Bernadette and Elena were waiting downstairs. Just in case there was some kind of candidate specific information being kept secret, I sent Bella to wait in the dining room before entering the library to meet them. I was a little surprised Elena was even still here, and then I was surprised she came at all, because she must have been staying a ways away considering the whole large area selection thing. Still, their faces lit up when I entered, and Bernadette beamed proudly.

“Mephistopheles!” She chirped happily. “Truly an inspiring performance. The depths of your fortitude is staggering. I’m proud to have such a determined, inspiring initiate as a new brother. How are you feeling?”

“Like someone rabbit punched me in the consequences,” I said sheepishly. “But at least I won. I got the prize. Which, by the way, is…what exactly?”

She clapped her hands together excitedly. “I am SO glad you asked. I prayed for guidance on that subject while we awaited your return to the land of the living. It appears that the mistress has planted an egg for Blackmirror Ghost Crow. It’s an undead relative of the Three Legged Golden Crow, though obviously a much weaker bloodline.”

“Ok, that explain the ghost part,” I hedged. “But why is it called a Blackmirror Ghost Crow?”

She chuckled. “Simple, because it’s a reflective companion. To awaken the crow you need to feed it with energy, and it absorbs that energy and adopts that as its element. It works for nearly any type of Ascendant. Far less powerful than its sun based relative, but much more versatile. And of course, your crow can rank up alongside you as bonded beasts often do.”

“Will I need beast bonding?” I’d seen Jessie work with that skill, and I wasn’t sure I had time to grind it.

She shook her head. “Unnecessary. Ghost Crows bond with their ‘parent’ naturally. The energy you impart forms a connection between yourself and your companion. This particular crow is a staggeringly rare opportunity. As you know, D-rank is a watershed, and many beasts never make the leap. This egg was D-rank at conception, laid by our Mistress’s own animal companion, Sorrowsigh.”

I tried to imagine a GOD (or at least S-rank) level version of the animal she had described and came up blank. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet some overpowered elemental bird made from the inherent abilities of a goddess of torment. The name was kind of ominous too.

Firmly changing my mental direction, I finally turned to Elena, bowing my head slightly. “Also, I wanted to thank you. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, I owe you one.”

“It’s fine,” she said with a smile. “We’re comrades. I don’t believe that just because this is competitive it means we need to try to cut each other down. No one ever said there could only be one winner.”

Bernadette nodded smugly. “Well reasoned. Understanding those who have shared your pain is a key tenet of the order of mercy. We’re not like those monsters in the order of abomination.” She froze. “I mean, what? Nothing. That’s not real. I was testing you. You pass! Bye!” Then she vanished from the spot she was standing.

I turned to Elena. “Obvious dissembling aside, did you know she was that fast? Like…I know she’s D-rank, but it was hard for me to get a more specific read.”

“It’s the habit,” she said with a nod. “I asked her about it. It’s some kind of suppression artifact. Constant restriction and pain. Some of the things the order does seem…extreme, to me. But I do truly believe in their mission.”

Walking over to the chair next to the fire place, I gestured for her to sit down. “Sorry, I never even asked why you were here. Seems a bit ungrateful.”

“It’s fine,” she laughed. “You’ve got your own stuff going on. Like shadowy ghost girls following you around. I didn’t mention her to Bernadette, by the way. It didn’t seem like it was relevant to the trial.”

My shoulders slumped in relief. “That’s…that’s awfully nice of you. Thanks. That’s Callie. My wife. That’s her ability. It lets her talk to me long distance.” Which was a collection of totally truthful statements arranged in such a way as to give a very misleading impression. I felt a bit bad bullshitting someone who had just saved my life, but if people thought Callie had a long distance communication power, they’d never connect her with Nightstrike the godslayer.

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I wasn’t worried about giving her name. Callie wasn’t exactly the most interesting or unique name in the world. Calliope was far more unique, so I just used her everyday nickname.

Technically, I could have just made up something totally false but elaborate lies were always harder to keep track of. Like Benny said whenever he caught me making shit up to mess with him, keep it simple, Shane.

“So, we were talking about your reasons for being here?” I prompted. “Assuming you want to share. I can drop it if that’s a sensitive subject.”

Flopping down into the overstuffed chair across from me, she shrugged. “Nothing too exciting. My son is sick. He has a chronic wasting disease. There’s no cure that we’ve found, but it causes him immense pain. The order teaches methods of absorbing the pain of others to higher initiates. My husband wanted to be the one to come, but he was never quite as gifted as I was, and isn’t suited for these trials. He’s taking part in the Delthrys trials to hopefully lobby the god of secrets to help our boy.”

I blinked at her. “That’s…a lot.” I said sympathetically. “Must be scary. How old is he?”

“Eleven,” she said with a warm smile. “His name is Simon. He’s one of the loudest, most energetic little boys you’ll ever meet…” her smile dimmed. “Or he used to be. Since he got sick he’s been so quiet. He’s staying with my brother while we’re away. I call and talk to him every night.”

