Night of Demons and Spirits

Job Details:

Itori finished polishing her sword and put it back in its scabbard as she stood up and looked out of the window. It was All Hallow's Eve, more commonly called Halloween. There would be a breach linking the world of the dead to the world of the living, and for a short while pandemonium would break out. A difficult time, since many of the dead who made use of this opportunity didn't have good intentions so they had to be dealt with quickly.

And yet this year it was even worse. Itori had been there last year when the Regent of the Night announced her existence to many of the mages of Earthland. It looked like the mysterious woman was making good on her word, because this time All Hallow's Eve was overtaken by an utter darkness which blotted out the sun and obscured the night. The sky had turned pitch-black, leaving the only lights those produced by Earthland itself. Itori wasn't as hindered by it as she could have been because she relied more on her ears than her eyes anyway, but it was still worrisome.

The black powder made things significantly worse, as it was messing with the minds of those exposed to it. Most people appeared to be immune or resistant to it, but Itori had already dealt with several accidents in Ace of Spades where an amiable person had suddenly become rude and violent. It was a blessing that the reverse also occurred, and that people who'd otherwise be obnoxious and closed off suddenly were a lot more forthcoming. Still, Itori agreed with the Magic Council that something had to be done.

For now the only thing that could be done was to collect as much of the powder as possible for study and eliminate the strange monsters that were turning up. The kitsune stepped out of her room and closed her eyes, her ears slowly turning until finally both twitched and she opened her eyes again. Having picked up the sound she was looking for the sheaded towards one of the other private rooms dedicated to members of Sabertooth inside the Red Dragon Inn.

The mages of Sabertooth could have waited this out inside Yggdrasil if they so wished. It was inside its own realm, unaffected by the happenings in Earthland. However Sabertooth had dedicated itself to protecting Earthland against any intrusions from other worlds, and this definitely counted as an assault from the World of Eternal Darkness. It wasn't one of the worlds that Yggdrasil's portals could immediately reached, but that was just a technicality. From what Itori could tell many of her fellow guild members had in fact already made their plans, so when she listened for the sounds of any mages who could accompany her she only picked up on the presence of a single one. The female demon that she had encountered in that haunted forest, Kenna Terrynhain.

Reaching the door leading to Kenna's room Itori first listened once more to ensure that she wasn't waking up her fellow Sabertooth mage before knocking on the door, giving Kenna exactly ten seconds to react before knocking again and speaking up.

"My apologies for intruding on your time miss Terrynhain, but I was wondering if you might want to join me in eliminating some of the creatures that have been causing havoc in the area. According to the Magic Council they need every capable mage to help out."

When it came to dealing with spirits Itori was quite confident that she could handle it on her own, but this was another matter entirely. These creatures that had shown up after the sky turned dark were foreign to her and recklessness could become fatal. That and since this fell under the duties of Sabertooth she felt that it was better if she did it together with a fellow guild member instead of heading out on her own.

WC: 656
TWC: 656

Itori couldn't help but listen as Kenna held a conversation with one of the entities that accompanied her. She literally couldn't avoid it: even if she covered her ears her hearing was still so sensitive that it would do little good. It looked like Kenna was still sceptical about the idea that the Regent of the Night was the one causing the current mayhem. As for her companion, Itori wasn't sure what to think of him except that he did appear to be looking out for Kenna's well-being. The spirit fox wasn't going to get involved in the conversation, but the more calculating part of her ancient mind filed it away as something to consider.

