Game of Monsters - 95 (Patreon)

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Ain’t No Mercy for the Heartless

[Raynare]

She couldn’t believe what she’d been reduced to. The attack dog of a human, of all things. She was aware, to her dismay and her disgust, that she’d been barely more than that before too, but at least then she’d served people stronger than her, people higher than her. The Cadre of Grigori were who she admired, who she wanted to be.

There she was, however, obeying the orders of a human magician. It was all his fault, for having asked them to join – forced them, really, considering their alternatives – him in his mad quest against Khaos Brigade and Kokabiel. It was Khaos Brigade’s fault for dragging her into the whole mess. It was Kokabiel’s fault for betraying Grigori, deceiving them all and then backstabbing them.

It was her fault too, she’d admit, if only in the privacy of her own mind, for having so readily followed dubious orders.

How Raynare hated the whole situation couldn’t be put to words, truly. There was nothing to do but to continue on, however. There was no way out of things for her nor for her fellow Fallen. Although, truth be told, she cared very little for Mittelt and Kalawarna, especially so in the latter’s case.

Furthermore, the only reason she’d been spared a terrible fate was the pettiness of Davis. If the human magician hadn’t decided that it sounded very nice for Kokabiel to be defeated by those he’d discarded as useless, then she’d probably be in some forsaken pit in the prisons of Grigori, if she was lucky. She was, reluctantly, grateful for the opportunity to at least try and give her previous leader a piece of her mind.

She still rather doubted that she’d reach the level required to do that, but she appreciated the chance, if nothing else. Moreover, there was a very real chance that Davis would achieve that himself if they failed, and if she could be there to watch the man cut Kokabiel to pieces with his daggers? Then she’d be a very happy Fallen… Until she was thrown in the aforementioned prison cell, that is.

Because she was under no delusions that Davis would throw all three of them to the wolves once his petty revenge plan was over, successfully or not. Once Kokabiel was dealt with, there’d be no reason for Raynare and the other two to be around. At least, unless he wanted test subjects for his experiments.

Mittelt and her had asked Kalawarna what was up with that once. Their backstabber of an ally hadn’t answered, but the look on her pale, sweating face and the way her whole body trembled spoke more than she could have ever told them. Raynare was very, very determined not to find out what was up with that. If she had any say in the matter, she’d be dead before she was put in that position.

Davis, they had learned, after all, was a very kind human… To those that weren’t his enemies. The three of them, however, fell right outside of that range. There was no kindness for them… most of the time. At times, when the human relaxed, they’d see a glimpse of what others got all the time. However, those were few and far between. Instead, they were mostly under the eye of a cold, harsh person that cared not for them at all. All he cared about was training them to get better, to be stronger, for his own ends.

And oh was it effective.

As Raynare brought one of her hands up and formed a light shield in front of her, she considered that. The spell of one of the poor, unfortunate souls that were their targets hit against her protection and fizzled out. It hadn’t been very strong, but Raynare was very aware that her shield, rushed and with little power behind it, should have at least trembled, if not cracked a little.

At least, it would have, if it had been her old self that had cast it.

Instead, she had some time under the unforgiving training of one Joshua Davis, a human magician. Somehow, the man had managed to get results out of her that would have taken her years if not more to get. Under his harsh wards and hexes, sparring against his surprisingly dexterous self, Davis had proved that he could, maybe back up all his talk.

A light spear impaled the man that had dared attack her, and she saw a woman to her side fall with a dagger between her eyes. A tendril of magic reached for the blade’s handle then, pulling the weapon back to its wielder. Raynare, idly, noticed that Davis wasn’t doing a whole lot of fighting. Instead, staying back and watching as the Fallen, his familiars and his sister fought instead.

Begrudgingly, Raynare would admit that the magicians of Hexennacht were probably beneath his notice. Even more than they were hers, which was saying something. Thus, it made a certain amount of sense for the man to stay back and watch over his “forces” as it were. He only stepped in whenever there was someone attacking from one of their blind spots, mostly.

