Chapter 198

Riven lifted Jackal up to bear, noting vampiric healers on the side specializing in blood magic waiting hesitantly for the fight to start. The room was dead quiet after the captain’s announcement that he was going to trounce the prince, and uncomfortable shifty gazes were exchanged between many of the soldiers despite Riven taking it in stride.

“Don’t mind them, come at me with everything you’ve got.” Riven said with a serious nod, taking off his shirt to match the captain and getting a whistle of approval from Athela - along with a loud chuckle from Kathrine. “I want you to prove to me that you have things you can teach me-”

*WHAM*

Riven’s nose crunched and blood sprayed as Captain Rusof retracted the butt of his spear with a smug smirk, running his hand across his mohawk. “First lesson! Never let your guard down!”

Riven righted himself, blinked, and snapped his nose back into place as the captain began to laugh. Grinning and cracking his neck, he wordlessly entered the fray.

***

Riven was level 130. Despite being a pureblooded vampire and receiving additional points across the board, he’d put the vast majority of his +7 free stat points per level into Intelligence and Willpower, with a little on the side going into Sturdiness.

Captain Rusof… had not. He’d put all his points into a purely physical build. And it was very apparent in the way they moved that Captain Rusof was actually faster than Riven was when Riven didn’t have his Blessing of the Crow Activated. Captain Rusof was also just simply much more skilled.

The only thing Riven had going for him in this purely close combat exchange was his passive ability. The two men blurred across the room, spear clashing against spear-staff with sparks of Riven’s passive ability sending ripples of energy through his attacks and into his enemy that sent massive amounts of force through the weapon with flashes of unholy power - acting to counter the large Strength stat discrepancy.

“Shit!” Riven cursed, taking another strike across the flank and stumbling before being kicked straight in the chest - sending him smashing into the force field enclosing the combat area with a crunch of ribs.

Groaning and getting up to shaking it off, Riven spit blood and adjusted the arm that’d been pushed out of socket at impact with a thunk. “This is not going well for me, is it?”

Captain Rusof put his hands on his hips and laughed hardily. The slightly bigger man held up both hands to the side in a shrug as soldiers on the perimeter intently watched, called out encouragement or loudly shouted out pointers for Riven to use and counter with, and the atmosphere had become a lot less tense now that the men realized Riven wouldn’t be angry if the Captain made him look inferior.

Which is exactly what had happened, given Riven wasn’t using any mana outside his class passive. The passive he had technically was expelled in the form of Mana, with flashes of black and green unholy power clashing against Captain Rusof’s strikes at each major block or connecting swing. However, Riven didn’t actually SPEND any of that mana, so the captain had insisted that he keep the passive even if Riven could switch it off. He’d have agreed to let Riven keep Blessing of the Crow as well, but that particular skill could only be used once a day as a body modification for 1 hour’s time - with the captain arguing that if he attacked while the skill was on cooldown then Riven would be shit out of luck.

* Devastator Class Trait (physical strikes are imbued with unholy damage equal to 1% of damage being done at full mana capacity).

“I’m honestly surprised you’re doing even this well considering you’re mostly a mage! It’s a compliment, I assure you!” Captain Rusof blurred forward and swiped Riven’s legs out from under him before executing a combo with a knee to the gut and a flip into an axe kick that shook the room.

Riven expelled the air from his lungs but quickly recovered and lashed out, connecting with Captain Rusof’s spear and shoving the man back across the floor as he braced the impact. But even so, the soldier grimaced and flung his right hand around like it was burned after some of the discharged mana from Riven’s passive clashed with Rusof’s skin.

*CLANG*

*WHAM*

*BOOM*

The two weapons danced and sparked, the two vampires moving far faster than any human could while Riven was constantly put on the defensive.

“WRONG STANCE”! Rusof yelled, smacking Riven along the back of his head with an open palm and twirling away while deflecting a blow. “TOO SLOW!”

