"I got him!" the lizard demon clicked. "I killed the wyrm forged! Master will reward me for-"
I cut him off, emerging from the flames. "Thank god I bought this." The costume shimmered in all colors as I dusted it off.
"What? You're supposed to be dead!"
"No. You." I aimed the blast at the homunculi and fired. All that remained was its tongue that twitched on the floor.
A last demon emerged from the flames around me. It was the most like a devil, large and black skinned. With horns like a ram and eyes like a cat, the ivory daggers in its mouth were revealed through a hungry smile.
Flapping its giant wings at me, flames and wind pushed me back. I could feel the heat of the flames, but they didn't burn me. The gust of wind pushed me back, and I dropped the Twig of Yggdrasil.
Ragdolling several feet back, I hit the grass hard. My materia had dropped to 100, so I wouldn't be able to fire an attack for a while. The best I could do was summon selkie to hold off the demon.
Closing my eyes, I reached deep into my pool of magical energy. Picturing a selkie in my mind's eye, I could feel moisture in my palms. It had an eel-like body and the head of a catfish. Holding out my right hand, a splash of water shot from my hand. An explosion of energy rippled, dousing the flames around the giant homunculi.
"Hold it off!" I commanded it. It hovered in the air between me and my attacker. Swimming to the demon in flashes of light, it slammed into the foe. The demon had taken a lot of damage before its hand shot out and caught the flying fish. Instead of staying solid, the selkie melted into a liquid between the black claws. Slithering around the goat legs of the homunculi, it solidified and tripped the demon.
The homunculi howled so loud it echoed across the plains. The selkie hovered over the demon, throwing its head back. Its chest swelled as it charged up a familiar attack. Flinging its head forward, it fired a bunsen blast on the homunculi. The demon raised its arm, losing its hand and wrist in the attack.
"So you can learn that too, huh?" I picked up the Twig. My materia had only charged halfway. I was going to need a full bar to kill the demon.
The system gave me a notification.
"New skill available: Homunculi sealing.
Would you like to learn this skill?"
I clicked yes. Instantly the knowledge on how to seal a homunculi filled my mind.
I aimed my staff at the demon, pouring my materia around it. Ensnaring it in a bubble of energy, I flattened my materia. Inside the bubble, the demon flattened into a piece of paper. I had two charges left for Sealing.
Rushing over to the card, I picked up the homunculi. Being two dimensional, it could no longer attack me. The top of the card read, "Great Winged Demon." The system told me I had successfully captured the homunculi, and that it was correctly bound to my will.
Opening the menu on the card, I saw it was a rare summon. The only attack it had was the gust of wind it had used on me, but its hp was high.
I collapsed to my knees, drained. I'd never cast that many spells back to back, let alone summoned a spirit of that level. The selkie was definitely larger than it was in my last life. And it had also learned a skill that I knew.
The only spirits I had sealed were the selkie and a carbuncle, both of which were low level summons in my old life. But here, they seemed stronger. I got the feeling DEmiurge had something to do with that.
I rested there for a moment, the smell of burned grass and foul demons insulting my nose.
I commanded my selkie to return. It folded into a card that fell in my left hand.
Its card depicted a giant sea serpent in the sky. With fins as sharp as claws, its open mouth spat out a torrent of water. "Seia, Tyrant Selkie" was the title of the card. When I had sealed it in my past life, it was hiding in a puddle outside my home. It was eel-like in nature and resistant to my sealing, but it definitely wasn't a giant tyrant like the one in my card. Even a moment ago, it was barely ten feet. The card made it dwarf octopus and other giant sea creatures.
I slipped the two cards next to the Scarlet Bunsen. "I guess I won't get the carbuncle card unless I summon it." I had very little materia, and I wanted to save it in case I was attacked again. "I'll just summon it when I get home." I stood up and got ready to head home. A small mouse homunculi tried to leap at me when I stood, but I sealed it. I had one charge left for the day.