by Tao Wong
Of course, they were also idiots. The True Name of a demon wasn’t something you just let others know. It was one of those closely guarded secrets of mages the world over, and the trio had decided to chant it while the initiate and myself were in the same room.
Before I could roll my eyes yet again, the voices of our kidnappers rose in unison, indicating the end of the ritual. I glanced at the notification in the corner of my vision, my lips twisting around the gag.
Henry Tsien has gained 9 health points from Heal.
Not enough time, damn it. I had no choice now as, with the ritual over, the acrid smell of sulfur filled the room and flowed from the circle. Within moments, a demon had appeared. Surprisingly, it stood only five feet tall, its humanoid body covered in light-red scales over paler, pinkish skin beneath. In its mouth, a cigar hung, held in place by a whip-thin tail.
“You called?” the demon said.
“We have summoned you, Ilarx Jaa Ba, to make a deal!” Zac intoned immediately.
“Whoa, you can tone down the theatrics. I’m here already. And you can just call me Il,” Il said, waving a hand as he turned to survey the trio. He barely spared any of them a glance before his eyes landed on the pair of us, narrowing.
“We are here… Il… to offer you a deal. A contract,” Zac said, his voice losing some of its confidence.
“For your souls, right?” Il interrupted, the horned devil shaking his head. “You three for what, riches and women?”
“What we require is laid out in the document by your feet,” Zac replied, gesturing to the bundle of paper.
Il reached out and tapped the document with his foot. For a second, it glowed, and then the entire document burst into flames. “Not interested.”
“What? We’re offering you—”
“Your souls at the end of your demise. Which will be thousands of years from now at best. Not interested,” Il said with a snort. “Anyway, the market for ordinary souls like yours crashed twenty years ago and hasn’t recovered. Too many damn collateralized soul obligations that weren’t properly insured.”
“But—” Zac looked lost, and I snorted through my gag. I glanced at Alexa who sat in her chair stiffly, staring at the demon in our midst.
“Now, for those two…” the demon said and grinned.
“Those two?” Zac asked, turning to stare at us. “I… we…”
“Come now. They are obviously your backup plan. And it’s not your soul,” Il said, leering at Zac.
“Zac, we can’t,” Gupta said, glancing down at the burned papers and then us. “This isn’t what we agreed to.”
Zac stood stock still, not answering his friend. Ozzie stared at Zac, an unreadable expression on his face, while the demon murmured softly, “Women. Wealth. What else do you desire? For those two…”
A tearing of cloth was heard from beside me, so soft I would never have heard it if I hadn’t been waiting for that sound for minutes already. I noticed a quick motion, and then suddenly I felt the cold press of iron against my arm. I turned my head to see Alexa sawing at my bindings. Yeah, definitely time to go.
“I can’t…” Zac said, his mouth moving and then he straightened his back. “No.”
“Fuck that,” Ozzie snarled suddenly. “I need that money for my mom. You have a deal, Il.”
“Then bring them to me,” Il said, grinning as he pointed to us. “Before our prey flees.”
My hand free, I raised it and conjured a weak Force Spear. I held it aloft, letting them see the swirling power, an unspoken threat. I saw Ozzie hesitate while Gupta was shouting a denial at Il and Zac was trying to talk sense to Ozzie.
“Free me then, and I’ll collect them myself,” Il said to Ozzie. “Free me, and our deal is complete. My word on it.”
“You can’t, Oz,” Zac said. Struck by a thought, Zac spun to stare at Il and started speaking some gibberish again.
“Zac. Stop it, don’t you dare banish him. Don’t! I’m telling you—” Ozzie snarled and then looked at Il, nodding firmly. “Done.”
My feet were free, and Alexa was working on the last binding on my left hand. I hadn’t dared toss my spear; I didn’t know if injuring Ozzie would break the spell even further. However, when I’d heard him speak, I tossed it forward. Unfortunately, my Force Spear had a dozen feet to cross and his foot only had one.
