Pushing my face through the door that separated the vertical chamber from the hallway that led to the prison cells, I got my first view of the Monje Devil who was likely tasked with overseeing Angelica. The creature that stood in the hallway was impressive looking to say the least.
A few dozen meters away from me stood a lone figure. He was a shirtless warrior, whose rippling muscles added to his width and spoke for themselves. He must have been just a few meters tall, perhaps somewhere between two and three meters in height. His legs were hidden beneath loose linen pants.
His skin was a dark blue hue, and he was looking at me intently. His amber-colored eyes were studying me, no doubt, in the same way, that I was studying him. I chuckled as I finished pulling myself through the door that separated us. He began a slow approach, cautiously closing the distance between us with a neutral expression on his face.
Mere moments after I finished pulling myself through the door that obstructed me, I too began to close the distance that separated me from the one obstacle that appeared ready to stand between me and Angelica.
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When the distance between the monk-like devil and myself was little over ten meters I moved to speak to my potential enemy. Alright... here we go. I thought to myself as I mentally prepared for failure and a bit of disappointment.
"Stand down, warrior." I commanded, hoping to get the figure to speak more than I expected him to obey me. He didn't stop his careful advance, but his neutral expression did change. The corner of his mouth inched upward ever so slightly, indicating that the warrior understood me and was amused by my command. Seeing the change in his expression provoked my own, and unlike the devil, my smile wasn't hidden, slight, or subtle.
I continued my advance, grinning all the while. I wasn't surprised when the warrior began his assault, which he did the instant he was close enough that a single leap would allow him to be within prime punching distance. He took to the air relaxedly and aimed a closed fist at my face.
His thick fist sped through the air and the expression on his face changed, becoming more and more savage and battle thirsty the closer the attack got to me. Should I dodge?... No, I'm incorporeal, I'll be fine. I thought, grinning and smirking stupidly.
I continued to think that as the fist continued its trajectory and then collided with my right cheek. Pain exploded across my face as the rock hard fist wounded me and my pride.
I threw myself backward in response to the punch, aided by its force and momentum all while raising my muscular, incorporeal arms in front of my face in case he tried to strike again. The devil landed on the ground causing a soft "thud" noise while smirking at me. His amber-colored eyes were alight with blood-thirst.
It was at that moment that the system's mechanical voice filled my mind, giving me an alert I would have greatly benefited from getting before getting socked in the face.
[Alert!
Monks and creatures with monkly abilities can hit incorporeal creatures. Their fists are infused with qi, and they are unarmed attacks can solidify ghosts, shadows, and even incorporeal creatures like astral-projections are vulnerable to their attacks.]
Well, that would have been very good to know before I got punched in the face! I mentally shouted, annoyed by the pain that now rocked my skull. After sassing one of the voices in my head, I refocused and examined the devilish warrior who stood between me and the completion of the quest that led me here in the first place.
The devil was also studying me, and he was confident enough in his power to seemingly wait for me to make my move. He heard me hiss in pain and annoyance, as I activated my identification power and waited for my mind to fill with information about him. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long.
[Name: Bluemoon Thunderfist
Class: Monk, Level 15
Species: Monje Devil
Faction: Paimon's dictatorship
Alignment: Lawful Evil]
Well... very little about this is surprising. I thought, after inspecting the information that my ability revealed to me. At this point I figured I ought to learn more about my monkly powers.
[Hey system, can you let me see what abilities I have as a monk?] I asked, as I kept my gaze firmly on the enemy in front of me. I followed him like a hawk, my eyes never leaving his frame. He smirked at me, his open smile revealing rows of honey-colored teeth, and allowing his smelly breath to taint the hallway we stood in.
[Sure! Pulling them up right now.
Your abilities as a monk are pretty simple ones for now. Your unarmed strikes are far more effective than they would be otherwise, and you can strike faster than mortal monks can. You are proficient at catching projectiles intended to harm you, and you can begin to manipulate the qi of your enemies.
Qi is an interesting thing, particularly for gods. All living creatures possess qi, it flows through them in trails that are visible to you and other monks. Monks are adept at manipulating it in various ways. For now, for you specifically, you can visualize the qi patterns of your enemies and you can strike it in ways that stun them.
Monks of your level, level 12 for mortals, are capable of using their qi in various ways to augment themselves. You can do all of these things too, but they aren't really necessary for you. They can shield their minds against illusions, they can heal themselves, slow their falls, and more.
