Mob Sorcery 4 - Ch3

A soft hiss ran through Vince’s mind, and it took him a moment to identify it as Daji’s voice. Her egg was in his jacket pocket. Now she’d shown herself before him, the fox felt fewer compunctions about trying to influence him.

He shut her out and instead raised his hands to mollify Nina.

“I had wanted to talk to you about it,” he said. “Soon.”

“Soon, huh?” Nina raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t we grab some seats and have that chat now?”

Vince looked around, pointedly staring at the lack of anything nearby. “Seats?”

She rolled her eyes and spun, taking long steps toward the walls near the door. Unlike the upper dome, the lower level of the walls comprised solid metal panels. Nina pulled up a discreet bolt in the ground that was nearly as thick as her wrist. Then she banged on the closest panel.

It swung open to reveal a storage unit roughly the size of a shipping container. Vince realized it probably was a shipping container.

Various items of furniture occupied it, all built for sturdiness over function. A small kitchen stood in one corner, including a microwave, cheap coffee machine, and electric range cooker. A dual fridge and freezer occupied another corner along with an egg-shaped container that Vince guessed to be some sort of magic storage unit. A banner on the wall contained price tags.

“Do they charge for using this as well?” he asked. “Nickle and diming us.”

Nina snorted. “This isn’t a hotel mini-bar. But there should be some basic magic catalysts and tools used in spell development and research in the big egg. The fridge and freezer are free, but we can pay them to stock it with stuff when we’re not here. I’ve never done that. They make Wings look cheap.”

She pulled a pair of solid metal cylinders out of the storage unit plus a table. Given how light she made them look, Vince tried to help out. When his back nearly exploded from the effort of lifting a half-ton of steel, he gave up.

Giggling, Nina nearly pushed him over. “Leave the lifting to me, Mr. Body Builder. Help me unload my bag into the fridge.”

She’d carried a large backpack here loaded down with drinks and a couple of microwaveable meals. Most of the drinks were energy drinks, but she had brought some water. No beer. They shoved them in the fridge.

Once done, she grabbed two water bottles and tossed one to him. After she hefted the furniture out, they sat down.

“How does somebody without your strength move the furniture out?” he asked.

“Magic?” She shrugged. “I dunno. The stuff isn’t usually this hardcore. There’s another storage unit on the other side of the door, but it might be that people broke too much shit.”

She took a swig of water and they stared out at the empty metal wasteland that stretched before them.

Okay, Vince was being imaginative. The dome was big, but nowhere near large enough to count as a wasteland.

“So?” Nina asked after a minute of near silence. The tip of her tail flicked Vince’s leg.

He sighed. Reaching into his pocket, he gripped Daji’s egg.

The fox didn’t appear. In fact, she didn’t say a peep. He had expected her to attempt to stop him or make some persuasive effort involving her tails and tits to prevent him from revealing her presence.

Nothing else for it.

Vince pulled the soul egg out. Nina stiffened at the sight of it and her tufted ears pricked upward, the fluff inside them standing on end.

“Fuck,” she hissed. “I should have guessed something was awry when you brought it up out of the blue a while back. But you said—”

“Ally was confident it was a fake, and I didn’t know better at the time,” Vince said. “So I started using it, even though it was a gift from that fox agent.”

“Fia already chided you about using dangerous gifts from a likely enemy, so I won’t bother, but..” Nina ran a hand down her face. “Go on. I’ll be patient.”

“It worked as advertised by the agent at first. It made my spells stronger. But I quickly noticed it was a lot more. It helped me focus, particularly when trying to maintain my magic or do my breathing exercises. And it possessed emotions.”

Nina said nothing as she took a swig of her water.

Continuing, Vince said, “It did little more than that for a month. React with emotions and help me, like with nudges when I learned my new spell. But against that six-tail fox, it finally spoke to me. When it looked like the fox would escape, the egg told me to use its power to cast my new spell.”

