“This place is a lot creepier on the inside...” Zoey muttered as she followed behind Lindsay and Alexander.
“Where else would a daemon make their hideout if not abandoned buildings?” Alexander briefly chuckled.
Zoey was about to say something before she was shushed by Lindsay. Lindsay pointed her finger down the hallway. All three magjistars could see four glowing eyes staring back at them before it skittered off around the corner. If Zoey couldn’t feel the mahna coursing through her body and strength flowing in her muscles, she would’ve jumped so hard.
Becoming a badass fighter kind of takes a lot of fear out of you, surprisingly. While Zoey wasn’t confident in fighting ghosts or something like that. Daemons, she could handle daemons. Lindsay sighed as she stood straight up, no longer bothering to be quiet.
“Now that it knows we’re here, this is going to be far more annoying to deal with.” Lindsay adjusted her glasses as she lit up her green crocodile plushie to give them light.
“Sorry?” Alexander felt it was somewhat his fault.
“It was most likely going to find us anyway. This daemon seems smarter than the average daemon. Its first instinct when it saw us was to run instead of fight, after all.” Lindsay briefly glanced over at Zoey.
She had a feeling it was because of this human-shaped monster next to them that it acted that way in the first place. It has been several months since the last time they’ve done a case together. She’s become famous at school and in the normal world while somehow at the same time becoming stronger in the magji world as well. Ever since Zoey became Victor’s apprentice, Alexander and Lindsay have been breaking bones and shredding magji muscles to try and keep up with her growth.
“You think it’s a trap?” Alexander asked.
‘Oh shit, I didn’t even think about if it was a trap or not...’ Zoey thought to herself. She was about to dash after the daemon around the corner, only thinking about how confident she was in her speed.
“It's highly probable.” Lindsay nodded.
Her magji tool glowing with a bright blue light leading their way through the abandoned hospital. As they walked together up the hospital to find the daemon, along the way, Alexander brought up a suggestion. “Should we split up?” This suggestion was met with consideration by Lindsay, and Zoey could only inwardly sigh.
Now, Zoey wasn’t racist or anything like that. She wasn’t a firm believer that only certain races do certain things or say certain things. But... why was it when it came to horror stuff or dangerous situations, the lightest-skin of all the races always wanted to split up. It never made sense in the movies, and it doesn’t make much sense now!
Now don’t get it twisted, Zoey wasn’t afraid or anything. But it wasn’t like they were in a hurry or anything. What was wrong with taking a little bit more time to investigate and travel together? It was safer too! If there was a trap, wouldn’t it be better to face it together instead of separately? But Zoey could tell she was outnumbered.
Alexander chose to investigate the first floor. Lindsay assigned herself the second floor. While Zoey made her way to the third floor. They would meet back up in half an hour with their findings before heading up to explore more floors.
In her solitude, Zoey walked around the ruined hospital with only her phone acting as a light to brighten the way. From time to time, indiscernible sounds would suddenly appear. Either behind her, around the corner, below her, or above her on a different floor. All in all, Zoey was positively spooked.
Why couldn’t this daemon just be a daemon that ran at them and tried to kill them with magji? Did it really have to play hide and seek in this creepy ass fucking hospital? Zoey would rather be attacked upfront than teased like this. She couldn’t handle fake horror movies in real life!
“Hello.”
Zoey instincts violently fought each other in how to respond to the sudden voice appearing behind them. In this clash of fight vs. flight, Zoey’s body chose both since it couldn’t decide on one. She leaped forward into a room with most of her strength before turning around with her gloves up to face the voice behind her. Her body shivered without her consent as she met face-to-face with absolutely nothing.
Only the sound of a child giggling in the distance could be heard as Zoey frantically looked around her. Her senses raised to the max in preparation to handle any physical threat. After a minute or so of absolute terror, Zoey calmed down and immediately got pissed off. Fighting daemons was one thing. Fighting ghosts was another. But fighting a daemon posing as a ghost... Well. Let’s just say, once she got her hands on them, they’re going to wish they were never born!
“Stop playing around and come out and fight!” Zoey yelled.
“Follow me...” A wisp of light suddenly appeared in the entryway of the door.
