Green Devil

"...roque?? Guiniiii? Guini?" Granger waved his hand in front of the dazed red head.

"Hm? Yes? Sorry, did you say something?"

"You okay? I've been asking you why you picked up these particular set of books." Granger flipped through the contents of the Human Anatomy book. It was the same book that he would casually read at Estes' office slash clinic.

Guinevere's eyes widened. She completely forgot about her heart problem! She was so giddy about getting an invitation to the book club that she forgot why she picked up these medical books!

'It's my problem so I shouldn't bother Granger, who already has enough problems of his own, for a trivial thing. Think, Guinevere! Think! Use that top student brain of yours!' Guinevere racked her brain for an appropriate excuse.

"Oh! I was just c-curious... hehe! I-It might help with our r-research... Ooh! I should drink my tea while it's still hot, hehe!" Guinevere concentrated on blowing the steam of the green tea, avoiding Granger's penetrating gaze.

'Please don't interrogate me, Grangey! I don't know how to lie!' Guinevere prayed in her heart that Granger's keen senses won't work only this one time.

"Oh...kay? Ah, I found an interesting demon on this book. Does this look familiar to you?"

Granger didn't pried further into Guinevere's obviously suspicious acting and immediately delve into their research. He finally found a lead! The red head surreptitiously sighed in relief.

Guinevere looked at the image Granger has been pointing at. The monster looked like an orc hybrid due to its wings. The green fiend in the picture was squatting down, it bared its sharp overgrown fangs and the talons on its huge feet were extremely elongated and sharp looking. The image really looked life-like!

"What a nightmarish sight! It kind of looks like Sir Balmond--no offense! Orcs don't usually have wings right? That's so weird!" Guinevere cocked her head to the side in order to see the image more clearly.

'But it does look familiar...where have I seen these creatures? Or was it just because it reminds me of Bloodaxe Orcs?' Guinevere jogged up her memory, nothing came up and she even felt a slight headache.

"So you don't remember..." Granger mumbled and frowned.

"Huh? What?" Guinevere swore she heard Granger whisper something under his breath. Or was she imagining things? It was probably her lack of sleep lately.

"No. It's nothing. I think I need some donuts." Granger shook his head and placed the Demonology book down in front of her so Guinevere could read the whole page without stretching her neck.

"Oh! Let me get one for you. Which flavor do you want?" The auburn haired girl immediately opened the box of pastries at the side of the table. She was famished as well; the unicorn cream puffs looks so appetizing in Guinevere's eyes. The filling was white chocolate dyed in rainbow. What a fun snack!

"Chocolate Butternut..." The young marksman hastily added a soft, "please!", at the end which made Guinevere giggle.

"You almost forgot your manners, Grangey. But good boy! Here's your reward! Say 'Ahh'~" The red head was pleased with Granger's childish behavior. It really reminds her of the ever adorable Harith.

'Living together must really rub off on people huh? But me and brother dearest is a different story. I don't ever want to be a drama queen!'

"You'll be a good mother someday, Guini." Granger chuckled before biting half of the chocolate doughnut peppered with orange powder.

"Don't flatter me, Granger. That's because you're acting like a big baby!" The purple-bowed girl laughed as she put the half-eaten donut on a paper napkin beside Granger's iced coffee drink.

"Say that again..." The skunk haired boy requested.

"Huh? Don't flatter me--" Guinevere tilted her head at his confusing request.

"No, Guini. Just the last thing you said."

"Oh! Big... baby??? Fufufufu~" Guinevere put her dainty hands in front of her, wrinkling her button nose as she snickered. "So you admit you are one!"

"Tch. No. Never mind." Granger only shook his head disapprovingly and sipped on Guinevere's iced black coffee.

He never liked cold beverages unless it was alcohol or Brainfreezers. Thankfully, he liked caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea, it made him calm and alert during missions. And not to mention, it keeps him from sleeping when he didn't feel like confronting his nightmares.

Guinevere silently read the information of the green monster that was on the next page.

x

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Ancient Abyssal Demon. (a.k.a. Green Devil)

Species: Devil

Power: Manipulates Darkness. Can create hurricane using their wings. Tail is laced with paralyzing poison. Their natural smelly odor induces hallucinations.

Weakness: Gold can hurt their skin (Gold arrows, and Gold bullets are recommended). Bright flashes of light can stun them (during night only).

