The Last Drop of Hope, Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Heart thudding in her chest, Tina clutched her shank tightly, and waited outside the door. Long moments passed, but there was nothing from the bedroom. Then she heard a loud sound, almost like a cry, and Tina shot up, Claire leaping to her feet from the other side. They threw open the door and-

“Shhhh! I just got him out!” Rain hissed, pausing in pulling her dress back on. She jerked her chin at Alderp, who was making a godawful racket as he snored loudly, his bloated belly rising and falling as he sprawled naked atop the covers. He truly was hideous, and the stench was bad enough to make Tina cover her nose. What was that smell? It was like the man’s flesh was decaying while he was still alive. 

“How long will it last?” Tina asked Rain as they gently closed the door behind them. 

“I don’t know! I only know Intermediate Magic, and I’ve never used the Sleep spell before! He could be out for five minutes, or five hours!” Rain said, wringing her hands nervously and glancing back at the door. 

“Then we have to move quickly,” Tina said, striding down the hall. 

Claire caught up with her, with Rain’s bare feet padding on the thick carpet behind them. “We could just shank the bastard in his sleep.”

“Not until we understand what’s going on. Aqua can bring the dead back to life. What if this Duke of Hell can do the same?” Tina asked. 

“Wouldn’t hurt to try,” Claire muttered, then froze along with Tina, Rain nearly barging into them as the very same demon came down the hall. 

“My my, I don’t remember you being here,” Maxwell said, smiling pleasantly at them. Despite his well kept appearance, he smelled even worse than Alderp, like an open sewer crossed with a slaughter yard. It was so bad, it gave Tina a headache, and her nose burned.  “Hmm, I do remember that contract though. There does still need to be a first born to fulfill it…”

“Ah, yes, er, we’re the women to…help fulfill the contract,” Tina said, thinking quickly. “With Alderp, yes?”

Maxwell brightened at that, then leaned over, doing a rather thorough inspection of Tina and the two other women, walking around them and prodding at them while inspecting their anatomies carefully. “Hmm, yes, yes, of course! I can smell him on you! How long does it take for a child to be conceived again? I can never remember for you mortals…”

“At least a few days. And Alderp is so easily exhausted, he’s sleeping right now,” Tina pointed out. 

“Oh good, good. Yes, hmm, several days you say? Ah, well, I suppose a day or two one way or the other won’t matter. Good work, good work. Hmm, I suppose I only have a contract for one first born child. I don’t suppose any of you would be interested in eternal life or incredible power? I have a spare set of contracts, first born children or souls of High Nobles are hot commodities on the market right now!” Maxwell said brightly, producing a set of parchment in a shower of red sparks that stank of brimstone. 

“We’ll consider it,” Tina said carefully, accepting the parchments and holding them away from her as if they were highly radioactive. 

“Wonderful, wonderful! Just sign in blood and call my name. Maxwell the Adjuster! Always at your side. Ta-ta!” With that, the friendly seeming demonic lord turned around and walked back down the hall, humming to himself. It was the first time Tina had gotten a good look at the back of him, and what she saw made her catch her breath.

The man was Chipped. She’d seen it before on Succubi and Incubi; a slot at the base of the neck. That meant his memories and personality could have been edited, changed, adjusted. 

And Tina had a pretty good idea of who had done it. But how on Belzerg had Alderp managed to chip a Duke of Hell? 

Once Maxwell was gone, Tina shot a look at Claire. “Keep an eye on Alderp. If he wakes up early-”

“Shank the son of a bitch,” Claire growled. 

“...try to stall for time,” Tina sighed. “We don’t know what would happen if Maxwell decided to extract retribution from us. Or why he’s so dead set on a firstborn child. That doesn’t even make any sense. Isn’t Walter the firstborn?” 

“Maybe he’s adopted?” Rain offered, looking thoughtful.

“I suppose I can ask him,” Tina said with a shrug, then hurried down the hall to the main roon, where she found a rather antiquated phone, with buttons on it to call a number and everything. It had what looked like pearl or ivory carved into the receiver, so it was clearly just an ostentatious affection of the rich. 

Quickly, she dialed the number for reception, and a moment later got a bored-sounding man’s voice. “Yes, Lord Alderp?”

Lord? Someone was getting to big for his already over stuffed britches. “It’s Tina Ford. I need to speak with Captain Alexi.” 

