[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 18: Daemon’s Descension]
The Count is dead, his heir wants to kill you, and the Countess has her own agenda. None will let you leave. How will you return to the Marquess?
That’s a question for later. First, you need to escape the Stronghold, but that is easier said than done when Cressilin’s Army still wages war on the city. You need to make a choice: Escape the city and live... or stop Amoria. Unfortunately, it’s too late for the latter.
[Collapse]
Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm) Overall Objective:
* Last two weeks while being pursued by forces so that the stolen treasure you carry can be placed on the summoning ritual along with yourselves.
Sub-Objectives – Stage 11:
Compulsory:
* Leave the Stronghold before She In Her Scarlet Raiment Who Blesses With Vengeance descends.
Optional:
* Sabotage Cressilin’s army.
[]
[Completion Rate: 70%]
They returned to the Stronghold’s crystal core room, right when Amoria had entered. Lucy shared her plans with Scytale and he agreed with enthusiasm.
“Fascinating... I’m rather curious how two outsiders managed to break into the core room while the Count had sealed it.” Her long nails gored a line into the pedestal’s basin. Something had happened to grant her more physical strength than she had when threatening Lucille earlier. “But that is of no consequence. I offer a truce.”
“A truce?” Lucille smiled and crossed her arms. “What reason would we need a truce, Countess Amoria? We are the guests of the Count. Did you plan to kill us?”
The demoness inspected her gloved fingers. “Count Valdin has lost his Auctoritas. You may not know because you’re realm travellers, but every demon in the Stronghold felt his end.” Amoria gave them a wicked smile, showing her sharp incisors. “Everyone in this Dominion can become the new Lord of the Stronghold. The city has descended into chaos.”
“So?” Lucy raised an eyebrow. “What has that got to do with us?”
“Well, I happen to be aware that there is no more crystal core here because of the being you two angered,” Amoria stressed. She stretched out a hand, as if to offer a handshake. “Show me what it is that caught the Ancient Daemon’s attention and I’ll let you leave this Dominion.”
“Not return us to our realm?” Lucy pried.
The demoness chuckled lightly. “Let me keep that card for the time being. For the first matter, how about we negotiate a contract? Your safe passage in return for-”
“Amoria Nefas Infernalis!” a demon’s voice roared. “As the new Count of Valdin I order you to come before me!”
Amoria clicked her tongue and glanced back with a frown. “Stupid boy… he doesn’t understand that this whole Stronghold is slated to collapse within the next few hours.” She turned back to Lucy and Scytale. “What do you say? I can protect you from the Stronghold’s destruction and from my stepson.”
“Amoria! I will force my entry unless you reply!” Lord Valdin shouted.
Lucy looked at Scytale, who was still pretending to be enamoured by Amoria when in her presence, and carefully placed the vessel shard in his hands. “Fine. Could you tell me how you plan to use it?”
“It wouldn’t hurt, I suppose,” Amoria mused as Scytale slowly approached her with the fragment. She stretched out her hand to take it from the ‘enamoured’ Scytale…
The dented door of the core room shattered as Lord Valdin and his supporters barged into the room.
That was the distraction Lucy and Scytale needed. Scytale grinned and lobbed the vessel fragment at the Valdin heir. “Catch!”
Out of reflex the demon snatched the easily caught object and frowned at it.
Amoria turned on Scytale and glared at him. “You!”
Neither Scytale or Lucy wasted a moment and made a break for the exit. Amoria looked like she wanted to chase them, but the fragment was the higher priority. None of the other demons cared about the actions of Lucille and Scytale, considering they didn’t have the ability to claim the Stronghold in the first place.
Shouts and booms sounded behind Lucy and her bond as they navigated the Stronghold to access the main entrance. The weak servants scrambled in fear and they blended in with the escaping occupants, winding up in the city square.
They took a breather when they ended up there, far enough away for them to avoid the cross fire.
“We escape now, right?” Scytale said, looking around to make sure no demons had any ideas about them. “The Stages said were too late to stop Amoria. Even I know that the System is telling us we have no chance.”
Lucy didn’t immediately answer and looked at her left hand. The pact sigil gleamed a glossy black, and refused her attempts to hide it. She pulled her glove back on. “As we voluntarily chose to give Amoria the fragment, the Ancient Daemon will descend regardless of the vessel. I wanted to avoid this, but it seems like the System wants me to create a realm-transfer demonic circle to complete our objectives.”
She looked up at the sky, the clouds forming an uncanny vortex with the eye of the storm encompassing the city. Luminous orange flickered in the clouds… a colour Lucille had never seen in the Demon Realm’s skies. “Amoria said we had a couple of hours until the Stronghold collapses, correct?”
