Cults of the Dragon Gods (Path of Transcendence Book 4)

by Brian McGoldrick

  *Now, THAT is interesting.* As he stares at the whores, Dacbold has a grin plastered on his face.

  *Those columns of Power looked too uniform for them all to be casting a spell. Did you see if it was the armor itself or a storage device?*

  As I close with Lavinia, I draw my bastard swords and attack in a single motion.

  Dacbold shakes his head. *No. The light must have been intended to conceal the actual mechanism. It seemed like they mixed Radiance into the Mana.*

  *We can figure out how they did it after we kill or capture them.*

  Lavinia's casual looking attempt to block my blades results in her being driven back by the force of the impact. Her eyes open so wide that the whites are visible entirely around the irises, and a hint of wariness replaces the contempt that was there.

  The whores with bows pull arrows from their quivers, and two of them take aim at me. Three wards spring into existence in a shape resembling a chevron with the point flattened. The arrows flying at me shatter on impact with the wards.

  Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Boom.

  The small sonic booms from arrows and a loud detonation from Special Agent Jones' gun fill the air.

  Dacbold deflects an arrow aimed at him with his shield and engages to the whores with his axe. Even though both whores managed to catch Dacbold's blows with their weapons, they are both sent flying with a single block each.

  Boom! Boom!

  Another set of wards appears in front of Special Agent Jones. It takes the form of a small defensive wall with merlons and two embrasures for him to shoot out of. The impact of the bullets fired from his AA-12 shotgun stagger the whore aiming at him, and her arrow flies wildly off course.

  Swaying slightly to avoid an arrow, Valcrit strikes the whore closing on him with his glaive. Before the whore even has a chance to react, the point of his glaive hammers into her chest armor on the left side.

  The air of contempt and anger that previously surrounded the whores has been completely dispelled and replaced with something between wariness and fear. As their glances flicker around meeting the eyes of one another, another flash of Psi bursts out from Lavinia to the rest of the whores, and they tighten their grips on their weapons.

  A whirlwind, about five times the size of the one that Angelique used to destroy the drone at the cemetery, Springs into existence on top of Mikumi, who is one of the whores on the outside with a bow. Without giving her a chance to escape, the whirlwind sends her flying. She bounces off the side of the building behind us, and after hitting the ground, she does not move.

  *Start tossing that limo around and don't give the cunt inside a chance to get out.*

  Angelique's laughter momentarily fills the raid channel. *Yes, Master!*

  As the whirlwind closes on the limo, I press my attack on Lavinia. She is stronger and more skilled than I expected, but she still does not come close to reaching the level of the Throd'nahk, who is in the Second Circle of Coalescence like her. Months ago, I had already exceeded the Throd'nahk. Even with my Power pulsing at irregular levels, my physical advantages are overwhelming Lavinia, and she can only retreat in the face of my attack.

  The whirlwind picks up the limousine but does not send it flying. With the front of the car facing the ground, it spins like a top and is carried around the parking lot, seemingly at random, by the whirlwind.

  Another burst of Psi connects Lavinia to her whores. As a burst of light in a mix of silver and shades of blue explodes from each of the whores still standing, my vision turns into a shifting kaleidoscope of spectral colors. I am left with only my erratic spatial awareness to perceive the world around me.

  "Fuck!" Dacbold's shout contains more anger than anything.

  "AAAAHHHHH!"

  As the whore facing him seems to lower her guard, Valcrit strikes at her with a Lance of pure Psi Power. While screaming, the whore grabs her head with both hands and Valcrit spins his glaive through a nearly 270° arc, striking the whore. As both her hands and her head fly across the parking lot, the whores agonized scream ends.

  *Stupid whore.* Valcrit's two words contain a surprising level of raw contempt, and he immediately charges toward one of the whores with a bow.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  At the same time that Valcrit takes one of the whores' heads, Special Agent Jones unleashes a burst from his AA-12, and the whore that was charging toward him is thrown to the ground by the impacts of his bullets. The side of his skull that is fashioned from a metal plate with a red crystal in place of his eye might have been unaffected by the flash of Radiance.

