April 26th 2016 Mt. Olympus, Temple of Zeus, 10:00 PM EDT
"You're up." I said, turning to Cherry. "There should be wards on this pedestal, but probably not ones as strong as on the actual temple." Slipping my hand into my pouch, I pulled out a small, misshapen object, passing it to her.
[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Monkey's paw- E rank. A work of twisted power, difficult to use and often dangerous to the wielder if used directly. An excellent focus for certain dark magics.]
She took it gingerly, and I reiterated the point. "The book I found said that making a hand of glory out of a Monkey's Paw would exponentially increase the power, but when I looked into merging one I realized it would take me far too much power. After consulting Zee though, we think this is a manageable workaround."
Nodding absently, she held the thing up toward the pedestal. "So you said the way this works is I just channel the power of the hand through the paw?" I'd already briefed her on the details, so she knew most of it, but I'd told her to doubler check before she actually used the item.
"Yeah." I said, stepping back slightly. "But make the switch fast. That's a pretty shoddy Paw. A better one would have cost too much It won't hold up channeling that much power for more than a few seconds before it fries. It's not built to withstand the influx of dark magic you're about to use."
Barely seeming to head me, she nodded, holding up the paw toward the pedestal like a shield. Her eyes blazed blue as she focused, and the fingers of the Monkey's Paw flared up with eldritch green fire.
I smelled smoke as the Paw started to consume itself, and the air in front of the pedestal swam with a shifting tapestry of ancient greek characters as the defenses showed themselves. Leaning forward, but not rushing, Cherry placed the paw against the air in front of the shears.
The Paw sparked and spat as it pressed into the defenses, finding purchase as if pressed against a solid surface, and then she began to move it. Slowly, deliberately, she dragged it over the wards in a circle. In the wake of the paw, a line of warped looking dark energy trailed, until she made a complete rotation and finished cutting out a piece of the wards like a burglar carving out a circle of window glass.
When the signature met itself, a circle of the wards went dark, leaving an empty hole in the air, and Cherry held out her other hand, grimacing. "Shears." I pulled them out, passing them to her smoothly as she reached out to touch them to the shears on the pedestal, slipping them easily through the hole.
"That worked well." I commented cheerfully. "What happens when you stop holding it?" If we needed to bug out because the alarms were going to sound I wanted to know about it beforehand.
The shears started to change, warping and shifting not just their aura, but their appearance itself. The originals had been very similar, but there were little details the pictures in the book had gotten wrong that were slowly fixing themselves. Shears of deception indeed. Cherry stared intently at the things as she responded.
"The hole will vanish." She said through gritted teeth. "Like it was never there. The Paw is a focus but the magic is from my Hand. Hands of Glory are made for seamless undetectable theft. The point of entry used doesn't really exist, and it'll disappear once the magic is no longer active."
Swallowing hard, she focused even more intently. "Assuming I manage to hold the damned thing open. These wards are STRONG, and even with the Paw boosting my powers, I'm barely holding on. Hell, the PAW is barely holding on. As soon as I let it go the thing will disintegrate. You were right, it wasn't made for this."
As the shears settled, she deftly swapped the two items, leaving the duplicates in place of the original before slowly removing her hand from the inside of the wards. She passed me the real shears, and I almost shuddered as I felt a hundred million points slam into me like a freight train.
[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Shears of Fate- B rank. The scissors used to cut the threads on the Greek Loom of Fate by Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. An ancient and powerful artifact imbued with the power to sever the karmic ties that bind.]
Grinning, I slipped it into my pouch. One hundred and two million, two hundred and fifty thousand points. Enough to reach B rank before I even took Raven into account. At least once we finished the ritual and actually freed her.
Turning to Cherry I grinned and pulled her in for a rough kiss after I'd shoved the shears into my pouch. "You." I said with a lustful growl. "Are so hot right now. Sadly we don't have time for me to show you how hot. Rest assured though, you'll be getting it later."
She giggled, but was interrupted by the collapse of the hole in the wards and the Monkey's Paw being consumed whole by a grout of green flame. She winced and shook out her hand. I shrugged. "We're done here anyway. Lets bounce, before they notice anything is wrong."
Grabbing her hand, I took off for the wall back to the oracle chamber. We stopped once we reached it and Cherry lit up her hand to protect us from being seen. I winced when I noticed only two flames, one on her ring finger and one on her pinky. She'd used a LOT of her power punching through those wards.
As we passed through the wall I saw one of the flames wink out, leaving only her pinky, and I desperately hoped we had enough left to get out of this place. The table we'd been at was still empty, and we slipped past it easily enough, letting the perception blocks fall as we did. To anyone else, anyone not looking, we probably looked like we just stood up to leave.
I saw Chloe over by one of the braziers, but we ignored her as we walked purposefully back to the locker room. We stripped out of the robes, switched back to our chitons, and then Cherry walked us through the wall again. Ipsos was gone this time around, and we made it out of the steam pools without any trouble.
The guards were back, so Cherry relit her pinky, and we had just enough juice to get us by them and back to the entrance where Laverna was waiting. She lounged unhurriedly against a column, and when she saw us she gave us a nod as we approached. "All finished with you business?" She asked lazily.
At our nod, she led us out of the temple complex and back down the the path. Once we were clear, I looked back worriedly. "Hermes still back there?" I gave no fucks if he got screwed here, but if he got caught while on our business no way he wouldn't snitch. We'd pulled the heist off perfectly, I didn't want to get screwed.
Laverna waved me off with a smirk. "The boss comes and goes as he pleases. You don't need to worry about him. He's a sneaky fuck. Getting you out was the hard part. We need to go pick up your half breed side piece. You're going to need to get the hell out of dodge before the alarm goes up."
