***The Infernal Plane of Lust***
***Amon***
My opponent’s blade split empty air.
At the same time as he dashed forwards, I used telekinesis on myself to propel myself sideways as if I was skating on ice. Slashing out, my baton touched his side, causing an ineffective discharge of energy that made him yelp but didn’t cause any other issues.
Despite the tensing up of his muscles, he recovered immediately and brought his sword back in an upwards arc that would have eviscerated me if I hadn’t blocked the strike with my second baton.
My tail came forward under the other’s guidance and I felt the blade leave its protective sheath. It struck like a poisonous snake to hamstring the demon in front of me with a single seemingly effortless move. The attack came so unexpectedly that it actually managed to cut the tendons on my enemy’s ankle.
He cursed and used his good leg to propel himself away from me while he used his own tail to deflect a second blow that was aimed at his privates. A slash with his sword produced a gust of wind that prevented me from following and putting more pressure on him.
Only then did I notice that the other had cast some spell that caused my tailblade to shimmer with some form of sparkly energy, allowing it to cut straight through my opponent’s armour as if it hadn’t been there.
In my head, I nicknamed the offender ‘Mr. Noname’, because he still hadn’t bothered to introduce himself.
He looked down at his ankle with a frown and tried to put weight on his injured leg. To my misfortune, it worked, which caused him to grin at me with an expression of superiority.
I frowned. “That’s a neat healing ability, but does it also work if I cut it off?”
“Just keep wagging your tongue,” he taunted. “I will rip it out of your mouth before the two of us are done.”
I gasped, genuinely offended by the suggestion. Taking tongues was my thing. I wouldn’t suffer any impostors!
Apparently, my minions thought so too, because they added their own comments to the atmosphere.
“He shouldn’t have said that,” Jebril whined.
“Another weirdo. Taking tongues is normally Amon’s thing,” Uphir slandered, making me wonder whether I should give him another lesson.
“I don’t think he will take that threat lightly. Jebril, prepare your barriers,” Philomena warned.
And they were right. This time, I was the one charging my opponent.
Once I was close enough that I thought it impossible to miss, I threw one of the batons at him from point-blank range. The attack was so obvious that Mr. Noname didn’t even bother to dodge. Instead, he deflected it with his sword and consequently suffered another slight jolt when I used telekinesis to redirect the deflected baton’s course back down to his hips.
“Ah!” he screamed and cursed again while he batted the weapon away properly this time around. Then he blocked the baton that I attempted to touch his chest with. “You-”
I grinned and brought my fist upwards in a sideways uppercut while I channelled mana through my internal channels. The result was every bit as satisfying as I hoped it to be. Whatever nonsense he intended to spout was cut short when my armoured knuckles hammered his chin upwards and sent him flying towards the training hall’s ceiling.
If Ex had landed such an attack the fight would have been over, but I was no close combat specialist. My punches hurt, but they hadn’t the potential to punch through someone’s defences who also knew internal mana manipulation.
I reached out and used telekinesis to summon the lost baton back to my hand. Then I pointed both sticks at the body which smacked against the ceiling just at that moment.
“Lightning Ray!”
Calling out the name of the spell was senseless and way beneath my skill level, but it felt cool and I wanted to show off.
A ray of arcing plasma shot out from the tip of my batons in a wandering line and connected with the falling body, causing it to seize up.
Then something strange happened.
The body vanished, and I felt an ominous foreboding feeling in my neck.
I ducked and felt something take off the tip of my right horn. My tail flicked out and I rolled to the side while sparks showered my whole body. The other had hit something behind me.
Coming up again and turning, I decided to stop playing around. My opponent had somehow teleported and that made him indefinitely more dangerous than some average soldier. Also, the mana that was covering my body like armour should have stopped the blade, but the weapon cut cleanly through my shield as if it hadn’t been there.
Advancing, I traded a quick series of blows with my now slightly singed enemy while relying solely on my batons to block his sword. He tried casting a spell, but I pushed the raw mana that was surrounding me outwards until it washed over his spell matrix. Consequently, the interferences proved too much and it fizzled out.
Next, I cast a series of fireballs which Mr. Noname decided to facetank. His ridiculous healing ability allowed him to do so because his skin was back to normal seconds after the fire washed over him.
Apparently, he decided to quit joking around, because he activated some ability that boosted his speed to levels that came close to Ex’s skills. I struggled as I dodged and blocked where necessary while both of us threw spells at each other that I either dodged or countered. It was a momentary stalemate.
I was aware that I couldn’t allow this to go on for much longer. Nonetheless, I mentally praised Ex for his teachings. On some level, I knew that the old coot had held back against me during his training lessons, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t prepared us for a real battle.
I couldn’t help myself and started to grin viciously when I realized that this demon in front of me wasn’t a true match for my skills. A high ranking minion of one of the most powerful Demon Lords in Lust was nothing more than a nice workout for the new me.
