The witchers surrounded the hexagram and the statue. They had a closer look to see if there was anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. The magical circle was just a summoning circle made out of powdered ivory and blood. Most ancient records detailed that out. There were many extradimensional creatures who would respond to that call.
The incantation and components for the summoning circle were gone, and they were the key to this whole thing. Too much time had passed for the witchers to find any clue with their senses, so they had no idea what demon was possessing Kiyan.
They had no way to deal with it, but they could sense something wrong with the statue. It was covered in dark emotions.
"This statue's not made out of any regular stone. There's some conductor for mana mixed in it. Zircon, obsidian, or something else." Serrit brushed his hand across the statue's sleek back. "It absorbed all the mana I injected, but nothing happened."
"Irenues couldn't have gone through all the trouble to place this statue here for no reason."
"I say we smash this thing!" Auckes rubbed the statue's tail. "That demon probably needs this statue to survive. If we destroy it, we destroy the demon, and Kiyan can return to normal."
"Breaking it before we figure out how it works is risky." Felix shook his head. "It might be the only chance to heal Kiyan. I don't want to risk it."
"You guys searched the experimentation area and living quarters, but none of you found any books on summoning or storage items?" Roy was bummed out. "We found the key to this lab. There's no way we can't find anything on this."
"One of the researchers was devoured by drowners, but one lived. The survivor probably took everything with him," Letho said. "So he has more than one crime under his belt. Experimenting on humans and summoning extradimensional demons to harm innocent lives… If we tell the Brotherhood about this, they're going to kick him out of the club."
"If we can even find him."
Everyone broke into discussion. They thought the statue was related to the demon, so they took Kiyan back to the hexagram. They made him kneel in the statue's direction and observed his reaction quietly.
"There's no good… or evil… There's only… the void. There's no evil… or justice. There is only… pain."
Okay, that works. Kiyan's murmurs slowed down when they moved him nearer to the statue. He was attracted by something. They could see that he was glancing at the statue.
"I recognize that look." Roy moved around him. Kiyan's murmurs picked up the pace when he noticed the 'intruder.'
"It means affection and longing…" Serrit muttered.
Auckes and Letho dragged Kiyan over and tied him up with the statue. They figured skin contact would do something.
Kiyan closed his eyes and stopped struggling right there and then. It felt like he was a wandering kitten who found his mother, but that state only lasted for a few moments. Eventually he started murmuring again and alternated his stares between the statue and the witcher.
Even so, that was enough for the witchers to notice a clue.
"The demon possessed this statue when it first came to our world. Or to be exact, the statue Steingard made from special stones attracted it here," Serrit guessed. "And then he somehow magically tucked this demon into Kiyan, who was barely holding it together. That ambitious bastard tried to control this abomination and tried to make it work for him."
Letho concluded, "But his conspiracy failed. Kiyan can't be controlled. Murder and destruction are all he can think of."
"And then…" Roy completed the story in the lab. "Either Steingard or Sigula was devoured by the drowners. The survivor gave up on the experiment, abandoned the whole place, locked the lab with some illusion, and escaped to who knows where. Maybe he's doing the same experiment on someone else out there as we speak. As for the way to save him…"
"We'll reverse the summoning." Felix paced around the statue. "We'll open up the passage linking Kiyan to this statue and attack the demon until it goes somewhere safer for it. Namely this statue."
"We can't go with our regular monster hunting tactics here." Letho said, "Why don't we try Axii?"
They had a plan, and the witchers put it to work.
The passage could be made by creating an anchor point with blood, and then it would connect two entities.
One of the witchers cut Kiyan's wrist open. They took a few drops of blood and dropped them onto the statue.
A few moments later, Kiyan's wound stopped bleeding and started healing. It was unbelievable how full of life this modified body was.
And then Felix decided to cut open his friend's whole wrist. A big gash formed on the wrist, and black blood splattered across almost half of the statue. With Kiyan's blood as the anchor, his wrist and the statue came together.
He became more docile right away. A moment later, the witcher could feel motes of light coming from the space around the statue, and mana was starting to hop around. But that was not enough
The candlelight shone on the witchers who were making Signs as fast as they could. They cast Axii at the same time and attacked Kiyan's spirit with it, and they did not stop.
***
Two minutes later, Felix, Auckes, and Letho had exhausted their mana. Only Roy and Serrit had some left.
They were about to give up, but then Kiyan suddenly trembled, and Roy's eyes went wide with surprise.
Something's about to happen!
A ball of black light the size of an adult's fist wobbled out of Kiyan's body. It spun over Kiyan's head like a drunken man, then that ball of light darted toward the statue below it.
Roy looked through the fog and saw a petite feline creature lying within the ball. Its eyes were crimson and filled with murder and destruction. There was no mercy in it at all. It was a stark contrast to its… adorable appearance.
You're the demon Irenues summoned? You're the one who took over Kiyan's body? You think you can stay in this statue until the next poor bastard comes along and unleashes you into my world? Piss. Off! Roy's eyes contracted. Fear!
A crimson light appeared out of nowhere, and sounds of crashing waves roared in the air. A sea of blood formed behind the young witcher, its stench nauseating. Bloody tendrils wriggled out of the void, and they swung at the statue.
The black ball that escaped only realized that it had fallen into a trap. The tendrils constricted it easily. They tightened up until the black ball was torn into pieces.
Eventually, the back ball shattered into shards that were covered by black smoke. The shard tried to escape in all directions, but the suckers on the tendrils opened up like a maw trying to feast on something good. They absorbed all the shards, leaving not a single one behind. And then Roy swore he heard a faint sigh of satisfaction.
'You have devoured a demon (cat). EXP +300. Massacre has now powered up.
Massacre: Any enemies within the range of (2 → 3) meters have a 20% (lock on required) to be Feared by Massacre. If they have a lower Will than you do, they will lose control of their bodies for (2 → 3) seconds at most.
You permanently inflict (20 → 25)% more damage to the creatures you have hunted before.
Fear: You may cast Massacre to Fear single, multiple, or all targets within the range of (2 → 3) meters and perform a mandatory Will check. If they have a lower Will than you do, they will lose control of their bodies for (2 → 3) seconds at most. Cooldown: (4 → 3) minutes.
Tip: This skill levels up as the types and number of creatures you kill increase.'
"Whoa, that's a boatload of EXP. That comes from a demon?" Roy was overjoyed. The last time he got 300 EXP was a long time ago. His enemy back then was Dagon's projection.
And Massacre got a big boost too. Fear's range got bigger, the CD's shorter, and the duration is longer.
But that was not the biggest reward. Roy finally realized that Fear was fatal to any creature that was in their soul form. It could destroy the souls and gobble them up. All I have to do is summon the tentacles, swallow up the souls, and gain EXP. It's so simple, I wonder if there's something more behind it. Massacre is the first skill I got, and it's deeply related to the character sheet.
***
While Roy was trying to figure things out, the other witchers were staring at the man tied to the statue. They were oblivious to the change that had happened.
Now that the demon was vanquished, when Kiyan opened his eyes again, it was no longer devoid of emotions. Instead, he looked puzzled.
"Me?" he asked. His voice was raspy from how damaged his vocal cords were.
"Kiyan, my old friend!" Felix took a deep breath and took his sunglasses off. He held Kiyan's hand happily. "Welcome back to reality."
"Kiyan… I-Is that my name?" Kiyan looked around and saw a few men with feline eyes around him. They had a kind look in their eyes.
He stared at the ground and mused over it. Eventually, realization struck the tortured man, and his eyes refocused. "I was… I am Kiyan of the Cat School!"
***
***
