Chapter 106: Chapter 99: Invasion?
[Galadriel]
[Luminare Academy]
Walking through the hallways of the academy was never a pleasant experience; she was often subjected to insults and snide remarks. She would only find peace in a classroom where a teacher was present, but even that solace was tainted by the mories of snide remarks. A boy in her Alchemy class sneered, "Demon spawn probably uses bat blood for ink."
"You should return to the abyss."
"Filthy demon."
A wave of nausea washed over her. She squeezed her eyes shut, the hallway morphing into a mory of past humiliations. The sting of holy water flicked against her skin during an academy eting in the auditorium. When so fools thought it funny to test her demon heritage, the searing whispers of "unholy" and "abomination" echoing in her ears. The mory of shoving lunch trays, the clatter drowned out by cruel laughter.
Juliana stumbled, her breath catching in her throat. Opening her eyes, she found herself face-to-face with a group of upperclassn, their uniforms as neat as ever. Their eyes, however, held no reflection of kindness. They were narrowed slits, filled with disdain so potent it felt like a physical blow.
"Well, well," drawled a particularly burly boy with a shaved head, his voice dripping with false sweetness. "Look who decided to grace us with her demonic presence." A chorus of snickers followed, sharp and cruel. Juliana felt a familiar heat rise in her cheeks, a burning sha that threatened to consu her. But then, she rembered his words, his voice a comforting echo in the cavernous hall of her mind.
"They fear what they don’t understand, Juliana. But fear can be overco with strength."
Taking a deep breath, Juliana squared her shoulders, forcing her gaze to et the smirking upperclassman. But her voice died in her throat; she could not muster the words. But it seems she would not have to.
"Co now," a familiar voice spoke. "Juliana has just as much right to be here as anyone." Soone stepped up beside her, her wide eyes saw Adrian. Their laughter died down imdiately, replaced by apprehension. The upperclassman’s smirk faltered for a brief mont, a flicker of fear crossing his features. Then, just as quickly, it hardened back into a sneer.
"You, playing consort for this demon spawn," he scoffed, his voice laced with condescension. "We’ll see how long that ’right’ lasts, demon scum."
He shoved past the two, his companions following suit. Juliana remained rooted to the spot, the encounter leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Yet, amidst the sting of their cruelty, there was a flicker of sothing else.
"What a bunch, everyone in this academy is practically the sa," she heard Adrian murmur. She glanced at him in confusion. "Always the sa reaction, so boring."
Adrian, unlike most, had no disgust or animosity within his eyes. But for so reason, she found him more unnerving than receiving any jeers or glares. That look in his eyes, blank, seed the most apt description. Even when he smiled, it remained so blank and eerie; even now when he helped her, those unnerving eyes did not change.
He smiled as he turned to her. "So what class are you off to?"
"A-alchemy class," she answered hesitantly.
"Alchemy, huh? Well, allow
to walk you to class," he offered.
"Y-you don’t have to."
"Nonsense," he rely waved her words off. "You and I are friends, right?"
"Friends?" How loosely he threw that term around; in the past few weeks, they had rely greeted one another. There were hardly ever any lengthy conversations held between the two of them. They could not even be called acquaintances, let alone friends. She gave him a nervous glance. That smile remained as he spoke on.
"Yes, friends. The two of us are in the sa boat after all," he clarified. "Most here detest us." She could not help but frown at the bluntness of his words. "You for being a spawn of that demon, and
for actively working with demons. We should stick together, no?" She pursed her lips at his words. In a way, they should have been comforting, but his tone did not attest to that. She did not know what to say to him; she was never any good with words. But it seems there was no need for any of that.
That was because a low, guttural tremor resonated through the academy, shaking the very foundations. Dust rained down from the high ceilings, casting the hallway in an eerie gloom. Gasps erupted around her, students scrambling for support against the trembling walls. The tremor wasn’t natural. It pulsed with dark, malevolent mana, a power that resonated strangely with Juliana. For a terrifying mont, Juliana was frozen. This power, this tremor, it was strength, raw and untad.
"What mana," Adrian was quite the opposite, leisurely; his hands were pocketed despite the tremor. "And it’s a demon too," the tremor subsided, yet everyone was still in disarray. Juliana turned to Adrian.
"W-what was that?" She managed to get those words out but barely; the mana still lingered. It was so potent she could almost sll and taste it. "A demon," he answered as he started walking. Juliana watched in confusion but ultimately followed him. "Hmm, and judging from how potent this mana is, it’s no doubt a Chaosmaw," he stopped at a window in the hallways. "And coming from the forest."
"The forest..." Juliana mirrored his stare; he was looking at the western section. "T-that’s where William and Ruby were training."
"Indeed." Despite her words, his smile had not faltered. "Shall we go and assist them?"
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[???]
Ruby glanced back, her gaze as dull as ever despite the situation. The forest floor blurred beneath their churning feet, a rush of green and brown churned into a panicked kaleidoscope. Towering behind them was a creature born of hell. Its black form, the size of a siege tower, hulked against the sky. Jagged spikes, blacker than a night sky, sprouted from its hide like thorns, glinting an oily sheen in the fading light. With each thunderous footfall, the earth trembled – with each of its steps.
