The second female lead Dual Cultivates

Maria felt the demonic presence faintly before she felt Nao's and Suna's presence which instantly shifted her focus into attack mode. Maria jumped toward the place she had felt the hostile aura from and dropped down on something.

She made sure her body weight kept the enemy pinned down while she took notice of the situation.

"O-Ouch. You're hurting me" a soft voice came from beneath Maria's feet and she instantly tried to back away as soon as she registered a kid's voice inside her mind. How weird that she had jumped down directly on top of the kid. Maria had been so sure that she had landed on the foreign aura and -

"Do not let him go. Maria, keep him down for as long as you can" Nao's voice broke Maria out of her trance and she instantly increased the pressure. The kid made a noise as if he had been hurt but Maria kept the pressure up.

She had no idea what Nao was planning but Maria knew that her partner had a plan. If it involves capturing a kid for this purpose, then Maria would capture the kid.

"Let. Me. Go. I have done nothing wrong yet" the kid howled as he tried to get away. It was a valid effort, maybe a little bit too strong for a human kid. Maria knew even she had not been that strong at that stage and she had begun to train at that stage as well.

Something was not adding up here. Shouldn't human children be rather weak, especially ones that were in danger of being in the grasp of malnutrition? Then there was the fact that there was demonic energy coming out of the kid beneath her.

"I don't feel confident with your 'yet'. Maria, can you make sure he doesn't get away from us or try to attack us?" Maria wanted to groan at what Nao was asking of her. There was only one way to ensure that no magic could be used by the kid and that was with the help of her chains.

Nao likely had forgotten a specific detail but Maria had not.

But opening her mouth right now would be counterproductive as well. They could not let the enemy know that Maria had such a weakness that could be exploited so easily. So Maria decided to take out one of her smaller chains to wind it along the kid's arms.

"You sure?" Suna asked, worry crossing her expression but it fell away at Maria's confident nod. She had made sure to bind the kid properly and then she noticed someone from their group missing.

"Where's the elder brother?" Maria asked in a neutral tone. The elder brother was not a threat to them but he could still prove to be a problem. If the younger brother had somehow managed to keep his demonic side hidden, then the elder might have been much more capable.

"He's not a threat. I think he's fully human since he managed to pass the barrier when we could not. Let's head there and try with you" Nao turned toward Maria as she addressed her.

Maria felt her eyes twitch in irritation at being treated as a test subject before she passed the Daniel to Suna. However, Maria forgot a tiny problem and heard Suna groan in pain as soon as she touched the chain.

"Shit, sorry. I forgot that this one renders the demonic powers useless so demons are not supposed to touch them. Suna, drop the chain" Suna's hands still clenched the chain tightly, despite Maria's words of warning and Maria felt her heart stop.

Then it sped up as Maria hurried and pried the chain off of Suna's hand.

It was slightly burned and stained red everywhere else. It would take time to heal since the burn had rendered demonic energy useless and even Nao looked worried as she neared the others.

"Nah, don't be sorry. It's kinda my fault for not looking at what I was grabbing. I'm sure this will not happen again for some time" Suna tried to laugh her injury off but it was no laughing matter.

Such injuries were prone to infection very quickly and they also became a liability in the battle. If something happened to Suna because of her inability to use her dominant hand, then it would be all Maria's fault. Maria could not even raise her head to look at Nao or Suna.

"Hey, what if it burned me as well? Can you not get it off? I promise to behave, '' the kid asked in a flat tone. It sounded mocking to Maria's ears but she knew the kid was not trying to agitate her.

"These are weak ones so they won't hurt you as long as your clothes are in the way. Be careful if you don't want to get hurt" Maria should not be telling all this to their captive but she somehow felt bad for the kid.

And he had been right in saying that he had not done anything to their group yet. He was innocent in most of his claims and that was why it irked Maria so much. There was so much split evidence and her feelings said nothing.

The cave was beautiful when they entered it again and Maria kept walking even when the other three stopped. She felt herself pass through some kind of barrier that provided her with almost no resistance but she felt her friends stop.

"What's wrong? Is it the barrier?" Maria asked. She tried to move out again but Nao's head shake stopped her in the middle.

"Go deeper and try to take this barrier down. It doesn't allow demons inside so we send the elder brother in to take it down. I'm afraid that he might be in danger" Nao explained as she urged Maria to go ahead.

What a weird pair the siblings were. A demon and a human and Maria felt surprised and eager to know how it came to be. Did the elder brother even know that his younger brother was a demon? Was that the reason the sibling pair had survived for so long?

But there was also the question of how. Most demons were contracts like Noa and for the kid to exist here meant that he also had a ceremony being done to him. But for what reason? And how even did it?

Somehow, the mysteries kept on piling up one after another and Maria left in search of her next goal - to take down the barrier and find the elder brother. Just how far could a human walk in such a suffocating cave network anyway?

But anyway, Maria decided to walk down the path her instincts led her. It was as good a lead as any in her opinion.