3.1: Arc 3 begin!

Once we arrived I asked Judas to craft me a simple necklace to place the power limiter in. He worked quickly and held up a black leather choker with intricate designs stamped into it. I handed him the ruby and he attached it to a small metal plate on the front. The designs on the choker glowed faintly and I smiled warmly at him as he handed it to me.

"It's beautiful, Judas. What are the symbols on it though?"

"Enchantment runes, m'lady. I made it so that none but the most powerful of attacks can harm the stone or the necklace. I'd like to spend some time later adding more powerful enchantments to it, but it should serve its purpose for now. "

"As always, my friend, you've outdone yourself."

He bowed deeply and I equipped the choker. A sudden feeling of weakness filled me and I had to lean against Emelia for support. After a moment I was able to steady myself, and the feeling passed. I cast my [Corrupting Fire] spell and threw the fireball at a nearby metal husk of a vehicle. It exploded in a small burst of fire, and the corner of the decrepit machine burned to ash. It wasn't nearly as impressive as my fight with Gehenna, and I nodded to Emelia.

"Works like a charm. Now I won't incinerate one of you accidentally."

I summoned my demonic strength and speed and ran at the vehicle I had thrown the fireball at. I was still able to lift the rusted metal frame off the ground with ease, but it still felt like I had to use more effort than normal.

"You going to keep showing off or are we going to do this thing?"

I tossed the hunk of metal and it landed with a loud crash. I turned back and saw that the rest of my clan was watching me in amazement. I laughed sheepishly and walked quietly towards them.

"Sorry guys, just seeing how well the power limiter works."

"If that's your strength when it's limited… damn! Glad you're on our side. You're still ridiculously powerful for a level 37. "

I shrugged at Blaine's comment and walked over to the striking ebony necromancer who was reading a piece of paper.

"What we got Jade? You find something suitable for everyone?"

She looked up at me and sighed.

"Maybe. It looks tough. It's actually supposed to be a raid for upwards of 20 or 30 people. The angel enemies range in level from 25 all the up to 115. So far it seems that all of the groups that attempted it were completely wiped out."

She handed me the bounty and I studied it closely. The primary target was an Archangel simply known as "The Tactician." According to the report, she and several regiments of the angelic army had discovered the remains of an ancient colossus that had the potential to tip the balance of power in the great war.

The reason the raid was so challenging was because the angels had set up fortifications to defend the area from would-be attackers. The battlefield was a series of partially crumbled factories, and any stray attacks had the potential to strike something volatile and cause massive explosions. Beyond the bounty for killing The Tactician, we also needed to secure the colossus without damaging it ourselves. Any damage to the colossus would negatively impact our reward, so going in "guns blazing" wasn't an option.

Along with the bounty was a rough map of the area. I committed all the details of the map to memory and closed my eyes to formulate a battle plan.

Central warehouse is the most likely location for the colossus to be stored. It has sight lines to all the other buildings, slightly elevated terrain, and looks to be the most intact structure in the area. Attacking head on would be suicide and would run the risk of damaging the colossus. We need to find a bottleneck in the buildings to make the sheer number of their troops meaningless.

A random memory of the movie 300 popped into my head and I had to force myself to ignore the urge to giggle and refocus on strategizing.

This. Is. Sparta!

Ugh. Focus Allie! And… Fuck.

My ADHD often caused my mind to get too off topic, which made it super difficult to plan ahead. That was the reason I closed my eyes when strategizing; so that I could try and shut out any visual distractions while I ran things through my head. Sadly when my brain decided to go off on a random tangent it tended to lose track of everything very quickly. I took a few breaths to calm myself and to try and clear my mind.

Let's try this again.

Given that our opponent is called "The Tactician," I expect they'll know I'm attempting to draw the bulk of their forces away from the colossus. They will most likely secure their position and remain on the defensive with as many high leveled troops that they can afford to keep in reserve. I know they'll still attack any intruders entering the warehouses to assess their strength, but we can't expect them to throw everything they have at us all at once.

Hmmm… perhaps attacking on two fronts with just the lower leveled members and one higher leveled one with each group will make them believe they have the upper hand and not consider us enough of a threat to stay on the defensive.

If we come across as too weak they'll just ignore us or just send only a few small detachments to try and remove us. But if we come across as too strong, while they may attack in larger numbers, it will still cause the rest to move to defense. The trick will be to give them the perception that we are just barely strong enough to handle them so they have to send the majority of their troops away from the colossus.

