章 76: Banana Republic V
Note: We always set the pronouns of entities that possess humans to [It] and [Its]. When these entities are compatible with their vessel's gender or have only possessed human with this specific gender, then they are referred to normal English pronouns.
Unspecified Demons/Angels/Ghosts: It/Its
Anna Milton (Former Angel): She/Her
Dagon (Prince of Hell possessing mostly female humans): She/Her
Azazel (Known to possess both male and female human, but mostly uses male vessels): He/Him.
It might be a bit hard to follow. (I have to edit pronouns a lot during these chapters)
You can always ask me in the comments as to which demon or ghost have what pronouns. Thank you!
●●●Ten Minutes Earlier●●●
Charlotte noticed quite a lot of things as they traversed Terminal Six of the port.
The labyrinthine columns of shipping containers, being loomed over by various cranes that transported containers from their ships to the docks.
The cacophony of dock workers murmuring about their newest harvests. Side whispers and devious underdealing of the corrupt underbelly of the city trudging about the various contrabands snaking their way pass through Customs.
Once such conversation pertained to the completion of a grand cathedral, missing only the glass sculptures for the vast garden sprawled around the church's estate.
Such discussion was not at all pertinent to the mission at hand, but for once, it actually did.
When they were forced into a dilemma, her master had asked her for advice, even for a plan. It felt nice to see that her initiative be rewarded with praise, albeit a silent one, which determined her some more.
She wasted no time as she roamed the expansive terminal in search of the glass sculptures, using an advanced form of the Krousurgy skill to locate any areas with excessive amounts of non-crystalline materials.
Luck was on her side when she found the sculptures. In fact, it seemed lady luck was coveting her charms as the container was near the cul-de-sac and another shipping crane.
She placed both her and her master's luggage on the ground, taking out a few hex bags and spell components for a few defensive rituals before hiding it somewhere close by.
Quickly steepling her fingers and reciting a quick incantation, her legs glowed with an ephemeral green light before deftly jumping atop the lowest container, using the plentiful stacks as metal steps.
The green light dimly illuminating her legs transferred up to her upper limbs, helping her in climbing atop the crane's metal lattices.
She could hear the sound of battle from down below, skin against skin and bone against metal. A cacophony she had been unaccustomed to in the past couple of months.
A swell of anticipation, dread, and hints of exhaustive worry pervading in her chest. But she knew her new master would not be that helpless, not even in front of her own mother, the strongest witch she knew, and, even if he was, then she was here to help him overcome anything.
Entering the crane cabin, she came to realize that she neither had the training nor knowledge to operate such heavy machinery. But that didn't matter. All she had to do was place a pre-papered hex bag underneath the controls before chanting another set of incantation.
The hex bag quickly wilted and withered into a desolate replica of its original, as the information on how to use the crane were impressed upon her brain, ingraining every bit of tricks in the book within her skill set.
Knowing that the knowledge would be temporary, Charlotte manhandled the controls as if she had been born to do this exact job, maneuvering the crane to latch its massive claws onto the side panels of her target shipping container.
Breaking every OSHA violation as she threw the container at the cul-de-sac, hitting a dozen stacked containers and destroying millions of dollars' worth of materials. The container landed a couple of dozen feet away from her master, with enough force to break open the doors, and unleashed thousands of glass shards for his use.
She watched the battle unfold, her heart hitching at the sight of the massive blast of dark flames engulfing the entire area, then cheered at her master's survival, and cooed in surprise as he made an armor out of the glass shards.
She was surprised at how inventive he was at using the skill. Although his skill was sub-par and rough at the edges, he made do with his sheer endurance and stamina. But the incoming figure, the pack alpha that her master had decimated, threatened to disturb her box seats.
She hesitated on which spell to use, for she was thoroughly confined within the crane's cabin and, even if she were to land on the ground, letting the werewolf gain the high ground would be more than disastrous.
In truth, she could just use the shards for herself. Her reach was more than enough to gather a few and create a few spears, but that would mean removing a part of her master's combat ability.
