I walked through the barren wasteland while the stars shone above. It was annoying how during the day, the wasteland was uncomfortably hot but during the night, it was unbearably cold.
Three days have already passed since I woke up in the Demon Realm and I didn't find anyone else except for Crystal Beasts. All I did was fight and walk for the entire day.
"This really is the Demon Realm. It's very fitting to call it like that since the land is downright demonic", I muttered.
(Crystal Beasts are everywhere and are attacking us on sight. There must be something wrong), Anya said.
(What do you mean? Aren't Crystal Beasts hostile?) I asked.
(Yes. But they only attack if they are hungry or provoked.)
(Mikage knows the answer), Noir said.
(I do?)
(Yep. Surely you felt that energy inside them, right?) he asked.
Ah.
(I see. Didn't Captain Magus say that the energy is turning people into aggressive beasts?) Anya asked.
(Yeah. It even turned Coco into a rampaging dragon. So the Crystal Beasts were also affected. What is the Unkindness planning?)
(I would like to ask the locals for information but we haven't reached a town yet), she said.
(There are towns here?) Noir and I asked.
(Yes. The Demon Realm is a country filled with demons, onis, and other creatures. Yoclesh and Oga were born here. And like any other country, there are cities and towns), Anya answered.
(No wonder I can feel a large concentration of darkness in a certain direction), Noir said.
…
(Wait. What do you mean by that?) I asked.
(Oh? You can't feel it? I can sense the shadows of many creatures in that direction), Noir's semi-transparent form appeared in front of me and pointed to the left.
(You can sense it all this time and you didn't tell me?!) I asked.
(Did you even ask? Besides, I thought that they were probably Crystal Beasts so I just ignored them. Also, you can sense them too, you know? My powers are your powers.)
What Noir said made me decide to test things out. I closed my eyes and tried to feel the darkness of the night. Aside from the concentration of energy in the south, I felt what Noir was feeling.
And I almost threw up after collapsing to the ground.
(Gahahaha! You actually tried it?! What kind of a careless idiot are you?!) Noir laughed.
"Mikage! What's wrong?!" Anya transformed into her human form and worriedly shook me.
(It's nothing special. He just got overwhelmed by the sheer number of darknesses he felt. Judging from his reaction, he felt all of the shadows here in the Demon Realm), Noir explained.
"All of the shadows in the Demon Realm?! That's more than hundreds of thousands!"
(Actually… It's hundreds of millions if we count non-living things. Besides, he's lucky he only felt the shadows in the Demon Realm. He would have it worse if he felt all of the shadows in the world. And his human brain would explode if he accidentally felt all of the shadows in this universe.)
Despite the massive headache and nauseating feeling inside me, I managed to listen to their conversation. After a while, I calmed down and shakily stood up.
"A warning would be great next time, Noir", I groaned.
(Oh please. It's better if you learned the dangers yourself. Humans are more likely to trust their experiences than the words of a stranger), he snickered.
"But to think you are capable of doing such a thing", Anya muttered
(He's the Primordial Dark. He has authority over all of the darkness in existence. Of course he can easily do something like feeling darkness), Noir replied.
"Noir is probably telling the truth that there are shadows to the left", I said.
"You confirmed it?" Anya asked.
"No. I was overwhelmed. But I confirmed that it is possible to locate shadows like that. So I'm going to trust Noir."
(Of course you should. If you're in danger, I'm in danger. I got nothing to gain if you somehow died.)
"You're saying that but you made him do something that might make his brain explode", Anya growled.
(And? Did his brain explode?)
"That's not the point!"
(Well yeah. He won't die from something like that.)
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
(Nothing~~ I'm sure Mikage knows what I'm saying, right?)
…
"Let's try to go to the concentration of shadows. We might get more information there", I said.
Anya transformed into her sword form and I picked her up. Hopefully, we will be able to get information on what was going on.
###
Two pieces of bread were handed to us and I gave one to Anya. I munched the cold and hard bread but I didn't mind the taste. At least they were somehow treating us humanely.
(Gahahaha!! You landed in prison! That's a memorable event for sure!)Noir laughed.
When I went to the gates of the city, the guards asked for my identification. And when I said I had no papers, they tried to ask for my story. Things were going well until I blurted out about the strange energy.
One of the guards tried to attack me but my shadow automatically rose up and landed a counter attack. And since I attacked a guard, I was arrested.