“And it would consume your soul,” Nina drawled. Then frowned. “But it didn’t. I’ve always been confused by that aspect of soul eggs. Using them is what lets the spirit escape in movies and myth, but we know that Knightsgate siphons off magic. That’s why the soul egg we’re stealing is so valuable to Houou. Amazing there are two real soul eggs in Aulfair.”

“Yeah, I’m not going to pretend to understand. But the more I’ve used the egg, the more the being inside has connected with me. That might be the difference. I’m not just using the egg’s power but forming a link with the entity within. Today, she…” He gulped, aware Nina would flip out.

“She?” Nina shot him a look full of dark amusement. “Let me guess, she offered to suck your cock.”

“Uh, let’s say it went further than that.”

“Wow. So, who’s the famous being in it?” A grin split her face. “No, let me guess. Sultry seductress… It can’t be Tamamo no Mae. Fia mentioned Ally said your egg wasn’t hers. Soul eggs are almost always Asian, although a few spread through the old silk road.”

“I’ve always wondered how everyone else sealed away ancient evils, if only East Asia had soul eggs,” Vince said. “The methods are so inconsistent in movies and the stories I read.”

Nina shrugged. “I’m far from an expert here. From what I heard, they’re inconsistent for good reason. Knightsgate was an organization that stretched from Korea to Indonesia, and even had its claws in ancient Arabia. No equivalent existed in Europe. So you’ve got witches being magically imprisoned on islands, like Morgan le Fay and Circe, or monsters entombed in mountains. Fewer intricate magical artifacts, more magical locations. Probably because of the difficulty manufacturing soul eggs.”

“Well, in this case—”

“Hey, hey!” His girlfriend shoved him. “I haven’t finished guessing.”

Exasperated, but relieved at Nina’s good humor, Vince slugged back some water. He waved for her to continue.

“A fox is most probable, but Yuki Onna’s are also seductresses. If it’s in Aulfair, I do wonder if the inhabitant might be local.” Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe one of Immanuel’s demons? Bastet’s not the only powerful succubus there. I’ve heard that Immanuel has a surprisingly large share of powerful succubi compared to Europe, given their independent streak.”

Vince did his best to hide his reaction while his girlfriend leaned in close, trying to read every line on his face. Her ears twitched when she leaned back.

“Well?” she asked.

“She’s Chinese—” he began to say.

“Daji,” Nina said without hesitation. “Although that’s assuming this is a serious soul egg, but if I can’t google it—”

He nodded, and an explosive breath left Nina. She returned to staring into space.

A couple of minutes passed in silence. The dome’s soundproofing prevented all noise from intruding upon them, meaning they truly sat in silence. Vince could hear the rustle of their clothes and the idle swishing of Nina’s tail on the floor.

“Is she as beautiful as the myths suggest?” Nina asked, refusing to look at him. “The stories all say she was so beautiful nobody could bring themselves to kill her.”

Daji burst into laughter in Vince’s mind. Given she’d told him that Knightsgate killed her, he doubted the veracity of such stories.

Nina looked at Vince from the corner of her eyes and relaxed. A smirk crossed her face. “Well, I’m guessing she’s not that beautiful.”

“Her face makes photoshopped women look like mules,” he said, and Nina winced. “So they got that part of the myth right. She’s beyond beautiful, in a way even succubi struggle to capture.” He drummed his fingers against his leg, aware of Nina’s annoyance. “I’m struggling for the word. It’s not an ethereal beauty, as she doesn’t feel divine. Celestial? Divine? I don’t know. But I can see how and why she ended a Chinese dynasty.”

“What about your dynasty?” Nina asked, voice oddly neutral.

Well, not “oddly.” Vince knew exactly why she was perturbed.

He reached out and rubbed the back of her hand. She smiled at him.

“I love you, Nina. So don’t worry about me losing the Mandate of Heaven,” he joked.

She hit him. Softly, for once. With a great scraping sound, she pulled her stool over and leaned against his side.

