Blood pumped out of Derrick’s body, spilling on top of Kyra’s face, who was on her knees, as Aldred looked at all this mess.

  Mr…Derrick! He thought while shocked.

  Hojoi pulled the Wind Dive back, causing more blood to squirt out of Derrick’s body. The whole floor was covered in it, looking like an oil-death painting, slowly flowing and tainting Kyra’s knees as she felt all the burden.

  Tears dripped from her eyes as she remembered the classes. The times when Derrick gave her lectures about behaviour, studies, etc. And now, everything was over! One death, and all of it had disappeared, as if never existed.

  Hojoi walked back and held Aldred by his arm; now, no one was left defending him.

  Indhra fainted. Shinsetsu fainted. Dunn paralyzed. And Derrick died.

  At this exact moment, Aldred realised how powerless he was. But he still didn’t give up. He kept on hitting Hojoi’s arm, which caused no little to zero damage.

  This was when Aldred remembered Kyra’s presence.

  “ Kyra!” He shouted at her. Hojoi halted, trying to see where this conversation would go.

  “ Stand up! Fight! Go sa…ve your father! Or Dunn, or your mother, OR anyone! But…FIGHT! It’s USELESS! Lamenting his death! You have to do something!”

  He never gives up, does he… Hojoi thought, smirking inside. Although he felt bad about killing Derrick, he was also happy about it; now, all the warriors can safely return to the Silvia Kingdom. For some unknown reason, while killing Derrick, he somehow felt connected. There, Mana had collided; hence, Hojoi felt Derrick’s pain and guilt, which he truly related to!

  Derrick! Dunn sobbed inside, unable to move. He was just too exhausted, or else he could have saved his best friend.

  As Hojoi thought about the pain gone through, an explosion struck behind him. Aldred, in his grasp, also keenly looked as Kyra’s body slowly got covered in dark violet-coloured Mana.

  Mr Derrick! I…was just too weak! I…am…sorry!

  A second wave of explosion with a shockwave struck Hojoi as he let go of Aldred.

  Her nails slowly grew taller, thicker to form claws. Her canines grew long, appearing out of her closed lips. Three whiskers emerged from both sides of her cheeks. Her pupils changed to form bright, purplish-coloured claws. One purple coloured Mana tail grew from her hips. She had turned into a Kitsune! Shockwave was released again as Mana released even more while she roured.

  Hojoi covered his face with his arms, looking at her form through the gaps and pondering over what he was looking at.

  ********

  Kyra was drowning in a pool of water. Suddenly, the water turned red, as she remembered Derrick’s death. The bloody water turned pinkish-violet as she thought about Aldred, Shinsu, and Indhra.

  But then, suddenly, a huge demonic creature lifts its head from the giant pool.

  Kyra wakes up and looks at the scenery in mesmerisation. The giant slowly came out of the pool as the water turned into solid land. It was a huge Kitsune with nine-tails, blue in colour, with long ears and sharp claws.

  “ Miss Kyra!” It called out with a voice so low-pitched that it rumbled Kyra’s ears. She had no words stored to reply, so she waited for the beast to talk more,“ So…you have finally awakened! I was waiting for this one day!”

  “ What…what do you mean? Who are you!?”

  The beast lowered its head near Kyra’s face before asking in confusion,“ You don’t know who I am?” It said with a questionable voice.

  “ Of course! Who are…Hey! Can you help me?” Her tone and goals shifted at the same time. Something in her had awakened, a memory perhaps.

  The Kitsune smirked before saying,“ Oh, sure! But…let’s make a demon pact first!”

  “ Demon pact?” She questioned, hoping for the beast to answer.

  “ It is a pact signed between a demon and its host!”

  What is a demon? She questioned herself. But then she remembered a page of the ‘Seven Pillars of God Armour’. Omnipotence left her body.

  Demons are creatures living in hell whose main goal is to serve the king of hell, whose existence is still unknown to us humans.

