Flower of Sylvas [Kisu/HCGal]
 

It started a thousand years ago. or so. A little hard to count the years when you're never certain how the different worlds count their time. But if we had to consider it in the terms of the world Sylvas, then around a thousand years is right.

At one time, however, there were hundreds of worlds once interconnected by streams of mana channels. Pathways through the cosmos that allowed sufficiently powerful beings to pass through them. For sufficiently powerful, see; any average idiot who could control mana, sense it and find these magical pathways through portals located on the worlds.

Anyone who could use mana was usually stronger than their normal counterparts, but using mana means putting on your big boy pants and being prepared to fight things a thousand times more powerful than you. So the average idiot would still get squished if they looked at the wrong thing funny.

But then came the Angels, the new bigshots of the Cosmos. And their mission was to wipe out all they perceived as evil. So basically demons, once the only contributors to the average idiot population, followed by humans eventually.

With humans spread all over the cosmos it was only a matter of time before they got embroiled in the wars between the Angels and Demons. It got so bad that entire worlds were being destroyed by either side. But when it got too much, the post powerful Overlord of the demons, Varnus, made a fateful decision. He tore into the very fabric of space and destroyed the mana channels between the worlds. Cutting them off. No more traveling between the worlds and Nethers. No retreat, no escape.

For Sylvas, it took the wind out of the fight. Various angel commanders, various demon lords all stopped fighting when they realized what had happened. And so they backed away from one another, unsure of where to go next. If they were fighting for control over the cosmos, what use was it when no-one could go anywhere..?
The demons found their own places to carry on as they usually had, fighting amongst one another, drinking, partying, fighting some more. it kept them busy. The Angels vanished entirely, no-one was ever too sure where they went, they couldn't leave. In all likelihood they simply secluded themselves, but kept a watchful eye on the demons.

And the pockets of humanity on Sylvas were left to flourish in relative peace. They were the one element Angels were never sure of. Demons and Humans didn't share the same essence. but humans had proved to be both good and bad, some corruptible, some redeemable. Interfering with them was something they couldn't do without assurances about where humanity would point the potential of their power. Though short-lived, even a human could rise up with extreme power.

Perhaps a hundred years ago or so, a new Demon Lord started to make a name for himself among the other demons, Lord Hadrien, but he also started to terrorize humans by sending raiding parties after their settlements for food and supplies. He rose to power among the demons, not only as a Strong demon but a strong leader with ambition. Like demon lords of old, he wanted to claim dominion of the world he was born on, and more.

Of course it was an inevitability that humanity would start to fight back. And this is where the curious tale begins. The tale of the Flower of Sylvas.


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Hunt one girl. Not exactly the most apt description of what was to be done. Hadrien had heard rumors of a girl that could enslave demons to her bidding. Now normally this wouldn't be too strange a thing, except it was a human girl. Sure they'd met strong humans before, but never one that could change the will of a demon.

And so he sent an assassin, a little at random. One of his soldiers, Hey, you, go find this girl that controls demons and kill her. The silver-haired demon agreed, sure, it was Lord Hadrien's orders. He'd never really questioned it before. But he had to wonder why this was that threatening.

And without much more of a description, hunting for this girl had been.. A challenge. He had to ask around for information, be discreet, track her, find her and, as ordered, kill her. It wasn't a task he'd taken overly seriously, but he still did his job. He'd found the trail finally. Following thee stories of thankful villagers that the girl took care of demons that had been raiding them. So she was strong enough to kill Hadrien's raiding parties at least, correct? There were occasional words that demons had been fighting at her side and on some occasions just people who looked like humans.
One mention of a big strong gorilla with blonde hair put the strangest image in his head. Another of a mouse on coffee made him wonder if humans even knew what they were saying out loud. Some of the weirder tales weren't even things he'd mention. They certainly weren't things you'd tell your children.

In a rather small town called Haven, Emma Flowers had made her temporary home. She was rather young, only nineteen years old. She had already graduated from a prestigious magic school, while most did not do so until they were twenty one. Emma, however, was somewhat of a prodigy, not that anyone would know it by seeing her, or listening to her. Currently, her violet eyes were rolling, and her mouth moved to mock the demon's voice filling the air.

"Such a gorgeous day!" Emma, a rather short and petite female began to speak over the noise coming from the clip that connected the two brown braids together at her collarbone. "The sunlight coming down from the trees, spilling over the ground...It's making everything so sparklie...Penny, oh gosh, I wish you could run around out here!" The voice was teasing and light, without the whining contained in the one coming from her accessory. It became rather stern, though it still held a slight teasing tone inside of it. "But, you won't. Maybe next time I do let you out for berry picking, you'll remember having to stay like this. I will never be able to wear that dress again, Penny! Also, Hannah knows if she smashes the berries, she won't get to have pie. I bet she's doing a great job..."

For a second, she became rather serious, and glanced around. With two demons around her constantly, Emma had gotten used to feeling various magic, but for a moment, she'd thought she had felt someone else nearby. It was most likely nothing, however, and concern for the berries brought Hannah back to Emma's mind. "Hannah! How many do you have?" Emma called out, her violet eyes moving down to the basket in her hand. The woven bucket was about halfway filled with blackberries. In case Hannah hadn't gathered enough, Emma switched the basket to her other hand, stepping off the small dirt path into the bushes again, moving careful to avoid catching her bracelets or multicolored dress on the branches.

The dress was violet and a deep dark blue, with geometrical designs embroidered into it. Her arms were bare, other than a silver arm cuff curling around the top of her left arm. A metal headband sat on top of her head, and when she moved, the beads in her hair made soft clunking sounds. Her feet were bare, and rather dirty from running around in the forest all day. It all gave Emma a rather earthy look. And earthy things made Emma happy, so her outfit worked well. She loved to play dress up, and loved her accessories, so really, it made a lot of sense that she had bound the demons to them.

"And whining won't help, Penny. I've made my choice. I'll bring you out once the berries are safely baking." Emma promised, picking a few more of the tiny berries, popping one into her mouth and dropping the other into the basket. "Are you going to help me out this time? Promise you won't mess anything of mine up, Penny?" She sighed, relenting somewhat, but waiting for the promise to let Penny come out.

Not much was really known about the demons, but having two of them around was certainly teaching Emma a lot. And really, they weren't too much different than people. The biggest difference seemed to be the disregard of consequences and responsibilities. They just really liked to enjoy themselves.

And to be honest, life before the pair of demons had been rather boring anyway. Now Emma was always kept on her toes, and constantly doing various things. It was fun now, as well as insightful. Lost in her thoughts, Emma continued to dip her hands into the bushes, popping the berries into her mouth, the basket forgotten.

Sadly, most of the demon's ideas for fun involved human settlements hurting in one way or another. So, Emma traveled around helping various towns get rid of the demons, one way or another. Haven, as nice as it was, was really temporary for the mage. Besides, Emma doubted she could settle down in one place at this point in her life. The grateful people had let her stay in a small hut on the outskirts of the forest at her request, which was nice. But, still...there was more out there. More to learn, and more to do. She was starting to get antsy, and wanted to move on soon. All of this, however, she kept to herself, her hand abandoning the bushes and starting to dip into the basket.

