Chapter 23 - Rivia Ahst

It was just as Jerekka said. When Trey reached the boulder and tried to touch it, the illusion simply let him slide right on through and revealed a large boarded latch built into the ground.

“Get the fuck down there. Keep them distracted until I strike, and then help me kill whoever’s down there when I act.”

Jerekka gave Trey one last frown, pulled up the latch by a metal handle built into it and turned around to descend downwards on an old but sturdy ladder. The wood creaked beneath the weight of the soldier and Trey could see a faint light further down the hall.

“Halt!” A surprised voice of another man beneath Trey called out and the sounds of unsheathing weapons came to his ears.

Trey watched from above as Jerekka turned around after dismounting the ladder and raised his arms up in surrender.

“It is I, Jerekka! Do you not recognize me Tuthu? Varz?”

The sound of armored bodies moving stopped short, and soon Trey began to hear laughter as the sound of weapons sheathing themselves.

“Jerekka!” another unfamiliar voice called out as Trey watched two culn soldiers approach his minion. He could see them now, directly under him and exchanging greetings with Jerekka as old friends.

“You bastard, you scared me!” one of them said happily, waving a flask of what Trey assumed to be alcohol based on the way the soldier rocked back and forth with unsteady balance.

“Right!” said the other one motioning to the ladder. “Why by the Infernal Crowns are you using THIS entrance? Are you being lazy again? Not wanting to deal with the protocols at the gate?”

Jerekka let out a fake smile and clapped a hand on his drunken friend’s shoulder. He was sweating, and he was feeling guilty for what he was being forced to do. He wanted to scream at them to run, to get out of here, but he... couldn’t. The contract wouldn’t let him.

Why did it have to be them?

The demon’s eyes began to tear up as he saw Trey shadowstep, appearing directly behind his two childhood friends. They deserved better than this.

“Is everything ok?” asked Jerekka’s friend just before his eyes went wide and a spray of blood erupted from his throat.

“I’m sorry…” muttered Jerekka, pulling out a knife tucked into his belt and sinking it into his friend’s skull. He did this while watching Trey break the neck of his other friend in a simple, practiced motion. A single tear came down his face but Jerekka brushed it away before Trey could see.

He wouldn’t give Trey the satisfaction of seeing.

“You have gained XP. Your ability Aspect of the Devil: Claws has gained 1 level. Your ability Shadowstep has gained 1 level. You have gained 1 overall level.”

A couple seconds later, and the culn guards Jerekka had known so well were disposed of - their bodies placed to the side of the tunnel where Trey was actively looting them.

“They don’t have shit.” Trey spat in irritation. He turned to look down the tunnel, ignoring the ravenous hunger Sithis was pouring into him and pointed. “What’s down there?”

Jerekka continued staring at his fallen comrades for a time and didn’t look up as he replied, eventually resting his head against the cold earth of the hidden passage. “It leads… into the great hall. They should be celebrating there before the marriage ceremony in Captain Coraza’s chambers.”

Trey raised an eyebrow. “Time to get moving then.”

The hallway was long. Really long, well over 2 miles of cramped underground tunnel long, and Napoleon scurried off ahead to get a better idea of what was there. Half an hour at a jog, and Trey finally came within seeing-distance of the end.

Far ahead of him, Trey watched Napoleon peaking through a crack in a stone wall blocking off the passage. Trey could hear the occasional laughter and screaming as well as the shuffling of bodies - all of it echoing slightly through the tight corridor they traversed. Trey hunkered down and stopped jogging to slowly creep ahead, letting his stamina points regenerate after falling below half. Keeping his breathing as light as possible even during the panting from the slightly strenuous jog, he crept over to where Napoleon was standing and placed his greatsword against the wall.

There were likely around 200 of the culn here, about half of them were women. The women had the same skin complexion as the men, ranging from deep royal purple to a lighter faded purple, but were generally 1 to 2 feet shorter than the men. Their horns were about the same length and many of them were even what Trey would consider beautiful.

On the edges of the room were tables stacked with food. Vegetables and fruits Trey didn’t recognize and couldn’t identify were piled up haphazardly next to bodies the culn were carving meat out of.

