Chapter 4:A Demon Born

What in the hell just happened? Why would a girl like Alana—the apex predator of this academy—accept a confession from a "nobody" like me?
I slowly lifted my head, my gaze locking onto her. Her crimson eyes, usually as sharp as glass, seemed clearer, more predatory than before. A mischievous grin tugged at her lips, sending a jagged chill down my spine. This wasn't the smile of a girl in love; it was the look of a strategist who had just captured a pawn.
“You must be the first-year, Justin, who arrived out of nowhere,” she said. Her voice was soft, like silk over a blade, carrying an unmistakable authority that commanded the very air to still. “Your existence doesn’t bother me. In fact... from today onward, you and I are an item.”
She said it out loud. Right there, in front of the bushes teeming with eavesdroppers. My mind screamed in protest, but my body failed me.
“I… I am honored to be with you,” I stammered. The words felt like ash in my mouth.
She didn't reply. She simply turned away, her silky black hair swaying like a dark river flowing from her shoulders down to her knees. I watched her figure grow smaller against the horizon, feeling like a statue trapped in a waking nightmare.
“Justin! What the hell?!” Po’s voice shattered my trance as he and Jax tackled my shoulders. “She actually accepted? The President rejects everyone from lords to geniuses!”
“Seems so… and I’m just as lost as you are,” I muttered, staring at the empty space where she had stood.
“Come on, man! You got the hottest girl in the realm!” Jax started, a lewd grin forming, but I silenced him with a sharp, echoing slap to the back of his head.
“Don’t think like that, dummy!” I snapped.I sighed, realizing how natural it felt to answer to "Justin" now. Not long ago, I was Kaito, a boy in a human classroom. I still missed Kiyomi’s fierce hugs and her scent of iron and cherry blossoms.
As I approached the house, the cool evening breeze did little to settle my nerves. Jax and Po were still arguing behind me about the upcoming Trials. Everyone was betting on Alana to win—who wouldn't? She was a storm incarnate. Part of me wondered if I could ever stand toe-to-toe with her.
I waved goodbye to my friends and turned toward the porch. Alicia was already there, her crimson eyes gleaming in the twilight—eyes that served as a constant, aching reminder of my sister.
“I’m home,” I said.
“Welcome home, Justin,” she replied, pulling me into one of her signature, rib-cracking hugs.
“Okay! Enough! I can’t breathe!” I wheezed.She let go, but her face didn't return to its usual cheerful mask. A shadow of solemnity, perhaps even sadness, crossed her features. “Today, we unlock your full power. But first, take this.”
She pressed a ring into my palm. It was a macabre masterpiece: a silver metallic skull whose jaws gripped a jagged black crystal. The moment it touched my skin, the gem pulsed with a deep, rhythmic purple glow.“My baby is growing up so fast,” she whispered, tears pricking her eyes. Then, her demeanor shifted instantly to one of cold resolve. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me past the living room—which smelled faintly of lavender and dried herbs—and toward the basement at the end of the dark hallway.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I demanded, stumbling behind her.
She didn't answer until we reached the furthest corner of the cellar. She pulled a hidden iron lever. The stone walls groaned, grinding against each other to reveal a hidden sanctuary.
The chamber was ancient, the air thick with the scent of ozone and old parchment. A massive, intricate magic circle was etched into the floor, its runes glowing with a faint, ghostly light. As we entered, seven tall, hooded figures emerged from the gloom, standing in a perfect, silent formation around the circle’s edge.
“So… he is the Prince of all Demons?” a raspy voice murmured.
“Is he the one to lead us to victory?” asked another.
“Relax, gentlemen,” a deep, resonant voice commanded from the shadows. “He is not yet strong. The seal the Queen placed must first be shattered.”
A seal? My mind flashed back to Kiyomi’s parting words. Before I could ask a single question, Alicia shoved me into the center of the circle. Purple light erupted, turning the room into a blinding violet void.
“Do you think he can contain it?” a feminine voice whispered amidst the roar of energy.“Yes,” the deep voice replied. “Kiyomi, the High Human, has spent fourteen years tempering his vessel for this moment.”
Kiyomi knew? She was preparing me for this pain?
Suddenly, I was levitating. My feet left the stone as the purple light became a violent, swirling vortex. I reached out, but there was no hand to grab. A guttural, ancient chant began to resonate through the very marrow of my bones.
Then came the agony.
It felt as if my soul was being shredded and rewoven. My scream became a haunting wail as the essence of the seven figures seemed to pour into me. My body fractured, reshaped, and expanded.
Time dissolved. When the light finally exploded outward, I was no longer the "average" student.
I drifted back to the floor, my form transformed. Two massive, obsidian demon wings tore through my shirt, stretching wide. Twisted, regal horns crowned my head. I had grown taller, more muscular, radiating an aura of raw, terrifying power. My eyes, once bright blue, were now pits of endless black, streaked with veins of molten, crimson fire.
Magical circles manifested in the air around me like gears of a cosmic machine. A beam of pure, blackened energy shot upward, obliterating the basement ceiling and piercing the night sky. Above the capital, a massive red magic circle expanded, blotting out the stars.
Alicia sprinted through the debris, her face pale, and forced the skull ring back onto my finger. The crystal flared a defiant, fiery red. My eyes shifted again, turning a piercing, crystalline blue, and my hair bleached into a stark, snowy white that cascaded down my shoulders.
The sheer weight of the power was too much. The world tilted, the roar in my ears faded to a hum, and everything plummeted into a pitch-black silence.