Shadow of the Abyss

"He touched me here, right?" Syris wondered from the Palace of Stygians' luscious hot springs. Her fingers trailed towards the tips of her breast. "His other hand was here… they were warm… no, they were burning hot. Just like these water."

Cheeks flushed beyond their material means. Syris stifled that moan as she'd done during their first year.

He'd taken her from behind, tearing the clothes from off her back, savoring her naked neck.

"ahhh~" her fingers mirrored his as he whispered beside her ear.

'What did he whisper again?' she wondered, spreading her legs open in the spring waters. Her naughty fingers maliciously teasing her sweet spot until her moans became deep pants wet with saliva trailing down her chin onto her breast.

He squeezed.

"aah~yes~ahhh"

She climaxed, groping one breast as his lips brushed against her neck, his fangs finding her carotid with exquisite ease.

Syris opened her eyes, lifting her fingers that had been inside her to her lips. And tasted it as he'd had her done.

"how do you taste?" he asked, throbbing down below.

"please~dont~ren… she's"

As Syris returned to herself, she pulled her fingers curled around her tongue out from her mouth and sighed.

"I… I shamelessly started calling him Art after that, didn't I? Just like Reina…" She exhaled mournfully. "He must have been so hungry. So frustrated. So… Gods, what am I doing? I'm touching myself to a memory. I'm such a slut… a homewrecker!

Ren, I'm so sorry. Truly! Art apologized and everything.

"I understand his circumstances, but… I didn't stop him fast enough. I had the strength, too. I had the skill… "

Shaking her head, Syris dunked her head into the water and screamed. She screamed till her lungs dried, and her throat burned. Pearly tears merged with the spring as she howled to her heart's content.

She left the springs after an hour, smelling like lavender, in a snow-white robe when she ran into Nia hurrying through the halls.

" Why are you here?" Nia shook her head. "Never mind, just hurry and get changed; Master started a war with Earth. "

"That Son of a Bitch!"

***

"Burn, Burn, Burn!" shouted Talia, cloaked in lightning, barreling from the blackened skies, decimating the land below in a tide wave of destruction. Towering structures turned to rubble, melting into magma, catching those lucky enough to escape the lightning.

The men of the Aros estate were howling. Screaming like maidens surrounded by a pack of goblins.

Ash billowed blinding mortal eyes, forcing hundreds to meet their end in ruthless oblivion.

"Mama!!! Papa!!! It's me! Your daughter Tania! Look, I'm back from the dead! I killed Olivia. I smashed that little cunts head over my boot. She went pop! I even recorded her getting smashed by her cousin. I made her scream my ringtone. Teehee, wanna listen? It was so sweet. I get so wet each time I hear it.

Awww~ where'd the time go? Mama, Papa, before I skin you alive, do you wanna hear?

Catelyn was in tears, watching it crumble to ash. Her home of nearly sixty years. Her children… her, babes.

"Don't worry, papa. I'll kill you quick. But mama. Talia thinks she is going to have you eat the charred remains until you pop and die. Teehee! Shall we start with my new baby brother? Seems the ash already snuffed him out."

"Your… Your… You're a demon!"

Talia might have laughed had she not recalled the cruelty Catelyn once inflicted on her. The harsh words that made her gut drop at the time.

'How is such an ugly girl, my child? Go away. Hide yourself from the guess. What good are you? We can't even sell such a thing? What man would touch you?'

"But you made me like this," said Talia, tilting her head. "You abandoned me. You told me that no one would have me, even if I spread my legs open right before them." she straightened herself, walking down from the skies on a platform of lightning, lowering herself before her mother. "I guess none of that matters, huh?"

Talia curled her fingers through Catelyn's hair, ensnaring it in a casual moment of cruelty. She slammed her head into the ground. Then, curb-stomped her, kicking her in her face until her eye popped out of its socket. Her once pristine white skin turned from purple to black, swelling as Catelyn kicked and screamed, balling her heart out. Her daughter didn't stop.

"Papa, come help daughter! Help her out, and Talia will kill you quickly. Let's have fun together!"

***

A few miles off the coast of Japan, Altair stood aboard a small star cruiser designed for planetary exploration. The cruisers were being piloted by several officers of Earth's Imperial Army. Enthralled by the Eye of Sacrilege, they did his bidding without fail.

