The corridor of the academy smelled of blood.
It was a place she often passed through, but today’s scene was different.
Someone was collapsed, someone was torn apart, and a girl with golden hair was barely breathing, bleeding out.
“······.”
Iria, who arrived a bit late, slowly surveyed the surroundings.
It didn’t take her long to grasp the situation. It was clearly the work of the demon forces.
From unleashing monsters to setting up barriers—all of it.
Iria was staring at Rena, who was also looking at her. Even though her eyes were hazy.
“I, Ria······.”
Blood-soaked Rena was leaning against the wall, gasping for breath. She had lost quite a bit of blood, but it wasn’t life-threatening.
Rena slowly pronounced with a trembling voice. It was slow, but the intention was clear.
“I’m fine, so run away···. It’s not a fight you can win······.”
She said she was fine and that Iria shouldn’t fight.
Even half-dead, Rena was worrying about Iria. She didn’t want to lose anyone because of herself.
Iria silently readied her dagger.
Was she angry? She felt some unknown emotion filling her inside.
Her faint persona was feeling something about this situation.
What that was even she didn’t know. After laying Rena down in a safe place, she walked toward Seir.
That’s when the clash of two non-humans occurred.
“Is it you?”
“Who are you?”
“Answer the question.”
Seir flinched at Iria’s oppressive tone.
It was a far cry from her attitude when she gleefully killed humans. She was clearly wary of Iria. She had noticed from the moment their eyes met that Iria was not human.
But Seir was one of the main strengths of the Demon King’s army. Although she was wary of Iria, she didn’t think she would lose.
So, she provoked.
“What if I am?”
“······.”
Heh, Seir chuckled.
“Hey, is that one your friend?”
“······.”
“What, really?”
“······.”
Iria didn’t answer.
Maybe she couldn’t answer. The demon asked if the Rena sprawled there was Iria’s friend.
In a way, it was a question akin to asking if their relationship had become distant. Iria had thought about it ever since she first received that question.
So, while she couldn’t answer back then, she could now.
“Yes, she is my friend.”
If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be feeling emotions like this right now.
And usually, one wouldn’t go this far just to save a mere classmate.
Rena watching Iria was surprised. To her, it seemed like Iria was risking her life to protect her.
She felt her insides burning.
She didn’t want anyone to die anymore. Especially if it was her causing it.
So Rena strained her painful body and tried to stop Iria.
“D, don’t do it! Please, I’m begging you······.”
But Iria’s expression was completely nonchalant.
There was no hint of fear on her face, even though her opponent had killed a professor from the academy.
Iria wore a faint smile and said,
“I’ll win.”
Her confidence was so overwhelming that Rena couldn’t come up with any further objections.
It was the first time she had seen such a smile.
After Rena slumped back down, the battle began.
It was a fight between a being who had attempted to harm humans and another who had embraced one.
The forms of the two beings disappeared from Rena’s sight.
*
Seir’s and Iria’s blades clashed in the middle.
The sharp sound of metal colliding echoed. Both beings recognized each other’s presence and swung their swords.
With both being incredibly fast, executing precise strikes was difficult.
When reflexes surpass the level of humans, everything else seems slow.
In this world resembling slow motion, Seir caught sight of Iria and accelerated.
“Too slow!!”
Bursting with magic, Seir increased her speed and swung her sword.
One powerful swing cleaved through the air, slicing through the academy building’s wall.
As expected from a key player of the Demon King’s army, the force was tremendous. If it had landed, even Iria would have taken significant damage.
However, Iria was nowhere to be found in the trajectory of the swing. The form of Iria that Seir had captured in the extreme speed world had vanished completely.
“Who’s slow now.”
At the voice coming from behind, Seir quickly turned her head.
There stood a poised Iria, enveloped in the Blue-Green Wind.
Iria, surrounded by wind, was a step faster than the accelerated Seir.
With Seir’s attack leaving her exposed, she couldn’t block Iria’s quick strike. Iria unleashed a rapid series of cuts.
And then.
Schink, with a sound, black blood gushed forth.
“Graaah!!”
As Seir screamed in pain, Iria didn’t miss the opening.
She kicked off the ground and leaped again. The appearance of Iria, using mana to accelerate once more, resembled a silver line.
