Hey guys, back with another chapter. The chapters after the first one will definitely be longer, since that was just a prologue. If you guys notice any mistakes, please feel free to comment or PM me about them. As for my other story, fate's gamer, I will be getting back to that after this chapter. Between school, life, and a bit of writer's block, it's been hard to get the chapter out. I've tried multiple times, but it's always unsatisfactory to me. I have made a breakthrough though, thanks to this story, which is part of why I am writing this one. Thanks and enjoy!
Devil's Luck
My arms trembled, struggling to push me back up. My hands gripped the floor tightly, trying to stay still despite my sweat making them slide. I tried hard to ignore my drenched and shaking body. My stomach and legs burned from recent exercise, and my arms were starting to feel numb.
150 pushups was my limit. Four weeks of working out, and this was as far as I got. I could run for a few miles, since I had pretty great stamina, but my legs barely functioned afterword. I could do a few hundred crunches, and I used a lot of variations, but it hurt to do anything after that. I've been stuck for the past week, feebly trying to overcome the limits I had found to no avail.
My confidence was not helped by all the beatings I had been getting lately. After the 2nd week, the gremlin, Stripe, challenged the 27th strongest of our class and won. So now I was getting my ass kicked by a goblin. I wasn't sure just how much longer I could take getting my ass beat by someone not even half my size.
I didn't even think it was possible to ever be this humiliated. I thought it was bad in the orphanage, but getting your ass beat by one of the smallest demonic beings in existence, and then getting laughed at by the same little fucker was one of the worst things I had ever experienced.
I'm pretty sure I've been taking some serious damage lately from all those beatings. My debt was probably through the roof since I was almost always in the infirmary. Some days I got lucky, and they would get tired of punching me, so I didn't end up in a semi-coma.
I'm getting better though, slowly and surely, but I can feel the improvement. At least, I can see when and how they are beating my ass, which has helped me come up with some plans to avoid it. I lasted a full minute in my last fight against the goblin, Boit, and I was confident I would be able to land at least one hit against him soon.
I didn't have school for the next week thankfully, seeing as the tournaments for the classes and the advancements started today. That meant I had the whole day to work out. I had already ran, done some leg exercises, did some crunches, some other ab workouts, and now I was doing the dreaded pushups.
I let myself finally flop to the ground, not feeling any relief, just frustration at my inability to improve. I had gotten better from the original 80 I had been able to do, but that was it. Almost everyone in my class was doing 5 times the amount of stuff I could do. I had improved enough to get another unit of demonic energy, but that was about it.
It sucked to be shown in numbers just how pathetic you really were. Low-class beings tended to range from 1 to 20 units. Middle-class range from 21 to 500. High-class range from 501-10,000. Ultimate-class range from 10,001 to 1,000,000 or so. Satan-class was usually 1,000,000 and beyond.
There are tons of exceptions of course, since things like skill, speed, strength, magic, etc. came into play, but generally, these are the numbers that define the class. The four Satans were almost definitely in the 1,000,000 and beyond range, and that was pretty damn discouraging.
Not only were they pretty much 500,000 times my strength, they also had more skill and experience than I could probably ever get, seeing as how they fought in actual wars. I ignored the tremors in my hands, uncaring for the blood dripping down them.
War or no war, I would become great. It didn't even matter that I could never be a Satan due to not being a devil. I would surpass them, make them think of me as I think of them. Make them scramble to achieve even a fraction of my strength.
One day, I'll bring them down to their knees, proclaiming my superiority for all to hear. Then, I'll find my mother. I'll find her just so I can rub her face in what she missed out on. What she abandoned! What she threw to the curb like a piece of trash.
I shakily got up, going over to my mirror. Pitch black hair, tinted purple seemed to suck the light and joy out of everything. Glowing magenta eyes stared back at me. My face lacked any baby fat, like the rest of my body. It was sharp and aristocratic, my cheekbones giving off the illusion I was royalty.