"Let's do a Hex Bomb, then." She smiled deviously, taking out a piece of gum and chewing it with great intensity. She removed her plaid jacket and covered her body with it before cutting her palms with her sharpened nails, an act she had done enough times to bleed profusely without wounding herself too deeply.
The werewolf came soon enough, his massive wolven form climbing the metal lattice as he climbed atop the crane. Unfortunately for him, she had already finished the sigils on the cab's windows, reinforcing their hardness and durability.
Try as the werewolf could, the windows rebuffed his every strike. All he could do was watch as Charlotte took out a hex bag and created an improvised explosive device.
With a cheerful smile on her face, she removed the gum out of her mouth, sticking it alongside the Hex Bomb on the window facing the werewolf.
"See ya!" She pressed the wound on her palms, drawing blood on her fingers before quickly drawing another sigil that lit up the entire cabin with a dark purple illumination.
Just before she disappeared from the cabin, she caught the sight of the Hex Bomb activating under the surprised form of the snarling werewolf.
Her form reappeared before the hidden luggage bags, just as the devastation caused by the Hex Bomb reached its ultimate height. The sight of the large explosion astonished Charlotte, even more so when the smoking form of a hairless werewolf tore through the air alongside the remains of the crane's cab.
The allure of watching the large fireworks nearly took hold of Charlotte's will, but she knew that accompanying her master was more important.
She grabbed her luggage and her master's bag before sprinting down to the cul-de-sac, all to find a figure flying out of the area.
For a moment her heart hitched to the sight, thinking her master had been defeated, but soon saw the sight of a bald figure.
"Oh, Charlotte, you're here!"
●●●●●●
Irwin smiled at the sight of Charlotte, who was diligently carrying his bag and her luggage, more so when her lips blossomed into a brilliant smile.
"Let's share the shards. I'll handle the demon. You take care of the vampire." He ordered. Having escaped Silver's ambush as the vampire had been distracted by the explosion, Irwin launched her body away from him - as far as his backward kick could.
"Of course, ma- sir!" Charlotte responded, dropping the bags to the ground. Her hands moved in a way that astounded Irwin, gracefully enveloping herself with the shards of the broken glass sculptures.
In retrospect, he felt as if he was the luckiest man alive to have her by his side and that it was smart of him to have her morale broken when he fought her in her mental realm. Yes, that was all part of his plan.
He turned towards Sibili, eyeing the demon as it luxuriously stood at the center of the cul-de-sac. It was as if the demon was waiting for him to attack. In fact, it seemed that the demon never intended to kill him, merely trying to break his body and will and reinforcement for a purpose beyond him.
"Can I ask you one thing?" He said, stepping towards the demon within the range of the Flaming Whip.
The demon shrugged, not caring one bit as the dark flames devoured his clothing. "I guess."
He asked with a stern expression. "Which Demon Prince do you serve?"
For the first time since their encounter, Sibili's lackadaisical expressions suddenly turned serious. The flickering black flames burned brighter and straighter, a complete contrast to its previous mischievous flickering.
"If I say who… would you come with us willingly?" Sibili gave a proposition, one that Irwin thought to be uncharacteristic of his race and stature.
He thought for a good while as the sound of battle erupted behind him. He gave a sigh of disappointment, lowering his guarded shoulders and placing his right hand in his pants pocket.
"If I do, do you guarantee our safety during the trip?" He negotiated.
The demon looked up at the sky, contemplating for a few moments before nodding its head. "Yeah, you'll be safe and sound."
"I see." Irwin nodded, his mind being unburdened by morbid thoughts. He limbered up, stretching his sore arms and aching legs under the bewildered eyes of the demon.
"Since that's the case," He cracked his knuckles, creating another set of armor for his body, "You wouldn't mind dying, would ya?"
He rushed forward in large strides; the wind hurtling past his armored form as he jumped a great distance and reached the demon's surprised form in a matter of moments.
The demon's blazing palms blocked his right fist, even negating the force of behind his blow.