I considered leaving Cassie, it would make her alibi that much more convincing, but she was a teenager and would probably cave if pressed. It was a smarter play to have her leave after visiting Athena. I'd given her a bit of bullshit business to broach with the goddess that seemed suitably important to warrant the visit, which should help sell things.
Without waiting for a response, Laverna set off down the path toward another temple, one pretty close to the top of the mountain. This one was much less opulent. Squat, defensible, relatively nice for all that. Laverna held up a hand. "Wait out here. Remember you're not supposed to be up here, and Athena is observant. Better to leave you out of things."
"Wouldn't she be suspicious you're coming to get her?" Laverna wasn't exactly the friendly well intentioned mentor.
The thief goddess snickered. "Nah. Most of the demigods that come up here get some overtures for fun times with Hermes or Dionysus. Half mortal pussy is exotic. They don't visit earth anymore much, so getting it delivered is a special treat."
"Ah." I said with amusement. "So his earlier tag team offer-"
"Was sincere." She smirked. "We're greeks. I'd be happy to take you for a ride myself honestly. You're sexy. But yes, Athena will assume Hermes wants to stuff the pretty half breed cheerleader. Worst that happens is Cassie gets a reputation as a temple bunny." At my disbelieving look her smirk widened. "You know? A god humper, a mortal mare, they who ride the lightning throwers. They're much less common now, but some of the half breeds still get randy for some god dick when they visit."
She left us gaping as she turned and flounced off into the temple. Cherry wriggled a bit. "I have to say the idea of big strong gods taking advantage of poor sweet Cassie makes me horny as fuck. You want to punish me for me mouth earlier daddy?"
Stepping up to me she molded her body against mine, but I reached under her chiton and slapped a bare ass cheek (greeks dont do underwear). "Behave." I said sternly. "Your hungry little pussy doesn't get in the way of work, or it goes unstuffed for a month or two. And I won't let you play with the other girls either."
She pouted fiercely. "Mean. But fine. Promise to fuck me in this outfit though? I feel so dirty and deviant." She reached down and put her hands on her thighs, sliding them up to show me under her chiton. I caught her wrist and raised a brow and she let it drop. I was pretty horny myself, but we had work to do.
Laverna came back five minutes later with Cassie, who was glaring at her. "Did you have to do that? Now Auntie Athena thinks I'm a slut. I don't want to do…THAT with Hermes. He's so not my type." Her eyes flicked to me and she blushed.
"Yes." Said the goddess flatly. "Because making sure you had time to get dicked down was the only reason he would have sent me to get you. And now you have an alibi for the REST of your time on olympus, Hermes can just say you were getting your back blown out."
The blonde sputtered, but Laverna just rolled her eyes. "Now let's get you out of here. Luckily the statues at the base of the staircase aren't sentient and don't record visitors unless they fail the spot check, so we can say you left much later and no one will be able to prove it."
We headed back down the stairs, which took long enough for Cherry to rebuild some of her stamina and use her Hand again to help us bypass the defenses. Once we got outside, we realized it was pretty damned late and that we would do better staying in Nashville and flying back tomorrow.
I brought us to a hotel, and I was about to get us rooms when Cassie stopped me. I looked at her curiously, and the girl blushed. "We…don't need two. One room is fine." I grinned at her and she ducked her head. I saw Cherry lick her lips and I turned back to the guy at the desk, deciding one room would be fine. Looked like I'd be breaking in my little demigoddess on this trip after all.
April 26th 2016 Ritz-Carlton,Nashville, Tennessee 11:00 PM EDT
Cassie was fidgeting and nervous as she followed us up to the room. It wasn't hard to figure out why. One of my favorite things in the world is that little bit of awkwardness from a girl after she realizes she's going to get fucked. That she wants to have sex with you, but can't figure out how to transition from flirty to fucking.
Not every girl has it. Some of them are just down to pound. But good girls like Cassie always have this sort of…confusion, about what to do once they actually decide to fuck you, but don't know how to change gears and get down to business.
Luckily for Cassie, and for me honestly, she had a lovely assistant in her mission to get stuffed. Cherry was NOT the type to let anything get in her way, and she'd decided she wanted to get my dick wet tonight as much as I did, not just personally fucking me, but getting me the pretty demigod who was currently turning bright red on the way up to our penthouse suite.
Once we got into the room, Cherry sauntered over to sit on the bed, sitting with her legs spread. Cassie took a quick glance up her chiton, but averted her eyes almost immediately after. I grinned internally. Gods bless Themyscira and their unintentional push towards bisexuality.
"Cherry." I chided perfunctorily. "Cassie is far too sweet and innocent for teasing like that. We aren't going to fuck in the same room with her. Go put some panties on."
"NO!" Yelped Cassie, flushing a darker red when I raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean…you don't need to do that. I'm totally cool with you guys doing…that. With me. Here. With me here. Not with me. Or I mean, not NOT with me, but I…" Her babbling faded out into an eep of embarrassment as she lost her train of thought.
Walking over to sit next to Cherry, I made a humming sound of interest. "Really? So you don't mind if we do a little playing with you here?" She swallowed hard, shaking her head, and Cherry practically purred as I pulled her into my lap, spreading her legs.
Cassie was staring openly now, not just at Cherry's already soaked pussy, but at my fingers as they dipped into it, spreading my ghost open for her friend to see. "Is THIS what you were hoping to see more of, Cassie?"
The blonde was panting slightly, pupils dilated. "I asked a question." I snapped. "Is that what you want?"
"Yes sir!" She squeaked, reacting on reflex to my commanding tone.
"Then get down on your knees and come look at it." I demanded. "Now." She stepped forward to come over and I called her to a halt. "No. Good girls walk. You're a dirty little pervert. Crawl."
