Like a puppet cut of its strings, Keith collapsed limply to the ground with a twisted broken neck.

Chloe watched in horror with an incredulous look. “Y-you killed him…”

“...I did,” Henry said with a heavy tone and a downcast gaze.

“W-why?” she asked, her armour melted back into her body unconsciously.

“Because he’s dangerous.”

“Couldn’t you have just knocked him out?”

“And then what? What if he wakes up? What then? We can’t exactly tie him up with the kind of power he has and we don’t have anything with us to tie him up with.”

Chloe gritted her teeth. “H-how can you just kill someone without any hesitation?”

Henry narrowed his gaze. “Without any hesitation? How would you know? Do not assume it plainly, girl. I have no desire to take lives mindlessly but I will do it if it’s necessary. Unless you’re telling me you have a better idea, I don't want to hear any holier-than-thou remarks from you. Do you have a better idea?”

Chloe clicked her tongue. “No… No, I don’t. But still…” Her eyes were glued to the corpse of her ex. She couldn’t pry her gaze off no matter how hard she tried. “Do you really need to kill him…? What if he had some other devious plans in motion? We have no way of knowing it now that he's dead...”

“I have thought about that but it’s not worth leaving him alive. As I have said, we have don't any means to non-lethally neutralise him without putting ourselves in great danger.”

“And what would we tell his friends and family?”

“...I did not think of that and I don't it's our problem. He should have thought of that before trying to do something like this. And what would we tell them? Are you aware of the panic it will cause or worse? I'm sure you are aware of what the greedy corpos and governments will do if they find out about this.”

“So we just said nothing about this? Nothing at all? You—” Chloe cut off her own words as the presumed dead body of her ex rose to his feet all of a sudden.

“Damn,” was all Henry could say before he got battered across the ground with a backhand.

“K-Keith?” Chloe blurted out.

The body of Keith turned around and faced her. Its eyes were glowing a deep glaring purple while a similar shade of aura was oozing steaming off of the body. It snapped its broken neck back into place with a loud audible and echoing crack. A coil of energy was looping its right arm. It raised that arm and splayed open its palm.

Chloe dove out of the way as a beam of energy was shot out. “How are you still alive, Keith?” Her armour slid back on her in a natural fashion as she found her footing after the dodge.

The corpse of Keith gasped voicelessly.

“That ain’t Keith, Chloe. That’s a Demon. A Demon had taken over your ex’s body,” Henry said in a loud voice, pushing himself to his feet while cracking all the bones back into place. That single strike alone had messed him up terribly due to how frail his human body was. Thankfully, Chloe had gotten Keith-Demon's attention.

“What the fuck!” Chloe screamed as Keith-Demon lunged at her without any forewarning. She dodged it at the last moment but Keith-Demon was ready to pounce again. She slanted her body backwards as it took a swipe at her with its hands that had now grown into claws with those excessively sharp and long nails.

“Fuck off, Keith!” she yelled but the Demon did not take her words into consideration, of course. It fired energy bolts. It slashed at her with its claws. It was entirely focused on her, seemingly hellbent on tearing her apart. Chloe, having superior agility, was dodging Keith-Demon’s every move and attack. She could easily retaliate but she couldn’t find the will to. Though the thing attacking her was a Demon, it was still wearing the skin of someone she used to care about.

In the brief reminiscence of her past, she missed a step and the Demon’s slash connected with her skin, drawing a cut across her upper back. She cried out in pain but she did not let her wound slow her. In fact, the wound spurred her into action. She twisted her body and plunged her foot into the lunging Keith-Demon’s belly, sending it tumbling head over heels across the ground.

“That fucking hurts…!” she groaned. “It’s always the quietest that’s the craziest…”

Keith-Demon was back on its feet before Chloe even finished her grumbling. But before it could charge at her again, it suddenly hopped up into the air instead of lunging.

A wave of flames enveloped the spot where the Demon had been standing a second ago. The Demon flipped and landed firmly on its feet as it gazed into the shadows where the flames came from. From the darkness, a near bus-sized reptilian monster emerged with reddish-golden veins glowing all over its body.

“What the fuck…?” Chloe gasped. Her eyes were wider than ever as she fixed her gaze on the reptilian monster. “Where did this fucking thing come from…!? H-Henry, where are you!?”

“You’re looking at me, Chloe,” Henry answered with his Murux Voice.

“It’s y-you?” she stammered.

Henry nodded and turned his head towards the Demon, who had sprung at him from above in the middle of his conversation. Henry unleashed a Firebolt and Keith-Demon fired an energy bolt in response. The two bolts collided and an explosion ensued. The Demon was thrown away while Henry barely staggered from the shockwave due to his size.

“What the hell are you?” Chloe was still in awe over Henry’s Dragon form.

“A Dragon,” Henry answered curtly and charged at the Demon.

Keith-Demon flipped itself upright and threw a volley of energy bolts at Henry, which did nothing against Henry’s impervious hide. The Demon appeared to be shaken as it stood with an agape expression. Realising it was no match for Henry, it switched its target back to Chloe instead. The Demon towards her with a crazed and frenzied face.

Chloe tutted, crouched, and spun her foot into an uppercut, catching the rushing Keith-Demon on its jaw. She leapt, spun, and sent her foot into its torso. The Demon went bouncing across the ground. The Demon sprang to its feet quickly but Chloe was already upon it. She conjured a stake with the silver goo and thrust it at the Demon.

The Demon dodged her attack and countered with a slash, but she avoided it and countered with a high cut. A fresh wound was drawn across the Demon’s face. The Demon flinched, staggering away, but Chloe wasn’t done. She swept its feet with a kick and thrust her palm into its chest. The Demon flew and tumbled right until the gates.

