lieutenant general, hilt first. He grasped it tightly, then pointed the blade straight up into the air. ¡°The sword which we can thank for your revelation¡­¡± He trailed off, stroking a finger down the blade. ¡°A marvelous piece. The material that has gone into its construction is exquisite. And what¡¯s this¡­¡± The demon brushed his thumb against the gem embedded in the hilt, and froze in place. I didn¡¯t dare move or speak. For several long seconds, tension mounted inside me. Is there something wrong with my sword after all? Then Crewe began to shake, and mouths ripped themselves open all along his body as laughter erupted into the still room. ¡°Oh!¡± the lieutenant general gasped. ¡°To think¡­ so¡­ that woman¡­ she wasn¡¯t without an heir, after all! It was such a shame¡­¡± He chuckled maliciously, his five eyes blazing even more brightly than usual. ¡°Yes, I do recognize this blade now, puny as it looks in its current iteration.¡± He swung back to me. The next thing I knew, one of his hands was gripping my chin tightly, manipulating my head left and right for a better viewing experience. I carefully resisted the urge to freak out or pull away. ¡°You do resemble her! I find it so very hard to tell you humans apart, though. No subtle differences in your colors, no depth of being to perceive, no distinct markings. One measly brand, that¡¯s all that really serves to differentiate your souls, and it is such a boring chore to go rooting through the information in those.¡± I struggled to process all of that until my mind latched onto the word ¡®soul.¡¯ I really shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, but to discover that Crewe mostly relied on people¡¯s souls to distinguish between them was an interesting discovery. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he was unique, or if it was a trait all Abyss-born demons shared. ¡°If you can become half the nuisance that she was, then you¡¯ll have already lived up to her legacy! And I do so hope you can manage that, fledgling, for both her sake and your own. Try not to disappoint. She did fall, in the end. If anything, you should aim to do better. To succeed where she failed.¡± He finally released me, and it took all my will not to slide into a panic attack right then and there. The intense emotions ruling in that moment belonged entirely to the side of me that was Hayden. The mention of his mother had gripped my soul and threatened to tear it apart. After all those years of wondering, after so much time spent hoping to learn even a smidgen of information about her, here in front of me stood a demon who had actually known her. And I couldn¡¯t demand a single explanation from him. I stood there, frozen, fighting back a dozen different urges. I wanted to surge forward and say something incredibly stupid. I wanted to hurt myself in some way, if only for the brief reprieve from emotions that pain would offer. Crewe, of course, did not care a single whit about what I was going through. He took several steps away from me, then held my sword horizontally in front of his chest, blade pointing outward. For a few moments, he focused solely on breathing, eyes closed. His expression was as close to ¡®serene¡¯ as such a horrifying entity could manage. When his eyes snapped open, so did his mouth. His jaws opened wider than I had ever seen them go before, reminding me of a snake more than a humanoid. More disturbingly, rather than a view of a regular person¡¯s insides, we were treated to the sight of an endless void beyond those jaws. Stars glittered within the void, too many to count at a casual glance. A rumbling noise emerged from this cavernous space, and then some of the stars started to surge closer, turning from pinpricks of light into glowing orbs surrounded by emerald flames. Then they started melting. A stream of green molten soul-stuff dripped out of the lieutenant and onto my sword, igniting it. The blade visibly softened as glowing lines began to manifest all along its length. A shudder passed through me, flowing along my bond with the sword. I had to bite down a gasp as well as the sudden urge to lunge forward and try to pry the blade away from the demon. He could fend me off with zero effort, anyway. I glanced at Glaustro and his brother to gauge their reaction. The only thing I saw on their faces was awe, rather than alarm or terror, so I fought to calm myself. That became increasingly difficult as the weight of mana in the room increased, and as I continued to feel jolts of pain and¡­ something else, all streaming into me through the connection to my mother¡¯s legacy. The more flaming, emerald soul-stuff inundated my sword, the more the glowing lines became a distinct feature. They had started off as faded markings that covered maybe one percent of the entire weapon. Now they covered more than twenty five percent of the blade, and their numbers only continued to grow. So did the complexity of the pattern they formed. It reminded me of the lines on a circuit board. The web of glowing lines intersected and branched as it spread, seeking to cover every inch of the available surface.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The weight of mana also kept growing, pressing down on me unpleasantly as Crewe continued to work. Every few moments, in addition to the soul-stuff he was pouring out, the demon waved one of his many arms over the sword. His claws would flash before a single, abyssal-black drop of blood plopped down on the emerging pattern to join the emerald flames. Every time, the blade absorbed the blood swiftly. Every time, the progress of the glowing lines multiplied exponentially. Every time sent shivers racing into my very soul. I was always vaguely aware of the links that connected me to my soul-bound items, not to mention the Abyss itself, but now the connection to my sword was thickening and solidifying in a way I could barely understand. And through this connection, something was reaching out for me. It wasn¡¯t the first time I felt my soul react to something, but of all the times prior, this was perhaps the most pronounced. I could, all at once, feel my soul both recoil away from and yearn for whatever was trying to establish contact. The connection shuddered one final time as the lines reached and exceeded fifty percent of my sword¡¯s total surface area. Then the mysterious presence on the other end got through. A wave of agony erupted through my soul. My other senses winked out, and then I was in a realm of pure darkness, body translucent and as naked as the day I was born. Thick cords of power ran from my chest into the distance, and I could instinctively tell what lay at the end of each one. One particular line was currently serving as a conduit for Crewe¡¯s emerald flames, trying to pump them into my chest. They sputtered when they entered my body, but they were gaining ground fast. From scattered sparks, the power slowly grew into emerald embers, and then the first green tongues of actual fire rose up. The agony clouding my thoughts intensified, and an incredibly potent wave of fear slammed into my mind. I knew, immediately and instinctively, that the flames could swallow up my soul if I let them. Even if I managed to keep them somewhat in order, if I let them spread through my chest and reach my core, they would consume it. Perhaps I would get something else in its place. Perhaps it would even be a more potent kind of power. But, it would never belong solely to me, nor would it be anything like the magic I could perform now. I loved my magic. It appealed to a young, sheltered part of me that still dreamed of swishing a wand around while blasting off silly-sounding spells. I was most definitely not going to give it up without a fight. So, with hackles raised and more than my survival on the line, I bent the entirety of my mind, will, and soul against the flames. At first, nothing worked right. My translucent red flesh was not filled with mana like I was used to. The power flowing through me felt both similar and incredibly different, refusing to obey my attempts to corral it. Meanwhile, the flames kept growing, licking onwards and fighting to consume a whole section of my chest. It was only when a surge of pure anger and frustration erupted out of me that the power within my soul reacted and shifted. The tiny ripple it made smothered the flames significantly, though only for a moment. The ripple also brought an odd kind of enlightenment with it. I¡¯m not dealing with mana. I¡¯ve felt mana before, and this doesn¡¯t feel like it. My core isn¡¯t even present in my chest, though I can feel it there, just at the edge of my senses. But, if this isn¡¯t mana, then¡­ it can only be my soul itself. I felt silly, obsessing over labels in such a moment, but I couldn¡¯t help it. I was so caught up in the idea of mana as some kind of external force, something I could gather up and tame. That was true, to an extent. However, once it took root within my body, once it became part of me, didn¡¯t it fall under the label of ¡®me¡¯, too? In the same way, just because the swirly red substance was located under my translucent skin and I could ¡®see¡¯ it as a distinct feature of my insides didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t a part of my soul. On the contrary, it was a more pure expression of my soul than the faux-human appearance I forced my manifestation to take in such moments. The manifestation was far from perfect, after all. Parts of it still looked like they were sewn together, but the seams had significantly smoothed out by now. Rather than an obvious mish-mash of different identities, all the bits looked like they belonged to a single person. A single person who happened to get mauled by a bear or something, and needed to be put together again more extensively than Humpty Dumpty. The swirling red substance inside me, though? That was just one singular, uniform mass of power, pure and whole. As that understanding surged through me, the power that made up ¡®me¡¯ suddenly fell under my perfect control. Calling upon that power to wash over the emerald flames was simplicity itself, and I ground away at them time and time again. I realized quickly this strategy alone wasn¡¯t going to work. I was making progress, and I could definitely stop the flames from spreading. But more and more of the embers lingered, heating up and threatening to burst into a conflagration again. So, instead, I gathered all the embers up. I squished them together, exerting as much pressure as I could until they fused into one perfect sphere. Then I shoved the emerald sphere into the point where my sword-connection fed into my spectral form. I couldn¡¯t define what compelled me to do that. I only felt a surge of cold certainty that it was the right way to act, and I followed through with it almost before I could consciously make the decision. It worked, at least for the most part. When forced into the sphere with my soul-stuff, the emerald embers cooled and almost settled down. But the flames just kept coming, surging along the link with my sword, shoving more power into that marble of emerald essence I had created. The embers were starting to heat up again. The process was slow, but I could see a flame guttering to life within the half-transparent orb. If it erupted in a blaze, it would consume me instantly¡­ Then, just as the tiny flame started to radiate unbearable heat, the source of the fire cut out. The connection between me and my soul cooled. I forced mouthful after mouthful of air into my lungs with desperate need as my eyes shot open, blinking blurrily at¡­ the ceiling. I had collapsed. Glaustro was on his knees next to me, gently trying to lift me up and glaring murder at Crewe. Graighast looked constipated and afraid as he stared at us, but he still seemed ready to back up his brother if necessary. Meanwhile, the lieutenant general loomed over me, gripping my sword, his eyes focused on me and me alone. ¡°Well done! I thought you¡¯d be able to withstand that, and I was right. Of course, I intended to offer you this boon from the start, but I pushed a little harder than I would have without knowing about your ancestry. Claim your sword, soldier, and be dismissed. I suggest visiting the station after this. It will help you immensely.¡± He gazed at me with an oddly proud expression on his face, ignoring the other two demons in the room. I rolled over to my knees and raised a shaky hand to accept the sword. The second my fingers brushed against it, I felt the power that slumbered within it, hidden from prying eyes and waiting to deliver death to my enemies. Within my soul, sequestered away and still radiating heat, I could also feel a small fire. It crackled away in all its emerald glory, radiating its own brand of strength. It wasn¡¯t anger or fear that burned in me at the sight of it. It was a hunger, and I wasn¡¯t sure how far I would go to keep it fed. Chapter 100: Greater Heights It was an odd sensation, suffering from the presence of a new fire in my soul, yet craving the thrum of its strength at the same time. Whatever the emerald flames were doing to my essence, I coveted it immensely. Those same instincts that had driven me to survive were basically crying out in celebration. So, despite the fact that I was literally stumbling my way out of the room after Crewe¡¯s dismissal, I was still grinning like a loon. The only thing that marred my good mood slightly was Glaustro¡¯s expression as he looked at me, and the quietly growled ¡°We will talk after I¡¯m done here¡± he sent me out with. Thankfully, he still had plenty to discuss with Crewe, which meant I was perfectly free to pursue the feelings burning inside my chest! And those feelings were driving me straight towards the Absorption Station. Considering the size and space requirements of a station, it didn¡¯t take me long to track one down. The cutoff zone I once found a little ominous was now inviting with its promise of safety and power, and I strolled right on in without hesitation. The first thing I did was draw my sword.
Legacy of Lethaniel: Demonic Soul Blade Tier: Greater Demonic Weapon
The ¡®greater¡¯ tag made me giddy, and the beautiful patterns on my blade only lifted my mood higher. It really did look like a piece of art, even more so than before. The soft lemon-green color of the blade shone. The patterns almost seemed to move, lit by an enchanting emerald glow. Overall? The upgrade was more than worth it. Even with my increased earnings, it would be challenging for me to save ten thousand souls on my own for such an investment. Speaking of my earnings, once I was finally done ogling my blade, I sheathed it and turned my attention to the soul purse on my hip. I hadn¡¯t gone quite as laser-focused in the most recent battle as I did back when we fought the bugs, but in comparison, the fight to claim the city had provided many more foes to slaughter. My haul from the conflict turned out to be a neat six hundred and twelve souls. Combine that with what I already had, and I was the proud owner of eight hundred and fifty-four souls. It was a damn shame that I was going to lower my wealth significantly in the next couple of minutes, because it would have been nice to boast about being ¡®well off¡¯ for once. Needs must, I suppose, which was why I stripped off my upper body armor and clothing with minimal fuss. That just left the matter of how exactly I should position myself for the procedure. I knew from experience that it would be painful, so I wanted to be relatively comfortable. At the same time, if my gambit worked and I did fully sprout wings, I did not want them immediately squished between me and the seat. That would just mean more pain. If my first experience with actual wings involved the need to chug a healing potion, I was going to flip out. In the end, I settled into a somewhat awkward, partially curled-up pose on the lower half of the seat, lying on my side at the very edge. I would have tried to lie down on my front, but the fact that the whole setup was inclined to keep you in a sitting position made the option untenable. This way, I could grip my legs and curl up further when the pain became too much, and my wings would hang off the side when they appeared. If they appeared. With that sorted out, I pulled out my purse and slowly counted out seven hundred souls, awkwardly cradling them to my chest to keep them from spilling. Even without relying on the station¡¯s ability, I was fairly capable of gauging the quality of a soul at that point. And by ¡®quality¡¯, I don¡¯t just mean the soul¡¯s official rank. I had noticed some time ago that not all souls were made equal even if they shared the same designation. A basic soul that came from a human was significantly more complex and interesting than one that came from a beast. The human had more varied experiences, more knowledge, more¡­ everything. Offered a choice between a beast and human ¡®basic¡¯ soul, a demon would always go for the human, even if they both nominally contained the same amount of energy. More ¡®complex¡¯ souls looked better, too. They shone just a little brighter, and their fractal appearance was a bit more refined. Not enough to affect their value when trading or even when using an Absorption Station, but it was noticeable if you paid attention. This was helpful in a practical sense. A trained eye needed only a glance to pick up on which souls had more skills and useful stuff to absorb. Not that I had done a lot of absorption lately. It wasn¡¯t fear that dissuaded me from pursuing that path. It was just basic common sense and self-preservation instincts. Sure, I could stuff myself full of pointless trivia extracted from locals and turn myself into an expert on all things Lagyel, but then how much of ¡®me¡¯ would be left? Could I even claim the name Hayden, let alone the vague references to my previous life, if I had the experiences and memories of dozens more people shoved inside my head? I wasn¡¯t eager to find out, that was for sure. Plain and simple, it was just better to use the souls for bartering with the Abyss, upgrading my weapon, or purchasing stuff I might need. If I came across something exceptional? Sure. Then again, I could always just hold out and chow down on the soul in question once I was properly inducted into the demonic ranks.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Shedding the bits of hesitation that were making me ramble, and hating myself a little for still harboring them in spite of my excitement, I finally offered up the souls. A part of me was afraid that the process would repeat from the start every time, with the Abyss blazing a blueprint for the wings directly onto my soul again and again. Thankfully, that wasn¡¯t the case. Instead, I enjoyed the much more bearable, physical pain of my body getting violently toyed with by cosmic forces. Matter was formed from nothing, then fed into the pair of stunted wings I had been trying to ignore. Within the blink of an eye, the wings grew several inches longer. The bones formed rapidly and speared through flesh to string it into place, the way you might shove a frame into a pi?ata. The process hurt. It hurt so much. But even as my mind started to drift, clouded by images of unspeakable things the Abyss was trying to feed me through our connection, I clung to the dream I had conjured back when I made my request for wings in the first place. I clung to the idea of freedom. Of entire new horizons opening up to me, literally and metaphorically. Of all the exotic worlds I would be able to visit with wings and a solid wind at my back. It didn¡¯t make any of the torment any easier, but it sure reminded me what all the pain was for. And, more importantly, that the dream was worth the pain*.* I didn¡¯t need to throw away what was left of my mind and humanity just to make it all stop. The process would conclude on its own, when my body was ready, and all I had to do was hold on. So long as I had sacrificed enough souls, of course. When I first tried to grow wings, I shoved three hundred souls at the problem. It sounded like a lot, especially considering it took me only a thousand souls to ¡®max out¡¯ my ascension. Driven by the idea that growing a pair of wings could be equally expensive, I chose to sacrifice seven hundred souls this time, rounding out my investment to a nice even thousand. I mean, if that number of souls was good enough to get the Abyss to acknowledge me, it was good enough to get me my wings, right? As it turned out, I overshot by a little. Not a whole lot, but when the last growth spurt of my wings petered out and I felt them align with the vision of the wings embedded in my soul, there was still power to be spent. That power lingered in my wings, doing something there, before it shot forth and washed through the entirety of my body. A billion little alterations I couldn¡¯t track or even detect swept through my being. Then the power focused on my hands and feet. It must have found something it liked there, because it latched on and went to work. Every bone in all four of my appendages crunched, rearranged, then healed. Again, and again, and again. The dream of flight was no comfort. I couldn¡¯t even grip something to ground myself physically. All I could do was lie there, helpless and screaming and so thankful no one could get inside the station to witness this. When these final remnants of my sacrifice burned themselves out, I still couldn¡¯t move. I stayed there for several more moments, panting and miserable. The experience had thoroughly cleansed me of whatever odd high possessed my mind after my sword¡¯s upgrade process. With a rush of clarity, I decided that, in the future, maybe I shouldn¡¯t just let someone mess with a weapon bound to my soul. Recalling Glaustro¡¯s expression, I winced. He¡­ hadn¡¯t been happy with me. At all. Deal with that later, major bodily changes come first, I reminded myself, then slowly sat up. You know, when one thinks about getting wings, one tends to focus on the positives. The amazing mobility. Unparalleled scouting opportunities. Looking cool and showing off by getting to do something typically reserved for birds. Few people ever think about having to live with said wings when you¡¯re not out doing cool loop-de-loops in the sky. So, I was genuinely shocked by what the wings were doing to my balance. I had to relearn everything. Walking, turning, even just standing still: all presented their own new challenges. I was also hyperaware of every single muscle in my back. There was a whole new host of ways I could, and more importantly couldn¡¯t, move them. The Abyss had definitely saved my butt by imbuing me with some of the instincts I would need to manage the changes, but even so, it was overwhelming. As such, it took me a few minutes of stumbling about like a newborn chicken before I finally regained enough control of my body to focus on my appearance. I inspected my arms first. They looked more or less the same as they used to, though I noticed my fingers were a bit longer and more spindly. Plus, when I flexed my hand, the claws that emerged from my fingertips were definitely deadlier than before. The only other change was a host of spots dotting each arm. They weren¡¯t super noticeable, just a shade darker than my light blue skin. But there was definitely something going on there. They seemed to be arranged in specific formations, starting small around my wrists and growing in size until they petered out at my elbow. When I prodded them, they felt vaguely stiff and unlike the surrounding skin. I couldn¡¯t figure out what they actually were. Even running my mana through the area told me nothing. Taking off my shoes, I found the changes to my arms mirrored in my legs. The slightly darker spots had appeared there too, starting small around my ankles and then growing in size up to my knees. Once again, I couldn¡¯t tell what they were supposed to do, if anything. More interestingly, my toes could now produce claws. All I had to do was flex, and my feet became deadly weapons. This was great, but also problematic. I fully assumed I would forget myself at some point and accidentally claw up my own shoes from the inside. Or, even worse, Yules¡¯ leather-work would prove stronger than my claws, and the shoes wouldn¡¯t give my new ¡®deadly weapons¡¯ anywhere to go when they tried to sprout. I really, really didn¡¯t want to imagine how much that would mess me up, so I happily stopped doing it. Nope! No potential future disasters to worry about here! Leaving the best for last, I finally turned my attention towards my wings. I might be a tiny bit biased, but they were glorious. I had expected them to turn out bat-like, in vein with stereotypical demons, but the Abyss must have fed on the bird imagery I gave it more than I expected. When I tentatively prodded my wings into a self-hug, I was enveloped in perfectly soft, downy feathers. The Abyss did stick to its own theme, though. My wings were a beautiful shade of black, something between ¡®night sky¡¯ and ¡®all-devouring void.¡¯ Every movement sent a red sheen washing over them, glinting almost metallically under the light. The most unexpected feature, though, was the array of markings on each individual feather. Every feather¡¯s rachis, the main ¡®stem¡¯ or ¡®spine¡¯, had a line running along it, of a simple yet striking azure color. On either side of each line sprouted two symmetrical hills, forming a somewhat squished circle at the center of each feather. For the life of me, I could not figure out if these markings were practical, or a simple decoration the Abyss decided to throw in because¡­ why not? Realizing the futility of further observation, I started getting dressed again, then promptly got stuck when handling my shirt and armor. The basic shirt I had under the whole ensemble was easy enough. As much as it made me cringe, all I had to do was cut it up and then shove my wings through. But I had no idea how to handle the armor. After some waffling, I just stuffed it into my dimensional pouch. I felt distinctly underdressed as I left the station. It was also more than a little unnerving to head out into a newly claimed city with no real upper body protection and burdened by brand new limbs. So, I believe I could be excused for shrieking like a little girl when my eyes immediately landed on an angry demon face the moment I crossed over the station¡¯s boundary. The almost instant realization that the demon was Glaustro didn¡¯t do anything to set me at ease. My commander was not pleased with me. Not. At. All. Chapter 101: No Good Deed ¡°Of all the stupid, reckless, brain-dead schemes¡­!¡± Glaustro was seething. I couldn¡¯t even flee back into the safety of the station. His hands closed around my shoulders, dragging me away from the blessed sanctity of the Abyss and into the cruel, unforgiving reality of Lagyel. ¡°What do you think you are doing?!¡± he demanded. ¡°Um¡­ Well¡­ I got wings?¡± I felt remarkably like a child getting dressed down by their parent for a stunt they pulled during recess, the kind that ended in a bump but could just as easily have ended in a cracked skull and spilled brains. ¡°Wings?!¡± Glaustro¡¯s eyes briefly darted to the aforementioned appendages, then snapped back to my face. Really, there was no reason for him to look like he wanted to rip my beautiful wings off, but he absolutely did. ¡°You come here and barter away how many souls, exactly? Right after you and Crewe pulled that little stunt?!¡± Not ¡®the lieutenant general¡¯, I noticed. Just plain ¡®Crewe.¡¯ Considering how careful Glaustro typically was when referring to superior officers, I knew he was absolutely livid. ¡°Just, you know¡­ seven hundred¡­¡± I knew I should have kept my mouth shut when Glaustro¡¯s eyes narrowed. His hands tightened on my shoulders. The next time he spoke, his voice was eerily calm. ¡°Do you know what happened back there, with Crewe? What that means for your future? What he carelessly offered, and you even more carelessly decided to accept?¡± I cleared my throat, but my reply still came out as a squeak. ¡°No?¡± Glaustro managed to glower even more menacingly. This was an achievement to be proud of, but since I was the target of his ire, I couldn¡¯t enjoy it. ¡°That,¡± he snapped, forcing me into a walk, ¡°was an Abyssal flame. They are known for their ability to burn a soul, destroying it permanently. Now, that wouldn¡¯t happen to you, but can you guess what would?¡± ¡°I would miss out on the rest of the invasion, setting me back by months of progress?¡± He scoffed, not even sparing me a glance. ¡°You are a mortal still. All of your progress towards ascension would have been burned away, and your soul reduced to its core alone. All but the purest state of your soul would be gone. The Abyssal mana? The physical mutations you¡¯ve gone through? The¡­ wings? Gone. Your mana core? Gone. Your soul-bonded items? Gone. There¡¯s a reason so many demons fear those flames.¡± I had gone quite pale by that point. Maybe I was a reckless idiot, but I doubted I would have taken the chance if I had known the risks. It wasn¡¯t like Crewe had checked in with me before shoving that stuff into my soul. That did bring up one question, though. ¡°Then how did I survive? If it¡¯s that potent, I shouldn¡¯t have.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have, if Crewe was intending to kill you,¡± Glaustro snarled. He didn¡¯t sound happier at all. ¡°He decreased the flames¡¯ power to its lowest point, channeled only their essence, and then fed them to your soul through that demonic blade you own. That meant the flames were partially under your ownership at that point, but you were still far more likely to burst into flames, all your bound items destroyed, than to survive.¡± I frowned, and only just fought down the urge to argue that it wasn¡¯t that bad. Then again¡­ the pain did strip away all my senses other than my perception of my own soul, so maybe the argument didn¡¯t hold weight. ¡°The pain would have rendered you entirely insensate, to the point where you could only twitch on the ground until you went up in flames. Lethal flames, even to demons. Nothing would be left of you except one hell of a stain for Crewe¡¯s servants to clean up. When you collapsed, and I realized what Crewe was doing, I thought that was exactly what was about to happen. I¡¯m still not sure why it didn¡¯t happen. I have some guesses, but¡­ fucking hell, you have to stop pulling this shit.¡± I wanted to snap back, reminding him that he looked just as awed as I did when the lieutenant general first started working on my sword¡¯s update, but I held back. This time not out of any fear, but because I detected genuine distress in his voice. Glaustro cared. He wasn¡¯t dressing me down because he randomly thought I deserved it. He was doing it because he truly didn¡¯t want me to die. I¡­ when I woke up, he was basically holding me. If I really was about to erupt into flames that would be dangerous even to demons, he should have been on the other side of the room, but he¡­ My thoughts trailed off, and I was caught up in a storm of embarrassment and confusion I had no clue what to do with. I would be the first to admit that I wasn¡¯t great at processing what others felt about me. Oh, negative feelings were simple and easy to accept. They were swiftly filed away and cemented in my mind. Positive feelings, though? Well¡­ no matter how many times I noticed them, no matter how many times it hit me that someone genuinely cared, I was rather good at denial. I could always justify their positive feelings away. I tried to respond appropriately where I could, and let it never be said I didn¡¯t appreciate friendship and loyalty. Heaven and hell both could testify that I had latched onto Mia, Bronwynn, and Glaustro speedily enough, but still. Past that step, though, it became fiendishly difficult for me to see myself as holding any importance in other people¡¯s lives. Despite all the proof to the contrary, I still couldn¡¯t help feeling that if I evaporated out of existence, the trio would just continue living their lives as they always did.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Sorry.¡± In the end, that was all I could offer. I couldn¡¯t even meet his eyes when he glanced over at me. He grumbled several things too quietly for me to hear. But he didn¡¯t call me out on a lie, because it wasn¡¯t one. As a demon, he would be able to tell. I had no idea what else to say or do, or how to change. What would it take for me to reshape my life in a direction that wouldn¡¯t give an immortal demon gray hairs? ¡°And then¡­ and then, you go off and immediately end up in an Absorption Station! I did track down Mia and Bronwynn first, hoping you would do the smart thing and get some rest after an experience like that, but no. You went ahead and sacrificed almost as many souls as would cover a basic ascension, just so you could get yourself some new limbs. Honestly, what would Mia do if you died or turned yourself into a mindless monster? If you don¡¯t care about stressing me out, at least keep her in mind!¡± I jumped like I had been physically struck. There he went again, assigning romantic feelings where there were none! Still, though, he wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. Mia was in a perilous position only because of me. I had practically dragged her along with me into the general¡¯s strategy for ¡®advanced stages of ascension.¡¯ Without me, she would probably be a demoness by now. No, I couldn¡¯t argue with his concerns about Mia. But I didn¡¯t apologize again. Not that he gave me much chance to get a word in. ¡°I mean, really! I just wanted to snag a promising subordinate, some mortal I owed a favor and kind of liked. I only chose to accept Mia too in the hopes that she would keep you more stable until you finally became a demon. So, how in the world is she turning out to be the more promising recruit? No fuss, no stress, she just does her job and does it well!¡±. Now that was hurtful, in my humble opinion. ¡°And most importantly!¡± The demon paused, poking a finger roughly into my chest. ¡°Why. Do. I. Care?!¡± He snarled in frustration, then continued to drag me along. ¡°Because I do, and I can¡¯t even fucking figure out why. Is this what having kids is like? Watching them implode and being unable to do anything? Because I am far too young to be a father. Ask me again in a couple thousand years, and maybe I¡¯ll adopt you or something!¡± By this time, we had reached a decently high part of the tree. Not quite back on the palace level, but not too far off either. It didn¡¯t take much longer for him to drag me into one of the large manor-like houses on the street. He pushed the front door open roughly, revealing a large foyer. Three familiar figures were sitting in armchairs in the corner of the room. Graighast just swept his eyes over me, letting them linger on my wings, but the other two immediately shot up and charged. I couldn¡¯t even get a word out before Mia was on me, arms locked around my neck and face buried in my chest. Bronwynn just glared at me as he approached, though his stormy gaze did soften a little at the sight of my shocked, chastised expression. I didn¡¯t hesitate to close my arms around Mia, who was squeezing harder and harder. The sensation would become unpleasant quickly, but I didn¡¯t make a move to dislodge her or complain. I just stood there, eyes going from person to person, wondering when and how I managed to make such genuine connections in an Abyssal army, of all places. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for worrying you, but I¡¯m fine, really ¡ª¡± I began, then had to let out a strangled yelp when Mia squeezed harder in retaliation. ¡°Glaustro said you could have incinerated your own soul,¡± she growled, raising her head. I wasn''t expecting her to be teary-eyed on anything, but I was still startled to see the amount of frustration and anger burning behind her molten-gold eyes. I gulped. ¡°But I didn¡¯t! And really, I didn¡¯t choose to do the whole Abyssal flame soul-invasion thing! I could feel it happening, and I just reacted.¡± ¡°And yet, you could have fought to snuff the flame out, or briefly smothered the connection between you and your sword,¡± Graighast mused from his seat, cementing his position as my least favorite of the two brothers. ¡°Instead, you absorbed the flame into your soul, and it is still there.¡± The comment made Mia¡¯s eyes flare. Did I already mention they looked like orbs of swirling gold suspended in a black abyss? It was hard to form words as the sole focus of all that golden attention, but I tried. ¡°Really?¡± I stammered to Graighast over Mia¡¯s head. ¡°No one told me that! I was passed out, fighting for my life. It doesn¡¯t come with an instruction manual. What¡ª¡± I paused, wondering if I would like the answer to this question. Regardless, I needed to ask. ¡°Having the flame inside of me. What does that even mean?¡± Glaustro sigh-grunted, then clapped one of his hands onto my shoulder. He sent a pulse of mana into me. All of a sudden, I was shoved back into that same void where I claimed the flame in the first place. ¡°Observe carefully.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice echoed from everywhere around me in a distinctly unnerving way. ¡°Can you see the difference in your soul, around the spot where you¡¯re keeping the flame?¡± Turning my gaze inwards, I focused on the sphere of flickering emerald fire. It took me several seconds to notice something odd. Just in the area around the sphere, the intangible matter of my soul seemed to be¡­ solidifying? That was the best word I could come up with. The transparent substance was getting thicker, transforming into something different, something more grounded in the physical and not nearly as see-through. ¡°What is happening?¡± I asked, caught between panic and awe. ¡°The flame is refining your soul. Its influence will gradually grow, until the entirety of your soul has been transformed. This is admittedly not a bad thing, but it does mean you¡¯ll need to speed up your mana accumulation. If you don¡¯t, the consequences would be tricky to resolve before you become a demon.¡± Glaustro withdrew his hand, pulling me violently out of that world. I swayed a little, then flapped my wings on instinct. That, combined with Mia¡¯s grip on me, helped me keep my balance. ¡°So¡­ overall, everything worked out?¡± I asked, affecting a chipper tone, which earned me more glares. ¡°You lucked into survival, kid.¡± Bronwynn¡¯s scowl deepened. ¡°Nothing worked out. You just happened not to die! I¡¯m going to need to tie you up and just cart you around until you learn how to behave. Mia will help me out, won¡¯t you?¡± He turned towards the cat girl, whose contemplative look I didn¡¯t like. ¡°You can feed him and whatever for a little while, right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need anyone to feed me, because I don¡¯t need to be tied up!¡± I protested, trying to wiggle my way out of Mia¡¯s hold in case she decided to follow through with Bronwynn¡¯s threat. My efforts were useless. And I really didn¡¯t want to pull mana techniques on her, even though I suspected she had already used strengthening on me. Glaustro just sighed at our antics. His shoulders slumped. Out of nowhere, he suddenly looked more weary than I had ever seen him. ¡°Is everything okay?¡± I asked tentatively, giving up my struggles for the moment. ¡°You look¡­ tired.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, I forgot to tell you,¡± my commander mumbled, sounding more tired still. ¡°We have been rewarded.¡± ¡°Um¡­ isn¡¯t that¡­ a good thing?¡± Glaustro shot me a look, then cleared his throat. In a faux-official voice, he declared: ¡°For their excellent performance and crucial information gathering, our unit has been recognized as one of the most important contributors to the invasion of Lagyel. As such, we have been rewarded with placement directly under the good lieutenant general, and given a unique task: we are to track down and locate other golems like the one he fought to claim this city, so we may break the jinn hold on this world.¡± Oh. Well, that doesn¡¯t sound fun. Or very safe. From the look on Glaustro¡¯s face, I knew he shared my opinion. Chapter 102: Winging It In the silence after Glaustro¡¯s proclamation, I offered up a question. ¡°So¡­ how long do we have before Crewe kicks us out of the city to go on the wild-goose chase for a living piece of rock in the middle of an endless desert?¡± ¡°Two days.¡± Glaustro delivered the answer with the graveness of an executioner. ¡°I tried to buy us more time. I always do. But we march according to the legion¡¯s orders.¡± I couldn¡¯t help wondering about this constant push for more, even when it would make sense to rest up for a little bit longer just to preserve our own sanity. Not that the legion was big on sanity at the best of times, but still. ¡°We will be ready, commander.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why I said that, but I put all my conviction into the words, and he did shoot me a wan smile. ¡°You should just¡­¡± He trailed off, then shook his head. ¡°Never mind, there is no way you¡¯re staying out of trouble. Normally I¡¯d ask you to at least be smarter about the nonsense you¡¯re pulling, but I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s a lost cause. Mia, keep an eye on him.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± the cat girl exclaimed happily. Her arms tightened around me even more. All my wiggling was just getting me stuck in an increasingly uncomfortable position, and she seemed to take inordinate joy in that. Glaustro nodded. ¡°Good. As for you, Hayden, if I see your feet leave the ground for a second without explicit permission, I¡¯m taking those wings off your back myself. You can have them again when you die. You will also spend the next two days training to use them so you¡¯re not a danger to yourself, and only under supervision.¡± Honestly? I didn¡¯t mind that. Sure, I couldn¡¯t go out there and throw myself into learning how to fly immediately, which is what I was itching to do, but I genuinely didn¡¯t want to keep stressing them out. And me breaking my neck in a fall would definitely stress them out. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± I replied, copying Mia, then failed to hold back a grin when both of them glared at me. ¡ª The next morning, bright and early, I found myself standing in front of our temporary lodgings. Mia had been very grumpy over having to wake up early herself, but the cat girl¡¯s uncanny senses picked up the second I tried to sneak out of our room for my morning appointment. Apparently, she took Glaustro¡¯s order to keep an eye on me as an ongoing assignment, and almost forced me to stay until she confirmed with said commander that I could leave. Thankfully, the fact that my brand had woken me up with an order to be up and waiting in fifteen minutes convinced her to let me go. Not without following me, of course, which I had a feeling Glaustro would find hilarious. So, there I stood, hopefully fanning my wings in preparation for flight lessons. I waited, then I waited some more, and then waited longer still, but no teacher appeared. At least Mia was thoroughly amused and distracted. I had seen her eying my wings the day before, so it was no shock to me when she started running her fingers over them and fondling them. I was tempted to make a crude joke, but the way her face was all lit up in delight held me back. A few minutes later, she leaned into my wings entirely. I had to bunch them up to support her weight, but they did hold when the cat girl let out a dreamy sigh and started napping right on top of me. As it turned out, my wings were much tougher than I¡¯d originally expected, which was great. What wasn¡¯t as great was feeling my new limbs slowly grow sore and stiff in the position they were forced to hold, and still waiting. I eventually decided to run my body strengthening technique to alleviate the issue, then gasped as it started up the way it always did and just¡­ skipped over my wings. I didn¡¯t expect that. Still, better to find out now. It could have been a deadly little surprise to encounter in the middle of combat. I launched into testing right then and there. Best of all? Since my feet were firmly on the ground, even if Glaustro found out, he couldn¡¯t be mad at me! What I discovered spelled trouble, not to mention a bunch of work for me in the future. The technique wasn¡¯t faulty. It was just meant for a standard human body. My new additions weren¡¯t being strengthened because they simply weren¡¯t within the framework of the spell, which I honestly should have anticipated. I had to scowl something fierce though, because I was now in the exact same position as Mia. That thought reminded me to extend my claws and try to figure out if my strengthening and enhancement techniques were effective there. They were, in a kinda-sorta-maybe way. The techniques did work, but at something like twenty-five percent potency at best, which was inarguably pitiful. The only good thing in the whole mess was the fact that I had some prior experience with this kind of spell-tinkering. Not only had I adjusted my own spells to fit me better, but I had also worked with Mia to adapt the spells to her body and extra limbs. So, thankfully, I wasn¡¯t starting from scratch. It was a few hours later, when I had gotten the spells to work at fifty percent power in my wings and Mia was mumbling in her sleep while making biscuits on said wings (which, ow), that my supposed teacher in all things flying finally showed up.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Despite her flaming wings, the sight of Methialia strolling out of our lodgings did not fill me with confidence. Probably because she looked like she had only just crawled out of bed. ¡°Good morning,¡± I quipped, maybe a tiny bit sarcastically, since the sun was already high in the sky. The demoness mumbled a greeting back as she hitched up her worn-out shirt to scratch her stomach. Plopping herself on the ground next to me, she ran her hand over her own brand. She did a double take. Finally, her bleary eyes focused in on my wings. The smile that slowly stretched across her features was as gleeful as it was malicious. ¡°Finally! Finally, I¡¯m no longer the only bloody flier in the unit!¡± the woman crowed, then broke out into actual laughter. I just stood there, staring, as a fully realized adult demoness lost it right in the middle of a relatively public space. ¡°Um¡­ are you okay?¡± I was still trying to be polite, since I know you don¡¯t mess with crazy. Mia, on the other hand, had jerked awake and was now eyeing the demoness like a cat about to pounce. ¡°Okay? I¡¯m bloody brilliant, mate! Do you know how long I¡¯ve fucking waited for another, hopefully competent flier to show up? Urgh. Honestly, I left my last place of employ because they kept exploiting me, so imagine my surprise when I show up here and it looks like it would bloody well be the same thing all over again?¡± I tilted my head, examining her features a little closer. She did look ridiculously exhausted for a demon. They were supposed to have near limitless stamina as long as mana was thick enough, though the psychological factor was a whole other thing to account for. ¡°I take it they had you on a ton of scouting duty?¡± I took another look at her flaming wings. ¡°Maybe aerial combat as well?¡± ¡°You can bloody say that twice, yes. It was, urgh, bad. I kept getting stuck in predominantly ascendant demon squads, too. I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, I don¡¯t mind ascendant demons, but you lot could really use more wings. I knew I should have lied about how racist I am in that questionnaire we got when we signed up¡­¡± I filed that away for later, because I never got any kind of questionnaire to fill out. ¡°Still, shouldn¡¯t just flying around and casting a few spells from on high be a bit safer and less exhausting than a chaotic melee?¡± Her eyes found mine swiftly, and they promised a world of pain. ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯d think. But no, no it¡¯s not. Besides, I have some extra issues of my own to struggle with. I¡¯m not telling you what those are! We¡¯re not best mates forever just because we both have wings. Still, I kinda wish now that I had checked what this assignment was, instead of ignoring the attempt to wake me up for so long.¡± I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to tease at least a little. ¡°Well, you still have, what, a day and a half to make me a competent flier? A quarter of the time lost, but what can we do?¡± The way her lips were trying to twitch into a smile was a warning. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m typically not the one to say this, but there is a solution. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure missing sleep for a day or two isn¡¯t going to be much for a tough mortal, eh? But you have wings already, and you look like you¡¯re way more than halfway to demon, by ascendant standards.¡± Despite her threat to my rest time, I enjoyed the look of grudging admiration on Methialia¡¯s features. ¡°Yep, well, what can I say? Mia here and I are overachievers. Neither of us wants to ascend until we¡¯ve evened out the playing field a little.¡± The demoness glanced from me to the angry cat and back, then shook her head. ¡°Nope. Not concerned with what crazy mortals are getting up to. If you want to risk your sanity, you¡¯re free to. Let¡¯s get you up in the sky as quickly as we can.¡± ¡ª Contrary to what she said, Methialia did not get me up in the sky that first day. If anything, she seemed set on not letting me lift even a foot off the ground until she was sure I wouldn¡¯t just plummet to my death on the desert sands. She had me do stretches. She assigned me a whole set of exercises to memorize and repeat perfectly a bunch of times. She made me twist my wings in cruel and unusual ways. I complained about the twisting after a shot of agony forced me to run the enhancement technique for several seconds just to dull the pain, but she was unrepentant. ¡°Do you think the winds are always going to be gentle on your wings? No. They¡¯re going to do their best to rip you out of the sky, especially if they¡¯re being controlled by someone who¡¯s not your friend! Your wings will get jostled, pulled on, and twisted way worse than this, so suck it up and keep working.¡± I did, after that little lecture. The end of day one found me absolutely exhausted. Even Mia, who¡¯d spent most of the day lounging in the sun and watching us, didn¡¯t feel like teasing me or draping herself over her wings. That¡¯s how prickly and sore I was. My wings were drooping and dragging on the ground. I just wanted the torment to stop. I also wanted to deck Methialia, who seemed to grow more chipper the more I suffered. ¡°Now, now, where¡¯s that spirit from this morning?¡± She followed me inside, cheerfully berating me all the way to my room. ¡°You said flying¡¯s easy, right? So, working out those limbs you suddenly got and which have never seen a single workout should be just as easy!¡± ¡°First off, I said that around noon, because you overslept, remember?¡± I groused, incapable of keeping my temper in. ¡°Second of all, I¡¯m still a mortal!¡± ¡°Eh, a very enhanced mortal. You¡¯ll be fine. Walk it off. Also, should ya really be complaining when you¡¯re this dead on your feet from a half-day of training? Imagine if I showed up on time! I did you a favor, really.¡± I had no good response to that, so I shut the door in the face of her cackles and then collapsed on my bed. Despite the hell of that day, I woke up the next morning feeling decently refreshed. I also discovered that I¡¯d been moved into a much comfier sleeping position and tucked in. My eyes drifted over to Mia with profound gratitude. Then my stomach had to ruin things by protesting loudly, reminding me of the fact that I had eaten nothing after hours of intense workout the day before. A glance out the window told me it was still very early, so I prodded Mia awake. I then had to carry the spoiled cat to a nearby restaurant for a meal. I guess it was only fair, considering her efforts to help me rest well. I honestly expected Methialia to be absent when we came back. Instead, she was waiting impatiently. Her eyes glared daggers at us for all of second, then lit up when I waved a cup of demon-grade coffee in her face. ¡°Fine, I guess I can forgive you for being late,¡± the demoness grumbled, snatching away my insurance policy. It had done its job perfectly. For all the pain she put me through, and for all her ¡®wonderful¡¯ personality, I could have kissed the demoness later that afternoon, when she finally walked me through lifting off. My first flight was a wobbly mess. It lasted maybe twenty minutes, and I ended it by tripping when I tried to land and plowing a furrow in the sand with my face. I loved every second of it. Chapter 103: Tracking a Storm As it turns out, there is a certain difference in perspective that comes with standing at a considerable height. It can mask just how far away certain things are, especially when combined with supernaturally good eyesight. I had been able to catch a glimpse of the storm on the horizon from high up in the tree. But when Glaustro¡¯s troop left the city to find the golem causing the storm, I learned the storm front was much, much farther away than that glimpse had led me to believe. The reach of the singular golem Crewe had killed was absolutely stunning. We marched for three days through an area completely clear of any gale-force winds or sand trying to grind us down to the bone. I enjoyed this period of time thoroughly. After my second day of flying lessons, Methialia had declared me ready to start pushing more. Meaning that once our troop set out, I could join her in the skies as we soared above the trudging group of demons far below us. I still wasn¡¯t a perfect flier. I could barely handle basic maneuvers, and my wings would start to ache after just a couple hours of sustained, strenuous flight. I was getting better at prodigious speed, however, enough so for Methialia to tell me outright that she was impressed! The time spent with her also let me get to know the demoness a bit better. She really wasn¡¯t as much of a slob as she liked to act. It was more of a role she fell into, as well as a way to justify her need for all the extra rest. I couldn¡¯t quite figure it out yet, but I was pretty convinced there was more to her situation than she let on. The kind of bone-deep exhaustion I frequently saw lining her face wasn¡¯t something that could be waved off as laziness or overwork. She didn¡¯t share, though, so I didn¡¯t pry. Mia did not follow this simple logic. The cat girl wasn¡¯t exactly pushy about the time I was spending with Methialia, but she did seem deeply disgruntled that she couldn¡¯t continue to perform the task Glaustro had set for her. In her own words, ¡°He gave me a job, and I¡¯m going to do it.¡± This, for some reason, amused Glaustro greatly when he overheard it. In fact, he looked like he¡¯d sic the cat girl on me even harder if I dared to try and do something stupid again. My inability to spend as much time around the cat girl as she would have liked translated directly into how clingy she got for the rest of the day. The first day, when I barely managed to stay up in the sky for three hours before I needed a long break from putting pressure on my new limbs, she just sat unusually close to me at the fire that night. The next day, when I managed to double my uptime thanks to my enhancement and strengthening techniques, she literally stuck to my side. The third day, when I managed to make it all the way to the end of our patrol and got to greet the sunset hovering over the desert? Well, she resorted to the cat-patented solution of ¡®If you want it to stay still, sit on it.¡¯ That¡¯s how I found myself sitting next to our small fire that night, across from a very smug Bronwynn, with a lazy cat girl sprawled over my wings. She held her bowl of stew firmly in hand, making it disappear mouthful after dainty mouthful. ¡°You are getting better at this,¡± she said, gracing me with one of her rare compliments on my growing culinary skills. Under the circumstances, I did not feel particularly touched. ¡°Spill stew on my wings and I¡¯m throwing you into the campfire.¡± She scoffed, clearly doubting my ability to follow through with the threat. I started to turn, trying to pull off a decent glare by looking awkwardly over my shoulder, when I caught sight of Glaustro from the corner of my eye. The sergeant was approaching with a frustrated look on his face, gaze alternating between our little group and the storm we were on the verge of entering. ¡°Glaustro, please come sit,¡± Bronwynn offered readily, already moving to scoop some stew into a bowl for our commander. I considered calling him out on giving away someone else¡¯s food, but I was too busy observing to do it. I had no clue when it had happened, but the duo were much closer than they used to be on Berlis. Well, that was a given, considering they hadn¡¯t even known each other back then, but still. There was a familiarity in the way Bronwynn looked at Glaustro, and in the way the commander returned those looks, that hinted at a deeper understanding than I would have expected. Then again¡­ how often did I see them together? I racked my brains, trying to conjure up all the occasions when I¡¯d seen the two interact. To my surprise, those were rather limited, at least when it came to anything that could be referred to as a private setting. ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± Glaustro awkwardly accepted the bowl and sat down to join us. Then he just sat there, picking at his food, eyes fixed on the horizon and the storm that ruled there. Not that he didn¡¯t like the food or the company, of course. He was slowly eating the stew, and even grunted a couple times at Bronwynn¡¯s attempts to drag him into a conversation. Still, I could tell from the way his brow kept furrowing that Glaustro wasn¡¯t fully there with us.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. After a few minutes, I decided I didn¡¯t like the idea of just watching him wrestle in silence with whatever he was dealing with. ¡°So¡­ how exactly are we supposed to track down these other mega golems?¡± I asked. ¡°Mega golems?¡± Glaustro blinked at me, then shook his head a little before refocusing on the present moment. ¡°I don¡¯t remember that term being used.¡± ¡°Mega golems, bigger-than-normal golems, super golems, whatever you want to call them,¡± I quipped cheekily. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question. How do we find them?¡± Glaustro sighed, tapping his spoon against the edge of his bowl as he considered me. ¡°Well, ultimately, the same way we discovered the first one.¡± ¡°You mean¡­ through that seer you know?¡± I felt confusion slip into my voice. Glaustro hadn¡¯t said much about the seer, but for some reason, I had a distinct feeling that he couldn¡¯t easily call on a favor from them again. ¡°Technically, he¡¯s not a seer. Well, he is, but it¡¯s not that particular gift that made his little device work. It was his clairvoyance that helped us track down the origin of our attacker, and will hopefully be what helps us find these golems, too.¡± ¡°You never did explain how it works, though,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Well, for that first jinn, he used soul shavings,¡± Glaustro said. ¡°He attuned the tracker to the residual energy the jinn¡¯s soul left behind while travelling. This guaranteed a powerful connection to the target that¡¯s unlikely to break. Obviously, it¡¯s also not an option this time. What we¡¯re relying on now is sympathetic magic.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± Mia suddenly poked her head over my shoulder, then planted her chin on it. Her chin was kind of pointy, but I decided to endure it quietly. Glaustro sighed again, but he did explain. ¡°Well, in theory, the caster can use a sample of a spell, a magical signature, soul, ward, or even the makeup of something to look for duplicates. It is a slightly finicky spell, but it works on particularly unique things. In this case, the unique item we¡¯re looking for are golem cores.¡± Immediately, I could see several problems with that. ¡°But, wouldn¡¯t that try to lead us to all the golem cores out there? Including the smaller ones that the jinn used for their base model golems? We¡¯re not going to be very successful if we keep picking up every construct the jinn made and dispatched, ever.¡± ¡°Correct, which is why we won¡¯t be doing that. We¡­ or, well, Crewe has samples of the unique golem core. They were used as the focus of the tracking ritual imbued into the compass this time. So, it should only lead us to similarly unique and powerful constructs out there. It¡¯s not guaranteed to work. But then again, even if it leads us to powerful constructs other than the golems, at least we can take out jinn weapons before they can deploy them.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Mia nodded like he had revealed an important secret. ¡°Why do you look like someone stabbed you, then?¡± I wanted to snicker, but Glaustro really did look constipated, at the very least. When the demon¡¯s smile grew slightly more brittle, I knew Mia was right for calling him out. ¡°Because things can never be simple, can they?¡± Glaustro growled, and wow did he sound bitter. ¡°With our recent successes and my ostensible promotion, never mind that it came with barely any tangible benefits, I¡¯m not sure that we need to worry solely about the jinn and their golems anymore.¡± ¡°Do you really think someone would try something? Now? With the lieutenant general¡¯s attention still fixed on us?¡± Bronwynn demanded, though he sounded more outraged than shocked at the prospect. ¡°You didn¡¯t see some of them, Bronwynn. If they could have taken me out then and there, they would have.¡± Glaustro turned to me. ¡°Which is why I have to ask: how good have you gotten in the sky?¡± The question seemed downright abrupt to me, but I still answered it honestly. ¡°I¡¯m getting there. I¡¯m no expert flier, but at least I can properly keep myself in the air. My stamina¡¯s made a ton of progress, too.¡± The look Glaustro shot me before his next question was almost pure guilt. ¡°Tell me, with all that you¡¯ve gone through recently, how¡¯s your sand resistance? Do you think you could maybe fly through that, too?¡± He didn¡¯t have to gesture towards the storm in the distance, because his tone of voice did a good job of indicating what he was talking about. Really, ¡®hesitant and guilty¡¯ was not a good look on Glaustro at all. I didn¡¯t rush to reassure him, though. I could guess that he wanted me up in the sky in lieu of our sleepy fire demoness, seeing as she¡¯d get torn apart up there very quickly with her minimal resistance to the anti-mana sand. But would I fare any better? I honestly didn¡¯t know. Already, before the latest round of enhancements and getting my wings, the sand had done surprising amounts of damage. Did my wings even count as flesh-and-blood limbs, or were they more in the line of mana constructs? So¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I admitted, figuring that honesty continued to be the best policy. ¡°Maybe? I haven¡¯t done a ton of testing lately. If I still have most of my resistance, then¡­ probably? It¡¯s definitely not a no, but I would need to try actually flying in that mess to tell you more.¡± ¡°That¡¯s expected, I guess. Neither time nor opportunity for experimenting recently, huh?¡± Glaustro shook his head. ¡°Well, other than testing the limits of your own mortality, but I¡¯ve lectured you enough on that.¡± He really had. He never slacked off in sharing his profound disagreement with my recent actions, not even once we started travelling. Mia loved it, of course. I just wanted him to stop looking at me like he was expecting me to do something profoundly stupid at all times. Like, say, flying off into a storm. Not just any storm, either. Still, I wanted to try, and I told him as much. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of not being able to fly at all while we¡¯re out there doing our job. I have no clue how I¡¯ll do it, but even if it doesn¡¯t work at first, I¡¯ll figure something out. Practice makes perfect, right?¡± Glaustro dubiously agreed, finished his meal, and headed back towards his tent for the night. Bronwynn hurriedly excused himself too, then went after the commander. They broke into whispers the second they thought we couldn¡¯t overhear them. Unfortunately, they were both smart demons with keen insight about the limitations of mortal hearing, so they were right. That left me chewing my lip and wondering if I had made a mistake. ¡ª I had made a mistake. The next day, for our first test, I tried to snap my wings open to catch the updraft. I hoped it would take me far beyond the worst of the storm¡¯s effects. This turned out to be a severe lapse in judgment. As soon as my wings unfurled, I was dragged sideways then up. It felt like I was stuck in one of those old games with ragdoll physics. This wasn¡¯t anything like being buffeted around by the wind. It was physics itself that had me gripped tight in its unrelenting despair. It was a good thing we had decided to do this test at the very edge of the storm. I didn¡¯t dare picture the results otherwise. Thanks to this bit of foresight, I was ¡®merely¡¯ spat out after a few agonizing minutes and sent tumbling over the sandy dunes. When I finally came to a stop, the world was spinning wildly, a decent percentage of me hurt like all get out, and I was pretty sure one of my wings was broken. Aha. So¡­ flight through a magic sandstorm is not going to be an easy thing to master. Message received. Chapter 104: The Hidden Spot Methialia was a cruel and merciless torturer, and I did not like her. Not only had she seen the whole thing, but she¡¯d known before I took off exactly what was going to happen to me. But since we made the plan ourselves without consulting her, she didn¡¯t intervene. She just stood by and watched. After she was done laughing her ass off, the demoness strolled up to a shocked Glaustro and told him to run any bright ideas concerning flight past her in the future. It wasn¡¯t all bad, though. Short though my time in the sandstorm was, I did get to learn a couple of things beyond ¡®Don¡¯t mess with gale-force winds.¡¯ First and foremost, the sand did not affect my wings any worse than it did my skin. This meant that while my sand resistance was hardly ideal, especially since I¡¯d begun messing around with ascension more, it was still far beyond a demon¡¯s. My wings could withstand a lot without being reduced to a bloody mess, as evidenced by the fact that only one of them was broken. The second thing I learned was that there was definitely a sand-free zone somewhere beyond the storm. I only caught a brief flash of clear sky, but if I could somehow make my way much higher up, I would be able to dodge the miniature projectiles weaponized by the wind. Unfortunately, this was close to impossible. The higher I went, the more powerful the winds got. So, to fly even higher than the sandstorm was well above my skill level. Methialia might be able to do it. But when she heard my story, she just shook her head, shoved a healing potion into my mouth, and told both Glaustro and me to shut our traps and focus on plans that were actually viable. To demonstrate why, she briefly dipped one of her flaming wings into the sandstorm. The effect was alarming. Apparently, her wings really were purely elemental. They enabled her to fly through some odd mana-interaction theory that went way over my head, thanks to my stellar education. Regardless, her wings were torn apart in less than a second by the anti-mana material permeating the storm. Even if she could fly above it, she would need to land eventually, which would result in a crash at best and severe injuries at worst. Alternatively, she would be forced to continue flying until exhaustion set in, when the same thing would happen. Glaustro grumbled something about how she could¡¯ve explained all of that earlier rather than just saying ¡®won¡¯t work¡¯ and moving on, but the demoness ignored him. She looked even more miserable than she had the last few days, and not even Glaustro had the heart to push. So it was that when we ventured into the storm, we were chasing after our quarry both blind and on foot. My misery didn¡¯t end there. Methialia had taken it upon herself to help me get better at flying, and since we couldn¡¯t focus on the practical application, she settled on working out my fundamentals. In other words, not only was I surrounded by howling winds, with sand scoring tufts out of my poor, delicate feathers, but I also had a whole string of exercises to get through. I had to twist my wings and keep them in place, despite the environment. I had to stretch them in ways that made my entire body ache. Methialia even told me to spread them and just feel what the wind was doing to me for fifteen minutes at a time. Spoiler alert: the wind was doing horrible, painful things to me. All the while, I had to keep healing the wings from the damage they were enduring. I had to take care of the rest of my body. I even added an almost continuous run of my enhancement technique into my routine, in a vain attempt to get my new limbs in line with the toughness the rest of my body had already. It wasn¡¯t fun, and it started to take a toll. Mia noticed immediately when I flagged from the front of the group to the middle. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t try to convince me to stop my training. She didn¡¯t even say anything. It was all any of us could do to keep ourselves going through the storm, anyway. She was shooting me a lot of worried looks, but I did my best to ignore them. I didn¡¯t want to stop. While the training was a dark tunnel of torture, the freedom of flight lay on the other end, and that was worth more to me than my temporary wellbeing. Bronwynn and Glaustro did not share Mia¡¯s hesitance to do anything. It was on the third day of our traipsing through the desert that they both forced me to sit down with them in Glaustro¡¯s tent. ¡°You are not doing well,¡± Bronwynn, ever the gentle voice of reason, declared bluntly. ¡°And you need to stop pushing too hard.¡± I shot a brief glance at Glaustro, but he just stood to the side with a scowl on his face, backing Bronwynn up. Since when do they get along so well? ¡°I¡¯m doing just fine, actually.¡± I raised a hand to forestall Bronwynn¡¯s argument. ¡°Now, please, listen to me for a second. Yes, I fell back, but that¡¯s because the wind and sand are less intense there. With bodies in the way, it can¡¯t pummel me quite as badly. The other demons aren¡¯t complaining either, since my wings are shielding them from a good chunk of the same, too.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re sleeping less,¡± the traitorous kitty¡¯s voice sounded from behind me. I twisted around to glare at her. I hadn¡¯t even noticed when she slipped into the tent as well. Apparently, when I came to visit Glaustro, I had walked into a planned ambush.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°You¡¯re sleeping less? Is that right?¡± Bronwynn asked, his tone carefully neutral. ¡°Yes, fine, okay. I¡¯m not sleeping as well as I could be, but that¡¯s that and this is this!¡± I insisted, hoping they would drop the subject. They didn¡¯t. ¡°Why do you sleep worse?¡± Mia demanded with an arched eyebrow. I just shot her another glare. I was starting to regret my agreement to share a tent with the cat girl. When I didn¡¯t answer, my commander stalked over so he could look me in the eye. Looking away would have been childish, so I just held my ground in the face of two literally burning orbs. ¡°Why can you not sleep?¡± he growled. ¡°¡­because of the pain,¡± I finally admitted quietly, then cringed when Glaustro moved behind me and pulled my wings open. I had kept them tucked under a long cloak for a reason. Now that they were revealed, so were the many streaks of blood, the bare spots that were missing feathers, and several honest-to-goodness holes I had earned by pushing myself in the storm. There was a loud intake of breath from several people at once. Mia¡¯s sounded more like a hiss. ¡°Was it this bad on the first day, or is this a new development?¡± Glaustro asked conversationally. I almost couldn¡¯t detect the anger in his voice. Almost. ¡°Since the first day¡­ but it¡¯s not as bad as it looks. It all heals up by the morning. Most of the damage is purely cosmetic. And the healed spots are much harder to damage the second time around, so my training is definitely working.¡± Glaustro didn¡¯t blow up. He just sat down with a sigh. When he spoke, he sounded more tired than anything. ¡°Listen, I told you already that I¡¯m not your parent, and I don¡¯t want to be. However, think for a second about what you are doing to yourself and what might happen if you push too far. You¡¯ve been a legion soldier for what¡­ four months? Five?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± I murmured, tempted to point out it was actually a bit shorter than that before I thought better of it. ¡°Exactly. Yet, you¡¯re already a decent way along the optimal path of ascension. Typically, I¡¯ve seen people have the opposite problem: they take too long, content to sit on their laurels. You haven¡¯t done it yet, but you can easily push too far, to the point where you can¡¯t fix what you damage. Primarily your mind, and don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t feel exhausted.¡± Truth be told, I did. No matter how effective it could be for growth, I was finding that constant pain wasn¡¯t the best for one¡¯s long-term mental health. It wore me down, sapping the energy I needed to keep a lid on the emotions always churning beneath the surface. Resentment, frustration, desire to do better, and a host of other feelings made my chest their favored lair, growing fat on all my turmoil, always almost about to break through. I had already experienced a few moments when my attention would drift and the emotions would slip free, threatening to make me do something stupid. I had almost attacked Methialia on several different occasions. There was a demon somewhere out there in the mass of tents I had almost skewered with my sword for daring to chat a little too long with Mia. He was making the cat girl uncomfortable, so I of course felt the need to try and dig out the guy¡¯s kidney with no surgical knowledge or implements required. Basically, I felt¡­ thin. Brittle. Like I could snap at any moment Bronwynn¡¯s voice was surprisingly gentle as it broke into my thoughts. ¡°Hayden, until you can properly get used to your emotions and start to maintain control of them habitually, you¡¯re walking on a wire¡¯s edge. Tip too far, and we won¡¯t be able to drag you back. It would be down to you, and there¡¯s no telling what kind of damage you¡¯ll do in the meantime.¡± For a moment, I froze. Then, of course, I gave into a temporary swell of irritation. ¡°It¡¯s not like we can do much about my mood. Unless one of you can just turn off this disgusting storm at will, and you¡¯ve been holding out on us? No? Well, then I can¡¯t avoid a foul mood anyway. Might as well get something out of it! This way, maybe I¡¯ll be a bit tougher to kill next time a powerful enemy comes around and tries to squish me.¡± It¡¯s all down to that, isn¡¯t it? They already have power. They can afford to waste time and do nothing! If even a slightly-above-average demon or jinn comes along, it could blow me apart ,and I won¡¯t even be able to fight back. It¡¯s easy for them to say I should¡ª ¡°How long?¡± Bronwynn snapped, recapturing my attention. ¡°How long do you think I spent as a mortal, Hayden?¡± The question threw me for a loop, especially with how focused I was on my own misery and bitterness. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Five years? A decade?¡± He had mentioned he spent a long time struggling to ascend, after all. To my surprise, Bronwynn laughed with acerbic bitterness. ¡°Two hundred years. Ascension, minor mana training, and getting bound to the Abyss don¡¯t make you immortal, but they make it possible to last for a much longer time. I wasn¡¯t part of Torment, and I wasn¡¯t in a well-regarded job. I was little more than an afterthought, and I got pay that reflected that. I could have ascended faster if I saved up all my pay, but there¡¯s pesky things like food and lodging to worry about. I barely scraped by for ascension.¡± I stared, feeling my mind boggle at the number. Two hundred years of drudgery and hoping to ascend eventually... No, I couldn¡¯t quite comprehend that kind of thing. ¡°But¡­ why? How?¡± Bronwynn just shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t pass my combat assessment very well, and my former layer wasn¡¯t as big on invasions and combat in general, so only the top scorers got handpicked for a fast track to Ascension. So, stop trying to race ahead. You are already doing exceptionally well. Both of you are.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not saying you should stop, of course. We¡¯re just asking to stop trying to shatter your own mind, you idiot,¡± Glaustro filled in with a scoff. ¡°I¡¯ll be having words with Methialia, too. She was never a mortal, so she has a much tougher time understanding the mindset of one. Not to mention the dangers of ascension.¡± I must have agreed, because Glaustro shoved yet another healing potion in my hands and sent us off to our tent. Once there, I seriously debated whether to use the potion or not, then eventually tucked it away. That earned me another hiss from Mia. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t push as hard tomorrow,¡± I told her. ¡°It would just be a waste to undo all my work for the day, and not using the enhancement technique would do exactly that.¡± She settled down somewhat at my logic, though she was still eying me unhappily from the pile of blankets she had used to craft her ¡®bed.¡¯ It looked hilarious, but if she found it comfy, who was I to judge? I lay down on my own bed, finding it strangely easy to relax. The emotional soup was still roiling in my chest, but it was somehow calmer than it had been before the ¡®ambush.¡¯ This trio was relentless. Once again, they had made it very hard to deny that they actually did care about me. I was important to them. Gods only knew why. It took a while, but I did drift off to sleep feeling oddly warm and mushy. ¡ª Another four days after that, we were all tired, irritated, and thoroughly done with sand. If I never saw another beach in my life, I would be a deliriously happy man. Unfortunately, Glaustro had yet to lead us to our target, and the horizon contained no possible options. It was all just plain desert, as far as the eye could occasionally glimpse through the infernal sands. I was near the front of the formation again, having taken to mutilating myself a little less, so I had a good view when Glaustro suddenly halted and stomped in frustration. He was glaring down at an odd black device in his hand, somewhat reminiscent of a compass with a lot of bells and whistles. I drew closer, looking around wearily. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I shouted over the wind, only getting through thanks to Glaustro¡¯s superior senses. ¡°This thing is leading us in circles,¡± Glaustro shouted back, somehow looking furious and thoughtful at the same time. ¡°So, either it¡¯s broken, or¡­¡± The demon trailed off, looked down, then stomped again, much harder. The ground shook, and Glaustro¡¯s eyes sharpened. ¡°Or our destination is underground.¡± Chapter 105: Golem Killers Glaustro didn¡¯t bother with much preamble. He sent off a chain of messages that quickly gathered the rest of our unit around him, then began pulling heavily on his mana. The earth under our feet rumbled, shook, and eventually started to shift, rising up from under yards and yards of sand to form a gaping pit with a spiral staircase carved into its walls. Judging from the enthusiasm with which Glaustro immediately started down the stairs, I could only assume he had found something. Naturally, I followed, both Mia and Bronwynn close behind as we descended into the bowels of the earth. Our procession was rather large. With around eight hundred demons, and stairs barely wide enough for three people to walk side by side, we had no choice but to stretch out. I didn¡¯t like it, this feeling that the troops in front were essentially cut off from the rear guard. I also didn¡¯t like the sense of being hemmed into a singular path. I kept eying the wall to my left like something would emerge from it at any second and try to swallow me, even though I knew that was unlikely. If the darkness of the pit was any more inviting, I would have dived into it, both for a chance to stretch my wings and to improve my sense of safety. Unfortunately, the large hole was a little too foreboding for that. At least we were all out of the sand! Each and every one of us let out a breath of relief at that particular realization. I could deal with the spiral staircase and the ominous pit if it meant a break from the winds and their weaponized grains. Glaustro then ruined the moment a little by sealing the hole behind the last line of demons. The passage was plunged into darkness for a second before Methialia¡¯s wings sputtered back into life, shedding a low light over our surroundings. To my shock, this was enough for my mutated eyes to be able to see. Even Mia seemed at ease. Only one or two demons grumbled about it, but they were easy to ignore. The staircase went on and on. I couldn¡¯t believe how deep we were descending. After ten minutes of nonstop walking, there was still no end in sight. The only thing I could detect below and ahead was the low rumble of earth shifting around, and that was just Glaustro making more stairs for us to descend. ¡°How deep is this thing?¡± I eventually dared to ask, then winced as an echo of my words spiraled up and down the passage. Glaustro shot me an amused look, but he clearly wasn¡¯t amused enough to give me a straight answer. ¡°Deep enough. Just trust me. There¡¯s something down here.¡± Forced to put my faith in the demonic sergeant, I bit my teeth and continued walking. The faith was justified just a few minutes later. Glaustro knew exactly what was coming. He didn¡¯t even flinch when the earth rumbled and a whole section of ground collapsed several yards ahead of us. Some of the demons behind me were not so composed. A few even yelped in fright, attracting scoffs and cold looks. I didn¡¯t blame them, though. My own shock was suppressed only by the awe of what I could see ahead of us. Glaustro¡¯s stairs were leading us down into a cave. The vast space was illuminated by a dim, greenish light from glowing strands of moss and vines. A small trickle of water flowed along the far wall, filled with bioluminescent algae. Along the water¡¯s path and around the glowing vines hung clusters of large, fat flowers. I couldn¡¯t think of a single fitting comparison to their species from my own botanical knowledge, but they were still dazzling. They came in several muted colors like blue, dark red, and even a very dark purple that was almost black. Over the flowers fluttered glowing insects, shedding scales or powder trails everywhere they flew. With their bioluminescence and wonderful colors, from pink to sky blue to green and yellow, they could have made for an enchanting sight. If they weren¡¯t each larger than an average man¡¯s torso, that is. As it were, the bugs were very much not a welcome sight. I was stuck between the urge to strike them all down for their temerity in daring to exist and the desire to run back up the stairs. Sure, there was every chance they were peaceful, beautiful, harmless creatures. Knowing my luck, though? Yeah, we were about to fight flesh-eating butterflies. Being the smart cookie I am, I didn¡¯t wait for something to lunge at us. This time, I drew my sword first, admiring the way all the green patterns on the blade left light trails wherever the weapon passed. ¡°Ready to fight the pretty butterflies?¡± Bronwynn teased, quirking a brow at me. I just glared at him. When the things tried to eat his face and I refused to help, he would be the one feeling silly. To my shock, we stepped down onto the cavern floor without accident. The butterflies seemed content to ignore us as Glaustro held up the procession, fiddling with his device. At least when he lifted his head to face us, he did so with a smile. ¡°I was correct. This is the level we need to be on. We are back on track with reliable directions to the golem.¡± He sounded so proud of himself that I couldn¡¯t bear to say anything mean or sarcastic. Bronwynn had no such compunctions. ¡°The golem we need to somehow kill on our own, right?¡± he growled, quietly enough that only our small group could hear. ¡°The extremely powerful kind of golem that was almost a struggle for Crewe to defeat? Oh, that¡¯s great. I can¡¯t wait for us to find it.¡± Glaustro flushed before shooting Bronwynn a glare. ¡°I understand your apprehension, but this won¡¯t be the same at all. We know what we¡¯re facing now. High command has left us detailed instructions on how to proceed based on their study of the constructs.¡± ¡°A couple more high-ranking demons would have been nice, too.¡± This earned Bronwynn an even harsher glare, but he just grinned. ¡°Oh please, what are you going to do? Punish me for my cheek?¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. There was something in his tone of voice that made Glaustro scoff angrily and look away, but I couldn¡¯t for the life of me pin it down. ¡°Let¡¯s just find the stupid thing,¡± Glaustro snapped, ¡°and try not to trigger it somehow. Your personality is probably not enough to make it want to wake up and kill you, but we can never know for sure.¡± This time, Bronwynn was the victim of several quickly hushed chuckles. If I was one of them, he couldn¡¯t prove it. And if he somehow did, I was more than happy to drag Mia under the bus with me. Glaustro confidently strode forward, leading the front lines into the cavern and slowly freeing up space for more of our unit to venture off the stairs. This was a good thing. They were getting antsy, and antsy demons don¡¯t tend to make the smartest decisions. As we pushed deeper, I was further distracted from all the Bronwynn-drama by one of the butterflies deciding to circle around my head. It almost looked like it was eying a good place to land, which I did my best to discourage with plenty of arm-waving. I wasn¡¯t the only one experiencing this particular issue. A couple yards back, one of the demons snarled out a curse before slamming a neon green butterfly into the wall next to him. Startlingly cyan blood splattered all over the place. The more paranoid among us froze, watching the other insects for any signs of rage or preparation for a revenge-swarm. Instead, the butterflies fled. They vanished into the darkness of the cavern with astonishing speed. In less than a minute, I couldn¡¯t spot a single insect buzzing around us. ¡°Huh.¡± I tilted my head to the side. An odd tension lingered in my belly, like everything was about to go wrong. Still, if the butterflies weren¡¯t particularly murder-y, then all the better for us¡­ I had barely finished that thought when the walls of the cavern started to shake. Immediately, I looked to Glaustro. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Is this you?¡± To my growing fear, the wide-eyed demon shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s¡ª¡± Claws tore through the walls, and then a host of crystalline scorpions surged out, all madly dashing towards the remains of the smashed butterfly. One of the scorpions, a particularly large specimen, was already emerging from that very spot. It hiss-bellowed in victory as it swallowed the insect¡¯s carcass. For a few seconds, we all just stared in horror, tracking the progress of the dead butterfly through the scorpion¡¯s translucent insides. But then, we had much bigger things to worry about. Literally. The scorpions were all at least twice the size of the dog-sized versions we had fought before. Their carapaces were much thicker and tougher. On top of all this, they just looked healthy in a way the previous ones did not. They had also finally noticed us, and were now starting to swarm. Disgust and a pinch of fear rushed through my body. Then, along with a trace of my mana, the emotions slipped into my sword. The blade responded by igniting with emerald flames. I almost dropped it in shock. Only the deeply engrained instinct not to relinquish my weapon prevented me. My eyes fixed on the flames, noting that they appeared to be surging from the engraved patterns Crewe had left on my sword. Then I was a bit too busy getting swarmed by scorpions to pay any more attention to my weapon. Mia was protecting my right side, but no fewer than six of the things were already closing in on my left. I needed to take them out before they could bring those tails of theirs into play. Neither Mia nor I had gotten stung during the previous encounter, and I intended to maintain that record. I surged forward, aimed, and tried to chop off one of the scorpion¡¯s limbs. Before, I had managed to pull off this maneuver thanks to thinner carapaces, the relative fragility of the creature¡¯s limbs, and my inhuman strength. My sword had contributed only its capacity to sever the soul. This time? The blade sank through the creature¡¯s body like a hot knife through butter, even though it was eventually stopped by a thin layer of armor. Pushing my luck a little further, I used the thing¡¯s moment of agony as an opportunity to deal a second blow. This one was meant to connect solidly with the top of the creature, right against the thickest part of its carapace. The cut wasn¡¯t perfectly smooth, but my blade did get through, sinking deep into the scorpion¡¯s body. The beast went still as the familiar weight of a soul crystal materialized in my pouch. I noted that the carcass did not have any visible burn marks from the emerald flames, but I didn¡¯t care. A feral smile took hold of my features as I ventured into the fray, slashing and hacking with wild abandon. I didn¡¯t go all-out cackling like I did in the previous scorpion battle. Still, it was so liberating to see demons struggle while my weapon tore effortlessly through insectoid bodies, reaping souls and leaving corpses for Mia to harvest later. My rampage only paused when my eyes fell on the biggest specimen, the one that had claimed the butterfly. This one was twice the size of its kindred, but it wasn¡¯t in any condition to fight me. The large creature was swaying like it was drunk, legs scrabbling to keep it upright. I would have thought it was sick or crippled if not for the fact that I could see through to its insides. The butterfly carcass had reached a sack-like organ within the scorpion, probably a stomach of some kind. Tendrils were unfurling from the former butterfly, digging into the scorpion from the inside. The butterfly was rapidly shedding its own body, revealing nothing but an empty husk that leaked cyan fluids. And those fluids were spreading. Already, they covered roughly a quarter of the scorpion¡¯s body. Now, I wasn¡¯t exactly an expert on all things biological and supernatural, but if I had learned one thing from the video games I played in my past life, it was never to give my enemies the leisure of transforming right in front of my eyes. So, like the little go-getter I was, I surged forward and stabbed my sword as deep as I could into the creature¡¯s body. Which, as it turned out, wasn¡¯t too deep. The beast¡¯s enormous size, coupled with much tougher armor, meant only half my blade managed to get in. I was just about to pull the weapon out and try for another blow when the creature started twitching again. But this twitching was different. The previous scrambling was the result of a butterfly-parasite turning the scorpion into a puppet. This felt more like pure pain and absolute panic. My guess was only proven correct when the scorpion released a tortured shriek, then started scrabbling madly to do something. I retreated to avoid its flailing limbs, but my sword was still buried inside of it. No way I was going to leave the weapon there. I glanced around to see if I would get some support fighting the thing, only to find more than a few of the nearby demons staring at the scorpion in silent horror. Confused, I turned back, watching both the beast and the beast inside of it freak out. There was thrashing, there was bashing into the wall repeatedly, and the dark tendrils of the parasite within the scorpion were spasming out all over the place. Thankfully, the torment didn¡¯t last long. Only a few seconds later, the scorpion collapsed, and both creatures fell still. I was about to reclaim my blade when I realized there was no reassuring weight of a new soul slipping into my purse. Is it really dead? I mused. Or is it faking, somehow? I decided to ask the experts. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, turning to a group of demons, ¡°is this thing still alive, or¡­¡± I trailed off when every demon in the vicinity jerked away from me, looking vaguely ill. Finally, one of them saw fit to answer. ¡°It¡¯s dead. Thoroughly. Just¡­ keep that sword away from us.