Chapter 11: Idol
No POV
**BOOM**
Half the field went up in smoke.
[Host has reached physical limit. Reverting]
Axel was panting as he reverted. His red skin, disappearing, his teeth shrinking.
But as he looked towards the smoke, his eyes widened.
"Well done, well done. Impressive!"
Vaden was clapping as he walked out.
He was unscathed...
"A little rough around the edges but with some effort, you’ll get better."
"So? What was all that for?" Axel—still panting, asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ohh nothing. Just felt like giving you a surprise drill"
Then he clapped his hands together: "Alright then, that’s enough, you need to get yourself checked on."
Hayley walked up to him and attempted to heal him.
Try as she might, the wounds didn’t close up.
[Warning: Healing techniques are ineffective.]
’Well that’s just great.’
"Oh and Hayley, I’ll be putting him in your care."
"What?!" They both said simultaneously.
"Why? I don’t want to get saddled with her!" Axel protested.
"Commander, are you serious? Why?!"
"Because I can..."
Chuckling, he left his two students in shock as he left...
.
.
.
.
.
As Vaden walked away, he was pondering something...
His hand hurt way more than he thought it would and that didn’t make sense for a B rank.
"Something is definitely off..."
"Vadeyyyy!!" The person that shouted leaped and hugged him from his back.
The one responsible for this was Commander Lia Void. Vaden’s younger sister.
She had risen to the ranks of commander within 6 months despite being just 19 years— being the youngest captain in the academy.
She was a tall beautiful young woman with white hair and darker teal colored eyes.
She was blessed with what most men would call a perfect body and had a mature feminine voice for her age...
"Lia. Didn’t I tell you not to be this proactive?"
"C’mon! Is it wrong to be happy seeing my big brother?"
Then she saw his arm. "You’re hurt."
"Yeah, I got this from the new kid."
"Oh him? What was his name again? Ace?"
"Axel."
She chimmed "Oh Axel! You promised me I’ll be able to see him!"
"Yeah and you will just be patient."
"Hmmm by the way, how did this happen?" She said, pointing to his arm.
"Well when we ranked him, something didn’t feel right... he felt strong. Way stronger than a B rank normal would be"
"Well a B rank that drove an A devil away is no B rank..." Lia added.
"Exactly. So I wanted to test that theory and it seems I was right. That kids stronger than he looks..."
By this time, Lia was done treating him as he stood up ready to leave...
"I’ll bring him over for you to check on him. Know what kind of devil he’s contracted with and everything."
"Okayyy I’ll be waiting! Bye!!"
With a wave, Vaden left the infirmary...
~~~~~
Axel POV:
I kept walking toward my room, but I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling.
My instincts were screaming that something was wrong, and experience had taught me to listen. Looked like rest wasn’t in the cards tonight.
Tch.. gimme a break, I just took a beating from the commander...
Instead of heading straight back, I took a detour, hoping a walk would clear my head.
Somehow, I ended up at the school’s main gate. The pull was stronger now. Something was happening outside. Without overthinking it, I left the academy grounds.
Our school didn’t enforce curfew. Hunters could come and go as they pleased, as long as their commander was informed.
I fired off a quick text to Commander Vaden letting him know I was stepping out, then kept my phone without waiting for a reply.
Every step beyond the gates sharpened the feeling. The streets weren’t deserted, but the evening crowd was thinning. I wove through the remaining pedestrians until I found myself at the mouth of a narrow alley.
Weird.
I peered deeper...
Two figures....
A man and a woman. The girl was pinned against the wall, arms held above her head while the guy pressed into her, mouth on her neck.
Shit. I’d walked in on a couple about to get busy.
Her head was tilted back, breathing ragged and a deep flush on her cheeks. At first glance it looked passionate, but something was off. Her expression wasn’t pleasure
It was distress...
I watched her lips move, forming a word she barely managed to whisper:
"P-please... stop."
I recognized her.
Paige. That was her name...
The idol whose face I’d seen scrolling past on social media more times than I could count.
She kept begging, voice shaking, but the guy ignored her.
"I don’t want to stop. Please... give me a chance to show you how much I love you."
What the hell?
The man sounded way too old to be anywhere near her. And the way he said it sent my skin crawling.
He lifted her off the ground. His hand slid up her thigh, pushing under her skirt toward her underwear.
Paige bit her lip hard, trying to stifle a sound, but it slipped out anyway.
I had seen enough.
~~~~~
No POV:
Paige had been blessed with everything: beauty, fame, wealth, and loving parents who were still alive. She began modeling at fifteen and became a full-fledged idol within months. Everything was perfect until she awakened as a hunter and was scouted by the academy.
Her parents only agreed after securing two conditions: she could continue her modeling career, and she had the right to resign anytime if the hunter life became too dangerous and she felt she couldn’t keep up.
The commanders accepted. Thus began her double life as a hunter-idol.
She rose quickly. Despite early fears and mistakes, she became one of the city’s most famous S-rank hunters, especially popular among men. I mean, who doesn’t love watching a stunning girl fight devils and still look good doing it.
But fame came with a price. Obsessive fans, daily harassment, lustful stares.
