Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 724
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 21:41:16 +0000 UTCCelia left not long after finishing our talk, and the journey was underway. This ship was apparently shockingly fast, and we were looking at a month to Rackham. Which meant a month of…not much. Just me sitting around and parsing the changes to myself from my rank up, sometimes talking to Callie and doing whatever else I could think of. Training probably, I’d have to see.
My first big event of the trip though, was the most obviously necessary. I needed to try on the new armor. It was trickier than expected to get into, but it still only took a few minutes, and once I was done, I stood in front of the full length mirror in my room and took it in.
I looked…terrifying. The plate made my shoulders seem like…twice as wide, my biceps looked like thighs, and the domineering design of the black plate made me look even taller than I already was. I’d added my mask, and it went with the plate perfectly, the obsidian giving my features a demonic visage that gave ME chills.
“Mephistopheles.” I boomed into the empty silence of my room. “So nice to make your acquaintance. We’re going to do terrifying things together.”
The voice wasn’t mine. And it didn’t come from the mask. It came from somewhere…else. Somewhere dark and primal deep inside of me. Not in my soul, but more like I’d called it up from my Path. Like this was a technique, but much less…intentional. It felt as natural as breathing, and I couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy the effect.
A knock sounded on my door. “Young master?” Came the melodic voice of Sonara. “Dinner is served in the galley.” I opened the door, and the woman’s eyes widened as the climbed to the face of my towering visage. “My, you certainly cut a diabolical figure.” She said with a smile. “The madam would be proud.”
Sorana was apparently the captain of my grandmother’s personal guard. Since she was a member of the Church and not the Cult, she was a saintess and tended more toward the divine and holy aesthetic. Still she seemed thrilled when my grandmother told her she’d be watching over me, especially when she disclosed my identity, and was taking every opportunity to show her support.
As a saintess, Sorana was an A-ranker. The warrior branch of the church had different Jobs, but only up to B-rank (Arch-Paladin), after which it converged with the clergy. Saint and Pope. Sadly, even an army of A-rankers wouldn’t phase a god or an S-ranker, and we were heading into a hive of enemy Ascendants, so having her here didn’t mean I was any better protected. Still, it felt reassuring to have an A-ranker after losing Zeke as my guardian.
We headed to the galley, where Kristoff (Sorana’s second) and Keiko (a cheerful girl with blue highlights in her hair) were stationed outside, waiting for us to arrive. The entire crew couldn’t eat with us, since someone had to actually pilot the ship, so it was just the four of us for dinner, not that I minded. I was interested in learning more about my family from people who worked for them.
Luckily my mask still had an eating mechanism. A flex of will and the terrifying fanged grin opened for me to insert a spoon or fork. I took a bite of the steaming lobster pot pie in front of me and groaned in enjoyment. “Wow, grams didn’t skimp on the food prep.” I said, still in my Mephistopheles voice. Clearing my throat, I chuckled awkwardly. “Oh, sorry.”
Kristoff waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. We’re not exactly easily spooked. Feel free to maintain the effect. You need to to have internalized this new personality by the time we arrive. Speaking of the new you, have you considered your new fighting style?”
“I was going to work on it later. I have a base for each of the forms I can use. I just need to train out some bad habits. I don’t suppose you’d be open to some training?”
He grinned at me. “Keiko is the heavy combat fighter. I mostly just lean into speed and stealth. I’m sure she could give you some pointers.” He jerked his head, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he stage whispered. “She uses a hammer taller than me. She can’t fit the thing through the door to this room.”
“I CAN fit it through the door.” She snapped. “I just have to turn it sideways…and tilt it at a forty five degree angle.”
They chatted away as we ate, Sorana keeping mostly silent, though she smiled at their antics. It really helped put me at ease. Being on a ship to the ass end of this galaxy with a bunch of high rankers I didn’t know wasn’t exactly a comfortable experience. I wasn’t scared or anything, mostly just kind of stiff and formal. Walking on eggshells, but more socially than anything else.
The fact that they tried so hard to make me welcome was pretty cool. Once we finished eating, they brought me to a huge metal chamber with padded floors. “Alright. This is our training room.” Said Kristoff proudly. “Madam Celia informed us of some of your tricks, but you can’t do anything to this place. So feel free to go nuts with it. I wouldn’t use the Psuedo-Domain though.” He cautioned quickly. “It isn’t going to work properly on any of us.”
Considering what Limbo DID, that was a good point. Manipulation of the body was unlikely to even make them twitch. Still, it was a good opportunity to see my new power in action.
I triggered Mephistopheles and Belial. I felt the power roll out of me and into the suit as Belial activated, resonating and feeding back into me like some kind of echo chamber. It made my blood and body SING. I loved it. I drew my staff, spinning it up to get a feel for this new power level.
