In Loki's Honor

The Empress wasn't happy as she held court.

At her command, the Imperial palace prepared for the siege. The priests were forcefully dragged to the wall and put to work. A ghost army loomed in the horizon, unseen. The servants, the soldiers, they were all frightened. She already received reports of desertion. Lady BIlgewaters was still unconscious. The Emperor and the eldest princes were away, campaigning to win the Empire more territory.

A terrible day. And her jewels were stolen. Her precious magical jewels. She burned with anger and envy. Her bedroom looted. Not even her hidden mundane jewelry vault was spared. Thousands of gold pieces vanished. Ironically, the room itself was spotlessly clean.

"The Death Princess approaches!" She finally broke and cackled. "More like the Clean Princess!"

The assembled nobles looked at her with confusion and disgust. Their sovereign was losing it, they whispered.

"To the walls! Retake the city! Useless bunch! My jewels must return to me! Guards! Anyone not manning the walls shall be put to death!" She screamed and ordered.

Flying as a dire hummingbird was the best way to burn energy. And I needed to get hungry if I wanted to eat the remaining collars. But I had another goal now. I would force the Empire to recognize the sovereignty of the fairy forest. Forcefully.

I saw them gathering on the walls. The Empress was sparing no effort on keeping us away. The Imperial mages, nobles, even some distraught priests were there, holding the line. If we were a normal army, that would be commendable. But we weren't. Why would ghosts bother with conquering the walls when they could just fly over them and materialize inside the palace?

I heard them mutter in the spectral dimension where they lived. The ghosts spoke to me and told me of their location. This was war. I offered my olive branch already. Now, I was going to hit them where it hurt. I flew through the mostly-empty corridors of the palace, pecking the wards open as I needed. My personal squad of phantom spellcasters followed me.

As I found my first target, I saw a familiar scene unfolded in front of me. Some sovereign ruler's master assassin bedridden, after doing the foolish attempt to pit their soul against mine. Exp was Exp and I needed it. Nothing personal, just business. A long dagger pierced her eye and brain.

Assassination successful. Contract fulfilled.

You killed level 75 Imperial Assassin. You gained 41,962,500 Exp ( 56,250 Base x 746 multipliers [expand])

"Ahh. Death Princess. I recognize you now!" Lady Bilgewater's ghost wailed.

And then I cheated the System. I grabbed the lady's assassin's soul and purified it. Then I triggered my Skill.

"{Last Chance}!" Forty-three thousand SP, double her HP pool, were spent in the blink of an eye. "{Spirit Heaing}!"

The [Imperial Assassin] gasped and sucked in a large breath. She lived. Her left eye was ruined but that was a small price for living again. I had the ghost priest heal her with his spells. Even though it used my SP, it had a better ratio than my {Spirit Healing}.

She looked at me. Her right eye blinked a tear. "Death Princess. I... I died. I can see the System's message. How?"

"So you can knock some sense into that Empress of yours," I replied. "Now come. You died for your Empire, you came back for me. You work for me now. I expect you to chronicle this incident. The Death Princess is not something that the world will get rid of so soon."

"I died for the Empire. My vows were fulfilled. I live again. Give me a new name, Your Deathly Highness."

"You are now called Margareth McLeod. Your [Assassin] codename will be Mata Hari. Now, let's go."

We walked to the inner palace, killing the guards and binding the servants with my threads as we went. We finally reached the nursery. When we entered, my newest recruit gasped.

"The second Imperial Princess," Margreth gasped. "What are you doing?"

"Securing the future," I replied. "Come on! I'm not hurting a child! But I need a hostage to negotiate with that crazed Empress. She's lost it completely. You look after her wellbeing. Come, we need to hit their supplies and treasury next."

After I stole all I wanted, we made our exit with the princess. Now came the time to step on the stage of the main theater.

Empress Alicia was on the walls, looking at the spectral army arranged in front of her. Her own soldiers, her own knights. Her own townsfolk. The dead walked - better, floated - in broad daylight. Around her, the defenders of the palace cowered and prayed. She wanted to laugh. The Gods had forsaken them. She doubted the priests that came to man the walls would be of any help. Worse, from the reports, all who died would add to their forces.

"Look! It is the ghost of the arch-magister Hedrakraut!" One of the nobles shouted.

The ghost of the arch-magister was indeed there. With some other supernatural creatures. A glowing spirit in Bundeus' priestly robes appeared at the front. The priests fell on their knees and prayed, followed by those around them. What use was a defender that wasn't watching the enemy?

