A man was going through a pile of documents on an old wooden desk. His hands filtered through century old documents of taxes, ownership of land and property, and his own birth records that stated he was born in 1423.
"This is remarkably well written." The man muttered, "A background that is in all means, utterly spotless and clean."
His name was Corvac Sabnock, head of a long since defunct Pillar House of Devils, House Sabnock. He'd just woken up within a dusty crypt a few hours ago and stumbled his way through a massive, still functioning, but otherwise dilapidated Castle of The Sabnock. He'd navigated his way through the halls, finding a massive dusty library still fully furnished, several rooms for servants and adjacent to this room was the Master Bedroom. Inside he found a dusty skeleton and various signs of rot. Down in the deep cellar he also figured out how to unseal a ward protecting the Sabnock fortune.
'DXD...huh.' The man leaned back, stroking his bearded chin. Corvac was a broad and greatly developed man. With a chiseled musculature that formed the look of someone who worked in the Iron Industry but didn't drink, his biceps bulged with strength and his stomach was flat with abs one could grind steel upon. Although, instead of the barreled look most men in that profession had, he held a more balanced build and was instead a wall of muscle. The tight old-fashioned blouse he was wearing emphasized his taunt back muscles greatly, and the man looked like someone who was certainly not inexperienced to manual labor and physical hardship.
He wasn't inexperienced with him being a backyard blacksmith who forged knives and swords for fun, although the result of his body being what it was wasn't from that hobby.
Twin cobalt blue eyes lifted themselves from inspecting the assortment of papers on the desk, and instead stared directly at two bottles of intricately worked glass and metalworking filigree.
"Essence Meta, huh." Corvac muttered, his voice deep and strong as he closed his eyes. Within his mind raced the combined might of two Essences that had utterly reshaped the former mortal man known as Corvac Irons.
Corvac's eyes gazed at a whiskey bottle, its shape unclear and instead a golden brown that highlighted the shafts of light his lamp gave off greatly. This was the Essence of Crafters.
It gave him many boons. First would be Master Craftsman, a boon that made him just that, a craftsman that could craft, design, and create anything from complex machines straight from science fiction, to a simple shovel or sword. His next boon was Flawless Work, anything he created will never rot, rust, or decay, only being destroyed through violence. Furthermore, his creations will be exceptionally durable and robust, capable of taking more than enough of a beating relative to their desired function.
Next, he had an Artistic Touch, with creations he made and designed always being better than those that are reproduced by others. His most useful of boons, and potentially most powerful would be Craftsman's Desire, an ability that lets him conjure dead or inorganic material of anything he'd need to craft his works. From the bones of Gods, to the blood and scale of dragons; he could conjure anything, so long as it was needed to be used for crafting. After that came That Which Be Mythical, granting him the capability to craft items on par with those of myth and legend; spears that never miss, swords that cut through anything, and invulnerable armors. His last boon was Conceptual Smith, which could force conceptual elements into his work, through simple and sheer skill. It was the backbone of That Which Be Mythical, just skill based.
A breath of air came from his lips as he sighed in exasperation, before Corvac glanced at the other Essence bottle. A flask of blue and gold this time, this was the Essence of The Sorcerer Lord.
This Essence gave him a body that was above peak 'human', and also one sculpted to his tastes, which he could confirm, he liked his new body. Next was endless endurance, stamina, and an immunity to pain. It made life much easier, not fearing pain.
His next boon would be Infinite Willpower to tackle any foe. Even bloody and broken he'd not stop in his advance against an obstacle once set on that path.
His mind held a perfect memory with infinite storage, allowing him to watch the ages pass by without a second missing from his mind. It was interesting, memorizing every small detail that passed by his eyes and revisiting them the next second. It made him feel...less and more than human, to have such perfection within his mind.
The bulk of the Essence was that it granted him a massive amount of magical lore of this world, along with the mastery of several, which meant five in this case, magical schools or types of magic. These magics could be native to his reality, or he could just make them up. The five he chose were Runecrafting, Enchanting, Alchemy (Pills), Body Refinement, and Abjuration.
Runecrafting was a magic that he 'made up'. It was more like giving the Essence a variable and extrapolating it out, finding or outright synthesizing a complete magic. Runecrafting's prompt that created it was 'a magic that uses runes and language to bolster, curse, manipulate, spawn, create, or break various concepts of reality'.
Corvac's hand drew upon the air with a flash of white energy the conceptual rune for 'Creation' which was paired and linked by a grammatical character with the conceptual rune for 'Cup'. A pop and he had an ornate and fancy cup whose shape and form was governed by his own imagination and ideas of a 'Cup' that he drew. He then wrote 'Water' inside the cup and then wrote 'Cold'. Both runes could cause utter devastation, one flooding entire cities and the other freezing them if he gave them enough power. Instead, they just chilled a cup of water.
His next magic school, 'Enchanting', was strange. It added Modifiers to items that he 'Enchanted', anything from Fire Damage, to Critical Strike Chance, and other 'Game Like' enchanting effects that scaled with how powerful the item being enchanted was. Furthermore, it held a unique and extremely powerful magic called 'Upgrading'. Using items of significant worth and magical might, he could Upgrade an item and 1 it, reaching all the way to 20. Each 1 added a huge percentage of strength to an item, around 50 to 80% of a power increase that more dramatically affected Enchantment modifiers on the items. Ultimately, a really good crafting magic school.
After Enchanting came Alchemy (Pills), which was the ever titular Chinese pill refinement alchemy to help with Cultivation. Corvac chose this school of magic as it synergized well with his Crafter Essence and his next magic; Body Refinement. Body Refinement was the discipline that Xiaxiana Protagonists go through when training their bodies; spitting out blood, bathing in a molten furnace, and other hardcore stuff of going through the most amount of suffering to forge an immortal body.
Corvac was a craftsman, and while he could theoretically create and craft magical armaments and vestments to bolster his magics, it made more sense to him to go the Magic-Warrior Route. Corvac knew that this was a world of the powerful and strong, and to do that he'd need more than just throwing around nukes. He needed to be capable of taking those nukes head first and walking away with only a bit of a concussion. Paired with arms, armor, and magical trinkets, along with his own ridiculous magical prowess, he was indeed hoping to become a great within this world.
This desire of being tanky led into his last magic, Abjuration. It was the magic of defense, detailing shields, counter-curses, anti-magic, wards, and other such forms of defense. It was critical for his future workshop to be locked down tighter than a nun's bum inside a Sacred Gear chastity belt, and added to powerful shields and being a Counter-Spell specialists to fuck with mages, it was the dream come true.
The last boon of this Essence was the knowledge on how to create monsters to serve him. Monsters such as Goblins, Trolls, Orcs, and other races. These creatures, if created correctly, would possess innate knowledge of the world, how to fight, how to survive, craft, and any other basic thing he'd need for minions. They are also unshakably loyal to him and will not turn against him.
Corvac rapped his fingers against his chair's wooden armrest, his thoughts falling into place.
'Create a basic workshop, create a badass cauldron, summon powerful fires for both, cook drugs, take drugs, train, create a space to train and fight badass magical automata. Create conceptually enhanced workout equipment. Eat better drugs, bathe in fire, bathe in mystical juices to become resistant or immune to everything, forge badass weapons and armor, learn more magic to be ever versatile in combat, create an army, set up faction on Jupiter and Saturn's moons, become badass immortal chad.'
He chuckled at the thought, only for his face to steadily settle into a frown.
