Symbiotic Ascension : A Progression Fantasy Adventure

That day had been quite a great day, in Rakis' opinion. It was the first time in... years since he had last seen Lily's daughter, and this time, he had been allowed to look at her without hiding. That had been great—the humiliation, the shame, the anger of the small noble girl.

This had been the main perk of serving the main family—direct access to satisfy his simple desires. He couldn't help it, he liked them better when they were young, untouched by adult life, pure. But Milena's case was different. After all, he'd watch her grow, even instructing her sometimes on mind magic. It was like watering a peach tree and licking his lips while waiting for the fruit to bloom.

And what a bloom she had been. It had certainly been worth waiting so long. And with a little luck, he'd be able to even spend some time with her—once whatever the vampires had planned for her was over. He was sure the Duchess would let him do whatever he wanted. She barely considered the brat her daughter, hating on her like she'd killed her parents or something.

Not that Rakis was going to complain. It worked perfectly for him in the end. He got to torture an incredibly beautiful girl; it didn't get much better than that.

Sometimes, he liked to think that he was born for this exact job. His fate was to become an Archmagi working in the shadows, controlling minds and playing with the will of others. It was so simple, and yet so enjoyable, even twenty years after he first learned the spells.

One day, perhaps he'll retire and get a big house in the Fringe where nobody knew about mind magic, and he'll be able to have fun with as many girls and boys as he wants. He could still do that in the Court, but that implied bringing them from outside. The logistics easily tired him. Thankfully, lots of nobles partook in the same guilty pleasure as him, so he could skip these formalities as long as he helped them a little. A simple service for another. A good exchange of commodity, he liked to call it.

He thought back to what was waiting for him a couple dozen meters below ground. Hopefully, they'd be done soon. It was a little regrettable he wasn't allowed to watch and was forced to stay at the Sorenas' Estate to guarantee no interruption. But oh well. It probably wouldn't be too enjoyable, anyway.

At least that's what he thought until a black dot appeared in the dark sky, contrasting against the white of the twin moons. His instinct was to ignore it and classify it as a bird of some sort, or perhaps a mistake in his vision, but he ignored the feeling. Instead, he used his Mana Sight to inspect the skies, his eyes widening when he noticed a few powerful Mana signatures. Another Archmagi and two Expert Magis. Or one Expert Magi and a Crusader? That was a little strange, there seemed to be both energies smashed together in the same place. A mistake on his part, certainly.

The Mana signatures landed with a dull noise a few meters away, ignoring the usual measures in place for guests. He frowned and strode up to them, annoyed.

'I'll just control them to leave the place and come back later. This night can't be interrupted, or the Duchess will have my entertainment taken away from me. I still have a few days' worth of use left out of that last kid...'

"I apologize, esteemed guests, but the Duchess isn't available at the moment." He spoke with a boom in his voice, sending a discreet suggestion to the guests' minds. The moons hid behind dark clouds, leaving little light to cover their faces.

"S- Sir Glenn, this isn't a—" A tense, worried voice whispered, only to be interrupted by a snort.

"Shut it." The snorting man approached Rakis with a bright smile, his hands clasped behind his back. "Our apologies as well, sir...?"

"Rakis, of the Sorenas branch family," the Archmagi informed them, his chest puffing out in pride. The Sorenas may have been in decline for a few decades, but their name still commanded respect and awe. A ducal family was above all others, after all. Only the King and his blood stood at a higher place, but those didn't count.

In the realm of mortals, the Sorenas ruled.

"Ah! Great, great. Sir Rakis, I know we didn't exactly follow through with the usual, er, paperwork, or whatever we're supposed to fill out to visit, but this was a hurry."

Sir Rakis cleared his throat, irritated. The man was annoyingly handsome, with purple eyes and hair as black as the sky above them. There was a grin on his lips that reminded him of the stories of old demons fooling humans in their quests for power.

"You might have misunderstood me, dear guest, but our Countess is simply not available. I have no choice but to ask you to push your visit to a later time—"

The purple-eyed young man interrupted him by pulling out an old model of Exan Egg, the Mk-1, to be exact. The Duchess had bought a huge batch at its release just to destroy them, after all. That was hard to forget. The annoying guest snapped it open with a little click and grimaced.

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"There, this is now a later time. Now, please invite us before we end up sleeping on your lawn."

Rakis pressed his lips together, his eyebrows furrowed. The mental suggestion should have already been in effect, yet no signs of them complying with it were showing. Did he make a mistake in his casting? Perhaps not enough Mana? The man before him was an Archmagi after all, but the way he barely veiled his power told him he should have no protection against mind spells.

Rakis was about to reject them once more when he recognized the face of the second guest. "Sir Rosenborn? Is this man your servant?"

Talor Rosenborn wiped the sweat off his forehead as he forced an amenable smile. "N- no, huh, well, I-I mean..." He cleared his throat awkwardly, struggling to come up with an explanation. Rakis sighed heavily, realizing what was going on.

"I am certain you are impatient to meet your bride, Sir Rosenborn, but please announce yourself at a suitable time. It is simply no manners to come so later at night with no warnings."