My skin tone could have people confuse me for a vampire with how pale I was. I almost seemed to shine and reflect whatever light hit me, giving me an eerie kind of glow. I was 4' 7", and on the lean side of the body spectrum. My body had some tone to it, but seemed to lack when it came to muscle size.
Obviously my body seemed to prefer that I look sensual, and not really all that masculine, but I was determined to change that. I knew I would probably never be able to have huge muscles, but I would settle for having really defined muscles instead. I already had some definition on my arms, stomach and legs, so I was on my way.
Finished with my short observation, I walked out of my tiny room in the orphanage. It was a pretty nice place, and it had decent food, but it lacked something I wanted. This place wasn't mine. It wasn't my home. It was like I was renting it, and I would be kicked out as soon as a certain amount of time passed. The only difference was that I wasn't paying for it.
The children in the orphanage were expected to donate money to it once they got older, so other children with no homes could live comfortably, and it seemed to work out pretty well. There were quite a lot of donors since we all lived for a pretty long time. Quite a bit of that money went to the people helping out in the orphanage, like the matrons or the cooks.
But it was an old building, being around for a few hundred years, since the start of the second Lucifer's reign at least. It didn't feel like somewhere you would live. It felt more like somewhere you would keep weapons or books, which was probably true at one point.
I waved and greeted everyone I passed on my way out, most of them ignoring me, but a few responding. Being nasty to people never really helped you out, something I learned when the matrons hated me for my attitude. Being nice got you indifference at least, and generally made you less enemies.
"Vylix!" I tried so hard, but I couldn't help the twitch of my eye, hearing the smug voice of the person I really wanted to die.
"What's wrong? Not going to the tournament to show everyone how mighty the incubus is?" Nala's high pitched voice rang through the room, chasing out every sound other than it with violence.
I exhaled quietly and turned around with a small smile on my face, trying to keep calm. Focusing on my aching muscles seemed to help immensely. Nala was a pretty cute girl admittedly, with a paler complexion than mine, and glowing white hair. Her deep dark eyes were a bit eerie, but in an enticing sort of way. Her voice was enough to sour it all though.
"Of course not, wouldn't want everyone else to be embarrassed once people found out they were destroyed by an incubus, now would we?" My voice was pompous and arrogant, in a way that only children could really pull off.
My little sarcastic line got a pretty cute grin out of her, but I refuse to acknowledge that. I had already learned you couldn't beat bullying without being able to make fun of yourself, and that pride can be important, but there's no reason to suffer for it.
"Hmph, that would be pretty pathetic. I imagine their parents would disown them if they found out something so laughable happened." Despite my irritation, I gave her a small chuckle so she would be satisfied.
I didn't bother saying anything else, already tired of having to interact with her. Her voice seemed to sap the little remaining energy I had, but I was determined to continue my training. I ignored the angry look on her face as I pretended not to hear her attempt at continuing the conversation as I walked out the door.
The fresh air seemed to freeze whatever sweat managed to hide in my clothes, and it was definitely not my favorite experience. I marched down the streets with a purpose, walking towards one of the outer rocky areas. There were quite a few of them scattered all around, making miniature mountains, with a few trees around them.
The rocks and boulders there were hard. They were used in some of the buildings because of how tough they were, like steel or iron. They were also what I had been using for training lately, to help me get used to the pain of hitting hard things.
There weren't any people around these areas, since most people preferred the large amount of parks or little stores. I had seen a few people from my school around these places and tried to go to the least frequented one of them all, not wanted to be around people while I tried to improve.
It felt like it should be a personal thing, pushing my body to my limits. I wasn't really keen on the idea of sharing the experience with people. I shook my arms to wake them up, since I would be starting with punches, and climbed the rocks to find my favorite boulder. It was a large thing, probably about 10 times my size, and very thick.
There were splatters of blood all around it from where I would continuously pound my fists and legs against it. I had taken to wearing as little clothes as possible, since I ruined quite a few with all the blood.
I took a few deep breaths, trying to get into the mindset required to so deeply harm yourself. I gazed down at knuckles, seeing the almost unnoticeable scars, given to me due to having such a pathetic regeneration.
