Chương 25: Chapter 23.2 - Build me a proper statue

The chamber beyond was smaller than the others. Warmer, somehow, despite being a construct inside my soul. The walls had an amber tint to them, like sunlight through old whiskey. In the center stood the statue. It was made of wood. Just wood. Because when I was eight years old and managed to establish the binding for the first time, wood was the only material I had access to. My mother's firewood, specifically.

But the statue didn't look bad, roughly resembling Elsha in her signature pose, lying on a sofa on her side, head braced by her hand, one leg dangling, crossed over the other. The runic inscription circled the base, with the two engravings she came with filled in, both mana cost and maintenance cost reductions. I walked to the statue. A napkin lay at its base. Our contract. The greatest contract I had ever written, with a marker.

It read: I will do everything Damian wants me to, and I'll always be super-nice to him. Signed Elsha, with a mark of lips. I couldn't imagine a more bulletproof contract. But renegotiating with her could easily lead to a worse result. The scent of roses and sin hit my nose. Elsha appeared behind me, slid to me, and caught an arm over my shoulder.

"That was so cute."

"I see you've invited yourself in."

"You wanted to talk later, so now's later. I am ready to be showered with gratitude for my magnificent teachings and guidance. It took you a while to fully accept the wisdom I have blessed you with, but better late than never." With a sigh, I looked over the statue. I never wanted to summon Elsha. Especially not for combat. But Peace has earned it.

"I need to finish your statue and re-do the bindings." Her grin softened into something more genuine. She slid off me, walking to the statue.

"For being twelve, you made quite a nice piece. Then again, any depiction of me is beautiful because it's of me. But it's true that it could use an upgrade. The better the statue, the better the resulting summoning, and this isn't indeed quite the match for me." I knew.

"What materials do I need?"

"The binding first." She turned with a sly smile.

"You're not postponing me by getting the material list and leaving the binding for later. You know how much I love being summoned, and you aren't paying the price it costs without the binding." Of course. I was on the edge about whether to postpone it or not. The building would suffice for me to summon her at about a fifth of her strength. Meh. I thought of Chriss, pulled on my connection to the statue, and forced the binding. Black and pinked flame seared my back, burning in the binding tattoo.

I gritted my teeth to not make a sound. The tattoo spread over my entire back, continued over my shoulder, and covered my left arm almost to the wrist. The centrepiece on my back was her symbol, a rose with horns and a pointed tail. Infernal and celestial runes surrounded the rose, together with burning feathers, which stretched into a thorny vine that completed the symbol on my back, and continued over my shoulder and my arms. She grinned from ear to ear.

"See? It wasn't that bad." Oh, yeah, totally, and I couldn't wear anything with short sleeves now, much less ever undress my torso. Admittedly, the tattoos were the reason I always wore long-sleeved shirts and suits.

"So, what materials do I need?" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Right, so my statue isn't nearly as demanding as I am. All you need is a whole pile of gems, the rarer the better, and then it needs a bit of blood of the innocents, ideally religious innocents." I sighed.

"How much is a whole pile? What's a bit of blood?"

"Enough to make the statue, its base, and to properly decorate it. And for the blood, hmmm, enough to make me happy."

"Can you express it in kilograms, pounds, litres, gallons, or any other measurable unit?" She rolled her eyes.

"That's what I get from letting you study law. If you studied demonology, we wouldn't be having these problems."

"There's no demonology at Earthen universities."

"And it's a shame. For the gems, it needs to be enough to make a perfect copy of me, have a base, and the sofa is a nice touch, so keep that." She stroked her chin with her finger, visibly thinking.

"As for the blood, you know how big a pool is, right? Well, a pool of blood of innocents would definitely suffice." A pool? The worst part was that it didn't even surprise me.

"Do you know how much water can fit into a pool?"

"I do." She grinned.

"I have a lovely blood pool at home. That's how I know it'd suffice. Oh, and the blood needs to be forcibly taken. Donations don't count. I'm not a charity case." Right, of course.

"Are you picky about the religion?"

"Not at all. The more intensely religious, the better. And also, before you ask, innocent is difficult to guess, so you can just bring all you can get, and I'll filter it myself."

"How magnanimous of you."

"I know. But what wouldn't I do for you?" She chuckled.

"The people in the tower count, so you can go harvest it there. Also, the blood can't really be collected more than about an hour after their death. Bonus points if you caused that death."

"I don't even have a way to collect that much blood like that." She waved her hand. A black vial appeared in her hand, covered in infernal runes.

"Use this. It filters the blood by itself." She placed it by the statue's base.

"Now, this has been fun, but I need to run. I've got an orgy to attend to. Summon me the next time your party is about to get wiped. No one saves the day like me." Her entire body turned into pink petals, which scattered and vanished. I had a bit more setup to do. I left the room, walked to one of the storage rooms, and summoned Astariel and Ashy there. After a few resummons, I had them bring the loot from the tower. Whatever I had in my soul chamber, I could summon into reality once, be it material or spiritual.

As I was about to unsummon Astarielle after the last trip, she said, "Wait." I raised an eyebrow.

"What's up?"

"Could you summon me to reality after we are done here?"

"Sure, if you like the room that much." Something vulnerable flashed across her face, almost sad.

"About that. I had to always be confined to your room because the world hunted demons like me on sight. But yesterday, you summoned me with the drone, and no one batted an eye. I don't think I need to be on house arrest here on these islands." She didn't have to put it like that. It was necessary. At school, at least. I smiled.

"Fair enough. Just try to not make too much trouble." She jumped at me and hugged me. That caught me off guard. With an awkward smile, I hugged her back. She wasn't letting go, so I returned to reality. I woke up back in bed. I got up, changed into a fresh suit, texted Kareem to get me more suits, shirts, and shoes, and summoned Astarielle. She appeared in a new variation of the black dress, the most decent one yet. With a smile, she motioned over herself with her hand.

"See? I'm not wearing anything scandalous."

"Right, so you are free to roam the island, just stay out of the tower dome."

"Because your new girlfriend target is there?" Spot on.

"No, because it's where the key technology is, on which we really don't need collateral damage." She gasped.

"I am not going to cause any damage." I glared at her.

"Not unless someone forces me to. Fine, I'll stay out of that dome." I summoned Ashy. She flashed into reality.

"Oh, this looks like it's about to be exciting!"

"Not quite. We are heading out, so you'll guard the building." Her jaw dropped.

"Really? You two go out, have fun, and leave me out of it while telling me? What am I supposed to guard it from, exactly?"

"Yes," Astarielle added.

"You guard the room especially from flying insects, and from people who would want to put hidden microphones or cameras into it."

"Right!" Ashy's face lit up.

"I'll make sure nothing gets through." We headed out. The sun was going to set within a few minutes. I headed to the main dome, and Astarielle toward the golden mosque. That was surely going to go well. I left her to it and continued to the dome. The last time I'd seen Cassandra, she had evaporated after I kissed her. Turned into mist and blown away on the Pacific wind, together with her silver dress and her worm cage. I had to figure out what that was about. But asking my succubi wouldn't lead to useful results.

Or any meaningful results, really. Hopefully, tonight would go better.