"I.. DIDNT... MEAN.. TO!!" Penny squealed from her place in the mage's hair, the hairclip wiggling ever slightly, flexing in vain efforts to un-clip itself, but sadly to no avail, it eventually gave up. Whether in her humanoid form or in hairclip form, she could still see the things that her master was teasing her with as she whined once more,
"I wont mess you up again, I promiiiiise!" She called desperately. Penny had always been rather childish in personality, she wasn't malevolent, but she definitely was a mischief maker, she witnessed the bonding of Hannah to one of Emma's rings, she thought it looked so much fun that she practically begged Emma to do the same to her. Hanna had once observed that the hyperactive little demon girl was probably lonely, she adamantly refused to talk about family or friends. Ultimately she was a bundle of energy, adept with hitting other demons with her staff and blasting them with magic, the latter being a feat she'd even performed in her clip state.
No matter how desperately she pleaded, there was at least enough self control in her to not fire magic wildly at nearby things in her frustration. Hannah had no such magical powers herself, but her ring form was heavier than anything of the same size and if Emma punched something with her, she could break them. Rocks and boulders were literally a joke to the force of a strike from the ring, pulverizing the rock into mere gravel and pebbles. At least, if Hannah were lend her strength to the cause.

The silent giant of a woman didn't respond to her masters call, she didn't speak often, sure she seemed to enjoy herself while fighting, but unlike most demons she was rather quiet, she wasn't brooding, she didn't have any tragic tales, she didn't have any past pains that she knew of, she simply was how she was because it was what felt natural to her. Unfortunately for some; that meant she didn't communicate things very often. If she was in pain, she'd ignore it and work through it, if she was hungry she would normally find her own meal, if she felt a particular way strongly she might have smiled or frowned a little, but she'd never been witnessed in a truly happy or angry state.

The figure in the trees still watched the scene quietly. She was really talking to some-one? She called for a Hannah person, but still he couldn't see this person. He looked back towards Emma and almost slipped form his place, staring at the hulking figure standing behind Emma. Besides Emma, Hannah was practically a goliath. The muscular figure, however, daintily held a handbasket of gathered berries out over Emma's shoulder, waiting for her to take it before she turned again, walking into the treeline again. However when the man tried to follow where she went, he realized she was gone again. how did a woman that huge just suddenly disapp-
A rustling behind him, the man looked over his shoulder. And there she was, looking as if she'd just leaped up from the ground, her right arm rolled back, fist clenched. She connected with his jaw and he shot out of the tree like a rocket, hitting the middle of the dirt road with mighty force, a dust cloud raising up behind him. And a surprised look on his face, eyes wide, the side of his face red from the blow.

It was fairly important to note that he was likely the first demon they had encountered that hadn't been knocked out cold by a blow like that. But the man sat up, rubbing his cheek, still a little dazed at what had just happened, though he stared up up at a shadow int he air that soon came hurtling down towards him. Hannah on the attack again. he rolled back quickly, just dodging her striking the ground where he was standing before he leaped backward quickly. The impact of her fist caused the ground beneath her to form a small crater. She stared up quietly at the man as he stumbled slightly before finding his balance.
No wonder the raiding parties were having problems. This woman alone was a nightmare! What of his actual target? Was she powerful enough to beat an opponent THIS strong?

The voice made Emma jump. She had forgotten for a moment that Penny was so close. With a sigh, Emma took the clip from her braids, shaking them out. She tossed the hairclip gently to her side, and Penny appeared, pink confetti dancing around the white haired demon, along with the sound of a band rushing through the forest. When Emma looked back, she couldn't help but shriek again. A basket was dangling next to her face.

"You two are gonna be the death of me!" Emma stated, but gave the giant blonde woman a smile, to show she didn't truly mean it. Emma took the basket, peering at the blackberries almost dripping out of the rim. "Thanks Hann-" Emma glanced behind her, noticing the demon was gone. Not taking it offensively, Emma popped a berry from the full basket into her mouth and shrugged. The larger of the demons was refreshingly quiet and independent, and Emma had learned not to take her silence to heart. Just like Penny was hyper, Hannah was just quiet.

Again, Emma jumped into the air as a loud thud filled the air. Puzzled, she looked towards the sound, seeing a huge dust cloud near the road. Just a few steps and Emma was staring at a white haired male rolling away from Hannah's attack. He was obviously a demon, with those burning red eyes. She inhaled deeply, and began to bellow. "DEMON! Deeeemon! Demondemondemondemon! Peeennnnnyyyy! I'm gonna need your help too! Keep him busy! Hannah, do your best to keep him in the circle, okay?" Excited, Emma grabbed a nearby stick, dropping both woven baskets on the ground, and ignoring the blackberries that spilled unto the ground. She would gather this demon as well! It was her first chance to bind an unwilling subject.

Not many spells required actual circles, but trapping a demon required time and so much energy. When Hannah had agreed, and then Penny had asked to be trapped, Emma had had to go around for two days with the hyperactive demon following her and constantly whining before she'd been strong enough to do Penny. And that was for a willing demon. From the mark on this one's face, Hannah had already struck him, and the fact that he wasn't knocked out meant he was physically strong.

Digging the stick into the ground, Emma quickly moved around the battling demons. She stopped when she reached the start of her circle, drawing and intricate design to connect the two parts. The ground shimmered, and she glanced at herself, looking for something to attach the demon to. She grabbed her necklace, tugging it over her braids, and laid it in the middle of the design.

Emma closed her eyes, concentrating. The spell didn't require incantations, but it required a lot of concentration and a lot of power. After a few long minutes, Emma was able to find her center. When she spoke this time, her voice was calm, almost like Emma was speaking from a trance. It was also slightly deeper. "Girls...I need you out of the circle...now..." A surge of bright green light lite up the circle in a large dome as soon as the female demons left the circle. The light began to fade slowly, becoming a swirling ball. It zigzagged through the air, finally touching the necklace Emma had set down. The necklace glowed a bright green, fading slowly.

Emma's violet eyes opened slowly. She was panting heavily, and scooped the necklace up. If it had worked, the necklace her mother had given her when she was young would look different, reflecting the demon inside. He wouldn't even need to speak for her to know, however, she poked the necklace gently. "Hey...hey...you in there?" Emma questioned between soft pants.

Hannah rushed the man again, however this time he was prepared for it, her hefty blow was swept aside ad first with a quick turn from the demon, the white-haired man pushing her arm aside at first then turning quickly to kick her in the back, it send her crashing forward, rolling, but she managed to get her balance mid roll, ending up on her knee and raking the ground with her fingers, though she still slid quite a ways. He turned in time to see the other demon finally appear. So there had been three after all!

He didn't even have much time to register that little fact because Penny was whirling the hammer-like staff in the air before she slammed it into the ground with both her hands. The action brought up a vast gust of wind that surrounded the white-haired man and tossed him up into the air. Penny whirled the staff again, raised it up then struck downwards in the air. In kind, a large meteor-like fireball appeared in the air and shot towards the new demon, hitting him rather hard. It exploded, sending him hurtling back towards the ground like a reverse firework.
Hannah jumped back as he hit the ground near her before she grabbed the seemingly smouldering demon by the collar, lifting him to his feet and gut punching him at first before she threw the same fist up, again sending him reeling, however he merely stumbled a short distance, finding his feet once more.

