Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

Gelic found her body wriggling into the armor’s helmet on its own. It was a tight squeeze, and she was surprised her hairy, bulbous body could fit at all. Fortunately, whoever wore it in a time long past had a fairly large head. Still, she had to slot her arms and the tiara out the front-facing eye slit, since it was just too cramped otherwise. And, regrettably, because of her horns banging against the top, she couldn’t get quite as much of herself in as she’d like, leaving everything below the equivalent of her waist exposed.

Perhaps that was for the best, since it still allowed a free range of movement for her lower half while providing decent protection. And Gelic needed that nimbleness once she started moving again. Frost once more exuded from her body, but this time there was a lot more control, produced only by her theoretical feet. Then her—it was still hard to call them legs, but whatever nubby limb-like appendages protruded from her bottom—began swaying back and forth in a rhythmic pattern, scooting her forward along the suddenly slippery ground.

She was skating. That was the only way to call it. Frost would appear inches in front of her mere moments before she should hit the dry floor, creating a path of glacial wonderment that Angelica could glide across with ease. Funny, because she didn’t actually know how to ice-skate, at least not to this degree. She’d tried a few times in college, barely able to stay upright and in a straight line for more than a few seconds at a time. Her legs were built to stomp through the woods, not eloquently skim across a frozen lake. Now it felt so natural. Assuredly, the Order was helping, but likely, her stout form and denser weight distribution were also doing a lot in keeping her balanced.

And she was keeping up an otherwise unwieldy speed, to the point that the guard had to genuinely begin sprinting to keep up with her. His movements were now so laborious that he couldn’t aim properly, but he still fired regardless, hitting everything but the fleeing Demon. Eventually, he’d do more financial damage than the value of what was being stolen. It was also around this point that Gelic realized the man had never actually reloaded his rifle. Maybe that was some form of magic?

[Might increased]

While elegantly gliding down the halls, the Imp received that notice. She found it a bit strange. With the dextrous action, it felt more like Competence should be increasing, or at least Creativity. But the act of using the skill really had nothing to do with how well she was skating. No, all that mattered was the exertion of frost beneath her feet. And then the radius of it suddenly increased.

[Frost Touch Lv.2]

[Might increased]

[Creativity increased]

[Glacial Attunement increased]

Since her body was doing most of the work keeping her alive, only needing to make minor adjustments herself when she felt wobbly, Angelica took a glance at her MP. She had initially recovered a good bit after all of her Order Rejection attempts, but the persistent Active Skill use was definitely making it drain steadily. She was currently at 54, which then ticked to 53, then 52. It wasn’t an absurdly fast depletion, but it also wasn’t exactly comforting knowing that she was working against a clock.

Fortunately, the museum entrance wasn’t too far now, at least from what she remembered. Since Gelic only knew the one route, she had to assume that the Order was taking her the same way back. Even if it was basically a cheat that let her use her body in ways she couldn’t normally imagine herself capable of, it still couldn’t know what she didn’t know, or what her Summoner—still her—didn’t know. And if it started picking random directions, that could be disastrous.

There was one slight diversion from what Gelic expected. When they reached the atrium, she found herself veering away from skating straight ahead, but it made sense. In the middle of the room lay a patch of grass. Why? Probably some nonsensical artsy or vibes-based reason. Her frost could undeniably freeze the grass, too, but the question was would that then stop it from bending down when she tried to move across, becoming a tripping hazard? It would require proper testing, and since she wasn’t confident with the answer, her body chose to stick to the smooth, flat surface.

Regrettably, this gave her pursuer time to line up another shot, knowing right where she’d be heading. Her body pushed to keep going, but just to be completely safe, She made an executive decision to purposefully override it. Gelic forced herself to slip slightly and fall onto her back, causing the helmet to dig into the ice and pull her to an abrupt stop. But at that angle, the big metal headwear provided full protection, as if she were a snail hiding inside her shell. The moment the bullet clanged against it, she scrambled back to her feet and resumed her skate toward freedom.

With the lobby in sight, Angelica could feel an end to this nightmare. Hopefully, the Return spell would work when she got outside, speculating that the museum must have some form of enchantment or barrier that prevents it from working, and even if it didn’t, she’d have a lot more room to hide and scamper. Plus, the guard wouldn’t openly fire their weapon in public, right? She had to hope that was the case.

However, there was an unexpected problem. The once wide-open doors at the entrance of the museum had been closed and shuttered, no doubt part of the security system that was still blaring. While that means of escape was undoubtedly closed off, there was still hope. Above the doors were lovely, beautiful, slightly gaudy stained-glass windows. Getting up to them would be an issue, or would it?

Placed right in the middle of the lobby was her salvation, the fossil of some ancient creature that Gelic didn’t know the name of, probably something overly long and complex. The way its skeleton was arranged, with its head held high and the tip of its tail touching the floor so that kids could play with it—essentially assuring that the fossil was fake—almost felt like it had been purposefully left for a slippery little Demon to make a grand getaway. Undeniably, that hadn’t been the curator’s design, but damn if it wasn’t perfectly laid out.