Syris was brooding behind a white mask, standing before a hologram of the Reverend Mother. Despite being masked herself, her voice was filled with relief.

"When you didn't return. I feared the worst." The Reverend Mother exclaimed, clutching her heart. "Child, you scared me fiercely! I thought some man might have taken you. Your Soul Lamp still burns."

"It's a bit of a long story," said Syris bitterly. She didn't want to talk about it with the Reverend Mother. At least not yet. "But I contacted you in order to ask for aid from the GCP. Altair here is starting a rebellion. And he is a citizen.

Recognized by Genisis."

"Oh?' Said the Reverend Mother. "And what by chance is he offering us? The Aros family has served us well. So why—"

"The Aros Family is being exterminated as we speak," said Altair coldly. "As for what I'm offering? Well, I'm offering you land, or rather, I am offering Syris land. The GCP will have access to much."

'You'd allow entry to unknown forces?"

The Prince chuckled. "Unless you call forth a Transcendent and break the Shadow Proclamation, I have nothing to fear."

The Reverend Mother did not look convinced. She folded her arms, narrowing her eyes. "Altair Earth has many weapons that can deal with Transcendent. It's a very rich planet. And Genisis is sure to send an envoy to aid them in the midst of their rebellion."

"You let me worry about that."

'You! Look here, boy. In war, there is no place for—" The Reverend Mother ate her words, feeling some intangible force lock onto her form countless parsecs away. She shook, startled by the spirit targeting her hologram.

"My Name is Altair Blackwood. Not Boy. You will do well to remember that. Transcendent, Diva, or whatever the hell you are. I assure you, you will die should you oppose me. Cut the connection, Syris."

Syris obeyed without hesitation. She glanced at Altair, propping down on a seat next to him. "What crawled up your ass?"

"I don't have the mental patience to deal with stupid questions. I'm already on the path of war. Warnings serve no use to me. Either you help me, or you stop talking to me."

"Art… I've been meaning to ask. Why do you want to create a kingdom so bad?"

"It's my calling. It's what my mother raised me to become. What I spent all my time thinking about." He smiled, kicking his feet back, his spirit keeping watch like a construct that neither needed rest nor substance. "Plus, it's fun. I like the process. I like the Politics."

"Still… you could have given me a heads up. You just started blowing shit up," said Syris removing her mask. The feel of it felt foreign now. "So? What is this trump card against Transcendents and Devas? Does your palace have a sort of super weapon?"

"Maybe. I won't be surprised, though it's still recovering. But I'm sure you'll find out once everything is over. What? You scared?"

"As if! Not after the Lake of Rot," she exclaimed. "Nothing can scare me after that hell hole."

"Good, I—"

Their eyes grew sharp as knives as their bodies rocked through the hull of the Cruzer as it detonated, exploding into a cluster of flames, following the beam of light that ripped through its hull like water.

Altair and Syris stood on lightning respectfully, one of azure and the other of red. Opposed to them stood an entire squad of fourth to fifth-circle men draped in a hexagonal-patterned black suit. They were all armed with firearms, hovering in the air through the use of their suits.

"That's a nanofiber-augmented suit," said Syris. "One of those suckers cost an arm and a leg, allowing the user to fight with a Ninth Circle in physical combat."

"Interesting. Well, this works out well for me." Altair mused as the Eye of Sacrilege hummed to life. The pupils convulse in a magical reaction, bringing luster to the sigils housed within.

All ten of the men ate their guns, pulling the trigger without fault. A red mist swept the skies for a brief second as bodies, one after the other, dropped, hitting against the water.

"Holy Shit!" Said Syris, glancing at Altair's scarlet eyes. "That's a bullshit ability."

"Said the woman who could fuse just about anything she wanted. That's far more of a bullshit ability than what I possess." The Prince snorted, commanding a few Imp shadows to collect the suits off the bodies below. Even if a biometric system locked the Nano Suits, he was sure the Palace of Stygian could hack it.

Altair collected the souls of the twelve men for his shadows to feed upon before giving his head a scratch. "Now, where the hell are we?" he looked around, squinting his eyes to find the nearest body of land.

"Let me…" said Syris, lowering herself to the waters below.

'Elemental Sensery,' she intoned in a whisper.