Inner Zoey nearly exploded as she felt herself being denied what she was owed. All that time in magji prison just to be swallowed and refused her skill experience like this? No way! No fucking way!
Despite her rage, there was little Zoey could do to deny gravity. None of her skills allowed flight. In her eagerness to gain experience, she forgot to get her shit back from The Council, who stole it when she turned herself in. So, she couldn’t teleport, use the teeth of Max and Cody, heal herself with the toad ring, or use the magji shards of those daemons she absorbed with Mahna Gathering Bomb.
But Inner Zoey refused just to accept this bullshit. Manipulating her mahna, Zoey forged herself a set of mahna claws that layered over her hands. She stabbed into the throat of whatever this daemon was, slowing her fall greatly. Whatever this daemon was did not like that she was tearing its esophagus to shit and gave a deep guttural bellow. Zoey could feel her clothes violently ruffling from the screams coming from below.
However, she continued to climb upward despite the horrific ungodly smell. The daemon, however, did not like that its full-course meal was making a mess inside of itself. Zoey could hear things coming from below. She turned and looked down only to see a swarm of flying daemons headed straight for her.
“What kind of bullshit…?” Zoey softly muttered to herself.
Zoey started to change her posture. She couldn’t fucking fight off a bunch of flying demons with her back to them. Instead of mahna claws covering her hands, she used them to cover her feet. Now, if she positioned herself like this… She could make it like she was standing on the ground!
By tightly gripping the tip of her mahna claws into the throat of the daemon, she was now upright. The flying daemons greeted her with screeches and shrieks. Equipped with long, sharp claws, fearsome teeth, and fast speed, they were the perfect scavengers for prey trying to resist being devoured. Zoey balled her fists and waited for them to get within range, which was an action that they were not hesitant to do at all.
“Boxing Series: Infinite Twisting Fist!” Zoey grinned.
Zoey’s fist shot out like speeding bullets. Each punch was like an afterimage as they nearly drilled holes within the daemons. Their torsos twisted like a spiral from Zoey’s punch as they cried out in horrific pain. Despite the tragic loss of their fellow daemons, it didn’t halt the momentum of the rest at all.
More for them, they figured. Zoey’s punches effortlessly blasted out like a minigun with infinite ammunition. With Endurance being at such a high level, Zoey wasn’t going to topple anytime soon, no matter how many of these flying parasites came toward her. Unfortunately for Zoey, she figured Fighting Aura must have kicked in halfway or something because, at a certain point, the flying daemons stopped charging at her.
With a click of her tongue in disappointment, she got back to climbing. “Combo Volume I: Super Climber!” Zoey used her magji to speed up her ascent out of this daemon's throat.
Somehow, instead of climbing, it started to feel like she was a speeding cheetah racing across the savannah. Faster, faster, faster! No one was going to take her experience away from her! Why else would she bother playing with these Council fuckers?! What would have been the point of sitting in that prison, almost losing her mind?!
Zoey ran for what felt like miles upward. It wasn’t until she saw a pair of yellow teeth that she spotted freedom! Her speed increased even further, thanks to how Combo Magji worked. As long as she continued the actions of the spell, it would grow without end, as far as Zoey knew anyway. She leaped off the tongue of the daemon as she reared her fist back, gathering most of her mahna within her fist.
With a great explosion sounding the shattering of its teeth, Zoey broke free from the inside of the monster. Right into a free fall in a place she didn’t recognize at all… This wasn’t Luminaurora… Zoey looked up at the sky and saw that the world was painted in colors of red and black. Where the hell was this?
A massive ear-shattering bellow came behind her as she escaped. When Zoey looked down below, she could see thousands of ant-like creatures. Were those daemons? How long had she been inside that daemon? Did they take over the world so quickly?
The giant daemon that ate her reared its long head back in an effort to devour her once more. Zoey briefly tapped into the sixth level of Overdraft, unlocking seven magji gates out of the nine. With just a quick jab, a ferocious maelstrom of wind and magji exploded from Zoey’s fist. It roared like a terrifying beast hungry for its next prey.