Sometimes, he’d make an exception when it came to the Fallen, but that was expected, Raynare knew.

He’d probably call it extra training.

The bastard.

“Head in the game, Raynare,” she heard the man tell her then. She so wanted to snap something at him, but that was before she saw, out of the corner of her eyes, a dagger fly at her. She’s not proud of the fact that she froze at incoming weapon, eyes wide and face paling. The blade went past her, however, and she heard the strangled cry of a human falling victim of the thing.

Sure enough, when she turned around, she saw a magician with the Demonic dagger sticking out of their chest.

“It’s too early for you to die,” she heard Davis say as another rope of magic wrapped around the handle of the knife and pulled it back to its wielder. “Focus, will you? I don’t think you are this incompetent.”

She gritted her teeth at that, or she would have, if her mind hadn’t focused on the implied message from before.

“It’s too early for you to die,” he’d said.

Meaning sometime in the future, it wouldn’t be.

Raynare really wished he’d find a way to make that statement more… permanent.

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

“You good?” he asked softly, standing next to Jeanne. Her blade, Relentless Justice, was covered in blood and so were her boots. There were even spots of red and burgundy on her clothes and skin here and there.

“I’m fine,” she said, wiping her cheek with her forearm. “Really,” she insisted at his raised eyebrow.

“It’s fine if you are not, you know?” he reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder. He could feel she wasn’t fine, after all. “We can talk about this back home, get something nice and warm for you to drink too. It should help, yeah?”

“... Yeah, that sounds… nice,” she mumbled, looking around her. “I really don’t feel as bad as… I expected… or should…”

“You didn’t enjoy it, I know you didn’t,” Joshua pointed out to her. “That’s the important part. Besides that… Maybe it’s terrible of me, but I’m glad you didn’t break down because of this.”

“I guess I… get what you mean,” she replied, her voice low. Margalo chose that moment to dive down and perch herself on the girl’s shoulder. “Hey there, Margalo… Here to keep me company?” Jeanne asked, her lips pulling up into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. That is, until the bird started singing. “Thanks.”

“Keep her company, yeah?” Joshua asked his familiar, receiving an eager chirp in response. With a slight smile and a nod, he turned to look to the side. “Serafall will be here in a bit. Once everything’s taken care of, we can go back home, yeah?”

“Sure, I’ll just… get away from all this,” Jeanne replied, waving her hand vaguely at their surroundings. Considering there were corpses everywhere, he thought he could understand why she’d want to move away. “Hey there,” his sister greeted then, as Morag jumped on her back as she walked.

Joshua just watched the three of them walking further and further. Next to him, Cheshire settled herself, somehow having avoided staining herself with any blood. An accomplishment if he’d ever seen one, considering there wasn’t a single other member of their group that could say the same. As for Nagini, she was coiled not too far away, watching them intently. Joshua dutifully ignored the odd shape of her body in certain parts.

He didn’t even want to think about why there was a person-sized distortion on his snake familiar’s body.

He really didn’t.

Cheshire meowed then and he sighed.

“Yeah, I’ll get to it,” he muttered under his breath as he started walking. His feline familiar, in tiger form still, followed suit. As he moved, Joshua’s eyes found the Fallen Angels, who seemed to idly look for any Hexennacht survivors. There weren’t any, but he imagined it was more to avoid just awkwardly standing around, maybe even to earn themselves some brownie points.

As if it’d be so easy.

“Come here,” Joshua called. His voice was kept at a normal tone, but the Fallen heard him regardless. Immediately, all three of them stood to his left side in a line. Turning his head slightly, he looked them up and down. “You are worse off than I thought you’d be,” he told them.

Mittelt was the one that did the best out of the three of them. Maybe that was expected, considering her sensing abilities. Regardless, there was a bit of a scratch on her calf and her gothic attire was singed here and there. Otherwise, she seemed to be fine… Although, she was the one that was the most tired.

