Masao held the necklace aloft, the tiny red gem catching the light.
"You say this is yours? Prove it."
Jahy, the once-feared right hand of the Dark Lord (Demon king), bristled. She was not accustomed to being questioned. In her life, anything she desired became hers by right of power alone. To be challenged by a mere human was an indignity that burned.
"How dare an insignificant human mock me?" she seethed, her voice a low tremor of rage. "You will learn the meaning of fear!"
The initial, soul-crushing shock of the Demon Realm's annihilation had finally receded, leaving in its wake a cold, sharp clarity.
She was stranded in the human world. And this insolent man would serve as the perfect outlet for her pent-up fury.
Jahy rose from the riverbank, water streaming from her small form. She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders, her eyes narrowing into slits as they locked onto Masao.
"Your luck has ended, human," she declared. "You have provoked someone far beyond your station. My anger is great, and you will be the one to soothe it."
She lunged forward, a blur of motion, and unleashed a punch aimed directly at his gut.
All of her frustration—the humiliation of being ambushed by that accursed Magical Girl, the despair of watching her home shatter, the terrifying vulnerability of her lost power, and this final, unbearable insult—was channeled into that single, desperate blow.
"Let's see you withstand this! Hah!"
It was a strike meant to obliterate, fueled by the last dregs of her pride.
Her small, powerless fist connected with his stomach with a soft thud. It was ineffective. Instead, aided by Masao's instinctive recoil, Jahy was sent flying backward, launched by the unexpected bounce of his soft belly.
She tumbled through the air for nearly two meters before landing in a heap on the damp grass. Masao stared, bewildered.
'Since when am I that powerful? Or is she... just that weak?'
On the ground, a sharp pain shot through Jahy's arm, and hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.
"It hurts... Since when are humans so... durable?"
Whether it was the loss of her power, her shrunken form, or the sheer weight of her circumstances, her spirit had become brittle.
This simple failure and the physical sting were a devastating blow.
She choked back the tears, swallowing her shame. Glaring up at Masao, she clenched her tiny hands into fists, her expression a mask of defiant fury.
"Don't you dare look so pleased, you wretched human! That Mana Stone is not for mortal hands! A curse will fall upon any human who touches it! Just you wait—misfortune will be your new shadow!"
To Masao, her words sounded less like a mystical warning and more like the tantrum of a defeated child.
He felt a sudden pang of guilt. 'Did I go too far? I've practically broken the poor thing.'
He was about to offer an apology when the arc-reactor core of his Mark Suit, embedded in his chest, flared to life.
A wave of nanites swarmed over his body, encasing him in high-tech armour in the blink of an eye.
He had no time to question it.
A rock, hurled from an unseen direction, shattered against his helmet visor. Without the armor, it would have cracked his skull.
Before he could even identify the threat, more projectiles materialized from the empty air, streaking toward him.
Now fully alert, Masao let the suit's targeting system take over. He raised his hands, and precise beams of energy from his repulsors vaporized the incoming stones into dust.
A full-spectrum scan from the suit confirmed the area was clear. Inside the helmet, Masao let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"Thank god for the auto-defense protocols. That was too close."
His suit was designed to deploy automatically when it detected an immediate threat to his life. He'd always considered it a bit of an overreaction by its designer. Now, he was grateful for the paranoia.
As the adrenaline subsided, an alert on his HUD drew his attention to the analysis of the red gem.
The readouts were clear: the stone emitted a bizarre energy signature and contained a concentrated form of unknown power.
This changed everything.
'So it's not just a necklace. Then that girl…'
His gaze returned to Jahy, the suit's advanced sensors now actively scanning her. The data was unequivocal: the cat-like ears on her head were not part of a costume; they were living, biological tissue.
While Masao was reeling from this revelation, Jahy was simply stunned into silence.
Her jaw hung slack as she stared at the technological marvel standing before her.
"What... what is that contraption?" she whispered to herself. "Have the humans ascended so far in our absence?"
In her current, mana-depleted state, Jahy was certain this metal giant could annihilate her with a casual gesture.
Every instinct screamed at her to flee. But her eyes remained fixed on her last remaining Mana Stone, still held in that human's metal grasp. She couldn't abandon it.
As she stood paralyzed between self-preservation and duty, Masao's armour retracted, the nanites flowing seamlessly back into their housing.
He then, almost casually, tossed the Mana Stone to her.
Jahy fumbled, her heart in her throat, before finally clutching the precious stone.
A faint, familiar warmth pulsed from within it, a tiny echo of her former power. She pressed it against her chest, a protective gesture, though her wariness remained.
The sliver of mana within was a paltry defense against that armour.
"What is your aim, human?" she asked, her voice tight with caution.
Seeing her fear, Masao kept his suit deactivated. The last thing he needed was a public spectacle.
"You can lower your guard. I'm not your enemy," he said, his tone now one of curiosity. "You said this 'Mana Stone' curses humans. I assume that means you aren't one?"
With the terrifying armour gone, Jahy felt a fraction of her confidence return. Against the man alone, she might still have a chance, especially with her mana stone.
She fastened the necklace securely around her neck and drew herself up to her full, albeit unimpressive, height. A familiar, haughty pride straightened her spine.
"Your assumption is correct! I am no fragile mortal. I am Jahy, second-in-command to the Dark Lord herself—the ruler of the netherworld!"
The title sounded grandiose, even childish, coming from her small frame. Yet, the conviction in her voice and the strange, verifiable facts of her biology made Masao hesitate to dismiss her.
"I'm Tanaka Masao," he replied. "If you're from the Demon Realm, what brings you here? Do you plan to invade the human world?"
Demons and world conquest seemed like a classic pairing, but looking at the bedraggled, determined girl before him, the idea felt absurd.
Jahy scoffed, a sound of genuine derision.
"Invade? Don't make me laugh. This world is a barren wasteland, utterly devoid of ambient mana. Conquering it would be a pointless and tedious endeavor."
It was the simple truth. This place held no value for her. There was only one goal that mattered now: to gather the scattered fragments of the Mana Crystal and rebuild her shattered home. Everything else was a distraction.
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[email protected]/Raven_scroll (30+ Advance Chapters)