Eros and Psych is unfair. I admit that. Half the trouble with sex is knowing what buttons to press, and I could feel exactly which ones and how best to push them. Cassie was desperately horny, but she was also paralyzed with worry. She wanted someone to take control. To show her how to be bad.
Getting down on her knees, she crawled across the plush carpet to the edge of the bed, where her face was only about a foot from Cherry's dripping cunt. I pulled my fingers free and offered them to her. "Lick them clean." She leaned forward, big blue eyes staring up at me hotly as she took my fingers in those pink pouty lips and sucked.
She slurped and licked them noisily until they were clean. "How did that taste?" I asked her with amusement.
"Good." She whispered. "It tasted so good." I could see her wriggling in place, rubbing her thighs together as she tried not to move, staring up at me and flicking her gaze back down to the premium D grade cunt in her face.
I rolled my eyes. "Well?" I demanded. "Do I need to ring the dinner bell. Finish your meal, slut."
She mewled in excitement, diving forward and latching her mouth onto my Crypt Queen. Cherry squealed with glee, humping her hips up into Cassie's mouth. I grinned, lifting her slightly as she purred out. "Oh, fuck. She's enthusiastic. Fuck she's good. Barbie would sell her whole family for this tongue. These Amazons know how to lick carpet daddy."
"I'm glad you're having fun." I said with a grin. "But I believe I told you there would be a punishment for teasing me earlier." Lifting her slightly, I ignored Cassie's whine as I moved my own Chiton aside and lined up my cock between those pretty pale cheeks, shoving her down roughly.
Being a D ranker with a supremely durable body, I had to be less gentle with Cherry than with some girls. Her asshole took me to the base without any damage, though I imagine it was a big surprise. "Oh fuck!" She gasped. "My ass!"
"That's the idea." I said cheerfully. "And get back to slurping, bitch. This is happening to you later." Cassie moaned and nodded, shoving her face back into Cherry's pussy. I held my ghost girl's hips at a raised level as I fucked up into her.
She giggled. "Fuck. I missed this daddy. Did you miss your bad girl? All those boys say not to stick your dick in crazy, but my daddy knows that's where you get the best holes. Fuck I love you in my ass."
Wrapping my arm around her middle, I freed up a hand to slap a cheek. "Don't ignore the new girl, you little brat. Tell her how good she's doing."
"Yes daddy." She cooed. "Your tongue is so fucking good Cassie, you're better than any of the other girls. We're going to have so much fun with you. Passing you around like the cute little toy you are. I haven't had Donna yet, but I bet she's even better. I can't wait to have one of you at each hole."
Cassie froze, but that freed up hand of mine knotted in her hair, pressing her firmly between Cherry's thighs. "Finish you meal, slut." I said firmly. "Once you're done it'll be your turn."
"What?" Said Cherry, all the seductiveness dropping from her tone."But daddy, my orgasm?"
Another slap to the ass. "This is a punishment, did you think I'd finish you personally? You'll cum on Cassie's tongue, then watch me break her in."
"I do-" She stiffened as I cheated, pushing her orgasm button with my power, and making her explode all over the poor little blonde licking her cunt, squirting shuddering orgasm tearing through her. I pulled out, dropping her on the bed.
Cassie was panting, staring up at me. "Stand." I said firmly. "She did. "Clothes off." She stripped hurriedly, ripping her bra and panties as she fumbled out of them. I looked her over with interest. "Turn around." She did, and I enjoyed the sight.
Reaching down to run my hands over her smooth, pale skin, I enjoyed the feel of the muscle underneath. I goosed her ass cheek and she yelped, but she didn't move. Then I pulled back. "Alright." I said dispassionately. "I changed my mind. I don't feel like fucking you."
She froze. Her brain literally couldn't compute. She turned, face still glistening with pussy juice, and stared at me. "I…what? But you…I just…" She looked down at herself. "You don't want to?" Her question sounded almost pitiful.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I just ass fucked Cherry, so I'm all dirty. I don't really feel like showering."
"I'll clean it!" She said desperately falling back to her knees. Reaching up to grab my cock she froze, realizing she didn't have anything to clean with, then her face took on a determined expression and she shoved it in her mouth.
I'd been messing with her, I was obviously planning to fuck her, but she clearly didn't notice, because she fucking went to town on my cock. Licking and slurping it nice and clean, forcing it down her throat. Don't get me wrong, she had ZERO experience, and wasn't particularly talented, but enthusiasm counts for a lot.
Smiling down at her, I nodded. "Ok, I guess I can do you." Leaning back onto my elbows I nodded at my bare cock. "Go ahead and climb on." She scrambled up onto me, throwing a leg over and exposing her soaked, blonde furred pussy (just a love patch, she kept it trimmed) and pushed the head of my cock against her entrance.
Seeing the head of my cock there was like looking at someone trying to squeeze an apple through straw. She wriggled her hips down, trying to push it in, and it started to spread her. I reached up and caught her hips, eliciting a whine. "Wait." She moaned. "I need more. Just a little more?"
It was Cassie's turn for an ass slap. She squeaked. "You're doing it wrong." I said blandly. "I'll show you." I leaned up, hooking my arms under her knees and up behind her neck, getting her into a full nelson. Then I stood up. I walked her over to the mirror, where she could see herself, covered in pussy and spread for me. "It's done like this."
I slammed her down onto my cock. She let out a keening wail, and then I started bouncing that sweet well muscled ass off my hips. I fucked her. No making love, no having sex, she was a fucking toy for me and she knew it. Loved it.
