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

--- Kat ---

A bit of finagling later and everyone was passed the blockage without getting injured. With the spiderweb gone, no glass on the floor, and a clear shot forward the group made good time. The tunnel lacked a lot of the curves, even slight ones, for a good while. The group was able to really pick up the pace and make some good time.

The thing is? When the tunnel became slightly less forgiving? It went straight from 'completely safe' to a real problem. It all started with the space expanding into a large hall. Unlike back with the red moss you couldn't even see the far walls. The ceiling was high above them and the walls were even further out.

It almost gave the impression of being outside once again.

About five minutes of good progress later, things went wrong. Nobody was to blame really. Hunter and Bower were both excellent hunters and trackers. They were keeping an eye out for any traps or monsters. They were ready to warn people at the slightest sign that something was going wrong.

So when the floor bellow them cracked without warning, everyone was well and truly surprised. Everyone picked up speed, now with bigger things to worry about then potential problems. The ground beneath their feet was cracking… but it seemed to be keeping together for now. Nobody needed to make any calls out loud, everyone knew what to do.

Kat swept Bower up into her arms, Lily dropped down into his lap, and Kamiko was similarly swept up by Hunter. The group rocketed forward as quickly as possible, the ground withstanding their furious pace despite the cracks… until suddenly Kat heard an exceptionally loud sound above them.

It was almost like thunder. It rang out in a big boom that seemed to ring in the ears. Looking up at the ceiling revealed the source. Kat still couldn't see the edges of the room… but it was clear that the ceiling had come loose. "HUNTER!" shouted Kat as she threw those she was carrying at the lamia.

Hunter reacted swiftly, throwing Kamiko up and transforming into her snake form, catching everyone on her back. It slowed her down somewhat but Bower and Kamiko managed to land well, slipping into Hunter's back even as Kat launched herself up into the air. "KEEP LOW!" shouted Kat.

And a moment later she felt her hands impact the ceiling. It was completely solid and gave no quarter against her hands. Kat knew she couldn't really slow the thing down, her wings nowhere near strong enough for that. Still, Kat had to try even as she accelerating towards the ground at an ever-increasing speed.

Kat didn't have long to position herself properly, but she managed it. Legs bent slightly to absorb the impact of landing, head tilted slightly to the side so that it would impact her cheek before her nose and forehead. It was all Kat could do. She could hear Lily panicking mentally through the link but Kat didn't have the mental bandwidth to focus on that right now.

Kat let the demonic body in her body circulate and seep into her muscles, empowering herself as much as possible… just in time for her to make contact with the floor. Kat felt her everything shudder for a moment before her arms gave out and the ceiling fell further. The glass shattering around her horns.

As soon as the weight impacted her face Kat felt herself getting pushed down, her knees creaking… and then the floor cracked. Kat found her legs driven into the glass flooring, shards digging into her lower limbs as they were quickly encased, black blood seeping into the cracks.

Kat was just barely able to keep enough of her wits to angle the ceiling slightly away from the rest of the group and as she did so… Kat felt something strange. For the first time, in perhaps ever… she could feel the film. That slight film that allowed you to pick up things without them just folding in the middle. It was stretched over a good chunk of the ceiling… but not the whole thing.

Kat was strong. She had plenty of demonic energy for a Rank 3 with regeneration above even that… but it was simply too much area. She had no manual control over the film and her body just didn't put enough energy into the process to cover the whole thing. She wasn't even close. Kat was lucky the whole thing was solid enough not to NEED the reinforcement.

It meant that when she pushed the ceiling back and to the left slightly she was able to do so.

Of course, that was Kat's limit. She felt herself being pushed further down as her back screamed in pain. She wasn't capable of holding the damned thing like this. Kat pushed her arms upwards, hoping to take some weight off her back and failing. Grimacing, Kat found herself being driving lower… so she flipped over.

Kat bit back a scream as the much more delicate bones and ligaments in her back were crushed. Not quite destroyed, but certainly not in good condition. Even still, this new position let her arms rest against the glass on the ground and keep the ceiling in place.

The combination of all four limbs supporting her and the fact the ceiling was resting at least some of its weight on the ground meant this was… hopefully enough.

Kat let out a long breath, blood pounding in her ears as she tried to look around… only to find blood pouring over her eyes. *Dammit. Can't see through the blood but I'm alive at least.*

[Kat?!]

*Guess I'm back? Or at least. I can hear you Lily and I'm paying attention now. Are you all alright?*

[Yeah, we're all fine… but what about you?!]

*Ok… so… I'm alright? For now at least. My arms are shaking a bit and I'm burning demonic energy but I've got some time and I don't think I'm at risk of dying. How are things on your end?*

[Well you managed to avoid the ceiling falling on us. We did have to lean right over. Bower and Kamiko are basically laying down while Hunter pulls us along and I'm squished under Bower's arm. Might be best to move now it's safe… but I'm not sure we can afford the time. I can't see an exit… but I don't exactly have a good view at the moment.]

[Ok… um… how long can you last? Wait… dammit I'll need to transform to let everyone know! That's gonna slow us down. Not good, but maybe needs to be done. Um… so yeah how long do you have? Though… you're gonna be fine right?]

*Um… loosing energy pretty fast. I'm going to run out in… maybe five minutes? It's sort of hard to tell because while I'm loosing at a fairly fast rate you're also supplying me some. Which offsets a good chunk of the losses… but I also know your demonic reserves are only around half of mine.

Look. It involves math I don't really have the capability to think about right now. Let's just say that I've got a bit of time but not forever. So… we need to work out a plan I guess.*

[What's… what's going to happen if you run out of energy?]

*Well the ceiling is going to come down… but the glass around my feet is also broken. So it'd be super painful… but I think I can squeeze down into the hole I've dug for myself. Can't really see it right now because of the blood in my eyes… but I think I'll be fine? My legs up just pat my knees are currently in the glass.*

[Wait… ARE YOU BLEEDING OUT!]

*Yes. It's one of the other reasons I'm not sure how long my reserves will last. I'm not technically taking more damage but my regeneration is slowly working the glass out… but I'm not sure if it can get the glass all the way out. Might not be enough space around my legs right now and I can't risk moving them to check. I don't expect it to be deadly… but it IS happening.*

[Dammit Kat! Do we need to come back and help you?]

*No keep going. We don't know how far away the exit is and I'm not sure what the heck 'd do even if I got a bit of help. I say you try to get as close to the exit as you can… and if we get to… say a minute out? Yeah a minute out on my reserves everyone will have to work together to dig a hole for you guys as well. I'll live.*

[Ok. I'll let the others know but I want YOU to know that I'm really not happy with this. If I thought there was a better way to handle everything I would totally be yelling at you right now… but I'm mostly just scared. I don't know how else we would've managed to deal with this. I don't think we had the time to dig down…]