Rusof’s foot came down on the shaft to pin Jackal and his elbow crashed into Riven’s jawline, sending the young prince head over heels while simultaneously disarming him. The captain jumped up and landed near Riven’s position while blocking an incoming side kick from Riven on the ground. Rusof countered by yanking that same leg and slinging Riven across the containment zone so fast that the barrier around their dueling area shook and flickered.

“OOOOOOoooooohhhhh….” Athela and numerous others simultaneously winced, watching while Riven picked himself up and spat out one of his fangs.

The young prince chuckled good naturedly, flinging the fang off to the side and holding up his hand - summoning his weapon as the spear staff flew across the room to land in his outstretched palm. “That one hurt!”

The captain raised his left eyebrow - aura rising in a shimmering red haze around the man that caused the air to twist and turn. “We are vampires after all, our bodies can take quite a beating.”

Riven’s smile widened and his eyes flared. The shifting sleeve tattoo on his right arm sparked black lightning momentarily, and he set into a stance. His own aura picked up, and a cold frost began to accumulate around his feet. “Indeed.”

With a burst of speed, Riven launched Jackal like a javelin - breaking the sound barrier with a sonic boom as his weapon tore through Captain Rusof’s right thigh and smashed through force field behind. Simultaneously he tore forward across the sparring arena, accumulating a thick layer of red frost along his arms, forearms, and hands to create claws while grinning maliciously.

The captain had managed to turn left to avoid some of the impact from Riven’s weapon, but even at his speed and skill he’d been unable to miss the majority of it. He grimaced and snarled at the large hole in his thigh and began to fall over while Riven closed in - only to give a mischievous smirk right when the prince was within a few feet of his position.

*CRACK*

Captain Rusof’s spear used Riven’s own momentum to impale him through the chest, and with a momentous turn he redirected Riven’s body and slung him around like a slingshot - throwing Riven through the barrier and out the arena into the far wall with a crash.

Riven slumped to the floor, and his world began turning black.

***

“Yeah I got my ass kicked.” Riven said, sipping hot tea on a tower balcony couch overlooking the Blood Moon Requiem’s compound and the rest of the Elysium Altar’s trading district while he and the captain chuckled with one another.

They were both being scolded, especially Rusof, by the healers who’d tended their wounds. These same healers continued to rub ointments into areas that still resonated in Riven’s body with offensive stamina discharged by Rusof - but neither man seemed to care.

Riven was just happy that he had a suitable sparring partner that knew what the fuck he was doing. “I’m looking forward to sparring again. Hopefully this next time we can actually go over what I’m doing wrong and what I can improve rather than just getting an ass wooping.”

“That can be arranged! And to be fair, you were at a disadvantage. If you’d used magic you’d no doubt have won.” The captain said with a grin, hesitantly faltering in his smile when he noted the scowl on Princess Kathrine Crushada’s face. “Eh… I said I’m sorry Princess, I know I went a little overboard.”

“That’s an understatement.” Kathrine said while continuing to glare, holding a cup of her own team across from them and shaking her head. “If you’d accidentally killed him…”

“He’s a pureblood!” Captain Rusof exclaimed with a wave of his hand. “He’s more than capable of taking a beating like that! And you’ve got to admit-”

The captain turned to look Riven in the eye. “That kind of training is far more useful, AND far more entertaining than me just holding your hand along the way while coddling you.”

“Agreed.” Riven said flatly, putting the tea down and scooting over to make way for Athela when the demoness sat down on the couch next to him. His arm crossed her shoulders and he smiled as she let herself sink in - but a brief pang of grief overcame him as his thoughts turned to Fay.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. He couldn’t dwell on it, but he wondered where she’d gone.

The frown was noticed by Athela and she frowned in turn, sitting up straighter and putting a hand on his own. “You ok?”

He quickly nodded, shaking himself out of it with an apologetic smile. “Yes! Yes… I’m fine. Sorry.”

She frowned deeper, but didn’t push the subject and just gripped his hand more tightly. “Alright. If you want to talk, I’m here for you.”

