Track 019: Summoner

Finding out that it’s just going to be me and Kohl alone on the expedition sucks. Gabrielle said that Vintage’s grandson has a knack for both code and build like she does and is probably the only one awake right now who can help her with the next plans for Operation: Guardian. He’s not awakened, but apparently he was working on a new invention and they got to talking about it.

His name is Milo, and he seems pretty cool. Apparently, he was over the moon when G asked him to help her with her mech designs. They’d already been hard at work the night before. Even though I wanted to check in on her. When I sent a message through Kohl’s brain server, I got a away message. An away message in our year, 2049!

Gone building. If you need me, no, you don’t.

-Gabrielle

It was hilarious, but I know how it gets. When I’m working on a new set, I don’t exactly want everyone barging in and ruing the flow. I understand, however it was disappointing.

Neon, however, was taking the job of contacting that cell that was left high and dry a week ago in Rock, when they tried to join up. Private Bhati was trying to breech the enemy line there and bring them home. She never laid eyes on where they were held up.

They could not only get in there, they could also make a corridor for them to leave through, as long as that didn’t require them to guard one location. I’m surprised though, that they offered. I wish I knew more about them. We really haven’t gotten to talk one on one. I’ll make sure that happens soon.

Omni said he was moving on even before the night was over. He said he needed to get a ride from his wheelman. He going down to meet the rest of his group in Nightengale City. It wasn’t an emotional send off. Watching Omni climb into that jalopy was a humorous scene. The patch work pain job on the rusted out RV begged me to ask a few questions. When it went from zero to sixty faster than I’ve seen anything move, even including Neon. I doubled over, laughing. And when the exhaust pipe turned into a rocket, I just stared agape.

Looking at my HUD and seeing the unfamiliar names on my party interface: Carter Alleyne, Margarita Orza, Azra Bahati, Rocky Coen, and Carl Sess. It feels off, setting out without Firewall and Neon. It’s only been a few days, but we’ve already been through a lot together. Thankfully, Kohl is still with me to watch the other’s backs.

On the way towards the apartment building, I realize we probably took a very roundabout journey yesterday. All that weaving away from the Strays and taking alleys so we didn’t get spotted by Aquilan’s forces, and the stop by the mall.

I may have gone a bit out of my way to get to shop, but this time it’s made tedious by Carl insisting that we move tactically through the early morning shadows and keep out of line of sight from drones. It’s not a bad idea per se, but there haven’t been any since I’ve awakened and you used to see them all the time. I wonder if the bugs or the Strays have taken them out or if there’s no one to monitor anymore. I told him we haven’t seen hide no hare of the drones since we’ve been awakened and I couldn’t really read his expression. Can’t tell what he’s thinking.

The thing is, he’s right. Drone patrols make sense for right now. So why aren’t we being tracked that way by Aquilan? Back when that guy, Austin Crewer, was burning government buildings saying it was the end times you couldn’t turn a corner without them showing up. They said they weren’t collecting any data on us, but everyone knew it was a fucking lie. Most of the city was Big Brother for a few weeks, just to catch some arsonist. Makes me wonder if he was right, and he knew something we didn’t.

Boom! A fireball explodes in front of me and I’m thrown back, the magic in the grav boots preventing me from falling over.

-3 HP

I pat the flames out on my raiment quickly. Hoping against hope it won’t fuck up the magic too much. I look around and there’s a white guy on standing on the bodega on the corner looking down on us. A sneer on his face and thick strands of box dye black hair covering his eyes. He looks young, maybe late teens. To either side of him are two demon-kin girls who look honestly like what I imagine an adult feminine WarChilde must look like without the goat legs though. Decked out in leather bondage gear and oddly draped over him lasciviously, their hungry eyes fall upon us.

“I’m the famous warlock Grimoire, and I’m claiming this area as my territory!” He says, his voice echoing out of into a quiet city and I can only think about what else can hear him. “You will get out of my territory or feel my wrath!”

“Son, I’d like for you to get down from there!” Sess demands.

“I’d like you to suck a big fat fireball.” He says, making a rude gesture.

“Well, someone’s not a fan of you.” I say, “Please rile him up more. I got this.” Stepping out in front of the group. Projecting my voice. “You seem a powerful summoner! I am but a sorcerer, a powerful spellcaster, but I only one summon.” Sometimes, you gotta play the game.

“You’re a sorcerer? You don’t look like a sorcerer.”

With the grace of a god, I didn’t roll my eyes. I’m sure my eye twitched, though. He’s so sucked down this magic rabbit hole, I think he’s lost perspective on everything. Which in the alien apocalypse it’s probably okay to go a little nuts.

“I have only been training for a few days. It will take a bit longer for me to get my full regalia.”

“You said you have a summon?” He sounds surprised. “I want to see it.”