“Impressive,” Henry praised.

“Thanks…” Chloe responded. “How are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Talking without moving your mouth and lips. Ventriloquism?”

“No. It’s magic.”

“Oh, of course.”

Keith-Demon was getting back to its feet but much slower this time. It stared at Henry with an unfocused gaze and an indignant expression. It couldn’t accept that a Demon like itself was being completely oppressed and overwhelmed. It wanted to run away more than anything but its pride wasn’t allowing it.

Henry saw its frustration and taunted it with a smirk.

Keith-Demon let out a piercing shriek and charged at Henry while firing energy bolts in all directions.

“Fuck!” Chloe grunted as she sprinted for cover.

However, Henry coiled his body around her, shielding her from the feral barrage.

“Damn it. This fucking hurts,” Henry grumbled.

“S-sorry,” Chloe muttered.

“Too late for that, idiot.”

Chloe sulked with a pout. “You don’t have to rub it in…”

The barrage of energy bolts kept coming. Wave after wave. Even though Henry wasn’t hurt, the shockwave of the energy bolts and the stray bolts were slowly chipping away the integrity of the warehouse. The roof eventually came down on them. Henry smothered Chloe in his shadows, preventing her from being squashed by the collapse. The barrage stopped after that.

Henry burst out of the rubble and debris with a roar and Chloe steadily climbed out of his protective embrace.

“W-whoa…” Chloe glanced at the destruction around her. “Where’s Keith?”

Henry walked over to a certain spot and dug his claws into it. He then pulled the corpse of Keith out from under the pile of destruction.

"Huh, he ended himself. That was... stupid? Ironic? Which is it I wonder?" Henry mused.

Chloe gasped horrifyingly at the state of her ex’s corpse, which was mangled nearly beyond recognition from the collapse of the roof and ceiling. And the corpse didn’t seem to be moving any longer but she could still see the purplish aura oozing off of it. “Is he truly dead now?”

“Hmm… Keith is truly dead but…” Henry peered closely at the corpse. “It would seem that he made his own body into some kind of a portal for the Demons. I can feel another Demon is trying to possess this corpse.”

“Alright… what do we do?”

Henry didn’t say much afterwards and simply reduced Keith’s body into ashes and cinders with his Fire Breath. Chloe simply stared in awe all the while.

“And that takes care of that,” Henry breathed with relief and slumped on his belly while still in his Dragon form.

“H-Henry…” Chloe called out, fidgeting.

“Yes?”

“Are you… human?”

Henry considered the question for a while before answering. “No, I’m a Dragon. I merely took the form of a human to get around.”

“So… are you going to stay in this true form of yours?”

“I would love to but… it will be bad if someone sees me. Considering my size, it will be quite easy for anyone to spot me with just a casual glimpse.” Henry sighed and transformed back into his human form. His clothes weren’t torn as the transformation was magical. He groaned as he stretched his body. “The human body is too frail.”

“What now?” Chloe asked, her armour slipping back into her body.

“Good question,” Henry said and sat on his knees. “Nadea?”

“I’m here, Henry.”

“You’re being awfully quiet.”

“I didn’t want to break your focus and I was assessing you. You have done well, save for a few parts.”

“Which are?”

“You could have merely incapacitated him instead of killing him. As Chloe had said, he might have other plans already in motion.”

“I don’t know how I could incapacitate him without killing him.”

“In the future, you would be facing similar scenarios and one of these days, you would have no choice but to keep them alive despite the danger they would pose. But all in all, you passed.”

“Can I go back now?”

Nadea tittered. “Not so fast, Henry. We are still not sure if this is everything.  I can still feel the faint traces of Demonic presence. It could just be the residuals but to be safe, you will need to remain in this world for three more days. If nothing happens in the three days to come, then you can return.”

Henry sighed inwardly. “Fine.”

“Oh, don’t be so gloomy. You accomplished your first task in a timespan way shorter than I predicted. You should be proud of that.”

“I’ll be proud when I return to Ulrum.”

“Hey, you even found a mate here. You could spend these three days with her. Enjoy while you still can, you know?”

“H-Henry?” Chloe shook him on the shoulder.

He opened his eyes. “Yes?”

“What do you mean ‘yes’? You just kneeled down and closed your eyes all of a sudden and that's all you can say to me?”

“I was just doing some deep contemplation in regards to your question.”

“And? What’s your answer after your deep contemplation?”

“I’m going to remain in town for a couple of more days, just to be sure your ex didn’t have any other plans in motion.”

“Smart move, I suppose. Anyway, you wanna return to the penthouse with me? My friend told me this afternoon she won’t be home for a week.”

Henry smiled. “Thanks but no. I have somewhere I can crash at.”

“Oh? And where is that place? If it’s a motel—”

“It’s not a motel. It’s a friend’s.”

“A friend’s? Oh… I see. That kind of friend.” Chloe broke into a shivering grin. “You move fast. Already got yourself a friend, I see. Well, say hello to your friend for me.” And she scuttled off without looking back.

Henry didn’t point it out but he could see and tell how shaken up she was by the whole ordeal by her trembling feet and her racing heartbeat. Despite that, she still sucked up her fears and offered him a place to stay for the night. If he wasn’t cursed by a Dragon’s strange disposition of love, he had no doubt he would have fallen in love with Chloe at this point.

Just Henry thought about calling Yula, his phone rang and it could be no one else but Yula herself. With a relieved and light heart, he answered the call.

“Hey, Yula.”

“Come to my place, now,” Yula said and ended the call.

Um… what?