Chapter 96: 5-18 Epilogue

Sitri, 346 Years Old, Second Month of 949

Idiots.

That was my honest to Asmodea impression of these absolute morons. Rupert had sent an ultimatum to Antonio, “Surrender and the majority will be spared, or resist and all shall be purged.” That was a summary of course, the real one had been full of noble bullshit and double meanings.

Antonio’s fate was sealed, he would be put to death regardless. The same would happen to Duke Febligi, whose honor required that he remain till the bitter end. But this ultimatum provided clemency for the lesser nobles. Sure, some restrictions would be placed on them. You couldn’t have former traitors running free after all.

This is probably Stali’s doing. No way would that stick Rupert be this merciful, not with the great war looming.

It went without saying that Antonio had declined the offer. He wasn’t an idiot though, far from it. If it was not for me whispering in his ear, he might possibly have accepted. After all, anyone could see that the cause was hopeless. Rupert had been smart and waited until after winter. With our food stores now depleted and the men weary from spending the winter in a state of alert, the odds of being able to hold out were null.

Duke Febligi knew that, but his honor kept him bound to Antonio. He also knew about me, somewhat, but was not making any moves to try and save his lord.

Idiots.

Then, that begged the question, why was I still here? At this point, it was obvious that my so-called allies were doomed. In short, after beating me half to death Five… no, Ten had ordered me to remain here and ensure that Drakas wasted as much time as possible while he left to further goals elsewhere. That said, I had no intentions of actually dying.

Sealing my skills might have been what got me into this mess, but it’s also going to get me out.

The fact that I had lost most of my power meant that I was pretty much expendable. I was under no illusions that the reason I had been left behind was due to being viewed as basically useless now. But it was also a blessing in disguise.

-Opening my eyes and looking around. This isn’t the classroom anymore…? Where is this?-

Stumbling to the side of the passage I was walking down, I clutched at my forehead, suppressing the headache. Ever since my skills were sealed, shit like this had started happening. Memories that were thousands of years old, things that I hadn’t thought about for such an extreme length of time.

With great effort on my part, I pushed the memories away. They were too painful.

Even with all the grief your shit caused me, you did give me a chance.

The Nine Kings’ authority over their kin was absolute. Funnily enough, the closer you were to one of them, the stronger that influence was. As an Original Sin, there was no way I could go against Ryuko…

-“Come on, if you guys follow me, my skill will give us the power we need to survive and get home.”-

“FUCK!”

A passing rebel knight gave me a concerned glance at my outburst but didn’t say anything about it. People here knew that I was consorting with Antonio, and it gave me a measure of untouchability. After plastering an unconcerned expression on my face, I continued on my way while pretending nothing had happened.

As an Original Sin, I would never have been able to go against Asmodea, or someone she told me to follow the orders of. But that was only the case because of my skills interacting with hers. Stali had disabled my skills, and freed me from that control.

Antonio called out to me as I arrived at his chambers, “Sitri, has there been any word from Count Francois? Has he managed to secure us aid from the League?”

“…No… there has been no word, but I am certain that he is doing all that he can.” Just had to make sure that my voice was troubled, then add a bit of confidence at the end.

Antonio’s own face clouded over, and he stared grimly out the window, “Without aid… Perhaps I should simply surrender…”

Nope. If you surrender, I’ll be screwed. I need you lot to hold out long enough that it looks like I did my job. If you surrender, even if I manage to get away I’ll be hunted down by the other demons.

I moved up behind Antonio and put my arms around him in a hug. Leaning up so as to be close enough, I whispered in his ear, “Come on, just a little bit longer and Count Francois will bring the reinforcements. You know what Rupert did, how he’s schemed and plotted. You love this country, you could never give up on saving it…”

My words and touch was infused with mana. Just because my skills were sealed, did not mean that I had lost all of my abilities. I could still use Blood Magic to charm and sway people. Though the close contact required was irritating in the extreme. Something as complicated as twisting a person’s mind just couldn’t be done from a distance.

Which begs the question of how the hell she froze Five like that,

-“We should take his offer, the system is a lot easier to use than,”-

“Urk!” This most recent headache happened while I was still clinging to Antonio, meaning that my involuntary exclamation was right into his ear.

He did not push me away or seem startled by this however, “Is it your head again?”

After all, I’ve been filling you with my mana for so long and in such quantities that it’s literally impossible for you to think anything ill of me.

The best part was three months ago when it had suddenly become much easier to do so. Antonio had confided in me privately that his father had struck him from the family registry. Of course this meant that there was actually no way for him to assume the throne anymore, and he could no longer use any of the royal family’s bestowed magic. Good news for me, since he lost most of the lingering resistance to further charming influences.

