Chapter 191
Captain Vros Kinal, champion of this expedition to Panu, harbinger of The Empire of Dying Suns, was quite amused. “How long has it been now? A few days?”
The other officers in plate armor cackled or snickered while drinking the rum of conquered locals as they sat atop a keep on a large hill - making the new scantily clad slaves dance for them as they talked about recent events.
“You’d be correct!” One of Kinal’s subordinates called out. “How pathetic! This is hilarious! Rippenvire is done here! No doubt they’ll be off the planet and out of our hair in a few days, having abandoned Panu due to their embarrassing defeat.”
“I give it a single day!” Another officer yelled over the laughter - chugging a glass of ale.
“Two days!” Another one cried, slamming his fists merrily into the polished wood as scenes of the battle over the Panu Cortex circulated.
Captain Vros Kinal grinned, sipping at his own drink and adjusting some of the documents in front of him before pushing a stack over to the previous queen of this newly conquered country. He slammed a finger into the top paper and gave the beautiful brunette woman a knowing look - then head-bobbed over to where he’d hung her husband from a support beam down the way. “These are the public decrees you’re going to make, and you’re going to make them today. Don’t give me any more attitude or you’ll end up like your husband, and we’ll move on to your children next. Do we have an understanding?”
The woman’s head nodded and she smoothed out her dress, but she’d been crying so hard that she wasn’t able to actually speak any words. Instead, she just took the papers and pulled them closer to her, beginning to read while trying to maintain a semblance of dignity.
“Good.” Kinal said while leaning back in his chair. “Believe me, your ‘majesty.’ This is better for everyone involved, this way we don’t have to slaughter your people to make an example of them… in due time, I’m sure you’ll all come around to see the light.”
***
14 days later…
[Riven Thane’s Status Page:
* Level 130
* Pillar Orientations:] Unholy Foundation, Blood Specialty: Profane Cyclone (Tier 1 of The Path of Red and Black), Infernal, Shadow (Subserviently linked to Blood Specialty Pillar), Sin Core (Gluttony)
* Core of Original Sin - Gluttony, 5 shards collected:] Allows access to Sin Pillar (Gluttony). Allows access to a secondary Sin Class. (Sin Class - Harbinger of Gluttony, Currently Under Construction) Mark of the Sinner: Under Construction. Bonuses: ???
* Traits:] Race: Pureblooded Vampire (Extreme Darkness Regeneration)(Sunlight Decay)(Extreme Weakness to Silver weapons, Sun pillar, and Light pillar attacks), Class: Warlock Devastator, Devastator Class Trait (physical strikes are imbued with unholy damage equal to 1% of damage being done at full mana capacity). Adrenaline Junky (Blood)(+15% to Agility), Accomplishment Title: Bloodthirsty 1 (+5% increased blood mana from corpses, +1% dmg for blood magic)
* Abilities:] Blessing of the Crow (Unholy), Wretched Snare (Unholy), Silvertongue (Unholy), Bloody Razors (Blood), Crimson Ice (Blood), Blood Lance (Blood)(Tier 2), Voodoo Doll (Blood)(Tier 2), Blood Nova (Blood)(Tier 3), Hell’s Armor (Infernal), Blaze of Profane Glory (Infernal)(Tier 3), Riftwalk (Shadow), Gluttonous Sacrifice (Sin)
* Stats:] 217 Strength, 427 Sturdiness, 1063 Intelligence, 538 Agility, 10 Luck, -638 Charisma, 274 Vampiric Perception, 328 Willpower, 9 Faith
* Free Stat Points: 126
* Minions:] Athela, Level 127 Archdemon (Unique, 3 forms, Cute Wittle Blood Weaver / Gluttonous Arshakai / Gluttonous Fae Drider) [190 Willpower Requirement]. Azmoth, Level 95 Hellscape Brutalisk (Infernal Crusader Initiate) [66 Willpower Requirement]. Fay, Level 48 Succubus [29 Willpower Required]. Luke Blissfallen, Level 17 High Elf Thrall (Stormrazor Battle Priest)(Warning: 29% soul decay detected)[10 Willpower Requirement]One open demonic slot is available. Current amount of offered contracts: 36,799,092
* Equipped Items:] Jackal (1390 dmg, 305% mana regen, 8% stamina regen, shadow and blood dmg +36% with 10% decreased ability cost, Black Lightning, Gluttony’s Riptide, Jackal’s Lunge), Messenger (1858 def / 965 bloodsilk def, Devour, Identifier’s Clause, Blood in the Eyes, Ripping Claws, Launch, +20% all stats, natural sunlight does not afflict debuffs, liquid breathing, senses enhanced 40%, passage through Gluttony’s realms, Sin and Commandment identification), Plate Leggings (257 def), Witch’s Ring of Grand Casting (+26 Intelligence), Negrada’s Modified Bag of Holding]
His heavy plate armor glinted in the midday sun, his eyes unaffected from the bright light of early spring
Riven sat on the southernmost mountain’s peak, looking out over the distant city of Dawn’s capital - Mandon. Smoke still billowed out even from here, and although the armies of Rippenvire had been thoroughly crushed - remnants of them still remained somewhere on the planet. Interrogations had led to the finding of their original base location, but the fortress they’d brought with them had… moved itself. Apparently.
