Chương 62: Demons in the Dark
Bernard flew through the city. His anger rose as he saw what had become of Asperitus. Multiple tears unleashed roving groups of monsters and spirits. He expected a terrorist attack and even prepared for battling spirits and beasts. However, he did not imagine the attack would be on such a grand scale. The attacks in the capital were isolated to government buildings and properties owned by nobles. This was just chaos.
He brought up the holographic map marking Zeph's position. Bernard had been calling the boy for a while now, but there was no answer. 'The necklace should be vibrating to let him I'm calling. Why isn't he picking up?' Bernard's thoughts started to drift towards a worst-case scenario. Below, he could see several civilians under siege by a group of shadow wolves.
As the name would suggest, they were creatures resembling wolves. Their fur was made from shadow magic, and they hunted in packs. Bernard noticed that the barrier those people were using was about to fail. Lifting his gun from the holster, Bernard pointed towards the wolves and pulled the trigger. Multiple rays of energy shot forth and slammed into the pack of wolves. Everyone in the barrier was about to give up hope when they saw the wolves disintegrate before their eyes. They looked up at their savior.
"There's a rescue team one block that way," Bernard shouted and created an image of a glowing green arrow pointing to the east.
"Thank you! Let's go, everyone," said the leader of the group.
Bernard didn't wait to see them go and started flying towards Zeph's location. He kept an eye on his holo display. "Come on son, why aren't you picking up."
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Zeph was watching Bianca deal with a small group of shades. They were humanoid shadows given physical form. It was the third time they had to stop and fight. Semara kept the barrier up to defend Zeph and the other members of their group. The boy kept an eye on the surroundings to make sure they weren't surprise attacked.
Bianca walked back into the shielded area. "Okay, we should be good to move forward. I can't sense anything in the immediate area."
"Okay." Semara adjusted the dome barrier, making it mobile again. She liked to adjust the spell to a stationary shield when they weren't moving to conserve magic.
The group continued forward to one of the exits. They were going slowly because there was a lot of fallen shelves and debris in the way. It's only been twenty minutes since the tears appeared. Zeph wished that this would have happened when they were at the front of the store instead of the back. He looked to his teacher and saw that she had a frustrated expression. "What's wrong? Are we going to slow?"
Bianca shook her head. "No, it's not that. I'm just annoyed that I left my sword in the car. The fights would go so much faster if I had it."
"Oh, hold on a couple seconds." Zeph reached into his jacket and made sure no one was looking. He concentrated for a few seconds while they walked forward. A soft blue light shimmered as he created more aether and formed a sword similar to the single-edged curve blade Bianca used. It was similar to a katana in his old world. When the weapon was done forming, he handed it to the fox girl. "Here, this should do for now."
Bianca blinked in surprise. "I totally forgot you could do that. While you're at it, make Semara a couple of short swords."
"Sure thing." Zeph made two double-edged short swords. He'd hand them to Semara when an opportunity arose.
Bianca's ears twitched as she heard a noise. She looked at Zeph's chest. "Is your chest buzzing?"
"Huh?" He patted his chest and felt a vibration. It was his Holo-pendant. Slapping himself on the forehead, Zeph said, "So that's what that was. I thought I was so nervous that my heart was pounding.
"I thought you couldn't get nervous cuz of the defense mechanism in your head."
"No, that just stops me from getting overwhelmed by emotions. I still feel them. Actually, I've gotten some control over it and can adjust its intensity. Usually, I keep it on low so it doesn't affect me much. But now it's on medium so I don't freak out." He smirked.
"Must be convenient." Bianca smiled.
"Yeah, especially with what we saw earlier," Zeph recalled the image of an unfortunate group of people whose barrier couldn't protect them. "If it wasn't for that, I'd be like them." He pointed over to some of the other people in the group. The sight of monster victims left them white as a sheet and shaking. They were only continuing on because they were in a state of shock.
"So, you going to answer that? It's probably your grandpa. He should know what's going on." Bianca pointed at the pendant.
"Oh, yeah!" Zeph turned on the holo display and saw it connect with his grandfather. It was an open message screen asking him if he was okay. He started typing a message back.
-yeah, I'm fine. There was tear here and a few phantoms and shades, but Bianca kicked their ass. We're making our way outside right now.-
-Thank goodness you finally answered. Don't come outside yet if you're safe, I'll clear up the area and I don't want you caught in the crossfire.- Grandpa
-why, what's going on?-
-There's an open tear and I'm killing everything that comes out.-Grandpa.
-I wouldn't say we're exactly safe. There's still some stuff in here. Not close by, but still in the store.-
-Well, it's safer there than it is out here right now, especially if you're only dealing with the likes of shades and phantoms. Bianca and Semara can handle that. If possible, see if you can rescue survivors.-Grandpa
-we already have a few, we were headed outside to get somewhere safe.-
-Where are you now?-
-toward the middle of the store. We were near the back wall when the tear hit. It's a mess in here-
-okay, it's not safe out here for you or any non-mages. New plan. Help Semara engrave a sanctuary barrier for people that you rescue. Then look for more survivors.-Grandpa
Zeph responded with a yes and told Semara and Bianca the new plan. They made their way toward a wall. Semara showed Zeph and Bianca the symbol for a sanctuary barrier and had them carve out large matching symbols. The others were worried, but Bianca explained that there was something dangerous outside. As if to support her claim, the building shook as something large crashed near the front of the store.
