D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

After that, Kat and Kamiko discovered a surprising number of items that didn’t seem to work. There was a mirror that was supposedly called ’The Mirror of Erisid’ but it had a huge crack running down the middle and a note saying ’Out of Order’ on it. Kat and Kamiko tried looking at it, but instead of their reflections, only black space was in the frame.

The next item was an empty box with a sheet of paper that read. ’IOU one Transistor’. The only other thing in the box was a lock of red hair, similar to Kat’s own. There was felt at the bottom of the box, and there seemed to be the imprint of a sword that should have been there. Kat wasn’t sure why a sword would be called a transistor, but it didn’t seem relevant.

Following that, was a box that once opened, revealed a pulsating mass of colours that looked like someone had vomited crystals into the box and then tried to squish them all together. Kat was about to lean down to touch a piece when Kamiko grabbed her hand. On the bottom of the box read. ’Parasitical Pseudo Intelligence designation Shaper. Do Not Touch’

Not one to ignore warning sites about creepy alien intelligence, that particular box was slammed shut… and then placed under three other boxes… and then another extra box for safety… after the opening was frozen shut with two layers of ice from Kamiko and Kat working together with their flames.

Next after that was a box containing assorted varieties of mushrooms. None of them were recognisable to Kat, and the most prominent were the ones that looked like they had stars all over them. Biting into one produced a bunch of popping in the mouth. Other more deadly looking mushrooms, and the ones that kinda looked like little piglets, were left alone.

After closing that box down and writing their report, the next thing they found was an old battered lamp. Kat, joked that they needed to clean it up before it would work, rubbed the side, and was treated to a bunch of blue smoke spilling out of the end. Kat was nearly shocked into dropping the thing but… nothing else happened, though Kat could have sworn she heard someone singing about a friend for a few seconds afterwards, but Kamiko insisted she heard nothing.

The final box before they found something interesting was one that contained a shattered green stone. It still glowed slightly and seemed to have a spiral pattern when they put the pieces together, but even after thirty minutes of trying various random things with both pieces and the whole thing, nothing seemed to happen, so they gave up.

When Kat and Kamiko looked into the next box they weren’t expecting much. Their fears seemed to be confused when it was filled with packing slime and a number of pebbles. Picking up one each Kat and Kamiko looked them over. They seemed like perfectly normal stones, until Kat noticed they were draining her demonic energy.

”Is your stone draining you as well?” asked Kat

Kamiko nodded, and at that moment Kat knew she had something interesting on her hands. All the other artifacts, even the more impressive ones, didn’t seem to drain much energy, if they drained any energy at all. The fact that this seemingly ordinary stone was taking whatever she was regenerating alongside about a percent every ten seconds, showed that it had some impressive power behind it.

After about a minute of holding the stone, it changed colour. Kat’s shifted to the same colour as her demonic fire, a deep purple, and saw that Kamiko’s was the same except, matching her pink flame. ”Now… what do these do?” mumbled Kat.

”Hmm, I’m not sure” said Kamiko. ”Where should we start? Whatever they are they’ve been charged but I’m not sure I’m so keen to just… hit them on something. They’re packing a lot of energy now and if they explode or something that could be the end of the whole warehouse”

Kat gulped. ”Surely there wouldn’t be something like that just lying around here right?”

Kamiko bit her lips and looked at the box. It was just a simple wooden looking one. ”Well, to be honest I’m not sure. Explosions aren’t all that deadly to demons. Something about our internal organs being protected by our demonic energy? I’m not sure. So… it’s not like we need to regulate them when people can punch mountains away.

”I know some worlds do that, but yeah… when you have people so powerful stockpiling explosives is really pointless. The thing is, that also means they are cheap a lot of the time. Pretty much anything in a tier one box, would be destroyed if these are explosive…”

*Well that’s just peachy. How are we supposed to test them? Sure they aren’t going to kill me, and based on what Kamiko said, her either but we’d probably be killed by Boss if we destroyed all his stock.* 

”Is there any way to know? Check if it’s explosive before using it?” asked Kat

”Well…” Kamiko dragged the word out for a while as she searched for an answer. ”Nope. Not that I can think of. I mean, they probably aren’t explosives. We just don’t make them that often, so it’s not a major concern… but it is where my mind jumped to seeing how much energy it ate. Honestly I’m not sure what to do”

Kat and Kamiko’s musing were interrupted by a voice over the speaker saying. ”You both have spent enough time in there today. Finish up with that last item and then the teleporter will take you out to our recreation area where you can head home.”

”Wait can you here us?” asked Kat instantly

”Yes” responded Boss’ voice

”Do you know if these stones are explosive? We don’t want to risk destroying anything” said Kat.

Boss’ voice came back quickly. ”The area with the dummies actually has a ward up. If anything dangerous goes off there, it will be contained. So, feel free to test it if you want. They are there for a reason”

Kat heard Kamiko’s hand impact her face. ”I’m an idiot. I should have thought of that. Considering the amount of money these guys make, having a barrier like that is child’s play. They take a good amount of energy to power, but I’m sure they are connected properly. So Kat, do you want to do the honours?”

”Sure Kamiko. Let’s see if I get blown up” said Kat.

Kamiko made sure to be behind a few crates and, well, out of the blast area. Kat rolled her eyes slightly, feeling a little silly now and slapped the stone against one of the dummies. It rocked back slightly from her slap but other than that nothing. Kat bit her lip and scratched under her chin with her tail.

*Hmm, so not that. What about… I dunno throwing it? Maybe it has some failsafe if a person is to close.* Backing up, Kat moved to the edge of the dummy area and threw the rock towards one of the back dummies. She missed, and it bounced off the wall before glowing a bright white. Kat panicked for a second and shut her eyes.

Nothing happened. Cracking an eye open though. She found herself facing a wall. Taking a step back, she felt herself bumping into a dummy and looked around confused. She was still in the dummy area of the warehouse. Did I get turned around or something? 

”Kamiko what happened?” asked Kat.

”Oh Kat it was so cool!” said Kamiko with a big smile on her face. ”You swapped places with the stone. Look it’s back where you were before!”

Kat looked over back towards the other end of the marked area, and surely enough, at the furthest dummy, where she must have been standing before, was a glowing purple stone on the floor, though it seemed to have dimmed somewhat. Kat couldn’t help letting out a laugh.

”I can’t believe that. I was so worried it was explosive” said Kat.

Kamiko laughed as well. ”I can’t believe it’s an ability I already have. I mean sure, this takes more energy, and it has better distance but I DO have it.” She managed between giggles.

Kat looked down at the amulet she was wearing and saw it had lit up with two lights. *Hmm, seems it’s not completely painless. But it’s also not bad at all. I doubt it hurts more than a twinge.* 

”Do you want to see how your teleportation compares to it Kamiko?” asked Kat.

Kamiko shrugged. ”Sure” was what she said before throwing her pebble over towards the writing desk. Kat watched as a flash of white light, that… wasn’t blinding so much as it was like a thick fog, more like a physical presence blocking the light rather than proper light, expanding into her eyes.

”Oof” said Kamiko pressing her hand against her chest. ”That’s not exactly pleasant.. Felt like I was being squeezed everywhere.”