  Strong beams of Elemental Power strike out from each of the whores. As searing pain cuts through the left side of my abdomen at the base of my ribs, a black rage rises from the depths of my Soul, and I snarl like an enraged beast. On the heels of my rage, the Dark Od fills my Soul and spills over into my Mind and Body. The pain that feels like my body is being torn apart and crushed at the same time redoubles several times over. With the exception of the Od, my Power goes into a state of rapid flux that leaves me completely unable to use it.

  Brand's Power is changing. Brand is getting stronger. The thought drifts through my mind, but it is not my own. The words are Perzey's, but they are so ephemeral that I almost miss them.

  Dacbold and Special Agent Jones scream in agony as well, but Valcrit jumps and flips over in midair just as the beams are launched. He does not scream, and it does not look like he is hit.

  With my Power beyond my control, my spatial awareness dissipates, plunging me into a state of complete blindness. Unable to see or sense the world around me, I am forced to rely on my hearing to clumsily attempt to block Lavinia's attacks.

  Crash! Screech!

  *Brand, I cannot see to control my wards. I was looking straight at the whores when they unleashed those vile bursts of Radiance.*

  *Me too, Master! I lost control of the cyclone! I think I dropped the car!*

  With my rage pushed beyond its normal level by the Dark Od, I have trouble formulating a response to my women. While struggling to bring my thoughts into order, I continue attempting to fend off the swords that seek to pierce my armor.

  As the Dark Od penetrates deeper into my Body and Mind, I become aware of the world around me again. The image of the world that I "see" is a strange hybrid mix of grayscale vision and the perception of physical mass and shape from my spatial awareness.

  "AAAARRRR!"

  Once again able to perceive Lavinia's attacks, I shift forward to my left, as she thrusts, and hammer the point of my right hand blade into her right shoulder. Her armor shatters under the impact and blood splatters everywhere. Flowing from my hand into my blade, the Dark Od penetrates Lavinia's body, and the volume of her screams triples.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Special Agent Jones charges the whore he knocked down with his first burst, and as she tries to rise to her feet, he fires off another burst that knocks her back to the ground.

  Boom!

  What the muzzle of his gun jammed into the Y shaped opening, Special Agent Jones pulls the trigger once. Blood, with fragments of bone and brain matter mixed in, spatters from the helm of the dead whore.

  With the whore that has his leash distracted, Tyrend grabs her ankle and slams his weight into the back of her knees.

  "Bastard! You … AAAAA!" As she hits the ground on her hands and knees, the whore's angry exclamation turns into a pained screech when Valcrit attacks her with another of his Psi lances.

  As Tyrend scrambles on top of the whore, he wraps the chain of his manacles around her neck and starts choking her. The whore flares about wildly but she seems unable to take any coherent action to get Tyrend off her back.

  "AAAAAAAAA!"

  Ripping my sword out of Lavinia's shoulder, I nearly tear her arm off. My kick sends her flying at one of the whores attempting to take down Dacbold with her arrows.

  Seeing Lavinia flying at her and still screaming in agony, the whore with the bow jumps out of the way. As
she draws another arrow to her cheek, the whore sins and takes aim at me.

  I rush the whore and easily deflect the arrow.

  Instead of reaching for another arrow, the whore raises her hand in the same position as the whores, other than Lavinia, did when they fired those laser-like beams of Radiance.

  Now that I know what is coming, I jump into the air and slip into the Shadow of the Od. Being in the Shadow of the Od ignores the laws of physics in the Amalgamate planes, and I push off to my right in midair, avoiding the second beam fired by the whore. As my feet touch the ground, I cover the last five or six yards in a single leap and knock aside the bow that the whore hurls at me.

  While trying to scramble away from my furious rush, the whore pulls her short swords and tries to block my strikes at the same time. Her strength is only a fraction of my own, and the force of the oblique chops with my heavy bastard swords knock her own lighter swords into her body. The edges do not penetrate her armor, but my kick, targeting her bladder, sends her flying. Slamming into one of the SUVs, she is embedded in a whore shaped indentation, and the vehicle is ruined.

  Crunch!

