“This stinks,” Ashtoreth said, frowning down at the crude map of the cosmos that she’d drawn into the scorched earth before her.
Hunter spared a glance at the giant, smoldering lizard corpse behind them. “You could have just let me cut its head off.”
“I’m not talking about the lizard carcass,” she said. She frowned. “That smells bad to you? Anyway, I’m talking about the situation.”
“Is this bad?” Frost asked, staring down at the dotted line...
2025-12-02 03:36:13 +0000 UTC
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“Okay, so it turns out that we’re very, very far out,” Hunter said. “As in, there’s maybe one other realm we can reach from here. Sadie can get us there, but I’ll have to help her draw the rune circle and it’s going to take us some time.”
“Just one option?” Frost said. “One place we can go?”
“Yeah,” said Hunter. “From the feel of it, it’s a primal world. Probably one of the better options we could have hoped for.”
“We don’t have a choice...
2025-12-02 03:35:12 +0000 UTC
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The [Infernal Commands] came a moment later.
“Halt,” Haddad said.
It was the perfect time to use them, after all. Ashtoreth was on the retreat and had pulled so many tricks out of her sleeve that they had to think she was running out of them. The momentary paralysis, if successful, would have easily sealed the deal.
And because each of them had to suspect she was an [Archfiend of Pride], they couldn’t use the commands ...
2025-12-02 03:34:21 +0000 UTC
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Air howled around her as she sped through the distance between herself and her sisters. She moved fast, but not at full speed: she’d timed her charge to take the 1/8 second that it took her to conjure Wanderschloss.
Apollo conjured her own greatsword and lunged toward Ashtoreth in response. Haddad, however, hung back much as Ashtoreth had expected she would, bright yellow lightning arced off her wings and horns in the moment before thrusting both her hands forward.
A bo...
2025-12-02 03:32:58 +0000 UTC
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Apollo and Haddad wore matching robes of heavy cloth, both a mixture of white and the respective archfiend’s personal color, red or yellow. Apollo, doubtless the leader between the two of them, calmly glowered at Ashtoreth, staying silent.
Haddad, however, floated forward, crossing her arms and grinning, looking considerably happier than when Ashtoreth had seen her last.
Ashtoreth suppressed a frown. Haddad was much more annoying when she was happy.
“Hail to the treacher...
2025-12-02 03:31:57 +0000 UTC
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She felt strangely weak, and a moment later she looked down to see why: she’d still been bisected through her abdomen, and the tumble against the ground had disemboweled her. Strangely, it hurt less than she’d expected.
It still hurt, though.
“Ow.”
“Oh fuck,” she head Kylie say from nearby. “Frost! Frost!”
She still couldn’t regenerate any of the flesh at the edges of her wound. She didn’t even have a debuff about it: whatever Mass...
2025-12-02 03:29:54 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth felt something impact her from the side and there was a flash of blue-white light…
Ashtoreth was tossed against hard stone ground, her wings crumpling under her as she rolled to a stop. She lifted herself off the ground, glancing around frantically to see the rest of her allies scattered around her.
For a moment, she was so relieved that it felt unbearable: everyone was alive. They’d escaped a mess with a level 2500 dragon and a… who knew what level of fallen angel...
2025-12-02 03:28:34 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth felt the new presence before she even turned around. Her magical senses registered them like a small moon, one that had been absent one moment, but was suddenly there in the room with them the next.
She didn’t want to take her eyes off Dazel… but the sudden threat weighing on her mind insisted that she wheel to take them in.
They looked much like an elf wearing a simple gown covered in faded patterns. Their skin was pale grey, and black cracks radiated outward from t...
2025-12-02 03:27:09 +0000 UTC
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A moment later, she absorbed the memories in the crystal. It wasn’t a particularly disorienting process: just a sort of mental click and then they were there again.
She could even remember the exact moment she’d decided to betray him. It had been in her room, right after he’d let slip that he had a history with Hell and then asked if she’d have given her life to save Earth.
Once he’d left, she’d set things in motion. She’d told General Matthews, in no uncert...
2025-12-02 03:25:46 +0000 UTC
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“So the first entity was a flock of brightly colored birds,” Ashtoreth explained.
“O-kay,” Frost said. “The whole flock?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” said Ashtoreth. “I don’t really know how it worked, because whenever there was a vibe shift then they’d switch out whichever bird was talking to us. And whenever they had to think for a second, all their constituent birds would just start squawking.”
“And they didn’t know anything?”
“They...
2025-10-23 03:47:17 +0000 UTC
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It was only a short while later that Ashtoreth and Dazel both hovered in the air below the building-studded ceiling of the enormous cavern, assessing what she was pretty sure was the designated meeting place.
