Newly Summoned Demoness 2 - Chapter 7 – Shadow of the Past (Patreon)

A low hiss of delight slithered out of the shadow, the teeth of a monster coming into clearer view. The red eyes belonged to a demon they both believed to be dead, the same Tessa who had once served under Magister Relain.

Elania’s light orb winked out as the other demon’s aura flickered into existence, coating the area in a sense of dread. It wasn’t strong enough to affect her directly, but her own aura snapped into existence almost instinctively.

[Demonic Aura (Activated)]

As soon as it was in place, Elania spread it wide enough to cover Yolani, too.

“You smell different,” Tessa accused, licking one of her long fingers. The digit lengthened rapidly, turning into a terrifying length of clawed bone before the rest of her fingers followed suit. “I finally got to choose my own perks. Teehee. No more master.”

Yolani straightened up, wand in hand, little crystals on her outfit and accessories flaring to life as she readied herself for combat.

Elania glanced at her long enough to get a confirming nod before focusing on the demoness in front of them fully, keeping her stance loose and ready. “Leave us alone, Tessa.”

“I’ve been ever so lonely,” Tessa lamented, her tone dripping with mock sorrow. “What took you so long to visit me?”

Releasing a surge of [Power] into her [Demonic Aura], Elania forced it through the thinner aura Tessa was projecting.

The demoness hissed at her. “You feel wrong. Not like me. Not like the others. What did they do to you?”

“I’m nothing like you. If you want to fight again, this time we will take you down. I don’t need a holy sword to do that anymore,” Elania warned.

Tessa’s form shifted in the dim light, becoming a blur of movement as she launched herself at a wall, landing feet first on it to spring toward Yolani.

Elania acted on instinct, her body coiling and then springing sideways to meet the attack head-on. She was faster.

Tessa’s clawed hands swiped inward toward Elania’s face, but she slipped inside the attack as they flashed towards one another. Elania’s hand caught the other demon on the forehead. The wave of momentum cracked in the air as her forearm absorbed and brought Tessa to a halt mid-air.

Then she slammed her face first into the muck.

A slash raked her leg and Tessa rolled away and sprang back out of reach, her face and teeth a mangled mess. A flare of red light surged from her skin and then the wounds began to mend themselves as fast as the claw marks on Elania’s side did.

“She has [Regeneration] now,” Yolani shouted.

Elania blinked in shock. So far, she’d never encountered anything that healed just like her. Her first perk had been a blessing, even if it didn’t nullify the pain.

That was fine. Pain was survivable, and she had built a tolerance to it; death was more permanent.

The glee and sudden eruption of laughter from Tessa was nearly horrifying. She seemed to enjoy the pain and damage.

“If I eat your toy, will it fix your eyes?” Tessa asked cheerfully. “I’ll free you and we can be friends!”

Tessa lunged again, her mouth opened wide to reveal her rows of triangular teeth. This time, she was prepared for the attack. Instead of meeting it with a normal punch, Elania focused her [Power] into her fist and threw it with a punch.

The bolt of power surged forward like a bullet, heat energy searing the air as it flew. Tessa managed to roll around it, but her outfit combusted as it only missed by inches. The now burning demon crashed into her and they went rolling in the muck.

Claws flew, but the raking injuries paled compared to the loud thuds of Elania’s kicks and punches. A solid connection from her knee sent Tessa flying into the sewer’s ceiling with a brick shattering crack. Spiderwebs formed as the construction protested and dust and crumbling rock fell to join the nasty muck below.

Tessa’s shriek hinted she wasn’t dead. Elania pulled another bolt of power to throw into her while she was embedded in the roof. The strike missed as Tessa pushed off and jumped away just in time.

Straight for Yolani.

A surge of panic filled Elania as she realized the other demon’s trajectory. Pivoting, she turned and jumped to try to intercept, but she was out of position.

Tessa reached claw-range and raised her arm to swipe at the artificer girl.

“No!” Elania shouted.

There was a giggling glee as the claws came down.

