After passing through the gates of Lord Dominic's mansion, the carriage stopped right in front of the main building. Kiki stood there waiting for us, radiating annoyance. I don't know why I thought this since Kiki stood still and couldn't make any facial expressions.
By this point, I was beginning to think that she could project her emotions. Not only that, but she could control this ability at will. Otherwise, why was she easy to read at so tis and difficult to read at others?
As soon as the carriage stopped, I hopped down while my companions disgorged themselves while carrying their respective burdens. Nico the succubus kept struggling to free themselves from Cally's runic circle, while Cally herself kept trying to break free from her bindings. The forr remained completely silent, while the latter made sounds that alternated between grunts of pain and moans of pleasure. Given her body's age, I found this disturbing.
"It appears that you've had an eventful evening," Kiki said in a sardonic tone. "You even brought along friends."
She looked up towards the two succubi who chased after us. They hovered in the air nearby. Thankfully, the magical defenses that protected Lord Dominic's mansion were powerful enough to keep them out. Every once in a while, the succubi would try to break through, only to be repelled.
However, I didn't know how long the mansion's defenses would last. When more succubi arrived, and they would, they might be able to force their way in.
"This one managed to call for help as we captured them," Anna said, giving Nico an annoyed smack.
The succubus wiggled in response.
"Sorry for the trouble," I said, giving Kiki an apologetic look.
The spirit shook her head.
"No need to apologize," she said. "I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to help you." She made a gesture. A magical construct appeared from inside the main building. "I set aside a room for our new guest. Follow this one. It'll lead you to it."
Anna nodded, before following the magical construct inside the main building.
"As for her…" Kiki frowned at Cally. "What happened to her?"
I grimaced.
"She ate a cursed skewer," I said. "The effects will fade with ti, but she'll be like this until then."
At least, that's what Cally said when she proposed this plan in the first place. That was why I agreed to it at all.
Kiki sighed.
"Well, at least we can keep her comfortable until then," she said. She summoned another magical construct. "Follow this one."
Leroy looked at for permission and I nodded.
"Now then, Lord Gabriel," Kiki said. "Let's handle these uninvited guests of ours before more of them arrive."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I'll try, but I won't be of much help," I said. "I'm just a Second Ranked Awakened. I can't fight a single succubus, let alone two. At best I can distract them while you fight them."
"What are you talking about?" Kiki asked. "We're not going out there. We're staying behind the mansion's magical defenses."
I gave her a questioning look.
"Then how are we going to deal with them?" I asked. "Unless Lord Dominic has siege weapons that can kill a Tier Four demon lying around."
"Not quite, but close enough," Kiki said.
I blinked at her in surprise. Kiki snorted.
"Did you forget where you are?" she said. "Master Dominic likes to create all kinds of enchanted items, including weapons."
She pulled her top down, revealing her chest. I looked away.
"Whoa!" I said. "What are you doing?"
"Oh calm down," Kiki said. "I may look like a human female, but I'm not one. It's not like that. Look."
I glanced at Kiki and saw that instead of breasts, she had an orb embedded into her chest. She reached towards it and pulled a strange looking crossbow out of it.
"Is… Is that a spatial enchanted item?" I asked.
Kiki nodded.
"Master Dominic made it for ," she said. "Why bother wearing an inventory ring when I can embed items into my body?"
That was a fair point. As a spirit inhabiting a magical construct, Kiki could do many things that humans weren't capable of.
"Here," she said, tossing the strange-looking crossbow at .
I caught it and examined it. After taking a closer look, I realized that this weapon looked less like a crossbow and more like a gun. Or rather, it resembled a cross between the two. It was made from glass and tal. In the center was a tube with arcane symbols carved into it. At the end of the tube facing was a small socket.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's an experintal weapon that Lord Dominic created," Kiki explained, pulling another weapon out of her chest. "A hand-held elental lance."
I stared at her in astonishnt. Elental lances were powerful weapons capable of casting high-level offensive magic. The most powerful could kill Tier Five demons, and even wound Tier Six ones. However, they were expensive to use since elental lances used elental crystals to function.
