Tom remained for some time in the light vortex. Suddenly he felt like slowing down. The transparent blue sphere around him started to glow in a sinister red-green colour. A blue planet was growing up in front of him as he was approaching fast. What worried him was that his personal shield, as he named it started to crack in some places.
-"Something is wrong" Tom thought. The shield kept glowing brighter. It started to emit red coloured flames who looked immaterial but at the same time dangerous.
-"I am a goner" suddenly one of the cracks opened for a brief moment and a tiny wisp stroke him at his chest.
-"Aaaaaagh" screamed Tom. The pain was brutal. He felt like his core being was burning. The sensation of this energy was evil, brutal as a pure antipode of his existence. Luckily the crack closed quickly and the horrible pain faded fast. The speed dropped further down to an extent that Tom realised he was entering Earth atmosphere. He also realised his sphere bubble was shaking bad. At one moment he stopped hanging some kilometres up in the air. Tom finally had a moment to catch his non existent breath. His blue sphere shield appeared to be cooling off.
-" Phew, I got thru the demon's barrier. That was a rough ride. May be breaching demon defences is a tough process? I am very lucky to survive this shit, hehe he indeed it is...."
Tom shouldn't have jinxed himself. A classic mistake.
Suddenly the blue bubble shot straight to the east faster than sound. The cities, rivers and fields blurred.
- " Is that the Japan Islands?" Tom could recognise overall geography of the lands bellow as he slowed down again. Suddenly few spikes emerged from his blue barrier and connected to his body. The sphere began to rotate and shrink to a tiny spec of blue light. At this moment Tom lost consciousness.
-Kornelius POV-
The summoning circle began to cool down. He quickly checked the monitoring runes. Everything was nominal. The he looked down at the "demon barrier breach array". The dish sized plate was slotted at a designated place connected to the summoning circle. It was buzzing strange, but otherwise looked fine. He got it cheap from the "enchantment department" grand sale. A work of one of their juniors probably.
-"The best bargain ever" smiled Kornelius. He always operated at the brink of bankruptcy. All his funds he managed to get his hands on were invested in the project.
He crouched near the summoning circle. All his life work was finally going to pay off. Decades upon decades dedicated efforts with the sole purpose of completing his life wish. He was not a warrior, nor he could burn demon foes with a shiny staff. But he believed that his work will contribute even a tiny bit in the war efforts. After all the prototype class is one of its kind. A fundamental breakthrough he believed.
It's first unique future – the "demonic essence converter" was his early years discovery, just after his academy graduation. It converts the demonic essence to a soul essence that fuels [system] and helps an individual to grow and advance. It was implemented as the class spell [Consume]. Theoretically it should allow user to permanently steal power from a demon albeit at 20% efficiency. Absolutely groundbreaking Kornelius believed.
The second and also an unique feature was "the annihilator module". He managed to complete it just recently. Implemented as [Exorcise] class spell. In theory this should just erase or more correctly deny a demon of existence leading to its absolute termination. Well that should solve the problems with those bastards. Demons fight not fair, sending their avatars to fight in mortal realms while their real body remained safe in their home worlds. While killing the avatars leads to halving the demon's powers, it didn't actually kill them. Their strength will grow back in time and they will strike again and again. A really vicious circle. Hopefully [exorcise] will deal with this issue eliminating both the avatar and original as they never existed.
He looked again at the summoning circle. Tom was entering the demons shield smoothly.
-"Perfect! I knew it I will work just fine" exclaimed Kornelius pumping his fist in the air.
Shortly after he heard a loud buzz and plock. He looked down in horror. The breach array was smoking and part of it became melted metal.
-"No way!" Kornelius shook his head in disbelief.
"Tom!!!" he shouted and opened transfer window of his system. Reports of warnings flared one after another.
[system: "transferring shield" collapse imminent in 10 seconds…9….8..7 ]
Situation was critical, Tom was almost trough the barrier, almost....
