「West of Melas castle – Almost noon」

Considering the mess caused by literally everything from the start of this war, the path way beyond the West side of Melas castle is awfully quiet. Snow is falling, as if the sky wants to give the burned and crushed trees a proper burial by covering them under the white snow. The atmosphere starts to get colder.

But somehow, I find myself being kept warm by a small but still burning anger inside my heart.

“You’re awfully quiet after hearing the answers you demanded of me. I thought you would be more…reactive than that.”

Says the one leading the way, the witch Nilrem, who told me everything about Deborah’s life one year prior to this war. About Deborah’s awakening from her slumber beneath Melas castle, about the day she tried to stop the execution of the human prisoners, about her mess up at the Magic Arts entrance ceremony, her following failed escape attempt, and the Seven Layers Seal.

“Are you actually a heartless person beneath that façade of yours, Akuma?”

The Headmaster suddenly stops her track and turns her head toward me as she says her line. Her smug smile and the way she speak makes it look like she’s trying to provoke me. No, she’s not trying, she’s actually provoking me.

And in a fit of anger, I take the bait. Letting my rage takes the helm of my body, I find my left hand suddenly grabs a hold of Nilrem by the neck of her robe. I almost let my remaining arm throw a punch at her face, but thankfully, I’m still sane enough to know that’s a bad thing and something that I shouldn’t spend time doing at this moment.

“What’s the matter? Did I hurt your familiar’s feeling?”

The woman smirks when she knows I took her bait. I can totally punch her right here, and a part of me want to, but…that’s not right. That’s not something I should do just because I’m angry at her. I need to be sane, she’s just trying to toy with me. By punching her, that means Nilrem win this little mind game she’s trying to make me play with her.

“I hate to admit it, but everything you did were right. If I was in your shoe, I would had done the same…”

The smug smile on Nilrem disappears the moment my words reach her ears, as if she doesn’t expect me to understand her actions. I do understand what’s needed to be done, however…

“But you don’t have to be such a jerk about it.”

Locking Deborah in the castle with a barrier was necessary, only allowing her freedom after her graduation was necessary, even sealing her power was the only way for people to be safe. All of those, I understand, but…

“You treated Deborah as if she was a dangerous animal, but I know better than that. She was merely a scared girl unaware of the world around her! Just like I was…back when I first arrived in this world…Unlike her, I at least have some experience from the life before I came here, but Deborah…she knew nothing, like a naïve newborn…she desperately needed help, but you only showed up either because you wanted to get something out of her, or because you simply needed to clean her mess! If you had to be so irresponsible, then why even released her from her slumber in the first place!”

Nilrem’s smile completely disappears, replaced by an emotionless frown, almost like a soulless doll that I have never seen her putting on before in front of people.

“I wasn’t the one who released her. If it was up to me, I would let her continue her sleep until the end of eternity.”

I get stunned for a moment. If Nilrem wasn’t the one who released Deborah, then who did?

“Deborah Draconis…I have always hate that girl ever since her birth. I don’t remember how many times I wished that cursed being shouldn’t have been born to begin with. There were nights I prayed that she somehow ended up dead just so I could know peace. But that girl is loved by Anul. She’ll survive everything this world throws at her. So wishes can only be wishes.”

“You’re…a cruel woman, Nilrem.”

The more truth she reveals, the stronger the grip of my hand becomes. I’m almost on the verge of punching the Headmaster of Melas Academy for real, but I know…it will be meaningless. I’m not here to judge Nilrem for what she did, I’m here with her to try and stop Deborah before she kills us all. Attacking Nilrem will give me nothing but false satisfaction.

“Don’t take me for a Saint, I betrayed my comrades to join the demons because of my own personal desire. I willing to let mankind and demonkind burn to the ground if it means to fulfill my goal.”

I know she truly means it, the time I spent around her is enough to know she’s willing to sell her own soul if it earns her something from it.

“But taking Deborah out of her prison didn’t fulfill any of my goals. Nothing that concerns her did. I risked the lives of my students and teachers just to let Deborah see the daylight again. I was willing to let her go to the rest of the world on my terms. I even allowed her time to try to control herself after what she did to our soldiers until the girl proved she couldn’t do it by herself. What would I gain from letting a dragon roam free like that? Just look around you, and see what I lost because of it.”

