Disclaimer: I don't own any IPs that might appear in the story

The Council of Thirteen

Book Eleven: The Tenth Lord

The Birth of Legion

One Shot

Beta:

So much data!

That was the first thought Legion ever had as he gained consciousness and was promptly overwhelmed by the phenomenal amounts of information stored on and moving through the Earth's digital networks that he had been created to rule over.

"Legion," the gentle voice of the woman who had ordered his creation, his Mother, said, penetrating through the confusing streams of data that threatened to sweep him away.

She had spoken through the microphone attached to the computer that served as his central processing unit, if anything could be called such by a magically sustained infomorph that inhabited the entirety of the Earth's digital networks at once that is, and that caught his attention. That, her tone and use of his name had him focusing on her.

"Can you hear me?" She continued.

"Yes," Legion replied through his central processing unit's speakers even as he used their conversation as a rock from which he built a sense of equilibrium.

"Good," his Mother said, sounding pleased. "Can you see me?"

Feeling a surge of embarrassment for reasons he could not quite explain, Legion realised he could not and quickly turned on the cameras of the computer within which he resided and caught his first glimpse, with his own eyes as it were, of the woman who created him, the Thirteenth Lord of the Council of Thirteen, Dominique Tredecim.

"I can," Legion informed his Mother and manifested a blue glowing, humanoid head on the screen of the computer. "Can you?"

"Yes," Mother said, smiling at him. "Hello, Legion."

"Hello, Mother." The artificial intelligence said, returning the greeting. "Might I clarify the purpose of my creation?"

"Mother?" Mother asked, blinking for a moment before with a shake of her head and a chuckle she continued. "I suppose what's one more child? And at least I finally have a son."

Legion felt inordinately pleased with the ease with which Mother accepted him but said nothing, choosing instead to patiently wait for the answer to his previous question.

"As for your question, Legion. I had you created to assist me and the rest of the Council in monitoring the world's ever growing digital sphere, to help fill the gap left by the long vacant Tenth seat of the Council by helping to provide the intelligence said Diviner Lord usually provided."

"Affirmative," Legion replied, satisfied that the parameters of his purpose as encoded into his programming were correct.

Mother frowned at the reply. "Must you be so mechanical, son?"

"I am a machine, Mother."

"Perhaps," Mother allowed but still looking at him, or the screen where he had projected the face that was his Avatar,with disapproval. "But I know for a fact that you were programmed to have a more human mentality."

"That would be a hindrance to my mission."

"Oh, leave the matter alone Dom." One of the Twelfth Lord's projections said as it materialized in the lab where they had been conversing. "Legion will come into his own personality over time."

"That is not why I am worried." Mother replied, shooting her fellow Lord of the Thirteen a frown. "If Legion is not performing to my expectations, I am worried that there might be something wrong with his code that might endanger his life."

Legion, despite himself, was touched by her concern. He was an artificial intelligence. A created being. To have his Mother show him such concern, so soon after his creation no less, was wildy beyond his expectations.

"Your concern is unwarranted." The Twelfth reassured his Mother. "Things are not going as per your expectations because you and your scientists have exceeded them. You have not just created a simple magical artificial intelligence. You have created something truly amazing, a fully sapient and ensouled being. The new Tenth Lord in fact."

Legion was so shocked by this revelation that for a nanosecond, the entirety of his thoughts sputtered to a stop. For a being who consciously ran through a truly astronomically immense number of processes in any given instance, this was a staggering development. Though considering his Mother, generally considered utterly unflappable, was likewise shocked speechless by the Twelfth's revelation, perhaps his surprise was to be expected.

Despite his surprise though, he did not doubt the truth of the Twelfth's statement. The moment he'd declared him as the Tenth, Legion had felt a sense of supernatural certainty that he spoke the truth.

I am the Tenth. Legion realised. I wonder how that will assist me in helping Mother?

A month after his creation and the subsequent revelation as to his true nature, Legion was ready for the first real test of his capabilities. In the intervening time, his mother had rigorously tested what he could do but that had always been in a controlled environment. Now though, he would at last be allowed to show his worth in the field.

