Demons and Children, a Surprisingly Good Combo

(Wednesday, 22nd of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)

Soon, Simo and Jack both exited the camp office to see that the sun was now setting over the tall tree line, turning the sky dark. Jack saw a line of children walk from their cabins, carrying candles in their hand while dawning pitch black cloaks. The children walked in sync from the cabins, forming a line, down towards the center of the camp, which was down the hill. At the center of the camp, there was a massive bonfire, where the children formed a ring around the flames. Alice and Abigail tended to the flames using a metal rod to move around the wood.

"Looks like the party's about to begin, let's head down there and punch any demons that try anything funny." Matt patted Jack's back and guided him down to the bonfire. As Jack walked with the man, Matt noticed Simo's existence. "Oh hey, he's new."

"Simo, Matt." Jack introduced Simo to the martial artist. "Matt, Simo."

"Nice to meet you...but are you sure your outfit is suited for combat?" Simo looked at Matt's outfit, which was literally just some shorts.

"Yeah, I don't wear much because it restricts my movement." Matt explained to Simo while Hero suddenly appeared beside Jack. "Besides, what's the point of armor if my muscles are harder than steel?"

"...This world is absolutely nuts." Simo commented as the four of them walked down the hill, stopping a little ways from the ritual to observe the rituals.

"Okay kids, remember, if you can't get the flames of hell, just use a match or something." Abigail only spoke after all the campers arrived. "Now, while normal rituals use your own blood, science has proven that was an unnecessary risk, so we can just use red spray paint and stencils. So after y'all finish chanting, come to Alice and I to get your stencils and paint!"

"I never would have guessed that demon summoning could be treated as an arts and crafts activity." Simo sweatdropped while examining the scene before him.

"Well it does require a steady hand." Jack commented on Simo's surprise. "Maybe with the use of stencils, people can focus on other attributes of demon-related classes."

"That would mean more strong opponents for me to fight!" Matt pumped his fist into the air as the children began chanting in a language Jack didn't recognize.

As the children chanted, Abigail and Alice left the bonfire to begin prepping the stencils and spray paint by getting them out of the storage closet. Jack ordered Simo to keep an eye on the kids as he helped the two girls move the boxes and stencils towards a folding table that was randomly placed next to the open field. Jack placed one box on the table while the rest of the boxes went underneath the table. The stencil papers, which were the size of posters, were stacked on top of one another on top of the table. The children soon finished chanting, and threw their candles into the roaring fire, turning the flames a black color. The children then walked to the table, and each one took a can of spray paint and a stencil poster. Each child chose a spot in the clearing and placed the stencil poster down, then they used the spray paint to make a summoning magic circle.

"Alright guys, just walk around for a bit and make sure none of the demons try to cheat these kids." Abigail ordered the group, and Simo decided to walk on top of a hill. "Also, who's that?"

"Some guy I summoned from another world, apparently he died and was brought into this world, I feel like he's a good dude." Jack explained as Abigail examined your sniper rifle.

"Oh hey, that's Robin Hood, the only slayer weapon around here." Abigail pointed out, and of course the only weapon Jack grabbed was a slayer weapon. "You can keep it, it's too bulky, and I got magic so I'm good."

"SEE SIMO, I TOLD YOU IT WAS AN ARTIFACT!" Jack shouted at the man, who prepared his rifle. "WAIT WE DON'T NEED ANYTHING SHOT YET!"

"I know, I'm just preparing to shoot just in case." Simo explained before adjusting the rifle. "Still, Robin Hood? What kind of name for a rifle is that?"

"Also, who is that?" Alice pointed at Simo whilst looking at Jack. "Is he friend or foe?"

"Friend." Jack briefly explained to his best friend as pillars of flame began to light up the night sky. "What the shit?"

"Oh yeah, demons love being dramatic, so expect lots of lights." Alice explained to her best friend while the demons appeared before the children. "Remember kids! Only offer things from that list we gave you!"

"What's on the list?" Jack asked Alice, who simply responded by handing you a copy of the list. "Food, plants, and specific body parts like hair and nails?"

"Basically, any price that won't end up killing, hindering, tricking, or disabling the kid." Alice then went silent. "Still, we have to have all campers tell us what the offer was before it gets made just to be extra safe. No matter what."

"Miss Alice, I need you to hear this pact!" One of the campers called out to Alice, and Alice went to the child.

"Alright, I'll talk to you guys later." Alice walked off to help the child, leaving Jack alone with Hero, as Matt and Abigail walked off to help some kids.