To my surprise, having the two forms active was…nothing. Not only was the strain infinitesimal compared to before (I was positive I could keep three forms up for a while even under normal circumstances) but the armor’s power boost seemed to feed into the exact part of me that was strained by those forms to begin with. What little stress it DID still cause was alleviated almost completely. I could literally keep this up all day. I bounced lightly on my toes, something that should have made tons of noise, but the Nightiron in the suit barely even clanked.
Focusing hard on myself, I decided to try out something new. I’d been considering my mother’s martial art, and while I had many forms, I didn’t really have much of a physical enhancement ability. Her flaming body technique was perfect for me, with some tweaks, and I’d been trying to adapt it for a while.
In the past though, something was missing. Maybe my soul wasn’t strong enough, maybe I didn’t have the Impact. Whatever it was, I found it much easier to work with techniques now. A quick Piece of Mind and I was able to set up a rough outline of what I needed.
I used Belial as a base, since the form was made of corrosive magma. I just funneled the dark flame of Mephistopheles into Belial’s toxic flame, supercharging my muscles and bones as the hellfire pushed my physical body to a new level. I leaned into Jessie’s method, creating a story in my head as I worked.
Mephistopheles granting his great power to Belial to help the demon lord ascend the throne of the first circle, a dark alliance of unparalleled might that created an unstoppable demonic prince. Infernal power supercharging the body to create a machine of pure demonic destruction. I called it the Abomination Engine.
I bounced again, but this time I felt…smoother. Like the air around me had gone from being gelatin to oil. When I touched down, I blasted forward in a Waltz, spinning staff coming around as I struck at Keiko, who WAS now holding a giant ass hammer with a rectangular head as big as my torso.
She smirked as she saw me coming, shifting her grip slightly. She was suppressing her Impact down to my level, but even so it was laughably easy for her to counter…my first blow.
Her eyes widened as I vanished, the Waltz carrying me forward. The next blow was stronger. The Abomination Engine was a machine, and it ramped up endlessly. Each explosive step from my Waltz pushed my body to greater heights.
Blink, behind her, blink, above her, blink, on her left. Explosions rocked the training area as my staff unleashed corrosive black destruction, the powerful mix of my two forms.
“Enough.” Said a voice as I was jerked to a stop. I spun to attack, but Sorana caught it easily. “Stop.” She said calmly. “Feel.”
I did…and I was shocked. My body was fucking destroyed. Swathes of the magma was ripped apart. I was pretty sure if I’d been solid I’d have broken bones and torn muscles. I heaved out great bellowing breaths, toxi steam erupting from my mouth. Luckily they were all high rankers.
“Impressive.” Said Keiko cheerfully. “That was one of the most effective augmentation techniques I’ve ever seen. Maybe a bit TOO effective.”
I put my hands on my knees, storing my staff. “Yup. That was…wow. That one doesn’t stop scaling up.” In retrospect, a technique that used the power of destruction to supercharge the body was bound to be rough on the physical form. Belial alleviated some of it, but I was pretty sure I would need to add Mornax in to the rotation to keep that up long enough to be useful.
Sadly, I would ALSO need to add a cap. Still, it was exciting to see how many new techniques this rank up had opened up to me. I had so many options even using just the two (or maybe three with Mornax) forms I was planning to focus on.
“Sorry.” I said as I straightened up. “That was a little embarrassing.”
“Nah.” Said Kristoff with a laugh. “Testing new moves is what training is for, kid. Better than trying them out in combat. You’ve got a month to work out the kinks, and we’re here to help. I can see serious potential there. You’ll be a menace by the time we’re done with you.”
I laughed, but it felt good to hear it. I’d been worried about what to do with myself on the trip without my friends here, and now I had the answer. Training I was more than up to. I was going to need it too. I needed to pass this selection and get pulled into the camp of the Lady of Lamentation, and I needed to be strong to do it.
My stats should climb pretty fast from the wishes I’d left behind, I should be able to do thirteen or fourteen per wish now, having passed D-rank. A month would be a big bump, and I’d have Callie tell the others to focus on Might. I had a feeling this particular alter ego would be Might heavy to the extreme, and both corrosion and raw force would benefit.
After a bit of a rest up, I settled back in to spar with Keiko again. Kristoff was right, I could learn a lot from them. My first big solo adventure would start not too long from now, and I needed to be as prepared as possible. I squeezed my massive gauntleted fists in anticipation of the power to come, and I felt a rush of pure adrenaline at what I could become.
Shane had so many things to worry about, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to just lose myself in training. Mephistopheles though, he didn’t have to care about god wars or planetary invasions. Just how to be a bigger badass. And I was going to make sure to be the biggest of all.
Comments
Mixunite
I think it's just something he's doing earlier than he is meant to, like the pseudo domain at e rank
Kevin McGuire
Why do I feel like Shane is doing something he shouldn't by tapping so deeply into his path. Or is this the main benefit of his path?
