Ch: 258-262
258 Cementing Loyalty
I still had to wait another two days for the cement to harden, since I couldn't openly cheat with magic to set it faster. The most I could do was pre-build a few of the downstairs walls to put into place when it was ready, so that's what I did. I took a break for lunch when it was time and returned to the trailer, only for lunch to be made already.
"We hope you like it, master." One of the more humanoid looking demon slaves said and bowed deeply.
"Which one of you poisoned it?" I asked without needing to check first and three of them gasped and looked guilty.
"HOW COULD YOU?!?" One of the monstrous ones that looked more like a pterodactyl yelled and tackled one of them to the ground, which started them all fighting.
"He saved us from decades of torture!" The prettiest one said and punched the jaw of a gargoyle-like demon. "Even me! The hideous one!"
Yeah, I definitely have an uphill battle ahead of me. I thought and watched as they fought, glad that I had already cast protection charms on everything. I mean, they're demons and probably have never been around normal things before, so stopping them from breaking everything or tearing everything up with their clawed hands and feet was a must.
I sat down and started eating the food. Since my danger sense wasn't going off, I knew there was nothing inside that was going to hurt me. I had just guessed right about how a demon freed from prison was going to act to try and free themselves from their new master.
The fighting slowed down and then stopped when the three perpetrators had been beaten and tied up. The other seven slaves looked satisfied at a job well done and then gasped when they looked at me for approval and saw I had eaten half of the meal already.
"Master, no!" The pterodactyl shouted and lunged forward to knock the food out of my reach.
I gently caught the edge of her hand that was actually a part of her wing. "Thank you for your concern, Yahcheth." I said and she looked shocked, then she blushed. "It'll take more than a little poisoning to do me in."
Yahcheth let out a little squawk, almost a protest, and didn't try to pull her hand out of mine. "How do you know my name?"
"I know all your names." I said and ignored the surprised sounds from the others as I kept eating. When I was finished, I stood and kept hold of her hand. "Now, I know you all kept and hid the food I set out for breakfast, so I have to insist you all sit down and actually eat lunch."
They all looked surprised and then guilty. I didn't have to use telepathy to know the were squirrelling away food to save for when I punished them and decided they would starve for a while. Since I was never going to do that, I took out something I hadn't used in a long while. Army rations.
A quick lesson on how to work the things, which had all ten demons in awe at creating nearly instant meals, and they all chowed down on the delicious food. I made sure to give them all two meals each, from the smallest near human one to the large gargoyle, just so there would be no complaints of favoritism.
I also set out an entire crate of the rations at the side of the kitchen. "I'm just going to leave this here for no reason." I said and walked over to the sink and washed my hands. "I'm going back out to keep working on our future home."
I ignored the sounds of cracking wood as I dried my hands on a towel. When I turned around to go to the door, I was not surprised to see that the crate was completely empty. Not one of the demons could look at me or at the clearly mauled crate, making me chuckle. I also noticed that the three poisoners were free. Despite their attempted murder of me, their fellow demon slaves were not going to let them starve.
I left the trailer to go back to work and Martha pulled up in the old truck. Before I could greet her, Illyana jumped out of the passenger side and ran over to me.
"You have to save me!" Illyana exclaimed and jumped into my arms, then she half-turned and pointed back at the truck. "She's a demon spawn straight from the depths of Limbo!"
Emma giggled as she hopped out of the truck and waved at me. "Lia's funny!"
I had to hold in my laugh and saw my mom was in the same state.
"Last night was quite an adventure." Martha admitted and picked the little munchkin up.
Illyana shivered and hugged me tightly. "Don't make me go back there! I swear I'll behave! I swear!"
A touch of telepathy let me know what happened. "Teddy Bear Tea Party?"
"With a Disney movie marathon." Martha informed me and Emma clapped.
Yeah, that'll do it. I thought and laughed, unable to hold it in anymore. All the cuteness would have been torture for someone raised around the rough and tumble demons. "I'm just building the outside walls for when the basement's set."
"We're here to watch and I'd like the story of how you found a teenager wherever it was you went last night." Martha said and glanced at the little girl in her arms. "Sanitized, of course."
I nodded and we piled into the golf cart I bought to help me go through my greenhouses.
"I really should have Johnathan buy one of these things, too." Martha said and sat in the back seat with Emma.
"I'll pop by in the morning with the tractor to flatten out the farm trails and he can't use that as an excuse not to." I responded and Martha patted my shoulder.
"He'll never use it." Martha said, a little defeated.
"It's not for him, anyway." I said and glanced back at her and Emma.
Martha smiled and nodded. She could use the thing whenever she wanted and didn't have to rely on the old beat up truck, even if I had fixed it years ago to never break down and it barely used any gas.
Illyana climbed into the passenger side and gave the golf cart weird looks. "What is this thing?"
"It's technically a miniature car." I said and eased the pedal down and we started rolling forward with barely a sound.
Illyana grabbed onto the seat and looked surprised. "How is this thing moving? I don't hear an engine or anything! Is it magic?"
Emma giggled from the back seat.
"You can explain it to her later." Martha said as we rode along the long driveway to the back of my property. "What happened and how did you get so many people living with you?"
I did not ask her how she knew there were more people living in the trailer, attributing it to mom powers and leaving it at that. "It's a bit of a long story and starts with people playing with things they shouldn't be playing with."
"That's not fair." Emma said and pouted. "My scissors didn't work and I needed mommy's."
"I'm glad I got to you in time to stop you from cutting up anything else besides my favorite catalogue." Martha said.
"I wanted those pretty horsies and daddy won't buy them for me. Why can't I have the pictures?" Emma asked.
"I told you we need to wait for Clark to finish his farm before we can talk about bringing horses here." Martha said with a sigh, because she was tired of explaining it all the time.
"But I want horsies now!" Emma demanded, petulantly.
"The most I can do is give you more plushies and toys." I said to placate her.
"OKAY!" Emma yelled, back to her happy self.
"From the depths of Limbo." Illyana whispered and shivered.
I chuckled a little and started to tell an edited version of what happened the night before. A discreet muffle spell was applied to Emma's ears, just in case, too. She did not need to know about those kinds of things for a long time to come.
*
Yahcheth used her best stealth technique to continue watching her new master. She was deeply in love with the ugly thing and didn't wonder why, because his magic sang to her and the container didn't matter. It was the most beautifully haunting tune she had ever heard that she was enamored with him from the very first moment they had been magically bonded.
"You're drooling." Poludara whispered. She was the most pinkish of them and could pass for a human when necessary. As long as they disguised her horns and painted her claws, the humans were too dumb to notice she wasn't one of them.
"I can't help it." Yahcheth whispered back. "Did you hear his tale? He brought only a tiny force to fight against the Ursurper and killed all three of his sons. I want to have at least one clutch of his babies when he bids us to expand his demonic forces."
Polundara shook her head. "He said his breeding pit won't be done for a few days and I doubt either of us will be the first."
Yahcheth sighed. "Dimetara and Ajatha are the largest and toughest."
Polundara softly laughed. "You could always challenge one of them for the right to breed first."
Yahcheth hugged herself with her wings. "I'm brave, not stupid. I wouldn't last more than two blows before they tore my wings to make me hurt and then finished me off."
Polundara nodded and patted her back. "At least you had the honor of being the first he touched."
"His hand stubs even caressed my dewclaw!" Yahcheth said, happily. "Do you think he likes my wings? Maybe he'll heal my severed tendons and let me fly and I can take him with me, too!"
"Shhh!" Polundara hissed and they both had to duck behind bags of unused cement when the older human glanced over at them.
"Sorry." Yahcheth whispered. "I can't help getting excited with all this fresh air and no brimstone dust clogging my lungs."
"I know what you mean." Polundara whispered back and they both stuck their heads up to keep watching their master. "It almost hurts how clean things are here."
