~SKYLAR AMBERLY VITALIS

---

I lay slouched on the couch. My tails up to their own devices, exploring under the furniture and gliding contentedly over the carpet. The reach of their length was completely to my advantage.

I obviously wouldn’t be doing this if everything wasn’t already cleaned spotless.

I was using my tails as much as I could to get a good feel of what I could do with them, and to speed up my adjustment to having them in the first place.

Gaia had told me a few extra things before I came home.

My first summoning was in three days. Which would put it on a Tuesday… which meant that my Thursdays and Saturdays would be take up as well.

‘Well at least I don’t have to respond to summons on Sundays.’ I tried to see the better side of things. ‘Unless a summoning extends for that long…’ I internally groaned.

Secondly, Gaia had linked her slate with mine. She did say that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with her often due to her schedule, but not to hesitate to ask her questions even if she might be late to reply.

Lastly, she had given me some words of advice as one of the veterans in the summoning field…

The words of which were still ringing loudly in my head.

‘They were more warnings than advice though…’ I sighed.

Right now, I was just procrastinating though.

I knew what I had to do, but some small part of me questioned losing whatever dregs of human genes were left in me.

“I know many who would dream to have this opportunity, and wouldn’t give it up for the world.” I mumbled to myself out loud, staring at the back of my hands and at my clear claws. “Why me though…? I thought my life was going okay since I’ve been punished enough.” I clenched my fist, feeling my claws digging into my palm. “Well… at least I thought I had been punished enough…”

Gaia had spoken with such an intense seriousness at the end, that even her aura had leaked out to drive the point further.

“Nocturna… You will see things out there… So, you need to know where you draw your lines… the hills you will die on… and the lengths you will go to! Don’t let these things break you.”

The nerdy child within me was doing flips and cartwheels and screaming at the top of the world at how awesome being bestowed such powers were!

Then there was the mature side, humbled by the few years of compact experience, knowledge and understanding of the world… Knowing the weight of what it meant to wield power.

I sighed loudly to myself again. “Yesterday the only thing I had to worry about was my next commissioned piece. Now I’m debating on what kind of monster I wish to take on the multiverse as.”

Life just hit me like a freight train, and I was more bitter about it that the prospect of becoming a full demon. And if only this had been the first time that everything had spun out of control…

Then again, one can only get wiser with experience.

“Fuck!” I cussed.

Having nothing else to do until Fumiko got back from her classes, I pulled up my inventory and checked on the details of my single rare item.

>CHAINS OF LUCIFER

>>A duo-weapon focussed on versatility rather than attack or defence.

>>Has the ability to bring light to the most abyssal darkness.

>>Living chains that warps to the soul and will of its wielder.

I sighed again. Closing my eyes and making up my mind.

I stood up, did some stretching, and paced around the living room for a bit.

‘System… equip Chains of Lucifer.’

>UNSURE STATE OF MIND DETECTED FROM USER NOCTURNA’S REQUEST!!

>DO YOU WISH TO CONFIRM?!

I paused. Stood still for a moment. Took a deep breath.

“I confirm.” I said out loud.

>[CHAINS OF LUCIFER] CANNOT BE UNEQUIPPED!

>DO YOU CONFIRM?!

“I do!”

The partial gauntlets materialised around my wrists and the swirling metal and designs crawled halfway up my forearms. An extended piece formed over the back of my hands but leaving my fingers free.

I soon found out the purpose for this extra addition to my hand.

When the chain slid out, it slipped over the back of my hand and the piece protected them from the friction.

However, it also made a noticeable sound of chain links sliding over metal.

The sound instantly throwing my mind back to the day prior, after I had left Oliver in the old house.

I shook my head. Preferring not to think too much about the implications.

The chains were obviously heavy even though they were on the small side. This was due to their five metre length on each wrist though.

I tried imagining them moving… and they wiggled a little, but not much else.

I tried imagining them going away, and to my surprise the chains retracted at great speeds back into the sheaths of the bracelets. Their weight disappearing along with them, before the gauntlets themselves painlessly sunk into the skin of my arms and leaving my hands free.

I could still feel their presence, but it was no more uncomfortable than having someone lightly grabbing my wrists.

‘I thought they would be more inconvenient.’ I breathed a sigh of relief, ‘Now I just need to get used to their presence.’

>NOTICE: [Chains of Lucifer] has 2 weapon slots and one skill slot at current level.

‘Oh!’ I arched my brows, ‘The chains can be equipped with things?! That’s… really nice.’

The description did say that it was made with versatility in mind. And it also said that I could equip it with a skill?

I eyed the evolution-plus ticket hanging out in one of my inventory slots.

‘Wonder what other upgrades I can do at higher levels…?’ I openly wondered.

Nevertheless, I had to shelve that thought for later as I brought up the Wall of Providence.

There wasn’t much to do on that front either.

The bases I could choose seemed to be restricted on what my origin already was. So, it didn’t show me anything other than humanoid shaped demons.

I explored the list while keeping a few key ones in mind.

I automatically discarded anything with wings.