I clenched my fists tightly, getting into a shoddy, inexperienced punching position. I tensed my entire body, and tried to put as much strength as my tired body would allow me into a straight jab.
The resulting crunch told me I had broken my hand, long before the pain of doing so did. My bones thankfully didnt break through my skin upon doing so, but a lot of skin was scraped off.
I shuddered briefly, withdrawing it slowly, before getting into a similar position, just the opposite arm. I did my best to ignore the sounds and the pain, as I slowly, methodically pounded away at the rock.
The burning in my arms was drowned out by the pain, and the pain was drowned out by all the humiliation I've experienced.
Twenty minutes. I spent twenty minutes pounding away at the boulder. I always measured my punches, and I managed to dish out 10 punches per minutes. I did at least 100 punches per arm, and I could feel it.
My arms burned like nothing else, telling me I had probably pulled or broken something. My fists were raw and bloody, giving me a tingly numb sensation.
My body was tense and sore from how tightly I had clenched and flexed it. I let myself lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to stop the flowing tears of pain dripping down my face. I looked at the rock, trying to see if I had at least done something to it.
Nothing. I had done nothing at all. It had a nice new red coating, but that was about it. I wasn't trying to fucking paint it, but that seemed to be all I could do. On the upside, I was really beginning to not feel all that much pain from doing this. It was becoming the norm for me, and I liked that.
I didn't allow myself to dally too long, not wanting allow any thoughts of taking a longer break, or even calling it a day, to persuade me out of my next task.
It was a bit hard to get up, since I couldn't use my hands or my arms to do so, but I managed after fumbling for a bit. I walked over to one of the corners of the boulder, giving myself an easier position to kick at it.
I already had a method to my kicks. I would give a right kick with my foot hitting it, then my calf. Then I'd do the same for the other leg. Thinking about my methods helped me ignore the horrendous pain radiating from my rather delicate legs.
Eventually, like always, I was forced to stop. I couldn't keep going like my punches, simply because my legs couldn't hold my body up any longer. Breathing deeply and as slow as I could, I let myself relax completely.
My workout was done for now, and I would try to do so again in the morning if I could. It always took me a few hours to even be able to walk, so I was stuck on the uneven, prickly ground.
"You have quite an admirable drive little one. Color me impressed!"
The feminine voice somehow managed to be both serious and airy at the same time. Deep and dreary, yet high pitched and upbeat. The contradicting nature of it made my ears hurt a bit.
I struggled to see who spoke and intruded upon my personal moments. I felt anger! It wasn't fear or anything! Anger! I shivered at the malicious yet happy aura I was being bathed in, and finally managed to turn my head enough to gaze at her.
In contrast to the darker tones of her aura and voice, she looked like a bright bubbly girl. She had luscious, curly hair so blonde, it was brighter than the sun in the underworld, though most things tended to be. The sheer glow it gave off seemed to hurt my very being, like it was the original sun and light itself.
Her eyes were slightly narrowed, with chunks of lapis lazuli in them. Just looking at her gaze made me shiver, in fear or her investigating look, or pleasure at the way she was looking at me, I wasn't sure.
Her skin tone only highlighted those attributes, glowing gold. It seemed so smooth and rich, that just looking at it made me ache to touch it, to run my fingers all over it. Her face was angular, with nice cheekbones, a sculpted chin, and a beautiful blush. Her nose was small and cute, slightly pointed.
Her lips weren't very large, but they were a light pink, and looked so sweet, it made my mouth tingle. Her neck was elegant and thing, dipping into a beautiful body. Her clothes were light, and seemed befitting someone who looked like royalty. She wore a light blue silk dress, showing a tiny amount of cleavage, and ending around her lower calves.
Her body wasn't outrageously voluptuous, but it fit her very well. Her body was slim, and I could see a bit of definition lining it. Her breasts weren't huge, sitting at a nice D cup. They were round, and had a light, pretty red glowing from what I could see, showing the life of them.
