***The Infernal Plane of Lust***

***Amon***

“Search for what exactly?” I asked while I ineffectively tried to wipe away the black smudge that was everything that remained of the amulet. Thankfully, both Kasdeya’s and my own internal mana manipulation had proven to be more than enough to protect us from a gruesome death.

Mortals would have been two gored out husks after such an accident.

Whether it was unbelievable luck or infuriating circumstance, the damned amulet had decided to blow right when I had climaxed for the eleventh time inside Kasdeya. That and Jada’s warning voice had spared us a most embarrassing scene with the two Demon Lords.

But the experiment was a success as I saw it. I never had problems with my sexual endurance before, but right now I definitely felt better than I should after taking a marathon ride on top of one of Isabella’s sisters.

Kas had taken our little experiment even better than myself. The succubus was visibly flushed with energy, and although she was a little bedazzled thanks to the explosion, she had reacted quite quickly when she smeared oil all over us in order to cover our scent. Though, I didn’t quite understand why she wanted to obfuscate our interplay. What came next was even more surprising when she covered for me, stuttering fool that I was.

For some reason, I didn’t want anyone to know about the relationship between Isabella and myself. First, I needed to find out for myself what was going on between the two of us.

I also wondered whether I was now indebted to Kas, or whether we were even now that she had recharged quite a lot of vitality thanks to my help.

In regard to my question, Ashley looked questioningly towards Khorne and the Demon Lord shrugged. “Just don’t tell anyone before we are through questioning likely suspects… not that we had that many to begin with,” He grumbled and suddenly turned towards Jada and Shax. “And where have you two been?”

His menacing aura almost forced me to take a step away from him, but upon further consideration, I realized that he was trying to intimidate the succubus and her lover into making a mistake. Unfortunately for him, the succubus in question wasn’t fazed even a little bit by his demeanour.

“Fucking,” Jada answered instantly with a wicked smile on her lips. “As soon as I caught Shaxy, I absolutely made sure that he learned what it means to run away from me. There is none other who is quite as endowed as him.”

“Do you swear?” Khorne asked nonetheless.

The succubus rolled her eyes, a move that all the members of her family had perfected over the millenia. “I swear by the Infernum if that’s what you need to believe me.”

The huge demon next to her huffed, quite clearly not exactly on board with her explanation, but unwilling to correct her.

Ashley raised both eyebrows, her eyes wandering between Jada’s nether regions and the oversized kilt that Shax wore for most occasions. He had the problem that most clothes simply didn’t fit him anymore. We had him a proper set of armour made at the guild, but that wasn’t comfortable to wear while Shax wasn’t smashing heads.

“We are searching for a murderer,” Ashley explained, choosing her words slowly and carefully. “Someone killed one of Khorne’s men permanently with soul magic and made it either look like an Átahsaia did it, or we have a genuine one who infiltrated the castle. Our first idea was to check whether the only other soul mage we know of has an alibi.” She looked pointedly towards me.

“An Atahwhat?” I asked, intentionally twisting my tongue on the unknown word in hopes of getting a more detailed explanation.

Ashley sighed in frustration. “It’s a demon with a special evolution. Like a succubus, they feast on their victim’s souls, but they are nothing like us. An Átahsaia is like a parasite and infects someone’s body while slowly taking over his mind. They feast on their host from the inside out until nothing more than the skin remains.”

“By the Infernum!” I cursed. “That’s a thing? Why aren’t they being wiped out altogether?”

Kas smirked at me. “Why aren’t we wiping out soul magic altogether? Because it is a very rare evolution and those who have it tend to hide it well. It’s also a very useful trait to have if you need a natural born assassin and spy. But you are right. Having a parasite like that in our castle isn’t an enjoyable prospect. Especially when he is working for the enemy. Luckily, a succubus’s racial ability to manipulate souls is good protection against a body snatcher like an Átahsaia. We would notice right away if someone tried mind magic on us. There is no way he could take over one of us sisters without a fight.”

“So, that means that I am also protected?” I asked hopefully. “I’ve trained my mental protections quite a bit.”