It looked almost like the steeple of a human church, only inverted and hanging from the ceiling of the cavern. It was also painted a vibrant combination of pink, green, and yellow, with a single circular opening around its midpoint.
“That’s gotta be it, right?” Ashtoret...
2025-10-23 03:46:19 +0000 UTC
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“This. Is. Delicious. Dazel, have you tried some?”
“I’ll get to it. I’m enjoying my flab squiggles.”
The little mound of pale, translucent flab squiggles in his small bowl jiggled like a pile of rubber curly fries as he sucked another one into his mouth. She couldn’t blame him: the flab squiggles tasted a lot like seasoned, enriched belly fat.
Ashtoreth was now eating some thinly sliced flesh that was white on one side, pinkish-red on the other. She su...
2025-10-23 03:44:24 +0000 UTC
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Have you sold either of your sisters yet?
Dazel asked the question matter-of-factly as Ashtoreth waited for Sadie to finish her teleportation circle. Kylie had already left, taking to the air once Ashtoreth explained where the men were and what they’d found.
Ashtoreth scowled. Did Sadie tell you guys about that?
No, Dazel said. Why would Sadie know that you’re going to sell your sisters?
Because… look, it doesn’t matter. ...
2025-10-20 00:51:45 +0000 UTC
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“Wow!” Ashtoreth said as a street filled with people bustled around her. “That was amazing!”
She’d taken payment in chitt, as the chitt offered had been more valuable than the cores in Ashtoreth’s estimation. Mostly, though, her payment had come in the form of a rendezvous that he’d arranged for later in the day, with the payment of her last roll of plastic wrap pending.
“Look how much that was worth!” she said, hefting two handfuls of the finely-shaped ...
2025-10-20 00:50:52 +0000 UTC
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For some reason, Kylie and Sadie had both seemed mortified by the prospect of approaching random strangers and asking if they could sell goods to their bosses. Even after Ashtoreth had insisted that things were fast-moving and hectic here by nature, and that people probably showed up with goods to sell but no clue how to sell them all the time.
Ashtoreth, though, had no problem with questioning everyone she saw about where they could sell their stuff. It took her almost an hour of deali...
2025-10-20 00:49:45 +0000 UTC
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“Actually,” Ashtoreth said. “I just need Freyr right now. Yama’s more useful, and just one of them fetch us more than what we need to finance everything.”
“She… will?” Kylie asked.
Definitely, Ashtoreth said with telepathy. They’re well-bred daughters of the King of Hell himself. Sure, that comes with some heat, but they’ve failed in their task—he’s not likely to take offense at what happens to them even if he does find out.
2025-08-24 01:27:04 +0000 UTC
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It took them less than an hour to pore over the guidebooks and address every point of confusion they could find. After that, it was time for one final brief.
Our story, Dazel said, is that we looted an abandoned human base on Primeval Karaz after the attack on Fallen Harana failed. The humans set up on Primeval Karaz with the intent of settling in and farming, hence why we have such an eclectic spread of goods.
But don’t tell anyone that unless they trade y...
2025-08-24 01:05:35 +0000 UTC
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The six of them materialized out of the warp spell and stared at the strange sight of the vast world lying before them.
“‘Miniature city,’ you said,” Frost said, voice containing a clear note of awe.
They stood on a platform looking out into a cavernous, artificial chamber shaped like an egg that was miles across. They were at its midpoint, and a bowl-like depression lined with tiers and tiers of structures could be seen below them, mirrored by a similar shape with structu...
2025-08-24 00:37:22 +0000 UTC
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“I gotta tell you,” Ashtoreth said. “Humans invented way, way better elves than the real ones. Satchels?”
Sadie removed the backpack that Ashtoreth had asked her to wear, then opened it and removed both her and Kylie’s bags.
“There’s a lot of human-made elves, Ashtoreth,” Dazel said, floating into her field of view from where he’d been all but hiding behind her.
Ashtoreth took her bag from Sadie, then took the backpack. She stuffed the latter into ...
2025-08-24 00:11:37 +0000 UTC
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Author Note:
I know I've been away for almost a week, but I've still been writing. I have 5 more chapters written and almost ready to post, just editing them now.
I've been away from my usual routine for the past two weeks. Also, this part of the story has required a lot of careful planning.
Hope you enjoy!
* * *
“What’s up, uh… Ancient Sage of the Eldunar? Alliance of necessity much?”
{Elf — Level 1025 ...
2025-08-23 23:33:41 +0000 UTC
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The massive lizard broke free of the treeline with a tremendous sound of cracking branches and disturbed foliage. It reared up on its hind legs and roared, its long, narrow snout coming apart to reveal jaws studded with needle-shaped teeth.
