I wasn’t really sure what I expected Devils to look like. Red skin, horns, and a pitchfork had been my first guess, so I was pretty freaking surprised when the first one I ran into looked like a completely normal girl.
Granted the bat wings were a little freaky, but compared to the Minotaur or Mrs. Dodds, they were practically normal.
Honestly, I kind of wished Devils looked more like monsters. It would’ve made me feel a lot less guilty. Even if they were Devils, wrecking someone’s house probably shouldn’t have felt this fun.
My heart raced as I rode a massive wave of lake water through the mansion’s halls. I’d never surfed before in my life, but riding the wave had felt completely natural.
“Take the next left,” Loki whispered from the runestone.
With a quick thought, I shifted the wave beneath my feet and swept around the corner.
A Devil dressed in a butler’s uniform stood in the middle of the hallway. He froze the moment he saw me.
“I’m sorry!” I waved my hand, sending a blast of water surging toward him. The older-looking Devil didn’t even have time to react before it swept him off his feet and hurled him into one of the mansion’s fancy walls with a hard crack.
I winced but didn’t stop, urging the wave to race through the mansion even faster. Luckily, the place seemed relatively empty aside from the occasional Devil unfortunate enough to cross my path.
A large pair of double doors stood at the end of the hallway.
I willed the water beneath my feet to accelerate, then sent a smaller wave shooting ahead of me. The double doors crashed inward, and I sped through into…
A kitchen?
Huge stainless-steel counters filled the room alongside rows of stoves and industrial refrigerators. There were even massive hanging racks covered in pots and pans, like something you’d see in a fancy restaurant. Half-chopped vegetables and abandoned cookware still littered the counters. There was even a pot of soup bubbling away on one of the stoves.
Huh. I guess even Devils needed to eat.
The wave carrying me petered out, spilling water across the floor.
“Is this the right place?”
“The door furthest in the back.” Loki’s voice carried a slight strain.
“Loki?” I ran toward the rear of the kitchen. “You sound like you’re constipated.”
“I am not constipated,” Loki bit out, followed by another strained grunt. “...There is only so much power invested in this runestone. Connecting to it across dimensions is already a miraculous feat. You should be on your knees thanking me for managing this much.”
“I mean… all of this is kind of your fault anyway, dude.”
“Just shut up and get to the circle, Percy,” Loki snapped through gritted teeth.
I rolled my eyes and opened the back door.
It led into a simple storage room, empty except for a few crates of meat and vegetables. A faint chill hung in the air, and a magical circle similar to the one from before had been carved into the floor at its center.
Did they seriously use teleportation magic to stock their kitchen?
I shook my head, hurried over, and placed the stone in the middle of the circle. Just like before, blue light spread through the markings.
“How long?”
“It will take me a few minutes to change the coordinates,” Loki grunted.
A faint thud echoed somewhere in the distance.
My eyes snapped toward the door as muffled shouts drifted through the mansion.
That wasn’t good.
“Ensure the circle isn’t damaged or disturbed in the meantime,” Loki continued. “I don’t need to explain what happens if you fail, do I?”
“No.” I pulled the holy knife from my pocket and tightened my grip around the handle. “Any tips for fighting Devils?”
“Kill them quickly. Don’t allow them to surround you. Devil magic is versatile enough that you will lose if you allow the fight to drag on,” Loki said, his voice turning serious. “Your divinity should make you strong enough to handle most of the rabble as long as you stay near water.”
“…Honestly, I didn’t think you’d give me any useful advice.”
“You claimed you were special, didn’t you?” Loki snorted with contempt as the circle’s light flickered. “So prove it.” Farther down the hall, the sound of running footsteps grew louder.
“Don’t forget that your life isn’t the only one at risk, Percy.”
I grimaced at the reminder and tightened my grip on the knife as I stepped back into the kitchen. The lake water I’d brought inside had flooded the floor up to my ankles. Almost instinctively, it began to shift and gather around me.
Water climbed along my arm before condensing into shape. The holy knife moved with it and settled at the tip, becoming the gleaming head of a trident made from water. The weapon just felt right in my hands. Hopefully, the holy knife would be effective on Devils as the stories made them out to be.
A faint trace of guilt twisted in my chest. This wasn’t my home, and none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t listened to Loki. Part of me still wanted to explain myself, but… explanations weren’t going to bring Mom back.
“He’s here!” someone shouted.
That left me with only one path forward.
A pair of armored Devils with staves rushed into the kitchen.
I raised the trident and slammed its base into the flooded floor. Water surged around me in a churning wave.
It was time to fight.
—Sona scowled as she followed the trail of water through the mansion’s halls. Her soaked clothes clung uncomfortably to her skin, which only worsened her mood. She could have dried herself with magic, but conserving every scrap of demonic power was more important.
The sounds of battle reached her ears.
Had the household guards already caught up with the intruder?Sona felt a little disappointed. After being blasted out of the air and nearly drowned, she had been looking forward to a little payback.
Sona rounded the final corner and found one of her guards standing outside the kitchen.
“Did you—”
A hand made entirely from water shot through the doorway and slapped him into the wall.
Sona stared.
Inside the kitchen, a miniature storm raged.
Water spun through the room in a massive whirlpool. It tore cookware from the counters and sent pots and utensils crashing against the walls. At the center, Sona could barely make out the blurry figure of the black-haired boy submerged within.
One of her guards hurled a volley of fireballs into the vortex.
