Baal: Princess of the Toxic Marsh.
A member of the royal family that rules over a certain region of Inferno Preferring not to be seen, she conceals herself under most circumstances, but she sometimes enters into contracts with witches of sufficient ability and answers their summons.
Contrary to her enormous, toad-like appearance, Baal is quite light on her feet and has extraordinary jumping ability.
She is also one of the most accomplished singers in Inferno and stirs not only the soul of those who hear her voice, but even the skies themselves, and is able to manipulate air pressure to cause poison rain to fall and hurt those who would dare oppose her.
She also possesses an endlessly extending and sticky tongue that can snare distant opponents and swallow them in an instant.
Excerpt from Lemegeton's Guidebook of Demons
Avalon's Lake was located in the eastern part of the island, the water itself was clear and pristine, a fact that had as much to do with the various supernatural beings living here as it did the Blackmore's use of the place as a massive reservoir. It was actually quite ingenious, water magic is used to draw sea water from the surface into the complex, where it's fed into the various farms, and once filtered feeds back into the lake that has a drain in the bottom of it that opens when the lake itself gets too full dumping excess water back into the ocean, alongside any pollutants in the water.
Angie and Livia looked on at the water, the portal was located inside of the lake itself, available only when the water reaches it's lowest point, so the two of them grinded, fight against the local monsters that were in the water, of course the two of them was joined by a third individual.
"Alright the Water's draining." Daniel loaded all of the materials that he gathered from Angie and Livia's slaughter into several large packs. "Karen we're leaving!"
Rusalka were terrifying, Raymond expected a heart warming reunion when his partner demon returned to her tribe but instead they all proceeded to mercilessly brutalize each other after flying into a jealous rage. At once the last Rusalka standing scooped the rucksacks up into several balls of water and proceeded to make their way back to the school, while in the mean time Angie and Livia walked along the dried out part of the lake and entered the portal.
The lake looked far less pleasant in this version, a layer of peat moss had turned the water into muck and the air was thick with the smell of methane. And sitting in the middle of the swamp was a massive toad, wearing the high class neck brace and jewellery that you'd normally see on a noble lady trying to project an air of high standing.
"That would be the 'princess' we came here for." Angie noted as she got her spear ready. The Toad fired off a impossibly long tongue, flying over the poisoned lake and forcing the two girls to dive out of the way of the tongue in question, Angie aimed her weapon at the tongue at the same time Olivia fired off a spell, both magic's missed their target as the toad retracted her tongue with great speed and jumped up high into the air. "Scatter!" Angie and Livia went to opposite sides of the swamp, Baal crashed down back into the water where the two girls were located with a cannon ball, a miniature tsunami formed as Angie and Olivia both used barrier magic to protect themselves from the toxic water. In the gap between the barrier going up and water washing off the barrier the long tongue of the toad smashed into Angelica's barrier. "Hard to miss now!" Angelica fired the flames of the attack that she had been preparing directly into the tip of the tongue forcing the toad to shriek as she dunked her tongue into the water.
"Angie look out!" Baal had released creatures resembling small white tadpoles into the water which now swarmed the girls from below. Angelica resorted to firing balls of fire into the water while Olivia started beating on them with her fists augmented by magic, both girls were trying to keep the creatures in the water away from them, ultimately a distraction. A loud baritone voice echoed out throughout the lake singing a wordless song, the toad had started to sing. "Should we assume-"
"Yes!" And she was out of range of what Angelica can manipulate.
Angelica and Olivia both fired off their spells at the toad trying to take her out. The toad was too far away for Angie's new trick to work so instead they resorted to hurling spells at her, in futility since the tad poles were more than happy to block the shots for their 'mother.' Instead Baal completed her song, and soon it started to rain the same black sludge as what was in the water.
"Barrier now!" Angelica blew herself over to Olivia who in turn created a barrier to act as an umbrella.
