Chapter 13-368: Legion and Cohort (1/2)
“It’s a good thing you tamped down the Nereid Aura, because you look so dangerously sexy right now.”
They turned slightly as I inserted myself under one arm, ignoring the spiked scales, perfectly aware that they would not harm me; the sharpest spikes in the world wouldn’t do anything if Versatile UA made them blunt damage.
“It truly is a horrendously powerful weapon,” they said softly, so many voices in their Voice I couldn’t even tell anymore, it just shook me with its power.
“Was it better than slaughtering them all?” I asked calmly, hand around their waist as they pulled me tighter.
“We...” they trailed off softly. “Yes. Yes, it was. Knowing you were coming to wipe out the demonic bloodline, this is much better than death, especially the afterlife that we know is coming.”
“How bad?” I asked, leaning into them. They were sturdier than the tree, so that was easy.
“Black or dark purple. All of them. Even the youngest babes had the taint of it.” They exhaled softly. “Slaves to the Bloodline, all of us. We could not defy the Queen at all. The normal human women were Blood-bound to their owners, breeding stock and helpless concubines to their owners. We were kept until we could have no more children or lost our beauty, whereupon we would be killed and replaced by new human women, or another alu’ri or demonling’s daughters.
“We were all bound for the Pits of Demonium. And now...” They lifted up an elegantly scaled and clawed hand, talons gleaming like razors ready for action. I could feel the intensity of the power there. Their hand could rend steel like cheese right now.
“And now, a Seventeen Lilitu is a half-dragon, giving a +4 to their virtual Rank. You are a Faux Twenty-One, and have exceeded the limits of your Pacts.”
They looked at me, I lifted an eyebrow, and they shook their head slightly. “Not yet, but not long. The combined Karma of all of us is pouring into the succubi Racial Levels. We have two now. We imagine we will gain one every day, until we have all Seventeen, and then the Draconic Bloodline will be fully digested and refined, instead of borrowed.”
“Combining Karma forces a gestalt,” I pointed out calmly.
“Your Curse effects are powerful. The Feeblemind and Wisdom-assault effectively rendered all of us with minimal mental capacity, which was replaced by the Amazon-style Pact Buffs based on Master Fred. On average less than two percent of our mental capacity was our own, and a starting 98% synchronicity across 5,619 minds is basically a gestalt as it stands. When you add in the effects of the Bloodline and shared life, it was above 99%.
“On the other side, we are unable to drop the Amazon Pact now, so we have three fixed Pacts.”
“Your other ladies?” I asked calmly.
“We are fine,” they replied in their stereo Voice. “Thank you for asking. We aren’t using the Amazon Pacts for ourselves!”
I nodded. “I’m assuming this means you also took two Warshaper Levels.”
“Yes. The first Succubus Level qualified us for it,” Legion confirmed.
“You I’m calling Legion. The ladies I’m calling your Cohort,” I said after a moment, and they smiled in appreciation.
“Thank you,” the Cohort replied, giving me a squeeze... very gently.
“Any problems with the Legion?”
“There is the wish to kill the Dragon Queen for what she did to us, but we are her, and she is so delighted to have saved a thousand years advancing to lilitu, and being far, far more powerful than she imagined, that it is basically useless at this point. Her goals align with the rest of ours, and she has no desire to return Down, especially as the rest of us do not.”
“The key thing is that you will be able to go down and return,” I said softly. “Hell will not be able to hold you or take you now...”
“This is a very crazy way to get that status, My Lady Traveler,” Legion murmured, stroking my hair. “But given how much we do not wish to go to Demonium, either, this is by far the best compromise for the rest of our souls, not just Master Fred.”
I inhaled once with an audible sniff. “And you inherited the Sorcery.”
All half-dragons could be Sorcerers. It was a part of who they were, even if the spell choices were constrained by Bloodline.
“You can feel that as well. Yes. It is tied to our Pacts and our Bloodline, but we cannot wield it until the Bloodline is fully assimilated.”
“What Level?”
“Syasstrar was but an Eight. Appropriate Karmic gain was difficult, as you might imagine.”
Since she would be paying Twelve prices, and have the contrasting need for powerful enemies, I could imagine. The fact she had used her Bloodline instead of embarking on the warrior’s path being a half-dragon made much more viable was also telling of her personality.
Why be a Warlord when you can just birth a Warlord and control them to do what you want, after all?