“...How?” I whispered, my eyes locked upon the pitch black artifact that encircled Lucy’s neck. “Why?! That collar… What is that thing doing around her neck?!”

“Like I said,” Chloe replied, “we got invited to what was apparently poisoned tea with the Grand Patriarch. We both managed to fight off the effects, but… Well, let’s just say I still feel like a centaur kicked me in the head, so I wasn’t exactly in a proper state to prevent whatever the hell that thing is from being put around her neck.”

“That thing is a mind control collar.” My voice remained but a whisper, distant even to my ears. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part. Rather, it felt as if raising my voice would somehow make this more real.

I didn’t want this to be real. I didn’t want to accept that the Collar of S ubmission, the very thing that had been forced around my digital counterpart’s neck at the end of Tower Conquest, was now clinging to Lucy’s. Yet it was there, all the same, dark enough in color that the eye almost couldn’t help but be drawn to it. It seemed to pulse with a vile darkness as I stared at it, the room itself seeming to dim even to my eyes.

“Can you maybe do less staring and more stopping?” Chloe pleaded as Lucy took her first steps into the room. Her eyes seemed almost blank, her steps clumsy, but as she drew back her fist and thrust it towards Chloe I knew that all her strength was in it. More so than normal, judging by the speed of her blow. Not that it was anywhere fast enough to keep me from snatching her fist out of the air.

“Lucy,” I whispered.

She didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at me. She just drew back her other fist and tried to hit Chloe again, this time forcing me to tug at her arm in order to redirect her. Of course, I could have simply blocked the blow, but with the amount of force she was putting into it I feared she might actually break her own bones on impact.

“Careful,” Chloe warned me from the side. “She landed a hit earlier, and… Well, let me tell you, she did not hit that hard during our spar. I think she might have fractured one of my ribs.”

“What were her orders?” 

“Her orders?” Chloe parroted back, blinking. “Uh… Right. ‘Kill the kitsune.’ Plain and simple, right? Guess that’s what I get for letting my illusion slip from the poisoning”

“Right…” I murmured, frowning as I gently tugged Lucy to the side, causing another strike to miss. Then I pulled her hands behind her back, as gently as I could, and held her wrists. “She’s likely not going to stop until she’s unconscious or you’re dead.”

“So mind control collar, then?” Chloe guessed. “Sounds like you already know something about it.”

“It was in Tower Conquest - the media through which I received information about my future,” I explained. “A game my past life played… except the collar was placed on me,there. And it didn’t zombify me, either - at least I don’t think so? The art seemed to indicate that I was still myself, even as I was forced to fulfill orders…” I could tell from the reluctant expression on my digital counterpart’s face during those scenes. It was nothing like the blank look on Lucy’s face as she struggled to pull free.

“I need to knock her out,” I murmured, looking around for a clue. “You said she’s already been dosed with some sort of drug, right? Something to put her to sleep? Maybe I could take advantage of that - weaken her until she falls unconscious?”

“That might work!” Chloe agreed.

“Or it could make it worse…” I murmured, glancing at the collar. So far, it didn’t seem to be working like in the game - rather than forcing her to actively comply, it was merely moving her body like a puppet. Would knocking her unconscious actually make that easier? Not to mention the possibility that she was mentally fighting, even now - weakening her could be the worst thing possible…

“You could always just… carry her like that?” Chloe pointed out. “It’s not like she can really resist you right now.”

“I’m more worried she’ll hurt herself the way she’s twisting around,” I confessed, frowning at Lucy as she twisted and turned in my grip, her movements becoming ever more fierce and erratic. “No. I need to make her still…”

I knew how to… as little as I wanted to use it.

“Forgive me for this, Lucy,” I whispered. Taking a deep breath I then shakily repeated the words I’d spoken earlier today. “Ereff Bajoul Draten.”

Instantly, Lucy stiffened in my arms, her body going still as the stone overtook her. Yet at the same time the collar seemed to pulse and her neck shifted a little, her head moving despite being stone. It only lasted for a moment before the petrification completely took hold, but it was concerning all the same.

“Come on,” I whispered, acutely aware of the fact that the statue of Lucy was trembling in my grasp, still struggling to move even in its current state. I wrapped my own arcane magic around the ‘sculpture’, steadying it, keeping it still, stabilizing it. I could feel something pushing back at my efforts, though, and it took active focus to keep her secure. “Once we’re back in the tower, you can go scurry off somewhere Lucy won’t know where to find you, just in case. I’m going to find Doll.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Doll informed me, dashing my hopes against the cruel rocks of reality. After all the help she’d been with finding Abigail and punishing Alira, I was sure she would have something to help. Yet now when I needed her the most…

“Don’t give me that look,” she said with a sigh. “Just because I don’t recognize the collar does not mean I can’t help.”