The man stared at the antics of Emma a moment. She was preparing something, the magic girl she'd summoned was also readying magic, however when the call to retreat came, both Hannah and Penny quickly jumped out of the circle. The magic surrounded the new demon and for a moment he felt a constriction, but then a strange tearing. Something was pulled away, but he threw his arms out. It looked like the spell had failed, for he still stood there, the magic around him scattered and returned towards Emma, not all the power had been successfully drawn form him, however the amulet had already changed appearance slightly. Some of the material was changing to a reflective silver color.

He stared at her a moment, confused. Why was she looking at and talking to her pendant? He almost took a step towards her when he felt something behind him, the presence of that gold-haired woman. He turned in time to see her fist coming towards him. It collided with his face but it felt very difference this time. Near bone-crushing force impacted with his skull and sent him spinning through the air before he hit the ground, completely unconscious.
Hannah stared a moment, then looked at her fist, almost as if in confusion. He hadn't been that easy to hurt before. If anything she felt like had they fought one on one, he might had dominated her entirely. Still.. Half of whatever Emma had done must have worked.

Penny danced over tot he fallen body, giggling a little as she poked and prodded the unconscious form,
"Hah! We got you!" She stated triumphantly, pouncing on to the body once and bouncing on his back before hopping off and dancing on the spot,
"Woo! Freedom! No more stuffy clip space! I can moooooove!" She cheered a moment but then looked down at the man aqain, poking at him a few more times, "Wow, he didn't go easy, I mean he's been following us for like.. Three whole days now, got closer and closer the whole time, not bad at hiding his energy but I can sense eeeeeeverythiiiing!" Hannah shot the girl an accusing glare, she knew the whole time? She reached over and picked the girl up by her skull, the smaller figure grinning sheepishly, "I uh... I shoulda said something.. Maybe..? Perhaps..? Just a little?" She whimpered just a little, followed with a half-quiet "Sorry..?"
Hannah sighed, dropping the girl on her rear and stared over at Emma once more, nodding to her briefly before she walked out of the area of where the spell would be cast, Penny was also getting up to dust herself off and bouncing after the lumbering woman, still smiling broadly.

The amulet had changed slightly, but not very much. Emma groaned, and rubbed her head, turning it at the same time. The male demon was approaching her. She lifted a hand, and the air shimmered in front of her. The shield didn't last too long, however, since Hannah moved behind the male. A few seconds later, and he was laying on the ground. Emma groaned, and slid the necklace back over her head.

"You ladies did amazing, as always..." Emma stated, before glaring at Penny. "Gah! Penny, don't jump on him! Next time a demon is around, yeah, we kinda need to know. I seriously cannot believe you right now..." She sighed, and glanced at Hannah. "Why was he here? Hannah...you found him, right? What was he doing? Penny, are you sure he was following us?"

She continued musing, glancing behind them. "Maybe I didn't focus enough...Or perhaps it's because my circle isn't as precise as it should have been, but it didn't work right. It could also be just because he wasn't willing..." Emma looked rather thoughtfully, kneeling down. "I think I've got part of him...I...just don't know what part. But my amulet is a different color...You two really don't need to leave this area...I've got to recharge a little bit. Food..." Everytime Emma spent too much energy, the girl would make a huge dinner and devour it. Then sleep roughly ten hours. "I don't know when I'll be able to try again. We can't let him get away before I'm ready..."

Determination set in. Hannah could probably lift this demon up with no problem, but Emma tried not to ask either of the girls to do to much. If they chose to help, they chose, but Emma wasn't going to take advantage of them. They were her confidants, they had let her, a human, bind them to an object, and they helped her all the time. Sticking her tongue from the side of her mouth, Emma squinted, and the demon lifted into the air, following Emma as she gathered up the spilled berries back into the basket. "Are you two ready to head back, so I can start cooking. If he wakes up again, can we just knock him back out. If part of him is in the amulet, then he's bound to be much weaker, right?" Emma glanced back, still proud. How many other people could do what she had just done?

The pride diminished slightly as Emma yawned, and began to trudge the long way back, setting the baskets of blueberries on the floating demon's back. "Is there any way to tell what kind of demon he is?"

Hannah stared up at the trees a moment where the man had been watching, though as she looked back at the defeated demon on the ground she folded her arms, frowning at the figure,
"Hunter... Scout..? Not likely.. Too strong.. Assassin..?" She pondered her own words. While they were few, it was a quick assessment, at least of what she thought. He was fast, skilled, strong and durable. His perception needed some work, however, he hadn't been able to catch sight of her until the last second the first time around. He had been focused. Focused on... Who..? She glanced at Emma, frowning a little, "Target..?" This placed some chills in the giant woman's spine. Some-one was sending an assassin after Emma?

"Ewww, an assassin? He's just another demon like us but he's strong, like.. I totally shoulda ripped him up and burned him to a crisp but he isn't even burning anymore." Penny sniffed int he direction of the body, though she giggled a little as he floated into the air. Hannah closed in on the body and plucked it out of the air, hauling it over her shoulder and staring at Emma, she was going to exhaust herself further if she pushed herself like that. Penny meanwhile had scrambled over to where the rest of the fallen berries were, rapidly tossing them back into the basket as she picked and tossed them one by one,
"Well he looks whole, so probably you got half his essence, he got so weak that Hannah lamped him in one hit, pow!" She sat up straight and swung a fist through the air, "It's like.. Uhm.. The..-" She paused a moment, a nervous look on her face, "The old stories.. Of how demons from other worlds lost their powers and all that left was their bodies and minds. Because the mana channels fed them power they gathered in their nethers and worlds. It's sorta like that. He's still a demon, but you've cut him off from most of his power." She explained this all fairly quickly, as was her typical nature, but there was a brief pause after she'd mentioned nethers and worlds.

Hannah looked aside at the figure she had on her shoulder, then at Emma. Like Penny had said, he was a standard demon. The human term for them literally was Humanoid. There were different races of demons, dragons, zombies, spirits and many other creatures, but all typically followed the same principles of demon behavior. Do what you enjoy, do what's fun, if you're strong; try to conquer, have more fun.
Penny had explained this to Emma once before, about the various types of demons. But the humanoid ones were usually the most unpredictable, because there was usually no way of telling what they specialized in unless they made it glaringly obvious, like Hannah and Penny. Penny had once said Angels were the same as humanoid demons. But then retracted that statement and followed swiftly with 'More like unfun-meany-angry-people-with-sticks-up-their-backsides'.

Penny stood up straight once the berries had been fully gathered and bounced around the trees happily, giggling to herself, though she never strayed too far, like a loyal puppy. She kept looking towards the unconscious demon but then back at Emma,
"So-so-so we're gonna have pie, right? Right? And and what? What're we eating?" She questioned. Hannah walked closer to Emma at first, but thens he reached down to the girl and lifted her too, making sure to be gentler so that she kept hold of her basket before depositing her master on her opposite shoulder. She knew the way back and Emma could rest on the way. After all, normally it was her carrying them. Of course trying to keep Penny in one place was almost impossible, but Hannah didn't worry about her.

"Yeah, I know..." Emma responded to the glare, but not to the rest of the conversation, eyeing the new demon with a frown. Would the demons really send an assassin to her? Why? Yeah, she was good at magic but nothing-Ohhh....Yeah.

She finally responded, glancing at Penny. "If he is an assassin, then he's got to be crazy powerful...which explains why you two together had trouble with him. And basically, you are saying I've taken his power. So the only thing left making him a demon is what, DNA?" It the power made the demon, was it possible to make a demon a human by stripping them of all their powers? Emma steered herself from that thought. It would require testing, and who knew what it could do to a demon? She wasn't heartless enough to risk far more than death on one of them. After all, some of them were good, just mischievous.