And from behind a street came the most beautiful and frightening sight. A great stag with rainbow-colored fur slowly clopped its way to the front, stopping between the two prominent ghosts. Someone small was riding the stag. Would it be the infamous Death Princess?

No. It was a princess, all right. But it was her daughter. The Empress' heart sank. They had her daughter. Her precious baby.

"Empress Alicia!" The stag shouted. The stag shouted, of all things. She recognized that voice. The key had changed, but it was the same voice that talked to her in her bedroom.

Clad in fur that would make Lisa Frank envious, I made my move. Start with the glaring truth and then weave a believable lie.

"We have your daughter and we cleaned up your treasury and your siege granaries. How fierce will your soldiers fight when they know you won't be paying or feeding them? I already sent legions of the undead after the Emperor and the princes. They will be caught in a pincer attack before any message reaches them.

"Surrender now, and we'll return everything. Nobody else has to die, much less the lovely princess here with me. Let's negotiate."

"NEVER!" The empress shouted back. "We will not surrender. The Empire stands eternal! Murder my daughter if you must, monster!"

Yup. She called my bluff. Fuck.

With my wide-angled vision, I saw a fairy in a red dress floating next to me. Then Nenandil and the other fairies whose collar I removed. A deep howl was soon joined by several others. Adrian and the were-kin came, a frenzy of snarling fangs, sharp claws, and raised heckles.

"You didn't believe we would let you have all the fun, did you, Silverstreak?" The Queen winked at me.

"The Empress won't surrender."

"Take her out. This is war," The Queen replied calmly.

I looked to my side. Nenandil gave me a thumbs up. Boy, she was still pissed. So I pumped SP into my ghostly spellcasters.

"arch-magister, take down that wall."

Hedrakraut, I learned his name, started to cast with his two apprentices as support casters. The earth started to shake as their spell gathered power. Five thousand SP left me. Then five thousand more.

I could see dust falling from the wall and my {Tremorsense} was going nuts. The people on the walls lost their footing and fled. A tall knight grabbed the Empress in a bridal carry and ran. Another ten thousand SP and the spell was finished.

The world opened a gaping maw. It greedily swallowed the palace walls, gatehouse, and a good portion of the gatehouse. Those slow on their feet perished as they fell into what could be a bottomless hole. Their ghosts came and I enticed them to my side.

I didn't have pale skin and heterochromatic eyes, but I could see the charm in having the dead by my side.

We waited for the tremors to end. Then I shifted into a flying form and crossed the hole with the rest of my airborne army. Mata Hari stayed behind with Adrian and the were-kin. It was not their fight although I'd rely on them for securing the deal and the aftermath.

Hedrakraut was a crafty fellow. He made the palace wards but what h didn't tell the Emperor was that he put a backdoor on the wards. They didn't affect the caster or those he granted immunity. After I forced him to do that for us - I had to argue that he'd cost me almost fifty million Exp already - the palace was just a pile of rocks for us.

We heard a commotion inside the main building. Several loud people were having a shouting contest. It devolved into the clash of metal and the shouts of the dying. Soon a ghost came to tell me what was happening.

The nobles revolted. A mutiny was in place and the Imperial knights were fighting the nobles to protect the Empress.

As Izaro said in his labyrinth,

"Pity the emperor who sits alone on his throne."

An Emperor was only as good as his key supporters. And these key supporters wanted very much to stay alive. I gave the marquis' ghost his instructions and sent him back to materialize between them.

Empress Alicia was screaming behind her knights. She couldn't tell friend from foe anymore. What kind of witchcraft did those fairies evoke to turn her faithful nobles against her? The knights were strong and well-trained, but the nobles were in bigger numbers and weren't without tricks of their own.

Then the ghost of Marquis Hadenskraft appeared above everyone.

"Stop this nonsense fighting!" The spectral apparition screamed. "The army of the dead grows in power with each drop of blood you shed!" Its warning was paradoxically sensible.

It continued, "A bounty of a thousand kingmetal coins will be paid to those that bring the Empress forward to negotiate peace. By Bundeus' glory and Yznera's grace, the restless dead will go away once the treaty is in place."

Those two promises made everyone halt their weapons mid-swing. The Empress sensed a high-rarity perk in action. Somehow the accursed fairies had the power of negotiation. Her System said as much.

Contested Charisma check passed.

But her build was geared toward winning these kinds of tests. The others, not so much for a lack of levels and Class rarity.

"Sir Rufus," Duke Hepburn asked her head knight. "They have the arch-magister's spells on their side and are more numerous. The dead could've overrun us already, and yet we fight among ourselves. For the sake of peace and the Divine Providence, let's hear what the fairies have to say."

