Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Awakening

“Garen, Tront! Buy me time! Strike its arms when it attacks the barrier!”

Hal barked his commands as quickly as he could, then immediately started chanting an incantation. Lightning sprung into existence and swirled on the tip of his staff.

The Grendel slowly emerged from the darkness. Gregory's longsword protruded from its eye as a sickly yellow vitreous gel dripped out, and it unleased a terrible bellow!

"Fuckin' hells! It got the captain too!" Garen yelled as he rushed into position.

The demon swung at Tront, its claw clashing against the barrier, unable to pierce through it. The knights swung in kind at the Grendel’s outstretched arm, and Garen’s blade landed a deep cut. He grunted with exertion... but he couldn't yank it back out. The Grendel howled again and ripped back its arm, before biting the blade in half.

Enraged, it swiped at the barrier repeatedly, bashing it again and again at an extreme speed. The barrier managed to hold, each blow repulsed just like the last. Tront stumbled back, trembling in fear he screamed in panic “We’re gonna die, it’s going to kill us, oh god, help us!”

“Don’t lose your cool, my spell is almost ready!” Hal attempted to reassure him as firmly and confidently as he could.

Hal's mind raced far faster than his body could keep up. Damn my age! Damn my weakness! It takes so long for me to prepare a spell of just this level! If I had the mana, I could unleash this much faster! This is bad… If I don’t land this just right… Just a little more…

The Grendel stopped swinging at the barrier, and looked at Hal with a malicious level of intelligence, while the lightning swirled ferociously around his staff. Then, it squatted really low… before launching itself over the barrier.

And...

It landed directly in front of Hal, the mixed blood and saliva dripping from its mouth onto Hal's mortified face.

“T-t-t-THUNDERBOLT!” Hal stuttered and screamed!

He was out of time and couldn’t finish charging his spell. He unleashed all the energy he accumulated this far, and it struck Gregory’s sword, sending the electricity straight in to the demon. It screamed in agony, wildly swinging at Hal. The old man was chucked like a ragdoll as the claws raked through and eviscerated him, spilling out his guts and other viscera.

“HAAAAL! NOOOOO!!!” Diane screeched at the top of her lungs. That old man was the closest thing she had to a father, and she just watched him die before her eyes!

Tront howled, and pierced the demon’s leg with his sword. The Grendel turned towards its prey as he starts to run. Diane hurled herself from the carriage, pointing her hands towards the demon.

She cried out again and again in fury and pain, tears welling in her eyes! “Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Please…. Work! Work! FIREBALL!”

Without their swords and the protection of the barrier, Tront and Garen were slaughtered in moments. They tried to yell out something to her, but she couldn’t hear them. Her eyes were full of tears, and he heart felt nothing but pain and rage.

---

The world was darkness. I couldn’t see anything. All I felt was a dull, throbbing pain throughout my whole body.

Silence. I suppose that is a relief in and of itself. I reveled in it, even. When was the last time my mind felt so... quiet? What if the voice returned? Perish the thought.

Ahhh, to think I would get myself into such a miserable state! I have always gotten myself into all kinds off nasty messes, but at least its better than whatever I did to get in that last one. And I'll live, so I suppose it is worth it. What did I do last time?

The thought caused a twinge of pain, and I hardly had the energy to pursue it any further anyways.

Still... I wonder what this will be like? To do such a thing... I never truly considered it before.

Powerful magical and spiritual beings are able to bind souls in contracts, but I had never been in one myself. Short of claiming another’s soul in exchange for something, the Daemons I knew rarely entered into contracts, unlike elementals and fey spirits. Add in my isolated study, which was phenomenal to master numerous offensive magic’s and skills, I found my knowledge... lacking when it came to these kinds of things. Although I was pretty sure, those in a contract I should be able to feel their contractor’s presence.

Let me see…

I reached out with my consciousness and my mana. I tried to focus it and channel it, to sense through sheer will the presence of another.

And I felt… something. Yet, it was so weak. Abysmal. Pathetic. There was hardly a trace of magic to it… why?

I probed deeper.

I could feel it... sense it like I am looking at her... almost like I could see Diane’s silhouette. And… I could see the magic circuits etched throughout her body… why are they empty?

I needed to probe further, I pressed my mana into her mana circuits, shriveled and weak as they were from disuse.

Something was wrong with her mana heart. It looked almost like… someone or something had blocked it up? A disease? A genetic disorder? Or something else?

