It was hard to tell if my abilities had changed due to my apparent ascension. Using my left hand to gradually shoot off purple cards one at a time, without moving them or putting too much mana into them was awkward enough compared to normal - so it was difficult to gauge if any difference was me taking it easy rather than that I was now a demonic lord or something.
The next boss was actually a group of four turtle-people. My active brain checked out straight away, not wanting to draw any reference to anything - Tanya hadn’t mentioned it either, so perhaps I had struck my head a few too many times. Wolf cycled his taunt and area slow to keep them all on him - assisted by my Hellhound+. It was a simple matter of attrition as Tanya delayed their actions and their self-healing gradually failed to keep up with our damage.
Were I on top form then this might have taken less time… but we didn’t appear to be struggling.
“Permission to summon Roger once one falls?” I asked my guardian angels.
“Granted,” Ren replied, while Tanya gave me a stoic nod.
The weaver had done as she had told the elf, and kept a frequent eye on me between her skill uses. So far, I hadn’t started bleeding from my eyes or had grown horns - so I was sure that I was fine. Excluding my arm which was still somewhat inert.
Tendrils of worry had started to worm around. I’d recovered from worse in less time, I felt, but then it was all down to how the System chose to see it. Life threatening? It’d be patched up like nothing happened. Could survive it? It’d do the bare minimum. But it wasn’t really losing the use of my arm that had me on edge… it was a different feeling that occasionally passed through it.
It had started once my Power meter filled slightly. Ten percent or so - my current antics clearly not enough bullshit to really move it much further than that, but as soon as I reached the apparent threshold a wave of energy went through me. Could have just been my imagination or a chill, so I didn’t bring it up with the others. I considered opening my mouth about it when the pain level started to increase, but I noticed something else that kept me quiet.
The numbness was fading away.
Against better judgement, I saw this as a good thing. Felt like my nerves were being repaired if they could now feel the trauma wrought to the rest of the arm. But what did that mean? Simple answers were preferred…
Roger’s card went out and struck the first fallen turtle-man.
…and the most straight forward answer would be that I had some kind of demonic regeneration.
The urge to raise my Power meter with a flourish of tricks grew, to see if more Power meant greater regeneration. I was liable to get more than some evil glares from the others if I started pushing myself, however. After the battle I’d labor them with my findings and see what they’d let me do.
If anything, being stifled was almost more uncomfortable than how my arm felt. Well, no - I shouldn’t exagerate, despite it being in my nature to. Instead, I settled into being calm and allowed my brain some time to process my ordeal.
Using the threads of my past, where I wished my mother could have seen me put on my greatest show, the Siren had lured me into some pocket lair. Like a Domain, perhaps. Intending to bury me beneath a wave of… my own inept hands? The finger-people were maybe a reference to my constant need to perform. I had somehow leaned in to the ploy and had actually put on a great show, using the Siren as a stand-in for the feelings I had that they had attempted to use against me.
Conquered those troubles with a deluge of attacks, and emerged a more… whole person? It was hard to say. The System clearly held me in higher regard now, but I doubted this world was created as a means for me to get over my emotional issues. A glance at the company I kept determined there was something else behind the scenes that drove my destiny toward a particular point.
A card bloomed in my hand and then faded away, as the last of the group fell to Wolf.
“Pretty painless,” Tanya grunted. “Where were you guys when I first arrived?” Without waiting for an answer, she walked forward towards the fallen enemy.
Ren was beside me before I had even noticed.
“How’s the arm?”
“Oddly enough...” I winced as I wiggled it about. “It feels better when you’re close.”
She rolled her eyes.
“That’s not just a charming line to woo you. I mean it earnestly - perhaps radiant energy has some effect on it?” Or those beautiful blue eyes. I mananged to not say that part out loud, lest I weaken the arguement that I was being truthful—my arm did start feeling better when she was closer. And I was mostly sure it wasn’t the eyes.
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“I could imbue a bandage with radiant energy, but that’s only once per day and lasts…” her eyes unfocused to go through her menus. “Ten minutes.”
My face screwed up, and I considered just asking her to stay beside me all the time instead. Before I could work up a less cheesy line, Roger aproached from the side and went to one knee, bowing deeply.
“Boss,” he said, purple ears flopping over the turtle-face he was inhabiting.
“No need for that, Roger.” I gestured for him to stand. “I trust you are still on the right path?”
“Yes, Boss.” He stood back to his feet, shuffling in the odd puppet. “I’m honored to have been part of your Grand Show.”
I nodded slowly. “That was really you then, and your true form?”
“Yes, Boss,” he repeated. “Next time I will post near the back to stop any latecomers from interrupting the performance.”
“Thanks, Roger. I appreciate that.” Curiosity got the better of me. “What did you think of it?”
He tilted his head from side to side. “Impressive. Scary as fuck. Pretty sure I shit myself when you pulled out all those cards.” The pact demon attempted a whistle, but due to unfamiliarity with his puppet it just came out as a weird rasping sound. “Oh, that reminds me. Got you a gift, Boss.”
