Shalise gasped as she glanced at herself.
While the more physically demanding nights in Professor Kines’ class had kept her in shape, she hadn’t spent much time actually building strength.
Her fingers ran over her new abs. Abs! A six-pack even. Genoa would be jealous.
Both her arms and legs were similarly beefed up.
She felt like she could lift a truck without breaking a sweat.
But… it was wrong.
Hmph. Pathetic.
“What did you do?”
Be more in tune with your inner demon next time, servant.
Shalise could feel him grinning at his little pun. She was too grossed out to care.
There was a brief mental sigh from Prax. It will have to do.
Her body looked normal. Normal for a bodybuilder, at least. Touching her new abs even felt normal.
But it didn’t feel normal. The worms were still there. Every little movement she made, she could feel them pretending to be muscles.
Disgusting.
All at once, the worms started pulling back. Her fingertips returned to their normal definition, followed by her wrists and arms.
Cease this foolishness, servant, Prax shouted in her head. Dispatch the incubus before dismissing my gift.
Startled by his voice, Shalise allowed the worms to return to their places.
At least she could get rid of it.
“I don’t know how to fight,” Shalise eventually said. She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. Her jaw, her cheeks, her face, and her tongue all felt infested.
Do not fight then, he said. Reach out and grip his skull. Pull him into the barrier and hold him there until he disappears.
Taking a deep breath, Shalise clenched her worm-infested hands into a fist. “I can do this,” she mumbled as she turned towards the indigo demon. Resigned, she walked up to the barrier with her eyes staring at the floor.
She stopped just at the edge and looked up.
He licked his lips.
Shalise wrinkled her face in disgust.
Fool, Prax laughed. Grab him and end this.
At a speed that surprised Shalise, her arms reached out of the barrier.
The demon’s eyes and mouth widened in apparent shock.
He didn’t have time to react. Following Prax’s instructions, Shalise used her full weight to pull him into the barrier.
The sizzling and the screaming started at the same time.
Shalise closed her eyes.
She wished she could close her ears.
Claws raked against her hands, but whatever the worms were doing, they managed to keep her from feeling too hurt.
It took several agonizing minutes, but eventually the screams cut off and the clawing ceased. A minute later and Shalise fell backwards, landing on her butt, as the demon slipped out of her grip.
Opening her eyes, Shalise caught the tail end of a portal closing. One just like the portal that had opened beneath the imp that Professor Baxter had killed at her seminar.
Shalise got up to her feet and just stared. There was no evidence of the indigo demon except for a few splatters of blood. The blood blended in with the black tiles and was only noticeable thanks to the angle of the ambient light.
And, Shalise noted with a glance at her own hands, it might not be his blood.
The backs of her hands up to her wrists looked like they had been put through a meat grinder. Red blood dripped off her hands, pooling on the floor in front of her.
Though they wouldn’t look like that for long. She could see the muscles and skin knitting back together in real-time. Strands of flesh jumped across gaps, pulling the flesh back to its normal position.
Her stomach churned. Shalise knelt over and heaved.
Nothing actually came out. She had been trying not to think about it because she would have only gotten hungrier, but she hadn’t had food in who knows how many hours. Possibly a full day.
Shalise remained on her knees until the tingling in her hands stopped. Only then did she stand up and look over her flawless skin.
Acceptable, Shalise jumped at Prax’s voice. I suppose. Let us move on. Gather your mortal friend if you must.
Shalise put her foot down.
“Not yet.” She had a hardness in her voice that surprised her. Shalise did not allow it to distract her.
Shalise concentrated as she had before. The worms pulled back, returning to the brand on her stomach. She kept up her concentration until she couldn’t feel them any longer.
She stopped concentrating.
The worms did not return.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips. She had been worried about needing constant concentration to keep them at bay.
Amazingly enough, Prax stayed silent throughout the process.
His indignation was, however, palpable.
As soon as she finished looking herself over and confirming that everything was back to normal, he mentally shook his head. You would reject my perfection for your mortalness? Pathetic servant.
“I am not your servant,” Shalise growled. With a frown, she added, “is mortalness even a word?”
It matters not so long as you understand my meaning. Now get a move on, that last notification announced the release of the dolls. We do not want to get caught by those things.
That was something Shalise could agree with. She didn’t know what the dolls were, but the prospect of getting out sounded excellent.
Turning to Juliana, Shalise realized the first problem with escaping.
Juliana was small. A good deal shorter than Shalise. Easily the shortest person in their class. While she was nowhere near as muscled as Genoa, Juliana had a well toned body. She couldn’t have weighed all that much.
Carrying her would be clumsy and encumbering, but doable.
Except for one problem.
Shalise’s unenhanced muscles strained to lift the armor-clad girl. The metal had to weigh at least… a lot. Shalise didn’t have any good reference points for eye-balling weight.
But it was one major problem.
Worse, he was laughing inside her head again.
“I’m not leaving without her. We need to wake her up. If you don’t have any solutions, at least be quiet.”
Leave her or carry her with us. Her body is in shock. Likely thanks to the toxin of the imps’ claws. Debilitating, but only deadly to a babe. The shock, however, does not come from the toxin. Rather, she lacks something vital to jump-start her body. She will not wake on her own.
“Lacks what?”
Perhaps I shall explain on the way. Perhaps I will leave your mental faculties intact. Either way, lingering would be unwise.
Shalise frowned. “And you want me to use your worm things to–”
Do not compare my glorious muscles to vermin.
Crossing her arms, Shalise said, “you’ve gotten haughty.”
I am free of my bonds for the first time in tens of centuries. And we are so close to true freedom. I feel haughty. Though it will all be squandered should you fail to get moving.
Shalise bit her lip. She glanced between Juliana and the empty hallway. “Fine.”
With a distressingly simple thought, Prax’s disgusting muscles erupted from the brand. Shalise closed her eyes and thought about how nice a hot meal would taste right about now. She sighed once the squirming beneath her skin squeezed and tightened.
Opening her eyes, Shalise glanced down at her friend.
It wasn’t easy to pick her up. Not quite effortless. Shalise managed to get her slung over her shoulder without too much trouble. After ensuring she wouldn’t fall off by gripping her arms and legs in front and looping her around Shalise’s neck, they moved up to the red barrier.