Chapter 20 - Some New Teammates

========================================================================

Golshi Era, Year 21,879

Excerpt from the memoirs of Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, Master of the Outer Reach of the Sixth Circle of Hell

The All Spirit… this rogue god has come to the forefront of power amidst the pantheons of our universe. Alone, it is able to rival the strength of many other deities combined. How did it achieve such power in such a short time? How did it ascend to godhood so quickly? Or was it always there, and merely hiding in the background of life’s tapestry? Nothing since the creator has come close to rivaling its power. However, its agenda eludes me… and it fails to use its unrivaled strength for any apparent personal benefit.

Meanwhile, the laws of nature are being rewritten with new parameters I can only describe as… strange oddities.

What is the point of these changes? These… leveling systems? Is there a method to the madness this creature forces upon the rest of existence? What does it desire and what drives this ‘All Spirit’ to take the actions it chooses to make?

It is not that I am concerned about its intervention, it has remained neutral ever since its appearance and appears to hold no hostility towards my interests. Regardless, it has lit the spark of genuine curiosity inside my blighted soul. Even those of the Infernal Crowns that I have conversed with do not truly know why the All Spirit acts the way it does.

Alas, trying to make contact with the All Spirit has yielded no results. Despite a direct line of communication in the form of these new ‘status pages’ that the All Spirit has provided us with, it completely ignores my attempts to speak to it.

Perhaps a sacrifice should be made? It certainly wouldn’t hurt to try, and thus… tonight… I make my seventh attempt to speak with this elusive being. I have prepared a hundred thousand fae captives for this ritualistic sacrifice, and have harvested the wings of these fairies to enact the Ritual of Garnished Divulgence. Perhaps after the All Spirit sees such a grand display in its name, it may decide to speak to me.

There are doubters though.

Lilith has told me that my curiosity will get the better of me one day, that my attempts to reach out to this new god will result in my demise. She has publicly called me foolish and has mocked my attempts to achieve contact.

But that demoness knows not who she mocks.

We will see who is laughing in the end when I sack her cities, kill her children, and take her as my bride.

========================================================================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Trey Bon

HP 220/220

MP 144/144

SP 120/120

DP 1/1

Race: Human

Guild: None

Class: Infernal Summoner

Level 6

Status Alerts:

Remaining Skill Points: 0 Remaining Stat Points: 0 Current Permanence cycle: ON Current Bound Point: Negaizer Runestone For dying: You and your minion have lost 1 level each, along with associated skill and stat points

(The rest of Trey's status page is in the spoiler)

Buffs:

+3% resistance to all damage (Resilience) +10% resistance to all damage (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) Autoregeneration (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) +15% damage to offensive spells (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) Night Vision (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness (Predator) +33% to awareness (Aspect of the Devil: Horns)

Debuffs:

+8% damage taken from all Celestial and Holy abilities (Aversion to Divine)

Stat Amplifications:

18 Strength

10 Vitality

10 Endurance

9 Dexterity

21 Speed

19 Intelligence

22 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

10 Willpower

Magics

Chaos Ball (Chaos) - Level 4

Summon a ball of chaos to fling at your enemies

Chains of Chaos (Chaos) - Level 6

Summon chaos chains to bind or impale your enemies

Shadowstep (Dark) - Level 1

Teleport a short distance instantly

Summoner’s Calling: Least Summoning Circle (Dark) - Level N/A

The most basic of summoning circles with a low intensity magic signature that usually (but not always) attracts the weaker denizens of the infernal realms. This broad spectrum spell enables you to communicate with the infernal realms of Hell, Oblivion, and the Void, but offers no protection whatsoever from the creatures you summon. You are able to increase the chance for a random target to appear by using double the mana and circling the center pentagram.

Summoner’s Calling: Minion’s Call (Dark) - Level N/A

Summons a specific minion you already own, or dismisses them to your personal nether realm. Dismissing a demon to their nether realm will heal it over time and allow it to revitalize. However, keep in mind it takes 30 seconds to channel this ability. You may only summon or dismiss 1 minion at a time.

