The Hundred Reigns 286: The Five Sovereigns (3) (Patreon)

Previous Chapter

“Dreadful fangs glisten in the dark, as the ruins of the past sink in poison eternal!” Simon incanted. “Devour them all, Mother of Serpents Einganah!”

His minion manifested in front of him and Norbelle, shaking the very foundations of the summoning chamber and that of reality itself. Einganah materialized beneath the sweeping dome, her frail eidolon form swiftly rotting away as a stronger body ripped its way out of her.

Time screamed with her, as hellish visions once again assaulted Simon’s senses. Walls of flesh covered the chamber, and he saw two flaming figures copulating on a bed of bones that resembled that of Balzam Magnos. Their bodies melded together in an unholy union, their five grey and golden eyes glaring at him with a mix of lust and hatred. They wailed at him with all of Hell’s fury and returned him to reality.

Why? Simon wondered as the flow of time reasserted itself. Why am I seeing these echoes?

“The power… overwhelming strength…” Einganah rejoiced as she examined her dark eidolon body, her snake-fingers coiling over her scales in ecstasy. “I never felt like this before…”

“You’re channeling miasma to empower the eidolon…” Norbelle whistled as she observed Einganah. “And I’ve never heard of that eidolon. Where did you catch it?”

“Einganah is a goddess of the Uyo people,” Simon replied, a slight pressure on his throat. “I inherited her contract from the Overlord Class.”

“Our Pact…” Einganah hissed a moment, but she thankfully avoided mentioning the Abyss. “It is eternal.”

“I can’t believe Dad had his own menagerie and wouldn’t share it with his favorite daughter!” Norbelle complained.

“Jealous?” Simon teased her.

“It’s a very clever application of summoning, I’ll give you that, but you’re wasting so much miasma manifesting her it’s unsightly,” Norbelle said contemptuously. “I take it your Class doesn’t have Perks that support eidolon summoning?”

“I have one that cuts the cost of miasma spells in half,” Simon countered, though it was technically a Title.

“Except summoning an eidolon isn’t a spell, dummy.” Norbelle studied Einganah. “If I were to form a contract with her, would it be with her base form or her dark eidolon one?”

“I… I don’t know,” Simon admitted, doubt worming its way in his heart. What would happen if Norbelle engraved a dark eidolon pact in the Abyss? It would certainly provide evidence of the reigns’ existence to an outsider, which would enrage the Crimson Throne. I can already feel the pressure on my throat, but it’s not as intense as I would expect… The three bastards don’t know either. 

“Let’s check,” Norbelle decided before Simon could consider all the implications. “How would you like to become my pet goddess?”

“You are the Summoner?” Einganah was so enraptured by her newfound vitality that she couldn’t care less about why she had been called. “It has been many moons since I formed a contract with your kind… but I do not think I can form a Pact with you.”

Norbelle’s expression turned dangerous. No one dared to deny the princess anything. “And why’s that?”

“Because my current state is the pact,” Einganah replied. “It is my agreement with the Lord of Dark that grants me life… to share it would be to void my own existence.”

“Curious, curious…” Norbelle waved the issue aside. “No matter. Now that I know your name, I can summon your eidolon avatar and contract it the old-fashioned way.” She pointed at a corner of the summoning chamber. “Salamandra, come forth!”

She called upon an eidolon of her own while outright skipping the summoning chant, likely thanks to one of her Perks. The creature manifested in the form of a serpent of pure yellow fire dancing and swirling in the air.

Salamandra, the Firebloom

Level 13 Eidolon of Forges, Embers, and Campfires

Elemental

“What is thy bidding, Mistress Norb—” Salamandra coughed as his flames turned blue all of a sudden. “What are you… what’s going on?!”

“Shush,” Norbelle replied as she pumped him with miasma through their connection. “Just running some tests.”

“S-stop! Stop at onc—” The eidolon let out a roar as he underwent a transformation. His flames turned blue, and then into a ghastly purple. His serpentine shape grew more complex, with wings of smokeless fire and a draconic visage. His information shifted in the blink of an eye. 

Salamandra, the Pyrefire

Level 45 Dark Eidolon of Forges, Ashes, and Pyres

Elemental/Undead

Simon had to admit it was impressive. Norbelle had managed to reverse-engineer dark eidolon summoning within minutes after he explained the basics to her. 

