Chapter 443 - Is It Not Obvious?
Svetlana shrugged,
"Nothing. Instead, I have answered your questions so why not answer some of mine?" She said.
Hal furrowed his brow,
"What do you want to know?" He asked.
Svetlana grinned,
"I want to see your artifact"
Hal's heart actually skipped a beat before he calmed himself with the faith he had in Grimoire and its ability to stay hidden from all senses.
"What Artifact?" He asked in a confused tone of voice.
Svetlana rolled her eyes,
"You were able to fix damage to your meridians which should have been impossible. And considering the damage came from the energy blast from a Divine Artifact, I think it is fair that I conclude that it was all due to an Artifact.
And not a weak one either.
It must be Divine just like the Chrono-spheres" she said.
In his mind, Hal praised her deductive mind while he reasoned that many others were sure to suspect the use of an artifact. But they did not have the information she did which was regarding what had caused this defection in the first place.
"I have no idea what you are talking about" Hal said.
Svetlana furrowed her brows,
"Are you still trying to deny it? What about the snake and its disappearance into a portal. Unless you have gained insight into the Ordinance of space like the Dane Patroness, it must have been the work of the artifact.
I am your mother. Surely you can trust me" She said.
Hal looked taken aback and even Rita took another incredulous look at the Duchess,
"Today is the first time I am ever seeing you so there is no way I can trust you. Of course, there are ways to speed up gaining of trust." Hal said with a wolfish smile.
"And what would that be?" She asked with a frown.
Hal grinned and ran his eyes over her form again. This time with her seeing his lustful expression and feeling a warmth despite herself as he said,
"Simple, you surrender yourself to me, body and soul. Only in true surrender can there be complete trust"
Svetlana's eyes widened in near shock as she said,
"I am your mother!"
Hal rolled his eyes,
"Changes nothing. No one gets a free pass. The payment for entry into my blanket of trust is the same for all beautiful women" he said.
Svetlana paused as she wondered if he was just saying that to make her uncomfortable and throw her off her game or if he was being perversely serious.
If it was the former, then he had failed somewhat as she was feeling warm and weirdly flattered rather than uncomfortable. It would still have thrown her off her game though but she was able to get back to her senses quickly.
After all, she was centuries older than him and was not going to be outdone by his silver tongue.
She leaned back in her sofa and crossed her legs, highlighting her delectable calves as she smiled sweetly and brushed back a stray lock of her beautiful black hair,
"Every man should have limits. A point they draw the line"
Hal shrugged,
"As you are starting to see, I don't have them. That said, today I will give you a free pass into secrets only those in my inner circle could ever have privy to. Scan me with your senses... I assure you that you will find nothing" He said with confidence.
'She will find nothing right?' He asked Grimoire,
'Relax. She will not be able to sense anything' Grimoire assured him.
Svetlana paused and then did indeed scan him but she was not disappointed to find nothing.
She was proud because that showed he was even better at hiding his hand than she had thought.
"Okay then, keep your secrets. I will find them out sooner or later" she said with a grin and her eyes bright with the challenge.
Rita stood up from his laps knowing it was time to go,
"I highly doubt that" Hal said.
The Svetlana addressed Rita,
"You will return to visit me won't you dear?" She asked
Rita smiled,
"Of course. If I ever can, I will be sure to drop by. When all is said and done, I owe you my life and the way it is right now."
Hal said nothing to their exchange of words. He was not so insecure as to deny Rita whatever she wished to do.
...
Minutes later, they were in a carriage driven by the lady who had led Hal to Svetlana and she drove them to Sensual palace.
With a seal from the Duchess, she was allowed quick entrance and then proceeded to drive them to the core of the Palace where Emily and Amelia's joint residence was.
She dropped them close by and without a word to them, she turned the carriage around and left.
"Now that's just rude" Rita said towards the retreating carriage.
Hal chuckled and then sensed something close by.
Rita sensed it as well and they looked in the direction it was coming from,
"Delaney?" Hal called to the silhouette who stepped into the moonlight and indeed was Delaney.
