Devourer

Chapter 101: The Fall Part 13

I circled around the palace and watched as my hive swarmed over the walls. The battle had started only for about fifteen minutes yet the walls were already being overwhelmed. Why this was the case was simple, I didn’t really care about the palace. The people who own this place are the same people whose heads I want to chop off. So I lifted many of the restrictions on collateral damage. 

The Phoenixes were just going to town on the wall, blasting anything and everything that isn’t on their side. Frankly I’ve had enough. I didn't expect this but my patience was surprisingly limited. Especially with regards to general stupidity, this is most definitely why the past Firstborn viewed the other races as so inferior. Especially the humanoids, they viewed them as so inferior that they never recognised them as a threat all the way till the end. That was still very stupid on the part of the Firstborn but I am starting to a see a tendency developing within me. I will need to monitor this closely…

But I don’t think I will have it as bad as my predecessors. From what the Eternal Mother’s memories have indicated the Firstborn felt that pretty much anything about the humanoids were inferior and not worth mentioning. There were a few rare exceptions from the Heirs of the Firstborn such as The Blade, The Lord of Dreams and The Crow Father. But of course whether fortunately or unfortunately the Firstborn attributed their success to the fact that they were as they called it “successors of the old blood.” The naming conventions are weird in this world, there’s a lot of lingo bouncing around with the heirs.

The heirs' names included, the heirs of the firstborn, the bearers of the old blood, the successors of the old blood and children of the old gods. There are probably even more names, which is also why I just call them heirs, too many names, and I can't be bothered with it.

I could see the occasional shot being fired out from the palace. The windows of the palace, although numerous, were not that suitable as defensive positions. I watched as one particular balcony was blasted apart once too many mages started standing there to fire spells downwards. 

Speaking of balconies I spotted something interesting. I looked over and saw Mahaila standing next to this well dressed noble woman. My best guess is that I am looking at the future duchess of Tralis. There was something odd about her…

I shifted course and I faced the balcony. I could sense no fear in this woman, she seemed oddly empty of emotion. No it wasn’t emotions it was something else. I switched off the part of my vision that displayed her internals so I could focus on her ether and sure enough I saw what was odd about her.

Her ether core was seemingly empty, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was occupied by something…

“Are you the princess Lyra has been telling me so much about?” I asked curiously as the sounds of battle raged below.

“That I am Great Beast. I hope your word remains true with regards to our little bargain.” the woman said.

“Eissa, right?” I asked with a smile and she nodded in response.

“I thought I would drop in. There is something strange about you…” I murmured as I examined her.

“Strange?” Issa asked, slightly taken aback.

“Yes, can you use magic?” I asked curiously.

“No. I don’t have much power.” Eissa replied with a furrow of her brow. This was obviously not the path of conversations she was expecting. But in all honesty, I didn’t expect this either. I was planning to speak to her once the palace was taken but this little thing caught my attention.

“Your ether core is occupied by something.” I said as I reached out a hand and tried to use my magic to control this black blob of magic inside her ether core. 

I learned some soul magic while I was studying magic and it was a surprisingly fun branch of magic. It was extremely difficult for most other creatures since there are no fixed spells for it. It fully depended on the mastery of ether control of the user. This was because every soul was different so no fixed ether script would be effective. Each spell used is slightly unique hence why it was so difficult. There were some necromancy variants that ripped the soul out but that often left some significant damage. I had some practice of course, the condemned criminals shipped to me had many uses…

I used my magic to lightly tether that black mass and began to extract it. Soul magic, although difficult, did not require nearly the amount of fine control required for flesh crafting. Afterall, soul magic was invented by the lesser races but flesh crafting had their roots in the Firstborn.

With a final tug I pulled it out and I watched as Issa shuddered as she collapsed to her knees. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she took in rasping breaths. Not surprising considering her ether core now had the space to fill with ambient ether. Incidentally the heirs actually grew stronger by devouring the essence of others and using it to expand their ether core.

“Better?” I asked absentmindedly as I eyed this black mass of crackling ether in my hand.

“That was inside her?” Lyra asked in shock as she walked forward. I showed her the black mass. I saw her face darken as her body tensed.

“Demonic possession… minor but it's there. Most likely a hereditary contract.” Lyra said before I could ask the question and reveal my ignorance. I was supposed to be this ancient wise beast so we both knew we had to maintain the image.

“Yes… but a contract with which demon I wonder?” I asked as I gazed at the black mass of ether.

“I know this one, I don’t think you met him. It’s Alastor the Archdemon, servant of the Demon Prince of Greed. Judging by the strength of it, I doubt it has any actual influence on her. Seeing as it was blocking her magic, chances are it was inactive.” Lyra muttered as she gazed at the black mass.

