Chapter 17

Niflheim, The Domain of Hild, the Daimaikaicho.

"Damn, I hate coming down here!"

Hild slowly walked down the darkened passageway. Dreading every step. The only source of illumination being spirit lamps spaced at lengthy intervals along the walls. The shadows overpowered the sparse and sickly yellow light. The spirit lamps hadn't been charged in a long time, the spells that kept them working, desperately needed a refresh, but Hild was in no hurry to assign a demon to take care of that task. She didn't come down here often enough that the job was a big deal. She'd get around to it when she had the time, or when the mood struck her.

There was only one room in this hallway, and it was at the very end. The very end of a hall that stretched for what seemed like miles. A hall that was located at the very bottom level of Hild's domain, Niflheim, hundreds, maybe thousands of feet below the surface. Below even the levels that housed the mammoth counterpart of Yggdrasil that controlled the Demonic Realm, Niddhogg. Below the levels where the lowest of Hild's demons lived. Only one person ever ventured down here, and she did so only when she had to. Despite the air being warm and damp, Hild couldn't help but fold her arms tightly across her bountiful chest in an effort to ward off the chill that she felt. She shivered lightly as she cursed the darkness.

Being the Daimaikaicho meant that Hild had to deal with many issues afflicting her domain. Demons weren't the easiest creatures to control. Defiant and opportunistic, the way she taught them, they constantly needed to be watched and occasionally threatened to keep them in line. They could smell fear, and looked for any opportunity to strike. Therefore Hild had to rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Sometimes, she had to forgo the glove. She succeeded by fostering a reputation of being unpredictable, ruthless, and willing to inflict sheer terror on anyone who challenged her. More than a few confused her playfulness and easy going façade for weakness to their ultimate downfall. Hild had been running Niflheim for a long time and she was very good at it.

But while there were many duties of her position that Hild didn't like doing, there was one that she absolutely detested. That job was the one waiting for her at the end of the hall. And if she could fob this duty off on one of her minions, she would do so in a heartbeat. But she also knew that whomever she sent down here, was being sent to their death. Because they would not be coming back. The being living in the room at the end of the hall would see to that. That being's name was Torvald.

For fifty years, Torvald was once Hild's most devoted and trusted disciple. She took on very few students in her years as the Daimaikaicho. She usually left that thankless job to other demonic underlings. But once in a while, a particularly fetching student would catch her eye, and she would take the foundling under her wing for special attention.

Most of those selected for her tutelage didn't survive the relentless training Hild had in store for them. She was a demanding teacher who didn't tolerate failure. She rarely gave second chances, and rode her students hard. She would pit the students against each other in endless and merciless magical competitions, and encouraged them overtly and otherwise to deceive, trick and betray each other. She required the use of live magic in training, with the safeties off.

More than one student was booted from the program with permanent magical and physical scarring, their minds twisted and manipulated like taffy. Their bodies disfigured and wrecked. These unfortunates ended up among Hild's lowest demons, the shock troops. The dregs of Hild's army, used only as unfeeling, uncaring, and blunt demonic weapons, they were equipped with the most basic offensive spells and enough berserker magic to eliminate their flight response. They were pointed at an enemy and ordered to attack with overwhelming numbers. They were expendable, and they knew it. No one sung songs or sagas to their deeds. Even Hild barely acknowledged their existence. After a battle the survivors would endure a lengthy and barely believable speech full of empty praise before shuffling off to heal their wounds, drown their sorrows in strong drink, their accomplishments not even rating a footnote in the history of Niflheim's battles against Kami-sama and the forces of Heaven..

Those who survived her regimen and curried special favor with her, she took to her bed. Hild didn't differentiate between male or female. She used both for her pleasure. Even the most promising and strongest students to survive Hild's course of horrors would wilt under a night of reckless seduction and uncontrolled passion at the hands of the Daimaikaicho.

But Torvald was something special. One of a kind that happened along only once in a millennium. He thrived under Hild's brutal training and begged for more. He passed every test with flying colors, and became a master manipulator of his demonic classmates. He betrayed, double-crossed and destroyed the lives of every opponent he faced. And most of the time, he was so good at it, that his victims barely knew they were being played.

He proved adept at every form of magic that Hild could teach him. He spent hours outside of class in the archives of Niflheim absorbing every precious bit of forbidden knowledge like a sponge. His mind never tired of learning new and exciting magics and spells.

He attacked his pursuit of knowledge with such ferocity that even Hild herself couldn't help but be impressed with his progress, although she would never let him know that. If anything, Hild continually told him that his best was far from good enough. Torvald was devoted to Hild to an extent bordering on obsessive. He would do anything to gain the favor of the great Demoness. But she continued to feed his insecurity, continued to lead him along. Making him think that one day, if he worked hard enough, became that much more ruthless, that much more devious and diabolical, he would gain her favor.