"These hand-held elental lances are as expensive to use as regular elental lances, but they're more mobile," Kiki said.
I frowned.
"They're a bit small," I said. "Are they powerful enough to kill the succubi?"
Kiki shook her head.
"No," she said. "But they can wound the succubi. That should be enough to drive them off."
"That's good enough for now," I said, nodding.
"Now, in order to use the hand-held elental-"
I held up a hand to interrupt her.
"Elental bolter," I said. "It's much easier to say, and the weapon does resemble a crossbow."
Kiki stared at for several monts.
"Fine," she said. "We'll call them that for now. However, Master Dominic gets the final say."
At the ntion of Lord Dominic, I wondered where the man was. I hadn't seen him since this morning. Kiki acted in his stead, but he was the lord in charge of this place. I was surprised he hadn't co out to investigate the commotion we made.
No. Nevermind. After rembering Lord Dominic's personality, I wasn't that surprised.
Still, a part of found the situation amusing. Lord Dominic forbade Kiki from taking actions that would hinder his work, but not actions that would allow her to take over his mansion. He was lucky Kiki cared for him as much as she did. If she were more malicious, she could take over the place and no one else would be the wiser.
Kiki gave a brief rundown on how to use the elental bolters, before giving a handful of Fire elental crystals.
"Don't waste these," she said. "I don't have a lot in stock. Make every shot count."
I handed the Fire elental crystals back to her and pulled an Ice elental crystal out of my storage ring.
"I have a small hoard of these," I said. "They're for my spirit, but she's sleeping right now. Besides, I doubt she'll complain after I tell her what we used these for."
Kiki stared at the Ice elental crystal for a mont.
"Nevermind then," she said. "Go wild."
I grinned, before I placed an Ice elental crystal into the elental bolter's slot. It humd to life. I walked towards the succubi, who continued to test the mansion's defenses.
"You're ours once the others get here, human," one of the succubi said. "We'll enjoy toying with you."
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"Maybe I'll take that face of yours and play around with your family," the other said. "Destroy them from the inside."
I ignored the succubi's taunts. Instead, I hefted the elental bolter and took aim. Back on Earth, I trained with a variety of weapons, including crossbows and guns. While I wasn't the best shot around, I wasn't terrible either. I stood a good chance at hitting them.
However, the succubi weren't fools. When they saw pointing a weapon at them, they flew around in evasive patterns though neither fled. This made aiming at them more difficult.
After a while, I gave up. I an, I had an abundance of Ice elental crystals. Why not do as Kiki said and go wild? Why care about accuracy and precision when I could take the shotgun approach?
I fired the elental bolter. Unlike with an elental lance, it didn't shoot out a beam of magic. Instead, it shot out a glowing bolt of pure Ice magic, chilling the air around . The Ice bolt flew through the air at an astonishing speed, heading towards the succubi. To my annoyance, it missed.
Part of it was the way the succubi flew around. Another part was my aim. The elental bolter didn't kick like a gun, as I expected it to, which threw off.
I took a breath, before I adjusted my aim and fired again. This ti, I didn't stop at a single shot. I filled the air with Ice bolts, aiming for the succubi's general direction. The succubi tried to avoid the bolts as best they could, but they couldn't evade all of them. So of my shots grazed them, eliciting pained shrieks.
I grinned and kept firing. When the Ice elental crystal lost power, I replaced it with another one. Kiki also started firing her elental bolter, filling the air with Fire bolts. Unlike , she took a more careful approach, forgoing speed for accuracy. None of her shots missed.
Together, the two of us managed to clip the succubi several tis. None of our attacks were fatal, but they looked like they hurt a lot. After this happened several tis, the succubi threw venomous glares in our direction before flying off into the distance.
I grinned, but my good mood didn't last for long. While we managed to drive off the succubi for now, they would be back. If nothing else, we proved ourselves a threat to them. Demons didn't leave threats lying around, not if they could help it. They already had to deal with Lady Isabel. I doubted they wanted to deal with us either.
