CHAPTER 15 – A BUTLER IS NOTHING WITHOUT HIS PETS

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  The Foyer – Aetheris – Dungeons

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  Gideon stepped out of the glowing ring of spatial energy followed by a still recovering Marcus while Freddie stayed on his wrist as a bracelet. He’d made it two feet into where ever the fuck it had taken them when two girly screams cracked his ears and a huge very muscular woman’s body hit him across the chest picking him up like he was a wee lad or a throw pillow.

  His emerald green eyes were staring into violet ones attached to a ferocious smile with very sharp fangs. He returned the smile then looked at her followed by looking at the ground, her, ground. He could also possibly feel a rib cracking and he was seriously afraid she’d break Skald which was pinned to his body. She had that mischievous look in her eyes he was quite familiar with, almost too much so. She was gonna make him say it.

  “Love you beautiful and missed you. Can you put me down now?”

  She almost began to snort but they’d had enough of those battles she actually gritted it out and left the laughter in her eyes. Her voice joined the eyes which elicited a smirk from him but also an eye roll that said ‘Why me? What did I do to get burdened with this woman?’. The look made her struggle to not snort in his face.

  “All you had to do was ask Poopsy.”

  “Don’t ever call me that again.”

  “You don’t like Poopsy? Ari said all human males would love it.”

  Gideon’s eyes threw a hard look at Ari who immediately squawked and leapt at his Uncle spotting his messed up arms. Silver light lit her claws. L’Sana set him down with a chuckle and Danny was already popping a squat on what he recognized was one of L’Sana’s sofa chairs. For whatever insane L’Sana reasons she carried them around in her storage ring. There were another two right next to it meaning they had been here at least a minute or two. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had an entire mansion’s worth of furniture in her multiple storage rings she wore which was now up to five. Mistress of Loot, more like Mistress of Hoarding.

  Gideon ignored their games for now. That they were all alive and good was enough for him on any day, all day and there fucking around was how L’Sana and Ari dealt with high tension dangerous shit.

  His eyes threw a peep around to take a look see at their environment. So far the paradigm in the house of horrors that was Aetheris had been ‘Will Robinson dangerous’ but had also provided a much greater insight into the Astral Soul-Pillar which would be beneficial for future him. It was as was everything else they’d seen, ornate. The room was covered in that white/blue coloring which seemed to be the Astral Lord’s theme but also the colors of the Astral Soul-Pillar itself. More than likely had to do with the Bloodline [Aetherborn]. It reminded him heavily of the Shador with their focus on the Umbral though as far as he knew their race didn’t have an inherent Bloodline.

  They were in some type of unused spa with massage tables and luxurious couches but of course L’Sana needed her own sofa chairs. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had them specifically made for her. They did have a gem of a crafter of Furniture in Umbra Mortem. She was only Uncommon but of the Engineering Soul-Pillar with, well, a Class whose focus was manufacturing or something.

  On the far wall was another portal. Gideon assumed it was the entrance to the next part of whatever Aetheris had to throw at them. He absently gave a kiss to L’Sana who held him with her head on his shoulder. He imagined this was a break room for parties to recuperate. There would have been a high likelihood in this Dungeon most parties would have had some pretty injured party members or possibly even some dead ones. This room must be for people to catch their breath before moving on. The System was an asshole but it did follow a set of rules and had to at least make a showing of being fair and balanced. It was mostly bullshit at least in his case though since him beating his Proving and also gaining his kick ass Path he hadn’t seen any straight up bullshit or interference from the System or the Prime Avatar.

  He had to agree with everyone’s assessment of Iron Dungeons at this stage through Aetheris as he knew it was only going to raise in difficulty. They were the elite of elite, his Uncle the only one not in the top twenty of the Power Rankings and yet he was still a Rare Class and powerful. They were certainly not chomping a cake walk in here. Granted, they had got through without anyone being severely injured but he’d almost had his head smashed if not for his Uncle and according to L’Sana they’d had some close calls as well. It could have very easily turned into a shit show if not for how tight they were and always looking to cover each other’s six. He’d imagine anything less would be seriously hard fucked in this place.