Yes, Mr. Noname was a strong opponent, but he was no Ex. I could feel that he wasn’t holding back at all by now and I still had reserves. And that meant that I was able to beat him. My skills were focused on magic, and I allowed a physical combat specialist to dictate the circumstances of the battle up until now. Laughing, I summoned more of the free mana in the vicinity towards myself, wrapping my whole body in arcane power.
The floor sizzled beneath my feet, so potent were the energies bound to my will.
Then I reached out and pointed, focusing the power on the tip of my claw until it was no longer containable. A tight beam shot away from my finger and towards the target of my ire who dodged just in time. Then he was running while I followed with my attack.
The only ones smart enough to dodge were my minions. Jebril threw herself to the ground and summoned her strongest barriers until she looked like nothing more than a ball of energy on the floor. The others scattered in all directions while Mr. Noname’s friends just stood there, gawking at the fight.
That quickly changed when one of them got caught up in the crossfire. The beam of energy crossed through his upper torso, and a moment later his arms fell to the ground, after which his upper body toppled away from the lower half which fell a moment later.
The other two managed to dodge just in time and skedaddled away like startled demonlings.
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I felt a rush of souls from the kill, but not nearly as much as I got from the titan, and it didn’t bring me even close to my next evolutionary threshold.
Then my finger caught up to my fleeing target and the beam severed both his legs. I laughed at the irony. His incredible speed hadn’t saved him from a pointing finger.
Mr. Noname screamed, but he didn’t fall apart like my unintended victim. The blood pouring from the open wounds seemed to pull him back together right until I used mana manipulation to form two bands of blue energy that wrapped around his appendages.
I yanked on the magically summoned chains and pulled both legs away from beneath my opponent who screamed in indignation as he fell.
Taking the opportunity, I was upon him in a second and stepped onto his sword arm while my tail started stabbing like a happy scorpion. His screams were cut short when I shoved one baton down his throat and stabbed the other into his privates.
Then I channelled as much power as I could muster into the enchantment that allowed the batons to convert mana into electrical energy.
Mr. Noname’s internals lit up just like the Christmas Tree that I had observed once on one of my visits to Betsy. I winced upon remembering my mortal summoner. Being caught in the Infernum for six years probably meant that I would never get to see her again, given the time dilation. Maybe I would get to terrorize her offspring should I ever decide to visit their realm again.
Someone touched my shoulder and I almost struck out before I realized that it was Jebril. The djinn had come out of her protective shell and was now looking at me worriedly.
“I get that you are having fun, but I think he is done,” the demoness winced and pointed down at my opponent.
“That’s more like ‘well done’,” Philomena corrected quickly, commenting on the state of my enemy.
I realized that I had spaced out and returned my attention to Mr. Noname who started giving off the smell of grilled meat.
“Damn!” I quickly stopped channelling and pulled the batons away from the body that had taken on a slightly crispy complexion. Did I just needlessly desecrate a corpse?
I looked towards Mr. Noname’s minions, wondering whether they would take offence and give me an opportunity for more mayhem, but they were nowhere to be seen. “Where are his affiliates?”
Uphir looked towards the door. “They ran when you sliced one of them up. Never saw adult demons abandon their leader before he was dead, but your laughter apparently unsettled them.”
Kitia sighed. “In Lust, they just don’t breed them quite like they do it over in Gluttony. But I admit that I also had the urge to run for the horizon when Amon got worked up. Didn’t see him like that since the competition in Baaar.”
“You keep mentioning that,” Jebril mused. “Sometime you have to give me the whole story.”
Shax, Philomena, Kitia, and Uphir only looked at each other like the worst of conspirators.
Nonetheless, all of them jumped when the corpse at my feet suddenly shuddered and moaned. The black, charred skin flaked off his face, revealing healthy, pink flesh.
“By the Planar Lords!” Jebril cursed while talking to Mr. Noname. “Dude, you don’t know when to quit!”
He coughed and actually had the guts to grin at me when he opened his eyes. “You have no idea what you got yourself into. Just wait a minute, and I will be as good as new to step on your tails. It’s only a question of how much energy you have left to take me down again. This is just a scratch.”
I pursed my lips, wondering what strange ability kept the bastard going despite the grievous injuries he had taken. Was that actually his power? To get back up like some stand-up doll until his opponents drop dead from exhaustion?
His regenerative ability must be truly formidable if he was confident enough to mock someone who had him incapacitated.
Then I smiled down at him. “You actually dare to say that to a soul mage? Just tell me this one thing. Why provoke this fight?”
He grinned, already healed enough to see his facial expressions. His hand twitched and he tried to get up, but I had fried something important because he fell again. “Why not? Khorne shouldn’t have extended his hospitality to some no-name, and I haven’t seen anything impressive so far.”
I snorted. Did he really just call me a no-name when I had nicknamed him Mr. Noname? And that despite the fact that he obviously knew who we were or he wouldn't have come at us like that.
