“Who are they?” I asked, scrunching up my face.
“Priests of the Darkness,” Gwen replied. “They just ignore me when I talk. Won’t see reason at all.” Then before I could comment, her whip snapped out. It cracked like lighting as it went through the closest priest like he wasn’t there. As flame licked off the end of it, the priest continued to pray in the weird darkness language I’d never understood, completely unfazed by her attack.
“So, we can’t hurt them either?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at Gwen.
“No,” she growled. “But maybe you can with Caliburn?”
“Maybe, but I’m willing to bet I have a better idea.” I took a step forward into the middle of the room and raised my voice. “You guys had better pay attention because if you don’t, well, you’re going to die because Dred is standing right outside with Excalibur, and being that his original plan was to kill you all, I’m pretty sure he can do it.”
The chanting stopped in the wake of my words, and the silence of it was almost unnatural.
Then, very slowly, the middle priest looked right at me. “Death does not scare us for we shall be redeemed in the Empress’s holy image.” Then he began to pray again, and as he did, the others followed suit.
“Right, so you’re all loons.” I turned away from them and headed for the door. “Gwen, would you go get Dred and tell him I have a job for him?”
“Right.” She tossed a glance at Michelle before stepping through the door and leaving me alone with the Archangel of Justice.
“I know what you’re going to say about Dred—”
Michelle raised her hand, cutting me off. “I understand why he is needed, so I’m not going to question your judgment. After all, you’re the one who has gotten us this far. Just know that when this is over, I will slit him from throat to crotch and watch him bleed out on the sand.”
“After this is over, you can do whatever the fuck you want with him.”
“Then I have no problems working with him until then.” She nodded at me. “As you likely suspect, all the town’s folk are the same way. We can’t actually touch them, though I don’t know why.”
“It’s because you are not of the Darkness,” Dred said from behind us, and we turned to find him standing there with Gwen. “They are infused with it, and as long as they remain within this land, you will not be able to hurt them because they are human souls.” He shrugged and raised Excalibur. “But my sword doesn’t care.” He moved past us and in one quick movement drove the blade into the back of the lead priest, pinning him to the ground like a macabre butterfly.
As his sword began to glow, letting me know he was absorbing the man, I turned to the other priests, who had once again gone quiet.
“Seems you all have a choice to make,” I said, glancing around the room. “Join us or get eaten by Excalibur. I know the choice I’d make, but feel free to choose death to support an Empress I’m also going to kill.” My eyes flicked to Gwen. “Go through the rest of the building and get the rest of the priests to fall in line. Those who don’t agree, kill.”
“Okay,” Gwen said, stepping past me and putting a hand on Dred’s shoulder.
“Or we just kill them all and not worry about it,” Dred said as the priest vanished completely within his sword.
“Which is why Gwen is in charge.” I smirked.
“Will do.” Gwen smiled at me before waving. “Now go. I’m sure it won’t be long before we get attacked. We can handle it here.”
“Right.” I turned and looked at Michelle, beckoning her to follow me as we left Dred and Gwen to their devices.
“Are you sure it is wise to leave Gwen with Dred?” Michelle asked as we reached the bottom floor. “He is much more powerful than she is.”
“If he does anything dumb, I will rip out his spleen barehanded.” I shrugged. “Then he’ll heal, so I’ll do it again.” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, I could tie him up and have an eagle eat his liver every day.”
“Seems impractical, but I like the idea a lot.” Michelle smiled. “Still, I worry.”
“Why?” I asked, confused.
“Because it’s Dred.” She shrugged. “I am allowed to worry, Arthur. It is my job as leader, and I have not been so thoroughly enhanced as Lucifer and her ilk.”
“Fair enough,” I said as we stepped outside, and I turned to Mammon. “Can you find someone to tell us how they’re doing the invisibility thing? That seems like it’d be great for the outer walls. Then, after, strip it down.”
“Excellent,” Mammon said, rubbing her greedy paws together. “I’ll get right on it. What do you want me to do with the gold and silver?”
“Whatever you think is best.” I could practically see Mammon’s heart grow three sizes which was probably because that’s where she kept her money. Turning back to Michelle, I smiled. “Is there anything else? I need to figure out how we’re going to defend from the oncoming attack.”
“Yes, actually, can I show you something on the other side of town?” She gestured toward a path that led to the other side which was when I realized the entire town was built around the spire as though it was the central square of the town.
“Okay.” I nodded. “But I do want to see how Gabriella is doing with the warding.”
“It shouldn’t take long,” Michelle said as she led me past the shabbiest houses I’d ever seen. Already workers were busily tearing into them, and I wondered what structures they’d build in their wake. Probably something a lot better than the shanties there now. “I have a question.”
“What’s that?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from Maribelle as she took her awesome hammer to a building and practically ripped the wall off with one blow.
“Why did you do that?” Michelle asked. “With Mammon?”
“Well, the invisibility thing seems—”
“No, not that.” She shook her head. “You told Mammon to strip it down. Why?”
“Because she’s the Archangel of Greed, and she’ll work twice as hard if she thinks she can get all that gold and silver for herself. It’s in her nature. Besides, it will make her happy.”