There was a silence after that as the three vampires and one demoness continued to stare out at the mixed races mulling around the trade district. It was absolutely booming, especially now that the capital of Dawn had been half ransacked. Crafters, laborers, and various supplies from the Elysium Altar were in extreme demand in order to get repairs going for a rebuild of Mandon - and elvish slaves were being rounded up not far outside the trade district to be freed and for a mass send off into the now vassalized Kingdom of Tereen.

Riven took another sip of his tea, belched, and stood up while pulling Athela up with him. “Alright, it’s been fun, but now I have other things to attend to.”

“Oh? I’d hoped you’d stay longer.” Kathrine said with a frown, but nodded her acknowledgement and smiled to stand herself. “Perhaps you and Athela could both visit me in my quarters some time, I think I’d like that very much.”

Athela raised an eyebrow, as did Captain Rusof.

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Riven replied with a smile. “I’ll leave that up to Athela.”

His demonic familiar turned to him curiously. “Where are we headed?”

Riven opened his mouth to reply, then closed it and mentally went over his checklist.

He needed to use the dao treasure related to Blood that Athela and he would share, as it required a bonded partner. The cube from Daskus could wait but that eventually needed to be done. One week from now he’d need to go back to see his extended family on Luteski. He still needed to acquire a new minion…

That last thought made him inwardly recoil. No, it wasn’t just one anymore. It was two. Fay had left…

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop that train of thought.

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The king of Dawn had originally wanted to meet with him in private concerning political matters, but he’d managed to pawn that off on Allie - so that was taken care of. Allie wanted to go over lessons concerning the Death Pillar before Chalgathi’s next trial…

And then there was the matter of the dwarves.

He did some mental rearranging of his priorities and slowly nodded. “I believe it’s time to get another minion. Then we go see the dwarves.”

“Just one?” Athela asked hesitantly, searching his face as it underwent mixed emotions.

“Yes.” He eventually said with a nod. “Just one.”

“But Fay…”

“I know.” Riven said, cutting her off. He met Athela’s eyes. “It still hurts. Give me time, ok?”

Athela looked like she wanted to say more, but slowly nodded and slumped her shoulders. “Ok.”

“Thank you. After that, we go to the dwarves - and to see the vampires who have sent diplomats to await me in Deepnest. Let’s collect Azmoth form the compound and leave before we’re roped into anymore political shenanigans.”

With that, Riven waved to the vampiric lesser princess and riftwalked away - with Athela quickly following suit.

Kathrine and and the captain merely exchanged a look, smiled victoriously to one another, and went back to sipping their tea while quietly contemplating the change of heart Riven had recently undergone. It was nice to finally see him embracing the empire, as all of their lives on the expedition would no doubt benefit from their success in the future.

***

It was nightfall, and Riven along with his two remaining minions sat upon the same exact spot where they’d been spit out of Negrada into this world all those months ago. The broken down gas station was nearby and the mountainside was quiet tonight with an abnormally clear sky considering most of the time these haunted woods were overtaken with dark clouds or mist, but it was a nice change.

Azmoth continued to meditate on the Infernal Daos, which was a pretty common hobby for the demon at this point, and Riven sipped on some blood he’d bottled for traveling purposes while watching his demonic girlfriend stretch in front of him.

Girlfriend?

Is that was Athela was now?

He glanced her way, a little bit afraid to ask, but smirked to himself and shook his head. He didn’t need a title on it, not yet, and was sure he’d get there eventually.

Pulling up his screens and coming to the part where it had the number of contracts available to choose from, he frowned.

[6,402,441 Demonic Contracts Available]

“Jesus.”

Riven scratched the back of his head, then gave Athela a sheepish smile. “Mind sorting through these for me?”

He pushed the notification over, and she snorted a laugh to sit down next to him. Scooching over to where he sat against a dead tree, sighing, and laying her head in his lap while crossing her long athletic legs into a more comfortable position - she nodded. “Sure thing twirp!”

“Hey! You can’t call me a twirp anymore. That’s hurtful, I’m your lover now.” He scratched his head, thinking about it for a moment. “That’s really weird to say- OW!”

