Devourer

Chapter 176: Prepping the Fieldtrip

I stared at the demon as he explained his plan. It was a relatively simple plan. But that was also what made it so cunning. It leveraged the fact that demons spent more time fighting each other than anyone else. Over the past year, he has been stirring up the fires of war in hell. Another Blood War was underway, and the seven rings were at each other’s throats.

“So you want me to take control of the very heart of hell? The Black Heart.” I said as Alastor finished his proposal.

“Yes, I think the old princes have ruled long enough.” Alastor said with a grin.

“And, of course, at the end of all of it, you want to be the one to be on top. Above your old master Asmodeus.” I replied. Alastor then nodded with another supposedly charming smile.

I'm not sure if he actually being charming, can’t really tell, honestly. I just know he seems to be able to seduce and charm himself through most things. Good thing I fixed most of the nagging imperfections in Cecilia’s brain, so these kinds of little tricks would do nothing to her.

“I would also assume there is no higher calling, such as giving the denizens of hell a better life or anything else along those lines?” Cecilia asked as she took another sip of wine.

“Of course not.” Alastor replied his tone indicating that he was vaguely insulted.

“Well, that’s good to hear at least you’re honest. But I suppose it is silly on my part to expect anything high from a demon.” Cecilia said nonchalantly.

“He is my friend down under, or so he says.” I said as we both glanced at him and I sensed a slight bit of uncertainty course through him.

Oh yes, Mr Archdemon we know what your kind are like. Your word isn’t worth anything, demons are backstabbers by nature. But on the plus side, it makes them predictable. Show them weakness and they will exploit it. Show them strength, and they will kneel. Demons know their positions, if they forget someone will inevitably remind them.

“Oh don’t worry, we know what you demons are like, and we also know what you want.” I said with a laugh, and he relaxed ever so slightly.

“In the world to come, there will be many races of many different tendencies and viewpoints. There is nothing sacred about any one of them, every pattern of thought just needs to be dissected and analysed.

The right answers will be determined, and appropriate forms of manipulation and persuasion implemented. All of you are not different.” Cecilia said, her tone placid and calm. I couldn’t help but smile internally, she was becoming more monstrous with each passing day. These words are something I would say.

“It seems the rumours are not unfounded, you are truly a monster in human skin.” Alastor replied calmly, his sassy bravado gone like the wind.

“Oh, you have no idea. Do you think power is just how big of a crater you can make? It’s not the sword it’s the hand that wields it that matters. I have heard the saying from some of the humans that the pen is mightier than the sword. But honestly, I disagree…” I said as I smiled and flashed my fangs at Alastor.

“Mighty is the hand that can use both the pen and the sword.” I said and Alastor gave me a wry smile in response.

“I understand, I will keep that in mind.” Alastor replied as he raised his hands in surrender. Of note, this is the fifth time he has done the whole surrender thing. If he stays long enough his arms might fall off. If I ever have to kill him I’ll make sure to pull his arms off. That’ll be really funny…

“Good, now then when can we get the ball rolling?” I asked as put down my fifth bottle of wine. Cecilia gave me a sideways glance as I reached for another bottle. She knows I’m partly using this meeting as an excuse to drink copious amounts of wine. Cecilia once told me that the value of the wine I drink was more than the economic output of some towns.

But I’m not a drunk or an alcoholic, because first off I can’t get drunk and second I can’t get addicted so there was no way for me to end up as an alcoholic.

“Whenever you are ready, I assume you aren’t going alone?” Alastor asked.

“Of course not, you want me to back a side in the Blood War and use them to take over. For that, I will need experts and those who can inspire fear by reputation alone.” I replied with a grin.

I already have a few names in mind, the first is naturally Mahaila. The apprentice of the Blade was by far the most skilled warrior in melee combat as far as I knew. The next one is Serchax, she was an ancient, and her reputation precedes her. Rosa was also on the table, after the modifications I did to her, she was a far cry from what she was previously. On the topic of modified servants, Azatherine was also a potential candidate since having someone who could fly well was a definite advantage in hell. Azatherine has gone through the most extensive modifications of anyone, she even beat Cecilia in that department. However, that was mainly because there were some modifications that I wouldn’t put into Cecilia until I was a hundred per cent sure there would be no unfortunate side effects.

“I see, well I look forward to hearing from you. You may contact me using this.” Alastor said as he handed me a simple iron coin with a horned goat’s face inscribed.

“Interesting little thing…” I said as I got up from my seat and the other two rose as well.

I look forward to hearing from you Great Beast

We have much to do in the Searing Hells…

??,`°.???.?.???.°`,??

Well the first stop was closest since three of my candidates were all in one place. I switched back to my orginal body as I slithered down the enlarged hallways of the palace. Soon arrived to the private sparring room that I had constructed for my training sessions with Mahaila.

My senses picked up the signs of battle from within, it looks like things were going well in there.