“So you do know something?” I asked, grasping at the faint hope she provided.

“Not directly about the collar, no. I have a few theories, however, based on what I can see happening in her soul.”

“In her soul?” I asked, blinking. Right. Doll had said something about soul sight when I’d restored her, hadn’t she? And something about emergency medical procedures, too? “What do you see? What’s it doing to her? How do I stop it?”

Doll shook her head, however. “This is not something you can do on your own. You will require the help of another.”

“Help?” I asked, my mind first going to Chloe. If I needed a partner, she seemed the obvious choice. Her life was somewhat hanging in the balance, too, afterall.

“Not Chloe,” Doll said, somehow guessing my thoughts. “Abigail.”

“Abigail?” I repeated, blinking at her. “What can she do? No offense to her, but…”

“She is weak?” Doll asked. “Indeed. That is, in part, what makes her ideal for the job.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” came a new voice from the door. Abigail’s voice.

“I… I mean…” I blushed. “I didn’t mean to disparage your strength, only-”

“I am weak,” Abigail interrupted. “I get it. My power levels are basically useless even when I’m not stuffed full of Jailer’s Vine. What I want to know is how the hell can I help?”

“It is not your weakness itself that is beneficial,” Doll explained, “but the cause. You were underfed as a child, were you not? Specifically in terms of lust?”

“Yeah? So?” Abigail asked, crossing her arms. “Mom wasn’t really up to gathering lust after my dam died. I still grew up alright.”

“Being underfed led to your being underpowered,” Doll stated, unperturbed by Abigail’s glare. “This is known. Less known are other side effects. Have you noticed that you can go longer between meals than other succubi?”

“...Occasionally,” Abigail admitted. “I mean, not that I’ve ever really felt the need to push it, but… Yeah. Considering how Devilla’s lust doesn’t actually do much to feed me, I guess I’ve been stretching things out a bit…”

“Of course it doesn’t. Lust is merely the conduit through which you access the souls of others in order to harvest some of their negative energy. Much the same as vampires and blood. True demons were originally from Hell, and while your kind may inhabit mortal shells these days, you still require trace amounts of unholy energy to function.”

“Alright, I guess that explains why all true demons have weird diets of some sort, but what does that have to do with helping Lucy?” Abigail asked. “Who’s… currently a statue for some reason? Could someone please explain what’s going on from the beginning?”

“Lucy was collared,” I informed her. “With the same Collar of Submission I told you about from the game. The one intended to make you follow orders.”

“A collar made purely of unholy magic,” Doll informed us. “Which is why your magic cannot affect it, Devilla. Why it seeks to make Lucy move, even now - and why it’s doing so bad a job at it… You saturated her body with positive energy, and so it’s struggling to take her over physically. Instead, it’s attacking her soul, using that as a conduit to get underneath the layer of holy magic, and attack her from within.”

“But she’s petrified,” Abigail pointed out. “To stop the progress, I’m guessing?”

“To stop her struggling, more like,” I confessed. “I was afraid she would hurt herself…”

“And she still might,” Doll warned us. “Your magic worked on a surface level, in part due to the fact that you’ve already begun to stain her with your magic, but I fear that stone only goes skin deep. Within, her body is in turmoil, still twitching and trying to move under the effects of the collar. If we do not act quickly her body might rip itself apart.”

“Then how about we get back to the fact that I’m supposed to help, somehow?” Abigail suggested. “I’m guessing it has something to do with that collar being made of unholy magic? Negative energy? The same stuff I feed on?”

“Correct,” Doll confirmed. “At least in part. The true reason you are fit for this is not only because you are a true demon, but because you were a malnourished one - your body’s arcane magic capacity is so small because you developed a capacity to store large amounts of unholy magic instead. The better to see you through times of starvation I assume. Something that has, at best, been a minor convenience through your life, I’m sure - but which could now prove to be the solution we seek.”

“So what? I just need to… feed on the collar, or something?”

“Something like that,” Doll replied with a nod. “Utilizing the full suite of enchantments and upgrades given to me by Dalleen, I should more or less be able to trick your body into accepting the collar itself as food.”

“Then what are we waiting for!?” Abigail demanded. “Whatever the hell happened to Lucy probably only happened because Devilla was too busy rescuing me to keep an eye on her, right? So let’s get started!”

“It’s not that simple,” Doll warned us before I could voice my opinion. “While it is true that you can feed upon the collar, and that you have a larger capacity for storage than most, the fact remains that this collar is made of pure unholy energy. It is more than even you can safely contain, Abigail. It will leak into your body, if you do this - and it will change you. Assuming you survive…”

“Change me how?” Abigail asked guardedly.

“And what do you mean ‘survive’?” I demanded.

“It will change you into a Demon,” Doll said. “A true ‘true’ Demon. A being of pure negative energy. In other words, the other side of Devilla’s angelic coin.”

