Chương 38: Chapter 34 - Message your owner

I closed my eyes, focused, and sank inward. The world blurred. My consciousness dropped through the usual nothing, and I arrived at my soul chamber. The old house where I grew up. I crossed the living room, past the three doors. First stop, Ashy. Her statue stood in the corner of the storage room I'd designated for her. Steel and wood, rubies glinting, frozen in that ridiculous arched pose I'd sculpted. The runic inscriptions circled its base, the two basic engravings still glowing faintly.

But now, the circle by the base had an extra slot. One where I could etch an advanced engraving. I knelt by it and focused. The skill offered me over thirty options. Oh, boy, this sure had range. Normal engravings could only affect basic stats and costs. This had fifty different transformation options, including forms like a ballista one. Hmph. Too many options. I had a few favorites at a quick look. But I could spend the whole night studying this. Ashy.

In a burst of pink light, she appeared, wearing her usual skimpy outfit in the humanoid form.

"Oh my god!" She bounced on her heels, eyes darting around the chamber.

"Are we doing upgrades? I love upgrades! This is going to be so awesome! Squee!" I conjured the options to make them float around.

"You've got a new special engraving slot. Is there anything you know you could potentially do or want? Or just a huge stat boost would do?"

"Oh, right! I totally have something I need. Partial body transformation. I'm sure it's there somewhere." I narrowed my eyes.

"For what?"

"For everything. Being able to alter a part of my body is super-useful. Trust me on this! It'll be great!" I sighed.

"Is it for sex?"

"No! I mean, yes, I mean, also… mostly. Yes. You see… Astarielle has an unfair advantage over me, being an A-rank and all. She's too well fed, so she's much stronger than me. I need to even the ground, so to say. Plus, it'd be great for you. I'll keep Astarielle well-plowed, so she won't pester you for it, and you can focus on whatever girl you've been chasing. Win-win-win!" I snorted.

"Denied. You need a combat upgrade. I've been thinking about the material alteration in the sword form." Her shoulders slumped, gaze dropping to the floor.

"Sure. I guess. That's fine too."

"It's settled then." I chose that engraving and put it in. The symbol lit up in that slot.

"Practice it in Hell. Prepare for silver, tungsten, and aluminium."

"Tung… how is it written? I've never heard the word."

"T-U-N-G-S-T-E-N." She wrote it with her finger into her forearm.

"Got it! All right! I'll find what that is and practice this transformation. I'm sure if this'll work out great, then you'll get me the partial body transformation next time, right?"

"I'll think about it." I dismissed her. All right. That went somewhat well. I left her room and went to Astarielle's. The obsidian statue now looked decently posed next to Ashy's. The pattern by the base also had a slot for the advanced engraving. I sat by it, and conjured the options. A good thirty options. I scrolled through them, and summoned her. Astarielle happened in a burst of crimson flame. She looked around, at me, and smirked.

"Getting nostalgic about the good old days?" I smiled. Giving her a second look, yeah, she was well fed. She had no toned muscular definition, everything smooth, but that was because they were relaxed. She had no reason to have any fat she didn't want to, so all the curves were relaxed, demonic muscle fiber. She could probably crush a skull between her thighs.

"Not quite. I've got a special engraving option, so I can get you some—""The third eye," she said, not even looking at the options.

"It has to be there." It was. I read it. The user gains the third eye ability. Wow, what a description.

"What does it even do?"

"It's the natural progression to my powers. I've been trying to figure out how to use it for years, but if there's a shortcut, I'm taking it." Come to think of it, her tattoo on my arm was of three eyes.

"There's also steel skin in there. That would—""Be pointless. Third eye is unmatched for me." I narrowed my eyes. This wasn't her usual approach. It reeked of desperation.

"What's the story behind it?"

"Well..." Her expression softened, breaking into a hint of embarrassment.

"I was once called the three-eyed witch. It was why the church wanted to burn me at a pyre back when I was a human. The third eye was also the key to my power." Wait a minute. That sounded medieval.

"When was it? In Earthen years."

"It was the seventeenth century." Her voice weakened.

"I opened the third eye when I was twelve. They chased me for a while, I got away a few times, burned down four churches in the process, until they caught me and burned me at a pyre."

"So, you're three hundred years old?" I glared at her.

"You told me you were my age."

"Well... I kind of am. When I got to Hell, I wasn't chosen for a demon." She sighed.