There were a couple giant lizards that’d been flayed open. Four imps had fallen victim to the culn as well, their bodies mutilated with pieces missing off the corpses. Then there were some of the dwarves and humans Trey had freed, almost a dozen of them. His best guess was they’d been dead a couple hours with most of their intestines and larger muscles on the extremities removed. Most of the culn didn’t use any utensils or plates as they ate but simply grabbed the large knives and carved out pieces of the bodies before devouring the uncooked meat with sloppy relish.

In the middle of the room was a large fire with some kind of shaman sprinkling green dust into it and chanting loudly to the other culn watching nearby. Over the fire were three corpses strung up by long, dangling chains. That’s when he saw it: his own body - or at least what used to be his body, broken and hanging from the central set of metal chains. His intestines had been ripped out to hang loosely over the flames and his old body’s feet were burned, a look of hate still plastered over his face in a deadset sneer. One of the other bodies was the brunette girl Joseline… the escapee who he’d spent ‘quality time’ with on the day they’d all been attacked by the culn war party. Her body was in worse shape than his was. She looked like a human pincoushion with arrows littering her body, and the other bruises or gashes along her slim figure suggested torture before death.

He was surprised that he didn’t get angry looking at the scene, despite the mutilation. Instead, he just felt… cold. Cold like the times he’d killed back on Earth... An icey calculating hate set in as he plotted what he was going to do once he found the man who’d killed him, the one responsible for all of their deaths. He didn’t see him anywhere in the room, with the only other point of focus being a circle where some culn warriors were taking turns raping one of the human prisoners. She was tied down to the wood, sobbing, and even some of the culn women were cheering on her abusers as the men drunkenly went to town, pulling her hair violently, beating her, or slamming her face into the wood over and over again while they did. She was almost dead as it was, and Trey was certain she wouldn’t last another couple minutes.

However, Trey knew going in there to try and do anything about it would result in a quick death. There was zero chance of winning against this many of them, and even though he would just respawn he’d still go through the pain and not have accomplished anything at all. He would have given up the fact that he knew about their secret entrance, and they’d be on high alert after seeing him alive after dying the first time.

Or worse, they’d capture him and torture him.

So Trey just watched in silence until one of the assaulting warriors 2 turns later got too aggressive and accidentally cracked the captive's skull open with an overly aggressive bash of her face into the hard wooden bench. He just laughed along with the rest of them and continued to defile her corpse until he finished to the cheers of the small crowd surrounding him.

Trey remained calm though. He would have his revenge, and it would not only be for himself.

***

The partying and feasting finally died down a couple hours later, and the latch for the tunnel’s stone-wall entrance slowly slid open. According to Jerekka, only the ones assigned to guard this entrance in shifts knew of its existence - outside of the chieftain, spiritual leaders and officers.

So it made Trey’s advance easy.

Trey opened the hidden latch as slowly as he could, the stone wall built over the latch sliding with it to his right. In front of him were two dozen culn, men and women, and they were all passed out due to alcohol intoxication. The others had left the large hall for the refuge of their own rooms, with the exception of one lone drunkard sitting at a bloodied table who had his back turned to Trey.

Trey crept forward, stepping over one of the sleeping men and passing around the flickering remnants of the dying fire, Trey held out his greatsword with a stone cold expression of intent, memories of his past life bringing out the emotionless killer within him back to the surface. He’d had enough of the fucking pity-party he’d subjected himself to since leaving home, that person had no place here.

It may take time and effort, and maybe he’d have some setbacks with the loss of his family… with the loss of Amanda. He was only human after all and letting go of things he’d likely never see again was certainly going to take time. In fact, he was sure he’d forever cherish the memory of them, would love them, and think of them for the rest of his life. However, that person who used those treasured memories to sabotage his own progress forward needed to die along with the life he’d left behind.

He recalled a quote he’d once heard from an ancient Chinese philosopher, and knew the words to be true: ‘If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.’

May he take those words to heart.

He paused as he heard noise coming down from a connecting passage and shifted to plant himself underneath a large table with one of the salamander remnants. His left hand tucked the greatsword underneath him while his right hand landed in a pool of thick bile. He looked down in disgust, his hand dripping with the viscous liquid, but he was glad he had done it when a passing group of four other culn walked past the great hall and into the next set of passages to his right.

