A Demon's Core

I had hoped that things would be peaceful while Igneous was gone, or at least that no new problems would suddenly arise, since we are already dealing with enough as it is, but it seems we are not going to be that lucky.

I have been working on claiming more area on the roof, starting with a strip that goes all the way around the perimeter. This allows me to contact whoever is on watch if needed, as they are usually walking close to the edge to observe the surrounding area. But it can now also give me an indication if they have seen something without them needing to come and tell me directly.

It is not uncommon for at least a few other imps to be up on the roof as it does give them a lot of room to run around and play, so when one imp sees something interesting, they will often all gather at the edge to look at it. Even though it is not always something important, I will still investigate if I notice them gathering like this. At times, it is just a bird or they are watching other imps on the ground below as they come and go. This is not one of those times.

I reach out to the nearest imp, a male who was given the name Cypress, and ask him what they are looking at.

“Cars and humans,” he replies.

How many?

“Three cars, lots of humans.”

How many is lots?

“Lots,” he repeats after looking back over the edge of the building at the ground below to count.

Well, that is not especially helpful. Marble is currently on the roof so I ask her to come over to take a look and show me what she sees. Unfortunately, it is just a little too late. The images she sends show three black, boxy vehicles, but she only sees four armoured humans just before they enter the building.

Did anyone actually manage to count them? I ask all the gathered imps.

I receive a few different answers in response, but they all agree that it is more than ten. The vehicles look similar to the one that the Honey Badgers came in and there were six of them, including the driver. If each of these brought the same number, then there could be around eighteen of them, give or take a few. If they left a driver behind with each vehicle, then there may be a few less, but that is not guaranteed.

When the humans reach the stairs, I count seventeen. I need to act quickly, although I have almost reached all the way to the ground floor, so that does buy us some time. The first thing I do is ask Rose to get on the radio and call William on the emergency frequency to see if he either knows what is happening or can do anything to help.

I do not think I need to wait for these humans to climb all the way up here to consider them enemies. With this many armoured humans approaching all at once, I find it hard to believe their intentions could be peaceful. The speed of their progress is also disconcerting. By the time we hear back from William, they are already past the second floor and on their way to the third so I create a mana shield ahead of them to block their path. He does not know anything about the people attacking us, but he sounds pretty distressed when we tell him how many there are and says he will see what he can do.

The humans split up at that point. Twelve of them move back down and leave the stairwell at the second floor; that is concerning, to say the least. What could they be intending to do from there?

I instruct Rose to hide my core and then do a mental tally of who is here at the moment and who is currently out. I think I am going to need everyone here for this. I tell the imps on the roof to come down and make sure all of them follow, Marble too.

Violet is out so I contact her and let her know that I am about to summon her, and anyone with her, back here. It is unfortunate that all four of the hellhounds are also not here, since they require the most mana to recall. Though with the amount of mana crystals I have now and the mana I received from the twelve humans who just left, I have some to spare. I consider bringing Igneous back as well, but decide to leave that as a last resort, given the importance of his current mission.

Maintaining the mana shield blocking the humans while also trying to bring everyone back is quite difficult. Even though I have practised multi-tasking a little, it is a lot harder to focus on tasks in different locations than it is doing two things in the same room. Despite my best effort to keep the mana wall stable, I can feel it beginning to waver so I direct a little bit more of my focus towards it, though doing so conversely affects how fast I can summon everyone back.

Once everyone has returned, I explain the situation to them as I understand it. The imps who had to be summoned back are without clothes, but that is hardly a priority right now. I instruct them to find what weapons they can from the items stored in Room 7. Violet is particularly disappointed as she returns with a metal banded wooden shield.

“It’s not as good as mine,” she complains.

You can go and get yours back after this situation is dealt with.

Even though I am now able to devote more of my attention to the mana shield blocking the humans, I can still feel it fluctuating. It is a curious sensation that should not be happening now that my focus is no longer so divided. I move down to inspect it and try to understand what is going on.

I place my hand against the shield and can feel minute ripples moving across it. But I also feel mana that is not mine spreading through it. I can only assume the human at the head of this group is doing something to it.

I should not be surprised. Jenna said that the mana shield is one of the first things human magic users learn, it stands to reason that those who are inclined towards combat would, at the very least, learn some methods of countering it.

The humans can break my mana shield. I can make more, but that will only serve to delay them. I inform Violet and Rose as the human’s interference with the shield intensifies and I put a little more of my own effort into holding it.

“We should kill them while they are still in the stairwell. That will limit their manoeuvrability and make it harder for them to fight back,” Rose suggests.