"Alright, the barrier should hide everyone's presence and shield you for…" Semara looked at the size of the symbols they carved. "Hmm, this is concrete, so forty minutes before the symbols wear out. Everyone just relax and stay calm. Lord Malston instructed us to look for survivors.
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Bernard was relieved that Zeph was okay. When he got to the store, the first thing he wanted to do was run in and look for the boy. Using his magic sense, Bernard was able to find his grandson's location and determine the boy was okay. Before he could go inside, a new tear opened up near the front door of the department store. It grew to the size of the building and Bernard's eyes narrowed as he saw what came out of it.
"Demon," the old man said, his voice seething with rage. Someone contracted with demons to attack his city.
Before the demon could finish walking through the tear, Bernard already hit it with a blast of transmutation magic. It screamed as it's body crumbled into ash and scattered in the wind. Bernard turned his attention back to the store but felt a surge of magic fly at him from the tear. He dodged as a giant dark red mass of energy tore through the air.
A deep voice akin to distant thunder chuckled and started to speak. "I wasn't going to come as the sacrifice was too small." A large creature, tall as the store with black skin and red eyes, walked through the tear. His hair ash grey and he wore a suit of dark leather armor. The skin was thick and cracked like the parched desert floor, making the creature horrifying to see. It grinned, bearing its fangs, as it floated into the air to match Bernard's height. "But they didn't mention that a mage as powerful as you would be here." It licked its lips, imagining the taste of this elder mage.
"And who would you be speaking of. Who attacked my city!" Bernard's couldn't hold back his anger at the sight of this monstrosity.
"Why would I answer your question?" The demon shot another burst of dark red magic at Bernard and flew towards him.
Bernard dodged once again. Suppressing his urge to end this creature, Bernard retaliated with a simple blast of energy. He needed more information and he might get it if he could get the demon to talk. Maybe, he could even capture it. As he was about to call Relina to see if she had a way to capture a demon, Zeph finally answered his message.
The demon laughed and knocked Bernard's magic blast away and continued to chase after the old mage. For some reason, the mage didn't fight back and only ran away. He was frustratingly fast, and the demon tried to shoot a barrage of red energy to hinder Bernard's escape.
Bernard wasn't trying to escape. He was just distracted by the conversation he was having with his grandson. The demon was becoming frustrated as it saw the old mage easily maneuver through its onslaught. It changed its tactics and blasted red orbs of energy repeatedly into the area, creating a magical minefield to hinder Bernard's movement.
Since fighting in a minefield needed more attention than he was currently giving the fight, Bernard ended his conversation with Zeph. He decided to give the demon a taste of its own medicine.
Bernard started to gather a massive amount of energy and his body was shrouded with an aura of magic. Waiving his hands, Bernard channeled all the magic into an explosion of scattering motes of light. The sky was lit with red and white orbs of energy floating and waiting to detonate.
"Done running away are we?" The demon mocked and laughed at Bernard.
Bernard scoffed. "I was never running away. I was just conversing with my grandson. Now that I'm not busy talking, I can take care of you." His condescending tone infuriated the demon.
"Senile fool, I will devour you and use the magic from your bones to raze this city to the ground."
Bernard didn't respond. Instead, he raised his hand towards the beast and made a grasping motion. The demon was unsure what the old mage was doing. Suddenly, all the white motes of light that Bernard hand scattered in the sky started spinning around the demon as they closed in on it. It created a shield and escaped.
Bernard had already prepared another spell. As the monster was shielding itself and breaking through the mines to escape, the old mage shot an erosion spell. A wave of dark green energy flew towards the Demon. While the spell was making its way towards the demon, Bernard detonated all of the motes of light he had in the air. The explosive force knocked the demon into the wall of the store. The green energy hit at the same time and coated the beast's body in a film of erosive energy.
The demon pushed itself off of the store and glared at Bernard. It threatened and yelled and attacked again, shooting larger blasts of energy into the air. Explosions thundered through the night sky. "Stay still you pest."
Bernard shook his head. This demon was a fool. It lacked wit and ability. There was no reason to prolong the fight. The demon hadn't noticed that the erosion spell still clinging to its body, slowly eating away at its magical protection. While continuing to evade the creatures attacks, Bernard used more spells to weaken its defenses. He launched lances of pure kinetic energy that shook the creature on impact.
This demon had strong defenses, and Bernard had to wear it down slower than he would have liked. Any spell that would kill the creature quickly would cause quite a bit of collateral damage, and he didn't want to risk the store to collapsing and hurting anyone still inside. Zeph was fine, and it might be a good opportunity for the boy to experience fighting in this situation, so Bernard wasn't in hurry. His magic sense let him know that there wasn't anything inside the store that Bianca and Semara couldn't handle.
The demon started to feel a pain. It was barely noticeable at first, but the pain grew in intensity. There was smoke in the air, and the demon looked at its body. Green energy was eating away at it. "What did you do?" It screamed in rage.
"I destroyed your defenses so I could do this." Bernard's arms started to glow with a dull grey light. He flung his hands forward and shot a beam of magic into the demon's chest. "I was going to draw this out so I could get some information, but I've realized you're too stupid to know anything of value."
It screamed as it felt the attack tearing into its body with nothing to protect it. The magic spread quickly, hardening the creature's body as it solidified. Screaming in anger and fear, the demon watched its body turn to stone.
"I know there are more of you," Bernard said coldly to the tear. multiple sets of glowing red eyes could be seen from beyond the rip in reality. "Come forward, if you dare." The lights faded and the tear started to close. He looked back at the new statue. "Now what to do with you?"
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