-"He is not going to make it" he calculated in a split of a second.
He jumped at the summoning array and quickly pressed several runes in succession.
[system: All non vital essence reserves have been directed to the shield support]
The crack in Tom's shield closed immediately.
-"System :Transfer status report " -commanded Kornelius. Long list of details started scrolling down in his mind eye.
-The situation was disastrous. All axillary, non vital reserves were depleted.
-"Its not all lost" he pondered. Tom's soul suffered some minor damage from demonic energy contact, luckily it was manageable. The main problem was the fact Tom had no way to get a mortal body, the designated essence resources spent… Or was it? Kornelius opened the summoning circle operation manual, briefly analysing its contents.
"There!" shouted Kornelius and started fiddling with the command runes.
[system "Compatible soul/body search emergency procedure initiated"]. The summoning circle hummed in acknowledgement. Kornelius plopped on the ground slight trembling from the shock.
---Tom Tailor POV--- Ueno park, Tokyo, Japan empire, Terra ----
A demon was pressing over its victim's body. The body was still twitching and convulsing in its death. The foul creature has just ripped the soul and was crunching in delight. At that moment a light beam shot trough the demon's body landing inside human's body chest, resulting a brief formation of a complex rune circle and rapid release of excess of mana. Demon jumped back in inhuman strength landing several meters aside. Its body had a tennis ball size hole through his chest. It screeched in pain and fell on ground – green fluids leaking from the hole.
Tom slowly opened his eyes. His body felt sluggish.
-"Wait a second" -Tom whispered and raised his hand in front of his eyes. His hand looked smaller and skinnier than he remembered, but it was a real flesh, skin and bones. At this moment, he was officially a reincarnated individual.
Tom looked around. It was dark, night time apparently. There were trees and bushes nearby and he was laying on a grassy ground.
-"It's a forest" he concluded.
A light flickered on and off some distance away. He pushed himself in sitting position to look better at it. It was actually a street light and there was a sitting bench often placed in town parks.
- "So I am in a city"
- A transparent blue screen popped in front of him. It was glowing but not lightening the surrounding area, like it was positioned inside his eyes:
[system initialising… please stand by]
[Synchronising body/soul 24..36….54….62….89. Synchronisation achieved at acceptable levels -89%]
[Initiating setup...Error in module 162; Error in module 2671; Error…..]
Many screens popped up in and out of existence for few minutes, some reporting errors while others a success.
[WARNING – setup failed to complete. Attempting to connect to [unified system]… failed, user ID not registered.
[Initiating maintenance procedure …. Failed. Not enough essence]
[Critical errors detected - please report to the closest Nexus for assistance]
[Entering safe mode]
[System operational (Safe Mode)]
[Attempting to activate operational modules…..10…30….74…100%]
[success]
A large screen appeared. Tom noticed immediately that many areas were greyed out as not accessible, many missing their contents or filled with junk.
-"So that's how the system looks like. It is similar to a RPG game interface" thought Tom. He had played his fair share of games in his teenage and college years. While not so much after his marriage and child birth plus the increasing work load.
-"Graaagh" an inhuman growl reached from his left.
- "What?!!, Is that a demon?" he panicked and instinctively started to retreat still sitting on his butt. The street light flickered in existence and he finally saw what was approaching. It was vaguely humanoid; its skin was partially human partially different: black and shiny like an insect carapace. Its legs looked human, but its hands ended with scythe like blades. The demon was staring him with its four black facet eyes not blinking. It opened its mouth and two 5 centimetres mandibles shot out, clicking rapidly. It started to approach using his scythes to dig the ground and propel forward as its legs trailed lifelessly behind. A green slime left marking his trajectory. It was wounded but not dead obviously.
Tom has never experienced such fear in his life. It was primal, true horror, a lamb meeting the wolf. The sheer malice emitted was suffocating . The monster was coming to eat him ALIVE. He felt a warm liquid spreading between his legs.
