Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 46 - Forced Negotiations (Patreon)

Elania stared at Marcus’ lifeless body, a strange mix of horror and… triumph swirling within her. The once arrogant and oily ranger lay sprawled underneath her, his eyes vacant and lifeless. His chest bore a deep puncture wound that was rapidly turning black with rot where she had thrust his own weapon into him. The pool of crimson blood was bubbling as the black ichor spread underneath, soaking the coarse fabric and leather of his armor.

The monks watched her in stunned silence. Joren’s face was ashen, his eyes wide with disbelief, while Taniel wore a stoic expression that did little to hide the tension radiating off him. His prayer beads were clutched tightly in both his hands as he maintained the golden shield that separated them from her.

“Elania,” Joren finally broke the silence, his voice barely above a whisper. “What have you done?”

She looked up to face them, her senses keenly aware of every movement. The mana shard in Taniel’s hand glowed faintly in the chamber, drawing her attention.

“He attacked me,” she said flatly, her voice echoing in the silence that followed.

Taniel’s gaze flicked between Elania and Marcus’ corpse before settling on her again. He seemed to weigh their options carefully.

Taking a deep breath, Elania stood up. Pain flared through her side and her hand came away from the location of her puncture wound, wet with fiery blood. The flow had stopped pouring out of her, but the injury refused to seal up or stop oozing. The pain had somehow dulled itself, leaving a constant flare of heat as her [Power] drained to try to regenerate the area.

“Give me my mana shard back,” Elania ordered.

“We need…to discuss this,” Joren said reluctantly, looking between her and Taniel.

“We don’t negotiate with demons,” Taniel spat out, his grip on the shard tightening.

“Give it back!” Elania demanded, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the waystation.

Ignoring her, Taniel turned to Joren. “We need to get rid of her.”

Joren’s eyebrows furrowed. “Taniel,” he started, his voice steady but filled with caution, “we cannot just—”

“Silence!” The senior monk snapped at him. His gaze never wavered from Elania’s form.

She could feel the hostility radiating towards her like a heat from a fire. She was wounded, and she knew how strong the two monks were. With Taniel's magic blocking the door, she was trapped in the waystation.

And he was the one who had stolen her mana shard!

She stepped forward and stomped on Marcus’ arm and flicked the still waiting [System] prompt.

A surge of power flowed into her from the body. Her maximum capacity had grown by leaps since she’d over-saturated herself, but she had no intention of holding back and letting it settle on her for a slow absorption. The wound in her side was persistent and worrying, so she flooded the excess power into a ball on the palm of her hand.

The monks looked at her in shock, slowly coming to the realization of what she had done.

She slammed the ball of energy into her side where the wound was, blowing a chunk of her torso away in the blast, the splatter painting the walls and ceiling.

[Your physical Status is degrading quickly!]

It was just a bit extreme.

It also made it hard to breathe.

Thankfully, she didn’t need to.

Marcus’ body began to dissolve into the motes of light and they flowed into the wound eagerly.

[Your physical Status is degrading.]

[Due to your excess power, your body is exceeding its limits!]

[Your body is experiencing thermal degradation!]

[You have gained the skills Martial Bladesmanship, Negotiation, Intimidation, Bribery, Archery, and Navigation!]

[Your body is slightly adapting.]

[Due to your high Power, Regeneration is enhanced!]

Things were flipping by so fast even the [System] was having a hard time keeping up. Her ears were ringing still and she couldn’t hear what Taniel and Joren were arguing about. It was nice they were giving her time to pull herself together.

As her side knitted back into existence in real time, it finally reported the [Power] gain.

[You have absorbed 401 Power!]

[Power: 522/324]

The remaining influx was almost too much for her to handle; it was like a tidal wave crashing against a rocky shore, threatening to shatter her to pieces. It wasn’t a new sensation.

Like before, she forced the energy into a container too small to hold it, then shoved the lid tight. That the container was her body was just an uncomfortable fact.

It was the highest her power had ever been, although it was percentage-wise less than when she had absorbed the [Alpha Ralfot], and that was important. Overcapacity effects she had found were governed by the percentage she was over, instead of any set amount.

That percentage was still high for having just blasted herself with what was at least a hundred [Power] blast, though.

And she needed to make use of it before it burnt itself out.

Her eardrums knitted themselves back together. The monks were lucky Taniel’s shield seemed to have protected them from the shockwave, or negotiations would have turned…difficult.

“Give me back my mana shard,” Elania stated.

They both had been arguing and distracted and looked at her at the same time.

“I want my mana shard,” she growled at them, “and I want one of you to make a contract with me.”

Joren’s face filled with confusion, but Taniel raised his arm and cut him off.

“And if we refuse?” Taniel challenged defiantly.

Elania’s gaze hardened as she turned towards the novices. Each one had strapped a [Glow-Moss Basket] onto their backs. Two of them sat unclaimed on the floor: Taniel and Joren’s. That was what was important to them. The whole point of their mission. She did not know what the real value of the stuff was, but…

The monk’s first words when the fight started hadn’t been ‘protect the novices’, it was ‘protect the [Glow-Moss]!’ and that seemed to be all she needed to know. Raising a hand, she formed a low power energy bolt and threw it.

