Anthony Alves
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Chapter 61
🕑 Added 2025-01-13 15:37:35 +0000 UTCDan cleared all the Boss area Trials. From the last puzzle Trial, the necklace he selected gave protection against demonic damage.
He equipped the necklace. Other than the void-knife he sewed onto his belt, the other rewards were stored.
Since devils were never named after progenitors, the prude was assuming Asmodon was a demon, and the necklace would help protect Dan against his attacks.
Being a demon didn’t mean Asmodon would employ a mana-type causing demonic damage, but the prude seemed to think the champion would.
And the prude was really not happy with how few options they now had to hurt Dan.
Just accept reality, you stupid prude idiot, thought Xotl.
He couldn’t wait for the prude to leave. In a little over a week, she’d be gone, forced to return to the war after having failed her task.
Xotl prayed to his Dark Master that the angel would keep her word and reward him with wondrous treasures and an upgraded status even though Dan would still be alive when she left.
While meditating, Xotl felt a pull. The feeling was hard to describe. He immediately knew the meaning of it.
He had been the sender of that pull a handful of times when he had bested a participant in a bargain. He was never on the receiving end of it before now.
He hadn’t forgotten he owed Dan a favor, but since he so rarely thought about it, he kind of did forget about it.
“Hey, Xotl,” said Az’ga. “Dan’s calling for you. He probably wants that favor you owe him.”
Xotl nervously said, “I have well over two hours before I must respond. How can I get out of this?”
The angel butted in asking, “Why the hesitancy? Does the Game change the rules? Was I wrong in assuming this fell under the usual rules for demon favors?
After Xotl turned to look at her, she said, “Those favors aren’t all that helpful or useful.”
“You assumed correctly, angel,” said Xotl. “The issue is Veil.”
Bob turned to Xotl and worriedly exclaimed, “You can’t appear!”
Bob approached Xotl, caressed his head with a claw, and said, “What’s your Veil at? It’s under 5%, right? It’s too dangerous.”
“Yes,” replied Xotl. “Just under 4%. What choice do I have though? I must grant a favor, so I must appear. Right? Or is there a way I can grant a favor without appearing?”
Az’ga had walked up to rub Xotl’s back. She said, “No, you must appear. But take heart – he hasn’t attacked you since the early days of the Game. He has no idea about Veil and how it works. You have nothing to worry about. Probably.”
Xotl agreed with Az’ga, but he’d still rather not risk himself. Dan was just too powerful. He could kill Xotl with one hit, maybe before Xotl was given a chance to react and step off the platform, ending the appearance.
I’ll just have to be super nice and polite and not instigate him in any way. And if it even sort of seems like he’s going to attack, I’ll just jump off the platform. Still, I need to do all I can to protect myself beforehand, he thought.
Xotl asked Bob and Az’ga, “Do either of you have party buffs? Anything that could help?”
“No,” replied Az’ga.
“Sorry, I don’t,” replied Bob.
Xotl turned to the angel. “What about you, prude?”
Aphariel sighed. “Do you really want 10 more minutes in the corner, Xotl? If you don’t want to use my name, I have no issue with angel. I’m in a party I can’t and won’t leave. If I’m injured, my party is to inform my boss, and my boss is to attack the occupants of this building in retribution.”
Xotl cursed under his breath. But hearing that reply gave him a great idea. “Since this is my terminal, I have to activate the portal. It would use more Veil, but I bet we could both fit on the platform. I doubt Dan could hurt you. Kill him. All our problems will be solved. And you’d be able to return home today.”
“Don’t be foolish,” said the prude. “I cannot directly interfere. If I kill Dan, it would be seen no differently than if you, Mystozagan, or Leonard did the deed. And you’ve read my warrant and letter. Any action by me that helps my side will result in my life being forfeit and my boss indebted to both Mammon and Prince Eligos.”