(To think your enchantment worked like that! And when you tried to explain that it was your enchantment, they confiscated your uniform to analyze if you're telling the truth!) Noir said.
"It's great that I was in my human form. If I stayed as a weapon, I would get confiscated too", Anya sighed.
"But this is bad. If we stay here, we won't be able to do anything. Will I serve my sentence here?" I asked.
(Who knows? If you want, you can just bust out of here easily! Wanna do it?)
Before I could answer, the door of my cell opened. The guard glared at me but at least, he didn't attack me.
"Someone's here to talk to you", he said.
Anya and I followed him to a room. When we got there, we saw a white-haired girl sitting at a table.
Two horns were on her forehead and she was wearing a black-red kimono. There were also two katanas on her back.
The door closed behind us and there was no way out. Was I supposed to talk to this girl?
"Are you my lawyer?" I asked as I sat down.
"Lawyer? Are you saying you need one?" she asked back.
"If I have to defend myself in court, then yeah. I don't know any of the laws of the Demon Realm so I'll need a lawyer if I want to prove my innocence."
"So you're still claiming that you're from Westa and got teleported here?"
"That's what happened."
The girl picked up the paper on the table and began reading it.
"You claimed that you are Mikage Kamishiro, an administrative officer from the 13th unit of the Westa Knight Order", she said.
"That's me", I replied.
"From the analysis of the Mage Guild, your clothes were indeed enchanted to have a defense mechanism that used Dark Magic. While you might get in trouble for an unregistered enchanted item, you can get away with it if your claim of being teleported here against your will is true."
"So I have a high chance of winning in court."
"Assuming the Demon Constabulary would press charges. But we can avoid that if you answer my next questions honestly."
"Ask away."
"You're saying you can feel a strange energy in the Crystal Beasts?"
Her red eyes stared directly at me. I could feel her analyzing every single movement I made in order to catch any sign of dishonesty.
"Yeah. It's a bit hard to explain but I'm a special kind of human. Thanks to that, I can feel a strange energy that's been in the Crystal Beasts. To describe it, it's like staring at a deep dark abyss and-"
"Having a suspicion that something else is staring back", she continued.
I knew it. Something was happening here.
The white-haired girl thought deeply while I waited for her to continue interrogating me.
(She's quite a troubled one, huh?) Noir asked.
(What do you mean?) I asked back.
(Oh? You still aren't used to my powers. Understandable. Have a good one.)
Something exploded outside and the white-haired girl looked alarmed.
"Hey! What's going on?!" she shouted.
The door opened and the demon from earlier entered the room.
"Another demon is rampaging. Darkness is coming out of his body", he said.
The two of them ran off while I didn't move from my spot. I could feel the strange energy outside so I was certain that it was a problem. However, I was still a prisoner so if I were going to unnecessarily involve myself, I might get in trouble.
(Ah. That dude is a goner), Noir said.
"What do you mean?" Anya asked.
(He has a massive concentration of that energy inside him. It's eating away his Life Force like a rabid dog chowing down on meat after being hungry for a whole week. It's sad that he's suffering in the last hour of his life.)
"Anya. Let's go", I told her.
She transformed into her sword form and I grabbed her. It didn't matter if I were going to make things worse for myself. If I were going to let that demon die, I would be living with a guilty conscience for the rest of my life. This was what Amelia would do anyways.
I got out of the prison and saw the white-haired girl pinning a male demon to the ground. Dark mist surrounded the two of them and was going towards the katana of the girl.
"President!" a demon in a uniform shouted worriedly.
"Stay away! I'm overusing Rakshasa right now! You'll just become a casualty if you get near!" the girl told her.
"Impossible. That person is still conscious despite being under Rakshasa's influence?" another demon in the same uniform muttered.
(Rakshasa… To think I'd meet it again), Anya said.
(What's that?) I asked.
(Before you go have a long and boring infodump, you might want to save that demon first. That sword is draining away his stamina. However, the strange energy inside that demon is replenishing the lost stamina at the cost of his Life Force. If this keeps up, he won't even last ten minutes, Noir interrupted us.)
Since Noir had a point, I decided to just ask questions later and walk towards the two of them.
"You! What are you doing here?! Get away!" the white-haired girl told me.
I faced my palm at the demon and focused. In the next second, darkness came out of the demon and was absorbed by my hand.
