The Arrogance of Humility 9

During a peaceful evening, Grand Dining Hall.

All students and professors were having their dinner there, like usual. Lucy sat next to Gina, eating steaks. Lucy ate her dinner already, but she was still hungry.

“Hmm…” she thought as she touched her stomach. “What’s with my sudden increase in appetite? I also ate twice as much as usual too this afternoon.”

She looked at Gina’s plate; she hadn’t finished her yet as she was busy talking to another girl next to her. Seeing this as an opportunity, Lucy cut a big piece from Gina’s steak and ate it with no one noticing.

Gina finished talking and resumed eating. She was surprised to see the size of her steak decreased.

“Eh?” she muttered as she stared at her plate. “Since when my steak shrunk?”

Gina looked at Lucy, but Lucy looked away, playing dumb. Gina squinted her eyes as she stared at her; there’s still some sauce left on Lucy’s lips.

“Lux…” she called. “Did you just eat mine?”

“Hm?” Lucy looked at her. “Nope!” she replied with an obvious, lying smile.

“Lucy… Sigh.” Gina shook her head. “There’s no helping then.”

Gina cut hers in half and shared more with Lucy.

“Eh?!” Lucy’s eyes were shining as she received more.

“You still need to recover more energy, Lux. You can have it—”

Lucy hugged Gina tightly as she rubbed her cheeks on Gina’s, smearing the sauce on her face.

“Aww! You’re truly my best friend!”

“L-Luuuuucy!” She struggled to push Lucy away from her “S-Stop it! There’s still sauce on your face!”

Meanwhile, outside the gate, