“Hey Victor... I don’t think the Grade-D magjistars I went on my case went are going to survive if they don’t get medical treatment soon...” Zoey hesitantly called Victor on her cell.

Behind her, two young boys with their skulls slightly cracked and a puddle of blood leaking from their injury surrounded their bodies. Weak, breathless moans escaped their lips but Zoey wasn’t sure how long it’d be before they stopped breathing entirely. A little bit further from them, a tall daemon with its torso twisting inward stood upright with blood leaking from its grinning mouth. However, it made no movements whatsoever as it stared at the magjistars.

“Hahaha! Already!? It’s only your first case and you already nearly killed the magjistars assigned with you!? Hold on, I gotta record this! Wait, no they’d put you on trial on the spot. You still have that charm, I gave you?!” Victor annoying chatted on.

“Yeah? Can it mend a cracked skull?” Zoey pulled out the toad ring from her back pocket.

“It’ll keep them alive for you to get them to a doctor to fix their injuries!” Victor answered with a laugh.

“This isn’t fucking funny! Why did they try to kill me, when I didn’t even do anything? Now I gotta save these bastards when they tried to kill me! Isn’t that fucked up?! How am I supposed to report this case when I go to turn it in!?” Zoey surged her mahna in the ring.

Her eyes widened as the toad on top of the ring turned animate and began to grow. It hopped off the ring and looked at the two barely living boys then gave a deep froggy laugh. Then it quickly hopped over to the bleeding twins and started to thoroughly give their scalps a licking. The wet and sticky, nasty sounds combined with how much the toad seemed to be enjoying its job made Zoey shiver. She turned her head, crouched, and covered her ears with her boxing gloves until it was finished.

“That’s fucking gross...” To think she had something like that on her finger this entire time.

Wait a minute... Did that asshole give her that thing expecting her to fuck up somehow or was it for her own safety? Knowing Victor, Zoey had a damn strong feeling it was the first one and that really pissed her off because it really wasn’t her fault things turned out like this...

First off, anyone would try to kill someone who comes at them with killing intent from behind! Their age is no excuse for the murderous aura she felt from them! They were aiming for her from behind while she was dealing with the daemon. If she wasn’t playing around with the daemon to unlock a higher portion of her power, she could’ve been seriously injured by these two little maniacs.

Second off, how was it her fault that their little skulls would slightly split open from a punch from Zoey only using 20% of her full power?! Even if they didn’t get the chance to cover their body in mahna to protect them from her retaliation. Maybe instead of being crazy little psycho fucking killers they should be at home lifting weights and training their bodies. Then they wouldn’t have nearly died for trying to kill an innocent person for no reason.

And the last thing, why in the hell were they trying to kill her in the first place!? She’s never seen these kids before in her life. Was it possible that the magjistar community had assassins trained specifically to target magjistars instead of daemons? Or maybe she beat up their big brother or sister during her bullying spree? Or was it those old bastards who just hate Victor and since they can’t deal with him, they’re going after her instead like a bunch of pussies!

The toad took its sweet time in licking the twins before hopping back over to her and returning to its place on the ring. It shrunk down to the size of a grape and fixed itself back to the ring. Zoey turned around to the twins and snatched them up by the back of their shirts. She was about to rush out of the abandoned mansion but then remembered the daemon’s corpse! It was still grinning at her but Zoey gave no damn about this. The twins were dropped to the ground as their cracked skulls were held together by slimy salvia. Zoey’s boxing gloves morphed and changed shape as they took on the form of a monstrous dog.

Apparently cursed weapons or Daemonic Objects were capable of coming to life like this after absorbing enough magji shards. They grew along with their wielder like a symbiote. Or a parasite if unlucky enough. At first, these boxing gloves were only capable of mending themselves together after taking in some blood but then Victor came into Zoey’s life.

After going on several Grade-A and Grade-B cases with him, both Zoey and the gloves grew to heights they never knew was possible. Well, Zoey always knew she was going to be powerful, just not so fast. The gloves were another story. They surpassed the limitations they initially had and now were nearly uncontrollable in their growth. If Zoey wasn’t as powerful as she was, she knew the two gloves would bare their fangs at her throat. At this point, even she wasn’t sure all her gloves could do.

The two gloves dug into the daemon’s body and tore it apart until they found its magji shard. Zoey swiftly stopped them from swallowing it whole by smashing their heads together and reaching through their mouths and snatching the magji shard in her palm. This was necessary for proof of her innocence. If these stupid dogs ate up this Grade-D daemon, she would have no proof of what happened to the twins wasn’t her own fault. Some proof is better than no proof at all.

After pocketing the magji shard, Zoey picked up the twins once again without any regard to comfort for them. Just light sacks of meat and extra hanging on her arms, and ran off to the nearest hospital with magjistars working in it. Before making it to a populated part of the street, she sprinkled herself with a magji tool that made it harder for normal people to take in her existence. Unless they were naturally talented in mahna and magji, they wouldn’t notice her unless she touched them.

After making it to the hospital at world record speed, she said the silly password for the magjistar doctors and nurses to take them in instead of the normal hospital people. A normal-looking doctor and pink-haired nurse took the twins in. Zoey was forced to explain how a daemon nearly killed the two little psychos in a very detailed way and the extent of their injuries. They were about to ask how a registered Bringer like herself could’ve possibly escaped while carrying the two children but Zoey didn’t give them the chance.

She ran away to the nearest OM branch, reported the case as successfully handled with many exaggerated details that spoke greatly on the twin’s achievements, took her meager portion of the rewards, and ran her way home. Unfortunately, Zoey’s wish to return home as soon as possible was interrupted. A masked guy wearing all black and holding a ninja sword ambushed her on her way. He chose the perfect time to do it too.

“Damn... How the hell did he find me so fast...?” It wasn’t even that long since the twins were admitted into the hospital.

The street looked completely abandoned and was eerily silent even though it was still like 4 pm. Zoey couldn’t tell how strong this guy was but was both excited and annoyed. Excited to see just how much of her strength would he be able to pull out. Annoyed that he was probably going to try and kill her based on his own assumptions without even trying to find out the truth.

“If I asked to be your friend, would you still try and kill me?” Zoey softly asked.

“...” He didn’t respond and only vanished into the wind.

“Well, I tried...” Maybe he was the type of person that wanted to be friends after getting his ass kicked. “I won’t use all of my strength to fight you. Unless you can force me to use 100% of my full strength.” Zoey felt a majority of her power being locked away.

A dangerous feeling came from behind Zoey. Her boxing gloves viciously snarled as she whipped the upper half of her body around and blocked the sword with the back of her fist. The sound of cracking came into her ears. Zoey’s boxing gloves snapped the assassin’s blade into pieces with their teeth. Not even a slight twitch of his eyes when it happened.

In a single motion, a second blade came flying from his hip toward Zoey’s throat. Zoey ducked underneath the flying sword and blinked herself right underneath the assassin while still leaning over. Zoey’s fist came from an unusual and awkward position but it was still filled with deadly power. The assassin was unable to react to the sudden teleportation and strange attack direction. He was forced into using his connate magji. Zoey watched as her fist went straight through the assassin’s jaw like she was trying to punch a ghost!

“You are as good as they say.” He suddenly spoke. “But I've never failed an assignment I was given. There is only one end for you today, Zoey Winters.”

“Bla. Bla. Bla... Are you here to kill me or talk me to death?” Zoey mocked him. ‘So damn cool...’ She inwardly squealed.