In any case, he was so far under my thumb at this point that something like screaming in his ear did not even register as a nuisance.

“…Yes, ever since I was chased out of the kingdom by your little brother.”

A look of anguish manifested itself beautifully on his face, “I am sorry, if only I had seen things for what they were sooner… My late brother, Dominic and the rest of Count Francois’ family, you and Stahlia… how many more lives will Rupert ruin before he is satisfied?”

Just a bit more mana should be good for today, if I’m not careful I’ll fry him completely.

“Anto-, your highness there was nothing you could do, you know that. Rupert is conspiring with the demons. It is only obvious that he would be quite adept at hiding his intentions.”

Screwing his eyes shut, Antonio nodded though it seemed forced. It was possible to remove that as well, but doing so would make him little more than a puppet; I needed him to have some agency and merely follow my suggestions, “You are right, though I cannot help but worry about it all the same.”

“That is why you will make an excellent king.”

Antonio shook his head, “No, but I will do my best.”

Yea, you’d be a rather shit king. You’d have the people’s support just from charisma. But you’re too kind. Honestly, even if I do nothing it’s a fifty-fifty shot that Drakas succumbs to rebellion under Rupert’s rule… Though marrying Stali would tip the odds a bit,

-“Come on Aki you’re cute; you’d fit Ryuko’s family the best.”-

Luckily, I was able to avoid exclaiming this time, and Antonio had shifted to look out the window so had not seen my face contort in a brief moment of agony.

Stali, if you weren’t my best bet at living, I’d torture you to death for inflicting this curse on me… Hells, I might still do it if this shit keeps up!

“Sitri, you do not need to force yourself… You could call me Antonio if you wish.”

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This was not the first time he had made such an offer. In fact, he made the offer quite frequently, ever since my act had integrated occasionally stumbling over his name and title. It helped my Blood Magic take hold if I flirted a bit, and after so long I honestly found being a tease rather fun beyond the influence of my skills.

­-“Aki! Calm down, are you sure!?” Hajime’s flustered voice was really cute, it made me want to tease him more, “Of course I’m sure. Ever since I joined Ryuko’s family, I’ve been feeling so… frustrated… Won’t you help me Hajime?”-

“FUCK!” This one was bad. Of course, it wasn’t really a secret or a mystery what was going on; these were my memories. That one in particular had been really damn strong. It was the first time I had done anything like that with a guy. Soon after was when we realized that the skills were twisting our personalities.

The more pressing concern was the fact that I had just sworn and clawed at my head in pain while Antonio was looking me straight in the eyes like some kind of begging puppy. I really didn’t want to deal with him right now, but it wasn’t like I had a choice.

“…Don’t worry about me… I’ll be fine, I think.” One thing was for sure, having an actual source of excruciating pain made it quite easy to act the part of a hurting woman.

“…Alright, you should try and get some sleep though.” Antonio’s sounded concerned, as expected.

Nodding, I released my arms but left one hand to linger just a moment longer, “Alright, I will… Thank you.”

I departed from his presence and slipped off towards my own quarters. The lodging I had been provided were spartan, but that was fine. I did not need much, and it was extremely temporary. Though I did pass several walking corpses on my way, I chose not to engage with any of them.

I need to figure out how to ingratiate myself to Rupert and his faction. Stali is probably the best choice in that regard… I just have to hope that she’s got her [Cold Hearted] turned off, she definitely had to turn it on to handle Five the way she did... If it’s on now, nothing I say will get through to her. But if it’s off, I should be able to manipulate her empathy a bit and strike a deal.

As long as the kingdom secured my safety that was fine. I would take living another day over any amount of luxury. Though it would be nice if I was able to secure something of a working relationship, that was a pipe dream. Any tactical intel I did have would be horribly outdated; the best I could hope for would be to tell them the story of the Hell Kings, as well as the specifics behind everyone’s powers.

Sorry guys, but I’m going to prioritize my own safety here. You left me out to dry anyway, so all’s fair yea?

Strangely, there was no flash of lightning pain and no long-buried memories making an unwelcome reappearance this time. I dared not to hope that they had finished for good, but it was a welcome reprieve. I lay down on the cot that stood against one wall of my room. Before Stali had fucked me, I hadn’t needed to sleep. Now, I could barely last twenty hours between rest.

Maybe I could get Antonio to surrender to Rupert at the critical hour. If I then revealed that I had charmed him and told him to surrender… No, that would never work. There’s no way Stali would accept a plan that involved using charms, and Rupert isn’t a complete moron so he’d recognize that if Antonio was really charmed by me then I could easily have ended all this earlier.