Torvald reached new heights in his training. He advanced further along than any of his classmates. And while he became highly accomplished in all forms of Demonic Magic, there was one branch of the forbidden arts that truly intrigued him: Rage Magic. The study of magic based on the conversion of pure distilled anger into raw fuel to power devastating spells.

Of all the forms of magic taught in Niflheim, Rage Magic was the most difficult, the most dangerous, and the most powerful type of Dark Art. Even the Daimaikaicho didn't bother with that form of power. She knew what it did to those who were crazy enough to delve into it. More than a few tragic souls who let the Rage control them were part of Hild's shock troops.

Those who practiced Rage Magic were likened to skyrockets. They burned bright and hot, but didn't last long. The all-consuming rage that it took to fuel this magic would eventually blot out other emotions, leaving nothing but pure seething anger. And of all emotions, anger and rage were the ones that destroyed those who let it consume them.

Saner, and smarter demons steered clear of Rage Magic, but Torvald, in his desire to learn all the secrets the world of Darkness could offer, ran towards it with pure abandon and no regard for his safety, nor his sanity. He embraced the terrible art head first, seeing it as the last unexplored frontier in the world of Magic. He doubled down on the time spent in the archives reading and practicing Rage Magic. His knowledge of the subject surpassed any of those who came before him. After decades of study and experimentation, only he had figured out how to fully control the anger and rage within him and to channel that energy into potent fuel for his workings, without letting it ruin him.

But as intelligent and powerful a mage as Torvald became, he had one fatal fault: His devotion to Hild. Besides his unquenchable desire to learn all there was to know about magic, he threw himself into his studies in order to impress his Daimaikaicho. He thought that by ascending to these lofty heights, he might win Hild's heart that she'd make him her lover. When she took him into her bed, for their night of passion, he became so smitten with her that he fell in love with her that very night, and he devoted his life to pleasing the Demon CEO.

Hild recognized what Torvald was trying to do, and while she was genuinely impressed with his efforts, as well as flattered by the attention, she knew that she could never let herself be tied to her most promising pupil. Other demons, looking for an opportunity to wrest control from Hild would use that attraction against her. She remembered when one little slip-up caused Hagal to steal her throne from her, and it took convincing Belldandy, Urd, Skuld, and Keiichi that it was in the best interest of the Universe and Heaven that she remained in charge of Niflheim. Keiichi and the Goddesses had to enter Niflheim and outwit and outsmart some of Hagal's toughest demons before they were able to get her off the throne and restore Hild to her place of prominence.

And Hild didn't want to have to rely on her enemies to pull her curvaceous butt out of the fire again. So allowing herself to become romantically involved with Torvald was out of the question. But Hild had no problem using Torvald as her sexual chew toy.

So she kept seducing, tempting, and leading her misguided charge along. Night after night in her bed, she brought him to greater and greater heights of sexual ecstasy. She had him eating out of the palm of her hand.

And Torvald, who was so good at manipulating others without them knowing it, fell victim to the very same trick.

After one particularly wild night of lovemaking, Hild told him that she wasn't interested in falling in love with him. Predictably, he was devastated. The player was played. He'd be the butt of the cruelest jokes and insults amongst his fellow demons should word ever get out. For a moment, the long pent-up anger and rage that he had so carefully controlled and harnessed threatened to become unleashed.

But to his everlasting credit, he didn't direct it towards Hild. Instead, he calmly asked her to lock him away, far from the other demons, so he could work on his magic in solitude.

And with a modicum of compassion, Hild agreed to his request. In the lowest level of Niflheim, further down than any demon would ever go, she had a chamber built for Torvald. She had his lab and equipment moved into that space. She asked him to sign a magically binding contract stating that in exchange for having everything he ever needed provided for him, he would live in that chamber and go nowhere else for the rest of his days.

He told her that a contract wasn't necessary, he truly desired to spend the rest of his life in isolation. He had no need nor interest in the affairs of his fellow demons, nor did he have any designs for power. He could not bear to see his embarrassment played out before him in the cutting remarks and curses by the others. And to show that he was sincere, he asked Hild to not put any barriers at the entrance to his chamber. He did this to show her that if he so desired, he could leave anytime he wanted. But he wouldn't. He would keep his word to his Master. Also, Torvald told Hild that under no circumstances should anyone other than her be allowed to visit him. In the most chilling tone he could muster, he warned her that any unwelcome visitors would become the unwilling subjects of his most sadistic experiments. Hild took that threat seriously.

So for the last time ever, Torvald entered his room...and never left it again. When asked about the fate of her most promising student, Hild would say that he was the victim of a fatal magical working gone horribly wrong. He disappeared into an unknown dimension and was lost forever. Which wasn't very far from the truth.

