Ever since I was a little girl, I have always know this world is a dog-eat-dog world.

The weak strive to be strong, while the strong strive to be even stronger. I was taught from a young age that the epitome of power lie in strength and intelligence. As young demons of the proud Demon Realm, it is the duty of children to pursue more power, if they don't want their existence in this world to be remembered as brief and feeble.

I was one among those children, and was guided to grow up that way. To gain strength and intelligence, to gain status and power, all to defeat our enemies. Yes, that has always been our duty, for the sake of the future, and for the sake of our fathers and mothers.

But that was not my goal alone. I too, have my own personal desires and wishes to fulfill.

I hailed from a race called the Succubi. Despite the existence of an opposite race – the Incubi, both of our nature are the same, and thus were classified as the same race. We are frail in body and flesh, but absurdly strong in mental, mind, feelings and dreams magic arts. And since Lust is the one of the most devastating weaknesses every living being with a libido posssess, we adopted decadence as a racial culture of our own. Because of this, we gained quite a lot of infamy, and thus gained the reputation of an average, lustful race in the demonic hierarchy.

However, even with that prejudice, there were few who stood out from the rest. One of them was my mother.

Born with enormous potential for the arcane arts, my mother bravely took on fierce battlefields unbeffiting her status and role as a Succubus, using overwhelming magic to gain victories after victories, earning herself numerous titles and honor. And not only she was chosen to be a Lord tasked to govern our race’s territories, she became a close aide for the current Demon King at the height of her glory.

Being the sole daughter of such an awesome succubus, of course, there were lots of pressure and expectation on my back. But I did not mind, even for a bit, because I take pride on being the daughter of my mother. I will bravely bear those burden for the sake of being my mother’s daughter!

But…ever since my father's death, mother fell into depression. She shut herself down away from the rest of the world, only contented with governing her domains. I feel that she was saddened a lot by his death. Of course, it is always sad when someone you hold dear passed away, I knew very well the day I recieved news of my father's death, but seeing my remaining family gave in to sorrow hurted me even more.

Couldn’t a daughter do something for her mother when it counts?

That was why, I decided to dedicate my future to lit the fire inside of her once more, by following her foot steps, and become a respectable demon like her.

One could say I became a real rebel by standing against everything that defines the Succubi. My dress code was practically a jab to my race’s culture. I turned down invitations from the prestigious academy Flegme and enrolled myself to the place neareast to the frontier – the castle which was once belong to Great Demon King - Dargoth himself, which now serves as Melas Military Academy. And thus, my life as a cadet began.

My mother did not voice her concern against my choice, she let me freely decide my own fate. I was glad for that. That is why, I will follow her footsteps and become a respectable demon myself!

The first step to make this plan of mine comes true…was to obtain power.

I was a naïve girl, that, I admit. Born with some talent for the arcane myself, I decided the best way to make myself stronger was to prove it by overpowering others. That was why, I sought out strong opponents, and overcame them using my power. But none proved to be a match for me, until I met her, and witnessed her strength first hand.

Deborah Draconis. At the Magic Arts’s entrance ceremony, the girl burned the whole castle hall down the moment she touched the elemental testing crystal ball. Accidentally or not, it was still a mark of great power. After I collected my info from rumours, I found out this girl is the only granddaughter of the deceased Great Demon King Dargoth. That explained a lot about her strength. Just as I was strong because I am the daughter of a Lord, she was strong because she is the granddaughter of a former King.

I made it my goal to defeat that girl one day. Right, if I beat that girl, that would mean I am strong enough to make my dream come true.

Of course, to challenge such powerful girl, I have to gain power and become stronger first. And thus, I became a regular of the school’s arena, and challenged people left and right for duels. I was strong myself, as I thought back then, so I did not have much trouble in most the battles I fought. Some among those who were defeated asked me permissions to become my underlings. I accepted, because it is natural for the weak to seek protection under the wing of the strong, right? And so, that is how I gained my “friends”, my entourage, my followers.

Once I ran out of people to fight, strong and weak. I thought the time has come for me to directly challenge that girl. My “friends” also supported this decision. And thus, I mustered all of my courage and directly challenged her for a fight in the next time we met.

The girl did not even bat an eye and just silently walk away, like I was not worthy of her attention.

I did not give up, of course. If one was not enough, then I would do it everyday! Ever since, everytime I met her, a word of challenge have always been the first thing to come out of my mouth. But none of them ever reached her ears.

