The streets were still buzzing with evening life when Khaeryon, Caelan, Ciel, and Zerath stepped into the city. The neon signs of small shops and glowing billboards illuminated their path as they made their way toward a modest grocery store.
Khae stopped in front of the sliding glass doors, tilting his head. They opened automatically with a soft whoosh. He stared at them with an amused smile.
"Humans… build doors that bow for them? Hah, how interesting."
Ciel tugged at his sleeve. "Khae, that's just… automatic doors."
"Automatic?" Khae repeated, as though the word itself was a spell. "So, Earth has moving doors but still throws sharp rocks at children. Peculiar."
They walked inside, and Khae's sharp black eyes with white pupils darted everywhere. Stacks of fruits and vegetables, glowing refrigerator aisles, colorful packaging… it was all foreign to him.
"What… do humans buy here?" he muttered, lifting a box of cereal and shaking it beside his ear as though it held secrets.
"That's food," Caelan explained flatly.
"Food? This is food?" Khae squinted at the cartoon mascot on the front. "This is not food. This is… a box. You eat the box?"
Ciel giggled despite himself. "No, you open it first!"
Zerath groaned as he followed behind them, trying to look smaller than his tall frame allowed. "My lord… you're really hopeless in human society."
The group moved down the aisles, filling a small basket with rice, vegetables, snacks that caught Ciel's eye, and even a pack of cookies Khae insisted on grabbing after staring at the picture with suspicion.
When they were done, Caelan pulled at Khae's sleeve nervously.
"Um… Khae," he said, voice low. "We don't… have money."
Khae blinked. "Money?"
Ciel nodded. "Coins and paper. You need it to buy things."
Khae stared at them blankly for a few seconds. Then, with the casual air of a god producing miracles, he held out his hand. A crystal appeared, gleaming with deep violet light, pulsating with immense energy that made the cashier three aisles down glance up in alarm.
It was a Mythic-Grade Mana Stone, third rarest in existence.
In this world, mana stones had their own rankings:
Common (gray, weak, used by apprentices)
Uncommon (green, decent energy)
Rare (blue, highly valued)
Epic (red, powerful, expensive)
Legendary (gold, extremely rare, used in advanced artifacts)
Mythic (violet, second rarest, each worth a fortune)
Primordial (black-gold, only a handful exist in history, each capable of powering cities)
Eternal (white-gold flame, the absolute peak—only two exist in all creation, said to be the crystallization of pure abyssal origin mana)
The violet crystal glowed ominously in Khae's palm, filling the store with a faint hum. A child holding candy nearby dropped it in shock. The air practically vibrated with its energy.
Khae walked confidently to the cashier and placed it on the counter. "We'll pay with this."
The cashier, a tired university student with dark eyebags, stared at the stone. His jaw dropped. "S-sir… this… this is… a Mythic Mana Stone! I can't accept this!"
Khae arched an eyebrow. "Why not? It is shiny, no?"
"Shiny?!" the cashier squeaked. "This could buy the entire store—no, the entire block!"
Khae leaned in slightly, black eyes narrowing. "Then what? Do I not have enough?"
"Too much!" the cashier cried, waving his hands frantically. "Way too much!"
For the first time in centuries, Khae looked genuinely confused. He glanced back at Caelan and Ciel. "So… in Earth, you cannot give more for less?"
Caelan rubbed his temples, the same way he always did whenever his brain short-circuited around Khae. "That's… not how it works here."
With a sigh, Khae opened his palm again. Another mana stone shimmered into existence—this one a dull gray, humming faintly like a candle flame. A Common-Grade Mana Stone. He placed it on the counter.
"This one, then."
The cashier blinked, cautiously picking it up. "Uh… this is fine. More than fine. I'll… I'll cover the rest of the change myself." He quickly bagged their groceries, not daring to meet Khae's eyes.