{Ibexicon — Level 188 Elite}
“Eh,” Ashtoreth said. She fired her cannon, a shockwave ripping through the air around her as her shot streaked forward toward the enemy, a bolt of incandescent light that tore the dinosaur co...
2025-08-17 21:12:08 +0000 UTC
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For a time after the assault of Morax Tol’s bastion, Ashtoreth was stuck facing what she slowly came to realize might be the worst possible outcome.
Nothing happened.
She’d known they would assault Fallen Harana without her, but Primeval Karaz? They didn’t even tell her or her people that they’d left. She’d simply woken up one day to find that most of the soldiers she trained with were missing and had to hear it from General Matthews that she’d been left out. She was n...
2025-08-17 21:11:03 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth felt Dazel go rigid where he sat in her lap. “Uh… yeah…” he said.
She had to admire Sadie’s cleverness in deciding to attack now. With Hunter’s mom and Raven around, Dazel would be limited in how nasty he could get, but the humans had probably developed all sorts of techniques for insulting each other without breaching etiquette.
“Yeah, you know,” Sadie continued. “Is there a Mrs Dazel—maybe a white cat? A poodle?”
“I can’t… tell if you...
2025-08-17 21:09:53 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth and Hunter warped to a runic circle that had been drawn on the front lawn of a small house.
“We’re actually staying in a missile silo somewhere,” said Hunter. “But they let us out so mom could set her own table.” He shrugged. “She really wanted to get back into the house for a night. Come on.”
“It’s Ashtoreth!”
A small human came running out of the house toward her, then stopped suddenly as she seemed to realize she had no idea...
2025-08-11 21:56:57 +0000 UTC
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In the end, it turned out that Earth wasn’t Pinnacle.
After her psychic evaluation, Ashtoreth had been sent back while the humans prepared for the assault on Primeval Karaz. She was fairly certain that they wanted her to participate when they did attack… but it was taking them more than a few hours to prepare, and they didn’t want her anywhere but Earth if it could be helped.
Of course, Ashtoreth knew what that really meant. Right now, they were deciding wh...
2025-08-11 21:13:53 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth registered what Frost had said, then shrugged off her satchel. “They must’ve stealthed some lower-level psychics across Primeval Karaz,” she said. “Makes sense to want to read my mind before they launch their secret surprise misdirection attack.”
“Why are you taking off your bag, Ashtoreth?” Frost asked, eying her.
“It’s elvish leather,” she said. “And I can’t imagine that any elf will appreciate seeing the work of their craftsmen on my person.”...
2025-08-11 20:40:32 +0000 UTC
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“I’m definitely taking this, right?” Ashtoreth asked, gesturing to where she’d written the ability out with a glamour. “It’s too weird and tantalizing. What’s Pinnacle?”
“No idea,” said Dazel. “But the first place we should check is probably Earth, right? I mean… it seems unlikely, but Earth has a lot of unexplained weirdness going on with it.”
“Nah, that can be the second thing,” Ashtoreth said.
“Huh?”
But she was already ignoring him...
2025-08-08 18:55:42 +0000 UTC
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“See, now, this is the issue,” Ashtoreth explaining, tugging on the brim of the massive witch hat that she’d conjured. The hat, which had two holes in it for her horns to poke through, remained stationary instead of rotating. “I can’t spin it.”
She’d landed on the top of the pyramid and rejoined the party. Dazel had floated down to land in her arms, his movements seeming more hesitant than usual. Neither of them mentioned the details of their conversation; Ashtoreth had si...
2025-08-07 15:03:41 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth stared at Dazel, trying to process what he’d said. It didn’t surprise her, not really. It was more or less what she’d guessed… if a lot more extreme, from the sounds of things. But somehow, it was still hard to take in.
She knew, in an academic sense, that before fiends had ruled Hell, devils had. She knew that her father had overthrown the old King. She knew—or thought she’d known—that all of this necessitated some origin of his own, a story that described his r...
2025-06-21 04:56:18 +0000 UTC
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{DING! You gain 14 levels. You are now level 461.}
{You gain 210 DEX, 210 STR, 266 VIT, 210 MAG, 112 PSY, 140 DEF}
{Congratulations! You’ve absorbed enough power to choose your fourth Class Aspect!}
“All right,” said Ashtoreth. “Here it is. Moment of truth!”
“Well don’t leave us hanging,” said Frost. “What’d you get?”
Ashtoreth prompted the system and then read the text it offered her in res...
2025-06-21 04:37:07 +0000 UTC
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