The sound of a small dagger cleaving through life reverberated like an echo.
Seir’s ankle tendon was severed, and after slicing the tendons of her sword hand, Iria aimed for her eyes.
This was less of a battle and more like a dismantling show. Iria redirected the dagger in her hand and gouged out one of Seir’s eyes.
She could have targeted Seir’s neck right away, but that was a small revenge for what she had done to Rena.
Holding the dagger to Seir’s throat, Iria paused her attack. It looked as if she was about to stab.
Having brought a demon to the brink of death in an instant, Iria gazed down at Seir with cold eyes. It was like looking at a piece of trash.
Seir spat out the blood that had pooled in her mouth and looked up at Iria with her blood-soaked body. Then she spat out curses.
“Y, you little······.”
“······.”
“You half-breed, befriending a human······.”
“Is that your last words?”
Iria tightened her grip on the dagger against Seir’s throat.
The blade slightly pierced the skin, causing blood to flow. The scent from the blood of the non-human was foul. Seir was hardly worth anything.
Seir lifted her head to evade the blade pressing against her neck. Their gazes locked.
“Why are you doing this···. You’re just like me. You and I are both bad people, right?·····”
“······.”
“Come to think of it, we have no reason to fight, do we? We shouldn’t turn on our own kind·····. Right?”
“I’m not your kind.”
Iria raised the tip of the dagger higher. The blade dug deeper into Seir’s neck.
She might be a monster, but certainly not the same as a demon. They may have similarities in appearance, but whether they are kin or not can be sensed. The aura was clearly different.
Moreover, Seir’s reasoning was flawed.
In Iria’s presence, the moral logic of good and evil was incorrect. Who was good or who was evil didn’t matter in this world. It only divided the strong from the weak.
Although Seir and Iria both committed acts of killing humans, they didn’t meet the same end.
Seir was weak, and Iria was stronger.
That was all there was to it.
However.
“······Seriously. What a pathetic sight to behold.”
With a twist in her mouth, Seir grabbed Iria’s wrist. It was a strength far greater than before.
With a crunch, Seir’s body began to grow. The visible muscle fibers were rapidly expanding.
Her red eyes glowed. With her magic raised to its limits, Seir reinforced her body and snapped Iria’s wrist.
Demons regenerate far faster than humans, so the wounds Iria received healed quickly as well.
Stepping back, Seir unleashed dark magic, causing the surrounding air to tremble.
The wave of magic reverberated throughout the entire floor of the academy building. Almost as if declaring she wouldn’t let any humans inside survive.
“You think you can show off just because you’ve gained the upper hand once? I’ll show you the difference in our levels.”
“······!”
Iria quickly turned around at the pulsating magic wave.
While she wasn’t affected by magic, Rena, being human, was different.
Rena, directly exposed to the magic, was coughing up blood with eyes dulled even further.
In a one-on-one battle, it wouldn’t be a problem, but with a hostage present, it felt disadvantageous.
“······.”
Should she run away?
Or should she suppress it before the damage escalates?
In the former case, it would be challenging to escape and protect Rena from a demon who had unleashed such power.
But to choose the latter meant she would have to use magic in front of Rena. Either way, it was troublesome.
As Iria was caught in a dilemma, Seir, sensing her thoughts, swung her sword.
Not at Iria, but at Rena.
“Worried about her, huh?!”
Seir’s strike extended outwards as a blade form.
Rather than approaching to slice, she shot out a blade strike towards Rena.
The jet-black blade shot toward Rena. Iria had no choice but to leap in to block it.
“At this point, I’m quite curious. What kind of reaction you’ll have when you kill the human you’re so protective of.”
“······.”
Iria racked her brain, trying to figure out how to break free from this situation.
“I, Iria······. Cough, cough! I, I’m okay···.”
Her contemplation didn’t last long.
Iria swung her fist and shattered the barrier, then hurled Rena through the hole.
“Huh? Huh? What?”
The dumbfounded sound from the airborne Rena was probably nothing to worry about.
Rena was a fully-fledged human able to wield mana. A fall from about the third floor should be safe enough.
At least that’s what she hoped.
With just the two of them left in the confrontation, the red magic surged. Iria shook off the wind surrounding her and wrapped herself in red magic.
This was the first time using magic within the academy’s building.
