You Worship No One

The sphinx's words are like steel spikes sliding into your bones. At once, you are snapped back to cold reality. The hall is grand, yes. The gauntlet is magnificent, yes. Its power could aid you in ways you can scarcely begin to think of.

But the cost is too great.

"I refuse," you say. "I worship no-one, and will not encourage the worship of any but me."

The sphinx's smile vanishes. "Think carefully, whelp," he says. "Even with your abilities, you will need my power in time to come. You would ill like me as your enemy."

You puff yourself up in a parody of his pompous proclamation. "What I ill like," you say, "is submission. I would have accepted mutual benefit; you demand subservience. Everything that I am demands I refuse."

Memnoph's heavy brow furls in anger. His voice thunders through the hall. "So be it," he says. And then, you are simply gone.

Back to the primordial soup it is, then.

Except... why do you hear clapping?

You turn to see a young woman floating in the void, an impish grin on her face, and continuing her slow applause.

"Wow," she says, "that was *great*! I mean, I've been waiting for someone to stick it to old bluebeard for eons now, but that was even more fun than I hoped! I'm going to treasure that look of shocked confusion on his face for a loooong time."

She floats down and leans forward, her grinning face inches from yours "I'm Megumin, and *you* are already shaping up to be one of the more interesting dragonfalls. Which means I like you! Nothing I hate more than being bored."

You blink, and she's suddenly elsewhere - on the ground, flailing her arms and legs in a mock tantrum, her hem riding up tantalizingly high with each movement. "And it's been soooo boring the last few thousand years! Everyone settled into their own way of operating. The names change, but it's all the same old song and dance." She stops, and her face falls. You sense that, behind the playful demeanor, there is a deep well of power in this girl. "And it's gotten old. So, how about this? I'll help you shake things up a little, and barely ask for anything in return!"

You pause. In spite of yourself, you find yourself enjoying Megumin's irreverance and manic energy. But all pacts come with a price, and you've learned from last time to beware of the details. "What do you ask, and what are you offering?"

"The price is easy," she says. You blink again, and now she's floating upside down. Frustratingly, her robe seems to defy gravity, staying firmly in the middle of her gorgeous thighs. "You've already heard thousands of prayers. I want you to pick one and answer it, on your own. No cosmic help, just your own power. Any one of them! Really, given how many of them just want a good fuck, consider it me throwing a bonus on something you were going to do anyway."

"And your offer?" you ask, still hesitant to believe her. This seems too good to be true.

"Weeeell," she says, grin widening, "I did see you drooling over the Fist of Kings. Poor ol' Memnoph probably wouldn't be too upset if it were to go missing, right?" And then it's back in front of you. The Fist of Kings, as radiant as it was in Memnoph's hall. Your eyes go wide as you realize this is real. The offer is genuine, and you really do have a free choice of any petitioner.

"Of course," says Megumin, snapping you back to the present, "he's going to notice sooner or later, and if I were you I wouldn't want to be on Ixtacotac when he does. You'll have every sorcerer on the continent coming after your pretty little head, and frankly, you aren't ready for some of the heavy hitters over there. You miiiight want to make some adjustments. Beyond just the spell switches; no point having so much maxed out with this baby juicing you up, is there?"

You reluctantly concede her point. Even with a phylactery, you're still the size of a housecat at best, and you're going to need time to build up a power base. Time that, say, multiple pissed off dragonlords and their armies would have no intention of giving you. And you still have a little before you fall too far to change your landing site.

But then again, you doubt they're prepared to have their own forces turned back against them.

When you speak, you do so with absolute confidence. "I accept your pact."

"Awesome awesome AWESOME!" squeals Megumin, as she careens through the air in delight. "I knew you were going to be a fun one! Here, catch!"

As you are now, the gauntlet is only barely smaller than you are. The impact sends you flying backwards, but as you recover, you see the Fist of Kings shrink to fit snugly over your left arm. Immediately you feel the power coursing through you, and take the opportunity to alter your form to take full advantage of it. You also sacrifice your energy breath to unbind yourself from Ixtacotak - while you're not overly scared of Memnoph's power, you're also not stupid enough to anger a god without an escape route handy.

Updated Spells (net +5): Balefire Torrent 2 (10), Humanoid Form 2 (10), Runic Bond 2 (10), Phylactery 2 (10), Animate Dead 2 (10), Blink 2 (10), Soulbound Item 1 (5), Counterspell 2 (10), Heal 2 (10). Removed: Energy Breath 3 (+15), Continental Bond (-20).

Megumin looks on eagerly as you make your adjustments. "You know," she interjects, "this is actually the first time I've gotten to see this process up close. I'm sure it's as natural as breathing for you but oooooh boy, if you could see the workings of what's happening on the backend here... anyway, not important."

"So," she adds as you finish, "which prayer are you gonna go for?"