“How about we have a summoner’s duel?” Anything to keep him from hitting anyone else. “Your demonesses?”

“Succubi. My Succubi will stomp any summon you have to dust.”

“I can’t wait to see how they deal with my Lukaelin!” I plaster a smile on my face.

“Do we really have time for this?” Carl says.

“Do you have time to get blasted by fireballs?” I whisper at him harshly. Not successfully biting back just how tired I am of his bullshit. He looks like he’s about to say something, but Grimoire cuts him off.

“I agree to this duel. What shall we wager?”

“Free passage?”

“Boring!” He crows. “Magic items! I can see them with my demonic eye, and I want your cloak.” Now that I look at him, I could still see the eye under the greasy hair, glowing a fiery red. It was a little spooky. I’ll be honest with his summons, the eye, and supposedly more magic items. This might be a rough one. “Your robes for my glove.”

My stomach drops. Of course he wants the only thing on me that’s magical and probably mye best piece of equipment. “What does it do?”

“Boosts the power of my summons.” He smirks. “Now you understand my power and just how out of your depth you are.”

Fuck! I can see I may have made a mistake here.

Summoner’s Duel

Rules: Elimination

Defeat the opposing summons with yours.

Wager: 1 magical item.

The notification flies across my HUD, and I know I’m resigned to do this. This trying to save everyone might not be the best decision I’ve made. An image of Carl shooting the kid off the building enters my mind. Nope, nope, that’s worse than whatever this is.

I quickly draw the summoning circle for Lukaelin. Enchant the summon with Bleeding Heart and place the Dark Blade military knife from my Personal Space; I’d enchanted for him.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Summoning Lukaelin feels like opening a valve in my soul. Like releasing something deep inside myself. Introspection instead of pulling from the depths of a war-torn world.

He comes into being all at once and looks transformed. Taller and as if he’s put on weight. His canines have lengthened and his nails tapper to sharp, bladed claws. His dark, curly hair had highlights of blood red. And the most pronounced of all was the fact that a sanguine aura ran rivulets down his body. Seeing him like this, he was a little intimidating for being such a little guy. Over his head 4 chevron show for his health.

“Carter,” I say, smiling. “meet your new cousin, Lukaelin” Carter’s eyes widen quite a bit. I think I forgot to mention I could summon demons. “Lukaelin, meet my brother Carter.”

“Hey, kid.” Carter got it together and waves

“It is a pleasure to meet you, sibling of my master.” Lukaelin turns to face Carter and bows from the shoulder up. A show of deference. But he never took his eyes off my brother.

“We’ve got to talk about that whole master thing… But maybe after we kick this nerd’s ass.”

Grimoire was silently fuming while we got ready. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and while he couldn’t attack me, he could definitely get his girls to do it while we weren’t facing him.

“Are those the summons I must face, Mast-”

“Cousin, let’s just go with cousin for now.”

“Alright, honorable cousin, I will take these pleasure servants down for you.”

“Pleasure servants? They’re really succubi?” Carl says, shocked.

“Yes, they tend to bond with unwitting summoners or people in a bid for fast power.”

“Can you beat them?”

“I will rend them in half for you, cousin!”

I think anyone on the outside looking in would think Lukaelin was out of his league. The succubi could fly and could pepper him with fireballs from the air. Lukaelin has no ranged attacks. I believe in him, though. He has stats on his side.

With my 5 in creativity, he has anywhere between six and nine to hit normally, adding in the plus two when an enemy tries to dodge thanks to my enchantment on the blade he’s got a whopping eleven to hit. All of this makes him faster and stronger on hit then he would have been normally. As he darts through the air, I can see that. Lukaelin already moved like a superhuman but, now he was a dart in the sky. It didn’t matter that they could fly cause he’s faster. He catches the silver-haired one and pins her to the ground. He slashes her wing. One of the five chevrons a top of her indicator burst. No Bleeding debuff is applied though but maybe there just needs to be a few more attacks made.

As he’s about to leap off her, a fireball from the blue-haired devil rocks his take off. Not just hitting him the silver one gets caught in the crossfire bursts another chevron from her and one from Lukaelin. Two for one in one move is excellent even if we didn’t have anything to do with it. Seeing Lukaelin kick ass without my directions proves he definitely doesn’t need me to figure out what to do.

Mix.

“You’re doing great, Lu.” I cheer.

Cuz put himself between Silver and Blue. He knows Blue won’t chance that again. And as she slows her casting as she gets visibly tired from the barrage. She breathes heavily, and she tries to cast it and it doesn’t come together. And that’s when Lukaelin goes in for the kill. Putting on a burst of speed, they close the distance. Blue charges him, her claws rake across his skin. He yowls in pain and grabs her with his, digging them into her throat. She screams bloody murder as she takes off with him into the sky.

Mix!

“What, dude?”

Look at Grimoire. He looks sick.