The boy thrust his trident forward in several quick strikes, each movement sending water snapping through the air. The fireballs vanished into clouds of steam before a narrow stream shot from the whirlpool and struck the guard in the chest. He was launched across the kitchen and slammed into a counter.
Another guard raised both hands and unleashed a crackling bolt of lightning. It plunged into the swirling water, but instead of reaching the boy, the current twisted around him and dispersed through the flooded room.
“My lady, get back!” A third guard limped toward her while supporting another man who clutched his side. “Allow us to handle—”
Sona raised both her hands and poured every scrap of demonic power she could muster into the water.
It felt like she was pressing against a brick wall, but Sona clenched her teeth and pushed harder. Her demonic power flared through the flooded chamber, sending ripples racing across the surface of the water.
The whirlpool surrounding the black-haired boy collapsed around him, its spiraling walls splashing across the floor. Yet even after breaking apart his attack, Sona could still feel it. The water around them wanted to be commanded. It was actively fighting her every attempt at controlling it. Sweat broke across her forehead as she struggled just to hold it still. Even then, she was barely succeeding. The water roiled across the floor as they fought over it.
“Now, go!”
Thankfully, her houseguards didn’t waste time questioning her. They surged forward from every direction, staffs raised as spells gathered around their hands.
The boy spun the trident with terrifying speed, knocking aside a bolt of demonic power before driving the shaft into another guard’s stomach. A third attacked from behind, but he twisted aside without even looking and swept the trident low, stabbing its prongs straight through the guard’s armor.
Another volley of fireballs forced him back as two houseguards dragged their injured companion away.
His reflexes were insane!
Sona reached for the water coating the trident, trying to wrench the weapon from his grasp, but it refused to budge even an inch.
If she couldn’t affect the weapon directly, then she would have to focus on keeping the remaining water away from him. She waved her hand again, wrenching away every drop of water as she could.
Her houseguards began to press him back. Spells struck the walls and shattered furniture as the boy twisted between attacks, but there were too many of them. One guard slipped through his defenses and slammed their staff against the trident’s shaft.
The water forming the weapon warbled. The trident collapsed in his hands, its water splashing across the floor.
Another houseguard lunged forward, trying to tackle him.
The boy dropped to the floor and rolled beneath the attack, sliding awkwardly across a thin layer of water. He snatched up whatever pots and pans were within reach and hurled them haphazardly at the guards.
The improvised projectiles flew across the room.
Her houseguards simply battered them aside or raised their shields as heavy cooking pots and iron pans crashed against their defenses.
A massive pot flew directly toward Sona.
She smirked and batted it aside with one hand, refusing to let such an obvious distraction break her concentration.
Ha. Did he honestly believe something like that would—
The lid popped off.
Thick white soup spilled into the air, but instead of falling to the floor, the liquid twisted sharply and splashed across her face.
“Ack!”
Sona stumbled backward, momentarily blinded. The soup seemed to possess a mind of its own, crawling toward her eyes and trying to force its way into her nose.
She flared her demonic power and released a rough shock wave, blasting the soup away from her face as she staggered.
Unfortunately, she was already a moment too late.
Her control over the surrounding water had slackened.
Sona’s eyes widened as every puddle in the chamber surged toward the boy at once.
“Stop him!”
Her houseguards attacked, but the water erupted before they could reach him. A violent ring blasted outward, smashing the guards into the walls and tearing chunks from the floor.
The boy sprinted toward the back room.
Sona forced herself upright and raced after him. She refused to fail again.
By the time she reached the doorway, the teleportation circle was already glowing beneath his feet. The symbols flickered unevenly, strained by whatever spell he was using to hijack the formation.
Sona raised her hand, gathering a fireball above her palm.
If she could damage even one section of the circle—
The boy’s eyes widened when he saw her.
He thrust both hands toward her.
There was a sharp ripping sound, and Sona was suddenly yanked off balance. Her back struck the floor as the water soaking her skirt twisted violently and tore away a large section of fabric.
Her concentration shattered as she instinctively grabbed what remained of her skirt.Did he seriously just use the water to rip it off?!
His gaze dropped for half a second.
“...Pink?”
Sona’s face burned crimson. The teleportation circle erupted with light.
By the time Sona looked up, the boy had vanished. The symbols left behind cracked apart a moment later, their light fading as the hijacked spell ruined the circle completely and destroyed any hope of tracking him.
Sona stared at the ruined circle as the last traces of light faded. Tears gathered in her eyes.
Damn it!
She had messed up.
“Sona!” Serafall’s worried voice echoed through the hall.
Sona hurriedly wiped her eyes as her sister appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop him, but I—”
Serafall froze.
Her expression went completely blank.
“Sona,” she said, her voice suddenly quiet. “Who did this to you?”
Sona blinked. “What?”
She looked down at a puddle beside her and saw her reflection.
White soup still coated parts of her face and hair. Her glasses sat crooked across her nose, while the lower half of her skirt had been torn apart, leaving far more exposed than she would have liked.
Oh...
“I can explain—”
“I’LL KILL HIM!” Serafall’s scream reverberated throughout the mansion. “I’LL RIP THAT LITTLE BASTARD APART! YOU THINK YOU CAN MESS WITH A MAGICAL GIRL!? I’LL FIND YOU–”Sona buried her face in her hands. ***Woops sorry for the late. Sleep schedules a fucking mess right now.