3.75: That totally won’t bite me in the ass later

I had no idea what would be waiting for me when I logged in, but when I found myself sitting atop a throne made of a dark wood, I had to let out a long groan. Fuck… Harrow was definitely not going to be thrilled with my decision to not help her. As if on cue, a shape rose up from the wooden floor beneath me and quickly coalesced into the form of Harrow. Her skin was a rich mahogany that seemed to be textured just like the rest of the wood around me, but I knew from experience just how soft she was to the touch. As her emerald green eyes began to shimmer and focus on me, I mentally prepared myself for what I had to do. I forced myself to ignore the curves of her gorgeous nude body as she began to saunter towards me. The sultry Nymphette Demon gave me a fanged grin as she opened her mouth to speak, but I quickly stood up and raised my hand to cut her off.

“Harrow… we need to talk.”

The playful smirk she wore on her face immediately changed to a look of confusion and suspicion. Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her perfect breasts as she glared up at me.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this conversation, Allexus?”

I let out a long drawn out sigh and leaned back into the wooden throne beneath me. I checked and double checked my HP and MP several times, and reached up to remove the Power Limiter from my neck. After letting the blast of intense orgasmic energy wash over my body and fill me with an overabundance of power, my eyes met hers again. Despite her completely relaxed posture, I could tell from the way the muscles in her legs slightly twitched that Harrow was ready for a fight. Her green eyes blazed fiercely as she stared at me, and I could feel her anger and confusion pouring out from her through the domain around us. I locked eyes with her and held her gaze while I spoke in a calm, collected tone.

“Harrow... I'm sorry for making a commitment that I will not be able to follow through with. I have–”

“No.”

That single word echoed through the room and seemed to reverberate off the walls. My nostrils were suddenly filled with the scent of vanilla and caramel, and other things that immediately made my mouth begin to water. My pulse pounded in my veins and I felt an overwhelming arousal like nothing I had ever experienced. I was able to refocus my eyes on Harrow, and the second I looked upon her, I realized the grave error I had been about to make. The absolutely gorgeous creature that stood before me was all I needed in my life. As she drew closer to me, my body felt, no… it knew that she was the final piece of myself that I didn’t even know was missing. She was like a drink of cool water after dying of thirst. She was the soft touch against my skin that promised a life of eternal bliss and pleasure. She was my everything, and I would have been a complete fool to deny her. As the taller woman straddled my lap, I eagerly opened my arms to embrace her and pull her close to me.

“You are mine, Allexus. Now, and forever.”

Tears streamed down my face from the overwhelming feeling of joy I was feeling from being so totally and completely loved by a creature such as this. She was the perfect compliment to my own god-like power. With this incredible woman at my side, I could accomplish anything. Total domination wasn’t just assured, it was something that was rightfully mine from the start. All others would bow before us and worship us like the goddesses we were. As Harrow pressed her lips against mine, everything else in existence stopped mattering.

My left hand traced a line from the swell of her breast up to her throat. She let out a moan as my claws grazed across her skin, but it quickly shifted to a strangled gasp of surprise when my hand tightened around her windpipe. The look of betrayal and confusion were evident in her eyes as she looked down at me, but I had no clue why my body was responding the way it was. Why would I ever do anything to harm this perfect beautiful creature? I did my best to fight against my own death grip around her throat, but the more I struggled, the tighter my hand seemed to squeeze. I was seconds away from summoning a blade to slice through my own arm when I caught sight of the image tattooed on the skin of my left arm. The nude form of Emelia intertwined with the image of my own body snapped me out of whatever daze I had been in, and my grip around Harrow’s neck tightened even more. I slowly rose to my feet and opened my mouth to snarl in Harrow’s face.

“Stop fucking with my mind!! NOW!!!”

Flames began to pour out from my hand and Harrow began to scream as they started to burn her skin. The haze that had descended over my brain lifted all at once, and I stopped channeling MP into my hand and slowly began to release my grip on her. I took several steps with the taller woman in my grasp, and then violently shoved my hand forward and opened it to toss Harrow onto the floor.

