“Intent is the key, sounds like navigating the city in Hrz’Styrn. Though last time someone gave me advice about visualisation. I ended up having to do the reverse, ” Julia said.

Pain Tolerance.

So the first thing. Livia, you no longer have permission to feed on my power.

Mentally focusing, she imagined a valve blocking the cord between them and felt an internal impact as her emotional energy ceased being drained.

“Maybe that was because of your own incompetence.”

{{Kill this fool.}}

From blank to burning, Heat pushed her off balance, and she saw red as she retorted.

“I’m trying to save a child from my fate, and you want to have a pissing contest. Do you give even care about this girl? Or is it your pride that’s injured cause you surrendered and your novice died?”

[Taunt (5 - > 6)]

I was taunting people last night?

Words she couldn't understand started to spill forth the power echoing in them didn't need Mana Sense to let her know trouble.

Reality flickered as Julia shifted forward from straddling the tree to straddling Aquila. She felt his protections react searing into flesh, but she didn’t hit him; instead, she enfolded. Her thighs already beside his hips, she clamped her legs around him and fell forward onto him. Tendrils and tentacles alike growing not to pierce, or maim merely to cover; others struck into ground and log to brace. Working fast, blocking him from seeing, speaking, moving his arms or fingers to cast. The spell on his lips choked off before he could complete it properly started.

Face hugger for the win, guess he'd be right to complain about tongue action.

Slavers were heading East with prisoners, so let’s go West.

[Blink [Ap] (20 -> 21)

Shapeshift [Ap] (11 -> 12)]

She felt his legs thrash about as he tried to stand and applied pressure to his pulsing artery pressure around his neck. Even as she was blocking off his blood flow, she could feel her flesh burning against his skin. She called on her time sense as she counted down the seconds. The villagers still in sight yelling and screaming for aid, and she could hear Ari call out in response.

[Time Sense [B](1 -> 2)]

Always take out the caster first.

My internal perception of a humanoid body is screwy. I blame Jim’s chat links. A TinyURL in the chat from him was always a gamble. Not knowing if it would be a great joke or a WTF each time. He always said that some hentai scars the mind more than LSD.

Ten seconds for him to pass out, but he’ll get back up quickly after release if I don’t hold it long enough. Over thirty, I think the damage is permanent for normal folk. So I’ll go twenty and then use Blink to head across the treetops out of the line of sight. Ari’s bow didn’t have mana on it. They may have other options available to them already.

Telepathy.

##Need to get free, curse her. Its flesh is burning against me, How can this demoness stand it? Can’t get loose. How is this thing a lesser Succubus? I should have just banished her. Curse that girl's father.##.

##No Arse, not killing you. Once you pass out, I will leave here and find someone else to help me free her. I suggest you get these friendly folks back somewhere safe. You're worried about Livia's father and not about her. Go suck yourself dry, you're such a massive dick.##.

##This isn’t the last you’ve heard of me, Demoness. Gave me your ‘Use’ name. For what you’ve done today, you’ll pay##.

##Poor Aquila, did I embarrass you? Getting hard to think for you, isn’t it? Blood flow to the brain getting blocked sucks. Besides, that wasn’t my ‘Use’ name. I just told you to call me that.##.

The thoughts between them flickered faster than any words, but she'd already had more than enough of him.

[Pain Tolerance [J] (4 -> 5)

Taunt (6 -> 8)

Telepathy ( 14 -> 15)

Perseverance [Ap] (19 -> 20)]

A wicked smirk graced her lips as she sent him an adjusted mental image. Her watching over as Aquila, as pinned down on a table, the wiggling and movements in his abdomen, the pain. Then him seeing an alien head rupturing the flesh, muscles parting as it crawled out, the vision ending as it leaned in to eat his face.

Have a dose of my old nightmares. Mal laughed at me for weeks. Though hope for your sanity's sake, that you can check for a xenomorph.

Tough brain, at least I’m not getting stray crap from his head. Pity his other brain seems to enjoy this, though.

