How I became the Empress of Hell

Despite my claims of not being a morning person, I was rapidly on my way towards becoming one with how often I had been getting up before 8:00AM. I opted to let Emily sleep in to help with the hangover she’d likely have when she woke, and instead decided to indulge my curiosity and explore my fiancée’s bedroom she had grown up in. She had all sorts of posters for various video games, some I recognized, most I hadn’t even heard of. She had a framed picture of something written in some computer language… If I had to guess it was the first thing she coded successfully. (It was, she has since confirmed this and we have it hanging up in her home office.) The thing that made my inner child the most happy, however, was the wall with several shelves filled with dozens and dozens of Pokémon plushies. While I could definitely name every single one of them off the top of my head, I’d rather not bore you with all my nerd knowledge. I opened her closet and laughed at the vast array of clothing styles she had. Despite her usual choice of black clothing, her closet was a cornucopia of color. After thumbing through the various articles of clothing I giggled as I found a cute tank top with several of the same Pokémon as the ones on her wall. I pulled it on and even with it being somewhat loose fitting it was still rather comfy. I slipped on my pair of jeans, gave Emily a quick peck on the cheek, and then went downstairs.

My stomach growled loudly as I walked into the kitchen and smelled bacon, eggs, and sausage. Emily’s dad turned to me and gave me a huge smile.

“Heya, kiddo. Sleep well?”

Being called that definitely tugged at my heartstrings, but it also made me feel unbelievably happy at the same time. I nodded to Marvin and took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Normally I’m a super light sleeper, but this past week I slept like a baby.”

He gave me a knowing smile and cocked his eyebrow.

“That couldn’t possibly be because of a girl, about yay high, black hair, brown eyes.”

I chuckled and nodded. I was about to say something when the woman we had been talking about walked in. Her dad greeted her with a hug and she went over to the counter mumbling softly. Marvin saw the look on her face and gave me another grin. He spoke in a much louder tone than necessary, and I shook my head in amusement.

“Good Morning Emily! How Are You Doing This Morning? How’s Your Head Feeling?”

She flipped him off, grabbed a mug, and poured herself a cup of hot water. She retrieved some teabags from one of the cabinets above her head and took a seat next to me. I placed my hand on top of hers and she groaned and placed her head on the table. Her dad took pity on her and kept his voice low as he finished making breakfast. We both ate quickly and headed back up to her bedroom. 

As I grabbed my phone from the charger I noticed I had a notification from the game. I wasn’t able to open the message, so I figured one of the NPC’s had sent it. I marveled at how much autonomy the NPC’s had and when I told Emily about the message she tried explaining something about how advanced their programming must have been and how much work it would’ve taken to design something that in-depth. As we packed our stuff for our return trip to the campus, she started going off about the differences between Virtual Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence. The more she talked about it, the more excited she became. As she started going into all the fine details she must have seen the way my eyes had glazed over from not really understanding what she was talking about.

“Sorry… Sometimes I get a bit carried away when it comes to this stuff.”

I pulled her close to me and kissed her nose and then her lips.

“Never apologize for being passionate about something that you love. I love seeing how excited you were getting, even if I don’t fully understand it all.”

She smiled really widely and kissed me before pulling away and grabbing her bags.

 As much as I wanted to say goodbye to Kim, she was at work already, but I knew it wouldn't be too long before I saw my future mother-in-law again. We packed up my CRV and gave her dad several hugs and set off back towards Boulder. Emily and I chatted the whole way about how everything had gone, and I told her about the moment her Dad and I shared. She teared up and told me she was so happy I was able to connect with him that well. As we got close to the dorms we messaged everyone that we were planning on jumping on the game as soon as we got back and they all replied they would see us in game.

================================

It turned out the message I had received was from Gehenna telling me that we needed to meet and to bring my clan with me. Like last time, there was only a set of coordinates. We all geared up and set out as quickly as we could. As we arrived at the location I was surprised to see another clan was there as well. When we got closer I recognized them as one of the clans we fought in the clan battles, the Moonlit Black Cats, if my memory served me correctly. We looked at each other for a moment, the tension palpable, until Gehenna cleared her throat loudly and we all turned towards her.

"Lost and the Damned. Black Cats. Thank you for coming on such short notice… I wouldn't have asked both of your clans here if I didn't need your help so badly. The reason I asked both of your clans to come here is that it's been brought to my attention that there's going to be a full Realmshift taking place within the next few days. For those of you who don't know what a Realmshift is, it's when several realms of the heavens and hells become conjoined. A full Realmshift, however, is when all of the realms of Heaven and all of the realms of Hell temporarily converge and become one. As you can imagine, every time this has happened in the past, major conflict between the two sides escalates into a bloody protracted battle to seize territory and claim parts of the realm so that when they separate again, that part of the realm becomes a permanent part of either the Heavens or Hells."

