Chapter 114 - Consequences

“I’m sorry,” Sam muttered, a dejected look on his face.

Everyone stood in a long silence feeling the weight of what was above them.

Gideon let out a long sigh as he massaged his temples with his hand.

“No. I am. I shouldn’t have said those things. Self-sacrifice is not something so easily done. Please, accept my apologies.” Gideon stood up and gave Sam a deep bow.

“No, no, don’t do that, I wanted to do it, I just… couldn’t...” Sam said despondently.

“What was so important about that vial?” Hannah asked Gideon.

“Remember our little chat about making deals with demons? I may have left a few important bits.”

“Oh, just a few little tidbits there.” Jack said exasperated as he joined in on the conversation.

“There’s a ritual that goes along with making a deal. The specifics of how it works I’m not willing to divulge in the presence of Jack, who might be tempted, but there are a few things to note. If it helps, think of it as a sort of procedure you have to follow in order for the demon to give you its power.

“First. demons aren’t allowed to reach out and make the deal themselves. You have to come to them with the proposition.”

“Demon sex. Nice.” Jack interrupted.

“Not that kind of proposition,” Gideon said quickly, silencing Jack.

“Ok, Rodeo obviously found a way to communicate with Xinnolath and make a deal for power. How does Rodeo giving Xinnolath whatever potion that was come into play?” Hannah asked instead.

“Because the second part of making the deal involves you completing a task for the demon first. Maybe you do them a favor, give them an item, kill someone for them. It ranges widely depending on what the demon wants or needs. After this task has been completed, then the demon can give you his powers. Typically the amount of power given correlates to the favor done for the demon.”

“Why make a deal at all?” Jack asked. “You were clearly getting your ass handed to you. At no point did it seem like we were winning. Seems like a lose-lose for Xinnolath.”

“Don’t think I didn’t see you get thrown across the room like a child,” Gideon replied. “My theory is that Rodeo likely discovered Xinnolath’s weakness, and leveraged that into getting the demon to make a deal with him. Xinnolath probably didn’t care. He’s been locked away for an eternity. What’s a few more weeks in a different prison.” Gideon shrugged.

“A few more weeks? What do you mean?” Hannah asked.

“Xinnolath is going to devour Rodeo from the inside out. The demon clearly didn’t give Rodeo only a small portion of his power. He gave the man absolutely everything.”

“Why does that matter?”

“If a demon gives you a portion of his power, they are temporarily weakened while you go off on whatever rampage your feeble mind requires. When you die, said power gets returned to the demon, albeit much greater. The circumstances change however if a demon gives you the entirety of its power. In this circumstance, it might be more appropriate to think of it as a merger instead of a simple loan. The demon takes up residence in your heart and slowly eats away at your soul in an attempt to take you over completely. If you die before the demon can fully take over your body, then the demon dies as well. However, if you live long enough for the demon to consume you completely, then he receives far greater power in return.”

“I still don’t see why anyone would agree to that. In case you haven’t noticed, Rodeo isn’t an idiot. We are missing something.” Jack glanced at the giant red orb which had yet to do anything. Looking around, he noticed several of the U.F.E. soldiers moving frantically around it as Devin was waving his sword around in various directions. If Jack didn’t know any better, he’d think Devin was purposefully striking heroic poses as he yelled at his men on the field.

“People agree to letting a demon live inside of them for one of three reasons. One—they are a warlock, or a similar class, and have the means by which to control and restrain a demon. Two—they are desperate fools who can’t even begin to comprehend what they are agreeing to. This is the most common reason.”

“And three? Sarah asked.

“They think they can best a millenia’s old demon and fend off the creatures’ attempts to take them over. It’s not completely unheard of. Deals of this nature are a two way street. There are some powerful people in this Tower who have managed to capture and contain powerful demons in their heart. One woman even collects them like pets. She was cursed early on with a demon and was able to turn it to her advantage. Now she roams the Tower in some inane attempt to collect a demon of every type.” Gideon finished with a look at Jack.

“So, Rodeo obviously counts himself in category three,” Jack muttered, exchanging a knowing glance at Hannah who nodded in return.

“What do we do? How do we kill Xinnolath? Were you able to inflict any damage at all?” Sam asked rapid fire.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I would also like to know what you’re planning,” Devin stepped up to the group. His face was hard, but not angry. He looked tired, resigned, as though he had given up. “Why are you smiling at me?” He locked eyes with Jack, who was unable to hide his shit eating grin.

“I…” he started.

“I wouldn’t say it,” Gideon warned.

“Told…” Jack continued.

“Jack, this isn’t the time to throw around blame,” Sarah admonished.

“YOU SO!” Jack finished with an excited shout.

For the second time that day he was punched in the face by one of his own allies.

----------------------------------------

“Use your damn words people,” Jack nursed his Jaw and exchanged a glance with a furious Devin. Gone was the pitiful look of defeat. His fire had been quickly renewed, even if it all seemed to be directed at him now.

“Will this be enough?” Devin asked, turning away from Jack and gesturing towards his soldiers prepping barrels around the giant floating orb.

In addition to the barrels that were hopefully packed to the brim with explosives, mages were drawing circles on the ground, completely encasing the giant floating orb.

