The Circle of Magi, in the southern nation, Zaoth.

Micah had lost track of how many times she’d sighed by this point. From atop a steadily-moving carriage, she loosely held the reins (or lines, as Circe had annoyingly gone out of her way to correct) connecting her to a pair of horses that pulled it along at a snail’s pace. Even though she’d initially set out over a month prior from Regalia, at her current pace, she wasn’t likely to reach her destination until the evening still.

With half-lidded eyes, she let herself fall back in her seat and gazed at the endless blue sky above her, framed partially by the high trees of the forest. The chirping of birds and cicadas were the only noises to accompany her at the early morning hour, aside from the clopping of the horses and her own occasional sighs. The isolation was near-maddening, and her butt was beyond sore from having been parked in the same spot day and night for several weeks, even if she had taken a few breaks along the way.

How was it that she had even gotten herself in this situation, anyway? As Micah pondered that if only to distract herself from dull reality, she arrived at one terribly irritating conclusion.

That’s right… It's all because of that woman.

-----

What felt like ages now but was really just a month ago, Micah had been in Circe’s hideout in Regalia enjoying some well-deserved off-time after a string of missions she’d been sent on at the tail end of the winter season. Her boss had been sorting through documents at her desk that morning while Micah herself relaxed on one of the lounge couches with her nose in a novel, when all of a sudden she heard something absurd slip from the woman’s lips.

“Oh, what’sh thish?” she commented idly while tossing a piece of chocolate into her mouth. Really, it was a wonder why Circe thought it was okay to mack on candy and other treats right after breakfast and while handling what were no doubt important papers, but by now Micah had more than come to terms with the woman’s frivolity that she didn’t bother questioning it. “Hey Micah~ There’sh a man in Shaoth that’d be perfect for yhou-”

“Stop talking bullshit first thing in the morning,” she responded without taking her eyes off the novel. Thinking it was another of Circe’s crude jokes, she put an immediate end to it before the woman could pursue it further. But still she insisted.

“No no, I’m sherioush. I jusht got a requesht for yhou to-”

“Before that, how am I supposed to understand you when you’re stuffing your face. Cut it out already.”

“Ehh~? Muu~” She didn’t look over to confirm, but Micah was fairly certain Circe had on another one of her unfitting childish pouts as she let out an annoyed whine. But Micah had absolutely no sympathy for her, since she’d been forced to accept that no matter how many sweets Circe consumed, she never seemed to lose her supermodel-like figure. Whether or not she was aware though, it was extremely annoying to see her chowing down without a care in the world.

I’m the one who wants to whine here… I love sweets, but even in this second life it’s easy for me to get fat if I don’t watch what I eat. And yet, this bitch...

Ignorant to the woes of all women, Circe took a few moments to swallow what was in her mouth before speaking again. “Kuhum. As I was saying, I’ve got a new assignment for you. You’ll be going to Zaoth to carry out this assassination request, so save the book for later.”

“Alright, fine I got it.” Micah dog-eared the page she was on and set the book down as she pushed herself off of the couch. “I’ll go let Zaheer know to start getting ready-”

“No,” Circe interrupted. “Zahy will stay here this time. You’ll be going alone to deal with it.”

“Huh?” Micah paused, brows furrowing. While she had certainly completed many missions from Circe all by herself, it was unheard of for her to undertake an assassination request without Zaheer there to support her in case things went wrong. “Uh, alright I guess. Who’s the target?”

“Talahanan Ilifiryrathea. He’s a demon currently living in Zaoth. A quaint little village called Kleinwald, nestled within a forest to the far south.”

“What? A demon?”

“Yup,” she nodded, then pursed her lips while glancing to the side. “It’s certainly uncommon for demons to gain citizenship in Magi, but you do hear about this sort of thing every once in a while.”

“Oh right…” Micah put a hand to her chin in thought, remembering some of the material she’d read about in the past. “It’s because of the peace agreement the nations formed that demons were allowed to gain citizenship in Magi, right?”

