{DING! You gain 14 levels. You are now level 461.}

{You gain 210 DEX, 210 STR, 266 VIT, 210 MAG, 112 PSY, 140 DEF}

{Congratulations! You've absorbed enough power to choose your fourth Class Aspect!}

"All right," said Ashtoreth. "Here it is. Moment of truth!"

"Well don't leave us hanging," said Frost. "What'd you get?"

Ashtoreth prompted the system and then read the text it offered her in response:

{Choose an Aspect}

{Once made, this choice cannot be undone. Your aspect will either grant you a new ability, or significantly upgrade one of your existing abilities.}

[Companion]

Primary stats: MAG, PSY

[Companion] focuses on bolstering your ability to fight alongside an intelligent, willing ally.

Choosing this aspect will grant you the [Battle Bond] ability, granting you and your companion immunity to one another's attacks and allowing you to share resistances.

Choosing this aspect will also upgrade your [Summon Demonic Familiar] ability, and move it into the [Companion] progression path when you gain a class.

[Protection]

Primary stats: DEF

[Protection] focuses on defending you and your allies from attacks.

Choosing this aspect will grant you the [Sacrificial Aegis] ability, a boon which grants a moderate bonus to [Defense] and can be expended to grant an extremely high bonus to [Defense] for a short time period.

[Spellcasting]

Primary stats: MAG

[Spellcasting] focuses on manipulating magical power to create an extremely versatile array of effects.

Choosing this aspect will grant you a single [Spell Slot], as well as a choice of spells to fill it with.

[Warp]

Primary stats: MAG, PSY

[Warp] focuses on manipulating space to move creatures and objects between points or to create spatial distortions.

Choosing this aspect will grant you a [Warp Well] that you can charge by spending [Bloodfire]. You may spend power from your [Warp Well] to use [Warp] abilities, and doing so drastically reduces the time it takes to use them.

"Welp," Ashtoreth said. "[Companion], [Protection], [Spellcasting], and [Warp]."

"No [Sacred] or [Time], huh?" Kylie asked. "How sad. And after all the genuine, heartfelt work you put into attaining them, too."

Ashtoreth began unequipping her clocks and tucking them into her satchel. "I know," she said. "It's ruthless. But hey, at least I tried."

"Please."

It was Dazel. He floated down to her abdomen and she took him up and held him against her with one arm. "Please," he said again. "Just take [Spellcasting]. It's too strong, Ashtoreth. Your [Bloodfire] pool and generation are incredible and with your scythe talents active your [Magic] is very high. You can convert your [Bloodfire Boon] to [Magic], too, when you're spellcasting away from danger."

"I never said it wasn't good."

"Please," he said, grinding his head against her abdomen. "Nothing's going to make you stronger like [Spellcasting]. Look at what I did with Kylie."

Kylie sighed. "Am I supposed to back you up, now?"

"Yes!" Dazel said.

Kylie shrugged. "He's probably right."

Dazel released an exasperated sigh. "Probably?"

"Look," said Kylie. "I'll put it this way. I've eaten a lot of spellcasters, and I've eaten even more people who weren't spellcasters, but at least knew how it worked. I would think that I'm actually very good at this… except Dazel exists, and he's much, much better. I've never built an animation spell that he hasn't improved. Or any other spell, for that." She frowned. "But I don't know."

"What?" Dazel asked. "What don't you know?"

Kylie fixed her pale blue gaze on Ashtoreth, her expression serious. "I don't trust him."

Dazel groaned, and for once a note of offense entered his voice, as if Kylie had actually wounded him. "I have done nothing but help you," he said. "And you haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine about it."

"I know," Kylie said, her voice still mostly toneless. "It sucks. You taught me how to spellcast. And the spells are good. But you're old. And you have no reason to be loyal to Ashtoreth or to Earth. I can't shake the idea that a year is hardly any time at all to an ancient demon. I can't unhear the way that you spoke to her when you found out that she had that shard in the tutorial. The idea that you're here as part of some plot… it's not exactly senseless. You have to be able to admit that."

Dazel sighed. "Of course," he said. "Such is the life of a demon. But I hope you can all take a hard look at the situation and realize that nothing I could do short of letting you put a pair of shackles around my soul would make you trust me."

"Who cares what's fair to you?" Kylie asked. "Whether it makes you feel shitty or not, we're out here fighting for billions and it doesn't make any sense for us to let our guard down more than we have to."

"What exactly are we afraid of, here?" Frost said, looking between them. "What's Dazel going to do if Ashtoreth takes [Spellcasting] that he can't do already?"

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"If he provides her with his spells?" Kylie said. "Maybe he can hide effects inside them, have her apply a hidden debuff to herself every time she spellcasts until one day he triggers some plan to take control of her."

"Great theory, Kylie," said Dazel. "But you know, the system tells us what spells do," Dazel said. "And it tells us in the plainest, most informative language it can use. I couldn't hide some ticking timebomb in any of the spells that I gave her even if I tried—but if you want to think that way, go ahead. Don't use my spells. [Spellcasting] will still be your strongest aspect."

Ashtoreth listened to them arguing and just felt tired. They might be having this conversation for the first time, but she'd endlessly circled the question of Dazel's loyalty in her mind.

She wished he'd just told her who he once was. But she also knew that he was probably right: she'd never wholly believe him unless the truth he gave her was somehow incriminating.

"I think Dazel's right," said Hunter.

All of them turned to him.

"Really?" Kylie asked.

"Uh, really?" Dazel asked a moment later.

