Chapter 15: A girl and the unexpected dilemma Spoiler Deborah knocks the door using the dragon-face door knockers in front of the Headmaster’s office. Despite the little strength she invested, the sound made by the door knockers was still awfully loud. When permission from the person inside has been granted, Deborah opens the door and walks to the room. The mountains of books haven’t had any noticeable change ever since Deborah’s last visit to this room. It’s still messy and chaotic as ever. One may drop their jaw to the ground if she told them this is the office belongs to the Head of an Academy. Honestly, this is one of the reason why Deborah never bothers to visit the Headmaster unless she has to, which unfortunately, is today. With a room like this, no wonder that woman hasn’t got herself a husband yet. After she found her way to escape the maze of tomes and books, Deborah comes face to face with the Headmaster. The woman is still leisurely sitting behind her desk as she does paperworks but not without a cup of tea nearby. The sweet fragrant fills the air around with the aroma of high-class tea. “You summoned me, Headmaster?” “Sure sure. Take a seat and wait for a bit. As you can see, I still got some unfinished paperwork left.” Deborah looks around. There are no chairs for her to sit in this room. Of course, the only places left to sit and take a rest are the piles of tomes that populated this room. “I’m fine with standing, thank you.” The Headmaster didn’t answer back however. She’s still checking the papers on her desk. After a quick glance, Deborah can see that these papers are reports about the frontier. It’s about the supplies and preparations for the upcoming annual winter defense exercise, but people near the frontier knows better. It’s just an occasion for the two rivals armies to show off their forces in front of each other under the cold before returning. “Annnd done.” After she’s done checking, the Headmaster quickly give her consent for these papers by stamping her seal. Then, she put those papers away to clean the desk before getting into business. Which makes it pretty ironic that the only thing in this mess of a room that remotely has some sense of order is the Headmaster’s working desk. “Sorry for the wait.” The Headmaster cheerfully spoke. Deborah however doesn’t answer back yet. “Now now, why the long face?” The woman put out a smiles on her gray lips. “What did you call me here for?” “I just want to have a talk, really. Can’t a guardian has a chat with her ward sometime?” “…” Right, Deborah almost forgot that this Headmaster, Nilrem Erramun, is also her legal guardian tasked with the job to oversee her for the time she spends studying here. But despite being called her guardian, Deborah’s interaction with the Headmaster is next to none. Unless emergency problems come up, like the thing with Akuma, Deborah herself would not voluntarily sought her out for anything. “So, what would you like to talk about?” Deborah asked. “Let see, let see.” The woman clad in grey takes a sip of tea before continue. “How’s your health lately? Do you still got that strange feeling?” “No, not exactly.” “I see. A good thing, isn’t it?” Deborah nodded. She begins to remember the day she earned herself the Flame Dragon moniker. The first time she had the “feeling” that the Headmaster just spoke of. It was a crowded day. Of course it was, since it was the first day of a new school year. Before enrolling here, students had already chose their department of choice and went to their respective departments for the new semester meeting by the time they arrived. The Magic Arts’s meeting place was the main hall of the school, just near the entrance of the castle and has a chapel one floor underneath. During the meeting, the teachers decided to make a small test to find out the elemental origin of the students. Strangely, the Headmaster herself also attended this class for some reason. The device used to test the elemental origin was a crystal orb. When a new student put their hand on the orb, it would show images to indicate that person’s elemental origin. Like a person with Water element will see a dance of the sea inside the orb. Deborah herself was also excited. However, when her turn came up, just before she walks to the orb, Deborah suddenly felt strange. Like her heart was pierced by iron spears and swords. It wasn’t serious, but a pleasant feeling it was not. Despite that, she still took up on the test, and touched the crystal orb in order to find out her elemental origin. Fire. A small fire was what Deborah and the others around saw from the orb. Suddenly, before she knew, that little fire burst into a large, uncontrollable flame. The crystal orb began to crack and shatter. From inside of the orb, that very large flame burst out from its shell and began to burn everything around it. Strangely, it didn’t burn Deborah herself, but everything around her were not spared from its wrath. The whole main hall was burned down by that flame, and it brought fear and panic to the students that luckily managed to escape. The flame was putted to an end by sorceries of the famed Archsage Nilrem, who was there in person just before the flame spread out farther than the main hall. Deborah can’t help but wonder that the Headmaster herself knew this would happen. However, it’s a good thing no one dies that day, thanks to Nilrem’s intervention. “Deborah, is something matter?” The voice of the women in question brought Deborah out from her fragments of memories. “Oh…Sorry, I just had some nostalgia.” “Hmm. Why does this look so strangely familiar? Ah right, that Familiar of yours also has your strange habit of wandering deep in thought.” The women looks amused with the new trivia information she just learned. She takes her reward by the mean of another sip from her tea cup. “People always said Familiars share many similar traits with their master.” Said Deborah. “Haha. But then again, that kid is anything but similar to you.” The women lightly laugh. “So, another question. Do you still have those nightmares lately? Or those sound-proof walls have finally worked as intended?” Deborah hasn’t answer yet. She’s doubting whether or not she should tell the headmaster these information, but then proceed to do what her guts tell her and let the headmaster knows anyway. While Deborah is still in distrust with the Headmaster, Nilrem is the only one she has that resembles a “family” right now. “No. I haven’t got any nightmares since several weeks ago.” Those nightmares, while Deborah no longer have any memory of them, they still haunt her everytime she tries to go to sleep. But that was before, as of now, they had all disappeared for strange reasons. Her sleep has never been better before. “I see. It is good then. But several weeks ago…wasn’t that around the time you summoned Akuma?” Deborah just nodded. However, the Headmaster’s words has finally made her noticed. There is a chance that…. “Do you think he is related to the disappearance of those nightmares?” “Maybe. Maybe not.” Deborah answered. While the guy she summoned was a bag of mystery and the time matched, it’s still far too soon to conclude that he is the reason for the end of her nightmares. Well, from a certain point of view, one could say her nightmares didn’t disappear, they just took on a physical form and call themselves Akuma. However, let put that aside, the more questions the Headmaster ask, the more she make it clear that the center of her objective for this conversation wasn’t about Deborah but the young familiar. Tired of her charade, Deborah loudly speaks out. “What business do you want to do with Akuma?” Surprised, the Headmaster just give out a light laugh like she wants to confirm Deborah’s speculation herself. “You catch on quick. I’ll give you my praise for that.” Deborah feels uneasy. A sweat begins dropping from her cheek. For every of her meeting with the Headmaster, Deborah came to conclusion that when she wants to talk about something, it usually won’t be good. Deep inside, Deborah hoped that her premonition is wrong for once, especially this time. “Do you know of the Familiar competition, Deborah?” “Yes. An event exclusive to members of the Magic Art only.” According to what Deborah heard, the Familiar competition is an event where a master band with his or her Familiar of choice to form a party, and together they will have to fulfill a request made by organizers in order to win. The request are different each year, but there is one common point that will always stay the same: Combat between familiars on the path to complete the request. The real competitors of this contest are the familiars. The masters can only act as supporters for their familiars and are forbid from directly taking offensive actions. There are no runner ups, and there can be only one winner. All of this for the sake of extra grades for the semester’s final. But strangely, this competition is rather popular with students from other departments, since it is free for spectators to observe. But then again, Deborah has zero intention to be an attention seeker and joins that contest. “What do you want me to do?” “It’s simple. I want your familiar, Akuma, to enter this competition.” Deborah had a hunch she’ll say something like that, but to think it has comes true… “But he’s not a member of the Magic Arts.” “I don’t ask him to enter as a master, I ask him to enter as a familiar.” Deborah knew full well coming here is a bad idea. If what that woman want is for Akuma to enter this contest, doesn’t that mean she – Deborah – also has to enter as well ? “I refuse.” “Of course, you are free to refuse. I don’t remember asking you to enter, I want you to ask Akuma to enter instead.” But in order for Akuma to enter the contest, he needs his master – Deborah – to enter as well. The Headmaster just gave Deborah a deadlock that she was trapped into. A harsh and cruel dilemma. “What if I don’t want him to join?” Like she has already anticipated this question of hers, the Headmaster lightly smirk and give out her answer. “I will expel Akuma.” “Who gave you the rights!? How could you call yourself a Headmaster if you threaten to expel people just because they won’t bend to your will!?” Deborah shouted. However, the women’s reaction is still the same, unfazed by the loud voice coming from the girl in front of her. “I see he hasn’t tell you this yet.” “Tell me what?” Deborah clenches her fists in confusion. “You do know that I was the one who allowed him to enroll here, right? The fee for his tuition was paid by me. However, that money came from the fortune you inherited, but it was currently managed by me as per will of your parents until you become an adult.” While Deborah did know about the fortune she will inherit, the part about Akuma’s tuition fee coming from her pocket is new to her, though she already has some speculations about that before, knowing who allowed him to enroll here to begin with. “And?” “When he choose to enroll here, I gave him two conditions: One is about his tution fee, he will need to pay for his second and third year, and he needs to repay the first in the future. Two…” The Headmaster gives her sentence a pause, as if she’s trying to increase the tension. “Two is that he needs to provide good results during his school year in order to prolong his “scholarship”.” Deborah can already see where is this going, however, she still keeps her silent in hopelessness. “This is the time I want him to provide that good results I just spoke of. Let me sum it up for you: Either Akuma enters the Familiar competition, or he’ll get expelled.” “You can’t do that!” Deborah slam on the desk with her hands, making the papers on top of it splatter everywhere. “Actually, I can. And I will, if he does not enters.” The sheer thought of someone abusing her rights of managing Deborah’s money to put pressure on Deborah herself anger her. But still, Deborah can’t do anything in response. She clenched her fists to the point of bleeding herself. Her blood drops bit by bit onto the white papers across the desk. Yet, the Headmaster still keeps her unchanging smile without batting an eye. “Of course, you could pay for his tuition after you graduated, since you’ll have full access of your inheritance by then. But until that time, for two years, Akuma can’t stay in this castle. He will get sent to the wild out there. Let’s hope he survives until the time comes.” “Why…why do you want me to do this ? To ask me to tell him…” Deborah averts her eyes to the ground, to the small pool of blood that hasn’t stop dropping from her hand. “Because you are his master. It’s natural, isn’t it, to ask for permission from a master?” “…” Deborah doesn’t answer. She just turns her back to the Headmaster, before letting out a voice. “Do you still need anything from me?” “No. You are free to go now.” The girl didn’t bid her good bye. A loud slam can be heard at the entrance after Deborah walked out of this office. The room returns to the silence it once has. Nilrem yet again takes another sip of tea. The tea today tastes more bitter for some reason.
Chapter 16: A run for the sake of tomorrow Spoiler In the deep of the forest, I run with all my strength and breath. Sweat has already drenched my clothes and body. My muscles are in pain, yet I can’t allow them to fail me at this moment. I run and run, with my only destination being the path ahead of me. “Gruooaahhh!” From a nearby bush, a demon hyena jumps out, lunging at me with only one goal in its brain, that is to take a bite at this running prey. It bares its fangs that still have some lingering left-over meat toward me, only a few seconds before reaching my flesh. However, in that very split second, a spear comes out from the direction behind my back, piercing the hyena’s mouth with only one strong thrust. Red blood splatters out as the hyena grunts in pain. However, before its suffering is prolonged, an iron sword slashes open its neck, separating the head and the body with one clean strike, leaving no trace of blood on the sword’s body. “Keep running, Akuma!” Caelan yelled behind my back, as he throws away the hyena’s head stuck in his spear to deal with the remaining pack of angry hyenas chasing us behind. However, for every hyena that tries to approach me, with Caelan behind to defend my back and my sides, let’s just say they don’t have the second chance to try again. Despite what it may looks like, this is not a serious situation, nor it would have an epic backstory on how we got here. It’s more comedic in nature, really, never mind that I am being chased by demon hyenas from hell that eat people for breakfast with a guy who has muscles for brain as my only bodyguard. This is just simply a daily routine for my physical training plan. “Two on the front!” Caelan yells yet again. Of course, I need his warning since I have trouble seeing the ambush prepared by two demon hyenas at the very front of my eyeview under the morning’s light. Well, enough witty comments. At his position, Caelan can’t offer much help if there are two of them waiting in front of us. I guess I should give him a helping hand then. With the gun in my left hand, I point toward the ambushing enemies. Both of them begin to run toward us as soon as we get into their sight range. They synchronize their movement pretty perfectly, like veterans in the art of hunting, but a primal beast’s hunting tactic is nothing before the might of science and gunpowder! Aiming a gun while running is as difficult as I imagined. However, when the two of them get to the range where I’ll get a sure hit, I don’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The lead bullet comes out of the black barrel after the gunpowder was exploded. At this range, its velocity can even pierce through iron plate, let alone a beast’s flesh. As expected, one shot near the head is enough to take one of the hyena down. All that left is the remaining demon hyena. As their pincer attack plan has already failed due to the death of one hyena, I use that chance to evade from the remaining one. Being left out, the beast quickly met its fate under the spear of Caelan running behind. And thus, my physical training plan continues, up until the sun is at its highest in the sky. … We arrived at the entrance of the forest after a run around Darkwood. As I set my foot onto the entrance, I let my body do what it wants and collapse on to the ground, with my face facing the sunlight above. My nose keeps sucking oxygen in the air to fill my now-tired lungs. With how my heart is racing right now, I have a feeling that they are holding a flamenco dancing party inside my chest without my permission. Man, so tiring. However, despite taking the same running course as mine, Caelan still hasn’t break any sweat. His radiant smile makes it look like he’s ready for another twenty laps of the course I just took. Well, despite knowing the guy is the physical type, it’s still jarring to see the difference of a fresh city boy and a trained warrior. “So, where should I put all these corpses?” Caelan asked. Behind him is a brown medium-size bag full of corpses. They are hyenas’ corpse, of course. As we get close to the finish line, I asked Caelan to gather some dead corpses to the bag I have prepared first hand. The size of that bag could hold five or six hyena corpses at most, but for my purpose, that alone is enough. “Go dig a hole somewhere…and put them in.” I answered. The guy seems surprise as expected. “Dig a hole? Why…?” “Just do it.” “Okay.” Despite having the tendency to ask questions, Caelan is surprisingly obedient. He always do what people told him to do, be it running errands for some girls just because he was asked, or training under the cold half-naked because it was taught to him. I guess that is what makes people think his brain is similar in size to a bird. Though I think he’s just good natured instead of gullible. That’s not a bad thing. People today are too devious for their own good. As I keep resting in peace, Caelan goes to a nearby empty land and begins digging a hole using his bare hands for the purpose of burying those corpses. Piles and piles of dirt keep gathering the more Caelan digs. With such speed and vigor, he’ll put the best of the dogs of my old world to shame in a bone-hiding contest. Wait, am I forgetting something? Hmm…let me rethink again. He’s digging a hole on the ground with his bare hands. Yes, something like that. Wait! He’s digging a hole with his bare hands! I stand up and run toward the guy and shout. “Wait Caelan! At least use a shovel or something!” However, I was too late. Caelan has already dug out a hole large enough to put the corpses in, using only his bare hands. The guy climbs out of the hole he just dug, still look vigorous as ever. “Hmm? Is something the matter?” “Your hands.” “Oh, these ?” Caelan shows me his hands. Despite being full of dirt, they weren’t hurt even just a bit even after all that digging. Strange… “But how…?” “Practice! With enough practice, you can dig out holes with your bare hands too!” Caelan answers with a radiant smile on his face. “Don’t tempt me to the path of muscle, please.” I answered back. However, it’s still strange with how Caelan can dug out a hole from the ground without hurting himself. “Just…how did you do that?” “You put your hands on the ground and start digging !” “Not that, genius !” I give the guy a karate chop on his head to make him straighten his line of thought. Surprisingly, he was actually affected by that weak chop of mine, and put his hands on his head to ease the pain (?). Well, maybe my chop wasn’t as light as I thought, because my hand is also hurt as well. So I guess the guy is a literal blockhead. But that’s not the point. “Just tell me how can you dug a hole with your bare hands without hurting yourself.” “Oh that, right, that. Hmm, I guess you mean to ask about soul enhancement.” “Enhancement?” “The thing that helps you dig out holes without hurting yourself.” Well, it’s sure a helpful explanation. Though, come to think of it. During the history lesson the other day, the book said something about Enas and his ability to imbue soul energy onto his weapons. Maybe this is the same as that thing? “How did you get that ability?” “Training! Teacher said that just train and train your body until you can feel the very flow of soul energy within yourself, and don’t be like those sissy mages who think they’re the shit just because they can blow stuff up with their brain!” That sounds like something Bjarni would say. “You need to concentrate your soul energy to a part of your body, and make it a part of your body as well. Here, let me show you.” Caelan suddenly runs toward a tree near the entrance of the forest. He turns his head back and look toward me, as if waiting for me to come there. As I keeps approaching him, Caelan raises his fists. I can’t see his face at my position, but looking at how things are at this time, this looks like what’s going to happen will be a sight to behold. Caelan takes a deep breath, and relax his body. However, his arms still look at stiff as ever. Suddenly, he lunges toward a tree in front of him. He throws a punch, with each of his fists at two different places on the tree’s body, which shakes it a little as he’s done with his stunt. When the guy finishe, I walk closer for a better view as Caelan stands back to let his spectator watches his work. On the tree’s body right now are two cracks. The one on the left is bigger, deeper, makes it look like it was crushed by a wild and mad boar. The other crack however is pitiful compared to the one beside it, like the work of a stupid deer high on grass. While that punch is strong enough to makes a mark on the tree, it’s destructive power pale in comparison with its brother. “When imbued with soul energy, your body part would be stronger, tougher, as long as you keep concentrating your soul energy in that body part. Circling your soul energy to your body parts however is easier said than done. It takes time and require more on guts feelings. That’s why you gotta train until you can do this as well!” Caelan raises his fists yet again for me to see. His left arm is completely unharmed, save for several tree shred stuck on his fist. The other however…it looks pretty bad, and it’s bleeding! “Holy shit, your hand is bleeding!” “Hmm? Bleeding?” Caelan glances at his right fist, which is bleeding pretty bad right now. “Ah, it’s just some blood. It’s fine really, I get that all the time. Haha” “Fine my ass! Don’t come to me when your wound get infected!” Despite what I said, I gave the guy first aid to prevent such thing to happen. The lessons I learned as a support Alchemist has been put to good use. A clean cloth, a little painkiller and some disinfectant and we’re done. After our little charade, we both get to work yet again. Well, mostly Caelan. When you got free muscles to use, then why bother getting the job done yourself? I asked Caelan to throw the hyena’s corpses into the hole he just dig, fill that hole with manurial soil, wood ash and other materials that I prepared beforehand and closes that hole when he’s done. The tall, orange-blonde guy happily complied and finished his job in less than five minutes, using just one hand. Impressive. “Now comes my part.” On top of the now-filled hole, I begin drawing a magic circle, with the sun and the moon symbol in the opposite of each other. In the middle of the circle, I draw a tree symbol. Two, to be exact, but with the way I draw it, it looks more like a tree and its reflection on the water rather than two. Both of them are not the same, however. One is very tall, the other is as small like a child. Add in some circling direction arrows and random magic words then we’re done. After I finished drawing, I touch the circle I just draw. It radiate a small light, indicating the spell is working. However, nothing flashy happens. Of course, if I want to do flashy magic, I would have learn Verbal Magic and throw fireballs instead. “So, what does this magic circle do?” With the curiosity of a cat, Caelan asked. “This spell is called 「Acceleration」. It hasten the process of objects within the circle’s radius.” The sun and moon represent the cycle of day, with the tree and it’s reflection represent the change of age brought by time. With the way I use it, the materials in the hole will decompose after a day, and the process will keeps going faster until what’s remain is saltpeter. I guess it’ll take three days at most. Sulfur and charcoal aren’t that hard to find around here. With a supply of saltpeter, I guess I don’t have to worry about ammunition for a while, though it would still take a hell lot of efforts to make the bullets themselves. “So, what good would come from placing it on top of a pile of corpses and whatever smelly things you asked me to put there?” “They’ll produce magic, Caelan. Mind-blowing magic. Well, mostly the blowing part.” The guy looks confused, as expected. After a while, he eventually gives up thinking and just doing several push up to kill time while waiting for me to recover my stamina. Before we return, the two of us will gonna take another wild run across the forest. This has been our training plan for three days, ever since that study group… To enter, or to be kicked out. That was the ultimatum given by the Headmaster and was delivered by Deborah. Deborah kept her story short, so the only thing noteworthy in her story is the condition for me to continue studying here. Either I enter the Familiar competition, or say good bye to this newfound school life of mine. Yep, no pressure at all. I haven’t gave Deborah my clear answer yet, but I guess she should have already know what I will choose, if she judges from my current plan. This physical training plan of mine represents my will to win that competition. That’s why I asked Caelan to help me with this. Of course, the guy happily accepted, being the good guy he is. The original plan is to take a running tour from the forest’s entrance to the other side and return. Caelan will go along as my bodyguard in case something happen. However, the guy himself said that he need some training as well for the upcoming finals, so we throw in the “get chased by man-eating demon hyenas” part to our plan. Caelan also proposed the idea of coating me in this world’s equivalent of peanut butter to “attract more hyenas”. Obviously, I rejected the plan, since we want to attract man-eating demon hyenas, not man-sized ants. We finally settled with running straight through the hyenas’ nests and let them tail us behind. The rest is now history. “Still, with how things look, I think we’ll gonna run out of hyenas soon.” I told Caelan my worry as he keeps doing push up by himself. “Well, we still have demonic boars, demonic bears, demonic bees…” “I think I’ll go with demonic hyenas for now.” Until I have more bullets in my disposal, let’s not upping the ante for now. Well, enough rest, time for another run. However, before we can begin, from the direction of the castle, there is a girl walking toward us. Her red long hair makes her pretty noticeable under the sun. The two of us can only look at Deborah who’s closing the distance in between. “You two got guts ditching the morning classes like that. I hope you guys are prepared to face Bjarni’s wrath.” “Well, I haven’t got a novel of my liking to kill time in class yet.” I answered. Deborah looks grouchy, her eyes look pissed just as always. Well, it’s better than that pitiful look of her. A mad girl is always easier to deal with than a sad girl. That being said, it’s only my opinion, some may say otherwise. “Care to lend me some of yours, Miss Perfect Student?” “Go find your own books to read.” Said Deborah. “Good morning to you too, Deborah.” As Caelan finished his push-ups, the guy stood up drenched in sweat and spoke. I guess from the guy’s perspective, a conversation like this may as well be a “Good morning” in Deborah’s dictionary. “It’s noon, Caelan. And it’s lunchtime.” As I look to Deborah as if asking whether or not she brought us lunch, but with a glare from Deborah and the sight of her empty bare hands, I guess that’s a no. “What? It’s lunchtime already? No wonder I feel hungry.” Caelan rubs his belly. Dude, please try to connect the dots yourself sometime. “Geez. Seriously, you two make me madder and madder by days.” “I don’t think we are that great of a contributor, though.” “No, believe me, you two are.” Deborah cracks a smile, with her fists ready as if they want to crack something as well. Geez, can’t the girl get a joke or something? “So, what’s your business here ? If you don’t have any, then please leave us, we have manly training to do. No girls allowed.” “No girls allowed!” Caelan shouted after I finish my sentence. Deborah only gave me a glare and smile before she answers. “I guess I can feel at ease from now on.” Hey hey, please tell me that’s just a joke. While the mood right now is pretty casual, it becomes tense again with the next glare Deborah gave me. Then, the girl opens her mouth and states her business. “So, with this training of yours, that would mean you choose to enter ?” “Yes, and?” Deborah sighed. “What good would come from training to run?” “The correct term is tactical retreat, and it has a lot of benefits. You may think this is stupid, but doing this is better than heading to a fight unprepared.” She may have a point, it seems really stupid training to run at this point. But for a human like me, running and retaliating are the best I could do. It’s how I fight, even though I rarely fight. My physical power can’t move mountains nor tear the sea apart. I need to gain everything I could within this short time frame in order to rise my odds at winning, be it knowledge or physical prowess. “It’s more stupid to get in a fight in the first place.” Said Deborah. She rubs her temples with her hand in order to cope with this situation. “Didn’t I tell you before ? I don’t pick fights I can’t win.” I proudly answered. “But you didn’t exactly pick this fight, it was shoved into you by the Headmaster herself. And you obeyed her words yet again like the good boy you are.” “To follow and to obey are two different things. I chose to follow her order because I have no other choice. My school life is at risk here, and I won’t just stand by and watch it ends.” Deborah sighs, again. “You’re just trying to justify yourself for doing stupid things.” “Then what would you want me to do? Walk away like a coward? Come to think of it, you love cowards, don’t you. Well it’s too bad I’m not one!” I shouted. We get ourselves in another glaring battle again. This girl, why couldn’t she understand that there are fights that can’t simply be avoid? And this fight is one of them. “Either you help me get through this, or just go away and let me do my thing.” I said. Deborah’s stare weaken as she averted her eyes. An awkward silence follows, with Caelan standing outside staring at both of us. As I intend to break the silence by saying something witty, Deborah suddenly breaks it herself by announcing something I haven’t expected. “Fine, I’ll help you then. That’s what I intended to do when I come here anyway.” If you’re gonna do that then why did you bothered to start a fight the moment you came here? “Wow, you’re being helpful for once.” “I’m always helpful to others! Except to you.” I’m not buying that, except the last bit, but I’m totally not buying the “helpful to others” part. “Fine fine. I am honored to be helped by you, my lady.” “If you really feel honored then fix that tone of yours.” As our mandatory daily verbal fight ended, the guy standing outside gives out his brightest smile as he approaches Deborah. “So the day to see you in action has finally comes, heh?” “Keep dreaming, Caelan. The Master isn’t the main point of the Familiar competition anyway.” After Deborah done explaining, she turns her gaze toward my direction to continue her lecture. “As you have already know, the Familiar competition is a competition between Familiars only. But the Master can also play a part to support their familiar. So, I’ll try my best to help you survive yet another stupid situation you got into.” Said Deborah. However, I haven’t give out my answer yet, up until ten seconds passed. “Sorry, I failed to find a witty way to say thank you.” “Then don’t waste time!” Deborah shouted, again. She rubs her temples to ease her headache. Have I become better at making people go crazy for me, in a bad way? “So, what is it that you’re gonna do?” “Well, the Master can help by using spells on their Familiar to support them. Usually we can use healing spells, but there are others that can prove useful as well.” That would mean she’ll act as my buff caster? “Then, what sort of spell you would use to help me?” “I’m thinking about…speed enhancement.” In other words, agility buff ? Sounds great. “Just speed ?” I ask. “There are other types, but I guess speed would fit you the most.” Let’s hope she doesn’t have any deeper meaning with that. “You have a point. Akuma is very good with his legs.” Caelan comments. As he ran behind me for three days already, it’s understandable that he would think like that. “Okay okay, just do what you want before someone points out I have the natural talent to be a coward.” Deborah giggled. I have a feeling that if I didn’t interject back there, then she’ll tell it straight out right away. “Now, I will perform the spell. Stand still for a moment.” As Deborah said her lines, she holds her right arm toward me and opens her palm. Her lips starts chanting the magic words. The light around me brighten, and I can feel a gust of wind gathered around my legs. It’s just for special effect, though, because I don’t feel the wind itself enters my legs. All of this cool magic effect end as Deborah finished her chanting. She doesn’t says anything, but I have the feeling that she would tell me to make some moves. Trusting my guts, I begin to do some movement with my legs to test out the spell’s effect. Surprisingly, as I lightly push the ground with my right feet, it suddenly shoot me out of the ground. With a quick glance, I measured that I just jump two meters above the ground from my original position. “Woo hooo!” I yelled like a kid. This is like having a superpower. Magic is awesome ! This time, I try running around the yard we’re in. My legs move faster than my eyes can catch up as I run five laps around this yard in thirty seconds. I won’t dare to say I got speed comparable to the Flash himself, but it’s still a close second. “Awesome!” I yelled yet again. “It’s rare to see you this excited.” “Anyone would be excited if they’re in my shoes right now!” I answerd Deborah. She just shakes her head with a smile on her face. “Awesome speed, Akuma. I bet you can run a lap across this forest in five minutes.” “Sounds good. Akuma, as a test, how about you run a lap around the forest and return here?” After Caelan finished his comments, Deborah interjects in with a proposal for a test, or should I say, a challenge. Fine by me, I want to test the limit of this spell as well. Of course, I nod and give her my answer. “Five minutes? Just you wait and see!” As I done boasting, with the legs as fast as the wind, I run into the forest, aiming toward its end before I return to finish this challenge. ---------------------------- “And so he’s gone.” Said Caelan as his friend ran out of sight, literally as fast as the wind. The guy seems excited as well, he keeps tossing his weapons up to the sky and catches them as they fall to kill time as he wait for his friend’s return. “When do you think he’ll be back, Deborah?” However, the girl standing nearby, Deborah, isn’t as relaxed as he is. It’s the opposite, actually, as the friendly smile she has earlier has already disappeared and was replaced by a stern and serious face. “He won’t return.” The girl answered. “Hmm ?” “Or should I say, he won’t be able to make it back here.” The weapons thrown for fun fell to the ground, giving out a big clank as they make contact. Their owner hasn’t been able to catch them since he’s in shock of what he just heard. “What do you mean by that…?” A drop of sweat ran down Caelan’s cheek as he asked his question. “We’re going to the forest to pick him up. Let us hurry, before something happens that will make me regret for the rest of my life.”