“Someone’s done their homework, I see,” Circe commented with an amused smirk. “Yes it’s true. All because of that fateful day the demons scared the crap out of everyone by breaking the barrier surrounding Demon Country and emerging to hold a town under siege. Well, that and a certain prediction made by a certain elegantly divine individual not long before that.”

“Haa… that’s right. I forgot the Disciples of Circe were loosely involved in all of that.” Micah crossed her arms and let out a sigh, recalling the information Aurelia had given her about the disappearance of the Five Legendary Heroes and how it all related to the peace agreement. Though she hadn’t particularly been looking for it, it seemed she’d now gained a clearer picture of what transpired.

The Disciples of Circe made a prediction that if the four nations could not settle their conflicts and come together, the demons living dormant in Demon Country would emerge and bring about the end of humanity, or something like that. The prediction wasn’t taken seriously until that incident when demons actually did invade Magi, which then led to the subsequent disappearance of the Five Legendary Heroes—a group of individuals who were well regarded as being the strongest of their time. After that, the world’s nations had no choice but to believe Circe’s words, and the peace agreement was quickly formed.

“Hey, how did you come up with that kind of prediction anyway?” Micah asked, suddenly curious as to whether or not there was something more to the coincidence that led to Circe’s cult rising to complete dominance worldwide.

The woman in question raised an eyebrow at Micah as she popped another piece of chocolate into her mouth “Mm? Ishn’t it obvioush?” She took a few moments to chew while shaking her head incredulously, leaving Micah to feel slightly annoyed at the feeling that she was being looked down on.

Finally, Circe swallowed and responded with a wave of her hand. “What, did you think my information network only spans across Magi? Obviously I have informants in Demon Country too.”

“What-, you-, what?” Micah leaned forward with her palms on the desk, thoroughly taken aback by Circe’s answer. “But how? I thought humans basically weren’t allowed in there.”

“My informants are demons, silly.” Circe playfully flicked Micah’s forehead with her finger, causing her to flinch and back away. “I don’t know them personally or anything, but it’s not hard to meet with them through couriers. They keep me informed of the situation inside Demon Country purely out of faith, or other forms of compensation if that’s not enough, and I use that information to my advantage if the situation calls for it. Like for example, making an impossible prediction about an invasion I was informed about just weeks before it happened.” She paused to lick the remnants of chocolate off of her fingers. “Although these days I have an even easier way to keep track of things, I suppose…”

She ended her explanation while musing to herself, but Micah was still trying to process the sheer magnitude of Circe’s criminal enterprise. Her power, her influence, was far greater than she’d given the woman credit for. With such a large-spanning information network, a near-endless amount of funds from donations and jobs all across the world, and access to resources like assassins, corrupt officials and powerful fighters like Zaheer…

She could probably topple a nation with one snap of her delicate fingers, all while drinking tea and macking on sweets from the comfort of her luxury hideout where no one even knows she exists.

“...Has anyone ever told you that you’re a terrifying human being?”

“Not often enough, sadly,” Circe replied with a wide grin. It was yet another expression that made her look childlike, and didn’t suit her beautifully-mature features. “But it’s a small price to pay to be able to walk the streets without getting arrested anytime I want to stretch my legs, you know?” Her frivolity had effectively reached a new height in Micah’s mind, and she could only sigh as it seemed that all she could do was accept the startling revelation about her boss and move on. “But I digress. Right now we should focus on your target, Talahanan.”

“Tala-what now?”

“Talahanan Ilifiryrathea,” she repeated. An amused chuckle escaped her lips at Micah’s perplexed expression. “I’m not surprised you find it strange, since the Ilifiryrathea tribe no longer exist. You don’t hear odd names like that too often anymore.”

“Really? What happened to them?” Micah asked, genuinely intrigued. She hadn’t investigated Magi’s history too thoroughly, and so was unaware of details like fallen tribes.

“They were wiped out ages ago by Zaoth’s regional government, with the help of some of the other nation’s militias. That’s not important though.” Circe waved off the tangent and laced her fingers together on top of her desk, watching Micah with a calculated gaze. “I just told you to go kill a demon by yourself. Are you fine with that?”

“...Well, I can’t say I’m not worried,” Micah admitted, then shrugged her shoulders. “But in the end it’s not like you’re giving me a choice anyway, right? And besides, if I can’t handle this much then there’s no way I’ll be able to accomplish my goals. I need to be able to take on stronger and stronger opponents in order to advance to the level of strength I’m aiming for.”

“Very well said.” Circe lightly pressed her palms together while regarding Micah with a smile. “Then, I suppose all that’s left is to fill you in on the details.”

She handed over a sheet of paper, and as Micah accepted it her eyes widened at the plethora of information printed on it.

“I’d have hoped to get a sketch of him, but according to the Disciple member who received the request, the client said it would be difficult to acquire and instead provided a detailed description. Hopefully this information will help you identify him once you get to the village.”

Micah nodded while scanning over the information. Approximate height, weight, age, build, clothing preference, and also details concerning his family and daily routine.

“So I just need to kill him?” she asked.

“Mhm. Well, obviously it’d be best if you avoided witnesses, but the client also specifically requested that you not harm any of the other villagers, including Talahanan’s wife and daughter. Do whatever you see fit in order to get the job done, but if it seems like your anonymity will be compromised, forget everything else and do what’s necessary to protect it. Are we clear?”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t anything more that needed to be said. Micah knew firsthand why maintaining her anonymity was vital to her operations. Without Circe covering her tracks by disposing of anyone in Regalia who knew of her criminal history, as well as helping to create a cover story for her family back in Halloway, she would be a wanted fugitive. Not that she’d even be free in the first place if it wasn’t for Circe too.

“Alright, then I’ll prepare a carriage for you to drive. It’ll take quite some weeks to reach Kleinwald from here, so be prepared for a long journey on your own.”

“Wait, why on my own?”

Circe gave her another incredulous look. “Didn’t I already say you’ll be going alone?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think that meant I’d have to drive MYSELF there!” Micah once again slammed her palms against the desk. “Wouldn’t it be way easier for someone to drop me off at the village, then meet me somewhere outside once I’m finished with the jo-aum?!”

Her frantic words were cut off when Circe abruptly shoved a piece of chocolate into her mouth. Forced to deal with the sudden intrusion of the rich, creamy treat, Micah paused for a brief moment before reluctantly beginning to chew.

“Good, isn’t it?” Circe asked, and she couldn’t help but to nod quietly despite herself. It was really damn good. “Now, enjoy it and calm down for a moment. Sure it’d be easier to have someone escort you, but that defeats the purpose of making this a solo mission. You’ll have to go this one alone; no complaints, no exceptions.”

“But-”

“I’ll have all of the arrangements made to give you a proper cover story,” she said, correctly predicting the complaint Micah was about to bring up. “Also, I’ll take measures to ensure that no one will remember you. A cloak to hide most of your features, and maybe some elementary rank illusion magic to change the color of your scarf. Your hair and eyes too, just in case.”

“But-aum?!”

Another chocolate was shoved into her mouth. Circe put on a stern expression as she once again cut Micah off. “No buts. I’ve given you your assignment, now all that’s left is to carry it out. You’ll be setting off in the next couple of days, so be ready.”

Again, Micah began to reluctantly chew on the chocolate, placated by its deliciousness. “...F-Fine. I’ll go get ready.”

She turned to leave, bitter at having been defeated by sweets, but was stopped one final time as she got to the door.

“One more thing.” Micah turned back at the sound of Circe’s voice to see her cross her arms and lean back in her seat while furrowing her brows. “I did say all of that about you having no backup, but if you don’t come back in two months I’ll send someone to look for you.”

“...That won’t be much help if I die before then.”

Micah’s dry response only prompted a cheeky grin from Circe. “Fufu~ Then I suppose you’ll just have to find a way to last that long. You’re a smart girl, you’ll figure something out if things get dire. Or if you can’t, then at least try and leave a corpse so I can confirm your death, alright~?”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence...” Micah let out a sigh before finally taking her leave.