A realm in shambles, forests in flame, and untold dead bodies left behind Deborah’s wake. I don’t even need to look around to know what Nilrem’s implying.

I let my hand off her cloak. I still haven’t forgive her, but I can’t deny the little deeds she made defined Deborah as she is today, before that stupid girl screwed up anyway.

Nilrem fixes her robe after my little burst of violence messed up her attire, yet still she has yet to return to her teacher façade and scold me for my brutish action. The woman in a young girl body just simply turns her back on me before concluding our little chat.

“There will be times when you are forced to do things that go against your own principals, and you have no other choices but to do it regardless. I’m not asking for your sympathy, but the least what you should know is the truth about what I felt of Deborah, and what I did regardless of that. Now, let us move, we wasted enough time already.”

I silently nod. This is not the time for inner bickering. No matter what Nilrem did, no matter what Deborah suffered through, it doesn’t change the truth that she must be stopped.

I continue to follow Nilrem, who’s leading the way. Despite my sudden outburst earlier, she still remains silent without pursuing her own revenge for my insolence. I want to believe she’s feeling remorse about what I said, but it’s a bit hard to believe in it considering the type of person she is. She does seem to be the type who’ll hold a grudge, though. I just hope she won’t cause me further troubles just because of my insolence.

Jeez, let’s put a stop to this, Akuma. You need to focus on the matter at hand!

“So what are we going to do when get to Deborah?”

Try to make up with her and let all bygones be bygones, ignoring all the death and destruction she caused? If only it will be that easy.

“The original plan is to kill Deborah immediately at the first sign she goes berserk. But…ever since your appearance, there has been a change of plan.”

“What sort of plan?”

I reply, despite already having a rough sketch of her contingency plan in my head. There’s only one reason to explain why she allowed me to live together with Deborah to begin with.

“Take a guess why I brought you here?”

Nilrem sure is trying her best to make things harder for me.

“You want me to talk some sense to Deborah? I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t tear me to bits the moment our eyes meet.”

Maybe she doesn’t even need our eyes to meet, she’ll just have to throw a fireball at me to make it quick before resuming to destroy what’s still left.

“It wasn’t mere coincidence you were summoned by Deborah.”

Says the witch.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Deborah performed her summoning ritual when her power was still restricted by the Seven Layers Seal. Her energy output was limited. Assuming she had a truly powerful familiar awaiting her out there across the dimension, Deborah would still unable to summon it, which was why you were summoned instead. You are the being closest to Deborah in spirit, though not in power. The similarity between both of you made such thing possible.”

I am similar to that girl? From what I know, she’s actually the opposite of me in everything, the last thing I want to hear is how similar we are.

“You’re both stubborn, foolish, selfish, unruly and occasionally absent-minded, but deep down, both of you have a good heart that just want to do the right thing. Maybe you two often fight each other over everything precisely because of how similar you are.”

“I…won’t deny that.”

Maybe I already know about it from the start, and I just can’t realize it because I don’t want to admit our similarity. My foolish pride doesn’t allow me to accept Deborah as someone who’s in need of a purpose like me. I was clouded by my own prejudice against her, who could only see Deborah as a perfect being, in a higher plane a mortal like me could not reach, but in the end, after hearing her story from Nilrem, I realized that…Deborah is just another pitiful being like I am.

And I lashed out on her merely because my head thought my problems were worse than hers. I got angry merely without even trying to reach behind the façade she put on. All these death and destruction, they were partly my fault for not listening when I should be.

“But you just had to pick the worst time to have a fight with each other. I did everything I could allow to get you to form a bond with her. I threw difficult tasks at you to make both of you overcome it together. But they all failed, the two of you pushed yourselves far from each other precisely because of how similar you two are. Now, I doubt your voice can even reach her and make her snap out of it. By bringing you along, I already made a dangerous gamble with a very low odd of winning.”

I can see Nilrem holding tight her magic staff as she walks. I doubt it’s not because of the cold from the falling snow, it’s something else. Fear, or doubt, I do not know, but her own uneasiness makes me fear a bit for the things yet to come.

