The second female lead Dual Cultivates

"You sure believe a lot in that half-demon friend of yours but you're setting yourself up for failure. I've observed her and she's too soft-hearted isn't she?" Nao ignored the obvious jab the kid tried to make. She was not in a mood for this.

The kid had been trying to top with Suna and Nao's for a while now without any apparent success but it was getting to Nao's head. She could feel a small headache from behind her head which made her grumpy.

"Don't be ridiculous. Maria is just fine as she is. She'll be here soon enough with your brother" Suna replied, not even opening her eyes at the accusation. Her body was relaxed and held no signs of fatigue. Her words were sure as well, full of confidence and trust.

Nao was not surprised since she felt the same way about Maria. Her friend had been tough and resilient when she set out to do something. That was also why Nao knew that Maria would be alright even when Nao finally died.

"She'll be fine but would you? You know, every demon has that point in time where they have to choose between their contract and their desire. I wonder what you two will do about it" the smaller demon asked and Nao chose to remain silent.

She was not willing to give any more inch than she had to and that was final. But it was weird to see Suna be quiet on this topic. Suna was a vocal person but she had also gone through a lot in these few days.

"Every demon is granted a body as a result of a contract and as a result, they are bound to a human. I can tell that neither of you is bonded to that half-human so the itch must be bad right? The itch to find your human half, the one who made the contract to bring you here" was the kid teased and Nao was thankful that he had not said it all in front of Maria.

Not that she was trying to hide it or anything. Maria knew most of it already since she had been in Nao's life for a long time. But knowing it and hearing it were different things. Nao wanted to be the one to tell it to Maria personally when she decided to reveal it to her and Suna as well.

She deserved to have time on her hand and to come to terms with before divulging such a personal story. It was none of their places to ask Suna.

"Oh. Is that why you are here? To complete your part of the contract and to be free? What? human life got to be too much for you?" Suna jabbed back with an annoyed tone. At least she was not angry and coming after their hostage.

"Freedom? Of course, I want freedom from this curse. It shackles at me every second and it tugs at my insides in irritation. You two must feel it all the time as well. Then why? How do you ignore it that well?" The kid asked and Nao felt like sighing.

This was a kid even by demonic standards. He likely had not spent too long here, nor had he been in the company of his summoner for a long time. It must have been a difficult adjusting period for him.

"There is no cure, no ignoring. You just get used to it over time. Humans are fragile and most of them will die even before we ever got to be free. It's better not to think about it too much" Nao explained.

There was not much to be done once their summoner was killed off. It left the bond in a semi-tempered state. A demon was lucky if they got told what they needed to do for freedom before that point. In a way, Nao was among the lucky ones since her summoner had been Silvya.

Her master had warned her to be careful against that crafty witch but Silvya had never given Nao any major reason to be afraid of her.

"So, I'm just stuck just because that idiot could not bear the burden of summoning me? Why me?" The kid asked as he tried to roll his hands into a fist. But the chains binding his hands and arms stopped him from making that action.

"Get it over with kid. You are not alone in that regard. A lot of people go through it and have it worst than you. At least all you have to deal with is the uncomfortable feeling" Nao tried to force the thoughts out of her head of her first summon.

Suna was quiet since she had nothing to add. She likely never had a proper summoner bind since she had been abandoned ever since she had been called here. Suna had gotten lucky to find someone to take her in at the right time before she went berserk.

Demons without any initial bond, be it familial or summoner, went out of their mind pretty quickly. It was a one-way ticket to rampage after all.

"You got lucky you had your brother here with you. Or, do you not even consider Samuel to be even that?" Suna asked and the complicated expression on Daniel's face was painful to look at. It was like looking at a young Howl again.

'They're not important so why should I care?' Nao could even hear the exact words a young Howl had said but the same female had decided to abandon everything for her family as well. It made Nao miss the other female. She wanted to know how Howl was doing now.

"Hurry. Nao, pick him up and jump" Suna made an abrupt moment that broke Nao's concentration. And right in time as well since she could hear footsteps all around them. They had been surrounded by zombies in the short time Nao had been lost in her head.

She quickly jumped up the tree with the kid in her arms and looked down at a slowly waking army of zombies being led by a child. No, not one but multiple children.

"Pika cannot find the intruders" one child complained in a flat tone while the other continued with "Pika must inform Pika about Pika's failures"

"Are they named names Pika?" Suna asked in a confused tone but the answer was pretty evident in front of them. There were a lot of 'Pika' so maybe it was not a name but a designation.

Anyway, this boarded not good for their group. Maira was still inside and now the entrance of their cave had been preoccupied with these zombies. There was no safe exit for Maria anywhere now.