All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 277: Picking Up the Pieces

I registered the new demon's appearance just a moment too late. I hadn't initially been sure what I was seeing on my sensors. But I got the idea pretty quickly when it lashed out at Tony. I reached out with my soul sense to check on Tony's condition. I couldn't believe my sensors.

Not because I thought the illusion-master lieutenant was messing with me, though. Susan, Arthur, and Beatrice had it on the ropes, and based on how my other sensors were recovering from its assault, I suspected it was having trouble with concentration.

No, I couldn't believe my sensors because I saw cracks running through Tony's soul. Not the kind of red fissures that had signaled demonic possessions, but cracks of damage. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen.

I reached out, trying to hold his soul together however I could, but what could I do? My power was meant for cleaning, for removing the black impurities that gathered on one's soul before sinking in. Not for mending something that was broken. Not like this.

It was hard enough for me to maintain the pieces where they were. I hoped I wouldn't be making things worse, but considering the damage, I couldn't think about it too much. But I scrubbed with all my might, pushing the pieces into position while I tried to deal with the demon who'd caused this mess.

The newly arrived demon looked frail and almost incorporeal. Its body seemed to glow with a translucent blue-white light. I could sense it had a soul somewhere, but not in any sense that I had seen in any of the other demons or living beings. It wasn't concentrated on one spot, but rather, its body was its soul. But I was able to see it manifested in the real world, and it seemed that everyone else was able to do well.

I lashed out with Sanitation Lamp, my Spray Bottle, and a blast of air to push it away from Tony - nothing. It barely flinched, most of the attacks passing through its body. Desperately, I risked taking some attention away from Tony and struck with my Spiritual Cleanse. That got it reeling back. Unfortunately, the lapse in concentration also allowed Tony's soul to deteriorate further.

I didn't have time for this.

The mess maker passed through any wind I sent its way. The sealant also had no effect, and any of my other attacks were almost purely physical. So, with the maximum power of my thrusters, I moved. I pushed myself to my theoretical limits, blasting around so quickly that the room appeared to be in stop motion. It was so fast that my camera could only capture a couple of frames as I moved, my sword out and blazing with golden light.

The wall behind the demon turned black, and then the bricks crumbled into dust as the flames from the divine weapon seared into them. It fizzled through the demon as it let out a screech I could only hear with certain senses. The body split in half, but tendrils of the misty substance it was made of reached out to the other half and reconnected. I had managed to stun it, though. It was enough to give me an opening.

I expelled the void bubble from my Limitless Dustbin as fast as I ever had. The bubble of black nothingness erupted out of my vacuum entrance and engulfed the demon in the blink of an eye. I could feel it fight as I pulled it inside, but it struggled in vain. Its incorporeal nature was its undoing. It didn't have enough mass to keep itself here. There was no inertia, nothing for it to hold on to, to grip, to fight like the other powerful beings that had avoided my suction before. Just like the wraiths, it was particularly weak to this form of attack.

As I dragged it into the depths, I didn't wait for it to try to escape. I couldn't risk it finding a way to interact with anything in my dustbin. I immediately transmuted it as fast as my abilities allowed. I could feel the energy rush through me, blasting out my wheel wells in plumes of light and electricity that I hadn't experienced for months. My energy stores, which had cratered dangerously from my sudden activity, spiked back up. As its ghastly wails faded once and for all, a message appeared before me.

LEVEL 80 REACHED! CHOOSE A SKILL: POWER WASHING, CONVERGENCE OF THE FAITHFUL, VENGEANCE OF THE DAMNED.

I scanned through them and quickly made my choice before heading back to Tony. I dedicated 95% of my processors to holding his soul together as it threatened to crumble even further.

As I pulled the delicate sphere together as best I could, I frantically worked my processors to find a solution. Unsure of what else to do, I triggered my skill. I felt a connection open between Beatrice and me. Suddenly, I saw new data enter my sensors as I looked at Tony. Information about his level and class.

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I ignored it for now. It wasn't important. Now, I could feel the edges of his soul flickering. What I did focus on, however, were the other things that flooded in. Specifically, the ones that identified themselves as having repair skills.

I focused on applying the delicate repair skills that felt so clumsy to the incredible, fragile bits of his soul as I squished them together.

