Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"Is that…a chain? I don't remember any mention of that on any of the sites. Why do I trust those blogs?” Alma was stuck pondering what to do about the eerie new addition to the demon’s body. Why did it suddenly appear like that? She knew for certain it definitely hadn’t been there a few minutes earlier. It couldn’t be some new attack, right? It would’ve done something with it by now. But… it looks like it’s crushing him. Those chains are digging in pretty tight. Did Heli do this? No. This doesn’t seem like her kind of magic. What if I shoot it? Can I shoot it? What if I end up making it stronger? That would be embarrassing. Instead of saving my best friend I end up getting her killed. She’d probably haunt me for that. Then I’d never get her stupid voice out of my head. That’s the last thing I’d need.

“Heli!” cried Alma after much pontificating.

“Alma?!” Heloise shouted back, in the midst of conjuring a spell to launch Hwalín into the air with a risen block of dirt per her request. The Hecatian came down on the demon’s back with explosive force, barely scraping by the swing of its blades. “You’re okay! I’m so glad! —Wait—I mean-What are you even doing here? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a hunt?! Nobody…Ngh! Asked for your help!”

“Cut the crap, Heli! Listen! What do you know about that weirdly glowing chain wrapped around the nuckelavee?”

“The what?! Chain? What the fuck are you talking about, connasse? Ta gueule !”

Huh? It’s right there! Does she really not see it? Alma squinted. Am I the crazy one? Wait…

“I don’t know! I think it’s my eyes! I can see something there, clear as day! Some kind of long chain wrapped around its body! Binding him maybe?”

“Binding him…? Wait! That’s it! That must be the magic tethering it to this world! Alma, you can see that? Azotha’s wounds! I could kiss those eyes of yours! Shoot it, Alma! Shoot it!”

“Are you sure? It’s not like, suddenly gonna get stronger, is it? Maybe it’s holding its magic in check?”

“Alma…!” roared the red elf.

“Just do what I say, bitch! I’ll explain later!” Heloise then signaled to Hwalín to take cover so she could cast something big. Digging her staff into the ground, she tapped the ruby gem atop it with the bottom of the second ring on her middle finger.

Terrae Murus Moliti Ex Natura!

Two towering slabs made of dirt and stone rose upwards towards the sky, one on each side of the demon. The witch raised both her hands and swiftly clapped them together, bringing both walls rushing towards each other with the nuckelavee caught in between.

The demonic creature stretched out both of its bladed arms and pushed back against the charging walls, the point of each blade penetrating deep into the stone, preventing the walls from completing its pulverizing duty but also confining the demon in place.

A deafening bang accompanied by swirls of fire belched out from Alma’s rifle as she fired, the clip pinging as it ejected outward. A well-placed shot drove home right between a link in the ethereal chain and somehow hit, breaking it in two. A kaleidoscopic pattern disseminates impossibly along the demon’s body, freezing it in place. Starting from its lower hoof, small shards gradually chip off and dissolve into nothing—its body slowly disintegrating from their current plane of existence. The nuckelavee rose its head and looked over at where Alma was crouching, staring directly at her position despite hiding behind multitudes of branches and leaves. Alma shivered under its demonic gaze. A string of unknown words spewed from its mouth, seemingly directed at Alma. What it tried communicating to her, none of the girls could surmise. Had it been gratitude for freeing it from its binding summon? Or a threatening curse to never call upon it again? Before she could hazard a guess, the fragments making up its head had already begun breaking apart.

"Ah! Wait! Its horn!" yelped Heloise, unleashing a quick sunbolt towards the nuckelavee’s horn only for it to pass through harmlessly as the last of its form dissolved into the ether. She was too late. Pulling at her hair, she swore as loudly as she could, “FUCK!”

Alma breathed an exasperated sigh, sitting up and watching the last remnants of smoke wafting up from the end of her rifle. A rustling of leaves next to her alerted her to the presence of Qu’l-Nia standing next to her. How long had she been there?

“Quite impressive, Alma. I did not think your ability had evolved to such a degree.”

“Whaaat? T-That was nothing.” Alma bashfully pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I wouldn’t say it evolved… Wait, where’ve you been?”

“My power would have been a bit too much for this fight. I sensed that you had this battle well in hand and therefore reasoned I keep myself in reserve. A simple magical creature would scare warrant my intervention compared to say, an eldritch being, and while I am in agreement that they do share certain commonalities, that is, being foreign to your dimension for example, the former still being something that was born within a common universe, as opposed to the latter, there is more than a slight incongruence in the inherency of capabilities, such being—”

“Okay, okay. I get it. You’re better than us. Just… let me know next time?”

“Very well. On another note, I do believe there was a caveat for our little excursion here?”

“Wha—?”

“Your friend is waiting for you.”

Alma picked up her gun and peered through the scope, searching desperately for the witch she had come to rescue. She thought she had heard her scream a certain word earlier but that was usually to be expected from her during a hunt. Finally she spotted her saying something to Hwalín—rather than chatting with her, since it seemed like the Hecatian wasn’t quite listening. Alma felt like she should probably go down and meet with her as soon as possible.

Clumsily making her way down the grassy knoll, Alma called and waved towards Heloise. The witch turned to her with a look of growing elation before running towards her with the energy of a puppy. The sniper greeted her old friend with open arms only to feel a sudden impact against her chest.

“D-Did you just slap my boob?” stammered Alma.

“Well, I would have slapped your face if my nails weren’t fucking broken!”

“Aww. You do care.”