‘What the hell? This isn’t what I wanted at all...’ Zoey sullenly crossed her arms, watching Alexander and Lindsay easily dealing with the Farmer Daemon.

“Lightning Volume I: Ball of Lightning!” Alexander’s stick shot out a sphere of lightning.

  The Farmer Daemon looked like a scarecrow. He had farmer’s overalls, a long scythe in his hands, and an army of crows that flew from out of his open chest and did his bidding. Alexander’s lightning ball easily fried the crows to ash which made Zoey wonder if they were real birds or not. If they were, Alexander’s lightning is way stronger than she thought. She still believed she could beat him and Lindsay even if they fought her together.

  As long as they didn’t sneak up and ambush her. Even with her cursed gloves, taking on the power of ice and lightning together? Its total bullshit. Especially if Alexander lands one of the lightning spells on her. Zoey’s body was tough but she didn’t believe it was tough enough to handle lightning just yet. But in a straight-up fight, Zoey believed she could handle the two.

“Ice Volume I: Beam of Frost!” A ray of ice magic landed on the demon.

  In no time, the small area her beam hit began spreading ice across his figure. The Farmer Daemon couldn’t resist its effects even with the help of his crows. They pecked and clawed at the ice but none of it helped. Soon, the demon’s head was blasted apart by Alexander’s lightning and that was that. Zoey wasn’t even needed at all. This demon out here in the sticks didn’t do things like how demons did in the city. There was no hiding, hostages, or anything. He was just tending to a farm and killed any humans that came by.

“How was that Zoey?” Alexander came over with a confident look on his face. “We’re getting stronger just like you.” He smiled.

“I don’t think taking care of something on our level is anything to be proud of. We’re supposed to be able to handle daemons of this level after all.” Lindsay said despite the straightness of her back and a small smile lingering on her face. In her hand was the magji shard of the Farmer Daemon.

“Is there a ranking for demons?” Zoey asked.

“Of course.” Lindsay replied.

“That’s how we are assigned cases. As D-grade magjistars, we take on D-grade daemons. It goes all the way from S-grade to D-grade.”

“How are these ranked exactly? What’s the difference between the grades of demons?”

“D-grade daemons can be killed with a sword. C-grade needs a pistol. B-grade will be difficult even with a shotgun. A-grade, not even an armored fighting vehicle is enough. S-grade daemons are tough enough to probably withstand multiple air-dropped bombs, maybe.” Lindsay explained.

“What grade were those two from yesterday?” Zoey wondered if her fists were as strong as a pistol or a shotgun.

“C-grade.” Alexander shrugged.

“But with the poison daemon’s poison, they might be able to trouble a B-grade magjistar.” Lindsay added.

“Let’s go get our pay then I guess.” Zoey said. So, she was somewhere in-between a C and B grade as a Bringer.

“Yep!” Alexander responded.

  Leaving behind the destroyed fields of a demon farmer, they made their way to the bus stop to get back to the city. Zoey planned to make a small little visit to a certain number of delinquents since her needs weren’t fulfilled with Alexander and Lindsay. Today was the day that she went absolutely nuts on raising her defensive skills. That was the promise she made to herself today. She kept talking about doing it but today she really meant it. Only one or two punches will be thrown at most.

“Hey Zoey, are you taking a boxing class or something?” Alexander asked while they were riding the bus.

“Yes.”

“You know, I didn’t think that martial arts would be all that useful against daemons. But after seeing you with those gloves and those other two from before, I can’t think that way anymore. I was wondering if you think I should learn a martial art to help me fight against daemons better.”

“It could only help.” Zoey didn’t know why all magjistars weren’t working out daily or already practicing martial arts.

  Being in better shape would make it much easier to fight against demons. In fact, Zoey thought it made complete sense that the taekwondo guy and kendo girl beat Alexander and Lindsay to a pulp. They were two completely average people just with magic! Those other two trained, learned a proper way of fighting, and had experience with fighting. Alexander and Lindsay had none of those three. Except maybe being trained in the ways of magic but so did the taekwondo and kendo mages.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Which one do you think I should start with?”

“I only really know about boxing... You can look up some videos on Beetube about other fighting styles. After watching them, just choose which one you think will help against fighting demons more.” Zoey suggested.

“Hmm... That’s not a bad idea.” Lindsay pulled out her phone.

“What got you interested in boxing, Zoey?” His innocence and general friendliness reminded Zoey of Callie. It was getting a bit too much for her.

“I just thought it was strong.” She sort of told the truth.

  The only reason she got into boxing was to protect herself from these two. If they wanted to kill her or force her mouth shut about magic after catching them, they would be catching her hands instead. Her life and way of living possibly being at stake was enough to force her into a desperate situation like that. Like if she didn’t think her life was in danger, Zoey would’ve never signed up for boxing or anything similar. She would’ve continued living the mediocre life she’s always had even with the Box.

