Days passed, then weeks and then months. Many events followed one after the other. Practical tests, field hunts and even a tournament. My contractee took part in every single one of them and so did I, moved by duty and curiosity to test myself and see more of this new world.

I encountered several sentient species. Some I talked with, some others I fought. I crossed portals towards places known as dungeons and came face to face with monsters of fantasy and crawling corpses. I exposed myself to numerous hostile environments, from glacial vastness to seas of magma.

And yet nothing proved enough to push me to the edge and spur my growth. The inhabitants of the dungeons lacked weapons or magic capable of tearing through my skin and the undead were flimsy and easy to squash. The cold didn’t bother me and the lakes of molten rock were just an inconvenience to move around.

I tried to find ways to relieve my boredom. I interacted with the headmaster more and more frequently. He personally found me partners to spar with, but not one of them could show me something really new.

There were many people in this world who had reached a high degree of proficiency in martial arts and even if I found it remarkable, that was all there was to it. Although changed and adapted by the users of mana, those were fundamentally the techniques which were developed and practised by humans. They couldn’t be compared to innately superhuman martial arts such as the honed superhuman swordsmanship I had seen Isaac display.

Even when some of their blades managed to reach my body, they seldom cut my skin. And the few that cut through my skin broke against my bones. These encounters weren’t completely useless, as they helped me solidify the amount of strength I could currently wield, but they didn’t help me grow further. So I remained in wait for the right opportunity to emerge.

One night, disaster befell the academy. A great force of demon followers emerged from the heart of nowhere and swarmed through its corridors, slaughtering all they met on their way. The faculty did all it could to protect its students but it couldn’t protect everyone, and many fell. They wielded obnoxious poisonous mana lethal to those exposed to it.

It could have been an opportunity for growth, but first I moved to bring my contractee to safety. I brought her far away from the mayhem against her protests to remain and fight. Once I returned, the cultists had disappeared and the situation had mostly been resolved.

The greatest institution of this world was no more. It had been razed to the ground during the attack. Not even the headmaster's direct intervention had been enough to save it from destruction. Our eyes briefly met on that day. No word was exchanged or said aloud, but I could feel his resentment towards me.

It took another week to find out the reason for his peculiar hostility. Another horde of cultists emerged from nowhere and attacked the village we were resting in. This time I decided to hold my ground and fight back. I slaughtered many and kept alive a few to gather information. They were hunting Violet, as she had been marked as an important sacrifice, one needed to let the great evil descend upon the land.

The terrorist attacks continued to grow in number until an all-out war between the demon followers and the free citizens of the world broke out. Everything happened so quickly that it felt unreal, as only a month had passed since the destruction of the academy.

Due to their continuously increasing harassment, I found the only option left to me was to snuff out that silly cult. With the victories they were amassing, they were growing bolder by the day, and more attack teams came to hunt my contractee. It couldn’t continue like that.

Through Violet, I got in contact with a few of the people who held power and influence in this world. Some collaborated on their own initiative, while others had to be forced to do so. Anyway, with the information I obtained from them, I commenced my counter-hunt.

I travelled far and wide, destroying site after site, dark temple after darkle temple, slaughtering anyone I could find. I avoided their main forces. There was no one between them that could entice my growth and the quickest and safest way to guarantee their quick demise and the safety of my contractee was to destroy their supplies, rather than engage them in open combat and expose ourselves. Such a strategy proved itself effective, as the emerged cultists returned into the shadows as quickly as they had come to the fore.

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Although I didn’t obviously bring an end to the war single-handedly, I certainly contributed to it greatly. For this reason, great honour fell on Violet. My role in the events, or even my existence for that matter, was not revealed to the public. The official version told was that Violet Everleigh, the respectable thirdborn of the Everleigh family, had personally devised and instructed the assault troops that had hit the enemies at the hearts of their strongholds.

Her position, both in high society and in her family, was ensured. Her father, who had never spared her a glance, suddenly recognised her as one of the favourites to become his heir. Obviously, her older sister didn’t react keenly to that.

One day, while my contractee was taking some rest after the fatigue accumulated during the tour of victory around the land, contracted assassins attacked. They were swiftly taken care of by the newly appointed bodyguards, but I had grown tired of disturbances. So, after a swift interrogation of the most loose-tongued of the assassins, I left my contractee side. Violet seemed to sense what I intended to do and she begged me to stop, but I didn’t listen.

I was tired of her older sister's shenanigans. I had known for a long time she had been the one to inform the cultists of our position, as even the most zealous of them ended up speaking when they started losing their limbs. I made sure to send messages to the girl, suggesting she would stop, but she had not listened. Even now that the war was no more she continued to disregard my recommendations.

I found that to be extremely disrespectful and so one fateful morning her head and body were simply split one from the other. The entire nation was stirred by the event. The response to my action was swift. In less than a day, I became the most wanted person on the surface of the planet. Assassins, bounty hunters, paramilitary corps, adventurers. The entire population began hunting me, understandably moved by the rich bounty put on my head by the enraged father.

No one managed to get a hold of me. At times I ran, at times I hid, and at times I fought, all according to my whims. It wasn’t difficult to blend with the common people. Changing my outward appearance had become easy since I had recovered many of my abilities, and behaving like a normal human could easily be done with just a little bit of practice. After all, I had originally been one.

A few months passed by and the fire of the hunt inevitably dwindled. Nevertheless, I didn’t reveal myself, as I had grown bored of the new world and I was looking for some peace and quiet. I strayed away from my contractee, as she had grown mixed feelings towards me. The gratefulness she held towards me for saving her life couldn’t erase completely the anger and resentment for killing her sibling. Despite all her sister had done to her, she still held her dear in her heart. Emotions were complicated beasts.

Finally, Violet’s birthday came and a huge celebration was held. As the almost certain heir to the Everleigh conglomerate because of the fame and respect she had received for the events of the war, the entire high society attended. Many sang praises of her, eager to develop a relationship.

And on that day, the forces of the cultist that had fallen silent for a long while reappeared. They were mixed in between the guests, the staff and the crowd surrounding the mansion where the party was being held.

A bloodbath began. The cultists were great in numbers and strength, but so were the world’s nobles and their bodyguards. In a world of superhumans, magic and technologies, money could buy strength and the rich were strong. Nevertheless, the cultists slowly began to get the upper hand as they flooded from outside.

Then suddenly, ashen individuals appeared. They wielded mana in ways the humans could not, much more efficiently and effectively. The delicate equilibrium between the forces broke down and corpses broken beyond repair fell one after the other.

A few of the ashen individuals approached Violet's position. Even if she was safeguarded by several powerful individuals, they weren’t at the level of the ashen individuals. The only ones who could hold their grounds against them were the academy headmaster and a few others, but they already had their hands full with the enemies in front of them.

She paled at the sight of the approaching demons. Her bodyguards had been impaled by stalagmites of rocks and shadows. Only her and the ashen one remained.

“Sssacrifice. Fffor the king,” spoke the grinning being.

It stretched out its hand towards her, trying to grasp her. As it grew closer to her, several bloody marks appeared on her skin. They were the same symbols forming the summoning circle I had come from.

Then suddenly, an unassuming server grabbed the ashen individual hand. He grinned at it, while its skin changed colour and its body morphed into a fitter form. The demon looked puzzled. The glyph-covered girl was shocked.

“... John?” surprise resounded in her voice.

“Still under my protection,” I said, talking to both Violet and the demon.

The next moment, I moved my hand.