An Unborn Hero

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For giving a nascent addict a hit of the good stuff, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 8.

And for using it to save an innocent life and slay a demon, it advances to level 9.

For massive overuse of mana yet again, [Increased Attributes] advances to level 5. Be thankful someone helped you out this time.

Achievement unlocked: [Spell Forger]

Achievement unlocked: [Demon Slayer I]

Spell Forger (Rare)

It takes a talented mage to forge a new spell, but a truly great one to create something usable. You have done so, imprinting a new idea on the world's mana and successfully making it reality. You have earned the recognition and respect of mana, boosting your capacity and regeneration by 30%. Spells you create gain a 100% bonus to levelling speed and operate as if your level was 10 higher.

Demon Slayer I (Rare)

Few have the misfortune of meeting a demon. Fewer still survive the encounter. Your party has done so, not by hiding or fleeing, but by striking back and slaying the evil. You gain a 20% defensive bonus against attacks from demons, and effects of miasma poisoning are reduced by 25%.

Mystery drifted through the air, feeling a little light-headed. Which was another poor description; perhaps her body could be described as light, but in soul form she wasn't subject to gravity in the first place, and besides, she lacked a head.

"So, that was a demon? And Rose killed it! My spell worked! Hehehehe!"

While Mystery giggled to herself in a not-completely-sane sort of way, Rose wasn't any better off. The terror of imminent death, the relief when she'd felt Mystery's spell hit and knew rescue was at hand, and the euphoric buzz of unexpected victory had merged together into an overwhelming storm of emotion. With the fight over, the burst of adrenaline keeping her moving had faded, leaving her dazed. She just stood in silence, staring at her hands, which were covered in thin, white, fingerless gloves instead of the heavy gauntlets she was used to. Her expression flickered between a manic grin and blank shock.

And such was her condition when two more parties arrived on the scene. From the west came Hayedalf and Kellela, the latter having detected the death of the demon. From the east came three soldiers from the town of Karn's Vigil, given the unenviable task of preventing the suspected [Hero] from committing accidental suicide via [Astral Projection]. The groups looked at each other in confusion, then at the strangely dressed girl who was still blankly staring at her hands, and finally at the corpse on the floor, nailed there by an unusual sword, a pool of hissing, black blood still spreading around it.

"Are you... okay?" asked Kellela carefully. "Rose, isn't it?"

Rose jerked with surprise, her daze having caused her to miss both approaching groups.

"Umm... Ah, yes. I'm fine..." she answered, mindlessly tracing a pair of fingers along the healed gashes in her arm.

"What happened here?" asked the [Lieutenant] leading the soldiers. They lacked the long range scrying of Kellela, and had no idea what they'd stumbled onto, although the demonic corpse pinned to the ground by Rose's sword provided a big clue. "What the hell is that monster, and why are you, a child, here in the middle of nowhere, dressed like you're on the way to a rather risqué masquerade ball?"

Rose flinched at the loud voice. Fortunately, while the soldiers hadn't seen anything and the situation was completely inexplicable to them, Kellela and Hayedalf were a little better off.

"She seems to be in shock," pointed out Kellela. "I'll talk to Rose, so why don't you explain to them," she said to Hayedalf.

"Short version," he said to the [Lieutenant]. "That's not a monster; it's a demon. He tried to breach the wards around our farm. When he failed, he attacked Rose to lure us outside the wards. He failed again, in a rather more permanent manner."

"I... think you've missed a few pertinent facts there," said the soldier. He'd been filled in on what was known and suspected about Mystery, so the demonic attack wasn't inexplicable, but none of that explained how a girl of about fourteen had managed to slay a demon completely unharmed. Especially given the screaming they'd heard earlier; it hadn't exactly sounded like she was winning. "But let's wait to hear from the victim."

Rose was starting to recover and regain some expression, but was still in a daze, and had swiftly forgotten about the others that had arrived. Kellela kept her distance, watching as Rose twisted herself in every direction, feeling around the back of her neck and muttering to herself.

"I can't find any fastenings at all, but it's too tight to pull it off over my head. How am I supposed to remove it?"