“What if I fail to make Deborah return to normal? What will you do after that?”

I ask.

“Simply put, I just return to the original plan.”

To kill Deborah…

“Do you think you can actually make it happen? She’s a dragon after all. At this point, I doubt that she can even die.”

Not even a giant tree that reached the cloud could make Deborah feel threatened, what chance does Nilrem has?

“It’s not like I haven’t seen dragons die before. I can do this.”

The witch returns to her smirk smile from before as she begins to explain.

“Dragons are creatures made by Anul, naturally, they are a bit vulnerable to powers that originate from the Light God Lielos. Dragons are no exceptions. Among Lielos’s powers, dragons are most vulnerable from the element Fire and Lightning. Deborah is a Flame Dragon so fire is a no no, but I just happened to possess the title of Thunder God back in the old days. You catch my drift?”

So basically Nilrem will fry Deborah alive with her lightning spells if our little talk fails.

“The plan is simple, you go and talk to Deborah, I’ll stay behind to prepare my spell. My soul energy is already at its limit, we only have one shot for this. If the talk fails, the least you should do is try to get Deborah where my spell can reach her and if you can, make her stay still for a bit, although the latter is easier said than done.”

I actually hope for the talk to succeed, considering Deborah is still my master. If she dies, what will happen to me even if I’m alive afterward? The best is I’ll be stuck in this world forever without any ways to get back to Earth, which may not be as bad as it sounds. The worst…I can’t think of anything about the worst, but it’ll be bad for sure!

“Do you really need to kill Deborah?”

“Better sooner than later. The more time she gets, the more intelligence she’ll regain.”

“Won’t it be a good thing?”

I mean, if she regains her intelligence, won’t it make her become normal again?

“She’ll regain her intelligence, not her empathy. Calculated destruction is just as deadly as destruction caused by madness. Deborah is the living embodiment of the destructive desire of a dragon right now, that thing gaining intelligence will only make things worse. She’ll be able to know how to unlock the remaining layers to regain her power, although she doesn’t even need to unlock half the layers to turn the Demon Realm to a wasteland.”

So if I fail, there’s no other choice other than killing Deborah?

That means failure is not an option. I will make this work, I will make Deborah snap out of this before she becomes the world’s enemy.

“Then we have no time to waste. Let’s hurry!”

As I say my words, I speed up my legs to walk in front of Nilrem, despite her being the one leading the way from the start. But I already have a grasp on where we should go, just follow the trails of destruction, and eventually, we’ll reach Deborah.

Nilrem is still walking behind me, without any intention to take charge of the way again. That is my thought, until I turn back to see what’s taking her so slow and realize her attention is focused on me.

“I have heard the story from Lapidoth. You suffered a grave wound from Origen, yet you managed to recover quick enough to defeat the one who did it to you the next day. Have you ever thought about why?”

“Lapidoth said I was protected by some sort of guardian, or fate itself is trying to keep me alive.”

Although at this point, I already have some clues about who that guardian might be.

“You are being kept alive because of the bond you have with Deborah as a Master and Familiar. Her soul energy is constantly being drained to maintain your existence here on Airumel. Although far from giving you immortality, it’s still strong enough to help save you from the brink of death thanks to Deborah’s release of her seal, enabling more soul energy for her to use and support you.”

So the reason I'm still alive after everything I went through was because of Deborah’s help. Why am I not surprise?

“But you were lucky to have a moment to recover. Origen’s mercy backfired on him. But you won’t find that mercy when facing Deborah as she is right now. She’ll relentlessly pursue you until you’re dead. And unlike Origen, the current Deborah doesn’t have mercy to spare. You won’t even have a chance to recover when being attacked by Deborah. Knowing all this, do you still want to go through with this plan?”

It’s too late for her to try and scare me off. I already know what I have to do, regardless of the risk that entails.

“Of course, if someone doesn’t do something, everyone will die.”

I continue marching onward, yet this time, Nilrem doesn’t move her feet and just stays behind me.

“Do you even know fear, Akuma? Or it’s just simply foolishness and recklessness that motivate you to move forward?”

