Newly Summoned Demoness: Side Story Two (Part Finale) (Patreon)

Emerald Eyes raised her wand and pointed it down the corridor, creating a white light that flashed through the cramped space and illuminated the darkness. The demon behind the broken door let out a horrifying screech in response.

The light suddenly changed trajectory to hit the ceiling, adhering there and giving everyone a clear view of the enemy.

A bipedal chicken shoved the door aside, ripping it from its hinges. A cackle erupted from behind it and more red eyes appeared, each belonging to another demonic chicken. These were different from the ones they had fought earlier, though.

Deformed and grotesque was all Elania could consider them. Some had extra limbs jutting out of their backs, while others had missing wings. One even had two heads, each set with a razor-sharp looking beak.

More worryingly, she could feel the pressure of their leader’s [Demonic Aura] pushing back against hers. That meant it was likely strong.

She let out a roar in challenge. Not stronger than her!

“Wait,” Emerald Eyes said quickly.

Elania stilled at the order, releasing a low growl, and refusing to look away. Her instincts screamed for her to leap forward and tear apart the enemy and its mutated flock. But Emerald Eyses’ order wasn’t to be ignored, and she didn’t want to break her trust.

The bipedal chicken demon stepped forward with an unsettling intelligence in its gaze.

Harlock, Lucas, and Kael stepped up to cover Emerald Eyes’ sides, shields and weapons ready.

The standoff hung in the air, a taut string ready to snap. Elania’s muscles coiled beneath her dark fur, ready to engage at the slightest provocation.

Emerald Eyes kept her wand raised and her posture relaxed yet alert. The artificer’s eyes flickered with concentration. The chicken demon’s aura of malice was palpable, and Elania let out a low growl as it pushed up against her own aura, which blanketed her party protectively.

Elania could sense the restlessness in the group behind her; the Ironfist mercenaries shifted their weight, their hands tightening on weapon and shield. They too, had been restrained by her human.

Why didn’t they simply attack?

“We mean you no harm,” Emerald Eyes said. “We can help you. We don’t have to fight.”

The demon’s head titled, considering her worlds. An unsettling series of clucks and cackles erupted from its beak, and the minions clustered around its feet replied with a chorus of responses.

Elania’s tail twitched in anticipation. Her human’s senses were dull. The demon’s feelings were obvious in its aura. Diplomacy was destined to fail here.

The bipedal demon let out a single high-pitched scream, then charged. It was the catalyst for the entire flock behind it to attack as well.

Emerald Eyes raised her wand and began to create one of her magic circles.

Elania knew what it would do, so she waited, lowering her belly to the ground and preparing to pounce.

Halfway to them, the artifice magic finished with a crack. The circle was small, so the effect was much less than Elania had seen before. But it was done much faster, too.

Dozens of white bolts flashed out like a machine gun, punching the smaller chickens and sending them flying backwards. The larger demon covered itself with its wings before squawking loudly and extending them, covering its flock with protection.

Elania let out a low growl. The enemy was working together!

She stood and padded forward.

“Elania!” Emerald Eyes called. The girl’s voice was tinged with worry.

Elania let out a low rumble. That made her feel good, that Emerald Eyes cared about her. But Emerald Eyes didn’t need to worry.

Elania turned the rumble into a deafening yowl. She was the Queen of Beasts, and no chicken would challenge her!

Her [Darkwalker] form vibrated as she pushed more [Power] into her body. The chicken met her charge with its beak, her claws gouging out several feathers from its neck before a sharp spur slashed her shoulder. They broke apart and the army of deformed minions rushed past them towards the rest of the group.

There were several organizing shouts between the humans, but Elania ignored them and focused on her challenger. It pummeled her with its wings as she spun to reorient herself. Her jaws snapped at a wing, but she only got a mouthful of feathers.

Pain lanced her leg as a spur punctured it, but she ignored the injury in favor of pressing forward. It was twice as tall as a human, and larger than her, but she had more mass and was lower to the ground.

Slamming into it with a jump, she knocked the chicken demon into the wall. This time, her teeth sunk into the flesh of its breast. It squawked franticly as it beat at her.

Pulling away with a ripping tear, she took a chunk of poultry meat with her. Bood leaked, but the demon didn’t hesitate to return to attack. Its beak stung her flank, but she jumped away before it could peck her a second time.

The demon’s strike missed by inches.

Her first wounds were already healing rapidly thanks to [Regeneration], and adrenaline coursed through her. She turned aggression into opportunity, her claws finding purchase on the creature’s exposed side.