I shut my eyes and did my best to tune out any more thoughts. Even if sleep was cutting into my time, it did at least bring a brief reprieve from the headache flashes. Even after waking up, there would be a few hours of blessed peace before they resumed again. After some minutes my breathing steadied out and I drifted off, into the land of dreams.

“So, you mean to say that you think those skills are affecting us all?” Percy’s voice sounded disbelieving, but there was a flash of worry hidden behind the façade.

Hajime nodded, “Yes. What else can it be? Aki wouldn’t even consider sleeping with someone before, but she’s gone through half the guys since joining Ryuko’s family. I really think that Adroni guy is just screwing with us. At the very least there is more to what’s going on than we were told.”

Percy shook his head, “I mean yea of course there’s more going on. Have you ever heard of a setting with eleven demon lords before? That number is kinda strange don’t you think? But why would they be setting us up to fail?”

This is going nowhere. Stepping out of my hiding spot, I revealed myself to the two of them, “Percy, Hajime, what are the two of you doing?”

Hajime whirled around and stared at me bug eyed, “Ah… Aki, what are you doing here?”

My eyes narrowed at him, “Come on, Just cause the number is a bit weird doesn’t mean that there’s anything strange going on.”

“But, Aki… Hajime has a point. Look at you!” Percy was doing his best impression of an anime protagonist, glancing every where but in my direction while still sneaking brief peeks.

“Oh? I was rather fond of this myself.” I did a little twirl to show off my new clothes; I had spent quite some time working on them after all.

“Aki… I mean, something is definitely going on... Maybe you should reject the skills before its too late?”

My eyes narrowed, “Reject the gift? No way! This is the best I’ve felt in a long time… You two just haven’t picked a family yet, so you wouldn’t understand. I know, how about you join Asmodea?”

“Asmo, who now?”

“Asmodea, she’d love to have you join her family.”

Percy spoke over Hajime who simply seemed confused, “Aki, who the hell is Asmodea? She leads your family now? What happened to Ryuko?”

“Ah, I see. You haven’t heard yet; Ryuko decided to change her name. It’s Asmodea now… I know, [How about you two come meet Asmodea face to face? I’m sure it will be interesting!] While speaking, I took a few steps towards the pair of boys, licking my lips and-

My eyes snapped open and I shot straight upright. My breath was coming in ragged gasps while a cold sweat poured out of my back and chest. This was new; I had not dreamed of the past before. At most, all that happened was the headaches and brief snippets. Was this what the next stage of… whatever was going on was to be? My sole refuge, newfound sleep, was being taken away?

And what happened after that…

I didn’t need the memory to remember what had happened next. I had charmed two of my friends. Enslaved them to my will with sex, and brought them before my mistress. Another former friend.

Percy, Hajime… Even now…

The two of them were roughly around the level of Demon Counts the last time I was in the Nine Hells. Even if they had been among the first, the fact that they hadn’t willingly accepted the gifts had limited their growth. Even now, they were still bound with Charm Magic. They worshiped Asmodea as their only god, and would do anything for her with a smile. Even me, as far gone as I had been, had been capable of disliking an order if it wasn’t something I wanted to do on my own.

At some point, my legs had come up so as to rest my knees on my chin, the classic fetal position. Rocking on my bum back and forth, I realized something else horrifying.

My nails… They’re shorter?

It was a small thing but, ever since my evolution, my nails had been stagnant. Sure, if one was chipped or damaged then it would regrow or repair itself. I could even alter them somewhat if I willed for it to happen. But now they were shorter. Testingly, I tried to lengthen them. Even if I knew it wouldn’t work due to my skills being sealed away still.

As I had predicted, they remained unaltered. It was when I stood up though, that the real fright made itself known. My whole appearance was different. Not by much, and really the nails had been the biggest change so far. But my hair was a tiny bit shorter. My chest was smaller, my ears slightly more rounded…

I’m… devolving?

That was the only answer I could come up with. Whatever Stali had done to me, it had caused my evolution into a demon to begin undoing. Clearly, my body was still not human, but now I looked more like a half-elf than a full elf. It would require some extra time in the morning to cover up properly, but it should be manageable… for now. If it kept going and I reverted fully to a human body, then things would get a lot more complicated.

That was only if my stats didn’t start changing as well. Unfortunately, my appraisal had come from a skill. I didn’t have any idea how I could replicate that with Blood Magic since I had never had to before. It was yet one more concern.

I… Stali, are you not yet content!? Must you keep fucking me over!?

The worst part was that part of me, an ever-so-small part of me, felt just a tiny bit glad to see a facsimile of my original face again.

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