A Demon's Core

Since William left yesterday, I have been focusing my effort on claiming a room on the third floor, furthest away from the stairs, to eventually move my core into. I reached the room by going straight down through the floors so it will not be connected to the stairwell by a dungeon path that any outsiders could easily follow. That way, any future invaders would hopefully just continue past the third floor when climbing the stairs without even realising that there is anything there worth investigating.

Based on what I had heard from my imps previously when I asked them about what the rest of the building looks like, I knew the rooms on the third floor were a fair bit smaller than those of the fifth and based on the dimensions of what I have already claimed, I estimate that I have probably already taken about half of this room. Certainly enough that I could consider bringing my core down now if I wanted to.

I think unless there is some reason to expedite the move, I will wait until I have the whole room, since Violet has already made clear her intention to move with the core and has convinced Rose to join her. She will also undoubtedly bring her sister as well, not to mention that she occasionally brings Fuzzy into her room to sleep with as well. So that's three imps and an occasional hellhound that will already be taking up residence in the new room.

Once I finish with this room on the third floor, I can work on finding a suitable place on the ground floor for meetings with humans. Violet has said she found a good room for it when I asked her to look around. Not that I do not trust her judgment, but I will wait for Rose to confirm it before I start making any solid plans.

I am interrupted by the buzzing sensation that means Violet is trying to contact me.

'Magentam! You need to come quickly.'

Her voice is urgent and excited, but does not sound panicked, so whatever has got her worked up is probably not dangerous. Taking a moment to locate her, she is in Room 3 with the hellhounds and the three imps who accompany them.

Appearing in the room, I look around but do not see anything immediately alarming. Violet is over by Lily and Calyx, jumping around excitedly.

So, what is going on?

"Impies!" Violet cheers.

…Where?

She points at Lily with both hands.

You are pregnant? I ask Lily.

"I think so," she replies while poking at her abdomen.

I try examining her but do not see any obvious indications of pregnancy. If I look closely, I can see what might be a slight swelling of her abdomen, but it is hardly enough to make that sort of conclusion.

How can you be sure?

"It's not my first time," she says, glancing towards Calla who is climbing all over the hellhounds. "Still remember how it feels."

As far as explanations go, that is not the most convincing, but I cannot say I know enough about their biology to refute it, so unless some counter-evidence is revealed, I will just take her word for it.

And besides, given how active Lily and Calyx have been since they were reunited, it would not be at all surprising for them to conceive another child or two. I hope they are ready to have Violet hovering around near constantly, just like last time… I cannot help but pause as memories surface of the first time one of my imps became pregnant… and how it ended.

No, I will not let memories of past tragedies overshadow what should be a joyous occasion.

Congratulations. This is wonderful news. Please do not hesitate to ask if there is anything you need. Though I am sure you will have no shortage of willing helpers should any issues arise.

"I'll help. I'm the best helper!" Violet cheers.

"Thank you. Will ask if need," Calyx beams.

I will not allow a repeat of what happened in the past. This time I will protect them, no matter what. We are in a much better defensive position now than we were back then, but the dangers we have faced have also increased since then and may yet escalate further, so we cannot afford to become complacent.

The easiest way to quickly boost our defenses further is to summon more defenders and it is about time for that again. I let Violet know and she, along with a few others are soon eagerly waiting in the core room.

At first, everything goes as it always does; I reach out to the rift and pour mana into it to begin the process. But the situation takes an unexpected turn when the rift stops accepting my mana. I know how much mana is required to summon an imp and I am sure I have not fed it that much yet, but I am not able to add anymore. Usually when the rift stops taking mana, that is the point at which the target appears, but that is not happening either. It is as though the process has just stalled.

I try to break off the connection to start over, but that does not work either. It almost feels like something is holding on to my mana. I am not sure if that is even possible; could something be forcibly maintaining the connection from the other side of the rift?

Soon though, things become even more strange when mana actually starts flowing back to me from the rift, leaving me even more confused. Nothing even remotely like this has ever happened before. The rift has only even taken mana, it has never given any back.

My thoughts grind to a sudden halt when I feel something else along with the mana, reaching out to me through the rift. For a brief moment, I am sure I can feel the touch of another consciousness brushing up against my own. It is a fleeting sensation, but it feels vaguely familiar in a way that I cannot identify. I do not get much time to think about it though as whatever it is disappears just as suddenly as it appeared. At the same time, a bright flash of white light erupts from the rift.

When the light fades, my connection to the rift is finally cut off and there are around a dozen imps strewn around it on the floor that were not there a moment ago. I would normally wonder how that could be possible, but I do not have time to worry about that right now as the condition of these imps is a much more pressing concern.

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There is blood leaking from their eyes, ears, noses and mouths and their bodies are covered in large blistering welts. The ones who are conscious are coughing and sputtering, releasing further sprays of blood with each cough.

Violet rushes forward in a panic and kneels by the closest of the imps.

"What do we do?" She cries frantically.

Without hesitation, I reach out to Rose.

I need to bring you back here, right now.

'I'm ready,' she replies after a short pause.

I summon her back and as soon as she appears, she is shocked by the scene before her.

"You have to help," Violet pleads when she notices Rose's arrival.

Rose crouches down and puts her hand on the forehead of one of the imps. He turns his head slightly to look up at her and reaches one hand up, weakly gripping her arm, before coughing again and coating her in a spray of blood.

