Chapter 5: Demon

When the two-meter-tall Snow Dove stood before Mianbao’s eyes, she was dumbfounded.
Truth be told, this was the first time Mianbao had seen real Magi-Knight Armor since birth.
After all, in a place as remote and far from the Meiluos Empire as Lange Village, it was almost impossible to see Magi-Knight Armor.

The Magi-Knight Armor Snow Dove, owned by Zero, was pure white all over.
Aside from the V-shaped golden eyes (monitors) and the ring-shaped, unknown structure on its back, it was just as its name implied with the word “Snow”—as pure and flawless as the pristine white snow of harsh winter.

“Wow, this is so cool it’s mind-blowing!” Mianbao’s eyes sparkled with immense envy.
After all, this kind of armor was the romance of many boys!
Mianbao was no exception, but it was a pity that not only did she lack elemental affinity and physical skills, she couldn’t even use Magi-Knight Armor.

“Hiss—” The Umbral Beast let out a hiss like a snake flicking its tongue, flickering in and out of existence at the edge of the “Archive.”

Equipped with the Magi-Knight Armor, Zero was now able to walk on the ground with its power.
She took a few steps forward and drew a sword from the scabbard at her waist, its blade emitting a bright yellow light.

The Umbral Beast let out another low roar and launched its first attack from an unknown location!
The Umbral Beast was definitely an excellent assassin; its attack was fast, accurate, and ruthless.
A wave of purple lightning shot towards Zero.

Zero’s strength was definitely not to be underestimated either.
She reacted quickly, turning her body and raising her left hand to deploy a magic field, effortlessly defending against the Umbral Beast’s attack.
A light flashed in Snow Dove’s eyes, and at that moment, Zero moved on one foot and charged forward.

From the Umbral Beast’s last attack, Zero had roughly determined its current general location.
With a little prediction, she had a fifty percent chance of killing it with a single blow.
As Zero moved, the ring-shaped structure on Snow Dove’s back began to emit particles of golden light.

“Increasing magic power reserves.” From under the steel mask, Zero emotionlessly uttered a sentence.
As her voice fell, the light sword in Snow Dove’s hand erupted with an even more dazzling brilliance, and the width of the blade increased accordingly.

Snow Dove gripped the sword with both hands and viciously stabbed it into the void before it.
The void immediately twisted and distorted.
Under the immense pain of the sword piercing its body, the Umbral Beast revealed its true form—a purple body, huge claws, and crimson, narrow eyes that were very unsettling to look at.

A level-three magical beast was, after all, just a level-three magical beast.
Apart from its powerful concealment ability, it was useless.
After just a brief struggle, the Umbral Beast’s body shattered into countless illusory fragments, dropping a matching level-three elemental crystal onto the ground.

Zero retracted her light sword, bent down to pick up the elemental crystal, walked to her wheelchair, and sat down again, deactivating Snow Dove’s equipment.

“That was amazing, Zero!” Mianbao walked up, speaking with a hint of excitement, her hand unconsciously stroking Zero’s hair.

“!” Looking at Mianbao’s fair and beautiful face, as well as her various actions, Zero turned her head away, seemingly out of shyness.
“Please don’t do that, it’s very troublesome for me.”

“Alright…” Mianbao withdrew her hand.

‘Was I disliked?!’

Mianbao asked with some confusion, “The Umbral Beast should be dead, right?”

Zero tossed the elemental crystal dropped by the dead Umbral Beast in her hand and answered Mianbao’s question, which to her was quite foolish, without a change in expression.
But Zero also felt that something wasn’t right.

The next moment, Mianbao pinpointed what felt wrong: “But why does the ‘Archive’ still exist?”

Zero suddenly realized something.
Her expression changed drastically, and she lunged forward to push Mianbao away.
But her movement wasn’t fast enough.
Just as she had pushed Mianbao a few centimeters, the other Umbral Beast hiding in the darkness launched a fatal attack!

The Umbral Beast’s body flashed through the air like purple lightning.
Mianbao’s body was ruthlessly pierced from back to front by its claws, and blood gushed from her body.
Mianbao knelt on the ground, tightly gripping the Umbral Beast’s claw that had pierced her body, gritting her silver teeth to endure the almost suffocating pain.

“Firia!” Zero cried out in alarm.
Snow Dove once again covered her entire body, and with a burst of power, she thrust her sword into the body of this long-hidden Umbral Beast.
Zero had no time to spare for the elemental crystal dropped by the dead Umbral Beast.
She hastily supported Mianbao’s swaying, delicate body.

“How are you!?” Zero’s concerned voice came from within the mask.

“This kind of wound… how could I be okay… cough cough!” Mianbao coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“I… I won’t die.”

“How is that possible!?”

A sad smile appeared on Mianbao’s face.
“Because… I’m a demon…”

The huge tattoo hidden under her dress now faintly glowed with a red light.

“Positioning—”

“Lazel Continent.”

“Star-Moon Empire.”

“Loading【Light Chaser】deployment program…”

“Loading complete, deployment beginning.”

“What’s wrong? Xirui?” The incredibly young-looking man asked the girl before him with a smile.

“【They】have come.”

“I knew 【they】would return.” The man was still smiling, but his smile was so chilling.
“To think I didn’t manage to kill 【her】 completely back then. This time I must…”

“Eradicate her, root and stem!”

“Dad! Mom! Am I your real child?” A young Mianbao ran towards her parents with tears in the corners of her eyes.

Mianbao’s mother and father exchanged a glance and said gently, “Of course, what’s wrong?”

“The people in the village all say I was picked up by you!”

“Ha!?” Mianbao’s father stood up, looking very unhappy.
“Who said that! Dad will take you to beat him up!”

Every scene from her childhood flashed before Mianbao’s eyes.

“You brat, think you can fight me??” The little bully of Lange Village threw down the still-bloody wooden stick in his hand and said smugly.

Mianbao lay on the ground, almost on the verge of death.

“Boss, you didn’t kill him, did you??” one of his underlings reminded him uneasily.

Only then did the little bully panic.
“Let’s go! Let’s go, no one is allowed to say I did it, or I’ll smash his dog head!”

“You-you-you-you-you, why aren’t you dead!!” The next day, when a perfectly fine Mianbao stood before the little bully.

“You’re a monster!”

“Dad, they say I’m a monster and won’t play with me.” Mianbao’s father stroked Mianbao’s head.
“We won’t play with them. How about Dad teaches you to play with guns?”

Mianbao, who had a talent for shooting, soon completed all the tasks set by her father and received the family heirloom, “Sirius.”

“Ever since that child came to our place, things have been happening frequently in the village,” the old folks whispered behind her back.

“Have you seen the pattern on his back? It’s simply terrifying!!”

“He must be a demon!”

Mianbao hid silently behind the house.
‘Maybe I really am…’

“A demon.”