Predictably, it slammed into the golden monk shield, blasting apart ineffectively. The novices pulled back, doing their best to hide behind their two seniors.

Elania eyed the movements warily before she glanced to the floor nearby. From the chaos, one of her javelins in the woodpile had landed nearby. She reached down to pick it up.

“Next one goes through,” Elania said frankly.

“You… you wouldn’t dare,” Taniel protested weakly.

“I don’t want to,” Elania said, “but I will if you force me.”

Joren reached out and plucked the mana shard from Taniel’s hand before the monk could react and tossed it to her. “We agree. Stand down.”

She caught the stone easily, the familiar connection and warmth filling her palm. Rather than burn down more power, she collected herself, then carefully dumped the excess into the crystal before it could burn off further.

Taniel was immediately livid, and the two jumped into a fierce argument. That was expected, but she felt mentally exhausted and checked out of the conversation to focus on drafting the contract she wanted.

[Contracts: Elania Reyes]

[(Available: 1) (Active: 0)]

[(Contract Essence Draw: 0.0)]

[Configuration: Custom]

[(Contractor: Elania Reyes, (Contractee: Joren), (Duration: Indefinite)]

[(Requirements/Contractor: Contractor shall make every reasonable attempt as determined by Contractor to not harm Contractee’s group or goods.

Contractor may terminate the contract at any time.)]

[(Requirements/Contractee: Contractee shall prevent members of the group, or any other affiliated allies from harming the Contractor for the contract’s duration.

Contractee may terminate the contract in a populated public place in the City of Neftasu while the Contractor is not in any current danger.

Contractee may not falsely answer any question made by Contractor when directly questioned by the Contractor.

Contractee will provide Contractor the required essence maintenance costs for this contract.)]

[(Penalty/Contractor: Contractor shall forfeit any right to Contractee’s soul upon violation of their requirements.

Contractee will receive the right to terminate the contract at any time.)]

[(Penalty/Contractee: Contractee shall forfeit their soul and life immediately upon failure of any violation of their requirements.)]

She did not intend it to be a balanced contract.

Raising her hand, she shoved the contract screen toward Joren. She observed as he reacted to it appearing. He dragged his hand through the air and apparently showed it to Taniel.

The other monk recoiled as if burned. “She’s a demon. She killed him! You can’t accept a contract with a demon! Conclave law—”

Joren interrupted him calmly. “You can argue it was a sort of self-defense; he did threaten her,” Joren countered smoothly. His eyes flickered to Elania, assessing her with an unreadable gaze. “Conclave law permits exigent acts to save the Conclave’s people and goods.”

Taniel clenched his hands into fists at his sides, seething with righteous indignation. “That requires a tribunal to exonerate! She didn’t just kill him,” he protested vehemently; his voice raising an octave higher in distress as he added, “She absorbed his soul!”

Without missing a beat, Joren sighed softly, shaking his head in disappointment. “We allow worse to happen across the city all the time,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“But not in front of us!” Taniel argued fiercely. “We don’t permit it! The Conclave does not!”

“She saved the lives of the novices—and yours.” Meeting Taniel’s glare with an equally challenging stare, he continued logically, “I doubt we could have dealt with both [Rockbears].”

His words seemed to sting deeply as Taniel bit back angrily, “Marcus saved our lives as well. Did you forget? Besides, she killed Maurice!”

“That was not her fault, and you know it. She did her best to carry him to safety,” Joren argued.

Taniel’s voice echoed loudly in the cavernous room as he retorted, “And failed!”

A hint of exasperation slipped into Joren’s composed demeanor as he responded philosophically; his gaze never once wavering from Taniel’s heated one. “Everyone fails at something, at some point.”

That seemed like a heavy slap she didn’t have the context for, because the ‘spiritual’ monk shut up.

Joren turned to look at her with a resigned look. “I accept.”

[Contract has been accepted. Active Contracts: 1]

Elania glanced around; she had expected more fanfare. Some visual signal it was done. She opened her [Contracts] screen and found that it was active. How anti-climactic was that?

“If any of you attack me, Joren will drop dead,” Elania announced, partly more for her own sense of security rather than any threat to the monk.

Taniel took it the wrong way. “We know you—”

Joren silenced him with a hand. “We can all calm down now?”

Elania nodded, feeling mentally exhausted.

“What will we do with that?” Taniel asked pointedly. He was pointing to the gear and items that were pooled at her feet and strewn around.

“We’ll need to fix the waystation and clean this place up. That is going to take some work,” Joren said.

She stared at the empty leather armor and chain mail. The purple daggers that had been deadly were still discarded on the floor. There was an entire travel pack the ranger had left behind.

Kneeling down, she lifted the armor up and held it up, staring both Taniel and Joren in the eyes.

“To the victor goes the spoils,” she said icily.

She barely suppressed her sudden urge to vomit.