He was the Lord and Head of a defunct and formerly extinct House of Sabnock, which meant he was also intricately linked to the Underworld's political kerfuffles. As a member of the seventy two, he was expected to rule over lands, peoples, raise legions inside of hell, and support a popular political faction. Supporting one would make everyone else an enemy, and with him being an unstable factor in the status quo, likely one not suited for everyone's political plans, that meant knives, words, disease, curses, and poison were going to be headed for him.
'There are three parties, if I remember correctly...the Great Devil which is headed by Zekram Bael. They likely have stuff to do with the Sleeping Disease, and they're intricately tied to the entire King Piece scam. Then there's the Old Devil Faction, who'll likely try to recruit me due to me coming from an age where Lucifer and the Four Satans were Lords. Technically I was just a young man when the Civil War sprouted and the Great War ended. This difference of age will also likely inspire the New Devil Faction to approach me with hesitance if the Sabnock House was one that sided against them, which will be an issue no doubt.'
Corvac leaned on his desk, narrowing his eyes as he thought deeply about the issue.
'This only becomes an issue if I'm discovered.' Corvac thought, mulling on the possibility. 'I could just leave the Underworld with a significant portion of wealth, but the appeal of having a territory that I own and can do whatever I wish with is too much of a temptation to just throw away. I could return later, of course, and take up my birthright, but I need a place to put down a forge and workplace sooner, rather than later.'
Corvac thought of another possibility, 'Turtling within the Castle is a possibility. I doubt anyone's going around checking for vagrancy, and if they are I'll either kill them or if they're too powerful, give up the game and dive into politics. The best situation I can think of would be giving myself enough time to create minions, learn more about the underworld using the library, and best fortify my position within Sabnock Castle. It's an ideal defensive location, perfect for me to survive a possible siege from the New Satans, Old Satans, and Great Kings within, however, that's only assuming they'll go for a direct assault. Far easier to assassinate me...'
Corvac nodded thoughtfully as he remembered the skeleton in the Master Bedroom, one likely assassinated and murdered in their sleep. He didn't want to suffer the same fate, so he'd need to create mind-control immune loyal minions, servants, and forge an army that holds significant power in holding off the greedy and scheming devils from claiming his life.
'Then there's the Sabnock Bloodline Ability.' Corvac thought.
The Sabnock ability was one known as Blight, and it was a powerful combative ability that caused a Sabnock's attacks to have wounds filled with disease, puss, maggots, and rot. Necrosis would spread from the wound, instantly killing or crippling those he wounded while those who survived would need extensive medical care to survive, let alone fight again. Corvac's hand glowed with black and green energy, reminding him of an old battle standard he saw in the halls. It had a man wearing a lion's head, wearing black full plate armor riding a pale horse. He held a scythe that curled around the horse's neck that was blazing with green fire, and in one hand he held this same light as he held the reins of his horse.
'No Power of Destruction, but I can already imagine the blade I shall create to enhance this power. A weapon that Nurgle himself would be proud of.' Corvac smiled wide. He liked the deadly 'fuck you' that his power held, and was interested in seeing how he could further develop it. 'I should make a Garden of Nurgle, see if I can't get in contact with the Samarian God Nergal.' Corvac thought idly as he played with the energy. Eventually he crushed the black and green light within his palm, before standing up from his chair and cracking his back.
Corvac then scratched his neck as he thought about what to do.
'If I'm going to be living here, there are a few things I need to do. Hygiene can be largely solved through devil's wishcraft magic, although I'll need to make a razor and learn how to use an old fashioned one. Then food, which I can just summon ingredients and 'craft' myself a meal...I'll need to make sure all the facilities are in order and repair them.' Corvac narrowed his eyes before snapping his fingers and nodding at the idea he just had.
He moved out of the room and started jutting his head into various rooms, eventually finding one barren enough for his needs. Inside he created a blade of raw demonic energy and slit his wrist, not reacting to the sensation and knowledge that he'd been hurt. He then used the blood on his wrist to draw out a small ritual circle on the magically scoured stone floor. Once done he stepped back and started to mumble out a chant, the bloody ritual circle glowing steadily, before energy gathered and created a shiny red stone.
The stone glowed, and from it grew flesh, bone, muscle, tissue, and more. Soon a small skeleton was finished growing, and a new living entity slowly stood up.
Green skin, relatively human looking, just far shorter, only coming up to Corvac's hip. The creature had a normal nose, long green elvish looking ears, rough dark green hair, and female anatomy. She was cute, in a gremlin kind of way. The goblin's design was heavily inspired from World of Warcraft, those goblins always looking the cutest to him.
"Howdy, boss!" The goblin greeted, "How can I serve ya'?" She grinned like an expectant puppy.
Corvac hummed, "You'll be leading a team of maids, understood? You'll need to eventually dress in a maid uniform, but the Castle is in a horrid state. Explore the castle, and take this." Corvac summoned a few sheets of paper, a quill, and then filled his cup with squid ink. Then he summoned some wood, and using fine control of his demonic energy, he shaped the wood into a clipboard, bent brass and iron into shape to create the clip of the board, and bolted everything together in all but a minute. "You know how to draw, correct?"
The goblin nodded as she clutched everything he gave her. "We'll need to repair the castle, but right now we need a functioning map of it. Go around the castle, start drawing up a map, and do it well. Once you're done with that, we'll need to make a list of everything that needs repairs and what we need to repair it. I'll be creating a small team to complete this task. Understood?"
The goblin saluted.
"Get to work."
Corvac then started the ritual again. He created two this time, and gave them other instructions. "Take this clipboard and find the kitchens. There, make a list of everything needing repair and all their material requirements." One goblin saluted and scurried off.
"You, go around and start looking for corpses and hazards, anything nasty that might bite. Write it down and where it is." The goblin ran off.
Once more, he created more goblins. "You, head to the library with this feather brush. I've enchanted it with the concept of Repair and Restore, and use it on all the books within the library." The goblin ran off.
"You, follow that goblin with these gloves. They're enchanted with Curse Immunity, Magic Resistance, and Trap Detection. Go through all the books and start creating a functioning Dewey Decimal System for it. You know the system?"
"Got it from my noggin boss." The goblin gave a cute thumbs up, which had Corvac grin and nod.
"Only touch the books the duster has dusted. Now, off you get."
Corvac continued creating noticeably female only goblins and sending them off to do his tasks. Corvac once done assigning the tasks, he headed off towards more critical situations.
After getting lost for a few minutes, Corvac found the main courtyard of the massive Castle, and spreading his twelve wings he flew up to a Turret, scanning the surroundings of the Castle.
'We're in the far North of the Underworld, apparently.' He shivered a bit as biting cold winds that'd turn mortal men into ice-cubes without the right equipment blew through the turret's crenulations. He gazed deeply at the massive teeth of grand mountains towering over his castle, the grand white and red 'ever-red' trees decorating the mountain's side, and the massive lake that the Castle overlooked upon a lower mountain's peak.
His eyes spotted the distant flying of what looked to be a smaller dragon circling above a distant mountain peak, its mouth opening wide and a stream of blue flame incinerating the peak. Small flashes of light flew off the peak, striking the dragon as it screamed. Its distant roar echoed through the mountains into his ears, and Corvac felt a chill thrill through his spine, for he truly was within the Underworld.
Corvac took a deep breath, enjoying the chill as it invaded his lungs, before letting loose his inhale. He then closed his eyes and meditated, focusing on the mystical energies in the air, paying close attention to the tattered warding system tied to the great stones of the Castle.
The wards were still up, but they were frayed from time and a lack of maintenance.
