Chapter 32: Primal Demon

“Ah… she really is a crazy woman…”

Cyril rode the White Widow straight into the dust cloud, narrowly avoiding a steel beam that had been driven vertically into the ground, with visibility reduced to less than five meters.

“And she doesn’t seem to care much whether I live or die, either…”

He had almost slammed straight into that beam, nearly turning himself into a lump of meat wrapped in iron on the spot.

But he had to admit it.

Evelyn’s insane move not only turned her duel with Cage from a disadvantage into a stalemate, it also smothered the vague killing intent that had only just begun to stir within Cyril.

‘This isn’t me being timid.’

‘With a woman this dangerous, it’s better not to make a move without absolute certainty.’

‘If I fail…’

Cyril argued with himself inwardly, not even sure why he felt the need to justify himself like this.

Fine.

No matter how unwilling he was to admit it, Cyril had to acknowledge the truth.

He had been frightened by that crazy woman’s actions.

How could she dare to drag both her opponent and herself into a game of chicken where the only outcomes were victory or death?

Was she not afraid of dying?

Cyril had to admit it.

He couldn’t see through this woman at all.

After standing up again, Cyril had gained the ability to read fragments of others’ memories.

This allowed him to see through opponents as easily as reading a book.

Just not long ago, he had used this ability to read the memory fragments of David Farrell, the scum who took pleasure in blocking bridges and brutally murdering other racers.

That was precisely why Cyril felt no psychological burden when dealing with such desperadoes.

They were all beasts anyway.

Every single one of them had blood on their hands.

Every single one deserved to die.

Killing them brought Cyril not the slightest trace of guilt.

But Evelyn was different.

Cyril couldn’t read her memory fragments at all.

During their very first direct confrontation, he had already tried to peer into the memories of this unhinged nun.

‘Only by understanding your enemy can you defeat them.’

This had always been an ironclad principle that Cyril believed in.

Yet whenever he tried to read Evelyn’s memories, the mental power he released would always collapse under some invisible force just as it was about to reach her eyes.

He could even read the memories of someone like Vivian, a pure demon—

Yet he couldn’t read the memories of Evelyn, a human nun?

To this day, Cyril still didn’t understand why.

But if memories couldn’t be read, then there was only observation.

Meticulous observation.

Watching her every move, every word, every action, to determine what kind of person she truly was.

Perhaps only then could he defeat her.

That being the case, the priority was clear.

First—defeat Cage.

Cyril twisted the throttle, and the White Widow let out another roar of its engine.

At the same time, an invisible wave of mental power shot out like a bullet, instantly enveloping Cage’s flame-wrapped body.

‘Let me see what kind of person you really are, Cage!’

---

The flaming motorcycle carved a hazy crimson trail through the dust.

Its fiery steel wheel skimmed past a steel beam, the searing heat scorching the beam’s edge red-hot.

Amid the collapsing factory structures, a length of iron chain flew in from nowhere, shooting straight toward Cage’s flame-wreathed body like a perfectly loosed arrow.

“Clang!”

As if foreseeing it, Cage thrust out his right hand and caught the chain firmly.

Flames instantly coiled around it, turning the chain into a blazing fire whip.

“Hey! Skeleton!”

An elegant yet deranged voice came from the left.

“Over here!”

“Vroooom!”

A wide, massive rear tire tore through the dust, smashing straight toward Cage’s face!

If Cage hadn’t leaned back in time, letting the tire scrape past his skull-like cheek by a hair’s breadth, that blow—given the Hell Mammoth’s sheer weight—would likely have sent his skull flying clean off.

It was Evelyn.

In an environment with less than five meters of visibility, with steel beams and chunks of buildings still raining down, she had actually pulled the front brake and used the immense inertia to violently swing the rear wheel around.

She was treating these two 418-kilogram heavy motorcycles like blunt weapons she could swing at will.

“Boom!”

After tracing a circular arc through the air, the Hell Mammoth’s rear tire slammed heavily into the ground.

At the exact moment it landed, Evelyn yanked the front end up.

The entire motorcycle roared once more, racing through the dust on a single wheel without losing speed, vanishing from sight in an instant.

Cage’s flaming skull tilted slightly.

The fire burning in his eye sockets flickered, and though it was nothing more than a skull, it revealed an unusually human expression—something akin to admiration.

Cage understood her move instantly.

She had used the inertia generated by braking to lift the Hell Mammoth’s solid, massive rear wheel and use it as a blunt weapon.

Then, at the instant the rear wheel touched down, she lifted the front wheel—which had already dropped to zero RPM due to braking—and continued riding on the rear wheel alone, ensuring her speed didn’t drop.

Brilliant.

And insane.

Riding on one wheel preserved speed, but at the cost of most of the bike’s handling.

If she encountered a steel beam immediately afterward, no matter how fast her reactions were, she wouldn’t be able to maneuver this industrial beast out of the way.

And in this dust-choked environment, with visibility under five meters and steel beams and debris constantly falling, she had probably located him using the faint sound made when he caught the chain.

She could even pick up something that subtle?

A sound that should have been instantly swallowed by crashing steel, collapsing buildings, and roaring engines?

This woman’s senses were even more terrifying than Cage had imagined.

“Bang!”

A thunderclap-like explosion rang out, accompanied by the sound of metal striking metal.

Two bullets tore through the dust, flying straight toward Cage.