"They're gone but they'll be back," I said.
"Yes, but they won't try a frontal assault again," Kiki said. "Succubi aren't warriors or fighters. They prefer letting others do the dirty work for them."
I nodded with a grim expression on my face. While we hadn't seen any, the succubi likely had thralls working for them. We'd have to deal with those next.
"Still, I doubt anything will happen in the next hour or two," Kiki continued. "I suggest you take that ti to interrogate the succubus you captured. I'll keep an eye out in the anti."
I nodded, before I frowned and looked around.
"I'm surprised that none of your neighbors have co out to investigate the commotion," I said.
Kiki chuckled.
"You can thank Master Dominic for that," she said. "When we first moved in here, he caused a lot of trouble with his inventions. I fielded complaints from the neighbors every day. When I told him about this, he sound-proofed the entire neighborhood, so they wouldn't be disturbed anymore."
I blinked at her in surprise. That explained a lot. It also ant we didn't have to worry about House Sandstrike hearing about this commotion. However…
"Wouldn't it have been simpler to sound-proof the mansion instead?" I asked.
Kiki shrugged.
"Yes, but Master Dominic said it would interfere with his work if he did that," she said.
I just shook my head, before holding the elental bolter out to Kiki.
"Keep it," she said. "Consider it a gesture of our newfound partnership." She paused. "Besides, Master Dominic asked to find people to test out the elental bolters over a long period of ti. So, let know what you think after you've used it for a while."
Well, I wasn't going to turn down a free enchanted weapon, even if it was an experintal one.
I nodded to Kiki, before I headed inside to et up with my companions.
After entering the mansion, I first checked in on Leroy and Cally. A magical construct gave directions. I found them in one of the mansion's guest rooms. Cally was unconscious, while Leroy was in the midst of tying her to a bed. When I saw this, I felt the urge to make an inappropriate joke, but I held back.
"What happened?" I asked, giving Leroy a questioning look.
Leroy blushed with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"I fed a sleeping potion to Cally," he said. "I thought it was better than leaving her awake and in pain."
I nodded. That made sense.
"Fair enough," I said. "But why are you blushing?"
Leroy cleared his throat.
"When I ungagged her, Cally…" he started to say before trailing off.
I held up a hand.
"Say no more," I said. "In her current state, I can guess what she said."
Leroy gave a grateful look.
"What happened outside?" he asked.
I gave Leroy a brief summary of what happened.
"We don't have much ti," I said. "So we should interrogate the succubus as soon as possible." I nodded to him. "When you're done, join and Anna."
After Leroy nodded, I left him with Cally and went to find Anna. I found her in a… Well, a torture room located in the basent. There was no other way to describe it.
It was a cramped and windowless stone room. A wooden rack filled with all kinds of sharp and cruel-looking implents hung from the wall to the right. There was even a tal drain in the middle of the floor.
Several enchanted tal chains hung from the ceiling. Nico, still bound by Cally's runic circle, hung from one of these chains. The succubus continued to struggle in silence. Anna stood before the wooden rack, examining the tools of torture on display.
As soon as I entered, Anna spoke without turning to face .
"When Kiki said she prepared a room for the succubus, I hadn't expected much. However, it appears that our newfound friend is more thorough than I believed."
I looked at the wooden rack and felt sowhat uneasy.
"Is all of this necessary?" I asked.
Anna turned to face with her eyebrow raised.
"Of course," she said. "Demons are a stubborn lot. Regular interrogation doesn't work on them. However, they're surprisingly susceptible to torture. You'd think otherwise, considering all the pain they like to inflict on others, but it's true." She let out a dark chuckle. "They are good at giving, but not receiving."
I paused before responding.
"That's not what I ant," I said.
Anna studied for a mont with a frown on her face, before her eyes lit up with understanding.
"Ah, you ant torture in general," she said. "Apologies. I forgot how innocent you are at tis."
I snorted.
"I don't know if innocent is the right word," I said. "I've killed my fair share of people, and I've roughed people up for information before."