Another reminder that just because these people were trying to get in good with dark gods didn’t mean they were all evil monsters. People had their reasons for being here, and plenty of them weren’t so bad. Whether that was helping their family, like Elena and I, or just looking for opportunity like Ray and Vesper.

To my surprise, she didn’t ask about my reasons for being here. To be fair, my terrifying demon mask was probably off putting enough to make it clear I wasn’t looking to share.

After thanking Elena again, I told her goodnight, then left to find my wayward apprentice.

I found her in the kitchen, which was closed, sitting at the counter with a dozen empty mugs in front of her. “Master!” She shrieked. “You’re back! I’m so glad, because I was worried about you and then I wasn’t and then I was and then I was like wow, so drama, so I came down here and I was tired so I looked around and found this stuff my dad told me about when I was a kid but that I’m not supposed to drink-”

“Whoa!” I said, holding up my hands. “Slow down.” I walked over to the counter, sniffing. “Are these mugs all coffee? You’ve never had coffee? Also why didn’t you just refill the same mug?”

“Ahahaha,” she said, literally speaking the syllables somehow faster than a normal laugh. “That’s so silly, who would do that. Back home daddy buys new dishes whenever we finish using one, but yeah this is coffee and it’s SOOOO good, well no its bad and tastes bad but it feels good and I put some sugar and stuff in it to make it sweet so then it was good and now I feel AMAZING!”

I counted the cups. “You drank…thirty seven cups of…” I peered into a mug. “D-rank coffee? Why do they even have this, and how much would this much of it even COST?”

“It doesn’t matter!” she crowed. “It makes me invincible! Teach me a new technique, teach me a hundred techniques, teach me all the techniques at the same time and we can combine them to create a SUPER technique!”

“Nope,” I said bluntly. “Not doing this. One Bethy is already too many.” I looked around, making sure I wasn’t being watched, and then, counting on my mask to hide me from divine sight, I triggered Zagan. I grabbed my apprentice by the head and flooded her with purifying fire, burning away the caffeine with a slight effort of will.

She staggered back, eyes wide as she tried to adjust. It shouldn’t have been too rough, the flames had a stimulant effect of their own, and a healing effect, so she shouldn’t crash. It took her a second to reorient. “You good?” I asked her casually. “Or do you need another blast?”

“I’m fine.” She said, shaking her head. “Sorry. I was nervous, and making cups of coffee helped give me something to do.” She winced at the counter, where an almost empty bag of beans sat. “I’ll…pay for that.”

“Yup,” I agreed. “I’m sure as hell not going to. Also, your dad was right, you shouldn’t have coffee. Ever again. That’s an order.” She slumped a bit and I laughed. “Anyway, I have to heal myself, and I’m going to use my forms to do it. You want to come watch?”

Bella…Bella had earned my trust. I’d been sort of half assing it with my apprentice, but given I’d taught her my main skillset, that was kind of silly. Minor Skill or not, she was my successor, and that meant that I’d need to start trusting her more if I wanted her to learn my skills properly and live up to my legacy.

I kept thinking about Ragam, Abel’s martial art, and how he’d learned it from a book. The creator had established a powerful and enduring legacy that had given birth to one of the most dangerous people I knew. I wanted that. Wanted to know that the Goetia Staff Art would continue to be respected and known. Not to mention as the creator I could reap some serious renown if users became famous.

Her eyes lit up with excitement. “That sounds amazing! Where are you going to do it?”

“Outside, there’s a clearing a few miles from here.” I could use two forms safely, and I’d promised Callie to be safe. Luckily, those two forms were independent of the forms my clones could take.

Bella followed me out to the clearing, and I triggered the two I’d need. Beelzebub and Bael. Stealth seemed like a good precaution to take when using a bunch of power I wasn’t supposed to have. Once the clones manifested I had them circle around me, triggering Zagan. “Wow,” goggled my apprentice. “This is amazing, will I learn to do this?”

“Yes,” I said as they started charging the Life Novas. “Eventually. This and more. I’ll teach you about the others later. But you need to practice your martial arts. Stances are what let you tap into power like this.”

She nodded excitedly, but I didn’t have time to focus on that. Zagan couldn’t be used on myself, but the clones were treated as discrete individuals. I’d noticed an inability to heal myself a few months ago and had been working on a fix, and adapting the Beelzebub form had taken a while but it was a decent solution.

After a few minutes, the twelve other me’s detonated their Life Novas, consuming me in purifying green fire. I let the power wash through me, slowly mending the cracks in my soul. I sat there for an hour or two, and finally, once it was done, I relaxed. I wasn’t fixed, or even close, D-rank souls were sturdier and more resistant to change, which made them harder to repair. But it was a start. Now I just had to take things one day at a time.