Besides the favors, Xotl knew all that, and was okay with it. If Hell lost this Game, Xotl didn’t think he’d receive much pay, possibly no pay at all. If it meant not being killed by Dan, he was fine with that. Aphariel being murdered would just be icing on the cake.
The prude added, “A favor owed by Samael to both Mammon and Eligos is a significant boon and not at all comparable to the favor you owe Dan.”
All of Xotl’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. “Your boss is Samael? The Samael? Of your side’s high pantheon?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my Shining One! You should’ve told me he was your boss! I thought you were a nobody loser. What’s that like? When you talk to him do you pee your pants?”
The prude smiled. “I did not. I’ve seen him many times and fought in many battles with him, but I only spoke with him the once. When I speak to him next, it will be to inform him that I completed my task successfully.”
Xotl doubted that last bit, but clearly the prude would be of no help in this situation. He pondered possible options for a few more minutes.
Finally, he said, “Well, shit. I can’t think of a way out of this.”
Some other ideas were batted around with Bob and Az’ga as Xotl’s response window got closer and closer to ending, and the pull to appear became stronger and stronger. No idea was helpful or workable.
Xotl had no choice but to risk himself and his life. From his terminal, he activated the platform and chose Dan as the target to appear to.
As he slowly slithered to the platform, he prayed to Kobal, the Light Bearer, and any other evil power listening to keep him safe. In return, if he survived, he’d make a great sacrificial offering.
As Xotl slithered to the platform, the prude walked with him. At the platform, she said, “If he asks for a tricky favor that’d help him too much, if you can, bide for time. I’ll see what I can do.”
Xotl almost told the prude to keep her stupid mouth shut about what she didn’t know of. She clearly had no idea how bargains and favors worked. He was a demon of the lowest layer. It would be impossible for him to grant a favor of much substance.
The prude also had no idea how Veil worked either. He wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible. Every second he stood on that platform was a risk.
Since Xotl didn’t want to spend more time in the corner, instead of giving Aphariel the snippy and condescending reply she deserved, he slithered onto the platform.
The usual flash ensued, and he stood before Dan. “Hey, buddy! Good to see you, my good friend! Wow, you look very slim. Look at you! So skinny! Not even a little fat. Not at all. And look at that huge bulge in your groin region. Impressive!
“I hope I look equally as good, though I doubt it since I’m just a dumb Asmodite broad. Now, how can your good buddy help you today? Any small favor I could do for you? Your wish is my command. Within reason and possibility, of course.”
Dan looked at Xotl with eyes filled with hate. “Yeah. Freeze in place,” he commanded.
Xotl was confused for a moment until he saw Dan quickly remove the trigger connected to at least five Epic Orbments from his belt and chuck it at him.
Xotl’s first instinct was to step off the platform or bat the trigger away, but he owed a favor, and the Fates enforced it.
He froze in place and stood completely still. The trigger broke through the remaining Veil like it was barely even there and flew right past Xotl’s head. He heard it land a good distance behind him. He feverishly thought of a way out of this, but his body was frozen. He could do nothing.
As his heart nearly burst out of his chest with fright, in the reflection of the protective shield, he saw the angel grab the trigger. She tried throwing it back through the portal.
Foolish prude idiot, he thought. Veil protected from the outside in.
Since no one trusted techs, there was a protective field that prevented techs from attacking participants.
The item banged off the protective field and fell to the ground.
Now, the trigger would explode even closer to Xotl.
He doubted he was strong enough, but his best chance of surviving this was breaking through the protective field and entering the Game. He needed immediate control of his body back to even try that.
If Dan wrapped one of his lava cords around Xotl and yanked hard enough to break the field and pull him into the Game, that’d work too.
Dan would probably just kill him then, but Xotl would promise to tell Dan very secret secrets if he would spare his life. That could work. It had slightly better odds of working than the guaranteed death the trigger promised.
But Dan was just looking at Xotl with hate-filled eyes.
Some strange discharge trickled out of Xotl’s body and down a few badly shaking tentacles.
