[2020]

  At first glance, it was an ordinary night. The sky was flat, the wind steady, and Purwokerto City—never truly slept. Streetlights hummed, blending with the distant drone of traffic. However, beneath this veneer of peaceful reality, an anomaly was unfolding.

  A demon tore through the skyline, forcing his body to outpace the fear snapping at his heels.

  Giou.

  He plowed through obstacles—jumping over rooftops, slipping past billboards, and crawling the walls like a desperate prey clinging to life. Below, the human world carried on, oblivious that a life-or-death hunt was raging just a few layers of existence above their heads.

  A dozen predators pursued him. From knee-high critters, horse-sized beasts, to a massive lizard-crocodile hybrid that moved as if it owned the night. They weren't a random pack; they were a coordinated demon unit from various species, united by a singular purpose Giou was too exhausted to dwell on.

  He was a fugitive.

  The Kingdom of Otraheos—a demon nation nesting inside a Gehenna Realm, deep within the Java Sea—had branded him a criminal. An entire state wanted his head. He had been caught once, narrowly escaping death. Only sheer luck had kept him breathing until tonight, and the same luck was running dangerously thin.

  On a high rooftop, Giou sprinted, locking his gaze on the concrete ledge ahead. He needed maximum velocity to jump to the next building. But before his legs could launch him, a heavy being tore through the air and crashed directly into his path.

  BAM! Concrete cracked. Dust billowed. Giou skidded to a halt, stopping inches from the obstruction: a towering demon clad in iron armor. With bulging muscles and hard red skin, the creature looked like a Chaos Orc straight out of Warcraft.

  The behemoth glared. Without a word, a massive fist swung for Giou’s face.

  It was a killing blow, not giving the victim a second chance to wake up. Giou didn't block; he twisted in the split second before impact, saving his jaw from pulverization. Seizing the momentum, he scrambled up the giant’s arm, scaling the three-meter frame like a ladder.

  Perched on the unsteady shoulder, Giou triggered his Electric Nexus through hand touch.

  Ctraaassss! Physics took over. The iron armor acted as a perfect conductor, instantly transforming into an electric cage that channeled thousands of volts directly into the user’s sweat-soaked skin.

  A massive scream echoed. "Aaaaarrrggghhh!"

  The giant demon’s muscles seized in violent contraction. His back arched, legs trembling, and the scent of burnt flesh wafted from the armor’s crevices as Joule Heating took effect—thermal energy generated by electrical resistance.

  But the behemoth didn't fall. With a crude swing, he snatched Giou and slammed him onto the rooftop surface. Giou’s bones rattled like fine porcelain hitting a table.

  "AN-NOY-ING!!!" the creature roared, forcing every ounce of air from his lungs.

  The next blow wasn't aimed at Giou, but the floor. BOOM! Cracks spread like lightning. The concrete structure gave way, dragging both of them into the room below.

  It should have been a scene of chaos, yet the room remained tranquil. Lights hummed, desks stood in neat rows, and a janitor pushed a mop cart just meters from the impact zone.

  No screams. No panic. The janitor walked right through the falling debris, ignoring the two monsters playing tag as if they didn't exist.

  Giou and the armored giant were in Ophema—the spirit realm—where everything was merely a projection. The real room located in Proteum—the material/real realm—remained completely untouched.

  Giou ran zigzag through the ruins of roof and the shattered office desks. No matter what blocked the path, the giant smashed through it without hesitation. A flying chair struck Giou’s shoulder—lucky that was the only hit he took.

  "Please, don't catch me... I don't want to hurt you!" Giou cried out while creating distance.

  The giant’s roar thundered, utterly unmoved by the plea.

  Amidst the chaos, Giou glanced at the window. Three other figures—the giant's comrades—were scaling the wall toward their floor. Time was up. He executed a spontaneous maneuver: sprinting to the corner, rebounding off the wall, and launching himself over the giant faster than the beast’s reflexes could track. In an instant, he was perched behind the creature's head.

  I'm sorry, he apologized internally.

  Electricity surged from his body—short, brutal, and high amperage. Similar to an electric eel’s sting, but far deadlier. The giant’s body stiffened, but it wasn't enough. They fell together. Giou delivered a second shock, then a third, and a fourth—until the creature's heart finally stopped beating.

