“Ahh!” The startled rapier wielding man screamed as Asmodeus sank his fangs into his neck.
My dragon’s eye burned as I watched the red and black aura get sucked out of the black-haired man. It looked as if my little dragon was leeching the life force from him.
“Get off me you cur!” The man shouted as he thrashed about and tried to slap Asmodeus away as if he was an annoying, deadly fly. “Guards! Help me!”
His pleas fell on deaf ears as the terrified guardsmen watched in horror, eyes wide and mouths agape. To a man, they appeared to be terrified.
“That’s the power of a demon lord!”
“It can’t be.”
“By the gods, is it the end of days?”
“Don’t be foolish, it must be a monster, perhaps a tiny succubus?”
Asmodeus suddenly stopped his feasting for a moment to glare at the last man to speak, who fell to his knees as he, presumably, saw the little dragon’s aura burst out in a furious black fire which surrounded his tiny body.
Instinctively I moved my hand to my dragon’s eye as it burned in my eye socket. However, despite the warmth, there seemed to be no pain.
The same couldn’t be said for the unfortunate guard who had earned Asmodeus’ ire though. He clutched at his eyes and fell to the ground as smoke rose from between his fingertips.
“I AM NOT A TINY SUCCUBUS!” Asmodeus roared in a voice that was so loud it drowned out even the chanting from the nearby protestors.
“Azzy, stop!” Bell pleaded, clutching her own eyes as steam began to emanate from them and thin trails of blood leaked from them like scarlet mascara tears.
It seemed to fall on death ears and the dragon turned his attention back to the man whose neck he bit into once more. The guard on the floor sighed for a moment and then looked up, removing his hands to reveal charred sockets where his eyes should have been.
Blood and viscera flowed down his face, but from the grim smile upon it, you’d wouldn’t have guessed.
“Thank you oh merciful one for sparing my life!” He said in a grateful and awestruck voice.
Who was this idiot to thank a dragon for scorching his eyes out? That didn’t matter now though. All of the other guards in the area were clutching their faces and for some reason I was the only one who wasn’t properly affected. I needed to act.
I ran towards my dragon and grabbed him, tugging hard, yet as I staggered backwards, so did the black-haired man. Asmodeus’ jaw strength must have been incredibly strong to be able to latch on so tightly to a man.
Damn it! I thought, it’s like playing tug of war with a Pitbull, but then I recalled the system message I’d gotten when he’d first appeared.
Asmodeus (Soul Bonded)
Due to your use of the Chaos Seed, a small fragment of the demon lord Asmodeus had remained in the mortal plane.
Possessing a miniscule amount of his powers and personality, he has hatched as a demon familiar, taking on a shape imposed on him by the imprinted soul to which he is bonded.
As a soul bonded familiar, Asmodeus cannot directly disobey your commands.
Make sure you house train him.
Presumably, if I commanded him to stop he would have to listen, if the message was accurate. It was worth a try.
“Asmodeus!” I bellowed as loudly as I could to make sure he could hear me above the riotous noises coming from all around us. “I command you to release this man and stop burning people’s eyes out, you’re hurting Bell.”
He gave me a defiant, sideways glance and continued his life sucking as red and black aura left the man’s new neck holes and was adsorbed by the dragon.
Then, suddenly, he stopped.
“Arrg!” He exclaimed, dropping to the floor and covering his head with his wings. “Damn you human, let me feast!”
“I said no,” I replied sternly, like a trainer scolding a dog.
“F-fine,” he relented, “just make this infernal pain in my head cease.”
I didn’t really know what he meant, but if I had to guess, it must have been physically painful for him to disobey me. That had to have been what the system message meant when it said that he couldn’t.
What a barbaric form of control, I thought with a grimace. Then again, the system could have easily messed with me and given me a squirt bottle or a clicker or something. At least this worked.
I didn’t like seeing him in pain though, something inside me felt oddly empathetic towards him. Perhaps it was a biproduct of the soul bond? Either way, at least my command had worked.
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“Wow,” Bell panted as she trotted up next to me, that was really… something. Are you a dragon or a vampire?” She asked Asmodeus who looked at her bleeding eyes and lowered his head, looking away.
“This is why you don’t bond with a…” Sally said, shooting a look at the dragon. I was thankful she didn’t outright call him a demon lord in front of the guards.
Her top was bloodied, bisected by a deep gash which scarred her from shoulder to naval. I wasn’t sure why she’d been duelling the man with the rapier, but if he’d managed to land a hit on her that badly, he must have been good. Possibly even beyond the level cap.
“G-guards,” he said breathlessly, as if on cue, “arrest them, arrest all of them. That dragon needs to be put down immediately.”
I turned towards him to see his bleeding eyes shooting daggers at me as he lifted his rapier with an unsteady hand and cupped his neck wound with the other. Scarlet blood dripped from his formally pristine black uniform and the tips of his hair were matted with it, giving him the look of a noughties emo with dip dyed hair.
“I just saved your life,” I growled, feeling something primal rouse within me, “and I can just as easily sic my dragon back on you.”
I was seething and I didn’t even know why. I hadn’t had the best day, true, but under normal circumstances I considered myself to be a pretty reasonable fellow. Not today, however.
Asmodeus looked up at me with greedy eyes as I mentioned letting him suck the life force from the man, and I realised that the eyes of every other person in the circle were on me too.
