Breaking the Rules Pt. 17

She studied the broken ground in all directions. Small gleams of active wards could be seen here and there if she looked for them; the whole area was a continuous jumble of magical power, of many varieties. One kind alone would be vulnerable to the steady stream of inventive strategies her attackers were using; she now informally ranked highly enough that demons had begun to produce and raise offspring with the specific aim of finding and overcoming some weakness in her defenses. After the defeat of Ashanti and the rumors swirling around the Lieutenant Fieflord, she was receiving regular challenges of this type, as well as ambitious younger demons that didn't have the benefit of guidance from wiser siblings and parents. But there was no sign of any other Lesser Demon; unless there was a wraith that escaped her notice in the air studying the interaction, the mystery of that visit might remain unsolved. She knew the watchers where there, however - studying her constantly for some clue of weakness, some hint of an approach that would give a new attacker the advantage over her. She had carefully been drawing the fights out, winning but not as easily as she was capable of, to camouflage her true strengths. But the lesser demon homunculus was no match for her, only besting her ward defenses by being too small to trigger them. If she wished, she could easily have charmed the little guy and had her way with him - or let him have his way with her for her amusement, at that - but someone no doubt had sent him for some purpose, and she was curious what that was.

A whisper of sound gave her the barest warning to leap aside. Where she had been standing, an armored brute crashed and rolled into the dull red rock, traveling against the direction that the wards had been linked together, causing him to only take a few hits. She stared after the retreating form of the archdemon landing outside her territory, and turning to watch the fight from afar. She'd have to deal with him afterwards; she snatched free a pendant around her neck, and walked to a particular ward just to one side. Flooding the crystal in it with mana, she dropped it in the ward and scratched a symbol into the back of one hand, linking its power to her until it ran out. She used this to pull another warded rock to her hand from a distance, one which happened to intersect with the interloper's head on its way to her. The demon howled angrily, channeling its rage at the sudden blow from behind, turning to counterattack, but finding nothing and quickly spinning.

"I am Mukhtaar the Conqueror. Adana, death comes for you this day. Surrender, and I will make it quick."

"Oh you poor fool," she replied, shaking her head side-to-side in mock sadness, "Adana died weeks ago. I'm Sanaa, and you're not prepared to face me."

"I'm going to relish filling your disembodied head with my fat cock and leaving you steaming with my seed for all to see."

She activated another ward, holding her hands open above it as it spat a black liquid, which she carefully stretched over her fingers as a long pair of gloves, similar to the membrane the berserker had slathered himself with as both a layer of flexible protection but also war paint. He powered up his damage aura and charged in response; at the last moment, Sanaa ducked as a large piece of rock slammed into his face from behind her and broke apart from the impact.

"You dare to defy your better!" Mukhtaar howled, "Now your death will stretch for days!"

The succubus sauntered casually over to another part of the grounds, and the berserker took a flying leap to avoid any other easy attacks from behind, and clearing many of the wards between them as well. The rocks beneath his feet turned to sand, and he sank into the ground to the waist. Bellowing with rage, he tore at the ground, pulling himself forward. Sanaa dumped mana into a ring surrounding the dusty pit and stepped back. Mukhtaar reached the edge of the ring and paused as a Lesser Hellfire Ball drifted expertly to a stop just in front of him. He swatted it away, taking the minor damage on his forearm and reached forward to pull himself out, and the ring ward finished charging, lifting the demon up in the air with a harsh gust into a column that pulled in dust and sand from around it and blasted his body with all the abrasive material. Sanaa tossed in a few rocks she called to herself, with wards that ate away at his protective auras like an acid. The ring ward exhausted its power, however, and Mukhtaar dropped to the ground again, surging forward without fear.

"I can do this all day!" he snarled. "And all I need is one good hit to bring you to your knees, where you belong!"

"Ooh, baby, talk dirty to me!" Sanaa replied, striking a provocative squatting pose.

He faltered only the slightest bit, realizing his error. Her own auras fed on lust, and the more she could turn his words around, the stronger an effect they had on him. She rocked her hips side-to-side, giving him a picture of her as she would look squatting over him, riding him if he were prone on the ground.

"!Madaukakin Dillacewa!"

