Chapter 37
A summoner on the plane of cherubim invites you for an audience. You cannot receive or deliver harm for as long as you remain within the summoning circle, and you may return to your home plane at will. These rules cannot be broken or cheated by either party.
Do you accept the invitation?
Yes / No
I kept reading the invitation. Again and again, unsure of how to proceed.
The system guaranteed my safety, but how much did I trust a system that gave people the quest objective of killing me? Perhaps people as powerful as cherubim had a way of forcing me out of a summoning circle or some other such workaround that screwed me over.
If I were truly safe, however, this was an opportunity to gain more information. Even if the cherubim didn’t answer any of my questions, whatever they chose to ask me about would give me a glimpse of their motives.
Fuck it. Half of my kingdom was already on fire. The walls were suddenly closing in on me, and I needed every advantage I could get.
I selected Yes.
I appeared at the bottom of what appeared to be some manner of lecture hall.
The room was a perfect circle and ringed by solid marble tables and chairs that rose in layers like seats in a stadium.
Curiously, I didn’t see any doors leading into the room, and there weren’t any stairs between the levels.
Every table was a solid ring with no apparent way in or out.
I could see the lowest three rows clearly, but every row after that was obscured by unnatural darkness. I was aware that beings sat within that darkness, watching me, but I couldn’t see them.
The people I could see reminded me of Stacey, except instead of solid chrome bodies, these appeared to be platinum. Both men and women were present, and none of the platinum people wore clothes.
Lastly, I knew without a doubt that I was the weakest being in this room by a substantial margin. Just one cherubim could end me.
“Byron of Zaglis,” a woman in the lowest row said, her voice booming through the room as if amplified by an unseen force. “Does this form suit you for negotiations?”
Sense Weakness didn’t return any results, and if she noticed my attempt, she didn’t bother reacting to it.
“Form?” I asked.
“Humans cannot look upon a cherubim’s splendor and live. We take these forms for your benefit but can adjust them if these confuse or scare you.”
“Why am I here?” I was pretty sure I had already seen a seraphim’s true form. If that didn’t kill me, the cherubim was likely spewing propaganda rather than truth.
“You are a war criminal and an enemy to the heavens. Your sword has ended the lives of hundreds of humans wise enough to give us their devotion, and you have stolen a grigori from their rightful master. We call upon you now because we wish to claim you before the King of Abyss does.”
“You can’t trap me here if I was summoned.”
Hawty giggles and chuckles rained down from the audience, and even the female cherubim speaking to me smirked.
“Yes, human, you are correct. That is how summoning circles work. We called upon you to negotiate the terms of your surrender. The King of the Abyss will torment you for eternity. You will know nothing but unbelievable pain for the rest of time. If you surrender to us, we will give you a finite sentence, at the end of which you will be executed. Our offer is far more merciful, as even you should be able to see.”
I’m ashamed to admit that I briefly considered taking them up on their offer.
Being captured by Abaddon had been a fear of mine for some time, so much so that I used to carry Holy water on a necklace, alongside a Legendary Healing potion.
If I was captured, I could end my own life with the Holy water.
But now, I was immune to Holy. I didn’t have a way to swiftly opt out anymore.
“What do you propose?” I asked.
“A sentence of 100,000 years. Since we are truly merciful, you can reduce that sentence to 20,000 if you join us in fighting the King of the Abyss.”
“And still end up captured by him anyway.”
“That is indeed a possible future.”
“Why haven’t you killed him yourselves?” I asked.
“You are not permitted to ask questions.”
“Why not?”
“Because you are a war criminal.”
“But you answered that question just now.”
The cherubim scowled. Shooting my mouth off in this situation was unwise, but I still couldn’t help myself. Worse, I was entirely unprepared for this scenario. Of all the potential predicaments I imagined and thought through, an audience with cherubim judges was not one of them.
“I have a counterproposal,” I said. “We become allies, and we’ll eliminate our common enemy together.”
This time, the room was filled with loud guffaws. The woman who had been speaking with me raised a hand to call for quiet. “You are not permitted to offer counterproposals.”
“You described this as a negotiation.”
“Yes. We have offered you two paths and given you the choice between them.”