-----

That was how it all began. From there, Micah was forced to take a crash course on carriage driving before heading out to begin her mission. And after weeks of uneventful traveling under her cover story of being a merchant’s daughter, she was finally nearing Kleinwald, the village her target was located in.

Still, I’ve got so much time left before I’ll arrive. May as well go over everything I know one more time.

Okay… She was currently heading towards Kleinwald in order to assassinate a demon named Talahanan Ilifiryrathea. The request came from one of Kleinwald’s villagers, but like with most of Circe’s clients, whoever it was chose to remain anonymous. They also never explained why they wanted Talahanan dead, however they requested that she not harm any of the other villagers, including her target’s family.

But that was what made the request all the more confusing. If this was a simple hate crime against a demon, then why not kill his daughter too? Or was it that the client had nothing against demons, but Talahanan in particular? It wasn’t like she knew what kind of person he was or what his relationship to the other villagers was like, so it was basically impossible to hazard a guess.

Well in any case, it was difficult to judge how formidable Talahanan would be as an opponent. The client did mention that Talahanan was no fighter by any means—being nothing more than a simple farmer—but his nature as a demon alone would provide him a significant advantage. She didn’t know much about demons herself, but Circe informed her about the special energy they have coursing through their body known as miasma.

Miasma was, in layman's terms, a demon’s version of mana. It was the force that gave them life and fueled their abilities much like mana did for humans and other forms of life like plants and animals. Only, where mana was considered a positive life energy, miasma was considered the opposite—an energy representing negativity and evil. According to Circe, every known account of people who have encountered miasma have described it as being infinitely more powerful than mana, with a heavy, oppressive nature that made it hard to keep your composure when in its presence.

Symptoms tended to vary based on the individual, but generally people exposed to miasma were stricken with intense fear, unable to move or think properly, and some even reported being unable to breathe. Apparently, if a demon exerted just a bit of this miasma, they could bring people to their knees with nothing more than a simple command, or kill people outright just by glaring at them.

Now a lot of that was based on rumors and hearsay since demons and miasma have never been properly studied, but Micah had definitely experienced that sensation herself back when she first encountered a demon in Magi:

¹Excerpt from 'Chapter 3: A Demon's Promise'“Where do you think you’re going?”

It was Mr. Stronoff’s voice, most certainly, but there was something explicitly different about it. They both turned around to see the body of a man that should have been dead, standing upright and seeming completely healed of his injuries despite the knife still sticking out of his back. The most chilling thing about the sight were his eyes though, which had somehow become an endless black void save for red slits staring at them with such power and intensity that it completely rooted them in place, unable to even move a muscle.

“Worry not. Had I seriously wanted the both of you dead, you would have died long ago. Instead, I will allow you—the child specifically—to live.” The demon speaking through Mr. Stronoff brought his tongue out to wet his lips unnervingly slowly. “Yessss… The child is much more capable than I originally perceived. To think that such potential lies in someone so young, and a human at that…”

“W-W-Wh-Wha…” Micah stammered, her gaze unfocused as she struggled to move her heavy tongue inside of her dry mouth. “What… do you… w-want from me…?”

“To put it in simple terms, power,” he answered. “The kind of power that can only be acquired through amassing a sizeable army of contracted servants. And of course, the more powerful the individual, the more powerful the servant they become after the contract is formed.”

At the time, she couldn’t move and could barely even form words in the presence of the demon, and that was only while speaking to him through a contracted servant. If the rumors were to be taken seriously, then the power Mr. Stronoff had gained through forming a contract was only a fraction of a true demon’s power, and if that was the case, then this mission would not be a simple one by any means.

Okay, so… setting aside all the demon stuff, it should be safe to say I have the advantage in speed and strength, right? Battle experience too. Then it’ll basically all come down to that miasma…

Circe seemed to have at least some faith that she could succeed here, but now that she’d put things into perspective Micah honestly wasn’t too sure. Still, she’d already come this far, so there wasn’t any point in turning back now. All she could do was press on and hope for the best.