Zoey’s attack ripped apart the massive daemon piece by piece. Several huge chunks of daemon flesh spiraled across the landscape. “Ow…” Zoey grimaced as her right arm was mostly numb and almost useless from tearing most of the muscles inside. She latched on to one of the meat pieces as a cushion for landing with her good arm.
Bracing her body with mahna as a defense, Zoey finally managed to see what those small ant-like shadows were as she was getting closer to the ground. They were daemons. A lot of daemons. ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!’ Inner Zoey lost herself in excitement at all those juicy scraps of experience.
When she landed on the ground with a giant crater, she was immediately surrounded by curious daemons. “A human?” One daemon murmured. “How did a human get into Master Polly’s cursed collection?” Another one muttered. “I didn’t know humans could be collected and summoned like daemons.” A third one stated.
Inner Zoey cared little for the hows or whys at this point. Seeing herself surrounded by thousands of delicious daemons, she could no longer control herself. “Combo Volume I: Combo Time!” She vanished from her current position and frankly succumbed to a berserker’s rage.
Zoey’s fist forced itself into the stomach of a daemon, launching it several miles away. Her next victim suffered a merciful end as Zoey cracked him across the jaw, brutally snapping his neck. Moving on from him, Zoey pieced the next daemon up in a rapid combo by targeting his heart, throat, brain, and then sternum with her punches. He dropped to the ground a drooling dead mess of a creature.
As Zoey felt her innermost base desires being fulfilled, she couldn’t help but lose herself. She laughed as she slaughtered the daemons. She wasn’t laughing because she got some sort of sick joy out of killing the daemons. Or how she could utterly dominate them despite their numbers. No, Zoey was just laughing because she was happy. Happy to see the numbers on the Box go up. Go up in a way that they haven’t gone up in a long, long time.
Fighting made her happy. It truly made her happy to the deepest part of her soul. Even when she knew that daemons had the potential to be changed for the better. Zoey didn’t hesitate to utterly decimate these daemons for her own sake. She was a selfish person. Zoey cared more about her own needs than that of strangers. It was why she refused to call herself a hero because deep down, she knew that she didn’t really give a shit about anyone that wasn’t in her circle. She acted like she cared because that’s what's expected of a normal person. Which was what she always wanted to be. Even after obtaining the Box…
Zoey’s onslaught continued without an end in sight. She decapitated two daemons with a lariat, snapped the neck of another one with a cutter by gripping their head and falling to the ground with them, picked up that dead daemon, and started spinning him around by his legs. She gathered enough speed to knock back any nearby daemons at first until she spun more and more.
A budding tornado began to form quickly. Those daemons who were keeping their distance were now being sucked into the eye of the storm. But unlike how the eye of the storm normally works for tornados, with Zoey at the eye of the storm, no one was safe. Daemons outside of the eyewall were sucked up into the gigantic tempest, while daemons inside were battered to pieces by the daemon being swung by Zoey.
Zoey covered the daemon in her own mahna to prevent them from tearing apart. Daemons flew around in the horrible cyclone, suffering lethal injuries. They bashed into each other at high speeds, sometimes splattering into bits, being punctured by the bones of other daemons, or simply being torn apart by the high wind speed. “More! More! More!” Inner Zoey cried out as she let go of the daemon she was spinning. He flew out like a cannonball, reducing any daemons in his way to pieces. “What should we level next?! Wrestling got a whole bunch of levels for that!” The Zoeys asked themselves.
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“Human, you seem to be having fun up here. Mind if I join you?” Trickster giggled.
Cassie turned and fired a lethal jet of water toward the daemon. Trickster shrunk himself, avoiding the well-aimed headshot, before shaking his head in disapproval. “No, no, no. Are all humans lacking in manners these days? When someone asks you something, you should do the polite thing and answer them.” Trickster lectured the human.
Cassie frowned as she took decisive action. Swiftly pulling out the toy knife from her waist, she aimed to slice the neck of the daemon. Said daemon didn’t react how she was expecting. Instead of having its throat cut by her knife, it grabbed the knife and headbutted Cassie off the roof.
“Have a nice fall, human.” Trickster waved.