("I thought I advised these fools not to attack,") Ruby shook her head in annoyance.
William, running beside her, gritted his teeth; he raised his hand, palm outstretched. A crackling mana, the color of a sumr storm, pulsed within it. With a grunt, he unleashed the pent-up mana – a bolt of pure lightning that speared towards the demon.
It struck accurately, a blinding white flash illuminating the clearing ahead. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact. But when she opened them, the demon had barely flinched. The lightning danced harmlessly on its flesh, sizzling and dying before it could inflict any real damage.
"That did nothing," she dryly comnted.
"I am well aware!" William scread out.
Though it did do sothing, the demon roared in apparent anger. The bellow reverberated through the trees, shaking leaves loose in a shower of green rain. It lunged forward, gaining speed with each earth-shaking step. Just as its massive fist, bigger than a house, descended on Ruby, William shoved her to the side. He barely managed it – the wind from the demon’s movent whipped through his hair, and the stench of brimstone flooded his nostrils. The fist slamd into the ground with a force that defied logic. The earth groaned in protest, a crater forming where the demon’s appendage collided. A shockwave radiated out, tearing through the undergrowth and sending William and Ruby flying through the air.
They landed with bone-jarring thuds, their vision montarily swimming. Gasping, William scrambled to his feet and grabbed Ruby’s arm, pulling her up. They didn’t dare waste a breath, both already sprinting again, weaving through the dense forest. The demon, seemingly unaffected by its own show of force, rose from the crater and charged once more.
Just as it opened its maw to unleash another earth-shattering roar, Ruby’s hand flashed. A glyph, shimring with a sickly purple light, blazed into existence before the demon’s face. It was a Hex of Gravity Distortion.
"Hex: Distortion of gravity," she silently murmured.
The air twisted, and the demon stumbled, its massive form montarily sluggish as its own center of gravity was turned against it. Seizing the opportunity, Ruby chanted a second hex.
"Hex: Binding earth."
The ground beneath the demon writhed, thick tendrils of earth erupting from the ground to grasp at its legs. The demon roared in fury, the sound one of great anger, and with a herculean effort, ripped itself free from the earth’s grasp. But the brief respite had bought them precious seconds. William, using the Qi training General Mai had bestowed upon them, surged his body with the unfamiliar power. A warm energy pulsed beneath his skin, fueling his body and magic. He muttered a simple chant. A circular glyph, alight with mana, materialized in front of him.
With a grunt of effort, William thrust his palm forward. From the glyph erupted a torrent of blazing white fire, a river of pure heat that roared towards the demon. The forest floor lit up with a glow, the fire of white engulfed the monstrous creature, seemingly eating away at its obsidian flesh.
William held his breath. But as the fire sputtered and died down, any hope turned to ashes. The demon stood there, seemingly unscathed. It flexed its massive arms, sending shockwaves through the air that ripped leaves from branches and turned twigs into splinters.
"Seriously?"
William let out a groan of despair. A magic attack fueled by Qi had done nothing.
The demon opened its mouth wide, a gaping maw of black. Within that abyss, a ball of crackling mana began to form, growing larger and more powerful with each passing second. It pulsed with a ominous light, threatening to obliterate everything in its path.
"Tsk!" Ruby seed annoyed more than anything as she raised a hand towards the boy. ("Playing school was fun, but oh well.")
William turned towards the inevitable end, accepting his fate with a grimace. But just as he braced for the man beam to engulf him, a translucent wall of purple light materialized between them and the demon. The mana beam slamd into the barrier, the force of it creating a deafening boom that echoed through the forest.
The ground beneath their feet trembled, but the shield held. It pulsed with every hit, the purple light shimring brighter with each surge of power. Ruby humd, recognizing the mana signature. And this didn’t seem like a simple barrier technique; no, it was a Shielding charm, a powerful defensive spell that absorbed any attack instead of simply blocking it, but it drained the caster’s mana reserves quickly.
A nervous voice broke through the cacophony. "I-I barely made it in ti!" Juliana, her eyes held fear but determination, she stood slightly panting behind the barrier, her face etched with exhaustion.
"Juliana!" William shouted over the roar of the demon, relief flooding his voice as the beam of destructive mana died down.
"Seems we’ve arrived right on ti." Another familiar voice spoke out, Adrian stepped out from the cover of the forest examining the large demon that seed to be doing the sa to them.
"You’re here?" Ruby uttered out, confused. "I didn’t think you would bother with helping us."
"Your words are harsh, Ruby." He chuckled. "Why would I not want to help my friends."
"W-we should run now, right?" Juliana asked with a shaking voice; the demon was remaining docile, but that was sure to change.
"Nay, apparently there are so more demons around campus. The teachers already have their hands full there so no one would be able to handle this Chaosmaw." Adrian exclaid, William knitted his brows together.
"You’re not suggesting...."
"Oh yes, let’s kill ourselves a Chaosmaw!"
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