Chapter 17: A fall of body and will Spoiler Humans envy the flying bird, so they created planes. Humans envy the running cheetah, so they created cars and bikes. But even when they are capable of simulate the ability of a bird or a cheetah, they would never be able to capture the feeling of a flying bird, or a running cheetah may feel. I realize that as I run through the forest with my enhanced legs. The feeling of the wind pushing my face. The feeling of the absence of gravity as they no longer hold me back. As I jump and run, my hunch tells me that this is true freedom, without any limits to chain me down. The beasts I ran past didn’t even know what just passed by. Some beasts that do pursue the unidentified flying person give up midway when they realized they can’t catch up. For a moment, I feel invincible. Nothing can stop me in my path. Except trees. Those damn trees. My speed and jumping power was boosted up to eleven. However, my sense of control is still the same like a normal human, and a mere human is not fully capable of control himself when running as my speed. If I’m not careful during my run, I may find myself bumped into a tree. And since real world physic still applies here, with my current running speed, the ensuring result will not be pretty. But no matter, as long as I be careful. I’ll be fine. Well, time to finish the race! BOOM! Suddenly, a large thunderbolt fell from the sky, making a nearby land far away from my position exploded. A gust of wind flows by as the explosion ended. Normally, one would think this is a terrorist bombing when something like this happen. But since this isn’t my normal world, only god would know what is happening right now. Using my current speed, I turn back and run toward the direction of the explosion. The path leads me to a large lake in the middle of the forest. Before my eyes, a small part near the lake has been darken by the previous thunderbolt. Thankfully there’s no fire coming out of the explosion. It would be bothersome if there’s a wildfire in the forest. At the site near the explosion, I can see a girl standing opposite of three male students. Those three are holding their hands out to the sky, projecting a magic barrier to protect them from the blast. It isn’t hard to connect the dots together. They are saying something. As I approach closer, their conversation becomes clearer to my ears, and so is their identity. The girl is Amadia Deveraux. And those three guys? They are the ones bugging her in the infirmary the day after Amadia’s defeat. They look like your typical nameless delinquents, so of course, I have no knowledge on their name and everything else. Not like I would bother to remember even if they introduced themselves. “Fascinating. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that spell was the famed 「Thunder God」.” The bunch’s leader spoke. All three lower their hands, and their barrier disappeared along. Amadia’s expression becomes more tense. The girl bites her lips, while her hand is still pointing toward the three guys, preparing for another attack. However, it would seems like her attack will have to wait for a while. “Go back to where you came from. Don’t test my patience.” Her sharp tongue and intimidating gesture are a stark contrast to the timid girl I saw that day. With her lightning-filled hand, seems like Amadia is totally serious with her words. “Come on. Don’t be so harsh. We have repented. Let bygones be bygones and return to how it used to be?” “Let’s become a team together again. You should feel honored to be invited by us!” Said the two lackeys. Despite being threatened, they show no slightest hint of fear, for some reason. And it would seems like Amadia herself also noticed this, so she intend to bring that fear back to them by attacking again, namely shooting lightning bolts out of her hand. The two lackeys didn’t even bother to dodge her attack and hold their position. They got hit, yes, but despite their shaking hands from the shock of the bolts, they prevailed over the fear and pain and stood their ground. Amadia is understandably shocked. “I don’t remember you two being this strong…” Amadia mumbled. “Haha. She finally remembered us, heh?” One of the guy chuckles. His hands stop shaking when the aftershock from the attack is over. “That hurts, damn it! Hey, young master, she refused. What now?” “It’s simple. We explain the situation to her. She’ll understand when we’re done.” Amadia looks slightly angry as her ears caught words from the leader guy. She shouts. “No matter what you say, I would never join you again! Go find someone else to be your party member, and leave me alone!” The two lackeys look pissed. They slowly walk toward Amadia as they speak. “I’m tired of this bitch, young master. We don’t exactly need her for our cause, right?” From their cuff, the two lackeys each draw out a shiny knife with the size of a shortsword. Despite their armband indicating they are members of the Magic Art department, the way they hold their knife suggests that they are proficient in knife-fighting, contrasting with their wizardry appearance. “Stand down, both of you! I won’t permit you two harming her!” Despite their leader’s order, the two lackeys lunge toward Amadia, only seconds away from being within knife range. The way they approach the girl looks awfully familiar to the two hyenas that attacked me earlier during my run, but this is a highly coordinated attack, something mere beasts can’t hope to achieve. A pincer attack from both side. Amadia can’t take out the two of them at once with their speed. If she goes for one, the other will strike her down, and both of them don’t seem to hesitate to get hit. This won’t end well for her. My instinct tells me this is the time for me to step in. With the vigor of a cheetah, I toward the battleground with all my might. As Amadia gets into her attack stance, I jump in front of her and surprise the girl in the process. However, the problem hasn’t been dealt with, as the two guys with knife are still attacking. This require the help from my trusted Beretta 92FS. I take out my gun, and give out two shot at the ground in front of them as a warning. Suprisingly, they do stop when I begin aiming my black gun to their face. Slowly, the two step back, yet they didn’t retreat to their leader. It would seems like the stunt I pulled at Amadia’s fight and the charade afterward has finally show its intended effect. The two of them are beware of the strange magic I wield, and decided not rash things in my presence. “Akuma…!” Amadia speaks in surprise. As much as I want her to thank me, I feel saddened to know what she would inevitably say next. “I can deal with them on my own!” “A thank you would be fine, you know ?” I answered, with a smile of course. This is just like a hero tv show. A dashing, charming young hero saving the heroine in need of help. Well, I don’t think Amadia is heroine material, but being a hero feels good. “You two, stand back! We’re not here to fight.” As we continue our comedic chatter, the leader dude said his order. The two knife-wielders obeyed and retreat to the side of their master. “Fancy meeting you here, Akuma.” Said the guy. “For you, anyway. I would prefer the three of you to stay as nameless background characters to the end of time.” The three of them look confused as expected. “You say the strangest things.” “I get that all the time.” The guy chuckled. He seems amused. If he glad I’m here to stop his lackeys, he should just need to be more honest. “So what’s the deal between all of you anyway? How about we resolve this without anyone dying?” “Finally, someone who speaks my language.” As the leader guy answers my question, he stares at his unruly lackeys like an owner looking down at his naughty dogs. “We’re here today because we want to recruit Amadia to joins our cause.” “And that cause is ?” I asked the guy. “To seek glory, fame and fortune!” Glory, fame, fortune. Color me interested. “Explain further.” I lower my gun and put it back to my pocket. With this act of mine, the leader guy steps up and walks closer to me and Amadia as he begin his explanation. “I will give you two a divination: On the start of the new year, the Dark Line will collapse, the humans will once again swarm this land, and a new war will come in their wake.” The Dark Line, a defense line that was used to hold the army of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance at bay. A sturdy frontier that hasn’t been breached for ten years. And this guy said that it will collapse. “On what basis that you think it will happen just as you predicted?” I voiced my concern. :Of course, if it has facts to back it up, it wouldn’t be called a divination, wouldn’t it?” He has a point, though. That doesn’t mean I could simply trust the guy’s words at face value. “Assuming what you said is right, how can cadets like us gain fame, glory and fortune from a war ?” “The party system.” Suddenly, Amadia speaks out after I asked my question. “It’s a system that pairs the cadets from the 2nd and 3rd year into small special squads. They will take on various missions to help the war efforts. They will be rewarded financially for their services, and the more accomplished they are, the more fame they gain.” Does that sounds like how an adventure guild works? An adventurer take on missions, and gain rewards and fame for doing so? I guess they are the same, except this one’s scale is larger and just a fancy way of conscripting people into soldiers. “Then why Amadia?” “The cadets are free to pick their team and partners. We simply want to pick the best for ours, and Amadia fits the bill.” Well, she is notorious enough to caught his attention in the first place, so it’s nothing hard to guess. One may say she got into this situation because of her past actions. Oh, karma, you are such a bitch. “But that’s the system for the 2nd and 3rd year only. Not until next Summer that we become 2nd year cadets. Making a team at this moment is way too unnatural.” Amadia continuing her defense. “You’re too naïve, Amadia. Do you think the school administration will let the first year stand and watch as the whole Demon Realm is in danger? No, when the Dark Line inevitably collapses, even we first years will get drafted and will have to fight on the frontline alongside with others. We have to prepare ourselves as much as we can before that very moment!” Hmm. The guy do have a point. Knowing the Headmaster, she will make use of any manpower she has if such situation occur, including sending the first years out. However… “You’re right. It’s better to be prepare at this moment. However, that is assuming what you said is true. But do you really expect us to trust a simple divination of yours?” I shouted. “Of course not, I don’t exactly need you to believe my words.” As the guy says his part, he gave Amadia a quick glance. Right, she is their target all along. This is quite a pickle I got myself into. Say the wrong words, and I would find myself getting caught to another unnecessary fight. “It’s alright, Akuma. I will deal with this.” Before I can come up with a solution, Amadia suddenly walks past me and stands in the opposite of the leader guy. “You’re right about one thing: I do seek fame, glory and fortune. However, they are not my end goal, and absolutely not what I aim for. For me, they are the tools I need in order to achieve my goal. If merely seeking them is your goal, that would mean we do not share the same cause after all. I’m sorry, but I won’t join your team. I will find my own team to make my dream comes true.” Rejected, the leader guy just smiled to cope with his rejection. The other two don’t look too tense, surprisingly, like they never expected this to work to begin with. “So, a no is a no after all. What a shame.” The guy chuckled. He takes off his wizard hat for a moment, like how an gentlemen would do to say goodbye back in the old eras. “It can’t be helped. I hope that you can make your dream come true, Amadia.” “Thank you…Naranath.” Amadia answered. There is a shed of sympathy lies hidden in her voice. “You finally remember my name.” The guy chuckled yet again. His two lackey turn their back to us, as they prepare to take their leave along with their leader. However, he still have some lines left, for me. “I heard that you’re going to enter the Familiar competition. Is it true, Akuma?” “Yes.” I answered. News sure travel fast, though, even that guy knows. “Then let’s hope we won’t meet each other in that competition.” As the guy finished with his warning, he took his leave together with his lackeys. The forest returns to the silence it once has before this charade happened. Only I and Amadia remain. The atmosphere seems tense. I can’t find any words to say, and I guess the same is true on her part. Amadia walks toward the small lake and just silently stands there, watching the scenery without saying anything. “I guess being Miss Popular is tough.” My attempt to break the silence only make the atmosphere more awkward as Amadia doesn’t response. She just keeps staring at the lake up until five seconds later. “Naranath was the first person I beat when I got to this academy.” That guy? He seems weak alright. “He’s a former noble whose family got striped off their name, ranks and statuses for the crime of treachery. Naranath is the only remaining member of that clan. So, I guess he seeks to rebuild his clan by obtaining glory, fame and fortune.” “And he intend to do that by using you.” My words once again make the girl silent for half a minute. “I know that. But he was the first friend I made. He’s the one who helped gathered my followers. Following my defeat, seeing him like this, I guess those people have already left him since I’m no longer in charge and being the pillar to band them together. In a way, I pity him.” So what goes around comes around. Typical karma. “You’re an idiot, you know that ?” Nothing good would come from pitying people like that. The more mercy you give, the more chances they get to bite you in the back one day. “Yes…I’m an idiot. I was too blind back then to see my stupidity. But thanks to you, I know how much of a fool I was, and to know that there’re still some time left for me to repent myself.” Amadia smiled. “I think I own you my grati…Akuma? What’s wrong!?” Suddenly, I feel like the sky has turn upside down. But the pain in my head as I fall down to the ground indicate that it was just me falling. I feel…empty. But that was just the calm before the storm. From my legs, I feel a tremendous and continuous pain. It’s like the pain of having your flesh pierced by a thousand needles. But that was not the pain from the outside, it comes from the inside of my muscles. I feel like my leg muscles are dying and on the verge of exploding like a timed bomb. The girl in front of me looks confused as she tries to give me some healing magic. However, no amount of magic could help ease the pain I got in my legs. I feel like screaming, but I think I have already did that countless time, and I just simply can’t hear them due to the pain clouding my mind and my ears. My eyes slowly closes as I try to cope with the pain. However, before I completely pass out, I saw the shadow of two person running toward me. I failed to identify those two, but a simple hunch tells me that I know who they are…as I fall to darkness. -------------------------- My sleep was long, like I was in an eternal slumber. But that eternity quickly ends as I open my eyes from the light outside. Before I knew it, I am in my room once again. I’m lying on my bed, under the blanket and is wearing fresh clothes. “Enjoyed your sleep?” I turn my head to the direction of the voice. It came from Deborah, who’s sitting on a wooden chair near her study desk, still in her student attire. On my desk nearby, the equipment and items I have were laid out on the table, including my gun. “What…happened…?” “You collapsed. Thankfully, Caelan and I were nearby, so I got Caelan brought you back to the school for treatment. You have been unconscious for two days.” Deborah explained. Her reaction doesn’t seem to change much than her usual self. “Two days…” So much time passed, and I spent them by sleeping comfortably on my bed. My body is still heavy, so I can’t bring myself out of the bed to have a proper conversation. Though I guess Deborah is fine with having a conversation this way. But that is not what I should worry about right now. “Why…did that…happen…?” Deborah doesn’t answer. She stands up and keeps her face away from my sight…like she felt guilty or something. “Your leg muscles were overworked. They got pushed far past their limits due to the effect of the enhancement magic. The pain you felt…it was because of the aftereffect of overworking your leg muscles when the enhancement ended. The school’s medical staffs can patch you up and heal your wounds, but prolong use of this spell and you can kiss your legs goodbyes.” So, this was because of that magic of her. And yet…why…? “Why did you…use it on me despite knowing…what would happen?” “Because you asked me to…” I wouldn’t ask for it if you told me the aftereffect from the start, you bitch! “Look, you want power, I gave you that power, and you paid the cost. Do you think you would stand a chance with how you currently are?” Finally, the girl turns back to my direction and meet me face to face as she speaks. “Enhancement spells were designed to support seasoned warriors to achieve new heights in fighting. But even they can’t stand the effect of these spell despite the benefits they give. If you want to enter that competition, you will need power equal or more than those warriors to even stand a chance at surviving! Yet…do you really think you would reach that height in the span of three weeks? With how weak you are, you’re going to do nothing but senselessly throwing your life away in there!” What does she knows about the struggles of the weak? When you are as powerful as her, all you can see in your eyes are fights that have been decided from the start by the differences in power. Does she not know of efforts, determination and the strength of will? Foolish, stupid girl! “Can you think of…anything other than…power!?” I try to bring my body up. Yet in my current state, all of my efforts were rendered null as the strength I have has already left my body. Deborah can only watch as I once again attempt to prove she’s wrong in this pitiful state of mine. “A girl like you…what do you know about…us weakling…?” Power, power, power…enough of that bullshit! “I do not know. But I can understand.” “Liar !!!” I shouted. I will listen to her bullshit no more. “What do you know about being…weak? Unable to change the bad things…that happened in your life. Feeling pitiful of yourself…as if you accepted that it was your fate to be this….pitiful! What do you know about that!?” Suddenly, as I shouted, I fell to the ground when I attempted to stand up again. Deborah gives out a worried look, and she understandably comes closer trying to help me. “Stand back…!” I wave my hand around trying to stop Deborah from giving me a helping hand. I guess my stubbornness would be the end of me one day. However, today is not that day. I will prevail, and I will stand up again, no matter how many I fall. This will not be the day I lay on the ground and weep for my pitiful life! “You…” Deborah mumbled. She looks distressed. With all of my remaining strength, and the help of the desk nearby, I bring my battered legs up to stand again. The pain from the old wounds still torments me as I try to defy my state, but would that stop me? No, pain is the least thing I would worry about. “See…for yourself!” My panting breath may kill what little coolness I have, but I felt like a badass as I declared my will to the girl in front of me. “I know…that you’re trying to do this…because you want to help me. I know that you…have another alternative…an alternative that could help me get through this alive…But, it will be something you know full well I would…never choose to do. So you resort to do this in order to make me…change my mind, by breaking my will…and give me a rope to climb up when I am at my weakest...But…!” Deborah keeps her silent as I try to keep myself from falling apart. “Screw you! And screw your plan! I will do things the way I want!” “Do you really want to die that much!?” Seems like she can’t hold her cool anymore, Deborah began to shout. “Living like a coward…is no better than being dead.” Even though I would like to continue my bravado a little bit longer, but at this moment, my coolness meter went to the bottom as my strength fail me and I fall to the ground, again. And this fall once again put me back to my sleep. But those words I said…will forever etched in my heart. And I also hope it reach hers at well.
Chapter 18: An intersession with the trusted confidants Spoiler The library usually isn’t a packed place, since only mages who’re interested in magic books hang around here; but today however is an exception. Today, the library is full of people left and right, including those who don’t normally come. This is all because of the upcoming finals. The final tests before the long awaited New Year break. The students will get a chance to visit their home for a full month to enjoy the New Year with their family. Since failing is equal to having to stay back for make-up tests, who wouldn’t want to study hard for a chance of reuniting with their loved ones? As expected, with how packed the library is, it’s hard to search for a place to sit when most of the chairs available have already been taken thanks to the “First come, first served” rule. However, in the corner of the library, near an opened window, there’re still several empty seats that weren’t taken by anyone, except from a lonely girl who’s reading her book in that very corner. The girl has a long, crimson red hair that flown down to her waist. She is a beauty, yet no one dare to approach her due to unknown reasons. No one, except another girl who’s walking toward the red girl. “Can I sit here?” “You don’t need to ask me for permission, Iola.” “Just for courtesy's sake.” The girl with grey twin braids let out a smile. She puts her books onto the table and leisurely takes a seat in the opposite of the red girl. “It’s been a while since the last time I saw you in the library, Deborah. Are you here to study for the finals…” Iola takes a glance at the book Deborah is reading. “…Or just reading random books again to kill time? Hmm…A spell book? That part…what do you need the 「Body Armor」 spell for?” “Oh, just shut up and mind your business.” Deborah grumpily spoke. The girl with twin braids’ only reaction is a small giggle. She decided to obey the words of Deborah and begins to mind her business, namely studying for the semester’s finals. A cold breeze flew by. Winter has already came, yet aside from taking away leaves from the trees, the snow hasn’t make its appearance yet. The library is packed, but it’s still a pretty quiet place. The students’ silent whispers pale in front of the sound made by the wind. The rattling windows, the flipping pages. Just another peaceful, ordinary day at the Demon Realm. “Come to think of it, the first day we met was a day just like this, at this very same place.” “Hmm?” Deborah averts her attention from the book to Iola’s saddened face. “It’s just four months, yet I feel like a year has passed already.” “What’s with the sudden burst of nostalgia?” Deborah asked. “Hehe. It’s because of how familiar this situation is.” Iola gives out a light smile on her face. “I’m glad I asked you for a seat that day.” “…” Deborah keeps gazing at the girl, without giving out any words to say back. Or rather, one could say she can’t find any words to give back to the girl. “It’s just four months, but you have already changed a lot. You used to be…colder, more apathetic. You don’t seems to care for anything in the world around you. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you were a walking corpse. Well, but that has changed, hasn’t it?” “…I was like that before?” Deborah averted her gaze to the outside for a second, before resuming her conversation with Iola. “Yes…You’ve changed a lot, in a better way. Personally, I prefer this current you than the “you” four months ago.” “…” Still keeps her smile on her face, Iola continue. “I think Akuma’s appearance has been a good influence on you.” “…So it’s all comes down to him again.” Deborah’s glare sharpen, still, Iola shows no fear, but not after taking a gulp in surprise from being glared. “I heard the story from Caelan, about that day.” With a stern look, Iola speaks. “While indeed you have changed for the better, the move you pulled that day, the thing you did to Akuma…was very cruel, if I have to be blunt.” “Cruel, but it’s something that I have to do.” Deborah answered. There is no hesitation in her voice. She knew what she must do, and did it anyway. “For what purpose? To help him by breaking his spirit and his body? Cruel isn’t a strong enough word if that is indeed your purpose.” “I don’t need other’s opinions on how I teach my pet.” Iola bites her lips. “He may be your familiar, but he’s not your pet! He’s a living being with feelings and thoughts just like us!” Iola stoods up, slammed her hands on the wooden table as she shouted. However, since this is a library, her rash move was met with silent glare from others around. Iola realized her mistake, and quietly returns to her seat as she waits for Deborah’s answer. “Why do you get so worked up about someone like him? Do you love him or something?” Said Deborah. Iola gives out no noticeable reaction when she speaks. “I have no such feelings. However, I owe him my gratitude.” “Gratitude for what?” As Deborah tries to search for anything inside her head that could answer Iola’s question, the girl just put another smile on her face when she finally answers. “For changing you.” “What…?” “You didn’t notice? You have slowly changed ever since that guy appeared. You’ve become more…lively, especially when he’s around.” “He just gets me on my nerves, that’s all. Stop giving him so much credits!” Deborah grumpily spoke, and was met with another smile from Iola as her reaction. “I like this current you. And as I said before, I owe him my thanks. The best I could do, is to prevent you from hurting him anymore. I fear that if you continue going down this path, you’ll eventually revert back to the walking corpse I met four months ago at this very place…” The red girl is deep in silence. The girl with twin braids also stop talking as she awaits the answer from the girl in front of her. Another cold breeze flew by. “I wouldn’t do that if I don’t have to…” Deborah spoke. There is a bit of guilt in her eyes as she continues. “That guy. He’s very stubborn, and he seems to distrust of me. I want to help him as his Master, but I have to resort to extreme methods in order to do accomplish that goal. He’s a glory hound, but what good would come from glory when you’re dead? He’s foolish, so foolish…” “Oh here we go again. You and that bad habit of yours.” “Bad habit?” Deborah asked in confusion after Iola said her words. “You always think you know people from inside out like a book just as you begin to scratch the surface, when it’s actually the opposite. And just as you think you know everything about people, you then go on your own and do things you thought that will help people, without knowing what they want nor telling them what you’re going to do. A very bad habit.” “I do…?” “Yes, you do.” Iola firmly spoke. “You said Akuma is distrust of you, but isn’t you yourself are distrust of him as well? You always assume he’s going to disagree with everything you said just because your guts tells you he will, then you go on and do things that hurt him because you thought it’s something that you have to do. Isn’t that what people called distrust?” “But…” “No buts! Stop being so subjective! It doesn’t hurt to believe in people sometimes.” Can’t find a clear answer to talk back, Deborah just stared at Iola in silence. The following gaze from Iola just make this whole situation more awkward for both. Finally, after several seconds, Deborah decided to breaks the silence herself. “You’re so preachy today. It’s unlike you.” Said Deborah. “Trust me, I don’t want to be like this as well. But for the people I care about, this is the least I could do to help them, even if it looks like a slap in the face with words. Changes are good, but I don’t want to fix what isn’t broken. The current you, the current Deborah, is the Deborah I like best, and I would hate to see you descend into someone, no, something…I will dread.” Deborah closes her eyes as she let Iola’s words reach her heart. Slowly, she closes the book she was reading. Deborah stands up, but she hasn’t leave just yet. “I will…think about what you said.” Deborah didn’t look into Iola’s eyes, and neither did the other girl. As Deborah bid her goodbyes, she leaves with the book on her hand. Only Iola remains in her seat in order to do what she originally came here for. The windows rattle when another wind flew by. ------------------------------ Today is just another ordinary day like always. People continuing their lives, full of joy, full of sadness, full of goals and dreams. Just your ordinary day to study and working. But today, for me, is a slightly less ordinary day in my life. It’s because I got a chance to visit the Student Council’s meeting room, with an invitation from the student council president herself. “We’re here.” As my thoughts run wild like that, the weight of the white documents on my hands brought me back from my romanticized vision to the harsh reality in front of me. It’s nothing big in reality. I was asked for help from Kardia to bring some documents to the student council meeting room. This place is located near the center of the castle and is a pretty quiet place. Since people rarely pass by, I guess this make it an ideal place to handle the management of the academy’s students. “Please make yourself at home.” Kardia opens the door and comes inside. However, I stopped myself before I enter the room. In front of my eyes is darkness. This room is filled with darkness, which makes it feel a little eerie, like a ghost room you see in scary movies. Let’s just hope someone forgot to open the windows. “Oh. I’m sorry. I forgot to turn on the lights. It’s the first time someone other than me comes to this room, so…” The first time? Someone other than her? Isn’t this the student council’s meeting room? Then what is the problem? The crystal lights ignited when Kardia activated the switch. Light filled the room, pushing away the darkness. I begin to take another look at the room. Rather than your typical meeting room, this room is filled with trinkets and oddities, but rather than strange stuff like the school’s shop, this looks more like an old witch’s room with hexes and the likes, but since Kardia is a practitioner of alchemy, I guess it’s more like an alchemist’s workshop? Black curtains have covered all the closed windows. The only saving grace of this room is how neat and orderly Kardia arranged her stuff, which adds some kind of mysterious charm to this room. “Are you sure we’re in the right room, Kardia?” “Yes. This is it, the meeting room for the Student Council.” “Then why does it look like the room of an evil witch?” I enter the room and put the documents