Wish upon the Stars chapter 1002

I was thrilled about my new pseudo Domain. Asmodeus felt…different. It was a call back in some ways to my time as a pure support. Asmodeus wasn’t just a way to enhance my friends, it made ME that enhancement. I’d fight by their side to watch their backs, and that was appealing to me in a way that I hadn’t realized I’d been missing up to now.

This new pseudo Domain was going to fill a huge hole in my arsenal. Of course, it was closer to a form, but so were Behemoth, Glory, Leviathan, and a few others. The main difference between them was scale. Pseudo Domains put a lot of strain on my Chronicle because they were made by combining forms and sometimes even other pseudo Domains. Forms were made from combinations of Skills. It was an important distinction. And in this case, it was going to be the thing that made this particular pseudo Domain really shine.

Abel, meanwhile, was skeptical. “Look, I understand the concept,” he said slowly. “But I’m just not sure I NEED that kind of boost. Also, no offense, I don’t want to get possessed.”

“It’s not really possession,” I clarified. “That’s just the mechanism for bestowing the power. You’ll still be in control. I’ll just be your copilot. Like one of my parallels when I’m running piece of mind. I can help offload some of your mental strain, direct techniques, watch for enemies. It’ll be like having a second pair of eyes.”

He hummed with interest. “I’m not against it. But we’d still need to test it out. Who would we do that with?”

“Who else?” I grinned. “The strongest person either of us know at the same rank.”

Groaning, he put his head in his hands. “Oh gods no. Please don’t make me. She’s going to demolish us. I still have my pride, you know. Are you sure we can’t train against one of the B-rankers? At least when I get crushed by Fade I can console myself with the difference in power.”

“We need someone we can accurately scale against,” I said with an eye roll. “Fade has never fought either of us seriously. Even if it’s a huge improvement, we won’t actually know because he’ll just try a little harder to match us. Bethy HAS had to try against us, we’ve just been overwhelmingly beaten every time that’s happened. It’s the best possible test and you know it. Stop being such a baby.”

“Fine,” he hissed in annoyance. “Where are we doing this?”

There was a wisp of mist and Bethy appeared from behind him like a ghost. “Surprise attack!” She screamed, chopping a hand down into his throat.

“Oh shit!” He choked, stumbling backwards and clutching his neck.

I closed my eyes and sighed. “We’re testing the new pseudo Domain, Bethy,” I told her tiredly. “Which means we need to be IN the new form in order for the test to be successful. You can’t just attack him before we’re ready.”

“Not my fault it doesn’t work reactively,” she sniffed. “Seems like a design flaw.”

“It isn’t,” I sighed. “Because you can’t make a reactive move that you need to prepare to use.” I turned to Abel, who was wheezing and glaring at Bethy. “You about ready for this?” I asked him with a grin I didn’t even try to hide behind my mask.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said again. “Let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit Amber!” Bethy said excitedly. “We’re gonna have a great time together! Just try not to pass out from the pain too quick, that’s always super boring.”

I tried not to laugh at his expression when she called him that. I did not succeed. Turning to me, his face became solemn, and he nodded. With that last bit of formality out of the way, I triggered my newest pseudo Domain. Asmodeus.

It was a unique experience. I felt myself get…lighter. More insubstantial. Like I was becoming mist or smoke. My body darkened and turned immaterial, and then there was a pulse of blue fire at the core of my being. My new smoke self caught flame, exploding up into a funnel of towering Adherent Fire. Then the flames burst downward, bypassing the physical and them infusing into Abel.

Not his body, exactly. Deeper. Suddenly, I was Asmodeus. Well, I was me with wings and horns, and I was floating over an endless ocean of blood. The infinite blood sea. Beside me floated a familiar form. Abel, in his old Spruce Bunny mask. He blinked at me. “Well…this interesting. How am I here?”

“You’re not,” I corrected. “This isn’t a conscious conversation. This is your inner self reflecting a guide for me. A way for us to link together before we start fighting. Here, I’ll show you.” I reached out and grabbed him, my hand passing through him and absorbing the spiritual fragment into me. Suddenly I felt like there was two people in my head, a not unfamiliar situation given my abilities. I let him have control, and when I stepped back, I opened my eyes, or rather, Abel’s eyes, in the real world.

It felt…strange. I really did feel like one of my parallels, which considering I could perceive what they felt wasn’t so odd, but the sensation of being a half foot shorter was weird.

Abel, meanwhile, was enthralled. “Holy shit,” he whispered as he stretched his arms out. “I feel so damned powerful. Maybe halfway through C-rank? Which is nuts considering that even triple my current stats wouldn’t get me there. I’m overflowing with power here.” Sammael had plenty of power to spare. Afterburner was included in the creation of the form, and it was easily one of my most overwhelming abilities.

Asmodeus was even stronger. Something about the Adherent Fire and Belial mixed together to increase the potency of Sammael’s raw power. While it WAS an enhancement, it was also corruption, which was Belial’s whole schtick, and the trio of powers had mixed together to create a powerful cocktail.

