Devil's Waltz Read online

  Maybe this was exhilarating for him, but the faux-duel had been disappointing for Rowan after he’d summoned the Bone Drake. His stomach constricted, mana churning. “Useless. Take me back to the spire.” He crouched and pointed his wand at his head. “Now.”

  “Finish it,” he croaked, “and you’ll be taken back.” He coughed blood. Maroon blots froze on Rowan’s shield and fell away.

  Rowan didn’t detect any signs of deceit on that warped face, and the man was beyond the point of torture. The decaying stench of tainted dead skin lingered in the air. But no chances could taken when so much was on the line. “If that’s a lie, you will be barred from my kingdom.”

  Not Insane chuckled. His body spasmed in the action. “As if I fucking care about a place in your kingdo—” He coughed violently. His fists balled. “That bitch promised me greatness and power beyond imagination. When it had been only two, I was the prince of darkness, and she was my queen. Now I’m nothing more than her discarded lackey, weakest of five!”

  Though his confession was quite touching, it was weirdly roleplay-esque to a cringe-worthy degree, and it did not excuse him for this stunt. Rowan humored him once more: “You’re the weakest of six,” he hissed, “and I’m your king now. Gabby’s mine.” That last part, however, was serious.

  Point-blank ice shrapnel ended his broken howl of rage.

  Chapter 13

  Divine Music

  An unseeable symphony orchestra mellowed to a finish, and in its place, the chimes of a piano echoed throughout the tiny harbor like musical water droplets. “Nocturne in c-sharp minor. Lento con gran espressione,” Edward said from within the fog.

  Gabrielle, waiting for the next dungeon portal key to finish crafting, swayed her head and let her legs gently swing over the quay’s edge. Though the olden music wasn’t of her usual taste, it was rather nice. The harmonic melodies had such a soothing effect. The notes drifted into her ears and filled her with sensual creamy peace. “Oh Edward, we’d be good together, ya know?” she sang in tune.

  “Hmmmmm,” he hummed skeptically.

  “Just kiddin’!” She’d already extracted the boring boy’s utility long, long ago. His class wasn’t that powerful, he wasn’t that smart, and now her Worker Dolls, after some upgrades, could do what his professions were good for. He also had a peculiarly non-existent sex drive, almost never acting on his boyish urges. Maybe his way-too-close sister had something to do with it. Could always be possible with a darkie! Hehehehehehe.

  Something woolly brushed against her hand.

  Her eyes skipped downward. Just Redwing. He was reaching out and staring at her with those big shiny eyes as though to say, ‘Are you forgetting about a certain dummy?’

  Again, her disobeying tummy stirred with lukewarm worry. “Nope. And why would a dragon care about that? Hmph.”

  The clanged quicker as the lower notes crescendoed, but Redwing nudged her fingers again. ‘What if he loses the fight? He’ll be trapped in there until he respa—’

  “He’s not gonna lose!” A forehead tick squeezed her eye. She checked both their entires in her friend list. Both hidden with pixelated blurs. Still fighting. “Ugh. How can a tee-six Necro lose to a Raven Lord? That wouldn’t make any sense, Red.”

  Those teddy arms lifted as if to shrug and say, ‘The dummy is seventy levels lower, and he is a dummy.’

  Spit rolled in her mouth. A comeback wasn’t found. Red was right. It’d been almost three hours since Rowan had so dumbly accepted Insane’s fake duel request, meaning more or less forty minutes had lapsed in that arena. That couldn’t be good. It meant their fight had descended into a drawn-out stalemate. Whoever had the greater non-sexual endurance would break it. Or whoever stumbled across a lucky butterfly. She hadn’t seen Rowan in battle with his full skill kit yet, and Insane could spit out those pesky ravens till doggies tired of barking at the moon. Tough call.

  SoSo’s face came into sight a couple of yards behind Edward. The mist clogged Gabrielle’s Detection Ward.

  “Is she talking to her toys again?”

  They aren’t toys!

  The song repeated, and Edward mumbled, “Yes. Something about their duel. Is the sphere still by the spire?”

  “It is. Though its spinning has slowed.”

  Was that good news? Gabrielle wasn’t sure but risked to hope. She wasn’t too familiar with the intricacies of Insane’s skills. “Heya, SoSo. Pick the next song. Something as soothing as this one.”

  “If that’s what thou so desires,” she said in a dramatic, mischievous tone, “my queen.”

  Heh. She’s got that right. “Yup. Picky picky.”

  “Mmmmm. I think I know a good piece.”

  “Goodie.”

  The piano did its fluttery two-note trill thingy, and Gabrielle’s toes wiggled in her soft moccasins. It’d taken several weeks tracking down all the crafting material to complete her set of Morgana gear. It was definitely worth it, both for power and comfort. Rowan needed a set of high-level gear soon, and he needed to ding level 180 sooner to be able to equip such a set. So much time was being wasted. He couldn’t tagged along for the last dungeon run.