Corvac, a master of Abjurmancy, grinned as he spread his arms in a grand display, pinching seemingly nothing; before he began to weave.
Symbols and images appeared in the air above the castle in a rapid fashion, some lasting a long while as thousands of detailed runes were inscribed upon the patterns and images floating above the castle. Then they'd vanish and new forms of numerology and symbolism would appear above the Castle as they granted the structure and land below it many a curse and blessing. Slowly but surely, a grand and great film began to envelop the ancient stones of Sabnock Castle, and then once it'd been formed, a million runes spread out from a singular point and wrapped around the entire structure. These runes then began shooting themselves, blasting their images into the stone making up the Castle, engraving their shape on magical stone that withstood angelic and demonic blasts for months on end without nary a fracture.
With one last gesture of a snap, the light show ended and nothing appeared to have changed; but one familiar with the Weaves of magic would easily be capable of spotting or feeling the practical citadel of magic that now protected Sabnock Castle.
'A mere stop gap until I can create a dedicated Ward Room. Hmm, I really want to start repairing some of this damage and upgrading the stonework. Then I can work on further expansion, maybe even create several towers and fortresses within the area all interconnected and functioning as way-posts. But...needs must. I need to create my workshop before that, make tools, forge armaments for minions, create minions to farm, fish, and keep animals. Lots to do, lots to do.'
Corvac cracked his neck and flew off the turret of his Castle, flaring his many winged form as he landed within the courtyard and then advanced not to the castle, but instead to a dilapidated forge. There he picked up a dusty hammer kicked under a half-collapsed workbench and hefted its weight. He frowned, as it wasn't significant enough to forge anything meaningful. Enough to forge mundane steel, but Dragon Bone? Crystallized God's Blood? Pathetic, but it'd do for now.
Corvac went over to the forge and frowned once again. 'Pathetic, once again. The stones would melt before I got to a comfortable heat.' He sighed, before using great strength he pulled out a weathered stone and started to crush and rip the forge apart. Once it was powder he cast a weak wind spell to carry all the debris out. Then he summoned workable stones that wouldn't melt if put under dragon's fire.
Without a Chisel or reliable way to break stone exactly, Corvac instead used Demonic Energy to create artificial fissures and broke the stone into exact shapes he needed. He realized he needed mortar for his forge, and so he summoned a huge chunk of stone, and then collected a massive amount of Demonic Energy into his palm. He then started to rotate the energy, before forming a complete Rasengan that he then used to grind away a workable 'pot' of stone.
He filled the pot with all the necessary ingredients of sand and a cement mixture with an added ingredient of Dragon and Phoenix Ash. One of his goblins finished its task of finding where all the dead and hazardous things are, so he gave her a new task of mixing the Mortar while he dug out the foundation of the forge.
He noticed her shivering in the cold due to her being nude, and quickly drew a 'Warm' rune that'd last a few hours, before getting back to work. Corvac soon had a good Blast Furnace constructed, and then summoned a technically inorganic 'material' of a Living Flame, a flame usually used in Alchemy as it gave unique properties and better success chances when making pills.
He stuffed it into the furnace, and then started working on a Kiln, various Crucibles, a workable Anvil, and then he'd start making his tools.
As he worked, various Goblins spread the word on where he was working and they ran over to report to him as night fell. He summoned a significant amount of dragon meat that he roasted quickly inside the Blast Furnace, giving it to the goblins before telling them to go to bed. Corvac continued to work late into the night, his endurance endless and his passions bright.
As morning rose, the goblins ate a stock of Dragon Bone for breakfast, before continuing their tasks. Those free getting recruited by other goblins after asking Corvac if it was okay for them to help their kin with their tasks. Corvac ordered a few to help assist him, but otherwise sent everyone else to either help their kin, or do their own thing. They were extremely loyal to him, and thus were in a very work friendly mood as they practically couldn't sit still.
It was as the artificial sun in the sky rose to noon did Corvac finally finish his tools and forge. The forge was an outdoor one, but had a thick roof held up by several stone pillars. A workbench of Ent Wood was set up with all kinds of wood-working, generalist, carving, and specialty tools like screwdrivers, wrenches, and clamps. Near his anvil by the forge there was a massive rack holding two dozen different sizes of hammer with different peens, while there were chisels and blacksmithing specialty tools used to mark metal accurately. These hammers and tools were at times created out of different materials, some being entirely crystalline, and others being made of gems, unique metals that glowed or oozed off ominous mists. A barrel of abyssal black oil was next to the anvil, and near that was a trowel full of clear water.
In one corner of the shop there was a glass blowing and glass working forge, different forms of sand and lime that he used to blow glass and make lenses.
Corvac was currently working with a set of jeweler's tools, his face covered by a set of goggles that had many different lens slides allowing him to inspect the gem he was currently carving. He smiled as he pulled back and pressed a 'return to default' button on his goggles, returning him to normal sight. He inspected the gem that he just carved, a Vouivre Tear, a gem on a mythical race of dragon women that is engraved into their forehead and skull. The gem was taken and then placed in his now named Ring of The War Devil, a ring that directly converted Stamina and Energy into Lifeforce; also known as Touki.
'Let's see if I can awaken my Touki with this ring.' Corvac thought as he slipped it on, before freezing as he felt a well of energy start to build up, growing stronger and stronger, before filling him to the brim until he felt like he was going to explode. Corvac quickly removed the ring and then started to expel the extra bloat of energy in a mist of light green light. He then flexed his body, and a sheen of glowing green energy surrounded him, making him grin as he felt a dozen times more physically powerful.
'Now I need to make an item that accelerates my learning of Senjutsu, before then creating one that'll allow me to develop a set of martial arts at an accelerated pace. Some like the Six Powers, but not separate like them. Hmm, maybe that's what I could do, fuse all Six Powers into one or two forms of Martial Arts.'
Corvac sighed and leaned back to stretch, "Lord Sabnock! Lord Sabnock! We've done it, Lord!"
Corvac smiled as he looked over at the sprinting form of Hyal, his first servant and leader of the Goblins. She was wearing a ratty curtain converted to be something resembling clothes, which reminded him to start on equipping his servants and then making his warriors.
'Maid uniforms, obviously, for my servants. Then maybe a few Skeleton butlers, those would be cool if I can get the sizings right. Hmm, a Death Guard of Skeletons would be good for the walls, halls, and more static positions. Good eternal watchers who are inherently mind-control proof…unless someone has Turn Undead, shit. Gotta make something to prevent that. Then I'll make some Horse Archer World of Warcraft Trolls. Feather Raptor mounts as well. I'll need to summon a shit ton of High-Tier reagents and ingredients for them to be at least Low-High Class servants, and thus anything of worth. But hey, I'm infinitely rich.'
Corvac noticed his goblin was waiting for him, "You've completed the map, Hyal?"
She nodded with excitement, "Yes, yes! We've done well, every ward has its own map. All rooms and places have all facilities marked for repair and the needed costs, tools, and professions!" She handed him a thick stack of papers.
Corvac gave her a pat on the head, before he started to stroke her long elvish ears he knew were arousing to touch. She shivered, standing stock still as he went through the notes, reading through them with lightning fast pace as he memorized all the information. She'd whimper when his hand reached up to flip a page, before moaning as it dropped back down to continue its ministrations.
"I'll be spawning in all the required raw materials, and creating the more basic materials for the repair. You girls can get on with the more menial work." They were all low-class entities, and thus ten times stronger than mortal men. They had some elbow grease. Besides, gender and racial qualities of work were all false, and making these delicate women work wasn't in any way morally or ethically gray. Right?