The rain burned like acid against Olivia's barrier but she kept it up, the rain was just the distraction that Angie needed. Grabbing her hollow pipe of a spear in hand Angelica armed the weapon, her thermal kinesis forcing the air out of the pipe leaving a vacuum inside of the spear and around it. "Hyaaah!" With a Grunt of exertion Angelica threw the spear at the giant toad, the wind pushing the spear forward and stabbing directly into the belly of the beast. When a person is exposed to a vacuum the pressure difference sucks them away, when the only opening into that void is the size of a donut hole then the poor bastard in question gets crammed through that hole as violently as possible coming out the other end as a spray. Angelica continued to maintain the temperature around the toad, and continued to suck away all the air any way that she could from her spear. The demons insides were sprayed all over the swamp as Livia erected another barrier to protect the two of them until the Toad eventually keeled over. Mentally exhausted the two of them collapsed to their knees the rain having run out.
"We did it!" To Angelica's knowledge, this was the first time someone from their school fought one of the Colossi and made it through the fight without having been wiped out, let alone winning, she let the warm feeling of triumph sink into her body. And then phase two started. From all over Avalon forest enormous amounts of mana was gathered together as a mana circle appeared on the surface of the water. "What is-?"
"Angie!" Olivia recognised this magic circle. "It's the mana compression formula in our piercings! She's doing something huge!" Baal's remains dissolved into the water, bubbling away as a new form emerged, that of a hauntingly white red haired woman in an opulent ballgown, Baal Zebul.
Baal Zebul: The Siren of The Toxic Marsh.
The Zebul Family of demons rule over Hell's Toxic Marsh, which serves as a filter for the feelings of anger and violence of those who are traversing the River Styx.
This form is only revealed to those she has formed an eternal pact with; in other words, an opponent who sees this form has come face to face with their imminent demise.
In this form, Baal adopts a truly regal and graceful air, singing with an emotional and beautiful voice that resounds through all of Inferno, bringing a dramatic death on part with an expertly performed aria.
In fact, her love of opera is such that she occasionally journeys into the human world disguised as an average toad, sneaking up to the rafters of theaters to watch.
Excerpt from Lemegeton's Guidebook of Demons
"That-" The demoness brushed off the swamp from her dress, the sheer force briefly pushing the water away and exposing the bottom of the swamp. "-was rather rude."
Power. Absolute power beyond their wildest comprehension that they felt with every fibre of their being, even Livia's barriers were full of cracks now. The only thing she had done was talk to them but their powers were rattling and their bodies were shaking. This was a Demon Lord, the God of the Earth was powerful yes but also unstable and half formed, a toy of the Principality made using their princess as the core. This is what a Demon Lord is supposed to be like. Angelica felt something dripping down her face and realised that she was bleeding, from her nose, her mouth, her eyes it didn't matter. They were dying.
"Hahahaha!" Even the Toad Princess looked at Angie strange when she started to laugh of all things. "They want us to fight a Demon Lord as our Graduation exam!?" Angelica was laughing at the situation from the bottom of her heart. Now the two of them would die, the fairies would fish their carcasses out of the water and then revive them in the infirmary, and they would remember nothing about this encounter when they woke up, then they'd spend several months on grinding to grow strong enough to beat her. "Come at us you bitch!" Angelica was smiling ear to ear.
"Angie!" Near as Livia could tell Angelica was concussed, bruised and her bones broken, insane might be a understatement.
"We'll take the best that you have and make you eat it!" Olivia started healing herself and Angie, hoping that sanity would be restored with their good health.
"Hahaha!" And now it was Baal who was laughing. "I'll take that as an invitation!" Baal put her Umbrella away followed up by clearing her throat. "Ahem!"
