Steel Transformation? Was it a Mystical Item belonging to a Hunter demigod?
A flicker of confusion crossed Hvin's mind. He pressed down with his foreclaw, trying to crush the Demoness, who was no larger than an insect compared to him. Yet she easily pushed his claw aside. Orange-red light flashed in her hand, and a straight sword of archaic design appeared in her grasp. The surrounding air grew scorching hot.
Was she a Demoness or a Hunter...?
Feeling heat penetrate his dragon scales and reach deep into his body, Hvin realized, despite his curiosity, that he would gain little from fighting her up close. He beat his wings several times, lifting his heavy body into the air and breaking contact with her.
Only then did he notice that Christine, the Demoness he had pinned beneath his claw, was engulfed in roaring flames. These flames, blue on the surface and capable of incinerating everything, did not burn the gown she wore, yet they sent a tremor of dread through Hvin.
That heat could kill him outright.
Instinctively, the Manipulator in dragon form abandoned all attempts at close combat and flew high into the sky. His gaze swept swiftly over the nighttime streets, and he sensed something wrong with this area, which had somehow fallen completely silent.
Apart from him and the Demoness below, there were no people or animals left within this area, roughly two hundred meters in radius. There were no dreams for him to use. Beyond its boundaries, gray-white fog shrouded everything, and even his probes into the great sea of consciousness could not penetrate farther.
An illusory world that replicated the real streets... no, the Mirror World?
Having once spoken briefly with a demigod Demoness, Hvin immediately thought of this possibility. He knew the Demoness below had dragged