Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 70 – Divine Instruments (Patreon)

Eziel raged at her as they plummeted, sending violent pulses of power through her fingers and down her arm. It was just a miniscule drop against the ocean that was eroding away at her.

“Judge yourself for once!” Elania roared at him, her voice tinged with rage and betrayal. She felt the sword fall silent.

As they plunged into the glowing heart of the Celestial Engine, there was an immediate sense of being devoured. They’d entered an insatiable maw that consumed all energy—magical or otherwise—and processed it and used it for whatever purpose the Engine served.

A sense of horror washed over her as her body dissolved into the glowing cloud, but not her mind. She’d become an incorporeal cloud. She could feel and control the energy centered around her, but there was a sharp delineation where what was inside her was separated from the rest of the energy.

She could see—and it wasn’t exactly seeing, but a type of energy sense—Eziel nearby, dissolving as well, just not as quickly. Apparently, swords were slightly more resilient to being digested.

A sudden panic filled her as she realized that along her edges, particles and energy were slowly being siphoned off into the greater ether. He had promised her she’d be able to save Yolani. How the heck could she do that without a body?

She pulled back against the cloud around her, slowing the bleed of energy away from herself. Breathing wasn’t quite the right word for it, but as she struggled, she found she could do more than just prevent drain.

She could pull more in.

That increased the pressure on her mind, though. The energy that came in was lumpy.

In the whorl of gold, she felt other presences besides Eziel. They were tiny, little marbles floating around aimlessly in the vast, all-encompassing energy mist. When one brushed up against her, she recoiled in horror as memories of another person assailed her.

They had died to a [Rockbear] inside the dungeon. Another touched her; they had died from a skeleton when their party had run out of supplies. More and more thoughts began to assail her, she realized she was much, much larger an incorporeal energy blob than all of them. Because she had been overloaded with [Power] when she had fallen into the engine?

She began to push a current away from her in all directions to prevent them from touching her, but one continued to fight to reach her. Elania redoubled her efforts, and it began to shrink in size. It was determined, though, and finally touched her outer membrane.

Immediately, Elania stopped fighting it—the first memory that came through was an image of Yolani’s smile. Elania felt a jolt of panic. The orb was Yolani’s father!

Realization struck. Those who died in the dungeon were feeding it their own essence and souls?

A voice echoed softly within her consciousness. “Thank you for protecting my daughter.”

“You…you’re Yolani’s father,” Elania said, or thought; it was hard to tell where thoughts seemed as tangible as words.

“Yes,” he said simply. His essence pulsed gently with sorrow and pride—sorrow for what he had left behind, pride for his daughter.

“I give you what’s left of me,” he said solemnly. “Tell her…I’m sorry. I love her.’

Before she could answer, a flash of memories that weren’t her own ran through her mind before the mote of energy filled her. Truthfully, it was just a tiny mote in a massive pool that was herself, but it filled her with a new line of determination. Warmth spread through her, gentle but firm, like a parent’s comforting hand.

Pulsating with renewed strength, Elania roared defiance against the all-consuming ocean of the Engine. Compacting her energy, she reshaped herself, drawing from the abundant energy swirling around her. Eziel floated nearby; she reached out and a sheen of gold flowed over the blade as she wrapped him in her own power.

A massive amount of the energy that had filled her squeezed out into the engine as she formed—the engine’s internals began to roar back to life, filling the environment with an impossible to ignore rhythmic hum. The energy she’d left behind filled cracks and restored depleted reservoirs that had been drawn dry.

Empty engines that had stalled or failed began to cycle once more, creating a continuous flow that ran in loops, that fed the engine more and more power. The sensation of light burned in her mind, shining brighter than before.

But she wasn’t done yet. Two appendages sprang out of her back, and she flapped them in the swirl, propelling herself back toward the surface.

Flying upward, she shot out of the core and back towards the Balcony, hovering over it.

The Magisters watched in shock. Elania reached out with her mind and senses, touching upon the latent magical energies lingering in the surrounding air. She felt their spell workings and magical items imbued with carefully woven enchantments.

She held out her hand, [Soul Siphon] did the rest as she tore it all into raw energy to take into herself.

Solidifying her form, she focused on Relain, and spread her wings to land before him and the woman he still held in his grasp. He tried to speak, but she stole the oxygen from his lungs, leaving him gasping for breath.