"It's almost paradise." Yahcheth said, barely above a breath. "We have food we don't have to fight over. Water whenever we want. A magic window that shows things from all over the world..."
"The only thing missing is the breeding pit." Polundara added and Yahcheth nodded.
Both of their eyes went to the large wooden structure that would be where they were going to live in a few days, their very own breeding pit. It was called a basement in this realm for some reason, making the demons wonder why humans thought they always had the right to rename things.
Their eyes went back to their master and both had similar thoughts about the man that had rescued them. Perhaps it wouldn't be too disgusting to allow a non-demon to breed them, as long as his protuberance was large enough to let them feel it. The last thing they wanted was to feel disappointed when it was their turn to birth the first generation of The Demonic Army of Atlas.
*
I had to laugh as Emma pretty much dragged Illyana into the truck to take her home. She wasn't super strong or anything; but, Illyana didn't want to hurt her or her feelings and let herself be dragged away.
"I promise it's only for another two days." I told her and waved.
"We'll be back to visit again tomorrow." Martha promised as well and Illyana didn't look as devastated as they drove away.
"Most people wouldn't want to temper their weapons by using others." The large gargoyle named Dimetara said when I entered the trailer. "How can you guarantee the right results if you don't do it yourself?"
"Trust and knowledge." I answered. "I know exactly what Magik is going through, because I went through it myself and my mother will make sure it won't be too painful for her."
That comment had all of the demon slaves exchange looks and a few whispers. There was a little jealousy and one comment about why the upstart was getting preferential treatment.
"It's because she's mostly human and can fit in with only a little adjustment." I said and looked at Polundara. "I would have sent you as well if I didn't know you have no experience with what living like a human was like."
"I would have had more training?" Polundara asked, surprised.
I nodded. "You will have more training, as soon as you all become more used to living here on Earth instead of Lleh and whatever Lord Dormammu's dimension is called."
That had them chitter and whisper a lot, too. Apparently, learning to be more stealthy was a valuable goal for all of them.
"For now, I'll have supper and then we can sit and talk for a while. When it's late enough, we're going on our first mission." I told them.
Most of them gasped and a couple of them said they weren't ready.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't bring you anywhere if I didn't think you were ready for it." I reassured them and most of them relaxed, except for the three that had tried to poison me yesterday. Their thoughts were about them meeting their end during the mission to allow me to easily dispose of them. "What are your thoughts about ninjas?"
All of them growled, even the humanoid ones.
"They all need to die in a fire." Dimetara said, her stone-like mouth simmering with some hellfire. "They've killed scores of my brethren with their swinging from hooks and lines, assassination attempts, and even their training."
I had to smile at that. "Then you're going to love tonight's mission. We're going after a group called The Hand that has a recruitment station in New York."
"That doesn't sound fun." Ajatha said with a grunt of disappointment.
"It might not start out that way, I agree." I said and they looked surprised. "However, we're going to raid them and find out who funds them, then follow the trail back to their headquarters. If there's time before morning, we'll sack it and take everything they have, which will give us the information to track down all of their members. If not, we'll go there tomorrow night first thing and then we'll work every night until we wipe them all out."
The ten demons exchanged looks, nodded, and turned to me and bowed. "We are yours to command, master." They said as one and then stood up and cheered. "Death to the ninja! Consume their souls! Burn everything they have to the ground!"
I may have underestimated how bloodthirsty for fighting that female demons were in comparison to the males. I thought as the demons hugged, cheered, and pledged the first heartblood would be given to the best master they've ever known.
I ate supper while they celebrated and eventually calmed down. I then made them eat and we all went into the living room to talk and to get to know one another. It was a little weird to try and have a normal conversation with demons that had no idea what small talk was or cared about why I wanted to get to know them.
However, I was their master and they tried to do what I wanted, which included letting me touch them and healing them of all their injuries. Most of them wanted to keep the superficial scars, though. They didn't complain about anything, because they had to wait until nightfall anyway when we would head out to plunder The Hand for everything they were worth.
As a last thought before we left on the mission, I stepped over to the guest room at the Kent Farm and saw a horrified and still wide awake Illyana Rasputin being cuddled like a teddy bear by Emma. I slipped her out and put a life-size plush of her in her place, so Emma wouldn't notice the difference.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Illyana breathed and hugged me tightly.
"We're going on a mission..." I started to whisper.
"Yes!" Illyana hissed quietly. "A million times, yes!"
I nodded and stepped with her back to where I had gathered the ten demonic slaves. After talking with them all, I found out their preferred clothing, armor, and weapons, so that's what each of them had. They all looked inordinately pleased and eager to put them to use.
"Atlas, I need my powers to make..." Illyana stopped talking when her soul sword appeared in her hand and she stared at it, because she hadn't manifested her corrupted armor.
"Allow me." I said and transfigured her clothing into a similar shape and function as what her whole body would look like if she was fully corrupted by her demonic powers.
Illyana looked down at the full suit of armor with gratitude and looked at my face. She held her sword up and crossed it over her chest as a salute. "You... are my... master." She admitted, reluctantly. As she did so, power flowed between us and her sword glowed brightly. "What... what is..."
"Acknowledging Master doubles your power." Yahcheth said and spread her healed wings. "Tonight, WE FLY!"
The demons cheered and lifted up off of the ground, even the nearly normal one. Illyana gave me a searching look.
"It was the only thing they asked for." I said in my defense and held a hand out to her. "Do you want to ride along or use your own transport disc?"
Illyana put her sword away and took my hand. "I need to conserve my power for the fight."
I took her hand and we rose up into the air to join the group of demons.
"To New York!" I ordered and pointed.
"TO NEW YORK!" They shouted and we took off at a speed that defied physics, thanks to magic.
Tonight, the group known as The Hand would be slapped down hard.
259 Clapping Hands
Krahllak, also known as The Beast, knew something was going on when he felt the first connection to his minions fade. Since he lost connections all the time, he wasn't too worried. He had tens of thousands of connections, after all. Most of them didn't even know they were connected, either. His power was subtle until he decided that the ones he influenced needed to play a more active role in his operations.
The Ninja of the Hand, though, they were his fingers to manipulate and corrupt the world. Those he kept a close eye on, thanks to his daughter, whom ran the organization for him while he reaped all of the benefits. Power, wealth, influence, chaos, and destruction, all of it was his and he wouldn't share it with anyone, no matter what his sister The Wild thought.
A few more connections disappeared and he wondered what was going on, since his power should have let his ninja slip away from whomever damaged them and they would tap into his power to recover. He couldn't let his investments fester and die, after all. How would he take over the world if he had no one to influence?
More connections faded and Krahllak frowned slightly. It should not be possible for more than a handful to be removed from his demonic touch, even from an explosion, so what was going on? A portal opened and his daughter jumped through.
"Father, we are being ursurped!" The Hellbride shouted and raised her sword to deflect a blast of hellfire before the portal closed. Her clothes were charred and her weapon was slightly warped from excessive heat exposure.
"Who dares attack my family?" The Beast asked, his large bulk quivering with anger. He stood as if his massive rotund body didn't weigh anything and proved he had super strength, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to move at all.
"A small host of demons from some other dimension stormed The Hand's headquarters." The Hellbride answered and took several deep breaths as her wounds closed over and the bleeding stopped. "From what I could tell from their shouts and cheers, they destroyed the New York branch of The Hand, slaughtered and consumed the recruits, then tortured the owner for my location."
Krahllak's frown grew. "How did they know about you, daughter?"
"I can only assume I was betrayed, father." The Hellbride responded.
"You can claim the traitor's soul after I deal with this... this... insurrection!" The Beast said and concentrated on the closest connection he felt to where his daughter had been.
"He has already been claimed, father." The Hellbride said, her voice sad.
