Demonic Magician

After a few minutes of interest and confusion, the novelty of true-form Roger wore off enough to where they could get stuck in to combat. It wasn’t long before his pristine white fur was matted with blood and he looked even further from something that could be described as cute. Now untethered from using a corpse as a puppet, his combat efficiency was up - and he acted as a second tank to draw in more opponents while Wolf held the lion’s share.

Indeed, everyone seemed pleased with the emergence of an odd sixth member for our show.

Everyone, except for me.

Certainly, he had returned my hat - and as my pact demon, having him do my bidding was the natural order of things… but everything else about this was not natural. We’d broken a rule. Twisted and come unmoored from the tethers of the System. He was designed to only arrive through a dead body. His time here was meant to be limited. Yet here he was…

Normally, I relished in existing through bullshit. Reveled in seeing what I could get away with. There was a point where I had slid past a line and could no longer stop. A slippery slope that I had cooked up myself.

It was only a matter of time before the System put me back in my place and probably punished me for my insolence.

In saying this… there was a good reason why part of me wasn’t fearful of repercussions. Could just be the Trauma, or the fact that I bounced from one near-death experience to another all the time already. More likely, it was my ego. Thinking the world needed me. Inadvertently, I had been cultivated to erase the Lady and how she was breaking the System.

Eggs and omelets, I was sure.

I watched as Roger dropped his large mace, the sharp weapon of one of the Hyenids piercing through his arm. His left hand went up and grabbed them around their lower jaw, his odd human-like fingers filling their mouth even against the threat of being bitten. With a twist, he dislocated it, the crack causing me to wince. As he pushed the Monster away, it received an arrow through the throat from Ren.

Two more cycles of the repeatable, and we should be leveled up. Sun was gradually working its way toward the horizon. I craved the night and the promise of proper rest. Sitting idle was maddening, even if it was what was best for me. Of course, I did have the occasional hell-bird circling around in the background… but that was par for the course.

The number of times I had summoned a demon out of sight and knowledge of the others, and done nothing with them was… well, uncountable at this stage. Hitting that one-in-a-million trick was all the more impressive if it looked like you only made the single attempt. If there was one thing my upgraded Sleight of Hand was good at, it was allowing me to determine the perfect timing to cast and throw cards out of sight of everyone else.

If I had to sit and do nothing, the least I could contribute was keeping an eye on the surroundings. The fact that I was doing this while playing Solitaire in mid-air with my mundane cards was neither here nor there. My brain needed the stimulation to feel active.

Tanya whistled me over, and I blew the game away to ashes. I could change the cards to whatever I wanted anyway, so at some point it stopped being about the game and started being something more performative. With a long glance behind me, I stepped over to the Fateweaver.

“Usually I’d leave loot distribution to the end, but I want you to have this now.” She smiled, some odd excitement in her eyes.

“Oh?” I shrugged and openly accepted what she was offering. A Legendary item.

[Gloves of Ego] [+5 Int, When Mana is below 50% spells heal you for 5% HP over 10 seconds. Does not stack.]

She nudged me with her elbow before turning her attention back to the combat. “Might keep you on your feet for a little longer.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and bowed out, moving back out of their way to sit down on my summoned chair. Wasn’t often we found Legendary items, but the ones that suited me were always an interesting addition to my act. Headband of Woe increased my damage for the mana used, and now these Gloves of Ego healed me.

For the most part, that made my use of less of a cost - or could get me out of a pickle if I caught an arrow through my soft parts. Plus, the Intelligence was an increase, and… as I put them on, I saw that they were white gloves. Not quite as silken as the typical magician ones, but they fit the look almost too perfectly.

Quinn stopped an arrow out of the air, protecting the bear from the next group they had gotten aggro from. Wolf burst forward and disemboweled the ranged Monster, before engaging the better armored one beside the first. Already, the fixer was in beside him to finish off the downed System-created with a jab of his sword.

Roger had recovered from his arm injury thanks to Ren’s healing - which apparently worked on the demon rabbit. A wide swing of Jokkar’s mace broke the arm of his opponent, their weapon falling to the floor as the elf pinned their other shoulder, rendering them defenseless. With a grunt, my pact demon put his strength into a heavy downward strike, which pulped the skull of the Hyenid and sprayed him with their brains.

Tanya was alternating between blessings and curses, improving the Stats of the Party while slowing and degrading the health of the continuous stream of bad-guys.

And Max, the most established magician and pinnacle of power in this realm… sat and pouted a little.

“Why don’t you write in that sad journal you like so much?” Ren called from ahead of me, catching my stroppy expression.

I couldn’t think of anything clever to respond with, and didn’t care to lie so brazenly to her, so I just shrugged. If anything, I should be sitting here thinking about our next steps. How we were supposed to assail the necromancer and his group - if they were still entrenched in their current position.

The camp we had upturned in the first area had a crate of spare blood - it would be wise to expect some of the groups here to have a similar stockpile. Expecially Taylor’s group, considering they were meant to be a roadblock for the whole area. A base of operations, really.

Thus, I felt confident that we would find them where we expected them to be.