“Who? Oh, one of the tarts.” 

Tina’s lips thinned at that. “I’m Sergant Tina Ford of the Axel Security Force. There’s been a problem with ‘Lord’ Alderp, and I need to contact his son.” 

“Sure, whatever. Your hide if you interrupt something important, he was getting rack time.”

“It’s an emergency. Do you want to have Lord Alderp wake up and not have his smoky mesquite jerky ready?” Tina demanded, dredging up one of Alderp’s prepared treats. 

“Not my problem, honey. Maybe if you offer the Captain a blowjob he’ll dredge something up for you.”

Tina bit the inside of her cheek rather that say something choice, and waited for the call to be put through. The phone rang for a few minutes, until someone picked up and she heard a rather bleary, “Captain Walter speaking.”

“Alex! It’s Tina! What is wrong with your father, and why does he have a pet chipped demon?!” Tina hissed into the receiver. 

“Tina? Ugh, sorry, I don’t know what happened…my head is killing me…feel like I got kicked by a drunken orc…”

“Look, just get up here, now! Something is very wrong with your father,” Tina hissed. 

“Tina, I know you don’t like it, but a deal’s a deal. You have to provide him with a first born child,” Walter said, his voice going monotone and dead. 

“And why aren’t you his firstborn?” Tina demanded in return.

“I…That’s…I’m…but the Deal…” Walter trailed off, then managed faintly. “I’m sorry, who is this?”

“Tina Ford! Get up to the penthouse, now! Or I’m going to let Claire murder your father!” 

“What!? Tina you can’t…ugh…my head…right, coming up. Something is…I’m coming.”

Tina hung up, and spent several very nervous minutes pacing back and forth. She suddenly paused, frowning. Why hadn’t she just tried to leave? Maxwell wasn’t paying attention, and Alderp was not only unconscious, but a pathetic bastard who probably couldn’t hurt her even with a gun since his aim was so poor. She walked towards the door to the elevator, put her hand on the handle and-

“Tina? Tina! What’s wrong with you!? Don’t go in there, you’ll wake him up!” 

“She’s cursed again! Purification!”

Cold raced down Tina’s spine, jerking her awake out of the haze she’d been in. She blinked, finding Claire and Rain trying to hold her back bodily from opening Alderp’s door, while Cecily was holding on to her head with both hands and chanting a prayer.

“I…I’m fine, you can let go,” Tina gasped, trembling all over and sagging into Claire’s arms. What was wrong with her? She’d been trying to leave, then…

You must bear Alexi’s firstborn. 

The tugging she felt nearly made her retch, and she felt bile creep up her throat, along with an incredibly strong compulsion to march into that room and…and…

“Shhh, it’s alright, let it all out,” Claire said, rubbing Tina’s back as she vomited onto the plush carpet. 

“The magic compulsion…it hammered me when I tried to leave,” Tina gasped, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and grimacing at the sour taste. “What did they do to us?”

“Someone’s coming!” Cecily squeaked, turning about and raising her makeshift shank in trembling hands. 

“Oh, it’s you. Er, Cilia, right?” Walter’s voice said. 

“Oh thank Aqua,” Tina groaned, getting to her feet with Claire’s help. She stumbled over to Walter, managing to pull herself upright. “Walter. Are you Alderp’s son?”

“What?” Walter looked at Tina like she’d gone insane. “Of course I am?”

“Then who’s your mother?” she demanded. “Why aren’t you his firstborn son?”

Walter looked defensive, frowning at Tina, then at Claire, Rain, and Cecily. “Why does that matter?”

“Because someone, probably your father and Maxwell, put a very powerful compulsion spell on all of us to bear Alexi’s firstborn child,” Tina said slowly. “I know that sounds hard to believe, but-”

“Yes, you must bear Alexi’s firstborn child,” Walter said, his eyes glazing over. “The Contract must be fulfilled.” He suddenly blinked, then slowly put a hand to his head, his eyes growing wide with horror. “What…what did I just…oh sweet Revenge…”

“Cecily,” Tina said, gesturing to Walter. 

“I’ll try, but breaking a curse this powerful is way beyond me,” the priestess said, going forward. She chanted another prayer, and Walter staggered slightly even as Cecily shook her head. “Nope. I’m not even close to fully rested, I just came running when Rain said you had gone crazy again, Tina.”