Mukhtaar flew forwards, activating half a dozen wards between them, his horns narrowly missing Sanaa as she twirled and bent backwards. The forward thrust spell left him left him overbalanced behind where she'd stood, and Sanaa's lean turned into a backflip, bringing her knee down into his back, shoving him into another ward that sprayed him with ice. To her surprise, his Proficiency was high, and the cooldown had already expired. He jumped into a spot near her with an already expired ward, and came charging in again from an unexpected direction.

"!Madaukakin Dillacewa!"

She called another rock to her hand, activating the ward just in time; the rock exploded in his face with a heavy blast that rocked him, but he pulverized the rock itself in her hands, reaching through to land a hit that sent her flying to the ground.

"!Kafa - Mai - Nauyi!" he said, spitting bits of porous rock and leaping high in the air again.

His body took on extra weight and he made a meteoric smash into the ground where she lay. Dust burst into the air, rocks flew, and others shifted with the blastwave that rumbled the earth itself.

"You are beaten. Give yourself to me and I will let you service anyone who calls at my door," Mukhtaar announced, pulling his fist back as a threat to land a finishing blow.

"Mmm... it hurts so good," the demoness beneath him moaned.

"W-whaa?" his eyes opened wide. "Come on, look at you, your blood is everywhere."

"Yeah, just look how wet I am for you," she crooned, reaching up to stroke his face, wiping her own blood under his nose.

His nostrils flared, taking in the scent of victory. And also...

"What is that smell?" he crinkled his face, finding it vaguely familiar.

"It's me. Oh, it's been ages since I've had a worthy challenger," Sanaa said huskily.

"Oh give it up, you're not fooling anyone," he growled.

"For you sugar, I'll give it up right now," she purred.

Her auras flared, burning away his resistance, and her legs wrapped around him as he pulled back.

"Stay back! What are you- get off! You clingy little-!"

"I'll get off, I promise! I'll get off sooo many times! Don't go! I need a big strong man just like you!" she begged. "Please, let me feel that hard demon cock inside me! "

"Uwaaah! Hrrgh!" He stumbled to his feet, and the succubus stretched her right leg up and put the foot on his opposite shoulder, using his body as a support to spin around while inverting, lifting her left leg to wrap behind his head and plaster herself to his chest, leaving her head dangling right by his groin. She wasted no time opening his belt and dropping his warrior shorts, taking his dick in her mouth and latching her fingers behind his ass.

"Grrrngh!" he said, trying to talk around her vulva, and having no room to do so.

She wriggled against him, rocking their bodies together with an ancient and powerful rhythm that weakened the blows he aimed at her unprotected sides.

"No... no, I can't go out this way. I won't!" he growled.

"Come on baby, isn't this what you wanted? You wanted to take me home so I could bear your little demon babies. You wanted to show me off, barefoot and pregnant, and let all your hunky berserker friends have a taste of your great conquest. We can start right now! Give it to me, hot shot, fill me up with your superior seed!"

"Nnngh- ah! Not this way! It wasn't supposed to be this way!"

"You just need to be a little more flexible. Come on, let me show you how it's done."

She let go of his head with her legs and kicked them forward, arching her back to let her feet slowly touch the ground while still holding his dick between her cheeks. Mukhtaar reached down and grabbed her head, fearing for the safety of his sensitive parts, but she just kept swirling her tongue, working him deeper until he could see her throat bulge as she took him in.

"Hahh... hah... how!?" he panted. "How can this be happening... they assured me... you weren't this powerful..."

His eyes rolled up in his head as she rolled his seed sack in her hand and grabbed his hand on her head, encouraging him to keep holding her as he pushed and pulled her up and down his member just the way he wanted.

"Gwaarghn!" she said, coming up for air. "I don't like to make the neighbors jealous. Shall we take this... all the way inside?"

"Oh gods below," Mukhtaar's face fell as some small part of him realized what was happening. "No, no, somebody help! Big Favor! Don't let me go in with this biiiiuuuuaaaaggghg."

Sanaa rolled and shimmied her pelvis back against him, catching the cockhead with her labia and squeezing; his hips thrust forward on instinct, and he took a step forward to correct his balance as he hilted inside her. She rocked her hips as she reached forward with her hands and slipped up until only the head was inside her again and he shuddered, thrusting forward with his hips and taking another step. His hands reached forward and grabbed her by the waist, and she pulled them both forward with her hands, forcing him to take another step, and then another; he pushed in and out of her, beginning to drool mindlessly. She crawled forward, leading him into the cover of the cave, at which point she fluttered her vaginal canal around him, causing him to go weak in the knees and start to fall over, slipping out of her velvety grasp. He groaned, starting to rouse as the sensations of his tightening ballsack ebbed, but she jumped forward in a tackle, mounting him in a single bound and riding him down to the floor as he toppled. She took her time with it, holding him on the edge of orgasm for long minutes before letting him come.

