A Demon's Core

It was a little concerning to hear about Rose's encounter, but I shouldn't be too surprised that there might be humans lingering in other parts of the city. If some of them possess firearms, that makes them a potential danger, but there is not much I can do about it besides warning everyone to be careful when out and about and to keep an eye out for any signs of current habitation.

The fact that Scar was apparently able to easily detect them even when no one else noticed is good though. If Noctis agrees to do some wider range scouting throughout the city, the hellhounds might be able to locate any other hidden humans before they become a problem. I would not expect there to be many or I am sure we would have had an incident like this before now, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Rose has not reported any additional problems, though she has sent a couple of extra updates to keep me informed of their progress, so I assume things have been going fine since then.

We have also had our fair share of excitement after they left, though nothing quite as thrilling as being shot at. The day after Rose and her team left, it was time to summon a new imp. I did consider waiting since Rose is the leader of the imps, so it would probably be better for her to be present, but I do not know how long this expedition of hers is going to take and it does not seem wise to put a hold on summoning for an indeterminate period of time like that.

It only occurred to me afterward that I should have done this one at least before Rose left. I have enough mana crystals now that I do not need to adhere to the same summoning schedule that I have been using up until now; I could probably afford to accelerate things a little going forwards.

Despite Rose's absence, Violet was still all too happy to greet the new arrival with the same level of enthusiasm that she always had for newcomers. She even remembered to prepare some clothes first, though that is something we are starting to run a little low on. Even though the imps raided what I assume was a clothing store for anything that seemed to be of appropriate size, we have got quite a number of imps now and each one has taken a few sets of clothes for themselves. Although, we will be able to get clothes from the humans now made specifically for the imps so it should not be a problem.

As soon as the new imp appeared, she was immediately swept up into a hug by Violet. Without Rose to hold her back, she didn't even wait for the new arrival to put on clothes. After eventually being put back down by the much larger imp, she started catering in a language that was definitely not Balkret, but also was not unfamiliar.

Violet frowned momentarily, then broke into a wide grin. She looked around briefly at the imps who had gathered for the summoning, but not finding what she was looking for, took the new imp by the hand and pulled her along as she rushed out the door, again forgetting to give the imp clothes first.

Once out in the hallway, she first headed to Room 3 and pushed the door open.

"Hana?" Violet called out, but found the room empty.

After that, they moved onto Room 1, burst through the door and Violet called for Hana again. The common area of the room was empty but one of the bedroom doors opened and a male imp who was definitely not Hana emerged to investigate what was going on.

"You know where Hana is?" Violet asked, but he just shrugged.

And so the search continued, with Violet pulling the newest towards the stairs.

Wait. You will not find Hana that way.

Violet came to a stop so sudden that the imp she was pulling along bumped into her.

"You know where she is? Where? Tell me," Violet implored.

She is back in the core room.

"What? But I didn't see her there," Violet challenged.

Violet had only taken the time to look at the imps who had gathered to greet the new imp before bolting out the door, dragging an undoubtedly confused imp behind her; it is true that Hana was not among them.

She is currently taking a nap on the couch.

Since there are no more unoccupied bedrooms in the claimed area of my dungeon, new imps will usually just find a spot they like to make their own. Hana chose the couch in the core room as her regular place to sleep. I did notice her asleep there before I started the summoning, but I saw no reason to disturb her.

Rushing back to the core room and over to the couch, Violet shook the sleeping imp awake. Hana sat up bleary eyed and looked at her for an explanation.

"Look," Violet said, gesturing to the newest imps standing beside her.

The new imp looked between Hanna and Violet and made a comment in her own language with a confused tone. Hana immediately perked up and stared at the imp with wide eyes.

"See, she talks like you," Violet declared cheerily.

Hana quickly jumped off the couch with a beaming smile and started excitedly talking to the new imp in their shared language. I was glad to see that Hana finally had someone she could talk to and hoped that they would become friends. Although, other than Coal and Jet, who can be a bit standoffish, and Rose, who is still a little withdrawn, I have yet to see any other imps not become friends almost immediately once they start talking, so I was not too worried in that regard.

Perhaps you should actually give her some clothes now. I remind Violet.

Violet looked at the imp she had been dragging around and finally realised that she had forgotten to present the clothes that she had specifically prepared for the new imp. She quickly retrieved the skirt and T-shirt that she had left on the floor by the rift and held them out for their intended recipient. After what sounded like an encouraging comment from Hana, the new imp accepted the offered clothes.

