The Power of Ten

Chapter 10-317: One Down, One to Go

Author's Note: Hey my faithful power-levelers, the Voting Mechanic is there for you to recommend ALL the novels you think are worth reading, not just one or two. I have over 500 followers, so logically I should have AT LEAST 500 votes, right? And I'm pretty sure I have at least a thousand readers a day.

As I write this, I've got just 107 votes. I've got some pretty complex emotions about that, but hey, if you like the story, and you read it regularly, and you think others would, too... hit the Vote bar at the bottom, okay? I'm never gonna catch the front-runners, but I like to think I've got some supportive readers for my base.

So, a little help here! :)

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I just put my hand on the erinyes’ head, and blew a Cure Severe Wounds on her face and head.

I was a good Healer, and had been using puh-lenty of Healing magic killing undead, had CL boosts and Feats, etc.

Her mashed nose, shattered chin, broken teeth, and crushed cheekbones reinflated back to an almost normal appearance. Her burning hellfire eyes snapped open in shock at feeling healing magic running through her, especially tinged with holiness that wasn’t burning her.

Master Fred had her arms, her wings were still busted, and she could kick in agony all she liked, nothing was going to happen. Shvaughn reached down, grabbed her hair, and tilted her head back.

Yeah, those all-hellfire fallen angel eyes got really, really wide. “Oh, oh no...”

Okay, that expression was definitely worth something, and if she started to scream and writhe and struggle as Shvaughn brought her up closer easily, irresistibly, with one hand, well, that didn’t make any difference, either.

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“No, I don’t want to hear the screaming, thank you.”

Turning back into Windwise, Shvaughn Teleported away gleefully, having much more range than merely shadow-jumping... and it didn’t change her eyes, either.

Master Fred let Legion come out, and they just sighed in their base blonde Amazon form. “We don’t need to hear it, either,” they murmured. “Shvaughn is going to eat her by inches. Millimeters...”

“I expect her to track down all the other Kiss Pacts, too. That will really piss Hell off.” I flicked out a certain large diamond in my hand, glowing gold and black. “You ready for this?”

“We doubt it, but we’ll adapt,” they grit their teeth.

I began to wrap spells around the jewel, to activate when the soul-trapping nature of it expired. As a VII, the only reason it could hold her was because my Binder Levels made me VERY good with this sort of stuff. A VII from a Binder was as good as an IX from a Wizard.

A Feeblemind, which would reduce her intelligence to that of a monkey. Major Curses, which would do the same for her sense of self and willpower. Sacred Enervation, which would infuse her with holy power preying directly upon the Sin she was made up of, as opposed to negative energy.

And, of course, Paralyze Monster, to make sure she couldn’t do anything when she came out.

Heaven wasn’t stupid, and there were all kinds of holy tactics to use against demonkind, just as demons used themselves. If not as unrestrained as some Evil folk were, that hardly meant Heaven wasn’t creative. Indeed, given the tighter demands upon them, it could be said that they were much more creative than their counterparts, who almost always embarked upon the path of least resistance...

I crunched my fist, and a forty-goldweight diamond blew apart into sparkles of diamond dust before disintegrating, to be reborn in some other vein of gemstones somewhere else promptly. Living shadows writhed and gathered, and urgently coalesced into the form of Queen Rayetizvisha.

She had lost the Husk links with all her victims, including Morningflame, so she was forced to appear in her own form. She had writhing platinum-blonde hair, tawny skin, an otherwise sharply beautiful face with smooth skin where eyes should be, and ornate black horns curling back and around her ears, still managing to be razor-sharp where they framed her cheekbones. Cloven hooves, an eight-foot muscular tail tipped by a crimson-lit bulb crackling with demonic energies and fully able to crush someone’s skull, too, and over-sized clawed hands bearing the kind of damage-enhancing effect a senior Monk would heartily respect.

The spells I’d Cast collapsed on her even as the Sin Shadows making her up gathered, and she shrieked as they did, looking at my face as she froze in place. She couldn’t even scream at or accuse me telepathically after pretty much all basic thought and reason was locked away on her.

Legion stepped forward, their face set. They reached over to Rayetizvisha’s chin, pulling it over and giving her a deep kiss before inhaling, hard.

The lilitu broke up into shadows again, much like she would if Possessing someone, and poured into Legion’s mouth like an unclean stream. Burning Wrath fires were there to accept the flow, and it took only seconds before the succubus queen was gone.

“Ahg,” Legion grimaced, looking like they wanted to spit, even with their mouth alive with Wrathflame. They beat on their chest, Wrath billowing out of their nose and mouth. “Ah, that is a lot of Sin. You were absolutely right about not being able to spend any for the Land. We are going to need some time to set this up right.”

A stone dais rose to the side, and a sacred hexagram drew itself upon it. I filled it with the requisite power myself, and it began to glow with a golden Light as it established a center of Hallowed and Consecrated holy power here.

“Sleipner, if you would stand guard while we work?” The unicorn cycle proudly tooted affirmation, gunning his engine in readiness, and saw-tooth blades snapped out and back into his wheels, gleaming with magic.josei

There shouldn’t be any problems, as there were no Cultivators within ten miles at this point, and all those were currently in energetic engagements with Sama’s forces and getting their heads handed to them.