  The Demons love to wreak havoc on the Human World. For some unknown reason, these Demons hate us Humans to their core. But at the end, they also have feelings and emotions just like humans.

  These Demons show very weird powers. We, humans, call this power Magic since the demon or even a human who uses these powers needs to cast a spell by writing it with their own blood.

  “ Wait! So you’re a demon! That means, you use magic, am I right?”

  It smirked back,“ After all, I am a demon, and I love to see Humans annoyed!”

  Suddenly, all the land around her turned purple in colour. Then it turned into a liquid and started to engulf Kyra’s body.

  “ WAIT! Why did you call me…‘Miss Kyra’, earlier!?”

  “ Well! It’s no use, the pact also states that you will forget everything that happened here!

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “ So, Miss Kyra…” The purple liquid covered everything except the eye, as it slowly closed, before the Kitsune said,“ You will understand some other day…who you truly are!”

  *********

  Her claws retracted back as her consciousness slowly faded away. With a roar, she scratched the claws in the air, releasing a shockwave powerful enough to knock Hojoi back.

  “ Oh! Now who are you?!” He asked himself as he landed on his stance, with a satanic grin.

  “ FINE!” Hojoi shouted,“ INCREASE THE VOLUME!”

  So…she is using magic! It can get really powerful, but what is the fun without a gamble?

  Kyra bit her hand as blood pumped out. She quickly shaped that blood into an arrow with a bow as it turned to purple flames, and then she released it.

  Hojoi lifted his arm and charged all his Mana. Magic and Mana destroy each other, just like matter and anti-matter! If I can overwhelm that demon inside her, I can win!

  The arrow collided with Hojoi’s red, Mana-cloaked palm. Red and purple tangled up, releasing high energy.

  “ Kyra…” A soft voice from Shinsu came as she woke from the noise.

  It worked. Hojoi’s red Mana started to overwhelm, but before it could happen, Kyra’s demonic body used the wound to write a spell in the air. The blood then concentrated on her palm, which she lifted high. The blood ball turned into purple flames before she shot them towards Hojoi.

  Hojoi formed his grey Spirit Dive sword and went to cut the bomb, but then suddenly, the bomb split into three parts, which quickly started swirling around him.

  Huh? He thought while getting confused.

  He turned to his right to check on the bomb before realising that Kyra had appeared in front of him with immense speed.

  Nice try! Hojoi grinned before dodging the attack by a little distance, tearing a part of his shirt.

  Kyra looked to her left while growling, before sprinting at Hojoi with great speed.

  She is fast! But I will keep on dodging! What will you do about that?

  Kyra’s afterimages shot like a bullet and raised the arm.

  YOU IDIO-huh? Hojoi was about to dodge, but then he saw all three bombs coming beside him before they hit Hojoi. They combined to form a huge bomb. It hit his chest, enough distraction.

  Kyra swirled her right arm forward, her wound pouring enough blood out for her to cast a spell. The punch landed on Hojoi’s stomach before exploding his body. A huge hole could be seen through his hollow stomach.

  Hojoi’s body quickly healed. Bones formed, muscles joined, and skin formed.

  Hojoi quickly retreated.

  The demon inside her is not dumb like usual! A Medium-Special rank? But I never heard the name of a Kitsune demon before! But…I guess that is what makes this so fun.

  Kyra charged at Hojoi with her claws, quickly slashing them like a maniac to kill Hojoi. He dodged the attacks. At least how he could, some attacks did hit, and each attack cost his life. Since Magic and Mana destroy each other, each hit received from Kyra will reduce the amount of Mana in him. Hence, with each attack, the chance of his dying will increase.

  I am lucky! That I have reawakened. With these new upgraded Mana Vision, I can clearly see her movements. If I weren’t reawakened, then I would’ve died already.

  After one last slash received from Kyra, Hojoi used his sword, trying to cut down Kyra’s arms.