“TIMMY!!!” Cassie screamed.
Timmy, in the middle of a monkey rampage, heard the cry of his friend and immediately bolted in her direction. Hopping over the heads of daemons and allies, he made his way to a building, climbing up the building as fast as he could. Once he made it to a good spot, he leaped off the building and caught Cassie in his arms. The two were now in a freefall toward the ground. “TARA! FALLING! HELP!” Timmy cried out.
“Word Volume I: Slow!” Tara shouted as she pointed her book in their direction.
Both Timmy and Cassie were enveloped in a dark purple light as the speed of their descent was slowed. Timmy safely landed on his feet with Cassie in his arms. Unfortunately for them, someone else came along for the ride…
A giant Trickster came crashing down on top of the two. His body was now around ten feet tall, jacked with muscles. His feet buried them both into the ground, forming a crater on the streets of Luminaurora and catching the attention of their allies. Neither looked responsive as Trickster aimed to make a finishing blow.
“KARA, LEA, GO SAVE TIMMY AND CASSIE!” Tristan shouted as he rapidly burned through his mahna reserves and knocked away Trickster with a giant wave of hair.
“Useless…” Lea grumbled as she decapitated a daemon and ran toward the unconscious two.
“I’m on it!” Kara sped toward the uninjured huge daemon.
The two swordsmen of their friend group stood in front of the muscular daemon, both ready to cut him down. “I’m surprised to see so many magjistars here. I thought no one believed Winters. Why are you all so prepared?” Trickster asked in his curiosity.
“Not everyone believed The Council,” Kara explained as she gathered all of her mahna within her sword while putting on the oni mask on her face.
“Don’t answer the daemon’s questions, idiot!” Lea insulted Kara as she helped her daemonic sword digest all the daemons it had eaten so far by rubbing its sword body and infusing her mahna into it.
“Dang, I thought everyone hated Winters! Snivellus needs to work on his information network.” Trickster snapped his fingers in irritation.
“Information network?” Kara muttered to herself.
“Stop listening to his nonsense and get ready to attack.” Lea reminded her.
“... Right.” Kara listened to one-half of those words.
The swordsman duo charged at Trickster. Trickster laughed as he saw them coming his way. He flexed his muscles as the two girls came slashing at him from both sides of his body. A horrific tearing sound came from the clash, along with Trickster screaming. “You managed to get past my body’s natural strength?!” He leaped backwards out of fear and disbelief.
Lea’s sword could be seen chewing something as Kara moved forward. Blue blood was rapidly flowing down both sides of the daemon’s chest. Trickster shifted into a tinier version of himself to avoid Kara’s fatal slash. He ran, leaped, and flipped his way to a spot where Kara couldn’t chase him on account of her size. She muttered a curse as the daemon managed to get away.
Stolen story; please report.
“Nice going, loser,” Lea said on her return.
“Whatever! Like you could’ve done better.” Kara bit back.
“I wouldn’t have let him escape, that’s for sure.” Lea confidently stated.
“You can talk all big, but you were just standing there doing nothing while I was trying to finish him off!” Kara retorted.
“I was preparing to kill the daemon by strengthening my sword with its flesh,” Lea explained.
“Whatever. You looked terrified to me.” Kara went over to Timmy and Cassie.
“You little…” Lea clenched her fist. “You’re lucky there’s a daemon invasion right now, or I’d deal with you here and now.”
“Oh, lucky me. The daemon invasion you didn’t even believe was going to happen saved my life. I’m so grateful.” Kara sarcastically responded.
Lea left to release her frustrations on the remaining daemons. As much as she wanted to slash out at Kara, she wasn’t stupid. This wasn’t the time for something like that. They had more important things to focus on right now.
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“Hmph. It appears she wasn’t wrong. I suppose she’ll hold value to me, after all…” Lucas Sinclair stated while his family’s magjistars effortlessly wiped out the invading daemons with the power of love.
Love for themselves, love for combat, love for their home, and love for their status as one of the top magjistar families in the world. The Sinclair Family burned like a dying star with their connate magji. A blinding pink light surrounded every member of the Sinclair Family as they killed the daemons. Not a single daemon was capable of taking a single step inside the Sinclair Estate. A flawless victory for the Sinclair Family.
