How I became the Empress of Hell Arc 02 Ch. 00-07

2.4: Channeling my inner Kirito

The castle was eerily silent with the rest of my clanmates being in class. I chatted with Judas for a while about skill combinations that I should consider in the future while I waited for my new friends to get online.

"Judas, is it possible to craft weapons with custom enchantments?"

"Absolutely. Any weapon can be enchanted with pretty much any enchantment. Why, what did you have in mind?"

"Before I answer that I have one more question: is it possible to swap one character skill for another, like with an item or a powerful spell?"

He thought for a moment before answering.

"In theory, yes. The enchantress in town should be able to do it... but it would be incredibly costly."

I sighed and shook my head.

"I'm going to at least see what she has to say... but given our last meeting I have a feeling this is going to be worse than pulling teeth."

"And then some."

Judas offered to accompany me on both my trip to town and on the newbie dungeon run, and I gratefully accepted. I flew us quickly to town and landed just outside the Hellgate. Judas had crafted us both disguises that made us appear as low-leveled Demonspawn to avoid the swarms of players, and we equipped them and stepped through the portal.

Our first stop was the blacksmith to purchase the materials needed to craft the sword I had in mind. I waited til a few Demonspawn who were getting armor and weapons left and unequipped my disguise. The tall stocky blacksmith recognized me immediately and greeted me enthusiastically.

"If I had known you were the Demoness who saved all of us I would have helped you first. Everyone in this town owes you their lives, myself included."

"I'm glad you didn't, actually. My fame tends to attract groups of adoring fans clamoring to join my clan... it makes getting things done rather difficult."

"That would be frustrating... So... what can I do for you, m'lady?"

"What is the absolute best material you have available for a sword?"

"Hmmm... depends. One-handed or two-handed?"

"One-handed."

"Well... Hellforged Voidsteel is the strongest most durable metal in existence; but it is also the heaviest."

"How heavy are we talking?"

"The hammer I use for forging is made out of it, and I have dozens of enchantments placed on it just so that I can lift it."

He walked behind the counter and swiped his hand in front of him. A large five-foot rod of jet black metal that glowed with dark red energy appeared in front of him.

"When I have to forge anything out of this, it takes several mages' help to move it for me. Go ahead and lift it for yourself."

I reached down and wrapped my fingers around the end of the piece of metal. As I started to lift, it felt as if I were trying to pick up something that weighed several tons. I focused on my demonic strength and tried again with both hands. I managed to lift up the long metal rod a few inches before I had to set it down. The blacksmith's eyes were filled with utter amazement at my ability to even lift it at all, and I sighed.

"I see what you mean. However, I'd still like to purchase enough of it to forge two one-handed swords."

I could see the excitement on his face at the idea of a very lucrative sale and he grinned at me.

"Absolutely m'lady. I'll even forge them for you for free, if you'd like."

I shook my head and gaped at the cost of the materials I was purchasing. I was grateful for the money I had received from Mellic, and I swiped my hand to accept the sale. He ecstatically chatted with me as I stowed the materials in my inventory storage and prepared to depart.

"Please come again, anytime m'lady."

I equipped the disguise and left the shop with my wallet feeling much lighter than when I had entered. Judas and I made our way over to the enchantress's shop and I sighed deeply before entering. Given the last interaction I had with this woman, I opted to remain in disguise this time.

"Greetings, m'lady. I was hoping to speak to you about the possibility of changing some of the skills I learned. I was told that you might be able to do something like that."

She glared at me for a moment and exhaled loudly in irritation.

"I'm willing to speak with you once you and your companion remove your attempts at deceiving me."

Well... shit.

I removed the disguise and motioned for Judas to do the same. I stepped forward and nodded at her.

"Are you going to threaten to remove my eyes again, Demonkin?"

"No. This time I'll only threaten to rip your arms off."

The corners of her mouth lifted into a slight smile before the scowl returned.

"I can cast a powerful enchantment that will allow you to alter your skills, but it will cost far more than you afford."

"And how do you know how much I can afford?"

