by Oliver Mayes
Noigel – Invidia
Noigel was an Embodiment of Sin. Damien had never even considered the possibility. Of course he hadn’t. It was ridiculous. How could this have happened? More than that, how had he not noticed? It had seemed so obvious Noigel was just getting his kicks from cavorting with the succubi, yet all this time he’d been covertly pursuing this goal? All the signs were there, why had Damien missed them?
Noigel twisted his head, then turned all the way around. There was enough of Noigel left that it was undoubtedly him. Rather than the horns reverting, he’d grown into them. They curled from the top of his forehead into tight circles, like those of a ram. His hairless head was now matted with short, thick black fur, no different from that covering his hooves all the way up to his waist.
The most prominent new feature was embedded in Noigel’s forehead: a glowing red eye, set sideways. Unlike the eyes Noigel had started with, this one had a pupil. It was even more disturbing than the black orbs Damien had accustomed himself to seeing in demons, not least because it was staring straight at him.
Noigel jumped down off the Soul Well and cantered toward Damien, who was so taken aback he activated his Pride form immediately. Noigel drew to a stop in front of him, put his hands on his hips and began tapping a hoof as he continued glaring at his master. He was waiting for Damien to speak, but Damien had absolutely no idea what to say. He started by checking Noigel’s stats, looking for more information:
Noigel – Embodiment of Envy
Strength: 40 Agility: 320 Intelligence: 385
Constitution: 310 Endurance: 320 Wisdom: 310
Soul Summon Limit: 14/15
Soul Summon Cost: 10
Abilities: We Are Many, Forbidden Knowledge, Evil Eye, Chaotic Bolt, Bloodlust, Circle of Hell, Bite, Leap, Claw
What in the name of Todd was this? Noigel was more powerful than most players. Now his intelligence would always be high. He’d have Forbidden Knowledge all the time and had picked up all the succubi’s magic abilities, plus this Evil Eye thing which was creeping Damien out no end.
Much of this was imposing, yet all of it still paled in comparison to the part Damien could not easily understand: Noigel had his own Soul Summon Limit? What? Noigel’s own Soul Summon Cost had risen to 10, and he’d taken two of Damien’s succubi into his own Soul Summon Limit while Damien was absent to prevent them from becoming untethered.
With Noigel as his underling, all this was great news. On paper. So why did Damien have a pervading sense of dread? Because he’d been very comfortable in his superiority over Noigel and now they were nearly equals. That’s why. Damien asserting himself over Bartholomew was one thing, as he didn’t have to rely on Bartholomew and travel with him wherever he went. Somehow this seemed less a blessing than a cleverly disguised curse.
One thing was certain: this would require further testing. It’s a shame that’s the direction Damien chose to pursue in his first interaction with his irate, newly descended minion.
“Can you still speak? Or did—”
“You’re pretending this isn’t a thing? If you hadn’t reduced my Embodiment requirements to a punishment/reward system, I could’ve reached this form before the battle and might’ve been able to actually help! All that time you treated me like a dirty little gremlin who wanted to have a cheeky—”
Damien put his fingers firmly in his ears and closed his eyes. His question had been answered. Noigel could still speak. Damn. There’s always something, isn’t there?
Epilogue
PPMD: I told you not to involve your brother. Are you satisfied now?
Mango: He was on track to win the streaming competition. Helping him at that stage both cemented his victory and meant we’d take the credit for it, in his eyes. It would’ve simplified the last stage of the plan, the most important stage.
PPMD: Simplifying the last step isn’t useful when it complicates all the steps in between. It doesn’t matter how or why my misgivings proved correct, only that they did. It’s unfortunate retrieving Excalibur ourselves proved impossible, but that doesn’t excuse you. Your skills made you perfectly designed for this task. The fiasco you caused between Andrew and Damien ironically destabilized the Empire and made it easier, yet you still mismanaged it.
Mango: I did the best I could with what I had. If Hungrybox and I had been supported by you, Armada and Mew2King, we’d have won easily.
PPMD: Which would’ve shown all five of us acting in tandem in the early game, as well as drawing us away from our own tasks. You don’t solve complications with more complications, Mango. That’s a losing line. Hungrybox was assigned to deal with Damien because he had the most at stake and was best equipped to handle him, even though it wasn’t his responsibility. Armada and Mew2King have been diligently pursuing their own tasks, as have I. We haven’t had any unforeseen problems, because we didn’t create any. Your insistence on backing Andrew for the streaming competition, which was never a priority, means we failed to keep the occultist class suppressed. Hungrybox has lost his Embodiment. He confirmed it, just now. You’ve jeopardized a crucial pillar of our team.
Mango: That’s unfortunate.
PPMD: That makes it sound like luck was involved. It’s not unfortunate. You steered him into an avoidable disaster.
Mango: There was no way any of us could’ve known what would happen.
PPMD: You’re absolutely right, it was unpredictable. That’s why I was against it. That’s why there are only five of us: fewer moving parts. But each of us needs to do their part to the fullest, and now Hungrybox can’t. You haven’t just weakened him, you’ve weakened all of us. It’s up to you to fix the mess you’ve made. In addition to catching up on your lost progress in Ragnar-Rock over the last week, you’ll also be helping HungryBox reclaim his embodiment as fast as possible.
Mango: What about Camelot?
PPMD: I’ll deal with it, along with my own affairs. You’ll put me in touch with our contacts and I’ll run the interference, so you can focus on helping Hungrybox.
Mango: Thank you, that’s very kind of you.
PPMD: No it isn’t, I’m not happy to be picking up your slack. I was already overworked, now I have to shoulder your responsibility. Three strikes and you lose half your cut. You’re on strike two. The rest of the group is aware of that much. Do as I tell you so if anything goes wrong it’s my fault, not yours. Understood?
Mango: Yes, PPMD.
PPMD: It’ll take time to come up with an airtight solve. Try not to screw up before then. No more improvisation. Stick to the plan and we won’t fail.
Mango: Hindsight is 2020.
PPMD: Foresight is 20XX.
Afterword
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Copyright © Oliver Mayes, 2021
Published by Portal Books, 2021
The right of Oliver Mayes to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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