Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Chapter 146: The Witch’s Limitations

Karrenssa looked around frantically,

"He's absorbing my horde?" she mumbled incredulously and then her eyes widened in realization,

"This- This is not the first time."

Because the absorption of Quasi-Eldritch Essence that Evian retrieved from the Beasts he killed was of such a small scale, Karenssa had not figured it out but now she did... Or at least she figured it out partially.

"Such absorption speed and the ability to instantly make it his own. It's a level of talent I could only dream of.

Damn it! All the more reason that I must have him or at least have all that he knows!"

Meanwhile, with Evian,

[You have absorbed 205 867 units of Quasi-Eldritch Essence!]

'Convert!'

[Converting...]

[Conversion complete...]

[You currently have 0 Quasi-Eldritch Essence...]

[You now have 4117 Soul Points to be added to your previous balance of 70 Soul Points...]

[You now have a balance of 4187 Soul Points!]

'Wow!' Evian. exclaimed mentally, 'I knew I would reap massive gains but this is even greater than I thought it would be!'

[Your plan of sticking around her was a risky one but I am pleased the results are satisfactory]

The Assistant was right. The plan was risky.

From the moment they saw the portal on the first night they faced the monster horde (The only night they faced the horde before today's outbreak) Evian had felt the Eldritch chill it gave off and he thought, if the Beasts were coming from there, there might be more to gain.

This thought was especially more prominent when at the end of it all, he had only gained 700 Soul points worth of Quasi-Eldritch Esseence... A measly amount he could have easily gotten from his previous attacks on the Larnak Estate forces.

Such an amount was nowhere near being helpful for Evian's present and future needs so he began to wish he had managed to enter the portal to snoop around.

Anyway, when he returned to the Estate and got a visit from Karenssa was when things began to get a bit more interesting. As beautiful as she was, with an obvious readiness to get things going, Evian found that he could not muster desire for the Baroness and while it was an instinct derived from his deviant debauched feelings, Evian's suspicions swam over to Karenssa.

The clue that she had been with the Baron for as long as the City had been in danger made things much more clear.

So he studied her after.

He studied her husband as well and while Angus Kalkao was doing well not to give it off, It was clear a lot of his decisions had had input from his wife.

Getting dragged into the Portal was not how Evian would have liked to make his entry but he was satisfied it happened nonetheless and it granted him a chance to test out the ability his Assistant had promised he would get as a Wraith Noble;

[Eldritch Authority!

As the first Decadent beings to possess the ability to harness Eldritch Energy, Wraiths possess an innate authority over the deathly energy of the Endless Abyss.]

The description was vague but Evian understood it well enough. It was instinctive.

As long as his target(s) was below him in Wraithic level of Decadence, he could control them and force his will upon them. He could use the ability on beings at his level of Decadence or fairly above but there was a condition that needed to be met but more on that later.

Anyway, the monster horde had numbers but not only were they now below Evian who was now a Wraith Noble (Comparable to the Fourth Order and the Fourth Circle), but they could not also make individual decisions and were ruled by instinct to obey the command of their creator.

Evian used [Eldritch Authority] to simply command their bodies, made completely of Eldritch energy, to disintegrate and the by-product to flow to him for his delicious consumption.

"So, is that all you've got?" Evan asked confidently.

Karenssa paused and then she took a breath,

"So those worthless trash are not enough for you?

Very well, face my Horde Captains."

As she spoke, Karenssa cast a Spell Circle, the first time she would have to do so to create a monster but these monsters were different. There were special conditions to be observed before they could be made which made them all that better.

Five structures rose out of the Eldritch energy that permeated the dimension, all possessing wicked claws, individually long as daggers but they did not move- not even a twitch.

Karenssa punctured her skin with one of her talons and splashed her blood into the Spell circle she had cast. The blood passed through the circle, became refined, and entered the five Horde Captains in considerably large drops.

The moment the blood merged with their Eldritch forms, the Horde Captains raised their heads and summoned even more Eldritch energy from their surroundings to increase their already intense chill.

'Damn it!' Karenssa thought with a groan, 'Eldritch energy I have stored for years is already being used up but no matter.

Evian Stygian, I'll make sure you spit out every bit of what you have guzzled.'

As the Horde Captains approached, Evian frowned.

As this was a matter of Decadence, Evian had received a briefing from his Assistsnt on what exactly Karenssa was the moment her nature was discovered.

She was an Eldritch Witch.

Unlike Wriaths who naturally were purely powered by Eldritch energy, an Eldritch Witch is someone who seeks out Eldritch energy as an additional source of power, managing to combine Spiritual energy with Eldritch energy to create a weird concoction. This was why Evian had detected it as 'impure'.

Karenssa must have been an Arcanist with very little talent and success in the field so when she happened upon some Eldritch source and it flooded her mind, she coopted the limited knowledge she had on Arcane Magic and opened herself up to certain Decadent secrets. One such secret is the ability to make a contract with an Eldritch Beast. A creature born within the Abyss.

The Abyss is a world of horrors that not even Demons or Devils can dare run rampant in but more on that later.

Anyway, that Beast sought to be out of the Abyss, desiring to be fed human flesh and blood and use Karenssa as a compliant doorway but what the Witch lacked in talent, she had in cunning.

The contract was so disproportionately in her favor that Karenssa not only made the Beast's monster-creation ability her own, She also called out the minuscule, insignificant piece of the Abyss that the Beast called home and turned it into an Eldritch dimension only she had access to.

The Beast became Karenssa's strongest minion (currently battling Zayda outside the dimension) and in return, it gained a tie to the mortal world. As long as Karenssa lived, it did not matter how many times the Beast was vanquished, it would always return from the abyss.

Now the details of Karenssa contracting the Beast were not told to Evian by his Assistant who did not know, but he knew the important parts and also knew the limitations she had within the dimension.

She was not a combatant within this dimension. She wasn't sitting because she wanted to but because she had to.

While she could enter at will and also restrict entry to others, she was still human and still had Spiritual Energy within her to some capacity, and should she fight, she was not confident enough to keep it hidden and not have the very nature of the dimension act violently against her as a part of the Abyss.

While Evian was indeed being hunted by her commands, he actually had more right to be in this dimension than she did because he was completely devoid of Spiritual energy.

While stuck to her throne with nothing more to do than watch, Karenssa would have to put her trust in her Horde Captains, the strongest monsters she could create thanks to the infusion of blood.

As the first claw strike came at him, Evian tried out [Eldritch Authority], and when it failed, he was not too bothered because he had expected as much. The Horde Captains were individually stronger than he was. Although still in the Wraith Noble level, they were many steps ahead.

That said, they were still far from Karenssa's actual strength which Evian knew to be at the Fifth Circle of corrupted Spiritual energy but as previously mentioned, she could not use that here.

He leaped back to avoid getting cut through but there was another already behind him ready to strike. With a smooth jab, Evian stabbed his Spear backward, taking advantage of it having a Spearhead on both ends to get it through the horde Captain's body causing its Quasi-Eldritch Essence to leak.

The Beast was unbothered as pain was nonexistent to it so it continued its strike but before it could succeed, its body was seized by Evian's [Eldritch Authority] and it began to flake and turn into energy to be absorbed by Evian.

[The Condition for using Eldritch Authority against on-par or stronger opponents is to create an Opening in the opponent's body. A small cut is enough but the length of control is determined by the target's Mental resistance and User's mental strength.]