"So you're leaving?" Mayor Lucia asked.
Simon nodded. "It's a bit of a hike to the nearest Waystation, but we'll manage. Our portable Warding Orbs will keep any roaming Fell Beasts at bay."
Traveling would've been much faster with a carriage, but they'd left theirs back at Caelryn City. While Simon felt tempted to blame Bastian for that one, the Swordsman's thievery wasn't truly at fault here. Even if they'd retrieved their old carriage before the situation in Caelryn imploded, ...
2025-05-29 03:47:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
'Nobody ever quite looks at me', was not a rare thought for Ciro to have.
Tenver's father Gomez saw many different things in him as a child. He saw potential, he saw fear, he saw power...he even saw Ciro's little brother, and the love that nature dictated a parent should have.
But Ciro himself was not amongst those many things.
His noble supporters were a poison of another type, who viewed him as the Empire's only chance at maintaining its expansion and surviving...
2025-05-28 18:56:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
Four Days Later
"I can't tell if this is flattering or insulting."
Sitting at a desk within his temporary headquarters, Simon squinted at the wanted poster that had been delivered to Springwater Village – and every town and city throughout the Severed Isles.
A royal messenger had stopped by earlier that day, their carriage riding through in a haste. They'd visited just long enough to warn Mayor Evergreen of the vile, barbarous, regicidal Demon running a...
2025-05-22 03:55:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
'Valente! Valente, hold on! Don't let Aspreay poison your thoughts with doubt!'
Ciro grit his teeth as he sent the message. He couldn't move to help his Hangman. While he was immune to Nayt and the wench's attacks, nothing good would come out of giving her a chance to unleash her Genius Realm upon him.
"Come as you may," the Emperor declared to them. "You cannot harm me. Even that precious miracle Realm of yours takes too long to construct – I would kill you far <...
2025-05-20 23:57:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
As he was now, Simon felt so powerful that he was struggling to comprehend it. Subjugate Territory doubled his stats as long as he resided within Caelryn City – or Springwater Village. He was essentially Level 80, and that wasn't counting the bonus points he'd accrued from Fell Harvest.
But...even so. Even with doubled stats. Even sensing this new mana from a distance.
He already knew he couldn't win.
Duke Helmund would annihilate him.
Simon allowed himself a sin...
2025-05-15 01:54:46 +0000 UTC
View Post
Valente possessed several titles. Some had been bestowed by Ciro – and some by the death he wrought. The Emperor of the World may have named him Lord of the Hangmen, but few called him that after his annihilation of the Puppet Mountain and its Lord.
'I remember being anxious about sending him to that war,' Ciro recalled fondly. 'He was capable, no doubt, but he was barely old enough to have a mockery of hair on his face.'
And that youth went on to be heralded...
2025-05-13 22:32:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Silence reigned. Several seconds went by, the pause feeling both long and short.
"...Pleasantries?" Piers repeated. He sounded utterly baffled, like he'd never heard the word before.
"It's only natural to test someone's mettle before forging a major Contract with them." Simon gestured around at the battle-scarred hallway. "How could I resist crossing swords with the scion of Helmund?"
"I, what, a Contract?" Piers rambled, his mind still in the process of rebooting. "With ...
2025-05-08 02:12:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ciro failed to stifle a yawn as he watched the sun slowly rise, his back turned to the unpleasant sight of his men slaughtering a legion of elven guards.
Honestly, their display of resistance was quite pathetic. Why would the elves bother trying to stop so many armed soldiers? Much wiser to surrender and run for now.
Although they needn't worry so much either way. He'd let them have their village back eventually – mayhaps even today, should the Painter's head be displ...
2025-05-07 04:03:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Claws gleamed with wicked intent as the Demon reached out for a noble neck.
Piers Helmund's eyes widened with fear. He leapt sideways, expelling mana from the soles of his feet to propel himself faster. A burst of light shot forth from his hands, haphazardly aimed, done with more haste than finesse.
Simon let the attack fruitlessly pass by. His claws grasped at the space where Piers' throat had been, closing around empty air. With a shrug and a snap of his fingers, he gave the n...
2025-05-01 03:13:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
It didn't take them long to reach Piers' hidey-hole.
The Helmund scion had sequestered himself in one of his personal villas. It was by far the most gaudy, ostentatious building that Simon had seen since transmigrating to Valtia – like three ornate mansions glued together. Every inch of its construction screamed wealth and power at the top of its lungs.