Once her fellow guild member had answered her request the kitsune smiled, even if nobody else could see it. "Understood. Do not hurry yourself, I believe we can afford to spend some time to ensure we are well prepared. As for my manner of address, I shall try to alter it but I cannot guarantee it." She honestly found it rather amusing how nearly everyone told her that she didn't need to be so formal. Of course she wasn't trying to make them feel uncomfortable with her rather archaic behaviour. However it was what she'd always used so changing it would be tricky.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard something from outside, followed by the sound of something crashing into the door. That last part nearly made Itori jump before she quickly grabbed the hilt of her sword, readying herself to draw it even as she heard Kenna tell her that she might want to come in and help out. The kitsune tried the handle for the door, but whatever had crashed into it had been too heavy for her to move it easily. She wasn't frail, but she also couldn't one-handedly smash open a barricaded door. She briefly considered her methods of getting through before more sounds of combat reached her through the wood, leaving her little time to think things through. She could regret being hasty later on.

Her entire form turned a ghostly silver as she passed straight through the door and the desk, on the other side quickly returning to her corporeal form as she noticed Kenna and the monsters she was fighting. So far it didn't look like the demoness was having any issues, but Itori could hear more creatures arriving. Leaving them all to Kenna would just be rude, and be a waste of time and resources.

The loud explosion made her wince before she gritted her teeth and firmly planted one of her feet on the floor, shrugging off the stinging she felt in her ears to focus on the danger instead. Kenna was already getting down onto the street to face the remaining enemies, leaving Itori little choice but to jump after her. Unlike the demoness the kitsune landed on the stone pavement instead, rolling to break the fall and listening to the sounds of Kenna being thrown back into the air. While her partner attacked the strange abominations with lots of fire Itori herself finally drew her sword, the white blade appearing to glow as it reflected the light from the flames.

Reacting to the sounds behind her Itori spun on one foot, slicing the charging pumpkin monster with her blade before jumping to the side to avoid the second, which promptly ran itself into a wall. Somewhat worrying was that, despite the crunching sound it made, it removed itself from the wall looking none worse for the wear. The one Itori had cut stumble and fell, but quickly began to push itself up even if it looked unstable. Whatever was animating them wasn't as stable as a true soul, so Itori's sword which could cut both the corporeal and the spiritual left the creature jumbled before it regained control over its body. Leaving that one be for the moment Itori charged towards the one which had rammed the wall, with a twist of her hand letting her cursed prayer beads slide into the grip of her free hand while at the same time the air around her shimmered.

The pumpkin beast would lash out towards a kitsune which was approaching faster than it had expected, only for it to turn out to be an illusion with the real Itori right behind it. In the opening Itori smoothly sliced off the limb used to attack her illusion with one slash, then slammed her other hand into the beast's face and pushed it back against the wall, this time with a louder crunch... and with her beads touching the creature. The pumpkin monster let out a sound between a whine and the groaning of splintering wood. Itori pushed herself backwards and spun around once more, for a second time preventing the other beast's attack with an spinning cut which once again left it falling the floor as its speudo-soul got jumbled and messed up even further.

"Come, release your anguish."

Whispering the words to make sure that nobody else would hear them Itori for once didn't hold back on the enchanting power of her voice. The two beasts froze for a moment before their eyes flared up. Both of them immediately jumped up and charged Itori. It looked like they'd all forgotten about their wounds as they growled and groaned. Itori herself tensed before suddenly jumping upwards at the last moment. The result was a splattering sound as the beasts smashed into one another, seeds flying everywhere. That sound was quickly followed up by Itori's sandalled feet hitting the ground and her sword beheading the pumpkin monster she'd already touched with her prayer beads. For the moment letting go of her sword she grabbed the other abomination with both hands, the cursed beads firmly pressed against what counted for a head. Closing her eyes the kitsune focused, ignoring the wailing sound as she directly forced the psuedo-soul out of the pumpkin creature.

Once she'd fully severed soul from body she released the body, letting it slump to the ground while two ethereal orbs now slowly revolved around her. Grabbing her sword she flourished it to get rid of the worst of the mess. Taking out a piece of cloth she resumed cleaning her sword even as she looked over towards where Kenna had made the other pumpkin explode, the kitsune making a face at the mess it had made of the streets. The civilians weren't going to be happy about that, but it looked like nobody got hurt so it could have been worse. She looked up, her ears and eyes searching until she found the demoness flying high up in the sky.