¡± I frowned, stepped forward, and wrenched my blade out. It looked just as immaculate as before. The flames had been starting to gutter out, but they surged back into life as soon as my hand on the hilt gave them access to my mana again. The demons have an issue with my sword? But¡­ oh, ooooooh. I grinned down at my weapon, and at the Abyssal flame that wreathed it. I hadn¡¯t given much thought to the prickling warmth in my chest, past a slight annoyance at the constant discomfort it caused me. Putting up with that, though, in exchange for a flame that could directly assault the soul of my enemies? Definitely worth it. Chapter 106: Assassination By the time the last scorpion fell and I trotted smugly over to Glaustro, the demons of the unit were looking at me differently. Now, there was nothing strictly wrong with the way they looked at me before. There was no unfriendliness or hatred or the like. True, some were resentful over the whole sand issue, but the majority were still more than happy to tolerate my presence, or perhaps ignore it. Some were even decently friendly. This group was the minority, sure, but they did exist. A few had been willing to chat with me on occasion, providing invaluable nuggets of information about the Abyss. Still, there had always been one thread that linked them all together: the instinctive, casual disregard for my abilities. Again, it wasn¡¯t malicious. Some truly did seem to enjoy talking to me. But it was generally understood that nothing I did could kill them. A single strike from my sword would hurt, but it wouldn¡¯t prove crippling in the long run, and it was unlikely I would get a chance to make a second strike. Now? Well, perhaps it had much more to do with my sword than with me, but there was definitely a new tension in the postures of my ¡®allies.¡¯ Those who actively disliked me due to my environmental advantages, and had said as much, were looking particularly wary. I was caught between intense satisfaction and the need to frown. Realistically, I still couldn¡¯t take down a demon through legitimate means. However, if the flames spread quickly enough from the blade¡¯s point of entry, there was every chance I could succeed through assassination. Problem was, I couldn¡¯t exactly do that when everyone was staring at me like I was about to eat them. ¡°Good work,¡± Glaustro chuckled when I strolled up. I had to tilt my head in question at his current situation. My friend and commander had his large hand closed around a demon¡¯s throat, and he was lugging him around like a particularly large dog with a favorite chew toy. The demon looked familiar¡­ My eyes widened a little as I recognized the man who had killed the butterfly. He still had a cyan stain on his hand. Carefully constraining the glee within me, I pretended a hesitant tone. ¡°Um, am I¡­. interrupting something?¡± Bronwynn broke out into cackles while Glaustro frowned thunderously. ¡°No, you are not. I was just discussing with Feraldon here why it¡¯s a horrible idea to take your frustration out on flora and fauna you know nothing about.¡± Glaustro shook the demon a little, and he ragdolled in the most amusing manner, head and limbs shaking all over the place. ¡°So, we¡¯re sure it was the butterfly¡¯s death that triggered the attack, then?¡± I asked, trying to get Glaustro¡¯s mind off of playing with his new toy. Really, Feraldon did me a solid. I had been seconds away from killing one of the butterflies myself. ¡°Correct. I killed another butterfly, carefully, as well as several of the scorpions, so I could study them. Practically all of the butterflies are nothing but shells for some kind of parasite. They release pheromones upon their host¡¯s death that makes them irresistible to the nearby predators, then aim to upgrade to a new, better host.¡± I shuddered a little at the description, then squinted at the poor demon¡¯s hand. ¡°Hmm. That kind of stuff can¡¯t work on demons, right? And they wouldn¡¯t leave eggs through their blood or whatever¡­. Right?¡± Feraldon paled and frantically started brushing his hand off on the nearby glowing flora. Glaustro¡¯s grip had him dragging along the ground anyway, so the moss was easily accessible to him. ¡°Maybe we should test that?¡± Glaustro wondered idly, his eyes landing on Feraldon. The unfortunate demon froze under those burning orbs worse than a deer in headlights. ¡°At best, it doesn¡¯t work, and then we know. At worst, it¡¯s a single rebirth.¡± Glaustro spoke menacingly enough that someone who didn¡¯t know him would actually believe he was willing to follow through, but I could detect the undercurrent of amusement easily enough. The cowering demon had upset him, and this was his minor revenge. Really, it was exceedingly nice compared to other commanders out there. Those would have just smashed the poor demon¡¯s head open and moved on. ¡°Maybe we can do that later?¡± I suggested. ¡°The battle won¡¯t have messed things up for us, I hope. No way the golem wakes up just because of that?¡± This finally sobered the mood, and Glaustro dropped Feraldon dismissively. The terrified demon shot me a thankful look, but I ignored him and kept my attention on Glaustro. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t have,¡± the sergeant said. ¡°As far as the lieutenant general could tell, the golems require a trigger spell to awaken. Otherwise, they remain in their storm form indefinitely, shrouding the surface of Lagyel with their interference.¡± ¡°How close are we, then?¡± Bronwynn jumped into the conversation as I spared half an eye on tracking Mia. The cat girl had actually ventured away from me during this battle, putting all of her newfound skills and training to good use as she, too, managed to mow down a respectable number of scorpions. She was collecting parts almost as gleefully as before, and storing them¡ªIf you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Is that my dimensional pouch? How? When? I scoffed a little under my breath and shook my head, refocusing on my commander. ¡°Very close. As far as I can tell, we are some five to ten minutes away from our destination.¡± He announced the second part in a loud voice, drawing the attention of his other soldiers and sending excited whispers racing through their numbers. ¡°So, be careful. If there are any traps here, we don¡¯t want to spring them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still confused as to why there¡¯s no city here, to be honest,¡± I admitted, looking around curiously as we resumed our march through the cave. All the glowing flora and the butterflies were a little creepy, and the parasites had to come from somewhere nearby, but that didn¡¯t seem like the kind of stuff to halt the progress of civilization. The caverns were an ideal place to establish a settlement, especially when compared to the surface. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of want, I don¡¯t think.¡± Bronwynn looked thoughtful. ¡°Even the cities we visited were somewhat sparsely populated. As a world, I don¡¯t think Lagyel is welcoming enough for more settlements to exist. If humans were around, sure. Humans breed like cockroaches,¡± he said teasingly. ¡°But the locals here seem to have much fewer children.¡± For some reason, that struck me as nonsense. I wasn¡¯t an expert on the subject, but as far as I knew, one of the best ways for a species to survive in adverse conditions was to have a faster and more productive breeding cycle. The numbers game seemed to be nature¡¯s favorite answer to the issue of high mortality rates among newborns. The idea that mortals on Lagyel didn¡¯t follow the same pattern felt iffy to me, but I simply shrugged. ¡°Maybe food¡¯s the more limiting aspect, rather than their numbers?¡± The conversation quickly devolved into an argument between me and Bronwynn about the survival chances of various species and why Lagyel was so bare. Glaustro looked amused, but he didn¡¯t jump in. He seemed entirely focused on his compass. When Mia finally slunk back and tried to casually attach my dimensional pouch to my waist, I grabbed her wrist and dragged her into our silly discussion, too. To my surprise, she had a lot to say on the subject. We didn¡¯t get to talk for too long, though. Mere minutes afterwards, we all fell into a shocked silence as the cave we were following suddenly opened up, feeding into an absolutely massive cavern which would have no trouble fitting a city. All over the cavern, shiny flora ruled. Everywhere I looked, I saw bushes, ferns, even trees, towering and proud in their attempt to scale all the way to the top of their limited space. They almost looked like deciduous trees, with prickly leaves that threatened to stab away any attempts at feeding on them. Judging by the leaves¡¯ crystalline sharpness, I would honestly bet on the tree over anything that tried to nom on it. More giant butterflies flitted among the various plants, along with the shadows of other animals. I caught brief glimpses of a crystalline doe, something cat-like, a badger of some kind with metallic fur, and many more. There was an entire ecosystem down here, vibrant and thriving. Maybe we had just entered through an infested cave. All the animals in this cavern looked perfectly healthy. I couldn¡¯t spot any trace of parasitic influence in the crystalline doe or the metallic badger. Even the butterflies here were far more lively and flighty, fleeing at our mere approach. Overall, the cavern was a beautiful sight, and I wanted to spend at least a few hours admiring it. Unfortunately, the space was also spoiled by the gigantic golem core embedded in the ground at the very center. The core coruscated with an inner glow, but otherwise didn¡¯t budge. It was surrounded by a remarkably clean stretch of stone, bare except for the carvings of a runic matrix that centered on the core. I couldn¡¯t tell easily, especially not from a distance, but I thought I noticed some amplification and strengthening runes. This was smart. Even for a golem as remarkable as this one, maintaining a storm over Lagyel for hundreds of years had to be difficult. Putting some extra runes in place to help it out would minimize if not eliminate the need for hands-on maintenance. Glaustro took a deep breath. ¡°We¡¯re going to set up. If someone finds any signs of alarm or trigger spells, or anything of the like, do not mess with them. Let me know immediately.¡± We began descending carefully into the middle of the cavern. The ground gently tilted downwards, making the overall shape of the space sort of like an American football. The whole way, I could hear Glaustro complaining under his breath about how his job was far too similar to herding hyperactive and unruly children. Which¡­ fair. I didn¡¯t always make the smartest decisions myself. Not recently, anyway. Or generally, ever. I thought back to both my pasts and had to wince a little. Yup. ¡®Generally, ever¡¯ works. I shook my head, refusing to let myself get distracted. Step by cautious step, we approached the core. All of us were on the lookout for the things Glaustro had named, but neither my eyes nor my mana senses could detect a thing. Once we reached the rune matrix, which was much larger than I originally thought, Glaustro started to pace along it. Eventually, he nodded and let out a breath of relief. ¡°So far, everything is as the lieutenant general said it would be.¡± He ran his thumb idly along a ring on his pointer finger. Suddenly, a large, rune-covered cylinder with an opening on one side materialized in his hand. I almost jumped at the realization that the ring was a dimensional item, too. Glaustro carefully paced out some measurements, then lay the cylinder on the ground. Extending a claw, he quickly but carefully began to carve runes around the cylinder. I watched, transfixed, as the demon worked. It came so easily to him, runes strung together in an endless cycle that reinforced itself with every new component. My understanding of runes was literally improving in real time just from watching him work. When he made a full circle back to where he¡¯d started, I wanted him to continue. Alas, he¡¯d already placed a total of eight cylinders, and created a full mana matrix to support them. His hand was shaking as he rubbed at his forehead, but he smiled in satisfaction. ¡°That should do. Now, in theory, our job is simple. From what the lieutenant general could glean and from our experience in the last battle, the waking of a golem is not a fast process. It needs to gather mana, exhume itself from the hidden spot it was placed in, and then finally form up. Our lieutenant general more or less let it happen just to test the golem, but there were several points when he could have acted to diminish its strength or destroy it entirely.¡± I wasn¡¯t in charge of the legion, but that sounded as stupid to me now as it had on the day I watched Crewe just stand by and let the golem assemble itself. But this was not the time to voice my disagreement with the lieutenant general¡¯s whims. There were more important matters at hand. ¡°So, we just strike now and hope we can damage the core enough to take it out of commission?¡± I asked. ¡°Essentially.¡± Glaustro nodded. ¡°It should work. Really, golems were made to be pre-assembled defenses. The way the jinn are using them is ingenious, but it opens them up to exactly this kind of sabotage.¡± Glaustro hesitated, then looked me in the eye. ¡°I also want you to stab it with that sword of yours as soon as our first volley does its thing, just in case. These golems definitely have souls, so it should work. Don¡¯t worry, none of the runes in this matrix are defensive, which is another thing I¡¯d like to have a chat with the jinn about. It makes no sense, but¡­¡± The demon shrugged, as if to say it worked in our favor, and that was that. ¡°Okay. I can do that. Sure,¡± I mumbled, drawing my sword and readying myself to stab a city-ending, region-enveloping golem. ¡°On my count, then,¡± Glaustro concluded. He offered me a reassuring smile. Somehow, listening to him count down to our insane assassination attempt, I did not feel particularly reassured. Chapter 107: The Impact Glaustro slowly counted down, heedless of my mounting concern. My hands, blessedly, remained sweat-free, but I couldn¡¯t take any credit for that. It was a quirk I had noticed since my skin turned blue. My physique was moving more and more towards that of a demon, and I wasn¡¯t sure they could sweat in response to emotions. I shook off my distraction, focusing in on one of the cylinders with anticipation burning up my insides. Finally, the count reached zero, and Glaustro ignited the rune matrix with a pulse of his mana. The cylinders lit up instantly. Then, as one, they each shot out a glowing rope that ended in a bolt of pure crystal. As the crystals bit deep into the golem, pulses of power erupted from the original matrix on the floor and surged into the core, dancing along its surface. But once the power reached the bolts¡¯ breach points, it was promptly sucked down along the growing ropes into the cylinders before it could do much at all. The core shook in time with the cavern around us. It even lifted a few inches off the ground. But then my eyes flitted to Glaustro, he nodded, and I was moving. I fed as much mana as I could into my blade, which erupted into a bigger conflagration than ever. Unable to keep in a feral snarl, I drove the weapon deep into the golem¡¯s core. Standing so close, I could hear the core¡¯s crystal substance chime like the softest, most beautiful bell I had ever heard in my life, but I didn¡¯t have time to admire it. Instead, careful not to touch the bolts sunk deep into the core, I started to slash viciously all over the surface. I aimed for the rune clusters where I could spot them, but really, my fear had taken over. Its grip on my heart drove me on as I did my part to assassinate a construct. I did my part a little too well. Glowing lines marred the surface of the core where I¡¯d cut into it, and their glow intensified with every second. The bolts were starting to glow brighter too, struggling to draw away ever-increasing amounts of power. As far as I could tell, Glaustro had put them in place to siphon off the mana the golem needed for activation, leaving the core a pretty but useless piece of rock. But with all the openings I had created, and the surge of mana being drawn into the core from the original matrix, the mystical substance found easier escape routes. With a much louder whine, the core went still for a moment. Then mana erupted out of it in a violent explosion of force. I was shoved backwards at a concerning velocity, eyes blinded from the light, helplessly flailing my wings in an attempt to do something. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind not to swing my sword around too, because someone caught me. ¡°I¡¯ve got you, I¡¯ve got you,¡± Glaustro shouted in my ear, and I froze, not wanting to hurt him accidentally. It took a lot of blinking and a lot of groaning in pain, but eventually my eyes cleared enough for me to be able to see what was happening. And what was happening was glorious. The explosion of mana hadn¡¯t decimated the cavern¡¯s wildlife. Quite the opposite, in fact. Plants had shot up. Animals were glowing with power. The color of everything, and I do mean everything, had intensified and taken on more interesting, luminous shades. In the few brief moments I was out of commission, the cavern had become a fantastical dreamscape. It was like a scene from Alice in Wonderland brought to life. My wide eyes quickly found Glaustro¡¯s, who merely grinned and nodded towards the core. ¡°Look,¡± he said, and I did. The crystal had broken down into chunks, its inner glow and mystical nature entirely lost. Even the matrix it once stood on was scorched out and rendered useless. So, that¡¯s success on the assassination front. But then why¡­? Bronwynn seemed to catch my confusion, because he stepped in with a massive grin on his face. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t know it at first glance, but this place is a major confluence point for the world¡¯s mana. The golem was placed here to take advantage of it, and it was draining over ninety percent of this place¡¯s mana concentration. Now that who-knows-how-many centuries of accumulated mana were released¡­¡± He gestured vaguely around himself, and I couldn¡¯t help but grin at his description of what had happened. Somehow, my actions had actually helped restore a piece of the world to what it was supposed to be. For someone working for literal hell, that felt oddly comforting. His explanation also neatly explained why I felt like I had a full-body sunburn. That much mana in such close proximity wasn¡¯t a good thing for most people. In fact, a normal mortal probably would have been crispified from the inside out. Me, on the other hand? I cast my senses inward, then felt tempted to do a little merry jig on the spot. The mana had sunk deep into my body, threatening to burn up everything in its path, but it was also healing everything it touched. And while the process left me feeling sore all over, my body strengthening had taken a serious qualitative jump forward. Including, best, of all, my wings.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I moved the appendages around tentatively, grinning at the newfound power in them. I couldn¡¯t wait to test them out. And, seeing as the world outside was likely stripped of the infernal sandstorm now, I would be able to do just that. I looked at the golem core again, then failed to suppress a snicker at the sight of Mia poking at some of the large crystal chunks. The cat girl looked dead-set on extracting some kind of loot, but seemed equally confused on how best to go about it. Bronwynn sighed, but started heading over to her. ¡°I¡¯ll go help her. You are entitled to part of the golem¡¯s remains, after all. We can¡¯t know how well the plan would have worked without you. That surge of mana was pretty potent. Even with a weakened golem, we still could have had a nasty fight on our hands.¡± Glaustro nodded in agreement, but did tilt his head at me appraisingly. ¡°Speaking of, as the person who made and powered that runic matrix, I was in the running to claim the golem¡¯s soul. Did your sword destroy it, or did it end up with you?¡± The question was unexpected, especially since I hadn¡¯t noticed a soul getting added to my purse. Then again, I was busy with a full-body ouchie at the time, so I wasn¡¯t really paying much attention. Unsure of whether I should be hoping the soul was there or not, I dipped a hand into my purse. Awareness of the souls I owned pushed into my mind in that familiar, vague manner, and I let out a little gasp of shock. Very slowly, I extracted my hand and gave Glaustro a wide-eyed nod. ¡°I, um, have it.¡± That was underselling exactly what I had in my proverbial pocket at the moment, because the soul wasn¡¯t just a greater or superior specimen. It wasn¡¯t even radiant, which I would have felt immensely honored to own, however briefly. Oh no, the golem¡¯s soul was ascendant. Two full ranks above the best soul I had ever owned. ¡°I take it the soul is valuable, then?¡± Glaustro asked, lips twitching. I nodded like one of those bobblehead toys, briefly unable to speak. Finally, I managed a single word. ¡°Ascendant.¡± Glaustro¡¯s eyebrows shot up, then he looked around almost nervously. None of our unit was close enough to overhear, and they were distracted by what had happened anyway, but he still looked like someone was about to mug us. He stalked over to Mia and Bronwynn. With a frustrated snarl, he helped the cat girl shove a few chunks of core into his own dimensional item, promising to handle that part of loot later. Then he hurried back over to me, growling under his breath. ¡°That explains why we had such strict instructions on what to do once we were done with our assassination attempt.¡± Raising his voice, he let his next words ring out into the cavern. ¡°Everyone, gather around immediately. We will be teleporting back to headquarters so we can report our success and claim our rewards!¡± That, of course, got the demons organized and compliant faster than anything else he could have said. They clustered as closely as they could around the poor commander, who still looked like he was on edge. Glaustro extracted another item from his ring, this time a black glass orb with something swirling with it. Then he started to chant. I noticed the newly mana-infused animals retreating to their burrows or simply fleeing in fright as his voice took on an otherworldly quality, echoing like something out of a nightmare. I could understand the animals¡¯ reaction. Glaustro¡¯s voice was making actual, visible ripples in space, fighting to tear it apart. Runes swirled all around him. Finally, as the chanting reached a particularly feverish pitch, he clenched his fingers and broke the orb. When it shattered, so did the space directly in front of him, and we were granted a glimpse of the barrier-encased crystalline settlement from which we had set out on our glorious conquest of the tree city. ¡°Follow. Quickly.¡± That was all Glaustro graced his troop with before he dragged Mia and me unceremoniously through the portal, Bronwynn on our heels. The relative coolness of the city slammed into me like a hammer, lifting a fog of discomfort I hadn¡¯t even been aware of. Somehow, even in that cavern system, the heat of Lagyel still won over the natural coolness of the earth¡¯s insides. Not so in this wonderful city, though! Be it the spatial barrier or the many waterways, I felt more relaxed than I had in a while. A few minutes later, after a few liberally applied cleansing spells, our little group of four was clean as well. Glaustro just grunted at me in exasperation, which seemed a tiny bit rude, but I didn¡¯t hold it against the demon. Not when he looked more stressed than I had ever seen him. He had even left his unit to get through the portal on their own, without waiting to confirm everyone had made it. ¡°Is this really such a big deal?¡± I asked quietly, unable to keep my eyes from scanning the street around us in search for some kind of threat. Glaustro¡¯s behavior had me on edge, which I was not enjoying at all. ¡°Yes and no,¡± the commander admitted, scanning the streets himself. ¡°You have to understand. On paper, ascendant souls are ¡®just¡¯ worth ten thousand regular souls, but the math is not that simple. The ascendant rank is a qualitative change, and anyone who gives up a soul like that for a bunch of basic souls is an idiot.¡± ¡°I mean¡­ I get that,¡± I ventured, like I wasn¡¯t one of the idiots who got starry-eyed at the thought of so many souls to spend on items and ascension. ¡°But what¡¯s with the ¡®yes and no¡¯ answer?¡± ¡°Ascendant souls are inordinately valuable because of the experience and knowledge they contain. The process of reaching the rank is not simple at all, so living through it vicariously significantly improves your own chances. And that¡¯s not even taking into account the kind of knowledge such a soul would have.¡± ¡°This is a golem, though¡­¡± I trailed off as I thought of my own superior tier golem soul, waiting for the day I became a proper demon and could munch on it for its secrets. ¡°Exactly,¡± Glaustro confirmed with a grin. ¡°For a golem to reach such a rank upon awakening its soul and consciousness, its make must be exquisite. The value of whatever golem-making knowledge can be gleaned from the soul is priceless, even to a demon of Crewe¡¯s station. Perhaps not back in the Abyss, where his power is not hobbled by the will of the world, but out here? During invasions?¡± Glaustro left it at that, and my head swam with the implications. What would happen if the legion managed to reverse engineer the process of crafting these golems? I could just about imagine the procession of magnificent war machines, crafted through the combined resources of the countless worlds under demonic rule. It would be a horrifying thing to witness. It would also assure our victory in many, if not all, of the middle- and lower-ranked worlds, by default. ¡°I¡­ see,¡± I mumbled, giving up any thoughts of being allowed to keep my new trophy. I mean, I knew Crewe had given the order to have the soul handed to him. I heard Glaustro say as much, loud and clear. But there was still a loot-goblin part of my brain that went all ¡®Shiny! Mine!¡¯ at the idea of the soul sitting pretty in my purse. I distracted myself from the greedy thoughts by taking in the city around me. Strangely, it was even more bustling than before. Many more demons who looked like soldiers were strolling through the streets, all serious and focused on whatever work they were headed off to do. The merchants, too, had multiplied, their stalls set up along every street available for such endeavors. There was an electric feeling in the air, and while I wasn¡¯t one hundred percent sure of its cause, I could tell it had all the demons excited. The war on Lagyel was finally moving away from its deadlock, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Chapter 108: The Reward People were definitely starting to take note of Glaustro. This time, when we arrived at the headquarters, we were admitted with minimal fuss. He asked Mia and Bronwynn to wait at the entrance, and then we just strolled inside, heading towards Crewe¡¯s war room. No need to call in favors or depend on his brother¡¯s standing. Glaustro was allowed to visit the lieutenant general based solely on his own merit. I enjoyed the way some of the demons we passed in the hallways eyed Glaustro. They were looks filled with a certain caution, the kind that comes when someone is afraid of a particularly nasty comment or act from the past rebounding in their face. Glaustro must have noticed too, because his countenance took on a vaguely smug note, even breaking the fa?ade of calm he had forced onto his features when we entered the building. We were asked to wait in front of the door to Crewe¡¯s home away from home, but we didn¡¯t wait long. Within ten minutes, the door opened to let out a group of weary, sand-covered demons who had definitely seen better days. The group¡¯s leader was missing an arm. The demoness behind him looked like something had tried to shatter half of her body. The final member of their trio was missing an eye, limped something fierce, and had only bits left on his back where his wings had been torn off. All three glared resentfully at our immaculate outfits. I was never going to let Glaustro tease me about my tendency to spam cleansing cantrips ever again. ¡°Raleigh!¡± Glaustro boomed, his smile as malicious as it was fake. ¡°Good to see you. Rough day?¡± The lead demon opened his mouth to reply, then glanced back and thought better of it. He did grit his teeth and try to shove roughly past Glaustro, only to stumble weakly backwards when my commander failed to give even an inch. The trio skulked off after that, looking resentful and beaten. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t get to admire the sight of them limping away for too long before Crewe¡¯s voice echoed from within. ¡°Enter.¡± We did. Everything inside looked almost exactly as it had before. Crewe was still creepy, the room was still spherical, and his weapon was still trying to corrode away everything within a certain distance. The only real change was in the massive globe floating in the center. Before, most of the globe wasn¡¯t even visible through the swirling storms that enveloped it. Now, much more of the map was uncovered, and entire patches of it were blessedly free of sandy hell twisters. I¡¯ve said it before and I will say it again: it was ironic that a world worse than the literal Abyss layer of Torment existed. ¡°I see you have returned. Victoriously too, if your little altercation with Raleigh is any hint,¡± Crewe mused, turning to examine us. I really would have preferred he didn¡¯t, considering the unpleasant effect of his solid red, glowing eyes when they passed over me. ¡°And such progress, too, from your unit¡¯s mortal! Remarkable, truly. Wings are an invaluable thing to have. My own have served me well.¡± Black tendrils unfurled from his back, six in total, forming swiftly into pitch black wings that spanned almost the entire room. They vanished back into tendrils a moment later before fading away completely, but his message had been sent. What that message was exactly, I couldn¡¯t tell, but I filed it away nonetheless. ¡°Yes, sir. We were successful in the task you set for us. The golem was tracked down and eliminated, opening up more of Lagyel to our influence,¡± Glaustro reported conscientiously, then motioned for me to act. I withdrew the soul, then stepped forward and presented it to Crewe. I almost lost my breath at the sight of it. Superior souls were visions of incredible beauty. An ascendant soul blew that out of the water, exceeding everything I had seen before. It looked like an entire functional galaxy was trapped within its confines, marred only by the distortion that would typically be taken up by the features of the soul¡¯s owner. The golem, being a construct, had only a weird collection of squiggles in place. I couldn¡¯t figure them out in that brief moment, but they almost reminded me of a rune. They were definitely significant somehow, judging by the way Crewe¡¯s face lit up when he took the soul in his hand and observed them. ¡°Ahhhh, excellent work. Truly, excellent work! Some of the teams returned on the brink of death, though victorious. Some failed me utterly. Some never even reported back at all. I expect we¡¯ll see those again when they appear back in the Abyss. Tell me, Glaustro, what were your losses like on this mission?¡± If possible, Glaustro stood even straighter, a keen gleam in his eyes. ¡°My unit took no further losses, sir. We are still missing the members who perished before our invasion of Faun¡¯s Cradle, but this latest mission claimed no lives.¡± Crewe paused, actually taking his eyes off the soul to spear Glaustro with his gaze. When my commander didn¡¯t so much as twitch under his scrutiny, Crewe laughed. ¡°Excellent! Truly, you are an exceptional sergeant. To have been allowed to waste away as a mere soldier for so long¡­ Well, no matter. You are here now, and you are under my command. Be sure that you will flourish here. Report everything that happened.¡± Glaustro did. He hid nothing, though I was convinced there was absolutely no need for him to recount my disastrous attempt to perform aerial scouting under the storm¡¯s influence. It did get Crewe to chuckle, though, so maybe that could be counted as a win.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Hmmm¡­ the fact that the golem was located at a confluence spot lines up with the other reports I have received, yet few of the sights were as verdant or as convenient as this one you¡¯re reporting. You did use the spatial assistance orb I provided, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Glaustro replied immediately, looking ready to salute. ¡°Good. That means the tracker it left behind will allow us to teleport back there. Especially with the storm in that area dispersed, I am looking forward to what our new scouts turn up.¡± Crewe smiled. ¡°They¡¯ve been remarkably more helpful than their predecessors.¡± A cold shiver raced up my spine. I had little doubt that all of the previous scouts had been purged. The lieutenant general had not looked happy to find out about the slumbering golems from my intelligence, considering he had an entire division dedicated to the task of providing valuable info on local worlds. I only hoped, for their sake and not mine, that he merely contented himself with sending them on an express line back to the Abyss. Something told me that Crewe reserved a slightly worse fate for those who truly displeased him. ¡°I would be happy to leave a report of our findings with anyone you are planning to send out, sir,¡± Glaustro offered. ¡°The parasites were mildly worrying with their ability to summon large numbers of mana-resistant wildlife.¡± Crewe did not seem particularly concerned as he waved Glaustro off. ¡°If you feel so inclined, Sergeant, then by all means do so. However, I believe there is something else we need to discuss. Namely, your rewards.¡± Despite the near disaster of my last reward sessions with the demon, I couldn¡¯t help but perk up at his words. After all, his enhancements to my sword were invaluable. I even suspected they were the primary reason my contribution to the golem¡¯s demise went as smoothly as it did. ¡°In keeping with my policy concerning these golems, you, Sergeant Glaustro, will personally be awarded ten thousand souls for its discovery and destruction. Each member of your unit will receive a thousand souls bonus per golem killed. And finally¡­¡± He turned to me. ¡°As the person who claimed and submitted the soul to me, you are entitled to five thousand souls yourself, son of Lethaniel.¡± I experienced an odd mix of emotions at his appellation. A shot of happiness, to be so publicly associated with my mother. A twinge of annoyance, to have my accomplishments linked so closely to hers, too. Then again¡­ that wasn¡¯t false, was it? I owed a lot to my sword. Maybe everything, in fact. And I had it thanks to her. There was also more than a little excitement burning within my chest to find out I was going to receive a total of six thousand souls. Sure, it was half the amount I would have gotten for the ascendant soul, but that was an item Crewe had personally claimed before even dispatching us. Besides, six thousand souls was the kind of wealth that even a demon might envy, what with their tendency not to hang onto their earnings. ¡°I am honored, sir,¡± I remembered to say, bowing towards Crewe with a decent bit of sincerity. It wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d have gotten to keep the ascendant soul even if he didn¡¯t claim it. That was definitely something I would get stabbed in an alley for. Justifications complete in the privacy of my mind, I let any lingering frustration wash away in favor of happiness. ¡°Of course, of course. Now, you are dismissed. As per your application beforehand, you have three days to rest up before you need to head out again, Sergeant. I want as many of these golems as possible eliminated quickly, before the jinn catch on. A unified response from them could prove¡­ inconvenient, and I am losing hunting teams faster than I¡¯d like.¡± As Glaustro and I headed out the door, leaving it open for the lieutenant general¡¯s next set of visitors, it was easy enough to read between the lines. Crewe was worried about what would happen if the jinn threw caution to the wind and summoned all their golems. Honestly, I had no idea why they hadn¡¯t done that already. If I was the one coordinating their war efforts, I¡¯d have tried to stamp out the demons at the beginning, at all costs, before they had an opportunity to establish themselves. Demons, after all, could be compared to an infection or an illness. If you stamped it out quickly and efficiently, then little harm would be done. But if you allowed them to fester, grow, and spread? Then even the most advanced treatment would do little to delay your untimely demise. The jinn had already failed at this. The Abyss had many settlements under its sway, and each one had turned into a potential invasion point. Until each and every one was reclaimed, the Legion of Torment could always make a comeback, even if the current on-world troops were almost entirely eradicated. Still, I had no business contemplating the course of the war and our enemies¡¯ strategies. I was still a foot soldier, and even Glaustro was far from qualified to whisper suggestions in Crewe¡¯s ear. Overall, the longer the golems stayed out of the fight, the better. If we could eradicate them all before the final push, we might even claim Lagyel with minimal effort, at least compared to the slugfest their presence on the battlefield would cause. For all that Crewe pretended like he didn¡¯t care overmuch, just facing one golem had pressed him. So, what about three? Four? Could he still claim victory in such a clash? I wasn¡¯t one to doubt the creepy shadow demon serving as my evil overlord on this campaign, but I would still be reluctant to bet on him if the chips came down in that particular scenario. ¡ª If I was happy with my earnings, then the rest of our unit was all but rearing to charge out into the city on a spending spree the instant they heard about Crewe¡¯s generous rewards. After all, however large a demon¡¯s average pay, a thousand souls was nothing to scoff at. In fact, it was quite a prize for just a few days of enduring the sandstorm and wandering through some caves. The lobby of our hotel-like barracks was buzzing with excitement as demons planned how to put their rewards to good use. Glaustro didn¡¯t choose to reveal my individual bounty to the rank and file, which I was thankful for. While it would likely whip them into an even greater frenzy to discover and slay more golems, it could very easily result in some not-so-nice encounters for me, too. By the time Glaustro dismissed us, everyone was in a good mood. Especially me. Thinking about everything I could do with all my fresh souls made me quite gleeful indeed. So, it was somewhat unfortunate that a hand closed around the collar of my shirt and yanked me back before I could give into the giddy feelings dancing through my chest. ¡°Um¡­ is something wrong?¡± I asked Glaustro awkwardly. My commander had used his superior height and reach to pull me entirely off my feet. I was only dangling a few inches off the ground, but the fact that he could do that at all was mildly alarming. ¡°Where, exactly, are you going?¡± Glaustro asked calmly. His patient tone didn¡¯t fool me. I caught the dangerous glint in his eye right away. ¡°Uh¡­¡± I trailed off, suddenly convinced I shouldn¡¯t answer his question. ¡°Because I know you were definitely not headed straight for the Absorption Station. Not after everything we already discussed and the risks you took so. Very. Recently.¡± I gave him my most sincere and disarming smile. ¡°Of course not.¡± He stared at me, tilted his head, nodded, and looked back at Mia as he finally dropped me. ¡°Mia. Sit.¡± I had all but a moment¡¯s warning as the cat girl¡¯s eyes gleamed with glee. Then she pounced, and I was trapped under a bit too much cat to have a hope of wiggling away from. Chapter 109: Approximation It wasn¡¯t the worst thing in the world to be trapped under what was honestly my best friend in either of my lives. I did get a bit frustrated when I had to make it up the stairs to our room with said best friend lounging determinedly on my wings. It was even more frustrating when I got a hankering for some of the caf¨¦s and eateries we had visited the last time we were in the city, and she still wouldn¡¯t budge. Yet, the Abyss provides. When I complained, Mia just snatched her weird conch phone out of one of the pouches on her hip. Not fifteen minutes later, a delivery demon knocked on our door and awkwardly handed over our food and drinks. His awkwardness was one hundred percent Mia¡¯s fault. The cat, in all her catty glory, refused to move off of me or even properly interact with the delivery demon. We managed, though, and then I had some gloriously puffy pastries to snack on, washed down with a sweet drink that reminded me of chocolate milk, only so much better. The brat cat was, of course, making a mess all over my wings with her crumbly tart-style pastry, but at least she was avoiding any liquid accidents. If she ended up spilling something sugary and brightly colored and it stained my feathers, being my best friend would not save her. Glaustro showed up not long after we finished our snack, as if to confirm that, yes, he had a penchant for cruel and unusual humor. His arms were full of maps, reports, and other official-type documents. Bronwynn was right behind him, burdened by just as much paraphernalia. I asked the only reasonable question. ¡°What, exactly, are you doing in my room with all of that?¡± ¡°Our room,¡± Mia immediately corrected, then plopped her head onto my shoulder to keep an eye on the two demons. Glaustro pulled over a table, heedless of the totally personalized and carefully arranged setting of our room, then started to spread one of the maps over it. It was tricky, because the table was actually smaller than the map by at least ten inches or so in every direction, but he didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°We are getting some planning done,¡± Glaustro informed us cheerfully. ¡°And we are doing so in your room because I¡¯ve already had to fend off ten scrying probes within twenty minutes. I got so tired of it, I had to leave my quarters. I don¡¯t think they¡¯d waste time looking for me in the room of a random mortal soldier. Besides, it¡¯s helpful to have you on hand.¡± ¡°Why is it helpful to have me on hand?¡± I let my grimoire drop off the side of my bed, seeing as I wasn¡¯t likely to get any more studying done anyway. ¡°And what do you mean by ¡®scrying probes¡¯? Why would anyone bother spying on us?¡± ¡°Because some of our plans hinge on your ability to keep up with Methialia and do aerial reconnaissance. With you here, I can consult you on your flying abilities. You are forbidden from taking on too much work, by the way.¡± I groaned and tried to flop back down on my bed dramatically, but this was difficult with a brat cat on top of me. ¡°You still didn¡¯t tell me why people are spying on us all of a sudden, or why you need us scouting to begin with,¡± I pointed out. ¡°We already proved that I can¡¯t fly in the storms, so won¡¯t I be useless anyway? Methialia too, for that matter?¡± ¡°You will not be useless. It¡¯s the cleared territories that I¡¯m worried about. I¡¯ll need you scouting when we pass through those.¡± Glaustro glanced at the closed door, then lowered his voice. ¡°You might not realize it, but we¡¯ve upset the status quo. A ton of people had all sorts of interests intertwined in promotions and earning Crewe¡¯s favor. We¡¯ve inserted ourselves into the promotion pipeline, and the lieutenant general is praising us in front of people who failed to perform as well as we did.¡± ¡°You¡¯re getting promoted?¡± ¡°How is that the only thing you picked up from everything I just said? I¡¯m maybe getting promoted, if we continue to perform as well as we have so far. This will be assessed at the end of Lagyel¡¯s invasion. I thought you¡¯d be more concerned about the people who will probably try to kill us to prevent exactly that.¡± I shrugged helplessly. Or I tried to, because again, brat cat on my back. ¡°I figure that¡¯s more of a you problem,¡± I said, then hastened to explain when he shot me an acidic look. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to be much help when fighting other demons. If they ambush, I could maybe take one or two with me. Maybe. Then I¡¯d just be back in the Abyss waiting for you.¡± Mia grumbled something on the subject of fighting demons, but she did so quietly enough that I couldn¡¯t pick it up. Glaustro, meanwhile, suddenly looked grim. ¡°All jokes aside, if we do get ambushed, you two should focus on surviving the encounter. I don¡¯t want you playing hero. This is an important time for your development, and you need to strive to survive for as long as you can. Ideally to the end, of course.¡± ¡°They already know that, Glaustro,¡± Bronwynn chimed in from the side with a scoff and a roll of his eyes. ¡°In fact, if I may remind you, we literally have to force them to slow down.¡± ¡®Them¡¯?! Narrowing my eyes suspiciously at the use of the plural, I craned my neck and tried to glare at Mia. She just looked away all innocent-like. Her face was as carefully blank as always. But I had gotten pretty good at picking up on some of the subtle expressions she let herself show when we were alone or in the company of friends. Sure, the term ¡®friends¡¯ applied only to the two demons in the room with us, but that wasn¡¯t the point.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The point was that she was keeping something from me. And after she had the gall to accuse me of being reckless¡­ I promised myself I would get to the bottom of the mystery soon, choosing instead to focus on Glaustro and the bigger picture for the moment. ¡°So, what¡¯s with the maps? Also, isn¡¯t scrying on us inside the city mostly useless? It¡¯s not like they can easily ambush us here.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not scrying me for the sake of being some garden variety stalkers, Hayden. I¡¯m afraid that the recent string of rewards has triggered something of a gold rush for the golems. Not even Crewe knows who leaked the information, but with the rewards out there, people are trying to claim them.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ are you telling me someone is trying to track down the golems before us? But¡­ do they have those devices Crewe gave you? Or any kind of plan for actually killing the golems when they find them?¡± ¡°As far as we can tell? No, on all fronts. Apparently, there is a consensus that small units of demons can handle the things before they awaken, which in turn means anyone could do it. Just find the core and smash it before it wakes up. Easy, right?¡± Glaustro scoffed, showing exactly what he thought about the intelligence of his fellow demons. ¡°But¡­ surely they can¡¯t just do that,¡± I protested. ¡°We¡¯re the ones with the orders. Isn¡¯t this against legion laws, or something?¡± ¡°It would be if legion demons were the ones doing it. Technically, bounty hunters, profiteers, and all the other scum that pay their way through to invasion worlds are associated with the legion, but they don¡¯t really answer to Crewe. He can force the issue, sure. But they seem to believe that as long as they present their success before him, he¡¯ll just pay them and let them move on.¡± My head spun, and I stared blankly at the older demon for a few seconds while my brain rebooted. Really, I should have expected such individuals to exist, but still¡­ ¡°There really are unaffiliated demons just running around Lagyel?¡± I finally managed. ¡°If an invasion stalls, or if we are invading a particularly powerful world, then it¡¯s standard policy to let such demons in to sow chaos and confusion. If they accomplish something? Great. If they fail, then it¡¯s no skin off our backs,¡± Glaustro stated indifferently, still studying his map. ¡°The problem is, we¡¯ve got the invasion back under control, so they¡¯re getting bolder and coming out to play.¡± ¡°And they¡¯re spying on you to figure out where they might be able to find a golem, without having to go out there and traipse through endless sandstorms,¡± I concluded, not at all happy with where my logic was taking me. Glaustro just shot me a small smile. ¡°Exactly. Here, you see these?¡± He tilted the map up. From my position on the bed, I could barely glimpse vast stretches of land covered by swirling storms, disrupted by only a scant few clear areas. ¡°These new survey maps help us mark out the different storms. That means we can approximate where we might find new slumbering golems, since they seem to always be located in the middle of the territory they¡¯re affecting.¡± I wished I could get up and take a closer look. Then again, Mia had taken to kneading her claws against my back, which was¡­ well, oddly comfortable. I felt some of the tension-knots in my back relax and fade away, and I had to bite back a happy sigh. ¡°I¡¯m guessing the maps are not publicly available?¡± I asked. ¡°They are reserved for Crewe¡¯s ¡®hunting teams¡¯, as he calls us,¡± Glaustro explained. ¡°He seems caught between exasperation and amusement when it comes to the golem issue, though he has made it known that if someone ruins his invasion plans, they will permanently regret it.¡± I shuddered. ¡°Do I want to ask?¡± To my surprise, it was Bronwynn who answered, his tone deadly serious. ¡°I caught Crewe punishing someone when Glaustro sent me to pass a message along. Trust me, you don¡¯t want to know. No one wants to know. If you piss him off, just kill yourself on the spot. It¡¯s better for your long-term mental health.¡± I believed him, and wisely decided to change the subject. ¡°So, any ideas on where we¡¯ll be headed next, or when? I didn¡¯t have time to get it done before we left the tree city, but I really need to pick up some upper body armor before we set off again.¡± I had waffled too long on whether I wanted to let someone else touch Yules¡¯ armor. By the time I visited an armorer in the tree city, they told me they couldn¡¯t make alterations to it quickly enough to meet my deadline. They also seemed way too pleased about getting their hands on armor made by the Amahis Armory, so I got out of there fast and found a different shop to pick up some basic, cheap leather. I just needed to find someone capable of putting together some halfway decent upper body armor. Alterations to Yules¡¯ set would have to wait until I could visit her again. ¡°We leave in a couple days. Crewe wants to send a survey team to the site where we destroyed that last golem, so we can hitch a ride back with them. That way, we can head straight over to the next golem. See here?¡± Glaustro tilted his map again, and I caught a trio of holes in the ever-present murky representation of Lagyel¡¯s churning storm clouds. ¡°Someone else managed to take down a golem nearby, so we can easily approximate the location of at least two other golems. We¡¯ll head for this one. I already cleared it with Crewe, so it¡¯s been reserved for our unit.¡± Glaustro tapped a point on the map, but really, I couldn¡¯t glean any details without taking a much closer look than Mia¡¯s position on my wings would allow. I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s nice to have a plan, at least. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯ll take us some three, four days to cross into the territory of the next golem? What are the chances that some of these rogue demons manage to catch up to us in that timeframe?¡± Glaustro seriously considered my question, but eventually shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not very likely. I just want to take all the precautions we can. But they tend to stick close to conquered cities, and we¡¯ll be teleporting anyway. We should be in the clear.¡± That helped me unwind a good deal more. It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t have faith in our unit when facing some subpar scavengers, but I also wasn¡¯t underselling my own abilities at all. Even with all the strides I had made, I was one hundred percent not ready to be messing around with demonic combat yet. ¡°Sounds good,¡± I said. ¡°Now, could you please order this lazy cat on top of me to let me go shopping today? I don¡¯t want to face another golem in just this leather, but I also don¡¯t want to cut up Yules¡¯ set to make room for these things attached to my back.¡± Glaustro was amused and took full advantage of the opportunity to tease me, but he did give his permission eventually. That made Mia roll off of me, and I shook out my poor wings with a relieved sigh. We spent most of that day and the next strolling around the city and shopping, which did yield several useful items. I had a decent armor replacement, though it only came with a basic toughness enchantment, and I picked up several more healing potions, just in case. All in all, when we met up with the rest of our unit to tackle the next golem, I actually felt prepared for what was to come. Naturally, a part of me suggested this was exactly the point when everything would go wrong, but I did my best to ignore that voice at the back of my head. I wasn¡¯t that unlucky. Right? Chapter 110: New Discoveries I was pleasantly surprised when no one tried to ambush us over the next few days. No bounty hunters were waiting for us when we stepped through the portal back into the cavern where we had assassinated a golem. No one jumped us when we climbed out of the pit Glaustro reopened briefly, back into the desert. When three days passed with no interruptions to our routine, and we were rapidly approaching another wall of sand in the distance, something inside me finally settled down. I let go of the ambush anxiety, leaving me with just the regular anxiety about attempting to destroy another weapon of mass destruction. You know, just the everyday jitters. I couldn¡¯t say those few days were all bad, though. For one thing, I got to fly to my heart¡¯s content. I did slightly miss Mia¡¯s company, since she always found a way to cheer me up during the endless marching, but there was something immensely freeing about cutting through the sky all alone with my thoughts. Up there, so far above the ground and all its worldly concerns, I couldn¡¯t even find it in me to worry or stress or overanalyze everything the way I usually did. It was just me and the uplifting sense of freedom. Well, almost only me. Methialia regularly accompanied me on my flights, first purely as a precaution against crashes and accidents, and then because Glaustro ordered her to. She didn¡¯t complain. She also didn¡¯t look quite as rough as she had recently, either. Direct exposure to the desert sun seemed to rejuvenate her a little. That, combined with the three days of rest, had almost eliminated the stress and exhaustion lines from her face. They were still there, and she was still clearly struggling with something, but at least she seemed to be enjoying herself as well. Of course, all my fun evaporated when we reached the storm front and had to venture back into the embrace of the howling, sand-chucking winds. Except, this time, things weren¡¯t as bad. It wasn¡¯t that the intensity of the storm had lessened, or that my new armor made that much of a difference. Rather, the toughening I received from the close-up mana blast was doing wonders for my overall resistance. Even my wings were more resilient. The sand¡¯s impact was more or less back to what it had been shortly after my arrival in Lagyel: annoying and distracting, but by no means harmful or actually painful. It was, in a way, ironic that I¡¯d had to claw back a degree of my resistance after boosting my ascension, but at least I was now getting the best of both worlds. New and useful inhuman features, combined with mortal toughness in the face of the sand, were a go! I was almost, almost tempted to try flying in the storm again. Thankfully, I managed to resist the urge, proving that my brain was, indeed, capable of pattern recognition. It was a small improvement, but every little bit counted. Besides, I didn¡¯t need to carry quite so much of the stress-load about our little expedition anymore. Sand or no sand, all the demons were leagues more motivated than they used to be. Some even signed up to make use of their more unique talents in order to guarantee our success. Souls were, as always, the true key to a demon¡¯s heart. This proved to be invaluable two days into the storm, when their newfound motivation allowed us to dodge what could have been a disastrous encounter. One of the demons, a weaselly-looking individual by the name of Ophis, slunk ahead of us only to return several hours later in a panic. He convened briefly with Glaustro, who then marshalled the rest of us and rapidly conjured another giant snake construct to ferry the whole unit into the ground. When I tracked down the commander at the head of said construct, he looked both supremely focused and supremely unwilling to be interrupted. Bronwynn was sitting off to the side already, so I decided to bug my old mentor instead. ¡°That demon, Ophis, he was scouting when he ran into a group of jinn,¡± Bronwynn explained. ¡°He didn¡¯t spot a city in the vicinity, so they seem to be patrolling this stretch of the desert. I don¡¯t know if they found out about the golems we destroyed already or if this is a routine habit of theirs, but it does spell trouble. Our target might be better defended than we thought.¡± I decided not to push for more information after that. Bronwynn didn¡¯t seem too chatty, his eyes focused on Glaustro¡¯s scrunched-up grimace, but he did assure us that our commander had worked on making the passage of his construct all but untraceable. So long as the jinn weren¡¯t paranoid enough to have constructs peppered all over the underground, Glaustro was confident we could slip past them all with relative ease. It turned out the jinn were not, in fact, paranoid enough. Their lack of thorough preparation, in addition to their apparent ignorance of all demons could do even within an adverse environment, ensured our safe passage. But Glaustro did not look particularly relaxed, even when we were nominally past the patrol Ophis had noticed. If anything, the sergeant looked even more tense, his attention constantly split between moving us in the right direction and covering our tracks. Our travel persisted in this fashion for another day, before the great snake construct suddenly went still. Only then did Glaustro slowly unwind, tension seeming to bleed out of his frame. Bronwynn was immediately by his side, handing him an odd, fizzy drink that radiated mana.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Thank you,¡± Glaustro said quietly. He sipped the drink, smiled, and began talking much louder. ¡°From what I can tell, we are almost directly under the golem. This means it¡¯s on the surface, and likely guarded by the jinn. There¡¯s a decent chance our original target didn¡¯t have guards only because of its hidden location. I need a group of demons skilled at stealth and earth magic to scout the surface.¡± To my surprise, more than a few volunteered immediately, eyes bright and eager. I wondered at that, but then realized that in addition to whatever Merits they could earn from the task, there were also jinn-souls potentially on the line. That was a powerful motivation for a group of demons who were mostly stuck traipsing around the desert while a war was being fought. Glaustro quickly chose the most promising prospects for his scouting mission. The weaselly demon was picked immediately, followed shortly by another five individuals I wasn¡¯t familiar with. All of them had a shifty look about them, which explained why I didn¡¯t feel the need to get to know them better. Still, that spoke well of their abilities where this particular mission was concerned. In spite of my recent experiences, I hadn¡¯t quite mastered the art of sitting still while other people did things. A part of me wanted to be out there, tunneling through the earth and sand to spy on the jinn, even if I knew I would get caught immediately. So, I spent a painful hour fidgeting. Every few minutes, Mia got sick of my nonsense and batted the back of my head forcefully enough to hurt. And every few minutes after getting scolded, I went right back to fidgeting. Over and over, like clockwork. At long last, our scouts began to trickle back in. I wasn¡¯t the only one who drew a little closer, but Glaustro did nothing to stop us overhearing their report. Ophis was the first to speak, fingers fidgeting like he was tempted to snatch something up at every moment. ¡°There¡¯s a group of ten jinn just patrolling the area or idling. All of them seem to be capable of using the earth elements, though most of them are some variation rather than a pure earth jinn. That¡¯s probably why they didn¡¯t notice us, really.¡± ¡°Ten¡­ that¡¯s not the worst number,¡± Glaustro concluded. ¡°What about the terrain? What¡¯s it like out there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s some kind of pit,¡± another demon reported. ¡°Most of the storm doesn¡¯t reach the inside of it, but you can still feel the winds a little. It¡¯s massive and¡­ I think it¡¯s a graveyard. Full of bones, at any rate. They¡¯re huge. I don¡¯t think they belong to any local species that¡¯s still kicking about. We¡¯d have noticed them otherwise.¡± Glaustro spent a bit more time grilling them for information. He was particularly interested in whether the jinn were guarding specific points or if they patrolled the pit freely, but none of the scouts could give him a definitive answer. The jinn seemed to be allowed to do whatever they wanted, so long as they didn¡¯t leave the site they were guarding. Eventually, Glaustro hashed out a plan. He divided us into ten different groups, with a minimum of two earth-mana users in each. There was also a single demon who would be acting on his own. Glaustro handed him a mana device of some kind and ordered him to activate it at the highest point of the pit as soon as combat broke out. It would, apparently, serve as a sort of signal blocker for mana communications, meant to stop the jinn from calling in reinforcements. Typically, the sandstorm would take care of that well enough on its own, but none of us knew for sure whether the jinn were as hindered in their use of mana as we were. They sure didn¡¯t have trouble using the sand in their spells, after all. When we set out, Mia and I ended up in a smaller earth construct with Glaustro and another thirty demons, tunneling towards the very core of the area we were assaulting. We came out of the ground in a spray of sand, accompanied by the startled shouts of jinn all over the ¡®pit.¡¯ I wanted to curse the scout-demons. Not only was the so-called ¡®pit¡¯ more like a massive crater, but it was absolutely filled to the brim with bones so large, they looked like they belonged to primordial titans. While I was distracted, the demons in my group pounced on the nearest jinn. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t even a contest, especially since the crater provided some shelter for their spells from the swirling sand. A single jinn was barely an appetizer for thirty demons. A wave of infernal magic obliterated the poor fellow in seconds. Before the proverbial dust could even settle, Glaustro was already racing ahead to our target. I did my best to follow in his footsteps, flanked by Mia and Bronwynn. This golem core had been placed inside of what was once the skull of some horned behemoth. Thankfully, the runic matric setup seemed entirely identical to what we¡¯d seen underground. Even with the difference in terrain and the slight incline that made things tricky, Glaustro set up his own matrix even faster than the previous time. Knowing the schema would actually work did wonders to speed up the process. While I waited for him to activate the cylinders and give me the nod, I eyed the other battles happening across the crater. We were winning, of course, but I spotted at least one battle that got close to messing things up. Upon seeing that he was surrounded, one of the jinn burst into pure flames that scattered all over the place. The demons pursued, but didn¡¯t catch up to the many clones of the jinn before one managed to weave a spell and shoot it at the sky. His eyes tracked the projectile with considerable satisfaction, at least until it impacted a dome of mana that briefly flickered into visibility before fading from view again. The signal or message or whatever the spell was supposed to be fizzled out, and then the jinn was wiped from existence by a concentrated demonic assault. Finally, the moment came, and Glaustro motioned me forward. This time, according to a new part of the plan, Mia surged forth alongside me. While I savaged the glowing golem core, she positioned herself and braced for the incoming mana wave. When the core imploded, just like the last one, we both managed to hold our ground, making the most of the mana surge. It tingled through our bodies, reforging and strengthening them. That wasn¡¯t all that happened this time, though. Just as the wind and sand died down far above, lightly showering us in golden grains, the very earth shuddered beneath out feet. Something fundamental about the world shifted, then settled into a new configuration. Even as we all reeled from the shock, the same golden chains that had ensnared us upon our arrival in Lagyel shimmered into view around us. Then, without warning, they started to shatter. I staggered as a piece of me I hadn¡¯t even known was locked away suddenly returned. Power and emotions slammed into place, threatening to overwhelm me. All around, demons were reacting similarly, though they welcomed their lost power with far more joy than I could muster in the face of my growing instability. A quarter of the chains binding us down shattered. The remaining chains faded away again almost instantly, but we all knew the change was significant in ways none of us could properly put into words. And not all those ways were good. We had taken a step closer to wrestling the world away from the jinn, but we had also made our golem-strategy clear. The jinn would know exactly what we were up to now. Who knew what they might do in response? Chapter 111: The Jinn Response The second the chains faded from sight, three things happened at once. First, Glaustro surged forward and grabbed the golem¡¯s core, whisking it into his dimensional pouch. Runes flickered into existence around him as he gathered mana, his normally red skin chalky-white with fear. Second, a massive tremor raced through the ground under our feet, shaking the very world itself like it was trying to dislodge the entire upper crust of the planet. Third, we saw several bursts of light shoot into the air in the far distance. My eyes widened, and my heart started beating faster. Each and every one of those points of light was a group of jinn, all headed our way. We had just ambushed ten jinn with laughable ease, sure. But did that mean we were free to act with impunity? Nope. Even with the eternal sandstorm stripped away from this area, the jinn were more than capable of utilizing Lagyel¡¯s sand against us. We were in a desert, after all. Besides, we had no idea what kind of construct they might be able to conjure. A single ¡®lesser¡¯ golem alone would be tricky to handle, to say nothing of the jinn backing it up. In other words, destroying both the golem core and a portion of jinn authority over Lagyel may well have sealed our speedy return to the Abyss. Much to my relief, Glaustro seemed to be on top of things, as usual. ¡°To me! All of you! To me! I am opening a portal right now. Whoever fails to pass through the moment it¡¯s open is going to be left behind!¡± the commander barked, making it clear that he would not accept any pointless shows of heroism or greed. The demons seemed inclined to listen. They clustered around our group in record time, glancing repeatedly at the approaching jinn. Then Glaustro crushed another black marble, and the portal ripped itself open just as I started to feel a tide of the jinn¡¯s mana brush against the lip of the crater from a distance. I didn¡¯t have time to wonder or panic at that. Glaustro¡¯s hand closed around my upper arm, and I was dragged unceremoniously through the portal and back to the welcoming environment of the demonic capital on Lagyel. A startled meow drew my eyes to Mia, whose eyes were huge and slightly clouded by the effects of Glaustro¡¯s extreme speed. Apparently, I wasn¡¯t the only one he chose to grab. Even in the chaos of the moment, I found myself feeling oddly glad about that. Then any sort of reflection became impossible, because a veritable tide of demons came gushing out of the portal behind us. The next few minutes were total chaos. We had arrived in a small plaza in the city, so space was limited. The first wave to come through couldn¡¯t get out of the way fast enough. Within seconds, we were packed in like sardines. For all his threats about leaving people behind, Glaustro immediately let go of me and Mia to make sure all his people got through. I couldn¡¯t see over the heads of the crowd and into the portal, especially with so many horns in the way. But by the time the last demons stumbled through and Glaustro cut his hand through the portal¡¯s edge, making it vanish, I vaguely glimpsed flashes of light and heard the sound of an explosion in the background. ¡°Are we missing someone?¡± Glaustro demanded loudly, eyes roving ceaselessly over the soldiers in his care. You couldn¡¯t spot any anxiety on his face, but it was apparent in the tension of his shoulders and the extra intense glare he was sporting. ¡°It should be fine,¡± Bronwynn reassured him, though he himself was still trying to see over the heads of the gathered demons and do a count. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure everyone made it through. The jinn didn¡¯t respond that quickly. Probing shots were just starting out when the last groups used the portal.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good, but I thought I ordered everyone through immediately.¡± Glaustro¡¯s eyes were literally burning as he glowered at Bronwynn. ¡°And I could swear you waited until the last possible moment.¡± I took another look at the pink-skinned demon. Sure enough, the soot marks on his clothes and scars on his hands proved he had been part of the final wave to come through the portal. It looked like he¡¯d tanked a blast of lighting head-on. Even so, the demon genuinely didn¡¯t seem much worse for wear. The scars from the electricity were already fading as I eyed them. Bronwynn flinched under Glaustro¡¯s scowl, but rather than try and argue, he simply looked around meaningfully at all the gathered demons. ¡°Very well.¡± Glaustro closed his eyes briefly in exasperation. ¡°We¡¯ll deal with this¡­ later. For now, all of you are dismissed. I¡¯m sure the lieutenant general will have our rewards distributed soon, but I must report what¡¯s happened immediately.¡± Already, Glaustro was turning his attention away from the crowd, which parted to let him pass. ¡°You three, follow.¡± We did as our commander bid, falling into step with the demon as he hurried away. ¡°What happens now?¡± I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to speak. All the new power and feelings invading my headspace were making me jittery. ¡°That wasn¡¯t normal, right? I never felt anything like it on Berlis. Not even when we won.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have. Remember, that world was supremely weak. Its Will wasn¡¯t present already, but just starting to be born. Lagyel is clearly different. It also doesn¡¯t seem to care much for the jinn. This feels almost like the world itself is backing us, though for what reason, I couldn¡¯t tell you.¡± The demon groaned. ¡°Just one month. One month without stupid, weird shit. That¡¯s all I¡¯m asking.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Without breaking pace, he turned towards me and narrowed his eyes. I could only hold his gaze for a few seconds. Then I fidgeted and looked away. ¡°What?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault somehow, is it? I don¡¯t know why, but ever since I took control of the troop you were part of, everything¡¯s been¡­ off.¡± Really, I didn¡¯t start sweating. I did not. ¡°How could any of this be my fault? Unless you think I can somehow influence an entire world?¡± I offered up a wobbly smile. Glaustro did not look amused. ¡°Hrm. Well. It remains to be seen. I¡¯m warning you, though. No more nonsense or stupid risk, any one of you!¡± To my relief, I wasn¡¯t being singled out anymore. Glaustro pointed at all three of us in turn. ¡°I solemnly swear I¡¯ll sit pretty,¡± I volunteered readily. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to sic a cat on me.¡± Mia shot me a look, but then she nodded and grumbled along. Bronwynn, on the other hand, merely gave Glaustro a small, innocuous smile. ¡°Regardless,¡± the commander snarled, glaring at him, ¡°all of you go get some food and rest. I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll like the results of this.¡± He must have caught my surprised expression, because he openly laughed. ¡°What? Did you think I would take you along every time I meet with the lieutenant general?¡± Well, now that he mentioned it¡­ yes, I was sort of slipping into that mentality. It did seem like my presence was relevant more often than not, these days. Besides, he couldn¡¯t exactly hand over the soul without me there, so¡­ I froze, suddenly dipping my hand into my purse. My face went pale as I raised shaky eyes to meet Glaustro¡¯s amused ember orbs. ¡°The soul¡­¡± He broke into chortles again. At least his genuine mirth was doing wonders to ease the stress and worry lines from his expression. ¡°Oh, your face. Did you think you¡¯d get the soul every time?¡± he teased, patting his own soul purse. My face flushed. I was, in fact, thinking just that. Am I developing a main character syndrome? It was a deeply discomfiting thought. If I kept going into situations with the idea that everything would magically work out for me, I was eventually going to run into someone stronger than my overconfidence, and then I¡¯d be dead. Temporarily, of course, but that didn¡¯t matter. I would be missing out on a ton of souls at the very least, not to mention the chances of perishing within the Abyss itself. Things had been going so well, I was finding it hard to remember that the universe wasn¡¯t a fair place. It was cruel, and dangerous, and would not deliver everything I needed right to my doorstep. That was a truth I couldn¡¯t afford to forget. Unwilling to admit any of this, I looked away from Glaustro and focused on the bright blue sky up above. Then I squinted, tilting my head. How could I see the sky? Where was the storm constantly raging all over Lagyel, except in a few cleared patches? Someone must have hunted down and killed the golem turning this part of the world into a sandy hell. Or had there even been a storm raging over headquarters on my previous visit? I wanted to say yes, but I couldn¡¯t remember for certain. I had been distracted at the time. Besides, my focus was often drifting recently, even when it really shouldn¡¯t. I felt the tide of newly potent emotions attempting to rise inside my chest and squished it mercilessly, already annoyed enough at how much the recent change had thrown me off. ¡°Right, then. I¡¯m leaving you here.¡± Glaustro visibly shook himself. Before my eyes, his expression grew placid, and the emotional cues vanished from his mannerisms. ¡°Wish me luck.¡± We all mumbled out something in line with his request, then watched him walk away with worry-filled eyes. I tried to snap out of it. Even with my paranoia whispering away in my ear, the chances of the meeting going badly for Glaustro were relatively low. We had acted on Crewe¡¯s orders, after all. The destruction of the chains that had bound us on arrival in Lagyel was, overall, a good thing. Still, demons were not wholly rational on the best of days, so none of us could shed our anxiety. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to go¡­ get a drink.¡± Bronwynn¡¯s excuse was as fake as his smile, but before either Mia or I could say a word, he was already strolling rapidly down the street. The same street Glaustro had just taken, and which led to Crewe¡¯s lair. ¡°He¡¯s going to wait for Glaustro in front of the building, isn¡¯t he? Maybe even try to get into the meeting?¡± I asked conversationally, watching the closest thing I had to a mentor walk away in direct opposition to our commander¡¯s orders. ¡°Mmmmhmmm,¡± Mia purred. While the emotion didn¡¯t really show on her face, that single sound reeked of amusement. I narrowed my eyes at the cat. ¡°And I¡¯m missing something, aren¡¯t I?¡± She gave me an actual, wide smile. Her fangs were getting so sharp and pointy that the sight was rather intimidating. The effect was ruined only by the smugness radiating off the brat cat, and my familiarity with her. ¡°Fine, then, keep your secrets,¡± I groused, turning towards one of the restaurants we had visited on our first trip to the city. ¡°Let¡¯s get something to eat. I¡¯m so dang tired of rations. I genuinely can¡¯t believe I found them halfway tasty at some point.¡± That earned me a shocked face, because obviously those things were barely edible. It made me briefly wonder about Mia and the past she was so keen on avoiding. My initial acceptance of the rations stemmed from Hayden¡¯s experiences getting jammed into my head, along with all the terrifying things I was going through at the time. It was hard to get upset about food when, as bad as it was, it presented a distraction from how much everything else sucked. Mia, meanwhile, had been strongly against rations from the beginning. In fact, one of her first purchases was a cooking setup she could lug around. I snuck a peek at the cat strolling next to me, wishing, not for the first time, that we could just discuss our pasts. Unfortunately, we had more traumas than either of us could count individually. Combining them just didn¡¯t seem like a good idea. More importantly, I wasn¡¯t willing to admit to her face what a failure of a human being I was. If I did, she would walk away without a second thought. There was nothing anyone could say or do to convince me otherwise. So, instead, we strolled along in silence. The quiet between us may have been burdened by the many, many things left unsaid, but it was still companionable. Even relaxing. At least until I caught a glimpse of a spray of sand pelting the city¡¯s protective dome far above our heads. I immediately looked up with a frown, then froze as I saw more and more streams of sand appear above the dome, relentlessly slamming into our defenses. ¡°Mia, we need to¡ª¡± My words were cut off by the audible rumble of earth deep beneath our feet. In spite of the cataclysmic noise, the street we were on didn¡¯t even shake, but a ripple did spread through the barrier overhead. At the same time, my brand heated up so fast, it bordered on painful. A single brush against it revealed a message I didn¡¯t like at all. Gather at base immediately. Prepare for combat. The jinn response had come faster and more brutally than anyone had anticipated, and as the two of us broke into a sprint, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what other horrible surprises we were about to receive. Chapter 112: The Heat of Battle The sky above the barrier was already an unending swirl of sand by the time I found myself back at our hotel-like barracks. Glaustro was out front, along with Bronwynn and most of the demons in our unit. This was reassuring, but I didn¡¯t like the look on the commander¡¯s face at all. He seemed genuinely worried. ¡°Good, you¡¯re here,¡± the sergeant snapped, tension releasing slightly from his shoulders at the sight of me and Mia. ¡°We need to take up our station at the outskirts. So far, the jinn haven¡¯t had much luck breaking through the barrier, but we don¡¯t know what else they can bring to bear.¡± We didn¡¯t wait a second longer to start following that plan, though I briefly felt my brand heat up as Glaustro sent out instructions so any stragglers would know where to find us. ¡°What happened with the lieutenant general? How did we not catch the jinn approaching earlier?¡± I rattled off questions midstride, making only a token effort to keep my voice down. ¡°Things went¡­ well, we are not in any sort of trouble,¡± Glaustro replied. ¡°In fact, before this whole thing started, he was thrilled. It might push the jinn into a frenzy, but even a partial removal of the World Will¡¯s bindings will benefit us immensely. You don¡¯t feel it as much, and the more experienced members of the legion are used to it, but the binding feels crippling at times.¡± Glaustro¡¯s confession made me want to ask a thousand more questions, especially with the feeling of power squirming in my chest since some of the chains vanished. If it was affecting me so much, when I still hadn¡¯t quite risen to the level of proper demonhood, then how did the partial removal of the binding feel for him and the rest of the demons? ¡°How did we not know about this attack earlier?¡± Mia repeated my earlier question, her gaze focused and rather murderous as we sprinted down the beautiful streets of the demonic capital on Lagyel. ¡°Best I can guess, they slipped past our sentries by pulling the same trick we¡¯ve relied on: burrowing. They certainly have the constructs for it.¡± Glaustro sounded bitter, and I couldn¡¯t blame him. Not only had his favorite strategy been turned on us, but the capital¡¯s defenses had somehow dropped the ball, hard. Then we reached the city¡¯s outskirts, and I was thoroughly distracted from theory-crafting by the sight ahead of me. Even through the stirred-up sand, I could see a whole legion of jinn camped out beyond the spatial barrier. The jinn were almost as individually varied as demons, though I could definitely spot groupings among them. The majority looked like badly charred humanoids, ash and golden, their visible veins flowing with lava-like blood. The second most numerous group looked like they were made of rocks or minerals, with a couple metallic-looking individuals among them. The rest were a smattering of all sorts of elements. I spotted a few jinn who resembled living trees, and others with bodies made of swirling streams of water. There was one terrifying visage composed solely of shifting shadows. Above all these jinn hovered four floating chariots, containing what I presumed were the leaders of the gathered army. One was a living storm contained within a humanoid vessel, whose stomach constantly churned and swelled. I got the sense that the destruction contained within would surge out in a ruinous wave with a single lapse of the figure¡¯s concentration. The second was a molten mass of lava and metal. The shape was roughly human-ish, though only by the most lenient definition. Bits of the jinn¡¯s body bubbled from the chariot and trickled down to the ground far below, leaving behind hissing puddles of living metal that refused to cool. The last two looked like they could be twins, though maybe that was my lack of familiarity with jinn speaking. They were more living flame than flesh, the structure of their bodies outlined by red-hot bones. They even had horns of bone jutting out of the foreheads of their skulls, which made them appear oddly demon-like. All of the jinn, from the least soldier I could spot to the leaders, had runes running all throughout their bodies. For some, the runes were golden flakes that stuck to their skin, accenting their ashen complexion. For others, the runes were woven into their forms, flowing within their internal waters. Yet, one and all, the jinn had them. The leaders, in particular, were densely covered in these ¡®tattoos¡¯, glowing like beacons of magical might. And the anti-magic sand bothered not a single one of them. The more earth-mana aligned jinn simply let the sand strike them, heedless of its nature. The runes glowed more brightly on the jinn with less cohesive bodies, creating a sphere of influence around them that deflected the weaponized grains. Anxiety clawed at my chest. These jinn could use the full extent of the sand¡¯s power against us, without suffering a single ill effect themselves. And if the jinn alone weren¡¯t deadly enough, we also had their constructs to worry about. All sorts of animal and insect shapes flitted about the approaching army, each glowing with their own set of runic tattoos. The most intimidating were the scores of ¡®lesser¡¯ golems leading the way, but just as alarming were the huge, earthworm-like boring machines that dipped into and out of the sands in their squirmy dance. I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but I guessed these were the constructs that had gotten the jinn so close to our city without notice. Massive plates of glass-like processed sand covered every inch of their bodies, which probably helped their stealth. Such equipment would negate any and all detection magic our sentries relied on, even if the demon mages could get deep enough into the sand-covered surface of Lagyel to catch hint of the constructs, which probably wasn¡¯t the case to begin with.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Mages, bombardment duty! Warriors at the front! Be ready if they manage to break through the barrier!¡± Glaustro hollered. Part of me wanted to argue that the commander¡¯s orders were delusional. I obeyed them anyway and followed Glaustro to the front lines, which were arrayed all along the shallow moat that encircled the city. Not one demon actually crossed the moat, making me eye it with interest, but it wasn¡¯t like staring at it would let me divine its purpose. Instead, I focused up and drew my sword, keeping the flame off its blade for now. No reason to burn even a trickle of mana. I would need every drop when the enemy army tried to dice us all to smithereens. I noticed other units and commanders lining up just like we were, but I had to admit the numbers on our side were far more sparse than I would have liked. The demons were intimidating, sure. As our mages began to form their runic dome matrixes, the world¡¯s mana visibly shuddered around them. Still, I had expected a larger defense force for the demonic headquarters. Then it hit me: just like my own unit had been recently, it was highly probable that Crewe¡¯s forces were scattered all across Lagyel, hunting down the army-ending golems before they could wake up and wreak havoc. Unfortunately, that meant our central city was left rather unprepared for enemy attack. And if the jinn had brought this an army this size so deep into our territory, then what was happening to the lesser settlements we had on the outskirts? The jinn army picked up their assault, the golems all but glowing as their sand barrage intensified even further. I shuddered. Individually, these golems were nowhere near the level of strength that a ¡®greater¡¯ golem could wield. Together? Well, they were getting rather close to imitating their more powerful kindred¡¯s capacity for destruction as they attempted to drown our barrier in sand. Fortunately for us, the city¡¯s barrier was far more robust than the one we had used while marching. No matter how much sand the golems threw at us, they couldn¡¯t destabilize it. Meanwhile, our own mages finally fired off a salvo, and then it was the jinn¡¯s turn to hastily throw up defenses. Clearly, the invading army was operating on the assumption that we couldn¡¯t hurt them with our magic. If their panicked scurrying was anything to go off of, they thought the sand would provide them sufficient cover. But demons were nothing if not inventive when it came to finding ways to hurt others. Now that they had a more thorough understanding of Lagyel, the demonic mages were no longer using spells that could easily be eroded away. Glaustro was the best example. Instead of throwing around fire or pelting the jinn with an array of smaller rocks, my commander summoned a single, devastating attack. Rock ripped itself out of the ground and continuously coalesced, compacting further and further until a crystal-like spike of massive proportions hovered over Glaustro like the sword of Damocles. The demon pushed one final wave of power into the spike, then sent it rocketing out of the city faster than any ballistic missile. I could feel with my advanced magic-senses that Glaustro had withdrawn all of his mana from the spike. No longer was this a construct. It was just a bundle of extremely compressed rock, launched with magic and left to sail through the air entirely on its own momentum. The jinn conjured shields and waves of sand, but Glaustro¡¯s attack ripped straight through them all and pulverized several dozen jinn. The other demons were following a similar course of action. Ice, conjured and solidified before being launched. Molten metal, sprayed over the jinn army without any regard for aiming. Even odd fireballs contained within a shell of mana and rock, which exploded harder than any but the most powerful mortal bombs when the shell popped. The only exception to this strategy were the rare spatial and soul mages among our ranks. They reaped lives with no regard for our enemy¡¯s supposed resistance, filling me with an odd sense of jealousy. I didn¡¯t bother trying to contribute my own magic to the fight. Not only was it pitiful in comparison, but it would also get thoroughly ripped apart the second it crossed into the sandstorm. The jinn were not content to sit there and be pummeled into submission, of course. The four leaders began to weave spells of their own. The spatial barrier absorbed these attacks, though it quaked and shuddered in response. Then the constructs surged forward. It was surreal, watching them stretch out and then disappear the second they touched the spatial barrier. The barrier shuddered even harder as the constructs attacked it from the space between the layers, but it held. That was when Crewe finally showed up. The lieutenant general arrived already fused with his dread wyrms, his lamia-like body slithering in a way that positioned him just as far above our army as the four enemy generals were above their own troops. The demon glared at the jinn leaders, rage flashing across his features. The four hovering charioteers glared right back. Then, with a grin, Crewe started to conjure a spell of his own. It took the shape of a black cloud over his head, growing continuously as mana and runes slipped off his body and fed into it. Soon, flashes of thorny tentacles and teeth began to appear inside the cloud, heralding its danger as it began to inch closer and closer to the barrier, threatening to spill outside and onto the awaiting jinn army. They really didn¡¯t like that. One of the enemy generals screamed something, and a whole row of jinn stepped forward, looks of intense focus on their faces. Sand rose from underneath their feet, swirling as it climbed their bodies. I could see their expressions twist in pain and anxiety. Whatever they were doing, it wasn¡¯t without cost. But as the sand finished climbing above their heads and dispersed, I couldn¡¯t help thinking it was worth it. Each of the jinn now stood in what looked like full-body plate armor. It shone brilliantly with inscribed runes and was obviously made of the anti-magic crystal. Crewe¡¯s spell advanced. So did the newly armored jinn. They reached the barrier before the spell could spill out, and the result was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The barrier tried to stretch around their bodies and consume them, trapping them like it had done with the sand and the constructs, but it failed. Instead, space began to wrap visibly around the jinn, twisting in ways that no mortal mind should have been subjected to. The barrier creaked and shook in response, more intensely than ever, and Crewe¡¯s casual posture suddenly shifted. Up until that point, the lieutenant general seemed to be enjoying himself. Save for the brief flash of anger I spotted on his face upon arrival, he looked hungry when he began to conjure his spell. The longer he dragged out its formation, and the more the jinn army¡¯s fear grew in response, the hungrier Crewe looked. Now, the remaining runes and mana required by the the spell snapped out of him in less than a second. The cloud¡¯s speed increased many times over, washing over all jinn in its way. Seconds later, it reached the frontlines of the army that had hung back when the transformed jinn advanced. Screams of agony broke out among the enemy ranks, but Crewe did not look particularly pleased. Gnashing and scraping could be heard where the transformed jinn once stood, but no sounds of suffering came from them, nor did the barrier recover. If anything, it only began to shake more violently. I gripped my sword, knowing I would soon have a chance to use it. Chapter 113: A Mortal’s Achievements Crewe¡¯s attack had savaged most of the jinn frontline, but this didn¡¯t seem like much in the face of such a massive army. The jinn quickly filled in the gaps, conjuring wall after wall of anti-magic sand in an attempt to stifle the lieutenant general¡¯s spell. It was working, in the sense that they were slowly grinding down the advance of Crewe¡¯s devouring cloud of horror, but they still lost several hundred more souls to it before it finally dissipated. While that was happening, the four jinn leaders continued to bombard the city nonstop with their own spells. The most devastating was, ironically, the ¡®living storm¡¯ jinn. His attacks somehow managed to travel straight past the spatial obfuscation every single time, slamming into the barrier¡¯s body with peals of thunder and crackles of electricity. Likewise, Crewe¡¯s cloud of horror dissipated to reveal the knight-like jinn were still very much alive. In fact, they were slowly yet steadily pushing forward, millimeter by millimeter, destabilizing the barrier all the while. Sparks of spatial magical began to fire off. They crackled through the air, leaving behind black contours where space was simply sheared away. **Then the section of the barrier closest to the knight-like jinn convulsed, spitting out a spray of sand and jinn-made constructs like a massive beast that was forced to throw up its prey. That was when I knew trouble was coming. Crewe must have agreed with my assessment, because his face grew even stormier. ¡°Prepare!