Roar of the Banshee (Dark) - Level 1

Silences enemies for a short time, inhibiting them from casting spells or miracles

Miracles

None

Physical Combat

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Level 2

Blades - Level 2

Aspect of the Devil: Mask (Chaos) - Level 1

Grants bite attacks and manaless ability to breathe short range hellfire

Aspect of the Devil: Tail - Level 1

Hand to Hand Combat - Level 1

Polearms - Level 1

Blades - Level 2

Light Armor - Level 1

Assassination - Level 1

*Adds bonuses and critical strikes while unseen by your opponent.

Miscellaneous

Sneak - Level 2

Identification - Level 3

Traits:

Vatosis Inferna - *TRAIT IS LOCKED AND UNAVAILABLE.*

Earthborn - You are earthborn and experience ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ permanence cycles. You also gain a 20% increase to any type of XP acquired when compared to your fellow NPCs, and your mana regeneration rate is increased by 30%.

Languages Learned - Ancient Demon

Void Essence - You have been chosen as a suitable host. You are now able to access black magics, skill trees, abilities, and spells unavailable to most other black magic users.

Resilience - +100 HP, +3% resistance to all damage. Mental fortitude increased.

Dreadlord Voshok’s Bane (Heroic) - +10% resistance to all damage. Autoregenerate 1% HP per minute. Autoregenerate lost body parts over time.

Predator - Participant has acquired a symbiote. Predator is a separate entity that will become bound to participant. Predator symbiote gives +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness. Predator symbiote is currently in the chrysalis stage, when it matures this symbiote will be able to possess and acquire the body of a demon-class enemy - giving you a new minion. When this possession has finished, the Predator symbiote's bonuses will remain but the symbiote entity itself will no longer be bound to the master's body. Also allows participant to use the ability Consume.

*Consume - Beings that you have killed yourself may be consumed. Doing so gives you a chance to acquire Strength stat points and is largely dependent on the foe’s danger rating. Consume will also rapidly restore HP, MP, and SP.

Aversion to Divine - Participant is associated with the infernal arts. +8% damage taken by all Celestial and Holy abilities.

Physical Attributes:

Shadowform - Allows participant’s body to express shadow properties. Allows Participant to focus and bind acquired items into Shadowform, absorbing them into the participant’s body fitting a maximum weight of 500kg. May summon bound items anywhere within a 5 yard radius of participant. May unbind items when needed. If bound item is outside of a 1000 yard radius from participant, bound item automatically returns to Shadowform.

Stored Items:

None

Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze - Permanent no cost upon use Night Vision enchantments afflict your eyes, which are tinged a glowing red. This also empowers all of your damaging magics by 15% damage.

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Summon and discard demon claws at will. Separate from hand to hand combat. Can cause bleeding, a damage over time effect.

Aspect of the Devil: Mask

Summon and discard demon Jaws at will. Allows participant to use predator’s Consume ability much more rapidly and participant is now able to use Consume during battle. Allows participant to breath Hellfire (Chaos), a medium range area of effect spell that costs no mana. Can cause burns.

Aspect of the Devil: Tail

Allows piercing and slashing attacks. Damage equivalent to Aspect of the Devil: Claws. May extend up to 25 additional feet. (Non-retractable prior to original 5 foot length)

Aspect of the Devil: Horns

These horns pick up vibrations in the air and in the ground to sense incoming attacks, +33% to awareness. (Non-retractable)

Magical Attributes:

Chaos

Dark

Skill Trees Unlocked:

Aspect of the Devil Summoner’s Calling

Control Limit Slots: 2 of 3 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 3 (1 slot)(Liked) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Neutral)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page

Name: Napoleon

Race: Oblivion Imp, Lesser Demon

Class: N/A

Level: 3

HP: 94/94

MP: 130/130

SP: 66/66

DP: 1/1

Skills: Firebolt (lvl. 6) (Fire), Sneak (lvl. 4)

Traits: Fragile, Intelligent, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Curse, Fire

Opinion of you: Liked

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trey woke up with a jolt, gasping and clutching at the spot where he had felt the knife sink in. Then he felt his left arm, made sure it was intact after being cut cleanly through. Tears of rage began to stream down his face and he gritted his teeth in frustration.