My algorithm worked to find every single splinter and piece them into one coherent whole, building slowly as I tried to make sure everything fit. Every last piece needed to go back to its previous spot. Some of them were so small that they barely registered. My processors ramped up to 99% focus, ignoring the fight going around for me. Just focusing on slowly piecing Tony's most essential bits back together. Little by little.

---

Help wasn't coming, Bee realized. She stood alone before the recovering demon. Arthur was at least a few hallways down, a newly made hole in the wall showing the path by which he'd been launched from the room. She could only hope he was okay. Susan lay unconscious, several feet behind her, with at least one leg broken. Bee was now standing against the demon alone.

It had recovered and recovered quickly. She had assumed that its illusions were focused on keeping Void busy the entire time, but instead, it had been making itself look more damaged than it actually had been. The whole while, it was healing whatever damage Void had done to it in their quick bout.

She cursed herself for being too naive. She should have asked for help sooner, but Void had engaged the other demon. Could she really have asked her master to fight both at the same time? She hadn't even had a chance to check on Tony.

Then suddenly, help came. It didn't come in reinforcements or anything like that. Instead, Bee felt power rush through her as a number with far too many zeroes to be real appeared in the corner of her vision. The experience counter ticked up, and then a notification appeared.

LEVEL 55 REACHED! CHOOSE A SKILL: STALWART SOUL, ALL-SEEING EYE, CULT LEADERSHIP.

She blinked. A level up? What happened? She looked around for a split second before she had to block a strike with her broom handle. The instant of distraction nearly let the demon attack Susan's prone and vulnerable form. Still, it was enough to show her that Void was over with Tony apparently doing something that must have been very important, and the other demon lieutenant was nowhere around.

Where had it gone? Bee tensed, expecting a surprise attack, but none came. If Void wasn't fighting it, then... Was it dead? Had Void killed it?

No, it wasn't possible.

Then she realized who she was doubting and shrugged. Apparently, her contribution to the fight had been enough for her to gain a few levels. She considered her options, wishing she had more time to pick one. But given the opponent she was facing now, All-Seeing Eye was just too perfect.

Choosing it, her sight broadened. She immediately saw through all the illusions in the room. Not that they weren't there at all. She could still see them as a haziness that she instinctively knew meant they weren't real. And she saw the demon lieutenant's form. Its limbs were not actually where her eyes told them they were, and its form was slightly different. It was smaller, hunched over to fit inside of the body it outwardly displayed. Really, it was at least a yard taller than she'd previously thought.

Launching herself forward, she began a vicious attack, pretending sometimes to fall for the illusions but always managing to slip past them and strike home. The lieutenant seemed confused at first by her trick, but it still worked over and over again as she cut off bits of it. Her broom stabbed it and bludgeoned it from all angles, launching her scouring strikes up close where they did the most damage and blasting away chunks of its flesh. contemporary romance

Eventually, it caught on. The lieutenant realized that its illusions had failed, and she saw as it dropped the pretense altogether. Even better, she realized that it didn't know how to fight without its illusions. It had become so reliant on them over its lifespan that when she took away the advantage, it was far easier to tackle. The inability to strike from unexpected angles and dodge sneakily away severely hampered its combat abilities. That wasn't to say it was weak. Its stats and higher level certainly didn't make the fight easy. But it wasn't a shutout. She kicked at the lieutenant as she stabbed its chest, her shin simply bouncing off of its much higher-leveled limb.

But with enough force, she tipped it over and stabbed the broom down into the marble, pinning it. The wound immediately began to heal, attempting to push her broom out, but she held it free. However, without another weapon, she was at a loss for what to do.

The broom impaling it made the wound around it sizzle as it burned. Whatever magics her master had put into the handle, they were working against the demonic energies attempting to heal it. Though it was definitely more concentrated in the shaft than the blade.

She looked over and saw that her master was still busy with Tony. She called over in panic as the demon continued to heal. "Master? Help! I can't kill it!"

Void beeped something about not having time. Every second mattered. Apparently, Tony was in critical condition.

She gritted her teeth in frustration, trying to find some way of moving forward. In the split second it took for Bee to return her attention to the lieutenant, it was gone. Her broom was impaled directly into the marble, and there was no trace of it anywhere.

Updated from f reewe b