And then a loud high pitch melodious voice echoed out from the songstress, beautiful and haunting, the kind of performance that they would remember for the rest of their lives. Angelica deployed her silence spell again, instantly the heat spiked like they had both been locked inside of a sauna, the water around them was boiling, and worst yet the literally cursed song was still punch through at full force Angelica's spell having barely made a dent. Olivia knew a barrier was just a waste of time, instead she focused on keeping her own and Angie's bodies together through sheer force of will. Angie's Silence spell was generating a huge amount of heat, she was actively dividing the heat into electrons and protons, the first into the water and the latter into the air riding on the steam. The world went white as Angelica's lightning came down from the sky, deafening all three of the people in question as the water in the lake turned into hydrogen and oxygen, the massive heat bloom created a storm centred on the resident songstress sucking in all the flammable gases and was soon set on fire by Angie. Now the last of Angie's mana had been drained, even with her minimalist style of spell casting Angie has to spit out enough mana to counter Baal's attack. And she wasn't the only one, Olivia was spitting out enough mana to hold the two of them together despite Baal's song shaking their bodies apart and now Olivia was puking up blood as she fell over. Of the three of them the only one who wasn't out on their ass on the ground was the target of the last attack, Baal. Soon the surrounding woods shook as a group of Fae carrying a coffin into the swamp lands waltzed, followed by a black haired witch wearing glasses.
"Honestly, these kids keep insisting on punching above their weight class." Cereza tossed the two young women into the coffin, filled with a magic potion that preserved their lives and healed their bodies. "So how were they?" Baal started to laugh as she fell into a chair that had appeared behind her.
"They're perfect! Stubborn and Audacious Just like what the clan should be!" Baal was happy from the bottom of her heart at her audience. "I'd expect nothing less from the young master's fiances."
"Phantom and Alraune thought the same thing." Well, Alraune was not quite as nice about it but still. "Still we'll need to wipe their memories as payment for the Fae healing them." Which is a shame all things considered, this situation would be a good experience for them.
"Oh that would be such a shame though!" Baal complained holding her chin against her fist. At once the demoness waved her arm, her main affinity might not be healing magic but there was a lot that can be done just by manipulating water inside of the human body.
"Then does that mean that you've taken an interest?" Cereza asked cocking a brow in interest. "Just so you know, neither of these two have any real affinity for water."
"Oh but the red one has learned how to make mana into sound!" Baal complained about what she interpreted as an unfair situation. "She's only one step away from becoming a real musician!" Baal pouted as she crossed her arms. "It's not like you have any affinity for water magic either and we worked just fine together." Cereza looked at the frog princess with a glare before she let out a sigh.
"It seems that we don't have to heal them after all." Thus started a beautiful partnership between Angelica and Baal Zebul.
It was a struggle for Angelica to move, it was a strong contrast between the last time Angelica woke up in the infirmary and this time, forcing herself to sit up was a struggle.
"Wow you two really took a number out of yourselves." The most notable difference though was that Angelica was blinded, she felt something wrapped around her head, so she was reliant on sound to identify the person whom she was speaking to.
"Leon's mother right?" Angelica asked sounding curious.
"It's Mrs. Blackmore when we're at the school." Jeanne lightly scolded. "Congratulations for your victory against a Colossus. Even though I say that you only won because Baal took a liking to you."
"Is Olivia okay? I can't tell like this." Angelica looked around anyway despite her eyes being like this.
"You woke up first but she's okay. That was quite reckless of you attempting to use brute force to neutralise a Colossus's attacks by yourself. The two of you have been badly dehydrated, your eyes nearly popped out of your head from the intense heat that you generated. If you weren't in the dungeon, you would've died again."
"So you can bring back the dead." Angelica questioned suspiciously. "It's fae magic, it's not my area of expertise. If you stop spreading rumours about them that they then have to pluck out of your classmates heads they might even explain how it works." Angelica made a note to stop talking about the people responsible for putting her back together behind their backs. "More importantly you and your flute are going to be out of commission for a few days."
"Flute?" Angelica didn't remember having a flute.
"You were the one who fed most of Baal's blood to your demon. So now instead of eating the poor bastard to get it back she's deciding on the majority of the changes his body is going through right now." That sounded like a fair trade to Angelica. "Individuals who use sound manipulating magic are rare, it tends to mess with their chants. Not to mention that there's no natural affinity for it. I'm afraid that Baal has no intention of letting you go until she has taught you and your demon everything that she can." Well, that's what she gets for provoking a Demon Lord.
"Hertrude is the one with the musical instrument why isn't she bothering her?" Angelica didn't like the idea of her weapon randomly getting a remodel. "Hertrude isn't the one who made her way into Baal's boss room and fought her." True. "I recommend spending time with family yourself. And While you're at it you can pick up Ifrit from your brother too."
