Breaking the Rules Pt. 23

"But since when have a few words-"

"!SHIRU!" Dayo snapped authoritatively.

Onyekachi's jaw moved, but nothing came out.

"Thank you," Nuru said.

"Not for your benefit, bub," Dayo said. "And it won't last long on him."

"Even so."

"Ahem. Do you mind? You don't need this anymore," Sanaa said.

Onyekachi chattered silently at her as she wrestled the great vial away from him, his clacking teeth the only sound he could make. The Guardian opened his hands and smashed his own face into the phylactery; Onyekachi jerked and writhed in pain, losing his grip.

"Much obliged," Sanaa said, pulling out another potion. She set both of them down on the table and then went over to the vault door, now fully open.

"Oh TumELoooooo," the succubus sang melodically.

She stepped towards the open doorway, where the altar lay, which flashed as a ward activated. She shrieked as she was thrown back with a painful burst of magical energy.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Nuru, but isn't there usually a glow on the altar?"

"Yeah. It's like it's inactive or something."

"What's the deal, Guardian? The text said I must touch the active altar to fill the Limit Beaker with the divine light."

"The altar is warded and sealed with a time lock. If you but wait an hour, my power will return sufficient to break the seal," The Guardian said.

"But...?" Sanaa said, shaking her hand that had entered first, that looked rather singed.

"The invocation of Rule One has alerted all the gods that it has been done, and highlighted our location. They will be marshalling forces with all haste to protect the balance of power. They can interfere only so much - unless their appointed representatives come to some agreement unanimously."

"Then we don't have an hour," Sanaa snapped. "They will create a contest, an officially sanctioned Special Event, and someone else will ascend. This is unacceptable."

"Yet this world itself is shaped so as to make it possible for a changing of leadership. There is a way - where progress is impossible, the world itself will warp to make it possible. That it has not done so indicates that some way still exists."

Sanaa frowned. Looked back at Onyekachi, still thrashing angrily.

"Dayo, I need a big favor," she said. "I'll owe you as such. You're the strongest of us. Get that amulet from around his neck."

The archon continued cursing mutely, as if he hadn't heard what she said, starting to climb unsteadily to his knees.

"I dunno, are you sure that's right?" Nuru said.

"I don't see you bloody doing anything!" Sanaa exploded.

"Alright, alright, try it! It's a huge risk, though, don't tell me I didn't warn you."

"I have to do something," Sanaa said. "There has to be a way, you heard him. Speaking of which..."

She walked over to Nuru, swaying seductively, then grabbed him in a full embrace and slid her tongue into his throat.

"That's a preliminary thanks for your gift. You mind doing something for me, before I give you the rest?"

"Oh. Uhh.... sure..." Nuru said, trying to shake the sudden fog from his head.

"Do one more summon for me. Let me see the scroll."

Nuru pulled it out. She looked over, saw Dayo looking pensive.

"Well!? What are you waiting for?" Sanaa demanded, walking over to place the summoning circle on the floor near the ward and push it further in with the broken leg of the table.

The ward in the floor resisted, and she had to press hard to make headway, once again getting too close and damaging the other hand.

"Ace," Dayo said.

Sanaa tilted her head, looking back, clenching away the injury. "What do you mean?"

"Ace, it's time. I'm going in," Dayo said.

The disempowered and disgraced valkyrie stepped forward, reaching for the pendant around the high archon's neck. He batted their hands away forcefully, continuing to mutely spew curses at Sanaa. But the harder Dayo pushed, the harder Onyekachi fought back, belying the importance of the piece. Ace appeared behind him hanging from a Smoke Portal Anchor, slinging a pair of bolo that had a rope joining them. The weighted balls whipped down at a carefully timed moment around Onyekachi's wrists and bound tightly, and Ace dropped on the lich's back for leverage, pulling with all of his might on the joining rope, slowly forcing Onyekachi's hands away from his chest. It wasn't enough, but Ace's other foot also slowly worked its way under the ribbon holding the pendant in place, and with a flash he flicked it forward and let it fall past Onyekachi's face. The moment slowed to one crystallized second that seemed to take forever to pass; Ace was thrown forward by the sudden redoubling of the high archon's efforts against the bolo and leaning forward to grab at the pendant and keep it away as it fell to the floor beneath him. But Dayo was just fast enough, and snatched it, then Shadow Walked.

"Big Favor. As agreed," Sanaa said, handing the IOU over immediately in exchange. "Nuru, now's the time."