  The entire experience was making him push to agree with Unra on needing to fill their empty spot especially if they were going to finish the Third Challenge. Now that he’d experienced an Iron Dungeon he could make a strong guess it was going to take all the Elites of every Faction to get the Challenge done and even then his Faith in accomplishing it was shaky at best when his mind wandered to the fact of Bronze Dungeons.

  He gave another kiss to L’Sana then stepped back and let his voice draw everyone’s attention.

  “Alright pow-wow and strategy time. Let’s pop a squat and share stories and get all our resources back to the tippy top then finish out this Dungeon. I have a feeling there won’t be anymore breaks from here on out.”

  They spent the next twenty minutes catching each other up on what they’d dealt with. For some reason L’Sana had chosen to pop him down on one of her sofa chairs then took over his lap with her ass. Granted, it was a very nice ass but she was acting strange. They’d been in a lot of dust ups, in danger more times than not so he was attempting to figure out the over protective energy he was getting from her. For now he would let her take a skip through it if it made her feel better.

  Freddie had already leapt off his wrist and twisted into his pooch shape. He seriously thought there should be copyright infringement cause when he changed he literally did a transformer act of doing it, pieces shifting in and out of each other to form the new shape and straight up emitted the sounds the Transformers made from the films. Gideon was pretty sure there didn’t need to be sound at all but it was like a straight up stripped from Optimus Prime off the films and he was literally creating the sounds himself.

  As quickly as he shifted he immediately was turned into the Princess steed, pillow? Ari dropped on top of his lounging form and began filing her claws as they both jabbered at each other about some film or TV show. Danny and Marcus were in deep conversation about something but both threw grins at Freddie and Ari. L’Sana who was nuzzling into his neck threw whispers in his ear.

  “Aren’t they so cute? They were made for each other. Ari wouldn’t know what to do without her Fredster. If only he could become a Dragonling with a huge cock, maybe ribbed like your evolution should have….”

  Gideon tuned her out at that point and gave everyone ten more minutes to relax before they spent another twenty minutes going over all the Abilities they’d seen. It was good to know Danny’s sound Abilities seemed to disrupt whatever spatial effects they had on the room. That shit had made their fight far tougher then it needed to be. If she could disrupt that from the get go it would go a long way in seeing them on top. It seemed to be the Dungeon’s main trick and would make any fight dangerous.

  There wasn’t really anything to do about the innate Teleportation they seemed to have from their Bloodline. Eyes had to be up at all times and they would just need to cover each other. He also dug into what the issue was with his Uncle and besides the one guard, not being able to waylay the rest.

  Will. Something he hadn’t known. Many of his Uncle’s Abilities had trouble going against people with high Will Attributes, especially if it was in a combat situation which seemed to give them a boost. His Abilities worked easier and with less resistance if done before combat when people are relaxed. In those situations he rarely ever failed to effect them. It should have been something he’d known about but he wasn’t going to place that all on his Uncle. He could see it in his eyes, the guilt. He waved it off. He made sure to tell everyone to take care of their levels. They would need it. He listened himself, threw his Free Attributes and then gritted his teeth for a moment [Pain Resistance] so high now it a minimal discomfort.

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  After going through the body tempering and feeling his other half doing the same thing sprawled all over him he decided their break needed to spin itself to an end. He stood, bringing L’Sana up with him. She wasn’t the only one with some muscle. That got him a passionate kiss as she slid off him onto her feet. As always, there was a lot of heat to it.

  He broke it off before it started something else. Time to get this next stage going. L’Sana spanked his ass with a small snort then stepped away. She knew what the clock was ticking to.

  The rest got up as well while Ari flew to her Mistress’s shoulder and Freddie leapt to his wrist making the idiotic transformer’s sound. He focused for a few breaths as Skald fell into his hand. The Astral Lord was a red light that needed to be spun green as they stepped over his corpse. Gideon had a lot of things to still figure out like how the fuck to truly Cultivate cause what he was currently doing seemed to be stabbing out in the dark with a dinner fork blind as a bat sans the radar.