Her waist was small, and her hips were full. I couldn't see her behind, but I was positive it was just as exquisite as the rest of her. Her thighs were thick, leading down to slender calves, seeming to never end.
"Hmm, well at least you have good taste hah!" She seemed amused instead of offended thankfully, and I reminded myself to learn self control fast.
The sheer power I felt radiating from her told me just what would happen if she had felt offended. I guess it didn't really matter though since I was practically half dead already.
"Are you going to die from blood loss? I'd like it if you could stop zoning out." Ah, she was beginning to get irritated.
I snapped myself out from getting lost in my thoughts once more, struggling to think of something to say.
"Uh… hi?" It was lame, but I really couldn't think of anything to say. I'd say it was good enough though.
"Mmm, so articulate. I know demonic beings have the ability to speak any language, so I don't think it's that. Are you just retarded or something?" She seemed genuinely curious, but I was too exhausted to actually care.
"Tired." My raspy voice irritated me, the weakness in it was obvious.
"Well, you do look like you're about to die, so that makes sense. Here, let me help with that." She sat up from her stop on the raised ground and strutted towards me. The sway of her hips was almost hypnotizing.
She bent over me slightly, raising a hand over my chest. From her hand came light. It felt like looking at the sun, but it was holy. Like it was sunlight given form. It burned my body like nothing else, making me realize with a jolt, that this was actual light. Something that could kill beings like me without to much trouble.
It felt like every part of my being was on my fire. It was both scorching hot, and a soothing warm. The warmth began winning out though, and eventually the light stopped. I tried to get up, my eyes still slightly blinded, but found my body would only spasm in response.
"Give it a minute. Your body's a bit weakened after being exposed to such potent light." Her soft, soothing voice attempted to seduce me into comfort, like she was a mother talking to her child.
It disturbed me more than comforted me, never really being shown this amount of positive attention, and only made my body spasm more as I attempted to overcome my weak body.
"Hah, so stubborn. I suppose that's definitely not the worst quality you could have." The last thing my blurry vision saw was her hand glowing a light gold over my face, before nothingness consumed me.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Ragh!" I shot up with a little shout, dizzy, disoriented, and a bit scared. I looked around quickly, ignoring the little spasm my neck gave me, still harmed from the light.
The room I was in was nice, and what I would expect noble families to sleep in. There was a bit of art hanging off smooth grey stone walls. There were stands with expensive vases, and jewelry everywhere, and the bed itself was the size of my entire room, and probably more expensive than the entirety of the orphanage.
I couldn't hear anything from outside this room, which only made my fear begin to grow. I had pretty decent hearing, and to hear nothing at all meant that there was something magically blocking it.
And someone that had the ability or could afford to have permanent wards etched for silence in a room either had a decent amount of power and knowledge, or a lot of money. Either option was pretty scary.
But I forced myself to breathe, trying to calm myself down as much as I could. The only sensible reason I could be here was that the lady brought me. Actually, on second thought, I didn't know who she was. How did I know she wasn't gonna experiment on me or something equally weird.
No one would care if I went missing, since it was doubtful that I would contribute to society all that much anyway. I wasn't a genius or a powerhouse, so there was little that I could do that anyone else couldn't.
Before my thoughts could get any more self-deprecating that they already were, the large doors blew open, revealing the object of my fantasi-, nightmares. Nightmares, not fantasies. Definitely not now that she was dressed in more revealing, casual clothing.
I pinched myself to get out of my thoughts, staring into her eyes with what I hoped was confidence. My puffed out chest was hopefully selling it to her, but I was very doubtful of that. The little smile she was giving me was proof of that.
"Cute. At least you're finally awake. Watching you twitch and spasm for the past 3 hours was getting tiring." I suppressed the twitch of my brow at that condescending statement, and settled for frowning at her back as she left the room.
I shakily hopped off the bed, my legs feeling like numb and jittery. It was nice that they weren't broken though. Those always took the entire day and night to heal, and it was always a bitch to walk on slightly fragile legs in the morning.
