The Protagonist System

259 Clapping Hands

Krahllak, also known as The Beast, knew something was going on when he felt the first connection to his minions fade. Since he lost connections all the time, he wasn't too worried. He had tens of thousands of connections, after all. Most of them didn't even know they were connected, either. His power was subtle until he decided that the ones he influenced needed to play a more active role in his operations.

The Ninja of the Hand, though, they were his fingers to manipulate and corrupt the world. Those he kept a close eye on, thanks to his daughter, whom ran the organization for him while he reaped all of the benefits. Power, wealth, influence, chaos, and destruction, all of it was his and he wouldn't share it with anyone, no matter what his sister The Wild thought.

A few more connections disappeared and he wondered what was going on, since his power should have let his ninja slip away from whomever damaged them and they would tap into his power to recover. He couldn't let his investments fester and die, after all. How would he take over the world if he had no one to influence?@@novelbin@@

More connections faded and Krahllak frowned slightly. It should not be possible for more than a handful to be removed from his demonic touch, even from an explosion, so what was going on? A portal opened and his daughter jumped through.

“Father, we are being ursurped!” The Hellbride shouted and raised her sword to deflect a blast of hellfire before the portal closed. Her clothes were charred and her weapon was slightly warped from excessive heat exposure.

“Who dares attack my family?” The Beast asked, his large bulk quivering with anger. He stood as if his massive rotund body didn't weigh anything and proved he had super strength, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to move at all.

“A small host of demons from some other dimension stormed The Hand's headquarters.” The Hellbride answered and took several deep breaths as her wounds closed over and the bleeding stopped. “From what I could tell from their shouts and cheers, they destroyed the New York branch of The Hand, slaughtered and consumed the recruits, then tortured the owner for my location.”

Krahllak's frown grew. “How did they know about you, daughter?”

“I can only assume I was betrayed, father.” The Hellbride responded.

“You can claim the traitor's soul after I deal with this... this... insurrection!” The Beast said and concentrated on the closest connection he felt to where his daughter had been.

“He has already been claimed, father.” The Hellbride said, her voice sad.

“WHAT?!?” The Beast exclaimed as he opened a portal. A huge blast of hellfire whooshed out through it and he absorbed it, glad of that ability, because it was somehow much more powerful than what he himself could produce and the heat would have scorched him if he wasn't resistant.

Several female voices let out maniacal laughter, clearly enjoying letting their bloodlust out.

“The fool himself has appeared!” A pterodactyl demon shouted and her wing pointed at the large portal, one that was big enough for Krahllak to easily step through. “CHARGE!”

The Beast suddenly didn't feel so confident about handling the insurrection as ten blood-covered demons of various sizes lunged through the portal. Their claws and teeth started tearing into his massive fleshy body and he screamed like a fledgling demon during their first night in a breeding pit.

“Father!” The Hellbride shouted and readied her blade to attack the smallest pinkish demon, only for her swinging blade to be deflected by a bright silver sword and she received a punch to the face that knocked out several teeth. “YOU!”

“Yes, me.” Magik said as she stepped through the closing portal. Her silver armor gleamed with magical power that almost blinded The Hellbride in the dark dungeon-like space that her father had been resting in. “Ready for round two?”

The Hellbride growled and pulled off her damaged ninja head covering and revealed her demonic face. “I'm going to gut you and make you eat your own entrails!”

Magik laughed and took a fighting stance. “How original as a punishment. I did that ten years ago when I was six and grew my first horn.” She said and lunged forward and slashed at her, the silver sword emitting an arc of energy that really did blind her.

“GAHH!” The Hellbride grunted as she covered her face with a hand and held her blade in the best position to defend against a second strike.

The clang of metal let her know her gamble had worked and she dropped to a knee and sliced upwards as her eyes regenerated. The scrape of her sword against metal told her she would have ended the fight if the girl's armor wasn't so formidable.

“I'm really glad I accepted Atlas as my master.” Magik said and a kicked out to hit the female demon's chest.

“Ooooff!” The Hellbride grunted as she tumbled backwards and out of her defensive position. Her eyesight came back in time for her to see Magik leaping at her with a downward strike. She rolled to the side to avoid it and kicked out herself, only for her softly-clad foot to bounce off the silver armor of the girl's ankle and it didn't even budge.

“Do you regret choosing a ninja outfit to fight in yet?” Magik asked and stabbed outwards towards her face.

The Hellbride's sword deflected it only just enough to avoid cutting her cheek and she slid her own sword along the offending blade and slashed at the girl's fingers. Again, the clang of metal on metal let her know she could have disarmed her opponent if she wasn't wearing a full suit of armor.

“How can you move so well in that thing?” The Hellbride couldn't help but ask as she rolled to the other side and avoided a stomping foot that left a dent in the stone floor.

“It was created for me.” Magik said and paused her fight to give the female demon a searching look and lowered her weapon to below her waist. “You would be wise to surrender. You could join...”

“Never!” The Hellbride shouted and kicked herself up to her feet, crouched like a coiled spring, and lunged at her.

Magik had wide eyes at the move and did nothing to defend herself.

The Hellbride smiled triumphantly and swung at the girl's neck, only to feel the girl's silver blade slide up through her ribs and through her heart. She hadn't lowered her weapon in defeat, she had readied it for her lunge!

“Such an easy win.” Magik whispered and The Hellbride could do nothing but agree as she felt the soulsword disrupt her powers and stopped her from regenerating. “Who wants her soul?”

“She's your kill. You should keep it.” Polundara said as she was knocked away from fighting The Beast.

“I don't like the feel of it after beating her so quickly.” Magik said. “You can have it.”