“So what are you doing with the egg? If she appeared before you, that meant you picked it back up even after using your tornado. Which means…” Nina shot him a sidelong look.

He winced. “I… think I can keep using it. For now.”

“Oh, yes. For now,” Daji teased in a sing-song voice.

Nina narrowed her eyes. “She’s talking to you right now, isn’t she?”

“She’s been quieter than I expected while I talked to you, but yes,” he said. “I think she can’t help teasing me sometimes or making fun of people. She doesn’t hide her selfishness or the sharp edges of her personality.”

“Ah. Beautiful on the outside, a bundle of razor blades on the inside. Gotcha. So, why do you think it’s safe to juggle a soul egg of razor blades, Vince?”

Nina’s stare bore into him, and all joviality evaporated.

If she’d taken everything up until now in good spirits, his reasoning for continuing to use the soul egg was another matter. Explaining how and why he’d found out about Daji was one thing. The egg had been reasonably safe up until the battle against Black, where he’d crossed a line by using Daji’s power to use a meister-tier spell.

Now? He knew exactly the level of world-altering power and corruption he was tangoing with.

Daji was an entity that eclipsed almost every being in Aulfair in raw power. Nine-tail foxes stood below only demigods. Wagner might be the only person with the magical strength and talent to crush Daji, given he’d defeated La Lupa in the past, and even mentioned he slew a nine-tail kumiho 80 years ago.

He held a magical nuclear weapon in his hands, and every time he used it, he risked it taking him out along with his opponent.

“The job—” he began to say.

“Vince, I can safely say that Alessia doesn’t want you to risk your existence for this heist.” Nina barely even blinked as she stared at him. “You sure as hell know that. There is no chance you are using the egg just for a single job.”

He gritted his teeth, then forced himself to relax. Nina’s stare unnerved him, so he looked away.

Part of him wanted to say “you wouldn’t understand,” but knew that was incredibly stupid. He wasn’t the protagonist of a romance movie and Nina would clock him before he finished speaking, for good reason.

“Vince?” Nina asked, voice soft. She rubbed his thigh with one hand.

“It’s not the job itself,” he admitted. “It’s being able to complete a job like this. I nearly died fighting that fox assassin in November, and we’re going up against worse? Training takes time, effort, and talent. I can bring the effort, but little else.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Nina snapped.

“Am I?” Vince laughed bitterly. “You were one of the city’s best independent enforcers by the time you were my age, Nina. Your ‘rusty’ still makes fucking Quintus Hierum hesitate. An ancient demon pauses before pulling shit, because you might be able to punch his face in. I sure as hell can’t do that.”

“It’s a hell of a lot more complicated than that,” she said, voice low. Her hand remained on his thigh. “Especially as I had plenty of time to train.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you in college for your early days?”

“As little as possible,” she drawled.

“But you still had stuff to do.” He shook his head. “It’s not that I’m jealous, Nina. I… admire you. You’re the enforcer I’ve always wanted to be. Not just the raw power or skill, but the way companies relied on you. You’ve done just about everything, know your way around the city and jobs, fought everything short of a demigod—”

Nina interrupted his compliments with a soft punch to his arm. “I don’t think I’ve gotten close to that.” The blush on her cheeks suggested she wasn’t unhappy, however.

“But, again, I nearly died to a single fox assassin. You could have fought all three at once in your prime,” he said.

For once, she didn’t have an immediate rejoinder. Instead, she slugged back some water and rubbed his thigh. Her tail curled around his arm.

Seconds passed. Daji remained curiously silent, even now.

“I get where you’re coming from,” she eventually said. “I do wish you’d be a little more forward thinking, though.”

“Well, I also think that we’re going to be well in over our heads in the heist when a team of corporate enforcer foxes try to stop us,” he said drily. “I’m wary of how much support the Yakuza will actually lend us, especially if they try something.”

“Now that I can get behind.” She looked at him, eyes soft. “You’re being too harsh on yourself, though. That’s not entirely your own fault, though. I talk myself up a bit, and Quintus beat you down badly over the past decade.”

