So that’s what a bond felt like. It was amazing. I was pretty much certain the bond was successful, but just to check I decided to [Analyze] my unicorn.

Bonded

Unicorn Trait - Body

Paladin Trait - Role

Fog Trait - Affinity

Skills:

[Healing Hands]

[Fog of War - Strength]

[Fog of War - Perception]

Bonding successful! Wait, were those two new skills? I quickly used [Analyze] on each of them to see what they could do.

[Fog of War - Strength]

Summon fog to obscure your army. All allied creatures in the fog gain a strength boost depending on the density of the fog.

[Fog of War - Perception]

Creatures with this skill can perceive anything within the fog, regardless of line of sight.

Now these are the kinds of skills I’d expect on a demon lord’s personal steed. An area of effect support skill as well as an area of effect… perception skill? I could see some major downsides for it, like the fact that if the fog got dense enough, any other creatures in my army would be unable to see, but I could easily imagine using thin blankets of fog to give a small boost to my creatures, as well as to let my unicorns know exactly where everything is around them.

Bonding with a creature was also supposed to possibly give me a skill, so I excitedly used [Analyze] on myself to check what I might have.

[Traitless] Demon Lord

Skills:

[Analyze]

[Create Monster]

[Store Monster]

[Demon Lord’s Castle]

[Healing Hands]

And there it was right at the end, healing hands. To be honest, the perception fog skill would have been better, as it would let me keep track of everything on the battlefield, but perhaps if I could get my unicorn strong enough I could get it one day? 

There were still two skills I hadn’t used yet. Demon lord’s castle wasn’t super relevant right now, but using store monster was probably a good idea. It was a rather straightforward skill, all it did was simply store away a monster of my choosing in a sort of pocket space. It cost no spiritual energy to use and its only downside was that it could only be used on bonded creatures.

[Store Monster]

Bright motes of light appeared just like when my monster had first been summoned, and as they faded my unicorn disappeared, safely stored away using my skill.

Looking around, I noticed everyone else seemed to be finishing up as well and most had already stored their monsters. Feeling curious I quickly used [Analyze] on one of the closer creatures.

Bonded

Fox Trait - Body

Archer Trait- Role

Silver Trait - Affinity

It was a fox the size of a wolf, with shiny silver fur. Wait, was that fur actually made of pure silver? Silver was one of the softer metals out there, but I had a feeling it was still a lot stronger than normal fur.

Not only that, but the archer role seemed pretty interesting. Normally one would think that a fox obviously can’t become an archer, how is it supposed to shoot a bow? But the thing about traits was that each one had a major effect on the creature. Just like how the paladin role of my unicorn had actually made its body larger, the archer role likely did something to allow the fox to use ranged abilities.

Maybe it had a cool long ranged skill? Sadly, it seemed as if I couldn’t use [Analyze] to see the skills of a monster I didn’t own.

“It seems you all have finished summon your creatures? Good, because you will now be using them to battle.” Sporting a vicious grin, Ivercel announced our next activity.

He led us back into the lounge and we all retook our seats. The large table near the center of the room was gone now, replaced by two intricate circular designs on the ground.

“These are magic circles. They can be used for a variety of purposes, but these specific ones happen to be able to transport you all into a special pocket space, which is where you all will be conducting a little battle.” Ivercel explained, gesturing to the magic circles.

“This pocket, as well as several others that we use for battles in the castle, are specially designed by the Grand Demon Lord. All events that occur inside the pocket space are undone once you leave, leaving you only with the memories made inside. You could lose an arm or even die and all damage would be reverted upon exiting the pocket space, thus making it the perfect place for training.”

“Normally, Demon Lord’s fight with their armies, however you all only have on creature so for our first battle I will separate you all into two teams. Lets see… you three go over there, and you two go over there, and hmm, how about you two go there and the rest of you go there! These are some great teams if I do say so myself.” Ivercel directed use to different circles until we had formed up into two groups of five.