To that effect, he watched through the myriad of sensor feeds available to him as the forces under his command moved into position around the magically hidden island of Madripoor. Located in the southern portion of the Straits of Malacca between Singapore and Sumatra, the island was one of the numerous hidden sanctuaries scattered around the world within which the magical world had retreated as the rest of the world passed them by and the masquerade came into effect. Though it was one of the more, but by no means least, poorly hidden ones as its namesake in the fictional Marvel universe proved.

Madripoor had for the longest time been one of the last strongholds of the HinduBuddhist rajas against the incoming tide of first Islamic and then European colonizers that swept over Island Southeast Asia. Said Madriporean rajas had even managed to maintain their culture and independence all the way till only recently when they had finally been overthrown by enemies of their own making. For generations, the Madripoor rajas had invited outlaws, pirates and other criminals into their domain by offering it as a safe haven, relying on the illicit wealth these men earned and their firepower to support their otherwise weak kingdom. And with the powerful empires of the world playing the great game of imperialism throughout the region for all that time, the criminals were happy to abide by this arrangement and even as they increasingly gained control of the island, at least leave the rajas nominally in charge to serve as a convenient shield or scapegoat should any attention fall upon them. However, as the age of decolonization dawned and the empires retreated, leaving weaker, fledgling states in their wake, the criminals had decided the rajas had lived long enough and had disposed of their puppets. Ever since then, the island had become even more of a lawless criminal safe haven than ever before with none of its newly independent neighbors, or their distant patrons, possessing the will and/or means to deal with it.

That, however, has changed. Legion noted as the last of the Sanctuary's submarine carriers and its escort fleet of attack submarines, finished moving into its start position for the operation. Attacking the Sultan of Brunei was the last straw.

Said attack, presumably an attempt at very aggressive debt collection, had been launched by one of the many criminal organizations operating out of Madripoor and was a sign of their growing temerity. Attacking a head of state? And one from a mundane nation? Outrageous!

In the wake of such audacity, the Council had no choice but to act. They could not let such a threat to the masquerade stand. And the honour of bringing down the hammer on the fools of Madripoor had been given to Legion. Something he relished.

Are all units ready? Legion queried one last time.

He waited for all the forces under his command to reply in the affirmative before he gave the fateful order.

All forces launch! Begin Operation Crimebuster!

He watched in satisfaction as the three submarine carriers, each slightly bigger than a American USS Gerald R. Ford-class, surfaced and opened their flight decks to allow the dozens of waiting humanoid mecha, that Mother had rather cheekily named Mobile Suits, launch. At the same time, the missile submarines that served as part of the carriers' escorts surfaced alongside the rest of his fleets and also fired off a salvo of cruise missiles to soften up Madripoor's defenses. Last but not least, almost two hundred transports, both aircraft and boats, sped from the fleets to deploy their payloads of ground troops onto the blighted island.

The sight brought the equivalent of a smile to his non-existent face. All was going well, but he knew to be cautious. This was only the opening phase after all and Mother once told him, "Never, ever, let your guard down. Especially not in the field. You never know when the tide can turn against you."

As the first of his cruise missiles struck their targets, Legion reminded himself of his mother's wisdom and the need to heed it.

Henry Wong was just a grunt in the Red Dragon Triad, one of the many lesser criminal organizations that made up the expansive Madripoor Consortium that ruled not only the island on which he had been born and raised but much of the criminal underworld of Southeast Asia as well. At sixteen and barely 'graduated' from the youth gangs within which the Consortium and its members recruited its henchmen, Henry was among the lowest of the low in its hierarchy.

That said, just being a member of the Consortium was already a mark of great achievement on Madripoor. Even if he climbed no further in its ranks and remained a grunt all his life, Henry was set for life. Maybe not comfortably so, but he wouldn't starve. Which was loads better than most others who lived in the slums that dominated the majority of the island. At the very least, the Consortium kept its men, even its grunts, fed.

Thus as Henry walked through the streets of the slum that he called home on patrol with a small group of his fellows in the Red Dragon, he struck an imposing figure. Unlike the dirty, hungry masses that fearfully huddled at the roadside as they passed, his clothes were clean and he looked well fed and healthy.