As the minutes turned to hours during her boring, uneventful trek, time continued to pass slowly until the sun began to disappear beneath the horizon, darkening the sky as the orange hue of dusk settled over the surrounding landscape.

It was at this time that Micah finally caught a glimpse of a sign that she was nearing her destination. Only, the sign was not one she was expecting.

“Is that… smoke?”

She squinted her eyes in order to see clearer, but there was no mistaking it even from a distance. Smoke, multiple plumes of it, were rising into the air straight ahead of her.

“What’s going on…?”

Deciding that it would be best to scout ahead, Micah closed her eyes and activated [God’s Blessing]. If the village was under some sort of attack, confirming the enemy’s numbers using her Ability would be vital to understanding how she should proceed.

But before she could even get a glimpse of the village itself, her enhanced hearing picked up a strange noise from very close. Quickly swiveling her head around, Micah’s brows furrowed as she couldn’t detect a single mana pool around her with her eyes.

What the…? I can’t see anyone, but I’m definitely hearing noises like breathing and shuffling around from multiple points in the foliage. Assassins? Or maybe bandits that are good at hiding? How many hostiles...

Since her eyes were useless, Micah raised her chin and sniffed the air in an attempt to identify how many enemies were around her through their scents. She wasn’t expecting to find much since they were already skilled enough to conceal themselves completely from her mana-detecting vision, but the answer she received just moments later caused her eyes to shoot open in shock.

Twenty… no, thirty? Thirty-five, forty-five, fifty-, h-holy shit! How did I get surrounded by so many without even noticing?!

As if sensing her distraught, the horses began kicking up a fuss, stamping on the ground and whining unhappily as they jerked back and forth. Micah tightened her grip on the reins in her hands, prepared to snap them in order to spur the horses into a sprint, but her stalkers were faster.

From the brush, shadows leapt out towards the carriage, pouncing at Micah and horses with deadly efficiency. Thanks to [God’s Blessing] Micah was able to react in time and dove away from the carriage, but it only took a quick glance back to reveal that the horses had been brutally mauled and torn apart, and various parts of the carriage destroyed by…

“W-What the heck are those things?!”

Where Micah had been expecting to see humans, it turned out that her attackers were animals of some sort; with dark, fur-covered bodies that looked to be about as big as her, maybe just slightly larger.

Goat horns on their heads, but their bodies don’t look like goats at all? What in the world?

Her questions would go unanswered for the time being however, as the creatures quickly realized that only two of their three targets had been killed and soon turned their attention to her. Micah’s gaze swept around, her eyes still unable to detect any mana in the beasts but her other senses providing all the information she needed to understand that she was heavily outnumbered. Slowly, she got to her feet as the monsters advanced, prepared herself…

...then turned tail and ran in the direction of the village.

Don’t tell me these things are currently attacking Kleinwald? Well it’s unlikely that anyone but the client knew that I was coming, and only an idiot would double-cross Circe, so unless it’s a coincidence then that’s the only explanation.

If that was the case, then things were very, very bad. If Kleinwald was indeed under attack, that meant that her target was potentially in danger. That in itself wasn’t an issue since she was coming to kill him anyway, but things would get complicated quickly if she couldn’t confirm his death amidst the chaos and destruction.

And so, instead of wasting time fighting a needless battle, Micah put her full focus on reaching the village as quickly as possible. The monsters let out blood curdling shrieks and tried to pursue, but were no match for her speed and were quickly left in the dust.

It wasn’t long until she reached the village gates, and finally saw for herself the first signs of human life. There were people battling the creatures at the gates, likely doing their best to hold them off and prevent them from getting inside. They seemed to be doing fine enough on their own, so Micah ignored them and found an unguarded part of the wall to hoist herself over into the village proper.

Once she got inside though, it became clear that things were much worse off than they seemed. Corpses of villagers littered the roads, some still being devoured even as other monsters continued chasing around fleeing survivors. Screams of terror and agony filled the air, smoky and warm from the various fires that crackled from some of the houses and structures.

