Chapter 389: …But Boy are they Fun

The demonic pair had finished their reports. It was a little bit of a surprise when the paper suddenly tripled in size so that all the sabres could fit onto it easily, but other than that, it was mostly just drudge work.

They then boxed everything up and put it to the side. They were planning to leave an open space between what they were working on and the rest of the warehouse. It was clear they weren't going to get through the whole thing in time, but they thought it would be easier for any person that came after them.

Upon opening the second box, the pair were even more confused. At least with the sabres they had clear buttons on them. What was contained in this box was just a bunch of sticks. It didn't even have the extra cushioning gel to keep things stable, just a box full to the brim with sticks. Nicely carved sticks perhaps, but it was nothing too spectacular.

Kamiko picked up one randomly, it was a strange greenish yellow with small carved vines snaking around the handle with acorns carved in place of leaves for the vine. Most of the sticks in the box had obvious handles of some sort, but this one was completely smooth.

Kat grabbed one as well, it was bleach white with an almost bone like handle and odd porous like markings just past the handle around the base of the stick. It was just under thirty-five centimetres in length and looked to be rather well used but cared for.

"Any ideas what these are?" asked Kamiko turning the stick around in her hand.

"Honestly… not really? I mean, I want to say they are magic wands but they just seem like sticks to me, if well carved." Said Kat. *Though really, having seen Chekov's work I'm not certain they actually do qualify as well carved anymore. I was able to say it though… I wonder if that implies they are well carved or I think they are carved 'well enough'* 

"These probably aren't real wands though…" said Kamiko drifting off as she considered the implications "yeah I don't think they can be. Perhaps they do perform some magic tricks, but they just can't be proper wands. Firstly because demons have no use for proper wands anyway other than parts or selling to others.

"Secondly, they don't seem to have anywhere to store mana. Most wands are for people with mana issues, or people who can't channel mana fast enough through their bodies. So, what they do, is fill a crystal in their wand up with mana attuned to them and use that instead, or maybe if you can get REALLY lucky you can store it in the wood but that's pretty hard to do for a small stick like this."

Kat shrugged and pointed her wand at the dummy. "Abra Kadabra"

Truthfully, Kat wasn't expecting anything to happen. She was expecting at most, that there would be a brief flash of light. What happened instead was that the wand kicked back in her hand like she'd pulled the trigger on a shotgun. A poisonous emerald green light shot from the end of the, now certainly, wand and collided with the dummy's chest, setting it rocking back somewhat, only for the chain attaching it to the ground to pull it back down. Kat started to let out a breath, when all of a sudden, the dummy caught fire.

"Well" said Kat.

"Well indeed" said Kamiko. "It seems like they can at the very least do things. I wonder if it's one spell per wand? Do you think the words will work for mine as well?"

Kat shrugged. "I'm not sure but point it at me anyway. If it just sets you on fire that's nothing to me."

Kamiko nodded and pointed her wand at Kat and said "Abraadebra" not quite having heard Kat properly the first time.

That seemed to be enough though as the same emerald green light shot out straight towards Kat. She just stood there calmly until it impacted her chest. A second after the impact she found herself on fire. Looking down at the amulet it showed no gems lighting up at all.

*Now, I wonder if nothing lighting up because this fire is just a fancy effect, or if it's because I'm immune to fire.* Kat glanced over at the still flaming dummy. *Hmm, I'm not sure. The dummy seems fine, but they also are pretty hardy things, regenerating after you slash them with plasma sabres so… who knows.* 

"Hey Kamiko, could you walk as close as you're comfortable and test these flames? They don't hurt me at all, but my resistance to heat is quite high" said Kat.

Kamiko grimaced at the idea but was willing to walk close to the flames anyway. Kat did have a point and it would be important to note for the documents. Steeling herself she walked slowly towards Kat with her hand outstretched. Of course, she did this with both hands, one with a WOODEN WAND.

Kat instantly backed up and held her hand out to stop Kamiko, who was really only a few steps away. "Kamiko. Please but down the wooden, and likely very flammable wand before you accidentally set it on fire. I don't want to risk it spreading down to your outfit."

Kamiko paled and stopped in place. "Um… woops?" said Kamiko somewhat embarrassed. Placing the wand gently back in the box she had claimed it from, she started her approach again. Hands out, and walking slowly, if slightly faster this time, towards it with her face pulled as far away from Kat as she could, as if that would shield her from the fire.

Kat felt a little bad if she was honest. Kamiko should have been close enough to feel the temperature difference if she was that close, and was about to tell her as such when anything thought came to her. *This is something she needs to overcome… maybe. The fact that demonic fire looks so much like well… fire is a big deal, and I think she needs to be able to deal with that in some ways. This could be good for her.* 

Kat waited, and eventually, Kamiko placed her hand on Kat's shoulder. As soon as she did so the flame started to spread and Kamiko flinched slightly but it was doing no damage to her. It was also at that moment, Kat realised she still had the wand she'd picked up in her hand. *Well… shit. There goes the idea they were flammable… or well no Kamiko is fine… so it's not real fire? Maybe?* 

"Kamiko… are you ok?" said Kat wanting to hug the demon in question but not willing to subject her to that until she'd gotten used to being on fire, even if it didn't hurt.

Kamiko though, seemed to be sharing similar thoughts and pulled herself into Kat's body tightly wrapping herself around Kat the best she could. "I… I'm fine… I think. I just… I don't like thinking about it. Can you give me a hug?"

Kat was already bringing her own arms up, which was made a little harder by Kamiko's own, but it eventually worked itself out. "Hey, Kamiko?" said Kat in the best soothing voice she could while bringing out her aura. "It's fine, really. I know this is a little scary, but it's ok. You don't have to be scared."

After staying together like that for a few minutes, Kamiko finally started to sperate herself from Kat saying. "I think we should get back to work"

"Yeah I guess so. You think these wands do anything else?" asked Kat

"Hmm" mumbled Kamiko, stepping back to the box and grabbing the wand she put down. She was a little surprised the wands didn't seem to catch the fire at all, but shrugged it off quickly before pointing her wand at another dummy and saying. "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

Most as a joke, if Kamiko was honest, but a bright white light popped into existence on the end of the wand she was holding. "Huh… I didn't expect that to work" mumbled Kamiko.

Kat repeated the phrase with less enthusiasm but similar results. The pair nodded to themselves and looked at the light. They continued looking at the light for another minute before they started to realise something was wrong, or at least not going to plan.

"Um… how do we turn this off?" asked Kat, half expecting the word 'off' to actually trigger the light's dismissal.

"I… hmm, I'm not sure? Light? Let there be light? Darkness?" mumbled Kamiko trying for a trigger word. As soon as she finished saying 'dark' the light on the end of the wand snuffed out. Kat followed suit with the full 'darkness'.

"So… I guess these things have trigger words" said Kat "Do you think we are required to find them all? Or would that be too much work? I mean… it's not like we have a list of them lying around somewhere"

Kamiko bit her lip as she spoke. "That's actually a good point. I really doubt it would be considered a good use of our time but I can't exactly be sure… ok, how about we turn over one of the papers to use as a notetaking tool, and write that down to discuss with Boss at the end of the day."

Kat accepted the plan and they got to work.