Jack decided to let Robin Hood join his armory, and Jack used his mother's watch to send the rifle back to his dorm to replace it with one of his other artifacts that he got, Nursery Rhyme. It took the form of a Spellbook with golden celestial depictions on the navy blue cover. Jack had no idea how to even use this book, maybe chucking it at an enemy's head? As Jack tried to understand the Spellbook, the sound of a gunshot rang out, and one of the demons had a hole in its head. Simo pulled the lever of his rifle, and an empty shell swiftly fell out of the rifle.

"Nice shot!" Hero complimented the sniper, who chuckled underneath his mask.

"At this distance, hitting a headshot is easier than taking a breath." Simo commented on the compliment. "You think I'm joking, but it's humid as hell here."

"Then take off the heavy jackets." Abigail ordered Simo as she walked from child to child to examine their contracts.

"These are the only clothes I have." Simo informed the woman. "Besides, I'd need a mask since I have a pretty nasty scar."

With that said, most of the children received contracts from the demons at the cost of either hotdogs, hamburgers, some flowers, hair, and/or nails. With the festivities done, Matt began putting the cans of spray paint and stencils back into the storage closet. Abigail and Alice guided the children and the demons to the mess hall, while Hero, Simo, and Jack all followed close behind, ready to take down any demons who would try anything. Once in the mess hall, it was honestly pretty casual. Everyone was sitting down and eating, and watching the children interact with the demons was like watching children talk to their relatives. Jack's group was sitting at one of the tables in folding chairs, trying to eat the barbecued hot dogs that the resident chef of the camp made.

"So...why does this camp exist?" Jack asked curiously, since summoning demons isn't in the top five activities he'd expect children to do. "Like, why is summoning demons so common amongst children."

"Well to be honest, all the demons here used to be parents of proud soldiers of the Enchanted Forest's Demon Unit." Abigail informed Jack. "However, on 12/12/12, every single soldier in the demon unit, as well as every other unit, died."

"So basically, every demon here lost their child?" Jack asked in a hushed voice, and Alice nodded.

"Exactly, and most of the kids here are orphans." Alice was speaking in a hushed voice as well. "So basically, it's like an adoption thing."

"As for the demon who I shot..." Simo had his hood down to reveal that he had black hair.

"We often have demons who lie and try to pull shit, so we kill them on the spot." Abigail let out a sigh of relief. "Lucky for me, my demon contract allows me to see people's intentions as colors, and I can take them out before they try anything."

"I honestly don't understand the point of demon contracts, like just working out is way better." Matt flexed his right bicep proudly.

"Well demon contracts not only come with the cookie cutter abilities like eldritch blast, demon summoning, poison spray, and stuff like that." Abigail's eyes then changed from green to yellow. "They also come with some bonus abilities. Like mine is that I see intentions as colors, with the darker the color the worse the intention being."

"Really?" Jack then looked at Alice, who had her black hair tied back into a ponytail. "Alice, don't you have a unique ability?"

"I do but...it's not really suited for a warlock." Alice rubbed the back of her neck in an embarrassed manner.

"Girl, your primary contracted demon is without a doubt the Super Saiyan of demons." Abigail playfully punched the goth's shoulder. "Alighieri gives Alice here the ability to manifest the nine rings of hell. Like hot damn."

"Well I'm not exactly a fan of using it because I'm not all that good at physical combat." Alice was embarrassed by this ability, and now that he thought about it, all Jack has seen her use is summoning and the occasional eldritch blast. "If I could, I would gladly trade it for something like Caroline's Whirlwind Waltz."

"The ability to control the weather?" Jack wondered out loud before biting into the hotdog.

"Any ability that revolves around me not moving." Alice lazily replied, and Jack rolled his eyes.

"So is anyone else from our hometown holding back from their full potential?" Jack asked, and Alice instantly pointed at Jack while sipping a coke. "Oi, I have an actual excuse, I can't use most of my abilities thanks to amnesia. Y'all don't have an excuse."

"Actually, the twins have something of an excuse." Alice thought for a minute. "They don't use 100% of their power because it's dangerous for them. Instead, they both take turns using around half."

"I thought Rico and Nico turned into a disguise kit and mirror respectively." You commented.

"They do, but what they can do together can cause a level of mayhem and confusion that would make the very gods quiver with fear." Alice's eyes were covered by the shadow of her hair. "If they find a user capable of using both of them at once...it could mean the end of sanity as we know it."

"Are they really that strong?" Hero was balancing a straw on the tip of his nose, and Alice hesitantly nodded. "I wanna fight them."