onto her desk. Her desk is neat and well kept, it’s also decorated with a small vase holding several glowing white flowers. This is completely different from the mess that is the Headmaster’s office. “So this is how this room looks like from the view of an outsider.” Kardia answered as she tries to pull the black curtains and open the windows. The sunlight shines into the room, making this place a little less creepy. “Where are the other members?” I asked. When Kardia’s done opening all the windows, she turns back to me and speaks. “There are no other members. I am the only member of the student council.” “Wait, what?” This is the first time I heard of a one woman student council. “It’s a long story.” Kardia walks to a nearby counter. On the counter, there are several antiqued tea cups and a kettle. There seems to be a pot of tea leaves nearby. Kardia pour some fresh water to the kettle and heat it up with a magic circle. I guess she’s brewing tea. As she’s preparing the tea, Kardia begins to tell her tale. The student council was created with the purpose of giving the students some power over the management of their school life. The main purpose of the student council was to manage the war efforts contributed by the 2nd and 3rd years students. The student council used to be in charge of manpower management, supplies stockpiles and distribution, and went for rescue or escort missions if they have to...Their main job could be sum up as supporting those who fight on the frontlines with whatever they could. However, as the war grow bigger, the role of the student council began to get less important. When their enemy bring the war back to their shores, the Academy’s cadets army got merged into the regular army and was put under their jurisdiction. Their role gets smaller when their former missions were undertake by people from the main army. As time pass by, the student council’s main job was reverted into becoming errand boys and girls for the teachers. Kardia said that thanks to the current pitiful state of the student council, no one bothered to do these kind of jobs anymore. And that’s how she got into this position with objections from no one. They just want someone to dump the chores on. Her tale end at the same moment she’s done brewing the tea. As she’s pouring the tea to a teacup, I keep wandering around the room to look at the oddities that were neatly arranged into shelves around the room. There are several shelves that were labeled as ingredients, with a bunch of small vases inside that were sealed carefully. However, despite all of them have already been labeled, they all seems nonsense to me because I don’t know anything about those names. “Is there something catches your interest?” Kardia gave me a question as she puts a tea cup onto the coffee table in the middle of the room. “Make it everything.” Kardia giggled in amusement. Not wanting to make a lady wait, I take a trek back to the seats near the small coffee table, but not without taking another glance at the small flower vase on Kardia’s desk. “Oh. Please be careful. It’s better that you don’t go near those flowers.” Before I can reach the flowers, Kardia suddenly let out a voice of concern. “Hmm ? Why not ?” “They are the 「Spirit Calling」 flowers. Their pollen may cause hallucination and other undesirable effects to the mind of living beings. They are beautiful indeed, but it’s better to just watch them from afar.” It’s true that these glowing white flowers are beautiful as a decoration, but why would she wants to use something like these to decorate her working room? But then again, at this point I’m no longer surprise no matter how strange things around get. A meeting room without a shed of light. A room full of strange ingredients that were put on shelves. A desk decorated with flowers that cause hallucination just because they are beautiful. Seems like I got myself another bag of mystery. “If that is the truth then you must be pretty daring to make them a decoration of your desk.” That is like making a botanical garden from cannabis. “It’s okay, they don’t affect me so I have no reason to be scared of them. Anyway, your tea is cooling, you know ?” “Oh, right.” I put a stop to my little tour around the room and sit on a small chair opposite of Kardia. Kardia served me some black tea in a pretty antiqued teacup, decorated with black flowers pattern. The aroma of tea quickly fills the room. I takes a sip before the black tea become too cold to enjoy. “It’s good.” And drinkable as well. Ever since that little first meal on the day I got here, I always get on my guard everytime someone offer me something new to drink or eat. Rather than finding good food or drinks, my first priority right now is to find things that are edible and drinkable for the human tounge. “Really? Thank goodness. I rarely brew tea, so I’m afraid it may not fit for your taste.” “It’s alright. I’m no expert on tea to begin with. As long as they are drinkable then any tea is fine for me.” Beside, I’m more of a coffee person. Tea is too fancy of a drink for me to make it a hobby. Coffee is more ordinary and enjoyable in my opinion. But then again, I don’t think this world has coffee. Well, beggars can’t be choosers. “You didn’t make a cup for yourself?” I let out a voice when I noticed Kardia only served one teacup for me only. “It’s alright. I’m contented with this.” I can feel Kardia’s stare behind the black veil covering her face. The more time I spent with the girl, the more questions I got. Yet, I can’t mustered enough courage to go deep down and unveil the truth behind this girl. I have a feeling that it may be something I will deeply regret. Yes, this status quo is enough for me. “Is it alright for me to be here? In the student council’s meeting room?” “What are you saying? I would love to have someone visiting this place! The problem comes from whether or not someone even want to set foot into this place, let alone pay me a visit.” Is this related to why she keeps her distance from people, and why people also keep their distance away from her? “Can I ask a question?” Surrendered to my curiosity, I say my thought out loud. “If it’s within my ability to answer, then you may ask whatever you want.” “I see, then this question of mine may be a bit personal to you. Why do you keep your distance from people? And why do people also do the same to you?” “…” Kardia fell to silence after I finished asking. For some reason, I can imagine a sadden face behind her dark veil. As several seconds passed by, Kardia finally mustered enough courage to answers my question. “It’s because…bad things always happen to those around me.” “Bad things…?” “Accidents happened. Usually, people around me just got injured from random causes, but all of them happened when I’m nearby. But that’s not the worst of it, this…“curse” of mine, it could get worse…A few around me have died just because I was in the vicinity. I would hate to see that happen again.” A jinx, heh? “So, bad things will happen if I’m around you?” “It’s okay if you want to cut your ties with me. I will hold no grudge when you’re doing the right thing. It’s the best way…” “Blah blah blah can’t hear you can’t hear you.” Before Kardia begins yet another pity speech, I loudly shouted as I cover my ears in demonstration. Even with the veil covering her head, I can see that the girl is shocked by this sudden turn of event. “Come on, stop your pitiful act. I’ve been with you for several weeks and you don’t see me dying.” Well, the thing that happened in the forest the other day was indeed life threatening, but that doesn’t count because Kardia wasn’t nearby. “But…” “It’s okay. Bad things have already happened to me with or without your help. I can handle it just fine.” I take another sip then smile in triumph. Fate and the likes? They are all crap to me. Just because something bad happened when someone is around doesn’t give people the right to blame others to be the cause of what just happened. I’m not buying that crap. “Are you really okay with me…being around you?” “Come on, we’re friends, aren’t we? Friends don’t abandon each other.” Another brief silence passed by as Kardia tries to find something to say. She looks down for a moment, but it only took several seconds before the girl found her resolve. “Right, we’re friends.” I have a feeling that she’s smiling behind her veil. “The truth is, you are the first friend I made ever since I came to this academy.” That’s sad. “I’m glad that you saw me as a friend. It’s the first for me. Back when I’m still with my family, all the people around me are just servants and my nanny. It’s hard for me to find a real friend, let alone make friends with people.” A sheltered noble lady, heh? One have to wonder why do girls like her even chose this academy to begin with, since after a year or so, they will get send to the battlefield and have to fight like a real soldier. But then again, this is just me looking at this with the viewpoint of someone not from this world. For all I can tell, maybe young ladies fighting on the field are the common norm of this world. “Well, I hope you don’t intend to make me your sole friend, because I don’t think I’m up to the task.” “It’s alright. I’ll definitely try to make more friends. Befriending you have gave me that courage.” Rather than befriending me, it’s more like I keep bugging her until we become friends. Of course, I keep this to myself rather than saying it out loud. “I hope you can make that personal goal come true.” We spent the next hour solely just for chatting. I asked her several questions, and in return, she asked me a bunch of questions about my world and other things ever since I came here. I even told her the stuff that happened in the forest the other day. I don’t think all those talking was a hassle, though, because conversing with her is very enjoyable to me. It’s nice to talk with someone without earning myself some snarks. “I have another question: Why did you choose to become the student council president?” Since that title has now become a glorified errand boy/girl, why would she even wanted to take up the job? “Well, the position is empty and no one wants it. You can have more opportunity to help people, and since I don’t have anything better to do…” “Just that?” “Maybe not. But…I guess…it’s because I want to be needed by others.” To be needed…heh? Now I know the reason why talking with her is so enjoyable to me. “We are alike, you and I.” “We are alike ?” I noded. “I want to be needed as well. That’s why when the Headmaster gave me the order to enter the Familiar competition, I thought to myself “This is my chance.”.” “Why did you think like that ?” “Because that girl…Deborah, she has always see me like I’m just a burden she has to carry on her back. But, to be a burden to someone, that is the thing I hate the most. I don’t want to be anyone’s burden, especially hers. That is why this competition is my chance to prove that I am not a burden to Deborah. I want to win this! To prove my usefulness and to be needed by others!” As my rant ended, Kardia doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t stop staring at me when I’m making a serious face. The girl suddenly looks at the ceiling as if she’s trying to find the suitable course of action. “That’s it. I’ve decided.” “?” I gave the girl a confused look. “We still have more than one week left before the finals. I will help you survive and win that competition with all of my abilities.” Kardia’s offer is certainly attractive, but I’m interested on how she’s gonna helps me. “How are you gonna help me?” “I think you have already noticed. This room, despite being the meeting room, is also my personal workshop. I’ve spent some free time experimenting on several alchemic compounds and ingredients. For now, I have no idea how that’s gonna help you, but we still have more than one week left to try for something that could prove useful! With your otherworldly knowledge, I’m sure this will be a success!” “That…actually sounds good.” I mean, I could totally use a proper workshop right now. My room is too small to do experiments and synthesis. Beside, meeting with Deborah has become awkward lately. All of this make Kardia’s offer sounds like music to my ear. “But…is it all right for me to use your workshop?” “Friends don’t abandon each other, don’t they?” This girl, she’s so amusing. I crack out a smile as she finished her sentence. I would call her my fairy godmother, but I held back knowing she would not know what a fairy godmother is. “Alright, don’t crawl back to me in tears when I used up all of your stuff!” With this, I temporary borrow Kardia’s alchemy workshop for the next week. From that day onward, when classes are finished, both of us gather to this room when we’re done with our personal stuff and continue our research and experiments. There are some failures, and some successes yet proved to be impractical, but we still go on with all we have, up until the fated day. Time flies, and one week passed. The day has finally come for the semester’s final tests.
Chapter 19: A test of knowledge and determination Spoiler Today is the 28th of the Month of Earth. Only two days remain until the beginning of another year and the long-awaited New Year celebration. But before they could enjoy the holidays, the cadets at Melas need go through a trial called the semester’s final tests. The tests have two parts, one are the general exams, which are about subjects like Math, History and the likes. The other are the specialized exams, which we take special tests from each of their own Department. The 27th has been used for the general exams. And yes, they crammed all of the exams for the general subjects into one day. Don’t ask me how absurd it was. I think I did good enough on those exams. The rules forbid the students from using any kind of magic or tool during (and before) the examination. So of course, that included 「Remembrance」, the spell that would be a god-sent for students back in my own world. However, theoretical exams like this are the common norm back when I’m still on Earth, so the hard part was cramming as much as I can before D-Day. But well, let’s put that aside since this is yet the end of the finals, and I still have a bunch of problems to solve. Today, the 28th, is the real deal for the cadets studying in this academy. One could say the general exams are just a warm up, and the real tests begin with the specialized exams. The one that will decide if you’re gonna spend the new year with your family, or with the teachers and the make-up lessons in this cold and lonely castle. The weather is pretty good today. The sun is high, the temperature is good, though it’s still a little cold outside. A perfect day for the exam, and for the Familiar competition as well. I hadn’t got another chance to talk with Deborah ever since that day. And even when we got a chance to meet, neither were capable of saying something. Pretty awkward for both of us. That would mean the two of us haven’t got anything that would resembles a battle plan, right before the fight. Sounds bad, real bad. But well, I’ll make up something along the way. According to Kardia’s words, the content for the competition changes each year, so in a way, a battle plan isn’t that important. Let’s hope Deborah also think that way. Put the competition aside for the moment. Right now, I have more important things to focus on. “We have arrived.” Our proctor – Mrs. Prophetissima – led us to the entrance of Darkwood forest. What awaited us at the forest’s entrance is a huge rock, about two meters tall, one that I have never seen at this place before. There seems to be nothing special about the rock, it’s just your ordinary annoying big rock. I wonder what is its purpose for lying here. Are we supposed to split it in half using a karate chop or something? “Your task is very simple. Each one of you will have to destroy this rock using your knowledge of alchemy, whether it be tools or Image Magic. Your result will be based on the time you take and the mean you use to destroy the rock.” So karate chop is a no-no. Got it. “I believed all of you have taken preparations beforehand. Well then, I will begin the exam. The first cadet to take the exam is…Akuma.” Mrs.Prophetissima takes a look at the name list and says my name out loud. Since the Headmaster registered me using the fake name I gave her and there is no other students in my class with name starts with the initial A, I was bestowed the privilege of being the first one to take on the exam. It’s not exactly a problem though, I came prepared, so this should be easy, I hope. I walk toward the rock. Within five meters radius around the rock, there is a magic circle. It was faint and obscure, but those who are used to the art of Image Magic can notice it immediately. I guess this is used to prevent the rock’s debris from harming the students. It’s pretty convenient, considering what I’m going to do. “You may begin the exam.” My clock started ticking the moment the cue was dropped by our proctor. I need to finish this fast, but first, information is weapon. I need to gather more info about my opponent first. “⅃ɘƚ ƚʜɘ ʞnowlɘbǫɘ oʇ olb ɘnliǫʜƚ my ƨiǫʜƚƨ.” I quickly chant the 「Analyze」 spell. With my reinforced eyes, I take another glance at the rock. The main component of this rock is…rock (obviously). So in a sense, this is just a normal rock. But when I take a deeper look inside, I found that this rock’s density is much higher than a normal rock, like it was enchanted to be this dense. However, the density drops the deeper it is to the rock’s center. I deducted that the weak point of this rock is in its center core. All that left is how to destroy it. But the moment I got a hold over its weakness, that problem has become trivial. I touch the rock with my left index finger. With concentrated soul energy at the tip, I begin drawing a magic circle. Starting with a big circle on the rock’s body, I write the four characters with the meaning of Earth in Ancient Tongue at the positions of the four cardinal direction. Then, I begin to rotate my finger nearer and nearer to the center to draw a spiral. The only thing left is some minor details. With this, I’m done preparing the spell. “Well then.” I press my left index finger to the center of the magic circle and activate the spell. The spiral begins to shine, creating a hole inside the circle as per purpose of this spell. 「Distortion」 is this spell’s name. Its main purpose is to disfigure the objects inside of its radius. However, due to the law of conservation of mass, the mass “left out” from the spell’s effect has to go “somewhere”. And that somewhere on this rock is currently at its back. There is a small pillar of rock at the opposite of the hole I created. I bet the total mass of the left over rock pillar is the same of those that was used to make my hole, but that is irrelevant since I’m going to destroy all of it anyway. I take out the main star of this party which was previously hiding underneath my cloak. It’s a white box with the size and shape similar to a wine box. On the body of the box, there is a magic circle with the word Lightning (in Ancient Tongue of course) along with random details. I press the center of the magic circle to active the spell, and drop the whole box to the hole I just created. Quickly, I command the Distortion spell to fill back the hole again. With this, my task is done. All that left for me is to run the hell out of this place. And that I did, despite the confused looks my classmates gave me. But please, if they know what I just put inside the rock is, they’ll take the same action as I did. The clock keeps ticking. Five seconds to four seconds, and with time pass, the clock hit the timer at zero, the very same time I got myself to safety behind the protective barrier. BOOM. The rock is shattered to pieces as my little box exploded inside the rock. Some debris found their way to the direction of the students, but the protective barrier did its job. What remains of the rock is a handful of its foundation. I think I did good enough. All of the students look at the remaining rocks in awe, all except Kardia who’s sitting alone outside of the crowd, contented with watching. She knew what that is, since she was the one who helped me made that thing. We exchanged looks, and Kardia just simply gave me a “Good job” head nod from afar. What inside the box is a red-colored plastic explosive called Semtex - the other famous plastic explosive that isn’t C4. It’s a rather insensitive to physical force or heat, so in order to detonate this baby, I added a small amount of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (or PETN for short) in the box to use as detonator. The magic circle outside was used to detonate the PETN inside by sparking it with electricity, and in turn, detonate the whole box. The tricky part is manipulating the magic circle for it to properly act as a timer detonator. I got help from Kardia in order to finish it. The trick she taught me was the term “layered-spell”. To put it in layman’s term, that would be drawing a magic circle on top of another magic circle, with the activation of one leading to the activation of the other. I just simply draw a magic circle that was customized to activate in the span of 7 seconds, when that time is up, it will activate the magic circle underneath, which then create an electric spark to the PETN inside and the rest is history. Complicated stuff. That’s why I called this creation of mine “RG Bomb”. And don’t ask me on how the hell did I create plastic explosives with an alchemy pot, I got enough technobabble inside my head already. “Well done, Mr.Akuma.” With a voice that isn’t too different from her daily tone, Mrs.Prophetissima gave me her words of confirmation of my test. I expected her reaction to be more…surprised, then I find myself having that very reaction when the debris of the destroyed rock suddenly pull themselves back to their original position and reassemble themselves to the rock from before. The new rock looks…brand new, it’s like my RG Bomb earlier hasn’t been used on (or in) that rock from the start. With the test’s objective returning to its original state, the proctor simply continues the test with a shout. “Next!” Seems like there’re still a lot of things that I need to learn in this world. … With the practical exam ended, we begin to move on to the theoretical test, which is no different than the general exams yesterday, except the subject that was put on the test is alchemy, and there’s another Item Synthesis exam after that. Since I came prepared, just like the general exams, I think I did good enough. I didn’t have much hope to begin with when I “transferred” halfway to this academy, so my main concern is to not to fail, which I did. The end of the Item Synthesis exam also marked the end of our department’s specialized exams, and also the semester’s final test. I can hear the relieved sound of my classmates after we got out of the test classroom. However, my problems haven’t ended, not yet. The very moment I got out of the test room, I run back to the student council meeting room with all my might. I haven’t neglected daily physical training with Caelan, and all that workout did pay off, even just a bit. I still have some strength and breath left in my chest when I got to my destination. A feat that would tire the hell out of the previous me from before. This place has been my (borrowed) workshop for the past week. All of my preparations for the fight is inside here. I go inside the room and begin assembling my gadgets. Namely several magazines for my handgun, a leather belt that has six pipe of Semtex inside that would act as hand grenade, several glass syringes and finally, a RG Bomb. The pipe bombs aren’t the problem, so are the magazines. But taking such thing out to the battlefield under my cloak is just a bit… “You’re really going?” A voice came from the direction of the door. Kardia is standing there, with her hands still holding her notebooks. “Is there any other options left?” I answered. Silence is the only reaction coming from the girl. However, Kardia suddenly put her notebooks onto a nearby desk. She slowly walks to an old closet inside the room and take out a black cloak. It’s similar to our cloak uniform, but the white lines at the end of the cloak indicate that it’s a different type of cloak than the rest. “This is…” “Battle uniform for Melas’s Alchemists. This is the standard uniform for the 2nd year and above cadets. It was reinforced to the point that it would absorbs all sort of blunt physical trauma. You can protect your gears and tools while wearing this cloak. However, it’s still impervious to magic, arrows and bladed weapons.” Kardia handed me the cloak. After a quick glance, I found several empty slots in that cloak that could be used to hold all the items in my possession, even the Rude Goldberg Bomb. Combine with the fact that this cloak is shock resistant makes it a very legit battle wear for someone like me. “This is godsent! Thank you! But is it alright for me to take it?” “It’s okay. Just think of it as a gift from me to you, and a token of my gratitude as well.” Now she’s just being overly polite again. I own her more than she think she own me. A simply thank you can’t express my gratitude of her right now. “Just promise me one thing, that you will come back here alive.” As much as I want to tease her for being worried too much, I just simply smiled and nodded. This is the first time for me to have someone worry about my welfare. With people like her around, there is nothing for me to regret choosing to stay and live in this world. Yes, to live here, to stay here, that is my wish. To be in a place where people need me. That’s why I will fight to keep this life from shattering. “It’s okay. I will return, like always.” “Then, may victory be with you.” Kardia bowed her head and wish me luck as I finished gearing up and took my leave. --------------------------------- With all my battle gear under the new cloak, I run to the castle’s east gate with all my strength in hope that the competition hasn’t started yet. The quiet castle has become a lot livelier ever since the start of the semester’s finals, and it hasn’t quiet down even when the finals are over. People upon people walk on the path to the castle’s east gate to become spectators of this year Familiar competition. Their appearance gave me a relief, actually. That would mean the competition hasn’t started…yet. After some struggles, I got myself a clear path to continue running. And that I did. After several minutes, I arrived at the castle’s east gate. This place is a rather large area, since armies usually march through the castle to get to the frontline, so this place was built with the ability to hold an army in mind. Priers have already populated this place, looking to a big tv-like screen projected by a crystal-powered device. Near the castle’s iron gate, there are several people standing nearby. Most of them wear wizard hats, so I guess they are members of the Magic Arts and the participants of this competition, well, the first half of the participants, in a sense. Among those people is Deborah, who’s standing there sulking. The referee of the competition is standing in front of the participants. She looks familiar. If I’m not wrong, that woman could be Miss Walpurga – the Head of the Magic Arts. But that is irrelevant right now. Slowly, I advance through the crowd as carefully as possible, since I don’t want to gather unwanted attention from the spectators. The closer I walk, the clearer the voices from the participants become. Miss Walpurga is reading a list of names. When a participant’s name was called, that person would walk forward, summons their familiar and go straight through the huge iron gate to parts unknown. That is the standard protocol, until Deborah’s turn, that is. “Miss Deborah Draconis. It’s our pleasure to have Lord Dargoth’s granddaughter to participate in this sort of competition.” “I don’t care.” Walpurga just gave a silent smile in response. “So, where’s your familiar?” “Not here.” Deborah bluntly answered. If I didn’t show up, she has full intention of throwing the competition. No, maybe, that is her sole reason to come here in the first place. “Then call him here. Summon him to this place.” Deborah fell silent as Walpurga gave her order. That woman doesn’t look like the patience type. This is not good, I have to hurry. “We both know what would happen if he doesn’t enter, don’t we? Do you really want to risk that consequence?” “I…” Deborah mumbled. “Hmm…? I what?” “I…don’t kn…” “I’M HERE!!!!” I shouted. That is probably not the best course of action, since all the attention from people around have turned to the funny guy who’s trying to get through the crowd of participants. I know I always want to be famous, but this is a little bit… “You…you really came.” Said Deborah. She looks surprised. “Good reaction. Now you don’t have to worry about getting your eyes checked.” I answered. And with that, Deborah’s sour look turns into her daily grumpy face in less than one second. “Dramatic entry indeed. Since both of you are in condition to fight, you may walk through the gate to the battleground ahead.” Walpurga just smile as she wrote some notes to her name list. In order to stop wasting time and stagnating the other guys, the both of us walk forward to the gate. That doesn’t stop us from bickering on the way, though. “You’re a real idiot. Do you know that?” As we walk through the gate, the girl that is my Master opened her mouth and started her predictable reaction. “I admit that I have some stupidity inside my head.” I answered the girl. How humble of me to admit my stupidity. “But that doesn’t make you any smarter than me, you idiotic girl.” Deborah looks shocked. “What !? What are you talking about, you stupid, and selfish…stupid and selfish idiot!” “You could be more imaginative than that.” Seriously, this is the first time I saw her getting THIS worked up. Emphasized with THIS. “You blockhead! If you’re going to die by the hand of someone, I will make sure that hand will be mine!” “Ooooh, scary.” I laughed. All her death threats don’t look so frightening when she’s too angry to make a serious response. “This is more like it. Yep, it’s fine this way.” “What are you talking about ?” Still with a grumpy look, Deborah asked. “I mean, being like this is fine. Let’s put all the plans, thoughts and deep philosophies aside. The both of us have already entered the competition. There’s no use for bickering over spilled milk. Our only job right now is to win! Stop thinking unnecessary thoughts!” For a second, Deborah was stalled. She just stands there while I keep going. Of course, that leads me to halt my track as well. “What’s the matter?” “No, it’s nothing severe. I’m just wondering about how idiotic you are.” “I’m not laughing.” However, the one who’s laughing isn’t me, it’s Deborah. Though she’s just smiling rather than laughing out loud. But even that smile gets a little sour over time. “Really…It’s like I’m being cursed or something.” Deborah mumbled. “Well, it won’t be a problem if you’re cursed with me. I think that would be a blessing for you instead.” “Stop being so conceited!” After that, the two of us continue to bicker as we walk to our destination, without knowing what awaits us ahead.