"Oh gods." She squealed. "You're so deep. I can see you in my guts." She was tiny, I was big, and I could see a bit of a bulge in her stomach too. "Why did I wait?" She wailed. "I could have had this every day! Cherry was so right. I should have let you do this ages ago. FUCK ME DADDY!"
Apparently she picked up my Crypt Queens term of endearment, that made three I guess. I obliged her, slamming into her as rough as I wanted. Cassie was a demigoddess, and her pussy was fantastic, a true delicacy as well as being incredibly durable. I admit, I went to town on that sweet little bitch.
She came on my dick. Once. Twice. Three times. She squirted every time she did, showering the mirror with her pussy juices as I pounded her into mush. She squealed, then begged, then moaned, then started to get ashamed at the disgusting little whore I was turning her into, but she never stopped loving it.
I'd never done the full nelson thing like this, showing the girl in a mirror what she looked like fucking. It was fun to see both in real time and through Eros and Psych as she rationalized how much she loved this, told herself that she must be a complete whore for me if she was humiliating herself like this.
Granted, she was making a mess, but I didn't think it was that humiliating. Not that I'd tell her that, as she wailed and screamed and squealed and thrashed I felt something click into place after the fiftieth time she begged me to fuck her harder. A familiar orange mark burned itself onto one smooth muscular ass cheek.
The timing was good, because I finally let myself go. My balls had been tightening for about twenty minutes and I finally released them, triggering another massive orgasm as I came so she'd associate feeling me nut inside her with cumming.
Watching the cum overflow her devastated cunt from around my dick, watching her stare at where I'd unloaded my balls as it leaked out of her wrecked hole as I pulled free, I just held her there. She hung in the air like that, grinning stupidly as she stared at what she'd let me do to her, and I grinned too. Fuck that had been fun.
April 27th 2016 Shadowcrest, Brightedge City, 6:00 PM EDT
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, we'd made it out of Olympus and after bunkering down for the night fucking nonstop we headed back. I'd considered flying home the same night, but being on a plane with the Shears when Zeus realized they were gone seemed…ill advised. The smartest play there was to bunker down and let him notice, then leave once the heat had a chance to die down.
I assumed that DID happen, because at about two in the morning the sky got REAL full of lightning. We slept through it, and the Shears stayed safe and sound behind the protections of both my mantle and being in another dimensional space via the pouch, not to mention a few sealing spells Zee had packed me just in case.
We headed straight for Shadowcrest after dropping our stuff at home, making sure to contact Raven and pick up Amy (never hurt to have the magic wife on hand to help out with a ritual). I definitely did NOT want to ignore this. Zee had been using my money and contacts to gather the other two foci and she had them on hand, so I naturally wanted to do this as soon as possible.
Keeping the Shears would be stupid, they would be bound to be discovered or tracked down eventually. Which was why AFTER we finished, I had a plan for the things. I'd even given Zee special instructions for the ritual to make sure they would be usable for the purpose I had in mind.
It was impressive honestly, to see Zee in her element. I'd had her do research before, and she'd been useful, but there was a strange dichotomy between the needy, slutty, admittedly clever sorceress I sometimes fucked and the competent, businesslike magic user currently constructing a massive ritual diagram in the ballroom of her house.
Amanda, Thorn, and Jinx were scurrying around, following Zee's whipcrack voice to the letter as they painted symbols, laid out reagents, and constructed odd devices to put together the ritual needed.
When someone says ritual, my thought was usually a circle with some symbols in it, but Zee was taking things further. Lines of silk, wool, and a dozen other materials, hung with expensive gems and bones and a dozen other things, created mystical symbols and patterns in the air, sparking with multicolored lights that jumped from line to line, creating a dizzying display of power.
There were places to walk, if you were willing to squeeze, and three pedestals where the central reagents Zee had acquired for the ritual would go. In the center of the whole mess was a long, flat bed of jade with about a dozen symbols carved into it. Raven had been ordered to strip naked and lay down on the bed as Zee completed the ritual around her, and to my demoness's credit she didn't look too bothered to be doing it.
"So." I said as I stepped up next to Zee. "Why exactly did you need to spend several million dollars to buy a high quality sheet of Jade?" I didn't even get many points for the damned thing because it was just normal jade, and despite being stupidly expensive, wasn't actually more than F rank.
"In Chinese folklore, Jade symbolizes the connection between the heavens and the earth." She said absently. "The bed has been refined and altered with magic to tune itself to Raven's specific link with the higher being in question. It'll manifest the thread we need to sever."
I hummed in interest. "Ok, that makes sense. What about the other two foci? I don't think you ever told me exactly what they were? We have the thread manifesting and the Shears to cut it, shouldn't that be it?"
She shook her head. "The Jade connects to the HEAVENS. It's the wrong alignment. That pedestal." She pointed to the one closest to us. "Will hold the Obsidian Mirror. It acts as not only a guide to the afterlife but as a marker for dark forces, it'll be used to invert the effects of the Jade. Send them to a demon instead of a celestial court."
"And the third focus?" I pointed to a weird looking Green breastplate that had already been laid out.
"The armor of the Green Knight." Zee said smugly. "I got that from an old friend of my father's. Aligning and severing the connection is important, but this is an OLD tie. It'll be dangerous to cut it, so the armor is a magical focus meant to keep Raven safe and intact during the cutting. It'll defend her not only from backlash but from any last minute attempts by her father to lash out through the fading connection."
I hadn't even considered that, but it made sense. "You outdid yourself here, Zee." I said, letting my impressed tone demonstrate exactly how much I appreciated what she'd done. "And you're sure the Shears will be damaged during the ritual? That's important. I need them broken, but not too much."
"No question." She said firmly. "They're made to sever the lives of mortals. NOT to cut a connection between something as powerful as they are and something MUCH worse. They won't shatter or anything, but this will cause harm. You said I could watch, right? When you put them to use?"
