Chapter 129. Troublesome Night

I raised my hand and created a Darkness barrier right in the way of the moving Super-Demon. He stopped just a step away from it, exclaiming as he did, and looking at it for just a second, before turning to look surprised at me.

“W-what is this?!” he questioned, pointing a finger back at the barrier. “I-is this where you betray me?!”

I shook my head. “Nothing of the sort. You just suddenly started running away, and I didn’t want you to get away without giving me a way to get in contact with you again.”

“But… didn’t you just say that you were interested in my powers? I thought that only people who wanted to be like the superhero would do that…” he said, the glow in his eye dimming slightly.

“Yes, but I never agreed to be your ‘sidekick’—whatever that is,” I said, shaking my head and letting the barrier disappear.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you learned about it while coming with me?” he asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side. “Otherwise, I don’t know how I could possibly teach you to use my powers—if you can at all, that is.”

I sighed, sagging my shoulders with a strong desire to leave this skeleton here and forget about him, but the magic that he used was so rare, that I simply couldn’t do it. So I filled myself with patience and looked at him once more.

“It doesn’t have to be right now… I want to talk about this later,” I said, looking all around at the mostly desolate streets. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s already pretty late at night.”

He matched my movement and looked around as well. “It’s the best time to catch criminals, though.”

“I don’t care about catching criminals!” I exclaimed, the tone of my voice raising despite myself.

“Eh… then… I’m not sure if we can be friends…” he said, shaking his head.

I deeply sighed this time, the frustration of dealing with this skeleton rising higher and higher. But I decided to give in to his ridiculous notions of heroism. “Fine… I’ll help you ‘catch criminals’ but I can’t do it right now. I have to go back home, so if you can, please, give me a way to get in contact with you, then I’ll join you later.”

“I don’t know…” he replied. “I think that if you were to really care about fighting crime, then you would start right away. Criminals don’t take days off, after all!”

“Fine!” I shouted, frustration finally bursting out of me. “I’ll catch all of the criminals tonight!”

“That’s more like it! Now, if you could follow me, we’ll—”

I interrupted him by using Wing Magic and sending him flying off to the sky as fast as I could. His scream went far away just as fast as I sent him flying. I followed soon after to catch up to him, while he screamed and flailed his arms around.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, my arms crossed under my chest as I suspended him midair and flew around him. “I thought that superheroes wouldn’t have an issue with flight?”

“W-w-wha—” was all that he let out as he tried to balance himself.

“Can’t you fly?” I asked, tilting my head as I softly floated from side to side.

“N-n-n-no!” he shouted. “I-I-I-I m-m-might be a-a superhero, b-but I’m s-still in the process of—of learning how to fly!”

I chuckled with a mocking tone as I looked down on him. “Then were you truly just going to run around, hoping to find criminals?”

He remained quiet for a moment, flailing his arms and legs around as he balanced himself in the air before replying, “Y-you can only know how the s-streets are if—if you live in them.”

“Is that so?” I said, flipping myself upside down to have my head at the same height as his and got closer.

Once I was a short distance away from him, I turned my head up to look down at the streets below us. From a corner of the street we were talking just now, the group of people that he scared away before, popped out, looking in every direction as they gathered once more.

“See? It’s much easier to know what the bandits are doing if they don’t know that you’re around them, and…” I lifted my hand to point at a couple of men that were walking from around a corner, carrying a few beers and getting closer to where the handful of bandits were. “You can even see where there might be trouble—just around the corner, as some say.”

Super-Demon remained quiet for a moment, his head tilted to look down at what I was pointing out. “Huh? Wait a moment… you’re right! There might be trouble once more! We have to go down there and make sure that everything’s okay!”

“Really? Just like that?” I asked, turning my body once more to be standing next to him this time.

“Yes! Clearly, those innocent people are about to be intercepted by the criminals! Quickly! Put me down there!” he loudly said, pointing a finger at the same place I pointed out before.

“Are you certain? How do you know that those couple of men aren’t friends of theirs?” I asked this time, my eyes set on Super-Demon while slowly floating around him.

“W-well, sure, they could be… But! It’s better to be on the lookout than to allow anything bad to happen!” he exclaimed, and started waving his arms and legs as if he was swimming, seemingly trying to get down.

“Have you ever thought that your ‘help’ might cause more damage than anything else?” I asked. Now that I had him up here, and was trying to teach him a lesson for leading me around with the contact information, I wanted to know what kind of person Super-Demon was.

