Chapter 17 · Volume 1

The Demon of Lystra (Part 3)

Velrose killed everyone in the bar.
Right before Tina's eyes, with just a wave of her hand, she reduced the knights who had beaten her and Brute to ashes.
Then, with a single glance, the bizarre, cold flames reduced everyone present to dust.
Afterward, the girl knelt on the floor, looking as if she were repenting, or perhaps weeping.
And this was Tina's ultimate goal.
Unable to accept the reality of her mother's death, Velrose would fall into endless despair.
Velrose would transform into a magical beast.
And according to known information, magical beasts would unconditionally ally with one another.
They would share intelligence, communicate through special means, and become “family” in a sense.
Even if they were captured, they would never betray their companions, precisely because they trusted each other unconditionally.
Tina considered herself the human who understood magical beasts best, yet she still knew very little about them.
But as long as another magical beast emerged, she could ally with Tina.
Moreover, since both Velrose and Sathya were Saintesses, they could look out for and cover for each other.
This meant Sathya would be much safer. The larger the magical beast faction grew, the stronger she would become.
If the magical beasts viewed each other as family, they would also help each other out of tight spots.
As a human, Tina could only think of a limited number of solutions.
But what if there were a second magical beast?
With a companion, Little Ya would have more reasons to live.
【Host, you are in perfect health. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your decision.】
Tina didn't want to get close to such a dangerous existence either.
In her eyes, only Sathya was special.
Not only could she communicate with Tina, but she could even retain her human emotions.
“Is this... a demon? Yes, I've become exactly what they wanted me to be, hehe...”
Velrose's voice was laced with a chaotic melody, sounding like a discordant, overlapping harmony that struck fear into the heart.
She stood up, floating in the air. Her school skirt was enveloped in green patterns, which then transformed into a black-and-green evening gown.
Tina was slightly shocked.
Normally, humans could not understand the unique language of magical beasts, but Velrose clearly intended to communicate with her.
Being targeted by a magical beast was never good news. Their excessive power made them extremely dangerous; if things went wrong, she might be seen as the culprit and instantly obliterated.
If Sathya came as well, the situation would spiral out of control.
“How wonderful... So this is what it feels like to kill evil people.” Velrose placed her hand over her chest, feeling the endless power coursing through her body.
But she seemed to be intentionally showing off in front of me. Was she trying to intimidate me?
Tina stepped forward and picked up the mithril longsword from the ashes where the President of Starcinder had once stood.
She gave it a couple of casual swings and said,
“Calm down, Velrose. If you continue this slaughter and expose your identity, you will be killed by the humans guarding the academy.”
The reason Tina had come back was to stop Velrose.
She wanted Velrose to become her ally. This crazy idea was what Tina currently considered the most rational choice.
Most magical beasts would slaughter humans in large numbers upon awakening, which meant they would expose themselves in a short time. What followed would be the well-rested paladins of the Church and a horde of Inquisitors pursuing and cornering them.
She would be completely wiped out.
Subsequently, humans would immediately enter a state of full war readiness, and Sathya would be exposed as well.
The paladin order of the northern campus would arrive in about ten minutes.
From the awakening of the Flame Magical Beast until now, less than four minutes had passed.
Tina had also considered the possibility that the magical beast would not listen to her advice. After all, in a strict sense, humans and magical beasts could not communicate.
Therefore, she had to beat Velrose, the Flame Magical Beast, into submission.
Tina only had six minutes left.
Time was a bit tight.
“Is it General Babarol? I'm so looking forward to meeting him~” Velrose smiled.
“...”
“Hmm, speaking of which, do you want me to hide?”
At this moment, Velrose seemed to fully understand her own existence. She reached out to look at her pale arm, then at Tina. A few embers drifted from her arm, floating in the air.
“Yes.”
Tina gripped the sword tightly.
“You need to hide yourself as a human. Don't worry, you'll have another companion with you.”