“And the ‘survive’ part?” I pressed, not at all liking the look of determination filling Abigail’s face.

“It would take a miracle,” Doll confessed. “The chances are that slim. Of course, she could cancel the transformation at any time - release the energy. Her body would be all but destroyed, but with your magic and my help she would recover. Lucy, however, would die the moment the operation stopped.”

“And if we don’t do anything?” Abigail asked before I could. “What happens to her then?”

“Her soul will be consumed by the collar,” Doll informed us. “Her sense of self will be corroded, at best. At worst, she will be left a prisoner in her own brain, forced to watch as she enacts whatever orders are given her.”

“What if nobody gives her orders?” I asked. “We could try and work around the one to kill Chloe, somehow - maybe a momentary death, just to end the command? And then we could just…”

“Keep her locked up?” Abigail demanded. “For the rest of her life? Keep her safe from any further orders at the cost of her freedom?”

“I could kill the one who collared her,” I suggested. “That might do it…”

“Maybe,” Abigail conceded. “Or it might trigger some weird self-destruct thing we don’t know about!”

“So what?!” I demanded. “I’m supposed to let you risk your life to save hers?!”

“Yes! Because it’s my fault! I’m the one who distracted you! I’m the one who was so weak and useless as to be kidnapped at a crucial moment, all because I’m the weak link in this chain! And now you want me to turn away from a chance to not only save the girl you love, but actually step up in power and be of actual help?!”

“That’s… You didn’t… It wasn’t… It wasn’t your fault…”

“Really?!” Abigail demanded. “Do you really think that, deep down? Are you sure there’s not even the smallest sliver of resentment? That I couldn’t have been stronger or figured my own way out?”

“No!” I denied. “I would never blame the victim like that.”

“Unless the victim was you…” She let out an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Look, just… let me do this, okay? If it gets too much, I can just let go like Doll said. At least this way she’ll have a chance…”

“She’ll need more than Abigail for a chance,” Doll interrupted before I could respond. Under circumstances I might have been annoyed at the repeated cut-offs, but there were more pressing matters at hand. “It’s not just the collar you’ll be drawing out, Abigail, but the tendrils it’s placed within her soul and body. Cracks will be left behind. Cracks that must be filled by more energy - preferably of the positive kind.”

“...What?” I demanded. “You want me to turn Lucy into some sort of angel?!”

“It’s the only way forward,” Doll said calmly, refusing to match the anger in my voice. I wished she would - it would have made it easier to rage at her, to act like this was all somehow her fault. Like I was at risk of losing Lucy because of her actions and not my own incompetence… 

If I’d given Abigail a proper guard, or at least insisted she stay with Bailey, would any of this have happened?

“No victim blaming, remember?” Abigail interrupted before my thoughts could get darker. “We’re on a time limit here. Probably. I mean, I’m mostly just guessing, but…”

“There is a time limit,” Doll confirmed. “Though as long as you act within it, waiting will do you no harm. Your chances will not go down.”

“But neither will they get better…” I let out a sigh. “Are you sure about this Abigail? Even knowing I don’t, in any way, blame you?”

“I’m sure,” Abigail said. “Even if you don’t blame me, I still do, at least a little bit. Besides, we both know she’d do the same for either of us in a heartbeat… and if I turn into a ‘true true Demon’ or whatever, I’ll be able to fight by your side, right? Maybe even travel with you.”

“That would be nice…” I confessed, before taking a deep breath, and turning to Doll. “Alright then. Let’s do this.”

Darkness. Unending darkness. It was all there was. Some part of me whispered that it was all there had ever been. I knew that part of me was a lie, though! Just the darkness, trying to make me give in. I had plenty of happy memories from before the darkness, after all! Memories of traveling with Eena and meeting Abigail, growing closer to Feyra and petting Bailey. So many good memories! I knew they weren’t fake. That what came before wasn’t fake. Even if the darkness was in my head, whispering lies directly into my mind, it wasn’t going to win that easily!

That said, I wasn’t really sure of how to handle things… I mean, all I could see was darkness! My hearing was cut off, too, other than the whispers in my mind, and my senses of smell and touch were also cut off. I had my will to go forward, but that was about it… 

Well, that and my memories. Some of them were a bit fragmented? The most recent ones especially. I remembered being called up to meet the Grand Patriarch alongside Chloe (in disguise as Eena), but the walk there was just a blur. I could remember telling the Grand Patriarch that I had a bunch of questions for him, but I’m not sure what he said. Just that he laughed in that kind grandfatherly way he always did, before serving us all up some tea.