She ignored my question and tapped her finger on her opposite elbow impatiently. Instead of living up to the threat I had made, an idea occurred to me. I turned away from the counter and summoned my demon enchanter. The Mellic look-alike appeared and bowed upon seeing me. I heard the enchantress sharply suck in a breath and I turned back towards her.

"Enchanter, how much would you estimate it would cost to cast an enchantment that would allow me to reset some of my skills?"

"Enchantment magic like that is complicated and tricky. Even our creator would have to take extra time to prepare the spell before casting it. If I had to assign a price to it I would say it would run well into the millions... if not tens of millions."

The shop owner's eyes never left my enchanter for a second. A look of shock was painted on her face as she stared intently at him. After a moment she looked back at me and spoke in a wavering voice.

"I will c-cast the enchantment on you for free, m'lady. I p-p-profusely apologize for speaking the way I did."

I grinned inwardly as my idea had worked to perfection. Given how powerful of an enchantress she was, I had little doubt that she would have heard of the fearsome demon lord Mellic. I nodded to her and she held up her shaking hands. The torches in her shop dimmed then puffed out, and the light flooding in from outside seemed to dissipate. Her hands glowed brightly as she cast the spell and I felt a strange tingling sensation all over my body. After a few moments she touched her palms to my chest and it felt like someone had used shock paddles on me. The torches flared to life and the enchantress leaned back into her chair. She gave me a weak smile and nodded.

"Please tell Master Mellic that should his minions require any further enchantments I am always at his disposal."

Worked like a charm.

I nodded my head slightly and kept a serious look on my face.

"I'll be sure to let him know when I see him next. I will also tell him about your invaluable assistance with this."

She beamed at me and we left without another word. I would have felt bad about the deception if she hadn't been such a bitch to me, but after treating me the way she had, I felt she deserved to be at least a little afraid of me. Judas and I returned to the castle quickly and we both went to the forge room to begin crafting my new weapons. I had my demon enchanter cast all the enchantments necessary to make the sword light enough for me to use effectively, and after taking several measurements of my hands and arms, Judas began working diligently to forge what I had in mind.

I returned to my room and saved my progress, and opened my character menu. I swapped out the skills I wanted to change for three new ones, and I grinned wickedly at the idea of putting my new abilities to use. Judas's master tier crafting abilities meant it took him very little time to forge a pair of vicious looking blades, and he presented them with a look of immense pride.

"I have to say, Lady Allexus, these are my best work I have ever done. I hope it was alright for me to take the liberty of adding a jeweled pommel on each of them. I have been saving these for countless years, never having a purpose for them until now."

I took one of the large swords and held it up in front of me. I would have normally expected a brand new sword to glimmer in the torch light, but the pitch black steel seemed to instead absorb the light around it like a black hole. The dark blade shimmered like liquid, and it looked like a mixture of oil and deep crimson blood. The jewel on the end was a fiery orange that appeared to flicker and glow like a burning flame. The double-edged sword sang as I swung it a few times, and I could tell it had been perfectly balanced for my arm; but even with the lightening enchantment I still had to use my demonic strength to swing it effectively. With my free hand I reached for the other sword and inspected it closely. It was an exact replica of the one in my right hand, even down to the bright orange pommel.

With a blade in each hand I took a few steps away from Judas and slashed at a nearby test dummy. I focused my energy on my strength and speed, slicing and stabbing the target over and over with each of the deadly weapons. When I felt my arms begin to tire I flew up a few feet into the air before dropping down and delivering a powerful strike with each blade. I sheathed both of the swords and grinned wickedly at the damage meter that appeared above the test dummy. In less than five minutes I had dealt six times more damage than I ever had with just a single sword and shield. I turned back to Judas and hugged him tightly.

"Judas, they're perfect! They are more than I could have ever hoped for!"

He pulled away and bowed deeply.

"My lady... you rescued me from thousands of years of torture and abuse, and you went above and beyond by making me a member of your clan. I could never hope to repay you for everything that you've done for me, but it warms my heart that I was able to do something to help you."

I placed my hands on his shoulders and lifted him until he was standing up straight. I hugged him again and held him tightly.

