Chapter CXXXII - Agonizing Betrayal (part 1)

The next day, the event continues.

If yesterday was two events in one day, then today is three events in one day. Since two of today's events are small sized events played only with a single person, the time to do it was set pretty quickly by the organizers.

Today's event consisted of the continuation of yesterday's 5v5 event, the shooting game event, and the speedy run event.

The shooting game event and the speedy run event will only last for two days, while the 5v5 event will last until Thursday.

Today, the 5v5 event is for the second year, and tomorrow is for the third year. On Thursday, the finals where the champions from each year will fight with one another. There's also the ultimate checkers event that will be held after it.

Their planning really is neat, but Thursday is the day of the seal's collapse. 

No matter what plans they created, the events will need to be held.

For the shooting game, Bonzie won pretty easily and became the champion of the first years. Meanwhile in the speedy run event, it's obvious that Maneil is the fastest amongst the first years. She is both fast, agile, and has quite good reflexes, but I definitely know that the seniors will be a lot faster than her.

Tuesday went by in a flash since it was pretty simple, and Wednesday finally came like a bang.

Bonzie is now fighting one on one with a senior from the second year, who is also a god of shooting. The two always get perfect scores every time, and that made the judge pissed. The judge then went ahead and announced the two as winners.

Bonzie and the senior laughed and shook hands. Who knew there could be two winners in a game.

Maneil... wasn't as lucky. As I predicted, the second and third years were even more insane in their speed. They beat Maneil by quite a large gap.

Speed is definitely something they have the upper hand because they have been training it for far longer than her. Which means she simply lost in terms of time.

Maneil came to me crying because she got third, but that's also not bad. I hugged her and told her to do her best next year, and she nodded while being on my shoulder.

After hugging me, Maneil went ahead and hugged Bonzie next.

...

Our events... went well.

But those... were not what I remembered… of that day.

"Rize."

A voice came behind me, and I turned around to find Lemillia standing quite far behind me.

"Yes?"

"Come with me for a second."

She then turned around and walked. From her cold expression, I can tell something is wrong, so I followed her in silence.

The sun is already quite low, and soon it will disappear. Right now, the sun is on our west, which is where the academy is facing. As a result, the back side of the academy was rather dark, since the orange sunlight was mostly covered by the middle building.

We walked past quite a lot of groups of students that were talking quite loudly about the events, and about how epic class E was for going against the seniors. I felt quite happy hearing that, but nothing seemed to change in Lemillia's behavior.

I followed Lemillia towards the girls dormitory building, where we can see a few students hanging out on the front entrance. But, that's not where we are going.

We arrived on the wall next to the girls' dorms, facing the bright forest underneath the cliff. Here, no one can hear our conversation, nor can they see what is happening.

She brought me to a rather closed off spot… She must be eager to tell me something personal.

"Rize... I need to tell you something."

She slowly opened her clothes… Wait, why is she stripping?!

I-Is this a confession!? 

I have never heard or seen a confession this sexual!!

I unconsciously closed my eyes with my hands, completely forgetting that I'm a female now. When I opened my fingers slowly, I could see something weird with her.

Her skin… No, those aren't skin.

Those are… scales.

She had opened her back slightly and showed me her back's skin, and it looks like a grey scale, ones you may find at the skin of a dragon.

"W-Why do you have a scale on your--"

My eyes couldn't believe it, and my mind is very slow on processing.

She turned her apologetic gaze at me, and her eyes were glowing blue while her retinas turned grey.

Immediately, I understood.

Those eyes… The last time I saw anyone like that was Dice, and he was not a human.

Lemillia… is a demon.

"L-Lemillia?"

"I always wanted to tell you. But, I have no idea how."

My eyes opened wide as she slowly closed her clothes again. She then took off her glasses and released the curl on her hair. And now, her dark blue hair is being waved around by the wind as the cold expression on her face is forming, replacing the once timid gaze that I have seen nearly everyday on her, into a cold demon queen.

Everything about her… seemed to have changed. She is showing me her true color.

But… for what purpose?