He was back at the Negaizer runestone, days away from where he’d just died, and he had no idea how long he had been gone before he’d respawned. Likely, it’d been another couple days.

“FUCK!!!” Trey screamed as he rammed a fist into the stone, leaving his bare knuckles bloodied with the impact. His voice echoed down the desolate halls and he could hear the running water of the underground river again.

‘That was… most unpleasant.’ Sithis mused sullenly, having experienced death for the second time since bonding with Trey. The first had been when they had been impaled, but this time was a bit more… brutal.

“I… have had it... with this fucking planet...” Trey muttered slowly, thinking of Farthom and his granddaughter Inis curled up in death. then he thought of the culn, and he sneered in contempt at the image of those bastard demons.

‘You were facing a company of trained soldiers.’ Sithis stated plainly and internally snorting. ‘We did rather well considering you have no true training. Martial arts is good for hand to hand combat but you have no weapons training at all. Even with me to guide you and improve your reflexes… I am learning too.’

Trey clenched his fists and leaned into the wall with his horns grating against the stone. His teeth gritted against one another and he shook violently as he tried to contain the rage he felt welling up inside of him. Right before he died, when those culn soldiers had mocked him… those thoughts were now hardwired into his brain.

He wanted to gut each and every one of them.

They were going to pay.

After a few minutes of seething he managed to calm down. He looked down at his body and noticed that he was naked again. Sighing loudly and shaking his head, he suddenly had a near heart attack at the thought of losing Napoleon, and then the sword.

Control Limit Slots: 2 of 3 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 3 (1 slot)(Liked) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Neutral)

When he checked his page again he saw that they were still registered as minions and became a little bit more relaxed. Looking around once just to make sure he really was alone, he took a look at the spell he was about to perform:

Summoner’s Calling: Minion’s Call (Dark) - Level N/A

Summons a specific minion you already own, or dismisses them to your personal nether realm. Dismissing a demon to their nether realm will heal it over time and allow it to revitalize. However, keep in mind it takes 30 seconds to channel this ability. You may only summon or dismiss 1 minion at a time.

Scratching his chin and hoping to god it would work, he internally sought out the means to use this spell. With the others he’d gained innate knowledge on how to perform them, the shapes and power signatures of each spell becoming vivid within his mind before he’d cast. In this case it was the same, and when he focused on what he wanted to do: he found that he just ‘knew’ how to perform it.

“Do all spells work like that?” He asked Sithis. “Are they all learned instantaneously like what happened with me?”

Sithis was slow to respond, but his answer was unsure. ‘I would find that hard to believe. Why else would there be grimoires? Grimoires are books of spells… correct? Why would someone bother writing them down if people just learned them innately? Based on what the All Spirit has said concerning skill trees and abilities, I am almost certain that there will be some innate skills, spells or abilities for every class. We obtained some from the Essence you bonded with as well, but it is highly likely that with most of them you’ll have to put in time and practice to learn.’

Grimoires?

Oh no. He had completely forgotten about the grimoire, and as he looked to his shadowform storage... he clarified the fear he had.

Stored Items:

None

Trey facepalmed. The items he had stored had probably dropped on death.

Damn it.

Well, at least he still had his minions.

Focusing on the spell ‘Minion’s Call’, Trey lifted up one hand and tried summoning Napoleon to his side. As he focused, dark mana began to radiate along his arm and into his hand. He stretched out his fingers, continuing to channel the mana and within seconds a medium-sized pentagram of crimson light appeared on the floor in front of him. That pentagram was then encircled completely with runes, then a circle, then more runes, before Napoleon appeared in a tiny explosion of flames.

Napoleon looked shocked to be there, and his hands wrapped around his body as his little claws trembled. He looked around frantically and then back up at Trey with wide-eyed amazement.

“I not dead?” was all the little imp could bark out with a confused gawking.

“Thankfully not… I thought I might have lost one of my only friends here. I’m glad to say otherwise. It appears as long as I have the All Spirit’s protection with the permanence cycle, so do you.” Trey bent down and pet the little imp as Napoleon scurried up his arm. “You did well Napoleon… thank you for fighting beside me.”

