Arcana's Path Ch. 07

The kindly seller was surprised to see her, asleep in a stranger's arms. Thankfully politeness allowed him to excuse it before he became a serious suspect of causing her harm.

Then he turned back and walked through the shattered fragments of the demon's soul. Echo grasped one of the small pieces, using it to reach out and locate the rest of the cursed creature's bloodline.

He killed them all.

---

Kina fell against the sink, throwing up. Sweat ran from every piece of bare skin, and she could feel herself shaking. This wasn't like her usual attacks, this was... Someone else.

Something had used enough magic that she had picked up on it, resonated with it in sympathy, and now she was throwing up like she had cast the damned spell.

She beat her fist on the counter, cussing out whoever was the irresponsible bastard that had used something of this scale. She would have blamed Rasputin, if he were still alive. Without him... It had to be Ardet-lili, didn't it?

Chelsea wasn't in the country anymore. She had been dragged off by Violet to the hut in the place between the worlds. Only place that she could be kept safe from herself, really.

The idea that there might be someone else in the country with the same scale of power as her freaked Kina out. She already tended to feel sick enough as it was when she touched her own magic. She didn't need the sympathy from someone else's as well.

Her phone rang, and she put it on speaker as she threw up again. "This is... Eugh... Kina."

"This is the Emergency Response Team, we've detected an unusual spike in mana discharging in your area. We're going to need for you to stay calm and -"

She laughed bitterly, "No, you didn't. Well, sort of. Check your notes. I'm just a mirror. Love it if you shut up the bastard casting before I finish puking my stomach out through my face."

With that, she emptied the acid through her nose and mouth again, coughing and spluttering and begging it to just damn well stop.

"I see." The voice on the line said carefully, "Unfortunately, I am afraid that the only other spike of close to equal proportion is related to official business of the Emergency Response Team."

"Fucking bastard!" Her hand struck the sink hard enough to dent the metal. "It has to be him, doesn't it? First he... Then he... And now he makes me feel like shit! You can tell Echo to go fuck himself!"

She hung up the phone before she got a response, not wanting to be embarassed if she had guessed wrong. That and holding a conversation whilst blowing chunks through your nose wasn't just difficult and painful.

Kina winced, holding up her bruised hand and gently licking at the skin to try and reduce the pain. Her tendency to overreact during her cycle was another reason she isolated herself.

She wasn't that strong, really. On par with most humans. However, she had anger problems that would make a steroid addict look like a zen monk. At least, during her cycle. Which meant she had a habit of not holding back, where a human would, instinctively.

Which meant if she lashed out, she generally ended up badly hurting herself.

It was his fault for making her feel sick.

She wretched painfully, fingers curling up tightly on the edge of the sink as a solid lump of fur, mana and partially digested egg came hacking its way up through her throat to splat onto the metal.

Kina glared at the furball and the stress to her body it represented, before reaching over with a shaking hand to turn on the garbage disposal in the sink.

Most houses around here didn't actually have one, but most people didn't throw up baseball-sized furballs when they got violently ill. Kina wasn't above using a little technology to make her life easier, even if it was embarassing.

She fell against the bench, trembling weakly.

Kina had spent all the energy she had for the day, at this point. Either by throwing up and losing mana and strength, or in her... Rather excessive athletics with Ardet-lili.

She should have remembered that the witch was almost as insatiable as a neko in heat, herself. Burning out both their passions was like burning out a supernova. Extreme to the limit. Every night for a week had been pushing it.

She put the back of her hand to the cold sweat on her forehead, and then sniffed at it. She didn't really have a choice. If she didn't eat something soon, she was probably going to pass out.

Interacting with anyone though...

Time for another contactless delivery. And hope that the driver actually took heed of the request to just leave it at the door and leave, defying common ettiquete.

As she was still considering getting up the effort to find a takeaway menu, the frontdoor bell went off.

Kina moaned, and crawled over to it, reaching up weakly to activate the intercom. "Sorry, I'm not accepting guests right now."

"A wise precaution, Miss Aki." A stiff voice answered her, "But I am neither a guest, nor a purveyor. I was sent by the Emergency Response Team to attempt to make amends for the illness that you are undoubtedly suffering under."

Her head drooped and she glared at the floor, "You can't help me."

"I have brought food, heavily enriched with mana. I understand that this may help you regain your strength." The stranger informed her, clearly intent on seeing her.

Kina rubbed at her eyes, "I'm not safe. Leave it and go."

