Devil's Waltz

by Dante Sakurai

  Ambiguous huffed a breath. “Maybe if they get lucky. Those Duelists are almost as powerful as me. One nearly bested me in the naval battle.”

  Not good. “Then stay close to the area shield, but keep baiting.” Rowan blinked to keep up with Ayla and pulled the swarm closer. “How many Control points do you have?”

  She looked over her shoulder. “Just over two-thousand. I’m using level one-eighty mythics like yours, but the plate armor grants much more Vitality than Control.” Two thousand slots. More than enough for all these dragons. Each occupied roughly fifty slots.

  Ambiguous frowned strongly. “They’re coming again, but a Paladin and Inquisitor joined them.”

  Rowan blurted, “Inquisitor?”

  “Second-tier Priest with stronger heals and powerful speed and damage buffs. They’re both Blessed NPCs. Here.”

  Two dozen red dots appeared in the misty air, distance tags next to each. Dialogue boxes expanded on top of two in the middle.

  [Divinely Blessed] Angus Wintersow (Paladin): Level 223

  Health: 30,510

  Mana: 16,100

  Stamina: 20,100

  Buffs: Holy Light Aura, Protection Aura, Veracity Aura (Low movement-speed boost), Exaltation Aura (Low damage boost)

  [Divinely Blessed] Diana Wintersow (Inquisitor): Level 221

  Health: 9,550

  Mana: 28,300

  Stamina: 12,500

  Buffs: Holy Light Aura, Protection Aura, Veracity Aura (Low movement-speed boost), Exaltation Aura (Low damage boost), Mana Shield

  Wintersow. The last name reverberated between Rowan’s ears. “They’re Viola’s family? They’re here for her?”

  Ambiguous’ lips parted slightly. “Yeah, I think so. Her last name slipped my mind, sorry. I was thinking about something else.” She turned around. “You two! Come out! Viola, your family is here! Angus and Diana!”

  The duo jumped from the cover of trees. “My parents! They’re really here?!” Viola shouted like a younger girl while Skylar stared with mute shock.

  Ambiguous nodded. “Take a look.”

  Rowan discarded his own surprise. Teenagers were going to be teenagers. Especially darkie ones. “Ayla!” he called as she raised a corpse by a series of spherical boulders. “Pass them some Tethers.” She’d dumped her remaining tier-points into Life Tethers; it could now target at most six characters simultaneously including herself, its coverage radius at a healthy hundred meters.

  Hovering over, Ayla sent the newly raised minion into the air and pointed at the cousins with her greatsword. She drawled the two-word incantation. The spell took effect without graphical or sound effects. Buff icons appeared beneath their party entries. Icy chains.

  Ayla smirked, dismounting. She walked to Skylar, a haughty gait. “Hey, kid. I already told you it wouldn’t work out between us. I’m not from this world.”

  Skylar said sourly, “I wasn’t going to beg you to be my sex slave.” So unfiltered. So brazen. Zero sugar-coating. Beautiful—in a way. “You won’t have a choice once I’m all-powerful.”

  Rowan swallowed saliva, for that sounded eerily similar to something he had said. Draesear was shitting on Rowan again by influencing the kid’s words. Conniving bastard.

  Ayla’s smirk widened into a brilliant smile. “That’s interesting. You said girlfriend before… but I’d like to see the day you become all-powerful.”

  His mouth opened, but Viola cut him off with a shove. She said, “See, I told you that you just got lucky. Anyway, my parents. Why are they here? Don’t they know we’re not like them anymore? We can’t even be around each other with our opposing magics. We’re going to have to ki—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Her past humanity was really breaking through—her light side.

  “They’re your parents.” Rowan stepped to her and checked the distance tags. Half a mile away at the swarm’s edge. Rowan pulled the swarm back and made a path for them to come through. He had to show his subjects that he wasn’t all evil. Plus, this was a perfect opportunity for stalling. “Even as a Dark Human, you should understand they would miss you. You should talk to them.”

