4.2: The Hard Sell – Part 2
I sat in the darkness, watching the two Angelspawn slowly cross the threshold into my throne room. Once they had stepped completely within the bounds of the room, the doors slammed shut behind them. The female Angelspawn, who’s name was displayed as Chariss, jumped and let out an adorable panicked yelp. Her companion, Telmont, laughed heartily and elbowed her playfully, but despite his seemingly unfazed attitude, I could tell by his body language and facial expressions that he was just as unnerved as she was. I lifted a hand up off the arm rest of my throne and pressed my thumb to my middle finger. A loud crack echoed through the room as I snapped my fingers, and the lights from the hanging lanterns flared to life and illuminated the entire area. Both Angelspawn immediately locked eyes with me before assuming a defensive posture. I felt a small surge of magic emanate from both of them, but I paid it no mind as I slowly stood up. I watched the pair take notice of the final Corruption Lantern that was partially obscured by my throne, and a small smile crept across my lips as I saw Telmont’s muscles tense in preparation.
“Before we get started… I’d like to say something.”
Both relaxed the smallest bit and Chariss nodded slightly before I continued.
“I've fought dozens of groups today... and although a few of them were able to complete the primary objectives, none of them were players who I felt were a good fit for my clan. You are both good enough to stand beside me as a clan member… so with that in mind, I have a second offer for you. Do you guys still want the more level appropriate challenge... or do you want to see just how far the rabbit hole goes?"
“Was that… a Matrix reference? Aren’t you a little young for that?”
Chariss elbowed her teammate in the ribs and he held up his hands in a placating gesture as he grinned.
“What he means to say is… yes, that would be awesome. I know there are rewards for completing the objectives… but we came here to fight the Allexus, not a dumbed-down child-safe version of her.”
My grin turned slightly predatory, showing my upper and lower fangs. I nodded my head and reached up to my new Power Limiter amulet. I channeled my MP into the deactivator runes, closed my eyes, and braced myself for the onslaught of surging energy. As my power flowed back into me, it felt like every nerve in my body was detonating in small nuclear explosions of pleasure. I couldn’t stop a moan from pushing out of me as pure ecstasy radiated throughout my body. Instead of being overwhelmed by the experience, however, I felt my senses growing stronger. The surge of power reached a crescendo, and it blasted out of me with a flash of red energy. Both of the Angelspawn were knocked off their feet, and I let out a dry chuckle as I realized I had just obliterated most of the throne platform I had been standing on. I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs and reveling in the afterglow of my power returning to me.
Once I saw that both Angelspawn had made it to their feet, I locked eyes with Chariss. My enhanced vision let me see that her pupils were fully dilated in obvious arousal. The air was heavy with her scent and I unconsciously licked my lips. Her eyes tracked the movement of my tongue, and I heard an almost inaudible moan bubble up out of her. Movement from Telmont seemed to break us out of our reverie, and Chariss cleared her throat as she blushed a deep crimson. I focused my gaze on the tall male Angelspawn, who looked at me with a mix of determination and awe.
I channeled a bit of MP into my voice and spoke in a soft yet resonating tone.
“Say when.”
“Whe-”
I channeled my teleport ability and instantly moved behind him before he even had the chance to finish speaking. As I moved to grab him, spikes of stone shot up from the floor in an arc like a wave, and I had to jump back lest I impale myself. As he spun around with a look of surprise on his face, I realized that the spikes had been some sort of defensive enchantment I had triggered when I moved too close to him. His quick movement caught Chariss’s attention and she turned on her heel and pointed the tip of her rapier at my chest. It glowed with a ruby light and I focused my energy into my speed, making the world around me suddenly come to a halt. The beam of red light was inches away from me and I used my near super-speed movement to step to the side. Instead of taxing my body by continuing to do a decent impression of the Flash, I let the energy settle, and everything around me sped back up. The lance of red blasted into the wall behind me and exploded in a flash of crimson.
Chariss’s eyes went wide when she saw that I was no longer standing where I had been less than a second prior. In one fluid motion, I drew one of my swords from the sheathe at my hip, and swung it in an upward diagonal slice. Just before the blade could make contact with Chariss’s side, however, a rune glowed on her shoulder and she was suddenly thrown to the side out of the way of my strike. She staggered a few steps, but managed to maintain her balance and turn towards me. I did a back handspring to avoid a huge overhand swing from Telmont’s bladed club, and spread my wings in midair to arrest my fall. I flew upwards a bit and locked eyes with Chariss again.
“Very impressive, you two. This is getting fun.”
With my freehand I channeled my MP and cast my [Summon Arcane Armor] spell, equipping myself in a suit of shimmering red and black light armor. A hailstorm of stone shards flew up at me, forcing me to fly as fast as I was able to in order to avoid the rain of deadly projectiles. Instead of flying higher however, I swooped low and tucked my wings before doing a forward roll and then springing back to my feet. A wave of earthen spikes rippled outwards from Telmont, but I ignored them and dashed towards the pair at top speed without using any of my energy on my enhanced demon abilities. The razor sharp stone spikes stabbed into me with each step I took, but thanks to my massive health pool I was able to mostly ignore them. My eyes went wide momentarily as Telmont suddenly blasted forward towards me like he was propelled by a rocket, and he raised his massive stone club overhead in a way that immediately made me think of Bray. At the apex of his swing, however, he released his grip on the weapon and hurled it at me.
I could sense that in addition to the enchantment magic layered throughout the weapon, it was also covered in dozens of small runes. I debated for only a fraction of a second on how to handle the incoming projectile when I opted to show off a little. Instead of making any attempts to dodge the attack, I stopped in place and at the last second reached up and plucked the weapon out of the air as easily as someone picking an apple from a tree.
