This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.
Also, thank you Dragonkain of the Becoming Monsters Discord for the name of the Ingeniator class.
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Chapter 15: Hit the Streets
The kitchen felt cold.
It was an odd kind of thing to notice, but it's true. The window and a significant portion of the back wall had been blown away by whatever Lucy had done to our last invader, so it made sense that the evening's unseasonable chill had also invaded. Thing is? There are very few things in life as sad as a cold kitchen. A kitchen should be warm, the heat of cooking mixing with the love and laughter of the family. Even when we were having ice cream in winter, the kitchen was a warm kind of place.
Instead, the entire room was bathed in the shimmering power of an active demonic Aura, a very powerful one. It was thick enough that it almost seemed to drip from the walls, to rain from the ceiling. It was centered on the cooktop, where a tiny waif of a girl was rummaging through our cookware. She turned and hissed at us.
"Careful! There's more here than meets the eye!"
Lucy glared. "Figured that out already."
I saw a strange shimmer, almost like a thickening in the aura to my left. Reflexively, I jumped back, and felt the wind of its passing. "Illusionist! Something just missed me!" Looking at the shape, it almost seemed... claw like? It was impossible to tell for sure. "Lucy! Flame on!"
She didn't have her staff on her, but that didn't stop her. The ball of fire she threw into the corner outlined a horror. It was enormous, almost having to crawl to fit into the eight-foot ceiling. There was a horned and muzzled head, and four arms, two of which ended in enormous claws.
While it was good to know that my eyes worked, that wasn't what I wanted to see. Glasya, demonic tempter. We could not let it get away, or it would wreak havoc well beyond mere claws. I dove in, Whitney just behind me, batons swinging.
Whitney connected with her target, and with a sickening crack one of its enormous claws became visible, the chitinous surface deeply cratered and cracked. I managed to hit one of its horns, breaking it off entirely with the enormous momentum of my enchanted baton. I even managed to catch it as it flew off, the second hit forcing it back into full visibility. The girl was gone, the demon remained.
It wasn't just huge, its wolf-like head surmounted by two foreswept horns (well, one and a half). It was covered in gray fur, hugely muscled, with its claws enormously outsized even for its mass. Its lower pair of arms was human-like, proportional to its size but looking almost shriveled compared to its pincers. With a roar of pain, one of those claws slammed into Whitney, who managed to brace herself for it and was merely slammed into the back wall. It tried to become invisible again, but I had a lock on its location and Disenchanted it immediately. Lucy kept pelting it with Flame Rays, only stopping to Shield herself when it tried to strike at her.
I didn't appreciate that at all, and my next jab went straight at its maw, cracking bone. And teeth. From inside its guard, my Lightning Net caught it full across the chest. Too close to wrap around it, but plenty of pain. It roared, and leapt for the broken wall. It jumped straight down to the alleyway.
"Don't let it get away!" I had to spend some of my again-limited Hunger, but it was worth it to stay in pursuit. My wings thundered, and as it ran to the street I was just behind, pelting it with jets of flame to keep it from catching its breath.
I heard an impact behind me, Whitney landing in the alleyway carrying Lucy. "Jay! It's out of Telekinesis range!"
"Then we harry it! Drive it North and signal Sarah and Gloria to intercept at 5th! Do not let it rest!" This plan had advantages. The late hour meant the more open streets would not be as busy, we'd have clean shots, and if it turned to attack directly we would take it out rapidly. We were driving it towards an ambush specialist, as well. The problem was that if this went too long, we'd end up inside of Central Cascadia Hospital with a rampaging demon.
Whitney's wings thundered as she sprinted forward, a fireball from Lucy blossoming in front of the four-armed foe to slow it down, this time. Whitney struck it across the upper back. Had to hurt, and when it got moving again it was noticeably slowed. Thing is? It struck back, slamming her with a hammer of kaleidoscopic colors, leaving my Berserker stumbling backwards. I sniped a couple more jets of flame at it, but with a gesture of one of its hands there were suddenly five of them running up the road. An intersection was coming.