“Enough, Harrow! I was trying to do this peacefully, without a fucking confrontation… but obviously, that isn’t going to happen.”

I stretched my palm out towards her with my fingers outstretched and began to channel my [Blastburn] spell. Purple light began to fill the room as the energy in my hand built quickly, and Harrow held up her hands and choked out a pleading cry as she pushed herself up to her knees.

“P-please! Allexus! Please! Spare me! I fucked up… Please Allexus! I was just so scared of losing you and being trapped in here forever! Please! Just… let me live, and I won’t try and stop you… I promise!”

I glared at her as the power I was channeling continued to build. Tears were streaming down her face and she wore a pained expression that was full of terror.

“If you try anything–”

“I won’t! I promise! I won’t!”

She held her hands up in a defensive posture and a low growl rumbled out of my mouth. I lifted the palm channeling the spell and turned it to the side of me, and released the built-up energy. A surge of power blasted out of my outstretched hand and lanced across the room in the blink of an eye. A deafening explosion sounded an instant afterwards, but my eyes remained locked onto the creature trembling at my feet. After the dust, smoke, and smell of atomized wood cleared, I lowered my arm and glared at Harrow.

“Door. Now.”

She nodded without looking at me and flicked one of her fingers. An ornate door appeared a few feet away and I moved towards it wordlessly. The sobs coming from Harrow fell on deaf ears as I pushed open the door and stepped through it without a second thought.

I had apparently been in the dungeon long enough for the mini-boss to respawn, but as soon as it started extending its tentacles towards me I rolled my eyes and raised both of my hands. After releasing a quick salvo of [Blastburn] spells, what was left of the creature slumped against the cave wall and stopped moving. I scoffed at just how easy it was to kill something that had seemed like such a challenge to my newest clan members, and then spread my wings and flew towards the dungeon exit. Once I finally made it out, I focused all my energy on my speed and blasted across the hellish terrain towards my castle and the rest of my clan.

I was greeted at the entrance by a trio of new faces being led by Nialla, and I greeted my catgirl lover eagerly as she jumped into my arms.

“Heya babe! I missed you!”

I kissed her deeply and felt my head begin to spin as her lips hungrily devoured mine. After a moment I heard the sounds of footsteps approaching and I reluctantly pulled Nialla back. Standing a few feet away from the newest recruits was the love of my life, the bottoms of her feet floating a few inches above the castle floor. She put a hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow as she stared at me with amusement. I gently set Nialla down in front of me and gave an awkward chuckle as I looked at the three demonspawn who were doing their best to avoid staring at me.

“Hello everyone, it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Allexus.”

Each of their eyes widened in turn and they paled as I took a step closer to them and extended my hand. The closest one, a petite woman with very dark brown skin who looked just barely out of her teens, reached up and took my hand with complete awe.

“It’s n-n-n-nice to m-meet you! I’m C-Cassie.”

I placed my other hand on top of hers and gave her a warm smile. I did my best to suppress the power that was likely flowing off of me and spoke in a soft, gentle tone.

“It’s so good to meet you, Cassie! I’m really happy you joined my clan. I promise… I won’t bite. Unless you want me to, of course.”

Cassie let out a small squeak and despite her extremely dark skin, I could still see redness spreading up her cheeks. She had a cute round face with a slightly upturned nose, absolutely gorgeous dark brown eyes that were so dark they were almost black, and thick full lips that I had to force myself to stop imagining what they tasted like.

I laughed softly as I realized she was still clutching my hand tightly and I raised an eyebrow and stared down at her. The fact that I stood several inches taller than her, and I wasn’t in my Avatar of Corruption form, meant that Cassie had to be less than 5’ tall. She was absolutely adorable!

“I’m uh… gonna need that back, Cassie.”