"Right away, boss!" She squeaked, shuddering as she moved away from his hand on a hair's edge, staring at it like it was the Devil.
Corvac gave her an indulgent smile and turned away to his bench, ready to start mass producing various tools, "Good girl." The goblin vacated the area, and fast, a whimper and moan on her lips.
Corvac started to manufacture the needed parts and components of what the castle needed most critically. They were handling the masonry work as he quickly belted out several dozen chisels, stone splitters, brick cutters, brick molds, and more. He then spawned tons of materials to work with and the goblins got to work repairing the Castle.
Corvac then created things like looms, needles of all shapes and sizes, and all of the needed machines and tools to create a thriving weaving and textile industry to repair all the tapestries, banners, and to create tabards for his future soldiers and knights. Goblins took them to their various rooms for dedicated future servants to man 24/7 to mend and weave clothes.
Hours bled into days as he created more and more servants and work forces, before eventually he arrived at the planning stage of his future military units.
First, and most elite, were to be his Death Guard. Corvac wanted each of them to be High-Class Undead, formidable warriors wearing high quality armor by his standard, each wielding weapons that would raise them to be threats to Ultimate Class foes while working in pairs at their smallests, and companies at their largest; led by a powerful Low-Ultimate Class Death Knight. HIs dream was to have many a tower, castle, citadel, and outpost be manned by various Companies, growing into a Battalion led by High-Ultimate or Satan Class Peerage members he either found or created.
Currently, he needs an entire Battalion to manage this massive castle. That meant he needed to craft 1,200 suits of armor, tabards, fetishes, greaves, gauntlets, swords, spears, warhammers, daggers, crossbows and their bolts. He needed to enchant all of this equipment as well, before also making the necessary holdings for their horses as the stables were a ruin and couldn't hold 1,200 horses. Meaning he needed to start expanding, and to do that, Corvac needed more muscle and hands, hands that could effectively hunt and work.
/
"Rise, Peons! Rise and do good work!" Corvac cackled as he stood over a massive ritual circle he'd written in his blood. From it fifty green men that looked rather dumb stood up and dumbly stared up at the cackling Corvac.
He was a bit anemic…
The 'Peons' were very hardworking, Mid-Class Orcs. They held Zero magical potential, but they were a hundred times stronger than the mortal man. They were a bit cowardly, but only in the face of wars and those more powerful than them. They were dull, uncreative, but kind and peaceful folk.
"Peons! You are my workers, and you obey me!" Corvac commanded.
"You got it, boss!" One saluted with a fist across his chest, a dumb smile on his face. That got a few to repeat him or other things like it.
"Good! Now, we need a few things!"
"Lumber?"
"Yes! Good thinking, Peon #23!" He sheepishly scratched his bald head with a proud expression as he was clapped on the back. "We need seeds that we can plant for farms, we need food and meat so we can eat, and we need to build various towns and outposts within our lands!" Corvac clapped his hands and out came a skeleton dressed in a crude black robe. "This is Alo, say hello to Alo."
"Hello, Alo!" The orcs greeted.
"Alo will be your guide and boss, he'll take you to a place that has nice food to eat and wood to chop, before instructing you on how to make houses and build stuff like stables. Then we'll send in a bunch of other bone boys like him to start growing crops for us all to eat. I'll send a skeleton to come to your future home and take some of the crops and horses, as we need to feed tough boys to fight nasty beasts and terrible demons and keep them away from you wholesome boys! Understand?"
"Yeah, we gotz it boss! Kick dem' ugly demons in the ass for us, yeah?" That got several whoops.
"Alright, follow Alo, and make sure to rub your arms and hands together to keep warm." Several of them were already shivering, "Ask Alo to warm you if you're really cold." The orcs saluted as Alo then started giving orders.
"Alright, you bags of meat." The skeleton said with utter apathy, "Follow me, and don't die." He unraveled an ancient map of the area he'd copied using rune magic 'Copy' and started to guide them.
Once they exited the keep, Corvac turned to face his small cadre of Mid-Class Skeleton Mages. Weaker than humans physically, but magically powerful and intelligent enough to act as officers. "Have you figured out if they are sterile or not?" Corvac asked.
He was referring to a Sleipnir he summoned. He summoned a breeding pair of High-Class mythical monstrous horses and tasked a few of the skeletons in this group to breed them.
"We've confirmed using the 'life detection' rune array, Sire. They are highly fertile, and we likely have several on the way. We used a few runic rituals to 'enhance the yield' as it were, and we have octuplets coming."
Corvac frowned, "Will that harm the mother?"
"We'll be removing the foals surgically, sire. The mother will be sedated mid-pregnancy when complications are projected to start to occur, and we'll use our magic to sustain and repair her when we're done."
Corvac nodded, "You've done well. Continue to document how we can possibly train them to be fearless Warhorses, unflinching monsters is what we need."
"I'd recommend mind-magics to control the beasts, or perhaps a symbiotic bond with the rider…" Corvac waved them away, "Report to me with the best results." He interrupted. They bowed and walked away, debating on their new task.
A short green blob darted into his vision, and Corvac glanced down to see Hyla, his head maid, in her new maid uniform grinning up at him. Her catish eyes glinted with amber light and mischief, something just natural to all goblins.
"The castle's kitchens are fully operational, sire!" She reported, "We've requested an inventory shipment." She bowed and offered him a list.
Corvac nodded and several goblins came by with buckets, crates, and glass bottles which he filled with all kinds of ingredients for the kitchens to store in the larder. "Remind me to send a breeding pair of cows, goats, sheep, and chicken with the next Peon haul when our Mage squad finds the next ideal location." A group of flying Skeleton Mages roamed the forests of his lands, dictated by a map he found in his study, where they located ideal locations to settle. There were already five villages being constructed right now, and each would have anywhere between two to ten mid-class mages to help the fifty mid-class peons settle and live there. Higher quantities of mages were a result of less habitable locations, as there were areas where powerful monsters lived, and others that just needed greater amounts of terraforming that a single mage and some peons couldn't do in a 'reasonable' time of around one to two weeks. With magic, construction deadlines got fast, as seen with Azazel building houses and repairing cities in a mere day if not hours.
Corvac sadly didn't have such great and intoxicating power, but he was getting there. With Rune Magic, he had an exceptionally versatile magic to which his mages could use to get any type of job done.
Corvac crossed his arms and smirked as he watched a previously lifeless castle get revitalized.
He cracked his neck, before heading down to the smithy. He'd need to see if making thousands of high-class armors and weapons was going to be reasonable.
/
"How are taxes from the north doing?" Hyal asked as she served him tea on her tippy toes.
"Good, for once. They really struggled with that dragon, apparently it was Peak-High Rank. We'll be seeing some of its meat here soon." Hyal nodded at that and smiled up at Corvac, her master.
The man was within his study, currently going through tax-reports of the thirty three scattered Peon Settlement villages. They were getting an influx of new denizens, more goblins to start working in the factories and getting a bit of industrialism going.
'It was a month ago that we officially entered the agricultural revolution, as Master calls it, and we're now just barely heading into what he calls the Industrial Revolution. To think we'd have accomplished all of this, in just four months…'
Automation was really swinging in nowadays, slowly replacing the tens of thousands of skeleton farmers that were sent to the hundreds of fields and greenhouses dotting the ever growing and advancing lands of his majesty, Lord Sabnock. Now, great reapers and automatic threshers were being powered magically by a sole low-class farmer; doing the work of a dozen with the power of one. While that was great for wheat, a new machine was already in development to replace the thousands of cotton pickers in their fields. Soon machines would replace most of the skeleton farmers, who in turn went into the villages and towns being founded in the outskirts to find work there.