"Those were the demonic gauntlets Leon lent my brother right?" Angelica suspected she knew what that means.
"Correct. Congratulate your sister in law for me when she's done chewing you out for nearly cooking yourself alive." Angelica was fairly certain she looked fairly sheepish after a line like that.
Angie's Father, alongside her brother Gilbert and his wife Rebecca all thoroughly chewed out Angelica throughout their entire visit, Rebecca even made use of the fertility charm from Yamatai, the Redgraves always did have a lot of mana, and a lot of people they can draw from. Between the congratulations and scoldings Angie didn't get away from her family for several hours, and to her own surprise she had an appointment waiting for her.
"Hohohoho! I appear to be in the presence of a War Hero!" Deidre laughed with happiness, Angelica liked to believe that Deidre was laughing with her but she had a unique talent for making that hard to believe. "I take leave from the academy for a few months to go pick up a few islands and I come back to the Principality having been conquered and my good friend having become a Duke!" Angie wanted to know when the two of them became friends.
"Leon's in Alzer right now I'm afraid, we'll have see his brother about the formalities." Not to mention the fact that Nick was most likely the one who would make the islands suitable to the Blackmore's standards.
"Oh he's not enjoying the fruits of his triumph over Fanoss?" Deidre seemed disappointed if not anything else.
"Leon doesn't have the hobby of keeping women of low quality around himself." Angelica spat as if upset by the implications. There were quite a few women who previously wanted nothing to do with her Leon now trying to seek him out. "Nor does he do anything as boorish as forcing himself onto a defeated enemy."
"Oh? Based on the looks Hertrude was giving him back on the cruise ship I doubt he would be forcing her at all." Deidre seemed to have a rather envious ability to read people. "And not only that but then rescuing her sister from the ritual?" She really knows how to read people, and her Intel gathering was excellent too.
"You seem to have all the answers. Is there anything you legitimately want to talk about or have you already divined the information from your sources?"
"I mostly came here for girl talk, my sister is off to the brother to finalise the island exchange." Fantastic. Angelica didn't know which sister was harder to handle.
The heavy sound of industry came from Nick's workshop, grinding, metal bending, riveting the works. From what Dorothea has heard he's been quite busy processing Dungeon Mats into some mystery project, for now Dorothea was just going to watch him work for a while. That was the plan anyway but then Dorothea saw what Nick was working on. At first glance it was a chandelier, exquisitely done at that too, gold patterns both inlaid with jewels and with jewels hanging from it. However it was incomplete, and yet it was the incompleteness that drew her attention, leather straps outlined the shape of a woman, thin chains long enough to reach around their body ending in sharp accessories, the main base of the chandelier was disconnected from the ring, though the cuffs were pretty good indication of how the ring was supposed to be connected, but perhaps the best part was that there were places for two people.
Dorothea didn't say anything so much as she squealed at the top of her lungs before she ran out, Nick for his part didn't even know she had been there, a fact attributed to his loud grinder whirling at full speed next to him and the heavy ear Protection. Regardless Nick just finished work on the bondage rig he had been building for his parents anniversary gift unaware of the sheer headache that he had just unleashed upon himself.
For the time being Angelica just let Livia rest on her lap. Angie was blinded by the fight, Livia was muted, both of them had loss so much water that even with bath tubs full of Rodin's potions they were still days away from a full recovery. Instead Angelica did one of the few things that she was in position to do and listened to reports.
"Some of the male students have been getting nasty lately. Especially the first years." Daniel reported as he read from a bundle of papers, he initially prepared it so that Angelica could read it at her leisure but...
"Mostly they consist of the individuals originally from low ranking families who were promoted after the Battle against the Principality." Raymond gave the follow up. "A lot of them are former victims of the Forest of Ladies, and a lot of them are focusing their efforts on female students of low and common status." Livia tightened her grip on Angie's skirt.
"So they are victims of oppression from women and are now 'returning the favour.'" Angelica let out a sigh at this, there was nothing more annoying than someone who blames others for what they do not have. "Have they invoked the names of the Redgraves or the Blackmores?"