Unused to how magical girl transformations generally worked, she was trying to remove her costume by conventional methods rather than undoing the transformation. Alas, as she'd discovered, there were no buttons, clips or fastenings on it, and, aside from the puffy, short sleeves, the top part of her new dress was skintight, albeit with sufficient decoration that an unfortunately flat region of her chest was not immediately obvious. In the end, Mystery had decided against making the entire top portion yellow—on the basis it would become confusing if a real yellow teammate joined—so had stuck to yellow accents and left the bulk of it blue.

Giving up on the dress, Rose attempted to peel off one of the gloves, finding that even that much failed.

"Huh? It's stuck to my skin?! Is this permanent?!"

That hadn't been a deliberate design point by Mystery, but it was true that magical girls generally didn't remove their uniforms, nor did they suffer wardrobe malfunctions, unless they happened to star in a very particular brand of hentai. Yes, sometimes enemies could damage their costumes, but they never had issues with socks falling down. That image—firmly fixed in Mystery's mind—had accidentally become part of the spell.

"Rose?" asked Kellela quietly, causing the magical girl to jolt in surprise.

"Huh? Ah, Kellela. Umm... Thanks for the rescue, but... where did my armour go? Not that I want to sound ungrateful..."

"I'm afraid I don't know. That's the first time I've seen that spell cast successfully."

"What a strange spell," said Rose, giving a small giggle and then a shudder.

"Are you up to explaining what happened? Or would you like us to take you somewhere else?" suggested Kellela, glancing down at the corpse, which Rose's gaze seemed to be unconsciously avoiding.

"I..." started Rose before shuddering again. "Yes, sorry. Of course. That's more important than where my armour went."

"Looks like an imp," said Hayedalf, who'd been inspecting the corpse. "Only a low tiered demon, thank goodness."

"That was a weak demon?" asked Rose, eyes wide.

"A weak demon, yes, but still a demon. Even the weakest of demons can be a match for a silver ranked adventurer."

"What I'm interested in," started Kellela, peering at the [Lieutenant], "is why you didn't bat an eyelid when Hayedalf claimed the demon tried to lure us."

"Ah... That's actually why we were on our way to your farm. There's been some suspicion that Mystery is a [Hero]."

Now it was Kellela and Hayedalf's turn to fall into shock as each of them neatly deposited their jaws on the ground, unable to respond in any sort of comprehensible way.

"And you... killed the imp? I thought I heard screaming? And you don't exactly seem dressed for combat?" the soldier asked Rose, giving the parents of the [Hero] a moment to recover.

"Yes, sir. This is Mystery's spell. It gave me a full heal and a massive strength boost, although for some reason it swapped my armour out with... well, this."

She waved downwards, the sweeping gesture taking in her impractical outfit.

"Mystery's spell? And armour? You're an adventurer?"

"Yes, sir. Iron ranked. I... Huh?"

She paused as she once again started to glow. The sword behind her, still pinning the imp to the dirt, dissolved into motes of blue light, as did Rose's new uniform. The little balls of light swirled around her before fading, leaving her standing in her original torn armour. Thankfully, her old wounds didn't reopen, but the damage to her chest-piece left her modesty in danger.

The sleeve, still hanging on by a thread, gave up on its efforts and floated gently to the floor.

"Oh. I think the spell wore off."

"Iron ranked, and you beat a demon?"

"Umm... Yes?" answered Rose meekly, her confidence departing along with her magically enhanced strength. There was something about being able to blast a demon thirty yards backwards with a single punch that lent itself to high levels of self-assurance.

"With respect, I think this is beyond my pay grade. Would you three mind accompanying us back to the garrison?"

"I... kinda snuck away from our inn," admitted Rose. "I need to get back before my parents notice I'm gone."

"You left the town without your parents' permission?!" asked Hayedalf in disbelief. "Don't you know how dangerous it is around here?"

"We've been hunting in the forest every day since we arrived," she replied guiltily. "We haven't run into a single demon! Only the usual low-levelled monsters."