There was a tense atmosphere as I looked around at the injured guards. Fear, scorn, loathing, I saw all of that and more in there bleeding eyes.
Bell’s expression told me that she was ready to back me up at a moment’s notice, Sally, however, seemed unsure. Had she not just been fighting this man herself? What was that look for?
Her dark blue eyes were piercing as she gazed at me from the floor, a meaty palm pushing into her chest wound as she attempted to stem the bleeding.
“I am the captain of the guard,” the rapier wielding man replied after a moment, “threatening me is the same as threatening all of Cali Port, do you really think you are strong enough to best an entire city?”
“I don’t need to,” I said coldly, “I just need to let my dragon kill you. Which of your men would dare to face me after watching that? You saw his power, just look at their faces, they’re terrified.”
Murmurs escaped the crowd of guards who looked at each other uncertainly and I knew I was right.
“What were you even fighting about?” I asked Sally, making a point of turning my back on the captain.
“Nothing important,” she muttered, “we used to know each other a long time ago, wanted to settle an old score.”
I looked at her face for a moment as it twitched and she looked away from me. I wanted to know more but now wasn’t the time to pry.
“We need to report back to the director… remember?” Panda said, tugging lightly on my trouser leg.
I nodded.
“Sally, can you walk?” I asked.
She nodded at me and struggled to her feet, a shallow pool of blood began to gather beneath her and I passed her a healing potion from my inventory.
“That won’t work,” she said, “or I’d have already taken one myself. His blade is magic, normal potions can’t stop the bleeding.”
“Are you ignoring me?” The captain asked incredulously, “guards, do as I order and arrest these scoundrels!”
A few men took steps towards us but were halted as Bell summoned fireballs into her palms.
“Sorry boys,” she said with a smirk, “but I can’t let you do that.”
“Are you deaf?” The captain erupted, “fine then, I guess I’ll have to do it myself and the lot of you will be on half rations for the rest of your pitiful careers!”
He took a step forward, pointing his blade directly at Bell’s chest. She glanced up at him and rolled her eyes.
“You’ll never take me alive copper!” She yelled, casting both fireballs at the man’s face from close range.
The captain made to dodge but he wasn’t fast enough and his clothes erupted in a sea of flames. Fortunately for him, he still managed to slice through the fireballs and save his face.
Summoning my dagger, I performed a pirouette and was on him before he had time to recover. I slashed downwards at the nape of his neck and he flicked his rapier over his head with a flash, blocking my attack.
“You are resisting lawful arrest!” He called at us as Bell blasted another fireball his way, which he successfully dodged.
Using her attack as a distraction, I dropped into a crouch and sliced at his Achilles tendon but he must have been a mind reader because halfway through my attempted slash he threw his leg out in a powerful back kick, disarming me as my dagger sailed through the sky.
I rolled backwards with the force of his blow and withdrew my bow as Bell began blasting him with a quick chain of fireballs.
Panda dived to the side and Sally summoned her oversized sword, getting it in front of her body just in time to save herself from the excess flame which exploded out of the area attack.
The captain dashed towards Bell in a zig zag motion, slicing through each of her attacks with ease before shoulder barging her backwards.
With a grunt, she staggered back into the waiting arms of two burly guardsmen who grabbed her from behind and held her still as they struggled to close manacles on her wrists.
As this was happening I pulled back the drawstring on my bow and channelled my Soul Shot, lining up the strike for the dead centre of the rapier wielder.
Even if he tries to block this it’ll still do some damage, I thought as I loosed my arrow.
The arrow exploded from my bow string with a deafening crack as it broke the sound barrier. The backdraft from the shot blew a devastating force of air behind me which knocked three advancing guards off their feet, they hit the ground with a thud.
The captain spun masterfully and batted my arrow with the flat of his blade, causing it to go off course and head directly for the crowd of protestors.
Oh shit, I thought, if that hits them there will be God knows how many civilian deaths on my hands. That bastard.
Just as the arrow whizzed past Sally’s head, shortening one side of her hair by a few inches, a powerful crack emanated across the battlefield.
“THAT IS ENOUGH!” Freja shouted as she appeared in front of the protestors as if out of nowhere, catching my arrow with her bare hand and snapping it in two with a clenched fist.
Veins popped in her forehead, her scarlet hair seemed to defy gravity as it floated around her beautiful, if contorted, face.
She strode towards us like a furious runway model, her heeled boots clacking against the ground menacingly with each step.
“Does someone want to explain to me just what in Athena’s name is going on here?” She asked, her eyes bulging and her jaw clenching with every word she forced from her lips.
The captain was the first to speak.
“T-these miscreants attacked me,” he whined like a little bitch.
“Are you telling the teacher on us?” Bell asked, still struggling with her guards, “snitches get stiches!”
Freja shot her an icy look and she went quiet.
“Right,” she said, “I want to see all of you in my office immediately. Bickering in the streets like children is unbecoming of Adventure Society professionals.”
The captain, showing either extreme bravery, or extreme stupidity, stepped towards the director, pointing his rapier at her throat.
“They are in my custody,” he began, “you might be the queen of your little rag tag group of misfits, but in Cali Port, I am the law.”
She backhanded him in the face and he flew across the circle, crashing into a group of his men.
“Holy fuck,” I breathed.
“My office,” she said once more, taking the time to look between each of us. “Now!”