Chapter 179: Back on the Prowl!

The moon quietly watched over the star-filled night sky as Zoey went to the beach with Caroline. Tink was flying alongside them as support. Ever since Zoey was exiled from the magji community, it's been forever since she's gone out hunting daemons. Tink has just been living with Zoey's family ever since the trial. It made Zoey wonder if Fairies had their own places to live, but she kind of doubted it. They probably lived with magjistars who they served.

Prometheus gave Zoey a call about a mass missing person's case at Krey Beach. He asked her if she was interested in dealing with the daemon infesting the waters out here, and she agreed. Her body was in tip-top shape, and the side effects of pushing Overdraft nearly to the limit were finally gone. She could hunt daemons like crazy now.

Zoey didn't have any upcoming fights or other responsibilities, so she could go around cleaning evil daemons for a while. There was graduation coming up and a hell of a lot of tests for passing the 12th grade, but she'll get by. Probably… There was nothing some late-night cramming couldn't solve! She wouldn't get A's or B's, but C's were a passing grade in Amerika! 

"How did you find out about this wicked creature?" Caroline asked.

"You can find out where daemons are hiding by watching the news. When people go missing or strange accidents are reported, it's usually daemons." Zoey hid the fact that Prometheus told her to go here, and she listened.

"I… was not aware of this information…" Caroline pulled out her phone and started tapping on it.

"What're you doing?" Tink curiously asked.

"Downloading news apps," Caroline answered.

"I want a phone…" Tink longingly gazed at Caroline's outdated flip phone.

"I'll get you a phone." Zoey didn't see a problem with it. Tink was her friend, and she had money to spare.

"Really?!" Tink excitedly pulled Zoey's hair.

"Sure," Zoey responded.

The trio approached the shoreline of Krey Beach, the rhythmic crashing of the waves providing a soothing backdrop to their mission. The moonlight danced on the water's surface, creating a shimmering pathway that beckoned them forward. The night air was crisp and carried the scent of salt and seaweed. It caressed their skin with a cool, refreshing touch, invigorating their senses. In the distance, the shoreline disappeared into darkness, where the sand met the water's edge in an ever-changing embrace. As they stood there, gazing out into the abyss, the moonlight painted their figures with a silver hue, casting long shadows that seemed to stretch toward the endless horizon. Tink's tiny form flitted about, leaving trails of sparkling light in her wake. She was kind of acting like their lantern since it was so dark out.

"How do you think we should get this foul creature to surface?" Caroline questioned.

"I can't swim, so I was hoping you had something planned," Zoey revealed.

"Wait, what?" Caroline tilted her head.

"I can't swim," Zoey repeated.

"Then why did you even… Why are you… Huh?!" Caroline couldn't fathom what was going on inside Zoey's head.

"It is what it is." Zoey shrugged.

"If you can't swim, why did you come to the beach to fight a water daemon?" Caroline had to ask for her own mental health.

"Just because I can't swim doesn't mean I can't kill a daemon." Zoey crossed her arms. Did Caroline think she was stupid? Why would she get in the water in the first place to fight on the daemon's home turf?

"How are we going to get the daemon out of the water then?" Caroline didn't understand.

"Like this." Zoey cuffed her hands to enhance the sound of her voice. "HEY DAEMON! COME OUT OF THE WATER OR ELSE!" Inner Zoey shouted, utilizing all of her Fighting Aura that had rapidly leveled since she started trolling people online.

Silence filled the beach after Zoey's yell. Caroline felt herself on the verge of having a migraine. Was this really The Chosen One's student? She felt that maybe Zoey wasn't as admirable as she thought outside of fighting…

As Zoey's defiant challenge hung in the air, an eerie stillness settled over the beach. The rhythmic symphony of waves crashing on the shore ceased as if nature itself held its breath. The moon, a pale guardian in the night sky, cast an otherworldly glow on the scene. For a few calm heartbeats, nothing happened. The darkness of the ocean's depths remained impenetrable. Caroline's skepticism deepened, and even Tink was starting to doubt if the daemon would listen to Zoey.

Then, from the inky blackness of the water, a disturbance rippled across the surface. It started as a subtle ripple, like a shiver crawling up one's spine, and it soon evolved into a sinister surge. A grotesque, humanoid form began to emerge, its body undulating with seaweed, algae-covered all over its body. A large tidal wave headed straight for them along with its surfacing. The daemon that had been the source of people going missing in the water stared at them with seaweed hanging from its head, covering its face. Eyes like abyssal voids fixated on Zoey and Caroline, glowing with a malevolent hunger that sparked a small sense of astonishment in Zoey and seriousness in Caroline. It smiled as the mini-tsunami consumed it and surged toward Zoey and Caroline. Zoey didn't think her shout would actually work!

Caroline, her eyes aflame with unwavering determination but also disbelief recited her personal mantra, each word resonating with the solemnity of a vow etched deep within her soul. "My mind is clear. My body is healthy. My spirit is pure." Each word seemed to be the key to utilizing her magji as the mahna flowing from her was more noticeable now.

