The enchantments on his visor—his new visor—were quite the upgrade. Previously, he would be able to track demons. Walls hadn’t been much of an obstacle, but they did lessen clarity. More than that required specialized equipment that Gertrude had enchanted.
Now he could see specific individuals so long as they radiated enough demonic taint. He could tell which direction they were facing, whether they were standing or sitting, and several other minor details.
That wasn’t even getting into the auditory enchantments. Being able to hear a fly land on the wall was somewhat disorienting. Especially when Gertrude’s voice sounded perfectly normal at the same time.
It was handy for spying. Clement had to admit that.
Gertrude frowned, but she didn’t move.
She couldn’t move. Even with all the wonders of magic and potions, there was only so much that could be done about damage to the spinal cord. And Gertrude had a bit more than simple damage. She had three separate wounds that had each punctured straight through different points of her spine.
Clenching his fist, Clement grit his teeth together. She could still work her magic. Gertrude had been churning out a full suit of armor for him, complete with enchantments. His original suit had taken years to make, but this one would be completed within a handful of weeks. A few months total, but nothing that compared to his old suit.
That was about all she could do. With all of her time dedicated to enchanting, there wasn’t much in the way of distractions. No putting down a gauntlet to run off chasing down some demon or other.
She did have another project. Something that might assist her in moving about. Whether or not she would be able to fight was still unknown. At the very least, she would be able to get out and do reconnaissance with Clement.
“Stop that.”
Clement started. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath before relaxing himself.
“I can hear your teeth grinding together. You’ll ruin them, you know?”
Making a noncommittal grunt, Clement moved closer to Gertrude and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. “Can I get you anything?”
“Not right now. But this is troublesome. We got rid of one of the primary summoners and half of the demons around. Now there are a dozen more? What does it take to put down this infestation?”
“Should we really be here?”
Gertrude’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. They were one of the few things that she still had full control over. As such, she went to every effort to make full use of her glares.
“You’re not suggesting we run, are you?”
“There are other demon hunters in the area now. Leave it to them. You said that healers of the Elysium Order might be able to mend your back. Let us seek them out.”
“And leave this to those amateurs? They run in and get themselves killed. We can’t leave this to them.”
Clement frowned. They hadn’t run in and yet Gertrude was lying in a bed, immobile. She had been caught off guard by a blood magic wielding demon and another demon who appeared entirely out of nowhere. Clement had only succeeded in his mission because of Gertrude’s ring. That was gone now. If another demon of that caliber appeared, they would be dead without a doubt.
“Something is being planned and it does not bode well for humanity. Whatever it is.”
Gertrude wanted to shake her head in frustration. He could tell just from the way her lips curled downwards ever so slightly.
“Did you learn anything?”
Clement grit his teeth again for just a moment before remembering Gertrude’s warning. “Nothing significant. The humans were schoolchildren, discussing being trapped in Hell for a time. After that…”
“After that what?”
Frown deepening, Clement shook his head. “They discussed school. Attending it. The demons—or the female at least—seemed excited. If I hadn’t known better, I might have thought they were ordinary children. Only a few comments stood out as things children wouldn’t discuss. Other than being stuck in Hell, that is.
“Of course, I missed portions of their conversation. If I watched for too long, the male demon would sense my observations and comment on it, halting the discussion.”
“Troublesome. Not insurmountable though. And you didn’t hear anything from the main group of demons?”
“I stopped by, but the dormitories are too full of people. All the sound blurs together into one unintelligible mess.”
Clement had been hoping to hear anything. After the girl and the demon who had injured Gertrude teleported in, he had tried for a while. Too long, if he was being honest with himself. Unfortunately, the enchantments just weren’t up to the task of filtering out things he didn’t need to hear.
“As we expected. I may be able to adjust the enchantment. It wouldn’t be ready soon, however.”
“Shouldn’t you at least be working on your own project. Doing something for yourself and getting mobile again?”
“No time. If these demons are planning on something, we need your armor ready to handle whatever that may be.”
“But–”
“Don’t argue. I’m not able to fight at the moment. It is going to be all up to you. Other hunters are unreliable. They can’t even kill a single demon despite sacrificing their lives trying. Pathetic.”
Clement stood still in their home—one of the many abandoned buildings around Brakket City—and watched Gertrude for a moment.
With his sword still intact, he held no doubts about his ability to handle most of the demons out there. There were a few that might give him pause, but quelling a number of them might be enough to disrupt their plans. Finishing his armor would only increase his chances of success. Especially his chances of success while still living through it in the end.
If he died, was captured, or otherwise became unavailable while Gertrude was bedridden… she might be able to teleport someplace where she could get help, but he doubted that she would trust anyone to do anything. It was a very real possibility that she might choose to starve in this bed.
He didn’t argue against her words, but he didn’t have to like them either.
“Bring me your new boots,” she said after a moment. “I’ll get to working on reweaving the enchantments.”
Clement stood still for just a moment before moving to comply. She was right in the end. He needed to be ready for whatever may happen. To protect her, if nothing else.
— — —
The week couldn’t end soon enough for Eva.
Going to regular school with nothing exciting on the side to distract her was something of a nightmare. She had thought that it would be nice. A vacation from demon hunters, necromancers, nuns, and whatever else had plagued her school career. Unfortunately, that lack of excitement just revealed the true monotony of Brakket Academy—the dull feeling that most normal students experienced over the course of their school years.
Even a dozen demons running around the school and posing as students didn’t create quite the drama that Eva might have expected.
Professor Chelsea Lepus spent a moment loudly clearing her throat. “Now class, I know you’re still excited about our new friends,” she said with only a hint of distaste leaking through in her tone, “but we do have material that needs to be covered in a timely manner.”
One of the demons had been assigned to Eva’s class. The demon called Srey. One of the few who didn’t actually seem to want to be on Earth. He kept to himself in the back of the classroom, shooting glares at… well, mostly everyone, but especially those who approached him.
Not that his glares actually stopped anyone.
Glancing over her shoulder, Eva found a number of people all seated at his table. Mostly girls, but he had a few guys seated nearby as well.
And they were continuously giggling about something or other.
Apparently his appearance was cute. Eva just didn’t see it. As a human, he didn’t look much different from most other teens around the school. He had moderately long hair draped over one eye—though he wasn’t hiding anything behind the hair—and was lean almost to the point of being too skinny.