Napoleon and Jerekka were still in the tunnel, having been instructed only to come out when the culn drunkard had been ‘removed.’

Trey didn’t take much time and made little noise getting back to his feet, wiping off the bile on his pants. He stepped over another drunk culn woman that began to stir as soon as he planted his first step. Pausing and watching the middle-aged demon woman open her eyes, he silently cursed as they went wide when she saw him.

She screamed, but it was only for a half-second before Trey’s claws came down and ripped through her throat. The woman panicked in the last seconds of her life, flailing about and trying to get away; but she was hurled against the near wall with a brutal thud as she fell unconscious to the floor to bleed out.

The sounds had caused the drunkard to turn around in the meantime, and Trey whirled to see the culn leap to his feet in confusion when a chaos chain shot from above and wrapped itself around the culn’s neck. The long searing chain of solidified magic dragged the gagging demon skywards towards the ceiling, dangling him along with Trey’s old body and the other two humans that’d been strung up.

A second later and the demon’s neck abruptly snapped with an audible crunch.

“Your hidden attack was a critical strike, +56% damage.”

“Your Assassination skill has increased by 1 level. You have gained XP.”

‘I took the liberty of casting it myself since you were busy.’ Sithis commented, amused at the look of shock Trey had.

Trey calmed down and his heart stopped racing, realizing he had barely avoided having the alarm sounded to wake up the numerous culn around him or have reinforcements running in from the rest of the fort. Hopefully everyone was either sleeping or going to bed so that he wouldn’t run into any other… problems.

Trey made his way back over to where Jerekka and Napoleon were watching him at the hidden entrance, grabbing one of the large knives embedded in the feeding tables. He slowed his breathing and took a look back at the culn that’d been strangled in the air overhead, legs and arms hanging limply at the demon’s sides.

Then Trey looked to the sleeping culn on the floor. Cold contempt began to build inside him again as he thought of what these people had done to him, done to the escaped prisoners at the lake, and what they had done to the people here at their ‘feast.’

These were not people, they were monsters. They were beasts. The grip around his greatsword tightened and he turned around to his minions again.

“We will take them out one by one. Cut their throats as deep as you can in a single strike. Napoleon, you make the cuts. I want you getting the XP.” Trey handed the large carving knife over to his imp who took the weapon nervously. “Jerekka, you hold them down and cover their mouths until they bleed out.”

Jerekka looked at him in horror, obviously repulsed and then to the sleeping culn around the room. “That’s treachery! There is no honor in killing defenseless sleeping-”

“Do not speak to me of honor!” Trey spat with venom in his words. “You fuckers started this, I’m only paying you back half of what you all deserve. Now shut the fuck up and do as I say. As you two work the left side, I’ll work the right. Keep moving one by one and making sure they don’t make any noise, when we’ve killed all of them you’ll be leading me to the captain’s quarters.”

Turning around and slamming a foot hard into the neck of a sleeping culn soldier, the crack was audible and the eyes only opened to see a greatsword shimmer above the eyes before piercing the man’s skull. Trey then turned back to his minions in a quiet rage.

“NOW!” he whispered forcefully.

Killing all the culn took a lot less time than Trey had anticipated. Of all of them, only one of the women managed to make any noise as she died after she kicked off a pitcher of water in her struggle. The rest of the kills went as planned. At the end of it, with 25 kills under their belts including the guy Sithis had strangled, both Trey and Napoleon had each gained another level.

“Your minion Napoleon has gained 1 overall level. Your minion Napoleon has gained the Assassination skill. Your minion Napoleon has gained the Small Blades skill. Your Assassination skill has increased by 1 level. You have gained 1 overall level.”

Trey dismissed the notifications as they came, quickly dumping another body onto the floor. He grimaced at the waste, the young woman was beautiful. But she was in his way, and if he had left them there when trying to escape they may have hindered his progress out.

He had also decided ahead of time that he was going to show them no mercy.

Not to these... things.

