My ability to do the impossible knew no bounds, especially if I disregarded personal safety. Whether dragging myself through parts of Hell that I shouldn’t or using my abilities to an extreme degree, often I succeeded due to my lack of common sense. Fate smoothed over the parts that would stop the ball from rolling. And I was gathering speed.
Air rushed past me as pain radiated up my legs. The demonic energy prevented any damage more than some surface level burns—but it wasn’t something I’d try a second time. I turned in the air, the blast from my attack having thrown me a good two dozen feet upward, to grab onto one of the tentacles.
Grumbling at having to do some physical exercise for a change, I clambered up the coiled appendages—thankful that my demonic power helped where my muscles lacked. A small amount of climbing and then a quick sprint and jump from the end of the truck and I just about landed through the open doorway of the diner.
I rolled to my feet, my jacket and boots sticking to the floor slightly as I moved, adding some unpleasant friction. Revolver clicked into being leveled ahead. Wight was still sitting on the stool.
[The diner is attempting to absorb my power.]
“Are you stuck? You can’t move?” I bit my lip. Was he in danger?
[No. I just thought the attempt was amusing.]
I nodded at him. Not much point arguing at this juncture. Just need to find Gunther again, do what is needed and then kill everything hostile for the fun of it. Probably wouldn’t be much left after Pearl and the gang had gotten through them.
A wave of nausea struck my stomach as the puzzle pieces clicked together. “Shit. Shit!” I turned to look past the decoy demons in the chairs and out of the opening and closing windows of the split-mouth. I winced as it bit into the end of the truck I had climbed, shards of metal dropping into the room across tables and behind me.
So clear to me now, and even as I glared out into the odd darkness, small spheres of light now illuminated the previously sleepy-buildings we had passed on the way in.
Only they weren’t just buildings, but more large monsters masquerading as something normal.
//Picking up… oh-there’s five other large demons becoming active. Be aware.
I could tell there was definitely going to be more swearing in that sentence, but he had kept it professional with the Org listening. Well, the buildings were a little concerning, but I wasn’t too worried now that I knew how things stood.
With more athleticism than I was used to, I hopped over the counter onto the employee side. Everything had a weird stickiness to it, now fleshy and rough, with the monster becoming active.
[You’re not supposed to be around there.]
I rolled my eyes at my patron and circled around the corner, heading for the doorway leading into the kitchen. Kicked it open and immediately ducked to the side of the thrown knife. Finger on the trigger I blew a hole in Gunthers tube-tail, causing him some amount of pain.
But he was rusty. Out of shape and without his demon. My hand was upon him before he could even recover. No time for nuance. A simple question would fill the gap.
“Yes,” he replied instantly. He didn’t elaborate any further, which was rather rude.
A liar. A murderer. A betrayer. Now nothing. Erased from existence in a flash of bright red and crimson, putting a fifteen-foot wide hole through whatever entity he had tied his bullshit life to. There was no anger within me. An eye for an eye wasn’t exactly the way the Org wanted me to act, but now they had moved one place higher on my kill list.
//…thank you.
Now, that hit some emotion in my core, a grip that suddenly clenched onto one of my human organs. I gave a brief wave to the air. Didn’t feel like talking with all ears listening in. We’d have our time after my victory.
//Org… wants you to deal with remaining hostiles.
Of course they did. Perhaps I failed my diplomacy attempt this time around. If I ruined my chance of getting to the Hells, I didn’t care—this was for Rodney, and-
The diner shook, shuddering as my damage finally registered. It tilted to the side as the supporting tentacles I had caught in the collateral had it sinking down. Perhaps I wouldn’t have to jump down this time.
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I strolled back through into the main diner as it continued to groan and slowly collapse.
[You are a harsh health inspector, Eric.]
“Hmm.” I didn’t feel much like one-liners or witty anecdotes. “Gunther did it. He is dead now. We need to kill the other buildings. Are you with me?”
He drew his knife out from wherever he had been hiding it.
[Let us do our job efficiently, to the standard expected of us.]
He was laying it on a little thick. I was too tired to roll my eyes again, so we just went towards the front entrance. There was a crash as the truck dropped to the floor from the limbs going slack out front. Knocking us from our feet, the building hit the ground once more, glass shattering and bursting to both the inside and outside of the diner.
I stood back to my feet and rolled my neck out as a couple of ceiling tiles fell down behind us. A light fitting or two crackled and sparked from their connections, breaking. The useless demons sitting as decoys now deflated like balloons, to lounge against the tables and chairs.