Deep in the bowels of Niflheim, Torvald worked in silence, poring over his books of forbidden, arcane knowledge. Mixing potions, practicing incantations. Perfecting a craft that none would ever witness. Once in a while, Hild would come down to see how he was doing, and if he needed anything. And he would always request a few items here and there. Nothing major that would cause suspicion, but if she needed anything from him, he would oblige her.

For even though Hild played a cruel trick on him and crushed his dreams of ever becoming her beloved, he still loved her. Still desired her. But he now knew that he would never get his wish.

As for Hild, did she truly have feelings for Torvald beyond simply the physical act of sex and carnal desire? If circumstances were different, would she have been able to make him her lover?

No one knows, because she never spoke of it to anyone. But she knows one thing. The power that Torvald accumulated over the decades and centuries of intense study of that most deadly of Magical Arts made him the one demon that she truly fears. All Hild had separating Torvald from the rest of Niflheim is a mere promise made by him that he'd never leave his room, and the complete lack of interest in seizing power. One that he had honored thus far. She'd never admit to her fear of course. Hild was a vain and prideful creature that never showed weakness. She couldn't afford to. Her demons would pounce on it like a lion pursuing a gazelle.

And that's the way she taught them.

"Torvald?..."

"Torvald?... I hate it when he does this!"

"TORVALD!"

A quiet, almost timid voice slipped out of the darkness of Torvald's lair "Hild? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be, Torvald? No one else is allowed down here. Much less knows this place exists." Hild said impatiently as she stood outside the entrance to the Rage Magician's room.

It never failed to impress Hild that behind such a quiet, mousy voice was the greatest practitioner of Rage Magic to have ever lived in Niflheim. Most of the Rage Mages that she knew could barely speak coherently, so consumed they were with maintaining the level of anger needed to power their chosen discipline. And they were so disagreeable to be around that one could stand to be in their presence for only a few moments at a time, lest they be subject to the tremendous psychic power that these magicians projected. But Torvald had the unique ability of controlling his emotions so that he could be almost pleasant to those he spoke to.

That was one of the weapons he used to disarm those students he faced in those brutal sessions of deception and betrayal. The others confused his quietness and passive manner for weakness. They didn't get the chance to make that mistake twice.

"Just checking, Hild. One never knows. So, how was our little wedding present for Keiichi and Belldandy received?" Torvald asked in an off handed manner as his head was buried in one of his many forbidden grimoires. Hild didn't ask the subject, because frankly to hear the answer probably would have scared her to death. Even one as devious and evil as Hild had their limits

"They loved it." Hild said drily. "So much that Belldandy and my darling daughter destroyed it and sent it broken to the four corners of the Earth."

"Too bad." Torvald said. "That was some of my best work."

"It may have been your best work, but truthfully, that statue was revolting, even for demonkind."

"Ahh, Hild. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I thought the piece was very striking in its own way."

"You would, Torvald. Your taste in aesthetics has always confounded me. But the statue was only the container. The important part was the spirit inside. It infested the mind of Keiichi and set him against Belldandy. I expected that his abuse of his favorite goddess would have sent her and her sisters back to Heaven. But Urd intervened, and was able to exorcise the spirit and destroy the Token."

"Which I forsaw."

"You forsaw this?" Hild stammered with barely concealed surprise.

"Hild, Hild, Hild. Do you think that I am such an amateur that I would have only created a singular attack?"

"Out with it, Torvald. I don't have time to play silly games with you."

Torvald put his book down as he explained. "That rage spirit was just a simple diversion. I knew that Urd was smart enough to figure it out. She is your daughter, for better or for worse. It wasn't even a very strong spirit that I placed within that Token. If I wanted to, I could have placed a spirit within that thing that would have caused Keiichi to kill Belldandy on the spot, without him giving the act a second thought. But that would have raised too much suspicion. And of course, Belldandy being a Norn and all..."

"Yeah, that would have ruined everyone's day. Mine included. So what else did you do?"

"I added a second spirit to the Token. One that is not triggered by the presence Belldandy, but is activated by another form of magic. It will evade all but the most powerful forms of detection, and has the ability to make the victim, in this case, Keiichi speak the Old Language of Heaven. I assume you know about the Old Language?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Hild. "Who do you think I am?"

"So you understand why it's no longer taught?"

"Of course, Torvald. What do you take me for..." Then it hit Hild what was going on. "Ohhh. Torvald!" She giggled with a hint of respect. "That is cruel. Even for you. But how do you know that Keiichi will be exposed to that form of magic?"

Torvald said slyly. "Hild, just because I'm down here secluded from the rest of demonic society, that doesn't mean that I'm completely out of the loop in terms of current events. Do you remember the mole that you planted in the Goddess Assistance Agency who did the business regarding Keiichi's wish file?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I've been keeping in touch with her. Her sources told her that Kami-sama invited Keiichi and Belldandy to some big hush-hush meeting in his Throne Room."