  She isn’t fully in demon mode yet. If I somehow cut the part from where Magic is producing, I can stop this! He concentrated his Mana Vision to see a very sparse amount of Mana in the ligaments of her arm. Mana and Magic cannot coexist, where Mana is the least, that is where Magic is the most!

  Kyra slashed, and Hojoi defended using his sword to block the attack. He then covered his left foot with Mana and attacked Kyra’s neck. Kyra blocked the attack with her right arm and slashed enough to cut down the leg. Kyra pushed her left fist back, scratched her palm with her claws to generate blood, wrote a spell and punched Hojoi's face, but suddenly, Hojoi’s body was covered in flames. Before the demon inside Kyra could realise anything, Hojoi from behind cut down Kyra’s ligaments in her arms, disabling the Magic-rich region.

  Kyra’s eyes started to go out of focus. She finally came back to consciousness, but it was already too late since she had fallen unconscious on the ground.

  Hojoi was huffing, like he was tired, like all of this had made him tired.

  Fire substitution costs a lot! But it was fun! Never had this much fun before, unless it was that nightmare guy!

  He turned his head behind to look at Kyra’s arms healing. What an awakening! I realise now why the Trix God Armour didn’t transfer to her. Maybe the demon had chosen its host even before birth. He smirked. But still…you truly are special with a lot of potential! I guess it is best if I spare you; anyway, killing you won’t change anything. But now, you’re coming with me! He lifted her by the back of the collar of her t-shirt, dragging her towards Aldred.

  Suddenly, another explosion caught his ear behind him. Hojoi turned his head around to see Aldred holding the ‘Seven Pillars of God Armour’ book in his hand while a weird aura surrounded his body.

  Magic!? Hojoi jolted with this thought. He awakened? Is that what happened? Then a memory flashed, No, he is Avery! Those tricksters!

  ********

  “ Sir Mars! You called me?” Hojoi asked while bowing on the floor in front of a mid-young-looking guy who was sitting on a throne. His hair was black with slight patches of blonde. Weird, isn’t it? He had the map of a kingdom called Silvia behind him, pasted on the wall. It was a dark, gloomy room, with a few holes in the ceiling to let some sunlight in. No one else was there in the huge area except Mars and Hojoi.

  “ You and the warrior candidate have a new mission! That is, to infiltrate Luvinia!”

  Luvinia? But…Sir Mars never took an interest in that kingdom before. Why?

  “ I accept it…but…may I know the reason?”

  “ Certainly!” The man raised his posture forward before continuing,“ Well, I don’t have much explanation…but…something is about to awaken there! And also, there are a few of my allies there who probably need your help, so I am sending you all to check on them! Do all the missions they say to do, and everything will work according to the plan!”

  Hojoi stood up, getting ready to leave, but before he could do that, Mars stopped him before saying,“ Do you know about the Avery clan?”

  “ Umm…No!” Hojoi turned his head back.

  “ Well, that clan uses books to store Magic and Mana to use it later, since they cannot awaken.” He pulled out a book to show him,‘ The Seven Pillars of God Armour’.

  “ I want you to…” He continued,“ To bring an owner of this book who lives in Luvinia!”

  “ Can I know the address?”

  “ I don’t know his details, but be cautious and look into all the ‘Demon’ related matters in that country!”

  ********

  I understand now! You were looking for this kid. I chose the correct target! Lord, I will get him to you!

  The book opened to reveal more aura. Aldred’s scar on the palm started to glow; his pupils took the shape of a diamond.

  A red aura surrounded his whole body. A straight line, looking like a glitch, crossed his eyes from the diamond scar. It slowly simmered down to form a horn on the tip of the line.

  “ How dare you! How dare you touch Kyra like that!”

  What a lucky yet unlucky day! I get to face two demon hosts, but I get late to the party! Well…I would choose action over party anyday!

  He formed his wind dive sword mid-air, held it by the handle as his body started to glow.

  Fine! COME AT ME!