Rufus glanced at her. She felt her heart clench. Either option was terrible. Marquis Hadenskraft's ghost tilted the scales.

"I'm sure the Empress is distressed enough because her daughter is with the enemy. Sir Rufus, bring her. She'll come back to her senses once Her Highness is safely ensconced in Her Imperial Majesty's bosom."

"So shall it be. Let Bundeus' Glory protect us!" Sir Rufus shouted and was soon echoed by everyone present. Fervor and the wish to see the end to the nightmare made them move.

They came out and I released the breath I didn't know I was holding. The Empress walked with her knights behind her, dignified. I gotta give it to her, she has a fuckton of Attribute points in Willpower and Charisma. She was the only one that resisted my {Divine Negotiator} empowered offer.

"Step forward, the leader of this rabble," The Empress shouted. "We are under a truce flag until negotiations end."

I clopped my hooves forward. Nenandil and the Queen calmly fluttered on either side.

"I am the leader here. My name is Silverstreak, but I am also known as the Death Princess."

The nobles a put bit of exaggeration in their reaction.

"What are your demands, fairy Silverstreak?" The Empress refused to use my title.

"Peace. We wish for peace and to keep our way of living. Humans are to be banned from the fey forest, which will become a vassal state to the Empire. The outlying villages and cities are to be evacuated. We'll regrow the forest. Also, the slavery and hunting of our kin are forevermore forbidden. In exchange, we will not slaughter everyone here, the fairies and our other allies will offer aid in times of need, and pay tribute in pixie dust according to our means of production. No taxes will be levied by the Empire in our domain. Intruders will be shot on sight. Mother Yznera agreed to send elves to live with us.

"Furthermore, I shall grant my strongest blessing upon the Princess here with me. I'll also return the contents of the treasury, the granary, and your private bedchamber."

The Empress blushed. someone interrupted before she could answer.

"One more thing!" Nenandil fiercely demanded. "I will deliver punishment upon the Empress for treating me and the fairy Queen as toys."

"Agreed," the fairy Queen smirked. "Nenandil the elder lake fairy shall apply punishment on my behalf."

"The Empress accept," Some Duke guy stepped forward and clasped the Empress's shoulder.

"Cousin..." She whispered.

"Silence, cousin," He whispered back. Then he said out loud. "What blessings are you willing to provide to the princess?"

I answered, "I shall endow her with great wisdom and beauty. The princess' voice will be as beautiful as a choir of angels and shall drive envy in the hearts of lesser elves. She will also have great health and access to a wider selection of Classes. Furthermore, She'll learn Skills faster than normal."

"Those are mighty gifts," Duke 'cousin' said. "But they are too mighty. What's the catch?"

This guy was sharp and level-headed. "She will become fey-touched. She will live longer than normal humans, and will both love and be loved by the fairies. She'll be a liaison between the fae and humanity. Once she grows tired of the world of mortals, she'll find shelter and solace with my brethren. Those of her blood will also gain a minor boon and will find distasteful to hurt fairies."

The Duke pointed at the were-kin. "What about those monsters?"

"Watch your mouth, human," I hissed at him, feeling the boggart wanting to come out. "I still have the upper hand here. It is only my peaceful nature that keeps my growing bloodlust in check."

"I stand corrected," The Duke nodded. "what about the werewolves?"

"They will go with us. The were-folk will no longer inhabit the catacombs of your city. They will range the territory of this new vassal state and work as farmers, traders, and protectors for themselves and their inhabitants. There will be trade and migration.

"I also hope the Duke, with the wisdom he's shown so far, can look beyond mere appearances. The were-kin is not dangerous although they have their special needs. They are also loyal and fierce in combat. I know which I prefer, to have them as allies or as enemies. I beg the Duke to ponder on that himself."

He nodded. "Wise words, fairy. Wise words. Very well. Grant the princess her blessing and return Her Highness to her rightful place."

"Not before giving the Slaver Empress her punishment," Nenandil fluttered forward and shouted at the Duke's face. Boy, she was pissed.

"Will it hurt her?"

"No," the elder lake fairy said. "Only her pride."

"For the sake of peace and to get rid of the undead, go ahead," The Duke declared.

Nenandil cast a spell. The Empress eyes crossed and she brought both hands to her crotch. With a shriek of anguish, she fell to the side, shivering and gasping.

"Dammit, Nenandil!" I scolded my fairy familiar. "What have you done?"

She gave me a wicked grin, "I froze the Empress's pussy!"