Dark Fate, Chapter 47 (Patreon)

Chapter 47 – Bitch-slapped

Sending the Homunculus before us was a very good idea. As my humanoid construct started down the steps to the basement, traps began going off, one after another. Spike traps, electric traps, a fireball trap, and one spring-mounted machete blade at neck height. A normal human going down those stairs without knowing how to disarm the traps would have been torn to shreds.

However, the homunculus was made with the blood of over thirty people. Just about 45 gallons of blood. Or 5760 ounces, if you converted it. Since the homunculus gained strength based on how many ounces of blood were used in its creation, the result was… most impressive.

For the next three hours, the construct would obey my commands. And, because of its STR, DEX, and CON of 57, I was far from concerned that it might be destroyed by traps. The magic traps were some concern, but even they did not manage to strip away all of the construct’s ablative armor, meaning it was still at full hit points as it reached the bottom of the stairs.

As the construct stepped into the hallway that smelled of bad hygiene, worse sanitation, and other things best left unmentioned, I saw a grey-skinned arm shoot out from the side, grabbing the construct’s arm. a cry of triumph rose from the arm’s owner. “HA! Now your minion is mine!”

I was not concerned. In fact, I had expected something like this to happen. After all, what was a Puppet Master going to do when their puppets had their strings cut? In a relaxed tone, I said a single word.

“Attack.”

The demon’s cry of shock and confusion when his supposedly new-won minion backhanded him across the face was delightful. I followed the homunculus into the hallway, and was not surprised to see that things were very different from how they were supposed to be. All the storage units on this floor had been forced open, and the few I could see into from the bottom of the stairs had all been turned into crude lodgings.

“What? How? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!”

The demon was screaming, crying like a little girl once he realized that his Puppet Brand wasn’t going to work on my Homunculus. Now, he was scrambling, trying desperately to avoid the construct’s wild swings. The only reason he wasn’t paste already was because my construct was literally mindless.

Kyle Renner

Lesser   Incubus Male

Level   5 Puppet Master / Alchemist

Market   Value: $2500

I sighed, and followed after the demon as I almost lazily looked up his information. “This is the problem with classes like the Puppet Master, you know. You end up relying on minions to do everything for you. But you went and took it a step further, didn’t you? You didn’t even bother to read everything about your abilities, did you? If you had, then you would know that the [Puppet Brand] doesn’t work on mindless creatures, you twit.”

“Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!” The lesser incubus snarled at me. Suddenly, he dove forward, rolling under the Homunculus’s outstretched arm. It was nowhere near as graceful as he might have liked, but he did end up getting sprawled out close enough that he was able to grab my ankle. “I don’t like using this on men as scrumptious as you, but [Puppet Brand]!”

I sighed. I’d guessed that was what he was going to do, which was why I allowed him to get close. The guy really was a moron. And I didn’t want to get any moron on my clothes.

Lashing out with my foot, I kicked the lesser demon as hard as I could. And, with my strength, that was quite hard indeed. The wretch went flying through the air, before crashing into a pile of junk that had been left in the nearest storage unit.

Groaning, the demon pushed himself to his feet. A goofy smile was plastered across his face. “You still have some fight to you, huh? You must be higher level than those other idiots I branded.”

I chuckled, and said, “Well, I don’t like to brag. OK, I like to brag quite a bit, but that’s besides the point. Anyway, I think you’ll find I’m one of the highest-leveled people in the city.”

The guy’s grin was the definition of shit-eating at this moment. Made me want to punch him in his face. “Hah! Then once my [Puppet Brand] takes over, I’ll have the strongest minion in the city to do my bidding!”

I yawned visibly, allowing my homunculus, who was still following my commands, to clock the dumbass in the face since all his attention was on me. The guy went flying, before crashing through a pile of boxes containing vinyl records. “Yeah, I don’t think that will be happening.”

The demon staggered to his feet, spitting out one of his teeth as he did so. He definitely wasn’t looking too good. “Shut up! You might have more willpower than those other losers, but once the [Puppet Brand] is on you, your defeat is inevitable! All I have to do is wait, and you and your minion here will belong to me!”

The Homunculus hit him again as he was posturing, and this time the creature’s backhand sent him flying my way. Deciding that I needed to step things up a bit, or he would bore me to death with his talking, I reached out as he was flying, and caught him by the throat, keeping him suspended in the air. I didn’t even flinch as the weight hit me.

Such a thing would have been wholly impossible before the Apocalypse, of course. No matter how many times action movies show off things like that, or how many times you may have watched wrestling on the TV, you can’t just catch a guy and lift him up with just your arm. Physics is a bastard on that point.

Of course, one of my favorite pre-Apocalypse authors had a saying, “Magic makes Science sit at the kids’ table while the adults talk.” In this case, my being a Tier 3 race, with a three-digit Strength score, meant that I could do a lot of things that would have been patently impossible before the apocalypse. Case in point, me channeling my inner Darth Vader and choking this fool like he was a rebel soldier.