"WHAT?!?" The Beast exclaimed as he opened a portal. A huge blast of hellfire whooshed out through it and he absorbed it, glad of that ability, because it was somehow much more powerful than what he himself could produce and the heat would have scorched him if he wasn't resistant.
Several female voices let out maniacal laughter, clearly enjoying letting their bloodlust out.
"The fool himself has appeared!" A pterodactyl demon shouted and her wing pointed at the large portal, one that was big enough for Krahllak to easily step through. "CHARGE!"
The Beast suddenly didn't feel so confident about handling the insurrection as ten blood-covered demons of various sizes lunged through the portal. Their claws and teeth started tearing into his massive fleshy body and he screamed like a fledgling demon during their first night in a breeding pit.
"Father!" The Hellbride shouted and readied her blade to attack the smallest pinkish demon, only for her swinging blade to be deflected by a bright silver sword and she received a punch to the face that knocked out several teeth. "YOU!"
"Yes, me." Magik said as she stepped through the closing portal. Her silver armor gleamed with magical power that almost blinded The Hellbride in the dark dungeon-like space that her father had been resting in. "Ready for round two?"
The Hellbride growled and pulled off her damaged ninja head covering and revealed her demonic face. "I'm going to gut you and make you eat your own entrails!"
Magik laughed and took a fighting stance. "How original as a punishment. I did that ten years ago when I was six and grew my first horn." She said and lunged forward and slashed at her, the silver sword emitting an arc of energy that really did blind her.
"GAHH!" The Hellbride grunted as she covered her face with a hand and held her blade in the best position to defend against a second strike.
The clang of metal let her know her gamble had worked and she dropped to a knee and sliced upwards as her eyes regenerated. The scrape of her sword against metal told her she would have ended the fight if the girl's armor wasn't so formidable.
"I'm really glad I accepted Atlas as my master." Magik said and a kicked out to hit the female demon's chest.
"Ooooff!" The Hellbride grunted as she tumbled backwards and out of her defensive position. Her eyesight came back in time for her to see Magik leaping at her with a downward strike. She rolled to the side to avoid it and kicked out herself, only for her softly-clad foot to bounce off the silver armor of the girl's ankle and it didn't even budge.
"Do you regret choosing a ninja outfit to fight in yet?" Magik asked and stabbed outwards towards her face.
The Hellbride's sword deflected it only just enough to avoid cutting her cheek and she slid her own sword along the offending blade and slashed at the girl's fingers. Again, the clang of metal on metal let her know she could have disarmed her opponent if she wasn't wearing a full suit of armor.
"How can you move so well in that thing?" The Hellbride couldn't help but ask as she rolled to the other side and avoided a stomping foot that left a dent in the stone floor.
"It was created for me." Magik said and paused her fight to give the female demon a searching look and lowered her weapon to below her waist. "You would be wise to surrender. You could join..."
"Never!" The Hellbride shouted and kicked herself up to her feet, crouched like a coiled spring, and lunged at her.
Magik had wide eyes at the move and did nothing to defend herself.
The Hellbride smiled triumphantly and swung at the girl's neck, only to feel the girl's silver blade slide up through her ribs and through her heart. She hadn't lowered her weapon in defeat, she had readied it for her lunge!
"Such an easy win." Magik whispered and The Hellbride could do nothing but agree as she felt the soulsword disrupt her powers and stopped her from regenerating. "Who wants her soul?"
"She's your kill. You should keep it." Polundara said as she was knocked away from fighting The Beast.
"I don't like the feel of it after beating her so quickly." Magik said. "You can have it."
"Thank you!" Polundara said and she cast the spell to absorb the essence of the dying demon.
Magik dismissed her sword to allow the magic to happen and Polundara glowed as The Hellbride's form withered and then collapsed to the floor. Polundara's form shifted and she took on a more humanoid form and she grinned.
"Happy?" Magik asked and she nodded.
They both turned and watched The Beast scream and cry as he was dismembered.
"We should probably help the others tear apart The Beast." Magik said and didn't move to do so.
"I did my part." Polundara said and they watched as the massive body was carved up with enlarged claws. "When do you think his sister will show up?"
"If she's smart, she won't." Magik said. "We have the locations and names of everyone The Beast touched, so it's just a matter of time before one of them gives her up."
"We're starting to feast on the soul's powers!" Yahcheth shouted over at them. "If you want a piece of this dimension's power, get over here!"
Magik and Polundara rushed over and cast their spells to help. They weren't going to miss out on such delicious and powerful magic.
*
Yes, I definitely underestimated their ruthlessness. I thought as a very happy and engorged group of demons stepped back through the recreated portal that felt like Magik's power. Absorbing the demon lord's powers, even split among 11 of them, gave them all significant boosts to their abilities. "You all look well fed."
"We are and it was delicious!" Illyana said and walked over to me as she looked deep into my eyes. A second later, she hopped up and wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, then she kissed me passionately.
I wasn't and idiot and grabbed two handfuls of her ass and held on as I kissed her back just as passionately. She let out several moans as her tongue battled mine and then she broke the kiss.
"I think this is the first time that I don't mind being trapped back in time." Illyana said and gave me another peck on the lips. She unwrapped her legs and arms from around me and the only things holding her up were my hands on her ass. An amused look appeared on her face and she smirked at me.
"To be fair, you have a nice ass." I said and gave it another squeeze before I set her down and let go.
One of the demons laughed and Illyana walked over to her. The two of them started whispering and the pterodactyl joined them and started whispering, too.
"It's getting close to dawn, so our pillaging and plundering of the rest of The Hand has to wait for tomorrow night." I told them and they didn't look disappointed. "You all look too satisfied to fly, so..." I waved at the wall and created a portal back to the trailer.
Surprisingly, each and every female demon stopped in front of me and gave me a chaste kiss, even the giant gargoyle one with her stone-like lips.
"Only one more day for the breeding pit to be finished." She said with a growling voice and stepped through the portal.
Breeding pit? I asked myself and had to check, so a quick mental probe into the head of the most humanoid-looking one as I kissed her, gave me the answer I needed and I really didn't want to know it.
All of them thought the basement I was making was a decent-sized breeding pit for us to start breeding my army of conquest. I was also fully expected to take the gargoyle first, her being the largest and strongest, then the muscle-bound one with one larger arm, then I was to work my way down through them to the ugliest one, Polundara.
The thing was, I couldn't even start with her, because they would think I wasn't happy with the others if I defied their expectations like that. She was the smallest and weakest, so she was supposed to be the last one considered, not the first, even if my opinion was the exact opposite and I would have bedded her first.
I mentally sighed and followed a clearly amused Illyana through the portal and returned home. It was going to be a long day as I tried to figure out the best way to tell them the basement wasn't a breeding pit.
I suspected that no matter what I said, they weren't going to listen and would assume I was rejecting them all as not worthy to breed, which would devastate them emotionally and probably destroy all the trust I had built up in them so far.
Dammit, I'm going to have to do them all, aren't I? I asked myself.
I looked at each of their faces as they gathered in the living room. Polundana turned on the television to look through the magic window that showed them the world and I knew that I didn't want to disappoint them, not after everything they had been through.
I looked at my Karma Point total and mentally nodded. I had lots of points to do what needed to be done, especially after ending the threat that The Hand posed to the entire world. I just had to decide if I wanted to accept the option for accelerated demonic growth or to let them gestate normally. Decisions, decisions.
*
Illyana returned to the guest room at the Kent Farm, after Clark had taught her the spell to make her armor become a beautiful bracelet that she could change back and forth. She paused beside the bed when she saw the little terror named Emma was choking the life out of her life-size plushie.
She didn't want any of that after having such a great night out with the girls and left the room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Martha was there already cooking and she joined her at the stove for another lesson on how to cook normal human food.
"You were out all night." Martha said without looking at her.
