Soul Merger

Rosalina groaned as she sat up in the pile of straw that was the closest thing to a bed that had been provided. A quick look around confirmed they were still in a concrete cell. Straw served as beds, a bucket as a privy, a few strange devices sat high up out of reach, and solid bars of what looked to be adamantine touched steel kept the prisoners stuck inside while removing any sense of privacy. Clara and Raiel were stuck here as well, which was probably the best she could hope for. It seemed the others were still free.

She stretched and gave the spite demons ogling her a rude gesture while looking over at Raiel. "Anything happen while I was sleeping?"

"No," the angel said. She was fairly subdued right now, though an occasional hateful glance at the demons suggested that could change quickly. Rosalina kept that in the back of her mind as something that could be used.

Right now though they were stuck. That black dragon was stronger than anything she'd run into before. It did have the advantage of preparing its spell, but still the damn thing had smashed through both her and Fili's counters with enough power to knock them silly.

Clara gave her a nod as Rosalina stood. "Think you can convince those guys outside to bring food?"

"No but I'll try anyway." She gave the demons a wave. "Heya. Can you grab my casting rod and the sausages that are in the side pack of Clara's gear? There should be enough for everyone."

The demons snickered in return, but one slipped off down the hall. As expected when it returned it didn't have either of the requested items but a bucket of oatmeal and a bucket of water. Both were slid in through a smaller grating.

"Charming." She looked at the others. "No spoon even. I suppose spite demons wouldn't get the concept of silverware, but I'd hoped for better from our host."

"I don't need food," Raiel said, hugging her knees. "Use it to keep your own strength."

"Normally I'd demand you eat too," Rosalina replied. "But right now that's probably the best strategy." She looked at Clara.

The large woman gave a weak smile. "Eat what you want, then I'll just drink the rest straight from the pail."

Rosalina nodded her assent. She stuffed down the shame she felt scooping up the watery oats like an animal. This was obviously the fault of her hosts, and she'd make them suffer for it later.

After she'd eaten as much as she could stand she offered the pails to Clara before trying to kill the demons outside with her mind. It wasn't impossible. She was quite sure with the right draconic techniques she could do it. But she'd had little success.

A flicker of light came from one of the devices, and Rosalina turned her eyes to see an illusion of another place planted on it. It looked like the main field of the arena they'd been dragged into. And inside a ring were two young men with swords. Rosalina thought she recognized one of them as one of the orphanage kids, and her heart sank. "Gods...."

The black dragon's voice boomed out from the stands. "Prove your worth."

Rosalina felt sick as the young man from the orphanage desperately rushed his opponent. The kid hadn't had any real sword training and it showed. On the other hand his opponent seemed to know what they were doing. The man's wild swings were expertly knocked aside.

After a few moments the better fighter kicked their opponent in the gut, then stepped past and hamstrung the orphaned kid. As expected, that caused the young man to collapse to the ground.

"Stop." The dragon commanded. "You pass."

The fighter bowed and handed his sword to a spite demon, while a band of the cackling little creeps picked up the fallen kid and dragged him off the field. The dragon in the back of Rosalina's head was hissing in rage, and she was feeling about the same.

The strange viewing device moved closer to the black dragon, who seemed to look through the portal. "Now that the morning's work is handled, I can give you my attention, humble guests. You may refer to me as Emperor Valorous. And you will be honored to assist me in my glorious designs to rule your city."

Clara was first to speak back. "How about you let us out so we can kill you and take those kids back up top? Maybe we'll let you tag along as a merge."

The dragon snorted. "I think I prefer my plan. But since you like these children, I am willing to make an offer. You see, you humans take far too long to heal. So I'd like you to help them get back to training faster. A cleric and an angel will work wonders for that."

Rosalina glared at the vile snake through the device. "Is that so? And if we refuse?" She knew they were stuck, and she knew she'd help those kids regardless, but she wanted to know what kind of miserable asshole she was working with.

"Then I'll go back to torturing the most useless one to death to encourage the others," the creature replied.

"You won't get away with this," Raiel hissed, her feathers quivering in rage. "There will be judgment one day."

"Perhaps when someone worthy of judging me comes along." The dragon yawned. "My minions will escort you to your new quarters soon. Any defiance greater than empty words will see those children punished. For now my co conspirator wants to chat with you."

The device went black. Rosalina had an urge to spit lightning at it, but she wouldn't risk someone else's life for pretty revenge. Instead she looked over her companions. "Akari will be here soon, but we're still going to be stuck a day or two." She knew her friend wouldn't leave them behind, but the catgirl would demand something resembling a plan.

Clara nodded. "Give us time to help the kids. Make sure they're healthy." Rosalina could tell the large woman also meant 'prepared to escape'. One of the benefits of helping older teens. Their rescue targets weren't completely helpless.