¡± The order rippled through the air, unerringly reaching the ears of each and every one of his soldiers. ¡°Meet the enemies!¡± With his bellow, the barrier shook one final time. Then it shrank, pulled violently behind the line of assembled demons in a spray of sand and constructs. I felt ill when the barrier passed over me. That strange sense of being stretched across an ungodly distance yet still remaining whole permeated my consciousness for a brief, painful instant. Seconds later, the spatial construct snapped in place, much closer to the city this time. In fact, it barely covered the city¡¯s periphery. The moat was well outside of its protective embrace. So was the demonic army. The jinn seemed to take that as a signal. Their entire force surged towards us instantly, the anti-magic knights included. ¡°Steady, now.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice echoed in my mind, and I glanced over at him. He stood not even ten feet away from me, still conjuring spells with incredible power and astounding speed. ¡®Second-rate mage¡¯, my newly blue ass, I thought. I tried to poke the mental connection for a way to talk back, like he had enabled once in the past, but it didn¡¯t seem like he wanted to listen to me right that second. He was too busy giving instructions. ¡°I will take care of the constructs that come near. Bronwynn, focus on keeping the kids safe. I don¡¯t want some random jinn pulverizing them out of hand. They¡¯re still not as tough as a demon. You two, focus on sneaking in strikes on any distracted jinn. I know you have that movement technique down, so use it. I¡¯ll try to keep the area relatively free of sand. Hayden, you in particular need to pay attention to stronger combatants and take them out when they falter. They won¡¯t expect your sword.¡± I knew he wasn¡¯t looking in my direction, but I nodded anyway. It was a solid plan. But as the first grains of sand showered down on us and made some of the demons flinch, I began to wonder how, or even if, we could execute it. For the moment, we just held our ground, watching the jinn approach. Spells cast in a hurry notwithstanding, we had no easy way to reach the enemy, and the demons still seemed to be avoiding the moat. That moat was now the only thing that stood between us and the jinn army. From my perspective, it looked like a laughably pathetic obstacle. Then the jinn tried to cross the ¡®pathetic¡¯ moat, and I got my first glimpse at what kind of traps demons could cook up while holding an area over time. The first attempt I witnessed came from an earth jinn. He tried to launch himself over the moat in a burst of strength, but the second he was a few feet away from the banks, gravity seemed to increase in power countless times over. He barely managed to squeak out a scream before he was dragged under, the water swallowing him without a ripple. I couldn¡¯t even see his shadow in what appeared to be a relatively shallow channel. Almost the same moment, an ice jinn jumped down into the moat. Ice exploded around her in an attempt to freeze the surface, but her eyes widened when she failed to conjure more than a couple snowflakes. She vanished under the water with as much success as her rocky ally. The third jinn, a bundle of water with a roughly humanoid shape, plopped down into the moat and just¡­ melted. He dissolved away like a raindrop in the ocean, with no fuss or even a sound. Those were the three jinn I had my eyes on, but all along the moat¡¯s edge, panic erupted as many other enemies threw themselves to their deaths. I couldn¡¯t hold back the laughter that slipped out of me. The demons around me took it up immediately. The jinn glared at us, but for a few moments, it seemed like they had no answer to the watery trap. The only factor that played against the demonic army consistently was the ever-increasing intensity of the sand. It made casting far more difficult, and some of our less skilled mages were already failing to maintain their dome-like casting matrix. Glaustro had also stopped churning out spells, but only because he now held an odd medallion. I guessed it was made of the anti-magic crystal the jinn and local wildlife were so fond of. The sergeant was channeling unreasonable amounts of mana into the medallion, weaving all sorts of runes around it at the same time. Some were torn apart by the sand, but overall, Glaustro¡¯s magic was remarkably resilient. I looked back at the moat just in time to see the jinn finally find their answer to our second layer of defense. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. One of their massive worm constructs slithered up to the moat¡¯s edge, rose high up into the air until it was practically balancing on the tip of its tail, and then collapsed forward. The strengthened gravity did take hold of it, but this simply helped slam the construct even harder down on the other side of the moat, forcing demons to scramble out of the way lest they get squished. With that success, more and more of the constructs started to copy their fellow¡¯s tactic, and the jinn began their crossing. The strengthened gravity still affected these jinn, but their inhuman physique and an actual road to walk on allowed them to push through and reach our soldiers. Thankfully, the plate-armored jinn were much heavier and somewhat clumsy in comparison to a normal jinn, so they couldn¡¯t join the battle immediately. Nonetheless, the regular troops immediately showcased why jinn were dangerous, even if their civilization didn¡¯t quite match up to the Abyss. From solid constructs to wide-ranged spells, they brought to bear every possible variety of elemental magic against our troops, who were already bogged down in sand. Bronwynn surged forward, batting all enemies away from the concentrating Glaustro. Mia and I rushed to assist, but it was nothing like the rushes I had recently been able to enjoy. It was a lesson in humility I wouldn¡¯t forget any time soon. I¡¯d gotten so used to being either massively weaker or massively stronger than my foes. The insects, the lesser constructs, the mortals of Lagyel? I could overpower most of them, and my sword was deadly against anything with a soul. Stronger threats, like a golem, were beyond me, but I could just wait for someone to make an opening and then stab away. So it was only now, stuck in the proverbial trenches as I was, that I figured out a massive weakness of mine. I lacked skill, and training, and overall polish. Compared to most mortals, I was decently skilled with the swordsmanship I had stolen. But against jinn? Immortals who had spent thousands of years, if not longer, learning how to fight? Furthermore, the jinn were just as fast and strong as I was. Faster and stronger, in fact, forcing me to push to its limit the mana technique Mia had taught me what felt like ages ago. It was a flickering, weak mess, thanks to the sand. But in the first minute of ¡®fighting¡¯ the jinn, that technique saved my life at least ten times. It was the short-distance teleport that did the trick. The jinn were so skilled with their weapons that I could barely keep up with their strikes. Over and over, I just managed to shove aside a few attacks before I was forced to teleport elsewhere. This took me away from my previous opponent¡¯s reach, yet always placed me directly in the sights of another jinn. Still, Mia and I kept trying to help Bronwynn. Five jinn were attacking the demon, but he fought like a man possessed, sword flashing as he kept them all away from Glaustro. We joined in as much as we could, using our movement technique to harass and distract the enemy. It didn¡¯t take long for one of these jinn to zero in on me and Mia. It was a lithe, ashen-skinned, fire- and earth-user. When I actually managed to blink forward and nick his arm, opening him up to a strike from Bronwynn he only barely dodged, he turned to the two mortals in the demon ranks with murder in his eyes. I dodged and parried frantically as he peeled off from his duel with Bronwynn, spikes of earth and flashes of fire joining the myriad of attacks against me and Mia. The only reason we were surviving at all was that we could work together to bluff the jinn out. His overconfidence probably helped us, too, He just didn¡¯t seem that worried about two lowly mortals with lowly, mortal, ¡®normal¡¯ weapons, even if one of those weapons had managed to sneak past his defenses and scratch his arm. Unfortunately for him, my sword wasn¡¯t exactly ¡®normal¡¯ anymore. The emerald haze of fire flickered around my blade with each strike. Even if the sword failed to cut him, he flinched every time the spectral flames reached his skin. At the same time, the original wound that had earned us his ire was festering. He began wincing with each movement, favoring his left arm as the wounded arm gradually lost its strength. We still couldn¡¯t hope to defeat him, but we could hold out long enough. Then Glaustro proved, once and for all, why he really should stop being so harsh on himself when it came to his accomplishments as a mage. With one final rune and a shouted chant, a blast of power erupted from the demon. The amulet he had been holding lifted from his hands. Affixing itself in the air, the medallion sent out a pulse of light, banishing the anti-magic sand from our entire section of the battlefield. All around us, jinn flinched and faltered, and demons got a second wind as their environmental weakness was stripped away. Mia and I immediately sprang into action. Two specters pounced on the disoriented jinn in front of us, and he swiped through them ineffectually as we reformed on either side of him. I drove my sword right past the little armor he wore, stabbing it deep inside his chest, while Mia spun and stabbed both her claws and her sword into the jinn¡¯s throat. He made a sad little rasp of pain as he slumped on top of my blade, but Mia¡¯s attacks only drew a small spray of blood. They failed to penetrate much further than the jinn¡¯s skin. The cat woman hissed angrily, lashing out with a kick of pure frustration at our victim. However, as we relished our brief moment of victory, the situation above our heads was still unfolding. Crewe clashed repeatedly against his four opponents, and failed repeatedly to deal anything resembling a decisive blow. The four jinn had accrued a collection of minor wounds, but Crewe¡¯s size in his transformed state meant that entire chunks of flesh were missing from his expanded body. He didn¡¯t look much worse for wear, but he also looked more frustrated than I had ever seen him. The demon cast some kind of darkness spell that pushed all four of his opponents away. Then he took a breath, one that we all felt shudder throughout the world of Lagyel. The lieutenant general opened his mouth, and the word that came out of it couldn¡¯t be defined as a word at all. It was more of a primal cry that barely carried meaning, a sensation implanted in every species starting from the dawn of time, a need that gripped every living thing within earshot and refused to let go. ¡°Terror!¡± A blast of something so far beyond regular fear it wasn¡¯t even comparable swept over the battlefield and into the distance. The effect on our enemies was immediate. Jinn stiffened and staggered. Some, especially those closer to the lieutenant general, collapsed immediately, completely insensate. The jinn leaders received the heaviest impact. All four of them started to plummet, hurtling through the air to the ground far below. Unfortunately, the price Crewe paid was almost as dire. Golden chains appeared around him instantly, more numerous than I had ever seen on any one demon. As soon as they appeared, they began glowing forcefully, thickening and constricting. The chains cut past his skin. Puffs of shadow erupted all over his body, only to be burned away swiftly by the radiance of the chains. Crewe screamed, but it was a sound of frustration more than fear. The scream tore into us, making every demon instinctively unleash their own savagery on the staggering jinn. Every single member of Crewe¡¯s forces found themselves compelled to inflict as much damage as they could on the four leaders of the jinn army. I was no different. Mind clouded by rage, I was barely aware when I kicked off the ground with all my mana-enhanced strength. I rocketed through the air, sword tip already poised, eyes focused on the trajectory of the falling fire jinn leader. I barely felt it when I left Glaustro¡¯s bubble. Wind tore into me, but I fought to master it. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t need to fight too hard. The jinn was falling, and the gale-force wind ended up shunting me directly towards him. It felt almost like a dream as I swung with all my strength, and my sword cleaved straight through the skeleton of the jinn who was more flame than flesh. For one blissful second, I registered the pure shock on his dying, fiery face. Then several spells fired by rage-blinded demons slammed straight into me. Chapter 114: Leave Pain blinded me. Giving up all control of my body, I plummeted out of the sky. I could feel the open wounds all across my back and a good portion of my left arm, and I was only vaguely sure I still had my right leg. The only reason I wasn¡¯t already dead was the sandstorm. It had weakened the spells, leaving me to deal with only the dregs of demonic might. Still, it felt incredibly ironic to be thankful for the storm¡¯s existence when it was also carrying me forcibly towards the ground with malicious indifference. I doubted I would survive the impact, battered and barely lucid as I was. It wasn¡¯t only the pain from my wounds clouding my mind, though. I was also consumed by the awareness of the slain fire jinn¡¯s soul. It streamed through my sword, immense and angry. My bonded weapon guided the soul eagerly, siphoning away a tiny piece of its power before attempting to funnel the entire soul into the jewel on the sword¡¯s pommel. The sword ran into resistance and failed, which sent the soul hurtling through my body towards my soul purse. That was the pain keeping me nearly senseless. In a way, ever since I improved my ascension, I¡¯d been far more aware of the process of my soul purse capturing a soul. I could almost feel the souls passing through me before they were shoved into my bonded artifact, but it had never seemed worthwhile to pay much attention to the phantom sensations. But I was paying attention now. I was aware of every excruciating moment as the soul was dragged through me on its way to my soul purse. Oh gods unholy, holy, and in-between, I felt it. The whole process lasted one second, maybe two, but it felt like countless lifetimes and left my already weakened body limp and helpless. I couldn¡¯t even flap my wings, and it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. Realizing I was doomed, I just closed my eyes and surrendered. There was a scream of frustration, the sensation of something hitting me from the side, and then a surprisingly painless tumble over sandy ground. I must have lost consciousness, because the next thing I knew, someone was pouring a potion down my throat and cursing up a storm of words, only half of which I actually understood. I sputtered and almost tried to spit out the liquid. The person just shoved the bottle into my mouth harder, which finally got through my haze and reminded me that drinking was a good idea if I wanted to live. I drank greedily after that, then again when the original potion was removed and a new one stuffed into my mouth. The concoctions did their job, spreading through my body in waves and fixing everything they came across. I felt the wounds across my back and arm flare up briefly, but that was followed by the gradual fading of pain. Meanwhile, my leg felt steadily hotter and hotter, until I wondered if I was burning. I forced my eyes open and directed them towards the limb. What I saw made me wince and look away. My entire leg was frozen. From what I could tell, the potion was fighting to thaw it out and heal the cold damage from the inside. ¡°Idiot,¡± hissed Mia¡¯s angry voice, and then she actually bumped me on the head with the empty potion bottle. It wasn¡¯t hard enough to hurt, but it did leave me blinking owlishly at the angry cat girl. ¡°Just¡­ idiot.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I croaked, then coughed, feeling like someone had shoved sandpaper down my throat. Well, it was more likely to be regular sand, no paper involved, but still. ¡°I wasn¡¯t myself,¡± I admitted. Those words terrified me more than I could explain. The whole experience took me back to my first invasion. The demons had whipped their new recruits into a blood frenzy and unleashed us onto a city, not caring how many of us would die in the mindless charge. One word from Crewe, and I had been right there again, screaming and charging, no thoughts or awareness in my mind. And I wasn¡¯t the only one. I could remember with startling clarity the faces of several demons, twisted in anger and hate as Crewe¡¯s emotions drove them to launch their attacks recklessly on the jinn leaders. Will I be as helpless when I ascend? Will higher ranked demons still be able to jerk me around like a helpless puppet? Then what¡¯s the point? The bitter thoughts flooded my mind, drowning it in a deluge of anguish. It was only when Mia started shaking me and pulling me to my feet that they cleared, allowing me to recognize the reality of our situation. We were still in the middle of battle. The jinn were scared out of their minds, but there were still plenty of them. And they were still fighting. Mia gripped my shoulder, forcing me to look directly into her eyes. I shied away from the emotions I saw there. There would be time for all that later. For now, there was bloody work to be done. I couldn¡¯t say that I dove back into the fight with any finesse, or even much regard for my safety. I was nearly feral, and several times I welcomed a minor injury just for the chance to drive my sword through the chest of a frenzied jinn. Luckily for me, our enemies weren¡¯t thinking very clearly at that point. Whatever Crewe had done had robbed them of much of their sanity, leaving them in a state more akin to sitting ducks than a fighting force. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Even the knight-like jinn were stumbling around, hardly aware of their own actions. Better still, their full plate armor proved largely useless against my sword. They must have fused the sand into their bodies, making it a true part of themselves in every way that mattered. The protective sand was now inextricably mixed with their souls. That meant I could slash easily enough through the two armored individuals who did cross my path. Then Glaustro and Bronwynn found us, and the battle got even easier. The two demons fought with an unusual level of ferocity, eyes burning with frustration as they demolished the disoriented and demoralized jinn. When the last living jinn finally fell, and I could spot no one else around that needed killing, I slid to my knees and all but shut down. I didn¡¯t budge when Glaustro talked to me, when Mia shook me, or when Bronwynn tried to reason with me. I just stared at my sword, at its oddly unblemished blade, and let my mind drift, comfortably devoid of thought and emotions. Someone may have lifted me eventually and returned the blade to its sheath on my hip, but I didn¡¯t care much. I just continued to stare without seeing. And as I stared, I slipped out of the peaceful thought-void, deeper and deeper into a swamp of doubt and misery. ¡ª I couldn¡¯t fathom why I ever cared. Couldn¡¯t understand what drove me. Breathing was a chore, one I continued to perform routinely only because stopping would have taken more effort, somehow. I hated the world. I hated those who had forced me into performing acts I couldn¡¯t even stand to picture. And most of all, I hated myself. I absolutely loathed how easily I had sunk to lows unimaginable to any decent person. To any decent soul. Which I wasn¡¯t, clearly. If ending up in the literal hell even before I¡¯d possessed a random young man¡¯s body wasn¡¯t proof enough, what I did with said body was. I didn¡¯t deserve to function, or dream, or hope, so I didn¡¯t give myself any of those luxuries. I just kept sinking into the mire of resentment and loathing, and I felt comfortable down there, because what else did I deserve? This was all a fitting punishment. I was finally where I belonged, so I could just rot away and let the Abyss take me, once and for all. When it was done peeling my soul like an onion, maybe I could finally feel peace again in the non-existence that would follow, but I doubted it. I didn¡¯t deserve such a thing. My only regret was about the people I was leaving behind, but they would be all the better for it. Glaustro and Bronwynn didn¡¯t deserve to be shackled to an idiotic mortal. As for Mia, I was just slowing her down, holding her back, forcing her to risk her life again and again to save my worthless hide. I sank a little deeper. The anguish flooded my very soul, staining it a horrible black, a mark that I deserved and which I welcomed, and then ¡ª Energy. Potential. Desire. Passion. It simultaneously flooded me and drove into my chest like a spike, pouring into my mind with a surge of instability so overwhelming I almost lost all ability to reason. My eyes shot open, or maybe I just started acknowledging what they were telling me again, and I sat up with a jolt I felt like a squirrel on a ton of caffeine. My limbs twitched, and my mind darted constantly from emotion to emotion, from thought to thought, so fast that I felt legitimately dizzy. ¡°Hayden.¡± The word made my eyes snap to a red-skinned demon, but the deluge of thoughts and emotions dulled my attention almost instantly. My eyes drifted away. ¡°Hayden!¡± I looked at him again, a bit longer this time, but he still couldn¡¯t keep my attention for long. Then I was slapped. My head cracked to the side, all thoughts and feelings temporarily scattered right out of it. With a creak, my neck turned to meet a pair of eyes with pitch-black sclera and truly beautiful golden pupils. Said eyes also happened to look quite wet and pitiful, which only made it more confusing when I was slapped again. ¡°Ow,¡± I finally managed, blinking hard. ¡°Hurts. Why?¡± ¡°He¡¯s talking!¡± an excited voice exclaimed somewhere off to the left, but I didn¡¯t take my eyes off the golden pair yet. I just tilted my head in confusion. Then the owner of the eyes spoke, and I actually focused on her words. ¡°Can you tell me your name? Do you remember who you are?¡± I opened my mouth, but fumbled my first attempt to speak. I knew I could. I just wasn¡¯t sure how. Thankfully, the second attempt went much better. ¡°I¡¯m Hayden, of course. Who else would I be?¡± ¡°And do you remember me?¡± asked the woman, because I was pretty sure she was a woman. I took a moment to consider that. Then: ¡°Mia,¡± I breathed, and immediately doubled over, clutching my head as memories forced their way into my brain. From my time in the void, to my awakening as Hayden, to all that went right or wrong on Lagyel, it all swept through my mind, rebuilding me bit by bit. ¡°Hayden!¡± shouted three panicked voices, and then I was inundated with reassurances, offers of water, and even a delightfully smelling meal. It was all overwhelming, but I welcomed the distraction. The pit I had just been hauled out of was still gaping inside my heart. It felt like a permanent feature. A constant reminder of my weakness, beckoning me to fall in and be devoured. I shuddered. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I promise I¡¯m fine,¡± I mumbled, accepting water and food as a way to avoid talking for a little while longer. When I was finally done, I let myself look around. My surroundings were oddly familiar. The room was nice, both luxurious and large, but it also had the feel of a space set up in a strictly impersonal way. ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Apple Infernal. We needed someplace to stay, and I knew you liked this place,¡± Glaustro said, looking immensely relieved. ¡°Oh.¡± Yeah, that explained the room. It didn¡¯t explain everything else, though. ¡°Why are we here? What happened to that building Crewe gave us? Was it destroyed in the fighting or something?¡± ¡°No, no, we¡¯re¡­ we¡¯re not on Lagyel, Hayden. We¡¯re in the Abyss.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°Wait, did we win? Or lose? What happened? How long was I out?¡± ¡°Just a couple of days,¡± Bronwynn rushed to assure me. ¡°We applied for leave. With the mess everything was in, it wasn¡¯t hard to get it approved. We have a limited amount of time, but Crewe was unusually generous. Probably because you managed to kill that jinn.¡± I winced at the reminder, the sensation of the soul¡¯s passage still sending phantom pain through the core of my being. ¡°The soul¡­ what happened with it? Where¡¯s my purse?¡± ¡°The soul is with Crewe. Don¡¯t worry about any of that for now,¡± Glaustro instructed. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing you woke up. I was counting on Passion to help with that, but you never know. Thankfully, you started stirring as soon as we arrived. At least now we don¡¯t have to do anything¡­ drastic.¡± He forced a smile. ¡°We just need you to pull yourself together.¡± I took a deep breath and steeled myself. Though shame and self-hatred were rising from the pit, ordering me to keep my head down, I forced myself to look my commander in the eye. ¡°Thanks, but¡­ I¡¯d still like to know what happened. Both with the battle and¡­ and to me.¡± I shrank in on myself a little at the admission. Glaustro eyed me with great reluctance, but gave in. ¡°Get comfortable, then,¡± he sighed. ¡°There¡¯s a lot to cover.¡± Chapter 115: Archmage ¡°Let me start by saying you weren¡¯t the only one affected by this shit,¡± Glaustro began. ¡°What Crewe did was¡­ let¡¯s say, dangerous, for anyone less powerful than an archdemon or demonic noble. The only reason he could do it at all was the weakening of the bindings placed on us by the World Will.¡± I wanted to interject there, quite badly, but I kept my mouth shut. It helped that shame had begun eating me from the inside out, which made it difficult to find my voice at all. ¡°When he leaned on his Sin, he sent the jinn into a collapse and plenty of our troops into a frenzy. Really, you¡¯re lucky you survived. Dying in that state would have been even more risky than what happened to you already.¡± ¡°I understand he was pissed, and that the jinn presented more of a challenge than he expected, but I still have no clue what he was thinking when he did that,¡± Bronwynn snapped, eyes alight with anger. Whereas Glaustro just looked tired and forlorn, Bronwynn seemed caught between anxiety for me and Mia and enough anger that, should Crewe have been in the vicinity, the pink-skinned demon might have just started swinging. The odd state I was in meant I was taking a while to process everything, but something finally clicked. My eyes snapped over to Mia. ¡°Are you¡­?¡± I trailed off, because really, what was I supposed to say? ¡®Okay¡¯? ¡®Good¡¯? None of us fit those particular adjectives at the moment. All of my memories somehow felt both shockingly clear and like I had to dredge them up from some great depth, so while I couldn¡¯t guarantee I was right, the cat girl did not look all that great. She seemed tired, frazzled, and unusually twitchy. As I watched, her eyes took on a faraway look and almost glowed briefly with some infernal light, but then she snapped back to awareness quickly. Unless I was missing way more memories and details than I thought, that just didn¡¯t seem like the stoic cat lady I knew. ¡°I am dealing with it.¡± Mia¡¯s voice had a jagged edge caused by something beyond anger, but she made a visible effort to smooth out her features into the shape of the woman I remembered. She was only partially successful. ¡°I¡¯m ¡ª I mean ¡ª¡± I wanted to offer support and reassurances, but I faltered. That same darkness that was now permanently part of me threatened to surge up, and while I could bottle it up well enough to get by, the continual leak of self-loathing left me feeling useless and exhausted. In the end, I looked away, too full of shame to follow through. ¡°What else happened? You said some demons were affected, too?¡± ¡°Plenty,¡± Glaustro hurried to continue, no doubt literally tasting both my and Mia¡¯s emotions. ¡°They weren¡¯t as impacted as you two, obviously, and there¡¯s no permanent damage done, but¡­ yes. We won the battle, in case you were wondering. Still, considering how bold the jinn were, it¡¯s probably no surprise to hear we weren¡¯t the only city struck by their retaliation.¡± I didn¡¯t really care in the face of my rapidly surfacing depression, but focusing on Glaustro¡¯s voice did help distract me a little. ¡°Did we at least beat them back?¡± ¡°Mixed results, I¡¯m afraid. We killed plenty of their leaders, along with some of their strongest locals on Lagyel. But we still only won about sixty, maybe seventy percent of the battles fought that day. Both sides are scrambling to make up for the losses.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how we managed to get leave so easily,¡± Bronwynn piped up, now pressed against a wall with arms crossed over his chest. One leg was angrily bouncing, like he was barely restraining an urge to pace. ¡°There¡¯s a ton of demons due to resurrect that will be pulled back into Lagyel. We¡¯re even getting the rest of our unit members who were killed by the golem. We can easily hitch a ride back with them.¡± I nodded, then frowned. ¡°But¡­ with how badly this went, won¡¯t the general have something to say about Crewe¡¯s failures? I mean, this can¡¯t have been an ideal course for an invasion.¡± To my surprise, Glaustro just shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s not doing as badly as he could have been. The jinn might not be a civilization quite on par with ours, but they¡¯re up there. And accounting for the golems you uncovered ahead of time¡­¡± He trailed off, but I got the subtext, making me frown harder. It had felt good to focus my resentment on someone. In fact, the more I gave way to my rising anger, the easier it was to think. I could feel the tendrils of darkness trying to squirm back into my mind, but they failed to take root. While this was all kinds of ironic, I welcomed it. Anything was better than that all-consuming darkness. ¡°So, what now?¡± I groused. ¡°We go back to hunting down golems and grinding away at the jinn while constantly traipsing through sandstorms?¡± ¡°Not quite. Crewe¡¯s done with his slow approach. Everyone knows he usually likes to drag things out. The more fear and associated emotions he can squeeze out of a world, the better for him, but he¡¯s well and truly pissed this time.¡± Glaustro sounded almost amused. ¡°He¡¯s organized a full-on hunt for the jinn, their golems, and their cities. No holds barred, no expenses spared.¡± ¡°Why does he even want us back, then? Are the losses that heavy? I was under the impression that getting people on-world wasn¡¯t cheap, and that we were doing better in the losses department than the jinn.¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s not taking any chances, as I mentioned. Besides, we have no way of knowing how heavily fortified the jinn capital will be once we find it. With close to a thousand years to set up, plus all the wishes they could have squeezed out of the populace in that timeframe, they¡¯ll be a real threat. The more soldiers he has on hand to throw at the issue, the better. We¡¯ll be there to guarantee his victory.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I nodded glumly, unsure what to say or do other than finally tackle the topic I was least looking forward to. ¡°And¡­ me?¡± There were several seconds of silence. ¡°You¡­ you shut down, kid,¡± Bronwynn said quietly. ¡°We were scared. Considering how close to ascension you are, we thought the Abyss might have subsumed you fully. You were barely reacting to anything. Just staring off into nothing without even moving an inch. You would do whatever Glaustro ordered you to, but literally nothing else. You started showing some signs of life when we entered Passion, but even that wasn¡¯t a guarantee you¡¯d wake up.¡± I shuddered, having absolutely no memories of what he was describing. All I could recall when I dared inch closer to that time in my memory was the swamp of misery, rooted in and overflowing with my own self-hatred. ¡°I¡¯m guessing I handed over the soul when ordered?¡± I asked, refusing to give into the urge to wrap my arms around myself. Glaustro paused, then nodded. ¡°Yes, you did.¡± To be honest, I didn¡¯t care all that much about the soul being gone. If anything, I wanted it as far away from me as possible. Most of the damage I had suffered, physical and emotional, was the result of Crewe¡¯s outburst. But part of it had to do with that soul. Whatever it did to me as it passed through had pushed me over the proverbial edge, even more surely than the attacks of my fellow soldiers. I could still remember the agony, the howling of the soul as it fought to wrench itself free. That, even in my mired mind, was a memory accessible easily enough. ¡°Hayden!¡± I jolted, looking around in confusion. I was met with three equally concerned faces, and Glaustro had his hands on my shoulders. I couldn¡¯t remember when he had put them there. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°You drifted off. Again.¡± Glaustro sounded equally frustrated and angry, but I wasn¡¯t sure if the latter emotion was aimed at me. I assumed it was. ¡°Oh¡­ sorry.¡± I curled up a little tighter, finding that I had pulled my knees up to my chest and wound my arms around my legs at some point. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize,¡± Glaustro started off angrily, then quickly tamped down the emotion. ¡°Let¡¯s just make the most of this moment while you¡¯re lucid, okay? Come on, follow me.¡± The demon stepped back and motioned for me to stand up. For a moment, I had to wonder if I could. Thankfully, I found my legs were functional enough when I tried to put my weight on them. In fact, considering what a wreck I was on the inside, my physical body was remarkably compliant. ¡°What are we doing?¡± ¡°What we¡¯re doing is the Archmage advancement ritual. I¡¯m almost finished putting it all together. We were going to try and force you to go through with it, even in the state you were in. This is much less risky, and it should help a little.¡± ¡°A little?¡± The room they had rented for me wasn¡¯t particularly large. We crossed to the door quickly, and I stared at the hallway outside like I had never seen anything like it before. Funnily enough, it was the familiarity that threw me off. The hallway reminded me so much of other Apple Infernal establishments I¡¯d visited that, for a brief moment, I couldn¡¯t tell when and where I was. Berlis? Lagyel? My memories swirled and pooled together into one unintelligible mess. Someone put their hand on my shoulder. I jumped, realizing I had paused in the middle of the hallway. My eyes found Mia¡¯s concerned golden orbs, and I tried not to wince visibly at the worry I saw in them. Glaustro cleared his throat. ¡°Yes, at least a little. The advancement should strengthen your mind, so you¡¯ll be able to deal with your¡­ current issues¡­ better.¡± I mumbled out some kind of answer, barely able to force myself to trust the claim. It seemed so utterly incomprehensible. I couldn¡¯t imagine feeling better, not when there was an abyss, lowercase this time, waiting to consume me inside of my own mind. ¡°Your next advancement will be a big one, so there¡¯s a good chance that things work out the way we hope. And with you lucid, well, as I said, you have a higher chance of success. Mia will still be there to help you along, though.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything, but the look I sent the cat girl¡¯s way was apparently enough. ¡°I¡¯m ready to try and advance, too,¡± she confessed. Her words sparked the first emotion strong enough to startle me out of my misery. ¡°But¡­ how?¡± I stammered. ¡°I was ahead of you. A couple days isn¡¯t enough to catch up! And you stopped asking me for extra mana crystals a while ago.¡± ¡°I helped her purchase some,¡± Bronwynn admitted with a wry smile. ¡°And she was, ironically, much more focused on her mage training than you were. You were fiddling with spells, sure, and then chasing your ascension, but she was altogether more dedicated to growing her mana.¡± The ongoing shock wasn¡¯t strong enough to fight back the wave of self-admonishment that followed Bronwynn¡¯s declaration. He wasn¡¯t blaming me for anything, but it was hard not to argue that I could have tried harder. I could have pushed myself to absorb more mana crystals on the move, despite the constant sandstorms. Did I even have enough mana to make the attempt to become an Archmage? Had I ruined everything with my stupidity? Would I get stonewalled here and ruin all of Glaustro¡¯s prep because I was a hair away from accumulating as much mana as I needed? My emotions must have shown on my face, because Mia¡¯s claws bit into my skin uncomfortably, and Bronwynn¡¯s face fell. ¡°Hayden, I¡ª¡± ¡°We should get a move on,¡± Glaustro cut in, and I was more than a little thankful for his interruption. I couldn¡¯t take an apology. Not right that second. The room we entered shortly thereafter looked very different from the one I had woken up in. It was much larger, for one. More importantly, all the furniture had been shoved against the walls. Even the extremely plush, comfortable carpet was rolled up and removed so it wouldn¡¯t get in the way. This left the center of the floor dominated by a mana matrix unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was composed of far too many runes and sigils for me to make out individual marks. They all blended into each other, creating a distinct symbol that looked like it was coming off the floor, stretching into multiple dimensions instead of accepting its confinement to 2D. I got a mild headache just looking at the thing. The lines also shimmered and refracted light in a way that brought gems to mind. When I probed the matrix with my mana, I realized I was looking at extremely potent reagents that had been ground down, mixed with powdered mana crystals, and bonded together into a nearly perfect whole. Everything about the matrix screamed ¡®sophisticated and expensive¡¯, which immediately sent me into a spiral of guilt and doubt. How could I possibly deserve something like this? I hesitated, but Glaustro pushed me forward roughly, forcing my foot to land within the matrix¡¯s confines. ¡°Do not freeze up now. Not when we finally got you here on your own power,¡± Glaustro warned, eyes narrowed and dangerous. He looked ready to clobber me over the head if I tried to complain. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know what to do,¡± I admitted, looking over the room one more time as if instructions would jump out at me from behind one of the mishandled pieces of furniture. ¡°Maybe not, but Mia does, and she¡¯ll be able to get you started. All you need to do is sit down and focus inwards. I want you to view your mana core and soul as in-depth as you can. You¡¯ll be making changes to both, so we¡¯ll give you a bit of time to get into a proper meditative state. I¡¯m warning you though, if you start to spiral, we will have issues.¡± I gave a wan smile, then proceeded to comply. I tucked my feet under me, not quite in the classic ¡®meditation pose¡¯, but close to it. Then, with more than a little trepidation, I dove deep into my metaphysical insides so I might finally step into the realm of Archmages. Chapter 116: Malevolent Stirrings My soul was a mess. The only good thing I could say was that my soul was finally, fully me. All the rough patches, all the obviously tacked-on bits, all the scarring where one soul transitioned into another, were gone. Left behind was a figure that looked fully like Hayden, with eyes that betrayed the illusion of youthfulness. These eyes were past ¡®weary¡¯ or ¡®morose¡¯ or other such superficial emotions. They looked like the eyes of the dead and damned, so thoroughly bereft of light and joy that a shudder passed through me. I grappled with that for several long moments, trying to reassure myself that I could feel more than agony and anguish. I was happy to see everyone had made it out of that chaotic battle, right? I enjoyed spending time with Mia, Glaustro, and Bronwynn, didn¡¯t I? Some positive emotions stirred weakly inside my chest, but no sooner had they begun to surface than they were dragged back down into the tar of my hopelessness and hatred, all aimed squarely at myself. Then Glaustro¡¯s words flashed through my mind. The desire not to fail him was enough to push me onwards. Closing my metaphysical eyes, I took a few moments to focus on the feeling of my soul breathing mana in and out. It was odd. I had never felt the process so keenly before. My place within the tapestry of mana was laid bare, stripped of all the falsehoods and assumptions my mortal mind had conjured up. At the end of the day, I was nothing more than a bundle of the primordial substance. One bound and swaddled in flesh and blood, sure, but just part of the whole nonetheless. My instincts, my soul, hated that. They wanted individuality. They urged me to cut myself off, rejecting the universe¡¯s demands that I grow, then wither, then dissolve back into it. The Abyss agreed, muttering in my ears that I belonged to it, that my soul would be caught and preserved, if only I would let myself slip into it fully. The cord connecting my soul to the plane around me pulsed. It lulled me deeper into meditation, but also closer to that tar pit of emotion I had barely climbed out of. I wrenched myself away and forced my ¡®sight¡¯ back on, taking in my soul anew. It really was a mess. With no one to keep them in check, the emerald flames had seen fit to spread further. A whole patch of my chest was a thickened jungle of green fire, much harder to see through than the rest of my soul. Thankfully, the flames had not yet spread to my core, though a few licks of the scarring had gotten perilously close. That wasn¡¯t the worst of the damage, though. That dubious honor belonged to the deep, scarlet scars that ran all the way from my left hand to my right hip, where the jinn¡¯s soul had torn its way through me. While the emerald flames seemed to purify whatever they touched, the crimson scars were jagged and angry, reflecting the defiance of the jinn soul whose death throes had created them. But their scarlet color wasn¡¯t the mark of the jinn. Instinctively, I knew the Abyss had generously offered up its own energy to bring me back to health. Those crimson scars were filled to the brim with the purest energy the Abyss could offer. All I had to do was tug on the well of power hidden in them, and my ascension would kick off then and there. As if the emerald flames and crimson scars weren¡¯t enough, my soul bore the mark of one other ¡®intruder.¡¯ A patch of darkness had sent tendrils throughout my body, dimming the basic red of the Abyss. Perhaps ¡®intruder¡¯ was a bit of a misnomer. The darkness did pulse with the same energy as the rest of the Abyssal plane. But whereas the red color represented the Abyss¡¯s purest lifeblood, the darkness reeked of despair, self-hatred, and a thousand other types of misery. A part of me, the part that was closest in nature to the Abyss, easily recognized the darkness for what it was. Emotions. Or, more precisely, the primary emotion that had latched on to me. I knew every demon had an emotion that defined them, that drove them, that reflected some fundamental part of who they were. It wasn¡¯t like the demons bothered to hide that, though few were willing to admit which emotion was theirs. Well, I was on the verge of finding mine before I even ascended. I must have pushed much further than I thought with my soul offerings. And I hated it, because the emotion showed me exactly who and what I was. I was also not ready to handle this particular aspect of demonhood. After all, my first encounter with Abyssal emotions had left me a mindless doll drowning in my own mind. Now, even the relatively small patch of grasping darkness that stained my soul was enough to make my breathing pick up. The longer I looked, the closer I got to a full-blown hyperventilating panic attack. Tearing my focus away was a struggle, but I managed it in favor of finally taking in my mana core. Surprisingly, the situation there was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Someway, somehow, the area around my core was untouched by the devastation that pockmarked my soul. Even the soul matter there was still a healthy, softly glowing red, see-through and delicate like it always had been. Better still, my mana was straining against the final layer that lay between me and turning into an Archmage. Honestly, that came as a bit of a shock. I knew I had stepped into the final layer some time ago, but considering what little focus I had given to my mana accumulation recently, I genuinely thought I would have fallen short. I had a feeling I could thank what happened just before my breakdown for the power boost. When I killed that jinn, my sword had done more than just claim the soul. I had felt some of the jinn¡¯s power get ripped away and shoved into me, and I could only be thankful that the process hadn¡¯t done more damage to my own soul. It remained to be seen what it had done to my core, however. Gingerly, I approached the mystical organ with my consciousness, then dove in for a closer look. To my relief, I saw that the passageways and loops of mana I had forged were still in place, and more solid than ever. The growth in my mana capacity had only reinforced my core. ¡°Are you ready?¡± A voice broke through my meditation, managing to reach me even as I drifted in the deepest depths of my being. Recognizing Glaustro as the speaker, I managed to nod my head without losing focus. ¡°Good. I want you to relax. Mia can help you get started, but only if you let her. This wasn¡¯t a risk when you were out of it, but if you try to resist now, things will go badly. We are about to begin.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. His warning delivered, Glaustro fell silent. I felt the shift immediately. Even before, the concentration of mana within the matrix set up for my Archmage advancement was considerable. Glaustro must have activated it well and properly now, though, because that concentration shot up, faster and faster with no sign of slowing down. My soul was no longer gently communing with the mana in my surroundings. It was desperately gulping the mystical substance down as it pushed in around me, trying to force its way in. I didn¡¯t think you could outright drown in mana, but as the concentration of it continued to climb, I felt my lungs struggling to draw and expel air that was many times heavier and thicker than it ought to be. A flutter of my eyes briefly exposed me to the outside world, and I saw a thick mist of mana obscuring everything. It swirled around me, slowly condensing into droplets in midair before falling down to pass through my clothing and stick to my skin, worming its way inside. I tried to maintain my calm, to somehow offset the influx of mana, but no matter what I tried, I failed. Keeping the mana out of my body was a futile endeavor, as its sheer volume and weight crushed my defenses. Trying to shunt it into my core simply strained the organ, threatening to crack it. Even channeling it through my body and outside again failed, because I couldn¡¯t control the volume of mana entering me. Then I became aware of a back pressing against mine, and a string of mana slipped into me alongside the untamed vortex of power. I almost reflexively squashed it. Letting someone slip their mana into your body was a surefire way to place yourself at their mercy. A single application of power at the right spot, and there would be nothing I could do to save myself from the death that would shortly follow. I remembered Glaustro¡¯s warning, though. This wasn¡¯t just some random attack while I was trying to meditate inside a mana storm. This was Mia¡¯s mana, and she wasn¡¯t there to hurt me. Even if it went against just about every instinct I had, I forced myself to open the door to Mia¡¯s mana. The cat girl expertly allowed the wild mana of the Abyss to whisk hers along. The stream led her directly to my core, where the untamed mana slammed into my own and bounced off to wreak havoc inside my body. Unlike that stream of devastation, however, Mia moved her mana purposefully. She attached her mana lightly to the surface of my core, captured a wisp of my mana, and then began to twist it into shapes that soon started to look familiar. She must have been able to examine my core in great detail when I was little more than a mindless husk, because as I watched, the cat girl tried to imitate the internal structure of my core and impose it on its surroundings. But she wasn¡¯t just going against the wild mana. Instead, she treated it as part of the process, shifting parts of its streams in ways that strengthened the mana structure she was helping me build. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to catch on, but when I finally did, I knew exactly what I needed to do next. I didn¡¯t pause to confirm with her. Instead, I strengthened my grasp on my mana, then started guiding it along to copy her work. From the beginning, I was able to move with far more speed and ease than she could handle. She was doing her best, of course, but nudging someone else¡¯s mana along would never be as simple as working with your own. For several more minutes, I suffered and worked while Mia¡¯s presence hovered around, overseeing my efforts. When she was sure I had it, she retreated, withdrawing her mana and consciousness from my body. I missed her immediately. There was something reassuring about having her there. She was like my very own safety blanket, protecting me from the darkness and whatever other monsters lurked inside my soul, waiting for me to peek my toes over the edge of the bed. I didn¡¯t let myself spiral again, though. Instead, I focused on replicating my core¡¯s internal structure throughout my body, using my mana to shape the tunnels and paths that the world¡¯s mana, drawn in by the matrix, relentlessly surged through. I was, quite literally, turning my whole body into a mana core. My own mana was the framework, and the mana supplied by the matrix became the streams of power that shuddered through the passages. To put it lightly, this was a struggle. The mana really didn¡¯t like being corralled. It didn¡¯t like the constant looping I forced it into, which condensed it and tamed it until it was thicker than molasses and moved somewhat according to my desires. Several times, the press of power cracked or shattered pieces of my framework, but I kept patching them up. I reveled in the sight of the thickening mana as it pressed down on my own. The pressure strengthened the structure I was building, condensing it until it was strong and stable enough to support my ongoing metamorphosis. Soon, I was on the verge of completing one giant, blown-out core ¡®layer¡¯ that encompassed the entirety of my physical form. When the final few parts fell into place, I formed a massive core membrane to seal everything off, superimposing it onto my skin. There was a moment of perfect stillness, and then the flow of mana intensified several times over. A truly colossal amount of mana crashed through me, but this time, it struggled to fill up the new layer. The newly built mana structure in my body devoured it all, strengthening exponentially. It took several minutes for a trickle of mana to finally make it past the outermost reaches of my body and begin to fill the channel I had built, streaming towards my core. The entire manner in which my body drew and channeled mana had been altered significantly, yet the process felt easier and more natural than ever, For a moment, I just enjoyed it, relishing the smooth flow of mana. Things weren¡¯t quite done yet, though. All of the mana crushed into the innermost part of my core, the nucleus I had based my expansion on, and strengthened it. I thought things would end there, when my original core was too full to accept any more mana or strengthening, yet the core continued to suck down the mystical substance like there was no tomorrow. A wave of soothing coolness swept through me, and my attention switched from my core to my soul. Immediately, I knew where all the mana was going. Waves of the world¡¯s mana washed into my soul, nourishing it and altering it in a fundamental way different from anything I had experienced before. My soul lost its see-through, flimsy nature, and I watched with bated breath as a crystalline glow spread out from within my innermost being, painting my soul in its luster. A qualitative change swept through me. I could literally feel the core of my soul toughen, grow, and become something far more enduring. In that moment, I understood why there was such a big divide between Archmage and all the levels leading up to it. Before Archmage, any strengthening a mage¡¯s soul underwent was simply a side effect. Now, however? Now, I was using mana to nourish my soul directly, uplifting my very existence itself. Of course, things rarely went so well for me. Even as I watched my soul¡¯s texture change to something like crystal, the spread of the advancement finally encountered my scarring. The pain was as immediate as it was debilitating. It felt like a piece of my soul cracked, was ground to powder, and then reformed, again and again and again. I could barely spare enough attention to see the crystalline transformation slowly encroach onto the scarred, opaque segments of my soul. The scars put up a fight. They refused to take on the same fluid appearance as the rest of my uplifted soul. Still, the advancement was relentless. The scarred area stayed opaque, but ever so slowly, it became crystalline, too. I wish I could say I passed out and woke up when it was all over, refreshed and in control. Unfortunately, there was something about the pain that kept me both perfectly conscious and keenly aware of the passage of time. All told, it took about four hours for the change to slowly sweep through my soul, and most of that time was wasted on the scarred segments. By contrast, the advancement swept through the undamaged parts of me in minutes, with only a soothing coolness to herald the change. When all was said and done, I opened my eyes with a whimper, feeling both dazed and more awake than I was in¡­ well, ever. Every single thought passed through my mind at lighting speed. My senses picked out the slightest variables in my surroundings. My roiling emotions also seemed easier to bear. The darkness in my chest stirred, promising sweet oblivion, but I didn¡¯t feel as tempted to plunge right into it. Even better, when I opened my eyes and found myself gazing up at three worried faces, there was nothing to smother the flash of happy affection that shot through me, or the brief surge of embarrassment and¡­ something else I experienced when I realized my head was in Mia¡¯s lap. The darkness rose up again and tried to grasp for my heart. I squished it back down instantly. And when Glaustro grinned at me, I grinned right back. ¡°Welcome back, Hayden,¡± he said. Free book? Free book! Hey everyone! Some of you might remember when we launched The Twelve Apocalypses Book 1 on Kindle and KU a couple weeks ago. I''m back today to say that for a limited time, TTA is free on Amazon! Yup, completely free for you to buy and keep a copy of Book 1 forever. Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy 500+ pages of demonic war, soldiering, and general fantasy fun! The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Oh and we''re still doing the ratings milestones. Every 50 new ratings on Amazon means an extra chapter released on RR! Enjoy! AT Link to the book https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0DV3CCYFC Chapter 117: Calculated Risks Everything felt odd as I slowly pulled myself upright. My fingers and limbs twitched at the slightest thought of moving them. My body felt light and airy, like I might float off and get stuck on the ceiling any second. My mind was swirling with so many thoughts, it should have been a jumbled mess. Thankfully, I was also thinking more clearly, able to process and sort through all the frivolous and not-so-frivolous ideas. My senses, especially my esoteric senses, had received another upgrade too, deepening in a way I couldn¡¯t define. It was like a barrier between me and the world had been removed, and I was now receiving all the information firsthand instead of peering at it through tinted glass. It was these new senses that allowed me to pick up on the pressure rising inside Mia. Her mana coiled and lashed out, barely contained and twitching like a badly tuned machine. I realized a second later that my mana was behaving the same way. Interestingly, though, Mia seemed to be far more in control of her physical body than I was of mine. I couldn¡¯t detect any of the tremors I was experiencing in her frame. ¡°Congrats,¡± I offered with a grin, which she actually returned. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re both Archmages now.¡± I was tempted to tack on ¡®just like that¡¯, but that didn¡¯t exactly do justice to the process. There was nothing simple or easy about what we had gone through. Mia seemed to agree. ¡°That wasn¡¯t supposed to happen,¡± the cat girl said, frowning as she gazed up at the two demons standing over us. ¡°Why did the ritual hurt him? I didn¡¯t feel a thing.¡± It was a good thing advancement had given me better control of my emotions. Darkness rose up to grip me, threatening to bog me down in self-accusation. I did the mental equivalent of hitting a dog with a newspaper, and it sank back into its pit. ¡°We knew it would happen, unfortunately.¡± Bronwynn took on the task of explaining things, though his expression suggested he hated what they had put me through. ¡°With everything he¡¯s experienced, his soul¡¯s already started to solidify.¡± ¡°And that equated to all the pain why?¡± I was proud of myself for being able to inject some snark into my words without being crushed by guilt. Considering how much I owed the three of them, the darkness in me whispered that I shouldn¡¯t even dare look them in the eye. ¡°Ever wondered what happens when you become a demon?¡± Bronwynn asked rhetorically, because of course we had. ¡°In order to make the leap from mortal to something at least partly eternal, your soul¡­ ossifies. It becomes stronger. Tougher. Far more durable. Unfortunately, it becomes quite rigid, too. It¡¯s much harder for a demon¡¯s soul to change and grow than it is for a mortal to advance.¡± My eyes widened and darted to Glaustro, whose face confirmed Bronwynn¡¯s words even before he spoke. ¡°It¡¯s true. It takes a lot more for a demon to go from a superior soul to a radiant soul like you just did. From radiant to ascendant? It¡¯s an even greater jump with a much steeper difficulty, especially for a demon. It¡¯s the one advantage we ascended demons have. The stronger we were as mortals, the higher up we can start as demons.¡± ¡°But then¡­ why doesn¡¯t the legion put more effort into training its mortals? The regular rank and file are encouraged to ascend as soon as possible!¡± I demanded loudly, thinking of all the times I had desperately wished I was a demon, and all the sneers from my ¡®fellow soldiers¡¯ who already belonged to the Abyss. ¡°Why would they?¡± Glaustro asked mockingly, though I could tell the anger lighting up his eyes with actual fire was not directed at me. ¡°Born demons are superior. Now, what would happen if a bunch of former mortals all started off at a much higher rank than them? Sure, the born demons would catch up eventually, with their better access to resources and superior strength, but why give the former mortals the satisfaction?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Indignation colored my voice freely, and I let it. ¡°They don¡¯t like ascendant demons lording something over them, even temporarily, so they kneecap the power of the legion from the start? Just for¡­ what? Pride?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not quite that simple, I¡¯m afraid.¡± Glaustro sighed, though distaste was still plain on his face. ¡°The legion was never perfect, but it was never quite so¡­ discriminatory before, either. Not until a certain ascended demon reminded everyone of what ¡®mere former mortals¡¯ can achieve. I do believe you know about him. Melchom.¡± I didn¡¯t even fight to keep the scowl off my face. The mere memory of Mercutio simultaneously filled me with dread and made me want to punch someone. ¡°Granted, it wasn¡¯t like the legion went out of its way to help mortals in the past, either,¡± Bronwynn chimed in with a wry smile. ¡°But there was more of a support network for those who wanted to try. Now? You have to catch the eye of the higher-ups to have serious resources invested in you. Which, as a mortal, definitely isn¡¯t easy.¡± I just nodded. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t know that Mia and I were much luckier than most. ¡°So¡­ now what?¡± I blatantly changed the subject, no longer wanting to dwell on the mess that was my extended family. ¡°Now you two rest, and we¡¯ll figure out when the next available trip back to Lagyel is.¡± Glaustro sighed again. ¡°I really wish we could wait longer for you both to rest and recover properly, but it¡¯s best we go back as soon as we can. For all the beneficial effects of Passion, neither of you should spend much time in the Abyss until you¡¯re ready to ascend. I¡¯m hoping you¡¯ll be ready by the end of this invasion.¡± The large demon stomped towards the door, and I watched him leave. He was obviously relieved that Mia and I were past this particular hurdle, but I couldn¡¯t miss the worry in his eyes when he looked at us. Once this whole mess was over and things hopefully wound down, I really needed to do something nice for Glaustro and Bronwynn. ¡ª When we passed through the portal and onto the sandy ground of Lagyel, I experienced the worst vertigo of my life. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The last time I¡¯d visited this world, it took my breath away and staggered me. Now? Sure, the number of golden chains manifesting to bind me down was a lot smaller, but I still felt like countless swords were stabbing right into my soul. I had to grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut to stop myself from whimpering. Honestly, I was starting to respect the rank and file of the legion a lot more. In spite of the fact that the world¡¯s suppression hit them much more harshly than it did me, the most they showed were some grimaces and a hitch in their step. I dove down into my soul as the chains began to fade, curious if I could spot something new about them there. The sight that greeted me was one of stark beauty. My soul glittered like a massive garnet, lit up from within by a soft glow. Even the ¡®scarring¡¯ was no longer as ghastly as it used to appear. Sure, the opaque sections stood out, but the evolution my soul experienced had smoothed the texture of its entire surface, making the shift between ¡®transparent¡¯ and ¡®opaque¡¯ look less like corruption and more like an ongoing transformation. At the moment, I was actually thankful for the tougher sections of my soul. Whereas outwardly, the golden chains had merely constricted me, inside my soul was a different story. There, the chains sought to dig into my essence, binding it to the world. This attempt utterly failed where the chains met my scarring. Still, they pressed painfully into every other place they reached, which explained the pain I had just experienced upon arrival. Maybe the demons aren¡¯t that much tougher after all. They just have better defenses. I was definitely not bitter at the realization, but I could admit that I looked forward to my ascension all the more with every passing day. When the moment passed and I could focus on my surroundings, I was shocked to find myself staring up at the breathtaking trunk and crown of the massive tree city, Faun¡¯s Cradle if I recalled correctly, whose siege I had participated in not so long ago. ¡°Why is everyone massing here? What¡¯s wrong with the Lagyel capital?¡± I asked Glaustro as we headed for the nearest way up to the city. ¡°Because a push deeper into jinn territory has already started,¡± he replied, sounding amused. ¡°The lieutenant general told Glaustro to meet him here on our return,¡± Bronwynn informed us with just a touch of smugness. ¡°As one of his most trusted units on Lagyel, we were picked to join the main assault .¡± That was when I realized the other demons of the unit were listening in eagerly. Bronwynn¡¯s words caused quite a stir, with several of Glaustro¡¯s demon soldiers breaking out in excited chatter. I understood, really. Life in the legion got progressively easier with people batting for you high up the chain of command. You really couldn¡¯t hope for much better than having a lieutenant general in your corner. ¡°That would be correct. However¡­¡± Glaustro paused, raising his voice. ¡°I¡¯d like to point out that this means the expectations placed on us will be more intense. If we succeed, we can expect rewards aplenty. If we fail, we will have a much harder time advancing up the ranks.¡± Another stir, more anxious than celebratory this time. But I was relieved to notice that most of the demons didn¡¯t seem cowed by this. If anything, they looked all the more eager to prove themselves. I never pried into who Glaustro chose to recruit, but I had a strong feeling he went after demons in similar circumstances to himself. These were likely the soldiers who had been overlooked and pushed down despite all their attempts to advance. So long as the payout was good enough, I was willing to bet that more than a few of them were ready to take calculated risks. Not-so-well calculated risks too, for that matter. To the relief of some and the quiet grumbling of others, we weren¡¯t all presented to Crewe, not that the logistics of shoving a thousand demons into a single room would have been easy to figure out. Instead, while Glaustro was called away to meet with the lieutenant general, the rest of us were relegated to Bronwynn¡¯s tender care. To the legion¡¯s credit, Glaustro¡¯s right-hand man did receive an information packet to brief us on, and they even provided a courtyard large enough to house our entire, very recently reunited unit. The ¡®packet¡¯ itself was a fascinating thing. It looked similar to a soul, because in a way, that¡¯s exactly what it was. Bronwynn later explained to me that these objects were made when a demon absorbed a soul, stripped it of all its memories and most of its essence, and then shoved the memories they wanted to pass on into into a small, marble-like crystal the recipient could absorb. According to Bronwynn, it was a bit of a waste, not to mention something only ¡®stronger¡¯ demons could accomplish. Because of this, the legion usually relied on written or spoken word to pass on orders. What Bronwynn had to share from the packet was more interesting than his tidbits about demonic communication, however. ¡°While we were taking a break and fetching some of you, things have progressed.¡± Bronwynn kicked off the announcement looking sharper and more confident than I had ever seen him. ¡°Our lieutenant general was not happy with the trick the jinn pulled. With relentless reinforcements to back him up, he has organized a push deep into jinn territory. ¡°I¡¯m sure most of you could feel it when we arrived, but Lagyel¡¯s suppression is much milder than it used to be. This is because over eighty percent of the golems which were in charge of that disgusting sandstorm have been found and eliminated. The jinn were using them to influence the world, somehow, and destroying them has bought us goodwill from the World Will. ¡°But the war is hardly over. We¡¯ve located no less than five major jinn cities, all of which have multiple golems of the sandstorm-conjuring variety seeded around or within them. That¡¯s excluding their capital, which we have also discovered. ¡°In two days, Lieutenant General Crewe himself will lead an invasion force to bring the capital down. We will be a part of this invasion force. In other words, use this period of time to wrap up your preparations. Purchase any weapons you need. Look into useful potions. Do whatever you think will help you both contribute and survive. ¡°Glaustro wants each and every one of you to fight to earn that survival merit. All the officers agree it will be a big one, with everything that¡¯s happened on this world. This could be your chance to advance, so don¡¯t fail his expectations! ¡°Don¡¯t save souls, don¡¯t spare any consumables you have, and in the name of everything unholy, do try to use your brains when we finally face off with the jinn. Their civilization isn¡¯t one we can afford to underestimate, as I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve all discovered during this campaign. If either Glaustro or I catch any of you doing something stupid, there will be hell to pay.¡± I couldn¡¯t ignore that Bronwynn looked directly at me as he spoke those last words. Thankfully, I managed to weather his disapproval without shrinking back. For a long, tense moment, the whole unit just stood there. We stared at Glaustro¡¯s right-hand man, and he stared right back. Then Bronwynn cracked a smile. ¡°Well, whatcha waiting for? Dismissed! Go make your preparations.¡± Mia and I lingered, waiting for Bronwynn to join us so we could go grab a meal and then do some shopping together. My heart felt lighter than it had in days. We were almost done with this frustrating world. We were facing the prospect of incredible rewards. And I was an Archmage. But even as I looked forward to the end of Lagyel¡¯s invasion, the darkness in my chest began to swirl. It laughed in the back of my mind, demanding to know why I was so certain that everything would go well. I did my best to ignore it. I focused on arguing with Bronwynn about the choice of restaurant, shoving down the darkness¡¯s incessant monologue of doom. Still, as I caught my reflection in a shop window, I couldn¡¯t help noticing my smile had taken on a permanently brittle edge. Chapter 118: Spite I thought travelling in a huge army of demons would be less comfortable than a march with one¡¯s own unit. I was wrong. Crewe¡¯s army had actual cooks and other logistics personnel attached to it. The shield his mages put up overhead dimmed some of the sun¡¯s deathly glare. Our pace, while by no means leisurely, was slower than the breakneck rush Glaustro was sometimes forced to whip us into. Honestly, Crewe was practically wining and dining his army to ensure we would be in the best possible condition for the fight ahead. Add the lack of sandstorms, and the week-long journey through the dunes of Lagyel passed almost pleasantly. By the time we caught our first sight of the jinn capital, we were quite well rested and in a decently good mood. And since the jinn, for whatever reason, had calmed the sandstorm that typically dominated the capital, I was fully able to appreciate the stunning sight before me. The ground itself was a scene straight out of an apocalypse. Lava and water mixed and fought angrily for dominance, sending up plumes of mist wherever they met. The terrain was a pockmarked mess of melted sand and actual, boiling lakes that had somehow managed to choke out the sand¡¯s ability to absorb moisture. The sight overhead, though, was what held everyone¡¯s gaze. Not even the most arrogant demons could hold back small gasps of admiration. A chain of palaces, each unnaturally large and lofty, hovered far up in the sky. Some of them were ¡®simple¡¯ marvels of engineering and wealth. They hovered on what looked like clouds, some white and fluffy, others darkened by a brewing storm that lashed the surrounding air with arcs of electricity. Domes that featured stunning geometrical patterns glinted in the sunlight, formed entirely out of precious gems. The other palaces surpassed even that. One whole palace was built out of nothing but strands of electricity, hovering atop a pool of electrical might. The many jinn who called it home constantly zipped about, using the entire fantastical structure as their passageways. Their movements looked erratic to my eyes. It was as though none of them could hold still longer than two seconds at a time. Atop a snowy cloud, a coil of ice spiraled around a palace constructed of lava and molten metal. The entirety of the structure swirled and bubbled, sending a veritable waterfall of its various materials streaming down to the ground. Next was a tree-based palace fused with a watery structure. The water¡¯s streams all pooled around the roots that dangled towards the ground, providing a curtain of water that battled with the lava far below. On and on the palaces stretched, all connected by crystalline bridges. Together, they formed a massive hovering city which no mortal was meant to set foot in. A small, defiant part of me sparked at the thought, and I resolved myself to visit at least one of the more mundane palaces before I was shunted back to Lagyel. ¡°Demons. You are not welcome here.¡± The voice thundered down to us, and my eyes immediately snapped up to focus on a particularly impressive specimen of jinn. He actually made the palaces look like they were made to normal scale as he stepped out of one. Oddly, his body wasn¡¯t the elemental mishmash I was so used to seeing in jinn. He appeared to have actual flesh, even if his skin was unnaturally ruddy. But flames did dance around his form like obedient puppies, shifting from red to white to blue and even a few unusual colors like pink and green. He also had horns of solid flame jutting out of his forehead, but he didn¡¯t seem willing to acknowledge that tiny bit of camaraderie with the demons massing before his home. Nor was he done with his speech, apparently. ¡°We will make you regret invading our world. Your hubris has carried you this far, but no longer.¡± As he spoke, more and more jinn emerged from their palaces, dressed for war. Weapons were conjured or drawn, spells were readied, and the vast majority of them underwent the same transformation as the knight-like jinn from my most recent battle. Swirls of sand manifested around them, likely drawn from dimensional storage items like my pouch, and armor began to form, protecting them from nearly all spells we could bring to bear. ¡°We will cast you before us like the ¡ª¡± That was when Lieutenant General Crewe made his move. Truth be told, I¡¯d been a tiny bit frustrated by Crewe¡¯s performance in the previous battles. He had been content to grandstand, feed on the emotional response of his enemies, and delay. Then, when things inevitably went horribly wrong, he threw a hissy fit. Apparently, our lieutenant general was done with that particular faulty mindset. One second, his monstrosities were coiling around him while he watched the jinn leader deliver his tirade. The next, he was sailing through the air in his transformed state, scythe growing to massive proportions as he readied a swing. Clearly, the jinn had not been expecting that, because he visibly recoiled. Then he trust his hands forward. Instantly, a massive shield sprang into view, around the entire city and around each of the individual palaces. Crewe didn¡¯t care. With a primal screech that made me want to run for the hills, half the lieutenant general¡¯s hands gripped his scythe, while the other half stretched and elongated in front of him. His claws, already deadly-looking enough, ignited in emerald flames as they began to drip black ichor. These claws easily cleaved straight through the first shield, shooting out lines of glowing force that caused the whole barrier to crumble. Then Crewe¡¯s scythe shot forward. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The jinn leader must have realized the gravity of the situation about then. His entire body lit up with flames and mana as half a dozen more shields popped up around his palace. Once more, they were useless. The lieutenant general¡¯s weapon literally screamed for blood in each of our minds as it began its descent, cutting through one barrier after the other in an inexorable progression towards the jinn leader. A split second later, and the jinn barely managed to throw himself to the side before the scythe claimed a piece of his left arm and his entire left leg from the hip. The strike carried on, too, as though the slash was carved into space itself. It rent the entire palace apart. Even the cloud base scattered, sending the glorious testament to jinn dominance tumbling down to the ground below. The sight of his foe¡¯s downfall wasn¡¯t enough to quell Crewe¡¯s rage. His voice visibly rippled into the world as he screamed again, infusing the sound with an incredibly potent wave of mana. The spell tore straight past the protective barriers without even damaging them, but when it reached the palaces, things changed. Suddenly, the impressive buildings wobbled, enchantments and wards that had held for nearly a thousand years now failing all at once. I watched in mute disbelief as the entire city listed, then started to plummet out of the sky. Our commanding officers were apparently expecting this. Communication spells flashed out immediately, telling us to hold until they gave the order to charge. Personally, I found this somewhat redundant. Depressed and slightly suicidal I might have been, but even I knew better than to charge a whole city as it tumbled out of the sky. That way lay an ignoble squish and an express trip back to the Abyss due to an acute case of stupidity. Part of me quailed at the sight of the falling city, the part eager to remind me what a monster I was to participate in the destruction of a civilization that had ruled Lagyel for close to a thousand years. Sure, the jinn were conquerors too, but did that really matter in this timescale? Did it matter, when the locals were fully accustomed to the situation, and knew how to survive or even thrive under these conditions? But I couldn¡¯t afford to hold onto such thoughts. It was a horrible idea anyway to listen to the darkness inside my chest. Instead, I focused on the massive sprays of sand that reached us even where we were standing, well clear of the splash zone, as the jinn capital met its demise. Glaustro gave us the order not even a second later. I wanted, so badly, to hurl myself ahead with all the force I could. To rely on my wings and some basic application of wind mana to make myself so much faster than even most demons could manage in a straight line. Instead, I kept my place in the formation, charging side by side with Mia. The first wave of enemies we met barely qualified as such. Sure, they wore the special armor, and they had all the right weapons. But they were not ready to handle us. Probably because they had tumbled out of the sky only moments before. It was a slaughter, there was no denying it. A slaughter which I was well poised to benefit from, seeing that my blade got past the enemy defenses almost effortlessly in comparison to the strength demons had to expend for the same result. It was my turn to copy Crewe and scythe through my enemies, though I did make sure to keep my wits about me. While I was having an easy time, I still needed to chart our course forward carefully to encounter all the jinn who were most wounded by the city¡¯s collapse. Their cracked armor and dazed state made them remarkably easy targets for the fierce cat girl fighting by my side, and she never missed when she managed to get to her victims ahead of our enterprising demon comrades. Throughout the battle, I relished one benefit of my advancement to Archmage above all others. It wasn¡¯t the ease with which I could call on my mana now, maintaining my defenses and even some offensive spells with laughable ease and at a level I couldn¡¯t even dream of before. It wasn¡¯t my massively boosted reserves of power, which were also refilling at a prodigiously higher rate. No, it was the clarity with which I could assess the battlefield around me, plan my next moves, and then execute them with the composure of a true war veteran. There was no more fear or uncertainty driving my actions. My boosted mind and soul worked in perfect concert, allowing me to process the horrors of war with almost contemptuous composure. So, neither Mia nor I were taken off-guard when figures dropped out of the sky, landing lightly between us and our next would-be victims. I noted that most of the new arrivals emanated air mana, and that even the few who didn¡¯t had some flavor of magic that would allow them to fly. It made sense, of course. Not all the jinn would be rendered helpless by their city¡¯s sudden tumble. But it did complicate things a smidge. These jinn weren¡¯t just stumbling or moaning on the ground, waiting for us to cut them down. The closest fighter blitzed in my direction like only someone wielding air mana could, but to my surprise, I could actually keep track of him. My sword even made its way between his blade and my flesh in time to stop the strike, and when I heaved, I was able to send the light and nimble jinn stumbling. I pressed the assault immediately, weapon flashing in a pattern as befuddling as I could make it, and I was gaining ground. No longer was I helplessly flailing in the face of jinn supremacy, nor was I struggling even to match their blows defensively. A niggling of pride and a dash of bloodlust invaded my every move as I pressed on. When the jinn was forced to flinch away from Mia¡¯s careless strike as she passed close to us in her own battle, I managed to capitalize on the opening. I almost paused to watch as life fled the jinn¡¯s collapsing body, arm shorn off at the elbow and a wound cut almost straight through his entire torso. But I had better things to do, and far more souls to reap. Mia¡¯s foe was dead at her feet. She shot me her own crazed grin, the heat of battle drawing even the cat out of her usually solemn countenance. Then the world listed. There was no other way I could describe it. It felt like someone had grasped the entire planet and wrenched it out of orbit. I stumbled and failed to find my footing, because I realized a second later that I¡¯d never lost it to begin it. It wasn¡¯t the ground that had moved, or my feet that had failed me. It was my mana sense that was screaming, telling me that something was horribly, horribly wrong. I heard it a second later, laughter so crazed and bitter that a chill ran down my spine. ¡°Fine, then. If eradication of my people is what you want, have it! Know, however, that I will make sure you at least die once.¡± Ahead of me, an explosion of sand covered everything for a few seconds as a titanic golem rose from the ground. I immediately recognized it as one of the superior models, and readied myself for what would likely be my last fight of the invasion. I didn¡¯t have high hopes that I would make it through. Then the golem did just about the last thing I expected. Slowly, almost ceremonially, the golem¡¯s right arm shifted into a long, unwieldy spike. The construct lifted it, paused, then brought the weapon down on its own chest. It stumbled and collapsed onto its knees, but even as it did, a pulse of power ripped through the world, announcing the construct¡¯s death. Another pulse hit right after. Then another. And another. Dozens of golems died all at once, some within the jinn¡¯s capital, and some far off in the distance. For a moment, we had perfect calm. Then the world under my feet roared into life. (End of Book 2) Chapter 119: Primordial POV: Glaustro I had heard the stories, of course. Who hadn¡¯t? Crewe didn¡¯t get to where he was by being a cuddly, backseat commander who just hid behind his troops and did nothing. He was known for subjugating worlds, not annoying them into obedience. So, to see him unleash the full extent of his fuck-you-in-particular attitude on the irritating jinn was a treat. Organizing my troops to follow up on the collapse of the city was also in line with the plans we were handed for the invasion. All that remained was my own contribution to the slaughter, as well as the standing order to regroup immediately once our troops hit their stride so we could reinforce the lieutenant general against any shenanigans the jinn might try to pull off. It was unlikely, of course. Now that he was no longer holding back, along with the weakening of the World Will¡¯s hold on us, there was little the jinn leadership could do. Still, Crewe had gotten burned last time when they pulled out weapons and spells designed to counter demons in particular, so he was no longer taking any chances. I couldn¡¯t fly, something that still stung. But then again, neither could my brother. What I could do was conjure my stone armor. That made it easier for me to dash across the battlefield, and it came with the added bonus of satisfying ¡®crunch¡¯ sounds when I happened to step on a floundering jinn. By the time I reached the location of the main palace¡¯s collapse, Graighast and several other officers were already there, crafting some kind of complex spell matrix. Crewe was in the process of mopping up the jinn leaders. Over a dozen jinn clustered in front of a barrier thick and complex enough to halt even Crewe temporarily. They were doing their best to keep their heads attached to the rest of their bodies as they harassed the lieutenant general, trying to keep him from attacking the barrier. He hissed in frustration, and a backhanded strike took out the entire upper body of a jinn who had lingered a bit too long in his vicinity. Then Crewe¡¯s scythe lashed out again. But while the barrier shuddered and showed signs of cracking, it still held. Behind the barrier huddled the one jinn leader who had addressed us. He was wounded and bloody, his hands gripping the shoulders of a terrified child. ¡°Make the wish! Wish for me to heal! Fully and permanently!¡± the enemy leader screamed at the child. My eyes fell on the bodies littering the ground around him, as well as the children huddling against the opposite side of the barrier. I had wondered, of course. In all the cities we came across on Lagyel, children were either few or nonexistent. The memories I got from the local souls I had nibbled on suggested children were a rarity, all of them getting collected by the jinn shortly after birth. ¡°I¡ª I want you to heal,¡± the child whimpered, then screamed as the jinn shook it, quickly tacking on, ¡°fully and permanently!¡± Even through the barrier, I sensed the child¡¯s soul light up. Potential, desire, everything that made up the future of a bright young soul was stirred up to the surface and drained away, making the little girl¡¯s eyes dim into complete apathy. When the jinn let her go, she collapsed bonelessly, not even fighting to stay on her feet. In contrast, the jinn swelled with life and power. His body still bore clear, bloody lines where Crewe¡¯s scythe had severed his limbs, but now the limbs were attached again. He flexed them, nodded in satisfaction, then grabbed the next child within his reach. A glance at the barrier Crewe was in the process of destroying made him scowl. ¡°You, boy!¡± the jinn roared, lifting the child in question off his feet. ¡°Wish for indestructible wards to protect me from my enemies. Do it!¡± The child did, collapsing right alongside the jinn¡¯s last victim. The jinn immediately reached for the next, angrily demanding power and might to smite his enemies. By that time, his repaired defenses were starting to crack all over again. No matter what the jinn forced the children to wish for, there was no absolute victory to be had, and the potency of granted wishes ultimately depended on his own base power. Sick of this show, I rushed towards my brother, joining my power to his. I didn¡¯t know what they were working on, but I didn¡¯t need to. I sent my mana to trace Graighast¡¯s, and he accepted it easily, showing me exactly how to contribute. ¡°It¡¯s good you¡¯re here,¡± my brother said, with a frustrating amount of sincerity. I felt the old instinctive need to lash out and insult him, or quip about how his talent and power made my presence obsolete, but I was able to tamp it down easily. As it turns out, letting people into your life and actually cultivating relationships helps a lot with overcoming life-long bitterness and feelings of inadequacy. ¡°Why are we making a ward-cracker instead of helping Crewe eliminate those jinn?¡± I asked. ¡°Because he only sacrifices the children faster in response.¡± Fair enough, I thought. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like Crewe needed us. Already, he had more or less accidentally reduced the number of jinn attacking him to half of what it used to be. When one of them wised up and tried to go for us instead, Crewe was immediately there, his scythe reaping yet another soul. The spell we were crafting was monstrously complex, and I had to keep a scowl off my face when I realized Graighast and I were carrying most of its construction. I refused to believe that a bunch of officers, a good number of them dedicated mages, had skills less powerful than my piddling magical talent. Of all the times to hold back their efforts so they could gorge on souls more easily later, this was about the worst. I resolved to talk to Crewe about it once Lagyel was fully subjugated. If I was lucky, he¡¯d demote the whole lot of them. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. At long last, our work was complete. Graighast must have given Crewe some kind of a signal, because the unnerving terror demon suddenly blurred out of the way, and all the leftover jinn were dead. Their heads hit the sand at the same time our spell hit the barriers. It melted straight through all the shields and slammed into the jinn leader just as he went for one of the last remaining children with life in their eyes. The enemy leader screamed in utter anguish, and then screamed again when Crewe was suddenly there, and he lost an arm once more. That, however, seemed to be the last straw holding together the jinn¡¯s sanity. He burst into laughter. ¡°Fine, then. If eradication of my people is what you want, have it! Know, however, that I will make sure you at least die once.¡± The jinn¡¯s voice echoed throughout the world, backed fully by all the years his race had spent ruling Lagyel. A burst of mana accompanied the words, and the jinn collapsed onto his back with just as much energy as his child victims. ¡°What did you do?!¡± Crewe hissed angrily. It was my first time seeing the lieutenant general¡¯s entire body covered in short, shifting spikes of darkness. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d assume he was spooked. ¡°Have you wondered, demon, why we buried the sealing golems? Why we refused to activate our most potent weapons fully, even at the cost of their destruction?¡± the jinn taunted. I recognized the look in his eyes. Those were the eyes of someone content in the knowledge that he had managed to fuck over his enemies one last time. ¡°This world wasn¡¯t always ours, and it wasn¡¯t better off without us, either. No, we paid much to ensure the pacification of that monster. Now that you have won, it¡¯s only right that you pay the same price. Of course, it was slumbering when we found it. I wonder how you¡¯ll fare without that advantage.