Savior Of The Doomed

I tapped the black ring hovering above my head. Was it getting smaller? I held my finger against it and felt the ring pull back. The black halo wasn't self-sustaining. Demonic power was like a virus; the energy needed a host or it would break down into other energies.

As the decaying energy broke down my grace bloomed. I watched the spark of my humanity crack open the bonds of the demonic energy and absorb it.

I realized what was happening then, and my knowledge of demonic energy carried over. I spent a century trying to get every bit of use out of the power to push my techniques further. As a result, I knew demonic energy intimately, so my grace knew how to destroy it too.

"Are you coming?" I snapped my attention back to the situation at hand.

Minutes after deciding to go into the catacombs, I realized. How would I power my techniques when no more demonic power flowed into the halo? It was fat with power but it was already dissolving. I wasn't inviting that power into my soul again.

Demonic power needed a host and demons needed it like I did oxygen.

Why was that important? Weakness lowered my bargaining power with the lich. If I couldn't walk in and slap my cock on the table and make demands. I would have to negotiate from a position of weakness. That was something I wasn't equipped to do.

If by the time we reached the lich, all the power I had left was my grace, then we were done. What could we offer the lich besides freedom? A bargain struck using my grace wouldn't hold forever unless I was in a stronger position when it was made. The other party had to feel like they had to follow through to make the binding as strong as possible.

We descended the stairs to see demons speared a hundred different ways. Gore caked the floor mid boots, and the summoners had to raise their robes to keep them from being soaked in blood. Hundreds of demons from hellspawn rank warrior demons with massive tusks to human-sized imps left their blood on the limestone floor.

"You did this," Siegfried said.

I didn't like the awe in his voice. The last thing I wanted was a fanboy.

He found a demonic war mace wielded by one of the warrior demons and tossed his old mace for it. We sloshed through blood as Siegfried led the way to the catacombs entrance. I raised my hand, stopping the procession.

"What are you doing? We have to go quickly or the demons will get us."

I pointed at a closet. "An Imp managed to survive my techniques and get to a closet."

That was a lie. I captured it.

"By the way, did you get any levels when I killed the demons?"

I stood by my statement. Systems were limiters to keep humans from ascending beyond the mortal realms into the Pleroma. That didn't mean I couldn't use the system through others. If they gained a lot of XP, I might need to kill many demons outside to top them off before the catacombs.

"Why aren't the demons invading? The gate is wide open." The elf mamma with the big titties said.

"Don't be daft, Lirael, they are getting buffed for a final charge. They're not going to feed us xp."

The closet rumbled for a few moments before I opened the door. Female imps had a purpose on the battlefield. They were to get captured, break free and open the gates to fortifications.

"You're too late, we've already won. All you can do now is surrender and get fucked."

"What harsh language, it's quite uncouth," Princess Charlotte said.

"Why was she spared?" Siegfried asked.

"Do you see the halo above my head?" The man nodded. "I need demonic power to recharge it. Imps are a breed of demon most connected to the sin of wrath. They are little killing machines that can evolve into stronger breeds as needed when invading a world. Demon lords like them because a warrior demon can rape a woman and spawn a litter of them. Those imps can then be ranked with points to become nearly any needed troop."

"How did you know that? Are you a traitor?"

"I don't know. Who is your demon lord?" I asked.

She opened her mouth. "Never heard of him. So, I can't possibly have betrayed him." I said.

"Wait, you said you were an arch demon, wouldn't you have heard of him?" Gorgeous and ignorant Lirael said.

"Not my clowns not my circus. Realm invasion wasn't where my interests lay. Most demon lords choose it to escape hell but their chains are even tighter."

"Liar if you were an arch demon you would know the demon lords you ruled."

I rolled my eyes. "Demons become demon lords to escape the politics of hell and the arch demons who rule over them. Arch demons rule over a few key princes, a council of generals, and close advisors. I didn't have the job long but I knew it well enough. You are an imp born of this world, you've never been to hell, all you know is what your demon lord allowed you to know. Would you like to see a trick?" I asked.

She stared at me with big yellow eyes and all the guile she possessed. "What kind of trick?"

"What's your name?"

She smirked. "Glimmara,"

I tapped her forehead. "It's Jinxara now,"

The demonic chain binding her to the demon lord snapped like a dry stick. I took hold of her chain end and connected it to my black halo. It was a partial answer to my self-sustainment problem.

I did the responsible thing and checked her teeth while she glared at me. Each curved fang glittered with flesh melting venom, wetting them for a deadly bite. Her teeth were whiter and far healthier than a normal Imp. There weren't any chips from scraping them against bone nor did she have any signs of diseases, imps born from human mothers often exhibited. Then I raised her shirt and poked her belly, she wasn't currently stuffed with human flesh, which was a good sign. It meant she had restraint when other imps would have stealthily killed and feasted on the human soldiers. I used my chains to raise her body before I yanked her pants down.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not adding an imp I can't use." A flash of spirit sense would do the job instantly and leave traces of my spirit signature for the jabberwock to track.