Skeletons were smarter than peons, but far weaker, so they often found managerial positions in directing the peon hordes. Peons were apparently a creature that reproduced asexually by releasing fungus into the soil and creating spawn inside fungal sacks that grew underground. With spores spreading everywhere, hundreds of peons all with baked in loyalty to Lord Sabnock rose to form crude and primitive civilizations needing smarter guidance. Skeletons would thus wander to find these hovels created by the green creatures, and then guide them as elders and leaders. Some flourish and become key trade routes to the southern parts of the lands ruled by the former Marquis of Hell. These lands encompassed a massive stretch of resource rich, but secluded and isolated portion of the Underworld. One with effectively no Devil, Fallen, or other civilized Underworld presence due to one thing.
It was cold.
Well, it was cold and populated densely with dragons, demonic beasts, monsters, and other such creatures usually around Mid-Class and had their population controlled by the common alpha and keystone predator High-Class within the ecosystem. Slaying the High-Class monster was a big-ask for most Devils, as it was usually only the nobility who ever got to that point with the majority of Devils. According to the old census, around 70% being Low Class, 29% being Middle-Class, 0.9% being High Class, and 0.1% being Ultimate with Satan being effectively a mixture of the rare few original 72 Devil Pillars, and the four Satans.
That has likely gone down, as populations decreased dramatically from the dates that data was gathered. There were likely more Middle-Class, High-Class, and Ultimate Class than back then, but why would they risk their lives in a backwater whose only draw being natural resources were hard to obtain when guarded by hostile weather, beasts, and environmental hazards.
Lord Sabnock spat in the face of all that because he was really cool. Hyal stared at the masculine features of utter concentration on her lord's face, and mentally squeed. 'He's being so thoughtful and serious!'
She realized she was being a dummy, and instead fell back into her thoughts. Lord Sabnock could create life itself, which was hardcore as fuck, and from that life he commanded extremely potent forms of soldiers and citizens that which he populated his territory with. Currently, by most estimations, they should have their first Citadel complete by this year.
A Citadel, by Lord Sabnock's explanations, was a 'City Fortress'. It was a massive industrial, civilian, and military complex that he and his elite Mages were going to create using advanced Rune and Abjuration Magics in a grand ritual involving hundreds of High-Class and hopefully a few Ultimate Class Mages.
The result was to hopefully be as Lord Sabnock explained, 'A Wish Spell using the grandest functions of Imagination. By melding our minds together in the ritual, we'll bind our demonic energy and use conceptual runes of Creation to will into the world our imagination. A floating city, similar to Agares, but far greater.'
She didn't really understand all of that, but she did know what he was trying to do. It was so badass.
Her master set down his pen and took a sip of tea she made, something that caused a delighted smile to spread across her face. He then stood up from his chair, and glanced down at her, a smile coming to his face.
Suddenly a hand was reaching down and oh no, master you know what I feel when you do this. It took her all to not pant and moan like a lustful whore as her master stroked her ears, rubbing his fingers along her new twin golden rings on her left ear.
"You're so cute, you know that, Hyal?"
She let out a sharp moan, her hands clapping around her mouth as her master grinned, "Oh, now what was that I wonder? Hmm? I'm waiting for an answer, Hyal."
She blushed deeply, a purple-red glow on her cheeks as she looked down at her feet. A second hand, strong and rough with calluses from the forge pulled her chin up. Her eyes snapped to meet her master's burning demonic eyes, their neon green sheen hidden beneath a pair of shaded tea glasses, yet still burning through.
"I- I- I moaned master." She whispered.
"Oh?" His thumb curled up, pushing down her bottom lip and invading her mouth. He forced her mouth open even as his left hand stroked along her right ear, playing with the many piercings and rings along its length. She couldn't resist the instinct, suckling softly on Lord Sabnock's Fingers. The mere thought had her knees weak, and his touch and adoration had her mind lifted into a cloud of bliss.
Lord Sabnock swiveled in his chair, his left hand leaving her ears, but his right still holding her chin. Her master's head tilted down, the tea glasses on his face sliding down his nose and letting her see the amused gaze of her master. "Do you want me to make you moan more, dirty little maid?"
She shivered at the address, her lips trying to form a pout. She mumbled something around his thumb. "Good maids don't speak with their mouths full, Hyal."
She reluctantly removed her master's thumb from her mouth, "I-I'm not a dirty girl." She whispered, "I'm - I'm a good girl."
Lord Sabnock hummed, leaning back into his chair. His left unsullied hand came up to frame his face, his face laced deeply with amusement. "Good girls aren't good without proving it, Hyal." His other hand tangled with his buckle on his pants, and in a dizzying motion she was suddenly staring down at a semi-hard length of her master's cock.
She looked up at her master with utmost confusion on her face, his eyebrow cocking up. "Well? Get sucking."
Oh, this is real. She knelt between his legs, staring up at her master as her nose met his balls and heaved in his musk. She shivered, her body awakening to utter arousal as she did so. She craned her neck up, lips spreading as her tongue darted out of her mouth and started to slowly curl its prodigious length around his own.
Her master made a lewd and provocative noise as she got closer to the tip. Her tongue swirled as it reached his peak, and she delighted as she obtained yet another grunt from her lord. She then enveloped his crown with her pouty lips, lips she now knew her master loved from his tensing and stifled groan. She pouted somewhat as she guided his length down her throat, master shouldn't need to stifle his pleasure. She moved past that errant thought, her throat not holding any form of gag reflex as she took his prodigious length.
"T-that's it Hyal, show me how g-good you can get." Her master groaned as she hummed in response, her eyes brightening as she found just another way to elicit pleasure. She started to hum and groan, vibrating her oral cavity and throat as she did so, Lord Sabnock reaching out and placing a gentle hand cupped against her ears. His fingers weren't so gentle as they gripped and stretched along her neck, soon grasping her pony tail she'd been growing out. Her master's right hand snared her hair, and soon she realized he'd caught her.
Uh, oh. That was all the thought she had before her master started to heatedly skull fuck her, his pelvis thrust up from his chair as he used the leverage of her pony tail to control her skull completely, forcing her to his own pace as he abused her throat.
More! More! Harder, fuck yes, use my dirty slut mouth! The goblin's thoughts only became more and more pronounced and lewd as steady grunts and groans left her master's mouth and throat. His length was engorged, and some deep primal instinct within her knew it was time as he sheathed his length as deep as it could go and started firing rope after rope of prime seed.
Lord Sabnock pulled her head off his cock, revealing it utterly covered in her slobber as it twitched out two more jets of seed that landed on her face and covered her left eye. She couldn't resist scooping up the seed with a finger and sucking it down, moaning lewdly at the divine taste that was certainly modified by magic, for it tasted like molten vanilla.
Suddenly she yelped as she was picked up and placed on Lord Sabnock's desk, the man leering over her as he pressed his groin against her own. Her master leaned over her and kissed his way onto her throat, biting and nipping his way up to her ears before taking in a tip.
This time it was her that was moaning, but unlike her lord, she couldn't hold it back and moaned like a whore gone wild. His right hand lowered down to their groin, his thigh spreading her legs wide and opening them up as deft fingers lurked below her maid uniform's skirt and peeled away the black lingerie protecting her nethers. His fingers entered her prodding and poking with a bit of teasing hesitance, before diving in her.
