942 - Love Slave
“I’ll go and see the Night Mare once Solvei and the others are brought back. As a goddess of loyalty, I’m sure she’d approve of my seeing to their welfare before I leave.”
Lex’s statement was carefully crafted, each word chosen with deliberate consideration, knowing that he was in dangerous territory now.
That something was seriously wrong, either with the Night Mare herself or his relationship with her, had been obvious ever since his attempt to commune with her had gone so wildly awry. Worse was how that had resulted in the barbed wire which made up his foreleg – the part of him that was essentially composed of the Night Mare’s divinity, manifested as her holy symbol – going haywire, demonstrating to everyone who could see him that there was some sort of problem. That Burly Brawl, the champion of Blaze, had witnessed that was bad enough; his goddess was at least part of the same pantheon as the Night Mare.
That Vystalaran, avatar to a god from another, strong pantheon – and who was openly hostile to the pony gods – had seen the display was far worse.
It was axiomatic that any kind of potentially damaging information should be hidden from an enemy wherever possible, unless there was some sort of compelling reason otherwise. While Lex wasn’t sure what was happening with regard to his goddess, he knew that any further potential leaks of information to anyone who wasn’t one of her faithful had to be avoided.
Even if they were out of earshot from everyone in the adlet village, and as far as Lex knew no one was scrying on them, Odin’s cryptic hint about Long Road was enough to put Lex on his guard, and so he didn’t so much as let himself think that something was wrong with the Night Mare, let alone question why the goddess would send someone else to retrieve him instead of simply contacting him directly.
Presuming that Sanguine Disposition was even telling the truth about her demanding his presence in the first place.
For his part, the vampire heaved an exaggerated sigh, though his smile didn’t waver in the slightest. “If you insist.”
He made a sweeping flourish with one outstretched hoof...
And the girls instantly reappeared.
“Master!”
Solvei’s relieved yelp – the emotion behind it telegraphed across their bond – reached his ears only a moment before she threw herself at him, Lex standing upright to receive her as she flung herself into his embrace. “You’re alright!”
“Welcome back, husband.” Mei Li’s relief was almost as great as Solvei’s, but unlike the adlet she kept it hidden, her expression calm and collected as she gave him a deferential nod. It was only after she finished that she glanced at Sanguine Disposition, looking between him and Lex before returning her gaze to the former. “Ah, where are my manners? Honored guest, please allow me to introduce myself. I am the third wife of His Highness, Prince Lex Legis. My name is Pimao Xiang Xiaoxiang-”
“Boooriiing!”
Across their bond, Mei Li’s irritation skyrocketed as she was cut off by Spice, the succubus immediately teleporting so that she was hugging Lex around his neck, causing Solvei – her nerves apparently shot by everything that had happened – to gasp and jump back reflexively.
“What kind of way is that to greet your man?” giggled the succubus, nuzzling him even as she stuck her tongue out at Mei Li. “Everyone knows that a good wife asks her darling if he wants to have dinner, or maybe a bath, or if he’d rather have-”
“Damn it, show some respect!” roared Yamini, giving the succubus a furious glare from where she and Sirrush were standing guard over Nenet, the sphinx sobbing over Branwen’s body as Agapay cradled her, barely seeming to notice that they’d returned. “We just lost one of our own!”
“Aw, I’m sure Branwen would want us all to forget about her and move on,” cooed Spice, not even bothering to look at the tiger-woman as she pressed her small body against Lex. “Besides, her not being here means we all get that much more-, URK!”
She couldn’t finish as Lex’s tail wrapped around her throat, squeezing hard. “You’re making a nuisance of yourself, Spice,” he growled.
His tail swung around then, pulling the succubus off of him only to slam her into the ground face-first an instant later. “You’ve insulted the fidelity that Branwen displayed, upset everyone who’s distraught by her death, and berated one of my wives right in front of me while startling another.”
Bending down, he put his muzzle close to her ear, ignoring her squirming. “I’ve cursed people I care about far more than you for far less misconduct.”
He let that sink in for a moment, the succubus’s struggles growing more frantic by the second, doing nothing to dislodge his tail from around her neck.
“However, I’m cognizant of the fact that you entered my service abruptly, and so don’t fully understand what’s expected of you yet,” he continued once her thrashing had begun to weaken, standing upright and bringing his tail around so she was hanging directly in front of him. “So remember this if you want to remain in my good graces: I know that you’re telepathic, and that succubi don’t need food to sustain themselves, which means that there’s only one reason for you to ever have your mouth open in my presence. Is that understood?”
Y-yes! moaned Spice telepathically, her eyes rolling back in her head as she twitched and jerked spasmodically, squeezing her thighs together as her scent suddenly grew stronger. OH YES YES YES!!!
