FSch25

Being always topped off was a new experience. Bandaged wounds aside, I healed constantly, fueled by my black halo. The sealed construct hovered over my head, always expanding my power with every rotation. Increasing power required vampire techniques to keep it in check with my mastered concealment. Holding back my energy use to keep myself hidden and save energy was a hard habit to break. I hadn’t gotten used to my concealment mastery and needed to adjust to perpetually refilling energy.

Despite my discomfort, I still had a job to do, dressed like a mummy or not. Finding the best vehicles wasn’t hard; all I had to do was follow the richly dressed bodies in the streets. Some were only bones covered in cybernetic implants, but a few managed to go out by succubus with a creepy smile.

I read that luck was opportunity plus preparation. That’s what I felt when this demon incursion went down. I happened to have a few black halo prototypes. My skills were at the level of crafting AI with seals or anything else I could need. I expected to find a warlock to help me or go Northeast to one of the hell mouths.

Someone gave me a gift at a terrible cost.

My finger raised, and lasers tore demons apart as I descended the streets. I was getting used to spending power. Demons could sense energy somewhat, but not my concealment. The power I expressed was capped at a weak mage’s level.

Flashes of light burned through flesh, leaving behind corpses. With the wellspring gone, the possessed were little more than dogs hungry for a substitute power. Demons shot out of alleyways, cars, and off balconies only to die in brief flashes of light. I measured the farthest distance my attacks were effective at roughly 20 yards. In an enclosed space like a city, I cut through their numbers like a knife through butter.

My black halo rotated, sucking their corpses dry of demonic blood. I needed to drain every drop; I wouldn’t get more after we left. The black halo would continue to refill my energy, but it wouldn’t grow much stronger without a source of demonic blood. I would need to go on a treasure hunt in a hell mouth or pay millions for possible fakes.

I cleared sections of possessed and true demons to reach the rich side of the town’s parking garage. A crash and the dying fires of an accident greeted me before a massive metal building covered in runes.

Three ranked 3 demons stood in my way. While alone, they weren’t much of a threat together; they could give me a run for my money.

“Stop, little mage; you can only go further if you gamble with me.” She showed me a tablet with an app for an engaged bomb.

Hundreds of bodies of various losers littered the streets.

A demonic woman spoke with her tongue lolling out in utter pleasure. She had a greed tattoo on her shoulder and a lust tattoo over her womb. Her white rabbit fur jacket clung to her body, showing off her curves. For the most part, the demon appeared perfectly human except for the glowing red eyes and long forked tail. Tiny horns poked from her silky black hair when she moved her body back and forth. From the side, an orange-skinned demon with short red hair and glowing green eyes held up a revolver.

“This is to keep us all honest.” Orange spun the cylinder. “Mythril shell bullets unless you’re a wizard; no barrier will stop them.”

I was certain I could catch them out of the air. While I hadn’t scanned my PL for a while, it had grown, and being topped off had many advantages.

A massive demon with a tiny head placed a table in the middle of the parking lot surrounded by the bodies of the possessed. One made a move, and I punched its body into paste. A single blow was all it took to grind muscle, bone, and gristle into sludge. The skin sac burst as the body left its feet, spilling its contents like a rotten tomato dropped on concrete.

The massive demon raised a meaty hand but froze when the red-eyed demon snapped her fingers.

“That’s enough, Bruce, don’t interrupt my game.” The girl opened a fan to hide her face. So much for getting tells. “Have you played many card games, Mr. Mage?” She asked.

She insulted me with every breath, running my patients thin.

I tapped my foot against the ground. Soldiers were still fighting outside. How long before a Magna Meister flew in to reclaim lost assets. It couldn’t be long. Despite the obvious, the demoness didn’t give a damn.

Demons didn’t seem to care about much else but satisfying their needs. These demons needed me to play their game.

“No, I can’t say I have,” I said.

“But you certainly enjoy gambling. These chips are worth 100,000 dollars apiece; how many do you want to borrow. Having more puts you at an advantage. I suggest you choose a high number.” The girl said.

I doubt I could borrow more than the house owns. The likely collateral was my soul.

The orange-haired demon quickly shuffled the deck and dealt us cards, clearly picking and moving cards around. I caught one of the cards meant for my opponent and tossed her one of mine.

“What strength in a mage, it's extremely impressive.” She said.

I never liked getting buttered up; insincere compliments made me feel uncomfortable.

“I don’t need more chips than this one.” I let my aura spike and exposed its bleeding red light. A spinning black halo rotated above my head, and my strength continued pouring out. The miasma in the air drained away, and the demon moved away from me. The red-eyed demon smirked and unleashed her demonic power. A black corona of power spewed in a tidal wave of miasma as potent as the wellspring. My power cut through the darkness as I slipped my chip forward. Then, I placed an energy sword at her neck. “Call, raise, or fold,” I said.