A ring on her master's finger sparked unknown to her, and suddenly the hesitant fingers moved with divine articulation and skill as the Ring of Demonic Dexterity and Articulation made his fingers dance an artful dance of utmost skill.
She screamed as her legs bucked and core tightened, her nerves feeling like they were just set on fire as her master's fingers poked and prodded just the right combination of nerves to continuously build and build without a stop in sight. It wasn't even a challenge for them to push her off the edge, as he chucked her into the deep end. Her legs clamped around his torso, their small length failing in encircling him, but succeeding in pulling him closer.
Lord Sabnock picked her up, heaving her by her thighs, an arm supporting her snaked down to their nethers and grabbed onto a freshly hardened implement. Left in a muddied daze from her fresh orgasm, she froze when she felt a hard phallus poke at her twitching entrance.
She hesitantly grinned at her master, meeting his gaze of utter amusement and heady lust.
"Well, are you going to fuck me or what?" Her goblin spunk won out much to her self-hatred as her master's manly pride was incited.
He dropped her, his massive cock impaling her on its glorious existence as he did so, before he heaved her up by her thighs and dropped her again. "Fu-fuck, you're re-rearanging my-my insides! Fu-fuck me! Harder! Harder you fucking stud!" Her lips blabbered calling her master all kinds of naughty words as he dropped her against the desk and started to rut her like she was to be bred. The thought only made her cum early, a mistake as he didn't pause or stop as she became over-stimulated and sensitive. It was fifteen minutes of brutal, non-stop fucking did he finally cum inside her, his cock pumping in at least a liter of cum into her belly as he slowly pulled out; the sensation making her moan and whine.
Her master's hands found her sides as he flipped her over onto her chest. She blinked dumbly as his booted leg slammed next to her head and she felt a firm hand slap itself against her ass. She felt a spell be activated and her insides shivered as magic entered…oh.
"M-master, are you…fuck…" She muttered, face conflicted as her master's still hard cock was slowly pressed against her ass. A hesitant grin grew on her face, the smarter part of herself raging and wishing she could kill herself as the words formed on her lips.
"You're not man enough to fuck me in the ass, are you?"
An utterly demonic smile spread on Corvac Sabnock's face, his sclera within his eyes bleeding black and his demonic energy going wild with his bloodline.
"Fuck me." She muttered as his hands gripped deeply within her flesh and he thrust, a scream leaving her lungs as he violated her ass.
It was a dicking for the books and legends, such was his fury and fervor in utterly ruining this mouthy goblin before him. He used her ass for the first thirty minutes, before switching back to her gaping pussy and leaving a fresh load inside there. He fucked her pussy for fourty minutes, before switching up to her ass and cumming there.
Her stomach visibly distended, Corvac writing runes of Health, Life, Energy, and Vitality to revivify his servant whenever she fell into the hands of exhaustion, hypnosis, or the pleasure started to become too much pain.
His cock throbbed as it shot out a few more strings of cum at the goblin spread out on his desk, her ass and pussy a glowing bright red and her body utterly covered in cum. Corvac took his cock and threaded it back into his pants, grabbing his belt and buckling up before he cast his generalized cleaning spell at himself and all his clothing. He glanced down at the mess of a goblin on his desk, "Good girl." He muttered, his lips twitching as she came from that.
He grabbed a jacket on the coat hanger by the door, "Clean this mess up." He uttered as he exited the room.
/
Corvac looked over his Sabnock Castle, his form flying a good distance from the structure. The grand castle is now a floating one, and a necessary test for his future City Citadel. He wanted to make sure he had the runes and ward schemes right for a true floating city, and what better way to start with his ancestral castle.
Around him were his various High-Clerks, a role given mainly to only High-Class Skeleton Mages, however, there were a few new additions who had joined that prestigious role if only by virtue of their other titles.
At his right, riding a Peak-High-Class Sleipnir, wearing a suit of full-plate armor in the design of the original Berserker Armor from Berserk, was a Low-Ultimate Class Death Knight that he named Commander Anders Hellknight. Commander Hellknight was his attempt at summoning a Skeleton with advanced knowledge on the blade and with a plethora of battle experience. All of its knowledge was artificial, which left him with an utmost prodigy that held a shadow or phantom of experience in all of its skills.
In the past six months of ruling as Lord Sabnock, Corvac had made great progress in establishing himself as a currently anonymous entity, something he was still rather shocked about considering he eventually threw out the notion of being sneaky after he realized how much work was needed in repairing his castle and creating a functioning military force. He set himself a goal, and all of his solutions were those that just couldn't be done with utmost subtlety. However, his geography seemed to do wonders, as he focused on setting up in areas with high-resources, areas that to other devils and denizens of the Underworld was usually within Dragon or powerful Demonic Beast territory. His peons reproduced at a stellar speed and his skeleton mages leading the communities were inherently set on being as passive and risk avoidant as possible. Communities that were destroyed by a High-Class dragon one day, were building everything back up in the next and resuming function in the week. A squad of his at the time nascent Death Guard would roll up and deal with the dragon using top-quality teamwork, gear, and skill.
His Death Guard was finally 'created', although it was still in its infant state and would be so for the next few years as he populated his entire territory the rough size of half of Siberia. A massive amount of land populated with some extremely powerful entities. In this land he was constructing towers, outposts, and frontier villages to then slowly move resources and power to eventually construct powerful Castles and Citadels.
Sabnock Castle would still be his seat, however, his future floating Citadel that he is going to name Jabberwock would have the castle float above it. It'd be his ruling seat that floated everywhere within his territory, with his Castle within his City, within his Citadel. Truly, he was a genius of strategy.
The Death Guard, while still not at its full state as he hoped to one day expand it into a full Corp of fifty thousand troops. However, he'd need far more Castles than just one to man that many troops, and the quality wouldn't be what he wanted from them. So, right now he just had a single Battalion of his original goal of one-thousand elite Death Guard warriors. All of these warriors were led by Commander Hellknight, and his officers were all Peak-High-Class warriors.
All of them were equipped with the best of equipment, and he'd also finally gotten a training center of automata robots who constantly improved and were enlightened with combat techniques for his warriors to test themselves upon.
His next military branch that would hopefully one day become a Corp would be The Wise Order. It was led by the being at his right, one Senator Jackman Widow, a powerful Low-Ultimate Skeleton Mage who led and coordinated all of his magical units and their various projects. He was the one to gather all their reports and give him all the most important information for him to parse through and decide on what needs the most attention and support.
These were his only two military orders currently, as the dream of Mounted Troll Riders just wasn't happening right now. It'd drain too much resources keeping all the raptors and trolls fed, as Skeletons were just too useful and simple to maintain. Weak against holy magic just like devils, but simpler certainly.
"Has the formula been triple checked yet?" Corvac spoke up as he watched the imposing castle float around to his will. Atop the turrets were giants standing twelve to fifteen feet tall. They wore lighter armor, but gripped in their massive palms were powerful war-bows that looked like super-sized ballistae. Holding medium High-Class strength, these Giants could shoot down dragons using their powerful Lightning Magic and master class bows all without fear of retaliation as the wards would protect them from most all projectiles and attacks.
Along the ramparts of his walls were skeletons wielding smaller, but still deadly bows. Braziers filled with hundreds of arrows lined the walls for those archers. Warriors wielding heavy crossbows paid close attention to the skies, looking for any form of threat to come, and mages with gnarled staves stared into crystal balls to scry for enemies.