“That remains to be seen,” Kasdeya replied haughtily. “I haven’t seriously tried to take any of your souls yet, but the fact that you resisted my charm the entire time we worked together is a good sign. In any case, if this infiltrator has any skill, he won’t risk going after targets who could give him a fight. It makes detection much too likely and at this point. He would be seriously outnumbered if his cover is blown.”

Ashley huffed. “Be that as it may, be sure to stay together for now while Khorne and I are searching for the offender. If we don’t find the culprit by tonight we will call for a gathering in the dining hall.”

“I see.” I nodded, already disinterested in the entire affair. “If that’s the case, then we will continue with our experiments!” I eagerly turned back towards Kas, wondering which improvements we should try first in order to stabilize the enchantment.

The succubus was looking mournfully at the splintered worktable that had given out beneath us. “About that, I have to clean up and replace the damaged instruments before we continue our work. How about you come back tomorrow?”

I was taken aback by her suggestion, to say the least. “But the enchantment! We are so close. I can feel it!”

Kas picked up an engraving tool and showed it to me. The tip was bent at an awkward angle and the tightening mechanism was obviously broken. “Unless you can work with something like that, I have to repair it. Or search for a new one in my storage room. Both take time, though I prefer this one.”

She must have recognized my crestfallen expression at seeing the damaged tool. “Why don’t you do something else while I clean this up? I am sure we can continue in the evening.”

I sighed, mostly because I had also liked that particular engraver. The tool was far better than the one which I got provided with back at the warband. It felt just right in my hand and was neither too heavy nor too light. Switching to another one would probably mess up the technique that I had gotten used to over the course of several failed prototypes. “There is no helping it, but make sure to inform me as soon as you are ready to continue.”

Kas smiled and almost purred her answer. “Of courrrse. After all, I would need someone to celebrate the breakthrough with.” Then she turned towards Jada. “Jada, any problem with helping me? The two of us have something to talk about.”

Jada scratched her cheek insecurely while still holding onto Shax’s little finger. “Do I have to? I wanted to-”

Kasdeya threw her sister a glare that could have evaporated the polar caps of a decently sized planet, and Jada immediately changed her attitude.

“-ah, you know what? I am actually all about some sister-time.” She turned towards her boyfriend. “Shax, why don’t you play with Amon for a while, while I get up to date with Kasdeya.”

The huge demon sighed in apparent relief and grabbed my shoulder, turning me towards the exit while forcing me to march forward with insistent pressure.

“Hey!” I complained. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Go,” Shax urged me on.

Hearing the large fellow speak an actual word, even I knew better than to make a scene. “Oh, fine. You know, I actually had some hours of training planned for the team. We could go and get the others to have that done for today.”

Ashley and Khorne also left the two sisters to themselves and the four of us separated in the central hallway.

From there, Shax and I returned to the party’s quarters in a quite natural feeling silence. We picked up the others after I had made sure that they had stayed in their quarters for the night. Given their healthy respect for our hosts, my people wouldn’t have wandered off alone anyway.

I warned them nonetheless on what the two Demon Lords had shared with us.

Then I relied on my memories to lead us to the training hall that Ashley had shown me while giving me that first tour. Since we were about to have a fight I didn’t even bother with cleaning myself up.

While the others started off with some light practise, I suddenly realized that this would be the first time that all of us trained together without an instructor’s supervision. Thanks to their more physically oriented nature, Shax, Philomena, and Uphir had partaken in courses under different tutors.

I really wanted to know what all of them were capable of against me in a one on one situation, but my recent evolutions after nuking the legion and killing the titan had catapulted my abilities into an altogether different realm. Nobody had commented on the fact that killing the titan had forced me over another evolutionary edge. Or maybe nobody had noticed that the titan had already been dead when the artillery struck, so they didn’t even think to look?

My ability to sense mana was so much keener since then and I no longer had problems shaping it at all. Admittedly, my physical changes hadn’t been all that noticeable. The only real one had been to my tail, which was why even I noticed it only later on. Now my appendage sprouted a menacing-looking blade at the tip. Interestingly enough, I could retract it almost completely which made it only easier for others to overlook this new addition to my body.