He raised his hands. “Hey, Quintus wasn’t that—”

“He was that bad.” Her eyes narrowed. “I had a long chat with Alessia when she hired me about how she hired you, and the reasons you could be hired so cheaply compared to a full team for such a job. Even if she’s still a miser, her reasons aren’t because she wants to convince you that you’re less capable than you are.”

“I’m still not that convinced about that,” he admitted. “That hit squad in Kaziern’s HQ would have been bad news.”

Nina snorted. “That’s why it’s a hit squad, Vince. The fact Houou assembled a special purpose team dedicated to taking you out is proof you’ve reached the big leagues of independents. Stop and think about what’s happened since your dragon became public.”

“Uh, a lot?”

She glared at him, and he did as she asked.

Admittedly, tracking back the events was more annoying than he expected. So much had happened that he couldn’t quite tie everything together in the way he knew she wanted.

“Um, I’ve been attacked multiple times in public,” he said. “And gotten much better jobs. I know Alessia—”

“Forget the pupper, Vince,” Nina said. “The day after your dragon hit the news, Houou sent Juliet after you. One of the best assassins in the city. She’s annoying and cringey, but there’s a reason I walked away from a job over her and Salome hasn’t killed her. Then a trio of foxes tried to kill you. Failing that, a cartel hit, and a hit squad in Kaziern’s HQ built around your weaknesses. Then that six-tail fox.”

She crossed her arms over her breasts, as if waiting for him to say something.

He had to admit she had a good point. The same fights that made him feel inadequate were proof that Houou took him very seriously as a threat.

“Did the same stuff happen to you?” he asked, aware she might get annoyed.

“Yeah, but at this level?” She snorted. “Maybe once or twice, but only because I really pissed somebody off. The difference between us is that you’re easier to take out by surprise, so your enemies will try it. Me? The reason Quintus worries about me isn’t because I can match him—rumor is that he has a grandmeister spell capable of slaying a dragon and that his gimp leg is from a battle with one of the rulers of Germany. No, it’s the same reason you’re vulnerable.” She jabbed a finger against his chest. “Big spells need time to cast. I hit hard and fast, and even Quintus can be sucker punched.”

Putting aside Nina’s revelation that Quintus might be a dragon-slayer and wanted in Germany, Vince tried to process what she said.

The idea of sucker punching demigods amused him, but Quintus fell well short of that power.

“I realize my weakness is that I take a while to cast. Fixing that is another reason the soul egg is useful,” he said.

Nina let out a huff and rose. Rolling her shoulders, she stalked a good twenty feet away.

Vince watched, confused. He half-rose to follow, but she waved him down.

An amber glow surrounded her gauntlet and the lioness fell into a crouch. A split-second later, she launched forward with a punch.

Steel spikes erupted from the ground in front of her, tracking dozens of feet in front of her. Each could tear somebody apart if they struck or tear apart a vehicle.

Without hesitating, Nina wrenched her still-glowing gauntlet downward. More spikes rippled from the floor. This time, they all pierced a singular spot in the air.

Vince gave a small clap, and Nina shot him a look for his patronizing reaction.

“These are my workhorse offensive spells, like your fireballs and flame lasers,” she said. “I can cast them faster and they hit harder than yours, which more coverage. The downside is range. I can maybe hit somebody with my piercer a hundred feet away, and that’s expensive. Sure, I put ten holes in them and can crack a barrier like an egg, but you can snipe somebody at triple the distance and while moving.”

“I mean, that’s why I use my dragon,” he said automatically. “I cast instantly and the sheer number of spells I can unleash means I don’t worry about that.”

She smiled. “Exactly. Once the dragon is up, you hit like a truck. Taking you out requires a serious meister-tier spell to threaten you. I might have something that can crack your defenses, but it also might fail to get through the sheer density of magic your dragon puts out. But before the dragon is up, the advantage is mine. Get it?”