"It has. The ritual will be ready to commence when we have two more Ultimate Class Mages to assist fueling it. I have two talents in mind already, one Ueb Lonestone and A-Kal Arashi."
Corvac nodded, "How are the projects in the north west and east?"
A plated hand met chest plate as Anders reported, "We've cleared out great swathes of Demonic Creatures springing from the local Hell Pits. We've contracted The Wise Order to erect powerful wards to prevent them from entering our lands while we build defensive emplacements. Peon settlements are already in the area and we've contracted them as labor forces to build our first static Castles and Fortresses in Sector C-39 and B-12."
Corvac then glanced at the mage, "Our south?"
"We've seen a few Devils fly about, our stealth magics were left unpenetrated by their pathetic senses. They seemed to be looking for easy prey and foes to test their young upon. It seems that the Sabnock lands have become a free hunting ground for many devils to blood themselves on. Strange, considering that effort could be used against the Fallen or Angels, but perhaps times have changed. It has been several centuries since the castle's libraries have been updated."
Corvac hummed and nodded, "Use the Peon Control Rod to set a geological instinctual limit to all Peons, don't allow them to move too far South. We'll focus on settling within the Tyrant's Teeth and the surrounding forests, tundra taiga, and steppes." Corvac tapped his finger on his chin, "Belay adding them to the Steppes and Taiga, instead send in the Troll Variant: Warcraft to the Steppes and Taiga. Load them up with adapted raptor variants for both regions. Also send up Frost Trolls and Ice Goblins to the Arctic Ice Sheets, see if they can adapt and evolve up there."
"As you will." Both of them bowed.
Corvac thought a bit more, an idea reaching into his mind. "Senator, how has our Sealing research gone?"
The skeleton tilted its head, "I'll need to check in with the teams, but I assume extremely well. I've heard of many whispered innovations."
Corvac hummed, "Assign the Sealing Team to the Northern Pits, see if they can't create proposed Project Dungeon 31-A within them, using their foul powers to fuel the spawning ritual and the magics of Sealing to control and limit them within a possibly expanded or separate dimension…"
Jackman bowed, "I'll get right on it, my lord."
"Now, Anders, how about a bit of a spar."
The warrior's metal helm warped and deformed, the skull grinning wide in a psychotic manner. "I'd love to."
Corvac smiled, "Meet at the Arena." His form was quickly Tron Scanned away, Anders following.
Jackman turned to his mages, "Fall back to your regiments and look at your listed assignments." He ordered, floating away to manage a growing kingdom while his liege played.
…
"What are we doing in this hell hole, Beo? It's fucking freezing!" Souji Okita growled at his Peerage Member, the tall buff man and Hero Descendant grinning over at his fellow.
"Oh? Getting cold feet?" The man snickered as Souji glowered at the other man, "But, seriously, we're here to find something to fight." The man gave the other man a blood thirsty smile.
Souji snorted, "Of course, still trying to bandage that inferiority complex, Beo?"
The man snarled, "It's not a complex! I just don't like being looked down on constantly."
Souji rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Let's find some weak dragon and kill it to make you feel better, okay?"
Beowulf looked like he was a second away from trying to kill him, instead, but Souji just walked past the man and pat him on the shoulder with a condescending smile, utterly unconcerned as he leaned back to dodge the backhanded swipe that'd take off a weaker devil's head. Souji spread his wings and took to the air, followed by a frowning and grumpy Beowulf.
The two members of Lucifer's peerage flew above the skies, their eyes sharp as they tried to spot anything of note.
Souji stopped his flight, spreading his eight wings out as he did so, Beowulf following. "Hey, whose lands are we on?" Souji asked.
"Hmm, the defunct house of Marquis Sabnock, I believe." Beowulf muttered, "Why?"
Souji pointed down, and Beowulf followed his finger, his own brow furrowing as he stared down at some sort of town. It was a town that was located in the middle of the Tundra they were flying within, a flat plane of frozen land that they were flying over to get to the Tyrant Teeth Mountains.
The two men shrugged and floated down. Flying down, they noticed that the ground wasn't covered in permafrost, but rich soils suitable for farming. They also noticed that there were several areas that were blooming with rich crops, with Beowulf idly noticing yellow wheat, spuds, cabbage fields, and carrots, and several other types of roots and vegetables that grew deep in the ground.
They hit a shoddy dirt road that didn't seem to lead more than fifty feet down south, the direction they came; although they noticed from the air this dirt road extended far into the horizon and mountains.
Beowulf and Souji walked into the town, their eyes going wide when they found a small party waiting for them.
Standing at the rough limit of the village, for it was less of a town and more so a collection of primitive buildings, they inspected those who lived here.
The first of the party, was a robed skeleton, a being with High-Class magical power whom they instantly categorized as a Lich. He was the strongest in the village, as next to him was a tall and lanky humanoid creature, thick and long tusks exiting its mouth with a hunched over back. It held a thick iron studded club, and its great musculature showed it had experience using it. Its face was covered in a primitive, but exceptionally well carved mask. At the tall being's side was a massive prehistoric raptor, one with blue and cyan feathers along its form as it was scratched by the being's three fingered hand.
The skeleton moved forward and bowed, hands within its thick black robes. "Welcome to the Frontier Town of Chief Glock, by the Authority of Marquis Sabnock, we greet you."
The 'chief' stepped forward. He pounded his chest twice, "We'za be greetin' you, mahn. I bein' Chief Glock. You no have da' bad juju, and az long az yous have no bad mojo; youz'a welcome to ma' here village. We'za accept da' trade with Gold n' Silvar, or any of ya items blessed with da voodoo. I bein' you two's guide, ja?"
Souji looked close to losing it in laughter, wondering when the underworld had a Jamaican population, with Beowulf just being utterly confused.
"Uh, sure." Beowulf accepted. Souji followed his friend, swallowing his laughter as they entered the town. Inside they saw there were dozens of Low-Class undead working the farms and using industrial equipment to harvest the fields. Women and men of this strange race, usually masked and wrapped in thick furs and clothes, ran around the town, doing tasks.
"Do you practice necromancy?" Beowulf asked.
The chief shook his head, "Dat' bein' da' Lord. He bein' a master of da' darkest and most mysterious of voodoos. He be summonin' the spirits of lost ghosts, given' em knowledge and false life ta live for a time once again. Da' bones bein' created all fake, like 'em homunculi."
Souji popped it, "I was under the impression that House Sabnock was, er, Extinct."
The chief scratched his chin, "Da spooky voodoo doctors do be sayin' Lord Sabnock was asleep for a bunch of time. Says that the libraries of wisdoms be old and ancient. We's be building up a powerful army, yeah, to fight back against them Angels and Fallen."
Beowulf and Souji both coughed, the dots instantly connecting and a very politically sensitive topic being revealed. This Lord Sabnock likely still thought the Great War was still going, and was gearing up his lands and building up his legions to rejoin the war.
Beowulf quickly asked, "How can we gain an audience with Lord Sabnock."
The creature titled its head, scratching its mask, "Hmm, dat being a big thing, Lord Sabnock is tha' Lord, ya' know. Askin' for his attention bein' a big, big thing." The thing shrugged, "Well, if ya' need to know, go to the big lodge with the burnin' skull symbol on it. That's the House of Wisdoms where all the spooky voodoo doctors do their spookin'."
The two bowed to the chief and excused themselves, quickly navigating to the obvious building. They knocked on a heavy wooden door and opened up to a dark room with various praying mats on the floor. Skeletons were kneeling towards braziers filled with green fires, illuminating a battle standard of House Sabnock. Sitting in the center and staring into a pit of green flames was the High-Class Lich.