“A gift?” I raised my eyebrow toward the elf, who looked bemused at the reverance I now commanded. Possibly only slightly disappointed I wasn’t giving the demon a verbal lashing.
“For helping me get my shit together. I was on a dark fuckin’ path and you unfucked it.” Purple light swirled around his hands as he brought out something into his hands.
I wasn’t even sure how or why he could do that - so I just used the excuse of ‘demon magic’ as it seemed fitting at this point in my existence.
“Some of the gals helped out, it ain’t much but I’m going to leave now before I feel an emotion other than unbridled rage.”
As he placed the item in my hands, the body slumped over, inert. That wasn’t very fair - I didn’t get the chance to thank him or pass on my regards to his wives. The thought of resummoning him into a different boss corpse slid away as I lifted up the gift to inspect it.
A belt. One side a dark leather that felt like it was made from something demonic rather than domestic. The other side was purple - bedazzled by small gems and sequins. It caught the light and warmed me with its brilliance. Affixed to the belt already was some kind of metal clasp… oh, it was the perfect size to fit my card deck in.
“Seems I’m pretty good at unfucking things,” I said with a grin, raising my eyebrows towards Ren as I went to put the belt on.
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. Gave me a blank stare for a couple of seconds, and then seemed to change subject in her head. “You said the real Roger was like a tall fluffy rabbit? Was he cute?”
Before answering, I double checked that he had actually left this plane and wasn’t faking his absence to see what I thought about the belt without having to interact with me. No, he was definitely gone.
“Imagine a six foot tall bipedal rabbit. Fluffy, bright white fur. Long ears, purple eyes. Then make that rabbit middle-aged, with three divorces, gambling debt, and a substance abuse problem. About that cute.”
“Harsh.” She crossed her arms. “I didn’t know he had a gambling problem.”
I grunted, as I struggled to get the belt around me with one hand. “Yeah, he takes after me.”
She sighed and stepped closer to help me out, kneeling in front of me to put the end of the belt through the hoops around my waist. “Thank you for going easy in the fight. I know that it was hard for you. Probably frustrating… I bet you’re all pent up?”
I looked down at her perfectly blank poker face staring back up at me. Despite my mouth openening to speak, my mind was completely empty. Devoid of any appropriate words to tumble forth.
“Nice belt!” Quinn stepped over, putting his hands on his hips.
Whatever spell had frozen the two of us ended, and Ren stood to circle around the back of me - lifting my jacket to find the rest of the hoops.
“Roger,” I said, my mind still trying to get up to speed with reality.
“Indeed.” He nodded toward me, not entirely sure what I was trying to convey. “Tanya says that we will be surprised with the Token haul once we are complete.”
“I can’t wait.” I managed a smile, as I became grounded once more. System talk seemed to have a way of doing that. Putting one person in charge of loot acquisition and distribution was a novel concept, but it meant less thinking for my own brain. Put me at ease in some ways. At least, until Ren moved her mouth close to the back of my neck.
“All the best things are worth waiting for, trickster.”
Perhaps this was my penance for making her worry so much earlier. While I had become used to - and enamoured with - the scowling grump that she had been in the first area, now that she was emerging from her shell… well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little scared. Now in love with danger, she had a firm grip on the part of me wholly unprepared for this step in our relationship.
She stepped back in front of me to do the buckle, and we locked eyes. Her hand moved onto the metal holder. “Where do you want it, Max?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Right in front of me.”
Ren adjusted it slowly, as we maintained eye contact.
With my left hand, I opened up my jacket to allow her access to my deck. “Could you put it in for me?”
As her mouth opened, Tanya cleared her throat loudly, and the haze around us blew away.
“For the next boss,” the weaver began, “we need to travel underneath a waterfall. The water is probably cold, so perhaps that would be beneficial.”
I nodded animatedly, hoping to move on from everything that was currently happening. Ren stood from me, the job done, giving me a last side-eye that said she enjoyed tormenting me all too clearly. She moved over to give the patient canine a pet before his time to leave was up.
With a flourish of my fingers, three cards popped up from my holstered deck and circled around my left hand. I snatched them from the air into a loose fan and observed them. They weren’t magic, in the same way as my attack was. Concentrating, I turned two of them purple… but couldn’t do the same for the third. Then, I returned one to normal and switched the
A quick flick and I dismissed them all, even the normal cards turning to brief ash before they were gone.
“Wonders never cease,” Tanya said, and sighed.
Quinn nodded along. “You truly are a spectacle, Max.”
I grinned at this unintended compliment, and watched them start to head out of the room. Ren shot me the least subtle wink as she passed, and I was pretty sure steam left my ears in trying to deal with everything going on.
Last in the pack, I turned my head towards the bear, my brow furrowing in seeing the look on his face.
He looked exhausted, breathing heavily with eyes glazed over.