The succubus muttered something, and her finger started smoking just as Nuru's had when making the sigil that had tripped the demon alarms in Home Town and smoked out the temple. She made a simple modification to the True Name, crudely blacking out the old one and writing a new one, then handed it back. Nuru took a deep breath, and activated the scroll. A form emerged, and immediately went into rictus as the ward underneath activated; a blinding light dying with the demon that melted into a steaming pile of goo on the floor. The Summon Circle was also destroyed.

"Bloody hell! That was the other demon, wasn't it?!" Nuru gasped. "The one that shaped the pocket dimension for you!"

"He outlived his usefulness," Sanaa nodded sternly. "No one is allowed to reuse an old Pocket Dimension that way, he was going to be getting zapped sooner or later. And look at that, you get the kill EXP for it, too. And a badge."

She pointed, and Nuru saw the DEMON KILLER banner appear over his head.

"Akachi and Father Emeka will be so proud," he rolled his eyes.

She grabbed the large, ornate vial from the table in one hand, and stepped towards the altar with the High Archon's pendant in the other hand. Onyekachi found his second wind and scrambled forward only to catch the Guardian's foot in his back and face planted violently into the floor. He scrabbled and beat at the floor helplessly.

"You watching this, Nuru?" Dayo said. "I want you to describe this moment to Mesi, in all of its glorious details. She'll never believe how hilarious it was."

"You better believe I am," Nuru said.

Neither of them were laughing yet, but Nuru felt a manic glee creeping up inside him, waiting its turn to be set loose. Sanaa studied the altar a moment, then stepped right up to it, dropping the amulet on top- and vanished as the divine light bathed it once more.

Dayo gasped.

"Shit!" Nuru said. "Is she dead?"

"Little... help here...!" Ace said, struggling with Onyekachi, who had now turned all his wrath to the man who had allowed him to be beaten.

"Gah! How did that happen? You got away!" Dayo demanded, leaping to help him.

"He got... the bolo free... was gonna hit Nuru with it... with his strength... deadly weapon..."

They hardly noticed Sanaa appearing again until the altar crumbled violently, shaking the whole room.

"Now, let's see... Respec potion straight in through the top, and shake vigorously..." the succubus intoned.

Onyekachi wrenched the bolo free and hurled it, yanking the beaker out of Sanaa's grasp just before she tipped the potion in, and she ran over to pick it up again, and completed the combination. Her jiggling breasts and thighs with the force of her shaking and mixing movements would have been comical under normal circumstances. The beaker began to glow a blinding white.

"Limit Beaker has become Limit Break! And here's the fun part. Time to see if all my practice chugging strange fluids has paid off," Sanaa said, and winked at Nuru.

She stepped into the middle of the room, got down on her knees, and upended it into her mouth. A ghostly hand extended from Onyekachi, blocking the glow in the bottom of the beaker.

"Hah. The hard way it is."

Sanaa opened her mouth wide, took the twisted neck of the potion in both hands, and began forcing the neck of it down her throat an inch at a time, matching the twist rate of the beaker.

The Guardian spoke up. "This is not how it's normally done. You're supposed to cut your stomach open ceremoniously and-"

Sanaa waved him away.

"Seems more appropriate this way, really," Nuru said.

Sanaa paused to point at him for a moment and her lips pulled back with a smile, then she threw her head back and kept pushing it in. Her voice came through to him still.

/I've corrupted you well!/

"Gods. How long is this going to take? How long can you hold your breath? Oh, stupid question," Dayo said.

Sanaa shook with laughter. The blinding whiteness threw strange shadows with every movement, bathing the whole decimated room in a stark shade that made it all seem insubstantial, the barest breeze away from complete unmaking. A pounding came from the door.

"Should we check who it is?" Nuru asked.

"Hey! Open up! What's going on in there!?" a tiny muffled voice said. "Onyekachi! Chibale's weapons were found! We think he's dead!"

"Everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here... now, thank you... how are you?" Dayo called.

They bit a knuckle awkwardly.

"They've taken the inner sanctum. Blow the door," the voice called.

"I don't suppose you can hurry this," Nuru said.

Sanaa waggled her finger at him.

"No, of course not," Nuru said. "Can't you do something!?" Nuru demanded from The Guardian.

"It is the sacred contest of wills. As he is High Archon, I cannot destroy him completely. Should she somehow fail, it would violate the sovereignty of the faction space."

Sanaa held up a hand. Then crooked a finger at Dayo and Nuru both.

"Uh... can we help you?" Dayo said.

Both of them stepped forward. Sanaa gestured to the vial.

"Oh. Help you get this in. Well, alright," Dayo said.

"You ever think we'd be screwing a throat together?" Nuru asked.

Dayo kicked him under the blinding light.

