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

--- Kat ---

So it turns out? Carry a giant rock that ways at least a tonne has a few problems that weren't quite so obvious at the start. The first one Kat noticed was that it completely destroyed her balance. Before, when she was lifting heavy things it wasn't so bad.

Kat didn't know if her demonic energy compensated the same way it did to allow her to grab things from the middle, some other shenanigans, or she just weighed sufficiently more then normal to offset it.

Whatever this rock weighed? It was too much for that system. Kat had tried to move it to a more comfortable spot on one shoulder and found herself being pulled off her feet. The rock slamming into the ground beside her… and Kat was left handing sideways from it as if she was attempting to do some strange exercises.

That took some fiddling, and a touch of assistance from the other girls, but Kat did eventually come up with something that worked. It was once again over the shoulder but instead of having the weight rest just there, Kat had to hold it so that the rest of the rock was leaning over hear head.

A touch concerning considering what might happen if she dropped it… but angling it too far to the front or back meant she just fell over.

Walking with the rock on her shoulder was also a pain. Kat found she had to constantly adjust the angle she was holding it at to ensure that she wasn't simply pulled over. Her tail helped immensely as it was able to poke the rock into place essentially automatically. It wasn't quite perfect, so Kat needed to pay some attention but it got the job ninety percent of the way done for her.

Which while great, wasn't actually the end of her problems. Turns out… a giant rock does not fit between trees all that well. Kat knew that, she could see that before she picked up the rock. Kat didn't really know why she thought it wouldn't be a problem… perhaps the angle? Regardless as soon as Kat started to walk confidently she knocked into two trees.

Kat had, falsely, assumed it was just some branches and pushed forward with some further force, taking down two nearby trees in the process and causing Meg to burst into laughter.

Kat growled and, carefully, let the rock down to the ground. Kat didn't quite manage it because she fell over partway through, kicking Meg's giggling up another notch, but it was fine. "So… that didn't exactly go as planned… and now I'm wondering why you all let me get that far into testing things…"

"I… um… I didn't realise it would be an issue," mumbled Kamiko.

"Same," added Lily.

"I simply did not consider the issue fully," admitted Hunter.

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"I think it's hilarious!" said Meg with a grin once she recovered from her laughter. "I mean, I could sort of tell it was going to be a problem… but this amused me so like, why point it out? I mean, nobody got hurt and there's nothing important around to save from damage,"

Kat sighed but nodded along. "Ok, so it's not a huge deal… but what are we going to do? We can't even make use of the lake or bubble idea because we'd need to plough through large amounts of forest. I mean… we can but would it be bad?" asked Kat.

"I don't rightly know," said Bower after a few seconds. "I obviously don't think it would be a desirable outcome. I do hunt in these woods after all and destroying a large amount of the trees in the area for something like this doesn't sit all that well… but it may still be the least bad option. Breaking the rock here would likely cause considerably more disruption.

I am now wondering if it would be worth the risk to try for a bubble as a middle ground. The closest water source I know, that isn't a small river, is at least two days away, perhaps three,"

"Right…" said Kat "Any other suggestions for moving this around?"

"Um…" Lily uttered dragging attention her way. Gulping slightly at the attention she really should've known she would acquire Lily continued after a few moments to gather herself. "So… I don't know if I can but I could try lifting the rock with my shadow? I'm not quite so limited by my own height in that case…"

"Go ahead," said Kat with a bow as she walked away from the rock.

Lily gave a fragile smile and moved over, transforming into her Memphis form for maximum control. Once in place Lily took in a deep breath and then moved her shadow out and under the rock. A deep breath later and she tried to push it up… and succeeded. Lily could feel the strain, it was almost like she was lifting it herself but she managed to keep going.

From outside you could see wisps of shadow falling off her like droplets of rain, Lily was visible shaking and the shadow construct she had lifting the rock quivered occasionally. Eventually Lily did manage to get it up above the trees… but Lily already knew this wasn't going to work. It took a massive amount of effort and her mana was draining fast.

Lily decided to back up and put the rock down. She carefully started to lower it only for her shadows to give out. One moment there was a cracking sound as a bright line of white scraped through the shadow pillar and then suddenly Lily's shadow was reeled back into place, and Lily collapsed.

Kat ran over and picked Lily up swiftly but her girlfriend just transformed back. Kat had to quickly adjust to suddenly having a girl in her hands instead of a cat, but it was fine. "Urgh… nope. I can't do it. Even if I could trust myself to lift it for long enough to, which I obviously can't, the mana expenditure was massive.

I had… maybe five minutes of carrying the thing… but that's just while standing still. Probably worse when walking,"

"Right… well, any other ideas?" asked Kat as she pulled Lily close and gave her a quick kiss.

"Um… I… well… I doubt it will work but you… could try flying with it? Now you're Rank 4… it… may be possible?" offered Kamiko.

Kat shrugged, careful not to move Lily when she did so and said, "Eh maybe? I mean I can check in a few moments when Lily's recovered a bit more but yeah I doubt it will work. I'll want help getting it in position again though,"

Lily returned Kat's kiss and then 'fell' out of Kat's arms, wobbling slightly as she did so. Lily half stumbled her way over to a tree to lean on but gave Kat an encouraging smile. Kat frowned at that but nodded and gestured for Meg and Hunter to help. Same set-up as before with one in front of Kat, and one behind her.

They'd had some practice with this now and it didn't take long for the rock to once again be on Kat's shoulder.

Kat took a few steps backwards with it just to be away from all of the trees just in case. "Make sure not to get too close. Not sure if my balance will be any good even if I can take off," said Kat.

Kat couldn't really look backwards because the rock was pressing against her face so she waited a few more seconds and trusted nobody was being an idiot. Kat started to flap her wings as she normally would and it didn't take long to realise that was doing just about nothing. Upping the amount of effort she was putting in Kat pushed her wings harder and harder, looking for any amount of lift.

Kat kept going until her wings were starting to burn and then pushed a bit further… still nothing.

Kat lifted herself up onto her tiptoes and then let herself fall back onto her heels… and there might have been something there? Kat pushed a bunch of demonic energy into her wings at that point, hoping it would make up the difference. At this point she was blowing a massive amount of air around the nearby area, trees were angling away from her and everyone had taken even more space.

Kat kept pushing and then, just for a moment, she left the ground.

Kat's joy at her minimal success was only a minor distraction but that was all that was necessary to send Kat back down to the ground. Kat cursed out loud. "Dammit, so close. That's… that's SO much more weight then I could handle before. I didn't really test it at Rank 3 but even at Rank 2 I couldn't even really carry people. Just… dammit we were so close,"

Kat sighed as she put the rock down. "Is there anyway we can make it a bit lighter?"