Gasping for air, the lesser incubus reached up, and tried to claw my arm, but his fingernails did nothing to my [Shadow Armor]. When that failed, he punched me in the face, but all he succeeded in doing was breaking his thumb, because he didn’t know how to throw a punch. With a yell, he tried slapping me, and applying the [Puppet Brand] again and again. None of it worked.

“Stupid! Fucking! Asshole! Just submit already! You’ve already lost! He told me that no one could resist the power of the Puppet Master!”

Now THAT was interesting. Bringing the man closer, I smiled wickedly. “Oh? And just who is this ‘he’? Did you go and get yourself a partner?”

The rat scrambled in his pockets for something and brought out a potion bottle. The only clue I had as to its contents was when the bastard shut his eyes tight before throwing the bottle to the ground. The next thing I knew, the world was filled with light.

Of course, the rat was an alchemist. No doubt he had plenty of other little tricks up his sleeves. As I blinked away the spots in my vision, I heard him gloating, “HA! Take that, you worm!”

When I could see again, he was gone. But I heard his deranged yelling from further in. I looked back to the bottom of the stairs, where the others were waiting, I tried to signal for them to stay there and keep watch. Detective Austin nodded once, and began whispering to the others. He wasn’t getting past them without a fight.

Moving cautiously past the despoiled storage units, I did my best to remain stealthy as I searched the rat out. As I turned a corner to the units along the back wall of the basement, I found him, right where I thought he would be. He was in a unit that had been turned into a rudimentary alchemy lab and ‘test chamber’. It was the same place I had gotten my wings torn off in my last life, when he used a potion to dramatically increase his strength.

Another potion came flying my way. On instinct, I slashed out with my scythe, hitting it. A purple gas exploded from the impact, smelling vaguely of lilacs.

“HA! Now you’re done for! That Willbreaker Grenade will strip the last of your will away, and you’ll succumb to the [Brand]! Serves you right for underestimating me!”

I knew the concoction he was talking about. It was very effective on low-level people for putting them into a sort of hypnotic trance, where they would be extremely suggestible. Unfortunately for this guy, they were ONLY useful on low levels, because the effect dropped off by 50% on those over level 10, and every 50 CON someone had reduced the effect by another 25%. In other words, it was worthless.

To emphasize this point, I swung my scythe, impaling the lesser incubus in the stomach and lifting him up, into the air. “That’s a much better look for you. A worm dangling from my hook. Perhaps I can use you as bait for this ‘he’ you mentioned? Or would he even bother coming to claim such a worm?”

The demon spat up blood, his eyes round in disbelief. “H-how? You should be my puppet to c-command!”

Shaking my head, I bounced my scythe a bit, causing the blade to dig deeper into his torso. “Because, you insignificant little worm, you did not learn the limitations of your profession and your class. [Willbreaker Grenade] has a limit to how effective it is on those of higher level, and [Puppet Brand] only affects living creatures of the ‘humanoid’ type, such as humans, elves, and the like. You need the more advanced versions, at higher levels, to control other types.”

“B-but you—”

“He only appears to be human.”

“WHAT?!” My head snapped to the side as I heard a new voice. It was my turn for a shocked expression, when suddenly a crossbow bolt pierced my shoulder, shattering my [Shadow Armor] as it did so.

My eyes fell upon a tall man, with fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. He had that well-muscled slender physique you saw on some professional athletes. Not musclebound like a body builder, and not lean, either. It was a body made for action, of more than one sort.

If you put the guy on a beach, anywhere in the country, the only thing that would make you think he didn’t belong was the black, feathered wings sprouting from his shoulders. Oh, not to mention the silver breastplate he was wearing, or the crossbow in his hands. Excuse me, repeating crossbow, with that lever he just used to ready it again.

Another bolt hit me, this time in the gut. I was lucky that this bastard had lousy aim, or I could have been in trouble. As it was, I was only lightly hurt. Given how much damage that second bolt did, it looked like the bolts were some kind of anti-magic weapons, specifically designed for getting through magical defenses.

The next three bolts impacted in the lesser demon’s back, as I slung him in front of me as a shield. A lucky hit landed at the base of the skull, killing him. No matter. He had served his purpose.

With a sweeping motion of my scythe, I threw the lifeless corpse at the winged bastard, causing him to drop the crossbow as he backed out of the way. Reaching into his inventory, I saw him equip a sword and shield, both made of the same silvery metal as his breastplate. Had to be mithral, but that didn’t matter. I had a moment to recover.

With a grunt of pain, I pulled out the two crossbow bolts, and recast my [Shadow Armor]. The cocky angel-looking bastard was just standing there, watching me, with a grin on his face, like he had already won. I was getting very tired of people giving me that look today.

In frustration, I spat at the guy, and said, “So, I take it you’re the mysterious ‘he’ this worm was spouting off about? What is your part in this whole deal, fallen angel boy?”

The fallen angel, for that is what he was, laughed. “Oh, I would have guessed you’d have figured it out already, ‘Black Knight-kun’. After all, you always spent sooo much time talking about your early days, while we were on the campaign.”