But ever since I took out the behemoth there was one more thing that I couldn’t wait to try out.

‘Other, are you there?’ I thought to myself while I checked out the stadium-sized training hall. Its white-marble walls were covered in strengthening and spacial runes that glowed dimly. Which meant that I likely could actually go all out while we were in here.

I am always watching. You should have noticed that by now.

Now that sounded ominous, like having some stalker inside my head while-

I am no stalker, you fool! We are one and the same and I am generous enough to have you take the lead for now. Or do you want my voice in your head all the time? Now, what do you want?

I thought that we could try fighting together as we did against the titan.

You mean that I fought against the titan.

Well, yes, with my body not to forget, but do you have to actually take full control? I thought that would be something we could train – working together.

I am not some combat instrument to be used at your pleasure.

But you are perfectly fine taking a hike at the back of my mind while I have to deal with the real world. Aside from some helpful comments, most of what you are doing is taking verbal shots at me when you feel like it.

Hey, I am the one who is carrying your predecessor’s memories. And the guy had issues! That’s some mental bullshit I have to deal with while you get to be the unburdened one who is fucking his way through his new life! Isn’t it enough that I am using his knowledge to give you some hints here and there?

It wasn’t all tits and ass for me either – if you remember. So, are you ready to take on a role that makes you a little bit more of a symbiont rather than a parasite? I would prefer it if my two halves are actually working together rather than trying to pull in different directions. I don’t want to end up like one of those schizophrenic mortals. Or have you seen any mental asylums here in the Infernum?

Our people tend towards more permanent treatments when it comes to mental illnesses. There is no point in keeping insane demons around.

So, assuming you are still interested in our mutual survival, getting along with me and working together on all fronts is actually in your best interest.

I would sigh now if I had a body. But fine, fine. Let’s try to make this work.

Okay, so how do we do this the best way. You get control of my right arm to cast spells while I-

Idiot, that’s entirely too complicated! Not to mention that it could mess up our movements during a crucial moment and that it is taxing for me to take complete control. You get to control the body and I will help with sensory input and spell control. And if possible, I get to control the tail. That shouldn’t mess up our balance too much.

That sounded fine enough to me. Now, all that was left to do was to test and to train our coordination. I returned my attention to my minions and raised a hand. “Hey, all of you, I would need your help if you don’t mind.”

They turned to face me with expectant eyes. Apparently, me standing to one side, seemingly lost in my own thoughts, had raised some questions.

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat. “I’ve recently found some combat arts that interested me while searching through my souls’ memories. I need to test it out, so I would like you to fight me one on one with more of you to join in if that doesn’t tax me.”

They looked at each other, apparently in order to determine who should make the start.

Kitia apparently won this silent contest, because she stepped forward and summoned a blade of ice. More ice grew and covered her body in glittering layers until it seemed like she was some knight in plate armour from some medieval world. Normal ice wouldn’t have been much of a protection, but I knew that Kitia’s technique infused the summoned element with her own mana, making it much more resilient than steel. It was also cold enough to give someone frost-burn just from being nearby for long enough, proven by the icy fog that was flowing down the demoness’s alluring form.

I smiled and collected the mana from my surroundings to accomplish a similar feat. The runes that were normally invisible on my skin glowed and the empowering enchantments activated.

Then Kitia lunged forward, bringing her blade down on me without saying a word.

Smiling, I raised a hand and curled it into a claw so that the hardened outer layer that had grown on the back of my hand deflected her summoned weapon. My natural armour was up to the task, which created an opening for my free hand to shoot forward in an attempt to connect with Kitia’s shoulder.

It should have worked, allowing me to apply a little curse on her.

But the demoness proved far too nimble to be caught off guard this easily. Instead of continuing her advance, she had retreated the same moment her blade had been deflected.

I followed her and we traded blows while I amped up the speed of our exchange, slipping into that trance which Ex had taught us in order to keep up with high-speed combat.

