Chapter 1703 Splitting the Party Again

--- Kat --- (Following on from Kat’s perspective in 1701)

While Kat and Lily continued to debate what to tell Kamiko, the demon in question had made her way down to the ground. She’d just jumped off and Lily had needed to remove a bunch of the shadows she’d connected to Kamiko to ensure that things didn’t end poorly. Once on the ground, Kamiko took the chance to look over the Trvises screaming "I’LL GET YOU" with a frown on her face.

"Is there anything we can do for them?" asked Kamiko.

"Nope," stated Meg.

"Really… I mean… I feel like this is rather painful for them," worried Kamiko.

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"Hahaahaha," Meg burst into laughter. "Kamiko, killing them repeatedly is not causing them any additional pain because they’re already in constant agony,"

Kat cut in, "Wait you didn’t mention that before!"

"It’s really not relevant. Did you already forget the ’dumber the a slime or rock’ comment I made earlier? Sure they’re in pain but there’s no higher thought in those heads. They can’t get depressed, or sad. They’re just in pain. It’s their ’natural’ state of being. I mean… did you think having a crystal shard stabbed into your body was GOOD for them?" explained Meg.

Kat glanced at Kamiko as they both winced. "I… well I guess I just assumed that once it had merged with the crystal that the pain would go away?" offered Kat has her interpretation of things.

"I… um… well I guess I was thinking that must hurt as well… but when they burst into mist and reform I was imagining that to be super painful," said Kamiko.

"Oh that part barely hurts at all. Their bodies just sort of ’give up’ and then reform afterwards because of the time energy in the crystal… or maybe the demonic energy? Honestly it’s not my area of study and this is REALLY strange of an effect. Hmmm… I wonder if these things even have souls?" wondered Meg.

"Why would or wouldn’t they?" asked Lily as she hopped down off the roof. No longer feeling the need to stay away from the ’combat area’ with things as calm as they currently were. "It’s not really something Kat and I had covered growing up."

Meg tapped a finger against her chin. "Right well… first you should know that there’s a difference between a soul and SOUL. A lot of people still debate what counts as a soul in fact so it gets a bit murky," Meg threw the two Trvis together during a brief pause. "Some people don’t think animals have souls because they’re not sapient and they don’t have the same type of soul as a sentient creature.

"The same applies to like… plants and animals and magical buildings and such. They start off with nothing more than a mass of magic, then it’s possible for them to gain the same sort of soul as an animal, and then at a certain threshold right at the end, their souls can transform into one that’s a lot like our souls.

"Now, sadly for Kat and Lily at least, there isn’t a proper word in your language to explain the difference. I can already tell you hear, soul, soul, and soul as the same word. So it’s hard to talk about. I suppose I could force you to hear the difference but… eh that can cause other issues," Meg ducked under a swipe and kicked the Trvis into the other one once again.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Anyway, the reasons these things might not have souls? They might not have anything. Empty shells piloted around by a combination of magic and demonic energy. They might have animal or bug level souls that have… not sentience, not really but just something there to prove they existed. Or they might have a full soul because they’re technically copies of a person," explained Meg.

"Ok…" said Kat slowly. "Does that matter?"

Meg shrugged, "To you and Kamiko perhaps? A lot of people use the development level of a soul to determine how appropriate it is to attack you know? Some won’t hurt anything at all with a soul, while others don’t think animals count. I, personally, do not care. If it’s attacking me it’s dead. I’m more curious about if they have the SAME soul every time they reform or if it’s a new entity but that’s more of an academic curiosity,"

Kamiko glanced at them, her eyes spinning in place, perhaps taking in more info then they would otherwise? Kat hadn’t seen Kamiko use her beam attack yet. After a few moments of silence Kamiko just shrugged, "I don’t know. Though you DO make an interesting point about the soul thing. I’m not really sure what it would mean either way though…"

Meg shrugged, "For now not much but we’ve dallied enough. What’s the plan now? I’d like to see what’s going on at the mansion personally,"

"I can stay and… deal with this," said Kamiko with a wave at the repeated Trvis disposal.

"I can help her with it," volunteered Lily.

Meg shook her head, "I’m betting we’re going to want your space senses. The compass is already messed up and I have no doubt it’ll be near useless once we get to the manor itself,"

"Oh… um…" Lily glanced over at Kat. [Should one of us stay with Kamiko?]

*I don’t know? I trust her enough by herself to not be too worried I guess… I think the real worry would be if the ’original Trvis’ assuming he still exists is able to teleport to one of the clones when we’re confronting them.*

[Oh I wasn’t even thinking about that…]

*Yeah. Now I’ve ’said’ it myself I think I’ll volunteer to stay. I don’t love the thought of leaving you with Meg but I’m assuming Pebbles will go and between you both it should be… fine enough.*

[Ah… yeah not loving the thought of it but… I guess that’s how it has to be?]

*I think so. It… doesn’t feel great leaving you to go alone into the dangers but I don’t see much of a way around it here. Kamiko is strong but not THAT strong and if you need to go… I think I need to stay. Just in case. I trust Hunter to keep you safe. Hopefully you can find her before Meg or Trvis cause real issues.*

[Thanks for trusting me with that much Kat. Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to have you along but I do think having someone stay with Kamiko is a good idea. We can still chat mentally and I promise to call for you if something serious is happening.]

*Alright then.* "I’ll stay here with Kamiko," announced Kat. Meg nodded along, having expected this but Kamiko seemed genuinely surprised.

"And I guess I’ll be going with you Meg, knowing that you need me," said Lily.

"Need is perhaps a strong word…" Meg carefully offered but Lily just grinned back in response.

"I’d like to come as well," stated Pebbles in a firm tone. "I have some worries about Ronldo’s safety… and his decisions making process. Plus I know the area quite well,"

"Hmm… don’t count on that knowledge being overly useful but sure, happy to have you along," said Meg with a smile. As she said this Kat stepped up to be in position for the Trvis attack and once he reconstituted Kat was ready to throw them together. "Alright then let’s get going!"

Kat and Lily shared a glance before leaning together for a quick kiss. Lily transformed not long after and hopped up on Meg’s shoulder. "Oh, ho, getting awfully close. I’m surprised you’d risk it," Lily wrote ’I’m probably too slow’ in the air with her shadow causing Meg to nod in understanding.

Pebbles glanced at the writing then at everyone else and started to cast a spell. It was a complex thing with a number of sigils all crammed into it. "If speed is an issue… this is something I’ve been working on. It’s not quite teleportation and I can’t cast it on anyone else… but it’ll get me to the manor in a few seconds once I complete the spell. I’ll meet you both there,"

Meg’s eyes went wide as she quickly turned and sprinted away. Not even bothering to complain when Lily dug her claws into Meg’s shoulder to ensure that she stayed on. Of course… the fact Meg sprinted directly towards the manor and right through one building already caused Pebbles to frown but he didn’t stop the spell. He turned towards Kat and Kamiko, giving them one last nod before vanishing into the ground.

Kat sighed as she threw another set of Trvis together. "Welp… now that they’re of dealing with that… I guess I should tell you about something you might not want to hear. Or no… Lily do you want to hear about something mildly upsetting that you should probably learn?"

"Um… sure if you think I should? I trust you on this one Kat," answered Kamiko with a smile. Kat tried to return it, but her own smile simply came out brittle. "Right… well… this is what happened after you passed out…"

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