My Servant System

"Have you ever fought a Sla Fiend before, Sultana? I must admit I am curious as to how they fight, if they fight at all... Ka Fiends, Nua Fiends, Tza Fiends, all of them are rather unique in their traits and fighting style, but I haven't met a Sla Fiend just yet. Well, besides Sla'Caligo."

Spinning the Gladius around in my hand to distract myself from the sounds of sex around us, I studied the architecture of the building and idly noted how so far, this part of the capital building looked the exact same as the rest of it; dark wooden doors framed by a sandstone brick outline to give the walls depth, simple tiles covered in a long red rug that trailed down the middle of the hallway, shelves laden with silver candelabras and other lanterns to keep the area illuminated...

Each part of the building felt like it was constructed via a template that someone had used to create this expanse of rooms and halls, each part filled with the same things as the last and kept to a specific pattern that didn't allow for much change, which wasn't bad, but...

It was confusing, though thankfully the Sultana knew her way through these sort of buildings as she led me even further in, past the servant quarters and into a quieter, calmer area that the Vizier resided in, which should be a but more grand than the rest of the building, what with her being the ruler of Khisba and all.

"No, and few people actually have. See, where the other Fiends want to fight and kill, Sla Fiends rarely get into confrontations that lead to death, be it yours or theirs. And the reason is simple; violence requires death, decay requires death, knowledge is to be gained from the dead, but lust requires vitality, virility. They need you to be alive to get that lust to empower themselves. So if I had to guess, this Fiend wouldn't want to fight either. It might run as soon as it realizes we are onto it, or it might try and seduce us to keep itself alive."

I nodded, understanding the logic behind that; all of the other Fiends need to kill to get stronger, to hone and refine themselves inside of a battle so that they can understand how to utilize their strengths to the utmost of their abilities, but a Sla Fiend...

They don't need to fight anyone, since their 'battlefield' is inside of a 'safe' area; the bed is their battlefield, sex is their weapon, and learning how to extract more lust from someone would be easier to do if you kept them alive and happy to join you.

Now to say that they don't 'kill' someone would be a lie, since I imagine the lust they give and the lust they take changes someone permanently and drastically, with this current display being rather convincing so far; these people likely wouldn't have normally been going at it so hard and so eagerly when the sun was already up, remaining in their rooms and making love even though they have a job to do.

That was what made the Sla Fiend's dangerous, and why I was curious to know if the Sultana had physically fought one before, since I had a feeling in my gut that this wasn't going to be a simple day; nothing with a Fiend was ever simple, but I just felt something was off about this.

"Then shouldn't we be extra careful since... well, we are in the midst of a rather large cesspool of lust at the moment, no? I feel like this might just be a tad... dangerous."

"Only a tad? That's surprising. I find this to be a rather intimidating fight coming ahead simply because of the mental aspect... and if you think you are steeled enough, check the mana around us once more. It has grown in strength as we have approached the Vizier's quarters... so it would seem that your intuition was correct, Jahi."

Focusing on the air around us once more, I nearly choked myself as I swallowed hard, the sheer amount of Lust Mana drifting through the air wrapping around my throat and creeping into my nostrils, trying to suffocate me simply by sensing it.

My body grew hot once more, and I shivered as I grit my teeth and tried to sever the connection between myself and the mana, to remove its insidious touch from my body, so I began to channel my Light Mana across my skin and towards my head in an attempt to defend myself.

Coming to a halt, I clenched my fists and fought against the heat that spread over me, my mana flaring as it came into contact with that pink mist, and as I stood there I was unaware of how dangerously close I had come to death, since the Sultana was staring at me with her scimitar gently tapping against the tile once more.

My everything tingled as I bit my tongue, holding back a moan as I felt something tickling the edges of my mind, whispering to me to surrender and guide my hands lower, towards my other 'sword', to wet it and temper it with one of the many servants around here, to lose myself to the dreams that I had locked away within my mind...

But the idea of pursuing that dream brought the image of Anput, Leone, and Kat into my mind as well, the three of them staring down at me in disgust as they caught me rutting with another woman in a bed that wasn't ours, and the void like eyes that began to consume my mind as I imagined them unsheathing some daggers too...

Especially Kat, since I had seen her far too many times enjoying herself as she took to a monster or person's skin, slowly peeling it away before beginning to slice into their flesh and remove chunks of it at a time, all while maintaining a gleeful smile on her face that was reminiscent of a child getting their favorite toy gifted to them.

That thought alone sent shivers down my spine that cleared any and all heat that might have been building up within my loins dissipated instantly, allowing my Light Mana to chew away at the rest of the Lust Mana that had continued to trickle into my body, freeing me from its clutches.

"Gods be damned..! That was..!"

My breathing was ragged as I stumbled back another step, and I felt my heart beating hard within my chest as adrenaline began to course through my body, each beat causing my vision to pulse and fade, and I could only drag in my breaths to try and calm myself down, all while the Sultana watched me.

"We... We haven't even fought it... or seen it... and it's already... this is more adrenaline than... than I got when I fought Ka'Volan... or any other Fiend for that matter..."

Looking up at the Sultana, I saw her nod her head as she turned back to the double doors that lead into the Vizier's room, which was... bereft of any sound at all, something that was incredibly suspicious and telling, though not surprising anymore.

"I told you, and Sla'Caligo likely told you as well... of the four types of Fiends, the most insidious and horrifying aren't the Ka, who murder indiscriminately, devouring flesh and drinking blood. It isn't the Nua, who spread pestilence and disease everywhere to decay and twist the organic. It isn't even the Tza with all of their forbidden, lost knowledge and mastery over the arcane in its entirety. It's the Sla who are the scariest of the bunch, because Lust isn't always sexual in nature. And when pushed into a corner..."

"Yeah... Kat told me about it. How they can sap your will to do anything, let alone your will to fight. Oh for... this is going to be hell, isn't it?"

Steadying myself, I flushed my muscles with my Light Mana and got my mental state back into working order as well, steeling myself for the opening of that door and the battle that would come.

"Hell that we need to dive into. Are you ready?"

I gave her a nod and spun my Gladius once more, loosening my wrist and preparing myself to move quickly so that I could attack before the Sla Fiend got the chance to do anything, which was a long shot of a hope, but hey, you need to have hope for everything!

The dark wood door was gilded with silver and had two jackal heads as door knockers, and as soon as we approached the two jackal heads bared their fangs and snarled at us, dropping the heavy rings to the ground and causing the Sultana to mutter "Well that is certainly new..."

They continued to snarl at us, snapping at the air and trying to leap off of the wood so that they could attack us, and over their vicious snarls we heard someone lazily say "Oh, someone finally showed up~? Intriguing..."