Chapter 20.1 - Some New Teammates
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Golshi Era, Year 21,879
Excerpt from the memoirs of Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, Master of the Outer Reach of the Sixth Circle of Hell
The All Spirit… this rogue god has come to the forefront of power amidst the pantheons of our universe. Alone, it is able to rival the strength of many other deities combined. How did it achieve such power in such a short time? How did it ascend to godhood so quickly? Or was it always there, and merely hiding in the background of life’s tapestry? Nothing since the creator has come close to rivaling its power. However, its agenda eludes me… and it fails to use its unrivaled strength for any apparent personal benefit.
Meanwhile, the laws of nature are being rewritten with new parameters I can only describe as… strange oddities.
What is the point of these changes? These… leveling systems? Is there a method to the madness this creature forces upon the rest of existence? What does it desire and what drives this ‘All Spirit’ to take the actions it chooses to make?
It is not that I am concerned about its intervention, it has remained neutral ever since its appearance and appears to hold no hostility towards my interests. Regardless, it has lit the spark of genuine curiosity inside my blighted soul. Even those of the Infernal Crowns that I have conversed with do not truly know why the All Spirit acts the way it does.
Alas, trying to make contact with the All Spirit has yielded no results. Despite a direct line of communication in the form of these new ‘status pages’ that the All Spirit has provided us with, it completely ignores my attempts to speak to it.
Perhaps a sacrifice should be made? It certainly wouldn’t hurt to try, and thus… tonight… I make my seventh attempt to speak with this elusive being. I have prepared a hundred thousand fae captives for this ritualistic sacrifice, and have harvested the wings of these fairies to enact the Ritual of Garnished Divulgence. Perhaps after the All Spirit sees such a grand display in its name, it may decide to speak to me.
There are doubters though.
Lilith has told me that my curiosity will get the better of me one day, that my attempts to reach out to this new god will result in my demise. She has publicly called me foolish and has mocked my attempts to achieve contact.
But that demoness knows not who she mocks.
We will see who is laughing in the end when I sack her cities, kill her children, and take her as my bride.
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Name: Trey Bon
HP 220/220, MP 144/144, SP 120/120, DP 1/1
Race: Human
Guild: None
Class: Infernal Summoner
Level 6
Status Alerts:
* Remaining Skill Points: 0
* Remaining Stat Points: 0
* Current Permanence cycle: ON
* Current Bound Point: Negaizer Runestone
* For dying: You and your minion have lost 1 level each, along with associated skill and stat points
(The rest of Trey's status page is in the spoiler)
Spoiler :
Buffs:
* +3% resistance to all damage (Resilience)
* +10% resistance to all damage (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane)
* Autoregeneration (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane)
* +15% damage to offensive spells (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze)
* Night Vision (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze)
* +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness (Predator)
* +33% to awareness (Aspect of the Devil: Horns)
Debuffs:
* +8% damage taken from all Celestial and Holy abilities (Aversion to Divine)
Stat Amplifications:
18 Strength
10 Vitality
10 Endurance
9 Dexterity
21 Speed
19 Intelligence
22 Wisdom
0 Faith
0 Luck
10 Willpower
Magics
Chaos Ball (Chaos) - Level 4
* Summon a ball of chaos to fling at your enemies
Chains of Chaos (Chaos) - Level 6
* Summon chaos chains to bind or impale your enemies
Shadowstep (Dark) - Level 1
* Teleport a short distance instantly
Summoner’s Calling: Least Summoning Circle (Dark) - Level N/A
* The most basic of summoning circles with a low intensity magic signature that usually (but not always) attracts the weaker denizens of the infernal realms. This broad spectrum spell enables you to communicate with the infernal realms of Hell, Oblivion, and the Void, but offers no protection whatsoever from the creatures you summon. You are able to increase the chance for a random target to appear by using double the mana and circling the center pentagram.