“I need to cast—”

She mimed slapping him. “Look, this isn’t about weaknesses. I just told you even Quintus has this weakness, right? The reality is that everybody has a style of fighting. I told you earlier that we all make trade-offs, right? Mine is range and that my meister-tier spells lack the raw powerful and versatility of yours. Yours are that you’re little more than a bruiser with a really strong barrier until you get your dragon up, at which point you’re the apocalypse.”

This time, he remained silent.

Daji hummed in his mind. “She’s a good girl. You said you lacked talent earlier, but it’s more that you lack the wisdom this lioness has when it comes to battle and training.”

Unaware of Daji’s words, Nina continued, “Everyone needs to pick their approach to battle. Maybe once you’re a demigod it doesn’t matter. Wagner can probably bitchslap as well as he levels cities, but he’s older than dirt. Us? We need to specialize. You can’t hope to match a fox who has trained for centuries if you spread yourself thin. No, you pick your lane and fucking send it. Maybe course correct a little if you spot any glaring weaknesses.”

“This is completely different to your old advice,” he said, confused.

“Two months ago, my advice was about how to tango with other independent enforcers. That’s where security and covering your weaknesses matters. If you work solo, all it takes is a hit team or specialist who counters you and you’re toast.”

“And now it’s different.”

“Now you have me.” She jabbed a thumb into her chest and clacked her claws. “And Fia, Pola, that unicorn who wanted to ride you like you rode her bike—whoever is there to fight with you. Your enemies are stronger, too. I want you to stop and think. That assassin fox—how much training would you need to put in to come up with something to let you stop him from blowing you apart with his fancy meister-tier spell?”

Vince paused.

He’d gone over that moment far too many times.

He and the fox, facing each other down, both casting their meister-tier spells in a race against time.

The assassin tried to kill Nicki to distract Vince, then struck directly with a wizard-tier spell. Failing that, he’d gone for the meister-tier spell.

That ten second head start still hadn’t been enough. Not nearly enough.

Meister-tier spells fell into three broad categories for speed, at least if they were for combat. Long casts like Vince’s dragon that took between 20 and 45 seconds. At 45 seconds, the spell approached uselessness but could be used in a team. He suspected the cartel girls who tried casting against him the other night were this slow.

Middling cast speeds fell between 10 and 20 seconds. His tornado should fall in this range once he trained, as despite its complex effects, it didn’t do serious damage or channel that much fire magic within the tornado.

But then there were truly fast spells. Anything under a 10 second cast speed for a meister-tier spell was fast, and immortals might even pull off a 5 second cast according to some stories. Some enforcers might take 5 seconds to cast a truly powerful wizard-tier spell, and in a couple more seconds, Nina could turn the floor into an explosive that vaporized all her enemies.

The fox assassin’s spell had been a fast cast. Vince would have needed another 5 to 10 seconds to cast his dragon, and as a result he nearly died.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s why I struggled to find an answer to battling him. Even the fire tornado is only a partial measure at best. Refocusing entirely on some sort of melee spell would take… months. For sorcerers, fire is classically about hurling it around and blowing people up. The stories of people summoning big flaming swords are likely magic tools. I found nothing in Alessia’s library to help me.”

“So you could spend the next year trying to react to your greatest weakness, or accept you need help and focus on making yourself stronger instead,” Nina said. “That’s my point. Unless you want to sell your soul to the egg.”

Vince rubbed his fingers along the iridescent skin of the soul egg.

With Daji’s help, he’d cast faster than ever before. If she could reduce a spell he barely understood to a cast time of under 10 seconds, she could make other spells far faster.

But at what cost?

“Not your soul,” Daji said, amused.

She finally appeared on Nina’s abandoned seat. A daiquiri hovered in her hands and the fox playfully sipped from it. Her clothes had changed again, and she wore Nina’s workout outfit. Vince ignored the amount of skin the invisible fox showed.