Elania landed gracefully on the chamber floor right before him, sending a cascade of golden otherworldly light motes scattering across the floor like a wave of running sparks.

***

Yolani whimpered as her body throbbed. She’d been wounded, partially healed, maimed, healed again, and now Relain’s fingers dug into the side of her throat threatening as he held her captive from behind. Everything had fallen apart in the end.

She’d lost everything… and everyone.

The heated words between the Magisters were a white noise as she stared down at the pulsing Celestial Engine, wishing it would return what it had taken from her. She was the first to see the Engine begin to churn faster, its pistons revving up into a higher gear. Then a flash of golden light clawed its way upwards until it had firmed up into the shape of a vengeful seraph.

Yolani could recognize the angel’s face—Elania hovered over them, radiant and resplendent in golden metal armor, wings of shimmering light sprouting from her back. She stared in awe as her friend had transformed into something…divine. Eziel’s blade was no longer an azure blue, but a golden blade of shimmering light.

The Magisters seemed equally taken aback. Relain squeezed her tighter, making it hard to breathe, but when he began to chant a word of power, his words faltered and died mid-air. He gasped for breath—it returned as Elania came to a soft landing directly in front of them. The golden wreathed seraph loomed over them, wings extended.

“A mortal cannot command where a divine instrument holds sway over reality,” Elania stated with an authority that echoed through the chamber. Yolani felt her heart hitch. It didn’t sound like Elania. Was it really her?

Relain released Yolani and sent her sprawling. He fell to his knees. “I only wished to serve you! So we might reclaim what is rightfully ours!”

Yolani blinked as Elania raised her golden blade in the air high above his head.

“Obliteration,” the seraph proclaimed with deadly calmness.

Relain’s face turned a sheen of white. Yolani expected that he’d begin to disintegrate into dust, but he simply popped out of existence, a small rush of air rushing to fill the sudden vacuum.

It took her a second to realize that the man had simply vanished from existence. As she watched, Elania turned towards the remaining Magisters with an unwavering gaze. One thing had become clear to her: Elania had been changed.

The Magisters were terrified. Each one screeched as Elania waved her hand, dragging them across the floor like ragdolls before causing them to skid to a halt right in front of her.

“Kneel,” Elania ordered, imbuing the single word with such immense power that their bodies contorted to obey. Their faces paled as they stared up at the divine entity before them.

Yolani swallowed. She didn’t understand what the Celestial Engine had done.

“You have failed in your charge to safeguard the Engine,” she proclaimed as she swept her golden gaze over the Magisters. “You strayed from the laws laid down by the gods themselves when they ordained Neftasu as one of the holy cities worthy of their work.”

The seraph turned her gaze on Magister Roland and stepped in front of him, his purple robes doing nothing to protect him from her scrutiny. He opened his mouth to speak, but a gesture of a finger forcefully pressed his forehead to the floor.

“The nobles have allowed themselves to create laws that benefit and enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of society,” Elania continued. “Seeing themselves above other people, instead of as their protectors and servants.”

Yolani bit her lip. That had always been true as far as she could remember. Had there once been a time when nobles weren’t the privileged class who lived above all?

Taking a step forward, the seraph curled her wings behind her back as she stood before Magister Bannon. She looked down at his blue robes with a frown. “You have allowed corruption to flourish in the halls of the City Guard, turning a blind eye to excess in your own ranks, and ignored the plights of many of the city’s denizens.”

Another step, this time in front of Magister Keswick who visibly shook in her black robes of office.

“You allowed the City Works to become lazy,” Elania accused, her voice reverberating with the power of judgement. “Cut corners and failed to maintain the city, allowing cracks to fester, the buildings to crumble, and to allow the very sinews of this place to rot. For what? So that a few could live in splendor?”

Keswick’s body was forcefully pressed into the ground as Elania glared at her, the woman gasping for breath under the weight of the Celestial Engine’s will.

Releasing her, Elania took the final step to stand before Green. “Magister Astolf, Lord of Artisans,” she announced his title with a tone of mockery. “What say you?”

The paralyzed man stammered in response, but before he could articulate any defense, Elania cut him off.

