Chapter 198: Not Good

The burning pieces of demon scattered all across the room started moving on their own. Almost in an instant, they joined together to form not one, but two of those big bastards. Both of them surged toward Kasia, much faster than the previous demon.

“Kasia! No!” I managed to say, and while I knew with [Quickdraw] I was fast, they were so close already I wasn’t sure if I would be fast enough. I did the only thing I could do and blinked between her and the flaming demons.

Kasia didn’t even have time to turn around when one of the demons crashed into me, and right at that moment the gods-damned [Blink] effect from Bies’ Wisdom triggered, teleporting me to the side of the room.

I heard Kasia scream as she was slammed into the opposing wall and slumped to the floor, leaving a bloody trail on the stone. Not again! I thought. Not again!

“I’m here you FUCKS!” I screamed. “I’m here! Take me!”

They didn’t listen. They readied for another swipe at Kasia and all I could do was fire my [Push] bullet at the wall, hoping to create some space between them and her, praying she would survive the blast.

When the bullet connected, it blew both of the demons aside and sent Kasia’s limp body sliding toward me. I blinked in front of her, pulled three health vials from my satchel, dropped two, one of which shattered on the floor. I pulled the cork out with my mouth and poured the red liquid into her mouth. Nothing.

I snatched the surviving vial from the floor and poured that into her mouth as well. Still nothing.

“Damn it!” I cried. The guilt from what I’d done overwhelmed me. Had it really been the only way, or was it just the only way I could think of saving her?

I wasn’t able to finish my thought because both of the demons had recovered and came at me with blinding speed. I wanted to step aside, protect Kasia somehow, but I wasn’t sure if they would leave her alone.

I shot one of them with a [Push] bullet, sending him flying back into the wall. The other I shot through the head with a [Clean Entry], taking his entire head off. That didn’t slow him down. Still, he came for me.

His claws hit me with such force that it sent me skidding over the floor, crashing into the other demon. His fire hurt. It burned me and at the same time cold seeped into my body, filling my veins. This was no ordinary fire. Damn it all!

I got on one knee and gasped, my breath visible in the air. Not good.

I blinked out of the way of another swipe. I needed an edge. I needed something. I used [Flame Breath] to set myself ablaze, movement and attack speed instantly buffed thanks to the effects of my [All is One] upgrades.

I knew I had to destroy that brazier somehow or find a way to extinguish its flame, but how? It was indestructible—everything in this room was. Everything except for the carpet, apparently. Our fight had torn it up pretty bad. It didn’t have any fire damage, no scorch marks, but large pieces of it lay strewn about. Odd.

I also activated [Haste], because if I kept using [Blink] to dodge I would be out of mana soon, and then we’d be dead.

I thought about calling Vasil or Bogumir for help, but what could they do? This was all on me. I could do this. I had to do this, and I had to do it fast, for Kasia’s sake.

She still hadn’t moved, and I felt rage boiling up inside me, pushing the cold from my veins. I shot the heads off the two demons as they charged. Thankfully the [Slow] effect of Bies’ Wisdom triggered for both, buying me another precious few seconds. The new pieces did not seem to form into a new one, but I couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t. Perhaps there was a certain threshold it would need to reach before it could, so I couldn’t just keep shooting pieces off them. I couldn’t risk making the problem worse.

I activated my wings and flew up over the brazier. It didn’t look like anything special, and it didn’t look like it had anything inside, except for the blue flame. Maybe if I took that out, the demons would stop regenerating just like the other one had?

I tried shooting a [Push] bullet at it, hoping to snuff out the fire somehow, but it didn’t do anything at all.

What had really caused his fire to disappear? Surely this wouldn’t be solved by shooting them a million times. Had Kasia done something? She must have—that’s the only explanation I could come up with.

“Kasia!” I said. “Kasia wake up!”

She didn’t respond and I knew then that my only option to save her was [Greater Healing Nova]. It had worked last time, back in Viswa. I just prayed she was still alive.

I landed next to her and took in a deep breath. This was going to be rough. I quickly downed a mana potion to replenish my [Mana Shield]. The [Slow] effect had passed and the demons were fast again. The first one raked me across the face, slamming me into the ground. The second one kicked me in the side, sending me sliding into the chest. Half my mana gone. Fuck.

I stumbled to my feet. While [Mana Shield] protected me from most damage, it didn’t stop getting beat up from hurting.

One of them glanced down at Kasia and I was forced to [Blink] next to him to stop him from attacking her. Another swipe sent me to the ground again, that ice filling my veins once more. Just a sliver of mana left, and it was slowly ticking down.

On my back I gulped down another mana potion. How many more could I take before I suffered mana burn? It didn’t matter. I’d deal with that as well if I had to. I just had to survive long enough to make sure Kasia made it.

I scrambled up and ran into the closest one head-first. A stupid move. It didn’t do anything. He dropped his elbow down, forcing me to my knees. Finally, [Greater Healing Nova] triggered and just like before, Kasia gasped and shot up.

“Where am—” she started, but the words got drowned out by the crack of my gun.

I shot the arm off one of the demons right as he was about to touch her, crawled between the other one’s legs and wrapped my arms around Kasia. A flap of my wings sent us away. Something hit me in the face, snapping my head back and sending us crashing into the floor—me on my back, still holding Kasia, keeping her safe.

“Hecate, you’re bleeding!” Kasia said, touching the side of my face.

“I—am I?” I mumbled, touching my forehead. My hand came back shaking, wet, and bright red. I couldn’t see out of my left eye. My mana pool was completely drained. This was bad. “I can’t see.”

Kasia grimaced. “I know. It’s bad. It’s really—”

The vision in my other eye was blurry, but I could still see the demons rushing at us again. Two [Push] bullets sent them flying back, crashing into the far wall.

“Kasia, my satchel. Potions. Please.”

She reached into my satchel and held up two mana potions. “This?”

I nodded. “Yes. And health. I need health.”

She poured both of them down my throat and my mana started regenerating, but something was wrong. It had been one too many. The last one burned as it went down and I felt sick. My muscles were cramping up. Mana burn.

The loss of blood made me dizzy, and the mana burn made everything so much worse. I felt cold. So cold. I thought I wasn’t supposed to feel cold anymore with Hanka’s head hanging from my belt. I guess this kind of cold didn’t count. Of course it didn’t.

Kasia had a health potion in her hand, but before she could give it to me, the demons were at us again. One of them stumbled, then fell—had Kasia done something? The other managed to smack me across the face, sending me rolling across the floor and into a wall again.

I gasped, the air pushed from my lungs. I saw the one near Kasia try to get up, only to stumble and fall again. Kasia had something in her hand that I could barely see, and it wasn’t a health potion. The other one took a look at me and growled, then turned around. He probably thought I was done for. I must have looked pretty bad.

He headed straight for Kasia, who didn’t even notice—she was too busy doing whatever she did to keep the one closest to her from getting up. Desperation filled my chest. There had to be something we could do to stop this. But what?