The Builder's Pride (The Legendary Builder Book 3)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t drop you into this volcano,” she sneered. “Tell me why I should let you live because right now, I think I may need to teach you a lesson.” She smiled evilly. “Because for the past few days you’ve been gallivanting around.” Her other hand went to my chest and pressed on the spot where Asmodai had marked me. A surge of pain exploded from me as purple light flared and died. “You think that by gathering these marks you are strong?” She shook her head. “You are nothing but a weak man.”

  She flung me up into the air, and my body cartwheeled, my whole world spinning in a mishmash of color. Then her knee slammed into my stomach, driving what little breath I had from my lungs in an explosive burst. Her hand reached out, seizing me by the throat. Below, I could feel the heat of the volcano, but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt as the glow of Mammon’s mark exploded into a thousand scintillating sparks.

  “I promised you power.” She touched my shoulder, and another surge of pain ripped through me as the light from Wrath’s mark faded away. “And yet you think to compensate?” She narrowed her eyes. “You think they can give you what I can?” She grabbed my hand, and as she did, Envy’s mark flared like a dying star. More pain hit me, and darkness began to encroach on my vision. “I am simply more.”

  She tossed me backward, and I struck the ground beside the lip of the volcano. The volcanic rock tore at my flesh, shredding my skin as I tumbled down several feet before slamming into a rocky outcropping.

  Lucifer landed lightly on the lip of the volcano and came toward me, her blood-red armor gleaming against the backdrop of a stormy sky and a blazing magma pool. “You disgust me.” She snorted. “You think that because Wrath, Envy, Lust, and Greed have marked you that you can do as you wish, do you?” She shook her head, causing her hair to flutter around her face. “You should know better.”

  I tried to get to my feet even though my body felt like a bloody wound. Only before I could do more than crawl to my hands and knees, she kicked me in the stomach. Stars flashed across my eyes as I collapsed to the ground.

  “You mean to defeat the Darkness?” She looked at the sky and laughed. “You can’t even face me with the combined power of four Archangels.” She kicked me onto my back and stared down her nose at me. “Retrieve my hammer. Then at least someone can do something.” Lucifer grabbed me by the hair and hauled me to my feet. Then she twisted, pointing back toward the volcano with her free hand. “It is down there. Why don’t you swim for it?” She flung me toward the edge, but not hard enough to send me over it.

  Instead, I stumbled, crashing to the ground just in front of it. The rock was so warm, it burned my ragged flesh, but I ignored it, trying to push myself to my feet once again.

  “What’s that?” she asked, cupping one hand to her ear. “You’re too weak? Your pathetic human body can’t survive in lava?” She laughed, and the sound caused the sky above to crackle.

  “I told you I’d get your hammer,” I wheezed, finally able to get on my hands and knees. Only as I turned my head to look at her, I found her striding toward me.

  “I told you I don’t want your excuses.” She knelt down next to me and patted her head. “I recognize this isn’t your fault. Your kind was never meant to do more than lick my boots, and yet here we are, forced to work together.” She shook her head as she sat down next to me, feet dangling over the edge. “The only question now is one of terms.” She patted my head. “We can have a long-term relationship or a short-term one.” She flicked her hand toward the volcano, and the lava began to rise. “Choose.”

  “What the hell are you talking about,” I cried, glaring at her. My hands balled into fists as I tried to reach out for my power. Only without my sword, without my armaments, I had nearly nothing to call upon. The ring around my neck even felt dead and lifeless. Like a cheap piece of jewelry. No. Whatever she’d done to my marks had cut me off from the others.

  “I am talking about inevitabilities.” She snapped her fingers, and the lava fell back toward the volcano’s basin, splashing against the side and sending sparks flying in every direction. “You are too weak to win.” She touched her chest. “I will not tie myself to a loser. I will not fail again.” She got to her feet and stared down into the volcano. Then she jumped.

  My mouth fell open as she arched through the air like an Olympian before crashing into the lava below. Her body cut through the pool before disappearing into its depths. I sat back on my hands, trying to understand what the hell had just happened.