Summoner’s Calling: Minion’s Call (Dark) - Level N/A
* Summons a specific minion you already own, or dismisses them to your personal nether realm. Dismissing a demon to their nether realm will heal it over time and allow it to revitalize. However, keep in mind it takes 30 seconds to channel this ability. You may only summon or dismiss 1 minion at a time.
Roar of the Banshee (Dark) - Level 1
* Silences enemies for a short time, inhibiting them from casting spells or miracles
Miracles
None
Physical Combat
Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Level 2
Blades - Level 2
Aspect of the Devil: Mask (Chaos) - Level 1
* Grants bite attacks and manaless ability to breathe short range hellfire
Aspect of the Devil: Tail - Level 1
Hand to Hand Combat - Level 1
Polearms - Level 1
Blades - Level 2
Light Armor - Level 1
Assassination - Level 1
*Adds bonuses and critical strikes while unseen by your opponent.
Miscellaneous
Sneak - Level 2
Identification - Level 3
Traits:
Vatosis Inferna - *TRAIT IS LOCKED AND UNAVAILABLE.*
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Earthborn - You are earthborn and experience ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ permanence cycles. You also gain a 20% increase to any type of XP acquired when compared to your fellow NPCs, and your mana regeneration rate is increased by 30%.
Languages Learned - Ancient Demon
Void Essence - You have been chosen as a suitable host. You are now able to access black magics, skill trees, abilities, and spells unavailable to most other black magic users.
Resilience - +100 HP, +3% resistance to all damage. Mental fortitude increased.
Dreadlord Voshok’s Bane (Heroic) - +10% resistance to all damage. Autoregenerate 1% HP per minute. Autoregenerate lost body parts over time.
Predator - Participant has acquired a symbiote. Predator is a separate entity that will become bound to participant. Predator symbiote gives +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness. Predator symbiote is currently in the chrysalis stage, when it matures this symbiote will be able to possess and acquire the body of a demon-class enemy - giving you a new minion. When this possession has finished, the Predator symbiote's bonuses will remain but the symbiote entity itself will no longer be bound to the master's body. Also allows participant to use the ability Consume.
*Consume - Beings that you have killed yourself may be consumed. Doing so gives you a chance to acquire Strength stat points and is largely dependent on the foe’s danger rating. Consume will also rapidly restore HP, MP, and SP.
Aversion to Divine - Participant is associated with the infernal arts. +8% damage taken by all Celestial and Holy abilities.
Physical Attributes:
Shadowform - Allows participant’s body to express shadow properties. Allows Participant to focus and bind acquired items into Shadowform, absorbing them into the participant’s body fitting a maximum weight of 500kg. May summon bound items anywhere within a 5 yard radius of participant. May unbind items when needed. If bound item is outside of a 1000 yard radius from participant, bound item automatically returns to Shadowform.
Stored Items:
* None
Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze - Permanent no cost upon use Night Vision enchantments afflict your eyes, which are tinged a glowing red. This also empowers all of your damaging magics by 15% damage.
Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Summon and discard demon claws at will. Separate from hand to hand combat. Can cause bleeding, a damage over time effect.
Aspect of the Devil: Mask
Summon and discard demon Jaws at will. Allows participant to use predator’s Consume ability much more rapidly and participant is now able to use Consume during battle. Allows participant to breath Hellfire (Chaos), a medium range area of effect spell that costs no mana. Can cause burns.
Aspect of the Devil: Tail
Allows piercing and slashing attacks. Damage equivalent to Aspect of the Devil: Claws. May extend up to 25 additional feet. (Non-retractable prior to original 5 foot length)
Aspect of the Devil: Horns
These horns pick up vibrations in the air and in the ground to sense incoming attacks, +33% to awareness. (Non-retractable)
Magical Attributes:
Chaos
Dark
Skill Trees Unlocked:
* Aspect of the Devil
* Summoner’s Calling
Control Limit Slots: 2 of 3 used.
