My Servant System

"So, how was it? Fighting against Fiends like that on your own?"

Lady Fenryas asked that as she gnawed on a large, juicy piece of meat, the Demon Wolf forgoing table manners as she opted instead to just eat as she pleased, which currently meant devouring roughly an entire cow on top of downing a barrel worth of mead all on her own, much to the general displeasure of the other members of the Empress' family.

"And don't you get smart with me, horn head. We got that silver tongued fools report, yes, but I want to hear your own words, with your own emotions behind them, not some intricately crafted report."

Stabbing her fork at Jahi, Lady Fenryas' single silver eye shone dangerously as she waited for an answer, which Jahi decided was unimportant enough to wait to answer as she instead turned towards the Marquess, saying "When we stopped at Arx Impius the first time, we got to meet Madam Tabitha and Lady Hathor."

"Hey, don't you fucking ignore me brat!"

The bark from the Demon Wolf was silenced as the Empress calmly said "Fen, let the girl speak, hm? She'll get to you in a moment... perhaps this is more important to her and her family?", though the entire time she was staring at Jahi 'curiously' as she rested her chin on her hand and waited as well, likely wondering where this was heading.

"And? What exactly did our oh so wonderful distant cousins want?"

The disinterest in the Marquess' tone - paired with the way she swirled around the wine in her glass before downing the entire thing - caused Mother and I to share a bemused glance at how stubborn the sapphire skinned Demoness was.

"Well, while we were there, I got to try out their sparring Golems; they have some sort of... learning matrix imbedded into them that allow them to learn alongside you and challenge you further, and I asked Lady Hathor if they were for sale."

"Hathor..? Let me guess, the answer was 'not to you, but to your Mom instead'? Crazy woman..."

The Marquess' ruby eyes flickered towards the Countess, who was just smiling softly as she held Alessandra close to her chest, her neutral expression making her wife turn back to Jahi with a slight shudder as she watched her daughter nod.

"There is no promise there... likely, the price for something as advanced and lavish as one of those Golems is something utterly inane like having me seriously consider her as a partner or something... remember, they don't really want for much, the Demon Clans... Generational wealth can't even begin to describe just what sort of hoard they sit on, what with all the secrets and abilities they have. Hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if they have some stuff squirreled away from everyone, even the Empress."

Jahi just let out a sigh at that, the slight hope she had to be able to receive one of those training Golems dimming by a large amount at her Mom's words, and a glance at both her own Mother and my Mother was enough to confirm it, the two women giving her gentle smiles that made it clear that would likely never happen.

"A shame... I always had hope that you'd reconcile with them, Chordeva... Really, I did, but I can understand the... ah, reluctance to do so."

"Reluctance? Respectfully, Empress, Hathor wanted to experiment on our child whilst it was still in her womb - whenever we got lucky enough to conceive. How utterly insane is that?! And then there's the Beliali women... bah, they're just manipulative brats that don't take no for an answer!"

The Empress just chuckled softly before turning back to Jahi, the younger Demoness continuing to ignore the bristling, grey skinned Demon Wolf as she added "On another note, Belian wants to hire both Anput and Kat to produce Wands and Staves for the Demon Clans; something about fostering relations with me instead of you since I might be more malleable and willing to converse with them, compared to your more... unbending stance."

"You've already said more words to them than I have in multiple decades, Belian excluded anyways... so yes, you are more malleable, sadly enough..."

Refilling her glass, the Marquess took a sip and glanced at Anput, who was seeking comfort in her own bottle, the Jackalkin balancing herself between consecutive glasses of wine and large chunks of bread, making sure she wouldn't get drunk but using the sharp flavor of the wine to distract herself.

"Besides, you do still have the offer from me as well, Anput. To forge for the March in bulk; hand forged blades and armor, compensated properly for your work. Materials provided, forge provided should you need it, as well as assistants. Still up to it?"

My mate shrugged her shoulders and instead asked "Do we have time for a job like that? We were called back on 'important news', after all, so depending on that, well... can't really take a large job like that in good faith, right?"

We all looked at the Empress, who just smiled in response before shaking her head softly when Lady Fenryas growled "Brat, I swear to all that is holy that if you don't answer my fucking question, I WILL break each and every single bone in your body..."

"Please, do answer her already... I would prefer a calm Sanctum tonight, if at all possible?"