Lucy gave her bond a wry look. “What do you think of this plan?”
Scytale saw her thoughts and gained an evil grin.
...
[Sub-Objective Complete: Leave the Stronghold before She In Her Scarlet Raiment Who Blesses With Vengeance descends.]
[+6% Completion Rate]
[New! Completion Rate: 76%]
Scytale ignored the message as he hauled a sack over his shoulder. Something squirmed inside. He trudged through the chest-height grass towards the encampment of Viscount Cressilin’s Army.
Scytale parted the grass in front of him with one hand and entered a clearing. His boots stepped on twigs, snapping them and alerting the two demon scouts to his position.
They turned on him and raised their weapons. “Who are you?” a demonite soldier snarled.
“One of the two realm travellers who work for Count Valdin.” With that response, the two demons raised their weapons higher, but Scytale smirked. “You’ll regret it if you attack me now. I want to bargain with your leader.”
With that statement, he dropped the sack on the ground and opened the bag. There, tied up and gagged was Lucille, glaring at her bond and the two demons.
“My partner and the chalice in return for safe passage back to the human realm,” Scytale said with a smirk.
The two soldiers traded looks. Just as one was about to lunge forward and attack Scytale, planning on taking credit for the capture of the two of them, Scytale shot up in size as he activated his Primal Descendent beast form and bared his arm-length fangs at them both.
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“I won’t hesitate to kill you two weaklings myself,” he threatened. “Take me to your general, or I’ll take myself there.”
Nervously, the demons nodded and backed off. Scytale reverted to his human form and pulled the sack around Lucy again, hauling her over his shoulder.
One of demons followed behind Scytale, still pointing his weapon at him. He was lead by the other one to the encampment. Any demon Scytale made eye contact with snarled at him or spat on the ground, but Scytale couldn’t care less.
The leading demon approached the tallest tent. “The serpent realm traveller wishes to meet with the General.”
“Bring him in,” a voice boomed.
The demon lifted the tent flap to let Scytale and enter, then the two of them politely backed away and quickly left. Scytale remained standing on the rug in the centre of the room. He dumped the sack next to him and then…
Lucille sprang up from it with the ropes lying untied on the bottom of the sack. The gag lay dangling from her neck and she casually ripped it off.
“An honour to meet the general in charge of Viscount Cressilin’s forces,” she began, giving him a flamboyant bow. The General’s most powerful soldiers stood on either side of his chair, eyeing her with disdain and scepticism.
The General, a scarred, burly demon with ram horns on his head slammed the but of his war-axe on the compacted hard floor. Sparks of demonic power crackled from its tip. “For daring to scheme against me, you have one sentence to persuade me not to kill you here and now. Make it worth my time.”
At Lucy’s hinting, Scytale kneeled along with her. “Count Valdin is dead and the Dominion lies unclaimed,” she answered curtly.
The demon general narrowed his dark eyes at her. Everyone waited tensely for his answer, and then he nodded. “You are permitted to continue.”
“Thank you, your lordship.” Lucy looked up. “The Stronghold is divided amongst themselves. Countess Amoria is in conflict with the heir over who can gain the Auctoritas. The realm transfer circle is nowhere in sight and the demons who could send us back won’t do anything without orders from the new Count.”
“Continue,” was the brusque answer.
“Forgive me for making assumptions, but from what I understand the chalice we stole was only a pretext for Cressilin’s war against Valdin,” Lucille politely replied. “The actual item wasn’t important for Cressilin because demons can’t be harmed by normal poison.”
The General tapped his clawed fingers against the armrest. “You want us to give up the chase for you in return for entering the battle for the Dominion.” He bared his teeth. “Amusing. You think we’d spare all this effort to find you for a mere goblet?”
Lucy lowered her head. “I don’t. If you claim the Dominion... I’ll be the mediator for a discussion between my human lord and the Viscount. The Marquess will be willing to partner with a demon clan powerful enough to overtake the Valdin Dominion.”
That was the core issue. Lucille and Scytale weren’t being chased for only the chalice. Viscount Cressilin wanted to become the new contractor of the Marquess. Without Lucy and Scytale, he wouldn’t have a chance of contacting the Marquess. Ordinarily, this became a twist in the latter stages when one of the objectives was to use the chalice as bait for the army, and then it was revealed that the chalice held no importance, but with the way the stages were playing out... Lucille had abandoned all thoughts of sticking to the original ‘plot’.
The General of Cressilin’s army fell silent to consider the deal. Lucille patiently waited for him to make his decision, already sure of what he would choose.
