"Time freeze!" I shouted. Immediately, the world around me froze, and before my eyes stood a madwoman with black wings and claws, suspended in mid-motion.

  It only took a second for me to grab Vacinay and Ghomas' hands and dash off at full speed.

  "I will kill you!" she growled, finishing the swing of her claws.

  The cool part about time freeze? The disorienting effect on anyone caught in it. Of course, the fact that I could move and interact with those frozen in time was a little bit cooler.

  She stared at her claws, bewildered. "What the… teleportation?"

  Her confusion didn’t last long. With a fierce screech, she lunged after us. Damn, she was fast! But then, unexpectedly, she stopped mid-air, her face contorted with effort.

  She bared her teeth, pushing against something invisible—an invisible wall?

  Did I do something cool? Nah, there’s no way. I glanced at Hessien, who was clutching his back like an old man.

  Did she break his back, leaving him unable to escape? That didn’t seem to match how calmly he was chatting with her.

  It had to be something else. Maybe she used some sort of affliction skill on him to keep him still? But if that were true, why hadn’t she done the same to us?

  The woman screeched again, "Damn this binding!"

  After struggling, she yelled at Hessien, "Help me kill them! Get up! Move, move, move!"

  What the hell was going on?

  Vacinay frowned. "Why the hell would he help her kill us?"

  Beats me.

  The woman shot us a glare. "I'll kill you rodents! I can’t wait to get my hands on your filthy skulls and guts. I’m going to break you apart, squeeze you, tear you..."

  Ghomas ignored her. "Who’s gonna call the priest or some holy skill user to exorcise this succubus wannabe?"

  I shrugged. "I thought she was trying to be an edgy demon. But honestly, she just looks lame. Definitely trying to be a succubus."

  I chuckled. "How are you even gonna be a succubus with no sex appeal? Come on, try harder than that."

  Vacinay grinned. "She’s definitely the type to wake up, walk to the mirror, and tell herself, ‘You are beautiful. You are pretty.’ Too bad reality doesn’t agree."

  Her face twisted with rage, and a sickly smile spread across her lips. "Okay, fine. So he doesn’t want to help me. Coooooool."

  What was she planning? And what was up with her earlier statement? Was Hessien somehow restricting her movements?

  She took a deep breath, making her chest rise at an almost comical size, like a damn frog.

  Oh no. I’ve got a bad feeling about this!

  A bright white light began building up in her mouth, growing brighter with every passing second.

  Ghomas acted quickly, summoning a clone and hurling it in front of us. As for me? I was already running away at full speed and pulling the other two.

  The massive beam shot toward us, emitting a blinding light. It tore through the clone instantly.

  "To hell with that!" Vacinay growled, transforming into a cat.

  The beam was big, but not that big. So, Vacinay was small enough to avoid it. But I wasn’t that lucky.

  The beam hit—wait, no, it didn’t!

  It vanished suddenly, and I heard a sharp yelp. Rubbing my eyes, I tried to locate the woman.

  She was clutching her leg in pain.

  What the hell…?

  "You stabbed yourself, you twisted bastard!" she screamed at Hessien, who had a knife lodged in his leg.

  Eh…?

  I was so confused, I didn’t know what to think.

  With a grotesque mix of sounds and a rapid regeneration of flesh, Vacinay returned to her normal form and quickly dressed.

  As she pulled on her blue jeans, she said, "I’ve got a wild theory."

  I glanced at her, waiting.

  She buttoned her long sleeve shirt slowly, clearly savoring the suspense, knowing Ghomas and I were both waiting for her ridiculous theory.

  After she finished dressing, she finally spoke. "She made a contract with him. Hessien was desperate and in heat, so he fell for it. But…" She paused, thinking hard. "Since he’s a reality defender, there was some protection against the exploitative contract. Or… maybe they share souls now? If souls are a thing? I don’t know! But something like that."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I wanted to mock her, but honestly, it didn’t sound all that unbelievable—except for Hessien falling for a stupid contract. The guy was way too specific in his tastes for him to be that easily seduced.

  Or maybe not. She wasn’t even human. To Hessien, it was probably a whole new experience? Damn it, I didn’t know.

  If only there was a way to find out…

  "Oi, Hessien," Ghomas asked, "What’s the deal with that woman?"

  Damn it. I wanted to have a dramatic moment here. Sigh.

  Hessien screamed in pain, "She tried to take over my body! And got completely screwed by her damn binding contract!"

  Oh.

  Vacinay smiled, clearly pleased that her theory had mostly been correct.

  She said, "When in doubt, believe in me."

  I would have passed on that, honestly. Either way, dealing with the demon or spirit was far more pressing.

  I told Ghomas, "Alert a guard and ask for their priest or whoever can exorcise her."

  "Got it."

  With a confident smile, I said to her, "Count your last minutes. You’ll be dead soon."

  She stopped clutching her leg in pain and simply stated, "I see. You all must be rather lacking in intelligence… Ah yes. It makes perfect sense why I was placed here."

  "You’re the idiot!" I shouted. "What do you mean, 'it makes sense you were placed there'? To get trapped with Hessien? Your body-possession trick clearly backfired."

  "Yeah, that’s true." She admitted. "But I don't know... Maybe it was just a coincidence that all six of my seals ended up in the cleaning room, in these living quarters, where you fools are living."

  ...Shit.

  "These sons of bitches wanted to use you to control our bodies, but their plan backfired, didn't it?" I asked.

  She shrugged. "Probably."