Ozzie’s foot rubbed against the circle, smearing dried blood across the ground.
“Thank you,” Il said to Ozzie as the demon strolled out of the broken circle, smirking openly and doing nothing to stop my Force Spear. The Force Spear picked Ozzie up and threw him backward, his body flung aside like a ragdoll as my spell collapsed. I had purposely blunted the spear when I’d cast it, not willing to kill just yet.
“Now, let’s finish this,” Il said as he strolled forward.
I stood quickly, tearing the last of the makeshift bandage restraint off the chair and wincing in pain. Alexa turned and stepped in front of me and to the side, crouching low with her tiny dagger held out in front of her.
“Go, Henry,” Alexa snapped after she pulled the gag from her mouth.
“Mmmpff… got this,” I said once I managed to extract the gag.
“Really?” Il laughed derisively as he neared us. Behind him, I could see Gupta next to Ozzie, checking him over while Zac stood, frozen in place. When Alexa suddenly stepped forward into a lunge, Il casually moved to block the attack. Both of them suddenly just stood there, staring at each other in shock.
“Told you Lily has this,” I said, staring at the information that had just popped up.
Error: Your party member (Alexa) has attempted to engage in an out-of-level encounter.
“What magic is this?” Il snarled. The demon moved swiftly, trying to grab Alexa by the neck, and was once again stopped an inch away from touching her. “You are not this powerful, Wizard!”
“Not me,” I said, slowly standing and smiling tightly at the demon. Behind him, I could see Zac’s shocked face. “Just a friend. Now, think it’s time for you to go home, no?”
Rather than reply to me, I saw Il focus. His light-red skin deepened in color as his hand tightened and the smell of sulfur intensified. Strain as he would, Il progressed no further in his attempts to injure Alexa. In turn, Alexa dropped her hand and focused on Zac and the others. Gupta had finally managed to get Ozzie up and was attempting to skedaddle.
“Fine,” Il said finally as he stepped away. “You win this time, Wizard. But I will not be returning empty-handed.” As soon as he said that, Il sauntered toward Ozzie and Gupta.
“Henry,” Alexa said, her eyes darting between the demon, the trio, and myself. Conflict raged on her face, torn between her duty to safeguard me and her duty to protect others.
“Oh, hell,” I said. Pun intended. My mind whirled while I tried to figure out what we could do. I looked again at Il’s information.
Ilarx Jaa Ba (Demon Level 40)
HP: ?/?
Not a powerful demon at all. But he was still more than double my level. Even if we somehow blocked him from grabbing the three, Il would just leave and find someone else to drag back. While this was a poor summoning, Il still had more than sufficient strength to do some real damage before he finally lost his corporeal form.
“Stall him,” I murmured to Alexa as I hurried to Zac. Il cast a look at me, his lips twisting slightly in amusement, but made no move to stop me. Alexa dashed forward, putting herself between Il and his prey.
“How long would it take to banish him?” I asked Zac, eyeing the pair of pages he still held in his hand.
“Uhh… a few minutes maybe,” Zac replied, his voice trembling with fear. “But he has to be in the circle.”
I swore silently, knowing Zac was correct. Even broken, the circle still held the power to banish the demon. Outside of it, it would require significantly more strength. Perhaps I could banish him with the ritual myself, but I couldn’t be sure. The banishment might only
work for those whom had initially participated in the summoning.
At the moment, the demon was glaring at Alexa, who was using her body to block him from moving closer to the pair. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to outguess the demon’s intentions. It was a losing proposition though, the demon being faster than my friend.
“Get ready then.” I stepped into the circle myself, conjured a Force Bolt, and then cooled the air within it. Once it was sufficiently cold, I lobbed it at Il. Immediately, the Force Bolt dissipated as it hit the unseen barrier around the demon, only the traces of chilled air remaining. Still, it was sufficient to grab the demon’s attention.
Error: You are attempting to engage in an out-of-level encounter.
