Demon in the Snow by Heather Fledderus (cat reading book .TXT) 📖

“Yeah, it's one of my best character traits.”

Nate rolled his eyes and looked over the class. There were thirty-six of them in all, with twenty-nine of them being Crimson Dragons, separated into eighteen pairs. Hannah was standing beside a medium-build guy who looked like he could be taken out with a mild flight demon. He was an Illusionist, Nate could tell from here. Sora was standing at the far end of the crowd, his back turned to everyone else as his head was tilted upwards. Nate followed his gaze and froze.

The clear, light blue sky was dotted with a few thin clouds. The absence of birds should have been his first clue. Even as he watched, the fist-sized black hole stretched, ripping through the sky as if it were tissue paper, growing larger with each tear.  The ripping sound soon grew loud enough for the 'Slayers to hear, and all looked around, searching for the sound. One 'Slayer pointed at the sky, and all lifted their heads to watch as one of the ugliest faces appeared, elongated fingers gripping the sides of the hole, ripping them even further apart.

The huge demon ripped a large enough hole to start wriggling its way through. Nate watched as the Double C-class demon entered Misd, it's massive blazing eyes rolling around in its head as it focused them on the group of baby 'Slayers far below it. Nate could almost hear its thoughts.

Food. Hungry. Must EAT!

Even as it roared its desire to the sky, the students panicked.

The scene descended into chaos as the first years began to flee.

19. Fire Doesn't Burn

Nate stood still as people raced past him, Dragons and nobles alike in their pursuit of remaining alive. Cain took off with them, but turned to grab Nate's arm. “Dude!” he yelled, his eyes wide, “This  is really happening. We've got to get out of here. That thing just tore a hole THROUGH the freaking shield. We've got to run!”

Nate hadn't even bothered to look at him, and now tore his arm free of Cain's grasp and took a step forward. He watched as the demon hovered, slowly lowering itself, taking its time. Fire-type, and a strong one at that. Nate sorted through his Cache, trying to come up with something, any ability, something that would make this problem go away.

People kept on running. He knew they had never dealt with anything higher than a trained E-class. Contempt for their cowardice crept into his mind even as he realized that he had no real ability to go up against the fire-type with. And if he didn't, that meant that none of these kids stood a chance. He felt Cain leave his side, chasing after the others.

Ms. Spark's lip trembled. He knew that even she had never had to have dealt with a demon this strong before. There was an old saying he had picked up somewhere, a phrase that made mundane life tolerable.

“Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach.” He muttered it without thinking, even as he reached for a snow-type with a strength level he knew was illegal to possess. Even it might not be enough.

A body landed beside him, and he felt the remnants of Hayakku dissipate into the air. “Hi there,” Hannah said, even as Sora landed on the other side of Nate.

“Hey, stranger. Long time, no see.” Chad landed behind them. “You guys ever take on something like this before?”

Hannah shook her head. Nate shrugged, “A'ight, so what do we do?”

“You four get out of here!” Ms. Sparks hollered, her voice shrill with fear.

“As if,” Nate muttered, studying the demon. He couldn't see its Mark, and that was bothering him. Maybe the Mark was on its back. But that would mean he would have to get on top of it somehow. He needed a distraction.

Sora's hands flew to the sides of his head, his gaze focused on the demon. Nate watched as Ms. Sparks launched herself into the air to meet the demon head-on, drawing a sword from her waist that had not been there just moments ago. Nate watched, stunned at her brave stupidity.

She was almost eye-to-eye with it when the demon reacted. It launched a massive fireball from its hand. An instant before it hit her full-on, Nate was galvanized into action and tossed a shield of ice up to deflect the fireball.

It burned right through, but the shield had decelerated it enough that it merely knocked Sparks down mid-flight instead of incinerating her.

The demon turned its attention to them, irritated that there was an ice-manipulator among the four baby 'Slayers. It roared, a massive fireball forming between its two horns.

Nate blinked, surprised for a moment that the ball wasn't forming in its mouth, but quickly gained control of himself again. He jumped as the ball was released, clearing it by ten feet- still feeling the incredible amount of heat it gave off.  The fireball exploded into the ground below, and Nate could feel the seismic roll of earth as the field rippled with the shock wave. So much for the place being unscathed.

