Two streaks of light shed in the underground sewers.


    The demon agent''s hands twisted and turned intorge ws stretching for meters as he swung his hand at Eugene.


    Unfazed, Eugene countered with his de. The sharp sword-like ws smacked against the purple-yellow sword of the young man, sparks flying with each of their movements.


    Eugene took a step back and winded up for a giant swing. The agent jumped to his back and covered his chest with his ws. Just as he thought he was out of range, Eugene''s aura took form and dug deep into the nails of the agent.


    "Kahk!" The agent screamed in pain. "Aura Ki!? Weren''t you a fucking magician?!"


    Eugene brandished his de and smirked, his eyes like icicles. "I still am."


    The demon''s agent couldn''t make sense of it at first, but then the realization dawned on him. "D-dual... core—"


    Eugene didn''t let him finish his sentence. In the next moment, hundreds of fireballs went darting toward the agent.


    "Fuck!" Distressed, the agent raised his hands. ckish energy filled his hands and formed a glowing barrier around him. All the fireballs shed against the shield and sizzled out, as if rotting away.


    Eugene smiled.


    "Interesting," he whispered.


    With a snap of his fingers, the lines of fireballs were reced by trembling bolts of lightning. The demon''s agent yelped and added moreyers of ck energy to his barrier.


    The agent filled his palms with demonic energy. His face contorted and an equal number of ck lightning formed in the air. Each ck bolt struck against the gold until both of thempletely fazed away into walls of grey smoke as if they didn''t exist in the first ce.


    This much expenditure would tire anyone. He took in a few deep breaths and calmed his heart while staring at the wafting grey smoke that the aftermath led to.


    A silver light streaked in front of him.


    "Gah!"


    The agent took a step back, the sword of his enemy scratched over his nose and took off a few strands of his hair. Without hesitation, the cold and sharp de swerved and arced down again, but the agent managed to block it with his ws in the nick of time.


    Like a cockroach scuttling away in the pipes, the demon''s agent ran as far back as he could.


    "T-this bastard!" he screamed. "Don''t get in my wayyy!"


    Eugene didn''t even bat an eysh at his growl. A chilling sense of foreboding climbed up the agent''s back as he realized it.


    That man.


    Eugene Hall.


    To him, the agent was just his prey, and he was just the hunter. Whatever the agent said, however the agent screamed, Eugene didn''t think of it as anything more than a chicken''s struggle before it would be butchered.


    That was all he was.


    "Ah..."


    The agent felt fear.


    Not from his strength, not from his sword, not from his terrifying dual-core that the world had long deemed as useless.


    The agent felt fear from his eyes.


    Those eyes that were writing his death.


    "AHHH! R-Raum!!" The agent screamed and turned heels. ck demonic energy swirled around his feet as the man took off. It wasn''t over. He couldn''t die, not like this. "Lord Raum!


    S-save me!!"


    Eugene smirked and swung his sword again before taking off as well. His Ki filled his feet as he dashed behind the agent. Much to his surprise, the agent was just a tiny bit faster the entire time.


    The two of them partook in a game of rat and mouse all over the sewers, from Castle Square to the deeper city. The agent ran without looking back and Eugene chased without stopping for a breath.


    The agent took a sharp turn around the sewers. Eugene followed around.


    His eyes caught a glimpse of the agent jumping meters high from the ground and going past a manhole, out of the sewers.


    "Well, this ce was cramped anyway."


    Eugene rushed under the open manhole cover and jumped out. The surroundings changed from the smelly concrete walls of the sewer to the empty houses of wood and bricks in a street of the city as his feet sprung him into the air.


    Eugene, still ascending, looked all around the ce for the demon, but couldn''t find him.


    A faint murderous intent reached him from above.


    Eugene''s eyes darted upward.


    A thick steel manhole cover was spinning through the air anding straight for his face. Behind the object the frame of the rat-like agent that had suddenly sprouted wings.


    Eugene twisted his body mid-air. His feet rested on the manhole cover as he kicked himself off it in midair and reached even higher.


    "What the fuck!?" the agent screamed. Despite his scream, he didn''t seem unprepared. The raven wings the agent had grown fluttered and crescents of ck energy darted toward Eugene, leaving him no choice but to counter with his sword.


    "Y-you won''t catch me, Eugene Hall!" The agent screamed and flew away as fast as he could. His lord''s blessing was reaching him again. The wings were the proof. He had to satisfy his lord, he would run away from the city now ande back to burn it to the ground.


    He would kill everyone.


    He would burn everyone.


    Steal everything.


    And make that bastard who ruined all his ns, that brat Eugene Hall, he would make him suffer.


    The agent went past the reaches of the city and neared a small peak. Thinking it best, the agent descended into the woods of the small mountain. His wings retreated and he glided down the veneer of leaves.


    Right below him the mountain ground.


    And a smirking white-haired man.


    "W-what...?!"


    Eugene Hall had found him again, and reached his location faster than himself.


    The agent fell back and took arge distance between the two of them.


    How.


    How was this possible?


    Maybe with Mana and Ki together, he could be fast. But how did he know where he was?


    It was then that the agent''s eyes fell on his hand. A speck of purple was gnawing away at his skin.


    "P-projectile... Ki? At that age...?"


    The third stage of Ki was something that even age-old knights couldn''t reach, then how did this young boy... it was impossible!


    "Good job," Eugene said, pping. His cold voice suddenly had a lot of soul. "I was thinking we should move this away. Now I can make a mess without worrying about a stupid city and its stupid people."


    "YOU BRAT!!"


    The agent screamed. Power surged through his veins as the blessing of the demon grew stronger than ever. His robes tore away as ck feathers stuck grew on his body. His mouth contracted and turned into a beak while the ck wingspletely assimted into his body.


    Like a crow, he screamed and transformed.


    Eugene only watched and pped, looking forward to a transformation sequence. He was hoping to take a few pointers for his sequence in the future, but this was too gnarly and ssless.


    The agent screamed again.


    "LORD RAUM! KILL HIM! KILL THIS HEATHEN!"


    A surge of demonic energy broke forth.


    The agent screamed in pain as demonic energy explode through his body like a tsunami in the seas. The trees around shriveled up and the ground trembled under the pressure of the demonic energy and the painful yet vigorous screams of the agent.


    "AAAAAAHHHK—"


    His screams stopped.


    An even bigger surge of energy filled the mountains. As if a star hade crashing down, Ki and Mana rose in the air at a level that the demon''s agent had never felt before, and at its center was Eugene. He couldn''t help but shut up at the terrifying strength in front of him.


    Then, he saw.


    Eugene''s eyes.


    His lips.


    They were smiling.


    From a butcher killing mindlessly, he had changed. His was the face of something much more terrifying.


    He looked like a hunter excited to y with prey, to skin it alive and tear away its flesh.


    "Perfect," Eugene said, raising his de. "You''re strong! I like that!"


    "C-crazy..."


    His eyes screamed crazy.


    His voice screamed crazy.


    "Y-you''re a demon!" screamed the demon''s agent.


    "Is that so?" Manically, Eugene tilted his head to the side while bringing the de close to his lips.


    The sense of a fight. The air of something powerful.


    It had been six years since he had felt it. He couldn''t calm his heart in front of the excitement of a fight.


    "Whatever," Eugene said. "Let''s dance, shall we?"