“I’m going to kill that old man. I don’t care if it was to hide my real identity from those girls but he has better ways to do so!” Lucy had scoffed as she tore webs out of her hair.

“U-uhm… If the point was to hide your identity, is it okay to be doing that near me?” Lily asked meekly.

“What are you gonna do, target my family? Attack my house? If you survive either of those endeavors, you’d easily be able to beat me while transformed.” Responded Lucy, shrugging playfully.

While she didn’t let her guard down, Lucy didn’t think for a moment that Lily-rose was a hostile force. Not yet at least. Even on the minuscule chance that she did try something, even with her injuries, Lucy was confident in beating her with the help of Utopia.

“Lighten up, girls. We’re here.” Utopia interjected before that could go any further, pointing at a nice building.

After the last battle, Utopia was pretty confident he figured out just how confrontational Lucy is. For all he knew, those two would break out into battle right here and now.

“Half Moon… Cafe?” Lucy questioned as she looked at the sign, surprise briefly lacing her face.

“Oh, you know of it? This is the original location.”

It was a chain of Cafes that had gotten very popular in the past decade so of course Lucy knew about it.

‘Huh… He said he knew a nice place but to think it’s here.’ Lucy mused.

“Mmh, back when I traveled a lot. Every time I was in America, I often came here with my cousin. Their cupcakes are good.”

“Let’s go then, my treat.” Utopia said, nodding in agreement.

“I’m going to spend ALL of your money.” Lucy teased without missing a beat.

“I… Dislike that I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.” Utopia chuckled nervously, quickly realizing what a mistake he had made.

In response, Lucy smiled evilly as they entered the building.

With the sound of a bell ringing, they were quickly seated in a place away from prying ears.

“Who the hell are you? Does your family own the city or something?” Lucy asked bluntly while eying down Utopia.

In response, the man could only chuckle. “My parents don’t even live in Nexus. I’m just a priest who knows quite a few people.” He smugly replied.

‘You’re so lucky I hate you slightly less than other clergy members…’ Lucy thought while rolling her eyes.

After the brief bickering between the two ended, a young waiter came to their table, his eyes meeting with Lucy’s as they just blankly stared at each other for an uninterrupted 4 seconds.

“Welcome to Half-moon Cafe, what would you like to eat today.” The waiter broke the silence and Lucy looked through the menu at the exact same time.

While she looked at what to order, Utopia ordered rather quickly with Lily-rose only ordering after a bit of nudging from him. Eventually, Lucy settled on an Iced coffee and a couple of donuts, also ordering a muffin for Nell.

“Alright, coming right up.” The waiter wrote their orders down and left.

“Did you two… Know each other?” Nell asked.

“No, never met that man in my life but he understands me,” Lucy answered resolutely

“You’re weird.”

“Yes, I am! Anyways, what’s your story girly?”

With those few words, everyone’s attention shifted to Lily-rose.

“A-ah… My name is uhm… Lily… Lily-rose Ashe. Thank you for saving me by the way…”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘That Yuki girl lost to you nearly instantly. That puppet might be stronger than me.’ Lucy mused inwardly in response to Lily-rose thanking them.

Although she tried thinking about it from countless different angles, Lucy couldn’t figure out why she was letting those two sentinels beat her when she had access to that doll. Although she wasn’t paying terribly close attention during her clashes with the Sentinels, it didn’t take Lily-rose more than a couple of seconds to call out that thing.

“I’m 16… And I’m the… Daughter of a Xin and human.”

“And I suppose you’re not willing to reveal the identity of either of your parents?”

Lily-rose seemed to freeze up at the mention of her parents.

“M-my parents… My dad’s name was Rodden Ashe and my mom is…”

Although her mouth continued to move, no words escaped and her fear took over her face.

Widening her eyes, Lucy scanned Lily-Rose from head to toe. Mana was coalescing in her throat, blocking anything from exiting or leaving it, including air.

“Tch, Interference,” Lucy whispered as her finger grazed Lily-rose’s neck.

Near instantaneously, quicker than Utopia or Nell could even notice something was wrong, Lily-Rose began coughing and breathing heavily.

“Hey? Are you okay? Lucille, what did you do to her?” Utopia questioned as he assisted Lily-rose by not letting her head slam into the table

“E-eh? A-again? What happened to me?” Lily-rose asked, surprised and mildly scared. Even she was confused by what happened.

Narrowing her eyes in thought as the priest questioned her, Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Okay, I get it. Lily-rose, are you okay?” Lucy inferred.

Lily-rose nodded hesitantly, rubbing her neck.

“Am I missing something?”

After confirming that Lily-rose wasn’t in any immediate trouble, both Nell and Lucy briefly turned to Utopia.

“Having to rely on tools to be even the slightest bit useful must suck.” Lucy chuckled, still finding time to make fun of Utopia despite what happened.

“Don’t worry. A ban was placed on you. Which is… The worst way to prevent information leaking. Not to mention, I stopped it before the spell could fully activate so who knows what the spell was actually trying to do to you. That being said though, something is still a little worrying.” Lucy explained to Lily-rose while trying

At the mention of a ban, Utopia understood.

“The one who placed the ban will know if it was activated?”

“Hey, 10 points. Good job Priest, you don’t lack basic knowledge.”

Lily-Rose's already fear-stricken eyes only became more noticeable as her face paled at the thought of whoever did that to her knowing that she tried to tell someone about her mother’s identity.

“Isn’t that… Really bad?” She asked.

Lucy shrugged.

“Bans don’t give away location unless the spell fully activates. Even if it did though, there are a minimum of 3 magical girls in the city so. No, probably not?”

“That’s not what I mean,” Lily-rose said.

“The Xin… Invaders as you call us… With me being the exception, none of them should be able to use magic…”

Silence filled the table as those words left. Such a revelation in such few words shook Lucy.

“I-I’m not sure about how it works but we have a type of energy unique to us called Reign. Apparently, I’m able to use both because of my status as a half-blood.”

“So you were bred as a super weapon?” Lucy mumbled, her tone indicating that she was suddenly taking this situation a whole lot more seriously.

“What?”

“Nothing. Don’t explain further. Without knowing what the ban extends to do, saying anymore could put you in danger. Let’s digest the information you already gave us before thinking about our next move.”

For the time being, everyone agreed with Lucy’s statement and they spent the time discussing amongst themselves what this could mean. Most notably the fact that if these Invaders, or Xin as they learned they’re called can’t use Mana, it more than likely means humans are assisting them.

While Lucy couldn’t say she was expecting any of this, she was equally unsurprised. Whatever the Xin wanted, be it world domination or something else, it’s natural that a greedy group such as humans would ally themselves with it.

As a Witch, that is exactly what Lucy’s ancestors did. Siding with those who were almost universally regarded as the enemy of humanity.

“Well then, that’s that. So… It’s my turn then?” Lucy asked.

“Right… Lucy, what exactly was that?” Nell asked.

“Demon possession. Devil possession technically but eh. I assume you know how us Witches from contract with Underkin, right?”

Underkin is the blanket term for any species that resides in the underworld. Demons, Devils, Fallen Angels, etc.

The table nodded. Even Lily-rose understood how it worked on a basic level. It is literally a contract.

The witch offers something be it souls, her own or from others, a limb, whatever they can manage to negotiate as payment.

“How to explain it… I guess telling you how we met would answer that quite well. Alright, I’ll tell a fun story then, to lighten the mood from that serious talk!”