¡± The jinn broke into laughter again, but he was silenced instantly by the seething terror demon¡¯s scythe. ¡°Spread out. Contact the other fronts. We need to know what he unleashed, immediately. Graighast can¡ª¡± Crewe didn¡¯t get to tell us what my ever-brilliant brother could do, because suddenly, the very earth under out feet released a thunderous bellow that shook everything on its surface and damn near deafened all of us. Stunned, we watched the sand stir as a unique mana signature began to rise to the surface of our senses. Looking back, I realized it had been there throughout all my time on Lagyel. But it was so weak, and the ambient mana of Lagyel was so thoroughly pervaded by it, that none of us had even recognized it as one creature¡¯s mana before. But now, with it rapidly surging in strength and intensity? It was easy to pick out, just as its underlying taste let all of us easily identify what kind of creature it belonged to. A Primordial. A true primal elemental titan, born at the dawn of creation and forged out of nothing but its element. A calamity given form. Ruin granted consciousness. They weren¡¯t unstoppable, not really. But if you wanted to face off against that and live, you¡¯d better at least get to the general¡¯s level. And that fucking asshole chose to awaken the calamity, dooming us and every jinn, local, and whatever else was left on the damn planet, just to flip us a final middle finger. ¡°All of you, back to your troops,¡± Crewe declared, his voice unnervingly calm. ¡°Prioritize immediate retreat. I don¡¯t care how, just get our people back to the Abyss. The legion will reimburse you for your losses. This isn¡¯t over, but our threat assessment of Lagyel will have to be redone from scratch.¡± The grimace on my face suggested exactly what I thought the results of that threat assessment would be: Fuck no, not worth invading again. Which pissed me off something fierce. All my plans, all the strings I had pulled¡­ I grit my teeth. I would make it to major eventually, or I would die trying. For the time being, though, I had to gather up my band of idiots before they managed to get themselves smushed out of existence. POV: Hayden There was something about seeing a planet come alive that was both horrible and awe-inspiring, all at once. The sand was swirling around me with an intensity I¡¯d never felt before, scoring lines in my skin with minimal contact. Mia had immediately leapt to my side, and even Bronwynn had popped out of somewhere, so the three of us were pressed together as we fought against the planet¡¯s attempts to consume us. At that point, combat had well and truly ceased. Both demons and jinn were too horrified by what was happening to pay much attention to each other. However, I did note that our rivals for control over Lagyel seemed to have a bit more of a clue about what the jinn leader had unleashed. When the sand finally settled somewhat, the sight that greeted me was almost worse than the initial explosion. Towering over the horizon, rising over all our heads, was a massive arm made of sand. We could only barely make out a few fingers that stabbed defiantly up into the sky. Then we almost lost our footing again as the ground rumbled and started to shift. But it wasn¡¯t actually ground, was it? By my best estimation, the thing awakening under our feet was lying down, and we were standing on its shoulder. And now it was starting to stand up. ¡°All of you, gather to Bronwynn NOW! I repeat, gather to Bronwynn! We have been ordered to retreat! If any of you fail to comply within the next five minutes, I won¡¯t be held responsible for leaving your sorry asses behind, so fucking get to it!¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice echoed in our minds. Clearly, the demonic leadership was no more thrilled about the new developments than their soldiers were. At least I didn¡¯t have to haul ass. Bronwynn was right there, struggling to stay upright alongside me and Mia as panicked demons began to converge on us. The jinn were panicking too, but it didn¡¯t seem like any of their leaders were doing a thing to organize them. They were staggering and rushing about like a flock of headless chickens. The ground directly under our feet shifted upwards. I almost lost it, right then and there. Thankfully, I caught sight of Glaustro inside of his construct, bounding over the rubble and sand towards us. He seemed to be firming up the sand with every step he took. The jinn scrambled to stand on the platforms he left in his wake. When he finally slammed down in front of the massing crowd of demons, he pushed his way through to us roughly. ¡°All of you, get ready to pass through the portal as quickly as you can! The ground is shifting, so I can only anchor it to the spatial coordinates it first appears in. The sand will cover it up before long.¡± We didn¡¯t need any more encouragement. As Glaustro let his construct sink into the sand and scrambled to conjure the portal, all of us prepared for the rush. When the portal finally snapped open, billowing with the aura of the Abyss and promising safety, the crowd almost carried me right through it. In spite of that, I dug my heels in, eyes fixed on the horizon. The titanic hand was flexing into a fist, preparing to slam down onto the ground and help heave the awakening creature upright. I knew I should flee. Glaustro was shouting as much at me, and I was vaguely aware that Mia had paused too, worried eyes fixed on my face. But something whispered at me to stay. To witness the transformation of a world into something new. Something¡­ primal. With everything that had happened to me on Lagyel, I felt even more tempted to comply. This was where I took definitive steps towards my ascension. This was where my struggles changed me. The wings on my back were the best proof of that. I fought past the moment, however. The cold, dark feeling struggling to take root in my mind melted in the face of the concern, and admittedly more than a little anger, of the three people trying to get me through the portal. I took a deep breath and plunged into the crowd, slipping past the boundaries of Lagyel and into the Abyss, right alongside Mia. (Start of Book 3) Chapter 120: Ordered Affairs It is truly amazing how many changes someone can endure in a frightfully short period of time. Take, as an example, my path towards ascension into a demon. Over the course of a paltry few months, I was ripped away from death¡¯s own clutches and thrust into the body of a demonic army¡¯s recruit, participated in the invasion of a world, got killed, was reborn, and then went right on to invade a whole other world! All while slowly sinking into the clutches of the Abyss with great gusto and full willingness. And I was¡­ fine. Granted, people had warned me about pushing my ascension. I probably should have paid more attention when they told me I might go insane trying to turn into a demon of actual strength, instead of a boilerplate ascendant demon. Still, mortals who don¡¯t give their all to push past their natural limitations can hardly hope to survive for very long within the Abyss. Case in point? It was only recently that Glaustro, one of my favorite demons and my direct superior officer, finally started to make headway in getting promoted up the chain of command. And he only managed to get past the bureaucrats that really don¡¯t like ascendant demons by engaging in a bunch of life-threatening shenanigans. But that didn¡¯t exactly end well. Or, rather, none of us knew how it would end, yet. We were still waiting for the general to lay down dramatic judgment on our retreat from Lagyel. Said general was being remarkably silent on the subject. It had been over a week since we stumbled through a portal back to the Torment layer of the Abyss. Over a week of waiting, and expectation, and a whole lot of stress. At least the moment of passing through was rather humorous, seeing as Glaustro¡¯s soldiers weren¡¯t the only ones who wanted to flee Lagyel. Apparently, when a world is awakening around you in an attempt to swallow you up, it doesn¡¯t matter whose portal you¡¯re fleeing through. All that matters is the driving need to survive. That¡¯s how we found ourselves staring at several jinn who¡¯d burst into the Abyss on our tail, sand streaming off them in winding ribbons. The jinn weren¡¯t happy about their arrival in more or less literal Hell. Most had collapsed immediately, reduced to whimpering husks. The rest weren¡¯t capable of putting up a fight when Glaustro organized their swift capture. They had just come from watching their entire world drown in the sand of a Primordial, a creature so powerful that Crewe, the lieutenant general of the Legion of Torment, chose to throw in the towel more or less immediately. With the captives under control and the chaos within Glaustro¡¯s own unit quelled, there was nothing else we could do. The rest of Lagyel¡¯s invasion force was still trickling back into the Abyss, Crewe was present but unreachable, and it wasn¡¯t like any of us ranked high enough in the chain of command to force someone to give us answers. So, waiting. Lots and lots of it. And the longer we waited, the less ¡®fine¡¯ I became. I was doing quite well immediately after our escape from Lagyel. But the more I lingered in our troop¡¯s compound, the more darkness pulled at my thoughts. The longer I sat in my solo room and did nothing, the harder it got to conjure up emotion. I wasn¡¯t quite as far gone as after my most recent bout with Abyss-induced depression, but I was hovering on the edge of it. Ten days into this state of affairs, Glaustro decided he¡¯d finally had enough and tracked me down. ¡°So, this is where you¡¯ve been?¡± Glaustro opened, after literally breaking down my door. I hadn¡¯t seen fit to get off my bed to answer his knock, so now the door was off its hinges. ¡°Do you have any idea how worried Mia and Bronwynn were?¡± I could see the cat girl herself hovering in the doorframe, but all I could force was a shrug. ¡°Yeah, no. We are not doing this again,¡± the large demon rumbled, lifting me up by the back of my shirt. I grumbled vaguely, but didn¡¯t resist as I was dragged into the bathroom, forced to take a shower, and then literally carried to the kitchen. Food was shoved in front of me, and I had the choice between eating or being fed. Forcefully. I picked up the utensils and obeyed my demonic overlord. When the food actually kicked in, reminding me that I hadn¡¯t eaten in two days, I actually referred to him as such. He smiled at this partial return of my personality. It took a few hours, but eventually Glaustro, Bronwynn, Mia and I were joking and wasting time as I continued to pretend that I wasn¡¯t fighting off depression with a stick. Obviously, the demons felt it. They could sense and feed on emotions with no effort. But they did me the favor of pretending that everything was fine, at least until I was mostly back to my normal self. That¡¯s when Glaustro decided to lay down the law. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what¡¯s going to happen with the Lagyel mess. We need to get you settled. Both of you. And we can¡¯t afford to waste any more time.¡± That made me shoot a worried glance Mia¡¯s way, but from what I could tell, the cat girl was basically fine. Sure, there was a new rawness and twitchiness to her stance, even while sitting and laughing. But other than that, she was definitely in better shape than the mess I kept dissolving into. Still, Glaustro was determined that both of us mortals get our affairs in order. The process of turning into a demon was supposed to be relatively straightforward. Gather one thousand souls, sacrifice them to the Abyss, and then trigger ascension. Easy. Simple. Also woefully lacking in the grand scheme of things, because following those steps like a good little soldier got you to the baseline demon state, and did absolutely nothing else. Special physical characteristics all Abyss-born demons had? Nope. Special abilities the aforementioned demons threw around like candy? Likewise, you¡¯d be out of luck. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. So, I decided to go the extra fun route of offering more sacrifices to the Abyss, embracing the risk of going insane, dying, or losing myself fully. And I only ended up with crippling depression, induced by the infection of emotions bleeding into me from the Abyss itself, while dragging the only mortal friend I had into the mess with me. See? Fun! Mia had every right to hate me. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was just the depressive voices in the back of my mind or a cold, hard fact. And neither of us were safe yet. The final stretch to demonhood could, realistically, result in a full loss of self, if we couldn¡¯t withstand it. Understandably, Glaustro left us plenty of time to sort ourselves out before making the attempt. It was for this reason that I dragged myself and Mia all the way to the circle of Passion. ¡°You know, you really didn¡¯t need to come with me,¡± I hedged, glancing at the cat girl. ¡°I could have handled this.¡± Her narrowed eyes narrowed clued me into the fact that I was treading on thin ice, and her unusually verbose answer just confirmed it. ¡°Like last time? When you asked me to leave you alone, and I did, and you ended up in your room, refusing to move? When Glaustro had to bust the door down?¡± I winced, the rightful criticism just making the self-accusing voices louder. ¡°Fair, fair. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know if I ever said that, but¡­ I am. For dragging you into this, I¡­¡± ¡°Enough,¡± she snapped, though not unkindly. ¡°Hayden, I wanted this. I needed it. Glaustro wouldn¡¯t have picked me to join his unit without you. I wouldn¡¯t have started training my mana without you. I wanted more than basic ascension, too. I need it.¡± We¡¯d never sat down and discussed them, all our issues. I never asked her why she was desperate to advance and so willing to risk herself. She never asked me a thing, either. We just spent time together. Each was there when the other needed it. She had literally saved my life more than once. At that moment, though, I was on the verge of pushing for more. The desire to get to know her deeper rose up, but I let it fade to the back of my mind. I knew she had a real fondness for sweet food and was a bit snobbish about taste. I knew that she liked lying down in sunny spots, as clich¨¦ as that was for a cat lady. I also knew she was a real snuggle bug, when she felt comfortable around someone. I knew all of that, and a thousand other little things. I might not have solid knowledge of Mia¡¯s past, but I knew exactly who Mia was. She was my friend, a person I could count on, and that was enough. Or at least it would be, until we both didn¡¯t have our upcoming ascensions hanging over us like the sword of Damocles. So, instead of saying anything, I just grabbed her hand. She stiffened for a moment, but then she returned the grip, tightening her fingers around mine. For once, the despairing voices that had been plaguing me for weeks shut up. As we walked, I allowed myself to just take in the sights of the Passion layer for perhaps the first time. The place was¡­ well, it was exactly what you¡¯d imagine if you took a bunch of crafters and artists, got them high on the emotion of Passion, and then unleashed them onto the world. We passed a beautiful building shaped like a small castle, complete with multiple crenelated roofs and twisting miniature spires. Right next to it was a twisting tower of glass and gleaming metal that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi setting. Light washed through it in all the colors of the rainbow, dazzling me and taking even Mia¡¯s breath away. Everything was colorful, and everything was gorgeous. Did it make sense? Absolutely not. That was Passion. I enjoyed the stroll, but I was still glad to reach our destination. Amahis Armory was home to a mother-daughter pair of armorers I¡¯d been lucky enough to meet during my very first invasion, and I had never regretted doing business with them since. Their armor was exquisite, and their prices were ridiculously affordable for the quality they offered. Besides, I had developed a strong friendship with Yules, the daughter of the duo. Not only had she sold me her first official armor set, but she had made it cheap enough for my broke ass at the time to afford it. A bell chimed pleasantly as we entered the shop. We were immediately greeted by the sight of the proprietress herself, Tibath, rising to meet us. Like her daughter, the demoness was an impressive figure. She looked muscular enough to break me in half. Her work apron accented curves so well that Mia probably would have elbowed me if she caught me looking. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t that crass. Or at least I didn¡¯t dare to be, considering demons¡¯ ability to pick up on emotions. ¡°Hello again,¡± the demoness greeted us warmly, with a smug glance at our hands. Interestingly, Mia quickly let go and looked away. ¡°I have to say it¡¯s good to see you again! With the whole Lagyel mess, I was afraid¡­ well, mortals are much less secure than demons when it comes to dying on foreign worlds.¡± I acknowledged that with a nod and a grimace. ¡°We got out okay. Glaustro made sure of it. He¡¯s our commander,¡± I added when she shot me a confused glance. She nodded politely, then smiled a bit wider still. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to assume you want my daughter again? Goodness, other people come here just for a chance to meet me, and you two continue to ignore my services. Yules! Your friends are here to see you!¡± There was a clang at the back of the shop, followed by rustling and some mumbled complaints, but soon Yules was rushing out from the hallway hidden behind the counter. Her smile only widened when she spotted us. ¡°Hayden! Mia! Where have you been? I heard about Lagyel, and I thought you two got hurt or something!¡± ¡°We are fine,¡± Mia assured the demoness, stepping forward to receive a hug. The two had gotten quite close when we last visited to have our armor made. Apparently, staying in a shop all day working on your craft isn¡¯t a great way to meet new people, and Yules was a bit lonely. ¡°I¡¯m sorry we worried you.¡± Then it was my turn, and it was all I could do to keep smiling as the strong demoness crushed me in a painfully tight embrace. ¡°Yep, we¡¯re fine.¡± I wheezed a little, refusing to give into the urge to rub my aching back. ¡°And we are here with goodies to share!¡± I pulled out a piece of carapace Mia and I had acquired on Lagyel, courtesy of some particularly unpleasant scorpion monsters. ¡°Is this¡­?¡± It wasn¡¯t only Yules whose eyes widened at the sight of the thing. Her mother was equally enthusiastic, rushing closer to inspect the carapace. ¡°Sand, from Lagyel?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± I replied with an easy smile. ¡°We got a bunch of this stuff. It¡¯s ridiculously mana-resistant. Some monsters converted the sand into carapace, so we figured we¡¯d have our favorite armorer craft some defensive gear for us.¡± ¡°You¡¯d let me work on this? Really?¡± Yules squealed, drawing us both into another crushing hug. ¡°This is amazing! Honestly, if you let me have some of the material, it wouldn¡¯t even be fair of me to charge you. This stuff is incredibly rare and in demand right now.¡± I wasn¡¯t really shocked to hear that. The scorpion-monsters had formed their natural armor by eating pieces of Primordial and converting it. Plenty of materials out there were mana-resistant, of course. But the number of materials that came directly from a Primordial? That list was way shorter. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t trust anyone else,¡± I said teasingly, with what I hoped was a well-received surreptitious wink in her mother¡¯s direction. Thankfully, the older demoness just laughed in delight. ¡°What do you want on this, then?¡± Yules went on. ¡°Ooooh, when are you deploying again? Should I make this a rush order?¡± ¡°Well, about that¡­¡± As casually as possible, I explained to Yules that Mia and I were getting ready for our final ascension. If things went wrong, we might not return to pick up our armor. Or ever. To say that Yules didn¡¯t take the news well would be an understatement. Chapter 121: Ascension Getting a distraught armorer to settle down, especially when that armorer is far more physically imposing than you are, was more challenging than I expected. Said armorer¡¯s mother could have helped, but she was too amused to step in and ruin the show, even after several minutes of her daughter openly weeping as she squished two mortals against herself. ¡°Yules, we¡¯ll be fine. That¡¯s just a worst case scenario, really,¡± I reassured the young demoness again, patting her shoulder. Yules just squeezed harder. I looked over at Mia, but she couldn¡¯t contribute. She was far too busy freaking out over such an overt display of affection. Her hands hovered over the crying demoness awkwardly, and she looked about as ready to handle the issue as she was to tackle a Primordial. Sighing, I just kept petting Yules on the shoulder until she slowly began to calm down. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice at first, but the two of you really did push a bit too far, didn¡¯t you?¡± Tibath chimed in, almost restarting her daughter¡¯s emotional outburst just as it was sputtering out. I very carefully didn¡¯t shoot her an annoyed look, and smothered any negative emotions she might pick up on. ¡°We had to,¡± was all I said, Mia nodding along. Tibath shrugged. ¡°In that case, I can only say it¡¯s a good thing you have each other, and other friends besides. It¡¯s not easy handling the influx of Abyssal energies, even when going through a standard ascension. So, focus on everything you hold dear. All your desires and ambitions, too. I don¡¯t think either of you are leaning towards an Emotion that would feed off those negatively, so they will only help.¡± I shot her an inquisitive look. ¡°Well, Mia here feels¡­ let¡¯s say, bristly.¡± Tibath pointed at the cat girl, who stiffened beside me. ¡°And you? I can barely feel your other emotions around that pit of negativity in your chest. So, you need stuff to balance that. Affection, bonds, long-term goals, that sort of thing.¡± ¡°Sometimes, I almost wish I just ascended when I could.¡± It felt good to admit that, even if I winced immediately after. The demoness shrugged. ¡°You made your choices.¡± She didn¡¯t sound like she disapproved or was chastising me, just stating a fact. ¡°Besides, even regular ascension is only mostly safe.¡± I knew that, of course. Even during a normal ascension, if a demon was disturbed, they could easily lose control of the process. A wound, emotional manipulation, or just breaking their concentration could derail their ascension. Of course, the worst result in that scenario would be turning into an imp, a creature even lower on the Abyssal totem pole than the least of demons. It wasn¡¯t great, but there was hope of clawing one¡¯s way back up from that. Glaustro¡¯s warnings had made it clear that failure would be far less pleasant for me and Mia. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best, and we¡¯ll be fine,¡± Mia said, finally overcoming her discomfort enough to speak. Yules raised her tear-filled gaze to meet the cat girl¡¯s black and gold orbs. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to die. I can¡¯t give you the armor if you die,¡± she declared, with all the gravitas of a demon at the top of the Abyssal food chain. It was enough to make me smile. ¡°On that note, mind letting me go for a second?¡± She did, though reluctantly, which let me unload the truly ridiculous amount of Lagyel materials Mia and I had managed to gather in my dimensional pouch. Both mother and daughter stared wide-eyed at this sudden presentation of wealth. ¡°Do you mind if we leave this with you? I know it¡¯s way more than what you¡¯d need for our armor, or for the payment, but¡­¡± I paused, choosing my words carefully. ¡°Well, if something does happen to us, we¡¯d like the two of you to have all of this.¡± Mia nodded, of course. We had discussed this before leaving Torment. We even had wills drafted up. Most of our stuff would go directly to Glaustro and Bronwynn, but they weren¡¯t the only friends we had. They were just¡­ half. Sure, Mia and I were both much closer to Yules than to her mother, but Tibath did willingly help me the first time we met by introducing me to her daughter. She also tolerated us hanging out in her store for hours on end, and had even rustled up refreshments on more than one occasion. Not a whole ton of kindness, some might say. But we were in the Abyss. Most demons, even the ones who weren¡¯t complete assholes, only ever looked out for themselves. Tibath and Yules were both special, and they both deserved our gratitude. Once they had received the materials, though, we couldn¡¯t linger to chat. We had ticked off the final item on our to-do list, which meant we had no more reasons left to delay. It was time to ascend. ¡ª Glaustro didn¡¯t want us tackling our ascension alone, but he was also entirely unsure how to guarantee our security through the process. So, after a few final goodbyes in case everything went pear-shaped, Mia and I strolled into the oh-so-loving embrace of the Absorption Station. The second I crossed the threshold, everything fell away. The sound of wind, the chatter of passing demons, even the all-pervasive sense of discomfort that the layer of Torment imposed on its inhabitants vanished. Mia was gone too, separated into her own instance of the station. All that remained was the station¡¯s opaque, softly glowing dome, the darkness that lurked beyond it, and the torture chair located smack dab in the middle of it. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Well, I say ¡®torture chair¡¯, but only because using it was horrifically and uniquely painful. A more apt comparison would be an operating table with countless arm-like strands hovering around it, all ending in scalpels, tongs, pincers, and various other medical-type instruments. Most visitors to the station were mortal soldiers of the Abyss trying to absorb souls. The process was nothing short of soul surgery, and it was excruciating. Thankfully, I was not there to engage in that particular brand of torture. I was just going to bind myself permanently to the Abyss by fundamentally transforming into one of its creatures. No biggie. I proceeded with the final preparations, stripping off my armor and clothing until I was left only in my undies. There was no one there to witness me other than the Abyss itself, but for some reason, I still refused to remove those. In all honesty, even with my recent bouts of depression, I looked amazing. I was fit like never before, with clear outlines of muscles all over my frame. My skin was a light blue color. Darker spots covered my limbs up to my elbows and knees. Wicked claws extended from my fingers and toes on command. The only two things I had left from my days as a pure human were my hair, which was reassuringly brown, and the general shape of my features. Every individual feature showed signs of transformation. My teeth were razor-sharp points. My tongue was now snake-like and frustratingly long, making it my least favorite change. Even my eyes were different. I had recently been shocked to notice they had gone slitted and acquired some new colors. My sclera was now a dark blue, and my snake-like iris a molten gold to match Mia¡¯s. At least these changes explained why I was able to see in the dark and with unusual clarity for a mortal. Taken all together, it was a little overwhelming. But I couldn¡¯t complain. Every change was worth it. Because I also had wings sprouting from my back. My wings were not something I could ever bring myself to regret. The freedom of flight was a heady thing. Besides, the wings themselves were gorgeous. They were a beautiful shade of black, reminiscent of a night sky. Whenever light hit them, a red sheen danced over the black, adding a hint of mystique. Every single feather was its own work of art. A striking azure line ran along the rachis, or spine. On either side of the line sprouted two symmetrical hills, forming a somewhat squished circle at the center of each feather. My wings were perfect, and more importantly, they were mine. My escape into the sky, where wind rustled and swirled through them with each beat, lifting me above the world and its suffering. Mia was also a huge fan of my wings, even if only for their downy softness. She had an annoying habit of curling up on them and going to sleep¡­ With a bit of a smile, I took a deep breath and started fetching souls, piling them onto the chair. Technically, I could have tried to ascend then and there. However, I could feel I had a few more changes to milk out of the process. The markings on my arms and legs only confirmed it. Those circular patches of darker color were slightly raised, like they were on the verge of transforming into something. Just to be safe, I had consulted Glaustro. He¡¯d scowled at me, but he also approved my plan. Since I intended to ascend immediately after performing my final sacrifice to the Abyss, a few more moments of risk wouldn¡¯t change much. Once I had gathered two thousand souls, I climbed onto the chair, curling myself around the pile. Holding on as best I could, I kicked off the process. The souls were immediately gripped by the power of the plane I was binding myself to. They began to melt, vanishing into my skin as the Abyss slurped them up. Then a wash of power came gushing forth from the Abyss, surging along the tether that connected me to it. I had to grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut at the agony that ripped through my being. It pervaded every inch of me, stretching and searching for new changes to make. A large chunk of power seeped into my muscles, my bones, and my skin. Part of it got trapped within my brain, enhancing and nourishing it. All the leftover power went straight to my soul, transforming it into something more. Something eternal. Then the Abyssal emotions I was always struggling to keep in check rose up. They lapped eagerly at this power, trying to steal it away, desperate to feed on it themselves. My control of them almost slipped. Another moment, and they would be too strong for me. They would consume my mind, devouring my sanity and my memories and my very sense of self¡­ Time¡¯s up. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was Glaustro¡¯s voice in my head, or Bronwynn¡¯s, or Mia¡¯s. Maybe a combination of all three. Regardless, my mind responded automatically. With my last thread of strength, I reached out to the Abyss. Finally, irrevocably, I made the plea for it to accept me. I was not prepared for what came next. All of a sudden, I was keenly aware of the final barrier still separating me from the Abyss. A thin, yet oddly robust barrier, fueled by my own soul and struggling to put up a fight against this invading foe that trivialized its power. Then the connection tying the demonic plane to my soul was torn wide open, and all resistance collapsed. The Abyss poured itself into me, claiming me, changing me, declaring me its own. The tide of red and black mana swallowed up every bit of me. There was nothing I could do to stop it, even if I wanted to. Instantly, I had a much deeper instinctual understanding of the Abyss¡¯s essence. The red, glowing power brought nourishment and growth. It was practically harmless to me, a perfectly pure and benign source of strength. The darkness that tinged it was a different story. The Abyss was the plane of Emotion. Every single feeling, every single experience of countless mortal and immortal minds, all eventually pooled within this plane. It was the origin and the final destination of what it meant to feel, to experience the world around me fully without being left to the merciless apathy of reason. But so many emotions did not make for a very balanced existence. Nor were creatures of the Abyss capable of refusing to accept Emotion. The Abyss was showing me the totality of what it was, and it didn¡¯t care whether or not my puny mortal mind could withstand the eldritch knowledge. No. I need to focus. I need to¡­ reach out¡­ I could barely force my thoughts to form as I swam in the soup of Abyssal Emotion, experiencing everything all at once. Joy lifted me up. Anguish tore me apart. Lust drove me mad. Torment reduced me to mere whimpers. On an on it went, and I made the same realization as every ascendant being before me. I needed a shield. I needed a single Emotion to cling to, something to anchor my mind, soul, and sense of self. Desperately, I reached out to the sea of Emotions, ready to take whatever would have me. And I was refused at every turn. Joy scoffed and turned away. Passion, so recently experienced, swirled around me but refused to be caught. The same happened with Determination, Longing, and Compassion. Even Lust, when I got desperate. None of them wanted me. Because as much as I tried to deny it, I was already claimed. There was a primary Emotion lurking within my soul. It had been there, beckoning to me, ever since I made my mistake of pushing too far. One Emotion that fit me, that stained me, that stood for all I had always carried hidden in the depths of my mind. I had refused to name it, or even acknowledge its true nature. I had known then, as I did now, that to do so would be to seal my fate. But now, I didn¡¯t have any more time to tarry or argue. My mind was beginning to unravel, my thoughts growing ever more sluggish. After one final moment of hesitation, I resolved myself and dove in, deep down into the pit of darkness I had denied so long. I wasn¡¯t lucky enough to have a simple Emotion cling to me. It wasn¡¯t just Sadness, or Despair, or even something like Sloth. No, reaching out with its blackened tendrils to welcome me into its embrace, my Emotion swallowed up everything that belonged to me, subsuming it under a mire I wasn¡¯t sure I could ever escape. It was the darkness of Woe that took me for its own. Chapter 122: Adjustment I drowned in my Emotion as it took hold. Woe had claimed me long ago, but now it spread like a cancer, relentlessly converting everything in its path. I felt hope flee from me as every memory I had ever made was tinted and viewed through a different lens. Every decision, every moment of fleeting happiness, all melted into one another to compound the final, disastrous result. The miserable memories of my original life flashed past me first. All the moments of quiet death, where I slowly felt my very soul wither from my helplessness and uselessness, returned to swell Woe¡¯s rising tide. Hayden¡¯s memories came next. They pulled me under a deluge of suffering, an endless series of minor disappointments laced with aching envy for affection and validation that never came. Those two lifetimes were enough. More than enough. My soul was an endless dirge in the name of Woe. But Woe didn¡¯t have just these two sets of memories to work with. Each soul I had absorbed with the station¡¯s help came out to play. I had buried their memories deep, denying they were a part of me. Now all those stolen memories were dug up, examined, and added to the miserable chorus. Clarinette Illsent, the mage whose tragic life I had cut so short, was the chief contributor. It made terrible sense, of course. All my mana, the very foundation for who I had become, came from the stolen shard of her soul. In spite of all this misery, I wasn¡¯t entirely lost. My ongoing ascension had done more than just drudge up painful memories. My inner eye could effortlessly track the progress of pure red mana as it invaded, thickening and solidifying my soul to make it capable of withstanding eternity. I could also feel my mind getting stronger by the moment. That meant I was strong enough to fight. I could try to claw back control of my soul. I could even strive to banish the Emotion that had claimed me. I chose not to. It wasn¡¯t a choice made on a whim, nor was it motivated by the swirling depression that had sunk its teeth into me. My decision stemmed from one simple fact: no demon could survive without an Emotion. No demon was complete without one. To reject it would be to reject a crucial part of my ascension. No matter how tempting the idea was, I knew that the moment I fought against what was happening, I would tear myself apart. But then¡­ what can I do? The answer came to me easily, as though whispered by countless lips all at once. I accepted it. All of it. I reached out to my Woe, and I claimed it as mine just as fully as it claimed me. There was no differentiating between us anymore. It could have my soul, but I would have everything it represented, too. Instantly, the tide of crushing Emotion shifted. Instead of dragging me into the depths to be drowned, it buoyed me higher and higher. Yet even as I accepted my role as the true avatar of Woe, I felt the few remaining fragments of my humanity crumble away. I grit my teeth and let the process continue. Still, I did cling to some of who I used to be. I refused to relinquish the affection I felt for the people who had basically forced their way into my life, and I refused to give up on the small pleasures of what it meant to live. I conjured up memories of visiting a delightful little caf¨¦ with Mia, of spending quiet time next to a campfire with Bronwynn, and of all the active support Glaustro had offered me through sheer force of will. All these emotions deepened and took root in my mind. They were altered, sure, but undeniably present. I took solace from that. It was incredibly reassuring that no matter what happened, at least a part of me would remain the same. That comforting realization helped me relax, which made the process of integrating my Emotion so much smoother. Rather than grappling for dominance, it now simply locked into place, shifting from an adversary into one of my newfound strengths. It was incredible, what a difference it made to know these crucial parts of my identity were safe. Sure, I had rushed headlong into demonhood, but a part of me was always a little terrified that whatever came out the other end of the process would no longer be me. Yet now, as I embraced the change sweeping through me, the only thing I felt was relief. The red and black balanced each other out in my soul, Emotion and Abyssal mana working in harmony. In fact, I felt strangely exultant as the transformation completed its journey through my metaphysical body. Of course, then it zeroed in on the one pinprick of mortal soul stuff stubbornly hanging on: the area directly around my mana core. After all I had experienced already, I expected the finale of my ascension to be a quiet affair. Instead, when the Abyssal forces finally invaded the core of my magical abilities, it was anything but. My mana core shook in place as it stubbornly resisted change, and pain radiated out of it like a continuous shock of electricity. Suddenly, my thoughts froze in horror as my core cracked, then fractured entirely. I heard myself screaming in fear and pain as the mana once contained within that core surged out, sweeping through my soul and body both. My soul stood firm, soaking up the mana effortlessly. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. My body fared far worse. Since my physical self and mana core had merged together during my advancement to Archmage, the core¡¯s fracture quite literally ripped open parts of my body. Weird, glowing red lines tore through my flesh, making me look like a cracked porcelain doll instead of a living being. Bit by bit, my body flaked away into a glowing mass of mana, silencing my screams. My physical presence in the world faded entirely, and no matter how desperately I grasped for my mana to prevent that, it was useless. The Abyss had hold of my mana at the moment, and it wasn¡¯t letting go. Not even to save me from death. Oddly, I felt calm wash over me as the last bits of my corporeal form faded away into red and black mana. With the loss of this physical self, all the concerns that came with it disappeared as well. Hunger, pain, and discomfort were wiped away like they never existed. Minor wounds that had lingered, things I¡¯d gotten used to after years of living with them in Hayden¡¯s memories, simply dissolved. In spite of that, I was still a presence. Body or not, I remained a part of the realm, even if I was just a mass of mana shaped roughly like a humanoid. But the process was not complete. I had no lungs, but the next stage of the transformation still left me breathless in awe. The mana that was me swirled and shifted for a moment. Then, by the will of the Abyss, it changed. What was once pure energy took on physical form, giving way to flesh and blood in an act of true creation like nothing I had ever seen. It went beyond even the tricks I had watched the general employ. I didn¡¯t get to see too much of it, though. Just as my body began to reform in earnest, my sight was dragged back under to my metaphysical being. Mana was weaving itself ever tighter into the fabric of my soul. Whereas before, the two forces were relatively ¡®separate¡¯, they were now swiftly becoming one and the same. Soon enough I no longer needed a core, because the entirety of my being had transformed into the perfect receptacle for mana. The mystical substance was what powered my body, what sustained my soul, and what defined my continued existence. At the same time, the mystical energy had undergone a subtle shift. It was no longer just the energy of the world around me, tamed and brought to heel within my core, yet never fully mine. Now, the substance felt like a true extension of me. My soul was one with every strand of it, no matter how miniscule. I knew instinctively that every application of my mana would be faster, more effortless, and far more powerful. A moment later, I felt my consciousness get sucked down to fuse with the new combination of soul and mana. My alarm lasted for but a moment. In fact, this final merging was faster and smoother than any other part of my ascension. I could no longer ¡®see¡¯ my inner self, but I didn¡¯t need to. With my mind, soul, and mana fully integrated, I was intimately aware of everything happening to me. The flow of my mana, the state of my soul, and every little bit of my new body were under constant observation by my subconscious. That meant, when I blinked my eyes open, I actually didn¡¯t need to inspect all the physical changes I had undergone. I was already aware of them. Nor was I thrown off by the alien field of view I now had as my eyes blinked out of concert. Of course, I looked at myself anyway. And while I had exactly zero narcissistic tendencies, I had to admit that I looked good. My skin had darkened into a deep indigo color. My muscles looked like they had been sculpted in the form of some agile athlete. I had even gotten a few inches taller. The biggest changes were in my arms and legs, which now featured feathers all the way up to my knees and elbows. The feathers were the same shade as my wings. Every shift of my hands and feet, and my wings, for that matter, sent the feathers clinking softly, revealing they were metallic in nature. Mia isn¡¯t going to like that. For some reason, this was my very first thought. Then I realized I could do something about it. Running entirely on instinct, I sent a surge of mana through my feathers. They relaxed, for lack of a better word, and the clinking sounds went away. When I ran my fingers gently over the back of my hand and up my arm, and then over my wings themselves, the feathers were even softer than before. That left only two features to check out, and I could conveniently use one to peek at the other. Flexing my wings, I wrapped them around in front of me. The weird, circular mark in the center of each feather had transformed into a fully functional eye at some point during my ascension process. That was when I recognized the first mental sign of my transformation. My human self, half-ascended or not, would have freaked out at least a little at the sight of all those eyes staring back at me. The fact that I was looking myself in the eye, or eyes, rather, definitely would have scrambled my mortal brain. Now, though, I just marveled at the wonder of my own physiology. Gingerly, I ran a finger over one ¡®eye¡¯, then frowned when I still felt the strands of a feather underneath my finger. I could even poke the feather to make little gaps in the eye¡¯s makeup, yet it continued to function normally. It even ¡®blinked¡¯ at me, closing up to resemble the original markings perfectly. Shaking my head in calm amazement, I finally directed all those new eyes at my forehead. I was honestly a little disappointed at the onyx-black, almost crystalline horns I saw there. They weren¡¯t ugly or anything, but they were rather ¡®traditional¡¯ demonic adornments, resembling the horns of a ram. At least they were large and impressive. They looped back and down, close to my chin, before jutting outwards. I could already tell that sleeping with those things was going to be a pain in the ass. Dropping that issue as something future-me would have to solve, I stretched luxuriously, savoring the feeling as every one of my muscles worked in perfect concert. I felt like I could detect and manipulate each one separately. When I suddenly surged forward, fell into a crouch, and then did a perfect backflip from that awkward position, I couldn¡¯t help but grin. My body was more ¡®mine¡¯ than it had ever been, and my control over it was downright insane. Frankly, it made me wonder how a demon could ever lose a fight, if all of us had this same crazy level of physical ability. Us. Wasn¡¯t that a thought? I could no longer refer to demons as ¡®them.¡¯ I was now firmly in their camp. And I felt¡­ fine. Normal. Part of me even felt like I had never been anything other than a demon. I should have been upset about this, seeing as it was obvious manipulation by the Abyss, but I couldn¡¯t conjure up concern or anger. Sighing, I filed that away as something I would need to talk to Glaustro and Bronwynn about later. At the thought of them, I immediately took a step towards the station¡¯s barrier. I wanted to show off, to finally be an indisputable member of the team. Besides, remembering my few friends left me incredibly worried about Mia. Several times during my ascension, I had wavered on the edge of losing my mind. If I barely made it through, what about the cat girl? Sure, she had put on a brave face, but my new instincts and the hazy, foreign knowledge in the back of my mind all suggested that she hadn¡¯t been doing as well as she pretended. I was almost halfway to the barrier¡¯s edge before I froze in place, looked down, and cursed. I¡¯d been wearing only my underwear when I kicked off my ascension, but the process had apparently burned away even that. Mia could wait for just a tiny bit longer. I wasn¡¯t going to go streaking during my first hour as a demon. Chapter 123: New Horizons It felt odd to just know things, to have them drift into my mind as fully formed ideas and convictions when a stray thought triggered recollection. Previously, I knew nothing about ascension beyond the advice I was given and my own limited experience. Now, I knew I could track the entire process when observing a mortal. Just by looking at them, I could gauge how many souls they¡¯d sunk into it already and how close they were to the Abyss. I could even intuit the Emotion they would eventually merge with. I knew I had a way to view souls. I knew I had a way to detect and observe emotions, and even feed on them. I knew all of that and a thousand other subtle facts. But I had never done a single thing on the list. I was working with a whole new set of senses which I had zero practice using, having literally just awakened to them. It was definitely a good idea to complete my ascension within the station. Seeing as it provided perfect isolation from the world outside, I wasn¡¯t immediately bombarded by a thousand new sensations I had no practical experience with. Then again, I¡¯d handled my new sight well enough, even if it was still odd to have nearly 360-degrees vision. My ascension had strengthened my mind enough for that. Maybe that meant I was already equipped to deal with all the other adjustments. Trusting in this theory, and finally dressed once more, I took a confident step outside of the station. I was wrong. I was so very, very wrong. It wasn¡¯t that I found myself incapable of processing everything. The glow of souls, the way they billowed out from demons as they went about their daily lives, the press of Emotion from every direction¡­ my new senses fed it all to my brain and filed it away with remarkable efficiency. It was, ironically, the sheer beauty of what was suddenly revealed to me. There were so many secrets hidden in plain sight, so many layers to existence I simply had no way to perceive before. Saying that I had been blind in the past was by no means a sufficient descriptor. For a moment, I stood there in a daze, just taking it all in. I went so far as to close all my eyes and simply breathe, inhaling the mana and emotions lingering in the air. I immediately scrunched up my nose, though. Sure, the traces of apathy and boredom were appealing. They all fed into Woe, sating something deep within me. Torment, however, hung heavy in the air, and it kind of ruined the taste. It wasn¡¯t that I couldn¡¯t feed on that Emotion. Woe encompassed plenty of Torment, after all. But in this Abyssal layer, Torment was so thickly concentrated that it was liable to make me sick. The worst part was that I had no idea how to block it out, or even if I could. My instincts and odd, inherited knowledge taught me plenty about how to manipulate emotions, coax them out of people, amplify them, or even guide them to take root in people¡¯s minds artificially. None of this applied to cutting myself off from my own food source. ¡°Hayden?¡± The question came from a well-known voice, but it was quiet and tentative, as if the speaker wasn¡¯t sure they were addressing the right person. Jolted from my current state, I looked in Bronwynn¡¯s direction, opening my mouth to ask him what was up with his tone. Then I froze, thoroughly startled. ¡°Affection? Really?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask. The Emotion billowed forth from Bronwynn like a bonfire, entwined with his being as surely as Woe was with mine. I glanced at the soft color of the demon¡¯s skin. ¡°That explains the pink, I guess.¡± He flushed a deep mauve and dropped his eyes. Glaustro¡¯s laughter echoed out into the street, drawing my attention. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re embarrassed now, are you?¡± he taunted, grinning wickedly at Bronwynn. ¡°Wrath,¡± I mumbled, watching the burning pyre of said Emotion as it crackled around Glaustro. Glaustro obviously heard me, because he sent a glare my way. ¡°And? What of it?¡± His voice was oddly challenging, which made me tilt my head at him in confusion. Just as oddly, he was the one who looked away and winced. ¡°Sorry. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I almost dropped the subject, but both his reaction and my curiosity pushed me onwards. ¡°Is there something wrong with Wrath? I mean, isn¡¯t it one of the more powerful Emotions? What am I missing here?¡± I wondered, briefly, at the ease with which I¡¯d forged on. Before my ascension, fear would have led me to avoid any uncomfortable conversations with a demon, even if it was Glaustro and Bronwynn. Now, I felt at ease. Just as briefly, I noted how dangerous this confidence could be. Demon I might be, but I was freshly ascended. Though I had no real idea how I stacked up against other demons, the answer was unlikely to be ¡®well.¡¯ For now, though, I was safe. Glaustro¡¯s voice was quiet, but he showed no sign of blasting me for impudence. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ people do not usually associate leadership and good reasoning skills with Wrath demons,¡± he admitted. ¡°Most of us are nothing but brutes and frontliners.¡± A whole new level of understanding opened up to me. No wonder Glaustro was convinced he didn¡¯t measure up to his brother. If you continuously fell short in comparison anyway, then got told your Emotion made you unsuited to magic and leadership, you¡¯d probably end up with a few confidence problems too. ¡°Glaustro, as both your subordinate and your friend, trust me when I say I don¡¯t think that¡¯s true at all.¡± I spoke with enough conviction that the older demon flushed and looked away, the emotions of embarrassment and fondness flashing briefly from his direction. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I couldn¡¯t hold back the small smile that danced across my lips. It was rare to see him so caught off-guard. I was also relieved to see that a demon¡¯s Emotion didn¡¯t rule their life. Wrath certainly fit the Glaustro I had met way back on Berlis, when he first became my superior officer. He absolutely still knew how to get angry. But he was also definitely not dominated by the volatile Emotion that so obviously marked his existence. Same with Bronwynn, come to think of it. The pink-skinned demon¡¯s Emotion was clearly Affection, but he could be a real sourpuss when he wanted to. It was Bronwynn who spoke next, drawing the sergeant back into conversation, but I was a little distracted. Other than their primary Emotions, which blazed as clearly as two blinding suns, it was tricky to detect what the other two demons were feeling moment to moment. I¡¯d only caught a glimpse of Glaustro¡¯s emotions when they really got out of hand, and just for an instant. I assumed older demons were more skilled at reading nuanced emotions, but I couldn¡¯t help hoping that we all struggled at least a little. It would certainly make me more comfortable in my new demonic life. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t spend any more time examining my new senses. In spite of how relaxed Glaustro and Bronwynn tried to act, occasional surges of worry and stress still peeked through their facades, like little flashes of light that wound through the coronas of their primary Emotions. Eventually, these glimpses jolted me into the present, reminding me that we were missing someone. ¡°Mia¡¯s still not out?¡± My question cut off their chatter, and both demons turned to regard me with carefully controlled expressions. Even their emotional auras stopped swirling and went strangely still. ¡°She hasn¡¯t emerged yet, no.¡± Glaustro gave a backwards glance to the station. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s trouble. Some people just take longer than others.¡± I nodded stiffly. I didn¡¯t think they would outright lie to me, but the stilling of their emotions was clue enough. They weren¡¯t as certain that Mia would be okay as they would like me to believe. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s sit down over here.¡± Not waiting for my response, Glaustro moved towards one of the benches placed strategically around the station. ¡°Standing around is not going to speed things up. Besides, I¡¯m sure you have a few questions you¡¯d like to ask? We can be a lot more open now, about everything.¡± Reluctantly, I lowered myself on a bench across from them. The seat was exceptionally uncomfortable, though whether because of its base design or Torment¡¯s influence, I couldn¡¯t tell. I did my best to put Mia¡¯s predicament out of my mind as I turned towards the two, eying the way they had squeezed themselves onto one bench. The sight was almost comical. Bronwynn was ¡®average¡¯ sized for a demon, but with Glaustro¡¯s bulk, the two barely fit on the bench together. It was enough to raise my spirits slightly, though I was careful to tamp down any trace of mockery from my emotions. Of course, my mood tanked once more when I realized I had no idea what to ask them. Where could I possibly start? There was so much knowledge swirling at the back of my mind. It promised both aid and incredible power, if I could just unlock it. But I had no clue how. ¡°Here, kid,¡± Bronwynn said, his voice amused. ¡°I¡¯ll start things off with a question of my own. What do you know about demonic nobility?¡± I was halfway through saying I knew nothing at all when the question sparked a veritable avalanche of knowledge. I almost gripped my head at the sudden headache pulsing behind my eyes. ¡°Th-the noble ranks start with barons, and go all the way up to grand duke. You need¡­ you need at least an ascendant level soul to become a noble. Radiant isn¡¯t enough. Right?¡± The knowledge that had just blasted into my brain contained so much more than that. So many little differences between a baron, viscount, earl, marquis, duke, and finally grand duke of the Abyss. Only one thing really mattered, though: the difference between a baron and a grand duke was wider than the difference between a regular mortal and a demon. Barons were just starting to dip their feet into the demonic ranks capable of directly manipulating the base power of the Abyss. Grand dukes ruled entire layers. No, that¡¯s not exactly right. They didn¡¯t just rule layers. They practically were the layers they managed to claim or create. The idea seemed ludicrous at first. But then the Torment that choked every corner of the layer I currently called home pervaded my senses again, confirming the suggestions of my newfound knowledge. Every bit of this layer contained the mana of the Grand Duke of Torment, and, as such, his soul. His essence permeated the very air I was breathing. A grand duke within his own layer was practically invincible. ¡°That¡¯s right. Now, here¡¯s another question: what rank of demon are you?¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice was soft and gentle, clearly trying to coax me along rather than overwhelm. In spite of that, I still froze up when I tried to reach for the answer he¡¯d demanded, because it cut right through my conviction that I was still worth very little. I had wanted to say his question was silly, and that I was a normal demon at best. Yet the merest dip into my inherited knowledge shot that claim down with laughable ease. Demons were classified according to their soul level. Annoyingly, the demonic rank was always one tier below the soul. Mortals who ascended with normal rank souls became lesser demons. If you wanted to become a baseline, normal demon, you needed a greater soul. Superior souls became greater demons, and radiant souls became archdemons. Only ascendant souls could enter the nobility ranks. Processing it all, my mind started to catalogue the demons around me according to these new standards. The cute young couple walking down the street had greater souls, reflecting their baseline demon status. The stall owner further away had a superior soul, which made him a greater demon. I felt several of my eyes twitch as they took it all in. Even with the instant understanding I¡¯d received, my head was spinning. Greater souls are ¡®base¡¯ demons, and superior souls are greater demons¡­ how does anyone keep this straight? I groused. But grousing couldn¡¯t distract me from the fact that Bronwynn ¡®only¡¯ had a superior soul, making him a greater demon. Nor could it help me deny that my own soul most closely matched Glaustro¡¯s. Glaustro, my Abyss-granted knowledge insisted, had a radiant soul. That made him an archdemon, the very peak of ¡®peasant¡¯ ranked demons. He was the highest a demon could go before crossing over into nobility¡­ and so was I. For better or worse, my panicking ass didn¡¯t have too much time to fret over the realization that I was apparently stronger than Bronwynn. The next moment, with an absolute wall of roiling pressure, someone emerged from the station, their presence at once familiar and utterly alien. When my many eyes snapped over to the newcomer, I was on my feet before I could stop myself. I didn¡¯t want to stop myself, of course. Why would I, when Mia had finally appeared? A smile already stretching over my lips and her name at the tip of my tongue, I lunged forward ¡ª and ran straight into Glaustro¡¯s outstretched arm. The shock of the impact cleared my head a little, and the wave of anxiety churning around the older demon finished the job, leaving me composed enough to take in my friend properly. I didn¡¯t like what I saw. Mia was moving, but each motion was a jerky mess. Her eyes were vacant. The Emotion surging out of her screamed at the world, laced with unmistakable hostility. ¡°Mia¡­?¡± My voice was a whisper, yet her eyes snapped to me anyway. I saw no fondness in them, or even recognition. Instead, a spark of viciousness claimed her features. That was my only warning before her claws slashed towards my face. Chapter 124: Woe My reaction was instinctual. A sharp jerk of my arm batted Mia¡¯s left hand away, and before her right could forcibly rearrange my facial features, I had vanished in a cloud of mana that left behind a perfect Hayden-replica. The technique Mia had taught me herself was never easier to use. It felt like I could shift my relative position in space with a mere thought, and conjure a whole host of illusionary clones just as easily. Unfortunately, Mia knew the technique as well, and my use of it only seemed to stoke her anger even higher. Mana swirled around her as she began fueling her attacks with magic. The hiss of rage that left her mouth would have tickled all my primal fight-or flight-responses, if I still had any left after my transformation into a demon. ¡°Glaustro! What¡¯s happening?!¡± The hurried shout was all I could manage as I desperately played keep-away with an enraged kitty cat. A kitty cat who was using the spells I had helped her learn in an attempt to end me, with frightening efficiency. Glaustro cursed, and Bronwynn seemed petrified. They both hesitated just long enough for Mia to snag my cheek with her claws, extracting a thin trail of blood. The fact that my blood was now azure mixed with black was enough to distract me into making another mistake. This time, a thin cut burned its way across my left thigh, perilously close to a major artery. For a moment, my instincts went into overdrive. My mana circulation sped up immensely, and I was halfway through a blow of my own before I remembered this was Mia I was fighting. Dread pooled in the bottom of my stomach. We were in the Abyss. If she killed me here, my death would be final. But that worked both ways. Even with my life on the line, I knew beyond any doubt that I couldn¡¯t bring myself to attack her in earnest. I diverted my mana just in time, barely managing to avoid another swipe from Mia¡¯s claws in the process. ¡°Glaustro!¡± ¡°She¡¯s gone feral, damn it,¡± the older demon snapped, worry roiling through his aura. My new senses confirmed he was as conflicted as I was, trying to figure out how to approach the situation without harming Mia. ¡°She¡¯s fully sunk into her Emotion. We need to either wake her up or wait it out.¡± ¡°And how long does that take?!¡± I demanded, then squeaked in fright when Mia¡¯s claws got a bit too close to the space between my legs. ¡°Seriously?! Can you just stick to trying to kill me, woman? Major maiming is not okay!¡± There was no response. The look in her eyes was as murderous as ever. Thankfully, that was when Glaustro finally got off his butt and did something. As Mia lunged after me, stone rose up to swallow her, encasing most of her body in less than an instant and leaving just her head and arms to flail helplessly. Free from the threat of evisceration, I finally got a good look at the new demoness since her emergence from the station. I was glad to see that, in spite of her current state, Mia had apparently been more self-aware than I upon her ascension. She was wearing a tattered black robe. I had no idea where she had gotten it, but at least I wasn¡¯t fighting an enraged cat girl in the buff. I was also oddly relieved that not much had changed about her, overall. Her animal features were a bit more conspicuous. Though her lower half was currently buried in stone, my recent memory helpfully provided the image of a larger-than-ever tail, writhing in the air behind her and poofing up as she tried to kill me. The fur around her arms and legs was more pronounced, looking at once softer and more dangerous than ever. That had a lot to do with its new metallic sheen, coupled with its raven-black color. The most striking change was the addition of horns. They were thinner and more elegant than mine, two simple bone-white protrusions that swept towards the back of her head and stuck close to her skull. They weren¡¯t the only alabaster feature she had developed, though. Her skin was now as pale as her horns, providing a startling contrast to her black fur. Of course, that left the one part of Mia I had never been able to glimpse before: her soul. Just like mine, it was radiant, making her an archdemon. Just like mine, it shone and sparkled like a night sky or some precious jewel. Her essence was positively glowing with power. The only thing that marred the whole impression was her Emotion, writhing around her and reaching for all of us like a hungry beast. And it wasn¡¯t something nice and cuddly like Bronwynn¡¯s. Vengeance. Mia was a demoness of Vengeance, and she was lashing out at everyone around her indiscriminately. This doesn¡¯t make any sense, I thought, my mind spinning. Even in a rage, she was supposed to follow the impulses her Emotion imposed. If that happened to be Vengeance, then she should have been rabidly pursuing people who had wronged her, not the only three people who had gone out of their way to help her. Not the people she considered friends. Or did she? I didn¡¯t know, and the sheer weight of that thought made me nauseous. I felt myself sinking as a familiar chorus rang dismally through my mind: What if she doesn¡¯t think of me as a friend? What if she never liked me to begin with? Why did I even think she might? There¡¯s nothing about me that¡¯s worth such affection. Nothing that would justify friendship. I¡¯m ¡ª ¡°Hayden! Snap out of it and help me!¡± Glaustro growled, his voice strained with effort. Mia was doing a remarkable job of trying to escape. Every second, more and more rock rose up to hold the cat girl down, but her physical strength allowed her to keep her arms free. She kept slamming her hands down on the rock cocoon, cracking it with every blow. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. I forced myself to take a step closer to my thrashing friend, shedding the depressing thoughts as my own Emotion writhed under my skin. It wasn¡¯t Woe that had put those thoughts into my head, however. Ever since I¡¯d accepted it fully, it had curled up inside of me like a kitten content to sleep. Still, there was a reason I ended up with it. The doubts that had lurked underneath the surface of my mind for so long were still there, and I was unpleasantly surprised to find that I was as prone to them as I used to be. What was the point of ascending to a higher level of existence if I remained the same mess as I always was? That doesn¡¯t matter. Mia matters. You need to help her. But¡­ how? ¡°What are we supposed to do? How long does this kind of thing last, usually?¡± I demanded the answers in a hurry when my Abyss-granted knowledge failed to provide them. ¡°It depends,¡± Bronwynn hedged. As he stepped forward and spread his arms wide, a spell matrix began to form in front of him. ¡°It could peter out soon, or¡­ well, it can last much longer.¡± ¡°Define ¡®much longer¡¯,¡± I ground out through gritted teeth, trying to snatch Mia¡¯s wrists out of the air and earning several cuts along my forearms for my trouble. Bronwynn winced. ¡°The longest case of frenzy we have on record lasted a bit over four hundred years.¡± ¡°A bit over?!¡± I repeated, eyes wide. ¡°Well¡­ four hundred and seventy-six years, to be precise.¡± Before I could make it known exactly how I felt about Mia being reduced to a mindless berserker for that long, Bronwynn¡¯s spell finally snapped into place. The matrix seemed to implode. Where it once hovered, a cloud of faintly cyan gas formed and rolled slowly towards Mia. The demoness¡¯s struggles intensified, her mana surging to the point that she almost broke out of her rock cocoon. Then the gas finally enveloped her. I stepped away hurriedly from its spread, but I still caught a wave of reassurance, comfort, and laziness that the spell seemed to impose on the world around it. Immediately, Mia¡¯s movements slackened, and the rock finally managed to close around her arms. Her expression, fierce as it was, gradually started to relax. Even her Emotion began to settle, her aura slowly contracting into a simmer. ¡°Since when can you do something like that?¡± I asked in wonder, eying the cyan cloud that still lingered around Mia. ¡°I¡¯ve been¡­ practicing, while you were out of it,¡± Bronwynn admitted with obvious discomfort. ¡°It didn¡¯t work on you.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a good thing it¡¯s working on ¡ª¡± Mia¡¯s Emotion erupted with renewed viciousness, and I wanted to curse myself for my stupid tongue. I had to go and jinx it within seconds of things turning for the better. Looking at Mia¡¯s face, I was startled by what I saw. She seemed to be in genuine pain, features twisting in anguish as she oscillated between calm, terror, and mind-numbing rage. The turmoil finally resolved itself in an ear-bursting shriek of frustration and a wave of mana far more potent than I had ever felt from the cat girl. It blew apart Glaustro¡¯s spell, and Bronwynn¡¯s fared no better. Mia¡¯s mana shredded both the rock cocoon and the cyan cloud instantly. Then she leaned forward, drawing her claws back for a swipe, and I knew she was going right for my throat again. That still didn¡¯t prepare me for what she did next. Slowly, as if struggling to push out the word, her lips parted. ¡°Vengeance!¡± The eruption of Emotion that followed nearly blew me off my feet. Vengeance was suddenly everywhere, trying to worm its way into everyone. I heard more than a few onlookers scream. They had gathered a short distance away to watch the fun, but now their cries devolved into animalistic screeching. Bronwynn staggered in place, eyes wide and startled as he clutched at his chest. I could see his soul struggle under the assault, his defenses failing by the second. The only one who seemed relatively unaffected was Glaustro, but even he stumbled for a moment. I, meanwhile, found myself frozen, the connection between my mind and body briefly severed. My soul filled with the images of every injustice I had ever suffered, even if Mia¡¯s Emotion failed to draw forth the primal desire to extract retribution. At the same time, my instincts screamed at me to move, to do something, as her claws drew ever closer. With death drawing near and my mind churning with doubt, I did the only thing I could. I sank into my own Emotion, letting it subsume all else. A wave of Woe slammed out into the world, and it was Mia¡¯s turn to stagger. ¡°Woe¡­ unto¡­ me¡­¡± The words tore out of me before I could consciously process what I was doing. The curse came naturally. It amplified the Emotion swirling in my chest, causing a wave of anguish to slam into my mind. Tears slipped from all my eyes of their own accord, sliding down my cheeks and wings. I was weeping azure, and the liquid sizzled wherever it impacted anything that wasn¡¯t me. In the back of my mind, all my most negative emotions kept roiling, turning in on themselves like a black hole. As the void grew, so did the pressure it exerted. It was building ¡ª it was desperate to explode ¡ª ¡°WOE UNTO YOU!¡± I threw my head back and screamed the words, pouring all of my misery out into the world and relishing the sensations that followed. Some newfound part of me found nothing but sick satisfaction as I forcefully pumped every soul within reach full of every worst thought I¡¯d ever had, every dark, cloying emotion. I wanted them to feel it all. I wanted them to suffer as I did. I wanted ¡ª A punch snapped my head to the side, and sanity reasserted itself rather forcefully. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare go off the rails too,¡± Glaustro demanded, pointing with a shaky finger. ¡°Look at what you¡¯re doing!¡± I looked, and immediately felt like collapsing in on myself. Bronwynn was on the ground, weeping. The demons that had been affected by Mia before were gibbering in anguish. Some were clawing at their own bodies. Some were shaking, curled up into balls. Others were all but comatose, their eyes hopeless and vacant. Even Glaustro, functional though he was, had tears streaming down his cheeks. ¡°I did that?¡± I whispered, yet needed no confirmation. I could feel it, after all. Woe had forced its way into each and every one of them, all on my command. ¡°I swear, the two of you will be the death of me,¡± the older demon snarled, brushing his face off roughly as he glared at me. The two of us¡­ I immediately turned to check on Mia. The newly minted demoness was on her knees, but she looked more shaken and distraught than overcome with Woe. Instantly, I was there next to her, my hands reaching out hesitantly. She startled at my approach, but then recognition dawned. This time, there was no overwhelming desire for my blood shining back at me from those black and gold orbs. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m so, so sorry. I ¡ª¡± I hugged her, cutting off whatever she wanted to say next. She froze up for a moment. Then shaking hands closed around me in turn, and I felt a growing wet patch on my shoulder where she buried her face. Glaustro cursed again behind me, but at this point, I knew him well enough to recognize when he was cursing out of relief rather than frustration or anger. ¡°Sure,¡± he snarked. ¡°Go ahead and just collapse there. Make a mess and then leave me in charge of getting us out.¡± The stone beneath us rumbled. A second later, it formed into a platform and raised us into the air. I looked over just in time to see Glaustro lift Bronwynn up with startling gentleness. Then the sergeant was beating a hasty retreat from the station, Bronwynn in his arms and our platform floating after him. My only reply was a bitter smile. Let him gripe. He didn¡¯t really need my help, and I wasn¡¯t about to move. I had Mia back. In that moment, nothing could convince me to let her go. Chapter 125: Upward Mobility ¡°You can stop stealing glances at the door now,¡± Glaustro declared, making no effort to hide his amusement. ¡°No one¡¯s going to break it down looking for you.¡± He had a point, I supposed. Several hours had passed, and no one had shown up to punish us. It just felt¡­ odd, to say the least. We had left behind a a street full of terrorized demons. There were multiple witnesses. Considering demonic memory, we could be identified in a matter of minutes. In spite of that¡­ nothing. I shook my head in disbelief. ¡°Do they really not care?¡± An upset grumble interrupted Glaustro¡¯s reply, reminding me to keep my hand moving. As soon as we returned to our lodgings in Glaustro¡¯s troop compound, Mia had wasted no time in curling up right on top of my wings. Cuddling against my side, she had then proceeded to lift my hand and plop it down on top of her head. It took some prodding on her part for me to realize she was expecting me to pet her, which I did. Continuously. Now, hours later, I had even more reason to be happy with the results of my ascension. My muscles weren¡¯t the slightest bit achy. If I were still a mortal, my hand would have fallen off. Glaustro shrugged in response to my question. ¡°No, they don¡¯t care. As long as no one gets permanently killed, most other issues can be solved. It¡¯s amazing what a demonic mind and constitution can shrug off.¡± I genuinely hoped he was right, because I didn¡¯t like the way Mia was acting. Other than her silent demands for petting, the cat demoness had refused to communicate so far. Any attempts to prod her into letting me go, even just long enough to grab something to eat, had been rejected. Sure, it was cute, but it was also deeply worrying. ¡°I¡¯m going to venture a guess that anyone who¡¯s weak doesn¡¯t have a fun time of it in the Abyss,¡± I grumbled, instead of revealing any of my concerns. ¡°The weak don¡¯t have a ¡®fun time¡¯ in Torment,¡± Bronwynn corrected me drolly. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of circles out there that are much more hospitable. Passion, for example.¡± I cast a quick glance at the demon, who was sitting on the couch right next to Glaustro. The sergeant had sent for food an hour ago, so both of them were holding mostly empty plates on their laps. They were also nursing drinks which, according to them, could actually have an effect on demons. Judging by the remarkably happy smile on Glaustro¡¯s face, that was probably true. Before I could answer Bronwynn, I got distracted for what felt like the millionth time by my new senses. They were taking a while for me to adapt to. It wasn¡¯t that I couldn¡¯t handle their input, but there was just so much to notice. What caught my attention in this particular moment were the two demons on the couch. I wasn¡¯t sure what it meant, but the wisps of Bronwynn¡¯s primary Emotion weren¡¯t just floating around him like they usually did. Instead, they almost seemed to be creeping towards Glaustro, dancing around the other demon¡¯s aura like they were about to latch on. ¡°Why is your¡ª¡± A sudden knock on the door cut me off, and my new senses informed me that a trio of souls was now outside my room. I tensed immediately, all of my previous worries slamming back into the forefront of my mind. Even Glaustro and Bronwynn stiffened, but only for an instant. Then the former all but teleported to the door and wrenched it open, face twisted in a scowl. ¡°What do you want?¡± His aggression was met by pure indifference by the three demons. Two were mountains of pure muscle encased in thick plate armor, while the last one was wearing a robe and looked like he had never picked up a weapon in his life. ¡°Am I talking to one Glaustro, currently in possession of a sergeant title?¡± the robed demon asked calmly, not a hint of emotion slipping into his voice. Really, his aura was barely there. Dispassion weighed over him like a blanket and etched itself into every line of his face. Everything from the chalky white of his skin to his skeletal features made me want to give up and just stare at a wall. I had to blink my eyes several times and shake my head before I managed to clear it. Then I instinctively drew on my own Emotion, pulling it around myself like a protective blanket. The two bruisers, Anger and Rage respectively if I was reading them right, looked in my direction suspiciously. The death of all ambition in demon form didn¡¯t even twitch an eye. He just kept staring up at Glaustro. ¡°Yes. That would be me. Why?¡± my sergeant growled, clearly still ready for violence. ¡°Excellent. The general himself has bid me deliver this to you.¡± The chalk-white demon thrust an official-looking scroll at Glaustro, solid gold and bound with a fancy purple ribbon. ¡°Consider this your proof of summons. I wouldn¡¯t keep the general waiting for long, if I were you.¡± The dour demon turned and began to stroll away without waiting for an answer. The two bruisers with him shot us all glares, then hurried after their charge. It took a second for a pale-faced Glaustro to remember himself and finally shut the door. None of us spoke as he untied the scroll and scanned the contents. His expression first melted into relief, then morphed into concern, and finally settled into a quiet determination. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°It seems like I¡¯m going to have to visit the general, immediately.¡± ¡°Is it about what happened today?¡± I asked, still battling a few remnants of irrational fear. Glaustro shook his head. ¡°No. He¡¯s finished deliberating over the Lagyel mess. From what I can tell, all the officers in charge of that invasion are getting summoned. This is¡­ official. And big. There might even be other officers there, from invasions that have recently concluded.¡± ¡°Can we come with you?¡± To my shock, it was Mia who¡¯d spoken. The cat demoness had lifted her head at some point, regarding Glaustro with worried eyes. I suspected mine reflected much the same emotion. ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± Glaustro replied. ¡°At my rank, I can only bring my second with me. And I wouldn¡¯t want you there anyway. I don¡¯t know what the general has decided, but none of us came away from that invasion looking good. If they¡¯re going to punish someone, I¡¯d rather you stay out of the mess.¡± Bronwynn nodded, already standing up. ¡°Right. Well, that means I¡¯m going.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I don¡¯t want any of you there if the general decides to punish every fuck-up today.¡± ¡°I did.¡± Bronwynn shrugged, remarkably composed in the face of Glaustro¡¯s glower. ¡°I also heard you say you can bring your second. Last time I checked, that¡¯s me. And I¡¯ve decided I¡¯m coming.¡± The two stared at each other for several excruciatingly long seconds. To my surprise, it was Glaustro who looked away first, huffing in exasperation. ¡°Fine. Fine! I warned you not to already. Whatever happens is on your head. You two! Don¡¯t you even think about getting off that bed until I¡¯m back.¡± I felt so very, very tempted to be a smartass. Judging by the challenge in Glaustro¡¯s eyes when he looked at me, he knew it, too. In the end, though, I resisted the temptation and kept my silence. We had put him through enough already. ¡°Good. No talking back. You¡¯re learning, at least.¡± The sergeant grimaced. ¡°I swear, every time I take you outside, you get into some kind of trouble. Every time. Just¡­ be good while we¡¯re gone, at least today.¡± With those parting words and one final suspicious look, he followed Bronwynn out and shut the door behind him. Silence lingered in their wake. It took less than a minute for me to feel the need to fill it. ¡°Want to follow them?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°It could be fun.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t seen the general in a while. Maybe he still remembers us?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you want me to just keep petting you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Her voice was so quiet and fragile that I immediately felt bad for my snarky attempt to get her to break her rejection streak. Looking down, I saw she had buried her face into my side again. ¡°You know, you can look at me.¡± I kept my tone soothing and didn¡¯t stop running my fingers gently through her hair. ¡°In fact, I¡¯d prefer it. You¡¯re kind of digging your horns into my side in this position.¡± I hoped the teasing lilt to my voice would be signal enough that I was just trying to break the awkward mood, but Mia winced and scooted a bit, pointing her horns well away from my ribs without lifting her eyes to mine. It seemed like I needed a bit more prompting to get my cat talking to me again. ¡°What are you even apologizing for?¡± ¡°You know what. I ¡ª I almost¡­ I could have¡­¡± Her voice got quieter and quieter. The following sniffle revealed that she was on the verge of tears again. ¡°That wasn¡¯t your fault, Mia. I almost lost it, too. Both during my ascension and, well, when we were trying to help you. This is just¡­ new. We¡¯re new. Literally. We were remade in the image of the Abyss. It¡¯s not a small thing to go through.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it? You don¡¯t even know why I ended up with this Emotion. I never told you a thing about my past.¡± I paused, but forced my fingers to keep moving an instant later. ¡°Do you want to tell me?¡± She shook her head against my side. ¡°Then you don¡¯t have to. Still not your fault, though. I haven¡¯t really known you for long, but you¡¯re not the type to just go on a rampage, Mia. There must be a reason. Besides, I refuse to blame you for losing control.¡± She sniffled again, and there was definitely a growing wet patch on my side where she was pressing her face. ¡°Just like that?¡± ¡°Just like that. I mean, come on. Remember my recent condition? Did you blame me when I went ahead and pushed too hard towards ascension like an idiot?¡± ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t like it when we couldn¡¯t wake you up.¡± I rolled my eyes, but the hint of humor in her voice was enough to send my heart soaring. I didn¡¯t like seeing her all¡­ defeated. Morose? Whatever the word for it, I needed my stoic cat demoness back. ¡®Morose¡¯ suited her about as badly as worry suited Glaustro. ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll try not to go into an Emotion-induced coma again anytime soon. In exchange, how about you eat something?¡± I pointed to the rest of the food Glaustro had sent for, waiting on the bedside table. ¡°You haven¡¯t had a bite since ascension.¡± Technically, as demons, we didn¡¯t need food. What we needed were souls, mana, and emotions. The latter two were particularly important, since souls were more a means of growth than a dietary staple. Of course, the chefs of the Abyss knew this, which is why their demonic menus came with many fascinating dishes that could provide all a growing demon needed. The mana saturation level of the dishes was so high, I would have exploded from a single bite as a mortal. But now? When Glaustro offered me a serving of the meal he¡¯d ordered, I found it the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. That I could feel it nourishing me was a nice bonus, too. ¡°Fine.¡± It took a minute, but Mia finally agreed in a quiet voice. When she pulled her head away from my side, she was almost pouting. I couldn¡¯t stop the grin that stretched over my features. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you adorable,¡± I teased, then did the unthinkable and booped the cat¡¯s snoot. Honestly, the only thing that spared me from her claws was the fact that I shoved a plate of food in her face. She still full-on snarled at me as she dug into the meal, but that lasted all of two seconds before the wonderful taste registered. Then she purred and gave her full attention to the plate of roast¡­ something, I¡¯ll call it pork, mushrooms, and pasta, all topped with a delightful sauce that tingled against the tongue. When she was done, I returned the plate to the nightstand, and we lapsed into a comfortable silence. Some tension between us I hadn¡¯t even been aware of earlier faded, and we just enjoyed each other¡¯s presence. At least, until we remembered where Glaustro and Bronwynn were. That was when we both started radiating worry. Our feelings compounded and amplified each other¡¯s, surging through the room and out into the rest of the barracks. After a few hours, we had all but twisted ourselves into a fit, and more than one of the demons who shared the building actually came over to check on who was having a panic attack. Not something I was expecting, but the genuine concern on the faces of our fellow soldiers under Glaustro was oddly touching. At long last, I sensed the warmth of two familiar souls as they ventured into the range of my mystical perception. Both Mia and I shot up at once, then collapsed in a tangle of limbs, managing to extricate ourselves just as Glaustro and Bronwynn arrived at the door. They were moving at a speed which alarmed me, but all other emotions gave way to confusion when the door was ripped open and I was greeted by two smiling faces. ¡°Major!¡± Glaustro shouted, his smile stretching even wider somehow. ¡°He made me a major!¡± Chapter 126: Responsibility ¡°Major? The general made you a major?¡± For a moment, all my anxiety crashed head-on with the good news Glaustro had just shared, leaving me dizzy. Sudden elation for my friend didn¡¯t mix well with my persistent, lingering fears. Before long, though, the positive emotion won out, and I broke into a wide smile. ¡°Congratulations!¡± Glaustro laughed, happiness positively radiating out of him as he surged forward and squeezed both Mia and me in a bone-crushing hug. Bronwynn followed, watching us with a small, satisfied smile in place as he watched. The annoying butt¡¯s smile widened into a grin when he saw me frantically gesturing for him to save us. I would have begged, but Glaustro had completely squeezed all air out of me on first impact. When the jolly demon finally pulled away, I was left gasping and wide-eyed, and Mia looked more poofed out and frazzled than ever. The glance we exchanged spoke volumes: when celebrating with Glaustro, we were never letting him get his hands on us again. My poor, poor wings. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this!¡± Thoroughly unaware of our pain, Glaustro continued to pace in his excitement. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get promoted again¡­ ever! I thought he was summoning us for a punishment. The legion doesn¡¯t typically tolerate failure. Instead, he was ecstatic about all we learned in that world. Apparently, the grand duke has been looking for a Primordial for ages. I don¡¯t know why, but¡­¡± He launched into several theories, each more fantastical than the next. Really, was building a ¡®living¡¯ layer of the Abyss even possible? If the grand duke was looking for a Primordial in general, he couldn¡¯t have known he¡¯d run into an earth-aligned one¡­ Of course, we all chimed in with appropriate responses, encouraging Glaustro to continue his wild theorizing. The demon looked happier than I¡¯d ever seen him, save perhaps for the flash of joy when he confirmed both Mia and I were alive and had successfully ascended. None of us wanted to ruin the moment for him. Still, I had a lot of questions, and one eventually burned its way out of me. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to our unit now? You got us way back when you were just a captain, so¡­¡± ¡°Ahhh, yes. We are going to have to move, obviously.¡± Glaustro smirked, then proceeded to turn up his nose with a pompous air. ¡°This compound is no longer fit for one of my station.¡± Part of me unclenched, though not entirely. ¡°Of course, your glorious majorness, but I was more asking who¡¯s going to be our direct superior officer. Unless I¡¯m really wrong in my assumption, you¡¯re going to be recruiting more demons, right? I mean, a major can have, what? Four sergeants under them? And each sergeant gets two captains? You¡¯re way overdue for more soldiers.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a good thing I have three of my four sergeants in this room, then,¡± Glaustro replied smugly, an odd kind of vindictiveness gleaming in his eyes. Wait, what? ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°What do you mean, what? Why do you think I waited so long to decide who my two captains would be? Sure, Bronwynn was going to be one, but what about the second? Tell me: if not you or Mia, who would I trust with that kind of thing?¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I scraped the depths of my memory, finding it remarkably easy in the wake of my ascension. ¡°What about Tybalt?¡± The mention of the demon who had briefly served as Glaustro¡¯s second made him tilt his head in confusion. ¡°What about him? He¡¯s an excellent guard and fighter. He made it out of Lagyel fine. Still, he wasn¡¯t the one I spent most of my time getting to know. Honestly, with the way you two were rushing things, I knew you¡¯d ascend sooner rather than later. I just thought I would only have one promotion spot to offer, not two.¡± ¡°But¡­ we are freshly ascended demons! We don¡¯t understand all the political nuances and stuff of the legion. I barely even know what all the different divisions are.¡± ¡°You are trying awfully hard to convince me not to promote you. You don¡¯t want the post?¡± Glaustro¡¯s tone was teasing, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness that said he was genuinely asking. ¡°Just¡­¡± I paused, then settled on the most fundamental question swirling in my mind. ¡°Really, why us?¡± ¡°Because I practically raised you both from your weakly mortal selves into relatively stable, powerful demons. I ask again: if I can¡¯t trust the two of you, who can I trust?¡± Again, there was that teasing note, but the sincerity of the question more than made up for it. I opened my mouth to ask if he really thought we could handle that sort of thing, but Mia beat me to it with a question that made me freeze up. ¡°Would we have to go on separate missions if we accept?¡± she asked bluntly, eyes slightly narrowed. ¡°We¡¯ve been getting jerked all over the place, and we never consistently worked with other units.¡± ¡°No, of course not!¡± Glaustro rushed to assure her, then sighed for the first time since his promotion. ¡°Listen, my situation was a bit¡­ awkward. All the other captains were promoted before we ever set foot on Berlis.¡± I blinked, my brow furrowing. ¡°And?¡± ¡°And, that meant they were promoted by someone. Most likely a sergeant, whom they were supposed to join once the invasion was over. That sergeant answered to a major, who answered to a colonel, who answered to one of the four lieutenant generals, who answer only to the general himself. But I was promoted by the general. Effectively, we found ourselves outside of the normal chain of command.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we have just joined the major who approved Wilhelmina¡¯s promotion? You took her place, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes and no.¡± Glaustro sighed again, and I watched politicking suck the joy out of him one step at a time. ¡°Wilhelmina is¡­ let¡¯s say, important, because of her standing. The general stripped her of command, but you could bet that her superior reinstated her as soon as she was back in the Abyss.¡± ¡°So, she got her spot back, and¡­ with no major to consult, we were on our own?¡± I didn¡¯t like the sound of that. ¡°But it was the general himself who promoted you!¡± ¡°Exactly. He did it, and that¡¯s why no one tried to strip me of my rank. But no one officially claimed us, either. Honestly? It was probably Graighast we can thank for finding an invasion to join so quickly. His chain of command led directly back to Crewe, which is why we ended up on Lagyel.