"!Mafi Yawan Gajiya!"

She exhausted the last of her mana on a resistance debuff, overcoming his saving throw easily, and let her auras lapse.

"Now for the victory fuck," she grinned. "Or would you prefer to victory lap my clit? You might have trouble finding it, but don't worry, I can bring it to your tongue."

"Graaghh," Mukhtaar grunted as he squeezed her nipples.

"Ooh, you like these, don't you? I'm rather fond of them myself," she said, looking down at him through half-lidded eyes. "Let's try this while you still have your soul to yourself. Give me your hands."

She snatched his greedy fingers away, chuckling at him as he tried to reassert his grip on her chest.

"Here, let me give you something else to hold," she said, slipping her ankles into his grip and leaning back with her hands on his knees.

He pushed her legs together and apart, playing with how much she squeezed down on him with her cunt as a result.

"Fuuuuuck, so goooood," he groaned.

"And just think, you get to have this as much as I want!" she giggled.

She swayed forwards and backwards on her hands, taking him deeper and shallower, watching the dread and the lust fighting for control of his eyes. The lust won out.

"Urgh... yes... gonna... cum..." the berserker rasped.

"That's it baby, give me everything."

A low growl grew in pitch to a high wail as he came inside her again. She didn't even bother casting Greater Domination on him; at the moment of his orgasm, she leaned forward and planted her hungry lips on his and sucked out his soul with the eerie cry she knew so well. He twitched and his tongue thrashed for a bit, and then he lay still.

"Can I just say, I do enjoy watching you work," the demon at the doorway said.

"Why, Fieflord, to what do I owe- oh. You were the one that brought him here, weren't you?"

"He was sent to find you. I was obliged to aid him. You ordered me to act as I would have before you enthralled me-"

"Yes, yes, I understand. What are the implications of my having captured him? Who sent him?"

"Unclear. He offered a Favor from Neeoka. I accepted the offer, but he doesn't have the Favor on him."

"Not talking to you." She leaned forward and slapped the prone demon. "Hey, Mukhtaar, wakey wakey my eggs are bakey."

The berserker groaned, eyes fluttering open. "What... happened...?"

"I'm your mistress now. Tell me, who sent you to fight me?"

"No one... sent me..."

"You came on your own? Surely someone pushed you to it."

"Heard some... rumors. You were... weak."

"For a succubus, maybe. Come on, you've gotta have something. Who brought it up first?"

"Uhhh....." he lay still, thinking for a bit. "Lord Olujime. He say... time is right. I should be stronger at my age. Need to go smack the succubus around. Get a slave pussy, slave dick, watch them fuck each other. Otherwise people think I'm weak, and they come to take what I have."

"Men," Sanaa said, rolling her eyes. "So weak in the ego."

"Heard of this Olujime," Fieflord said. "Been nosing around, asking about the Glitch."

"Oh? What about it?" Sanaa said, perking up.

"Oh, you know. The defense system for chasing mortals off."

Sanaa blinked. "Who do I need to get sodomized by to find that out?"

"Nobody. I'll tell you, I know the ritual."

"You..." Sanaa's mouth fell open and she drooped, speechless. "You knew!? All this time, after I asked you about the Glitch, you knew it had a defense!"

"Well sure, I told you it had-"

"FUCK you. You didn't say you knew the ritual!"

"Of course I do, I've been around long enough-"

"AAAAAAIIIIIIGGGGHHH! I fucking asked you for EVERYTHING and you said nothing about it-"

"You asked me about the Limit Break! I thought we were done with the subject!"

Sanaa let loose an ear-splitting shriek, slamming her battered fists on the Fieflord's chest.

"Get out! Get out of my fucking house! Get out of my sight!"

She let the order stand, knowing he was compelled to obey. He turned and began walking, ignoring the abuse she was heaping on him.

"And take this useless lump with you! By Neeoka's wedding ring I swear I will torment you to the end of your days for this!"