“...” Velrose fell silent for a moment.
“Alright, I'll do as you say.”
Huh? She agreed just like that?
Tina almost thought she was dreaming, or that this girl was simply lying.
But suddenly, all the green flames began to fade away, proving that Velrose was not lying.
The torrential rain poured down again, only to freeze into frost the moment it touched the ground. A few specks of frost accidentally clung to Tina's maid uniform.
The entire Starcinder dormitory building quickly turned into a frozen ruin.
“What should I do next?”
Velrose changed back into a human. Both her eyes and her clothes returned to how they had been when she was human.
Then she walked over. She was serious.
“Excuse me, are you Tina?” A look of longing appeared in the girl's eyes. “I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time.”
As an abyssal magical beast, Velrose did not show any hostility toward Tina.
A magical beast's perception was on a completely different level from a human's; their terrifying adaptability could see through the Chaos Mask in a short amount of time.
Thus, Tina immediately dropped the sword, spun around, and leaped away, vanishing from Velrose's sight in an instant.
She dashed across the rooftops of the buildings, leapt down, landed softly on the wet ground, and sped off like the wind once more.
Tina's mind replayed her conversation with Velrose over and over, finding every part of it incredibly bizarre.
Just then, she saw a golden aurora streak across the sky.
She immediately stopped and ran in the opposite direction.
“Little Ya...”
...
Velrose tilted her head, unable to understand why the girl had fled.
Before she could fully comprehend it, in less than a minute, a golden light descended from the sky. As the light dissipated, a girl stepped out from the ruins.
Her silvery-white long hair emitted a faint glow even in the night.
It was Sathya.
Having sensed the awakening of a magical beast, Sathya had rushed all the way from the birthday party venue to the Starcinder dormitory.
By the time she arrived, the flames had completely vanished, but their aura still lingered in the air.
Finally, she locked her gaze onto Velrose.
The moment their eyes met, they both understood.
Sathya was shaken. She had originally intended to personally stop this magical beast from causing further destruction and then take her away.
But the other party was unexpectedly calm, completely negating the need for her to take action.
“Velrose, come with me. I am of your kind.”
Velrose also quickly realized that the other girl was of her kind.
And she was actually the apprentice Saintess, Sathya.
She did not like Sathya.
The relationship between Sathya and Tina made her sneer, yet at the same time, she felt a sense of empathy.
Perhaps, simply through the perception between their kind, she vaguely felt that Tina and she were the same type of person.
They were both sick people pursuing something illusory.
Still, she followed, slipping into the chaotic crowd with Sathya just as a swarm of paladins rushed in and began evacuating the area.
Sathya found it very strange.
The magical beast that awakened this time was Velrose, yet the awakening had not caused much damage to the campus.
Whereas last time, the moment the Flame Magical Beast awakened, it had destroyed half of the northern campus.
Even stranger, Velrose's emotions were highly stable. Had she regained her sanity upon transforming into a magical beast?
No, that was almost impossible.
A magical beast's obsession at birth would cause them to lose all rationality, yet she was actually able to disguise herself and turn back into a human!
Sathya was more inclined to believe that another magical beast was secretly guiding all of this, and that existence was highly likely the “Demon King”—
the true ruler of the magical beasts who had not even appeared by the end of the war.
The two walked through the chaotic crowd and entered a now-empty park. Holding umbrellas, neither of them was wet from the rain. Looking up, they could see the tall buildings and sculptures surrounding the cathedral, shrouded in a dreary gray.
No one had noticed their movements; they were safe now.
In contrast, people were still rushing toward the Starcinder dormitory, the commotion audible even from a distance.
The holy academy's management was lax, and the magical beast detection devices were difficult to trigger. Sathya was extremely grateful for the mistakes made by these pathetic humans.
“Velrose.”
“Sathya, I have some things to ask you.”
The two spoke almost at the same time.
“Did you just run into another of our kind?” Sathya asked first.
Velrose tilted her head. “Yes, she was a bit like... Tina.”

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