"But you've never tortured soone for information, have you?" Anna asked in a soft voice. "It's a line you haven't crossed yet."
I didn't respond, which was an answer in and of itself.
"In that case, it might be best if you weren't here for this part," Anna said.
I gave her a derisive look.
"I'm not that squeamish," I said. "I've seen my fair share of ugliness."
Anna took a mont before responding.
"Have you ever seen soone flayed alive?" she asked.
I stared at her in shock.
"What?" I asked. "No!"
Anna gave a bleak smile.
"In that case, unless you want to witness it today, I suggest you leave."
Her words, and their implication, left reeling.
"That's…" I said, before trailing off.
Anna gave a look that was equal parts pity and envy.
"As I said, you're innocent," she said. "You never witnessed the horrors I experienced, you've never dirtied your hands the way I have. And I'll do everything in my power to make sure you never do. I don't want you to beco tainted like ."
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and regain my composure.
"You're not tainted," I said.
Anna let out a bitter chuckle.
"Oh, but I am." Anna looked down and stared at her hand. "It's surprising what a person will do when driven by desperation, the depths they'll sink to. As things grew worse and worse, I threw away my principles in order to defeat our enemies. I lost so much of myself that I beca a monster, one little better than the demons we fought." She hugged herself. "I don't want that to happen to you. You're still good in a way that I can never be again. I don't want to dirty you with my filth."
I walked over and held Anna's hand in both of mine. She tried to pull it away, as if afraid to touch , but I held firm.
"You are a good person," I said in a firm voice. "You faced impossible odds, yet you never gave up. Instead, you kept on fighting until the very end." I paused, choosing my next words with care. "I don't understand what you went through. Not really. I never experienced it for myself. Nor am I in any position to judge you. However, I will say this. After everything you went through, you're still trying to do the right thing."
"I'm glad one of us thinks so," Anna said in a sardonic tone.
"That's enough for now." I gestured to the torture room around us. "Just as you want to protect from all this, I want to protect you as well. I can't do anything about the darkness you already experienced, but I can pull you up so you don't wallow in it."
Anna covered my hands with her other one.
"Or I might pull you into the muck with ," she whispered. "If I were really a good person, as you say, I would've prevented this from ever happening. I wouldn't have pursued you. I would've let you go instead of chasing you down and making sure you couldn't escape ." Her grip tightened. "I still could, but I won't. As selfish as this makes , I'd rather pull you into the muck than live without you."
Anna lifted her head. The despair I saw in her eyes filled with a sharp sorrow. Despite this, I refused to falter. My intuition warned that if I did, I'd lose Anna. Maybe she'd remain with physically, but a rift would form between us.
"If I recall," I said in a light tone. "I let you catch ."
Anna snorted.
"Only because you didn't know what you were getting yourself into," she said. "I knew what I was doing, and I still chose to do it. And I'd do it again, given another chance."
"So would I." I grinned. "I'm not stuck with you. You're stuck with . You have no idea how clingy I can be."
Anna chuckled and shook her head.
"Let's just say we're both twisted and leave it at that," she said. "I an, we're having a heart to heart while in a torture chamber, right in front of the demon I'm about to torture."
"Well, I wasn't going to say anything if you weren't."
Anna sighed and shook her head again.
"Go," she said. "I wasn't joking earlier. I don't want you to witness what I'm about to do."
I frowned.
"It's not right for to leave everything to you," I said.
"Then leave for my sake," Anna said. "This is a side of that I don't want you to witness. Everyone has ugliness inside them. I don't want to show you mine just yet."
I opened my mouth to respond, but Anna spoke up first.
"Please," she said.
Well, when she put it like that, I couldn't refuse. I closed my mouth and nodded.
"Very well," I said.
I turned to leave. However, as I opened the door, I glanced back. Anna scrutinized Nico with an expression I had never seen on her face before. She regarded the succubus as if they were an insect to be poked and prodded and pulled apart.
With image burned into my mind, I left the torture chamber and waited outside the door. The screaming started a few minutes later.
Reviews
All reviews (0)