The tea was super bitter, without nearly enough sugar. Though that might have been the poison? I’m pretty sure there was poison. Lots and lots of poison, to put me in this state…

Was I dying, then? I didn’t feel like I was dying. Though I wasn’t exactly sure what dying would feel like? Painful, maybe? I always thought it would be pretty painful, anyways…

I wasn’t in pain, though. I wasn’t feeling anything. Just the darkness. The all consuming darkness that kept whispering promises to consume me, too. Telling me to give in. To just let myself be washed away. I couldn’t, though. I had people depending on me. People who trusted in me.

More important than that, though, was the fact that I had someone I believed in. Someone I knew would come for me. Who would rescue me. So when a light finally appeared in the darkness, I didn’t hesitate to reach for it. Even as the darkness clawed at me, trying to pull me away from it, trying to whisper it was a trap, I reached for that light, with its familiar, comfortable warmth. I embraced it, holding it against myself, and at last felt something penetrate the numbness this darkness brought with it.

Pain.

“What’s happening?!” I demanded, looking back and forth between Abigail and Lucy in a panic. The former was screaming as dark splotches spread across her skin, while the latter was literally breaking apart, cracks appearing all over the stone even as my magic fought to keep her together. “I thought this was supposed to help Lucy, not make everything worse!”

“It will help Lucy,” Doll replied. “If it works. Certainly better than anything else we could have tried…”

“What about Abigail?” I demanded. “She’s in pain!”

“I told you both it would be dangerous,” Doll replied. “I told you that it would take a miracle for Lucy to survive. A miracle for Abigail as well, if she insists on holding all that negative energy inside of her.”

“But… but what’s happening?” I asked. “The collar is gone. Abigail ate it! Shouldn’t it be over?”

“Of course not,” Doll replied, shaking her head. “This is only the beginning.”

“The beginning…?” I parroted back dumbly.

“After consuming so much positive and negative energy in one sitting, they are each entering an apotheosis of sorts. Their mortal bodies are burning away as their souls make the shift towards holy and unholy respectively.”

“So what? They just have to endure and they’ll be fine?” I asked, hopeful.

Again, my hope was dashed by a shake of the head, though. “I told you, Devilla. More than once. If they’re going to survive they need a miracle.”

“...What?” I asked, not comprehending. Or perhaps simply not wishing to.

“Mortals cannot join the ranks the of angels simply, Devilla,” Doll stated, speaking slowly as if she were explaining things to a child. “Nor can one simply undo what was done to true demons to make them mortal in the first place. Though there might be methods I do not know of, with this particular brute force method they will require permission from the Goddess to ascend.”

“Permission from… but what about me? My soul was mortal, once!”

“And yet you were born to an angel,” Doll reminded me. “Your soul may have been mortal, but you have never been. It’s different.”

“So… so what? They’re just stuck here, in pain, until the Goddess decides to intervene?”

“Of course not,” Doll scoffed. “They have maybe a minute before their souls break apart under the strain. Unless Abigail lets go of the power, of course, but then it would flood back into Lucy and ensure her death regardless of the Goddess’s intervention.”

“You… You…. Why didn’t you say this earlier?”

“I did,” Doll replied. “I told you, repeatedly, exactly what we’d need. Not just for them to survive this, but to fight against Luci - we need a miracle. We need the Goddess on our side. Instead, she’s watching from the sidelines… but don’t worry. She’s already intervened to save you once. With luck she’ll do the same again - if not to save your girlfriends, then to protect her earlier investment and to keep you from completely falling apart.”

“That’s… that’s…”

“Really messed up!”

I paused.

Doll paused.

“I mean, seriously? Holding back info you know would have affected Devilla’s decision making, just to pull me into things? Are you that desperate to win?”

I didn’t say anything.

Doll didn’t say anything.

Abigail and Lucy’s bodies began to glow.

The disembodied voice sighed. “Well, whatever. Close your eyes tight and buckle up for what comes next! And I don’t just mean the light show that’s about to go down, because if I get to come in at the last moment with a deus ex machina then you can bet your skirts that Luci’s going to do the same!”

~~~

Author'sNotes

This is one of the chapters that keeps me up at night, worrying whether I got it right... (I mean, not really but I am a little concerned? It's something I've been planning for two years at this point and I am more than a little worried that I failed to pull it off... Nobody's complained so far, though, so maybe I did alright after all?)

Things are really kicking into high gear, at this point, if you haven't noticed that already. We're getting close to the end of Devilla's adventure - something I find both exciting and more than a little painful. Not to mention scary as I forever worry about failing to stick the landing. (If you're not ready to say goodbye to the gang, then don't worry - neither am I. ;;;

More seriously, I do have a sequel of sorts planned. One the girls will all be present for at points, even if they aren't the main focus.)

Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for editing! And for coming up with the title, for that matter.

Also, just a casual reminder that I've written up to chapter 85 on Patreon at this point and that you can read ahead for as little as $1~! The chapters haven't been edited by FallingLeaf yet, though, as a warning.