“I am surprised you don’t want to be there with your sister.” Gaia said, the little dryad girl playing with a flowers that weaved and moved to dance on the ground in front of her. She glanced up at her partner in meditation, looked over the status screen he’d left up for well over an hour now, and sighed. “My child, it is unhealthy for you to seclude yourself like this.”
Riven spared the smaller figure of Gaia a brief glance. It’d only been a couple days since she’d been able to exit her dungeon, but he was glad to have her present here. Despite isolating himself from Athela, Fay, and Allie after recent events for introspection and some soul searching - he couldn’t deny that her insight and wisdom was appreciated. “Allie is giving her speech today. For the fallen who died fighting to save the city. The people love her, they’re obsessed with her. She is an ever present figure that symbolizes change and an improvement in their lives, with only a few exceptions - namely for the elvish slaves. As for me? I’m merely a figurehead, an unsaid threat. A weapon to be used in the background. People fear me for what I did in the City of Canyons, and I can’t say I blame them. My presence will not be missed, I have no desire to stay in the spotlight beyond what is necessary, and I needed to clear my head after…”
His words faltered, and his gaze slid to the ground - red eyes piercing the dirt through the visored slit in his feathered plate armor helmet. The bloodsilk around his body rippled, and a comforting, soothing notion from both Messenger and Jackal in his lap oozed through him.
It was nice seeing that his two items were there for him, though he did find it odd that this was the case considering what they were at the core of their beings. Ever since the completion of each item, they’d been nothing but supportive both in battle and with mental fortitude. It was like having two quiet guardian angels sitting watch on either shoulder at all times, and ever since his acquisition of the other shards of Gluttony - that presence of there’s had increased drastically with the increase in their stats.
Speaking of stats…
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He turned back to his status page. 126 stat points to assign, and over 36 million demonic contracts to sort through. How was he supposed to dig through all of that on his own?
He wished Athela was here to help him decide.
But he still needed to process everything that had happened. When Fay had arrived back on Panu, the two women had screamed and shouted at one another until Fay left crying and even Athela remained a little shaken. Riven didn’t know what the hell to do.
If he was being honest with himself, he cared a lot about both of them. But…
Fuck. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Shouldn’t he be consoling one or the other, or both of them in their time of crisis?
Yet here he was, sitting atop a mountain, avoiding the entire situation of needing to choose between them. It was very apparent to him that should he take one wrong move, he might very well lose one or both of them.
He wished he could go back to the days where they were all just friends.
To him, it’d be worth it. Then he wouldn’t have to be so terrified of seeing one of them leave.
* Stats:] 217 Strength, 427 Sturdiness, 1063 Intelligence, 538 Agility, 10 Luck, -638 Charisma, 274 Vampiric Perception, 328 Willpower, 9 Faith
* Free Stat Points: 126
* Minions:] Athela, Level 127 Archdemon (Unique, 3 forms, Cute Wittle Blood Weaver / Gluttonous Arshakai / Gluttonous Fae Drider) [190 Willpower Requirement]. Azmoth, Level 95 Hellscape Brutalisk (Infernal Crusader Initiate) [66 Willpower Requirement]. Fay, Level 48 Succubus [29 Willpower Required]. Luke Blissfallen, Level 17 High Elf Thrall (Stormrazor Battle Priest)(Warning: 29% soul decay detected)[10 Willpower Requirement]
He sighed and did the math again. After Athela’s massive evolution her Willpower requirement had spiked to 190 points. Adding them all up, including Luke - who he hadn’t seen in a while after leaving him back in the Brightsville manor, he had 295 of his Willpower stat points utilized in containing his minions. That left 33 available points for a new demonic contract.
That wouldn’t be enough. Not if he had such a large amount of demons to choose from, as he had no doubt the best and brightest of them would be far more of a tax on his Willpower than that.
So he pushed all 126 of his free stat points into Willpower, making it rise 454 and giving him 159 Willpower points to work with concerning the new contract he was going to make.
“Hiding here will not make your problems go away.” Gaia eventually said after Riven was caught staring off into space yet again. “You have yet to focus on your cultivation since experiencing insights during the last battle, you have made little to no progress concerning the two women you have feelings for, Athela has been waiting for you to use her dao treasure as it requires a bonded partner, you have yet to enter the cube you took from Daskus - the City of Canyons. News from The Blood Moon Requiem’s outpost here talks of slave rebellions on your inherited planet in another sector, probably a farce and a political play from enemies you don’t even know you have yet - with details from that vampiric princess Kathrine otherwise being withheld until she speaks to you specifically. You need to acquire your new minion. After seeing your display on Mandon, the elvish kingdom of Tereen has surrendered and are wanting to become your vassal in exchange for an end to the war and the return of their people - with talks still on hold because you’re sitting here in seclusion. The King of Dawn has continually tried to contact you for unknown reasons and you simply ignore him, which could have political ramifications. Allie also wants to teach you about the Death Pillar before the time comes to enter Chalgathi’s next trial. If it was anyone else, I would tell them to take the time needed to clear their heads. But you are an important person, Riven, and you cannot afford to sit around and waste time if the goals you have are real. If you don’t figure your own personal problems out now, you will bring that stress and anxiety with you into events that will effect the lives of billions. Please consider this, just as I asked Athela and Fay to consider it in your stead.”