The plan was for the imps to split up into two groups. One group would attack the humans from above and the other would move down to the ground floor and come up to attack the humans from behind. The hellhounds would be staying though, as the stairs are also harder for them to move in quickly due to their size, which would make them an easier target to shoot at.

The only problem with this plan, however, was that a number of the humans left the stairwell at the second floor so the imps would need to get past them without being noticed. They needed to find out what was happening on the second floor before proceeding.

The male imp named Sneak volunteered to go take a look, once again boasting of his ability to move around without being noticed. Rose had observed a few times since he was summoned that, while playing games, he was indeed better at moving quietly and hiding when needed, which did lend credence to his claims of being able to avoid detection while stealing from vukra. She was still apprehensive though, as they stood over a hole in one of the third floor bedrooms leading down.

“This won’t be like sneaking past vukra. We could be dealing with trained soldiers so you can expect them to be on high alert for any signs of enemies. It’s going to be dangerous, are you sure you want to do this?” She whispered.

“Fighting is dangerous. Still have to do it. I do this,” he insisted.

“Alright, be careful.”

Sneak jumped down the hole, landing almost silently on the floor below before moving out of sight to scout the area. While Rose waited for him to return, or for any indication that something had gone wrong, she was contacted by Magentam.

They managed to completely destabilise my shield. I have put up another, but it is only a matter of time before they get through that one too. What is the situation on the second floor?

‘Sneak is still checking on it,’ Rose replied.

It wasn’t long before Sneak was standing at the bottom of the hole again.

“No one’s here,” he called out, not bothering to try to keep quiet anymore.

“They have to be there somewhere. There’s nowhere else they could go,” Rose retorted.

“Maybe they go through the metal doors?” Sneak suggested.

“Those doors don’t open,” Rose countered and Sneak shrugged in response.

“They open now,” he stated.

Rose had to take a moment to process what he had just said before descending to the floor below herself. She rushed out to the hallway and looked towards the elevator and was astonished to see that, just as Sneak had said, the doors were open.

‘Magentam, the humans aren’t on the second floor anymore and the elevator doors are open. Could they have got them working again?’ She reported.

Without power, that is highly unlikely. But with the right skills and equipment, it would not be impossible for them to climb up the elevator shaft. We need to deal with the ones in the stairwell quickly.

‘Send the others down and we’ll begin.’

After only a short wait, Rose and Sneak were joined by several other imps, all ready and eager for battle. As they moved into the stairwell, she heard Magentam’s voice again.

The humans are currently between the third and fourth floors. Go now, I will do what I can to help.

Rose charged up the stairs with the others following closely behind. When they had almost reached their target, she felt a wave of mana wash over her; while it wasn’t enough to cause her to falter, she could feel the force of it as it hit her. It was followed shortly by the sound of gunfire, screeching imps and muffled shouting of humans, which meant that the group coming from above had already engaged with the humans so they rushed to catch up.

The five humans were struggling to fight off the imps who were running, jumping and climbing up the walls, clawing, biting and stabbing at them whenever they saw an opportunity. Only two of the humans were still on their feet, the other three likely having been knocked down by the wave of mana Rose felt a moment earlier. One of them had even fallen all the way back down to the landing; he was the first descended upon by Rose and the others coming up from the lower floor.

These had armour and weapons like those used by the Honey Badgers who had attacked previously, with the only notable difference being their face covering. They wore masks that covered their entire faces with large cylinders protruding outward from either side of the lower half of the mask.

The humans could not effectively use their guns with the imps on top of them as they were or they would risk hitting each other. Despite their superior size and strength, it was hard for them to fight back when they were so outnumbered, but even so, they did not go down easily.

The one who had fallen to the landing was quickly overwhelmed before he could get back up, but the others were quicker to get on their feet. The armour they wore made it hard to target the human’s vital areas and even with their numbers, it was difficult for the imps to overpower them. With knives or their fists, these humans were putting up a better fight than Rose expected.

But Rose didn’t have to fight the same way as the others. She reached out with her mana and grabbed a hold of one human’s head and pulled it towards her with as much power as she could muster. The man stumbled and had to reach for the hand rail to keep himself from tumbling down the stairs. Though he did not fall as Rose had hoped he would, the distraction still proved fatal as a knife sank into the back of his calf. The man cried out in pain as he dropped to one knee. As if his shout was a lure, several imps leapt towards him all at once, stabbing and clawing at any gaps in his armour.

One imp jumped onto his shoulders and grabbed for the front of his helmet, attempting to pull it off. Though the helmet was securely held in place by straps to prevent its removal, his head was pulled back enough to expose his neck. That opportunity was not missed by the other imps and one launched herself up to slash at the exposed flesh with her claws.