The truth was, I almost gave up myself, despite knowing I have to keep going by surpassing the goal I made myself, that is defeating Deborah. But…if she did not desire a fight…how else could I make this goal come true? What good would come from a girl who can not even fulfill the tasks she gave herself to do?

And then, that fateful day arrived…

-------------------

I wake up from my slumber. My body is drenched in sweat, likely from the dream I just had, back when my life was much simplier than it currently is. But this is not the time for nostalgia.

I look around, and find myself lying on a bed inside the academy’s infirmary. The sick room is empty, aside from the lifeless furnitures and decorations, and of course, myself. I am the only patient currently residing here.

“Ughh.”

Pain runs across my body when I attempt to move my limbs. From what I can make of, it seems that my current attire is a patient’s gown, and under those is a body covered in bandages, mostly on my legs and mid-torso.

I try to reassemble my thoughts and consciousness. I can not let the pain overcome my mind.

I just had a dream about things of the past. Yes, that I can confirm. The question is what is the reason? I do not understand. And why am I resting at the infirmary in the first place? Consider my wounds, it may had been a battle, but with who?

Let me think about stuff that happened prior to that.

“!!!!”

After a brief moment of thinking, when my mind becomes clearer after it regains its normal function from my hibernation, it finally hits me as my memories return…and I remember what happened.

Right…I lost…to that enigmatic familiar, and get myself wounded, all over my body.

If that was what happened, then that dream, was it what people called “Images of one's past before their death”?

If that was the case, then these wounds on my body must be pretty serious, to the point they almost took my life away.

“…”

That doesn’t change the truth that I lost. If I won back then instead, the same result would happen to my opponent, if not worse. It is the natural outcome of a duel. It will be a disgrace if I let myself be swayed by rage and hatred from losing to my opponent.

All I can do is to accept the harsh truth.

“So I lost…”

The ceiling looks cold, this room looks cold, the bed looks cold. I guess from the eyes of a loser, everything look like they are falling down onto you, waiting to crush you like an irrelevant insect.

This feeling of despair, I hate it.

“…”

I need some fresh air. I have stayed in the bed for far too long. Beside, I am afraid…afraid if I keep lying here I will never stand up again, and can only lie here for the rest of my life unable to rise from my bed.

After some adjusting, I finally get myself out of the bed. The standard protocol when it comes to dealing with the wounded is to use the normal, traditional treatment like medicines and bandages without the use of magic. Because of something about long term effects when abusing healing magic, I heard. It is a pain, but I can not complain when the doctors did a good job keeping me alive.

Let’s take a quick walk.

The hallway is empty and lifeless, just like how it always is. From the window, I can see the setting sun. The dusk will soon be over, but there is still some time left until nightfall.

“…”

So lonely.

I noticed it earlier. The flower bouquet near my sick bed was empty. That means…no one bothered to give me a visit. I guess this is what they called You reap what you sow. Now that I have become one of the weak myself, of course, the people will avert their attention to the new rising star. I bet right now, the man who defeated me is constantly get showered in praises by people around him. I know it full well as I was the unbeatable champion until now, and it is finally my turn to taste the bitter fruit from the opposite side of glory.

“Oh, look who’s here!"

A voice comes from behind my back. I slowly turn around without stressing my weakened body too much. Before me, there stand three male students, with faces too familiar to me. They are wearing standard black cloak of the academy, along with the wizard hats that signify their allegiance to the Realm's Warlocks. They are part of my circle, my friends, the first few who were defeated by my hands and became my underlings right after.

“You guys…You came to pay me a visit?”

Before I get a chance to be glad however, the very next line from their leader shakes me out of that brief moment of hope.

“No, we come to sever our ties.”

“…What…? You’re joking…right?”

“You do remember what you promised right? That you will become a strong leader to lead us when the time comes and we have to brave the battlefield? The thing is…with the conclusion of yesterday’s battle, you certainly didn’t live up to your promise. It’s only natural, Amadia. You know the rules, right? The weak only serve the strong, and look at yourself, what part of you is strong right now? You tell me.”

The guys’ leader speaks.

“But I…”

“That, and we got tired of you.”

Says one of the three guy standing behind, with a cheery tone mixed inside his gleeful smile.

“Seriously, did you ever pay any attention to those under you? I bet you don’t remember any of our names when all you got on your sight on is that bitch Deborah!”

Well...it is true that I do not remember all their names, I am not good with remembering names and people to begin with, but even so…!

“I…”

“You don’t have to do anything anymore, Amadia. Don’t make such a scene. You do know this day will happened, right? Then what’s with the sad face?”