“It’s not weird. Shut up about it.” She jabbed him in the stomach with a glare, then giggled and took the screen away from him to start minimizing the number. “Alright we can sort them by level first, that’ll cut out the majority, and… We’re down to 605,932 Demons who are at your max level of 130.”

“Can’t contract anyone over my level, right?”

“Correct.” She nodded, checking off boxes available to her as she scrolled through the list. “Let’s see… Maybe one of my clan mates is in here. That’d be neat. And… no, there isn’t. Let’s check this tab, and that tab to narrow it down... Alright, this may take a bit. Give me an hour or two and we’ll see what can be done.”

Those two hours quickly passed in silence while she went over the options, which in his opinion was a very short amount of time.

Athela eventually chose what she considered to be the top 5 best. She unselected the others, at least for now, and displayed them to Riven with a smile. “These are the ones I’d choose, but keep in mind their personalities and how they get along with us are going to be a big deal. If none of these work out, we’ll start over with the next 5 best. That ok?”

“Sounds good to me.” Riven smiled, ignoring an undead warg that snarled their way from the treeline, and took the screen from her - shifting it in the air to hover in front of his face as he began to read the descriptions. With Fay gone he had two slots to fill, 454 total willpower and 188 free Willpower points to use for those two contracts.

But he still held out hope that She’d come back. He was hesitant to fill up that last slot just yet, and would settle for just one at the moment.

He tried not to frown at the thought of Fay, but failed yet again, and had to take in a deep breath as he moved on.

“Athela? Why do these demons have names in front of their species?”

Athela glanced up to him with a smirk, then reached out her hand to hold his own - interlocking her slender fingers in his. “That’s because the demons I chose were all categorized as Elite monsters by the system, with the golden flame lettering when identified? Like Negrada's miniboss that we killed. And they’re often unique variations of more basic demonic breeds. Have you tried identifying me lately?”

Riven raised an eyebrow, shook his head, then did so. Immediately her name appeared, but to his surprise her letters were outlined in flames just like the satyr warlord’s had been back in Negrada’s hellscape. The only difference was that the satyr warlord had been listed as ELITE, and the flames were gold. Here though… Here, Athela’s name was outlined in red flames.

The title of LEGENDARY, and PANU WORLD BOSS were also plastered onto the end of her title.

[Athela, Level 127 Archdemon: Unique, 3 forms. Cute Wittle Blood Weaver / Gluttonous Arshakai / Gluttonous Fae Drider. LEGENDARY. PANU WORLD BOSS.]

He raised an eyebrow and he failed to speak for a time. “Question. Why does it say ‘wittle’ in the name? Very lame. Was that your doing somehow?”

Athela snickered and shook her head. “That’s what you’re going to ask me? Come on! Act impressed! No, I had nothing to do with it. That’s Elysium being ridiculous. Don’t ask me why. Ask me about the red flames and titles!”

“Alright. Why is your name outlined in red flames with the legendary and world boss titles?”

She cackled and flipped over to stare at him with a devious grin. “After the battle in Mandon, the system officially designated me… and you… as world boss creatures for the invaders to kill.”

Riven blinked. “Huh?”

“Identify yourself!”

Riven’s puzzled expression turned into a small grin, as he did as she asked.

[Riven Thane, Level 130 Warlock Devastator, Harbinger of Gluttony, Pureblooded Vampire, Lost Prince of the Blood Moon Requiem. LEGENDARY. PANU WORLD BOSS.]

Just like Athela’s name, his own identification information was also outlined in red flames. He was a bit surprised that the system had outwardly labeled him as a harbinger of Gluttony and as a lost prince of the requiem, but that was less surprising than the system considering him a ‘legendary’ creature and a ‘Panu world boss’.

“Why wasn’t I notified of this earlier?” Riven asked, glancing over at Azmoth to get a look at his other minion’s identification information. Unlike Athela and himself, Azmoth didn’t have the titles they did. But his name did now glow in gold flame lettering, and he was labeled as ELITE just like the satyr warlord dungeon miniboss had back in the hellscapes.