Leaning down, I grabbed the guy’s head and lifted his limp and broken body up to be face to face with me. Then I waited for a moment until I saw the realization in his eyes that I would actually go through with it, consequences be damned.
I pushed the claws on my thumbs into his eyes and incanted the second spell that I had learned. “Death Grasp!”
He trashed and screamed profanities, but when he felt his life energies being drained he started squealing. His sweet life flowed into me, and together with it, I pulled on his soul well until I ripped the power right out of his core. He fell silent then, and his body shrivelled up in the process until it was nothing more than a dried-up husk. Finally, it crumbled between my fingers and fell to dust.
I gave a satisfied sigh and clapped my hands to clean off the dirt. “Not even the amulet felt as good as that.” Whoever Mr. Noname was, he was a perfect dinner. Never in my short life had I drained someone who gave me that much power.
“Was that wise?” Uphir asked respectfully from my side.
“Not to worry. I was careful not to take all of his souls, just most of them,” I assured him, taking note that he apparently remembered his lesson from his last outrage. “He should revive without issues,” I added after a moment of thought.
“And what if he complains to Khorne?” Kitia asked. “We are supposed to be guests here.”
I shrugged. “Then I will give back the souls. No permanent damage was done. Though, don’t you guys think that would be highly embarrassing for the Demon Lord? After all, he was the one who invited us. And it was his man who started everything.”
“Found you!”
The silky voice from right behind me sent a shiver down my spine, something that Mr. Noname hadn’t even managed when he tried to backstab me with his teleport. The tone of that voice promised everything and threatened the worst. And worst of all, I knew it. It wasn't so much that I feared physical harm from the voice's owner. It was the social component that gave me the creeps.
Turning around, I faced Isabella. “Hi, have you slept well?”
Hadn’t I promised myself to find out what I felt for the succubus? Then again, the original plan had been not to be anywhere close to the castle at all after spending the night with her. Instead, I had met a few of her sisters and even fucked one of them.
Was that something I should tell her for honesty’s sake? Our eyes met, and I quickly found out that I couldn’t for some infernal reason.
I couldn’t even hold Isabella’s gaze, so I concentrated on her boobs instead, and fine boobs they were. “I’ve had a lot of fun. Nice castle you and your family have here.”
Isabella huffed and looked at the pile of dust behind me, then over to the sliced up remains of Mr. Noname’s minion. “Do I want to know what happened here?”
“Probably not,” Uphir commented.
The succubus ignored him and returned her attention to me. “The two of us have to talk.”
“Do we really have to?” I asked, mortified that this had to be now of all times. Though, I guessed that avoiding Isabella for the next six years until the Storm Season was over just wasn’t possible.
“Yes, because I want to know why I woke up tailfucking myself with your name on my lips when it should have been you who was pleasuring me,” Isabella lamented more to herself than to me. “We finally managed to show our true feelings to each other and you run out on me right the next morning!”
The other demonesses next to me gasped and I cursed. “Did you have to say it like that, Isabella?”
“So you finally managed to get him around?” Kitia asked with an inquisitive expression.
“Did it take blackmail!?” Philomena followed up immediately.
“Just a little bit,” Isabella admitted unashamedly to the other females, making me wonder which role I took in their discussions.
Jebril and Philomena sighed while Kitia started a victory dance. Then the three shook hands, undoubtedly to exchange souls.
“Wait…” I raised a hand to stop the three of them. “Did you bet on-”
“Leave them be,” Isabella interrupted and lifted her hand, revealing the piece of horn that I had lost during the battle. She licked over the surface where it had been cut and reached for my head to pull me down to her level. I had no other choice but to go to my knees while she reattached the piece with some form of succubus magic that tingled like crazy.
“Why was it necessary to lick over it? Is that sanitary?” I complained, hoping that she hadn’t done that back when she had healed my broken wing. Did she slather me with spit while I was sleeping?
“Quit complaining like some demonling,” she reprimanded me and let go once she was done. “Now we talk.”
I got back to my feet and felt for my horn which was indeed attached correctly. It showed that I thought her capable of attaching it wrongly out of spite because I ran away from her.
Isabella looked pointedly towards my minions and declared, “This time without the audience.”
The others grumbled, but they left without questioning the succubus. They retreated towards the exit while Jebril asked Philomena. “What is tailfucking?”
Isabella sighed and ignored my minions’ bickering while they discussed the ‘new word’. She gestured towards the training hall’s wall and a previously hidden door slit open. “Now we go somewhere where none of Khorne’s men can intrude on us.”
“Neat!” I exclaimed in surprise. The door had been hidden so well that I doubted I would have found it even if I had searched for it. “Is the whole castle full of hidden passageways?” I asked, just to distract from what Isabella apparently wanted to discuss.
She rolled her eyes and took my hand, pulling me towards the hidden passageway. “You are not getting out of this one.”