Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

“Will you settle down?” The father looked over at his “child” in annoyance.

That made young-boy Angelica only swing her feet with even more ferocity. “Hey, I’m playing the role of the restless kid. And I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job at it. Do you have any games on your phone?” She’d asked that rhetorically, but the man actually did pull out the device, though not to give to her.

“I need to call my wife.” Grahj excused himself, walking behind some sales placard that he thought would make him out of earshot, but thanks to Divining Ear, Gelic could pick up the whispers. “Yes, I got the heart…We’re- I’m at the airport now. The flight leaves in an hour. We’ll be back in the middle of the night… Damn, really? Damn it. Alright, I don’t care what you have to do, get us a surgery slot first thing in the morning… If he dies now, it’ll be on them, and we won’t let that happen…”

“Crossroads Medical Transport.” The man briefly glanced back to Gelic. “Tell them that’s who’s bringing it… No, we’ll worry about insurance and everything else later. None of it matters now… If he wakes up, let him know dad will be there soon, and that he just needs to hold on for a while longer.” When Grahj came back to his seat at the gate, it was his turn to act restless. His legs kept bouncing while he had his mouth buried into his clasped hands.

“I take it that things aren’t great,” the Imp inquired with genuine concern.

“They can’t wake him up,” her master answered brashly. “We were told there was a good chance that this could happen near the end, but that should have been a few more days. Now they’re giving him until tomorrow night at the latest.”

Angelica placed a hand on Grahj’s shoulder, well, as high as her short human arms would allow. “Hey, we’ll make it in time.”

“Thanks.” His gratitude sounded sincere, and it was enough to get him going again. “Got another call to make. Need my friend to create a fake license and paperwork for Crossroads Medical Transport. I hate to ask, but would you be able to change into a paramedic when we arrive so it seems natural when we deliver the heart.”

“Yup, no problem!” Angelica felt a little good honestly that he was starting to rely on her, and had come to value her Skills. If more Summoners acted like he did, like a partner rather than a master, then the relationship between humans and Demons felt like it’d be a much smoother one. But on both sides, there was no way the pride and pretentiousness was going away anytime soon.

◆◆◆

“That’s… actually a pretty good drawing.” On the flight, up in business class which Grahj had sprung for since there were no other open seats, he leaned over to his fake son and took a look at the pretender’s phone screen.

“Oh, uhh, thanks.” It wasn’t the artist’s best work, but it still felt good to get from a somewhat parental figure, support for her passion she’d never gotten otherwise. Unfortunately, drawing on a phone with a finger that wasn’t the size she was used to while on a bumpy plane with a bit of turbulence didn’t lead to ideal results. But she had some commissions to catch up on that she’d saved the details of before they lost signal, and it was a good way to pass the time.

Overall, most of the flight was decently smooth, until it got progressively more bumpy, to the point that Angelica had to put away her phone since all the motion was making her a bit nauseous. She planned to close her eyes and nap the rest of the way, since it was reaching the equivalent of the wee morning hours for her. Plus, seeing Grahj’s unending tension was stressing her out too, and she needed a break from his paranoia. Except that paranoia turned out to have some merit after all.

“Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. A storm we were worried about has unfortunately moved directly into our path. We don’t have enough fuel to go around it safely, so we are going to have to divert to an airport along the coast. Once we have a confirmed destination, we will let you know. But don’t worry, wherever we end up, they’ll be sure to provide accommodations, and we’ll get you on new flights tomorrow to your destinations safe and sound.”

“W-what?!” There was clear panic in the Summoner’s voice. “They, they can’t do that!”

“So what do we do? Get a car and drive?” Gelic suggested. It was like this whole adventure was cursed by the heavens, but there were still potential options.

“No, we’ll never make it in time.” Grahj was getting more antsy by the second. “Even if my son isn’t dead by the time we get there, if they don’t start the surgery first thing in the morning, it will be too late to save him! No, we have to take the risk. I’m going to talk to the crew. They have to understand!”

“Err, kay.” Angelica was definitely not convinced by that plan, but she wasn’t going to stop him. In his situation, he had to try everything he could, even if it was fruitless. The man vanished up past the first-class curtain, and it wasn’t long after that she heard shouting, arguing, and then what sounded like a scuffle. Didn’t seem like things were going well.

Should she try to help? But what could she do? It wasn’t like she had Implant Thought and could forcibly change the pilot’s mind. What else was there except subduing the staff and hijacking the plane? The act itself she wasn’t fully opposed to. Rather, it was what came after that raised a problem. No way she could actually land the flying contraption.

Next came a loud thump, and when more staff charged forward to the back to help, pushing the curtain aside, Angelica finally got to watch the scene unfold. Grahj was down on the ground, pinned by a burly man, likely an air marshall. Her master locked eyes with his fake son for a split-second before glancing away, not wanting to draw attention to the Demon.

