Emergency Quest Alert! New Quest (Friendly Discussion) has been issued.
Objective: Survive. Rewards calculated upon completion.
Consciousness hits me over the head like a fucking sledgehammer. Breathing hurts. Feels like I'm missing something. Can't open my eyes fully, too bright.
My arms are stretched out high behind my head, and I'm kneeling on cold stone flooring. Can't think straight, everything's jumbled. I think my sensitivity got amplified.
-344HP! (1004/1348)
Something hits me with the force of another fucking sledgehammer, and I'm back where I started, delirious and in pain. Can't use the Abyss Flower. I'd be in the worst case scenario if my torturer finds out I can heal myself.
I'm going to be tortured. Why am I so calm about that? I should be screaming by now.
[Specific neural pathways are being inhibited to maximise rational thought! I need you in tip top shape, User!]
Anya, I've never said this, but I love you. Thank you. Now, please never do that unless it's necessary for my survival.
[Understood, User! I will adhere to this demand!]
Before I get a chance to thank Anya for her continued support, someone in the room clearly gets pissed at my lack of response.
"Wake the fuck UP!" Another impact, this time against my chest. That fist feels familiar. The feeling of a broken rib is also quite familiar.
-344HP! (660/1348)
My eyes open reflexively and I have to squint for a few seconds, shaking my head to shift my hair aside. Four figures are in the room alongside me, one of whom I recognise immediately, another just a few seconds later.
The first is Grayfia Lucifuge, the reason I'm in this shithole. I'd like to say she's gorgeous, beautiful, astonishing and all synonyms applicable, that she's as radiant as the sun and twice as charming. But I can't. Grayfia right now is just a mish-mash of colours with a pair of braids. I can't even make out her face.
The second Devil I recognise is Bidleid. He towers over everyone in the room, built like a brick shithouse and twice as bulky. When our eyes meet, he smiles, and it looks like it's the most painful thing he's ever done. Clearly, his pride over his lineage didn't stop him from training himself.
I try to cast Wandering Eye and get an image of how fucked I am, but something stops me. It seems like my mana is shackled much like I am, now the hollow feeling in my chest makes sense.
"Are you done ogling us, you pathetic whelp?" A bored, slightly aggravated voice drawls out to my side.
I turn and see who I assume to be Daimadosu Asmodeus, decked out in some admittedly exquisite purple robes and pants and a black vest, his long elf-like ears sticking out from the sides of his shoulder length black hair.
His skin is abnormally pale, enough so that I'm convinced he's half vampire, and he's leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. I try my best to sound far more confident than I actually am as I respond.
"You'll have to forgive me, it's not often I find myself being held prisoner like this." To my astonishment, he snorts.
"If I could have my way, you'd be getting quite familiar with it. I think I like the way you look, so terrified and alone." Despite the neural inhibitors, I still feel a primal spike of fear upon hearing his words.
I'm under no illusions as to what Daimadosu would do if he had 'his way'. Asmodeus was known as the Demon of Lust for a reason.
Breathe. Use your head. Now isn't the time to think about that. I'm going to get the fuck out of here, I'm going to get what I want, and I'll live the rest of my life as a happy man. No matter what.
I look up, my sight finally focused and I meet the pulsating red eyes of the Lord Beelzebub.
"Finally with us? Took your sweet time. I was beginning to think I'd knocked something out of place in that tiny brain of yours." Bidleid's tone is astonishingly smug, his voice several octaves lower than I thought it'd be.
He walks forward, leaning down so that we can be face to face, and I see that his eyes have odd shapes in them. Hundreds of hexagons, all across his eyeball. No Iris either.
"Let's make this quick. We have an incredibly important meeting to get to." Daimadosu calls out to the side. Tuck away that information for later. Now I know why they're all gathered here. It wasn't for me. It was a bad fucking coincidence.
Bidleid's eyes blink individually. I try my best not to look away, but it's hard. He's got compound eyes like a bee. They glow so violently in the light that it looks like one single red eyeball.
"Fucking pathetic. I should've expected a half-breed like you would flinch." No shit I flinched, you're a disgusting freak.
He stands up, moving to the back of the room, still staring me down as he stands near the wall like Daimadosu, arms crossed and utterly uncaring.
They look at one another, seemingly mulling something over amongst themselves. Then, they glance at Grayfia, who stills in fear. I'm not sure what the situation is between them all, but I do know that I'll have to get involved at some point.
