by E. M. Hardy
Ynnistoria: Something dangerous is approaching, Glenn. It is blocking all outgoing signals from the household, including Miss Rutledge’s attempt to contact emergency services. This… I highly advise you to leave immediately before you draw any more of its attention.
Huh?
Ynnistoria: Questions later, Glenn. You need to get out of there, right now! You will not survive an encounter with a demon of this caliber, and—
Ynnistoria’s words were cut off, cast aside, as Glenn first laid his eyes upon his own brethren.
Chapter 10
An indistinct ball of darkness just passed through the walls of Annie’s home. It floated in the air, less like a creature and more like a cloud as it rematerialized inside the living room. Dark energy crackled around the entity, swirling around it like an invisible maelstrom of chaos despite its slow, measured pace.
That’s when the eyes popped open.
Hundreds of them seemingly appeared out of the entity’s amorphous body, swiveling this way and that. A few of them landed on Glenn, narrowed upon his visage, and he wished to be anywhere else but there under the scrutiny of those eerie eyeballs.
Soon enough though, they slid away from him and focused as one upon Annie.
She seized up, tears, drool and snot marring her beautiful face while her eyes rolled back into their sockets. She fell gibbering crazily on the floor. She tried pushing herself up, kept trying to right herself, but her limbs just kept jerking in all the wrong directions.
The robotic servitors turned to face the entity, all four putting themselves between it and their master. The demon cared not a whit for them though as it floated toward the jerking, spasming woman on the floor. Three of the servitors stepped in closer, attempting to form a barrier, while the fourth turned around to try and help Annie off the floor.
The demon focused its myriad eyes upon one servitor, and sparks started spewing forth from its skull casing. The positronic brain housed inside the skulls of these domestic servitors were scaled down in capability—just smart enough to obey orders but not smart enough to emulate a personality. Its construction, however, approximated the human brain closely enough for the demon to shut it down.
Which was why one servitor went down, its head a smoking ruin, before it was quickly followed by the three other units.
Glenn backpedaled, concern for Annie and concern for his own safety warring with one another. He decided to ‘look’ at the entity, to find out exactly what he was looking at, before he did anything else.
???
Greater Terror Demon
Life Points
13,400/32,500 (approximate)
Mana Points
0/9,800 (approximate)
Glenn’s eyes widened as he tried processing the information he just received. The terror demon—no, the greater terror demon—possessed a total life-point pool more than ten times his own. Sure, it was down to just thirteen thousand life points right now, but that was still a significantly larger chunk of LP than he currently owned.
It also possessed a seemingly impressive mana point pool… but why was it at zero?
Glenn quickly discarded the question as the Terror Demon continued paralyzing Annie with nothing but a stare from its multitude of eyes. And it kept right on staring at her, reducing Annie to soundless screams as her throat locked up.
Ynnie, what else can you tell me about that thing? Its skill, spells, abilities, or the like?
Silence greeted him for a second, which again was unusual coming from Ynnistoria. She would normally respond with either a polite or sarcastic reply before giving him the information he requested.
She didn’t even say anything to him just then, just opened up a small screen on his HUD that appeared very similar to his own skill menu.
Greater Terror Demon Skills
Agitation
lvl ??
Passive Skill—Terror Demon emits an ??-foot aura that causes humanoids to gradually lose ?? Sanity every ?? seconds.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Phase
lvl ??
Active Skill—turns Terror Demon immaterial for ?? seconds, allowing it to pass through solid matter for the duration.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Vanish
lvl ??
Active Skill—the Terror Demon can at will mask its aura, rendering it invisible to most mundane and supernatural senses.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Hunt
lvl ??
Active Skill—outlines humanoid auras within a ??-foot radius for ?? seconds.
Passive Skill—allows the Terror Demon to identify high-value victims that grant bonus Life Points when killed using Horrify.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Mark lvl
??
Active Skill—Marks a target humanoid, creating a psychic link between it and the Terror Demon. A Marked target will suffer the effects of Agitation, losing ?? Sanity every ?? hours.
Passive Skill—the Terror Demon can at will identify the location and status of a Marked humanoid.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Drain Sanity
lvl ??
Active Skill—directly drains ?? Sanity per second from target. Also lowers target’s Willpower by ??% every second.
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Horrify
lvl ??
Passive Skill—mortals witnessing the Terror Demon lose ?? Sanity every second.
Active Skill—inflicts crippling fear upon a target humanoid. If a target’s Sanity is depleted, the fear increases in intensity until it dies from fright. Targets killed this way grant ??% of their current Life Points to the Terror Demon
*Unable to identify skill level and its subsequent bonuses
Glenn blinked, taking in the flood of information presented before him. The Terror Demon’s skills looked eerily similar to his own, though they revolved around instilling fear within their targets.