Sanaa dragged along as he just kept walking, and thrall Mukhtaar got up and followed, obeying the indirect command to go with him. She yelled and wailed and thrashed against him, doing no lasting damage, though she did not pull the punches. They reached the edge of the wards, which they were both now allowed to pass without harm, and she let go, collapsing to a heaving pile on the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the avatar of her neighbor, a beholder that liked to project a large mouth to speak with, grinning with a smile a thousand teeth wide. What he saw was her falling on the ground, defeated, her prize catch being dragged away before she was done, and her lying on the ground, humiliated as her blows had seemingly no effect on the archdemon Fieflord.

Well, the emotions were real enough. She was mortified that such an important detail had gone undiscovered all this time.

"Stop."

The berserkers both stopped.

"Tell me."

He explained the ritual to her, the place and the simple mechanics of the magic of it, quietly enough that no one else could hear.

"But nobody uses it, you know," he continued. "Well, almost nobody; not in a decade at least. You ordered me to warn you when you asked about dangerous things, well that's one of them. You use that, they're going to come for you. Hard."

"Then you're going to go do it. How bad will they come?"

"It will be my last act of service to you. It relates to one of the final steps of ascension, as you know. They do not suffer that line be crossed lightly, even by one as old as me. I was building an army to defend me for that stage when you caught my soul."

"Nngh... it's all on the line. Everything. It's ascension, or bust." She felt a tug. "I have a summons. Quick, what's the defense do?"

He explained it.

"Shit. My mortal's going to hate this so much."

She vanished into the hole torn in the ether by the summoning circle. The berserkers turned and continued walking away.

*****

There was a knock at the door.

"Go away!" the huddled figure called out from the pile of blankets and stuffed animals on the bed.

"This is Archon Mayeso. I must speak with you."

The mound groaned. Furaha dug her way out and walked to the door, slipping her robe on and tightening it.

"Yes sir?" she asked wearily.

"So formal. Do we not know each other better than that?"

"I just want to sleep."

"I know. You're having trouble with that lately. Are you worried about your new friends?"

"I can't help it, you know I'm nearly human, we don't have-"

"Ssh, calm yourself. It's alright. I'm not here to lay judgment on your choice of companions. Samba knows I've known some colorful people in my time, and it's kind of his thing."

"Yeah, I know."

"And I'm a born werewolf, with the tumultuous upbringing to go with it. But I must ask you, as it reflects back on the faction as a whole. Just what it is you're hiding from now?"

"The Legion."

The man waited.

"...and the Goofuses. And the Cultists. Knights of Jelani. Nyala. Maybe myself."

"There, now, that's enough. You know you can't hide from yourself. You know the saying."

"...huh?"

"No matter where you go... there you are."

Her brow crinkled. She hit the man lightly on the arm. "That's still the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I once had a man try to tell me if you poked a cow enough times it would explode."

"But it's true. There's no escaping yourself; everything you're running from is right there, everywhere you go."

"Why bother hearing it? I can't ask you to bear my neurosis for me."

"And I'm not offering to. I'm mostly saying, smile - and keep on smiling. It feels good, and if you do it long enough, you'll discover you truly are happy. I know that sounds stupid too, but it's completely true. Speaking from experience, here."

"I'll try it sometime."

"Good. So, The Legion in particular is bothering you. What happened?"

"I, uh... we. My friends and I, we broke into the outpost at Quartz Port. Stole some documents. It doesn't seem like much, just the principle of the thing you know. But they prove the messenger there was corrupt, and The Legion were the ones that corrupted him, and the documents prove it, and now I have them."

"Have you shown them to anyone?"

"Not yet. I feel bad for the messenger, kind of. I'm trying to figure out a way not to hurt him too badly. He's still young."

"You know the longer you wait, the more time the Legion has to falsify documents to explain it away."

"Ugh. I KNOW! You don't need to tell me."

"So why is it then, that you have brought this danger down on both yourself and the Faction? What benefit does anyone get from letting this go on, while the opportunity drains away? If you were going to protect him, you would have had a plan from the beginning. I know you're not that careless."

"Fine. I'm waiting for them to slip up, to show their hand. Yes, I went for a particular purpose, but I don't think they know what that was, not for sure. A guilty conscience may reveal more wrongdoing than to merely be confronted with the simplest of accusations. Let them stew. If nothing comes of it, I make the minor accusation, and the judgment falls where it may on a few. But the more people they bring in, the more likely someone is to take matters in their own hands to try to cover up whatever they fear I may know. And in so doing, they may expose themselves for the incompetent and fractured body that they are."