"Wait a damn minute!" Hild said haughtily. "How did you contact her? No one can come down here to take your messages. I know that I didn't install any communications equipment in your lab. You only call me through the telepathic link that we share..."

Torvald ignored Hild's protest. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, your mole passed that information on to me. And I used it to create the second spirit."

"There's only one problem, Torvald." Hild reminded. "Keiichi and Belldandy were exposed to the Token long before they were married, much less invited to Heaven by Kami-sama. How did you know to create a spirit that would be activated by Heavenly Magic before they even found out about the meeting?" Hild said smugly. "Try to explain your way out of THAT little conundrum, smart boy."

"Simple, Hild." Torvald said. "The mole told me that one of her sources just happens to be a very close advisor to Kami-sama as well as an occasional lover and he revealed in one of their bedroom chats, quite casually I might add, that they had preliminary discussions about meeting with Keiichi before Kami-sama contacted him to make the request.

"And Kami-sama revealed to this advisor the length and breadth of this plan?"

"Yes, he did."

"So, don't keep me in suspense here."

"Regretfully, she didn't learn much more than that. Apparently, our boy realized what he had done and broke off the relationship. She recorded the whole conversation, without his knowledge of course, and is holding it in escrow. Just in case." Torvald added.

"I trained her well." said Hild.

"You certainly did."

"So you still haven't told me how you were able to communicate with my mole. Spill it, Mister." Hild said with the slightest tinge of malice.

"While it is true that you didn't install any communications equipment down here for me," Torvald chuckled. "When you built this lab for me, and told me that you'd provide me with whatever I needed, no questions asked, I just made sure that among the items I requisitioned, were a few bits and pieces here and there that eventually could be constructed into a working communications array."

With that, Torvald stepped aside to show a black curtain. Grabbing it, he whisked it aside in a grand flourish to reveal a state of the art communications system. It was almost as powerful as any setup in the rest of Niflheim, and had more than enough capabilities to eavesdrop on Heaven's communications.

Hild was genuinely stunned, not to mention impressed. Torvald was able to do an end run around her and assemble a working comm system, even though she personally inspected his equipment requests, and had seen nothing suspicious.

"Torvald, I must admit. You got one over on me. I didn't see through your little scheme. I guess that's why you were always my number one student." Hild said with a touch of lust, as she let her robes of authority slip off her shoulders and fall to the floor, exposing her curvaceously naked body to him.

"But I must make sure that you are still have no desire to use your ill-gotten gain against me. Do you understand, you naughty boy?"

"Y-Yes, Hild. But I've t-told you many times that I am loyal only to you. I have no hunger for..." he stammered.

Hild drew closer, shushing him into silence. As she did, she reached out and with the lightest of feather touches, she caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. She could feel the intense rage just under his skin. Black, insane anger teeming with power begging to be unleashed. But she could also feel a thin but powerful barrier covering that rage. 'An emotional shield', She thought to herself. 'He's one of the few Rage Mages who could construct such a thing, Impressive.' Like a thin crust of cooled lava covering a bottomless pool of molten magma. The cover was strong enough to prevent an accidental release of anger, but fragile enough that if Torvald needed to break through, he could do so with little effort. She turned on all of her lust and raw animal sexuality, and directed it full force at the barrier.

She could see how it affected Torvald. She could hear his heart racing, see the sweat pouring off him. She could sense his arousal, his desire to be enveloped by the one that he loved. Torvald's mind filled with images and memories of the countless times that He and Hild shared her bed. Satisfying each other's hunger for sex and fleshly pleasure. Try as he might, he couldn't rid himself of the images as they pounded his mental barriers. Nor did he want to push them away. He desired to immerse himself fully and feel the depths of Hild's erotic assault.

Hild didn't do making love, she had sex. And lots of it. With Torvald. She led him on further and further, bringing him once again to the bleeding edge of ecstasy as she had done so many times before. And just as he was about ready to give into his passions, put off decorum and ravish his teacher, she reared back and savagely slapped him across the face. The thunderous clap of skin on skin echoing through the endless chamber.

The impact drove Torvald back, his knees buckling, his eyes rolling up into their sockets. He backed into the wall where he fell in a daze. For just a moment, the barrier cracked, threatening to release it's deadly contents. But either through sheer reflex or an ingrained sense of self protection, he held firm.

Hild strode up to Torvald, bent over him allowing him to get an eyeful of her bounteous breasts, as well as her other sensual delights, and with a creamy voice said.

"I know what your weakness is, Torvald. Don't make me exploit it. I made you, and I can just as easily destroy you." She reached down, took a hand and placed it on her breast, and in a husky voice said, "Now, come to Mama."

"Y-yes, Lady Hild."