I nodded. "You can." I reached down and palmed her expansive backside. "Good girls get rewards, and you've been a VERY good girl."
She whined a bit and wriggled in place before pushing my hand away reluctantly. "Stop that. You shouldn't distract me before such a delicate process. You can tease later." She gave me a naughty smile. "And you'd better. But first we do this, and then we take the next step. You have a plan, I take it? For your rank up?"
"No spoilers." I grinned. Then slapped her ass cheek where I'd been holding it. "But you were right, this is delicate,time to focus." She pouted at me but returned to barking instructions and double checking things.
I walked around to the closest spot outside the ritual construct where I could be easily heard in the center. "You doing ok in there Rae?" I called. "Not too cold or anything are you?" The obvious teasing at how hard her nipples were didn't go unnoticed.
She chuckled. "If a little private exhibitionism is all it takes to free me from my father for good, I'd bare myself a thousand times. Besides, it isn't like you haven't seen it all before." Her next pause was more…worried. "Are you sure this will work? That I can be free? If this was possible with merely magical reagents I'd have assumed I'd have heard about it."
I snorted. "Who told you it was just about the reagents?" I pointed across the room to a marked circle on the ground. "Scissors need energy to open and close. Magic scissors, magic energy. When Zee was calculating what we'd need, she realized that the energy required would be monumental, unless we could find a type of energy diametrically opposed to your old man's."
"And that energy would be…" She seemed confused, though I supposed she wasn't quite as informed of my nature as Zee was, so that made sense.
"Your dad is a demon who destroys, that's dark unmaking energy." I pointed at myself. "I however, utilize the power of the Primordial Spark, the first blaze of light that created existence. It's as good a counterweight as possible. I'll be supplying the energy personally to channel through those Shears and finally sever your connection."
Sadly, I didn't have time to reassure her more. "Alright." Called Zee from behind me. "We're getting ready to start. Places everyone!" I chuckled at how official and in charge she sounded. She really was in her element.
I walked over to the circle, stepping inside. It was adjacent to the mess of strings and wires that was the central ritual construct, so I didn't need to duck or twist around to get in. I nodded to Zee, who started to calmly speak.
I'd expected her backwards talking, and there was some in there, but I recognized the sounds of a few other things. Mandarin, Welsh, Spanish, French, and about a dozen clipped bits of languages I'd never heard before. Zee had cherry picked about a dozen magical traditions making this, putting it together in a way that would complement my nature, Raven's, and the nature of all the artifacts being used.
I felt power begin to gather in the air and I called to the Primordial Spark. Zee had been very clear, I just needed to summon my power and shove it out into the circle, she'd be the one shaping it and putting it to work. So I did.
It was tougher doing it like this than using my breath, but not too much, I just hauled up the light from inside and let it roll off my in waves, pouring into the symbols scrawled around me. The circle on the floor, written in what I was pretty sure was SOME kind of blood, began to glow with a red gold light.
Zee's voice rose, continuing to grow louder as she chanted, switching constantly between languages, inflections, and tempos. The jade bed Raven laid on began to glow, first greenish white, but as the Obsidian Mirror shone, illuminated by my own power, the color shifted to a deep malevolent red that seemed to drink the light around it.
Raven's back arched, hips coming up as a chord or jet black darkness coalesced on her sternum, right over her heart. She cried out, but my power finally reached the green armor and it too flared with light. The chord remained, but her body relaxed, no longer in pain. The power continued to build, traveling through the ritual until it came to the final pedestal.
The light hit the Shears, and the golden scissors began to shine like the light of the sun. Above Raven, a manifestation appeared, a pair of jagged golden shears, not the same as the ones I'd stolen, but changed somehow, by my energy, amplified and compounded through the ritual. I was starting to get tired, but I kept pushing, kept feeding it.
As Zee's voice reached a crescendo, she made a dramatic motion and the shears in the air snapped shut. The chord of darkness resisted for just a moment, and I felt the weight of a terrible alien attention settle over us, but before anything could happen the dark gave way, snapping with a horrific roar.
Raven screamed, head thrown back, at the same time as the mirror burst in a shower of black glass, the armor exploded in a blast of white fire, and Shears cracked, though they alone among the ritual implements survived mostly intact.
The glass and flames shredded the lines and string, demolished the gems, and the jade bed's radiance faded to reveal a cracked and dull pedestal of unremarkable stone beneath Raven. On the heels of that exhaustion though, I felt something much more satisfying. I felt a surge of energy re-enter me as another hundred million points pour into me.
The familiar orange Brand burned itself onto one of Raven's massive tits as she slumped back against the stone bed, panting. I'd been planning to wait after the ritual, assuming I'd be tired, but the influx of points had me feeling invincible. I wanted to ride that high.
"Zee." I said breathlessly. "Escort Raven to a bedroom to rest, she and I can talk once she's feeling up to it. In the meantime, we'll be continuing on. This room is a mess, bring me somewhere with more space." Walking over, I picked up the cracked but still functional Shears and checked the appraisal. C rank now. Perfect. I knew exactly what to use them for. It was time for me to finally rank up.
April 27th 2016 Shadowcrest, Brightedge City, 7:00 PM EDT
Despite feeling energized by having more points than I ever had in my life, I did not immediately merge with the Shears. My merges worked better if I had some general idea of what I wanted from them, and I did have some ideas for my next rank up, but I wanted to clarify them a bit in my head before I took that step. Once we reached the new room, I sat down and crossed my legs, closing my eyes to go over what I wanted to do.
B rank, much as each rank before was to a lesser extent, was a watershed. Unlike the previous ranks though, B rank seemed to bridge the gap into true power territory. Lilith had been B rank, Hermes had been B rank. B rank was the realm of the gods, of the ancient things that lurked in the world.