Jerekka was puking to the side and Trey just sneered at him as he began administering his skill and stat points, along with Napoleon’s. How Jerekka could feel remorse for killing his kin and none for killing the humans or dwarves just flat out disgusted Trey.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Trey took his time to adjust his new level-up points. He assigned his two skill points to ‘Chaos Ball’, 5 stat points to Intelligence to increase the firepower dealt by spells, and 5 to Willpower giving him another single control slot for minions. If he was going to be an infernal summoner, he’d better capitalize on his ability to make minions out of these bastards. It might very well save his skin in the process. He assigned Napoleon’s 10 stat points to Wisdom, giving him an additional 20 Mana Points and putting both skill points in his ‘Firebolt’ ability to make it level 8.

Trey's status page:

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

Name: Trey Bon

HP 220/220

MP 134/134

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

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:

19 Strength

10 Vitality

10 Endurance

9 Dexterity

16 Speed

24 Intelligence

17 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

15 Willpower

Magics

Chaos Ball (Chaos) - Level 6

Summon a ball of chaos to fling at your enemies

Chains of Chaos (Chaos) - Level 4

Summon chaos chains to bind or impale your enemies

Shadowstep (Dark) - Level 2

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 3

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

Light Armor - Level 1

Assassination - Level 3

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. 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: 3 of 4 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 5 (1 slot)(Liked) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Content) Jerekka Zoz, Culn, Level 6 (1 slot)(Hated)

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

As he finished assigning the points amidst the corpses, he tensed up when a loud echoing crash sounded down the passage to the right. He looked down the corridor and saw nothing - due to a right turn bend, and another right-turn bend was on the left passage too. Staying still and continuing to listen, his minions who awaited his command stood frozen in the silence. Trey began to hear his heart beat and his breathing while he concentrated, but no further sound came.

Giving it no further thought, it was time to move ahead with the plan.

“Alright where’s the captain’s quarters? I want you to lead me there. Take a lead by thirty feet and pass anyone by that you see, then turn on them when I engage. If the group we’re about it engage is over 6 people then you immediately leave and come right back to warn us. Got it?”

Trey thought his instructions were pretty simple but he had to repeat it twice for the dimwitted soldier to get the big picture.

The culn minion nodded. “This way, not far.”

When Jerekka said ‘not far,’ what he really meant was ‘immediately adjacent.’ The infamous Captain Coraza, the man who had burned the image of his taunting face into Trey’s brain, had his quarters just around the bend and down the hall by ten yards. Trey silently laughed at the ridiculous luck he’d been given as Jerekka stopped in front of a door to motion at it where talking could be heard behind the wood, and Trey was pretty sure this was where the crash had sounded from earlier. Women and men could be heard speaking openly about various topics regarding marriage, and after a while of listening with his ear to the door he guessed it likely that the captain was speaking with his bride-to-be as well as her father the chieftain. Other voices were heard in the room along with them but they were only chanting in hushed tones.

“What’s that chant about?” Trey asked Jerekka in a hushed whisper, still keeping his ear to the door and only stopping briefly to look behind to make sure no one had entered the passage. In front of him the hallway led along into another bend with a couple other doors present in the stone walls, but no one was seen coming.

“Religious ceremony of binding. It is the end ritual of the wedding, done after the feast. They’re probably finishing up now and will have priests or priestesses of either Alkir or Omastein undertaking the ritual. Alkir and Omastein are the two Infernal Crowns that we worship here.”

Trey had no idea what Jerekka was talking about when he mentioned the ‘Infernal Crowns’ but based on it being a religious ceremony he could guess easily enough that they were likely gods. He looked to Napoleon and gave him a nod, with the imp catching on to what he meant and preparing two firebolts in either hand while smiling in anticipation. The little canines of the deviously smiling imp only caused Trey to chuckle lightly and he pointed to Jerekka.

“You’ll be going in first. I want you to rush them and go straight for the captain. Do you understand, Jerekka?”

The culn soldier went pale and a shrill inhale of breath almost gave away their position. Trey wanted to gut the man right there as people inside the room gave pause, but they soon went back to their chanting and talking thereafter.

Eventually though, Jerekka muttered a: “Yes… master. Whenever you are ready.”

Trey didn’t hesitate any further. “Go.”

Jerekka turned the handle and shoved the door open with his full weight on the wood. It crashed against the inner wall and he sprinted in with Napoleon unleashing firebolts to either side of his legs, the little imp cackling as he did it. Screams erupted and Trey turned the corner to run inside immediately after the flames shot out from the imp’s hands.