  Behind me, Dacbold's shield slams the whore that was harassing him, and the sound of her bones shattering fills the air.

  "I surrender!"

  "I surrender!"

  The last two whores drop their bows and raise their hands.

  "Strip and lie on the ground, with your arms and legs spread!" Without bothering to look in the direction of the two whores, I stalk toward the wrecked limousine.

  When Angelique lost control of her cyclone, the limousine wound up on the ground on its roof, and the force of the impact mostly crumpled the support posts for the roof. From the shaking of the crushed rear door, the Dragonian seems to be trying to get out.

  Thump! Screech! Clatter!

  The door is sent flying by a kick and the Dragonian wiggles her way out feet first. From this angle, it is obvious that she is not wearing anything under her dress.

  "You should shave that pussy."

  "How dare you look upon me, pig! I will have you skinned and soaked in a vat of acid!" As she scrambles to her feet, screeching like a harridan, the Dragonian rearranges the skirt of her dress to cover herself again.

  After the Dragonian looks around, her furious eyes settle on the two nearly naked whores. "What do you to sluts sows think you are doing?"

  Shivering in terror, the two whores freeze in place.

  I turn my cold stare on the two whores. "If you are not naked and on the ground in five seconds, you are dead."

  The two whores hurriedly strip off the last few pieces of jewelry and clothing and prostrate themselves spreadeagled on the ground.

  Looking at the Dragonian, I hold my swords slightly to either side with the blades angled upward. "You have the same choices the whores. Get on the ground naked or die. I don't care either way. It's your choice."

  The Dragonian is looking in my direction but not looking at me. Her eyes keep shifting back and forth between the two swords in my hands, and her already pale skin loses any and all hint of color. From the trembling of her limbs, it seems that she could collapse at any moment.

  The Dragonian start shaking her head and backing away. "No. No. No. No. NOOOOO!"

  In the matter of a few seconds, the Dragonian who stands about 5'11" swells to a height of more than 8' tall, and her body shifts into proportions unnatural for a human being. Scales, with an odd modeling of black, white, and grey, cover her skin, and bat-like wings sprout from her back. As her skull twists and warps, it takes on the semblance of a horned toad.

  Seeing the monster that the Dragonian has turned into, I shiver with excitement. Tightening my grip on my swords, I ready myself for battle.

  With her eyes glued to the sword held in my left hand, the Dragonian monster never looks at me once. Crouching and springing more than twenty feet into the air, the Dragonian spreads her wings and flies toward the south.

  "What the fuck?" Feeling cheated, I stare at the Dragonian's retreating form with my mouth hanging slightly open.

  *That thing was the foul offspring of a Dragon and a human or Alfar.* As Elan's words are softly enunciated in the raid channel, there is an undertone of an emotion that I cannot identify.

  I glance at Elan on the roof of the building, but her expression gives no clues as to what she might be feeling.

  Taking out a couple slave collars, I toss them to Special Agent Jones. "Collar those two whore sluts and make sure they don't have anything stuffed up and their body cavities."

  Catching the collars, Special Agent Jones nods and walks toward the whores.

  "Tyrend!" I take out one of my DokkAlfar healing potions and toss it to him.

  When I check Mikumi, she is breathing and conscious, but she has multiple broken bones. As I strip her naked, the grinding of the broken ends her bones make her hiss and scream from the pain. After making sure she doesn't have anything stuffed up in one of her holes, I snap a slave collar on her neck.

  Mikumi's left arm is not broken, and as she runs her fingers across the surface of the collar on her neck, she shivers. When she looks up at me, the fear in her eyes is easy to read.

  *What do you plan to do with that one?* Elan's words are in a private whisper channel.

  I look up at Elan to confirm that her smile is real. *I don't know, yet.*

  *You should keep her to use for your pleasure. Even though her body is thick and bloated like all human women, her muscles are nicely toned and firm. When you took your pleasure with her after fighting in the arena, she certainly got your cock hard enough times.* Elan still has a smile on her face, but she gives off the faintest impression of pouting.

