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

One unfortunate side effect of my growing mastery over all things crystalline was the attention it drew. It wasn't long before Glaustro approached me to see what I was capable of.

To my exasperation, he did not choose to focus on my amazing versatility, or my deadliness, or even the field control capabilities of my chosen branch of magic. No, he wanted to know how many houses and defensive fortifications I could put up in a day.

Snow and ice were fine, but they didn't make for the most comfortable or awe-inspiring fortifications, not at the scale we required. Therefore, I was put in charge of sprucing up our glorious future capital of Breskwor.

Though I was content to whine about it, the process of raising a city was actually kind of fun. It helped that the process developed an entirely different dimension of my abilities. While sparring built up my instincts and repertoire of spells, construction required a constant burning of my mana reserves. This did wonders for my endurance. The daily work wasn't increasing the amount of mana I possessed, but it was enhancing my ability to channel mana for longer periods and at higher intensity.

As a demon, I was partially made of mana. That meant I had more to begin with than most mortals, and I could regenerate it faster. Even so, my body didn't like being put under so much stress. By forcing it to endure, I was actually expanding the vessel of my mystical might.

The resulting aches weren't fun. Neither was the feeling that I might unravel at the seams any moment. But it was worth it to cast a few extra spells with ever greater power the following day.

I did run into an unexpected problem, though. For all my ability to conjure and manipulate crystal, I wasn't much of an architect. Oh, I could put up basic rooms easily enough, but all the stuff about anchoring them properly or setting foundations evaded me.

That's why I was paired up with a chatty demon in Imthala's service named Gaustig. His experience with ice magic and temporary shelters qualified him thoroughly for the task. While I was convinced of his usefulness, particularly after he guided me through the process of setting up a wall with proper battlements, I also found myself wanting to do horrible things to his tongue on occasion.

The man just could not keep his mouth shut. Even Mia, who could tune out almost everything, got tired of his yapping eventually and ditched me.

Still, despite all my grousing, I enjoyed this period of rest, training, and growth. I was even proud of all my contributions, doubly so because some of the most important buildings in our blossoming city were put up by me.

Glaustro's new headquarters and personal quarters took four days to put up, and then three separate housing complexes for the major's sergeants took six more days. I could have finished faster, but I left the quarters Mia and I would share for last, and I relished crafting it to our meticulous personal standards.

The wall took a whole week to round off satisfactorily. I then spent a couple extra days setting up the various captains with their own lodgings.

The final project I worked on before fate decided to intervene was a row of shops, including a few particularly fancy buildings. Privately, I hoped one of the latter could eventually become an Apple Infernal inn.

I had little need for renting a room at the present moment, but that didn't mean I could forget my fondness for the place. It just might have saved my life in my early days as a weak, ignorant recruit. If I'd chosen to stay at some seedy inn back then, I probably would have found myself waking up in the Abyss far too early in the invasion, and that wasn't a position a recruit wanted to be in.

I'd had a nice long look at the life of a 'failed' recruit through Tridsten's eyes. My gratitude to Glaustro only climbed ever higher because of it.

Of course, I couldn't spend too much time dwelling on the past. I had more than enough to worry about in the present.

For example, the meeting I was currently spacing out in.

"…This is why I suggest we take a more aggressive stance against the locals," one of the captains was saying through gritted teeth. "We really shouldn't ignore their provocations anymore."

I couldn't blame him for being upset. The locals had taken our inaction as a sign that we might be easy pickings. They had made a nuisance of themselves by ambushing our scouts and pressing in on our growing city. They'd even tried to sabotage construction a couple of times. If we hadn't caught it early and shored up the foundations of everything we were building with defensive runes, they actually could have succeeded at mildly inconveniencing us.

Still, it wasn't like anyone could retaliate. Glaustro had ordered us to avoid murdering them for fear of thinning out their numbers too much. Instead, we focused on tracking them, trying to find all their settlements and most especially their totems.

It was the nature of yeti to be semi-nomadic. The tribes typically rotated among a few different settlements. If someone spooked them, they could easily uproot their current lives and move on. Since we wanted them to lead us to all their normal places of worship, it was better to appear as less of a threat.

"We are almost finished locating all of their idols and totems," Glaustro told the captain. "Endure for a few more days, and I promise the problem will go away."

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The major's tone was more conciliatory than I was used to hearing from him when addressing subordinates, but it seemed like he understood his officers' frustration.

The captain reluctantly nodded and sat down, making way for the next report on the agenda. It was Methialia who stepped forward. The demoness had approached me the day before with some troubling news, troubling enough that I wanted Glaustro to hear for himself.

"My team and I were ranging far afield recently, as per our orders to track down and note any other tribes we can find," the demoness reported. "For the first four days, we noticed nothing unusual. But on the fifth day, we started to come across odd tracks and signs of combat."

She hesitated, wetting her lips nervously.

"Go on, Methialia. I know you wouldn't bring this to me if you didn't think it was important," Glaustro reassured her.

The demoness cringed, but forged on. "The traces we discovered, both magical and physical, indicate that someone had attacked the yeti in that area. Judging by the density of the mana residue, I can only conclude that the attackers were demons. Likewise, it was only for a moment, but I swear I spotted a demon while performing aerial survey. Not one of ours, obviously."

