“Ohh if it isn’t the first born of the gullible children!” Dalazog chided the newly summoned devil.

“The buffoon would have bumbled his way to her already...” Onigoro groaned in disgust. “Hold your wagging tongue red one, lest I find a new home for it.”

“Ohh think you can, slave of The Artificer?” Dalazog taunted, raising his head to its full impressive height.

A sudden energy shift that could only be felt by Onigoro and Dalazog caused them both to suddenly fall quiet and lower their heads.

“It seems Mother has not lost her authority.” Onigoro said with a mixture of defeat and relief in his tone.

Belithel did indeed seem to be projecting a majestic presence from her tiny body at that moment. She approached Onigoro and placed her round palm to his coal black forehead. For a moment, Onigoro’s fiery eyes closed and he seemed to be processing information.

“I see.” He said a few moments later. “Mother wishes you all to know some things. Another one of my siblings has appeared nearby, and you should all be wary. She wishes to express her affection for all of those that have been kind to her, and promises her favor when she regains her strength.” Even as Onigoro finished speaking, his form began to slowly fade. “It seems my time is up, I look forward to our next meeting Defaria Agitha.”

Just as suddenly as he had appeared, Onigoro vanished and Belithel wobbled unsteadily on her little legs. Agitha caught her just as she started to fall, and the goddess was fast asleep by the time she was lifted into the elf’s strong arms.

“So she’s also my sword’s mom. Got it.” Agitha’s expression didn’t agree with her words. Her brow was furrowed as she stared at the slumbering Belithel.

“You’ll have to get used to absurd coincidence while existing around a being that can twist fate, mighty elf master of Coralia.” Dalazog explained with a hint of sympathy.

“Definitely.” Arlim agreed. “To think the sword was guided to your hand from a ship wreck to a scavenger, then to your smithy friend and finally here. It’s like she’s a celestial body and all objects fall toward her.”

“Alright, well here take the magic-planet-baby-god or whatever. I’m going to go see some super kobold assassins wipe out a bunch of orcs.” Agitha said as she handed Belithel to Coralia and walked off rubbing her forehead with Merc trailing close behind her.

“What did the devil mean by one of his siblings was nearby?” Coralia turned as she asked Dalazog.

“Another one of the six devil possessed weapons crafted by The Artificer Uniri.” Dalazog answered. “Another of the wielders has likely come to reclaim Onigoro.”

“Empress Uniri?” Coralia asked. “Shit. What do you know of those wielders and weapons?”

“Not much, Frexxa used to be friends with Uniri though. She would know more.” Dalazog replied, leaning back on his great haunches in thought.

“Why am I not surprised she couldn’t get along with another powerful female for long?” Coralia mused, remembering the wildly unpredictable black dragon. “Can I contact her with this, or is it better to save for emergencies?” Coralia asked, producing a palm sized black dragon scale given to her by Frexxa herself.

“There’s no problem if you use it. We dragons can regenerate our scales easily and she will be happy to have you call on her since she took such a liking to you.” Dalazog answered. “I’ll not stay for the meeting though. Let me know how it goes later.” With that, Dalazog spread his massive wings and launched away from the ground with a mighty leap. A flap of his wings took him high into the air and in moments he was out of sight.

“Does he not get along with other dragons?” Arlim asked from beside his wife.

“Wow you’re right. It really is like a superpower how easy it is to forget you’re there.” Coralia giggled after she jumped slightly at Arlim’s voice. “I’m not sure about other dragons in general, but Frexxa and Dalazog were once a couple and he ditched her while she was asleep. She almost killed me when we met, assuming I was Dalazog’s new mate.”

“That’s pretty impressive I think, for a dragon to mistake a human for her romantic rival!” Arlim laughed at the absurdity of the tale.

“Oh you just wait until you meet her and see how much you feel like joking.” Coralia answered, the memory of the terrifying beast was still fresh in her mind.

Some time later, Coralia gathered her underlings to a clearing large enough for a dragon to comfortably manifest. Elisif held Belithel, who was still snoozing after her communion with Onigoro and Mathael and Hurstag stood at the ready on either side of her. Agitha had already set out with the troupe of elite kobolds on their mission to exterminate the nearby orc tribe. Arlim stood at Coralia’s side with a curious and bright look on his face. Coralia held up the black scale and spoke the dragon’s name clearly.

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“Frexxa!” She said, waiting for some sign that her call had been heard.

A moment later the scale in her hand began to get cold. It was more accurate to say the scale itself wasn’t cold so much as it was stealing the warmth from everything around it. Coralia grimaced and placed the scale in the dirt before backing away, grabbing Arlim’s hand as she did.

Coralia braced herself to view the great dragon in her usual majestic form, and was surprised when the silhouette of a humanoid woman appeared instead as a deep black solid shadow. The shape began to come into focus and both Coralia’s and Arlim’s jaws dropped involuntarily.

The dragon appeared fully in her humanoid form: the true definition of lascivious beauty. Her skin was dark and luxurious like decadent chocolate. Her body was inviting in every way. Her thighs were thick and her hips were round. A glittering corset of black scales exaggerated her tiny waist and huge bust which was testing the absolute limit of the white low cut blouse that left her toned shoulders bare. Her ears were long like an elf’s but set a tiny bit lower and angled down, giving her a slightly submissive look. Her hair was long and the color of a dark sky, shimmering faintly purple in the sunlight. Where the whites of her large eyes would be were colored black like ink, and her irises glowed green like flawless emeralds. Her full lips were blood red, and parted in a coy smile that showed perfect white teeth.

“Mmm so my cute little sister has finally called me for a visit...” Frexxa’s voice was dark and sultry as her body would lead one to expect. She seemed as though she would say more but her eyes suddenly fell upon Arlim.

