Signing the Contract

She suddenly sat up in bed and warily looked around.

"Who? Who's speaking?"

The room remained pitch-black and completely still.

Had she been too nervous and started hallucinating?

Moyan swallowed, her heart pounding. Just as she was about to lie back down, the voice rang out again, this time so clearly that it seemed to be right beside her ear.

"I can give you power. I can make you become what you want to be."

"Who are you?"

Moyan's voice trembled slightly, but she forced herself to ask.

The next second, a violet-black light suddenly lit up in the corner of the room.

The light grew brighter and brighter until it finally condensed into a humanoid shape.

It was a familiar that looked no larger than a palm.

Its wickedly charming childlike face was covered in violet-black scales, and a pair of tiny batlike wings grew from its back.

It hovered in midair, its red eyes glimmering eerily in the darkness as it studied Moyan with keen interest.

Moyan was so frightened that she nearly screamed. She hurriedly covered her mouth, staring wide-eyed at the monster that had suddenly appeared before her, trembling all over.

Th-this was a humanoid Monster Demon?

Moyan desperately wanted to cry out for help, but the familiar seemed to have seen through her thoughts. It slowly spoke, its voice carrying a hint of temptation.

"Don't scream. If you do, your sister will discover your little secret."

Moyan's body suddenly stiffened, and her face instantly went pale.

It... it knew everything?

Seeing her panic, the familiar curled its lips into a cruel smile.

"Well? Do you want to make a contract with me?"

"As long as you nod, you'll gain powerful magic and become something like a magical girl..."

Make a contract?

A magical girl?

Moyan's eyes suddenly lit up.

She remembered the magical girl named Pale and the valiant sight of her slicing apart those tentacles.

As long as she made a contract, she could gain power?

She could become a magical girl?

That thought was like a seed, taking root and sprouting wildly within her heart.

She wanted power too badly. She wanted to protect her sister too badly.

As for the familiar before her seeming somewhat strange...

Perhaps magical girls' contract familiars were supposed to look like this?

Moyan bit her lip, determination flashing through her eyes.

She raised her head and looked at the familiar, her voice carrying a nearly imperceptible tremble.

"I... I'm willing to make a contract."

"Very good."

Satisfaction flashed in the familiar's eyes as it flicked a finger.

"The contract is formed."

The instant it finished speaking, a violet-black beam shot from its fingertip toward Moyan's wrist.

Moyan only felt her wrist grow hot and lowered her head to look.

The light condensed around her wrist, transforming into a violet-black bead.

The bead slowly revolved, giving off a dense aura of darkness.

Then, the bead began to change shape, finally becoming an exquisite violet-black bracelet that fastened tightly around her wrist.

The moment the bracelet settled into place, a powerful force surged out of it, rapidly spreading through her limbs and body.

Moyan felt as though a fire were burning inside her. An indescribable heat instantly swept over her entire body.

Her body began to change.

Her shoulder-length black hair visibly lengthened, eventually cascading to her waist as its color turned a bewitching purple.

A pair of tiny black horns slowly grew from either side of her forehead, gleaming faintly.

Behind her, a black tail swayed gently, its tip carrying a lustrous sheen.

Her pajamas also turned into specks of starlight under the impact of that power, then re-formed into an extremely revealing outfit.

A black tube top barely covered her budding breasts, exposing her slender waist and delicate collarbones.

The black skirt was absurdly short, its hem barely covering the tops of her thighs. Her long, fair legs looked especially alluring in the darkness.

Moyan was dumbfounded.

She looked down at her clothes, then touched the horns on her head and the Monster Demon tail swaying behind her. She stood there completely stunned.

Th-this was... what?

Why was a magical girl's outfit so revealing?

Pale's outfit was clearly a pure white dress, clean and neat. How could it be like this?

"Th-this isn't a magical girl's outfit!"

Moyan suddenly raised her head and looked at the familiar.

The familiar slowly flew over to her. At some point, it had produced a tiny mirror in its hand and held it out before her.