“I…I felt something dislodge in my head,” Walter said, looking poleaxed. “Someone…someone conditioned me. Did I get chipped, or…drugs? I’m not…”

“It’s magic,” Rain said. Walter shot her an exasperated look, and she sighed. “It’s easier if I just show you. Sorry, this won’t last very long.”

“What won’t last very long?” Walter asked suspiciously.

“Lesser Polymorph,” Rain said. 

“Baaaaah,” Walter the Sheep said, and began to wander aimlessly around the apartment, his fluffy little tail wagging slightly. 

Tina scratched her head as she watched Walter the sheep try to eat the carpet, then glanced at Rain. “Huh. Didn’t know you could do that. Seems handy.”

“Well, it only lasts about a minute, and according to my skill description, it breaks if any sort of damage is taken. I can level it up to Greater Polymorph, but I need to learn Advanced Magic first, and that will take a lot of Skill Points and study,” Rain explained. 

They watched Walter for a few more seconds, then there was a poof, and Walter the Police Captain sprawled on the floor, looking dazed and frightened. 

“What…what just happened to…was I…was I an animal? I just…my vision went all weird, and I just couldn’t think, and I wanted grass so very badly…” Walter babbled, slowly pushing himself up to a sitting position.

“I turned you into a sheep,” Rain stated matter-of-factly, kneeling down in front of him. “Magic.”

“Magic,” Walter agreed with a slow nod, and swallowed. “So, my father…?”

“Has done something,” Tina agreed, squatting beside Rain. “Or more accurately, Maxwell has.”

At that, Waltered blinked in confusion. “Maxwell? You mean, the manservant?” 

“Maxwell the Adjuster, Duke of Hell, and apparently, a chipped Demon. What do you know about him?” Tina demanded. 

“Nothing, he showed up a few days ago, I assumed he was an incubus that father took to bed. He’s never been all that picky in how he takes his pleasures,” Walter said, looking uncomfortable at the admission. 

“Well, he wants your father’s firstborn child. Any ideas as to why that isn’t you?” Claire demanded, pointing her shank at Walter and looming over him. 

Licking his lips, Walter looked back and forth between the women. “I, well…I never tell anyone this, but…”

“You’re adopted,” Rain sighed, shaking her head. “I might’ve known.”

“No…you see…I’m a clone…”

The others all stared at Walter goggle eyed, until Cecily blurted, “You’re the clone of that ugly fat bastard?! But you’re hot!” 

“Yes, I am,” Walter said stiffly, coloring slightly. “Father wanted ‘the perfect heir.’ So he had a clone made by Chimera carvers. Me.”

“Well, that answers something, then,” Rain sighed, and stood up slowly, shaking her head. “The real question is, why does Maxwell want a child? I mean, he’d have to wait nine months, and what would he even do with it then? What good would the child of one petty warlord out of all the NyteTech executives trying to seize power even do him?”

Standing herself, Tina extended a hand to Walter. “Well, there’s one way to find out. We find the controls to Maxwell’s chip. Which means we need to walk Alderp up.” 

Crater did not even begin to describe what Kazuma was looking it. A near perfect circle had been gouged out of the earth, thirty meters across, with a relatively even bowl shape that was ten meters deep, though at the center an odd spire of rubble stood. The buildings around it had been completely flattened, blown back from the blast for another hundred meters, with more demolished or burned for several hundred more. 

“What the hell went off, a giant bomb?” Kazuma demanded, leaning out over the pit. All around him, the ground had been turned to glass, and metal had melted into piles of slag. The bottom of the pit was smooth and glassy, with iridescence in the dim light of the smoggy sky like an oil slick. 

“Not a bomb,” Lolisa said firmly, shaking her head. She glanced over to where the three sisters were picking their way across the crater, trailed by the three other succubi. “We sure one of them wasn’t here a few days back?”

“Uh, yeah, why?” Kazuma asked, scratching his head. “You recognize this?”

“I’m not sure what spell could have done this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that was this destructive. But it was definitely magic,” Lolisa told him. 

That made Kazuma step back and take another look. The crater was probably too perfect. Bombs made circular blasts, true, but they were messy and probably not nearly this uniform. It made a degree of sense that a spell could do this, but what kind of spell would that be?