“I see.” She chewed on her lip, thinking as we reached the back gate, and I found it standing open.
“So, what do you want to show me?” I asked as she led me outside.
“This.” She pointed to the plains behind the town where I saw a bunch of weird plants growing in rows. Among the gnarled red vines were more townsfolk, furiously tending to the square-shaped spotted melon-like things attached to the vines
“It appears that almost ninety-five percent of the town is comprised of farmers.” Michelle shrugged at me. “They call them Dark Fruit.”
“So, we have farmers and the priests.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, there’s a small contingent of guards, a few crafters and merchants, but yeah, farmers.” Michelle snorted.
“Well, we’ll figure out what to do with them. Still, we should figure out if the fruit is useful,” I said as I watched one of the demonic farmers we’d brought from Hell try to instruct one of the Dark Farmers on how to properly use some kind of super-cutter machine that reminded me of a goblin Shredder.
“Sally is already on it.” She shrugged. “Jophiel says it’s not useful beyond trade in other towns. Apparently, the Darkness is actually set up into regions, and we’re in the farming one.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “There’s a mining area, an industrial one, some others.”
“Awesome,” I muttered. So, the Darkness was really like any other place. All industry and what not. The idea almost made me smile though. Maybe if we could cut off their supply of food, we could starve them out.
26
“Oh. Just. Like. That,” Gwen cried as she thrust herself down on top of me. “God, how I’ve missed this.” She leaned forward, causing her dark hair to frame her face as she pressed her hands to my chest and slowly raised her body.
“Me too,” I moaned as she came down on top of me again, causing a wave of plea
sure to wrack my body. I’d completely forgotten how much better the succubus was at sex, but as we fucked in the middle of the High Priest of the Darkness’s special divining room, I was quickly reminded of how every touch, every lick, every movement could bring me even greater pleasure.
Sure, Gwen might not be as pretty as Michelle or Lucifer, but where she lost in looks, she more than made up for it in skill.
“Yeah, we have to make up for lost time,” she said right before plastering her lips on mine, her breasts pressed against my chest. “Cause there’s no way—”
Her words were cut off as a trumpet blast resounded through the air, and as the sound of it rang in my ears, the Mark of Lust emblazoned on both our bodies began to glow.
“No! Don’t get up. Give me one second,” Gwen cried, her hands pressing me against the ground before I could even move. “I’ve got one last trick to show you.”
“Gwen, I’m gonna need a lot longer than a second—”
She did something. I have no fucking idea what it was because at that moment I was suddenly hit with so much pleasure I couldn’t even think. Wave after wave of sheer, unadulterated bliss smashed into me, and as I tried to even breathe, she rolled off of me. Her panting, naked body glowed with purple light as she pressed her hand to my chest.
“What was that about needing more than a second?” she asked, getting to her feet as the trumpet blast rattled my ears once more.
“You cheated and used your weird sex powers,” I said, and I was pretty sure my voice wasn’t supposed to sound quite so worn out.
“Did I?” she asked, helping me to my feet. Admittedly it was a bit hard to stand. “Well, you should punish me then.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said, smacking her ass. “I’m gonna punish you good and hard once I go out there and smite all my enemies.”
“Good,” she said, wiggling her butt against my crotch as another trumpet blast ripped through the air, “but you probably should go out there.” She shrugged. “Who knows what the fuck came to fee fi foe fum our little slice of Darkness?”
“Right.” I nodded, pulling my clothes and armaments on. As each one fell into place, I felt strength return to me. On the one hand, the armaments never really granted me strength, merely the abilities they held, and it was the marks that gave me actual power, but even still, having both seemed to amplify the effect in a way I’d probably understand if I could see my own stats.
It took two more trumpet blasts for me to get outside, and when I did, I didn’t even know what to think.
Across the horizon were the forces of Darkness, sure, but they had to be at least half a mile away, if not more. And what’s more, they were coming from the west, which was over the worst part of the terrain for attack because it was under the shadow of the huge cliffs. Anyone could have sat atop the cliffs and picked them off, and while the Darkness had never seemed particularly clever, both of those things seemed off.
“What’s going on?” I asked, heading toward where Lucifer, Michelle, and Dred stood conferring.
“We’re discussing the attack pattern because it makes no sense,” Michelle said, pointing. “For one, that’s dumb, for two, they’re coming so slowly, and there doesn’t seem to be that many troops.” She put one hand up to like she was trying to peer further. “This is less than a third of the force that attacked us last time, and I don’t sense anything that powerful within it.”
“That’s what I am trying to tell you,” Dred said, and it was funny because both of the Archangels completely ignored him.
“Anyway, I’m gonna go kick their ass,” Lucifer spat, not looking at anyone but me, “if that’s okay?”
“Okay, I trust your judgment.” As I spoke, Lucifer leaped into the sky, her black, feathered wings spreading out in a display of unbridled magnificence. Blood red armor sprang into being around her form, and the clear skies above began to thunder and boom. Then she darted forward, streaking through the air toward the oncoming army.