Chapter 20: A showcase of ideal and power Spoiler Melas castle was located at a highland between several mountain ranges, which act as a natural defense line for the East of Demon Realm. Due to this, the castle was built with two stone bridges on the East and West side. The East side leads to the most of Realm’s territories. The West side leads to the dead lands ravaged by wars of the past and present. Even now, the regular army stands strong to protect the Demon Realm on that very frontier. But that is the story of another time. Right now, I’m walking on the East bridge alongside with Deborah. Our destination is just pass ahead this bridge. There are several people in front of us, and their familiar as well, but they all make haste to get to their position as fast as they can. I think we should do the same, since victory will come for those who take the initiative. Yes, we have to consider going faster. But then again, the both of us suddenly stop walking. Or rather, the one who did it first was Deborah, I just do the same because I’m still in awe of what she’s doing right now. “What…are you doing?” Deborah holds out her hands to the air in front of her and starts…waving. No, not the “Goodbye” kind of waving. She just wave around like some teenager girl inside a bar at midnight. It’s like she’s dancing a terrible dance. Or not, on a second thought, it looks like she’s trying to mimic a French mime. Like she was trapped inside an invisible box or something. This is so out of character for her. “Phew…It’s safe this time. That woman did remember.” Deborah let out a sigh of relief. Her mime act also ended along with that. “So what’s the deal with that?” In a second flat, Deborah’s expression turn from a comedic mime to her daily Someone killed my puppy grumpy face. With a bored tone, Deborah answers. “To check whether the castle’s protective barrier is active or not.” “Protective barrier?” I asked. “You’re an alchemist and you don’t know what a protective barrier is?” “Well duh, obviously I know about the stuff that protect things inside of it. But I’ve never heard about this castle having a protective barrier before.” “Just what did those people in the Alchemy Arts teach you ?” Deborah sighed again. She continue walking to stop wasting more time, but now without going into explanation mode. I follow behind the girl as I listen to another lecture about barriers. “This barrier was made to defend against powerful high-tier spells, the kind that could wipe a castle off the map in one sitting. It can also prevent beings with high amount of soul energy to enter the castle, and to leave from inside as well.” So if you’re a badass in using magic, you’ll have trouble going through a barrier like this? “What happened the last time you get near this barrier?” Deborah suddenly frowned. However, it doesn’t seems like she won’t answer my question, though it takes her two seconds before she does so. “I rammed my face to the air like an idiot.” Well, I could imagine the rest using the little info she gave me. With that I mind, I let myself burst out a full laughter. “Ahahahaha!!!” “Don’t laugh!” As expected, Deborah gave out the two most cliché words in this situation. To save my strength for the battle and myself from her wrath, I tone down my laugh, but still keep a smirk on my face. Though, she said that it was used to prevent those with high amount of soul energy, and Deborah was made a fool because of it. So her reputation as a fearsome and powerful mage does has its basis. “The good news is apparently they turn it off for a while to let you go out, I guess?” “Seems like it.” Deborah nodded in agreement with my answer. “I guess the Headmaster can make an exception once in a while, since I rarely have any business outside of the castle. Turn on and off a barrier of this scale is a real hassle, you know? I believe you have some knowledge about a barrier’s core?” “A little.” From what I learned, protective barriers have two types: Small scale and Large scale. The small scale would just require a magic circle and soul energy in the atmosphere to be able to operate. However, for a barrier of this scale to envelop a castle like this, a mere magic circle wouldn’t cut it. It’ll require a more complex mechanic, a catalyst of sort. That is the creation of a barrier’s core. Just think of it like a command center that was used to manage the barrier. To turn on and off a barrier like this, you’ll need to access the barrier’s core and make those changes yourself. I’m not a specialist in this type of magic, so I have no idea what a core looks like. “Do you know where the core is?” “That is something we better off not knowing.” Deborah answered with a stern voice. “Hmm. Why is that?” “Please use your brain once in a while.” Follow her advice, I turn my brain on to use its analyze function. Hmm…Deborah said this barrier was used to prevent spells that could wipe out a castle, and prevent beings with high amount of soul energy to enter. So I guess it would be natural to hide the location the core since if the enemy know about it, they would try to find a way to disable the core and blast the castle off the map. Got it! “Got it!” Deborah throws me a look of disbelief. However, I didn’t care about that, since my focus is currently on the forest in front of us. A chatter really does wonders, we have already crossed the long stone bridge without knowing, thanks to a simple chat. “So this is our battleground.” When we both get off the bridge, I take several steps ahead to look at the forest’s entrance, while Deborah stay behind, looking deep in thought. “Erkunia Forest. At the end of the forest is the seventh Asmodi’s territory. A forest filled with monsters, and they’re not the peaceful types you met at Darkwood.” “But that isn’t what we should be worry about, right?” Deborah didn’t reply. Seems like her mood for a chat is over. I guess I should also prepare to get serious. I begin to give myself a quick equipment check. Underneath my shock-resistant battle cloak is six pipe bombs, three glass syringes and a RG Bomb. On my belt is several 9mm caliber, fifteen round magazines and of course, my trusty gun. I don’t think I would have much use for the gun in a fight like this, though. My hunch tells me this fight isn’t gonna be as easy as the last fight I got. But well, there’s no turning back now. The only thing I could do right now is keep moving forward. “Are you ready, Deborah?” Suddenly, the girl slowly walks toward me and…pat me on the back. A pat with the force that could match the punch of a grown man. “What the hell are you doing!? That hurts!” “Moral encouragement.” Deborah answered with a nonchalant attitude. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you’re trying to kill me instead!” Seriously, I have a feeling all of my internal organs just got turned upside down from her pat. Well, that may be a little exaggerated, but I do feel weird after her pat. It’s like her pat really did pump up my spirit like she said. “Can’t take a little pat on the back? Are you really a man?” Deborah smirked and walked toward the forest’s entrance. What’s her problem, anyway? Is she trying to make a joke? If so, then I’m not laughing! “I know the way around here, so I’ll take the lead. Follow me, and don’t get yourself lost.” Without a look back to the guy standing behind her, Deborah took her steps and entered the forest’s entrance. I guess there’s no other choice but to let her leads the way. Ladies first, like how people always said. Still, what did she eat everyday to get a tap like that? Is it because of that mystery dish served by the academy’s cafeteria? And for some reason, I suddenly have a hunch that I’m forgetting something. Can’t remember what, though. But, if I forgot about it, then it’s probably not that important. Still, I don’t have any more time to stand here doubting, or else I’ll really get lost if I don’t follow Deborah’s trail. I quickly move my feet and go inside the forest as well. … The path through the forest is dark, even though the sun is at its highest at the moment. Dead trees are everywhere, and the ground was covered with dark leaves. The atmosphere around is heavy and eerie. It’s like a ghost forest, the kind that people go in to commit suicide, like the old Aokigahara forest back in my world. If this forest exist in my old world, it would become a hotspot for aspiring horror movie makers. But then again, if people flock in here just because of its horror, then it wouldn’t be an eerie forest anymore. Back to the topic at hand, I’m still following behind Deborah. The path she chose is rather rough. It’s out of the main path, but she said that the competition will be hold at the Northern part of the forest, so of course, I don’t have any saying in this situation when I know jack-shit about this area. Rocks and rocks are everywhere. Climbing through them is a chore indeed. However, despite wearing a long dress, Deborah went through all of the obstacles on the way with ease, and barely breaks a sweat on top of that. I’ve never thought she’s the physical type. Maybe her tall figure helps? Come to think of it, even though the light is scarce, following behind Deborah does has its…perks, considering her…back assets. “What are you standing there for?” “Nothing! It’s not like I’m looking at something in particular!” As I answered her sudden question, Deborah threw me another look of disbelief. She just sighed without pursuing the question and continued on her way. “We got to hurry. We need to gain a foothold before the competition starts.” So it hasn’t started yet? If so, then what is the reason for the absence of all the other participants? Or is it like Deborah said, they have already chose a good position to gain foothold before the fight ? “Stop standing there and move your feet!” Deborah’s shout from afar brought me back to reality from the deep of my thought. Damn, this bad habit of mine is really annoying. I don’t remember spending time at cloud cuckoo land to gain this kind of habit. “Geez…seriously. To think that women’s words are true…” As I approach Deborah who’s waiting for me, I can hear the girl mumbling to herself. “Is there a problem?” I asked. “Nothing. Just keep going. The competition will start soon.” Deborah once again take the lead. Our next several minutes are as uneventful as ever. Finally, we got pass the rough rocks area and found the flat land that is easy to stand on. I take a short rest on a nearby rock and wipe out the sweat on my face with my sleeve. Despite taking the same rough path as me, Deborah still looks as vigorous as ever, to the point she doesn’t need rest and just stands there looking around. “So, when will it starts?” “Shhhh.” Deborah gave me a sign of silent. The girl suddenly close her eyes for five seconds. When that time ends, Deborah opens her eyes and let out a voice. “It’s here.” The moment Deborah finished talking is also the same moment a small shooting star flies past us with speed bordering on the speed of sound. Suddenly, it flies back to us and just hovering on the sky. That shooting star’s true form is a small ball of light, radiating something that looks like pixie dust as it stay hovering on the sky. It reminds me of a certain annoying fairy in a game about a boy named Zelda or something. “Attention, all participants!” It would sound like a voice just came out from that ball of light, but it’s not. The voice I suddenly heard actually came from my head. No, seriously, it did come from my head, but I’m not THAT crazy…yet, so don’t make any assumptions. It’s more like that ball of light is acting as some sort of conductor, a microphone of sort so the announcement could reach the participants. “I will now hereby announce the rules of the competition. In this year’s competition, your main goal will be acquiring the balls of light in this forest with your familiar. They are same one that is in front of you. There are no runners-up, only one winner. The time duration is one hour, at the end of that time, the familiar that acquired the most balls of light will be declared winner.” So it’s like a game of tag but with balls of light? Nevermind about that. I got something else to take care of. Slowly, I walk to the highest rock nearby and climb on it, all while listening to the next part of the announcement. “The rules are simple. You may allow your familiar to engages in combat against the familiar of others. Killing however isn’t recommended. Also, the masters are forbid from directly taking part in the fight, namely attacking other masters and familiars. Severe punishment awaits those who wish to break this rule. The competition’s progress will be broadcast to the spectators at the castle, so behave yourself. That is all. The competition will now begin!” As I thought, the very moment the announcement ended is also the moment the ball of light began to fly away. But I have anticipated that. Before it could get its velocity back to speed earlier, I lunge toward the ball from the rock I just climbed, snatching it in the process. Or not, it doesn’t have any weight since it is literally a ball of light so I can’t grab it in the physical sense, but the very moment I touch it, it suddenly dispersed and went inside my body. What does this mean? “So you got one from the start. Maybe you’re not as hopeless as I thought.” So that a success? Not bad. “Well, I entered this competition with the intention to win, thank you.” “Really?” As Deborah finished saying her line, she turns her head to the forest behind her back, like she’s scouting the terrain or something. On my part, I stand up, dusting the dust out of my clothes and prepare for the next fight. “We should move on. I bet the other participants have already begin the hunt. It’s best to avoid them.” Deborah’s right. If the goal is to catch the balls of light, then fighting against others is meaningless. It’s best to avoid them and just focus on acquiring the balls. “Ladies first.” I gave Deborah the sign to continue leading. She doesn’t give me any sort of reaction and just move on the path. The deeper we walk, the darker the forest become. However, with Deborah leading the way, even if we’re in the dark, we always found a proper path to walk through. The girl really has a good sense of direction. But that isn’t the problem here. The problem is we both became silent for the last five minutes. I know that is the wise course of action to remain silent, since a chatter could give away our position, but venture through the dark like this without saying anything…it really makes me uneasy. “Hey Deborah, what is the difference between a monster and a familiar.” I finally asked a question when I’m at my wits end. “You’ll know when you get to see them.” A short answer. Well, what did I expect from her? “Come to think of it, despite this forest being filled with monsters, we have yet to encounter any for some reason…Are they hibernating?” It’s Winter, after all. “That’s very smart of them.” Again, Deborah gave me another short answer, all while keeping her pace in the dark. With how uninterested she is, I guess trying to make another chat is meaningless. And so, we just continue walking. Ten minutes passed. We find ourselves standing near the bank of a river when we finally got out of the dark forest. While keeping yourself hidden is fine and all, but if we don’t take the initiative then how else could we win this competition? The clock is ticking and all we can do is hiding? Suddenly, as if the gods could read my mind and decided to grant me my wish, at a position from afar came an explosion. With trees covering all the way, it’s hard to make an accurate approximate distance, but I’ll say it’ll only takes about five minutes from here to get to that place. “So it started.” Deborah mumbled to herself as she looks to the same direction as I do. However, it seems like we don’t share the same viewpoint, since the girl pay no more attention to the direction of the explosion and just trying to figure out a way to cross the river. “I think we should approach that direction.” I said, with my finger pointing toward the direction of the explosion earlier. “No, it’s too dangerous. We will keep going.” Said Deborah, without turning her back to me. I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth as I prepare to answer. “Why? If there is a fight, then it’s no doubt that a ball of light is nearby as well? We’ll waste time if we just keep hiding like this.” “It’s too dangerous. It’s best that we search for the ones that haven’t been pursued by anyone.” Again, Deborah answered without meeting me face to face. “Is that the only reason?” Like a keyword, my question piqued Deborah’s attention. She turns back and stares at me, with a look of pity through her red eyes. “You…are not strong enough. That’s all.” I clench my fists harder. That gaze of hers, I absolutely loathe it. The look of seeing someone as a burden, her burden especially. Stop looking at me with a gaze like that. “I’ve changed! I worked my ass off because I believe I can change! I can defeat them if I got a chance. And this is that chance.” “No…you can’t. Your voice are filled with doubts. And you know it.” What doubts! Stop putting words in my mouth! “You’re naïve, Akuma. Too naïve. You do not know how harsh this world could be. This competition isn’t a mere childplay as you thought it would. I know not the extent of your power, but from what I can tell, your exotic magic are not enough to keep you alive in a world like this.” With a pause, Deborah let out a sadden smile. But, her words didn’t end with just that. “Heh, why I am still trying to explain this to you? Your foolishness is beyond saving. I give up. The only way you could learn this lesson is to experience yourself. Face it, without strength, you’re as good as dead if you want to walk the path of a warrior.” “You’re saying like strength is the answer for everything!” I shouted. “And you’re saying like that isn’t true.” Another staring fight. Our eyes meet once again. Her sharpen eyes, versus my eyes of anger. I won’t buy it. I won’t buy any of her crap. It’s true than humans like me were born weak. Ever since the start of my race, running is all we can do to survive from the horror that is primal beasts. But that doesn’t mean humanity gave up without a fight. It’s true that a human isn’t as strong as a bear, as fast as a cheetah nor capable of flight like an eagle. But humanity can create weapons to fight the strength of a bear, vehicles to outrun the speed of a cheetah, and aircrafts to conquer the skies that an eagle can never reaches. Right, humans are weak in nature, but their spirit is not! “You’re wrong! Strength isn’t everything!” Suddenly, before I could end my rant, a loud growl comes from a bush nearby. Slowly, a large creature emerged from the dark. It’s very big, almost three meters tall and has a bear-like form, except for the bones sticking out from its black fur, covering its main body and shoulders like an armor. Its face is hellish with black sclera eyes and a mouth that is filled with saliva. Yep, that is definitely not a character from Winnie the Pooh. “Hey Deborah, is it a familiar?” I gave out my question as I reach my hand to the inside of my cloak, grabbing a pipe bomb in the process. A sweat drops from my face as my worry started to rise by the bone-armored bear’s appearance. “No, it’s just a plain monster.” Deborah calmly answered. The girl’s stare is focusing on the bear right now. However, despite being cautious, I saw no signs of fear when I look at the girl. The bear growls like it was trying to say “It’s lunchtime!”. Our little conversation has probably piqued its attention, or maybe it’s because of the explosion nearby, but that isn’t matter right now. Slowly, it walks toward us, with eyes aiming especially at me like it knows I’m holding something that could brought pain to it. “Deborah, stand back. I’ll deal with it. You try to get to safety. This will get a little messy.” “No, you stand back.” Her answer is something I didn’t expect, and it just keeps escalating from there. From the conversation earlier, I thought she would just bring out a bullshit spell and burn the bear to ash or something to show me her definition of strength and disprove my words in the process. But no, on contrary, she doesn’t do anything flashy to combat the bear in any form. All Deborah does is to walk to the bear, slowly, with next-to-no caution in her gestures. An action that looks very suicidal, if not outright suicidal of her. But the girl shows no hints of fear. If anything, it’s…actually compassion that she’s showing, to that demonic bear of all thing. The bone-armored bear averts its attention from me to the girl that dares to confront it. Slowly, it closes the distance to its arm reach. When the two of them are standing face to face, the bear growls. Deborah’s long red hair flutters due to the wind, or breath, that came from its mouth. It’s hard to see her reactions from here, all I can see is her back and the demonic bear in front of her. The bear suddenly raise its right arm. From its hand, it bare its claw, a set of claw that is actually made of bones. Before I knew it, it swings its arm downward, aiming at Deborah’s head with the intention to kill off the girl in one strike. “Deborah! Watch out!” I shouted in vain and in fear of seeing someone die in front of me for the first time of my life. But…it’s like the gods can hear my one-second prayers and decided to actually do something. Before reaching her neck with barely a few inches away, the bear suddenly stop its arm from bashing Deborah’s neck like a tree twig. I know I’m not the pious type, but to think my prayers actually comes true… No, that’s not true. It’s not gods’ work, not at all. The bear draws its arm back. Its ferocious look is no more, and was replaced with a terrified look instead. Cowers in fear, the bear slowly retreat, but not without being cautious. Once it goes back to the forest, the atmosphere becomes normal again. That’s it? No fight and it just retreat like a coward? Just…what is this? What exactly is happening? This is too sudden, I…I don’t have any words to say about this. No, I can’t find any, even if I try. Deborah turns back and gives me a stare. Her red eyes hold no complex feelings, unlike the earlier conversation. Is this…her definition of strength? What exactly is the thing she trying to prove? I...I don’t know what to do anymore. “!!” Deborah suddenly sensed something. She turns her head back to the direction of the bear earlier. I can feel it as well. Something is moving very fast from that direction. Is that bear coming here to finish what he started? “Akuma! Dodge!” It’s partly true. The thing that came out from the forest is indeed that bear, but it isn’t running, it’s flying toward me, with speed that could match a cannonball and the size of a medium tank. Though, it’s more like something threw it, because bears can only grow wings when pigs could grow theirs first. But that isn’t what I should concern of right now. What I should worry is what should I do to keep my life from being crushed by that big ass bear. “Holy s!!!” With all of my strength, I take a dodge roll to the side to evade the flying bear. Rolling on the hard ground wasn’t exactly pleasant, but I’ll prefer it than getting crushed under the weight of that giant bear. Dusts begin to fill the air as the bear made contact with the ground. When I get back to my feet, I give the bear a glance. It’s…dying. The bear’s breathing heavily. The bone-armor on its chest is broken, and there’s black blood coming out from a stab wound that could only be caused by an ultra greatsword and the like. Its suffering isn’t long. When the time comes, the bear takes its final breath and promptly die from massive blood loss. What exactly is happening right now? “So this is where that strange…aura came from.” From the direction where the bear was tossed, there comes a voice. From the dark, a young man walks to the river bank outside the forest. He’s wearing the standard cadet uniform of Melas, along with an armband of the Magic Arts department. However, he doesn’t wear any sort of wizard hat. I…know this guy. He’s the guy that offered Amadia’s a position in his party that day, the day where I tasted Deborah’s “tough love”. “Naranath…” I raise my alertness to its highest, while Deborah just gives the guy a cold stare. I put the pipe bomb back and try to get my hand on my gun, though thanks to the rules of this competition, I don’t think I’m in the position to shoot the guy right now. “Fancy meeting you here, Akuma. Did I choose the wrong time to barge in? If you still want to continue your lovers’s quarrel, then be my guest.” “What the hell do you want ?” I shouted, despite knowing full well his intention. There’s no doubt the dead bear is the work of Naranath, or probably his familiar’s. However, the problem is where the hell is his familiar. Maybe it’s still in the forest and is awaiting further orders. To cause a wound like this…just what sort of creature is his familiar? “Now now. It’s really hard to follow you when you guys took a detour from the main course, you know? I’m just going to tell you that the opposite riverbank is the end of the competition’s boundary. Those who crossed it will be instantly disqualified from the competition. If you keep going, you’ll find yourself getting kicked out of the competition before having a fight, you know?” Detour…? Boundary…? Disqualified…? What did he mean…by that? “Hey…tell me, Deborah. What he said isn’t true, right…?” “…” Deborah’s expression darken. “Please…tell me you’re not trying to get me disqualified…? Please tell me…this is just a joke of yours?” Once again, Deborah doesn’t answers. The girl clenches her fists while her shoulders are shaking. She can’t face me, and that is the answer I need. I feel disappointed. Despite knowing I should be angry right now, but disappointment is all I could feel deep inside my chest. “Why…? You do know what will happen to me if I fail…Yet…why?” The girl pays me no heed. Her attention is currently focusing on Naranath right now. Her face is scary and shows the only thing she feels right now: Anger. “You there…making me angry isn’t a smart choice.” Naranth doesn’t care about her attitude though. He just put on a smile in amusement. “Like I give a damn! Enough of the dramatic tragedy! Shall we get to the main business then?” With a smirk on his face, Naranath snaps his fingers. From the forest, a bunch of clanking sound can be heard. Suddenly, the trees that were behind Naranath are cut down when his familiar emerges. That…thing is huge. It’s almost four meters tall. The thing that is Naranath’s familiar, it barely qualify as a creature and a living being. His familiar is a decapod creature with similarities to a crab, except it has greatswords for legs and pincers, and armors for a body. The greatswords that made up its pincers also look a lot like two pairs of scissors. There’s still some black blood remain on the giant enemy crab’s right pincer, most likely the dead bear’s blood. If something like that can stab through the armor of a bear, just imagine if that happens to a human being… “Go Basatan! Cut that piece of shit into a hundred pieces!” The giant crab easily complies Naranath’s order. Despite being a crab, it can walks straight just fine. But that isn’t what I should worry about. “Akuma!” Deborah shouted as the giant crab walks pass her. However, I don’t have any left to say to that girl. Right now, I should value my life first. Its pincers are big, and its walking speed is on par with a car. Facing it head on is outright suicidal. I need to pick a terrain that will give me advantages. With this thought in mind, I ran toward the forest. The crab promptly follows behind. The plan works pretty fine, at first. Despite having big ass pincers that could cut trees like papers, it still can’t walk with full speed when there’re tons of obstacles on the way. Of course, I’m having it easier with my smaller stature when compare to that thing. I should use this to my advantage. Right now, the best thing I should do is to devise a countermeasure against that crab. BAM! Before I can have an easy time to do it though, suddenly, the crab appeared from the sky and crashed the whole place it just landed on, with only a few meters from my location. Did it just…jump here ? With its pincers, the crab begin tearing the forest apart. Trees upon trees were mercilessly cut down by that crab. However, despite I am standing nearby, the crab doesn’t actually notice me. I guess hiding behind a tree helped. But seriously, I guess the crab is blind, since I saw no eyes on its armored body. Though, earlier, when the crab took its jump, it actually almost cut me down with its legs. It measured it’s jump distance pretty accurately, I can’t take the fact that it’s blind to face value when the crab is capable of a feat like that, maybe it’s actually sound-based navigation, but then again, I’m not the only one making sounds in this forest when there’s the whole fighting going on around this whole area. It must have some sort of mechanic for navigation, that’s for sure. But enough observing. It isn’t aware my exact location yet, that’s a fact. If I want to bring it down, this is my chance. Slowly, I reach to a pipe bomb inside my cloak. There are two type of pipe bombs in my cloak right now. One will explode when it makes contact, the other is the timer type. I take out a timer pipe bomb. The setting for this type is three seconds before exploding. After I’m done taking a quick calculation, I activate the bomb, step out of my hiding place, throws it to the location of the crab and run away as fast as I can. It’s like what I just guessed, the very moment I go out of my hiding place, the crab reacts and turns back to my direction. When it begins to give chase, the time bomb also hit its end and exploded as the crab made its first steps. A big explosion covered the crab in smoke. I can still see its legs, but it seems to stop moving for a moment. “Did it work?” The answer…is no. It didn’t. “Impossible…” I was stunned when my treasured bomb barely did any damage. The crab was stunned for about a second before giving chase again. All the bomb did was just dirty the crab’s right pincer. And with that very pincer, it throws a thrust to my direction. A thrust as fast as a master swordman’s thrust. I can’t even react to dodge with that kind of speed. Before I knew it, I found myself flying from the ground when the crab stabbed my chest, just like what it did to the bear earlier. The last thing I saw is the light of the sun above. I’m falling…to the darkness under a cliff nearby. Before long, light escaped from my sight, and darkness embraced me to join the ranks of the dead.
