The Demon Lord was so tall that even with Kaden standing on a roof, Kaden had to look up to meet the gaze. Which Kaden did. Like with Asmodeus, Limey carried a presence that was sheer pressure, making it hard to speak. Except, the attribute boost to Willpower contributed here. “We accidentally found ourselves in your business territory. You could try to kill us, but that would disrupt business. I’m happy to leave. I’m even happy to let your [Grahts] chase me out. I just don’t want more trouble.”
“You. Corrupted Asmodeus’s adopted daughter so she betrayed him.” If it bothered Limey that Kaden could speak, it didn’t show.
Beside him, Sara wasn’t crying, but obviously struggling against the presence.
“I swear before the System that was a lie.” Kaden held up his hand. “I swear I did not actually corrupt Nasky, I convinced Asmodeus she had. Twice. Once he disowned her as a daughter, once he stripped her Class.”
Your oath is heard and verified: Did not successfully seduce a Demon’s Daughter to betray her Father.
Limey’s eyes widenend, and he grinned, showing rows upon rows of needle-like teeth. “How magnificient. How delightful. And what of the Wayward Daughter?”
Kaden drew Nasky’s core from Inventory. “I [Bound] her with [Binding Mark]. But she hasn’t reformed because I’m reluctant to make the whole ‘living sacrifice’ thing.”
This time, the Demon Lord threw back his head and roared with laughter. “You ask I let you leave. I demand you let me reform her. It is not enough to see her slumber under another’s control. I want to gaze upon her despair.”
This worried Kaden. Nasky had been safe to handle because she lacked the power to form a body. He’d be forced to rely on the Binding—or to gut her. But guttting one Demon’s Daughter beat fighting his way through dozens of Grahts, even assuming Limey didn’t join in. “You can reform her. But she stays [Bound] to obey me.”
You have granded Demon Lord Xik’limee’deus (‘Limey’) permission to empower [Disowned Demon’s Daughter Nasky].
Kaden set down the core and backed away.
Limey held out a clawed hand over it, and energy began to flow. Not Mana. This wasn’t mana the way darkness wasn’t light. It seeped down into the white cracks in the Core, which bubbled and oozed clear goo. The goo expanded, growing thicker, and within it, bones took shape and muscles knit themselve from end to end, growing thicker.
Pale pink skin grew over the body, stretching from toe to heel, then up the legs and over the torso, then swelling to form curves. The head was the last to receive skin, and hair, long silver hair that errupted from the scalp.
Nasky gasped in a breath and sat upright, opening purple eyes that blazed with hatred. “If it takes me eternity, I will kill the [PolyMage]. If—where am I?”
Then she looked to Limey, and spoke in demon speak, kneeling before him.
“No.” Limey said, crossing his arms. “You are a broken tool, unfit to serve me. So serve him.”
Nasky looked back at Kaden.
He’d secretly hoped that deep down, the Demon’s Daughter was a victim. That they could eventually trust each other. Perhaps even be friends, before he freed her to seek a life of righting all the wrongs she’d commited in the service of her demon masters.
The rage on her face obliterated that fantasy. “You.”
Kaden activated the [Binding Mark] skill.
She kneeled before him, even as she fought with every inch of her will to attack him. To slice and rip and tear.
But the increase in WillPower had made Kaden that much stronger. Her will was nothing. “You made me your prey. I made you my pet. When Trella is resurrected? I’ll let her kill you for the Demon Title. Until then, you do as I say.” Kaden smiled.
Limey’s grin could have swallowed a cow whole. “You won’t get a Demon Title from her. Which one do you want? Feared by Demons is almost unheard of. You want Hated by Demons, don’t you?”
“What I really want is to leave. This is your domain. I have no desire to challenge you yet. One day, when I’m level fifty? Maybe.” Kaden dragged Naski into Inventory.
“One day? I’d squash you like a bug. And what reason do we have to fight? I bind Daughters and force them to obey. You, too, do so. I rule through fear. I can see the shadow of Destiny on you already. Go, [Beast Master]. You’ll wreak more havoc than I ever could. I’m just evil.” The Demon Lord smiled as he turned and lumbered toward a [Cultist] on his knees.
Kaden didn’t hesitate. “Sara, you ok to move?”
“How did you ever face that in Hell?”
He picked her up and leaped off the second story, landing lightly, and began to run, faster and faster until he passed a line of Grahts. They were back in Trade-Rite’s alliance. “I had help. I’m convinced Viktor was shielding me from Asmodius, I could barely speak without saying my name. Everything started with ‘I am Kaden Birch!’”
Sara settled back onto her feet. “Funny how you left that part out. I can understand why. I think I could get used to it. I think next time, I won’t be silent in the face of a Demon Lord.”
“I’m more aiming at not being a next time,” Kaden said.
“We should tear Nasky’s core out of that body. She’ll be less of a threat with no arms, legs, or anything.”