The leader guy replies.

“It’s because…I thought of you guys as my friends!”

“We were indeed your friends, girl. Friends with benefits, that is! It’s nice being your underling, no one dare to object against the strongest girl in the arena whenever we bring up your name. Make our life quite comfortable swindling pocket money out of some poor chaps!”

What…did I just hear? What have they done behind my back? Is this…the results from my actions, from my ignorance?

“Come now. Save the pitiful face for later. No one want to see that on a girl’s face, you know, beside in the bed chamber. Now that you have proved your worthless strength, maybe you can find a new chance in that place.”

The leader guy smirks. Followed by laughters from the two accompanied him. Yet, all I can do is just listen to their atrocities, without the drive to fight back, to defend myself, or even to right my own wrongness…

Only at this time do I know how powerless I truly am…

“So in the end, only a whore like 「Asmodi」 could produce a whore of a daughter like herself!”

The very moment those words get inside my ears, some kind of switch got flipped. Before I know it, my right balm is sparking with lightning magic, waiting to strike at a moment notice.

“Shit! You went overboard!”

A guy from the group says to the one who just insulted my mother. Little did he know how wrong that little “comment” of his was.

They may insult me all they can, I have no problem with that, since I am a stupid, foolish and arrogant girl. I deserve everything wrong that happened to me because of my action. But…

“No one…insult my mother!”

I scream at the top of my lungs. Despite the tremendous pain across my wounded body, I shoot out a bolt of lightning toward the culprits. Even so, trying to attack while I am wounded myself is clearly not the best course of action my train of thought should choose. The attack misses, while I slightly stumbles to the ground due to the pain of my wounds.

Before I get a chance to attack again, or the time for those three guys to make their own retaliation that I'm afraid they might, someone suddenly shouts and approaches the scene from a nearby hallway.

“What’s the ruckus over here!?”

From behind of my former friends, a male student walks toward them. The black short hair covering his eyes mixed with the strange glasses on his face; it is a face that was embarked to my mind, whether I like it or not.

“Sir Akuma! Thank goodness you are here.”

The one who put me in this miserable state and the one who defeated me. Akuma, familiar of Deborah Draconis.

“She’s trying to vent out her wrath from losing to you on us! If you didn’t come, we could haven been killed just to ease her anger!”

“Achoo!”

For some reason, Akuma suddenly sneezes as he fake a cough...or something like that.

“Sorry. I am allergic to bullshit.”

“What!?”

Shouts the punks’ leader.

“How about you end your bravado here and we settle this peacefully? I’ve overheard everything.”

“But this is absurd. She attacked us!”

Right at that moment, Akuma takes out the metal, L-shaped strange item that he used to defeated me and points that thing to the guy’s forehead. The very same item that helped him penetrated my magic shield in the span of 5 seconds. I am sure that guy understands what it is capable of when it is pointed right near the door to his brain.

“Not before you gave her some verbal assaults to provoke her into attacking you.”

“You…!”

The two other guys look angry enough, however, with their leader in the middle of a deadlock, they can do nothing other than glaring at Akuma with hatred in their eyes.

“You do know what I’m capable of, yes? Then let us settle this peacefully. I don’t have time to deal with you leeches.”

Akuma steps aside, all while aim his magic wand or something toward the punks’ leader. All three of them obligate and quickly prepare their retreat.

“Just you wait…Deborah’s lapdog!”

After that, they rush out from here with tails between their legs, like dogs fleeing from the sight of a wolf.

“I would prefer to be called a cat though. Not a dog person, to be honest.”

Only I and Akuma remain here in the hallway. He turns his head back to me, awaiting some sort of response.

“I could deal with them myself.”

I voice my complaint toward Akuma, scavenging what little pride I have left before the enemy who defeated me.

“Seems like you’re misunderstanding something.”

“What?”

“I just happened to pass by due to some personal business of mine. It’s not like I wanted to come here to pay you a visit and help you out of some troubles or anything.”

That sounds very suspicious, more so when Akuma averts his eyes from meeting mine as he says his lines. Though, I can see that he is holding a small paperbag in his right hand right now, which keeps clanking every time he moves, as if there are some kind of metals inside. Maybe what he said is true, he is actually on an errand of sort right now. That still does not justify his attempt to help me out of that little fight earlier.

“How’s your wounds?”

Says Akuma as he put his magic wand back to his pocket. If it is some sort of weapon then it makes sense he does not want to flaunt it out so much, especially in front of me.

“Good enough. I am fine, really.”

