Unlasting World

A person called out to me, and unfortunately, I know who owns that voice. 

I slowly lifted my head from Lemillia's lifeless chest and glared using the tail of my eyes to see who it was.

It's Jericho and Manda. Their appearance looked battered up, but they looked okay overall.

"W-We fought some demons, but we got defeated and hid... And suddenly they are all dead... Rize, is that..."

Manda's words got cut off when she recognized the body in my hands. 

She covered her mouth while Jericho already noticed since the moment they arrived.

I ignored them and slowly lifted my body up. I left her body on the ground, and I stared at her face one last time before finally turning away.

As soon as I walked away from the scene, Manda and Jericho could see her body clearer. Manda was too shocked to react, but Jericho was still able to cover her mouth from the horror. She noticed how Lemillia has turned into a demon, which means something must have happened while they were away.

"I… will go and find the other demons... Go find all the wounded and tend them while I'm gone… I will return later and heal them."

At first, my voice cracked due to the leftover of the blood inside my neck.

After saying that, I turned my gaze towards the academy's middle building. My vision turned red again, and I activated the devil form once more. 

This form… is a taboo.

The more I use it, the more nightmares will come for me.

However, to save everyone, to protect all of the people here, I needed it.

I can't lose myself again. I have to properly control it.

I flew away like a blur, leaving Jericho and Manda who were staring at Lemillia's dead body in Manda's hands.

I arrived on top of the middle building's dome and searched for any demons around me. I can feel that my senses are no longer limited, and I can sense ten times further than normal. Plus, demon aura are pretty much easy to spot when you compare them to humans. Their sensitivity to magic also means they show off more aura.

I looked for only a few seconds…

… Found them.

Around fifty of them, underneath the gymnasium.

I quickly leaped away and flew there. Having two wings is definitely a breeze, and I can fly incredibly fast. 

I can tell why Jericho liked flying so much. Flying makes one feel free, and since we are not bound to the ground, we can move around much better. Also because it's incredibly fast, but any flying mages would move fast as well.

I arrived at the gymnasium in no time. I crashed through the ceiling and landed on the arena inside. I looked around for the demons, but I couldn't find one. 

Then I remembered that they are below, so I started digging.

I understand that shadow magic requires imagination, so I imagined a drilling machine, bound on my right hand. 

And without any limitation whatsoever, a drilling machine was formed using shadow magic on my hand.

This feels like cheating… I can create simply anything without having my consciousness holding me back.

It's like an ability was unlocked for me. Previously I couldn't create anything freely because of something odd blocking me inside my mind. But now, I can just…

I placed the edge on the ground and imagined the drilling machine spinning. The drilling machine spun at high speed, and it dug the ground extremely quickly.

ZRRRGGGG!!!!!

After digging down for a minute, I arrived in a large room underneath the ground. The rubbles from where I had dug somehow dropped to a demon and immediately crushed him into juice. I landed on top of the rubbles and studied the situation inside, and I was able to come to a conclusion.

The demons have been very busy the past few days, haven't they?

They dug a gigantic underground room right underneath the gymnasium, so big that it's very weird how the people at the gymnasium didn't notice. There are around sixty of them here, and they all wore the same robes similar to the previous guys I just murdered on the surface.

At the end of the room, a large circle was placed decorating the back wall, and in the middle of that circle is a bright green crystal that is emitting a very powerful pressure of energy.

The rock of energy…

But before I can get there, I have to slay all these demons first.

I quickly removed the drilling machine from my right hand and quickly formed a sword.

No, the sword is too simple. I need something else to help me... Kill.

I removed the sword, and it dissipated into thin air. Then I quickly formed another weapon, and it immediately formed itself on my hand. I grabbed another part of it with my other hand, and lifted it sideways.

A scythe.

The perfect weapon…

The demons in front of me charged and attacked using their magic attacks, and I simply dashed forward.

VWOOOSHHH!!!!!!

I danced around the giant dark cave while swinging my scythe around. They kept on firing magic attacks at me, but I was able to slice the magic attacks in half without even getting hurt at all. 

Without a doubt, I do have some skill on using a scythe. If one can use a sword, then using a scythe is like a breeze.

SHRESHH!!!!

SHREESSSSHHHHH!!!!!

"Aaaakk!!!--"

BRESSHHH!!!!!!

It was... no longer enjoyable.

