Demonic Devourer ch. 94

“I’m still not convinced that this is going to help me at all,” I say, gently removing the latest dress Sierra’s had me try. It joins an increasingly large stack of clothes that she’s determined are insufficient in a corner of the changing room.

“I told you to cover yourself up when you change,” Sierra says, not looking away. She hands me another set of clothes. “It will, trust me. These are magical, too. You could always do with a little more protection.”

I’m not sure how much a minor magical boon will assist me when I have my entire arsenal, but Sierra’s flushed cheeks tell me that she likes looking at me trying the outfits on, so I don’t mind too much. I suppose it has to be a welcome change from the gore-splattered shifts I usually choose.

So far, I’ve already tried a forest green evening dress that raises my mental acuity slightly (rejected for being too difficult to move in), a frilly red shirt and pants that stem bleeding (too samey since I’m already usually covered in blood, according to Sierra), a white bodysuit-like “sheath dress” that hugs me tightly (Sierra likes it, but it restricts my movement and doesn’t have a useful magical effect besides staying clean), and just now, a light blue bodysuit that slightly increases my Body (Speed) that actually made Sierra blush.

“We’re buying the bodysuit,” Sierra says as I try on the next set.

I chuckle. “Alright, alright.” Personally, I don’t have strong opinions on it—it’s easy to move in, but I don’t really see the aesthetic appeal. Then again, I don’t really see the aesthetic appeal in anything other than destruction, so…

Sierra has to help me put this one on.

“Royal purple tunic,” she announces, lacing up the second part of the outfit, “and a leather bodice over it. Both enchanted. Sized perfectly to strap up to a dozen daggers at various locations throughout.”

The soft black leggings are magical as well, enough so that I don’t even need to Appraise them to know that. I’m getting better at that. I’m not sure if it’s because of my sky-high Magic and Mind stats or my steadily-increasing secondary class, but I’m getting more of a sense for the way magic flows through this world, from the thin threads of it in the air to the coalescing circuits in magical items.

All thoughts of that dissipate when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

The woman who looks back at me looks like someone more than a mass murderer. She looks confident—of course she does, I always am—but this Evelyn also looks regal. I look like I know my purpose. Like I’m ready to go out and rule the world.

I take a few steps around, drawing my new Sunset Dagger. It does, in fact, complement the tunic’s purple.

The magical effects of this outfit are actually quite impressive—put together, they represent a 10% bonus to Mind (Speed) alongside a 5% to Magic (Power), which are my two highest stats already.

“I’m still not completely sold on the idea,” I say, “but I think I get it now.”

“See?” Sierra beams. “Alright, that’s two outfits for you. Let me try some!”

She’s already selected a pile of her own, and she directs me in helping her put them on. I’m not the best with handling clothing, but my dexterity at this point is as perfect as a human (or human-looking being, at least) can offer.

I think I can see the merit in an aesthetically consistent look when it’s Sierra I’m putting it on. There’s still no way this helps in combat, but she is pretty to look at.

Sierra tries a few, ultimately deciding on an entirely black outfit featuring a pleated black skirt and a lacy blouse. It gives a bonus to Stealth and related skills, apparently. Not a terribly powerful effect, but she seems to be pleased with it.

Something is pounding in my head, and it takes me a few confusing seconds to realize it’s my own blood. Why is my pulse so loud?

I calm it with Hemokinesis, take Sierra’s proffered hand, and exit. The items are expensive, but we’ve made a lot of gold today.

We make one final purchase before we go—a Category 2 safe the size of my fist, resembling nothing more than a jeweled egg. It costs 500 gold, which Sierra thinks is outrageous, but she doesn’t balk at spending the remainder of our money.

Gingerly, she slips the Death Prayer within and locks it.

Adrian is already inside the apartment when we find our way to it, our new outfits in slight disarray, practicing with his new sword. It glows a faint blue in the darkness.

