After paying for his cheap dinner, Arua stood silently, not far from where Giou was leaning against the wall. Giou got up, dusted off his astral cloak, then approached his master. "Where will we go next, Master?"

  "Home, obviously," Arua answered briefly without looking away from his phone screen. His thumb was busy scrolling through Whatsapp junk—mostly just spam and absurd stickers.

  A soft whoosh cut the air. Demonic Possession dive-bombed from the night sky into Arua’s pocket like a feathered missile. His black beak poked out, clamping a crumpled twenty-thousand rupiah note. Arua took the cash, smirking as he stroked the bird’s head gently. "Good job, my little demon." It was indeed funny how he called his bird a demon, but the literal demon standing next to him? Not once.

  Just one brief stroke and Demonic Possession flew back into the sky, disappearing behind the thick night. His aerodynamic wings flapped silently without attracting any attention. "Oh, no reward? Fine then," Arua mumbled, pocketing the street tax.

  Perhaps the bird seemed like a highly trained pet. However, in reality, Demonic Possession was a wild bird. No cage, no chains, just a nest somewhere in the wild. Their relationship was purely transactional. When Giou asked how they met, Arua answered simply: "He also likes mendoan." Apparently, the bond forged by greasy fried tempeh was strong enough to make the crow visit Arua's boarding room almost every day.

  Same deal with Angelic Enlightenment, the white cat. They were buddies. The difference was, this cat marked the boarding house as his territory. He often roamed the halls, fed by almost all residents, even the scary landlady. His status was more like general inventory assets than a personal pet.

  Too bad, as animals, neither of them had spiritual perception. They couldn't see or interact with Giou, making him often feel ignored in the animal circle.

  Arua began to walk toward the parking lot, Giou trailing behind. Only a few meters taken, something stimulated Giou's special senses. His nose twitched.

  Sniff... Sniff...

  "I smell... sin..." Giou snapped his head around, eyes scanning the crowd. "From... That man!" He pointed a claw at a guy in a ratty leather jacket in the chicken noodle line. It was the thug who destroyed Arua’s toy wallet earlier.

  Arua turned lazily. "He took that woman's wallet!" Giou hissed. Although the man's hand movement was too fast for human eyes, Giou saw it clearly. The wallet of a heavy-set woman in a house dress vanished into the thug's pocket before she even finished her order.

  But the crime wasn't the worst part. In Ophema vision, Giou saw something more disgusting. A parasitic demon in the form of a giant slimy earthworm appeared to be wrapping around the thug's neck and chest. The creature pulsed, "consuming negative energy" from its host.

  "Master, we have to catch him!" Giou urged. Arua glanced briefly, then looked back at the street. "Leave it."

  "But Master, we can not just do nothing!" Giou blocked his path. Arua stopped, exhaling a long sigh, sign of annoyed. Meanwhile, the thief was still lingered near the scene, probably scouting his next mark.

  "Sigh..." Instead of looking at the thief, he scanned the sidewalk area. His eyes locked onto a girl—likely a college student—laughing with her friends.

  Arua's eyes narrowed as he performing complex calculations. "Hmmm... Posture okay. Symmetrical face, score 8/10. Front 'assets' size quite significant. Her physical score and fashion taste are the highest compared to other female targets within a fifty-meter radius," he muttered quickly and analytically. Giou went quiet. He knew where this was heading.

  Arua turned to Giou with a feigned serious look. "Giou, I’ll save the lady. BUT..." he pointed at the college girl, "...you must ensure that she sees my heroic act. Make her mesmerized, fall in love, so I can add her to my harem candidate list."

  Giou stared at his master blankly and replied in a flat tone, "Master, I’m not a cupid... Besides, she is older than you." He wasn't even sure if his master was joking or truly narcissistic. "Whatever," Arua shrugged, preparing to continue his steps.

  Giou panicked. His sense of justice—or perhaps remnants of his naive idealism—flared up. "Please, Master Aru! Just this once!" Giou pleaded, blocking Arua again. "Maybe no girl, but I’m sure Master will get a reward from this kindness!" The word 'kindness' sounds weird coming out of his mouth. He was a demon, designed to corrupt. But somehow, his subconscious always pushed him to act this way.

  Arua looked at Giou's pitiful ugly face. He clicked his tongue, scratching his head. "If I get badluck, you're grounded," he said. Giou nodded quickly. "Okay!"

  Reluctantly, the demon hunter spun around. He approached the thief who had just crossed the street, stopping right behind him. Physically, this wasn't a heavyweight fight. Both were skinny, but Arua was 12 cm taller than the thief whose height was just around 166 cm.

  Arua trailed the guy, matching his pace. In another reality, the worm demon was still clinging to the thief’s projection body. It was merely a low level Fiend—wild, mindless demon. Its presence here meant the guy’s mental defense was garbage—"weak faith," as the religious folks say. Without warning, Arua tapped the guy’s shoulder.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Tap. It wasn't an ordinary tap. At Arua's fingertip, a spark of Nexus in the form of heat energy was shot at a specific rate. This was one of the Exorcism techniques, cross-realm manipulation where a user in Proteum (Real World) could affect objects in Ophema (Spirit World) without needing to perform Astral Projection. Although this was the main expertise of an Exorcist, most Spirit Users—like Arua—also mastered it.

  The result was instant. One area on the worm demon's skin melted. It shrieked silently, detach from its host, and flee in fear. But the physical tap stopped the thief's steps. He spun around, eyes bulging. "Hey! The hell you want!?"