When the last ounce of the strange energy was drained from that demon, he closed his eyes and passed out.
The dark mist disappeared and the girl sheathed her katana. She had a confused look on her face but her eyes were warily looking at me.
"Who exactly are you?" she asked.
"Mikage Kamishiro, the vessel of the Primordial Dark."
"Primordial Dark?" the white-haired girl asked.
Anya transformed into her human form. Everyone looked surprised except for the girl.
"His body is the vessel of an annoying guy who commands all darkness in existence", she said.
(I love it when you praise me like that, Anya), Noir chuckled.
"No wonder she looked familiar. You're not just a regular human if you have the Sword of Records", the white-haired girl looked at me.
More demons arrived on the scene. Now that things were resolved, I should do what I was supposed to do.
"I'm going back to jail", I said.
(That sounds so wrong out of context), Noir commented.
"Wait. The jail isn't a good place to talk. If what you say is true, then I'm going to have to take you to the Underworld Academy. I'm sure Dr. Choco would like to talk with you", the white-haired girl told me.
"And who is the one taking us? It's unfair if we're the only ones who introduced ourselves", Anya said.
(Only Mikage introduced himself. That girl knew who you are without you telling it), Noir muttered.
(Shut up), her voice echoed in my mind.
(Can you guys not fight inside my mind?) I asked them.
"I'm sorry. My name is Ayame Nakiri, the student council president of the Underworld Academy", the white-haired girl introduced herself.
(Wow. The Demon Realm must be in serious trouble if a student council president is doing things like these), Noir said.
"I'll be bringing this man to the Underworld Academy. Are there any objections?" she faced the other demons.
"None, ma'am", one of them said.
The demons in the same uniform picked up the unconscious demon who I just saved. After that, Ayame motioned me to follow her and she walked forward.
"You're pretty influential. I thought it was only in fiction where student council presidents have impossible authority", I tried to start a conversation with her.
"The Underworld Academy is an elite school that was built the moment the Demon Realm was founded. 4 out of 5 influential people in the history of the Demon Realm graduated from it. That's why being the student council president of the Underworld Academy gives me a lot of authority", she answered.
"Yoclesh and Oga are alumni of the Underworld Academy. If I remember correctly, Oga was the top student in his entire batch", Anya told me.
"Oga is that amazing?
Ayame stopped in her tracks as her eyes beamed when she heard what I said.
"Oga?? Are you saying you know Oga Aragami?" she asked.
"Yeah. He's my friend", I answered.
"You have that person as your friend?!"
"Why is something wrong with him?"
"Nothing's wrong with him! It's just that he's a legend in the Underworld Academy! He had the highest recorded grades in the Underworld Academy and achieved the highest possible rank before the end of his first year! He is also one of the rare demons who is able to go into his demon form!"
"Are you looking up to him?" Anya asked.
"Any demon looks up to him! He's a legend! Although he disappeared after the Dark Times, his legends lived on! To think he's still alive now!"
Was Oga really that amazing? He just looked like an approachable and nice dude.
Then again, he wasn't even taking me seriously in the Idol Fan Tournament. He easily defeated me with a surprise attack with his shadow. If Noir didn't take over my body, Oga wouldn't even need to use his demon form.
(Pssh. He's nothing. No fighter can win if their own shadow betrays them), Noir scoffed.
We continued walking towards the center of the city. And I realized the greatness of the Underworld Academy when we arrived there.
I thought that the building in the center of the city was a palace where the king of the Demon Realm lived. It was a black-white castle that was far larger than the castles I saw back in my old world. There were many towers and each of them were higher than the Merak Tower in the Peafowl Kingdom. However, the sign in front of the gates told me otherwise.
"Now then, Mikage Kamishiro and Sword of Records, welcome to the Underworld Academy!" Ayame grinned.
###
I faced my palm towards a restrained demon and darkness came out of his body. After a minute, I drained all of the strange energy from him.
"Amazing. You really can drain that energy", a blonde woman said.
Two black horns were on her head and a pair of black wings were on her back. She was wearing a white lab coat over a pink blouse.
"Do you believe me now, Dr. Choco?" I asked.
"I've seen you do it many times already so it's safe to arrive at that conclusion", she said.
Her Excellular rang and she picked it up. While she was talking to whoever else it was, I went to the next demon and absorbed the strange energy in him.
I already cured thirteen demons. There were still thirty of them. If these many people had that strange energy inside them, the Demon Realm was in danger.