Giving up on trying to follow Penny with her eyes, Emma sighed, stumbling over a tree branch. She let out a sigh when Hannah lifted her. "Thanks." She was too proud to admit it aloud, but it helped, very much. While resting, she couldn't help but peer at the new demon. She would have to reread her notes to remember everything Penny had said about the demons.

"Even if it's just his power, I think I should try again in an attempt to bind him completely...Do either of you know if a demon separated from their powers would have any kind of negative effect on them?" Despite being tired, Emma was far too curious and worried to stop thinking. "Even if there is no negative effect on the demon, he's still dangerous. If he is an assassin, I need to have control over him, and I don't know how much I'll have with just his powers being bound. Do you know a way that we could keep him...contained or tied up or something, until I am strong enough again?"

"Yes, pie...You might have to help with the cooking, if you want it done...I'm not sure what else. We'll find something..." Emma admitted grudgingly. The last time she'd let Penny 'help' her cook, Emma had to clean flour from her ceiling. Unable to help herself, Emma kept hold of the basket with one hand, and reached behind Hannah's head, poking the demon's shoulder blades. "He looks so young, to be a killer. I mean, I know it doesn't matter, but still..."

"You know I always find it weird that you humans still know the word DNA when you don't even have laboratories and cars and stuff like that on this world." Penny stated, appearing from a tree to their right where she hung from a branch with her legs, seeming to mull it over a little, "We don't really have anything quite like that. How to explain it.. UhhhHHWHA!" The girls legs gave way and she crashed into the bushes below before popping out of them with a pose, "IM OKAY!" She yelled, giggling before she raised her staff and knocked it against her own head, "Um huh.. It's kinda like.. We're living mana. We're given bodies, we are born, we die, we have families.. Sort of.. But really we're just energy, that's why we can breed with just about any other of our kind or even humans." She grimaced and pulled a face, "Er.. I think I'll stop on that subject, it gets like.. SUPER weird.." She gagged a little, Hannah smirking in response.

Penny continued to bound along, what she lacked in mature behavior she made up in her wide array of knowledge, she even knew some things for certain that Hannah didn't know. At the continued inquisitive questions from Emma, the hyperactive girl thought about it some more, half the time it was trying to put it into words that made sense, and event hens he didn't know if she got the idea across half the time,
"Well, lets put it this way, if he isn't dying right now, he's fine. Like I said; we're energy. He obviously has enough to maintain his body as it is, but that seems to be it. if I judged you by your auras; next to you and Hannah it's like he isn't even there at all. But demon bodies don't stay solid long after we die, we disperse and prepare to be reborn as a new life, a new demon, or if our essence gets absorbed, we strengthen another demon, but we no longer actually exist, just the energy that made us in the first place."

Hannah stared up at Emma with a smirk again, asking if they could keep him tied up in his state seemed a little silly, since he wasn't strong enough any more, heck, if they had rope, they could keep him bound and tied. Penny squealed with delight at the sound of getting to help. She was earnest about the desire, even if she screwed up. Emma telling her off had never upset her, just reminded her that she needed to do better, she did try, a lot. The young girl stopped and giggled again when Emma spoke of his age,
"Emma, I'm one-thousand, two-hundred and thirty years old." She grinned. It was the first time she'd ever actually blurted out her age. Hannah frowned a little, looked away and grumbled a little,
"Three-hundred and twelve." And that would be a sure sign that age was a meaningless concept to demons,, although it didn't stop Penny bursting out laughing, "HAH! I'm like, four times older than you!" Penny froze then, her laughter seeming to slam to a halt as her face dropped, "I'm.. I'm an old lady..! I'M AN OLD LADY!!" She wailed, however Hannah walked over to the crying girl and put a hand on her head a moment, she sniffled and looked up at the two of them, but seemed to cheer up after a moment. Age really was this meaningless to them.
Hannah once again proceeded towards the village, Penny bouncing along beside the two, twirling her staff in hand deftly as they walked, once more beaming happily,
"You know Emma, he did look pretty cute while we were beating him to a pulp, I bet you just want him for that body~!" Penny teased suddenly, grinning up at the human girl she'd bound herself to.

"Just energy...So, he'll be alright? That's good!" Emma would have felt so horrible if he had ended up dying from her attempt. At Hannah's smirk, she continued with a sigh. "Even this weak, he could take a knife and do some serious damage, couldn't he? I mean, I don't know how much control I will have over him, and he was sent here to kill me." Emma muttered once the ball of energy had danced around and finished speaking. "Should I try it again, or leave him like this?"

She watched the exchange between them quietly, her mind far away. She knew age didn't matter, of course. The girls didn't seem that old, really, when they were around all the time. An assassin coming for her just put into perspective how careful she would need to be. Penny didn't always tell the things that she needed to, just from not thinking it could be important, and if wasn't for Hannah, Emma would most likely be dead. There were demons out there that resembled humans even more. It was like today was opening her eyes to just how much danger she could be in right now.

Her cheeks burned as Penny teased her. Boys were a rather touchy subject. Emma had focused on her schooling, and hadn't dated much. Each attempt had ended up in some kind of disaster. "He's a demon!" Emma muttered, shaking her head. "As a friend he'd be nice, but I'd never...do any of that kind of stuff with him, cute or not! Besides, you said yourself...it could get really weird..." She protested loudly, seizing the opportunity to change the subject as their small hut came into view. "Let's get started on our dinner!"

The building had been in disrepair, but the girls and Emma had fixed it up, re-thatching the roof and covering holes. Emma had even used her magic to make glass windows, since funds were limited, and make regenerated. It was small and home-ie, with a tiny stick fence. Emma loved it.

She hopped from Hannah's shoulder, grunting as she hit the ground. She opened the door for the girls, and moved to the tiny kitchen. The basket was set on a large table, as Emma built the cooking fire in the stone hearth back up. "Hannah...will you bring him in here and set him on a chair, please? I want to see when he wakes up." Her violet gaze moved over the baskets of food. "Stew. Again." She finally stated, glancing at the food they had. Most of it had been gathered in the forest, including the two rabbits hanging. Emma wasn't the greatest cook ever, but stew was simple and easy.

Emma dumped the buckets of water into the cooking pot, hanging it over the fire. She tugged out the various ingredients for the meal, and started on the mushrooms, slicing them quickly.

"Well if he was sent to kill you, he'll try it again, right?" Penny chimed briefly, the only logical conclusion was taking total control of him, then they could interrogate him, she could try feathers! Wait no, what if he was allergic to feathers..? Tickles then? Tickles could still work, same effect, right? Though Penny leered at Emma, grinning at her response,
"Aw come ooon, demons can mate with humans, hybrids exist. At least with you humans it's simpler. It's weird for us, but we can do it your style-" She was cut off as Hannah promptly dropped a fist on top of the smaller demon girl's skull. The mage recoiling and rubbing her head
"Owwwwww okay-okay, I'm sorry!" She whimpered, slight tears rolling down her cheek, only fromt he brief pain as Hannah smirked again. With humans it was simpler. Demon to demon, it was similar, but creating a new life through the energy of mana alone was fairly taxing for either side.

