Dark spears of liquid flesh float through the air like a soft ball pitched by a younger version of myself. No, actually I don’t think it accurate to infer—even to myself—that my throwing abilities might have improved.

The demon puddle is tossing spears with the same strength as I can summon at any given time. It does throw them with far more considerable speed and accuracy however, like a pitching machine haunted by the spirit of an asthmatic kid who died trying and failing to parry an incoming ball. Yet, this spirit retains the mathematic skills needed to calculate the best trajectory to launch its attacks.

If the attacks came faster, or if we were actually close to the thing, this might actually be a problem. At this point I’d feel more at threat by playing dodgeball with a bunch of the athletic kids, the balls might not hit with the same impact, but at least there’s a chance of being hit.

The rest of my arrayed forces are performing just as well as I am, even the man made mostly of roots is moving with an alacrity that defies reason, making the puddle look like a fool.

With the way we’re waving about flaming weapons and shining their lights down towards the living oil I’m stuck between thinking this a cult ritual, a concert, or some primitive tribal dance. The way the dark oily mass of flaming bubbling evil in the centre of us recoils from the light makes me think that this is some evil cult summoning.

In actual fact, this is the opposite as we’re trying our best to be rid of it instead.

The flaming mass of oil continues to bubble and shriek as it slowly pulls itself from the ruins, throwing masses of dark spears at us all the while. I don’t quite get why it’s afraid of the light, but I do ascribe to the school of thought that ‘if it works, don’t question it’. I’ll happily play off of this living torches photophobia if it lets me win this fight.

That does unfortunately draw a target on my back however. Everyone with a flaming weapon, torch, or other light in hand is being targeted with an uncouth number of dark spears, that make up for their lacking speed with sheer numbers and accuracy.

So far injuries are light and few, but that’s not going to last forever.

As our enemy pulls itself free from the ruins, its attacks grow increasingly powerful. Already I’m starting to regret my earlier thoughts on the topic. How could I be so blind that this kid had some real muscle, it was just buried under an office’s worth of stone bricks.

The oily spears flash bright as they strike the distant walls, burning out in bright flashes. The puddle is losing mass, losing mana, but it somehow seems be recovering rather than dying.

My forehead gathers sweat as I gather my mana tight in mind to try and figure out a solution before anyone realizes that I’m out of plans.

The only trick that’s worked for me so far is the fire, and if we don’t do something fast that’s going to backfire badly.

Just to be sure, I throw a few smaller fireballs at the already inflamed mass of demonic oil, but they sputter out without causing any damage. The mass only aggravated by the light of it.

Aggravated, but not damaged.

I need something to wound this thing. My heart is telling me to make another big-ass annihilation spell, but my intelligent mind is telling my heart to shut up and get back to pumping blood.

Fire and annihilation are my two real tricks beyond my reinforcement magic, and I don’t really think smoothing out a surface, or making toy models is going to make much of a difference to this damnedable monster.

Okay, now that I’m done listing all I can do in this terribly short list it’s time to consider what I’m facing. The demon puddle.

It eats rock but starving it out or placating it with a nice smooth piece of sandstone isn’t likely to work for us.

It’s made of flaming oil or something like it, while water attacks work, dumping water on its head only aggravated it. Putting out the fires has been a failure so far.

If only I could contact earth, I’m fairly sure there’s a nation that would be interested in collecting this potentially infinite oil source. They mightn’t have magic, but they have a history of treating their soldiers as disposable, and a big enough pile of bodies might just succeed where magic has failed.

It can be separated into many parts and doesn’t die from mana shock, so draining its mana probably wouldn’t work.

It is intelligent to a point but seems uninterested in conversation. It… It isn’t because we haven’t properly tried, is it?

Surely the rebels would have tried contacting it at some point, and it’s only ever raving about the light, so it’s not like this fight is going to be over just like that, right?

“Excuse me, but are you possibly up for a conversation?” I ask it via messaging, dodging a rather close spear strike. It’s hitting harder and faster.

“Who are you! Pleas, end the light! We must end the light! Help me end the light!” I’m not entirely sure if the message system is supposed to be able to carry this much desperation.

“If we end the light, could you stop attacking us?” I ask, concurrently thinking of any other ways to stop this thing beyond bullying it with mean words. I mean, if there’s anything the humanity and the internet age has turned into an art form it’s abuse and harassment. I’m not fully convinced that this oil puddle is capable of suicide, so I think we can set aside that possibility.