"What happened to them?" She demanded.

I do not know. They were like this when they appeared. Can you heal them?

"I'll try."

I will give you as much mana as you need. Just do what you can.

Placing her other hand on the imp's chest, Rose channels mana into his body to heal him. Despite the effort Rose has put into studying the materials we have received relating to biology, we can hardly begin to guess the extent of the damage these imps have suffered, so she has to rely on her innate healing ability once again.

I have been learning along with her and have had some ideas on where to start at least. I have even had some opportunities to practice while Rose has been away, but what I can do does not amount to much more than slightly accelerating natural regeneration and I would not feel confident in healing anything more than the most superficial injuries.

Maybe that could still help at least a little, but Rose will ultimately be the one who has to do most of the work here. The most helpful thing I can do right now is simply to make sure she does not run out of mana.

Violet is on the edge of panicking and the other imps who gathered for the summoning are also quite distressed, so I task them with fetching water, as much as they can bring back. They jump into action, scrambling to find any suitable container they can get their hands on before racing out the door.

Taking a moment to calm herself, Violet chooses to stay and offer what comfort she can. Even if all she has to give is soothing words and a reassuring presence, there is still value in that kind of support. I call in all the imps who are still present in the dungeon to assist, either by heading out to find things to help, or just offering emotional support to those waiting to be healed.

With how many there are, Rose cannot afford to take the time to heal each one fully. She heals the first one until his expression is no longer pained and he is able to breathe easier without sounding like he is gargling blood, which still takes several minutes, then she moves on to the next imp and starts again.

Each imp that was healed was carefully carried aside by those who were helping to try to make them more comfortable. Violet had the idea to send some of the helpers to fetch bedding from the unused rooms and make a pile of them so the recovering imps would have somewhere soft to rest.

Things went well at first, but Rose's efforts to heal them slowed down by the time she got to the fifth patient. Even if I keep her supplied with mana, she has explained before that continuous use of magic does still result in the accumulation of mental fatigue and that the effect is more pronounced with healing than any other kind of magic we have practiced. I just hope she will be able to hold out long enough for all of them.

Things take a turn for the worse when she moves on to the sixth patient only to find that this imp has already stopped breathing and is beyond the reach of healing. Rose tears up as she kneels over the body of the no-longer living imp.

There is no time to grieve the loss right now though, with several other imps still awaiting treatment. Rose wipes her tears and stands to look for the next patient. But with her exhaustion mounting, each imp she heals takes longer than the one before. The condition of those who are still waiting are getting worse with each passing minute, the blood continues to leak out and their breathing becomes harder, resulting in three more passing away before she has time to save them, with one of them even dying while she was trying to heal him. He was already too close to death by the time she reached him and in her already exhausted state, she could not heal the damage to his body before it killed him.

I can see each death weighing on her, adding to her already considerable fatigue. Eventually it becomes too much for her and she inevitably reaches her limit, losing consciousness even while still trying to save another.

Rose slumps forwards and ends up falling on top of the imp she was in the process of healing. Violet rushes over to lift her off the patient.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" She implores, shaking Rose a little as she tries to get a response.

She is exhausted. This was too much for her. Please take her to her bed.

"But what about…?" She looks down at the imp Rose was healing who is still wheezing on the floor.

Even if you could wake her again, pushing herself anything further might harm her instead. We cannot ask any more of her right now. I will do what I can to help this one.

Violet nods and carries Rose to their bedroom and I look down at the imp who was still being healed. Even though I said I would do what I can, I am not sure it will really make that much difference.

Focusing on everything I know about imp biology and how their bodies work, which unfortunately is still not that much, I slowly channel mana into her body. Honestly though, I have no idea if this is even helping, but at least it does not seem to be making things worse. Despite my best effort, it is likely that whether or not this imp lives or dies will be solely dependent on if Rose managed to heal her enough to pull through before passing out.

The worst part is that there is still one more that Rose did not even get to before she passed out. If I brought to bear all of my knowledge and skill with healing, without Rose, it would not be enough to save them. Better to focus my attention on the one who still has a chance of living.

Though it feels terrible to essentially be abandoning the last one to die, there is nothing more I can do for them besides asking the other imps to make them as comfortable as possible in their final moments. The only solace, if it could be considered that, is that their suffering will likely not last much longer.

The whole ordeal is a harrowing experience for everyone involved. When the imps who went out to fetch water return, they use some of it to carefully clean the blood off the imps who were successfully healed while also offering some to drink for those who felt strong enough to do so; I make sure to impress upon them the importance of keeping the water for drinking separate from the water for cleaning.

Those helping with cleaning the blood off the patients have to take care to be gentle as, even though they were partially healed by Rose's magic, they all still have large blisters in many places on their bodies.

After some time has passed, it seems like the final imp that Rose was healing is going to make it, if only barely, but I do not intend to halt my own effort to heal her, insignificant though it may be, until Rose is awake and can help her a bit more. But I can afford this mana expenditure for as long as needed.

I do not know how long Rose is going to sleep, since this is the first time she has ever overworked herself to this degree. Even when she wakes up, she may not be ready to get right back into healing, though I doubt that would stop her from trying. I will stop her though, if I feel like she still needs more time to recuperate. She cannot help anyone if she destroys herself in the process.