Without warning she was suddenly close to him, uncomfortably so. His normally unshakable heart was pounding and his hands and forehead began to sweat. She looked intensely into his eyes and inhaled deeply through her elegant nose.

“This man... is beyond dangerous, isn’t he.” She said more than asked. Her tone was excited, she was practically trembling. “Who is he?”

“O-oh hi there. I’m Arlim, Coralia’s husband. I’m really nothing special.” He answered rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

“Humph, a pity.” She said, suddenly deflated as she heard he was Coralia’s. “I would gladly mate with one that could so easily kill me. There’s no point in lying or being modest either. You say you are ‘nothing special’, but the truth is that you are nothing and that is special. You have the power to produce the absence of existence which makes all other powers and defenses null and void.” Frexxa explained.

“You can tell, huh?” Arlim asked, genuinely impressed. “No one has ever known without me telling them. It really is hard on my body to use Dimensional Sever though so I rely more on alchemy to get by.” He added, not seeing a point in hiding anything from the dragon.

“It is in the same family as the power a black dragon wields. For a mere human to master that element is unprecedented to say the least.” Frexxa turned her attention to Coralia after she spoke. “Sister, I would very much like you to share him with me.”

“Well, I’m not quite sure when we became sisters but I’m way too selfish for that.” Coralia answered with an awkward smile. Dragons really were all very tactless it seemed. “So the reason I called for you...” Coralia led the conversation back to where it belonged.

“I see.” Frexxa answered after she heard the story several minutes later. “It’s a pity I missed Onigoro’s manifestation, he’s a very handsome devil. In any case I’ll give you the short version of Uniri and her scheme.”

According to Frexxa, Uniri had once been a high priest of the Precursor gods before they were overthrown by their children. As vengeance she seduced many of the demigods of the heavens and with their assistance subdued all six devils of the upper hells known as Primea Verdis. She then used her power to bind each of them into a single unspeakably powerful weapon. When the eldest demon, Onigoro resisted and nearly defeated her she had no choice but to shatter it into six fragments which were reforged into weapons that housed individual devils. The sword of Onigoro had lain dormant since the shattering and had been passed from lesser noble to lesser noble as a mere symbolic decoration.

“Personally she is unspeakably strong, most likely the strongest being native to this plane. Add to that her ultimate intellect and ability to blend magic and technology, and you have a force of nature unlike any other.” Frexxa spoke with genuine respect of the elven empress. “If she has set her sights on recovering that weapon I believe it’s only a matter of time until she has it. It is also likely that she has a hand in the opening of the rifts.” She added.

“I see. Do you have any idea what her first move would be upon learning Onigoro was awake?” Coralia asked.

“She would send the dwarf, Robaru.” Frexxa said with certainty. “A relentless and tricky creature, that one is. He is more artifact than flesh, a living monument to The Artificer’s madness. He also wields one of the six devil blades: The Succubus Aspect, Tarithiel. She is the goddess’ eldest daughter, and her weapon is capable of granting wishes and stealing mana.”

“Those two are also the mother and father of all the ebon dwarves according to our legends.” Hurstag, who had been silent up until now added. “Though we harbor no fondness for our patron who abandoned our ancestors.”

“And what was your relationship with Uniri?” Coralia finally asked after absorbing everything.

“We were lovers.” Frexxa answered casually. “Power calls to power as they say. I even once entertained such thoughts of you before I adopted you as my little sister.” Frexxa added shamelessly.

“If you say so.” Coralia said, suddenly regretting the question deeply. Frexxa really was as lustful as Dalazog was vain. Also just when in the hell had Frexxa decided they were sisters!?

Luckily Belithel broke the awkward moment with a mighty (but tiny) yawn as she opened her eyes.

“We should all retire to the main hall for drinks and snacks.” Elisif said, rocking Belithel gently in her arms.

“Thank you goddess! I really owe you one.” Coralia thought to herself as she nodded her agreement.

As they were sitting down to enjoy their afternoon meal, a mile or so west of the village Agitha was watching the elite kobolds trained by Coralia filter out from the treeline toward the animal skin tents of a large orc encampment.

They moved like nothing Agitha had ever expected. The second they entered the grassy clearing they vanished from her keen sight. Attacking during this part of the day was also a brilliant decision made by the two leaders Nib and Laz. For nocturnal predators like orcs, late afternoon was the equivalent of a few hours before dawn. The few lax perimeter sentries were dispatched silently with heavily poisoned blowgun darts.

After that, Agitha was simultaneously disappointed and shocked. There was no battle. The orcs were systematically exterminated. These kobolds might as well have been picking blueberries.

“She wasn’t kidding. These little guys are serious.” She thought, watching the leader Nib walk calmly back through the tall grass with a bag full of orc ears slung on his shoulder.

“Thanks for looking out for us Ms. Agitha.” He said politely as he passed her.

“That was seriously impressive.” She complimented him. The rest of the force had fanned out behind and around them in case any straggling orcs appeared.

“If there were many more we would have planted a fresh carcass with slow acting sleep poison last night, luckily there was no need.” Nib explained with a smile. He was walking with his hands behind his head, happy to accept compliments from Coralia’s master of all people.

They returned to the camp just as evening was setting in. There seemed to be a lively gathering in the main hall, and Agitha got excited. The sound of mugs clinking together could only mean one thing after all! It was a rowdy night with plenty of mead and meat, just the way Agitha liked it. Hangover be damned she meant to break a record.

The next morning, Arlim stepped over Agitha’s lifeless (if one didn’t count snoring) body as he exited the building. He had said his goodbyes to his beloved and was now about to return to Vinia City to begin the real work of establishing trade infrastructure to the village.