NOVEL NEXT 42 – Ambush!
“She’s still not answering?”
“... no. Not even the obligatory ‘I’m too busy’ anymore,” Erika answered with a frown.
“I guess that confirms it then…” her friend’s voice on the other side of the call replied.
Erika pursed her lips. Right after their fight at the concert, Jessica had messaged them, saying that she would be leaving on a short business trip because of her job.
They had never gotten the chance to tell her ‘Wait, we know the business trip means some demonic trial to become the demon general, oh also, we’re the magical girls’, unfortunately. And now she wasn’t replying, which probably meant that she was in the demon realm, undergoing said trial.
“Yeah…” Erika let out another sigh. “I guess we won’t see her again until school, huh…?”
“Depends on how long these trials will take. But yeah, you’re probably right,” Nicole on the other side stated. “Well, not much we can do at the moment. Just cross our fingers and hope everything goes well for her.”
Erika’s frown deepened. They had no idea what exactly those trials would entail and it seemed like Jessica didn’t either. Erika couldn't help but worry.
“I guess, yeah… We’ll just have to wait. Hopefully no more rogue demons come out of the woodworks in the meantime.”
“Yeah, hopefully. Anyway, I gotta run now. See you later!”
“See you, Nicole.” She ended the call.
Erika stood up, took a deep breath, and exhaled. She tried pushing away her concerns for the moment as she did her usual stretches. As Iris had said, there was no point in getting anxious if they couldn’t do anything to help Jessica at the moment.
She got into her running shoes, checked she had everything she needed, and left her apartment with a brisk sprint.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long until the feelings of concern returned. Erika just couldn’t help it. She had always thought of Jessica as her closest friend despite spending more time with the others due to the whole magical girl thing. Sure, Jessica could get a little…uh, overwhelming, what with all her teasing and stuff, but that didn’t change anything.
Erika reached the intersection and jogged in place for a moment waiting for the lights to turn green. When they did, she continued sprinting in the direction of the park.
The whole prophecy of the worlds being destroyed didn’t help her anxiety either. They had talked to the First Bloom and Frost again, and not even they had any idea what that whole thing was about or even where the rogue demons came from. That concerned Erika more than anything. Those rogue demons would be responsible for the predicted destruction, Erika could feel it in her gut. One of them would eventually try targeting one of the magical girls, and then make them use their magical weapons to do the same thing the fifth weapon did.
At least, that was the theory they were running with for now. The four agreed to be extra vigilant, and never try to engage a rogue demon on their own in case it was a trap.
Erika reached the park and zeroed in on the nearest bench, placing her water bottle on it. She took a few slow breaths while basking in the sunlight and observing the nature around her to calm her nerves before setting off on her usual route around the park.
Speaking of sunlight, the summer was going to end pretty soon. It somehow felt both very long and very short with how much had happened. Being told the world was going to be destroyed by her best friend who acted as a double agent among the demons… did that, Erika supposed.
She still wasn’t sure what to think about that last bit. Obviously, Jessica pretending to be on the demon’s side was terribly dangerous, but Erika already knew that nothing she could say would convince the girl to stop. And also, she had clearly shown them the other day that she wasn’t a pushover and could handle herself. Still…
Something dark moved in the corner of her eye, and Erika’s attention immediately snapped to it. When she inspected the suspicious bush, she didn’t notice anything out of place.
She frowned but kept running, this time dipping into her magical sensing and paying closer attention to the surroundings.
Something moved again, a fair distance behind her.
She was being followed by something… Something that had magic.
Another rogue demon.
Erika clenched her teeth and sped up, whilst pulling out the phone from her shorts’ pocket and quickly sending a message ‘Demon. Park. Help.’
Another runner running in the opposite direction passed her. Right in the direction of the demon.
She realized it too late as the shadow jumped out of the bush and tackled the man sprinting past it.
“Ack! Wha-?!” he yelled as he fell on the ground.
Erika skidded to a stop and her eyes widened. “No!”
The shadow was absorbed inside the man as he screamed before a surge of magic pulsed out of him. The man let out an animalistic roar as a demonic tail, horns, and a set of wings grew out of him.
Erika immediately summoned her Cinder Blade and transformed. But what could she even do in this situation? She was primarily the team’s heavy hitter and unlike Frost or Bloom, her sealing magic skills were severely lacking. Her only option was to stall until her teammates got here.
Flame swung her sword in the air, focusing her magic. “Cleansing fire!”
A heat wave filled with magic washed over the demon before it could lash out at her, causing it to roar in pain.
It was the only way she had to attack the demon without hurting the poor guy being possessed too much. But she could already tell, it wouldn’t be enough to beat it.
The demon lashed out at her with a blast of magic before she could send another wave at it. Her eyes widened as she sensed the magic inside the attack and she immediately dodged to the side.
The blast erupted, annihilating the ground where she stood.
“W-what?!” Flame yelped out in shock before quickly refocusing on the demon and seeing that it had barely used any of its power for that attack.
This rogue demon was much more powerful than the ones they had been dealing with these past few days.
Flame’s hands tightened around her blade as she grit her teeth.
This was going to get rough.
