Chapter 57 #2
Attaching my name to it ensured that the material plane knew exactly who found and beat a tower first.
Fucking wannabes.
Whether adventurers would get inside the towers soon enough for the TP gains to be relevant was a separate question.
I could have opened the doors to the Sanctuary tower to adventurers, but that tower was a private training ground for my people and a staging area for my ongoing conflicts in the heavens.
No one but the Silk was allowed in, and I wasn’t sure whether or not that would ever change.
Within a day of that proclamation going out, Queen Lace sent word that the seraphim had heard about my challenge and were incredibly unhappy about my decision to invite humans to ascend, which was in addition to their dislike of the growing demon population in the Naos kingdom.
While that was good news, the message made no mention of the seraphim wishing to parlay with me. They would stay on their plane for now, well above the riffraff and unworthy.
That was but one piece of news I needed to share with my wives.
When I entered my room, I found them waiting for me.
In the past, we would have had a gathering like this around a table full of exceptional cuisine, appetizers, multi-course meals, and desserts.
Each of us was undead now, so we passed around distilled debauchery and dreamdust. Podni had been in the middle of doing a line off of Purity’s chest when I arrived, actually, and I was happy to join.
“The seraphim are pissed about my tower announcement, but not pissed enough to come see me yet,” I said to my treasures.
“I’ve also received word that a demon army has made contact with our forces in the mountains.
The bulk of our defense will happen there, and we’ll spend every last Dungeon point we have to hold that position for as long as possible. So far, that’s going well.”
“The God of Debauchery will prevail,” Ashley proclaimed, raising her glass.
I agreed. “I wish we weren’t cutting it so close, but, yes, we will. If the endgame goes to plan, his army will be decimated, and then we can take him out too. So close. So fucking close.”
Solara rubbed my back. “It will work out. You always make sure that it does. In fact…”
My sorceress gestured at Purity, encouraging her to speak.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We found a log of Arcturus research notes,” she answered.
“So instead of combing through every book he ever bought, we have a summary of what he learned from those books. He was certain the Goddess was a captive on the seraphim plane and that the power prayers to her was being siphoned off by the seraphim. He wasn’t sure who, though. ”
“Quite the trump card to have in your pocket if you’re Arcturus,” Podni observed. “Dirt on an entire plane? Damn.”
“We could use that information to sow more discord among celestials,” Invia suggested.
“I like that,” Ashley echoed. “That news could be the end of the Church of the Goddess if we leaked it to the material plane, if that’s what we want, that is.”
Solara rested her chin in her hand, thinking. “What do we want out of this?”
Purity replied, “We should take our time deciding that, not that we have a lot of time to spare, but this information should be handled with care.”
“I agree,” I said.
How could we use this knowledge? Was there anything more useful than making it the basis of a smear campaign against the seraphim? That alone could yield worthwhile results.
I knew it by heart already, but I couldn’t help but obsessively review the Plague Master quest for Abbadon’s Bane:
To unlock Abaddon’s Bane, you must spend 10,000 good-aligned levels (one-time), forfeit 50 points of strength, sacrifice a living seraphim, and sacrifice a living sovereign.
I had the levels. I had the stat points.
And I had options for a sovereign sacrifice–I was married to a sovereign, in fact.
The living seraphim was the last piece. Finding a way to use the Goddess to meet that last requirement would be poetic, but that was nothing but dramatic daydreaming.
Of all the seraphim, she would be the most difficult to get to.
That much effort wasn’t worthwhile if any old seraphim sacrifice would do.
A summoner on the abyssal plane 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
“The King of the Abyss just summoned me,” I announced to the room.
“Too bad his summoning circles would block you from attacking,” Podni said. “We could send a shit ton of bombs through.”
“Yeah, if only.”
“Are you going to ignore him again?” Solara asked.
After considering it, I answered, “No, I think I’ll see him this time. Enough has changed on our side that maybe he is interested in a peace treaty. That’s almost certainly not the case, but one can hope.”