Amusement laced the Empress' tone as she glanced at her irritated wife, who was doing her best to not crush the tankard in her hand as she glared at all of us, even the cleanly Lady D'Arcon beside her who tried to soothe her.

Jahi's lips had a small twitch as she finally turned back towards the Demon Wolf, something that made me roll my eyes as I wanted to tell her that this was not the right woman to play these sorts of games with, though I sincerely doubt she would stop even if I asked her to...

"The first we fought - Tza'Orbias - was a tough battle because they had a weird magical tool they were using to cast various spells instantly and with enhanced power. A really difficult battle against them, one made even more draining thanks to the Cultists we had to deal with before hand. It was tough and grueling, but thanks to Leone's True Vampire Form, Ammit's incredible magical prowess, as well as Sla'Caligo and Kat working together. Certainly a learning experience, and one that will be hard to get more experience on in a more... 'casual' setting since finding mages that strong to spar against without risking severe injury is difficult."

"Not impossible though, and you have one of the greatest healers ever sitting right here, so stop making excuses. Each of us here could mop the floor with you if you wanted, or you could look a tad closer to home and ask that knife ear of a Mother to go ahead and zap some sense into you a few times."

The Countess just rolled her eyes at Lady Fenryas' words, before she cast a glare at the Marquess, who was smirking at her for the all too familiar insult.

"Then there was Ka'Minvis, which was an interesting fight. High regenerative abilities, able to 'split' into two separate entities that were still considered one Fiend. Quick, strong, that high regeneration... it wasn't difficult per se, but certainly one that revealed a few flaws in our current levels. Reaction speed needed to be higher, formation needed to be tighter and more layered, but all in all, I'd go so far as to say that it was actually pretty 'fun' all things considered.

Finally, we had Nua'Fel, which... wouldn't really be a fight, at least for me; I only got to fight the myriad Undead that were under its control, and not the Fiend itself. Ammit and Anput burnt it to ground, and Kat distracted it and directed everything, so... it was underwhelming, but certainly not something that I regret not being able to fight. Disgusting and rather... yeah, just disgusting really. All the pus and bile..."

Shuddering, she made a few of us groan as we put down our forks or glasses for the moment, memories of things we had fought before gracing our minds at the moment and making any liquid or soft food seem like it was something else, which... was not what you wanted to envision eating.

Even Igna, the Dragon who had admitted to eating people before shuddered, her scarred face twisting in disgust as she muttered "That is the ONLY word to describe them... one of my few regrets in life...", which only made us all stare at her in mild horror as those words registered a moment later.

"What?"

'Looking' around at us, she pursed her lips before shrugging as she focused on Jahi, bringing the conversation back around to more palatable subjects as she said "So this means the only type of Fiend you haven't fought is one of the Sla variety. Honestly, I don't know whether to say that is a blessing or not... it'll happen eventually, after all, but uh..."

"No, we haven't really fought against one, but Sla'Caligo has decided to willingly give us a taste of what that might be like, which..."

Jahi glanced at Anput, who just frowned before sipping her wine again, remaining quiet even as the focus landed on her.

"Anyways, yeah, we haven't fought against a Sla Fiend, and I can already tell that they'll be the most tricky..."

"Aw, but of course~ we're the most tricky~!"

Popping into existence above us, Cali drifted around and grinned as she looked over everyone, though her smile stiffened as the Empress slowly lifted her head to stare at the Fiend, and when Lady D'Arcon smiled softly as well, Cali floated down towards me and took refuge by my side, the pink skinned woman back to her usual form as she muttered "Scary..."

Coughing into her fist, she rested her head on my shoulder and spoke in her usual coy voice, acting like nothing was wrong at all as she said "Ka Fiends are direct and physical fighters. Nua Fiends tend to be physical as well, but they do have rather good magical prowess as well. Tza Fiends are tricky with their own magics and understanding of things. So where does that leave us~? Well, we aren't the strongest physically, not the most threatening magically - large spells and powerful spells, anyways - but the magic we do have is... more than enough~!"

Giggling darkly, the Arch Fiend looked around before focusing on Jahi as she added "After all, why bother fighting you when we can just... sap away your will to live and watch as you wallow in nothingness~? Or have a different kind of 'fight' with you instead~? Very few could actually resist that kind of fight..."