The Imp did the slightest hop to get on top of the tail, followed by a series of continuous little skips up along the skeleton, over its spine, to get across the gaps between the bones. She built up speed along the decently extensive runway before she swooped up the ramp-like neck and over the creature’s head, launching into the air. Angelica pivoted her body so that the tip of the helmet careened straight for the window like a guided missile.

It shattered the glass with ease, releasing the Demon into the great outdoors, to safety, to freedom. If only the elegance carried with her landing. Fortunately, gravity pulled the helmet down first, so she landed with a relatively safe thud before bouncing once and then rolling like a can down the street until she wiggled herself free.

[Contract “Escape Alive” complete]

[Summoner Rank: Initiate Lv.10]

[Summoner Skill: Simultaneous Orders unlocked]

Wow, that was a huge jump in Summoner Rank, likely because the Demon under her command, herself, had pulled off a great feat. Angelica was of course interested in the new Skill, but she needed to get to safety first. Just as she was about to try to tell herself to Return, she suddenly heard her name… several times.

“Gelic, Gelic, Gelic, Gelic.” It was Lustre, constantly repeating her name through their telepathic connection, with a varying intonation each time, clearly bored of the act.

“There you are, where did you go when I needed you?!” The panicky, furious Imp spat back in her mind, scrambling away from the scene since she didn’t want to get caught while having this conversation.

“I’ve been calling you for the past several minutes, waiting for you to be done. You took far longer than I expected, so I was about to give up,” the Summoner defended herself.

“Whatever, just get me out of here!” The next moment, Gelic felt the call, bidded to return to her master’s side. Another second passed, and she was back in the familiar, sparkling clean study. She took a moment to breathe and unclench, finally feeling safe.

Lustre apparently had no concern for her wellbeing, and greedily snatched the tiara out of the Demon’s hands.

[Order complete]

“Gah, it’s cold,” the human winced, shaking her hands while repeatedly juggling the jewelry between them until it started to warm up. There was definitely a good coating of frost still on it from when Gelic had first used the skill. And she got an inkling of joy from seeing the pain inflicted upon her master, mild revenge for the task.

Sadly, that brief bit of karma wasn’t enough to temper Angelica’s building emotions, and they eventually bubbled over, condensing into just one that dominated all the others: rage. “What the hell was that, Lustre?!” She was done playing the dumb little Demon with child-like innocence. “That whole thing was trapped, wasn’t it? There was a guard waiting there, and then the museum had some sort of force that blocked our telepathy, didn’t it?! Did you know?!”

“Heh, of course I knew,” the Summoner laughed at the idea that she’d be so ignorant. “Well, I didn’t specifically know about the guard, but it makes sense that they’d have someone watching over their new exhibit. And yes, the museum has a magical interference barrier. It will work fine inside, but nothing transmittive like telepathy can get through, and the Return spell won’t work since it can’t connect to the circle.”

“Then… then why didn’t you tell me that?!” Angelica angrily started bouncing in place, waggling her limbs in all directions with vigor, throwing a tantrum like none other.

“Because it wouldn’t have made a difference in what you had to do.” Lustre shrugged. “And frankly, I didn’t think about it, since most other… more competent Demons would have been able to sense it immediately. What does it matter now? You completed the Contract and got out fine, didn’t you?”

“No, no, I didn’t!” The Imp screeched. “I got shot at nonstop, and I got hit twice! It hurt so bad, and I almost died so many times! For putting me through that, I should, I should k-ki—” Her mind wanted to say “kill you.” That’s what her instincts wanted, to burn with hatred against the woman, to demand penance in the form of blood. But Angelica’s human side just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Hmm, yes I can tell that your vitality is a little low. Here.” The older woman held up her hand and light flowed out of it toward the Demon, illuminating Gelic with a slight glow for a second. Checking the DGS screen, her Health had jumped up to 30%, and she instantly felt a little better. It did a bit to temper her cantankerous mood, but she was still festering with ire, and then her dear master said something to aggravate it once more.

“And if you were getting shot at, you should have worn this,” Lustre waved the tiara condescendingly in the Imp’s direction. “But I guess you’re too juvenile to know about Runes, huh?” She fiddled with the headpiece for a moment, popping out the large blue gemstone at the center before holding it closer to her servant, providing just another quick glance at the weird pattern etched inside. “This is a Rune of Projectile Protection, and a high-level one, at that. I’m sure since the guard could see you, his gun probably was enchanted with Runes, too, but I’m confident this would have kept you completely safe. Silly little Imp.”

There were no thoughts in Angelica’s head for the next few moments. The older woman’s words had made her mind go blank. Finally, something pierced through, a single repetitive thought. Give me the Essence, pay me the Essence, c’mon Essence! Despite lingering on that word, Gelic didn’t want the Essence so that she could use it to improve herself, at least not in that moment.