That was also new.

[Azmoth. Level 95 Infernal Crusader Initiate, Hellscape Brutalisk. ELITE.]

He looked up again, bewildered. “Athela, why wasn’t I notified of this?”

She grinned. “You were notified of it. I’m sure of it. But with all the drama going on with the attack on the city, the leveling notifications, the battle notifications, the harbingers of gluttony coming to take my shard, the dispute between Fay and myself… I can see why you didn’t see it. You probably just dismissed the notification by accident and never looked. I figured that was the case, I’ve been waiting for you to say something.”

Riven stared, then slowly clicked his tongue. “That’s… kinda neat actually. Not sure how to feel about this. What makes us ‘Legendary’ or ‘World Boss’ quality by system standards exactly?”

“Titles are gained by the feats you accomplish for the level and grade you’re at. I may have discussed this once a long time ago with you, but it also incorporates things like your species too.” Athela said simply with a smile. “You can be very strong and not gain such titles, but proving yourself in battle on the scale that you have multiple times now… and it doesn’t surprise me too much. The Legendary and Elite titles will give whoever kills you a massive XP boost as well as a system reward, similar to how we got all that gold and a prize from Negrada in his dungeon. Legendary titles will give far more though. As for the Panu World Boss titles, that’s more for the invaders and other creatures who are part of the world quests - ones pitted against the natives. The system sees both of us as major obstacles to world domination and devastation, so it will give any invader or any of the opposition in other world quests a very large boon if they slay one of us.”

“But does it do anything for us otherwise?”

“Other than bragging rights when people try to identify us? Nope.”

Riven snorted in amusement and shook his head. “Of course not. Whatever, I’m gona take a look at this list. Should be interesting.”

“That, I agree with.”

Kissing her on the forehead, he turned his attention back to the screen in front of him.

[6,402,441 Demonic Contracts Available. You have manually minimized your list to 5. These 5 demons have been following your progress and are interested in obtaining you as a partner. Click on each for further details concerning the potential minion and their contracts.

* Chavi, Devil, Unholy / Infernal / Chaos, Level 119. ELITE. - A sion of the burning legions and the youngest son of a hellscape warlord, Chavi is a terror to behold. This young devil is Wrath incarnate, and has little time to talk in favor of berserking across entire battlefields by himself to slay his enemies by the thousands. Easy to anger, but respects the way of the warrior and those who have struggled to surpass their limits. Despises weaklings and those who have not known hardship. [181 Willpower Required]

* Rheufa Chak Tal, Unique: Thousand-Eyes Beholder, Unholy / Shadow, Level 126. ELITE. - One of the most calculating and cunning demons of his generation across the multiverse, Rheufa Chak Tal started his rise to power by burning away entire cities in the hellscapes when a certain incubus tricked him into giving up an item of power. Since then, Rheufa Chak Tal has waged wars against entire clans of enemy demons - laying traps and springing ambushes to blindside his enemies with long range bombardments from numerous angles. Since his recent evolution into becoming a greater demon, his power has seen drastic upgrades and he has become an overwhelming force to deal with as he plunders enemy holds for wealth. He is known as an ambush predator, and a loner. [136 Willpower Required]

* Fimrindle, Unique: The Iron Scarecrow, Unholy / Blood / Death / Machine, Level 120. ELITE. - This truly odd and misunderstood demon created from metal was actually spawned as part of an experiment done by black magic users who tried merging a machine, an undead, and a demon. The experiment was a success, but the creators didn’t survive the ordeal. After destroying multiple cities, the creature was banished and sequestered into a soul stone laid in a crypt at the bottom of an ocean trench. There he remains, waiting for the right summoner to take him from his wretched prison, so that he can once again experience life. He doesn’t talk much, and he’s a bit creepy even by Elysium’s standards, but he certainly knows how to wield a scythe. [159 Willpower Required]

