D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Once the three demons had backed up significantly and rounded a few corners they stopped. As soon as they did, Sue took the chance to ask, "Ok, what seems to be the problem? Why were you guys freaking out so much?"

"It wasn't a dead end" said Kat

"It was worse" said Kamiko jumping in afterwards.

Kat picked up where she left off with, "It was actually a giant rat. The whole dead end was one sleeping, or at least, breathing rat that was blocking it off…" Kat let out a long sigh at that, letting her thoughts catch up before she kept talking. "… actually, now that I've given it some thought, it might be even worse than that. I didn't see a tail at all, so we weren't seeing the back of the rat, and there were no breaks, so if it's like the side fat of the rat it's much larger than the hole"

Kamiko grimaced realising the truth of what Kat said, "Oh dear. This rat might actually be a bigger deal then I thought. I didn't want to fight it in that small tunnel with no space to really dodge around it. I really doubt it'll just stand there and let us hit it."

"Damn. If it's just a normal brown rat I doubt it's the original either. Just a bigger mass is not what a progenitor of a swarm gains. Shit, why did I sign up for this again?" complained Sue

"The money" said Kat deadpan.

Sue stepped forward so that Kat could certainly see her face and very slowly rolled her eyes before stepping back, folding her arms under her breasts and pointing. It didn't really work that well with the coat though, and it wasn't anywhere close to effective against Kat. Still, she just let out a sigh and let it be.

"So, plan of attack?" asked Kat

Kamiko shrugged, "I think we just have to bring out the demonic fire. Even my naginata can only really leave small wounds on it if it can even get through the rats hide. Sure we could give the old death by a thousand cuts but we have other things to do so I doubt that's a worthwhile option."

"Fair enough. I'm full up on energy, is everyone else?" asked Kat

The other two nodded and then they got back into formation. This time, Kat and Kamiko were both together in front of Sue who kept herself about the same distance back as before. It took no time at all to return to the giant rat. When they did, Kat debated slightly about where best to start from. Did they want the range or the firepower getting in close would provide them.

Looking at the size of the thing again, Kat let her tail wind its way up to her mouth so she could lightly bite down on it. *I can't shake the feeling I'll need all of my energy to take this thing down. If we start throwing out fire from a distance I think the energy loss will do us in. It'll be dangerous, but not as dangerous as being caught without energy.* 

Kat shared a look with Kamiko and took a slow, but very deliberate step forward and waited for her response. She looked between her hands, the floor, and the rat a couple times before nodding and stepping forward as well. The pair advanced in sync the last few paces till they were practically on top of the other rat. Kat held up a hand with five fingers and then mimed dropping the first two repeatedly.

Kamiko quickly got the idea and nodded. Using her fingers as a guide, Kat started to drop them slowly, timing it with a fairly accurate internal clock, dropping on finger every two seconds. This was just to allow ample time for Kamiko to be ready. As she counted down, Kat made sure to place her hand right above the hair of the rat, not touching, but close enough for this.

When Kat's final finger dropped down, the two Succubi BURNED in tandem. Pink and purple flames swirled together as the temperature plummeted. The fire clung to the rats fur and sunk inside, though the speed of its movements was much slower then Kat had ever seen. About a second after the flames had begun, a roar that couldn't be heard because of the earmuffs, could certainly be felt.

Kat's bones rattled, loose dust and rocks vibrated and chunks of the walls and ceiling were chipped free by the noise. The large figure of the rat started to shake and move as it woke up, lifting the brain fluff to reveal part of a leg. The pair didn't let up though, simply continuing to spew fire onto the creature as best they could.

A few seconds of full power though, was started to strain Kat in a strange way. So much power so quickly apparently wasn't easy, as frost started to climb its way up her arms. It didn't hurt, but it couldn't be good. Kamiko was in a similar scenario, she was staring at her rapidly freezing attire and grimacing.

She glanced at Kat, and when she saw the other demon in a similar situation cut the flames and nodded. Confused but willing to accept Kamiko's lead on this Kat did the same. She found herself down to only fifty percent energy, arms frozen up to the elbow, and a feeling of stiffness when she tried to wriggle her fingers. That might have been the noise though making delicate movement. Hard to tell at that moment.

While Kat was stopping her flames, the rat was not ideal, it had stood up and was slamming the coated side into the wall to try and smother the flames. This spread the fire to the wall in question but did remarkably little to stop the flames themselves. The rat was icing over, however slowly that might have been, with the fire sinking through the fur and spreading the best it could.

As Kat was shaking out her hands, the rat was realising that it might need to go onto the attack. None had ever injured it so within this domain, and while the cold was annoying, and potentially dangerous, something needed to be done about the pests that caused it. Shifting around much faster then something of that size should be capable of, the rat lined a large set of jaws up around the tunnel, it's mouth easily eclipsing the small opening.

It breathed in, and Kat couldn't help but try to throw a bit more fire into it. The mouth was right there after all, just a few centimetres away from her hands. It couldn't clamp down on them, the tunnel stopped that much. She wasn't prepared for what happened next. A wave of rats shot out from it's mouth. Kat's mind slowed as she desperately tried to take in this new information.

She pushed out some more flames, careful to keep them to only enough to freeze the rats, no need to go all out on a swarm wave. This would turn into a horrible decision very quickly. Kat did indeed freeze the rats in question, though they were already dead. The issue was they were still travelling towards her and Kamiko at high speeds. Kamiko's eyes widened as she realised what Kat had done. She grimaced and tried to move back.

As soon as Kat saw this, she realised. *I've really screwed this one.* Kat moved in sync with Kamiko, except she moved to take her old place. Kat wasn't about to let what might now be a few tonnes of ice slam into her friend. Sue had a great shield, but this was not a good stress test for the thing. Kat took the best stance she could and slammed both hands and her tail into the ice.

The force of the collision cracked the ice of course, but once that fell away it kept coming. Kat dug in and tried to slow it down. The ice pushed against her, arms straining to contain it, but was pushed back before too long. Still, it was an impressive feat, the rats icicle slowed considerable and bled of a large amount of its power. Seeing this, Kamiko moved to the side of Kat and tried to slow it as well.

Now with two demons working in tandem the effect was stopped in its tracks, but the pair were burning energy. Kat new she was done to around thirty percent left. Most of her energy had gone into the original fire, then another large chunk to freeze the oncoming rats. Now she was bleeding off more to stop the ice from crushing the pair of them.

*Can I just drop this? What would happen if we just rounded the corner? I didn't really think of that. Kamiko's helping me now though… shit do we fight back? How much energy is that big rat using to stop us here? Dammit what do I do?! I'm realising I have a severe lack of combat knowledge I could really use right now…*