  *You were watching?*

  Elan runs the tip of her tongue over her lower lip. *I enjoy watching you use a woman while pleasuring myself. But only if it is you.*

  "Ha!" I am not sure, if my single bark of laughter is really a laugh or something else.

  I turn a hard stare on Mikumi. "Why did that Dragonian thing run away? She was more powerful than all you whores put together."

  Staring up at me, Mikumi shivers and shakes her head. "I don't know. I've only seen the Holy Dragonian a few times in my life. This is the only time she is supervised a mission I was on."

  "Were you in Gor'achen on a mission?"

  Mikumi nods her head. "Yes."

  "What was your mission?"

  Mikumi frowns. "Espionage. That is all that our group has been used for since I was put in it. We've posed as whores in seven cities. Gor'achen was the longest. We were there for nine years."

  I show Mikumi a faint smile. "You're being awfully cooperative."

  Mikumi looks like she's trying to shrink into the ground beneath her. "I saw what you did to that man in the arena before the Jotun posers interfered."

  I smile at the memory of Sandor's screams of agony, and despite her golden bronzed skin tone, Mikumi almost turns as white as new fallen snow.

  I squat next to Mikumi and stroke her cheek with my Still gauntleted hand. "If you're a good girl, I'll use you in ways that make you orgasm. If you're a bad girl, I'll hurt you in ways that make you scream and beg to die."

  Including Mikumi, five of the whores are still alive, but I doubt Lavinia will last even another hour. With her right shoulder nothing but shattered bone and shredded meat, Lavinia is laying in a pool of her own blood. As she stares up at me, her eyes are glassy and her breath is coming in ragged gasps.

  "Why did you come after me?"

  At first, as she tries to speak, Lavinia coughs raggedly. "The … Holy Dragonian … ordered … she … didn't … give reasons. Go … die, pig."

  I smile. "You first. But I'm not gonna make it easy. You can suffer here until you die."

  I walk over to Tyrend. He's setting up, but his arms are hugging his knees in a fetal position. The leash grasped in his left hand leads to a collar on the neck of the unconscious whore on the ground next to them. Tyrend's condition is not a whole
lot better than Lavinia's, but if he can last till we get back to the Night Raven, he should pull through. Whether or not his Dick will ever work right again is a whole different question.

  "Were going back through the rift, tonight. You think you can make it?"

  Tyrend looks up at me, and his grin reveals bloodstained teeth. "Even if I have to crawl on my hands and knees, I'll make it."

  Tyrend grasps my outstretched hand and pulls himself to his feet. While hunched over and panting like an animal, he holds onto my arm to maintain his balance for a few moments. When he straightens his spine, he wobbles a little, at first, but then, he let's go of my arm and nods. Looking from the leash in his hand to the whore on the ground, he frowns.

  I grab his whore by her long hair and sling her over my shoulder. Even though she is unconscious, the whore groans in pain.

  "Let's get the slaves inside. Mikumi is mine, but if another one takes your fancy, you can have her. Otherwise, we can sell them later and split the profit." Taking these whores as slaves was not my work alone. One thing I have learned over the years dealing with mercenaries, is that you need to spread the plunder to keep fighting men happy.

  Most of the slaves taken from Area 51 were male and of little value, but female slaves are worth on average ten times the value of males. If no one wants to keep them for personal use, selling off trained whores like these will bring a fairly good price.

  Dacbold frowns. "I don't have any interest in slaves. You can keep them, or the profits, or whatever for yourself."

  "Slavery is legal in this other world?"

  I look at Special Agent Jones. "Whether it's in the Labyrinth of Yggr or on Taereun, the strong rule and the week except their fate. Slavery is an almost universal institution. Do you want one or both of them?"

  Special Agent Jones does not make any reply, but he does appear to carefully appraise the two unclaimed whores.

  *Master, if we sell them, do I get a share of the money?*

  I look up at Angelique and chuckle. *Yeah. You get a share.*

  Angelique grins. *We should have taken more of them alive.*

  I never noticed Angelique's greed, but a situation to reveal it has never come up in my presence before. She is coming along nicely. The sooner she completely breaks free of her bullshit Earth ideals and inhibitions, the better off she will be.