“I am fire itself… the flame that burns and consumes!” the dark eidolon boasted, his ego far outstripping his strength. “I am deat—” 

His flames flickered out and swiftly reverted back to red as the eidolon returned to his original form, much to Norbelle’s frustration. 

“Ugh…” Salamandra rasped. “I… what was that fire? Both so sinister and alluring… the flames of grief…”

“Seems like you lost control of the miasma connection,” Simon mused. He didn’t blame her. Unlike him, she had to channel her mana into miasma before pumping her eidolon with it. The mere fact she managed to transform Salamandra for a few seconds was already a monstrous fit of skill.

“No, I did not!” Norbelle snapped at him in a rare display of anger that took him aback. She put on her Summoner outfit, cast multiple buffs on herself, and pumped Salamandra again with all of her frustration and wounded pride. The eidolon’s flames turned purple again, but remained slightly stable this time. 

Norbelle simply couldn’t stand being second-best in her own specialty.

“Mistress, how beautifully do you burn,” the corrupted Salamandra said. “A pyre of jealousy—”

“Silence!” Norbelle slapped him in the back of his head as if he were a misbehaving dog, her hand somehow hitting the fire as if it were solid. “My System screen only records our standard summoning Contract rather than a dark eidolon Pact… does this summoning mechanic uniquely interact with the Overlord Class, or are my standard Visionary powers interfering?”

“Unlike you, sister, I was never a standard Visionary,” Simon pointed out, hiding his relief at her inability to form a dark eidolon Pact. It made sense, considering she had witnessed the sorcery in the past yet never violated causality with it. This averted a crisis for now. “I may be a unique case due to my Class.”

“How rude!” Norbelle complained in annoyance before studying her new pet. Simon could see the strain on her face as she struggled to maintain Salamandra’s current form, but she powered through anyway. “Nice upgrade on the original Blessing, this Auspice thing… can the level increase surpass yours?”

“Yes, and I would be wary about that. You’ll lose control of the dark eidolon if their power exceeds yours.”

“Of course you do, the psychic strain becomes too great. It’s why standard summoning reduces the avatar’s level.” Norbelle scratched Salamandra’s back and then wrapped the fire-snake around her neck like a scarf. “Maintaining you in this form is quite taxing, my dear pet… I might need more practice before I can maintain a second dark eidolon.”

“It is an issue,” Simon admitted. “I’m cut off from spellcasting when I channel two at once in spite of my natural miasmic affinity, which is a pity since I could really use the Auspices.”

“Why don’t you just summon them in eidolith form, then? It would let you keep access to their Auspices at least.” Norbelle’s smile turned unbearably smug. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” Simon admitted. “Will you please enlighten me, oh great and wise mistress Norbelle?”

“No, your appeal was insufficiently servile.” Norbelle looked at her nails. “Besides, that would be outside the terms of our agreement. You’ll have to increase your bid.”

Joke’s on you, I’ll get to pay you with the same coin across the reigns. “How about this, a secret for a secret?”

Norbelle raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“Dark eidolons can fuse into a new one under certain circumstances,” Simon explained. “I’m not entirely sure why some are compatible and others aren’t, but I think it’s linked to a shared Type.”

“So you think I’ll surrender priceless knowledge for a piece of half-confirmed information? I’m not an easy girl to please, Simon.” Norbelle played coy. “In that case, I’ll give you half the truth and let you figure the rest by yourself: you can summon eidolons in a weaker form than their full avatars. They won’t be able to fight for you in this state, but it’ll be much less taxing on your miasma reserves and let you channel their Auspices.”

The idea appealed to Simon, since it meant he could keep effects like Carbuncle’s Mirror active without sacrificing his own spellcasting or risking his destruction. “And how do I do that?”

“I said that it was for you to figure out. I can’t teach you everything, or you’ll grow lazy.”

“More like you don’t want the hassle.” Oh well, he was sure he could find something about these ‘eidoliths’ easily enough in Cocagne’s royal library or other archives. 

“You know me well.” Norbelle snapped her fingers and banished Salamandra, while Simon did the same with Einganah. “Besides, I’m already sacrificing a sizable fraction of my brainpower on your Teleport spell.”

“You are working on it?” Simon didn’t hide his surprise. “Already?”

“You did remove a Ranger-sized thorn from my foot,” Norbelle replied with a chuckle. “What did you do to tame Filip so thoroughly?”

