By the time I got through the discarded recruits, I was thoroughly tired, both mentally and physically. Taking slivers out of my soul might not have been particularly dangerous, but it was still draining. Every little bit I carved away had to be healed back.
I was immensely thankful for my nature as a demon. That kind of damage wasn't something most races could passively recover from.
Regardless, the experiments were enlightening. And, at the same time… deeply frustrating.
The most promising attempt was the first one, when I spread pieces of my soul sliver all over the surface of the recruit's soul. Not only did that put the least amount of pressure on the affected individual, but it also seemed to promote actual positive growth instead of just crippling his soul.
The others had taken much less gracefully to my tinkering.
Three of them were missing limbs. Six were visibly deteriorating. The others weren't much different from regular warlocks. They were slightly more stable, sure, but that was solely on account of their connection to the Abyss helping their souls along.
As I glanced back at my first guinea pig, though, my brow furrowed in both confusion and mild alarm.
It wasn't just the mortal's soul that was growing.
Somehow, some way, the embedded pieces of my soul sliver had solidified and grown the tiniest bit, too. I had exactly zero ideas why that had happened, what it meant, or what sort of effect it would have on him.
I also eyed the few more 'traditional' warlock variants I'd produced, wondering whether I should try to ascend a couple of them and see what would happen with my slivers inside their souls. Then it occurred to me: I couldn't follow them into the Absorption Station, so I had no way to force them to comply with their ascension.
Come to think of it, once they were inside the station, there was nothing to stop them from killing themselves. Or just staying in there forever.
I could probably figure out a workaround eventually. Maybe some kind of binding oath would do the trick. Until then, I'd have to content myself with observing them as their souls slowly crumbled under the weight of my soul sliver. That would yield some data all on its own, at least?
"Okay, now… your turn!" I proclaimed happily, turning towards the fifteen local mortals who had just watched me torture my way through the mortal recruits.
They didn't look particularly happy to hear me say that. In fact, they huddled into their corner even more tightly. There was even a brief scuffle which resulted in one of them getting pushed to the front.
The young woman looked at me with wide, terrified eyes.
"Oh, come on now." I pointed at the mortal recruits I'd just finished torturing. "Let me tell you a little about this batch of imbeciles. You see, in spite of strict orders not to, they murdered, robbed, and raped their fellow recruits. That's right, they're recruits in our demonic army. Your indignation is hilarious, but in case you didn't notice, some of them aren't human. These lot all come from outside your world, which…"
I shrugged. "Eh, you know what? Never mind all that. What matters is that you are not here for me to torture. You're here to get power and abilities you never could have imagined before! Sure, the process isn't all that pleasant, or entirely safe, but that's why I did a bunch of testing on these idiots first. So, don't worry so much. You'll be just fiiiine."
Obviously, they weren't going to trust me. Still! I knew for a fact that all of them were desperate to be granted power, for one reason or another. They'd already been suckered into coming to me through shady demonic deals.
Apparently encouraged by my little speech, the woman who had been forced to the front stepped forward shakily. I gave her my most reassuring grin.
She went pale and almost passed out on the spot.
Right. Demonic beauty standards and all. Pointy teeth, forked tongue… the whole package.
Maybe I should never smile at a mortal again?
Moderating my expression to something more neutral, I gestured to the fifteen locals. "Let's just get started, okay?"
It wasn't like they had the option to turn me down.
The soul surgeries that followed went remarkably smoothly. I stuck to the one method that had sort of worked on the mortal recruit, though I took my soul sliver apart even further. The souls of my brand new warlocks looked like they were covered in scales by the time I was done.
How did I get around the mortal inability to handle demonic soul essence? With a little… 'divine' assistance.
Glaustro would be upset with me if he found out, but it wasn't like any of the mortals in that room had a clue what exactly I was using! I was also very, very subtle about it. The bits of Divinity I used to help the mortals' souls along were tiny enough to avoid the scrutiny of even most weaker demons. A noble would have noticed right away, but there were none around. I'd also made sure my little laboratory of horrors was fully shielded against probing demonic senses.
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In short, the experiment didn't go badly. The souls of the mortals were much more stable than 'traditional' warlocks. They didn't seem crippled, either. That alone was a massive step forward.
My method did, however, complicate the traditional growth route for warlocks. Usually, to make a warlock stronger, their patron would give them more soul slivers or induce growth in the sliver they already contained. With the way I'd handled the process, further soul meddling was inadvisable. And I had no clue what 'forcefully improving the fragmented soul sliver' would do to them.
Thankfully, I didn't notice the same strengthening trend in them as I did in the soul of that one recruit. That was disappointing when it came to the strengthening of the mortals' souls, but a relief not to have to worry about my soul sliver pieces growing and mutating into something… new.
The next step was to keep all of them under careful observation. I directed a few of my more reliable soldiers to escort my new warlocks to somewhat comfy rooms and make sure they stayed there, well-fed and looked after.