“You attack me?” Il said, eyebrowless brows drawing down as he stared at me, puzzled. In answer, I formed another plain Force Bolt and tossed it at the demon. When he saw the attack dissipate, the demon laughed. “It looks like your protection extends to me as well.”
Error: You are attempting to engage in an out-of-level encounter.
“It does,” I agreed. as I formed another Force Bolt and tossed it. Il stared at me, obviously curious about what I thought I was doing. He wasn’t the only one as Alexa frowned at me.
Error: You are attempting to engage in an out-of-level encounter.
Stop this. If you keep this up, you’ll lose your protection.
Finally. I formed another Force Bolt and lobbed it at Il, who had turned around to deal with the two teenagers attempting to sneak away. This Force Bolt glowed as it passed through the barrier before it smashed into the demon’s back, throwing him forward from the unexpected force.
Force Bolt does 4 damage to Il.
Out-of-level encounter limitation removed.
You better know what you’re doing, Henry.
“Thanks, Lily,” I whispered as the information scrolled through.
Il spun around, red eyes glowing with fury, and crossed the room to grab hold of me. His hand closed around my throat and stopped, but this time, it was due to my Force Shield. I just hoped Zac did his job.
“You humans are so predictable. I could tell you were one of those idiotic heroes the moment I saw the pair of you,” Il said, his hand beginning to squeeze. I grunted, feeling the Force Shield begin to strain even as Il took his time cracking it. “Did you think you could beat me, Wizard? I can see your strength.”
“Fuck. You,” I snarled even as my headache intensified. I felt something cut loose, a sharp pain and a light warmth ran down my lips as a nosebleed sprang.
“Pathetic,” Il said as he clenched tighter.
My Force Shield shattered, the backlash making me reel. Before his hand could close on my throat, Il screamed as Alexa drove her knife into his back, the knife cutting through his body like butter. Il snarled and slapped Alexa in the face, knocking her down. As he reached down to pluck out the smoking blessed knife that had been left in his body, I raised my hand to cast another spell.
Gong Cast
84% Synchronicity
The spell was focused, channeled around the demon’s head. It was so loud that even a few feet away from him, my ears hurt. As for the demon?
Gong does 7 points of damage to Il.
Stunned debuff added.
Deaf debuff added.
Right. That should have made it impossible for the demon to hear Zac at work. Il turned his attention back to me and jabbed a hand outward, reaching for my heart. I stepped back quickly, dodging the grasping hand as I chanted my next spell. A moment later, a Light Ball burst to life in front of Il’s eyes, blinding him and me. The moment it did, I let my feet collapse under me, pulling my heels off the ground and letting gravity take over. Not a moment too soon as the blinded demon’s hand clawed the air where my chest had been a second ago.
Scrambling on all fours, I moved around the circle that had begun to glow. I jabbed my injured arm down toward the broken spot, my fresh blood reforming the circle with added strength and boosting the banishment spell as I forced my own strength into the circle. I flexed that mystical muscle that controlled my mana flow, pushing more mana into the circle with all my might while attempting to stay in control. My head throbbed further, black spots dancing in my eyes.
As I began to consider what to do next, I felt my foot gripped from behind. Lifted off the ground from my foot, I barely escaped knocking my head on the ground as the five-foot demon proceeded to lift me up with one hand. Luckily for me, the demon was too short for what he wanted to do, so he grabbed hold of my opposite thigh.
“Let go,” I snarled as I formed a Force Spear in my hand. I stabbed it into his body as I swung upward. The Force Spear dug into his light, scaled flesh, punching inward a bit. Damage notifications flickered across my eyes, but I ignored them. Il just growled and slapped my hand away. In a second, the Force Spear dispersed.
“You are annoying, Wizard,” Il said, eyes narrowed as he glared at me through half-blinded eyes. “I’m going to enjoy hurting you.”
The demon punctuated his words by plunging his clawed fingers into my torso, fingers closing on my intestines within. I screamed, the spell I had begun to form again dispersing. Before Il could continue his assault, Alexa, who had crawled over to us, plunged the previously discarded knife into his Achilles tendon and tugged on it, slicing it open.