Redirecting her telepathy away from Aquila, she reached for Ari. Brushing against the other minds she felt, tasting them, knowing they weren’t who she sought.

[Telepathy ( 15 -> 18)]

##He was going to banish me, regardless of the Child. I’m not killing him, just rendering him unconscious.##

She pushed a mental image of Aquila in the recovery position.

##Lay him out like this after I disappear. Tilt his head back a bit to let him breathe easier. He won’t choke on his tongue that way. Though it shouldn’t take him long to wake up.##

She could feel him mentally preparing to take a shot at her.

##Idiot armoured hide might deflect into his leg if it bounces wrong. Plus, they sent quivers full of those at me last night, did nothing.##.

The images in his mind showed where he was aiming, and another tentacle shot out, only its bulky size letting her block the shot. The arrow mundane as the others last night didn't even break her skin. As the large one waved back and forth, others formed and curved sharpened tips pointing toward's Aquila's legs.

##Told you. Do it again, and I will maim him myself##

[First Aid Unlocked.

First Aid(1)

Telepathy ( 18 -> 19)

Torture ( 1 -> 2 )]

First Aid and Torture! Really?

[Foe Subdual Success:

Foe: Aquila - High Priest of Janus - Level 35

4,000 experience gained.

Experience being distributed between classes:

Blood Monk : +2,000

Wizard: +0

Succubus: + 2,000

Monk Level Increased.

Defence Increase:

Melee Attack Power Increased

Willpower Increased

Unarmed Combat [J](9 -> 10)

Shapeshift [Ap] (13 -> 14)

Time remaining till permanent injury: 30 seconds]

As her count hit twenty seconds with no further arrows, Julia Blinked forward over the tree line. Flight activated, she pushed herself forward with the Power. Racing over the trees, she looked over the crows still working the carnage line and set off directly for the river. The numbness that had sat with her since the Dawn now gone. Cooked flesh healed, she alternated between Blink and Fight, racing her way towards the river and beyond in short order. Angling upwards, she rose in an increasingly steeper climb as she kept heading west.

Should have kept your anger in check, J. Yum yum the smell of BBQ in the morning. Darm now I'm thinking of spicy Ribs. Weird, really, weird.

{{Kill the enemy.}}

((Mercy is a noble thing.))

Mentally adjusting her Julia form, her body shifted to her once human state. Forming a set of ‘leather’ looking armour over flesh, she set a spare Shapeshift quick slot with a simple name, ‘Me’. The change complete, she focused on her Flight speed for a time and tried to how well she could race the sun.

[Disguise (9 -> 11)]

The air was icy when she got high enough for the land to spread out below her like a map. It helped her to level her cold resistance, at least and far safer than the cloud-bank. With no way to tell the height accurately, she could only compare it to peering out a plane’s window. The clouds not far off, and the land rolling outwards like a blanket, splashes of dark green interspace lighter greens of what seemed like grassland.

Occasionally regular shapes speaking of settlements appeared below her, though none were large enough to draw her down. It had seemed most were nothing more than a gathering of a few dozen buildings ringed by a thin wooden wall. Shapeshift to gain eagle eyes capable of monitoring the ground closely had taken little more than intent. With night approaching and the third road, she’d seen recently curving towards her nominated ‘North. There were wafts of smoke in that direction, promising more buildings than any location she had seen so far. Yet even with her eagle eyes, it was too far North to tell the source.

((Need to help the child.))

The need to do something for Livia decided things, so at last, she changed tack and headed downwards. She let herself free fall, only slowing when the ground grew close. A knoll rising above the countryside provided a suitable target to land and took time to think. She sat with her back to the lip of it and breathing in enjoyed the freshness filling her as she watched the setting sun.

It was a beautiful sunset, and she could feel Livia sitting in her lap as she stretched out with her back to a rise to watch it. Activating Soul Sight sent a spike of pain through Julia, while Livia gave the sunset her full attention. The cord looking glasslike and empty compared to the pulsing redness she’d seen earlier that day. Letting her Ki drift from its pool again; she felt it cycle through her, rough at first as it worked against the pain. But as let herself surrender to its calm and leaned back, to take in the sunset’s beauty.