“No you’re not. The fight was yesterday. Stop trying so hard.”

“Why do you think I am trying hard?”

“Your legs are shaking.”

I gaze down to my legs. Despite his claims, I see that my legs are still fine. Well, not exactly good, but I do not think it is visually shaking for others to see.

“So you ARE trying hard!”

“What?”

Only at this point do I realize I just got caught in his verbal trap. Damn this guy, did he have his fun on making me miserable? May he taste a thousand curses!

“Forget about it, just what are you doing here anyway? If you are done then get out of my sight. I do not want to see you at this time, or anytime later.”

“I came here to laugh at you.”

Says the guy. Right…it is only natural for the winner to laugh in the face of the loser.

“Though with how pitiful you are right now, laughing at you wouldn’t worth it. I would only want to laugh at a conceited, boastful and arrogant girl, not some pitiful defeatist.”

His words pierce through my heart like they are sharp arrows. The truth has always been painful to bear.

“Then why don’t you just laugh at this pitiful girl as well? Isn’t that why you made a clown out of me twice in a row? And if we count this time as well, thrice ?

“Between a power maniac and a clown I bet people will love the clown more, don’t you think?”

Akuma smirks. Damn it, this guy starts to irritate me with every passing minutes.

“Geez, just get the poor girl act over with! Stop making me look like the bad guy when you’re the bad guy!”

“What? Are you not the bad guy here! What is with putting holes on a girl’s body and humilitate her in public?”

“This wouldn’t happened if you didn’t pester Deborah that day.”

Deborah…The very moment that name came out of his word, I suddenly fall silent, at least until my curiosity takes over.

“Did Deborah…say something about me after the fight?”

Right, he is her familiar. Maybe, just maybe…

“Nope. You know her better than I do. That girl doesn’t give a care to anything.”

Figures…

“Though for some reason, that girl also started to keep her distance from me as well. Strange.”

“May be you have finally established yourself as the official enemy of women everywhere?”

“That’s one way to put it!”

Despite his efforts however, the atmosphere does not really get lighten, even for a bit. I am still keeping up my pitiful face, while that guy still looks confused as ever.

“Damn it, Amadia. What happened, happened. Just because you lost doesn’t mean your world just crumbled.”

“But you did make my world crumble. To fight and triumph was the purpose of my whole life. My search for power was destroyed the moment I lost to you. All my efforts has vanished to ashes. Thus sealed my fate from being one of the strong to a weakling...a despicable weakling who can’t even talk back to the slander of her former friends.”

I look down to the ground. I am too embarrassed to see him face to face. He has won, which mean he is one of the strong now. I have no right to criticize him about anything. This is only natural. I can not even blame him for winning against me, or make me feel even more pitiful by trying to be a hero in front of me.

I want to cry, yet for some reason, my tears can’t come out. Is this because of what little pride remaining inside of me? Or am I too weak to even cry for myself now?

I am confused, with no idea what I am going do from now on, now that I lost my sole purpose…

“Damn it girl! Will you put your ears on and listen for a sec!”

A loud voice comes from Akuma’s direction. I turn my head up to look back, and…rather than Akuma himself, right now, in his left hand, there is some kind of…glove? A cat-shaped glove, full with hands, face, clothing, and a top hat. Despite the silence from Akuma’s mouth, for some reason voices are still coming out, make it look like the cat is talking.

It is…kinda cute.

“Stop your pitiful act! You can’t win over Mr.Cat, who has break the hearts of many cat ladies, with your crocodile tears! Listen well, girl! Winning? Losing? To this awesome Mr.Cat, they are all b*llsh*t! What’s the problem with one lost? That doesn’t mean your life end with it, wouldn’t it? No, girl, the moment you truly lose is the moment you let your lost overcome you!”

Is that cute hand glove trying to give me a life lecture…?

“Do you know why that girl, Deborah, never bothered to do battles with you? Because despite your winning streaks, you’re still a loser! A loser who can’t realize the meaning behind winning and losing. How else a strong girl like her world fight someone who define her power through win and loss? Even a cat like me know how b*llsh*t it sounds. You girl, are stupid! Too stupid to reliaze that yourself! But have no fear, Mr.Cat is here to save the day!”

Despite it’s ridiculousness, for some reason, I find myself earnstly listen to all of the weird cat’s words. Is the cat Akuma’s familiar? What would you call a familiar of a familiar?

“But what should I do now, Mr.Cat? I do not know what to do anymore.”