The wisp slowly floated out the door and down the hallway. Zoey cautiously followed behind it as she silently texted Alexander and Lindsay to come to the third floor. The ball of light led Zoey into some sort of luxury hospital room. Plenty of wide space, abandoned medical equipment that Zoey had no clue of what it did, and a giant fat baby-looking daemon staring right at her.
“Play?” It innocently asked in a deep voice, somewhat fitting and not fitting of its appearance.
“...” Zoey wasn’t comfortable putting down babies. Daemon or not.
“Play. Play. Play. Play.” Multiple smaller daemons came out from behind the big baby daemon. Each one chanting the word, play.
The door violently closed behind her, and Zoey frowned. The ground underneath her lit up in a strange symbol, and Zoey could feel something affecting her. She moved her arms and legs but felt no restriction or anything like that. Then a strange feeling caught Zoey. Zoey looked at her skills and realized a certain skill was rapidly leveling up!
“No play? Go bye-bye!” The daemons yelled in synchrony.
Abnormal Conditions raised from level 20 to level 30 as Zoey’s sight was filled with nothing but whiteness.
“Azarath!” Professor Nim shouted.
Dozens of children with brightly colored hair spread apart as this infamous name was called up. Snickers, mocking, and amusement flowed through them. The child called up, ignored them all. Or at least, tried to. The angst and annoyance on his face were hard to miss. It only gave those laughing at him even more reason to do so, seeing him obviously bothered by it.
“Try not to blow this one up, loser.” Arth mocked.
“I’ve never heard of anyone messing up the summoning ritual.” Elena pushed up her glasses in interest. This would be a good show.
“Azarath can’t even perform the most basic magic missile. Something as complicated as the summoning ritual has to be impossible for him.” Cain loudly laughed.
Azarath of Noble House Ruin, stepped up to summon his familiar. Cursed black hair, a weak frame, and desperation filled his eyes. As he walked to the summoning circle, he focused all of his heart and soul on summoning a familiar that would finally give him what he needed. He followed Professor Nim’s instructions to the T and wished with everything he had for the perfect familiar.
The summoning circle lit up with a bright light that blinded everyone. Professor Nim's eyebrows furrowed. He’s never seen a reaction like this before when a student underwent the summoning ritual. The wise teacher clutched his staff as he channeled his magic in preparation for the creature that might be summoned. Silence took hold of everyone as the light eventually died down and revealed Azarath’s familiar.
“Ah, what the fuck?” Zoey was completely stunned as she took in her new surroundings.
‘What the fuck!?’ Inner Zoey was in agreement.
“What the fuck!?” Zoey saw some old guy pointing a staff at her and nearly violently reacted by teleporting toward him with her ring.
But she was surrounded by these people. There was only one of her, and she didn’t know if they were enemies or not. Zoey calmly and peacefully raised her gloves up in a sign of non-violence. The old fucker was still pointing his wizard’s staff at her, but there was this strange guy looking at her weirdly. He was around her height and had no meat on his bones.
He said some words to her in a language she did not speak while coming closer to her. She dropped her hands, pointed at her mouth, and shook her head, trying to indicate that she didn’t speak his language. But this fucking asshole took it as an indication to suddenly come up and fucking kiss her! Zoey pushed the creep off of her and slugged him across the face with her boxing glove. He went flying off the podium into the crowd of people.
“What’s your fucking problem, asshole!? I was saving that for James, you fucking prick!” Zoey yelled.
“Can you understand us now?” The old guy came up to her.
“What? You’re not speaking garbled words anymore?” Zoey squinted her eyes at him.
He pointed his staff at the asshole that took her first kiss. His unconscious body floated from the floor and came next to the old guy. The old guy started chanting something, and a green light covered the fucker’s body. He then smiled at her.
“My name is Artio Nims, and I'm a professor at this school. You were just summoned by one of my students to become his familiar. I apologize if you saw his actions as inappropriate, but that is the only way summoners can successfully form a pact with their familiars. If you look at the center of your chest, you can see that the pact has been formed.” He politely informed.
“Oh fuck no.” Zoey looked down and saw some weird ass symbol below her neck. “I did not just get summoned to another world to be some fucking slave!” Zoey violently grabbed the old man’s collar. “You’re going to tell me how I'm going to get back home, or I'm going to break this world to pieces!”