  She exhaled two long lungfuls. “Yeah… but I don’t really miss them. I like my new life. It’s far better than what I had.”

  “Then give some final words, if you will.”

  Ambiguous said, “You don’t really miss them? That means you do on some level.”

  “Just a bit.” Viola’s forehead became lumpy, then abruptly smoothed out, her eyes bright. “Can you convert them?”

  A question Rowan had an answer for once. The knowledge was somehow in his mind—thanks to his amulet. “Their Divine Blessings anchors their souls to whichever Oculus they got it at. If I raise their corpses and convert, the gods will create new souls with clouded memories and change their appearances to suit. It’s similar to adventurer corpses.”

  Viola’s posture deflated. “Alright. I’ll give some final words. And maybe…” She trailed off and shrugged.

  Skylar was staring at the incoming dots with a different grimace. “Our family was never there for us, especially the King and Queen. They would cart us off to farms and mining villages because we needed to learn humility or whatever. I don’t miss them.”

  Ayla asked, “You’re related to the human king?”

  “Viola’s their favorite niece. Why? Are you interested now?” He was obsessing over the squirrel like a hungry predator. That must’ve been an incredible ten minutes!

  “You wish. I was just curious. As I said, I’m not from this world. Your nobility means little to me.” Ayla undid the oversized button holding her cloak together at her neck. So she was going to use her body as an attention magnet, true to her word. She disrobed far too sensually, stuffed the fabric into an invisible pouch at her gold thong, and held that runic greatsword at the ready on her shoulder.

  Skylar shrugged and looked back at the incoming dots, but he peeked more than once. It was too obvious he was trying to act disinterested. His young-adult lusts gave him away.

  The incoming conflict made it easy for Rowan to brush off the sight of her body with ease. Peeking under her cloak had somehow been more arousing. His focus didn’t stray from those dots in the night. 0.18 miles, still shrouded by the sparse mist—barely. Their dim holy light was breaking through. They were coming with rightful hesitance. They probably took this as a hostage situation, which wasn’t needed. The world needed to know the Dark Humans had been irrevocably changed—remade in the image of Rowan’s vision.

  Rowan sipped a calming breath, then said in a quiet voice, “Skylar. Viola. Stand in the front. You’re not hostages. Understand?” How can her parents even think they’re hostages when they clearly have Dark Classes?

  They nodded in unison and positioned themselves. Viola drew her sword from her hip. Skylar took arms with a short sword and shield. Their common-rarity gear wasn’t imposing in the slightest. Too bad.

  0.13 miles.

  Soon enough, their brigade of Light Shards cut into view. One after another, they de-Stealthed, Dorian’s phoenix completely ruining their uniformity at the far left. A stark feeling of dejavu mired Rowan while they descended. They couldn’t be this stupid again; however, it didn’t matter. Only fifteen more minutes of distraction was needed.

  At last, their faces cleared. Their combined light mana dissipated nearby mist, and Dorian’s slightly-angry yet confused expression made Rowan suck on his front teeth. Why was piggy-bro even here? He was a back-line damage dealer with poor mobility even on his bird.

  As for the Radiant Duelists, they truly lived up to their class name, garbed in gold and silver-trimmed dragonscale leather. Those daggers of bluish-white light were as Rowan imagined—something out of science fiction rather than high fantasy. They looked like zealots of a space-age religion still employing melee weaponry. And as Ambiguous had guessed, they were mostly elves. Sun Elves. Truly the fair folk of this world, but surprisingly, they weren’t that much better-looking than everyone else, only
marginally. Ayla could easily compete in her lingerie. Every pair of eyes latched onto her before moving onto the two teens.

  The Wintersows stared with unbridled horror at their daughter and nephew, pure emotion taking over. Diana vehemently did not like the teens’ new looks. How could a parent be so shallow? Rowan, on the other hand, thought their chalky pale skin, crimson-yellow eyes, and sharper facial structures were rather charming and picturesque. Yes, the Dark Humans were a thing of beauty on the inside and out—not horror whatsoever.

