The church filled with the soft metallic clanking of chains slithering across stone as she directed them outwards like living tendrils.
Some curled up the shattered pillars, coiling around marble like snakes preparing to strike. Others stretched across the ceiling beams, anchoring themselves and dangling like brutal chandeliers. Most, however, she let drop to the ground, coiled neatly in piles.
“Yeah…” she muttered, placing her hands on her hips as she surveyed her handiwork, though she had to admit, they felt a lot heavier. “Anyone tries to jump me now? Surprise, you entered the world’s angriest spiderweb.”
Satisfied, she climbed over the broken pews and walked toward the altar, settling cross-legged on the dusty stone. Behind her, the hole she carved through the somehow sandy wall still faintly glittered with stuck grains of sand. In front of her, arranged neatly on the cold floor, were the three items she had gone back to collect.
She cracked her knuckles and leaned forward.
“Alright… let’s see what goodies Hell’s church decided to cough up.”
One by one, she inspected them.
─────────────────────────────
[COMMON ITEM ? EMBER-STAMPED VELLUM]
A curled sheet of warm, ember-marked parchment.
Effect: Grants +100 Kill Count to any Imp species recorded in the Demonery.
[Added to the Category: Miscellaneous]
─────────────────────────────
[COMMON ITEM ? IRON-WILLED ROSARY]
A rosary of darkened iron beads, warm to the touch.
Effect:
? +10% resistance to mental effects
? +5% Strength for 10 seconds when HP < 30%
? Slight, soothing vibration that stabilizes emotional surges
Slot: Accessory 1 or 2
[Added to the Category: Equipment]
─────────────────────────────
[COMMON ITEM ? REDGLASS FRAGMENT]
A red crystalline shard pulled from the stained glass.
Effect:
? Can be used as a crafting item
? Glows brighter in the presence of higher-tier demons
[Added to the Category: Materials]
─────────────────────────────
Enochia rolled the rosary between her fingers, lifting a brow at the warped cross.
“…Wow. Catholic gear from Hell. This really is a fun day.” She shrugged. “I thought I got a racial resistance to mind control and the such, but since I have no other equipment, I won’t complain.”
She equipped it, sliding it into Accessory Slot 1.
[Iron-Willed Rosary — Equipped]
Now time for the other item, as the Ember-Stamped Vellum especially intrigued her. “…Alright. Let’s use the coupon next.”
She summoned her Demonery just like Roo had shown her earlier.
An almost blank page appeared, until she touched the vellum to the “Imp of Wrath” entry.
The parchment flared, burned itself to ash, and the Demonery tab flashed violently.
─────────────────────────────
DEMONERY UPDATED — NEW INFORMATION UNLOCKED
Species: Imp of Wrath
Tier: Lesser Demon
Kill Count: +101
─────────────────────────────
IMP OF WRATH — DOCUMENTED
Weaknesses:
? Holy Light (extreme)
? Water (strong)
? Pure Light (strong)
? Open Spaces (moderate)
Behavior:
? Prefers tight, enclosed areas to build heat and pressure
? Hyper-aggressive; attacks anything that moves
? Typically found in pairs
? Subservient to stronger demons
Drops:
? Souls (uncommon)
─────────────────────────────
Enochia sat back, folding her arms with a satisfied smirk. “Oh yeah. Look at this. Weak to light, weak to water… prefers cramped areas… hunts in pairs…” She paused, then blinked.
“…Wait. Pairs?”
Her gaze slid slowly across the church. “…Guess this guy was a loner, sucks to suck.”
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But before the moment could spiral, she leaned back again, still grinning. “At least the Demonery works. And damn, this is good info too.”
She tapped the rosary resting snugly against her palm. “I actually like how this feels on my wrist. You’re staying on.”
Then she cracked her neck, rolled her shoulders, and looked toward the pulsing green dot on her map near the altar.
Enochia tilted her head back and finally took in the full structure of the place. The church was far larger than she’d realized. The green dot on her map pulsed, and with how the space mapped out, she made a guess.
“Okay… either the item’s sitting on top of that ridiculously tall ceiling, or…” she glanced down at the floor beneath her, the elevated, dust-choked wooden stage beneath the altar, “…Or it’s hiding under me.”
She stretched her arms behind her head, joints popping. “Let’s try the easy one first.” With all the subtlety of a brick through a window, she stomped her boot down.
The wood splintered, dust puffing upward. Enochia grinned. “Damn, it’s actually sturdier than it looks.”
She stomped again. And again. Each hit cracked the hollow platform further. After a few more, she paused, already feeling sweat prickling at her forehead, and the moment she felt it, she recoiled like someone slapped her.
“Ew. No. Disgusting. Absolutely not. I am not getting sweaty down here if I don’t have to.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Hell better have a damn shower somewhere.”
She exhaled, then lifted a hand. If stomping was going to get her sweaty, she wasn’t doing that again.
[Chains of Nebuchadnezzar]
A single chain shot downward from her arm with a whiplike snap and slammed into the wood beneath her after falling for two seconds.
The altar stage broke now, exploding into splinters.
Enochia smirked. “There we go.”