Zoey saw the old man’s staff light up, and as soon as she saw that, she gut-punched him. He dropped to his knees with a wheeze, and Zoey kicked his staff away. Keeping an eye out on the kids to the side of her, she dropped down low to the old man. She kept her voice low and as controlled as she could.
“You think you guys can just summon people and enslave them with no repercussions? I didn’t consent to becoming someone’s slave. I didn’t consent to being summoned. And I sure as hell didn’t consent to being kissed by some fucking guy from another world! Now tell me how do I get back home, or else this will get a lot more painful for you and maybe even these kids.” Zoey saw some of the students summoning their familiars.
“I-I... can get you a meeting with the principal... Don’t hurt the students...” He asked.
“I won’t if they won’t.” Zoey didn’t promise him much.
“Stand down, children!” Professor Nim yelled, clutching his stomach. “I’m fine. Please head to lunch now while I deal with this.” He instructed.
No one left or de-summoned their familiars. Artio Nim carried the little pervert that was quick to enslave another human being while leading the way to the person in charge of this place. Zoey secretly looked at the impressive school building in awe but didn’t let down her vigilance. For all she knows, this old bastard could be leading her to a trap. Maybe she should’ve punched him some more so he didn’t think of doing it.
“Welcome, Artio.” A voice greeted them as they walked in the door. “I see this is the first human familiar ever summoned with the summoning ritual. Rumors of you have already spread throughout the school. It’s nice to meet you. I am Headmaster Ruben, but you can just call me Ruben, young lady.” He politely smiled.
“How do I get home?” Zoey got straight to the point.
“I have no clue.” Ruben whimsically smiled.
“Are you telling me I'm stuck here for the rest of my life?” Zoey couldn’t accept this.
She had family, friends, a career, and a maybe future husband waiting back home for her! Things were finally looking up for her! There was no fucking way in hell that she was going to give up on all of that to start over in another world. Zoey was going to find a way back home, or this world was going to pay for dragging her over!
Perhaps, her hostile thoughts could be read on her face, but Ruben quickly tried to soothe things over. “Just because we don’t know of a way to return you back doesn’t mean we certainly can’t find a way, but before we discuss that, we have something else we must discuss.”
“What’s more important than getting me back home?” Zoey was confused.
“Young Azarath Ruin summoned a creature to become his familiar, but if you leave, he will be left without a familiar.”
“Just get him to summon another one.” Zoey shrugged.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that, Miss...”
“Zoey, and why doesn’t it work like that? Can’t you just enslave some other creature to do your bidding?”
“The act of forming a pact with another is not slavery or anything of the sort but a partnership. A lifetime relationship between friends. If a familiar does not want to do something, their master cannot force them with magic.” Ruben happily lectured.
“What if one of them dies?” Zoey briefly glanced at Azaroth’s sleeping figure.
“I wonder?” Ruben smiled. “Instead of wondering about that, I can tell you that gaining another familiar for Young Ruin isn’t impossible. Interestingly enough, the pact between you and him is incomplete. The symbol of a successful pact should be clear, but yours is transparent.”
“What does that mean?” Zoey wasn’t stupid.
She knew this suspiciously young-looking guy just didn’t want her to kill the pervert. Not that she would anytime soon. Zoey just filed it as one of the possibilities of returning back home. A girl had to have her options.
“The pact between summoner and familiar grows stronger through each other. This happens naturally throughout their lifetime as they grow, train, and develop together. However, the most potent way of strengthening a pact is by fulfilling each other’s wishes. It’s just a guess of mine, but I have a small suspicion that Young Ruin’s greatest wish is for a strong familiar.”
“I am pretty strong...” Zoey felt proud and annoyed.
“Perhaps, if you aid him in finding a creature strong enough to satisfy that wish of his, you may be released from your position as his familiar. Who knows if that may return you back to your original world or not? This is a first for all of us.” Ruben’s kind smile never left his face.
“So I get the guy a new familiar strong enough to make him happy, and I might go home?” Zoey simplified it for herself.
“Possibly. If that doesn’t work, I have some friends who are rather accomplished in the field of spatial magic. By cashing in some favors, I might be able to recruit their help to find a way back home for you.” Ruben gave another option.