"Judas, you owe me nothing. In the short time I've known you, I can say with certainty that you are the most loyal and caring demon I have ever met. You are a big part of why I am where I am today. You are so much more than my retainer... you're my friend."

"Thank you m'la- my friend. That means more to me than you will ever know. Now then... If I'm not mistaken the alarm you asked me to set is due to go off in approximately 2 minutes."

I pulled away and bowed my head in acknowledgement. We departed the castle and I flew us as quickly as I could back to town. We equipped our disguises and walked through the Hellgate. Judas led me to the summoning platform that was the arrival location for new players, and we waited for Blaine and the others to login.

New message from Ikelos:

Hey Allie! It's Blaine. Took us forever to figure out the character stuff but I think we're all set. 9th Circle Server, right?

I responded quickly in the affirmative and motioned to Judas to get ready for their arrival. We moved closer to the platform and watched as a large eight pointed star began to glow with bright yellow light. Four columns of light appeared and slowly took form into four Demonspawn characters. I recognized them all immediately, as they had opted to use their real faces, and motioned for them to come over. They ran over to me and greeted me excitedly, albeit with looks of confusion on their faces.

"Your character name and clan tag are showing something different than the ones you gave me... and it says you're only level 15... You are Allexus, right? And... who's this guy? I don't recognize him."

I laughed and nodded before sending them a party invite. I spoke quietly as I explained everything and I led them towards the market area.

"Now I'm really curious to see what your characters actually looks like... You both already look pretty badass."

"Thanks ummm... you'll have to forgive me, Ghost, I am terrible with names."

Ghost was a very tall stocky guy with rich brown skin and a shaved head. He was a bit taller than when I had met him earlier this morning, but otherwise looked pretty much the same.

"Trevor. And no worries, you can call me Ghost. Can you at least tell us what classes you guys are?"

I shook my head and stuck out my tongue.

"I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I laughed and Trevor smirked at me. We stopped at the various shops to get them properly outfitted, and I forked out a little extra gold to buy them far better gear than they would have started with. Once everyone had all the gear they needed, we headed towards the Hellgate. I waited a moment for them to read the pop-up that appeared before exiting, and they looked at me with wide eyes.

"Resetting after putting in so much hard work would suck ass... This is already intense as hell, and we haven't even left town."

2.5: Nooblets

"Before we head into combat, for those of us relatively new to stuff like this... How do skills work exactly?"

I turned to Tifa and raised my eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I told Malevolence what kind of character I wanted to play, a bunch of skills that had stuff that I could choose for my Shapeshifter class appeared... but those skills obviously didn't appear for you guys, right?"

The others and I shook our heads and we all turned to Judas as he explained.

"Holy Damnation uses a skill generation system that pulls from a list of skills created by the designers, a collection of aggregated data of skills that other players have created, and finally an in-game system capable of producing near-infinite variations of things that are possible in the world. It scales the effect based on the character's level and other skills obtained. So when you told the AI responsible for character creation that you wanted to play a Shapeshifter, it compiled a selection of skills that would be appropriate for that class chosen from the aforementioned lists."

"Holy- Wow. That's... A lot. I have played only a couple RPG's... but never one with that level of customization. S0... does leveling up and picking new skills work the same way?"

"Indeed. It uses what your skills you already have as a reference point and then refers back to those lists I previously mentioned."

Even I was impressed with the sheer amount of freedom that the game designers gave the players. I had absolutely no idea what it would take to design something that intensive... but I understood a bit better why Emily was so eager to become a video game designer. I turned to Judas and nodded in thanks, and he smiled warmly at me and nodded back.

"Alright... now that I've officially had my mind blown... does anyone else have any questions?"

They all shook their heads and we set out. I took turns with each of them to see their classes in action and let them get used to how everything worked. Tifa, the very petite soft-spoken Asian girl, impressed me the most. It was astounding to watch this 4'10 Demonspawn shift into a large red and black demon hound. Blaine, or Ikelos as his character was named, had chosen the path of Command; and his mastery of summoning skills put mine to shame. His summoned demon hounds running in a pack with Tifa at the head was a force to be reckoned with, and I longed to see how they'd handle a real fight.