She gave me a confused look until she saw what I was looking at, then let out a squeak and released my hand. I saw the blush that was already on her face deepen even further, and I had to resist every urge to wrap her up in my arms and tell her just how cute I thought she was. I forced my eyes onto the next of the newest recruits, and extended my hand.

The woman standing before me was much taller than me, probably close to 6’. She had pale white skin that was covered in all sorts of stylistic tattoos. The right side of her head was completely shaved and beneath her sideswept blonde hair I could see the form of an intricate butterfly tattooed on her head. The woman’s eyes were a vibrant shade of orange that seemed to glow in the dim light. She looked me up and down as she shook my hand gently and gave me a smirk.

“You’re shorter than I thought you were gonna be.”

I chuckled awkwardly and cocked my head to the side before returning her smirk. I shifted to my Avatar of Corruption form and the woman’s eyes went wide.

“Whoa. Holy fuck. I uh… Yeah. That’s more like it! That was fucking awesome! So wait… you’re really her… you’re the Allexus?”

I laughed and gave her a fanged grin.

“I don’t know… why don’t you tell me?”

The woman studied me for a moment and her already pale skin lightened even more.

“Well… it says Allexus… and shows a bunch of fucking question marks. That’s… what level are you?”

I stroked my chin playfully with a clawed finger and stuck my tongue out at her.

“Why don’t we start with your name and go from there.”

“Oh! Shit, sorry! I’m Abby! It’s so fucking awesome to meet you. I watched every one of your fucking matches! They were so badass! You are so badass! I can’t believe you guys invited me to your clan, this is gonna be so fucking cool!”

I laughed at Abby’s enthusiasm and shook her hand eagerly. After she released me, I turned towards the last of the new recruits and extended my hand. The woman stared at me curiously before reaching forward and taking my hand in hers. She nodded her head once and gave me a small smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Brianna. Everyone just calls me Bri though.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Bri.”

I looked at the woman and gave her a huge grin. She stood somewhere between 5’7” and 5’8”, and had skin the color of warm cream. Her very short dark brown hair was closely cropped and looked reminiscent of something someone in the military would have. She had long, narrow features that made her seem taller than she was. If Abby was boisterous and outgoing, Bri seemed to be her polar opposite. She stood quietly, observing me carefully while her face remained almost passive. She reminded me somewhat of Hana with her lack of emotion, but as I studied her dark gray eyes, I realized she was just very good at keeping her emotions in check.

I stepped back as I released Bri’s hand and turned to face the three recruits. I was about to say something about getting to know them, when Em stepped closer to me and spoke to the three of them.

“Welcome again to the Lost and the Damned, ladies. Nialla will continue showing you around the castle, and then we’ll have a bit of an initiation challenge to test your abilities. Sound good?”

The three of them nodded and then turned back to Nialla as she led them down the castle corridor. Emelia gave me a cocked grin and then pulled me closer to her as I shifted back to my normal form.

“So… whatcha think?”

“They’re… interesting. I really like Abby. She seems hilarious.”

Em giggled softly and shook her head.

“I fucking called it! I told Noelle that’s what you’d say. She reminded me so much of you that I knew you’d get along with her. She’s… a character. Cassie is actually from Noelle’s homeschool group, and Bri and Abby are Cassie’s close friends. They’re all just barely above level 20, but… Noelle says they’re good people and even better gamers.”

“Awesome. I’m glad to see our little family growing more and more. And even happier to see that I don’t have to be involved with every aspect of it.”

“Huh… funny that. It’s almost like delegating other responsibilities gives you more time to focus on things you need to accomplish. Speaking of… how did it go with Harrow?”

The long slow sigh and slight grimace seemed to tell her all she needed to know. She pursed her lips slightly and crinkled her nose.

“That bad?”

“Yeah, that bad. But at least she was smart enough to back down before I had to resort to killing her. Let’s find Gehenna and I’ll tell you all about it while we walk.”