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

— Kat —

The group was taking another break, mostly for the horse again. It was around four hours later when they ran into a small stream so they set up slightly off to the side to give the horse a chance to drink as much as he wanted. The horse, who they never got a name for, was panting slowly, breath misting as they did so but otherwise seemed fine with the run.

He quickly moved over to the water and started drinking.

So Kat turned to Hunter and asked, “Do you want to test what happens if I look at you properly?”

“It is best to do some testing in a safe environment. I will remain in place to make it easier for you to focus your gaze. Whenever you are ready,” stated Hunter before she promptly vanished. Kat focused on the spot she’d disappeared from… and nothing. Kat frowned and pushed the slightest bit of demonic energy into her eyes, just enough to get them to glow a bit.

Not that you could see it well with the sun in the sky.

As soon as Kat’s eyes started to glow there was the sound of something cracking then Hunter appeared back in place, and based on Kamiko’s gasp, she could see Hunter as well. “It seems that I was correct. Looking at me properly with your true sight breaks my technique,”

“But why?” asked Kat. “I mean, I know you explained it before but I guess… it just doesn’t make that much sense to me,”

Hunter tilted her head to the side and stared Kat in the eyes for a few seconds. “I mentioned before that the technique was simply a trick. This is one of the consequences of that designation. While I can trick the world into ignoring me, it is not because I am stronger then the world, or even a small part of the world. It is because I’m also making myself as conceptually irrelevant as possible.

“I have already mentioned that I am essentially shouting out while hidden yes? That those with metaphysical senses can find me? On top of that issue, if I were to take offensive action such as attacking something or someone the technique would end as well, because it is much harder for the world to ignore me if it’s paying attention.” Hunter frowned.

“Please understand these are metaphors for ease of your understanding. The full technique is complicated, and possibly a clan secret. What I am sharing with you is… hmmm…

“I do believe I heard this saying before, and it goes like this ‘It is better to be poetically wrong then somewhat correct but incomprehensible’. In this case I am providing you with a framework for you to understand the functions of my ability without the specifics that even I do not fully comprehend.

“The metaphor is strong and it works well, but it is just that, a metaphor. The reasons my technique could be failing are complex and numerous, without testing I can only guess and my best guess is that having you look at me with true sight is essentially ‘confirming’ to the world that I am where you think I am instead of missing like I am trying to convince the world.

“Another way of looking at it, is, if I’m saying ‘I’m not here’ and the world is humouring me… when you look in my direction it’s like you asking ‘Hey world are you really sure about that?’ so it pays slightly more attention for just a moment which shatters the technique and forcing me into vision again. Is that understandable?”

“Ah… yeah I guess so,” said Kat with a nod. “Um… what other abilities do you have? I have my regeneration, the ability to enter people’s dreams and maybe just their mind in general, though that second one might be exclusive to Lily. I can also turn my entire body into water. I’m trying to learn how to turn parts of me into water, but it seems to be all or nothing,”

“I have questions about your water ability first if you do not mind?” stated Hunter. Kat nodded and the lamia continued. “Allow me to simply list them. What happens when you are missing water, how long can you stay transformed, how much water can you control?”

“So… I can transform and essentially stay transformed as long as I like. The transformation itself takes energy but maintaining it doesn’t really. I can see in 360 degrees in a circle that gets larger the more water I have. I can’t transform back without all the water I need, but I can use demonic energy to ‘regenerate’ water, or as I said before claim more.

It’s not particularly efficient in either case but it works.

“Um… as to how much water I can control? I don’t really know. More than my body weight that’s for sure but I haven’t really had the chance to test it out too much. I did a bit of practice with it at the end of a contract but I didn’t see what my limit was. The more water I have claimed, the faster my demonic energy drains, or more accurately ‘the less I regenerate’.

“I didn’t want to see what happened if I wasn’t regenerating at all because it’s a lot harder to ‘un-claim’ water. Even if it’s separated from me, as long as it’s not absorbed into the dirt or something I can stills see around it. So… yeah didn’t want to take any risks with it before I talked to some people about it,” explained Kat.

“That is sound advice. Using abilities as intended almost never results in the harm of the individual using them but pushing the limits of them does not carry the same level of safety. I have a family member who can transform into wind. They stretched their control out too far and nearly died in the process of getting dispersed into the wind.

Only the fact we had someone with a special tracking ability to keep watch on them prevented their death,” added with the same deadpan tone that made it seem like she hadn’t dropped a horrifying bomb on Kat’s lap.

*Well shit. Good to know I guess…*

[Not ‘good to know’ it’s a lot better then that! Sure you didn’t test anything stupid like that yet… but your track record with testing stuff is awful Kat. I’m sure if you didn’t know it could be potentially deadly you would’ve tried eventually.]

*I have no response.* So Kat instead diverted the topic, “Um, so what other abilities do you have? Or if you don’t want to share everything, I’m mostly looking for stuff that will be relevant to the mission,”

“Very understandable Kat, I have no problem sharing. Despite that, I believe I should first cover some of my relevant skills instead. The first is my tracking, I have studied a wide range of tracking techniques and have a great amount of practice using them in the field and in training scenarios. Even without any abilities I am confident I could find our target with some effort.

“Another worthwhile skill is my shooting ability,” Hunter gestured to the gun on her back. “It is charged with demonic energy and can fire energy projectiles or be loaded with specialised ammo that have various effects. I try not to the real ammo on normal missions because they are expensive to manufacture and purchase but you do not need to worry.

“Not only have I been assured that I will be fully reimbursed for any ammo used on this hunt after checking in the provided ring, I was able to identify an additional stockpile of ammo so it is nothing to worry about. The only issue could be the time it takes to swap out ammunition, so if we are thrown swiftly into a fight expect exclusively energy projectiles.

“For my abilities? The first two are simple but useful. The first allows me to track any target I have seen with my eyes. It works even through dimensions, and the longer I have something ‘tracked’ the more information I am fed about the target’s physical state.

With practice I have been able to tune it towards finding weaknesses in my prey, though it is worth bringing up many animals do not have useful weaknesses.

“Many times my ability has told me that destroying the heart or brain can instantly bring down a foe… only for the ability to ignore the heavy and near impenetrable natural armour around those areas while neglecting to mention that the leg joints had nothing to protect them. So while it is a useful ability I have great experience with it isn’t perfect.

“My second ability is one that slows a target. By focusing my eyes on something I can drastically reduce the speed at which it moves. It is not simply gravity or a directly magical effect but a time based one. The biggest weakness is that any time I lose line of sight the ability unwinds. It is the least useful of my abilities despite its power.

“My final ability, the one I gained upon reaching Rank 3 requires a bit more explanation…”