And one stalker in particular who grew bolder with every comment he left on her posts.
Today, her luck ran out...
Tears slipped down her cheeks as her skirt pooled around her ankles. The man’s hand moved toward her core. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself.
Then... nothing.
A calm, low voice cut through the alley.
"Look at it this way..."
Paige’s eyes snapped open. A boy with messy hair and ash-grey eyes held the man’s arm in an iron grip, stopping him. His face was composed, but fury burned behind his eyes.
"A grown man about to force himself on a teenage girl. An idol, no less. How old are you? thirty? Ever think about what happens when the authorities see this?"
He jerked his chin toward a security camera across the street.
"That footage is going to ruin your life in the next few hours if you don’t let her go. Right. Now."
The stalker’s face twisted in panic. "A-are you her boyfriend or something?! What right do you have?!"
He struggled, but the boy’s grip didn’t budge. Paige stared in shocked relief.
Someone had actually come.
"Fuck this! I’ll come back for you," the man snarled, finally ripping free. "I always get what I want!"
He bolted, cursing as he disappeared down the alley.
[ Host has neutralized threat]
He turned to her. Paige instinctively pressed her back harder against the wall. He raised both hands, palms open.
"Hey, easy. I’m not going to touch you. You okay?"
"Y-yeah... He didn’t get that far. I’m fine now."
"Good. That’s g—"
His words died. A deep red flush crept up his neck. Paige followed his gaze and realized her skirt was still around her ankles, her red panties fully exposed.
"Ahhhhh! Pervert!!"
She screamed, frantically pulling her skirt up.
"What?! No—no, it was just there and I accidentally looked! I’m sorry!"
After a few seconds of mutual panicked shouting, he spun around and faced the wall, giving her privacy. Once she was dressed and had smoothed her messy black hair, she spoke softly.
"...Thank you. For helping me. How did you even know I was here?"
"I didn’t. I was just walking and ended up at the alley. Besides..." His voice grew serious. "You’re a hunter, aren’t you?"
There was no lie in what he said. He could sense faint energy coming from her. That was the ’pull’ he kept feeling.
He just kept on walking untill the faint energy grew stronger.
Paige stiffened.
"If you were, why didn’t you fight back? I’m sure you would’ve whooped his ass..."
She wanted to explain why she couldn’t fight back, but the words stuck.
Axel noticed her hesitation. "It’s fine. You don’t have to talk about it. Let’s get you back to the academy."
.
.
.
.
.
They walked in silence at first. As they approached a crowded street, Axel gently took her arm to keep her close. She tensed immediately. He let go at once.
"Sorry."
Paige blinked, surprised by how quickly he withdrew.
Most guys she knew would have pushed for any excuse to touch her.
A wave of anxiety hit her as the crowd thickened—too many people, too many eyes. Without thinking, she grabbed his hand.
Axel froze for a second, then squeezed back gently and guided her through. The moment people spotted her, murmurs exploded.
"Wait, that’s Paige!"
"Who’s that guy?!"
"Is he her boyfriend?!"
She gripped his hand tighter. Axel ignored the noise, focused only on getting her safely inside the academy grounds.
He walked her all the way to her barracks and up to her room. As he turned to leave, she caught his sleeve.
"If you’re not busy... would you come in for a bit?"
Axel stared at her for a moment, then nodded.
Inside, she offered him food, drinks, even to cook. He politely refused everything until she looked genuinely disappointed.
"...Do you have a cola?"
Her face lit up. "Yeah! I’ll get it."
He accepted the drink with thanks, determined not to make it seem like he expected anything in return for helping her.
After a while, she finally opened up.
"A few months ago, my squad fought a powerful devil. La Muerte Blanc."
"The White Death.?"
She quietly nodded.
"We managed to kill her, but... she sealed my powers in a last-ditch attack. Only our commander knows. I’ve been useless ever since."
She gripped her bedsheet.
"I didn’t want to burden my team. That’s why I couldn’t fight back today."
Axel finished his cola and set the can down.
"What happened to you isn’t your fault. You’re not useless. You’re the city’s biggest idol, and here I am, an ordinary guy, talking with you in your room. That’s pretty special if you ask me."
Paige’s heart stuttered. A warm blush spread across her face. "Th-thank you..."
They talked for hours. For the first time in a long while, both of them felt genuinely at ease.
Axel ame to know that her real name was Rena. Quite a beautiful name indeed...
Eventually, Paige drifted off, her head resting on his shoulder.
Axel carefully laid her on the bed, pulled the blanket over her using a shadow arm that extended from his back, and left a short note on her table.
Then he slipped out through the window and returned to his own barracks.
~~~~~
Elsewhere, the stalker dragged a devil’s corpse into the shadows. He tore into it, drinking its blood in desperate gulps. The metallic taste made him gag, but he forced it down.
Nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want."
Pain exploded through his body as the devil’s essence took hold.
Tendrils burst from his back. His scream turned into a monstrous roar as the last of his humanity burned away.
Black, pupil-less eyes gleamed with hunger. He licked his lips, already picturing Rena’s next photoshoot.
Then he leapt into the night, vanishing into the darkness.
Comments