Reprieves From Hell

What had they truly seen?

The question hung over the few humans—and the one half-human—who had witnessed it. Each had thought to bring it up to John, but he had so quickly transitioned from one barrier to the next that none brought it up. Rave had whispered to Travolta, and was then joined by Tricia; they quietly confirmed that none of them had encountered such a thing before. Yui had heard rumors of mages who used bodies like ordinary crooks might use “burner” phones, but had never seen it firsthand… and even then she had a hard time believing that was what they witnessed. Deanna, having virtually no world experiences, was no more surprised at the trick than the existence of the trickster herself; in terms of strange and new things, everything in the last few days had taken on such wonder.

But Galley did not conspire with the others to try and figure out what they saw… instead, she simply stared intently while her body continued the slow, aching process of soulless healing. Her ruined hand remained largely inert; her swollen eye was still puffy; but the blood and bruises had slowly faded in at least some small relief. Galley passed her good hand over her unkempt locks of brown hair, wishing now more than ever for a razor and a few gallons of her usual hair products that maintained her signature mohawk; it would have made the moment a bit more normal, at least, as she stared at a woman Galley knew she hadn’t killed, not really... and yet… was it that same woman? Even though Galley had watched the version she fought evaporate like so much mist?

Miles the Human, for all the attention she was getting from several lovely women, was busying herself with some gentle, probing conversation. The subject of her probing? A bashful, confused-looking warrior, one named Berkley if Galley remembered right. It was clear Miles had been wearing the poor fool down and, if none intervened, would soon be teaching the likely virgin fellow the joys of being her bottom bitch.

Galley had no intention to interfere… but Miles worried her all the same. For now, Miles the Human claimed to be on their side… which was, at best, a tenuous promise in the soulless’ eyes. She had to find out sooner rather than later how to put this entity down permanently… just in case.

Nearby, Deanna slowly lowered herself back into her vessel of water, her black eyes more keen on everyone else than they were on the resurrected “human.” Golgon the Fool had disappeared with the pelos John had obtained about two days ago by the reckoning of the ex-Order staff; the rest of the Bitter Nines seemed content with this, but his absence, or perhaps his journey, was filling Deanna with an implacable dread.

The only ones who expressed any worry at all were Hurk the Fist and Cidi the Shameless, but theirs was more about Kitok’s continuing absence. It was clear they had experienced loss before and were preparing for the worst… and perhaps that’s why they chose to spend that unsure time with Rosa who, by request from John, had been left summoned to serve as a translator. They spoke at length about Earth, compared Rosa’s versions of the facts to the legends of pre-Violet Vantage, and what place, if any, Vantage’s citizens might have if they relocated.

Deanna tried to focus on that conversation, even if she could only understand Rosa; it helped distract from that foreboding, or the terrible itch in her brain. She had to… paint. It was not an unfamiliar urge, but this was the first time she had it without the ability to immediately act on the wish. Only by letting her hands be guided by the unseen muse in her mind, to draw paint across white canvas and thereby foretell of calamities and risks, would relieve it… but there were neither paints nor canvases available here. The uneasy spirit inside her had no font through which it could express itself, and so she fidgeted in her colossal vase to try and ease her mind.

“Is the water alright? We can rotate it out again if it’s stale.”

Deanna smiled before turning to answer Jasmine, “It’s great, thank you!” Deanna was raised to be polite, of course; being courteous for the kindness of her keepers took precedence over voicing her difficult-to-define troubles. The knight smiled and gave her a nod before sitting cross-legged next to Deanna. The two had become attached since they arrived; they lacked for common topics or desires, but Jasmine had the urge to protect Deanna, and Deanna to rely on Jasmine. That quiet understanding framed their silent observation of the room at large.

Of course, Jasmine had given much of her time to observing Miles; the earlier “threat” of the hermaphrodite to Deanna, even if made in another language, was not lost on the knight. “We haven’t closed our ears to what the others have been discussing,” the knight now all but whispered without turning her head.

Deanna looked about until she saw the familiar knot: Rave, Tricia, Travolta, and now Yui, their hushed voices still somewhat audible from across the room. They were the only ones having any discussion beyond staving off the boredom of hiding underground. “About… Miles?”

“Quietly now, she understands our tongues,” Jasmine urged. Once both saw that Miles had paid them no mind, Jasmine nodded as she continued, “The Order has dealt with so-called immortal mages before… and I just wanted to let you know we’ll deal with her if we need to.”

Deanna blinked, surprised at the sudden threat.

Jasmine turned to offer a reassuring smile before adding, “I mean that we’ll keep you safe… I promise.”

Deanna just nodded cautiously, unsure of how to respond… but both were soon preoccupied with the long-expected arrival.