The General stood up and marched forward. He gripped Lucy’s wrist and yanked her up. Heat burned from his hand to hers. “A contract,” he barked. “You will stay in this tent until I return victorious.” He gave her a vicious grin. “If I die, you will die also.”
He only let go of her wrist when she gave him a slow, shaky nod, pale and wide-eyed.
He left the tent with a sweep of his cape. “Prepare for battle!” he yelled. Armoured boots thundered across the ground as the army prepared to storm the Stronghold.
Scytale frowned at Lucy. “Are you okay? Now what do we do? That contract stops us from escaping the Ancient Daemon’s descent-”
A healthy tone returned to Lucille’s skin as she stood up and brushed herself off. “We have no time to waste. As soon as the army leaves we need to gain distance.”
“What about the contract?”
Lucy wordlessly raised her hand to show him the contract mark burned into her skin, forming a bracelet. As he watched, the demonic sigils flaked off and unravelled, disappearing. The Demon Emperor’s sigil gleamed red.
“Huh.” Scytale followed her out of the tent. They stood at the edge, watching the army march towards the city. “The General won’t notice?”
“He will eventually. Which is why we need to move right now. But first...” Lucille went over to a large tent, blatantly ignoring the protective demonic wards. She scanned the shelves inside and began taking materials harvested from demonic plants or beasts, then stuffing them into the sack she had brought back from the General’s tent. On one shelf was a few bottles of what looked like demon beast blood and she took that too.
“Alright.” Lucille held out the sack for her bond, who begrudgingly took it. “Let’s go.”
...
“Aren’t we too relaxed?”
Lucy, who had her eyes closed as she lay on the grass at the top of the hill, didn’t move. “Of course not. We have nothing to do until the results are achieved.”
Scytale slipped into his serpent form and snuck over to her. “Fine. I’m bored. Is there anything else I can do?”
“Wait for the light show to start.”
“Light show?”
A flash of lightning appeared in the vortex clouds above and Lucy sat up. “The sky of the Demon Realm only changes when a powerful demon has appeared.”
They watched as the lightning flashed with the orange and red clouds, illuminating a dark shape within.
Scytale squinted as he saw the shape move. “Wait...”
They stilled as pained roars sounded from the demon city below. As they watched with steadily widening eyes, an enormous demonic pentagram formed above the Stronghold. Red streams of energy flew up from the city streets to coalesce into a giant orb that overshadowed the city.
“Did all those demons...”
“Amoria sacrificed them to fuel the descension,” Lucille replied to Scytale’s unfinished question. “And the army were consumed in the ritual.”
The ball of demonic energy shot up through the vortex of clouds above just as the notification sounded for them both.
[Sub-Objective Complete: Sabotage Cressilin’s Army.]
[+4% Completion Rate]
[New! Completion Rate: 80%]
[Transferring Users.....]
...
[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 19: Hellawes Irandes Nefas Infernalis]
The first arrival of an Ancient Daemon to the Demon Realm in 200 millennia has occurred as a consequence of your misguided curiosity. Every demon within the realm has felt Her arrival. Cressilin’s army has been consumed to fuel Her descension and Amoria used the vessel fragment as a conduit to host the Daemon’s power.
Did you truly believe... She In Her Scarlet Raiment Who Blesses With Vengeance descended merely from her vessel being damaged? You saw the vessel for what it was. It was a fetter, binding Her to the space between realms. You’ve attracted attention beyond your qualifications.
You’ll answer to this realm’s Rulers if you don’t take responsibility for your actions.
[Collapse]
Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm) Overall Objective:
* Last two weeks while being pursued by forces so that the stolen treasure you carry can be placed on the summoning ritual along with yourselves.
Sub-Objectives – Stage 11:
Compulsory:
* Sever the bond between Amoria and She In her Scarlet Raiment Who Blesses With Vengeance to return the Ancient Daemon from whence She came.
[]
[Completion Rate: 80%]
There were few times that the System gave no optional objectives, but if it did, it meant they had a much more difficult compulsory objective.
Lucille and Scytale weren’t left with much time to ruminate on their objective though, because the swirling vortex of fiery clouds started circling at a higher speed. The hill they were on shuddered as demonic power screamed at them with intensity, a beacon of red light radiating from the Stronghold. The remains of the city collapsed into marble and stone chunks which melded with the ground.
The vortex above began to rotate faster and faster, winds roaring with full force. The rumbling clouds began to lower towards the ground. The earth thundered and swelled within the city, rising to meet with the cloud fall.
The new mountain and the storm tornado briefly touched... and the entire realm flashed as the energy around them grew heavier. It was as if... they were no longer surrounded by demonic power at all.