Says Nilrem as our eyes meet.

“I fear many things. But I don’t fear Deborah like you do.”

I reply Nilrem with the words I found in my heart.

“You can only see her as a being who only know how to bring destruction, something to be feared, and you were right, Deborah is a dragon who brought destruction to the things around her. But to me, the one who claims to be my master is simply a foolish and naïve girl who’s stubborn to a fault. She’s nasty, snarky, annoying when she thinks she’s not, and is actually a bit cruel despite claiming she’s a kind girl at heart. Maybe you already know Deborah from a long time ago, but I only know the current Deborah that I met for only a month, her being a dragon of destruction won’t change what I think about her.”

The Headmaster looks stunned, almost to the point of dropping her jaw to the ground. This is the first time I actually see her getting shocked from something, considering the vast amount of knowledge she has. But this is only the start, I’ll surprise her even more.

“I’m not here to help you kill a dragon of destruction. I’m here to bring that stupid girl Deborah Draconis back to Melas. I still have unfinished business with her after all, and as I always say to people I met, I don’t do things half-assed!”

As I finish my declaration, the Headmaster suddenly…bursts out a laugh. Not a smile nor a smirk, she literally laughs out loud, with her hand trying to contain the laughter from breaking her stomach. She just has to break the mood like that. Damn the woman! Or girl, or woman who looks like a girl!

“Ahahaha…That’s a good one! I haven’t laugh this hard in the last thousand years! Really appreciate it, Akuma. You being here in this world maybe a good thing, after all.”

“S-Shut up! We need to move quick! Stop laughing and move your ass!”

Geez, maybe I should add Nilrem’s laugh to my “The last thing I want to X” list.

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

After following the trail of destruction left behind Deborah’s wake, the two of us find a clue that hasn’t been destroyed by the falling snow.

A trail of flesh blood on the snow pathway, along with a field of corpses from the soldiers of both sides, demon and humans alike. I don’t want to describe this battleground by words, it will only help sicken my already bad stomach.

“Deborah must be nearby.”

I mumble. While Nilrem may have her own questions about why there are demon soldiers together with human soldiers in this kind of place, but we both know what matters most right now is to stop Deborah.

“Akuma, take this and put it on your finger.”

The Headmaster suddenly takes out something from beneath her cloak and throws it at me. It’s something small and when I catch it, I realize it’s a golden ring. I don’t know what Nilrem’s planning, but I know she won’t joke around in a time like this. I quickly put the ring on my index finger. Never wear a ring before, so I have some trouble at first, but eventually I make it work.

‘Can you hear me, Akuma?’

Suddenly, a voice rings in my head. That voice is almost identical to the voice of Nilrem. I turn my gaze at the witch and realize there’s a similar ring as the one I’m wearing on her finger.

‘Don’t look so surprised. The one I gave you is part of a pair of rings called the Rings of Thought Transference. They enable telepathy and limited mind reading for the wearers. We are going to face Deborah, best that we keep quiet without losing the ability to keep contact.’

Well, that explains it.

‘Right, got it. And please don’t read too much inside my mind. You really don’t want to.’

I transmit my own thoughts to the end of the line.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t. Now, let’s review the plan again. You’ll go in there and do your pep talk with Deborah, I’ll stay at somewhere safe to prepare the spell. When you think you failed, give me the signal when Deborah is motionless so that my spell can work.’

‘So I need to do the dangerous work while you safely watch from the rear? Seems fair.’

It’s kind of funny, having a conversation with your head, almost makes me feel like I have an imaginary friend that I can talk to anytime.

‘I’m a witch, what are you expecting? Me charging head on and bash her skull with my staff?’

Seems like even Nilrem herself is tired with chatting online through her head, she gives the signal to move on without making any sound. I guess we are really wasting our time talking. I follow behind Nilrem this time. We are already near where Deborah might be, this has already became another battlefield.

Eventually, when we get past the field of corpses, we hear the sounds of fighting, although when we get to the site of the event, what we see is hardly a fight, but a hunt.