"Lord Lich," Beowulf bowed, Souji not doing so as he stared at the meditating skeletons. "We'd like to request a meeting with your Lord."
The lich looked up from his pool of fire and stared up at the two men with blank sockets. "Lord Sabnock has been alerted of your presence within his lands. He questions your reasons for being here."
The two glanced at one another, and Souji hesitantly told the truth, "We were hunting."
The lich nods, "Understandable. Then please, follow me. Do not resist the teleportation matrix."
The two nodded and stood next to the skeleton, who traced in the air a strange glyph and symbol. The two men suddenly blinked as a bright flash of blue light filled their eyes, and once it cleared from their retinas, they were standing on a ledge.
"Agares?" Souji muttered, remembering the floating city as he stared off the cliff edge above a grand forest and mountain.
"Welcome to The Sabnock Castle." The lich started, drawing their attention back to it. The two men turned around, and promptly froze.
A thousand weapons were, while not drawn or bared threateningly at them, lined along the castle walls and turrets. A dozen skeletons with crossbows resting on their shoulders stared down from the murderholes on the turrets, crowding around the limbs of a two-headed giant who stared down from twin massive helmets, holding in its hands a thick bow.
The ramparts were filled with spear wielders in heavy plate, pikemen, and deadly infantry and archers alike. The high blackwalls that stood seventy five meters tall were engraved with thousands upon thousands of mystical runes, and the magical wards themselves made both men's assholes pucker up.
"Please, follow." The lich asked politely, moving towards the massive gates of some mythical metal, wood, and enchanted stone. They slowly ground open, on their faces were the images of truly demonic demons and devils fighting the angles of heaven and hell. The portcullis raised, made of a metal they'd never seen before, but radiated such magical protective energy that he knew it'd tank his king's blasts of destructive energy for a significant amount of time. If surviving Lucifer himself was a level of grading one needed to explain something, then there was something seriously strange going on.
Once the last gate opened, the two servants of Lucifer were greeted with an army. Halberds holding up tabards and banners of House Sabnock raised, trumpets blared and eight legged demonic war-horses snorted and sneered down at the men who woodenly made their way through a literal small army of Mid and Peak High-Class warriors vested in armors and weapons that made their senses scream with danger. Standing at a dias was one being decked out in armor at the Low-Ultimate Class, who still made their sense scream with warning for the armor, weapons and quality of bearing he bore was a grade up from the warriors surrounding them.
It was obvious this was the man who led this deadly army.
Standing next to the armored commander, was a mage who was also at the Low-Ultimate Class. His black robe was inlaid with a golden lining, and his ornate staff at his side was undoubtedly a powerful artifact that'd enhance his abilities greatly. The lich leading them flew off and bowed to the black robed man, and from the crowd, a small green girl wearing a…jester's uniform…ran up to the center of the dias they stopped at.
She tripped as she neared the center, weakly standing up and then needed to jump up and snatch the microphone placed just out of her reach.
"Ahem! Welcome, guests, to The Castle of the Sabnock!" She stated. She grunted as she reached up to put the microphone back in place, before scampering off.
Beats of a drum started to sound out, Beowulf and Souji looking around to find why it was being played. They increased in dramatic tone, soon a choir was singing in grandiose and dramatic tones, and then everyone started to kneel.
Beowulf and Souji both hesitantly joined the crowd, and glanced up as a shadow cast itself over them. Their jaws dropped as a man with Twelve Wings coasted down from the air and landed with a kneel, his dozen wings casting a dramatic cloak over his form. He stood up, holding in his left hand a drink, and his right was resting on a blade at his side. A blade that Souji was staring at like it was the devil.
"We greet you, Corvac Sabnock, Marquis of Hell!" The warriors all roared, as did the trumpets and music.
"I greet you, guests of Sabnock Castle." The man elegantly bowed.
The swordsman licked his lips, "Lord Sabnock, I- I must ask, what is that blade?".
The man grinned, "Diablos, a blade I made with the corpse of a particular demon its name was inspired by."
The swordsman gave a shaky nod, his heart trying to burst out of his chest as it demanded he run the fuck away from the blade that was plain and simple: Evil as fuck.
"Now, guests, stand. Stand and follow me to my study, we have much to discuss, I haven't a doubt." The man gave a dismissive gesture to the standing army, and the formation broke into squads of patrolling warriors.
Souji and Beowulf followed after the devil, the man leading them through halls filled with treasured arms, armor, fantastic art pieces, and a level of riches and elegance in rarity and quality that they'd never seen. They were the warriors of Lucifer himself, and a marquis had him beat out with the amount of weapons and armor they'd seen equipped or on the walls.
The man led them to a room with a desk inside, an assortment of papers spread out on the desk. Two green people entered the room and set down plush and ornate chairs for them.
"I must apologize for the dramatics, but the opportunity was just too enticeful." The man wagged his brows, "It really was an ego trip, although in hindsight it was a bit much." He admitted, "Anyway, how can I help two men within my newly instated territory of Sabnock?"
The two men glanced at one another, and it was decided Souji would lead the conversation, "We represent the current reigning Lucifer of the Four Satans, one Sirzechs Lucifer. We have a few…questions."
They saw how the man started to frown, "Current Lucifer?" The man asked, "Sirzechs was that Gremory, if I remember. Powerful, certainly, but how'd he jump the line of succession?" The man's fingers rapped along his wooden desk, waiting for an answer.
Souji flared his collar, "Lord Lucifer established and led a new faction called the New Devils against the Old. After the Great War, which ended with the death of all four Original Satans, the descendents wanted to start a new war. One we couldn't sustain, leading to a Civil War, which our faction, the New Devils, won."
What they said obviously sent the man into deep thought.
"My father, one Cornelius Sabnock, was assassinated. His corpse is interred within the Crypts of this Castle, along with my mother." He narrowed his eyes at the two men, "From what I know of the man, he would have likely stayed neutral, his concern more directly related to the status and condition of his servants and lands than any civil war; even one as explosive as what you are describing to me. This means that as the victors of the conflict, I am to…fall in line as it were." It was obvious he didn't want to do that. "Thank you for bringing this news to me, it seems I need to get up to date with the rest of the Underworld. I feared leaving my territories in such a reprehensible state before heading into a possibly hostile political situation; something that I fear still hasn't changed, but no matter. I shall face this obstacle. The Underworld shall learn that Sabnock does not go down easily, as you can no doubt attest to."
The two men made sure to memorize what the Lord before them stated, sure to relay it to their King. "How did you survive so isolated from the world, Lord Sabnock?" Beowulf asked, somewhat curious.
The man frowned, "I'm unsure of the events that led to it, but a mere six months ago I woke up in this castle, not yet a floating castle within the crypts. I realized I was alone in a hostile world that had claimed my father's life for reasons I wasn't sure of. Now I am not so alone, nor am I helpless." There was a message within that statement, and the two men were sure the Underworld now had a rising dragon within its territories, one who to them seemed like a moderate follower of the old ways.
"Now, I will not answer any more questions. You two claimed you came here for a Hunt, no?" The man grinned with a glint in his golden eyes. "You are in luck, an Ice Dragon of the High-Ultimate Class has awoken, and I plan to slay it. I'd like someone to brag to when I slay the beast, so I hereby recruit you into my hunting party."
Beowulf opened his mouth, only for Souji to elbow him and shake his head.
"Now come! I need to dress the part if we're going to be slaying dragons!"