My eyes snapped open and I looked up at the others. They all turned towards me as I shifted to my Demonspawn form.

"We need to make them think we are just a group of mid level enemies who can give only a little bit better than they get. We need to make them believe us to be enough of a threat to continue to attack us, but not to the point they assume defensive positions. That means I will have to stay in my Demonspawn form with my power fully limited. Emelia, Judas, Aeryn, and Nialla all need to equip disguises as well and play down your power. We are going to split into one team of six and one team of seven. Once we move within the warehouses each team needs to find a location that they can use to bottleneck the enemies. Ikelos will lead the first group, and Tesrif will lead the other. Give me a moment to divide everyone between the two teams and I'll turn the lead over to our group leaders. Any questions?"

"Yeah, not that I'm not grateful for your faith in my leadership abilities, but why do you want me to be group leader instead of you?"

I gave the others a chance to answer before saying anything. Aeryn had sensed my intent and spoke up.

"I'm going to put this bluntly, but please know that I mean no offense. We need to make the enemy think you have more value than you actually do. In terms of levels you're still a fair stretch from the original clan members. But if the enemy sees you leading they'll still view you as a greater threat despite the level difference. This will allow others to get away with not holding back so much because we're moving to protect you. The harder they attack you, the more of them we can draw away from the colossus."

"So… basically… I'm a pawn pretending to be a king so that they sacrifice their more powerful pieces to try and take me? Hmm… it's a risky gambit. As long as I keep up the ruse and you guys keep my ass alive I think it would work. But I can't think three moves ahead like Allie does. It's one of the reasons my rating in chess tournaments is so low."

I placed my hand on Ikelos' shoulder and the Dark Pixie on the other shot me a dirty look.

"As long as you stick to general directions like, attack those archers, or watch out for so-and-so spell, we'll figure out the rest. OK?"

He sighed deeply but still nodded.

"I just hope you didn't back the wrong horse, Lady iPhone charger…"

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. I walked a few steps away and had Ikelos stand on my left and Tesrif on my right with about ten feet between them. I held up one finger in a 'wait' gesture and closed my eyes.

Tesrif is defensive close combat. Emelia will be a good teammate because she's pure Arcane. On the other hand, Ikelos is pure Command, so Bray would compliment him by being purely Might. Ghost would fit best on Tesrif's team due to being solely a healer; while Jade has offensive magic along with her blood magic healing spells that would do well on Ikelos' team. Scythe is mostly defensive but has enchantment magic. He would probably be best with Ikelos to assist Jade with healing, and will fight better next to his boyfriend. Tifa had proven to work amazingly alongside Ikelos' summons, so she'll definitely go with him. Areandra will be best on Tesrif's team to give them an edge in ranged combat. Judas is fast enough to defend Ikelos in close combat as needed, but still use his range to compliment Jade's spells. Aeryn will go with Tesrif to help her with close combat and assist with a few summons. Nialla will go with Ikelos for close combat attacks and for her newfound partnership with Bray.

I ran through everything again in my head and nodded to myself.

"OK, I want Bray, Scythe, Jade, Judas, Tifa, and Nialla to join Ikelos' team. Which means Tesrif's team will consist of Emelia, Ghost, Areandra, Aeyrn, and me."

Everyone else moved to their assigned team and turned back towards me.

"Ikelos, attack from the east side. Tesrif's team will attack from the west. Hmm… we need a way to communicate with each other. Aeryn, do you have another of those stone spider things?"

He nodded and tossed a small statue to Ikelos. He explained how it worked before walking back over to the rest of our team.

"Alright everyone, unless there's any pressing questions, move out."

Everyone nodded and each team separated and moved slowly in their opposite directions.

"Tesrif, command me as you see fit. I can adapt to whichever role you need me in."

"Absolutely Lady Allexus."

"Hmmm… I know I can't convince you to just call me Allexus or Allie normally, but for the sake of maintaining your appearance as leader, would you be able to drop the formalities, Lady Tesrif?"

She nodded her head instantly and smiled at me for a moment before her face adopted a stoic look. We entered a warehouse through a mostly intact doorway and Tesrif spoke quietly and calmly.

"Aeryn, Allexus: move ahead slightly and scout the area for enemies. Areandra, keep watch for potential long range threats and alert me immediately if you spot something. Emelia, be prepared with defensive magic in the event of an ambush or large scale attack. Ghost, stay near me."

"Yes, m'lady."