The impact sent a jolt up her leg as it slammed into her, but she held fast, digging deeper. The demon reeled, its cry piercing the underground air, a mix of rage and pain.

Blood, dark and viscous, welled from the wound, and Elania’s senses sharpened. The demon thrashed, and her claws finally ripped free, giving her another chance to strike.

With a swift motion, she targeted the demon’s vulnerable underbelly, both paws coming up together to rip eight deep gouged in the flesh. The attack left her open, and it pecked her on the back, behind her neck. She pulled away, but it wouldn’t let go.

Flipping onto her back, she used her back legs to claw the chicken’s soft underside more. Blood and viscera began to pour out onto her, and the chicken demon weakened and let go of her.

She immediately pounced, leaping onto her feet before launching herself at its throat. Her teeth found purchase, and she used the weight of her body to pull and try to rip the demon’s throat out. The sinew was tough and, while her mouth filled with blood, it didn’t tear free.

Behind her, the squawks of the demon’s minions fell silent. Elania lifted her head and looked back, refusing to release her prey. The humans had stopped the small attackers with their shields while Emerald Eyes had cut them down with her ranged attacks.

The other humans had no doubt done their best to help, but Elania was sure her human had been the one who proved the best.

She tugged on the chicken demon until it stopped moving. The desire to consume it was strong, but the desire to present Emerald Eyes with proof of her efforts was stronger. It did not matter if the corpse was torn and lost half of its insides on the way to her.

The humans looked aghast at the display as it came to a stop in front of their formation. Emerald Eyes held her nose and scrunched up her face.

“Elania… please. If you’re full, absorb that thing and shove it in your mana crystal or something. It smells horrible!” Emerald Eyes said.

Elania tilted her head and let out a yowl.

It took a moment, but finally the other girl reached down and stroked her head. “Good job. Now… please. Take care of the mess.”

It was passingly good enough praise, so Elania went to work, pulling the essence from the demon into herself. Then she sniffed the ground and went between the corpses that the others had killed and absorbed them as well. It wasn’t enough to sate her completely, so there was no need to send any to her mana shard.

“Anything else up ahead?” Harlock asked.

The group shared a look and then they pushed forward, Elania happily taking the lead. Inside the back room were crates, dozens of them. Most of them were torn apart or shattered, and their contents littered the ground. Other mechanical wreckage filled the room as well, but nothing at first glance indicated the room held any further enemies.

“Well, it’s a dead end. Guess we’re done now,” Lucas said.

“We need to be sure. If we send down work crews to clean up, they won’t be ready for a fight,” Yolani replied.

“I just want to get out of here,” Kael mumbled.

Harlock thumped him lightly. “Ten large gold, lad. No complaining until the job is done.”

Elania raised her nose and sniffed. Something smelled bad, but she had already snacked on all their enemies. The chickens that were caged up were far away and didn’t smell anything like what she detected. A memory hit her, and she let out an unhappy yowl and fell on her belly, covering her nose.

Emerald Eyes looked at her with worry and stroked her neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Is she hurt?” Lucas asked, confusion tinting his voice.

Yes, her nose hurt very much!

There was one thing that smelled like what she had scented on the air. It was something she had been forced to deal with before.

The desire to flee and go back to the other rooms was strong, but duty to Emerald Eyes and their mission was stronger. Slowly, she got back onto her paws and moved to a crate. It was in the way. A swipe of her paw battered the wood into pieces.

“Hey, watch it!” Lucas shouted.

“Girl’s going crazy,” Harlock said.

Elania ignored them and finished off the crate, revealing the wall behind it.

There was a hole. It was small. Tiny. Relief filled her. There was no way any of them were going to make it through the hole that led to the sewer on the other side.

But it was large enough for… a chicken.

There was a chorus of groans. Emerald Eyes hissed loud enough to cause Elania’s ears to flatten.

She let out a meow and pushed up against her human’s leg. She didn’t see what the problem was. They weren’t going to fit. They were safe from the icky, nasty tunnel!

Elania did her best to tune them out and wait.

Emerald Eyes surveyed the room with a critical eye. “There must have been some of Ranolf’s apprentices down here,” she said quietly, piecing together the scene. “When the elevator jammed, and no one knew...”

Harlock nodded grimly, his spear resting against his shoulder. “Pour souls. And then, what, the demons ate them?”