  The door slammed open, and the guards and the president rushed in. The president was visibly anxious.

  He looked between us and the demon, his eyes darting back and forth.

  "W-wow! An evil manifestation! You all found it here? Thank goodness we have you—"

  I cut through the poor acting. "You set us up, didn't you?"

  He nervously licked his lips and glanced around. "Pft. Of course not. I wouldn’t do something so low to the great defenders! We... just thought placing that thing here would be a good precaution, so if it broke loose, you’d be able to easily suppress it!"

  Yuen, standing next to him, was whispering to him while pretending to talk to himself.

  We all stared at Yuen and the president, and I suddenly realized I’d never actually learned this coward’s name.

  The president soon realized he couldn’t talk his way out of this and grumbled, "Okay, okay! We took drastic measures. You can't really blame us. When I was told one of you was defeated by the Shit Cleaner, we had to come up with measures to use you all to the best of our abilities. When you all left the site, that was the best time to take drastic action. It wasn't to kill, but to control, so you could be… more competent."

  The demon, still in pain, shouted, "Control? I fear you would've been dead before any control would be possible."

  I assumed they had some sort of skill to control her, but whatever it was, it didn’t seem to work on us for some reason. She hijack our bodies—they hijack her mind—they control us via her.

  Damn betraying bastards. This was how they repay me after I saved them from genocide?

  "I’m competent enough. If I recall correctly, I outsmarted a skill creation that even your damn guards were afraid of. That sounds like incredible incompetence to me."

  Yuen eyed me with disdain. "Hah. As if. They’re just guards in training. True royal guards are level 30 and above. You’re looking at a level 32 right here and now!"

  Still so pathetically low…

  That could only mean one thing: leveling up was incredibly difficult. Ugh, that would apply to us too.

  I didn’t want to take that loss, so I asked, "Your skill card—the originator one—it’s spider generation, isn’t it?"

  "Something like that. Why? And by the way, asking that is very rude, but I’ll let it slide because you are cu—"

  "That’s a minor, dude." A guard interrupted quickly.

  I wasn’t... I just forgot I was 18 when I told the president my age. But no one would believe me if I explained that.

  Yuen didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he turned to the guard—one of the men who had been with him when we were summoned to the summoning room.

  Yuen asked, "Man, what the hell did you think I was going to say?"

  "‘Cute?’"

  "‘Curious.’ I was going to say ‘curious!’"

  The other guard looked away, embarrassed. "My bad."

  Yuen sighed. “Anyway... My skills are pretty impressive. I’m sure you’re envious—”

  I cut him off. “I have time manipulation.”

  My prideful nature wasn’t going to let it end there. I summoned my secondary cards, even though they were just blank white energy cards for now.

  I continued, “And I can acquire much more. So why would I be envious or impressed by you? Hell, your plan backfired, and now this demon—or ‘evil manifestation’—is bound to Hessien. So, really... Who are the superior ones?” I took a step forward.

  In moments like this, I wished I were taller than 5'6.5". Standing there, literally looking up at Yuen, didn’t feel as threatening or badass as I imagined.

  But still… Flexing our advantages had an effect on him. His confident demeanor cracked.

  Vacinay nodded. “Yep. Don’t make us catch you trying anything like that again—this is your first warning.” She wiggled a finger like a strict teacher.

  The president bared his teeth.

  Hessien, using the kitchen counter to push himself up, suddenly called to the demon. “Oi.”

  She looked at him, not turning much. “What is it?”

  “Let’s make a deal,” Hessien said. “My friends are off the kill list; however... anyone else could be on your kill list if I approve it.”

  The guards, the president, and Yuen’s eyes widened.

  The president shouted, “What are you insinuating?!”

  Hessien waited for the demon to think. She glanced at the president and then smiled. “I like it. It’s a crappy deal, but it’s good enough.”

  A sudden white chain appeared before them, shining brightly. It must have been tied to their new deal—a contract rule. Even Hessien mumbled after realizing it.

  The president raised his voice again. “I asked a question!”

  Hessien turned toward him. “I’m securing the safety of my friends and my little cousin.”

  Could’ve left out the “little” part…

  The president’s expression shifted several times before he looked down, ashamed. “Fine… We won’t try to set you up or do anything underhanded again.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could trust his words.

  I asked, “How do we know you’ll keep your word?”

  He manifested his card. From it, a skill tree appeared in the air. Instead of skill icons, there were dim white cards.

  Oh... Hmm... I wondered what that meant.

  I manifested my legendary originator card and tried the same thing. From it, two dim yellow cards branched out, still connected to the originator card by a root. It was interesting to know I could do that. I didn’t see much practical use for it yet, but I assumed it would become useful once I acquired more skills.

  The president pointed at one of his skills. “I can make a soul contract.”

  The cards vanished, and a scroll made of blue energy appeared before us. “Let’s sign.”

  After all of us, excluding the demon, signed the contract by pressing our hands on the scroll, the president and his group dismissed themselves. Another victory! We were on a roll.

  The demon meticulously stitched Hessien's leg, her fingers shifting seamlessly into fine threads as she worked. She asked him, “So, since I couldn’t sign the contract because I’m bound to you, when can we go kill them?”

  Hessien replied, “Never.”

  Her somewhat happy expression froze. “What…?”

  Hessien grinned. “I said I had to be okay with it for a reason. I’ll never be okay with you killing anyone—unless it’s for self-defense. In other words...”

  He poked her forehead. “I tricked you.”