“I don’t know much about popular fighters. When I was learning in Magjistar School, we rarely went over stuff in the normal world.” He shared.

“Just search for it online and type top 10 strongest fighters in history or in 2020.” Zoey told him.

“It's that easy?”

“Didn’t you say magjistars were more open-minded or something before?” Zoey questioned Lindsay.

“He’s a bit of a special case...” Lindsay was embarrassed because of him.

  The rest of the ride back wasn’t anything special. Zoey said her goodbyes to the two after getting their reward from the OM and made her way to Delinquent’s Row. This was a place she found out about a while ago when she was fighting delinquents every week or so before the YFTL. But she never had the time to walk around here until now. Zoey had her hoodie raised and tightened around her face so that no one could recognize her face. Someone recognizing her by her gloves would be ideal but it's more likely they’ll recognize her by her skin color. She has become something of a big shot in the delinquent community. At least, that’s what she thinks. Unless Miles is way less popular than she thought he was.

“Hey there short stuff, don’t you know what kind of place this is?” Some big dude called out to her.

  Wearing a gold chain, pants sagging, body filled with muscle, and more than a couple dudes around him. That was a good number of people to fight against but fighting people that don’t know her wouldn’t be satisfying. They’ll definitely start running away once she shows her strength. She needed to find Miles’s people! Those guys are willing to fight her to the end. Miles’s pockets were stuffed with cash that he used to convince his guys into doing his dirty work for him.

“Do you know where I can find Dino?” She asked, ignoring his question.

“How the hell do you know that crazy motherfucker? You ain’t as new as I thought you were if you know about Dino.” He seemed upset about that. “Nah, I don’t know where he is. No one but him and his closest boys do.” He took out a smoke and lit it, no longer interested in her anymore.

“What about his boys? Do you know where they are?”

“No! Now leave me alone!” He turned away from her.

  This made it harder for Zoey to find the big bad of the delinquent gang. So, she aimlessly walked around more up and down the streets. Getting catcalled, hit on by delinquents, and generally objectified but no one has tried to force her into doing her anything she didn’t want. Just calling her a stuck-up bitch or other curse words after she ignored them, which meant no beating for them. Zoey was a firm believer of sticks and stones may break her bones but words would never hurt. Sometimes.

“Holy shit, is that Boxer Chick?” Someone recognized her.

  Her eyes glanced over to the boy with the lip ring. His looks didn’t ring a bell so, Zoey had no idea who he was. Hopefully he’ll be able to point her to some angry delinquents who need their ass kicked. If not, she didn’t want to stick around and talk to him. Even if he was tall, handsome, and kind of hot. She came to satisfy a different need!

“I’m looking for Miles or Dino. I heard they were friends.” She walked over to him.

“We’ve missed ya Boxer Chick! Haven’t you heard that Miles have been sending anyone he could pay after ya ass? You definitely shouldn’t be walking around here unless you’re looking for a beating.”

“I’ve been walking around here for ten minutes. No one is looking for me.” She told him.

“Really? Guess they didn’t think you’d be here of all places. But hey, since you’re looking for Miles, how about I bring you to him? I know a pool place he goes to often.”

“Why?” Zoey asked.

  What did he get out of helping her? He didn’t seem as cool as he looked. He gave off more of a friendly bad boy vibe or something. Or a class clown with a bad streak.

“Wherever you go is definitely interesting! You see, I shouldn’t tell you this but because of you, the power dynamics of the gangs in the city is slowly changing. You beating up Miles’s boys is having a bigger effect than you think.”

“What gang are you in?” She asked.

  He held his hands up. “Whoa Boxer Chick, I don’t want no beef. I don’t know what you get out of this but I do know I don’t want to get on your bad side. If you can come around here again and again even after pissing Miles off, you aren’t someone that I want to mess with.” He spoke. She was interested in his gang but with him saying something like this she could only shrug. “Take me to him.” Zoey asked.

  He did as she requested and brought her to the building. To get in her good books or just to be nice, he even paid for her to get inside. The look on Miles’s still busted up face was a surprise to Zoey. That beating she gave him was even worse than she thought. But he did deserve it for pulling a knife on her.

  Zoey felt her “dark side” acting up. Once she looked at Miles in the eyes, she had an urge to smile and wave at him. Like they were best friends or something. When he had a look on his face like he wanted to burst a blood vessel or something. In fact, it only took him a few seconds before he exploded and started screaming uncontrollably.

“I WILL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY FACE!” Miles shouted while spittle flew from his mouth before pulling out a taser from his pocket.