¡± I chewed my lip, stewing on all the revelations. Mia, of course, was still moving at her own pace. ¡°So all your troops will be part of the same invasions?¡± ¡°Yes, Mia.¡± Glaustro chuckled good-naturedly. ¡°My troops go where I go, unless I explicitly deploy them elsewhere. That typically isn¡¯t required of majors. Colonels and up do need to split their troops between different worlds, but I still don¡¯t have that many. Well, I only have the one unit, really. We¡¯re going to need to recruit so many people. I don¡¯t even want to think about budgeting and logistics¡­¡± Glaustro collapsed into a chair with a groan, running a hand down his face. Bronwynn was at his side quickly, smiling as he elbowed the bigger demon. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, major mine. I¡¯ll help. I used to do a desk job, remember? I was a clerk, once upon a time.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡± I mused. ¡°That explains so much.¡± The quip earned me a glare from Bronwynn. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°Oh, you know¡­ your sunny disposition,¡± I teased. The corner of Glaustro¡¯s lips twitched, proving that I had successfully distracted him from his oncoming panic attack, at least for the moment. Bronwynn, of course, launched into a series of idle threats. Tuning them out with ease, I began to really consider the offer Glaustro had just made. Did I want a promotion? I didn¡¯t think I deserved one, and that wasn¡¯t just my Emotion talking. I knew practically nothing about leading, or what being an officer entailed, or¡­ well, anything past being a soldier. Glaustro¡¯s offer made sense from the angle of trust. It was also undeniable that, as archdemons, both Mia and I had the raw power required of an officer. That didn¡¯t mean I could truly stand in for an archdemon, though. It was just like with my promotion to Archmage, or even the previous mage ranks. I had all the base abilities and raw force of an archdemon with none of the training, knowledge, or experience. To grow into the role of a sergeant, I would have to improve on so many different fronts that it wasn¡¯t even funny. Granted, I was now a demon. I could suck down a couple dozen souls to drain them of their skills and knowledge, no problem. But I didn¡¯t think that would really count. After all, thanks to the Absorption Station, I had done my fair share of consuming souls as a mortal. How many of the things I had learned and stolen were truly ¡®mine¡¯? How many was I using to their full potential? The depressing answer was¡­ not many. Even the swordsmanship I had stolen so very long ago was basically neglected. Its true use required two weapons, and I mostly just relied on my mother¡¯s sword to handle combat. To reach the skill level expected of me, I would first need more training or souls, followed by a lengthy period of time to figure myself out and truly forge my own style of combat. And that was just for swordsmanship. Could I handle leading people, on top of that? On the other hand¡­ did I want to disappoint Glaustro by saying no? Over and above everything: did I want an official title within the Legion of Torment? The answer that popped into my head almost immediately was as unexpected as it was annoying. Yes. Yes, I wanted official standing. Sure, it came with a heavy weight of responsibility. But it would also translate to more resources, and eventually, more power. Power I could then use to protect those I cared about, like Mia, and Bronwynn, and Glaustro. I hated feeling helpless while waiting for Mia to emerge from the station. I hated having to acknowledge the fact that I was just another soldier in the battle of Lagyel, incapable of truly making a difference. I hated it when Crewe used a single burst of Emotion to sunder my mind utterly and compel me to do his bidding. So¡­ ¡°I accept.¡± Glaustro paused in his latest rant and sent me a confused look, prompting me to clarify. ¡°I want to be one of your sergeants. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll do a good job. But if you think it¡¯s worth the risk of accepting someone untested like me, I accept.¡± Glaustro¡¯s face positively lit up. Then he turned to Mia, his eyes expectant. The cat sighed and shot me a dirty look, but nodded. ¡°If we can all stick together, then okay. I accept too.¡± ¡°You are not going to regret this,¡± Glaustro declared with enthusiasm. I tensed, catching a twitch in his arms that suggested he was about to rush in and hug us again. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t. I was pretty sure my wings were still healing from the last bout of his affection. ¡°Really, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen someone try so hard to convince people to accept a promotion,¡± Bronwynn groused, rolling his eyes at us. ¡°Do you have any idea how hard people typically struggle for those?¡± Glaustro¡¯s face momentarily clouded, but then a smile was back on his lips. ¡°Yes, well, I¡¯m not going to make people fucking grovel for my favor. I¡¯m going to pick people I like and who I think deserve it. Am I biased? Sure! But I refuse to ask for a thousand years¡¯ worth of salary or a slave contract in exchange for a promotion.¡± ¡°They really do that?¡± My shock must have shown on my face, because he huffed at me in amusement. ¡°Yes and no. Some just demand oaths of loyalty. Sometimes, you have to bribe certain officials even to get considered for a promotion. Higher rank officers typically don¡¯t go looking for people to promote. They either have their own people lined up, or they rely on bureaucrats to find suitable candidates for them. I got stuck at captain for so long because I refused to suck up to superiors or pay bribes.¡± The last part was nothing new, of course. I¡¯d heard that rant from Glaustro many times before. But this time, he moved on quickly, regaling us with tales of the glorious future that awaited us. As I watched the new major wax eloquent in his joy, I felt an odd, fuzzy warmth fill me. Here was someone who had been passed over and neglected so many times that he ended up on Berlis, of all places. It was a humiliating prospect for such an experienced soldier. Now that his fortune had shifted, I wouldn¡¯t have blamed him for shutting everyone out and hogging all the hard-earned benefits to himself. Yet the instant Glaustro had real power, here he was, trying to pull all of us up alongside him. Despite our initial unpleasant meeting, I had been thankful to the demon for some time now. He had even become a friend, someone I valued, trusted, and cherished. But it was only in this moment that I committed myself to do whatever I could to support Glaustro¡¯s climb through the ranks of the Legion. Not because I knew he would drag me with him right up to the top, kicking and screaming, if I let him. My newfound resolve was based solely on my genuine conviction that he deserved it. Besides, friends are meant to support each other, no? Since he had claimed two former mortals as his friends, I supposed he was stuck with us now. Chapter 127: Invasive Planning Having responsibilities sucked, and Glaustro was a horrible friend for suckering me into accepting a promotion. Okay, that was harsh. But in my defense, my emotions were all more intense since my ascension. The feeling I once would have described as ¡®annoyed¡¯ was now a ball of pure frustration boiling deep in my chest. And after four days of dealing with legion bureaucrats, I was¡­ annoyed. No one wanted to cooperate. No one made a single thing easy. You want the forms required for your major to declare you a sergeant? Sure, but we¡¯re going to make you go to three different departments, argue with at least seven different clerks, get told about twenty times you¡¯re in the wrong spot, and then, maybe, maybe, we¡¯ll give you the form itself. Which is invalid without at least three different signatures of various higher rank clerks who, it seemed, only worked when they felt like it. And that was just getting myself and Mia instated as sergeants! What made it worse was that we were on a deadline. Right after celebrating our acceptance of his offer, Glaustro had sheepishly informed us that there would be a massive ceremony soon where officers of all ranks would receive their invasion assignments. And by ¡®soon¡¯, he meant in one week. We had no idea where we would be sent, or with which of the four lieutenant generals, but Glaustro¡¯s invitation to the event did suggest that we would be included in some capacity. That meant we had only one week to get our promotions confirmed. So, while Glaustro ran around like a madman looking for recruits, Mia and I descended into the literally infernal bureaucracy of hell itself. The whole process should have taken two hours, tops. Our original plan was to get through it on the first morning and then go visit Yules. Instead, we were caught in a neverending loop of meaningless forms. It quickly became apparent that it wasn¡¯t just the convoluted legion paperwork we were dealing with, either. At first, I thought I was imagining it, but I eventually had to acknowledge that the clerks of the administrative division did not like us. Not one bit. Several openly scoffed when they heard whose sergeants we were trying to become. Those who didn¡¯t got a steely look in their eyes. At one point, a head clerk made us wait for close to an hour while she nibbled on some kind of pastry with excruciating slowness, right there at her desk, interspersing every bite with an equally miniscule yet ridiculously loud slurp of some black, bubbling drink. Mia took it all in stride, maintaining eye contact with the woman for the whole duration of the episode. The cat girl didn¡¯t blink once. I was half-convinced that the only reason the woman didn¡¯t make us wait longer was because she was starting to get freaked out. I, meanwhile, seethed. I didn¡¯t think I was important enough to get preferential treatment or anything, but I expected the bare minimum of professionalism. And thanks to my newly strengthened emotions, I wasn¡¯t just ¡®angry.¡¯ I was so livid that I could barely think straight. That explains why it took me two of the torturous four days to figure out what was really going on. Mia and I were just reentering the local administrative office when we all but ran into Mercutio. He was being escorted out by the head of said office, and the two demons were laughing and chatting it up. When my presumed relative caught sight of me, his features twisted into a vindictive sneer. He gestured at us and whispered something, upon which the head of the office got a look on her face quite similar to Mercutio¡¯s. At that point, if I couldn¡¯t put two and two together and identify the culprit behind our bureaucratic nightmare, I may as well have turned down the promotion and told Glaustro to find someone else. I¡¯d have been too stupid to be a sergeant. The only thing that kept me from losing it was the glow of Mercutio¡¯s soul. It was barely brighter than mine. The man was an archdemon, and not a particularly powerful one. A grim smile spread across my lips, and I was able to enter the office without exploding in fury. Of course, it rarely rains without pouring, especially in the Abyss. Our day had begun with Mercutio, so it only made sense that it would end with another unpleasant encounter. Several hours later, when we retreated from the office in defeat for the third day in a row, we were stopped by a demon. He was tall and powerfully built, and his clothes and armor were impeccable. Still, he looked like someone had put him through a wringer. His burnished orange skin looked sickly, and I would have feared disease if my senses didn¡¯t immediately catch the thick stench of Torment that clung to him. Funnily enough, it was my first time seeing a demon of that Emotion. ¡°Mia and Hayden, correct?¡± the demon asked, without introducing himself or even saying hello. I winced as his voice assaulted my ears like nails on a chalkboard. ¡°Yes,¡± Mia snapped, eyes glinting dangerously. She wasn¡¯t in as foul a mood as I was, but then again, that wasn¡¯t saying much. ¡°Move.¡± The demon looked startled, but he actually smiled. ¡°Spiteful. I like that. Means I¡¯m not making this offer to some meek fool unworthy of even being called an archdemon. I¡¯ll make it quick, then. I am formally inviting you to join me as my sergeants. You are wasted under your current employ. Even with a promotion, what are you going to do? Keep chasing after the scrap Crewe sees fit to grace you with?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°And you can promise more?¡± I asked, before Mia could try and rip the guy¡¯s throat out. I¡¯d immediately noted that he was also an archdemon. After a few days of examining various demons and wondering if I could rip their throats out if necessary, I could tell he was powerful. Most definitely too powerful for two freshly ascended demons who hadn¡¯t even had a chance to train as archdemons yet. ¡°Correct,¡± replied the Torment demon. ¡°I am here under the auspices of Lieutenant General Vallinach. Now, I¡¯m not saying the general made a mistake, but I do think his benevolence was misused. Promoting Glaustro at all was a process the lieutenant generals should have been consulted on. To see him rise even higher is a waste of resources.¡± There was something about that name, Vallinach. The moment it came out of the demon¡¯s mouth, Mia¡¯s entire body froze, going completely still. It wasn¡¯t that she tensed, or visibly prepared to strike. If anything, her emotions went completely and utterly blank, fully subsumed by her primary Emotion and made invisible. That only made me more worried. I had seen Mia look at people like that before, and every time, she was wholeheartedly set on their deaths. If I didn¡¯t get us away from the stranger quickly, it was entirely possible that I¡¯d have a fight on my hands, whether it was a smart move or not. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we¡¯re not interested. Loyalty is something we value, and I¡¯m sure your master wouldn¡¯t want to bring traitors into the fold. Those are always tricky.¡± I should have stopped there. I was already walking away, arm carefully entwined with Mia¡¯s in case she lunged, but I couldn¡¯t help myself. ¡°They could even stab you in the back, if you¡¯re not careful,¡± I finished, acid dripping from my voice. I could feel the frustration and anger boiling out of the demon as we walked away stiffly, ready for retaliation at any second. Still, Mia relaxed fractionally as soon as I insulted our would-be recruiter, which made it all worth it. When we got back to our lodgings, which were in the process of being packed up and emptied out, we immediately told Glaustro about both of our encounters. Shocker of shockers, it turned out Vallinach was the lieutenant general responsible for Wilhelmina¡¯s recruitment. There was lots of cursing and muttered threats. Then, despite his extremely busy schedule, Glaustro joined us when we ventured back to the administrative office the following day. Apparently, it¡¯s a bit harder to mess with a high ranking officer of the legion than with two ordinary soldiers hoping to get their promotion approved. A couple hours later, we walked out of the building with our new titles officially conferred, our frustration carefully banked but not forgotten. If we had the chance, I could say with complete certainty that all three of us would happily screw over the administrative division. I didn¡¯t push Mia on her reaction to the mention of Vallinach, and she never volunteered any information on her own. Instead, we both turned our attention to the much more pleasant activity of picking up our new armor. ¡ª I had always liked Passion, drug-like effects on my psyche notwithstanding. But being on the layer as a demon was a whole new experience. The world seemed brighter. Emotions had just a little more oomph behind them, and almost always with a positive twist. The wondrous architecture I had seen before was accompanied by equally wondrous soul and mana structures layered on top, which my mortal senses hadn¡¯t been able to perceive. Mia and I meandered a bit on our way to Yules¡¯ home. And by ¡®a bit¡¯, I mean a lot, seeing as we stopped at every stand, eatery, and coffee shop that caught our eye. By the time we finally reached our destination, both of us had put away enough food and drink to kill ourselves if we were still mortal, and neither of us regretted a thing. After all the stress of the last few days, we deserved it. Entering the Amahis Armory was a fresh experience as well. The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob, an odd sense of vertigo struck me. I practically stumbled inside, the sensation only worsening. Then it suddenly cleared, like it was never there. Mia also stumbled on her way in, validating the fact that it wasn¡¯t just me having an odd reaction to the place. ¡°What was that?¡± she hissed, pressing both hands against her face as if to confirm it was still attached to the rest of her. ¡°Oooohhhhh, well, look at you two!¡± Tibath gushed, already moving closer from behind the counter. The next instant, my face was in the frighteningly strong hands of an enthusiastic demoness who fussed over me like she was my grandma who hadn¡¯t seen me in years. ¡°It¡¯s very nice to see you too, Tibath,¡± I managed to mumble, despite having my cheeks squished. ¡°Have you been eating enough? I get the sense that you¡¯re a bit malnourished. You have been on a steady diet of souls since your ascension, right? Lots of demons don¡¯t know, but that helps¡­ eh, solidify the change you¡¯ve been through. And Mia! Look at you!¡± Finally released, I glanced back at my wide-eyed companion. Mia was in the process of slowly and cautiously backing away, like she thought she could actually slip out of the store before Tibath got to her. Obviously, she failed. There was lots of fussing, lots of mussed fur, and lots of indignant squawks. By the time Tibath was satisfied, Mia was a flushed mess and all but ran to hide behind me. Silly cat. Like I could protect her. I could try for a diversion, though. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind my asking, what was that¡­ feeling when we stepped into your shop? It was like someone clobbered me over the head. I felt like a baseline mortal again,¡± I grumped, with a bit more grievance than I actually felt. ¡°Hmmm? Ahhhh.¡± The demoness smiled on her way back to behind the counter. ¡°Technically, the shop¡¯s not in Passion at the moment. In fact, it¡¯s usually not. Yules and I like to visit all the newly discovered worlds we can in hopes of finding new materials. We¡¯re currently on¡­ Hilzdratch, I think?¡± That brought up all sorts of other questions. ¡°How are we here, then?¡± ¡°Because the shop is only dimensionally transposed with our location on Hilzdratch, of course. You can still visit it from Passion. And when you leave, that¡¯s where you¡¯ll return to. Right now, however? Look out the window.¡± I did, then felt my brain do a weird thing. I briefly saw the Passion streets I expected, before the scenery shifted to some kind of odd city covered in red moss, with demons and reptilian-looking locals strolling the streets. I quickly looked away, not because my senses or brain couldn¡¯t handle it, but because the level of power and control over mana required to pull off something like that boggled my mind. ¡°Neat, isn¡¯t it?¡± Tibath¡¯s smile widened. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll go fetch my daughter. She¡¯s been all over the place waiting for news about you.¡± Waving off our thanks, she vanished into the back hallway. As I watched the demoness walk away, I felt a bit strange. She was always nice, of course. She had helped me and introduced me to Yules when she didn¡¯t have to. Still, it had always felt like she was maintaining a degree of distance between us. That feeling was gone now, and the demoness was nothing but friendliness and warm acceptance. And there was something else¡­ It was only when Yules came into view, running down the hallway towards us, that I finally parsed what my senses were telling me and briefly stiffened. Both Yules and her mother had souls unlike anything I had ever seen before. Not only did they positively radiate Passion, but their souls were ascendant, at the very least. They weren¡¯t just armorers. They were demonic nobility. Chapter 128: Wise Investments ¡°Mia! Hayden!¡± Yules¡¯ excited voice reached us well before she did. When she emerged, stained blacksmithing apron and all, she practically launched herself at us. I staggered from the impact, eyes wide at her unexpectedly hefty weight, which resulted in me knocking into Mia. Shortly, all three of us were on the floor, and I wasn¡¯t sure which of us started laughing first. Regardless, we rapidly devolved into a giggling mess, with more than a few tears on Yules¡¯ part added into the mix. ¡°You asses! I¡¯ve been waiting for so long to hear back from you! I thought the two of you were dead, or mindless, shambling husks, or tearing apart Torment in a frenzy or something!¡± she chided when she finally got her emotions under control, sending a shot of remorse through me. ¡°Sorry, Yules. We¡¯ll make it up to you,¡± Mia promised before I could, petting the her friend¡¯s head. ¡°We got held up. I swear we wanted to come visit first thing after our ascension, but then a bunch of things happened, and, well¡­¡± I sighed, then shook my head. ¡°Just¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± She tried to be subtle about sniffling one final time and failed, then brightened considerably. ¡°You two have to see what I made for you! I even have some extra gifts,¡± she added smugly, pride radiating off her in waves. I laughed at her enthusiasm, glad that any potential bad feelings were already washed away. Really, count on Yules to be concerned with only friendship and her craftsmanship. It was honestly a toss-up which she valued more at any given moment, but those were definitely number one and number two on her priority list. As she scampered away to bring us our stuff, insisting we wait in the main room of the shop, I finally had a chance to reflect on this new revelation about Yules¡¯ nobility. For once, when confronted with a startlingly powerful demon, my first reaction wasn¡¯t dread. Honestly, I felt confused, and maybe a little jealous. Yules was only slightly older than Mia and I. For a demoness her age to be a noble already? It was, frankly, insane. She was obviously a born demon, and likely came from a well-established lineage, but still! After working my butt off and risking my life far too many times, I had barely managed to squeak my way into archdemon. Then Abyssal knowledge began kindling in my mind, and the jealousy melted away. Yules¡¯ high-leveled soul had nothing to do with Yules. It was simply proof of how much her mother loved her. Because when demons discussed the ¡®cost¡¯ of having a child, they meant it far more literally than mortal parents. According to what the Abyss was feeding me, there were two varieties of ¡®born¡¯ demons. First, a demon could literally be born of the Abyss. Formed from Abyssal essence and plopped out into the world full-grown, the new demon¡¯s head would be full of inherited knowledge that allowed them to function, but little else. The souls of such demons were considered the baseline all demons judged themselves by, which is why you needed a greater soul if you wanted to be taken seriously post-ascension. Then there was the second variety of demons: those born to actual parents. In order for a demon to be conceived, both parents had to give up a piece of themselves. This could mean just enough power and soul essence to form a baseline demonic soul, judged by the aforementioned standard. Or the parents could pour far more of themselves into the kindling life, giving the new demon a much more powerful soul and thus a more privileged existence from birth. Tibath, therefore, was full of both deep power and deep adoration for her daughter. I didn¡¯t get much more time to dwell on that realization before Yules came bustling out of the backroom. Her arms were full of two wooden boxes, with another two long objects wrapped in cloth balanced precariously on top. She looked to be seconds away from dropping everything when she finally plopped her burden onto the counter. The way she rubbed her hands made her look like a slightly seedy merchant about to present her wares to unsuspecting prey. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start with the armor sets. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d go all¡­ avian on me, Hayden, but it¡¯ll work just fine. I¡¯ll just need to touch up a few things before you leave. The set will still fit you perfectly, Mia.¡± Yules had outdone herself. The sets she presented to us were trying very hard to masquerade as plate armor, but she had managed to separate the scorpion carapace into individually crafted scales. This made it remarkably easy for us to move around. Even when wearing the full ensemble, I could twist and bend without any discomfort. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Yules was oddly evasive about the enchantments she had placed on the sets. The only comment we managed to get out of her was ¡°Like your current armor Hayden, just better.¡± I dropped the inquiries there. I probably didn¡¯t want to know how much the enchantments would have cost if we hadn¡¯t provided unique materials in exchange for Yules¡¯ services. There was nothing to complain about appearance-wise, either. Whatever Yules had done to process it, the material still resembled glass, but it had taken on a reddish tint that gave our equipment a dash of menace. The scaled motif also lent itself to a naturally fearsome air. From a distance, someone might think Mia and I actually had draconic features. Yules did grumble a little when she had to pull in my leg and forearm armor so it didn¡¯t squish my feathers quite as much, but I believe I paid her back for that by letting her fuss over my wings and feathers. The demoness was quite taken by my new appendages. I could even swear I caught her pouting about not having wings herself. Of course, I then made the mistake of showing off how I could switch my feathers between perfect downy fluff and sharp metallic death implements, at which point Yules looked at me so hungrily that I tried to hide behind Mia. That failed. Obviously. Which is how I ended up getting ¡®persuaded¡¯ to part with quite a few of my feathers in the name of experimentation. I hadn¡¯t tested it before, but removing my feathers was an involved process. The first extraction left a large whole in my arm, not to mention resulting in a startling amount of blood. Yules was extremely apologetic¡­ right until we needed to extract another feather. Then she got her game face back on and yanked. But she did promise me a massive discount on my next order, so¡­ profit? It wasn¡¯t until several hours later, when we had retreated into the backrooms of the shop for more privacy, that Yules finally presented us with her gifts. She had been shooting the long, cloth-wrapped packages furtive glances throughout the day, but seemed to be battling a fair amount of anxiety. Finally, after a few not-so-subtle hints that we would need to leave soon, she caved. ¡°I know I didn¡¯t ask for permission, even if you did leave all the materials with me, but¡­ well, here. You mentioned you needed to upgrade your weapons last time, and I have this uncle, so¡­¡± Though clearly still hesitant, she handed over the two packages. Heart pounding, I very gently unwrapped mine, then felt my breath catch in my throat. The weapon was beautiful. Not quite on the level of my inherited sword, of course, but it held a charm all its own. The blade was long, thin, and wickedly sharp. Crafted out of the scorpion carapace we had left with Yules, it gleamed like a precious gem. Runes and sigils adorned its length. They drank in the light and sent it cascading throughout the sword, which made it hard for my eyes to lock onto the weapon. It almost looked like the blade was wavering in and out of reality. I had little doubt that it would be an utter pain for a foe to keep track of in the heat of battle. The pommel was functional, a simple cross guard that would serve me well, but it came with its own special extra feature. Inserted into the pommel¡¯s base was a large citrine. A single rune shone in the gem¡¯s depths, swirling in all its multi-dimensional glory and making my magical senses tingle. Sharpness, whispered a voice at the back of my mind. For a moment, the sword¡¯s edges gleamed in a way that sent uncomfortable prickles all over my body. The sword came with a scabbard, made out of the same Lagyel material as our armor. However, the carapace had been treated in a way that made it almost perfectly see-through, hiding the vein-line enchantments that covered the scabbard. I couldn¡¯t figure out what they did. Thankfully, I had a very chatty Yules right there. ¡°The swords are much sharper than you might expect, and the nature of the materials used in their forging makes it hard to defend against any attacks you make. The scabbards will be useful, too. They have a hardness enchantment that makes them nearly impossible to damage, and an enchantment of my uncle¡¯s making that will slowly repair any sword you put inside them. Oh, and¡­ um¡­ you can soul-bind them, too.¡± I did so immediately, feeling a rush ripple through my being as I linked to the sword. It was a little more potent than I expected. I stared at my new blade, unable to keep my eyes from shining with glee. Judging from the look of delighted awe (and not inconsiderable malice) on Mia¡¯s face, she was thoroughly taken by the weapons, too. ¡°Next time I try to stab something, it¡¯s going to work.¡± The cat demoness¡¯s voice was terrifyingly quiet, and the smile that stretched her lips sent chills down my spine. Note to self: don¡¯t be the thing she wants to stab. But something else was digging at the back of my mind, preventing me from enjoying my gift fully. Forcing my eyes from the incredible blade, I turned my attention back to Yules. ¡°These can¡¯t have been cheap. Weapons like this¡­ not to mention the armor¡­ it¡¯s too much, Yules. We can¡¯t just accept them. ¡± The demoness flushed and waved me off, pointedly not meeting my eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Really! My uncle was delighted to work on those, and my mother was hovering the entire time I was making your armor. I think she was jealous.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± I glanced at Mia. She must have had the same thought as me, because she looked away from her new weapon long enough to shoot me a nod. ¡°Okay. In that case, at least keep the rest of the carapaces.¡± Emotions warred on our friend¡¯s face as she fumbled for words, but she managed to make her protest eventually. ¡°That¡¯s too much! There¡¯s so much of it left!¡± ¡°And we can use none of it,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Not really. I guess we could sell it all, but¡­ well, you¡¯ll put it to good use.¡± ¡°I want you to have it. This sword is amazing,¡± the cat demoness declared. Then, flushing, she hurried to add, ¡°The armor too, of course! I didn¡¯t mean that¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Yules giggled, Passion visibly igniting ever hotter in her eyes. ¡°And thank you. Both of you. I can do so much with that stuff! Oh, you¡¯re going to be Mom¡¯s favorite customers too, at this point.¡± She might have been teasing, but frankly? If we managed to make it to that status, I wasn¡¯t going to complain. Tibath and Yules had treated us so well already, it was worth putting in the effort to stay on Tibath¡¯s good side. It would have made sense even before I knew Tibath was an incredibly high-leveled demonic noble. With all her personal power added to the mix? Yep, the materials were an excellent investment. Chapter 129: Breskwor If I had known how busy things would get when Mia and I returned to Torment, I wouldn¡¯t have been in such a hurry to end our visit with Yules. As soon as we arrived, Glaustro greeted us with a whirlwind of tasks and requests to fulfill. We were glad to jump in, of course. Both Mia and I genuinely wanted to help our favorite major achieve his ambitions. But after a full day of ¡®officer business¡¯, our resolution was flagging a bit. We had to meet so. Many. People. Glaustro wasn¡¯t content to let his sergeants simply name captains and call it a day. He insisted on thoroughly vetting everyone to help us pick out the best candidates. A few familiar faces did make it in, including my flying instructor, Methialia. But that was only after hours and hours of interviews which we all had to be present for. As if that weren¡¯t time-consuming enough, there was still the process of picking Glaustro¡¯s fourth sergeant, which we were also deeply involved in. The empty sergeant role was especially tricky to fill. Bronwynn, Mia, and I were some of the only people Glaustro could wholeheartedly trust. Eventually, eventually, a name swam up to the top. Imthala, the crystalline/ice demoness I had noted several times in the past. Out of all the demons under Glaustro¡¯s employ, she was the only one with the right mindset and level of power to make it to the rank of sergeant. That was yesterday¡¯s news, however. Literally. My delightful task for the current day was attending the ceremony Glaustro had told us about a week ago, where all the legion¡¯s officers would receive their invasion assignments. Accordingly, my fellow sergeants and I were lined up behind Glaustro in one of Torment¡¯s plazas, with our new captains behind us. Such a gathering wouldn¡¯t typically be a bad thing, or a very big ask. The problem was that we were the only group without a higher ranking officer. Glaustro¡¯s line was flanked on both sides by two other columns, each led not by a major, but by one of the legion¡¯s four officially appointed lieutenant generals. Like orphans on a school trip, we watched officers all around us ¡®take shelter¡¯ behind their superiors, only to realize there was no shelter for Glaustro. And the other officers were not pleased with us. The venomous glares we were receiving from every direction made that abundantly clear. The closest thing we had to an ally was Crewe, but he was on the far left of Glaustro¡¯s line. That meant we had a whole other column of hostile officers separating us from the one lieutenant general who didn¡¯t fully loathe us. We were on our own. I immediately recognized the line to our right as belonging to Vallinach. The gaunt demon he had sent to speak to us was there, near the front of the line. But even if I hadn¡¯t seen him, Mia¡¯s reaction would have tipped me off. Her gaze roved slowly and ceaselessly over every officer in the column, her face and aura both cold and utterly expressionless. The only hint of emotion I got from her was when the lieutenant generals themselves showed up. As soon as her blank eyes landed on Vallinach, she flinched as if struck. The demon in question wasn¡¯t that exceptional, not compared to someone like Crewe. Sure, he had large, blood-red wings that dragged on the ground behind him as he walked. Sure, his entire body was covered in bony, scythe-like protrusions that made it a hazard simply to exist next to him. But his gaunt face and slightly hunched posture didn¡¯t project menace so much as malice, and his skin was a very awkward shade of yellow. His eyes, swirling orbs of pure noxious green, didn¡¯t strike my soul with horror the way Crewe¡¯s did. Even so, I hated him instantly. It was a good thing the general showed up, literally materializing out of thin air on the stone podium in front of us, before Vallinach caught me glaring. No matter how carefully I smothered my negative emotions under Woe, a demon powerful enough to attain the rank of lieutenant general was bound to have some serious perception skills, with a temper to match. General Naberius was, as always, a sight. Now that I was a demon myself, I could see the radiance of his soul, which made it difficult to spot the man¡¯s actual features. His essence shone brightly enough to blind me. The lieutenant generals were ridiculous in their own right, though I noted Tibath could actually give them all a run for their money, but the general himself? There was no contest. ¡°Good of you to have gathered here today.¡± The general kicked off the meeting immediately with no nonsense, as I had come to expect from him. ¡°I would have hated to learn one of you missed it.¡± I could tell he was addressing his four direct subordinates, because his soul wound around them like a noose waiting to go taut. All four of the formidable demons looked stiff and irritated, which honestly confused me. Wasn¡¯t it the general who had promoted them to begin with? ¡°I have summoned you all today because there are preparations to be made. Our grand duke has informed me that the Abyss has sent out a warning. We can expect to suffer another angelic incursion in the near future. You will be happy to hear our layer will not be the one to suffer. Their current target is most likely Desire¡¯s holdings, and considering the distance between us, we can expect little to no fighting within Torment itself. However¡­¡± The general paused there, and the weight of his attention intensified until we were all suffering under it. ¡°As always, the Abyss will respond to this incursion with our full might. That means the Legion of Torment will be assisting Desire, and I will not stand for having weak troops or insipid commanders represent us.¡± His words had the intended effect. I saw more than a few officers start to sweat visibly. ¡°Therefore, I am providing you an opportunity to prove yourselves. Our scouts have been scouring the cosmos, looking for new worlds to claim. I have put together a list of invasion options, and I will present them to you all. Your task will be to organize your troops carefully. You can choose to send the full might of your armies into a single world, or break up your officers and have them vie for worlds within their means. Whatever world you can claim, you get to keep.¡± This had a wholly different effect than his previous proclamation. Excited whispers surged through the gathered crowd as officers speculated on what might be up for grabs. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°We will start with the weakest worlds, and the lowest ranking officers allowed to attend today. Any of your captains who wish to tackle the task of invading a world on their own, you may present them to me now.¡± Carefully contained chaos erupted all across the square as the four lieutenant generals immediately began to hand down orders to their respective forces. Glaustro, on the other hand, simply looked back at our gaggle of captains and shook his head, keeping them rooted where they were. Soon enough, a few demons from each of the other four columns stepped forward on shaky legs to approach the grand stone podium. The structure towered over them, forcing them to crane their heads up at an uncomfortable angle just to behold their general. ¡°Very well, then.¡± The general cast a cool, appraising eye over the captains. ¡°Let¡¯s start with Crewe¡¯s lot. Declare your names, and then step forth to choose a world. Be warned, however! Each world can be picked twice. Whether you cooperate with the other captain who chooses to invade the world alongside you, or cast them out, is your own decision to make.¡± This little twist caused another round of whispers to break out, but our group stayed silent. Glaustro¡¯s face was impassive. He was biding his time with impressive composure, and I could feel my fellow officers and I all trying to follow his example. The process of choosing worlds was boring, but swift. The captains were presented with a list of names, each accompanied by a short descriptor, then forced to choose based solely off of that. All the worlds were freshly discovered, and their rank was determined by ambient mana levels and World Will strength alone. There was nothing in the descriptors about materials or local souls. So, unless the lieutenant generals had insider info that allowed them to point their subordinates in the right direction, we were all playing a grand old lottery. Pick a good world with unique materials and interesting locals? Congrats! If you conquer it, you¡¯ll have a gold mine on your hands. The problem was, you were just as likely to end up stuck with a desert world, one that had absolutely nothing to offer in terms of souls or materials. When the captains were finished choosing, the general immediately moved on to sergeants. Once more, Glaustro shook his head. This was just fine with me. I didn¡¯t relish the idea of being responsible for an entire invasion, particularly one where the rewards were so uncertain. Naberius chose to let Cassillyn¡¯s sergeants go first. The demoness was on our far right side, on the other side of Vallinach¡¯s officers, which meant the general wasn¡¯t going through his subordinates based on how we had lined up. Cassillyn gave no indication she was pleased with this, but then again, she was the most enigmatic lieutenant general of the bunch. This was mostly due to the fact that she was covered head to toe in black, wispy cloth, which kept us from catching even a glimpse of her body. Her only recognizable feature was a pair of massive, stag-like horns which gave away every twitch of her head. Sergeants were sorted through with startling speed also. After that, Glaustro could no longer avoid the spotlight. When the general called for majors, he stepped forward. Instantly, Naberius¡¯ attention was squarely on Glaustro, and it stayed there until all interested majors were lined up before the podium. To my utter surprise, I recognized one of them. She looked beaten down and tired. Her soul had a large chunk missing from it, leaving her at a level I associated with archdemons. But it was most definitely Wilhelmina that stepped out from the group of Vallinach¡¯s officers and lined up alongside Glaustro. ¡°This time, how about we start with¡­ Assilocen.¡± Naberius was starting with the majors from the column to our left, and because I was still staring, I noticed Wilhelmina fidget nervously. She fidgeted again when the general called on Crewe¡¯s majors next, rather than Vallinach¡¯s. The longer the process continued, the more visibly anxious she got. Even when her own faction was allowed to choose, the general went all the way through Vallinach¡¯s other majors before reaching her. Finally, though, it was her turn. ¡°Breskwor!¡± the demoness all but shouted. Only then did she relax. Then, something unexpected happened. Instead of allowing Cassillyn¡¯s faction to choose, the general turned his attention to Glaustro with an enigmatic smile. ¡°How about we allow our independent to go next?¡± Glaustro froze for just a second amidst the shocked looks and resentful glares, his eyes darting between the list and his fellow majors. Then his expression grew firm, and conviction shone in his soul. When he spoke, his voice was remarkably strong and steady. ¡°I choose Breskwor.¡± ¡ª Since we were scheduled to leave the next morning, the rest of the day was a frenzy of preparations, made even more stressful by a steady stream of debate between my major and his top sergeant. Bronwynn was not particularly happy with Glaustro. Sure, the major had been forced to make a choice with very little information. But in the Affection demon¡¯s opinion, literally any other world would have been preferable. I still didn¡¯t know what made Wilhelmina so special, but she was afforded better treatment than most could expect, and there were plenty of rumors about how her recruitment was a high point for the legion. As such, to be seen opposing her so blatantly could get us into all sorts of trouble. Then there was Bronwynn¡¯s second point, which did make me a little anxious. If we managed to claim even a portion of Breskwor, Glaustro would have stolen from Wilhelmina twice. First her posting and her troops, and now a world she was anxious to get her claws into. There were worse reasons to hold a grudge, and Wilhelmina seemed like a demoness quite prone to those. Of course, Glaustro¡¯s reasoning was just as valid. Even I had been able to spot Wilhelmina¡¯s anxiety and the rush with which she had proclaimed her choice. Choosing to follow her pick instead of taking a risk on an unknown world was the safest bet Glaustro could make for our future development. No one got that stressed out over a world with nothing to offer. Picking anything else could easily have gotten us stuck with a dud. In my opinion, Glaustro¡¯s choice was worth any accompanying risk. But the next morning, when we all gathered in my room for a final equipment check, I couldn¡¯t help voicing some of my deeper concerns. ¡°I get why you chose Breskwor, I really do, but what I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± I hesitated, then pressed ahead. ¡°What is this entire situation really about?¡± ¡°Hmmm?¡± Glaustro looked at me vaguely, still half-stuck in the mire of contemplation he¡¯d been sinking into all morning. ¡°I was just wondering about all the fuss,¡± I persisted. ¡°Getting to keep a world you¡¯ve invaded is supposed to be super rare, right? You said so yourself. So, for the general to allow it¡­ well¡­¡± I trailed off meaningfully. Glaustro sighed, looking even more troubled. ¡°Yes, you are right. It is as rare as I made it out to be. But it¡¯s not every day that we have an angelic incursion, though. I suppose the general wants us as fired up as possible so he can pick out the best representatives for the legion to help Desire against the angels.¡± ¡°See, I don¡¯t get ¡ª¡± I started to say, then gritted my teeth and swayed. I pressed a hand to my forehead, but even the flush of mana I sent straight to my brain failed to dispel the wave of dizziness and jumbled information. The mere mention of angels sent the Abyss into a tizzy. Memories and impressions flashed through my mind in a bewildering kaleidoscope, with only a few images standing out against the morass of chaos. A flaming sword, the tip emerging out of thin air to slash a hole through reality itself, opening the Abyss to a gaping chasm of nothingness and light that somehow burned. An wave of pure blankness that invaded the confines of the Abyss, killing, burning, destroying without care. A mask-like face whose beauty I could only describe as ¡®angelic¡¯, devoid of a single twitch or emotion, before the scene zoomed out and brought an elaborately crafted sword into focus that was then driven down through my chest. Needless to say, the Abyss was trying to feed me so much knowledge on the subject that I ended up getting almost nothing from the tangle of memories. The only thing I was certain of was that angels were bad news. Chapter 130: Icy Reception ¡°Why is it so important that we send people from our legion against angels at all?¡± I demanded, once the Abyssal knowledge-frenzy had calmed down somewhat. ¡°Doesn¡¯t the circle being invaded have their own troops? And besides, why should Torment care? Aren¡¯t all grand dukes more or less at each other¡¯s throats?¡± ¡°Ahhh, well¡­ no, actually. Desire doesn¡¯t have its own troops. That layer doesn¡¯t need them. It¡¯s¡­ well, it¡¯s complicated.¡± Glaustro grimaced, focusing on one more check of his weapons. This time around, he had replaced his previous implement of murder with a massive halberd. The weapon looked even deadlier than his last pick, especially since I was pretty sure it was heavier, somehow. ¡°Try to explain? Please?¡± Mia chimed in from beside me. She had finished her packing a while ago and was lounging on my bed. Though she didn¡¯t seem to share our anxiety, I knew better. The cat demoness was tense enough to explode any moment. In fact, she had been ¡®off¡¯ since the ceremony the day before. Her silences had become oppressive, rather than just what we expected of her stoic temperament. Glaustro must have been as relieved as I was to hear her engage in our chatter, because he was a bit more verbose than usual in his answer ¡°Well, it all has to do with the same fucking mess. Once upon a time, the Abyss wasn¡¯t as¡­ orderly as it is now. Demons were little better than imps, really. These primal demons just raged according to their Emotion, doing whatever they wanted. ¡°Most didn¡¯t live for very long. They¡¯d either get torn apart, or they would kill themselves in some stupid way. Some lived long enough to develop what I can best describe as animal cunning, though. Seven names you¡¯re probably familiar with. Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Sloth, and Gluttony. Their Emotions lent themselves well to long-term survival, so they flourished.¡± I felt very tempted to interrupt and ask what all this had to do with angels, but I held back when I saw the interest gleaming in Mia¡¯s eyes. If she was content with the circuitous route Glaustro was taking to get to his point, then I would be as well. ¡°For a while, things continued like that, until the first angel decided to poke their nose into the Abyss. You see, they ventured outside of their plane, the Cradle, before we left the Abyss. They hated Emotions, and they wanted to root out every single one. Except, the demons of that time took the angels¡¯ scouting attempts as an invasion, and responded in kind. They ventured outside of the Abyss and invaded the Cradle. ¡°The life of all demons back then was slaughter and warfare. So, when presented with some new sources of the same, they jumped on the chance to break the monotony. Wrath led the charge, and slaughtered many angels before he fell. But this also kicked off all-out war, and, well¡­ we weren¡¯t winning.¡± That, I couldn¡¯t lie, shocked me. Glaustro noticed my expression and smirked. ¡°What? You think mindless violence is a good approach to warfare? No, the angels had tactics and smarts on their side. They were kicking our collective arses. That¡¯s why the Abyss decided to get¡­ creative.¡± ¡°Creative how?¡± Mia prompted with mild annoyance after Glaustro chose to milk the dramatic moment with a long pause. The major laughed, then continued. ¡°Gluttony was one of the few demons to make their way back to the Abyss after invading, and he had managed to eat part of the Cradle itself, not to mention countless angels. He brought back all that essence of Reason with him, which allowed the Abyss to gorge itself on Reason, too. The Abyss funneled that essence into the first of what would become the modern demons. All of a sudden, we weren¡¯t just raging brutes. All of a sudden, we were fighting back.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really, really wonderful, but what¡¯s it got to do with our general¡¯s fixation on the incoming angelic breach?¡± I snapped, the anxiety of our upcoming trip to Breskwor finally getting to me. ¡°I was just about to explain!¡± Glaustro huffed. ¡°Well, that particular event revealed the fact that the Abyss and the Cradle can steal power from each other. Sure, the angels hate it, but they still gorge on the power they get from killing demons. Likewise, this is the best opportunity for demons to grow, too. Kill an angel, and you get to feast on whatever piece of their soul you can get before they¡¯re yanked off to be reborn in the Cradle. ¡°The only tricky part is the fact that we have to be careful to steal more than we lose. That¡¯s why only the best of the best are allowed to fight on the front lines when angels invade. If they slaughter weaklings, they¡¯ll decimate our numbers. Permanently, too, since we¡¯ll be fighting in the Abyss.¡± ¡°And Desire?¡± Mia asked, unsatisfied. Glaustro paused, searching for words. ¡°Well, Desire is¡­ complicated. Out of all the primordial demons, only Lust is left. For a very long time, all demons who belonged to Lust and its related Emotions had¡­ difficulties¡­ with control, or even lost their minds entirely. There¡¯s a good reason Lust layers are completely sectioned off from the rest of the Abyss. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Desire was the first to break away from Lust fully by reaching the level of a grand duchess, but she was still affected. Her domain still leans heavily on the ¡®romantic¡¯ rather than combat. That¡¯s why she relies on her spawn to forge connections and draw in combatants. Along with the promises of rich rewards, of course.¡± There¡¯s a demon that old still kicking around? The idea boggled my mind. I knew from my inherited knowledge that the Abyss was formed at the dawn of Reality, alongside the very first creatures capable of feeling. This meant there was a very real chance that Lust was as ancient as the complex world I called home. ¡°As interesting as that was, we¡¯re supposed to be doing final gear checks, not discussing history,¡± Bronwynn said dryly. The pink-skinned demon was the most relaxed person in the room by far. He had expressed all his apprehensions the day before and was now content to go along with Glaustro¡¯s plans. Like Mia, he had already completed his final checks. He¡¯d been sitting in a chair by the door ever since, staring at me and Glaustro with mild reproach. With a sigh, I went over everything I owned one final time, starting with my more mundane items. My soul pouch hung on my hip, still as flawless as the day I got it. My dimensional pouch did show some signs of wear and tear, but the connection I felt to it was as strong as ever, assuring me I didn¡¯t need to worry about it for a while yet. I would need to replace it eventually, when its enchantments and base materials started to fail. It was made on a rather low-level world, after all. Next came my armor, and my newest sword. Neither had any issues, and the armor was just about the most comfortable thing I owned. The plates were attached to an undershirt and pants, both of ridiculously high quality. I was almost positive they had been specifically enchanted for softness and ease of maintenance. My grimoire, too, was in fine shape. I had made sure to purchase several primers and a few guides on magic, too, preparing for the moment when I could finally begin studying all the wonders mana had to offer me. I was strongly hopeful that I would have more free time on Breskwor, at least once we settled in. Last came my most important possession: my mother¡¯s sword. I had been struggling to ignore it for some time now, but ever since my ascension, I was far more connected to the weapon. To all of my soul-bound items, really, but the blade in particular. It felt almost like it was screaming for my attention. And I knew why. The sword¡¯s legacy was finally mine to claim, if I would just stop hesitating. But putting the moment off was so easy. I could justify it by saying that prep work needed my attention, or that Glaustro needed my help, or that I needed to spend time getting to know my troops. All of those things were true. They were also things I could easily sidestep through a brief talk with Glaustro. All I would need to say is that I had family matters to settle, and he would give me the time. Instead, I pushed down the sword¡¯s urging once again and joined my major in confirming our readiness. We were leaving for Breskwor shortly. That was the priority now. I could worry about everything else once we were there. ¡ª The opening of the portal to Breskwor didn¡¯t bode especially well for our future. We were crammed with Wilhelmina¡¯s troops into a square barely large enough to hold all of us. Thankfully, we didn¡¯t have to wait long before a demoness stomped in with eight attendants to oversee our trip. A foul mood radiating off her visibly, she kicked things off without an introduction. The moment the portal opened, a gust of cold wind blew through the square, accompanied by a flurry of flakes. Shivering, I stared in surprise at the hostile conditions we were allowed to glimpse. Ice and snow, as far as the eye could see. Admittedly, the eye couldn¡¯t see all that far. The sun¡¯s glare messed with spatial perception. But still¡­ ¡°Would Major Wilhelmina and her troops be so kind as to cross, or will we be waiting here for long?¡± the irritated-looking demoness demanded, adjusting her glasses. Wilhelmina snapped out of whatever daze she was in and glared. The other demoness glared back, completely unconcerned. Major Wilhelmina scowled, but got moving with a toss of her head. She didn¡¯t stop shrieking at her troops to hurry up until every single one had passed through into Breskwor. The portal closed behind them, and the four demons who had been maintaining it grunted with exhaustion. Apparently, even with the spatial coordinates, opening a portal to an unconquered world without a lick of demonic presence on it was draining. ¡°As promised, you will now be deposited at random Breskwor coordinates as well,¡± the sour demoness quipped at Glaustro, then snapped her fingers at another set of four demons to get moving. Soon enough, we were staring at a different expanse of white. It looked pretty much the same, but I couldn¡¯t spot Wilhelmina or her troops anywhere, so at least our separate entry into Breskwor was not a lie. I would prefer not fighting to the death the second I set foot on a brand new world. ¡°This better be worth it,¡± Bronwynn hissed. Taking a deep breath, he plunged through the portal. Glaustro winced, but then just motioned for the rest of us to hurry through. Mia¡¯s hand somehow found fine, and I gave it a reassuring squeeze as we stepped through together. Breskwor felt¡­ weird. I sensed the attention of something vast slamming down onto me, and chains of light began to form out of thin air. However, most crumbled before they even tried to reach for me. The few that did manage to push through vanished as soon as they impacted my soul. No chains. No suppression of any kind. ¡°A young world¡­¡± Bronwynn¡¯s voice was full of wonder, his eyes wide and fixed on the horizon. I opened my mouth and inhaled deeply as I dragged both Mia and the dazed Bronwynn off to the side to make way for our troops. The mana in the air felt sweet and rich, clearly far denser than Berlis¡¯ had been. If anything, I would put the mana density closer to Lagyel-levels. And if the world truly was young, well¡­ I felt a grin spread across my face. Glaustro had made the right choice after all. Chapter 131: Establishment There was a certain buzz in the air of Breskwor which I thoroughly enjoyed. It felt like the world was brisk with possibilities, like everything was waking up and taking shape around me. I found myself far too inclined to grin. All of this held true¡­ for the first two days of traipsing through the endless ice and snow. Now, as a demon, I was immune to most of what any world might choose to throw at me. Heat and cold? Each was an elementary resistance for my species. But that didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t get tired of the nippiness in the air, especially when it was so pervasive. Likewise, it was hard to keep smiling when the only thing one could see for miles out was a swirling snowstorm. Pretty? Sure! But, just like with the cold, it eventually got to be a bit much. I wasn¡¯t faring the worst in our little party, either. While I didn¡¯t spend too much time cavorting with the soldiers under my leadership, I did keep in consistent contact with my two captains. This gave me a front-row seat to Methialia¡¯s cratering condition. The demoness never looked well-rested, that was true. But the deeper we ventured into the snowfields of Breskwor, the paler and shakier she got. Her wings of fire eventually began to falter and sputter, and I didn¡¯t like the thought of what might happen if they went out entirely. Thankfully, we made camp nightly on Glaustro¡¯s orders, which gave us all some relief. Our glorious majorness had decided not to push us too hard. We didn¡¯t really require sleep in the traditional sense, but even demons needed time to unwind and process. Neglecting sleep or rest was a good way to go absolutely insane in no time at all. So, at night, I got to curl up in warmth and comfort, courtesy of all the souls Mia and I had spent. Both of us had been entitled to ten thousand souls upfront after our promotion, and we¡¯d bankrolled three thousand souls each for a shared tent. I had literally zero regrets. The setup was only slightly larger than you might expect from a modest one-person tent, at least from the outside. The inside was a different story altogether. The room was bigger than the room we shared at our new compound, and meticulously arranged. We had a fancy writing desk, a large table with assorted chairs, several plush armchairs of heavenly softness, and honest-to-goodness book cabinets. The floor was covered by the plushest carpet imaginable, which Mia loved to lounge on. Naturally, pride of place was given to a large, four poster bed that was at least a double king in size, if I was remembering my bed sizes correctly from a life half-forgotten. I had originally argued in favor of getting a tent with two separate living spaces, but Mia had just stared at me like I was stupid until I eventually relented. I was well aware that I would just end up playing pillow for her, regardless. But dammit, I¡¯d wanted my own bed! The space even had a corner that could be entirely blocked off by unfolding screens attached to the wall of the tent. The screens were perfectly waterproof, and they fused together in a way that reminded me of a classic shower-bathtub. A spout-like protrusion hung overhead, producing water at your preferred temperature with a flick of mana. Best of all, it was possible to collapse the tent using careful mana manipulation. The second its frame was destabilized, the tent and all it contained were shunted off into a storage dimension, making it a breeze to take the whole thing down or put it up again. It was home away from home. It was the perfect defense against the cruel Breskwor weather. It was also a pain to keep Glaustro and Bronwynn out, since the two had taken a single look at our lap of luxury and decided to invade it at every opportunity. It wasn¡¯t my fault they had ignored both Mia¡¯s warnings and mine to get better tents! Even with their mediocre gear, though, Glaustro and Bronwynn were still better off than the rest of our troops. Most demons were so confident in their constitution that they only had the barest minimum of camping gear. I even spotted a few of our soldiers outside in nothing but sleeping bags or ratty, legion-issued tents. The sight really stung. It also drove home the difference between experienced officers like Graighast and the rest of us up-and-comers. Even back on Berlis, Glaustro¡¯s brother had provided his soldiers with the best tents he could, along with much better gear. I guess Glaustro had expected us sergeants to do the same, but all of our dumb brand-new-officer asses had just assumed fully grown demons would not be stupid enough to leave for a campaign without at least the basics. That was to say, the longer we travelled without coming across a town we could yoink from locals and convert, or any trace of civilization, the tenser things got. Before the discontent could culminate in something none of us wanted to see, Glaustro summoned all his officers together. In Mia¡¯s and my tent, of course. ¡°We can¡¯t keep advancing. With how young and barren this world is, there¡¯s no guarantee we¡¯ll find a local civilization. We need a base, and we need one now,¡± Glaustro declared, eyes trailing over all of us in search of counterarguments. He got none. ¡°What do you propose, though? Honestly, I have no applicable skills,¡± I grumbled. ¡°If I¡¯d had more time to study, maybe? As it is, I¡¯m guessing you and Imthala are the only ones who can do anything close to construction. If there¡¯s earth to be found under all this ice and snow, that is.¡± Though my complaints were rooted in frustration, I wasn¡¯t wrong. All of us were more or less instruments of war. Not many demons picked up crafting skills as a hobby. ¡°Good point. I¡¯m afraid Imthala¡¯s going to need to take point on this one,¡± Glaustro admitted. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s somewhere down there, but I can¡¯t reach far enough to draw up stone or earth.¡± Imthala¡¯s eyes widened in panic at being put on the spot like that, but she didn¡¯t take much encouragement once the planning got started. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. It was amusing, in a way. There we were, invading a whole new world, and our first real action was to start establishing a city. But it worked. While none of us were great at building things, most of us were great at destruction. That meant that it took no time at all for a group of fire-inclined demons to burn a massive hole through the top layer of ice under our feet, and then widen and lengthen it until we had a massive grotto to build a small town in. From there on, things were up to the ice demoness and the mages who found themselves under her command. The vast majority of our army, Mia and myself included, found ourselves with very few duties. Guard the grotto, provide help if prompted by one of the construction-assigned demons, and sit on your ass otherwise. The longer this went on, the harder it got for me to ignore the presence of my mother¡¯s sword that was still ramping up on my hip. I tried to study to get my mind off of it. I even played around with runes and spell crafting for a while. But, eventually, I had to give in. Mia had noticed my anxiety and inability to sit still, just like I noticed that her mood was slowly improving the longer we were away from the Abyss and whatever Vallinach represented for her. So, when I asked her for just a few hours on my own in the tent, she was quick to agree, even if she shot me a worried look as she walked away. Alone and wound tighter than a spring about to snap, I silently placed my sheathed sword on my lap. I hadn¡¯t drawn the weapon since my ascension. I couldn¡¯t. I knew that as soon as I did, whatever process I had been locked out of before would activate. It wasn¡¯t that I hated the idea of Lethaniel as my mother. Quite the opposite, actually. But what might she think, seeing her son¡¯s soul violated the way I had done? That was the fear behind my hesitation. A part of me whispered that she would find me an abomination, if not something to destroy on sight. Surprisingly, it was Woe that helped me fight these cheerful thoughts away. Sinking into my Emotion somehow made them feel more¡­ distant. Without giving myself time to second-guess further, I drew the blade free of its scabbard. A jolt of pure power surged out of the sword, blitzed through my arm, and slammed into my chest. I could feel the attention of the Abyss converge on me through our link, and words echoed in my mind. Legacy of Lethaniel claimed. Inheritor status acknowledged. Passing of inheritance in progress. It felt like a fire was lit under my skin, and it rose up to consume me. Pain swallowed everything, until all that remained was me and the sword. The flames bound us, melted us, then forged us into one coherent whole. When the anguish finally fled, I was left trembling and gasping for breath, but the sword I held felt more like a true part of me than even a soul-bound object could. Legacy claimed. Fight, survive, and prosper, child of Lethaniel. There was a minute shift of mana, followed by a glow so soft I might have imagined it. Then a slip of paper materialized right above the embedded jewel in my sword¡¯s pommel, fluttering softly in midair. It was a pretty mundane slip of paper, all things considered. Folded several times to make it smaller, and looking like it had seen better days. Reverently, and like it was about to bite me, I took the paper in my hand and slowly unfolded it. It was a letter from Lethaniel. From my mother. It really was in horrible condition. I saw every imaginable kind of stain, from ash to blood to tears to something of a suspiciously bright green color. The paper was creased so many times that some parts of it were starting to wear thin. The only good thing I could say about the letter¡¯s state was that the words could still be made out, even if some were a bit blurred. It also looked like a page someone had hurriedly torn out of a diary or planner of some sort, with clearly marked out fields that I guessed were meant to contain a date and other details. None of that was present. Instead, the only thing that clearly wasn¡¯t part of the letter was a little doodle in the page¡¯s bottom right corner. Someone had clumsily drawn three stick figures holding hands. The second I laid my eyes on them, a feeling of such profound grief and loss struck me that I almost passed out. The core of my being floundered for a memory it insisted was there, but all I got were flashes of mischief and contentment before the attempt failed. In place of the memory was only a gaping hole. My hands were trembling at that point, and trails of azure were marking their way down my cheeks, but I somehow forced myself to start reading. My most beloved, I am so, so sorry for failing you. I want you to know that both your father and I love you dearly. We never wanted to abandon you. We fought to reunite our family with all our strength, but if you received this letter when you joined the legion instead of meeting me, then I¡¯ve clearly failed you. Before all else, I¡¯ll tell you this: you are not a monster. I know what it means for you to have accessed this letter. I know what you likely had to do. Never, not once, think I would have preferred you were dead instead of reading this as a demon. I have done horrible things to get back to you, and I will do a thousand more. So long as you are alive and happy, I am proud of you, and I know your father would have been too. I failed him as well. I couldn¡¯t keep him safe. It was this failure that taught me what it takes to survive in the Abyss. So, I say this again: I forgive you. Do what you must to live, and to protect those you love. Not all who share your blood will help you do this. The patriarch of our family, Melchom Hall, your grandfather¡¯s twin, betrayed us. It is because of him that our world fell to demons, and it is because our family branch opposed his decision that we were all forcefully enlisted as the lowest grunts in the legion¡¯s armies. Your uncle, Mercutio, is his most avid follower and supporter. If you ever meet him, be careful, and trust nothing he tells you. I apologize, too, for how little I will be able to aid you in death. I have climbed high, made connections, and even found a few friends. Some of them, if they discover who you are, will probably offer a hand where they can. However, I can¡¯t risk helping you openly. If I am dead, then Melchom¡¯s branch will be coming for you next. This is the reason I couldn¡¯t visit you at that camp, too. The most I could do was shut down the original camp on Ao you were assigned to, then scatter the children from it across various minor worlds. I pray to whatever will listen that this will protect you until you can take care of yourself. I wish so very hard that I could hug you again. I wish I could have given you the childhood you deserved. Hate me for it if you must, but live. Please, live, and be happy. If you can still bring yourself to trust me, then take good care of your sword. He has served me well, and he will do the same for you if you let him. I love you, and I¡¯m sorry. Your mother, Lethaniel The final lines were written in a shaky hand, the letters all but cutting through the page. I could do nothing but stare, eyes trailing over each and every line again and again. I didn¡¯t know what I felt. I couldn¡¯t cope with everything trying to claw its way out of my chest. I need¡­ I need¡­ I forced myself up to shaky feet, then stumbled out of the tent. I found the cat right in front of it. She hadn¡¯t even bothered to look for something to sit on, just plopped herself down in the snow. When I stepped out, I felt her eyes searching for mine immediately, but I refused to meet them. Instead, I collapsed next to her, fanning out my wings so I could wrap them around both of us. She didn¡¯t say anything, just snuggled up to me with a little sigh. I stared up at the sky, realizing for the first time how bright and fascinating it was. It was absolutely covered in stars and brilliant constellations. But I couldn¡¯t feel any wonder at this display of beauty. I just felt cold. I closed my wings a little tighter, smushing Mia against me. My fingers were still clutching the letter in a death grip, though I¡¯d had enough presence of mind to fold it in half before venturing out. I wasn¡¯t sure I could bring myself to let go any time soon. Chapter 132: Native Sights Sitting in the cold, wet snow wasn¡¯t an ideal way to sort out all the emotions raging through me. Mia¡¯s presence did help, though. Eventually, just as day transitioned into night, I felt steady enough to stand and pull the silly cat up with me, holding her in my arms. She grumbled at being moved, but then snuggled closer into me as I crossed the threshold of our tent. The difference in temperature was immediate. Warmth washed over us, seeping into my bones. It came with the unfortunate side effect of melting all the snow that had accumulated on us, but I took care of that with a single cleansing spell. Something I found significantly harder to deal with was my mother¡¯s sword. It was lying innocently on the bed where I had left it, still out of its sheath. After gingerly putting Mia down well away from it, I forced myself to grip the weapon once more. Immediately, another jolt traveled up my arm. It didn¡¯t have the same urgency or as pronounced an effect as before, nor was it accompanied by the voice of the Abyss, but my mind was still briefly tugged into the confines of the jewel that graced the sword¡¯s pommel. I bit back a gasp. My mother¡¯s letter was not the only thing hidden within the sword. The jewel was a dimensional storage pouch¡­ and it was full. My mind¡¯s eye landed on veritable piles of stuff. Most of it wasn¡¯t all that valuable or unusual, as far as I could tell. I saw random assortments of materials, supplies for alchemy and general crafting, piles of clothing, and even daily knickknacks that a travelling demon might need. But some of the jewel¡¯s contents were far more impressive. There was an entire library¡¯s worth of books, piled on top of each other into a small tower. I could feel the mana rolling off the tomes, betraying their nature as something far beyond ordinary. Beside the library tower was a fancy coffee table. A particularly special book had been placed there, with a note attached to its cover. A soul crystal leaned against it. I reflexively summoned the book, its note, and the soul to my hand. Just like the letter, they materialized in the air above the sword¡¯s pommel and floated there, ready to be claimed. I collected them carefully as my mind¡¯s eye continued to peruse the jewel¡¯s contents, drifting to a large pile of objects beside the coffee table. I froze. Souls. A small mountain of them. I couldn¡¯t count them at a glance, but a thread of awareness extended from my soul-bound weapon and fed me the number anyway. Twenty thousand three hundred and seventy-two souls. My eye twitched as frustration bubbled up within me. This whole time, I had been carting around a small fortune in souls. Even when scraping by to afford armor, which I only ended up getting thanks to Yules¡¯ generosity, I was rich. Though I still felt incapable of any mutinous thoughts towards the Abyss, I found a thread of vicious resentment twisting through my mind. It was the laws of the Abyss that had prevented me from claiming my legacy earlier, not my mother or her sword. As far as the Abyss cared, I could have died never having seen that letter. Hell, Hayden did die. He was a definite part of me, but I suspected his mother would have preferred to pass on her legacy to a whole and mentally healthy son. Reluctantly, I wrenched my eyes away from the pile of wealth and continued inspecting the jewel¡¯s contents. What else had I been carrying around that could have saved my life from Mercutio and catapulted me into demonic prominence much sooner? I just about choked on my anger when I spotted armor and weapons. Most of the gear was either mundane or seemed to bear basic enchantments only, but a few items stood out from the crowd. There was a customized weapon rack displaying a single axe. The weapon phased in and out of reality every other second, taking on a ghostly hue. I saw an armor set crafted out of scales, the colors swirling and shifting constantly in a kaleidoscope not meant for a mortal mind. Another set of armor looked a bit like the special officer gear Glaustro had purchased for his meeting with Crewe. It radiated so much mana and malice that my mind recoiled. Mia and I had attended the general¡¯s gathering in our Lagyel armor, which Glaustro deemed impressive enough. Bronwynn, though, had been forced to purchase a show-off armor set. So had most of our captains. With the bounty included in my sword¡¯s storage jewel, I could have been one of the best-dressed people there! That did make me wonder how far my mother had climbed up the Abyssal ranks before her untimely demise. More importantly, what could have killed a demoness as powerful as she apparently had been? And when would her killer turn their attention onto me? I didn¡¯t bother wondering if it would happen. With my luck, it was all but guaranteed. I tore my mind¡¯s eye from within the jewel and started inspecting the three objects I had summoned. For several minutes, I fiddled with the soul and the book, working up the courage to look at the note. I only found the resolve to do it at all because Mia thumped her head into my back, offering up silent support in her own way. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Here,¡± I sighed heavily. Without looking, I held out the creased and stained first letter to Mia. After a second, she relieved me of it, letting me lower my eyes to the second sample of my mother¡¯s handwriting I had the pleasure of owning. This is a foundational grimoire for the magic of our branch. Our family was always split between summoners and elemental mages, though our element was rather unique for the world we originated on. The soul belongs to one of the few members of our family I managed to link up with, but failed to protect. They entrusted their soul to me, so that one of our family¡¯s descendants might experience our family before its fall, through their memories. Treasure that, but do not hesitate to take advantage of their kindness. Their soul will let you get started on family magics far quicker than you could ever manage on your own. If you still feel reluctant to use this soul, then I recommend you look up one of the books in your new collection. The tile is On the Nature of the Abyss, by The Third Wrath. You¡¯ll find it easily enough. I love you, Hayden, and I pray this knowledge can keep you a bit safer than you would be without it. I didn¡¯t choke up this time, but I did feel a flush of worry about proceeding too casually. All of a sudden, it didn¡¯t seem right to treat the soul in my hands with anything less than the utmost respect. I felt an unexpected amount of kinship towards the soul¡¯s owner, but I wasn¡¯t sure I could rightly claim to be their blood-relative, not after undergoing ascension. Did I have any right to this soul¡¯s memories at all? To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what to do. The soul beckoned with its promise of all the knowledge I had been denied as a child. The sheer idea that I might get to glimpse my, Hayden¡¯s, world of origin, even if it was through the eyes of another, was compelling beyond belief. At the same time, I wasn¡¯t sure I could forgive myself if I gave in so easily. Instead of tackling that moral dilemma right away, I decided to check out the grimoire my mother had put aside for me. The book¡¯s cover didn¡¯t resemble leather or paper, or even wood. It sparkled like the most beautiful of gems, and touching it produced a cool, smooth sensation. The cover was a piece of art in its own right, covered in skilled carvings of magical creatures and silhouettes of mages casting spells. Engraved upon it were the words ¡®Hall Family Magics: Elemental Branch.¡¯ Everything about the grimoire, from the cover¡¯s material to the carved letters of the title, shimmered with tightly-wound mana. When I finally moved to open the book, that mana reacted, jolting my fingers like a snapping hound. Then, just as quickly, it retreated, letting me handle the grimoire as I pleased. I had a strong feeling that if the mana hadn¡¯t recognized me somehow, I would have lost the grimoire, at the very least. I suppose that means I¡¯m still a member of the family, demon or not. That thought pleased me greatly. The first page was just an introduction, but I devoured the text on it eagerly. Our family¡¯s foundation, young mage, was always built on two branches of magic: summoning and elemental casting. While our summoners are widely feared, it is our elemental mages who ensure the protection and enduring prosperity of our house. Don¡¯t think our elemental magic weak, either! It is not as suited to war as some other forms, but it is a deadly tool in the hands of a skilled mage duelist. It is my hope that all of my descendants will learn from and add to this tome, so that our family¡¯s might continues to grow. Crystal magic will always serve you well, so long as you dedicate yourself to it! I felt my lips twisting into a bitter smile. A bit late for that, I¡¯m afraid. My emotions dipped into murky territory at the thought of my treacherous family members. Melchom might have kickstarted the destruction of my family¡¯s way of life, but all the other relatives who stood by and did nothing were just as responsible. I resolved in that moment that I would make them pay somehow. No matter how long it took, there would come a day when Melchom would regret his actions. Far more relevant to my present, however, was the type of elemental magic mentioned in the intro. Crystal was a subset of the earth element. I had no clear ideas of what it could do just yet, but I felt a tingle of excitement at the thought of getting my hands on magic that was uniquely mine. It also didn¡¯t hurt that this element partly overlapped with Glaustro¡¯s earth specialization, which meant I could run to my major for advice if I ever got stuck on something. But before I could really begin exploring the promise the grimoire held, a racket reached me from outside the tent. I had left the front of the tent open on purpose, seeing as its remarkable enchantments fully cut off all noise and access when it was properly sealed. Now my bit of forethought was paying off. Mia and I both shot off the bed. The soul, note, and grimoire all vanished back into my new storage space as my hands closed around my sword. I was striding towards the tent¡¯s entrance when the cat demoness briefly grabbed my arm, holding out my mother¡¯s first letter to me. I accepted it gingerly, and it vanished into storage as well. Mia¡¯s eyes were stormy and full of some unidentifiable emotion. The short nod she gave me warned that we would be discussing things at length when we had the chance. I both dreaded and looked forward to that moment. For now, I just returned her nod, and we left the tent together. The camp was in total disarray. Demons rushed about on every side, shouting and collecting their gear. If it weren¡¯t for the joy roiling off everyone in sight, I would have been halfway to a panic attack. Snaking my arm out, I snatched up one of the passing soldiers by the collar. He released an alarming strangled noise, but he was a demon. He¡¯d walk it off. ¡°What in the world is going on, soldier? What is this ruckus?¡± I demanded in a tone I hoped was not unkind. The demon flinched. Apparently, I¡¯d put a bit too much menace into my performance. ¡°L-Locals!¡± he managed to wheeze out. ¡°One of our guards spotted locals to the south!¡± I looked at Mia, stunned. It was a massive disappointment to Glaustro that we hadn¡¯t come across a single sentient or even living creature thus far. He had bet big on Wilhelmina¡¯s choice of Breskwor. And while a young world was definitely significant, in the sense that we could actively influence the formation of unique materials, the lack of souls was a significant drawback. But if the guard¡¯s report was correct¡­ ¡°Details?¡± I asked in a clipped tone as I started walking, the demon still dangling from my hand by his collar. I was only holding him a few inches off the ground, but a part of me still marveled at my ability to do that. ¡°Cardin caught sight of s-some kind of furred humanoids, sir. He didn¡¯t get a clear look, and they retreated almost immediately, but they had tools, sir!¡± In spite of his current situation, the demon¡¯s voice was colored by excitement. To be fair, I felt the same emotion take root within me. Tools meant some level of intelligence, and intelligence meant much higher level souls, on average. I felt a grin coming on as I strode towards where I knew Glaustro would probably be: the center of the commotion. For once, things were looking up for us. Chapter 133: The Living Ice Finding Glaustro was as easy as I thought it would be, though he wasn¡¯t exactly at the center of the forming crowd. Sure, he was surrounded, but the demons were all hanging back carefully, watching the major as he talked to a lanky-looking demon in a hushed voice. Mia and I had no such reservations, of course. As soon as I saw Glaustro, I released the poor demon I had been lugging around and beelined towards my major. ¡°-many were there?¡± I caught the tail end of a question, but I was more interested in the obvious excitement in Glaustro¡¯s voice. A smile snuck up on me. I knew how stressed he had been over the last few days of seeing nothing but snow on Breskwor. ¡°At least five, from what I could tell,¡± the demon, presumably Cardin, answered just as eagerly. There was a spark in his eyes that I wasn¡¯t used to seeing in demons. ¡°They vanished into the snow so quickly, and I didn¡¯t want to leave my post.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, so you¡¯ve said,¡± Glaustro groused, but his tone of voice betrayed his amusement. ¡°It is commendable that you stuck to your post in spite of the¡­ temptation. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I see my sergeants are here.¡± Cardin nodded several times in a hurry, then tried to scurry off, only to realize there was a wall of demons between him and freedom. I heard him gulp rather loudly as they descended upon him for more details, but I ignored all of that and approached Glaustro. ¡°Exciting news,¡± I said with a grin, sweeping my eyes over the horizon. ¡°Indeed. Can¡¯t fucking tell you how much of a relief that was. If we had failed to find anything¡­¡± Glaustro trailed off, but his brief slip into profanity told me all I needed to know about his glee. ¡°What about you? Is everything alright?¡± The question threw me for a loop, but a moment later I blanched and looked away. Of course a camp full of demons would be aware of someone in their midst going through an emotional meat grinder. I had probably been broadcasting my emotions half the world over while reading my mother¡¯s letter. I cleared my throat to buy myself an extra second, then finally looked Glaustro in the eye again. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, everything¡¯s alright. Nothing to worry about. I¡­ Well, I¡¯ve been putting off claiming an inheritance through my mother¡¯s sword, so¡­¡± I could see the exact moment realization slammed into Glaustro. His smile faltered, replaced briefly by a grimace. When the smile came back, it was slightly strained. ¡°Ah. Family. I understand.¡± He most assuredly did. ¡°Well, hopefully this will get your mind off of everything. I have an urgent task for you and Sergeant Mia here. I want you two to put your talents towards tracking down these locals. You can take a small group of soldiers with you, but I¡¯d honestly prefer if you do this quietly. We don¡¯t want to alarm them just yet.¡± I mulled that over, then glanced at Mia. The cat demoness threw me a slow, malicious smile before she spoke up. ¡°We don¡¯t need anyone else. We¡¯ll find those locals. Trust me.¡± Glaustro nodded. ¡°I do. That¡¯s why I¡¯m sending you two.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Mia stretched, then grabbed my hand and started dragging me away. ¡°We¡¯ll be back soon.¡± ¡°Mia, don¡¯t rush this!¡± I protested, though I didn¡¯t put any effort into actually holding her back. ¡°I¡¯m not. We have everything we need already.¡± She rapped her knuckles against her armor before her free hand fell to land on her sheathed sword. I gave up and let the cat demoness have her way. Sure, it would be nice to have food, warmth, and similar conveniences while traipsing through the endless snow, but we were demons. We had armor and weapons. That was all we needed. I wasn¡¯t going to complain about some alone time with my best friend, either. ¡ª While I had griped a fearsome amount under my breath about Breskwor¡¯s monotonous landscapes, I wasn¡¯t blind to the beauty of the scenery. Really, the words ¡®endless snow and ice¡¯ didn¡¯t do it justice. Those words failed to mention the tall spires of ice that dotted the horizon, jutting into the sky like spears and glittering in an endless cascade of rainbows when the sun was up. They also could not capture the beauty of a mild snowfall under generous amounts of moonlight. The moon was either far larger or far closer to the planet than was customary for most worlds, so the celestial body provided ample illumination all through the night. There were a thousand and one other little moments of awe to be snatched from the unforgiving landscape of Breskwor. But at the moment, I was once again cross with it. I had flown up into the sky, hoping an aerial vantage point would help me spot movement on the ground. Movement I did indeed spot, except it was just the constant shift of snow in the wind, rather than the fleeing forms of locals. While Breskwor didn¡¯t have a storm raging over it constantly like Lagyel, it was still a pretty windy planet. Most of the time, this just meant a playful breeze that swirled snowflakes around our feet. But once it properly got going, the wind transformed everything into an impenetrable curtain of white, forcing us to rely fully on our mana senses. Annoyingly enough, the snow here was wet enough to clump together as it swirled in the wind, which formed an array of perpetually rolling snowballs. If these formations took place on a hill, and the snowballs gained enough momentum on their way down, the resulting boulders could potentially threaten mortals. This was less rare than one might expect, seeing as the landscape of Breskwor was rather hilly. Rolling dunes of snow were all over the place. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it All in all, I was not in the mood to marvel at the ¡®endless snow and ice.¡¯ At least the moon wasn¡¯t bright enough to lend blinding radiance to the snow, like the sun. I had made the mistake of flying up to scout exactly once during the day. I didn¡¯t cherish the thought of trying that again. ¡°Anything?¡± I asked as soon as I landed carefully next to Mia. I was forced to beat my wings more than I usually would to land lightly and avoid burying myself in the snow, but that just sent a flurry of snowflakes up around us. ¡°Mmm,¡± the cat demoness purred, then gave me a self-satisfied smile. ¡°I have their scent. My senses are much sharper since ascension.¡± I didn¡¯t doubt that, and it made me mildly envious. As a cat beastfolk in her mortal life, Mia had started off with better senses, more physical prowess, and ungodly flexibility. Even before we ascended, she could contort herself in ways that made my bones ache just to look at, and she sometimes accomplished attacks I would have broken my limbs trying to replicate. All of that had been amplified throughout the process of building up to ascension, and then amplified again when she fully became a demon. I was strong too, of course. Much, much stronger than I once was, even at my peak as a mortal, but Mia could still bend me like a pretzel ¡ª if we fought relying on only our physical bodies. Things got a bit more complex once mana was added to the mix, which was the only reason I felt comfortable saying I could probably match her. ¡°Lead on, then.¡± I shook out my wings, causing another mini snowfall. ¡°I¡¯m afraid my aerial superiority is not going to be much help. The wind and all the snow aren¡¯t giving you trouble?¡± ¡°Not as much as I feared they might,¡± the cat demoness admitted, nose wrinkling slightly in displeasure. ¡°These mortals smell.¡± I almost laughed at her expression. Almost. In the past, she had given me reason to worry about those claws of hers when she felt like I was laughing at her rather than with her. ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound very pleasant,¡± I agreed. ¡°But hey, we¡¯re making progress.