“Hmm… then we have a problem don’t we. We’ll discuss the rest later. I think we just found out why that little prince is so good at war and how Tralis rose to power.” I said as I absorbed the black mass. It couldn’t do anything to me, demons couldn’t even make deals with Azatherine let alone something like me. Their deals only work on those weaker than them and some deals were inherited. This Eissa girl was genuinely surprised when I pulled this out of her, she wasn’t lying with her shock. She genuinely didn’t know and I know I always think most humans aren’t that bright but a demonic pact would be something even a goblin would remember. I don’t see any signs of memory modification either, magic always leaves traces and I see nothing. She isn’t that old either for the traces to truly fade away into nothing.

I always felt Tralis’s rise a bit odd, yes mercenary companies were basically just adventurer guilds that specialised in killing humanoids but still it’s not like they were well versed in politics and rule. The stories say the usurper king was the son of a whore, he came from nothing and yet he managed to usurp and control such a large piece of territory. You may win the war but your ability to conquer did nothing to stop poison ending up in your wine or a long knife ending up in your back. If someone like Cecilia was alive at the time in the Tralis court, chances are that warlord would find himself assassinated. 

But if there was a demon at the helm well… they do say no one schemes like a demon. Plots, conspiracies and vile schemes were a demon’s forte. Even winning the rebellion would have been difficult despite a mercenary band's power. Mercenaries were soldiers of fortune and they could be bribed and out paid. I thought initially thought that the usurper king was just a talented man, but perhaps he did have some external help.

“Keep her safe, we have much to discuss…” I said and Lyra nodded as her eyes darted around her surroundings.

“Keep an eye out as well and tell no one of this.” I added once seeing her reaction and she nodded again.

Only one way to find out if my suspicions are correct, I need to get my hands on the prince and the king. If those two had any of these traces then something was definitely up. It's quite unfortunate that I never actually met any of the royal family until now. 

Seeing as Alastor was one of the potential demons that could be “my friend down under” I would need to be careful. But if that was true then he must know I would be able to tell that his possession crap is here. Unless he wants me to know? What is he doing? Selling me a favour? Or does he simply not know Firstborn can detect demonic possession? Or did the ones he ran into not have this ability? Seeing the Firstborn as this cohesive species is just factually inaccurate. My Firstborn type is called the Wraith Strain, most likely the other strains have other abilities. But then again perhaps this demon just never ran into a Firstborn before. 

Perhaps I was too hasty, I probably shouldn’t have pulled that out… oh well what’s done is done. It’s not like I knew what it was before I did it. 

Well I should go and brief Cecilia on what has happened, this was rather urgent afterall. I’ll probably just do the stasis thing she did last time to make the conversation private. It is dark magic so I don’t want her doing it and revealing the fact that she knows how to use that kind of stuff.

I looked over at the state of the rest of the battle and saw the walls were just about done. What’s left of the defenders were attempting to retreat into the palace although with not much success. There just weren't good enough retreat paths. Not surprising considering the palace walls were the last point of defence and honestly strategically worthless unless you had reinforcements coming. If the palace walls fell then it was over, simple as that.

The palace itself was never designed for a defence, so as far as this battle was concerned it was as good as over.

Nafas, finish up the walls, make it quick the situation has changed

I said coldly in the hive mind. I need to get to the bottom of this demon thing. I always knew humans were poor tools, I will need to change them to be useful. There were too many things in the shadows, too many plans at play. I do not like being toyed with because toys get broken.

I spotted Cecilia slowly proceeding towards the walls and I headed over to her. We needed to discuss this before we entered the throne room…

When I landed in front of the group Cecilia paused as she furrowed her brow slightly. 

“Friend, is something wrong?” Cecilia asked, concern colouring her voice.

“We need to talk.” I said simply and she nodded in response. I saw the rest of the humans giving the two of us funny looks but considering the current situation I don’t really have a choice. We need to talk now and it's going to be wierd no matter what so we might as well get it over with. I can’t exactly have us walk into the throne room with Cecilia having no idea what was going on. The humans mostly listened to her after all…

Cecilia walked forward and I casted that little stasis spell that would isolate us from the rest of the world. Usually it would require reagents like blood or corpses but I just used a part of my own body since I could rapidly heal it anyway. I ended up sacrificing some of the flesh on my arms but they were healed by the time the spell completed.

Once the two of us were in that colourless world I saw Cecilia tilt her head as she looked at me.

“What’s wrong, friend?” Cecilia asked again.