Raynare still had plenty of energy in the tank, it seemed, but she had cuts, burns and bruises in some places. Nothing too bad, but all in all, it didn’t afford her any points for appearance, that was for sure. She was also the one that took his words the worst, in terms of tempter. While Mittelt at least tried to appear indifferent, Raynare’s hands had balled into fists.

And then there was Kalawarna. She paled considerably after he spoke, which belied how terrified she was that he’d change his mind about giving her a chance. A semblance of one as it might have been. On top of that rather sad – read, pathetic – display, she was also the most injured. Her right arm had a deep gash on it that sent a trail of blood down to her fingers and the ground. Her right thigh had a huge bruise on it too, together with a second one in her left calf that while not as impressive, certainly added to the image. Her clothes weren’t destroyed, really, but they were rather dirty too.

“Someone needs to catch up,” he commented, giving the last Fallen an unimpressed look. Idly, he noticed that the other two were happy to not be the ones to receive any extra criticizing. “I guess I need to up your training… for all three of you,” he added then, turning away from the Fallen.

He didn’t need to look at them to know that Raynare and Mittelt were glaring at Kalawarna. Call him petty, but Joshua didn’t feel like pulling any punches with the woman. He’d barely scrapped enough pity to not experiment on her with his spells. That was as much as he’d give her though, nothing else.

He refused to give any forgiveness to those that had taken his family away from him.

No, fuck them.

It was also why he was pleading that they’d mess up. He was waiting for one of them to step past the line and earn themselves some punishment. Any of the three would do, but he’d rather it be Kalawarna. Unfortunately, they were either smart or scared enough to not do so.

A shame, really.

He was distracted from those thoughts as a screen appeared in front of his face.

[Quest Complet: Raid a Hexennacht Base

Rewards:

+2 Levels to all Stats

+2 Levels to Ward Magic

+2 Levels to Hex Magic

+2 Levels to Dagger Mastery

+2 Levels to Throwing Weapon Mastery]

‘Not the best prizes in the world, but I’ll take them,’ he mused after reading that message. Truly, the rewards were good, but they were nothing to get excited over. No perks, no titles, no new skills. Not even good numbers on the increases he got. It was nice, but it wasn’t crazy nice.

‘Anything’s better than nothing,’ he decided with a mental shrug. Taking a deep breath in and sighing, he looked around again. He didn’t think he’d ever come to like doing things like this, even without all the killing that only made things worse. He just wasn’t like that, Joshua supposed. ‘Still, a solid blow, if I do say so myself.’

‘The first of many,’ he added in his mind with a half-smile that held no mirth behind it. There’d be information in the base for him to use, most probably. Even if there wasn’t, there was quite a bit on the files he’d been given by Agnes and Elizabeth. He was pretty sure he could piece together the location of another base or two and surely he’d find some other trail to follow by then.

‘Speaking of Elizabeth…’ he thought then, tilting his head as he took a hold of the Charm, which was always hanging from one of his belt loops. ‘What do you guys think?’ he asked, directly to the gods that seemed to have nothing to do other than peek into his life.

Either they were terribly bored or he was terribly interesting.

He was fairly sure it was the former though.

There was a sudden scandalized wave of annoyance from three different sources that was highly amusing for Joshua. Maybe he shouldn’t have found it so funny to have gods be annoyed at him, but really… He just couldn’t help himself. Maybe he’d grown used to their detached help and interest in which they hardly interacted with him, but he just didn’t see them as all that dangerous… Except maybe Set, he supposed.

The grudgingly pleased feeling he got made him know that the Chaos God appreciated being given that modicum of respect. Which didn’t really make him stand out from the others, really. It was just that Joshua guessed he was the least reasonable. Although, if Nephthys gave him another can of beer every so often, then she’d definitely become his favorite.

It was such a damn good beer, after all.

Joshua blinked as a can of that very same drink appeared in the air in front of him. Catching it, he regarded the item for a long moment before shrugging and opening it. He felt like he needed one after the shitshow he’d been part of. Nevermind the shitshow that was still coming his way.