¡± ¡°It¡¯s so musky, though,¡± Mia whined, and I barely bit back a chuckle. Instead, I focused on my sense of smell. Despite the strengthening my own senses had undergone, I was nowhere close to Mia¡¯s level, especially in the middle of a snowy, windblown wilderness. So when even I managed to pick up something faint, I knew she wasn¡¯t joking about the odor¡¯s intensity. I fed a small amount of mana to my sense of smell out of curiosity, then immediately regretted it. The odor really was pungent. It smelled worse than rotten eggs and month-old rotting garbage, combined. Since one of the few memories I had so graciously retained from my old life was a large, nasty garbage container that butted right up to my apartment building and was only emptied out every month or so, I could attest to that from personal experience. Gagging, I dispelled the sense boost, then flushed mana through my nose in an attempt to get rid of the smell. The memory still lingered, though, haunting me with its intensity as we stalked closer to our prey. ¡°You¡¯ve been putting up with THAT, this entire time?¡± I gasped. ¡°Feel free to appreciate me more.¡± ¡°I do, I really do.¡± A lighthearted mood prevailed, and even after our banter petered out, neither Mia nor I felt uncomfortable walking together in silence. Things only soured once she led us to the base of a massive snow dune that stretched at least fifty feet above our heads. The cat demoness stopped there, sniffing left and right, then tried to glare a hole straight through the snow. ¡°The scent ends here.¡± ¡°Here? Just¡­ ends?¡± I approached, but I couldn¡¯t spot a single sign of someone climbing up the dune. Granted, it was hard to spot a sign of anything when the wind so helpfully erased all tracks as quickly as they formed, but still¡­ ¡°They didn¡¯t climb up, did they?¡± ¡°No.¡± Mia shook her head adamantly, still glaring. ¡°The scent just vanishes here.¡± I hmmed in thought, then imposed my mana on the world. Mana wasn¡¯t naturally inclined to phase through solids. Unless pushed, senses that relied on mana typically didn¡¯t offer a good picture of what was within the ground. It was possible to overcome this by manually directing your mana, but that wasn¡¯t a very cost-effective thing to do unless you were adept at manipulating the element you were trying to see through. That¡¯s why Glaustro could see through the ground much further than I ever could. Snow was a bit easier to work with, though. The naturally porous nature of its layers let mana slip through more easily. But this time, my senses ran into a solid layer of ice right under the surface of the ¡®dune¡¯ in front of us. ¡°Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken¡­¡± I paused, tilting my head to the side. ¡°This particular ¡®snow dune¡¯ is so tall because most of it is actually ice. It¡¯s more like a very tall hill than a dune.¡± I placed my hand on the hill and pressed through the snow. My fingers met ice just inches in, and I focused before forcing mana through that, too. Most of the ice was one big, solid chunk. However, as I explored, I realized this didn¡¯t hold true for the entire hill. Before I could question myself, I moved a little to the right, then pressed down on the space in front of me with all my strength. The thin wall of ice shattered immediately. My mana slipped through right after, revealing the tunnel beyond in all its glory. ¡°Well, what do we have here?¡± I turned to grin at Mia, but she just rolled her eyes and started helping me snap off more of the fake ice wall. It was actually five or so inches thick, and even mildly reinforced by mana, which I found very interesting. But it was still no match for even the natural strength of a demon, let alone what we could do with a proper strengthening technique. Full demolition wasn¡¯t our goal, though. We stopped as soon as we could both slip through comfortably into the tunnel. I even would have sealed the hole behind us if I had any skill with ice spells, but my casting repertoire was something I still needed to work on. So, instead of messing around with that, I signaled to Mia that I was ready to follow her again. Not that I necessarily needed her to lead anymore. The tunnel stank to high heaven and only provided a single path to follow, but she seemed intent on taking point, so I didn¡¯t argue. Still, it wasn¡¯t even fifteen minutes later when I suddenly grabbed her wrist to get her to stop. ¡°Can you feel that?¡± I asked without preamble. She frowned and shook her head. ¡°Focus on the ambient mana.¡± There was a¡­ tremor in the mana, like a shudder passed through it every couple of seconds. Focusing much harder, I slowly realized the waves of disturbance were coming from the walls of the ice cavern. I stepped closer to the wall on our left, intent on finding the source of the tremor. That was when a spike of ice almost took me through the chest. It was only because I habitually ran my strengthening technique almost all the time now that I managed to dodge the blow. Lunging away, I watched as the cavern walls began to ripple like water. One by one, boulders of pure, see-through ice dropped out of the walls and ceiling. A few even floated up from the floor. They rippled like the surrounding ice for a second, and then a multitude of different limbs erupted out of them. Some scurried towards us like spiders. Some took on almost humanoid forms. Others just looked like blobs of ever-shifting ice as they advanced. I fought the urge to curse. ¡°Oh, not again!¡± The sight reminded me a bit too much of the Lagyel constructs. So when I lashed out with perhaps a bit too much strength and shattered the closest ¡®blob¡¯ into miniscule pieces of ice¡­ I blamed the memories. Chapter 134: The Subtle Dangers Not so long ago, I¡¯d encountered all sorts of elemental constructs on Lagyel. Mia and I had been forced to fight everything from swarming insects to creepily enhanced animals to towering humanoid golems that almost wiped out our entire unit. In the wake of such experiences, I had managed to convince myself that my dislike for such creatures was just a healthy coping mechanism. This was brought into question when the mere sight of the ice creatures immediately drove me into a frenzy. Rage coursed through me, and I lashed out at any construct within reach. I wasn¡¯t even using my swords properly! Instead, the wickedly sharp claws I was now capable of extending at will got a rather thorough workout. I pulverized the blobs. I ripped the legs off the spiders and then stabbed them with their own appendages. I broke the humanoids apart, section by section, with great relish. I barely registered the weight of souls slipping into my trusty purse. At least I wasn¡¯t alone in my fury. Mia was on her own rampage. Her new sword slashed through the air with a vengeance, parting everything it sank into with stunning ease. It might not have been a soul-blade like my primary weapon, but the enchantments Yules¡¯ uncle had placed on it were solid. Eventually, I was surrounded by the shattered remains of ice creatures. My eyes darted around like a wild animal in search of its prey, only to land on a straggler who was trying to escape by rippling back into the ground. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t,¡± I snarled. Tearing my mother¡¯s sword out of its scabbard, I slammed it through the creature. The blade sang through the living ice and buried itself into the floor of the cavern, but I didn¡¯t have much time to relish my victory before I was thrown off-balance. I was expecting the soul to find its way to my purse, as usual. Instead, my sword pulled the soul back through the blade, absorbing a tiny bit along the way¡­ and then sent the rest careening straight into my body. My vision wavered, and I gasped as I experienced devouring a soul for the very first time. It was glorious. It was addictive. My own soul ripped apart the intruder, stripping it of all its strength, knowledge, and essence. I felt a shudder ripple through my being as a little ¡®more¡¯ was added to the totality of my existence. Images poured into my mind, making my thoughts swim. For a fleeting moment, I was a creature at perfect harmony with my environment. I could burrow through the world, hide from predators, strike at prey, and do whatever I willed with the countless deposits of ice all around me. The only thing that stymied me was the ground deep below the layers of my preferred environments, and the only things I feared were the hunting parties of the Others who had claimed so many of my kind. Then came different prey, prey I¡¯d never seen before, sneaking through the tunnel I had taken as my home. So much like the Others, this prey was, but¡­ different. Different enough that I surged forth to feed, to add this new power to my own. What followed was terror, then the need to flee, and then ¡ª I snapped out of the memories, their simplicity letting my ascension-hardened mind work through them at record time. Sure, it was distinctly odd to experience life from the point of view of living ice, but I found I could handle the oddness with contemptuous ease. My identity was far more grounded now. I never once lost sight of the fact that I was Hayden, ascended demon, friend of few and enemy of (unfortunately) many. Oh, the ice creature was definitely a part of me now, but not as an intrinsic new facet surgically added by the Absorption Station. It was just nourishment broken down and digested for the sake of growing my soul. I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as I stood. Then I began parsing through the memories for something useful. I found a nugget of important information with startling speed. ¡°We¡¯re almost at our destination,¡± I announced. ¡°The locals we¡¯re tracking make their home in a cave not too far from here.¡± Mia shot me a confused look, so I hurried to add, ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but my sword ripped the soul right out of that thing and force-fed it to me. These creatures like to avoid the home of the locals.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see it for ourselves, then.¡± Mia grinned at me and took off at a swift pace, eying the cavern walls with distrust. I joined her, but my mind was a mile away at that point, returning again and again to the moment I devoured that soul. The ice creature¡¯s soul was weak, inferior in rank, and incapable of providing me with any appreciable growth. In spite of that, the sensation of becoming more, of rapturous glee in the core of my body, made me long to devour another one. My fingers almost twitched in the direction of my soul purse before I beat back the impulse. That was when half-remembered worries swirled up to the surface of my mind. I had been terrified of several things before my ascension, even if I didn¡¯t let them hold me back. I was worried I¡¯d fail and lose myself, of course. But I was just as terrified of succeeding and turning into something that was no longer me. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. These worries had been shunted to the back of my mind post-ascension. It wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d consciously done. In fact, I had difficulty dredging them up to the surface. A momentary tug-of-war occurred between me and my own subconscious before I managed to yank them free. A shiver passed through me. As I contemplated these old fears, I couldn¡¯t help noticing the difference between them and all the post-ascension thoughts I had accepted as my new normal. How did I get here? Why did nothing but hatred fill my head when I thought about angels? Why did I feel so much disdain for all mortal races? Why was I so eager to hunt down souls and claim them? Sure, I had always been driven by ambition. I wanted to grow further. But it wasn¡¯t so long ago that the wholesale slaughter of people bothered me. When had I started to lose that sense of respect for life in general? Was it when I killed one person too many? Or was it the first time I invested souls into furthering my ascension? Wherever they had come from, the feelings were there. The urge to harvest as many souls as possible. The total lack of concern for the lives lost in the process. The utter contempt for any and all mortals. Who in the literal hells am I now? ¡°Mia?¡± My voice was on the verge of trembling, but I kept it steady. ¡°How do you feel about mortals? Really feel about them? Can you do me a favor and think about it for a second?¡± I sped up to walk alongside her, watching as her expression shifted from confusion, to shock, to a carefully maintained fa?ade. ¡°So¡­ you have some new feelings now, too? Mixed feelings, all of a sudden? That aren¡¯t¡­ yours?¡± I ventured carefully. This earned me a very sharp nod. Silence stretched between us. Our pace slowed until we were practically shuffling forward. ¡°Do you think Glaustro kept all this from us?¡± she finally asked, her voice low. I stiffened. That wasn¡¯t where my mind had gone. Still¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said slowly. ¡°I have no way to prove it, but¡­ I mean, it¡¯s Glaustro. I don¡¯t think Bronwynn did, either.¡± ¡°Then why? Why did no one warn us?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± What possible reason could there be? Except, maybe¡­ ¡°Remember their stories about ascension? Most people do it piecemeal. They can take decades just to fulfill the basic requirements. We, meanwhile, did it in¡­ four months? Five?¡± Time was a bit fuzzy, but I could hardly attribute that to the Abyss. My life had been one long string of emergencies and accidents since I¡¯d woken up as Hayden. It was hard to keep track of anything. ¡°You mean to say they don¡¯t notice something like this? Just because it happens gradually?¡± Mia hissed, clearly incredulous. ¡°I mean that they both don¡¯t notice and, well¡­ Grow used to it, maybe? Kill enough people to get souls, and what¡¯s the difference between whatever this is and growing insensitive to the slaughter?¡± ¡°The difference is suddenly feeling like mortals are worthless just because something has been messing with our head.¡± Her growl was vicious. I grimaced. ¡°Point.¡± Neither of us said anything for a while, because really, what was there to say? I couldn¡¯t even sort through all the feelings raging inside of me, let alone form coherent sentences. The worst part? I wasn¡¯t sure if I entirely hated the meddling of the Abyss. Oh, I was chilled to the bone to find out something had been messing around with my head, subtly or not. But would I have survived if the Abyss hadn¡¯t done¡­ whatever this was? If I was constantly haunted by the death I inflicted upon the world? I didn¡¯t know, and that bothered me. Just as irritating was the fact that the manipulation had worked. I couldn¡¯t deny that a part of me had irreversibly changed over the course of my time in the Legion of Torment. Take the present moment, for example. I could have stopped and turned around to demand answers from Glaustro right that second, but I didn¡¯t. I simply kept marching towards the settlement of the locals. I would still claim their lives when the time came. It was sobering, that. The fact that I was also far more curious now about them, their culture, and the details of how they lived their lives was hardly enough to make up for my desire to steal their souls just to strengthen myself. Those feelings of curiosity and wonder belonged to the old Hayden. They were more intense, sure, like all my emotions, but they were also buried deep in my subconscious. That was another point of confusion. The barrier between me and those suppressed bits was still ridiculously thin. Why not make it more solid? Why wasn¡¯t the Abyss trying harder to prevent me from accessing those parts of me, if its whole goal was to watch them wither and die due to neglect? Was it nefarious meddling, or a misguided attempt to help? I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. I had so many questions and doubts, and no one to direct them towards. I wasn¡¯t even sure Glaustro could help. Mia had ventured a bit ahead of me while I indulged in my internal monologue. When I opened my eyes, I found her looking over her shoulder at me in worry. That, at least, drew a smile from my lips. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, kitty cat. I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Good. And don¡¯t call m-¡± Mia gasped as her foot went straight through the floor. Her hands lashed out, desperately reaching for anything to stop her fall. I had never moved faster in my life. Bursting into motion, I practically teleported to her side, scooping her up around the waist and staggering back. In front of us, where one of her hands had slapped it, the floor crumbled away further. We watched in disbelief as a web of cracks developed, and then a whole section of the floor fell away to reveal a gaping chasm. As demons, we both had enhanced eyesight, including the ability to see in the dark. Even so, neither of us could spot a bottom to the endless darkness beneath us. ¡°So¡­ the floor¡¯s not safe.¡± I cleared my throat, squeezing my arm around Mia a little tighter as my heart hammered away in my chest. ¡°That¡¯s good to know.¡± ¡°Mmmmm,¡± was my companion¡¯s only reply. She sat rigidly in my arms, tense and poised for action, eying the spot where she¡¯d almost taken a tumble. I had little doubt that she would have recovered in record time and then probably stuck to the wall of the chasm using her claws or something. Mia wasn¡¯t a damsel in distress that needed saving. In spite of that, I really, really didn¡¯t like the thought of what might have happened. ¡°How about we proceed a bit more carefully from now on?¡± I suggested, letting my mana billow out to probe the floor on the other side of the chasm as far as I could reach. ¡°That sounds good.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you agree, your cattiness.¡± She swatted at my arm, but after jumping across nearly four yards of nothingness, we did continue through the cave with much more caution. A part of me was more than a little upset that our simple mission had gotten so complicated so quickly, with both the environment and our emotions working against us. But really, it was my fault. I had been entirely too positive about our long-term outlook when we set off from camp. With the rest of my life to reference, I should have expected a much less comfortable experience. Chapter 135: Young Magics Four endless pits of horrible nothingness that made my wings twitch and my heart pound in my chest. Four. That¡¯s how many we encountered while creeping down the tunnel at an exasperatingly slow pace. One was hidden as well as the first chasm Mia ¡®discovered¡¯, but I detected it easily when my mana seeped through the outer layer of ice. The next was easier still. The ice layer wasn¡¯t thick enough to hide the gaping void underneath, and our keen eyes picked it out without the need for mana. The third was incredibly tricky, and I almost missed it on my first sweep. The ice was thick enough to resist a casual inspection. I was actually lifting my foot to step forward when something caught my attention. I wasn¡¯t sure what my mana was telling me at first. It kept encountering small disruptions as it seeped through the ice, forcing it to make small corrections and slip past obstacles. Only when I took a much closer look with both my mundane and supernatural senses did I realize small faults stretched over the entire section of the passage. My mana confirmed that the faults weren¡¯t natural. In fact, they were the result of foreign mana laced throughout the ice. That¡¯s what my mana kept refusing to interact with. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to reach this conclusion. In my defense, the foreign mana felt like what you¡¯d normally find in ice. Elementally aspected and definitely icy in nature, it blended perfectly with the surrounding ambient mana. It was the faintest presence of soul traces that helped me figure it out. As natural-seeming as the mana was, it still clearly belonged to someone. Someone had woven their own mana throughout the cavern section, jury-rigging the floor to collapse underfoot and deposit careless intruders into the emptiness below. This hinted at a certain level of intent and skill I hadn¡¯t expected from the locals. Both their smell and the description provided by the soldier who¡¯d spotted them pointed to a low-level civilization. Something on par with cavemen, perhaps. Considering how young the world was, this made sense. So, to see them lay a trap this subtle and intricate? A trap that almost fooled me? My proverbial hackles were definitely raised. I wasn¡¯t alone, either. When I told Mia what we were dealing with, her tail literally poofed up in displeasure. ¡°Are you sure? They¡¯re that magically advanced?¡± ¡°Maybe not. No runes,¡± I grumbled, still glaring at the floor. ¡°This isn¡¯t some amazing marvel of magical engineering. But their skill with mana? Yeah, that¡¯s¡­ impressive.¡± In the end, I picked Mia up and just flew over that entire section. The cavern was rapidly widening as we went further underground. Even so, the trap covered the whole width of the tunnel and stretched for a good seventy or eighty feet in length, which made me more annoyed and even more cautious. After all, the locals had to pass safely through this tunnel, too. If they felt comfortable traveling such a long distance over a steep drop, it meant they had a way of attuning the mana to themselves while crossing. Otherwise, they would fall prey to their own trap. The amount of mana manipulation this required was staggering. They were either imbuing their intent into the mana so it could always detect their own people, or each individual member of their tribe or clan or whatever had to attune themselves to a set mana frequency that would disarm the trap while they were passing through. Neither were skills I would expect such a young civilization to possess. The final trap we found was another cave section with unusually thick ice, but this time, the trap portion of it came from above. Thankfully, the unnaturally organized mana configuration of the cavern tipped me off immediately that something was wrong. Even if I wasn¡¯t on the lookout for soul traces in ¡®natural¡¯ mana, I would have noticed the mana strings that dangled from the ceiling. A bit of inspection showed me that the strings were attached to massive icicles jutting down from the cavern¡¯s roof. If we brushed across the strings, the ice spears would drop on our heads, which would then also collapse the ice layer and drop us into the abyss below. Overkill, you say? Clearly, the locals didn¡¯t agree, because the strings were abundant. It was here that I was finally forced to mess with their setup. I¡¯d avoided damaging the other traps for fear of alerting their maker, but I had little choice now. There simply wasn¡¯t enough space to squeeze past the mana strings, not unless I wanted to waste a ton of mana contorting through them like a character in a cheesy spy movie. That was decidedly not my cup of tea, so snipping I went. Of course, I was smart enough not to just collapse the whole thing with a wave of mana. I didn¡¯t use mana at all. Instead, for the very first time, I used the power of my soul. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Since my ascension, I could feel and manipulate my soul to an extent I hadn¡¯t known was possible before. I could will it to billow out around me in a nebulous cloud and affect the world beyond my body. The range of impact extended only six feet from me, but in this case, that was enough. Extending a spiritual ¡®tentacle¡¯, I used it to gobble up the trace amount of soul essence left behind when the locals¡¯ mage put up the mana threads. Without that essence to keep the intent of the mage firmly rooted in the mana structure of the strings, they dissolved easily. I was hoping that if their maker could sense their disappearance, he¡¯d assume it was a natural process taking place. Unstable mana constructs like that always lost stability over time until they eventually unraveled on their own. That done, we proceeded onwards, knowing that we might need to kill any scouts the locals sent to check on their trap. Then we almost fell to our deaths again. I was in the lead this time. When the ice crumbled beneath my feet, my wings took over, beating frantically with no conscious input from me. I shot up into the air so quickly and so violently that I had only a moment to widen my eyes before I crashed into the ceiling of the cavern, loudly. Cursing and sputtering, I floated back down to Mia, who had an unbearable smirk gracing her lips. I gave her my most fearsome glare, practically daring her to make a comment. The cat was not deterred. ¡°You should do that again,¡± she purred. ¡°The mortals a continent over probably didn¡¯t hear the clang.¡± I couldn¡¯t really say anything in my defense. I had crashed into the ceiling with all the speed of a runaway train, and my armor did protest the impact rather loudly. That didn¡¯t mean I had to like it. ¡°I¡¯m going to push you into the chasm,¡± I snapped. Mia tilted her head, giving me a frustratingly adorable look of innocence. ¡°You can¡¯t. There¡¯s no hole anymore, see?¡± I was about to demand what in the world she was talking about when my eyes fell on the spot where the hole left by my foot should have been. But there was no hole. The ice looked unbroken and unblemished. I admit that my frustration got to me at that point. My feathers took on a decidedly more metallic glint, and my left wing carved through the air. Making a furrow in the ice, it slashed first through the thick floor and then through the false layer that had almost caught me. I watched the cut first with cold satisfaction, then mounting disbelief as the trap-floor repaired itself right before our eyes at record speed. The ¡®regular¡¯ floor remained messed up, though. The jagged cut left by my feathers simply vanished without a trace where the false surface began. ¡°What in the world¡­?¡± I knelt down and cautiously placed my hand against the ice, sending a spike of my mana right into the floor. The trapped section writhed like the disturbed surface of a lake, and then ribbons of ice rose up to try and wrap around me. I put a stop to that with a pulse of mana that sent them reeling. Only then, as a whole section of floor rose up and started to creep towards us, did I realize that I was looking at one of the ice creatures. Its movements were unnaturally jerky, and it froze up every couple seconds, but that¡¯s undoubtedly what it was. Flapping my wings, I drew my sword and went straight for the creature. I was still quite clumsy at aerial combat, but cutting something up with a sword is a relatively straightforward process, even if the ¡®something¡¯ is a fifty-foot long icy rope masquerading as a floor. The creature was a lot bigger than the ice constructs we¡¯d encountered earlier, so it took a while to die. Eventually, though, I either hit something vital or just did enough damage to pull its soul from its body, drawing it into my sword. Like before, my implement of death took its toll. But the majority of the soul passed straight into me. In a rush, I got the knowledge I craved. For most of its life, the creature had lived just like its smaller icy kin. Its path only diverged when it was captured by the locals. The creature didn¡¯t have traditional senses, so I still had no idea what those locals looked like, but I could feel the bundle of icy mana that burned within them through the memories. It was this bundle of mana that the locals used to nourish and bribe the creature, feeding it until it grew to its current size. When they were satisfied, they directed it to this spot, condemning it to a small eternity of motionlessness. Every moment of its existence was spent lying in wait. At the first sign of intruders, the creature would collapse sections of its body and send the unwelcome travelers plummeting to their deaths. This didn¡¯t happen often, but when it did occur, the creature was supposed to report to the next passing group of locals. They would grant the creature a small amount of mana as payment, and the aching hunger in its core would be appeased for a little while. As I digested these memories, I could feel most of my frustration giving way to curiosity. In fact, when I got past the indignity of those annoying traps, I found I was looking forward to my first personal encounter with the local magic users. Their work was, for lack of a better word, unique. Even in the creature¡¯s soul, I couldn¡¯t detect a single sign of formalized magical casting. Somehow, they had imbued the thing with a spell that had dominated its will, compelling it to obey when it should have struck. Somehow, they had bent ice mana to their control and used it to set some decent traps. It wasn¡¯t hard to ferret out what was still annoying me about those first two traps we¡¯d encountered. Rather than carefully cultivated magical principles and structures, the locals¡¯ brand of magic seemed to function entirely off of intent. That couldn¡¯t be right, though¡­ could it? For something like that to work, you¡¯d need to have enormous amounts of mana and a soul powerful enough to imprint your desires on the world. It wasn¡¯t a matter of just using enough force. You had to function on a level of existence which could bend the will of the world, or even the local laws of reality, to your whims. I had only ever seen something like that from the general himself. Even Crewe, for all his terrible majesty in combat, did not come close to that level of proficiency. The question, then, became: how was a bunch of magical cavemen accomplishing things that only the highest level spellcasters were capable of? I didn¡¯t have a good answer, but I was dying to find out. Chapter 136: Native Encounters After all the excitement of our trip down the cave tunnel, our first sight of the natives was almost a disappointment. It wasn¡¯t some grand battle or even an ambush. The tunnel simply opened up into a titanic cavern, affording us a perfect view of a local settlement. The settlement was¡­ quaint. No, I¡¯ll be frank: it was a filthy mess, in line with what you could expect of the most primitive civilizations. Most of their ¡®homes¡¯ consisted of burrows carved into the ice. The entrances were covered by raw-looking hides of some animal that had bristly fur with short, sky-blue spikes. Bones, bits of flesh, and bloodstains of several different colors covered the icy floor of the settlement, and the creatures within it paid the chaos no mind. Some were literally lounging in the filth. At least that explained the pungent aroma of our prey. My lips curled at the thought of devouring the soul of something so¡­ unpleasant. I knew the soul could not be tainted by whatever happened to the flesh, but still¡­ All around the edges of their camp, one could spot perhaps the most obvious sign that they were advancing as a culture. Banners wrought of mistreated skin and marked by symbols I had no context for were proudly displayed on poles of bone driven into the ice. I could feel mana radiating off the squiggles, but none of them registered in my mind as runes or a proper magical language. This frustrated me to no end. As far as I could tell, they had painted random shit on desecrated pieces of an animal, and it worked. The center of the settlement held its most interesting feature: a massive bonfire placed directly on the ice itself, with no fuel for it to feed on. Yet it crackled on merrily. The flame was a nearly transparent blue, so pale that it would have been difficult for mortal eyes to spot it from a distance. A few moments of careful observation explained the lack of fuel. Every so often, a member of the tribe walked up and flicked a glob of mana at the flame. The bonfire would consume the mana eagerly, flaring a little higher before settling back down. The ease with which the local wielded mana didn¡¯t escape me. It looked effortless and instinctual. None of the tribe¡¯s members reacted, either, which made me think that they could all use mana or that casters were not particularly respected. The level of mana I sensed radiating off every single local suggested the former. Finally, having avoided the subject for as long as I could, I turned my attention to the locals themselves. They were¡­ well, they were. Their fur, which I assumed was meant to be stark white if the younger members of the tribe were any indication, generally tended towards a sickly yellow. Bits of their food and other contaminants were visible in it to my keen eyes. The scraps of cloth they wore weren¡¯t in much better condition. I could tell they were starting to figure out tanning and similar arts, but they were clearly still at the ¡®cut it off, dry it a bit, and wear it¡¯ stage. Some had more elaborate clothing that appeared to be singed on the inside, but these garments were still just bundles of fur, strung together using what looked like tendons. Never let it be said that cultural development isn¡¯t a grisly business. Judging by the stains, they were just a step away from the wonderful historical development of using piss for tanning! I did a fully body shudder at the thought. Even with all this, I could admit the locals looked imposing. Their build was large and muscular. They walked on two legs and had corded arms ending in long, gnarled claws. Their entire bodies were covered in thick wiry fur that looked like armor as much as a means of warmth. When they spoke to one another, I spotted flashes of deadly fangs in their mouths. Their faces were fairly ape-like, with oddly squished-looking noses. The funny thing about the universe is that it seems to really like repetition. If a species pops up once, then there is every chance it will pop up again, on a wholly different world, with barely any biological differences between the two. Take humans, for example. Far too many worlds out there have one variation or another of this basic species. I belonged to it myself, in two separate lives! So, it wasn¡¯t too hard to identify a yeti when I saw one. They were one of the more common sapient life variants on icy worlds, and that¡¯s what I was looking at. Very unkempt, very uncivilized yeti, but yeti all the same. From my limited education, I knew yeti had amazing ice magic potential and frightening physical might. I also knew that ogre variants could pop up, if their civilization developed to the point where it could support these titans of pure physical might backed by natural magic. That still didn¡¯t explain all the magical anomalies I was seeing. Sure, yeti were supposed to be gifted with ice elemental magic, but that didn¡¯t mean they could casually break all known laws of mana-wielding. And these yeti were most definitely doing that. As I watched from our hiding place behind an outcropping of ice, one of these yeti casually twisted his mana into a knot to hold his ratty clothing together. The garment looked like it should have fallen apart months ago, but it held. No runes. No formalized spell-structure. The yeti didn¡¯t even break a sweat. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. If a mage from Berlis saw that, they would have a stroke severe enough to kill them on the spot. I was a demon, and by all accounts immune to such embarrassing deaths, but I still felt a headache coming on as my blood pressure spiked. ¡°What am I even looking at?¡± I wondered quietly. The smartass cat didn¡¯t miss her cue. ¡°Yeti. Obviously,¡± she quipped, offering me a smug smile when I fixed her with a glare. ¡°And they¡¯re playing with mana like putty how?¡± I hissed back, unwilling to let her get away with it so easily. Honestly, I was also hoping she had an explanation for the madness we were seeing. But Mia just shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll find out when we get their souls.¡± ¡°Glaustro didn¡¯t say we can slaughter the locals,¡± I shot back. ¡°He might want to leave them alone for a while so their numbers grow and we can gauge their usefulness to the legion.¡± ¡°How are they going to be useful? They don¡¯t even shower.¡± While Mia¡¯s signature look of cat superiority was as annoying as it was endearing, she did have a point. The legion had a thing for assimilating advanced civilizations, but the yeti definitely could not lay claim to such a title. Still, the numbers thing was also true. From what I could tell, there were about a thousand yeti down there. Most of them were relatively young and healthy adults. I spotted exactly twenty-three members of the tribe I could refer to as elderly, and a grand total of sixty odd children. Clearly, they had little use for the infirm, and the young were not as common as they might have liked. If we went down there and slaughtered half of them for souls, we¡¯d get less than a monthly legion pay¡¯s worth, and probably tank the tribe¡¯s long-term survival chances significantly. Sure, they probably weren¡¯t the only tribe in the area, and definitely not the only tribe on Breskwor¡¯s surface, but that didn¡¯t mean we were justified in treating them callously. This was a moment when I felt a strong disconnect between myself before and after ascension. Pre-ascension me would have been horrified to consider sentient lives from a point of view that likened them to livestock. Post-ascension me was horrified, too, but the emotion had to be dredged up from the furthest recesses of my mind. Even then, it was kind of mild. My first impulse was to see and treat the mortals as a resource, something to conserve or spend. Terms like ¡®breeding plans¡¯ and worse floated around in my mind. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that all this knowledge about the proper use of mortal populations had been a generous gift from the Abyss, though I hadn¡¯t processed the full ¡®ascension info packet¡¯ yet. I kept getting random flashes of insight when my mind strayed to certain topics. ¡°I think we need one or two souls,¡± Mia insisted, interrupting my thoughts. ¡°We need to know more.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue with that. Glaustro would be dying to find out more about our discovery, and Bronwynn wouldn¡¯t be far behind. I, myself, would not have minded a soul for my own use, if only to answer some of these burning questions. If there was even the slightest chance that I could learn how to manipulate mana and spells the way the local yeti were doing, I wanted to take it. ¡°Fine. Still, we shouldn¡¯t just barge into their¡­¡± I tried to think of a charitable term, ¡°village, and start killing. They might try to run, or they might swarm us and commit suicide by demon. Either way, we¡¯d lose a local population center, and Glaustro would be on our asses. You know how much he wants things to go right.¡± ¡°We wait and stalk, then. A party went to our camp. Probably scouts. They¡¯ll send more, to us or elsewhere.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± I nodded. ¡°We wait, then. It¡¯s not like Glaustro¡¯s going to get too worried if we¡¯re not back immediately.¡± I nodded again, just to bolster my own certainty about the latter claim. Truth be told, there was a chance Glaustro would send people to find us. He definitely had a tendency to overthink things when it came to the two of us, and this was the first time he had chosen to send us out alone. Still, the fact that he was starting to trust us with more authority and responsibility brought a smile to my face. For all my grumbling about our new jobs, but I couldn¡¯t deny the warmth in my chest at the thought of Glaustro¡¯s confidence. He trusted us. We were not going to let him down. What I wasn¡¯t counting on was my companion¡¯s sense of urgency and tension. We¡¯d been spying on the yeti camp for only twenty minutes when I suddenly had a cat sprawled over my back. ¡°Mia, what are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± ¡°I see. You realize I¡¯m bored too, and that we¡¯re on the job, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± ¡°And what should I do about that?¡± ¡°Give me a book. And a massage.¡± ¡°Mia¡­ no. Books aren¡¯t meant to be enjoyed in the middle of a cavern. You also have my feathers stuck in something, and I don¡¯t like the way it¡¯s tugging on them.¡± ¡°Massage, then.¡± ¡°We¡¯re keeping an eye on the yeti. No massage for annoying cats.¡± She popped my head lightly. ¡°They¡¯re mortals, and they don¡¯t even have proper spells. I¡¯ve got a spell shielding us from view and muffling our voices. Massage.¡± I blinked, then paid attention to the ambient mana. It was extremely faint, to the point that I could barely detect it, but she was telling the truth. ¡°When did you get so good at stealth spells?¡± I demanded. Then another thought struck me, and I twisted my head around to look at her. ¡°Wait. You¡¯ve been letting me hiss and whisper at you this entire time, when we could have been talking normally? And why was I lying down on the ice to hide? This spell fully shields us from detection!¡± ¡°Because it was funny, and I got to lie down on your wings?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± The ensuing scuffle was more subdued than usual, so as not to risk the spell¡¯s perception-dampening effects. By the end of it, I was on the ice once more, and I had a cat lounging on my back with one of my mother¡¯s grimoires in her hand. I would say I resented it, but I was honestly more amused than anything. It wasn¡¯t like the position or the cold ice were uncomfortable for a demon, and I needed to keep an eye on the yeti anyway. After several hours of lounging and even a bit of snacking, something finally happened. I had noticed an absolutely massive den in one corner of the camp on my first viewing. Its entrance was completely covered by the finest furs, which in this context meant they were the least stained of the lot. Now the makeshift curtain was shoved aside, and a party of nine yeti emerged from within. The last to exit was by far the largest local I¡¯d had the pleasure of seeing thus far. He looked more like a bulked-up body builder than a regular member of his species. The ball of mana shining in his chest was also the brightest I¡¯d noticed among the yeti, which probably explained his ¡®improved¡¯ stature. None of that mattered, though. All that mattered was that something interesting was going on. But when I prodded the lazy cat on my back so she could get her ass in gear, my actions earned me a second pop on the head. The indignities I put up with for friendship¡¯s ¡ª and Glaustro¡¯s ¡ª sake! Chapter 137: The Best Approach Watching the yeti interact was both odd and uncomfortable. My senses were keen enough to pick up the guttural language they spoke, and though I shouldn¡¯t have been able to understand them, flashes of insight materialized effortlessly inside my head. I couldn¡¯t translate everything one to one, but only because their language was barely a language at all. Oh, they communicated. They even shared highly complex and nuanced ideas with one another. Still, this exchange didn¡¯t depend on words in the traditional sense. It was only halfway through watching the chieftain organize several bands of scouts and hunters that I realized exactly which of my senses was feeding me their conversation, and why it made me feel so strange. It was soul sight. Well, ¡®sight¡¯ doesn¡¯t really describe the pervasive and holistic experience of sensing souls, but that¡¯s what it was. Somehow, I was picking up on everything they intended to say, rather than having their words translated for me. Despite the overall discomfort of this experience, the content of their discussion was amazing news for us. Most of the yeti¡¯s attention was fixed on mundane tasks like hunting, gathering, and generally providing for the tribe. However, two groups of five each were assigned the prestigious task of investigating the strange creatures sighted by the original scouts. Their orders were simple: figure out if the strangers were strong, and if they weren¡¯t, kill as many as they could and bring back the meat for the tribe to feast on. I scoffed loudly and openly. Even if Mia¡¯s perception dampening spell were to fail that very second, I wouldn¡¯t have cared. There I was, lamenting the fact that I¡¯d lost most of my sympathy for mortals, and then I ran into the one group that would happily kill and eat me. At least when we tailed one of the two groups out of their little settlement, I didn¡¯t have to beat myself up over not feeling bad for them. The two groups were not setting out together, which was another point in our favor. One group would retrace their steps and very carefully approach the demon camp from the same direction as last time. The scouts were convinced they hadn¡¯t been spotted before, because no one had given chase, so they were happy enough to sneak up to a camp full of demons for a second peek. The second group would take a longer way around. Mia and I trailed after the second group. It would take more time for the yeti to notice their absence, which minimized the chances of them reacting disadvantageously, be that assaulting our camp in retribution or fleeing for their lives. ¡°Can we kill them now?¡± It must have been the twentieth time Mia had asked me that question. Like every time past the first few, I sighed wearily and rolled my eyes. ¡°No, Mia. We need them to take us back to the surface first.¡± ¡°We can find the way.¡± ¡°It would waste time, and we¡¯d have to be even more careful with the traps.¡± That was true enough. The yeti, too, had to move with caution around the purely physical traps, and it turned out the magical ones also required temporary disablement. ¡°And it¡¯s not that bad.¡± It was that bad. The pain inflicted on my senses by yeti chatter was only rivaled by the pain of their smell. Judging by Mia¡¯s narrowed eyes, she knew I was bluffing and resented me for it. ¡°Can¡¯t we just pull the info out of their souls when they¡¯re dead?¡± she begged. I froze mid-step, and my keen kitty cat noticed. ¡°Hayden?¡± There was danger in her voice. ¡°Did you forget you are a demon now?¡± I looked away immediately. ¡°No?¡± ¡°I thought you wanted to present all of their souls to Glaustro, and that¡¯s why you refused!¡± ¡°I have a lot on my mind, okay?¡± It was not okay. Even as she dropped the perception dampening spell, Mia continued grumbling about the stupidity of males. To their credit, the yeti reacted instantly when the sound of our footsteps was no longer masked. All five of them spun around and bared their fangs, the three women and two men doing their best to posture as big scary predators. It might have worked, if they weren¡¯t facing demons. I was almost in the lead female¡¯s face before I realized that I was willingly getting super close to a walking source of plague and infection. To say that I called on my mana in a hurry was an understatement. With a snap of air displaced by mana of startling density, my mage shield emerged around me. I then tried to anchor my mana in the air, mimicking elemental manipulation to kill my momentum. At the same time, without really thinking about it, I sent a mana bolt careening towards the yeti. Her head blew apart like a watermelon introduced to a heavy steel bat. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Honestly, even knowing all I was capable of now, I still spent a moment gaping at the yeti corpse as it slowly collapsed backwards. Already, I was passively running both my strengthening and body refining techniques, constantly tweaking both to better suit my new demonic form. With all the other spells and mana manipulation I had just managed on top of that¡­ if I were still a human, my brain would be trickling out of my ears. An abrupt explosion of mana blew apart another yeti and sent bits of flesh and blood raining down around me. I mustered up the best glare I could in the heat of battle. If I didn¡¯t have my shield up, Mia¡¯s ranged attack would have showered me in the stuff! Reluctant though I was to resort to melee, I drew my soul-blade next. I could literally track the soul of the first slain yeti as it trailed through the air and got sucked into my soul pouch, but since I wanted the locals¡¯ knowledge, it was better to rely on my sword. At least I wouldn¡¯t have to shove the soul down my throat while pondering the yeti¡¯s insanitary condition. My sword sang through the air, and a yeti was parted from her head. It really was as simple as that. Even with all their strange mana abilities, the yeti were pitiful opponents. I knew I was safe to indulge briefly in the flood of knowledge while Mia demolished the final two combatants. The life of a yeti wasn¡¯t as simple or as crass as I¡¯d expected. Sure, the unkempt settlement was par for the course, but they showed startling care when it came to their homes. Those were kept clean, relatively speaking, and intensely private. Only Children and mates were allowed to enter the home of an adult yeti, and the homeowner would know if someone had broken the rules. There was an entire complex culture attached to the idea of closeness, offspring, and mating bonds. The careful social dance of ideas was communicated through body language as much as through grunts and other sounds. Maintaining your place as one of the celebrated strong was an extremely important part of their culture. Appearing weak was a sin. Anyone useful to the tribe was honored, and anyone weak or perceived as useless was ruthlessly eliminated. There was also an unexpected tenderness in the memories. The yeti was a mother, and she was fiercely protective of her pups. As the larger of the two sexes, it fell to the females to protect and feed their offspring. The yeti I had killed was never willing to see her children go hungry, even at great personal cost. She also had a mate she was particularly fond of and gentle with. He had fathered most of her children, and she enjoyed spending time with him even when he was relatively useless to her. Underneath all of this were the memories of self-expression, even of art. If I had cared to check, I could have seen the elaborate carvings on the inside walls of her den, detailing the ancestry and history of its builder. When the end of her memory unspooled, it was almost anticlimactic. She was excited for a new task and potential hunt, and looked forward to returning to her family. One of the yeti Mia was slaughtering was her favored mate, and she cherished setting out with him. Then there was a sound, she turned, and she was dead before she properly laid eyes on me. I let out a loud breath of frustration as I opened my eyes to the scene of our slaughter, yeti corpses scattered around us in far too many bits. Mia must have been really annoyed, because she¡¯d been extra vindictive with all her spells. ¡°Learn anything good?¡± she quipped, daintily picking her way through the gore. ¡°Yes. Good and¡­ I don¡¯t know. Frustrating? Follow me, I¡¯ll take us out of here.¡± As we moved on, I knew I could do exactly as I¡¯d promised. The traps were always placed in the exact same areas of the cavern tunnels, and all the yeti were trained to set and disable them. The mana flickers required for this disabling were ridiculously basic, too. The only reason I couldn¡¯t figure them out on my own was that it would be a little like brute forcing a password. Lots of numbers, lots of potential combinations. With mana, it was even worse. ¡°Going to share?¡± Mia¡¯s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I realized I¡¯d been silently trudging along for close to an hour. ¡°Their magic¡­¡± I let out another huff of annoyance. ¡°It¡¯s not something we can copy. Well, we can, but only here. It¡¯s not really them at all. It¡¯s the world.¡± The yeti weren¡¯t special like I¡¯d suspected. They weren¡¯t even all that talented. They were simply inhabitants of a world so young that its laws were still in flux, with all the mana in its most primordial state. This was what had put me in a mood. Not only was I disappointed, but I felt incredibly angry with myself for not realizing the truth sooner. Sure, I was now a demon, but the ease with which mana answered to my call on Breskwor? The way it all but leapt to obey? That wasn¡¯t entirely normal. In fact, as a demonic invader, I would have expected the opposite. Apparently, we had arrived on this world in its earliest days, earlier even than Glaustro had suspected. The mana was easy to claim, and the world was eager for minds to imprint themselves on it, each one leading it a step closer to nascent consciousness. I¡¯d heard about world eras like that. There were stories of Archmages powerful enough to level entire cities, or sword masters capable of cleaving the skies. ¡®Modern¡¯ scholars and mages marveled at the might of these figures, arguing whether such things were even possible. They were, because the world was just that easy to manipulate back then. As laws solidified and the World Will grew, such feats became unreachable for all but the mightiest practitioners of mana. It was ironic, really, that ¡®modern¡¯ mages were almost always more powerful than their ancestors due to the refinement of advancement methods, yet only capable of leveraging their strength in vastly reduced ways. The only reason I knew these things was the training I¡¯d received as a kid. One of the first lessons demons gave their future soldiers was an explanation of what was worth stealing during an invasion and what wasn¡¯t. Most of the worlds demons invaded were so old, the ancient magic was no longer applicable. Useless. Not worth a second thought. Unfortunately, a looter¡¯s perspective didn¡¯t translate well into the perspective of a budding demonic officer. I had spent so much time agonizing over the magical abilities of the locals, failing all the while to notice the glaring fact of the world¡¯s extreme youth: the information that was actually useful. Some sergeant I am. Worse, there was yet another secret lurking in the memories of the yeti. One that could either make or break our little venture on Breskwor. The locals were steeped in Divinity. Chapter 138: A Moment of Rest ¡°Divinity? Are you sure?¡± Glaustro wasn¡¯t exactly shaking me around to demand an answer, but the way his gaze zeroed in on my face wasn¡¯t reassuring. There was an almost manic gleam in his narrowed eyes that made me hesitate, my mind replaying the stolen memories before I answered. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. I don¡¯t really think they know what it is they¡¯re doing, but it¡¯s Divinity. Here, see for yourself.¡± I offered up the three leftover souls. Mia had taken the fourth and planned to absorb it in a more private setting later, but that still left plenty of ¡®witnesses¡¯ to my claim. Glaustro took the souls with a reverence that bordered on unnerving. Slowly, he chose one and offered it to Bronwynn. Slowly, the pink-skinned demon accepted it. Then both demons threw the souls down the hatch, and I got to watch as they stood, transfixed, combing through the knowledge held within the sparkly treasure troves. It was interesting to see the absorption play out in someone else. When devouring a soul myself, I couldn¡¯t trace the process with any degree of reliability. I was nearly hypnotized by the way Glaustro¡¯s soul rippled, harmonized with the yeti¡¯s, and then enveloped and dissolved it. For something that was, by all accounts, the greatest injustice one being could inflict on another, the process was oddly gentle and beautiful. Then Glaustro stirred, his expression morphing into one of the most sincere displays of joy I had ever seen on his face. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± His voice was an awed whisper. The next moment, he spun away from us and began rummaging through the items on his desk, like he¡¯d forgotten we were there. I had never seen him so distracted. Watching him pick up and then put down a leatherbound book three times, and then continue to repeat the action mechanically, would have been funny if it weren¡¯t so alarming. ¡°Glaustro?¡± My voice managed to snap the major out of whatever had come over him. He turned to us, his expression startled. I cleared my throat. ¡°Sorry for interrupting, but I¡¯m going to be honest with you. All I know about Divinity is how to recognize it, and to immediately alert the first commanding officer I come across. Why is it such a big deal?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Glaustro asked, baffled. Then a look of understanding crossed his face. ¡°Sometimes I forget how young you are, and for what a short time we¡¯ve known each other. I¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°Bron, can you handle this? I can¡¯t stand still. I need to go¡­ I don¡¯t know. Bother our guards, maybe.¡± Before I could protest, the older demon swept out of his tent, leaving Mia and me alone with a very amused Bronwynn. ¡°Is he okay?¡± I asked. ¡°Because I¡¯m getting worried.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be, Hayden. And I see that disbelieving look on your face, Mia. Glaustro¡¯s going to be fine. Better than fine, really.¡± Bronwynn settled into a chair, smiling. ¡°Divinity is¡­ well, it¡¯s one of the most prized resources within the Abyss. Killing a god and sacrificing the corpse and soul as an offering, or capturing one and offering it alive to the Abyss, is one of the few surefire ways for demons to be promoted up the noble rankings. Yet, when presented with the opportunity, most don¡¯t do it. Can you guess why?¡± I snorted. ¡°If demons are giving up on benefits like that, then it¡¯s because keeping the resources is preferable.¡± ¡°Correct. Divinity is pure Emotion and soul-stuff, distilled to a ridiculous degree into something of unmatched purity. It is the essence of all the thoughts, prayers, and devotion directed towards a god, delivered through the soul-shards mortals unknowingly offer up. This includes trace amounts of actual souls from all those mortals. Just tiny bits, but it adds up. Gods do not typically receive worship from a mere handful of mortals, after all.¡± My eyes widened, and I could feel a hunger deep within me rearing its ugly head. No wonder all demons craved Divinity. Emotion and souls together¡­ it was literally what we fed on, in condensed, super-charged form. If you got your hands on it, then why bother offering it to the Abyss for rewards, other than as a show of devotion? By feeding on it directly, you¡¯d be able to secure your own advancement. ¡°You get it.¡± Bronwynn nodded, still smiling. ¡°The thing is, gods are incredibly rare. They are also hard to defeat, since they can retreat to their divine kingdoms and hide out until the threat is over. On top of that, they guard and horde their Divinity as obsessively as demons handling souls. You can get some out of bestowed divine relics, weapons and such, but you need to kill a god if you want anything more than trace amounts.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I paused. What I¡¯d spotted in the yeti¡¯s memories suggested more than just ¡®trace amounts¡¯ of Divinity, but then again, I had no real clue about how to gauge those levels. And if Divinity was so difficult to come by, regardless¡­ ¡°Why is Glaustro so excited?¡± I finally asked. ¡°Because what we¡¯re dealing with here are not gods,¡± Bronwynn replied. ¡°Or rather, we¡¯re not dealing with gods yet. What do you know about gods, anyway?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Assume I know absolutely nothing. Mia?¡± The cat demoness shook her head, eyes keenly fixed on Bronwynn and tail slashing through the air in agitation. The older demon took that as his invitation to continue. ¡°Alright. There are two types of gods. First, gods who ascend to their divine station through worship: emperors, kings, supposed divine beasts, and so on. They¡¯re existing creatures, mortal or immortal, who receive so much worship that they get deified. Some are powerful enough to create worlds and entire species of mortals, and that¡¯s why they become gods, but they didn¡¯t start out as gods. ¡°Then there are gods which are born out of worship. They don¡¯t exist, but generations and generations of people believe in their existence with such ardor that the universe finally gives up and conjures them out of thin air.¡± I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Worship creates gods? How does that work?¡± ¡°Usually through totems,¡± Bronwynn explained. ¡°A tribe, or empire, or an entire race crafts some kind of totem in the image of their god. Then, through their worship of it, that object turns into a vessel for Divinity. Once the Divinity is concentrated enough, this totem then gains life, and takes on whatever traits the people believed it to have. ¡°You worship an angelic statue of some ethereally beautiful ¡®god¡¯ and think she¡¯s the bearer of light and goodness? She¡¯ll act that way, bringing peace and tranquility to all. You sacrifice blood and throw yourself at the mercy of a ¡®dark and horrible god¡¯ to appease them? The totem will eventually turn into an actual calamity that demands blood and flesh to stay its anger.¡± ¡°All right¡­¡± I shook my head, trying and failing to put the pieces together. ¡°So what does this have to do with Breskwor?¡± Bronwynn¡¯s eyes were beginning to gleam with the same manic glee I¡¯d spotted in Glaustro¡¯s. ¡°Breskwor is young, too young to have finished that process. Trust me, if this world already had gods of its own, we¡¯d know. But it¡¯s old enough to have gone through who knows how many generations of mortals, all worshipping their made-up gods. That means there are plenty of idols and totems around.¡± The pink-skinned demon¡¯s smile had turned into a radiant grin. ¡°No actual gods standing in the way. Just lots of powerful totems, brimming with Divinity and waiting for us to find them.¡± My mouth had gone dry halfway through Bronwynn¡¯s spiel. The opportunity he was describing was exquisite. It was practically the dream of every demon alive. This was true treasure, with nothing between us and it except a few mortals. Then a niggling thought emerged from the back of my mind and wiped the growing smile off my face. ¡°Do you think Wilhelmina knew?¡± Bronwynn froze, hand reaching for a cup of some drink that had been abandoned on Glaustro¡¯s desk. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do you think Wilhelmina knew? Do you think this is why she was so set on coming here?¡± The look Bronwynn shot me was one of slowly dawning horror. ¡°She couldn¡¯t have known. No one could have. The general himself would have claimed this world if he knew. Who would say no to free Divinity? Especially when not every world¡¯s laws allow it to manifest in the first place! Breskwor is valuable on those grounds alone.¡± He was rambling at that point, looking more and more worried with every word. It was Mia who cut through the rising panic. ¡°If Wilhelmina didn¡¯t know and she finds out, do you think she¡¯ll share the information?¡± If it was possible, Bronwynn¡¯s face went a shade paler. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t! The value of this world¡­ she¡¯d know that¡­¡± He trailed off, then grimaced like he¡¯d bitten into a lemon. ¡°She could run to her mother¡­ And if we do manage to win, she could do it out of pure spite¡­¡± Suddenly, he lurched out of his chair. ¡°You two, go get some rest. I doubt we¡¯ll head out or do anything important without sufficient planning, so just¡­ sit tight. I need to talk to Glaustro.¡± With those parting words, Bronwynn departed like a hurricane. I stared after him in mild disbelief, then turned to look at Mia with a quirked brow. ¡°Does he seriously think we¡¯re going to be able to rest after all of that?¡± Shrugging, the cat demoness gave me a dazzling smile. ¡°I could use a nap.¡± ¡°Brat cat.¡± Slowly, ever so slowly, she swept her eyes up and down over my body, then pronounced a single word with all the weight of a monarch declaring war. ¡°Pigeon.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± ¡ª Despite my best efforts, I wound up in my tent a couple of hours later. Bronwynn had rushed Glaustro back into the major¡¯s tent. Barring themselves from visitors, the pair then descended into a flurry of planning and panicking. Though I didn¡¯t want to interrupt their talks, I also couldn¡¯t imagine resting. Instead, I tried to explore our rapidly forming city, only to find there was still absolutely nothing I could do to contribute. Besides, Imthala had everything well in hand. She never said outright that she didn¡¯t want me prowling around and disrupting her authority, but her subtle hints and cross looks weren¡¯t lost on me. I could always spend some time harassing my troops. But while the Abyss may have messed with my empathy towards mortals, I was still perfectly capable of empathizing with demons. I could remember with perfect clarity what it was like to be a regular soldier, and all the anxiety I had felt when my superiors were hanging around. That, along with the fact that I couldn¡¯t really do anything with them, kept me from disrupting their rest. I made a mental note to talk to Glaustro when things calmed down about the Abyss¡¯s potential mind manipulation, but that still left me with no demands on my attention for the time being. In other words, for the first time in recent recorded history, Hayden Hall had the opportunity to rest. There was nothing hanging over my head, no existential dilemma lurking in the recesses of my mind, and no orders pressing down on me with the weight of urgent expectation. I kind of hated it. Being left to my devices allowed my mind to wander, and I didn¡¯t want that. Woe may have become a part of my identity, but it could very easily turn on me. The phrase ¡°my regrets could haunt me¡± was way more literal for me than for most. Speaking of ¡®haunting¡¯, though¡­ I did have a soul waiting in my sword¡¯s spatial storage jewel, not to mention the grimoire that went with it. I had resolved to consume the soul first, both for better context and to obtain the knowledge required to study my family¡¯s spells, but I¡¯d been avoiding the idea ever since. It was hard to overcome the reluctance I felt whenever I contemplated devouring a relative¡¯s soul. Now, however, as I paced back and forth in my luxurious tent, I couldn¡¯t ignore the reasonable voice at the back of my mind. Mother explicitly left me a book to consult, and a soul to go with it. There¡¯s probably a good reason she did that, so¡­ I sighed, then looked towards Mia. It was quite the rare occasion to see her on an armchair rather than draped across my back, but I wasn¡¯t complaining. I had caught her reading a book that looked suspiciously like a grimoire when I returned to the tent, and she hadn¡¯t seen fit to bother me yet. I stopped my pacing and plopped down on the bed. Hugging a pillow, I made myself comfortable, then finally spoke. ¡°Come on over, you brat.¡± The cat demoness imperiously arched an eyebrow in my direction, then tilted her head when she saw me rustle my wings, settling them into a better position for her to lie down on. She scoffed, but still stalked across the room and sprawled over me. I held back a smile, if only because she¡¯d be completely insufferable if she saw it. Still, I was glad. I didn¡¯t want to be alone when I eventually had to eat the soul of someone I was related to. Besides, I had to admit she was comfortingly warm. Chapter 139: The Taste of a Soul On The Nature of the Abyss by The Third Wrath wasn¡¯t what one would describe as a fancy book. Quite the opposite, in fact. The cover was old, and so worn that I could barely make out the title on the binding. It was also stained in suspiciously blood-like splotches. Oh, who was I kidding? This was a book written by a demon, for demons. Of course it was blood. Reading it wasn¡¯t the most uncomfortable experience I¡¯d ever gone through, but it was up there. The author, aptly named The Third Wrath (because that¡¯s exactly what he was), had gone to great lengths to exercise a thorough and scientific approach to his field of study. But his ¡®field of study¡¯ was, simply, souls. That was the issue. I felt increasingly ill at the descriptions of his experiments. Each depraved act was recorded in exultant, lavish detail. He started with living mortals to see if the manner of their death affected the soul in any way. Then he moved onto the souls themselves, examining what happened to them when they were handled well¡­ or mishandled. I knew there was a snowflake¡¯s chance in a fiery hell that the book I held was the original copy. Anything written by a demon that powerful would literally radiate with their mana and malice for all eternity, and this book didn¡¯t. Still, it was far too easy to picture his blood-stained hands leaving the various stains on the tome¡¯s cover. My mind conjured up vivid pictures of his demented expression as he worked. These were followed by mental images of a younger demon with a fresh copy, joyously repeating the experiments himself just to confirm The Third Wrath¡¯s claims. For a moment, that younger demon took on the face of my mother as I imagined her, and I felt the urge to throw the book away. I didn¡¯t. I wanted my answers, so I continued reading. As it turns out, souls are a resilient thing. Unless you take special care to damage them with spells and uniquely capable weapons, they reform with no issue at all when they take the form of a crystal. I kind of knew that already, considering how nonchalant I was about cutting people apart with my soul blade, but it was nice to have confirmation. Likewise, the trapped souls themselves are incredibly difficult to destroy. This lent itself rather well to The Third Wrath¡¯s experiments. So long as he didn¡¯t press certain limits, he could torment his victims for as long as he wished. This is how he learned that souls within crystals are perfectly sentient and capable of suffering, but only when a demon has the right tools and really puts in the effort. The rest of the time, souls are trapped in stasis, their knowledge and essence preserved for a demon to feast on. Of course, everything has its limits. That¡¯s why it is possible to damage or destroy a soul. The surest way to do this is, naturally, to lean on the power of the Abyss. It has the natural ability to feast on souls, and it passes on part of this ability to demons. The Third Wrath wasn¡¯t satisfied with that. Through his experiments, he created specialized chisels, files, and other implements of torture, all able to get through the crystal and act upon a soul. That¡¯s how he eventually produced soul dust, soul motes, slivers, and other such useful materials. He even discovered you could use a soul as the basis for enchantments by carving runes directly into its surface. Finally, finally, I found the passage which my mother must have been referring to. In spite of all my attempts, I have discovered a piece of the soul which I could not damage or even affect in any way. Based on this discovery, I pose the following theory. A soul is made up of four layers. The first or outermost layer is typically observed only in mortals. This is a wispy, ill-defined layer which wafts constantly off the surface of the soul, composed of the emanations and soul fragments which mortals continuously shed. Experimentation has shown that even if I keep the mortals in perfect physical health and youth, this constant draining and regeneration of their soul will gradually wear it down, and their souls will eventually collapse. The second layer of the soul is what I refer to as the ¡®incarnation¡¯ layer. Composed of memories and feelings related to the soul¡¯s current life, it forms a sort of shell around the core of a person¡¯s soul. While permeable in mortals, it hardens in every type of immortal I¡¯ve studied, disallowing the wastage of a soul. This, from what I¡¯ve observed, is the layer we devour: the layer possessed of most of a soul¡¯s mana, energy, and memories. The third layer was much harder to discover and access, but it was one of the biggest boons to my research. I¡¯ve dubbed the layer ¡®accumulative layer¡¯, because it contains traces of memories and mana from a soul¡¯s past lives. The souls I worked on fought fiercely to deny me access to this layer. I had to damage it to get through at all, innovating constantly on the proper tools while simultaneously stabilizing the souls. Annoyingly, the second this layer is harmed, the destabilization souls experience afterwards is extremely violent. It is almost as though souls instinctively prefer to implode rather than give up this layer. Regardless, my persistence was rewarded, and the secrets of this layer became mine. The hidden knowledge, the glimpses of truth I found¡­ I won¡¯t speak of them. Not even on paper. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The final layer is the one that frustrated me most of all. It pains me to admit, but this layer is impervious to all I¡¯ve tried to inflict on it. The moment I try, it is as though the laws of reality itself intervene to protect a soul. I resorted to methods most profane and forbidden, yet failed again and again. However, my persistence was rewarded in one respect. While taking part in my regular feasting on souls, I made a startling observation. I had never been able to detect what happened to the rest of the soul after I devoured its incarnation layer. However, with my greater attunement to the nature of souls, I finally witnessed the truth. I saw the moment the soul¡¯s core and remaining two layers slipped through me and were fed to the Abyssal Will through the link we share. This new venue of research excited me, but it also stymied my efforts. To my everlasting anger, I could not follow the soul remnants past the Abyssal Will. No amount of tracing my connection to the Abyss or even searching its many Layers yielded answers. It was as though what remained of the soul disappeared the moment it was stolen from my grasp. Stolen I say, because that¡¯s exactly what the Abyss has done again and again! If the Abyss had no use for these remnants, it would not snatch them away! Clearly, there is power and knowledge hidden there, yet I¡¯ve been denied access for far too long. With this injustice burning in my heart, I eventually decided what had to be done. Ever so carefully, I stripped a soul of all but its core layer, then rebuilt a facsimile of a true soul structure using a piece of my own soul. The result was promising, beyond even just this singular experiment. I could maintain unbridled connection to this clone soul of mine. I could even build a body around it, allowing it to operate independently. Existing in two places at once took some adjustment, and the false soul showed signs of degradation, but I will still pursue this path in the future to see what might come of it. My main goal was accomplished as well, much to my consternation. I am unsure how to feel about what I witnessed, and I hesitate even to put my words to paper, yet I feel it must be done. Let me start from the beginning. When my false soul was finally formed, and I confirmed its short-term durability, I sacrificed it as an offering to the Abyss. Per my expectations, it was devoured by the Abyssal link, and I lost most of my connection to it. Most, but not all. I was able to see glimpses through my false soul¡¯s awareness. What I witnessed shook me. It was an expanse of endless darkness, interrupted only by the specks of other souls the Abyss had claimed. At the center of this space, I bore witness to the Will itself. It was like a great burning eye, or a sun radiating terror and might. I could feel its attention on me, unraveling me, snipping away pieces of my false soul to feast on. At first, I thought this feasting was its only goal. I almost summoned the soul back to me just to make the agony stop. Then I caught sight of the truth. My senses were degraded in my false-soul state, but I am still one of the Grand Dukes of the Abyss. As such, I bore witness to the moment when another soul in my vicinity was stripped of everything it could offer. All of its layers were ripped away, leaving only the immaculate core. It was then that the Abyss added to the soul¡¯s essence. Intent and Emotion were carefully grafted onto it, and it was bathed in the purest Abyssal soul essence I have ever seen. I¡¯d heard the ascendant demons describe something similar happening to them in the past, but I never put much stock to it. The rambling of fools was beneath me. Only now do I recognize my folly, having watched a Trueborn demon be formed by the Abyssal Will itself. I tore my soul away then. I endured the rage and punishment the Abyss inflicted on me for snatching away the offering I had granted it. The pain was unimaginable, and the damage to my soul severe, but I have mended the consequences of my action since. The blow to my mind could not be so easily healed. If what I saw is true, then every Trueborn demon is likely born in a similar way. Madness gripped me, and I tore my way through the Abyss in search of answers. I found them. I found them, and I resent myself for what I did, because I now understand the drive of the Abyssal Will to consume and integrate more and more worlds. Our homeworld is barren. It is the final sinkhole of Emotion, where all of existence pools its base nature. Yet, the Abyss cannot produce any souls of its own. Every demon since the dawn of creation has been a stolen speck of brilliance: a soul that drifted into the Abyss, drawn by its energies, and then was repurposed for its designs. What is the difference, then, between a Trueborn and an ascendant demon? What separates us, other than the care with which we were molded? One is the result of a highly curated process, wherein nothing of the original is left. The other is a rushed affair, meant to replenish the Will¡¯s forces in its endless clashes with its twin. What, then, does this mean for our future? I stopped reading there, my mind mind reeling with remembered images I had tried to bury. The Abyssal eye, gazing down at me as agony invaded the core of my being. The certain knowledge that nothing of me would be left. The despair of understanding I was powerless against my imminent, irrevocable destruction. I shuddered, scooting a bit closer to Mia. This was the fate of every soul I¡¯d ever tossed to the Abyss. Every offering was a life I¡¯d subjected to excruciating torment, followed by total erasure, with only the useful bits left behind for the Abyss to shape into new demons. Why did Mother think this would make me feel better? Then again¡­ Mia made an odd noise and burrowed closer into me. Slowly, my breathing evened out. Even more slowly, my brain pulled back from the brink of horror and started working again. I began to wonder. What the Abyss apparently wanted gone were the layers that superseded a soul¡¯s ¡®core.¡¯ But even there¡­ I could remember the Abyss slicing me apart, obviously, but I also remembered moments when it seemed to be avoiding bits of me. Even amidst the agony, I could still vividly recall what I assumed were all the most turbulent and emotional moments of my most recent life. Perhaps the Abyss didn¡¯t entirely scrap your identity away. What if it saved certain elements and added them to the second-to-last ¡®accumulation¡¯ layer, using that layer as a foundation for what the new demon would become? It was a bold guess, but something told me I was on the right track. That meant any souls devoured by a demon were shunted off into the Abyssal Will¡¯s clutches with all the gory bits of surgery already done. Those first two layers had already been devoured, so the current soul wouldn¡¯t experience the Abyss stripping them away. If that was the case, then I wouldn¡¯t exactly be destroying the soul of one of my relatives. I¡¯d be stealing the experiences of their final lifetime, sure, but I¡¯d also be getting rid of those first two layers. The core and past life layers would go on to be reincarnated into a demon. Not only would the soul avoid the Abyss¡¯s excruciating surgery, but they¡¯d be well on their way to Trueborn demonhood. In fact, they¡¯d have a much better start than I initially got. With a sigh, and feelings immeasurably beyond ¡®conflicted¡¯, I tossed the soul into my mouth. I absolutely hated the fact that it tasted amazing. Chapter 140: Growing Hunger The memories of one Tridsten Hall were like a giant tidal wave, and I was a foolish sailor who decided to jump right into its path. Most of the earlier memories were insignificant. I noted them, of course, but then let them wash right over me and pass away. Tridsten was a member of a minor family branch, and as such, her early childhood was spent in basic education and frolicking about with her siblings. The first shift came when her talent for magic emerged at the ripe old age of seven, three years later than the typical noble house scion. That was when the main family branch demanded Tridsten be turned over to them for her training. While the Hall family ruled over vast tracts of Ao, it was the city of Fimbulgrint where their true seat lay, and where the main house directed the course of the family¡¯s fortunes. Tridsten went, because of course she did, and thereby gave me the first inherited memory I could truly cherish. The city was glorious. Its walls pierced into the sky. Formed of nearly transparent crystal in various shades of blue, this outer barrier was covered in so many runes that no invading army could ever destroy it. Despite this obvious security, a variety of beasts and monsters swarmed around the bulwark, pacing at its base or patrolling atop it. The gates opened or closed only at the order of a Hall house member, which is why a contingent of mages was always assigned to the defenses, even during the times of greatest peace. Within hid the jewel of the realm. The town was bustling, chock full of people and commerce that necessitated homes be built ever higher. Seeing as how every single establishment was wrought of Hall magic, this was no terrible imposition. Raising an additional few floors was only a matter of petitioning the family. Through the winding city streets Tridsten went. I walked with her, marveling at my family¡¯s accomplishments, until we arrived at the inner castle. It was made of the same crystal as the wall, though so dark that it rivalled the blue of a night sky. Still, at the height of noon, the building refracted light every which way. My eyes were as dazzled as young Tridsten¡¯s. More notably, magical beasts were even thicker here. It seemed like not a single member of the house or even the servants ever moved without a familiar nearby. When a dragon launched itself from one of the castle¡¯s spires, Tridsten almost passed out on the spot. In spite of her fear, though, she forged on. She was a Hall, no matter where she¡¯d grown up. There was a chance she might walk the path of a summoner in the future. To my family¡¯s credit, they welcomed her warmly. Far too many cousins introduced themselves, adults and children both, all eager to assure her of her place among them. I felt Tridsten¡¯s gratitude and eagerness to please her new relatives. If some were a bit more interested in her talent than her personality, she didn¡¯t blame them for it. I saw so many faces that looked achingly similar to my own. So many women and girls I hoped would turn out to be my mother, if only to give me a brief glimpse of her. At last, during dinner, Tridsten was presented to the Patriarch and his closest advisor. Melchom, the stern vision of cold propriety, and his much more affable brother, Michola. Michola. I finally knew my grandfather¡¯s name. My heart both soared and soured at the sight of him. I eagerly drank in his interactions with Melchom, how he tried to tease humanity out of his brother, and the way his face lit up when the Patriarch occasionally spared him a smile. Michola was¡­ well, not overly kind, but warm and reassuring. Her certainly put more effort into making Tridsten feel welcome than his brother. Melchom spared the girl nothing but a brief glance and an assurance that she would be tested for her family magics compatibility the following day. I let the memories flow faster after that, carrying me through Tridsten¡¯s testing and induction as a crystal mage. Then I slowed down to immerse myself in her training. I knew from the sense of Mia¡¯s warmth against me that the absorption lasted a matter of moments. Yet, the amount of time I spent in my head, brain whirring away to absorb all the knowledge, felt like years. Decades. I dove in eagerly, aware only of my greed and growing hunger. For all my previously stolen memories and personal study, I¡¯d never had the privilege of focused learning. And now, here it was, all laid out in patient lessons with private tutoring. I was taught how to wield mana more optimally, how to grow my strength the Hall way, and how to nurture my gift. Next came the lessons in family magics. I learned how to shift small crystals around, and how to manipulate bigger pieces. I practiced growing small bits of crystals myself, and then manipulating that growth in ways I never could have imagined. The one thing that mired the experience was frustration. Tridsten was talented enough to be summoned to the main branch, but once there, she wasn¡¯t remarkable. Her progress was infuriatingly average for a human mage of her standing. I briefly skipped ahead, then seethed in impotent anger upon realizing Tridsten never made it past Grand Mage. But my anger wasn¡¯t directed towards the relative whose soul I was devouring. No, it was reserved for the Patriarch and his pathetic branch. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Throughout the years I spent in Tridsten¡¯s head, I got to watch for myself as tensions grew. I witnessed the turning points when the summoners¡¯ experiments grew riskier, more reckless. I noted one particular occasion when a grand ritual went awry and sent hostile monsters, foreign to Ao, spilling out into the streets of Fimbulgrint. The resulting argument between the Patriarch and his brother made the entire city tremble as their anger twisted the ancestral castle into jagged, unfriendly shapes. I also got to meet my mother. It was striking, to see her face for the first time. I¡¯d expected a vision of fury and focus straight out of the Abyss. Instead, Lethaniel¡¯s normal expression was an easy smile. She liked to wear her hair in a high ponytail. She flirted remorselessly with a young noble boy, sent as a gesture of goodwill to learn at her family¡¯s seat of power. I got to note the exact features I¡¯d inherited from either of my parents. My face and eyes were my mother¡¯s, or at least they used to be. My hair, though? That was all my father. Lethaniel¡¯s hair was the exact shade of gold gleaming under the sun. Seeing them hurt so much more than I¡¯d expected. Being from a lesser branch, Tridsten didn¡¯t interact with them much. My father was also a quiet, shy boy who seemed fond of keeping to himself, which meant that my mother followed suit. Tridsten did attend their wedding, though. Annoyingly, so did Mercutio. He popped up frequently in the memories. To my surprise, he and my mother appeared to have a cordial relationship. There was friction there, but it seemed like they were as fond of each other as relatives should be. They also spent a lot of time together, having been identified as two of the most talented young mages in the family. I ignored his odious face as much as I could, focusing instead on each moment with my mother and father. Their wedding was a grand affair between the houses of Hall and Gloriglen, long-term allies who would be tying their bloodlines for the very first time. My parents were radiantly happy. Even my father, somewhat surly and withdrawn on most other days, wore a happy grin throughout the day. When my mother was named heir of her branch during the festivities, it only sent the mood soaring higher. No one mentioned the lingering tension between the Patriarch and his brother, but it was a pall over the celebration. Then the chaos came. True to my family¡¯s reputation and history, no one ever conquered their seat of power. Nothing outside could bring down the wall. No, the invasion came from within, so swiftly that none of the Patriarch¡¯s opponents could even attempt to interfere. First, my grandfather was poisoned and murdered in his bed. It might have been a blessing, really. At least he didn¡¯t have to watch as demons tore apart his family¡¯s legacy. Then, at Melchom¡¯s summoning, the Abyssal portal ripped open right in the middle of the city. Demonic soldiers came pouring out. I had no words for what I felt when I watched Crewe step out of the portal at the tail end of his armies, gleefully declaring the start of the invasion and the inevitable fall of Ao. I didn¡¯t want to watch what came next. I skipped right over my family members getting hunted down, clasped in chains, and ripped away from their world. I paused just long enough to take in the moment when the Patriarch himself tore me from my mother¡¯s arms. An example, he said. A reminder that no one could evade just punishment for disobeying the family head, not even his closest blood. The memory seared itself into my soul. I skipped forward again, racing through Tridsten¡¯s life in the Abyss, only slowing down when I neared the end. Then, with a deep breath, I immersed myself again fully in my relative¡¯s awareness. I was stumbling through the nearly deserted side streets in Torment, painfully aware of the hunger that clawed at my gut. I had failed, plain and simple, and I was being punished for it. Sure, I had slaughtered some mortals in my first invasion. But as soon as the Abyss¡¯s artificial bloodlust waned, I had stopped fighting. While others around me pushed on and won plenty of souls, I¡¯d numbly let death claim me at the hands of people whose friends and family I¡¯d killed. Except that wasn¡¯t the end. No, that would have been too kind for the denizens of the Abyss. They declared me infirm and incapable, then decreed me one of the many unaffiliated soldiers of Torment, to be drafted in emergencies but otherwise left to sink or swim on my own. For most, that was a death sentence. To claw your way back into regular combat troops was a daunting task. The only options left were starvation or debasement. I chose starvation. Oh, I managed to pay my way into the lowest level invasions once or twice. I was a Grand Mage, after all. But every time ended the same way. I¡¯d try, I really would, just for the faint hope of one day making Melchom regret his choices. But then I would come across a child, or a young couple, or a brokenhearted teen, and I¡¯d fall apart at the seams. Who was I to steal their lives for my own ambition, then prey on their souls as well? I didn¡¯t even know where I was headed. It wasn¡¯t like I could afford any food, nor did I have a place to sleep. Maybe I was just searching for a nice place to expire. I could almost feel the moment drawing near, death hounding my steps. When someone grabbed my shoulder, I almost jumped out of my skin. I knew what bored demons sometimes did to abandoned mortals, and what sort of offers they made. I wanted none of it. But when I spun around on my assailant, I froze. I knew that face. So much like my own, yet utterly foreign, too. The features were so familiar, it took me a moment to realize they were attached to a demon. The demoness was stunningly beautiful. She had hair as golden as the purest sunshine, with actual flames dancing over it in waves and sparks. Her eyes burned, too, their green flames casting shadows over her face. Wings fanned out from her back, batlike and immense, sparking and shimmering in waves of red light. She was dressed in a long, flowing gown. Her feet were twin hooves that looked perfectly suited to trampling enemies underneath. Then, I noticed the small differences in our features. Her ears were no longer straight, but more reminiscent of an elf. Her smile was sad, but wide, treating me to a glimpse of wickedly sharp fangs. Her skin, too, was slightly off. It resembled burnished silver more than the pasty white of my lineage. ¡°Thank all the cosmic forces out there I found someone,¡± the demoness with my own features whispered. ¡°I thought you were all dead or converted.¡± Then I was caught in a hug, and I relished the feeling of warmth and reassurance. Tears sprang to my eyes. With that, the immediacy between me and Tridsten¡¯s memories faltered. I tried to clutch at them, clinging with a desperate intensity that made me dizzy, but I couldn¡¯t get myself back in the right headspace to sink into them again. Instead, I became aware of Mia¡¯s fingers gently brushing my tears away, and I lifted my eyes to meet her own concerned golden orbs. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m fine¡­¡± I trailed off, closing my eyes so she couldn¡¯t see the anger there. The anger which burned at the core of my being and filled me with an insatiable hunger for revenge. One stolen hug. A hug I¡¯d only experienced by tearing the memory out of Tridsten¡¯s soul. That¡¯s all I had of my mother, and it was all Melchom¡¯s fault. For the very first time, true hatred sparked in my heart. I had no idea how far I would go to see my estranged relative burn. Chapter 141: Clashing Visions It was a fierce tackle-hug that pulled me out of my vengeful thoughts. Before I knew it, Mia had her arms around me in earnest, rather than just lounging on top of me. ¡°Mia?¡± I asked in surprise. ¡°Is everything okay?¡± The look on her face implied I was an idiot. ¡°I¡¯m fine. You¡¯re not.¡± Naturally, I reached for the tried and true approach: deflect, deflect, and deflect some more. ¡°I¡¯m not the one being a cuddle bug,¡± I said teasingly, but I did shift enough so I could awkwardly wrap one of my arms around her, even if it did cramp one of my wings something fierce. ¡°Really, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°You forget what I¡¯m a demoness of, Hayden Hall. Your emotions were not exactly subtle.¡± I froze, remembering all my recent visions of raining violent punishment down on Melchom¡¯s head. ¡°Ah.¡± She huffed in a distinctly feline way and burrowed her face deeper into my side. ¡°Study up on your family later. You don¡¯t have to rush things. We have time.