Wanderer's Game

Getting to the East wing of the mansion takes longer than I'd expected. Longer still due to the fact that we need to act formal, have etiquette.

Gotta walk like I've got a damn stick up my ass, one arm held behind my back, the other holding a covered dish. Grayfia kicks me in the ankle each time I lose my posture, and to my surprise it's helped quite well.

Every hallway looks the same. The Lucifuge house is unsurprisingly well kept, unblemished red walls stretching on endlessly. The more I hear our footsteps, the more I feel like I'm going insane.

There's paintings dotted across the wall. Some of them depict the whole family, others are just single pieces, each of them are several feet in size. None of them are smiling. Even Elmiria, the supposed light of the family, doesn't smile.

My thoughts are wandering now. I'm starting to think it's a stress response. So far, we've seen two of Bidleid's Drones throughout the manor, and each time we walk past one I have to do everything in my power to not look at it.

Finally, after an agonising amount of time, we reach the main building of the East Wing. Unlike the rest of the manor, there's actual presence in this place. Soldiers sent here for Euclid's sake.

They're positioned all around the room, going about their lives and relatively peaceful as of now. Some are playing a tabletop game I don't recognise, others are showing off their clan traits.

All in all, they number in at 9. I try to cast Wandering Eye on a few of them, but the numbers I get back are as I expected.

Athairan Malphas: Level 90

Crimara Abbadon: Level 98

Farran Gusion: Level 98

Much stronger than me stats wise. Ability wise I'm not so sure. I wager with all my skills I could take one of them, but there's 9 Devils in this room. I'd lose handily. Luckily, I happen to have a trump card.

Grayfia Lucifuge: Level 296

I make one last check around the room for any drones, spotting one just above the entrance, observing the whole room. I manifest my Magic Circle onto the tip of my finger, as small as I possibly can. Here's hoping a few hours practice is enough.

-2MP!

The summoned sword sails through the air and cleaves the drone in two with a satisfying thunk as it disappears shortly after. So fast it didn't have time to react, so small it was nearly invisible. Sublime.

It's only been a few seconds now since we entered the room, and the soldiers are finally noticing us, clearly quite happy to see Grayfia. I'm damn near a ghost in her presence.

Almost every one of them has something to say to her. Something about how her eyes look, something about her dress, almost always something about her tits. One tries to grab her hand, and that's the limit for her.

Grayfia looks at them with sheer contempt on her face before she restrains herself and glances at me, clearly waiting for my command. It feels nice, having the reigns on someone so much stronger than me.

I nod, letting her know that there's no surveillance in this room and a less than a second later Grayfia has two daggers in her hand, hundreds more floating around her, all made of ice. She's fast. Scarily fast.

It happens faster than I can even keep track of. One moment, she's surrounded by soldiers on all ends, the next she's stood among their bodies, innumerable blades embedded in each one of them.

Despite that, there's no blood on her person whatsoever, the only red I can see is that of her glowing eyes as she looks at me.

It feels like she's showing off almost, because I'm sure she didn't need that many blades to get the job done. Not that I'm complaining.

"Shall we continue, Master?" Right. I can't afford to get distracted, no matter how much I love seeing a powerful woman at work.

"Of course, lead the way. I'd rather Euclid sees you first and gets distracted." Into the next hallway we go. There's less decorations and more warning signs around here.

As we walk, I decide to make conversation, since there's nobody else in these halls.

"How powerful do you think Euclid is?" She looks at me, humming in thought before answering.

"As you are, you should be able to kill him with the element of surprise. His true strength is his mind, rather than his body." She sound so detached as she says that. So cold, uncaring. Fuck it.

"Do you mind my asking why you're so willing to kill your own brother?" I probably shouldn't have asked it. But curiosity overwhelmed me once more. She sighs before she responds.

"For a time, I loved him more than anything in the world. He was the brightest, most adorable child growing up. After Mother died, I had to take care of him in the wake of Father's grieving." Her tone stays utterly flat as she continues.

"I tried to raise him well. Teach him the importance of manners, respect and kindness, just as Mother taught me. Unfortunately it seems I failed." Before I even realise it, I've started speaking.

"Don't blame yourself for how things turned out. You did your best to raise him well. Sometime's thats all you can do. Some people are just broken by nature." She doesn't respond to what I've said aside from a flicker of a smile. Then, she continues.