Hannah followed Emma once she hopped off, grabbing on of the chairs and a length of spare rope they had stashed away in an old crate. It was always a good idea to keep some things handy. She wrapped it tightly around his arms and upper torso first before making sure his legs and wrists were also tightly tied together, it would keep him in place, if he had any other abilities, they could deal with it, after all, he hadn't quite displayed any powers besides martial combat. With a few test tugs, she was assured of the tightness of the rope.

Meanwhile Penny was milling about the house quickly, sweeping the floor at first , her hammer-staff combo long abandoned by the doorway as she did various tidbits of cleaning first, playing house was something she'd gotten down to an art at least, her cooking was still a bit messy though,
"Oh oh, Emma, we should get lots of demons, we should get a whoooole bunch of guys, and get a fortress, a biiig castle to live in, make them fix the joint up!" She spread her stance and widened her arms as if trying to present the idea of something large, even with her pitiful, girlish stature, "And also lots more ladies, ladies everywhere! Lady demons, succubi, catgirls, I bet there's still a few out there!" She then pulled a face again, "But I bet Lord Hadrien has the best ones.." She stuck her tongue out, "He sucks, I wanna beat him up." She grumbled, folding her arms and puffing her face a little.

"It was probably him." Hannah offered as she loomed over the figure of the unconscious assassin. In all likelihood, yes, Lord Hadrien would sent an assassin this strong after some-one. it was only a matter of time before he noticed she supposed, before he started targeting this girl. Emma probably never did understand the full implications of what her powers were.

"That's what I was saying!" Emma sighed. "Better to tie him up, until I can try and trap him again, right? Do we have any rope?" She glanced at the boy, and felt her face burning again. At least Hannah had some sense in her head. It would be weird, even if it was possible. How could you sleep with something outside of your race and be alright with it? "I'll have to take note on 'demon style' at some other point, Penny...let's focus on this first."

While she was thinking, Hannah had already tugged out rope, and Emma beamed at her. "You think of everything." Once he was bound, Emma couldn't resist. She set the knife down and moved to him, peering at his white hair. "Penny, I'm not gonna make an army of slaves or something. Seriously, for now it's just study. Once I find out for sure that it hasn't caused any of you negative effects, I'll start teaching other mages how to do this. It'll be really hard at first, but if people practice enough, eventually someone will be able to do it."

She tilted the male demon's head back, prying an eye open and peering in it. "Hey, Penny...will you cut up the veggies please? I wanna examine him..." Emma let the lids close, before running a hand through his hair, feeling for horns. She didn't feel any, and opened his mouth, looking for fangs. "Lord Hadrien? A demon lord? You two think he sent this guy? Well, what's so special about Hadrien? Why would he send an assassin? I mean, you two were willing, so it's not like I have taken any of his demons..." Emma spoke as she looked, attempting to find some clue as to what the demon was. "I bet this guy will be able to tell us when he wakes up. If he isn't awake by the time the stew is cooking, we'll wake him up."

"What will I do with him if I can't trap him?" She mused aloud, stepping back and tapping her lips. "Maybe it only works on willing demons?" Unable to let it drop for now, Emma moved into the other room for a moment, returning with a large stack of papers. She set them on an edge of the table, peering at a few drawings. "This is gonna take so much more work..." Rather than sounding upset, Emma sounded rather pleased.

"If it was really that easy to use an ability like yours, I think a lot more demons would use it, Emma." Penny replied, her face taking on a considerably more clam demeanor at first before she smiled broadly again, "Anyhow, we're not your slaves.. Right? Others might join up willingly too, Demons like strong people, they build communities around them. It's kinda how most of them work. You get strong, they follow. It's pretty basic. Whoever is strongest; leads. They decide what we do, we kinda just follow along, so long as we can have fun too." She explained, practically pouncing on the veggies the next moment. Asking her to cut something was an easy one, she grabbed each individual vegetable that had been laid out and sliced them rather quickly.

Hannah folded her arms calmly and stared at Emma a moment, frowning a little,
"We are not different.. If there was a negative effect; it is only that we are at your mercy. Your rules. We are collared by you. But we are not different." She stated simply. The large woman had never felt any different. Even as a ring, she never felt any different. She supposed that was what it was like to be living energy, even penny seemed as active in hair-clip form as she was in full body form. A good example being when the little mage squirmed a bunch in Emma's hair. She did it like it was a normal thing to do, like she had always been a hair clip and knew exactly how to flex and wiggle like she had.

Penny winced at the questions about Hadrien, she wasn't sure she wanted to answer that fully, but Hannah's glance made her groan a little,
"Well he's the big-shot of Sylvas.. The strongest Demon Lord on this world.. And he.. Kinda.. Sorta.. Just might be the one attackinghumanswithraidingparties..?" She mumbled the last part awkwardly, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. Hannah knew this too. Hadrien had never really stated his intents but in the last few decades his attacks on humans had become bolder.
Hannah stared at Emma as she started doubting her ability, the blond simply reached over when she returned and placed a large paw on Emma's head,
"You can do it." She state confidently, eyes full of simple determination. She wouldn't let Emma simply give up so easily, "The task will be convincing him to commit to you afterwards.."
"Eh-hah! Commit.." Penny sniggered in the background, clearly still thinking on other terms..

"Well, I just figured out how to do it..." Emma answered modestly. "I sure others have the ability to, however. Just throw them in the pot, yeah?" She answered, glancing over to Penny, before focusing on the papers again.

"And we have no way of knowing that, Hannah. Some side effects could take years to develop!" Emma looked up rather slowly, and a carrot flung itself at Penny. "So...you've known who is doing this attacking, and haven't told me?! Penny! Hannah! Both of you! Ugh!" She tossed her hands into the air and scoffed.

She stopped as Hannah's heavy paw touched her, and smiled at the giant woman. "I've gotten that figured out. I don't need him to like me. Actually, it would provide a great study opportunity if he hates me. If I ask him to do something, and he refuses, I'll turn him into the necklace." She gave a shrug and glanced back towards the slumped form. "God he is just so pale....PENNY!" Abandoning the papers for the moment, Emma began flinging all the vegetables within reach at the hyper female. "Stop! Talking! Like! That! You! Have! A! Dirty! Mind!" Each word was punctuated with a throw. Before anything was able to hit the ground, it floated through the air and dropped into the pot.

"The day I do bring a boy home, you are so staying a clip the entire time, locked away in a dresser!" Emma squealed, taking down a rabbit. "Penny, at least grab the other one and get to work. Sometimes, I swear, you just drive me up the wall...."

Penny swiftly dodged the carrot as though it had been for her life, wiping her brow, of course when the onslaught of extra veggies came alone she had to dodge each one s desperately as the first before collapsing in a defeated pile on the ground, still grinning like a mad idiot, though she then stood up again, dusting herself off for the moment before looking at Emma again,
"If we had told you, would it have changed anything..? He's super strong and we're just three of us.. And if he has one strong guy to throw at us like this, he'd have even more, right? The guys he sends to raid are usually weaklings because they're usually just tough enough to handle humans, get what they want and leave." Penny reasoned, rubbing her head a little "You don't really think we could just march up to him and tell him to stop attacking people..?" She asked of Emma.

