Ch12: A Favor For A Favor

Earthly Supporters: Michael Whitmer

All the rods were in place, and my test subject hadn't bled out, yet which was a good sign. Sometimes it's the little things in life that we are the most thankful for. For example, Jacob Nimrod, the necromancer who enjoyed sacrificing little boys to demons, lay exhausted on his own ritual table. Sweat, tears, and snot covered the man's face, and he looked like he could pass out any second. I drilled four rods formed from metal and light qi covered in formations into the man's arms and legs. Nevertheless, he seemed so relieved to have survived my experiment's preparation.

I clapped my hands together. "Now that the prep work is done, we can finally begin the experiment," I said.

"What more are you going to do to me?" Jacob asked in a gruff voice.

I took a bite of pizza and shared some of the cheese and bread with Cinder. After she swallowed, I had an important question to ask.

"You aren't lactose intolerant, are you?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've never had cheese before." I said.

Frank groaned, "you should take that as a yes. What did you blast me with? My leg won't heal?" Frank asked.

"A weak qi beam, and if that stopped you from recovering, then demons aren't anything for me to worry about," I said.

"I'm just a lesser greed demon. You wouldn't stand a chance against a wrath demon or a greater demon." Frank said.

"Your leg isn't healing because my qi lingers after my beam hits. When my beam hit you, I wanted to stop you from attacking. My will won't dissipate after only a few minutes." I said.

"So, how long before it dissipates?" Frank asked.

"I've never tested that before. I'll look into it another time." I turned to the necromancer. "Don't worry, I'm going to do this nice and slow so your body can adjust," I said and began a slow trickle of dark qi.

The effects weren't immediate. Light naturally balanced out with the dark, and I used only a trickle of power.

"It looks like you're filling him full of demons." The demon said.

Jacob started shaking and foaming at the mouth. His eyes turned from blue to a glowing yellow. The greasy lanky black hair on his head smoothed out and lengthened. His arms swelled like I had just filled him up with steroids while he struggled to move.

"I'm going to kill them." His eyes locked onto Cinder. "For my sister." The necromancer said.

"Should I be worried?" Cinder asked.

"No, I've barely put any power into him at all. Despite those muscles, he is very frail. I'm glad the control rods are working; otherwise, we would have a tentacle mess on our hands." I said.

"This is power, true unrelenting power, and with this, they will all die at my hands." The necromancer shouted.

One of the arm restraints snapped, and he immediately worked on the one on his chest. He seemed keen on breaking himself free from his own ritual table and attacking Cinder. I opened the experimental journal and entered his lack of common sense, tunnel vision, and below-expected increased strength. He had to unstrap himself instead of just breaking free. That was pathetic.

Instead of unstrapping his legs, he just ripped them free, restraints and all. With a tap from my foot, the ground immediately around the ritual table sank a good 30ft. From there, I tossed in a few illumination orbs to keep an eye on him. He tried scaling the wall, so I stomped the ground again, and a block of earth hit him on the chest, knocking him back down. I hardened the walls from there until they equaled limestone.

After that, I eased his darkness levels until they resembled 5% of 1 qi unit. His head looked like a pinprick in the middle of a mass of muscle. Clearly, he needed time to adjust, this place was warded against intrusion, and I had a long grumpy week ahead of myself. He shouldn't need to eat more than once a day with his current qi level. The control rods in his body were working as hard as they could to balance out the dark qi in his body.

I opened my notebook and added to my notes before returning to my observations.

His face had devolved into a mask of rage, and with a bit of mind-reading, I could tell no one was home. The speed of the transformation erased most of his former identity. It was something I should consider for my next experiment. In this case, erasing his past self was more a feature than a flaw.

I finished writing in my book then offered the pen back to the demon. "Keep it. I have more at home. Listen, I can't work for you full time, but I can do some under-the-table work. Could you do that with another body if you can perfect your experiment? One of my choosing." Frank asked.

Cinder's feathers fluffed up. "As if we would give something like that to a demon." Cinder said.

"You aren't listening. This isn't a gift; it's a favor for a favor." Frank said.

"Welcome to the team. But if you think that weakling's body is enough to beat me, you're mistaken. Even if his energy levels were equal to mine, I could break him over my knee." I said.

There were advantages to only having 1 type, don't get me wrong, but I had 11 types, which is nearly as many as all the types in Pokémon Red and Blue when they were released. While I have more experience in some than others, numbers matter. Each type had a corresponding ability and characteristic, which directly counter other types. I also could combine types and concepts from those types. The control rods were an example of using light to neutralize the additional dark element and concepts from metal to allow me to transfer qi directly through them. Combining that with my knowledge of formations or the language of qi and my control training and being at my level of strength wouldn't put him on my level.

I forcefully dissipated the lingering will of my qi that stopped his wound from healing. The demon's leg bubbled and popped at the hole in it healed. He stood up and nodded to me.

"If you need my help, just go to a crossroads at night and say my name three times. But, of course, if there are others there already, please let them go first. Every customer matters, and I'm good at my job for a reason." Frank said.

I blinked. "Unless they ask the wrong questions, in which case fuck them," I said.

"That's the customer's fault, not mine," Frank said before fading into the darkness.

I turned to the fat pedophile I kept in case Jacob needed more flesh in his transformation. Unfortunately, he didn't, and I didn't have much use for him. So I shot a qi beam through his head and left the body there for the rats to eat.

"I think you need to get laid." Cinder said.

I sighed, "probably." I said as she flamed us home.