"Wha-at?" he said.

"That was terrible!"

/And I love it!/

The door was reduced to a cloud of splinters in a mad flurry of strikes just as the Limit Break seated firmly in Sanaa's throat, pinning her head back in place.

"Old one! We've come- by Tumelo's many eyes, what is happening here?" a man said.

The Guardian picked up Onyekachi's still-flailing body and hurled him out the doorway, taking the man speaking with him. Crashes, thuds and cries indicated he hadn't been alone; the Sleep Paralysis had definitely worn off by now. The Guardian stooped and knelt in the doorway, blocking as much of it has he could.

"I cannot hold them long," he said.

Purple flashes told of summoned souls striking him repeatedly, but they vanished in a puff. More thuds and cries spoke of new methods of attack. Sanaa grabbed Nuru by the groin.

"Gaah! Can't it wait? Be gentle!"

When he reached down to fight her painful grip off, she grabbed his arm instead. He noticed vaguely that she had done the same with Dayo's arm. She pulled herself up, using both of them for support, and then dropped heavily to her knees. Then she got up and did it again.

"Oh. Trying to help it along? Why didn't you just use your wings?" Nuru said.

Sanaa slapped her forehead. Sanaa unfolded her wings, and hurled herself up in the air with a mighty beat of the leathery digits.

/Fuck. They're so new I'm not even used to using them, and I forgot./

Sanaa came back to a crouch, jumped with assistance, and then came down on her feet hard, not bending her knees. The blinding light jiggled inside the vial.

"Is it working?" Nuru said.

"I don't know! Again!" Dayo said.

Two, three, four times they did it. The bright liquid started slipping down into the neck a little at a time.

"You'd better quit wasting time," The Guardian said. "I am losing this battle. There is a reason the Limit Break is meant to go directly within."

Onyekachi's head pulled itself free from his body, and a ghostly outline of a human form took the place of the missing torso as it drifted towards Sanaa. He tried to dart forward, but Ace got over the shock fast enough to lodge a knife into the floating head's eye socket. Dayo pulled out the lantern with their free hand, and started sucking Onyekachi's ghostly body in, but it retreated into his skull, which Ace wrestled to the floor, trying not to take arrow fire from the doorway and not lose a finger to Onyekachi's mouth at the same time. But the ghostly hand retreated as well, and suddenly the blinding light vanished. Sanaa fell forward and let go, convulsing.

"Wait... did it work?" Nuru said. "What's happening?"

"Help me get this out," Dayo said.

The valkyrie started muscling the vial, twisting it back the other way to remove it. Nuru helped as best he could, and they inched it back out, noticing the succubus's long tongue pulling back into her head. Sanaa fell back to the floor as it slipped free. Her eyes turned from a glossy black to a milky white, then back to black with small fiery rings where her irises would be, if she was human.

"Aw yeah, here we go," Sanaa whispered, finally regaining control.

She pulled in far more air than her lungs should have been able to, for her size. She grappled onto Nuru and Dayo and climbed to her feet. The discarded Limit Beaker melted into the floor and vanished.

"Damn. You OK?" Dayo said.

Sanaa held up a finger. The attackers had beaten the Guardian down and were now climbing over him into the room. A silent Onyekachi was waving his arms imperiously at Nuru and Dayo from just outside. A red glowing ring appeared over her head.

"Hey Nuru... remember how you said Most Exalted Sex Goddess was a ridiculous name?" the succubus purred.

"Err... yes?" Nuru said, feeling a chill creep up his back.

Somewhere in the distance, the pounding of the demon alart stopped.

"Guess what a Limit Break does."

Sanaa waved her hands, and the two men who had made it into the room and were charging forward suddenly fell over, clutching their groins as their Faction-magic weapons vanished.

"Aaaaugh, oh gods, it's so good!" one said. The other groaned in surprise and shock, "How is this possible?!"

"This is my territory now, fuckers," Sanaa announced. "Bow to me, or be banished."

Nuru and Dayo went down on one knee, from exhaustion if nothing else. The next couple of men that charged in with weapons drawn were simply hurled bodily down the hallway, their weapons turning to smoke as well.

"Banished. Banished I said! Hahahahahahaha!" Sanaa crowed. "Oh, what a glorious moment!"

"My purpose... is fulfilled," the Guardian said, collapsing into the floor. "But you have... a visitor..."

"You, banished. You, banished! All of you, begone!" the succubus crowed, casting away the rushing attackers.

"Ahem." Everything went eerily quiet, and all movement stopped - including Sanaa, frozen in mid-gesture.

"Uhm... wh- what's happening?" Nuru stammered as a man appeared in the room. "Who are you?"