Coal was also wreaking havoc on the humans. Keeping up with the naturally speedy regular imps was already a challenge, but an imp that could teleport to attack their weak points and teleport away again when they try to remove him was an even greater threat.

Violet appeared to be in a frenzy, climbing up the wall or a human to furiously bash their head with her shield and stab at them with her knife with little regard for anything else. Anytime she was thrown off, she didn’t hesitate to climb back up and do it again.

Unfortunately, Rose wasn’t the only one here who could use magic. One of the humans had managed to not only create a shield to keep the imps from reaching him, but was using magic to pull imps off his companions and toss them away as best he could. Surely that wasn’t something Magentam would ignore if there was anything she could do about it, meaning the human was not currently within Magentam’s reach; It was up to Rose to do something about it.

Apparently the humans had a way of breaking mana shields, but Rose didn’t have time to figure out how they did it, so she would just have to go with what she already knew. She charged towards the shielded human to place her hands on his shield and began draining mana from it. The human looked down at her and she could see his eyes through the strange mask he wore as they narrowed into a glare. Expecting retaliation, she raised a shield of her own a moment before a wave of mana crashed down upon her. Her shield absorbed the brunt of the impact but the force of it still pushed her back a few steps. She heard shrieks from other imps who were less prepared, but she didn’t have the time to check on them now that the magic wielding human’s attention was focused entirely on her.

Rose struggled to maintain her shield under the relentless assault as she was continuously buffeted with attacks. But the attacks were not all the same; some were like a great hammer crashing into her shield, while others were like a blade slashing across it and others still, like a fine point trying to pierce through it. The thin piercing attacks were coming from all directions, as though probing her defences, looking for any weak points in her shield.

She tried to fight back, lashing out with her own mana, but it was hard to do so while also focusing on defence. What attacks she could manage to make were simple and weak compared to the human’s and they broke harmlessly upon his shield. She knew she was outclassed here, but as long this human was focused on her, it meant he wasn’t helping his companions. As she was pushed backwards again, her foot came down on one of the steps that was part of the dungeon and she felt mana rushing into her, replenishing what she had used so far and giving her an additional boost on top of that. She was grateful for the aid from Magentam and funneled more mana into bolstering her shield

Without support from their mage, the other remaining humans were quickly overwhelmed. One of them even tried firing his gun again as a last resort and while he did manage to hit one imp, the others descended upon him in a fury.

Soon there was only one human left, protected behind his mana shield and Rose worried about what he would do, now that he no longer had to worry about harming his companions with his attacks.

But before she could find out, Coal appeared directly in front of the human’s face. The dark grey imp grabbed a hold of the human, digging the talons on his feet in wherever they could find purchase. With one hand, he held onto the side of the man’s helmet, while he clawed at the mask with the other.

The human tried to grab Coal and, rather than disappearing as expected, he instead latched onto the man’s arm and bit into the inside of his elbow where the armour offered less protection. The man cried out in pain and started punching Coal, which only prompted the imp to bite down harder.

Whether due to pain or panic, the man was not able to maintain focus and his mana shield faltered and dissipated allowing the other imps to pounce on him as well. Together, they quickly finished him off.

When they were sure it was over, the imps moved away from the body, all except one. Violet sat atop what was left of the human, desperately tearing at it with her claws. She seemed to have lost her weapon at some point, but that didn’t stop her at all. She even threw her shield to the side so she could more effectively ravage the corpse. Rose approached slowly, brow furrowed in concern.

“Violet?” She called out, but the purple imp didn’t respond, she didn’t even slow down.

Carefully, she reached out and placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Violet spun around to face her, hyperventilating and with a hysterical look in her eyes.

“You can stop now. The humans are dead,” Rose insisted.

Violet frantically looked around at the other imps, the bodies of the humans, then at the one beneath her and her blood-covered hands. Her breathing gradually slowed and tears welled in her eyes before she began to weep.

Rose wrapped her in a gentle hug and felt Violet’s arms grip her tightly in return.

“It’s okay. You did well this time,” Rose reassured her, but couldn’t understand Violet’s mumbled response.

River and Coal approached and Rose managed to extricate herself from Violet’s grasp and hand her over to them so she could go check on the others. Though they had succeeded in killing the humans, it was not without casualties of their own. Three imps were dead and several more injured; she wondered if she had made a mistake. It was her idea to ambush them in the stairs and also her suggestion to leave the hellhounds behind since they would not be able to move as easily, and now they had already suffered far worse than the last time they fought humans like this.

But she couldn’t afford to worry about that now. This wasn’t over yet.