“I’m attacking the light! Help! Please help!” It screams into my mind.

“I’ll help.” I say, “How do I put out the light? It’s all over you. It’s on your back, all over you. Can’t you see the flickering light covering your body?”

The puddle bubbles furiously the endless spears stopping in their flight as the oil boils away.

“The light… is on me?!” It cries in panic as limbs of black oil slap at its own body. The attempts are short but furious and violent, sending small, splattered sections all over the place before it finally screams in pain and panic, lashing out at us all over again.

A few of my allies scream as they’re struck down with the dark spears. Dead or injured, I don’t know, but I have to focus.

“Should I try my water magic attack again?” Adler asks worriedly.

Setting aside the magical flames that I’ve been using like a lighter at a concert, I look down at a small struggling pool of oily flesh that’s formed near me. The white flames are flickering on its back even now.

“Plan C.” I send over group chat. They respond, pulling back a few steps at a time. This gives the puddle more room to work with, but it also gives them more time to respond to the dark spears.

“Adler, douse these flames in water.” I order, approaching the flaming puddle. When I get close it starts forming a spear, but I quickly dodge aside before it can get me.

Adler arrives quickly, summoning the moisture from the air and dumping it over the body of the black puddle.

“Don’t attack. I’m killing the light.” I message to the small mass as it starts bubbling with reduced, but not eliminated flames.

Gritting my teeth, I dive at it, pushing my hand on to it and reaching out with my mana drain. It’s only a vague sensation when dealing with things outside of my body, but I can feel a few things from it.

I feel the mass of mana that forms the oily life form, the familiar slivers of silver that form the support device, and something else flickering actively on the surface of the creature. The magical spell, curse, or hex is pulling the mana from the body of the creature and using it to fuel the magical flames on its back.

Just like with the poison attached to the healer’s mana form back in the cavern, I can’t simply drain the mana from the spell because it feeds off of the beast’s body. I’m not quite the same person I was then, however.

I failed to save one of my people from that same poison when we struck the city, Hira was her name. Her death was my failure, one among many.

My annihilation magic has gotten better since then, my new spell ‘annihilation net’, is proof of that.

“Alder, keep it’s fires down.” I say, glancing around for anyone who can help us.

“What are you doing?” Alo shouts, following after Eshya and Vii who stand close by to guard me.

“I’m fixing things. Cover me but don’t get killed.” I order, glaring at Eshya as I say it.

“Understood.” Nel says, arriving and calling over a few other warriors. “Eshya, any thoughts on formations?”

The two quickly converse while watching the fight. Eshya manages to lift a glowing sword and deflect a slower moving spear as it comes towards us, but that’s all the attention I can spare her fight.

Swirling the mana about in my heart as I call upon my annihilation magic, I try to imagine the paths that I want this spell to travel. Running over and through the film covering this mass of oil, cutting the fire from the flesh.

Even if this works, I’m going to need to drain the mana from the fires faster than I’ve done with most anything before, otherwise it’ll just connect with the oils mass and reinfect it. This fire is less like a conventional flame and more like a parasite or a disease, and there’s enough energy in it that I can’t simply annihilate the entire thing.

Building my annihilation vortex as powerful as I dare without spending more mana than I can spare for this little test. I shape the magic, imagining a thin film of oily flesh stripped away, unmade, splitting the parasite from the body.

This beast is mine now. This parasite has harmed me and mine. It doesn’t deserve life.

Embracing my frustration, I feed the annihilation magic into the puddle, at the same time consuming the flames that cover its back. The water suppressing the flames makes it a little easier.

As a layer of ash covers the creature’s body, the flames die away. I pull at them drawing them into my hand as I wipe it over the oils body.

The flames eagerly lick at me trying to infect me as well, but I don’t allow it, I consume them whole, leaving a black puddle at my feet.

“The light doesn’t hurt. There’s still so much light, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.” The puddle mumbles to itself, rippling as it accepts this development.

“Wait, are you’re not the same as that?” I ask, pointing towards its raging main body.

“That… is also me. But separate. The light. So much light…” The clump of oil whimpers, staring at the main body.

“If you can make that body stop lashing out, I can get rid of the light for you.” I promise, hoping for a miracle.

“I… I will try to calm myself. I can’t… guarantee it will work. Thank you, Light-killer. I will try, I will try.” The black oil slips along the ground towards the main body in what should be considered a suicide rush but for the strange circumstances.

“What was that and what are we doing?” Eshya asks, her glowing sword held up at the ready as she glares at the burning body of black oil.