Unable to support himself, the demon collapsed, his fingers still within my body. I was in so much pain even the addition of the fall and the scrabbling of fingers within my stomach added little to the misery I was in. I couldn’t even form a spell the pain was so great.
Henry Tsien dealt 6 damage by falling.
Bleeding debuff received. -4 HP per minute.
Warning: Health is critically low!
“You,” the demon snarled, its wound already healing, even around the smoking flesh of the blessed knife. It kicked at Alexa, who managed to get her hand up in time to shield her head. The kick caught her low and picked her up, sending her spinning out of the circle through the air, the dull thump of her landing body making me wince. “You are really getting on my nerves. This ends now.”
“Yes, it does,” Gupta said as he limped forward and locked hands with Ozzie. Together, the pair made a throwing motion with their hands. A tiny flame floated forward to splash against Il, who stared at them incredulously.
“You used fire? Against me, a demon?” Il said.
“We distracted you,” Ozzie said and spit to the side. “Now go to hell.”
“What?” Il said and spun around, finally recalling Zac.
The leader of the trio was crouched low, reading the chant. Il snarled and lunged toward Zac, coming to a stop as the circle held him in. He struck it again and again, the once-broken circle beginning to fail again. Head buried in his papers, Zac finally finished the banishment, throwing his hand forward at the end, and a small, black vortex formed in the center of the circle. It pulled Il backward, tearing apart his corporeal body. “No! You humans—”
“Got you.” I coughed, clutching my stomach as I watched the demon disappear into thin air. For a second more, I stared at the space where the monster had been before I once again fainted.
Chapter 19
“I have got to stop doing this,” I muttered to myself when I woke up again, my last memory of falling unconscious once more. Surprisingly, I didn’t hurt, which was an extremely pleasant experience. The fact that I didn’t seem to have any recurring side effects from being smacked around so much was amazing. Another surprise was that I wasn’t on the concrete floor but my own bed. As I sat up, I spotted Lily tapping away at her laptops but could not find any sign of the initiate.
“She’s not here,” Lily said to my unasked question. “She’s still getting reamed out for nearly getting you killed.”
“Speaking of that…” I frowned, touching my stomach as I vividly recalled my lifeblood flowing from it.
“Alexa’s people got there before you bled out completely. If Al
exa didn’t have her training in medicine and her faith-healing ability…” Lily said, trailing off meaningfully as her fingers stopped clicking away. I looked to meet her eyes before I was forced to look aside.
“It was pretty dumb, wasn’t it?”
“It was very dumb. But…” Lily paused and then shook her head. The next moment, my status screen appeared in front of my eyes without prompting.
Class: Mage
Level 18 (48% Experience)
Known Spells: Light Sphere, Force Spear, Force Shield, Force Fingers, Alter Temperature, Gong, Gust, Heal, Link, Track, Mend, Ward, Glamour, Illusion, Summon, Iceball, Fireball
Magical Skillset
Mana Flow: 4/10
Mana to Energy Conversion: 3/10
Spell Container: 3/10
Spatial Location: 3/10
Spatial Movement: 3/10
Energy Manipulation: 3/10
Biological Manipulation: 2 /10
Matter Manipulation: 0/10
Summoning: 0/10
Duration: 4/10
“Wow.” I blinked, scanning through the screen for the changes—a couple of levels, a few new spells, more mana flow, control, duration, and biological understanding. “You leveled me.”
“You leveled yourself. The numbers are just the reflection of reality. Well, mostly—you pushed yourself and your abilities enough that I could smooth things out a little. Fighting for your life tends to do that,” Lily said.
“I guess watching someone do the summoning isn’t enough to learn the basics, eh?” I said, and my lip twisted wryly.
“Nor will you yet.” Caleb’s voice cut into the conversation as he walked into the apartment. I frowned as I watched him put his keys into his pocket as he walked forward. “That is knowledge that you neither require nor are ready to wield.”