Kitok had remained missing… but the Bitter Nines still showed visible relief as Golgon’s familiar form suddenly swooped in from the exit and cackled excitedly overhead. His clicking wings clapped and clanked as he slowly drifted to land on the kitchen counter and, with widespread arms, shouted at the entire room with a growing smile on his face. None had ever seen the ootuk so animated; one of the confessors turned to Rosa, the obvious question on his tongue.

She replied in advance, “He has it… and now we’re ready to attack.”

A murmur of unsure relief swept through the humans, though it was more confident from those closer to John. The only one who did not join them was Deanna… because no matter the glint of the golden key that Golgon the Fool held in the pale, underground light, her dread only darkened.

Hadn’t he contemplated this exact kind of moment before? It was something about Tricia, or perhaps it was about the one lying atop him like a blanket of warm, satiated flesh, but he was sure he had contemplated this precise kind of experience before… and how little he had enjoyed it. He would have to correct that… even if it had to be balanced against his self-ordained duty to get everyone home safe and sound. Even if that was sure to be followed by pain, regret, and some terrible reckoning with the Order of the Golden Rose. But John pushed all that down for now, and just tried to enjoy the small, tender moment in bite-sized details: the gentle rise of the small, red back, the cute point of fleshy horns near his chin, the greasy locks of sex-slick black hair… and the almost angelic peace that washed over the demon’s features as she napped quietly in his arms.

The smell of the barrier had not been alleviated, but both had grown accustomed to it; the natural process of air flow in such barriers had mostly swept away their body odors and left them in a content, drying pile. John was reclined nearly to lying flat upon a makeshift mound of the only four cloth bedrolls that were still dry; straddling him, with her hot sex resting just over his pelvis and her pointed ear to his heart, was Lily’s petite, natural form. Her nearly flat chest rested comfortably against him, and he could feel a small pulse in her as well. His arms had encircled her comfortably; she did not lose permanent HP while she was ****, he had learned, and he took full advantage of her current state to just appreciate her warmth, to let hellish heat soak into his bones until he was content.

He knew it wouldn’t last… and soon he’d have to go about repairing her. Satisfied that her health was safe for now, he finally acknowledged all the pop-ups he disregarded during their long stretches of carnal battle.

Achievement unlocked! “Succubus Genocider”!
Caused over 1,000 orgasms to any number of lust demons. What Hells will vanish under your love?
+10 LIB
+10,000XP

Achievement unlocked! “Gotta Get Back in Time”!
Be over a week older than you should be in real time. Too much time dilation?
+1 to Slow
+500XP

Slow is now level 6!

Sexual Encounter Complete!
+21,491XP

DING! You’re now level 43!
+100HP
+100MP
+0 paragon points
+10 stat points

No paragon points? What the Hell?! John tsked softly, but did his best not to move anything but his left hand as he batted away the level-up dialog box. He glanced again at Lily to make sure he hadn’t woken her with the movement; she remained in her comfortable nap atop her Master, her mouth open slightly and drooling on his chest as she snored. Once satisfied, he checked her sheet again.

Lily
Level 26 Succubus Mutatio
HP: 323/323
MP: 1,945/1,945
XP: 0/36,450 (TP: 48,905)
Stats: Str 18, Agi 24, End 30, Int 27, Wis 18, Cha 74, Lib 96
Status Effects: Pregnant (Boy), Terminal Demon Illness (Amor) (1,098 max HP lost)
Qualities: Alluring, Demon, Immune to Charm, Sex Eater
Skills: Charm Person lvl20, Detect Lust lvl19, Dominate Person lvl7, Drain Essence lvl25, Drain Life lvl25, Identify Desire lvl4, Instant Dungeon lvl21, Polymorph Self lvl10
R/S: +200
An adorable and powerfully sexy succubus who has recently, properly become your minion. She has fallen desperately in love with you. Her bodily fluids are not only lust-inducing, but copious in frankly embarrassing ways.

John tried to remember the highest her health went versus what she received when she leveled up. Was it the same? If it was, did that mean leveling her up would heal her again? Now was an opportunity to test that theory; such opportunities would prove rarer and rarer as she grew to need more XP. It would also mean avoiding having her suckling on Juniluny for a full day to heal back this amount of lost HP… or on Greenpaw for moments if Yulie was to be believed. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. For now, John cautiously plugged his new stat points in: +3 to Wisdom, +4 to Intelligence, and +3 into Agility.

He had barely plugged the points in when the slow, completed thought reached him from Rosa.

<Golgon’s back, and he has the key. He says we’re ready to bring the Peak down… what should I tell him?>

John nodded before replying in thought, Tell him I’ll be there shortly. With a gentle caress, he began to stroke Lily until she sleepily opened her golden eyes up at him.

“Master…?”

“We have to go; it’s finally time to take this ‘Throne’ like we planned.”