“Fine.” Seeing that he was willing to try, Zoey didn’t give him a hard time. “I’m sorry for punching you, but I had a feeling that you were going to do some weird magji to me.” She turned to Artio.
“I can understand how frightened you must have been...” Artio didn’t say more than this.
“Where do I go to find strong creatures for this guy?” Zoey asked Ruben.
“I’ll take you.” With a snap of his finger, all four of them instantly appeared in a vast desert.
Hot sandy wind brushed against Zoey’s skin. In her vision, there was nothing but an ocean of sand all around her. She looked toward the headmaster, who wasn’t smiling as he glanced at her. Then just as it wasn’t there, it quickly appeared again as he looked toward her. He whispered something to Artio before facing her.
“This place is known as the Sea of Death. 98% of all summoners lose their lives here in search of powerful familiars to form a pact with. It is unknown why monsters here are vastly stronger than monsters in other parts of the world, but it is rumored that a deity-level familiar once died here. It is because of the immense power within that deity-level familiar that the monsters in the Sea of Death grow so strong. Even after thousands of years, the power in its body is still spreading through this land. Allowing any creature strong enough to survive, to absorb its magical power radiating through the sand, wind, and atmosphere.” Ruben lectured.
“So, he should be satisfied with the first monster we find then. Good.” That was what Zoey took from that long speech.
“...” Ruben was speechless.
Zoey hefted Ruin over her shoulder and began walking forward, leaving the two adults behind.
“Keep a close eye on that child.” Ruben’s smile dropped.
“Is there something about her, Headmaster?” Artio asked.
“Teleporting her alone took 35% of my magical power. You don’t even add up to 5%. She’s either far stronger than her age suggests, or there’s something special hidden inside her body.” Ruben informed.
“What should I do? Just watch her?” Artio was a little nervous hearing the words of the Headmaster.
Headmaster Ruben was known as the strongest spatial summoner of their generation. The number of summoners that could contend with him could only be counted on one hand. If this young girl was strong enough to force him to use 35% of his magical power, there had to be something special about her. But how was he supposed to contend with someone like that when he didn’t even add up to 5%?
“I doubt she harbors any malicious intent toward us or Young Ruin. From what I saw, she’s just an innocent child caught up in something that she had no control over.” Ruben tried to assure him. “But, she has the potential to cause great destruction. If something bad happens, use this.” Artio was given a necklace. “Activate it and flee away as quickly as you can with the boy.”
“Understood. I’ll keep a close eye on her.” Artio was nervous but believed in the Headmaster.
“Good. I’ll send a substitute to watch over your class. Keep Young Azarath safe.”
“What if she isn’t sent home after she gets a familiar for Azarath?”
“Ditch her here and leave with the boy. I doubt she’ll be able to survive even with her potential. Not even I in my youth could stay here for more than a day.”
“But didn’t you say-” Artio was interrupted before he could continue.
“I know what I said. I said that so that she would have hope in case things don’t turn out well here. Dealing with someone dangerous that has nothing to lose is far worse than dealing with someone that has something to lose.” Ruben answered. “The fact that the summoning ritual can summon creatures from other worlds is something that only we know. All this time, we’ve thought the creatures came from somewhere on the planet.
“U-Understood, Headmaster... I’ll be going now.”
“Farewell.” Ruben vanished in an instant.
It didn’t take long for Zoey to encounter one of the monsters in this world. It saw them before they saw it. In the distance, she saw a four-legged creature speeding across the desert straight toward them. Ruin was still knocked out, so she looked at Artio.
“Is that thing a good familiar?” She asked him.
“Maybe we should wait until Azarath awakens. The familiar will be his for life, after all. Shouldn’t he have a choice in the familiar he will be with?” Artio Nims suggested.
“Don’t you have a spell or whatever to wake him up? If I wake him up, I don’t think I'll be able to control my strength. I’m still upset.” Zoey dropped Ruin off her shoulder with little care.
Ruin fell with a groan to the sandy floor below. Zoey stretched as she kept her eye on the super fucking fast monster still racing its way toward them. She doubted the old man was going to be any help at all. After thinking about it, there was no reason why she personally had to help Ruin get a familiar in the first person. The old man could just get one for him, and his stupid wish would still be fulfilled.
