Newly Summoned Demoness 2 - Chapter 8 – Sewer Clash (Patreon)

The mana shard pulsed with a vibrant energy in Elania’s palm, a warm glow that awaited her control and offered her a large amount of power. She took a full pull on it, recharging her personal reserves to maximum.

A grim look appeared on the monks as they advanced, their staves alive with a silver gleam that sparkled in the mystical light provided by Yolani’s aura suppression ward and the mana shard’s light. Concentrating on the stone, she pulled the energy out and shaped it with her will.

An ethereal fire flared around her hand, resembling the flickering memory of Eziel, the once holy sword that had been devoured by the Celestial Engine.

The energetic flickers of the divine flames radiated light and power. It filled the air around her, and Elania could feel and taste the difference of the energy. If the monk’s holy spells were slightly off, cold, and dirty, this was pure, unadulterated warmth.

Taniel did not care or show any signs of hesitation, leading the charge, his face a mask of determination. His two brethren closed the distance with him, their staves held out before them.

Elania’s eyes flickered to Yolani, seeking confirmation. “Fight?”

Yolani’s was set firm, an unwavering gaze meeting Elania. “When did we ever back down before?”

Elania nodded. That was true, although she wished people would just… leave them the fuck alone?

The two prayer monks in the back began to chant into prayer beads clutched in their hands. A golden glow appeared around them, forming into two large golden bells. The first one finished his words and the magical construction flashed forward like a missile, slamming into Yolani’s blue artifice field. The blue magic flickered under the pressure.

Then Taniel reached the field and slammed his silver staff into the shimmering energy. The air seemed to crack as blue lines formed, then shattered in the air.

The icky aura feeling pressed down on Elania again. She reacted instinctively by drawing deeply on the mana shard, funneling the raw [Power] into her [Demonic Aura], pushing it outward into an enormous bubble. She made sure it spread wide enough to cover Yolani as well. The other girl shot her an appreciative glance, but there was no time to talk.

Taniel took a swipe at her aura with his staff, but it passed through without disrupting it, being more flexible and organic compared to the solid artifice ward. The prayer monk’s sweat dripped down his face as he redoubled his effort only to find that it applied more pressure, but little else.

A second dharma bell formed around the other prayer monk, crashing forward like a raging bull. It didn’t clash with Elania’s aura like it had the artifice barrier, and the speed of the rush only gave her a second to raise her mana shard sword and swing downward in a heavy arc.

The sudden flood of [Power] rushing through her hand sent her heart pounding in her chest. Her golden blade left a crescent-shaped arc flinging itself toward the incoming bell. The collision sent out a shockwave, obliterating the bell and carving a deep gouge through the sewer’s floor and ceiling. Murky water fell into the hole immediately, only to explode outward in a foul steam, clouding everyone’s view and filling the air with a stench.

Elania wrinkled her nose. She didn’t need sight or smell to sense her enemies anymore. She could feel them through her [Mana Manipulation]. Their essence stood out and called to her, a beacon in the haze. She lunged through the steam, taking advantage of the cloud, beelining straight for Taniel.

Before she could swing, his staff lashed out for her head, but she parried it, the clash of their weapons sending a spray of silver and gold-colored sparks flaring through the mist.

She counterattacked immediately, her blade slashing in a diagonal strike. He ducked under it, but the energy wave that erupted from the unmet slash hissed through the air and slammed into the monk behind him. The man barely interposed his staff, and the force of the impact sent him careening into the wall with a bone-jarring thud.

A third holy bell sliced through the steam without warning, straight for Yolani. But her friend was ready; a blue spiderweb field snapped into existence, meeting the bell in a cacophony of energy. The two constructions canceled each other out in a brilliant flash lit up the gloomy fog filling the sewer.