Chapter 21: A vow to end his weakness Spoiler The flow of time has always been relative to the perception of humans. Like, when we constantly move our bodies and minds, time itself will flows at the same speed as we perform our actions. It’s a theory of mine, anyway, like how a boring lecture would always drags out time longer than it should, or doing something fun would make it shorter. Something like that. It’s a matter of perception. “Akuma! Wake up, Akuma!” As I lay unconscious in the darkest part under the cliff I fell earlier, only now did I realize how powerful your subjective view can affect the world around you. Darkness clouded my weakened vision in its pitch black shadow, devoid of any sort of light. My ear can only hear the sound made by droplets of leftover water from somewhere in this dark cliff. One drop per second. It’s annoying indeed, but only thanks to that annoying sound that I know I’m not dead…yet. Time passed, but I can’t have any firm graps on how long has it been. Hours? Minutes? In the depth of the darkness, they are all relatives to my sense of time. A second may feel like a minute. A minute may feel like an hour. One could say this is an eternal hell with its punishment being unable to do anything, at all. “Let’s see…Only a few broken ribs. Seems like the 「Body Armor」 worked.” I try moving my hands to no avail. The best I could do is moving my fingers. I have no strength left. I can’t check my body, but I guess it’s a mess right now. I think it’s a miracles that I’m still alive, though the question is…for how long. “It’s going to hurt a bit. But this is for your own good.” Come to think of it, something still bugging me. I remembered being stabbed in the chest by that piece of shit called Basatan. But I didn’t “actually” get stabbed, rather, that stab pushed me away to the cliff instead. It’s like being rammed by an incoming truck rather than being stabbed. I guess I should feel lucky when I got away from becoming slice breads with only a few broken bones. But then again, what is worse, being stabbed to death, or lie waiting until your body gives out under the darkness? I can feel the sound of my heart. It’s beating, slowly. Thump thump, thump thump. A dance of life, but it’s slowly stopping. Like every dance will has its end, every life will eventually fade away. Yeah, why bother to continue living, to continue dancing in a stage without music and spectators? Why bother… “qɒin qɒin ǫo ɒwɒy. ⅃iʇɘ liʇɘ ɔomɘ ƚʜiƨ wɒy.” “!!” Suddenly, I felt something rising from deep inside my body. A surge. A burst. Before I knew it, I begin to spit out blood and start coughing. The eyes that can see only darkness have started working again. And in front of those eyes, I saw Deborah, who’s holding a flame in her right hand, and my back in her left. The girl looks worried. There’s a drop of blood on her face, presumably my blood from my earlier spit. But the girl doesn’t pay no mind. Like a goddess, she descend to the darkness with light in hand to save this lost soul of mine, but this is after she almost cast me away to hell. It’s rather hard for me to sort out my feelings right now, but then again, I should worry about my body first. “Can you hear me, Akuma…?” With my remaining strength, I nodded in response. “Why am I…still alive…?” “That’s not something you should concern about right now.” It doesn’t hurt to be friendly once in a while, you know? “Can you walk?” Said Deborah. I tried to move my legs, but then again, it proved to be useless for now. The girl saw it, and just sighed. “Tch. Your body is so weak, healing spell actually get less effective to heal you.” As much as I want to make a comeback at her, with my current state, I’m afraid I can’t afford even that. It’s sad, really. Once again, I focus all my strength to my legs and arms, but it proved to be futile just like before. “Geez. Just hold on tight.” Suddenly, Deborah hold my arm to pull my body up. Before I knew it, the girl has already give me a piggyback ride on her back. A piggyback ride of all thing. A man’s pride? What is that? You’ll lose the concept of a man’s pride as well the moment a girl gives you a piggyback ride. “Ouch ouch!” Her sudden move surely isn’t the best thing for my broken bones. “Stop whining. If you’re a man then try to act like one!” I didn’t remember introducing myself to her as Rambo. “Your wounds will completely healed in about five minutes. Until then, bear with it.” Without giving me time to answer, Deborah begins walking with the small fire in her right arm as a guiding light. The walking part however didn’t last long. When she got familiar to the track, Deborah suddenly switches to running. Despite carrying a man on her back, Deborah doesn’t have any difficulty maintaining her running speed. Just what does she eat everyday to get such strength? “Seriously…seriously! Just how foolish can you be? If you crossed that river then this wouldn’t happened to begin with!” As she continues to carry me on her back, Deborah spoke. “I’ve never asked you for this. I’ve never expected great things from you to begin with. Then why? Why are you trying so hard…for someone like me? Do you love to be a knight in shining armor that much? Answer me…please.” I fell into silence as I try to sort out my thoughts and feelings. “I didn’t do this for you…I do this…because…I don’t want to be a burden…to anyone.” I’m saying this line as I was carried by Deborah on her back. Ironic, isn’t it. The girl…ever since her meeting with the Headmaster, she looked like she was tormented because of the choice over my fate given to her by the Headmaster. To join this fight, or to let me get kicked out. She has the power to decide one of the two. But this girl…she’s stubborn, too stubborn for her own good. She tried to make a third option, one that doesn’t involve fighting in any form, and she failed even that due to my own stubbornness. So she resorted to her last trick, that was fooling me to forfeit from this fight. I don’t know how’s that gonna help me, but I think the girl has her reason. But, I can’t deny the fact that she’s treating me like a burden, her burden. Yes, one could say every action she did was for the good of me. But, did she even ask whether or not I want to be saved? I’m perfectly willing to share her burden, and yet, why did she continue to give me her pity? If she’s being honest for once, maybe all of this…would have never happened. But, maybe, the girl has her points. Look at how wounded I am, it’s a miracle that I haven’t died back then. And I should be the last person in this world to give her a lecture about stubbornness. In the end, neither of us have the right to judge the other on their chosen choice. “I don’t want to hear something like “I’ve never expected great things from you” ever again. It’s…painful, and hurts more than physical pain to my body.” What good is your life when no one expected anything from you? When people gave up hope for you, is it any different than being dead? What is the worth of an existence without a meaning, without a purpose? Please, never say anything like that to me again. “I see…” After her line, Deborah fell to silence. We didn’t continue our conversation, probably because of how awkward this has become. Maybe it’s because she realized how foolish she was, and because I myself also realized how equally foolish I am. For once, we have a common ground about something. Deborah continues to run, up until we see the sight of sunlight. Finally, we have escaped from the dark cliff. Outside of the cliff are parts of the forest. This would mean we’re still around in the competition’s battle zone. It’s entirely possible that we could get attacked from this point forward, so that means we have to be careful. As long as the opponent isn’t someone with a personal grudge like Naranath, maybe we can make it out of this place in one piece. “What took you guys so long? Having some lovey-dovey conversation?” Me and my goddamn mind! Speak of the Devil and the Devil shall come. Several trees were torn down as Naranath’s familiar made its entrance, followed by Naranath leisurely walking behind. The armored crab clangs its pincers, waiting in eager for the orders to tear us to shreds. When I took another glance at the crab, once again I saw no significant damage in its body, proving the futileness my pipe bombs. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Like winning this competition?” Before I could get a chance to say something, Deborah has already took the initiative and opened her mouth. “By which you mean playing tag with some light balls? I’m sorry, but I paid no heed for winning this shitty competition. My goal has always been this from the start.” Naranath snapped his finger. The armored crabs suddenly walks to our front and ready its pincers. However, it hasn’t attack us, yet. “Why so angry? Did this guy steal your girl or something?” Deborah asked with her annoying smirk on her face, which also annoyed me as well. “Close enough.” Naranath answered. “What? Seriously?” Deborah suddenly turns her head to my face to ask for an answer. “Don’t ask me.” I replied. “You have a knack for getting in troubles, do you know that ?” Said Deborah. “Yeah, sometimes I wish I could share this talent of mine to others.” Our little chatter is short-lived as Naranath starts yelling once again. “Shut your trap! He took my prey away, so I’ll take his life instead! Now move away, girl. This doesn’t concern you. You and I have no business with each other.” I have a feeling that Naranath would gladly order the crab to stab both of us the moment the chance presents itself. However, due to the rule about forbidding masters from fighting each other, Naranath can’t freely attack Deborah without landing himself some sort of punishment. That means Deborah is now the only thing that stands between me and death. This makes me fail as a familiar, of course. “Doesn’t concern me? He’s my familiar, goddamn it!” Deborah yelled. She looks pissed, very pissed. “So what? Does that familiar of yours actually act as your familiar? Does he actually obey your words, and do as you say? Why should you care for something that doesn’t care about you? Don’t make it harder for me now. I can reach him, and I will reach him, whether you like it or not!” “Do you actually think I’ll just stand aside and watch you do as you like ?” Naranath put on a wicked smile as he once again answers Deborah’s question. “I’m sure you don’t want to get expelled for a familiar like him.” “You think I care?” The small fire hovering on Deborah’s right arm suddenly burst into a flame with the size of a human’s head. Incidentally, several trees around Naranath’s direction were set on fire at the same moment Deborah turns up the heat of her fist. It’s pretty jarring to see her right arm is unharmed despite her hand is literally on fire, but right now, I can only feel amazed as I see the famed Flame Dragon bare her fangs. “I don’t care about your goals or your motive. I don’t even know who you are to begin with. But it doesn’t matter who or what you are. For those who dare to harm what belongs to me, be prepare to face my wrath! You’re not gonna walk out of here alive!” The threat of being expelled doesn’t flinch Deborah even just a bit. Naranath is stunned by her threat. Yet the guy doesn’t seems to be the type who would give up from mere threats like this. Believe it or not, but I think the guy has a clear advantage in this situation. His familiar may kill me and get away scot-free due to the loophole in the competition’s rules. But if Deborah attacks his familiar, she will be punished for breaking the rules. Knowing the Headmaster, Deborah would surely get expelled (along with me, provide I survived afterward). That is a scenario no one want it to come true. “Deborah! Stop! Try to think about this carefully!” However, my voice can’t reach her. The girl is totally in battle-mode right now. Her stare is totally focused on the armored crab, along with a grit of anger. She’s letting her wrath clouds her judgement! “It’s too bad. No one would want to see Lord Dargoth’s granddaughter being expelled from Melas!” “I don’t freaking care!” The girl shouted. She’s so gung-ho to the point it hurts. Yep, this is bad, real bad!! “Then, we don’t have anything left to say. Go, Basatan!” The crab gladly obey the order from Naranath. With all its might, the crab runs toward us with full force. As a counter measure, Deborah gathers even more flame to her fireball, making it even bigger than both of us combined. I can feel the heat very well, but Deborah is completely unfazed despite holding a fireball the size of a giant rock in her right hand. “Deborah! Stop! This is real bad! Stop stop stop stop!” Am I really that useless? Can’t I stop someone from fighting my battle? Why do I have to be so powerless in times that count!? Slowly, Deborah goes into her fighting stance. She’s ready to throw her fireball at the armored crab. The moment her fireball hit the crab, it will be over for both of us. Can I only watch how our doom unfold!? “Stopppppppp!!!!” That’s not my scream. That may sounds like what I should be screaming right now, but that’s not my scream. From the forest, a shadow emerged, right at the moment before the impact between the armored crab and Deborah. That thing is large, it’s roughly the size of that armored crab, and that crab is already damn big to begin with. When that thing took its entry, it rammed right in the right side of the crab and blows it away. Deborah also stopped her attack when she see that thing. That creature is a spider. A very big black spider and a total nightmare to those who have arachnophobia. However, the spider doesn’t seem to be an enemy. It’s facing toward Naranath. On top of the spider, there is a girl with purple hair. As she stands firm on the spider’s back, the girl loudly shouts. “Stop right there, both of you!!!” “Amadia…” I mumbled. The girl gives us a quick glance before turning her total attention to Naranath. “Stop this right now, Naranath! If you want me, then here I am! This is our personal problem, don’t get them involved in this!” Naranath grits his teeth and clenches his fist. Pay no heed to the girl, he shouts orders to his familiar. The crab quickly response and run to his side when it got its footing back, still looking unharmed despite taking the full force of the spider’s ramming. With the appearance of Amadia and her familiar, this whole affair has become a lot more complicated. “Shut up! All of you…just die and die!” No negotiations, no lectures about a higher cause. The fight continue the moment Naranath gave his familiar the order to kill. This time, the armored crab brandishes its blade-pincers. It takes a lunge at Amadia’s giant spider. However, if I can see the attack coming even at my position (behind Deborah’s back), then there’s no reason for Amadia to not to see it coming. “Atlach-Nacha!” The huge spider suddenly jumped. From thirty meters above the ground, it points its rear toward the armored crab and shoot several web bullets. The spider webs hit the crab with force as strong as a real elephant gun. However, all they did were to glue the crab to the ground instead of giving it any significant damage. But maybe that was Amadia’s intention all along, as her spider fall to the ground and smashed the crab on impact. “Did that work?” As spectators, I and Deborah can only watch in awe of how the battle unfold. The drop attack from the spider left the surface full of dust, covering the aftermath of the fight. However, we don’t have to wait long to see the after result: The crab is still as strong as ever, and it retaliated by stabbing the spider’s body in return. The crab begins struggling to get away from the big spider, making the scene look like a rodeo ride with a spider on top and a crab at the bottom. As comedic as this is, it’s not the time for me to have a laugh. “Run, you two!” Amadia shouted as she narrowly escapes the crab’s blade-pincers. Her words helps us realize it’s not time for us to stand idly. But to run away when she’s fighting for our sake? Really? Am I once again powerless to do anything for myself, for others ? “Tch.” Deborah tutted. She begins to run away, with me on her back. Neither of us are unable to say anything as the fight between the familiars is still going on behind our back. Before long, we can no longer hear any sound but Deborah’s footsteps. Is this how it’s going to end? Deborah keeps running and running. I have a feeling that with every she steps she take, little by little, everything I believed in begin to fade away. My ideal of not being a burden to anyone. My quest to be someone that people can rely on. My purpose to gain myself pride and honor. Yet, I can’t even muster enough courage to do the right thing, to do what I’m supposed to do right now. “Are you content with this?” “…?” Suddenly, Deborah let out a voice. Slowly, slowly, she stops her track and eventually stopped moving. She doesn’t look back, and just content with hearing my answer alone. “You, who have tasted the fear of death. Right now, you have the right to choose your fate. One word, and I’ll carry you outside of this battleground, but what awaits you after that…is the consequence that you’ll have to face by yourself.” Said Deborah. “But…if you don’t want to do that, if your heart’s telling you this is not the right thing to do, then show me your will. Show me…your resolve, Akuma.” “…” I fall into silence as I try to sort out my thoughts. Wait, what I am thinking? Do I even NEED to think about this!? My answer has always been with me from the start, and it’s definitely not “Running away”! “Let me go, Deborah.” I said. “You sure?” “Let me go!” I shouted. “Sure.” In true Deborah fashion, immediately after her short response, Deborah dropped me to the ground without giving me any prior warning nor help. Well, maybe that’s exactly what I need right now, a pump to remind myself of my moment of weakness. I pour my strength to my weakened legs and arms. This time, I won’t let them fail me! Get up, goddamn it! “Never again…I’ll let others fight my battles…for me!” My left arm push my upper body up. “Not you. Not Amadia.” With my right leg as a fulcrum, I push my remaining body off the ground and once again pridefully hold my head high to the sky as I stand firm with my own two legs. “Not anyone. Not anymore.” However, my mortal body still wants to fail me again. My right leg gives out and almost make me fall again…if not for Deborah’s arm to hold me back and give me an arm to continue standing. “You may want to fight your battles. But it won’t hurt to get yourself some supports, right?” I’m amused. To think Deborah of all people is the one who spouted lines like that. “Right. Let’s go back.” With Deborah’s help, we turn back to the direction of the fight. However, it seems like the fight can’t afford to wait, so it decided to come to us instead. From afar, a spider suddenly flies to the area nearby. However, its landing isn’t exactly good. This is very familiar to how the fight between the crab and the bear earlier ended. Let’s hope the worst didn’t happen. “Amadia!” I shouted. Together with Deborah, we walk to the site of the crash. When we get there, the spider is lying inside a small crater created from the impact, with its body’s covered in stab wounds, along with several missing legs. Its master – Amadia – isn’t far away from the spider. She’s also lying on the ground. The girl may be unconscious, but the twitching of her body indicated that she’s still alive. “You go to look after her familiar. I’ll check out Amadia.” Deborah doesn’t question my words. Between the two of them, the spider sustained more injuries than its master. It may die if it doesn’t has any medical attention right now, and we don’t want that to happen again. As Deborah begins to take a look at the spider, I also walk to Amadia’s direction. With my hand, I hold her upper body up the ground and begin giving a wound check. Aside from a small bleeding on her head due to impact with the ground, there seems to be no serious external injuries. “Sorry…I screwed up…” Slowly, Amadia mumbled. She’s breathing heavily. I need to do something. “It’s okay. We’re here for you.” Quickly, I reach for the syringes inside my cloak and get a pain-killer medicine out. “This may sting a little.” With my syringe, I injected the pain killer to the girl’s arm. She grunts for a second, but the girl calms down after the medicine’s effect kicks in. Slowly, Amadia regains her conscious back. “Why didn’t you run?” Still in the middle of regaining her breath, Amadia asked. “Well, I just want to tell you that I haven’t done making your present in time. So, I’m sorry.” The girl just gave me a weak laugh in reponse. “Really? I’m mad, you know. I thought…you forgot.” “Almost. I almost forgot. But don’t worry, I’ll definitely give it to you.” I answered. “You better be.” Once again, the girl smiles. I can only smile in return to comfort the poor girl After Deborah was done healing the spider, she instantly turns to Amadia and cast a healing spell on her as well. Obviously, she done a better job with her healing spells than me and my pain-killers, but hey, it’s something. Though, I’m a little worried about the healing of the spider. Let’s hope that the rules will tolerate the act of a master healing another’s familiar. “We don’t have much time. Naranath and his familiar will soon find us.” When Amadia recovered, she begins to tell us of her earlier battle. Apparently, none of her attacks worked so far. That crab is as tough as a tank. No matter how strong she rammed, that crab didn’t even flinch. All she did in that fight was getting her familiar a bunch of wounds on its body. “This is futile.” Said Deborah. I know she may be able to defeat that thing if the rules didn’t bind her hands, but life isn’t that convenient, isn’t it? Time is running out. I guess I could throws away a hope to win this competition the proper way, but ain’t no way in hell I’m gonna walk out here without getting my payback to that piece of crab. “No, it’s not.” Deborah, and Amadia as well, look surprised as I answer her line. “Amadia’s fight, and my defeat. All of them are not in vain.” I may lost a battle, but ain’t no way in hell I’m gonna lose this war! “That means…?” I nodded to Deborah’s question. “I may have a plan that can defeat that thing. But it can only works with the combined effort from all three of us.”
Chapter 22: A drop of snow at the season's start Spoiler “A plan? Are you sure your plan will work?” Deborah gave me a look of disbelief. Well, the guy who just got himself beaten to a pulp suddenly announced that he has a plan to defeat his bully. I won’t blame her since even I don’t know if my plan will work as intended. But… “Do any of you have a plan?” Suddenly, Amadia, who is fully healed by now, raises her hand. “…That doesn’t involve ramming that thing to death?” Predictably, Amadia lowers her hand and begins to make a sad puppy face. Deborah just sighs as she scratches her head while brainstorming a plan of herself to no avail. “Okay, if you want to be the man in charge then do as you like. Tell us your plan, but make it quick.” Come on. What are we? A bunch of kids still arguing over who get to be the boss? “Geez. Listen up girls, here’s the plan…” … After several intel exchange with Amadia, my plan has been solidified with the help from Amadia’s own experience. I quickly tell the girls their roles before our time run out. The two of them accepted their roles rather easy, maybe because I saved the most dangerous role for myself. It can’t be helped…since it’s the role only I can do, and that’s not exactly a good thing in this situation. Before we knew it, the armored crab has already found its way here. Naranath however is nowhere in sight. This could be a good sign. “Commence operation!” My body hasn’t regain all of its strength yet, so once again I have to rely on Deborah in order to walk away. Amadia however has her own role to fulfill. The now fully healed spider is waiting for its master. Amadia jumps on to the back of the spider, she grabs a hold of it and orders it to jump up to the sky. Now, whether my plan works or not depend on the armored crab’s reaction. “Jump, damn it, jump.” And jump it did. Taking the bigger bait, the armored crab decided to go after Amadia and her big ass spider. This totally confirm its master’s absence, and two of my theories as well. The first one is its intelligence. When its master is in range, the crab prioritizes his orders rather than its own instincts, as shown by the previous encounter between Amadia and Naranath. However, when the master is out of the picture, the crab instead prioritizes its own instincts for the hunt. It does not possess basic thinking abilities, but it still have some hunting instincts inside of it. And that’s where my second theory kicks in. How can a crab hunt without the ability to hear or see? It’s simple: Motion. I don’t know the exact mechanic, but the crab feels the motion of its prey in order to locate their position. I came up to this theory after I have another review at my first encounter with that damn crab. The moment I began to throw the pipe bomb behind its back, it reacted instantly and retaliated. Well, it seems to prioritizes bigger motions, as shown by Amadia’s role as a bait earlier. But that isn’t important right now. She got its attention, and whether this plan works or not depend on how much time she can buy us, and how far can she lure it to the place where its master has no power over the crab’s actions. We have to move to phase two of the plan. “Do you know where you’re going?” “How hard can it be to find some vacant land?” Deborah answered my question. That's not very reassuring, you know? “Can’t you walk faster?” Deborah asked. “Come on, I’m not healed yet.” It’s pretty jarring since I’m struggling with my own healing process when the big ass spider earlier has already capable of jumping around after a medical session with Deborah. Seriously, I’m worse than a spider. “It can’t be helped.” Deborah sighed and spoke. Suddenly, the girl drops my arm, and begins to…bridal carry me instead. “Wait wait wait! I’m fine with walking! Really!” “Shut your trap. We don’t have time to waste.” And with that, Deborah carried me away on her arms, while running at full speed. Manly pride? What is that? I certainly don’t have one anymore. “I can’t be a groom anymore…” As swift as a wind, Deborah carries me across the forest. She seems to know her way around the forest really well. I guess I can rely on her in this aspect. It doesn’t take long until the torture of my pride is over and we get to the intended location: A big enough vacant land to execute my plan. “Okay okay, let me go.” Wait, I almost forgot. “And let me put my feet to the ground first. I said let me go, not drop me down.” Deborah once again throws me a look of disbelief. Dear god, is this how you should treat the injured? It’s a good thing she listened to my words, for once. The girl gently let me down to the ground. By now, my wounds has almost healed. I walk to the center of the vacant land, a place big enough to lay a trap and build a morgue for that damn crab. “I’ll get to work right away.” I don’t have time to waste while Amadia is buying time for us. I get down on my knees and start drawing a magic circle, one big enough to contain that crab. However, it seems like I had some miscalculation. My drawing speed is too slow to make this in time. Just right at that moment, I saw Deborah goes to the opposite of my direction, and she started drawing as well. “You won’t finish this in time with that speed of yours. Let me help as well.” I can only nod in response. I need all the help I could get right now. “You take that part, I’ll take this.” Together, the both of us quickly finish drawing the magic circle. This may sounds weird, but magic circles can be draw by more than two people, even if they were draw by the use of soul energy. But that isn’t important right now. We got the job done, and that’s it. “This is the manual type, so I’ll have to stay and active it by myself.” I said as we finished with the final touch. “Are you really sure your plan would work?” Asked Deborah. Even after agreeing to my plan, she still doesn’t seem convinced. “Come on, I’m not omniscient. There are things you can only find out by trying.” I let out a weak smile as I take my position just outside of the magic circle. We have customized this magic circle to active only when its master order it to. Namely, hitting the activating switch themselves. A mere physical interaction by others will not active it. Right now, only I or Deborah can make this thing works. But…due to my own role, I’ll have to stay here to make it works myself. “You could die, you know?” “Yes, but I don’t intend to die here.” Not until I have my payback, at least. Deborah sighed. She put on her saddened face yet again. I put on a smile to console the girl, but it doesn’t work as well as I thought. From our position, we can see Amadia’s fight against the crab up in the sky. Both side obviously don’t have the ability to fly, but seeing a battle between a spider and a crab in the middle of the blue sky is a rather…awesome moment in itself. Amadia, who’s currently on the back of her spider, suddenly casts some lightning magic. But rather than directly attacking the crab with her spell (which could get her expelled), the girl however imbues her own spider with her lightning spell instead. The spider glows purple for a second, until it shoots out several lightning bolts from its mouth toward the crab. The armored crab was hit by the lightning bolts, but it showed no sign of pain, and continue to approach Amadia’s spider to attack. I guess this marked the confirmation for my third and final theory: There’s nothing inside the crab. It doesn’t feel pain, because there are no flesh inside of its body to begin with. It is a literal walking armor, not a crab wearing armor. I asked Amadia several questions about her fight with that crab before, and her answers confirmed my suspicions. When her spider attack, the sounds after her attacks indicated that there is nothing under the crab. This raise more questions than answers. But it’s no longer matter to me anymore, whatever it really is, it won’t stop me from doing what I’m going to do. “Give her the signal, Deborah.” After hearing my order, Deborah begins to gather a bunch of fire in her right hand. Aim at the air, Deborah throws her fireball upward. It leaves a trail of fire behind on its path. When it reached its peak, the fireball exploded. It’s like a one ball firework show, it makes me miss the old firework festivals back in my world. But this is no time to reminisce. When she saw the signal, Amadia ordered her spider to shoot out a web at the crab, but it left a string of web which still connects to the spider’s rear. The spider suddenly pulls its butt, dragging it toward the crab, and the crab toward it as well. With the force of a dreadful truck, the spider rams the crab and shoot it down to the ground. Newton’s third law also kicks in, as the force from the impact also shoots the spider to the opposite direction. However, it lands pretty safely when the spider shoots another web at the trees in the forest, making itself a trampoline for safe landing. Using the bouncing of the web, the spider once again departs from the ground. This time, it landed to the place where I and Deborah made the magic circle. “How’s your side, Akuma?” Asked Amadia when she’s done landing. “Already done.” I answered with a confident smile on my face. “Then, I shall fulfill my last task as well! Atlach-Nacha!” The girl begins ordering her own familiar to…dance. Well, she just ordered her spider to jump up and down, stomping the ground in the process. It really looks like a cultural dance from the spider kind, though. This may seems ridiculous, but in order to lure the crab to the trap we laid, this is the best way we that we can think of. The more motions the spider made, the more tempting the bait will become. However, there’re still several things left that need to be done. “Deborah, it’s time.” I turn to Deborah and give her the cue. “Are you really sure about this?” “We don’t have time to argue anymore, okay?” Deborah doesn’t look happy. Well, I’m sure I’m not in the position to feel happy as well, knowing what I’m going to do. But this is something that has to be done. I don’t have any other choice left, except from this. Deborah raises her hand toward me. Her lips start chanting the magic words. Soon, a faint light gather near my legs, indicating the spell has done casting. The speed enhancement spell has been casted. For a limited time, my legs will be pushed to their utmost limits, and when they’re done, unbearable pain will follow and torments the one who dared to tap into this forbidden power. But that’s a risk I’m willing to take, and I don’t care, since I’m going to do something even more dangerous than that. From my cloak, I take out a syringe with a white liquid inside. My secret weapon, while it still hasn’t taken any tests before due to the shortage of time, but right now, it doesn’t matter when the situation could got worse without the use of this stuff. I stab the syringe to my right arm and pump the liquid inside my veins. I throw away the syringe when I’m done. The only thing I could do right now…is waiting for the drug to take effect. From the sky, the giant enemy crab can be seen as it took a jump toward us. Knowing her role has ended, Amadia also retreated, but not after giving me some words of encouragement. “May Lord Dargoth’s blessing bring you victory!” I just smile in return. The girl quickly takes her leave, along with Deborah, at first. “If you die here, I’ll kill you.” Said Deborah, before she runs away as well. “Good luck with that.” Once again, I smile in amusement. If I die here, how else can she kill me? “It’s here.” I mumbled to myself at the sight of the approaching crab. Just several meters left before it land. Right at that moment, I slam my hand to the magic circle, activating it. “Go to hell!” The very moment the crab’s legs touch the surface, the ground itself sunk at the places the crab’s legs touched, like a hole of quicksand. But this isn’t just a “mere” quicksand. The land itself extend to the crab’s legs and bind it like a chain. It doesn’t take long until half of its body is under the ground. It was trapped. This spell…the spell I and Deborah prepared, is the 「Distortion」 spell. It’s also the spell I used in the exam earlier in order to destroy the designated rock. Well, to deal with a crab this size, of course I and Deborah made several customizations, which included the binding part. The plan at first is to sunk that piece of crab deep into the ground, but seeing how it struggled to get out the trap, I see my backup plan will have its use after all. From my cloak, I take out my baby: A box that contain a RG Bomb, the kind that could destroy the hardest rocks. And I’m going to do to that crab what I have done to the rock in my earlier exam. “Urghh…!” I growled as my vision get narrowed to a tunnel, signifying the effect from the drug I just used earlier. My throat is dry and is on fire. I can feel my heart is having its own flamenco dancing party in my chest. The sounds made by the crab get quieter and quieter. Yes, it is working alright. The drug I used earlier was made from the 「Spirit Calling」 flowers, the ones Kardia used to decorate her room. Their pollen is said to cause hallucination and other undesirable effects to the mind of living beings, but after several closer inspections, I found out that all it did is to stimulate adrenaline, dopamine and norepinephrine. With the help from Kardia, we created this drug with the sole reason to help me cope with the speed of Deborah’s enhancement spell. Namely, this drug’s purpose is to made an artificial Tachy Psyche effect, or usually known as fight or flight response. In the trance I’m currently experience, time itself seems to have slow down, but it’s only in my mind. Just a matter of perception, like how I ended up in that dark cliff. Now, with all the pieces have already fell into places, it’s paypack time! “Ughhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!” I screamed like a beast as I carry the bomb while running to the crab. Feeling the motions I made, the crab reacts and swing its pincers toward me. However, with the god-sent speed granted to me by Deborah, and the mind capable of matching that speed, I easily dodge the blades and run along on the blades’ bodies in order to reach the crab’s main core. When I’m standing on its body, the crab violently shakes itself in an attempt to get me off to the ground. “Stay still while I kill you, you stupid crab!” I yelled while searching for holes in its body in order to shove the bomb inside. However, there are none big enough to do the job. Tch, I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way. “Eat bombs and die !” Choosing the joints that look weak, I shove several pipe bombs into those joints to made a hole for my purpose. I briefly run to the ground in order to avoid the explosion. When the job is done and a BOOM sound is made, the close range explosion did put a dent on the crab this time. A hole has been made, while it isn’t big, but it’s still small enough to get the job done. “I’ll violate your hole, b*tch!” Feel excited by the drug, I push the RG bomb up to its hole, after I activated it, of course. When I confirm the bomb has been successfully planted, with all my might, I ran off from the crab body. Right at this moment, the crab’s danger instinct kicks in. It struggles like there is no tomorrow and pushes itself off the ground, despite more than half of its body has already submerged by the earth. However, despite all of its effort, Deborah’s magic made me far more than a match for the crab’s speed. I safely reach the forest in time, but not until I flip that piece of shit off one last time. “It’s already over!” The clock ticks. The timer has been set. And the bomb does what it was made for. BOOM The crab exploded from the inside. Its bodies are scattered everywhere from the explosion. What remains of the crab are…nothing, since everything left of it have already been scattered. Armors, blades, they are all useless now when the main body is gone for good. As the sight of the crab’s defeat reached the eyes of the girls, the two of them step out of the forest when they know it’s safe to do so. “We did it.” I spoke. However, the two girl didn’t answer, and I know why they didn’t. Naranath was a friend of Amadia, now she has play a hand in the destruction of his familiar. It’s like killing the pet dog of your former friend. It never feel good. And Deborah, well, she’s looking at me, knowing I can’t keep this victory charade any longer when my own clock is ticking as well. From the other side of the forest, Naranath has finally caught up to us. However, the result probably something he didn’t account for. His familiar right now has become a bunch of scraps, while his enemy is still living and walking. The guy holds a remaining blade from the crab on his hand and look toward us. His face is expressionless, but I can feel anger is boiling inside his heart. “You all will pay for this. Mark my word.” After he’s done with his threat, Naranath just simply takes that blade and calmly walk away. As much as I want to comment about this, I’m afraid my time has run out as well. And so, I fell unconscious, again, as my body gave out to the drug’s effect and the feedback from the enhancement spell. ------------------------------ The infirmary is rarely busy, one must wonder what is the point to build an infirmary this big when people rarely use it. And today is also just like always. Except from one patient, and one visitor, there are no other persons at the infirmary right now. Akuma is soundly sleeping on the white bed of the infirmary, it doesn’t seems like he’s going to wake up in any minutes. The vase beside his bed is full of fresh flower, gifts from people who are the friends that paid him a visit, and from some sympathizers who watched his fight against Basatan and admire him for his courage. However, gifts are still gifts. People come and people go, but those who stay by the side of a sleeping patient are the true gifts a patient should receive, and only one did. “Deborah.” The girl’s name was called, averting her attention from the 「The Knight and the Flame Dragon」 novel on her hand to the person who just called her name. To the direction of the infirmary entrance, Deborah saw the Headmaster walking to her, who’s still in her usual attire, along with her own staff. “You didn’t leave even when it’s two days already?” “That isn’t something you should be concern about.” Deborah answered Nilrem’s question. The Headmaster can only smile in amusement. “Your friends have already prepared for departure. You don’t want to bid them farewell?” “It’s just a month, it’s not like they’re going to die somewhere.” The Headmaster is talking about the upcoming New Year vacation. When the exam ended and the results were posted, the next day is also the day the students of Melas get to visit their home until their vacation is over. However, for some reason, Deborah is still here, despite the vacation has already started. “If you don’t have any business here then leave me be. I don’t want to see your face.” “Come on, you’re being cold to your guardian, you know?” “If you’re indeed my guardian then don’t go and do actions that say otherwise!” Deborah gave the Headmaster a stare before resuming the reading of her novel. The Headmaster just sighed while she walks closer to the girl, preparing to go to her main business. “I haven’t got the chance to ask you about this…but…why did you decide to make him disqualified from the competition that day?” Deborah quietly grunted. She closes her book once again, but hasn’t answer the Headmaster yet. With out looking at the Headmaster, the girl speaks. “The conditions you gave me were either Akuma enter the Familiar competition, or he get expelled, right?” “Well, yes, indeed. Those are the two.” Deborah gave a pause before she continue. “Then I don’t see any meaning for him to fight after he entered the competition.” The Headmaster looks confused for a second, before realizing what is the meaning of the girl’s words. “Ho, you exploited a loophole. Not bad.” The conditions have never been about “winning”, it’s “entering” the contest or get expelled. Deborah exploited that to her own agenda. But… “It would be easier if he just listen to my words for once, then all of this…would have never happen.” One may argue that if Deborah be more honest, things wouldn’t happen this way. But then again… “Stupid guy. You and your stubbornness.” Deborah gave the sleeping patient a glare before returning to stare at the Headmaster herself. The woman just chuckles in amusement. “Ho ho. Interesting. This is better than I thought.” “What do you mean by that?” The Headmaster gives a pause before answering. “Listen well, Deborah. Even if you successfully exploited the loophole from my condition, I will expel him as if he failed my conditions as well.” “What!? Why!?” Deborah shouted. She stood up from her seat and dropped the novel to the ground. However, her gaze is still fixed on the mouth of the Headmaster. “Are you that petty of a person!?” “No no, I admit, your idea is brilliant, but you didn’t account for everything good enough.” The Headmaster smiled again. She seems amused by Deborah’s reaction. “What do you mean by that?” “There’s still another condition I told you that day. It is about his performance, his school results.” “That…” Deborah suddenly remembered. The promise of performance Akuma gave to the Headmaster at his enrollment. The Headmaster told her about that, but to think she would apply it to this situation… “Even if you successfully pull him out of the competition, I won’t expel him for not entering the competition, yes. But I will expel him due to his performance wasn’t able to match my expectation instead. Deborah, you almost doom him to the bad end you tried to avoid, by your own hands.” “It…can’t be…” Deborah looks stunned. Her lips are trembling from the terrible truth she just heard. Her gaze is shaking in disbelief. “Deborah, you didn’t save him. The boy saved himself. If he didn’t persist on fighting and give up, he would essentially doom himself. I will expel him right after that. But it seems like fate still want him around after all.” Still shocked by the truth, Deborah can’t react from the woman’s words. She can’t even notice the appearance of the witch Walpurga from the entrance as she approached the Headmaster for something. “We found several traces of infiltration at the Chapel.” “I see. I’ll be there in a moment.” The witch teacher took her leave. The infirmary room returns to the quiet place it once was. The old witch and the young girl exchange gazes, until the old witch also excuse herself, but not without giving the girl some last words. “Perhaps you should open your heart more, Deborah. You can’t fight the world by yourself.” The witch left afterward. Deborah falls silent, both because there is no one to talk to, and because the girl herself didn’t have anything left to talk about. Deborah throws a gaze at the sleeping man, before walking toward the window for some fresh air. As she opens the window, a cold breeze flew inside. Today is colder than the other days. And from the sky, it fell. Snow, snow drops. It’s snowing. The first snow of the cold season, beginning to fill the land in white. A snowdrop fell on Deborah’s hand. The cold of the snow melted from the heat in her hand. The girl felt it, and it mended her emotion-filled heart. All the signs have already showed themselves. There’s no mistaking it. Winter has come.