  A meeting with the Shadowborn was high on the need to do list on top of taking a hard look on what the Soul-Stone was doing for his people, hopefully not making everyone cannibalistic revenants. The shit he had to do sometimes seemed endless. Focus. Get it done, no bitching. He could hear his Father’s voice in that moment minus the cussing. His Father never cussed. He sent a chat.

  We go hard and we go fast. I’m pretty sure we are gonna dance with the Butler again. I want him put down, no restraint, all out. Blitzkrieg.

  The smiles drifted to ghost towns and hard grim stares came back at him. He knew when there was blood and corpses his family would be all business.

  They stepped as one into the portal.

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  The Butler and his Lovelies – Aetheris

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  A ring knocker of deja vu slapped them all in the face as they entered back into the foyer where they began, the same distorted spatial trick playing merry go round. The Butler once again seemed a mile away on the far distant stairs. The look on his face though was one of extreme irritation on the verge of bloody murder. Looks like them still being alive wasn’t doing a lot for the man’s composure.

  The first thing they needed to do...The Butler interrupted his train of thought by pulling the flash of blue and white and appearing within ten feet of them, his prim and proper white butler outfit with light blue trim was perfectly pressed and if not for the apocalyptic visage carving his face he would be the face of high society pulled right out of a cracker jack box.

  ‘Look Ma!!! See what I got out of the bottom of my box? A perfectly stuck up his ass Butler.’ Gideon chuckled at his inner-dialogue. L’Sana heard the chuckle and threw a single claw the Butler’s direction along with a lone finger behind it. Gideon didn’t even know she could make just one claw pop up. Their entire party chuckled at that, Ari copying the image with a middle claw finger held up and a glee pursing her Dragonling lips.

  The Butler’s voice and mind seemed to be broken which caused them to laugh even more which turned into a cycle of volcanic fury and shock that tossed a dipsy-do into the Butler’s brain that he was equipped with the ability to dissect anyone laughing at him or dismissing him.

  “You!!! You!!!! The temerity!!! The disrespect!!! To….ugh….I have never in my lif….”

  L’Sana’s voice cut him off.

  “Shut it ya old wind bag!! Damn, you suck big chocolate salty balls!!!!”

  She looked up at Ari with a shit-eating grin and a couple small snorts.

  “Did I get that right?”

  Ari’s melodic voice was filled with giggles.

  “You did Sana. Perfect ‘South Park’ quote.”

  The Butler’s voice thundered out all pretense of being a man from high society gone to the wind, his appearance now that of a feral ocean of violence, the false veneer ripped from his countenance.

  “ENOUGH!!!!! You will all be slaughtered like the pigs you truly are!!! Let my lovelies come forth and feast on the bones of these infidels!!!!”

  With those words the Butler raised his coiffed elegant hands as white/blue energy suffused both arms and cutting into the air itself, a half a dozen apertures in space lit into existence through the football sized distortion of a room. Out of each stepped massive hounds, appearing similar to Mastiffs though twice the size and of course, their fur colored white with tinges of light blue. Heaven forbid anything clash with the Astral Lord’s color theme. The beasts growled as they appeared eyeballing Gideon and the rest like pieces of flank steak. He threw an [Identify] at them.

  Blink Hound (Elite)

  Type – Astral Canine Beast

  Level – 34 (Iron)

  He quickly sent a group chat with the information and that the blink more than likely meant teleporting plus they were elites. The Butler had an evil Machiavellian leer to his face. Gideon could tell the man was relying heavily on the room distortion. He would have to disabuse him of that crutch. Gideon looked at Danny. L’Sana next to him, had her claws sliding in and out.

  “Danny, if you please.”

  With her blades to hand the Harvester took two steps back giving her a wider angle to hit as much as possible before letting loose with a piercing scream of harmonics. At first, nothing happened while the Butler’s smirk grew even larger as he started to raise his hand more than likely about to command his mutts to attack when his arm stopped halfway up.

  All over the room the distortion effect wavered while the dogs went from menacing massive beasts to whimpering pathetic creatures who couldn’t keep their feet, falling all over themselves as their equilibrium went out the door. Even the obnoxious Butler went to a knee holding his head, eyes closed and teeth rattling with pain.

