Hayato stood near the edge of the rooftop as he looked at his targets below. Four of them were traveling among humans in convincingly well-made human disguises. If he hadn’t been following this group of daemons before they put on their disguises, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to tell from this far away. However, that didn’t matter since he spotted them early on.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they put on a compelling act as humans. They transformed into a bunch of gangsters roaming around at night. Joking around with one another, threatening any humans that passed by, and some were even smoking. Hayato didn’t bother to think about why daemons were innately skilled in deception. The only thing on his mind was finishing the case and testing his abilities.

“Hey ladies, you looking for a good time tonight?” Caleb grinned at the group of girls.

“We’re good, thank you,” Ava responded back as she tightly clutched her purse.

“Whoa, don’t be in a hurry to run away. Haha. We don’t bite.” Isaac laughed as he stood in front of the girls.

“We promise it’ll be fun.” Owen also stood in front of the girls.

“Besides, dressed like that in this type of neighborhood, it's obvious what kind of attention you girls are looking for.” Finn lecherously licked his lips.

“Why don’t you creeps, fuck off! We already said we’re not interested!” Zoe reached into her purse.

“Learn to take a hint. No means no.” Lucy supported her friend.

“Get out of our way before we have to call the police.” Ruby felt her courage rise with her friends.

“Put away the claws, pussycats. We understand.” Caleb put his hands up to show he meant no harm.

“Have a good night, ladies.” Isaac moved out of the way.

“Damn. I thought I could get laid tonight too.” Owen sighed, also moving out of the way.

“There’s plenty more fish in the sea, boys. The night ain’t anywhere near over, either! We’ll find some cunts that aren’t prudes.” Finn cackled.

The girls out for a night of fun used the opportunity to walk past the group of delinquents. They were all relieved that things didn’t become worse. Zoe thought that these creepy assholes were bad, but at least they weren’t complete jackoffs. She released the grip she had on her mace and took her hand out from her purse. Only for the guys to snatch them up in their arms and carry them off into the night.

Screams, curses, and a lot of flailing ensued shortly after. The delinquents giggled to themselves as they dragged the women into an empty construction site. It was nighttime, sure, but there were still people around. But these people didn’t do anything as they saw young pretty women being kidnapped. Some may have recorded the scene on their phone, but no one called the cops or tried to get involved themselves. After all, it was easier and safer to be a bystander than a hero. It was the natural human mentality in today’s age.

At the construction site, the four threw the women on the ground and surrounded them. Caleb looked around for a few moments as the boys taunted and teased the women. Tearing their clothes, kicking them around, and mocking them. Once he was finished checking the area out, he gave them the signal.

“WAHOO! This is my favorite part!” Finn’s body began to change.

The first change was his skin. Chocolate brown skin slowly began to change to grey. His arms dramatically lengthened as his fingers extended into claws. It didn’t take long for the women to start screaming at the inhuman and incomprehensible sight they were witnessing. But their terror only compounded as the other delinquents started to change as well.

“It feels good to be back in my normal form.” Isaac flexed his wings.

“Acting like a human is so restricting.” Owen grew to around eight feet tall. A second face appeared on his large stomach with a frightening visage.

“You can take your time eating them. No one is around.” Caleb gave them the green light to dig in.

“I’ve been waiting all day for this!” Finn prepared himself to lunge at the nearest woman.

“Ghost Volume I: Terror of the Night.” A voice suddenly appeared near the women.

The women didn’t notice it at first, but there was suddenly some strange person dressed in all black right in front of them! He calmly took out his sheathed blade and pointed it at the weakest-looking daemon. His sudden appearance put the other daemons on guard as they frantically looked around for other magjistars. As seconds passed without the appearance of another magjistar, the daemons started to laugh.

“A free meal right from the sky. Who would’ve thought?” Both of Owen’s faces sneered.

“I knew magjistars were dumb, but who knew there were idiots that would still try to hunt us on their own?” Isaac giggled.

“Idiot! Stupid! Dummy!” Finn pounced toward the masked magjistar.

“Barrier.” Hayato raised his open palm to the air and shot out a burst of mana into the sky.

In an instant, a dome-shaped barrier was erected around the construction site. Finn passed right through Hayato’s body, and as he landed next to him, he was utterly confused. The sound of a sword being taken out of its sheath was the only thing Finn heard before his head went flying off in the air. Finn didn’t understand anything, even at the moment of his death. All he knew was that the world was suddenly spinning for some reason, and then he knew no more.