  Lucifer had grabbed me from town like it was nothing even though the wards there were designed specifically to protect me from her. Then she’d deactivated every single one of my marks. I was literally sitting here battered, bloody, and naked.

  Thing was. If she wanted me dead, I’d be dead. That was obvious enough. That meant she wanted me for something, presumably to get the hammer, and she meant to keep me until I did what she wanted. Otherwise, she’d not have bothered to systematically cut off my connection to the archangels. After all, it wasn’t like she feared my power, even with them. Or did she?

  I shut my eyes, focusing on the strength of the marks, and as I did, I felt the pulse of Gwen’s heat in my chest. It was barely a flicker, but it was there, and as I reached for it, I felt her reaching back. In my mind’s eye, I could see her standing there, one hand extended toward me. No. That wasn’t all, I could feel Mammon too. The archangel of Greed had her hand on Gwen’s shoulder. My neck began to pulse, cold running over me.

  “That’s enough of that,” Lucifer said right before she backhanded me across the face. My head snapped back, the connection shattering into a million pieces as my back hit the ground. The Devil herself loomed over me, one hand bracing a massive golden morningstar over one shoulder. “You won’t be calling for help.” She smirked. “Though I’m inclined to let you do it just to show the others, and you, how powerless you all really are.” She squatted down next to me and dropped the hammer to the ground beside me. It hit with a deafening thud that was like the screams of a million people all crying out in pain. “Would you like me to do that, Arthur? To let me call your friends here?” She licked her lips. “I would take pleasure in ripping them apart.” She smiled. “After all, it is their fault I have been imprisoned for so very long.”

  “No,” I squeaked, but I was too busy staring at the warhammer on the ground next to me. It was massive in a way I didn’t think anyone could easily heft it and inlaid with gemstones. The head itself was blunt on one side, but the other was spiked. The crazier thing was, I could feel the power within the weapon struggling to break free of the binding placed upon it. Six glowing marks stood emblazoned on its surface in burning light, keeping the power within bound.

  “Good.” Lucifer pointed to the weapon. “You may notice that this weapon has been bound by my sisters. It bears their marks.” She gestured at them. “Envy, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, and Wrath.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Break those marks for me.” Her wings spread wide, casting a shadow down over me. “Or I throw you into the volcano.” She smiled evilly. “As I said before, short term or long term.” Her smile vanished. “Choose.”

  27

  “I don’t know how to help you,” I said, looking up at the Devil as she stared down at me. “I can’t break these marks. I simply don’t know how.” I shook my head. “And even if I did, I don’t have these two.” I pointed to the two marks I hadn’t seen before. The ones she’d identified as Sloth and Gluttony.

  “The difference is in degrees, not absolutes.” Lucifer squatted down beside me and held out her hand. “I will show you how to break those you can. Once that is done two-thirds of my power will be restored.” She met my eyes, and there was no hint of treachery in them. “I will then find my sisters for you. I will lay them at your feet, Builder. They will give you their marks or they will die.”

  “And if I refuse, you’ll throw me into the volcano?” I asked, unable to break her gaze. In her eyes, I could see the swirling fires of tor
ment, could see armies fall, but mostly? Mostly I could see power. She was strong, far stronger than she was letting on. I wasn’t sure if the others could take her in a fight, but if the seals on the hammer were broken, they definitely wouldn’t be able to stop her. Only… only maybe that was okay.

  “I will throw you into the volcano, eyes. But first I will break your arms and legs. I will tear the skin from your body and pluck out your tongue. I will sit here and listen to you scream until you can do so no longer, and then I will cut off that sex organ you’re so proud of.” She gestured down at me. “I will shove it down your throat so you cannot breathe, and as your vision starts to blur, and you feel like you’re about to die, I will hold you over the volcano so you can feel your body start to cook. Then, when you are so close to death as to have it be a mere formality, then and only then, will I drop you into it.” She didn’t smile, didn’t grin. She said it coldly, and the hard truth of it was clear. She would do all of those things and more. Much more.