Then something slipped in from the edge of my vision, and a blade shot out from the ground in an attempt to hamstring me. Had I been alone, the attack would have definitely gotten me. But I felt that familiar tickle at the back of my mind when the other did something.

My tail came down and caught the assassin’s arm while I did a backflip to avoid the blade.

Uphir was pulled from where he had slipped into my shadow, his eyes wide in surprise that such a thing was even possible.

I came down behind him, both my hands trying to grasp the slippery bastard. Sadly, he wasn’t that easy to take down and my arms passed right through him while his whole body seemed to slip sideways in reality.

His ability seemed to have a downside though - because he didn’t even try to retaliate. It looked like while his ‘phasing out’ made him impervious to physical damage, he couldn’t inflict it either. I smiled wickedly as I suddenly realized what Uphir’s ability truly was. “So it isn’t shadow-walking at all. It’s more like ghosting through objects. I bet you don’t even need shadows. You are only sticking to them in order to lull your enemies into a false sense of security.”

Uphir smiled while he phased backwards into Kitia until it looked like the two of them had become one person with four arms and four legs.

I scoffed and ducked, having sensed that Shax and Philomena had snuck up from behind me with their weapons. Philo’s axe parted the air right above my horns and I rolled to the side in order to avoid Shax’s club.

Then I was dancing between the four of them while they tried to catch me without getting in each other’s way. Philomena and Shax were the easiest to deal with because their attacks were straight forward and based on speed and power alone. Yet I guessed that I couldn’t afford being hit by either of them even once. There was pure power behind each of their movements.

Kitia was more difficult because she also added ranged attacks and spells to the mix, while Uphir was a straight-out nuisance. If he had enough time to prepare, he could materialize only a part of his body, allowing him to attack without fear of repercussions.

I was forced to move constantly in order to counter this. As long as I changed my positions quickly enough, Uphir didn’t have the time to prepare, as materializing only a part of his body apparently required him to stand still for a small amount of time.

When Jebril joined in with her barriers, limiting my movements, things got really dicey until the other started helping out with counterspells.

I was proud of the fact that I was able to fight all of them at least to a standstill, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe myself to be untouchable now. There was no doubt that they were holding back at least somewhat for my benefit. As an example, they never activated large scale effects. Of which, I was sure that at least Kitia and Jebril were capable of such abilities.

We must have continued in that manner for at least half an hour until mocking laughter interrupted us. When we stopped to look who was interfering with us, I found that four of Khorne’s men had entered the training hall.

One of them was applauding us with a devilish smile on his face. “It looks like our little hero is now trying to prove his abilities. Is there a reason why you aren’t using any weapons? Or do you not want to harm your ‘friends’?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what his problem was. “We are just testing out our abilities, not trying to kill each other.”

“What a noble thing, but it appears that the training hall is a little too small for the whelps and the adults to play at the same time.” The demon drew a curved sword that looked like a hybrid between a rapier and a saber. “Mind vacating the spot?”

Frowning, I looked towards my minions and then back at the newcomers. The training hall wasn’t too small by any means, but these demons obviously disliked our presence. Backing off would likely be the easiest solution, but who said that they wouldn’t come after us again once they sensed weakness?

I smiled in return and summoned two sticks of doom from my spacial storage to my hands. The newest iteration looked more like a baton than a mere stick, but I preferred the old name. “How about a duel between the two of us. The winner gets the hall whenever he wants. Losers have to make themselves scarce.”

The demon laughed. “Do you even know who I am, whelp?”

Maybe I should have known, but since nobody had told me beforehand, there was no point in backing down. “I don’t, since you didn’t introduce yourself. But you apparently know who I am.” Then I channelled my mana and touched the two batons together, causing crackling in the air. As I separated them, I drew out a green, arcing spark at least a metre in length. “If you go along with my bet, I won’t even use soul magic. What do you think of that?”

The demon snorted with unfeigned disdain, but he slashed the air with his blade and advanced while his friends stepped back.