Death Comes In Many Shapes 7 (1/2)

The door leading onto the rooftop of the restaurant known as The Cracked Flagon flung open and a ginger-haired elf stepped out into the night. The sun had already set a few hours ago since Boxxy’s ransacking of the Honeydew Cartel’s hideout hidden beneath this place had taken longer than expected. There were a lot of crates and boxes to rummage through - too many to fit into the monster’s house-sized Storage. It therefore had to decide on the best bits to bring along, which was what took up most of the time.

In the end it mostly loaded up on all the decent arms and armor it could find. The intel Xera had gotten out of that dwarf called Tubbs claimed they could be sold for a good price across the border, unlike the shipments of illicit substances. The monster did end up taking two crates’ worth of Honeydew-filled glass jars, though. Not because it was going to sell or eat them, but simply because they were shiny. The narcotic substance had a radiant golden color and glittered dazzlingly when bathed in light, so the Mimic happily added the 4 dozen jars of it to its collection.

It still had extra room so it took this opportunity to raid the Cartel’s food supplies. A big part of them were eaten, while the rest were stored for later. Boxxy also made a point of taking 6 kegs of ale due to Fizzy’s input. According to her, this high-quality dwarven-brewed ale was immensely valuable.

And now that the looting was over, the Mimic looked up at the night sky, but as expected there weren’t enough moons in it. Boxxy had managed to get a tip around town saying that a night when all three of those giant glowy things appear in the sky simultaneously happened only once every few months. This event, known as the Lunar Convergence, would only last for about 5 or 6 hours at most, and the next time it would occur would be 20 to 25 days from now.

So as things stood, the monster was going to be unable to attempt the Unholy Wealth ritual for quite some time, which was disappointing. Gathering and preparing all the necessary components and tools for that ritual just so it could proceed with the ritual at a moment’s notice turned out to be for naught. At the very least, that particular ceremony required a material sacrifice rather than a living one, so the monster merely had to wait patiently until the opportunity presented itself.

Tonight, however, it be performing the Offering to Liusolra. This ceremony, much like the Offering to Nagnamor, would allow one of the four demonic Overlords to manifest itself in the physical realm in its true form, albeit for a very short time. And the reason it wanted to do this right in the middle of town was simple. It had found out months ago that the proper way to gain Demonology Proficiency involved not only performing the rituals, but also utilizing them fully. If the ritual was to call forth an unbound demon, then it had to convince or force that demon to do things.

That is, other than punching itself in the face over and over again.

In other words, as long as it could get the being called Liusolra to run wild in this town, then it was sure to gain a lot of proficiency. Of course, it also had to make sure it wouldn’t get stomped flat by an irate Overlord. That’s why this wide-open rooftop served as the ideal ritual site. Not only was it flat and large enough to house the demonic markings, but it also meant that Boxxy would be able to make a run for it by jumping off and using the buildings for cover. Well, that and summoning a gigantic, powerful demon underground was counterproductive when the goal was to have it go on a rampage.

Come to think of it, would this Liusolra really be like that? True, Punchy did try to squash the little box into goop almost immediately back then, but maybe that was because it was the most powerful fiend. Which would also make him first-class when it came to irritability, aggression and violence. The monster turned around to face its minions that had followed it onto the rooftop.

“What’s Liusolra actually like?” it asked curiously.

Kora, who was busy carrying a bound and gagged dwarf under three out of her four arms, simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Dunno. I’ve heard of the name, but nothing about what they’re like.”

“How can you not know about Liusolra?” asked Xera incredulously. “Did you have your head up your ass the whole time you were in the Beyond?”

“Well no, it was just that-”

“It was a rhetorical question you idiot,” she interrupted while shaking her head. “I don’t actually want to know.”

“Snack, do you know him?”

“I know about her,” replied the succubus. “Liusolra is the eldest of the Overlords and the most reclusive one. Very few demons have actually spoken to her, even among her peers or kin.”

“And what type of demon is she?”

“I don’t know her exact species, but she’s said to be the first Stalker.”

“Oh, one of those, huh?”

Stalkers were an arachnid species of demons that were anti-magic specialists. The lore gleaned from Demonology said they were rather cold and calculating and just wanted to devour and feed on magic for their own enjoyment. They also enjoyed skulking around dark places and didn’t appreciate being seen, so it made sense that Liusolra would be like that, based on what Snack had said so far.

“Think I can reason with her?” it asked curiously.

“I would advise against it, Master,” answered Xera. “Her kin can be just as violent and selfish as any other demon.”

“I see… So summon and run would be the best, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“What are you two nodding about?” asked Fizzy.

As someone not privy to their telepathic communication, she had no idea about the rather ominous conversation that just transpired.