“Oh! I… of course, Master,” she said with a strange mix of **** smile and sulking.

“… Five more minutes?”

Another 2HP flew off her life.

“Just five, Master.”

Five or so minutes later…

GAMER XP: 2,461
MASTER XP: 400,542

36,450MXP allotted to Lily.

Lily will become level 27 and have 12,455 training XP remaining. Is this OK?

John barely read the interface before slamming the OK button. The familiar emerald light only briefly washed over Lily’s body as she stood in the center of the training pit, but the real change John was interested in lay in the details floating over her head.

Lily
Level 27 Succubus Mutatio
HP: 1,531/1,531
MP: 2,045/2,045
XP: 0/39,200 (TP: 12,455)
Stats: Str 20, Agi 26, End 30, Int 27, Wis 18, Cha 74, Lib 98
Status Effects: Pregnant (Boy), Terminal Demon Illness (Amor)
Qualities: Alluring, Demon, Immune to Charm, Sex Eater
Skills: Charm Person lvl21, Detect Lust lvl20, Dominate Person lvl8, Drain Essence lvl26, Drain Life lvl26, Identify Desire lvl5, Instant Dungeon lvl21, Polymorph Self lvl10
R/S: +200
An adorable and powerfully sexy succubus who has recently, properly become your minion. She has fallen desperately in love with you. Her bodily fluids are not only lust-inducing, but copious in frankly embarrassing ways.

“Fuck… YES!”

Lily, who was still too glowing from their affair to have noticed her previous, weakened state, couldn’t even tell why her Master was happy… but his happiness was hers, and so she cheered with him, “Yay!”

Another two points of health flew from her life.

John quickly cleared his throat to become somber again. “I can’t grand-summon you here in the Temple, so I’m going to leave before you keep getting hurt. You’re to man the psychosphere from now on and, with any luck, that’ll let you see the bounties through my eyes,” he very dryly explained.

Lily nodded happily, too excited to be of yet more help to John to be affected by his somber tone. Another two health gone.

“Try not to be so happy about it, it’s killing you!”

“S-Sorry, Master…” Lily did her best to feign disinterest… though her best was not very convincing.

At this rate, I’ll have to have her visit someone to help ‘recharge’ her before I can get her to level up again… But with his affairs finally in order, he could go and take care of-

“J-John!” came an excited, Irish voice from just outside the training pit. The Gamer turned to see Regan… or at least her head.

At the moment, it was being cradled by Ahk who had only briefly paused near the doorway to look inside. Her animal curiosity almost glowed in her orange-red eyes as she took in John and Lily’s naked forms; she idly petted the small, teenage head cradled in the crook of her furry, black arm, and her entire form was stooped in mid-bound like a cat. Ahk took a moment to give Regan’s left ear an encouraging lick as she smiled simply. “Ahk,” she cooed to the distressed dullahan.

“How… how did she take it from you? Your ability should’ve made that impossible!”

A few minutes earlier…

Was Regan really going to be a mum? The thought had begun to terrify her the moment John wasn’t there; his presence had been so reassuring, so confident, that she had been able to borrow his bravery for as long as he was here… but now all she could do was contemplate how drastic a change she had signed up for. What would their baby even be? The thought that worried her before now terrified her-

“Ahk?”

Regan’s tear-filling eyes opened wider to see the bright eyes of a black-furred creature sniffing at her face. How long had Ahk been there? Regan hadn’t even noticed her come in-

“Ahk? Ahk?” The creature softly petted Regan’s head as she cradled it. Regan remembered now that she was in the study--clean as it was thanks to the cleric spirits--and had taken to sulking in the softest reading chair the room had to offer. Ahk had such an obvious look of pity that it made Regan want to cry more. “Ahk!” the creature commanded, putting her hands on either side of Regan’s head. Regan’s fingers kept their grip; she wasn’t about to let go of- “Ahk? Ahk…” Regan, only briefly interrupted from her anxiety attack, was now confronted with the wide, glistening eyes of a denied Ahk… and the pitiful, begging stare from the creature was too much for the Irish girl.

She wanted to comfort Regan. Somehow the dullahan knew it… and the creature, as if to reassure her, gently hugged her face to the furry bosom of the beast. Awkwardly they remained there, Ahk pressed against Regan’s closed legs and hugging the head that rested on trembling Irish thighs. “Oh… fine, just be careful with-”

It was a moment of weakness… of surrender. The head lifted from her grip… and with a spark of playful, sinister joy, Ahk was bounding away with her prize.

“She tricked- John… h-halp-!” Regan’s headless body soon came stumbling into view as it groped the air towards Ahk; the creature, not wanting to give up her prize, went bounding on her continuing journey, Regan’s wailing head in tow, as the entire train of oddities started to head towards the infirmary..