Elements of Horror. Timothy's First Demon
She was completely ignoring the hundred of people walking the opposite direction she was heading in. Swerving her way through the busy streets, she sped her way to the face of danger. In Sector 4, a less dignified and maintained section of Astral City, there was a lush black fog converging on a single circle in the sky. Clear as day- a gate way to Abyss was ripping through the sky, courtesy of the Void.
Courtesy of yours truly. While I kept my eyes on the sky, I caught a glimpse of Althea climbing straight up a building. She'd leapt from the ground to the building in question and going further still as she ran up the building's side.
The agility is strong in this one.
I was already aware of this of course. She made quite the show when she fought the Boggart back in her domain, I just didn't think those same skills would apply in the real world.
"Don't go too far!, I shouted. "We're not supposed to be pulling attention to ourselves, remember!?"
Says the kid chasing after an Angel equivalent that popped up out of nowhere. Classy.
[Quest Accepted]
The Interface pinged.
That's not good.
[Elements of Horror]
(Dispatch the Black Shuck)
Dispatch the what!?
I came to a skidding halt. Of all the creatures to crawl out, why did it have to be a nightmare hound? A literal "fetch me their souls" type of dog.
[New Creature Unlocked]
[Black Shuck
Class 3 Demon
Pantheon Rank; Havoc Class Void]
{Black Shuck, a creature born from nightmares sired in the dark. A predatory hound of the Abyss that hunts by tracking the scent of fear and raw mana. Its hide is notoriously resistant to conventional weaponry, and its bite is known to induce instantaneous necrotic decay. Highly aggressive. Known to operate as a solitary vanguard for larger incursions. Recommendation: Eradicate on sight.}
I swiped the glowing blue text away as if it had physically burned me.
"Necrotic decay?!" I shrieked to absolutely no one. "We are definitely not doing this!"
I pushed my legs harder, my lungs burning as I sprinted past abandoned cars and dropped briefcases. Sector 4 was practically a ghost town now, the sirens wailing from a safe distance while the immediate vicinity was suffocated by an unnatural, heavy silence.
High above, Althea was a blur of gold and grey, scaling the concrete side of a dilapidated apartment building like gravity was just a suggestion. She reached the rooftop, her sword already humming to life in her hand.
"Althea! Get back here!" I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth, my throat raw. "Withdraw! I'm the Adjutant, right?! I am ordering a tactical retreat! We are not fighting a Havoc Class anything!"
My desperate command was immediately swallowed by a deafening, thunderous RIIIIP that echoed across the entire city block.
I froze, the blood draining from my face as my neck craned upwards. The converging black fog in the sky didn't just swirl—it violently tore open, like a rusty knife slicing straight through the canvas of reality. The gateway to the Abyss yawned wide, bleeding a sickly, pulsating violet light into the afternoon sky.
And from the center of that tear, something looked back.
It was massive, a hulking silhouette of shifting, jagged shadows that seemed to literally drink the light around it. But the details… the details were carved into my brain with terrifying, high-definition clarity. Rows of impossibly sharp, interlocking fangs gleamed in the unnatural light, set above limbs tipped with claws that looked like curved obsidian scythes.
But the absolute worst part was its eye. A single, massive, beaming red orb that swiveled through the darkness of the rift before locking dead onto me.
Thick, viscous drool dripped from its terrifying jaws, sizzling and turning to black steam as it hit the edges of the spatial tear. It was staring directly at me, its singular red eye burning with a ravenous, predatory hunger. It wasn't looking at me like a hero. It was looking at me like a walking, talking, glowing steak.
The aggro mechanic was very, very real.
The beast let out a low, bone-rattling growl that vibrated through the pavement and up into my teeth. Then, with a sickening lurch, it threw its massive body forward.
It plummeted from the rift, a meteor of pure, concentrated nightmare tearing down through the sky right toward me. I braced for the earth-shattering impact, throwing my arms up over my face and shutting my eyes, waiting to be crushed into paste.
But the deafening crash never came.
Instead, there was a sickening, wet splat.
I cautiously lowered my arms, peering through the gap in my fingers. The creature hadn't cratered the asphalt. Instead, upon hitting the ground a few dozen yards away, the beast completely liquefied. It splashed across the street, settling into a massive, bubbling black puddle that immediately began to hiss, creeping across the concrete like a living oil spill.
Did it….did it die?
No sooner had I wondered that, my legs moved out of path carved by the jaws of death. Oh, who am I kidding, I didn't dodge shit- Althea just pushed me out of the way while shouting "Adjutant!" at the top of her lungs. The two of us landed hard on the asphalt butt first. My butt, not hers.
"I told you to retreat," I groaned. "If we'd just gotten out of here we wouldn't have to deal with….."
The words died in my halfway out my throat.
A scream tore through the unnatural silence of the street. It wasn't a dramatic, cinematic scream; it was the raw, guttural, throat-shredding shriek of someone actively being torn apart.
I scrambled to my knees, my eyes snapping toward the sound. The bubbling black puddle hadn't died. It had reformed, rising from the asphalt like a tidal wave of living ink to reconstruct its massive, hulking form. And it had found prey.
A woman in a torn blazer was clawing desperately at the pavement, her fingernails scraping uselessly against the concrete. The Black Shuck had its massive, shadowy jaws clamped viciously around her left calf. It was dragging her backward toward the center of the street with terrifying ease.
The sight of it—the thick, crimson blood painting the creature's obsidian fangs, the sickening, wet sound of its teeth grinding against her leg—sent a violent tremor straight down my spine. The air in my lungs turned to ice. I was petrified, glued to the asphalt by a primal, suffocating fear that completely short-circuited my brain. This wasn't a screen. That was real blood. That was a real person about to be dragged into the Abyss.
Move, my subconscious screamed. Move, you idiot!
Before my rational mind could scream about our lack of armor, my body completely bypassed my brain. I kicked off the asphalt, lunging forward and sprinting straight toward the nightmare hound.
"Hey!" I roared, throwing my arms out.
The Shuck stopped dragging. It released the woman's mangled leg, its massive head snapping toward me. That single, beaming red eye narrowed, locking onto my form. The aggro shifted instantly. I was the Reach. To this thing, I was a Michelin-star meal wrapped in a glowing neon sign.
With a bone-chilling snarl, it lunged. It didn't just jump; it cleared the twenty-foot distance between us in a single, terrifying bound, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow my entire torso in one bite.
I didn't even have time to blink, let alone dodge.
CLANG!
A shockwave of golden light erupted mere inches from my face. Althea had stepped right into the beast's path, her boots grinding backward into the asphalt as she drove her broadsword directly into the Shuck's open mouth. The Demon's jaws clamped down on the glowing blade, sending a shower of golden sparks and black mana hissing into the air.
"Retrieve the civilian, Adjutant!" Althea shouted over the screech of grinding metal, her arms trembling under the beast's immense physical pressure.
I didn't hesitate. I pivoted, locking my eyes on the bleeding woman on the ground. I pushed off my back foot, expecting to scramble awkwardly across the pavement to pull her away.
Instead, the world blurred.
The wind whipped violently past my ears, snapping the drawstrings of my hoodie against my face. The space between me and the woman simply vanished. I didn't run; I practically teleported, skidding to a halt right beside her with enough kinetic force to crack the pavement beneath the soles of my sneakers.
I froze, my hands hovering over the injured woman, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked down at my legs in absolute disbelief, then back over my shoulder at Althea, who was still locked in a death-struggle with the Demon a good thirty feet away.
What the hell? I just moved… I just moved exactly as fast as she did. Since when did I have an agility stat?