Her eyes widened, and the delight on her face increased. The gun raised pointed at me. “Did you think this through?”

“Yes, of course,” I said.

“Are you willing to die to win?” The demon asked.

“I bet I can catch the bullet,” I said.

“Crazy, I love it. Fire Lily,” The little demon pulled the trigger, and my perception slowed to a crawl. The bullet shot forward, and I put 100% of my power into my next move. My hand shot out, and I grabbed the spinning bullet between my fingers.

While my aura couldn’t pass through the Mythril or bend it, I stopped its movement completely. My elbow bent a little, and I placed it on the table. The demons stared at the piece of deadly metal with awe.

“Did you know you could do it?” The demon asked.

“No, of course not,” I said.

The demon moaned. “Do it to me. I won’t fold, do you worst.” The demon said.

“Were you one of the part demons?” I asked.

The girl smiled and eyed her cards before dumping two of her cards. “My human side helped anchor me. I’m not as much of an addict as possessed or true demons. Do you want to go a round with me after this? I can show you levels of pleasure beyond mortal limits.” The demon girl said.

“That’s good to know. What do you think my odds are of driving out of here?” I asked.

“That’s a gamble I would like to see. Win this hand, and I will go with you.” She said.

“Why would I need a demon?” I asked.

Demons couldn’t be trusted unless bound. They were creatures of pure desire; the more powerful, the more control they had over their desires. Her humanity might have given her enough control to be really dangerous. I didn’t know enough about demon bindings to exploit the situation. It was as I thought before: luck was preparation and opportunity. While this was an opportunity, I didn’t have the preparations necessary to take advantage of it.

My hand flashed, plucking a card from the deck and exchanging it for my own.

“Let’s see who has the better hand.” She placed her cards down, revealing a full house. I looked at my cards for the first time and found 4 of a kind in 3s. I placed my card down and picked up a second chip. “Was that fun? Did you feel to rush that only playing with your soul on the line can bring? I bet you want another round or four; now that you have two chips, you’re dying to get more. There is so much money to win; it could all be yours, even me.” The demon girl said.

She was insane or maybe a normal demon. It was hard to tell. Really, all I did was increase my pair of 3s to four of a kind. It couldn’t beat everything, but I ruined their plans.

“Sorry, I’m going into that garage to take a car.”

“They are mine, and you don’t have the chips to pay for one,” Bruce said.

I raised an eyebrow. “We can always play another game. This time with more on the line.”

I flipped a chip between my fingers. How quickly could I kill them? They didn’t do dick to help the people. I didn’t need to feel bad about killing them and taking what I wanted.

“Or you can give me what I’m after.” A boom echoed through the city. A Mythril ball emerged from a crater, opening panels along its body. “I guess the government won’t let this place remain a demon city. A shame. I would have loved to see what you did with the place.”

It would have also been a convenient place to empower my black halo.

“What odds you can handle one of them if I’m offering you the best ride in the garage in return. Plenty of armor, space, and horsepower to get us all out of here. Take care of the World Gov Drones in our way, and it's yours if I can come too.” The red-eyed demon said.

“Marie, what are you saying?” Bruce asked.

Was it baby’s first betrayal or something? The big man looked confused until a laser hit him in the chest. His barrier lasted a few seconds before a hole opened in his body. Spikes blasted into the creature out of nowhere but failed to penetrate its Mythril hull.

That’s the problem with the drones; even if their barrier was bypassed, their mythril hull was immune to all but the strongest supernatural attacks. I lowered my expressed power to humans living in megacity levels, and the drone didn’t even turn its cameras on me.

I blinked at that. No, they couldn’t have put in such a massive design flaw. I was flaunting my power not a few breaths ago. Bruce struggled when two more beams hit the big wrath demon, this time burning through his head and killing him instantly. The orange demon froze before the beams glowed. I moved her out of the way of another volley.

“It's better to run. I’m not sure what it would take to destroy a drone.” I said.

That was a lie. I was sure I could crack open its hull at my current PL. That wasn’t the issue. If I destroyed one before our big raid, they might be refitted to handle us. Powerful enemies were only engineering problems for World Gov’s scientists. Drones were cheap enough that they could afford to outfit a few elite drones for special enemies.

I moved Marie out of the way of another laser. The best way to get better at dealing with drones was to raise my power. I could tell where they would fire a few steps before their cheap battle AI. The small quantum computers were good but weren’t built for me. I threw the demons behind a building and pulled them along.

Before, the drones had been hard to detect. After spending time with Ember, they were easier to read. I managed to sneak two demons around the drone into a garage.