“That’s your damn job, young lady! To begin with, stop whining! Mr.Cat has heard with his ears a thoundsand whining, and he for sure didn’t like even one of them! Losses are the mother of successes. If you can’t learn from your losses, then just hang yourself or something and stop wasting air.”

“Learning…from my losses?”

“There is no bravery without fear. No victory without losses. If you could learn from your losses, maybe one day, even Deborah will want to do battle with you.”

This time, it is not Mr.Cat, but Akuma himself as the one who gave me that advices.

Learning from losses, heh?

Come to think of it, I have never lose before. Ever since I was born, things come rather easily for me. I guess, that helped mold the conceited girl inside of me. Mother did not do anything to change that, but I guess she has her reasons. May be…she want me to learn this by myself? Some lesson can not be taught, only learned. I guess.

“Akuma.”

I let out a voice.

“Hmm?”

“Please tell Deborah…to wait for a while.”

“To wait?”

“Waiting for me to get stronger. I finally know what I am lacking at.”

The guy just smile, without comment back.

“Good for you.”

“Yeah, good for you, girl. And thus, another successful case for Mr.Cat’s life lecture session!”

“Speaking of Mr.Cat…what exactly is…that thing?”

The cat glove suddenly looks surprised.

“Thing, she said !Did you hear that, Akuma! She called me a thing! How rude, young lady! If not for me acting as this little kid’s conscious, he would probably slit his wrists long ago! Please give me some respect, girl! Because Mr.Cat here deserve every ounce of them!”

The cat is suprisingly loudly, though cute.

“My apology, Mr.Cat.”

Then I turn to Akuma.

“He is surpisingly cute.”

“Isn’t he?”

Says the guy with a smile.

“Want me to make you one?”

What? Does that mean he can make more of them?

“Of course! Please make me one!”

For some reason, I feel very energetic, despite my body still covered in wounds. Strange. I guess pain is only a thing made from your mind.

“Holy cow. Akuma, have you finally decided to make me a wife deserving Mr.Cat?”

“Stop dreaming. Ha ha.”

Akuma laughs. A very natural laughter that for some reason doesn’t seem very fitting for the kind of guy he is. Or maybe that's just me imposing a role of enemy for he to play. That is what I have always do, imposing my ideals onto others. But that changes today.

“I will make you one, on the condition of when I met you again, you’ll be fully healed by then. And please, stop giving out more duel challenge. I would hate to see that happened again, especially if I’m your next target.”

Oops, how did he know about my intent of surpassing him as the first step of my (renewed) training plan?

“O-okay…”

“Good girl. Until then, farewell.”

The man leaves, with Mr.Cat still on his left hand.

“Hey, Akuma. Please make her a pink cat. Mr.Cat loves pink cats.”

“Oh shut up, you pervert cat.”

And yes, he walks back with a cat glove still on his hand, while engaging a man-to-man conversation with it.

A strange guy indeed. To think I was defeated by a clown like him…Though, it seems that what he said was kinda true, right? A clown would obviously more loved than a power maniac.

I turn my gaze toward the horizon outside. The sun is setting, and the night has already start to fall, but my future hasn’t yet to set.

Right, this is just a new start, a new beginning for me to look forward to.

-----------------------

The room full of books is filled with the aroma of tea. This is the principal’s personal office. Two women wearing witches' garb are sitting inside, leisurely drinking tea with their fancy teacups.

A woman is petting her dear black cat napping on her lap. After a quick sip to the cup, she lets out a voice.

“Now that the fight has been concluded, what is your thought on this matter, Headmaster?”

“The boy has potential, that’s just all.”

The woman with long grey hair answers.

“But to be worthy of being that girl’s familiar, potential alone is not enough. We need to test him more.”

“Can’t you leave the poor boy alone for a while, Headmaster? Let him rest for a time after this ordeal, like dear little Federlin on my lap. Being a slave driver has always been the thing that made people hate you, you know?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Walpurga. Time is not on our side, I fear. We need him to be ready when the day comes.”

“You still can’t keep Deborah in your leash? Powerful as you, yet can’t compete against a little schoolgirl?”

“I’m old, you know? Old, very old. If Dargoth is here, he’ll laugh at me for trying to maintain the image of a woman in her prime, which I have long lost.”

The old woman just smiles. She also sips a bit of her tea before continuing.

“That girl is dangerous. If all else fail, the boy would prove to be our only hope.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thus end the first arc . This chapter is released sooner because i'm kinda busy this week. So, what is your thought for the first arc ? The next arc would have more world building before the plot kicks in again .