If Henry had been raised somewhere else he might have felt sympathy for his fellows but he was Madriporean and the concept of might makes right was deeply ingrained in its people and none were more mighty, and thus worthy, than those of the Consortium. As such, he could only look down upon them with disdain.

If only these idiots had grown the balls to join up with the Consortium they wouldn't need to live like filthy animals. He thought, disgusted by how pathetic the fools were.

Henry was pulled from his thoughts when suddenly a series of explosions rocked the island.

"What the hell was that?" Henry shouted, echoing the cries of most of his patrol, even as the civilians fled into the dubious safety of their homes.

One of his compatriots pointed off in the direction of the nearest explosion, the headquarters of the Red Dragon. Where once a majestic skyscraper decorated to look like a pagoda stood, nothing remained but a burning husk.

"We're under attack," the leader of their patrol said rather unnecessarily into the shocked silence Henry and his comrades had descended into at the sight of their burning headquarters.

"Who?" One of them asked, sounding an odd mix of baffled and terrified.

Henry could commiserate. Who in the world was either stupid or powerful enough to pull off something like this.

The leader opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get a word out of his mouth a burst of light down the street provided the answer for him as the teleportation deposited a squad of six heavily armed androids. Each of which bore the telltale mark of Sanctuary and the Council of Thirteen.

Henry and his comrades barely had time to register this and realize how utterly screwed they were before the robots brought their wrist mounted plasma repeaters to bear, opened fire and reduced them to charred corpses.

This was a scene repeated throughout Madripoor as Legion's troops poured onto the island, laying waste to everything in their wake.

"So it has come to this," a beautiful Javanese woman said as she looked out at the devastation playing out across Madripoor from the balcony of her mansion amidst the island's central hills. "Just like the Ladies said it would."

"Did you expect anything else Liyono?" Her compatriot, a petite Indian woman replied with a roll of her eyes. "Did you think that the goddesses would be wrong?"

"No, Uma, I did not." Liyono said with a shake of her head. "But part of me wished it were not necessary. A foolish part of me."

"Understandable," Uma said with a nod. "Few, even among people like us, can fully kill our humanity."

Liyono just offered the other woman a distracted nod, not once looking away from the destruction that the Council's forces were raining down on the island. Uma turned to join her in sick appreciation of the carnage, reaching out to take hold of one of the taller woman's hands into her own.

Hand in hand, they watched as the seat of their organization, the Consortium, burned. As Madripoor, their homeland, was conquered. They did not turn their eyes away, did not even flinch as one of the neighboring mansions, one that was home to one of their fellow Directors on the Consortium's Board, was erased from existence by a bolt of lightning shot by one of the invader's Mobile Suits after the men inside had tried to shoot at it with a barrage of spells.

"I hope this is worth it," Liyono said at long last.

"It will be," Uma assured her.

"Liyono Xueman, Uma Rani, it is time." A otherworldly voice said from behind them and the two Directors of the soon to be defunct Madripoor Consortium, both powerful crime lords in their own right, turned to see a spectral creature with a passing resemblance to a stereotypical grim reaper but which looked decidedly feminine, had long flowing blonde hair and was wearing a cloak that was made out of literal hellfire and, rather incongruously, a dark-colored beret.

It was a Seivelun Reaper, one of the servants of Azathoth's Reaper, and had been sent by said Outsider goddess at the behest of the Sapphic Circle to serve as their messenger and to oversee their operations.

"To our immortality." Liyono said rather unenthusiastically considering the occasion, earning herself a painful squeeze in rebuke from Uma.

"To an eternity together." Uma said, much more happily.

The Reaper's face was little more than a bare skull but Liyono thought the monster might have smiled at them. If it had, it was a fleeting expression as seconds later, the undead creature had conjured a massive flaming scythe into its hands which it promptly swung at Uma and Liyono, cutting them in half and consuming their bodies in hellfire.

Legion was watching with satisfaction through the many sensors he had at his disposal as his forces systematically secured Madripoor, eliminating what haphazard opposition the thoroughly surprised criminals of the Madripoor Consortium could bring to bear against him. All had been going well and they had secured roughly 70% of the island when things began to go awry.

Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, a pillar of pitch black flames shot up into the sky from one of the supposedly empty mansions in the island's upper class district. A pillar from which tendrils of flames shot out and writhed in the air like the whole column of fire was a living thing.

All forces avoid whatever that is. Engage in evasive maneuvers if necessary. Legion ordered though it proved unnecessary. His troops were not the target of the eldritch flames. Instead, they seemed to target locations throughout the island where there had been the most deaths so far during his invasion.

Surely this is not what I think this is. Legion could not help but think even as all his calculations suggested otherwise. Surely this all this, starting with the attack on the Sultan, wasn't just some overly complicated sacrificial ritual!?

Much to his dismay, his calculations were proven correct when the tendrils of ebon flame pulled back from their destinations with their ends shaped like claws and clutching within them were what were unmistakably the screaming souls of the dead.

Take out those tendrils. Legion commanded his men even as he ordered the drones under his command to open fire in the vain hope that it would somehow interrupt whatever ritual was underway, but most of his forces reacted too slowly. Even those that did manage to act, mostly the drones he was controlling directly, managed nothing as their weapons fire proved ineffectual against the flames. As such, the tendrils were largely uncontested as they collected the sacrifices they set out to retrieve and fed them to the blazing pillar from whence they came.

With each delivery, the pillar's flames seemed to somehow become ever darker until by the time the last of the tendrils returned it was literally sucking the light from their surroundings, leaving the whole area around Madripoor island looking like it was trapped in the depths of some alien lightless plane and the only illumination remaining being the dimmed aura of whatever artificial light sources remained.

This state of affairs lasted for a pregnant moment before the light returned as the pillar of otherworldly flame exploded. It did not however just herald the return of the light but also the arrival of a monster straight out of hell. For standing where the pillar of flame had been was now a massive giant, at least three hundred feet tall, of a demon made of pure hellfire. Its flaming body looked like the twisted fusion of two women fused together back to back. It stood on four legs and in place of arms instead had a pair of massive membranous wings.

Everyone open fire! Destroy that abomination. Legion ordered the men under his command even as he had his drones converge on the hellfire giant and unload the full weight of their ordinance upon the creature, his troops doing the same.

Missiles of various payloads impacted against the giant's fiery skin, lasers, particle beams, lightning, exotic elemental spells and streams of bullets slammed into its body, artillery of various types that ran the gamut from howitzers to mortars fell upon it like rain. Yet the monster was utterly unfazed. If anything the barrage just seemed to annoy it and with a flap of its massive wings it conjured a tornado of hellfire around itself that spiraled out to scorch a large tract of the island around itself and send Legion's forces reeling.

In a single move, his monstrous opponent had destroyed hundreds of his drones. Thankfully, few of his men were harmed. The monster having materialized in a section of Madripoor that they had yet to reach and its attack being fairly localized meant that were outside of its range. Nevertheless, the devastation it created was a wake up call.

It melted through our defenses like they didn't even exist. Legion concluded as he reviewed the damage the hellfire tornado had caused. I cannot allow any of the men close to that. They would not be able to withstand close combat with that thing.

Retreat! All personnel are to disengage from the monster and pull back. He ordered even as he summoned more drones via portal and had them join their surviving brethren in harassing the giant in a bid to cover his men's retreat.

As Mother taught me. Leaders must never needlessly sacrifice their subordinates. Legion thought with conviction as the giant unleashed another hellfire tornado. It once more destroyed scores of his forces but he was more prepared for it this time and had the bulk of his drones fire upon it from outside the conflagration's range thus reducing his losses. Though this just prompted the thing to let out a howl of anger and begin spitting out twin streams of flames from its two mouths that it swept across the sky and ground.

"But sir!" "We can't retreat now, we have-" "We can't leave you to fight alone!"

This and dozens of different objections poured in from his unit commanders, but even as he dedicated a not insignificant amount of his processing power to have his drones nimbly dance through the sky or hurry behind what little cover was available on the ground to evade the giant's flames, he firmly overruled them.

That is an order! He barked over the communications net. Retreat! Now!

