Men were often cast out of their homes by the harem lords who ruled over the strongholds dotting Eaglite territory. By Mannis, it was a pitiful sight to see men with nowhere to go but in the waiting arms of those that consume men. The book of Man said every man was a brother, and they should be loved as such. Cathedrals to the master of mankind stand tall in the great cities and quarantine towns. They claim to take in hundreds of lost souls wandering the exile road.

 

Vergil counted 400 men at least outside the silk palace.

 

“Did they fall through the cracks?” Vergil asked.

 

“These are desperate men who want their lives to mean something. So why weren’t they sacrificed to strengthen the weapons that defend mankind? It seems strange that these resources slipped through the cracks. How many lives did the Dusk family spend like coin daily for research?”

 

“Too many; we ran a deficit,” Vergil said.

 

His uncle Nolan was a genius enchanter, engineer, and inventor. Exia was his ultimate creation and the product of thousands of lives sacrificed to power enchantments. Vergil was no stranger to blood or killing. Since he was young, he knew that magic required life, and mankind did everything possible to compete with other races. Tens of thousands of lives to make Exia were cheaper than some of the payments men made to advance.

 

Exia should have ushered in a golden age for mankind. Humans need not be sacrificed; wombs no longer need to be ripped out and made into machines. A more civilized humanity could replace the current order, but that wasn’t the case.

 

Nolan’s research was buried with his death. Vergil’s aunt blamed him for his uncle’s accident and exiled him from the family. He should be the next inheritor of Oblivion.

 

“Hey, what are you doing spying on the bloody palace.” A voice said.

 

Vergil turned slowly and saw the long black and yellow legs forest driders are known for. He saw a loin cloth between her midriff and spider body before his eyes found a denim blue silk half coat sleeveless and unzipped. Silky white hair flowed down her shoulders, covering her small breasts. The drider’s lips pouted as he checked her out. He was close to the nest, but Vergil doubted he would need to try hard for a cover.

 

“My name is Vergil, and I’m nervous about joining the group.” 

 

“Did I ask your name, meat?” The drider rounded on him and pressed her chest in her face. “Do you know how difficult it is not to strip you down?” Her face blushed.

 

She licked her lips while looking him up and down. “Call me Zo if you must speak,” Zo said.

 

Zo gripped his arms, completely ignoring his personal space. “If we go in, are we going to be fed?”

 

“Why waste nutrients on males that we are going to devour anyway. Few of you, if any, will be kept around. Do you know what happens to those who are kept?” She grabbed his crotch and nodded appreciatively. “You are a fine specimen; you’ll fertilize strong young. Your hair color and skin tone are to my liking. Combine those factors with your impressive size, and you’ll make a fine mate. If you do well, we may have time for a second mating.”

 

A scream got her attention, and they turned to see a man wearing the strangest armor Vergil had ever seen standing in the center of a crater. The man wore a black suit of full plate armor with a small bladed horn sticking out of the helmet. Small volts of electricity bounced off the armor as people died around the man.

 

“You people who betray mankind make me sick. Mannis has sent me to take your lives to spare your ancestors this dishonor.” The armor-bearer said.

 

Vergil saw it for what it was the opposite direction of Nolan’s advancement. While Nolan advanced the magical potential for nanotech, whoever built this guy’s armor felt differently.   

 

“Those runes are familiar,” Vergil said to Exia.

 

“Someone took my design and blew it up on a macro scale. I think I’m going to be sick. This is disgusting; kill it; it's too hideous to live.” Exia said.

 

A hand fell on his shoulder, and the drider pulled him backward. “We need to escape; it's still mating season; while it will be dangerous, I can start my own nest.” She tugged him closer to her body. “Come with me, and we can mate, and then I will show you the pain and pleasure my ovipositor can give you.”

 

Vergil placed a hand on her body beside her loin cloth. She gasped before he tossed her away from him.

 

“There is someone I plan to save in your silk palace,” Vergil said.

 

“Human or drider, that man will kill you either way,” Zo said.

 

Light flashes protected the armored man from sticky spider webs and acid sprays. Offensively he was stronger than anyone Vergil had ever seen.

 

The armor had an active shield like a car with a rechargeable battery from slaughter. Humans were recharge packs to the man in the armor. It was also in the hands of a fanatic that wouldn’t think twice about killing someone. While Vergil didn’t mind killing monsters, he preferred not to kill humans if he could help it.

 

Vergil remembered reading a magazine about the smallest energy shield. It should still weigh around half a ton even if it was spread throughout the armor. While the man fought, Vergil heard a whirring noise. Pieces started falling into place.

 

“Whoever entered our palace is either already dead or filled with eggs and wishes they were dead,” Zo said.

 

“I came here for a centauress captured by some male driders. If I save her, she will owe me a life debt.” Vergil said.

 

Zo giggled. “Marvelous those horses go on and on about saving humans and earning their sacrifices through life debts, and now she will owe a human one. What do you plan to do, sacrifice her to complete a ritual of your foul god? That will be a powerful sacrifice if she’s a true believer.” Zo said.

 

“No, there are devils for that,” Vergil said.