  The distortion finally fell, shattered. Danny went to one knee herself, the mana cost for maintaining that Ability, vast, this area larger then the tea room they’d described earlier. No one needed an invitation after that. Gideon took off to kick-start the turkey shoot while it lasted.

  Skald took off from his hand as he threw it on his approach lancing into one of the downed hounds, the spear point sliding in like butter through the center front of its chest, killing it instantly. High Perception and Agility made a huge difference when throwing shit.

  A notification slid into his vision that he ignored. He pulsed intent to Yisara as he continued to move. Freddie leapt off his wrist doing the transforming sound effects into his pitbull shape moving out of Gideon’s line of sight.

  His blades slipped from sheathes as he charged another just finding its legs as he slid onto his knees his two daggers punching into each side of the beast’s head as his body collided with it. He activated [The Edge of the deep Umbral] and got off three blades into the Butler, still on knees at the bottom of the stairs, grunting, before a flash of white and blue teleported the bastard to the top of the stairs. Three dark splashes of energy ribbed across his chest causing his movements to slow as he attempted to stand his entire world turned upside down with the breaking of the room distortion. It was the one ace in his sleeve he’d had complete and utter faith in and that toy was just ripped from him.

  The Butler was his, what remained of the mutts were everyone else. The lights were too bright in the space to turn to shadow so he did it the hard way as he felt Skald landing in his hand courtesy of Yisara who’d pulled it out of the corpse as he ran past. He wanted this done hard and fast. They’d already seen if you let this Aetherborn get going they could become extremely dangerous. He raised Skald, black, silver and azure sparks of lightning coalescing upon it’s tip. He sent the message.

  The Butler had regained his feet but still looked dazed. Once he caught sight of Gideon with his Spear raised and a tumultuous gathering of electricity crawling along its length,, a sphere of white and blue energy began building ready to teleport him once more.

  A wraith coming out of the floor behind him had different plans as her claws ripped through his back and out of his chest then before a scream could even register from his mouth she tossed him into the air and Gideon let loose with a blast of [Shadowmoon Lightning] that sent the Butler into sizzling chunks of meat all over the nice pretty marble stairs.

  Gideon cast his gaze behind him but the few hounds that were still breathing all dissipated along with the corpses. It confirmed that the Butler was a summoning type Mage Class of some kind. He had no doubts whatsoever that if the man hadn’t been so arrogant he probably had some kind of defensive shield Ability that would have prevented what had just happened and which would have allowed them to gain their feet and this would have turned to a heavy drawn out dangerous slug fest. The blitzkrieg had worked and Danny shutting down the distortion effect had bamboozled the dumb ass.

  Ari was in her tank mode her wide fang toothed maw covered in viscera while Freddie circled near her his own body draped in blood. Danny was back on her feet holding her side which was bleeding while Marcus prowled near her his hooked daggers in hands also dipped in crimson. Looked like they’d had their own adventure. Ari seeing Danny hurt shifted back to normal size and took to the air like a bullet, claws colored in silver energy.

  A slew of Notifications hit his vision and he saw there was at least another level gained and an interesting new Skill.

  Congratulations Citizen. You have gained a new Skill. Based on previous experience [Thrown Weapons – Spears/Javelins] will begin at Common Rank I. Another tool with which to bring blood and death for the ever merciful Multi-Versal System. Rise to power on the backs of the corpses you shall usher into the realm of tombs.

  Interesting that minus the usual System bullshit. It had been the first time he’d thrown a spear since the Integration started but was something he’d trained when he was young. They needed to….A bell rung through the entire place while a Notification shoved it’s way into his vision.

  Criteria met. Bonus Goal Attained. Assimilating, calculating. Final Boss Fight commencing in thirty seconds starting now. Kill the Astral Lord.

  Shit. Ari healed up his Uncle quickly then they gathered close to each other though they would have no time to recover their resources. They’d spent big to pull off what they just did. They all locked gazes as Freddie leapt back on Gideon’s wrist. They all nodded at each other. Nothing more needed to be said. They would do whatever was needed to put the Astral Lord into the ground.

  Transportation commencing. The Throne Room of Aetheris. The Astral Lord and his Personal Guards await.