"Who are you? An exorcist? I've never seen you before..." The boy stared at the foreign girl before him, clutching his wound as he finally asked.
"Neither. I was just passing by..."
"Passing by? Then this must have been a misunderstanding. Sorry for disturbing you. I'll be leaving now!"
The boy froze slightly, then immediately recovered... A trace of apology appeared on his face as he turned to leave. He realized he knew nothing about her and was not confident he could take her down.
He had other important matters to attend to, so... it was best to make himself scarce first.
But just as the boy was about to leave, an icy blade of air slashed at him from afar, interrupting his attempt to vanish.
"Did I say you could leave?"
He had tried to kill her the moment they met. If she had not been strong enough, she might already have become some kind of vessel. There was no way Rita would let him leave just because he wanted to.
"Human, don't mistake my restraint for weakness!"
His movement interrupted, the boy's expression darkened. He stroked the place where he had been wounded... Blue butterflies gathered around his severed arm, and a brand-new arm grew out moments later.
The severed arm on the ground also dissolved into blue butterflies and vanished.
"Human? So... you're not human? Ah... that makes sense. You do have the scent of demonic power."
Rita showed no surprise at the boy's restored arm. There was a powerful, strange force within his body, somewhat similar to demonic power, yet different from any demonic power Rita had encountered before.
"..."
Hearing Rita's words, the boy did not answer... Instead, he raised both hands. The blue butterflies around them gathered before him, forming a strange trident.
Gripping