Hannah agreed, the truth was they weren't that strong, just stronger than the average blockheads that were sent to attack towns in large groups. She watched as Penny complied, grabbing the other rabbit in order to help with it as Hannah leaned against a nearby wall, she was still keeping an eye on the new demon, focused on him. If he was the first to be sent after them, he might not be the last. And worse still, what if he sent more than one next time? Even if Emma threatened to turn this man into that amulet, it didn't mean he'd help. Even if he couldn't attack Emma, he could still cause problems. If anything she might have made a poor choice trying to control this one, he wasn't going to be happy about the new arrangements, Hannah was certain enough of that..

"Lord Hadrien started taking over a long time ago. He's the strongest and so.. Like I said, the others follow him, do what they want, have fun. Sure the ones with ambition might try to stab him in the back, but that's just how it goes." Penny explained, pulling a face again, "We don't all think like that, mostly it's the doing-whatever-we-please part that attracts us." She then grinned over at Emma, "Also, you have just brought a boy home." She grinned again, sticking her tongue out at the human female.

"Oh just listening to you people is giving me a headache.." A voice grumbled from the chair as the red-eyed man raised his head, eyes opening blearily. In spite of his paleness, his face was still red from where he had been hit, "Oh right, that might be because you keep hitting me in the face.." He glared at the large woman and she simply stared back at him before tutting and looking over towards Emma, still silent. The man looked up at them again. But it was hard to focus, he had a headache like some-one was drilling his head with a hammer.

"Well, no, of course not Penny!" Emma stated, stomping a foot. "But, still, I would have none what he was capable of, and wouldn't have been so surprised to see this guy." She motioned to the tied demon. "And maybe I can figure out a way to trap to trap this demon lord too...A demon army, huh?" The violet eyes peered at the ceiling as Emma began to roll various things around in her head. "I don't wanna go around protecting everyone forever..."

"Besides, maybe if I can get this one to help, if another is sent, he can help us out with them, right? You said he was strong?" Emma shrugged, glancing over, before focusing on the rabbit again. She seemed to echo Hannah's thought. "I doubt he will be the last sent. I mean, it's not like I can unlearn this."

She turned to glare at Penny. "You know what I mean! There's not gonna be anything between me and this boy. If you really want to go in clip form, I can totally arrange that!" Emma threatened, scowling. "I get that he's a big bad demon. I'm not disputing that. But, what if I can stop him? There might be other demons to take his place, but maybe they would remember what happened to Mister Bad and maybe they'll leave the humans al---eeiiii!"

Emma squealed, dropping the knife and bolting over to the male demon as he spoke. "He's awake!" Emma couldn't help herself. Acting much like Penny, she bounced around the demon as he blinked. "Oh-mi-gawd! What kind of demon are you! You wanna be mine? It'll make things go so much smoother if you just say yes and go along with it! Sorry about your face, but you kinda deserved it! Were you sent here to kill me? What's Mister Bad gonna do when he finds out you've failed! Ohmigawd! Why are you so pale? Sorry about your cheek...but really, it's your fault, isn't it?" Emma's fingers touched the side of the male's face gently, peering at the large red mark. "Look-it your eyes!" Once again, Emma gripped his face, prying open an eye and staring into it for a minute. "So, so, so red! Why are they red? How old are you?" She finally stopped speaking, and took a step back, looking rather excited, and bouncing from foot to foot while waiting on his answers. She ignored the headache quip-After all, he wouldn't have it if he hadn't wanted to kill her.

The moment Emma was on the red-eyed demon, Penny just watched with a grin on her face, she'd totally spaced right into berating the poor half-beaten demon with questions. He just stared at her as she pressed him more and more, barely able to even get half a word in before she started on her next question, when she pried one of his eyes open further he frowned hard, closed his eyes shut then stared up at her,
"Get the hell off me, you crazy human wench!" The demon yelled, though at about this point Hannah had already grabbed Emma by the scruff and lifted her away and into the air, whilst her other hand immediately went around the demons throat. He only stared up at them defiantly, barely even concerned that she was getting close to suffocating him,
"Apologize." She stated simply and he simply snarled,
"As if, I wont apologize just because you tell me to, you damn over-sized gorilla," He retorted. int he background, penny cupped both her hands over her mouth in slight shock. Was this guy just begging to be killed, he had to have known somehow that he might offend Hannah with that, but the woman simply frowned and eventually let go of him, she then simply stared at Emma,
"One question at a time. If he gets out of control, I'll knock him out again." She stated, but then glared at him again, "Only I'll enjoy it more." She leaned against the wall again, arms folded once more.

He stared at her, but then back up at Emma, though his attitude certainly hadn't improved, in fact he only looked more annoyed. If she was asking questions, he wouldn't answer anything, instead he clamped just jaw shut and sneered at her. Worst of all, he felt drained, he'd never felt this drained, the power in his body felt like it was almost completely gone. The headache didn't help either, that only served to fuel his annoyance further, the smell of something cooking left him a little uncomfortable too. He didn't want to admit it smelled good, he wasn't going to say he was hungry either, instead he just braced himself to await the girl's attempt at interrogating him again while he mulled over what few questions he caught in her first little tirade.

One of them stuck in his mind though. What would Hadrien do if he failed? Probably kill him, like these idiots should have done, now he had nothing. He couldn't even begin to think who he blamed more, himself, these three or Hadrien for sending him alone. Penny nervously returned to working on the stew, she'd never heard some-one called Hannah that, she was almost sure it would have made her angry, yet she stayed calm about it. She would have said something herself, but instead the girl fell awkwardly quiet, nervous about the whole situation. Recently the only conversations with demons had been with one another. This guy didn't sound anywhere near as pleasant.

"Human we-Woah!" Emma made a noise as she was lifted away, then watched quietly as Hannah gripped the male, and smiled sweetly at the demon once the large woman had released him.

After the woman was standing to the side, Emma's typical bubbly self vanished. Her violet eyes narrowed, and the room seemed to darken. "Call me what you will. I could care less, although Hannah and Penny might. You will, however, remember to respect them, or what Hannah would do to you would look like child's play compared to me." Seriously, what a jerk! These were her ladies! Her friends! They were like sisters! She shouldn't be spending the magic for aesthetic effects, but Emma didn't want to show the demon how weak she currently felt. A little dabbling into her magic wouldn't hurt. "Of course, she'll get to play with you first..."

"Anyway!" The cheerfulness returned, and the room became light again. Again, Emma used magic she shouldn't, placing her head on the demon's head, her fingers burrowing into the white locks. Her eyes narrowed again, and the male glowed green for a moment. When Emma dropped her hand, his headache would be gone, as would the red on his face. She doubted he would feel normal, if he was separated from his power, however, surely he would no longer be in pain. A headache was now teasing her temples, but Emma pushed on as if she felt nothing.

"Let's start with this..." Emma tugged the necklace from the inside of her dress, peering at the reflective surface coating it. "Inside of here, I have your powers. Breaking it won't release them, so don't even think of trying. Only a spell can do that, and I'm the only person who knows the spell. Breaking it would most likely release your power in the air, and there's a million ways it could go from there." The female leaned over, placing her hands on his knees, and giving him a mock pitying look. "Poor you, right? Well, here's what happened, from what I can tell...In the forest I tried to bind you to this necklace, and it didn't work. I'm not sure why, but I'll be able to figure it out soon. Once I do, we are gonna do this again, and this time, it'll work. Understand? Following me so far?"

