Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 562: Within the Abyss of death

The force of the lightning strike was so great that all battles paused and everyone, human and Demonic effigies alike, raised their hands to cover their faces from the resulting blast.

Kaya felt it the moment the encasement of vines she had conjured around Delia was burned to nothing, and she worked the hardest of anyone to look past the irritation of the blast and see what was left of the spot the lightning had struck.

"Argh, that bitch!" a voice yelled angrily from within the streaks of lightning that remained after the strike.

Kaya and the others recognized the voice; it was Delia’s for sure, but it had a strange echo. An eerie echo that was very much unlike anything Delia had ever produced. The echo also carried a chill... like the creeping touch of death.

When the dust settled enough for all to see what had happened, they saw the Warhammer-wielding Klever down on one knee, its eyes rolled up into the back of its head as its mouth fell open, showing off its fangs—only they didn’t look threatening but rather pathetic and brittle.

Delia looked radiant. The blood trail down her front and the angry look in her stormy grey eyes made her appear formidable. She stretched her hand out and clenched. Her Warhammer trembled on the ground for a second and then flew right into her grip so she could swing it at Klever’s head.

As Delia swung, the chaotic might of a storm coated her weapon, but there was more to it than that; There was a Divine ordinance that went beyond the ’simple’ harnessing of Divine Energy.

The ordinance was one of death; The ever-lasting void that awaits all beings. Weakened by the earlier point-blank strike of lightning that had been infused with the very same ordinance that now coated Delia’s weapon, Klever simply remained where it was, unable to erect any defense.

*BANG!*

There was a flash of a lightning streak, and then Klever hit the ground, dead— Its head cracked open.

Instantly, there was a loud collection of hissing and snarls from the four Klevers still standing. Kaya thought they sounded roused, angry but also terrified. She could understand why; Delia was currently channeling power far beyond the Fourth Circle— Far beyond mortal understanding and might; it was like an Ordinance of Death.

Klever’s horn shrunk even more until there was only a tiny tip protruding out of the side of the Demon’s head. Kaya was sure Klever only stopped because it had reached its limit.

How many more Effigies did the Demon still have in store with this final and total horn shrinkage?

The answer was two times the current number; Four new Klevers tore themselves free of the four that were still standing, bringing the total number of breathing Demons up to eight.

Delia was in the midst of cranking her neck while this was happening, and although the action looked like a casual stretching of sore neck muscles, she was actually doing it to cover up her distress;

That Spear had missed her heart by an inch only because she had barely turned her body at the last second. But even then, the injury had been horrible.

As she got to the ground after the attack, Delia had found herself floating in a realm of vast darkness. The darkness hadn’t made her feel despair... it also didn’t comfort her. It just assessed her.

As she floated within the darkness, Delia recounted the deal she had struck with the Nyx for entry into the sealing Cube;

Basically, Delia had convinced the Goddess that simply gaining access into a Cube wasn’t worth the exchange of her soul. She argued that it would require a lot more commitment on the Goddess’s part for her (Delia) to willingly surrender her soul.

And then, Nyx had laughed and countered that if she wanted Delia’s soul, she could have it by force and Delia would be powerless to stop her.

To which Delia had responded that while that might be the case, would it really be a win for the goddess? Would it truly make the Goddess satisfied to do so much to acquire control of a single mortal soul?

The response Delia got to that was the feeling of a sly smile coming from Nyx. And then, the Goddess agreed to simply give Delia access into the Cube on the one condition that she got priority to claiming Delia’s soul with the exchange of a future appropriate boon.

Delia thought it over and saw nothing wrong with that. She and the others needed help right then, and as long as it got Nyx to finally shut up and give her that help, it was fine. The future? Well, she’ll deal with the future when it comes. Maybe she’d never even need to ask Nyx for a boon that would truly warrant the surrender of her soul.

And so, it was done; Nyx granted Delia the required ordinance to walk into the Sealing Cube at the apparent cost of nothing to Delia.

But why, Delia wondered, was she thinking of this now as she floated in the vast darkness

"~Because the time has come for you to pay your debts. I have come to collect.~"

Nyx’s voice reverberated within the darkness, more terrible and chilling than ever.

’You can hear my thoughts,’ Delia said in her head with a frown.

"~You lie in the abyss of Death— My Domain. There is nothing hidden to me here. Not your presence, and certainly not your thoughts.~"

’What debt are you talking about? I owe you no debt,’ Delia thought at Nyx.

"~Oh, but you do. I showed you a sign of good faith and let you into the cube, and in return, you gave me priority over your soul.~"

’Yes, for an appropriate boon,’ Delia frowned even deeper, ’But I haven’t asked you for anything.’

"~You don’t have to. There is nothing in our deal that specifies that you need to ask me for a boon for me to grant it.~"

’But I don’t need anything,’ Delia countered.

"~Oh, but I think you do.~"

’What—’ Delia started, and then she became especially aware of where she was—The Abyss of death—and she understood.

’No, I’m not dead!’ Delia practically yelled with her thoughts, ’I can feel it... Kaya’s magic is healing me. It’s bringing me back!"

"~You’re not dead, yet. That is true. And if I let you out of this Abyss, your friend will surely be able to ’bring you back’. However, I have the right to keep you here just as I had the right to bring you here after you were struck. You are at my mercy, child.

And while you may not yet be dead, being within this Abyss means you’re close enough to the great beyond that ’saving’ you will serve as a more than appropriate boon.

After all, what could be a greater blessing than resurrection?~"

Nyx sounded so cheeky and so victorious as she twisted the terms of the deal with Delia and manipulated events to suit her interests that Delia boiled with rage.

’You tricky bitch—!’ Delia began her angry tirade when she found herself struck dumb and unable to speak in her own mind.

It was a strange and weird feeling... she was somehow still capable of thought, just not in any way that could be considered mental speech. It was an incapacitation that frankly boggles the mind.

Nyx sounded like she was laughing. At the very least, she was very amused.

"~That’s enough out of you. I have allowed your insolence only because I find it entertaining. A lot like that Caius, actually. He with a soul unlike any other... otherworldly in a way that even I don’t quite understand—~"

Nyx trailed off for a while, and when she returned and continued to speak, she did not show any sign that she had paused talking at all.

"~I already have his Soul, of course. And now, I will have yours. It has been a long time since I actually cared about how many or what kind of mortals I have in my grasp.

Yes, I see much entertainment ahead.

Off you go now.~"

And Delia, completely lost about a lot of the things Nyx had said, found her ability of mental speech returned, but before she could use it, she was thrown out of the Abyss and back into her body, awaking within the encasement of Kaya’s vines.

Delia felt it then; She felt as the possession of her soul fell into Nyx’s Divine hands. It didn’t fill her with a sense of loss— on the contrary, it filled her with a kind of elation and a feeling of closeness to a Divine being as a world of possibilities stretched out in front of her.

She hated it.

’Stop planting that in my head,’ she snarled at Nyx, ’I don’t like this, and no amount of your trickery will change that.’

She heard Nyx’s laughter in her ears and felt a thrill of closeness that annoyed her as the Goddess spoke.

"~How about a celebratory bonus?~"

And before Delia could ask what Nyx meant, she was flooded with so much power, so much divine authority over the abstract concept of death, that she had to let it loose in the devastating lightning strike that shook the entirety of the inside of the Sealing Cube right after.