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Despite things looking as if they are going well for the magjistars, the reality of the situation is quite the opposite. The small group of prodigies, The Wanderers, and the Sinclair Family weren’t enough to prevent the uncountable casualties from happening on the side of the magjistars. It was simply a matter of numbers. There were too many daemons in too many places for the defenders to cover them all.
The prodigies were too caught up in their hunger for glory. They sought to deal with all of the invading daemons on their own without help from anyone in an attempt to monopolize the glory for themselves. The Wanderers were simply outnumbered. They didn’t have enough people to cover every inch of Luminaurora while also fighting against the Learned Faction and Connate Faction. As for the Sinclair Family, they sought to protect their own property instead of helping the people in Luminaurora. They were completely absent during the invasion.
As it was headed, it seemed like Luminaurora would be completely razed to the ground. In fighting, hoarding of knowledge, greed, and corruption, there were countless reasons for why Luminaurora would be destroyed here and now. But, there was still one wild card in play…
…
“You all aren’t so easy to deal with…” Polly gritted his teeth, his body covered in bruises and injuries.
“You picked a fight with the wrong family.” Alexander pointed at the daemon, surrounded by lightning.
“Too bad for you, I still have one trick up my sleeve…” Polly reached into his chest before pulling out his glowing heart, a dark beating pulsating magji shard.
Just as Alexander and his family members were speeding toward Polly as fast as lightning, Polly shattered the shard. “I’ve captured thousands of daemons all over the country inside my collection! Even if I lose here, you magjistars will never win! Come free my collection!” Polly gave his dying words.
“Haah… Haaah… Hah…” A humanoid figure revealed itself in front of the group.
They were hunched over, utterly reeking of blood and guts. Their back moved along with their breathing. Terror filled the hearts of everyone as the daemon turned its gaze toward them. Then it moved its lips.
“Alexander?” They questioned.
“Impossible…” Polly didn’t understand before fully dying.
“I-I-Is that you, Zoey…?” Alexander hesitantly questioned.
“Combo. Daemons. Experience.” The Zoeys dashed off toward the nearest source of daemonic mahna.
They didn’t know how long they were trapped in that strange place. It could’ve been minutes, hours, or days, as far as they knew. All they could comprehend was that there were more daemons to farm. Their fun has yet to end. It was only just beginning!
Zoey made her way to the strongest source of mahna in Luminaurora. Poison, Vio, Trickster, Muscle Brain, Jinx, and Snivellus were all together in front of the Organization of Magjistar’s headquarters. In front of them lay multiple magjistars of varying strength, both strong and weak. Some were alive and others dead. However, all were unable to withstand the daemons' combined assault.
None of the victorious daemons expected the sudden visit from someone they thought was already dealt with. The Zoeys arrived with a vicious hook punch to Vio’s face, tearing his head from his body and launching it through the destroyed Council building. By the time the other daemons could register her arrival, Zoey tackled Muscle Brain to the ground with enough force to nearly snap the simple-minded daemon’s spine.
Properly mounting on top of him, she began unleashing rapid-fire missile-powered punches to his face. Muscle Brain attempted to use his physique, which was superior to the majority of most daemons, to block. The Zoeys got excited at the sight of this. They rolled off of the daemon, tossed him into the sky, and immediately jumped after him.
Those on the scene were speechless as they could barely see the two with how far they flew into the sky… Poison came to a decision immediately. “It’s time we retreat to strike another day.” Despite being a Second Grade daemon, she knew she wouldn’t be able to withstand someone who could deal with Muscle Brain like that. Muscle Brain was the strongest in their group if comparing physical strength alone.
“I agree…” Trickster thought he knew of Winters’s strength, but it seems he was horribly mistaken.
“That’s her, huh…?” Snivellus shivered at the sight of her in her full capacity despite watching her for so long.
“Jinx, if you would be a dear?” Poison politely asked the white fox resting on her head.
“Chirp.” Jinx manifested a portal for them.