"I got my soul stuffed into a coin. That coin somehow made it to Elsha's treasury, where it lay until she was looking for a demon to send to you. She took me out of the coin, and made a demon out of me, so you could summon me." I softened my expression. She spent three hundred years as a coin. Not great.

"I'm sorry you've gone through that." I put in the third eye. The pattern wrote itself, the mana settling.

"Thanks," she whispered and unsummoned herself. Hmph. I didn't expect there to be such a landmine behind the story. I should have been more tactful with the questions. Anyway, two down. I walked to the NOPE! door. Every step toward it felt heavier than the last. Elsha's presence permeated her chamber like perfume soaked into old curtains. Roses and sin and the persistent feeling of having done something wrong. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I opened the door. The wooden statue of Elsha reclined on its carved sofa. By the napkin contract at its base, the pattern had an extra slot for the advanced engraving. All right. I pulled out the options. A screen with thirty options popped up. But this one also had a little arrow at the base, next to which was 1/5. Really, five pages of options? I didn't bother reading them, and simply focused on her. The scent of roses hit me before she appeared.

Elsha materialized behind me, leaning on me, placing one arm over my shoulders. She put her chin on my shoulder, her goat-like horns almost touching my temple.

"Not sure which one is the one I want? And by the way, don't even think about mentioning another woman in my presence. I am not in the mood." The touch made my heart race. Did she flip out after me asking about Mefista because of jealousy?

"What's the deal with the decreased personal upkeep engraving?"

"It's practically mandatory for me. Just put it in, and we're all good."

"Explain." She rolled her eyes.

"Reality pushes back against unnatural beings. The more unnatural, the higher the cost. That maintenance you pay me to keep me summoned? It all goes into this upkeep. But if you lower the upkeep through the engraving, then I can keep and use all the mana however I see fit."

"You have like infinite mana, anyways. How does that make any difference?"

"Since your body remakes blood, you pretty much have infinite blood. But you don't want to be constantly bleeding, do you?"

"I don't summon you for all that long, anyway." She clicked her tongue.

"And that's a part of the problem. You should keep me summoned for much longer. And more often. It's been what, ten years since you last summoned me? That's way too long. Even for me."

"You cost too much to summon."

"I do." She giggled.

"And so I need to make more out of every occasion. Give me that engraving, and I'll be extra nice the next time you summon me." Hmph. That actually had some value. Admittedly, I also lacked a reason to not do it. Giving her any combat-focused engraving was pointless, and I didn't see any advanced engraving that decreased any mana cost. I focused on the spot and put in the engraving. That wasn't so easy, to my surprise. As if the entire reality protested, the pattern smudging and breaking. I focused, forcing it in.

The rune finally settled in. Elsha straightened and stretched, arching her back.

"That's so much better. Now, all you need to do is summon me, so I can enjoy the effect. So we can both enjoy it."

"I will do it when there's a good opportunity."

"And there just wasn't any in the past decade, right?" I shrugged.

"I'm sure it'll be better with the tower." I dismissed her. She resisted the dismissal, staying in place.

"Just don't do it to ask about someone else." Yep. Jealous. I got up, heading out of the chamber. She frowned.

"Where're you going? We aren't finished."

"Got a ton of stuff to do. We'll talk later." With a roll of her eyes, she shattered into pink petals, which vanished. Phew. I left the room, crossed the house, and descended into the cellar. That one was a lot larger than original, now serving as my storage for lesser demons. The signatures of all my demon worms lingered there. I passed among them until I found the worm that picked the lock. That long, thin, curved spike on the tentacle's tip was going to be useful.

I sat down by the mark, only a number written in a simple pattern. I focused. The number vanished, replaced with a name I decided on: Len the Lockpick. I also expanded the pattern, creating the slot for advanced engraving. I pulled out the options. Just base stats. Ah, so at the worms, advanced engravings were the basic ones, as basic ones didn't exist. I put in a dexterity bonus. Plus two hundred dexterity. Pretty good number, actually. With this done, I awoke back to reality.

My consciousness surfaced, returning to my body. I lay in bed, the ceiling familiar and unremarkable above me. The Pacific wind pushed through the window I'd left open. Night sounds. Distant waves. The hum of the island's generators. Sleep came fast. Morning announced itself with sunlight and the realization that something sat on my nightstand that hadn't been there when I fell asleep. A letter. Cream-colored envelope, no stamp, no address. Sealed with a wax press that bore the mark of lips. What the Hell?

