Chapter 42: Conflict in the Team

Chapter 42: Conflict in the Team

Gem was confident in his special ability. It was something that would take his clan members years to develop. A strong and versatile ability that allowed one to create a semi-sentient shadow.

That shadow also grew stronger at night. "Let's go to the outskirts."

He didn't want the villagers or anyone else to notice any conflicts in the team. The demon might take advantage of this.

There was something about the crispy cold and soft winds of the night that made one feel strange. Darkness wasn't humanity's friend, and demons were usually stronger during the night. But the Kuro Clan always thrived in darkness. They made darkness their strongest weapon.

"This should be far enough." Gem stopped and turned to face Kon. Who still had a relaxed posture. His hands were in his pockets. As if all of this was just a game to him.

Gem couldn't lie to himself; there was something off-putting about the whole thing.

Kon, as a paranoid guy, should be worried about this. Yet he seemed as if he was more relaxed than when he was sleeping.

"Aren't you going to use Promotion?" He asked, almost mockingly.

'This pisses me the fuck off!'

"Bets! We're on enemy territory, right?!" Gem gathered his Ord and poured it all into the shadows around him. Darkness itself started moving.

"I don't know about that," Bets scratched his head.

"There might be an enemy around us, and we don't know his position. So we're under enemy territory," Kon intervened and offered his opinion.

Bets seemed convinced, and that was all the confirmation Gem needed. "Promotion, Queen!"

"Queen?" Agon looked at him weirdly.

But Gem concentrated as a new burst of Ord poured from the deepest part of his soul. Like last time, it was too much Ord for him to control.

So he blasted the Ord toward the shadows and used his Special Ability. Shadows rose high as a beast towering over the trees rose. It was a wolf made of shadows.

Kon whistled and was about to say something. But Gem didn't let him and controlled his shadow wolf to attack.

Despite its size, the beast was almost weightless as it was made of shadows. But the beauty of the technique was that despite the beast lacking weight, it still had a lot of power.

In less than 1/10th of a second, before anyone could even blink. The beast was in front of Kon, and chomped down on him. The shadows swallowed his body.

"Oy! Be careful!" Bets said harshly. He had narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a death match."

"Don't worry. He won't die," Gem reassured him. 'Though he will be hurt a bunch.'

A bright light shined, and it felt like it was daytime. Just as soon as the shadow beast had reached Kon, it burst like a balloon and Gem felt his Ord dissipate into nothingness.

"What?"

***

Information was power. That statement never rang truer than now. I knew weaknesses of Gem's ability that he had no idea about.

Amongst us, only Agon was peeking from the sidelines. He was like a confused kid. There was a look on his face that showed he didn't understand anything.

When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a thumbs-up and nodded. "Yeah, by my calculations, everything should go as planned."

Did he just try acting as if he understood anything?

I smiled back politely and put my fish in the water. "If you see anything out there. Make sure to come back and notify us."

My familiar swam away immediately, giving no indication that he even understood me.

"You sure he's gonna come back?" Agon asked.

"Of course he will," Bets nodded as if it was an obvious thing. "Since it is a weak familiar, the power dynamics are completely in Kon's favor."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Agon exclaimed and smiled at me. "You're a really smart guy, ain't ya?"

Well, one thing's for sure. They're giving me way too much credit.

The power dynamics in our 'contract' between me and the carp was that of equals. When I created the link, I already assumed that Carpy would one day become a dragon. Trust me; you don't want to try jailing a dragon.

Suddenly my eyes felt scratchy, and there was an indescribable feeling of foreboding. Closing my eyes, instead of seeing only darkness an underwater view greeted me.

It was as if I was a fish.

Vision Sharing was the first stage showing the bond between a demon and its master deepening.

Yes! I have made progress!

This confirmed that the carp had grown to become a lingering spirit, which proved that my method was working.

Before this, I had always been a little nervous, as the carp hadn't shown any signs of changing. Besides getting a little bigger. With my self-condition of death, I wouldn't even be able to have another familiar.

But my joy was cut short as a humanoid shape became apparent in the dark underwaters.

What was that?

Though I wanted my familiar to not get closer to the humanoid being. But I couldn't control him directly, since our contract was one between equals.

Still, I tried to send my emotions and intentions through the link we shared. But for some reason, he didn't respond. Was I doing it wrong? Maybe I should have practiced this more.

Damn it! Get away you damn fish!

As he got closer, I got a better look at the humanoid figure. It had rotten gray flesh and looked like a humanoid fish with googly eyes.

Shit, that's a demon!

The demon turned its head toward me. Or more correctly toward Carpy, the swimming fish.

The creature extended its hand toward Carpy.