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

Once outside Kat made the short flight to her previous training ground and was surprised to note that the patches of ice she’d thrown were still around. The fire wasn’t visibly burning but it was clear that some part of the effect had lingered just from the fact that there was still ice out on such a hot day. Kat walked over to one of the piles and gave it a good kick. The ice shattered without issue, letting loose a spray of ice and dirt.

*So the ice wasn’t strong… just persistent. I wonder if I could reduce the effects of my demonic fire. That… that might be a tough ask. It wasn’t like I put much effort into those two throws, the fact that both patches of ice stuck around is a bit scary of I’m being honest. If I can do this right as I’ve stepped into Rank 3… what can a Rank 4 or Rank 5 do let alone something higher? Isn’t my power level going to scale exponentially? That’s… yeah that’s a scary thought.*

[I think we know why they don’t send stronger demons to deal with lower-level jobs. Even just a bit of demonic fire from a rank 3 would probably be deadly to… well just about everything on weaker worlds. Do… do you think we’ll have to leave Earth sometime soon?]

*What do you mean?*

[Well it’s just… you can already do this at Rank 3. I… I sort of imagined that we’d move of Earth in a semi-permanent fashion after we’d grown up a bit. Maybe after a few decades? The fact that you’re Rank 3 already… and just how strong you seem to be now… I wonder if we’d even be able to remain in that universe at Rank 4 or 5. It might be too much for it.]

*Right but why?*

[Well the universe restricts us right? It keeps everyone restricted and prevents the use of higher energy… but it doesn’t work properly on demons and I’m just sort of wondering… let’s just say Rank 9 because that’s certainly strong enough. So say you’re Rank 9 and the Universe tries to push you down… well… maybe you just breathe a bit too much and automatically push back… the universe might break or fundamentally change just from your existence at that point.]

*That’s a compelling point there. Though… hopefully it’ll still be a while before that happens. I’m only Rank 3 and while it has been pretty quick, four and five should take longer.*

.....

[Yeah but Kat… you’re already rank 3 and if you complete that heartfelt Contract to learn to properly use your fans… if you manage Rank 4 before that it might push you to Rank 5 and then… well… that might already be pushing things back on Earth.]

*Huh… I’d mostly forgotten about that. I guess it just hasn’t come up in a long, long time. Could that be why I got to Rank 3 so fast?*

[I doubt it, but you can ask]

*System?*

User Kat is currently still in the process of completing the Heartfelt Contract. No new Heartfelt Contracts have been offered.

*Well shit.*

[See Kat.]

*I see, I really do. But stop distracting me. This was supposed to be a chance for you to show off. There’s magic here and you wanted to see just how powerful it is now that you’re in a world with mana.*

[Look… I’m just… worried ok. I haven’t really been able to do anything cool with my magic. Which… is fine I guess. I mean, I don’t regret changing myself into a Memphis and I don’t regret taking a mana affinity and going for paper but I just… I’m worried that I still won’t be able to do anything. I want to be your partner. I want to stand by your side till the end of time.]

[I don’t want to just be your pet cat.]

There was an intense wave of sadness and melancholy that radiated from Lily at that statement. Kat gave her girlfriend a mental nudge to transform, and when she did Kat was quick to wrap her up in a big hug. “You know you’re not just a pet to me. You’re my girlfriend. I thought I made that pretty clear, even just earlier this morning,”

“I know…” mumbled Lily, some wetness around her eyes as she buried herself into Kat’s shoulder. “You’re not making me feel like that. I AM making me feel like that. I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m normally a Memphis, and that’s fine, I’m comfortable in that body, and I have no complaints but I just… I feel useless. I’ve said it a few times now but I just… I just haven’t seen my magic actually DO anything useful yet and I’m worried…

“I’m worried that now I’m here in a world that actually uses mana… what if I still can’t do anything? I have absolutely no way to compare between worlds. Unlike you I have no baseline of what sort of strength to expect. Am I going to go from one measly scrap of paper to two? A whole doubling of my power? I don’t think I could take it if that happened…”

Kat ran her hands through Lily’s hair, scratching around her girlfriend’s ears. “Hey, hey it’s ok. Even if your magic doesn’t work you aren’t useless. Remember just last Contract? You were instrumental in scouting the area so that we could get Xuena free. That’s not nothing! And what about the time before that, when we were in the city of water? That didn’t take any skill or magical ability at all. It was just talking to people the whole time. Look, Lily, even if you perform worse then ever before, that’s fine.

“I didn’t confess to a magical powerhouse Lily. I didn’t even confess to someone who was physically strong. I confessed to the adorable nerdy girl. I confessed to someone I saw at school every day. I confessed to the girl that gets too involved in weird research. I confessed to the girl I LOVE. Now are you going to keep moping around, or are you going to cast the spell?”

“I’m going to cast the spell!” said Lily with a cheer. She brought Kat in for a quick kiss on the lips, and didn’t even blush. Then she turned to the open dirt plains, raised her arms and summoned a circle.

It flashed for a moment, before a second ring bloomed to life, and Lily fired without quite realising that fact. Kat felt like her breath was knocked from her lungs as a wave of paper EXPLODED. Lily it was a wave of paper, wider then Lily was tall and easily dwarfing her in height. The paper was densely packed, barely any space between the individual sheets of razor-sharp paper.

Lily burst out into laughter as she saw the wave of devastation the paper had left. Little pieces littered along a line at least 100 metres long with the earlier sections showing clear groves where the paper had dug trenches before stopping and later sections being coated in so much spare paper that it was hard to tell how deep the paper had dug. It was… breathtaking for Lily, especially considering she hadn’t been trying for anything that grand.

Now, at this point, if Lily had a proper teacher, she’d be warned that the feeling of power coursing through her veins was mostly mental and not at all indicative of how much mana she had left. Such a teacher would command her to rest, not allowing her do more magic until she was settled and not likely to do something dumb. Lily… was about do so something dumb.

“Yes! This is magic!” shouted Lily as she summoned up three more circles and let her mana fuel them, exploding in three sperate, larger, waves of paper. Kat watched it all with a slight frown as Lily continued to grin wildly, seemingly not able to notice the fact she was already swaying on her feet. Once the three waves receded Lily turned to Kat and unleashed a grin… then fell forward straight into the ground.

Now, if Kat was asked, she’d try to say ‘I was too surprised and let Lily fall’. Which was… barely true. Kat was in fact surprised, and she did let Lily fall because of that… but only the first few centimetres. Kat had plenty of time to stop Lily… but she also felt Lily deserved a little bit of punishment for going mad with power.