“Hey, Yunyun!” Kazuma called, sliding down the crater and then swearing as he slipped on the smooth surface. He ended up falling flat on his ass and skidding down to the concrete pillar at center like a moron, flying past the Crimson Demons and ending up sprawled on all fours, trying to get up but unable to find a purchase. How the heck were the others managing?! The Crimson Demon girls were walking along just fine, though on second look, the Succubi were actually hovering an inch or two off the ground by flapping the little wings on their heads. Weird. 

Lolisa fluttered up to Kazuma herself, even as Yunyun hurried over. “A-are you OK, Kazuma? What is it?”

“Damn ground,” Kazuma muttered, giving up and sitting cross-legged with a frown. “Look, do you know of a spell that could do this? You read a bunch of magic books and stuff, right?”

“I-I did, but, um, I’m not sure…Miss Wiz would know better than me,” Yunyun hedged, blushing and looking around uncertainly. 

“Yeah, well, she ain’t here and you are. Got any guesses?” Kazuma demanded. 

“Um…m-maybe Detonation magic?” Yunyun guessed. “O-or multiple mages working together? I-I don’t know, I don’t think I know any s-spells that could do this…”

“That’s impossible. The only wizard strong enough to do this would be Wiz, and she wasn’t here,” Megumin said, walking calmly along the glass-like surface as if it were a sidewalk. That was freaking cheating. 

“General Wiz could definitely do something like this!” Becky agreed happily. “She knows all sorts of powerful and rare spells.”

“Or a Crimson Demon,” Clara put in, smiling down at Komekko, who was back on her own two feet. 

“This…this is the m-magic of our Ancestors?” Yunyun whispered, her eyes starting to glow softly. 

“I never saw Crimson Demons in battle. ‘Cause, you know, I ain’t dead,” Triss said, bobbing up and down in the air as she shuddered. “But I heard about it. They could break the earth, turn the air to acid, or blow apart castle walls with a single spell. They could definitely do something like this.”

“I don’t know, they usually stuck to more practical spells,” Lolisa said, landing by Kazuma. She promptly let out a squeak, then slipped and nearly on her rear. Kazuma tired to catch her, which ended with her sitting on top of him as he lay groaning on the floor. “Oh! Sorry, Kazuma! Um, here, I think I can fly us both out…”

“What do you mean, more practical spells?” Megumin asked, frowning. “You mean, like my build?”

“Oh no, Crimson Demons were always pure Archwizards,” Becky assured Megumin as Lolisa flew up and tugged Kazuma to his feet. “I think she’s sorta right though? Crimson Demons were always super dramatic and went for flashy intros and weird poetry, but their magic? Yeah, super straightforward and high firepower stuff. They never bothered with low level magic: They just went straight for the Dark Detonations, Light of Sabers, and Infernos. You know, stuff average mages have to spend a lifetime to study and master.”

“And they’d do it as kids your age, Mistress! You really are super incredible,” Triss told Komekko.

“Huh, I don’t know magic like that. I’ll hafta have Yunyun gimme one of those skills I guess,” Komekko mused. 

“I-I only know Intermediate Magic! I still need a few points for Advanced Magic,” Yunyun hastily clarified. She looked around the crater, and a fuzzy little ball of black fur popped up out of the collar of her robe and mewed softly. Yunyun stroked the cat’s furry head, then said in a soft voice as her eyes glowed passionately, “But I would love to learn what sort of magic could do this…”

“The impractical kind, apparently. Does it have some sort of lame restrictions?” Megumin demanded of the hovering succubi. 

“The more powerful the spell, the greater the cost, in mana, reagents, or other things. But we honestly don’t know, this sort of spell is far beyond what low level succubi can use,” Clara said with a shrug. 

“Ugh, maybe I could use some more powerful magic. Kazuma, what do you have in your pockets, rocks?” Lolisa demanded, trying to haul Kazuma up, only to let out a squeak as she failed and end up sprawled atop him. 

“Not rocks! Just, stuff.” Kazuma rummaged around in his baggy clothes, and pulled out a game slate. “Gotta do my gacha dailies, right?” 

The women all gave him a level look, and Kazuma sighed, gently setting the slate down. It had been expensive tech he’d scavenged from Wiz’s secret lair. It hadn’t even been locked up!

“That’s not heavy enough to give me all the problems,” Lolisa groaned, sitting on Kazuma’s chest and poking him. “You weigh a ton.”