Khae gave a satisfied nod. "Good. Humans are strange, but at least some have sense." He snapped his fingers, and the groceries floated neatly into Zerath's arms.
Zerath groaned, nearly buckling under the weight. "Why me, my lord?"
"Because you are useful baggage," Khae replied with a smirk.
As they walked out of the store, Ciel peeked into the bag and whispered to his brother, "Brother, did we just buy dinner with… magic rocks?"
Caelan sighed deeply. "Yeah… and I think we scared the whole store."
Behind them, the cashier slumped over the counter, staring at the faint glow of the gray mana stone in his palm.
"...That guy just paid for bread with something that could power a hunter's gear for a week."
Outside, Khae stretched his arms toward the night sky. His tall frame cut a sharp figure beneath the streetlights—no cloak, no armor, just his shadowy presence and strange aura that felt far too large for the human world.
"Earth may be strange," he said, "but I will learn. And for now—let us eat."
The group returned to the small house, arms full of groceries. Zerath immediately trudged into the kitchen, muttering under his breath about how dragons should not be reduced to chopping vegetables. He tied an apron around his waist—a sight that made Ciel snicker uncontrollably—and started clattering pans.
Meanwhile, Khae roamed the living room like an explorer discovering lost ruins. His pale fingers brushed against the furniture, the worn couch, and the tiny wooden table scarred with years of use. His sharp gaze settled on a black rectangle mounted on the wall.
He pointed. "What is this?"
Caelan blinked. "That's… a TV."
"A… Tee-Vee." Khae said the word like it was another summoning incantation. "Does it breathe fire?"
"No! It… it shows pictures. Moving pictures. Like stories."
Khae narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the screen. "A box of illusions? Hm. Humans are stranger than I thought."
Ciel giggled and tugged on his brother's sleeve. "Brother, show him your phone."
Caelan reluctantly pulled the small device from his pocket. The screen lit up, and Khae's eyes widened at the glow.
"What is that? A relic? A fragment of magic?"
Caelan sighed. "It's just a phone. We… talk to people with it. And play games. And read."
Khae leaned closer, his shadow falling over the device. "It glows like a mana stone… yet holds no mana. Intriguing."
The children laughed at his bewilderment, and even Zerath peeked from the kitchen, smirking at the sight of the so-called Demon God being outsmarted by basic human technology.
After a while, Khae settled onto the couch, crossing one leg over the other in his regal way. He tapped the armrest thoughtfully, then looked at the children.
"This house," he said at last. "It is small. Fragile. Unfit for the heirs of the abyss. We should acquire a new one."
Caelan froze, his hand tightening on his phone. "But… this is our home."
Ciel's voice was softer, almost defensive. "Mama made us breakfast here. We played outside that door. This is where we grew up." His small hands clutched the hem of Khae's sleeve. "It's not big, but… it's ours."
For a moment, Khae said nothing. His eyes, void-black with white stars, lingered on the cracks in the walls, the faded curtains, the tiny marks on the floor where the children had probably carved or played. His expression softened in a way neither Caelan nor Ciel had seen before.
"I see…" Khae finally murmured. "So, for humans, a home is not stone and timber… but memory."
Zerath called from the kitchen, "You're surprisingly sentimental, my lord."
Khae shot him a glare. "Silence, lizard. Cook."
Then he leaned forward, resting a hand on each child's shoulder. His voice lowered, steady, almost gentle.
"Very well. We will keep this place. But remember… I swore to protect you. If this house can no longer keep you safe, I will tear down kingdoms to build you another. Understand?"
The boys nodded, Caelan with quiet resolve and Ciel with wide, trusting eyes.
Khae sat back, his lips curving into a faint smile. "Good. Then this shall be our fortress—for now."
The smell of food drifted from the kitchen, and Ciel's stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear. He flushed red. Zerath smirked from the stove. "Dinner's almost ready."
Khae chuckled darkly. "Finally. Let us feast… in this tiny fortress of memories."