3.65: Team up III

I watched as Harrow seemingly sank into the wooden floor and disappeared from sight. No sooner had she departed did a monster shaped like an anthropomorphic tree took form and moved into a fighting stance.

I nimbly dodged two swipes of its clawed hands and used the momentum to roll forward and come up standing just in front of the creature. I placed my hand on what appeared to be the monster's face and ignited my hand with [Corrupting Fire]. Smoke began to billow from the creature's eye-sockets and mouth as I continued to channel the fiery energies into its wooden body. I released the spell when its entire body suddenly burst into flames. I used [Coldfire] to extinguish the flames before they set the floor ablaze, before turning towards the door as a loud clicking sound indicated it was unlocked. I quickly reequipped my disguise and walked across the small room.

I opened the door to find another swirling mist portal, and stepped through without giving it a second glance. I suddenly found myself standing next to Nialla and Tessa, and saw that Xerez and Shadow were leaning against a nearby wall.

The other four all turned to me in sync when they saw me emerge from the portal. As Tessa opened her mouth to speak, I held up a hand to forestall any questions. I debated on sticking with the cleverly crafted lie I had come up with, before letting out a long drawn out sigh.

Fuck it.

“I think it's time I come clean about why me and Catalin are really here.”

With that, I unequipped the disguise again. Taking that as a cue, Nialla opened her menu and did the same. The other three stared at both of us in confusion until faint recognition was evident on their faces.

“Are you… Allexus? Like… THE Allexus?”

I let out an awkward chuckle as I met Tessa's eyes and slowly nodded my head.

“I am. I'm… sorry for the deception. Given my fame, wearing a disguise was the only way I could interact with Demonspawn and not draw everyone's attention. As for the reason Nialla and I are here, doing a low leveled dungeon…”

I looked at the three others and sighed heavily before catching Xerez's gaze.

“I'm here for you guys. This was going to be sort of a… trial run before I invited all three of you to join my clan. Right now, we're looking for good players who we get along with and who we feel have potential to be some of the top players in the game. You guys fit that description to a T.”

They all look dumbstruck for a moment before Tessa finally broke the silence with a single laugh.

“So… Let me get this straight, not only is the number one player from the number one clan in our party, she's attempting to recruit us to her clan? I don't get it… There have got to be players who are way stronger than we are… So I don't understand why you want us.”

Before I could respond, Xerez spoke up excitedly.

“Actually, Tess, it makes perfect sense to me. Her clan is already the strongest, so they can easily afford to make the level of a character less important than how well they get along with that person. Power-leveling a low leveled player with members as strong as hers would be easy. Not to mention the high-tier gear any new recruits would gain access to. I guess we're just lucky that you ended up in our party and that we got along as well as we have. The only thing that I don't get is how you and Catalin–sorry–Nialla appear to be such low levels.”

“Ah. That's easily explainable. These chokers we're wearing are Power Limiters. It reduces our total levels and stats by 80%. For Nialla, it was the only way to reduce her level enough to join low level dungeons. For me, without the limiter, my spells and abilities can easily cause collateral damage.”

“So wait… if 52 is 20% of your actual level… that means… you're level 255?!”

“256, actually… it… rounds weird.”

All three of the Demonspawn openly gaped at me and I had to resist the urge to laugh awkwardly. We were all broken out of the strange silence by Nialla suddenly letting out a loud, slightly pained yowl. We all turned towards her to see that she had removed the Power Limiter. The air was heavy and smelled like ozone as flickers of electricity danced across Nialla's skin. Her eyes were brilliant blue orbs crackling with power. As the stones around her began to lift up off the ground from the build-up of electromagnetism her feet lifted off the ground slightly as lightning began to pulse out of her. After a few seconds the power seemed to withdraw back into her and she slowly settled back down and the air returned to normal.

“Holy fuckballs! That was intense, Allie! It felt like I suddenly bit down on a jumper cable hooked up to the world's strongest generator. I feel… I feel fucking amazing!”

As wisps of electricity began to course across her skin again, I moved towards her and held up my hands.

“Take it easy, babe. You don't want to accidentally zap our other party members. I know how good that can feel and how much it seems like a dam suddenly bursting and flowing out all at once, but focus on keeping your power contained as much as possible.”

Nialla nodded to me and closed her eyes. After a few moments the electric build-up stopped entirely and she slowly opened her eyes as I stepped forward and placed my hands on her shoulders.

“Thanks for that, Allie. That was… a lot. Is that what it's like for you every time?”

I blushed as much as my demonic body would allow and gave her a wry grin.

“More or less.”

I gave her a quick kiss on the lips before catching her eye.

“You good?”

She nodded and we pulled away from each other. We turned to face the others who were again staring at us in complete amazement. Shadow glanced from Nialla, over to me, and then gave me an inquisitive look.

“Given that you’ve shed your false veneer and told us of your original intentions, obviously something took place in the previous room that led you to change your course of action. Would you care to shed some light on the darkness of our confusion?”