I spent some time thinking about a name for her. I could give her a name like Hana, I might have some more words for flowers from other languages floating around in my mind if I thought about it. Though that is not a theme I will be able to follow for much longer, with the number of imps we have now, my knowledge is wearing thin. I am hardly an encyclopedia of flowers and while I have branched out and named some of them after trees instead, it is not like I know the name of every tree either.

Perhaps I could try giving them human names, then again, naming imps something like 'Jeff' or 'Stacy' does not seem fitting. While I pondered the issue, Hana made a sudden announcement.

"Sheelii," she said, mostly directed at Violet, who had stayed to listen to their conversation, even though she could not understand it.

"Sheelii?" Violet repeated with a questioning tone and both of the smaller imps nodded in response. "I don't understand."

Hana frowned briefly, then brightened.

"Hana," she said, gesturing to herself. "Violet," she pointed at Violet. "Sheelii," Hana gestured towards the new imp and understanding dawned on Violet.

"Oh, that's your name," she realised. "Welcome to the pack, Sheelii," Violet cheered and picked Sheelii up in another hug.

"Come on, we'll show you around, Hana can explain everything," Violet declared, grabbing the smaller imps by the hand and dragged them both out of the room.

That solved the name problem for now, at least until the next time I summon another imp.

That wasn't the only interesting thing to occur though. During combat training, it seemed like Coal and Violet did not end up bleeding as much as they usually do. I assume they were holding back because Rose was not here. At the end of it, Violet only had scratches on one arm from Coal's claws, while Coal ended with similar injuries in various places and a bite on his shoulder that looked a little more serious and was the injury that prompted him to surrender.

After that, Jet actually wanted to participate for the first time, though he got into a brief argument with Coal first. I did not know what they were arguing about but Coal gestured towards Violet so it was presumably related to her. Eventually Coal stepped aside while shaking his head and Jet approached Violet to challenge her.

"Fight," he demanded.

Violet was surprised by it, since he had never shown much interest in combat training before, but she saw no reason to refuse.

The two faced each other and Violet raised her shield. Jet made the first move by teleporting. Violet raised her shield above her head and braced herself while stepping to the side as Jet reappeared in the air above her. His claws scraped against her shield as he fell but he disappeared again before he touched the floor.

This time Violet jumped to the side and turned to face Jet with her shield as he appeared to her left. He again teleported immediately after his attack failed to strike anything but her shield. They repeated this pattern a few more times until he tried a new tactic.

The next time he attempted to teleport behind her, as expected, she had managed to spin around and he was once more faced with her shield, but instead of slashing with his claws, he dropped low to the floor and lashed out with a kick that swept Violet's feet out from under her. As she fell, Jet did not waste a moment and pounced on her, not even teleporting this time.

Violet managed to control her fall just enough to make sure she landed on her back with her shield positioned between herself and Jet when he jumped on her. As soon as he fell on her shield, she pushed it up with both arms, intending to catapult him over her head. It was mostly successful, though he did manage to grab a hold of her non-shield arm with one hand and his claws raked along her forearm as he was flung away, leaving long, bleeding gashes.

She hissed from the pain, but did not let it distract her, rolling to the side and scrambling to her feet as Jet fell down from above again, but she was a little too slow to get completely out of the way and felt his claws graze her side. Violet barely managed to block his follow up attack, but after that, she went on the offensive.

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On Jet's next teleport, he did not find Violet's shield ready to block his attack. Instead, that shield was rapidly moving towards him. It crashed into him before he had time to react, knocking the air out of his lungs and sending him to the floor.

He teleported away to put some distance between himself and his opponent so he could have a moment to catch his breath, but Violet was not going to wait for him to recover. She charged towards him as soon as he appeared.

Before she reached him, Jet teleported trying to get behind Violet again. She spun around for another shield bash, but he was ready for it this time. He raised his arms to absorb the impact, still stumbling back, but remaining on his feet this time. Violet followed up with a downward slash of her claws, but he was able to dodge to the side to avoid it.

He had moved to stay on Violet's right side, away from her shield, but she wasted no time in spinning to bring her shield around again. He teleported again to get out of its way and when he reappeared a few paces to the left of where he had been a moment before. Instead of her shield, it was her foot that struck him then as Violet kicked the center of his chest. The force of the kick pushing him back and the talons on her foot easily puncturing his skin.

He teleported away from her again and when she did not immediately charge after him put a hand on his chest. Seeing the blood when he pulled his hand away, he glared at Violet and growled.