  Arua just stood there, grinning slightly with both hands in his pockets. "Hehe."

  It was pure ragebait. In the world of combat psychology, provocation was a weapon to open up defenses. The thief, already tense from just committing a crime, naturally felt threatened. His adrenaline spiked uncontrollably. "You looking for a fight!? Come on then, Asshole!" he shouted, attracted the people around.

  With the demon gone and the guy unstable, Giou could finally use the demon race’s special abilities. He move in, placed a palm near the thug’s head, the interface where the bridge connecting Proteum and Ophema resided: Consciousness.

  "Eat this-," The thug threw a punch at Arua’s face. Fast, full of power, but missed completely. Ten centimeters off from Arua’s left ear. "Huh...?" The guy stumbled. From his perspective, the world suddenly spinning.

  This phenomenon was called "Possession". Often misunderstood by normies. From a scientific perspective, implanting animal or spirit behavior in someone (taking over motoric control) was a very complex mechanism. Giou, as an ordinary demon, could only perform a simpler version: Emotional Amplification. He only crank the panic dial in the man's limbic brain. The result was sudden hyperventilation and cognitive dissociation.

  Instead of hitting Arua, the man looked like a drunk person boxing against the wind. Just a silly silence. He then tripped over his own feet. Arua didn't even move an inch.

  Now he was the center of attention. Every eye on the street was locked on him.

  The stage was set.

  Arua caught the victim’s eye and shouted, "Check your wallets!" He pointed a finger at the dazed thug. "If anything's gone, check his pockets."

  This was an effective psychological trigger. There were two goals behind this: the first was distraction. Simultaneously, everyone patted their pockets or checked their bags. In that second, Arua slipped back, stepping off the stage.

  "Eh... My wallet!?" The scream of the lady broke the silence. This was the second goal. "My wallet's gone! He's the thief! Thief!"

  The voice triggered a chain reaction from other onlookers.

  "Huh? Thief!?"

  "Oi, Thief!!"

  The show turned into anarchy. A sturdy man approached, immediately tackled the thief in a chokehold. The thief, still spiritually drunk, didn't stand a chance. In seconds, his body vanished, swallowed by the angry mob.

  Meanwhile, Giou and Arua strolled away leisurely. Giou glanced back at the human emotions exploding into violence.

  And that’s how the supernatural in this reality worked. In Ophema, you could have energy blasts, giant monsters, and flashy elemental shows. But cross into Proteum—where billions of Non-supernaturalists lived—Natural Law nerfed everything to be passive. No fireballs, no lightning bolts. Just manipulated "coincidences": a thug suddenly losing his mind. The supernatural blended perfectly behind the logic of real-world causality.

  Giou, the demon slave, was just a tool for his master operating on the adjacent layer. A walking crime radar, a bad-vibe detector, and occasionally, a panic attack trigger.

  "Why didn't Master just yell 'thief'?" That was Giou's first question back in the day. The answer was simple: Arua ran on efficiency and aesthetics. First, yelling while the thug was fully conscious risked an escape or a hostage situation. Second, it wasn't cool. Arua didn't leave his comfort zone just to be a witness. If he was forced to socialize, he’d do it with charisma—at least in his mind. Although in reality, nobody cared about his "style." The college girl he was trying to impress had already fled as soon as the chaos broke out.

  Arua paused under a dim streetlamp, taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Yeah, you're right," he said, tapping the pack against his palm. "Kindness always brings fortune." He flipped it open; still half full.

  Giou frowned. "Wait... Where did Master get those cigarettes?"

  "From the thief," Arua replied, sliding the pack back into his pocket. That’s not what I meant... Giou thought. He replayed the scene. Arua’s tap wasn't just an Exorcism. While his right hand—or rather his mind—fired Nexus, his left hand pulled a perfect Sleight of Hand, lifting the smokes from the thug's pocket. Stealing from a thief. Truly ironic.

  Giou shook his head. His master was indeed an anomaly. Arua wasn't a smoker; he was a miser who wouldn't spend a cent on nicotine, vapes, or alcohol. But if there was a chance to get it for free? He’d take it. Legal, illegal, didn't matter. And somehow, his body had this weird resistance that made him immune to addiction.

  Back at the parking lot, Arua was about to ignite the bike when his phone lit up. A WhatsApp notification caught his eye, the screen's glow reflecting off his helmet visor. Giou, standing next to him, peeked over.

  [22:18] "Everything is ready, come later at 12."

  It had been over an hour since they left the dorm. It was late, yet the message set a meeting for midnight. Arua didn't reply. He just stared at the screen with a thin, unreadable smile tugging at his lips.

  "This is what I’ve been waiting for," he murmured.

  Before Giou could process it, Arua pocketed the phone and kicked the engine to life. "Get on."

  Giou hopped on. But as they left the food strip, Arua didn't take the U-turn lane toward their home. He instead spurred the bike in the opposite direction.

  "Ummm... Master, it seems we are going the wrong way," Giou mentioned, his voice shaky against the wind.

  "Who said we're going back?" Arua replied casually.

  "Eh? Where are we going?"

  "You'll find out."

  The answer didn't help at all. Giou's curiosity spiked, mixed with confusion. Previously, Arua refused to let him come, and now he was dragging him on a mystery tour? Giou knew his master often went out at night for "side jobs," but he’d never been invited along.