"Are you okay, Mikage?" Anya asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked back.
"If I'm correct, you're absorbing that energy. The last time you did, you went out of control and lost your memories."
"I don't feel anything weird right now. Maybe I have a tolerance for it. Or maybe because Noir is here, I won't go out of control. Right, Noir?"
(…Huh? What?) he asked.
"Were you even listening?" Anya asked.
(Sorry. Lots of things are on my mind.)
(What are you thinking about now?) I asked.
(It's nothing important. Don't mind me please.)
That was odd. Noir was being timid right now. What could he be thinking about which made him like that?
Time passed and I finished draining the energy from all of the demons. All of them passed out but according to Noir, their lives were no longer in danger.
"Thank you, Mikage. I was worried that I might lose another life thanks to that strange energy", Dr. Choco bowed down.
"Lose another life?"
"It's best if we exchange information in the nurse's office. We can have the rest of the staff take care of these demons", Ayame interrupted us.
We went to the nurse's office and Dr. Choco brewed some coffee. She handed Anya, Ayame, and I some cups and we took a sip.
"From the analysis of other professors who used advanced machines, we can say that all of the patients you cured before have no trace of that strange energy inside them. Thank you, Mikage", Dr. Choco bowed down once more.
"So what exactly is happening in the Demon Realm? Why is everyone getting that strange energy?" I asked.
"It all happened more than four months ago. One demon started attacking anyone in sight. And when he was detained and taken to professionals, we found out that there's a strange energy inside him", Ayame explained.
"We don't know anything about the strange energy except that it converts the Life Force into power. I already cooperated with many magicians and scientists but the only thing we could do was weaken the strange energy and slow down the conversion. Thanks to our lack of ability, many demons have already died", Dr. Choco added.
"Which brings us to you. How are you able to drain that strange energy?"
"I honestly don't know. All I know is that the strange energy is somehow related to the Primordial Dark inside me since I can freely manipulate it. I think it's some sort of Dark Magic since I can control it as the vessel of the Primordial Dark", I answered.
(No. It's not Dark Magic. It's different), Noir said.
"What do you mean?" Anya asked.
(If it was magic, then they could easily find ways to remove it. There are many ways to remove magic, after all. You guys are dealing with something different. Something that is a part of me.)
"A part of you?"
(The Dark Corruption.)
"Excuse me but are you talking to someone right now?" Ayame asked.
Ah.
"Oh yeah. They can't hear Noir", Anya said.
"Do I have to pass the message to everyone?" I groaned.
(There's no need for that. Mikage, enter Synchronicity and call that white-haired shorty), Noir told me.
(You mean Ars?) I asked.
(You know, she'll kill you if she finds out you called her short), Anya said.
(Just do it), Noir told me.
Anya held my hand as I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.
"Synchronicity Release!"
My clothes transformed into a black outfit and Anya began glowing.
(Oiii! Shorty! Get over here!) Noir shouted.
There was no response.
(Ummm… Ars? I need your help), I said.
(Are you implying that I'm short?) her annoyed voice rang in my mind.
(I'm sorry. I'm seriously sorry), I apologized to her.
(I call it how I see it! But that's not important right now. Lend me a bit of your power. I would want to do it myself but I can only control darkness), Noir chuckled.
(If you want someone's help, be more respectful to them!)
(I'm sorry for telling the truth that you are a short girl. Now can we please move on? Mikage can't possibly keep Synchronicity for a long time.)
(… Fine. I'd rather not argue against something that can easily overpower me.)
Noir explained his plan to her and Ars instructed me on what I should do.
And then, a black-haired man appeared in the room. He looked exactly like me except that the sclera of his eyes were black and his irises were red.
"Is this Mind Magic which lets us see illusions?" Dr. Choco asked.
"Got that correct, Dr. Choco! That saves a lot of explanation so I'm going straight to the point", Noir said.
All of us were ready to hear what he had to say. Since he was the Primordial Dark and he could manipulate the strange energy, he must know something.
"Now let's have a crash course on the thing known as the Dark Corruption!"
Você também pode gostar
Comentário de parágrafo
O comentário de parágrafo agora está disponível na Web! Passe o mouse sobre qualquer parágrafo e clique no ícone para adicionar seu comentário.
Além disso, você sempre pode desativá-lo/ativá-lo em Configurações.
Entendi