Trey’s Minions:
* Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 3 (1 slot)(Liked)
* Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Neutral)
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Simplified Status Page
Name: Napoleon
Race: Oblivion Imp, Lesser Demon
Class: N/A
Level: 3
HP: 94/94, MP: 130/130, SP: 66/66, DP: 1/1
Skills: Firebolt (lvl. 6) (Fire), Sneak (lvl. 4)
Traits: Fragile, Intelligent, Trey Bon’s Minion
Magical Attributes: Curse, Fire
Opinion of you: Liked
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Trey woke up with a jolt, gasping and clutching at the spot where he had felt the knife sink in. Then he felt his left arm, made sure it was intact after being cut cleanly through. Tears of rage began to stream down his face and he gritted his teeth in frustration.
He was back at the Negaizer runestone, days away from where he’d just died, and he had no idea how long he had been gone before he’d respawned. Likely, it’d been another couple days.
“FUCK!!!” Trey screamed as he rammed a fist into the stone, leaving his bare knuckles bloodied with the impact. His voice echoed down the desolate halls and he could hear the running water of the underground river again.
‘That was… most unpleasant.’ Sithis mused sullenly, having experienced death for the second time since bonding with Trey. The first had been when they had been impaled, but this time was a bit more… brutal.
“I… have had it... with this fucking planet...” Trey muttered slowly, thinking of Farthom and his granddaughter Inis curled up in death. Then he thought of the culn, and he sneered in contempt at the image of those bastard demons.
‘You were facing a company of trained soldiers.’ Sithis stated plainly and internally snorting. ‘We did rather well considering you have no true training. Martial arts is good for hand to hand combat but you have no weapons training at all. Even with me to guide you and improve your reflexes… I am learning too.’
Trey clenched his fists and leaned into the wall with his horns grating against the stone. His teeth gritted against one another and he shook violently as he tried to contain the rage he felt welling up inside of him. Right before he died, when those culn soldiers had mocked him… those thoughts were now hardwired into his brain.
He wanted to gut each and every one of them.
They were going to pay.
After a few minutes of seething he managed to calm down. He looked down at his body and noticed that he was naked again. Sighing loudly and shaking his head, he suddenly had a near heart attack at the thought of losing Napoleon, and then the sword.
Control Limit Slots: 2 of 3 used.
Trey’s Minions:
* Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 3 (1 slot)(Liked)
* Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Neutral)
When he checked his page again he saw that they were still registered as minions and became a little bit more relaxed. Looking around once just to make sure he really was alone, he took a look at the spell he was about to perform:
Summoner’s Calling: Minion’s Call (Dark) - Level N/A
* Summons a specific minion you already own, or dismisses them to your personal nether realm. Dismissing a demon to their nether realm will heal it over time and allow it to revitalize. However, keep in mind it takes 30 seconds to channel this ability. You may only summon or dismiss 1 minion at a time.
Scratching his chin and hoping to god it would work, he internally sought out the means to use this spell. With the others he’d gained innate knowledge on how to perform them, the shapes and power signatures of each spell becoming vivid within his mind before he’d cast. In this case it was the same, and when he focused on what he wanted to do: he found that he just ‘knew’ how to perform it.
“Do all spells work like that?” He asked Sithis. “Are they all learned instantaneously like what happened with me?”
Sithis was slow to respond, but his answer was unsure. ‘I would find that hard to believe. Why else would there be grimoires? Grimoires are books of spells… correct? Why would someone bother writing them down if people just learned them innately? Based on what the All Spirit has said concerning skill trees and abilities, I am almost certain that there will be some innate skills, spells or abilities for every class. We obtained some from the Essence you bonded with as well, but it is highly likely that with most of them you’ll have to put in time and practice to learn.’
Grimoires?
Oh no. He had completely forgotten about the grimoire, and as he looked to his shadowform storage... he clarified the fear he had.
