The next day went by much the same. We were still walking close enough that we could reach our destination and back on foot without the logistics of transports getting in the way yet.
Copper continued to seek me out during the parts where we had to work together. I tried to “play nice” with him. He escalated in response, calling me by increasingly infuriating endearments and playing up the implicit menace in his wordplay. He never actually threatened me, but the behavior was unsettling. (1)
Every time he did, Marie’s scowl grew fiercer. She blamed me. I still managed to restrain my temper. I didn’t escalate past cold civility and involuntary tells. Eventually, on the trip home, he gave up.
I headed to the Cafeteria, exhausted. K had announced that this week food and drink would be provided for free, but starting next week, everyone would be expected to work for their meals. K had also promised that volunteers would be compensated for their efforts, and that it would count for that work. The selection at the Cafeteria wasn’t as diverse as it had been when classes were running, but I had a choice between lasagna, chicken soup, or a sandwich.
I grabbed a plateful of lasagna and sat at an empty table.
“Ashlyn.” Copper said, from behind me.
I tried not to visibly react. I considered, absently, that I could abandon my food. The lunch box I was provided had been generous, and I was certain if I asked, March could arrange for me to receive two tomorrow. That would be showing fear though, and that seemed dangerous. Copper would just find me at another time.
“Copper.” I said, instead.
“You’ve been excessively polite today. What’s binding you?” Copper asked.
“Marie wants us to stop fighting on the job.” I said, “I’d figured she’d talked to both of us about it, so I didn’t mention it. She didn’t?”
“Indeed.” Copper said, “It’s hardly shocking. She detests you, though her reasons are a mystery to me.”
“What are you up to?” I sighed.
“You’re tedious.” Copper mocked, “You demand all the answers and answer no questions. Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’ve tangled me in your schemes.”
“I’m not up to anything.” I said, “The scheme is done. I have your friendship, and that’s all I needed.”
“You are impressively squandering your ability to lie.” Copper said, “Maybe you would like to sell me the Lost Scythe of Queen Flora or an Angel’s Heart? Perhaps you have a duchy I am set to inherit? Any of those would be equally plausible.” (2)
“I get powers from bonds and friendships, both past and present. They’re based on their source’s powers and nature.” I answered, “I wanted an ability that could mess with attributes, so I needed your friendship, or someone with similar abilities. I have the ability now, at least for as long as the pact lasts. The scheme is finished.”
Copper stared at me in disbelief.
I glared back, “It’s the truth.”
Copper laughed, “At the minimum, it is a more competent deception than your previous attempt. Forgive me, dearest ally, if I take my time to research this before I return. If I believe you, I will tell you what I intended, and what I intend.”
He walked away, and I went back to my lasagna.
---
[You have helped rescue 126 people! 42 Moonlight Shards have been awarded!]
[You have killed a massive quantity of Shadowbeasts! +73,183 Potential, +7,318 Net Quanta!]
[You have 74,761 Potential and 24,260 Quanta]
[You have spent 6,400 Potential to upgrade “Melody’s Reprise” from level 7 to level 8!]
[You have spent 6,400 Potential to upgrade “Lake of the Sacrificed” from level 7 to level 8!]
[You have spent 6,400 Potential to upgrade “Fae Glass Dancer” from level 7 to level 8!]
[You have spent 27,964 Potential to upgrade Physique from 40 to 100]
[You have spent 27,300 Potential to upgrade Dream Durability from 44 to 100]
[You have 297 Potential Remaining!]
---
The day after, we went into the depths of the city, and I was forced to ride on a jury rigged roof seat on a bus. We had been directed to take three buses, with drivers, into the city to help with the evacuation. Copper and Marie had been spared this fate. Marie had her horse summon, which could probably outpace a car, and Copper had managed some form of wing spell that let him at least outpace a bike. Ultimately, with the constant flood of monsters, faster than a bike would be adequate, while ‘faster than on foot’ was not.
My scaling was starting to lose ground, though I was still killing everything that came my way in seconds. Admittedly, my decision to focus on rebalancing my stats probably hadn’t helped, but it didn’t feel like a mistake. If I wanted to be able to handle anything that could survive to get in range, I needed to invest something into boosting my other stats.
[Blood of the Sacrificed] wasn’t actually a good DPS skill. The only reason I could use it as such was because I was ahead in both stats and skill quality from where I should have been. It was still working to cut down the Shadowbeasts, but what had been taking a second when we left the dungeon now would take four. Copper and Marie were managing to pick off the strongest and most durable a lot more often than before.
Even so, it was still slower going than the previous trip. Not only were we heading farther in, but with the increased monster population, we had to stop and kill them off more often. To make matters worse, I had less margin for [Blood of the Sacrificed] to take them down before the buses were in danger.
The routine still worked on my side, though it seemed like Copper and Marie’s part in the evacuation took longer. That might have only been because the buildings were taller, however. The fight was even more profitable than it had been last time, and by the end of it, all three buses were uncomfortably packed with people.
Copper was more restrained with his provocations. He still did it, but he challenged himself to scare me without saying a word. Past a certain point, it began to feel absurd rather than hostile. His affectations grew to be cartoonishly malevolent rather than meaningfully malicious. I burst out laughing at an attempt to be scary at least once. (3)
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By the time we got back, it was an hour after dark. I headed to the cafeteria again. I had decided that avoiding Copper wouldn’t work. if he wanted to bicker with me, he could find me.
This time, as I sat down with a plateful of salad and a burger, Marie spotted me and came storming up.
“Diabolist.” Marie angrily greeted me with.
I scowled, “I don’t summon demons. I’m a Dreamer.”
“I’m not an idiot.” Marie said, “I recognize Eris’ power. Your favorite tricks are Diabolism.”