Mist rolled down from the skies to cloak the mountain of red rock. The new born mountain gained valleys and gorges, cliffs and faces as a pattern was carved out of it. The tall red grass surrounding the city flowed over the mountain to become robes. The fiery clouds that had touched down became flowing locks. The valleys and gorges were the shape and form of the body of the Ancient Daemon’s incarnation.
An inhuman, transcendental woman draped in scarlet robes, hair of flowing red and with eyes of solid, burning embers replaced what there had been of the realm’s natural phenomena. She remained as still as the statue that mirrored her, except for one difference – her demonic script was nowhere in sight, leaving pure white unblemished skin in its place. Each of her finger tips were large enough to cover the hill Lucy and Scytale stood on.
Slowly, as they watched, she turned her glowing eyes to gaze at them.
“Lucy, why aren’t we leaving?” Scytale hissed, feeling immensely nervous under the watch of the Great Being, a creature so far removed from them they had no way of comprehending if communication was possible.
“Where to?” Lucille replied with a tight smile, looking pale herself. “Omnipresence is one of the most minor abilities of a being that lives in a non-Euclidean realm.” Even though she said that, Lucy was unsheathing Apophis and Ouroboros.
A small speck in the distance drew their attention. With a flaming aura, the humanoid figure rose up and floated around eye-level with the Ancient Daemon. The figure pointed directly at their hill and Hellawes closed her eyes.
Dirt shifted beneath them and they found themselves being raised up on the palm of the colossal being. Her incarnation reconstructed itself before their eyes and they looked back to see the Daemoness within the city walls had crumbled into a sea of ash.
Scytale tried and failed to bite the hand of Hellawes, his fangs doing nothing to Her marble-like skin. “Crap, Lucy! What do we do?”
“The System wouldn’t give us an impossible task, let me think...” Lucy sped up her thoughts and tried to consider as many avenues as possible. “We have no chance against an incarnation right now. Then if we’re not meant to fight it-”
Light laughter sounded overhead and they looked up to see Amoria sitting on the other hand of the Ancient Daemon as if it were her throne. “Quite a spectacle, isn’t it? I don’t recall humans having their Primarchs at their beck and call.”
“I have to remind you of why you were able to call the Ancient Daemon here,” Lucy said through smirk, stealing glances at the incarnation which kept Her pupil-less gaze on them, completely indifferent.
“As a matter of fact, that is exactly what made me so curious about you two. Ordinarily, I would have no need for you after She descended, but...” Amoria tilted her head as she elegantly crossed one leg over the other. “Tell me, what did you do to instigate her descent? I so dearly want to know.”
What Amoria had said was right. Ordinarily, the demoness wouldn’t care about them. Something else was at play here. Unfortunately... Lucille didn’t know why the Ancient Daemon descended either. Normally she would’ve thought it was just a situation that the System forced to occur to test them, but the situation was so completely removed from anything she was used to when it came to the Stages that all she could rely on was improvisation.
“I don’t know,” Lucy stated blandly. “I’m not a demon. How would I know the mind of an Ancient Daemon when even its descendants don’t know.”
Amoria frowned. “You must.”
Lucille shook her head. “Could it be because my bond is a Primal Descendant?”
“Of course not,” Amoria scoffed. “I can tell it’s you that-” She shut up.
“It’s me that what?” Lucy pushed.
Amoria narrowed her eyes and then sighed. “I don’t have time for this. Fine then. I’ll tie up any loose ends here.” She snapped her fingers. “Hellawes dear, could you do the honours?”
Nothing happened. Not even a flicker of a response crossed the indifferent Ancient Daemon’s face.
Scytale saw the look of anger on Amoria’s face and gained a serpentine grin. “Oooh, you can’t control Her at all, can you? Beck and call, yeah right.”
“I’ll do it myself then,” Amoria hissed. She stood up and raised her hands. Two orange fireballs formed above either one. “Even if the Ancient Daemon is being uncooperative, I still have the power gained from our connection.”
Scytale reared up and hissed as he grew to his Primal Descendant size. He launched himself from Hellawes’ hand and flew towards Amoria, light gathering in his mouth to fire at the demoness.
Lucille pointed an index finger at Amoria and summoned her own mana, creating a jagged ice shard to pierce through the fiery flames of Ira’s power. As it was only a way to test the demoness’s capabilities, it didn’t have much force behind it, but Amoria smirked.
She flicked a finger... and a flaming shard hit Lucille’s chest. The world went white as she was instantly killed, sending them both to the empty limbo space.
Scytale gave her a flat look as Lucy sighed and ran a hand through her fringe. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
A demoness borrowing the reflective abilities of an Ancient Daemon would be quite the difficult target.