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

— Hunter —

Ronldo had booked it from the immediate area perhaps for legitimate reasons such as not wanting to interfere with the combat, or perhaps he was going for the source of this all. Something he ‘neglected’ to mention in order to make himself seem more important or simply to keep something else a secret. It was all possible… and Hunter had decided she was best served following along after a few short moments.

From what she could tell, there was nothing to be done about the clone infested. They were clearly created because of the unstable temporally charged demonic energy in the crystal. Hunter had stopped to shoot a few, but it simply created more clones even if she shot the crystal. Hunter wasn’t willing to waste some of her more exotic rounds without knowing they’d work. Meg would surely have mentioned it in the immediate aftermath.

So she followed Ronldo when he snuck away… and she wasn’t the only one. Strdl was hot on his tail. She was clearly trying to be sneaky and she had some level of stealth skill from her police training but from where Hunter was standing it was pretty pathetic. Ronldo had seemingly noticed as well… but had made no move to deal with her just yet. Perhaps he had no issues with it? Perhaps he suspected she was following him as well? Hunter didn’t know.

The pair kept running, mostly along the ground. Up some stairs and through the streets. Hunter started to see traces of other people but they were holed up in their homes and making no move to leave. Clearly they either trusted their leaders to deal with it or were simply too scared to do anything.

Things eventually came to a head when Ronldo entered a somewhat large park. It was missing any trees or cover for Strdl to hide around except for a fountain in the centre that had no water running through it. Strdl waited for a few moments at the edge until Ronldo was truly into the park before launching herself towards him throwing several small crystals in his direction as she landed.

“Ah! The police girl! So lovely for you to join me!” said Ronldo as he easily ducked under the pink crystals. “Are you here to help me with the current crisis?”

“I’m here to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again!” hissed Strdl as three her hands forward. Matching her gesture was a wall of crystals that grew from the ground and continued to increase in size and length as they boxed them both inside an arena. Hunter was easily able to move to the top of one of these crystals to watch the action.

“Ooh… scary,” said Ronldo. As he did, Strdl launched another batch or crystals, this one more tightly packed and mostly lined up with Ronldo’s form so he couldn’t just duck under them again. Of course that just meant he could jump over them. He wasn’t a fighter, but he wasn’t a mortal either so a little leap was within his skillset.

“How do you propose to deal with me? Do you really think I can be locked up forever?” asked Ronldo. “Even with all I’m done I doubt it’s a life sentence… and even if it is… are you sure nobody will break me out?”

“That’s why I’m planning to kill you,” stated Strdl as she brought her hands together and down. A giant clump of crystals appeared above Ronldo and fell down to crush him but Strdl was simply too slow with her moves. She may have been able to replace spell sigils with gestures because of her status as a savant but she had minimal practice with it and was simply too slow.

Continue reading at empire

Ronldo was able to dash forward, stopping just barely out of the range so that once it crashed down behind him he could lean back on it and look relaxed. “Strdl my darling… I’m afraid I know you a bit too well to believe that. Really killing me… I’m afraid I just can’t see it, honourable little police girl that you are,”

Ronldo’s smile was big, wide and teasing… until he heard Strdl starting to laugh. It wasn’t interrupted immediately, no. At first it was easy to keep smiling… but Strdl kept laughing, it turned into a cackle, with a slight dashing of sobs mixed in with a slightly high pitched wine. Ronldo was…

“Hahahahaha! Oh I’ve heard that one so much lately. Honourable Strdl. Loyal Strdl. Strdl the good little girl. Oh how easy she is to manipulate because for all the competence she shows… well she’s just an honourable woman like that. Never willing to step outside the law to get things done! Well you know what?! I think I’ve heard that a few to many times over the last few days.

“Sure I don’t know if I could go after the people who leave here. Many are innocent… and after listening to Pebbles I’m not sure that locking him up is the right choice. He has that… that charisma and earnestness that’s missing in so many people. He wants to make the world a better place and while I do think he’s and idiot… he isn’t you. You aren’t those faceless innocents…

“No you… you are the cause of this entire mess!” hissed Strdl. “Or at the very least, you’re close enough to being the cause that I can forgive a small lie to myself about it. Your death here will ensure that regardless of what happens afterwards you will not be around to cause more trouble for my home!”

Hmmm… should I try and help one of them? Perhaps… but while I am not fond of the Creep myself I may need his information to stop the clones. I’ll watch for now.

“Ah, well that is certainly scary… but are you sure you can manage it? I’m no slough myself…” started Ronldo.

Only to be cut off swiftly but Strdl’s words “A snake like you would normally have all sorts of backup plans and enchanted items to keep you alive… BUT THAT EXPLOSION EARLIER SHOULD’VE REMOVED ENOUGH!”

At that point Strdl charged forward, unwilling to waste time with ineffectual spells Ronldo could clearly dodge. In her hands she summoned up a large two handed staff that was about as thick as her arm with various spiked edges where the crystals burst out from the main body slightly.

Ronldo pretended to cower away from her, sliding backwards and looking around anxiously until Strdl brought the staff down towards his head. In a stunning display of dexterity he ducked to the side and sliced up at her with a dagger he’d hidden on his body beforehand. Strdl grunted as the dagger sliced through her armour and left a large gash across her stomach.

Strdl wasn’t stopping though, bringing her staff around in a sweep that forced Ronldo to back up a bit giving her time to place a hand over her wound and seal it with some thin crystals. A painful way to stop the bleeding but she wasn’t too concerned with that at the moment.

They danced back and forth. Ronldo respecting the range the stuff gave Strdl as well as her dogged ferocity that told him she’d be willing to trait blow for blow. Not entirely uncaring about her own state, but more than willing to trade hits if that’s what it came down to. This was proved when a slight slipup from Ronldo left his head open for a blow and Strdl took it.

The staff was mere inches away from crushing Ronldo’s head when it bounced backwards. A flash of light surrounding him for a moment as a button on his cloak fizzled and drop too the ground. Strdl hissed at the interference as Ronldo went for another gut shot. Strdl raised a crystal barrier between them to block it.

The knife shattered some of the crystals but it was enough time for Strdl to move back. With a kick forward the barrier shattered, raining little crystal fragments down on Ronldo giving him a few minor cuts but no last damage. Still… it was the first successful strike Strdl had managed against the bastard and it empowered her. The staff she wielded was swung wildly and with as much strength as she could muster. Desperately trying to lang a follow up.

For Ronldo dodging wasn’t quite as easy as he was making it out to be. He was definitely more skilled then his opponent but just as obviously less powerful. He didn’t poses a comparable physique or any real talent with magic… and a number of his usual enchanted tools had been destroyed in that explosion or left behind meaning he was down a good chunk of his arsenal.

The real problem though? Kamiko’s healing had fixed him up quite well but that didn’t mean he’d completely removed the exhaustion from the event. For a number of seconds he was bleeding to death and while he no longer had a giant hole in his chest Kamiko hadn’t replenished all of his missing blood, nor had it removed the toll he body had endured to keeping him up and moving for those last few seconds. He’d been willing to die to warn Pebbles because there was nothing else to be done… but now? He wasn’t just going to roll over for a police officer with a grudge.