The mirror reflected a seductive, enchanting girl.

Purple hair, horns, a Monster Demon tail, and revealing clothes—everything about her exuded a wicked charm utterly mismatched with her age.

"Truly perfect!"

The familiar looked at her reflection and sighed in admiration, its red eyes full of satisfaction.

"What's wrong? You're the most suitable candidate to become a Monster Demon that I've ever seen!"

A Monster Demon?

Those two words exploded in Moyan's mind like thunder.

Her face turned deathly pale. Her body swayed, and she nearly collapsed onto the bed.

"N-no... wasn't I supposed to become a magical girl? How could I become a Monster Demon?"

She looked at the familiar in disbelief.

"I don't want to be a Monster Demon! I want to cancel the contract!"

She knew this very clearly.

She was human, not a Monster Demon.

How could she become something like that?

"Cancel the contract?"

The familiar seemed to have heard the world's funniest joke and snorted with laughter.

"Once a contract is made, it can't be canceled."

The next second, a phone suddenly appeared in its hand.

The phone screen was lit, playing footage of her entire transformation from moments ago.

From when she agreed to make the contract, to when she grew horns and a tail, to when she changed into that revealing outfit, every detail had been recorded clearly.

"Look."

The familiar held the phone before Moyan, menace glimmering in its red eyes.

"I've already recorded your entire transformation."

"What do you think will happen if I upload this video online, or post it on your school's forum?"

Moyan's body shuddered, her face turning white as paper.

If that video was posted...

She did not dare imagine it.

Her reputation would be ruined. Everyone would point fingers at her. She would be expelled from school and become an object of everyone's scorn.

"W-what do you want?" Moyan's voice carried a trace of despair.

"I don't want anything."

The familiar put away its phone and spoke slowly.

"As long as you obediently listen and properly serve as my Monster Demon, no one will ever see this video."

It paused, then added in a maliciously teasing tone.

"Oh, right. You don't want your sister to find out that the little sister she loves most has turned into a Monster Demon everyone wants to beat, do you?"

Those words completely shattered Moyan's last line of defense.

Her sister.

She could not let her sister find out.

If her sister learned that she had become a Monster Demon, she would surely be disappointed and heartbroken, wouldn't she?

Moyan bit her lip, tears blurring her vision. Looking at the teasing familiar before her, she spoke with hesitation but also a trace of resolve.

"I can agree not to cancel the contract. But I have conditions."

"Oh?"

The familiar raised an eyebrow and looked at her with interest.

"Let's hear them."

"First, I won't drain anyone's vital essence."

Moyan raised her head, her gaze unusually firm.

"Second, I won't help you do anything evil. Third, you can't hurt my sister or any innocent person."

She knew that, in her current situation, she had no right to bargain.

But she still had to try.

She could not become a monster that survived by draining others' vital essence, much less hurt her sister.

After hearing her conditions, the familiar fell silent for several seconds before suddenly laughing.

"Hehehe... of course!"

Its smile faded, and calculation flashed in its red eyes as it spoke leisurely.

"I agree to your conditions."

Moyan froze.

It agreed so readily?

Was there some kind of scheme?

Before she could figure it out, the familiar had already begun introducing itself.

"I forgot to tell you. My name is Lilith."

"From today onward, I'll be your contract familiar."

"Please take good care of me, okay?"

Lilith.

Moyan firmly remembered that name.

She lowered her head to look at the violet-black bracelet on her wrist, then touched the horns on her head, her heart filled with despair and confusion.

She had not become the magical girl she had longed to be.

Instead, she had become a Monster Demon.

In the darkness, Lilith watched her dejected state, an imperceptible smile flashing through her red eyes.

What a naive little girl.

No draining vital essence? No doing evil?

Once the Monster Demon power within her fully awakened, once she tasted the sweetness of power, she would understand that those so-called conditions were nothing more than empty words.

And those magical girls...

They would be her finest nourishment!

Lilith's gaze passed through the wall toward the bedroom next door, greed glimmering in her red eyes.

The night grew darker and darker.