I summoned a set of medium armor and an axe and walked with Aeryn deeper into the warehouse. Other than the faint echo of our footsteps the large area was as silent as a tomb. I was beginning to think we had chosen the wrong point of attack until I heard the distinctive sound of metal plates moving and clinking. Aeryn's hearing was just as keen as mine, and he took cover behind a nearby workbench.

I signaled to Tesrif for the group to stop and quickly moved behind another workbench. Five fully armored Angels walked alongside a small female Angelspawn with a shaved head. She carried a staff and wore long flowing robes, so I made an educated guess she was some sort of caster. I kept my voice at a whisper as I informed Tesrif about the enemies ahead. After a few seconds she replied in the same hushed tone.

"I'm going to have Areandra attack the Angelspawn when she's in view. As soon as she does, both of you move to take out the angels quickly and quietly. This area is far too open for a drawn out combat."

Aeryn and I watched and waited until the group moved directly in front of us. After a few agonizing seconds I heard the twang of a bowstring and watched a sparking arrow fly quickly towards the Angelspawn. It struck her in the center of her forehead and she started to fall backwards. Both Aeryn and I were up and moving at top speed towards the angels before they had a chance to respond. We were already upon them before the lifeless Angelspawn's body could fall to the floor. I cleaved two angels in half with a single swing of my axe, while Aeryn punched his fist through the chest plate of one and ripped the throat out of another.

"[Coldfire]."

I threw the white flame at the last angel and his body became briefly covered in flames before they went out and he was left frozen solid. Aeryn punched him in the face and he shattered into pieces. We separated from each other just enough to look around and see if the fighting had alerted anyone else to our presence.

"Clear on this side."

With my enhanced vision I could see most of the details in the darkened warehouse without any trouble. Row upon row of machines stood motionless in what used to be an assembly line. Around the vast room I could see the faint glow of canisters containing some sort of luminescent liquid. Once I determined the room was devoid of life, I called out to the others.

"All clear here. But there are a bunch of barrels in here with some sort of glowing substance in them."

Tesrif lead the others towards me silently, the sounds of her heavy plate mail faintly echoing off the walls. She glanced around the area and pointed towards an exit on the far side of the room.

"Aeryn, before we head that way, how is the other team faring?"

The Demon Arachnid King adopted a vacant look and tilted his head to the side slightly as if he was listening to some distant sound. After a moment he looked back towards Tesrif.

"They've eliminated two patrols and it looks like they may have located a suitable location to set up the ambush. Ikelos says he'll await our signal to start drawing the enemy out."

The blue-haired demon nodded and held out her hand to direct us forward. Aeryn and I moved quickly ahead of the rest of our team and scouted the area ahead. Once we made it through the assembly line room, we found ourselves in a storage area. Hundreds of shelves ran the length of the room, but every single one had been completely picked clean. I inspected the outlines of dust of something that had been moved recently before a flash of movement caught my attention.

I used my speed to race across the room and raised my axe in preparation for an attack. Searing white light suddenly filled the room and I had to shield my eyes with my hand.

Before my vision could clear I felt something strike my arm. My armor absorbed most of the blow, but I hissed in pain as the tip of a blade sunk into my forearm. I drew my wounded arm back and swung it widely in a backhand motion, putting all the strength and speed I could into it. My hand connected against a hard metal surface and I felt the metal shatter from my attack. I felt a spray of liquid coat the side of my body followed by a cry of pain. As my vision started to return I looked down at my attacker who was clutching the mangled mess that used to be his arm.

"W-what the F-fuck are y-you? You're n-no D-D-Demonspawn."

Despite the fact I had just obliterated his shield and arm with one blow, I had to restrain myself from laughing at the sheer size difference between the wounded Angelspawn and my new body. He had to be at least 8 feet tall, and looked like he had just stepped out of a body-builders competition.

I lifted my axe to finish him off when Tesrif spoke behind me.

"Allexus! Hold!"

I held my axe in the air for a few seconds before lowering it and turning towards my team leader. I fought back the urge to snap at her and instead moved to the side to allow her to pass me.

My skin crawled in irritation and I felt like I needed to hit something to ease my rage. My heart was hammering on my chest like a jackhammer until I felt a chill on my arm. Emelia pulled me a few steps away from the others and grabbed my head in both of her hands. I saw her lips moving, but I could barely hear what she was saying from the sound of my heartbeat in my ears.

"- look at me! Allie! Hey!"

I forced myself to look into her blood red eyes and I felt a wave of calm pass over me. I shook my head a few times and sighed softly.

What in the hell? I had no idea why I was filled with an overwhelming fury driven bloodlust, and even more confused by the fact that my anger was directed at Tesrif.