"I am unaffected by the pheremones of a neko. It is also unlikely that you can force yourself upon me, whether or not you recover your full strength."

She reached up and barely found the strength to flick the door handle, cracking it open.

The door was pushed open not by someone dressed as an EMT, but someone in a suit. They walked passed her to lay out a series of containers on the table, whilst she blinked tiredly unable to stand.

She felt herself mutter, "You smell funny."

"Quite. Mouth open."

Kina felt the liquid touch her tongue with a burst of energy and strength that shot her eyes widen open. She snapped her mouth closed on the spoon, suddenly grinning as she slurped the salt-y broth quickly.

The neko stared at the stranger, "Mana infused miso? I didn't think that was possible."

She scampered over to the table, sitting up excitedly and tapping her fingers in front of her in anticipation. The man chuckled and placed the miso into her hands, in a traditional serving cup.

He began to unpack the rest of the warm meal whilst she was busy discovering the wonder and subtelties of the emergency meal. She hadn't ever had anything like it before.

From a danger of burning out and needing a hospital, she was suddenly feeling like she could go flying off the walls. Her nose wrinkled for a moment, detecting a subtle scent to him.

"Don't know what you are. Warlock, maybe." The neko spoke around a piece of tofu, "But you work for Echo. With him? Friendly enough you're around him all day. Suppose the bastard is feeling guilty?"

"He was unaware of your peculiar condition, as he was in deep hibernation when the community became aware of your existence." The man said stiffly. "He regrets any harm that may have come to you, and asked me to convey his deepest regrets."

"He says sorry too much." Her ears drooped as she looked down at the food guiltily. "It's... My fault. He's got nothing to apologise for. Not to me. I can't even face him. Me. A cat. I know what it feels like to be hated for what you are. I should be better. He doesn't deserve that."

"My master is quite used to the isolation. He is not likely to hold it against you, and has voiced concerns about your well being, Miss Aki."

She looked over, "Master? You said you were from Emergency."

"I am. I serve as secretary to Lord Lacerta, and help with the day-to-day running operations of the Emergency Response Service. I am sworn to his service, both in life and in death." The man said stiffly, "I am immune to you, neko, as I am one of the Inbetween."

She felt herself freeze up, and stare at the undead figure, her stomach rolling uncomfortably. Not just because undead were among the creepiest things to exist, but because her basilisk was involved with the undead, which was nothing less than stereotypically evil.

"Uh... Um... Clearly not a... Zombie." She managed to squeak.

The man smiled politely, "Astraea is aware of my existence, and checks in from time to time. It is an uncomfortable topic, but I felt that misleading you in any way is likely to influence my master to feel enraged at me."

"Astraea hates undead." Kina blurted out before she could bite her tongue.

He nodded, "That is quite true, Miss Aki. I did not say that the goddess is entirely approving of my existence, simply that she has not decided it is time for my destruction. I understand that you know what my master is?"

"A... A b..." Kina felt her fur standing on end and she shivered, "Gods damn it. I can't even say it. Still."

"As such, it was difficult for any servant to assist in raising him as a child. The tantrums of a toddler, amplified by the power of a basilisk, are nothing short of world altering." The man spoke without any emotion, "Thus, one of the Inbetween was chosen to assist my lord."

Kina shivered, "I... Can't actually imagine. Don't want to. I don't want to know what he's capable of. I don't want to know how many people he has straight up murdered. It already sucks that I want to sleep with him but would probably jump through a window and run if he stepped inside."

"The neko approach to sexuality is always so straightforward." The man stated bluntly, disapproving.

She stuck out her tongue at him, and reached for the next piece of the meal. She spoke with her mouthful of sushi, "If you were uncontrollably horny one week in four, you'd get over it too. If you weren't a dead man."

"Inbetween." He cooly corrected.

Kina slurped loudly as she swallowed, glaring at him. She didn't like how he smelled. She wasn't comfortable with what he was, or the implications. Mostly she just wanted him out of her house, but wasn't sure how to say it politely after he fed her.

"If you place yourself under lockdown in this property so frequently, how do you manage to keep your living? This is a rental apartment, is it not?" The man's eyes pointedly glanced at the scratches on the floor, walls, and furniture.

She glared some more, "I pay with mana. Like most of us. I'm not some homeless alley cat."

"I did not mean to offend."

Her lip twitched angrily, "Just to pry. If Echo wants to know about me he can damn well... Actually, he probably can't ask me himself. Uh... He can write me a letter. And it better smell like him and not your dead little hands."