At first I thought Areandra didn't really understand the game, but after watching her focus on an opponent in the distance for a moment, I opted to remain silent to see what she was going to do. She drew her bow wordlessly and cast an enchantment spell with her free hand, before reaching back and grabbing an arrow from the quiver on her back. She remained motionless with the arrow in her hand and then suddenly nocked it, aimed upwards, and released the bowstring. The arrow soared upwards and then burst into flames in midair. I watched in amazement as the flaming arrow struck an enemy Hellcat in the middle of its forehead. The blue and white beast staggered a few steps and collapsed in a heap.

"That was fucking awesome!"

She smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. Her olive complexion took on a slightly rosy hue and she turned away.

"Do you mind if I have you try something?"

"Not at all. What's up?"

I scanned the area for a group of enemies and pointed in their direction.

"I want to see how quickly you can take out all of those. Think you're up for it?"

She nodded and moved back into her firing stance. She used the same swift, fluid motions as before and fired one arrow after another until six flaming projectiles hurtled towards their target. All but one struck the enemy in the middle of their forehead, but one of the arrows had only glanced off the last one's helmet. She narrowed her eyes and sighed softly as she cast another spell. After releasing the arrow, instead of bursting into flames, electricity sparked around it, and it struck the last enemy in the throat. It was my turn to smile at her and give her a thumbs up. She laughed softly and we moved to join the rest of the group.

I had summoned one of my priestesses to help Trevor get a better handle on his healing skills. He chatted with her excitedly about skill combinations, and I could tell my priestess was equally delighted to be of assistance. Once I was satisfied the group understood the basics and could handle combat, we returned to town for them to save their progress and choose their new skills.

"OK, now that we're almost to the dungeon... are you going to show us your character finally?"

"There are two bosses in this dungeon, so I'll make you a deal. If you guys can beat the first one with minimal combat assistance from me or Judas, we'll not only show you our characters... we'll clear the rest of the dungeon for you guys and you can have all the loot."

They looked at each other and nodded. Blaine offered his hand to me to seal the deal, and I nodded as I shook his hand.

"Alright guys... we have a bounty for two minor demon lords, Tesrif and Denoches, level 13 and 15 respectively. They are the commanders of a legion of heavily armored demon warriors, but there is also a chance they have mages in their ranks as well. Unless the situation gets out of hand, I am just going to issue simple commands for you guys. This will be a true test to see how well you work together, so let's go kick some ass."

We walked slowly into the crudely constructed entry way and looked around. Crumbled buildings and ruins littered the area around us, and small structures built out of scrap had been constructed around them. I motioned for everyone to hold and I nodded at Areandra. I pointed out two sentries armed with crossbows, but held up my hand to wait. I spoke in a whisper, and layed out a basic plan.

"After the sentries are taken out, the next target is that thing that looks like a barracks building. Tifa, lead Ikelos's demon hounds straight at them and take out anything that moves. Areandra, your job from that point will be to make sure that no one escapes from that building to warn the others; I recommend finding a vantage point to fire from. Once Tifa makes contact with the enemy, Ikelos and Ghost will move forward and back her up. Ghost, use your MP sparingly, as this is only the first fight of many. Once the building is cleared, we'll devise a strategy from there... any questions?"

They shook their heads and I nodded. The quiet spell archer took aim with her bow and rapidly fired two arrows. Both sentries went down within seconds of each other, and Tifa was already shifting to her demon hound form before the bodies could hit the ground. Ikelos summoned eight demon hounds and Tifa growled eagerly as she ran ahead with the smaller demon hounds in tow. Ghost quickly cast an enchantment on the shapeshifter before she was out of range, and we watched and waited. As soon as we heard the sounds of fighting the others rushed forward, and I followed behind at a slow, deliberate pace. Areandra had climbed up into the guard tower and was scanning the area with bow and arrow at the ready, and I nodded to her silently as I scanned the rest of the area. So far none of the other demons had noticed our presence, but if one managed to alert the rest of them, it would be like kicking a hornet's nest.