Killing demons... I don't feel joy out of it anymore.

In fact... I don't feel anything.

I have become a cold blooded killer...

After killing fifty seven of them, the final three next to the crystal looks to be quite important. They are wearing a different attire, where they have more shiny stuff on their clothes. 

I simply sliced their legs and took them hostage.

SHREESHHH!!!!!

"RAAAAAAA!!!!!--"

While they were busy screaming on the ground, I approached the green crystal on the wall. I tried touching it, but it simply rejected me by zapping my finger with a black electricity.

BAR!!!!!!

That blast shocked my entire body, despite me still being in my devil form. It was extremely powerful, and I nearly lost my finger if it wasn't for my healing magic.

The color of the lightning… was black.

God tier lightning magic…?

"Heh... You can't let go of the seal! It will let go of its own by tomorrow. Trust me, we tried."

Look at that, so you guys did.

I turned around, and I could see the giant magic equipment they had on the sides of the cave. It's like a giant driller with a giant magic crystal as the tip of the drill. Those are quite large indeed...

But, the fact that they can't pull this thing out doesn't mean I also can't.

I forcibly placed my hand on the crystal and tried pulling it out. 

BAZZZZTTTTT!!!!!!!

The black lightning immediately sparked and destroyed my skin, but every time it did, my skin would instantly heal. I had to use King tier healing magic or else the speed of the burn would eat away my hand.

It was hot and painful since it was the most powerful form of lightning magic… but at this point, what level of pain can really hurt me…? 

It kept on destroying my skin, and the only thing I felt from it was… joy.

I have literally come to terms with pain... But, was that really surprising?

I tried pulling the rock, and I noticed that it was quite difficult to pull. So, I enchanted my hands with all my energy. And after pulling for ten seconds, I managed to pull the rock out.

BAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A large and powerful wave of energy quickly made its way through the entire kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom with a sense of magic can feel that wave. 

Even on Mazino, the adventurers can sense the wave of energy disturbance coming from the north.

"What was that?"

An adventurer asked, but Cane simply shook his head as he chugs down his drink.

"Probably someone is using powerful magic, nearby."

He shrugged his short beard, and continued drinking.

.

My blood is puddling on the ground. Pulling the rock was not only difficult, but also extremely painful. It felt like my hands were destroyed ten times in the process, and I had to use all of my energy to break the seal so I could pull it out.

Nonetheless, I'm holding the rock just fine now.

After pulling away the rock from the wall, I studied it. This rock felt powerful indeed. But, there is something else that I noticed… 

The rock, it's…

Unusable.

I tried pouring magic energy into it and casted a fireball on top of it, but the fireball doesn't look fifty times stronger or bigger.

Does it not work at all? Or is the rock just gone dull after all those years being sealed?

"Hey, try this. If it works, I'll heal your legs."

I said as I threw the rock to the first guy on the ground. He took the rock in his hands and casted a magic attack. Quickly, a gigantic water bullet formed on his hand and immediately fired at me.

VWOOM!!!

I turned my head to the side to dodge the gigantic water bullet that completely misses me, and it ended up exploding on the ceiling behind me.

"Tch!!"

The demon looked quite pissed, but not even that attack could hurt me.

Now that I know the stone works, I took it back from his hands at high speed and tried it again, but still nothing happened.

"Y-You said you will heal my legs right!?"

The demon knew he couldn't beat me, so he ended up giving up the fear.

"Sorry. But, I don't have Emperor tier healing magic."

BAKK!!!

He was surprised, but then I knocked him out by slapping him with my shadow tail that I created from the ground. Slapping him with my own hands would definitely kill him.

After he fell asleep, I stared at the crystal one last time before putting it on my space ring. After putting it away, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Slowly, my vision turned back to normal, and the devil form also disappeared.

I can at least… control it a bit now… it felt so much better…

I formed shadow whips with my shadow magic and grabbed the three higher ups of the demons for questioning later. Then I formed shadow wings on my back and flew back up from the hole I just created.

Arriving outside of the building, I stared at the entire academy from above. The flames on the buildings were still burning, but there are some people currently attending them to take them down. There are people that are still wounded, and there are some who are running here and there helping them.

There are also the dead corpses of the demons that I had slaughtered. All of them… were killed inhumanely.

I... have become… a monster.

Just when…

When... will this nightmare end…?