The rest of the apartment or home or whatever the hell it was, was incredibly nice and lavish. This woman definitely had quite a bit of wealth, judging from all the gold, diamonds, painting, and sculptures in the hallways and rooms.
This is the kind of person that could literally buy you, and the thought wasn't comforting at all. In fact, the part of me that thought there was any hope of getting away unnoticed was screaming, but I wasn't that stupid. This woman had access to light, and not the corrupted kind that shines down on the underworld.
I hurried to keep pace with her, and not because losing sight of her meant not seeing that amazing ass, I just didn't really want to get lost.
"What's your name?" I was tired of calling this woman, this woman. Saying it so many times in my head was getting annoying.
"Hmm, my name is Parthenos. And you, little devil?" Her rich voice sent shivers down my back as we finally reached what was probably her living room, waving her hand at the couch for me to sit.
"It's Vylix, and I'm not a devil. Where does the name Parthenos come from?" I wasn't offended at being called a devil, and most would have accepted the misunderstanding, but I wasn't going to shy from my heritage.
Her name was definitely a bit odd. Not any name I'd heard people in the Underworld having, and I supposed that made sense given she wielded true light.
"Not a devil? You seemed so driven, so full of desire for power. What demonic entity are you then?" She obviously didn't care for my second question, but that was whatever I guess.
"I'm an incubus." I had stopped caring when people learned I was an incubus, because it was always the same reaction, and Parthenos was no different.
The slight upturn of her lips, the amusement in those beautiful blue eyes, and the little chuckle. It was always either superiority or amusement that came with those reactions, and I'm pretty sure she already knew she was superior to me.
"I've never met an incubus that lusted for power instead of women before. I'm quite glad I decided to bring you home with me. It's been awhile since I've seen something so amusing." She took a sip out of a diamond glass, that came out of nowhere, doing an incredible job at looking like an asshole.
I was used to this though. I couldn't let something like this get to me, no matter how much it burned my pride to stay silent about it. The satisfaction I would get one day, when everyone thinks of my name in awe and fear, would be more than enough to rid myself of all the humiliation I'd ever experienced.
"Why'd you bring me here?" My voice was a bit too calm, almost cold. I bit the inside of my lip at my loss of composure, which could be deadly if the worst came to be.
"Hmm…" Her small smile disarmed most of my anger and worry, "Was I supposed to leave you unconscious where anyone could do anything to you?" Her voice was calm and soothing again, but I didn't want to be manipulated into any kind of mood, so I stayed edgy.
"Why were you there anyway?" I was pretty suspicious to be honest, because people didn't just wander through the rocky areas.
"The same reason as anyone else." She got tired of sitting up, and draped herself on the couch opposite to me, stretching out in some pretty delicious ways.
"Yeah right, you're too strong to use that small area to train." I had felt her power, even if she kept a tight leash on it now. Feeling her magic flow into me, gave me a tiny insight to her strength, and by how tiny it made me felt, was too much to train in the tiny little area I frequented.
She turned her head toward me lazily, just taking a few moments to observe me. I had to admit, her gaze was a bit nerve wracking. It was the gaze of a predator, the gaze of someone who wants something.
"What's your dream little one? What drives you to such lengths? What makes you so willing to inflict such pain upon yourself?" Her eyes lit up a dazzling gold for a split second, as if she was trying to look into me, and it made my stomach squirm.
"The top. I want to get to the top." Being looked at in such a way left me unable to say anything else but what I truly wanted, like the truth was the only thing allowed to be said.
"You want to become a Satan? To stand shoulder to shoulder with the strongest devils?" The encouraging smile she gave me made a warmth grow in my stomach.
"No." My blunt denial made her eyes widen, and her smile drop.
"Then what? You wish to become an ultimate-class?" She looked a bit disappointed at that, but she was still wrong.
"No. I want to go higher than anyone else has every gone. Beyond the Satans, the gods, even the two true dragons. I want to make the Apocalypse Dragon and the Ouroboros Dragon look at me like everyone else looks at them. Unstoppable, unbeatable, the greatest power." She stared blankly at my grand declaration, before bursting into laughter.