I accepted the Summon and appeared in Abaddon’s stark white abyssal throne room.
He had three different demons chained up at his feet this time, making me wonder if he rotated his stock or disposed of them when he got bored.
Were it not for the system pitting sovereign classes against one another, he and I might have been friends, comparing notes about harem management and bitching about celestials.
The Frozen Fiend was proof that would have never been possible, but it was interesting to imagine.
Stacey and Drae were present again as well.
Instead of hanging to have hot wax dripped on them, they were bound in kneeling positions, chains tight enough around their neck to keep them upright.
What looked like blue fireflies flew around them.
They landed on Stacey and Drae at random, releasing a visible electric shock whenever they did, harsh enough to make them jump.
The girls did their best to hold back their yelps and gasps of pain, but if the zap hit an especially sensitive area, it couldn’t be helped.
A human man stood at the center of the throne room, mere feet from the summoning circle.
“You look well, Brenin,” my father said, his voice hoarse as if he had shredded his vocal cords with screams.
I couldn’t tell if the tears in his eyes were from pain or from the happiness of seeing his son again. Was this an elaborate illusion? Possibly, but I didn’t think so. I knew as soon as I saw his face that he was real. This was my dad.
Abaddon grinned. “Touching reunion, father and son. Good to see one another again?”
“Don’t give him what he wants,” Tad said. “No matter what he says or does, don’t do it.”
“Clear something up for us, dear Byron,” Abaddon continued.
“I regaled your father with tales of your exploits, all the things he missed. The wealth. The infamy. The hedonism. The deception. The murders. I hit the major high points, I believe. Tad accused me of lying, so go on, set the record straight.”
“It’s true.”
Tad’s mouth fell. “What?”
“It’s all true.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The celestials call me the God of Debauchery. Any day now, I’ll kill two innocent people in service of defeating him.” I indicated that I meant Abaddon. “That sounds deplorable to you, but it’s rote and everyday for me. I’m happy to kill someone else–anyone else–if it benefits me.”
“He said you killed Paulson the Pure.”
I nodded. “He gave me the letters you sent him. He had kept every one of them. I came in my newest wife’s mouth while he bled out on the floor next to us.”
“By the Goddess.”
I noted that Abaddon flinched at the mention of the Goddess. It was a fleeting moment of tension, but I saw it.
“Daddy is still a part of my offer to you,” Abaddon said. “And I went through the trouble of creating a new body for him, as you can see. I thought that was a classy touch.”
“Has anything else about the offer changed?” I asked.
“Indeed. Should you refuse, Tad will experience all of the pain I have planned for you. He will spend eternity suffering because of his son’s foolish choices.”
I studied Tad’s face. I had seen it hundreds of times over recent days because of the tower trials, but I now saw the tower failed to capture something intangible about his appearance, the very warmth of his soul glowing from within.
Just like I remembered seeing from across the dinner table when I was a kid.
“My father died,” I told Abaddon. “Release his soul so he can return to the underworld. If you do this, I won’t kill you.”
“Ha! You conquer the pitiful angeli and now believe yourself my better. From the stories, I expected more from Byron of Zaglis. Know that this is the final offer I will ever make to you. My army will be on your doorstep in days. You’ve already lost.”
I held Tad’s gaze. “I’ll free you when this is over. I’m sorry for what you will endure until then.”
“How did you become this person, Brenin? Was my failure as a father that great?”
I nodded. “I did what I had to in order to survive, and I enjoyed a great deal of it.”
“...why?”
I looked away from my father to focus on Abaddon. “We’re done here.”
Abbadon opened his mouth to speak, but I cancelled the summon and returned to Sanctuary before I could hear what he said.
“Byron?” Purity asked with concern when she saw my face.
“Fuck waiting for the seraphim. Solara, Invia, you’re with me. Purity, Ashley, Podni–You’re in charge of our army here. When they blow the barrier, you know what to do.”
Purity kissed me on the cheek and squeezed me tight. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you too.”