Chapter 66: Power Nullification and the Proper Application of a Corkscrew (Patreon)

“It feels like there’s something you’re not telling me,” said Daniel to Melos.

They’d been going back and forth in his room at the inn for a while now. The demon seemed to resent the questions almost as much as Daniel hated how unsatisfactory the answers were.

“What? I’ve never met Eigos, if that’s what you’re wondering. There’s no way he’s here, though. For one thing, he’s a Lord and the devastation would be greater. For another, why would someone of his status go to a remote plane of existence like this one and then play serial killer in a small village? It doesn’t make sense.”

Daniel frowned. If Melos was telling the truth, then he was right. It didn’t make sense.

“Go through the journal again,” urged Melos. “Maybe you missed something?”

“I’ve gone through it ten times,” Daniel moaned. “The only time the Eigos symbol appears is on the page that contains his summoning ritual. And that is just a bunch of cultists chanting, offerings being made, and your casual dose of human sacrifice. There’s nothing in there about getting rid of him or finding him. And if we’re desperate enough to try summoning him ourselves, then this town would have way bigger problems. Especially considering it sounds like it would take more than one human sacrifice to summon him.”

“Yeah, we’re kind of big on grand gestures,” he said wistfully. “Anyway, what if the killer isn’t a Corebeast or a demon? It could be a cultist trying to get Eigos’s attention. Killing in his name could be a way to do that.”

“Would that work?”

“Sort of. Think of it like a warmup before the actual summoning takes place. If you killed enough people in his name, then the demon would probably start paying attention.”

A cold knot of tension formed in Daniel’s stomach at the thought of a demon Lord getting loose. “Do you think he is paying attention?”

Melos snorted. “No way. He doesn’t even get out of bed for anything less than battlefield massacre levels of killing. But the cultists don’t know that. They probably found a scrap of ancient text with his symbol on it and let their imagination run wild. They might not even know his real name, considering how off the demonic beaten path Alarstardes is. I’m telling you, a human killed those people.”

“But the witness reports so far describe the victims being torn apart like a wild animal did it. A human being couldn’t have done that.”

“You’re thinking like an Earth person. This is Alarstardes and we’re on a border town where half the population is Bronze. You think someone who saved their essence couldn’t do it? A Bronze with a knife and enhanced strength could do a lot things to a dead body. Plus, we’ve never seen one ourselves. So far, we’ve just been taking the word of the locals. You think they get a lot of animal attacks?”

Daniel’s frown deepened. It was a question worth pondering, even if it vastly increased his suspect pool, although it would explain why all the attacks happened at night. Though he was feeling less confident. A Corebeast or a demon smart enough to strike at night and then hide would be a tough fight, but a human cultist? That was somebody's neighbor and friend. Not only would he have to find who it was, but then he’d need irrefutable proof such as catching them in the act in order to convince the rest of the townsfolk.

Going forward, he also decided he’d ask people if the victims were Stone or Bronze as well. It could be that whoever or whatever is doing this is going after easier prey. Maybe if he found out why those specific people were targeted, it would help narrow the search.

“You’re right,” said Daniel. “But we keep this between ourselves and Caspian when he gets back. The whole town is on edge with suspicion that it’s a Corebeast or the Scourge. If we let it slip that it might be one of their neighbors, then the whole village could descend into chaos.”

Still, he checked the journal again before asking if there was any way to sense the demons. Melos said that there wasn’t. Once they take a host, they blend in and only reveal themselves when using their power. Further research proved fruitless and after a few hours of Melos racking his brain for answers, Daniel decided to go downstairs for a drink. All the questions were starting to give him a headache, and he needed a break.

Daniel sighed when he saw the empty room of tables and chairs. Still no Caspian. He went into the kitchen looking for Orvyn but he wasn’t there either. Daniel found that odd. After all the young man’s concerns about leaving the place for five minutes, now suddenly he’s gone for hours. He hoped something hadn’t happened to him.

Daniel rummaged through the kitchen cabinets in search of alcohol until Melos suggest that he try the bottom ones. He did and found one almost overflowing with bottles of wine. Which made a sad sort of sense. His family had stocked up for when times were busy here, but after the monster attack and business dried up, they sat in that cupboard gathering dust.

“A little early in the day, isn’t it?” asked Melos.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to get hammered. I just want one glass while I take a break. I feel like we’ve just been spinning in circles with all these questions. Maybe once I relax, a new idea will come to me.”

He grabbed a corkscrew and carried a bottle out of the kitchen. As soon as he stepped into the other room, an arm wrapped around his throat and tightened. Daniel looked back. It was a man with his face covered with a scarf wrapped around it. He wore the same simple brown tunic and pants that Daniel had seen many of the men in the village wearing. He didn’t recognize him, though he was too stocky to be one of the men he’d met so far, but not tall enough to be someone like Bam. The man was strong though. Definitely Bronze level.