Chapter 23: The war to end all war Spoiler The first day in the Demon Realm’s calendar has finally arrived. The 1st of the Month of Dark, P.D 1014. Snow has already covered the land in white. Winter has finally come, and so, animals also take their turn to hibernate themselves to sleep through the cold and harsh Winter. Yes, winter is the time to rest from the hard work in the earlier Fall to men and animals alike. A chance to be together with their family, feasting on good food, engaging in random chatters, all in the name of wasting time until the cold winter past by and the long-awaited spring arrives. Yet, despite the cold and the harshness of winter, men still prevail as the most foolish creatures ever created. Legions upon legions of men cladded in armor begin to gather at all sides of the vast Asphodel Meadows. From the west are the humans and their allies from the Nine Kingdoms Alliance. And at the east are the grunt soldiers of the Demon Realm. Despite the heavy snowing, each side all look like they are ready for a bloody fight. What looks to be the beginning of another war is, however, just a “annual” demonstration of power from the two opposing factions. This demonstration consists of both side gathering every man they could, wear them in imposing armors and arm them with cheap weapons before sending them to stand under the cold till the end of the day. After ten years of constant showcases of power, the soldiers from both sides more or less mutually agreed that this day is the traditional “Get yourself a cold” day. This day was originated from the ceasefire ten years ago, in the aftermath of the Hundred Years War. The negotiation back then ended when both side agreed to stop fighting for a period of time. However, due to the circumstances in that time period, the demons lost a huge chunk of their former frontier – the Primero region – to the occupation of the Alliance at the end of the war, and the ceasefire has denied their chance to take it back. They still need time to rebuild their now-weakened army, however, so the attack plan was stalled. In fear of retaliation during their own recovering period, the Alliance invested a lot of resources and manpower to the defense of their new frontier – called by the demons as the Dark Line. In a fit of paranoia, the top guys in charge of the Alliance believed that their enemy may attack when they least expect it, especially during the Demon Realm’s sacred holiday. And so, at every start of winter, the Alliance mobilized every man in their disposal in preparation to counter the invasion attempts from the demons (in their head). Ironically, the Demon Realm’s top brass actually interpreted this as an attempt to invade them instead! So, they also gathered their own men at the start of every winter in order to bolster the defense of their land from threats made by the imagination of the Alliance’s top heads. Each aggression from one side lead to the paranoia of the other. A grand scale comedy that amuses even the now absent gods. And so, this charade has already going on for ten long winters. While there are still conflicts and battles here and there, none actually reached the scale required in order to reigniting the great war of the past. A common belief from both side is: The moment a drop of blood is shed in this day will mark the beginning of this century’s greatest war. But both sides dare not to make it happen…at least for now, until they have enough men to throw and enough swords to break. The land in Primero region are vast, but their resources aren’t actually worth enough to defend to the last man. However, the people from the Kingdom of Metallum – the kingdom at the farthest east of the west continent – want anything but another war on their own shores. That leads them to become the biggest investor of soldiers to maintain and defend this one-ocean-away realm. The soldiers of Metallum made up the bulk of the Alliance’s infantry. While a set of armor was once the privilege only the noble knights can have, this kingdom of Metal pride themselves as the only army who can brag every one of their soldiers is armed to the teeth! The common attire for a son of Metallum is a full set of iron armor, along with an iron shield and an iron sword. The most special thing about their equipment is that they are all self-sufficient. Yes, their equipment are not provided by the military, but from their own family instead, or bought from an iron workshop with reasonable price. It’s a family tradition of Metallum to provide their sons with weapons and armors before they go off to battle. This is a cultural thing, due to this kingdom being a nation of blacksmiths. There’s an old custom from Metallum which is to present a hammer, a pitch-fork and a sword in front of a one-year old child. If that child picks a hammer, he will become a blacksmith. The pitch-fork is a farmer. And the sword, is a soldier. However, no matter how strategically important the Primero region is, constantly defending a vast chunk of land will inevitable put a dent on the occupier’s economy. And indeed, it has. Metallum can’t bear the cost of defending Primero alone, after drafting a lot of their men and contributing tons and tons of weapons and resources. And so, that’s where the other kingdoms jump in, in the form of military and supply aid, along with the provision of advisors and generals. They get the benefit of having a sturdy defense wall just by opening their wallets and sending a few men. Of course, Metallum’s king back then – the late King of Iron – didn’t want to be used as a mere puppet, so he demanded the other kings to send their own armies as well. After years of arguing, the other kings agreed to send their own men to the frontier, little by little, until this coalition army gains the strength it has today. Then again, it would seems like being petty is a requirement to become a King in the West continent. The amount of men sent by each Kingdom barely qualify as a regiment, let alone an army. Even if the number steadily rise higher with the passing of time, the King of Iron wasn’t exactly pleased. With the rising of numbers among the demons’ army, the king demanded the others to send a huge chunk of their army to the Primero region for the purpose of “maneuver” during the demons’ new year. The other kings complied in order to stay on the good side of the King of Iron, but they still have their own condition: That is to withdraw the borrowed forces after the end of the new year day. Yes, these vast, thousands upon thousands strong armies are only here just for a day to show off their might, before withdrawing to their own land. Another charade made by the kings in the name of defending their lands. It’s not a far sketch to say that nine out of ten men stationed at this land wouldn’t want to be here if they had a choice, the one guy that says otherwise probably belong to a mercenary group. Yes, when you have the money to throw but don’t have enough men to send, and there are a bunch of mercenaries longing to kill all the things that move, why not hire them and get the trouble over with? And so, alongside with the main army, the kings decided to employ these men who kill to get food to stomach, a bed to sleep and a woman to sleep together with. Using mercenaries have its own perks, you don’t have to care about these mad men and just use them like disposable tissue. If ten die, just hire ten more. They don’t get covered by the laws of war, so they are a good tool to use for dirty jobs that the normal army can’t partake without consequences. There are still a lot of things to say about the armies of the Heaven Realm, but if we list every single one of those right now, it’ll take a whole day! On the opposite of the Alliance’s coalition army, the Demon Realm’s army at the Dark Line is made from one or two race only, rather than the mess the Alliance called an army. Demon Realm’s army, usually called the Regular army, are mostly consists of the human’s darker counterpart – the Devilmen. While Demon Realm is also a multiracial nation, they know even if they are united under a common banner, it won’t be easy to have and maintain a unified army made from various races. The more exotic races have their own tasks in demon’s military hierarchy, and so, they were stationed far away from the Dark Line, at the southern part of the East continent, leaving the Devilmen as the primary force to defend the frontier. However, the Orcs have the privilege to join the Devilmen in battle, due to how powerful an ally this race is and how the two have a very odd friendship, despite the…stuff from the past. Whenever the frontier is in danger, the Orcs mobilized all their forces and go to help out. However, days like these where both side engaging in staring contest don’t sit well with the Orcs, so their absent today among the demon’s ranks is justified. The Regular army was divided into three section: The North Corp, the Central Corp and the South Corp. Each corp is about 50000 men strong, guarding their own assigned sections. While in term of numbers, the Alliance’s coalition army dwarfs the demons’ by miles, but a common Devilman has twice the strength of a normal human, and each of them also have their own trump cards to play in order to even the odds. Numbers are not the deciding factor in this kind of war, even when quantity is a quality in its own. The regular army is not alone, however. They have a helping hand from the cadets of Melas. These young students had undergo enough military training to function as elite soldiers. While the main task of the regular army is to make the bulk of the defense line, the cadets’ missions are more varied, range from recon, support, reinforcement to assassination, spying and sabotage. No matter what you are, as long as you’re standing on the Dark Line, you will have your own purpose, be it a soldier among the living, or an immobile corpse among the dead. ------------------- 「Asphodel Meadows - Central」 Ever since the morning of the new year, several legions from the Central Corp have already gathered at the east of the vast meadow. Men upon men clad in exotic armors marched to their designated areas and made their formation. Each regiment has their own type of armor, which differ in designs. Unlike the human-like standard armor counterpart of their enemy, the demons made their armor based on the images of monsters to strike fear to the enemy. It’s also a way to differentiate soldiers from different regions, which each place having their own culture and belief to mark on their armor design. On their opposite, their enemy has already done the same with their own men. Their banners held high among the forests made of men, with each banner belong to various vassal forces loyal to the crown of Metallum. Alongside them are small flags for smaller forces, namely the mercenaries. Mercenaries don’t have their own type of armors to distinguish themselves as a single force, so they use flags and flags bearers instead. Each flag indicate a different mercenary group. The more flags they hold, the bigger their group is. And now, after playing the mind game of formation strategy, the two sides will now proceed to begin the yearly epic staring contest till the end of the day. Snow has already covered the meadow in the color white. Yet, it still keeps falling and doesn’t seems to stop in any moment. Heavier, and heavier. Colder, and colder. One may wonder if a snowstorm is going to come. Despite that, the men from both side don’t seem to flinch even from the harsh weather. But the question is: For how long? “This is so irritating!” Whispered a soldier among the demons’ ranks. He’s wearing a grey armor, along with a face concealing helmet in the shape of a wolf, while holding a spear in one hand and a shield with a wolf emblem in the other. Normally, chatters aren’t allowed when the soldiers are in formation. But that doesn’t stop the soldiers from whispering to each other to kill time. Of course, the higher ranking officers may catch and punish them for this undisciplined behavior of theirs, but then again, they are punished only when they get caught. “What good would come from whining? Just shut up, will ya?” Said another soldier standing in the same formation. “Arghhh! Damn it. You’re saying like you don’t want to go home in time for the New Year instead of standing here in this shitty place!” The soldier is talking about a custom among the grunt soldiers at the frontier. Knowing how hard it could be for the soldiers to fight so far away from home, before the start of new year, the commanders of each legion will nominate a bunch of outstanding soldiers and grant them a short vacation home. The thing is, what the commanders may see as “outstanding” really depends on their subjective view, so a little bribe to stay away from this shithole of a place for a brief time isn’t exactly unheard of. “I missed my girlfriend.” Said a third soldier who decided to join in the chatter. “She probably dumped you for some fat guy already.” Again, another joined the fray. Justified, as a jovial chatter may bring some warmth for the soldiers amidst the white snow field. “Hey hey, I believe in my girl. She won’t betray me.” “Yeah, keep believing.” Before the chatter could continue however, it seems like the commander of this group has already catch on to something and decided to give a glance at the soldiers. Of course, they shut their trap right before they get themselves some punishment given by the commander. Only when the commander decided to do his own thing did the soldiers resume their little chatter. “Urghhh. I want to go home. I can’t believe that piece of shit from the scouting squad actually get chosen to go home instead.” “You mean that newcomer Lapidoth? Come on, stop being a petty little shit, you twat.” “But I swear! How can a guy who always back out from a crowded fight be chosen? He probably bribed the commander just to get his ass home!” Several soldiers sighed. “Come on, let’s face it, getting yourself into a huge chunk of men beating the tar out of each other is nothing more than a glorified suicide. We’re not the Orcs, damn it, so stop thinking on the same page with them.” Once again, the commander gave the soldiers a glance, and they quickly shut up before returning to chat. On the opposite of their location, more and more men from the Alliance’s army has also arrived and begin to take their formation as well. “Geez. They keep coming in droves.” One soldier wearing a boar helmet commented. “Just for today only though. I heard that in order to compensate for the numbers, those brats from Melas will have to get their asses over here as well.” “I pity those kids, really. Fighting a war that is not theirs.” “It’s their choice. Can’t blame them if they want shed blood on their own accord. We, on the other hand, just want the paycheck.” Right at that moment, another soldier interjects in. “But did we actually earn them though, when our job is staring at the enemy hard enough?” “You forgot the monster slaying part.” “The kids partook that as well, even more often than us. I have a feeling that they are the ones who are really fighting this war, not us.” All the soldiers sighed at the same time. “I feel useless. The face-concealing helmet doesn’t help. It’s like I’m a minor character waiting to be killed in a shitty novel or something.” “Minor? Stop making yourself look important! From what I can see, you’re nothing more than a mere nameless grunt character that will die no matter what!” “Geez. Just stop it, will ya? Stop making me feel so depressed.” A soldier sighed yet again. “When will our torment end…I wonder?” “Just wait for another year, lads.” Suddenly, a strange voice came, one that doesn’t belong to any of the soldiers. In front of the soldiers are their own commander, who keep giving glances to the young soldiers beneath his rank. “Commander!” All the soldiers straighten their backs and get a firm hold of their spears. “Another year, and we can kiss the Dark Line goodbye, lads!” “That means…” All the soldiers knew what the commander is implying. “Just bear with it for another year. Until then, fulfill your own duty, soldiers! No, demons of the Demon Realm!” “Sir yes sir! We shall give our life to the Demon Realm, sir!” Said the soldiers in unison. With this, the commander left once again to fulfill his own duty. Despite the lack of punishment for breaking the military’s rules, the young soldiers still felt inclined to keep the silence due to guilt. It wasn’t long until they continue their chatter, though. It was too cold to stay still under the snow. Chatter is the only thing that could warm up the harshness of Winter, beside a warm bonfire and a bottle of wine, of course. “Is it just me, or the snow is falling even heavier?” A soldier noted as he looks to the front of the field. The sky and the land are practically colored white at this moment. Visions of the opposing army isn’t clear anymore, but they don’t seems to be on the move, so the soldiers don’t feel worried and just blame it on the bad weather. But they can’t help but feel something’s not right. “Probably because of bad weather. This isn’t the first time it happened.” “Yeah, maybe he’s right.” The topic quickly changed into something else. “Hey, let’s hope that all of us could go home together at the end of this war” Said a demon soldier. “Come on, what are you, a girl? What’s with the sissy line?” “Hey I’m being serious right now. You don’t know what’s going to happen in a war. I would really miss chatters like this if some guy in this group didn’t make it.” All the other guys fell silent. “Geez. Stop being so sentimental. You’re making me wanna cry.” “Heh, what a hypocrite. But…in way, I want it to come true as well.” “He’s right. I still have a girlfriend waiting home. I can’t allow myself to die h-” Before the soldier could finish his sentence, an arrow suddenly came from nowhere and pierced through his wolf helmet and his forehead, killing him instantly. A soldier’s life was lost, and the enemy may attack again. But that, is the least of the soldiers’ worries. “His crystal is broken! Get away!” From the corpse of the dead Devilman, a dark cloud suddenly emerged from the mouth of his wolf helmet. It shrouded the whole dead body and begin to transmogrify the young soldier to a hairy beast with a goat-like skeletal head. It has arms similar to a human being if stretched longer than necessary. Its body is covered in a black hide with no visible flesh. There were no traces left of the former dutiful soldier, only a demonic beast was left behind. “It’s a Type Baphomet- Devi-” With a surge from the ground, the goat demon easily snaps the head of the nearest soldier like a toothpick. The now-headless body pours out streams and streams of blood, dyeing the white snow below in the red of blood. The other demon soldiers didn’t just stand there and do nothing. With spears and swords in hand, they attack their former comrade in a coordinated attack from all side. However, the goat demon is too nimble. It jumps like a monkey to escape from the deadlock made by other soldiers. The soldiers anticipated this, so they have a squad waiting for it to land and attack. CLANG! But they proved to be useless as well. Its hide is tougher than an iron armor, to the point even swords and spears can’t reach its flesh. The same could be said for its skeletal goat head. “So this is…an ancient devil’s power.” Powerless before the ancient beast, the soldiers can only stand and look as it continues to wreck their own formation. From soldier to soldier, it crushed them like they were just a bunch of rag dolls. When the soldiers resorted to the use of magic, it killed all of the casters before they got a chance to beat it down with their magic. “Ghehhhhhhh!” The goat demon howled. However, right at that moment, before it could continue its rampage, a man riding a big wolf takes a surge toward it and easily slashes its head off its neck! The goat head is now lying on top of the white snow, yet its body is still standing with blood bursting through the now severed neck, but it doesn’t seems like the beast can move again. “Commander!” Said the soldiers with relief. However, this is no time for them to relax, and the commander knows that. “Men, get into the line formation! Prepare for unexpected attacks!” The commander swings his sword as he rides his ferocious wolf across this army to relay orders to his men. Right at that moment, another arrow find its path toward the head of the commander. However, a commander isn’t a mere soldier. Before he ended up in the same fate as his own soldier, the helmeted commander took a swing and slashed the upcoming arrow in half, effectively saving himself…and successfully located the position of his enemies as well. “Out in the meadows! They are hiding under the snow!” As the commander pointed his sword toward the field, the mysterious attackers decided to show themselves when they no longer have the need to hide. From the ground, men cloaked in white camouflage sheets began to stand up. With how heavy the snowing is, it’s hard for the commander to estimate his enemy’s numbers. He quickly gave up gathering information when there’re still a lots of things that need to be done. “Light up the signal! Alert the other armies about this attack!” As ordered, a soldier quickly grabs a burning torch and climbs to the top of a newly-built wooden watch tower that held a pile of straw on top of it. However, before he could do the deeds and alert his allies, an enemy among the attacking party throws away his white sheet and reveals himself to be a huge, muscular blonde archer with pointy ears and a magnificent beard. He’s holding a wooden bow half as big as he is. The man loads an arrow to his bow, he takes aim and shoots. The arrow went straight through the head of the torch-holding soldier, sending him off the ground, even though the archer only have a second to aim, and snow are dropping heavily around, not to mention the helmet he wore. “An elven archer!” Said the commander when he got a glimpse at the enemy’s archer. He knows the elves are superb archers, but this is the first time he saw an elf with the muscles and the masculinity of an Orc. But that isn’t important right now. I have to take care of this before the whole legion turns to chaos! Knowing there’re still other commanders to replace him, and how important it is to swiftly deal with these enemies. The commander decided to get up close and personal with the enemy in white sheets. He begins to relay the orders before leading the charge. “Squad 1 to 4 of the 4th Legion, follow me to intercept the enemy! The others remain in formation and try to alert the other armies! Get the archers ready to shoot anything that moves!” Riding on top of his trusty Warg, the commander takes charge with five hundred men running behind his back. The men yelled as they began charging at the enemy. The men in white also fully showed themselves. They are roughly a hundred men strong. With how little men they have, fighting against the upcoming soldiers isn’t much different from having a life counseling with Death. Or is it? -Fino! Go and do your thing! Yelled the muscular elf. -Roger! Right at that instance, a man still cloaked in his white sheet begins to run toward the army, alone. He was followed by the remaining men not long after, though. All of them are battle ready, but facing a five hundred strong demon force with a handful of a hundred humans is too foolish. With the Warg as his ride, the commander obviously can approach his enemy faster than his own men. The closest enemy in front of his eyes are the one called Fino, who’s still hasn’t let the white sheet out of his body. But that doesn’t matter to the man in charge when he’s going to dye it red with his enemy’s blood. “For the Realm!” The commander yelled. He swings his sword downward at the enemy… CLANG! …only to get his swing blocked by a nigh-crystal-clear broadsword, which was hidden beneath his white sheet. The one called Fino tossed the white sheet to the direction of the commander. As swift as a sparrow, the commander once again swings his sword through the white sheet, slashing it in half in an attempt to counter the attack from the blind-spot of his enemy. However, the commander quickly lost sight of his enemy, only to find that he’s aiming to attack his ride instead. An uppercut slash. The one named Fino slash through the head of the Warg and to the commander himself. Before his imminent death, in an attempt to defend his life, the commander tried to use his sword to block the attacking blade. CLANG! But, it became a futile attempt. The nigh-crystal-clear broadsword cut right through his own sword, and slashed him into half. The commander grunted as half of his body falls to the ground. He still have several seconds before his life gives away. The commander took a look at his slayer as he lay dying. The one named Fino is a young man wearing light leather armor, not unlike your average drafted militia you can find in the Humans’ countries. He’s a teenager with brown hair and sky blue eyes. He’s handsome, in a country boy way. A completely normal soldier drafted to fight the war, such a shame to die under the blade of one so young. However, it’s not how low-born the one who slew him that made the commander regret his defeat, nor does the strange looking sword on his hand. No, it is the shining yellow tattoo on the back of his right arm that irritated the commander. It’s a light seal, one that was granted to chosen newborns as they welcome their new life in this world. The mark of a born-hero. “You’re…a 「Hero」…” As he held his hand trying to reach the young man, the commander’s life finally gave out, and he died. His arm dropped to the snow, clenching a fist as a symbol of his regret. The young man only gave his fallen enemy a quick nod to pay his respect, before reassuming the fight of the living. “Commander…! You bastard!” Yelled the remaining soldiers as they witnessed the brief fight earlier. They all took charge at the young men, with full intent to kill and a thirst for vengeance within their hearts. The young men holds his strange broadsword to the front before chanting some sort of spell. The sword suddenly glows and radiates a flash of light, blinding the still-charging soldiers and halt them from their path. When the light ran out, before their eyes, the young men is no longer alone. Behind him is a hundred men with varied armaments and nothing to indicate that they are from a proper army. There are warriors, mages, even priests and Beastmen. A ragtag bunch of misfits assembled together with the sole reason is to fight in this war. A band of mercenaries, led by one who they called a Hero. The young men points his sword toward the demons of the Demon Realm as he loudly announces his will. -My name is Sera Fino, Hero of the「Empyrean Mercenaries」 ! Demons, prepare to die !] Swords have been drawn. Bloods have been shed. Corpses have fell. Men fight. Demons fight. A cycle of hatred that could never be resolved. With this marked the start of the greatest war of this century, the war to end all war. The Winter War.