------
Aphariel wished she had asked more questions about these triggers. She didn’t know if she could survive the explosion.
Before the trigger landed, she started running towards it. It bounced on the ground once before she snatched it up and chucked it at the portal back out into the Game.
But it banged off some sort of field and landed on the floor with a clank.
She didn’t know why the trigger could enter but was prevented from exiting back out.
She jumped forward, grabbing some of Xotl’s tentacles as she passed by him. She banged into the strange energy that prevented the trigger from passing back through into the Game. She punched her gauntleted fist into the field, but it withstood her might.
With Xotl no longer standing on the platform, the view of the Game began to disappear. She had little time.
She put all her might into her next blow, shattered the barrier, and pulled Xotl along with her as she jumped fully through the rapidly closing portal.
An explosion sounded behind her but was immediately cut off as she landed on the ground.
She felt terrible that she couldn’t save Bob and Az’ga along with Xotl. Demons or not, she was in their command. No different than in the war, while she led them, their lives were her responsibility.
Aphariel was now in the Game, standing not too far from Dan.
She prayed and hoped that standing in the Game as she was didn’t count as interference.
She attempted to return to the Heavenly plane. Nothing happened. She was blocked.
She tried returning to any other plane. That didn’t work either.
She dropped Xotl and fervently thought of ways to escape.
There was nothing. She was stuck.
“Aphariel,” exclaimed Dan, his voice filled with surprise.
Fear filled her chest. How could a mortal know me? My name? I’ve never met one. Did Xotl or one of the others tell him of me?
Aphariel turned her head to face Dan. “How do you know my name, mortal? Who told you of me?”
Dan continued to look at her in surprise for a moment before stating, “I’m not allowed to say.”
As Dan looked at her in surprise, she clearly saw recognition in his eyes. He wasn’t told of her. He recognized her. She wondered, how could a mortal recognize me?
Then it clicked. The only possible way this mortal could recognize her. She stood there in surprise. She stood there in shame.
She was so embroiled in her own thoughts that she almost missed Dan leaping towards Xotl, a sword made of lava lofted above his head. She intercepted the mortal in the air.
The confusion and hurt she saw in Dan’s eyes as she blocked him from killing Xotl made her heart hurt. The mortal looked at her like she was betraying some trust the two had.
“Don’t,” she pleaded. “He’s a pathetic creature. Made to be so. Take pity on the poor wretch and his twisted mind. Take pity. Please. I beg of you.”
“Naw,” stated Dan. “I owe you a lot, but not this. For Bonnie’s sake, I got to. I need to.”
He owes me a lot? Impossible, she thought.
“Let’s not be so hasty, friend,” said Xotl as he slowly slithered backwards. “I had nothing at all to do with that. I wanted you to face Hector in the ring, not that precious, adorable, sweet, sweet child. I loved that little cutie pie so much. I didn’t think she was a Karen at all. Not even a little bit.
“With all my heart, Unc Xotl loved that dear child so, so much. I cried for many seconds when you viciously killed her. In sadness. Tears of extreme sadness. They certainly weren’t tears of blissful joy at all. Not even a little. Honest.”
Aphariel needed more time to think. She had to think. The sword in Dan’s hand limped down and extended into a lava-whip.
She sighed, pulled Xotl to herself, and entered Dan’s soul.
Xotl looked around in surprise as he asked, “What is this? Where are we?”
“In Dan’s soul. I must think. Quiet.”
------
Xotl continued looking around. There wasn’t much to look at. Just endless white. There wasn’t even a ground.
It didn’t feel like his tentacles were touching anything, but they were propping him up. The prude angel was sitting too. On nothing.
Then Xotl heard very soft breathing. He looked up and could see something like a video. After a few moments, he realized he was looking out of Dan’s eyes, but they were too high up and he couldn’t see out of them very well at all.
Xotl looked back at the prude. She was sitting quietly. Since she just saved him, he didn’t want to bother her. Yet.
