Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah gave Moxie a moment to prepare her mystery magic while he took a brief instant to scan the street from upon his flying sword. There weren’t any guards or passersby on the road. A number of demons passed beyond the windows in some of the mansions, but nobody was paying the street any attention.

It would only be a matter of time until they were. Noah had absolutely no delusions that he’d ever be able to break into a mansion in the middle of a street full of other wealthy demons, break some shit, and get out without summoning some form of defensive force.

The real question is going to be just how extensive that force is and how quickly they show up. Fights aren’t forbidden in demon cities. It’s just a matter of strength. If I’m not bothering the other mansions, will they even try to send for help? There’s a chance Igris has allies that will… but something tells me any allies that Igris has aren’t going to be the ones willing to risk their own necks if things are going poorly for him.

Oh well. Moxie won’t be in the house and I’ll be making more than enough distraction for the both of us. Only way to find out what happens is to try.

“Just about ready?” Noah asked Moxie, who was hunched over the seed in her palms with a look of intense concentration knitting her features even behind the face wrappings.

She glanced up at him and nodded. “Yes. As soon as you do your thing, I’m just going to leave this by the door and then manage things from the alley. I’m getting out of here the moment any backup shows up.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you back at the camp.”

Noah leaned forward and sent a flicker of energy down through his feet. The flying sword jerked into motion and he zipped into the air, heading straight for the uppermost window of the house. It wasn’t a long flight. As soon as he was nearing it, Noah pulled his power from the sword and drew on Crumbling Space.

Chilly power raced through his arm and into his fingertips as he sailed through the air. He released the magic stored within his hand moments before he collided with the window. White cracks raced out and passed clean through the glass as if it wasn’t even there.

An instant later, it collapsed with a loud crack. Noah’s fist struck the window as it shattered in a rain of shards. He tumbled through them and into the top room of the building.

Small pieces of glass cut into his clothes and left thin lines along his skin as he hit the ground in a roll and launched to his feet, extending his domain and his tremorsenses instantly. The room he’d arrived in looked to be a study, with a small desk and a plush red chair. A plate of fruit was set on the desk.

The room was empty, but Noah could feel movement all throughout the house beneath him. He took a moment to process the information. There were around fifteen people in the mansion, which was less than he was expecting. Of those fifteen people, there was a single form in a room on the floor below that was nearly twice his height. None of the others compared.

Even though Noah couldn’t make out any details and his domain wasn’t quite in range of them, it wasn’t hard to determine who it was. A grin tugged at his lips. Noah grabbed a bulging purple fruit from the table and strode out of the door.

An average-sized demon prickled against his senses as they raced around the corner of a long, carpeted hall in his direction. Noah lifted a hand, releasing a powerful blast of wind before the demon had even stepped into his line of sight.

A middle-aged demon with a single large horn protruding straight from the top of his head like a flagpole emerged just in time to catch Noah’s magic straight to his face. It lifted him off his feet and slammed the demon into the wall behind him.

By the time he dropped back to his feet, Noah had already closed the distance between them. His palm crashed into the man’s forehead and drove it back into the wall with far more strength than he’d been planning on using.

The demon crumpled, unconscious. Noah paused for a moment as he stared at the limp body before him. He was pretty sure the demon wasn’t dead, but he’d never hit anything that hard without empowering himself with magic.

Is it the Fragment of Self empowering me? No time to worry about it now. Bigger shit to fight.

Igris had definitely heard the noise. His form had started moving. It didn’t seem that he was particularly concerned with anything yet, but it would only be a matter of time — and if he left his room, everything would get a fair bit harder. He needed to contain this as much as possible.

Noah sprinted down the hall and into an empty room directly above his target. He took a moment to draw on his power. Demon mansions were sturdily built. He was going to need to break through a whole lot of solid material. Then, his large fruit still held in his free hand, he drove a foot into the ground and unleashed Warped Matter.

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Magic carved through the floor like it was a juicy watermelon. Streaks of gray cubelike energy chewed through everything in their path, leaving a thick dent in their wake. His power only managed to spread a few feet before it ran out of energy, but that was more than enough. Noah drove his foot into the weakened stone.

It shattered and he dropped, falling amidst a rain of dust and rubble to the floor far below. Noah crashed down directly on top of a desk, sending a glass of wine tumbling off. It crashed onto a ground covered with golden coins and shattered.

Noah’s eyes were already locked on exactly where he knew Igris to be. A large demon with four arms and bright blue skin stood at the far end of the room, his hand an inch from the door. He wore long, luxurious black robes trimmed with golden designs. Two massive daggers hung on each side of his belt. They were similarly designed, with black sheaths and golden designs along their surface.

