Yes, Madam!

[Dona's Pov]

Looking at the white-haired boy that always seemed to try his best meditate peacefully, I couldn't help but smile a bit. Though he had been so worried about losing control, it hadn't even taken half an hour before I could clearly see that he was worried for nothing.

"Oh, are you going already, Ms. Zito?"

"Yes, I have already seen what I wanted to see. Thank you for allowing me to come here, Mrs. Bright."

As gentle as ever, Mrs. Bright was just one of the humans that confirmed that there was no reason for me to hate them. Then, she put her hand on her chin, thinking for a second.

"But he is truly interesting, isn't he? Aarick was it? It's not often you see an irregular, so seeing that intangible energy around him is quite fascinating."

It wasn't unanticipated that Mrs. Bright would notice the peculiarities behind Aarick's blessing, but as I was also quite certain that she would be more inclined to think of him an irregular than a demon, her keen insight didn't worry me at all.

"You think?"

"I do. Even for an irregular, his mana is special. Gravity, it seems? It's such a shame that the potential of irregulars is limited. It would have been exciting to see someone with that kind of power reach the higher ranks."

"Well, you never know what the future might bring, Mrs. Bright. Now, I'll have to excuse myself."

As I took my leave, I couldn't help but see a girl glowing in a deep blue open one of her eyes, and although she was trying to be subtle, there was no question she was looking at me.

'Ho?'

Levi Ayim was one of the students that, together with Will Steiner, had the most potential of them all, as well as being born into the Ayim household which was the household behind the Leviathan guild.

She was also the girl that Aarick appeared to have some kind of history with, a history I hadn't cared to ask about as it did not matter to him anymore. Because even though they attended the same academy, they didn't live in the same world after he had been converted.

No matter how much I wanted to illusion myself into thinking otherwise, even if demons and humans could live together, their worlds would never be the same again.

****

Swimming in the darkness of my own existence, it didn't take long until I found the small seed of power that was my core.

Feeling the core that had been birthed as Lucifer and I came together, I somehow started to understand more and more why my abilities had suddenly felt a lot more natural to use after I had lost my mind.

'-Yes, it's all because of us getting closer to each other.'

This core was her blessing, and it was my curse. At the same time, it was also our bond, as well as the source of our power.

So for me, understanding my core was the same as understanding Lucifer, and by extension allowing her to get closer to me. This was the advantage of being a demon. Because the abilities of a demon weren't something external, it was internal.

So while I still needed to practice a bit to get the hang of my abilities, I knew that I wouldn't have to spend hours and hours refining techniques as my powers were already part of me. Whilst they hadn't been part of me when I was born a human, they had always been part of me since I was reborn a demon.

I just had to understand them.

'-It's time for you to wake up, darling.'

'Do I have to?'

'-Tihi! Of course, you do, silly. There's still a lot of work for you to do, after all!'

Adhering to her words, knowing that she was right, I opened my eyes, just in time to hear our teacher end the lesson.

"That's all for today, everyone! Next week we will start training some more practical applications of mana, as well as talk about how to use general spells and skills. Class dismissed."

Taking a look around the room, seeing everyone standing up and getting ready to go, I was a bit surprised to see the absence of a certain teacher that had said she would stay here with me.

Dismissing the questions I had about Ms. Zito, I also stood up and prepared myself to leave the room, not wanting anything like yesterday to happen just because I dragged my feet.

Now, I didn't hate the fact that I would get to go get coffee with Celina this Saturday, at least not when thinking about what I would gain from our interaction, but I was quite fed up already of not being able to just go where I wanted without something happening.

So, I ran away, completely missing the fact that a certain blue-haired girl had been watching my back with an intense gaze.

==========

"No! You have to be a lot faster when equipping your claws! If you do it this slowly, your head will already have been chucked off your head!"

"Huff... huff... yes..."

Another night of training had begun, this time with me practicing using my claws. Or, at least I was practicing activating and deactivating them.

Standing in the middle of the very traditional training room, looking more like a dojo than a room in an expensive apartment, I once again released my claws.

Starting with my nails elongating and covering my fingers with what looked like a sleek kind of metal, five claws were quickly created on my two hands, shining under the lights installed on the roof.

Standing with her arms crossed, dressed in a very casual pink t-shirt and black tights, Ms. Zito finally looked like she found my speed to be passable.

"That's good enough for now. You still have to be a lot faster, but for now, it will do. Now then, let's start practicing how you use them. Come at me."

"Yes! Wait, what? Like, come at you with these things? Isn't that kind of dangerous?"

As if to affirm just how ridiculous I was sounding, her body blurred, and a second later, I felt a hot breath on my neck, coming from behind me. Following this, she spoke gently into my ear, sending both good and bad shivers down my back.

"Do you honestly think someone as weak as you could do anything to me?"

"I guess not..."

Stepping away from me, I was still not too enthusiastic about using what could only be called deadly weapons against Ms. Zito, I also knew her words to be very true. So, wanting to surprise her at least a bit, I quickly rotated my body and swiped my claws toward her.

Sadly, she caught my arm with her hand effortlessly. And even despite the fact that I wasn't using my ability to decrease my gravity, I was then suddenly flying through the air.

*Bam!*

"Kuagh!"

As my back collided with the wall I wasn't exactly sure how, but she had somehow just thrown me away as if my body weighed nothing.

Looking up at the woman now walking toward me with terror infused into my soul, and seeing the smile that symbolized what kind of creature she was, I swallowed.

"Stand up! We have four more hours to go before you are allowed to go to sleep!"

"Yes madam..."

"Don't call me madam!"

"Yes, teacher..."

==========

"Meet me in the kitchen after you grab a shower."

After what felt like an eternity of me futilely giving it my all to put even a single scratch on Dona's body, which had always ended in me either getting thrown away or wrestled to the ground, she finally decided we were done.

Dragging my weary body and mind into the bathroom that was filled with marble, I took my place underneath the overhead shower integrated into the roof and felt my wounds stinging as they came in contact with the water.

So far during these few days, I had learned that it was not just the abilities that made demons different from humans, and although my demonic traits were quite weak, my wounds were still healing a lot faster than they would for a human.

Eyes that could see in the dark, regeneration, an outrageously long life span, etc. There were many things that put demons apart from humans and coming out to the kitchen after having washed off the sweat, I was met by the sights of the most notable difference of all.

Because there my teacher was, currently pouring pure blood into two large glasses, one of which was undoubtedly meant for me. Having filled up the glasses, she used some kind of weird magic that I had understood was the effect of the ring on her finger, the blood bag which she poured out of disappeared.

"I'm sorry. I was planning to have finished pouring before you were done showering. Come, let's sit down."

At the same time, Lucifer appeared out of my body, her as well wearing a very regretful face.

"I'm sorry, Aarick... But you will have to get used to it, so even if you don't technically have to drink it, it's better to get used to it as soon as possible."

'These two...'

Although I naturally still wasn't comfortable with the thought of consuming the liquid of life that made up most of the human body, I was still happy to see that no matter what, I at least had these two people supporting me.

Therefore, I sat down with Lucifer and Dona on the living room couches and reaffirmed the fact that I was no longer human.