  The piano played that extra sad passage again. More lame worry bubbled in her tummy. “Oh, Red! What if he’s about to lose? He’d be dead for…” What was the death timer for a level 146? A day at most? But he was a Necro. It could be different for a more-powerful class like his.

  “Eighteen hours,” Edward said.

  Crap. The shield would be down by then. It had passed the three-quarter mark a few jiffies ago. Rowan was too fortunate neither of the other faction leaders joined the siege and burst down the shield like Zaine had. She groaned, pulling at her hat. “That dummy!”

  Ambiguous appeared next to her. “I’m sure he’s doing fine. He can make minions out of mana alone, and you gave him an extra large flask of Mana Draught, remember.” She palmed her hip. “And don’t you have a castle to design?”

  Gabrielle swept through her inventory interface, sought for the flasks’ icons. There they were, and the dark-blue one’s counter was one less. “Oh, you’re right! I did toss him one. And my castle is lookin’ great.” She hastily reopened her design-a-structure interface. Nothing but the foundations of her future castle rotated before her. Maybe she’d slacked off by a tad. Oops. “And don’t ya have a Divine Intervention to prepare?”

  “I do. I’m here to tell you that I’m out of Dark Magic Powder, and there’s only some on the real money marketplace.” Her brow arched as the piano transitioned into a wavering flute. “Do you have any?”

  “Nope. Spent the last of mine to help Rowan find a keystone.” That dummy…

  Ambiguous looked to the left, into the fog. “You two don’t have any, do you?”

  “No.”

  “No.” SoSo’s voice was a bit higher in pitch.

  The chatbox fluttered not too out of tune with the flute.

  Ambiguous Pain (To Gabby LeMort): 120c each. I need six units.

  Wow. That expensive? Those freakin’ light players…

  Gabby LeMort: Kay. I’ll deposit it into your real life account.

  On second thought, the price was suspiciously high; however, Ambiguous was truly useful to keep around, and Gabrielle had plenty of pocket change thanks to the Order and her not-a-meanie mother. So she didn’t hesitate to fork out the dough for her poor crippled buddy. Opening the web browser, she flicked open the bank’s website and selected one of her bookmarked transactions labeled as ‘To Amb’, altered the deposit amount to cover the apparent cost plus a bit extra, then tapped the confirm button. The transaction completed in three seconds, Gabrielle beaming.

  Ambiguous returned the smile. “Thank you.” She disappeared in a flash of indigo.

  The flute blew on, joined by a chiming instrument similar to a piano but lighter and rang longer. It was indeed as soothing as the piano before. SoSo was a musical genius! More or less, anyway.

  Gabrielle hummed a merry tune in tune with t
he song and hopped back to her castle foundation. She’d designed it to be built around the existing spire and eventually merge together into one seamless castles. Perhaps it’d count as an upgrade, but she wasn’t sure exactly how it’d interact with its functional building status. That didn’t matter much. All that mattered was that her castle at her desired location was finally seeing fruition. None shall take it away from her. Not by pesky light players. And definitely not by her grouchy Rowan whom she needed far too much, more than she was ever allowed to admit.

  Back to the design hologram. It wasn’t going to design itself, and it was more complicated to do than one would assume. Each wall, each room, each floor and roof needed to be tested in the simulator to make sure it wouldn’t fall over. The stronger the architecture, the more health points it would have, and the prettier and grander it was, the more of a message it would send to the yucky light players. This continent was hers.

  Onward the music played, softly the twins chattered, and upward the foundations grew, soon stable enough for her desired number of floors and towers. She had helped draw up the blueprints for Ambiguous’ mansion; she understood quite well how much of which building material was needed to support the cumulative weight of the floors above. The highest level stone imbued with the strongest Builder magic was needed here, and anything lower wasn’t fit for the grand, grand, grand castle anyway. This place was going to be the best and prettiest fortress in all of Aeon Chronicles.

  As Gabrielle began molding out a general overall shape, something weak appeared in her Detection Ward.

  A pale face and blood-red eyes emerged through the mist along with a hint of fruity perfume. Viola wanted something yet again. A bit of a sycophant she was. The teen clearly wanted a high position in her empire one day, growing bolder and more confident in her approach by the day. Brave. Either that or stupid. Likely the former.

  “What do ya want?” Gabrielle asked in a cheery voice, half genuine.

  Viola stepped into full view with unique grace that only Dark Humans had. Her feet were lithe and soundless against the quay’s rough and slippery wood. Impressive, for she wore those hideous clunky sandals. Gabrielle would never let those blocks touch her toes. They looked Roman, but Roman Sandals weren’t as ugly.

  “Hello, Lady LeMort. Are you well? I heard Lord Black got into some trouble,” she mumbled in that kinda layered voice, mixing with the music nicely. Her expression was neutral but hinted suppressed strain. They weren’t incapable of fear.

  “He’s just being…” Gabrielle exhaled, unwanting of the smalltalk. Now wasn’t the time. “Just get on with it, brave girl.”

  Very, very abruptly, the quiet cello faded, and an energetic electric guitar zinged from all sides. The singer was male and Japanese. It sounded like the theme of an action-adventure Anime. Rowan might like it if he was a fan of that stuff.

