A green infection licked the edges of my knife as I listened to Jean give me a primer on magic. We were camped in the ventilated basement of a wealthy merchant's home in an abandoned town. The carriage and horses were hidden, so whoever came across us hopefully wouldn't notice. Siegfried was in a tower, watching, while Garnet provided backup.
If either saw anything, she would send me a warning through our link, and I would inform the others.
I leaned forward in the old chair I had found and felt the back two legs pull away from the ground. Focusing on Jean while doing something completely insane was a challenge. Molecules had bonds, but what if I made chains to hold them together more tightly?
The answer was that Jinxara didn't get to relax on breaks because she had to make daggers for me to experiment with. On the bright side, making dozens of daggers every night had drastically increased her smith level.
After a week on the road, we were all eager to take a few days off before the next leg of our journey.
My demonic chains weren't gentle. They could give and stiffen up on command, so she always gave me her best work. On the bright side, she also reused the metal I shattered. So, we weren't losing much.
If I already had a project I was working on, why was I learning about magic? Well, I had an idea. One of the refugees told a story about her ancestor who could summon monsters through portals. I had an idea: what if I could summon my demons through cards?
No, it wasn't the same thing, and it might be impossible, but what if I could take my demon army with me wherever I traveled? All I had to do was unleash my deck, and boom, instant demon army.
Adding mana to my repertoire sounded like I was becoming a jack of all trades and master of none. That was propaganda.
The truth was, I had already mastered demonic power. Using it through my grace was like wearing a condom. It didn't feel as good, but it was still sex.
I had an idea.
I would make my cards through grace and tie them to my black halo. Once a demon was inside them, they would be chained to my black halo. This would hopefully allow them to accompany me even after I died.
"Are you paying attention?" Jean asked.
Her cute, freckled face puffed up. Her ears were too round for my taste, but she was good-looking. She held her staff in a white-knuckled grip and stared at the knife in my hand.
Pieces of it curled, peeling like a banana, as my inattention caused the metal to roll. It would have to be reforged, and I would try again.
I repeated the key points of her lecture, those that interested me the most. How mana acted was more vital for me than the rituals involved in making it move. Mana wasn't like demonic power. It didn't behave like a virus, ready to infect everything. That wasn't it. Mana worked more like a bacterium that could theoretically be symbiotic, feeding and multiplying like an alien creature. Mana control seemed to be the defining factor that determined how mana acted. Mana had numerous types, and pure mana was toxic.
She didn't give me the answers I sought, but it was a good primer.
I had an experiment I wanted to try, but I needed to get a feel for mana before attempting it. How far can my metaphor go? Could I design a type of demonic energy that only infects mana?
Demonic power didn't have types traditionally. Grace laughed at tradition and warped reality by its very nature.
My ludicrous idea was a type of demonic power that didn't seek to infect my body but only infected mana itself. It would allow me to enhance my body and become resistant to magic. Or that was my idea.
I was still in the planning phase for several projects.
Peridot returned with a bundle of books floating behind her and one clutched in her tentacles.
"I have basic mana manipulation, the harmonious elements, Fire Magic 101, and Connecting to the Planes for Beginners, as well as Mana Enhancement by Kunihiro Nasu."
She handed them to me, and I felt my workload increase significantly. None of these books dealt with space or time-type mana, which was okay. What I needed was the basics to create a foundation in mana. Mana wasn't as simple as demonic power and lacked the same power. From what I could tell, it was also less harsh on the body.
She curled her tentacles as she watched me place each book on the desk beside a lantern. "Thank you, Peridot. I appreciate your hard work. Is there anything else?"
"I found a woman hiding near the burned town pantry. She has caught and devoured many rats and other animals without cleaning or cooking them.
The need to feed is an obvious sign of," Jean gasped.
"Is there anything we can do for her?" Jean asked.
"We can make her comfortable," I said.
I looked into Peridot's large black eyes through her illusion. All three watched me in alien curiosity. The chain connecting us worked both ways. As she felt my emotions, I felt hers as well.
"They will soon feel ready to break free from her. We should move quickly, or they will scatter as they seek prey before riders pick them up to be processed into the army." Peridot said.
"We can't just let her die," Jean said.
"There is no saving her. The same cord that connects them has fed their venom into the woman's system. When they leave her body, the demonic power that holds that venom at bay will leave her, and her body will dissolve. Fiends have tried to preserve the lives of their favored human slaves. None survived." Peridot said.
"Then what are we going to do?" Jean asked.
"My army will grow," I said.
"If you do this, then you'll be no different than the demon lord," Jean said.
"The demon lord is only a fool who wants his freedom, just like everyone who learns hell's secret," I said.
I let the black chain appear, connecting Peridot to me."