Right up until the point they snagged in the air on an invisible obstruction. Tessa’s claws flexed backwards from the strength of her blow on the solid wall of air.

Yolani, who had been still and quiet, raised her wand that she’d kept lowered. The mana crystal embedded in its tip had been emitting a steady glow the entire time.

“You shouldn’t give an artificer a lot of build-up time then crash into her wards,” Yolani said, staring into Tessa’s eyes with an icy disdain.

“Wind Threads—Encasement.” The words were spoken calmly, but the effects were anything but.

Tessa shrieked while kicking and slashing like a rabid animal. Glowing lines filled the tunnel to wrap themselves around the resisting demon, pulling her slowly to the wall before wrapping her in a cocoon. With the leverage of the wall available, the demoness kicked off, propelling herself halfway back toward Yolani with a screech.

The magical threads stretched, but then rubber banded Tessa back. A second kick off only gained her half the distance of the first, and a third barely moved her a few feet before clamping her to the stone. Feet and claws stuck out, writhing as they tried to work themselves free.

A sudden surge in Tessa’s aura preceded a red glow around her skin. Elania could feel the power spiking—it was something she was used to doing herself. Coat the body in enough power and you could disrupt magic or melt stone if you weren’t worried about some self-destruction.

Jumping up beside the trapped demon, Elania focused a large chunk of [Power] and slammed it into Tessa’s stomach.

The wisps of artifice magic tickled her hand as it cut through them, as soon as her knuckles met flesh she released the charge, blowing out Tessa’s stomach and cratering the sewer tunnel’s wall.

Blood spewed from her mouth all over Elania’s face and clothes, but it burned away into energy motes as the other demon’s essence collided with her own. The building power dissipated immediately, and the hostile aura winked out.

“How much [Power] did you burn?” Yolani asked pointedly, staring at Elania.

[Power: 1205/1503]

Elania laughed weakly. “Uhm. About three-hundred.”

Yolani grunted and shook her head. “We need to do more efficiency drills.”

Tessa’s middle began to put itself back together, and when her lungs finally knitted back together, she let out a snarl, but her fight against the bindings was weak. Yolani held up a stick that glowed orange when she pointed it at the demon. “Her [Power] level is below 20% so I don’t think her capacity is nearly as high as yours.”

“What…what are we going to do with her? We can’t just let her roam around the sewers eating people,” Elania said. A thread of panic ran through her as she considered just… making the problem disappear. Worse, there was a hungry feeling that she recognized from her [Darkwalker] affinity…

Tessa would make a good snack. She shoved it down hard before looking to Yolani for guidance.

Why did they have to end up in the fucking sewer again?

“The binding won’t last long,” Yolani said. A frown crossed her face, and she seemed just as at a loss for what to do. “I don’t have anything good for binding or knocking her out.”

“I won’t be a slave! I won’t! Won’t!” Tessa screeched loudly, her words turning into a cacophony.

Elania glared at her. The desire to slap the other demon silent pricked a guilty feeling in her chest. What horrors had she experienced that could have been her own if things had panned out differently? She cleared her throat.

“Tessa. Could you please stop screaming so we can talk?” Elania asked as politely as possible, considering the circumstances.

The demoness went silent immediately, staring at her with two large terrified red eyes.

“We don’t want to make you a slave,” Yolani added.

Tessa’s eyes jerked at the artificer, and then she started screaming again.

Elania and Yolani exchanged a fraught glance. They needed to handle the demoness somehow without resorting to something they’d regret later. But they couldn’t just let the danger go, either. No matter how they cut it, they needed help.

Before they could figure it out, the atmosphere shifted, and Tessa went silent again.

A strange aura flared, washing over Elania and sending a shiver through her spine. It was a pressure she had felt before—something tinged with holy magic. It left an unpleasant taste in her mouth, like a dirty, thinner version of the Celestial Engine’s energy.

