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

— Kat —

While the girls would’ve been happy to spend more time together, the burning pentagram in the corner clearly had other ideas. “Wait I’m not ready! We didn’t go over any of our capabilities or go over the plan for introducing you two! Oh this is not good!” panicked Kamiko.

“Do not worry Kamiko, I trust that you already have the necessary lines memorised. I believe that Kat and myself can improvise. Whoever we are to meet is unlikely to be suspicious, otherwise the briefing would have provided more details for the rest of us if they were. I have participated in such summonings before and they had a significantly different feeling to them.

Simply remain calm and we should be fine. Though I do suggest that Lily remains in her Memphis form. Three demons for one hunt is somewhat understandable but four would clearly be pushing things,” stated Hunter 23HX443.

Lily had no issue with that, transforming and flying up to Kat’s shoulder. Once Lily was in place, Kat moved over to Kamiko and gave her a quick side hug. “Hunter is right Kamiko. I’m sure you know what to say, and I trust you. Now… do how do we go all together?”

“There is no process,” said Hunter. “Transit can be stretched to allow for us to appear at roughly the same time. As long as we leave within ten minutes of each other there is nothing to worry about. I suggest that we head off now, get through the introductions, and then speak on our capabilities once we have some privacy once again.

“Before that there is one thing to ask. Kamiko, is there anything we certainly need to know about the world we are about to enter, or about the people likely to be involved in our summoning?” Hunter moved over to the table and swiped the rings for everyone. Once in hand she slipped one onto her finger and flicked the rest away. Kat caught the two for her and Lily placing them on her fingers for now.

Kamiko missed the ring by just a slight bit and sent it flying upwards.

Hunter’s eyes tracked the ring as it fell, as did Kamiko’s… and she managed to catch it on the way down with a sheepish look on her face. “Um… urr…”

“The people,” nudged Kat.

“Oh, right um… so it’s a mana based world and the only people allowed to summon demons are churches. Or at least, that’s how it is in the area of the world I was summoned. The church keeps the knowledge of how to properly summon demons very secret but you can make just about any request just about anything from them. They’re… not very picky about what they let you summon.

“Don’t get me wrong, they know that demons were somehow involved in the ‘end of the world’ so they don’t let you do ANYTHING but they’re pretty chill most of the time. They just give you a list of what it would take to summon a demon and then skim a bit off the top… or if it’s a request that would cause issues quite a lot off the top.

Um… I’m not meant to know this, I sort of… stumbled into an ancient church and found a diary that told me way too much about their order.

“Um… there’s like a bunch of other specifics about the church but it’s not too important. Most of them are actually quite serious but chill. The church has a lot of people that want to help, and obviously don’t want the world to ‘end’ a second time. Even if they’re quite clear we weren’t directly the cause, they do know our existence at least caused issues. Um….

“Yeah so just… let me do the talking I guess?” finished up Kamiko awkwardly. Kat and Hunter shared a quick glance at each other but with Kat’s shrug the pair decided to just trust Kamiko. With that settled, the three of them headed for the pentagram while trying to keep relaxed looks on their faces.

Kat was managing that much better then Hunter who had a rather bad case of resting bitch face, but the lamia was doing her best. Kamiko panicked slightly and ran after them moments later.

From Kat’s perspective in the fire the only other person she could see was Lily. No Kamiko, no Hunter. If she didn’t have Hunter’s reassurance that entering like this would be fine, Kat was pretty sure she’d be worried by now. Even with the beautiful fire to distract her. *Though… why do you think we can’t see the others?*

[How should I know?]

*Spatial affinity?*

[Fine. Ok… my best guess is that we’re moving… is fast even the right way to describe moving across dimensions? We’re obviously not operating in just three dimensions anymore. Whatever, I lack the words for anything more specific. Let’s go with fast.

So… we’re traveling really fast, across a massive amount of distance and despite leaving relatively close to the others there’s still plenty of space between us. Like… like hopping onto a highway after another car that was already heading 100km/hr.]

Kat gave Lily a slight nod as things solidified around them. Kamiko was clearly in the lead, despite the fact she was the last to leave. To further confuse matters, Hunter wasn’t behind Kat, leaving them in reverse order, but beside her. Directly to Kat’s left in fact. They were in a stone room that held three robed figures.

The robes were mostly the same. A red base, with white trimmings and a black sigil consisting of an open hand in front of an explosion. Two of the priests were men, with one woman amongst them. The priest in the middle seemed to be more important then the other two… or perhaps they just liked hats. His was pretty fancy. It was a red and black top hat with gold edging.

Of course the most striking features weren’t part of their clothes at all, but their bodies. Noen of them were human after all. They looked like a cross between a merman and a fae at first guess. They had sparkly wings extending from their backs that seemed to slowly drip sparkles that disappeared halfway to the floor.

Their skin was a pale blue that seemed to have the slightest touch of green and their smiles looked lethal, showing off rows upon rows of sharp, shark-like teeth.

All three of them had long hair that extended down to their shoulders. The top hat priest had silver hair reminiscent of Sue, though if pressed Kat would say it was a slightly lighter shade. The other male priest had dark green hair that wouldn’t be out of place on a Christmas tree. Finally the female priest had burnt orange hair that seemed to darken towards the ends.

The top hat wearing priest stepped forward and gave a slight bow. “Greetings Kamiko… I see you have brought… associates? I am certain our summoning was conducted correctly, so I am wondering if you know why we have received two additional demons for the standard price?”

“Oh, um… well… you should know that these are my friends Hunter and Kat. I was told to spend some more time with my friends so… they get to come along. Oh, um… this is a hunting contract right? It’s really Hunter’s department so she’s here not just as my friend but also to give me some tracking help. Kat’s quite strong as well so don’t worry about failure with us around!” said Kamiko nervously.

*Wait how was she able to say we’re friends? Well Hunter really. Does she already count Hunter as a friend?*

[Clearly you weren’t paying attention. Kamiko so ‘you should know these are my friends’ but I suspect the idea behind is not ‘you should already know’ but that ‘the information you should know to prevent issues’ is that we’re friends. That’s just a guess though.]

“Well I suppose we can chalk it up to good fortune then,” said the priest. “The day is young, are you planning to stick around long?”

“Um… you haven’t told us what the contract IS yet…?” offered Kamiko.

The priest slapped his forehead. “Ah of course. How silly of me Kamiko. My memory must be going in my old age…” while he said that the other two priest were glaring daggers at the one in the middle.

“You did this same routine last time and your assistance are the same ones… so I already know you’re the youngest priest in the room,” retorted Kamiko.

“Eh? I’m not that young anymore, I’m already one-hundred and fifty,” as he said that the two priests on either side of him looked like they’d both been stabbed in the heart.

“Don’t be silly Mermr,” said Kamiko. “Just because your talent and connections propelled you to this position doesn’t mean you can take it out on your poor fellow priests,”

“Bah, if they wanted to be anything other than assistants they could’ve put in some real effort whenever they wanted,” said the main priest now identified as Mermr.