Demonic energy pooled in my foot as I kicked the bent frame of the door open. It clattered against the dusty ground as Wight and I stepped out into the open.
“Not bad,” Pearl said with a grin. Her radiant eyes narrowed and expression became more neutral in seeing my face. “Let’s get this tied up.”
Now, that was almost enough to make me smile. I raised an eyebrow to my right. Five of the buildings were now stomping over to this wider area, the closer one with tentacles crushing a croc, while it munched on two panicking trucker demons.
I spun the revolver in my hand. Looks like we needed some heavy artillery. A few mortars in their open mouths and-
The ground shook, and I dove to the side as dozens of tentacles burst from the surrounding street. Into a crouching position, I fanned out shots into the closest ones. My mixed energy bullets bursting as they entered the limbs, the timing and control of it already something innate to me. Things seemed to click a lot quicker lately.
Flashes of pink lines scored the air above me, as extended tips were severed from the encroaching tentacles. Pearl then dropped from the air beside me, before Wight burst out from between two trunk-like appendages, dark blood spraying in his wake as he slashed his knife around.
[I yet live.]
Pearl helped me to my feet as the prongs of their attack started to wither away and sink away. “Greater Mimics, you sure do know how to pick enemies.”
“Yes,” I said. “Although it’s usually just me overcoming whatever Hell can throw at me.” I hoped the Org heard that clearly and appreciated it, because it felt gross to say.
She turned to me with an eyebrow raised before clocking what I was leading to. “Certainly, you raise to any task leveled in front of you. Truly you are… great.”
I grimaced. Not because it sounded like it was hard to get a genuine compliment thrown my way. It was just the sterile manner in which she was trying to deliver them. I was great. There should be no hesitation.
“Although…” she tilted her head in watching a building tears one of the trucks in half. “I may have to bring out my actual sword.”
“That one is not it?”
She raised an eyebrow as if I should know better. “This is like… wearing boxing gloves.”
To extend the fight, rather than to protect anything. As much as it looked like an expertly crafted weapon, it was dawning on me more that she might see it more of a showpiece. Something fancy that she could use in the Mids and below because she could probably easily tear the buildings in half with her bare hands, but preferred the flare of a sword.
“Do you also have…” My mouth dried at asking this, but curiosity was burning within me. “A Domain?”
Her expression seemed to dull, and her eyes lowered to the floor. “Of course, Eric. But things would have to be a lot worse for me to use it.” Her radiant orbs looked back up at me. “A lot worse.”
I nodded. Domain’s could be pretty powerful, even when we were talking Mid-level demons, if the Hunter ones I had come across were anything to go by. A demon from the Highers would probably have something even more frightening and destructive, which scared me more than excited. Not that I should be excited at all. The thoughts shook from my head as I focused on the task at hand.
“Alright, bring out the big guns. Wight and I will go from this right side. You head around the left.”
“As you command,” she said with a wry smile.
I watched her leave as I spun the revolver, the demon hopping over the errant tentacles across the area with effortless dexterity.
[One day, you will be that strong.]
“One day.” I was about to add that one day I would be dead. And the latter was most likely to come right as I hit the peak of my abilities. Mids level of power seemed attainable—getting to stand against the Highers was a pipe dream that wasn’t even wide enough to fit my corpse down.
[Let us kill all demons.]
“I thought you’d never ask,” I said with a grin, and we both set off. Org was watching, but I planned to push my luck with what they understood. Gradually, I had been putting the pieces of my capabilities together. The mixture of powers within me. I used Hell Shot, and I had used Heaven Shot. But where did the middle lay? A balanced force similar to my normal shots, but powered through Wight’s granted abilities.
I knew it was dangerous. Especially under observation. But if anything, I wanted to push the issue. Didn’t want them to know the truth, but wow them with enough mystery that they’d be eager to jump allow me into the Mids—to see what I was truly capable of. Truly built for.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pearl leap up atop part of a truck’s carcass. Her hand was outstretched into the air. My eyebrow raised to see what she was ready to do, as my gun went up to the nearest mimic.
A star formed in the darkened sky, a bright speck at first but then growing in both ferocity and luminosity. Like a meteor, it zipped through to our position at immense speed, bursting straight through one of the buildings on the left, the shockwave of the impact blowing out all the windows across the area. I blinked, having been briefly blinded by the amber flare of the… whatever it was… before turning to see her standing there still. Now in her hand, a sword of blazing fire. As she switched into a ready stance, the burning flame turned into a radiant gold.
Wight slid to a stop to stare at her in shock, his beak opening wide.
[Oh fuck.]