¡± ¡°Do we, though? I¡¯ve dropped my magical education, hard. Your stealth was so useful with those locals, but me? What can I do past cleaning up the blood once battle¡¯s over?¡± ¡°You can do plenty. You taught me spells I still use. Helped me adapt them. It¡¯s time to shut up and cuddle now.¡± Her words sure sounded final, and even drew a chuckle out of me. I hesitated for another second. But then my hand fell on top of her head, and I gently ran my fingers through her hair. It was silky smooth and ridiculously flawless. I hadn¡¯t dared do it before, but when my fingers brushed against her ears, I took the time to toy with them. They were remarkably identical to regular cat ears. Just far more velvety. Mia chose to bear the indignity with a few quiet grumbles and what sounded suspiciously like a disgruntled meow, but she didn¡¯t claw me up, so I could call it an overall success. And somehow, as I stroked her hair, the story came pouring out of me. ¡°I come from a family of mages, as you might know. Two main lines: summoners and crystal elementalists. Apparently, we were a pretty big deal back on the world we originated from. Had a whole kingdom to ourselves and everything. The world was fairly advanced too, from what I could tell. In spite of all that, the patriarch of my family chose to betray everyone and willingly summoned a demonic invasion. They even made him the head of a division for it. Well, I don¡¯t think he climbed up the ranks solely because of that, since the promotion is recent. Even so¡­¡± ¡°You still hate him for what he did.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I shook my head, marveling at the tide of rage still coursing underneath every thought. ¡°I can¡¯t explain it. I felt plenty of anger before, of course. But now? Now that I got to see what Ao was like? What my family was like? I¡¯m half tempted to go back to Torment and try to claw his throat out. I¡¯d fail, obviously. He¡¯d probably vaporize me on the spot if I somehow made it to him in the first place. But ¡ª¡± ¡°I understand,¡± she whispered. The despair in her voice crushed my heart a little. It didn¡¯t take long to connect all that resentment with her reaction to Vallinach. ¡°You know what¡¯s funny?¡± I went on, partly to distract her from the pain roiling off her in waves. ¡°I got to find out who led the invasion of my world. It was Crewe. Crazy coincidence, right? The one high-ranking demon who actually helped us was also the one who destroyed my world. I have no idea how to feel about that.¡± She pulled herself up then, displacing my hand that had been playing with her ear so she could look me right in the eye. ¡°You know exactly how you feel about that.¡± My lips twitched. I looked away from her. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Glaustro isn¡¯t going to hate you for resenting Crewe.¡± I winced, but I refused to chance another look into her eyes. ¡°No? Even though his brother works for the man, and he helped us on Lagyel?¡± Mia shrugged, shifted, and plopped herself down on top of me. Her chin was on my chest, letting her maintain forcibly direct eye contact. ¡°Glaustro might have good advice for you on the subject.¡± ¡°Or he might tell me to suck it up and move on. I¡¯m hardly the first person whose world was sacked, life was stolen, and then got shoved into the legion to perpetuate the cycle. Hells, I¡¯m willingly doing that to other people here!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think Glaustro or his brother participated in what happened.¡± She knocked the breath out of my lungs with that. Of course she could just cut through to what was really bothering me. She knew me better than anyone at that point. That tends to happen when you spent all your time around someone. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°But they might have,¡± I eventually shot back. ¡°And¡­ does it matter? Should it matter? What are we even doing, Mia? It¡¯s a bit late to ask myself that, but¡­ what did we get ourselves into? What are our long-term goals? Just¡­ survival? Or maybe we¡¯ll grow and grow and either die or reach the top of the legion! But then what?¡± ¡°I want revenge. I want vengeance,¡± she growled. I had never heard so much emotion in her voice. Her eyes were sparking with golden flecks. I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to brush my thumb over her cheekbone, letting said sparks fizzle against my skin. ¡°And what then?¡± Both my gesture and my question seemed to throw the cat demoness for a loop, at least briefly. She looked away for a moment before saying quietly, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but you¡¯ll help me figure it out.¡± That made me smile. I mussed her hair as a little vengeance of my own. She yowled and tried to bite my fingers, fixing me with an unimpressed glower when she failed. My smile widened into a grin. ¡°Only if you help me figure things out, too.¡± ¡°You¡¯re rude, but fine,¡± she huffed. Then she closed her eyes and dug her chin into my chest unnecessarily hard, signaling that the conversation was over. I took a few extra moments to try and clear my head, but it wasn¡¯t working. The image I had of Glaustro and his brother as helpful, even kind mentor figures was constantly clashing with another image: their faces, transposed on two of the demons charging into my family¡¯s ancestral city. I grit my teeth a bit harder than was necessarily wise, certainly hard enough to chip them if I wasn¡¯t a demon, but then I deflated. I let all the anguish and anger drain out of me. Pure spite wasn¡¯t going to get me anywhere closer to my goal. Instead, I turned to the wealth of books I¡¯d inherited from my mother. Reaching my sword and its storage jewel would have been tricky if I couldn¡¯t just summon it to my hand. Thankfully, I could, so I didn¡¯t have to fight off a kitty puddle. The first book I extracted was on runes, specifically demonic runes. My first encounter with those was when I absorbed the beginner-level enchanting knowledge of some random poor soul on Berlis. Unfortunately, said soul did not belong to an accomplished mage, nor did its memories come from a magically advanced civilization. After all, Berlis was viewed as barely fit to test fresh recruits in. The rest of my runic knowledge came from the scattered spellwork and research I had gathered over my training, and it was mostly practical in nature. I could recognize and draw a bunch of runes, and I could use them to mess with spell composition and casting. But that all stemmed from the reflexive understanding obtained through casting repetition. It wasn¡¯t like ¡®reading runes¡¯ was all that great an accomplishment. Runes as a whole contain an innate magic that basically broadcasts their essence out to the world, since they were created by observing and jotting down natural magical laws in written form. I knew that before, in some vague peripheral way. But it was only when I lived through Tridsten¡¯s lessons secondhand that the knowledge really clicked. One of her tutors guided them through the process of discovering, recording, and then refining runes, which is how I learned that runes are pretty much universal. This was honestly a relief. Every rune is rooted in the most basic principles of not the local world, but the universe itself. The only reason everyone doesn¡¯t use the exact same runes, no matter their world of origin, is because the local reality does slightly alter the runes¡¯ natural shapes. Yet that doesn¡¯t impact their universality. You could take twenty different runes for ¡®air¡¯ from twenty different worlds, and they¡¯d all be pretty similar. They wouldn¡¯t be identical, but they would work on every single one of those worlds. Theoretically, runes would stop being able to perform their intended function only if you somehow wound up in a different universe entirely. But since not even the Abyss had ever come across a world that wasn¡¯t within our sphere of reality, that concern was pointless. So if runes are interchangeable, why would I bother reading up on Abyssal runes at all? Refinement, that¡¯s why. The older and more thorough a civilization¡¯s research into runes, the more they are pared down, simplified, and reduced to the most optimal shape and form. This process is a grueling one. It often requires traveling to different worlds, stealing their runic research, and then comparing notes. After all, it¡¯s hard to cut bits off of runes randomly to discover this optimal form. But if you already had the aforementioned twenty unique runes for ¡®air¡¯? You¡¯d just have to identify the identical bits, then discard the rest. Through this process, runes could become more ¡®foundational.¡¯ They would resonate better with the core of reality, and, therefore, they could pull more power from it. Needless to say, the Abyss had some of the most polished runes out of all the worlds out there. The book on runes was a fascinating read. I even tested out a couple of my spells after painstakingly replacing their runes with the optimal versions. The difference was amazing! Both the ease of spellcasting and the spell¡¯s effects grew tremendously. This line of research inevitably led to another branch of magic, of course: enchanting. I had been fascinated by it from the start, and my mother must have shared at least part of that emotion. A decent portion of her library centered on the subject. Unfortunately, I doubted I could make swift progress on that front. I couldn¡¯t really appreciate it properly when I watched Yules work on our armor, mostly because she was doing a thousand different things I wasn¡¯t equipped to follow or understand at the time, but enchanting is tremendously complex. For it to work, runes have to be worked meticulously into the base material of the item you¡¯re trying to enchant, mostly in the form of mana passageways that mimic the rune¡¯s shape. That sounds simply in theory, but it¡¯s only a rune¡¯s most basic and inefficient form that comes in two dimensions. If you want to make the most of your enchantment, you need to add several more dimensions on top of that, all while properly binding the runes to the item. As if that wasn¡¯t difficult enough, the best possible approach is to craft the channels out of unique materials, most of which have to be blended very carefully. Enchanting wasn¡¯t just a job or a hobby. It was an art, and one that took considerable resources to master. It no longer surprised me that Yules and her mother clearly came from wealth and power. In fact, I suspected that most if not all of the premier Abyssal crafters were propped up by immense expense accounts at the start of their careers. I resolved myself to thank Yules more properly the next time we met for all the amazing work she¡¯d done for Mia and me. Also, I pledged to avoid complaining about prices of quality items in the future. Considering all the work and persistence crafters had to pour into their professions, most of them deserved to be properly compensated. Other than that potion seller I met once who chose to double his prices and chase all other competition out of town. That guy could go drown in his own uselessly overpriced stock. With my mood somewhat settled, and my appetite for mystic knowledge whetted, it was time for what I was really looking forward to. Maybe I had no more family left whom I¡¯d be willing to get along with, but I still had a piece of my ancestral legacy with me. I extracted my family¡¯s crystalline grimoire with considerable reverence. Chapter 142: Crystal Growth Elemental affinity is a funny thing. Most elemental mages start out with at least some level of affinity for their chosen element. But how do you tell if a young mage has that affinity? What test could a family like the Halls use to determine if their young mages should be trained as summoners or crystal elemental mages? There are way too many traditions out there, and they all swear up and down that their methods are infallible. In some creatures, elemental affinity is easy enough to spot. No one would look at the weird ice creatures Mia and I had encountered in the caverns and not say they had some kind of affinity for the element they were made out of. But that¡¯s the problem. Most of the time, real affinity comes down to some kind of physical trait. A bloodline, a mutation, or some other quirk of nature that makes you more closely aligned with one element or another. And what if you don¡¯t have any such obvious traits? How is a basic boilerplate human supposed to be tested for their affinity towards different paths of magecraft or elements? That¡¯s where all the different traditions come in. Everyone has their personal preference. For the Hall family, this boiled down to a glorified personality test. You¡¯re great with animals? You like learning about the weird quirks of different species? Yay! You get to be a summoner. If not, yay! You get to be a crystal elemental mage. Granted, politics did play a significant role. If you were a main member of either of the two dominant house branches, then you automatically had ¡®great inborn potential¡¯ for the art they espoused, and that was that. I wanted to roll my eyes at the whole process, but it worked surprisingly well for them¡­ until Melchom came along and ruined everything. I didn¡¯t regret ending up in the crystal elementalist line. Mercutio¡¯s nonsense had put me off summoning magic, and the crystal spells I¡¯d encountered in Tridsten¡¯s memories were fascinating. In fact, I didn¡¯t really need the grimoire for the beginner spells on the crystal path. I already had them carved deep into my subconscious from all the repetition Tridsten did in life. Still, out of respect for tradition (and my own curiosity), I read through the crystal-bound grimoire first. The book contained heady promises of power. It spoke of conjuring unbreakable crystalline tentacles to strike at my enemies. Of how I could one day call forth entire cities with a wave of my hand. Of crafting defenses that could withstand the most powerful attack spells. It even contained surprisingly advanced secrets on construct craft that outshone what I¡¯d seen the jinn do on Lagyel. Towards the end of the grimoire, there was a particularly powerful spell. It promised to guide me through the process of transforming my own body into crystal while unifying it with my soul, in order to become a living magical construct. It was an incredible piece of magic. With enough people wielding this power, turning away the demonic invasion on Ao could have been easy. But the ritual came with far too many warnings attached. Only old mages at death¡¯s door were recommended to make the attempt. Considering side effects like ¡®a severe loss of humanity¡¯ and ¡®impeded critical thinking¡¯, I understood why the Hall family wasn¡¯t swamped with eternal crystal mages. After all, most magic practitioners value their own minds above all else. Not many would willingly transform themselves into constructs. Yet, in spite of all these promised wonders, what captured and held my attention was the most foundational spell of my family branch. The aptly named ¡®Crystal Growth¡¯ did exactly as advertised on the tin. What made it stand out was its ability to conjure actual, permanent crystal from thin air. The entire spell was based on a lovingly optimized rune sequence. It caused elemental mana to collect in layers, which were constantly condensed until the mana was forced to shift and take on physical form. The result was natural crystal growth. With this spell, I would never be without the materials required for other crystal-based magic. It was huge. Determined to make this spell my own, I tried to relegate all Tridsten¡¯s memories of it to some shadowy corner of my mind. Only then did I attempt the spell myself. I watched with great fascination as the tiniest kernel of crystal formed in the air above my palm, followed quickly by many additional layers. Effortlessly, I fed as much mana into the spell as it demanded. It was only when the blue-green crystal was nearly the size of my first that I cut off its growth supply. The mystical force keeping it aloft vanished, and it landed softly on the palm of my hand. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. There it was. Almost perfectly spherical in shape, and quite shiny. Shiny enough, in fact, that I noticed a golden pair of eyes tracking it as I idly rolled it across my palm. I couldn¡¯t keep in a snicker of amusement. ¡°You like it?¡± I asked, offering the crystal for Mia¡¯s closer inspection. She plucked it out of my hand and eyed it for a long moment before imperiously nodding. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You can keep it, if you like.¡± The offer was met with a satisfied meow that I wasn¡¯t sure Mia was aware of, and an additional nod. I then spent several minutes watching her roll the crystal around on my chest before I forced my attention back to the spell. I¡¯d have time for kitty cat antics later. Swiftly, I grew another crystal to the same size, gauging my mana expenditure. I then compared what I was doing to Tridsten¡¯s memories. The result was sort of depressing, but not on my end. Tridsten had struggled with this spell throughout her training. She managed to complete it, but it was never the fastest or smoothest process. It took her minutes to create a crystal that I could form in seconds. Her creations always came out with various imperfections that made them more brittle and far less useful. That was without mentioning mana consumption, too. As a demon and former mortal Archmage, my mana capacity was frankly unfair. The mana I used to form the two crystals regenerated almost as quickly as I spent it. In contrast, Tridsten¡¯s reserves would only allow her to conjure about ten crystals of the same size before she¡¯d be tapped out for a while. It made sense, actually. Even though the spell was foundational in the sense that everything else in the grimoire built off it, creation of true matter was still a difficult feat. That¡¯s probably why most Hall mages were instructed to carry casting supplies with them until they hit the level of Archmage themselves. It would be horribly embarrassing if they drained themselves of mana mere seconds into a fight just to conjure a small crystal. Tridsten¡¯s weak magical abilities were partly why I tried to suppress her memories in the first place. The instincts she had built up were chock full of all the crutches and inefficiencies a mortal low-level mage simply had to resort to if they wanted to pull off certain spells. In fact, now that I was inspecting my own spells a little closer, I noticed that many of my own casting habits were a bit¡­ lacking. I particularly cringed at my use of the spell Mia had passed onto me. It was only due to the durable framework of the spell itself that I hadn¡¯t splattered myself into several pieces the first time I tried to switch places with one of my mirages. The only spells of mine I could really call ¡®polished¡¯ were the ones cast internally. Both my refinement and strengthening techniques ran at praiseworthy levels, considering I had picked them up when I was still a mortal. I resolved to revamp my entire spellcasting approach as soon as I was able. Preferably using Abyssal runes as replacements for the ones I¡¯d picked up from mortal memories¡­ Too many distractions. So much to do, I groused. Forcing myself to refocus yet again, I trained my eyes on the crystal I¡¯d created. Then, patiently, I cast the Hall family¡¯s second foundational crystal spell. I felt the connection between me and the crystal form, grow, and finally snap into place. All of a sudden, I knew the crystal sphere as intimately as I knew my own body, and the slightest hint of intention sent it rippling and changing shape. I shifted it into a spike, then a disc, then the rune for sharpness. Finally, I willed it to take the form of an extremely detailed statue of Mia, curled up and taking a nap. Grinning in pure glee at my new capabilities, I plopped the statue in front of Mia¡¯s face. ¡°Here, another trinket,¡± I teased, enjoying the way her lips quirked up. It was remarkable how much this simple gesture lifted her mood, and it wasn¡¯t like I needed to hang onto the crystal. In fact, the whole point of natural progression in the Hall family magical arts was to overcome the need for prepared material. Next, with a deep breath, I launched into a spell that was far more complex than the previous two. It was a marvel of optimization and innovation both, brought about by generations of the Hall family¡¯s most talented mages slaving away. Tridsten had pined after it her whole life. Pumping as much mana into the spell as I dared, I watched in wonder as spires of crystal erupted from the points in the air I¡¯d chosen as kernels. The spires hung in front of me for a moment, suspended by my will and mana. Then crystal strands stabbed out from the spires in every direction, twisting and undulating like the limbs of some massive kraken. Mia sat up and tracked the rapid growth of the crystal with wide eyes. By the time I cut off my mana flow, the two of us were encased in a dome of crystal latticework adorned by countless wickedly sharp thorns. The crystal caught the lamplight inside the tent, making the entire construct shimmer and gleam. ¡°You were holding out on me,¡± Mia said in an accusing tone, and I burst into a fit of giggles. I couldn¡¯t help it. The sight of my family¡¯s magic manifested to such potential had sent my heart soaring. Sure, it wasn¡¯t fair how quickly I was getting through the grimoire and absorbing the lessons within, but for once, the unfairness worked in my favor! Besides, I was willing to admit that I couldn¡¯t have succeeded so easily without all of Tridsten¡¯s studying. She never possessed the skill or the mana to utilize the separate spells to their full potential, but her time hadn¡¯t been spent in vain. She¡¯d spent countless hours analyzing various crystals, using her mana senses and the diagnostic spells included in the Hall grimoire. She had catalogued all her discoveries and figured out how best to apply them. It was thanks to her that I could bulldoze past the initial obstacles and know instantly what kind of crystal I ought to conjure. Tridsten lived on. Even better, she was providing me with the tools I would need eventually to bring the fight to Melchom and his traitorous branch of the family. Sure, I was still a mediocre mage in the grand scheme of things. A single set of spells wouldn¡¯t change that immediately. But I¡¯d be damned if I didn¡¯t work tirelessly until I could finally claim my full heritage. Chapter 143: Unified Advancement In spite of the success I¡¯d had with my family¡¯s spells, I wasn¡¯t quite satisfied with the day¡¯s work just yet. Sure, the Hall magics were a solid start. But those magics hadn¡¯t saved my family from falling to the Abyss. Even if that fall had been partly due to treachery, it wasn¡¯t wise to rely fully on my mortal inheritance. Not if I really wanted to grow. With this sound reasoning in mind, I finally broke out the souls I¡¯d been saving. Hunger sprang up in me at the thought of devouring them all. For a moment, I tried to pretend that this desire was all about my growth-goals and had nothing to do with my demonic cravings. I didn¡¯t pretend for too long, though. This was not the time for overanalysis or hesitation. I just scarfed all the souls down, and if I did relish the way they melted on my tongue, then so what? As a demon, I was able to examine soul crystals as thoroughly as an Absorption Station. That meant I had a rough idea of what each soul could offer me. This collection of souls was one I¡¯d carefully set aside amidst all the chaos of preparing for Breskwor. It included several different jinn souls and a couple Lagyel natives with interesting magical skillsets. It also contained the soul of a superior golem. Once upon a time, I had been terrified of devouring a superior soul for fear of what that would do to my sense of self. Now, I merely cherished the tingles it sent racing through my senses. Whereas regular and greater souls did add a miniscule amount of power to my reserves, it was with the superior soul that I saw my first hint of true progress. The edges of my soul pressed ever so slightly outwards, and I even noticed a slight thickening in my soul¡¯s opacity at those same edges. Unfortunately, that was it. I knew on an instinctive level that if I kept devouring souls, then my own would eventually grow both larger and thicker. Once the changes reached my core, they would suddenly accelerate, and all the power trapped within me from the consumption of others would erupt into a glorious evolution. Alas, the number of souls required for such growth would be staggering. Unless I could somehow get my hands on a few souls of greater quality than my own, it would likely take years of constant devouring and battles before I could advance further. Of course, the Abyss was always ready to provide for those willing to serve. The importance of merits had finally become obvious to me upon my ascension. Those demons lucky or skilled enough to earn merits could, at any point, visit an Absorption Station and cash them in for an infusion of growth directly from the Abyss itself. It was the most expedient and explosive means of progress available to any demon. Accrue enough merits? You could exchange them all at once and progress straight through into the ranks of nobility. Another potential method of advancement was to make a sacrifice, like I had done to further my transformation into a demon past the basic levels. The only downside of that plan was that you needed to sacrifice a soul with particularly valuable knowledge or unique traits. For example, the first demon to sacrifice the soul of a species never before encountered by the Abyss stood to gain ridiculous rewards. Sadly, this was both difficult and rare. Thanks to the long and bloody history of demonic invasions, everything worth sacrificing had already been offered up to the Abyss at least once. I had it on good authority that the plane had even feasted on the soul of a Primordial before. What could possibly be left? There were rumors that some enterprising demons ran mortal ¡®farms¡¯, where they were attempting to produce unique species or organisms, but that kind of thing was definitely not to my taste. In any case, the souls I had just eaten weren¡¯t valuable to me primarily for any growth they could provide. The knowledge they contained? Now that was the true prize. I started with the jinn. Just the insight into how they approached spellwork was invaluable. As partially elemental life forms, they had a fascinating method of accumulating mana. They freely established a connection between themselves and the elemental plane. Then they could build a gate within their soul that spewed out elemental mana endlessly. They used this gate to temper themselves, grow their mana reserves, and ¡®purify¡¯ their own elemental mana. I couldn¡¯t use the method wholesale, but I could probably adapt it to start building up my affinity for crystal mana at an accelerated pace. Come to think of it, I was fairly certain Glaustro had done something similar with earth mana. I¡¯d noticed an oddity in his soul that could be explained as a jinn-inspired type of elemental gate. It was an odd thing to be so keenly aware of other people¡¯s souls, and to know that they had just as much insight into your own. Some of the older and more powerful demons did bother with defenses that made casual inspection impossible. However, this was often seen as a sign of cowardice. Silly? Perhaps. But then again, demons never did make much logical sense. The second thing of value I discovered was the method jinn used to conjure up that rune-armor of theirs, though I had no desire even to try and copy it. The change was semi-permanent and took a ton of work to dispel. They twisted their natural forms into an enchanted, battle-ready state and then used runes to prevent the change from undoing itself. Stolen novel; please report. The runes also strengthened them and gave them some unique abilities, sure. But that didn¡¯t change the fact that the jinn were basically mutilating themselves for a power boost. Beyond the insights this method gave me into their enchantment practices, it held zero appeal. Next, I turned my attention to the mortal souls, which provided me with some fascinating information about crystal magic. Most of the Lagyel mortals used some flavor of sand or crystal magic themselves. After all, if you squinted hard enough, sand was a type of crystal. Thanks to this overlap, I had high hopes of figuring out how to ape the mana-resistant properties of Lagyel¡¯s sands. Only time and a thorough examination of my armor and sword would tell if that idea could bear fruit. Finally, having saved the best for last, I immersed myself in the memories of the superior golem. The experience was¡­ educational. I immediately ran into some roadblocks, stemming from the extremely alien consciousness attached to the soul. Though the golem had been created to mimic the soul structure and thought patterns of a jinn, it simply wasn¡¯t an organic creature. It couldn¡¯t perceive the world through the same lens as a mortal or even naturally immortal species. For it, the countless years it had spent as scattered grains of sand were but the blink of an eye, unremarkable and wholly acceptable. Me? I wanted to claw my brain out from the sheer boredom the memories inspired. Even worse, I felt compelled to comb through them! The way the golem instinctively and naturally manipulated the sand that constituted its body was breathtakingly masterful. And it did so constantly. Each second of its existence was a valuable insight into advanced elemental control. The spells I¡¯d inherited did promise to make it just as easy for me to manipulate crystal eventually, but anything I picked up from the golem would definitely accelerate my long path to mastery. Even more fascinating was the golem¡¯s behavior in its fully manifested form. The many runes that marked its body were seamlessly remade each time it broke apart, but they were also anchored to the creature¡¯s soul. Whenever their physical manifestations were damaged, the soul was damaged as well. This feedback between physical and soul damage gave me an idea. If I could set up something similar on my own soul, and have my crystal manipulation spell up permanently¡­ but that would require grafting runes directly onto my soul. I wasn¡¯t quite ready to contemplate that yet. It was an idle thought at this point that led to something glorious. What if I could copy the golem¡¯s inherent rune formation not on my soul, but using my crystal? After all, the main difficulty in enchanting an item came from getting the rune structure inside the object. What would happen if I tried to grow crystals with runes embedded in them from the start? A more cautious person would have first tried to grow crystals in the shape of runes and attempted to trigger them like that. My stupid ass immediately conjured up a fist-sized crystal, whose internal makeup I then carefully manipulated to contain the outline of the demonic rune for ¡®heat¡¯. In my oh-so-brilliant mind, this would create a heating stone that could warm or cool depending on whether or not I was feeding it mana. I never paused to consider the fact that forging something out of pure mana meant it would be flush with the mystical force from the start. So, when I completed the final pieces of the rune, the result was¡­ explosive. I had about a fraction of a second for my mana sense to tell me that all the mana packed into the crystal was draining into the rune. Then a flash of light seared my eyes, and my hand felt like it was dipped into lava. Now, since I was a demon, that wasn¡¯t the tragedy it could have been. But judging from the way Mia¡¯s claws poked into my sides, she very much did not appreciate getting flashbanged. ¡°¡­Ooops?¡± ¡°I was relaxing, Hayden. I was comfortable.¡± Her quiet hiss didn¡¯t herald good things for my future. ¡°I¡¯ll do better?¡± ¡°Not good enough.¡± ¡ª Mia refused to let me spend all our down time on my new obsession. I assured her that growing runes directly into my crystal would make me much safer and stronger in the long run, but that wasn¡¯t enough for the cat. Instead, as the rare period of peace and quiet dragged on for a few more days, she forced me to spar with her. I didn¡¯t complain. In fact, after she almost kicked my ass in record time the first day, I swiftly came to share her enthusiasm for this form of training. Mia was a speed demon at that point. When she combined all her spells to conjure clones, cloud a person¡¯s senses, and conceal her own position behind illusions, she became a true terror. I couldn¡¯t count the number of times her claws gently grazed against my neck, reminding me that the move could have been much deadlier if she¡¯d wanted it to be. I still gave as good as I got! My shield was much better than hers. It also didn¡¯t take me long to figure out that I had a much finer control of mana than she did. While she had to keep feeding mana into her ravenous techniques, I could sustain several at just about optimal levels without much strain. Our training duels grew more even, then tilted in my favor, when my crystal magic research began to bear fruit. I didn¡¯t give up on my fast-paced style of combat that relied on phasing in and out of battle while harassing enemies. If anything, I just leaned into it further. Now, wherever my feet landed, twisted spires of crystal sprang out of the ground like demented flowers. I could even make them take on the form of rose bushes if I bothered to spend a little extra time and mana. This didn¡¯t do much for the sheer functionality of the move. Still, it sure looked cool to see a whole ¡®garden¡¯ of crystal roses twist into existence, trying to grab hold of a slippery kitty cat with murder in her eyes. I quickly became fond of conjuring up domes of crystal latticework that bristled with thorns and spikes. This did little to impede either of us, since we could send out gaseous clones and then instantly switch places with them, but I could imagine an enemy falling for the trick and getting stuck in a constantly regenerating crystal hellscape. Best of all, a couple of days into our training montage, I finally managed to imbue runes into my crystals. The first rune I saw success with was ¡®toughness¡¯, then ¡®sharpness.¡¯ Sure, these were basic runes, but they seriously shored up some of the weaknesses in my conjuring. Mia actually had to dodge or block my constructs instead of just letting them hit her. The strengthening also made my conjurations last much longer on the field of battle. Once I learned how to add self-regeneration runes, I wouldn¡¯t have to keep diverting part of my attention to fixing everything Mia broke. Then I would really be a pain to fight. I had to pay in literal blood for every bit of progress I made, but I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t enjoying it. Chapter 144: The Expansion Tension One unfortunate side effect of my growing mastery over all things crystalline was the attention it drew. It wasn¡¯t long before Glaustro approached me to see what I was capable of. To my exasperation, he did not choose to focus on my amazing versatility, or my deadliness, or even the field control capabilities of my chosen branch of magic. No, he wanted to know how many houses and defensive fortifications I could put up in a day. Snow and ice were fine, but they didn¡¯t make for the most comfortable or awe-inspiring fortifications, not at the scale we required. Therefore, I was put in charge of sprucing up our glorious future capital of Breskwor. Though I was content to whine about it, the process of raising a city was actually kind of fun. It helped that the process developed an entirely different dimension of my abilities. While sparring built up my instincts and repertoire of spells, construction required a constant burning of my mana reserves. This did wonders for my endurance. The daily work wasn¡¯t increasing the amount of mana I possessed, but it was enhancing my ability to channel mana for longer periods and at higher intensity. As a demon, I was partially made of mana. That meant I had more to begin with than most mortals, and I could regenerate it faster. Even so, my body didn¡¯t like being put under so much stress. By forcing it to endure, I was actually expanding the vessel of my mystical might. The resulting aches weren¡¯t fun. Neither was the feeling that I might unravel at the seams any moment. But it was worth it to cast a few extra spells with ever greater power the following day. I did run into an unexpected problem, though. For all my ability to conjure and manipulate crystal, I wasn¡¯t much of an architect. Oh, I could put up basic rooms easily enough, but all the stuff about anchoring them properly or setting foundations evaded me. That¡¯s why I was paired up with a chatty demon in Imthala¡¯s service named Gaustig. His experience with ice magic and temporary shelters qualified him thoroughly for the task. While I was convinced of his usefulness, particularly after he guided me through the process of setting up a wall with proper battlements, I also found myself wanting to do horrible things to his tongue on occasion. The man just could not keep his mouth shut. Even Mia, who could tune out almost everything, got tired of his yapping eventually and ditched me. Still, despite all my grousing, I enjoyed this period of rest, training, and growth. I was even proud of all my contributions, doubly so because some of the most important buildings in our blossoming city were put up by me. Glaustro¡¯s new headquarters and personal quarters took four days to put up, and then three separate housing complexes for the major¡¯s sergeants took six more days. I could have finished faster, but I left the quarters Mia and I would share for last, and I relished crafting it to our meticulous personal standards. The wall took a whole week to round off satisfactorily. I then spent a couple extra days setting up the various captains with their own lodgings. The final project I worked on before fate decided to intervene was a row of shops, including a few particularly fancy buildings. Privately, I hoped one of the latter could eventually become an Apple Infernal inn. I had little need for renting a room at the present moment, but that didn¡¯t mean I could forget my fondness for the place. It just might have saved my life in my early days as a weak, ignorant recruit. If I¡¯d chosen to stay at some seedy inn back then, I probably would have found myself waking up in the Abyss far too early in the invasion, and that wasn¡¯t a position a recruit wanted to be in. I¡¯d had a nice long look at the life of a ¡®failed¡¯ recruit through Tridsten¡¯s eyes. My gratitude to Glaustro only climbed ever higher because of it. Of course, I couldn¡¯t spend too much time dwelling on the past. I had more than enough to worry about in the present. For example, the meeting I was currently spacing out in. ¡°¡­This is why I suggest we take a more aggressive stance against the locals,¡± one of the captains was saying through gritted teeth. ¡°We really shouldn¡¯t ignore their provocations anymore.¡± I couldn¡¯t blame him for being upset. The locals had taken our inaction as a sign that we might be easy pickings. They had made a nuisance of themselves by ambushing our scouts and pressing in on our growing city. They¡¯d even tried to sabotage construction a couple of times. If we hadn¡¯t caught it early and shored up the foundations of everything we were building with defensive runes, they actually could have succeeded at mildly inconveniencing us. Still, it wasn¡¯t like anyone could retaliate. Glaustro had ordered us to avoid murdering them for fear of thinning out their numbers too much. Instead, we focused on tracking them, trying to find all their settlements and most especially their totems. It was the nature of yeti to be semi-nomadic. The tribes typically rotated among a few different settlements. If someone spooked them, they could easily uproot their current lives and move on. Since we wanted them to lead us to all their normal places of worship, it was better to appear as less of a threat. ¡°We are almost finished locating all of their idols and totems,¡± Glaustro told the captain. ¡°Endure for a few more days, and I promise the problem will go away.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The major¡¯s tone was more conciliatory than I was used to hearing from him when addressing subordinates, but it seemed like he understood his officers¡¯ frustration. The captain reluctantly nodded and sat down, making way for the next report on the agenda. It was Methialia who stepped forward. The demoness had approached me the day before with some troubling news, troubling enough that I wanted Glaustro to hear for himself. ¡°My team and I were ranging far afield recently, as per our orders to track down and note any other tribes we can find,¡± the demoness reported. ¡°For the first four days, we noticed nothing unusual. But on the fifth day, we started to come across odd tracks and signs of combat.¡± She hesitated, wetting her lips nervously. ¡°Go on, Methialia. I know you wouldn¡¯t bring this to me if you didn¡¯t think it was important,¡± Glaustro reassured her. The demoness cringed, but forged on. ¡°The traces we discovered, both magical and physical, indicate that someone had attacked the yeti in that area. Judging by the density of the mana residue, I can only conclude that the attackers were demons. Likewise, it was only for a moment, but I swear I spotted a demon while performing aerial survey. Not one of ours, obviously.¡± Glaustro¡¯s whole body locked up in a way that was alarming, even for me. His eyes narrowed, and his mana began to leak out of his skin. The reason for his intense reaction was obvious. The only other demons we could encounter on Breskwor were Wilhelmina¡¯s lot. We weren¡¯t really prepared to fight them. If they were snooping around and even managing to hide from our scouts, then they held the advantage. ¡°Are you sure of that, Captain?¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice came out in a low growl. ¡°No offense, but you don¡¯t look so good.¡± Glaustro wasn¡¯t wrong. Methialia sort of resembled a corpse that had been run over and left to rot, then reanimated and forced to work without rest for months. The conditions were obviously not as bad as that, but I did notice that she had been growing progressively worse since we¡¯d arrived on Breskwor. Even so, my captain did not look amused by the insinuation. ¡°I am positive, sir,¡± she stated, then struggled to leech the resentment out of her voice before speaking again. ¡°I know what I saw. It wasn¡¯t a hallucination or an illusion. Our rivals are out there somewhere.¡± For a second, Glaustro unflinchingly maintained eye contact with the demoness. Then he looked away and broke out into a string of curses fit to make a sailor blush. When he finally got himself back together, he had new orders to issue. ¡°I want them found. They will not sneak up on us, do you understand? Whatever resources you require to make that happen, you¡¯ll have them.¡± ¡°I could use a few more teams of scouts, sir.¡± The demoness paused there, her eyes flitting over to me and Mia. ¡°And perhaps some backing in the field, with power enough to discourage casual engagement. I don¡¯t want to lose scouts over this, especially since we don¡¯t know when we can reestablish contact with the Abyss.¡± Glaustro did grimace, but I was proud of him when he didn¡¯t start cursing again. ¡°Sounds reasonable¡­ Thankfully, we have more archdemons than Wilhelmina does. There is a chance one or more of her people has trained in shielding enough to fool me, but I would be shocked. No, it seems like her paranoia is working in our favor on this occasion. Very well. I¡¯ll take your requests into consideration.¡± He then directed Methialia¡¯s attention to a map our scouts were slowly putting together. After she marked out the area where she¡¯d encountered demonic presence, he dismissed her. None of us really paid attention to the rest of the meeting. I felt bad for the other captains who came forward, petitioning Glaustro for various things. We were all too wrapped up in worry to listen. Finally, the last captain departed, leaving Glaustro alone with his four sergeants in his brand new (and rather sparsely furnished) crystalline office. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how they¡¯ve found us already,¡± Glaustro snarled. He shot out of his chair and began to pace, eyes burning with infernal power. ¡°This is too early!¡± I countered with an idea that had been on my mind for a while. ¡°Maybe they didn¡¯t find us. The demons who opened the portal said our destinations were random, right? There¡¯s a chance we ended up close together purely by chance. Of course¡­ it could also be someone pulling strings to force a confrontation.¡± The look my speculation earned me was wild and worried. ¡°You think one of the lieutenant generals would stoop to something like that?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t even have to be them,¡± Bronwynn mused, clearly having been drawing the same conclusions as me. ¡°Plenty of majors don¡¯t like you, with how fast you advanced. That¡¯s to say nothing about colonels who probably feel like you¡¯re nipping at their heels. Some enterprising subordinate could have acted out, too.¡± Glaustro shook with rage for a moment. He managed to regain composure quickly, but the murderous look in his eyes didn¡¯t thaw. ¡°It¡¯s not important. Whoever¡¯s responsible, there¡¯s a good chance we have Wilhelmina practically on our front door.¡± ¡°I¡¯d hate to sound dismissive, but does that even matter?¡± I asked. ¡°Last I saw her, she was badly wounded and probably on par with my soul level. You said it yourself that we have more archdemons. We could take her.¡± ¡°Right now? Yes.¡± Glaustro shook his head. ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s the best choice to kill her. She¡¯s supposedly left her old life behind, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s done with her. Besides, remember that her soul is still a match for an archdemon, even with the hideous damage that was done to it. If she heals, I have little doubt she¡¯d regain the power of a noble demon. At that point, we¡¯d be done. And don¡¯t forget what you discovered!¡± Bronwynn groaned. ¡°Divinity. Of course. If it¡¯s one of the best resources to fuel our growth, then it¡¯s an even better remedy for soul damage. What are the chances she¡¯s already started raiding the local yeti tribes?¡± ¡°Rather high, all things considered,¡± Glaustro said grimly. ¡°We have to make sure she¡¯s driven off, and we have to deny her the resources she needs for healing. We can worry about the repercussions of offending or killing her later. But if we want to do anything, we need to find her first.¡± Frustration spiked in my gut. What IS Wilhelmina¡¯s deal, anyway? I really wanted to press them to explain, but I chose not to ask questions right that second. Instead, I exchanged a glance with Mia. Though she looked mighty displeased, she still nodded. I turned to Glaustro. ¡°We can go. We¡¯ll do a bit more scouting for yeti, and maybe even strike against a tribe or two if Wilhelmina¡¯s got them beating a hasty retreat. I don¡¯t think Wilhelmina¡¯s that great of a fighter. She acted like a spoiled brat when we were under her command, so I think we could probably take her together, if she tries to force something.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t underestimate her if I were you,¡± Glaustro warned. ¡°But¡­ very well. Having you two out there would do a lot for my sanity. Thank you.¡± I chuckled wryly as Mia and I stood, already heading for the door. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet. Save that for when we find her and present her to you.¡± We departed with a spring in our step. After all the rest and training, it felt good to be facing a challenge again. Particularly one that might turn out to be for all the marbles. TTA Book 2 on Amazon + Updates Hey guys! Quick announcement today about book 2 of TTA going onto Amazon and stub dates. A couple months ago, we made the decision to go full-time on writing. And like most authors, direct sales to readers are how we make most of our money. We''ve also enrolled TTA in Kindle Unlimited - which is a service by Amazon where you pay a monthly subscription no matter how many books you read, and we get paid for each pageview that TTA gets. So far, TTA has done pretty well on Amazon. Book 1 has 165 ratings. While it''s not the thousands of ratings that other authors have, it''s an encouraging start. When a book gets more people buying, reading, and rating it, the Amazon algorithm starts recommending that book to more people. It''s a virtuous cycle that needs a bit of a push to get started. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. That''s where we''re asking for help from you. TTA Book 1 is already available on Kindle Unlimited, which means that if you already have a subscription, it should cost nothing to add the book to your bookshelf. That helps us tremendously. Any pageviews or ratings help even more. For book 2, it''s currently up for pre-order and will be available on April 7th. That means we''ll be stubbing book 2 in about a week - 4/3 to be specific. Link to book 1- https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0DV3CCYFC Link to book 2 - https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0F2GP6MFF Chapter 145: Swell of Magic I had plenty of reasons to dislike Wilhelmina. She¡¯d been a horrible superior to find myself under, especially as a fresh recruit. She almost killed her soldiers by forcing us to advance far too quickly on Berlis and sack everything in our way, just to win a ¡®bet¡¯ with her sister. A bet which her sister had set up as a trick to make sure the general¡¯s ire fell squarely on Wilhelmina¡¯s shoulders. I didn¡¯t really think about it back then, but the general easily could have become enraged enough to order all of our executions, and not just on Berlis. As the ultimate leader of the Legion of Torment¡¯s forces, Naberius possessed more than enough authority to have an entire troop of recruits permanently killed within the Abyss. All of that risk and the threat of ruin, brought about by the childish whimsy of the woman who was supposed to be leading us. Then there was the scenario we found ourselves in now. Seeing as she was Glaustro¡¯s direct rival for rulership over Breskwor, it was my sworn duty to try and ruin the demoness. So, yes. I already had plenty of cause to detest Wilhelmina¡¯s existence. But over the next four days, she gave me a whole new reason. Mia and I knew Wilhelmina and her forces were out there. That much was evident from the various yeti corpses we came across, all of which were deeply infected by demonic mana. But we couldn¡¯t get visual confirmation. Day after day, we failed to catch a glimpse of the major and her troops. Naturally, that meant we were stuck out there, away from all the growing comforts of our emerging capital city, constantly flitting about the snow-strewn wasteland like a pair of headless chickens. Worse still, the local yeti were clearly spooked and in full retreat, which would definitely mess with Glaustro¡¯s long-term plans. ¡°We can¡¯t keep doing this,¡± I eventually growled, staring hatefully at the horizon. ¡°We are constantly one step behind. It¡¯s like she¡¯s mocking us! We need to find a way to pin her down.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± If my eyes were hateful, Mia¡¯s were all but overflowing with baleful discontent. ¡°We do have our orders. But¡­ I don¡¯t think Glaustro would care what we did, if we succeeded in driving her off.¡± I quirked my brow at her, confused. ¡°Meaning¡­?¡± She had the gall to shrug, all innocent-like. ¡°She¡¯s hunting down the yeti for their Divinity. If we can get to them first, we can just wait for her to show up. Lay an ambush.¡± I hummed in pretend hesitation, but from the amused smirk she sent me, the brat cat knew I was in. Still¡­ ¡°How are they avoiding her?¡± I wondered. ¡°You¡¯d think she could have hunted them down by now. It wasn¡¯t really that hard when we did it.¡± ¡°She spooked them first. You know she doesn¡¯t think ahead very often.¡± That was true enough. Besides, while a small part of me was concerned about this mysterious failure of Wilhelmina¡¯s, a much more dominant part was dismissive. It was so very easy to convince myself that she had simply messed up due to her usual stupidity. ¡°Let¡¯s grab ourselves a yeti, then,¡± I said with a grin that displayed all my fangs. Mia grinned right back, twice as maliciously. ¡°Let¡¯s.¡± ¡ª Wilhelmina probably had all sorts of demons under her command, but I doubted she had anything close to Mia¡¯s equal when it came to keen senses. In fact, I assumed Wilhelmina would fill her troops with nothing but the ¡®strongest¡¯, dumbest muscle-heads around. Careless of me? A little. Still, Mia¡¯s abilities were undeniable. As soon as she resolved to do it, the cat demoness easily tracked down a small scouting party of locals. The yeti were cautious and on edge. Clearly, Wilhelmina had spooked them. Even with Mia¡¯s amazing new stealth-based spells, they almost caught us following them several times. But the instant the group was foolish enough to split into two parties of four, we took out one party, and down the hatch the souls went. We immediately had to admit that our initial assumptions were wrong. Wilhelmina wasn¡¯t after a single yeti tribe. She was after two. The memories we stole painted a grim picture of the initial violence Wilhelmina had brought against the yeti, and the resulting loss of life. It was the threat of these new predators that had forced two tribes to cooperate. They were in a full retreat for a while, but for reasons opaque to simple scouts and hunters, the yeti leaders had given the order for the two tribes to settle inside an old abandoned cave system. There, the shamans and chieftains were engaged in some kind of funny business. All the young, badly wounded, and more infirm members of the tribes were roped into helping them. The strong, capable yeti were sent out to forage for as much food as they could find, which is why the group had decided to split up in the first place. The results of their expedition were not satisfactory. Desperation had forced the yeti to make a dumb decision. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. More importantly¡­ ¡°We need to hurry. I know the yeti have no way of knowing what demons can do, but all the hunters they sent out will lead Wilhelmina right to them, now that they¡¯ve decided to sit still,¡± I grumbled, murder on my mind. Mia naturally had no objections to that, so we set out immediately. I had to admit that if they weren¡¯t facing off against demons, yeti tactics would be very effective. Their ability to manipulate ice, especially in groups, allowed them to both discover and create caverns on a whim. That, coupled with their natural stamina, let yeti cover vast tracts of land before they needed to settle down again. The only reason they were still lingering in this area was their reluctance to give up on ancestral stomping grounds, along with some kind of religious hang-ups. It appeared that the yeti strongly believed they were tied to the spirits of their ancestors. These spirits would bind to the places where their bones were laid to rest, providing support and protection for their descendants. Since the yeti were naturally drawn to places with high ambient mana concentration, their burial grounds were located in those areas, often shared among several tribes who had all descended from the same ancestors. It was one such spot where these two tribes of yeti had chosen to make a stand, which confused and worried me in equal measure. It confused me, because the memories I¡¯d inherited made it clear that yeti saw dependence on their ancestors as a last resort. The action was almost shameful. They shouldn¡¯t have defaulted to it when their tribes still had a decent number of members. It worried me, because while I didn¡¯t think the yeti could actually kill Mia and me, Divinity was unpredictable. If this cemetery really had been used as a place of worship by generation after generation of different tribes, then chances were high that it held actual power. The only question was whether that power could be used for offensive purposes. Of course, I also had one more worry in the back of my mind. If we failed to stop the yeti before they somehow managed to use up all that Divinity, Glaustro was going to have our asses. As Mia and I made our way through the tunnels, I was impressed by the sheer variety of defenses these yeti had prepared. They had everything from extremely intricate pitfall triggers and concealments to whole scores of subjugated beasties, just lying in wait for a careless invader to come bustling through. Of course, having the memories of one of the hunters, we easily waltzed through the whole setup. We even traded some banter along the way. But the further we ventured into the tunnels, the more visibly tense both Mia and I became. It wasn¡¯t anything I could easily point to that made our hackles rise. It was just something that lingered in the air, some mounting pressure that threatened to reach a crescendo with every step we took. And then, all at once, it entered our senses. It was a massive pool of mana, unlike anything I¡¯d ever seen outside of the Abyss. The world itself was practically screeching in the agony of trying to contain it. And that was the effect of the pool at rest. The mana felt as frozen as the surrounding ice, with no intent to drive it onwards. Unfortunately, that was changing. There was a single thread, so insignificant I almost missed it, that swirled through the calm of the pool. A moment¡¯s investigation showed me the intent behind the magic was malignant. I could practically feel its bite on my skin: a terrible conviction to destroy all the invaders who dared disrupt the local way of life. The yeti were weaponizing the mana, slowly but surely. At the rate they were going, I would give them a day or two before they could use the mana pool to put up a genuine fight against the weaker members of Wilhelmina¡¯s army. The whole thing was educational, not to mention remarkable. On any world older than Breskwor, what the yeti were attempting would never have worked. The mana on older worlds was too ancient, too set in its ways. There were ways to harness it, sure, but definitely not like this. The yeti¡¯s method was the magic equivalent of taking a spoon and swirling it around a bowl until something happened. Now, I didn¡¯t want to invalidate the effort the yeti were putting in, or the brilliance of their mana manipulation. Somehow, these so called ¡®primitive¡¯ creatures had managed to accrue enough knowledge and generational experience to cobble together a crude but effective spell, designed to manipulate the world itself. And it was working. I could taste the intent that saturated the air around us. It was seeping into the very fabric of the world, willing it to move, to react, and to change. The world obliged, even if it did move at its own pace, and an impossible miracle was born. It was funny. It was preposterous. I kind of wanted to steal the spell and see if I could somehow adapt it for use in worlds where a Will had already formed and matured. It was unlikely, but¡­ still. Not long after we first sensed the massive natural pool of mana, we came across several yeti stationed as guards around the entrance to a large cavern. Its entrance arch was covered by carvings of symbols and other gibberish that meant nothing to me, and everything to the yeti whose memories I¡¯d stolen. We paused for a moment while Mia recast and strengthened all of the spells hiding us, but then we proceeded to move past the guards like we weren¡¯t even real. Across the large cavern was the entrance to another cavern, which I assumed contained the burial grounds. This entrance was even more heavily guarded. The press of bodies alone precluded us from simply bypassing them on foot. Thankfully for the two of us, I could fly! I picked Mia up and soared over the guards¡¯ heads. Her spell could muffle the sound of my wings as easily as it muffled our footsteps, but the air currents I produced were another matter. She had to concentrate to keep them from tipping off the yeti that something was passing above them, but she managed. And there it was: a ridiculously vast stretch of cavern that was absolutely covered with yeti remains at various stages of decomposition. Some were white-bleached bones, their color a true testament to their age. Some bones still had chunks of frozen meat attached to them. Then there were the cadavers, in frozen and thawed form alike. Some were even partially eaten, bearing the unmistakable marks of yeti fangs. Apparently, a bit of cannibalism was perfectly acceptable, so long as the bones themselves were put to rest properly. It was then that I realized where all the mana had come from. While I had no doubt the spot was rich in mana naturally, generations of yeti had decomposed in that one cavern. For whatever reason, all of their mana had refused to scatter, and instead settled right there when released from the confines of a bodily form. Countless generations of yeti, and all the mana they still contained upon their deaths was concentrated there. A glance at Mia told me she was thinking the same thing I was. If the locals possessed anything that could give Wilhelmina pause, this was it. Chapter 146: Totemic Threats The cavern and its contents were so striking that I momentarily forgot why I was there. It was the sound of fervent chanting that brought me back to the present. Casting my eyes towards the center of the space, I saw a small group of yeti bent in supplication in front of a group of ancient banners. Each banner depicted a different warrior, drawn distinctly yet primitively using blood and natural pigments. The banners surrounded a rough ice sculpture of some giant yeti wielding a massive spiked mace. For all its lack of refinement, the sculpture was still eerily lifelike. Even the mace looked like it might come crashing down at any second, to devastating effect. It took me a minute to realize the impression mostly stemmed from the statue¡¯s eyes. They gleamed with an inner light that verged on intelligence, and I shivered at the sight of it. Divinity. So much of it, in fact, that certain phenomena were already beginning to manifest. With a bit more focus, I stripped the mundane away and analyzed the scene with my magical senses. My eyes widened. The eight banners were miniature suns of Emotion and soul-stuff. Even so, they were eclipsed by the statue several times over. I let out a quiet, frustrated breath. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to talk to Glaustro. The yeti are further along than we thought. It¡¯s not going to happen today or tomorrow, but they¡¯re getting close to producing true gods.¡± Mia just nodded. She didn¡¯t look any happier with the situation than I felt, but it wasn¡¯t like either of us could do anything at the moment. No, our job was to hide in some unobtrusive corner and wait for Wilhelmina to make her move. We found one such spot, as far from the entrance as possible, and took up a position behind a particularly large and dense pile of bones. Then I hesitated. Even if we succeeded in what we were trying to do, Glaustro would probably hand our asses to us for being reckless. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t like we could risk heading back. Wilhelmina might show up at any moment. But what if we could contact Glaustro using magic? I sighed. Even though I had purchased a communication device oh so long ago, I never actually used the dang thing. I didn¡¯t know if it was possible for other demons to intercept such communications, or whether the device would work on Breskwor at all. Still¡­ ¡°What are the chances Glaustro is going to forgive us if we have a chance to inform him about this and choose not to?¡± I asked. Mia shot me a look. ¡°Right.¡± I winced. ¡°Stupid question. Sorry. In that case¡­¡± With another sigh, I reluctantly extracted the shell-like communicator. Really, out of everything they could have chosen, why shells? I grumbled to myself as I carefully sent some of my mana into the enchanted device, feeling out its abilities. My concerns about its reliability aside, the shell bore some intricate and fascinating enchantments. Their make-up was concealed behind protections to stop people from duplicating them, but their functionality was not. In fact, the second I interfaced with them, they all but shouted their purpose into my mind. I could register other people¡¯s devices as contacts. I could browse through saved options. And, to my pleasant surprise, I could make calls. It wasn¡¯t quite as simple as it would be in a demon-claimed world or the Abyss, of course. I would need to provide the device with enough mana to search for other nearby devices, and then pay more mana throughout the call to maintain the connection. I grimaced. The price would probably be steep. Not ideal when I was probably about to head into a battle. At least the communicator¡¯s information node included a privacy claim. No one other than the owner of the device I was attempting to contact would notice the communication attempt. Apparently, that had been a common complaint and request when the devices were first introduced. I was pretty sure the manufacturers could still track and even listen into the calls if they were so inclined, but there was no one on Breskwor but us and Wilhelmina¡¯s bunch. What were the chances that the demonic family who produced the shell was on her side of the conflict? Low enough for me to take the risk. The device sucked down a solid third of my mana before I felt a tentative connection form between me and Glaustro. ¡°Hayden? Is everything alright? Do you need me to help? Where are you?¡± A soft smile snuck onto my face at the genuine concern in my major¡¯s voice. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re fine,¡± I assured him. ¡°I promise! Better than fine, really. Wilhelmina¡¯s definitely here. She¡¯s been harassing a couple local tribes, and they¡¯ve banded together to fight back. We found the spot where they want to make their last stand, and listen to this¡­¡± I launched into an explanation of everything we¡¯d discovered. I heard Glaustro gritting his teeth rather loudly when I mentioned just how close the locals were to birthing gods, but he still braved the news admirably. He was, of course, particularly interested in our plan to ambush Wilhelmina and stop her from getting her grubby mittens all over ¡®our¡¯ Divinity. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°The idea¡¯s good, but I don¡¯t fu-¡± Glaustro took a deep breath, and only spoke again once he¡¯d regained control of his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t like it that you¡¯re there alone. She¡¯ll be coming with an army. Nascent Divinity or not, the locals won¡¯t be that useful. I can roughly gauge your location through this call, so we¡¯ll start advancing closer to you now. I¡¯m pretty sure we can set up nearby without drawing Wilhelmina¡¯s attention. When the fighting starts, we¡¯ll close in the net. That¡¯ll stop her from getting away, too.¡± ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll wait here, then. And we¡¯ll raise a ruckus if we think you¡¯re taking too long to strike,¡± I teased. While Glaustro chuckled, the sound was a little strained. ¡°Fine. But¡­ be careful, both of you. Mia, if he does something stupid, stop him. Sit on him if you have to. I want you to take this seriously! Wilhelmina¡¯s lost a lot of her support, and she¡¯s been backed into a corner, but someone like her always has a final trick or two. Don¡¯t underestimate her!¡± With that warning, Glaustro cut off the connection on his end. The drain on my mana ceased. I still had roughly half of my reserves, but I decided to top myself up anyway. As I reached into my dimensional pouch for some mana crystals I had left over from my ascension, I glanced at Mia. I didn¡¯t like the contemplative look on her face at all. ¡°Glaustro said to sit on me only if you think I¡¯m about to do something dumb. I am not about to do something dumb,¡± I said empathically. The brat cat huffed, but did look away from me. I rolled my eyes. Then we settled in to wait. ¡ª Whether due to caution or incompetence, Wilhelmina took her sweet time getting to the cavern. It was eight hours after we¡¯d set up our watch before we felt the approach of demonic mana in the distance. All that time, we¡¯d been subjected to the endless chanting of the yeti. I decided to listen at one point, but it was just a steady stream of praise for their ancestors mixed with pleas for protection. If not for the thin stream of mana connecting the small praying group to the banners and the statue, I would have thought they were just wasting their breath. Even with the mana, I still couldn¡¯t understand the purpose of their actions. Oh, they were doing something, but it wasn¡¯t any kind of magecraft I was familiar with. Mia, meanwhile, hadn¡¯t been as idle as me. She¡¯d spent her time casting spells and carving runes into the ice around us. I offered to help at one point, but she just eyed me as only a cat could and told me to sit still and avoid disrupting her work. The one attempt I made to practice my own spells just earned me another scolding. Apparently, the defenses Mia was putting up would do a decent job of concealing our bodies, our souls, and our mana, but only if we didn¡¯t do anything that made us more visible. So I sat. And listened. And was bored out of my mind. Finally, several hours later, the sounds of combat reached us from outside the cavern. Judging by the noise, the fight was as brutal as it was brief. Then Wilhelmina herself strode into the cavern, at the head of a growing host of demons. She was absolutely covered in blood and looked even angrier than the last time I¡¯d seen her. The way her eyes lit up with feverish desire at the sight of the cavern¡¯s contents only enhanced her resemblance to some vengeful wraith. ¡°Go! Kill them all! I want those totems!¡± she shrieked. To my surprise, she stepped aside, choosing to hang back while her troops charged. Apparently, while the general¡¯s punishment had done a lot of damage, it had also taught her to be more cautious. The host of demons surged forth, their eyes full of nothing but murder. After all, why would they worry? While Wilhelmina hadn¡¯t been able to field quite as many troops as Glaustro, I¡¯d still seen at least two thousand demons follow her into Breskwor. Only a portion of them could fit into the cavern, sure, but that didn¡¯t matter. Not when they were up against a grand total of six yeti shamans, two chieftains, and twenty guards. Yet even as they made their advance, the magic of the cavern came to life. Stirring and stretching like some massive beast, the mana thrashed about for just a moment before it suddenly sank towards the ground. No, not the ground. The bones. All through the cavern, countless skeletons quivered, then were hoisted into the air and rapidly reassembled. Long dead yeti rose to the defense of their descendants, eyes lighting up with ice-like flames. The demons laughed and sneered at first. But when the first demonic weapon crashed into bone and was stopped dead, that laugher quickly died. When a skeleton snagged a demon into its crushing embrace, the demon¡¯s cry of anguish really kicked off a wave of concern. But the demons didn¡¯t just cower. The skeleton who had grabbed the demon was quickly assaulted by magic and weapons alike. While its bones weathered far more than should have been possible, they did eventually crack, releasing the trapped demon. His broken arm hung limp and useless as he staggered to his feet. Still, he was very much alive, and incredibly pissed. It didn¡¯t help the yeti that this new threat actually made their demonic assailants rally together. Wilhelmina¡¯s forces quickly took up a proper formation, which instantly elevated their effectiveness. The undead tried. They really did. Hundreds of skeletons surged forward like a tide that knew no fear. But the tide ran into cliffs, and broke. More and more of Wilhelmina¡¯s magically inclined demons began wielding proper war spells. Each explosion of mana claimed scores of skeletons. It wouldn¡¯t be easy and it wouldn¡¯t be clean, but the demons could eventually eliminate every single skeleton in the cavern and advance on the yeti unimpeded. The yeti seemed to grasp this fact. Their chanting picked up in fervor and pitch, and a magical pulse washed over the cavern. Suddenly, the undead stood straighter and moved with more purpose. A few skeletons rose that were larger and sturdier than the others. Then a few more, and then a dozen, until a truly titanic example of yetikind rose from the area around the banners. This skeleton was different even at first glance. Blue fire enveloped its whole body, burning brightest in the eye sockets. It wielded a giant ice mace. As I watched, the weapon rippled briefly. Then its ice spread over the skeleton, covering the undead in a facsimile of flesh until it resembled a living specimen of its species. The reanimated ice yeti roared, an unearthly sound that shook the cavern and all who heard it. Then it began to laugh in sheer delight as it lumbered forward. Its steps shook our surroundings even more than its voice. This wasn¡¯t magic. Not really. I¡¯d watched from start to end, but I hadn¡¯t seen a single formation of a proper spell. No, whatever the yeti were doing was far more primal and uncontrolled. Then my eyes fell upon the clinging cloud of mana that surrounded us, and I shivered. Before, the mana in the cavern had been motionless, almost dead. Now it writhed and radiated malice. It felt like a living, sentient thing, and I found myself caught between the urge to study it or destroy it on the spot. Somehow, probably by taking advantage of their ancestral bond with this place, the yeti had brought the mana in this cavern into a twisted form of life. A form of guardian spirit, perhaps? Regardless, Wilhelmina seemed to realize that things were escalating beyond her control, because she stepped forward with a determined and hateful expression. Our rival major was about to take to the field herself. Chapter 147: Young Gods Wilhelmina kept her stance loose and her eyes locked on the massive, ice-clad undead as she advanced. Her army parted before her without a single command. When the first of the smaller undead yeti reached her, it simply¡­ collapsed. A moment later, I noticed the strings of mana billowing around the demoness like a churning cloud. These strings slashed about freely without ever touching their mistress. Any skeleton unlucky enough to get in their way was reduced to bone-shards in the blink of an eye. It didn¡¯t matter that the mana in the air thickened and hardened around the undead like armor, or that it wove itself into their bones until they were almost tough enough to match a demon physically. They fell, all the same. When the demoness suddenly burst into a sprint and headed right for the praying yeti, wielding a dagger in each hand, I cursed and almost broke our stealth. If Mia hadn¡¯t grabbed my wrist, I would have tried to get between Wilhelmina and her targets. Thankfully, before she reached the circle of banners, the icy undead giant moved. It did so with far more speed than I would have thought possible. The entire cavern shuddered with its steps as it firmly blocked Wilhelmina¡¯s advance, its club soaring straight for her head. She dodged, of course. In the same motion, her mana strings all shot out and stabbed into the ice encasing the walking skeleton. For the first time, though, the strings failed to shred their prey. Wilhelmina must have been as startled as I was, because the skeleton¡¯s second blow caught her full in the stomach. She was launched into a crowd of undead with a wheezing gasp. Before she could stand, they were upon her, grasping and smothering and stabbing with their bony fingers. Wilhelmina¡¯s scream of rage was terrifying, as was the explosion of mana that followed. For a moment, she released far more mana than I could muster at once, shattering every skeleton within a few feet of her. Then she faltered. Her face grew suddenly pale as she staggered within the circle of powdered bone her outburst had produced. When she retched, a glob of blood splattered over the ice, sizzling on it quietly. She didn¡¯t even have a second to collect herself, because the icebound undead was upon her already, mace raised. I had to admit there was a reason Wilhelmina managed to cling to power so consistently. She bounded away from the undead¡¯s attempted strike with an expression that verged on feral. Then she attacked, her daggers cutting deep ravines in her foe¡¯s icy exterior. New ice filled in the cuts almost immediately, but the skeleton still shivered and nearly lost its footing. There was definitely more to Wilhelmina¡¯s blades than just physical damage. I could see the streams of mana throughout the skeleton¡¯s body waver and almost come undone. That was when the beast showed the first sign of caution. It roared and tried to melt back into the crowd around it, letting its lesser kin brave the anger of the demoness first. That wasn¡¯t to be. Wilhelmina proved herself more than capable of mulching the lesser skeletons long before their attacks could reach her. It was the ice-clad giant on the defensive now. Even with all its effort, the monster barely managed to keep its club between itself and the raging demoness. In the background, Wilhelmina¡¯s troops continued to advance. Even the countless generations of undead yeti rising together couldn¡¯t stand in the demonic host¡¯s way for long. It wasn¡¯t that the yeti didn¡¯t have enough bodies available. The cavern was full of potential opponents for the demonic invaders. Unfortunately, even this great store of semi-sentient mana had limits on how many undead it could control at once. It was failing to raise skeletons quickly enough to replace its losses, so the waves of undead were rapidly thinning. The demons had wised up, too. After the first two occasions of bones coming to life within their own ranks, they¡¯d taken to scouring the floors of the cavern clean before advancing. They used flames, lightning, and even odd beams of pure destruction that vaporized everything they touched, including plain ice. These beams left deep pits in the ground, but the demons just used them as traps for the skeletons, burning the contents when the pits were full. The yeti had pulled off a few surprising moves, but there were few civilizations out there which could truly threaten a demonic army. No, I¡¯d known from the start that we would have to interfere if we wanted to keep Wilhelmina from snatching our Divinity. I could only hope that Glaustro wasn¡¯t going to wait too long to join the fray. I no longer relished the thought of revealing myself to a full army of demons without backup. How had I even contemplated ambushing Wilhelmina with just Mia by my side? What was wrong with me? Arrogance, that¡¯s what. All my recent progress had gotten to my head. This was a nice wakeup call that would hopefully prevent me from doing anything stupid in the future. Hopefully. To their credit, the praying yeti were clearly catching on to the fact that they were badly outclassed. I was mildly disappointed when their only response was to start chanting faster. Though¡­ If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Is that leftmost totem banner shining a little brighter than it used to, or am I imagining things?¡± I whispered, only to catch an elbow to the ribs. ¡°Shut up!¡± Mia shot me an exasperated look. ¡°I can hide us, but I¡¯d rather not test my spells against another archdemon. What if she notices us?¡± ¡°You just talked more than me!¡± I pointed out. ¡°And I¡¯m just concerned about what the yeti are doing now.¡± That was true enough. I was concerned about the yeti somehow using up all the Divinity. But I was also rather excited to see what they might try next. Wasn¡¯t going to admit that, though. Mia sighed. ¡°Yes, I think the banner looks brighter. No, I have no idea what¡¯s happening. Now, hush.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± I snickered at her aggrieved look, but my amusement shifted to alarm when the banner we¡¯d been discussing erupted in golden light. The painted image of a warrior on the banner shifted, squirmed, and then began to peel away from the grimy canvas it adorned. As its spectral body left the banner, it rapidly gained more definition. What was originally a rather inaccurate representation of a spear-wielding yeti wearing blood-soaked furs now looked as vivid as a living specimen. A particularly prominent specimen, at that. The spectral yeti topped out at twice the height of the chieftains, who were larger than normal already. His spear may as well have been a giant column of sharpened ice. On his head was a crown of horns snatched from some gigantic animal, and the pelts he wore did indeed drip with fresh blood. The specter also radiated Divinity, enough so that I could feel its heat all the way across the cavern in our little corner. In contrast, the totem banner now stood empty and forlorn, all its former majesty gone. I wanted to scream in frustration. Wilhelmina actually did. The yeti had done it. Somehow, they had managed to birth at least one god. The other banners were also growing brighter by the second, so we would probably be facing a minimum of seven other gods soon. That was to say nothing of the giant statue amidst the banners. Even now, it was pulsing faintly with an otherworldly glow. My silly shells phone was immediately in my hand. I soaked my mana into it with no regard for the cost. When the connection formed, I didn¡¯t give Glaustro a chance to admonish me or protest. ¡°They just summoned a god. One of the banner totems spawned a god. Get down here now.¡± Glaustro didn¡¯t even take time to curse before cutting the connection. I then turned to look at Mia, who was watching me in a terribly mulish manner. ¡°We can¡¯t break stealth yet,¡± she insisted. ¡°We need to wait for a good chance to ambush her. Remember, Glaustro said she might have hidden cards to play. It¡¯s better if we wait.¡± I opened my mouth to protest, then snapped it shut, grinding my teeth in frustration. Mia was right. However much I wanted to skip straight to combat, it would be suicidal to do so without backup. At least there was valuable intelligence to glean in the meantime. Pushing down my anger, I turned to inspect the god who had revealed himself to us. The spectral divinity did not charge into combat the second he was summoned. Instead, he stared around the cavern with an oddly vacant look in his eyes. It was only when Wilhelmina tried to press past the icy undead, drawing a bellow of pain from it with her daggers, that the god focused his gaze on her. In that moment, a terrible rage blazed to life in those empty eyes. The god raised his spear and bounded across the battlefield. Its silence was worse than any bloodcurdling cry. It was an awe-inspiring sight. Still, there was something¡­ off about the way the god entered battle. I couldn¡¯t pin it down, but something was bothering me. In another show of power that should have been beyond a normal archdemon, Wilhelmina exploded her mana all around her, then somehow forced it to latch onto the air. For just a second, she resembled a spider, with a web of mana threads woven all over her surroundings. Then she wrenched them close once more with a single hand gesture. When I say the mana threads tore through the air, I mean that in the most literal way possible. They left deep gouges in the very fabric of space. She had to puke up another glob of blood immediately afterwards, but the results were worth it. Wilhelmina¡¯s assault obliterated the undead icy giant. Only fragments of its feet remained. Those quivered from a moment, as if trying to regenerate, then went still. Even the god faltered in his approach, eying the rents in the fabric of space warily. He seemed content to wait as those rips began to close. Wilhelmina did not share his relaxed attitude. She surged right past the devastation of her own attack, dodging some of the rents so closely that bits of her clothing and even a few strands of hair were shorn off. But then she was upon the god, and her daggers met his spear in a dizzying dance. It was a smart move, getting close enough to use her short-range weapons to their full deadly effect. Still, the god fought back admirably. His fighting style wasn¡¯t polished. There didn¡¯t seem to be logical intent driving his combat moves. Instead, he moved with a wild energy, stumbling into the right maneuvers through sheer primal will. Even so, for the first time, Wilhelmina actually met her match in combat. She was hard pressed to do any damage against the god¡¯s powerful defense. When the deity did manage to gain enough distance to use his spear, she had to scramble away for fear of grievous wounds. The fear was not idle, either. Every strike of the god sent potent mana whistling through the air. Even at a distance, I could feel the power of his spearhead. The weapon was not physical in nature. With all the Divinity in its make-up, it was just as much a threat to its opponent¡¯s soul as my own blade, if not more so. Wilhelmina absolutely could not afford to get hit by that, not with her soul already so ravaged. Then two things happened at once to make her situation go from bad to worse. The continued chanting of the yeti bore fruit once more. A second banner erupted into light, and another newborn god began to enter the world, peeling itself free of its cloth prison. At the same time, panicked shouting spread throughout Wilhelmina¡¯s ranks as several explosions rang out behind them. Meanwhile, adding insult to injury, a whole section of the cavern wall to her army¡¯s left suddenly liquified. A host of demons led by Glaustro poured in, flanking Wilhelmina¡¯s troops from the side while another group of our soldiers ambushed from the rear. I caught the exact moment Wilhelmina realized she was screwed. It was glorious. Anger, resentment, and then cold resignation swamped her face. I could have giggled with glee if I weren¡¯t so focused on finding the most opportune moment to reveal myself. Vengeance was so very sweet. No matter how much or how little of the Divinity we managed to claim in the end, I could rest assured that not a single ounce of it would wind up in the hands of the demoness I had resented since my early days as a mere recruit. Glaustro didn¡¯t have the same history with her as Mia and I did, but the smile he wore was still one of vindictive triumph. ¡°Stand down and surrender, Wilhelmina, and I might just spare you a trip to the Abyss!¡± ¡°I would rather die,¡± she hissed. Judging by her murderous expression, I was inclined to believe her. She would not go quietly into the night. Good. Chapter 148: Faltering Divinity The moment Wilhelmina made her proclamation, her stance shifted, and her soul unfurled. I hadn¡¯t noticed before just how much she was holding back. She kept her soul curving inwards to hide the garish wounds that marred it. Now those same wounds were proudly bared, and they were gushing mana. The demoness¡¯s body took this change poorly. Even as she vanished and teleported right in front of Glaustro, blood streamed down her cheeks, marring her green skin with grotesquely purple patches. She ignored all of this and struck with savage ferocity. The blow her dagger dealt when it met Glaustro¡¯s massive sword made my major stumble. He roared, actual flames of rage leaping up in his eyes. His return strike managed to balance the scales when it sent Wilhelmina reeling. Then the pair descended into a whirlwind of slashes that left gouges in the ice wherever they passed. Their battle was a stunning spectacle of destruction, but the rest of the cavern wasn¡¯t exactly boring. Everywhere I looked, demons were turning on demons, catching the undead between them. I almost felt pity for the ancient frozen bones that were crushed underfoot, mere casualties of a greater conflict between forces the locals could never withstand. As if to prove that claim wrong, the first awakened god made himself known by driving his spear through Wilhelmina¡¯s shoulder from behind. Glaustro had seen the divine specter draw near and distracted the demoness, leading her into a position where she couldn¡¯t avoid the strike. The indignation on her face was a delight, matched only by her scream of pain. Slightly less delightful was the next moment, when the god shoved his spear aside roughly and sent Wilhelmina sliding across the ice, only to then try and skewer Glaustro. The dance of the two majors suddenly shifted to include a third participant, each point of the triangle trying to snuff out the other two. I didn¡¯t worry about Glaustro, though. My major knew what he was doing, and Wilhelmina had stepped up to the brawl with a load of festering wounds to drag her down. No, I decided to give all my attention to the second god who was just wrapping up her own debut into the world. Or goddess, I should say. The yeti female that tore her way out of the banner was a startlingly horrid sight. Her fur was long, matted, and filthy. Actual vines and pieces of bark covered her body. These were all coal-black in color and and appeared quite solid, despite being made up of pure Divinity. In her hands, she held a gnarled bow made out of some creature¡¯s horns and sinew. The latter looked so oily and bloody, it might have been extracted from its former owner just seconds prior. She seemed a tad more aware from the start than her previous fellow. A vicious grin snuck onto her features immediately and stayed there as she eyed the demonic invaders. Her blow came as suddenly as a strike of lighting. One second, she stood idle. The next, she drew back her bowstring. A pitch-black arrow materialized there out of thin air, and she fired it. The projectile plowed directly into and through several demons caught fighting in a mob, pulverizing all flesh in its path. That¡¯s about when I realized our original plan was well and truly shot. ¡°Handle the yeti! I¡¯ll distract the goddess.¡± Mia must have come to the same conclusion, because she was already moving before she finished speaking. ¡°Unfair!¡± I groused, but she was halfway across the cavern by then. I couldn¡¯t blame her, of course. Who would go after mere mortals when there was a god to challenge? Regardless, now that she had broken our stealth, I suddenly became the focus of the undead. They were losing badly, and their numbers were a fraction of what they used to be, but they could still present a minor nuisance. With a sigh, I reached deep into my mana and closed my eyes. When they snapped open again, I beheld countless crystal rose bushes suddenly breaking through the ice. The effect was purely visual, and even took a tiny bit more mana to push my constructs into the layer of ice, but the results were well worth it. The sea of crystalline flowers ravaged the skeletons, winding around bones and crushing or stabbing all in their path. It was a glorious sight. Even Wilhelmina¡¯s forces briefly faltered to stare. But when my flowers reached them, the awe turned to pain and horror. It was my first time turning the spell against any fellow demons who didn¡¯t happen to be called Mia, and the effects were more impressive than I expected. My feline companion was agile enough to squirm away, as well as skilled and strong enough to shred my constructs. Most of the demons in Wilhelmina¡¯s host fell short of Mia¡¯s level. My living crystal snared their limbs, dragged them down to the floor, and then proceeded to burrow through their flesh. I wished I could have added a couple more runes to my creations like ¡®feasting¡¯ and ¡®absorption¡¯ to make them self-healing and auto-perpetuating, but for the present moment, I had to control everything manually. That¡¯s why I was stuck in place, keeping my impressive work up and running while I watched Mia clash with a goddess. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The sight of her sent a shiver down my spine and filled me with a quiet kind of awe. A whole section of the cavern was filled with her clones, all slashing and dodging and twisting individually in stunning displays of athleticism. The goddess was struggling to pin her down. Even when an arrow managed to pop one of Mia¡¯s clones, the cat always paid for it in kind. Wounds appeared all over the goddess¡¯s body, as if from thin air. Golden ichor dripped from each cut. The goddess already had a small puddle around her feet. I wanted to laugh, knowing that none of the visible bodies was the actual bratty cat. She¡¯d worked hard in our sparring sessions on an invisibility spell, and had mastered it to a level where it managed to fool even my senses. She was now making the best possible use of it. Who knew? An archer did not make a very good match for an assassin. Glaustro, too, was making progress. Wilhelmina had conjured a massive shroud of mana that shredded everything she approached, then proceeded to send massive wind blades slashing out with every strike of her daggers. But she was visibly flagging. Glaustro had asked me to conjure him a large supply of crystal before Mia and I set out. It was now wound around him like armor. The material resisted him somewhat, but crystal mana was basically just a subset of earth. If he flooded the crystal with his own mana, he could still handle it with an agility that nearly matched his preferred element. As such, Glaustro was unphased and unscathed. I could tell he¡¯d used far more mana than he probably liked in such a short time span, but at least he had some protection against Wilhelmina¡¯s miniature storm and the god¡¯s giant spear. The god was faring the worst out of the trio. He had no decent protections, and no way to break through the demonic defenses. Like the goddess, he was covered in golden ichor from multiple weeping wounds. His right eye had been carved out of its socket by a vicious blow that marred most of his face. Naturally, that¡¯s when the living yeti decided to make themselves a nuisance again. My crystalline roses had rushed towards the circle of banners, but they¡¯d slammed into a massive barrier that shimmered into existence quite abruptly. I suspected it was there from the start, but I was not yet as adept at sensing Divinity as I was at detecting mana. My crystal constructs kept trying. They had crawled a good six feet off the ground and developed wickedly sharp thorns to boot. Still, they had failed to gain purchase and pierce through the barrier. In the meantime, the third banner began to glow brighter, heralding the birth of yet another god. No, I growled to myself. Enough is enough. I redoubled my efforts. My eyes positively glowed as I dumped half of my remaining mana into a channeled surge. All over the cavern, my constructs exploded into propagation. They swallowed a good quarter of Wilhelmina¡¯s troops, dragging them under a tangle of crystal thorns and savaging them further. The barrier around the praying yeti still held. But as crystal roses spread to cover almost every inch of it, I saw cracks starting to develop. The yeti¡¯s chanting took on a fearful lilt. I took a deep breath, summoned my sword to my hand, then launched into the air. My wings beat feverishly as I struggled to keep my mind on task. I was already strained from controlling so much crystal, and the body strengthening as well as the shield spell I¡¯d added to the mix almost broke my concentration. Moving felt impossibly difficult, but I still managed to fly forward, pushing myself through the air until I buried my sword into the barrier. I knew it was unwise to think my sword would never fail me. I had told myself often that I would eventually regret my dependence on it. Today, however, was not that day. My blade sliced through the barrier as easily as it would through butter, and the ailing shield shattered into golden specks. A brief burst of mana, a second of additional strain, and a misty clone formed right behind one of the chieftains. I switched places with the clone instantly, and my sword sliced through the back of the chieftain¡¯s neck without resistance. One of the yeti guards roared and abandoned his kneeling position. Most of his fellows groped for weapons. The chanting faltered. Only the shamans persisted, but the terror shining in their eyes betrayed them. The third god was only halfway through pulling itself off the banner. As the chanting trailed off, he froze, then collapsed into a puddle of gold that was sucked back into the totem. I gave the yeti a grin full of violence and wicked intent, then followed through immediately as my fist met the head of the second chieftain. The head exploded, and a soul was added to my purse. My slaughter of the others was just as messy. I didn¡¯t want to use my sword again just yet. The first chieftain¡¯s soul was still melting into me, and it was rather annoying to have to resist the pull of the memories. At least the burst of mana from the soul¡¯s digestion helped me maintain control over my crystal flowers. By the time my mind cleared and I realized I had a second sword I could have used, all but two of the yeti were dead. The last two shamans had fled to the feet of the divine statue, and now watched me with terror and disbelief. I advanced on them slowly, suddenly aware of the thick cloud of Woe that hung around them like a funeral shroud. It was delicious. It was nourishing. It made my soul sing and exult, like a drink of the sweetest divine ambrosia. Was that how Crewe felt when he inspired Terror in his enemies? Because if so, I suddenly understood how he could lose himself in his games. A languid smile came over my face. The Emotion in the air deepened as my enemies cringed. Oh yes, I understood. And I wanted more of it. Then the two idiots exchanged glances, and their delectable Woe was infected by an icy resolve. I didn¡¯t like that at all. But before I could remind them exactly what they should be doing, they drew a pair of bone daggers and jammed the blades right into their own necks. I froze, caught between petulant displeasure and a sudden foreboding. Then I swore as the shamans¡¯ spilling lifeblood made the statue pulse. The wave of Divinity it released made me stagger. But when its limbs began to shudder and its eyes started to twitch, I forced myself to move. In that moment, I didn¡¯t care about how upset Glaustro would be if I ruined the damned thing. Every instinct in my body was screaming not to let the statue awaken, so I drove my sword right into its chest and then violently dragged the blade to the side. The statue¡¯s quivering paused. The long, jagged rent I had created sparked with Divinity. I dealt another blow, this time severing the arm holding the massive club aloft. The stump sparked even harder than the previous wound. A tremor shook the cave when the limb impacted the ground, but it was not a physical sensation. I had all of a second to wonder if that was enough divine desecration for the day before the mana of the cave screamed. It was a heartbreaking, desperate sound. Every living thing in the cavern paused, feeling a profound sense of pity well up in their hearts. So, of course that was the moment the statue chose to explode. Chapter 149: Picking Up Pieces A man can learn a valuable lesson in the most unlikely of places. For example, that he should retreat to a safe distance after defacing a statue chock-full of Divinity. My head was spinning and ringing all at once. I was aware of painful burns all over my body. When I brought a hand up to my face, it came away bloody, my fingers deeply stained in the odd cyan-black mixture that now ran through my veins. Groaning, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think. I knew I was in the middle of doing something important, but couldn¡¯t for the life of me remember what. ¡°-den! Hayden!¡± Mia¡¯s voice reached from me from what felt like an immense distance, slightly distorted and definitely off. I blinked bleary eyes and shifted, frowning when I encountered a rather uncomfortable and¡­ thorny? Yes, thorny surface. Then I looked around, and my eyes widened. I lay in a field of crystal flowers stained in blood. Mia was standing just a few feet away with her back to me, cutting arrow after arrow out of the air. These arrows were shot by a rather bedraggled-looking goddess that was more flayed flesh than whole at the minute, but still apparently able to wield a bow. My mind cleared rapidly. Without me consciously controlling them, my crystal flowers had stopped moving, forcing Mia to cover my ass. No longer. I pulsed my mana out, biting back a scream when it encountered my burns and other injuries. The crystalline roses were still mine. My mana still burned within them. All I had to do was reforge the connection, so I did it, ignoring the cost. With a wordless cry, my spell took root again. The annoying goddess faltered when the flowers rose up around her. They failed to pierce her skin, but there were open wounds aplenty to take advantage of. The vines I controlled burrowed into those gashes, winding around the deity¡¯s bones. The goddess grunted and stumbled, but all her attempts to get away failed. When my flowers finally reached her arms and tied them to her sides, Mia blurred forward. Her masterfully crafted sword sliced through the air once. A goddess died that day. There was a pause, then a flare of power, and the entire body of the deity flaked away in a rush of gold that streamed into Mia¡¯s soul purse. That answered one of my questions, at least: gods were much like demons, creatures of pure soul and mana. Emotions too, of course, though I imagined those got bundled into soul crystals quite well. Then Mia was beside me, and I lost the fight to keep hold of my spell. I also failed to bite back a hiss of pain when her hands gingerly traced one of my many burns. ¡°You¡¯re hurt. Again. Can you stop getting hurt? I don¡¯t care for it,¡± she grumbled. ¡°I¡¯ll work on it. Anything for my brat cat.¡± She didn¡¯t take the bait. Instead, she shot me a flat look and started rummaging through my dimensional purse. ¡°I didn¡¯t exactly know it was going to explode, okay?¡± I wheedled. ¡°What was I supposed to do? Let it animate fully?¡± ¡°You should have killed it and then got away. Or killed it from a distance. You¡¯re pretending you¡¯re a mage nowadays, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Hey now, that stings worse than these burns!¡± ¡°Good. Maybe you¡¯ll try to prove me otherwise.¡± I was still coming up with a clever retort when she found a healing potion, uncorked the vial, and poured the contents down my throat. I didn¡¯t put up much of a fight, and I couldn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t a relief when the burns cooled slightly. Still, they didn¡¯t go away entirely, which was frustrating. How were they so¡­ pervasive? I frowned down at my armor, expecting to find it absolutely ruined, only to see it was perfectly intact. ¡°Wha¡­? How do I feel sunburned all over, and my armor¡¯s not damaged? This isn¡¯t fair! It¡¯s supposed to stop that kind of thing!¡± I totally didn¡¯t whine. I was airing my grievances with much poise and dignity, dammit. Mia glared at me. Before she could respond, though, there was a second eruption of mana across the cavern. I turned my head just in time to catch sight of Glaustro cutting down the male yeti god. That, at least, made me sigh in relief. ¡°We¡¯ve won, then. I hope Wilhelmina died in particularly spectacular fashion.¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t.¡± I looked at Mia, suddenly feeling apprehensive. ¡°Hrm?¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t die. Some idiot had to go and get himself blown up. Again. Which is something he must apparently do at least once per invasion, but preferably more, I guess. The explosion rocked the entire cavern. It gave her a chance to get away, and she took it. Glaustro and I were too busy panicking and trying to get to you to stop her. She took a bunch of her people with her, too.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Damn it.¡± I slammed my fists against the ground, wincing as the movement sent pain flaring through my wounds. ¡°We really needed her to die.¡± ¡°She¡¯s badly hurt, worse than when she came here, and she has maybe half her troops. She can run, but she¡¯s a much lesser threat,¡± said the rumbling voice of my major. I collapsed in on myself for a moment before I dared to look up at him with trepidation. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s my fault. We lost so much Divinity, and ¡ª¡± Glaustro cut me off with a curse, looking well and properly pissed. ¡°Divinity? That¡¯s what you¡¯re sorry about? For fuck¡¯s sake, Hayden, I could care less about the lost Divinity. You almost got yourself killed, again! If that was just because you thought I¡¯d be desperate to get my hands on some stupid ¡ª¡± He stopped his tirade long enough to take a deep breath. ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that I value your lives, yours, Mia¡¯s, and Bronwynn¡¯s, a hell of a lot more than Divinity. Understood?¡± I swallowed thickly. ¡°Understood.¡± I couldn¡¯t look him in the eye, but I heard the laughter in Glaustro¡¯s voice when he continued speaking. ¡°Good. Don¡¯t do it again. Now, just to make the lesson stick, you¡¯re going to go and collect every little fragment of that statue you can find. I might just have you put it back together again, by hand, alone, so you better get me all the pieces!¡± I gaped at my superior officer with wide eyes, but when he barked that I had my orders, I scrambled to my feet and rushed to obey. The healing potion had reduced my burns to ¡®strongly irritated skin¡¯ at that point, so the task was not as unpleasant as it could have been. Even so, I flinched every time I bent down to pick up a piece of the statue. And there were a lot of pieces. ¡ª In the end, we left those caverns with plenty of local souls, a ton of slain enemies, and a decent haul of Divinity. The two gods Mia and Glaustro had killed were reduced to peculiar golden soul crystals that seemed to be as heavy as a small mountain. They radiated so much power that even I would have been hesitant to consume one. On top of all that, we got six totem banners which were only slightly tattered from close proximity to an explosion. And, of course, the pile of icy statue bits. I couldn¡¯t rightly say whether I¡¯d collected them all, but I did pick up every sliver of ice that radiated Divinity in that cavern. By hand. Glaustro had watched me like a hawk to make sure I didn¡¯t use any spells. Overall, the mood in our burgeoning city was celebratory. A good haul and a blow dealt to a rival¡­ what more could a demon want? Well, souls, of course. That¡¯s why our soldiers erupted into full celebration only when Glaustro announced that every member of his little army was going to be richly rewarded for their contributions. He also promised special bonuses to those who landed confirmed kills on Wilhelmina¡¯s more notable subordinates. I had no idea who those subordinates were. I¡¯d never bothered to learn about every notable officer attached to the legion. But someone must have been keeping track, because several soldiers on our side were now shamelessly boasting about their extra pay and grand accomplishments to anyone willing to listen. I wasn¡¯t willing, and neither was Mia. She all but dragged me away on the first opportunity, then forced me to take another potion once we were in the privacy of our tent. At least that second potion erased my burns once and for all. Still, somehow, I couldn¡¯t rest. I was frustrated with myself. By all accounts, we had won. Then why was I so¡­ unsettled, at the thought of Wilhelmina still out there, skulking around? Probably the look I¡¯d seen in her eyes. It was so bleak, so utterly unrepentant, and so hideously furious, especially when she encountered Glaustro. She fought like a demoness scorned. Clearly, all her resentment over her many losses had landed squarely on the shoulders of my major. Would someone like that truly be content to just curl up and tend to their wounds, far from the reach of their rivals? I wasn¡¯t convinced. Something told me we would be seeing Wilhelmina again, and soon. We simply needed to be ready for her. ¡ª ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m making an unreasonable request! I even said I would take Mia with me, didn¡¯t I?¡± I complained, my eyes darting from one stony face to another. ¡°I never said I wanted to go,¡± was my wonderfully caring best friend¡¯s answer. ¡°You¡¯d let me go out there alone?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯d just sit on you until you started seeing sense again.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious! Wilhelmina is out there somewhere, and we need to find her before she finds a way to cause trouble. Again!¡± ¡°Hayden, I won¡¯t say that you¡¯re wrong,¡± Glaustro began, his oh-so-calm voice making me bristle. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that you should consider the risks of what you¡¯re proposing. What are you going to do if you somehow manage to find her? Charge her and her entire army on your own?¡± ¡°A very tiny army. A tiny army we decimated the last time we fought,¡± I groused. When the stony faces grew stonier, I hurried to add, ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t do that! I¡¯d, uh¡­ find a way to separate her? Assassinate her? Call you in?¡± Bronwynn sniffed, clearly unimpressed. ¡°That last one¡¯s better than the rest, but it¡¯s still a pointless risk, boy.¡± ¡°You would make a horrible assassin,¡± Mia contributed helpfully. ¡°I would know. You always go for ¡®loud and dramatic.¡¯ Really, roses?¡± I flushed, dropping my eyes to the floor. ¡°We¡¯re going to regret it if we let her heal.¡± ¡°If,¡± Glaustro repeated. ¡°She¡¯s very badly hurt, Hayden. I¡¯m not sure she could manage taking down a god in her current condition, and she¡¯s only likely to get worse as time goes by. Whatever and whoever damaged her soul was vicious. This might be her final gambit for survival, here and in the Abyss alike.¡± ¡°Exactly! Who knows what a demoness like her might do if she decided she¡¯s going to die anyway?¡± At last, Glaustro looked properly worried. But he shook it off quickly and resumed his stern expression. ¡°All the more reason to face her together, or not at all.¡± I gave up. If they wanted to let her bide her time, then fine. I would just need to be there and keep them alive so I could finally say ¡®I told you so.¡¯ ¡°Onto other, more important matters,¡± Bronwynn cut in, which earned him one of my most sour looks yet. ¡°The city¡¯s shaping up nicely. Soon, we¡¯ll need to seriously consider what we¡¯re going to do. If we choose to establish a connection to the Abyss, we can benefit from trade and fresh recruits. On the other hand¡­¡± ¡°If the wrong people find out about Divinity, then we¡¯ll be pressed to defend our claim. We¡¯ll have to fight off mercenaries and worse,¡± Glaustro finished for him. We all exchanged worried glances. The tradeoff didn¡¯t make it easy to reach a decision. If we had any real claim on the world, if we had seized the right to command its Will, then we could feel a lot safer about connecting to the Abyss. Unfortunately, that was months away at our current pace, if not years. When a world had a unified center, some type of ruler who clearly held sway and stood in for the Will whether they were aware of it or not, then seizing a world was pretty straightforward. Just steal the power from the ruler through blood and conquest. But on a world as scattered as Breskwor, with a will so young? I had no idea how many souls and how much territory we would have to claim to make our hold on the world stick. I sighed as a sense of helplessness spread through the room like a disease. Really, whoever said playing conqueror was easy? Chapter 150: Banked Flames Glaustro was acting way too cautious. Sure, I had argued strongly for pursuing Wilhelmina while we had such an amazing opportunity on our hands. But did that really mean he had to imprison me in the city? Apparently so. All of my requests to go out on a short patrol with Mia the following day were ignored. Instead, my major ordered me to ¡®put up more buildings that could be useful.¡¯ The question was, useful for what? All the notable officers, captains and up, already had their new lodgings. And while it might sound cruel, I was not about to waste time putting up buildings for each and every soldier. They could be grateful for the huge shared dorms we¡¯d made. The buildings were a little ugly, and they were made of ice, but I knew for a fact that these soldiers had lived in worse conditions before. I argued the city was in good shape regarding construction, but it didn¡¯t matter. My major simply smiled and ordered me to build something. So, feeling just a tad spiteful, I went straight to the central square and put up four very tacky sculptures of our glorious leader at each of the cardinal direction points. I was kind enough to let the statues wear loincloths, mostly because I was afraid of what Glaustro would do to me otherwise. I¡¯d have done a massive central statue instead, but we needed that space for the eventual obelisk that would link us to the Abyss. Then, just because I could, I started paving the city streets properly. It was a tricky job. Not only was it snowing the entire time, but the ground was actually made of ice. At least the walls I had put up around the city kept the wind from whipping the snow into a blinding fury. Mia very morosely followed in my footsteps and even occasionally helped break up the monotony with some banter, but her heart wasn¡¯t in it. She was benched as well. Worse still, she had only discovered this when she tried to leave the city without consulting our majorness. Sure, neither of us liked going on missions without the other, but I wouldn¡¯t have blamed her if she had managed to get away. Alas, Glaustro was good at thinking ahead. I actually covered a decent portion of the city that day. If I didn¡¯t have to sink so much crystal under the ice to prevent any shifting, I might have finished it all in an afternoon. As it was, when mana exhaustion set in around the early evening, Mia and I started trudging in the direction of home. Home. That thought amused me. According to all logic, ¡®home¡¯ should have been the Abyss. It was kind of difficult to grow fond of Torment, though. For one thing, I had no idea how to go about getting a place there. Were there real estate agents I could hunt down? What were the prices like? Was it better to rent or to buy? I had never put the effort in to find out. The idea simply didn¡¯t appeal to me. Of course, we did have the quarters assigned to our little army when Glaustro was promoted. They were decent enough. But could you really count something like that as ¡®home¡¯? A place which can just as easily get reassigned to someone else? I would say no. So, that¡¯s how the first home I ever owned in either of my lives ended up being one I had built with my very own (magical) hands. On a world bound in ice and vigorously ravaged by gale winds. What fun! All sarcasm aside, I felt an odd warmth settling inside me as Mia and I approached our place, near Glaustro¡¯s on the main square. We had chosen the location. We had put up the building. We had even made silly alterations for maximum comfort, just because we could. Which made our whole setup a bit¡­ odd. Did we need massive windows in the bedroom with wide frames and plenty of blankets so we could ¡®sunbathe¡¯ on an ice age planet? No. But Mia thought they sounded cozy, and it wasn¡¯t like making them was hard. The bedroom was a good example of our home¡¯s quirkiness overall. It was roughly circular in shape, poking out like a small tower. The room was pretty much all bed with the exception of shelves recessed into walls. We didn¡¯t bother with storage pieces like wardrobes, since we had dimensional storage items. Even the shelves were more for convenience so we could have stuff at hand¡­ or for an utterly silly cat to curl up on when I said she couldn¡¯t possibly fit. Which she did. Somehow. Because even demon-type cats were apparently liquid and didn¡¯t care about the laws of physics. ¡°We should stop by the apothecary again,¡± I mused aloud. ¡°That tea you picked out last time was nice. We can take some home and go through more of my mother¡¯s books.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Mia communicated her agreement through mostly inarticulate noises. Lazy cat didn¡¯t even care to open her mouth sometimes. As we stopped at the apothecary¡¯s shop, I couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how quickly our city was developing, even without access to the Abyss. Not all of the soldiers who signed on with Glaustro were obsessed with the murder/pillage life. In fact, most of them didn¡¯t care for it all that much. That¡¯s just the most accessible and profitable calling for demons in Torment who are down on their luck. Fairmont, the apothecary owner, was one of those demons. He had always been fascinated by herbs and remedies, even when he was a mortal. Being exposed to so many new worlds had only deepened his interest. He¡¯d actually tried to become an alchemist before winding up as a soldier, but he¡¯d burned through souls too quickly to make the profession profitable. So, back into the field of battle he went. He had, however, used his first paycheck before we left Torment to stock up on a wide variety of herbs and spices, intending to experiment when he had the time. Now those stocks were sitting in transparent, glass-like drawers made out of extremely thin crystal. The drawers took up at least sixty percent of the space inside the store and were a real pain to shape, let me tell you. I almost killed the demon a couple times because he was a bit too specific about his setup. In return for sparing his life and getting his shop set up in the first place, Mia and I enjoyed a permanent steep discount. I had paid for the tea and was waiting for Mia to finish investigating some of the herbs when the door opened. Methialia staggered inside. She looked even worse than usual. Even as I opened my mouth to greet her, she stumbled and started to fall. I was by her side in an instant, just managing to catch her before she gave the floor a kiss using her nose. ¡°Are you alright? Captain? Methialia?¡± Only at the mention of her name did her eyes flutter open. Even then, it took her several long moments to focus on my face. ¡°Sergeant¡­? What is¡­? Oh.¡± She flushed with embarrassment, but the red that touched her extremely pale cheeks was only barely visible. Typically, her skin was a warm rose color, but she had been getting paler since we arrived on Breskwor. She could give a corpse a run for its money in the pallor department at this point. ¡°Fairmont! A chair!¡± The demoness in my arms protested as the shopkeeper squeaked and hurried away to obey. I ignored both reactions, leading her closer to the counter. Methialia was violently shivering. When she briefly gripped my hand for stability, I realized she was colder than the air outside. Fairmont finally emerged from the back, carrying a very impractical crystal chair that was honestly uncomfortable as all hell. I winced a little as I lowered Methialia into it. I had made the thing that way on purpose, as payback for all the shopkeeper¡¯s annoying demands, but I hadn¡¯t intended my captain to suffer. ¡°What happened? What¡¯s going on with you? Fairmont, can you brew us some tea? As hot and as invigorating as you can make it. Charge me for the pot.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to ¡ª¡± Methialia cut off her protests when Fairmont scurried away too quickly to hear them. Then she leaned back into the chair with a sigh, wincing only a little. ¡°I¡¯m fine. There¡¯s no reason to panic so much. The weather just¡­ doesn¡¯t agree with me.¡± I looked her over again, then once more when I noticed something I had missed before. ¡°Where are your wings? And what do you mean you¡¯re fine? You just collapsed.¡± Another wince, much more badly concealed. ¡°I just need a warm drink. I was out scouting for too long. We¡¯re all trying to find Wilhelmina¡¯s trail, but no luck so far.¡± Frustration warred with concern, but I set aside the former with an effort. ¡°I understand that, but you dodged the question about your wings. Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice.¡± ¡°I¡­ I just can¡¯t manifest them right now. They¡¯ll be back. I¡¯m fine.¡± I honestly couldn¡¯t tell who she was trying to convince. It was also glaringly obvious that she was anything but ¡®fine.¡¯ ¡°If you say so.¡± I shrugged, pretending a careless tone. ¡°So you won¡¯t mind if I tell Glaustro to keep you in the city until you can manifest your wings then, right?¡± She whipped her head around, eyes growing impossibly large, but Fairmont¡¯s hasty return saved her from having to answer. He was carrying a tray, precariously balancing a decanter of tea with a large mug. I shook my head as the decanter wobbled. What is this man doing as an active soldier? Rolling my eyes, I took the tray and poured tea for the ailing demoness. She gripped the steaming mug with both hands like some kind of lifeline. Watching her drain it, I realized I could track the path of the liquid through her system. As the heat spread, her skin was darkening into its accustomed rosy hue. But the renewed vigor only appeared in patches. The relief also seemed to be temporary. Seconds after she put the mug down, the rosy color began to grow pale again. Still, the sigh she let out was genuinely contented. ¡°Thanks. I needed that.¡± The admission looked like it pained her. I frowned. We weren¡¯t exactly close, but I didn¡¯t think one of my captains trusted me so little that she would rather freeze to death than ask for help. A crazy thought, I know: a demon freezing to death. Then again, there was clearly more going on than I knew. ¡°Listen, Methialia.¡± I knelt down in front of the chair and kept my voice low. ¡°I know you probably don¡¯t want to go spilling all your secrets to two superior officers and a store clerk, but you are not doing well. Now, I¡¯m going to make this offer only once, and then I¡¯m not going to push again. Please tell me what¡¯s wrong with you. We¡¯re going to do our best to help, but you need to let us.¡± I didn¡¯t make the offer on a whim. The woman had taught me how to fly, been very pleasant company, fought alongside me, and was an amazingly competent demoness. If I was honest with myself, the only reason she wasn¡¯t a sergeant and I a captain was a bit of personal strength and a dash of nepotism. Even so, she practically ran our scouts all on her own. Several emotions flitted over her face in response to my plea. Hesitation, frustration, bone-deep weariness, and something else I couldn¡¯t figure out. Eventually, though, she shot me a sad smile. ¡°Fine. Could I bother you to help me make my way home, then? We can talk there.¡± I nodded, smiling in relief. That was step one. Now I actually needed to fix whatever was wrong with my captain. Chapter 151: Fireside Chats Our journey to Methialia¡¯s home was both quick and painfully slow. The demoness was still barely mobile, but she staunchly refused any form of assistance. And her wings were still gone. That worried me more than I could put into words. The captain had requested her lodgings be built at the very edge of the city. When we finally arrived, it took a moment for the doors to recognize her magic and swing open. She all but collapsed on her way across the threshold. As soon as I followed her, heat slammed into me. It was such a marked difference from the world outside, even for my demonic body, that I actually stumbled. I looked around with some apprehension. Sure enough, a huge fire was roaring in the massive hearth Methialia had commissioned for her home. It was also radiating so much mana that I would¡¯ve known it was magical even if the flames weren¡¯t purple. The effect it had on our host was immediate. Her shoulders relaxed, and a spring entered her step as she crossed to the fireplace. ¡°Oooof.¡± I glanced back at the silly cat who had made the noise, only to find her expression scrunched between discomfort and bliss. ¡°You okay there, Mia?¡± I whispered, using a trickle of mana to mute our conversation further. ¡°Yes. This is¡­ hot. A part of me really likes it. Reminds me of home a little, but¡­¡± She grimaced, then did a full-body shake. ¡°It¡¯s almost too much.¡± I caught her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as we trailed after our hostess. This was the one of the very few times Mia had ever mentioned her home or past to me. The fact that she had done it so casually made my chest swell with all sorts of emotions. Still, I forced myself to focus on Methialia. Whatever was wrong with her had to be more than a simple weakness to temperature. That just wasn¡¯t a thing demons were supposed to suffer from. The captain had already collapsed into an armchair positioned right in front of the fireplace. I felt some trepidation as we settled on a nearby sofa, but to my relief, the heat didn¡¯t get unbearable. Still wasn¡¯t pleasant, though. After only a few seconds, I was well past comfortable levels of ¡®toasty.¡¯ At least the purple flame was fascinating. It crackled and swayed at all times like it was caught in a strong wind, yet never once faltered. It also lay right on the crystalline floor of the hearth with no visible kindling. Methialia stared at it, eyes darting occasionally towards me and Mia. ¡°So¡­ I suppose I should answer your questions now, huh?¡± ¡°It would be preferable.¡± I hesitated, then went on carefully. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not going to force the issue, but I really do consider you a friend at this point. I mean, you were the one who taught me how to fly. We¡¯ve definitely fought alongside each other enough times. I¡¯m not going to swear eternal loyalty to you or anything, but still. I promise you can trust us.¡± Mia didn¡¯t say anything, but the fervent sincerity in her eyes when she nodded was probably as effective as my little speech. Methialia sighed and leaned back in her armchair, gaze fixed on the opaque crystal ceiling. ¡°Okay, okay. So¡­ It might or might not surprise you to hear this, but I¡¯m not an ascendant demon. I am the daughter of two Abyss-born, from a family of some minor renown. Not enough that everyone celebrates when the legion recruits one of ours, like with Wilhelmina and her sister, but¡­ yeah. You know?¡± I didn¡¯t ¡®know¡¯, actually, but it wasn¡¯t hard to guess. I just nodded, encouraging her to continue. ¡°Well, with that kind of fame also comes enmity. My family has a long history, and we¡¯ve made more than a few enemies along the way. None of those enemies are content to sit around and ignore us, so it¡¯s pretty much scheming and struggling and killing. All. The. Damn. Time. When a member of our family wants children, it¡¯s always a risky period. They need to be hidden. Protected. Cherished. You know how we procreate, right?¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± I scoffed. ¡°Even if we didn¡¯t know about it beforehand, that¡¯s one of the first things the Abyss beams into your mind after ascension.¡± Methialia giggled. She was looking better by the minute. However, I also noted that she was using her proximity to the flames to¡­ feed? Yes, I thought, watching some of the mana and innate power of the flame streaming into her. She¡¯s feeding on the fire to maintain her health. ¡°Well, my mother wanted kids, but she also didn¡¯t want to be seen as a coward. She was the head of the family, you see. So, while pregnant with me, she went on an invasion. When she was assassinated during said invasion by a rival house, I died right alongside her.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. We must have failed to keep the shock off our faces, because Methialia outright laughed. I couldn¡¯t help it. My mind was spinning. None of my Abyss-inherited knowledge applied to that scenario. In fact, everything I knew suggested strongly that a pregnant demoness should not leave the Abyss at all. ¡°But¡­¡± I sputtered, ¡°what happens then?¡± ¡°What happens¡­ varies. A lot. If the child is young enough, then they simply vanish when the mother reforms. People think the child gets absorbed by the mother¡¯s soul because the two are still seen as one entity by the Abyss. If the child is old enough in the womb, they could reform separately from the mother. The children in those cases don¡¯t always survive.¡± If I was flabbergasted before, I was now horrified. The images of half-formed demon babies squelching to the floor of the Abyss filled my mind. Suppressing a full-body shudder, I managed to speak calmly. ¡°You survived.¡± Methialia nodded. Her voice took on a decidedly cruel tone of amusement. ¡°I was just old enough to avoid absorption and young enough to avoid getting forcibly ejected from my mother. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t dodge all consequences. I was¡­ damaged, by the experience. A part of me is just missing.¡± She slouched further into the chair, fixing her eyes on the hearth. ¡°My family all have a high affinity for fire. The theory is our original ancestor was some kind of ascendant demon with a fire elemental heritage in their mortal form. Regardless, we¡¯re all deeply intertwined with flames.¡± Suddenly, she grabbed a soul out of her pouch and chucked it into the hearth. I watched, fascinated, as the soul melted away, seeming to screech in great agony before its energy was converted into fuel. The purple flames jumped even higher. Methialia just looked bored, like this was something she was far too accustomed to. ¡°I have an affinity to fire, but I¡¯m almost dependent on it. I need flames. Especially soul flames. I need heat, too. Lagyel wasn¡¯t too bad, even though the nights were almost torturous, but here?¡± She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not doing well here. As you might have noticed, unlike most of our kind, I¡¯m highly vulnerable to the cold.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. I wasn¡¯t sure what else to say. Though Glaustro might have chosen the world solely because of Wilhelmina, our plans had evolved since then. At this point, we all wanted to make Breskwor our headquarters. But for Methialia, it was the very definition of a personal hell. The smile she shot me was sad. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can keep the issue at bay by feeding on souls and spending time with my flame here. I was just a little careless today. I pushed too hard. I want to find that bitch so we can all relax, but with all that Divinity out there¡­¡± She scowled. ¡°I can hardly sense anything else.¡± I blinked. ¡°Wait, what do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean¡­ it¡¯s too intense, isn¡¯t it? The Divinity? It¡¯s why I haven¡¯t been able to sleep well since we got here. I had no clue what it was at first, but then you came back from that scouting trip and told Glaustro about it. It sings to me. I want to go out there, track it all down, and devour it. I want it so badly that¡­¡± She blushed and trailed off, looking away from us. I gaped at her, unable to form a coherent sentence as my mind swirled through possibilities. Mia didn¡¯t have the same issue. ¡°You can sense Divinity from here?¡± she asked sharply. ¡°Where is it coming from?¡± Methialia looked confused, but she answered nonetheless. ¡°Well, I can feel a concentration of Divinity in the major¡¯s tent. I think he¡¯s studying or devouring bits of it right now? I can feel it flicker. Then there are the four groups to the south, two to the north, and five to the east. I can¡¯t really feel anything to the west past some vague impression, but I think that¡¯s just because the source of Divinity there is too far away.¡± This time, even Mia was rendered speechless. ¡°What? What is it?¡± the captain demanded, looking back and forth between us. ¡°We can¡¯t sense Divinity that far out, Methialia,¡± I explained slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t know about Mia, but I need to be fairly close to a source to sense it. It¡¯s almost like Divinity doesn¡¯t want to show itself to me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± Mia leaned forward now, taking in Methialia with an intensity that verged on predatory. ¡°That is an amazing ability. Why didn¡¯t you say anything sooner?¡± ¡°I thought it was normal? I could sense sources of Divinity from the moment we set foot on this world. I just didn¡¯t know what they were.¡± Methialia sounded defensive, but it was quickly giving way to excitement. ¡°So, not everyone can sense it? But then¡­ why can I?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I do know this is going to be incredibly useful for us.¡± I stood and began to pace around the room like a caged animal. ¡°We¡¯ve been forced to hunt down the locals, steal their memories, and then hustle to get to any sources of Divinity before they could be hidden or moved. This presents an amazing opportunity. On top of that¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll know exactly when Wilhelmina makes her move,¡± Mia purred, making no attempt to conceal the malice shining in her eyes. I gave the cat a grin of my own. ¡°Exactly. If she tries to move or devour one of the sources of Divinity nearby, we¡¯ll know! There haven¡¯t been any that just vanished recently, right?¡± Methialia shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I muttered. ¡°Very good. She hasn¡¯t healed yet, then. Hasn¡¯t even started. Unless she¡¯s moved beyond your range already? But in that case¡­¡± ¡°Hayden, stop.¡± Mia¡¯s voice snapped me out of the spiral. ¡°We need to tell Glaustro all about this. Now. He¡¯ll be able to help us plan.¡± I nodded eagerly and was about to storm off right that moment when I noticed the grimace on Methialia¡¯s face. ¡°Sorry,¡± I stammered, only then remembering why we were there in the first place. ¡°You should stay here. Keep resting as long as you can. We¡¯ll go talk to Glaustro and bring him here. I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t mind.¡± She smiled, and I bit back a sigh of relief. For a moment, I¡¯d been afraid that she might not want to share her abilities with Glaustro. We would¡¯ve had an entirely different problem on our hands then. ¡°That sounds good. I¡¯d be thankful if we can meet here. I wish I could go, but ¡ª¡± ¡°No worries, really,¡± I rushed to assure her. ¡°I just wish I understood why you can sense Divinity so easily. Is there anything special to it, like an accompanying emotion?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Just a sense of the Divinity. Well, and the hunger. That¡¯s normal though, right?¡± I hmmmed, eyeing the demoness. Yes, that was true. The nature of Divinity made it extremely appealing to demons. However, the way she said ¡®hunger¡¯ twigged something in my mind. It was a desperate word, filled with a quiet sort of intensity. Wilhelmina was desperate to get Divinity in order to heal. What if my subordinate officer was in a similar situation? What if only Divinity could fix what was ¡®broken¡¯ in her by the circumstances of her mother¡¯s pregnancy? I had no answers to that. What I did know was that I needed to fetch Glaustro, and fast. Chapter 152: Learning Steps ¡°We need to take serious steps towards establishing proper communication in our ranks.¡± That was Glaustro¡¯s growled reply when I asked him if he was okay on our way back to Methialia¡¯s home. Really, he couldn¡¯t blame me for worrying about him, but I could also understand his frustration. The double-punch revelation of Methialia¡¯s ailment and shocking Divinity-sensing abilities had just highlighted one of the legion¡¯s most glaring systemic problems. Other than orders and strategies, nothing got communicated. Ever. None of us were questioned about our abilities, or expected to update superiors on our training. There wasn¡¯t even a process for vetting officers. Glaustro just had to register us as sergeants, and that was it. Getting captains registered under us was even simpler because of the lower rank. Was it really a shocker that officers didn¡¯t know much about the people working under them? I had expected Glaustro to focus on the amazing potential of Methialia¡¯s Divinity sense. I¡¯d thought he would be happy, if not ecstatic. Instead, he had gotten this nearly constipated look on his face that refused to leave. ¡°We¡¯ll work on it,¡± I said cheerfully. ¡°I mean, there¡¯s nowhere to go but up, right?¡± My only answer was an unamused glower. Sighing, I tried a different approach. ¡°It¡¯s not anyone¡¯s fault. She didn¡¯t know the rest of us couldn¡¯t sense Divinity like that, okay?¡± ¡°It is most certainly fucking not ¡ª!¡± Glaustro took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and actually paused mid-step. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not angry at you or the good captain. I¡¯m frustrated with myself. I always wanted to be better, to rise in rank. Now that I have, I¡¯m messing it all up. I even had to leave Bronwynn to do my paperwork while I deal with this crisis, so ¡ª¡± ¡°Glaustro, you can¡¯t expect to be perfect from the start,¡± I broke in. ¡°They stopped you from being an officer for so long. Then you suddenly got promoted way higher than a demon should be able to reach in such a short period of time. Of course we¡¯re going to make mistakes. Of course things are a mess. We¡¯ll get better." It was distinctly odd to be the one doing the reassuring, but from the way Glaustro had hunched in on himself, my friend and mentor needed it. Besides, it was nice to see him smile slightly at my words. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the smile faltered and vanished. ¡°I understand that, but¡­ there¡¯s so much I missed. I should have reminded you to get tents for everyone. I should have insisted we all practice together. And I should have asked some deeper questions about our troops. Abilities and vulnerabilities. I had no idea about Methialia. I knew she was Abyss-born, and I knew about her fire affinity, but she never mentioned more.¡± ¡°That¡¯s, again, not on you,¡± I argued. ¡°I¡¯m guessing she decided to withhold that info for the same reason she didn¡¯t want to talk to Mia and me earlier. I think she feels ashamed of it. And yes, missing that is probably bad from a superior officer¡¯s perspective, but¡­ she¡¯s still an accomplished demoness who¡¯s done a lot for our troops. Would you have turned her away if you¡¯d known she was vulnerable to cold?¡± It took Glaustro a second to respond, but when he did, I detected a hint of a smile in his voice. ¡°No. She is too valuable to give up on.¡± ¡°Exactly. She taught me how to fly. She¡¯s an excellent scout. I noticed she likes to keep an eye on less experienced soldiers and help them out, when she¡¯s not completely exhausted. She was a great pick. I don¡¯t think we made a mistake.¡± ¡°I still think we have a lot of work to do if we want to make this army a success,¡± the major insisted. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. ¡°Obviously. Even I could tell you that, and I¡¯ve been a demon for a very short amount of time. But, hey! At least you¡¯re doing better than Wilhelmina.¡± Glaustro scoffed. ¡°Anyone can do better than her. She only had her lineage going for her.¡± ¡°But we¡¯re doing much better. We just need to¡­ keep doing it,¡± I concluded weakly, finally drawing a proper laugh out of the man who had helped me so much already. By the time we made it to Methialia¡¯s residence, both of us were in a much more stable mood. As a result, the conversation that followed was more relaxed than I had feared. Methialia wasn¡¯t amused to discover how far off the mark she really was when gauging the strength of her sensory abilities, but she was rather enthusiastic about using them to their full potential. There was some talk about how that could best be done, but we decided to leave it there for the afternoon. Glaustro went back to his duties with a promise that we¡¯d all talk more the following day. Mia and I excused ourselves shortly thereafter as well, leaving Methialia to enjoy the warmth of her hearth. Mia was unusually quiet on our walk home. Her eyes stared off into the distance, refusing to meet mine. My few attempts to drag her out of her mood failed. Worse still, I had no idea whether I should be worried or not. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Her Emotion was draped over her like a blanket, concealing whatever was going on in her heart. If she was anyone else, I might have hoped to catch some hint based on her facial expressions. That was virtually impossible with Mia. I had gotten to know her, though. Even with her poker face on, she couldn¡¯t stop her tail bristling and occasionally slashing through the air. That was clue enough for me that something was bothering her. I just had no idea what, or how to find out. My anxiety deepened when we finally got home. Instead of using me like a particularly fluffy pillow, as she normally preferred, she chose to curl up on one of the windowsill beds across the room. Still, I didn¡¯t push her. I stuck to the same odd, silent agreement we¡¯d had for so long, even if I felt increasingly tempted to infringe upon it the longer Mia remained a closed-off book to me. Some small wisps of my Emotion stirred, but I clamped down on them. I knew I had some issues. The whole dependency thing between me and the cat was definitely on the list. I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. I was a demon. Since when did my kind pride themselves on healthy relationships? We were practically listed under the word ¡®dysfunctional¡¯ in any dictionary you were likely to find out there in the multiverse. ¡°Do you want to know about me?¡± The question was so sudden and quiet that I almost dropped my book. Instead, I set it down with far too much care, then slowly raised my eyes to meet Mia¡¯s golden orbs. ¡°Yes.¡± I saw no reason to lie, even if I could. Maybe if she wasn¡¯t actively looking? Though I might be able to control my soul enough to conceal a lie from other demons who didn¡¯t know me, I doubted it would work with Mia. Regardless, she didn¡¯t run away, so I went on. ¡°But you don¡¯t have to tell me if you don¡¯t want to. I can wait until you do. Or you don¡¯t have to tell me at all. I just¡­¡± I licked my suddenly dry lips. ¡°I just enjoy spending time with you. I don¡¯t want anything to get in the way of that.¡± We stared at each other without blinking, long enough that it would¡¯ve been profoundly uncomfortable if we were still mortals. Then, the cat slowly stretched out and slinked over to me. An expectant look made me spread out my wing for her. This time, I shifted onto my back so she could curl up on the soft, downy inner wing feathers. It really crimped my other wing to lay on it like that, but I didn¡¯t care. Once she was cuddled up to my side, Mia spoke. ¡°I wasn¡¯t born on a conquered world. The demons were still in the middle of their invasion when I was a kid. My parents were¡­ nobles? Not that, but this language doesn¡¯t have the right word for it. They were important.¡± She was talking softly, but I could still sense her discomfort, both with the subject and to be talking so much in the first place. I grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, intertwining our fingers. ¡°I was really small. I can barely remember stuff from back then, but I do remember my parents trying to train me to survive without them. It was mostly useless. I could only remember the one technique, and I couldn¡¯t even do it. It was dangerous to use my mana that young, and I almost got hurt. I think they thought I could hide or run even if the demons did take our world. They were wrong. There was no running or hiding when the demons finally claimed the Will. We were all rounded up.¡± I winced, wondering what that might have been like. She never specified her age, but she must have been older than I was when my world went through the same thing. I couldn¡¯t even remember the faces of my parents, let alone mana techniques. To be old enough to understand what was happening¡­ ¡°When they won, the demons created camps. For training, they said. Everyone young enough was sent there. But they didn¡¯t treat us all the same. They tested us for mana use potential, and then separated us into trainees and¡­ and the wastes. I was a trainee. We at least got food, a nice place to sleep, training, and safety. The wastes were forced to fight each other. The demons said that if they didn¡¯t have talent, at least they¡¯d have ferocity.¡± She fell silent. I ran my thumb gently over her hand, and she jumped, as if snapping back into awareness. ¡°They made us watch. It was¡­ fine, when we were younger. They¡¯d just kill each other and that was it. It got worse later. The winners could do whatever they wanted with the losers, and the demons wanted them vicious and desperate. They encouraged all sorts of things. It worked. None of us wanted to fail the tests and be demoted to wastes. The wastes who got promoted to trainees this way were¡­ unpleasant. ¡°I could remember, though. Everything that came before the camps. My family. What my world used to be. That was the worst part. I could remember, and I wanted revenge. Everything that happened in the camp only made me want it more. So, when I finally joined the legion, I decided I¡¯d do whatever I had to. Even if I hated the demons, I¡¯d become one. I would find Vallinach, and I¡¯d kill him for what he did to my world. I would make him suffer. But then¡­¡± She fell silent again, and I saw her libs wobble. After only a moment of hesitation, I scooped her up so she was lying on top of me. Then I closed my wings around her, bundling her up and hiding her from the world. ¡°See? That?¡± She let out a scratchy laugh, and I froze. ¡°I met you, and you were¡­ nice? You were okay, at least. And then I met Glaustro, and Bronwynn, and they recruited and helped us, even though they were demons. And we¡¯re demons, now. I should hate demons, but I don¡¯t hate you.¡± She said the words like an accusation, while simultaneously winding her arms around me in a crushing return hug. All I could do was chuckle bitterly and tighten my own grip. ¡°Should I feel guilty?¡± she went on, even more quietly. ¡°Am I supposed to? I don¡¯t even know what my parents would have wanted me to do.¡± I was sure she could feel the emotions writhing in my chest, but I didn¡¯t even try and suppress them. ¡°I don¡¯t know, Mia. I just don¡¯t know. But, I¡¯d like to think they would want you to be safe and happy, whatever that takes. Are you? Happy, I mean. Does¡­ staying with me, make you happy? Because¡­¡± My heart was beating so loudly and quickly now that I knew those crazy senses of hers could hear it. ¡°You make me happy. I love having you here. You are the reason I don¡¯t feel lonely or miserable. Glaustro and Bronwynn are great, but it¡¯s not like I can go bothering them every five minutes, or even that I¡¯d want to. So, that¡¯s all you.¡± After a lengthy pause, her arms tightened around me further. She would have crushed me if I hadn¡¯t ascended already. Still, her response sent all my insecurities melting into a puddle of relief. ¡°Yes, you make me happy. I want to stay with you. I can relax when you¡¯re around. That¡¯s nice.¡± I smiled, fully and freely. I hadn¡¯t exactly gotten everything I wanted to say out there, but this was a very nice start. There was one more thing I could say, though. ¡°You know that I¡¯ll help you do whatever you want, right? We¡¯ll get Vallinach. Even if it takes a while, we¡¯ll get there. It¡¯s not like he can run or hide. He¡¯s old and powerful, but he¡¯s also a demon. That means he¡¯s prideful and kind of stupid about his personal safety. We can catch up, and we can get him.¡± She pulled herself up for a moment, hovering above me with eyes that were drinking in my features. The smile she sent me could have rivaled the sun. ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll get him. Together.¡± I nodded, my smile widening to match her radiant grin. ¡°Together.¡± B2 Stubbing in two days Hey guys, sorry about the late notice but book 2 will be stubbing in two days for our Amazon release on the 7th. If you''d like to preorder a copy of the book, you can find the TTA books here - https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0DV3QTWPY >> Synopisis for book 2 Waking up with the memories of his own murder wasn¡¯t fun, but Hayden¡¯s made it out of his first invasion all the same! He claimed his victories, suffered his defeats, and found himself outperforming the other recruits in the invasion of Berlis. Now, he¡¯s earned the right to pursue the goal every demonic recruit yearns for: ascension. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Unfortunately, before he can become his very best demonic self, he¡¯s going to need to earn a permanent posting, steal a whole lot more souls, and stop his mind from unraveling. Easy, right? Well, maybe it would have been, if several high-ranking members of the Legion of Torment didn¡¯t have it out for his mortal self. Still, with allies of his own, Hayden¡¯s set on proving his worth across the sandy battlefields of Lagyel. And woe unto anyone who gets in his way. Chapter 153: Distance We didn¡¯t have a big, dramatic big kiss or a night of steamy lovemaking. As it turned out, cuddling was just as fine for demons as it was for mortals. Neither of us was in a rush for any grand gestures of affection or even to put any labels on what was happening. Still, there was no denying that some of the distance between us had narrowed, if not vanished altogether. Something had changed. Of course, there was also no hiding this change. When we strolled into a meeting with Glaustro, Methialia, and Bronwynn the following day, the pink-skinned demon almost choked on his drink. Awfully embarrassing way to croak for a demon. When he was finally done coughing and sputtering, he stared at us with wide eyes. We just glared back, unamused. It wasn¡¯t like we were groping each other or kissing right in the major¡¯s tent! Sure, Mia was holding onto my sleeve, but that was only because I had tried to hold her hand while we walked, like I occasionally did. She had flushed scarlet and grabbed my sleeve instead, refusing to look at me. Abyss protect me from the courting peculiarities of her people, but if anyone said that wasn¡¯t adorable, I was going to rip their soul right out of their chest. ¡°What?¡± I finally snapped. ¡°Nothing! Nothing¡­¡± Bronwynn blinked, shaking his head. He wasn¡¯t staring anymore, but the slow smile spreading across his face was almost worse. ¡°I just¡­ well, you¡¯re pretty much radiating my Emotion.¡± Affection¡­ right. I was the one who flushed this time. Thankfully, we got to move on to the day¡¯s business after only mild amounts of teasing. The meeting itself was surprisingly productive, though it lasted far longer than I expected. Apparently, Glaustro was determined to get things in order, even if he had to force us all into something resembling proper discipline. He started that process by getting his hands on a map. It had been drawn by the scouts and was only mostly reliable, considering our entire environment shifted constantly at the whim of the weather. But a couple landmarks were still semi-permanent, and the map was at least useful for calculating distances. Which was exactly why Glaustro wanted it. First, he extracted one of the Divinity-soaked banners from his storage item and gave it to a trustworthy scout. This scout was then ordered to go exactly one mile away from camp. He sent a signal back to us when he was there, and Glaustro asked Methialia to describe how far that particular measurement ¡®felt¡¯ to her senses. The process was repeated, but the second time, Glaustro concealed the distance the scout traveled. He asked Methialia to gauge it using her ability alone. Within four attempts, she started identifying the correct distance consistently enough to progress to the next stage. The next stage involved Methialia reaching out with her senses. Then, effortlessly, she dropped pins on the map to mark all the locations of hidden Divinity within the range of her detection. Speaking of her range, it was pretty crazy. My good captain could practically taste Divinity on her tongue from eighty miles away. Glaustro¡¯s excitement was palpable as he started making plans in hushed whispers. Suddenly, we were on the verge of looting the world empty of all its most precious riches. It was as simple as sending Methialia to track them all down. The one thing that marred my enjoyment of the moment was Methialia herself. I could tell she was keenly aware of the Divinity within Glaustro¡¯s dimensional item. When the scout returned the experimentation banner to Glaustro, I swear the captain was visibly restraining herself. For as long as the Divinity-rich item was out in the open, her eyes tracked it with avarice. That was what prompted me to pull Glaustro out of the meeting for a minute. ¡°What is it, Hayden?¡± he hissed as I ushered him out of the tent. ¡°Couldn¡¯t this wait? We have an amazing opportunity on our hands!¡± ¡°This whole thing started because we wanted a way to track Wilhelmina,¡± I reminded him. ¡°If we jump on the Divinity now, what are our chances of dragging her out of hiding?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter! With enough Divinity, our army would have the power to stop her. We can just hunt her down then. Besides, if she refuses to show herself, we¡¯ll claim this world eventually. We wouldn¡¯t even need to worry about her at that point.¡± ¡°Yes, and what if we need to fight in order to claim Breskwor?¡±I shot back. ¡°What if there¡¯s a different advanced race here, vying for control? Like the jinn in Lagyel? What are we going to do if she ambushes us during battle?¡± Glaustro scowled and crossed his arms, but he very pointedly stopped protesting. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I sighed. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m just saying: let¡¯s not get carried away. Now, give me a second.¡± I paused to draw on some recent lessons from Mia. My mana wisped out, forming into a ward that blocked most of the sound from passing through in either direction. I wasn¡¯t good enough to block out signs of our presence entirely, like she was, but keeping us from being overheard? That I could do. ¡°Whatever you want to say must be important.¡± Glaustro looked amused. ¡°I don¡¯t remember you doing something like this before.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t do this before. But, yes, it¡¯s important. Listen¡­ do you think you could set aside a bit of the Divinity for Methialia? I don¡¯t want to get into it now, but I think she needs it. Badly.¡± Glaustro studied me for a moment, carefully assessing how serious I was about the request. The unflinching look on my face made him drop his eyes. ¡°How badly are we talking?¡± ¡°Badly. And we can start with a small amount, just to see if it would help at all. I understand that we need most of it, but think about how much time she¡¯s going to help us save, and what she could do for the army. We¡¯d always have an instant Divinity detector, and that¡¯s just to start with.¡± Well¡­ I hoped so, at least. I had a few private concerns. To begin with, I wasn¡¯t sure if Divinity could actually help Methialia¡¯s deeper problem. It was entirely possible that she would gobble it down and just experience the typical boost in soul quality that would follow in a ¡®normal¡¯ demon. Alternatively, she could be cured of all that ailed her, which might deprive us of a valuable Divinity sensor. It made an unfortunate amount of sense. Her intense craving for Divinity could simply be instinct, telling her to grasp for something she needed. If she fulfilled that need, the waning of her sensory abilities was an all too logical result. I chose to keep that fear to myself, though. It wasn¡¯t likely that a single small serving of Divinity would cure her. Besides, my suspicion that recovery could hurt her abilities was just that: suspicion. We¡¯d have to let the initial test play out and take things from there. Eventually, Glaustro nodded. I could see the avarice and benevolence battling on his face, so I was more than a little proud when the latter won. Not that I had doubted him for a second, of course. ¡°Very well,¡± he sighed. ¡°She can have some of the Divinity we collected as a test. Only some. We need to grow in personal strength if we want to survive. I need to grow. I¡¯m not on the lower end of power for a major, but I¡¯m not exactly among the most impressive, either. And we¡¯re stuck without a patron.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I assured him. ¡°I¡¯m not expecting you to feed her every scrap of Divinity we find until her personal problem is resolved. I¡¯m just curious if it might help. She¡¯s a demoness. She has all the time in the world to figure out a real solution.¡± Glaustro smiled, and then we were back in the tent with three demons shooting us curious glances. My major ignored them. Casting one final look in my direction, he dipped his hand back into his dimensional item and withdrew one of the more tattered banners. I had to hold back a gasp. Honestly, I was expecting him to offer Methialia a small chunk of the ice sculpture, not one of the banners with enough power to birth a god. ¡°I want you to have this as payment for services rendered,¡± Glaustro intoned solemnly. Methialia was staring at the banner, almost starting to drool. But at these words, her eyes snapped back to the major, full of disbelief. Glaustro went on in the same solemn voice. ¡°If you continue to perform so admirably and help us with the retrieval, I wouldn¡¯t be opposed to sharing a certain percentage of all the Divinity we claim.¡± I wanted to snicker. ¡®Retrieval¡¯ was one hell of a descriptor for the slaughter and looting of natives. Still, I controlled myself, for my sake as much as for Methialia¡¯s. Glaustro wouldn¡¯t kill me, but he absolutely would hand me my ass once or twice in the name of ¡®training.¡¯ While I was stuck in my head, Methialia was already reaching for the banner. Her fingers shook with yearning and hunger as they gripped the grimy thing and clutched it to her chest. Her mouth opened, and when she inhaled, a stream of golden power erupted out of the item and slammed into her. On and on it poured, covering her and seeping into her skin. When the final dregs of Divinity were gone, the demoness slumped in her seat, her eyes closed. ¡°Wait, what? She¡¯s fine, right? She has to be fine.¡± I darted over to the captain, gripping her shoulders and trying to push her into a more comfortable sitting position. Her neck rolled bonelessly when I moved her, but she didn¡¯t react. Even her soul seemed¡­ distant, dim, like something was obscuring it from view. I was just about to start panicking in earnest when she let out a gasp and jolted in her seat. Her eyes snapped wide open, but it was clear she couldn¡¯t see anything. She just stared straight ahead for several long seconds of pure shock. Then she blinked, and sentience flooded back into her. ¡°Woah. That was intense! In a good way,¡± she rushed to add, spotting our anxious expressions. I let go of her in a hurry and stepped back, shooting Mia a furtive look. To my relief, the cat looked entirely unbothered. A part of me was sort of worried about what the recent shift in our relationship would mean for this sort of thing, but it seemed like those fears were misplaced. ¡°What happened?¡± Glaustro demanded, drawing my full attention back to the captain. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I feel¡­ better? More whole? I honestly can¡¯t say,¡± Methialia stammered, her cheeks flushing almost purple in response to our scrutiny. ¡°And your sensing range? Has this had any sort of impact on it?¡± I asked. Glaustro flinched like I had struck him. I wasn¡¯t sure what sort of conclusions he¡¯d been reaching on his own, but before he could react either way, Methialia answered my question. ¡°Mmmm. I think my range is a bit bigger now? Just a mile or two, but that¡¯s an amazing change, right?¡± She looked around at all of us, and Glaustro finally relaxed again as a smile stretched over his features. ¡°You¡¯re damn right it is. That¡¯s going to make it even easier for you to spot Divinity. If we can get your detection range to grow, then we can avoid the risk of letting Wilhelmina do something stupid or rash. Especially if our enemies ever get info on your abilities! That you can improve them would be a nasty surprise for any spies.¡± I naturally agreed with Glaustro, but I was even more excited about the improvements in Methialia. Not only did she sit a little straighter and look a bit more relaxed, but that constant cloud of exhaustion and sickness around her had faded slightly. Yes, I was pretty sure that we could save my captain from future suffering using Divinity. Getting enough of it to make a difference would be tough. Every single one of our officers wanted it, including me. But we would manage somehow. The most important thing was knowing it could work. Chapter 154: Magical Mayhem The first surge of magic hit about two weeks later. It rippled through the air as an all-encompassing wave just before dawn, creating a rather abrupt and rude awakening for anyone even remotely sensitive to mana. I jumped up in bed, wings flaring and eyes glowing with a sudden deathly intensity. If Mia and I still slept like we used to, with her on one of my wings, I¡¯d have launched her right into a wall. Fortunately, I simply stood with her clutched in my arms, while she gripped me so tightly that some of my feathers came away in her hands. Moments later, we were storming into the grand entrance hall of Glaustro¡¯s home. He and Bronwynn were already there, awake and grumpy. ¡°What was that?¡± I demanded as the door slammed shut behind us. ¡°You felt it, right?¡± ¡°Of course we did. It was impossible to miss.¡± Glaustro¡¯s voice was surprisingly steady. ¡°Whatever or whoever that was, we need to locate and neutralize them. Quickly.¡± Our distinguished majorness was not messing around. His eyes were wild, but otherwise, he was the perfect picture of a calm and forceful officer who kept his head in a crisis. Remembering all the drills he¡¯d forced us through recently, I winced. I still wasn¡¯t behaving like an officer. I¡¯d been so lost in a haze of panic that I hadn¡¯t stopped to think about the example I was setting for the troops. Seeing two sergeants rush through the city like headless chickens probably wasn¡¯t great for morale, I admonished myself. Then again, Bronwynn is here. How in the world did he get here so fast? Before I could follow that thought too far down a rabbit hole, Imthala joined us. With all of the sergeants assembled, the core of our little army was complete. We were just starting to organize a scouting mission when a frantic Methialia burst through the door. ¡°M-Major¡­!¡± she gasped, gulping down one huge breath of air after another. I felt a surge of renewed worry for my captain. A tiny bit of running shouldn¡¯t reduce a demon to such a state. Imthala responded before me, dashing to Methialia¡¯s side. I looked around for a chair. Since the building¡¯s grand hall didn¡¯t have much furniture, I pulled on my mana instead, causing a somewhat comfy armchair to form right behind the trembling, heaving captain. Imthala sent me a thankful glance and settled Methialia in. Briefly, I was caught between concern and annoyance that I still hadn¡¯t figured out how to conjure truly comfortable chairs. Funny what my brain prioritizes during emergencies. ¡°Easy, Methi, easy,¡± Imthala soothed. ¡°Calm down first before you try to say anything.¡± Methialias flushed harder, but she nodded and focused on breathing. Only a few moments later, she was ready to make her report. ¡°That wasn¡¯t just mana. I did feel pure mana, yes, but¡­ there was a lot of Divinity there, too. It¡¯s almost like it was hidden inside the mana wave, but it was there. It made me feel alive, and like half my body was suddenly working wrong, all at once. I felt it approaching a few seconds beforehand, but there was nothing I could to warn anyone.¡± She stopped abruptly and stared at the ground, like she was expecting us to punish her. None of us intended to do that, obviously, but the instinctive response was alarming. I reminded myself to dig a little deeper into her past. If this was her first reaction, then there was a lot more to her story than what she¡¯d shared. Glaustro obviously shared my worries. Even though we were in the middle of an emergency, his eyes softened, and he spoke in a gentler tone than usual. ¡°Thank you, Captain. Without you, we would never even suspect these recent events had anything to do with Divinity. Now, I¡¯m sorry to demand this of you, but can you tell me what¡¯s happening with the sources of Divinity you¡¯ve been tracking? Have any of them moved?¡± The demoness immediately nodded and closed her eyes, furrowing her brow in concentration. It was several minutes before she sighed and opened her eyes. ¡°No¡­ No, I don¡¯t think any of them did. They are all still in the same positions we marked down before. But they all feel more¡­ solid, and definitely more powerful. I can¡¯t really explain how I sense them, but if I were to compare it to sight, they¡¯re both bigger and brighter.¡± Glaustro nodded. ¡°Excellent. You may return to your rest. If any of the sources move, please let us know as soon as you can. I¡¯d also like you to be on the lookout for this strengthening. If they show signs of growing significantly stronger over time, tell me, and we¡¯ll take care of them. We can¡¯t allow threats to grow unchecked so close to us.¡± Methialia looked relieved. But when she tried to stand, she stumbled, flushing again when Imthala was forced to hold her up. Imthala glanced at Glaustro. ¡°By your leave, Major, I¡¯ll escort Captain Methialia home?¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Do so, Sergeant, but hurry back.¡± ¡°Imthala?¡± I called out before the two demonesses could leave, then followed up in a much softer tone of voice. ¡°Thank you for taking care of my captain.¡± She gave me a determined, if embarrassed, nod. Then the two departed, leaving me with the three people I¡¯d come to trust above all others. The silence was broken quickly by Bronwynn¡¯s worried voice. ¡°What are we dealing with here? A mana wave that size must have covered the entirety of this world. And it affected everything, too. Can you feel it?¡± He gestured widely at the house around us. His implication alluded me for a second, but when I looked deeper, I understood. The wave had left behind a gift. Every object I saw, from the furniture to the door to the crystalline walls I¡¯d raised, was now imbued by mana. The mystical substance was thin, a mere wispy presence, but it was so pure and unaspected that it could be nothing but the mana of Breskwor itself. It was like the entire world had taken a step forward, and everything on it had been enhanced to match that advancement. Except that was impossible. ¡°What is happening, Bronwynn?¡± Glaustro demanded. ¡°This kind of sweeping change¡­ it shouldn¡¯t be happening. Not on a newly born world! Even worlds with Wills that are fully awake can¡¯t do something like this. Maybe on an extremely powerful, ancient world¡­ maybe. I¡¯ve heard rumors. But in a world this young?¡± He shook his head helplessly and started to pace. ¡°We need to find out what¡¯s happening.¡± ¡°I guess we have to go out there and look for answers, then,¡± I quipped, carefully concealing all my positive emotions about this idea. Judging by Glaustro¡¯s scowl, he wasn¡¯t fooled. ¡°And you¡¯d just so happen to look for Wilhelmina while you¡¯re out there?¡± ¡°Maybe I¡¯d come across her, but you wouldn¡¯t be able to blame that on me,¡± I wheedled. ¡°That would just be chance. Pure cosmic meddling. I would be looking for the source of the mana wave, and that¡¯s it.¡± I crossed my arms and tried to look sincere. Glaustro¡¯s scowl only deepened. Then, to my surprise, Bronwynn chose to back me up. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t like the thought of him getting into trouble either, but we do need to do something. I was fine with waiting things out for a while. We¡¯ve made a ton of progress with the city, and with training. But we need to know what¡¯s happening. Besides, it¡¯s unlikely Wilhelmina decided to stay in our vicinity.¡± This speech earned an accusing look from Glaustro, but it was brief. The major closed his eyes and ground the heel of his palms into them for a moment. When he looked at us again, all his control from earlier had returned. ¡°Fine. Yes, we need to explore Breskwor. You can¡¯t blame me for wanting to keep everyone together so we can respond to threats quickly, but I guess I am acting a little¡­ unwisely. I¡­¡± He trailed off. The look of anguish on his face made Bronwynn quickly draw close to place a supportive hand on his shoulder. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± the pink-skinned demon asked. Glaustro sighed. ¡°I thought I could avoid separating everyone just a bit longer. I know it¡¯s an inevitability. You each have troops of your own. But I don¡¯t like the idea of fighting away from each other. Every time I¡¯ve let you out of my sights, you¡¯ve managed to get into some kind of trouble!¡± ¡°We got into plenty of trouble with you, too,¡± I pointed out. ¡°But in those cases, I could at least get you out of trouble myself!¡± he bellowed, calming down again quickly when Bronwynn squeezed his shoulder in support. ¡°Fine. Fine! I¡¯m alright. Yes, we need to move faster, but we need to organize it properly first. Before we do anything, we need a comprehensive plan of how we¡¯ll sweep the surrounding lands and claim any Divinity within a certain radius. We can¡¯t afford to have gods spawning in our backyard!¡± ¡°True, that will help keep us all safe,¡± Mia chimed in softly, earning a rare smile from the major. I bit back my complaints. After all, he wasn¡¯t wrong. It wasn¡¯t normal for an army unit to rush into something without making a plan. But no matter how much sense it made, I was annoyed that he was suddenly imposing so many rules on everything. It felt like we were starting to get bogged down by bureaucracy already, and we didn¡¯t even own a fully operational city yet. Still¡­ I had to admit this felt like an important step, too. After starting as a disorganized mob, we finally resembled something approaching an army. Under Glaustro¡¯s discerning eye, we¡¯d been training in how to advance, how to march, how to engage enemies together now that we had much greater numbers, and even battlefield communication and coordination. Some of it was overly complicated and tedious, which grated on my nerves. I occasionally wanted to remind him that Lieutenant General Crewe didn¡¯t care about such things, but¡­ Crewe¡¯s forces on Lagyel almost fell apart the second he couldn¡¯t handle the enemy leaders on his own. I couldn¡¯t forget what happened when those jinn attacked our capital on Lagyel. They had put the lieutenant general on the back foot, however briefly, which left all our units fighting on their own against an organized and rapidly advancing enemy. Did it really hurt us that much? Maybe not, but that was due more to the power of certain individual demons than to Crewe¡¯s leadership. It seemed like a popular strategy for demon leaders: scatter a bunch of pieces across the board, and then put yourself in charge of dismantling the opposing leadership. Cut off the head of the snake, and the body flounders. No coordination and not much brain power required. Simple, and mostly effective. But also very, very fallible. Crewe only kept succeeding because he could take control and properly guide his troops when he cared to, and because he was overwhelmingly more powerful than most enemies he might encounter. Glaustro was determined to move beyond this messy style of leadership. He had even gone out of his way to sort out the question of lieutenants and petty officers, stripping some of the rank and granting it to others who performed well. When I wasn¡¯t fed up with the training, even I could acknowledge that it was inspiring to see our soldiers so organized and in tune with each other. And we were still just getting started. So, ultimately, I didn¡¯t begrudge Glaustro taking four full days to iron out every detail of the plan. It was important to be prepared before deploying our troops against the world of Breskwor in earnest. Unfortunately, Breskwor refused to wait for us to be ready. The second magic wave hit on the second day of planning. The third wave hit only hours later. Each wave did something to the world at large, and each arrived from no discernable source. Even Methialia could only detect them a few seconds before they arrived, but she was helpless to say where they came from. When we finally sallied out into the snow beyond our city walls, we all knew we had to find answers quickly. Otherwise, we¡¯d be at the mercy of whatever storm was brewing. Chapter 155: Signs Most Ominous We advanced relentlessly and without breaks. We didn¡¯t need any. We didn¡¯t even need to slow down. Methialia¡¯s senses had pinpointed our targets, so we were able to sweep straight towards them. Sure, navigating through a world of eternal snow was a bit tricky. But thanks to Methialia¡¯s squad of scouts and all our recent training, we were making great time. Despite all this success, though, I was feeling¡­ frustrated. Surrounded by my troops as I was, a very important presence was missing from my side. Mia had been given her own collection of targets. On top of that, Methialia had stayed behind to monitor the situation from home base, so I was down to only one captain. There was nothing wrong with Captain Gerlack. He was a pleasant, soft-spoken demon who did his job well. That didn¡¯t make him a substitute for a close companion. I was not in a good mood. I kept opening my mouth to say something and then realizing Mia wasn¡¯t there to hear me. The longer we were out there, the more ¡®off¡¯ I felt. Maybe that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t feel like wasting a ton of time when our path eventually took us straight to the side of an ice mountain. The locals, and whatever source of Divinity they were cultivating, were in there somewhere. We just had to get to them. ¡°Order everyone to form up behind me, and don¡¯t interrupt me until I give you the signal to strike.¡± My voice was cold, perhaps a bit too cold, but I didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t even try to contain the ominous snarl that accompanied my last few words. I just closed my eyes, feeling all my extra eyes snap open in the same instant. Deep breath in, deep breath out. My mana spiked outwards like a stake driven deep into a vampire¡¯s chest. The wall of ice in front of me trembled. I felt the mana sink into the ice, travel a few yards, and then start to bundle there. I filtered my spell into the bundle. Suddenly, there was a seed of crystal deep in the ice, waiting for my order to sprout. The order came immediately afterwards. A loud cracking sound followed, and my roses began digging through the ice with contemptuous ease. I didn¡¯t fear the enemies we would find within the mountain, so I didn¡¯t feel the need to keep my actions quiet or conserve my mana pool. By the time my constructs were ready, half my mana was gone, and a solid chunk of the mountain in front of me was shot through with crystal. Still, I didn¡¯t¡¯ care. There was a cold smile on my face as I raised my hand and theatrically clenched it. With a great rumble, all my crystalline constructs shifted. The wall disintegrated, opening into a tunnel that led deep into the ice mountain. I sensed soul signatures down there. ¡°You know what to do,¡± I growled, pushing large doses of my mana and Emotion into my voice. ¡°Go! BRING ME THE SOULS OF THEIR LEADERS!¡± My soldiers surged forward in tightly knit units. They couldn¡¯t leverage their superior numbers as well as they would have in an open field, but the optimized units were far more effective than the unruly mob of the past. Besides, we were only fighting yeti. The following combat would have resulted in a slaughter if that had been our goal. This tribe was not like the last we faced. Their leadership wasn¡¯t already communing with their unborn gods, hoping to bring these deities forth to fight us. They didn¡¯t even know we were coming. So, when a tide of demons washed over them, the mortals fell with very little preamble. They were knocked out, bound, and dragged off like sacks to the burrows they called home, clearing our way to a small cavern where a couple banners stood around an ice statue. A much more humble setting than the combined tribes had managed to craft, but the Divinity was still thick in the air. Unusually thick. I strongly suspected all the mana waves had something to do with that. It was as I stood there, gazing at the statue of some hulking yeti posed like he was about to crush me with his meaty hands, that two mortals were dragged in and dumped at my feet. I glanced down at the massive male and smaller female, the latter wearing a necklace of teeth strung on a tendon. Teeth and tendon all appeared to have come from a yeti. ¡°The chieftain of the tribe and the lead shaman, sir.¡± Gerlack bowed his head in my direction. I gave him a curt nod. Then, ignoring the whimpers of the two mortals, I waved my hand and fed more mana into construct creation. A spike of crystal appeared in front of each yeti and sank into their foreheads. A moment later, rose vines burst out all over their bodies, winding around them and binding them in the positions they died in. Some of the demons backed off with wide eyes, just like I¡¯d hoped they would. The vines were purely for spectacle. Both mortals had died immediately after I cast my spell, with no suffering involved. Still, Glaustro had warned all four of his sergeants that people would be after our standing in his army. Apparently, it was a good idea to discourage such notions with frequent displays of force.. The two souls were already inside my purse by that point, so I shoved the Divinity sources into my dimensional storage jewel. Then I strode briskly out of the small cavern, calling orders as I went. ¡°Follow. We still have to hit four more tribes, and I will not waste more time on this than necessary! Oh, and somebody untie one of the locals. That one can handle the freeing of the others.¡± I didn¡¯t wait for a confirmation, because I didn¡¯t need to. I kept trying to tell myself that, at least. As much as I wanted to put on the confident persona Glaustro expected of his sergeants, it still rankled that I wasn¡¯t supposed to oversee my troops personally as they carried out my orders. Apparently, that demonstrated both doubt in their abilities and insecurity on my part. Either was a big no-no. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Still, I scowled as I left the cavern, forcing myself not to look back. I really wanted to know who was giving Glaustro all this guidance on how to lead troops, because I needed to have words with them. ¡ª In spite of all my bluster, I didn¡¯t actually insist on hitting all the locations assigned to us within one or two days. It felt too close to what Wilhelmina had done to her troops during my days as a recruit. I didn¡¯t want to give the soldiers under my command anything close to the memories that still bounced painfully around in my skull. So, once we¡¯d dealt with two of the most closely clustered tribes and taken their items of Divinity, I ordered a halt for the day. The soldiers broke out tents or (in very few cases) sleeping bags only, and set up camp. Guard rotations had been set beforehand, and duty rosters were memorized in advance. That left me free to do a hasty bit of conjuration. I set up two gleaming shelters of crystal for myself and my captain before calling it a day. Of course, I wasn¡¯t exactly eager to go to sleep, or even read. There was no one there to make my wings ache by shifting constantly all throughout the night. Instead, I decided to investigate the secrets of the two souls I had reaped. I went with the chieftain first. Most of the yeti¡¯s life was about what I would expect from the specimen. He had always been large, always been dominant within his age group. When he finally challenged and killed the previous chieftain, he cemented himself as the premier authority within the tribe, at least until the day one of his own offspring would come around to claim his place. That could never happen now, obviously, but I found it odd that the yeti considered such an eventuality with fondness and even a bit of anticipation. Apparently, the yeti viewed their eventual death at the hands of their progeny as an immense honor and a sign of promising things to come. Neither my current life as a demon nor my former experiences as a mortal equipped me to understand that. Aside from this interesting insight into their culture, most of the memories were useless. The exception was the group of memories from the last few weeks. I sank into those fully. I knew this was a dream. I could taste it on the tip of my tongue, feel it in my bones, and it echoed in my core. An icy hand of something greater had ascended from deep within the earth and closed its fist around me. That did nothing to take away from what majesty of what I was seeing. An army of ancestors marched on the world. Their gleaming golden forms preserved through art, story, and song were flawless in every way. There went Agagth the Crusher, Targh the Hunter, and even Righ the Bonespear, all striding side by side like equals of unmatched ferocity. And they were joined by so many others! Some I could recognize, the storied ancestral guardians of several nearby tribes, but so many were strangers to me. Yet, all was not right. Even as I admired the army of ancestors advancing upon me, several were shot through by cracks, and flaked away into the wind. A darkness swept up their ashes, and then swooped down on the glorious army. Screams and cries rose in an overwhelming din¡­ A different dream, this time. I was deep, deep within the earth. Past the snow, the ice, and even several layers of stone. I was in the tunnels my ancestors once called home, before the Ever Ice, before the constant storms, before the old ways had to be abandoned and the new ways sang into prominence. Lower and lower I went, until I finally came upon a sea of gold so thick and luminescent that I fell upon my knees in awe. Something grew here, an infant gestating under the earth and drinking from the world above, preparing for the day it would emerge and grant all the tribes their promised boons. The heart of the infant beat once. A swell of might rushed out, invigorating my spirit and boosting the resilience of my very bones. I roared, and my voice was joined by countless others. Hope, heady and light, thrummed inside my chest¡­ A wearying day, a tense debate with shamans, and finally a chance to lay my head down and rest. My eldest was eying me on the way back to my tent, the massive female almost vibrating with the desire to challenge me. I smiled, looking forward to the day she would. I settled down next to my mate, drew her close with a grunt, and closed my eyes. The moment I did, my mind sank into darkness, and I felt that same familiar dream-taste on my tongue. Except, this time, there was nothing around me. Darkness stretched into the distance. I was blind. My other senses failed, muted and absent in ways I could not put into words. Then, slowly, a sense of unease crept down my back. All my fur stood on end. I heard the echo of blood dripping onto ice. Soon, the sound evolved into a pattern, and then a proper rain of the sticky substance. My fur was wet and stuck to my skin. I could taste the copper on my tongue. When I tried to move, my feet sloshed through the thick liquid, dragging me down. My foot caught on something, and before I could correct my balance, I was on my knees. Two glowing points of blue flame stared back at me from inches away. Somehow, I recognized the skull of my eldest floating atop the sea of blood. I heard the thunder of marching feet. When my eyes snapped up, they landed on a horde of shadowy monsters, eyes glowing red as blood, a haze of power billowing out of them as they advanced on all I loved and wished to protect. I met them on my knees, my legs too heavy to stand. I died in less than a second. When I woke up, heaving for breath, I met the crazed and terrified eyes of my mate. I took a deep breath as I came back from the stolen memories, brow furrowed in confusion. I knew what the dreams were. Visions. Omens. A message from something trying to reach out, something that wanted to offer both reassurance and a warning. The question was, what? It couldn¡¯t be the Will of Breskwor. The world was too young for that,. It had failed even to bind us properly on arrival. Only much more aware worlds could actively communicate with the souls they nurtured, warning them of impending disasters and invasions when demons chose to strike. Yet, wasn¡¯t that exactly what I saw in the chieftain¡¯s memories? Just to confirm, I quickly devoured the soul of the shaman as well. The first two visions were more or less identical to the chieftain¡¯s. The third, carried by the latest wave of mana, only differed in that the shaman had attempted to struggle against it using her greater magical might. She failed, and it had left her mind a mess all the way up to our arrival and her untimely death. At least her memories confirmed one thing: each wave of mana had significantly bolstered the power of the yeti¡¯s totems. If we hadn¡¯t interfered, then they almost certainly would have brought forth their gods in the next few weeks. That they apparently viewed these divine phantoms as ¡®ancestors¡¯ amused me. Clearly, each totem was crafted after the likeness of a yeti who had managed to make their name go down in the history of their tribe, and they held to the belief that these spirits watched over and protected them. It was so na?ve, I almost chuckled. Of course, I would have been a lot more amused if these defenders weren¡¯t actually coming to life for the sole purpose of fighting me. And if something else wasn¡¯t apparently awake, sending visions and mana waves out into the world¡­ I shook out my wings, feeling every single eye twitch in rising anxiety as I scowled at the empty room around me. ¡°We needed to find the source of those mana waves,¡± I said out loud to no one. ¡°We need to find it now.¡±