‘Did we fall into another stupid fucking trap?’ Zoey asked herself.
‘Probably. You’re kind of a fucking meathead.’ Inner Zoey responded.
‘Erm! We’re a fucking meathead. This is a team effort, miss rudeness.’ Zoey locked eyes with the four-legged reptilian monster as it got even closer.
As Inner Zoey was about to argue back, The weird fusion between a tiger and a komodo dragon pounced straight toward her without hesitation. It kind of pissed her off and made her feel happy. Out of the three people present, it wanted to eat her of all people first. Like damn, Zoey knew she was a snack, but this was a bit ridiculous, right?
After inwardly laughing at her joke despite the dangerous situation, Zoey met the monster with a ferocious uppercut. It rose into the air as the bones in its jaw shattered from the force of Zoey’s uppercut. An uppercut empowered by the first passage of Overdraft. That punch had 100% of Zoey’s unrestricted natural body strength behind it.
Zoey spat onto the sand below. Its movements were so telegraphed, she’d be ashamed of herself if she didn’t get the first hit. Even though it was her first time facing against an animal, fighting was fighting. Daemons usually fought like animals, just in a shape similar to humans.
“...” Artio was speechless as he saw the Komnom defeated in a single blow without a single spell used.
“!!!” Azarath Ruin looked at the sight in pure awe and wonder.
Artio could perform a similar feat with a high-level spell, but this child didn’t give any indication of using any magical power whatsoever. With nothing but her natural strength, she effortlessly subdued an upper-grade monster. Headmaster Ruben was correct about this girl. She’s certainly hiding something.
“Do you want this thing?” Zoey asked Ruin. He shook his head.
“Why not?” Zoey thought it looked pretty cool. She would choose it as a pet to ride around on.
“It didn’t stand a chance against you. I want a familiar as strong as you if I have to give you up.” Azarath didn’t give any room for negotiations.
‘This son of a bitch! He’s lucky that we aren’t murderers!’ Inner Zoey growled.
‘We kind of are. Daemons are people, too, in a way. It’s just that they were killed in self-defense because they tried to kill us.’ Zoey glared at Azarath, but he didn’t stand down. He wanted a strong familiar no matter what, even if he had to suffer for it.
“What’s your obsession with having a strong familiar? Are you planning to take over the world or something? Get revenge and kill someone?” Zoey asked as she turned her back to him.
Her question was met with silence. And that made Zoey annoyed. Violent and dangerous thoughts began to sing and dance throughout her head as her fists visibly shook. Just when Zoey was about to say fuck it, the little prick opened his mouth again.
“I want to prove that I'm not a failure and that I deserve a spot at the academy just like the rest of the nobles. I am just as worthy of attending as they are.” Azarath softly replied.
‘Are we sure we haven’t been summoned into an anime?’ Inner Zoey questioned.
‘Fucking stubborn little asshole wants recognition from everyone around him while I'm not even sure I can return back home. Our struggles are not the same! You will not get sympathy from me!’ Zoey audibly snorted.
“You don’t think I can do it either, do you?!” Azarath raised his voice before grabbing her arm. “Don’t forget, you’re my familiar now! You-” Azarath’s words were stopped with a boxing glove to the face.
He cried out in pain as he stumbled backward, falling to the ground on his ass. Zoey stood over him and kicked him in the face. She then properly mounted him before giving him blow for blow the attitude he was coming at her with. Inner Zoey cheered in support while Artio was momentarily stunned by the sudden violent assault on his student!
At the beginning, he didn’t know how to react. He just thought the two would argue before going about their ways! It seems like wherever this girl is from, violence is way more accepted than peacefully talking things out! Briefly, Artio clutched the necklace before deciding that now wasn’t the time. He simply levitated Azarath from beneath the girl and kept him out of range while also healing him.
“We are not in an equal relationship! I will hurt you!” Zoey reminded him.
“It's up to me... Whether you stay as my familiar or not... Don’t forget that...” Azarath’s face was horribly bruised and swelled while blood leaked from his mouth.
“Do you think I won’t kill you?” Zoey’s mahna sharply rose as she directly pressured Azarath.