The demon was enormous. Even though the room was easily three times taller than an average one, Igris still took up a considerable amount of it. Noah had to crane his neck back just to look into his target’s eyes.

“Who are you?” Igris asked, hands flying to the blades and drawing them without a second of hesitation. Gold grated beneath his feet as he shifted his stance. Igris may have been surprised, but he wasn’t caught off guard.

Have to give it to demons. Being in a constant state of fighting definitely helps you look less stupid when you get ambushed.

Noah tilted his head to the side. He lifted the fruit he’d stolen to his mouth and pulled a cloth wrapping out of the way to take a bite out of it. His nose wrinkled in distaste. It was far too sweet and juicy, like someone had poured sugar water into a bag. He tossed the fruit over his shoulder and it splattered against an expensive-looking painting of a demon behind him, streaking down their face before squelching to the floor.

“I’m offended,” Noah said, his voice as cold as ice. “You spent so much effort trying to get my attention, but you don’t even give me the good courtesy to recognize me when I show up to your summons?”

The desk cracked. Noah twitched back so quickly that he barely even realized that he’d moved until it was over. A golden spike erupted from the ground, carving through the bottom of the desk and up through the air where he’d been standing.

Noah twitched again, moving his head just far enough to the side to avoid being impaled by another spike of gold that shot up from the ground. It passed so close to his skin that it could have given him a tight shave, but still didn’t manage to leave so much as a scratch.

“Spider,” Igris growled.

“You’re normally supposed to say that before you try to kill me,” Noah said.

Igris sneered at him. Gold exploded into the air around the huge demon as he leapt at Noah. He plunged all four of his daggers down in a different direction, each one aiming at its own target.

Noah blurred. Every single portion of his body moved exactly to his desires, down to the faintest twitches. A blade sliced past the tip of his nose. Another one carved by his shoulder as he twisted, rotating to let a third brush along his back. The fourth bit nothing but air as it barely passed by where his neck had been.

He slammed his palm into Igris’ chest and he unleashed Natural Disaster, sending a bolt of lighting into his body at point blank. A loud crack ripped through the air and Igris tumbled back, sliding across the gold and slamming into a wall. Smoke curled from a charred spot on his chest. Igris clutched the wound, his lips pulled fully back to reveal two rows of golden fangs.

“Who sent you?” Igris demanded.

“Nobody sent me,” Noah replied. He flicked his hand forward and wind screamed past him, forming into a thick column of white blades. Igris dove to the side, avoiding the magic as it cut clean through the wall behind him and demolished a table in the room beyond. “I am here because you dared to call me.”

The huge demon rose back to his feet. Despite his size, he was fast. He could also use external magic. This was no weak opponent — but Noah had never felt better in his life. He was practically thrumming with energy.

“You dared to interfere in my business. The only thing you have come here to do is die,” Igris growled. Gold burst up around Noah, swirling like glistening water, and collapsed on him from all directions.

Noah drew on Natural Disaster once more, forcing its power out in every direction. A howling gale enveloped his body and blew outward, throwing Igris’ magic back and sending gold clattering against the walls. The large demon may have been a Rank 5, but his external magic wasn’t all that impressive.

Definitely weaker than Azel — or he’s focused in a different area.

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard some variation of that line?” Noah asked. Lightning crackled between his fingertips and he lifted his hand. “And do you know how many of the people that have asked me that are still alive?”

Igris flung one of his daggers at Noah. It streaked through the air in a black blur. There was no doubt in Noah’s mind that it was moving far faster than any normal human ever could have hoped to avoid under their own powers.

He stepped right past it. The blade slammed into the wall behind him and thrummed, vibrating to a standstill, buried in the stone.

“Was that wise?” Noah asked. “Now you only have three.”

Igris snarled at him. The huge demon took a step forward. Then a wave of gold erupted in front of him and he spun, sprinting for safety. He crossed the distance between himself and the exit in a flash, flinging the door open —

A massive vine covered with beautiful white flowers filled the entire hallway. Thick thorns jutted off it, dripping with purple liquid. Igris skidded to a halt an instant before he impaled himself upon it the vine. He spun back to Noah, who did his best not to look equally as surprised.

Goddamn, Moxie. When you said you could handle something, I did not quite realize the scale at which we were speaking.

“What is this?” Igris snarled. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Noah reached up to the wrappings covering his face and pulled them down to reveal his smile. He dipped the fingers of his other hand into a pocket, pulling out a Mind Meld potion.

“You know who I am, Igris. We’ve already covered this. You tried so hard to get my attention, and now you have it,” Noah said softly. He lifted the potion and the blood ran from Igris’ face. Noah’s smile grew wider. “And now, you’re going to drink this for me.”

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