“I told him the truth.” Which had worked, since Filip had apparently voiced his support for Norbelle’s marriage to Verdis behind closed doors in the days that followed their ‘talk.’ The change in attitude from their leader was sure to sideline the Militarists and delight Remedia. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I wish I had been there to witness that little chat of yours then.” Norbelle guided him away from the dome and into a dimly-lit library whose floor-to-ceiling bookshelves seemed to rearrange themselves at will. Clear Eyes allowed Simon to spot the presence of invisible air elements doing the work. “I usually don’t bring boys to this place, Simon. Consider yourself lucky.”

“Where is this place?” Simon wondered. Norbelle had teleported them to this building with an unfamiliar Conjuration spell, which she called her ‘private boudoir,’ but it strangely lacked any windows. “A hidden manor?”

“Something like that,” Norbelle replied coyly without actually answering. She pointed at a chalkboard covered in Conjuration-related magical equations. “I’ve given thought to your request. Teleport works by disassembling the user into raw mana, having them travel near instantaneously through the Worldsoul, and then reassembling them in another place. The better the user can visualize their destination, the more accurate the spell.”

“But I’m the Overlord, so I channel miasma rather than mana,” Simon pointed out. “Using the usual method would be extraordinarily difficult for me.”

“Yes. We could achieve a similar result by reducing you to raw miasma and traveling through the Abyss with a Diabolism spell, but it would be a lot riskier. The Abyss is a very unsafe place, you know?” She put her hands behind her back and leaned forward with a mischievous look. “I would be loath to hear that an archfiend or qlippoth snatched my dear brother’s soul mid-teleportation, or that you ended up in the wrong hellish neighborhood…”

“Yes, that would be quite bothersome.” His last encounter with a qlippoth cost him a reign, and ending up trapped in a forgotten corner of the Abyss would be quite the hassle to deal with. “Then how would you proceed?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Norbelle couldn’t resist lording her knowledge over him. “I would tear space apart.”

Simon raised an eyebrow. “Tear it apart?”

“The Dark is all about breaching and violating boundaries, so you will have an easier time breaking the rules than following them,” Norbelle explained as grabbed a piece of chalk and began to draw lines of numbers. “A miasmic Teleport wouldn’t disassemble you and reform you somewhere else; it would tear a rift to your destination by force.”

Like Asterion, Simon realized. The Minotaur had hunted him down in that ruinous reign by physically clawing his way through space itself. Could I mimic the ability? 

“The miasma cost of such a spell would normally be enormous, but since you have a Perk cutting it in half, you might pull it off,” Norbelle explained. “We can work on a stabler form than a savage rift, like a circle.”

“Or a door,” Simon replied, suddenly inspired. 

“That could work.” Norbelle completed the equations in the form of a rectangle. “Such a portal would close the moment one person crosses it, unlike a standard Teleport spell that can support more than one target… but it wouldn’t have to be you. You could bring a girlfriend over to your current position.”

In short, this spell, while more complex than a standard Teleport, would allow Simon to create a single target Attic on the fly. The tactical applications would be considerable, since it would let him summon reinforcements or transport resources to his current location rather than having to do a round-trip.  

“I have data on an Abyssal demiplane capable of mass-producing such portals,” Simon said as he completed Norbelle’s equations, his enthusiasm taking over. 

“It’ll be a base.” Norbelle clapped her hands together. “Alright, let’s create our Booty Call spell.”

Simon’s blood froze in his veins. “Something like Dark Door would be more appro—”

“Booty Call. I invent it, I name it.” Norbelle pinched his cheek. “Be honest with yourself, Simon. We both know what you’re going to use it for.”

—----------

Work on creating the Dark Door spell—Simon refusing to call it by Norbelle’s nickname in his own mind—began immediately afterwards. 

Norbelle was allowed to complete her binding of the Phoenix early on with Filip dropping his opposition to her marriage, which allowed Simon to witness the ceremony. It was his first time returning to the Phoenix’s nest since he had unlocked his Dark Visionary powers, and he finally received input about the creature’s power after taking a glimpse at his sleeping egg form. 

Phoenix, the Vermillion Bird

Level 94 Eidolon of the South, Summer, Fire, Cocagne, and Rebirth.

Avian/Divine

Quite the mighty opponent. The Phoenix lived up to his title as the eidolon closest to Basileus in power. His immense power probably rivaled that of the mightiest Zodiac Fiends. And he’s a Divine Type creature too…

Simon had done some research on ‘slayer’ effects after unlocking Crown of Predation. According to arithmancers, ‘damage calculation’ followed a multi-tier process. First came the ‘base,’ where the System checked the attack’s original power against the target’s defense. This usually revolved around the attacker’s Strength versus the defender’s Vitality for physical damage, and Magic versus Charisma for the spiritual kind. No one knew the exact formula behind it, but the result then became the root of a complex game of multipliers.