My mother might be B rank, though based on how terrifying everyone had found her, she might be more. Now, I didn't want to become blinded by my new muscle, so I also wanted my power to lead somewhere useful to me. A way to take advantage of my scheming mind, so I was going to take a turn away from raw force.
The Primordial Spark was potentially compatible with all kinds of concepts, but the Shears gave me access to a force that would help make me not only powerful, but much more versatile. A force that could get me answers about a lot of things that had been mysteries, things up to and including the very system I utilized.
Opening my eyes, I looked over at Zee. "I won't be shifting to my full dragon form indoors. It should get much bigger with this upgrade, so that would be unwise, but this is still going to be a brand new level of power for me. Erect a defensive circle, just in case, I don't want you getting hurt by accident while I adjust."
One of the other girls might have taken that personally, but my magic mad sorceress was well aware how dangerous magic was. She didn't even blink before getting to work on a warded circle, scrawling it on the black marble floor of room with a piece of chalk she had in the pocket of her jacket.
Walking to the center of the room, I set the Shears down and took up a position across from them. Then, taking a long, deep breath. I triggered the merge. I felt myself become energy again, as did the Shears, but unlike last time, the merge seemed to take longer. This was my first B ranked merge ever, and I could feel the sheer depth of what was happening on a soul deep level.
I didn't feel the same exactly as I had during my last rank up. This was another qualitative change, but in some ways it was less of one than my final shift to full dragon, and in some ways it was so much more. My bloodline had been refining before, getting closer and closer to the origin, now though, it was taking a turn, I had chosen to focus on something a bit more narrow but ultimately more useful than just ascending levels of power.
I still had some of that in there, granted, but the deep change in the energy felt…jarring. Like my whole sense of self had been jerked hard to the left. When I reformed I found myself dropping to my knees breathlessly, gasping for air as I tried to stabilize my mind and spirit.
It faded after a minute, the changes settling, but it taught me something important. The stronger something was, the more stable it was. For items that wasn't a problem, but for people I'd want to keep them on the same path rather than try to pivot.
With that out of the way, I looked down at the reflection I could see in the marble floor and triggered an appraisal.
[Appraisal function detected. Nicholas Lord- B ranked Elder Dragon of Karmic Ties. A spark gives birth to a light, threads of golden radiance stretching into eternity, binding all things.]
I exhaled deeply, letting the tension drain from my body. I still had over a hundred and two million points so I didn't feel too drained by the experience. This had been exactly what I was aiming for. Karma was tangentially linked to the beginnings of the universe, and the Shears had been exactly the right kind of item.
Closing my eyes, I opened them again to see a world of golden threads. I knew my irises were shining like coins, pure gold, and my formerly green scales would have all evolved to a similar sheen, albeit with traceries of green to represent my origin. My old power should still at least be useable, if not quite as focused as before.
But that was irrelevant, because among the forest of golden lines, I saw exactly what I'd been hoping to see. Orange ones. One tying me to Zee, one leading off towards Raven. Some stretching off into the distance, three of them shot through with a blood red that I was pretty sure showed the ties to my unborn children.
One orange and red one looked thicker, and I suspected that was my tie to Emma, a full grown human relative. And from behind me, so faint it was barely visible, a wrist thick rope of orange leading up and away into the distance. A connection to…what? Something old and powerful. Something hungry.
I blinked, my vision returning to normal. It was proof of concept, more than enough for me to go on. I'd become…concerned. The system being out of my control was fine when I was weak, lots of things were out of my control, but now that I was gaining power I began to chafe at the bindings.
Crassus had informed me that the system couldn't undo what it had done. Greed didn't return what it took. That meant I could count on the power I gave myself to be mine, which meant it should even work on the system itself.
The Greed System made things, but once they were made they were just things, or even people. Appraisal couldn't show me other systems but my new karmic vision could, and that meant I could use it to find out more about the systems in general.
Because I'd noticed several things about the way the systems worked that bothered me. Their constant scramble for more power, the way they interacted. If I didn't figure out what the thing that created the system wanted I doubted it would go well for me.
I didn't want to end up like Crassus, a voice in someone's head giving directions, but I also didn't think I wanted to succeed where he'd failed. I didn't want to be another treasure collected by the Greed System. So I'd taken a turn away from power and given myself a new measure of utility.
I could use the karmic threads to track down answers, alter them to tie people to me more strongly even without the system (at least once I studied what the hell those brands actually were) and even eventually use them to predict enemies I didn't even know I had.
Hopping up to my feet, I stretched languidly, letting my muscles shift and play under my skin. There were some physical changes from raising my state of being too. My human form was part of my dragon form, and it evolved as I did. Not just stronger muscles and denser bones, my body had changed in other ways.
My bones were smaller, more articulation. Sort of like a snakes spinal column in some ways. More flexibility in my movement, and basically no hard limits on how I could twist myself. It was an odd sensation, and it felt weird compared to my former state. I also knew when I transformed that I was going to be MUCH bigger. I'd gone from a hundred feet to what felt like a thousand.
Zee was off to one side, staring at me in awe, her eyes alight with magic and having watched the transformation. "You're…beautiful." She whispered. "You've changed so much, but somehow not at all. You're still you deep down, but the power, the complexity. I don't understand. How is that even possible?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea, honestly. I've never known how it works, just that it does." Another thing I might be able to puzzle out. If I could see the bonds to my girls I should be able to see what was happening to them when I upgraded them. Maybe I could even recreate the merges with my own power. Bypass the system altogether.