Kaden couldn’t help agreeing. “The increase in WillPower makes her controllable but it’s the smart thing to do. We should hole up at the Necrosium and deal with her there.”
Sara moved easier with every step, muttering under her breath about ‘next time.’ The Necrosium bulged out, still bone white, but surrounded by dozens of undead. Tomb Champions, Bone Behemoths, even the lowly skeletons stood guard.
Kaden pulled Skully from Inventory and dropped him to follow. The undead moved aside to let them pass through the mouth-door of the Necrosium. Just inside, a pair of level fifty Necromancers stood with black spirits hovering behind them. “State your business—oh, it’s you. Go on, Duggarn is still in the Market, but he left orders that you were welcome.”
Inside, the Necrosium hummed like a hive filled with life. Death, but also life, and death. Ghastly spirits blasted through halls, and every twenty steps a set of angry people in black or very dark shades of gray stomped by.
“Ymersist!” Kaden shouted as the Litch swooped past. “This place is full!”
*Verily. The crimes against us must be answered for. Didst thou find what thou sought?*
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The Wraith towered above Kaden, but he wasn’t afraid. “Not sure yet. We met a dragon, twisted fate, wound up with Broker Oberix and had to leave the Market because someone named Bluderyn is upset, I have no idea why.”
“Kaden perma-killed two of his henchmen.” Sara caught his confusion. “The one you threw off landed head first in a [Witch’s] cauldron. The one you cut fingers off of was alive when he landed, but somehow got fed to a Pit-Beast.”
“Somehow.” Kaden couldn’t help wondering if the somehow was spelled ’s-a-r-a.’
Ymercist’s skull wasn’t great at showing expressions, so Kaden couldn’t be sure if the Litch was staring in anger or just dumbfounded. *Where is thy beast?*
“Trinity is in my soul. You have someone you need eaten?” Kaden summoned her letting the TriTerror stride from the shadows to meet him. “Good girl. I owe you so much raw meat.”
*Take care. Many here suffered from the attack which took the twins. They may attack first, even though thou art allies.* Ymercist reached out with a skeletal hand to rap on Trinity’s armored head. *What a wonderful use of bone.*
Trinity’s hiss was *Of course it is. I’m awesome in every way.*
“We’ll be careful.” He kept Trinity behind them as they found their way to the guest quarters, and let Sara bathe and clean first, while he played a game, tossing his animated skull-spider to Trinity, and letting her toss him back. “Every time I think I can’t get prouder of you, you prove me wrong. You’re the best mutant hydra in existence.”
Trinity accidentally bit down too hard, breaking one of Skully’s legs. She set it down and stomped over to bump him in the chest with her blind head.
Kaden understood, and scrached her chin and her scales and the thorny ridges at the back of her head until she couldn’t help scratching and tearing gouges in the floor of the Necrosium. “I promise, I’m bringing back a [Ruby Hydra] for the dungeon. One of them has to die in the Dungeon for a lieutenant pattern, but I’ll try to get a second one for you to play with.”
Trinity’s serpent head hissed and rattled, which [Beast Soul] interpreted as ‘Ruby Hydras don’t really get along with each other. At all. Ever. You sure that’s a good idea?’
He wasn’t. “Who would you want as a lieutenant if you were a Dungeon Boss?”
The TriTerror didn’t answer, instead laying out long-ways on the floor and wrapping her tail around her to tap it on the floor, lost in thought. Then her blind head whipped up and looked in his direction.
Trinity could, but didn’t often, communicate differently. By memory. The memory that hit Kaden was of Trinity as a young Ruby Hydra, doing all the playful things young hydras did. Hiding in bushes. Stalking birds. Ambushing messengers who strayed from the path in the jungle.
But what Kaden noticed was this. She wasn’t alone. Emerald and Indigo Hydras hunted alongside her. “You want other hydras. Emerald ones regrow heads, right? Indigo are status dealers. We could do that.”
He could see it already. Twin lieutenants to challenge parties, and the grand battle with the TriTerror. Maybe it was possible to split loot into sections? So if parties faced both lieutenants, then the boss, they’d get better treasure.
Yes, definitely something to follow up on.
While he waited for his turn, Kaden summoned the Falcrow and explained his plan. The Druid Tamer had claimed the key was just communicating with the Beast until it chose to speak back.
It almost never spoke in its own words, choosing phrases others had uttered, but it listened, broadcasting *curiosity* the whole time.
“What do you actually want?” Kaden asked, as he sat on Trinity. If the TriTerror noticed his weight, she didn’t show it, instead slumbering with her heads twisted together. “You don’t have to stay with me. I only wanted that obedience binding because I didn’t want you saying ‘Nice Rack’ to every woman we passed.”
It twisted its head, and when it spoke, it was in Oberix’s androgynous voice. “You simply desire to be wanted.”
“It would be a lot easier to want you around if you weren’t constantly provoking everyone. Did I ever tell you thank you for helping distract Jagi?”
“This I know, Kaden Birch,” it said in Ashi’s voice.