Last sighting: Lost Jungle 20xx, Dark Forest 20xx

Basic Information:

One of the first demons who ruled the Crack of the Abyss and brought terror to Land of Dawn thousands of years ago. The first branch of the abyssal phylogeny where Orcs descended from. Usually green-skinned and has a spade-like tail which contains a paralyzing poison. Typically lives up to hundreds of years. Can fly high up to 40-50 feet with the average speed of 25 mph. Has an average height of 213.36 cm. Has three hearts, keen red eyes, and smells like rotting corpse. Adult Ancient Abyssal Demons are rare but are said to have unimaginable dark power.

Most captured green devils are hatchlings and juveniles (see figure above). Juvenile Ancient Abyssal Demons are known to be extremely raptorial, hunts in packs and would play with their prey before eating them up. According to demon hunters, they would be lured deep into the forest where they wait until dark comes and pounce on them.

Their number have been dwindling due to persistent hunting of demon hunters and most especially of dark wizards; to extract natural dark energy these creatures possess in order to fuel their evil magical experiments.

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x

"That's it? There's no other information about this ancient demon?" Guinevere frowned when she noticed there was only a page dedicated for this ancient monster, and the other one was just a colorized photo of the nightmarish creature.

"Yeah. This is the last volume of this Demonology book." Granger nodded, sighing in frustration.

The way his thick brows furrow reminded Guinevere of that one-shot AU comic where Granger was a hot terror prof and Mister Alucard was a Happy-Go-Lucky instructor.

'Now all that's missing is eyeglasses and he'll be the perfect hot professor-- Get a fudging grip Guinevere Baroque! Now is not the time to fangirl!' Guinevere secretly pinched her arm to keep her from her silly fujoshi daydreams.

Granger leaned back in his seat and continued speaking, arms crossed.

'Oh Gord! He's literally acting like the AU Professor Granger right now! Seriously I want to see him wearing glasses-- Gah! Self, why are you like that!? Pay attention to Granger's words, not his appearance!'

"While you were gone, I asked my colleagues earlier and they said there's no further update about these monsters. They also told me the dark wizards hogged up all the information to themselves and hid all their journals. Some were even burnt, preserving the classified info in their minds. Selfish bastards!" Granger clicked his tongue making Guinevere flinch in her seat.

"H-Haha! I know right?! Selfish indeed!" Guinevere immediately agreed.

'Just smile and nod, Guinevere,' she instructed to herself. She didn't even bother chastising him for cussing. Granger's eyebrow raised from Guinevere's overly excited reaction.

"Anyway, the one in the photo is a juvenile as mentioned but the demon that cursed me was a full grown adult. The leader of the pack. It was as tall as the sanctuary lord." The unforgettable appearance of the demon who caused him unimaginable anguish flashed in Granger's mind.

"W-What?! This 7-feet monster is just a young one?! And the ancient demon who cursed you is as tall as a five-story building?!" If Guinevere was drinking her tea, she would've spat it out through her mouth and nose.

She couldn't believe her ears. A monster as tall as the Sanctuary Lord! She haven't fought gigantic monsters like that outside the arena.

Guinevere was reminded of her terrifying experiences at the Dark Forest though she couldn't remember what exactly happened due to the darkness. But she was sure she fought off hungry dark forest monsters and miraculously survived. It traumatized her for almost a year after finding his big brother. To think a huge monster like that would terrorize and curse a young child! Her one time experience with demons might not even amount to Granger's so she felt terrible.

"Oh Grangey! I'm sorry you have to go through such horrendous thing in such a young age. I want to hug you right now and give you lots of head pats but I can't..."

Guinevere felt helpless that she couldn't console her friend nor offer him warmth due to their experiment. They had to hold back from any skinship in order to verify the authenticity of their previous tests. Earlier, when she got scared of the librarian's head popping out of nowhere, she almost touched Granger's skin and almost jeopardized the two-day test.

"It's okay Guini. Don't waste your tears on my past. Ah right, the experiment. Lemme get the observation log."

The Death Chanter summoned his trusty guitar case and laid it on the table, obscuring his face from Guinevere's view. As Guinevere piled up the books they borrowed and cast it aside, she noticed Granger rummaged around for a while. It made Guinevere's theory more believable.

'Granger The Explorer CONFIRMED! Just how many things could fit in there that he's taking so long to get the folder?!' She mused.

As the auburn haired girl imagined the different objects hidden inside the case aside from the awesome violin long-range gun, Granger was busy calming down his reddened ears and face. The words that come out of this girl's mouth are just too endearing for him to handle and he didn't want to misinterpret it.

Knowing Guinevere, he knew that she only see him as a friend and nothing more. It always leave a bitter aftertaste on his tongue whenever he is reminded of that fact.