“Channeling Blade,” he says when he realizes we’re back. The sword’s shine dissipates quickly. “Cat 1 item, but I can use it to hold a chunk of mana from my primary class. Helps bridge the gap between Warrior and Hydrokinetic. Hopefully.”

Sierra whistles. “Nice find.”

He nods. “You two look great, by the way. Don’t get those too dirty adventuring.”

We follow Adrian’s advice as closely as possible, which is to say not closely at all.

In the morning, Adrian tells us he’s found a group that plans to do a quick, ten-level tower climb.

“I’ll be back by nightfall,” he says. “It doesn’t start actually getting hard ‘till the twentieth floor or thereabouts.”

“Good luck,” Sierra says. “Try not to die.”

He gives her an ironic salute as he departs.

The two of us spend the day clearing out adventuring contracts, taking the Death Prayer-egg with us. Sierra and I discuss leaving it behind, but I refuse to take the chance. Dying would be bad enough. Dying because a hapless thief stole an item? Unthinkable.

The contracts come slower today, and we can’t find as many of immediate relevancy, but we do end up clearing three.

None of the monsters we face can touch us. Nobody’s attacks even come close to dealing true damage, though the aftereffects of a couple of them do manage to dirty my bodice, much to Sierra’s chagrin.

By the end of the day, we manage to retrieve one half of a broken scepter from a dungeon in the eleventh circle, eliminate a lesser dragon and the entire anomalous fragment it existed in, and apprehend a thief who’s been stealing from various bank vaults.

The last is by far the hardest, because it requires us to take him alive, and he’s fast. Even at only Category 1, the thief manages to escape every blood prison I make for him, utilizing a bevy of skills and special skills to do so.

“I’d recommend you use less blood magic in public,” Sierra tells me. “Most civilized regions forbid its usage.”

Right. I almost forgot about that.

We end up capturing him by using Hemorrhage to slow him down. At least, that was the intent—half of his torso turns inside out, bursting with gore, and he almost bleeds to death before Sierra uses her Blue Mage class to transfer the injuries from the downed thief to me. I level up Restore Self putting myself back together.

After all is said and done, we’ve earned in the ballpark of a thousand gold. Less than yesterday, but still relatively easy.

It’s a nice change of pace, I have to admit. The missions are somewhat challenging—enough to advance me a level on the Divine Demon side, actually—but not life-threatening at all. They provide us with material wealth, and while I don’t care that much about money, we can use it to progress further. Spending time with Sierra is shockingly more pleasant than I initially thought it would be.

I can almost see myself settling into this. Slowing down. Taking fewer risks, progressing at less of a breakneck speed, and learning what I enjoy about life other than killing.

But Sierra, Adrian, and I are all Hexed, and we will never know peace.

Operator Kirin Uten shows his face again at midnight.

When Adrian arrives back at the apartment, he’s covered in gore. During his tower climb, he’s ascended a full three levels higher in his Warrior class and one in Hydrokinetic, which I am duly impressed by. Neither Sierra nor I are gaining levels in our Proto-Titan class, unfortunately, but that only makes sense given the power.

Adrian is just about finished washing himself off when Kirin walks through a wall.

I blink. It takes me a second to realize who it is—at first, I think it’s a red-headed woman I haven’t seen before, but then I process the rest of the person and put two and two together.

Even with my enhanced magic sense, I didn’t catch him come in. How powerful is his cloak?

“You,” he says, pointing at me, “are not good at hiding yourself.”

“I realize that,” I say blandly. “You’re in my apartment. I’m not hurting anyone, am I?”

“You should be dead,” Sierra says. “I watched her take you.”

“And you’re not alone,” he says with a deep sigh, ignoring the both of us. “There’s two of you. I have questions, and the Coalition wants to know even more than I do.”

“The Coalition can go fuck itself,” Adrian says.

“Sure,” Kirin replies, barely looking bothered. “You are not safe here. I am not the only person in the region who can read Titan signatures, and—“

He stops abruptly, turning to stare at me. His eyes gloss over, far beyond what I would expect from someone engaging with their system.