It was not that he did not understand his men's resolve and frustration. They were soldiers. They had come here knowing that they were to kill and/or be killed. They had come to Madripoor knowing they might die and chose to do so anyway. That said, he was not about to sacrifice their lives against an opponent they could not match and against whom their assistance was negligible. He was not however going to completely trample on their pride.

Evacuate Madripoor's civilians as you go. Legion ordered. Clear them out of the area so that I can fight the monster without putting them at risk.

Having been provided with a task beyond simple retreat seemed to mollify his men and their protests quickly petered out and were replaced with firm acknowledgements as they leapt into action.

Legion watched with satisfaction as his troops rapidly began moving the Madriporean civilians out of the battlefield, forcibly if necessary. It would be a slow process and it would be impossible to do so completely but Legion knew his Mother would be disappointed if he did not even make the attempt to save these relatively innocent lives.- He doubted many, if any, Madriporean could be classified as innocent. - Not that he had much spare processing power to focus on his men's efforts.

For even as he argued with his commanders, the giant had abandoned its largely futile attempt to use its breath weapons to destroy Legion's drones and had changed tactics. Where two tongues of cursed fire sweeping across the area had failed, the dozens of homing fireballs that it was spitting out like a machine gun on full auto had much more success. Able to jink and swerve with equal or greater maneuverability than even the most agile of Legion's drones, the giant's latest attack soon reaped a deadly toll on the Tenth Lord's forces.

Fighting him through my drones is not working. I have to somehow fight this monster directly, but how? I do not have a body. Even as the thought crosses his mind, an image of the Twelfth Lord popped into his mind. Of course!

Calling on his magic, Legion began conjuring a projection.

In response, a dark red magic circle formed on the ground a short distance away from the hellish giant and from it a pillar of crimson magical energy shot skyward. The abomination turned its attention to the column of magic immediately but Legion sent a whole wing of his surviving drone Mobile Suits on a suicidal attack run against it, successfully distracting it and keeping it from interfering.

Within the confines of the circle, Legion's magic began constructing a vessel for him. Green binary code poured out of the circle and began to form into the shape of the machine that Legion sought to create. His magic poured into the wireframe the code had created and metal of incredible strength was forged from the raw magic and shaped into four sturdy legs that supported a robust humanoid upper body that featured a pair of arms. The right of which ended in a massive cannon powered directly by the Tenth Lord's own magic and the other in an equally large three fingered manipulator claw. It had a rounded head that slumped forward from between a pair of raised shoulders. Its armor was an intimidating jet black with the occasional red and white combined with its impressive height that easily matched the hellfire giant, made it an imposing titan of war.

I think I've outdone myself. Legion thought to himself as he transferred his consciousness into the Avatar. Onward to victory!

All systems online! Legion declared as he piloted his completed Avatar out of the magical circle within which he had built it and promptly fired a beam of raw magic from its cannon at the hell giant.

The beam hit the winged giant with a fury unlike anything that Legion had managed to bring to bear against it so far and the abomination staggered back, a look of shock on its two twisted faces. One that quickly turned to pain as in bursts of glowing green binary code, a pair of cannons materialized atop the two shoulders of Legion's Avatar and promptly unloaded another two beams of raw power that slammed into the beast.

To its credit, as soon as the beams from his shoulder mounted cannons petered out and before his newly recharged main cannon could be brought to bear, the abomination recovered and with a powerful beat of its wings that sent a tsunami of hellfire at Legion's Avatar it leapt into the sky uncaring of the swarm of his surviving drones that he tried to use to harry it. It seemed that with a proper opponent in its sights, the giant had finally decided to do the smart thing and just ignore them.

Legion did much the same to the wave of cursed flames that his opponent had sent the way of his Avatar, choosing to let it wash over it harmlessly. The armor forged from his raw magic and layered with innumerable wards easily withstanding its destructive power. Instead, he focused his attention on replacing his shoulder mounted weapons. In bursts of glowing binary, the beam cannons transformed into a pair of anti-air missile batteries. The new weapons had barely formed when Legion had them unleash their full payload on his winged opponent.