“Michelle, can you take some troops up on those cliffs for support?” I asked, my eyes still following Lucifer. “They may be hiding something strong because this doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ve already sent Gabriella with a contingent of troops to those cliffs to support it. Uriel is leading another squadron here in case they are trying to draw us out, and two more squads have been dispersed closer to the edge of the fields. I’ve instructed Mammon to have them burn the fruit in the event the enemy is about to take it.” She paused for a moment, and when I nodded my approval, continued. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to join the troops at the rear. Just in case.”
“Go for it,” I said, and as she took off toward it in a flutter of wings, Dred met my eyes.
“This is a waste of time,” he said with a shrug.
“Why is that?” I asked, remembering what he’d said before. It’d seemed like he’d been arguing with the two archangels and they hadn’t been listening, but what had he said?
“Like I tried to tell those two nitwits, this is just the closest force. There’s likely nothing strong out anywhere near here.” He pointed to the spire. “That’s what they use to transport troops around the realm, but obviously there’s no one to operate it now. I made sure of that.”
“I’m sort of following, I think, but give it to me one more time in case I’m not.” I took a deep breath. “Are you saying that normally, the Darkness moves troops around via teleportation, but can’t because we took this?” I pointed to the spire.
“Yes.” Dred nodded. “The next closest Spire is almost three days walk. We have at least that long before we can expect any kind of real resistance. Until then, she’ll just send whatever is closest to bother us.”
“You seem pretty sure about that,” I said, turning to look at the spire once more. The designs of a plan turning in my brain.
“I’ve been here a long time.” He shrugged.
“So, why could the Generals find me so easily every time I stepped into the realm?” I asked, turning back to him. “Ten was always there pretty quickly.”
“Ten could teleport.” Dred shrugged again. “Much like how Sathanus can. That is why you always faced him. With Ten gone, there is no one else with such an ability, or at least I do not think there is anyone else.”
“Do you know the abilities of the others?” I said, rubbing my chin as I absorbed that. If what Dred said was true, we’d really done ourselves a favor by taking down Ten. It meant we could raid the Darkness without worrying about a General just popping up.
“No.” He shook his head. “They all keep those secret. I only know Ten because he was the Empress’s errand boy.”
“What about them attacking Heaven and Hell?” I said, turning once again to look at the spire. “Can’t they still do that?”
“Yes, but they probably won’t right now. Even if they did, they can’t march a huge force there because they can only move an army approximately as strong as the one in either place. It should be of little concern for Sathanus to take you back in the event there’s a problem.”
“Well, seems you have it all figured out.” Already, I could see Lucifer decimating the forces in the distance with so much fury, I’d have been shocked if even one made it to the cliffs where Gabriella sat ready to rain down hell upon them.
“No.” He shook his head. “I do not know how to keep us from being crushed in three days’ time. It could definitely take longer for the Empress to rally all her troops, but I guarantee at least some of the Generals will be here when that happens, probably lots of other things as well.”
“Okay.” I turned back to the Spire. “Say, can we make this work?”
“Perhaps.” He scratched his cheek. “Why?”
“Oh, I have a really awesome idea.” I pointed at the Spire. “But I need you to get that to work.”
“I would think of an alternate plan just in case. I am not sure how much of it Mammon destroyed,” Dred said, turning his yellow eye to the Spire.
“O
h, the alternative plan is easy. You said Nine guards the Ark, right? We still need that, and we need you to suck way, way less. I ought to be able to fight Nine, so we should kill her, and recover the Ark. That might give us the edge we need.” I smirked. “Either way, you don’t need to be standing here right now.”
27
“Good news, Arthur,” Dred said, without bothering to look over at me. He was hunched over some kind of glass-enclosed mechanism that was all sharp edges. Suspended about a foot above it was a crystalline egg that seemed to change color every few seconds, and above that was nothing but crackling lightning that arched outward like a Tesla coil.
It’d been almost twenty minutes since I’d sent him up there, and since it should have taken all of thirty seconds to figure out if it worked, I was concerned.
Now I saw why. Aside from the strange crystal in the center, the room looked like it had been ransacked. Parts were strewn across the floor, and half the golden floor had been torn up. Sparks shot from an array of pulsing pink crystals in the corner, making me think that whatever had connected them to something else had been removed.
“What the hell happened here?” I asked, my eyes sweeping over the mess before landing on Dred. “And what’s the good news?”
“The good news is the teleporter is intact.” He pushed himself to a standing position and turned to look at me. Then he patted the device with one scarred hand. “So, whatever you wanted to do should work.”
“What about that?” I asked, pointing to the sparking device in the corner.
“I did that.” He smiled at his handiwork. “That’s what I like to call the auto locker. It basically coordinates with the other spires to ensure teleportation.” With that, his smile shifted to a smirk. “I had your Archangel of Greed liquidate some of the parts.” He shrugged. “Assuming she hasn’t melted them down for their precious metals and bathed in them or something, we can rebuild it if we need.”
“Um… why the fuck would you do that?” I asked, peering at him. “How will it work without that?”
The Builder's Throne Page 14