“Nothing wrong per se… you remember Eissa? The Princess?” I asked and Cecilia furrowed her brows as soon as she heard the name.

“Yes, why? Is she performing some form of treachery? If that was the case I would assume it is no form of simple treachery, you wouldn’t have done something this dramatic if it was simple betrayal.” Cecilia asked.

“I found something inside Eissa’s ether core. Mahaila saw it too and confirmed it once I pulled it out. Eissa is possessed by a demon but it looks like some kind of inactive hereditary contract.” I said and Cecilia visibly baulked at the information.

“Demons… I always felt that Tralis’s rise was odd, too much had to go right and so many things could have gone wrong…” Cecilia muttered as she cupped her chin.

“So now you know why I pulled you away. In case something happens we don’t want to be caught with our pants down. We could potentially pull back if we suspect a trap but that would be problematic.” I said and Cecilia slowly nodded in response and her gaze shifted to the ground as she ran through the possibilities in her mind.

“Yes, demons are not to be trifled with, although Mahaila is present even if her loyalties are not as clear as I would like it to be. Abandoning the assault at this stage would be catastrophic for our political situation. The sheer expense of this invasion will need the Tralis treasury and territory to justify. The last thing we want is for the people of Voleria to think their little prince is actually competent.

Do you know what demon it was? If it was a minor demon then it’s not that large of a problem.” Cecilia said as she shifted her gaze from the floor to me. 

“Unfortunately it’s not some minor demon. It’s the Archdemon Alastor according to Mahaila. She knows him and she recognised the ether signature.” I replied with a small sigh. This whole development was so tedious.

“Alastor, servant of Mammon the demon prince of greed. He is known to be one of the most active demons on Terra. He just might be your friend down under…” Cecilia said as she bit her finger.

“If he knows what I am, he should know that I might be able to detect it. Either he doesn’t know or he expected me to know. If we go by the second line of logic then it makes sense why the prince retreated during that first battle. If he was possessed I would have realised it instantly.” I said and Cecilia nodded.

“On our first meeting you were not present as well. Could he have predicted that you would not be present? You were out seeking out the phoenixes if I recall.” Cecilia said and I nodded in response. 

“But I noticed a lot of humanoids seem to think the Firstborn are a single cohesive species.” I said and Cecilia nodded again as her gaze sharpened slightly showing she understood my train of thought.

“So he might be under the false impression that the Firstborn cannot detect demonic possession. I doubt the old gods would be that interested in such things even if they could see it. Demons can’t possess the more powerful races, most of their targets were humanoids. The very same humanoids that the Firstborn felt were beneath their notice.” Cecilia said.

“Exactly.” I replied with a grimace.

“We know too little as it stands.” Cecilia muttered.

“Agreed but there is also one other thing. Alastor may not know that Mahaila is here, which means he might expect me to be able to detect the demonic presence but not identify which demon it was that did the possession.” I said and Cecilia blinked as the thought hit her.

“Yes… you wouldn’t know someone’s ether signature until you can peg a signature to an individual. So that is a very real possibility. Did Mahaila seem surprised when you discovered this fact?” Cecilia asked as she looked back up at me.

“Well yeah she was very surprised. She seemed unnerved as well when she told me that the demon was Alastor.” I replied and Cecilia bit her lip in response to those words.

“Problems then… ahhh problems and more problems…” Cecilia said with a small sigh as she held the side of her head with one hand. Showing for a moment the fact that at the end of the day she was still just an eighteen year old girl.

“I suggest we just go capture the royal family first, then we imprison them for now and then we see if we can pull that possession ether out of them and store it somewhere. I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring those two into the black box as it stands. Or perhaps Mahaila will have more information…” I mused.

“Provided we can even trust Mahaila… She has been really tight-lipped about her past and where the hell she even came from. She just popped up in our room one day. Until the day she delivers on the whole vault thing we can’t even be sure she is going to keep her side of the bargain.” Cecilia said as she crossed her arms and let out a small sigh.

“Well let’s just grab those two first and then we talk to Mahaila.” I suggested and Cecilia quietly nodded with another small sigh.

“On that note is the palace wall secured?” Cecilia asked.

“It either already is, or is about to be. Stasis, remember? I’m cut off from the outside world in here.” I replied as pointed at the black barrier around us.

“Ah yes that slipped my mind, you made Legiana a secondary controller in the event you are out of control range.” Cecilia replied as she scratched the back of her head.

“Careful you’re going to mess up your hair…” I said with a smirk and Cecilia shot me sidelong glance.

Divine… at times you sound like my mother…