The remaining leaders of the daemon invasion stepped into the portal. Well, all except Snivellus. Poison pushed the young snail daemon out of the portal. “Have you forgotten your purpose here?” She looked at him as if there was something wrong with his brain. “But, she’s a lot scarier in person… I don’t know if my ability is strong enough to keep up with her…” He poked his index fingers together nervously.
“The whole point is for you to find out how far you can keep up with her. We’ll grab you when it looks like you’re about to die. You still have use to me. I won’t throw you away so carelessly. Just focus on survival. If the opportunity shows, kill her.” Poison told him.
Before he could respond, the portal closed, and he was left alone in Luminaurora. Snivellus physically shivered as the remaining magjistars on the scene stared at him. But he wasn’t shaking because of them. No, they were weaklings. Far weaker than the human he just saw beating up Muscle Brain.
“Why did I have to be born with this ability…?” He cursed his luck.
BOOOOOM! A massive impact just landed next to Snivellus like it was a meteorite! As the flying debris stopped pelting his mucus-like skin, he saw the remains of Muscle Brain. A pulverized pulp of meat with something resembling a smile on his face… Then something else crashed right in front of him! It was the human!
“Next! Next! Next! Next!” They excitedly chanted, locking their eyes on the slug daemon.
Snivellus took on a humanoid form but with a distinctively grotesque and slimy appearance. His body was elongated and bloated, resembling that of a slug, with a mottled, sickly-green skin that glistened with a viscous slime. There was an eerie, wet, squelching sound every time he moved. His whole body was shaking as he looked at Zoey.
Zoey didn’t spare the daemon on account of its fear-stricken appearance. She made the first move with a corkscrew punch that sent the daemon spinning away like he was doing perpetual cartwheels through the air. As he crashed through multiple buildings, Zoey sped toward him before he could make his final stop, grabbing him from behind around the waist, leaping into the air, and spinning as she made her way back to the ground. Utilizing Twisting Force with her descent allowed her to pull more and more torque into her spin. Mahna covered both herself and the daemon as they made their way to the ground, doing over a dozen spins.
“Boxing Series: Spinning Piledriver!” They excitedly shouted moments before creating a massive crater in Luminaurora.
The Zoeys safely leaped away before reaching the final destination, unlike their opponent. She stood in the middle of the giant crater admiring their work before deciding to make their way toward other daemonic mahna. But, before they could dash off like the track star they were, something moist, slimy, and sticky grabbed onto their leg. “Haha, wow! He’s still alive!” they said to themselves. “I’m shocked. Are you actually strong?” They asked him.
“Unfortunately…” He softly replied back, with yellow blood dripping down his slimy visage.
“Good!” The Zoeys grinned as they threw a hook punch to the daemon’s abdomen.
Snivellus blocked the punch with his forearm without taking a single step backward. The light in the Zoeys’ eyes lit up like stars at the sight of this newfound strength of her opponent. He decked her across the face with a sloppy but incredibly powerful punch that Zoey could actually say, “OW!” too. “That actually hurt!” Zoey sent a punch of her own in response.
Her punch slung Snivellus’s jaw to the side as he threw another punch. The three engaged in a brutal slug-fest with no regard to skill, technique, or defense. Just offense, offense, and endurance. Both Zoeys laughed their heads off as they gave no ground whatsoever. Either they would win, or they would die! Snivellus moaned at his misfortune for meeting this freak of a human. It had to be with this abomination that he finally had to see just how far his ability could go.
Endurance, Fighting Aura, Mahna Manipulation, Combo Magji, Mahna Gathering Bomb, and Flexibility all came together in this deadly brawl. The Zoeys giggled like an insane person as their skills rose crazily in response to this incredibly strong daemon. Where was this daemon missing all their life?! He was the best damn exp farm in the world!
They could feel him actively growing and getting stronger with every punch given and received. “Are you like us?” She asked. “Do you have a box of your own?” she curiously asked, even when getting a tooth knocked out of her mouth. “Is this your connate daemon magji or something? Why haven’t you taken over the world yet if you’re this strong?” The Zoeys wondered.