The already pale man looks white as a sheet. Sweat sticks his greasy hair to his face and while I can’t see everything, blood pools at his clavicle, staining his T-shirt and at his booted feet.

He’s being struck in the places that Lukaelin is attacking. The bleeding effect is happening on him instead of the Succubi. He pauses and I understand.

“You’re telling me that they have their health pools bonded?”

Yes.

“How can he be so stupid?” I ask. I shout towards Grimoire, pleading, “Yield. End the match. You’re losing blood.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” His voice comes out rough, his breathing hard. He smiles with pink-stained teeth. “Donnabella has you exactly where I want you!”

Donnabella, the blue-haired succubus, maneuvers Lukaelin into a throw as she flies high in the air. She was gonna dive bomb him into the ground. Smashing his last two chevrons at once. The smile on her face shines with icy glee. Every way Lukaelin moves, she wrests him back into place.

“Just strike her. You don’t have to do a lot of damage. You’re bleeding the summoner. If he passes out, they will be immediately be dismissed!”

Donnabella careens off target as Lukaelin bites, scratches, and kicks her. Throughly weakened as she collapses her wings in a sacrifice move. Two more chevrons pop as her form gets shaky and colorful smoke comes off her form.

Lukaelin makes a decisive jerk and digs the knife into her heart. A critical hit. She bursts into a plume of cerulean smoke and disappears. Flinging his arms out wide, he slows his fall. Flipping over, he made sure his hooves hit the ground first.

If this was a normal battle, I could create a platform to slow him down or even catch him. Instead, I just have to watch him fall. He actually does a three-point landing and looks cool as hell.

The silver-haired succubus couldn’t hit Lu while he was tangled up with DonnaBella but, now he’s free so she can sweep the field with fire. And that’s what she does. She only has to hit him once, and the battle will be over.

“That’s what I’m talking about, Belladonna!” Grimoire calls. He looks so rough. He’s on his knees and he looks terrible. I feel bad about this but, I can’t lose my the raiment. I honestly don’t know why he wants it. It doesn’t fit his aesthetic at all. The bonus to Dream is good and all, but his gloves are a lot more useful for his build. Either it’s for bragging rights or something happens when you have a fully powered-up loadout. Something beyond the bonuses…

Lukaelin uses some amazing footwork using dashing around and flipping. Trying to make her run out of gas as well? That’s not it. I couldn’t guess how many fireballs it would take until she was out of power. No, he was waiting until she got in to a pattern. When it happens, I almost miss it.

The Dark Blade knife flies true and hard. This time the thunk of it piercing deep into her toned stomach. She screams and she falls clutching at the knife. Multicolored smoke rises out through the wound. I don’t understand what she says next, but it’s very clear she’s cursing him our. One more chevron shatter.

Both she and Grimoire collapse. Her falling to her knees before being blown away in silver smoke. Ordinarily, she’d be alright. The only thing that was different this time is her summoner didn’t have the durability to take on more of her wounds.

Duel End

The Composer Wins!

As the winner you receive:

The Summoner’s Gloves

Gives another Armor Chevron to all summons and allows them to use one ability of yours.

The Summoner’s gloves appear on my loadout. They looked different in my HUD than the single glove Grimoire used. I dismiss the pop up as I run toward him.

Teleporting on top of the building, I reach his body. Lifting his head, I pull a Wake-Me-Up Espresso from my Personal Space, and pop the cap.

I didn’t hear Lukaelin come up with me, but he must have climbed the wall. Goat hooves might actually come in handy. He pinches Grimoire’s nose so he would swallow. I forgot about that part. Thank god it wasn’t hot coffee, or he’d be dead. I tuck the re-useable coffee thermos back into my extra-dimensional space.

Grimoire sputters awake. The color returns to his face as he sits up. Getting straight up to his feet like nothing happened. His wounds have closed to tiny red lines. He looks around confused, wondering what happened, and when he realizes, he looks embarrassed. I feel kinda bad for him again. I can’t imagine waking up to see you’d lost.

“Hey, man, that was a good duel.” I say, reaching my hand out to shake. “Belladonna and Donnabella are crazy powerful.”

He smacks my hand away. He screws his face into a familiar sneer. “You will know the power of my summons and I will defeat you next time!” He laughs like a cartoon villain. Running off the roof and the moment he disappears over the ledge and I run to see if he’s okay, He rises being held aloft by his two succubi summons.

“This won’t be the last you see of me! I will fight you again and I will win.”

A Vendetta has been placed on you.

Grimoire, a DreamRunner Summoner, has chosen you as the object of his obsession.

Fight and Win

Duels given to you by the Vendetta holder can not be refused.

But as a boon, if you win you may receive bonus rewards.

“What was that?” Carter asks when I’m back on the street with the others.

I facepalm and shake my head. “A headache.”