"...some yes." Raymond didn't like where this was going.
"Daniel, stationary." Daniel just let out a sigh as he got out a clip board and pen. Was it impressive or scary that Angelica's hand writing was just as Perfect when she was blind as when she could see?
Attention [insert name here] there has been a rumour spreading around the school that you have been [insert offence/s here] around the school/capital.
Normally I wouldn't concern myself with the hobbies of fools and let the proper authorities sort out the sordid details, unfortunately for us both I'm told you have invoked the name of [insert Blackmore and/or Redgrave here] and thus your idiocy is now my concern.
You will cease and desist your [insert offence/s here] immediately.
You are a disgrace to your family and a blight on mine, you will report to me immediately and receive further instructions.
I understand you are under the deluded impression that I have better things to do with my time than address your foolishness, know this: Time is my most abundant resource, Reputation is my most valuable, I use the first freely, and guard and cultivate the latter viciously.
Signed Angelica Rapha Blackmore Nee Redgrave
A notice mass produced by and filled in by students of the Blackmore faction as needed
Angelica patted Livia's head as Daniel left to have copies of the letter made and distributed, with that out of the way next was Stephanie's report.
"The biggest complaint from the girls is the lack of exclusive servants to do their bidding and plow them senseless. Beast men are still common enough, but the Blackmores demons are more expensive due to the prestige associated with them. The Elves on the other hand... well the kingdom wasn't looking favourably upon their efforts to plan a coup against them, needless to say. Even if they weren't they can't mug the other students for cash anymore, so they have to go dungeon diving taking their servants along as porters and hired muscle, which leads to a increase in the exclusive servants pay rates, which leads to a increase in the time they have to spend on dungeon diving etc, etc."
"So in short, having to complete their basic school work has left the Noble girls of the school caught in a vicious cycle of debt." Angelica wanted to feel bad for them, honestly, but in reality their current situation is entirely the product of their own actions, whether it is buying servants that they can't afford, not completing their own school work, or not learning how to be independent and get jobs for themselves. Angelica let out a sigh at this idiotic situation. "No matter, an increase in the capitals labour force will only be a good thing." If the exclusive servants can no longer do their jobs then they will simply quit the professional whore lifestyle and get a real job putting their enhanced strength to good use. For now they needed to focus on getting the economy back on track. "Where are the reports from the Winchester factory again?"
"Here they are!" Another of Angelica's followers piped up at that. "The farmer type Armaments are being ordered enmasse." It was a simple innovation, equipping armours with implements suitable as farm tools, now farms could see a increase in yield production, which they could now sell more of, which then could be used to buy armours and weapons, this increased to total combat readiness of the Kingdom since more people were now becoming more proficient with armours. It was unimaginable back in the days of the Forest of Ladies where most of the profits yielded by the family went to the personal expense account of the main wife. Needless to say there were people who couldn't afford Armours but the Redgraves generously gave such families Armour with the expectations that it would be paid back with interest within six years. "Good. What about the businesses in the Capital?"
"Turns out that the same alchemists that were mass producing cosmetics for the forest can just as easily make consumables for dungeon diving." One follower reported.
"The Jewellery artisans have been folded into the blacksmiths and weapons manufacturers." A second followed up.
"Airship rentals are on the rise to get into the Blackmores Dungeon." A third reported.
So a booming economy had taken place with the Blackmore's dungeon at the centre point. Good.
"Please make an open request to the Guild for Halos for myself for me would you." Might as well throw some Dia into the mixture.
Just because Angelica was hospitalised didn't mean that she couldn't do anything, as soon as she was able to walk again she made her way to the statue in the bar again, where she purchased a unfamiliar Green star. Soon Angelica and Olivia both were completely healed.
"Please don't drag me into any more of the Colossus fights Angie." Though Olivia's body was healed she still had some trauma's with Baal.
"Yes. I suppose one is enough for now." For now she says. "How are your studies going anyway?"