"Could I bother you with a request to try and remove them from the premises if you aim to explode them?" She projected her voice to make sure that Kenna would hear it even up high, the fox girl finishing cleaning her sword and putting it back in its scabbard for now. "That said I am glad to see that you have escaped the assault unharmed. We are in more of a hurry than I thought if they are willing to attack people inside of buildings."

As dark and deserted as this dark world appeared to be she could sense a lot of spiritual activity going on, with an especially huge amount coming from one direction. Like with the pumpkin beasts it didn't appear to be true souls, more like a psuedo-spiritual form, but this time it felt... very, very odd.

"If you are ready to continue I believe we should head to the northwest. There is something troubling present there, along with many more of these creatures."

WC: 1286
TWC: 1942

”I swear I didn’t mean to explode them,” Kenna replied as she landed beside Itori, her fiery wings dispersing as soon as she her foot touched the ground. A manifestation of embers remained after the wings had disappeared, twirling around her for a bit longer before dying down as well. ”Frankly, I didn’t even know they would do that. I just smelled sulfur within this first beast and… well, wielding fire does make it easy to realise that that’s never a good thing.” The white-haired maiden frowned briefly, looking upon the mess around them. Seriously, whichever foe it was they’d fought, in never seemed to end cleanly, instead only gathering a mess all around. She looked at Itori and back at the many smashed pumpkins riddling the streets in a coat of orange sludge… yeah, this would be a hell to explain later on. Probably had to clean this up herself after this all was over as well, being a on a tad bit more of an official post within Ace of Spades and having to give the good example and such… This was gonna be a pain; and they’d only started. She faced Itori shortly, listening to the spirit fox’s words. ”You might be right. It’s already strange to see so many gather within the city’s bustling parts, but now they’re attacking people within the buildings they must spare no efforts in achieving their goal… whatever that goal is.” She huffed at hearing Itori mention there were more if they headed northwest, and tilted her head to pick up the winds that carried new scents towards her. Indeed. She could make out several scents; of pumpkins, molten wax and… leather? ”Alright then, northwest we go! And probably fast, by the looks of it.” Kenna replied, not even questioning her fellow guildmember’s knowledge on the matter. She’d come to realise that Itori possessed skills far above her own realm of possibilities, but that they, just like their owner, were to be trusted and could be relied upon. There was no need to wonder about the how or why. Just the what in front of them.

Kenna started dashing down the streets and once the street became broader envoked her wings again, somewhat larger than usual this time around. With a simple beat of her wings she’d taken flight and found herself high above the city in a matter of seconds, casually soaring above trying to intake what was going on down below. But the darkness proved too much to handle with just regular eye-sight, she came to notice. Not even her slayer-enhanced gaze could make out what exactly was going on down below. Explosions could be heard here and there, followed by a splattering of round vegetables against walls. ”Good, we’re not alone in trying to get rid of these things… I hope… unless these things can detonate themselves on purpose. Or perhaps it is fire after all, causing them to explode… a simple ember could suffice if it contacts the sulfur gasses instead. Did I make those things explode after all…? But… I was lashing out at it with fire for quite a while before it did. Hmmm… strange.” Kenna muttered to herself, unaware of the small pumpkin floating towards her until it was right in front of her. The demoness let out a yelp and smacked the beast away from her, seeing it drift away into the darkness once again. At that moment she realised what had happened; the fiery wings in a darkened night sky were basically a beacon for these beasts to flock towards. And she had not taken into account that these creatures too could be airborne. Without another moment of doubt she envoked Sekigaisen; turning her pupils into those of a dragon and granting her heat-detecting vision to pinpoint the locations of those underneath her.