I was briefly taken aback by the beautiful peels of laughter coming from her lips, feeling warm and safe, before realizing why she was laughing. She was the first person I ever told my aspirations to, and she responded exactly like I expected. She seemed so different though, so unique, and I couldn't help but be disappointed at the response.
"Excellent! That drive! That dream! You are exactly one of the people I am looking for!" The excitement in her voice was staggering, and the dumbfounded look I gave her only made her laugh, in what I was realizing was joy, even more.
"People you're looking for? What's that supposed to mean?" I knew the concept of the peerage system, and the thought of becoming this woman's servant, while appealing in some sexual way, went against every fiber of my being. Something in me refused to be someone's servant.
"Do you know what I am?" Her face didn't lose any of the happiness from earlier, but it became more somber, more serious.
"A woman?" I knew what she was asking, but the sudden shift in mood kinda caught me off guard. I pretended like she didn't throw me an annoyed look at my sarcasm.
"Funny. I'm a demigod. More specifically, the greek demigod of Apollo." She smirked at the shock I knew my face was showing. I didn't know all the names of the gods, since we had just started going over factions and pantheons, but we did talk about demigods briefly.
"I was once a princess, around 2,600 years ago or so, and one of the most beautiful and powerful daughters of Apollo." She seemed wistful, remembering things from long ago."
"But demigods only have a slightly longer lifespan than humans, don't they?" I had never heard of a demigod living so long, but then again, I didn't know much about them.
"They do, and I was no different. Tell me, have you heard of the story of Hades and Persephone?" I had not heard of that story, since we were pretty much just glossing over the huge amount of stuff in the worlds.
"No."
"Hmm, well no one really knows what actually happened, but I do know a bit of the story. One day, on one of the rare days that he visited the Earth, he stumbled upon Persephone. He was enamored by the brilliant flowers and life all around her, and how she seemed to embody it all. After living in his desolate part of the underworld with no light, nor life, he yearned for her. He ended up kidnapping her and tricking her into staying in the underworld with him."
The bitterness in her voice practically leapt into my mouth, making it turn. The rage in her eyes told me that this story was pretty personal for her.
"After marrying her, he thought his life was better. But something was still missing. He had life in his underworld, but no light. He scoured Greece to try and find a goddess to kidnap to give him light, but gave up. They were all too well guarded, or not what he was looking for. Then he came upon the island Naxos.
There he found a demigoddess, a daughter of Apollo. Someone who seemed to embody the very light and happiness he was looking for. But she was mortal, and would not last as he wanted her to. Of course something like that was not hard to get around. He was unable to grant her immortality himself, since doing so just because he wanted to keep her forever would get him into trouble.
He couldn't give her nectar, because eventually, such a thing would turn her into a full blooded goddess, and he feared she may be able to disobey him for a tiny amount of time and kill herself. He searched and searched, and eventually found a ningyo. Ningyo are incredibly rare sea-faring beings, that look like demented mermaids. When one eats their flesh, they become cursed with immortality.
The only thing he needed to do next was get to the princess. Such a thing was not hard for him, sneaking into the palace, and disguising himself as a chef. He prepared the meat specially for her, and she ate it. He waited patiently, almost 80 years before visiting her once more. All of her friends had died, including her family, while she remained young and beautiful.
The only mercy she had, was that she did not have a husband or children, forbidden from doing so by Apollo. But she was also not allowed to kill herself, as Apollo did not want a child of his staining his name with suicide. Once he found her, wallowing in her sadness, he seduced her to step into the underworld, with promises of seeing her family and friends once more.
Once there, he presented her a pomegranate seed, telling her that it would allow her to die and join the rest. Foolishly, she ate the seed, and was cursed to remain in the underworld, tied to Hades. Thus, he had his life, and his sun."
It didn't exactly take a genius to guess who the demigoddess was talking about. While I did feel horrible for her, it didn't exactly make me any less suspicious of why she was telling me this.