Riven raised an eyebrow, looking over at the dryad demigoddess while perched on their ledge. “You asked them what, exactly? What do you mean by that?”
Gaia gave him a warm smile. “I just gave them some insight as to what this internal strife they caused has done to you. They are waiting for you to speak to them, back at your manor in Brightsville. I think you should go, it has been long enough already and pushing this confrontation back even further will only make things worse. It is time for the three of you to decide what happens next, for better or for worse, so that you can all move forward in your lives and allow for some much needed healing.”
***
There was both celebration and mourning in the city of Brightsville as Riven slowly made his way through the crowds like a zombie - dreading the confrontation he was about to have. Upon seeing him, people prostrated themselves - calling him a hero aloud while keeping their distance and giving him fearful glances as he passed them by.
He ignored them. Not because he didn’t care about their wellbeing, but because he knew they were more scared of him than anything else. He was a monster now. There was no point in making himself feel good about false praise.
In the huge markets now set up around the Elysium Altar was the giant cube, shifting hundreds of feet overhead very much like a rubix cube did from time to time with large blue runes - already having lines of people try their hand at acquiring power from the trials it held at the risk of their lives.
He got some shoutouts from various representatives of both the Blood Moon Requiem and Negrada when passing along the perimeter of the trading communes at the Elysium Altar, but these too he blatantly ignored. Instead he continued his trudging death march towards the manor a few miles away on the southern edge of the city, beyond the farms where elf slaves tended the fields.
God how he hated the fact that they kept slaves.
And if Tereen’s proposal was right, if they were able to maintain a vassal state with the elves under their thumb, Riven was sure to get rid of those slaves as long as their people were re-educated to fit the bill. They needed peace, not more hate, and if that meant indoctrinating the elvish children then so be it.
The rest of the trip seemed like a blur, and Riven eventually came to a stop in front of the manor where a large group of people already awaited him. And some of the people here were certainly a surprise to see - most of which were the King of Dawn in plate mail with some of his bodyguards, and Genua’s daughter - Len, who wore a familiar reed dress and held her mother’s hand tightly to the far side with wide eyes.
He didn’t know if they’d all been told by Gaia, but that'd probably been what happened upon his descent from the mountains. The pure blooded vampire heiress Kathrine, a line of uniformed maids - including Genua and her little girl, Fay’s incubus brother Tupper, Dr. Brass, Riven’s thrall Luke Blissfallen, Gurth’Rok the orc chieftain turned vampire, Allie, Mara, Vin and Nin the skresh necromancers, Lahn, Lahn’s entire family - including the two sibling brats Riven seriously disliked from the stories he’d heard, General Bruner, the new mayor of Chicago, and his minions were all there.
Azmoth stood with four folded arms inbetween Athela and Fay, with both women staring fixated on his position and having various emotions crossing each of their faces. Nervousness, anxiety, fear, hope, love… they were all present.
But why was Allie here? Shouldn’t she be giving that speech in Mandon? And the King of Dawn too?
Riven’s shoulders sagged when Gaia walked out of the backline, escorted by two of her greater dryad companions, and stopped at the very front with a calming aura filtering in the air around her. “Thank you for coming Riven. I took it upon myself to get everyone here to help ease the transition of things needed to be done. Otherwise it may take many more weeks than we have to get situated. Now, first and foremost - Fay and Athela are going to lead you inside to your room and have a discussion about your future together. I am sorry if I am acting like an overbearing parent here, but I believe it is needed.”
“The king and queen of Tereen have also surrendered, and are being escorted here now by our troops. They should arrive by the end of tonight.” Allie chimed in from the side.
Riven couldn’t give two shits whether or not the leaders of Tereen were coming, and the body language he had accompanied by the expression he wore even underneath his helmet was an obvious takeaway on exactly how he felt.
Silence reigned.
And it was Azmoth who eventually broke that silence. “I come with you. We all speak inside. Follow me and we fix this.”
The large obsidian demon akin to a hellspawned paladin of legend stepped forward, gesturing for the maids to create a path as the doors to the manor swung open. Kathrine looked like she was about to speak too, but quickly shut up with a glare from Allie.
Athela and Fay both turned to follow, but each of them glanced back to make sure Riven was coming too before entering the large three-story stone manor.
Hesitating only for a few moments, Riven silently walked through the crowds of his friends, servants and acquaintances until he was at the staircase leading up to his room on the third floor. Then, following Azmoth and his other two demons into his private chambers - the four of them shut the door to have a private conversation about the things that’d happened over the past couple weeks.