Focusing on the end of the cord, she allowed the energy from those emotions to Livia’s Soul. Blue and golden motes drifted along the cord, and as they splashed and merged with the red mist inside Livia. Like clownfish in poisoned tendrils, they darted around untouched, ethereal fireflies lighting up the darkness. Together they sat and watched the sky as the day ended, and stars glistened in the night, the beauty of it slowly drifting into Livia.

Intent controls the bond.

Julia visualised the cord changing, twisting, using its veins for her purpose; they belonged to her, and they would do what she needed. She visualised valves inside the veins, allowing only what she wanted to pass through them. Some set towards her through which only the Demonic energies would pass. While others heading to Livia set for Ki and positive human emotions to pass.

As she forced her intent towards the cord, she saw it ripple, and the red energy started towards her. Removing her original valve, she felt the demonic energies; it's burning poison etching as it returned. Sending more Ki towards Livia, it drifted, a luminous blue shining through the walls as it flowed.

We’re just doing a weird dialysis treatment I’ll give her good stuff and take the awful stuff from her.

“Let those nice energies drift, Livia. Don’t grab for it, just imagine them drifting like a mist rolling around in you.”

The little girl just glanced at her and tilted her neck to look up with a soundless sigh. Her gesture and reaction, making Julia wonder how much she understood, and what she could see right now.

Turning off Pain Tolerance, she hissed as the etchings blazed.

Pain is the body’s warning perceptions, a trigger for its flight or fight. I know it’s there I don’t need a distraction, just to know.

Centring herself, she sent a mental gesture towards the Harmony power. As it activated everything filled her perceptions, beauty, sweet-smelling air, pain, anger, acknowledging it all, observing it, trying to set reaction aside and just existed. She didn’t want the distancing of pain tolerance; instead, she felt as if she might, somehow, someday, get close to the truth. It was like a word on the tip of her tongue, just out of reach. With all else, she observed the temptation to force the conception, push for it. Something made her feel it would need to move at its own pace, and so even that temptation, she just sat aside and observed.

The first ping notification knocked her grip on its fragile state loose. Mentally commanding them all off, she let herself relax, take a moment and started again. Not fighting, rather acknowledging them, observing them both as the Ki trickled towards Livia and her pain returned. Ki and Demonic energies swirled around their dance floor within her. The Demonic forces pushing and aggressive, the Ki mist like placid drifting away from every strike. The Ki using the force’s every movement to flow around and like dance partners; they spun within.

The dance faltered from time to time, but she picked herself up and began again. Each attempt time the dance lasted long and the word, the awareness, grew a little closer, a little clearer within. The pair of them forming an oddly shaped yin yang as more Ki drifted to Livia, and more Demonic forces screamed inside at Julia. She didn’t fight against it or block it away, rather worked on floating among the currents as a boat on a tide, all the while observing what rose under her. Storms of pain spun her about, and eddies of Ki protected her. She would remain, as would they.

Animals came and went throughout the night as the dancing cycles continued. Yet all of them opted to stay well clear of an unsettling presence that had come inexplicitly close to their homes.

As dawn approached, Julia had yet to move from the spot she had picked. Yet much had changed by her efforts, alternating Harmony with Ki Meditation, then now keeping both active. Replenishing her Ki pool, even as its energy danced with pain or drifted into Livia. Instead of the ugly redness that had filled Livia before, a new shimmering blue radiated from within, supporting the purity of Soul energies with its presence. Even the link between them had changed, shifting from the perverse feeding tube to link that joined their hearts.

A whirlwind of energies cycled within her flesh, dragging the Souls that had been trying to press their way out of her in its wake. Harmony letting the power within her slowly gain momentum as each continually sought to shift the balance between them.

An Alert that intruded into her awareness while she was still mentally collecting herself, from the purification session.

