The full moon began to rise in the night sky.
─!
──!
─!
The fireworks exploded in unison, painting the night with beauty.
The light filtered gently through the window, as two elves began to concentrate mana.
Uuuuuuung—
The spirits, who had lost their reason, showed hostility toward Aint.
In the midst of it all, the cause moved his disgusting tongue.
“Today, in this place, a demon will be summoned.”
One that will devour and destroy the entire Academy.
“And you will also vanish right here.”
But don’t feel too lonely.
“Fernan Pellenberg, whom you cared for so much, went ahead and will be waiting for you.”
“…What did you do to senior Fernan, professor?”
“I laid a trap for him. I knew Fernan wouldn’t be able to stay away, so I prepared another demon to receive him. He was a bit stubborn, but in the end, he showed up at just the right moment.”
Dominique couldn’t hold back the laughter that escaped him.
“Ah, forgive me. This is just too fun.”
The truth is, I suffered too. A lot, an awful lot.
“I had to sacrifice my own fragments while preparing the summoning circle, all while instructing Carlo Deneb and dealing with the other professors. Every day was exhausting.”
But seeing the result, all that fatigue disappears as if it never existed.
“The time has come for the grand finale, student Aint. Would you accept death peacefully?”
Aint gripped his sword tightly and responded.
“Shut up…!”
Dominique’s body split in two. But both halves dissolved into dust.
“How rude. Attacking in the middle of a conversation? Is that the true nature of the so-called heroes the humans of Armian believe in?”
Suddenly, Dominique was behind Professor Nania and Aria.
“What the hell are you…?”
“That, I don’t intend to say.”
Tap—
He gently tapped the ground with his foot. A surge of miasma activated a spell.
Illusions of darkness enveloped Aint.
Alongside them came wind and waves, a strange energy mixed with nauseating miasma.
Aint slashed through them, shouting.
“Aria! Wake up! Professor Nania!”
There was no response.
A shining slash tore through the darkness.
“I would love to kill you with my own hands, but unfortunately, I’m not in normal condition.”
With the utmost courtesy and elegance, Dominique bowed his head.
“So I’ll watch from a seat of honor the fall of the Armian Academy of the Empire.”
Enjoy it to the fullest.
He vanished like an illusion.
“Where…!”
Aint dashed like an arrow to pursue him. He wanted to.
“Impossible.”
“Kill Aint Armian…!”
A blast pushed him backward. Inside the lab, the tools crashed everywhere.
“Aria…! Professor Nania…!”
— If you try to defeat them without killing them, you’ll waste too much time. If the summoning is completed, the demon will appear! You must escape now!
Aint agreed with Gardner. He raised his sword toward the window.
─!
The strike crashed against the glass, but the symbols covering the entire lab resonated in unison and repelled the attack.
The rebound was so violent that Aint grit his teeth. He stumbled back, and in that instant, the two spirit summoners cornered him.
“Please…!”
He narrowly dodged. But they were spirit mages—wind and water blocked all his movements, covering every possible angle.
“Hhh…!”
Aint held his breath and swept with his aura. The spells attacking from all directions clashed and exploded.
Enduring the shockwave, he clenched his jaw.
“What the hell is that guy? How could he manipulate Aria and the professor…?”
Even if he was a miasma bearer, there were limits. That Aria had already fallen under mind control was one thing, but Professor Nania was different.
A top-tier mage anywhere on the continent.
Someone like her had been subdued, while that man built a summoning circle and transformed the lab into a prison of this scale.
All of it without the rector noticing.
— …It’s possible. Because that guy isn’t just a miasma bearer.
“…What do you mean?”
— Now that I’ve seen him in person, he’s worse than I heard.
— A demon.
— That guy is a demon! The 71st of the hierarchy—Dantalion!
“……!”
Gardner’s shout froze Aint in place.
“Wait, so if they summon another demon, there’ll be two in the Academy…?”
The color drained from his face.
Meanwhile, the two spirit mages charged at him again.
***
Last night of the festival.
The Emperor had left after the closing speech, and as always, the Academy concluded with a fireworks display.
Boom, boom, boom.
The explosions lit up the Academy’s sky with more brightness and beauty than ever.
“So pretty.”
“Gorgeous.”
“Yeah.”
Luina was watching too. Sitting on a café rooftop with her friends, enjoying a hot chocolate.
She would have liked to be accompanied by someone else at that moment. But he wasn’t at the Academy.
‘He said he’d be back soon…’
The festival ended, and he still hadn’t appeared.
She had wanted to see the fireworks with him.
“I wish I was watching this with my boyfriend, not you guys…”
“In this life, you’ve already lost, Bella. Accept it.”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
“…Did that come out loud?”
“Yes, even covering my ears I heard it.”
“Liar.”
Luina’s face turned red.
“I’m really surprised. I never imagined you and Fernan would end up like this…”
“That’s not true, Aina.”
“Yes it is, Aina. Let’s just say it’s not—for now.”
“Was I too nosy?”
“I told you, it’s not like that!”
───!