  Rowan didn’t need to see Viola’s face to know her resolve was being tested—an ultimate test of loyalty.

  Diana was the first to break the silence. “Viola! Is that really you?! What have they done to you?!” Her voice almost broke, eyes bloodshot. She was a human through-and-through.

  Viola said, “Yes, Mom. You dropped us off at Stonehurst school last week.” Her tone was light-hearted. “Alastor was there. My favorite food is enchanted apple pie, and the King served it at the last ball. You wanted me to be a Priest like you or a Paladin like Dad. It’s us.”

  Dianna choked a sob into her palms, wiped her eyes with ringed fingers. She cried, and Rowan felt a distant pang but only for a fleeting moment. She should not have sent her daughter to the countryside, especially in a world like this.

  Angus’ middle-aged features scrunched like a bear’s. “Rowan Black! This is your only warning! We don’t negotiate with mass-murderers! Release them at once! It doesn’t matter if we perish here! We have Blessings! An army of thousands is coming for you!”

  “Let them go!” Diana shouted. “Viola! Skylar! Run while you can!”

  “They’re free to go,” Rowan said unemotionally.

  They were taken aback, including Dorian, and of course, Viola and Skylar stood their ground out of their own accord.

  Diana tried again, “Viola! Run! We can still save you! We can lift your curse!”

  “It’s not a curse,” Viola said. “You don’t understand.”

  “Hell no, it’s not a curse!” Skylar yelled, awkwardly pointing with his shield. “Being a Dark Human is great. I feel greater than ever.”

  “What?! Listen to yourselves! You can’t stay with them!” Diana wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Don’t you know they poisoned everyone in Stonehurst? We found your parents, Sky! Black and LeMort murdered them!”

  Skylar banged his shield with his sword. “I know what you did to to my Mum and Dad! You burned their bodies to ashes! They could’ve been saved. The gods have bestowed Lord Black divine powers!”

  “No one has divine power! Not even the adventurers! How can you even say that?! He’s a monster that’s perverted nature to no end! He brings death wherever he walks! Look behind you!”

  Skylar shrugged overtly. “They’re just random workers. Nobodies.”

  Angus growled, “Don’t you say that again. They were people like you or I with families and loved-ones.”

  “So what?” Viola said. “We didn’t know them. People die all the time, and they can still be saved like Skylar said.”

  Diana shook her head and look at her husband. “What do we do?”

  “You should leave before we have to kill you,” Skylar declared. “Lord Black is the greatest World Boss in history. He’s given us power and a grand vision. He even granted me a sex slave unlike any of your World Bosses would.” He gestured toward Ayla with his sword, glancing at her with a ridiculous, troll-face grin. “She’s mine. Right here. What more can a man ask for?”

  Rowan coughed. Did I hear him right? Did he really say that? Thank the hood for covering his bulging eyes, because attention was now upon him. Disgust. Outrage. Thousand-yard stares. Dorian gaped with a hanging jaw and unblinking eyes. The chafing silence thrummed onward while Rowan’s heart pumped away. This was interactive virtual-reality entertainment at its finest.

  While they stared gobsmacked, he flicked Gabrielle a message.

  Rowan Black (To Gabby LeMort): How much longer?

  The chatbox beeped, but the message wasn’t from Gabrielle.

  Ayla Frost (Raid Chat): Skylar you little lying shit. I hope you like to be whipped.

  One of the Sun Elf players, particularly bothered, shook his head. “I’ve had enough. These perverted psychos all need to be banned, Ayla included.” He mumbled a word in the primordial language. His blades flashed once.

  The world bleached to a pure white canvas before Rowan could react. Blazing heat pierced his chest.