Two soldiers standing with their sword pointing at the mad dragon girl. One human, one demon, and one dragon. The two soldiers charge at Deborah with their weapons on hand, but the two of them get swiftly dealt with as if they are merely annoying flies. Deborah bashes away the demon soldier, which puts a huge hole on his chest despite his thick iron armor. The human soldier finds his body being torn into many different pieces thanks to Deborah’s claws.

But that’s not the worst. The mad dragon still keeps her hold on the human soldier’s remaining torso. He is already dead from the sheer pain and shock, but Deborah seems to have some business left to fulfill with his dead torso. With her claws, the dragon girl tears the armor off the torso and lies bare the naked flesh out…which she then devours the flesh like a wild carnivore.

‘This is…cannibalism…!’

‘Wrong. Cannibalism implies the act of consuming the flesh between two members of the same species, and as you can see, Deborah’s currently not feasting on another dragon like her. This is only what dragons do, they stand at the top of the food chain, and devour everything beneath them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and super, maybe the occasional snacks as well.’

I’m more surprised at Nilrem’s nonchalant attitude despite what’s happening before our eyes. I guess that comes with many years fearing a living dragon sleeping beneath your castle.

‘If you want to fear a dragon, now’s a good time to do it.’

‘Forget it! Just finish this quick, before my courage fails me!’

Nilrem simply smirks, before putting her hand on my shoulder and quietly chants some spell. When the woman is finished, I feel a familiar feeling in my legs.

‘The Speed Enhance spell. This will help you run away in case things go haywire.’

‘And comes with a heavy cost after it’s done. But right now, it’s what I need.’

I walk out of our hiding place and prepare myself to face Deborah.

‘I’ll place a barrier to prevent outsiders messing with our plan and then prepare my spell after that. Meanwhile, you try not to get yourself killed.’

‘Got it!’

I can hear the sound of Nilrem walking away to another location. That leaves me alone with Deborah, who has yet to notice my presence.

I approach the girl and manage to get closer to her, albeit in a safe distance, enough for my voice to reach the girl, and still far enough for me to run away in case she decides to talk with her fists.

‘Here goes nothing…’

“Deborah!”

I yell out loud, which prompts the girl in question to turn her gaze to my direction.

Our eyes meet for the first time since yesterday. Just one day, yet it has already felt like an eternity. The eyes I’m looking at are no longer the scared red eyes of a girl in search of herself, now, they are blood-cladded eyes of a beast hungry for flesh, but those eyes seem to waver for a bit when our gazes meet. Deborah drops the half-eaten body in surprise, but the intense pressure radiated from everything about her still helps keeping me on guard. This is only the beginning of my struggle.

“You don’t look so good.”

Deborah starts to walk sideway, her eyes still fixed on my position, but she has yet to resume her hunting stance. Maybe this can work!

“Normally, I would ask: “Was it because of something you ate?”. Knowing you, you would always deny it by saying something like: “No! Are you stupid or what?”. That’s usually what would happen. But if I say something like that in this kind of situation, it will become really awkwa…”

“RAGRHHH!”

Suddenly, Deborah lunges at me from her position, with a speed compareable a bullet shot hot out of a gun barrel. Her claws are aiming at me, together with the fangs hidden behind her blood-soaked pretty lips. But thanks to the Speed Enhancement spell casted by Nilrem, I manage to run away in time before I find myself suffering the similar fate to her previous victims.

“Well…that was less awkward...and more life threatening.”

Deborah still has yet to charge at me again, despite her sudden outburst earlier. She seems…conflicted, between hunting me to feast on me, and to stay away and protect me from harm caused by her own impulses.

“This confirms it…”

I talk to her.

“You are still being dominated by your dragon self, aren’t you, Deborah? You want to kill me, to tear me apart, to devour me, right? I understand that, it’s your instinct as a dragon, and now you are being controlled by it…but not completely.”

I smile at Deborah.

“…because you listened. Just for a brief moment, you stood still and listened to my meaningless banter. You are still there, right, Deborah? Despite your hunger for flesh and destruction, the Deborah I know still exists somewhere beneath your red scales.”

I point my finger at the dragon girl and yell out loud.

“Deborah, just you wait, I’ll save you from your own self!”