Several sources of heat could be made out at a nearby square, and while memorizing te exact spot she’d seen the lowered herself once more, extinguishing her wings for a second time in a short while, dropping down the final few meters in a freefall. She landed in a squated position beside Itori again, and stood up quickly. ”So I realised that taking to the sky wasn’t my best plan so far… but I did pinpoint a few enemies at the nearby square, approximately two blocks away from here. They don’t seem to actively look for something and are just prowling, I’m guessing. Let’s go take care of those first.” she nodded, taking the lead as both headed towards the square. Once there canine creatures appeared before them, a set of three, each with dark fur, almost starvingly thin, and sporting a large candle upon their head. Kenna glared at them as they stalked closer upon seeing the two Sabertooth mages, and nodded at Itori. ”I’ll make sure they don’t move any closer for a while; take advantage of their restriction to take as many as possible of them down. I’ll take down the remaining ones once the restriction wears off.” The demon heir spoke as her eyes flared up and burst into flames that seemed to exit from her eyesockets. Almost immediately all three of them tensed up from the pressure the dragon slayer’s demanding eyes exerted, unable to move a muscle.


[i]Wordcount: 885
Total Wordcount: 2337 of 3000



Candlewolf 1: 480/480
Candlewolf 2: 480/480
Candlewolf 3: 480/480 (will take care of this one)

"Is that so?" Itori looked at the remains of the pumpkin monsters, both the ones which had exploded after their fight with Kenna and the ones who had simply crumpled and withered after being taken down by her. Glancing at one of the ethereal orbs now orbiting her the kitsune pondered this. "I believed that since you used fire to defeat them it must have caused the sudden combustion, but it could be that they would explode whether you used fire or not." Itori had defeated the creatures by cursing them and then pulling out their pseudo-souls, which could also be why hers didn't explode: she'd unknowingly prevented them self-detonating by removing that which both animated and fuelled them.

She tried to wipe some of the pumpkin mess off of her own clothes as she followed Kenna's gaze to survey the mess they'd made. She'd probably be busy for a while cleaning up after this fight, and the night was still young. She could feel a lot more going on in the world around them, so if every fight ended as messily as this one the entire city would need cleaning afterwards. Not a prospect she was looking forward to, because while she didn't mind working hard she did have practical limitations on how much she wanted to clean up.

"I could not guess at what their goal might be. While the darkness appears to be an attempt from the Regent of the Night to claim this world I do not immediately see what place these intruders would have in that plan... Maybe they are an unintended side effect after all." Of course the Regent's own dimension had also been filled with strange creatures, but unless she was planning to populate Earthland with the same kind of critters it just felt strange to have these things wreak havoc seemingly at random.

"Yes, let us make haste." The kitsune followed Kenna's lead and began to run in the direction from which she could sense the most activity. As usual her running had a somewhat unusual gait to it, as instead of moving in a straight line she constantly weaved from side to side, her three tails leaving a white trail behind her as she followed her partner. When the demoness took to the air Itori blinked once before shrugging and continuing to run, with some difficulty managing to keep up with her flying companion. Her ears resonated with the sound of combat all around the city, as other mages and even townsfolk appeared to be hastening to get rid of as many of the invaders as possible.

"Indeed. From the sounds of it I would surmise that the inhabitants of the city reacted severely to the realization that these creatures would not leave them alone even if they stayed inside of their homes. A silver lining, given that there are too many for us to handle all of them within an acceptable time period."

The kitsune was as surprised as Kenna when she noticed that some creatures were heading for the flying demoness, the fox narrowing her eyes as her partner landed back onto the streets and resumed running with her. "Given the fact that you escaped unharmed while obtaining important information I would say it was a good choice in the end, or at the very least not a regrettable choice." While she could sense the spiritual activity it was good to have Kenna confirm that there were also physical bodies nearby, and Itori followed Kenna into the square without any questions.

