Gem was confident in his special ability. It was something that would take his clan members years to develop. A strong and versatile ability that allowed one to create a semi-sentient shadow.

That shadow also grew stronger at night. "Let's go to the outskirts."

He didn't want the villagers or anyone else to notice any conflicts in the team. The demon might take advantage of this.

There was something about the crispy cold and soft winds of the night that made one feel strange. Darkness wasn't humanity's friend, and demons were usually stronger during the night. But the Kuro Clan always thrived in darkness. They made darkness their strongest weapon.

"This should be far enough." Gem stopped and turned to face Kon. Who still had a relaxed posture. His hands were in his pockets. As if all of this was just a game to him.

Gem couldn't lie to himself; there was something off-putting about the whole thing.

Kon, as a paranoid guy, should be worried about this. Yet he seemed as if he was more relaxed than when he was sleeping.

"Aren't you going to use Promotion?" He asked, almost mockingly.

'This pisses me the fuck off!'

"Bets! We're on enemy territory, right?!" Gem gathered his Ord and poured it all into the shadows around him. Darkness itself started moving.

"I don't know about that," Bets scratched his head.

"There might be an enemy around us, and we don't know his position. So we're under enemy territory," Kon intervened and offered his opinion.

Bets seemed convinced, and that was all the confirmation Gem needed. "Promotion, Queen!"

"Queen?" Agon looked at him weirdly.

But Gem concentrated as a new burst of Ord poured from the deepest part of his soul. Like last time, it was too much Ord for him to control.

So he blasted the Ord toward the shadows and used his Special Ability. Shadows rose high as a beast towering over the trees rose. It was a wolf made of shadows.

Kon whistled and was about to say something. But Gem didn't let him and controlled his shadow wolf to attack.

Despite its size, the beast was almost weightless as it was made of shadows. But the beauty of the technique was that despite the beast lacking weight, it still had a lot of power.

In less than 1/10th of a second, before anyone could even blink. The beast was in front of Kon, and chomped down on him. The shadows swallowed his body.

"Oy! Be careful!" Bets said harshly. He had narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a death match."

"Don't worry. He won't die," Gem reassured him. 'Though he will be hurt a bunch.'

A bright light shined, and it felt like it was daytime. Just as soon as the shadow beast had reached Kon, it burst like a balloon and Gem felt his Ord dissipate into nothingness.

"What?"

***

Information was power. That statement never rang truer than now. I knew weaknesses of Gem's ability that he had no idea about.

Just an outdated flashbang talisman was enough to destroy all the shadows around me. While a shadow ability gets stronger, the more shadows there are might sound cool. Light would be its weakness.

There was no perfect Special Ability out there. Trying to make a perfect one will just end up in failure. Kind of like trying to create a sword that cuts through anything.

"H -How?" Gem looked at me with wide eyes.

"Don't be scared. It's just a little light," I tried to reassure him. No one would feel good after knowing that some shitty talismans are their biggest weakness. "Your ability is quite good though. Surprisingly fast too. I almost couldn't react."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Actually, I couldn't react. I put Ord in a talisman to activate it as soon as I saw the scary beast of shadows. What sane man would let their opponent charge up their attack? That would be foolish.

"That was so cool!" Agon smiled like a kid who just saw superman flying around. "The giant shadow wolf went like swoosh, and then he bit down on you, and then baaam! Its whole body exploded!"

"Was that your special ability?" Bets nodded. He looked impressed.

Didn't they see the talisman? Right, I guess they just saw it from an outward view.

Should I explain the misunderstanding? I glanced around. Though I couldn't see anything, there could be a demon listening in on us.

Sometimes you must fool your friends to fool the enemy. "You could say that."

I tucked the katana on my back. The cursed weapon was ready to be pulled out. But I resisted this temptation. I knew it was the cursed weapon trying to entice and use my fear against me.

"Anyone else wants to question my validity as the leader?" I asked rhetorically.

As a friend, Bets wouldn't fight me on this. Agon on the other hand is a clueless shonen protagonist, so he doesn't care about things like this. "Since no one is saying anything, let's get on with the investigations."

I walked to Gem and put a hand on his shoulder. He still seemed a bit absent-minded but still followed me as we walked away from the fighting site.

Taking out my notebook, I flipped to the page where I had written where the victims had died and went to the nearby lake shore.

The full moon reflected on the water, and it was quite a beautiful sight.

Checking all of the places where the drowned bodies were found, there were no clues. The corpses had already been buried, and footprints on the shores had long since disappeared.

Since they were killed on the shore, the danger was likely in the lake.

I put my backpack on the ground and unbuckled its straps, pulling out a small fish tank that my carp could barely fit. "How have you been there, little guy? Sorry for putting you in such a tight place. But I don't know how to carry you around otherwise."

Turning toward my teammates, I saw them all looking at me weirdly. Agon even asked. "Are you talking to a fish?"

What's with those looks?

"We can use this guy to check how things are underwater. Since any clues up here on the shore would have been washed away." I chose not to answer Agon's question. Because I felt like no matter the answer, there would be some understanding where it would make me seem even crazier.

"What if the thing that killed the people is underwater and attacks the fish?" Bets brought up a good point.

"From what we know until now, the demons don't seem to have killed any fish or other wildlife," also if I as the Beast Master couldn't read my familiar's Ord energy. Then there's no way any low-class demon would be able to, either.

"There's no rotten fish smell on the shores," Gem sniffed the air. "Also demons don't have a taste for animal flesh."

Amongst us, only Agon was peeking from the sidelines. He was like a confused kid. There was a look on his face that showed he didn't understand anything.

When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a thumbs-up and nodded. "Yeah, by my calculations, everything should go as planned."

Did he just try acting as if he understood anything?

I smiled back politely and put my fish in the water. "If you see anything out there. Make sure to come back and notify us."

My familiar swam away immediately, giving no indication that he even understood me.

"You sure he's gonna come back?" Agon asked.

"Of course he will," Bets nodded as if it was an obvious thing. "Since it is a weak familiar, the power dynamics are completely in Kon's favor."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Agon exclaimed and smiled at me. "You're a really smart guy, ain't ya?"

Well, one thing's for sure. They're giving me way too much credit.

The power dynamics in our 'contract' between me and the carp was that of equals. When I created the link, I already assumed that Carpy would one day become a dragon. Trust me; you don't want to try jailing a dragon.

Suddenly my eyes felt scratchy, and there was an indescribable feeling of foreboding. Closing my eyes, instead of seeing only darkness an underwater view greeted me.

It was as if I was a fish.

Vision Sharing was the first stage showing the bond between a demon and its master deepening.

Yes! I have made progress!

This confirmed that the carp had grown to become a lingering spirit, which proved that my method was working.

Before this, I had always been a little nervous, as the carp hadn't shown any signs of changing. Besides getting a little bigger. With my self-condition of death, I wouldn't even be able to have another familiar.

But my joy was cut short as a humanoid shape became apparent in the dark underwaters.

What was that?

Though I wanted my familiar to not get closer to the humanoid being. But I couldn't control him directly, since our contract was one between equals.

Still, I tried to send my emotions and intentions through the link we shared. But for some reason, he didn't respond. Was I doing it wrong? Maybe I should have practiced this more.

Damn it! Get away you damn fish!

As he got closer, I got a better look at the humanoid figure. It had rotten gray flesh and looked like a humanoid fish with googly eyes.

Shit, that's a demon!

The demon turned its head toward me. Or more correctly toward Carpy, the swimming fish.

The creature extended its hand toward Carpy.