* Zrogmanthon, Abyss-Lord, Unholy / Shadow / Depravity, Level 127. ELITE. - Zrogmanthon is a very prideful demon that often spends more time gloating about his victories rather than actually fighting. This is in part because he enjoys boasting, and in part because he kills his enemies incredibly fast. His build is focused on tearing reality itself to create critical strikes to gut his opponents before they know what hit them, or at least they wouldn’t know what hit them if he didn’t tell them about what was going to happen before it happened. Regardless, they still die. As an ethereal creature of doom, this demon is very hard to kill with physical attacks and would be sneaky if he didn’t go out of his way to boast so much. [160 Willpower Required]

* Yattazi, Unique: The Devouring Serpent, Unholy / Infernal / Chaos, Level 130. ELITE. - Once a tiny snake, this creature devoured the heart of a fallen unholy god purely by happenstance. Since then, Yattazi has become something of a menace to anything living. It had forgone its draconic evolutions in favor of becoming a great basilisk, and from there became something much more when it evolved into a demon. It lives in the lava pools of a volcano, coming out from hibernation to feed and in turn - create genocidal waves in surrounding habitats. Yattazi isn’t very smart, but makes up for it by the sheer devastation it can cause. This creature is lonely, is wanting to find a companion to share in its gluttonous sprees, and is on a quest to find bigger and stronger things to eat. [122 Willpower Required]]

His brows furrowed. Riven glanced down to his status page again, and realized there was a problem concerning any future acquisitions of the 4th demonic minion slot. It wasn’t a problem now, but it might be later if Fay never came back. He should have guessed this would be the case because Athela now required 190 Willpower to hold her contract, and if these demons were comparable to her…

He only had 454 total willpower, and 188 free Willpower points to use.

Riven would only have enough points to choose one of these creatures to bond with, despite having two open slots.

“Damn.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “These descriptions are a lot more intense than they were previously… It's like they’re telling me their life stories. Very weird, but I like the change.”

“That’s going to be more and more common the more you grow.” Athela stated with a yawn. “Previously the demons you could pick from were all so low level, including myself back then, that we hadn’t had any accomplishments. But as we get older and have more experiences, the system docks those into the descriptions you now see here.”

He nodded, skimming through the text one by one in deep thought - when his soul began to shudder. Looking down at his chest, he began to see a dark orb forming in front of his body. He… would have been concerned, but Riven could tell that it was actually an extension of his soul aperture taking physical form just by looking at it.

“That’s weird.” Riven said, nudging Athela who looked up and began to frown. “Don’t worry it’s a piece of me, I can tell it’s not dangerous, but… do you have any idea what’s happening?”

Slowly she began to shake her head, and even Azmoth grunted in curiosity while beginning to ready himself just in case.

“That you?” Azmoth asked just for one more confirmation as the dark orb continued to expand.

Riven hesitantly nodded. “Yeah… don’t attack it. That’s a piece of my soul, I think. If you were to damage it, I may…”

His words cut off, and yet another notification appeared as his hand tightened around Athela’s - adding onto the ridiculousness he’d already experienced over the past day.

[Harbinger of gluttony, Sin Class, Secondary Class, has finally finished its construction. Harbinger Soul Clone is now finished. +2 Sturdiness, +9 Free Points per level will now be distributed with each level up.]

* Harbinger of Gluttony (Sin Class Title) - The Harbinger of Gluttony is the most basic sin class specific to the original sin of Gluttony and creates a superimposed wraith-like Soul Clone, a symbiote created from sin inside your body, allowing it to strike out at close distances to any nearby enemy. +2 sturdiness, +9 Free Points per level.

His body flickered with dark light, and it felt like a cold blanket had swept over his skin. Lifting one hand, he saw a dark afterimage of his arm trailing behind his movement before it superimposed itself over his current position. His legs were the same, almost flickering somewhat, before it all settled down and went away.

He didn’t feel much different otherwise, and he shot Athela and Azmoth both a look. “Uh… Any input as to what this ‘Soul Clone’ is, exactly?”