Chapter 24: The day of ignorance Spoiler When I woke up, I was told by the nurses that New Year has already come. Apparently, I have been in a coma for three day straight. After some checkup, the doctors told me I have regained enough strength to function like normal. While it’s possible for me to discharge right now, the doctor insisted on having me stay for a longer while. I refused, of course, since I don’t want to spend the first day of new year in the infirmary. And so, they have no options left beside letting me go, though not after giving me a schedule for medical checkups and a standard-issue crutch for me to support myself, since I’m not one hundred percent healed yet. That’s the story behind the reason why I’m using a crutch to walk around this castle. Not a very interesting story to kill time, I guess. But then again, I just spent three day in a coma. Some random rubbish are what I need right now to keep my mind working. Believe it or not, when I just woke up, I almost forgot what happened and why did I end up in the infirmary. Eventually, they all come back to me, everything about that day. The competition, the fight with Naranath’s familiar, and of course, Deborah’s little stunt. And of course, it just has to end with me falling down unconscious, again. I don’t think this has anything to do with Deborah’s enhancement spell. Rather, I think it’s because of the drug I used back then (temporary named 「Rush」) to combat that crab. Well, when you use drugs to stimulate your adrenaline beyond its limit, I guess I should expect something like this to happen. Come to think of it…I use guns, play with bombs and engage in drugs. Since when did the thug life choose me? “Jesus…it’s freezing.” I’m practically breathing fog right now. While my cloak has done a good job of keeping my body warm, my face however is unprotected from the cold. Last month’s temperature is nothing when compared to this day. So winter has finally come, heh? I guess I should waste no more time here talking to myself. Time to get shit done. With the help of my crutch, I walk to the main hallway at the castle’s center. The reason for why I want to come here is very simple. “So this is where they post the test results.” Before I could take my time and look for my name however, my focus has been avert to another thing that caught my attention. I saw no students. None at all, despite this being the main hallway - a hub area that can be used to reach practically most of the castle. The students have been replaced by soldiers instead. People clad in exotic and animal-like armors, wielding swords and spears while casually strolling around the place. While I don’t think they mean any harm, the look they gave me however isn’t exactly pleasant or friendly. It was filled with cautiousness, as if I’m a detestable pest, only kept alive by the cloak and the armband I wear. I should warp up this quick. I don’t want to be hear any longer, especially when they are around. “Hmm. They divided the results from department to department.” I quickly search for my name at the Alchemy Art’s test result. While I don’t have any hope to begin with, I still get started by searching my name among the top ten highest. I’m not surprised when my name didn’t come up, though. After another look, I found myself at rank 19th. It’s a passable rank that I could be content with, for now. My field practice test (a.k.a blowing the rock) result is rather high, while the others are pretty average. Well, I did have a very good tutor to help me pass the tests, but that didn’t change the lack of knowledge I got from the sudden enrollment. Said tutor’s name is also on top of the test result’s board. Yes, Kardia is ranked number one among the Alchemy Arts’s first year. All of her results are pretty high, though the students below her only need several points to dethrone her from the top. Close one there, Kardia. I hope helping me with my study wasn’t the reason why it’s such a close call for her. Next, I turn my gaze to the War Art’s result. While most of the names are unfamiliar to me, I can easily search for Caelan’s name by searching from the bottom. This department is more numerous than my own, so of course, the ranking won’t end with just two digits. Luckily, Caelan’s rank among his department is 99th, a close call there. He did pretty badly at subjects that require a working brain, but the guy easily exceled at the physical tests, with scores even higher than those on top of him. Why am I not surprised? Finally, I gave a glance at the Magic Art’s board. It’s pretty easily to look for the names worth seeing, since all of them are in the top ten. Iola is ranked 7th. Amadia is ranked 2nd. And of all people, the novel fanatic – Deborah – has claimed the 1st rank as her own domain. As expect of Miss Perfect. I’m more surprised to see Amadia at the second place though. You’ll never know that girl is actually the smart type. But then again, intelligence is not wisdom – said Akuma, a self-proclaimed wise man. This may sounds random, but seeing the names on the board suddenly made me remember something. It’s a story told to me by my nurse. She said that a bunch of people paid me a visit during my short coma. However, there’s one girl who stayed by my side for two days straight. When I asked who might that girl be, and what is her body features, the nurse said she doesn’t know, since she heard it from another co-worker who had already went home the day I woke up. She assumed that was my girlfriend, which I don’t have any at the moment. That piqued my interest, though. Just who might that be? Kardia? Amadia? Iola? Or some random girl who fell for me from my display of courage in the competition? The last one I would expect is Deborah. But then again, this is Deborah we’re talking about. There’s no way in hell that girl would use her precious time waiting for me to wake up, right? Right? “Oh, Akuma!” Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. When I turn back, I saw Iola – who has already standing near me, without me noticing. “Happy new year!” The girl cheerfully spoke. Iola’s usually the gloomy type, but I guess the last thing you should do in the first day of new year is being gloomy. “Happy new year.” I answered. Right now, Iola isn’t wearing her normal attire as a cadet of Melas. She has switched to a brown common dress with a short coat on the top, like a lady from the Victorian era. Instead of shoes like normal, the girl is wearing boots, the type for travelers. The only thing she kept is her twin grey braids hair style that she use everyday. I presume this is the girl’s traveling attire, and damn, does she looks cute in it. “How’s your health?” Asked the girl. “Well, I’m not dead yet, haha.” I laughed. The girl just smiles, like she knows that I’m fine if I can make jokes like this. “Still hasn’t depart yet? You forgot something? You’re gonna be late, you know?” According from what I heard, most of the students had already went home yesterday. I guess I don’t want to be late for the new year’s family meeting if I’m in their shoe. “Kind of. I still have some unfinished business here. I’ll take my leave after I’m done. Beside, my parents are easy-going people. They won’t mind if I get home a bit later.” Said the girl. If she doesn’t mind, then I guess it’s okay. “Amazing, isn’t she?” Suddenly, the girl averted her gaze to the result boards. Her longing gaze are rather unusual than it normally was. “You mean Deborah?” The girl nodded. “I’ll never be a match for her, either in magic, and academic…” “Well, you have Miss Perfect for an opponent. Don’t expect it to be an easy task.” Seriously, I have a feeling that the girl doesn’t even try to be number one. She’s unbelievably good. Though it’s not like people like her don’t exist back in my world. Still, I kinda envious of her… “Amadia was so close, though.” She only needs a few more points to dethrone Deborah from the top. Just imagine her face when the girl found out she’s lost, again. “That girl tried her very best not to scream out loud that day. I feel bad for her…” Said Iola. I can only smile as I imagine that sight in my head. “Well, I won’t keep you busy any longer. You got stuff to take care of, right?” I spoke. She might be late for her trip, and knowing Iola, if I keep her talking she will be late for real. “Where do you intend to go?” The girl asked. “I haven’t got anything in my stomach for three days straight, so I’m gonna grab a bite at the cafeteria.” Seriously, it doesn’t matter if the cafeteria’s food taste like shit. Right now, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. “So you’re going to the cafeteria…Hmm. Shall I escort you?” Suggested the girl after a brief period to think. “Don’t you have something else to do? I’m fine, really. I can reach there by myself.” “It’s alright. The place I want to go is near there anyway. And one more reason: The demon soldiers…they make me feel uneasy.” Iola gave the soldiers a glance as she toned down her voice. The feeling is mutual to the soldiers as well. When their gaze were noticed by the girl, they quietly left. When you think about it, the soldiers are at war against the humans, and there are two human look-alike boy and girl talking in the middle of the main hallway like they own the place… “Okay. I’ll depend on you then.” I smiled as I gave my answer. The girl happily smiles back. We begin to depart from the place after finishing our business here. On the way, I asked the girl about the reason why there are so many soldiers here. The answer Iola gave me is that they’re here to prepare for a vacation, just like the cadets. Apparently, they are soldiers with good military performance, demonstrated during their service time and were picked by the higher-ups for a weeklong vacation back home. They just arrived here yesterday, and will depart from the castle by tomorrow after finishing their own preparations. “You should depart as soon as you can, Iola. Something tells me they’re not exactly the friendliest type of guys.” It’s understandable. They spent their time fighting humans, and they have to look at some humans freely wandering on their turf while unable to do anything about it. I’m fine since I’m wearing the school’s uniform. But Iola…no matter how you look at her, you can only see a normal (but cute) human girl. If she stays here any longer, I’m afraid bad things may happen to her. “You shouldn’t think so bad of them. They are the ones fighting to protect the peaceful school life we have here. But…maybe you’re right. After I’m done, I’ll depart immediately.” The girl has a point, but we should be cautious nonetheless. The conversation hit the deep end when I can’t find anything worth chatting about. And while Iola is more chatty than I thought, the girl’s enthusiasm button can only be pressed when a topic of her liking appear. Beside schools stuff, I can’t think of anything right now. Asking a girl about her family may not be the best thing to do, but I can’t think of anything. Maybe I’ll ask about the weather? “Hey Akuma. Do you know where Deborah is?” The girl suddenly asked. “I don’t know. I just woke up from my coma. How should I know?” “I see…so you don’t know.” Iola mumbled. “For all I know, maybe the girl has already went home during my sleep.” “I don’t think that girl has a home though.” I look at Iola in disbelief. “Really?” The girl becomes flustered when I raise my voice. “Err…I mean. I don’t know if she has a home or not, since she doesn’t talk much about herself. Maybe she has one, but we just don’t know about it.” Come to think of it, the Headmaster and other teachers never said anything about her home either. “Maybe she’s still inside the castle ground.” I said to the girl. “I think so as well. And…Akuma, you shouldn’t think so bad about her.” “Hmm?” I gave the girl another glance. “Err…I promised not to tell, so I won’t tell you. But…please don’t think bad of Deborah. She’s a nicer girl than you thought.” “...” I fell silence from her words. The memories that day started to reassemble itself from my head. My feelings about her is complicated. On one hand, she sabotaged my efforts, and helped me achieve my goals on the other. It’s like she’s the physical manifestation of mood swing. Women… “Okay. I’ll try to reconcile with her.” The girl just smiled in delight. The following walk was uneventful. We keep walking and pay no heed to the soldiers around. However, our ignorance stopped along with our feet when we get near the castle’s courtyard. On the courtyard, there are lots of soldiers gathering around. Near the center, there is a newly built wooden platform, which resembling… “A scaffold…?” The words escaped from my mouth as I search the image in my memory bank. I have read about it in a book. This wooden platform is similar to a scaffold…one used for public execution. The joyful shouts from the soldiers only reinforced my theory. They are making the courtyard into an execution site. But why…? “The demons never take prisoners. They don’t have enough resources to feed captured soldiers. Captured soldiers worth nothing, it’s meaningless to put a ransom on them. So, they decided to publicly execute all the captives as a policy, to save supplies and…to entertain the Realm’s own soldiers.” Iola started explaining. I heard a similar story from the Headmaster before. But to think her words are the truth when I though she just want to scare me… “By captured soldiers…do you mean…humans?” The girl only nodded without saying anything. Like a crowd of excited fans when their beloved pop star shows up and takes the stage, the soldiers loudly shout and fanatically screaming. But the star in question is no celebrity, and isn’t limited to one only. From a far, a line of people are led to the scaffold by some soldiers. There are about twenty of them. Their hands are bound by a rope. Their clothes are tattered and dirty. They showed signs of malnutrition, probably starved by their captors. We can’t even get a glimpse of their faces when all of them are forced to wear sacks on their heads. It’s likely that all of them are gagged under the sack as well, since none says anything. There’s a distinct groan of despair under their sacks, but that sound started to fade away the louder the soldiers shout. This is a concert of death… “Are they denied even a chance to say their last words…?” “It’s not like…we would know what they’re saying even if they let them…” “What the…?” I turn my gaze of disbelief to Iola. The girl closed her eyes for a moment before answering. “We don’t share the same language with people at the Heaven Realm, and it’s highly discouraged for demons to learn that language…” So even if they are allow to speak, we won’t be able to know what they’re saying. If I’m in their position, I’ll probably drown the site with profanity. Maybe that’s the reason why they are gagged. “...” It’s cruel, too cruel. The humans were starved, gagged, and going to get executed without letting their last words be heard and understood. Yet…I’m standing here like a statue, unable to do anything, knowing troubles will follow if I decide to act up right now. All I can do…is to look at those men as they walk to the last moment of their lives. One by one, the captives were forced to step on the scaffold. The scaffold itself isn’t that big in size, so when five captives have taken stage, the others were forced to wait until their turns to die arrive. The crowd of soldiers become more excited as five men clad in mantis armor and armed with swords climb on the scaffold. The five executioners even greet the audience, waving hands included. I swear I can hear some guys below screaming: “Let me do it! Let me do it!” This sight makes me sick. Yet, for some reason, I can’t walk out of the way and try to make this a mere memory. And just like me, Iola doesn’t give any objection for being here as well, she’s intensely looking at the execution’s site with the eyes of a girl who just found the secrets of an adult woman’s life. I’m the same as her. This sicken me, but deep inside, there’s a part of me saying it want to witness this moment. My curiosity is controlling me, knowing full well this would be my first time witnessing the death of people, and it excited me… “Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL!” Yelled the crowd in excitement. The executioners even started posing like real entertainers, and the crowd love them for that. They're brandishing their swords and pretend like they would kill the captives prematurely. Suddenly, the executioners kick the captives in their back, bending them on their knees in the process. Some captives are visibly shaking. While they know not the words of their captors, the intent however has come across all of them. They probably know how the ending of their fates will laid out, and they can only wait in despair until that moment comes and ends it all. Sometime, I wish superheroes are real. When there are people in need, the superheroes would descend from the sky, beat the bad guys, help the suffered and save the day. But life doesn’t work that way, doesn’t it? After the charade is over, the executioners finally decided to get their jobs done. Each of them take position behind a captive, preparing their swords for a clean decapitation. The crowd fell silent as they hold their breath watching the scene unfold. And that silence scared the captives. It became a cue for them to know their time is up. A few can be seen crying, wetting a small part of their sack in the process. A guy tried to run, only to be dragged back by his executioner. The ones that do nothing may have already accepted their fates, but they didn’t do it in despair. It’s like…they still have a flicker of hope, not about getting out of this situation, it’s more like they know their comrades will avenge their death in the future. A wild array of hope before the end arrive. When the time arrived, the executioners finally do their jobs. Each one took a clean cut to decapitate their captives, and five heads fell on the scaffold, along with their former bodies. Their remains start soaking the wooden platform in red. I closed my eyes just seconds after their death, and slowly avert my gaze from the scene. Yet, the sight has already been captured by my mind, and it’s unlikely that I’ll forget it in the meantime. The crowd screamed in excitement when the deed is done, however, there’s still more to come. But I don’t care anymore, I just want to run away from here, as far as possible. “Not a fan of bloodshed…?” Iola asked as she tried to pat my back and ease my worries. “No…Actually, I detest those types of people. How can people...enjoy the sight of death...?” I don’t know if people like that exists, but I absolutely do not want them within my eyesight. They can go to hell for all I care. “Yeah...maybe…you’re right. People like that are detestable and despicable…They shouldn’t exist to begin…with.” Iola seems sadden as she voiced her contempt. Maybe it’s because of my bad eyesight, but why would a nice girl like her feel sadden because of some edgy maniacs who love death and despair? Suddenly, before I got the chance to pursue this any further, we found ourselves some troubles as several unhelmeted soldiers start aproaching us, with swords in their hands and smiles on their faces. “Why are there two humans in this place?” Said a guy with an unshaved beard. The other ones got to our behind, effectively surrounding us before we got ourselves a chance to escape. Iola stays close to my back, knowing she’s can’t match the soldiers in close range. The girl is depending on me now, I gotta say something to clear this up. “We’re just mere cadets. Please don’t mind us too much. We aren’t worth your precious time.” Several guys seem surprised when they hear me talking. “You speak our tongue. But doing that while wearing a Melas uniform doesn’t make you an innocent man. For all we know, you may as well be a human spy, posing as a cadet to gain info and sabotage us from inside. Right, guys?” The guy with the dirty beard looked at his lackey and they nodded in response. “You have a wild imagination. But please, it’s the truth. Let us be. We don’t want any trouble.” “But what if WE want some trouble?” The guy suddenly pointed his iron sword near my neck to intimidate me. But since I literally just fought a giant enemy crab three days ago, I’m not easily intimidated just by mere threats. That doesn’t mean I should play the tough guy card right now. Even though the gun is inside my cloak, I’m not in my top condition yet, the soldiers got us surrounded, and there’s still Iola behind my back. I need to be careful of my moves. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tounge?” Said the bearded guy. The other ones laughed in response. “What do you guys want?” I asked. “We haven’t think of it yet. But how about we put you to join those guys for a start?” The guy suddenly pulls the sword away from me, and point to the group of captives awaiting their executions instead. This has gone too far for a joke. I try to reach the gun beneath my cloak. If I’m going to die anyway, then I’ll do it with a bang. If I try hard enough, maybe I’ll give Iola enough time to run away. But a fight should be my last resort, I don’t want my life to end this soon. What should I do? If only superheroes are real… “Okay guys. You scared them good, but you’re getting overboard here.” Suddenly, a guy came out of nowhere decided to interject in. The lackeys in armor can only look in awe as a helmeted soldier from nearby casually waltzed in and occupied the space between me and the soldiers’ leader. The man is roughly the same height as me, but slightly taller. He gave out the aura of a big brother, one who would protect his siblings from any harm to the end. However, his armor doesn’t indicate that he’s a nice guy. His helmet is different than the other ones that it resemble a standard metal helmet, but with the visor acting in the image of a mouth full of teeth, and the back of the helmet is decorated in a way that resemble a human skull. Just a trivial thing, but his right arm does not have a gauntlet, it was wrapped with bandage instead. “Who are you?” “Just some random guy who wants no trouble.” The helmeted guy answered. Even when surrounded, his voice is trimmed with confidence. “What!? Don’t you dare playing hero! State your name and unit, soldier!” “The name is Lapidoth, a scout from the 4th Legion of the Central Corp.” Lapidoth introduced himself. “That...armor. You’re from Annwn?” The guy in charge seems surprised for a moment, until he decided to continue the haughty act. “Don’t think you’re a big shot just because you’re a soldier from that dead city!” “Yeah yeah, whatever. Look, names and ranks don’t matter right now. Can we just end this? I’m tired, you know. I guess you guys are tired as well, right? There is no need to spend stamina in needless things like these.” The guy named Lapidoth suddenly turns his gaze to the soldiers around. Surprisingly, those soldiers nodded in agreement. “Come on, they’re just kids, they don’t know the rules around here yet. There’s no way a human could walk inside the famed Melas castle in broad daylight, right?” “Why do you keep defending those kids? Are you human as well? Right…only humans would defend their own kin to this extent!” “Geez. Seems like the cold has make you gone nuts, damn it.” The guy started pointing his sword at Lapidoth. The helmeted man can only shakes his head in return. Suddenly, he also draws his sword, closes their distance and points it to the aggressor’s throat, surprising the guys around in the process. “Are you…for real?” Said the beared guy. “If you want a fight, I’ll give you one. But if we fight, I hope you’ll enjoy being sent back to the Dark Line, along with your boys. Bye bye vacation, hello fighting!” Lapidoth started turning around and continue his speech. “Do you want it? Do you guys want it? I’m sure as hell I don’t want it. The last thing I want is getting back to that shithole of a place in the first day of new year. Maybe you guys will understand.” Some guys nodded in agreement. The aggressive guy can only grin his teeth with the enemy’s back facing his side, but he wisely decided to give up. The guy sheathed his sword, and his followers also did the same. “Hmm. Don’t get cocky, soldier of Annwn.” “Yeah yeah. Happy new year, guys! I love you all!” As the soldiers started leaving, Lapidoth waved his hands as goodbye after he’s done returning his sword to its sheath. The trouble makers are no more, and the problem was resolved by mere talking. Yet, I got so worked up over this to the point expecting a fight… “Aaa…umm…thank you, kind sir, for rescuing us. We are grateful for your help.” When the situation returns to normal, Iola departed from my back and bowed to the soldier as an act of gratitude. I also do the same, but of course, my words are simpler than the girl. “Thank you for saving us.” “It’s alright. It’s our soldiers fault, so it’s natural for other soldiers to fix their own mess. Haha.” The guy suddenly laughs, as if he want to ease the serious and heavy atmosphere from the trouble earlier, and from the execution site itself. “Seriously, sorry about that. People from the other legions rarely got any action, so they feel inclined to pick a fight against those with human features, like warlocks and witches.” “I guess it must be hard for them to face the mirror every morning.” “Ha ha. True that.” I can hear the guy giggled, such a jovial guy, greatly constracting the grim aspect of his skull helmet. Also, what is Annwn anyway? “Well. I shall not waste anymore of your time. But, an advice for you: Please be thoughtful of where to pick your date site. You don’t want to get your cute girlfriend involved to your trouble, right? Okay, bye!” “Wha…girlfriend?” After the guy done a good job of making both me and Iola flustered, Lapidoth escaped from the sight as swift as how he appeared and saved us. Great, he helped us from a trouble, but left another trouble behind for me to solve myself. That’s best bro material over there. “Well, that was awkward.” Iola didn’t answer when she’s too busy blushing. It’s damn cute, though, almost make me want to defect from the Sexy faction and join the Cute faction and ask her to be my girlfriend for real. Almost. Shit, random thoughts have overcome me. Got to stay calm, got to stay calm. Still, this little charade somehow made me feel better. The sight of the execution no longer bothers me as much as it used to be. I guess I should be thankful of the guy earlier for that. “I think we wasted enough time already. Don’t you have some unfinished business? I can walk to the cafeteria myself.” “Ah, it’s alright. I have already finished what I intend to do here. I won’t bother you no more.” What? From when? Like, literally when? “O…Okay.” Knowing the girl still have stuff to do, I decided not to bother her with questions and just let her go her way. “Please be safe on your journey.” “You as well, Akuma. Be safe during your vacation, and please, take good care of Deborah in my absence.” “I’ll try what I can.” I smiled. The girl bowed again before she left the place. Seeing how I don’t have any purpose left in the courtyard, I also decided to continue my walk toward the cafeteria. What a weird ass day. Let’s hope today won’t get any weirder than this.
Thank you for the chapters! Once you reach many chapters, I think it may be a good idea to start a table of content
Thank you . I'll be sure to edit the first page when I'm done dumping all the chapters . Chapter 25: The calm before the storm Spoiler The charade earlier quickly became a mere memory after my arrival at the cafeteria. Unlike the noisy place it usually was, the cafeteria today is almost devoid of life. The spooky cafeteria ladies aren’t here, but food had already been prepared first-hand at the counter. Only a few diners remain in the room, one of them being someone I haven’t met for a while. “Oh, it’s just you, Akuma.” The bald, muscular man speaks up to me. He’s sitting in the middle of the room, feasting on some sort of…dark, demonic soup. It’s like the guy’s eating left-over oil from an oil spill as his lunch. But well, sights like these no longer surprise me. “Happy new year, Mr.Lodbrok.” “Happy new year to you as well, you maggot. Ahahaha.” The bald teacher answered with a noisy laugh. Unlike the other days, Bjarni Lodbrok is fully clothed. He’s wearing a plain brown shirt and black pant. Just your typical attire for a middle-age brawny guy. However, the brown crystal in the middle of his forehead is still as noticeable as ever, especially with how bald he is. “Care to join this old man for lunch?” Seeing that it’s pretty awkward to sit alone after hearing the guy’s offer, along with the fact that all the other guys around are demon soldiers, I instantly accepted his offer, but not without getting myself a meal to eat first. After I’m done picking, I return to the seat opposite of Bjarni and make myself comfortable. “Did the cafeteria ladies depart for their homes?” “Well, even the Accursed ones have their own families.” Bjarni answered. As much as I’m curious about the “Accursed”, my curiosity died the moment my hunger kicks in. The meal I served myself is the same type of soup as Bjarni’s. Since all the food suck in the same way, it does not matter which I picked. All I should care about is to stomach this soup before the terrible taste catches up to me. “Yuck! This tastes horrible!” That plain failed, and I wasted no time to complain after having a quick taste of the hellish soup. “Hahahaha. To the common soldiers, meals like this are actually a feast, you know? Edible foods on the battlefield are very scarce. If you can’t stomach things like this, then I have bad news for you, maggot!” The man laughed, which only helped fuel the fear of the upcoming dark future awaits before me. With shitty foods like these, I guess the act of starving the captives may actually doing them a favor instead. “..” I drop my spoon on the table. Despite my growling stomach, my appetite died the moment the earlier thought crossed my mind, dragging the whole execution scene from before back to my head. The terrible taste finally caught up to me and gave me the urge to puke. “You saw that, didn’t you?” The man saw through my gestures as he drops the boisterous charade. His scarce words hit all the important points. I can only nod to confirm Bjarni’s question. The man sighed. The next minute is filled with silence, allowing me some time to return my senses before our talk continue. “You better get used to it while you can, cadet. The path chosen by you youngsters…will be a lot bloodier than this. You cadets will fill rivers with blood, and valleys with bodies. Killing will become daily meals, and death will wait at every taken steps. But that is what they, and you, chose when you guys decided to enroll here.” “...” In my heart, I have already know about that. But…I have ventured too far to look back, let alone run away. My problem however…is whether or not I can accept bloodshed as a part of my life in near future. I thought I have already prepared my mind before I shot Amadia that day, but it seems like I’m still a pussy who doesn’t have what it takes to actually kill a person. I think it’s a good thing, though. Only a sociopath would feel comfortable with killing in mere minutes, and I believe humans are inherently born good. Which makes it rather ironic, since I’m trying to harden my mind to kill humans (and human-like enemies) easier, just so I could blend in among these...demons. After he gave a glance at this confused boy, Bjarni can only put on a manly smile before he speaks. “You still have time, youngster. Just take it easy and think about it later. It’s not like the Alliance’s army would march here by tomorrow morning and attack this place. Try to enjoy your vacation while it lasts.” I smiled and thank the man. Yeah, I shouldn’t be hasty about this. The war is still out there, and it hasn’t reach us yet. I’m still safe behind the castle’s sturdy walls. Let’s take it easy like the teacher said. After all, haste makes waste. “Thank you, teacher.” “Just a part of my job, maggot.” The man smiles again. While having a counseling from an older man is cool and all, I would prefer the guy to stop calling me maggot once every five sentences. Like, seriously. When there’s no tales left to be told, we decided to finish our meals before they go cold. But for me, it doesn’t even matter since the taste is the same. I think I’ll die before I got a chance to fight the war if I keep having meals like this. Maybe I should start learning how to cook… After several minutes, we both finished our meals. I don’t know about Bjarni, but I definitely don’t want to savor the taste of this meal. Normally, teachers and students rarely have any common topics to talk beside school work, but Bjarni is surprisingly chatty. The random thing he always spouts are the stupidity of his beloved students, Caelan included. The man has the smile of a tough but doting father. While I normally don’t want to deal with teachers, but since I’m in no rush right now, I’ll entertain him with some conversations. “Akuma. Do you…have a family?” “Family…” When the words escaped from Bjarni’s mouth, I fell silent. This is not a topic I’ll talk about with enthusiasm. “I don’t think I ever have one.” I have parents, yes. How else would I begin my life if I didn’t have any parents ? But…just like a house doesn’t mean a home, having parents doesn’t mean I have this thing called family. “How about you, teacher? How’s your family? Why don’t you take a vacation home to see them?” In an attempt to avert myself from this topic, I reverted the question back to Bjarni. The man only put on a sadden smile before answering. “My wife died years ago. I have a daughter, she’s a bit older than you. But that girl enlisted herself to the army last year. So even if I go home, it’ll be meaningless when there’s no one waiting for me. And since I can’t see my daughter among the soldiers here, I guess she didn’t make it back this year. Or maybe, that girl just find it’s meaningless to go home, knowing that I won’t come back.” I can only look in awe when the guy revealed his daughter’s existence. Bjarni hasn’t finished his story yet, so I continue to be a good listener for the guy to tell his tale. “My daughter is a real handful. She’s a sweet country girl you can find everywhere. However…I don’t know when, but that girl secretly practiced the arts of warfare behind my back, and against my will. Then…we got in a fight, and it ended badly. Before I knew it, when the chance presented itself, the girl voluntary enlisted to the army, and went straight to the frontier to fight. Stubborn girl…” Let’s hope it’s only verbal fight that he’s talking of. “Why did you two fight?” I asked. “That girl said she wants to protect me. She told me I’m the only family she has now, so it’s her duty to protect me instead. That damn foolish girl…Why would an adolescent girl worry about the welfare of a rugged old man like me? I can crush skulls like walnuts, yet she still wants to protect me, damn it!” Mr.Bjarni averted his gaze to the ceiling above for several seconds, before he resumes his story. “I used to serve in the invasion army before the ceasefire ten years ago. I quit the army after that since I got tired of the meaningless bloodshed. However, the war was just stalled, it hasn’t ended yet. What good would come from enjoying this unstable peace as a farmer? If I’m just a mere farmer, how can I protect that girl from the armies that still lust for our lands ? Beside, fighting is all I know about, the peaceful life just isn’t for me.” “So that’s the reason you chose to be a teacher here.” The man nodded. He took another pause as he sighed before keep his story going on. “I loathe war. I would enjoy a good fight, but I got tired of the act of killing. It would be better if people solve their wars through personal fights rather than killing. But this world doesn’t work that way, doesn’t it? Hahahaha.” Bjarni let out an ironic laugh. “I guess…that’s probably the last thing a teacher who taught youngsters how to kill should talk about. It’s hypocritical. But I won’t hide the fact that I’m a hypocrite and a lowly maggot. I train people to fight because I want them to help protecting my daughter on the frontier. I depend on them to do something a father like me can not. That’s the least I can do right now…as that girl’s father.” He calls it hypocritical, but I call that love. People go to great lengths for their loved ones all the time. At least…that’s what the books taught me. “Do you want to reconcile with your daughter?” I asked. “I want to. But…I’m stubborn. I don’t want to see my daughter soaking herself in blood for this old man’s sake. But she’s stubborn just like I am. She wants the two of us to fight together on the battlefield, against my own wish. How can we come to agreement when our interests stand opposite from each other?” “…” His story suddenly reminds me of another tale…about an equally foolish boy and girl. “I may not in the position to tell you this but…there are times you should turn your brain off and stop overthinking things.” “What do you mean by that?” The bald man asks. “Trust me, I had…some experiences.” Not a fact I would be proud of. “When we deal with stubborn girls, being stubborn yourself won’t help even just a bit. However, people like us also try to make the other bend too much to our own will, consciously or not. That’s why, we should play dumb!” Play dumb, not being dumb, mind you! “Play dumb…? Hmm?” Looks like the guy gets it. “Right. You shouldn’t overthinking stuff. Let the both of you come to an understanding naturally. Let’s do things both of you love to do. Like having dinners, picnics, watching TV…err…nevermind the last part.” “You sure say strange things, as befitting a strange familiar. But I get your point. I shouldn’t rush it, nor trying to actively enforcing her to change her mind.” Yes, kinda like that. “Do you think it will work ?” “Honestly I don’t know. It’s an untested plan, since I’m going to test it later. But let’s hope it do. Beside, deep inside, I know it would work. Even if you two may not come to an understanding, as long as both of you still love each other, you are a family, and you’ll eventually sort things out.” Right, family… The man looks stunned, but his reaction quickly turns to a big laugh. “Ahahaha. Being taught the lesson of family love by some brats. The guts of you!” Bjarni stopped laughing, but a kind smile still persists on his lips. “Alright. I’ll think of something and write her a letter. I guess I’ll pull some strings to net her a vacation home. Our old house's probably gathered enough dust by now, maybe cleaning it together would help us sort things out.” “That’s a start.” I smiled, knowing I just did a good thing. “Let’s hope this will work, and we’ll become a family like before.” Let’s hope so. “But what about you, Akuma?” The man suddenly asked. “Me?” “Your family.” “That’s…” I fell silence. The man looks like he want to say something, but he held back and changed his mind. “Well, I don’t know the details, so I won’t barge in. But…I hope you can sort things out with your family as well. Hearing someone’s son told me he didn’t have a family pains me as a father. Like you just said before: As long you still love each other, you are a family. I hope those words of yours are not just empty words.” I can only put on a weak smile as I listen to Bjarni. He’s right, those are just empty words if I can’t back it up myself. But…it’s too bad, my family circumstances can not be solved merely by saying “I want to make up, let’s make up and be a happy family again.”. I can’t fix something I never have from the beginning. “Thank you, Mr.Lodbrok. I’ll try what I can do…” The teacher doesn’t say anything, but his sense is sharp. He stares at me, but didn’ call me out and just keep smiling. We keep our silence until we know our conversation is up. “Excuse me, Mr.Lodbrok. But I’m afraid I still have something to do.” “It’s okay, I won’t keep you busy anymore. Thank you for talking with this old man, Akuma.” I took my crutch and started walking away. The man stays behind in the cafeteria. But that’s not my business, since I have someone I need to reconcile as well. “Family…heh?” Let the feelings be my guide, I start walking toward the Darkwood forest.