So… I told them everything. I told them about our clan’s goal of recruiting low level players to build up loyalty and help them power level, I told them about our plans to host a sort of PvP event in our clan castle, and I told them about the agreement I had made with Harrow. Upon hearing that it was no longer possible to obtain one of those items that would turn one into a full demon, the three potential members seemed utterly crestfallen.

“So… uh… there actually is another way you can become full demons. Well… sorta.”

Xerez cocked an eyebrow.

“At our level?”

“Technically.”

“Technically?”

I let out another long sigh. My conversation with my “wives” about using my corruption abilities on new clan members replayed itself over and over in my head. I glanced at each of the three prospective recruits and grimaced slightly. I was just about to explain everything when Nialla spoke up.

“Allie can convert people to full demons, but it… requires a special connection with them. At least… for now. One of our clan mates is working on a way to alter the way she has to go about doing it to make it easier for everyone.”

“A… special connection?”

It was my turn to interrupt.

“Sex. I have to have sex with someone to turn them into a demon.”

The reactions from the three Demonspawn were about what I was expecting: Xerez cocked an eyebrow and turned his head slightly to the side but he otherwise said nothing, Tessa snorted a laugh and started shaking her head in amusement, and Shadow simply looked at me with an annoyed expression in his eyes. After an extremely awkward moment of silence, Tessa gave me a curious expression.

“Given the game that we’re in and the… odd complexities and freedoms it allows… I should have guessed that something like this was possible. It seems like an incredibly powerful ability… but obviously there’s some aspect of it that you haven’t mentioned, otherwise you wouldn’t have hesitated to bring it up.”

I nodded and pursed my lips slightly.

“It's… nothing actually game related. The issue is… me. Well… my own emotions.”

Tessa seemed pensive for a moment before her gaze settled on Nialla. As she glanced from the tall catgirl to me, she nodded in understanding. She gave me a small smirk before catching my eye.

“Out of all the people in the game to receive such an ability… of course it goes to one who can’t stop from catching feelings for those she’s intimate with. I guess that’s the game’s way of balancing out what would otherwise be an absolutely broken ability.”

My face reddened slightly and I let out a small groan of frustration as my demonic body completely failed to stop the blush from spreading down my cheeks. Before I could comment any further, however, a familiar voice sounded in my ear and I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me from behind.

I shrugged my shoulders and pushed back against the sudden intruder to create some space before taking a step forward and spinning on my heel. I was about to draw one of my swords when the creature gave me a coy smile.

“As stimulating as this conversation is, future empress, what’s the plan now that you’ve told your new toys all about our little agreement?”

A surge of magic swelled from behind me and I reached back without looking and placed my hand on Nialla’s arm.

“Everyone… This is Harrow. She’s the Nymphette Demon I was telling you about.”

I gave everyone a few seconds to process what I had said before continuing. I felt my girlfriend’s body relax slightly in my grip and her power faded back to normal. She took a step forward and placed her arm around my waist, in a sort of protective manner. I forced my expression to remain neutral despite the butterflies in my stomach from the oddly cute gesture. She knew I could easily take care of myself, but she still felt the need to ensure I was safe. I leaned into her slightly and held her against me before my gaze settled back on Harrow. I narrowed my eyes at her slightly and she held up her hands in a sort of placating gesture. I turned to face the others while still keeping the Nymphette Demon in my periphery.

I glanced at each of the three people in front of me.

“I know that Nialla and I joined this party under false pretenses, but I can say without a single doubt that I’m glad we did. You three are the exact type of player that I want in our clan. You are all individually powerful, but even more than that, you are amazing teammates. Even if this is the last time we are all in a party, I can say without a doubt that it has been an absolute pleasure to kick ass alongside each of you. That said… this doesn’t have to be the last time.”

I opened my menu as I looked at Xerez.

“Xerez, you are an awesome leader and from what I can tell, an even better friend. You went out of your way to do something for your entire clan, and even sought out help when you needed it. I would be honored if you would join my clan.”

With that, I sent him the invite. He opened his mouth to speak, but I quickly held up my hand.

“I know that whatever you decide it has to be a group decision between the three of you. I don’t plan to undermine that… I just want to extend the offer to each of you individually as my way of apologizing for the deception and a sort of… thanks for letting us join you.”

He considered my words carefully before nodding slowly. I took a step to the side and looked up at Tessa. My own internal submissiveness warred with my demonic need for control as she gave me a slightly domineering smirk. In the end, I waved my hand and changed to my Avatar of Corruption form. She let out a small gasp as I suddenly towered over her. I had to resist grinning as she let out an almost inaudible squeak.

“Tessa… with a class like Hypnodomme… how in the hell could I not be intrigued? Not only is the concept of it absolutely badass… it’s also sexy as all fuck. But you know that… which is part of what makes me want you even more.”

As a faint blush spread down her cheeks and her breathing picked up ever so slightly, I smirked at her and took a small step backwards. I had chosen the words specifically to get a reaction out of her, and it could not have worked out better. I forced aside the urge to grab the woman and give into what both of our bodies were craving in that moment, and turned to face the last member of our party. I gave him a thoughtful look before a grin spread across my face.

“Shadow… I’m just going to say this… If you don’t join my clan… you’ll never get the chance to meet your blue-haired goddess in person...”