"Hey Hal, could I have a quick word?" She asked.
"Alone?" She added when Rita did not move.
Even then, Rita remained where she was and Hal smiled at her,
"Go on. I'll meet you at the residence" he said.
Rita nodded and did indeed leave.
After all, if there was danger, Hal could contact her with their telepathic connection.
Once Rita was gone and he could no longer sense her without the use of his wide range Astral perception, Hal asked Delaney who looked to be battling with herself,
"So Delaney, what's up?" He asked with a smile.
"I'm sorry, Hal, they made me an offer" Delaney said after mumbling for a few seconds and charged up a cosmic phenomenon.
Hal's expression did not change,
"Ah, yes. What did THEY offer you?" He asked as he could now sense three other individuals, all females, moving closer.
"A piece of the Primal Fruit" Delaney admitted.
Hal nodded,
"A reasonable offer" he said as a scroll suddenly slid out of the shadows to just two feet away from him.
At the same time, Delaney tossed an Attack to him which he sent out a Cosmic Phenomenon of his own to intercept.
And then faster than he could react (at least that was what his ambushers thought) the scroll glowed a bright yellow and he was suddenly bonded with Astral energy and found it impossible to move.
All through this, Hal smiled,
"Wow, a binding Array, quite ingenious" he said as his ambushers stepped out of the shadows.
They were none other than the Antonov sisters, Nicole, Vanya, and Jelena. With Nicole leading the charge.
"Haha, gotcha. How quickly you forget my words. Or did you think I was not adding you when I said If 'Get the fruit for me, chow it down and let me suck it right our if you'" she said as Vanya stepped closer to Hal and withdrew a pill from her spatial ring.
A pill he was sure was refined recently and most likely from the herbs she had picked in the Garden of perils.
Clearly she had not just been picking potency herbs and must have been planning something of this nature.
"This will knock you out and once you are awake, you will be susceptible to suggestions" she said and puckered his lips to shove the pill into his mouth.
The pill dissolved immediately,
"Is that so?" Hal chuckled as he had confirmed through Grimoire that that was indeed the pill's effects.
Then his eyes closed and he blacked out.
...
When Hal woke up, he was lying spread-eagled on a bed with his shirt pulled open while Jelena stroked his rock-hard abs and well-sculpted chest.
As she caressed, she licked and then said,
"Perfection. You are absolutely perfect. A little dumb though. Who would have thought that would be enough to get you?"
Hal tugged at the restraints that held him to the bed. Restraints that were glowing with rank five runes which should be enough to hold him down.
Vanya stepped closer looking as indifferent as ever,
"That's enough Jelena, get off him." She said and Jelena did.
Hal looked around and the Antonov sisters were present as well as Delaney who seemed to have made peace with her part in all this.
"Hal, Give me the Primal Fruit," Vanya said while everyone watched with bated breath.
Wondering if her pill worked.
Hal flicked his hand and withdrew the Fruit from his Inventory where he had transferred it to while in the carriage ride over here.
Sassy had been getting too friendly with it and he did not want to know what would happen if she ate it.
To them, it seemed he had taken it out of his ring, and the ladies jubilated even as he still clutched the fruit in his hand.
Then Hal chuckled and all eyes turned to him as it turned into boisterous laughter,
"Hahaha hahaha. Oh, you girls are so silly. But thank you though for gathering yourselves and saving me the trouble." Hal said and strained against his bonds.
Right before the eyes of the shocked ladies, Hal's skin turned crimson marred with black lines and two sinister-looking horns grew out of his forehead as he grew claws on all ten of his fingers.
The wings were absent in his transformation into the Mid-World Devil Form and this time, it was not a strain in his attempt to free himself. Just lifting his arms and legs snapped the bounds as the ladies took terrified steps back.
"Who... What the hell are you?" Nicole asked.
Hal grinned as Grey Devil pheromones leaked from him as he said,
"Is it not obvious? I'm the Devil who will fuck the four of you into senselessness"