“What do you do all day? When you’re not watching me, commenting on Sara’s figure, or provoking?” This was the closest he’d ever come to an actual conversation.
It didn’t answer, and instead flapped its wings, fading into nothing. So much for a breakthrough.
“Your turn.” Sara had put her armor through the cleaning box.
While Kaden let scalding water run over him, he studied the place on his palm where Suridev had burned him. The resulting teardrop mark did look like a scale, a golden one. And Kaden could sense something more just below the surface. He knew where to find the Tempus Dragon, and where to find Oceanus. What he lacked was a plan to keep from getting roasted, smashed, or devoured.
Kaden summoned the Falcrow. “Mind taking a message for me?”
He sent it to King Chemaniz. “You said you’d like to get to know me better. I’ve recently gained a skill that affectes [Fate], and your wife is a [FateWeaver]. I’d be interested in knowing her take on this—and on talking to Tempus, the Dragon.”
Trinity had been right - you missed all the kill shots you didn’t take.
Long after the water ran clean, Kaden stood, just emptying his mind. Without something pressing to hold his attention, every moment brought memories of [Thorn Cage] tearing into him. He’d found three more thorns trapped in his armor, and his body was spotted with tiny white scars.
Once he’d looked at the scars that covered Mr. Dervish and wondered how he got them. Now, he wondered the man’s skin wasn’t all white. Sara was eating dinner and working in a notebook with a slew of messenger birds when he emerged. “Trouble?”
“The Mercari want assurances we’ll be ready to support their caravans. I hired one of Mr. Dervish’s servants to manage the shipping station. While I can be available for major decisions, there’s not enough time for me to be everywhere.”
Kaden understood. Once he’d dreamed of renting poisonous snakes to Adventurers for a few silvers each. “Good. I checked with the Guild. Remember the Juvenile Formicidean Queen? The Craters finished with it a few weeks ago, one of the eyes sold. I banked the money.”
“Town?”
“Eville,” he said.
“We’re not naming it that.” Sara put away one notebook and brought out another, a heavier, thicker one bound in leather. “Come. Look.”
Her left pseudopod opened it and leafed through the pages, then tapped. So many names, so many details, so many quests.
“This is my estimate of the work to prepare for resettling a town. It’s not the work that comes after, it’s simply what we’ll have to do to be ready. I’m not even certain this is all of it.” Sara passed the book to him. “Why does this abandoned town matter more than any other?”
Kaden had asked himself that many nights. “Before the cult. Before the first cult, there were people who lived in that town. People who were happy. People who had normal lives and normal dreams. You’ve seen the streets of Verona. There are still refugees there. I feel like the demons took something from us when they took over that town. A piece of the world where regular people could live without worrying about Centurions looking their way or Worldboss monsters attacking. And I decided I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“You can’t just settle a town with random refugees,” Sara said. “I have three chapters worth of charters we’d need to fill. You had Builder Willis repair the gates and buildings. My cleanup team reported on it.”
“Your cleanup team. The team you issued a quest to?” Kaden asked. She was awfully posessive.
“They did good work once, I was happy to arrange repeated sweeps. It’s far cheaper to pay them to do it every few days than to pay more experienced Adventurers to clean it once a month.” Sara flipped to the back. “See? I have a [Miner] coming out to analyze the mine. We’ll need to be present to let him work, and actually clearing the mine will be a different matter entirely. More on scale with destroying the Cult.”
While they ate dinner, Sara went over the entire scope, spending nearly an hour on the intricacies of having two grocers, what it would cost to establish a Temple of Varun with healing Priests and Priestesses. And a problem Kaden hadn’t considered.
“Who’s going to be mayor?”
“Not me. Eve?” Kaden asked.
Sara shook her head. “Mayor is a profession that really only works if you take the Class as well, but now that you’ve agreed you don’t want it, I’m free to find one. Many people are happy being a small-town mayor. You might like it.”
Kaden looked down at himself. Over to Trinity’s slumbering form. “I think it’s too late for me. When I walk through the city streets and I see an commoner, I smile. I see them as being like me. They don’t smile. They move out of the way, quickly. I sometimes want to explain how I’m just like them. But I’m not.”
“Welcome to the club. From the moment I summoned the Horror, ‘just’ being anything was out of the question. Adventurers have more…adventure.” Sara sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much him, but she excused herself, and this time, she stayed in her own room.
Kaden spent the evening studying the [Fate Breaker]. He could draw the knife, even cut cloth with it, but none of those things were truly using it. The feeling of the System watching hung over him as he tested the agreement.
It was late at night, in fact, closer to dawn when Kaden dumped Naski out of Inventory and ordered her to dress. “You can’t go out like that.”
“You are a dead man. I will find a way to break this [Binding Mark] the way you did [Hatred Mark].” Her threats were hollow.
“Come.” He took her out in the Necrosium. “Pick up Skully. Carry him for me.”
It wasn’t necessary to use words, but there had to be a point to having a Demon servant. It was time to test the limits.