As he flew towards it, Nate dodged several, less-powerful fireballs. The demon roared and charged towards him, running on the air like a stampeding bull. Nate could have sworn he saw a giant gold ring in its nose, but had to dodge a spout of flame before he could take a second look.

The demon twisted its head to watch as Nate's path took him above it. He shot a few large icicles from the palm of his hand, missing the demon's eyes by a fraction. The demon roared in pain as two of the icicles lodged themselves in its skin, blood beginning to spurt from the wounds in black streams.

It charged him. “That's right,” he muttered, “Focus on me. I'm the one you want.”

A flash of blue energy shot out of nowhere. Nate cursed as the demon turned to face its new tormenter. Hannah glared at it defiantly, her arms still upraised from the spell. “Shit!” Nate yelled as the demon charged her.

His gaze fell on the Mark. It was right underneath the demon's right horn, in its blind spot. Without hesitation, Nate made a beeline for it, hoping that Hannah had the good sense to turn and run.

He realized that he wasn't going to make it in time to absorb the demon, or even kill it, before it collided with Hannah. With a yell at the effort, Nate raised both of his hands and shot out a patch of soft-ice, the strongest he had ever created.

The demon collided with it head-on, the force of impact causing it to bounce back a good fifteen feet. It roared as it regained its balance and tried again, slamming into the solid wall. Nate grinned tiredly as he approached it slowly, gauging its speed and recovery rate. A colour far below drew his attention. The students were gathered together, a single blur of colour from this altitude. Even though they were far away, there was no way they wouldn't realize what it meant if the demon disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Much as the demon's powers would be advantageous, Nate knew he wouldn't be able to b.s. his way out of anything, especially with that many witnesses. He had to destroy it, fast, before it broke through. He just hoped Hannah wouldn't try to shoot a spell at it from her present angle.

Almost as if she had read his mind and was feeling contrary, Hannah's arms came back up,and he actually saw her lips moving. Green energy sizzled in front of her palms.

“Shit,” Nate said again as he pushed himself to go faster, knowing that he wouldn't make it in time.

The energy shot towards the demon, shattering the ice with the sharp intensity that only White Magic could produce. Nate cried out in symbiotic pain as the demon encountered the White Magic. Using soft-ice made him connected to the demon, the bond strengthening the more the demon ran into the ice itself.

He fought to stay conscious as he hurtled towards the demon, grabbing it by the horn and using a burst of super-strength to whip it over his head and twist it towards the ground, still holding on. The trip was short, the demon landing with a thump that rivaled that of the huge fireball. Nate was thrown clear on impact, and rolled away from the carnage.

Wiping black blood from his eyes, Nate looked up to see a black figure perched on the demon's back, right by the Mark. As he watched, the 'Slayer drove something into the Mark, and the demon disintegrated.

Nate dropped to the ground, giving up on trying to get up. He heaved ragged gasps of air, not enough being pulled in. He released the ice power and allowed regeneration to take over, healing most of his injuries by the time Cain reached him. Cain didn't say anything, ripping Nate's shirt open, tearing off his own to stuff into a hole that refused to heal.

Nate's world swam before his eyes, but he could sense it when Hannah landed beside him.

“Get the hell out of here!” he heard Cain yell at her, “Because of you, he's dying! Stay the hell away from him! You've done enough damage already!”

Hannah crouched down beside him, ignoring Cain. She leaned into his view. Nate could barely keep his eyes long enough to see her crying, “Nate! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I panicked...” Her voice broke off as Nate inched his head off the ground to get a better fix on her face. He had only one thing to say to her, one thing that would solve a lot of his problems.

He said it with all the strength and vehemence he could muster.

“Leave.”

20. A Death In the Family

Nate was drifting in the dark. He couldn't see a thing even as his body floated on what he knew was the surface of the water. At least he hoped it was water.

Voices started echoing across the cavern. It took him a moment to decipher what they were saying as words.

“You should have seen him. He threw up some sort of shield that it couldn't....”

“...His injuries are healing faster than expected, but...”

“...coma. And he might never come out.”

Nate wanted to yell at them, tell them to shut up, but his body was too heavy. He gave up.

“See that? His body just twitched.”

“Reflexively, Cain. Don't get your hopes up.”

“I can't lose him too.”

Nate tried to force himself to sit up, but it