Glenn scrunched his brows in recognition when his eyes landed upon the skill ‘Horrify,’ which in turn dredged up other memories locked away in his mind. Lee’s virtual avatar soon came to his mind, its polite face and polished movements a façade for its owner’s turmoil.
“Rob’s landlord found him with his heart literally exploded out of his chest. His apartment was a mess, broken furniture and shattered appliances everywhere. They even found scratches on his room where he tried to claw his way out, like he was terrified of something.”
Glenn’s eyes hardened as he saw the Terror Demon in a different light now. It stalked its prey, afflicting them with a growing sense of fear and paranoia. Once the target was ‘ripe,’ it would then move in to secure the kill by frightening its Mark enough to cause its heart to literally beat itself to death.
But what was it doing here and now?
As if listening in on his thoughts, the Terror Demon turned its multitude of eyes upon Glenn. Something slapped at Glenn’s senses, causing him to reel back from the blow of the mental assault. Glenn winced when the sensation returned, stronger this time as the Terror Demon repeated its telepathic attack.
That’s when Ynnistoria intervened.
Still saying nothing, she opened a window inside Glenn’s HUD. That window started out blank, an empty black screen containing nothing. That screen, however, started to snap and crackle as colors began swirling from the darkness. The colors settled into shapes and outlines, revealing a confusing mass of moving imagery.
The first scene showed Glenn in his incubus form raping Annie, pinning her down under his arms and tentacles. He shuddered from the orgasm as Annie in the video screamed soundlessly before turning into
an empty, blackened husk—her life force transferred to Glenn.
The scene shifted then, showing the Terror Demon dropping its invisibility and attacking him while he was weakened from the orgasm. The Glenn in the screen punched, kicked, clawed, and did everything it could to fight against the demon. It would be for naught though as he was gradually but ultimately reduced to a babbling, catatonic lump of fear-stricken flesh. Glenn’s heart would then explode from the inside, blood dripping from his mouth as the Terror Demon took its leave.
The video shifted once more, this time showing the Terror Demon finishing its task of draining Annie’s Sanity. Stuck in her paralyzed state, she would continue to helplessly lose her mind until her own heart gave out. Her life force would then seep out of her disheveled, wild-eyed corpse and into the Terror Demon.
In this video, Glenn the Incubus simply watched it all happen. He stood still, letting the Terror Demon finish its terrible work, and would ultimately emerge unscathed as the Terror Demon left the premises.
The video ended, leaving Glenn scowling in confusion. The Terror Demon blinked with its dozens of eyes, and that’s when Glenn understood. He was being given a choice: fight and die, or stand aside and live.
Glenn wanted to jump in and fight the Terror Demon, use his claws and tentacles to savage the fiend. He thought that maybe he could use Drain Life to give him an edge, sustain him as he battled long enough to get Annie out of danger.
He knew it wouldn’t work though.
If you play competitive video games long enough, you realize that there are simply bigger fish out there in the world that you can’t beat no matter how hard you try. They might be more skilled than you, with better reactions and game sense. They might have the backing of a huge organization behind them, able to call upon aid at a moment’s notice. They might have farmed godly equipment that would trash yours in a second.
The end point is that you can’t beat them with what you currently have to offer.
The disparity in life points was the biggest tell in Glenn’s eyes. His own piddly 1,342 life points was dwarfed by the Terror Demon’s 13,400. Ynnistoria couldn’t even tell the demon’s level, much less the levels of its skills. If his own progression to Lesser Incubus was any clue, then he had absolutely no idea what advantages a Greater Terror Demon gained as it grew in strength.
Then there was his skillset as an incubus. In blunt terms, he was built around pleasing his partners, forming a symbiotic relationship where he received life points in exchange for orgasms. He steered away from violating women, from the telepathic aspects of incubi that focused on entrancing and then raping their victims. Long story short, he would be no match for the demon before him, which not only possessed greater stats but built its skillsets around paralyzing and terrifying its victims.
This was precisely why Glenn backed up slowly, keeping his eyes locked on the closest pair of the Terror Demon’s eyes.
The demon in question blinked its dozens of eyes, almost nodding in approval, before turning its attention back to its prey. It dismissed him as a threat then, recognizing a fellow demon when it saw one. Indeed, Glenn only felt hostility from the demon when it thought he would try stealing its quarry. Now that he was backing off though, it decided to ignore him and continue feasting upon its victim.
Upon Annie.
Anastasia Rutledge
Life Points: 760/1,700* (approximate)
Sanity: 1,300/3,200 (approximate)
Afflicted by:
*Agitation
*Horrify
*Drain Sanity
Annie Rafters, or Anastasia Rutledge in truth. An old tormentor who had come back from his past to inflict misery upon him once more, using her position to force him back to their old relationship. He would lose nothing if he let the demon kill her. He stood to actually gain something, most notably the fact that it would erase someone who knew he was a demon. All he needed to do was turn around and leave the Terror Demon to its feeding.