Azarath couldn’t breathe. His entire body felt like it was being crushed. His organs, his bones, his blood, nothing was spared. Maybe... Maybe just maybe... He shouldn’t press his luck with this girl anymore... Even trying to use his own magical power to resist was helpless.
“I think he’s learned his lesson, Zoey...” Artio was sweating as he did everything in his power to help Azarath, but the boy’s damned magical power wasn’t helping.
Trying to use his own magical power to relieve the pressure only worked on the skin level, but trying to delve deeper inside the boy’s body where his magical power cycles throughout his body was impossible. Artio didn’t understand why his magical power disappeared when it went past the skin. Is this the reason why he’s failing his practical classes at the academy?
“Whatever.” Zoey pulled back her mahna. “Next monster we find, he’s making a pact with. I don’t care what he thinks about it. A truly strong summoner should be able to make any familiar they pact with powerful.” Zoey scoffed.
“If that’s the only option...” Artio followed behind Zoey, with Azarath being levitated behind him.
“It is.”
And with that, there was no more conversation. Zoey and the two traveled through the seemingly endless desert with little rest. Thank to Abnormal Conditions being level 38, this journey through the Sea of Death felt no different than taking a walk on an average day in Summer. There was a blue semi-transparent barrier around Artio and Ruin that she guessed made it more bearable for them.
Hours passed without any signs of another monster, and Zoey was getting suspicious. She assumed that a place called the Sea of Death would be overrun with monsters, but the only damn thing in this place was sand! Was that damn old man scaring the monsters away with his barrier? Zoey was nearing her breaking point.
Luckily, half an hour later, she spotted something in the distance. A group of animals riding together. Her first instinct was to chase after it immediately, but it turns out that there was no need for such a thing. The animals were riding toward them. With a relieved sigh, Zoey dropped to her butt and took a break until they got within attacking range.
“Don’t those monsters look rather strange to you?” Artio squinted to get a better look.
“Don’t ask me. I don’t live on this world.” Zoey casually shrugged him off. “The strangest thing to me is why the hell do you look like me. I’m a human from an entirely different galaxy, solar system, and shit. There’s no reason why you should look so similar to me.” Zoey didn’t think too hard about it, though. Maybe it was a parallel world or some shit. In this world, creatures evolved differently with mahna and magji.
Artio had no idea what Zoey was talking about, but he somewhat agreed. This was a girl from a world different than his own, but she looked no different than other girls her age.
“Look what we have here girls... Travelers all out on their lonesome in this scary, scary desert.” A deep-voiced monster spoke.
No, wait, Zoey just looked up. It turns out there were people riding monsters. With one big sigh, all of Zoey’s excitement and enthusiasm left her body. These women were probably already in a pact with these monsters!
“Hey, my name is Zoey. We’re looking for monsters to form a pact with. Do you know where any are at? We’ve been looking for hours.” Zoey didn’t want to start any trouble.
“Monsters? Well, sure, little lady! I can show ya where some monsters are at, but it's going to cost ya...” The leader of the group grinned.
“Artio. I know you got some cash or something valuable on you. Give it to them, and let’s get on our way.” Zoey refused to believe that he was poor schooling at that fancy-ass school.
The professor grumbled something before reaching into his robes and taking out a shiny crystal ball. Zoey wasn’t blind to the fact that the eyes of the leader shined when seeing that ball. She happily took it out of his hand and nodded at the other girls. They relaxed their postures, and Zoey was relieved to see they weren’t going to try to rob them further.
“Get on. We’ll take you to the monster field in no time. If you have anything else as valuable as this, we’ll even be willing to bring you back to the closest settlement.”
“We can discuss it then,” Artio spoke up, being the adult of the group.
“You got moves, girl. How about joining up with us? I can promise you a life filled with riches, adventure, and as many partners as you want.” Reia, the leader of the Wandering Desert Wolves, asked Zoey.
Zoey used her mahna to clean the blood all over her body while sitting on the dinosaur-like monster she had just got done pummeling half to death. She looked into the eyes of Reia and smiled.
“I appreciate the offer, but I'm not going to be around for long.” Zoey then glared at Azarath.
