<h4>Chapter 509: A Devastating Blow</h4>


    "They didn''t react at all, Kat. No flinching, no retaliation, they didn''t even deviate from there marching path as the other rats around them were killed. The most reaction I saw was one rat walked around a particrrge chunk of another rat I''d cut up, but it just moved around it then got into formation again. This can''t be normal"


    "But what does it mean?" asked Kat


    "I really have no idea. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a monster fail to react at all to an attack. Even hiveminds will retaliate against an irritant, or threat reflexively. It seems a lot more like mind control" exined Kamiko


    "That''s a thing?" asked Kat


    Sue nodded, "Yeah, decentlymon Subus ability, but it''s not as great as it sounds. It only really works on things that are so much weaker then you, you could just kill them with default physical strength levels. If you are Kamiko had it, it probably wouldn''t even work on me. You have to MAJORLY outss someone or destroy there mind first and puppet their body"


    "That''s… a little disturbing" said Kat


    Sue shrugged. "Look, some consensual mind control is HOT. I studied this fairly extensively. Sadly, it doesn''t really trante to real life. It just doesn''t take. Like… it''s not even a matter of breaking out easily, it would more than likely just not work. Not only do you need to be a lot stronger, it doesn''t work well against demons because our demonic energy fights against it automatically.


    "Best you can get is using it on… animals…" Sue trailed off at the end and looked quizzically down at the rats Kamiko had killed.


    "Could a demon have done this?" Sue asked, voicing the question now on everyone''s mind.


    *I have no idea, this isn''t really my realm of expertise.* Kat looked over to Kamiko with a shrug, hoping she had a better idea. "I doubt it…" said Kamiko, not entirely certain of her answer, "I assume that Stone has ways to know if a demon came down here without permission. Plus, this is a new area of the mine isn''t it? How did the caves start before the mineshaft if it was demon created"


    "Stone could probably do something like this if he wanted" said Sue


    "Yes, but what would be the point? He''s more than strong enough tough off attacks from rats like these. It''s no real threat to him, he has much deadlier ways of dealing with people surely…" said Kamiko hesitantly


    Sue nodded, and said, "Yeah there is that. I know he could do some crazy shit if he really wanted to. Likes to say he retired to the mines, but if he wanted he could break the whole tunnel system in a couple of seconds"


    Kat felt herself pale just slightly at that thought. *Damn, it really is something else to picture that. I KNOW Stone, and I can believe it easily. Shit, no wonder back on Earth we had horror stories of demons. If just one or two powerful ones decide to mess things up they can hardly be stopped. I wonder if someone actually is the source of those rumours on Earth.


    Actually, I wonder what stories are real? The multiverse isrge, presumably, and I know some of those artifacts I saw in Boss'' warehouse were at least passingly familiar. I don''t know if it''s infinite. I guess if it IS infinite the stories have to exist because of that old monkeys and typewriters proverb. Wait. I''m getting distracted.*


    "So what happens now? Do we charge on in? Will they notice the rat group missing?" asked Kat


    "We''vemitted now. I''d had to be the kind of person that likes pulling out. Such a waste" said Sue


    Kamiko''s eye twitched very slightly but she nodded along with Sue before saying, "Would you like to try and take on the next set of rats? They aren''t strong at all. Just if you want to. It''s no trouble for us"


    Sue bit her lip and twirled around before finishing with a bounce. Presumably this was to induce movement in her tits, but therge oversized jacket she was still wearing meant nobody saw anything impressive. Sue seemed to realise this when she nced down for a split second and sighing. "You know what. Getting a chance to smash would be great right about now" said Sue before licking her lips.


    Kamiko raised an eyebrow and Sue summoned a massive maul in response. It had a long silvery metal pole nearly as thick as Sue''s arm that she could only barely get her fingers around, the pole section of the maul had carefully carved vines running along the side leading up to the top which ''bloomed'' into the double sided hammer head with each having a flower at the base with the hammer section growing out of it.


    Taking that as eptance, the three started off down the corridor with Sue in front. She kept it to a light jog because her maul was actually a bit heavy for her. It wasn''t really designed to be carried while running, it was something she could conjure up after all. Still, she didn''t want to be surprised so she carried it at the ready for whatever came next.


    It was ten minutester that the next army of rats marched towards them. They didn''t falter in their steps for even a split second upon ''seeing'' the three demons. The rats simply marched right up to Sue who mmed her maul down into the centre of the group cracking the stone nearby and destroying the floor to a degree Kat wasn''t even sure she could manage.


    *Holy shit!* Sue wasn''t done though, her maul bounced back up and she used that as a chance to sweep it to the side striking cleanly on the right wall, cracking that too, before bouncing the other way and clearing out the rest of the rats before she hit the left wall. Sue was breathing heavily at this point, her arms shaking just slightly as she let the maul vanish. "That felt pretty good."


    "H-h-how?!" managed Kat "How did you get so much power out of it?"


    Sue grinned cheekily not intending to answer the question but Kamiko stepped in, recognising the process, "It''s filled with mercury, or some other simr metal"


    "What?" asked Kat


    "Booooo, ruin my fun will you" said Sue with her tongue sticking out.


    "You can exin it if you want?" said Kamiko innocently, something she did very well


    "Fine, guess I can at least have that little droplet of joy" said Sue "Right, so the basic principle is to keep this thing both bnced, and really deadly, the inside is filled with liquid metal. It IS mercury because I''m not really strong enough to use it properly with any of the heavier stuff.


    "It does make it weaker structurally, but for a demon made weapon structural integrity is a joke. We''ve got so many ways to add durability that it''s not even funny. The trade off ispletely worth it. It does make the maul into even more of a blunt instrument because you can''t really hold back with it.


    "Every strike is like blowing your entire load. You obliterate everything you hit. Thepound strikes from the initial impact, and then the mercury inside does a tonne of damage to anything that''s nearby. With even my Rank 1 strength I can do a lot of damage… but that''s all.


    "I have no finesse with it. It''s just not designed for it unless you''re MUCH better then I am. Changing directions is nearly impossible once the maul gets going. You have to move with it, or let it hit the target and… well… it has two settings. Mush, and fine mist. Oh sure, you could both stand up to hit because you''re strong enough, but it''d be potentially deadly to Kamiko at least if it wasn''t such a slow weapon."


    Kamiko nodded, "Yes, this sort of maul is one of the weapons Elmony tried once upon a time. They''re truly devastating, and because you can upgrade the internal metal past mercury so that you can add weight to it without sacrificing striking power it scales much better then normal blunt weapons.


    "While ded ones can keep up using speed or technique, these mauls are for people with minimal training and the need to hit things really hard" said Kamiko


    "Yup, I give anything I want a hard pounding, and while normally they can''t take it, the few that do are keepers." Said Sue wiggling her eyebrows.


    *Truly a deadly weapon. If I wasn''t alreadymitted to the fans because of my promise to Grace and the fact I have a nice set courtesy of Thyme, I think I''d consider this really heavily. It''s simple, effective, and if I need to deal less damage I could probably just use my fists. I don''t even care if they get a bit dirty like Sue probably does, so it seems like one of my best options… though wait. I don''t think Grace would agree with that. She didn''t list them… I wonder why? Is my personalitypatible but not my body?*