We got lucky, Simon thought. This monument to excess was located fairly close to the Hurricane's main headquarters. ...
2025-04-24 05:05:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
Beneath the flickering moonlight that filtered into his study through a single open window, Elder Lorival pressed his fingertips against his temples.
Adam of Penumbria...is trouble, he thought. And not for the first time.
He'd been well-aware that the human was going to raise hell for quite a while now. The suspicion had already been brewing in his mind since Lorival first heard of some 'bastard son' overtaking Penumbria and promising to improve things.
Bah.
<...
2025-04-22 23:14:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
Simon found himself decently impressed by the Hurricane's main headquarters. Whereas Bastian's safehouse had been disguised as an abandoned building in the slums, this was hidden in plain sight, masquerading as a legitimate business in the upper city district. They'd been plotting Helmund's downfall while living a stone's throw away from where Caelryn's nobility resided.
Although the 'store' had closed its doors for the day – and for every day afterwards, probably. Piers was about to...
2025-04-17 04:06:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Following the elven woman was accidental – though Nayt struggled to convince himself of that later. The word 'follow' implied both intent and cunning, and he considered himself capable of neither. His careful strategy consisting of "wait until her friends leave so we have a moment to speak alone" had unintentionally evolved into "wait for far too long, and start to feel rather creepy."
But eventually, probably out of the universe's sheer boredom with his attempt, the moment did final...
2025-04-09 06:23:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
No one liked being blamed for something that wasn't their fault. When a person refused to take responsibility for their own actions, then tried passing the back to you? Infuriating, to put it mildly.
So when Simon snapped out of his dissociative episode, left with his Demonic arm fully on display, claws dripping with the blood of a savaged nobleman...
He couldn't help but feel that he was passing the buck to himself.
Time seemed to freeze as he soaked in the...
2025-04-03 03:50:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
For the past week, I've been dealing with an ongoing family medical emergency (not mine, I'm healthy), traversing back and forth from the hospital. Hasn't been the greatest for my writing schedule.
Demonic Conqueror / Heroic Valor: This week's chapter will be on time as I got it done before everything suddenly imploded. Next week's will either be half of an update, or postponed. Week after that should be back to normal.
Skill Thief: Postponed to next week, where it should hopefull...
2025-04-02 04:36:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Six days had gone by inside the Hurricane safehouse. The commotion outside had mostly died down, lessening from an uproar to a low-grade simmer. It should be safe for Simon to leave soon.
And thank Christ for that, because he was officially done with sitting around and twiddling his thumbs. Any longer and he would contract cabin fever. It went beyond just wanting to get back to hunting targets and raising Levels – his dopamine-riddled Earth brain simply wasn't built for...
2025-03-27 04:13:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
"King Adam knows how to be relied on," Vasco said, "but not how to rely."
It was the lecture Aspreay had expected. Once this infernal man considers something to be righteous, he never shuts up. That didn't make dealing with his grandstanding any less frustrating. "I know! You can stop badgering me about it! Dragons burn me, I know."
"Not the whole story, you don't. Solara mentioned it to me before. You have no idea that Adam's father–"
2025-03-26 03:05:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
The rest of the day was spent pleasantly enough. Cyna kept trying to slyly coax information out of Simon. In return, he would give cryptic hints that didn't amount to anything.
Eventually it became a sort of game, with her cheerfully over-analyzing his every word, and him playing coy as if he didn't realize what she was doing. Good times were had by all.
Well, except for Bastian and Katarina. Bastian was growing increasingly nervous the longer Simon and Cyna interacted. He did a...
2025-03-20 04:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Pressure mounted in the dimly-lit chamber like a city under siege. Everyone's breath had been stolen, their voices caged, bodies locked into place. A second stretched into eternity. The moment did not pass; it sharpened.
And then – release. A breath, a shift, a subtle surrender. Instead of fading, the tension was merely filed away, stored in the marrow of their bones, in the backs of their minds. But for now, the mood felt lighter.
Because Elder Lorival evidently now ...
2025-03-19 01:49:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
The Hurricane safehouse was an unassuming building located in the lower city residential district. Though it looked decrepit and abandoned on the outside, its interior was surprisingly spacious and well-furnished. The walls and front entrance were also reinforced to prevent unwanted entry – and unlike the bandits' hideout, there was a hidden underground passage to allow for retreat if Helmund's soldiers came knocking.
Which...might become relevant soon.
Even in the relatively ...
