D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Kat blinked after finishing her thought and reopened her eyes to an empty field. Apparently Malve had been a bit too scared by her intimidation efforts. *Well… I guess that means I can't ask her for lodging recommendations or double check what the guards orders are regarding me. Seems I let the fight get to my head a bit because I did NOT check to see if Eleanora had ordered everyone to stand down before the fight. Well I was still thinking this was a real fight before the midway conversation…*

Kat sighed and repositioned Eleanora to a princess carry. Kat needed her wings free to fly around for a bit and think. Kicking off the ground took them a good deal of the way into the air and soon she was flying around, hopefully out of range for anyone that would bother them. Kat still didn't know what she wanted to do, but that was fine. For the moment she was just glad that Eleanora and her armour weren't too much weight to fly with.

Kat lazily circled around the town for some time, just letting herself think of nothing. It was late but she wasn't exactly tired. The fight had been exhausting sure but the anti-climax at the end left her burning with energy and no place to put it. There was still time to get to sleep and Kat knew she could skip it if necessary. As it stood, the plan currently was to just pick a roof or a tree at midnight if nothing better appeared in her mind.

Eventually, she did find her mind stuck on an interesting topic. *Could Eleanora have killed me if she was trying? No, D.E.M.O.N.S would prevent it and I'm too hard to instantly kill for it to fail to grab me and my regeneration means I'm not going to bleed out. New question… could she have triggered that grab though? Could she have damaged me enough that I'd need to be summoned again.*

Kat turned the idea over in her head as she glanced down at Eleanora. The elf was sleeping calmly without a care in the world… and seemingly unaffected by the chill. Kat hadn't been thinking of that before either but for someone more normal it was probably freezing. Regardless of that, Eleanora wasn't exactly normal and her ice affinity was probably helping her out. That or enchantments.

Once that slight worry dissipated Kat went back to focusing on Eleanora's fighting style. It was surprisingly versatile and her affinities blended in a way that made her an amazingly tough opponent. For as neat as Lily's affinities were, their combination was mostly theoretical and likely not beyond any of them individually with sufficient time and study.

Eleanora on the other hand, was deadly at nearly all ranges. Her metal affinity meant getting in melee range without regeneration was liable to get you filled with spikes. Her metal affinity supported her ice one by giving a solid backing to any ice constructs and an amazing base for channelling longer distance attack spells. Her regeneration brought it all together. The hands were fancy, but what likely made them viable from a mana perspective was the fact that damage to them meant damage to Eleanora. Damage she could heal.

Her only 'weakness' were the extremely long distance fights that Malve seemingly specialised in but Kat was sure those giant hands could throw equally giants spears and whatnot if you tried to take range. They'd also be able to block attacks fairly effectively. It would still damage Eleanora, but not all that much.

One thing that offset the fact Eleanora's fake and real hands took damage at the same time was the size difference. A giant person sized spear going through one of those hands would be the equivalent of a needle to Eleanora's real hands and more minor damage was even easier to heal. Large cuts that would bleed rivers had the hands been real was really just a small cut on the side of her hands.

Kat found herself once again wishing she had a proper ranged option. *Maybe I should try some techniques then? See if I can work something out that isn't just 'throw demonic fire at it and hope for the best'. I'll need to see if there's something I can come up with to practice or if I'm stuck in close range. I mean… that might just be a weakness I'm stuck with forever but hopefully I can work something out.*

Still, none of this answered the question. Could Eleanora 'kill' her if she was really trying? That… was a lot harder to figure out. The hands and feet, for all that they did have some sharp edges on occasion with the nails and heals… were ultimately blunt instruments. Only when Eleanora cast additional spells did they get any sort of cutting component to them and a lot of the attacks revolved slamming someone into the ground, which, for someone of Kat's durability is surprisingly squishy and liable to giving way.

Kat considered this as she slowly angled herself towards the outskirts of town and a few trees. She wanted to test out some ideas for long ranged attacks and might as well get started while she considered the problem. It was tougher then she thought but as Kat started to dip down Kat reached a conclusion.

*Yes, but only if she was more willing to use her metal affinity. Turning the gloves into a makeshift iron maiden to deal some more serious damage would be a concern. Even if most of the spikes break against my bones like a bunch of those from her personal armour she'd just need enough of them that get to organs to do some proper damage. Plus, if she was willing to shake me around a bit and make those wounds a lot worse? That'd probably take me out.

I can't really see Eleanora ever attempting such a thing… but yes, it seems like she was technically holding back against me. It would interesting to know if she ever brings out such tactics against monsters and perhaps truly unrepentant criminals or if she's never used those sorts of tactics. I suppose it's not too different to myself. I can use demonic energy for a LOT more than I currently do… but it just doesn't seem like a good way to go.*

Kat touched down on the ground and found a nice set of roots to set Eleanora down beside. Kat brought out a blanket from her storage ring that was rated for the outdoors and placed it over Eleanora. Kat frowned a bit and considered a few things before pulling out a picnic blanket and a few rubber bands. Wrapping them around the blanket she placed it behind Eleanora's head and nodded. Good enough.

Kat then turned to the nearest tree and got ready to test her idea for a water gun. It relied on a combination of her regeneration and her partial water transformation. Kat pointed a finger at the tree and tried to focus her water transformation on just that finger… and failed instead transforming her whole hand and 'burning' her nerves at the same time.

Kat spent a few minutes fixing the issue with the nerves and then decided to do a basic test for her 'water gun' idea. Kat pointed an open palm at the tree and focused on creating more water. It worked… slowly. The water formed up around her hand and didn't really go anywhere and it was only a trickle of water really. Enough to water the garden with but certainly not enough to deal any damage, even to a normal person.

Frowning Kat tried to control the extra water as a means of attack but that failed spectacularly as well. For some reason she could only control the water for around ten metres. She knew for a face that limit didn't apply when she was entirely made of water but for some reason partial transformation really neutered the range. Worse, she couldn't exactly build up much speed with it either.

Kat could, at best, leave light scratches on the bark and even that took a lot of focus and ensuring she was within seven metres of the attack. Kat could do more damage faster but just running up to the tree and kicking it! *So much for a range option. Maybe I can get something working if I can focus the transformation down to just a finger? Maybe a fingernail? I want like… one of those waterjet cutters. Then again… they don't exactly have a lot of range either?

Maybe I should be working on freezing my water to make ice projectiles? Though… while other people can freeze my water with mana I've never had an issue with my demonic energy. Is that a safety mechanism I'm automatically imposing on myself or because I am the water, I'm also immune to my old demonic energy? It'd be annoying if I had to like… retract my control, freeze the water and then hit the ice away. That's probably not going to be efficient and I doubt the ice will be that sharp or damaging… hmm… time for practice I suppose.*