When a tech appeared, from the participant’s perspective, it looked like the tech was actually there, but it was just a form of projection.
Even though the tech would look solid, they couldn’t be interacted with at all. No more than a fully incorporeal apparition could. As long as their Veil was thick enough, at least.
Participants had tried to blow up techs with triggers before. They’d throw it on the ground or at the tech and run, but with thick enough Veil, anything thrown would just pass through the tech and land on the ground within the Game.
Participants had no way of knowing techs stood on a platform with a portal to the Game in front of them. They had no way of knowing that. They had no way of knowing Veil was a depletable resource and techs could be interacted with when it was thin enough.
What Dan just pulled off was unheard of. No one even thought of it because it was an impossibility. Techs didn’t appear when their Veil was under 10%, never mind under 4%.
But even if a tech appeared with low Veil, if a participant attacked, the tech just had to step off the platform. Problem solved. Maybe they’d take some damage before then. And if the tech was unlucky enough to be quickly killed by invocations, the platform would deactivate.
If a trigger was thrown, it would be so easy to step off the platform. Or bat it away and keep it in the Game while stepping off the platform.
Dan had set that up so perfectly.
Dan knew exactly what success required. Xotl never even considered what had happened as a possibility. He never saw it coming.
He thought, wow, what a power move. Xotl had no choice but to greatly respect it.
Great Kobal, please, please let those dumb broads Zixy and Gabrodyl be dead. And all the rest of those fools. No one laughs at Acesso LaBlacky behind his back. No one!
If the whole building was destroyed, please give me a sign so I can celebrate. It’s not as satisfying as flying a plane into the building myself, but since that would kill me and probably not my intended targets, this worked out much, much better.
Half of Xotl hoped Bob was okay. The other half of him hoped Bob was blown to smithereens for not being a gay. They could’ve been so happy together.
All of him hoped Az’ga was blown up. That she had the audacity to even think Acesso LaBlacky would ever consider getting gay-married to a dumb Asmodite was too insulting to tolerate.
He racked his brain trying to think of a way to confirm if the building was destroyed. There was no way to know for certain. Not that he could think of.
If the building was in the mortal realm and the trigger breached a wall, no demon of his layer could survive the vacuum of space. Neither could demons of the second layer.
Possibly those of the third layer could, but he doubted that. He just didn’t know enough about fancy demons.
He hoped Gabrodyl was of the second layer. She looked somewhat different than the Chamosites of his layer, but not all that different.
He had seen a Kobalite from the third layer once, and it looked very different than those of his layer. It was much larger and grander and had nubby arms and legs along with mighty tentacles.
Even if the building wasn’t breached and destroyed, Bob was a goner anyway. He was definitely in the blast radius. That’s what he gets for being a dumb broad. He’s a lying, tricky, piece of garbage shithead. I mean she. Whatever.
If Zixy was dead, Xotl hoped her corpse was preserved well enough that he’d be able to figure out what the function of those five curious orifices were.
Why five so close together? It makes no sense. What kind of crazy discharge were they leaking too? I must know the answer to all these questions.
Xotl figured a minute or two had passed. Plenty of time for the prude to have finished thinking.
“Hey, angel, thanks for saving me. If Mystozagan hadn’t stolen all my precious crack, I’d gladly smoke some with you.”
The prude ignored him. He very slowly and sneakily extended a tentacle to one of her nasal orifices. It took long minutes, but when he finally reached one and the prude didn’t react, he decided nothing ventured, nothing gained and went for it.
And his tentacle passed right through the angel like she was an apparition. She didn’t react at all.
This gave Xotl a great idea he just couldn’t pass up. He got closer and whispered into her ear, “This is your God. You will follow the commands of the mighty Xotl, also known as the legendary Acesso LaBlacky, as if they were my own.”
There was still no reaction, so he kept repeating the command, hoping it would hypnotize her, reprogram her mind, and place her under his control.
If he could acquire an angel minion, he could rule his layer of Hell. He just had to repeat the command over and over until her mind was fully programmed.