"As he reached adulthood, he started looking at me differently. I didn't recognise it for a while, but there was lust in his eyes. Looking back, I think I was afraid to acknowledge it." As she speaks, her voice starts to tremble.

"One night, that lust overtook him. I only barely managed to fight him off. After that, I lost any love I had for him. He doesn't deserve my respect, let alone my concern." She doesn't look at me as she speaks.

"Even after all these years of training, all the blood and tears I have devoted to bettering myself, sometimes I struggle to sleep at night. I lay awake in bed, wondering if he'll try once more, and if I'll be able to stop him." She takes a deep breath to calm herself.

As I watch her, I'm reminded why I'm doing this. Why I'm risking my life for all of these people. They've suffered more than me. They deserve this freedom.

"I'm sorry. For everything you've had to go through. I can't imagine how you could ever even speak with him after that." Grayfia shakes her head.

"I want to move on from his memory. For that, I must kill him. I appreciate your sympathy Master, but it is unnecessary." I don't respond. I can't, the words won't come to me, so we walk in silence.

I really need to stop asking questions. The Underworld just gets bleaker and bleaker with every answer I get. I suppose it's natural for a society ran by creatures of Sin.

As we walk, Grayfia's tiny smile comes back, but the silence between us continues until we reach Euclid.

------------------------------------

Every hallway has the same warning signs leading up to this place. Biohazard. It doesn't take a genius to see that Euclid's working with some dangerous shit, the type I need to make a good distraction. Bingo.

Whole damn room looks like a quarantine zone, walls are covered in protective material, doors are airlocked. He's renovated, it seems. Before we enter the lab, Grayfia turns to me.

"Are you prepared, Master?" I've been asking myself the same thing for 5 minutes now. I need to do this, I can't afford to fail.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Three steps. Summon Caduceus, skewer the fucker, get out of dodge. Easy as pie. Grayfia smiles and says something that surprises me.

"I'm glad I was able to meet you, Master. You've given me a reason to keep fighting, and for that I cant thank you enough." Yet again, I see a protectiveness in her eyes that I can't understand.

No time to waste on distractions. I can decipher her words all I want when we're done. I nod to her and she opens the first set of doors, then the second.

As soon as we enter the room, I have to resist the urge to gag. Strung up on operating tables across the room are bodies, conscious bodies. They moan and cry in pain, a symphony of torment I can't fully stomach the sight of.

Some are conscious enough to scream for help. Others are only able to groan louder. They all have the same purple toxin running through their system, the same rotten flesh peeling off in layers leaving them raw and exposed.

At the far end of the room are two figures, one of whom I hadn't expected to see just yet. Euclid sits there, extracting something from his patients bloodstream while humming a tune to himself, his joy plain to see.

Euclid Lucifuge: Level 178

Beneram Beelzebub: Level 190

Euclid suddenly sits up in shock, his head snapping towards us as he realises the door was opened. At first, he looks ready to scream, but then he sees Grayfia. The way his eyes take her in sickens me.

With Euclid having moved, I can see what he was doing. Beneram is hooked up to an odd machine that glows with Mana, his unconcious body convulsing as it flows into him constantly. It seems they're trying testing the Chimera Transformation.

Was this what Bidleid was working on? Did he want to test out how much Mana it required on Beneram first before trying it himself?

"Dearest sister! Oh, how I've longed for you to come see me!" He moves in to hug her, and I watch in real time as hatred erupts in her eyes. Euclid's too lovesick to even notice it.

She wants me to kill him. I know she does. But I need to know more. There's no guards here, all of them outside have been killed by Grayfia as we walked through the building. I can't take too long though, she may just wind up doing it herself.

"Yes, Euclid. I am sorry for my absence." She speaks through gritted teeth. I'm sorry, Grayfia. I need to find any Drones.

One in the corner, one near Beneram. They've already seen us, but I don't know if Bidleid gets the information in real time. I need to be quick, I've already lost valuable seconds by overthinking things.

-4MP!

The drones are gone in a second, and the next second I slide up to Euclid's back. He never even paid attention to me, just stood there staring at Grayfia like a hungry dog after she refused his hug.