Your body is strong, far stronger than mortal monks of your level. It's not like mortals or normal extraplanars pose a threat to you.] The system informed me, and its final sentence wasn't spoken in the same neutral tone as its others had been. It was spoken smugly, and I caught the barely perceptible inflectional shifts in the normally monotone voice that I frequently heard.
I decided to ignore it for now, since my enemy was still waiting for me to make my move. Prioities. Set them straight. I told myself, sighing in annoyance at this situation. I shook my head and narrowed my gaze. My enemy caught my preparations and took a defensive stance.
"Alright Thunderfist... are you ready to go?" I asked, anger causing my voice to rumble out of my throat threateningly.
The devil's eyes widened slightly when he heard me mutter his name, but he didn't back down. I began to move towards the devil, this time prepared to dodge any strikes he may hurl at me.
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Angelica's first clue that something was up in her prison was the soft noise of a distant punch colliding with a faint face. She heard the soft impact but wasn't able to fully piece together what it was.
She found herself, by chance, close to the door that led out of the prison cell and into her mysterious prison. She couldn't see anything beyond it, but that didn't keep her from hoping that she'd soon be free of this mysterious and unpleasant place. Her wings ached, and she felt the strain of her muscles as she struggled to keep her wings in their somewhat comfortable place, arched low and wide rather than bunched up and close.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
She eventually sat down, annoyed by the fact that she had to sit in the odd dirt that littered her cell. This caused her to be terse and annoyed, something obvious given her next statement. "Hey Althos... if you could free me faster, I'd really appreciate it." She grumbled, hoping that her mysterious savior was close.
She had no idea how close he was. Or that he could hear her.
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I closed my distance with the devil in an instant, moving to a range where I could hit him and he couldn't hit me back with but a few steps. As I entered my ideal range, I launched my first attack a closed fist punch aimed square at the nuisance's face. "Eat this!" I shouted, as my fist sailed through the air. He was still, studying the fist, until right before it made impact.
My enemy was fast, and not just fast on his feet but also instinctually quick. He blocked my fist with a strike of his own, a deft swing of his elbow flashed out and made impact with my fist before my appendage could rock his face like his rocked mine. His muscular arms hid toughened bones that reduced even the impact of my blows, but they weren't enough, even together, to truly shield him.
The devil's quick reflexes allowed him to lessen the impact, but he had made a foolish miscalculation: he overestimated his own strength and my fist decimated his elbow, hitting it with far greater force than he was ready for.
My fist was gigantic and quick, especially in comparison to this human-sized devil. He was able to block my attack in the sense that he prevented it from hitting its intended target, which was his face, but he wasn't successful in the sense that he prevented himself from being harmed.
I heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking from the impact of my clenched fist colliding with his bare elbow, and grinned at the devil. He reeled from the force of the blow and tried to jump back so as to build some space between the two of us but I wasn't as nice as he was and lashed out at him with a kick.
You aren't getting in my way! I thought, wanting to end this encounter quickly and rescue Angelica. My leg flashed out and pummeled the devil who had been in the process of trying to escape my reach by beating a hasty retreat. My kick wasn't aimed anywhere in particular, it's purpose was to disrupt the figure who stood between me and my goal, which it did.
The kick caught him square in the chest, but this time I didn't hear or even feel the familiar crunch of bones. He was instead knocked back by the kick and sent sprawling onto the floor. He toppled over, quickly becoming little more than a pile of limbs on the floor. He didn't try to get up right away, which caused me to feel slightly suspicious.
I kept my distance from the pile of limbs that was my opponent and waited for a second to see what he would do. Then I was surprised to get an urgent notification from the system.
[Alert! Thunderfist is preparing to send out a mental missive. He's going to try and message someone! If he's allowed to do that then all of the stealthy work you've done to infiltrate this place will be for naught. He'll be able to alert others to your infiltration of the dungeon. But you can stop him. As the possessor of the first level of influence over the mind domain, you can shut down attempts to telepathically communicate that are initiated by people in your field of view.] The system said, which caused me to almost shout in anger, followed by nearly instantaneously releasing a sigh of relief.
[Would you like to do that now? If so we'll activate your "Mind-jammer" telepathic ability, which is the power you use to shut down attempts to telepathically communicate.] The system told me, urgency clear in its voice.
[Yes! Of course!] I responded, doing my best version of mentally "shouting" so as to add urgency to what I told it.
[Understood! Initiating Mind-Jamming in...
3...
2...
1...
Mind-Jamming successfully initiated. Thunderfist was unable to contact or alert his superiors.] The voice revealed, and I grinned into the ceiling of the hallway for a moment, luxuriating in my apparent victory, before I released a breath I hadn't known I was holding and then began to approach my fallen foe.