Abyssal energies in physical structure nearing depletion

No summoner contract present.

Options: Return to the Abyss. Draw energy from Damned Souls. Corrupt Soul.

Current Souls available for processing: 113

Current Tainted Souls available for exchange: 0

Current Souls bonds: 1

Abyssal Return, Draw Energy, Corrupt - select option now

Fuck, it must mean the Souls I could see inside me.

This is so screwed up, but I can’t drag Livia back. Draw Energy.

As Heat rushed into her flesh, from one of the trapped Souls struggling within; a new notification flashed in her awareness.

Current Form: Succubus Form - Lesser (Tier II, Level 1) - Form's energy refilled

Current Souls available for processing: 112

Current Tainted Souls available for exchange: 0

Current Innocent Souls bound: 1

Next recharge will be required in 1 Day, based on recent expenditures.

Profile

Name

J

True Name Species Lesser Succubus Level 1 /10 (Variant: Hidden Mortal Soul - Cursed) Shards (0 / 20) Home Plane Hrz’Styrn Progression Class Level Exp Blood Monk 15 111,999 / 180,000 Wizard 1 0 / 2000 Succubus 6 27,640 / 30,000

Defence

39

Melee Attack Power

57

Health

443

Attributes Strength 20 Faith 5 Endurance 24 Magic 27 Quickness 26 Intelligence 25 Ki 63 Willpower 41 Mana 81 Charisma 23 Affinities Darkness, Time, Mental, Abyssal, Jade Court Spell Forms

Charm Mortal (5), Dream Sending (5), Implant Command (5), Surge Emotion (9)

Resistances Air (2), Acid - Improved (6), Cold (5), Fire - Immune, Mana - Improved (1), Mundane Materials [G] (1), Poison - Minor (5), Electricity - Minor (5) Powers Abyssal Adaptability [Ap] (6), Blink [Ap] (21), Corruption (5), Dark Sight (1), Demonic Pact (5), Energy Drain (14), Flight [Ap] (12), Harmony [Ap] (29), Improved Regeneration [Ap] (22), Ki Movement (1), Ki Strike [Ap] (2), Mana Sense (7), Shapeshift [Ap] (13), Soul Sight (12), Telepathy (19), Teleport (Self): 5, Translate Languages [B] (5), Skills Active - Abyssal City Navigator (1), Acrobatics [B] (4), Acting (10), Analysis [Ap](3), Bite [Ap] (5), Bluff (10), Claws [Ap] (14), Climbing [B] (20), Danger Sense (9), Disguise (11), First Aid (1), Fly [Ap] (1), Haggling (13), Intimidation (19) , Leatherworking [B](3), Ki Meditation [Ap] (19), Mana Manipulation (9), Mental Resilience [J] (31), Pain Tolerance [J] (5), Perception [Ap] (4), Perseverance [Ap] (23), Profile Control (16), Rope Use (1), Seduction(11), Sense Motive (3), Stealth [Ap](16), Taunt (5), Tactics [B](9), Time Sense [B] (2), Torture (2), Unarmed Combat [J] (12) Knowledge - Abyssal Lore [B](6), Arcane (3), Celestial Lore (1), Demonic Lore [B] (2), Hidden Lore (3), Planar Lore (7), Planar Portals (9), Skill Lore (1) Available Skills Points 33 Available Knowledge Bonus 10 Languages Abyssal, Infernal, Common Celestial, English Special Abilities Inventory Level 5 Max Capacity 25/50 Kilograms Stored Materials

Assorted Lurker glands, meat and materials. Tras'laqì's book of names. Magical Pouch (Unidentified), (3) Magical Rings (Unidentified), Magical Bracers (Unidentified),

Souls Harvested Damned Souls 114 Innocent Souls Corrupted 0 Soul Shards Available 112 Innocent Souls Bound 1 Soul Shards Consumed 2 Corruptions Failed 1

Closing the profile, Julia buried her face in her hands groaning in dismay.

Oh fuck, I unlocked Succubus as a class as well! So not writing my memoirs.