Illyana wasn't sure what to say about what happened, so she kind of lied by telling the truth. "Clark took me out to New York."
Martha stood still for a moment and then smiled. "Did he really?"
"I kissed him afterwards." Illyana blurted and blushed. "Twice."
Martha's smile grew wide. "Oh, my." She said and turned to look at her. "I won't ask for the details." She said, making Illyana relax. "How did that make you feel?"
Illyana recalled how it felt to consume part of a demonic lord that ruled a hellish sub-dimension. "I was all tingly and trembled. It was magic unlike anything I felt before."
Martha nodded and went back to cooking. "My Clark does do his best to impress, doesn't he?"
"He really does." Illyana agreed. No one else she knew would allow their underlings to claim the spoils like that and to empower themselves. It was unheard of and also let her gain a semblance of independence, since he hadn't removed her portal power or magic afterwards.
The two of them cooked breakfast and Illyana served a plate to Johnathan while Martha called for Emma. The little girl wobbled into the kitchen a minute later and carried the life-size plushie of Illyana with her. Martha laughed at the sight and Johnathan gave it a look, gave Illyana a look, then shrugged.
"I don't want to know." Johnathan said and kept eating.
Martha helped Emma and Plushie Illyana sit at the table, then she and the real Illyana sat down at the table and ate breakfast, too.
260 Demonic Overtures
I didn't go to bed to catch a few hours of sleep, because I had to grab the big tractor and flatten out the farm trails around my parents' farm. I had been serious that Martha should have a golf cart, just because it was so much easier to use and a lot more convenient. I'd modify it as well, of course. It was child's play to have the battery never lose its charge with the addition of kinetic chargers to each wheel.
It wasn't quite a perpetual machine that would never need any additional electricity to run; but, it was close enough to qualify. Having a lot of technical knowledge in my head was quite nice, even if a lot of the concepts and thought processes were very alien to normal thinking.
I also added a small road to connect my farm to the back 40 of my father's just so Martha didn't have to drive around the long way every time. She probably still would if she had to go to town beforehand, since it wasn't a waste of time until she had to go back home. So, I widened it out enough that the truck would fit as well. It should be a nice surprise for her when she visited later today.
I worked for a couple of hours and went back to the farm to have breakfast and to finally get some sleep. Not surprisingly, the 'girls', as Illyana affectionately called the ten demon slaves, also wanted to go to bed when they finished their meals.
After I tucked them in like a parent does a child, which both amused and confused them, I went to my own bed and fell right to sleep. I had a few hours before Martha would show up and I wasn't going to waste them by forcing myself to stay awake and disappointing her by not taking care of myself.
*
Doctor Fate put down the high-level demon by slam-dunking him through the ritual circle that a group of idiot cultists used to summon him. Why they thought he would hand them power without any strings or consequences, always baffled her. She turned and cast another beam of light at the copy of a ritual book she had destroyed several times before and the last of it disintegrated.
She regretted not asking Clark to come along as one of the cultists pulled out a pistol and shot at her. Her cape flipped up and caught it, then flung it right back at the idiot. He cried out as it hit his shoulder and dropped the gun, giving her the chance to kick him in the face and broke his jaw. He wouldn't be chanting any more restoration spells to save the book.
A large red hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the fool and Doctor Fate almost laughed as the other large hand couldn't grab her by the neck. There were several reasons she wore such a restrictive helm and that was one of them. No one was choking her to make her submit... without her permission.
Doctor Fate cast another powerful light spell and split it through the eyes of her helm, an idea she copied from seeing Clark's heat vision, and the demon screamed as his eyes were burned out of his head. That is such a useful way to distract them. She thought and floated up into the air and cast the binding and banishment spell. He would be a warning for the others to not come to Earth for a while.
The demon screamed as it was bound in mystical light chains, breaking his arms and legs, and a portal opened up beneath him.
"NO!" The cultists yelled as their benefactor disappeared back into the hellflame that spawned him.
"We worked so hard..."
"Spent so much..."
"Sacrificed so many..."
"Then you should join him." Doctor Fate said, feeling vindictive after having to fight the same demon for the sixth time. She used telekinesis to pull them over to her, let them squirm for a moment, and dropped them through the portal, too.
"NOOOoooooo!" They yelled and their voices faded as the portal closed.
Doctor Fate floated down to land on the bloody floor where several young women had been slaughtered to open the gateway. She shook her head at the wasted deaths, since all they had bought was more death.
A few spells cleaned up her presence at the place and removed all of the evidence of the forbidden rituals. That way, no one would try to recreate what happened there. She left the evidence of the murders and who was involved, because she would see the legal justice done, even if she had already dealt them a final justice anyway. The victims and their families needed closure, too.
Doctor Fate checked the time and sighed, she had used up the entire night and wouldn't be visiting Clark like she had planned. She knew he was usually busy during the day and didn't want to disrupt his life, then she remembered he was going to fix his wards to hide the magic she had detected.
A quick visit shouldn't be too disruptive. Doctor Fate thought and swung her hand in a circle and a swirling orange portal opened up. She stepped though it into the living room of his trailer and staggered at the pervasive feeling of chaos that assaulted her senses. The portal closed behind her and she cast a detection spell, only for the entire place to light up with blackish-red energy.
Another spell told her Clark was in bed and not outside working on the property like she thought. She rushed to his bedroom, ignored the massive expansion charms she could feel, and entered his room. She cast another detection spell and almost nothing lit up with chaos energy and she relaxed briefly, then she frowned and walked over to his bed.
Doctor Fate let her helm dissolve into motes of light and leaned over him as she glared down at his apparently sleeping form. "What the hell have you been up to, Clark?" She asked and he didn't move or react. "I can tell you're faking being asleep."
"How?" Clark asked and didn't open his eyes.
"Your breathing isn't deep enough for genuine sleep." Doctor Fate answered.
Clark sighed and opened his eyes. "I've only been in bed for two hours after dealing with a demon infestation."
Doctor Fate opened her mouth to rant at him for that and to tell her what he did to have so much chaos magic around him, then she remembered she had also been up all night dealing with a demon infestation.
"Fine." Doctor Fate said and her costume dissolved into motes of light and she crawled into bed with him. "You're telling me everything as soon as we wake up."
"That's fair." Clark said and pulled her into his arms, kissed her deeply, and went right back to sleep.
Doctor Fate didn't mind him holding her like that and cast a protection spell and a lock spell on the door. No one was sneaking up on her without her magic making them pay for it. The sound of a light crack of thunder and a yelp of pain came from the hallway and she smiled as she let herself be claimed by sleep.
* I made us lunch as I filled Doctor Fate in on what happened and she seemed okay with everything, until I told her about what the demon slaves expected to happen when the basement was finished today.
"You can't seriously think I'm going to allow you to breed earth-bound demons!" Doctor Fate asked, her voice full of disbelief and more than a little anger. "When they're banished, they'll return here! That defeats the whole purpose of stopping them from invading in the first place!"
I wanted to argue that, except she was right. If I did breed demons here for the sole purpose of giving birth to them and make the demon slaves happy, this would be their home dimension and not the ones where their mothers had come from. When they died or were sent back to their spawning grounds, their inherent magic would make them appear here in the basement.
It was definitely not what I was considering as I mentally convinced myself to go through with the plan, and then I thought about what that would mean. If I had a significant number of them, and trained them up properly, then whenever they lost a fight, they would reappear in the basement and could be healed, told they were doing a great job, and sent right back out again.
My eyes went to Doctor Fate's and I couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked, then inspiration struck me. It was such a novel idea that she might not curse at me for having it. Maybe. It would depend on if she was in a good mood after hearing about how we were dealing with The Hand.
"You are the Sorcerer Supreme for this dimension, right?" I asked and she nodded. "After telling you about the one I know about, you regret that you are having so much trouble finding suitable recruits to teach them the right magic to deal with demons and putting their lives on the line?"