If I managed that though, it would be a long way away and with substantial study. For now, all I could do was get used to my new power. And after that I needed to resume my investigation into Jim Corrigan and the other system users. They knew some things that I needed to know. My date with Jenny would help, and my meeting with her father.
Turning, I headed down the hall, leaving the room behind as Zee, hurriedly broke her circle and followed behind me. Even without the eyes, without those thousands of golden threads, I could feel my connections with my girls more firmly.
I found Raven's room easily, and knocked on the door briefly before entering, finding my still naked goth bombshell sprawled out on the bed bonelessly, her chest heaving as she stared up at the canopy of the bed Zee put her on.
Her head snapped to the side, eyes fixing on me. Her lips curled into a soft smile. "You saved me." She said breathlessly.
"I kind of also enslaved you." I pointed out. I was happy she was happy, but it was best to get this out of the way. "You don't resent being bound again? In a way, that's even worse than what your dad did."
She shook her head, a beatific smile on her face. "You don't want to use me, Nicky." She paused. "Well…no, I suppose you'll be using me plenty, but just my body. You care enough about what I want to try to help those girls at the party. Care enough to ask me that question. I'm free, and if I need to use that freedom in your service I don't mind it."
Not how I'd have phrased it, but then again, Raven was the one who taught me to deal with complicated emotions. It made sense she'd be well adjusted. I closed my eyes, summoning the world of strings, and I saw the one connecting us. Orange as they all were, but the orange wasn't all of it if I looked closer. It was wrapped around a normal karmic tie, and that was made of the feelings between us.
It was weird, seeing physical evidence that I cared about someone else. I'd come to terms with FEELING that kind of thing, but seeing it was strange. What's more, I could see her feelings too, the adoration, the worship. I was her savior, and even without the binding there were very few things that weren't horrifically evil I could ask Raven to do that she wouldn't do. Once I finished my visual exam, I triggered my appraisal.
[Appraisal function activated. Treasure Detected. Rachel Roth- B ranked demonkin. The only earthbound daughter of the interdimensional conqueror, Trigon, Raven is a powerful sorceress. Freed from the ties that bind her to her father and from the corruption of his demonic nature (though not her own) Raven has sworn her soul and loyalty to Nicholas Lord, the Elder Dragon of Karmic Ties, for freeing her from her hellish existence.]
It was kind of cool to see my new title like that, and even cooler to know she really did belong to me. Earning her had been rough, but definitely worth it. "Alright." I said with a chuckle. "Then I guess it's time to take you home. I have a few things to get ready and a date in a day or two. In the meantime, I'll introduce you to my wife. I think you two will get along swimmingly."
April 28th 2016 Hall of Nevers, Brightedge City, 10:00 AM EDT
Amy loved Raven. As my wife and self styled harem mistress she saw it as her duty to welcome and care for all my girls, as well as to establish the pecking order, and Raven was so shellshocked from being freed she pretty much just fell in line for my overenthusiastic bride without much pushback.
It probably helped that Amy, despite her unique brand of crazy, was a genuinely kind of caring person (unless you were a threat to her family). Someone like Raven, who could feel emotions, would be picking up how sweet Amy was like it was blaring through a megaphone. I even considered warning her about my wife's…other side, but decided she'd figure it out eventually.
Raven, to my surprise, just decided to sleep in my room, cuddled against me. I wasn't sure why exactly, but I wasn't complaining about that banging body wriggling back against me all night, even if she didn't seem to be in the mood to fuck. Not that she seemed to mind the groping or the assjob I helped myself to with her generous rump either.
In the morning, she headed to meet back up with Amy to go over house rules more, and I headed to meet with the least stable and controllable person in the house. I knocked lightly on my sister's door.
"Emma." I called. "I haven't had a ton of time to spend with you lately, I thought maybe we could eat breakfast together, you can catch me up on how you're liking it here."
This had, of course, been Ingrids idea. My live in shrink had stopped me last night before bed and let me know that my sister was feeling neglected. Admittedly, I'd been a bit distracted to spend time with her, but I could see how deep dicking and then bailing would have been poorly received.
The door creaked slowly open, showing a single blue eye squinting at me suspiciously. "Nick." She said flatly. "I thought you might have forgotten I was here."
I winced at the icy tone. "Nope. Just a lot going on. I wanted to see how you were doing and maybe spend the morning together. I thought we could talk." I'd actually just considered fucking her into a coma, but Ingrid had made it clear linking our familial tie entirely to sex would be bad for Emma's mental health, and having an unbalanced psychic in the house seemed like a hostile home environment.
She let the door creak further open. "I guess." She said noncommittally, averting her eyes. I saw a slight flush on her cheeks though, which I took to meant she was being shy about it.
Holding up a tray, I grinned at her. "I brought danishes, want to come eat them with me in the garden?" I hadn't really known we HAD a garden until recently. The girls were mapping the hall still, so we were finding new things every day.
Once we got outside, I sat down on a short decorative wall around one of the flower boxes and patted the dark stone. Emma managed to sit down without ever looking me in the eye, and I took a danish and bit down. I'd burned a few points making them H rank, and I didn't regret that a bit. H rank represented JUST past the peak of human potential up to nearly superhuman, and that made these world class danishes.
"Cheese and cherry." I said lightly. "My favorite. How about you?" I refused to act like this was awkward. I might have emotions now, but I wasn't some pansy ass who stumbled over his words when he was feeling off balance.
She shot me a look, picking up and taking an apple danish. "I like peaches." She muttered.
I nodded. "Noted. Something to remember for next time. If you want to do this again I mean. I'm not gonna force you to eat breakfast with me."
That seemed to set her off. "Look. You don't need to do this ok? You threw me a sympathy bone to shut me up and then fucked off. We don't have to be like…close. Thanks for the dick. You can just leave me alone now. You don't have to pretend to care."
