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

There was a short exchange after the group passed the inner sect retreat, but Lian was clear that Meng and Bang had a more personal home higher up the mountain with some vaults for relics, and that Bing had to be in one of those. Kat upped her speed a bit hearing that, yet still feeling no pull on her soul because of the contract.

*Is it because the contract can tell I'm already doing my best? Or is it that Bodeir isn't in any trouble just yet. Or heck, does the Contract even work that way? I'm pretty sure it does. System? What's the word on that.*

User Kat will experience minor pain that increases in intensity if User Kat considers taking steps that will break the Contract. Contract does not provide any inherent tracking abilities for target. If a Contract did, then Users with tracking abilities would be unnecessary.

*Well… that's somewhat nice to know I suppose. I could've sworn that I felt a connection between… no that connection would've been with the old man that summoned us and Bodeir Sr because it was on his orders, so even if those links could be traced properly, because I'm protecting Bodeir Jr they don't actually help. A shame.*

Lily didn't have anything to add. She just kept practicing the feeling of bringing up her spells. She didn't want to be a burden… but based on the fact that nobody except Kat could see through the illusion on Fake Meng it was looking likely that they were going to be fighting another Rank 4. The last Rank 4 had nearly killed Kat, if not for her last minute ability, and luck pushing Kat to Rank 3 herself.

Lily wasn't confident in the spell she was practicing, it was an attempt to give herself something defensive, a big wall of paper that was made of stacks and stacks of the stuff. It probably wouldn't stop a Rank 4 if they were serious, and Lily hadn't tested the spell in a practice range, let alone in a proper fight. She'd been too busy mastering her attacks spells. It seemed more useful when combat was in the far future… but it was clear that defensive options were more useful in the now.

Lian was just trying to keep herself calm, and trying not to waste qi. She was shivering slightly. She desperately needed a coat, but Kat and Lily hadn't noticed and she wasn't going to get them to stop. Because of this, her qi was trying to keep her warm… but she was actively stopping that. Lian wasn't quite full on qi yet, and she certainly didn't want to burn away precious energy just because she was a bit chilly so she remained silent on the matter, trying to disguise the shivering as nerves. Perhaps if Lily could see her, or Kat wasn't so worked up someone would've noticed.

Kat breaking through the clouds didn't help matters either, drenching Lian in condensation, her dress now clinging to her. It was only wet for a few moments before the rush of the wind, and the cold froze it to her skin in patches. Lian was now starting to think she might have to stop.

Kat finally noticed, when she could hear the chattering of Lian's teeth. "Lian, are you alright?" asked Kat, even though she could tell Lian very much wasn't.

"I'll be fine, we need to get to Bing promptly and we've still got a bit of travel before we reach her private residence, let alone breaking into the bolt. I can put something on later," said Lian.

Kat frowned, and summoned up her demonic fire, putting all of her mental energy towards it NOT burning Lian. The flames listened, and Lian soon found herself shivering for a different reason. As pleasant as these flames might have been for the moment, her senses were screaming at her that they were a danger she could not overcome. Well, that and they didn't do anything to stop the cold at all.

"That's not working Kat. I don't know how you made fire cold, but you did! Can't you turn the heat up on it?" hissed Lian through chattering teeth.

Kat winced at the reprimand, "No… I'm afraid I can only make my flames cold. I'm an ice aligned demon I guess? Apparently the most I can do is stop them burning you. I have an aura that would help you relax… but if that relaxed you so much you fell asleep it would be really bad… I'm not sure what to do. You said you didn't want to stop to put on a coat, and… that's… well it's not fine exactly but acceptable for now. Possibly. Are you sure we can't stop?"

Lian shook her head, "No, time is of the essence,"

"Don't you have like a blanket or something?" asked Kat.

"Hmm… I might actually…" mumbled Lian. Diving into her storage ring she managed to find a few jumpers, but no blankets. Lian was about to give up, when she noticed a sleeping bag. Good enough. She summoned it into her hands and worked her freezing fingers around the buttons, slowly peeling open and one minor fight with the wind later she was insulated. Not warm, but at least the wind wasn't making things worse.

"Can you… I dunno curse yourself to be hot?" asked Kat.

Lian shook her head rapidly, "No. I could probably curse myself to be cold, taking away heat as it was… but without preparation and a few notable things to sacrifice I can't increase my temperature that way. Plus, I already have curses on myself, you have to be careful how they mix together lest you get something you don't want…"

"You have curses on yourself?" asked Kat.

Lian winced, "Well… a few… one to stop hair growing where I don't want it… another to… god I can't believe I'm telling you this… it has to be the cold… but one to make me infertile so I don't have to deal with menstrual cramps, mine used to be really quite bad. I have another one that makes me immune to a lot of diseases by making my blood a bit too hostile for them… so… yeah.

"If I tried to get something to warm me up without prep I could end up with a supercharged reproduction system that eats the rest of my body, or perhaps one that makes the hair on my head molten hot, or I could start boiling the blood in my veins. Too risky. Much too risky."

"Holy shit Lian…" whispered Kat. "I hope that infertility curse isn't permanent"

"Eh… it probably isn't? It's not GOOD for me that's for sure. Even if I eventually remove the curse, I will still have a womb and ovaries filled with curse qi. Which is great for my cultivation… not so great for my prospects involving children," admitted Lian.

"Does Bing know?" asked Kat.

"Not… not exactly?" admitted Lian. "God I must be loopier then I thought if I'm sharing stuff I haven't even told Bing… maybe I should tell her…"

"Well why didn't you? And why do it at all?" asked Kat before pausing, "Not that… well not that there's anything wrong with not wanting children… as an orphanage girl myself I know there are plenty of kids you can adopt if motherhood still calls to you… but it just doesn't seem healthy. Then again, with Lily and my own preferences… having kids the normal way is off the table… still, you get my point,"

"Long story short?" said Lian, "I was an idiot who didn't want to deal with the monthly pain. Now, it was quite bad, even looking back on it. I got really unlucky with them… or it might just be something all curse users have to deal with… but I don't remove it because then I probably couldn't put it back… and I might have screwed up the casting for it anyway. Possibly. Maybe. There is a reason I didn't tell Bing,"

"God dammit Lian," mumbled Kat. "Actually you know what?" Kat changed her trajectory, zooming towards the earth, wings in front of her to shield Lian from the wind as best she could.

"Kat! What are you doing!" hissed Lian.

"I'm landing so you can get out of your frozen clothes and put on a fucking jumper. I was willing to believe that you were… not fine, but that you'd live. Now I find out that you're rather reckless when the fancy takes you. So I'm ensuring that I won't have to return you to Bing missing some fingers and toes, or worse yet, dead all together,"

Kat crashed through the cloud layer, but most of the water caught on her wings. It was just a blink later when they hit the ground, earth cratering under Kat's feet. "Now put some damn clothes on," said Kat with an air of finality that would brook no argument.

Lian glared but didn't wait long. She knew Kat would force her to waste time changing, and the longer she put up a fight, the longer it would take to get to Bing.