2025-03-13 02:50:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
"She would have been much happier if I'd only killed her," Solara snarled at him. "And I am more than that – I am the one who beat you within an inch of your life."
Nayt barely reacted to her outburst, stretching and shifting in his tall seat, half-glancing at Solara from the corner of his left eye. He struck Adam like a cat lounging in the sun, barely bothering to flick its tail.
"Mayhaps you did, mayhaps you did not. Cloudy, that memory. Violence hardly makes f...
2025-03-12 01:01:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
Bastian blinked, nearly doing a double-take. He seemed dazed, as if he hadn't intended to answer. Buyer's remorse was already blooming on his features.
Didn't matter. A willing agreement had been given. In that pure, singular moment, his heart of hearts had spoken true.
The rebel could only watch as two more lines materialized at the bottom of the Contract.
Contractor: Simon Cobblestone
Contractee: Bastian Evergray
An ...
2025-03-06 05:06:54 +0000 UTC
View Post
The royal procession had been frozen by a tense silence.
King Adam banished it. "Do it," he ordered.
"As you wish, Your Majesty," answered the Detective.
Valeria smirked, tilting her head just enough to let the shadow of her hat obscure her golden eyes. Her sword, the very weapon that had once felled the Ghost of Waters, pulsed with a heartbeat, red, wet, and breathing. Her own blood seeped into the blade, drawn in by slow tendrils, vanishing into the steel as if it were ...
2025-03-05 00:07:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
"You're..." Bastian inched backwards, sidestepping to put himself in-between Simon and the unconscious Cyna. "Ancient One take me, you're a Demon."
Technically a Fell-Shrouded Human, but not even Katarina took me seriously when I suggested I wasn't born like this. "In the flesh," Simon replied, his smile growing. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather we skip the introductions and pleasantries. On a bit of a time crunch here."
Bastian said nothing, weari...
2025-02-27 04:30:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Elder Lorival was known to the elves as a folk hero – and as nothing to the world at large.
His living legend was as simple as it was captivating. A survivor of Greenisle and untrusting of humans, he had refused Vasco's offer of life in Gama, taking like-minded survivors into a haven created with his own skill. Some spoke of his impressive Talent or his high Rank. Others pointed at ancient Elven magic that went beyond mere Talent.
Rarely did the whispers and rumors agree on an...
2025-02-26 03:50:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
The sun crawled over the horizon like a wounded god, too slow and too red. It hadn't witnessed death last night, but it had come just in time to watch a soul be forever trapped within a painting. Fractured echoes of distress, death, and despair still lingered in the snow, filtering through the cold morning air.
Gaspar stepped into that cruel morning like none of it mattered, whistling, hands loose at his sides as he approached.
"Ah, Your Highness! I see you dealt with E...
2025-02-23 09:29:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
From what Simon had seen during his time in Valtia, Duke Helmund's reign of the Severed Isles was indisputable.
Opposition against him didn't truly exist. The commonfolk may despise him, and some nobles might utter hushed complaints behind closed doors, but it went no further than that. He was so powerful and long-lived that the notion of unseating him was akin to demolishing a mountain with your bare hands. Entire generations had lived and died with Duke Helmund as their sole, unchang...
2025-02-20 05:06:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
"Our carriage was stolen," Katarina announced.
Simon looked up at her. He paused mid-chew, about to force down a piece of stale cardboard masquerading as vendor stall meat. Starting to think supporting small businesses isn't worth an unholy war being waged against my taste buds.
The transmigrator took a moment to swallow and set his half-eaten breakfast aside, relishing the distraction – even if it had apparently been at the cost of their carriage. "Stolen?" He'd figu...
2025-02-13 08:26:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
Lord Edmundo, Ruler of Coimbargo, wore red on the day he meant to kill the King of the Frontier.
It was tradition in the House of Crepusculo to do so when taking a man's life. Cloaking yourself in crimson would cloak the victim's blood as well, hiding the stains and making for a less gruesome visage.
Irrelevant when it came to carrying out the deed, yet vital all the same. Land made you rich, titles made you proud, Talent made you special–
But dignity made you ...
2025-02-12 02:21:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
The first step of Simon's plan was enacted by making a purchase.
He'd hoped to procure materials that would create toxic gas when mixed. While he wasn't so lucky as that, he did find a substitute that should prove almost as effective. The acquisition dipped into their ever-diminishing funds, but that was no great loss. They could always replenish their coffers by looting targets.
The second step was enacted by a change of clothing.
Simon put on his best out-...
2025-01-30 04:07:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