There were a total of 6 enemies. Two priests and a priestess wearing gray hooded robes made of silk each sat cross-legged and holding candles around a naked couple. The kneeling woman in the center of their triangle had a large tattoo along her forehead while the man kneeling next to her was none other than captain douchebag - just the guy Trey had been looking for! The last person in the room was an older demon man, starting to show wrinkles and hair turning gray with a long beard. The old guy had a tattoo exactly like the woman in the center and he sat on a pile of furs across from a splendid bed.

The firebolts landed on the nearest priest, causing him to light up with flames as he began to panic and flail about. The other details of the room were a blur as Trey shot out towards the bastards with a scream.

*BOOM*

Jerekka had been within arm’s reach of the surprised captain and was bringing down a sword as the old man’s hand lifted to send him rocketing into the far wall. Trey’s culn minion slammed against the stone, obviously dead in a crumpled, torn heap, and the old guy immediately caught Trey’s attention for it.

“Your minion Jerekka has died.”

Damn. It'd take a while for Jerekka to be reborn if Trey's own time to respawn was any indication, and he'd hoped the culn soldier would be at least SEMI-useful in this fight. It appeared he'd overestimated the culn's worth.

Trey took no time in shadowstepping behind the old mage to dodge another blast of psychic energy and the old fart never saw it coming. In a burst of shadows and a triumphant roar: Trey ripped into the elder’s body with Talsh’Noc’Un, blasting chaos mana into the exposed wound after it settled in the victim’s chest. The resultant force of the attack continued to fry the man from the inside out as the naked kneeling woman screamed only to catch a firebolt to the face from Napoleon standing outside the room. She clutched and clawed at her hair and eyes, trying to put out the fires while rolling on the ground in agony.

“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!” Trey screamed at the astonished culn captain who had fallen back on his hands in shock.

“How are you still alive?!” muttered the culn in a state of shock and wonder just as Trey rushed him and speared him through the heart with his greatsword. The captain was pinned against the stone, a pool of blood began to gather around him from underneath his body as he gasped and gripped the sword with both hands. The last thing captain douchebag saw as he looked up in his state of shock: was Trey’s grinning demonic face as the infernal jaws opened up and breathed hellfire to bathe him in pain.

The hellfire’s splash damage washed over Trey’s own legs, not hurting him in the least… why this was the case: Trey was unsure. In the splash damage it’d caught the woman in the center who was already dealing with Napoleon’s flames. She screeched out in agony in the first couple seconds of the bathing flames before crumpling up into a smoldering, curled up position. When it was done, both the captain and his bride-to-be were nothing but charred corpses… smoking on the stone floor.

“Your ability ‘Aspect of the Devil: Mask’ has gained 1 level. You have gained XP.”

Behind him he heard Napoleon yell out in warning. Instinctively Trey ducked and rolled, dodging a strike from a priestess. She was utterly terrified, hyperventilating even, and in her panic she’d tried to stab him with a short dagger. As he rolled out to dodge, she lost her footing and fell over the burnt corpse of the captain. She stumbled in her frantic haste and her head slammed into a nearby bedpost. Trey couldn’t help laughing as he got up and kicked her hard in the gut, causing the young woman to wheeze and then lose her recent dinner all over the floor.

“Bitch.” Trey sneered and whirled again to see yet another firebolt slam into one of the priests who’d been hit earlier, sending him sprawling and alight with flames while his comrade tried to hide behind a dresser.

“We are but devoted worshipers of the gods! Spare us!” the priest aflame cried out while using hand signs vigorously in a way Trey hadn’t yet seen. A moment later and all the flames in the room dispersed as a strange burst of air lifted Trey off his feet and flung him against the bedpost where the priestess had landed.

He rolled on top of her and blocked another strike from her blade, taking her left arm that wielded the small dagger with and yanking back on it to cleanly break it. She shrieked in agony and let go of the weapon, cradling her arm and beginning to loudly sob as Trey rolled off of her and flung his weapon forward.

The priest who’d cast the ability was frantically moving his fingers, praying and hand gesturing just as the sword flew across the room in a spinning arc to impale him. The sword stuck halfway out of his back and took him completely off his feet, flipping the culn around in mid air and crashing into a bookshelf.