“Alexander Callen knows where you are,” he says. The voice doesn’t sound anything like the somewhat feminine, vaguely abrasive tone he usually takes. It sounds artificial, forced, like he’s been possessed by a being that has to move his vocal cords with its hands. “He is watching you. By the time this message is complete, he will begin to manifest. He is coming for you, demon girl.”

I tilt my head. The name brings a surge of bitter hatred, though I fear him far less than I did two weeks ago.

Kirin, obviously, is not in his own state of mind. I run through a brief list of who I know that could do that, but before I settle on a guess, I realize just as quickly that his presence is no longer being suppressed. I can feel that his Category is greater than this region allows, and I can Appraise him.

Name: Kirin Uten

Age: 152

Class: Relic Hunter/Arcane Artificer

Level: 361/71

Category: 3

Last Used Skill: [APPRAISE FAILED]

Kirin Uten is not in his right mind. You have a very good guess as to why.

I stare into Kirin’s glossed-over, dead eyes. Hello, Sapphire.

Nobody else has the means and the desire to pull something like this. Nobody else addresses me like that.

I take a deep breath. If Callen’s name brought a drop of hate, realizing who’s behind this brings an ocean.

When I speak, there is murder behind my words. “I’d like to see him try.”

Kirin’s face stretches into a smile, far too wide. “As do I.”

He stretches out his hand, his every movement jerky like an amateur marionetteer is controlling his tendons, and a blinking blue sphere appears in his hands.

Just as quickly as Sapphire’s spell came, it leaves, and the Category 3 Relic Hunter stumbles.

“—the ripple effects from this—“ Kirin pauses, noticing the item in his hands. “Fuck.”

I activate Descent unto the Void, targeting the sphere, but it’s already too late. An ethereal blue wave ripples out of the sphere and washes over us all so fast that even my enhanced mind can’t keep up with it.

Kirin pops like a soap bubble. The sphere accompanies him. I can sense the magic in the activation, and I realize that that item is far beyond Category 2.

But it’s gone. The operator is gone.

The only trace of their existence is a single number on my system interface that wasn’t there before. It’s blue—no. It’s sapphire.

When I focus on it, the voice I hear is the half-elf’s.

7.

“Shit,” Adrian says, staring at a spot in the air in front of him. He must’ve seen the same thing. “Shit!”

The number ticks down to 6.

“Can we relocate?” I ask Sierra.

5.

She shakes her head, pointing at the spot within my outfit where I’ve stored the safe that holds the Death Prayer. “No. You’re not going to be able to take that with you, and if he’s been watching us, he knows what that does.”

“Fine,” I say, drawing the egg from beneath my clothing. “Adrian. Take this.”

I toss it to him, and he catches gingerly. “I don’t know why you—“

“You’re fast,” I say. “You’re stronger now, but you still can’t win this fight. Leave, and keep me from dying. Thank you. You can come back when he’s dead.”

4.

Adrian looks like he wants to argue, but he nods and sprints off, each of his steps accompanied by a splash of seawater that splatters across the room.

“I’m going to lose my deposit,” Sierra grumbles.

3.

“You’re going to lose a lot more than a deposit,” I reply. “Be ready.”

I close my eyes, remembering the last time I faced Callen. He canceled my skills. Canceled those of the now-dead Azaril Halcyon, too, and he was a true Category 2. I’m sure he’ll have countermeasures prepared for what we can do.

Callen left me to die. He hurt Adrian. He hurt Sierra. He sent them to be sacrificed to a doomsday cult’s Titan.

2.

I look for rage, and I look deep within the hate, and I pull on it all.

Except I don’t feel fury.

I barely even register the hate.

All I can feel is a certainty.

You die here today.

Callen threw me around like a toy once. Not this time. I don’t care what he has readied.

He is not going to survive this.

1.

Sierra and I Manifest our nullspaces at the same time.

0.

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Author's note: ok yeah they got 1 chapter lol