Isn’t that a bit reckless?

A trace of mockery actually surfaced in Cage’s skull-like expression.

Those bullets couldn’t possibly hit him.

In an environment with visibility this poor, even if the two were riding side by side only a few dozen meters apart, they still couldn’t see each other.

They could only judge positions by the sound of engines.

But engine noise spread too widely and echoed chaotically.

It was nothing like the faint clink Cage had made when catching the chain—something precise enough to pinpoint.

Without being able to see, without knowing the exact position, precise aiming at a high-speed motorcycle was impossible.

However, the moment the other party fired, Cage could determine their position from the exaggerated muzzle flash.

In a game of chicken where only victory or death awaited—

Whoever exposed their position first would fall into absolute disadvantage.

Sure enough, the bullets skimmed past Cage’s neck and slammed into a steel beam, blasting a horrifying hole through the several-ton structure.

And through the exaggerated muzzle flash piercing the dense dust, Cage locked onto Evelyn’s exact location.

There!

Cage snapped his arm and hurled the flaming whip forward.

The fire-wreathed whip sliced through the dust in an instant, lashing straight toward the source of the muzzle flash.

The tip of the whip even broke the sound barrier, producing a shrill sonic boom.

If it could slice through steel, then flesh and blood would stand no chance.

“Snap!”

Yet no sensation of impact traveled back along the flaming whip.

What?

Cage followed the path carved through the dust by the whip.

In the fleeting moment before the dust closed in again, he saw it—

An unmanned Hell Mammoth racing down the road.

Where was that woman?!

“Up here~”

The elegant, deranged voice rang out from above.

Cage snapped his head up.

Within the dust-filled air, with visibility under five meters, the figure wearing a yellow cat-eared helmet and a tight leather bodysuit had somehow already reached the space above him.

So that’s how it was?!

Cage understood instantly.

When she fired earlier, she hadn’t been shooting at him at all.

“Congratulations, you guessed right!”

Under her helmet, Evelyn’s thin lips curled into a maniacal smile.

She hadn’t aimed at Cage.

She had fired at a steel beam only three meters away from herself.

At a precise angle, the bullet ricocheted off the beam’s surface, changing trajectory and flying toward Cage, creating the illusion that she had fired directly at him.

That was why Cage had heard the sound of metal colliding when the gun went off.

And Cage’s counterattack afterward had officially exposed his own position.

Meanwhile, Evelyn had already leapt off the Hell Mammoth before firing.

After the shot, Shut Up’s terrifying recoil propelled her through the air at an incomprehensible speed and trajectory, carrying her directly above the now-exposed Cage.

“Checkmate~”

The muzzle of Shut Up was already aimed at Cage’s head.

His mental pressure had peaked, making this the perfect moment for exorcism.

And at a distance of under five meters, with Shut Up’s horrifying muzzle velocity, Cage had no way to dodge.

In the flames burning within Cage’s skull-like eye sockets, the cold gleam of Shut Up’s muzzle was reflected—

Along with the silver bullet slowly feeding into the barrel, grooves visible within the rifling.

From the burned and tattered racing suit, the lucky coin that always hung at his neck slipped into view.

It was engraved with an intricate goat skull relief.

Bathed in firelight amid the dust, it gleamed crimson.

But now—

Could this lucky coin still bring him fortune enough to turn the tide?

“Evelyn!”

Pugi’s childish voice suddenly pierced the air.

A streak of blue light flapped its wings and flew above them in an instant.

“Don’t kill him!”

“Tch…”

Evelyn clicked her tongue irritably and shifted the muzzle slightly aside.

“Bang!”

Exaggerated muzzle flash erupted as the bullets struck the ground, blasting two craters.

Propelled by the recoil, Evelyn flew back onto the Hell Mammoth.

“You’d better give me an explanation.”

She twisted the throttle irritably, and the Hell Mammoth roared back to life.

Even though Pugi hadn’t explained anything yet—only told her not to kill Cage—Evelyn had still chosen to trust it in that instant and spared his life.

“That Cage is not a demon, not a half-demon, and not demon-possessed!”

Pugi flapped its wings, speaking at top speed.

“He seems to be a fourth type outside those three—a human capable of using demonic power!”

“A human who can use demonic power?”

Evelyn suddenly let out a snort of laughter.

“So that’s why I should spare him…”

As a familiar spirit, Pugi didn’t know the Church’s internal archives.

But Evelyn did.

For the sake of promotion, she had read through many obscure and ambiguous records.

Among them were cases of humans capable of wielding demonic power.

Even in the Church’s records, such cases were exceedingly rare—second only to the sole known half-demon, Cyril.

Generally speaking, such cases occurred when a high-ranking demon—at least of primal level—entered into an equal transaction with a human, lending their power.

This wasn’t a contract with binding obligations on both sides.

It was an equal, voluntary exchange.

In other words, behind Cage, there existed a primal demon.

If she could deal with that primal demon, it would still count as an achievement worthy of promotion to the Choir.

If she killed Cage here, wouldn’t the trail go cold?

And that brass coin hanging on Cage’s chest seemed to be a symbol of that transaction…

“Thanks!”

Evelyn laughed lightly as she, Cage, and Cyril burst out of the death track filled with dust and falling steel beams and debris.

And at that very moment, fragments of hazy images suddenly flashed through Evelyn’s mind.

They seemed to be—

Cage’s memories?