He screamed loud, terror has paralysed his body, his limbs refused to move. His scream was high-pitched and somehow girlish, but it did not register by Tom's mind. He lost precious seconds in his frozen state which demon used to reach just a meter close. It stopped for a second to contract its hands and shot forward. Its head landed on his left leg.
Horrible pain woke Tom from his stupor when the demon bit right above the knee. The pain from the wound was devastating, but nothing comparing to the bigger one. It was excruciating, overwhelming, unbearable. It was the pain of the soul being consumed.
Tom kicked with his right leg, punched with his fists many times. Both seemed futile as the demon didn't even flinch.
"AAAAARGH, Help, Help someone" screamed Tom, tears flowing.
Unfortunately, his cries for help did not reach. The park was desolated, not a single soul nearby. Few street dogs barked far away. Tom was alone with a horrific insect monster eating him alive. He was about to give up to his fate and the only thought for his family kept him struggling.
Suddenly a blue screen flickered reporting damage. In a moment of clearance Tom willed his system to show up.
He glanced at "consume" and "exorcise" spells highlighted white text, assuming operational. He focused his will on "consume" wishing to do something. Immediately information about the spell flowed in his mind and settled there like he knew it for a long time. The spell was touch based which was a serious drawback for a spell, but to balance it was almost instant casting. He mastered his will reached the head of the monster still attached on his leg and then cast. A flow of heat erupted from his stomach and reached his hand:
"CONSUME" – He spoke the words of power. His voice strange, machine like with a heavy bass. A blue transparent jaws formed over his palm and snatched the monster head.
The monster screeched in pain, released his bite and start trashing the ground.
"Run" Tom got on his four, stood up with an effort. His body finally obeying his will and began to withdraw from screaming demon. He was already 20 meters away when he stopped.
-"If I run now, I would never get over it"
He looked back; the demon was obviously in distress. Green slime spilling all over the area. THAT was the monster who have hurt him. It and his kin will come for his daughter if he couldn't finish it right this instant!
His face got serious. He opened his interface. "Consume" was greyed with a countdown timer of 3 hours. That left "Exorcise". He will it happen, same flow of information imprinted in his mind. The spell was ranged - 15 meters maximum. Casting time of 30 seconds. He moved closer to the demon.
-"This should be close enough" He whispered. He pointed his hand forward, although it wasn't a requirement according to his freshly imprinted knowledge. Never the less he did it:
"exorcise" – he spoke his voice not the same he remembered. Yet the words of power did not happen.
[system: Not enough mana]
"What the FUCK" he cursed.
Well he should have expected it. He was probably low level, a total beginner. How come a new player could cast 2 high tiered spell in short succession. It was a solid rule in games and apparently in his new reality.
"Fuck, shit DAMN" Tom cursed. His gentle voice startled him, but again he didn't pay attention.
"I should leave ASAP" He turned around and started walking away.
He made few steps and stopped for the second time this night. He couldn't leave the motherfucker live. He already hated it with his guts.
He started thinking about. What are his options? Gears in his brain turning. Tom was using his intellect and life time experience to find solution of the problem.
-"So I don't have enough energy to power the spell. I need mana. If I don't have it stored can I use external source? This world is similar to Earth, but the same time different. There should be mana present. Kornelius said that demons have done something.
He decided to try again. Moved back at the striking distance and willed the spell to happen. Same message popped:
[not enough mana]
-"System use auxiliary source to complete the spell". He ordered
[local mana density insufficient for the process]
"Damn" Tom walked back reluctantly..
He just made 10 steps when his eye caught something. It was a faint blue light barely visible, but it was dark and Tom saw it clearly.
He changed direction and reached the glowing spot.
"It must be the place where I landed"
Indeed, there was a faint circle 3 meters diameter. Looking transparent, obviously not solid. What caught his attention were the slowly fading runes emitting tiny blue specs that were quickly vanishing in air.