“Perhaps the King of the Abyss would be more interested in allying with me? I understand he and his wife were seraphim, and he has stormed your gates many times in the past.”
Reading a platinum metal face that wasn’t human was difficult, but I swore the speaking cherubim looked concerned and uncomfortable. I found a sore spot, apparently. I didn’t know what else to do, so I poked it again.
“Is she still around? In terms of personal history, the bad blood he has for the heavens has to be far, far deeper than any disdain he holds for me. Maybe a little of my creativity is all the King of the Abyss needs to finally kill all of you.”
“Your words do nothing but erode the mercy we offer,” the cherubim replied.
“Can I talk to her?”
Several voices exchanged words in a language I didn’t know. The cadence of the conversation made it sound like a discussion of what to do with me, most likely.
Paladins remaining: 2
Oh, that was an interesting notification. I didn’t kill anyone, so my best guess was that one of the three surviving paladins abandoned their class. Or worked up the bravery to jump from a high place.
“What happens when you run out of paladins?” I asked.
“I’m still new to being a sovereign, but I’ve figured out that the system rewards things like prayer and worship.
How much power did you lose from all those deaths?
How about the decline of the Church of the Goddess?
That couldn’t have been good for you all either. ”
The cherubim ignored me and continued to talk with one another.
“Hey!” I yelled.
When they didn’t stop to acknowledge me, I yelled again and received the same non-response.
“I have an answer for your offer,” I said, finally.
That got their attention.
I took out my dick and started stroking. “It’ll take me a second to get there, so hang on.”
I blinked and was back in Sanctuary South.
All of that power and security I believed I had was imaginary.
These last few weeks and months of confidence, of knowing I had this figured out, were nothing but self-delusion.
I was strong by material plane standards but was a mere annoyance to my numerous extraplanar enemies.
They looked down on me the way I looked down on a level 1 adventurer.
My existence was entirely inconsequential.
No, that couldn’t be true. They wouldn’t summon an inconsequential being to make them an offer. They wanted me to think I didn’t matter, but the simple act of acknowledging me proved that wasn’t the case.
What was it about me that scared them? What made them worry?
If I could figure that out, perhaps I could live long enough to see this through to the end.
But I had no fucking idea what it might be.
I knocked on the door to Abby’s Sanctuary penthouse apartment. With a confused lilt in her voice, she yelled that I could come in.
Abby’s penthouse felt more like the lobby of a fancy hotel than any place actually lived in.
The chairs and couches were pleasant aesthetically but looked uncomfortable, and her bookshelf was ordered alphabetically.
I didn’t know if this apartment felt untouched because of her obsessive need to be clean and orderly or because she never did anything but work.
If the latter was the case, then I was to blame.
One of the most critical pieces of my operation, and I took her for granted.
“Master?” I did not hear you call me. My apologies.
“I didn’t call. I came to see you.”
“You need only summon me.”
“For this kind of visit, you deserve the respect of me coming to you.”
“Master?” Abby asked, tilting her head.
“Sit with me, please,” I said, taking a seat on one end of a red velvet couch.
Abby took the other.
“I owe you an apology. It was my job to keep you and your sisters safe, and I failed. I let you all down.”
Abby shook her head. “No, Master. You did not fail.”
“I promised to protect you. I’m sorry about the pain this has caused, and you don’t need to respond or reassure me. What matters to me is making certain that you know I mean that. I’m sorry, and I can’t imagine what kind of hurt you’re feeling right now.”
She looked to the floor and nodded meekly. I had never seen Abby vulnerable before. Was that because she did a good job of hiding it or was this the first time I gave her cause to feel sadness?
“I miss them,” she said.
“Me too. I’m doing everything in my power to get them back.”
“The war is more important.”
“This is the war. We haven't won if we haven't brought them home.”
Abby’s tails flicked back and forth while her wings drooped. “The lives of a few demons are a small cost in a war.”
I grabbed both of her shoulders and turned her toward me. “Abby. Listen to me. My only objective is to keep our people safe. None of you is expendable. This war is only worth winning if you're there to enjoy what comes after.”
Abby looked at the hands resting on her. “You have never touched me for so long.”
The liluti leaned into me, burying her face in my chest while I was mindful not to lose an eye to one of her horns.
She started to cry.
“I know,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. “We all miss them.”