“Thank you!” Polundara said and she cast the spell to absorb the essence of the dying demon.

Magik dismissed her sword to allow the magic to happen and Polundara glowed as The Hellbride's form withered and then collapsed to the floor. Polundara's form shifted and she took on a more humanoid form and she grinned.

“Happy?” Magik asked and she nodded.

They both turned and watched The Beast scream and cry as he was dismembered.

“We should probably help the others tear apart The Beast.” Magik said and didn't move to do so.

“I did my part.” Polundara said and they watched as the massive body was carved up with enlarged claws. “When do you think his sister will show up?”

“If she's smart, she won't.” Magik said. “We have the locations and names of everyone The Beast touched, so it's just a matter of time before one of them gives her up.”

“We're starting to feasting on the soul's powers!” Yahcheth shouted over at them. “If you want a piece of this dimension's power, get over here!”

Magik and Polundara rushed over and cast their spells to help. They weren't going to miss out on such delicious and powerful magic.

*

Yes, I definitely underestimated their ruthlessness. I thought as a very happy and engorged group of demons stepped back through the recreated portal that felt like Magik's power. Absorbing the demon lord's powers, even split among 11 of them, gave them all significant boosts to their abilities. “You all look well fed.”

“We are and it was delicious!” Illyana said and walked over to me as she looked deep into my eyes. A second later, she hopped up and wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, then she kissed me passionately.

I wasn't and idiot and grabbed two handfuls of her ass and held on as I kissed her back just as passionately. She let out several moans as her tongue battled mine and then she broke the kiss.

“I think this is the first time that I don't mind being trapped back in time.” Illyana said and gave me another peck on the lips. She unwrapped her legs and arms from around me and the only things holding her up were my hands on her ass. An amused look appeared on her face and she smirked at me.

“To be fair, you have a nice ass.” I said and gave it another squeeze before I set her down and let go.

One of the demons laughed and Illyana walked over to her. The two of them started whispering and the pterodactyl joined them and started whispering, too.

“It's getting close to dawn, so our pillaging and plundering of the rest of The Hand has to wait for tomorrow night.” I told them and they didn't look disappointed. “You all look too satisfied to fly, so...” I waved at the wall and created a portal back to the trailer.

Surprisingly, each and every female demon stopped in front of me and gave me a chaste kiss, even the giant gargoyle one with her stone-like lips.

“Only one more day for the breeding pit to be finished.” She said with a growling voice and stepped through the portal.

Breeding pit? I asked myself and had to check, so a quick mental probe into the head of the most humanoid-looking one as I kissed her, gave me the answer I needed and I really didn't want to know it.

All of them thought the basement I was making was a decent-sized breeding pit for us to start breeding my army of conquest. I was also fully expected to take the gargoyle first, her being the largest and strongest, then the muscle-bound one with one larger arm, then I was to work my way down through them to the ugliest one, Polundara.

The thing was, I couldn't even start with her, because they would think I wasn't happy with the others if I defied their expectations like that. She was the smallest and weakest, so she was supposed to be the last one considered, not the first, even if my opinion was the exact opposite and I would have bedded her first.

I mentally sighed and followed a clearly amused Illyana through the portal and returned home. It was going to be a long day as I tried to figure out the best way to tell them the basement wasn't a breeding pit.

I suspected that no matter what I said, they weren't going to listen and would assume I was rejecting them all as not worthy to breed, which would devastate them emotionally and probably destroy all the trust I had built up in them so far.

Dammit, I'm going to have to do them all, aren't I? I asked myself.

I looked at each of their faces as they gathered in the living room. Polundana turned on the television to look through the magic window that showed them the world and I knew that I didn't want to disappoint them, not after everything they had been through.

I looked at my Karma Point total and mentally nodded. I had lots of points to do what needed to be done, especially after ending the threat that The Hand posed to the entire world. I just had to decide if I wanted to accept the option for accelerated demonic growth or to let them gestate normally. Decisions, decisions.

*

Illyana returned to the guest room at the Kent Farm, after Clark had taught her the spell to make her armor become a beautiful bracelet that she could change back and forth. She paused beside the bed when she saw the little terror named Emma was choking the life out of her life-size plushie.

She didn't want any of that after having such a great night out with the girls and left the room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Martha was there already cooking and she joined her at the stove for another lesson on how to cook normal human food.

“You were out all night.” Martha said without looking at her.

Illyana wasn't sure what to say about what happened, so she kind of lied by telling the truth. “Clark took me out to New York.”

Martha stood still for a moment and then smiled. “Did he really?”

“I kissed him afterwards.” Illyana blurted and blushed. “Twice.”

Martha's smile grew wide. “Oh, my.” She said and turned to look at her. “I won't ask for the details.” She said, making Illyana relax. “How did that make you feel?”

Illyana recalled how it felt to consume part of a demonic lord that ruled a hellish sub-dimension. “I was all tingly and trembled. It was magic unlike anything I felt before.”

Martha nodded and went back to cooking. “My Clark does do his best to impress, doesn't he?”

“He really does.” Illyana agreed. No one else she knew would allow their underlings to claim the spoils like that and to empower themselves. It was unheard of and also let her gain a semblance of independence, since he hadn't removed her portal power or magic afterwards.

The two of them cooked breakfast and Illyana served a plate to Johnathan while Martha called for Emma. The little girl wobbled into the kitchen a minute later and carried the life-size plushie of Illyana with her. Martha laughed at the sight and Johnathan gave it a look, gave Illyana a look, then shrugged.

“I don't want to know.” Johnathan said and kept eating.

Martha helped Emma and Plushie Illyana sit at the table, then she and the real Illyana sat down at the table and ate breakfast, too.