Doctor Fate sighed. "Why are you bringing that up now?"
I smiled and nodded at the gathered demon slaves in the living room. "We took down the demonic leader of The Hand and his daughter, the one who ran the organization for him. What if you had your own force of magically inclined disciples that would see an invasion of their home dimension by other demons as a personal affront and will fight to the bitter end to protect what was theirs?"
A collective gasp came from everyone, including Doctor Fate.
"Do you mean it?" Polundara asked with hope in her voice and awe on her face. "Our children will be taught to fight with magic? To defeat their enemies and to die in glorious battle? Only to repeat it endlessly until their very souls are extinguished?"
"Yes." I confirmed. "It will be done, even if Doctor Fate doesn't choose to help."
The female demons exchanged several looks, as if coordinating something, then they all stood, saluted me, and knelt on one knee. "Please complete the breeding pit as soon as possible. Our children will fulfill your wish and will be yours for eternity, as are we."
"Clark." Doctor Fate whispered.
I stood and walked over to each of them and patted them on top of the head and gave each a chaste kiss. I walked back to the kitchen table and Doctor Fate looked very conflicted.
"You don't have to accept the offer and they'll be trained to fight anyway." I said. "However, if you use some of those magical materials to create more magical rings to cast your portal spell, you could have an instantly mobile force that can be anywhere in the world to help defend it."
Doctor Fate sat up straight as her body was covered in her costume and the Eye of Agamotto opened. She blurred for several seconds and the magical eye closed. "I will help guide them to become the best magical fighters in the world."
The demons cheered and celebrated as I gave Doctor Fate a knowing smile and nodded. I knew what it meant for her to compromise her morals enough to allow demons to fight on her behalf, even though they would be half-Kryptonian as well as half-demon.
"I also dealt with all the Kryptonite on the planet years ago, so you don't have to worry about them having any real weaknesses." I reminded her and told the demons at the same time, making the demons cheer and holler more. Stronger children were worth celebrating, apparently.
Doctor Fate chose to stay when I went out to meet with Martha, Emma, and Illyana. She didn't specifically say she was going to check over the slave bonds to make sure the demons couldn't defy me; but, we all knew that was what she was going to do.
Yahcheth, the pterodactyl-like demon, had stepped forward and proclaimed her undying love and devotion for the ugliest and best master she's ever known. Her claim that my magic sang to her had the others nodding their heads and quietly agreeing, both that they could hear it and that it was a hauntingly eerie tune that they loved hearing.
I chose to not think about how my magic was music, since I knew I really could use music to cast magic. It was a skill I had used only a few times and I wasn't sure it was needed here, especially since the demons didn't need any encouragement to fight. However, they might like to feel the boosts they'd receive, so maybe I could sing a little bit when we went out again tonight.
Martha hopped out of the truck and looked happy, while Illyana had a red face. Emma had the life-size plushie with her and didn't look like she was going to let go of it anytime this year. I chuckled and helped her into the back of the golf cart and she refused to let it sit by itself, as I suspected.
I climbed in after Illyana and Martha and drove us past the three greenhouses and the worksite where the basement was, to show off the connecting road I had built between our farms. Martha caught her breath when she saw the nicely graded road and gave me a particular look that would mean something a lot different coming from a woman that wasn't happily married.
"I'll drive a golf cart over later tonight when I pick up Illyana and I'll leave it there and forget about it. There's no rush to bring it back or remind me of it." I said and Martha smiled as Emma giggled. They both understood I was giving it to them without actually giving it to them, just like I had let my dad Johnathan borrow my farming equipment and forgot to ask for it back.
I drove us around the nice roads a little, to make sure Martha knew they were all over the farm and it wasn't only the one road to my place. She looked really happy and I was glad such a small thing could make her smile like that.
I drove us back to the basement and I spent the next hour finishing off the necessary attachments and things to build the 'roof' of the basement that would become the floor of the house. Once that was done, I took the time to carefully disassemble the wooden outer shell of the concrete basement.
When it was revealed in its perfectly smooth reinforced glory, there were several soft gasps from behind the bags of cement. I had to hold in my laugh at exceeding the low standards of the female demons for an appropriate breeding pit. They had apparently thought I had dug a hole and the ugly wood covering was the actual sides of the pit.
Boy, were they going to be surprised when they saw the factory where they were moving to. I thought as Martha made several comments about how well done the basement was. I couldn't help but preen a little and be proud, because I hadn't transfigured any of it, like I was going to do after I set the floor into place.
Once I was out of sight, I could work as fast as lightning and without restrictions, thanks to the enchantments I had added to the wards to hide what I was doing. Of course, Doctor Fate had grilled me about them and warned me that they were to never be released to the public, because it would make her job that much harder if the ones she hunted could hide so well.
I took it as a compliment, because I could stump the Sorcerer Supreme into thinking no magic was going on, when there was almost nothing but magic going on in the greenhouses and inside the trailer. Doctor Fate was going to copy them as well, since she alone was allowed, and she wanted to reduce the magical signature of the Tower of Fate to a more reasonable level from the huge beacon of magic it currently was.
For the final hour I had to work before supper, I built the roof on the basement and finally covered it over completely. I would build the stairs to go down inside later, once I could work without anyone watching me.
A soft sigh came from behind the cement bags and both Martha and I ignored the scurrying claws as whomever it was went back to the trailer to report what they had discovered to the others.
The breeding pit was done.
261 Kamar Taj Reborn Part One
I wasn't hesitant as I waved goodbye to my mom, Illyana, and Emma. They had to go back to the farm to get supper ready for Johnathan and I had to make food for my demon slaves and Doctor Fate. She had debated returning to her tower to install the new protections and instead decided to remain at my side as I went into the trailer to confront a group of horny demon women.
It was kind of surprising, actually. I mean, I was quite far away from their ideal image that they thought was the pinnacle of fatherhood for a powerful demon child to be the result of my taking them. Oh, and they fully expected me to rough them up first before claiming them and earning the right to breed them, too. It wasn't a fetish or a sexual kink, either.
Their mentality growing up was influenced by both the environment and the behavior of other demons, as well as a few of them having given birth before. As dissidents of their previous home dimensions, a few of them had been used a few times to try and break them of their disobedient ways. Obviously, it hadn't worked, because they wouldn't have been caged and kept prisoner if they were model demons.
"Gather around, everyone." I commanded as I entered the living room and handed out prepared meals for them all. I saw more than a few searching looks and a lot of blushing faces, probably because every single one of them were wondering when I was going to start ravishing them and making them scream with pain and yelling with pleasure. They really did have a quite skewed view of what sex was.
I served Doctor Fate a meal as well and sat across from her at the enlarged table and her eyes kept going from me, to the large gargoyle-like demon, and back to my face. She eventually stopped and raised her eyebrows. I didn't need to use telepathy to know she was wondering how I was going to meet the large stone-skinned demon's expectations.
I just smiled and ate my own meal until my plate was empty. When I stood up, everyone stiffened and looked apprehensive. "As you all somehow know, the outer shell of the basement is finished."
Polundara blushed and ducked her head a little while Yahcheth looked proud.
"I'm going to need a few minutes to properly prepare it for what it was intended for." I said and a few of them gasped. I didn't correct their assumptions, since I was going to cheat like crazy, now that I could work underground and not be seen or detected. "Doctor Fate, would you like to observe?"
Everyone gasped, even her.
"I meant the preparations, not the acts that will happen afterwards... unless you do want to watch. I'm pretty open to what a woman wants or needs in bed." I said and all the demons started chittering and whispering.
"I will watch..." Doctor Fate paused and all the demons leaned forward slightly. "...the preparations." She said and a few of the demons sighed. "Perhaps I will add a few enchantments as well to help the process."