"Couldn't he have made a deal with Set if he wanted something?" Hunter asked. "I mean… the guy has global telepathy. He could have stricken a deal with Hell at any point since we arrived. He's had endless chances to get you killed and knows he's going to get more. What does he need you to take [Spellcasting] for? Think of today, even—couldn't he have called up one of your leftover sisters and offered to get you killed so that Earth could fall out of our hands?"

"Say! Hunter's making sense for once!" Dazel said.

"Like I don't normally?" he asked. "We should really just be arguing about which aspect is best. I don't really get why we're dismissing [Protection]. Frost is selectively invincible. That doesn't even rate?"

"Not against [Spellcasting]," said Dazel. "I can go over all the relevant arguments if you want."

"Shouldn't you be advocating [Warp]?" Frost asked. "Because if no-one's going to even argue about it, I gotta ask: it doesn't rate? It's teleportation."

"Two words that have gone far in explaining the great power of the [Warp] aspect throughout the ages," said Dazel. "But once again, I really have to stress that—"

"—I think Ashtoreth's too big to teleport," Hunter said.

There was a brief silence. Kylie broke it by struggling to hold in a laugh.

"Did I miss something?" Frost said. "Or did Hunter just call Ashtoreth fat?"

"No way!" said Dazel. "You guys, Hunter's a misogynist! The stereotype… it's complete!"

"For the hundredth time, I have a girlfriend," said Hunter.

"As if that changes anything."

"Can we not get distracted right now?" Frost asked.

"Frost is right," said Hunter. "I'm not talking about her body weight, I'm talking about [Warp]. [Warp] magic works a certain way. High amounts of [Mana] are harder to transmit across distances because [Mana] obviously has magical weight. Unspent [Mana] that's just in your pool isn't so bad… but Ashtoreth is clad in buffs and conjures weapons. She's not going to get the same legs out of [Warp] as I do unless she spends a lot of advancements on the upgrades that reduce magical drag."

"Hold up," said Dazel. "I want to rule out the other aspects as much as anyone, but I think you're overestimating how much the [Bloodfire] in her pool is going to hinder her ability to teleport. She'll still get a lot of mileage out of it, just not as much as you do. Ashtoreth is a good enough melee fighter that she can make a lot of use out of low-range teleports."

"Sure," said Hunter. "But there's no drawback to [Protection] or [Spellcasting]. I just feel like the end result of [Protection] would be stronger for her. We can all agree that [Protection] is a powerhouse aspect, right? Pure [Defense], [Defense] buffs for her and her allies, and flash invincibility. [Warp] can be used offensively and defensively, sure, but the last part I mentioned—the flash invincibility—definitely has offensive uses to go with its defensive ones."

"He's making sense," said Kylie. "Unless [Warp] is eventually going to let Ashtoreth hop realms with a fully-charged [Hellfire Nova], in which case—why are we even talking about this?"

"Hmm," said Dazel. "That's not realistic, no. Maybe at much later tiers where it won't be so impressive."

"Sound like some fun tiers," said Hunter.

"Go [Protection]," said Kylie. "It's good enough. It'll work with just a few advancements invested—you know you're not getting many more very quickly. And if you take [Protection], you won't have to trust the demon cat."

Dazel let out a growl. "Why you?" he asked. "I'd understand if it were Frost, or even Hunter, but I taught you magic, Kylie. I was there the first time you flew. Do you remember? I remember."

An expression of guilt seemed to briefly come across Kylie's face. "Yeah," she said. "I know. But someone's gotta say it. And I'm a real bitch sometimes, so here we are."

"You're not a real bitch," Ashtoreth muttered.

"Huh," said Kylie, seeming genuinely relieved. "Thanks, I guess." She looked down at Dazel. "Sorry, bud. Looks like your boss agrees with me."

"Maybe," Ashtoreth said, still feeling tired. Advancement was supposed to be fun. "You're at least right that even if we can't explain how Dazel could betray us, that doesn't mean we can't worry about it." She looked down at Dazel. "If someone knows much more than you do, they can't demand that you explain exactly how they might pull one over on you. Especially if they're the source of half your knowledge in the first place."

Dazel drew in a sudden breath. "No, Ashtoreth," he said quietly. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why not?" she whispered.

"I'm not him. Don't. Just… look, can we talk?"

Ashtoreth sighed. She wanted to believe that their conversation might help things… but she suspected they'd just run in circles once again. "We'll be back in a minute," she said to the others.

Then she rose into the air, high above the pyramid. He floated out of her arms and into the air across from her.

"Give us silence," she said.

Dazel dutifully drew runes into the air to muffle the sound of their voices, then turned to face her.

"The people of Earth deserve the best chance you can give them," he said, sounding as tired as she felt. "And Hell… oh, I could speak forever about Hell. But suffice it to say that whatever Hell wants, I want to keep from it."

He spun in place, staring down at the battle-scarred demiplane below them. "You don't deserve this," he said. "I don't deserve to have it happen to me. But if you want to bind me to the truth, just do it. It's too important. It's all too damned important, Ashtoreth…."

She stared at him, unwilling to believe it could be that easy.

Even so…

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"You were right," he said, turning to stare at her, his red eyes shining like deep-set embers.

"You helped him build it."

Dazel let out a humorless laugh. "Billions of souls have helped him build it," he said. "But what I did..." He hung his head.

Ashtoreth was only willing to wait for so long. "Well?"

"I helped make him who he is," said Dazel. "Taught him almost everything I knew, helped him conquer Hell as you know it, helped him consolidate his territories… after your father, I doubt anyone is as responsible for Hell—for all this—as I am."

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