She paused for a moment to let what she had said sink in fully before continuing.

"For the past 700 years we have always come away from each full Realmshift with far less territory than we started. I think, however, this time we may have a chance to change that. For the first time in a long time we have two clans that are strong enough to possibly tip the balance in our favor."

She glanced at me and my clan mates before doing the same with the other clan. 

"Demon Overlord Allexus. Demon Lord Raize. Step forward."

Me and the person I was guessing was the other clan's clan leader moved to the front of our clans and closer to where Gehenna was standing. As I got closer to him I recognized him as the necromancer we had fought in the underground tunnel during the clan battles. He looked vastly different now than he did then, and I could feel the power radiating off him like waves of energy. He gave me a funny look for a moment then turned his attention to Gehenna. I realized that he was seeing my Power Limiter reduced level and I figured I'd give him a true taste of why Gehenna had chosen me. I pressed my fingers to the runes on my choker and undid the clasp to remove it. It took every ounce of my strength to fight back the extremely intense orgasmic wave that flooded my system, but as I did so, I saw the look of sheer terror on Raize's face as he felt those same waves of power he was giving off, only 20 times stronger. He started to go for his weapon when Gehenna spoke again in a loud amplified voice.

"Allexus! Raize! Enough!! I didn't bring you here to fight each other… But if it did come to that, Raize, I'm sure you can tell you wouldn't stand a chance… But I need both of you for what's to come. So… STAND DOWN!"

As her words echoed loudly through the area, I placed the Power Limiter back on my neck and focused back on Gehenna. 

"This fight is going to be difficult enough as it is, we can't afford to have both of you at each other's throats. Come... There's something I need you to see."

She waved her hand and a portal appeared. She spun on her heel and looked back at Raize and me, and motioned for us to go through. The tall demon covered in a heavy cloak shrugged at me before walking forward through the portal, and I followed behind him. We found ourselves high up in a tower with open walls, a large glowing black and red gem was thrumming in the center of the room and as Gehenna stepped through the portal she walked towards it.

“This is a Realmstone. It is the heart of every city, which is the heart of every realm. This stone determines which faction has control over a given realm. As you can both sense, this one is charged with demonic power. It is what allows for the humans within this realm to bear Demonspawn children, among other things.”

She turned and walked towards one of the open walls and moved to place her hand out. A dark blue barrier shimmered and prevented her hand from passing through the opening. She pressed harder and black flames spread out from the sides of her hands as she put her strength into it. The shield didn’t relent in the slightest and she pulled her hand back.

“These towers can only be accessed from the bottom. Well… normally.” 

She pointed towards her portal that was still open.

“I’m considered the guardian of this Realmstone, so I can come and go as I please.”

She turned and looked at me.

“Allexus, do me a favor and strike the Realmstone once. Not hard, just enough to really feel like a good hit. Don’t worry… you won’t damage it that easily”

I cocked my head in confusion but drew one of my swords and swung without using any of my demonic strength. All around me the air shimmered and the room was suddenly filled with tall heavily armored demons wearing blood red platemail. They all had huge ornate spears glowing with runes pointed at me and even through their visored helmets I could feel their murderous intent. As one, they moved to impale me until Gehenna held up a hand.

“Protectors, hold!!”

They all froze in place but still held their blades at my throat.

“Protectors, stand down!”

They all moved in unison and stood at attention with their spears at their sides. I released the breath I had been holding in and looked back at Gehenna.

“As you can see, any threat to the Realmstone is met with lethal force. Each tower holds 100 protectors, who will only take commands from their guardian. These guys are the reason I’ll need help. They have a unique feature that automatically adjusts their already very high levels and fighting skill to any enemies within the tower. Which means that all 100 of the Protectors in this tower are currently adjusted to most effectively fight you both.”

I considered the implications of what she was telling us and realized her dilemma. In order to effectively combat the protectors of each tower, attackers would have to wade through enemies that were specifically geared to fight them on an equal playing field. Which meant that the immensely high leveled Gehenna would have to fight enemies that were probably among the strongest in the game. The fact she had only used 80% of her power against me and defeated me so thoroughly meant any who joined Gehenna in taking a tower was in for one hell of a fight.

“Did you already figure it out, Allexus?”

I nodded and grimaced.

“Yes… The enemies are high leveled, so it would take a sizable force of high powered attackers to even stand a chance at taking on the tower. The problem with that is that every powerful attacker makes the Protectors that much stronger, making an already difficult fight next to impossible.”

