Chapter 1232 Chapter 1232 Fiery Footsteps
Kat felt no embarrassment at all as she quickly washed Asteodia and then tucked her into bed. Sure she wasn't used to doing that with someone so old, but Asteodia had sort of broken down crying on the walk back and Kat went into autopilot. Now that Asteodia was tucked into bed, Kat found herself with nothing to do once again, so she left the inn and started to practice her katas.
Which quickly revealed a problem. Now that she was focusing on them, something had clicked in her mind and she realised she was MISSING something from the movements. What that was, she had no idea. She'd need to ask someone about that. Hopefully she could visit Minor again, and ask their slime friend Mai. That or Thyme would have some advice, but Kat didn't really want to ask Thyme, as it would likely eat up their 'prize' for this round.
With her katas hitting a dead end, Kat instead practiced flying at high speed by shooting back and forth across the island as quickly as possible. This also became boring pretty quickly. It turned out, having a great memory and dynamic vision while running through an unchanging obstacle course made it really simple. Kat didn't even need to spend half an hour running it before she could clear the whole thing blindfolded. In fact she did. Twice.
"Right… well that's a bust," Kat said to herself as she glided through the air above the island. The inn giving off the only light in the area, just a small lantern out the front that marked it for all to see from a distance. The rest of the island was empty and the night was really quite cloudy so even the stars were hard to make out through all the fog. "Why do I feel so restless?"
Kat hovered around as she searched for an answer. She could only come up with one thing, "Is it really that? It feels so stupid…" mumbled Kat. She'd realised that perhaps the reason she was freaking out happened to be the lack of danger itself. She was on a mission. She'd left earth and had prepared for combat… but there was just nothing here. At least in the previous tournaments there was some sense of tension. Here, Thyme was doing everything they could to get people to relax.
Apparently, it was backfiring spectacularly when it came to Kat. *Am I really that weird? I suppose it's not as though I can't relax at home… but I feel so agitated right now. Could it just be the mana or something? I know I'm supposed to use my demonic energy regularly, but I've been doing that. I've been speeding my mind up plenty, and I spent all of yesterday evening practicing. Was that not enough? Or is my assumption completely wrong?*
Shrugging, Kat decided to try. She flew a bit away from the island and then let her energy loose. Purple flame instantly started to burn around her as it quickly engulfed Kat's frame. Still, the drain was actually pretty minimal. Kat kept going, pushing as much demonic energy into the fire as she could. The fire fed on the energy hungrily, growing larger and larger until it stood more than three stories high and much denser. Kat felt her energy practically evaporating in the process and cut things off just before reaching empty.
Kat let her body relax as she fell downwards in a sharp glide. Ignoring the fact that most of the nearby clouds had been turned to ice and quickly dropped out of the sky themselves. Kat could still see the fire burning as she let herself drift downwards, but it was shrinking rapidly.
*Well I do feel drained after that… but I can't say I feel any calmer. Not really. Or maybe a bit? I think that's more of a reflection on the fact that I'm tired now. I might actually be able to get to sleep… hmm… but it's pretty close to morning now, and I'm just not sure I want to try. Probably best to just stay awake.
Wait. Could that be it? I've been sleeping quite a lot lately, or well, not a lot a lot, especially not compared to Lily but I needed less sleep after getting to Rank 2, and probably again after Rank 3 but I never really pushed it at Rank 3. Have I just spent too much time sleeping over the last however many days or weeks? It better not be that, or I'll be rather annoyed. I rather like sleeping with Lily she's very adorable and I'd have to give that up just because I need less sleep.
I wonder if meditation has the same problems? It might. Hmm… is this why we have a Wrath faction? Not just because demons can get angry, but because for some of them if there isn't enough action they start to get antsy? I mean, it's nothing I can't ignore and I certainly don't feel like jumping into a fight right this moment, but I could imagine if I left it for too long, or I was more martially inclined that's what I'd end up doing.
Wait… is that why people like Sue have so much sex? Is it just a coping mechanism for whatever this feeling is?*
Kat looked around at the sky. *Nah. I'm probably just blowing this out of proportion. Everyone, even humans just have nights like this. I know this for a fact considering I've had them in the past. And even if I don't count for some reason, the fact I've been woken up to help kids who can't sleep many, many times sure does point to that fact. Woops. Guess I got a bit existential a bit ago.*
With that minor existential crisis averted, Kat made her way down to the beach to see if the sandcastles were still around. She was a little surprised when she did stumble on them. The fact they were still around wasn't a surprise. The fence around them all was though. Kat, just out a curiosity reached a hand over the fence to find an invisible wall that felt pretty solid. "Huh… seems like Thyme is going to preserve these. Might be waiting to ask the competitors if they can be kept. Hmm… well I wasn't planning to mess with them anyway so it doesn't really matter to me. Though… hmm… I wonder if wind can get through? Best not to test it,"
Kat nodded at the fence before she resumed her wandering. This time she focused on releasing just enough fire from her feet so that she left a visible trail of fiery footprints as she walked. It was a really neat effect, and with a bit of extra mental effort she could ensure the fire was focused on duration instead of damage.
*Huh… that's a really neat little technique and I came up with it just to do something very silly. It makes my fire much less cold but… perhaps more deadly? It's really stuck to the sand, and I'm not sure what it would take to remove it. I'll have to keep this in mind for combat. I could probably make fake napalm with this. That's stuff is pretty deadly right? Though… is using it a war crime? Hmm… I don't think so? Probably against civilians? Maybe? I wonder if Lily has the Geneva Convention memorised. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. I've never read the thing so I don't think I could just search my mind for the answers.
Kat let out a small laugh. Oh god, what a question to wake Lily up with. 'Hey, Good morning beautiful, do you happen to have the Geneva Convention Memorised? I need it for… something'. If only my amusement wouldn't leak through the link quite so clearly it would be a great prank. Might want to pick someone else for it though. Not sure I could bring myself to actually try to scare Lily much.*
Kat started to laugh and kick at the sand… and found her neat little metal trick with the fire got it to stick not just to the sand… but in mid-air as well. *Oh ho. This could be really interesting. I wonder if it will stay that way once I stop controlling it? I know it wouldn't before… but maybe?*
Kat willed a circle of fire to blaze into existence and then sprinted away while maintaining eye contact with it. Even when she felt it leave her control the fire remained in place. It kept burning around a minute before it died out. Kat wasn't surprised, she hadn't given it all that much energy anyway, so the fact it lasted a minute was actually a pretty sizeable period of time.
Kat felt a spark of interest ignite in her mind. *It seems I've got a very interesting little technique to practice. I now know what I'm going to do until Lily wakes up.*
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