Seeing the strange candle wolves the kitsune felt the urge to point out the absurdity before she squashed it. Pumpkin monsters were one thing, but under what circumstances would wolves grow candles? Were they anglerfish all of a sudden? Shaking her head she nodded as Kenna told her that she'd be keeping the wolves busy so Itori could try to take them out, her hand already on the hilt of her white sword as she saw the demoness's eyes burst into flames. She could also sense the powerful presence the woman was producing all of a sudden, Itori herself being glad that she didn't have to fight against that. She wouldn't be as vulnerable as these monsters, but it still indicated that the white-haired demon wasn't to be messed with.

However she didn't know how long Kenna could keep them frozen like this, so she didn't waste any time pondering. Dashing forward she turned into a streak of white and red before her blade flashed. The sharp metal pierced the eye of one of the wolves, followed by Itori quickly touching it with the cursed beads before spinning on one foot. Ripping the blade out she used the spin for her next attack. Lowering her stance even as she spun her blade cut open the beast's throat, blood quickly pouring out. The other two wolves weren't going to stand still after seeing their ally's throat get slit so quickly, jumping away from Itori before lowering their stance to pounce at her. Itori pulled her blade back and grabbed it with two hands. A quick illusion made one of the candle wolves bark and jump even further back as a sharp and loud sound suddenly hit its ears, right as the other wolf jumped. Using her tails for balance Itori lowered herself beyond what a human would be able to do without falling over. Dashing forward she held her sword above her so when she ran straight underneath the candle wolf her sword sliced its chest and stomach open, the kitsune grimacing when she could feel some of the blood hit her tails. She'd moved fast enough to avoid any entrails, but she'd definitely need to clean herself up after this.

Not wanting to risk these things exploding as well she jumped backwards, spinning so she was facing the candle wolf as she landed on top of it. Using the momentum of the fall she embedded her sword in its throat even as she once more used the cursed prayer beads to force out the soul, adding a fourth ethereal sphere to her orbit. Standing up she turned towards the third candle wolf before she suddenly felt a burst of power from the other side of the square, the kitsune immediately raising her sword back into a ready position as she moved to the side, away from the remaining wolf and also away from Kenna so the two of them wouldn't get hit by the same attack if whatever she was sensing decided to lash out with something big.

"Prepare yourself! Something dangerous is focusing on us!" While the presence wasn't exactly moving it was shifting, directing itself towards the square... and then lots of malicious eyes began to glow at once, revealing a massive monstrosity.

It was a giant tower of roots, thorns and branches, all interwoven to form one giant entangled mass. From that mass grew ten large pumpkins, each a lantern with jagged maw and soulless eyes. On top of the mass the biggest pumpkin, glaring straight at Itori. At the base of the tower a mass of smaller pumpkin monsters, all beginning to move towards the two mages even as the kitsune could see yet more growing from the bottom of the pumpkin tower.

Narrowing her eyes the fox girl tried to calculate how long it would take to deal with all of this. There was still one wolf alive, and beyond that there were a lot of small minions to cut through before they could strike at the big monster. And even then she suspected that as long as a single one of those heads remained the tower wouldn't die, which meant she would have to rely on Kenna's superior destructive abilities.

WC: 1298
TWC: 3240

Itori couldn't answer Kenna's question because she didn't know herself. The only thing she knew was that this thing was a lot worse than the creatures they'd been dealing with until now, and that they couldn't afford to take it easy while fighting it. A big issue was that while the kitsune was very versatile in her abilities she wasn't very impressive in the field of raw firepower, and it wouldn't be very sensible to go attack such a towering monstrosity with nothing but a sword.

Which was part of the reason why she didn't need a second warning when the demoness told her to get out of the way. Kenna had substantially more power than Itori, and was much better suited for this work. The other reason was that she could hear just how happy Kenna was to let loose. When a pyro became that excited only a fool would get between the pyro and what they wanted to burn. Which sometimes was everything.

Also given how the demoness had her room broken open by these beasts the kitsune figured she deserved to blow off some steam and enjoy herself.

