Tabula and I stood in the special meeting hall that she had once prepared to greet visiting diplomats from the kingdom. It was an isolated space within EDEN, and the only place I felt comfortable fulfilling my promise to a certain grouchy familiar living in my body.
“Here goes.” I said as I selected the highlighted skill
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Soul Birth: Summon Ready. Soul Thirst has consumed enough souls to manifest your Soul Familiar (Baelphegor: Prince of Sloth and Lost Technologies) -
**Warning this will permanently consume all stored Souls and remove Soulthirst from your Skill List.**
Summon Soul Familiar and consume all stored Souls? Yes/No
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I confirmed, and for a long moment nothing happened. A rumbling in my stomach was my only warning as something shot up my throat, and began pouring from my nose and mouth like thick black smoke. It was not a pleasant feeling. It spewed forth for a solid ten seconds, forming a huge cloud above the platform. Within the cloud I could feel unspeakable power and malice, red lightning played through the cloud, and it began to condense. When it was finally all out I felt incredibly relieved. I didn't even realize I had been so uncomfortable, but with that pressure gone I could really breathe and think straight.
The form grew more defined, and I was certain that whatever this was would dwarf even Yugal. I was wrong. Soon it was no larger than a basketball, and then features began to form.
I sighed and lifted an eyebrow at the demon. Baelphegor, Prince of Sloth was a kitten, literally. He was inky black with huge sparkling silver eyes. Aside from the curly ram horns on his head and little bat wings, he was about as cute of a thing as anyone has ever seen. I could see Tabula behind him turn stiff as a board as her normally cool eyes widened.
“Gaze upon a true prince of Hell and tremble. Despair, foolish human, for daring to delay my glorious incarnation!” I heard those words in my head, but all that came from the tiny whiskered mouth was a disarming “Mew, Mew!” then a confused “Mew?”
Guess they can’t all be winners after all. I reached down and lifted Baelphegor by his scruff. As I walked toward Tabula, a stream of threats and curses flooded my thoughts. He would need to learn some manners.
“Here you go, Tab.” I held him out in her direction and he was ripped from my hand as if by magic. Baelphegor’s large eyes went even wider as her trembling hands and overexcited presence caused him to turn his head. “He’s all yours.”
“You can’t leave me with this... what is this person exactly!?” The haughty tone was slowly melting into concern, then outright panic. “How is anyone this strong?”
“Promise fulfilled. Try not to die, oh mighty prince of the litter box.” I wished my new familiar luck and left the area. I had enough on my plate already, let Tabula train the noob.
The kingdom had been given an ultimatum. In less than two days I would be accepting their surrender or removing their leadership by force. I was also anxiously awaiting news about my missing girls. X’lyssa assured me it was as good as solved, and was currently working her way through the entire restaurant menu.
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My next most pressing issue was my newest Crusibilis Knight defector. I found her standing in the same rigid pose as before in the interior courtyard, a place in EDEN I rarely visited. It was a beautifully landscaped garden with meandering paths and park benches placed here and there. She was being kept company by Niiya and Sapphire whom I had asked to meet us here.
“Hello again.” I greeted warmly. “Sorry but could you tell me your name one more time?”
“I am Nadira Chronomaggius.” The djinn reminded me politely. “Thank you for bringing me here. It is much more comfortable than the stone mountains.” She spoke to me but her gaze was locked onto Sapphire.
“Looks like you really are just frozen like that, huh.” I shook my head. That collar was a hell of a thing. “Well, let’s get you free then.”
“No force or magic can remove this artifact, I’m afraid.” She sounded apologetic.
“Yep. And you can’t kill a leviathan with just a school of jellyfish and a ton of patience.” I grinned, recalling Paul’s face as I had done that exact thing in a water themed Abyss. “Sapphire, try to make a copy of that collar Nadira is wearing.”
“Right away.” Sapphire nodded and put her index finger on the collar.
I waited for the skill to fail and break the collar. The chances of her low skill duplicating a Mythic item had to be near zero after all.
“Here you go, Lord Gray.” Sapphire handed me the copy of
“Ohh... kay.” I held my head as conflicting waves of hype and frustration collided in the center of my skull. “Try again please.”
This time the skill properly failed, and the collar around the djinn’s neck dissolved without a trace. Nadira blinked slowly and reached with a purple skinned hand to her neck. She collapsed onto the bench next to her and tears flooded her cheeks.
“Grats.” I gave a thumbs up and turned to give her some privacy.
“Wait.” Dang. Almost escaped. “I am a djinn with no master.” Her voice was still a bit broken up but she sounded weirdly firm.
“Yep. Totally free.” I affirmed. “Awesome, right?”
“No.” Nadira answered bluntly. “The gods will not tolerate a free djinn.”
“Says who?” I asked, a little annoyed by the concept. “Sounds like a scam to prevent an uprising to me.”
“Well. That’s exactly what it is. She should know.” Nadira timidly pointed at Sapphire. “The Almiraj started an uprising against the heavens. The gods exterminated all but a handful, the rest had their horns broken and became the first of my kind.”
“So? Did a divine lightning bolt strike you dead when the collar broke? Did Sapphire get smited when she became an Almiraj?” I crossed my arms. “I’ve met some of the pantheon of this world and they seem pretty half assed about keeping up on their promises.”
The first hint of a genuine smile touched Nadira’s face.
“Try out freedom for awhile. Travel around. Help somebody that didn’t make you. Pick a fist fight with a dragon. Read a bad book. If you hate it, put this on and pick a master you actually like.” I tossed her the collar and saw her eyes widen and then lower in thought. “Coming kiddo?” I asked Niiya as I turned to leave once again.
“Can’t.” She frowned in apology as she caught up to walk beside me. “Mr. Yugal wants to practice his new stuff. Said I’d help.”
“Aww that does sound fun. Wish I could do that instead of these meetings.” I was a little let down but not very. “Have fun and don’t take it easy on him.”
“Mm.” She answered as she skipped past me.
I watched her leave, noting with some sadness that she had grown even more today.
For all that freedom talk earlier, I sure didn’t feel all that free. "After this shit show with the kingdom wraps up, I’ll take a vacation. There’s plenty of talent here I can delegate the politics to." That little personal declaration was enough to lighten my steps as I made my way to yet another meeting.
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Pinthalak examined the remains of yet another mutilated demon beast in the immense mushroom forest. This one had been a black lion with whip like tentacles growing from its back. This area had a high concentration of predatory monsters, they were drawn here because this was the most common spawning area for demons banished from the mortal world. Pinthalak knew this forest extremely well, and considered himself lucky to be an imp blessed with both flying and invisibility.
Six of X’lyssa’s most elite soldiers accompanied the fel imp as they searched for the missing half blood demons. Three were naga type demon females with six arms and unrivaled skill in wielding their six curved swords. The other three were rarely seen, and had little to note in terms of features. They were shadow devils, able to manifest within any shadow in the area. The trail of corpses was concerning, for it led in the direction of this mushroom forest’s ruler.
“If they’ve made contact with him, then all may be lost.” Pinthalak muttered.
“The mistress will simply destroy us and send us to search in the next layer. We may yet meet the fiends of the pit before this mission ends.” One of the naga hissed.
Pinthalak gulped at the thought, and stepped up his pace.