The imp glowed at the praise and was quickly calming down from the trauma it had just undergone in death. After a couple seconds though it scowled and folded its arms with a humph. “Me hate hell hounds.”

Trey chuckled at the comment. He could certainly see why the little imp hated those wretched creatures, especially after just being eaten by one but also because of how Napoleon’s family had been killed back in the caves. He stretched out, cracking his neck and yawning to loosen up his tensed muscles, then he got to work summoning the sword.

Again he began to focus, and dark mana swirled up across his arm and into his hand. Channeling the mana he saw another pentagram appear along the ground that lit up with a bright red light, materializing the living weapon in front of him after the full 30 seconds of channeling was complete. Then the greatsword remained hovering a foot over the ground with a low thrumming sound

The sword didn’t say anything even after being acknowledged by Trey, so Trey just shrugged and grasped it by the handle to easily carry the gigantic weapon down the hall. It still surprised him how light the thing was and he was absolutely 100% sure that if anyone else had tried to pick it up that it’d weigh a ton. Thinking more on the subject he even paused a moment to give it a command.

“Talsh’Noc’Un,” Trey said as he got the sword’s attention - pausing its humming as the gigantic weapon listened to what he had to say.

Trey grinned and held the sword out in front of him. “Stop adjusting your weight and let me see what you really weigh, so that I get an idea of what our enemies see when you rush into them.”

He immediately regretted the command as the sword slammed into the ground with a loud crash, sending up bits and pieces of dirt and stone as Trey completely dropped the weapon altogether. There had been no bounce, just a quick and even rush downwards as the weapon impaled itself flat against the stone floor. Trey swore to himself in amazement and he looked at his bruised hand where the weapon’s hilt had come down on it in his grip, completely ripping itself out of his grasp. Bending down and trying to pick up the weapon with his right hand, he found that he couldn’t get it to budge. So he used both hands and STILL couldn’t move the goddamn thing.

Not even an inch.

“Well Jesus Christ!” Trey exclaimed and he put his back into it. This time while using his entire lower body and both hands, he finally got the thing to budge about half a centimeter. Panting in exertion he eventually stopped, and acknowledged that 710 strength to wield this monster was certainly reasonable. He couldn’t help but wonder what this thing could do when he got there and could use it at full potential instead of a mere 10%...

“Why’d you pick me?” Trey asked the weapon as it rose up on command and back into his hand. “Didn’t you have other options?”

There was a long silence and for a while Trey didn’t think the sword would respond, but eventually it came out with a low phantasmal whisper of: “... No… I must bond… to one with… an Infernal Summoner class… You are the only one… I have seen… In centuries… After my old master died...”

Rough... but he half expected it. Well at least it made sense now. Made him feel sure as shit a lot less special though, knowing that he was likely a very last resort pick.

***

Negaizer was still cleaned out, though signs of others having been there was evident since he’d freed the prisoners. The corpses left there had been piled together and burned or simply just weren’t there at all.

Luckily there had been an oversight. He took time to take some bloodied clothes off one of the culn corpses in the first set of rooms that had been missed in the cleanup, the pants and vest were way too big for him but he cut it down to size the best he could and went to wash them off in the river. He scrubbed for a good while to get the smell of death off and Napoleon helped him out, chatting about Trey’s old life with numerous questions from the imp that kept Trey preoccupied.

Then they continued on the way he had gone the first time. Through the tunnels they went. The store rooms were completely emptied and the jail cells were now empty too.

“Ghost town.” Trey murmured to himself, with his footsteps echoing across the large room where he’d fought for his life days before. He felt a slight tug at the disgusting pants he wore and he turned to look at the little black imp that he’d become rather fond of recently. He then raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“What we do now now?” Napoleon asked curiously, looking around the huge room and then into gates of the prison.

Trey didn’t really have an answer to that. He glanced about and pursed his lips, suddenly feeling very alone even despite Napoleon, Sithis and Talsh’Noc’Un all being there to keep him company.