The man frowned, looking at her with newfound disdain, "Perhaps it is not clear to you. Lord Lacerta is not one who receives instruction, from anyone. He is the line that maintains peace in your world. You would be overrun by demonkind were it not for his efforts. Even if he deigned to contact you, it would be a servant that would deliver it."

"You don't know who you're talking to, you little shit." Kina got sick of his attitude. "You're nothing but an Inbetween. How dare you talk down to me? I am Kina Aki! Heir of Eos! I am divine. What the fuck are you, undead?"

He raised an eyebrow, "It is my understanding that you rejected -"

His voice cut off with a strangled rasp as he found himself dangling in the air as she glared at him. Kina slid back from the table and stepped toward him deliberately, ears twitching as her tail pointed straight up.

She smiled at the trapped man, showing off her shining and hyperdermic teeth. "Moron. I'm a kitty cat. I don't make choices like that. I do what I want, because I want. I tried to be polite. Really did. But right now, I want to hurt you. So I will."

The undead figure might have thought that he was unfeeling in his new life.

That wasn't true, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Cats like playing with their food.

Living or dead.

---

"Hold up." The entity stopped him from walking into the underground theatre, putting a hand against his chest. As it did, the entire hand withered away, steaming and burning.

The entity fell to the ground, trying not to scream and attract any attention.

Echo crouched and blew a puff of dust over the hand to stop the necrosis, and smiled at the demon toothily, "Friends we aren't. I don't like being touched. You're not getting that hand back. Know what I am, managuise?"

The creature gave a small nod.

He stood up, "Good. Feel free to warn the others."

With that, he walked into the main chamber.

There was already several figures in the centre of the old ruins, proudly pontificating about the virtues of demonic kind, and railing against the world for treating them with unequal and unfair hatred.

The audience was still filing in. Possessions, entities, mutations. All the freaks were coming out of the woodwork in excited anticipation to listen to nothing but ranting about how society had pushed them out, and tried to quarantine itself against them.

The Emergency Response Teams were singled out as a racist attack, designed as a weapon of genocide. The ERT might claim to only deal with those demons who acted out, but the goal was clear. They would eventually come for every demon. Man, woman or indeterminate. Elder or child.

The world was seeking to destroy them in a growing wave of resentment and censorship. Demons could no longer act publicly. They couldn't seek out sources of mana. They weren't allowed to be themselves.

"You're right, of course." Echo proclaimed, his voice booming out.

There was a moment's silence, and one of the speakers raised a clawed hand, "Please friend, hold your tongue. There will be time to discuss but that is not yet here. The Lords of the Darkness are here to educate, and share a plan for the future."

"Eh, fuck 'em." Echo replied and walked forward, joining them on the dais. As he did, his glamour began to crumble away. The first thing it revealed was his red eyes, and the three speakers fell to their knees immediately.

"These old fools claim to be your guiding stars. They will guide you to your own destruction." Echo spoke to the audience, as they began to loudly gossip. "The ERT was established for a singular purpose. The genocide of all demonic influence in the world. This isn't some hidden truth. Not some mystical knowledge or conspiracy. I made it, to kill you all."

Some of the demons began to flee, which is when they encountered the barriers that his team members had established. Allowing mundanes to leave. Allowing the vessel to leave. But trapping the entities inside.

With him.

Echo stretched, his almost humanoid top half staying in place as his enormous bulk filled out the space behind him. The already dim light almost vanished, eaten by his black scales.

"You call us intolerant, and unkind. I am intolerant. I am bigotted. I will never allow you to have a foothold in this world, again. I will never allow you to drive this world into war, back to the brink of utter destruction." He snarled at his captive audience.

He lifted himself up to his full and natural height, causing gasps of fear and terror as the gathered demons tried more desperately to flee. "I am Echo Lacerta. Son of Valant Lacerta. Heir of Ekaida. I am known to you, and your world, as the Great Devourer. Prepare."

He didn't give them a chance for mercy.

Men get arrested.

Witches get punished.

Monsters get put down.

A moment before the last of them left the world, Echo's head was jerked against his own will, and his concentration was broken. He felt the vast amount of magic being burned across the city.

It wasn't like a bright light in the shadows. It wasn't the moon shining on a dark night. It was as if the entire nation had somehow been relocated to the surface of the sun itself.

He'd never felt that much mana being burned.