Azarath sighed as he crouched down low to the monster’s head. He kissed it, and a pact was formed between the two of them. The carnivorous monster, on par with a grizzly bear in size, connected with Azarath in both body and soul. Zoey smiled as the translucent mark that indicated her relationship with Azarath shattered apart. A bright blinding light soon exploded from her body, and she couldn’t help but laugh in joy. She was going home! She was going to see the people she loved again!
Zoey’s laughter was heard by all of the Wandering Desert Wolves, Artio, and Azarath. None of them knew for sure what was happening, but they guessed it was a good thing. Well, Artio kept the necklace clutched in his hand out of fear. If Zoey returned back to her world, that was great. But if she didn’t... He knew exactly who she was going to turn her attention to.
The laughter died down along with the bright light. Zoey was still here. She didn’t return home. There was absolutely nothing different about her except the pact between her and Azarath was now gone. Just to make sure, she looked over at Artio and Azarath and then at the sand below. Yep, she was still in this world.
Like a bomb going off, Zoey’s mahna exploded as the second passage of Overdraft burst open. Sand rose more than 15ft up into the air, and just as Zoey was about to take a step in the direction of Artio and Azarath, an olden voice cut through the blasting sand and wind.
“Don’t forget, Zoey! Headmaster Ruben still has his colleagues! You can still return home! I promise you!” Artio Nims shouted with magical power.
This did stop Zoey in her tracks. It wasn’t over. She still had a chance to go home! Taking out her rage on these two will only bury that chance! Zoey’s outburst of power was halted, and she returned to normal, albeit with sand all over her body.
Then a small beam of light flashed from Artio’s direction. Focus activated, and Zoey could see in slow motion as the ray of light was heading straight for her chest. She moved her body, but even if she could see what was coming toward her, she couldn’t avoid it. It was simply too fast.
The pain was brief. It was a sharp pain that didn’t even last for a second before the light ripped through her chest and exited from her back. Zoey dropped to the ground, confused. Did she just fucking die? No, no, no... That was... impossible...
‘I lost? I lost to an old man that couldn’t even handle a regular punch from me? No way...’ Blood began to puddle from the hole in Zoey’s chest.
‘I can’t lose... I have the box... My potential is infinite... I can beat anyone in the world eventually. I can’t lose yet...’ The Wandering Desert Wolves were shouting something at Artio and Ruin.
‘Mom... Dad... Everett... I can’t die here... I still have so much to do... I refuse to lose here... It isn’t the time... I haven’t conquered the magji world and fighting world...’ Ruben suddenly teleported next to Artio and Ruin, who were about to be attacked by the Wandering Desert Wolves, and teleported them away.
‘Ah, it was a trap...’ Zoey realized she got played.
Then her thoughts came to a stop, and everything went black. Zoey didn’t know how long she was in that dark place. It could’ve been hours, years, or centuries. All she knew was that all she had was herself in that place. Zoey and Inner Zoey stared at one another until they fell into each other. And that was when Zoey reawakened as something new.
She climbed up from beneath the sand burial. A gaping hole should be present through her chest right now, but instead of a gaping hole, there is a magji shard where her human heart should be. The being that used to be Zoey now had clawed hands like a daemon’s but other than those two, she couldn’t see any other obvious differences. She looked upward and noticed the Box was still here...
[Status]
[Name: None]
[Sex: Female]
[Condition: Daemonic Human]
[Body: 15]
[Mental: 10]
[Magic: 15]
[Skills: 2]
[Victorious Boxing Lv1]
[Embodiment of Victory Lv1]
"…" She was going to break the world until it shattered apart.
She didn’t know why she wanted to do it. But no matter who stands in her way, she was going to come out victorious. Maybe she might even find someone fun to fight against during it. With their world on the line, they would surely fight with everything they had, right? She smiled before taking off into the desert with her star-shaped tail swaying in the wind behind her.
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Not canon? Ok, would have been fun though.
Seriously, this would be an amazing turn to take the story. Maybe we'll get more non-canon continuations later on, see how much she destroys before nobody can stop her anymore? I'd love that.
Damn imagine if this was Canon that would be a big twist for the story
how would zero be on tsukaima if the MC hadn't been summoned by a cute loli tsundere
It would be interesting if the author makes a side story or omake of this isekai situation.