Yolani’s reply was ready a second later, green bolts forming in the air around her wand before erupting forward in a continuous volley like a machine gun. The prayer monks were forced to dodge and break up their casting, while Taniel raised his staff and spun it in the air, deflecting the projectiles in a chaotic rain that sent them hurdling randomly through the air.

Several slammed into the ceiling, causing dangerous looking plumes of dirt and rock to fall, while others streaked down the sewer into the darkness to terminate in the wall or floor.

The single martial monk supporting Taniel caught a bolt in the face. He was sent reeling backwards, colliding with one of the prayer monks. The aura pressure Elania felt reduced in half instantly. That was good, because holding it back with her own aura had been draining a lot of power.

Seizing the moment, she renewed her assault, golden energy sword flaring with power as she pulled over half the remaining energy from the mana shard. He moved to block, his staff positioned to block the downward chop squarely. But she focused on the impact, willing the blade to flow around the staff and phase right through the weapon.

The blade connected with his chest, but the outcome was not as she expected. His robe flared with a brilliant blue light as the golden energy seared it. Her [Power] dissipated as it flowed around him harmlessly. Several of his golden bracelets and trinkets suddenly flared with light and dissolved into the air like mist.

She blinked in shock at the failure to hurt him.

His counterattack came swift and hard. His staff came down and struck her shoulder with a bone-jarring impact, followed by a second hit to her stomach that knocked the wind from her lungs, sending her staggering backwards.

A sweep knocked away her footing, and she stumbled onto the ground, scrambling backwards in a panic as he loomed over her, raising his staff for a finishing strike.

“Elania!” Yolani’s voice pierced through the chaos, laced with concern.

Despite the hits, her power hadn’t really been knocked down much. More worrying was that she’d somehow lost the mana shard. Raising her foot, she pushed a chunk of fifty power into her foot and slammed it heel first into the ground in front of her.

Stones flew up in an explosion, forcing Taniel back as she got back onto her feet. Yolani gestured to her and Elania made it to the other girl’s side in a jump. “What’s the plan?”

Yolani pulled out a black orb. “Shove 146 [Power] into this and then throw it at them.”

Elania took the item. The heft was considerable. Was it solid metal? There were little ridges built into the casing, and the resemblance to a grenade was remarkable.

Wait.

Hadn’t she given Yolani the idea when they had been discussing firearms? “When did you make this?”

“It was just a side project! They are getting back up!” Yolani hissed at her.

Not one to argue, Elania gauged the distance before dumping the power into the thing and then tossing it at the prayer monks that were clustered together, trying to help their companion out of the muck.

Taniel reached out with his staff, intercepting the orb.

That was, apparently, the wrong thing to do.

It violently exploded into a spray of shrapnel that continued with the momentum of her throw. Metal shards stabbed into the monks, dozens of shards punching through them and pelting the ground and area where they had been.

They were clearly dead, the prayer monk decapitated.

She braced herself for the incoming kill message and karma adjustment, but it didn’t come. She blinked, confused for a second until she saw the color drain from Taniel’s face.

Oh.

He’d hit the bomb thing before it had exploded. He’d been credited with the kills.

Wow.

That probably sucked for him. Didn’t he need positive karma for his icky holy skill or something?

He was distracted long enough that she was able to find the dropped mana shard and reclaim it.

The monk turned a darkened expression on her as she brought the energy blade of the shard back to life and stepped between him and Yolani. “What? You attacked us. I don’t even think it’s unfair to say that you killed them.”

His face contorted into an apoplectic stare before he screamed at her. “Demon!”

She parried his first swing with the staff, then ducked a blow. Taniel started to take a second swing at her when an air blast flashed in from the side. He blocked it, but it gave Elania time to strike for a leg. He parried just in time, only for another air blast to come from the other direction.

The rapid flurry of Yolani’s castings and her strikes pushed him back further and further. A strike from her sword went home, exploding more of his anti-magic trinkets. Elania recognized how they worked; they were the same type that Yolani used.

Each hit was wearing down his defense fast. Desperation appeared on his face.

