"There can be no more doubt…I am a genius.“

  My pupils dilated as I closely examined the piece of art lying in front of me. Fingers twitched at my side as if longing to reach out and touch it.

  The shining jewel of the Boosted Gear flickered lightly as Ddraig made his presence known.

  "What exactly is it that you have achieved here, Partner? The artwork looks fine enough, but what is its purpose?“

  My smile stretched to the point that pointy fangs became visible.

  "You want to know what this bad boy can do? Well, let me show you.”

  I grabbed the polished kitchen knife off the table and twirled it around a few times in a well-practiced set of movements.

  After a deep exhale, I twisted my wrist sharply as if I intended to skip a stone across a lake. The knife shot out of my hand and embedded itself into the embellished cupboard across the room.

  Now comes the hard part.

  My focus sharpened to a razor's edge as my gaze locked onto the silver knife.

  I tapped into the reservoir of demonic energy that I had been abusing relentlessly for the past three days and activated the Mark of the Dragon.

  Barely a moment later, I vanished and then reappeared next to my target. My draconic likeness engraved on the pommel of the knife shone with a crimson light.

  An uncontrollable laugh ripped itself out of me as my body began to shake in excitement.

  I pulled the knife that I had claimed on a conceptual level free from its wooden prison and threw it from the kitchen through the door into the living room.

  Before it could hit anything important, I reappeared next to it in a flash of jade light and caught it out of the air. Without pause, I threw it again and teleported next door to the windows. A second later, I appeared in the dining areas. Then on top of the stone table in the living room.

  Holy shit. It worked. I knew that it would, but still. Man, I love being a devil.

  I jumped off the table and sprawled myself across the couch next to it. My body immediately sank into the sinfully soft material.

  "Did that answer your question, Ddraig?" A smirk tugged at the corners of my lips as I posed the question.

  "So you invented a teleportation spell? Quite remarkable for your level, I suppose…Is that what you have been working on so intently for the past few days?“

  My eyes gained a playful glint as I waved the arm sporting the Boosted Gear back and forth in front of my face.

  "A teleportation spell? What do you take me for? Do you think I would’ve struggled so much if that was all I did?“

  I sat up a little straighter and inspected the knife I held loosely in my other hand.

  "No. The Mark of the Dragon is much more than a mere teleportation spell. What I have done here is crystallize the very idea of ownership into a spell. Everything I mark with this symbol becomes part of my hoard, and as such, it can never escape me, nor will I ever be unaware of its location. I can summon it to me or simply send myself over to it.”

  I carefully pressed the knife against the jewel of the Boosted Gear and conveyed my intentions through our connection. A moment later my hand was empty.

  "That is…fairly impressive. How did you manage that?“

  I crossed my right leg over the other and propped Ddraig's gauntlet on it in an unhurried motion.

  "Devil magic, how else? Did you imagine I was joking when I said that all a devil needs to accomplish anything is power and imagination?“

  My smile widened as my muscle relaxed.

  "All I had to do was imagine a spell matrix that encapsulated my desire and imprinted my intent upon it. It took a bit of practice, I will admit, but in the end it was a simple task.”

  I flinched slightly when booming laughter echoed out of my sacred gear. It was the first time I had heard the ancient dragon laugh like that.

  "You devils…really are a ridiculous race. Do you have any idea how nonsensical what you just said really is?“

  My eyebrows raised a few degrees as I contemplated his question.

  "I suspect it is that very ignorance that let me accomplish this. “Knowing” things is the enemy of imagination.”

  Ddraig simply chuckled at my response. "It would appear so, yes. However, be careful where you apply this mark of yours, Partner. Don’t forget whose domain we are currently in.“

  My legs uncrossed as I answered with a nod.

  "I am aware…Anyways, I think we have spent enough time cooped up in here, don't you?"

  I marched toward the window with mounting excitement.

  "It is long past due that we get to do what we have come here to do—the fun part of this whole trip.“

  It was high time I introduced the monster population of New York to what a real monster looked like.

  I jumped out of the window and spread my wings mid-fall. A few moments later I was gliding across the skyline of the sprawling city and only halted my flight once I had crossed the Hudson River.

  I summoned the marked knife out of the gauntlet and, after a few seconds spent in contemplation, dismissed my sacred gear.

  My senses spread as far as they could reach as I kept myself ready for the moment that something supernatural would appear on my radar.

  This is the backyard of Olympus. A city with millions of people, and Satan knows how many demigods running around it. There is absolutely no chance I won’t be able to find at least some of them causing trouble.

  With lazily flapping wings, I soared across the city and kept my eyes open for anything that appeared out of the ordinary.