‘So, you guys think Báthory earned herself some Senjutsu or nah?’ he asked his tagalong gods. None of them appreciated the descriptor, but at least Nephthys was still relishing the praise for her beer. Beer that was already being drunk too.

They answered a moment later, after either thinking it over or discussing it amongst themselves. All three of the gods seemed to think it was a no, for now at least. ‘Is it even a possibility for her if I keep doing this? I can’t string her along forever if you guys are never going to agree,’ he told them then. Nephthys seemed pretty sure that the woman could earn the knowledge with some effort. Shed was reluctant, but also seemed to agree it could happen. Set, not so much, but he had a feeling that the Chaos God didn’t care all that much in the first place.

He was just a meanie, as Kunou would say.

Joshua dutifully ignored the scandalized feeling he got through the Charm and set it back on his belt loop. He considered how to approach the Elizabeth issue then. He wasn’t sure how pleased the woman would be if he told her what her chances looked like. She’d felt awfully eager and almost desperate when they’d struck their deal, but maybe she thought it wouldn’t be that difficult to get Senjutsu from him?

Regardless, he needed that in for the information on Hexennacht, and he also might need that for other things. It’d pay to have a contact on the shady side of things, he was sure. That’s why he didn’t want to sour things with the magician, even if he was very wary of her.

‘Gonna have to be careful how I play that,’ he mused. If all else failed, maybe he could pull some strings with the Youkai, but he didn’t want to have to do that. He was pretty sure he couldn’t classify Báthory as good, so he didn’t want to drag Yasaka into anything. The Egyptian gods, for their part…

It wasn’t that Joshua didn’t care, but more that he was… less attached to them. He wasn’t as torn about asking for them to get involved with less than savory things. Besides, they were basically in his head, at least when he thought things related to them. He was sure he couldn’t fool them into anything if he tried.

Which was confirmed by a mental scoff from Set. Apparently, none of them were overly concerned in regards to what he was thinking, which was nice. Joshua was still waiting for the other shoe to drop with them though. Surely they wanted something out of all the blessings they were giving him, right?

The amusement they sent his way wasn’t very reassuring… at all.

Fortunately, he didn’t have much time to ponder on that, because a circle appeared not too far away from him. Several circles, actually, teleportation ones. A second later, there were a bunch of devils facing the carnage that was left of the Hexennacht base.

Joshua had to wonder why he wasn’t bothered by that in any way.

“Joshua!” Serafall called, almost excitedly as she skipped her way towards him, as if his trainers and jeans weren’t half covered in blood and there weren’t a considerable trail of death in his wake. ‘Maybe I need more normal friends,’ he considered for a moment. Cheshire let out a sound he was sure was a laugh. ‘Yeah, not gonna happen, I know.’

“Serafall, you brought more people than I thought,” he commented idly as the woman gave him a quick hug. He barely returned it, one because it was just that quick, and two because… Well, he wasn’t used to those. “I hope it’s not too much of a bother to do this.”

“Not at all, I told you,” the woman waved him off. “And I brought some more people to check over the place and take care of things. I know you were going to do that, but I don’t want you to,” she said, giving a serious hum that one would expect a child to do rather than an adult, pout and all.

“Well, I, uh… Appreciate it?” he replied hesitantly.

“It’s fine. We sort of owe you for taking care of them. They were close to our territory, after all,” Serafall waved him off, again. “I hope you don’t mind if I take credit for this? It’ll make things go more smoothly on the side of the devil that owns the territory close by.”

“Sure thing,” he agreed easily with a shrug. “Guessing it wouldn’t help much whenever the Phenex thing happens?” he asked then, looking to the side, where the devils were starting to work. They seemed to eye the Fallen warily, but Jeanne and the rest of his familiars were fine, apparently.

“It probably could, but if you still want to approach things as you said, then it won’t be necessary,” Serafall told him then, giving him an exaggerated thoughtful look. “And if it comes to that, I’ll have your back, Joshua, don’t you worry.”

