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

Chapter 2313 Monster Movie Magic

--- Kat ---

"Alright... you can resume things whenever, I think I have an idea. Hopefully Rose gets on board... though actually, regardless of what she picks I think this can work out," said Amaranth after what might have been ten minutes of silence. Though did it really count as ten minutes if time was frozen?

Regardless of that fact, Thyme nodded, "Alright that’s all good then. Time will be resuming in 3, 2, 1." Then with a snap of their fingers Thyme vanished and things were no longer greyscale.

Kat was going to ask what was with the ’Thyme out’ line from before, just to mess with Amaranth but apparently the dryad had other ideas. She started to rise up out of the water, masses of vines creeping around as her face distorted. "Aw, you broke the game. I wanted to play more... still, THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO HAVE FUN!"

As Amaranth started to yell her mouth widened until it literally split her face in two. Her skin morphing into jagged teeth-like edges as the vines from the room she had control over exploded into motion, plunging down towards Kat as the entire house structure seemed to wiggle. Still... it was hard to truly be scared. That long chat with Thyme showed her that Amaranth was a kid, or something close to it in dryad terms... and Kat had to admit. It was kind of a fun idea.

Fire exploded out from around Kat, and she let her demonic energy sink into her own vocal cords. "Oh? A game is it... well alright we can play!" Amaranth faltered a bit as Kat’s demonic voice washed over the area. After slicing through several vines with her fans, Kat paused to look at Amaranth, and winked, slowly and in real time.

Amaranth clearly noticed this because her slight falter became a full one, vines paused ion process as her jaw clacked shut for a few moments before she nodded. "right... right... RIGHT! Let’s GO! NO HARD FEELINGS! HAHAHAHA!" Amaranth restarted her movement as the wooden walls that the vines had covered were destroyed by more plants breaking through into the central room.

Kat became a whirlwind, spinning through the vines as they approached. None had been reinforced and her fans cut through them like butter... but even with Kat’s unorthodox technique, some were still creeping in due to numbers. One wrapped around Kat’s foot, and just as it was tightening Lily acted.

A large skeleton holding a scythe appeared over Kat’s shoulders and swung down, severing dozens of vines in one clean motion before vanishing. A bit costly, but they were playing things up for the fun of it and nothing actually dangerous had come there way just yet. Kat wasn’t even putting up enough demonic fire to freeze anything, it was there purely for effect.

Eventually, the pair started to fight their way towards the exit, they needed to pick Appoline up after all. Seeing this, Amaranth started phase two of the fight. She’s apparently been using the endless waves of vines to get used to walking around on the vines that made up her legs, and she started to charge after them. Well, charge might be the wrong word. It was a little bit more like watching a drunk man try to walk down a straight hallway, but the intense screaming and horror adjacent imagery did make it seem... a touch scarier then it would’ve been otherwise. Probably.

Kat laughed as she exploded through the door. It hadn’t been reinforced by vines at all and it was a lot like running through Styrofoam, splintering around her figure as soon as she put a bit of effort into the movement. Apparently this was a signal for things as well, because the rest of the house exploded as the vines stopped trying to contain themselves at all. A wall of the things rushed to slam down where Kat was.

So time for some real demonic fire. Kat let out a long breath, pouring demonic energy into it all the way, bursting into flames and colliding with the magically empowered vines. They were set alight immediately, the flames freezing them as they spread fast... way faster then they should. Probably more shenanigans like Amaranth pulling the magic out of them or something. Still, it made for an amazing sight.

Hundreds of vines, all pointed down towards Kat, now frozen in complete stillness. Frost covered the ground just from the reduction in ambient temperature, and for a moment... the world felt like it had frozen over instead of just the vines. Then it all changed when a giant hand made of wood shattered the ice, forcing its ways forward as it slammed through them and into the ground pulling whatever it was connected to forward.

That ’thing’ seemed to be the whole house. It had been contorted into some sort of tree golem crab thing. The remnants of the house acted as the central point, with the massive hole from where Kat had broken through it looking a bit like a mouth and the glowing windows above it the eyes. Two hands made out of wood were coming from the sides, vines for the arms, wood for the hands. The feet were just and endless mass of vines, and looking ready to scuttle over...

That was until a glass jar came in from the right and exploded into more fire. Oh right Appoline. The fire burned, bright and fast as it consumed the arm it had landed on as well as a good chunk of the house. The second arm had to rip off a large chunk of the first to get the fire away. Amaranth hurled the secondary arm off the island they were on into the distance...

And at exactly the same time a blinding light came from that same direction, reaching... not upwards into the sky, but sideways into the lightning at the centre of the mountain. It felt like weird ass timing and even the tree golem paused to look at the beam. Seconds past before it finally faded... and a lot of the adrenaline wore off in that time. Seems it’s the same for Amaranth because the golem quickly collapsed.

Amaranth back at original size popped out and landed halfway between the golem and everything else, pouting. "That was so much fun and some fancy light show had to ruin it!"

"Sorry," Kat said with a shrug, and a glance over at Appoline who was readying another shot. Kat quickly shook her head before focusing back on the dryad. "Just how it goes sometimes."

"Yeah yeah, well whatever, you’ve defeated me or something. There’s a second portal in that greenhouse over there so... just move on I guess. I’m gonna have to clean all this up now. Blegh..." grumbled Amaranth.

Kat waved Appoline over visibly. The elf gave her a confused look, one that Kat missed, but seeing that Kat had already turned back to Amaranth, who Appoline could now see properly, she wasn’t going to question it. She could hear the two talking... and this seemed to have been a game or something? Appoline was confused... but...

After running over she could yell out to ask, "So... can I take some of your ingredients then? A lot make for good potions, and we never quite got permission for that."

Amaranth shrugged, "Eh... hmm... not too much. I might get in trouble if you take too much... but hmmm... what’s even fair at this point? Twelve? I like the number twelve so let’s say twelve ingredient things,"

Appoline didn’t question that. Nor ask what counted as an ingredient... she simply nodded... while looking over at the wreck of a house that was now collapsed onto the ground. "And that over there isn’t going to get you in trouble?"

Amaranth shrugged, "It shouldn’t? It was allowed that’s for sure,"

Appoline narrowed her eyes before turning to Kat and asking, "Is she a kid?"

"Basically," Kat answered.

Amaranth pouted at this, but decided not to correct them. For all she could likely claim to be older than them chronologically, she wasn’t quite so blind as to not recognise she was considered a child by quite a lot of people. Still... "You two do know I can hear you right? And that I’m letting you raid my gardens before leaving, plus telling you about the second portal?"

"Actually, why did you mention that?" asked Kat.

Amaranth shrugged, "Cause I wasn’t really trying to hide it? Don’t know where you’re going so I can’t say it’s the correct way to go, but thought I might as well bring it up."

Kat glanced at Appoline who shrugged. "Well, I did see a few things I want to grab. Probably stock up with ten then check the new greenhouse. Know you don’t want to stick around here too long."

"Right..." Kat said slowly. "Want some cookies while Appoline goes looking for those ingredients?"

"You really think I can be bribed with cookies?" asked Amaranth.

"Technically, we already got the information so it’s not a bribe," Kat argued.

"Shame because I can totally be bribed with cookies," grinned Amaranth.