 

“Oh, you’re like those freaks who fucks other races. I bet the thought of her thick horse twat gets you hard. Oh, is that it? You want to pound her until she neighs. At least I have a human sexual organ, for the most part.” Zo said.

 

Vergil raised an eyebrow and looked down between the girl’s many legs. The head of her drooling ovipositor was halfway free. It was mating season, and driders had habits almost on par with wasp girls. At least she wasn’t a hyena woman from the far south. Those bitches were hard on men, and sex had to be done through their pseudo penis.

 

None of that changed that they had to creep around a murderous guy in prototype power armor. Vergil felt this was a field test, and more fanatics would soon wear the armor.

 

“Will you help me?” Vergil asked.

 

“We need to go to the larders if the males captured her. I can get you in through a secret entrance. But you have to do something for me. I’m risking my life for you. I know you’re going to a town so take me with you. With your support, I can enter human settlements with you as your pet.” Zo lowered herself to the ground and watched the armored man enter the silk palace. “If more of those things start popping up, I can either head south where the competition is fiercer or hide in plain sight,” Zo said.

 

“I’m not going to let you get revenge on a random settlement,” Vergil kicked a rock down the hill and tried to move the fingers on his left hand. “I would prefer to keep a low profile,” Vergil said.

 

“If you have a centaur with you, people will already think you fuck monsters. So you might as well have a harem.” Zo hopped down the hill and ran for a small patch of grass with webs covering the bottom. “Over here,” Zo said.

 

Webs covered nearly every surface and were only sticky in a few places. If Vergil didn’t have a guide, it would be easy to get lost. Tunnels opened on the ceiling, invisible to any intruder. A few low-lumen lights were on the ground but barely enough to see. He needed more rituals if he wanted to adapt to darker environments. And Vergil thought he was badass enough to take on the silk palace.

 

Vergil followed her to a trap door, and they entered a tunnel leading to the Silk Palace. Cases of boos were piled on one side, along with a power generator and flat screen. A few bags of hard drugs filled a bowl.

 

“You party hard down here,” Vergil said.

 

“It is the season,” Zo said.

 

Male driders shot down the tunnel wielding spears with glazed-over eyes. Vergil caught a spear, turned it away, and punched one of the drones in the chest. His arm ripped into the monster before he dodged the spear of another.

 

+1 Stat Point

 

Vergil stabbed the spear from the first monster he punched through and speared the next one. It struggled against him for a moment before it died. The last male turned and fled into the tunnel.

 

Vergil ripped the spear out of his second victim and threw it. His spear stabbed through the drider’s back, and the monster ran momentarily before falling over.

 

Stat Points 3

 

Being tough paid off, but he also needed to fix his hand.

 

Ritual of Boar 5/5

Ritual of Troll 1/5

 

He needed more power, so he toughed out the pain as the system finished off the Boar rituals and started up the Troll ritual. At first, his whole body itched, and then he could feel his broken fingers enough to move them. While the bones were fixed automatically, they were on the mend.

 

Vergil kept the spear in hand while Zo led him to the larder. Cocooned bodies lined the walls; most of them were still wiggling. He spotted a centaur-sized bundle and stabbed another male drider to get to it.

 

“Don’t eat me. I taste like piss. Let me go, stop this, desist.” The centaur yelled.

 

Vergil walked up to her cocoon, found her ass, and smacked it. “That is for sicking your hellhounds on me. Vergil smacked her rear again. “That’s for getting captured.” He grabbed one of her massive breasts and smacked her rear again. “That is for rhyming,” Vergil said

 

Zo sliced through the thread holding the centaur to the floor, and the cocooned girl started swinging. A great rumbling swept through the silk palace.

 

“Mother is fighting the armored man,” Zo said.

 

“How many rituals have you completed?” Vergil asked.

 

“That is a rude thing to ask. But seeing as we are allies, three. Two common rituals of the spider and one rare ritual of the mantis.”

 

“I have completed 11. 5 of the boar, 5 of the ox, and 1 of the troll, and I don’t think I can handle the armored man. That shield is a problem.”

 

Zo cut the ceiling strand keeping his centaur friend up.  

 

“What’s your name Golite? You owe me a life debt.” Vergil said.

 

As it turned out, she had her shield and lance, but their runes were dim. Moreover, unless recharged by a sacrifice, enchanted weapons only had a few daily uses. Unless the enchanted artifact could gain power from its effect, it couldn’t sustain it like Oblivion with seraphs or Exia with his kills.

 

“My name is Mary, and I’m a centaur of my word. So I will not ask you to shovel my turds.” Mary said.

 

Vergil tore the webbing off her fur before helping Mary back to her hooves. Zo looked around, and Vergil noticed it was silent; the battle had ended.

 

“We should clear the library before the armored guy burns this place.” Vergil took his spear in hand and stabbed a few wiggling bodies. “We should also put these guys out of their misery if we can,” Vergil said.

 

+4 Stat Points

 

“Either we put down the prey in the larder, or we ransack my family library; your choice,” Zo put all eight of her impressive legs down and crossed her arms. “Mercy or knowledge, what will our human leader choose.”