  Chapter 39

  Final Hour

  Moment before…

  Dry, stinging air laden with a hint of sulfur seared Jonathan Bladestrider’s lungs. He, the final hope of light, traversed the Red Dragons’ empty lair in a desperate plea for help, for them to keep fighting against Rowan! They shouldn’t have retreated when the rightful balance of good and evil was on the line—a balance that couldn’t be tipped awry for the good of the world. All was on the line, Jonathan knew in his heart and soul.

  Along the way, as Jonathan and Lily—his lovely companion atop her younger eagle—flew by a curtain of falling molten rock, an outlandish message in the chatbox took hold of Jonathan’s eye.

  Jordan TheBlade (Raid Chat, Officers Only): I’m not even sure what’s happening anymore. They’re standing outside their area shield.

  And another.

  Dorian Ambersworn: Get a grip! Viola and Skylar aren’t hostages! None of them are! Just look at their classes!!!

  Hadrian Miser: It could’ve been forced on them. We don’t know how all their rituals work.

  Jordan TheBlade: We’re flying in peacefully to negotiate their release. Her parents aren’t giving us a choice.

  Dorian Ambersworn: Then I’m coming too.

  Lily exhaled loudly. “There should be long-distance voice chat.”

  Jonathan grunted in agreement. “I concur, but such a decision is up to the gods as always.”

  “I like how much you’re into roleplaying, really. It adds so much to the gaming experience.”

  Game? This was not a game by any means. And the opening to the Matriarch’s chamber slid into sight—a few hundred meters down the cavern. He signaled for a rightward turn with a thumb. “There.” His Light Shard swerved sharply.

  Lily followed without trouble, ducking beneath stalactites.

  “Whoah,” she exclaimed as they dove in. “Look at that thing! That’s one whopper of a lizard! And look how massive this… magma sea is. I’m taking screenshots for Sienna and the others.”

  Such disrespect for such an ancient, magnificent creature. Jonathan did best to tolerate her comments. If nothing else, he was a man of tolerant character. Intolerance of any kind was not tolerated on his watch. Idra shared his sentiment and curled tighter in his arms, a burden to carry now. The food which Lily had generously fed the whelp nourished his growth prodigiously.

  “Please, show some restraint,” Jonathan urged. “She has the power of judgment.”

  She skewered him with a quizzical look, but graciously did not protest or raise unwanted questions.

  Together they flew over the magma sea and descended onto the glittering island. Together they met the Matriarch’s fiery crimson eyes, touching down in front of her talons. Around the whopping lizard glowed Dragon Stones of diverse sizes. Her vast mind brushed against Jonathan’s. She read his memories and intentions with a gentle prod against his forehead, somewhat soothing. He once more put everything on display for her to judge. Lily, however, understandably shivered.

  The Matriarch’s echoing voice came from all directions: “My Initiate, you have come at last.” Her tone clued much repressed impatience much to Jonathan’s chagrin. “We are upon the final hour—”

  “Final hour?” Lily blurted.

  Every nerve in Jonathan bristled, but the Matriarch found no offense in the interruption. Those talons shifted, her voice echoing: “It is as the prophets have foretold, and it is as my limited foresight has revealed. We are at the end of an aeon. It shall b
e up to your kind to foment the next.”

  Lily stared blankly. Her eagle squawked.

  The Matriarch’s nostrils blew smoke. “The time has come. Offer your bondmate.”

  Jonathan obeyed without hesitance. He trusted the divine creature of judgment beyond all. He heeled forward and presented Idra in front of her talons, a sliver of fear taking root in his bowels, but he knew such fear was unfounded, irrationally misguided.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Lily asked.

  The air rippled around the Matriarch, and her mighty horned head slowly dipped. Idra’s minuscule neck craned upward. She breathed fiery mana while telepathically reassuring Jonathan with a well-meaning intention. The magic flowed into Idra, and his body gleamed with the Matriarch’s power. One, two, three heart-stopping seconds passed before a pair of raid-chat message claimed Jonathan’s eye.