I sat down as well, and brought out a set of four mithral and adamantine horseshoes to do the initial Infusion enchantments upon. I reflected that I would also probably need to make some Oathrings, and I should probably start up a Ring Circle so I could Imbue more of them for my Powered followers. Since I could Teleport around fairly easily now, it shouldn’t be an issue.

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“When you make Nine, I will return this to you.”

Jaelez Morningfire was finding it hard not to stare at me, and was much more subdued than she thought she’d be, heading out onto a great adventure with her family.

That included her younger brother, Sean Highsun; his wife Nakita Dreamingcloud, and both of her nephews and her niece: Gabriel, Patrick, and Imoen, known as Dawnsun, Fairsun, and Morningglory, respectively.

I was a little surprised to see them, but Morningfire’s ability to reign over her family was not to be underestimated, and so I found myself suddenly confronting literally the entirety of the Morningsun adults at once, all very eager to reclaim and retain their status as elites, and shocked to find that Lady Traveler was also Morningdark!

Then, of course, they all got my Blessings.

They were very, very used to being elites of the world, the only Nines around. They were looked up to, envied and admired for the power of their Bloodline, and for the strength of their mixed ancestry.

I had naturally blown that wide open, and every day word was coming of humans, dwarves, urukhar, dhatun, elves, hyn, and gnomes hitting Seven, even Eight, and staring at Nine but not taking that step as they solidified their foundations.

Highsun had hair every bit as flaming as Morningfire’s, but his wife’s hair was a silken, drifting black, and his children had dark blazes the same hue as their mother’s hair at their temples, quite the eye-catching effect.

All of this was very special, because I was always Lit by the Moon, which kinda put their special Bloodline effects to shame. They were also looking at me in Markspace, gawking. When they looked elsewhere, all they could see was the immensity of The Jet and Silver and some very, very dangerous Presences there, including the Angelos and Windgraf Mochtal, the brooding power of TWO Warlock Grandmasters already at Ten, and naturally Sama and Briggs and their burning lights.

Suddenly, they weren’t so special. They were at the very, very least in the company of peers, and there were a whole damn lot of people who were on the precipice of Seven, or even higher, just underneath them, and going to catch them damn fast unless they did something.

I kind of raised an eyebrow at them all as they all stared at me. They had all been Drained down to Threes, ready to undertake their Double Helix revisions at maximum speed under my protection.

One Level a day, for as many days as it took.

They had their magical Weapons and Gear; they had Named their Weapons. I could take care of food and water, so they only had minimal supplies of those in their packs, although they better have some emergency Healing with them.

Little sister/daughter/niece/cousin, the most powerful person on the planet. Woo-hoo, Go Morningsuns!

I sighed. Well, I was definitely going to know them all a lot better once this whole training shindig was over...

“Alright, we’re off to India. There are a great number of Shroudzones there, some of them made quite recently off the massacred people in the area.” Flickers in their eyes as they digested what that meant. “I’m sure I can find one with only half a million or so in it.” They all swallowed as they looked at me. “Your job, of course, is to clear the whole thing. Then you can actually start to work on something important and relevant.

“Let’s see those hands,” I continued, before anyone could comment. As experienced Casters, they instantly linked hands all around.

I hummed a Chord, and power built around me. I ignored the way they stared as my magic swirled around them, and we rode my Lived-Line three-quarters of the way around the world in the wrong direction.

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Legion stood up as I returned with a whole bunch of extra people, all of them halvyr. Dusk was coming up, and the Deadzones would start coming to unlife, as it was.

They looked at me and lifted an eyebrow. I could only shrug. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“And who is this?” Morningfire piped up promptly, sensing a quietly ominous aura about the tall woman there, and recognizing an Amazon immediately.

“This would be the Warlock Grandmaster Legion.”

Eyes flicked sideways to someone in the Markspace, and lips pursed all at the same time.

Yes, this was a full, true Ten Melee too, and a very, very dangerous person.

“Legion’s going to be doing a lot of the overwatch for you. Brutal combatant, very effective healer, excellent support, and extremely good at advance or retreat as required, as Azaia can confirm.” Azaia just nodded along. “Also, your ride is Sleipner, who is the spirit of a unicorn bound to their Alicorn, and runs a really fast bike.”

The nearby motorcycle tooted proudly, spinning up in a full circle on his front wheel deftly, startling all the Morningsuns nearby.

“You sound as if you aren’t going to be there, dear?” Morningfire asked alertly.

“Oh, my, no. My job is to kill things by the thousands. There’s a problem over in China they want me to crack open. I’ll escort you to where you need to be, and set a Focus up. Legion will be on overwatch, Sleipner is more than fast enough to get you out of danger, and I am literally one spell away. I’ll toss some Buffs on you, and then, I’m going to see about butchering a whole lot of Daoists.”

“What is that smell?” Glory piped up, making a face. “Is that the Qi you were talking about?”

“Oh, you can smell that? It’s so faint here, I almost missed it.” Everyone but Azaia got looks on their faces, because the smell here was only a little bit like standing over an open sewer, mixed with rotting eggs and old bird shit, and a whole field of weeds you were allergic to. “It’ll get much more noticeable when we move away from a combat zone where there’s no vivus.”

“Anything which generates this smell is going to die!” Mother Morningfire proclaimed, direly serious about getting rid of anything that could wrinkle her nose so.