Not that I was averse to flying under my own power, but I was sure that with magic there were options other than gaining limbs that would make me a bigger target.

Anything undead were also a no go, purely out of personal principle… Along with anything that had an elemental body similar to golems, nymphs, dryads and the like.

I continued to shorten my list so that I could have more respectable choices.

Nothing without two legs. Nothing with more than two legs.

Nothing that would change my gender! Nothing giant and nothing too small!

‘Wait a minute!’ I paused from my scrolling. ‘If I’m already half-demon… then what kind of demon am I even.’

I mean, getting to choose would be nice and all, but I already had something that was somewhat working for me already.

>RACE: Human

>SUB-RACE: Avnumi

‘Well… I’ve never heard of that before at least.’ I noted as I scoured my memory for any similar words.

I searched the Inquiry Index, which happened to have a very handy and very detailed search feature.

>>AVNUMI: A reclusive demonic race draped in mystery. Known to be solitary creatures, there are no source of information on their society or hierarchy. Often described to have draconic features with no wings, complimented by feline looks. Classed as Beastmen, they often manifest the same inclination towards highly developed senses. Renowned for their power-to-body density ratio, they are held in high regards for their prowess and dexterity as well as resourcefulness. The Avnumi are nicknamed the Elusive Nightmares.

‘That’s… something…’ One of my tails curled over to scratch my chin pensively.

The Index only gave me the brief. There was nothing about their description, but since they were classed in the Beastmen category, I was expecting prominent non-human features.

The only question I was currently worried about was if the trade-off was worth it.

‘I suppose it does cater towards my strengths…’

And this brought about the thought as to whether I was a sports-oriented person because of my distant ancestral demonic blood’s influence.

It would make sense if what Gaia told me about my turning was true, and if somewhere – generations prior to even my great-grandparents – an Avnumi got mixed in.

I shrugged to myself, not dwelling on it too long.

I searched for that evolutionary line and chose it.

>WARNING: BASE RACE CAN NEVER BE CHANGED. ALL FUTURE EVOLUTION WILL BE RESTRICTED TO ONLY THE SUB-SPECIES OF THE [AVNUMI] RACE.

>DO YOU CONFIRM?!

I smiled a little… the giddy little nerd in me getting excited again despite the difficulties I knew would lie ahead.

‘I confirm!’

~

~FUMIKO SORA VITALIS

---

Fumiko came home so tired, that she could barely stand in the ascending elevator ride to the penthouse, without collapsing to the floor.

Walking around with friends after lessons, and before choosing to walk back home, had been a terrible idea in retrospect.

But the only person currently capable of giving her a ride owned an electric sports bike and had a passive disregard for road rules.

Not to mention that Fumiko herself was wearing a skirt, and she would never get on her stepsister’s bike in such a risqué position and attire.

“I’m home!” Fumiko entered the house, announcing her presence loudly.

Skylar was usually in her studio at around this time. Blasting music in her headphones and curled in a foetal position with her legs up in her office chair… while hunched over a drawing tablet.

Fumiko threw her stuff into her room and managed to get changed into her more casual clothes, before going to check on her stepsister.

However, the upstairs studio was empty and quiet today.

None of the usual running monitors were on.

Not even the trace of leftover foods or drinks on the desks either.

Fumiko found it surprising that Skylar wasn’t working today. Especially since it was the usual routine ever since she had moved to live in the penthouse.

“Weird…” She muttered to herself as she scanned the studio to make sure Skylar wasn’t just sleeping in the corner somewhere around the mountain of art stuff.

Fumiko went back down the stairs, then paused… only to turn around and stare at Skylar’s bedroom door down the corridor.

She wondered if that was the first place she should have looked as she approached the door and knocked lightly.

“Are you in there?!” she asked, “I’m home!” Fumiko declared again.

There was the distant and muffled shuffling of bedsheets.

“Welcome back.”

For some reason, Skylar’s reply sent a chill down her spine.

Fumiko shook her head clear of the weird sensation before speaking up again. “I’m going to start setting up for dinner.” she told her stepsister. Leaving the option as to whether Skylar wanted to jump in as usual or not.

“Before that, I have something to tell you.” Her stepsister’s voice was right behind the door now. “Would you mind coming in?”

Fumiko felt the chills again, and unconsciously slid a foot back. Something in her mind was setting off alarms even if her senses couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.

“I… I’m coming in.” said Fumiko, finding it hard to move her own feet as the door opened to reveal complete darkness behind it even if the hallway was so brightly sunlit.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could notice that the curtains of the windows were merely closed, but some sunlight still filtered though.

The room wasn’t exactly as dark as it felt, Fumiko realised as she walked over to her stepsister’s bed and took a seat.

“So, what’s up?” she asked.

Skylar had her back turned as she was closing the door. And for some absurd reason, had not bothered to uncover herself from her bedsheet.

Fumiko listened to the older girl sigh deeply, before speaking in a steadied voice.

“I don’t think I ever asked what your beliefs were.”

Fumiko shrugged, even though her stepsister still had her back turned. “You mean religiously? I don’t have any, but mum would argue otherwise.”