He paused for a moment, considering what I said for a moment, but then shaking his head with certainty, before continuing his struggle. “None of that matters. What’s important is that we do what we feel in our hearts of hearts to be good.”

“Even if… that could end the world?” I asked, stopping in front of him with my eyes set on his glowing ones.

“Then…” he trailed off, his movements stopping once more. “I guess that in that case… well, I guess I’ve failed…? But if there’s no world, then would it really—Hey! We have to go now! They’re getting approached!”

I finally turned to look down at the people on the streets. The handful of men that he had faced before were standing on one side, while the other couple of men walked by them. One of the people in the group stood up and said something to the couple of men, and these ones just answered by shaking their heads, before turning to walk ahead at a faster pace. For a moment, it seemed like they weren’t going to be assaulted, but then suddenly, the group of men started following the other couple, and I knew with a sigh that this Gods damned skeleton was right about his assessment. They were about to get jumped.

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“Let's go deal with them, then…” I said with some resignation.

“To the rescue!” Super-Demon followed up, his body tilting forward as he pushed a fist to his front.

I couldn’t understand why he would make such a pose… but I wasn’t going to question it either, since that might be one of the ways to get insight into Soul Magic. So I quickly flew down while dragging a screaming Super-Demon down with me, landing a short distance in front of the couple of people that were being followed, and right before one of the men in the other group jumped on one of them.

Super-Demon’s scream was cut short when I suddenly stopped his descent a couple of steps away from the floor, his black mask close to the floor. It took him a moment to get his bearings, and then turned his head to look up at the people that were looking at us with a stunned expression.

With a swift movement, Super-Demon lifted his arm and pointed at the group of men at the back. “You villains! It seemed like you didn’t learn your lesson! Now, I’m going to make sure you don’t attack innocent people ever again!”

It was somewhat strange seeing him proclaim such a thing while his body was tilted upside down; never mind the way that he was dressed. But it seemed like such an entrance was enough for the people at the back to turn tail and run.

“H-hey!” Super-Demon shouted, before turning his head to look at me. “Don’t let them get away, partner!”

“Partner…?” I asked with a frown.

“Yes! Yes! You’re my ally in justice!” Super-Demon answered, making a fist with his hand, then looking at the people running away. “You can’t let them get away! They’ll bring trouble to someone innocent!”

I sagged my shoulders, released Super-Demon from my flying spell—causing him to fall to the ground with a yelp and a thump—and then with a sigh, I flew over to the running group of people. They weren’t nearly strong enough to pose a threat to someone like me, since they were just common humans without any magic whatsoever, so there was no need for me to do anything particularly damning to them.

Four simple Mana Barriers appeared all around them, boxing them in, and causing a few of them to crash with the one at their front. They stopped to look up at me with stunned looks, but I just looked down at them. I thought about what to say, but I really didn’t feel like saying anything so I just pulled out my phone and decided to call the police.

Before I turned it on, I felt a presence quickly moving from one side of the street. I urgently turned to look at the place, and from the darkness, I saw a person getting closer. They jumped and stopped with a boom right by the barriers, and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in surprise.

“Master Reeta? What are you doing here?” I asked, floating down to stand close to her.

She didn’t immediately answer me as she just stared straight ahead at the people inside the barrier. I worried that perhaps she wasn’t the coach, but after sparring and fighting with her so much, I was fairly certain that this was the right person. She was dressed in dark clothes, and part of her face, where her mouth and nose were, was covered with a light-blue mask, but despite that, I could clearly feel the powerful aura that she always portrayed.

“Is everything okay?” I asked after the silence that remained.

With a shake of her head and a sigh, she pulled down the mask. “Release these people. I’m going to get rid of them.”

I was yet again surprised. “What? You’re going to kill them? But…” I turned to look at the men that seemed to have given up on their struggle. “These are just powerless people. And they’re just common thugs… I don’t see a reason to kill them.”

“But they’ll eventually do it!” Reeta shouted, turning a fierce glare my way. “The police catch them, take them to some joke of a trial, and then release them after a couple days! Do you know how many innocent people die when these kinds of people go for revenge?!”

There was a powerful rage coming out of her. Quite unlike how she was the last time I saw her, so I just blinked with widened eyes for a moment. “What is going…? What happened to you? Why are you acting like this?”