The human women didn’t show any reaction at this sight. As soon as the barrier was formed, a glazed look appeared in their eyes as they all got up and began to exit the construction site together. They walked in a calm manner as if their lives weren’t in danger at all, and they were taking a leisure stroll through a construction site. All of this added together with the death of Finn, made the remaining daemons cautious.

Caleb went for the women. Owen and Isaac charged the magjistar. Hayato didn’t even give the women a passing glance as he eagerly took on the two daemons at once. His blade met the fist of the giant daemon while the winged daemon came swooping toward him with its claws. During his contest of strength with the big one, he turned intangible. The two daemons passed right through him, and Hayato decapitated the bigger daemon with a leaping slash since its back was turned to him. For the winged daemon, it flew away too fast for him to follow up as easily as it was for the big one.

“Make one more move, and these humans can say goodbye to their lives, magjistar.” Caleb held the women hostage.

Hayato looked at the women and then focused his gaze on the daemon before busting out in laughter. “Do you really think you can threaten me with the lives of ants?” Hayato rushed toward the daemon without any regard for the lives of the humans. Even as Caleb slit the throat of one of the women and crushed another in his grip, the magjistar didn’t stop at all.

Hayato’s sword slashed a deep cut into Caleb’s chest from his hasty execution of the two women instead of defending himself. Dark blue blood gushed from his chest with an agony-filled scream. He held the injury while glaring at the magjistar. Caleb threw away the two remaining humans as he prepared to fight the magjistar, understanding his tricks had no use on this heartless magjistar. That hostage trick of his allowed him to kill multiple magjistars who cared more about the lives of humans than their own.

“Did you forget about me!?” Isaac appeared right behind Hayato and attempted to claw him in half from the back.

“Oh, you’re still alive? I thought you’d flown away after pissing yourself in fear by now.” Hayato only laughed as the winged daemon flew straight through him again.

But unlike last time, he didn’t have a giant daemon to take up his attention. Hayato grabbed the daemon by the leg as soon as he phased through him, gathered the strength in his body, and slammed him into the earth behind him. Blood spewed from the daemon’s mouth after impacting the ground. Caleb used this chance to sneak up behind the magjistar and attempted a sucker punch on the back of his head!

“Haha! Did you really think that would work?!” Hayato ducked his head before driving his elbow into the daemon’s stomach without even turning around.

Caleb held his stomach in pain. Hayato turned to face him. He balled up his fist and looked at it with a smile. The magjistar then turned that smile toward the daemon, still reeling in pain, before sending that fist toward the daemon’s chest.

Caleb watched as the magjistar’s fist seemed to distort and twist the very air itself. He was too injured even to attempt dodging it. It seems this was his end... As reluctant as he was to go, he could only blame his bad luck in encountering this heartless monster of a magjistar before he could reach his full potential.

Hayato’s fist made contact with Caleb’s chest, and in a second, his entire torso twisted inward. Blood shot from the daemon’s mouth as Hayato frowned in dissatisfaction. Hayato decapitated the severely injured daemon. Then he tossed his sword at the winged daemon who was attempting to escape. The sword pierced through the daemon’s chest, and then there was only Hayato.

The remaining two humans left after being thrown. Hayato balled his fist and felt conflicted. He still hasn’t reached the stage where he could twist organs... His first reaction was to blame his teacher, but even he wasn’t that stupid. Mastering Zoey’s unique way of altering her mahna was difficult. It was hard to control the mahna after making it leave your body, and it strained one’s body. Hayato needed perfect form and perfect control and still needed to focus on the battle in front of him while performing it. He was nowhere near Zoey’s level of mastery. She could pull it off at a moment's notice without focusing at all.

“I need more experience. I can’t grow stronger without challenging myself! I need stronger daemons to face. Only through combat in such situations will I grow strong enough to rebuild my clan properly. In time, Father, I will become an even greater clan leader than you ever were.” Hayato vowed as he collected the magji shards of the daemons.

Lucy and Ruby looked at each other with tears in their eyes. They didn’t know why they were crying and standing on the side of the sidewalk together without Ava or Zoe nearby. They couldn’t remember what happened after being taken by some delinquents at the construction site, but what they could remember was the horrifying feeling of terror settling deep in their bones and a terrible sadness as they looked at the construction site. The two held each other’s hands and began to walk away without a single word to each other. What they could feel was more than what words could ever express, even if they couldn’t understand or remember what had happened to them.