We did not have the means to easily deal with this! Another clap of my wings let me pounce on one, which disappeared. Two more vanished as my wife shot them with more fire. The two remaining took different routes, but the one that turned left got tackled by Whitney. Of course, that one turned out to be real, and slammed her a dozen feet away with one of its massive claws. I lobbed a Firebomb at it before it could follow up, and it again turned and ran.
Even with my Endurance and enhanced recovery, I was starting to get winded. I topped off my mana from the battery and tried to catch the thing in another Net. This one slowed it down only slightly, hurting it, but it let Whitney get in front as Lucy got close enough to connect with a glob of Darkness. As she assaulted the target, I finally got a chance to pull up Cursebreaker. Bingo, we had another winner, this one in an acidic green color. Before I could do more, though, it managed to lay one of its human hands on Whitney, and suddenly she was sailing upwards as though the Earth had no grasp on her.
Reverse Gravity. Really? I was out of range to Disenchant or even yell instructions, all I could do was continue the pursuit. "Lucy! This one's like the others!"
She was panting heavily, but managed to yell something affirmative back at me.
There was another attempt to split up, but I spotted it happening this time and dropped a Firebomb on the bunch before they got far enough apart to matter, banishing the copies instantly. It tried to dash down a side street, Lucy dropped another Fireball in front of it to keep it on the street we were following. The area was getting more populated, bystanders screaming and running out of the way. My fatigue was intense, but I could no longer afford the slightest slip or miscalculation. This was why I was a Surface Hunter.
My phone chimed at me, but there was no chance to even look at the readout on my watch. The demon ahead took a moment to lob another spell at me, a greasy miasma of green-black smoke, but it was rushed. It brushed passed me, a near miss, stinging but not slowing me down. I returned fire with another Flame Ray.
This thing was obscenely tough to still be going after the amount of punishment it had received. It had slowed down, slightly, but not enough for me to catch a breather. Ahead, I could see a pedestrian foot bridge over the road, the fireworks already having mostly cleared it. There were two figures still there, impossible to make out clearly from this distance. Probably adrenaline junkies, people who chase major fights like some people chase tornadoes. One more thing to worry about.
The demon turned at me again, and I got ready to brace myself, when the unexpected happened. From the side, a tiny figure I had missed suddenly expanded. Four-legged, four-eared, spiny, and in colors that blended into the city. Nibbles? Nibbles was there. Somehow, he had grown to nearly the size of a horse, retaining his cuteness this time while suddenly jabbing at the monster with his quills.
From above, mystic bolts of power and very physical arrows rained down, pelting the already-injured demon. It desperately dove for the space under the bridge, and with a shockingly loud crack was suddenly encased in a block of ice, struggling to get free. I understood, then. Sarah and Gloria. They had somehow managed to set an ambush right in the path, and gave me the chance I needed to do something. Now barely within range, I flapped forward one more time and called upon Cursebreaker.
My hands were surrounded by an aura of neon red, and I slashed at the green icon with a savage determination. It did not act the same as its brethren, almost seeming to want to be free of its bond to the demon. I found out why seconds later as it dove at me, barely deflected by my powers. Two, three, four times it came at me, getting closer each time, but before it could reach me properly I got one last clean shot in. The curse was no more. The Glasya burst into flames.
I heard a couple of thumps behind me. Whitney had caught back up, having glided from whatever height the spell had taken her to. Gloria was there, riding Nibbles. She dismounted, and he nuzzled her as the size left him. Sarah jogged up, her aura doing barely better than earlier. Lucy, too, was sweating and panting but caught up (trust the Succubus to make even that look like it was because of marathon sex instead of a street chase). From the direction of the hospital, I could see a sparrow flutter in, transforming into Emily's human form. We were all here. The
Shield Against Shadows
stood.
The world went sideways.
