Triumphant Return...?

Michael looks over the abilities and smiles to himself, yet another ridiculously powerful spirit to add to his growing power base. The ability to collect and devour souls was a scary one, which was made even more apparent to Michael when the knowledge of how to use the skill burrowed its way into his mind... He could only describe it as truly... Demonic.

Now this wasn't surprising given that Shadow Fiend was literally a demon, but he was sure anyone who'd see him doing it would be at best scared or worried, and at worst disgusted enough to instantly demand a crusade against him...

Still, he wasn't planning on stealing souls in front of anyone he didn't already absolutely trust, nor was he going to leave survivors to start spreading rumours about him.

He flips open the now named Book of Demigods to Shadow Fiend's page, quickly spotting the realistic portrait of the demon. Unlike in the game which made Shadow Fiend look somewhat goofy, right now he looked like a horrific mass of shadow bathed in crimson light, that occasionally let slip the face of a soul that was trapped within the being.

Shadow Fiend couldn't really be called humanoid, or any of the sort... Even the being's mouth and eyes were just held that held shining crimson lights. Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to meeting the Spirit when he had the chance.

Finally, he decided to access the roulette wheel to see what items he'd find this time. Most of the items he had weren't all that useful... His Flamecloak was more than useless in the Deadlands, the Blink Dagger wouldn't function due to the constant burning you experienced... Even his Phase Boots were a little useless when Dagon could just teleport in front of him...

Shaking his head, he just spins it, not expecting anything of worth to appear.

Holy Locket, an artifact that gains charges when spells are used nearby it. It can expel the charges to heal and supply mana to someone. It also passively boosts the users stats.

Wind Lace, makes the user slightly faster... Preeeetty trash.

Hand of Midas, turns a target into gold... Nice? Not all that useful considering that he had a Philosopher's Stone passively generating gold for him anyway...

Michael stores the items in his inventory, he'd hand some stuff out when he got back, maybe he could play everything off as him taking a small vacation or something... Yeah, no, that wasn't going to work.

"Well, time to get back and face the thunder then." he mutters as he slowly gets to his feet, beginning to cast Dimension Gate again to return to Winterhold.

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Upon his return to Winterhold Michael was first greeted by the sight of his Spire that was basically completed, only requiring the final touches, along with the Eye of Magnus... Oh, he should probably check on that, shouldn't he?... Eh, he'd get to it once he'd found the girls, it couldn't be too bad right?

The next thing he was greeted with was a few stone towers that were being constructed by the workers that lacked any jobs now that his Spire was basically done.

They weren't even a quarter built yet, but there were already ballistae positioned near each site, as if they were ready and waiting for a threat to appear. The siege weapons were created by Skyrend of course, meaning that his business had picked up, especially since Winterhold, one of the smallest and most isolated places had bought some.

He continues walking around Winterhold in search of the girls, eventually spotting Tiffania walking back from the 'Eredar District' as it had started being called.

She looks at him and continues walking, only to do a doubletake to finally recognise him. "M-Michael!" she exclaims, rushing forward and dive-bombing him in a hug. "Where have you been!? It's been weeks since you disappeared!"

"Would you believe me if I said 'On vacation?'" he asks and chuckles when she punches him on the arm a couple times.

She then grabs his face and looks over his face with a worried expression, "What happened to your eyes... And your hair!"

Ah, she's talking about Auroth's Blood Gift... The changes didn't just extend to his hair and eyes, he'd started to grow small thin scales around his forearms, elbows, shins and knees. Thankfully, that appeared to be the extent of it... For now at least. "I may have had a haircut..." he jokes while catching the girl in a tight hug, incredibly happy to finally be back and out of Dagon's grasp.

She pouts as she hears his answer, "I'll get the others so we can talk... But first." she grabs his arm and starts dragging him to the inn. "You need to make up for all the trouble you've caused me!"

...

He grins, "Sure, you know I'd never say no to that..."

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It's half a day later that the rest of the group finally realised that Michael was back... And that was only because of the numerous complaints the inn had received due to the sounds coming from his room. He and Tiffania had forgotten to use any silencing spells in their haste...

Anyway, Michael and a red-faced Tiffania sat down with everyone else, Maria, Saya, Megumin, and Illococoo, before he told them anything however, he made sure to ask the most important question. "What happened to Saarthal?"

"Ah... That's what you first say? No 'Sorry for ditching you all with no prior notice' or anything?" Saya asks in bafflement.

Michael shakes his head, "No, that comes after you answer my question first. Saarthal is a big fucking deal, tell me what happened and I'll tell you how I ended up in literal hell." he shortly says, not wanting to dance about the subject matter, even with how happy he was to see them all.