Golden motes of light began to fill the tunnel, coalescing in the air. A chanted hum filled the air and then all the energy collapsed inwards with an inexorable force—straight towards her. Instinctively, Elania channeled her [Power] into her hands and held them out to form a bubble around her, shaping it with her [Demonic Aura].

She was just in time as the golden energy tried to squeeze her shell like the fist of an angry god.

It didn’t seem to affect Yolani, and she reacted immediately. Pulling out an orb, she tapped it with her wand before drawing several symbols in the air that shimmered in a blue-green hue. Blue motes began to form in the air, and once there were enough of them, they formed a bubble.

The gold motes crushing Elania suddenly evaporated and began to reform outside the blue orb surrounding them. The pressure disappeared, and she dissolved the aura guided shield around her to save on [Power].

“What was that?” Elania asked. Something about the energy had felt familiar, and not in a good way.

Yolani was digging in her bag for something as she answered. “Bad news. Conclave.”

That was all the other girl needed to say. The word was like a punch to the gut. Conclave.

Joren. Taniel. The Monks. Their journey to Neftasu together…Marcus. Not good memories.

That was why the energy trying to crush her had been familiar; it was the same holy magic that Taniel and Joren had used when they had fought together against the [Rockbear] and [Alpha Ralfot].

As if summoned by her thoughts, a figure stepped out from behind a corner, his presence and form unmistakable in the sewer’s dim light. Taniel, who had never failed to make his disdain for her known, led a cadre of four other monks toward them. Their eyes were fixed on her and Tessa, expressions unreadable as they advanced with measured steps.

[Martial Monk - Human - Lvl 166]

The other four were lower leveled, and two were classed as [Spiritual Monk] like Joren had been. The levels were less worrying than the fact there were five of them.

“Taniel. What’s the meaning of this?” Elania’s voice was a low growl, her golden eyes narrowing as she regarded the approaching threat. “You attacked us.”

“We sensed a surge of demonic energy,” Taniel replied, his tone neither accusing nor forgiving. “We’ve been hunting the thing slaughtering people in the districts.”

“Seems you’ve been doing a piss-poor job considering this one’s been out for months,” Elania shot back acidly.

Taniel’s gaze slid to Tessa, who had gone silent, hanging from the cocoon of magic threads. “And what do you know about it?”

“She was False Magister Relain’s demon,” Yolani interjected. “She attacked us while we were escaping from the riot in the square.”

“So, you had something to do with that as well?” Taniel asked. The other monks took up formation beside him, all of them coming to a stop at the edge of the sparkling blue barrier.

Yolani’s grip tightened on her wand, her eyes darting between Elania and the monks. “We were meeting with Magister Bannon and were accosted on the way home. We have nothing to do with her or the riot.”

Taniel snorted. “Artificer, we have no quarrel with you. Leave here and we’ll take care of the demons.”

Elania felt a slight surge of panic that quickly disappeared as Yolani squared her shoulders.

“You can have Tessa, but Elania has done nothing wrong and is contracted to me and important to the Magistry. You can’t have her,” Yolani declared.

Taniel’s eyes locked onto hers. “There are five of us and two of you.”

The four monks behind him suddenly raised their hands and began chanting over some beads.

Elania reacted instantly as Yolani suddenly turned toward her and threw her a rock.

Catching it seemed like the smart thing to do, even though she had no idea what it was until she looked at it in her hand. Warmth filled her palm in a steady, familiar spread. It was one of the mana shards!

A grin spread on her face as she pointed the stone directly at Taniel. “Your army is too small, asshole.”

***

FAQ: Why is the text not bolded anymore for [things]?

Erios: When I use find/replace to bold things, it adds annoyings spaces after the bracket for some reason! IDK why. I'll probably wait til book is done, then do all the bolding at the end for the ebook version.

FAQ: Why is Taniel an ass?

Erios: He was hurt badly as a child.

FAQ: Did he really just stop focusing on the mission to go after Elania?

Erios: Looks like he's that kinda guy, yeah.

FAQ: Did you make any cool songs for Demoness?

Erios: Yeah! Check this one about Elania and Yolani meeting out!