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

Kat breathed in deeply, and then in the same breath let all the air leave her lungs. Kat poured demonic energy into the snow on the ground, letting it sink down until hitting dirt. Once it was there, Kat let her energy flow into the construct, as it started to inch around the group in a tight circle. Kat felt a mild twinge, which for anyone else would be closer to a stabbing pain, as she flexed her metaphysical muscles. Her recent use of KatE twice in the row had apparently not been kind to her body… but Kat didn't really care. It was only a bit of pain.

Of course, even as Kat was setting up her trap she could practically hear Lily mentally berating her. The fact that it wasn't literal could be chalked up only to Kat's inability to worry about her own pain, thus it wasn't picked up by the real Lily on the other end. When the fire got to the edge of her limit Kat brushed herself off and slowly walked over.

Kat made sure to angle herself more towards Meng, making it look like she was just returning to the position she had nearby the spy and not that she was trying to get to the centre of the area to trap them all in with her demonic fire. Kat did briefly glance at the two enemy cultivators, but Shun didn't look suspicious at all, and Jian was too busy looking at Meng.

*Wait hang on…* Kat couldn't be certain, the angle wasn't great for it… but… *is… is Shun sleeping? It's hard to tell underneath the sunglasses but.* Kat focused her hearing on Shun, the slow, regular breathing that seemed awfully well matched to someone who's sleeping. Kat wasn't sure what to make of that so she kept up her walk to Meng.

Kat could feel her demonic energy thrashing against her control. It wanted to burst out. To burn. It was already 'free' in the world and no longer contained inside her. It wanted a chance to freeze, to burn, to consume. Kat kept a firm mental hand on the energy, and even then, it seemed that she only had as much success with holding it in place as she did because her course was set. The promise of violence soon seemed to be a tempting lure for the energy.

Perhaps it was strange to assign personality to an energy source inside of herself, but it did always feel like it had its own thoughts and agendas. KatE was a good example of that. Sure it was Kat's energy, and it listened to her on commands… but only so much. It was more like a dog that was particularly fond of her, or a very well trained wolf. "Hey Meng, how are things over here," asked Kat as she kept walking forward.

The clearing was nearly completely covered in her demonic fire. Just a few more steps. It was draining on her reserves to set this up, and it would be even more so when Kat let the flames turn into a dome, but it felt like a good step. A way to keep Jian from escaping, and intimidate Shun a bit… if the man wasn't sleeping.

"I see you're getting bored of your sculpting," said Meng as a non-answer. "I'm content to wait until my time limit is up before attacking. I am nothing if not patient," despite her words though, to Kat's ears it sounded a bit like a plea for Kat to do something.

*Hopefully I'm not just reading into it… because I AM ready.* Kat spoke, "I see, well if this goes against your plans I apologise," Kat released her hold on the energy and fire exploded out around them in a circle. Rather then hold it, Kat fed more energy into the flames and tempted them to curl around the top trapping them in a dome. Jian had knocked his bow and was already pointing at Kat's head, but seeing as she made no move other than to trap them, he didn't fire, not yet.

"I see you've finally shown your true colours demon, are you going to face us? Two on one?" asked Jian.

Kat looked over at Shun, who was notably NOT moving at all. "Are you sure about the 'two on one' thing?" Jian turned and glared at Shun who remained unmoving despite the roaring, and slowly encroaching flames.

"Shun you prick, what are you doing?" hissed Jian. No response. Jian strode over, still watching Kat and Meng. Jian glared at Shun, and still seeing no reaction from the other man, nocked his sunglasses off. This revealed to everyone that Shun wasn't exactly paying attention.

Jian growled at the man and raised his arrow, stabbing it down towards the other cultivators neck. Shun reacted to that. As if sensing Jian's murderous intent, his eyes shot open and he moved. Light blazed from his hand in a sharp, dagger like construct, and was moments away from impaling Jian when he pulled back. "Ah, might I ask why you're attacking me?" said a confused Shun.

Before Jian could answer, Kat decided to ask. Kat shot over to the archer fire burning across her arms and tried to slam into him. Jian spun, dodging to the side and trying to bait Kat into hitting Shun. Kat flared her wings and followed the archers movements, making sure to keep forcing him to move, using her tail and arms to corral him backwards towards the wall of flames.

Jian kept up his graceful dodges until right before the fire would touch his quiver, and instead he leapt high and up over Kat. Kat tried to catch him, beating her wings to rise up and get at Jian's ankles, but she was too slow. Jian, seeing this, unleashed an arrow towards Kat, who easily spotted it coming and slapped it away with a fan.

This cat and mouse chase around the arena continued, Kat had shrunk her fire zone as much as she could, until it was just half a metre away from Shun and Meng. Jian was dodging her well, his superior combat experience playing dividends, but Kat's superior position meant that blocking his attacks was quite easy.

Kat was really starting to feel the drain on her energy at this point. She'd dipped below 50% of her own, and Lily's combined reserves. With Shun still up and about, Kat was starting to feel worried, but it was Jian that broke the stalemate first, "Shun you useless fuck HELP ME!"

Shun shrugged at the profanity but pulled out a sword from his storage ring and used his qi to set it pulsing with light. Kat raised her eyes at the proto-lightsabre, she had only a moment to admire it before she was beset on two sides. Kat, forced to block two attacks at once, was still confident until that blade of Shun's sliced right through her fan and into Kat's hand. "Shit" hissed Kat, as she dashed backwards.

Kat glanced at the approaching figures and let her wall of fire wash over her, closing in around everyone, even if just from one direction. Kat waited a few moments for her hand to heal, and then jumped back into the fray. This time, Kat set herself alight, letting her fire extend around herself in an aura that reached out and seemed to grasp for her opponents even as she herself missed.

Flecks of fire seemed to catch on Jian's boots, Shun's robes, before being extinguished by there qi. Kat growled as she dodged, not really paying attention to her movement and bumping into Meng as a result. In truth though, it might have been fortunate. Kat's stumble was capitalised on by Jian who shot an arrow straight for Kat's eye, and before she could properly right herself, Meng's hand was in front of her face.

The arrow cut straight through Meng's hand and the battlefield seemed to pause. Kat closed her eyes to prevent the blood dripping down but Meng was smiling. "Ah, free to act at last. HAHAHAHAHA"

Kat couldn't see it but Meng exploded into movement, afterimages left wherever she went until even that chain split into two, three, four extra branches. Copies of Meng filled the fiery dome. Shun cursed under his breath and readied his sword, but Jian was already attacking, straight for the area he thought Meng would be in.

Kat was chasing him behind, when Meng blasted him with a tense wave of illusions. Jian stumbled a bit then charged forward… straight into Kat's wall of flames. Jian screamed as the flames bit into his skin. His qi was unprepared for the assault and his limbs were already icing over. Kat, seeing her opportunity collapsed her flames down onto Jian, focusing solely on the cultivator that was screaming bloody murder. Meng turned her eyes to Shun, but he'd already dropped his sword and lifted his arms in the air. Jian was beat, and Shun had no plans to follow the archer to his death.