Chapter 10: Chapter 9 : She Was Untouchable…

“Daughter? Is that even possible? That kid looks way too human...”

“I mean... she’s a succubus, so maybe it happened? LET’S catch her alive, as WEEEEE—!”

The second demon hunter never finished his sentence.

He was yanked mid-air by the collar, veins bulging from the hand that held him. Her teeth were clenched. Eyes bloodshot. Fury radiated off her like heat from a forge.

With a growl that rattled bone, my mother hurled him like a sack of trash—straight into the demon who'd been creeping up behind me.

“DON’T YOU DARE LAY YOUR FILTHY HAND ON HER!”

And just like that, the beatdown resumed.

They tried. Oh, they tried.

But they couldn’t touch her.

She moved like smoke and struck like iron. Dodging, weaving, punishing—her movements still sharp, still dangerous.

But something was off.

Her timing.

Her flow.

She was... sluggish. Not clumsy, but rusty—like a blade pulled out after too long in its sheath.

“I GUESS BEING A HOUSE BITCH MADE YOU SOFT, HUH?!” some scum shouted, just as his blade connected.

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A wet thwack and the sharp crack of impact.

My mother staggered forward, a long, deep gash torn across her back. Blood spilled.

“Mom!”

I screamed.

Her knees buckled. My heart cracked.

But then... it was gone.

The wound stitched itself together—flesh fusing, skin sealing. In the blink of an eye, the pain was gone.

And so was she.

She sank into her own shadow like a phantom—then rose behind him like death itself.

Her hand closed around his throat.

Crack.

His body dropped like a doll without strings.

I felt the breath return to my lungs.

And then—

A hand.

Cold and solid.

Wrapped around me from behind.

Why? Why do I keep jinxing myself...?

I could only wonder silently, a single tear sliding down my cheek.

“I think that’s enough,” the demon said, holding me tight in one arm.

I couldn’t move. My limbs weren’t listening.

Mother froze in her tracks. Her head snapped toward me so fast I could almost hear the bones creak.

She tried to lunge.

But he was faster. His blade-like finger pressed against my throat—not enough to bleed, but enough to promise it.

I clenched my jaw to keep quiet. I didn’t want to be a liability.

But my body betrayed me. I shivered.

“Not so fast,” the demon sneered. “Not unless you want her gone.”

Mother’s entire body shook, rage radiating from her like a storm barely held back.

“To think,” the demon went on, voice laced with venom, “that the great Nysera the Bloody Shadow would fall so far.

To fuck a human.

And produce this filth.”

“YOU BASTA—!”

She didn’t finish.

They were on her—three, four, maybe five of them—pressing her into the dirt. Her limbs flailed, shadows writhing beneath her like dying snakes.

“Tch tch tch,” the one holding me taunted. “You used to be feared. Admired. Now look at you.”

He stepped toward her, dragging me along like a prize.

“Let her go,” my mother said, voice low. It shook with fury—and fear.

“No. No, I don’t think I will,” he replied, smiling. “There’s a hefty bounty to bring you back. And if this girl’s really your daughter... maybe we can ask for extra.”

Then something shifted.

Their voices faded.

Their laughter warped and melted into echoes.

Their hands reached—

And suddenly, everything felt distant.

Like I’d been pulled into a tunnel underwater.

Sounds muffled. Colors drained.

Like I wasn’t there anymore.

Darkness.

Silence.