Mayumi, the Diwata of Mischief and Evil, an extremely beautiful woman with long purple hair and purple eyes. Having a fair skin and stood at exactly 165cm.

Despite her beauty that transcends age and gender, Mayumi is a mischievous woman who enjoyed pranking and scaring mortals to the point that they passed out of fear or peed their pants.

She can alter her appearance to whatever grotesque creature she can imagine.

Men and women, old and young, they feared her. In pre-colonial Philippines, she had an entire town trembling in fear and her name was used to scare naughty kids.

Yet why.

Why can't he scare this boy who still reeks of his mother's milk!?

"Pretty good, I'd give it 3 out of 10." Said a young man with a smile, looking at the grotesque creature that looks like it came straight out of a xenomorphic film.

The young man is Alexis Adlawan, the heir to the Adlawan family whose job was to maintain the existence of supernatural and purify evil spirits.

He has a short black hair and hazel eyes, light-tanned skin with a lean yet muscular body. He stood at 180cm, wearing a simple black t-shirt and black shorts.

"Why!?" The creature - Mayumi - glowed and transformed into a beautiful woman with long purple hair and purple eyes. "I would traumatized children with that appearance! How come I only got three!?"

Alexis shrugs, "I'm not a child. Besides, that looks is similar to a movie I watched awhile back, so it's not really that....new?"

"Darn those producers!" Mayumi cursed while clenching her fist, "When I see them I will swallow them whole!"

She glared at Alexis, who was staring at him in amusement and couldn't help but grit her teeth. 'I, Mayumi, the Diwata of Mischief and Evil, a being who brought fear and terror to people....is struggling to scare this guy.'

She crossed her arms, snorting unhappily, "Really, youngsters this days. Because of that social media or whatever, you all became boring. I swear that thing poisons you. The last time I tried to scare a kid they thought I was a cosplayer - whatever that means."

"Really?" Alexis perked up, "That sounds interesting. Tell me the whole story."

She huffed, "No way. I don't want to spend time talking to a lowly human."

Alexis grinned at her, "I'm not just a lowly human, I'm your dear husband. So you can tell me right?"

"You—!" Mayumi blushed in embarrassment before turning away, "You are most certainly not! We're not even married yet!"

"Yet?" Alexis tilted his head with a playful smile.

"We're never getting married ever!" Mayumi glared at him with a small pout, stomping her feet on the floor to express her annoyance, "I swear I will scare you so bad you'd pass out from fear! Just you wait! And, I will surely restore my notoriety without your help!"

Supernatural creatures like her are mostly born from "mystery". For example, a man talks about a ghost he found and the word spreads around.

Is it real? Fake? Is it just a joke? Or maybe its an alien? That mysteriousness will eventually give birth to that ghost and bring her to existence.

Supernatural creatures, after all is, in essence, a "Mystery". However, since the beginning of the Common Era, human history has been in the process of systematically expelling Mysteries.

To the same degree the light of science expands, the darkness of Mystery recedes. No matter how those supernatural creatures resist this fact, this law remains unbent.

Humanity has reached the point where everything is explainable with human knowledge, from the workings of nature to the operation of the cosmos that was once the purview of the heavens, anything that was once beyond the ken of man.

A Mystery is, after all only holds meaning specifically because it is a mystery. If they were understood, they lost that force; creatures born from them, will also began to fade.

"But didn't you agree to this engagement because it is necessary for you to keep existing? I remember you once told me that on the last century, you have been on the verge of fading several times."

"I was tricked into it by your father!" Mayumi groaned, narrowing her eyes at Alexis, "I'm a creature born to invoke fear and horror to human beings. I don't need the help of my prey. Our agreement is just my first step to regaining my lost powers."

"Agreement?" Alexis tilted his head in confusion.

"Don't play dumb you fool!" Mayumi grabbed his collar, "We made an agreement that if I scare you once before you graduate from college then you'll break off the engagement and help me!"

"Ah, hahaha," Alexis raised his hand in a mock salute, "I remember, don't worry. But you're the one who seems to have forgotten something, Mayumi."

"W-What is it?" She questioned.

Smiling gently, Alexis softly caressed her cheeks, "During those times, I will also make you fall in love with me."

The diwata blushed in embarrassment, "S-Stop it with your jokes! Don't tell me you're okay with this marriage? They literally forced you in this. Besides, your partner is not even a human."

Alexis nodded, "Truthfully, I hated arrange marriages since it basically just forces people to be together with someone they don't love for the rest of their life."

"Then break off the enga—?" Mayumi couldn't finish her sentence as Alexis put a finger on her lips.

"However, I made an exception this time. I don't want to break off this engagement Mayumi, you know why?" He lowered his head and whispered to her ears, "It's because I'm in love with you. And marrying the one you love, is best outcome, right?"

It took her a moment to process his words, and when she did, her whole face turned read it feels like steam was coming out of her face.

"W-Wha-Wha-Wha—?! Stop joking around!" She stuttered, taking a few steps but her waist was held by Alexis as he pulled her closer. Doubling her embarrassing.

"This isn't a joke," Alexis smiled softly, "Will you scare me and break the contract? Or will I make you fall for me and agree to the marriage? I wonder what's the outcome..."