Second point to note - what to expect when we got there. I watched as Roger head-butted a Monster and proceeded to stomp on them with his long feet as they dropped to the ground. The Fort by the bridge was something clear and visible, that we were able to destroy thanks to it being made shoddily and with flammable materials. I’d have to pick Tanya’s brains on whether she knew how they were set up.

The ramshackle building had more Players and effects in place - going against only four sounded easy enough… but I had a feeling there was a good reason they were chosen to be the protectors of the area there. And if they had the power of a Guardian… oh, that reminded me.

“May I have the contact details of the Eternal Wardens guy, Tanya?” I asked. “They might be more receptive to my questions.”

She considered it for a second before agreeing. “Can’t see the harm - it’s you they are interested in, after all.” Double-checking she wasn’t required in the fight, she sent over his details.

Ren calmly put an arrow through the eye socket of one Hyenid, before sticking a second with her entangling shot. She looked so focused when in battle - something I passively respected and appreciated, but perhaps she was right to browbeat me about not including her in the bullshit I often found myself soloing.

[Max: Hey, Dimitri? Max here, the magician that the Lady does not like.]

I pulled a face as looked back as the Party moved forward to the next group. Behind us, the respawns were still far away, so I didn’t care to move just yet. It didn’t look like he was keen to respond to me directly - and I wondered if perhaps that was a pretty weak entrance for someone so-

[Dimitri: Max. It is great to make your acquaintance.]

[Dimitri: I have heard plenty about you in passing.]

[Max: Super. Tanya told you I killed a Guardian, right?]

[Dimitri: She did, but didn’t elaborate past that.]

[Dimitri: I much prefer talking in person…]

[Dimitri: But I am eager to learn more about you.]

Already, I had a bit of an ick from the guy. A fan club was nice and all, but something best kept very far away and out of sight. Attention and adoration were the goal, but some of the people who fell down that path were… well, they could be a lot.

[Max: You said you’d help after I got rid of the necromancer.]

[Dimitri: Very true - the desire to meet is something personal.]

[Dimitri: The leadership is more keen for you to prove your worth first.]

[Max: I’m rolling my eyes. Anything I should know right now?]

[Max: Something that might keep me alive? I think there are two other Guardian-killers.]

[Max: Three, including the Lady.]

[Dimitri:…]

[Dimitri: Please hold.]

I rolled my eyes again. By the time we cared or were able to see this supposed resistance group, we would have probably killed at least one of the Guardian users. Tanya had been able to infer from what he drip fed her that each Guardian might be different and allow different strengths to their wielders.

The Siren had allowed me to reach my pinnacle, a true acceptance of my demonic power which led to the Domain granting me an actual stage to perform upon. It… didn’t really clue me in to what that was actually offering, however. Perhaps my brain was too mushy to really consider it.

Idly, I got up and walked closer to the fray while my mind ticked over. Another Player could create a second self - or puppet that acted independently. The necromancer seemed to be able to summon a large horde of undead. The Lady enraptured people under a spell and grew in power the larger her cult was.

There was an underlying thread that was at the tip of my tongue, yet I couldn’t quite grab a taste of the words. My eyes went up to my Chat, distracting me from salivating over the unknown truths.

[Dimitri: I cannot tell you all, I apologize.]

[Dimitri: If you have only recently defeated a Guardian, that narrows down which one.]

[Dimitri: We do not understand their powers yet.]

[Dimitri: So leadership is very keen to meet you.]

[Max: After the necromancer is dead.]

[Dimitri: Correct. Apologies. Although…]

[Dimitri: Whatever you are doing must be working.]

[Dimitri: Our morning reports tell a tale of the CS down here retreating.]

[Dimitri: You didn’t hear that from me, though.]

[Max: Understood. Take care.]

I sighed and clucked my tongue, unsure where my thoughts had left off before the barrage of messages. In the time I had spent reading his useless words, the Party had called for another break and was making their way over to me.

Roger was a sight of pure horror, completely drenched with blood and internal organs. Seemed happy enough, however. Wolf didn’t have as much gore soaked through his fur, but also had a contented expression. I was just glad he had found a more comfortable pace, and he wasn’t burning out again.

“Any luck?” Tanya asked, her eyebrow raised. “Talks so fucking much, right?”

“Correct.” I smiled. “And mostly a dead end - however, he did tell me that the Shadows near them have been moving back.”

Ren wrinkled up her face and pulled her chair out right next to mine. “They’re not in a stalemate down there like the campground was?”

The Fateweaver rubbed at her chin. “It is something like that.”

“Useless bastards,” Ren muttered, taking hold of my hand and briefly inspecting my glove before her fingers intertwined with mine.

“It’s always just us,” I said. Something of a more miserable statement than I was intending. Fiona’s group were close to coming back to this area, but would miss out on the fun. Wasn’t sure where Leyla and hers were. Eternal Wardens were stuck with their thumbs up their asses. If the playing pieces could just align, then we’d have a small army that could push back.

Maybe that’s what we’d need to go against the Lady and what forces she could consolidate as we closed in.

My eyes went up to my Trauma status. I itched and squirmed.

I needed to be let out of this cage to be insufferable again.