The Demon watched the fire wind down as he mopped his brow. The devastation was caused by a single act of recklessness in an old, abandoned house. Now scarring the streets as several houses had to be knocked over to save the lives of those who'd been living there.
He'd been on his way to get fitted for a hat when his entwined senses alerted him to the acts of a certain black cat. But he'd been too late to stop the creature from enacting his brash and frankly irrational plan of setting off a Bomb in his own house.
He mopped his brow once more, those flames had been unnatural alright, and while he'd felt hotter, this body was limited by mortal perils and harm. So of course, as the adage goes; the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. He was starting to feel that now, damn, how do humans get anything done with these things? No wonder their paltry religions are always going on about ascension from the flesh and such.
Well, enough of that, the little scamp is gone and so should I before that priest comes back and decerns my presence. thankfully stopping a rogue, ahh what is it called, Witch flame! that's what it's called, Witch flame is a very stressful affair. But still, I'd better get a move on.
"Hold it right there Sir, I need you to come with me." a hand landed on his shoulder.
He unconsciously flinched and chided his physical form for doing so. He turned and saw the form of an officer in his typical brown uniform and black buttons. A little black mustache plastered across his buzzard-like face, squinting angrily at him with the nicest blue eyes he'd ever seen.
"Officer, I assume you're here for the fire, well it just went out and-"
"And nothing Von Helmut, I've been waiting to get ahold of you for a while now, ever since you left me this little memento." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a long, thin, and ragged scar along his forearm.
"I don't suppose you've forgotten our last meeting, in the Flanigan Dueling Club?" the man accused
"I Demand Satisfaction! And I'll get by Heaven, in a court of law! Now come quietly, or don't"
He said that last part with an almost gleeful invitation, and the Demon pulled away. He had no such time for these games, let alone Darwin's past grievances and grudge holders. By all under Heaven did he have to make enemies with the Law?
The demon gave a brief rebuke " I'll not be bothered unless you wish to ask me about the fire that occurred here-"
"Ahh, the Fire, yes, I know you had a hand in it! always a dabbler of magic wasn't you. I'm sure a Dominar would love to string you up for questioning." the officer was a blunt man with threats, fortunately, salvation made itself apparent.
"Officer, what's going on here!" the priest called, the Demon was both relieved and immediately concerned. A touch from him and everything, no, he'd have to call him specifically. Just stay calm.
Darwin, you asinine little shit, what have you done! Dueling houses? why were you in a dueling house? I should've possessed that shaman girl in Thule, much quieter in the barbarian country.
"Father, I'm taking this man into custody. He's under suspicion for causing this fire."
The priest looked aghast "Suspicion? the coals have yet to cool! The Fire Chief has just started his investigation. By what suspicion do you hold this man?"
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The officer stumbled, blind fool hadn't expected this, he'd just seen me and rushed it. Now it was my turn.
"It's alright Father, This should be a simple matter to correct." the demon turned "Well if it's a rematch you want, You'll get it. We meet in the square within an hour. the Father can watch," he demanded. The officer balked "I'll have you in irons first! Now on with it!"
The Demon sneered "Dear sir, this is hardly the time or place to be settling a feud between Dueling men. If we must settle this, let it be away from this horrid place and its devastation. It will do us no good to stain the winner's reputation fighting in ashes." The officer stepped back.
"Are you calling me- You honorless- You'll hang for defamation!" he cried.
The Demon stepped back as he dodged the short sword that sprang from the man's side. The Demon reeled back feeling the tip cleave the air in front of him. He scooped up a handful of ashes and threw them in the man's face.
Now despite the instinct to the contrary, He remained unarmed. He didn't have his cane on him, nor did he seek to use any of the timbers nearby. Instead, he'd decided to the key to winning here, against a duelist, was a pyrrhic victory. ie, Making a fool of himself.
"Arm yourself Coward!, Let this be a matter of Honor!" the officer shouted.
The Demon turned around presenting his back "Stabbing a man in the Back? For shame Officer!" he cried
"Turn and face me Coward!!" the man cried and began circling, trying to get to his front. The Demon swiveled to counter, constantly facing away so that the man would have to shuffle through the ashes to try and catch up, thus the two figures twirled through the ash and timbers, the Demon sometimes nudging a few things invisibly through Pneuma to make the Officer stumble, or pretending to stumble himself to dodge or deflect a blow.
"Stand still blast you! Stop making a fool of yourself!" his frustrated opponent cried, The Demon smirked inside, It wasn't himself he was making a fool of, Duelists and their honor, a funny plaything, but nothing more than an excuse to kill and maim without feeling bad about it in the morning.
The nearby priest put a hand on the officer's shoulder "Officer Crow, I think that's quite enough. Let this man alone, unless you're arresting him for something?" The officer balked a moment trying to regain himself. The Demon took that as his queue to make himself scares once the Officer was the center of attention, blathering on about something. Trying to explain his suspicions that I, and by that, he means Darwin, started the blaze.
While they bickered a moment, The Devil slipped into an alleyway and vanished. He'd lost time waltzing in the streets, now he needed to find the real Darwin and make him explain himself.
From what he could tell, the item that set the blaze in motion was some kind of Pneuma explosion. His last impression of Darwin's actions was that of trying to build a kind of Cannon, powered by Salt, Mercury, and Sulfur. Chemically speaking, these were mostly inert when mixed all together. But conditions could be made to form a potentially spectacular explosion.
Just ask the Alchemists.
However, add Magic to the mix and a new world of possibilities opened up. Pneuma reacts peculiarly to Mercury, Amplifying an already dangerous force to unheard-of levels, Sulfur, not much on that., while it can sponge up some Pneuma, it's very poor at it and mostly ignored, focusing on its talents of Reaction rather than absorption.
The violent reaction produced is mixed with salt to dampen and smooth the frantic impulses, but in reality, molten salts could easily cause an explosion as well, though that depended on the salt. Metal Salts or Mineral Salt, most definitely had better reactions, both chemically and in Magic.
Gah, where'd that little idiot wander off to?
There was a very concerning thump inside him, as he could no longer sense Darwin's soul. The connecting threads were still there, pulling at them as he did, giving a vague indication that Darwin was still alive and kicking, but he was blind to what he was doing. It smacked of something bizarre.
Did Darwin set off the explosion as a cover? But what kind of Spell would affect him? The magic Darwin knew was all based on Banned ideologies, not this kind of treachery. Only another Spirit could hide from a Spirit. Well, not exactly.
Darwin wasn't completely hidden. If he had to he could likely still find him, It'd be a pain of guesswork. But Still, it would lead him to the black menace, eventually.
The key word is eventually.
Whatever just happened, he'd have to hunt down the little bugger with the equivalent of a Compass pointer, rather than simply pulling on a leash. And in the meantime of him tracking the walking disaster, no doubt he was cooking up a new scheme to throw at him.