“I figure whatever pops out of that ball, we blow it to kingdom come with an unrivaled onslaught of our strongest items and abilities.”

“Depends on who comes out,” Gideon shrugged, unimpressed.

“What do you mean? Does it matter?”

“Well if it’s Xinnolath, I’d say go ahead and do it. Rodeo on the other hand… We’ve all made oaths with the man.”

“You can’t be serious,” Devin growled. “Certainly the oaths won’t hold up? It’s obvious they were sworn in bad faith. I was honestly shocked when he received a power up from my soldier.”

“Bad faith?” Jack chuckled. Everyone turned to look at him.

“I told you all over and over again that Rodeo was a piece of shit not to be trusted. We all knowingly swore those oaths with a piece of shit. The only ones acting in bad faith are us, expecting him to actually behave like a normal human being.”

“As much as it pains me, I must agree with Jack. We knew who we were swearing our oaths to. If Rodeo is the one to emerge from this cocoon, then attacking him will likely set off a chain reaction of broken soul oaths. Then we’ll be in truly dire straits.”

“Then? Then we’ll be in dire straits? How exactly would you characterize our current circumstance?” Hannah growled at Gideon.

“So how do we kill him?” Sam sounded truly defeated.

“We rushed into this,” Gideon admonished the group. “There was likely a simple solution. Some sort of sure-fire method to truly kill Xinnolath. Raiding, and subsequently burning the Crowen capital to the ground was a more… obtuse method. Had we been patient, I’m sure we would have received quests as to the mystery surrounding this dungeon.”

“So it’s hopeless? We can’t kill him? He’s immortal?”

“Nothing is truly immortal. Not even the gods themselves,” Gideon clasped Sam on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. “Retreat is still very much an option. The Tower will eventually provide us the means to kill the demon. We just have to be vigilant, patient, and make sure we notice the threads laid bare.”

“You’re suggesting we retreat?” Devin asked. The look on his face said he had clearly been considering that option himself.

“Not yet. There is still one option I’d like to try.”

“What did you have in mind?” Hannah asked.

“Total obliteration,” Gideon said. “An attack so powerful it erases whatever emerges from the cocoon in its entirety. Can’t regenerate if there is nothing left to regenerate from. We couldn’t kill him completely because his power was so spread out before. Now though, it looks like the entirety of his essence is currently being stuffed into a Rodeo sized package.”

“But If it’s Rodeo that emerges… Won’t that just trigger the soul oaths?” Sam asked.

“You’re forgetting that I’m a thousand years old dragon. My flames are exceptionally hard to… Extinguish,” he said, tasting the word with a confident grin. “I have a few tricks left, some that will give even a broken oath a run for its money. If that fails, then we retreat.”

“I’d be curious to know what those tricks are,” a voice echoed through the hall.

Jack felt a chill run down his spine and quickly turned towards the giant floating orb.

“Did you guys hear that?” Sam asked.

Like cackling hyenas, a demonic laugh echoed throughout the cavernous room.

Jack stared at the orb. A snap rang out through the room as a jagged crack ran clean through the middle of the floating cocoon setting free an abomination. Cracks quickly followed all throughout the marbled finish of the orb like roots digging through soil. Pieces began to crumble down and the surrounding formation of U.F.E. soldiers fell into disarray as soldiers jumped out of the way.

The pieces of the orb were dense, each slamming into the ground and shaking the room, crushing anyone unlucky enough to not move out of the way.

“Something is there,” Hannah warned, able to pierce through the dust cloud the falling debris kicked up.

“Hold steady,” Devin commanded over the commotion.

Everyone surrounding Jack was staring into the cloud of dust that hung in the air like a shroud, trying to decipher just who was waiting for them.

Jack let out a resigned sigh. To him, it was obvious what was about to happen, and who it was that would be there to greet them. Rather than worry about the inevitable, or say ‘I told you so’ AGAIN, he opted to focus on the three drops of mana in his core, running through his abilities that might make a difference. He still had a fourth drop of mana he had on the precipice of forming. If he storm stepped in, then unleashed three lightning centipedes bites, that had to be enough. Then Gideon could follow up with his attack on whatever remained.

“You’ll need to buy me some time,” Gideon said, as though reading Jack’s mind. Jack glanced over at the dragon.

“Don’t fuck this up,” was his only response. Gideon gave him a tight nod.

As the dust cleared and the debris settled, a lone demon remained.

Two pitch black wings held him up in the air. A pair of giant red horns ripped out of his skull and gave way to a wicked curve, nearly touching the back of his head. The demons’ hands were covered in a crystalline red, each finger sharpened into a long and deadly claw. His skin was covered in leather scales, some black, others red, creating a camouflage pattern across his body. Taloned feet touched the ground as the demon floated slowly downwards.

“Hold…” Devin’s voice rang out through the deadly silent room, waiting for confirmation on who it was they were facing, Xinnolath or Rodeo.

The demon slowly raised his head, a wicked smile on his face. He opened his eyes.

Dead. Gray. Lifeless.

“Behold, my nightmares, birthed into hellish reality,” Gideon tone was hushed, a doomed reverence.