Behind Abel, wings snapped out, and he blinked in confusion. He reached up touching the horns on his forehead with interest. “Well, this is cool. Not sure I’ll be able to fly with no training though. That might be an issue.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said into his mind. “I can act as your flight instincts during the fight. Just do what you’d normally do, I’ll make sure your wings make it happen just the way you need it to.” Our brains were pretty closely linked right now, hence my ability to talk to him like I did to Callie through the bond. It wasn’t exactly the same, more like yelling to him from across a room, but it was enough for me to adapt to his needs in the fight.

Bethy, standing across from us, looked thrilled. “That looks so COOL!” She squealed. “But just know I won’t hold back. You face the wrath of Ange-Bethy!” She threw her hands dramatically into the air, and thunder cracked the sky as wings erupted from her back. I had no idea how she’d done that thunder thing, but the wings I’d expected. They mostly just let her fly, but she clearly wanted a dramatic reaction. When we didn’t give her one, she pouted, but then got serious, flexing her fingers, claws emerging.

Blood colored fire coated her nails, and I winced internally, but Abel didn’t seem too worried. He raised both fists and focused, the pair of them catching fire almost instantly. The flame was…odd. Dark teal and sort of heavy. Like a mix of Belial and the Adherent Fire with a bit of shading from Sammael’s flame. I really did have too many different flames to work with.

This particular mix was especially potent though. The power of Sammael mixed with the toxicity of Belial and the defense penetration of the Adherent Fire. The flames of Asmodeus were the most deadly poison I’d ever handled, and clearly Abel felt the same. He grinned, leaned forward, and then took a blurring step, warping the space with the infinite blood sea to close the gap.

Bethy met him head on, her claws flashing like ten flawless knives of fire, carving through the air. The space elongated for Abel as he slipped between the attacks, weaving like a snake before unloading a pair of heavy punches into the vampire. One across the jaw and one up under her ribs. Snarling, she backpedaled, warding him off with her claws as she left burning lines of power in the air.

“Alright,” Abel said eagerly. “Seems like that works, lets go BIG then!”

Throwing out his arms, I felt something inside him SHIFT. It was odd to feel someone using their ability like this when I’d never felt it before, but I could easily recognize the sensation of the infinite blood sea expanding around us. Rather than condense it into the Ragam Blood Body though, he let it expand into a massive avatar of himself, already alight with the corruptive flames of Asmodeus.

The avatar’s fists flashed out, smashing the air so hard peals of thunder shook the room. The training area we were standing in was a wide open space with a false sky (making Bethys earlier trick even more confusing). She looked mostly annoyed as she tried to dive out of the way of the attacks, and the slight hue of toxic fire permeating her jaw and midsection made it clear she WAS feeling the effects of the flame. The next time Abel punched, though, she didn’t even both dodging. She tanked the punch and just…shattered, exploding into mist that dispersed around us.

Cursing, I tried to spot her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I could see traces of the mist, but it wasn’t coming from anywhere. It seemed to be almost gathering though. And then the bottom dropped out of my stomach. The mist gathered at the feet of the avatar, and we looked down to see it, and when we looked up, we were standing in front of a castle, under a blood red sky.

Above us, in the sky, a fanged smile stretched across the skin of the world like a tear in reality itself. “You punched me in the face, Alice,” said Bethy’s voice reproachfully. “I’d normally be mad. But I have to admit. That fire of yours doesn’t taste too bad.”

Abel snorted at her. “Please,” he said boldly. “You’re strong, and your Domain means you can probably beat me, but it won’t be easy. That flame had to hurt. And now? After I’ve infused it into the Infinite Blood Sea? I won’t go down easy, I can tell you that for sure. I’ll make you use the right name this time.”

She clicked her tongue. “Oh Alfred,” she said with a giggle. “You’d think training with daddy would have helped you figure it out. If you honestly think you’re going to even come close to beating me you’re dreaming. And this dream is a bad one. But you’re right, I know exactly what to call you. I think I’ll call you…lunch.” The fangs in the sky flashed in the red moonlight before snapping out to lock onto Abel, and then-

I blinked, standing back in my own body next to my friends. Abel was on his hands and knees, grimacing, and Bethy was licking her lips. “I think you should rename that Path,” she giggled at Abel. “It’s totally not infinite. It IS delicious though. It’ll recover on its own though, I didn’t take too much. And you didn’t even scream. That’s super impressive!”

He grunted, forcing himself to his feet. “It wasn’t a real bite,” he admitted. “And I came close. Point made, though. I got a little cocky.” He glanced at me with a wry smile. “I think maybe that form of yours made me a little extra prideful. Something to note.” I nodded. In retrospect I noticed that too. Still, it had been a great experiment.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I told him. “Now, with that out of the way, how about we go and get something to eat? I’m starving.” Bethy cheered in triumph and Abel just rolled his eyes and we headed over to the edge of the training room where my wife and Zeke had been watching the fight to meet them. That had been a pretty successful test drive. One pseudo Domain down, two more to go. After that…who knew?