“That was a fraction of the demon puddle, and it’s hopefully going to calm it’s main body so that we can perform surgery. Order everyone to turn out the lights.” I say. “Get mana potions to the water mages, we need to get the main body soaked in water while I work.”

“I’ll deal with the potions and direct the mages.” Nel says. “Eshya you’re in charge of formations, tell me where you need the mages, otherwise you have direct command.”

“Understood.” Eshya replies, and I can practically feel the waves of messages flowing out of her mind as she glares at the flaming mass. It hasn’t yet stopped throwing spears, the flameless puddle is only just reaching it now, alongside some other flaming puddles that were splattered off of it.

As the flameless body reaches the larger mass and incorporates itself into it, a boiling ripple runs through it. The limbs freeze and the spears stop coming.

For a moment, that is. A few limbs lash out violently, throwing spears at anyone they see, but half the time the throws are aborted midway, or misdirected by last minute twitches.

It seems to be the best chance we’re going to get.

Eshya sees it too, leading our charge into the beast as magical firehoses shoot overhead, the water is gathered from all around the room and fired overhead to rain down on the body of the creature.

Most of the resulting steam rises up, but some blasts out to the sides near us, burning my skin as I charge through. I arrive at the puddle, taking in it’s size first, before breathing deep and accepting the mission. If I can’t take the fires from the entire mass, I’ll have to split the puddle up and clean it a bit at a time.

This is mine. It’s all mine. To think that my property, my toys, my fire, would dare act against my will. That anything here would act in such a way is an afront to all common sense.

It will bow, or it will be unmade.

The powerful blast of annihilation magic flooding out of me is carefully guided with the annihilation net Skill, shaping the thin film as a net over the entire liquid body of the mass.

I throw myself into the fires the moment the net reaches out. Eshya and Nel shout something, but I can’t afford distraction. The fires want to burn me, but they’re so very easy to consume. Before the heat can even burn, I draw the mana from the fires, killing them.

It’s not nearly enough to replace what I spent, but I’ve enough mana in my spare battery to cover that. More importantly, there are specks of fire catching on the main body of the puddle again. I sneer, trying and failing to catch them.

As they start spreading again, the puddle bubbles in pained aggravation, splitting its body and tossing aside the parts still burning.

“Please, save that me as well.” The puddle pleads, both desperate and relieved. “I will do anything. Please.”

I nod, stepping over to the much smaller mass. Adler is already cooling it off, and it only takes a moment to carve off and consume the fires.

With that the last of the light is gone.

Or it should be.

“What’s that?” I ask, cautiously looking at a glowing white bonfire off to one side. It’s clearly the same fires as was burning the demonic puddle.

“A few people were hit.” Eshya says. “They’re alive, before you panic. We quickly figured out that the fires can’t be put out and that they spread, not as quick as on the demon puddle but enough to be dangerous. So those hit by the spears cut out the affected areas.

“The healer saved them from death.” She says as I catch sight of a familiar wooden being standing over a small triage.

“Light-killer.” The puddle says, pulling away from the flames and behind me, though Eshya stands between us watching it carefully with a formation of soldiers.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I thank you for saving me. I will serve you in anything you wish, so long as you can keep that fire away.” The puddle says, gathering itself up into a humanoid body.

“That’s great.” I say, realizing that I’ve already agreed to split its flesh with the local rebel faction. A deal that I’m going to have to work my way out of considering how polite this puddle is being.

The humanoid figure gradually becomes more and more clear, imitating a rather familiar set of armour. The midnight black figure slowly forms a strange reflection of me.

That’s… something.

Is it trying to make me more hesitant to attack it, because it’s working.

“Puddle here is probably fine, let’s go deal with that fire.” I say, noticing that the white flames are dying. “Does anyone know if there’s anything here we can use to contain it?”

“Contain it?” Adler asks. “After all this?”

I shrug.

“Loekan is some variant of wood mage.” I say, standing over the white flames. “This seems like it’d cause him even more trouble than it caused us.”

“You’re going to burn down the whole cavern.” Adler warns.

“I’m sure the forest will grow back.” I say, smiling down into the flames.

“I like the look of that smile.” Eshya says, stepping close and grabbing my hand.

“Well, I don’t.” Adler says, looking on worriedly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 2310 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 40% 99% Offense 20% 94% Mana Sense 40% 100% Recovery 0% 77% Gluttony 0% 79% Misc. 0% 93% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net