Almost a dozen hours later, Ashtoreth hovered down to rest on a featureless metal ledge of the inner ring. Icon, the archival spirit, had claimed they’d killed the last of the outsider presence.
Better still, the Five Realms system had agreed.
{Alert: the Diadem Realm is free of all detectable outsider presence}
She sighed, then looked around at the strange, blocky architecture around her, its purpose impossible to tell just from its appearance, and wonder...
2026-01-24 00:41:20 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth formed her sword-scythe, then swept it through the air to spend an entire base [Bloodfire] pool on a new [Bloodfire Boon]—one that gave a bonus exclusively to [Magic].
It wouldn’t increase the power of her [Hellfire Nova], sadly: she’d need to channel the mana into the novaheart with bolstered [Magic] to do that. But it would make her even faster, which was the point.
She launched ...
2026-01-24 00:28:49 +0000 UTC
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“I can assure you, Hunter Wolfhard, the wave of charged motes of compressed mana was an unintended, if spectacular, side-effect of destroying the asymptotic spindle! Nice jump!”
For the moment, Hunter ignored Icon. He could smell his own flesh burning. Fortunately, even with his low [Vitality], he was high enough a level that his burnt skin and missing hair would come back quickly enough.
Then again the outsiders would come back quickly, too. He doubted the ou...
2026-01-24 00:17:10 +0000 UTC
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The doors opened.
Hunter rushed into the air beyond, quickly taking in a dozen or so outsiders that occupied the air around him at a glance and then naturally adjusting his trajectory to avoid them.
“There!” he heard Icon say. A flare had appeared far ahead of him, a blue-white light that shone on the exterior of a smaller, inner ring that floated at the exact center of the one he’d just left.
Before he reached his top speed, however, a floating outsider lurched into t...
2026-01-19 20:23:23 +0000 UTC
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Icon eyed him, crossing her arms.
“All right, Sir Hunter Wolfhard—let’s suppose for a moment that I go along with your plan to… bring one other level 650 here. Naturally, having had so much time to think about it, I can present you with options.” She paused, frowning. “Well, really only one option. It’s a poor showing for me… but they stopped time. Having even one answer is, I would say, admirably functional.”
“So we can get the Queen.”
<...
2026-01-17 20:56:33 +0000 UTC
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“You’re the archival spirit?” Hunter asked.
“Yes, my liege!” she said, still beaming at him. “And I must say, it is an honor and privilege to meet you!” A shadow seemed to briefly pass over her expression, and she added, “Especially after so long alone.”
Hunter eyed her, unsure of what to make of the situation. She’d clearly based her appearance on his own… unless somehow this was Dazel, and he’d found a way to mock Hunter while also trying to mani...
2026-01-15 23:51:33 +0000 UTC
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It was only a few days later that Ashtoreth warped back into Nexus 001 with a newly-stocked bag of beast hearts. Her locket was full, of course, but these were set to start expiring in less than a half hour.
“All right Hunter!” she announced. “Time to strap on the spacesuit and go exploring!”
The others were standing in a circle around the central warp conduit—the place they appeared when they’d warped in from Core. They’d been waiting for Ashtoreth.
“An astr...
2026-01-15 23:49:11 +0000 UTC
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Tired from another day of farming, Ashtoreth lay on the couch in Nexus 001 and prodded the Five Realms sub-system for information on the warp network.
It was an incredibly thing, their warp network. On Orchard in particular, a truly unfathomable amount of mana was being generated and stored just to quickly move people from one place to another. The whole system was planet-wide, meaning they’d built who-knew-how many different conduits along with the accompanying mana distribution infr...
2026-01-15 23:46:50 +0000 UTC
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Even if she was only a system-appointed, and not a humanity-appointed monarch, Ashtoreth still had to make her first official announcement while looking like a queen.
She wore ceremonial robes that imitated the look of infernal royal silk—a matte black that drank light so well it was almost an optical illusion, yet occasionally iridesced with a violet sheen when the light struck it at the right angle. The hem of her robes, which would normally be embroidered with high infernal script ...
2026-01-09 21:33:36 +0000 UTC
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“Mass access to Orchard?” Frost asked once Ashtoreth had finished explaining. “Let everyone farm up in the zones?”
“Yup!” she said. “It doesn’t work the way that the Monarchy does—I don’t get to set as many restrictions. I can choose whether it’s open to humans, everyone, or no-one… and that’s it.”
“That’s all you have control over?” Kylie asked dubiously.
“That’s it!”
“And you want to open it up to humans, then make the rune s...