"Why tell me your story? Why am I one of the people you're looking for?" My earlier fear was returning again. People were generally cruel enough with a regular life, but someone like her? Who knew how fucked up she was?
"Persephone gave up. She was allowed 6 months with her mother and 6 months in the underworld, but I was not given the same. I was chained to him no matter how much I pleaded. No matter how much I yearned for freedom. But I desperately wanted to be free from my curse. So every time Hades let me leave his desolate part of the underworld, into the rest of it to do some business on his behalf, or to the world above, I would seek out people.
People that may just be able to help me achieve my dream, in exchange for me helping them achieve theirs. And you just happen to be one of those people." She gave me a gentle smile, a slightly broken smile that told of just how she tortured herself with hope.
"You're saying you can help me achieve my dream, but if you had the power to do so, you wouldn't be stuck in your situation. Besides that, you said you were cursed to remain tied to Hades. Can you even break something like that?"
"Hmph, I didn't say I could achieve your dream for you. I can give you the tools that you need to start your path, but that's about it. And as for breaking what ties me to him, it's rather simple. You merely have to kill him." She said it nonchalantly, like she wasn't talking about one of the strongest gods.
"Kill him? How do you even permanently kill a god? I thought their physical bodies could be destroyed without them 'dying'." I knew some people spoke of killing gods, but if she knew how, I doubt she would be wasting her time with me.
"I'm not tied to his soul, I am tied to his body. He consumed ¾ of the seed, and I consumed a ¼, putting him in control. If you destroy his body, you destroy the control that the seed gives over both me and Persephone. You would garner not only my favor, but persephone's and her mother, which would help your goal along quite a bit."
It was enticing. Very, very enticing. Especially the part where she would help me start my ascent to the top. But the danger was obvious, and well, dangerous.
"But I would make an enemy out of Hades, who could possibly convince the rest of the pantheon to try and kill me." Hades was one of the big three of the greek pantheon, and while not living with them, was probably influential.
"He won't. Zeus will never go for something like that, simply because he would think it is some trick. He is known for being easily fooled, and it makes him incredibly wary of things like that. If Hades told him that he wanted to hunt down an incubus, he would probably find such a thing ridiculous, and part of some plot. Poseidon is too laid back to care, so he won't go for it either."
I ignored the part about me being an incubus, thus pathetic, even though it made sense. I suppose she knew more about the gods personalities than I did, so I couldn't refute her claims.
"So what, you're just going to depend on an incubus to be your source of freedom?" Something like that sounded incredibly unbelievable. No one would depend solely on the weakest species of demon.
"HAHAHAHA! Please Vylix, I'm trying to be serious here, stop making such funny jokes." I let my eye twitch, having had to listen to her laugh for a solid two minutes.
"I have quite a few others that I have recruited over the years. I give them aid from time to time, lead them to weapons that may help them in their endeavors, give them contacts to help them if they need it, and sometimes financial aid. If they need some obscure tome of magic, they ask me for it, and I try and get it for them."
It sounded like it would be pretty easy for them to use her, but I guess if she was really desperate she wouldn't care. But no, she was old, and it was likely that had happened to her already.
"And what stops someone from telling you that they'll help you, and then just using you?" The bright smile I got from that question made me warm, and I guess it made sense, since she seemed to have light powers.
"Simple, an oath." She avoided my inquisitive look by getting up and going into the kitchen connected to the room.
"What kind of oath?" I was really wary now. There were contracts made between demonic beings, which could result in excruciating pain from breaking them, all the way to contracts that would kill you for breaking them.
"Simple. An oath that states you will help me free myself the moment you think it is doable.. I admit that quite a few people thought too highly of themselves, and once compelled by the oath to help me, were far outmatched and killed. Since then, I tend to be pickier with those I choose. No need to make Hades suspicious with all the people trying to attack him."
What a dangerous oath. The moment you are so self assured that you think you can take on a being, you were compelled to do it. I would have to avoid thinking about it, until I was completely sure I could do it. That would be a challenge all in itself.