Glaustro's whole body locked up in a way that was alarming, even for me. His eyes narrowed, and his mana began to leak out of his skin.

The reason for his intense reaction was obvious.

The only other demons we could encounter on Breskwor were Wilhelmina's lot. We weren't really prepared to fight them. If they were snooping around and even managing to hide from our scouts, then they held the advantage.

"Are you sure of that, Captain?" Glaustro's voice came out in a low growl. "No offense, but you don't look so good."

Glaustro wasn't wrong. Methialia sort of resembled a corpse that had been run over and left to rot, then reanimated and forced to work without rest for months. The conditions were obviously not as bad as that, but I did notice that she had been growing progressively worse since we'd arrived on Breskwor.

Even so, my captain did not look amused by the insinuation. "I am positive, sir," she stated, then struggled to leech the resentment out of her voice before speaking again. "I know what I saw. It wasn't a hallucination or an illusion. Our rivals are out there somewhere."

For a second, Glaustro unflinchingly maintained eye contact with the demoness. Then he looked away and broke out into a string of curses fit to make a sailor blush.

When he finally got himself back together, he had new orders to issue.

"I want them found. They will not sneak up on us, do you understand? Whatever resources you require to make that happen, you'll have them."

"I could use a few more teams of scouts, sir." The demoness paused there, her eyes flitting over to me and Mia. "And perhaps some backing in the field, with power enough to discourage casual engagement. I don't want to lose scouts over this, especially since we don't know when we can reestablish contact with the Abyss."

Glaustro did grimace, but I was proud of him when he didn't start cursing again. "Sounds reasonable… Thankfully, we have more archdemons than Wilhelmina does. There is a chance one or more of her people has trained in shielding enough to fool me, but I would be shocked. No, it seems like her paranoia is working in our favor on this occasion. Very well. I'll take your requests into consideration."

He then directed Methialia's attention to a map our scouts were slowly putting together. After she marked out the area where she'd encountered demonic presence, he dismissed her.

None of us really paid attention to the rest of the meeting. I felt bad for the other captains who came forward, petitioning Glaustro for various things. We were all too wrapped up in worry to listen.

Finally, the last captain departed, leaving Glaustro alone with his four sergeants in his brand new (and rather sparsely furnished) crystalline office.

"I don't understand how they've found us already," Glaustro snarled. He shot out of his chair and began to pace, eyes burning with infernal power. "This is too early!"

I countered with an idea that had been on my mind for a while. "Maybe they didn't find us. The demons who opened the portal said our destinations were random, right? There's a chance we ended up close together purely by chance. Of course… it could also be someone pulling strings to force a confrontation."

The look my speculation earned me was wild and worried. "You think one of the lieutenant generals would stoop to something like that?"

"It doesn't even have to be them," Bronwynn mused, clearly having been drawing the same conclusions as me. "Plenty of majors don't like you, with how fast you advanced. That's to say nothing about colonels who probably feel like you're nipping at their heels. Some enterprising subordinate could have acted out, too."

Glaustro shook with rage for a moment. He managed to regain composure quickly, but the murderous look in his eyes didn't thaw.

"It's not important. Whoever's responsible, there's a good chance we have Wilhelmina practically on our front door."

"I'd hate to sound dismissive, but does that even matter?" I asked. "Last I saw her, she was badly wounded and probably on par with my soul level. You said it yourself that we have more archdemons. We could take her."

"Right now? Yes." Glaustro shook his head. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's the best choice to kill her. She's supposedly left her old life behind, but that doesn't mean it's done with her. Besides, remember that her soul is still a match for an archdemon, even with the hideous damage that was done to it. If she heals, I have little doubt she'd regain the power of a noble demon. At that point, we'd be done. And don't forget what you discovered!"

Bronwynn groaned. "Divinity. Of course. If it's one of the best resources to fuel our growth, then it's an even better remedy for soul damage. What are the chances she's already started raiding the local yeti tribes?"

"Rather high, all things considered," Glaustro said grimly. "We have to make sure she's driven off, and we have to deny her the resources she needs for healing. We can worry about the repercussions of offending or killing her later. But if we want to do anything, we need to find her first."

Frustration spiked in my gut. What IS Wilhelmina's deal, anyway?

I really wanted to press them to explain, but I chose not to ask questions right that second. Instead, I exchanged a glance with Mia. Though she looked mighty displeased, she still nodded.

I turned to Glaustro. "We can go. We'll do a bit more scouting for yeti, and maybe even strike against a tribe or two if Wilhelmina's got them beating a hasty retreat. I don't think Wilhelmina's that great of a fighter. She acted like a spoiled brat when we were under her command, so I think we could probably take her together, if she tries to force something."

"I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you," Glaustro warned. "But… very well. Having you two out there would do a lot for my sanity. Thank you."

I chuckled wryly as Mia and I stood, already heading for the door. "Don't thank me yet. Save that for when we find her and present her to you."

We departed with a spring in our step. After all the rest and training, it felt good to be facing a challenge again.

Particularly one that might turn out to be for all the marbles.