  My patience was rewarded less than an hour later when the sound of human screams and honking cars reached my ears.

  Oh yes. This will do nicely.

  A smirk spread across my lips as I spotted a truck-sized spider chasing something across the street in the not-so-far distance. The mortals in the monster's path were either run over carelessly or pierced to the ground by its many sharp legs.

  I wonder what they see down there. A car crash, perhaps?

  Putting the distracting thought out of my mind, I sped up and followed the monster and its likely demigod prey with rising anticipation.

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  This will be my first fight as a fully established devil.

  Ruby eyes gleamed as I accelerated my flight. I carefully weaved between the towering buildings of New York as I followed the path of destruction left behind by the supernatural duo.

  Might as well make it a fight to remember.

  I tapped into my draconic heritage and breathed out a satisfied exhale when my two extra limbs hardened into scaled dragon wings.

  My speed picked up even more, and I soon reached my prey. While I was busy chasing after them, the grotesquely oversized spider had managed to push the exhausted demigoddess into a corner and was now rearing up four of its hairy front legs in a threatening motion.

  Despite my previous intentions, my devilish instincts told me to wait. To let the victim suffer just a bit longer. To let her get as close to death as possible so that the gratefulness she’d feel once I had delivered her from her plight would be maximized.

  Denying those instincts was harder than I would like to admit. They were growing more persistent by the day.

  I think this has gone on for long enough.

  With a casualness that belied the strength behind it, I flicked the marked knife I held in my hand toward the ground.

  Not even a second later, I appeared between the two Greek supernaturals in a flash of jade light.

  The world came to a pause as I allowed my full dragon aura to escape my control and burst outward. A grimace twisted my features when I turned my head to the side and realised that my display had affected the person I intended to save just as much as it had the monster I had come here to slay.

  I definitely need to work on my control next…This just won’t do at all.

  The spider shrunk back onto itself as I cast it a glare. Deciding that it was sufficiently cowed for the moment, I turned my attention towards the frozen-in-place half-blood. My sharp eyes allowed me to see each individual hair that my appearance had made rise on her bare arms.

  I picked up my knife and approached the blonde demigoddess with slow and deliberate steps. Once I had come to a stop in front of her, I placed my empty hand on the taller girl's shoulder.

  "Don’t be afraid…I have come here to save you. Go hide; I will take care of this.“

  The girl's lips pressed into a thin line, and her stormy eyes narrowed. Before she could reply, a threatening hiss resounded from behind us.

  I could tell that she was still unsettled, but this was all the time I could spare her.

  It was time for me to get to work.

  The monster had shaken off enough of my influence to decide that it would rather fight me than run away. It raised its front legs and clicked its chelicerae together to produce a threatening sound. Its many beady eyes glared at me hungrily.

  Not one to be outdone, I took a page out of the Peacock playbook of intimidation and unfurled my wings behind me until they were fully displayed in all of their draconic glory. I readied my marked knife in one hand and transformed the other into a dragon's claw.

  At this point, my grin had spread so far that my cheeks were aching. My pulse hammered against my throat.

  "You should have run while you still had the chance.“

  The spider answered my words with violence. One of its raised front legs snapped forwards like a whip.

  The only thing it met once the blow landed was the concrete pavement.

  Faster than it could react, I had thrown my knife between its eyes and teleported while it was still busy going through with its own attack.

  I raised my clawed hand and plunged it deep into one of the monster's bulging black eyes.

  A mistake.

  Pain assaulted me as I was thrown off of the wildly thrashing spider. An acidic pink substance dripped off of my scaled hand.

  Does this thing have poisoned blood? What the hell is going on in the Greek pantheon?

  I caught myself while still airborne and quickly dodged the spider's next attack. The barrage of strikes that followed I blocked with frantic swipes of my draconic wings. Recognizing that I would quickly become overwhelmed if I continued to stay at this range, I retreated backward.

  This is going to be harder than I expected.

  From there, the fight devolved into a mixture of the spider doing its best to pierce me with its barbed legs and trying to pull me close enough to tear into me with its undoubtedly venomous fangs.

  It failed.

  I evaded all of its attacks with relative ease. It could not catch me. Its huge bulk prevents it from keeping up with my smaller frame and more nimble movements.

  Getting fed up with the passive position the spider's unchecked aggression had forced me into, I once again teleported to the knife still stuck in its head.

  The monster paused, likely wondering where its prey had disappeared to. The size difference between us was so significant that it did not even register the extra weight on its head.

  That ignorance did not last long. I had learned my lesson from last time, and instead of piercing its flesh like I had done before, I enforced my body with as much demonic energy as I could channel and grabbed one of the spider's towering, hairy legs. With both of my arms wrapped around it, I raised myself into the air and tore the limb clean off with a heave of effort. A wet pop noise resounded across the empty street.

