Enchantress

9

^^ an Incubus Knight with hidden wings and tail ^^

— Gina —

The Tome in my hands seemed heavier than normal, like just holding it still required effort, as I stood inside the small building that a closed the Gate off from view or interference. I was currently awaiting the two Guards to return with a living enemy from within, so I could see if it could be used as a replacement for my own soul during enchantments, first of all, and then I'd try to summon up some demons, if that went well. If it didn't, well... I was back to square one on the book, and I'd need some human sacrifices. That would be challenging, both ethically and practically, but not impossible. I'd met some people who I would not even blink before tossing them into a volcano, so sacrificing them to a Devil? Not that much worse than the normal reality after they died, I imagined.

The Gate suddenly pulsed, as the two guards returned, covered in scratches and bite marks and holding a squirming and shrieking scaled creature between them. "Fucking Kobolds! Why Kobolds, of all the goblinkin to choose from?!?" Dan's Partner, a young guard from the Tomoi Clan whose name escaped me, growled angrily as he wrestled his gauntleted fist out of the tiny dragon-man's angry little jaws.

"He does look quite pissed, doesn't he? Let's do this as efficiently as possible; hold him down in this chalk circle, please?" I whistled softly to get their attention, pointing at the small chalk circle I'd made, with no embellishment or Runes, because I didn't know any for this yet except 'Bind-Enslave', and I wasn't sure that would work here for what I wanted. They acknowledged me with a grunt of pain and irritation, slamming the little creature down in the circle and pinning it down with their whole bodies; it was strong for such a tiny creature, barely hip-height, and they were trying not to wound it, which I assumed was where the challenge laid. "Now, let's see if we can make you... useful..."

The book turned without my command to a page that seemed to be about collecting souls, if I was understanding it properly. 'Perfect...' I nodded slowly, carving the Rune it showed me into the dagger in my hands with my glowing quill and then stabbing the 'Kobold' in the heart. The resultant drain on my internal reserves from carving the Rune was oddly tiny, unlike any enchantment I'd done over the past week, and I was just as surprised as the guards when the Kobold simply turned to dust, then the dagger warmed in my hands, returning the energy left over into my body directly. One portion of it, I noticed, disappeared, and I knew instinctually that that was the Tithe that the Contract Devil had taken for the Ritual. The remaining energy was about half of my own soul, and it sat in my gut like a warm dinner, not moving currently. "Huh... alright, well, that changes things... The Ritual was a resounding success, it would seem, but I need about three times that still to do anything useful with it... so how about this?" I flipped the dagger over and carved the 'Bind-Enslave' and 'Destroy' Runes into it, so it would send the Souls it ate to me, instead of the one wielding it, as well as killing a bit better than a normal knife. "Take this, and go kill a dozen or so Kobolds; don't worry about catching them alive, just kill them with this dagger. Easy enough?"

"Understood." Dan took his knife back, nodding to me and then Zawahili before jogging into the Gate with his partner at his back, his shield raised to rebuff enemies.

"So... what did he mean by 'Why Kobolds'? Does the dungeon change every time?" I questioned the tall woman behind me while I prepared a different ritual from the book, this one specifically to summon a Demon Familiar. There were many, annotated in the book, but a few caught my eyes specifically. The 'Incubus Seducer' seemed to me the most multi-use of them all, what with its simple elemental attacks and its ability to magically seduce people and control their emotions and memories. Such an ability would make it useful as a Guard and as something of a therapist for the Ladies working here, instead of allowing them to use alcohol and drugs to achieve similar -though more temporary- effects. Of course, removing memories would be a last resort, but just that ability alone meant I had to have at least one. Adding in fireballs? That was a nice bonus.