That didn't deter Irwin, however, as he created a glass gauntlet within his left fist and unleashed a body blow, hitting the demon square in its abdomen that made its feet skid back a few feet.
The flames, yet again, suppressed the large force behind his attack.
"You've gotten tougher." Irwin remarked.
"Or you've become weaker, huh?" Sibili snarled back.
The flames extended past Sibili's right forearm as the demon leaped forward and slashed his right arm, a flash of jet-dark flame extending out of his hand and flying towards Irwin.
He dodged to the left, reinforcing his leg armor as he kicked Sibili's unguarded side. Even with the glass coating, Irwin could still feel the blaze running through its torso, but the kick nailed Sibili's vessel's kidney and knocked the demon off kilter.
Sibili nearly broke its vessel's body as it landed deftly on to the ground, steady enough to quickly put up an adequate defense for Irwin's follow-up attacks.
The sound of bone breaking and asphalt cracking rang around the cul-de-sac as the two combatants focused on hand-to-hand combat to settle the winner.
Irwin deftly used his Krousurgy skill, replacing any molten or torn off shards with another. Even bringing down the whirling blades atop the columns in an attempt to force a wrong hand from his enemy.
Sibili, on the other hand, showed great care in their fight, showcasing its hundreds of years of experience as it fought tooth and nail with the witch. In some cases, the idiom became literal as the demon didn't care if the vessel it occupied chipped some teeth or broke some finger, so long as it could fight.
A few minutes into the fight, Irwin heard the sound of rambunctious laughter in a familiar tone before a cloud of dust and microscopic glass billowed behind both of them.
"Huh? Would you look at that… I'm still alive." Sibili leaped backwards, running a broken and hole-filled hand under its bloodied chin.
Irwin didn't follow after the demon for he, himself, was running ragged, blood dripping from his torso and arms red from the sheer heat of its black flames. Add in the fact that his body had been through some rough fighting from the earlier mob, then it would not suffice to call him particularly tired.
Not exhausted, he surmised, only tired. It was a weird feeling, having the stamina to go toe-to-toe with demonic and monstrous entities, but a welcome one.
"Yep! Sooner or later, I'll trap your ass and send you back to Hell. How long's it been since you last saw home?" He asked, calming his ragged breath.
Sibili took a loud yet short exhale, clicking its tongue in shame. "Well, on one hand, I don't wanna go home and my orders ain't to kill you. On the other…"
The demon didn't finish its sentence, merely rushing forward and using its broken hand as a flaming, piercing weapon.
Irwin didn't have time to move back and, even if he did, the demon wouldn't let up on his attack. Sparse for choice, a sudden information resurfaced in his mind with which he implemented a second before the hand hits.
"Quédate quieto e non-" It was fortunate that the blood on his hands was a mixture of his and the demon's vessel. As the spell halted the demon's attack, but not before half an inch of flaming finger had struck Irwin's abdomen.
"-te movas de onde esteas. Argh! Quédate quieto e non…" He moved backwards keeping concentration on the spell, circulating his magical power to negate the effects of the black flames as he distanced himself from Sibili.
"Argh!" Sibili tried to move its vessel's body, but there were some sort of incorporeal chains that locked his very essence in place. Unable to remove itself from the vessel, but also unable to control the vessel.
"Argh! Fuck it. Truce?"
Irwin smiled, immediately lifting the spell from its body, but still had his guards up in case the demon decided to attack once more. "Truce."
"Oh, boy. Good!" Sibili chortled, its body falling to its knees as it extinguished the flames around its body. The sight of a severely burnt man revolted and surprised Irwin, smoke still billowing out of its singed skin.
Irwin shook his head. "Charlotte, don't kill him. We're in a truce!"
Sibili, puzzled by Irwin's words, looked back, only to see a large display of rugged spears, numbering in the hundred, hovering a few feet in the air as it loomed behind him, ready to destroy Sibili's vessel in mere moments.
There emerged a buxom woman with a cute smile from behind the dangerous spears. "Oh, we're finished? My bad!"
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