"So, my suggestion for you, since, after all, you're a demon, and you follow those with power, is to answer my questions like a good little boy...Then, we are all gonna enjoy some nice stew. You'll thank Penny for making it, and then you will shut up and keep your eyes open. I might be the prettiest darn thing you've ever laid your eyes on, but it covers up a whole can of whoop ass. You keep your eyes open, and you'll see. So, my suggestion is you observe a little, and when you realize I'm no joke, and that I'll be coming for your happy-go-lucky lord, I think you'll know whose side you want to be on...One way or another, you'll be under my control soon. May as well come willingly."

Finished with her speech, and hoping it did some good, Emma tilted her head. "So, first question...What's your name?"

The man didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated, her show was just a show, wasting energy on that seemed rather stupid. Though he felt a little confusion when she used some magic to heal him, it certainly stopped the throbbing in his skull and the pain in his face, however then her attitude changed and she went on a new tirade. He didn't change expression, he barely even blinked. At least she explained what she'd done with his power and what she planned to do with him next. So that was how it worked. She could bind demons? To objects? What about these two? The girl appeared out of thin air earlier, had she been one of these objects? they seemed independent enough.

He simply stared back at her for a moment then smirked a little,
"First of all, I don't give a rats ass what you say, I don't care who you are or who they are. Second of all, you're joking if you think I'll do whatever the hell you please. Third; yeah I follow people stronger me, they're also stronger than you. Hadrien's stronger than all of you combined, his Vassals are stronger than you, even I could have killed each of you individually and the blonde walking slab of meat there knows it." He growled in return, Hannah gripped her arms, staring aside, that was true enough, if he'd caught them unawares first, he might have even succeeded, even he could see that slight betrayal of truth in her, "And Hadrien has dozens of guys like me. So what will you do when he sends more than one next time? Can you stop four of them with that spell? Six? Or is it jsut one at a time? will you try to contain one while the rest kill you idiots? I saw how quickly it weakened you to steal my power alone. I can practically smell that you're running on fumes from here, even if you have stolen my power. I'd be laughing if you didn't look so pathetic while trying to act like you have the upper hand. The three of you, saviors of the world, what a joke." He almost hissed the last words.

However he never answered her first question, in a way it was to taunt her, instead he simply looked aside, staring around at the home, simply frowning at the state of it,
"Yeah, we've got real hero material in this place, you certainly look the part of-.. I don't know..-a court jester..?" He questioned, staring at Emma again with a smirk, at this point he was expendable and he knew it. But he had his pride, he wasn't going to let go of that, not to these people. If Hadrien killed him for his failurs first, fine, but he wouldn't help these girls unless she really had a way to control him. If alls he could do was bind him to that object, then this wouldn't go the way she wanted.

"He's just mad that he got beat by three girls." Penny suddenly chimed in, appearing past Emma's side. Slayzer's rough facade fell for a moment, then an almost furious look came across his face,
"WHAT?! You come over here and say that, you runt!" He hollered, but the magician had already run away, giggling, she'd elicited the reaction on purpose, it even made Hannah smirk as she stared at the defeated demon, the darker look replaced by an almost boyish pouting, he saw her smirk and again shouted "WHAT?!"
Hannah only shook her head and smiled again, giving a knowing nod to Emma. This guy was acting tough, but he was hiding more than his name.

Emma stared at the male demon for a few minutes, then glanced at Hannah, tears welling up. This was not how this was supposed to go! He was supposed to be frightened of her, not talking a bunch of crap! "For your information, I wouldn't use that spell on multiple demons. I have so many more than you can even imagine." She attempted to act haughty, lifting her chin up.

Penny seemed to pop up at the perfect moment, and Emma laughed loudly. Her eyes were shining now, and she pointed to the tied up demon. "She is so right, you know? You can say whatever you'd like, and mock me, but at the end of the day, the... what was it?" Emma resorted to giggles, her cheeks turning red. "The court jesters beat you!" Emma stepped back to the rabbits, finishing up and dropping the meat into the pot, stirring it happily. "Now, you are even afraid to say your name!" She took on a mocking, baby voice. "Wittle boy wemon so upset he got a whuppin'?"

She caught Hannah's nod, but simply shrugged. Eventually, the boy demon would come around. He'd be trapped with them until Emma released him, and she didn't intend to once he was fully bound. There was no way you could constantly be around someone and hate them, right?

The boyish look vanished as Emma started to mock him again, if anything he wanted to call her behavior childish, it was bad enough that they'd beaten him, now she had to add insult to injury and mock him, frankly she sounded more vindictive than a demon at this point, even Hannah was giving her a slightly disapproving look, this wasn't good behavior. The silver-haired demon's face darkened as she stared up at her again, that defiant look returning, he spoke grimly once more,
"The only thing that upsets me right now is that now it doesn't matter what happens. I'm going to die. If I escaped or you released me, I'd be killed for failing. If you bind me or whatever the hell it is you're planning on doing; I'll just die along with you idiots anyway. So laugh it up while you can,"

"So you're just giving up." Hannah stared at the man, he looked back at her, but he didn't reply, instead looking away from them. There was a look of disapproval on Hannah's face still, more so now that she'd said that. If was going to die, why couldn't he go out fighting? Even she knew he wouldn't be satisfied with just laying there and getting killed.
Hannah stood closer to him, raised her fist and hit him across the top of the head, which of course elicited a response,
"OW!! What was THAT for?!"
"You're an idiot, too." She replied simply. She then gave a sharp look at Penny and Emma. At this point antagonizing him was pointless, they didn't need to waste time arguing with him, best to carry on getting dinner ready. The male demon in the chair simply stared after Hannah as she walked away, she wasn't even guarding him anymore. He looked between the three girls but then looked away again, the slight pout returning. Maybe he was. It was easy to feel like giving up when he felt so much weaker. If this girl was going to reunite him with his powers, at least he might stand a chance fighting back. But what then? Fight off the next lot? Then the next lot? It was a nonsense idea.

Hannah stood closer to the girls, watching the once more silent Penny at first before she folded her arms once more,
"Say it." She spoke, and the girl smiled nervously,
"H-he's.. Probably right.." She responded, it wasn't exactly often that Penny lost her confidence, but there was just a little fear in her, and she rarely showed that, "It kinda depends how committed they get to trying to kill Emma, if at all.. He pretty much just confirmed that.. So now.. Well.. the next attack could be our last.. or the first of several, any of which could probably kill us.." Hannah stayed in place, butt hen sighed and nodded to herself, she may even be right. But if it took this one so long to find them while they were moving around normally, perhaps hiding for a time was an option.. But what if a group like him came through a place like this one and started attacking people? Emma might even blame herself. The blonde stared at the girl, wondering if perhaps she had considered the same possibility. Forget their own lives, other people might be endangered.

Emma gave Hannah a look that clearly meant 'I have no clue what I'm doing, but I tried!', before facing the male and shaking her head. She gave up for the time being, instead focusing on washing up the table. She listened to both girls quietly, and from the look on her face, the same thing was going through her mind. Wave after wave of demons? It would be best to hide. But, if she was tracked here, it was likely the townspeople would suffer.

"I can't go." She finally stated, after the soup was finished bubbling. "If they would be hurt. I have to stay, and let the demons come here. I'll set up some enchantments tomorrow, and when they do come, I'll pull out all the stops. I'm not a pushover. You know that." Emma glanced to Hannah, then back at the stew. "I'll do my best to draw them away from the town. Penny, can you think of a way to draw them away that would lower the likelihood of them attacking the town?" She waited for the answer, before continuing.

