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Onrai Island - Along the coastal road.
Seated in the middle of the back seat, Shizuri stole a nervous sideways glance at Ryo beside her.
They were riding in a patrol vehicle they had "borrowed" from the security team.
In the back row, from left to right, sat Yukina, who excelled in close combat, Shizuri in the middle, and Ryo by the right-side window.
Up front in the driver's seat, Sayaka muttered to herself while counting off, "Clutch, handbrake, accelerator…"
"Never learned to drive?" Ryo asked casually, resting his chin on one hand as he looked out the window.
"I did learn…" Sayaka mumbled. "I'm just not very good at it, so…"
The Lion King Agency was a special operations organization. Vehicle operation was, of course, part of the training.
And Sayaka had actually scored well on it. There was just one problem... She didn't have a driver's license.
Hearing that, Ryo joked, "Relax. No one's going to die."
"Uh…" Sayaka stopped worrying, started the engine, and pressed the accelerator.
The car rolled forward along the road.
At the same time, Ryo shifted his gaze slightly and looked at Shizuri. "Did you manage to contact your instructor?"
Already tense, Shizuri stiffened instantly.
"Hands up! Don't move!"
The moment Ryo spoke, Yukina's eyes widened. She immediately reached into Shizuri's pockets and searched her.
Before long, she pulled out a phone.
Yukina checked it and found a message that had just been sent.
{Enemy. Route 102.}
She looked at the recipient name. "Instructor."
Her lips pressed together. "That was careless. I can't believe I didn't search you earlier."
Exposed, Shizuri slumped back against the uncomfortable seat. In the end, she spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.
"Just kill me."
Captured by the enemy and leaking information about her comrades was an unforgivable sin to Shizuri, who saw herself as a member of the Holy Order, loyal to her faith above all else.
After managing to send that warning message, she had already given up on the idea of a happy ending.
"You…" Yukina, who had been furious just moments ago, suddenly lost her momentum.
She wasn't a fully trained sword shaman yet. Even facing an enemy, she couldn't bring herself to kill someone.
And in her eyes, Shizuri was just an innocent girl who had been deceived.
Faced with Shizuri's apparent wish to die, Yukina could only turn to Ryo with a helpless look.
"Let me ask you something," Ryo said lazily, gazing out at the white sand beach passing by. "What do you think would happen if your instructor and teammates really managed to intercept me?"
Shizuri's pupils contracted as she turned to look at him.
Ryo met her blue eyes and narrowed his own. "When that happens, will it be a bunch of half-baked mages surrounding a Primogenitor? Or a Primogenitor surrounding them? Have you thought it through?"
The air seemed to warp. An ominous presence spread from the black-haired man by the window, like a demon slowly opening its jaws.
Shizuri's mouth fell open, fear filling her eyes.
Right… The man beside her was the Fourth Primogenitor. A tyrant who commanded twelve familiars and crushed everything in his path.
Would someone like that really fear being exposed? Really fear being surrounded?
If anything, the ones being surrounded would be them.
The realization hit her like a hammer. Shizuri suddenly twisted around and reached for Yukina's arm.
She had to grab the phone back. She had to warn her instructor not to come.
"Don't move."
The calm words froze her in place.
Leaning back against the seat, Ryo let out a slow breath, glanced at her, then raised a hand and pulled aside the hood of her nun's habit.
Snow-white hair spilled down.
And atop her head, nestled among that hair, were two small, crystalline white horns, trembling gently like newly blossomed lotus buds.
"Oni?" Yukina's startled whisper slipped out.
Sayaka, driving in front, couldn't help glancing back through the rearview mirror.
The Oni were an extremely rare race even among the Demon Race of this world, practically on the brink of extinction.
Powerful bodies, loyal natures, beautiful appearances, and tiny population numbers had turned them into prized collectibles for certain elites, and ideal test subjects for some corporations.
Sayaka muttered without thinking, "So she's an Oni. No wonder she's so cute. Just a tiny bit less than my Yukina."
Yukina shot her a glare. Sayaka immediately shut up.
By then, Ryo had already reached out and placed his hand on Shizuri's white horns.
It wasn't very hard. It felt a bit like touching the skin of an apple, which meant that among the Oni, this girl was still considered a child.
Feeling her horn being touched, Shizuri shuddered, her eyes burning with shame and anger as she glared at Ryo.
She stared at him as if she could kill him with her eyes.
Ryo chuckled. He rubbed the horn lightly. As Shizuri's body went weak and she slumped against Yukina, he said with a grin, "Half Oni blood, half witch lineage. Your parents were pretty interesting people, creating a rare hybrid like you."
The mix of Oni and witch blood reminded Ryo of someone else.
A woman born of Indra and a former Asura princess, the current Asura Queen, a powerhouse at the four-digit level.
In Little Garden, hybrids of high-ranking races tended to start with excellent spirit rank potential.
Because the inherent authorities within hybrid bloodlines were in constant turmoil, their growth was unstable. But that same instability made it easier for them to awaken authority compared to pure-bloods.
As long as they didn't die young, high-tier hybrids had a very good chance of reaching the four-digit class.
Shizuri was that kind of hybrid. Her bloodline was weak now, but if she were to enter Little Garden and receive proper reinforcement, she would be no different from a true hybrid.
"Hybrid…" If she weren't so scared, Shizuri would have bitten off Ryo's fingers right then.
Wasn't he basically calling her a mongrel?
"Angry?" Ryo asked with a smile.
She didn't dare answer, but her eyes said everything.
Then his next words made her stomach twist.
"Good. Stay angry for a bit longer."
Turning to Yukina, Ryo added, "You don't need to keep such a tight watch on her. Wasting effort on a rookie isn't necessary."
"Y-yes!" Not really understanding his reasoning, Yukina could only nod and accept it.
Shizuri stared at Ryo warily. "What do you plan to do to me?"
"I'm training you," Ryo replied, amusement clear in his voice.
Training… me?
Shizuri froze for a moment. Three or four seconds passed before it sank in.
This guy… this guy!!
Her face flushed with humiliation and rage. She clenched her teeth, seething.
If only I could beat him… if only I could… but I really can't…
As the girl burned with shame, Ryo raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled.
"Sayaka, pull over. The ones here to greet us have arrived."
Sayaka blinked, then quickly hit the brakes.
At that moment, a sharp bird cry pierced the air.
A wave of magic unique to vampires surged toward them head-on.
.
.
.