"As long as it ensures success and isn't you trying to remove their dimensional anchors." I said and her eyes widened. "Yes, I know about them, especially after the last world I was in."
Doctor Fate gave me a conflicted look and then sighed as well. "I'll just observe."
I held in my chuckle at her trying to subtly stop me from ensuring the demons about to be created would be Earth-bound and not bound to whatever hell dimensions their mothers came from. I motioned for her to come over to me and smiled at the gathered demons.
"I won't be long, since I am no longer bound to work at normal speeds." I told them and put an arm around Doctor Fate's waist. "Dimetara, prepare yourself."
The large gargoyle-like demon blushed and nodded as the rest of them whispered that they knew she would be chosen first.
I teleported Doctor Fate and myself into the covered basement.
"How did you..." Doctor Fate shook her head. "Why did you teleport so unconvnetionally instead of using a portal?"
"Out of sight, out of mind." I said and took out a generic wand. I needed a little more precision for this work and transfigured part of the front wall of the basement into a large opening that became a reinforced concrete hallway with thick walls, floor, and ceiling.
Doctor Fate watched, almost in awe, as I used magic she hadn't seen before to change the dirt and rocks into several large rooms on each side and I flew down the hallway to extend it and the reinforced concrete surroundings all the way down the farm under the driveway to the barn.
When I started shipping things from my factory inside transfer trucks, the exit from the underground facility would be hidden and covered up by having it inside the barn. Doctor Fate looked impressed at the ingenuity of having the entirety of the factory and warehouse underground and I wasn't wasting the space or stealing it from my neighbors.
We flew back along the long hallway and I made enough rooms for the demon slaves to have their own places, including extra rooms inside them for their own smaller breeding pit and to house their children. They thought I was going to be a normal master for them and they couldn't have been more wrong. I was going to meet their expectations and then I was going to blow them out of the water.
I added the main factory floor and then the storage warehouse, ensured they were easily accessible by vehicle as well, and flew back towards the house. Doctor Fate followed and didn't say anything until we were back in the house's basement and I added a vault-like door and hid it behind a set of standing shelves that I stuck to the vault door. If you didn't know it was there, you would never find it.
"You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?" Doctor Fate asked.
I nodded and put the wand away.
"Your magic skills are prodigious." Doctor Fate commented.
"I'm pretty sure I've regained everything I've lost over the years." I told her and put my arm back around her waist. "Then again, how would I know if I'm missing anything if I don't remember I'm supposed to have it?"
Doctor Fate took a deep breath and let it out. "I noticed you didn't expand anything."
I smiled crookedly. "I'm saving that to show off."
Doctor Fate huffed. "Of course you are." She said and glanced down to where I had stuffed the wand. "I don't suppose..."
I took out a copy of the book on transmutation I bought back in Familiar of Zero and flipped it open to the right page. "I didn't need to rob the criminal organizations and their clients. It was just convenient to do so."
Doctor Fate looked at the spell to transfigure normal pebbles and small stones into brass. "How does this solve your money problems?"
I chuckled and teleported a small stone into my hand. I waved my hand at it and it transmuted into brass. Another wave, and the metal changed to gold. "Once you know the chemical composition of gold, you don't need the middle step of changing the stone to metal first."
Doctor Fate took the gold nugget from my hand and she waved her hand over it. "It actually is pure gold."
"Yes, and it's weak, since it has no impurities." I said and poked it with a finger and it dented. "That's easily solved by smelting it and sprinkling something in and then letting it harden again."
Doctor Fate nodded and handed it back to me. I chuckled and opened a small portal and dropped it through and closed it. She gave me a searching look and I smiled and shrugged. She didn't need to know how much I was helping Selena Kyle.
"I think I will take my leave." Doctor Fate said and waved her hand in a circle and a swirling orange circle appeared and opened up into a portal back to the tower.
"Let me know if you want help constructing the Sanctum Sanctorums." I said and she nodded and stepped through the portal. "Aren't you going to stick around and see how I'm going to handle the demons?"
"No, I don't want to know." Doctor Fate said.
"Are you sure?" I asked and shifted myself into looking like a pterodactyl. "It's going to be funny seeing their reactions."
Doctor Fate chuckled and shook her head. "Goodbye, Clark."
I changed back and waved to her as the portal closed.
*
Dimetara was shocked when she was teleported from the trailer and into her very own breeding pit. It was exactly how she had envisioned it, with stonework galore, many perches for her to sit on, and had a great Gothic feel with dark crevices everywhere that she could hide in and pounce from.
As she watched, the human did something with pieces of metal and a wand and then her breeding pit that was a grotto, or a small cave-like area, became ten times as big and the close perches that were barely above the floor were now fifty feet up and became even more perfect for her. She would definitely enjoy teaching her children how to fly from such nice places.
"Master, you didn't have to..." Dimetara started to say as she turned and looked at the ugly thing, only to gasp as the human grew to twice his height, tearing his clothes apart, and his body distorted and became the epitome of gargoyle magnificence.
Even his protuberance grew and changed to become both engorged and reformed into something that had Dimetara drooling from her orifices. His wings looked strong and capable of carrying her easily, which made her feel faint. She had always been the biggest of her kind and she had never once met anyone even close to her size, let alone someone that could pick her up and carry her.
Atlas lunged at her and she punched out automatically, her instincts not allowing him close without earning the right, despite him being her master and already having it.
"I will not be so easily conquered!" Dimetara shouted and jumped at him to pummel him with her fists and claws extended. She fought with all of her might and she would show this arrogant male that she was worthy of having his child.
An hour later, after a long and glorious fight where they had traded blows and wounded each other, her strength eventually gave out and she reluctantly submitted to his prowess. Dimetara presented herself to the victor and the most wonderful feeling filled her. She moaned the loudest she had ever moaned in her long life, then she felt all her wounds heal as powerful magic engulfed her.
She started to help him breed her and loved the feeling of his stone-skin flesh slamming against hers and the grinding sounds drove her to heights of pleasure she never knew were possible. How was he doing that? Even she didn't know it could feel like that and she had been bred dozens of times.
That was when she realized the truth. She hadn't been bred before and only used to make mediocre demon spawn. Her birthing sac had been used and abused and none of the others had ever cared about how she felt during the whole process.
Now? Now she knew what it meant to actually breed with someone worthy to give her a real child and not produce fodder that would never make anything of themselves. The children she would produce with this worthy breeder would surpass even her own legendary accomplishments.
Someday, master-willing, her children would return to her home dimension and would show the other demons exactly what it meant to be a demon born to become someone that matters.
*
The next nine encounters were nearly identical in composition, with only the type of demon Clark changed into being different. Apparently, even if they had been bred before, they weren't going to submit without a fight, even if they were eager to have him claim them.
Also, the types of pregnancies created were sometimes far different than a traditional pregnancy that a human woman would have. That was perfectly understandable, considering that none of the female demon slaves were anywhere close to having human DNA, which actually worked in their favor.
Kryptonian DNA was normally so robust and unforgiving that it wasn't really compatible with any other species, with it's only weaknesses being two main things: Kryptonite radiation of various types and the esoteric energies classified as magic. Since demons themselves were magical in nature, their bodies were almost perfectly primed to accept any foreign DNA to make their various species stronger.
Needless to say, when their mate told them after their first session that they were pregnant, almost none of them believed him and he had to repeat the procedure to make sure. The only one that only had a single encounter with him was Yahcheth, because her pterodactyl-like physiology, which was very close to a bird's, let her know that her body was primed to lay a large clutch of fertilized eggs.
The demon slave was also quite shocked when her current breeder stayed with her and helped build an appropriate nest, then he held her dewclaw with his own as she laid those eggs. All 12 of them. A full dozen viable ones! It was unheard of for anyone to have so many in a single nest and she hadn't even struggled while her body worked overtime.
