The Twelve Apocalypses: A Damned Soul's Path to the Abyss

Having responsibilities sucked, and Glaustro was a horrible friend for suckering me into accepting a promotion.

Okay, that was harsh. But in my defense, my emotions were all more intense since my ascension. The feeling I once would have described as 'annoyed' was now a ball of pure frustration boiling deep in my chest.

And after four days of dealing with legion bureaucrats, I was… annoyed.

No one wanted to cooperate. No one made a single thing easy. You want the forms required for your major to declare you a sergeant? Sure, but we're going to make you go to three different departments, argue with at least seven different clerks, get told about twenty times you're in the wrong spot, and then, maybe, maybe, we'll give you the form itself.

Which is invalid without at least three different signatures of various higher rank clerks who, it seemed, only worked when they felt like it.

And that was just getting myself and Mia instated as sergeants!

What made it worse was that we were on a deadline. Right after celebrating our acceptance of his offer, Glaustro had sheepishly informed us that there would be a massive ceremony soon where officers of all ranks would receive their invasion assignments. And by 'soon', he meant in one week.

We had no idea where we would be sent, or with which of the four lieutenant generals, but Glaustro's invitation to the event did suggest that we would be included in some capacity. That meant we had only one week to get our promotions confirmed.

So, while Glaustro ran around like a madman looking for recruits, Mia and I descended into the literally infernal bureaucracy of hell itself.

The whole process should have taken two hours, tops. Our original plan was to get through it on the first morning and then go visit Yules. Instead, we were caught in a neverending loop of meaningless forms.

It quickly became apparent that it wasn't just the convoluted legion paperwork we were dealing with, either. At first, I thought I was imagining it, but I eventually had to acknowledge that the clerks of the administrative division did not like us. Not one bit.

Several openly scoffed when they heard whose sergeants we were trying to become. Those who didn't got a steely look in their eyes. At one point, a head clerk made us wait for close to an hour while she nibbled on some kind of pastry with excruciating slowness, right there at her desk, interspersing every bite with an equally miniscule yet ridiculously loud slurp of some black, bubbling drink.

Mia took it all in stride, maintaining eye contact with the woman for the whole duration of the episode. The cat girl didn't blink once. I was half-convinced that the only reason the woman didn't make us wait longer was because she was starting to get freaked out.

I, meanwhile, seethed. I didn't think I was important enough to get preferential treatment or anything, but I expected the bare minimum of professionalism. And thanks to my newly strengthened emotions, I wasn't just 'angry.' I was so livid that I could barely think straight.

That explains why it took me two of the torturous four days to figure out what was really going on.

Mia and I were just reentering the local administrative office when we all but ran into Mercutio. He was being escorted out by the head of said office, and the two demons were laughing and chatting it up.

When my presumed relative caught sight of me, his features twisted into a vindictive sneer. He gestured at us and whispered something, upon which the head of the office got a look on her face quite similar to Mercutio's.

At that point, if I couldn't put two and two together and identify the culprit behind our bureaucratic nightmare, I may as well have turned down the promotion and told Glaustro to find someone else. I'd have been too stupid to be a sergeant.

The only thing that kept me from losing it was the glow of Mercutio's soul. It was barely brighter than mine. The man was an archdemon, and not a particularly powerful one.

A grim smile spread across my lips, and I was able to enter the office without exploding in fury.

Of course, it rarely rains without pouring, especially in the Abyss. Our day had begun with Mercutio, so it only made sense that it would end with another unpleasant encounter.

Several hours later, when we retreated from the office in defeat for the third day in a row, we were stopped by a demon. He was tall and powerfully built, and his clothes and armor were impeccable. Still, he looked like someone had put him through a wringer. His burnished orange skin looked sickly, and I would have feared disease if my senses didn't immediately catch the thick stench of Torment that clung to him. Funnily enough, it was my first time seeing a demon of that Emotion.

"Mia and Hayden, correct?" the demon asked, without introducing himself or even saying hello. I winced as his voice assaulted my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"Yes," Mia snapped, eyes glinting dangerously. She wasn't in as foul a mood as I was, but then again, that wasn't saying much. "Move."

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The demon looked startled, but he actually smiled. "Spiteful. I like that. Means I'm not making this offer to some meek fool unworthy of even being called an archdemon. I'll make it quick, then. I am formally inviting you to join me as my sergeants. You are wasted under your current employ. Even with a promotion, what are you going to do? Keep chasing after the scrap Crewe sees fit to grace you with?"

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"And you can promise more?" I asked, before Mia could try and rip the guy's throat out.

I'd immediately noted that he was also an archdemon. After a few days of examining various demons and wondering if I could rip their throats out if necessary, I could tell he was powerful. Most definitely too powerful for two freshly ascended demons who hadn't even had a chance to train as archdemons yet.

"Correct," replied the Torment demon. "I am here under the auspices of Lieutenant General Vallinach. Now, I'm not saying the general made a mistake, but I do think his benevolence was misused. Promoting Glaustro at all was a process the lieutenant generals should have been consulted on. To see him rise even higher is a waste of resources."

There was something about that name, Vallinach. The moment it came out of the demon's mouth, Mia's entire body froze, going completely still. It wasn't that she tensed, or visibly prepared to strike. If anything, her emotions went completely and utterly blank, fully subsumed by her primary Emotion and made invisible.