No, the Demon wanted the Contract to be completed. Because in that moment, Lustre would no longer be her master. Surely the Summoner had the ability to un-summon or send her away somehow. But if there was a pause, a single second of space, she would leap on that opportunity. Just one, just one bite! Just wanna see you bleed or maybe chomp off your scuffing hand! Her mind was in a very violent place, wanting nothing more than to munch her master with her massive maw.

“Oh, stop looking at me with such hateful eyes,” Lustre huffed. “Here, will this get me off your frits list?” She chucked what remained of the tiara at Gelic.

Of course, Angelica wanted to scream “no!” However, now that she was once again holding the shiny object, the dragon-like part of her brain activated, wanting to hoard and marvel over the intricate piece. Even with its center jewel missing, it had to be worth a lot, right? Like, a lot a lot—never worry about starving again a lot. Could she really have it?

As if the older woman could hear the untransmitted question, she mentioned, “I didn’t ever really want the tiara. Just want to see my parents’ reactions now that their prize piece has been stolen out from under them. And this Rune will serve as a nice memento. Now, don’t say I didn’t keep my word.” The master held up her hand and out flew white flakes.

[Gained 100 Essence]

[Contract complete]

“Banish!” Lustre didn’t hesitate even for a second to cast what was apparently the dismissal spell, knowing it would be stupid of her to trust that she’d placated the Demon. And it was probably the right call. Now back in her apartment, fiddling with the twinkling tiara in her hands, she wasn’t convinced that she still wouldn’t have attacked the woman given the opportunity.

Now, what should she do? Angelica couldn’t quite get herself to calm down. Of course, she pet her cat who came mewing over to her, hungry and impatient, despite his owner being in her Demon form. He wanted his wets, yet she was still hesitant to give them to him, for now. Meaning he'd have to stick with his mostly untouched dry food that had been dished out before she'd gotten the Poison Eater Skill. After that was solved, then what? She honestly wanted to sleep, but knew that was off the table for a while.

Instead, Angelica commanded herself to pen a few more chapters of Merlina’s Boutique since she was getting a bit low again. They were the most hectic, nonsensical chapters she’d ever drawn. While that was good, in a way, giving the readers something fresh and new, it matched the current craziness of her mind. Eventually, it became too much and she had to stop doing things.

Angelica picked up Cherub and forced him to bed with her, curling up into a ball in her human form while cuddling the furry boy with a tight hug. What was she going to do? Her world had thrown into disarray after she’d turned into a Demon, but this was completely different. She had almost died. Well, that had happened before with the trash fiasco, but not like this.

Someone had tried to kill her, gun her down without a second thought, all because she was performing an action that she quite literally couldn’t control. Her free will was not involved, left to fend off death due to the whims of another. It had terrified her to her core. She never wanted to experience it ever again. No reward could be worth that.

And yet… her eyes drifted to the Quilllaced Tiara that was currently sitting on her drawing tablet. She really should move it to somewhere her cat couldn’t knock it off, but she just didn’t have the will. In a way, she also didn’t want to touch it ever again. By and large, it was the most expensive thing she’d ever held in her life, and any smudges or fingerprints would only further depreciate the value. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be damaged so easily, but it wasn’t something she wanted to experiment with.

The low-class girl also had no idea what she was going to do with it. Could she even sell it? Would that just lead the cops right to her? Maybe it would be best to just hold on to it for a while until the heat died down, give her some time to research ways to pawn it off. She felt suddenly afflicted with a heavy burden, but at the same time, the chance for a better life. That would be the key to her financial freedom… or her downfall.

More of an immediate reward was the Essence she’d gained. Gelic hadn’t spent it on levels yet, since the wonderful feeling it gave would only be soured by her current mood. She didn’t know how she’d use the Growth Points, having not looked through the Skill Weave again. Surely, it would be something great, something that could really improve her life, proper payment for her endeavors.

And yet… and yet… and yet! Was it worth it? Could she keep doing this? Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe she wasn’t in deep enough. Since she could still turn into a human, maybe she could keep living like one. Even if it was a lie, her life didn’t need to be any different. With what she had now, surely, she could live out a peaceful life, maybe even reach her artistic dreams.

But at the same time, would she be able to live with not knowing? She had been granted an amazing opportunity, a dangerous, possibly fatal opportunity, but if done right, done carefully, she could achieve more than she ever imagined, gain abilities beyond her wildest dreams. Was that worth potentially throwing everything away if it all went awry?

She didn’t know the answer, and she hated that she didn’t, that she was so torn. But Angelica knew that one way or another, it had to end, because she couldn’t go on with this painful conflict festering inside. She would soon need to make a choice. Should she keep going down this path of magic and Summoners, or should she lock away the Demon inside for good?

Spoiler

Scrying Eye