My Illithid captive couldn't disobey my direct orders. I was careful not to give any and to appear as a boss she would like. The whip was left to gather dust so long as the sweetest carrot, the illusion of freedom, kept them fed. The only tangible thing was the whip, and its crack brought only resentment.
Resentment was the natural state of hell and something I strived to avoid. So, I kept a balance with my demons and hoped it was enough.
Imps freshly born had unlimited potential. I would make them engineers, alchemists, and smiths. Their combat class would be rogue, warrior, or mage, and I would make a unit out of them.
…
In hindsight, I should have known Jean would spill the beans. Maybe I wanted her to.
Siegfried watched the woman groaning on the ratty couch we found her in. She couldn't rise any longer. The imps in her had grown too large. They pushed, and she groaned in agony. A potion given by Lirael only stalled the inevitable.
I placed a hand on her stomach and chained all 9 of them.
I sent the Illithid trio to scout from the air. They had already sent a report, but I wanted to double-check it. Before we left, I hoped it wasn't necessary.
"How can you be so callous?" Lirael asked.
"What do you expect me to do?" The damage is done.
"We could infect her with demonic power. She has a chance if we give her a health regeneration potion and remove the imps." Lirael said.
"I'm not a surgeon. But even I know that the potion keeping her alive would also prevent us from removing the imps. While they are inside her, any demonic power in her body will be absorbed by them as they leave. Demons don't have this problem. They can hold onto their demonic power.
Each imp had the greed trait, which meant their father was a former human mercenary. A sinner who bore the sin of greed. His trait would align his progeny toward that sin, ensuring each had a unique ability from birth. Most imps were born from two imps and rarely had traits that were so beneficial. At most, they could pass down slightly higher demonic power reserves. Jinxara didn't have a trait, but if she became a fiend she would gain one.
Making any of them rogue would be a waste of resources. Greed demons didn't favor theft, ironically. They would prefer to eliminate their opponent and take what they had or trade for whatever they wanted. Many greed demons developed an inventory ability to hold all their wealth. Their second ranks would most likely make them Misers.
"There has to be something you can do," Siegfried said.
I looked out the window at the half-eaten sun and the clouds passing over it. A chilly wind from the north blew at the tattered empire flag of a horse, raised on its back legs, and a star on its flank, hanging from the tallest tower. The nearest well was sealed off; it had been poisoned during the conquest.
"I refuse to make any promises," I said.
Did they think I didn't want to save her? I wouldn't turn down a tenth demon captured. She would be turned with retarded demonic features. Instead of horns, pointy ears, and unnaturally colored hair, she might have a tail. Undoubtedly, she would become a succubus, a demon designed to breed. That wasn't a bad thing.
We took a break to destress and avoid cabin fever from being stuck in the carriage. This wasn't helping my stress levels, and chains weren't going to help the situation.
There wasn't a single medical job among us. All I had were half-remembered surgery videos to work from, and I wasn't confident in my knife skills. I had an idea, but it was a bad one.
I had control over the demons, and they were acting calm.
Giving her multiple potions wouldn't work because too many were toxic.
If we had stumbled upon her when she was first impregnated, I could have drawn the demonic power out of her, and the demonic seed would have dissolved in her body. If she had been infected with demonic power before impregnation, her hips would stretch enough to push out imps.
Unfortunately, fiends needed permission to infect locals and convert them into demons. There was always the chance that converts could betray the demon lord.
Could I control the demonic power enough to prevent the imps from absorbing it long enough for the woman to change? I sat next to the mattress and did the calculus. Slow and steady was the key she needed to change entirely.
Moving quickly would only end in death, and this would be an energy-intensive process. I had four demons of the 2nd rank to draw from. Peridot, Citrine, and Garnet had mediocre reserves of demonic energy but vast amounts of psionic energy. Jinxara had mediocre reserves but massive amounts of mana. Telekinesis was going to be key.
I was going to need to hold a little experiment.
A green chain appeared in my hand. I held it in my hand and stretched it experimentally. Like rubber, it stretched and then returned to its original shape.
Siegfried smiled as if he had figured it all out. "What are you planning?"
He had no idea what ludicrous bullshit I was about to try. Getting the imps out wasn't a guarantee, but I was going to try something, and if it didn't work, it was on them. I remembered how the blade rolled. Its molecules are only connected to my chains. I was about to connect the tissues with my chains. Stretchy or not, I hadn't had an anatomy class in decades, and my spirit sense was no substitute for knowing where things belonged. All I knew was general information. I was about to infuse entire sections of her body with my demonic ability, adding support to a failing system and priming it for a complete demonic conversion the moment the imps were out.
I told my party the plan, and damn them all, they seemed hopeful. Saving someone doomed was ludicrous, and they wouldn't even be saved. They were going to be chained to me like so many others. I would put them in cards and carry them with me to the next world.
How could they be so hopeful?
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