She turned her face away from me, her hands clenched into a fist. “James was right… The people responsible for what happened to Steven were released later, for exactly the same reasons that he said they would. I thought about trying to not think about it, but the more time that passed, the more it infuriated me… Eventually, I couldn’t hold it anymore and decided to go hunt those people myself.”

“And… Did you do it?” I asked, a frown on my face.

She tightened her lips, before answering, “What would you do if I did?”

The most logical thing to do according to the laws of this place was to turn her in for her crimes, but I couldn’t say that I was any better when I spent the last few months doing for Lodrick what the rest of the world wouldn’t do for him, so I just shook my head.

“I’m not going to do anything about it. What worries me is the anger with which you’re doing this,” I said, “You could end up harming people that don’t deserve it.”

“Huh!?” she exclaimed, her eyes widened in anger when she turned to look at me. “I know the kind of people I’m hunting! I’ve been doing it for a while! I know how they are and what they do, and they”—she turned her face to the people trapped, who in turn took a step back—“Don’t deserve anything less!”

“You villain!” Super-Demon shouted, jogging to get close to us. “You’re the one that’s been doing all those terrible things to people!”

Reeta calmed down slightly, turning her furious glare into a simple frown as she looked over to Super-Demon, before scoffing. “And you’re that child that thinks that dragging these people over to the police, or just scaring them, is enough to increase security in the city.”

“You can’t kill people like that! Killing is wrong!” Super-Demon shouted, pointing a finger at Reeta and turning his face to me. “Come on, partner, we must apprehend Sexy-Wolf!”

“Don’t call me that,” Reeta said, “Besides, even if you try to do it, I know that I’m strong enough to at least get away from the both of you.”

It was true that the last time I fought with her, she managed to send me to the hospital, so if she wanted to run away, it wouldn't be an issue for her. “It doesn’t have to come to that.”

“Why are you even doing this?” Reeta asked, crossing her arms under her chest, “I thought you had better things to do than to be patrolling the streets of low-class neighborhoods.”

I glanced over to Super-Demon. “I need something from him.”

“Is that so…?” Reeta replied, taking a step forward with a smirk on her face. “How about I help you get it out of him, and we avoid trouble?”

The proposition from her sounded quite enticing, so I turned to look at Super-Demon. He had already annoyed me enough, so maybe if I added Reeta into it, he might be willing to either tell me what I want to know, or at least finally give me his contact information.

“W-wait a second,” Super-Demon exclaimed, taking a step back with his hands raised forward. “Y-you wouldn’t do that, right? You gals have to know that I’m on the side of justice! And—and that it wouldn’t go well for you!”

“Heh, maybe I can get rid of you once and for all,” Reeta said with a smirk, slapping her fists together and making a shockwave of mana.

I stretched my hand to the side to stop Reeta while keeping my eyes on Super-Demon. “If you give me your contact information, then I’ll make sure that she doesn’t do anything to you.”

“Aha!” Super-Demon exclaimed, “I knew you were on the side of justice as well! Yes! Let us work together!”

“Well then,” I said, turning to look at a frowning Reeta. “I think I got what I wanted. Can you… let this one slide?”

Reeta frowned and looked at me for a moment, then turned her eyes over to Super-Demon, who had a fighting stance with his fists raised. She finally glanced over at the people trapped inside my Mana Barrier, and after considering something for a few seconds, she sighed and shook her head.

“Fine… I’ll go home tonight,” she said, followed by a sharp glare at Super-Demon. “But that doesn’t mean that I won’t stop my hunt. You better not get in the way anymore, pup.”

After saying that, Reeta disappeared from her spot, leaving not even an after image or dust in the air from her swift movement. I still managed to track her, but I wasn’t going to give her any trouble, mostly because I knew how fierce of a fight it would be if I did, which would definitely cause much more destruction to everything around us.

“Phew. Good job, partner!” Super-Demon exclaimed, raising a thumbs up, before walking over to the people trapped inside my Mana Barriers. “You shall have mercy as well! Go and try to live a better life!”

I didn’t want to deal with those men either, since on one side, they hadn’t yet done anything, and on the other, handing them over to the police was going to give me more things to deal with than I wanted, so I dropped the barriers and the people broke into a sprint. Still, I managed to hear some words as they were getting away.

They were probably not going to mess around here anymore. However, whether or not they create problems somewhere else… I didn't know that.

“Now,” I said, turning to look at Super-Demon. “About that contact information…”