“You have gained XP.”

Cries coming from down the hall told Trey that reinforcements were coming, and seeing Napoleon turn to fire further down the hall only clarified his suspicions.

“Shit.” Trey cursed, turning back to the remaining priest and literally blowing him up with a chaos ball in a shower of debris that shook the chamber.

“You have gained XP.”

The greatsword flew back out of the corpse it had impaled and into Trey’s hand, hissing in delight with the death it had caused and wanting another. The feeling of its pleasure coursed through Trey and spurred him onwards to undergo even more violent endeavors.

But Napoleon had other ideas.

“GET BACK BACK!” the imp screamed as he rushed into the room after letting off another firebolt. The tiny demon slammed the door and began screaming at Trey to barricade it with whatever they had.

Trey trusted the imp’s judgement and did as he was told, kicking the priestess as she tried to get up and sending her flipping over to slam face-first into a chest. With all of his remaining strength - Trey began to pile dressers, the corpses, boxes, and whatever else he could get his hands on in front of the door. In the meantime, angry yells could be heard as culn from the opposite side began beating on the door to try and take it down.

“Not not good not good!” Napoleon whimpered as he looked around, not seeing any other way out.

Trey merely grinned, having completed his mission, and continued to add on to the pile. He pushed the bed forward and then a couple of books and sat down with his back to the bed-frame grinning.

“We did it!” Trey said, panting and laughing loudly again. “Ah man, that feels fucking GREAT!”

He kicked the corpse of the captain angrily after piling it onto the barricade. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he looked around catching his breath and letting his mana regenerate.

The priestess was still alive. She was shaking violently and huddled in a corner while clutching her broken arm with her good hand. Blood rushed down her face from a broken nose to mix in with tears, and she was whimpering loudly.

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Trey said, annoyed. “Don’t act like you and your people don’t deserve this.”

The priestess tensed and pulled the hood down further across her face, beginning to actively cry aloud as Trey got up to walk over. The closer he got, the louder she cried. As he bent down and ripped off the hood to reveal her features, her loud crying became a terrified wail. Tears ran like rivers and her trembling was intense.

She was actually very pretty. Now that he had time to focus, Trey was taken aback by the girl’s looks as he awaited death at the hands of the bastards on the other side of the barricaded door. Her skin was a deep purple just like the others of her race and her hair was black, trailing past her shoulders. She had an athlete’s body and feminine curves with the royal purple skin emphasizing her musculature even more. Quite proportionate. Yanking on her hair to bring her to stand up, he ignored the sobbing.

Control Limit Slots: 3 of 4 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 6 (1 slot)(Liked) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Content) Jerekka Zoz, Culn, Level 6 (1 slot)(Hated)

Acknowledging he still had an open slot left, he kneed her in the gut again and slammed her face into the stone wall; turning her sobs into a high pitched yelp. The demoness stumbled and fell to the ground only to be kicked repeatedly. He felt her ribs break on impact and as he knelt down he could tell her breathing had become shallow.

Taking a fistful of her hair again, he raised her head to make her red eyes meet his, still ignoring the angry mob on the other side of the door completely. It would take them a while to break through unless they had another magic user like the elder he’d just killed.

“You will become bound to me as my minion, or you will die. The option is yours.”

A prompt appeared in Trey’s vision.

“You have offered a minion contract to this culn. Because you have beaten it into submission, it has the option of a painless death and immediate transfer of her soul into the void. Be aware, if the culn does not accept this offer within ten minutes the offer will expire and the potential servant will die.”

The woman didn’t hesitate in the slightest and immediately accepted the offer.

“Culn Priestess has accepted your pact. Culn Priestess’ name has been revealed: Rivia Ahst. One of your minion control limit slots has been filled.”

Then the page for his new minion popped up.

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Simplified Status Page

Name: Rivia Ahst

Race: Culn, Lesser Demon

Class: Priestess

Level: 2

HP: 7/102

MP: 100/100

SP: 47/100

DP: 11/14

Skills: Rejuvenation (lvl. 1) (Dark Miracle), Immortal’s Infernal Blessing (lvl. 1) (Alkir’s Miracle), Small Blades (lvl. 1)

Traits: Curious, Faith Driven, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Dark

Opinion of you: Terrified

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