2026-01-07 20:17:42 +0000 UTC
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“You know,” Ashtoreth said to the rest of the teams once she was back in Nexus 001, “If I assume that this whole system was set in place under the assumption that nobody just spontaneously becomes human, it makes perfect sense as a failsafe—and it’s brilliant. Supposing that Hell wins the initial invasion of Earth, they still won’t have access to the other four realms. Even if they start liquidating the human population, all it takes is for a human to escape and eventuall...
2026-01-06 19:09:32 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth thrust her weapon forward in the air, and light flickered across the edges of the foe in front of her—a three-dimensional rhombus.
{Adversarial Geometry — Level 855}
With a cascade of purple flashes, Ashtoreth’s javelins rushed forward. The rhombus blurred, splitting into four ghostly rhombi, each of which her javelins passed harmlessly through.
The space around her began to sparkle, and she leapt back before the hundreds of sparkling ...
2026-01-06 19:08:05 +0000 UTC
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{Advance [Drain]}
{Choose an advancement to gain, then choose to retain or replace all other options}
Upgrade [Aura] with [Aura: Thirst]
Add 30m to the radius of your [Aura].
Enemies affected by your [Aura] will have their [Mana] or other resources drained at a low speed, replenishing your [Bloodfire].
Gain the [Bloodfire Efficiency] ability:
...
2026-01-06 19:06:20 +0000 UTC
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{Ding! You level up! You are now level 525.}
{You gain 15 DEX, 15 STR, 19 VIT, 15 MAG, 8 PSY, 10 DEF}
{Reaching level 525 has granted advancement. Choose one of your progression paths other than [Spellcasting].}
This system text flashed before her eyes, but Ashtoreth barely had time to register it. She was still fighting.
Ahead of her, her final remaining enemy drew itself into a vaguely humanoid form, albeit one that ...
2025-12-24 04:02:41 +0000 UTC
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I need to talk to you. It was Matthews.
Ashtoreth shouldered Rammschloss and sighed. “All right, guys,” she told Hunter and Sadie. “Maybe move to a lower level range for a bit. I gotta go talk to the general.”
Sadie, hovering in the air nearby, sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Here we go.”
“Be back soon!” Ashtoreth said, zooming toward the ground to find a spot to teleport out of.
They’d found little of interest in the two days...
2025-12-24 04:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Two shots rang out in rapid succession, and a set of shockwaves rippled out from the muzzle of her cannon as she lifted her eye away from the scope and peered into the distance.
Her targets, two earth elementals that had each taken the form of stony crystal-veined quadrupeds, were obliterated a moment later, bursting into fragment-laced plumes of hellfire.
Ashtoreth sighed.
“You know something?” she asked. “I bet the ancient humans had it real nice. Like, Star Trek...
2025-12-24 03:59:33 +0000 UTC
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{You have been routed to Orchard Nexus 001.}
The flare of Ashtoreth’s warp spell faded, and she put her hands on her hips as she looked around the dimly lit circular chamber. Water dripped off every part of her body, and her eardrums popped, then regenerated as small trickles of blood ran from her ear cavities down the sides of her face.
Hunter appeared before her, coming out of his [Shadowcloak]. “Uh… you okay?” he asked, looking her over...
2025-12-24 03:57:47 +0000 UTC
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Sadly, these five chapters are all I've got to show for the last nine days. I had another one, 185, but I scrapped it because I didn't like it, and will rewrite tomorrow.
On the upside, I'm probably going to have a clear idea of what's been going on with me, health-wise, soon-ish. Hopefully I won't be having nearly so many bad days, soon.
I'll try to post more frequently, but posting in clusters like this also lets me edit everything at once and make sure I've got the plot straigh...
2025-12-17 03:34:09 +0000 UTC
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Five million? Frost asked. That’s a completely insane amount of teleportation rods. At the close of their war, they somehow had the resources to make all that?
Hunter was still flying around the room, opening drawers at random. It looks like it, he said. Every one of these has the same loadout.
Is it that unreasonable? Ashtoreth said. If you look at the equipment of your standard GI from the first world war, then compare them to a...
2025-12-17 03:28:50 +0000 UTC
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Okay, Ashtoreth said through the telepathy. I know you wanted me to be quiet, but… I can’t be the only one who thinks the name “Orchard,” is pretty danged auspicious?
Sure, said Hunter. But I’m searching the rest of the facility before I try warping there.
Hey! I wasn’t suggesting otherwise, she said. I’m just thinkin’ that this Orchard place might not be all about trees, if you get what I’m saying.
