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

Kat and the others let the conversation drift after their chat on common Succubi powers. They mostly covered the sort of artifacts they’d encountered during their time at Boss’ warehouse. Kat was surprised that Nira, someone who healed people for a living, was shockingly ok with the practice.

When Kamiko asked her why, it was clear to Kat it wasn’t a simple thing. The response was, ”He seems to be taking proper precautions, and the system will probably stop anything that’d kill you, not that they’d be in those sorts of boxes anyway. On top of that, I’m not sure you realise how good your regeneration is Kat.”

  Trying to continue that line of questioning, and why Kat’s regeneration was so good, delved into a lot more technical language that Kat wasn’t actually equipped to understand. The best she got out of it, is that her body was so hard to mark because of Succubi regeneration that if she had found something to change that without relying on Tier 6 or above power on a much weaker demon, then she’d be hailed (or reviled) for her ground breaking discovery.

That took up the rest of their bath time. After that, Nira suggested Kat burn through as much energy as she could and then try to sleep instead of meditating. Nira turned on the heated pipes after shooing Kamiko out of the room, and got Kat to cool it all down until she gave the signal that she was out of energy, or close to it.

”Don’t worry, I’ll carry you out. Spend it all” said Nira.

*Hmm, I’m not… well I guess I am willing. Really it isn’t a question of trust is it? Nira is so strong that should she actually wish me harm there is nothing I can do about it at full power. Anything she does when I can’t move is something she could do right now if she really wanted.* 

Kat sent the rest of her energy into the flames coating the water. She was actually more than a little surprised that it wasn’t freezing over completely, but considering Nira and her husband were tier 5 and the bath was likely designed for them, it wasn’t as strange as she was thinking.

Kat felt herself start to waver. Something in her energy telling her that pushing past that point would cause her to collapse. It was a strange sensation. In all the moments she had used her energy before this, she wasn’t exactly calm during the experience. Because she was looking for it specifically, she could see the wavering of the energy situated within her and new that pushing further would cause her to fall over.

Kat heisted for a moment, once again wondering if this was fine, but decided to just go with it. With a final blast of energy Kat felt herself falling. Before her knees had even bent though Nira had turned off the taps and grabbed Kat and pulled her into a bridal carry. It was a little awkward with Kat’s wings but Nira was able to keep them folded up in her hold mostly well.

As soon as Nira left the room, Kamiko said. ”Mum! What did you do to my friend?”

Nira smiled softly, seeing the real worry in her daughters face. ”She’s just used all her energy for the moment. She’s fine. It’s something that happens with high level regenerators. She’s not completely out, but she’s below the threshold her body is comfortable working at.”

”I don’t quite get it.” Said Kamiko with a slight frown as she followed behind her mother who was leading the way back to Kamiko’s room.

”It’s a little funny detail that certain regenerators all share. Kat especially because she has Succubus Regeneration. They have a threshold. It’s like… 2-5% of their total energy where if they dip below it, they just sort of collapse.

”It’s still debated to this day if this is because they need a certain amount of energy to function, or if their regenerations stops them moving so that if some serious injury were to occur it could still heal them from the brink.

”Say… having your heart ripped out. If Kat stopped moving, she could still take one more major hit like that before she was actually out of luck, and even then, given time she could probably recover by herself.

”Personally, I think it’s a bit of both. Some regenerators need the energy to function, while others it’s a failsafe to prevent them from taking damage when they are so low on resources.” Explained Nira.

Kamiko frowned. ”That doesn’t seem particularly safe though… what if she runs out of energy in the middle of combat or something?”

At that question Kat felt a light shudder run through her body as she regained the ability to move. As she does so though, she felt Nira grip her tighter, as if to say she was trapped for now, and Kat decided not to push her luck. She did however, answer the question. ”Well, I don’t know what happens all the time, but I know my tail will still protect me even when I can’t move.

”I’m not sure when my regeneration stops exactly, but I know I can regenerate a surprising amount with only a bit of energy. It does somewhat depend on what the problem is. Little cuts can be healed all day, every day and, if they only come once every second or so, actually take less then I regenerate.

”Big things like missing my heart take a chunk of energy and a bit of time… though all things considered, even a heart is only a few percent all at once. Which isn’t that bad when you consider what I’m missing. I will say. It’s weird I can grow a heart back but not an arm. I don’t quite get that.”

”I can pick up that thought.” Said Nira, ”The main reason is that your regeneration focusing on both the worst injuries, and the easiest, as well as the fact that your energy is focused around your head and your heart.

”If you are missing an arm, the energy is only at the stump, and it’s much simpler to keep you alive by just closing the wound up. Missing an organ however… is rather fatal in the long run and it’s close to your centre of energy so it makes do with that as well.

”Gluttony regen doesn’t have that problem. They can regrow in a snap. Though once you are a higher Rank, missing limbs problem won’t be a problem. I mean, a Rank 5 can do most of what you can now without any ability in it.

”So as you climb there it should get much better. Probably not much faster for a long time though. Regen tends to try and fix everything before it speeds things up at all. Just the nature of the beast really. A bit like how it’s easier to get more potency in your poisoned nails then a new mixture.

”I doubt Kamiko will find a third poison until Rank 4 at the very least, and that would be a rare thing”

”Why?” asked Kat.

”Oh can I do this one Mum?” asked Kamiko.

Nira inclined her head to her daughter as she pushed open Kamiko’s room. Kamiko, taking the provided signal said. ”It’s to do with how the abilities work. It’s much easier to put more power into them then it is fundamentally chain it.

”Think of it like… like cooking? Do you know how to cook?” seeing Kat’s nod Kamiko continued. ”It’s rather easy to just add more ingredients to feed more people. If you know in advance it isn’t hard at all. However, is suddenly a demon like the Living Shadows turns up and says they can’t eat salt.

”Well then you have to change the whole dish around even if you can keep some things mostly the same.”

Nira shook her head. Not terribly happy with the example her daughter was giving, but at least enjoying the attempt that was made. *Hmm, well, I guess I can see how that works somewhat… Salt probably isn’t quite the ingredient that would change things too much. Maybe sugar in a cake instead? I do understand though. It’s an easier change to add more power but to add more options is hard.* 

Nira at this point, placed Kat gently down on Kamiko’s bed before sweeping her daughter off her feet and putting her down beside Kat and pulling up the covers. Tucking the pair in, Nira gave Kamiko a light kiss on the forehead before heading towards the door. ”Kat, do try and sleep tonight. It should be easy because of your low energy. You don’t need to do this often. In fact I wouldn’t recommend doing it more than twice a week at the most. But do try and get around to it when you can.”

”Sure thing Doc” said Kat.