“Now that we have our teams, let me explain the rules. We will be playing a game of capture the flag today. In order for your side to win, you must either take the other teams flag and bring it back to your own flag stand, or eliminate ever member of the opposing team. Before the battle begins, you will be transported to an armory where you will have five minutes to choose a weapon for yourself, and your monster should it be able to wield one. Good luck!” Without waiting for a response, Ivercel activated the magic circles.

They began to glow before suddenly growing indistinct, as if being made of fog. Slowly the floor around them seemed to change to fog and we sank into the flow. 

For a moment, I felt as if I was submerged in water and I clawed out at the fog drowning me, but almost as quickly as it started, it ended. Panting slightly, I looked around myself, seeing the demon lords who had been chosen as my allies. 

Judging from their expressions, they had all felt the similar terrifying experience I had. Something told me I would have to get used to it eventually, but for now I had other things to worry about.

“That’s a lot of weapons, guy wasn’t kidding when he said we would get to choose from a whole armory.” A demon lord with coppery skin, and piercing green eyes spoke, admiring a khopesh.

“Hey, think he’ll let us keep these after we win? They look pretty high quality for basic wood and steel weapons.” Another demon lord, this one with red hair and a fiery look in his eye, said while strapping a bow to his back and inspecting a shortsword.

“After we win? Hah, I like that attitude! I’m Cleopatra by the way.” the green eyed demon lord said, offering a hand to the red haired one.

“Scale! And why wouldn’t we win when we’ve got me. Anyways, what’s with the rest of you being so shy! We will have to fight together so you might as well speak!” the red haired demon lord, Scale, said, looking to the rest of us.

“W-wait, how do you two already have names? I didn’t know we had them yet…” A man easily over six feet with a bald head spoke up nervously.

“Huh? I just came up with mine a while ago while we were sitting through that boring lecture.” Cleopatra said.

“I just came up with mine right now!” Scale added in.

“So basically… we just have to come up with a name on our own?” I said thoughtfully, wondering what I would even call myself.

“My names Silver.” A girl with similarly themed silver hair stepped between Scale and Cleopatra, carefully grabbing a claymore from the wall.

“Uh, I think I’ll decide my name last if the other guy wants to introduce himself first.” The nervous giant demon lord said, glancing over at me.

“We don’t got all day friend. Ivercel said we would only be in here for five minutes. On that note, let’s summon our creatures and get them kitted out too!” With that said, Cleopatra summoned her creature, a gnoll only barely shorter than the giant demon lord.

I watched as it rolled its shoulders and squared up its back, staring at each of us challengingly. The way it moved, its body language, seemed strangely familiar, and when it met my eye I felt foreign instincts well up inside me-

The sound of metal on rock sang around me as blood, sweat, and dirt overwhelmed my senses. Pausing for a moment of rest, I glanced at the gnolls around me, all chained just like I was. Seeing one of the masters strolling down the tunnel, I quickly got back to work, breaking stone with my pickaxe, and sifting through the rubble for valuable pieces of ore. 

This was my life, and I had little knowledge of anything else, but still I wished for more. Wished for a day I could look into the sky with my brothers and breathe the air freely.

Suddenly, something caught my eye. A small gemstone, glowing faintly with a soft sheen, in sharp contrast with the dirty ore around it. Something about it felt… significant. It was important, I knew on an instinctual level, as a felt a strange feeling almost like warmth wafting from it.

Perhaps this was what I was waiting for, what I needed to be free. How such a small gem could free me from my chains, I did not know. All I knew was that somehow, it could.

I had never had a name before, only numbers were used in the mines, but as I tucked the gem away, hiding it between my fur and my collar, I decided. From now on, my name was-

“Gemstone. My name is gemstone.” I said, drifting out of the memory.

“Huh, that’s a… unique name, but I like it! Mind if I call you gem for short, gem?” Scale said, putting his arm around my shoulder with a bit too much familiarity.

“Our time’s gonna run out soon, so you all better hurry up!” Cleopatra said.

“You guys can call me… uhm… Muld!” The giant demon lord said after a short pause.

Cleopatra then armed her gnoll with a khopesh and a shield, while she had two khopeshes of her own. Scale summoned his creature as well, a hunched over lizard man creature with a mixture of scales and fur.