Using a single swipe of her sword to drive some critters further back Itori jumped away from the pumpkin tower and its minions, making sure she was nowhere in the path between Kenna and any of the monsters. It looked like the candlewolf was also trying to stay away from the pumpkin critters, for the moment having forgotten about the two mages as it focused on survival instead. The kitsune held her sword at the ready even as Kenna started off with a giant wave of fire expelled from her mouth, followed by a wall of flames and a quick killing of the candlewolf. The three-tailed fox girl stayed wary even as she watched Kenna escalate further, blasting all the minions apart with blue fire and then using golden flames to throw everything up in the sky. The pumpkin tower didn't immediately break free, the pavement cracking and heaving up as the network of roots it had used to nestle itself also got pulled along.

Itori frowned as the monstrosity got assailed by flames again and again, now at the end of Kenna's onslaught trapped in a vortex of fire which kept reawakening itself. While it couldn't be denied that the heiress had unleashed enormous amounts of devastation she could see that the creature was once again shooting its roots into the ground, its core still intact and the pumpkin heads scorched and burning but not destroyed yet. Given how it was screeching and groaning (which was going to give Itori a headache for the rest of the night) she didn't think that it would survive much longer... but she was worried by how resilient it was proving itself to be. If it was nothing more than pumpkin and vines it should long since have turned into carbon. It might be better if she helped wrap this up before it could use some trick to reverse the situation.

The question was how to do it... the kitsune gathered the four collected pseudo-souls in front of her, her ears now sharp and pointed forward as she closed her eyes to concentrate on what she could hear. These pseudo-souls had strong familiarity to those of the minions that Kenna had burned... they were much simpler than full-fledged souls, which made it easier to figure out the right frequency and melody to them and how they matched. Once the pumpkin minions died the essence that fuelled them flowed back towards the tower, which was probably also why it wasn't dead yet. She'd use that to finish it instead.

Under her breath the vulpine siren began to sing, a song without words which matched the melody of the simplistic souls these invaders possessed. The four souls in front of her suddenly immolated, a ghostly glow spreading in front of her. Kenna's flames gained an otherwordly characteristic as the glow enveloped the entire square, fuelled by the spiritual essence left behind by the many, many deceased critters. And through those countless links Itori could attune with the tower as well, even as it was still alive and struggling. By using its own essence and body to form its minions it had left the spiritual vixen an opening she could exploit once the demoness had put the large abomination close enough to death's door.

With everything attuned and linked together Itori increased the volume of her singing, strengthening the bonds and connecting spirit and flame. The spirits of the drowned tended to have a watery quality to them, and the souls of those burned alive also had an unfortunate attunement with the destructive flames.

Coaxing and guiding with her song Itori drew all the flames and the souls into the pumpkin tower, leaving the minions empty charred husks while the single large enemy burned brighter and brighter. Once everything was gathered inside of the pumpkin boss Itori suddenly lowered her voice, the flames weakening and almost disappearing, leaving only a fiery glow inside the monstrosity's depths...

Until with a single yell Itori let flame and soul alike flare, releasing all energy at once. The result was the tower turning into the nucleus of an explosion which consumed both matter and spirit indiscriminately. A massive roar which (to those with the right mindset) sounded a lot like the howling of a thousand souls filled the air, for a brief moment deafening everything in the wide area before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Itori had condensed all the energy, all the essence, and then turned it into the briefest spike of the greatest power. And the result was that there were barely ashes left of either the tower of any of the other creatures. In fact a great part of the square had been consumed as well, the ground having turned concave with a glassy surface as the stone cooled down.

Itori inhaled and exhaled deeply, shaking her head to get the ringing out of her ears before she slowly walked over to Kenna and placed a hand on the demoness's shoulder.

"My apologies. I was worried that it could make a last ditch effort to strike at us, so I decided to help you finish it off quickly. I should have warned you beforehand. Are your ears all right?"

With the giant pumpkin tower destroyed it looked like all around the city the remainders of the invasive creatures were also getting wiped out, leaving Itori and Kenna with the opportunity to take a breather and survey the damage.

WC: 1105
TWC: 4345