Yahcheth had no idea what that feeling in her chest was and she didn't question her instincts as she pulled her breeder... no, her very first mate... into the nest and cuddled and hugged him to her chest. She didn't let him share in roosting on her eggs, since he didn't have the undercarriage that was designed for such things. She did whisper her thoughts to him and he looked pleased, so she was happy.
When Clark told her that he had accelerated her fellow slaves birth cycle to let them all be born at the same time in a week, her happiness was almost too much for her to handle. He had laughed and said that the others felt the same way and he looked forward to seeing what they could do as actual mothers that could take care of their children instead of being breeding stock that would never meet their offspring.
Yahcheth had always regretted that she was never allowed to teach the next generation what she knew. She had never seen their first steps, their first spread of wings, their first successful flight, their first successful kill, or their first consumed soul. Yes, she was definitely looking forward to becoming an actual mother and had much more to give to her upcoming family than she was allowed to give before.
*
Making ten demon slaves pregnant was a lot of damn work. I was mentally and physically exhausted by the time I returned to the trailer and felt a little lonely that there was no one else there waiting for me. I showered and put on a robe and went to my bedroom to change for bed, only to pause when I opened the door and saw a pretty blonde girl laying on my bed.
"We need to talk." Illyana said, her face red. She opened the matching robe she wore and she was naked underneath. "I'm too young to be a mother..."
"...but, not too young to want to experience the same thing as the others." I said and she nodded. "Then, we'll take our time and see where things go from here."
Illyana licked her lips when I opened my robe and dropped it to the floor. Her eyes went to my waist and she blushed as I grew hard for her. Neither of us said anything as I walked over to the bed and climbed onto it. She opened her arms and her legs for me and I slid in close and kissed her and felt her wetness as I pressed myself against her.
She kissed me like she was a drowning woman that needed air, and I didn't discourage her. If she wanted things to be a little rough, I was perfectly okay with that.
262 Kamar Taj Reborn Part Two
Doctor Fate was quite surprised when she was contacted two weeks later and asked to start her lessons on teaching the demonic younglings magic. That was years before she had assumed they would be ready, so she didn't quite believe Clark's teleported letter. It wasn't until she opened a portal to the set coordinates and stepped through into the training arena that she believed it.
Before her were 36 teenagers that all looked surprisingly similar, with their long black hair tied back into ponytails and fighting against each other and their mothers. She watched them for several minutes before she walked over to where Clark was watching them with a smile on his face.
"They're magnificent, aren't they?" Illyana asked as she stepped out of a portal.
Doctor Fate gave her a glance and then looked at Clark.
Clark gently took Illyana's hand and pulled her in to give her a tender kiss, one that made the girl blush, and she pushed him away and opened a portal above the large arena and a large glowing rock that was half melted with magma dropped down into the fighting area.
"Stop trying to distract me." Illyana said with no real heat in her voice as the fighters dodged the large projectile and then they tore into it with their clawed hands to use both the magma and rock as fighting aids.
"She chose to wait and handle things on a more human scale." Clark whispered to Doctor Fate.
"Ah, I see. That's understandable." Doctor Fate said. The thing was, she really did understand. She hadn't had any children herself, mostly because she didn't have the time or the inclination to handle both motherhood and fighting the Forces of Chaos. It wasn't until recently that she had contemplated the thought of having a child.
"We're also working on sending her back to her own time and having a child might interfere with that or might stop her from going back entirely. The magic she uses and her own mutant power can be funny like that." Clark said and Doctor Fate nodded.
"I'm not as worried about it as I used to be." Illyana said, even if she looked embarrassed.
Clark pulled her back in and hugged her. "I won't condemn you or our future child to become time displaced, just because I care about you."
Illyana sighed and didn't push him away this time. "I don't know if I can make myself wait until you're in your thirties before I'll approach you and we can start off this whole thing between us again."
Both Clark and Doctor Fate chuckled.
"What?" Illyana asked, slightly offended that they were laughing at her feelings.
"You are much too young to worry about how practically immortal beings are going to feel about the age difference between you when you jump around the timeline at whatever apparent age you are now." Doctor Fate said as an explanation.
Illyana blinked her eyes several times before she looked at Clark, whom nodded.
"I'm not going to look much different by then, especially in my hero persona as Atlas." Clark said and changed into it, showing off what he was always going to look like when he was out saving people.
"You won't have a problem with my age, even if I showed up 20 years or so from now?" Illyana asked.
Clark looked thoughtful for a moment, then chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that's going to be an interesting time for you to appear in, assuming I stand by and do nothing."
Doctor Fate reached over and slapped him on the back of the head. "Bad Clark! Bad!"
Clark laughed and let Illyana go. "Yes, yes, I know. Consulting with you is more important than trying to predict if things will happen the same way after all of the things we've done so far to deal with everything that might happen."
Doctor Fate nodded. "I've thought over your plan to set the titans against each other."
"Really?" Clark asked. "I wasn't sure you would be able to help me pull that off."
"I think planting some evidence to cause them to start fighting is well within my purview as a Lord of Order." Doctor Fate said.
"By causing chaos." Clark said, a grin on his face.
Doctor Fate nodded again. "If we can put a few things into place, using our combined abilities to adjust the details, I'm sure the mad titan Thanos can be set upon the enormous task of taking down the rival of the New Gods on Apocalypse, Darkseid himself."
"It should also severely decimate their respective armies, since they were relatively at the same power levels around this time." Clark said. "If we can get it to work."
"With your knowledge and my skill, then my knowledge and your skill, we will succeed." Doctor Fate said. "All we need is to be careful and the two situations should resolve themselves."
"Or keep them too busy with each other to think about coming here for a few centuries." Clark said with a chuckle. "Either way, Earth benefits and it'll make our future prospects that much brighter."
"Yes, it should." Doctor Fate agreed and turned her attention back to the demonic teenagers. "I'm a little surprised you didn't have them all be female."
Illyana let out a girlish giggle before she could stop herself.
"What is it?" Doctor Fate asked.
"If they had a choice about it, all of their firstborns would have been male." Clark said and Doctor Fate hid her surprise at that. "They wanted strong sons born from their first true mating."
"No, they wanted only sons." Illyana corrected and looked amused. "Clark needed a few days after the female births to convince the mothers to raise them to be as strong and smart as them instead of killing them off and asking for another round of births for more sons."
Doctor Fate wanted to say how barbaric that was, then remembered they were dealing with demons, slaves or not, and their mentality and morals were much different than what a normal person's was.
"After a few days, they were glad they did, because their daughters turned out to be much better and faster learners than their brothers." Illyana said, a little proudly. "They also won't let the boys forget it."
Just then a gargoyle-like male was flung by where they stood and he crunched against the wall, his wings barely catching the brunt of the impact and he only grunted slightly in pain as his wings twisted against the magically protected walls. He slumped down and pushed off the mass of molten rock before it cooled.
"Nice one, Harshan." A female gravelly voice praised and a gargoyle-like female flexed her muscled arms, then her mother punched her and she was flung across the same distance and slammed into her brother. "Don't get cocky."
"Sorry, mom." Harshan said and climbed off of her brother. She brushed off her training uniform as she turned to offer her brother a hand, then she saw Clark and blushed. "F-f-father."
Clark nodded and motioned to her brother. Harshan picked him up like he weighed nothing and flew back over to her mother to continue their training.
"What was that about?" Doctor Fate asked.
"I'd say it was a long story, except it's not." Clark said. "She saw my transformation the last time I visited her mother in their breeding pit."
Doctor Fate looked over at Dimetara and how much bigger than everyone else she was, then she looked back at Clark and imagined how much bigger he would have to be to have sex with her. "Oh."
"Sometimes, size really does matter!" Illyana said with a laugh and jumped into the arena to help with the physical training.