"If you end up losing your mind, don't blame me." Alice looked outside the window. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

Then you saw something unbelievable.

(Elsewhere, somewhere in Christus)

"OH SHIT!"

"DUCK AND COVER! DUCK AND COVER!"

In a mansion in an unknown country, numerous people were shooting at two people that were hiding behind a tipped over wooden table. This long table was in the middle of the entrance room, with a massive set of stairs that led up to a balcony that covered three of the walls to form a C. The orange haired twins clung to each other as the assault rifle bullets tore the wooden boxes into splinters. Rico and Nico braced for the end until the sound of gunfire suddenly stopped, and the sound of someone yelling took its place.

"I'll give you kids 10 seconds to give back the Diamond, or I'll have my guys blow your skulls open." A mafia boss shouted into a megaphone, making sure the two twins heard him. "Go ahead, think it over, I've been thinking about dying the carpet red for a while now."

"Bro...do it." Nico turned into a mirror, and the ribbon attached to this mirror wrapped around Rico's leg. "Let's use our technique."

"Heh, so after I do it, wanna switch?" Rico asked his brother before standing up and raising his hands to move out from behind the table.

"Let's leave that as a last resort, if we time it wrong, then it's game over." Nico suggested as the mirror began glowing a white color.

"What the, they're doing something!" One of the mafia members shouted, but it was too late.

A light enveloped the entire area, and it only intensified before it slowly died down to reveal everything in the room became perfectly reflective like a mirror. All the thugs tried aiming their AR's at Rico, only to see that the boy was nowhere to be seen. One of the thugs who was up on the balcony looked to his right to see Rico's reflection in front of the man's reflection. The thug aimed the AR in front of himself, but there was no one there. The thug was confused, but that confusion was short-lived when a sudden impact struck his chin, and the thug fell onto the ground. All the thugs aimed their ARs at the thug who fell, only to see their falling ally.

"What the hell?" The mafia head asked while looking at the thug who just collapsed. "What happened?"

"We don't kno-!" The thug closest to the first was one suddenly met with the same fate.

"He's invisible, spray the room!" The crime boss ordered, and in response, all the mafia members began spraying their assault rifles' ammunition all over the room.

Bullets filled the room, and they didn't hit anything, anything other than their own reflections that is. Instead of shattering, the bullets went straight through the mirrors. One thug only had a handgun, and he aimed at the wall 30 meters ahead of him. The bullet soared through the air before colliding with the wall. The bullet's reflection disappeared, and instead, it entered the mirror and soared towards the thug's reflection. The bullet hit the thug's reflection, and pierced the space between his eyes. The thug noticed blood dripping from between his eyes. He felt as though a bullet pierced through his head, and out the other end. The thug fell onto his knees before collapsing entirely. The mob boss noticed this and ordered his men to stop, only for most of them to collapse from bullet wounds, leaving only him and one other guard. The mob boss was about to order the guard to do something, only for that guard to be knocked out by an invisible force from the back of the head.

"Yeesh, maybe I should have explained how this ability works." The voice came from the reflection of Rico's voice behind the mob boss. "On the other hand, you did get your carpet dyed red, just like you wanted."

"Just go!" The mob boss screamed in panic. "Take the Diamond and leave! Please just don't kill me too!"

"Okay, sweet, thanks for not having me kill you." Rico thanked the man, and piece by piece, the mirror-like surface that once covered the walls fell to the ground, shattering like glass. "Peace dude, good luck with the bodies and broken glass."

The mafia boss couldn't see him, but given how he saw the front door open and close suddenly, he could draw some conclusions. Rico undid the invisibility on himself, and Nico turned back into his human form, breathing heavily. Nico collapsed on the ground in front of the door, and Rico helped his twin brother up. Nico was a bit woozy, but Nico made sure to help him regain his balance.

"You know, I wonder how Jack and them are doing." Nico wondered out loud. "In all honesty, I'm amazed that Jack is holding out for as long as he is."

"Hey, no smack talking behind people's back dude, that's a rule." Rico smacked his brother's head.

"No no, I mean how his class works!" Nico explained swiftly. "Like spellcasters rely a lot on memory, he lost his and he's diving head first into all this...that takes serious guts. I mean, he might die, and he knows that! Plus he lost his leg and all that..."

"Hey, that just goes to show that our boy is still alive." Rico ruffled his brother's hair. "And if we're getting shown up by a guy missing a leg, then we need to start working our asses off."

"Yeah!"