An hour or so later, repeating the same phrase for so long somewhat put Xotl into a trance as well.
As his mind awoke, he began paying attention to what he was whispering into the prude’s ear. “She puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.”
He wondered how he got so off track while hoping the original programming had taken hold and embedded itself into her mind. He hoped the new programming had also taken as well. If he were to have a prude slave, he’d prefer it kept itself well moisturized.
Xotl didn’t have it within him to keep programming the prude’s mind at the moment. Since it was way more boring being inside of Dan than he ever would’ve imagined possible, he started searching for a way out.
A long while later, he became startled as the prude said, “I only saw Dan complete three…no four Trials including the puzzle one for his first time. For all four, I would say he knew exactly what to expect, as if he had already fought the same battles many, many times before. Would you agree, demon?”
“Give me all your wealth,” demanded Xotl.
“What? No.”
Curses, my programming didn’t take. Maybe the lotion stuff did. I don’t know how early on I switched over to that.
Xotl didn’t think it was a good time to demand the prude moisturize itself, so he said, “I told you earlier, but I’m unsure if you heard me. Thank you for saving me. Much appreciated.
“And, yeah, it definitely looked like Dan knew exactly what to expect. I’m pretty sure I stressed that point early on. Even though it made me look foolish, that’s the exact reason why I never took time travel off the table.”
The prude nodded her head once and said, “Agreed.” She then began to cry.
Xotl asked, “Are you okay?”
After a few minutes of watching the prude cry, he went over and began whispering in her ear. “You will be my sugar daddy and let me plunder your vast fortunes. Or sugar momma. Or is it mommy? Mami?”
After thinking about it for a minute, he said, “Mami seems the most degrading, so we’ll stick with that. You will be my sugar mami and let me plunder your vast fortunes.”
The prude ignored him and continued to cry as he spent long minutes programming her mind.
The crying was becoming very annoying, so he switched his mind control message out. “You will stop crying. You will fornicate with the mighty Xotl, also known as the legendary Acesso LaBlacky.”
Hours later, there was still no reaction. Just more crying.
Curses. My hypnotism and programming aren’t taking. But the mighty Xotl is master of mind control. It will eventually work, and this prude will be my sugar mami and sex slave.
Xotl began scratching behind the prude’s ear, though his tentacle passed right through her. “Who’s my dumb broad? You are, that’s who! Who’s a good dumb broad! Coochy coochy coo!”
Still nothing. Just more crying and ignoring.
Man, I really could use some crack right about now, thought Xotl.
Since he had nothing else to do, Xotl tried pleasuring himself. His tentacles passed right through his own body the same as they had the angel’s.
Noooooo!!!
Comments
tibbish
I'm a little sad Xotl was saved but otherwise its a good chapter, thanks author
Tony
Thank you.
Tony
Thank you. I think Eric may be referring to her behavior in the first flashback chapter where Dan’s old Class is shown and how her behavior seemed. If so, no time travel involved with that.
Tony
Thank you.
Tony
Thank you. I wish I could say more, but it's probably better if I give spoilers about this.
Tony
Thank you
Tony
Thank you
Tony
Thank you
John Anastacio
Good chapter and funny, thank you. Aphariel is probably reasonably good at logic so I think she just figured it out from the evidence.
Amosz
I think she got access to his memories from previous timeline, it would explain why she is crying
Arnon Parenti
Dan's soul is absolutely the definition of Hell for AceAsso LaBlacky
Arkeus
I don't think that's possible. Killing him has never been worth a time travel use, considering how useful those are.
Eric Kellar
Really liked this chapter. I hope Dan realizes that all along Aphariel was trying to kill him
Actually
“If he were to have a prude slave, he’d prefer it kept itself well moisturized.“. That got me good. Nice to see some payback too tyftc! I looked into the missing italics on Reddit and I don’t think it’s can be fixed
Jason Hornbuckle
well well
