Rebirth of the Nephilim

Jadis was true to her word. They did not have sex that night aboard the Leviathan. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t other reasons for her to delay bringing Wilhelm and his companions onto the airship. Namely, while she, Noll, and the Hero’s party had been discussing the mission and its aftereffects, Jadis had also been with her lovers discussing Maeve’s progress towards CLR sixty.

Maeve had gained four levels overall from the one foray into Kastoria. How much of that came from all the Demon’s being slain around them versus the infiltration she accomplished was hard to say, but there had certainly been a mix, for sure. The actions she had taken had definitely affected her skill options, which was to be expected, and the result was a mix of good passives that the Fetch was happy to add to her repertoire.

The one level Maeve had gained in her Shapeshifting Spy class had given her a choice between a skill that would help her with her shapeshifting and one that would help her with learning new languages. Considering she already had a skill that helped with her linguistic knowledge, she went with the first choice.

False Transparency:

Passive Skill. Your shapeshifting is enhanced so that you are able to appear transparent when you are not. When changing so that you are translucent, parts of yourself that may contain hidden objects will reflect the environment behind you when you are viewed by others. This effect does not hold up against close scrutiny or bright lights, but the average observer will not be able to tell the difference between the parts of you that are truly transparent and those that are not.

The effect wasn’t true invisibility, but it was also a bit better than the translucency that Sorcha was capable of bestowing with her wand. While transparent, Maeve looked a bit like she was made out of glass; her outline was visible, and there was a bit of distortion, but otherwise she was completely see-through. In low light, Jadis could see how most people wouldn’t even notice her, though she doubted that someone with Thea’s skills would miss her.

Her secondary class, Penumbral Infiltrator, had gained three levels, two of which granted her new skills. There was a traditional attribute-increasing skill on offer, as well as a couple of skills that were slightly enhanced versions of passives that Maeve already had from her primary class, so she ended up taking one skill she had skipped several levels ago and one new skill that looked promising.

Atypical Observation

Passive Skill. The unique actions and behaviors of cultures that are foreign to those you are familiar with are more readily understood. You are more likely to blend in when pretending to be part of a crowd of those whose ways are alien to you, and your social mistakes are less likely to draw attention when interacting with such cultures.

Maeve had not thought she would need a skill like Atypical Observation considering the other skills she had been granted that improved her ability to blend in with crowds, but after infiltrating a Demon-infested city twice, she decided she could use the boost.

Surprise Packages

Passive Skill. When preparing or placing a bundle, envelope, or hidden drop-off, this skill will assist you in determining the best packaging, configuration, and positioning to evade detection or suspicion from those you are trying to avoid attracting the attention of. This skill affects your own attempts at hiding from view, so long as you are pretending to be one of the aforementioned inanimate objects.

It was pretty obvious that Maeve had been offered the odd skill thanks to not only her successful placement of the enchanted steel plates, but also that she had managed to pull off a surprise attack from the position of hiding inside of one of Jadis’ backpacks. No one thought that the Fetch would be making a regular habit out of riding along with Jadis on her generally high-risk attacks against extremely dangerous targets, but the necessity of becoming a pocket assassin was never zero, so there was good reason for Maeve to take the skill. Besides, as Aila insisted, being able to better place traps was always a good idea.

Upon revelation of the Surprise Packages skill, Kerr had vehemently insisted that Maeve begin practicing certain shapeshifting techniques of a lewder variety so as to increase the chances of her getting a related skill in the future. Everyone had managed to push past her silly suggestions fairly quickly, but Jadis had seen the way Maeve’s brain had been ticking afterwards, so she was pretty sure she was going to be seeing some of those suggestions at work in the future. Whether they would have an effect on her skills, or even her future tertiary class, only time would tell.

Aside from Maeve, Jadis had also gained two levels from all the fighting in Kastoria. One in her primary class, the other in her secondary class. Both were non-skill levels, so the total result was an extra five attribute points which were, of course, put into her Eldritch stat. Thanks to how all of her various passive skills interacted, that translated in a jump from one thousand one hundred and seventy points to one thousand one hundred and ninety-eight points in her sole magic attribute. Naturally, all of her physical stats were affected by the increase as well, so just five simple points had quite the ripple effect that reached all of her lovers as well.

Jadis Ahlstrom

Race: Nephilim

Primary Class: Mirror Knight (48)

Secondary Class: Perverted Ritualist of D (38)

Tertiary Class: Progenitor of the Succubi (26)

Combined Level Rating: 112

Health: 3740/3740

Magic: 1560/1560

Attributes

Strength: 612

Dexterity: 249

Agility: 1198

Vitality: 299

Fortitude: 334

Endurance: 281

Arcane: 0

Divine: 0

Eldritch: 1198

Focus: 126

Resilience: 115

Will: 112

   Jadis and Maeve weren’t the only two to have gained levels, either. Bridget, Sorcha, and Alex had all unlocked their tertiary classes and therefore were seeing rapid progress in advancement thanks to the environment. Perhaps not as rapid as would have been the case if they weren’t constantly surrounded by hundreds of other people who were soaking up any bonus experiences that might have been gained, but the constant activity was beneficial nonetheless. Even Aila had gained a level in her tertiary class, likely due to all of the greater rituals she had performed, and had put the single attribute point she had earned into her Focus. Overall, a great deal of progress had been made.

But was it enough?

