As a child, Valentina had always been strange.
She hated being around people except for her adoptive parents, her brother, and her adopted sister.
She knew this was because of her half-demon blood. Still, it was not the most pleasant thing.
However, she did not understand what happened that day.
She was on the street waiting for her brother when a strange man walked past her.
He was ugly, that much was certain.
But his blood.
She ran her tongue over her lips. 'He smells delicious.'
Valentina glanced left, then right. 'If I follow him, it will not be stalking, right? Humph. If a cute princess like me follows him, he should be glad.'
She wanted to know why his blood smelled so enticing.
Soon enough, she found out.
He had the special blood her parents always talked about.
Even when he discovered that she was a demon hybrid, he did not run away.
At that moment, she had only one thought:
'Such a sweet soul.'
That was why, right now, she gave her all to stabilizing his core.
The man who would soon be her livestock, and her means to quench her taste.
'Why is this so difficult?'
His insides were a wreck. Even she could tell.
His organs were twisted. His meridians, whatever her doctor always talked about, were a mess. Although he had mana inside him, it seemed to be corrupted by something.
Even so, she could not give up. Unlike most people with ordinary mana, she was different. She was the saintess, the one born with divine mana.
It was usually dangerous when forced into another person's body. Yet the strange boy absorbed it with ease, as if there were an endless abyss inside his core.
'What the hell even is he?'
A second passed, then two.
The longer she persisted, the more his core settled. His organs began forming a new life he was only just awakening, and his core began glowing brighter.
What stunned her so badly that her jaw nearly went slack was the color of his core.
"Is that even possible?"
In the world of demon hunters, there were usually two stages of awakening. The first awakening allowed one to sense mana and was the easier of the two. The second awakening granted a unique skill.
Unique skills were singular, powerful abilities that an awakened nurtured from level one to wherever their talent allowed. Because of this, unique skills were divided into ranks that shaped the hunter's core.
Bronze core, Silver core, Gold core, and finally, White core.
White core users were extremely rare, but what shocked her most was the fact that his core already had color. Only one in a billion hunters gained color before their second awakening, a sign of terrifying strength even among White cores.
'So he is like big brother.'
If the man she had just met truly possessed strength that rivaled her brother's, then she would make sure nothing happened to him. He and her brother would fight hand in hand.
'I hope you like the present I am about to give you, big bro. I think I have found a rival for you.'
Valentina's expression twisted as she felt something drain her mana.
Argh.
She clenched her teeth and persisted.
At least until a blinding light erupted from Allen's body, throwing her arms away from him.
She shielded her eyes as the sound of something thick filled her ears.
'Fog? How is he able to make fog?'
[Fog] was a basic concept that even mundane humans knew. In the demon realm, it was a special [Dust] that existed everywhere. This [Dust] acted like a key to a generator, needed to start up a core each time mana was used, since mana, unique skills, and runes did not originally belong to mortals.
During the Great War, after humans unlocked mana and unique skills, they discovered that while they could use this [Dust] in the demon realm, it was poison to them, slowly killing their bodies. Scientists responded by creating [Fog], a special gas that resembled mist and could replace [Dust] without aftereffects.
After that discovery, researchers pushed the concept further, refining it into a consumable form. [Fog Beads] were the result.
They were small spheres of medicine, barely the size of a marble, formed from a translucent, glass-like shell. Despite their size, each bead contained compressed Fog gas stabilized by runic sealing.
When bitten, the shell shattered instantly and dissolved upon contact with saliva. The gas escaped through the hunter's lips, allowing it to be inhaled directly into the lungs.
However, it was unheard of for a normal human to produce Fog. Only demons or half-demons like her could create Dust. Did that mean his twisted insides were caused by exposure to Dust, and his body had somehow adapted to form Fog?
'No way, right?'
Looking closer at the man, she noticed that his appearance had taken a complete turn, making her cheeks flush pink.
His brown hair had transformed into red with golden ends, now reaching just past his shoulders and carrying a strangely alluring scent.
His skin was fair and flawless, something not even idols or models could replicate. Well defined abs, lean muscle, and a bone structure altered toward absolute perfection.
His golden eyes met hers as he asked in the most intoxicating tone. "What?"
Her face, already flushed, burned crimson.
"Huh?!!!"
He ran a hand through his hair, mana flowing steadily around him. "Why are you looking like you just saw a ghost?"
He suddenly shut his eyes, then opened them with a grin. "Oh. Are you awestruck by my beauty?"
The only thing Valentina could do was bury her face in her palm, trying not to look while still sneaking peeks through the gaps between her fingers. "Can you put on some clothes?! YOU PERVERT!"
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A/N: For our Windbreaker fans, yes, the new design is indeed based on the GOAT, Chika Takiishi. So when reading just imagine them as the same person.