The clack of footfalls down the hall brought their attention back to outside the cell. First in view was a Greater Demon, his white coiffed hair matching his curled horns. He wore a simple dark robe with a white collar, a tradition of a pre fall priesthood, and his smile promised nothing good.

Behind him was a disturbingly familiar succubus. The red haired demon had gotten a very short skirt from somewhere, and added a belt for her sword, but otherwise remained unclothed. The spite demons sat around and drooled and Rosalina really wished she could get outside and take advantage of that. But for now they were stuck.

"Come to gloat, demon?" Raiel asked.

"Yep!" the succubus replied. "Though I'm sad my uptight big sister missed it. I wanted to have a heart to heart."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to rip out your heart," Clara said casually. "Just gotta hold still."

The greater demon chuckled, then fixed Rosalina with his gaze. Instinctively she stiffened. She'd spent plenty of time with the church, and she knew the gaze of a true believer. No, this was the gaze of a fanatic. One who would create new 'truths' if reality offended him. "You aren't here to gloat," she stated. "You're here for something else."

"Quite perceptive," the demon said. "Once, long long ago, I was a priest. I find even now I have a desire to lecture. And a captive audience is the best for that."

"Sorry I'm not really interested in switching religions," Rosalina said. "I'm attached to the failed Saint title, so becoming a generic apostate would just be a step down."

The demon priest shook his head. "Oh I'm not here to convert you. I'm a demon after all. I'm here to offer you the bittersweet fruit of knowledge. The serpent gave you knowledge of good and evil. And now I shall give you knowledge of the past...."

A large crack from the fire pushed Alissa out of her dreams.

She blinked a few times and sat up, her cloak falling off her. She was in a concrete room on a fur bed, Fili was rubbing her eyes next to her, and four figures were sitting around a simple fire in the middle of the room.

Her eyes focused on the group and she staggered quickly to her feet. Staring at her with wide eyes was the demon she'd seen before the Rampage, back when they were fighting dryads and treants. She reached for her sword and started to panic as she found nothing.

"Calm down, Alissa," Akari said. "They rescued us."

As adrenaline kicked out the last bit of haze from her mind she saw Akari, Kotori, and a robed woman were the other people around the fire. The catgirl's relaxed statement calmed her a little, but she was still wary. "Forgive me if I'm a little hesitant to trust a couple of demons."

"How about a demon and an angel?" the hooded woman said, throwing back her cloak revealing a pair of white wings and golden armor. "Would that change your mind?"

Alissa stared, before sitting down. "It'll convince me to listen." She wasn't stupid enough to believe angels were inherently good, but that was a story worth hearing. The demon had recovered from initial shock and was trying not to stare at her, so she politely put her cloak back on. "What the hell happened?"

Fili scooted next to her. "I remember my counterspell only partially dissolved the dragon's binding magic, which meant we got blown off the roof. After that I can't place much."

The demon adjusted his spectacles. "You were targeted by a greater demon's sleep spell at the same time. Normally a mage of your skill would be able to resist, but due to burning your power fighting the dragon you were knocked out. Your friend kept you from hitting the floor directly and I helped soften the impact with the ground. Then Magniel grabbed you three. After that we retreated to here."

She looked at Akari, who shrugged. Kotori meanwhile was nodding. "I chased after them. But it seems they weren't the bad guys after all. They brought us here and told me they were trying to break into the arena too, so we could team up!"

Fili scooted a little closer to the fire. "So why are you helping us? You tried to kill us in the labyrinth before."

"You were going to kill Nostrame," Magniel said without the slightest note of apology. "That would have been unacceptable. However, now our interests align."

Alissa looked at Akari again who gave a small smile. "I didn't ask. I figured you'd want to hear the explanation too, so I waited until you were awake." A good move. It meant they'd be able to poke holes in the story as a group.

"So what the hell is going on?" Alissa asked. It seemed like a good place to start.

"This is based on a few assumptions," Nostrame said, "But I believe there are two plots in motion. The first is the demon priest Zerome. The man who lured you here with that succubus message. It was his influence that allowed the monster brothel in your city to escape notice for so long. Our previous meeting occurred while I was attempting to discern his plans. Sadly it was too late to do anything.

"The second is the dragon you encountered. He rather arrogantly declares himself Emperor Valorous. And he's a much simpler beast to understand. He wishes to own your city. He is working with the demon priest to sow chaos, and has been rather successful."

Fili pulled out some papers and made some notes. "But why kidnap children?"

"He needs human servitors in addition to his demon minions," Magniel said. "That's our best guess."

Alissa frowned at the demon. "And let me guess, we have to help clean up this demonic mess. Wonderful."

Nostrame snorted and returned her glare. "Don't give me that child. This is all your fault. Or perhaps I should say, your world's fault. After all, your world summoned us all here...."