“I see…” Skylar trailed off.

“Is there something wrong?” Fumiko was puzzled.

“You might say that.” Skylar seemed to nod to herself. “Something happened yesterday… well earlier today before sunrise.”

Fumiko’s mind remembered earlier this morning. “Yeah, I was wondering why there was a glass of water with teeth in them.” she pointed out. “But I figured I would ask first.”

The sheets around Skylar’s feet were disturbed for a moment. Shifting as if someone was trying to untangle a coil of rope beneath them.

“It’s related to what I have to say.” Skylar took a deep breath, “But you have to promise me that you will try your best not to freak out.”

Fumiko – being more curious than anything else at this point – simply agreed without forming second thoughts about it.

However, the moment she did and Skylar turned around, letting the sheet drop to the floor, Fumiko’s mind ground to screeching halt.

The figure that stood there in the dim light of the room in front of her was a pale imitation of a human female.

Perhaps there were even trace similarities to how her stepsister looked, since the humanoid was wearing Skylar’s clothes, but that wasn’t the focus of Fumiko’s malfunctioning mind right now.

She was noticing every detail that placed this creature outside of human understanding.

The female entity’s face was fairly animalistic in structure…

Having a short snout and a nearly non-existent, flat, slender, nose with narrow slits for nostrils set in a V-shape.

Silvery-white orbs for eyes, suspended in sclera of pure, velvet blackness, stared at her with wide, vertically-slit pupils that were borderline ovular.

Parts of her flawless ash-grey skin were freckled in very small scales that were a beautiful marble-black in colour, shaped like slivers of broken glass… Outlining her jaw, cheekbones, the bridge of her animalistic nose, and the outline of her hairline.

Her lithe body had the same scales covering her shoulders, and the side of her hips.

Fumiko could only notice this since the figure was dressed in nothing but a tank top and shorts.

Even in the dim light, faint iridescent refractions danced in the surfaces of the crystalline black scales.

The differences from a human didn’t end there though!

A pair of narrow draconic ivory horns grew from her forehead above her hairline.

They curled over the contour of her skull and ended into upwards facing points at the back. There were two more pairs of pointy ivory beads protruding from the skin at her temples… seemingly tinier, undeveloped horns.

The hairstyle was clearly reminiscent of Skylar, since that was the only thing aside from the general shape of her figure that hadn’t changed.

Her long ears – a morph somewhere between cat-like and rabbit-like – covered in the tiniest of black scales, twitched at the upper sides of her head.

They could clearly move individually and at will… able to perk up and swivel around to better assimilate the surrounding sounds.

She didn’t have a navel either. Just a smooth, iron-hard six-pack under the smooth layer of grey abdominal skin.

Extra movement caught Fumiko’s eyes.

A pair of really long tails, curling lazily back and forth behind their owner. Both carrying spearhead-shaped ends, part of which had diamond-shaped holes in them.

The legs were digitigrade, slim and yet smoothly muscular. Resembling something more feline than her face despite the thicker black scales over her shins.

As she was barefoot, the soles of her digitigrade legs were visibly padded underneath, much like a cat’s.

Fumiko watched as the creature gave an awkward smile, flashing the glint of very pointy teeth and fangs.

“In my defence.” said the creature, “I really didn’t expect to turn out like this.”

Skylar’s voice seemed to reboot her brain, and Fumiko scrambled to find coherent words and put together sentences.

“You’re… looking… different?” Fumiko’s voice squeaked at the end as she tried to supress her panic.

The creature was standing between her and the door. All she could do was grip fistfuls of the fabric of the bed, and take deep calming breaths as her heart tried to hammer itself out of her skull.

“Can I ask you to at least listen to my story before you do anything?”

Fumiko slowly nodded at the creature’s request, but never took her eyes away.

Skylar backed up a bit to give more space between them, and when her back met the door, she slid down in to a sitting position, trying to make herself look small and harmless so as not agitate the situation any further.

After an hour of explanation and answering questions, Skylar’s shoulders sagged as she lifted the entirety of the weight from her mind.

Fumiko – having calmed down – stared at her step-sister, trying very hard to see the human beneath all the change. “What happens now?” she asked the Avnumi.

Skylar stared at her clawed hands for a long moment. “I figure this out.” she shrugged, “What else can I do?”

“According to what Gaia told you…” Fumiko spoke up. “This will only get harder the longer it goes on.” she huffed, “And four years of debt?! That is absurd! You can’t keep this a secret for that long! What if one day you come back badly injured?! Or don’t come back at all?! What will I do?! What will I tell-?”

She was cut-off midsentence by Skylar shooting from the door in one swift motion, and enveloping her in a gentle hug.

Fumiko’s mind went full red-alert alarm panic for a few seconds, before realising that she was in no danger… and returned the hug.

She noticed that despite looking like shards of crystals, Skylar’s newly acquired scales were nice and smooth, and that the edges were not as sharp as they looked.

It was actually the first physical contact they had ever shared in the short while that they had become sisters.

Fumiko found herself regretting, that she couldn’t have done it earlier, when her sister was still human.