I opened the door with a wave of my hand and I was greeted by the sight of three humanoids. The first was Mahaila was was sternly overseeing a sparring session.

“Sloppy, Rosa watch your back.” Mahila barked as Rosa just barely dodged a burst of gold flame.

I glanced over at the gold feathered humanoid female that did a graceful kick and a wave of gold crackling flame erupted from her feet forming a flaming blade that shot at Rosa. Where her hair was instead a mane of gold feathers and from her back sprouted glowing gold wings. Her eyes had no irises instead the glowed and ominous white as their gaze locked onto Rosa. The rest of her body just seemed like your typical shapely human woman.

“Stop.” Mahaila said and the two immediately stopped their sparring as the three turned to face me.

“Alastor finally got in touch?” Mahaila asked with a raised brow, and I nodded.

“Thanks for the heads-up by the way.” I said as I approached. The other two gave me a respectful bow while Mahaila remained as she was. I didn’t mind, the strong will always earn their place. If you wish to have privileges prove that you are worthy of them.

“Now then Azatherine how are you liking this new form?” I asked as I turned to the feathered humanoid. “It has it’s utility although it lacks offensive power.” Azatharine replied as she looked down at her humanoid body.

“It’s supposed to give you options to be subtle.” Mahaila stated a tinge of irritation in her voice.

“A giant flaming gold phoenix flying through the air is not exactly hard to notice.” Mahila said with a sigh.

In response Azatherine just transformed back into her phoenix form. After my modifications she was now even larger than before and now her flames were a brilliant gold rather than her old white. She was one and only individual to have a specific modification.

A creature’s power was determined by its ether core. I always felt that if your original ether core wasn’t enough why not just add another one? It's kind of like another fuel tank for some arcane machine. But of course, this was very difficult to do since, when you try this, the cores tend to interfere with each other, which eventually leads to a rather dramatic explosion.

So the trick was to remove the interference, thus was born the twin core system. Azatherine’s modification was a resounding success since now her power has effectively doubled. As far as combat stamina goes, she effectively has a bottomless pool of it. After some final touch-ups I could probably slot into Cecilia and make her the most powerful humanoid in the world.

As for Rosa, I have been splicing her essence with some of the ancient genomes I have been gradually unlocking. Malegaros gave me this giant stack of data, so I have been slowly converting the soup from the Font of Life into power that I could use to unlock the genomes.

Now Rosa was actually part dragon and basilisk; she was about twice as strong as she was previously, not nearly as strong as Azatherine, and she still couldn’t beat Mahaila thanks to her skill. Still, she was nothing to sneeze out now.

Then, there were the special units that I would be bringing along. These also sported the twin core system since these were designed from the ground up to have two ether cores. They were under a new category called Project: Briar. Couldn’t wait to take them for a spin in Hell. After all, where better to test them?

“So when are we heading out?” Mahaila asked.

“Well, the three of you are coming with me, and I’ll let you know.” I replied.

“Three?” Mahaila asked as she raised a brow and she glanced at the pair.

“Yeah, it’s a field trip!” I replied with a grin, and Mahaila just raised my brow at my antics.

“A field trip in Hell?” Mahaila deadpanned.

“Yes, the best kind.” I replied, and she just shook her head in response, giving me the “I’m getting a migraine” face.

“Alright, all of you, get ready, Rosa I need you to head back to the box, I need to give you some fine-tuning.” I said, and I saw Rosa wince from the last time I tinkered with her.

Yes, I know she isn’t some machine but counterpoint, she doesn’t have enough fire resistance and we are going to hell. So get on the table Rosa.

“Alright, I’m going to go pick up the last member of my merry band. I could use a swim.” I said, and I saw Mahaila give me a look.

“You are bringing her along?” Mahaila asked as she immediately realised who I was talking about.

“Yeah, Serchax would definitely be useful. She’s an ancient, people down there know her. Information leaks are not a problem since the demons wandering around in Terra work for Alastor.” I replied and Mahaila just sighed.

“You don’t like her.” I stated and Mahaila nodded mutely.

“Yeah I don’t…” Mahaila replied with another sigh.

“Well you better learn to play nice. Now then you can get into contact with the Crow Father and tell him I want a meeting. Someone needs to hold down the fort here.” I said and Mahaila looked up in surprise.

“Oh I know you met him along with Nemesis and the Drowned Admiral. I’m going to go grab Serchax then I’m going to have a chat with Nemesis. I don’t want the angels ruining the property value here while I’m out on the field trip.” I said and Mahaila just blinked at me before nodding.

“Great…” I said as a cheerily clapped my hand.

Now then Rosa we are going to put the changes in first and then I’m going to go chat…

??,`°.???.?.???.°`,??

I grinned down as I looked down at Rosa, she was naked on the bed I made out of cartilage and fur. Vampires had such interesting bodies, thanks to the nature of the transformation. Rosa still had long pointy ears from her elven heritage. By all intents and purposes, she should have a rather petite and willowy frame.