"Y-Y-You—," she was too stunned to even speak, her teary eyes stared intently at Alexis.

Smiling at his fiancée, Alexis said, "Whatever it is, let's enjoy our time together, Mayumi."

Ten Years Ago -

He was watching the black sun that was up in the night sky. The same sun that gushed that black mud that destroyed the city. He turned around to watch his surroundings.

Everything was on fire.

The buildings were collapsing.

The air and smoke around him were so hot that it burned his lungs and his throat for every breath that he took.

The smell of burned human meat filled the air.

He could only hear screams, pleas, and cries, they were so strong that his ears bleed. They were calling him, they were praying, begging and pleading for his help, but he ignored them.

He saw them dying one by one, as he could hear them cursing him moments before they died.

He didn't know anymore who those people were...strangers? friends? parents?

He did not care, he had to leave, the fire was getting closer with a steady pace.

The thing was still far away from him, but somehow it burned him... It burned him inside, and that pain was terrible.

He wanted to cry and scream in pain... but he could only keep moving forward. But no matter how fast he tried to crawl, the mud was reaching him.

He didn't want to die.

But the more he moved the more he was getting weaker. His arms and legs felt heavier and heavier with every movement that he did.

As he crawled he started to cry, he didn't want to die, he didn't want to die!

But despite that he knew that soon he would soon reach his limit, he knew that soon he would collapse...

But the only thing that collapsed at that moment was a building near him.

His body was assaulted by soul crushing pain, he gritted his teeth, trying to remain to remain conscious, but the pain was too much for him to bear that his vision started to darken.

Eventually, he lost his consciousness.

.

.

.

.

After sometime he recovered his senses, but he could not open his eyes. Somehow he had survived until that moment, but now his body had been in part crushed and now he was stuck.

He could feel the pain, he could feel that many of his bones were snapped in half or outright shredded because of the heavy rubbles of the building that fell on him and destroyed his frail body.

His body was somehow also burned both inside and out, he could feel every organ burning... but luckily that pain, the terrible pain that burned him inside earlier, now had disappeared.

Now he could only hear the sound of the fire, everything else was silent... everything was dead.

He didn't want to die.

He wanted to cry and beg for help, but his throat and his mouth have been burned. The only thing that got out of his mouth was a cough of blood and some smoke.

'...'

'...'

'I...'

'I still want to live...'

At that point, he managed to open his eyes and now he was watching the sky.

He reached his hand toward the sky, hoping someone to save him, hoping anything to happen...

And right before he lost all of his strengths in his arm and he could lose all of his hopes...

...someone took his hand.

He was still numb and in a daze, his mind was pretty much blank. But what he saw that moment will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Beautiful face, mesmerizing purple eyes, long purple hair. He felt as if he saw an angel— no, a goddess. He had never before seen anything so...so...beautiful, so perfect.

Yes. He thought at that moment, the word "perfect", and "beautiful" was made for that single person, it was made to describe the beauty that was in front of him.

Only that woman is worthy of those words.

****

Present Day -

Mayumi was smirking evilly as she sneaked inside her human fiance's room. She learned from a book she read yesterday that humans were mostly defenseless and easily startled and scared when they just woke up.

She tiptoed to Alexis' bed and observed him for a moment. He was sleeping peacefully, and looks so defenseless at this moment.

At least the book is actually useful.

She pondered for a moment, wondering what kind of monster she'd turn into that would terrify this man before her.

It took her awhile to think of something, and when she did, she immediately went on top of him and changed her appearance before waiting for him to wake up.

For her appearance, she went with pale white skin, six pairs of glowing red eyes, snakes for hair, sharp teeth, and a vampire-like wings. She also decided to add some blood(fake) on her mouth and splash them on her upper body.

After a few minutes, Alexis stirred, much to Mayumi's excitement. A few moments later, Alexis groggily opened his eyes and was immediately greeted by the sight of Mayumi in her monstrous form.

"You look tasty~" she opened her mouth wide, staring at Alexis with a predatory look.

Alexis blinked his eyes. Twice. Before yawning.

"Damn it!" Mayumi reverted to her normal appearance, "Why aren't you scared!? That book lied to me! I knew I couldn't trust something written and made by humans!"

"It's probably made in China." Alexis muttered.

"You're going with the stereotype!? Their products aren't that bad!" Mayumi growled at him, "They also have a lot of urban legends there that gave birth to some of the most terrifying supernatural creatures ever to exist, like the Jiangshi."

She pointed her finger at Alexis, giving him an annoyed look, "I think you're the problem here! You're not even a little scared by my appearance, don't tell me you have some strange fetish or something?"

"Of course I don't," he mused, before his thoughts wandered at that distant memory that he will never ever forget.

He stared at the annoyed Mayumi before giving a soft smile and pulling her towards him.

Her eyes widened in surprise, "W-What? What are you doing!?"

He caressed her hair, softly whispering to her ears, "I don't have some strange fetish or anything. Its just, for me, no matter what you look, you will always be beautiful. You're perfect regardless of your appearance."

She blushed, staring at Alexis. She was about to struggle out of his grasp and yell at him, but stop when she noticed that he went back to sleep.

She sighed. Staring at his face before laying her head on his chest.

Well, he really does look defenseless.

You speak some truth after all, book.