Standing there bearing witness to it all, Micah couldn’t help but wonder if she had somehow stepped through the gates to hell.

But she soon shook those thoughts away. Finding Talahanan was the priority, so there was no point in worrying about anything else. Whatever else happened, it didn’t concern her.

“NOOOOO!!!! GET AWAY!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!!”

“Gods no! Please, someone help my family!”

“Waaaahhhh!!! Mommy, wake up!!!! Mommy!!!!”

It… It didn’t…

-----

“Thank you!!! Gods bless you, I thought that was it for me!”

“Thank goodness… Thank goodness…”

“Mommy, you’re okay! Th-Thank you…!”

What the heck am I doing…

Micah grit her teeth, mentally chastising herself as she dashed away after having saved yet another villager. It didn’t make sense; there was no logical reason to be helping these people when she had a mission of her own. And it would only be hypocritical of her to pretend she still had a conscience after having butchered so many people before now. Not to mention how the only reason she was here in the first place was to commit murder anyway. No matter how you looked at it, someone in her position had no right to interfere with what was going on.

So why...? Why was she unable to ignore these cries for help? It just didn’t make any sense to her.

But regardless, her feet were now carrying her towards the direction of the village hall, where more villagers in jeopardy were located. If only she hadn’t saved those other people, she wouldn’t have had to hear about it in the first place, but now here she was.

The first sign of trouble when she arrived was that the door had been smashed in. Various windows were broken too, and most alarmingly it was quiet. No screams, no roars from monsters, no anything. Thanks to her enhanced hearing though she could make out a few voices, and slipped in through a side window to confirm the situation for herself.

A mountain of corpses was the first sight to greet her inside of the village hall. A few humans were mixed in, but thankfully the pile was mainly composed of monsters. It was pretty miraculous, considering the apparent lack of manpower these people had to work with, but from what she could see it looked like they somehow managed things on their own.

“She’s not here?”

“No, sir.” An approaching conversation caught her ears as she quickly ducked behind a pillar just as two people arrived. The voices were male, the first significantly older than the second. “We’re still trying to figure out who else is missing, but the blonde half-demon girl, she suddenly broke away from the other children and took off before anyone could stop her.”

“No, that can’t be… If she ran off in such a hurry, then she must have gone home to check on Lisbeth. Is there anyone we can send after her?”

“Our line of communication with other teams is flimsy due to the active conflicts, so it will take some time. And everyone here is already swamped with keeping the survivors safe from further attacks-”

“That girl is my granddaughter! She’s eleven years old! There has to be somebody we can spare!!” The old man suddenly snapped at the younger man, who flinched and said nothing for a short while.

“...I’ll do my best, village leader,” he eventually replied, bowing respectfully before turning to walk away.

The old man let out a weary sigh and brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He stayed like that for a few moments, until a strange feeling overcame him and he turned suddenly towards a nearby pillar. But contrary to his expectations, no one was there.

-----

An eleven-year-old blonde girl… Eleven years old…

Micah’s heart was going a mile a minute as she raced across the rooftops, eyes scanning the entire village in order to locate the girl in question.

Maybe it was just a stroke of luck that she’d caught onto this lead, but it was very likely—almost certain even—that this girl was the daughter of Talahanan, the man she was looking for. Setting aside everything else, there was no way she could pass up this chance to track him down. If Micah could find this girl, she would lead her right to her target.

With her full attention on the task at hand, it wasn’t long before her mana-sensing eyes found someone that fit the description. A blonde-haired girl that looked to be around her own age scrambled desperately down one of the village’s roads, pursued by a group of creatures.

The smallest ones caught up to the girl easily and snapped at her legs, adding to the plethora of wounds already covering her body until she collapsed helplessly onto the road. The creature that was furthest back, which Micah noticed was significantly larger than the rest, managed to catch up after that, and steadily approached as the girl did her best to crawl away.

“Mom…! Dad…!” Micah heard her call out, and instantly sprung into action.

As the large monster stood to its full height above the girl and widened its jaw in preparation to gobble her up, a pair of arms wrapped around its torso from behind.