Then the system checked element-related modifiers, such as Resistance halving damage, Vulnerability multiplying it, and Immunity outright cancelling it. Most defensive Perks or abilities reducing base damage like the Rampart status intervened at this stage. 

‘Slayer’ damage then intervened as a new multiplier. It was usually two, according to Simon’s research, though Classes like Ranger and Paladin types had Perks increasing that modifier even further to three or even four. Things like critical hits only intervened at the very end of the calculation chain. 

In short, a demonslayer steel sword wouldn’t inflict any damage to a Demon Type with immunity to the Metal element, since a doubled zero was still zero, but manipulating the numbers could bring the pain to a target.

Crown of Predation combined with my Warmonger Perk’s Godslayer damage should let me inflict quadruple damage to certain eidolons, Simon thought. It should give me a chance against the higher level ones. 

However, would that even be worth it? He had no control over dark eidolons who exceeded his level, and ordeals prevented him from accessing many resources. Partaking in one would require significant preparation.

Moreover, Simon knew that Shura was the weakest of the four cardinal guardians and the Phoenix the strongest, which meant Azulbolla and Nuwa were likely in the low-nineties in terms of power; with the dreaded Basileus likely approaching or matching the level 100 cap. He might as well treat fighting them the same way he would deal with a comet-empowered Zodiac Fiend. 

The risk of dying fighting against any of the Five Sovereigns was too great until he completed his training and mastered his existing abilities, especially reducing the cost of eidolon summoning. Simon would rather focus on acquiring weaker recruits like Pendragon, the creature the White Unicorn sent against him in Valne. 

Besides, he was in no rush. He could force an ordeal with the Five Sovereigns literally anytime he wanted once he had completed the Dark Door and visited each of their lairs. 

“Nothing better than the rush of new levels,” Norbelle rejoiced once they returned to their quarters after the ceremony, before giving her brother a kiss on the cheek and whispering in his ear. “Thank you for the exp boost, you’re adorable.”

“My pleasure,” Simon replied. No need to waste a good Party boost ahead of an expected experience rush. “What’s the plan now?”

“Remedia will throw a ball to officialize my engagement to Verdis, so you better find yourself a date who isn’t Firewand. Attending with a slave will send the wrong message.” Norbelle licked her lips. “I can suggest a few names…”

“Don’t bother,” Simon said, knowing she would pick Justine Eligos, who was currently under investigation. “I already have someone in mind. Someone whose presence will cause a scandal.”

“Simon, you grow up so fast… did you keep a girlfriend hidden from me?” Norbelle chuckled wickedly. “She better be unforgettable.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Simon was more worried about the potential presence of Alphonse’s party at the gathering and how they would react to Belzemine’s presence. While Filip had agreed to cut ties with the White Unicorn, he didn’t put it past them to try something. “And then?”

“And then we go on an airship world tour.”

She said it so casually it took a second for the statement to fully register in Simon’s mind. “Come again?”

“Please, Simon, think about it. The common people eat up princess weddings, since it breaks the monotony of their pointless muddy peasant lives. They need to see me and Verdis so they can properly worship us…” Norbelle gave him a knowing look. “Especially with the Overlord missing and a civil war on the horizon. Tributaries might get rebellious ideas.”

“Oh.” Simon guessed it made sense. Visiting the empire’s most sensitive regions would let Norbelle lobby for the Church Party, and advertise the strength of its alliance with Cocagne to foreign powers. 

It played well into his hand either way. Going to Fablan would let him see Azulbolla’s lair, and he had intended to visit places like Scaland at one point or another. 

“Besides, I want to stop by Uyo to catch all the eidolon slaves I missed,” Norbelle added, her hand tightening into a fist. “This time, I will have them all.”

Of course that was the real reason. “You’re still upset I unlocked Einganah before you?”

“Yes, I am. I can’t believe I missed out on so much experience.” Norbelle played with her hair. “I just hope we’ll have a few months to work with before that fool Louis does something stupid.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Simon reassured her, a thin smile stretching on his lips. “I suspect he’ll be quite busy in the coming months.”

His Overbot was almost ready.