CH11: Ally (Patreon)

If there was one thing Ally, the great hero of the people, could still feel proud of about his country, it was his belief in giving power to the people. Unlike most in his revolutionary side of politics, he valued the right to bear arms.

He floated above Zack’s folly, the preschool he tried to save. Numerous dreams were cut short by his attempts to save a hundred children.

He determined that Ally admired, even if it fucked them over. Zack had an essential essence that was needed in the late game. The cultivation essence could win the late game and avenge everything that has happened. They could win by taking that essence from Zack and giving it to someone who could use it. Zack didn’t have the mind for cultivation.

Ally watched as a truck filled with imps drove to the school, and police officers guided children through the contracting process. It was an act of preparation and forethought Ally hadn’t expected from Zack.

Where was the powerless dreamer Ally remembered? Red Scythe was similar. She couldn’t use her power to its full potential, and her politics were problematic. Ally felt the scythe on his back and its six abilities well. Soul-bound weapons were unbound by time and naturally appeared to their owners. Zack, Red, and Rictor were the only ones Ally knew of who earned soul-bound weapons.

It was planned that Riku Miyazaki would receive the soul-bound weapon Artemis and Lee Meng would receive the cultivation essence.

Zack’s talent with souls wasn’t an essence. That pissed Ally off like nothing he had ever heard before. The fool who couldn’t see the bigger picture and work with the group, forcing him to go out of his way to find the man, had an advantage over everyone.

Ally pulled at his red, white, and blue tights so the golden eagle on his chest was visible. He landed in the middle of the children and officers.

“Greeting Officer, I am Ally, the hero. I’m here to help out my good buddy Zack. Could you point me in his direction?”

“Never heard of him.” The officer said.

Ally felt the smile on his face strain at the blatant lie. His eyes lit up, and a line of imps was cut in half in front of the children and officers. Imps scrambled to escape, and Ally cut them down.

“What are you doing?” The officer said.

“Cleaning up the demon trash. You can’t have them around children. It’s a rule just passed before Congress. You won’t be prosecuted for violating the law now, but now you know.”

“Why that doesn’t make any sense?”

“Are you rebelling against your elected government?” Ally asked.

His eyes glowed red, and he flew a couple of inches off the ground to put his head higher than the officer’s.

“No, we aren’t rebelling, please. We want to get out of here.”

The ground rumbled, and Ally turned his attention to the Abyss Ogre making its way, devouring survivors toward the preschool.

“That one might be trouble. I suggest you give me the information I need, or I will laser you mother fuckers. With that thing here, you’re all as good as dead.” Ally said.

“We don’t know where he is, but he left with everyone with CDLs.”

There were a few places with big rigs. If he destroyed all but one, Zack would come to him.

“Don’t wait up for your good buddy Zack. He’s an insurrectionist of the lawful government. After I capture him, you won’t see him again. Good luck out running the Abyss Ogre. I’m rooting for you.”

Ally flew up and around the ogre, eyeing him. It would be best not to mess with anything with Abyss by its name. They all had dark-type magic, one of his few weaknesses. It was a shame about those people, but if the ogre saw its prey escaping, it would charge.

They were already dead, so Ally didn’t have to treat them as people. He flew to the nearest truck stop and used his heat vision. Trucks exploded as they were cut in half, and the ground scorched under his power. The sun overhead poured light mana from the heavenly gate yet to open.

…

Zack could feel his body falling apart under his power. Cells blackened and died, and the raging soul death couldn’t be stopped easily. He had done something he shouldn’t have done, and there was no stopping it. He had given his body a taste of his pressure, and it greedily accepted the power even though the pressure was killing it.

Across from him was not a panacea to all his problems. Noel would, at most, delay his death by days or weeks, depending on how much vitality he gained from her. She had the makings of a sniper, and Zack planned to make that happen. He nodded to Werzelith who pulled free a demon steel bow with 50 arrows fletched with metal crow feathers.

“These are for you.” A frog guard moved and accepted them for the princess, who smiled gratefully for the gift. “I have no gift to match except for myself. Will you accept this maiden into your service?” Noel said.

She wasn’t offering herself alone, and they both knew it. She came with a small army of 8-foot-tall toad soldiers and the rest of her faction. Zack held out his hand.

“Thank you. I accept you as a trusted companion.” Zack said.

“Let us seal our union with a kiss,” Noel said and kissed him.

Her breath was minty, her lips dry, and her tongue an encircling snake slimy, wet, and wiggling. Zack fell back on the lily pad and kissed the gorgeous frog demon. How could he resist? When she came up for breath, he felt the contract activate, and they both glowed with golden light.

Vitality entered his cells. He could only get gains if she leveled.

“I can feel my cap lifted. I can rank up. Will you join me in this experience? Enough insect demons are stored for me to rank up and gain two levels.”

…

She was nervous as she pulled the great bow back and felt the arrow rest. Noel barely had the strength to hold the draw, but the weapon felt good in her hand. There was no soul weapon, but few weapons reached that state—only exceptional circumstances created them.