“Ngh…!” With a small grunt, the ground beneath the monster shattered just before it was raised into the air, falling back with a startled cry until its head collided with the dirt road.

There was probably a way she could have efficiently killed it in one move, but Micah’s instinct was to get it away from the girl as quickly as possible, and so she performed a German suplex without thinking.

The commotion quite obviously garnered the attention of the other monsters, and they all snapped their gazes to Micah as the large one clumsily rolled to its feet and bared its fangs at her in a furious shriek.

“Shut up, your breath stinks.” An insult slipped out of her mouth as she prepared to attack, but instead of going for the large one she dashed for one of the smaller ones nearby without warning. It flinched, unable to react in time as Micah wrenched its head back and brought her knee up into its neck to crush its windpipe in an instant. It writhed around for a few moments more before going still.

She could sense the next creature’s pounce without having to look, and turned to catch it as her scarf ends shot out to attack the others. They easily pierced the smaller monsters’ bodies and ripped them apart as she slammed the one in her arms to the ground and straddled it to get a firm hold on its bottom jaw with one hand. She leaned the rest of her weight against its snout for leverage and pushed down hard with that hand, until a sickening crack! brought its feeble resistance to an end.

Her next target was the large monster, but as she turned it was to see a huge claw sweeping towards her. She brought her arms up to block, but the force alone sent her tumbling across the dirt road until she rolled to a stop and hastily pushed herself to her knees.

She looked up and, as expected, it was rushing straight at her. But its speed wasn’t comparable to the smaller monsters, so she had plenty of time to get to her feet and jump with precise timing to land on its back. Her scarf ends shot out as the monster’s head bucked back to shake her off, providing the perfect chance for them to wrap around its neck and tie together.

Micah gripped her new “lines” and yanked back with all her strength, bringing a loud wail from the creature as it was forced to rear like a horse. In a rage, it dashed around the area smashing into nearby structures in an attempt to shake Micah off. But she kept her balance easily and continued yanking on the scarf while waiting for it to suffocate.

That is, until it abruptly stopped in the middle of the road. The unexpected motion caused Micah to lose her balance and fall forward, and all of a sudden she found herself on her back beneath its snout. Its dark, red-slitted eyes gazed down at her in what seemed to be pure hatred, but before it could do anything Micah whipped around, casting [Gust] with her feet to sweep its legs out from under it.

Its side crashed into the road hard enough to kick up the surrounding dirt, and in the next moment Micah had thrown herself on top of it. Her scarf ends were still wrapped around its neck, so she grabbed on and pulled even harder while using the leverage to keep it from getting back to its feet. The monster writhed around on the ground letting out cry after cry, struggling as best it could as the scarf ends tightly constricted its throat, cutting off its supply of oxygen and working to stop its brain in the process.

Minutes passed like that, until its struggling eventually became weaker and weaker, and soon came to an end entirely. With the way its wide eyes bulged from its skull as it went still, Micah could confidently say that it was dead, and pushed herself away from it while letting out a few tired breaths.

[[God’s Blessing] has leveled up! It is now Lv. 43]

She’d wanted to avoid wasting mana in preparation to attack Talahanan, but it seemed it couldn’t be helped in this case. Luckily, she hadn’t used up too much and only needed one spell to help her finish it off in the end, plus she’d even managed to gain a single level in the process. While congratulating herself on those feats, she made her way over to the girl to check on her.

Her eerily-still form made Micah’s heart skip a beat, but the slight rise and fall of her chest proved she was still alive. She was conscious at the time Micah arrived, so it seemed like she’d just passed out sometime during the fight.

Micah leaned in close to inspect her wounds, thankful to find that while they looked pretty nasty, nothing seemed immediately life-threatening. Still, it would have been nice if she could use [Cure] on her, but Micah had discovered during her training that she was apparently terrible at it, as it would fail whenever she tried to use it either on herself or others.

The best she could do was get her to a safe place and hope someone found her when this was all over. Before that though, she needed this girl to tell her where Talahanan was. And so, after picking her up piggyback-style, Micah hopped up onto the rooftops once again.