"And I'm banned from approaching the garrison," admitted Kellela.

The soldier was about to complain about the parent of a [Hero] being banned from anywhere, until he remembered everything had been qualified with 'suspected'. "Hmm... I suppose that is still true. The existence of a [Hero] is still only a suspicion. It hasn't been proven. The suspicion is enough that the top brass want to ensure you're protected, but the fact it hasn't been proven means they also need to continue to take precautions. What a pain..."

"Umm... If I may, I think I can help with that," quietly interjected Rose, who had gone wide eyed again.

"How so?"

"Well, umm... I just checked my messages. I got two achievements for... that. [Demon Slayer I], and... umm... [Hero's Party Member]."

Back in the capital, a light was flashing on a certain Artefact. It was one that had enjoyed a burst of popularity over the past month, causing its watchers to actually earn some respect for once. Also some amount of pity.

The [Scribe] watching it automatically reached for a sheet of notepaper, idly wondering what Mystery had been up to this time, how insane it was, and how much longer it would be until the unidentified visitor started generating world announcements.

By the time the [Scribe] looked back to the Recorder, a second light was flashing.

The [Scribe] rubbed his eyes, conducted a quick search of other recent achievements that had been obtained by someone called 'Rose', then substituted the notepaper for a larger sheet.

In a clearing in the centre of the demonic forest, the mana stilled as the embryonic demon lord sensed the death of its subordinate. Still a long way from being capable of rational thought, it nevertheless had deeply ingrained instincts, and there could be only one response when someone dared to kill a demon.

The mana moved again as the egg absorbed it in great quantities, and then it burst out once more in a vast wave carrying a single message. "Revenge."

The sea of monsters—now reaching half-way up the height of the egg over the full clearing—went wild, sizeable chunks of the mass breaking off and crawling away among the trees.

The spectating demons, patiently awaiting the birth of their lord, looked to each other. Even in its unhatched state, the word of the demon lord was law. There was a burst of hissed conversation as they decided who would be sent. Three were chosen.

The first was a four metre tall monstrosity, humanoid but lithe, shaped as if someone had grabbed a regular human by the hair and ankles and pulled. His face lacked any real features, a smooth mask of black chitin. Zyfyl'p was his name.

The second was Xry'kl; another winged creature. Similar in form to the imp, but larger and with a pair of short, spiked horns jutting from the sides of his forehead. A thin purple mist fell from his wings as they leaked miasma.

Lastly came Fylith, the only female among the group. With skin instead of chitin and a regular human shape, she'd almost be able to pass for one, if not for her blood-red, slitted eyes, thick, curved ram's horns, and thin, whip-like tail.

"Let us begin our hunt," she declared, a cruel smile on her plump, red lips.

"Hehehehe," thought Mystery, still on a high after her successful creation of the world's first magical girl. Her recovery would take a substantially longer time than Rose's.

μ̵̼͉̐υ̴̡̽̿σ̷̭͓̃̀τ̸͉̤̾̆ή̶͎̱͌ρ̸̤͕̏̿ι̷̬̾͜ό̸͈ (Human)

Age: -8 months

Occupation: Hero (L)

Skills:

- Soul's Eye (U) (21/60)

>> Sense Vitality (U)

>> Sense Soul (R)

>> Sense Mana (U)

>> Sense Light (C)

>> Sense Sound (C)

- Astral Projection (U) (18/60)

>> Sure Navigation (U)

>> Uncontainable (U)

>> Tether of Will (L)

- Robust (C) (17/40)

>> Hardened Soul (R)

>> Secured Mana (U)

>> Pain Tolerance (C)

- Stealth (C) (3/20)

>> Camouflage Vitality (R)

- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (9/20)

>> Age Correction (R)

- Light (C) (6/10)

- Increased Attributes (C) (5/20)

>> Mana Storage (U)

Achievements:

- Early Bloomer II (R)

- First Skill (C)

- Apprentice (C)

- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)

- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)

- Astral Explorer I (R)

- First Spell (C)

- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)

- Spell Forger (R)

- Demon Slayer I (R)