Then the sky lit up again. Consecutive fireworks formed a silhouette.
“A Saintbird?”
A white bird with two pairs of wings. There was no doubt.
“Ending the festival with the symbol of the Empire… pretty romantic.”
“Yes.”
“Wait… is that moving? Wow, these fireworks are next level!”
“I heard Aria worked really hard on this.”
She hadn’t left the lab because she was using spirits. Now it made sense—she had created something like that.
“The elf? When will you introduce us?”
“When there’s a chance.”
“You’ve been neglecting us lately. Always spending time with Fernan…”
Then—
“…What’s going on with that color?”
The Saintbird looked strange.
Its pure white began to darken. Black, then red, and finally a mixture of both.
The transformation began at the heart, spreading through the entire bird.
Kiiiiiiiiii—
A metallic screech, like nails on steel, forced them to cover their ears.
“What is that…?”
“It hurts…!”
When Luina looked again, the Saintbird was gone.
The Empire’s symbol had dissolved, and the spirits were reorganizing into another figure.
“…A peacock?”
Luina murmured without realizing.
At that very moment—
─────!
Black columns shot up across the entire Academy. They connected directly with the peacock in the sky.
A black and crimson dome covered the entire campus.
An ominous energy spread rapidly.
“…Demonic magic?”
She had felt it countless times while following Fernan.
That energy. A force that triggered instinctive repulsion, discomfort, and suffocating danger.
Luina’s skin prickled. Her instincts roared with a fierce alarm.
“…Something’s wrong.”
She leapt from the rooftop.
“Luina, where are you going?!”
“For my sword! You all get to safety too!”
Even after grabbing her sword in her room, the feeling of unease didn’t vanish.
The blackened sky was dyed blood-red, and the miasma was much thicker than before.
This was different. Very different from the countless corrupt beings and monsters she had faced so far.
“…A demon?”
Yes. It reminded her of those moments.
When the 72nd demon, Andromalius, descended.
When she faced the 66th, Kimaris.
‘What should I do?’
The enemy was a demon. She had heard the rector left the Academy because his grandson was ill. Then, who could stop it?
Luina bit her lip.
‘It’s not about whether I can or can’t.’
It was something that had to be done.
If the Academy was to survive.
If she didn’t want to see people massacred by demons.
‘Aint! I must find Aint!’
Fernan was the first person to come to mind. But Fernan wasn’t at the Academy.
So next—A true opponent of demons.
For the first time, Luina broke the rules of Ravidus Hall and knocked on another room’s door. No answer. She forced it open, only to find a wall with a gaping hole.
“Ah…”
Right. Aint had destroyed Ravidus Hall and was punished for it. He wasn’t allowed to return there for the whole semester.
‘If he’s being punished… with whom?’
She didn’t know the details of the sanction.
All she remembered was that Professor Grad had said he supervised Aint for a time before she began training with him.
If that was true, he’d also know where Aint was afterward.
In a hurry, Luina rushed to the faculty building. Fortunately, Grad was there.
They met, he too stepping out with sword in hand.
“Professor! That’s a demon being summoned! We have to find Aint! Do you know where he is?”
“…A demon, you say?”
Professor Grad’s face hardened at the word.
“If you mean Aint, he was serving his punishment helping Professor Ladina Branchef. He should’ve finished a couple of hours ago…”
It was in that moment.
It was hard to describe. But both felt it. Something had changed.
With their senses heightened, Luina and Grad looked up at the same time.
The Saintbird had vanished, replaced by a gigantic peacock drawn in black miasma.
Its tail opened completely.
And there appeared symbols.
“……!”
No, they weren’t symbols.
They were eyes.
Hundreds of eyes opening at once.
Deformed, sinister, terrifying.
All of them looked down, toward the Academy.
Meeting the gazes of those trembling in fear and reverence.
“……”
Just receiving that gaze made Luina feel a crushing weight. Her heart pounded.
At that very moment—
────!
The magic circle began to radiate a blinding light.
Space itself started to crack.
Crackkk—
From the rift emerged the giant claw of a bird.
The miasma, even denser now, left Luina with no doubts.
A demon.
It was a true demon.
A demon was descending upon the Academy.
“You were right, Luina.”
The Academy’s swordsmanship professor, Grad Xant, gripped his sword tightly.
His red aura rose in waves like searing heat.
He swung it.
────!
A red flash split the air and struck the bird’s claw.
The foot that was about to crush the land trembled violently.
Kiiiiiiiiiek—
A chilling screech shook the entire Academy.
“Follow me, Luina Bercheff.”
Grad marched forward with firm steps toward the demon.
“I don’t want to say something this heavy to a student, but I don’t think I can take that thing down alone.”
I need your help.
“We can’t let everyone die. And I’m sure Aint Armian, when he sees this, will come immediately.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Luina nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
‘I am a knight.’
A knight doesn’t run, leaving the enemy in front of the defenseless.
The enemy is killed.
And if it can’t be killed, then time is bought so the others can escape.
“It’s a demon!”
“Run!”
They passed by the screams of those fleeing in terror.
____
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