  Six seconds later, the three other demons arrived. They found no sign of Giou. Only the body of their comrade lay stiff and scorched, before slowly dissolving into nothingness—returning to the fundamental energy of the spirit realm. Giou had already vanished to the floor below.

  The chase dragged on. Giou slipped onto the eighth floor and ducked into a dark room, illuminated only by a sliver of light from the corridor. He crouched behind a storage cabinet, fighting to stifle his heavy breathing.

  "Hah... hah..." Air escaped his lungs like hot steam. His insides were burned—a biological consequence of pushing his electrical output past its threshold. Just like a circuit component damaged by overcurrent, his body had its limits.

  Worse, the previous four attacks had drained his spiritual energy reserves, known in Supernaturalist Lexicon as Spirium. He needed at least two hours of rest to recharge—a chance he didn't have as the hunters combed the building.

  Heavy footsteps echoed faintly, growing louder with every second. It was only a matter of time.

  "No... no... I don't want that again..." he muttered, shivering. The dark memory surfaced unbidden. He recalled being dragged onto a massive stage, surrounded by thousands of Otraheos citizens cheering for blood. A guillotine stood tall, its blade ready to claim him. He had been helpless, waiting for the end.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  If "he" hadn't arrived that day... Giou would be dead.

  The silence stretched tight, as if the room itself held its breath. Then, Giou’s sensory nerves tingled—a faint rustle from above. A demon was crawling on the ceiling, waiting to pounce. He didn't need to look; his instincts were honed for this.

  Three seconds passed. Silence. Tension.

  Whoosh! The creature lunged. Giou dodged in the nick of time, crashing through the brittle window glass. Crash! Shards scattered out.

  He landed, sprinted, and smashed through the window partition into the next room without a second thought. The hunter was hot on his heels, matching his speed and ferocity. Giou tore from room to room, shattering glass after glass, until he ran out of floor. Unable to brake, he crashed through the final window and plummeted into the open air. Crash!

  Below, a Fiend-type demon waited. An eight-meter-long crocodile-headed giant lizard—that was the only accurate description. Its maw gaped wide, ready to swallow the falling Giou whole.

  Panic set in.

  But Giou had one tool left: two super-elastic tails sprouting from the back of his head. Each could stretch up to four times, with the default of 1.2 meter.

  He whipped one tail against the building's wall, grappling the concrete to arrest his fall. The other coiled around an iron beam, acting as an anchor.

  He swung just meters above the lizard's jaws. Snap! The sharp teeth clamped down on empty air, almost cut off his legs. He barely avoided becoming dinner, swinging away with a decisive arc before dropping to the street and sprinting into the darkness. The pack followed.

  His stamina drained steadily. His head throbbed. He entered an area of uneven ground marked by a single tall building and three widely spaced trees. Every time he took a step, ground pebbles and broken ceramics shards into his feet. His vision swayed, blurring as if the entire courtyard were spinning.

  His pace slowed. His breathing shattered. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse... he saw someone.

  A human. Or rather: a human soul wandering Ophema via Astral Projection. The man wore a stylish green trench coat with a triple-layered collar, left open to reveal a neat white shirt. Below: brown trousers, brown leather boots, and gray gloves. He looked too tidy for this place.

  His head was covered by a gray balaclava, topped with a gray mask worn upside down. Mouth hole over the eyes, Eye holes over the mouth. He crouched on a power line strung low between buildings, pose like an assassin scouting prey. He observed the demonic chase like a midnight show.

  The guy stood up and leaned forward. He dropped, letting gravity take the wheel. But a split second before ground impact, his form destabilized—shattering into a cloud of microscopic pixels before deleting itself entirely.

  Simultaneously, a spatial distortion rippled right next to Giou. Two-second air pressure drop and whoosh sound. Giou sensed the anomaly, but his exhausted mind responded too slowly. Then... the masked man reappeared beside him.

  Tap! A simple, light kick. Enough to send Giou tumbling several meters across the ground. The pursuing demons skidded to a halt. Not out of fear, but surprise; the uninvited arrival of a Spirit User always signaled one thing: complications.

  "Demon hunter...!" one growled. In seconds, the pursuit formation shifted into a combat stance.

  The masked man turned. His attitude seems too relaxed, a stark contrast to the heating atmosphere. He raised a hand, palm out, waving it back and forth in a "slow down" gesture.

  "Whoa, easy there... I come in peace." His tone didn't match his appearance. It was too casual, making the threat feel even more unpredictable.