Talor's forced smile widened slightly, each inch costing him dearly. "Of c-course, Sir Rakis. I-I shall see myself out, then." He turned away when a cloaked shadow pushed him back in place. Rakis squinted. The half-Expert Magi half half-Crusader. Even this close, he still couldn't tell how powerful this guest was. Truly puzzling. Another man, clad in shining armor, was standing next to the cloaked individual. He couldn't sense any strength from him, but he did notice he shared the same handsome face with that first annoying guest.

The young, purple-eyed young man's smile disappeared, and he took a step forward. "We will have to insist, Sir Rakis. Our matter with your mistress is quite important. It cannot wait."

Rakis' politeness disappeared, replaced by a cold, haughty expression. 'These damned high-born. Just because they're from a main family and they've been fed up all of their Houses' resources, they think of themselves as truly strong. Let me give you a taste of the real world, boy.'

He summoned his magic, muttering rapidly under his breath. He barely required to use the incantations nowadays, his intent clear and precise. But he still did it, out of habit. A wave of Mana surged out of him, bringing his powerful, sharpened mind with it. He broke into the young man's consciousness with no struggle. Rakis grinned to himself as he wove a torturing, mind-numbing spell to install in the fool's head.

It was quite the strange mind space, if he was being honest. Lots of strange things. Massive birds of steel, strange carriage for peasants running on acrid smoke, and lots and lots of light. Purple was very predominant, which was unusual. Murderers had a lot of black and red, while more innocent people possessed happier colors.

Purple... Purple was very rare. Actually, it was the first time he saw so much purple at once in someone's mind. Rakis's heart missed a beat as a burst of mocking laughter echoed all around him, the mind space twisting and changing to a dark room walled up with pulsing flesh and blood. It was small, enough to make him feel claustrophobic. The scent of blood and madness was unbearable. It was very different from that undead scent the vampires carried around them, bewitching the weak, or the smell of the battlefield.

No, it was something different, something... otherworldly.

"A guest? Oh-oh! I'm honored!"

Rakis fell on his arse, watching in horror as a hand rose before him, held up by fleshy strings like some sort of macabre puppet. A human mouth was nestled within the hand's palm, grinning and licking its red lips in excitement.

"Should we play, then?"

Rakis didn't waste another second and cut off the connection. The side effect of the abrupt operation made him cough blood, his eyes red and struggling to focus. 'What the hell was this? I've never seen the likes of it in my entire life!'

The young man's face reappeared before him, grinning like that same hand's mouth earlier.

"What? Don't tell me you don't know about the Devil's Hand?"

Rakis's eyes widened. The Devil's Hand?

"Wait—"

Glenn smashed a Sun-covered fist in the Archmagi's face, making it explode like a watermelon. The body fell to his knees, headless. There was no blood. The wound was sealed with a thick layer of seared flesh and ashes, courtesy of Glenn's technique.

The young man dusted his hands off in distaste as he stared at the ground. Liara and Nelg stood next to him, worried.

"This was Milena's Mana that just pulsed out, didn't it?" Liara muttered, her bird Whitey chirping inquisitively.

Glenn nodded. "Yep. And it didn't feel good whatsoever. Shit, I can't really blast my way in, can I...?" Destroying the underground facilities meant hurting Milena, which was something he couldn't have. Sahro's precision would have been nice in this situation. The Black Heir had disappeared from the Mortellis' Estate like a ghost.

'Always going missing at the perfect moment,' thought Glenn dejectedly. He froze and reached out at air above him, a one-eyed dragon appearing in his palm. A small grin drew up on Glenn's lips.

"Pebble, what do you think of going to find Auntie Milena?"

The one-eyed dragon squeaked happily before burrowing into the ground, carving a large space around him. Glenn wasn't sure how he was doing that, but the dragon's affinity with the earth element probably helped.

"Auntie?" Liara repeated in disbelief. "You call Milena Auntie? Does it mean I'm an Auntie too?"

Glenn rolled his eyes. "To Pebble, not me. Can't you see he's like a little kid? So adorable, digging the ground to find his father's friend and crush the bad guys to a pulp."

Diamanes choked loudly, ignoring Talor's trembling presence. "You've really adopted the fatherly act, huh? It's very fucking weird, just saying."

"I agree," nodded Nelg.

Liara pulled a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. 'I thought it was pretty cute,' she thought.

Glenn ignored all of them and prepared his spells, grinning in advance. This was supposed to go peacefully, but Milena's Mana pulse was clearly an S.O.S. Which meant no careful proceeding anymore. There was confirmation something was wrong, and that was all that Glenn needed.

'I knew Milena's mother was in with the mosquitoes. Shit, did Milena let herself be taken to investigate? That was a stupid move. Unless she'd been forced by that weird guy earlier? What was his name? Karis?' Glenn rubbed his chin as he pondered jumping into Pebble's hole yet.

"Rakis. His name was Rakis." Diamanes corrected. "How is it that I'm better than you at remembering names?"

"How is it that I'm so much more handsome than you?" Glenn snapped back, momentarily shutting the entity up. Liara and Nelg shook their heads at the absurd exchange. Glenn slapped his thighs and turned to his friends.

"Ready to rumble?"

They nodded.

It was time for some Glenn-foolery. Begone with the subtlety.

"Let's go full-on Van Helsing tonight!"