As I suspected, the instant it made contact with my skin, the bladed stone club exploded in small bits of deadly shrapnel. I was somewhat surprised by the power of the explosions, but figured that the copious number of runes were responsible. As the smoke from the enormous blast slowly cleared, Telmont and Chariss stood wide-eyed at me holding up the remains of my mangled arm and covered head to toe in small bloody pock marks from the stone shrapnel. A huge fanged grin spread across my face as I channeled a large chunk of MP into my regeneration, and my entire body instantly healed as if it had never been damaged. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes slowly, before they flicked open and I locked my gaze back onto the pair of Angelspawn.
“That was fucking awesome! Had it been anyone else hit by that attack, they would be little more than a lump of charred meat and bone. I think an excellent show of strength like that deserves an equally special treat… and I think you two are the perfect candidates for me to test my new World-Tier ability on.
“[*Corrupted Damnation*]!”
As the entirety of my remaining MP emptied all at once, a swell of magic poured from my body like a fine mist, before coalescing into a swirling cloud of black and red energy with small crackles of purple lightning. The storm of condensed magic surrounded me on all sides like a thick spherical barrier, and as I watched it began to grow larger and larger. Small pricks of pain and pleasure in equal measure danced across my skin as lightning began to arc from the swirling storm and struck me like I was the in the center of a plasma globe. The bits of stone and rubble that had been all around my feet began to float in the air and were instantaneously atomized as soon as they came into contact with the roiling mass of arcane energy, leaving miniscule particles of magic that became part of the evergrowing storm. Although it was difficult to make out much beyond the veil surrounding me, I was able to catch a glimpse of Chariss hurling spell after spell in my direction, while Telmont was using his earth magic to keep both of them from being pulled off their feet and drawn into the swelling hurricane. As each of the spells blasted into the storm, however, the effects were dissipated and completely absorbed in seconds. All at once, the clouds contracted and closed in around me, smothering me in an unending surge of pure magic. Despite only lasting a fraction of a second, the jolt of power igniting every nerve in my body made it feel like I was trapped in that state for eons. The roiling storm mass turned back into a mist and rapidly sank into my body, and my feet touched the ground softly.
“Was that i-”
Just as I had done at the start of the fight, I teleported behind Telmont but instead of moving to engage him, I extended my hand towards Chariss. An ice javelin blasted out of my palm and impaled the Angelspawn woman’s shoulder. As she started to pull away, she quickly realized that the projectile was attached to a long chain made of crystalline ice, and the end of the chain was still in my hand. I yanked her towards me with a surge of demonic strength, and she was pulled off her feet and reeled in towards me like a fish on a hook. Several runes on her body flared to life in an attempt to alter her course away from me, but I redoubled my effort and growled in satisfaction as I caught her injured shoulder with extended hand. She surprised me by using her free arm to stab with her rapier, aiming for my throat, but the silvery blade made a clanging noise as it struck a freshly summoned suit of heavy armor arcing with purple lightning. I dismissed the icy chain that was still connecting us and hurled Chariss towards her teammate. As she drew close, the stone spikes rose up from the ground and she let out a gasp of surprise and pain as she was impaled in several places on her left side. Telmont dismissed the stone spikes with a wave of his hand and moved to help her, but I chose that moment to rush forward with my hands over my head in a huge overhand swing. A massive oversized claymore made of white and red fire appeared in my hands and I swung it in a downward arc.
Several things happened at once.
Telmont’s automatic defense activated again as I drew closer to him, which caused the stone spikes to shoot back up and impale Chariss again. Chariss’s rune that was designed to push her out of harm’s way activated as I moved next to her, causing her to push further onto the spikes that had been driven into her body. I finished my downward swing before either of them had a chance to react, and Telmont’s eyes adopted a vacant look before the two halves of his body separated. Instead of dismissing the sword, I pointed the tip of it at Chariss’s head and used the weapon to cast a spell. A lance of purple energy blasted out and atomized her body, bringing the match to a close.
“Hana, you were right. This ability is OP as fuck. Combining my abilities like that is ridiculous… and that was just my basic spells.”
The form of Hana in her black and yellow business suit appeared directly in front of me with one of her trademark almost-smiles. I reached out and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her close to me. She sighed happily as our lips met and she pulled away slightly so she could speak.
“I’ve already sent both Telmont and Chariss a message detailing how the corruption process will work.”
My eyes went wide as I thought about what she was saying, and she let out a small chuckle. I narrowed my eyes at her and sighed with a bit of irritation. Before I could respond, however, she gave me a genuine smile and spoke softly.
“That was too much fun. You’ve gotten really good at reading me, so I’m glad that I can still hide some of my emotions from you so I can keep you on your toes.”
I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I gave her a quick peck on the lips.
“You’re starting to get as bratty as Nialla. And she is basically the living definition of a brat… so that’s saying something. So… while I know you didn’t actually tell the potential recruits that they may have to sleep with me, what did you tell them?”
She gave me a blank stare before the barest ghost of a smile showed on her face. She stuck her tongue out at me and spoke in her typical monotone voice.
“I sent them details about meeting in the castle after the tournament is over so we could go over how everything is going to work at that time. So… that gives us until the end of the day to figure out how to alter your [Corrupted Touch] ability. I also prepared the ‘Lesbian Orgy Room’ with lube and other things that you might need should our efforts prove unsuccessful.”
“Hana... are you fucking with me again, or being serious?”
“Yes.”