"Lemillia..."

"If you are wondering why I suddenly told you this… it is because I needed your help."

I still can't get used to her grey and blue eyes. Seeing her opening herself to me like this, that must mean she is serious.

I regained my memory again, and recalled some things from my brain that I somehow missed.

"Then... Why are you demons here in the academy?"

I quickly formed a firm expression and asked her, but she simply closed her eyes and shook her head apologetically.

"Initially, our plan was to retrieve the rock of energy… Because we needed its strength. But, we didn't do it because we wanted to hurt others. We only wanted to protect."

"Protect? Who are you protecting?"

"Ourselves."

"Your… selves?"

Lemillia nodded heavily and sighed. She returned her cold expression back at me, slightly brimming with anger.

"That's right. While you humans, elves, and dwarves, and maybe beastmen, are too busy living peaceful lives, we… the demons… are--"

Suddenly her words stopped. Her eyes turned blanked, as if she noticed something horrifying.

Then she fell down to her knees, kneeled as she tried to breath, but something seemed to be stopping her breath. I can only watch in confusion as she choked really badly on her breathing, as if something magically appeared on her throat.

"L-Lemillia…?"

I got closer and kneeled in front of her, trying to check her condition. I placed my right hand on her shoulder, while my other hand on her chest to see her condition.

Unfortunately... that was my mistake. 

CLICK!...

...?

What just--

"… I'm sorry, Rize."

Everything else simply happened quickly.

I was so surprised by the sudden things going on, that I didn't realize the foot coming from behind me.

BAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!

A single kick to my unprotected face. I got kicked away towards the deeper side of the alley from behind, with a rather powerful force of a kick.

As I tried getting up, I tried to think of what just happened. But, another voice came behind me, where Lemillia was sitting down at.

"Haha!! Well done, Althoria!!"

Another person had appeared and stood next to Lemillia. As I slowly got up, I noticed that he was not alone.

Six other men showed up on this side alley, and they all wore the same dark brown robes with a slight decoration on the hood.

The man that stood next to Lemillia then took down his hood and showed me his face.

An adult male demon…

His horns were grown on the left and right side of his forehead, and his grey retina and blue eyes were glaring at me with a wide grin on his face.

His grey skin reminded me of the smurfs, but with a much less blue colour. His short white hair is swaying around thanks to the heavy wind here, and he touched his face with his left hand while smirking and laughing.

Was he a teacher…? I have never seen him before.

I glanced at Lemillia who was slowly standing up. She lifted her left hand and released the ring that she wore on her middle finger. And suddenly, her whole body shone in white light and dissipated after three seconds.

She transformed back to her demon form. Her original demon form is more or less similar to that guy next to her. With horns on her forehead, and her pale gray skin. 

No, they are too much alike.

"You have promised me, and you delivered! Our family will be granted much pride, Althoria!!"

"Thank you… uncle."

"Lemilliaa!!!"

I shouted at her and tried to stand up, but I didn't realize the thing that was holding my hand. I turned my gaze, and found the one thing that can result in my death.

My kryptonite…

The magic handcuff.

"Haha! Look, the puny human has become quite attached to you!"

The adult demon said while laughing maniacally at me, but Lemillia stopped him from moving forward.

"Careful with her… Even without magic, she can still hurt you."

She said coldly, but the man simply chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah."

The man then glanced at the followers behind him, and they all lifted their wands at me. I don't have to own magic to understand that the magic they are casting is some very powerful magic.

Demons were always known for their strength in magic aptitude. They were always the strongest race in terms of magic, and though it hasn't been proven directly, it has been shown to me a couple times.

Dice… Lemillia…

And then these demons in front of me… they are casting Knight tier magic so easily…

Shit. This is...

No. I must ask Lemillia about what she meant. Why she needed the rock, and why she wanted my help originally. Something inside me knows that she was being controlled, proven by how she choked to death before. 

Which means, I will just have to find a way to liberate her from the thing controlling her. But, to do that while surviving is… almost dumb to think about.

Demons…

How can I live through this…?