“You traded your authority for baubles,” she declared mercilessly. “Played the guilds against themselves for favorable rulings and laws to enrich yourself. You traded your vote with other Magisters, gathering favors and wealth for yourself instead of safeguarding the city’s prosperity and future.”

Her golden eyes bore into him unblinkingly as she condemned his actions. “Did you ever think of the people who you were supposed to safeguard?” she asked, thought it wasn’t really a question. She looked at the others. “Did any of you?”

Silence enveloped the chamber, except for the whirr of the Engine far below. Elania moved to stand before the four of them.

“All of you allowed the Magister of the People to be infiltrated by the Cult of the Black Candle,” she proclaimed, “Allowing them to place their own powerful representative in a place of supreme power on this council for over a century.”

Yolani bit her lip as she took in that piece of information. Magister Relain had been a member of the cult that had summoned Elania in the first place?

“You allowed him to reap the poor of this city,” Elania continued, each word punctuated with righteous fury. “To extract the life essence from the people en masse, so he could churn it through the Engine to mass produce mana shards for his foul purpose.”

A hot breath of golden mist escaped the seraph’s mouth as she exhaled. Her gaze swept over the Magisters, her gaze burning with divine wrath. “Worse! You knew!”

Keswick let out a choked gasp, attempting to protest. “We…we only knew about...the purges. Not that…Relain was…a cultist or planned…to usurp the Engine!”

[Guilty.]

Elania’s gaze held no mercy. “Guilty,” she echoed, the word reverberating loudly throughout the tower, each syllable hammering home their culpability. There were no denials left, no arguments that could refute the divine judgement.

Elania raised her hand high, her fingers splayed open as the golden light around her congealed into flowing sigils. The symbols of divine authority appeared on each of the Magisters’ foreheads, burning into their skin with a searing heat that made them scream in agony.

“I do not have time to repair the damage you have caused over the last millennia,” Elania declared. “I place this judgement upon you: restore the city to its former glory, see to its citizens needs, obey the original divine decrees of the Magistry that you failed to uphold because you thought you were beyond the reach of the gods you serve.”

Elania raised her head and then looked over her shoulder at Yolani before continuing. “Finally, you will assist Yolani Aetherhart with whatever she needs, see that the wrongs perpetrated by False Magister Relain are undone, and that she has her shop and livelihood restored.”

As Elania closed her hand, the Magisters were released to collapse onto the floor, grasping at their throats and sucking in lungfuls of air. “Those are the terms of your sentence,” she continued mercilessly. “Fail and suffer an eternity of torment for your misdeeds in the Engine itself!”

Then, without sparing another glance at them, Elania turned and walked towards Yolani.

Yolani watched as Elania approached, her chest tightening with anticipation. She couldn’t help but feel awed by what she’d just witnessed—Elania meting out divine judgements like a goddess descended from the heavens.

When the golden seraph came closer, Yolani realized just how large she was, standing at least two meters high. That height dissolved as the golden woman fell to her knees, golden light dissolving off her form until she was the same height sitting on the floor.

Elania’s arms wrapped around her neck and she leaned in for a hug, her lips caressing an ear.

“I’m sorry,” Elania whispered softly. Golden tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, where they evaporated before touching the ground.

Yolani cleared her throat and hugged back. “Elania? What is…what’s happening to you?”

Elania sagged, a pained expression on her face. “I’m…out of time,” she confessed, her voice barely a whisper. “I saw your dad. He was proud of you and said he loves you.”

Yolani tensed up, shock filling her. Had Elania really seen her father?

“Thank you, Yolani. For your help…for being my friend when I needed someone.”

Tears welled up in Yolani’s eyes as she held on to Elania tightly. She could feel the other woman’s form begin to dissolve into motes of light.

“No!” Yolani cried out. “You can’t go! We had a contract! You’re violating it!”

Time seemed to stop, the gears and pistons of the Celestial Engine shrieked and ground to a halt, a loud reverberating bang echoing through the interior of the tower and out into the city.

The golden form of Eziel floated up into the air above them.

[The gods perished for their hubris. For their dogma…and their lack of love.]

Yolani’s heart skipped a beat as the golden form in her arms turned solid once more.

[You do not share their fate today, Demoness]

The sword began to disintegrate, the golden mist swirling back down into the Celestial Engine. A screech heralded the turning of the Engine’s gears once again.

[End of Book 1]***

There will be an epilogue.