“Nothing important,” stated Boxxy out loud. “Just be sure the prisoners don’t die until I need to sacrifice them”

The only conscious dwarf that Kora was holding started groaning and struggling against his bindings at the elf’s words.

“Yo, Titty McTitface!” called out the fiend. “One of these guys woke up!”

The succubus calmly turned around and placed a hand on the unfortunate dwarf’s cheek, then put him to sleep with magic. It’s not that they could break free from the fiend’s grip, it’s just that they might hurt themselves or do something stupid like bite off their own tongues. It was her duty to make sure they wouldn’t throw their lives away like that, not when her Master had a better use for them.

“By the way Boss, why don’t you just make an appo?” suggested Kora.

“A what?”

“An appointment. For a summoning.”

“You can do that?” asked Xera with a curious look.

“Now who has her head up her own ass?!” said Kora with a sneer. “That’s how things are normally done, aren’t they? You know, I heard the main reason uncle Naggy was so mad that time was because you pulled him away from the bi-annual 5-dimensional Tic Tac Toe Tournament. Probably would’ve gone down better if you scheduled it beforehand.”

“Wait, is that the event Queen Shridiaphrial managed to win a while back?”

Shridiaphrial, the strongest among the succubi and their self-proclaimed Queen, was also one of the four demonic Overlords. Boxxy recognized the name since the Offering to Shridiaphrial was also one of the rituals it knew about, but had no intention of performing. That particular ceremony was basically a gigantic orgy that demanded a literal cartload of semen to be prepared in advance. It was just too much work when compared to the others.

“That’s the one,” confirmed Kora. “Having lost to the Queen Bitch herself was bad enough, but she won’t shut up about it. As if finally breaking Uncle Naggy’s win streak of 362 victories in a row by winning on a technicality was something worth bragging about!”

It would appear that the two Overlords have some sort of rivalry going on. Although Boxxy had no idea what this ‘5-dimensional Tic Tac Toe’ was, it sounded rather complicated to say the least. The fact that the Archfiend was apparently good enough to rival the ultimate succubus sounded strangely impressive. As expected, Punchy’s performance really was top-of-the-line.

Still, this provided some rather interesting insight to the young Warlock. It made sense that Punchy would be pissed off if he was pulled away from something he found fun. Then again, he’d probably rampage all on his own regardless of when he was summoned, so Boxxy didn’t particularly fret over it.

“How do I make an appointment?” it asked.

“Just give Carl a call, I’m sure he can set it up.”

“Oh! Great idea, Arms!”

“Now there are 3 words I never expected to hear,” mumbled the wide-eyed Xera. Then again, the two simpletons always were on a rather similar wavelength. One of violence and not thinking things through properly, but a wavelength nonetheless.

“Okay, I’ll be busy talking to Carl so don’t bother me unless it’s an emergency,” commanded Boxxy out loud for Fizzy’s benefit. “Keep watch on those three, especially the one on the left. He’s awake and pretending to be asleep.”

The three girls then set about keeping a watchful eye on the prisoners as Boxxy mind-dialed Demons ‘R’ Us.

1-800-7355-9687-7685

*Ring-ring*

*Ring-ring*

*Click*

“Hello, you’ve reached Demons ‘R’ Us. My name is Carl and I’ll be- Oh, hey Boxxy!”

“You knew it was me?”

“Yeah, I asked the boss to install some Caller ID so that I know when it’s you on the line.”

“What’s a Caller ID? Is it tasty?”

“Kind of, yeah,” answered the demon without a drop of hesitation. It would appear Carl had also become somewhat of an expert on Mimicanese.

“So, what can I help you with today, buddy?”

“I want to make an appointment.”

“An appointment?!” asked Carl without even trying to hide the surprise in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m about to summon an unbound demon with a ritual.”

“Ohhh! Right, of course! Sorry about that, it was an unusual request so it caught me a bit off guard.”

“Really? Arms said this was normal though.”

“Well, it’s proper procedure, but it’s hardly common practice,” he explained with a sigh. “Mortals usually avoid calling us once the contract is set up, you know. That bad habit of theirs gets them into all heaps of trouble.”

“I see…”

“Alrighty then, who is it you want to make an appointment with?”

“Liusolra.”

“Another Overlord, huh?” mumbled Carl.

*Tak taktak tak takatak*

“And how will you be performing the summoning?”

Boxxy briefly pondered why that was a question. Were there perhaps other ways to call forth the four demonic Overlords? That did seem to be the case now that it thought back on the time it made the deal not to summon Punchy ever again.

“I’ll be doing the Offering.”

“... You’re not using your familiars as collateral, right?” asked Carl in a rather stern voice.