Clark shook his head at the girl and turned to face Doctor Fate. "You didn't have to come over right away. I only wanted to arrange tutoring sessions for when you had time available."
"Considering my lifestyle, that's not a realistic expectation for you to have." Doctor Fate told him. "I think it would be better if I bring them to the Tower and..."
"No." Clark said, stopping her from explaining why. "They are in a critical stage of development with their accelerated growth rate. I won't remove them from their homes and deny them access to their parents for however long you need to train them."
"Then why did you contact me?" Doctor Fate asked and tried to not sound frustrated.
"I thought you would want to help develop their magic education and lean it more towards your style of fighting, while they are still young enough to easily adapt. They're going to be fully grown in another two weeks and I believe fully set in their ways." Clark answered. "They train around the clock in everything, including basic magic techniques, only stopping long enough to enjoy a meal with everyone."
Doctor Fate cast a detection spell and nothing showed up. "You aren't using your chronomancy powers. How are you making them..." She stopped talking and gave him a very pointed look. "You didn't."
"I did." Clark said, a little proudly. "Upon conception, I chose both accelerated pregnancy and accelerated growth to adulthood, the options only being available because of their adaptable demonic magic."
"Is that how they can reproduce in such ridiculous numbers in various hell dimensions?" Doctor Fate asked.
"Mostly. It's more that their sheer numbers and breeding pits keep a constant flow of new fodder for their armies than anything else." Clark responded. "With my own powers added into the mix, even with such a small gene pool of only ten female demons, our family will have about a hundred Earth-bound demonic acolytes by the end of the year."
"A hundred." Doctor Fate whispered.
"It probably wouldn't be that high if their mothers weren't so adamant to build on the success of the first batch." Clark said with a chuckle. "They've adapted well to the whole 'being real mothers' thing and don't want to lose the strong feelings it brought forth in both them and their children."
"Switch forms!" Illyana suddenly yelled and all of the children changed from their demonic bodies into their humanoid disguises before they continued fighting. A lot of them grumbled about the differences and kept fighting anyway, mostly because it was to get them used to moving around in a more acceptable form.
"They can all change like you do?" Doctor Fate asked, clearly surprised.
"What can I say?" Clark asked and looked proud. "I spared no expense to ensure they were going to be the best."
Doctor Fate thought about that and nodded. "I'll stay here and help them learn for the next two weeks, as long as you help me tackle the threats that will pop up during that time."
Clark put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a sad smile. "You forgot that I offered to do that all the time, didn't you?" He asked and Doctor Fate was glad he couldn't see her embarrassed face. "I told you to call when you needed help. I've finished the farmhouse... well, farm mansion, really. I'm building the infrastructure for my factory to get that up and running for the next little while."
"What about your crops?" Doctor Fate asked.
"They're coming along well." Clark said. "I can't use chronomancy when planting the seeds, since I need to prove the technology is viable for others to grow things. It's also a little easier to harvest them as well, since it's quite easy to set conveyor belts between the rows and shelves and have them deliver the food products to the end of the greenhouse to be packaged up for sale."
"Sales? Does that mean the farmer's market was a success?" Doctor Fate asked.
"It was better than that." Clark said, again looking proud. "Since what I grow isn't touched by the elements, like wind, rain, or blistering sunlight that is fully regulated, I had bumper crops and all of them were nearly twice the size and many times the quality they should have been."
Doctor Fate gave him a searching look. "Will everyone cover their farms with greenhouses like you did?"
"No, my father was right about the cost effectiveness and how much of a money sink it would be at first. Most families would go bankrupt if they tried to convert their entire farms like that." Clark told her. "They are going to go with my initial idea and only cover a single field to try it. If it works on the smaller scale, they can eventually earn enough do the next field and keep going."
Doctor Fate nodded. That was a viable way to not destroy their only source of income for something they might not be able to handle all at once. It would give them experience with the different techniques they would need to learn for farming inside a building instead of out in an open field. It would also let them see both the benefits and the drawbacks of both systems.
"What about offering subsidies to help them?" Doctor Fate asked and Clark perked up at her words. "I assume with the model becoming accepted by the wider community that the ideas and techniques you've created and patented for its creation and maintenance are bringing in unexpected funds."
Clark nodded. "It would also let me anonymously invest some of my ill-gotten gains."
Doctor Fate gave him a bit of a glare. She didn't quite approve of robbing the dead like that, except she couldn't really blame him, either. Most of the people he had pilfered were dead and had no heirs or family left, so that money would have just sat there or been claimed by either the banks or the government.
"Of course, with so many people needing the resources to build greenhouses, the price of construction materials is going to go through the roof. Maybe I should diversify a little and buy a lumber distribution center? I could teleport in the goods instead of using shipping containers and save millions, keeping the price of goods reasonable."
Doctor Fate didn't really need the proof that he was much smarter with his money than she assumed he was going to be, which in her mind was the old adage of 'throw money at it to solve the problem'. She had seen it many times before and assumed he would be the same way, so she was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
"I'll need to make a few calls to arrange things before they get out of hand." Clark said and motioned towards the door. "You're welcome to come with me."
Doctor Fate looked over at the demons instead. "I think I'll stay here and start working out the best way to start educating the students I didn't expect for years."
Clark stepped close and hugged her. "I'm not going to apologize that I inadvertently found a fast way to get you more help that didn't involve extra-dimensional entities."
Doctor Fate's helm dissolved into motes of light. "You could apologize for giving me so much extra work to do."
Clark chuckled before he kissed her deeply. "Sorry, not sorry." He said and let her go and started walking away. "I'm also looking forward to having you around more often."
Doctor Fate watched him walk away and could help admiring him. "I suppose I am, too."
"You suppose?" Clark asked and turned back to face her when he reached the door. "We still have to work out how to deal with Thanos and Darkseid without getting caught."
"That's what I meant." Doctor Fate said with a smile.
Clark laughed and left the training room.
Doctor Fate turned her attention back to the fairly large force of demonic and chaotic energies that made her skin itch a little. The thing was, she could also feel the benevolent undercurrent of Clark's own magic mixed in there. It was the only proof she needed to know that they really were his children and that he had done all of this for her, despite his excuse that it was for his demon slaves.
She wasn't going to throw away this opportunity to turn a force of chaos into a force for order. That would be both foolish and against her own beliefs that everything had a purpose, even the evil things that existed. Without something to fight or struggle against, life itself would have no meaning.
Doctor Fate used Clark's transmutation technique to reform some of the rubble into as many desks as there were demons, then she took out a book on magic and made that many duplicates and placed them onto the desks. When she was done, she let out a small pulse of magic and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to face her.
"Class is now in session." Doctor Fate said. "It is time for you all to sit down and learn."
"A-all of us?" Polundara asked, surprised.
"Clark said the children were to be taught and I won't disappoint him by leaving the parents out of it." Doctor Fate said. "It also lets you bond more with your children, too."
To Doctor Fate's surprise, a fight didn't break out for the demons to figure out who would be the first to sit at the front. The group split up and sat with their family members and showed her that the largest group were the pterodactyl-like demons and everyone else had two or three children, which meant she would have an abundance of naturally flying attackers in the future.
"Magic is not a toy, even if you can have a lot of fun with it." Doctor Fate said and a few of the teenage girls let out little laughs. "Yes, I meant that way and I'll show you a few others."
The boys joined in the laughs, knowing she meant that magical pranks were going to be okay for them to use in her presence and they would learn a lot more under her tutelage.
"The first thing I'll show you is how to use and then exhaust your magical reserves. The more you do so, the more you get used to straining yourself. These exercises will let you become stronger with your spell casting and will slowly expand your reserves and your powers." Doctor Fate told them.
All of the demons perked up at that. Getting stronger in any respect was the bread and butter of a demon's mentality. Any information they could get to do so would be eagerly learned, just as Doctor Fate knew it would be.