As I get in position behind him, Grayfia darts forward and grabs Euclid's arms, stopping any resistance before he can even think of it. My left hand sparks with purple lightning as I use Gravity Magic to stop him from moving.

Before Euclid can voice any shock or anger, Caduceus is in my hand, the blade skewering him through the back of the throat and out the mouth. Once isn't enough. I find myself repeating the action several times. I can't afford to take any chances.

10000EXP! Renown Enemy Slain!

Level Up x64! (10/190)

Grayfia stands there, covered in the blood of her own brother as the blade stares her in the face, but she doesn't blink once. Instead, she's smiling.

Normally, I'd be incredibly happy to see numbers like that, but I need to get moving. I've already got an idea for how to make a fantastic distraction.

"Grayfia, get over to that machine and pump as much Mana into it as you can!" She looks confused for a moment, but doesn't even question the order, placing her palm on the receptacle. I fucking love this Devil.

Once Grayfia juices up Beneram, we won't have long to get moving before Beneram goes full Kaiju mode. Euclid may have been a bastard, but he was smart, so I don't hesitate to grab every chart, folder, file or scrap of paper and stuff it in my Inventory.

As I'm grabbing a folder near one of the operating tables, something takes hold of my wrist. The hand is gnarled and rotten, but the face is almost unchanged.

"Corvo?" He pulls me in closer, the action taking almost every ounce of strength he has left.

"Kill me. Please, Ali. It hurts, it hurts so much." He begins sobbing uncontrollably as he begs for the mercy of death. Every word feels like a punch to the gut.

For a moment, I think to heal him with a Prayer, but I see something on my HUD that leaves my mouth dry.

Unable to cure Chimera Toxin, too much time has passed since infection.

"I'm sorry." As I give Corvo the death he desired, Grayfia begins shouting for me.

"Master!" She calls out to me from the machine, concern tinging her voice as Beneram's body begins to shake violently, an exoskeleton forming across his limbs. With every second that passes, his form turns darker.

The screen next to Beneram's body hasn't raised any alerts yet. Transformation isn't a complete one. Only temporary.

"Steady, Grayfia! Just a few more moments!"

Her face contorts in pain, and it hurts to see, but we can't stop now. If we do, we're dead. I'll just have to remind myself to buy this woman a bouquet of flowers for all the shit she's gone through for me.

Moments later, lightning's flickering around her. Beneram's groaning in pain. Not enough power.

"Steady!"

Sirens, all around, utter pandemonium in the lab. Beneram's eyes open. Jackpot.

"Time to go!" She doesn't hesitate, running over as we move to the exit. Seconds later we're sprinting through the hallways of the East Wing of the Lucifuge manor, screams echoing through the whole building now.

Everything's been happening so fast, but now it's just a straight path to the finish li-

"PESTS." The voice is inhuman, burning into my eardrums. Thunderous crashing echoes as Beneram grows too large for the table, then too large for the room. Through the window, I see it.

Several stories tall, covered in a thick exoskeleton and thousands of glowing red eyes. Bipedal, with four arms and a voice that sounds like the dying screams of everyone you've ever loved. It sees me.

Rubble falls violently as twisted digits covered in hair grab hold of the roof, before throwing it away violently. For a moment, it stares at us. Purple venom drips from the tube it calls a mouth all over the hall, but we don't stop running.

"VERMIN." A hand reaches out to grab us, missing by an inch as Grayfia decides to up the ante, inscribing some symbol on my back before slamming down with a fistful of Mana.

One moment, I feel gravity. The next, I'm weightless, my body unresponsive. I look back and see the glowing eyes of Beneram staring hungrily. Then, I see something new, leathery Devil wings- wing? Singular? Where the fuck is the other one?

Before I can think about it any further, Grayfia grabs my floating body and flies away with her own wings, just in time for me to watch as Beneram loses his shit, flinging Chimera Toxin all over the East Wing of the manor.

I can't risk him finding everyone else in the courtyard, so I summon my Doppelganger and send him towards Beneram, using it as a tool to lure the Chimera towards the King's Court, where I can almost guarantee Bidleid is.

I watch with utter satisfaction as Beneram tries desperately to swat the Doppelganger like a bug, before rapidly giving chase as the construct flies away.

Step one, done. Now time to get the fuck out of dodge.