She stepped to the edge and peered down into the newly exposed cavity. What she saw made her blink in confusion.
“…What the actual…?”
She jumped down without hesitation, landing with a soft thud inside the strangest room she had ever seen.
A perfect cube. Walls made entirely of dirty mirrors, but unmistakably reflective beneath the grime. The air down here felt still and cold, like the room had been sealed for centuries. And right in the center on a small, equally dusty pedestal sat a single piece of paper, placed upright like it was waiting specifically for her.
Enochia walked forward slowly. “Okay, Roo… this is either treasure or a trap. And I swear, if some demon jumps out of the mirror...”
The second her fingers brushed the old parchment, it dissolved, no, absorbed into her. A flash of white-blue light pulsed across her vision, and a new window slammed into existence before her eyes, making her laugh.
─────────────────────────────
NEW UNCOMMON BLUEPRINT ACQUIRED
Name: Lesser Observer
Tier: Grade 4
Function: A drone used to gather intel and environmental information.
Cost to Create:
? 10 Souls
? 1 Skull
? 5 kg Grade 5 Material
─────────────────────────────
But behind the laughter, something in her core twisted. Every spike of joy, every burst of excitement no matter how positive scraped through her nerves with an undertone of anger, like her emotions were being dragged across sandpaper before she could feel them properly.
She pressed a hand to her stomach, wheezing through amusement and irritation at the same time. “Roo, do you even know what I wanted to do back in the old world? Besides acting?”
She jabbed a finger at the air. “I wanted to be an engineer! I wanted to build stuff: machines, constructs, little drone-thingies that shouldn’t even work!” Her voice cracked into another manic giggle. “But studying for it? Oh, that was actual Hell. Worse than this place.”
She threw her hands up. “So I quit! I just… made stuff anyway. From scraps. From intuition. From whatever tiny bits of knowledge I had left in my smooth little brain. But it was my passion. I LOVED building things. I loved watching something I made actually move.”
She dragged both hands down her face dramatically, then looked back up at the blueprint window with a shudder of genuine joy. “And now I GET IT. I ACTUALLY GET IT.”
She clasped her hands together like she was praying. “Hehehe… Roo… Roo, my beloved… PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep them coming. I swear I will be so good, just give me more of these. More weird tech. More little murder babies I can build from scratch.”
Her grin softened for a moment, shifting into something more thoughtful. “When I saw ‘Blueprints’ as a menu option earlier, I was scared, you know? Because there are two types.” She held up a finger. “The shitty kind that only lets you make armor, weapons, accessories. Good, sure, but not my kind of fun.”
Then she raised another finger. “And then there’s the GOOD kind. The one that makes actual constructs, minions, drones, tools… the kind that turns you into a whole damn army by yourself.”
She gestured proudly at the Lesser Observer blueprint. “And now I know I got the good kind. Thank every cosmic force out there.”
Finally, she exhaled. “Alright…” she muttered, letting the blueprint window fade. “That’s done. There’s one more thing I want to do down here.”
She turned slowly, sweeping her gaze across the mirrored walls.
“Since this creepy-ass room is made of mirrors… I can FINALLY see what the hell I look like.”
She jumped upward, catching the broken platform’s edge with a hand and hauling herself effortlessly back onto the cracked wooden altar stage. The whole structure wobbled beneath her, dust falling in fat clumps.
She dusted herself off, then pulled out another Windcharge. “You’re useless for anything except blasting sand and making my armor worse,” she muttered. “So let’s get some value out of you at least.”
She tossed the Windcharge back into the mirrored room.
The explosion was smaller this time, contained, but still powerful enough to create a storm of swirling grit. Sand sprayed upward like a geyser, and Enochia immediately ducked, coughing as she covered her mouth.
When the cloud finally settled, Enochia hopped back down into the mirrored room and immediately regretted everything as a sharp jab punched into the bottom of her foot.
[-15 HP]
“OW—WHAT THE—?!” she yelped, hopping in place like a wounded flamingo, clutching her foot as a large piece of glass pierced it. “Oh my GOD, I seriously have GOT to start THINKING before I do shit!” She looked down and groaned loudly.
The floor was absolutely obliterated into glittering death-confetti. Of course it was. The Windcharge had been strong enough to blow a hole straight through a wall, so why wouldn’t it vaporize every mirror in the room? She gave the surrounding destruction a deadpan stare. “Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. I am, without a doubt, a genius.”
She tried to walk, carefully, but the next step rewarded her with several more stabs of pain.
[-5 HP]
[-3 HP]
[-6 HP]
“OH COME ON,” she groaned, lifting her foot and shaking off shards of glass.
Having no choice but to tiptoe, she navigated the glittering mess with extra care, wincing with every shift of razor dust under her feet. Thankfully, mixed among all the shattered fragments were several pieces big enough to be useful. One enormous shard in particular caught her eye which was almost as tall as she was.
“Oh THANK GOD,” she muttered, weaving through the glass minefield. She grabbed the huge shard by its edge and had to brace with both hands to lift it and awkwardly shuffled backward until she could prop it against the newly exposed stone wall. She dusted off her hands, exhaled… and finally looked at herself.
“…Holy crap.”
