A Demon's Core

I had hoped I would have more time. I wanted to have more imps so we could have a better chance of victory if we do need to defend ourselves. Second is still out with the two newest imps. But maybe that is for the best. I would not want the child to get caught up in a fight. Hopefully they do not get back before this situation is dealt with. Fourth is in no condition for battle either. Which leaves us with only six capable of fighting if it comes down to that. If we are lucky these humans will not want to fight either. My imps are hiding themselves in preparation to ambush these new invaders. Third and Fourth are in their room. Seventh is in her room. First is in the bathroom. Two of them are hiding in the kitchenette cabinets. One is under the clothes pile. Although it was mostly organized before, he had to mix them all together into a single pile again in order to hide under it effectively.

I want to check on Fourth, but when I go into their room I am confused that can not see Third anywhere. I know he is in the room. I always know were my imps are when they are within my domain. Yet I do not see him. Then I notice the gouges running up the wall by the door. So I look up and there he is above the door. The claws of his feet and one hand digging into the wall to keep him in place with one of his longer sharpened bones held in his other hand. I did not realize they could climb the walls like that. While I am impressed, they probably should not do it too much as it is quite damaging to the wall.

I head out to the hallway so I can get a look at the approaching humans. I know I will only be able to catch glimpses of them as they pass through the strips of my domain I have laid across the hallway. But it should be enough to give me an idea of what we are up against.

Soon the stairwell door opens and the first human enters. He is holding a sword in one hand, an actual sword, not just a machete, and a shield in the other. Though his shield is much smaller than Shield guy’s was. More of a buckler really. Others follow immediately behind. After the first few I am increasingly dismayed with each additional human that crosses the threshold.

There are ten in total. With a variety of weapons between them. Swords, machetes, axes, daggers and knives. Some have shields, others do not. We are outnumbered. This does not bode well. But there is something more concerning than that. Though I only saw it for a moment, at least one of them has a gun holstered to his side. Even just a few of them having guns could be serious trouble. My imps may be fast, but I do not think they are faster than bullets.

At least I gain mana as each one enters the hallway and then even more as they pass over the second strip of my domain. But then I do not see them for a while. Much longer than I would expect it should take them to reach the next strip, even with whatever obstacles my imps may have built. But they have not tried to leave yet so they must have stopped for some reason. Most likely they have noticed the drain of leaving a dungeon hit them twice and are trying to figure it out.

One of the humans crouches down by the wall where I can see him and places his hand on the floor.

“Stick to the wall as close as you can.” He says. I wonder if that man is mana sensitive like Jenna. All ten humans are soon lined up along the wall. They slowly start moving forward and I can see the flaw in my plan. As long as they are even a little bit within my domain it still counts. Having run along one wall of they hallway gives them a way to easily bypass what should have been an effective defensive measure. This is inconvenient, but it is a mistake I will not repeat in the future.

Their progress is still slowed when they have to move some of the barricades, but only slightly. At one point one of them trips and falls out of my vision, giving me more mana. It is still disappointing that I could not get even more from them.

They continue past the door to Room 3 without even pausing. I guess they know what they are looking for. And they think they know where to find it. Moving on straight to Room 5 the one at the front tries to open the door only to find it locked. One of the humans further back tries moving around the others to get to the front. But there is not enough room for him to get past the others easily without stepping out of my territory. Eventually he gives up and takes the hit as he disappears from my perception. Soon reappearing by the door with lock picking tools. Irksome, but not entirely unexpected.

I warn my imps of the impending breach and I sense First move through the hole in the wall into Room 3, then to the door of that room. Is she planning to come around behind them? The door is soon open and the humans stream into the room.

I can not help but be amused at their confusion. They were obviously expecting to see my core and probably my imps too, but instead they see nothing. Just an empty room.

“Where is it? It’s supposed to be here!” The lead human demands.

“Are you sure we have the right room?” One of the others asks.