Stored Items:
* None
Trey facepalmed. The items he had stored had probably dropped on death.
Damn it.
Well, at least he still had his minions.
Focusing on the spell ‘Minion’s Call’, Trey lifted up one hand and tried summoning Napoleon to his side. As he focused, dark mana began to radiate along his arm and into his hand. He stretched out his fingers, continuing to channel the mana and within seconds a medium-sized pentagram of crimson light appeared on the floor in front of him. That pentagram was then encircled completely with runes, then a circle, then more runes, before Napoleon appeared in a tiny explosion of flames.
Napoleon looked shocked to be there, and his hands wrapped around his body as his little claws trembled. He looked around frantically and then back up at Trey with wide-eyed amazement.
“I not dead?” was all the little imp could bark out with a confused gawking.
“Thankfully not… I thought I might have lost one of my only friends here. I’m glad to say otherwise. It appears as long as I have the All Spirit’s protection with the permanence cycle, so do you.” Trey bent down and pet the little imp as Napoleon scurried up his arm. “You did well Napoleon… thank you for fighting beside me.”
The imp glowed at the praise and was quickly calming down from the trauma it had just undergone in death. After a couple seconds though it scowled and folded its arms with a humph. “Me hate hell hounds.”
Trey chuckled at the comment. He could certainly see why the little imp hated those wretched creatures, especially after just being eaten by one but also because of how Napoleon’s family had been killed back in the caves. He stretched out, cracking his neck and yawning to loosen up his tensed muscles, then he got to work summoning the sword.
Again he began to focus, and dark mana swirled up across his arm and into his hand. Channeling the mana he saw another pentagram appear along the ground that lit up with a bright red light, materializing the living weapon in front of him after the full 30 seconds of channeling was complete. Then the greatsword remained hovering a foot over the ground with a low thrumming sound
The sword didn’t say anything even after being acknowledged by Trey, so Trey just shrugged and grasped it by the handle to easily carry the gigantic weapon down the hall. It still surprised him how light the thing was and he was absolutely 100% sure that if anyone else had tried to pick it up that it’d weigh a ton. Thinking more on the subject he even paused a moment to give it a command.
“Talsh’Noc’Un,” Trey said as he got the sword’s attention - pausing its humming as the gigantic weapon listened to what he had to say.
Trey grinned and held the sword out in front of him. “Stop adjusting your weight and let me see what you really weigh, so that I get an idea of what our enemies see when you rush into them.”
He immediately regretted the command as the sword slammed into the ground with a loud crash, sending up bits and pieces of dirt and stone as Trey completely dropped the weapon altogether. There had been no bounce, just a quick and even rush downwards as the weapon impaled itself flat against the stone floor. Trey swore to himself in amazement and he looked at his bruised hand where the weapon’s hilt had come down on it in his grip, completely ripping itself out of his grasp. Bending down and trying to pick up the weapon with his right hand, he found that he couldn’t get it to budge. So he used both hands and STILL couldn’t move the goddamn thing.
Not even an inch.
“Well Jesus Christ!” Trey exclaimed and he put his back into it. This time while using his entire lower body and both hands, he finally got the thing to budge about half a centimeter. Panting in exertion he eventually stopped, and acknowledged that 710 strength to wield this monster was certainly reasonable. He couldn’t help but wonder what this thing could do when he got there and could use it at full potential instead of a mere 10%...
“Why’d you pick me?” Trey asked the weapon as it rose up on command and back into his hand. “Didn’t you have other options?”
There was a long silence and for a while Trey didn’t think the sword would respond, but eventually it came out with a low phantasmal whisper of: “... No… I must bond… to one with… an Infernal Summoner class… You are the only one… I have seen… In centuries… After my old master died...”
Rough... but he half expected it. Well at least it made sense now. Made him feel sure as shit a lot less special though, knowing that he was likely a very last resort pick.