Chapter 177: Call Us Pets Again...
The Black Maw opened around them like a wound that had learned to forge weapons. Red forges glowed along the crater walls.
Bridges of black iron criss-crossed the open space. Demons of every size stopped what they were doing and stared as the golden light of the Sovereign Domain moved down the main causeway.
Lucy walked with a spring in her step, clearly pleased with the earlier throw-down at the gate. "They look like someone just kicked over their favorite nest. I love that expression."
Vespera’s living eyes tracked the upper walkways. "Three of the remaining strong signatures are converging on the central forge platform. The fourth is staying high and watching."
Serakel’s third eye narrowed. "The high one is the real problem. The other three are loud. That one is quiet."
Isha skipped over a crack in the iron plating, slime bouncing cheerfully. "Loud is more fun. Quiet ones make me work for it."
The Reverend Mother Superior glanced at a passing group of heavily armed demons who immediately decided to look at the ground. "They learn quickly. I almost respect it."
Captain Reth walked half a step behind Levi, head lowered, the new gold mark still bright at her throat. The pit-wyrm hybrid brought up the rear, its sheer size forcing demons to press themselves against the walls or risk being stepped on.
Levi kept a steady pace toward the wide central platform where the largest forges burned. The air grew hotter with every step. The smell of molten metal and scorched blood thickened.
’They will try to present a united front. It will last until the first one realizes the others make excellent shields.’
A massive demon with a molten-metal maul stepped onto the platform as they approached.
Two more flanked him: one covered in smoking chains, the other carrying a bow made from a still-twitching spine. The fourth presence remained somewhere above, unseen.
The molten-maul demon slammed the head of his weapon against the iron deck. Sparks flew.
"I am Forgemaster Drak," he roared. "You took the gate. You took the captain. You will take nothing else. The Black Maw does not bow to a single mark."
Lucy tilted her head. "He practices that speech in front of a mirror. I can tell."
Vespera’s voice was cool. "He is compensating."
Serakel added, almost thoughtfully, "The chain one is already shifting his weight to run if this goes badly. The archer is calculating angles on Isha first. Interesting choice."
Isha beamed. "I feel special."
The Reverend Mother Superior sighed. "Please do not encourage them."
Levi stopped at the edge of the platform. Gold light spilled across the iron.
"You have one opportunity to kneel," he said. "After that I stop being polite."
Forgemaster Drak laughed, a sound like rocks breaking. "Polite? You walked in here with a stolen war-beast and five pet bitches. The only kneeling will be—"
Lucy moved.
She crossed the distance in a blur, kicked the molten maul sideways so it smashed into the chain-covered demon instead of Levi, and put her blade against Drak’s throat hard enough to draw a thin line of black blood.
"Call us pets again," she suggested sweetly. "I dare you."
Drak’s eyes bulged. The chain demon staggered, half his bindings melted from the heat of the maul. The spine-bow archer loosed a shot at Isha.
The arrow never arrived. Serakel’s force snapped it out of the air, reversed it, and pinned the archer’s sleeve to a forge pillar with his own projectile.
Isha clapped. "Pretty!"
Vespera raised one hand. Northern cold washed over the chain demon before he could recover, locking the remaining hot metal against his skin. He screamed and dropped to his knees.
The Reverend Mother Superior looked at Forgemaster Drak, still frozen under Lucy’s blade, and spoke with mild disappointment. "You should have knelt."
Levi walked up onto the platform. The golden barrier pushed the heat of the forges back. He stopped in front of Drak.
"Lucy. Step aside."
She did, though she kept the blade close. Drak sucked in a breath to start roaring again. Levi’s hand closed around his face. Gold light flared.
[Expending 4,500 Aether]
[Sovereign Domain: Direct Claim]
Drak’s roar turned into a choked sound. The molten glow in his maul died. The gold mark burned into him hard and deep. When Levi released him, the Forgemaster dropped to both knees with a heavy clang of armor.
[Target: Forgemaster Drak]
[Desire Level: 0% → 100%]
[Claim Complete]
"Master," Drak rasped.
The chain demon and the archer followed a moment later, both already broken by the others. Gold light settled over them as the claims took. The watching crowd of demons across the platform and walkways went very still.
Lucy wiped her blade on Drak’s shoulder plate and grinned. "I like this city. The speeches are short."
Vespera glanced upward. "The fourth one is still watching. Amused, I think."
Serakel’s third eye focused on a high balcony of black iron. "She is not afraid. That makes her either very confident or very stupid."
Isha waved cheerfully at the balcony. "Hello! Come down and be confident in person!"
A low female laugh drifted from above. Then a figure stepped to the edge of the balcony and looked down at them.
She was lean, silver-haired, and wrapped in a coat of living shadow that moved like smoke. One eye was covered by a black lens. The other glowed a soft, amused violet.
"You make a mess almost as well as the old stories claimed," she called. "I am Nancy, last free voice of the Black Maw. You have my forgemaster, my gate captain, and my two loudest idiots. Congratulations. Now what?"
Levi looked up at her, the corner of his mouth almost moving.
’There she is. The quiet one. Finally.’
"Come down," he said. "Or I will come up. Your choice. Both end the same way."
Nancy’s violet eye narrowed with something that might have been interest. The living-shadow coat rippled.
"Arrogant," she said. "I respect that."
She stepped off the balcony.
Living shadow formed a brief stair under her feet as she descended in lazy spirals, landing lightly on the platform a few paces from Levi. Up close she smelled of ozone and old secrets. The black lens over her left eye reflected the gold light without giving anything away.
Lucy muttered, "I officially like her more than the forgemaster."
Isha nodded vigorously. "She has style. Can we keep her?"
The Reverend Mother Superior pinched the bridge of her nose. "We do not collect them like souvenirs."
"We kind of do," Serakel said mildly.
Nancy ignored the commentary and studied Levi with her one visible eye.
"The Maw is practical," she said. "You have already broken the loud parts. I can deliver the rest without further property damage... for a price."
Levi’s golden barrier hummed quietly.
"You already know the price," he said. "Kneel."
Nancy’s mouth curved. For a moment it looked like she might refuse on principle. Then she glanced at the three newly claimed demons still kneeling on the iron, at the five women who looked entirely too ready for round two, and at the pit-wyrm hybrid that had started drooling slightly in her direction.
She sighed and clenched her fist. "I’m not going to attest to that!"