While Narcisa and Zemin helped the wounded, Jagger went to contact the base. When he returned, Zemin bit the inside of his cheek as he waited for his words.
"Since these people can't be moved with our resources, I asked for transport. It will arrive in a few hours. We were told to return to base after this, and give a full report to the 4th Exemplar Commander there." The man looked down at Zemin. He looked like he wanted to add something, but then decided not to. Instead, Jagger turned to Narcisa. "Why Adia didn't wake up yet?"
"I decided not to wake her, Sergeant. The girl definitely needs her beauty sleep. But if you want to…"
"No, let her be. As long as at least someone's health isn't in danger… Can you manage the rest on your own here, Narcisa?"
"Yes, sir. We already did most of the work."
"Then Zemin, get here. We still need to get rid of the demon corpses and wall off your Void Portal."
Zemin obediently followed Jagger. "We can just throw the corpses into the Void Portal, sir, then wall it off. It's safe as long as you don't touch it or put anything important there."
Jagger nodded. "Good idea. I don't want them to poison the soil."
He walked a dozen meters to the side and kicked something off the ground. To his surprise, Zemin saw a clawed pale hand, frozen solid in a block of ice.
After Jagger's kick it didn't fall down, but hovered in the air before shooting toward the Void Portal and vanishing within.
"Disappeared, just like that. I hope that place is worse than Hell you crawled out of, Angor," Jagger muttered, then turned to the nearest dog corpse and threw it into the Void, too.
Zemin decided he didn't want to touch dead dogs, even with gloves, so he also used telekinesis to throw their corpses into the Void. Together, they made quick work of them, and even with the energy Zemin spent on moving the dogs, he still ended up with much more.
'I know, System. If I wasn't afraid to spend energy freely, I'd be able to use much more powerful attacks even without opening Void Portals. I need demons to get more energy, but need energy to kill demons—what a vicious cycle. Unless I want to destroy more of my planet than I already did.'
"Is that all?" Zemin asked aloud. He glanced to the sides, but together with Jagger they carried even the corpses of dogs that got some distance away. "Alright, I wish I had something metal, but I guess that wood will do for now."
"You want to make an air-tight wall around the Void Portal, Zemin?" Jagger asked. He must've noticed the wind it created, and put the facts together. "Wood walls won't work, then."
"As a temporary measure—at least it will reduce the air flow. It's not like we can take surrounding ground, melt and shape it. That would take an incredible amount of Psi-energy!"
Stone melted at temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius—Zemin's entire current stock of energy wouldn't be enough to create a stone wall.
Jagger shook his head. "We can do better. Do you know where clay is taken from?"
Zemin blinked. "Clay, sir? Near rivers there's always a lot of it, although…" faint memories of playing in childhood came to mind. Soft soil that can be put into various shapes, which could be found just about anywhere if you looked for it… "in a lot of places."
"Clay is just fine sand and water, if you look closer at it. We can take the sand from the ground and water from the air, then shape a wall. It will last until someone comes here with better materials."
Zemin nodded sharply. This really was energy-effective! He didn't even need to crush the sand—just look for fine grains of it on the ground with tendrils of Psi-energy.
"Understood, sir."
He started the process.
The large, coarse sand grains and bits of old leaves on top of the ground obviously weren't good enough. Zemin went deeper, and the first tendrils he sent found and pulled out several grains, but he needed thousands upon thousands more. With a frown of concentration, Zemin split his Psi-tendrils into several smaller ones, each grabbing and pulling through the ground a grain or several, smaller than the clumps around them.
"It will be an excellent training exercise, Esquire." Jagger said, breaking Zemin's concentration. "Ah! Don't get distracted. You can't get distracted in a fight, after all. Narcisa can stitch even tiny human nerves together—you should train to the same level of control."
Zemin re-focused his efforts and nodded.
"I will, sir!" Maybe then next time he won't need deals with demons to save everyone.
Jagger stretched out his own Psi-tendrils, doing the same thing as Zemin. He also kept speaking.
"While you do, you can also tell me more about this ability of yours. Is it why you were sent here at your age, Zemin? Why did you keep it secret until now? Secrets do nothing but hurt people!"
Zemin's concentration almost broke again. He slowly moved his eyes from the small pile of fine sand in his hand to Jagger.
"I came here, because I wanted to help the Holy Dominion. As for the secrecy—I was advised to by… an angel. Sir." He frowned. "And you, sergeant? Angor spoke like you've met before. And his face—did the demon take the face of someone you knew?"