Despite the size of the shield, being half as wide as she was tall, Violet did not find it particularly cumbersome and had little trouble utilising it as a weapon just as much as for defence. Jet on the other hand, was now struggling. It seemed like he was used to using his teleportation offensively, but now he was being pushed back and was forced to teleport to as a defensive measure.

Every time he teleported close to her, he was met with shield or claw already swinging towards him the moment he appeared. While teleporting somewhere out of her reach meant she could not immediately attack him, it also meant he was no more able to attack her.

In any other circumstance, his ability to teleport would have given him an incredible advantage, but with Violet's ability to sense where he would appear and having a reaction time fast enough to respond to it, that advantage was effectively nullified. Without it, he would have to rely more on his physical capabilities. If he were fighting any of the normal red imps, that still would have been enough for an easy victory, but against Violet, he was essentially outclassed in every parameter.

Jet tried to teleport low to the ground to kick out her feet again, having found partial success with that strategy before. However, precisely because he had already tried it before, Violet was not caught off guard this time. She slammed the edge of her shield down forcefully on his leg, connecting with his ankle and pinning his foot to the floor.

With a pained hiss, he teleported away once more, but Violet did not wait for him to assess his injury this time and rushed towards him with her shield raised. Jet took a step back to brace for her attack, but as soon as he put weight on his now injured ankle his leg buckled and he stumbled. As he fell, Violet halted her advance to see what he would do next.

Sitting on the floor, he tried flexing his foot and scowled from the pain.With a frustrated sigh, he reluctantly admitted defeat and bowed his head. Violet slowly approached him and held out her hand.

"Can you stand?" She asked.

Jet looked up at her, then at the offered hand. After some deliberation he took a hold of her hand and let her help him to his feet. He tested the injured foot a few times, wincing whenever he put weight on it.

"I didn't mean to hit your ankle like that, I'm sorry. Will you be able to walk like that or do you need some help?" Violet offered.

He just huffed and slowly limped away, meanwhile Coal, who had observed the whole fight, now cackled boisterously. Jet glared at him for a moment before vanishing. Wherever he teleported too, I could no longer sense him within the dungeon, leaving me little choice but to wait for him to return before I could check on him.

Violet approached Coal and frowned.

"Why are you laughing? That's not nice," she reprimanded him.

"He thought weak. I tell…" Coal paused as he tried to think of the correct words, "wong. He tell I wrong. I not wrong," he explained.

Coal had come a long way in his understanding of Balkret and I was proud of him for his progress.

"He thought I was weak?" Violet asked for clarification, to which Coal nodded in response. "Why?"

"Human fight," Coal replied.

"My fight with the human made him think I'm weak?" She inquired and he just shrugged in response.

Before anything else, perhaps we should do something about those scratches on your arm. I suggested.

Violet raised her injured arm to inspect the long gashes, slowly oozing blood, now dripping to the floor. Without hesitation, she licked her arm along the full length of the lacerations to clean up the blood.

Does it not hurt?

"It does a bit, but Rose isn't here so this is all I can do," she remarked.

We did get medical supplies from the humans, so we can bandage it up and stop the bleeding.

"Oh, good idea."

After taking a detour to deposit her shield in her bedroom, she rushed over to Room 7 where we stored the supplies, leaving a trail of blood drops behind her. I guided her through applying some antiseptic, which she did not enjoy, followed by some gauze and bandages. I offered to help her, but she insisted on doing it all herself. The end result was a little messy, but it got the job done and she was happy with it so I saw no reason to complain.

When we returned, I was surprised to see Coal challenging other imps to fight with him. Normally he would not bother challenging anyone besides Violet and even if he did, none of the other imps would accept such a challenge, knowing what he is capable of. But this time, not only was he asking them to fight, he was also promising not to teleport.

Eventually he found one who was willing to fight him and the two squared off. However, even without teleportation, Coal was still bigger, stronger and faster than his opponent, making the outcome a foregone conclusion.

I think he was going a little easy at the start as I am sure he could have finished it pretty quickly if he wanted to, but instead he dragged it out for a while to give the smaller imp the chance to actually put up a fight. It ultimately ended when Coal picked up his foe, lifting the imp above his head before tossing him away like a sack of potatoes.

When the smaller imp surrendered, Coal teleported right beside him, making him flinch, but it was just to offer him a hand to help him up. Coal has changed quite a lot in the time he has been here. He has started to become a lot friendlier with others, which is nice to see. I hope Jet will follow his example.