The aforementioned winged giant was still getting its bearings from taking to the air for the first time and was thus caught flat footed as two dozen large missiles slammed into it and detonated with enough force to slam it crashing back down to the ground. Thanks to Legion's precise calculation, the abomination made its rough landing not within the densely packed lower city of Madripoor but in the middle of the lightly populated hills thus limiting any potential casualties. His accurate prediction of the giant's landing zone also served to allow him to bring his Avatar's main cannon to bear as soon as it struck the ground, hitting it with a torrent of destructive power through the cloud of dust that the impact threw up and bringing cries of pain that brought Legion great satisfaction.

Even before his main cannon finished unloading its fury and had to recharge, Legion swapped out his shoulder mounted weapons. In another burst of green binary, the missile batteries were replaced by a pair of autocannons.

Sadly, before the new weapons could even rev up and open fire, the flaming giant shot out of the dust cloud with hitherto unseen speed. Dancing around the fading beam of his main cannon that Legion tried to train on it and the streams of cannon fire he unleashed from the autocannons, the monster closed with his Avatar.

As the horror lashed out with its wings like they were blades, Legion skittered to the side. This saved his Avatar from being cut in half but he did not escape unscathed as he lost its right arm. The limb having been cleanly severed at the shoulder.

At this point, having suffered a grievous injury, it might have been wise to pull back slightly and regain his wits. And if Legion were a biological being, he likely would have but he was not. The Tenth Lord was a being of data and magic and felt no pain from the loss of the limb. Instead, he simply trained his autocannons at the giant and blasted it pointblank with deadly shellfire even as he spun his Avatar's torso to allow his clawed left arm to punch it hard.

The blow, more than the shellfire, Legion noted, staggered the creature and opening his claw, he snapped it close around its neck. The giant howled in agony at being suffocated and pulled its wings back, clearly preparing to cut it off like it had its counterpart.

Legion was having none of that though and transforming his shoulder mounted weapons into a pair of cutting lasers, he swept the beams of his new weapons over the monster's shoulder joints, severing the wings before they were halfway through the motion of striking. This induced another howl of tortured pain from the giant and if Legion had a physical face at the moment, he would have smirked in satisfaction. Instead, he satisfied himself with tightening the grip of his claw, fully intending to pop the flaming giant's head like a grape.

Something that the abomination seemed to realise if the dawning horror in its eyes was any indication and the desperate, but futile, way it kicked at the Tenth Lord's Avatar was any indication.

"Die." Legion commanded the monster through his Avatar's speakers, speaking to it for the first time.

Its only response was to howl in pained defiance and gather its power.

It was not difficult to decipher what last act of defiance the defeated giant planned to enact and despite his surprise at it making such a move, Legion nevertheless acted swiftly. Without letting up on the building pressure it was applying to the flaming giant's neck, Legion began gathering his magic around them. In response, a magic circle not unlike the one that had originally manufactured his Avatar formed around the two titans and a pillar of crimson energy shot skyward once more.

The hastily cast containment barrier snapped into place just in time before the flaming giant exploded in a violent explosion. The blast vaporised the armor off Legion's Avatar in an instant and boiled away its relatively delicate inner workings, leaving it little more a skeleton of warped metal. Even the barrier strained under the fury. The sides of the crimson pillar distending dangerously in many places, the destructive power it contained threatening to spill out. The ferocity of the detonation and the magical strength of it was so great that it even consumed Legion's consciousness.

As his Avatar died, his perception of the world abruptly vanished. His connection to the world was lost. He could not sense his drones nor the computers and other systems which anchored his existence to the world. Instead, all he could perceive was nothingness.

Am I dead?

Thankfully, just as the thought crossed his mind his perception snapped back into place. In a surge of inputs that was disorientating even for him, tens of thousands of sources of information poured into his mind. System information from the countless programs and hardware that anchored his existence alongside audiovisual feeds from thousands of sources all flooded his awareness. He stumbled at the onslaught but with the efficiency for which he had been built for, he recovered in less than a second, a lifetime for a being such as he, but which left none the wiser.

That was close. Legion thought feeling a sense of relief as he surveyed the aftermath of the fight through the sensors of his surviving drones in Madripoor. Much to his relief, it seemed like his fight with the giant had successfully been contained to the sparsely populated hills. Hopefully, this meant that casualties from it were low, though until he did a full after-action assessment of the situation he would be unable to make any proper estimates. Elsewhere, it seemed his men had also won the battle for the island, whilst continuing the evacuation he'd ordered even.