“Hey,” she tried while glancing over her shoulder at the girl, but the only response she received was a slight groan. “Hey!”

“Mmm… Urgh… Eh…?” A weak response, but better than nothing.

“Are you awake? I need you to tell me where your family is.”

“Fa… mily…?” The girl spoke through half-lidded eyes, seeming entirely unaware of what was going on. “Mom… and Dad…”

“Yeah that’s right. Tell me where your mom and dad are. I’ll take you to them.”

“Mom is… Mom is at home… all alone… Ah…! Th-That’s right, I have to… I have to save mom…!”

A bit more life seemed to return to the girl in that moment, as she lifted her head and tried to move her body. But from her position on Micah’s back, it wouldn’t be possible to move anyway unless she resisted in order to free herself.

“You’re injured, so don’t try to move. Anyway, what about your dad? Where is he?”

“Mom… Mom is in trouble… Please…”

“I-I don’t care about that, I’m asking about your-!”

“Please… Please save mom…” The girl’s shoulders began to hitch as she broke down into quiet sobs. Her voice was as small and weak as she was, and yet she continued to beg pitifully over and over.

Against her better wishes, Micah couldn’t help but be reminded of her own pitiful state so long ago, when she was left to die by her older brother back on Earth. In that moment, where she was at her most vulnerable and helpless, she was abandoned by someone who selfishly chose to pursue his own desires and suffered greatly as a result.

If she ignored this girl here and now… wouldn’t that make her the same as Kou?

“I… Haa… F-Fine, I’ll save her. Where’s your home?”

“It’s… th-that way…”

The girl raised one shaky arm to direct her, and following her guidance, Micah pivoted and dashed across the rooftops towards her new destination. It was barely a few minutes before the girl confirmed that the building was in sight, and Micah finally dropped down to ground level again after confirming that there were no monsters in the immediate area.

“It’s this place, right? Are you sure she’s in here?”

“...”

“Hey,” Micah called as she glanced over her shoulder, only to go quiet as she realized that the girl was once again unconscious. Her breaths didn’t seem to be strained and were coming out naturally though, so it seemed she had just fallen asleep in her tired state.

Deciding to leave her be for now, Micah turned her attention to the property before her. Her enhanced hearing couldn’t detect anyone in the main house, but there were distinct voices coming from the barn nearby, so she decided to search there first.

She carried the girl over to the barn, and right away the voices became more distinct. It was a man and woman talking to each other. The woman was likely to be the girl’s mother, but the man was unknown. Could he be her father? Was Talahanan here right now?

Micah’s heart beat faster in her chest at the prospect. The moment she was anticipating was finally at hand. In just a few moments, she would encounter a demon in the flesh for the first time since being born in this world, and a fight to the death would begin.

Was she ready for this? Could she really defeat Talahanan? If she died here, it would all be over. The risk of losing everything was enormous, and yet Micah knew she had no choice but to push on anyway.

She discarded the girl outside of the barn, gently leaning her against one of the walls with the hope that she would wake only once everything was over, and stepped inside.

Right away she spotted them; a pair positioned near the opposite entrance. With her mana-sensing eyes, Micah could identify the mana pool of the woman sitting against the wall. However, the man standing over her was blank, seemingly possessing no pool at all.

It was just like the monsters that were currently terrorizing the village, and now she finally understood why. Micah’s eyes could only detect mana, which was a different energy to miasma. The monsters possessed miasma instead of mana in their bodies, and thus there was no mana pool for her eyes to detect. As a result, they end up appearing hollow to her simply because she can’t see their pool of miasma.

And if this man was the same, it could only mean that he too possessed miasma instead of mana. In other words, he had to be the demon Micah was looking for.

Her scarf ends shot out to attack him before she was noticed. The woman barely managed to call out a warning, but was too late to stop her from piercing Talahanan’s body and pinning him to the wall.

“Found you,” Micah said as she began to approach. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she prepared herself for whatever would come next.  “You’re the demon, right? Sorry, but you’re going to die here.”