"Hey are you OK babe? You looked like you were about to tear Tesrif in half with your bare hands. What the hell happened? Did that attack leave a hex on you?"

I checked my status screen and shook my head.

"Nope. I have no idea what just happened. One minute I was about to finish off the Angelspawn, the next I'm getting pissed off that Tesrif is ordering me around. But I don't even know why that would piss me off. I mean… I'm the one who put her in charge, and suddenly I get this feeling like 'who the hell said you could tell me what to do?'"

She tapped her finger on her chin for a moment before her eyes lit up.

"I wonder… I remember how you used to have this enchantment on you that forced you to act all submissive towards Mellic without you realizing it was doing it, I'm wondering if this has something to do with your character upgrade. Maybe being ordered around by one of your Corrupted caused your body to react negatively. I mean… Most Demon Lords would never willingly relinquish control, so… I don't know… It made sense in my head."

Huh. There was a logic to what she was saying, and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. If the game could suppress my emotions of embarrassment or vulnerability, why couldn't it also make me feel irritation at being treated like a subordinate. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. We walked back over to the others and I apologized to Tesrif for my behavior and did my best to explain Emelia's theory. They agreed to help me keep my 'demonic ego' in check and we continued through the storage area.

The Angelspawn had been 'convinced' to give us some info about the area in exchange for a quick death, and we made our way to the location that was supposed to be a good choke point. Whether the fear of being tortured or just wanting to get away from us, the Angelspawn's info was right on the money. Aeryn signaled to the other group that we were in position as our group prepared for the next phase of our plan.

"Allexus, switch to a caster and healer setup and take cover near Emelia. Save your MP for any enemies that make it past Aeryn and me, but hold a reserve of at least 50% for healing."

"You got it, Tesrif."

I tossed my axe into the air and waved my hand in front of me. The weapon dissolved into nothing as my armor shimmered and disappeared.

I summoned a staff with one hand and then a suit of heavy armor to make sure I wasn't a glass cannon and to make myself less of a target. I moved towards a huge slab of concrete that was the height of the ceiling above us and looked around.

The choke point was a ruined section of the building where the ceiling had collapsed and made the normally wide open entryway extremely narrow, probably wide enough across for 1 or 2 people to enter at a time. Emelia had taken position on the other side of the narrow opening. I looked back and saw Areandra climbing a huge stack of crates to get a better vantage point. Ghost had taken cover behind a huge piece of rusted machinery while Tesrif and Aeryn moved to take up positions ahead of Emelia and me. Aeryn summoned several dog sized spiders and they filled the narrow corridor.

"Everyone ready?"

I had 85% of my HP remaining and my MP was down to 65%. Summoning the different sets of armor and weapons used up a decent amount of MP, which meant I'd have to conserve what I had left if I was going to be effective in this fight. I realized I was going to have to cast my spells the normal way and not with Spoken Word, but that also meant a huge drop in my overall damage output.

"Power Limiter Release: 10%."

I saw my clanmates looking at me and realized that other than Emelia, none present had seen a Power Limiter in action. A surge of energy bloomed in my core and I had to suppress the sudden urge to moan from the pleasurable feeling that passed through me. Which I apparently hadn't done very well judging by the awkward looks I was getting.

"You alright there, babe? Do you need some time alone?"

My demonic body instantly quelled my rising embarrassment.

"Uhhh… Sorry. Sex Demon problems… I uh… I'm all good."

Emelia gave me a knowing smile while the others laughed softly. I looked at my HUD and saw that I now had nearly 90% of my MP remaining. Perfect. The extra MP plus the additional 14 levels I went up from the Limiter Release meant I would have a much easier time in the role Tesrif assigned me.

"If you're done pleasuring yourself, Allexus, are we good to start?"

My demonic ego flared for a second until I saw the huge grin on Tesrif's face.

"Why Lady Tesrif, was that a joke?"

Her face returned to its normal stoicness, but I saw the edges of her lips pulling ever so slightly upwards in a faint smile. She raised her eyebrow at me and then I realized I hadn't answered her question.

"Sorry. Yep. All good!"

Aeryn cocked his head to the side and nodded to Tesrif. Who in turn signaled to Areandra. The lithe archer quickly cast a spell and then drew her bow back and aimed upwards towards the ceiling. She held the arrow in place for a few seconds and I watched it glow brighter and brighter. She released it, and it shot through a tiny hole in the ceiling above her before exploding in a blinding white flash.

Here we go…