‘We should move back to the gate. Farthom mentioned it was over the mountains before he died.’ Sithis interjected from infernal jaws before Trey’s thoughts wandered off too far.

The jaws disappeared to leave Trey’s facial features human again and Trey nodded slowly after thinking about the suggestion. He didn’t have any better plans… but then the look of those culn soldiers gloating over him before they killed him came to mind. His fists clenched and he felt himself burning with a now familiar anger.

Trey shook his head. “Actually… no. We will get to the gate in time… but for now, we hunt.”

They knew what he meant, and the greatsword across his back gave a low hiss of approval while Napoleon whimpered slightly.

“But but they strong!” objected Napoleon with a tiny hands outstretched. “They kill us! They kill us again! Me don’t like be killed!”

‘I agree with the imp.’ the harsh infernal rasp of Sithis’ voice rang out. ‘We don’t know where they live, it would be a blind hunt and a waste of time for unneeded vengeance. Our priority should be survival and escaping this place to somewhere more suitable. We don’t know how long we have until our permanence runs out and a death would be… forever. It could even be tomorrow.’

“Oh, come on! Some ‘predator symbiote’ you are Sithis. They deserve to be killed after what they did!” Trey frowned in disappointment at the lackluster response from his companions, excluding Talsh’Noc’Un. He folded his arms and brought the greatsword around to look at it. “Well it’s two vs. two. How do we decide a tiebreaker?”

The sword chuckled lightly and the crimson crescent rune along the base of the blade began a soft glow. The great blade righted itself in a vertical stance to hover in the air and turned as if to face him head on.

“You… are the master… you decide where we go… But if you are… concerned… you can summon another…” Talsh’Noc’Un paused, considering the words it was about to say and a shimmer of light flashed across its surface. Then to everyone else’s surprise, a 2x2 window appeared that very much resembled the status page Trey had at first glance. However, when Trey walked up to read what was written there, it wasn’t a status page at all. It was just a teal screen with a list:

Captured Creatures in Storage: 5/5 grand soul stones filled

Infernal Crusher, Archdemon Ifrit, Greater Demon Dark Djinn, Fallen Taurun, Greater Demon Angelic Dread Berserker, Fallen Archangel

Trey studied the information on the list and his brows furrowed in confusion. He looked to the sword and raised a hand questioningly while placing the other on his side.

“What’s this supposed to be?” Trey asked hesitantly.

There was a pause of silence, and then a long audible sigh from the sword. Trey got the feeling from the way it let out the sight that it thought him to be stupid. The feeling was solidified when Talsh’Noc’Un began to speak even more slowly than it usually did in that unnerving phantasmal voice, as if he were a small child.

“I am built with five soul stones… embedded inside my blade… One of the abilities I possess… is to capture creatures with potential… after besting them in battle… to use as… backups... for when your… other minions die… or when you come into… more minion slots…”

Talsh’Noc’Un stopped speaking and gave Trey time to think, but continued when Trey didn’t reply. “It is unlikely… that any of these creatures… will bind to you… as you are far… below any of them… and not a worthy… master… but it wouldn’t hurt… to try…”

"Yeah and let myself get torn to pieces again?" Trey gave the sword a frown and folded his arms. "I'd rather not. Not with those creature types, no way."

A deep, sinister chuckle rang out from the weapon. "I would... protect you..."

"Protect me?"

"That... is what I said..."

Trey kept his frown, tapped his foot and thought about it some more. "So you're saying they wouldn't kill me if I summoned them? You'd be able to keep them in check?"

There was a long pause, before the sword beamed a sinister glow from its crescent rune. "Of course..."

The sword stopped speaking again. Trey pondered the words with furrowed brows and fingers tapping away at his chin.

“These were the backups for your old master? They weren’t his primary minions?” Trey asked to clarify.

The sword let out another long sigh. “Many hundreds… of years ago… yes… With the exception of the angel... who has an individually unique story...”

Whoever the summoner was that the sword had served in the past, he must have been a downright badass. It occurred to him suddenly though that it was very possible that person didn’t even really exist, as according to the All Spirit this was a game of life and death. But… then again, he didn’t know how long this game had been going on for. That other A.I. had mentioned something about interdimensional travel, so it was very possible that this ‘game’ had been going on for… god knows how long.

