Chapter 52: The Ball (2)
"It tried to kidnap Nea and her boyfriend."
Coldness spread in the room.
Arlene stood up first.
"You...?" She reached in and gently placed a hand on Nea’s cheek. "What
happened? The boy is okay? You should call him here to the ball."
Nea lowered her gaze. "He wasn’t my boyfriend or anything. Just a good friend...
we were out on that very day..."
She stammered through her words. Even now, she remained fairly conflicted. The
beast was seen, but not him.
The coldness in the air increased even more.
Arlene’s hair was standing on edge.
"Could it possibly be... one of the corrupted?"
"No, no," Nea quickly shook her head. "All the corrupted were accounted for.
They were staff of the guest house."
Arlene nodded and sat down. The temperature returned to normal a little bit as
her killing intent dispersed.
Adam, too, leaning on the table, smirked.
"I am sure he’s fine. What’s his name?"
"Thank you, young master... It was Axel."
"Don’t say ’was,’" Adam said. "Well, I guess we have another thing to look out
for. The Witch Queen... what a thing. I never thought we’d have to worry about
that figure."
"He’s right. It’ll be fine, Nea," Arlene added. "Don’t be worried."
Nea nodded again, her head lowered. She didn’t know what to say to these things.
Noticing the mood, Dumas looked behind and stepped ahead.
"Ah, we’re out of beer. We’ll get some more and some food, then all of us can go
to the party, yes? Come, Nea."
"Oh, yes."
Nea and Dumas started to leave the room. Left alone, Arlene and Adam both
sighed.
It was an awkward thing, and there was little they could say, as well. Arlene,
especially, felt quite bad. She hated when any of her people were going through
a tough time.
For someone who could manipulate words and opinions very easily, keeping her own
people happy had become almost an obsession for her.
"Don’t look down," Adam said. "We’ll find things out. For now, let’s talk about
how we’ll look for that demon, yes?"
"If there is one," Arlene pouted.
"I sure hope to God there is."
The deaf wizard of the CEF was with two others. They walked through the bright
lights of the lord’s castle.
"|=`×[¢∆¥}" "Hiwoakfh"
They said things, talking constantly, consistently. He had done as they
did—changed, readied himself—a routine he had been following since well back in
Kroma.
When unsure of what to do, just follow the rest.
"asojasdkj!*#(" "DFJAFD WITCH QUEEN"
Witch Queen. He recognized that word. Another shudder went down his spine.
Again. How long was this to go on? The terrifying sensation then; he felt it
even stronger, way stronger than anyone else.
That sheer fear. That dominion over mana.
"@(#*$@)!~" "@)( CEF )(FJDKMAX"
Words he couldn’t understand.
CEF. He made that out, too.
His heart thumped. A growl rang in his stomach. Anxiety—anxiety was filling him
up.
Every step was becoming trouble.
Every flash of light was scary.
Hungry. He was so damned hungry, and he was so damned scared. What was the point
of it all? Really. What in the world.
They crossed through a long passageway in the lord’s castle.
And he snapped.
"AASKLJAF, RIGHT?" "YES. AND DFKLJ!@$("
"AAAH!" The wizard screamed and pushed one of them. "AAaah! AAAAAAAH!"
Like a madman, he shoved the CEF soldiers and ran. There was a door open down
the line. Fuck it. Fuck it all. He would just take the risk now. It was done. He
didn’t care. He wanted to go home. Any moment, he would face the same fate.
"W-what...?! HEY! HEY WHAT ARE YOU @)#!?" "Bordaine! Stop what the @#()!?"
The wizard waved his hand back, and a wave of black vines stretched out. They
wrapped around the feet of the CEF soldiers, gnawing at their skin; one strand
wrapped around their mouths and shut them up.
He rushed ahead, into the room, and locked the door behind him. There, inside,
were two people.
Both had their eyes wide open.
Two people with red hair. One was a lady sitting on the bed, and the other was a
young man leaning on a table. They had alcohol in their hands.
"Huh...?" the man muttered.
Here? Why? They were the same people he had seen earlier, in that room—the
important people. Why did it have to be them? Why did he have to end up here!?
"AH... AH AH AH AH AH!!!"
The deaf wizard screamed out loud. Black mana promulgated from his body as he
swung his hand ahead again.
Two black circles formed almost instantaneously in the air.
"[Doppelganger Spell: Drain]"
In his own tongue, he finally spoke.
A spear rushed out toward the man first. Without missing a beat, the red-haired
man swung his glass ahead. All the beer floating through the air hardened,
taking the shape of a sword, which he promptly held and swatted the spear away.
He didn’t wait.
All that mattered was to capture the next person. That was the easiest way to
survive.
That was the way he had survived all this while. And so, he had already wrapped
his hand around her neck.
It was enough. With this body, he’d kill her, take her body now, and just leave
this wretched side of the world.
Food?
To hell with it. He didn’t need to bring anything back.
The demon had its spells forming. The body was breaking down; his eyes turned
black, then his mouth and ears, leaking out tar-like blood.
An appendage shot out from the back of the wizard, right where his heart should
have been, and started moving toward the neck of the woman.
The temperature dropped.
Its hands wrapped around the woman’s neck started to freeze, and her neck did,
too. She was fucking insane—harming herself just to get it.
At the same time, Adam Reinvelt leaned ahead and yanked the sheets from the bed.
It twisted both Arlene and the demon’s balance, pushing them behind.
Arlene didn’t miss the chance. The ice started to melt as she pushed her entire
body weight back. The appendage scratched her nape slightly as she pinned the
demon down.
"Brother!"
Adam was already above them. A new circle formed in his hand. Water from the
entire room coalesced around his palm and formed a sharp, thin sword.
He stabbed it ahead, then again, and then again and again, letting Arlene avoid
every hit as he chipped away at the demon.
And finally, it fell.