  “Just wanted to make sure we were clear.” I took a deep breath. “Thanks for clarifying that.” Inside I wanted to run, wanted to hide, but I couldn’t do that. If I did, she would find me, would bring me back here, and worse, she’d be angry. It was strange because looking at her, I could see wrath. Hell, I could see all the archangels, and I knew she was better at their jobs than they were. She could visit exquisite wrath, could bring untold pleasure, but she could also want unceasingly.

  “You’re most welcome, Arthur.” She held her hand out to me. “Should we begin destroying the bindings or should I break your knees and watch you try to crawl away?”

  “Dealing with the bindings sounds good, but only on one condition.” I met her eyes, and she almost seemed amused. Almost.

  “There are no conditions, Builder. I have made myself perfectly clear—”

  “I will need your mark.” I touched my head. “You promised me the crown. Do you have it?”

  “I do.” She reached up, pushing her hair aside to reveal a glittering golden crown that had been hidden by her dark locks. She pulled it off and held it out to me. “You can have it after, not before. The Devil does not lie, but man always does.” She dropped it to the ground beside me.

  “Fair enough.” I took a deep breath, hoping I wasn’t making the worst mistake of my life. Then I pulled my battered body to my feet and reached out toward the hammer. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

  “First, you must—”

  Lucifer probably said more, but I didn’t hear it because the second I wrapped my hand around the haft of the warhammer, power unlike anything I’d ever experienced surged through me. It crashed over me like a tidal wave, and as I struggled to keep myself aware of what was even happening, the marks upon my body blazed with light.

  The hammer in my hand began to glow, pulsing as the energy of the bindings placed upon the weapon began to flare. That was when I realized what had happened. The archangels had each given a portion of their power to seal away this weapon, and what’s more because I was connected to them, I could feel it flow into me. My body began to heal, my cells stitching themselves back together as the sky above crackled and boomed.

  I felt the fury of Wrath, and as I did, her armament, Merciless Greaves of Wrath, appeared upon my body. Greed and Envy followed, their power surging through me and causing the belt and gauntlets to manifest while the ring I’d received from Asmodai began to glow.

  That all happened in the split second I gripped the warhammer, but as my fingers closed around it, I felt the way the binding had worked. It wasn’t so much a binding as it was a redirection. They had used a portion of their power to effectively cause the weapon’s own power to feed the binding. It would be simple to break because all I’d have to do would be cut off the bindings from stealing Lucifer’s own power. The thing was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that. After all, there would be another thing that would be simple too. To modify the binding so that instead of feeding back into itself and strengthening the binding, I could open the marks on my body wide and call that power into myself

  Either way, I knew one thing. Right now, I was strong. Stronger than anyone had ever intended.

  I spun, swinging the warhammer in an arc toward Lucifer. The blunt end smashed into her skull with a wet crack, sending her sprawling sideways across the rocky ground like a broken mannequin. Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed as I strode toward her, warhammer raised high. I may not be the Princess of Pride, but I had her power, along with that of four Archangels coursing through me.

  Wrath tinged my vision red as Lucifer started to rise. Before she could, I hit her again, slamming the warhammer into her ribs. The blow shattered her armor into flitting bits of crimson energy that died like sparks as they hit the ground. Lucifer sprawled on her back, looking up at me, eyes narrowed in anger.

  “You are being a fool,” she said, her words tinged with blood. “The weapon you use is mine.” She kicked me in the knee, and I felt the blow crack my kneecap. I stumbled, falling as the backlash of Wrath’s Armament threw the attack back at her. She screamed, her leg twisting around with a sharp crack.

  The power in the hammer filled me mending my broken limb, and I knew that if it had happened for me, it was happening for her too. After all, this was her power I was using. And that was the thing though, wasn’t it?

  As my leg healed, I spun and sprinted for the crown she’d dropped on the ground. Lucifer rose, her wings extending as I grabbed the crown. The moment I touched the metal, she screamed. More power surged through me as the crown blazed to life in my hand. I may not have had her mark, but as long as I held this hammer, I didn’t need it. The power of Pride filled me in an instant, and as it did, I realized something. I could call more than I had before from the warhammer.