"This is your one chance, cretin. I am not known for my mercy, but I am willing to give you a quick death if you speak honestly." They know I'm here for a reason I shouldn't be. Did they get Corvo? Did he crumble? Is he dead? Later. I can mourn him later.
He wants me to incriminate myself. Alright. I need to start thinking. No teleportation, no way out, no saves.
I need to do something. I can't be passive here. If I had to guess, they're going to ask me more about the Anti-Satan's after I respond. Try get anything they can out of me before gutting me. I don't have much time.
I think I have an idea. It's a longshot, but realistically I'll be dead no matter what. If I talk, they'll kill me when I'm finished. If I don't they'll torture me first. I need to make myself a third option.
"This charade has been quite fun, but I'm going to need you to release me now."
First step, get their attention, their intrigue. Act condescending. Need to change the tone of voice, make myself sound much, much grander than I really am. Ooze confidence. Here's hoping they don't kill me here and now for disrespecting them.
Daimadosu steps forward, purple fire blazing in his hand but Bidleid stops him, intrigue written all over his face. I suppress the grin from spreading across my face, because I am one step closer.
"You seem quite assured we'll be releasing you. Where does your confidence come from, little Devil?" He sneers as he speaks, veins bulging in his neck. It seems he's just as pissed as Daimadosu is.
Second step, lay the bait, set the trap. I need something that entices them enough to keep me alive based on words alone. I need to gamble on one hell of a lie.
"I was sent here as an emissary by Lord Azazel. I was told to give you an offer." The roulette wheel spins.
Different from last time, Bidleid doesn't manage to stop Daimadosu. The Asmodeus lashes forward once more, and Bidleid is a few seconds late to stop him. The fire spills out onto my thigh as he's pulled away.
The agony is enough to make my voice go feint. I can't even scream properly. The fire barely burns my clothes but the pain, God it hurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts-
Daimadosu is thrown into the wall a few meters away, given a look from Bidleid that utterly terrifies him, causing him to leave the room as he disperses the purple flames.
In the absence of world shattering pain, I realise that Daimadosu's flames did no damage.
That's worse. It means I can't heal with a Prayer and make it go away. I can't use Prayer to stave off any of this pain. Suddenly, my thoughts are interrupted as I'm staring at thousands of eyes once more.
"I will allow you 5 seconds to explain yourself, or I will have you gutted." I'm glad Daimadosu is gone, Bidleid is far more rational. This is it, the make or break. The wheel still spins.
"Lord Azazel knows of your plans for Heaven, your goals for reclamation. He also knows that you're losing the Civil War." I take a moment to breathe, still feeling the phantom pains of Daimadosu's flames after they were put out. Bidleid's hand twitches at the last comment, but I continue.
"Lord Azazel is willing to make an offer. He will assist you in the Civil War, make sure you defeat the Anti-Satan's, and in exchange he wants a much larger portion of the Underworld, and whatever Holy Relics you recover from Heaven. But if you kill me, the deal is off." Silence. Agonising silence.
I've basically thrown away my life on the hope that Bidleid's paranoid enough to take help from the Fallen.
The idea behind the plan is as such. Bidleid knows he's losing. He's got less than a year before his end, and he's well aware. So, I forced him to gamble everything on that knowledge.
He can't handle the risk of killing me in case I'm telling the truth, in case he has a chance to win the Civil War and go on living, so he'd rather gamble on me telling the truth and let me live. After all, I'm a pathetic half-breed. Even if I survive, what's the worst I can do?
You'll see, Bidleid. Just you wait.
After a long silence, Bidleid looks over his shoulder at the fourth Devil in the room. A man dressed head to toe in the attire I'd expect of a butler, the textbook image of a servant.
However, his hair is shaggy, reaching his neck, and his stubble hasn't been shaved in days. His clothes are messily done in places, a crease here and there. It's an interesting contrast, and it's not the look I'd expected of Lord Lucifuge.
"Gehrman. Is he telling the truth?" I can hear it, in the back of my head. The roulette wheel is spinning slower now, losing speed. Time passes in slow motion.
Lord Lucifuge looks at me, meets my eyes. In his gaze I see a profound sadness. He looks down at Bidleid and nods solemnly. The wheel stops. Jackpot.
"Fuck!" Bidleid slams his fist into the wall closest to him, his fist cratering the stone viciously. He repeats this several times, before stomping towards me and grabbing my head.