  Viola started, her crimson eyes bulging ridiculously. “Wha— What type of music is this?”

  Oh right. This was a medieval-themed world. Gabrielle knitted a lie with ease. “It’s from the divine realm only known to the highest of gods. Feel privileged that you’ve heard it. So what do ya want?”

  The twins chuckled, and Gabrielle pinged them to shut up the music before they played something in English. It’d take forever to convince Viola of the real world and that adventurer madness was all a lie. It could be done, but it was tiresome conversation.

  Viola listened for a cupful of seconds while the lyrics died down to a heavy silence. She gradually drifted back down to Aeon, then swallowed. “We have some requests…” Her eyes flickered downward. “And some complaints.”

  Oh, goody. Requests and complaints. Gabrielle was becoming a true ruler now. “And the adults sent a kid?”

  “Yes,” she said carefully.

  At least this one was honest. The adults were definitely smart for using Viola. Her death would actually be a loss, not that Gabrielle would kill any of her subjects without due cause. “So what’s wrong? Hmm? Just say it.” Do I have to slap it out of her? I’d prefer to not.

  Her face hardened before she said in a rush, “We don’t like the Undead guards. They’re smelly, weird, depressing, and always meander randomly, the owl Demons too. Can we move the farms closer to the—”

  “Nope! That’s reserved for my castle and the more important buildings.”

  “But it’s like over a mile at the widest, and—”

  “It’s gonna be a huge castle.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t make me slap ya.” Gabrielle’s hand was ready for it whether she liked it or not. It had to be done.

  Viola stiffened. “Okay. I will report that to the adults.”

  “Anything else?”

  Her expression lightened. “The adults need various resources for their professions and building materials to set up shops one day, and some of them still don’t want to train while—”

  “Tell them they’re not gonna be just crafters otherwise they’re gonna be sacrificed for the Divine Intervention I’m settin’ up.”

  Viola’s face paled to a chalky ash. She managed to whisper, “What do we need a Divine Intervention plea for?”

  So she knew what that entailed. “It’s a surprise. Like ya know, I’m gonna need some willing sacrifices or a lot of unwilling ones. Tell the coward adults they’ll be sacrificed instead of SoSo and Edward here if they don’t start training. Got it?”

  The chatbox trilled.

  Edward Farmer (Party Chat): We’re being sacrificed?

  SoSo Lovely: Apologies. I forgot to tell you.

  Edward Farmer: I hope we’re being adequately compensated.

  SoSo Lovely: Indeed, we are.

  Heh.

  Viola recovered after many breaths, and her chin bounced up and down with nods. “Got it.”

  “Anything else?” Gabrielle smiled sweetly.

  Viola suddenly leaned in. She said in a small voice, “Do you know Elliot forced Sarah to be his sex slave and—”

  “Stop gossiping, girl! And I’m not putting guards on every last street to police everyone. Ya Dark Humans are better than that. Be civilized and sort out your own problems—or else.” Gabrielle’s tongue clicked. “Anything else?”

  “We will need better training equipment soon…” She hesitated, looking down for a second. “And I…”

  Finally. Let’s see what little Viola truly desired in her darker heart. “And I?” Gabrielle noted down the other requests for resources in her Social interface, ignoring the complaints. Rowan’s idea of picking out the corpses that had looked like crafters paid off.

  “And I don’t want to be just mighty like my parents…” She huffed, a small grimace squeezing her brow and nose. “I want to become as powerful as you are. When I was a normal human, I barely felt any mana in me, but now…” She looked at her hands. Sparks of dark mana danced in her palms. “I almost feel like I can become anything.”

  Oh, yes. This one was a likely keeper. She’d receive a Divine Blessing if she proved her worthiness. “Then you have to start training on the Lesser Water Elementals at least. In serious fights.” No character-level experience would be granted otherwise. Sparring was only useful for a few things like training blink-type skills.

  Someone absurdly strong landed in the mist ten meters behind Viola without a sound. One of the Nihils.

  “But I could get seriously hurt against Lessers.”

  “So?” She could still kite one; her Death Bolt out-ranged it by quite a bit. And she needed to be at least level 50 for any dark class. “You’re level…” Gabrielle examined.

  Viola Wintersow: Level 23

  Faction: None

  Health: 100

  Mana: 100

  Stamina: 100

  “Twenty-three!” Many levels higher than the average human teen. And she was saving all her points too. Very intelligent indeed. While it was a pitiful rate of leveling, NPCs needed to be super duper extra careful, even against level 10 wisp elementals. Also, why hadn’t
Ambiguous bought Gabrielle’s favorite dark girl any gear yet? That greedy hussy…

  Viola said, “But I still need a class.” She fetched a rolled parchment from her cotton pants. “By the way, we need tomes for twenty-seven Blademasters, eleven—”

  “You’re getting a dark class, girl,” Gabrielle said coldly. “All of you.”

  She perked up like a seal waiting for a treat. “I can become a dark class? I thought only adventurers and World Bosses could!”