"I won't go down without a fight, though. If that time comes...I'll do my best to release you two before..." Emma cleared her throat, "Anyway, I'll take down as many with me as I can. In the meantime...I'm sorry for being mean..." Emma glanced to the male demon. "I'm not normally like that. I was just trying to egg you into telling me what I want to know. Keep it to yourself, if you want, but really, it would benefit you too, if you just answered my questions. It would help keep me alive, so maybe one day, I'll release the binding." Emma moved around the kitchen, and filled three bowls full of stew, setting spoons into them. She slid one to each of the demon women, before tugging a chair to the white haired demon.

She plopped into it, and lifted the spoon, holding stew, to the demon's lips. "I'm not untying you right now, so you might as well eat this. Consider it an apology, if you'd like."

The demon strapped tot he chair watched them exchange, he could hear their words but he stayed quiet. When the girl showed she was determined not to go, just in order to save the people? She would put herself in danger for the sake of a bunch of regular humans? Well.. he supposed it wasn't entirely uncommon among some humans to show that nobility. Penny stared at Emma a moment, a lump seeming to catch in her throat, but any attempt at coming up with an idea fell flat. The idea of leaving Emma alone to her fate seemed wrong, even if she survived,w hat then? She would be alone gain. Especially if she and Hanna got separated too. What if she did survive?

Hannah stared sternly at Emma and sighed, shaking her head and smiling to herself, Emma wouldn't be fighting alone. She wouldn't be going down without Hannah there. The larger demoness then looked at their quiet captive as Emma tried to speak to him, but having them stare at him, he ended up looking away sharply, as if trying to ignore them, not that it was something he could do since he was kind of tied to the spot. He glanced at the food a moment, but then frowned at Emma again, even if he was hungry, his pride was overriding his common sense still, instead he tried to change the subject, starting off with refusal,
"I don't want anything from you," he replied stubbornly, "Besides, you're idiots." He added, for a moment Hannah turned towards him as if she were about to do something, "Oh what, blondie? Gonna hit me again? Fine, but you're being stupid. If you wanted to fight them head on and save the townspeople, then why don't you just announce where the hell you are so loudly they damn well know where to look? Kick some ass, yell out loud you did it, make them chase you angry and stupid because you're kicking them in the balls, don't you have any tactical sense? Let them know where you're going, make it look like you're dumber than you already are and set a trap for them. Geez." The demon pouted again, refusing to take a bite from the spoon as he looked away again in refusal.

Hannah opened her mouth a moment but then closed it again and smiled at Emma. He had a point, they were worried about townsfolk, when all they had to do was make sure the demons knew exactly where they were going and wouldn't waste time getting there. Penny grinned broadly again,
"I could set up better traps away from crowded areas. I'd just made a mess in town." She giggled, the last thing they wanted was crossfire, but if they could choose where they were going to fight, why not choose a place they could use to their advantage and fight the demons their way rather than worrying about civilians? Hannah nodded a little, if they could fight at their best and at an advantage, then maybe they would stand a better chance. It might even convince some of the enemy numbers to turn to their side, the simple rule of who was stronger could still apply. It was a pity they probably couldn't convince him to help too.

But still, he had helped them, maybe a little unintentionally, but he'd given them a different option entirely. Go looking for a fight. It's not like the demons would learn right away that he failed. Maybe it could give them an advantage if they went and kicked the hides of a few more raiding parties. If they let some live and proclaimed they kicked the ass of the soldier he sent after Emma, it would change the way Hadrien approached it.

"Then be hungry until morning." Emma stated simply. She popped the spoonful into her own mouth, thinking. "Let me know if you change your mind. It's actually a really good idea...If we can make it known where we are going, and set out quickly enough, some simple protection spells should be enough, right? They want to follow us, so even if they pause to start trouble, with wards in place, they'd leave off quickly enough, not wanting to loose us. I don't know if we should make it very clear where we are headed, though. What if they beat us there, and we weren't able to set up in time?"

The taunts and insults from the demon went ignored, however, and Emma ate the stew like she was starving, even filling up a second bowl. It was rather funny, considering how short and slim she was. "Where would we go? We'll run across more demons on the way, I'm sure...I can't just let them hurt people, so we'll be fighting while we travel. Unless...you two don't want to come?" Emma raised an eyebrow, glancing at both of them. She wasn't going to force them to stay by her side if they chose to go.

"On the upside, a few 'survivors' can carry our story back to Hadrien...on the downside, though...I'm gonna be down for at least four more days...I won't be able to do much fighting at all...and it's not like I can just let him walk around..." Emma nodded towards the white haired demon. "I suppose..." She frowned, not liking the idea. "Once I am stronger, I could release him, and he could go back...but, now he knows this idea, and can relay that...It would have me up and running sooner, though...If we do keep him around, I have to finish binding him. He can still do damage like this...So, the choice is releasing him, and being up two days sooner, with the Demon Lord having extra information, or keeping him, and remaining this week for four more days..." Emma looked to the two females, wanting their advice.

Hannah had been quietly eating her stew and observing as Emma tried to feed the demon, he wasn't having any of it though, yep, he was an idiot.. She could see similar thoughts to her own in penny's eyes when Emma again tried to suggest they wouldn't go with her and help. the latter of the two demon females only grinned broadly again,
"Emmmaaaaaaa, you should know the likelihood of us not going with you is the same as the likelihood of you wanting to smooch Mr Meany there." She teased with a grin, she knew exactly what she said, having already practically sucked in the entirety of her stew. Hannah could only smile and shake her head again, of course Penny would return to teasing and making fun, seriousness wasn't really her domain and it took a strain on her to think in such a way it seemed. She wanted to break the tension, Hannah couldn't argue with that,
"I'll fight them." Hannah instead stated simply, ladling a spoonful into her mouth and glancing between the tow of them, "It'll be a little harder to fight the raiding groups on my own for a while, but I can do it.. You and Penny can find a good place to set up the traps and you can bind our guest here. We don't have to announce our victory right away.." She explained, int he end they currently had the advantage of the enemy not knowing for certain what had happened. She certainly wasn't going to take any chances on the silver-haired demon taking advantage of Emma trying to be nice and letting him go. Although she saw letting him go in his current state as a cruel thing to do. Death was definitely certain for him if he went back. And even if they did untie him, all he could do was run, hide and pray they didn't find him.

The way she saw it, his situation had been completely reversed the moment he got captured. It was up to him to decide whether he wanted to help or not, better the former, but she didn't see that coming easy at all. If anything he would bear a grudge against his captors.
The silver haired demon really couldn't believe they actually wanted to go through with it, they were really a bunch of idiots. He was going to die with a bunch of idiots. This was just fantastic. The man resigned himself to it as his fate, but his mind was begrudgingly starting to fight back. What the gorilla said had stirred him slightly. Just giving up wasn't any fun, he couldn't just go out without a fight, but it would mean fighting alongside the very dolts that put him in this position.
"I know some great ruins east of here," Penny piped up, raising her hand in the air, "It's got a couple of canyon walls, lots of hidey places and we can trick them to walking right into the middle of all sorts of trap spells. I know a geomancer demon who owes me some favors, he could totally make a few changes for me!" Well, at least that meant they had a good place to make their little showdown.