Daniel smashed the bottle of wine back onto the man’s head. It shattered, drenching them both in wine, but the man didn’t let go. If anything, his grip tightened further and cut off Daniel’s air supply. It was an amateur move since if he’d had the know-how, he could have targeted his blood supply to choke him out. That way, Daniel would have passed out in seconds. Still, the man had a lot of strength and tanked the hit to the head with the bottle without making a sound. He was still a threat.

Daniel gasped for breath while stabbing him in the arm with his corkscrew multiple times in rapid succession. Multiple shallow cuts later and the man grunted and let go. Daniel summoned Army of One and was ready to face him when he suddenly felt his head slam into the bar. His right arm was then yanked back and forced into a joint lock, which prevented him from using the gauntlet.

Okay, so not an amateur.

Daniel tried an Invictus attack anyway, but he couldn’t move his fist enough to set one off. His claws couldn’t reach anything either. He felt stuck. In one simple move that no one else had ever thought to try, they’d nullified his abilities. All except one.

“Help!” shouted Daniel, before sending Melos a burst of essence.

Melos punched the man in the face. But much like before, the attacker absorbed the blow. He rocked back slightly, but didn’t let go of Daniel. Instead, he looked around for the source of the punch before deciding it was probably some Spirit weapon ability and, considering the strength of that punch, probably not a good one.

“Corkscrew!” Daniel suggested, hoping that the demon would stick it in the man’s throat.

Melos moved to pick it up, but the attacker saw the corkscrew move by itself along the floor and clamped his foot down on it. He then wrenched Daniel’s arm further back. Not enough to dislocate it, but enough that it would hurt. A lot.

Daniel cried out while Melos went for another punch, but his hand ghosted through the attacker.

“I’m out of essence. I need more!” said Melos.

Daniel didn’t have any to give, and a few seconds later, Melos vanished. He was desperately throwing what he had left at his shoulder to blunt the pain, which was probably exactly what the attacker had in mind. That’s why he hid behind the door and attacked Daniel by choking him. The man was trying to take him alive, not kill him. And the best way to abduct a Bronze user is to exhaust them of essence first.

The man’s plan would have worked too had Caspian not walked through the door. He took in the scene before him and launched a shadow blade at the masked man, who was reluctantly forced to let go of Daniel. The man ducked low as the blade flew past. It dissipated into smoke a moment later, as Caspian dismissed it and summoned a new shadow. The man was already on the move, however. Rather than try his luck with a second Spirited, he picked up the corkscrew and hurled it at Caspian. It wasn’t a serious attack, but it served as a distraction long enough for the man to make his escape through the kitchen and out the backdoor.

Caspian ran after him while Daniel sat on a barstool and lay half slumped over the bar. He didn’t want to move and could barely think. He just wanted to remain there and wait for the pain to pass. Still, he had questions. The man was clearly a capable fighter, but why send him unarmed to capture Daniel? He’d been in town less than a day. What could he possibly have learned in that time that was so important? He started to wonder if the sloppiness was intentional. That perhaps maybe someone from the church or the mayor had sent this man to just rough Daniel up so that he would get scared and leave town.

Caspian returned a few minutes later, looking disappointed.

Daniel assumed it was because they wouldn’t get answers from him. “Is he dead?” asked Daniel.

Caspian shook his head. “No, he got away. There are a lot of houses and all he had to do was hide behind one of them and remove his mask. There were a few men walking about, but none of them looked injured.”

Daniel cursed inwardly, but he couldn’t blame his friend, who’d held up in the fight better than he had. He spat some blood onto the counter.

“Couldn’t do anything,” said Daniel. “As soon as he saw the gauntlet, he trapped my arm to prevent me from using it. I was helpless.”

Caspian nodded. “It happens. Sometimes someone has foreknowledge and plans ahead and other times they get lucky. Someone tried to do it to my father once in his younger days. It didn’t go well for them.”

“What happened?”

“They trapped him in a room and shut off all the lights. Put the room into complete darkness but apparently had some way of seeing in it. Some Spirit weapon that aided sight as a byproduct, anyway. Anyway, had my father been only Bronze, then it would have worked. If you haven’t noticed, once I send a blade off, it can only follow that trajectory until I dismiss it and summon a new one. So I need to be able to see what I’m looking at in order to throw a blade.”

“So, how did your father win if he couldn’t see?”

“He threw a lot of blades in a lot of directions. Cut the whole room of men down in seconds.”

“So what’s the lesson of this story?”

“That you shouldn’t feel too bad being that you’re only a Bronze. I’m sure that if you rank up or get a weapon evolution, the fight would have been a different story.”

“His arm,” mumbled Daniel, who suddenly realized a way to identify him. “Stabbed it with a corkscrew. Gotta… look for an injured… right arm,” he said, suddenly feeling woozy.

“Are you alright?” Caspian asked.

“Yeah,” he said before closing his eyes.

Caspian wasn’t convinced and despite Daniel’s protests, lifted his upper body off of the bar and put it around his shoulder.

“Come on. This town is too large and too remote to not have some kind of healer,” he assured Daniel.