"Just how many people have tried to free you so far?" She was over 2,600 years old, so she should have been able to recruit quite a lot of people.
"Hmm, well I have quite a lot of people trying to improve at the moment, but I would say about 1,649 people have tried to set me free. Some even found each other, and tried to work together." She said the number so disappointingly, and I could only imagine having hope so many times, only to have it ripped away.
"And how many, of those 1,649 people, came close to freeing you?" Just how compelling was the oath, and how sensitive to your thoughts and confidence was it?
"None. None of them came even remotely close. Hades is one of the strongest beings for a reason, and they couldn't even make him get up out of his throne. Some of them trained for hundreds of years, gained semi immortality from me, and still could not do a thing against him." The knife in her hand shattered, startling her.
She didn't seem too bothered by it however, nor did she clean up the mess. She simply came back into the living room with two bowls of sliced fruit and vegetables, not giving me a chance to decline. It did taste pretty good, so I wasn't that sad about it.
"How many do you have out there training for their dreams and your freedom?" In her lifetime, she could have acquired hundreds more people, especially if she had some way to give them longer lifespans like she had implied before.
"Around 5,000. It's not as many as I want, but there are only so many people willing to brave the danger, or the thought of killing Hades. I've learned that tricking people doesn't work, since they don't have the drive they need." Her gaze pierced me, trying to gauge my acceptance of her deal. I kept my face as blank as I could, not wanting to appear on either side of the fence.
"How would you help me start?" She spoke of contacts, weapons, spells, and money. But something like that wouldn't help me at the moment.
"What's your weaknesses?" I took a few minutes to think about it, knowing that I had quite a few of them.
"Physical ability. My body is naturally weaker, and has worse reflexes than other demonic beings, and is a bit harder to train, which is why I go to such lengths. Because of my weak body, my energy is weak, and I don't know how to train my energy to be stronger than my body, so I need my body to be strong for my energy.
My magical ability is nonexistent as well. I don't have a good understanding of what I want to do, and thus my imagination is incomplete. My will is fine, but the power is shot as well, meaning that I can't perform spells, even the standard teleportation that everyone can do is incredibly hard for me.
My regeneration is a lot slower than others. My cuts and bruises sometimes take an hour or two to heal, and broken bones can take an entire night, or even a day to heal. It cuts down on my training time, and keeps me too exhausted to study all that much.
I have no knowledge of fighting. They generally just make us fight and learn from that. So if someone is stronger than me, I'm generally fucked. I don't have much experience, but we do fight a lot so I guess I will gain some as I go.
I'm weak to light, and holy objects and words, like everyone else. Not sure how to get around that. Generally, you just get incredibly strong, and gain a semi immunity to it. That's about all I can think about for my weaknesses."
We sat there in silence for a bit of time, her simply soaking in my words for a bit. She didn't seem surprised that I had so many things wrong with me, but she did seem a bit irritated.
"Hm, well that's all I need to know. I doubt you're ready to make a deal with me, and I still need to work on helping you, so what do you say we meet tomorrow? At where you train?" She seemed deep in thought, and I was actually really interested in what she had to offer so I agreed.
"Alright, let me walk you out." The door was right next to the living room, so it was only a few feet away.
Every step seemed to increase my anxiety. I was incredibly interested in what she could do for me, and beating Hades would give me a pretty amazing reputation, which is what I was looking for. The only question was, if she still thought it would be worth it to make a deal with someone so weak.
"See you tomorrow." I offered a little sideways wave, which she smiled at. Satan, she was so beautiful.
I was honestly a bit distracted thinking back on the conversation we had just had, that after 5 minutes of walking, I realized I had no idea where the hell I was. I had definitely never been to this part of Lilith.
'Well Fuck.'
Alright, that's the end of this chapter. As for action and shit, it's definitely going to happen, but it's probably going to take a bit to get to real action against stronger beings in the DxD universe. Some chapters will be filled with pretty much just world building, character interaction, and training, with small amounts of fighting. This was mostly a world building/character interaction chapter, with a bit of what he does for training. Anyway, till next time.