He seriously considered doing just that. It would be the practical, pragmatic thing to do. Ynnistoria was noticeably quiet right now, weirdly keeping to herself, but he could almost feel her approval of this plan.
The guilty sting of hazy memories, however, prevented him from doing just that.
The bashful, nervous chuckle of a dark-skinned stranger as she invited him to go out on a date—another woman marked as a prize for demons like himself. He put her off, fearful of feeding his incubus powers, and she ended up used, killed, and discarded by a Lust Demon like himself.
Mother, greeting him one last time with a tub full of angry red blood. Maybe she would still be alive if he let her hurt him more often. Maybe he could get her to forestall her suicide if only he had brought in more money, or at least made enough until the Universal Basic Income came rolling around.
The Mistress, always calling him and welcoming him with a different skin of flesh each time. Maybe she would continue keeping him close to her if he was a better slave, a better thrall to her will. If only he was more entertaining, more enjoyable to use and abuse, she would still be here with him. If only—
(Good boys do what they’re told, forget what they’re told to forget. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?)
Glenn reared back, freezing his limbs and appendages while furrowing his brows in confusion. He thought he heard someone whisper something to him. A familiar voice—one that he felt he heard before. But still, he couldn’t just stand there and do nothing while the demon had its way with Annie. There must be something he could do, anything.
(Anything?)
Glenn blinked, his eyes glazing over as the question imposed itself into his mind. He nodded absent-mindedly, not quite sure what he was agreeing to.
(Then be a good boy. Be a good boy for me, and I’ll give you what you need.)
He shook off his confusion, focused back on the demon trapping Annie in a prison of fear and terror.
Are you there, Ynnie?
Ynnistoria: Yes, Glenn? How may I be of service?
Annie mentioned a while ago that she called the cops. Do you have any idea if they are on their way?
Ynnistoria: I… give me a moment, Glenn.
Glenn gave her those few moments, biting his lip as he impotently watched the Terror Demon continue pumping Annie with pure fear.
Ynnistoria: I have scanned local radio frequencies, Glenn, and it is filled with chatter about multiple attacks all around Nu Angeles. They do, however, seem to be sending a response team to this location…
Glenn breathed a sigh of relief… a short-lived one, especially when Ynnistoria continued.
Ynnistoria: …but the police are terribly busy tonight. A spike of violent crime is washing over the city, with people inexplicably going mad and attacking one another. Psychotic killing sprees, desiccated corpses, uncharacteristic suicides, people found with their hearts blown out of their chests—it appears that the demons are staging a mass-reaping tonight.
Ynnistoria: The police are also calling in about the appearance of strange portals forming up all over the city. If the demons are not just reaping but also openly invading your realm, local law enforcement will most likely be unable to reach Miss Rutledge’s home before the Terror Demon is done Horrifying her.
Glenn’s frown deepened as he continued staring at the scene playing out before him. He needed to do something, anything, but he was well aware of his own powerlessness. Only his submission and a sense of infernal camaraderie prevented the Greater Terror Demon from turning on him. What he would give, what he would surrender, to prevent this horror from happening.
Ynnistoria: If I may, Glenn…
I know what you’re going to say, Ynnie. I should just leave Annie alone to die, that I stand to lose more than I gain if she leaves. She knows who I am and what I am. This Terror Demon would do me a favor, really, and all I need to do is just stand here and watch.
&n
bsp; But I can’t. I… I don’t know why, exactly, but I know I can’t let this happen. Not again, and not if I can do something about it. All I need to do is distract the demon long enough for the cops to get here, provide some backup. I’ll deal with the consequences later. I could practice with Shapeshift, change my human appearance and assume a new identity. It’ll take some getting used to, but I can’t leave Annie to die like this. So please… don’t try to convince me to do nothing.
Ynnistoria: I know, Glenn. I would, however, recommend that you check your skills bar again. Your benefactor may have… no, I mean to say that you may have acquired a few new tools to help you achieve your intended goal.
Surprised, Glenn eyed the Terror Demon one last time before expanding his HUD and bringing up his skills menu.
“I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Ynnie, what exactly am I… oh.”
Dream Cage has metamorphosed into Dream Shawl!
Active Skill—wrap yourself in a shroud that makes others ignore you. Interacting with or drawing the attention of others increases their chances of noticing the shroud, depending on their Willpower and Perception. Lasts 60 seconds (50 life points or 50 mana points)
Drain Life has metamorphosed into Link Life!
Active Skill—creates a telepathic link between you and the target, absorbing 100% of all mental and spiritual damage the target is taking. If the current target’s Life Points are fewer than your own, then you transfer 1% of your current life points to the target (requires Incubus Form)