“Gelic!” he shouted. “Do it, Gelic! What you suggested and I turned down. Take it. Get it there. Get it to him! I’m trusting you!” And that was all she needed to hear. It was a good time. Since all eyes were on the crazed culprit, no one would be looking at the small child who would vanish into thin air.

Return.

The air suddenly felt fresher. Compared to the recycled and pressurized atmosphere, even her apartment could be compared to the crispness of the outdoors. It became so quiet, so tranquil. No screaming, no whirring of engines, no storm bumping them about. A slim part of her wanted to slide into her inviting bed, shove Cherub off her pillow, and forget about it all—mourn the tragic tale of Grahj and his family in her dreams. But no, even as a Demon, she was still a good person. So she would see this through. Plus, she still had a Contract that would gnaw at her until she completed the task regardless.

Angelica did take a tiny break, though. She sat down in her desk chair, plugged in her phone for just a minute to get as much charge as she could, and set up her GPS for Tarcer State Hospital. Next, she slotted in some earbuds and found a lengthy playlist of hype songs to get her through her travels. Specifically, she chose ones that were sung in Ottopalan. Grahj had been speaking her language, or so she assumed since she understood every word, but that may not be the case where she was going. Tongues should help with the bulk, but this might help her learn some obscure words and do some Skill training along the way.

Finally, she turned into her usual puffball Imp self. The earbuds thankfully stayed in, but that raised an issue with her phone. She couldn’t just throw it into Second Stomach, since that would kill the connection, meaning no direction updates and no music. Gelic could hold it tight the whole way, but that would undoubtedly lead to it flying out of her arms at some point, lost in the night, never to be found again. But, she had a solution.

Angelica went and dug out an unopened package, then pulled out a special harness and put it on. It was a hiking harness for dogs that came with pockets for kibble, water, treats, and whatever else. She got the plus size for chonky dogs since that’s what would fit her round build, and it sat pretty well on her body. After throwing her phone into one of the zipper pockets, it was time to head out on the last leg of her grand adventure.

Multi-Bounce! It only took a few hops to get the Imp out of the city. While the travelling puffball was planning to mostly follow roads for the duration of the trip, she’d specifically set the GPS to walk mode so it would give more vague directions and wouldn’t freak out every time she took a shortcut off the beaten path. At the start, her phone had said it would take a little over three months to walk there—Ottopa was still pretty damn far. So it was time to see how much she could get that down.

Thank goodness the Demon was invisible to the masses, because when she maxed out her speed, Gelic had to assume she was damn near close to breaking the sound barrier, a bolt of blonde hair bowling through the sky. It got so fast that she honestly couldn’t conceive of where she was landing for each bounce, relying solely on general direction.

And the trip definitely wasn’t a smooth ride. She hit so much stuff, landed on or smacked so many unpleasant things—trees, rocks, buildings, into what she suspected was a wild animal at some point. Her bounce had continued, as it did for all those things, despite the pain, so she hadn’t been around long enough for any one blockade to properly register.

[Wallop Resistance Lv.4]

[Punching Bag Lv.6]

[Vigor greatly increased]

[Suffering Attunement greatly increased]

[Suffering Attunement has improved from Touched to Embraced]

Oh yeah, Angelica was embracing the suffering alright. Smack after smack, she endured the pain. Luckily, with each level, the aches appeared to diminish ever so slightly more. None of that was what really sucked. That honor went to water, specifically lakes, ponds, and one majestic waterfall she had the pleasure of landing at the top of just before the current sent her careening over the edge. Despite going so fast, anytime she landed in water, it stopped her dead every time. Jump Good couldn’t really help to avoid it either, since by the time she knew a bath was impending, it was too late. Sadly, and probably for the best, no one was ever around to judge the huge splashes she made with her meteor-like existence.

Fortunately, she was rather buoyant, and could wriggle her way to land with relative ease. Then after a quick shakeoff like a dog to get rid of as much moisture as possible, it was back to bouncing for usually another good stretch. Except there was one time in some marshy area where she landed in a swamp four big bounces in a row. Thankfully, her harness was waterproof and kept her phone inside dry. However, one of her earbuds fell out during this time into some pool of muck, so she didn’t even try to get it back.

Not that Gelic would be able to hear it soon regardless. Because up ahead, there was no escape from the wet. She paused briefly at the edge of the storm, already feeling the gusting winds, able to see the torrential rain in the distance. Even from afar, she could tell it was a doozy, and the pilot had certainly made the right decision to avoid it at all costs. Even her GPS had given her a warning about inclement weather. She needed a moment to compose herself before tackling the foul deluge head on.

Bouncing became a bit more arduous after that. Each droplet of rain smacked against her zooming skin like she was swimming through gravel, stinging her entire body with each movement. The wind buffeted her every which way, making it hard to stay on course. And as she crested near the clouds, the loud booms of thunder and streaks of lightning would make her whole body vibrate. She may have eked out a prayer or two to Vissiem to keep her safe from being struck.