  While before the energy within the weapon had been siphoned into me through the marks of the other archangels, now it poured into me of its own volition.

  As I placed the crown upon my head, Lucifer charged. Only, in that instant, I could see more than I ever had before. Time seemed to slow down as the ring around my neck activated, and the sight of it struck me as odd. I could see its stats.

  Uncontrollable Binding of Lust

  Type: Ring

  Durability: 1,240

  Defense: 1D3

  Enchantments: Armament of Lust

  Ability: Enjoy the Moment– Causes time to slow down for the user.

  Only that wasn’t all because I could see the stats of everything, even Lucifer.

  Name: Lucifer

  Experience: 435,500,796,432

  Health: 173/195*

  Mana: 192/192*

  Strength: 97/100*

  Agility: 98/100*

  Charisma: 100/100*

  Intelligence: 100/100*

  Special: 92/100*

  The hammer in my hand throbbed, drawing my gaze to it.

  The Mourning Star

  Type: Warhammer

  Durability: 17,999,999/18,000,000

  Damage: 1D50*

  Enchantments: Indomitable Will, Binding of Wrath, Binding of Greed, Binding of Lust, Binding of Envy, Binding of Sloth, Binding of Gluttony

  Ability: Healing Aura– The user will rapidly heal all damage taken.

  Ability: Cascade– For the duration of the battle, every successful attack will cause overall damage to increase by ten percent.

  While part of me wanted to open the menu for the enchantment for Indomitable Will to see exactly what it would do, I didn’t want to waste the time. Besides, with the crown on my head, I could see the stats of the lightning above, of the volcano next to me. Millions of tooltips crowded my vision, and it was so overwhelming, I pushed them away in the same way I’d always done with Clarent. Instantly, the tooltips vanished back into glowing spheres of color above each and every object.

  Then I turned my attention back toward Lucifer. She had been caught mid-stride, one hand reaching back as flames gathered in her palm. Her other was outstretched toward me. Her face was t
wisted into a snarl and blood ran down her body.

  As I looked at her frozen in place, I couldn’t help but think about her health. Even though I’d hit her twice, I’d barely done twenty-two points of damage to her, and that was with a weapon that supposedly had a roll of fifty damage on top of the fact she’d been hit by the backlash of Wrath’s attack.

  I wasn’t sure if that was because she had incredible durability given by a hidden ability or if she was just healing, but I knew one thing. It’d be fucking impossible to put her down on my own. Even if I could keep hitting her, she’d eventually get the warhammer away from me, and once that happened, I’d find myself swallowed by a volcano.

  Besides, I didn’t want to fight her. Not really. No, at the end of the day, I wanted her to join me.

  “Stop,” I said, and as I spoke, the frozen moment shattered. Lucifer sped up, and she was so fast I could barely see her move even with all the power that had been granted to me. I dropped the hammer, and as it hit the ground, the crown on my head turned back into a lifeless hunk of metal, and all the stat boxes vanished.

  Lucifer stopped, one fist arching toward the air to me. It hovered only inches from my head, and I knew that if she wanted to, she could kill me.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, eyes shifting to the warhammer on the ground beside me.

  “Truth be told, I was hoping we could talk.” I reached up and pulled the crown from my head. I offered it to her. “I can’t break the bindings on your warhammer. You can have this back.”

  “That was not our deal,” she said, anger bubbling within her. Then she stopped, going absolutely still. She shut her eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths. When she opened them, she seemed calm. It was actually sort of scary. “Why can you not break them?”

  “Because they aren’t meant to be broken by me.” I pointed to the bindings emblazoned upon the hammer. “They are meant to strengthen me.” I touched the mark of Lust blazing on my bare chest. “Each of these marks allows me to pull power from the warhammer and use it as I see fit, but it doesn’t mean I can break them.” I sighed. “You’d need the other archangels to do that.”