The battle was over. I subjugated Lyra, Selene and Cedric and the Phantom League soldiers existed no more.
It was time to clean up the rest of the battlefield, I thought, as I began making my way over to the deathly tired Monk, Abudha. I decided that he would be the final super soldier I receive of my initial Subjugation spree.
“Brother. Good job. I don’t know what you did, but it was amazing.” He said while sighing with exhaustion. “I just wish you did it sooner. Maybe my team would’ve survived…”
“I’m sorry, Abudha. You know too much to be left as you are.”
“…? What do you mean…?” He asked with rapidly rising alarm evident in his features.
In response I raised my blade at him, and the ladies whom were in telepathic communication with me did the same.
“Accept defeat, become my slave, and I will let you live.” I said as I sent a mental intent of mine to subjugate him. I didn’t need to defeat those I wanted to enslave – people could obediently agree. Theoretically they could even negotiate their contracts in such a case, but I had the overwhelming advantage in this specific situation, so he was going to get a one-sided contract which made him be completely at my mercy.
“Haaah… I knew joining the Consortium was a big blunder.”
[Level 20 Abudha had been subjugated!]
[Remaining subjugation capacity until cooldown: 3/100]
[Enter cooldown?]
‘Yes’. At my mental command, I immediately felt that my Subjugation spell became momentarily unavailable to me.
The last thing I had to do was have a chat with Ambition. Her witnessing my actions towards Abudha was likely not painting me in a good color.
“Ambition,” I greeted, receiving a guarded “Devil,” in response.
“Thank you for all that you’ve done for us. I would like to make our alliance into a long-term one, but I know that you’re unable to trust me for now. Therefore, I would like to clean up my name and introduce myself to you formally. As the first step toward earning your trust, I invite you to my home. I swear on Luminara and the Goddess that I made no lies nor do I harbor any ill-will to you or your Heralds.”
“You don’t have the right to use the first elf’s name to make promises. Only elves can.” She growled threateningly.
Well, I mean, she is my mother, but sure.
“I promise too!” Seraphiel interjected cheerily, happily slinging my beloved mother’s name around as if she were common trash – or a stupid religious myth as she believed Lumi to be. Boy, did I have some news for this smug healer of mine.
“What do you say? [Warp Gate]” I asked while opening a portal to my home where Ronan and Iselda should be busy constructing our buildings with the labor slaves.
“What the?!” Ambition and her elves yelped one after the other.
“So this is the portal…” Iris murmured. I instructed Blossom on exactly what to tell her while I was fighting the Phantom League soldiers in real-time, so I could only hope that my beloved dog-kin could at least get the gist of my message across.
“Yes. I promise no harm will come your way. In fact, I believe that in a few years’ time you will be looking back at the moment of you stepping through this portal to be the best decision you’ve made in your life.” I nodded encouragingly.
Sadly I couldn’t let Ambition and her team say no to my invitation exactly, since they knew too much, so I awaited their response. If they refused…
“Alright. But your soul really will not enter the graces of Luminara and the Eternal Forest if this turns out to be a trap.” Ambition decreed while eyeing Seraphiel, who happily nodded.
“What about you, Wrath?” I asked, and received a stiff but positive response. Though she did say that one of us would have to step through first. We happily accommodated her demand, and we soon found ourselves at my stronghold location in the random forest that was a long distance away from everything and everyone – unless one had the [Warp Gate] in their arsenal, of course.
I dropped the still unconscious Selene and Cedric to the ground. Seraphiel had given them first aid and since the wounds were fresh, she could reattach the limbs, but they would need some time to heal back to full health. Lyra, on the other hand, only needed a few minutes for the Slave Contract’s paralyzing effect to become overridden by my own spell. She was now under a new master, thus there was no reason for the old [Slave Contract] spell to restrict her movements any longer.
Currently, the gorgeous pink-haired tanker girl was busy eyeing me very intently.
She was not at all sad about getting a new master, since she despised Soren with all her heart, but I did put her through a wringer for sure with all my strange spells and stuff, so I understood her heavy uncertainty regarding my person. I was probably the strangest existence all of them had ever seen. What’s more, Lyra was our enemy just a minute ago. Prisoners of war did not tend to receive the most luxurious of treatments, especially right after getting defeated and captured.
“Masks off, ladies.” I instructed my team. It was no longer needed to hide our faces, since all of those who were here could only leave with my permission. Well, they could make a run for it, but an extremely angry dog-kin assassin and an elf healer/ranger would be on their trail throughout the hundreds of miles of forest biome that separated them from the nearest civilization. And that was only if they could escape before I or Ayame cut them down.
Iris eyed me intently, though she did not react strongly to my visage. “It’s good to put a face to you. Now, can you tell me how you know so much about me?”
“Sure-”
“Wait, what’s this?!” It was Seraphiel who shouted abruptly.
It was her first time here as well, so something must’ve spooked her senses.
Her long ears perked as she focused on whatever she felt. “Ambition and archers, do you feel it too?”
“Hmm… Oh! Now that you pointed it out!” One of them replied excitedly.
The strange sight that followed was something I would find hard to forget.
Six elves – Ambition did not participate – reached for their boots to free their soft feet of their cruel, heavily confining boots.
Their toes curled as if they were busily conversing with the earth itself, then one after another began rushing in the same direction.
“The tree monster.” Ayame decreed confidently.
“Yep, I thought so too.” I nodded. “Sorry, Iris, let’s see what these curious creatures are up to first.”
“So they were elves? Thought so.” She added. Yeah, they were all hiding their races thus far, but the sight of a single tanker with five archers simply screamed ‘we are elves!’
…
“Oh my Goddess!” Seraphiel yelped when she came into view with the Geim who had grown to twice my size in the short span of time I didn’t see it. Now that it was planted in solid ground and nurtured with special – primordial – nourishing soil and liquid mixture, its growth speed was exponential.