“According to information from the client, this is where the core is supposed to be. Guarded by ‘miniature demons’.” The first human responds.

“And where did this client get their information?”

“He said he got it from his contact in the DMO.”

DMO? What is that, I wonder. I can only assume it is some kind of human organization. That first human, who seems like he might be the leader if he is the only one who had contact with their 'client', is starting to look frustrated now.

“Maybe someone else already took it.” One of the others suggested.

“No. We all felt the effects of the dungeon on the way here. That means the core must still be here somewhere. The way the dungeon has expanded in the hallway isn’t normal and is a clear sign of intelligence. Meaning this dungeon has a controller. They probably moved the core after they were found before.” The leader explains.

A controller? What is that supposed to mean. Nobody controls me. I am the only one in control of this dungeon. Maybe that is what they are referring to? I think I need to learn more about what the humans refer to as dungeons. But I do not currently have a way to communicate with them. But even if I did, I am not sure I would want to communicate with these specific humans unless it was to tell them to leave. They do not seem friendly.

“Spread out. Find the core. Kill anything that gets in your way.” The leader orders. Well that confirms that they are definitely not friendly.

These humans are enemies. Engage them at will. Do not show mercy. I doubt they will. I tell my imps. I send all of them some of the mana I gained from the humans. I hope the extra little energy boost will help. First is moving down the hallway to the Room 5 door. Waiting for the right time to take action.

The room is not big and there is not much to see in it so the humans have quickly spread out and are moving towards the doors and a couple of them heading for the cabinets. The only way this could be more perfect is if one of them went to inspect the clothes pile as well.

The first to act is Third as one of the humans enters his room. He drops down from above the door onto the man's shoulders. Stabbing his sharpened bone down into the side of the man's neck and pushing it in deep. The man stumbles back, Third still on his shoulders, blood erupting from his neck as Third rips the bone out. As the man falls Third jumps off his shoulder with a savage grin. The mana I gain when the human dies is extraordinary.

“What the fuck?!” One of the humans yells before the room erupts into chaos as the other imps attack.

Fifth and Sixth emerged from their cabinets. Fifth slashing and stabbing at the human who was about to open his. The human pulled away but still suffered a rather deep cut on his forearm before bashing Fifth aside with his shield. Sixth charges at another human nearby and managed to bury his hatchet in the man's calf, eliciting a pained cry.

Eighth jumped up from under the clothes pile rushing towards the nearest human and thrusting his spear into the man's thigh. First charged through the door and managed to stab one man in the lower back with her bone spear.

Seventh came out of her room and leapt at the nearest human, catching him off guard. She gripped his shoulder with one hand, digging her claws in, while stabbing at his chest with her knife and kicking at him with her feet. Her talons tearing bloody gouges in his abdomen and upper thighs while he screamed. Her ferocity honestly surprises me a little.

None of the others had managed to score a quick decisive kill like Third had but it was a good start. But now the humans have gotten over their initial shock and they are retaliating. For all the initial attack had injured several humans and killed one, there were still others yet unharmed.

The man whose thigh had been speared by Eighth wielded a fire axe and he swung it wide enough to catch Eighth in the neck. The first casualty among my imps. Even though he had barely been here more than a day, I was still devastated by the loss. Apparently I even gain mana when my imps die. Not as much as humans, but still a significant amount. It is little consolation compared to what I have lost.

The leader of the humans dropped his sword and pulled out his gun and pointed it towards Seventh who was still clawing and stabbing at her victim. He fired three shots. One hit the man she was attacking but the other two found their mark, hitting her in the side of her chest. She fell to the floor with a pained screech. She was not dead yet, but she was not going to last long and I still had not figured out a way to heal them so there was nothing I could do to help her.

Two other men also have guns. One of them is near Third, who is charging at him. He only has time for one shot before Third leaps at him. Third was hit in the chest but it did not stop him as he started stabbing and clawing and biting at the man. But I can see his attacks are slowing down as blood oozes from the hole in his chest. He still manages to kill the man before slumping to the ground himself.

