-- The point of view changes temporarily here --

"Do it."

The scary high druid growls at me. I begin the summoning, using the name he provided. Don't blame me if this goes badly! I did warn you, but did you listen? No, 'Shut up and get on with it, mage!' he said. Grumble...

Why am I, Oldon, the best pure magic caster in Abernach, being oppressed so? Because I made a mistake. Or more like a chain of mistakes... I still think summoning a succubus was technically a good idea, as I was certain I could do it without being caught. But how was I supposed to know that while the succubus' packeting was right, her personality was completely wrong?! The demon whom I summoned wasn't a lust filled seductress I hoped for. No-oh, she was a cold and cunning bitch who fooled me good and stole my money and left.

Letting her out of the circle to begin with was my biggest mistake, as she got into a fight with high druid of all things and even got a guard killed! When I heard that, I was ready to run for the hills, but the druidic guard captured me when I was crossing the border. Then I was left to rot in dungeon, until they dragged me here into my house and demanded I summon a demon called 'Ais'. First it's bad I summoned one and then you want me to summon one?! Man, try to decide!

I finish the spell - it's a targeted variety instead of the more general summoning I used earlier - and a shape appears into the circle...

"...You again."

A pair of icy eyes locks onto me. It's her! And she sounds royally pissed! And is covered in blood!? Oh man! ... Why's she naked again though? Frankly, being enticed by her overrides my being scared of her or of the huge weapon she carries. The druid leader Arthorius scowls like he ate something sour. Hahah, I bet he's the type to put clothes on statues. He addresses her angrily.

"So it is indeed you, demoness 'Ais'. You will answer for every drop of blood you have spilt, this I swear. Even a foul demon is not above the justice and balance."

"...Who the hell are you?"

Umm, summoning and contracts don't work like that, mister druid big shot. And miss stingy succubus, you fought him just a while ago, how'd you forget him already? I don't dare to interject though, my self-preservation instincts scream at me to keep quiet.

Before Arthorius can answer, the summoning circle flashes. Oops, I forgot to close the summoning channel!

"Another demon inbound! And I can't maintain two! The circle will collapse before long!"

They fail to react in time to my warnings, and another succubus appears. It's a girl with small horns and light auburn hair. She winks at me playfully. I have a feeling that things would have gone much more favorably had I summoned her the first time around. Heehee... But my daydreams are crushed immediately.

"Agh! By the Blightmoon!"

I was distracted and the circle is gone already! You vixen, did you do that on purpose!? ... I hope the wink still has meaning though...

-- Back to Ais' point of view --

I don't have too much body awareness, so being clad in moonlight isn't enough to make me hesitant or ashamed. But I'm really, really tired of it all the same. I was summoned by that awkward magician again, and this time there are bunch of guards and a druid too. Just... what is going on here?

Before I could find out more than that this druid is rather pissed at me, Celica appeared too. Seeing her, the wizard zoned out for a moment and consequently mucked up his summoning circle, after which all hell broke loose. By the way, I notice Celica took the time to wrap the outfit tanner gave her in an artfully titillating manner that a peasant clothing shouldn't be capable of. Priorities Celica. Do you know how they work?

The guards attack haphazardly, and I make a short sweeping motion with my weapon, since it's limited by the lack of space. One of the guards fails to defend and the blade sinks into his shoulder. I couldn't put full force into this, but it's still stuck deep. The others attack me while I try to remove my blade from the screaming guard's body, but Celica excitedly charges at them, forcing the now scared guards to back off.

This is when my natural enemy, the druid, finishes his chant. And he did choose the spell I least wanted to encounter. The wooden planks in the floor start growing snaking roots towards me like tentacles. No, I absolutely refuse to do this. I have had enough horrible things done to me for today.

I jump at the roof with desperation I didn't know I could possess, half hovering, half grabbing onto the beams, and start to whack both the enemies and roots awakened by the druid's spell in frenzy. When I hack a witless guard into gory pieces, the remaining ones have had enough. Every human being scampers outside, even the grim druid and wizard who looks like he'll piss himself any moment.

The spell expires and I fall back to floor. More guards are gathering outside and the druid is yelling. No-one dares to enter this house though. Instead they start tossing torches and the druid chants a spell that makes the fire more burn fiercely. I've scared them enough to make them risk the whole town burning rather than deal with me directly? This is priceless.

As there's without a doubt a salvo of arrows waiting if I leave via door or window, and staying is not an option, I instead start breaking the roof. I burst through the already ignited shingle roof into the night sky. Lit by the fires I make a good target for a moment, and I have really bad time avoiding hits to any vital areas. Celica follows and part of the anti-air fire is directed at her, easing the pressure on me. As I painfully climb higher with pierced wings, I hear the sound of druidic chanting I've become too familiar with.

"This is why I hate druids..."

The light pillar we were hit in the tournament was probably a spell related to the sun. Instead this druid cast a star light equivalent, where myriad of tiny lights pierced us like so many homing missiles. It hurts less than the light pillar, but stings horribly nevertheless. I black out for a moment and find myself crashed on a weed covered area between this and the next building. Guards approach me with raised spirits and lowered spears, as I force myself to get up. Okay, I think I've had my quota of bad things fulfilled for today, so how about something good happens for once?

A wall of fire suddenly erupts and stops them in their tracks. Great. Thank you! I turn my head, and the wizard responsible for this whole situation is conjuring more arcane fire. Did Celica use charm on him? Great job Celica. I can see her standing awkward but smiling despite the pain while tossing a ball of crimson fire at the druid.

...Wait, what?

You can throw around hellfire?! You didn't bother using it before? And you didn't even tell me that awesome spell like that is possible for us? ...Fuck you Celica. The druid manages to avoid the hellfire blast, but the guard behind him gets directly hit and is almost instantly reduced to a screaming mess of burning flesh and melted metal. Yep, definitely hellfire.

Still, had there been more druids against us, this could have gone badly for us, wizardly support or not. It's middle of their town, so why was there only one druid? There is probably some complicated domestic politics reason, or everyone else was in druids only rave but he wasn't invited. Well, doesn't matter right now. Your average guard is badly outmatched against pair of demons and a magician, and we manage to break through them and disappear into the darkness. I limp away with entirely too pleased Celica and wizard who looks like he had wanted to burn down this town for quite some time.

Once a safe distance away I turn back to look at the town engulfed in flames... exactly as the demon lord had predicted when I met him! Well, what do you know. Despite him appearing a meek and mildly disappointing demon lord, he does know his stuff.