"Emma." I said kindly. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't bother pretending." She flinched a bit, and I shrugged. "What? It's true. Strangers are just communicable meatbags to me. I might be a real boy and all, but I'd gladly throw any random person off the roof of this place and sleep like a baby after watching them hit the ground."
She looked half frustrated half confused. "So what? I should be honored you even give a shit? Hop on you dick and play cheerleader when you deign to speak to me?" If she'd been angry I'd probably have been sarcastic, but she just sounded hurt, which I didn't like.
"Look." I said with a sigh. "I'm not a considerate person. I'm never going to be. I'm flighty and hedonistic, even WITH emotions. I'm easily distracted and oblivious. But if I wanted to fuck you, I'd have just come to your room and unzipped my pants. I remember how you were gagging for it last time. I could fuck you anytime I wanted."
Her barked laugh was almost genuine. "You're saying I should believe I matter because the one possible thing you could otherwise want me for is something you wouldn't need to work for? Too much work to go through to fuck a slut."
"I also don't sugarcoat." I said helpfully. "But…yeah. Plus I'm fucking like ten girls hotter than you right now. They're not getting nearly this much effort. Breakfast in a garden? Gods, I might as well have hired a whole orchestra. This is romantic as balls."
This time when she burst out laughing WAS genuine. "You're such a dick sometimes." She calmed down, the smile turning into a pout. "I'm still pissed you ignored me for so long. But I guess we're ok. Should I like…suck your dick or something? So we can make up."
"That sounds pretty great." I admitted. "But Ingrid says we need non sexual family related activities to bond over. You can suck my dick later though. Or sit on my face, if that seems like something you'd be into. For now I think we should just like…talk. Like how about you tell me about your mom, and I can tell you a bit about growing up with dad raising me."
She chuckled. "I guess that works too. My mom's name was Susan. She…she died in a car crash when my powers manifested. She was an amazing mother. We did everything together. It was just me and her for most of my life, and she was my best friend. She told me dad had died of cancer when I was a baby. After she died…I had a hard time. I ended up committed because of how unstable my powers were. Belle Reve, if you've heard of the place."
I winced. I had heard of Belle Reve. It had been in Metropolis, and was gone now last I heard. It merged with Arkham and became something…else. No one was talking about what went on there, but I got the feeling it wasn't exactly a pleasant place to be. I wasn't going near it unless something forced me there, that was a someone else problem.
Emma, meanwhile, seemed almost relieved. Talking about her mom was clearly good for her, and the more she did it the more came out. I wasn't sure she'd mentioned any of this to Ingrid. Maybe being her brother made it easier to vent to me about this kind of thing.
I kept her talking, throwing out a few anecdotes about dad from my childhood. I remembered it fondly, though I knew the training he'd put me through as a kid would have bothered some people. I'd been clear I never wanted to be him, but he'd made sure to teach me everything I needed anyway. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, as he would say.
Despite the description, she didn't seem to connect what she'd gone through in the asylum with dad training her. He'd wanted her to take care of me, possibly to be some version of a conscience, given he knew what I used to be like. I honestly wasn't sure how to feel about that. That he would sacrifice her happiness for mine.
I knew it couldn't have been easy for him. But I loved him for it anyway. I'd take care of her, like he would have wanted. And she could take care of me. It felt kind of nice, really, to have family again, and the sex was pretty good too, so in general I felt like I'd really come out on top in this situation, pun intended.
After speaking to Emma for a while, I felt like I'd done my brotherly duties. My pink haired sister was practically glowing as she headed down to meet up with Amy. I'd asked her to keep an eye on Raven and try to help my newest girl settle in, though I was expecting it would be more the other way around. Rae was an empath, and she'd be able to tell if my sister needed anything.
Once that was done, I fished out my phone. I hit a few buttons, and then after a ring or two a familiar voice answered. "Hey, Nicky. Good to hear from you. I was pretty bummed you had to postpone our last get together."
"Jenny." I said with a grin. "How's my favorite green supermodel? Hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
"I'm the ONLY green supermodel." She said snootily. "And not really. I don't have any gigs today, I was mostly just bored. Been spending my day reading so far. I take it you were hoping I might be able to squeeze you in?" I resisted the urge to inform her she didn't need to do anything and I could squeeze myself in just fine if she just laid there and took it. Barely.
"I WAS hoping to see you." I dissembled. "I know my meeting with your dad isn't for a few days, but that doesn't mean we can't spend some time together." The feedback effect from our powers interacting was pretty nice, and I wouldn't turn down some fat bottomed green anti-depressant if I had the opportunity to partake.
She made a humming sound of indecision. "Hmmm. I mean, I don't want you thinking you can just call me and have me drop anything. I AM a supermodel. I have an image to maintain." Despite the words I could tell she was teasing. She'd already decided to meet up.
"How about we do a picnic at the park?" I said with a chuckle. That would be a nice place to soak up her good vibes. Plus the danishes hadn't been filling enough. "I know a good place to get Gotham subs that survived the merge. My treat."
Gotham, being relatively close to new york and philly, had become something of a sandwich hotspot over the years. I had made sure that sandwich place hadn't merged with anything when I triggered the cities fusion. It was one of my favorites.
"You know." She said cheerfully. "That sounds really nice. Yeah, lets go ahead and do that. I'll talk to you soon." I smiled and hung up. I was curious if she'd be surprised by my upgrade. I'd made a point to keep traces of my old power, so I was sure we'd still have that connection, even if I was more than I had been, but there was no way she'd miss it. It'd be fun to find out. Only downside was that she seemed like I'd have to slow play her. Oh well, based on that body it would be worth the wait.
As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone enjoys.