"You and I aren't done yet, Alistair Mammon." With that, he jams his fingers into my left eyesocket, tearing the eyeball out forcefully as I thrash and scream. It takes less than a second, but it feels like an eternity to me. He never even blinks.
-75HP!
"I'll be taking this as insurance. You can have it back when I verify your story." Blinking feels weird. Feels hollow. I've been maimed, by this fucking animal.
"Gehrman, he's yours. Just keep him away from Euclid and take good care of him." He says, sneering violently as he leaves the room, slamming the door on the way out.
I'm left heaving on the floor, missing an eye and having aged several years in one hour. But I won. I've survived. Grayfia and Gerhman look hesitant to approach. I don't care.
Through everything being stacked against me, I fucking won. Gehrman says nothing as I sit there, laughing to myself.
A hand lands on my shoulder and I flinch, realising that I can't see who it belongs to. Slowly, I turn my head and meet Grayfia's eyes, seeing the sympathy in her gaze.
She looks utterly jaw-dropping, especially this close. With the fear of death finally gone, I can say with full certainty that she's a sight for sore eyes. Eye.
I'm not sure how long I stare at her for, but it's long enough that she looks away and releases me from the shackles I was stuck in, Gehrman quickly joining in. A moment later, I can finally move my limbs again. The hollow feeling in my chest disappears.
Every limb in my body aches, but I've gone through so much in the last hour that the ache feels like a dull numbness in comparison. With my head held high, I walk through the door, taking my first steps into Lucifaad.
Emergency Quest (Friendly Discussion) Complete! Rewards:
700EXP! (Level Up x7)
x2 Premium Gacha!
Companion Quest (Broken, Breaking)
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I'm not sure what happens after I leave that room. I'm not even sure where it was. I passed out not long after seeing the city, after seeing life once more. Everything in the last day happened so fast that I'm still catching up somewhat.
The neural inhibitors have worn off now. I'm not ashamed to admit that I choked up slightly thinking back on what happened. What could've happened. I'd like to think I got it easy compared to everyone else.
It was quick. Mercifully quick. I only lost an eye. However, there's a slight complication with that, one I found after I got sick of having a broken rib piercing my lung and tried to heal myself with a Prayer.
[Cannot have duplicate body parts existing at the same time!]
I assume it means I can't have a new eye made through the Abyss Flower while Bidleid still has my own. I guess it gives me another weakness now too.
If someone tears my limbs off, I'm fucked, unless they destroy them so I can regenerate. Then again, I'd assume thats the same for everyone, so I won't consider it a weakness. It's just gonna be a problem.
The whole 'missing eye' is an obvious issue. There's two possibilities I can think of with it. Either I get my eye back and kill that vile fuck Bidleid, or I stay scarred forever.
There's a third, secret option. Anya has been oddly quiet since my time in the room. If I had to guess, my being a System user means I'll get that eye back and then some.
Hopefully. I'd really rather not be maimed permanently a couple weeks into my Isekai.
I need to stay on top of things. First things first, get an idea of what's going on in this place.
Gehrman is clearly wavering in his loyalties. That's one avenue to chase. Euclid was mentioned by Bidleid, clearly they know eachother, another avenue to chase.
Alongside that, I can worry about Grayfia. Clearly she's going through some shit like me if her Companion Quest is called (Broken, Breaking).
So much to do. So little time. I need to move quickly, at any moment Bidleid could get that 'verification'.
I need to allocate these new stats. Then, it's time to get to work.
Name: Alistair Mammon (Luocha)
Level: 45 (60/110)
HP: 1490
MP: 579
STR: 16 (+1)
AGI: 19 (+1)
INT: 16
VIT: 14 (+2)
LUK: 13 (+3)
Alduin's coming along nicely too, only 60 days left of his incubation now. I'd like to say that I came out of this encounter much better off, rewards wise at least. Emotionally, I'm not sure. I can deal with the ramifications of that later though.
While I'm considering where I'll go and how I'll get to investigating, there's a knock on the door. A small 'pardon the intrusion' is all I hear before Gehrman enters, looking just as scruffy as when I'd last seen him.
"You're awake. Good. Please, dress yourself and follow me." He's oddly respectful. No condemnation in his voice at least.
Before I can ask him anything about why he's doing this or what he serves to gain and why he even cares, he pulls out a small scrap of paper, hidden slightly in his palm, and points to a corner of the room.
Bidleid is watching.
Of course. Can't have a moment to myself in this place. I'll need to find a way around that. As of now, I guess it's time to try and make some friends in this shithole.