Zack wielded two, and she could feel them draw on his soul. A shiver crawled down her spine at the weight of Zack’s pressure. He was a demon lord in power, if not named. Given time, he would undoubtedly carve out a fief in this world for himself. Already, he gathered demons to his side and armed them. His only demand was to improve how they treated humans.

It bothered her that he clung to them, but demon lords needed time to separate from their former race. A demon lord was a lord of many demons, not just a single type. Given enough time, humans would be another race of demons like any other once their souls were extracted in exchange for demonic essences.

The demonic mana was doing its work well already. Only someone like Zack could remain immune. A soul so powerful could not be changed by mere mana.

Her stomach rumbled, and she hoped no one could hear it for proprieties' sake. The insect warriors lined up had parts of their exoskeletons ripped off. Each of them was in the low hundreds.

There were frogs under her rule and in the low hundreds. She was different in her variant from the familiar frog demon. She was born a royal, and it took more experience for her to reach each level than a familiar frog demon. In exchange, she had nearly double the gains, and in her next rank up, that divide would only grow wider.

She released her arrow and slew a single insect. It was good her weapon of choice was the bow or water magic.

Noel lvl100

Rank Up

Choices

Tyrant Frog (E)

Matriarch Toad (E)

Royal Water Sorceress (R)

Grand Royal Assassin (R)

Royal Soul Paladin (E)

Acheron Frog Princess (L)

Cocytus Frog Princess (L)

Phlegethon Frog Princess (L)

Styx Frog Princess (L)

Lethe Frog Princess (L)

She wasn’t exactly hurting for options. The last five were earth exclusives that would undoubtedly lead to greater ranks. Noel had no idea which would be best, so she chose the smallest one because she liked being compact.

 Her ability appeared.

Holy Cold Waters of Oath Keeping: All water magic contains a fraction of the blessed waters.

She gained holy and ice damage to her water spells and partial immunity to light damage. Angels were not a problem for her. Gains for her vitality stat increased, and she would only get stronger. From what she could tell, Zack copied her vitality gains, which was a wise decision. But if they could do it again, she would have instead he had gained her light resistance.

Her skin turned blue in places where there was once dark green. She felt herself gain a few inches in height, her breasts grew slightly small, and her hips grew a few inches wider. If she had a good butt before, it was excellent after the rank-up.

She opened her mouth and unleashed a tiny pressurized stream of water, watching it cut through the remaining insect demons. Their armored exoskeletons melted.

Styx Frog Princess lvl103

If HP were a thing, she would have the bulkiest health bars. Instead, she could take tons of punishment and heal from it.

 Zack took off his bandages, and she watched blackened flesh fall away, revealing new pink flesh beneath.

…

It was more than he thought but less effective than he wanted.

Scaling would always be an issue. Human scaling with vitality was shit. Zack had to accept that no matter how much he wished otherwise.

He was feeling returned to his hand, along with a cocktail of pain for good measure. He opened and closed his hand, getting the feeling back. That was what was necessary. Artemis missed his touch. Soon enough, she would transform into a Glock or other more modern weapon.

A pack of dog demons was nearby, some ogres in the wrong part of town, and undead demons in the old rundown mall. Zack needed some quick xp for his soul's arms, and there was the black key to think about. Maybe it was too early for a 3rd soul weapon, but who knew what kind of essence rewards stood behind the door to a black key?

He stared as blood trickled down his hand as his new vitality gains struggled against his injuries. More constitutional gains would help mitigate more of the damage from his pressure. Well, who had tons of constitutions? The gargoyles on the building that had appeared out of nowhere would probably do the trick. Which meant he would need to fight another elite.

Zack decided to scale his vitality first. The hospital was his next stop, as he needed doctors for his group.

“Listen, Noel, I need you to send your forces to the preschool down the road. There are plenty of humans to contract with your demons, but most of them are children. Can you ask your frogs to protect them as best they can?” Zack asked.

“Sure, but what about our children here? Some tadpoles aren’t ready to leave the water yet.”

Zack explained the overarching plan to her.

“Alright, but what about our tadpoles?”

“I was thinking a water truck could be used to transport them. All we would need to do was load them up with the water they have.” Zack said.

Noel brightened up at that. “I thought you were going to order me to abandon them. Don’t get between a frog and her children.”

It was one more hitch in the plan, a weakness that could bite him in the ass. He tried to calm his racing heart. Talking with hot girls was exhausting. Werzelith was the worst of the bunch because her purple skin was beautiful. Having a hot frog girl, too, was going to be exhausting. Then there was Ziri, his hellhound hyena girl with spots and big brown eyes. Oh, how could he forget his bunny girl, Moka? That dark-skinned beauty with thighs that could crush a man made his stomach flip when she spoke.

Zack stared up at the Abyss Ogre. It must be destroyed.

An explosion rocked the city in the distance. He saw a blue dot move across the sky and knew it had to be Ally. That was a fight he wasn’t ready for.