  I did my best to avoid the poisonous blood that was gushing everywhere beneath me. Thankfully, I had the foresight to position myself accordingly before completing the dismemberment.

  The spider's screech was deafening. Soon, it went on the offensive again and tried to grab onto me with the rest of its wildly twitching limbs. Unfortunately for the monster, I was prepared for that reaction.

  I flew straight up into the air while holding on tight to the nasty limb. My ascent only came to a halt once I had put a sufficient amount of distance between us.

  With a grin, I assumed the pose of an expert golf player about to make a perfect shot and hit the monster with its own leg.

  The blow landed with such force behind it, the spider was torn off the ground and flew back across the empty street, further demolishing the already flattened cars in its way.

  How do you best kill a giant spider?… I would rather just risk the poison and tear out its brain through its eyes than do that again. That was disgusting.

  The answer came to mind as soon as I finished the thought. You kill it with fire. Lots of fire.

  I am a damn dragon. How was this not my go-to answer?

  Of course, I knew why it wasn’t. I initially wanted to keep the fight low-key. Attracting too much attention to myself was not something I desired just yet.

  Observing the scene of devastation all around me, it could not have been any more clear that I had spectacularly failed that objective.

  I let out an aggravated sigh and fixed the spider that was already gearing up for another attack with a glare.

  How dare you force me to go this far?

  Needing to go almost all out against a mere spider…how shameful.

  The monster ran towards me with erratic and skittering steps. Having long grown fed up with the impetuous beast, I flapped my wings and met its charge head-on.

  While in mid-flight, I abandoned my human guise and grew into the shape of a crimson western dragon.

  Our collision in the middle of the street was loud enough to shatter the glass of the building around us.

  Knowing that I would soon be met with numerous of its legs attacking me from all sides if I did not act quickly, I employed all of my limbs to push the monster into the ground.

  It resisted fiercely.

  Thrashing wildly as it tried to push me off. The claws I had inserted into the spider's head steamed as the poison attempted to melt my scales. It failed.

  I reared back my head, flames accumulating in my throat.

  I caught one last look into the beady eyes of the monsters before I released my dragon breath and filled the air with scorching heat.

  The beast let out a noise unlike any I had ever heard as it burned to death.

  It did not take long before some sort of threshold of damage was reached and the spider disintegrated, leaving behind nothing but golden dust and the marked knife that fell down onto the molten concrete with a clattering noise.

  I closed my steaming maw and pushed the inferno contained within it back down.

  Silence had fallen across the ruined city street. I turned my draconic head from one side to the other and searched for any sign of life.

  Fucking hell…This got way out of hand.

  Driven purely by reflex, I shifted my head to the side as a flicker of movement in the distance alerted me to the incoming danger. A split second later, a bronze dagger streaked past where my left eye had been mere moments prior.

  My heart skipped a beat as I registered what had just happened.

  Did I just…almost die?

  The thought was unbelievable. There was not a single point in my fight against the spider monster where I seriously considered my death to be a feasible outcome.

  And then I went ahead and dropped my guard after emerging victorious like a complete novice… How embarrassing.

  Fully alert now, I followed the dagger's flight trajectory back to the source.

  It did not take me long to spot a familiar blonde standing on top of one of the few undamaged buildings on the opposite side of the street. A familiar blonde who was staring at me with a face filled with stubborn defiance.

  You have got to be fucking kidding me.

  The anger that had quietly been growing inside me after the sneak attack was replaced by annoyance. After all, this wasn’t some opportunistic monster trying to take advantage of two apex predators tiring each other out.

  Instead, all I have to deal with now is a foolish girl not understanding the situation she’s in.

  I sighed as I shrunk back down into my human form and unhurriedly picked up my knife. With one last shake of my head, I activated the Mark I had placed on the girl's clothes when I touched her shoulder.

  A moment later, I appeared next to her in a flash of jade light.

  I blocked the incoming strike with my right palm and raised my left knee to intercept the kick aimed at my midsection.

  A few more punches followed that kick. While they had more strength behind them than I would have expected a clearly untrained demigoddess to be capable of exerting, I thwarted them all without too much trouble.

  Finally recognizing the futility of her actions, the blonde hesitated and then jumped backward to the other side of the roof in a single leap. She crouched down in a defensive posture and glared at me with tightly closed fists.

  She looks like an angry kitten.

  I exhaled deeply as I rubbed my forehead. Eventually, I spoke up in a calm tone.

  "I told you not to be afraid, didn’t I?…Is this really how you’re going to greet your savior?"