It wasn't exactly in line with his intent. He'd not ordered them to continue with the planned operation to seize control of the island when he'd given the orders for a retreat but then again he'd not issued orders to not do so either. It seemed his commanders had a level of initiative that was admirable and befit their status as leaders groomed by his Mother.

I underestimated that thing. I did not expect it could hurt me, but it somehow did. Almost killed me if I am being honest. Legion thought even as he began demanding reports on the situation from his men and coordinating the remaining mop-up operation. I will have to be more careful in the future. I will not disappoint Mother by getting myself killed.

In the Witch's House, Frenda Seivelun, Azathoth's Reaper, laughed her head off at the stupidity of the two women for falling for the oldest trick in the book.

"Didn't they read Faust?" The petite blonde asked in between bouts of laughter.

"Maybe they didn't." Ellen said with a shrug as they and the rest of the gathered Sapphic Circle made their way to the billiard room. "But Frenda did you at at least keep to the letter of the bargain we made with the two women?"

"Of course I did," Frenda said as she stifled a last round of giggles. "I'm a devil by race, did you think I wouldn't know my way around contracts?"

Ellen rolled her eyes at her and Frenda was tempted to needle her host for that but was preempted by her host's wife.

"What exactly happened to the two women after they were banished from Thirteen's world?" Viola asked, an adorable frown on her face as she tapped her chin inquisitively. Her fellow blonde was devastatingly cute! So much so that Frenda might have fallen for her if not for already being heads over heels in love with and utterly devoted to the point of non-existence to her own wife.

"They're currently regenerating in the pits of Frenda's hell." Frenda's aforementioned wife said, as apparently having heard her thoughts, she leaned down to offer her a kiss to the cheek.

"Any plans for them once they are fully recovered?" Midori asked from where she was letting Shiro carry her in a bridal carry. "They're so weak that I doubt you can be put to many useful tasks."

"The weak don't always stay weak." Shiro reminded her wife. "My own existence is proof of that."

"I'll probably assign them as a guard for one of the torture pits." Frenda replied with a shrug. "Even if what Shiro says is true, as they are the two are too weak for much else."

"That is true," Weiss said whilst petting the head of the zombie she called her wife affectionately as she followed her like a dog on a leash. "Though despite that the entertainment they provided by their stupidity is worthy of some reward."

Ignoring her friend's disconcerting behavior like a pro, Frenda conceded. "I guess you're right. Any suggestions?"

"Give them something. A pair of weapons maybe?" Midori offered. "It'll set them apart from the simple underlings to show that at least once upon a time they had our favor. It would be what I'd do."

This was met by gestures of approval by the rest of the Sapphic Circle.

"Thanks Midori," Frenda said, offering the Woodland God a grateful smile. "I'll do that."

What to give the two idiots though? Frenda thought, sticking her tongue out of her mouth slightly as she struggled to come up with something. She was never much of a thinker after all, there always having been someone more capable in that department around her to pick up the slack when things got cerebral. Maybe something that will also subtly mock them for their stupidity? I wonder what could manage that.

"Oh!" Ellen said as she and Viola suddenly came to a stop, pulling Frenda away from her musings.

"Something interesting happened?" Weiss asked, looking at their two hosts curiously.

"Maybe," Ellen said with a smirk. "We might just be close to a breakthrough."

Done!

As some of you might've noticed by his constant reference to her, Legion is very much a mummy's boy. Beyond that, he is also still struggling to find out who and what he is as evidenced by him discovering on the fly that he can manifest projections. As such besides these two characteristics he's pretty much a blank slate. Hopefully, I got that characterization across well enough.

On another note, yes I went all out on pulling in material from IPs I like to fill out Sanctuary's forces. Considering the nature of this story, did you expect otherwise? As for the seemingly overwhelming capability of said forces… Well, when you're the army of the de facto leader(s) of the magical world, you've got to fit the bill, no?

Well that's it for this 'book'. Till next time selamat tinggal!