Scout estimates put the countdown to contact with the Kastoria at approximately six days. Six days. That was all. In less than a week, Volto’s army would be at the walls of the Demon-infested city, and the real fighting would begin. Having so recently fought inside Kastoria, Jadis knew that retaking the city was not going to be an easy task. Even with tens of thousands of soldiers, thousands of mercenaries, hundreds of elite fighters, and the Hero himself, Jadis was worried that they weren’t ready. More specifically, that those she loved weren’t as strong as they could be, that she wasn’t as strong as she could be, and that not being enough could cost a price that she wasn’t willing to bear. There was only so much Jadis could do to assuage her worries, but one of those things was easy enough.

Or at least, it should have been.

“You want to empower your Endurance?”

Dys looked up from the precisely written letter with a raised eyebrow. The cold breeze blowing so high up made it a little hard to keep the paper from moving, so she had been forced to hold it in both hands to keep it from flapping in the wind. That said, for two people who could fly, there was no better place to have a private conversation than half a mile up in the air.

“Yes,” Noct confirmed with a nod of her head. “Safest.”

Safest.

Yes, Jadis could see what Noct meant by that. As outlined in her letter, several of her skills would benefit from having increased Endurance, allowing them to be used more often or to last longer. Noct was not a spell caster in the traditional sense; her two classes utilized magic for some of her skills, but those abilities were not categorized as spells and also had the rare feature of consuming stamina at the same time. Increasing Noct’s Endurance would have a similar effect to applying Lewd Lover’s Bond to Aila’s Focus. She’d be able to cast far, far more spells before needed to stop to recover.

By the same token, just as applying Jadis’ Bond to Focus would mean that Aila’s spells would be plentiful yet weak, so too would Noct’s skills lack power. Strength was the attribute that the Valravn’s skills relied on the most. If she was going to improve any stat by nearly six hundred points, Strength was the correct call. Not Endurance. Especially not endurance, since her two fuel stats would simply be uneven, and without a similar increase in Focus, Noct wouldn’t actually be able to use her skills all that much more than before. It wasn’t a logical decision, Jadis had no trouble seeing, and she knew that Noct had to have realized the same. She was also quite certain that she knew the true reason for Noct’s choice. The question was, did she confront Noct about it or not?

“Are you worried about picking Strength?”

Noct didn’t flinch. Not exactly. But Dys’ direct question certainly had an effect on the woman.

“…Yes.”

Letting her wings take her a little closer to the stiff Valravn, Dys made sure that she was eye-level with Noct before continuing. The dark-haired beauty looked like she was ready to bolt, and Jadis didn’t like seeing her that way. But they weren’t ever going to get anywhere in their relationship with each other if they didn’t have open, honest conversations. Sometimes that meant confronting uncomfortable truths. It wasn’t fun, but such blunt conversation was necessary at times.

“I know you won’t hurt me,” Dys stated calmly. “Just the same as I know that no one else will hurt me. You don’t have to worry.”

“I do.”

Noct’s response was no less firm, no less certain, than Jadis’ own statement.

Dys tilted her head to one side, watching the red-eyed Valravn. Jadis couldn’t say that she knew Aelius all that well, or Thais, his wife, for that matter. But she did have a good read on their personalities. Both were kind, loving individuals who clearly cared deeply for each other, as well as their two children. Jadis couldn’t imagine a situation where Noct had not received all the love and support that she needed regarding her nature as a Valravn. Aelius would have tackled all concerns with logic and reason, while Thais would have boldly brushed aside any worry and focused on making things right for her daughter. They simply weren’t the type to neglect their family’s needs, emotional or otherwise.

Yet still, Noct had chosen to hide her hybrid nature from all, pretending to be a Seraphim with Valbjorn traits like her brother. She practiced constant control of her emotions, to the point that she barely even spoke in order to keep herself in check. Control was such a part of her life that she had even chosen classes that revolved around restraints and domination. The fear that Noct had of her unleashed self wasn’t something that years of a supportive family could overcome. It would be completely unreasonable for Jadis to assume that she could do better for Noct in only a few months of knowing her.

That knowledge didn’t stop her from trying, though.

“If Endurance is what you want, then I support your choice,” Dys eventually spoke. “However, I want you to try Strength.”

Noct immediately opened her mouth to protest, but Dys held up her hand, stopping her from continuing.

“I’m planning on taking another flight away from the march before we reach Kastoria. I want to use every advantage I have at my disposal to help us win this fight, and part of that means calling on a favor I earned last year that I’ve been holding onto. I want you to come with me to Weigrun. Thea is going to come, and so is Meli. We’ll be far away from everyone else, isolated from anyone who you would ever have to worry about accidentally hurting.”

Taking Noct’s hand, Dys squeezed firmly while speaking quietly, her face mere inches from the other woman.

“If you don’t want to try right now, that’s fine. It’s your choice. I just want to give you this chance to try because I know you can control your beast. I believe in you, because I love you, and because I know you love me.”

The flush that bloomed across Noct’s face was simply too irresistible for Jadis to ignore. Dys leaned close and captured her lover’s lips, tasting the Valravn’s sweetness while playing her tongue across exceptionally sharp incisors. Pulling back with some reluctance, she met Noct’s wide eyed gaze.

“So, what do you say? Want to come with me?”

Noct was silent for a long while, her red eyes focused with almost uncomfortable intensity on Dys. A slight rumble in the air that could have been either her or the marching of soldiers far below eventually subsided, and Noct opened her mouth to speak. Then, reconsidering her words, she gave Dys a puzzled look.

“Why Weigrun?”

“Kind of a long story,” Dys smirked at her lover. “But I’ve got to see a man about a dragon.”

“…fun.”