She slashed out with her red forked tail, quickly caught by a chain. I checked her slit first to see she was surprisingly a virgin which meant lust wasn't her sin of choice. That was interesting. But to be sure, I checked her dark red cherry to see if she hadn't had fun with it. Gluttony and Lust weren't her poisons.

Her glare was adorable.

Did I have a prideful imp on my hands?

My halo had less power than a demon lord but his connection to a single imp was lax to say the least. I couldn't do something like I did to a Jabberwock. The more system points a demon lord puts into a unit, the harder a connection to them is to break.

The little imp quickly pulled her pants back up and tightened her belt. "Master," Jinxara was faking it.

That didn't mean she wasn't mine but she was the kind of girl who would rather not be scrutinized and tortured if she wasn't quite devoted to the cause. That was fine, I looked around and found armor that wasn't completely riddled with holes.

Jinxara glared at Siegfried. "Since we're on the same side. You should be careful, our weapons aren't friendly to mortals."

"I think I'll be alright. I recently gained the demon hunter job. It's a shame we're about to deal with undead."

"How does your job system work?" I asked as I struggled to lift a breast plate off a corpse suctioned into the bloody gore covering the floor.

Siegfried looked at Lirael who sighed. "I guess I'm doomed to be the one always explaining things." She looked to her companions who only gave her nods of approval. "Come on, can't any of you take the hint?"

Siegfried picked up a long sword and looked it over. "This sword is made of paladin steel, a silver and iron alloy that is good against the undead. I suggest we take every blade, spear, and hammer we can find. How is everyone on mana?"

He sent one of the summoners to a store room to get any remaining mana potions. Then he stabbed the blade into a seam in the floor and slid open a path down to the catacombs.

I took the hint and found some daggers for Jinxara.

Lirael sighed again but everyone ignored the beautiful pout on her face. "Fine,"

The princess's words came in with a heavy accent. "You don't have to. I would have explained things when we were underway. But go ahead since it seems like something you like doing."

"Jobs are obtained from achievements like killing a certain amount of demons, which unlocks the demon hunter job. I've also unlocked it. Jobs have tiers from 1 to 10, but even nobles only have jobs up to the 5th tier. Some figures like Siegfried's ancestor had a job in the 6th tier, and there are rumors of heroes in the distant past that had 7th tier jobs. Jobs have levels from 1 to 10 and most people can only have four jobs. Oh, and jobs can advance when they reach level 10, but that sometimes requires a unique achievement or a job that the user never heard of and can't get after filling all their job slots." Lirael said.

"Thank you, Lirael. That was very informative. Demons often adopt the systems of the realms they invade to subvert them.

Jinxara lvl39

Jobs 

Saboteur T2 8/10

Ritualist T2 lvl9/10 

Imp T1 2/10

I didn't bother looking at her stats; they didn't matter. What mattered was getting out of dodge.

"Don't take another job without my permission," I said.

Jinxara saluted. I tapped my Envy Chain against a silver great sword, causing it to dissolve, and the blades covering my chains gained a silver luster.

There was no tug on my grace or a loss of demonic power. Stealing the advantageous characteristics of other materials was a part of my chain's innate ability.

We descended the hidden column of stairs through the fort behind stone walls and closed the hidden lid when blood dripped from the gap in the lid, raining down on us as we descended the circular winding column. It was almost like the backbone of the fort.

"So boss you were a big shot. Not just anyone can snap a demon lord's chain of command. Were you a prince?"

I felt a little insulted that she didn't believe I was an arch demon.

The princess was the first to speak with her heavy accent growing heavier. "Him, that's a joke right. He dresses like a peasant and his charisma is pathetic. Who is scared of him or loves him enough to follow? The Demon Lord Malachar destroyed the greatest empire in the world and all that's left to face him are the scattered kingdoms like my father's domain." She spoke of her father like a curse and then said something in an unknown language.

Jinxara chuckled. "Wow boss I didn't know former boss kicked so much ass with us imps and a few hellspawn. I don't think we had a single fiend then, old boss skipped a tier and summoned that Jabberwock, a lesser demon."

"What does that mean?" Princess Charlotte asked.

"The demon lord beat you with the weakest shock troops at his disposal to summon the pseudo greater demon currently eating the sun. It's a strategy called star vores only newbs use it. Sucks for you guys it worked this time." I said.

"This world is doomed," Jinxara said.

"There has to be something you can do, you were an arch demon," Lirael said.

"Boss snapped my chain so easily. But the world is already over get to the end of the world orgies."

"I already tried that we're in the company of prudes," I said.

"Couldn't you have taken me in the closet, those chains were nice and tight."

"Cut the chatter. We're about to reach the catacomb entrance. Legend has it that a guardian of incredible power protects the entrance," Lirael said.

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