First turns to the man with the axe and springs towards him, leaving her first victim still alive, but moaning and bleeding on the ground. She vaults onto the couch and launches herself at him. Plunging her spear into his throat. He falls backwards from the force of her impact. Gurgling as he tries to push her of. First pushes her spear deeper, then with a savage twist his body goes limp.

The man Sixth is fighting slashes down with his sword slicing deep into Sixth’s shoulder. Sixth screeches and stumbles back but before he can recover the sword pierces through his chest.

Fifth ducks under a swipe from a machete then gets in close to the man before he can get his shield up. Jumping straight up he manages to thrust one of his knives up under the man's chin burying it in a deep as it will go. As he falls there are several gunshots from another man. One of the shots catches Fifth in the head and he falls lifelessly to the floor.

First pulls her spear from the throat of the man it is currently lodged in, but the knife comes loose, leaving her with only a bone with some tape on the end. She throws the bone at the nearest human who knocks it away with his sword, but in doing so leaves himself open for First to jump onto him and start biting at his neck and tearing out a large chunk of flesh with her teeth. Without hesitation she rushes towards the next closest human. But there is two still with guns and they are firing at her without restraint. Of course she can not evade the bullets and falls to floor right at the feet of one of them men who quickly steps back.

I scream in rage and grief and despair and hate and pain. But they can not hear me. Most of imps now lay dead or dying and I can do nothing to help them. Only Fourth remains, still in her room. I only hope she can remain hidden.

Four humans remain, though one is injured. Their leader is unfortunately one of the survivors. He and the other with a gun are reloading as they expended their clips trying to take down First. Then the leader begins cautiously searching the room again starting with the bathroom. Seeing the hole in the wall he scowls and hastily leaves the room heading for Room 3. Too bad the door is locked and unfortunately for him, his guy who could pick locks is already dead. Not that there is anything to find in there anyway.

The other man with a gun is checking on the injured guy and trying to administer what first aid he can. He has lost a lot of blood though and it is clear he is going to need some real medical attention.

The last man is also still searching and I am filled with dread as he heads towards Fourth’s room. As he enters the room he is stabbed in the side of of the neck by Fourth who was hiding by the door with her spear. He stumbles back clutching at his neck. The man administering first aid reacts immediately. Aiming his gun at the wall by the door and firing several times. The wall is obviously not thick enough to stop the bullets and all I can do is watch on in anguish as Fourth’s life is abruptly cut short.

Their leader comes rushing back into the room, probably because of the gunshots.

“We need to go.” The other man says, pressing a now blood soaked rags against the injured man's neck.

“Not without the core.” The leader growls back. He looks around for the man who picked the first lock and starts digging through his pockets.

“No Jack. We need to go now.” The other man pleads.

“If we don’t bring back the core, we don’t get paid.” The leader, apparently named Jack, yells back.

“Six people are already dead. We’re going to lose two more if we don’t leave right now. Is money really more important than their lives? We don’t even know if there are other creatures waiting to ambush us.”

“FUCK!” Jack shouts, throwing the lock picking tools against the wall. He crouches down to lift the first of his injured companions from the floor, eliciting a pained groan. I am honestly surprised that Jack has more of a conscience than I thought. The other man picking up the second injured guy, still holding the rags to his neck, trying to slow the bleeding. They head out the door and I rage at my own inability to stop them. I try throwing mana at them, but it accomplishes nothing.

On their way to the stairwell the man carrying the one with the neck injury stumbles and they both fall out of my field of view. I gain a rush of mana, the kind of mana I get from someone dying. The man reenters my perception, now without his bleeding friend and continues towards the stairs.

I have failed. I may have survived, but I failed to protect my imps even as they gave their lives to protect me. Impotent, weak, pathetic...useless.

I wanted to bring the imps here so I could give them a better life. Instead I just brought them here to die. What good am I if I cannot even protect them?