“Er, I do have a couple more things,” Kazuma admitted, pulling out some basic neuro-dive gear. “You know, in case there was a database or something we needed to go through.”

“Right, that’s at least sort of useful, I guess,” Lolisa agreed, picking up the headband and finger jacks. “But you have to-”

Next, Kazuma got out the two coils of rope, water purifier, a sleeping bag, and a spare set of underwear and two pairs of socks, along with an extra large box of matches and two lighter. “Probably don’t need the matches at least, since I can cast kindle. They just seemed good to have.”

“Uh, right,” Lolisa agreed, frowning. “We can probably leave those.”

The bottom of his jacket produced five days worth of ration bars, two liters of water, and a bunch of sugary and greasy snacks he’d pilfered, which he tossed to Komekko. He just ditched his mess kit and three pairs of extra chopsticks, along with the six-pack of energy drinks. “Here, Mekko. I was saving these for an emergency, but-”

“Thanks, Big Bro!” Komekko said, eagerly snatching the snacks as the succubi hastily grabbed the ration bars. “I knew I liked you.”

“Well, that’s probably enough, I can-” Lolisa began, then trailed off, as Kazuma was not done rummaging.

Kazuma pulled out his holdout pistol, two extra knives, and the three hand grenades he had. “Had these too, for emergencies. Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached down his back and pulled out the sawed off shotgun he’d tucked there, grimacing as he did. That thing had hurt like a mother when he’d landed on it. “This too.”

Megumin and Yunyun now almost looked impressed. “That’s almost a decent arsenal. But only two knives?”

“Well, I mean…” Kazuma sheepishly pulled the machete out of his pant leg, along with the small hand axe from his boot, as well as the half dozen throwing stars from his sleeves. 

“Those are pretty u-useless,” Yunyun said, but she did come over and pick one up. “Y-you’re better off with a gun.”

“I mean, yeah, I figured I’d hold on to these,” Kazuma lifted his jacket to show his regular pistol and submachine gun. “But I probably don’t need three extra magazines.” He took out two of the mags for each and dropped them on the ground as well. “I’m keeping the laser pistol and plasma torch though, never know when you’ll need one of those.”

“How could you walk!?” Lolisa demanded, looking at the now respectable pile of weaponry and assorted food and survival gear. She felt at Kazuma’s chest, which made him blush, then pulled out his extra wallet with two sets of fake ID and credits from NyteTech, Chimera Corp, Cat’s Eye, and Santomon. She missed the one with the credits from the other corps.

“I took the Pack Mule skill,” Kazuma admitted, shaking out the extra set of high precision thief tools. “It lets me carry more stuff in a smaller space then I should be able to, plus it doubles the threshold for the Overburdened penalty. Guess it makes me weigh more still.”

“There sure is a lot of stuff,” Lolisa agreed, opening Kazuma’s wallet. She drew out one of the fake IDs, then laughed. “Seymore Buttz? Really?” 

“Hehe, you said butts,” Komekko giggled around a mouth full of salt and fat flavored algae chips. 

“Uh, that one was a test, to see if the machine was working,” Kazuma said, coloring slightly. “Could you get off me? This isn’t the most comfortable place to lay down.”

“Oh, just one joke?” Lolisa pulled out the next ID, and held it out to Megumin, who took it and started cackling. 

“Mike Rotch? Really? And here I was almost starting to respect you, Kazutrash,” Megumin snorted, then flicked the ID away. 

“Mike…Rotch?” Komekko said slowly. “I don’t get it.” 

“...those were just backups,” Kazuma mumbled, trying to cover his face with his hands.

“Hmm, half a dozen kinds of credits and…Oh!” Lolisa blushed, quickly closing the wallet as Kazuma tried to sit up and take it from her.

“Those are personal!” Kazuma snapped, even as Lolisa jumped into the air and hovered out of his reach, as every time he tried to stand, he slipped and fell again. 

“You know they expire, right? And you shouldn’t keep prophylactics in your wallet. They’ll bend and wear. That one was two years out of date…how long have you had it?” Lolisa asked, peering into the wallet again. 

“I, uh, it’s, er, an extra that…look, I’ve been busy! Saving the world, fighting evil, and you know, escaping to the moon! So, uh, I haven’t refreshed my stock in… Just help me up!” Kazuma sputtered. 