"Nyar's recommendations are fascinating in theory but I'm not sure about application though." Life code was a natural law that dictates the structure of a living being, you can achieve some pretty terrifying results just by altering less than one percent of a being's Life Code. "I talked to Cleare about it." Olivia pulled some pictures that the AI had printed off for her, a small humanoid creature, a cat and a banana respectively. "This is a Chimpanzee, they're extinct now apparently but common in the Old Age, there's less than one percent difference between them and humans. This cat? 10% difference. This Banana, a fruit? 50% Difference."
"So even if you do crack life code you're afraid of creating an abomination that you'd have to put down." Angelica observed and Olivia nodded reluctantly.
"It's more than that, I'm afraid that if I do figure it out I won't be able to separate it from normal healing magic anymore. I could be healing you or Leon one day and suddenly you grow a third arm or something!" Angelica could see how that would be a problem.
"You need to unwind." Angelica observed with a wince.
"I'm not drinking Angie." The Duchess does confess to an occasional glass of red wine.
"Not what I meant." Angelica stated as she ran through the options in her mind. "Rodin?" The Lord of Creation and Destruction was as usual Manning the bar, getting ready for the supper rush of adventurers. "Is the hotsprings open today?"
"For you? No." Rodin didn't bother with glasses, at least not what Angelica would classify as a glass, instead plopping two pitcher sized mugs that he had already filled with ice and lemonade on the bar counter.
"Point taken." So Angelica went with her second pick. "The Room is still rented under my name correct?"
"Try not to make a mess in there." Rodin tossed Angie her room key.
Thus Angelica spent a afternoon giving Livia deep tissue massage. Of course it was necessary that Livia strip for the task, Angelica even did the same to make her more comfortable, she even did the more... sensitive areas, of course Livia returned the favour with sensitivity increasing magic. Needless to say Olivia's mind was taken off of the contents of her lessons with the eldritch Horror Leon had unleashed upon the library.
Navigating the mean streets of Alzer was proving more of a challenge for Leon than he cared to admit. The only thing he really had to go off from was the Sacred Tree, it covered so much of Alzer's skyline that finding his way back to either his ship or the Umbran compound using the sun was proving difficult. Then exactly what Leon needed in the form that he least wanted it to be in appeared as a limousine drove up to him, a familiar head of green hair in the back seat.
"You look like someone who needs a lift." Louise smirked knowingly as Leon just gave a reluctant sigh as he climbed inside.
"Celine gave me the bluff notes about your 'protection detail' on Noelle." Leon started the conversation without prompting. "For the record you're lousy at your job." Louise looked more annoyed with Leon's criticism than anything else. "Ignoring the fact that it's typically the sign of a bad body guard when the person they're guarding actively hates them, Noelle has the extremely unwanted attention of one Loic Barielle tailing after her."
Louise gave a harrumph in response.
"If you must know, young Noelle was Leo's fiance when they were just brats, and now she doesn't even have the common decency to remember his name!" Louise was breathing deep with rage at the mere thought of her precious little Leo trailing off after that miserable good for nothing little-
"You really need to move past your feelings of incest towards your siblings Louise." The Rault Heiress was taken aback by Leon's statement, if her stammering and blush was any indication he managed to hit the proverbial nail on the head. "Our mothers are Alters of one another, we're practically Brother and sister." Half siblings but yes.
"Let's steer back on track." A task that Louise appeared to try and physically accomplish by picking up an imaginary object and putting it to the other side of her. "You aren't actually the Umbran I was out here looking for. That particular honour goes to Leo."
"You expected to find a Coma patient wandering the streets of the capital?" Leon's tone was disbelieving.
"The issue here you see is that Leo isn't in a coma anymore, or so mother believes."
Author's Note:
RonaldM40196867: That he does. Arias, no not just because he was the DMC 2 main antagonist but like so many other things about that game the potential for greatness was there but it was wasted, a Close second would be reboot Mundus, which like so many other things about the reboot he was simply a inferior version of the original Devil May Cry equivalent.
demolia85: Thank you for saying so!
Dakota Bruder: I've taken a lot of creative liberties, blame 3's poorly thought out story line first, it's newly revealed massive sprawling multiverse second.