Before she found a final opening, he threw his staff into her face. She batted it away, but his hands snapped together and he began to recite a chantra. She made to strike him down anyway, but a golden wall appeared, knocking back her energy blade and mana shard and knocking into her.

Elania flipped end over end through the air, but landed agilely on her feet, then moved protectively to place herself in line with Yolani.

Taniel reached out and his silver staff hovered in the air and returned to his hand. He started to chant again when there was an insane cackle from the side.

“Teeheehee. Three! There are Three and Five!” Tessa screeched. Every eye darted to her as she tore out the throat of the monk that had been slammed into the wall. The other monk that had been knocked unconscious nearby was already dissolving into light motes.

Everyone had forgotten about the real insane demoness during the engagement.

“No!” Taniel shouted. He moved to attack the disheveled demoness maid, but her fingers plunged into the dying monk’s chest, then ripped them free with the meat of the man’s insides. He began to dissolve rapidly into energy that went straight to Tessa.

The maniacal demoness jumped upward and somehow attached to the ceiling, then began to crawl rapidly away. Taniel’s rage was divided, before he moved to chase after her.

Was he stupid? From what she had seen, Tessa was more likely to gut him than the other way around. Elania stepped back closer to Yolani and the other girl’s hand settled on her shoulder while her other handheld her combat wand tightly.

Taniel glanced at them with a snarl. “This isn’t over.”

A cold calculation ran through her head, one that she’d never have considered back on Earth. Would it be better to end him here and now? Something in the back of her mind told her: Yes, for sure. Safer for her, safer for Yolani, no witnesses. A set of dead conclave monks against her and Yolani’s word backed by the Magisters.

It would be easy.

The choice was stolen from her when the ceiling suddenly melted, cutting Taniel off. Stone and brick fell in a sudden slurry of melted stone as a glowing figure in black robes floated down gently, landing on suddenly formed dry platform.

Elania recognized the woman. It was Keswick, Magister of the City Works.

[Arch Magus – Human – Level 677]

Yolani’s hand on her shoulder tightened, and Elania could sense a tenseness in the other girl. It was one that was mirrored in herself.

Messing with Magisters was bad news.

And the state of the sewer due to the fight… she felt she had a good idea of why and how the Magister had found them.

The woman’s eyes landed straight on Elania and Yolani. “You.”

There was an awkward silence as Taniel got back onto his feet and cursed, trying to slip by after Tessa. A gesture from the woman pinned him to the wall, cutting through his wards and gluing him in a holding of stone.

“What are you doing?” The woman demanded. It wasn’t exactly clear who she was asking.

But… at least she was on their side, right?

The gears in Elania’s head turned rapidly.

She would be, if Bannon’s earlier words were true, and she wanted her help with the Celestial Engine, anyway.

***

Demoness News!

Thanks to everyone who became a patron for Demoness!!

I have some exciting news to share.

I've signed an agreement with Royal Guard Publishing to get Demoness Book 1 produced into audiobook! This will INCLUDE book 2 and 3! Also, I will be self-publishing the print/ebooks on Kindle Unlimited! This will include a professional copyedit/and proofreading for all books.

This wouldn't be possible without your support, so thank you very much for helping with bringing the story to life. I also have a really cool project in the works for finishing next year. I've added a sneak peak to the bottom of this news bit.

Currently the timeframe is Q2 or Q3 of 2024 for Demon's Ascent. War in the Depths will be sometime later, as you might know its still early in the book, but hopefully we will make some great progress quick!

Things have slowed down a bit since I finished the rewrite for Book 1, since I need to work on ShipCore too, but mostly it was a heavy sprint and I needed to catch my breath.

I'm hoping to keep the current pace of multiple chapters for both stories going, every week. I know its not quite the hoped for daily chapters, but :ghost: I can only produce as much as my brain wants to. Thankfully, it seems to be doing okay!

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