Chapter 26: The hidden heart and the girl’s confession Spoiler Snow keeps falling without rest as I make my way across the Darkwood forest. Using a crutch is no easy task, but since I’m about 95% healed, I don’t have much problem walking through the forest’s soil. Only the cold bothers me, but eventually, I get used to it and stopped my mental whining. It’s just a hunch, but I have a feeling that she’s here…Deborah’s here. While it may be a mere hunch, I still got some bases to justify showering myself under the Winter snow. The last time Deborah ran away from home, I got lucky and met her in this forest. Let’s put aside the bad stuff that happened to me in this forest that time, I need to recall my memory and locate the exact location. With a mental Remembrance spell, I retrace my footsteps of the past, and finally found myself at my intended destination. The place in which I was confirmed to be Deborah’s familiar. Thanks to the spell earlier, I remembered the events that day like it was yesterday. The demonic hyenas, Deborah’s dramatic entry, our verbal fights, the “test”, and Kardia’s appearance. Heh, when I thought about it again, that was quite a day I had. But the future is still going on, there’s a lot of blank pages waiting to be filled with memorable memories like that day. Maybe today would be one of those. Before me lies Deborah’s own little haven. The place was surrounded by bushes and bushes of flowers, with various colors and genera, enough to make this place a flower garden within a forest. Despite the start of winter, the flowers seem unharmed by the cold and the snow. When I take a closer look, every drop of snow was diverted from the bushes by some magic barriers, made with Image Magic to prevent them from dying. Only one person would care enough to do this. That very person is lying her back against the biggest tree in the middle of this place. She’s soundly sleeping without any care to the world around her. There’s this peaceful aura around her, like a sleeping beauty. There’s no signs that show the girl is bothered by the cold. “…” The girl’s sleeping face is like an angel, molded by nature to become perfection itself. Her long dazzling red hair only helps to make her beauty more noticeable. If she doesn’t have a such cranky personality, I would actually believe Walpurga’s words about her having secret admirers. But that’s not my business. I would like to wake her up right now, but I decided to enjoy the view instead. Watching her sleep peacefully like this, it kinda makes all of my worries temporary go away, even just a bit. However, it seems like having someone constantly staring at her has made the girl uncomfortable. She opens her right eye, just her right eye, and stares at me. No reactions, no “Gyaaah! A pervert who watch girls sleeping!” bullshit, just a plain staring contest. “Wakey wakey.” I said to the girl with a bored tone. The girl doesn’t bother to answer back. She just yawns and stays there, still with her back on the tree. There’s a novel on her lap, presumably her favorite one. It’s rare to see her being this unmotivated. “People built beds for a reason, you know?” “I’m just taking a quick nap.” With an equally bored tone, the girl answered and yawned again. This is like a verbal fight between two lazy grannies. “I thought you want to get yourself a cold instead.” Seriously, how can she sleep in this kind of weather, and right in the middle of the forest? I can’t sense any protective barrier to keep the girl warm around her napping area. It’s like she didn’t even bother to protect herself from the harsh winter and decided to face it head on, cold be damned! “I would love to experience it for once, since I’ve never get sick before.” Well, people always say idiots don’t catch cold. Of course, telling her about that isn’t any different than asking for a death sentence. “Well, I hope you can get what you want.” I answered. It would be nice to see her bedridden from a cold for once. The girl doesn’t look like she’s care enough to stand up for a proper conversation. Before I could voice my concern, the girl has already take the first move. “I don’t feel like standing up. If you want to chat, why don’t you sit down near me? I’m also in the mood for a conversation anyway.” Now that’s awfully generous of her. I suspect a hidden conspiracy. It may be a trap… “Really? You’re awfully strange today.” “Are you scared I’ll bite?” Still with a bored tone, the girl answered. She’s surpisingly calm today. Maybe her period has finally over? But seriously, it’s like she a different person. Maybe the cold has cool her temper off? “You don’t have to scare me by biting. Your current speech pattern alone is enough.” I let the crutch fell to the ground and search for a comfortable place to sit on. I end up sitting in parallel of Deborah. We didn’t look at each other though, and just let our mouths do the talking. “I sound strange?” “I don’t think it stops at the sound part.” Believe it or not, I find it easier being her verbal punching bag than taking it easy like this. “Something happened?” I asked. The girl only smiles before answering. “No, nothing strange happened. It’s just…the way things always are.” “What does that mean?” Deborah gave a stare to the ground as she answers. “Iola went back home, and Caelan as well. Believe it or not, I started to miss Amadia’s noisy antics. I’m not a fan of the teachers, and I don’t want to go near the soldiers. I presume you know how good my relationship with the Headmaster is.” “…!” Ah, I get it. The girl is sad because her friends have already went home for the vacation. I don’t think Deborah is the type who would get along with the adults. The girl acted strange because she feels lonely. “That doesn’t mean you should take a nap in broad daylight, though.” “But this place soothes my mind. To me, sleeping in the bed or lying near a tree is just the same. Beside, I need to protect the flowers from the cold.” “The flowers…” I gave a quick glance at the flower bushes. “How can they grew in this type of land?” “They can’t, at first.” The girl’s answer has gave me the final clue I need. “You made this little garden yourself?” The girl put a smile on her lips. A small smile of achievement. “Just a free-time hobby.” The girl answered. Sensing my curiosity, the girl decided to enlighten me on her works. “The land around here was infertile. It took a while, but I did some work on the land to make it capable of growing flowers. The hard part are the seeds. I became a regular at the castle’s general shop since that’s the only place that complied my requests to import flower seeds. That’s also how I met Fidus.” Oh, that dog, Fidus. It’s been a while since I saw him, and that’s a good thing for me. I can’t defeat that dog as of now… “Flower seeds are expensive, you know? Affording them really put a dent on my wallet. Growing them is a pain as well. But the efforts are worth it. Flowers are good…they don’t judge you for who you are, and I feel calm just by looking at them. It’s one of a few leisures that I was allowed to have in this castle.” Suddenly, the girl starts looking at me before she continues. “I was really mad when your girlfriend destroyed some of my flowers that day, you know? She even made some part of the land infertile again!” Oh, Deborah is talking about the day Kardia made her entrance to this place. While I know I should pay my attention to the strange stuff happened that day, I can’t help but feel…accomplished(?) when people keep giving me girlfriends all day. “She’s not my girlfriend, you know?” Despite my denial, I answered the girl with a little…perverted smile. Is my springtime has finally came? “Oh, really?” Deborah gave me a look of disbelief. The girl quickly gives up pursuing the subject further, though, and she just sighs knowing how meaningless it is to continue the charade. “Oh well. I don’t care.” “Then don’t act like you care.” I answered. In an attempt to prove that she’s really don’t care, Deborah stopped talking and answering, instead just pays her attention to the flowers in front of her. The girl suddenly smiles, for unknown reason. I guess you can never understand how a girl feels. While it’s comfortable enough with viewing flowers alone, how can a conversation be a conversation without anyone talking? With that thought in mind, I started to search for something we can talk about. Then it hit me… “You know what, Deborah? Before I got discharged from the infirmary, a nurse who works there told me an interesting story.” As I mention the story from the nurse, Deborah’s smile suddenly disappeared, and her reaction reverted back to normal. “What story…?” “She told me that…during my short coma. There’s a girl who stayed by my side for two days straight, and only left at the start of the third day…the day I woke up.” “Really…? Are you sure…that’s not something made up by the nurse to console you?” I smiled as I listen to Deborah’s words. “Maybe it is, at first. I don’t think I’m worthy enough to have someone care for me by my sickbed. But another meeting has made me rethink about it.” “…” Deborah stayed silent. Feeling no need to wait for an answer, I resume telling my story. “By rare chance, I met and talked with another girl - A friend of the girl in that story, before that friend departed from the castle. That friend tried to hide it, but her words slipped and made it clear that someone make her keep it as a secret. Thanks to that, I finally got myself some clues on who might the girl in the story be.” “So…who do you think that girl is…?” Asked Deborah. With a hidden smile, and without looking back at the girl, I answer. “Why did you care so much for someone like me…Deborah?” The girl fell silence. I don’t want to look at her right now, knowing I will make the girl feel uncomfortable. But my ears are still working, I can hear the sound of her grabbing some snows on the ground. The silence continues. The both of us ended up just looking at the scenery instead of talking. The snowing doesn’t seems like it wants to stop. “When…did you find out?” Suddenly, Deborah spoke. “I’m not stupid. I have doubts at first, but the more time I spent with you, the more clearly it becomes. You don’t see me as just a mere familiar, and you went great length to protect me from harm, sometime by harming me yourself. Really, I don’t know what is what anymore. I want some answers from you.” I don’t think her feelings are romantic in nature, but it’s definitely not natural. She’s overtly protective without any clear reason, like I’m her special someone or anything. And that’s what bugs me. “To be honest…I…don’t know as well.” I turn back and gave the girl a glance, thirsting to get a glimpse at the girl’s own viewpoint. “I hate your guts, Akuma. You’re stubborn, foolish, and weak. Yet, deep inside my heart, I feel inclined to keep you safe from harm, by all means possible. I don’t even know how I feel anymore.” “…” I fell silence when I can’t find any words to answer. “When the holidays started approaching. I know when Iola, Caelan…and even Iola leave, I will be all alone in this cold castle. Without them, a vacation inside the castle is meaningless. Before I knew it, I find myself waiting…waiting for you to wake up. When all of them left, the only people I trust enough is you…Akuma. You are the only one I want to talk to today.” My feelings right now is a mess. I can’t make clear of myself to know what exactly is the girl’s deal with her own feelings. “You don’t have family? Relatives?” “I don’t know…” The girl answered. “What about home? You don’t have a home? An old home would be fine.” “I don’t know…” I gave the girl another glance. “What do you mean you don’t know?” “I don’t know, really…Though…it’s more precise to say that I forgot…” “Forgot…?” Is she… “The Headmaster forbade me from telling people about this…But she also said I should open my heart more, so…I will tell you. I haven’t speak of this to anyone, not even Iola, not even Caelan, no one. You…will be the first one…to hear my story.” I nodded in anticipation. The truth behind Deborah. While I always act like I don’t care, deep inside, I want to know what exactly is the girl’s deal. And this is that moment of truth… “The truth is…I have amnesia.” Amnesia. That means she forgot her memories. However, memory lost vary from person to person. Maybe she can still recall something. “How many of your memories did you lose?” The girl fell silence. “All of it.” “…” The girl took a deep breath before she starts her own tale. “I have no memories, and I can’t recollect any of them even to this day...My birth, my childhood, my parents, my heritage, my homeland, my true self…nothing. I still have enough subconscious knowledge to barely function in society, but without my memories, I’m nothing more than an empty shell of flesh.” To merely exists, not to live. Someone without memories is like a body without a soul. “It’s no different than being summoned to a strange world that is not yours…” Said the girl. It’s like how I came to be in this world…I can understand that part. In a way, I guess she cares about me since our feelings are similar. For her, it’s about waking up in a world she doesn’t remember. For me, it’s to arrive in an unknown world that I have no knowledge about. “When did you know about who you are…? About…Deborah Draconis?” If she doesn’t remember, then how does she has that name? And the whole thing about being Dargoth’s granddaughter. “About one year ago. I found myself woke up inside this castle, with no prior knowledge of who I am and what my life was before that time. The person who picked me up, gave me my identity and a glimpse of myself is the Headmaster. The witch named Nilrem Erramun, our Headmaster.” Now I know why details of Deborah’s own life is so scarce, because Nilrem keeps most of Deborah’s information for herself, and only reveals bit by bit to make others shut up. But what is exactly her purpose for doing so? “Nilrem told me that my name is Deborah, Deborah Draconis. She told me I am the only living descendant of the Greatest Demon King…the granddaughter of Dargoth. When I asked about my home, about my parents, the women didn’t answer. However, she did give me a condition, that is she’ll answer every questions I have, but only until I reach maturity age.” “Do you know when that time comes?” Deborah shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe…rather than about age, the Headmaster wants my consiousness to reach maturity and capable to function like an adult. When I asked the Headmaster to let me study at the academy as an cadet, the woman changed the condition to my graduation instead. She also allowed me to enroll, but only if I’m able to past the entrance tests.” “What happened after that?” I asked. “In the following time, I absorbed every piece of knowledge I could in order to gain an understanding of this world. I holed up in the library whenever I can and read every single book the library has. I took the test in last Summer, and was finally allowed to enter the academy as an cadet.” “It must be tough…” A lone girl in a strange world, without knowledge of the way the world around her works. Since I’m in a mostly similar situation, I can understand some of her struggles. But while I have years living back in the old world, the girl has nothing, nothing at all. Her name was given to her, her identity was given to her. She started her new life from scratch, while I already have an old life to help myself… “Hey, Akuma…” Suddenly, in a quiet voice, Deborah spoke to me. Her expressions darken, and not in a good way. “What is it?” “Can you allow me to voice…some of my selfish thoughts?” I suddenly feel unease, but it’s rare to have Deborah opens up to people, so I nodded in reponse to her request. “Thank you…” Deborah stands up. Slowly, the girl walks from her own napping spot to the ground in front of her, in the middle of her little garden. With her head held high to the sky, Deborah opens her lips. “I hate being Deborah!” The girl shouted. “What…?” I can’t even believe my own ears, but that is just the start of her rants. Deborah holds tight of her arms as she continue shouting. “I don’t even know if Deborah is my own identity! I become that girl because I have no other choices. To be Deborah, to be Dargoth’s granddaughter…it’s my only rope to escape from being a nameless girl. Yet…I can’t stand it, playing the role of the Greatest Demon King’s granddaughter. To play the role of a perfect student…to be powerful, to be beautiful, to be talented, to be loved by most and feared by some. But…all of those traits, they’re not mine…they belong to Deborah…whose name and identity was bestowed upon me. The moment I became Deborah, I gained the privileges that come along as the greatest Demon King’s granddaughter. But…they’re not mine, nothing is mine, except my own failures…” I snapped. Sometimes…I hate how easily humans can be to envy of someone, but they do have limits to hold their dark thoughts in check. Of course, I have my limit too. When you have low self-esteem, you started to be envious of every good thing people around you have…With how I am, I know there’ll come a day when I can’t keep my dark side in check. I just can’t anticipated that…today would be that day. Deborah’s words are like a saw, it keeps severing my limits with every lines she made. Before I knew it, my limit broke. Clenching my fists isn’t enough, biting my lips isn’t enough…there’s nothing I can do right now to hold my dark thoughts…aside from letting everything out… I start standing up. “If only I can escape from this castle…but even if I can, what would I do by then? I have no purpose of my own, and I can’t think of any. My current purpose…granted by the Headmaster, is to play the role of Deborah as flawlessly as possible. People expects me to be flawless, to be the perfect Deborah they knew. But…following the expectations given by others everyday drives me mad. It’s torture. I don’t want this. I don’t want to be expected of great things. If only I could have an ordinary life, a life unwanted by others, a life with only myself to look after. A life with me being my own master. I’m sure you can understand, right…? You also doesn’t want to be controlled by others. You want control of your own life as well. That’s why I want to tell you these…because we share the same feelings.” Beautiful. Intelligent. Talented. Creative. Honest. Yeah, I understand her problems now. “Right, I understand….I always thought you’re special, but in the end… …you’re just a plain bitch!” “Wha…” Before the girl got the chance to talk, I started lashing out at the girl with everything I kept hidden in my heart. “You always ask people to understand you, but do you really understand them!? You said you don’t want to be powerful, you don’t want to be beautiful, you don’t want to be this awesome and just want to be a plain, ordinary girl…well, just give all of them away then, to those who need them! Do you really understand the people at the bottom like me? The ones that tried really hard for things you could do in your sleep? Do you know of Amadia’s frustration when she’s unable to defeat you academically? Did you hear Iola’s lament when she more or less admitted that she has no hope to best you in anything? What rights do you have to complain when people crawl their way from the ground just to reach half of your accomplishements? You already have your whole future put nicely on a plate, yet you demand it to be done the way you want it to be…People like you…people who hate themselves even when they got everything others could ever want, people who whine when they have the expectations of everyone…I hate them, and I hate you. Deborah…you sicken me!” With all my strength, I shouted. I can’t even see the darkened face of the girl when I’m too busy letting out everything I have in mind. I no longer have my purpose to reconcile with the girl, all I care about right now…is to put her down with every words I got. “I thought…you would understand…I thought you don’t want your life just to be a scripted event!” “Right…I don’t want my life to be a mere scripted event. But there’s this thing I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want to live a life that was scripted, but I want to pick the scripted event for myself! I want to be of use to people. I want people to expect great things from me. I don’t want…to be just a mere shadow anymore…Then you appear and whine that your life is hell when you got everything I could ever wish for. Powerful, loved, have high expectations…You are the epitome of all of my wishes! And you just have to spit on my face by saying you hate your life and tell me bullshits like “I’m sure you can understand”! You…you are even lower than a worm!” The girl clenched her fists. She looks like she’s snapped from the pressure. But I don’t give a damn about her anymore. “You…What rights…do an accident like you have…to judge me like that?” “An accident…?” I found myself snapped even further just by those two words. “Right, you’re an accident…you’re just an accident! You were not supposed to be here at all! I never intended to summon anything! I don’t want to be looked up by people for summon some powerful being! So I sabotaged my own summoning circle and hope that nothing would come out! But you…you appeared…you ruined everything by your existence alone! Why don’t you go back to your home!? I don’t want to see you anymore!” Before I knew it, my hatred for her is temporary gone. I found myself looking at the ground. I’m no longer angry, only sadness remains. “You’re right…I’m an accident, just an accident…an accident that shouldn’t be allowed to be born.” The girl’s expression changed as my words reach her ears. “Akuma…you…are you…by any chance…?” Suddenly, from afar, around the center of the castle, there is a flame that was shot to the sky. When it exploded, part of the sky on top of the castle become red. A magic flare, used to transmit messages. There are many types of flare that are used for different purposes. But red flares, they are… “Code Red?” The color code is used in case of enemy attack. Attention all personnel! There’s a voice inside my head. It’s the Headmaster’s voice. Seeing Deborah’s reaction, I guess the Headmaster’s telepathy reached her as well, and maybe not just us. I guess it’s an announcement to all the people in the castle…What is going on? Every able man and woman, please gather at the castle’s main hall. This is not a drill. There’s an emergency that requires the participation from all of you. Soldiers, teachers, cadets…no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, we need your help to defend ourselves, to defend this castle, to defend the place that those on the Dark Line had failed to protect Prepare yourself, the greatest war of this century has already started!
Chapter 27 (1): A castle in peril Spoiler 「Central War Room - Before the gathering」 When the woman clad in grey steps foot into the room, she was greeted by salutes from the commanders and intelligence officers inside. Not bothers herself with the formality, the Headmaster keeps her pace and approaches the strategic map in the middle of the room. The staff resume their works when they find it meaningless to continue saluting. “How bad is the situation right now?” The woman asked. The strategic map laid out on the table is a detailed one. There are several black and white tokens that were placed across the map. A line of tokens formed the backbone of the Dark Line, but they’re currently in conflict with the opposite lines of white tokens. Far at the east of the map, there stands a small black token that occupied Melas castle. However, in front of it, there is one big white token that somehow found its way through the chaotic defense line. “The whole frontier is in chaos right now. We had already requested back up from the rear, but it’ll take them several days until they can get an army to Melas castle.” As a commander finished his report, the woman closed her eyes and sighed. “I was warned of the attack through the crystal communication device, but the other side’s device was destroyed before I can hear the whole story. Gentlemen, please give me a quick explanation on how our grand defensive line can collapsed in a day.” The commanders fell silence. Normally, when there is a battle, the full authority is given to the highest ranking commander from the regular army, even though there’s already somebody in charge. However, Nilrem Erramun is an exception. Her authority as this castle’s master is even higher than the military commanders, due to her experience, the importance of this place, and the women being favored by most members of the Seven Pillars. The commanders can’t help but listen to her orders. Before the woman’s patience runs out, a commander finally gives her what she wants to hear. “This morning, a legion from the central was raided when they were still in preparation for the annual winter defense exercise. The raid party’s leader was confirmed to be a human Hero. When their formation was broken, a detachment from the enemy’s central army began their attack. They breached the defense line, and marched deep to our land.” “Why didn’t the remaining legions intercept this detachment?” Nilrem asked. “They can’t reacted in time, madam.” Said another commander. He continues. “The estimated number of this detachment is roughly five thousand men, they brought along with them four disassembled trebuchets, pulled by stone golems. They kept their size small enough not to alert our remaining armies. Also, there are signs of this attack being an spontaneous one from a rouge unit. The enemy’s remaining armies didn’t go for rescue when the rouge unit was surrounded by the central legion’s remaining soldiers. However, the enemy takes advantage of the confusion, and launched a total offensive on all fronts when they saw their chances. This leads to the whole chaotic mess our army is facing right now. The fighting is still going on as we speak.” Nilrem sighed. When you gathered a lot of your men at the frontline, if an enemy managed to breakthrough, you can only do not thing but watch them march to their main objective. Seeing how close the attacking detachment is on the map, there’s no mistaking it, this castle is their main objective – thought Nilrem. “A whole defense line of 150000 men, thrown into confusion by a 5000 men unit. It’s been a while since the last time I’m this amused.” The commanders can only do nothing but look at the smile on the wicked witch’s face. “Is there any information on the attacking unit’s leader?” Said the witch. Her attention is still focused on the map. “Yes, madam. The enemy’s leader was confirmed to be 「Origen, the Black Paladin」.” “Origen…A paladin from Luminis, and a Lutumian at that. Well, if it’s him, then it’s no doubt their surprise attack would work wonders.” All of the people in the room know how dreadful an enemy a Paladin of Luminis is. This kingdom of Light has no standing army. Their only military force is a group of powerful and fanatical believers, simply dubbed the Paladins. These zealots must prove themselves to be a master of war and faith in order to join the ranks of Lielos’s warriors. They were armed with powerful weapons, and were given signature armors that bear symbol of the white cross. Even when they are few in number, and they brought fear to their enemy as much as they sing praises to their god of light. Suddenly, from the war room’s window, an eagle flew into the room. It is no ordinary eagle. This creature is a moving set of grey clay, molded to the shape of an eagle. A homunculus made by alchemists for special tasks. A soldier approaches the eagle. With a simple touch, the clay eagle suddenly broke itself into bits. In the core of the homunculus, there’s a piece of paper with strange writings. It’s probably codified information. When they get a hold of the paper, it didn’t take long for the intelligence officers to crack the code. “We got an update on the current situation, madam!” After they’re done, a soldier approaches the witch as he starts his report. “The enemy unit has successfully evaded the last guard fort. The scouts also reported that the enemy’s numbers had been reduced to about 4000 men as of now. The estimated time until they arrive is a day. They’ll be here by tomorrow morning.” The commanders and soldiers can only do nothing but look at each other in hopelessness. It’ll take at least three days until their reinforcement arrive. While they’re literally inside a castle built for war, they know they don’t have enough manpower to defend the place from an attacking unit of 4000 men, led by a dreaded Paladin on top of that. “Madam, the report also said they still have some reserve soldiers at the guard forts. They offered to join us for the defense of this castle.” Said the reporting soldier. “Tell them to wait and prepare for battle. The war from the frontier will soon reach them. Beside, with the enemy’s current marching speed, it’s too late for them to get to us in time for the defend anyway.” “Yes, madam.” When their orders have been given, the soldiers quickly write a coded message to their comrades on the frontier. After it’s done, a soldier put a piece of paper to the center of the broken clay eagle. He touched its body, and suddenly, the smashed pieces of the eagle started reassembling itself to its former shape before flying away, carrying along the coded message inside its core. “Commanders, what’s the estimated numbers of our own fighting force?” The witch once again gave the commanders another glance as she starts giving questions. “We have a thousand soldiers waiting for their departure, combine with the five hundred men from the castle’s guards and we have at most one thousand and five hundred able soldiers…” To siege a castle, one would need an army twice the numbers of the defending force in order to prove victorious. The reverse is also true, an army with half the numbers of the attacking force is enough to hold a fortified castle. But the commanders aren’t that optimistic, their men barely reach the required numbers to defend this large castle. While there’s only one bridge leads to the West side of this continent, along with a deep valley separating the places, it’s only a matter of time until the castle’s gate is breached and the castle falls to the enemy. “Those numbers are enough.” Said the witch. The commanders can’t raise a voice. Deep inside, they feel awkward being bossed around by a witch who’s not experienced of warfare and only have a saying in this room thanks to being the lord of the castle. Suddenly, the witch turns her gaze to the commanders like she knows what they’re thinking. “I believe you gentlemen won’t have any objections of me in charge of this operation?” Asked the witch. “With all due respect, madam, we are trained for warfare, taught to master the art of warfare. Warfare is our life and purpose. You don’t need to try so hard, madam. Please let us do our job to defend this castle. A headmaster should only concern about the teaching of her students, rather than bugging in the affairs of soldiers.” The conversation has gathered the attention from all the personnel inside the room. They all await the answer from the woman in grey. With a small laugh, the woman answers. “Commander. Were you here the last time this castle was besieged?” “Err…no, madam. That was hundreds of years ago. I wasn’t even born yet.” Said the commander. “I was there the last time this castle was fallen. It was hellish, like a nightmare than I can’t wake up from. I didn’t live to this day just to watch the same tragedy unfold again. This castle is one of Dargoth’s last remaining legacy, I won’t allow it fall again to the hand of humans. Do you still have any objections, commander?” “No madam, we will not have any objections. Please give us your orders.” The commanders and the soldiers bowed in recognition of Nilrem’s authority. Without any change of reactions, the woman starts making her battle plan along with her subordinates.