“What, never seen a hrogon before?” Scale asked as Cleopatra eyed it from the side.

“Of course I haven’t, that thing is disgusting.”

“Well it could beat up your stupid gnoll any day!”

I quickly decided to [Analyze] both creatures. Best to know who and what I was working with.

Bonded

Gnoll Trait - Body

Berserker Trait - Role

Fire Trait - Affinity

Bonded

Hrogon Trait - Body

Knight Trait - Role

Swamp Trait - Affinity

Well damn, these guys looked reliable. Though I was curious what kinds of skills came out of something like a swamp affinity.

“Now isn’t the time to fight. We should only have less than a minute left. Gem and Muld, you still haven’t chosen your weapons.” Silver cut in, reminding us we were in a bit of a hurry and couldn’t just stand around.

Muld grabbed a large hammer and I stared at the countless choices. Sadly, no conveniently timed memory appeared to help make the decision for me, so after a bit of thinking I grabbed a glaive off the wall.

“There, everyone has a weapon, happy? Now what do we do, we don’t exactly have a clock to help us tell how long we have left-” Scale was cut off as the ground beneath us turned to fog, and we all fell into that strange water-like abyss that had taken us here.

When our vision cleared, we found ourselves on a hill at the edge of a forest. Yup, definitely need to work on getting used to that.

“Wait. Muld, Gem, and Silver, you guys didn’t grab anything for your monsters! Please tell me that was because your creatures didn’t need weapons and we didn’t just leave stuff behind that we needed…” Cleopatra said, looking at us.

“Uh, mine can’t really use weapons.” Muld said.

“Neither can mine.”

Instead of answering, I just summoned my unicorn. Hmm, if he was my bonded creature, I would really need to give him a name. How about… Avalon? I wasn’t sure where that name was coming from, but it felt like a good one.

Following my lead, Silver and Muld both summoned their creatures as well. Silver summoned a silver fox, the same silver fox I had seen back in the courtyard in fact. That probably explained Silver’s hair, the bond must have changed her hair color.

Muld’s creature also helped explain his appearance. More specifically, his size. Standing next to him was a golem at least eight feet tall, made of stone. It was crude and blocky, with hands that ended in what almost looked like chisels? I used [Analyze] on the golem.

Bonded

Golem Trait - Body

Mason Trait - Role

Dust Trait - Affinity

Dust affinity? Affinities really did come in a wide variety. Also masons were stone workers right? That would explain the chisel hands, though I doubted that golem could do much fine detailing with them.

“Hah, with that thing, there’s no way we won’t win! If we put it on defense, there is no way they will get it!” Scale said excitedly.

“Unless they just run around it. I’m sure it’s powerful, but couldn’t something like Silver’s fox easily slip by it and take the flag?” Cleopatra pointed out.

“What if we just gave the golem the flag?” Silver said walking over to the flag and reaching for it.

“Doesn’t that sort of seem like cheating-” Muld began but stopped as Silver collided with an invisible wall around the flag.

“Looks like we can’t interact with our own flag. It was worth a shot, I guess.” Silver said, backing away.

“It was a good plan, but I think I’ve actually got a better one. What I want us to try is…” Cleopatra told us her plan, and after asking a few questions, we all agreed to it.

As we discussed, I found myself becoming more and more invested in the battle. No real stakes were riding on it, outside of having to experience the pain of death should we lose a fight, but I found myself wanting to win. I had only just met these people, but something told me I had gotten myself good allies.

Myewphi

So if you didnt notice from my note on the last chapter, im doing some major rewrites to my story! While im trying to stick mostly to the plot I originally had, there are some scenes I felt were r e a l l y lackluster and needed major changing, specifically the combat scenes!

This is relevant to any new readers because it means some of the info in the unedited chapters is now inaccurate! So if you are a new reader reading through these new (please say improved) chapters, then I strongly recommend you dont read any chapters that say unedited. Im editing as fast as I can and hopefully youll get more of the story to read soon enough.

Anyways thanks for sticking with this story to this point! I really hope you are enjoying it!