Emerald Eyes nodded. “One of the demon chickens must have gotten out, then consumed one of them. Maybe several got free and attacked together. Either way, once one of the chickens absorbed them, it transformed… into that thing. It didn’t have enough essence to evolve fully, but it was clearly intelligent, and capable of directing the flock.”

Elania let out a low growl, unhappy at the thought. It was something people often thought about her, even though she had been summoned as a human in the first place. The humans talked for a bit longer. Too long.

As soon as Emerald Eyes headed for the door, Elania jumped up onto her paws to follow. At the elevator shaft, her human turned to look at her with a frown.

“Elania, you’ll have to transform back to get back out. I don’t think the Elevator will be working again today,” Emerald Eyes said.

That made sense and was reasonable. Becoming human again wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but since Emerald Eyes requested it…

Elania closed her eyes and focused. There was a slight pressure inside of her that popped free. The [Power] around her shifted, and so did her body. There was a brief human thought of wondering what the others saw as she finished the transformation before, suddenly, it was finished.

The men looked at her, then suddenly looked away. The leather necklace was still around her neck, the mana shard hanging between her breasts. She was completely naked.

Yolani was already there with her green cloak, pulling it around her shoulders and hiding her modesty. There was just a slight problem.

“Your clothes got sort of torn up when you transformed,” Yolani said.

Elania grunted, the feeling of embarrassment from being seen naked by everyone heating her cheeks. “You could have thought of that before telling me to turn back!” she hissed. Nudity wasn’t exactly taboo in Neftasu, so it was slightly unfair to them for not thinking about it.

“If you need an extra set of clothes, I have a spare set,” Lucas offered.

The memory of discarding the extra set of clothes from her pack hit her in the stomach. “Thank you, that would help a lot,” Elania replied.

Yolani ordered the men to turn around while she got dressed. She also got elected to go up the ladder and report to Henri, since she was the strongest and fastest climber. Honestly, that was a relief, because the basement was wearing on her.

Breaking through into the bright lights of the shop above, Elania found Henri and the other guards in a state of readiness, their weapons drawn and eyes alert. Henri’s gaze snapped to her as she emerged. “What’s happened?” he asked, his concern palpable.

“The others are okay,” Elania began, dusting off her hands. “The elevator jammed halfway. Demon chickens were free, so we dealt with them. Some of them might have escaped into the sewers. The survivors are locked up, but probably should be separated sooner rather than later…”

Henri cursed and then made an immediate telepathic relay of the information to whoever was his superior. By the time the rest of the group made it up, there were several work crews waiting to get started.

“Not even going to wait until morning?” Yolani asked.

Henri shook his head. “Getting things cleared out is a priority. Besides, there is plenty of artifice light to work with.”

“If you want me to work on the elevator and things, it will cost money,” Yolani said.

“We already contracted the repairs out to some other artificers,” Henri replied. “Well, not ‘we.’ I had nothing to do with any selection…”

Yolani patted him on the shoulder. “No worries. Elania and I are busy with repairing Aetherhart’s anyway.”

Henri nodded and glanced at Elania. “The guard will handle the sewer search for any escapees. You two have done enough for one day,” he said. “The City Watch thanks you for your service to the city.”

Elania fingered her mana shard and noted that Yolani didn’t make any effort to hand over the one she had found in the basement. At least they had got paid as well as thanked.

The mercenaries said their farewells and headed off with a spry step after Henri promised their payment would arrive in the morning.

As they headed out of the shop, Yolani breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go check on the shop,” she suggested.

Elania nodded. “Maybe we can fix the shower…”

Yolani chuckled and nodded. As the storefront came into view, the wooden scaffolding where the workers had been restoring the wall was half taken down. It looked like they’d finished that, at least. There was still a need for a new door, though.

Yolani glanced at her, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “You know, with all that chicken essence you’ve absorbed, I’m half expecting you to lay eggs,” she joked.

Elania’s laugh, meant to be lighthearted, came out as an unintended cluck. The sound stopped her in her tracks, her face flushing with embarrassment.

Yolani’s reaction was immediate and uncontrollable; she burst into peals of laughter. “Oh, Elania, you never cease to amaze me!” she gasped between fits of giggles.

Elania bit her lip, caught between mortification and Yolani’s laughter. For some reason, she couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” she said. “I’ll remind you the fastest way for me to ignore other essences until they are diluted is to turn back into a big cat. One that can lick you to death with sandpaper, remember?”

Yolani’s laughter died as her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Elania’s grin turned into a huge smile. “Try me.”