I sat up. The letter hadn't walked in by itself. Someone had been in my room while I slept. I didn't leave any succubus to guard it. Big mistake, apparently. I picked up the envelope and opened it. The handwriting was elegant, slanted: Dear Damian, I am offended that you did not come to see me last night. The indignation and the emotional distress your absence has caused me has forced me to have a new application installed on your phone. I am certain you will find it highly educative. With love, Cassandra P. S.

Prepare to be sincere when you beg for mercy. Oh, really? I picked up my phone from the nightstand. The screen lit up. I used the fingerprint to log in. The new app dominated the main screen. The icon depicted a man in a suit, kneeling, with a collar around his neck. A chain extended from the collar upward, held by a woman in a long dress. The app was called How Much I Owe to Cassandra. I stared at it for a solid five seconds. Then I laughed. Someone wanted to play games. I tapped the icon.

The app opened to a clean, professionally designed interface. At the top, in elegant serif font, a header read: Current Outstanding Balance. In the center, a live ticker counted upward in real time. -$3, 147, 891. 34 The interest was accruing live, the number constantly moving. Oh, great. That was exactly what I needed. At the bottom of the screen were two buttons. The first: Payment Options. I tapped it. A short pop-up flashed, displaying text, To be handled in person. The second button read: Message My Owner.

I snorted. This was one way to give me her number. This officially cancelled my debt, as it now became a flirting vehicle between Cassandra and me. Problem solved. Without having to do anything, too. I closed the app and pocketed the phone without messaging her. As if I would fall for the bait and give her the satisfaction of pressing a Message My Owner button without having her work for it. I got dressed. Charcoal suit, white shirt, black oxfords.

The island's morning heat was already pressing in through the window. I headed for the dome. On the way, I grabbed a kebab. Yes, I could probably eat some other food sometimes, Next time. As I ate, I walked, and I passed through the usual corridors. Except this time, I had company waiting for me. Four figures stood ahead, arranged in a way that was just casual enough to be deliberate. Chen Yi leaned against the left wall, warhammer resting on the floor beside him, arms crossed.

Kenji stood opposite, spine straight, arms folded at chest height, right where his kodachi hilts would be if he reached back. Adaeze stood a few paces behind them, staff planted, one hand resting on it. Zhao Liang stood furthest back, hands clasped behind him, eyes closed. They weren't blocking the corridor, technically speaking. I didn't slow down.

"Summoner," Chen said.

"No worries, I also don't remember your name," I replied. Kenji stepped into my path, face hardening.

"You split from the team yesterday. Alone."

"I never thought you'd notice."

"And you told nobody whether you found anything. Not the team. Not the committee. Not even Sarah."

"I found nothing relevant to clearing the floor." I stopped walking.

"But you aren't here because of that, are you?"

"You," Adaeze said from behind the front two, her British accent clipping the word precisely, "do not get to decide who needs to know. This is a joint operation. Intelligence is shared. That is the protocol."

"I don't remember having ever agreed to it." Kenji's weight shifted. Micro-movement, barely perceptible, but it looked like he was preparing to draw.

"You don't follow anyone's protocol. That's the problem."

"The problem is that you four are standing in a corridor acting like this is an ambush. If you want to threaten me, then get on with it." I took a step toward the gap between Chen and Kenji. Close enough that both of them would have to decide whether to move or to stand their ground.

"But weigh your words carefully. We aren't in the tower." I kept my voice even, conversational.

"If you die here, you stay dead. And I'm someone who summons demons. I'm not going to roughen you up a bit..." Mass summon. I pulled on my gang. Astarielle, Ashy, and a hundred tentacle worms flashed into reality within a second. Ashy landed in her human form.

"Oh shit." She shifted into sword form, floating above me, aiming at Chen. Chen's jaw tightened. His knuckles shifted on the warhammer shaft.

"... I will tear you to shreds, feed the remains to my demons, and think nothing of it." Two of the tentacle worms that had mouths snapped their jaws. Silence. Everyone held their hands on their weapons, calculating if they could survive this. They couldn't, and since they saw me detonate Ashy, they knew that. Steps echoed from behind me. By the steel clang and rhythm, I recognized Sarah. Shit. Mass unsummon. In a flash, I unsummoned the whole gang. Sarah walked from behind the turning.

"Blessed morning." She glanced at the four figures walking ahead, then at me.

"Did I miss something?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," I said.

"We met by accident and have strategized a little." Her eyes narrowed. She didn't believe me.

"Good," she said.

"Then let's go to the waiting room. Today's dive is going to be spectacular. I can feel it in my bones." She led the way ahead. We all followed. Time to dive.