Utilizing her internal energy, she chanted a spell. "Heaven's Barrier!" A large yellow dome formed around Caroline. The large wave passed all around her as she rested safely underneath her barrier. She formed a long staff made of yellow internal energy for the battle ahead, and Zoey couldn't help but be a little envious. Which spell allowed her to shape her mahna into anything she wanted like that?

While Caroline decided to defend herself from the incoming wave, Zoey chose the questionable option of charging right ahead. Tink hid inside Zoey's bra as she utilized Dash and broke through the wave entirely. The water daemon let out a bone-chilling, inhuman wail right at Zoey as she was pouncing toward it. It was a sound that echoed with the agony of taken souls and the wrath of a hungry beast.

Which meant nothing to the excited Zoey, who tackled it to the ground with enough force to cause the sand around them to erupt into the air. As she pulled her fist back, she didn't immediately pound its face into submission. Instead, she chose to ask it a question. "If I asked you to stop eating people, would you?"

It responded by leaping forward to eat her face with its hot horrid breath. Zoey leaned backward as she used the momentum of the daemon's pounce to throw it back toward Caroline. Caroline, who was already ready and in position, caught the toss with her staff. The daemon spine was nearly folded as it crashed against the tip of Caroline's staff. With a skillful twirl of her staff, she swung it against the fallen daemon's skull right back toward Zoey.

Zoey grinned as the daemon was flying toward her. She caught it by the neck, and with a flex of her muscles, a loud cracking sound began to emanate from its skull as she squeezed. Inner Zoey wanted to laugh, but Zoey didn't want to scare Caroline, so she held it in as the daemon's brain exploded out of its skull in a goopy mess.

"Yuck," Tink commented as she flew out of Zoey's clothes. With a soft chant of a spell, she cleaned Zoey of the Daemon's innards as Caroline walked over to them.

"See, my plan worked." Zoey gave a small smile.

"Indeed it did…" Caroline didn't understand why this daemon was so foolish.

Daemons avoided their kind to the best of their abilities. A daemon would never willingly reveal itself to them unless under dire circumstances. Even if they were starving, they'd rather reveal themselves to the public and attack regular people than attack a magjistar. So, Caroline was very confused about why it decided to leave the waters and fight them on the beach. Was it possible that Zoey had something about her that made daemons hate her?

Caroline caught the magji shard tossed at her by Zoey. She tossed it back at her. "Monks have no need for the hearts of the wicked," Caroline told her. "Ow." Zoey rubbed her cheek from the tossed daemon heart. She didn't expect Caroline to throw it back…

"Sorry…" Caroline didn't think Zoey would fail to catch it.

"What now?" Tink asked.

Zoey pulled out her phone and checked her messages with Prometheus. "There's something strange happening in the city, but let's save that for tomorrow." There was school in the morning!

"..." Caroline pulled out her phone and started looking through the apps she downloaded earlier. 

On their way back, Caroline pointed out that she didn't see any strange news popping up while she was looking. "That's because you don't know what to look for yet. Daemons are sneaky." Zoey lied her ass off. "But you said-" Caroline was interrupted before she could continue by Tink's shout.

"Do you think I could hunt daemons on my own?! I've been practicing a lot!" Tink excitedly asked Zoey as they flexed their tiny fairie muscles.

"You can, but you'll have to use Overdraft if you want to kill them," Zoey answered.

"What?! But that hurts! It hurts a lot! Like all over! For super long, too!" Tink whined.

"We have to train your mahna control some more before you're ready to deal with any daemons on your own yet," Zoey told her.

"But that's so boring! Ughhhh!" Tink rested in Zoey's hair.

"It's the only way you'll be able to fight like I do." Zoey thought the way she fought was cool, too.

"You train to control your internal energy as well?" Caroline spoke up.

"Victor told me how important it was and kind of forced me into the habit of practicing it," Zoey remembered it was when she was forced along into all those high-grade cases. Fun times when she didn't know whether she would live or die… What she would give for those days again.

"My masters told me people of this generation disregard that type of training. But then again, you are The Chosen One's legacy… It only makes sense." Caroline started muttering by the end of it.

"I don't know how other magjistars do it. I just do what I was taught." Zoey wasn't on particular good standing with other magjistars to find out this stuff. Plus, she didn't want to text Alexander and Lindsay at this hour with a question like that.

"It's a shame what happened to The Chosen One…" Caroline sounded genuine, and it made Zoey feel kind of awkward.

"Yeah, but it's alright, I guess…" Zoey rubbed the back of her head. 

She would always hold a grudge against the OM, but Victor didn't want her life to turn out like his. So, she wouldn't desecrate his final wishes by making herself the enemy of magjistars everywhere. Even if the other voice in her head really wanted her to.

'I'm literally right here? What the fuck?' Inner Zoey reminded her.

Zoey smiled as she knew what she said.