Sithis stirred in the back of Trey’s mind, mulling over the information himself and Trey briefly connected with the symbiote to ascertain what he thought. The conclusion from Sithis was the same as his own: if they could get one or more of these creatures to his side… it would mean a significantly easier time traversing through the territories here.

‘You may as well try.’ Sithis said gradually. Their eyes shifted to Napoleon. ‘But let the imp rest in the meantime. He looks tired.’

Trey acknowledged Sithis’ words once he spotted Napoleon yawning and rubbing his eyes. He wasn’t sure how Napoleon was tired already, but he shrugged it off with a smirk. Giving Napoleon a pat on the head he waved to the little guy before using the spell ‘minion’s call’ to dismiss him.

“Alright!” Trey exclaimed excitedly after Napoleon had left. He looked to the sword expectantly and folded his arms, tail swinging back and forth in excitement. “Let’s get started with the Infernal Crusher! Sounds badass. How do I do it?”

A low hum emanated from the sword and it swung around his body to latch onto his back. “You’ll need… to be outside… for this particular creature... but once you are there… I can summon it… with my own powers…”

That’s what Trey wanted to hear. He could use some new teammates! Assuming Talsh'Noc'Un already had a grasp on their souls, Trey felt comfortable trying his hand at talking to them, and likely wouldn't be in any real danger.

Trey began to head towards the stone stairway leading up and out of Negaizer with the entrance open to the air above. Leaping and bounding up the miles of steps with a bit of effort, he quickly made it into the connecting cave and then outside just as Talsh’Noc’Un had told him to do. Then the sword prompted him to go further into the barren wastelands just outside the cave and into a wide-open area.

He did as he was told, and Trey eventually came to a spot in the middle of the open where Talsh’Noc’Un deemed it appropriate to summon the creature.

“You are sure… you want… the infernal crusher… first…?” the sword asked.

“Yup! Hit me!” Trey said excitedly. He had no idea what the hell that thing was but it sounded cool as hell.

The sword acknowledged his wish and promptly came around to float in the air again directly in front of where Trey stood. Within seconds, crackles of chaos began to course across the blade and the crescent rune began glowing again.

A high pitched crack of sound caused Trey to jump as a burst of black lightning shot skywards from the sword, then another and another, and with each crack of lightning it began to build a dark orb of power that floated about fifty feet above where Trey stood. It continued to build, and build, and build... until the ball of energy was the size of a bus.

Then, in an explosion of power, the black bubble of energy burst.

Trey was knocked onto his back as the magic radiated outwards and sent debris flying in all directions. He covered his eyes and squinted, trying to block incoming pebbles and dirt as it blew against his body until he was forced to completely shut his eyes and cover his mouth. Fortunately though, it all only lasted a couple seconds, and when it ended there was a deathly silence to follow.

Trey began to open his eyes when he felt another gust of wind and he shielded them again, but was caught off guard by the heat of the air this time.

That’s... when he heard a low rumble.

He finally looked up, removing his hands and arms, only to let his jaw drop slightly in sheer amazement. In front of him and standing on four legs each the size of a small tower, with a body the size of a navy battleship, was a hulking monstrosity. Its entire body looked like it was built from solid burgundy rock with pointed ends at the top of its four legs that came out to all four corners. The bottoms of the feet were flat however, and the central body was ovoid with no mouth. A dozen, staring, translucent orbs for eyes were also scattered across its front.

Those eyes were focused on him.

Trey let out a whistle and slowly clapped his hands together with an expression of wonder. The creature was many thousands of times larger than he was and he was certain it could blast through any building or take a huge amount of damage before it would go down. If he got ahold of this bad boy… wow, would he be able to-

His thought process was cut off as the Infernal Crusher moved. The movement was so fast Trey couldn’t even follow it. In the next milliseconds to come: his body was… crushed... by one huge foot of the monster. A minute later and the hulking monstrosity turned around, lumbering away... off into the realms of Oblivion without a second thought.

Behind the monstrosity, Trey’s guts remained plastered against a crater in the stone.