"Name's Dev. I'm taking a moment out of my day to fix this disaster; The Rules have been broken in a manner unprecedented. A succubus, ascended? What is the world coming to?" the man said, shaking his head gravely. "You must help me untangle this."

"What can I do?" Nuru said.

"We shall peel back the layers of this creature's mind. I will bring her into the moment with us; oppose her for the sake of drawing out her true intentions, and let us see if she can solve the puzzle of her fate."

The man snapped his fingers. Sanaa alone unfroze along with Nuru.

"Banished!! Uh... maybe?" Sanaa said, suddenly confused when the new person standing tall in the room did not fly away with the flick of her wrist as the rest had.

"An excellent idea. Sanaa Most-Exalted etcetera etcetera, you have broken the Rules. According to tradition, you must be stripped of your divinity and cast back from where you came. The pocket dimension is subject to summary destruction as well, and that means you will be returned to your home in Hell. But considering what is waiting for you there, perhaps I can offer you the mercy of an instant death."

Sanaa's mouth dropped open.

"Wait, wait, let's talk about this," she said, voice cracking.

"What is there to say? The Rules are clear, the Ascension must be performed with a pacted mortal of no more nor less than Level Eleven, who must be willing to sponsor him or her without reservation. Having seen what transpired between you just yesterday, I very much doubt if even that applies here."

"Nuru..." Sanaa whimpered, wings and shoulders drooping. "You've risked your life to reach this very moment. I beg a word with you before you throw all of that away."

Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor, staring at her hands. Nuru walked over and knelt next to her.

"I was blind to the big picture, taking in the changes to my station among demons," she said. "Now I realize what you meant when you talked about having friends. Only a true bond will get us through this, as it has the others who have come before. I have broken your trust as the use of the connection-blocking pendant made very clear. Is there anything I can say or do that will make it right?"

"You'd have to swear an oath, except... oaths don't apply to gods, do they?" Nuru said.

"Ask him," she said. "I don't know how this works. I've only been a goddess for, oh, thirty seconds."

Nuru looked up at Dev, who was frowning.

"A god can be bound only to their own territory, and their Watch Word Oath. Any more than that, and they would not be a god."

Sanaa looked up. "Wait. Isn't a Watch Word the guiding principle of a Faction?"

"It is, and it is more than that. If my injunctions to the gods to guide their Faction according to the Watch Word unerringly are violated, their power diminishes, exactly as Tumelo's did. He failed the goals I set for him and, in the end, another will rise to replace him, as Rule One dictates. But why should you be in charge of a book club, much less a Faction? Your kind have no experience with leadership."

"I have a little."

"You had an army of thralls for but the barest instant, and a small group of mortals using you for their own purposes only slightly longer."

"But I kept them all together. I pushed them to accomplish things they could not have achieved on their own. I reached our common goals."

"Yet again the sponsorship of a mortal thwarts you. There must be no doubt in his mind."

"Nuru, indulge me as a last request, if I'm to die," Sanaa begged. "If I were to swear consent as my Watch Word, could you support me?"

"How long do we have, to discuss this?" Nuru asked Dev. "I'm really not too familiar with how that works."

"As you can see, time waits for one man alone, and that man is me."

"Then what are all the principles?"

"There are twelve archetypes governing the unique powers the gods hold: caregiver, ruler, artist, innocent, sage, explorer, outlaw, power-monger, hero, lover, jester, and everyman. Over the ages the gods have taken different facets of each of these from which to derive their faction's bylaws, though some are more pure than others. Caregiver is translated into love and service, familiar to followers of Adisa. An artist lives and breathes creativity; Tumelo sparked this through necromancy, though he ceased creating golems long before your time; but also had a hand in intimacy in the form of soulcrafting towards the end. Sage wisdom of course, is just what Mamad offers, though he collects knowledge from all the factions to some degree, and provides it in return. Neeoka defends the rights to be free, even if some choose to explore that freedom in a way which many find distasteful. Imamu fills the niche for those who need to feel that the world is ordered, and logical, and controlled by a strong ruler. Jabu is there for those who hear the siren song of pure strength; though all the gods share this to some degree, he will tell you freely that his Watch Word is power. Nyala is there for those who wish above all else to live a life of safety and preserve innocence at any cost. D'Shemil promises that anyone can rise to be a hero, if only they work to master their talents long enough. Eyamba embraces those who wish to be contrary and stand free of any outside expectations, like an outlaw. And Samba, similarly, accepts anyone who cannot fit in anywhere else. You spent enough time around the Knights of Jelani to know, anyone can belong to his extended family."