"It appears like a mana leaking out. There must be enough mana here. "A dimensional transport involves a heavy mana usage"tom guessed right. He put his tiny hand inside the circle. There was no pain, nothing visibly harming it. The mana particles passing trough without an issue. He took a few full breaths to calm his racing heart and stepped inside. Waited for few moments.. Nothing.
Then Tom looked at the monster. It was still rampaging around in pure madness about 30 meters away.
"Ok, here we go" "Hey bastard, come here! You ugly piece of shit" he squeaked in high octave.
The demon either didn't hear him or did not pay attention. It just kept rolling the ground like a mad dog. Tom took few seconds to think and kneed down on the ground. His leg hurt but a quick check revealed that the wound wasn't fatal. It was leaking blood but no arteries were hit. Then he removed his shoe and stood up to aim.
-"why the hell I am wearing pink speakers" Tom shook his head in disbelief…
"Well, not the weirdest thing happened recently"
He immediately refocused on the task. He had a monster to kill or die trying.
Tom aimed and shoot. The shoe flew in a beautiful arc to the demon and then ...missed, by a large margin on top. Accuracy was fine but it landed 10 meters short as it had not enough strength.
" Worst throw in my both lives" Tom snickered. He was good at baseball back then in his school years. He was even on permanent position in the school's baseball team. Such a throw should have been a child's play.
He quickly took off his other shoe. This time he closed his eye and threw the shoe few times with his left hand. He could feel that his hand was weak. On a whim he did that with his right one. This time it felt better.
"Am I now right-handed?!" Is this the miracle of transmigration?"
Tom took a careful aim at the monster and threw using the right hand. ..
-"Bulls aye, right in its ugly face"
This time the demon stopped and slowly faced him.
-"Graaauw" the fucker started to approach.
-"exorcise" (Tom)
[system: target out of range]
Shit..the demon closed the distance..
"exorcise" "system use auxiliary source to complete the spell" Tom tried again.
[high density mana field detected]
[warning: casting prevented due to safety locks. User level too low. Mana flow evaluated too dangerous for the user]
"damn system. JUST FUCKIN DO IT"
-"exorcise"
....
-'exorcise" Tom keep trying again and again...
[Administrator privileges detected. Overriding safety protocol]
-"EXORCISE"
Several things happened at once
-A 30 seconds timer appeared in his right corner.
-White disc 2 meters diameter descended over the monster head tracking it movements while spinning fast.
- A blue spiral formed around Tom's body, also spinning. It started to attract the blue particles nearby quickly forming a miniature semi transparent tornado.
- In a few moments Tom felt some heat entering entire body flowing to his stomach. The heat sensation upgraded to a burning pain shortly. Tom gritted his teeth and watched the demon's moves. It has stopped and was sniffing around looking puzzled.
25…
20… Another spinning disc appeared over the monster spinning opposite the fist
15…
The pain was becoming unbearable. Tom screamed:
"Aaaagh"
That was a mistake as the demon refocused on him and resumed his approach.
10.. A third disk appeared on top of the previous two. It spinned in both directions changing pace rapidly.
9..
8..
7…
6…
Tom dropped on the ground. He felt he was burning alive. Yet, he never lost the monster from sight
5…
"aaarh…"
"Graaawl" Monster growled. And contracted his limbs in prepare for launch.
4…
3…
Monster jumped and landed over him. Its head close to his. Saliva leaking on his temple. He could smell its foul breath.
2..
It opened its mouth. Mandibles ready to bite.
1….
0…
The demon moved to strike at his neck. At the same time the 3 spinning rings over the monster body froze. The air around the monster distorted and in instant it disappeared. Silently, no flashing lights, no sound and bang, nothing fancy-shmancy- just like that it vanished from existence.
At the same time the burning heat tormenting Tom receded drastically.
"Haah, aaagh, my God.. Ouch.. I won, I WON… I did it Caroline. I …" Severely overstressed his body, mind and soul Tom fainted in a painless slumber.