Some of the others who had been watching huddled together for a moment to quietly discuss something, before breaking away and heading, as a group, to one of the unclaimed rooms across the hallway. Violet followed them out of curiosity, but I could only go as far as the door, where I then had to wait to see what they were up to.

They soon returned, working together to drag a mattress into the hallway. They laid the mattress down on the floor and one of the imps approached Coal.

"Throw me," he requested.

Coal tilted his head, not understanding.

"Pick up," the imp said, miming lifting something up over his head, "throw, onto that," he pointed to the mattress.

Looking from the imp to the mattress, Coal nodded. He picked up the smaller imp and tossed him. The imp giggled as he bounced off the mattress and landed on the floor beside it while other imps gathered around Coal to wait for their turn.

Violet soon joined in, picking up another imp and tossing them towards the mattress from further away. Despite the injuries she had suffered fighting against Jet, she was not going to let them get in the way of this new game. Coal also had the bite on his shoulder that he got from Violet, but he was not letting that slow him down either.

Some of the imps broke away to go find others who were not with them in the hallway and it was not long before all the imps currently in the dungeon had gathered and were eagerly waiting to be hurled through the air. Even the two who were supposed to be on watch had come down. I considered sending them back, but Marble was still up there so I spoke to her and she agreed to keep an eye on things so the imps could have fun for a little while.

Violet and Coal continued throwing the other imps around until they were both too tired to keep going. Coal was the first to give up and while Violet persevered for quite a while, repeatedly picking up other imps and flinging them around was probably not easy and even her stamina was not unlimited.

After they were done, I took the opportunity to ask Violet something I have been curious about for a while now.

How are you able to sense where Coal and Jet are teleporting when fighting?

When it was just Coal, I could have accepted that she was just able to predict his moves because of how much experience she had fighting him specifically, but being able to do the same when fighting Jet for the first time made it clear that she can actually sense where they are going to appear.

"I don't know, I just can," she replied.

It was not a particularly illuminating answer, but maybe I just needed to approach the question from a different angle.

What does it feel like? Do you just know somehow? Is there some kind of physical sensation? Or perhaps something to do with mana?

She took some time to ponder the question, furrowed brow and tapping the side of her head lightly with her knuckles as she formulated an answer.

"It's like the rift where you summon new imps, I think. Mana feels a little strange when I get close to it. It's sort of the same when they teleport, but I can only feel it if they are aiming for a sport that's close to me," she explained.

If it is related to mana as Violet implied, then Rose would definitely be able to sense it as well, once she knows what to look for, other imps probably too. Even humans who are able to sense mana might be able to notice it. But even if they can sense it, that does not guarantee they would have the speed or reaction time necessary to respond the way Violet does. I have not yet seen anyone else who can move quite like she can.

Thank you. That was helpful.

Two days after Rose left, at around midday, the radio crackles to life.

"This is William Blake calling Magentam. Come in Magentam, over," Williams' voice rings out from the speaker.

I have to get Violet to answer and as she plugs in the microphone, I instruct her on how to respond.

"Magentam is here."

"Great. I wanted to let you know that we've found a contractor willing to come and seal up those elevator doors for you," William reports.

"When?" I have Violet ask.

"He said he can come on Friday if that's a good time for you."

William's last visit was three days ago and that was a Sunday, which makes today Wednesday. So he can come in two days time? I do not see any problem with that. Though I should probably make more of an effort to keep track of the days if I am going to keep dealing with humans from now on.

"Friday is good."

"Perfect. I'll let them know and I'll see you then," William declared.

"What's a 'friday'?" Violet asks after disconnecting the microphone again.

It is the name the humans use for one of the days of the week.

"What's a 'week'?" She follows up.

I then take the time to explain to her how humans divide the days into groups of seven to make it easier to keep track of them and the names they use for each day.

Violet is not as far along in learning English as Rose, but she is still doing well and is always eager to learn more. Once satisfied that she has a sufficient understanding of the days that make up a 'week', I ask her how the vak count days but she does not have an answer.

Obviously the vak would have some system for keeping track of the days that may be different from humans, but it is possible that Violet simply never had any reason to learn it. If I was really curious, I could try asking William or Cassandra; they might have that information, or at least be able to find out. Then again, knowing how the demons track time in their own world is not particularly important here.

After that I reach out to Rose to let her know what is happening on Friday, not that I expect her to be back by then, but I think it is good to keep her informed about what is going on at home while she is away.