“Regardless of the origin of my powers, copying a Dark Goddess’ tricks doesn’t make me a Diabolist.” I said, “Dreamers mimic people’s tricks.”
“Selling your soul to a demon queen does.” Marie said, “Why did you?”
“I don’t owe you any explanations, but here’s one. I didn’t.” I said.
“Explain, unless you want me to believe you’re a monster.” Marie scowled.
“I needed power.” I answered, “Without power, I couldn’t save myself,or anyone else. If I could get enough power in a better way, I might’ve chosen that. But saving people is what matters, not how you save them.” (4)
“You believe that’s worth your soul?” Marie demanded.
“Are you deaf? I still have my soul.” I answered, “But speaking theoretically? Maybe. If I help more than I would otherwise, yes.”
“I can feel her stain on your soul, Diabolist.” Marie said, “Your soul’s been twisted by her poisoned gifts.”
“I paid for those so-called gifts.” I said, “They aren’t twisting my soul, either.” (6)
“They are. You’re my enemy.” Marie said.
“I’m not the one who decided that.” I said, “I’d be happy to play nice with you.”
“You decided to stand against righteousness.” Marie said, “I didn’t start this war. You chose to stand with heaven’s enemy.”
I shrugged, “Fair enough. Do we have to fight now? I won’t make the first move, unless existing counts.”
Marie sighed, “Fine. We’ll have a truce until the end of the evacuation, Princess of Hell. After that, heaven will come for you.”
I smiled back, “To make it equally clear, Marie, you are welcome to try.”
“As long as we understand each other.” She said, and offered me a hand.
I shook it, and she nodded gravely and walked off.
I grinned at her back. If she thought I was the Princess of Hell, K was probably safe. At the minimum, I’d ensured that I would be targeted alongside her. At the maximum, I might’ve saved K already. (7)
That didn’t mean I had any idea what I was doing, or what I would be facing. I mean, I knew a little bit about the Paradise of Purified Wrath, the actual name of what Marie called heaven, and what they wanted, but this was outside my knowledge. I’d never gotten involved until months down the line, well after K had been assassinated.
I knew a little bit. K’s was a Taleborn. Taleborns could, if they had enough faith behind them, reform after their bodies were destroyed. K definitely had enough faith for at least one rez. In order to definitely kill a Taleborn, you needed to cut through all their faith. They’d need to trap K somewhere where they could destroy all her divinity at once. If they wasted the trap on me, that would be unreasonably expensive for them, and might completely ruin their scheme.
Anywhere like that would inherently be closer to a dream than the physical world was. I suspected Marie would be stronger there, but I knew for a fact that the powers I’d gotten from Eris would be.
More troublingly, the Paradise was ahead of schedule. They didn’t normally get to make a move until at least a month in, not this early. What changed that?
There wasn’t any hope of resolving my worries now. What would happen, would happen. In the meanwhile, I had to just get ready.
I finished my meal and went to bed. I dreamed of Eris.
---
(1) I knew he was poking at me because of the contract. Without it, there would be no reason to approach me. That made the menacing endearments much safer than they would otherwise be.
(2) This was a list of common Fae hoaxes. “The Lost Scythe of Queen Flora” was a mythical weapon that had allowed a standard human to accrue power equal to a Duke in a single lifetime. The actual properties were that it harvested all of a fae’s power when it killed one. Nearly any other method would only harvest a small slice. Of course, the scythe wasn’t actually lost, or usable. He knew exactly where he was. He wouldn’t let anyone use him again.
Nearly all “Angel Hearts” on the goblin markets were artificial hoax items, sold to people who couldn’t afford the real thing and didn’t know better. They weren’t useless, because most buyers were more savvy than that, but almost none of them actually came from Angels.
Not only is claiming someone inherited a fortune a common scam for humans, but Fae don’t tend to respect blood inheritance. If you were an heir to a Fae noble, you would know that. They wouldn’t leave their fortune to someone they’d never met, and they wouldn’t let their heir grow up in obscurity - the only way you could have that happen is if you were already heir to a stronger noble. The scams’ targets were almost never nobility.
(3) I flinched immediately afterwards. Copper might not have been competent at being scary, but Fae were Vicious.
(4) I really believed that. At some point during this crisis, I had decided that I was going to have as much fun with it as I could, and “win” this apocalypse. Ultimately, for me, that meant saving everyone I could, and helping in every way I could. That was how I was going to keep score. (5)
(5) My power fantasy has always been being able to help everyone with no effort. I obviously am nowhere near that point yet, but I’m still much closer than I was as an isolated CS major.
(6) Even if they were, I knew Eris’ nature. Her soul wouldn’t make me a danger to other people, only to myself.
(7) Now all I would need to do was slip out of the trap without dying. K might’ve been more valuable for me, but I wouldn’t trade my life for hers if I could help it. An ambush intended to deal with one foe might not work for another.
---
Ashlyn's Statsheet
Ashlyn's Gear Physique Dream Potency Dream Manipulation Dream Borders Dream Durability Fae Glass Dancer (B, Lv. 8) 2 2 2 0 0 Usurpation By Fire (B, Lv. 8) 0 0 0 3 3 Melody's Reprise (B, Lv. 8) 0 0 4 0 0 Lake of the Sacrificed (B, Lv. 8) 0 2 2 2 2 Internal Apocalypse (S, Lv. 4) 0 4 0 0 0 Total Gear Multiplier (1 + sum of not-conflicting modifiers) 3 9 9 6 6
Ashlyn's Stats True Base Value + Achievements Total Base Value Gear Multiplier Final Value (Always rounds down) Physique 100 1 101 3 303 Dream Potency 100 1 101 9 909 Dream Manipulation 100 1 101 9 909 Dream Borders 100 1 101 6 606 Dream Durability 100 1 101 6 606