D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Kat —

Just as the sun was starting to set a chill seeped into the air. Kat wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for the massive wall of fog approaching her position. The guard that had been sitting across from her stood up and booked it, dashing back to his fellow guardsmen. Kat raised an eyebrow and watched him disappearing into the fog. Someone was approaching in his place, the heavy clicking of boots echoed in the near silent street.

Kat focused on the sound and noticed something odd… it was the sound of steel on ICE. Wait hang on… Before Kat could finish her thought a giant boot made of ice shot out of the fog and kicked away the table and chair set she’d been using… though notably not Kat’s own. A few moments after the foot disappeared a tall female elf in plate armour strode out to great her. “Hello, my name is Eleanora and I have come to detain you,” Kat felt her eye twitch. “Please resist,”

*That… that was a lie! The first part at least. She’s not here to detain me at all but she does want me to resist? What sort of game is she playing here…* Kat rose to her feet and pulled her fans out. They might not help but it helped set the tone. “You know, a lot of your friends have been really rude to me. Is this another murder attempt?” asked Kat.

“No,” stated Eleanora at the same time as her gauntlets started to glow. Two giant ice hands appeared behind Eleanora and slammed down onto the spot Kat used to be. Ultimately it was a giant, flashy attack but it was SLOW. Kat had barely needed to speed up her perception to watch it fall and moving out of the way had been easy.

Still, Kat wasn’t going to remain clam in the face of such a competitive opening. Kat dashed forward and stabbed her closed fan out towards Eleanora’s exposed head. Eleanora reacted with the grace and speed of someone that had to have seen it coming somehow. She bent backwards allowing for Kat’s blow to travel over her head and slid between Kat’s legs while slamming a fist into Kat’s back.

Kat shifted to the side and tried to catch Eleanora’s hand but as she clasped it the metal gauntlet gained dozens of spikes, some of which stabbed into Kat’s hand, snapping against her bone but shredding muscle and skin. Kat hissed. Grabbing tighter she flung Eleanora away by the hand.

The elf spun in the air, flowing with the momentum as her boots and gloves glowed once again. A giant set of feet and hands were spinning around with her, threatening to slam into Kat using a copy of the momentum she’d just given Eleanora. The hands and feet were too close together and too large to easily dodge so Kat braced herself and punched back.

The outer shell of ice on the foot shattered on contact but beneath that was a solid chunk of metal. Kat’s fist impacted it, and Kat felt her hand starting to bruise even as the foot was punched backwards… until its counterpart appeared behind it and pushed it along once again. Kat grimaced and transformed into water letting the fist carry her along.

Kat’s watery body was splashed everywhere across the field as Eleanora landed and the giant appendages disappeared into nothing… but not before they destroyed quite a number of nearby houses and scattered what remained of the guard. “Oops,” said Eleanora carelessly as another wave of fog rolled back in to cover the arena.

Kat couldn’t really see any of this as droplets of water. She was still connected to most, if not all of them and swiftly made to pull herself back together. As her watery body increased in mass and her range seemed to extend she noticed that Eleanora was just standing in place, not even looking around. Though… her feet were glowing. Despite this Kat couldn’t see any sign of the giant appendages.

Kat reformed while looking around but wasn’t properly prepared despite all of that. A giant boot was summoned directly behind her and kicked forward. The reason Kat wasn’t expecting that? Eleanora was right there in front of her. The boot was more than large enough to hit her as well… yet Eleanora seemed to be smiling?

Kat went to dodge when Eleanora lunged forward and grabbed onto Kat’s arm, spikes summoned to dig into Kat’s flesh and keep them together. Eleanora had a wild grin on her face as the impact happened. Kat was kicked into Eleanora and then the two of them went flying. Eleanora’s nose was bleeding but she didn’t seem concerned. Kat summoned her fans back and sliced at Eleanora’s gauntleted hand but the spikes made getting a good angle essentially impossible. The position made it hard to properly leverage her greater strength as well.

Kat glanced ahead and saw they were about to land outside of town. She continued to wrestle with Eleanora in the air, twisting and turning but ultimately… a moment before impacted the ground Kat flared her wings to right herself and force Eleanora into the ground. Dirt and debris exploded all around them as the pair cratered the side of the caldera, and Kat heard a sickening crack and a lightening of the hand around her wrist.

Kat jumped back and clapped to disperse the debris. Eleanora was embedded into the ground at an odd angle and it seemed as though her neck was snapped. Kat winced slightly. *Then again… this crazy bitch is the one that kicked us both away and she was holding on to me tightly. Still… this… this complicates things.*

A twitch. Kat paused as she was about to turn away. It was so small as to have been indistinguishable but there was something… another. Kat watched in surprise as Eleanora’s head snapped back into the correct position, her eyes opened, and her blood soaked smile opened wide. “YES! HAHAHAHA! That’s what I’m talking about!” Kat was so shocked that she failed to react in time to Eleanora’s giant fist slamming her away.

Kat flared her wings before she was knocked back too far even as her own injuries were rapidly healed. “Ok! What the heck! What sort of affinities do you have?!” yelled Kat.

“Ice, Regeneration and Metal!” returned Eleanora with a laugh as two giant hands tried to squish Kat between them. Kat debated contesting them directly but in the end she just leapt over hands allowing them to slam together. This proved to be something of a mistake as a giant four ringed magical circle let up on impact and ice exploded from the hands, fragments of which stabbed into Kat repeatedly, and notably, tearing through her wings.

Kat dropped back down into the open palms of Eleanora’s giant hands. As soon as Kat landed the hands slammed together trying to crush Kat between them. Her horns were digging into the metal creating deep gouges but her wings were definitely broken. The hands continued to squeeze together and Kat tried to force the hands apart. She was able to make some actual progress before Eleanora doubled the pressure and Kat split into water in response.

*What’s going on here. Eleanora is undoubtedly the better fighter compared to Strooth but why does she feel less dangerous? She’s a real threat to me unlike him who… well I let him get away with too much. Eleanora is playing me like a fiddle. She’s got more combat experience and just knows how to handle whatever my reactions are… so why do I feel so calm?*

Kat let herself dribble out from between the hands but when she was only halfway free the hands moved away and Kat quickly decided to reform while she had the space. As she was doing so, the fingers of each hand shot out lasers of white down onto her form. Kat could feel her water starting to freeze over so Kat rushed the transformation and the chill remained. It was just a chill, but it was more cold then Kat had ever felt since her transformation. Kat charged out of the lasers and over to Eleanora ready to strike once again…

But she looked the elf over, trying to find some answer to the mystery. What was making Kat feel so safe here? That’s when Kat really, truly looked at Eleanora’s face. Her smile, the bright light in her eyes. Suddenly, a second elven face was overlaid on top of it. Marigold’s. They weren’t quite the same but there was definitely a family resemblance. “You seem familiar,” said Kat as she lashed out at Eleanora’s midsection with a kick. “Do you know Marigold?”

Eleanora jumped over the kick and smiled, “Yeah! She’s my baby cousin! Isn’t she adorable!” Kat smiled back as she rapidly tried to strike at Eleanora. She’d just provided Kat with the answer to her question. Why she felt safe, why Eleanora seemed familiar. It was because she was just like Marigold… except instead of pain she was after a real fight. That’s why it was a lie when Eleanora claimed to be here to detain her. Eleanora was here FOR THE FIGHT!

*Still… why should I keep playing with her? I got caught up in the fight a bit as well but everyone is safe now. Hmm…*