I couldn't really tell, and... Well, that was absolutely no good and utterly unacceptable. I couldn't have a contractor who can’t use magic, now can I?

If I could have smiled, I would have. After all, breaking through things always gives me a nice adrenaline boost!

Maybe if I filled her mana heart to overflowing, it would burst through the blockage?

Or would that hurt her? There could be severe consequences if I don't get it just right. I’ve only recovered a little bit, but even a small amount of my mana would be overwhelming to her… she is still such a small child. 8 years, was it? And the fact that her entire mana ecosystem is absolute trash.

A twinge of pain darted through me, a strangely different kind of pain.

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Odd? Something was off. I felt something… in my chest… is this… heartache? But there's nothing wrong with it...

I traced the feeling, trying to pin its source.

Ah? It wasn't coming from my chest… External. That's a first, a side-effect of the contract? If this is her pain… then why is she in pain? Why is she so angry?

I stretched out my mana a little further, to feel for anything else out there.

I see… this is a problem. Ah… but if I were to try and take care of it myself? This contract is already making things so much more complicated... the hell am I supposed to do?

Well, not like I had time to think of anything better to try, and I sure as shit wouldn't allow for such a pathetic failure as letting my first contract be slain by some pissant. Let's get this little lady some mana, yeah?

---

The Grendel finished killing the two remaining knights.

It didn’t know why, it just knew that his master wanted to annihilate the humans and dominate the world.

It also knew it had to fulfill his master’s will. Plus, these humans were both soft and crunchy. They sated his hunger. There was one left, and the horses.

Between them and the other remaining bodies, it would be able to feast for a little while! Maybe it could even grow some?

He turned around, and saw the little girl screaming at him. She would make a nice treat. Only one thing left to do.

*badump badump*

The Grendel froze. It never felt anything like that before.

It looked at the little girl, its body shaking. It felt… fear?

Why? Its so small, a crunchy, shouldn't it be a soft yet crunchy snack? This girl… why does she have an aura of death?

The rapidly growing dark cloud shook the Grendel to its core, and it made the Grendel feel so small! A towering demonic aura, and within it a face straight from the depths of hell... growing, spreading, and furiously emanating from this little girl! Steam burst off from her soft, reddening flesh in unison with the growing cloud.

At her hands, a glow formed. And it grew, faster and faster. Spiraling, coalescing, gathering into an effervescent ball of liquid flame. The heat from the flames was enough to sear him from a dozen feet away. The Grendel turned, it wanted to run, but it was far too late.

“FIREBALL!”

The last thing it heard was the roar... It couldn't escape. The ball of flame crashed into his back, sending piercing shots of searing flame through its flesh and bone as it carried him several hundred feet down the road before it blew, incinerating everything in indiscriminate fury.

---

Diane felt as if something exploded inside of her. Her entire body felt as if it was burning, energy roiling through her.

She could hardly concentrate. Fire burst from her hands. Then a quarter of the village… was gone in flames.

And just as suddenly as it came, the overwhelming energy was gone. She felt empty, unable to concentrate, overtaken by extreme exhaustion. Diane collapsed as her vision shuddered into a thick haze.

After the explosion quieted down, the coachman crawled out from under the carriage.

“W-w-what just happened? Is it gone?”

He looked around. The horses huddled together, frozen in fear. He decided it wasn't worth the time to investigate, and instead took the opportunity to re-harness the other horse. One last quick glance, and he caught lady Diane collapsed on the ground. Her body was the only one not doused in its own blood.

“Ah! My Lady! Are yah hurt?” His words were filled with a thick, rural accent.

He sprinted up to her, and heard her labored breathing. With a grunt, he lifted the young child and placed her back inside the carriage.

I may be old, but I'll be damned if I just abandoned the young Lady like this! Never underestimate a coachman's honor!

He puffed out his chest with a bit of pride. If nothing else, he will always see his clients to their destination, no matter what! Otherwise... well, he'd be out of a job. And he frankly had no idea how to do much else well enough to live off it.

And now, his destination is one he looked forward to more than ever… home.

“Hiya! Move ye horses!”

The creatures whinnied, and they were all too happy to put the place behind them as fast as they could.

The carriage jostled rapidly back out of the village.

And tah make sure I keep my coachman's honor for a long time yet, I am NEVER doin' one-ah these dangerous jobs again!

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