“What’s a waffle lactic? Can you eat it?” Komekko asked. 

“Just have another tofu-locate bar,” Megumin told her, and Komekko shrugged and did just that. 

Lolisa finally handed Kazuma back his wallet and lifted him up in the air in a princess carry, much to Kazuma’s embarrassment. 

“Can you fly me much higher? I want a better look at things,” Kazuma said.

“Sure,” Lolisa agreed, and buzzed up into the air, resulting in Kazuma tightening his grip around her neck as his skin went clammy. “Er, you sure you want me to?”

“No, do it anyway, I need a proper look,” Kazuma said through clenched teeth. 

“You afraid of heights?” Lolisa asked casually as she swooped up to about fifty meters in height. 

“I had a bad experience on my last fight, as you might recall, and I distinctly remember falling out of the air and thinking I was going to die,” Kazuma hissed, his grip growing tight enough that Lolisa was half choked.

“Mmm, yes, uh a little less tight, though?”

“Oh, sorry.” Kazuma loosed his grip, then studied the area. He looked around, then his eyes narrowed. “What the hell. Over there! You see that?”

“I do,” Lolisa agreed, and flew to where a massive swath of buildings had simply been erased in a wide cone. She landed, gently setting Kazuma down, though he took an extra long moment to take his arms from around her neck. She hesitated, then gave him a quick hug. Kazuma blushed at that, then on impulse gave her a peck on the cheek.

“Thanks for the lift,” he said, then turned away as a flustered Lolisa put a hand to her cheek. Payback!

Bending, Kazuma examined the ground. The same pattern of destruction here, but this time, there was something else: a wooden stick with one end charred off lay on the ground, and behind it, what appeared to be a cone of destruction. He stood, holding the stick, which would have been the right size for a staff, and examined first the crater, which was slightly below them, then behind himself at the devastation.

“What happened here,” he muttered, tossing the stick up and down. 

“Kazuma, Kazuma!” Megumin said, appearing beside him with a pop.

“Yow! Don’t do that to me!” Kazuma gasped, cringing away. 

“Heh. Well, what did you find?” Megumin demanded, grinning wickedly. “A stick?”

“Wood,” he said, and passed it to her. “Weird. But from here…you notice something?”

“Not really,” Megumin said, shrugging. “Looks like the blast came through here.”

“No…you see that pillar, there, near the center of the blast?” Kazuma pointed back down to the crater. “It’s collapsed now…but despite being near the center of the blast, something standing atop it was completely unscathed, like it resisted the energy of the attack…and shot it back up here.”

“That seems far-fetched,” Megumin said with a shrug. 

“And this,” Kazuma knelt again, picking up some burnt debris. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed it, then grimaced. “Smells like burned hair. Actually…”

“W-what did you find?” Yunyun asked, scurrying up beside them. 

“I need your cat,” Kazuma said, holding out a hand. 

“W-what!? Why do you need Ch-chomusuke?” Yunyun demanded, hand flying to her robe, where the little creature was currently snoring.

“I just need to sniff it, and I figured you’d get violent if I just tried to sniff your boobs,” Kazuma told her bluntly. 

“Why do you…?” Yunyun sighed and plunked up Chomusuke, who stirred and yawned. “H-here…thanks for not being a total creep…kinda…”

Ignoring that, Kazuma took a long whiff of Chomusuke, then of the burned hair. He frowned, not satisfied. “I’d have to do a DNA test or something, but this is black hair, and it smells a bit like kitty here…”

“Do you seriously think a tiny cat like that was responsible for this?” Megumin demanded incredulously, planting her hands on her hips. 

“No, I just… we don’t have much to go on, right?” Kazuma handed the kitten back to Yunyun and got out a little plastic baggy, scooping some hair into it. Then he took the stick from Megumin, and passed it to Yunyun. “Can you tell if this is magical?”

Muttering a spell, Yunyun passed her hand over the stick, then nodded. “T-this is high quality magical material! I couldn’t t-tell you what kind, but wood is rare, a-and this wood has been infused with mana.”

“Then this is the weapon, or focus, or whatever,” Kazuma said, taking the stick back. He turned around, then sighed. “Well, nothing for it.”

“Nothing for what?” Megumin demanded as Komekko and the succubi came up.

“We gotta figure out where the hell the people and demons went. And I don’t think we’ll like the answers.”