However, Vampiric transformation had some ties to blood magic and by extension the Daemons. This means the Vampire’s insatiable hunger for pleasure and opulence was not without cause. The Vampiric transformation relied on a set of ancient and powerful magics overlaying onto the target’s initial essence code.

If I had to venture a guess, this design was made to mass-produce capable soldiers. Basically a process of making powerful minions. This was ironic all things considered, since the Vampires were so proud of thier Vampiric nature. They had no idea their entire race was made to be pawns in someone else’s game.

I would tell them since it's kind of funny, but Cecilia told me to keep it to myself until the opportune moment. Of course, I knew that it would be better to hold off since I could fix them and ascend them first. If I told them after the fact chances are they would be more grateful about the whole thing.

But I’m just saying… I could just tell them to see their reaction and then I could wipe thier memories…

Just saying…

Well, now isn’t the time for that. As I glanced back down I looked at her curvacious body and large bust. This wasn’t the body of an elf. Elves did not have chests this large and hips this wide. As to why this change happened it was quite simple, some of the overriding magic were based on Succubi and Incubi essence.

As to why such an adaptation was built into the Vampiric transformation process, my best guess was that it shared a reason to why the Vampires loved sex so much. Chances are if Rosa was turned into a vampire in the distant past she would have been also been used as whore. The ancient daemons had insatiable appetites. Magne Morningstar one of the oldest of the Daemons was a Demoness that held frequent orgies despite her aspirations of bettering her home. I would bet at least some of those warming her bed were the ancient vampires. I am sure she enjoyed both men and women during her stint as the Prime Evil.

It was the only logical reason I could think of as to why a sex drive was even put into a Vampire. They couldn’t reproduce on their own so such an adaptation held no purpose.

Modifications were something I did often to almost everything I could get my hands on. I spent an entire three months refining the stuff in the Primordial Font just to unlock the Watcher Genome. But even that I could only make the most basic adaptations. If I wanted to fully unlock the fancy stuff I would need to get power the old fashioned way.

But the good thing I unlocked just enough to do a few interesting things. For instance, Cecilia is part Watcher now, I also weaved some Succubi in along with a dash of Seraphim. All of these were basic adaptations, I didn’t have any of the fancy stuff, but it was enough to make her immortal and ageless. So technically, she didn’t need an heir, but she still wanted kids for some reason.

However, since she was now so much more genetically powerful than most creatures, it would be hard for her to find a suitable mate. Even now her choice of partners Lily and that Balder fellow were hard-pressed to satisfy her. That might be due to the Succubi thing, but all I know was that by the end of her sessions, the two of them were spent on the bed while Cecilia was left sweaty and dripping but still raring to go. She was even asking for me to make some kind of humanoid creature to act as a backup partner to help her in this department. I suppose the fact that her pheromones now had an aphrodisiac effect probably didn’t help matters since her partners seemed to exhaust themselves more rapidly thanks to it.

But that was a problem for later. For now, I had a more pressing issue, I scanned Rosa’s pale ivory-skinned body and looked for somewhere to do the implantation. I think right below the diaphragm would be good.

I sent a mental signal, and several tentacles appeared out of the living walls each tipped with a needle-like appendage. Rosa glanced nervously at me at the sight of the hovering needle-tipped tentacles.

“This might sting… alot…” I said with a grin before the tentacles shot out. The first pair slammed into the base of her ribs, each needle almost six inches long, slammed all the way in, and she let out a gasp of pain. Her body stilled as the paralysis took hold.

Another tentacle wrapped itself around her waist and lifted her up before flipping her around. Then, the next needle plunged into the base of her spine. This would stall her natural healing which would allow me to cut her chest cavity open and implant the organ.

At least for now, I didn’t bother to knock her out or give her any painkillers. I had no need for weaklings. If they couldn’t even handle this much pain, they were undeserving of my gifts. Cecilia was an exception, of course, she got the so-called five-star treatment. No pain, no discomfort, just a quick nap, and when she awakes, it will all be done.

I saw Rosa’s pupil stare at me as her pupils dilated in fear. I sent another needle into her thigh injecting a cocktail that would stop her body from going into shock. It also will numb the pain slightly, but she will feel most of it. Lucky for her I didn’t need to cut open her rib cage.

This time, at least…

I raised my hand, and it transformed into a thin blade, perfect for use as a scalpel. Meanwhile, other tentacles appeared tipped with hooks. Another fatter tentacle spat out a small organ about the size of a human fist. It was black as coal and with red glowing streaks running across it like blood vessels. The red glow pulsed like there was a heartbeat. This was an Infernus organ, something found within ancient demons. This will do very nicely for what was to come in the Searing Hells.

Now, this might hurt a bit

I need to move your liver and stomach out of the way

Please ignore any burning sensations…