Hunt...
2025-12-17 03:11:05 +0000 UTC
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The sun looks just ours, he said. All of this looks like it could just be on Earth. He frowned, then. I’m not just… on Earth, am I?
He began diving toward the ground below, searching the air with his magical senses to see if he could sense any strange mana—anything that would indicate he’d teleported above another buried silver disk like the one that had led him here.
The Circles of Hell are all made of realms that were once other worlds,
2025-12-17 03:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Well would you look at that! Ashtoreth said once he’d sent her the details. If it isn’t… exactly what we expected it would be.
If I request permission, the Pinnacle Curator is you, right? he asked. You’ll get my request?
Hold on a sec, said Kylie. We should think about this.
Sure! said Ashtoreth. But let’s be real for a sec: no matter the risks, he’s sending that request.
T...
2025-12-17 02:47:17 +0000 UTC
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You’re right, Hunter said. The [Warp] emanations in this place feel… intense. And strange.
He hovered several thousand meters in the air, a snowy taiga stretching out below him in every direction. The work site was easy to spot, but not because of the hole they were digging: that had been scaffolded over and covered with what appeared to be steel plating, the same kind that shipping containers were made of.
The structure cov...
2025-12-17 02:36:54 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth.
Ashtoreth groaned as her wings twitched. She ground her face against the pillow. She’d been having a strange dream… she’d done something awkward in a supermarket, but couldn’t figure out what it was. Everyone had been looking at her…
Ashtoreth.
It was Kylie. She didn’t sound particularly happy, either.
“I’m awake,” she muttered, rising out of bed and tucking her wings back. Realizing she’d spoken aloud, she said, I...
2025-12-08 02:34:07 +0000 UTC
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“Ashtoreth has a request,” Frost said.
He stood in Matthews’ office at headquarters, having come alone. At that moment, Ashtoreth was in a lab somewhere.
“All right.”
“It’s not very serious.”
Matthews’ mouth quirked in amusement. “You don’t say.”
“She said that because I’m much closer to a human bossman than she is, maybe I’d have more success than she would.”
“Success at what, exactly?”
“She wanted me to come her...
2025-12-08 02:23:05 +0000 UTC
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“I can’t believe it,” Ashtoreth said weeks later. “I just… I can’t believe it! They’re still cutting me out!”
She raised Wanderstein, sighting through the scope before firing two shots into the distant flock of massive, flying lizards. The two that she struck burst into massive explosions that bathed the rest of their fellows in hellfire.
But the flying lizards were high-level primordial hunters, and moments later they emerged from the cloud of he...
2025-12-08 01:59:01 +0000 UTC
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{You lose ability [Summon Demonic Familiar]}
“Well,” she said. “There it goes. I suppose I should call up the labcoats and tell them he’s gone.”
She’d spent almost a dozen hours that day being fussed over by scientists in a facility whose location she hadn’t been told. The scientists had spent a lot of time arguing on how to proceed, and Ashtoreth had been annoyed by the waste.
The elves, however, had apparently volunteered the services of the ...
2025-12-08 01:49:30 +0000 UTC
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“Perhaps unsurprisingly,” Ashtoreth began, “I’m an astonishingly perfect specimen of archfiend.”
Matthews looked unamused. “Meaning?”
She shrugged. “Dunno, exactly—other than that I’m myself. Dazel made it sound like I was sort of… hmm. You know how if you stand between two mirrors, you can only see an infinite number of mirrors stretching off in both directions if the mirrors are absolutely perfectly aligned, right?”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” s...
2025-12-08 01:40:23 +0000 UTC
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Good news, everyone!
It turns out that I have been, and still am, suffering from an unfortunate issue with my physical health.
This has almost certainly exacerbated the pre-existing comorbid snarl of problems and bad habits that I already had to start with, resulting in the unfortunate decline of basically every facet of my life for the last few months (trust me, my writing productivity is just the tip of the iceberg.)
Naturally, the prospect of getting treatment has made me...
2025-12-02 03:52:51 +0000 UTC
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“This is a lot to take in,” said General Matthews.
They were sitting in a conference room back at headquarters. It had taken a great deal of explaining, re-explaining, and correcting each other, but they’d filled him in on everything they’d learned from Dazel’s interrogation.
Ashtoreth nodded. “We haven’t really had much time to process it ourselves, to be honest.”
“Let’s start with Dazel himself. You say he used to be human. How is that possible?”
<...
2025-12-02 03:37:06 +0000 UTC
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