Only the locals, of course. The recruits were chained up and led to much less comfortable accommodations. They would stay there until something fun happened to them that warranted my attention, or their souls expired, or we decided to execute them.
After that 'fun' filled day, I was feeling almost… floaty. Like my mind was partially detached from my body. Exhaustion was definitely there, but it seemed to be reaching me across some vast divide.
And my day wasn't even over!
Halfway through my experimentation, I'd received a mental communication to visit Glaustro as soon as I could, and to warn him when I was heading over so he could summon the others. So, once my guinea pigs were all sorted, I sent off a quick message to Glaustro and headed towards his office.
At least the thought of seeing Mia soon put a bit of pep in my step. She had chosen to spend the day with our apprentices, running them through their paces, instead of watching me torture people. Though I couldn't exactly blame her for that, I needed my daily dose of Mia. Especially after so much annoyance and disappointment. Sure, I had vague hopes that my hard work would pay off, but the experience was still oddly draining.
Arriving at the office, I pushed the door open to see Glaustro bent over some kind of paperwork.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Not just you," my colonel replied with a sigh, not even lifting his head. "The others, too. They'll be here shortly. And then we need to talk. This affects all of us, in more ways than one."
"Well! That's not ominous at all."
"Just hush and get your ass down on whatever surface appeals to you," he growled.
I briefly contemplated doing something as bratty as Mia would, like sitting on his desk. Wisely, though, I settled on the comfy couch where Glaustro and Bronwynn liked to cuddle, figuring I'd steal it for me and Mia this time around.
It didn't take long for the cat girl of my dreams to arrive and make a beeline for my lap. I hugged her to my chest and nuzzled my head into her hair, just enjoying her presence. Both of us could sense how tense Glaustro was, however, so we refrained from talking.
Methialia showed up a few minutes later. Bronwynn arrived right after her, moving dutifully to draw a chair up to Glaustro's desk and help sort through the last few files. When they were done, Glaustro leaned back with a sigh, cracked his neck, and swept his eyes over us.
"Right. There's no smooth or easy way to say this, so I'll just come out with it. The retaliation we were worried about: it has happened. Imthala sent me a message from Breskwor earlier today."
That did an amazing job of getting our attention. Every eye in the room instantly focused on Glaustro with an intensity that would have made a mortal collapse.
"How bad is it?" Mia demanded, tail lashing angrily against my side.
"Not as horrible as it could have been," Glaustro replied. "It was just a subtle scouting attempt. Remember that we put limits on where visitors could go and gather resources, nominally for the sake of 'preserving the local population and letting them build up their numbers' again. Recently, several outsiders attempted to trespass these limitations."
Methialia's voice was tense. "Did they manage to reach the tribes?"
Glaustro shook his head, and all of us breathed a sigh of relief.
We had forcefully moved a couple tribes into the zone where hunting them was officially allowed, but we'd carefully stripped them of everything and anything associated with Divinity. They were even monitored for further attempts to establish worship at their new locations.
If someone had managed to make it to the tribes outside of our direct influence, though… it would have been less than ideal.
"We've got the rule-breakers contained, for now. Our plan to maintain a strict blockade and visitation oversight has paid off. Without our troops on world, those 'scouts' would have succeeded. But since we've been careful not to allow more visitors than we can handle, we've still got control. However…"
Glaustro took a deep breath. Then he continued, speaking like every word pained him.
"Things will only get worse from here. We can be reasonably sure these attempts were ordered by the lieutenant generals. Their spies not coming back will be as good as an admission that we've got something to hide. They probably won't jump to 'precious resources' immediately, but they'll want to know what that 'something' is."
I grimaced. "Think they'll be convinced we're raising an army secretly?"
"That will probably be their first guess. If they can substantiate that claim, they might get enough justification to force an 'inspection' or something. If they find out about the Divinity first, though… well, they won't even need to bother with getting permission."
He took another deep breath. "And there's more. Those scouts we caught… I'm not sure all of them belong to the lieutenant generals."
Bronwynn was the first one to catch on. He made a face like he'd bitten into a lemon. "You mean…?"
"That the general himself might be testing us and snooping about our business? Yes. That would align with my expectations of Naberius. He might want to have lieutenant generals who are unafraid to test him and jostle for his position, and he might want me to inherit his standing, but he'll never be content not knowing what's happening in his own legion."
"And if he finds out about the Divinity…?" I ventured cautiously.
"I don't know." Glaustro sighed, massaging his temples. "I genuinely don't know, and that worries me. For now, we've got to do whatever we can to prevent others from finding out. If and when the worst happens, we'll have to handle the fallout as best we can."
My grimace deepened into a scowl. It wasn't exactly an inspiring speech, but at least Glaustro was always honest with us.
We were just going to have to do the best we could.