For his part in all of this, Thunderfist mumbled something under his breath, something I couldn't quite catch, when he was about to send a mental message to some unknown superior and found that for reasons beyond his knowledge he couldn't.
I could faintly hear an echo of some static-like noise invade his mind for a moment whenever he tried to "send" the message that now lingered in his mind, even though it should have been lingering in someone else's. That was something which was new: I hadn't been particularly good at hearing someone else's thoughts without making a connection first, at least until now, apparently.
And with that, I began to walk the few steps I'd need to walk to close the distance between myself and the devil. While doing so, I heard a faint complaint in the background.
"Hey Althos... if you could free me faster, I'd really appreciate it." A voice said, and I chuckled at that. Well I guess that's Angelica. I told myself, laughing as I approached my fallen enemy.
Now... how can I handle my enemy in a speedy way that doesn't kill him? I just want him out of my way while I talk to Angelica. I wondered, beginning to faintly search for a tool that'd take this guy out of commission for a while.
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Barely an instant after I began my trek to him it was done. And not just because I was fast, but because there was virtually no distance between him and I. I stood over him, his fallen form still and surprisingly, annoyingly, courageous even as I looked down at him with a cold gaze.
"What should I do with you?" I asked, truly unsure of how to handle him. He was still, but I sensed a shimmering ember of defiance left in him, something that my senses alerted me would likely hint that he'd try one more attack if I wasn't careful.
"You are not my target... but I also can't let you free willy-nilly." I said, considering my options. While considering my options, I mentally tapped my codex and decided to search through its pages for a spell that may aid me in ensuring Thunderfist's continued state of non-defiance.
Fortunately, I was able to find one pretty quickly. "Flesh-To-Stone", a standard petrification spell that also froze one's mind, and one of several such spells lurking in my codex in the useful Alteration section of the spell-lists that made up my codex.
"Oh, perfect! I know exactly how to deal with you for now." I said aloud, purposefully allowing him to hear me and hopefully infect him with a seed of doubt in his last few moments of consciousness. I extended a hand outward and over his fallen form, and began to gather the magical energy in my hand, calling it and coaxing it towards that specific part of me.
"Just so you know, I don't want to kill you. And I won't, for now anyway. But you aren't going free that easily. I just have something I need to do before I deal with you." I told the devil, as I felt the energy begin to pool in my hand and threaten to drip downward before it was time for it to do so.
I willed it to mutate and twist into something new, something specific and different from the chaotic, mutable energy that otherwise made me up. I mentally spoke to the energy, calling it to twist, distort, and mutate my enemy the way it wanted to do to itself.
"Hold still. This'll hurt." I told him, bluffing, though I did sense the magic that flowed through me and threatened to leak out and touch him and anything else in this hallway, though there were no such things as far as I could tell anyway, here.
And then, after a few moments had passed, I willed the energy out of my outstretched hand. The first bit of it fell from my fingertips in the form of a silver, sweatlike drop, which dripped from my middle-finger onto the guy's back. It sailed through the air, dropping to the skin of the guard below my hand. Until that is, that it collided with his back.
The previously still and silent warrior reacted to this, audibly moaning out in pain, even as his blue back began to transform into something of a different tone: a dark, gravel-like stone-substance. He tried to twist and turn, so as to visually represent writhing in agony, but couldn't due to the odd substance on his back.
"Alright..." I said, smirking at the defeated warrior, who no doubt felt a strange and heavy weight coming from where the blue skin of his back had once been, skin which was now replaced by a thick, stone-like substance.
I moved my hand slightly and willed another drop out of it, this time taking somewhat less time than earlier before. In seconds another drop escaped my fingertips and found itself a new home: in Thunderfist's right calf.
And with that, a brief exchange of blows came to an end, even as a fun new game began.
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Moments after a series of audible, repeated, howls of pain had quickly filled this floor of the prison, and then eerily stopped, and after Angelica had long retreated away from the door leading in or out of the cell for that reason, Angelica heard a loud knock at the entrance to her cell.
The knock was simple and rhythmic. Three solid taps, ones loud enough for her to hear no matter where in the chamber she stood. And then seconds later, a single, low-voice filled the prison chamber.
"Angelica? It's me... Althos. You probably know who I am, the system and all that, but I'm here to rescue you." The voice said, introducing itself to an Angelica who immediately perked up at the sound of the voice and began to walk in its direction.
Finally! I can't believe it... She thought, excited at the prospect of meeting her new god and savior, and who might well be both the newest god in all of existence, as well as the last of their kind.