That only made me more worried. I had seen Mia look at people like that before, and every time, she was wholeheartedly set on their deaths. If I didn't get us away from the stranger quickly, it was entirely possible that I'd have a fight on my hands, whether it was a smart move or not.

"I'm sorry, but we're not interested. Loyalty is something we value, and I'm sure your master wouldn't want to bring traitors into the fold. Those are always tricky."

I should have stopped there. I was already walking away, arm carefully entwined with Mia's in case she lunged, but I couldn't help myself.

"They could even stab you in the back, if you're not careful," I finished, acid dripping from my voice.

I could feel the frustration and anger boiling out of the demon as we walked away stiffly, ready for retaliation at any second. Still, Mia relaxed fractionally as soon as I insulted our would-be recruiter, which made it all worth it.

When we got back to our lodgings, which were in the process of being packed up and emptied out, we immediately told Glaustro about both of our encounters. Shocker of shockers, it turned out Vallinach was the lieutenant general responsible for Wilhelmina's recruitment.

There was lots of cursing and muttered threats. Then, despite his extremely busy schedule, Glaustro joined us when we ventured back to the administrative office the following day. Apparently, it's a bit harder to mess with a high ranking officer of the legion than with two ordinary soldiers hoping to get their promotion approved.

A couple hours later, we walked out of the building with our new titles officially conferred, our frustration carefully banked but not forgotten. If we had the chance, I could say with complete certainty that all three of us would happily screw over the administrative division.

I didn't push Mia on her reaction to the mention of Vallinach, and she never volunteered any information on her own.

Instead, we both turned our attention to the much more pleasant activity of picking up our new armor.

—

I had always liked Passion, drug-like effects on my psyche notwithstanding. But being on the layer as a demon was a whole new experience.

The world seemed brighter. Emotions had just a little more oomph behind them, and almost always with a positive twist. The wondrous architecture I had seen before was accompanied by equally wondrous soul and mana structures layered on top, which my mortal senses hadn't been able to perceive.

Mia and I meandered a bit on our way to Yules' home. And by 'a bit', I mean a lot, seeing as we stopped at every stand, eatery, and coffee shop that caught our eye. By the time we finally reached our destination, both of us had put away enough food and drink to kill ourselves if we were still mortal, and neither of us regretted a thing.

After all the stress of the last few days, we deserved it.

Entering the Amahis Armory was a fresh experience as well. The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob, an odd sense of vertigo struck me. I practically stumbled inside, the sensation only worsening. Then it suddenly cleared, like it was never there.

Mia also stumbled on her way in, validating the fact that it wasn't just me having an odd reaction to the place.

"What was that?" she hissed, pressing both hands against her face as if to confirm it was still attached to the rest of her.

"Oooohhhhh, well, look at you two!" Tibath gushed, already moving closer from behind the counter.

The next instant, my face was in the frighteningly strong hands of an enthusiastic demoness who fussed over me like she was my grandma who hadn't seen me in years.

"It's very nice to see you too, Tibath," I managed to mumble, despite having my cheeks squished.

"Have you been eating enough? I get the sense that you're a bit malnourished. You have been on a steady diet of souls since your ascension, right? Lots of demons don't know, but that helps… eh, solidify the change you've been through. And Mia! Look at you!"

Finally released, I glanced back at my wide-eyed companion. Mia was in the process of slowly and cautiously backing away, like she thought she could actually slip out of the store before Tibath got to her.

Obviously, she failed.

There was lots of fussing, lots of mussed fur, and lots of indignant squawks. By the time Tibath was satisfied, Mia was a flushed mess and all but ran to hide behind me.

Silly cat. Like I could protect her. I could try for a diversion, though.

"If you don't mind my asking, what was that… feeling when we stepped into your shop? It was like someone clobbered me over the head. I felt like a baseline mortal again," I grumped, with a bit more grievance than I actually felt.

"Hmmm? Ahhhh." The demoness smiled on her way back to behind the counter. "Technically, the shop's not in Passion at the moment. In fact, it's usually not. Yules and I like to visit all the newly discovered worlds we can in hopes of finding new materials. We're currently on… Hilzdratch, I think?"

That brought up all sorts of other questions. "How are we here, then?"

"Because the shop is only dimensionally transposed with our location on Hilzdratch, of course. You can still visit it from Passion. And when you leave, that's where you'll return to. Right now, however? Look out the window."

I did, then felt my brain do a weird thing. I briefly saw the Passion streets I expected, before the scenery shifted to some kind of odd city covered in red moss, with demons and reptilian-looking locals strolling the streets.

I quickly looked away, not because my senses or brain couldn't handle it, but because the level of power and control over mana required to pull off something like that boggled my mind.

"Neat, isn't it?" Tibath's smile widened. "Anyway, I'll go fetch my daughter. She's been all over the place waiting for news about you."

Waving off our thanks, she vanished into the back hallway.

As I watched the demoness walk away, I felt a bit strange. She was always nice, of course. She had helped me and introduced me to Yules when she didn't have to.

Still, it had always felt like she was maintaining a degree of distance between us. That feeling was gone now, and the demoness was nothing but friendliness and warm acceptance. And there was something else…

It was only when Yules came into view, running down the hallway towards us, that I finally parsed what my senses were telling me and briefly stiffened.

Both Yules and her mother had souls unlike anything I had ever seen before. Not only did they positively radiate Passion, but their souls were ascendant, at the very least. They weren't just armorers.

They were demonic nobility.