“I already feel better then,” he said, meaning it. It was very reassuring to know that there was someone much more experienced and powerful looking out for him. He was sure he’d screw things up somehow, and it’d be nice to have someone have his back when it happened.

“As you should,” the woman said, nodding with a very smug look on her face. Then she seemed to see the trio of Fallen standing off to the side. The change in her expression spoke volumes.

“You still don’t like them, huh?” Joshua asked, drawing a scoff from the Satan.

“Not at all,” she huffed. “I still can’t believe you are letting them go without punishment for what they did.”

“Who said anything about not punishing them?” he said, raising an eyebrow as he regarded the three women with a lazy smile. “Oh, no, I’ll have them paying me back until I’m satisfied. Honestly, I expect them to mess up long before that, so I can deliver some more punishment without feeling bad,” he explained, taking a sip from his can of beer that seemed to stay cold even as time passed.

That was neat.

“Hmmm, if you say so,” Serafall mumbled, narrowing her eyes at him. “You are not doing this because you like them or something, then?” she asked, making him spit out the beer.

“W-The fuck did that come from?” Joshua asked her, baffled. “No! I mean, the bar’s pretty low, but I think I can do a little better than women that tried to kill me and my family. Honestly, what the fuck, Serafall?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, still not looking quite sure. If anything, she added a frown on top of that that had him blinking. What was up with her all of a sudden? “You sure?”

“Yes, Serafall. Honestly. Do I look that desperate?... Actually, I don’t think I want an answer to that,” he mumbled, a little disturbed that she’d even thought that a possibility. “... Wait, are you messing with me?” he asked, and it was his turn to narrow his eyes at her.

“... No?”

Joshua just sighed as she giggled.

“Now, seriously,” Serafall said then, as she got her laughter under control. Quite honestly, he rather doubted she’d actually be serious. He should have known better before too, really. “What’s that about a low bar?” Or maybe not?

“Do you know me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “I mean, I’m not ugly, but that’s not saying much,” he counted with a roll of his eyes when she just stared at him. “I’m also terribly socially awkward, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“But that’s one of your endearing traits, Joshua,” she argued, making him blink and give her a confused expression. “Really? What’s up with the doubt? I’m hurt, Joshua, hurt.”

“Sure thing,” he said with a wry smile as he brought the beer can to his lips again. “Anyway, I think this isn’t quite the time or place to talk about my love life, or lack thereof,” he added then, wondering when his life had become one where he could have such a conversation with absolute carnage still within sight,

“Hmmmmmmmmm,” she hummed, pursing her lips. “I’ll remember this, Joshua. This conversation isn’t over.”

“Is that a threat? Because if it is, then consider me properly threatened,” he commented, not even joking. “Can I bribe you with a chocolate cake?”

“... With strawberries?”

“And whipped cream, lots of both,” he promised with a nod and a grin.

“What were we talking about again?” Serafall asked then, drawing a laugh out of him.

“About how this went rather well and I’ll probably do something like this again?” he suggested, still chuckling before taking another sip from his drink. “I’ll have to be more careful with each attack though. Don’t want to fall into a trap, after all.”

“Yes, yes, I can’t lose my co-star, after all!”

“I think calling me a co-star is a bit of a stretch, Serafall. I’ve barely appeared in a handful of chapters so far,” Joshua pointed out.

“I meant what I said.”

“Sure, I guess,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

If he’d paid attention, he’d have noticed the rather intent look Serafall was giving him.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Maybe this isn’t the action chapter you guys expected or wanted but… Well, GoM doesn’t seem to be that kind of story, apparently. From what I’m seeing as I continue writing this, action is just not a focus of the story and not even a very relevant part of it. I don’t even feel like it really matters that I skipped most of the fighting and such, really.

It’s just not that important, I guess, and I think it kinda reflects that it’s also not important for Joshua’s story, since he’s not a violent person at all, despite what he does on occasions such as this one. Or, that’s my opinion on things, at least. If you guys have other thoughts on the matter, I’d be happy to hear them.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: How do you think the tale of these very unfortunate three Fallen Angels is going to go?

See you.