Snorting, Lex dropped her like so much garbage, ignoring the wide grin on the demon’s face as he strode toward Nenet.
Behind him, he was aware of Solvei taking a hesitant step toward Spice, her mental state registering a mixture of concern, confusion, and revulsion. But she didn’t have a chance to get closer to her as Carnelia approached her, and Lex left it to the she-devil to explain the transgressive nature of succubi.
Reaching his destination, Yamini and Sirrush both nodded at him – gestures which he ignored – before taking several steps back. A moment later Dima, her face somber as she finished arranging Branwen’s body into a respectful pose, using her water magic to clean her bloodstained chemise, did the same.
That left only Agapay huddled by Nenet’s side, wings wrapped around the weeping sphinx as she stroked her hair and rocked her gently, having kept her occupied while Dima prepared the vilderavn’s body.
It was only when he stood over them that Nenet looked up, her eyes red and her cheeks wet with tears. “M-Master,” she hiccupped. “I-I-I couldn’t s-save her. I t-tried to-, I t-t-tried to stop the f-f-fighting but she was-, she was s-so angry, and-”
“It’s alright, Nenet.” Kneeling down, Lex scooped her up, Agapay willingly relinquishing Nenet into his embrace. “Everything will be alright.”
The sphinx buried her face in his chest, a fresh round of tears coming into her eyes as she shuddered so hard that she’d have collapsed if she’d been standing. “You can bring her back, right?” she sobbed. “Please, please bring her back...”
Behind her, standing within Lex’s line of sight, Agapay met his eyes and shook her head.
Gwynharwyf’s swords are truedeath weapons, came the angel’s telepathic explanation a moment later. They kill you body and soul. I tried resurrecting Branwen anyway. It just closed her body’s wounds. I’m so sorry.
Lex didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at her. Instead, he looked at Branwen...
Dima had done a good job of making her look peaceful, lying on her back with her eyes closed, arms crossed over her stomach. She’d even laid her oversized sword next to her, though she hadn’t been able to drag the tower shield any closer, its battered form still lying a short distance away. Only the state of her chemise ruined the image; Dima had been able to clean the blood from the fabric, but not sew the cuts closed.
The beast inside of Lex wasn’t fooled by how tranquil she looked, however, howling in the closest thing that it understood to grief. Nor was it alone in that regard, as Lex found himself adding Branwen to the list of everyone who’d died because he hadn’t been strong enough to save them. From Block Party, back in Vanhoover, to Adagio just a few days ago, there were some people whom he’d let down so badly that even resurrection magic couldn’t restore them.
Branwen was one of them now.
As if sensing his inner turmoil, Agapay stepped closer to him. Silently raising one hand, she looked deeply into his eyes as she caressed his face, leaning forward to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. Then, not saying anything else, she gave him one last look before she turned and walked away.
But she only got three steps before Lex spoke.
“I’m bringing her back to life.”
Nenet looked up at him with a gasp, hope eclipsing everything else that he felt from her then.
Behind him, he heard Agapay’s footsteps stop, aware that her shoulders were slumping. “Lex...”
He ignored her, the same way he ignored how his declaration had caused everyone else – Solvei, Mei Li, the other five emissaries, and even Sanguine Disposition – to look at him. Instead, he gently lowered Nenet, letting her get her feet under her before releasing her. “Stand back.”
She didn’t obey immediately, sniffling as she bit her lip. “You can really revive her?” she whimpered. “Even though...even though Agapay said-”
“Yes.”
Nenet blinked once...then she smiled at him, a sound that could have been a sob or a laugh coming from her lips. “Okay.”
Clenching her hands in front of her chest, she took another step back, not taking her eyes off of him as she waited.
Lex didn’t keep her waiting long as he reached into his pocket dimension...
And withdrew the last of the seven treasures that he’d received from the lesser titans he’d bedded.
From Bida, Tiamat’s wayward daughter, he had received the Pentachromatic Armor.
From Agrat, the archangel of prostitution, he had gotten the Soulsaver Halo.
From Jezebel, the scion of the deposed arch-devil Bel, he had acquired the Ring of Perdition.
From Penelope La Gard, the Queen of the Autumn Court of the Unseelie, he had obtained the Autumnal Insignia.
From Echidna III, the inheritor of her fecund forebearers’ name, he had procured Out of Time.
From Almina bat Tamuz, daughter of the shah of the City of Glass, he had been gifted the ring of Heart’s Desire.
Which left only a single remaining artifact...the one he’d acquired from Shami-Amourae, the deposed queen of the succubi.
The one which was unlike all of the others.
Love Slave.
From behind him, Lex heard a chorus of surprised gasps, confused grunts, and at least one soft snicker as he withdrew the long, corded whip that was the demoness’s treasure, he paid their reactions no mind. Instead, he flung the weapon outward, letting it extend to its full length before he flung it out toward Branwen’s body. With accuracy that was literally supernatural, the far end of the lash struck her right above her heart.