“But overusing my power to speed up spells is only thing I can do for you,” Daji said. “Beyond teaching you, I can do far more. I’ve already been empowering your spells or enhancing your focus. But my own special skills can be used in your spells. Don’t think that I’m the solution to your woes. Even using my power comes with trade-offs. I’m not a bottomless pit of energy, only lust, so you need to choose how you want to use me. At least non-sexually.”

She giggled and her tails curled around him. He instinctively brushed one away. Or tried, as his hand passed through it.

Nina’s expression became odd, then her eyes widened. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

Daji vanished, and Vince nodded.

“Being a temptress? Telling me how I’m wrong and you can totally rely on her?” Nina asked.

“No, actually,” he admitted. “I didn’t tell you what she’s like, but it’s less ‘corrupt me into giving her my soul’ and more…” He coughed, cheeks reddening as the image Daji placed in his mind yesterday returned. “Her corruption is more in the sense of offering me the world. And her, I guess.”

“You guess?” Daji said in his mind, incensed.

Nina smirked. “Oh? I think I can guess where she went based on your face. So, what does she think of me? And the others?”

“That you’re useful,” he said, cutting through the bullshit Daji spouted. “Assuming she’s not lying, her interest is in the fact you can help me. If I follow your advice, she says it means I can use her power in more… interesting ways.”

“Hmm.” Nina summoned a pillar of steel and leaned against it. “Can I ask some blunt questions?”

He nodded. He’d expected something like this.

“Are you feeling any strange urges? Loss of memory? Difficulty making decisions about the soul egg?” she asked. “What about tiredness? Is your magical drain higher than normal? It’s possible soul eggs actually use the magic of the wielder to awaken, which would be why they remain dormant in storage.”

He frowned. Daji hadn’t reacted, so he doubted any of the questions bothered her.

“No… mostly,” he said. “I originally experienced odd emotions thanks to Daji’s thoughts and emotions, but once I understood they were hers, they’ve been easy to keep separate. She can mess with me a little while I’m touching the egg, but I’ve never seriously tried to stop her.”

“I’d say you should test that, but if she’s in your head, you can’t tell if she’ll lull you into a false sense of security.” Nina pushed off from the wall. “I don’t have an easy solution. If you never told me, I wouldn’t even know. That tells me the egg isn’t controlling you. You’ve also been around Salome, Bastet, and even Wagner. If something was awry, they’d have acted. That means the egg doesn’t have some connection to your mind, but it can’t be the sort I’ve heard about.”

“So?” he asked.

Daji snickered in his mind. Vince had a feeling she’d anticipated the direction this conversation would go and the outcome.

Nina wouldn’t appreciate being told she’d been read like a book, so he kept that to himself.

“If you’re not in danger of growing any tails or ending a Chinese dynasty, I think we can rely on the egg,” Nina said. “At least for now. I recommend keeping it as secret as possible, though, including from the others. I don’t think they’ll tell others, but the more we talk, the more likely somebody else will find out.”

Vince nodded. If Agent didn’t know the truth about the egg she’d given him, she might quickly find out if she was surveilling Alessia. And who knew about other organizations. The Yakuza would be keenly interested in any soul eggs.

Part of him felt bad for keeping Kiyoko in the dark about this. Her earnest regarding her role in Knightsgate suggested she’d oppose his use of a soul egg no matter what and want it sealed and returned to China—or Japan, or wherever Daji resided.

“Now,” the lioness said while pumping one arm, “we can finally focus on our training. We just had a big talk about specialization. Why don’t you show me this fire tornado, while I see if I can learn anything from you about strengthening my barrier?”

- - - - -

Commentary: I got distracted IRL while working on this chapter, but even without that distraction it ended up being a more difficult chapter than anticipated. I had three overlapping threads/objectives here, and I tried to weave them together into a singular conversation.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I manage to bring all of them out properly. I think the Daji issue gets handled as expected, but Vince's path forward and his relative role in the enforcer "power hierarchy" are a bit muddled. I'm curious what you think, as I might clean this chapter up once I have some distance from it.

And, of course, let me know what you think of the chapter itself.