  "I’m just curious," he continued, dropping his voice as if discussing the weather. "What's the deal here? Why chase this... ugly, imbecile creature? Aren't you the same team? Can't you all just get along?"

  Giou, still half-sitting, felt offended—though he couldn't argue with the "imbecile" part.

  "This is none of your business," one demon snapped. "Step aside! We have no interest to deal with humans."

  "Can't even ask a question, huh." The hunter sighed lazily. "Fine, I'll ask the ugly, imbecile one here myself."

  He ignored the armed mob and walked straight to Giou, crouching to match his eye level. His movements were sluggish, yet his body language dared anyone to interrupt.

  "So," he said, staring through the inverted mask, "Care to explain?"

  Instead of answering, Giou fixated on the one thing bothering him. "Umm... why is your mask upside down...?"

  Five seconds of silence. No response. No movement. A suffocating pressure locked the air. Giou swallowed hard. "Sorry... uhh..." He adjusted his sitting position. "They're chasing me..."

  "Why?" The hunter asked flatly.

  "Because... I'm a fugitive..."

  "Oh... A fugitive." He nodded slowly. "What crime?"

  "I-I just... spread a new ideology..."

  "Ideology?"

  "Yes. I believe demons do not belong in hell. They're just like humans. Both creatures... should be able to live together without fighting."

  "Huh."

  Three seconds of silence. Then the man exploded into laughter.

  "Bwahahaha!!! That's hilarious... You're killing me, hahaha!" It wasn't a normal laugh—he cackled until he fell over and rolled on the ground. The sound echoed off the surrounding buildings, slicing through the tension while simultaneously making it worse.

  The demons exchanged baffled glances, while Giou bristled with offense. "W-Why are you laughing at me?!" he snapped. For a moment, his wrath eclipsed his fear.

  "Yes, I'm laughing at you." The laughter cut off abruptly. Like a switch flip. As the masked man stood, the atmosphere shifted. "You're interesting. Come with me."

  "Huh?" Giou stared, frowned in confusion.

  Protest exploded from the demon pack. "Hey! You think you can just barge in and steal our target!?" "Go back to Proteum, asshole!"

  The man tilted his head slightly, feigning innocence. "Oh... not allowed, huh." He glanced back at Giou. "What do you think? Violence or peace? I'm not really in the mood for a brawl."

  "Uhh... Peace-" Giou answered, though the man's erratic behavior made him doubt if there was a right answer.

  "Okay." With a sharp snap, he flung both arms wide. His coat tails whipped up, whistling softly with the motion.

  BOOF! Thick smoke erupted from beneath the fabric, swallowing them both. Giou’s vision vanished instantly. Then—before he could process it—the ground beneath him disappeared, and he plummeted.

  Up there, panic erupted. "They escaped!"

  The eleven demons charged into the fog. One used a Wind Nexus to clear the smoke, revealing empty ground and a set of footprints leading toward the highway. A clear trail. Without wasting a second, they surged in that direction.

  The thundering footsteps faded. Fifteen seconds of darkness passed before a small flame flickered to life. The masked man lit a match, out of nowhere.

  Only then did Giou realize their location: a cramped, muddy space with damp walls—an underground sewer. Above them sat a cylindrical manhole cover, sealed perfectly tight. Not shifted, not broken, not even a scratch to suggest it had been opened.

  It wasn't teleportation. Giou had felt the physical sensation of falling. That left two possibilities: the man had destroyed the cover, dropped them, and repaired it with Nexus instantly; or he moved at a speed that defied logic. Either way, they were hidden.

  "Sssshhh..." the man hissed, pressing a finger to his mask. He lifted the cover slightly, peeking out with the exaggerated caution of a cartoon character ignoring the laws of physics.

  Coast clear. He climbed out.

  Giou followed with slow steps, doubt as he surveyed the scene. It was staged to perfection: lingering smoke residue, fresh dirt camouflaging the manhole, and a trail of footprints leading toward the highway—they haven't even set foot an inch there.

  "Is all of that... your Nexus?" he asked quietly. His head spun with questions. Using that many complex magic at one time should have massive consequences. This wasn't the work of an ordinary demon hunter.

  "Yup. Now walk." The answer was brief, leaving no room for discussion.

  "Eh, w-where?"

  "Shut up and move."

  Giou had no choice. Like it or not, he had to follow this lunatic.