And the vilderavn spasmed as it made contact.
Every other treasure Lex had received had been designed to be used on its wielder. Some, like the Pentachromatic Armor or the Soulsaver Halo, were defensive in nature. Others, like the Autumnal Insignia or Heart’s Desire, were more utilitarian in what they allowed the bearer to do. But each of the other six was alike in that they granted their benefits to whoever held them.
Love Slave was different.
Unlike the other treasures, it was designed to take. Not from the wielder, but from whoever the wielder used it on. The same way succubi were parasitic creatures, using sex as a method of feeding on the life force of anyone too weak to resist their energy draining capabilities, Love Slave – the artifact that had helped Shami-Amourae become queen of all her kind – operated in a similar manner...albeit much more insidious.
Much like how a succubus would bring their victims incredible pleasure even as they drained the positive energy from their body, Love Slave’s wounds brought ecstasy to whomever it struck, even as each injury that it dealt broke off and stole a piece of its victim’s soul. But unlike the life force that succubi drained, the soul-shards that Love Slave took weren’t lost. They remained there, within the whip, forming an image of each individual – naked and in the throes of passion – amidst the weapon’s coils.
It was, in many ways, the opposite of the Charismata, because once those soul-fragments were acquired, they could be used against the victim later. Not only could spells cast on the victim’s image on the whip affect the actual person – regardless of the distance between them and the caster – but since such a spell was cast directly on a piece of the victim’s soul, it made it incredibly hard for them to resist the spell’s effects. And the more soul-shards the whip collected from someone, debilitating them that much more as they lost greater portions of their soul, the weaker their ability to resist any magic cast on them through the weapon.
Hence why Shami had named it Love Slave.
But the weapon had another function as well, which was that it could return what it had stolen, and while Lex had been frustrated to find out that there were no pieces of Adagio’s soul within the whip, he hadn’t overlooked the possibilities to be found in safeguarding a portion of someone’s essence safely stored away without completely removing their soul from their body. Although he’d been more concerned with using Shami’s artifact to better control the seven emissaries he’d been given – albeit in conjunction with the myriad other methods he’d used to keep them firmly under his power – he hadn’t forgotten about that when he’d used it on them.
But even so, this hadn’t been how he’d intended to test those possibilities.
A fragment of a soul was just that: a fragment. There was no telling if it could serve to revive someone who’d not only died, but had the rest of their soul destroyed, especially since he’d only taken the smallest amount possible. In theory that should still have been sufficient, but Lex could think of numerous ways in which that theory could be flawed. In which case-
Then his foresight showed him what was about to happen.
Hiding his relief, Lex put the whip away, going over and picking up Branwen.
A moment later her eyes fluttered open.
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Lex uses Whorecrux. Its Super Effective?
11895621 I wish I could upvote you twice for that pun!
11895623
The idea has been around for a long while, but the situation anong other stories just hasnt occured yet. Its based on basic biology knowledge, I think the state of alabama, and severe abuse of the definition of necromancy and soul magic. Adagio used a variation of it. Females have millions of follower sacrifices, they just havent been fertilised or born yet.
So now we know all of the treasures he attained and each one is powerful in their own aspect though the Love Slave was unexpected as was its capabilities and yet it fits given who it came from. Though I have to wonder if it will be enough to bring Branwen back completely or if it'll be an aspect of her.
Then again, Lex might have 'extracted' enough of Branwen's soul to negate such an issue if its a thing or if it will be just like Booster Spice's comment about Horcruxes and it won't matter. Also 11895621, cheers for the dumb and yet clever pun, it gave me a good chuckle.
11895667 One thing I found notable about the artifacts that Lex gained from those lesser titans is that, prior to now, none of them were weapons, all being defensive or utilitarian in nature. For the most part, that makes sense; Lex is already wielding a powerful weapon in Belligerence, and so was likely to want either better defenses or versatility anyway, and I suspect that most of those titans would rather part with a defensive/utility item than something which could be used against them directly.
But Love Slave is different, in that it allows the wielder to quite literally steal a piece of whoever it's used against, at which point you can use magic on them from afar, with little chance they'll be able to resist. Naturally, this is an enhanced variation on what a typical succubus can do with her profane gift power, and is a major reason that Shami-Amourae was able to rise so far up the demonic hierarchy (of course, being Demogorgon's girl was the much bigger reason, but Love Slave helped too).
The question now is if replacing a piece of Branwen's soul is going to be enough to restore her to who she was. Is it like clipping a piece of a plant and then cultivating it after the original dies? Or is it more like regenerating what was lost? Or something else altogether? At this point we don't know if Branwen can be fully revived, or if she literally won't be "all there."