“It’s worse than that I’m afraid.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

“Of course it is.”

“The power that the Realmstone emanates in the Heaven realms almost instantly maxes out Demonspawn Redemption Meters.”

I sighed loudly and rubbed the bridge of my nose. That meant that more than half of my clan wouldn’t be able to accompany us. I didn’t know how many full Demonkin Raize had in his clan, but I assumed it wasn’t more than one or two. I shifted my head towards Raize as I heard him scoff and raise his arms.

“I’m out. I’m the only full demon in my clan. And what we had to go through to accomplish that… It was hell. I’m not putting my clan through that again.”

He turned to leave but Gehenna placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait. Raize, there is little that goes on in my realm that I don’t know about. I already knew that you were the only full Demonkin in your clan. I had no intention of asking you to join in the attacks. Quite the opposite. I want you and your Black Cats protecting my Realmstones.”

He turned back towards her and nodded before she continued.

“Normally I would be the one responsible for defending them… but this Realmshift is going to be different. This is the first time I’ve had other demons strong enough to help me to take Realms, instead of just keeping my own safe. That’s why I need you and your clan here doing what I cannot.”

He narrowed his eyes and her and thumbed his chin a few times. After a moment he shrugged and nodded.

“OK. Me and my clan are in. Send me the details of where to go and when to be there, and we’ll stomp anyone stupid enough to try anything. Good luck out there, Allexus… from the sounds of it, you’re gonna fucking need it.”

I was about to reply before he spun and walked back through the portal.

“Allexus… why do male demons always act like the hells revolve around them?”

I laughed and shook my head.

“No idea, Gehenna. There’s a reason I’m only attracted to other women.”

She surprised me by giving me a naughty smile and nodding.

“You and me both, Allexus.”

Before we could delve deeper into that topic, she walked over to the wall looking out and motioned for me to join her.

“The addition of the fallen angel will go a long way towards helping in this fight, Allexus. Her immunity to their holy blades and attacks will prove invaluable.”

“You do know I haven’t agreed to anything, right?”

She gave me a wry smile and laughed softly.

“You and I both know you’re going to, so there’s no use denying it.”

She was right. She knew I wouldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me and my clan by. It was my turn to shrug my shoulders and simply nod my head.

“Like I said, there is little that happens in my realm that I don’t know about.”

“So, my only issue is that even with you at our side, there would still only be eight of us that would be able to attack the Realmstones. If it really is as difficult as you made it sound, that’s not nearly enough to get the job done.”

“How long has your clan been established, Allexus.”

“I don’t know how time works in the hells… but even still I would say not long.”

“And yet in the short time you’ve been a clan you already amassed seven other people capable of joining you and I in this fight. If the pattern holds, and with a little extra motivation, I don’t think you’ll have any issue getting more of your clan to join us.”

“You do know how two of them became full demons… right? I mean… of course you do, given what you requested once I beat you. That’s… not something I can do with all of them. Hell… I’m not sure I could do it with any of them. Scythe and Bray are a couple and only attracted to men, I’m pretty sure Jade is only attracted to men as well… although I haven’t actually asked her. I have absolutely zero interest in having sex with Ikelos… for so many reasons. Tifa… Ok. Maybe Tifa. I don’t really know her well enough though to really be comfortable with that. Ghost… You know… I know very little about him as well. Maybe if I-”

I watched as she raised her eyebrow and started tapping her arm in irritation so I simply shut my mouth and sighed deeply.

“Oh you’re done? Good. All of what you said is moot when you consider one simple fact. It’s literally what your demonic body was designed for.”

She was right. I hated that she was right. But doing as she suggested would not only mean my clan mates would be able to join us, but I would also gain a slight boost in experience from corrupting them. As reluctant as I was to suggest to any of them that I wanted to have sex with them… It was the fastest and most effective way to change them to demons. That was definitely going to be an awkward conversation I was not looking forward to, but I’d burn that bridge when I got there. While we’d definitely explore other options first, I reluctantly admitted to myself that there was a likely conversation about this with my clan mates in my near future. 

“Gehenna, Before I go down that route, do you know of any other ways that we could try first? I realize I’m going to have to ‘bite the proverbial bullet’ eventually, but I’d like to keep my options open.”

“I’ll send you the location of a couple of places that might help. In the meantime, talk with the rest of your clan and let them know everything we discussed. Send me a message within the next six days to let me know when you’re ready. I have to say, I’m especially thrilled at the idea of battling alongside you instead of fighting against you.”

“That makes two of us, I’m excited to not be on the receiving end of your flames for once.”

We laughed a bit before heading back through her portal where my clan was eagerly awaiting news of what had happened.