“I’m only good at fighting one person at a time… And I need time to get strong. I’m really weak if I’m not given the chance to ramp up…” Snivellus answered her as she brought her fist to his chin and knocked him off his feet.
“Wow, you’re incredible! Do you wanna be like, our rival!?” The Zoeys asked as he stretched his arm and punched her across the face while falling.
“You’re really scary… I don’t think I would be a good rival for someone like you…” Snivellus politely tried to let her down.
“Too late, you’re our rival now. We’re going to let you live, okay? Just don’t kill any innocent humans, okay? Magjistars, eh… I’m pissed at them at the moment. Eat them all you like.” They told him.
“What? You’re sparing me…?” Snivellus didn’t understand. He could keep fighting.
“Yep, you’re running out of mahna. Don’t you feel yourself getting weaker?” The Zoeys questioned him.
“I am…?” Snivellus looked around to see what was happening with his body. He shouldn’t be losing mahna but gaining it in response to his opponent’s strength.
The Zoeys shook their head as they pointed upward. Snivellus’s eyes bulged in complete horror as he saw a gargantuan ball of mahna floating in the sky above Luminaurora. They smiled when he finally realized he never stood a chance in the first place, probably. Both of them raised their hands to the sky as they began manipulating the crazy amount of mahna they drained from the daemon.
“Our name is Zoey. What’s yours?” They asked him.
“Snivellus… The slug daemon…” He answered as he frantically waved in a certain direction.
Behind him, a portal formed. He sped into the portal as the Zoeys watched him go. Utilizing their crazy control over their mahna, Zoey unleashed the true potential of the Mahna Gathering Bomb for everyone in Luminaurora to witness. Several thousand rays of mahna began falling down on the city. The beams of light hit inhabitants of the city, remaining daemons, and any other living creatures within the vicinity of Luminaurora.
Magjistars or magji creatures were filled with a great amount of mahna, and daemons were eradicated to ash. Members of the trial who were supporting Zoey’s execution or whatever other punishment they had in mind were eradicated, just like the daemons. It was unknown to anyone but the Zoeys who survived and who died after using Mahna Gathering Bomb, and they would ensure it stayed that way. The daemons behind the invasion escaped before she could unleash the mahna technique.
As their battle high waned, the Zoeys started to help any trapped or injured citizens in the city. Although they were a selfish, petty bitch, it didn’t feel right to just leave them to their fate. Even if they were stupid, easily manipulated sheep. As they went around balancing their karma by helping the people of Luminaurora, they didn’t forget that she killed a lot more people than she saved in the end. There were a lot of magjistars at the trial. Although they weren’t as bothered by killing these people as they were with Hayato’s death, it still… Actually… It didn’t bother Zoey at all to kill those magjistars.
Who was she trying to kid? Both sides of herself were more than fine with wiping those assholes off the face of the Earth. If it weren’t for The Wanderers, she would’ve done it in a much more up-close and personal way. Was she becoming a monster because the thought of killing humans didn’t bother her anymore? Zoey didn’t think so. Those magjistars were horrible people.
“Winters! Winters! Winters!” People started to chant for them.
“Thank you, Zoey Winters!” They cheered.
“You saved all of us!” Someone said.
“You’re a hero! The Hero of Luminaurora!” They gave her a nickname and everything.
The same people who were previously calling for their death or whatever. For the first time in their life, Zoey could positively say that she wasn’t happy to be admired and given positive attention by someone. It felt gross to be cheered by these people. And she was one hundred percent certain that she wanted little to do with the magji world going forward.
Zoey let out a breath—a breath filled with all of her exhaustion at what a long, long day it's been. As the people tried to run to her and parade her throughout the ruined city, Zoey vanished from their sight. She ran home. Ran all the way home to her soft, comfortable, familiar bed. The aches, pains, bruises, breaks, and whatnot are all catching up to her now. She groaned. She gave a long, long groan even as she sunk into her ludicrously soft bed and drifted off to sleep. "This really fucking hurts..."
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A person who was watching over her from the beginning of the trial to the end gave a small grin as he saw her drifting off to sleep. “That’s my girl…” Victor Kahn laughed to himself.