That was a nice ceiling, Estaria thought. It was a ceiling that represented everything she had been through to get to this point, a ceiling that was the crux of her growth as a person, and the growth of her relationship with Filnon. Fitting then, that ceilings were the top of a building, as she was the top of who she was, and who she was turning into. Shifting in the silken sheets, she’d look over to Filnon. Sleeping now, no doubt from exhaustion since Estaria had turned out to be quite the proactive and engaging lover, and took everything that Filnon could offer. She was so cute, in her slumber. So beautiful. Estaria’s heart thumped softly with a wild emotional need, almost like a possessiveness, but inverted. A rabid desire to have Filnon be possessive over her.

It was weird, and didn’t seem particularly sane, so she turned from that emotion and slid out of bed, putting on a light robe and headed out into the Coven. She meandered about for a bit before finding a Hag talking to Fukuri. The young Druchii saw Estaria, froze, and rapidly fled. To the Hag’s light amusement.

“What have you done to little Fukuri?” The Hag asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s more what she wants to do to me. I’ll talk to Filnon later about that whole thing. For now, how did things with the meeting?” Estaria asked, gesturing with her head in the direction of the palace.

“Mixed. Arreina got there and found it half-empty. Tularis told her that his greatest lieutenant demanded war and backed the assault on the Coven. Tularis, on the other hand, backed the laws of Har Gareth and refused to entertain such an idea. The lieutenant then left with half the Executioners and is now apparently planning an assault on the Coven to clear out you, Filnon, and all who will support you.

Tularis does not support us, but does not support Lieutenant Zarkar either, and will oppose anyone who starts conflict in the streets. The Druchii Nobles have taken sides and staked their forces to it, as well as an opportunistic fourth party who is taking advantage of the chaos to kill their opponents and strengthen their hold on Naggaroth. The war is cold right now, but blood in the streets will come”

The tone was clear for Estaria. She was to blame for this, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t justified or understandable. With strong personalities unwilling to compromise, conflict was inevitable.

“So go kill Zarkar. Got it” Estaria would reply, turning to head back to the room, only to find the Hag’s hand on her shoulder.

“No. On several fronts. If you kill Zarkar, you break the rules of Har Gareth and lose legitimacy, turning Tularis and his people on us, while also having to fend off Zarkar’s supporters and the opportunistics. We are currently in the position of being as right as anyone can be, but this ties our hands to inaction”

The Hag destroying Estaria’s plans before she could even start was demotivating, and she let out a huff and turned around again.

“So is there nothing I can do? Just hang around looking pretty and making Fukuri blush? Not that that isn’t a good endeavor, it’s just I like fighting” Es vented her irritation through coy humor, though the look on the Hag’s face was an interesting one.

“Actually, there is. Tularis is questioning the title that lead to all this, the ‘Sickle Of Khaine’. He wants to see for himself how realistic it is. It’ll take a while to set up given the current state of affairs, but in a few days you’ll be in the arena. So prepare for that, ok?” The Hag stated. Estaria nodded, and turned to leave after getting permission., Witches still had hierarchy to uphold, after all.

After getting into the hallway, she’d lean against the wall and ponder some. Tularis, Captain Of The Executioners, wanted her to prove she was really the Sickle Of Khaine. For that she’d need to be level 75, and do that quest. And to hit level 75 from 67, she’d need to be a little mad. See what she could push herself to if she really did it with all her fire. So, to equip herself for the fight ahead, she opened up the Token Shop and scrolled all the way down to the bottom.

There, she saw a new item called “Bride Of A Thousand Witches”. Not sure what kind of item that was, she tapped it and it even flickered up with a picture, which was new and probably unique to this or probably not. The System didn’t come with a tutorial so even now she was learning new stuff about it.

The dress was….magnificent. She was instantly stricken by it, and it was bought right then and there, her tokens dropping to pretty much zero from it’s cost. The Dress’ stats were considerable for just a White, and so she put it through the Workshop. Increasing it from White to Orange, and then hovering over the button to turn it into a Red. It would be a crippling expense, and even her cash flow would be wiped out by the 120,000 gold that was required for the Orange-To-Red upgrade. But, eventually, she hit the button and upgraded it. The traits for upgrade appeared before her, and she considered which ones would fit.

Captivating - The beauty of such a dress is unparalleled, and no being can look upon it without being drawn into it, snapped out only by pain and the threat of death. Enemy stats are reduced by 20 until Health damage is dealt.

Bride Of A Thousand Witches - An Eponymous trait, This dress is tied intricately to the Witches of Khaine, and brings out the greatest of abilities there in. Enhances Witch Dance.

Steelsilk Weave - Harvested from special spiders, Steelsilk is a most durable fabric, able to turn aside blades and arrows as a breastplate would. Add 30% armour.

Paternal Love - Khaine grants a hand towards his child, so they might spread their fame and his name to all. Regenerate 1% of health a second.

Regeneration was always good, even if it was pretty slow. Enhancing Witch Dance would also help her with armour penetration, which from her stacks, was pretty much near 100% these days. So “Paternal Love” and “Bride Of A Thousand Witches” was taken. She casually ignored the implications of being called Khaine’s daughter and threw the dress armour on. She didn’t need the complication of being a God’s Daughter. Espeically one not even remotely her own.

As soon as she finished putting the dress on, she felt an emboldening comfort to it. Like the warm embrace of a person who truly cared about you. The fabric was so smooth, and there were some faux blood stains that seemed to add to the style of the dress. A pair of bicep-high blood red gloves, thigh high blooded boots and white hooded cloak that took on the same blood-stained look as it went down finished the outfit. It was very revealing, barely covering her lower torso at all. But, she felt it would ignore reality and protect her better than full plate regardless.

So, with a Red Token-bought armour that she threw on and her Red Gauntlets, she would finally turn back to the gold shop. A part of her thought about picking up a pair of firearms, but eventually went against that. As much as she loved shooting and precision aiming, it was something she hadn’t done for a while. She’d want to get back into it rather than jumping.

Scrolling down to the keys, she would hover for a second, then buy the S-Rank key, and use it. Stupid? Potentially. But she needed to see what she could do in there, and S-ranks promised powerful grunts, which would make for great exp even if she went nowhere near the boss. The world went white and she held her breath in anticipation of what was coming…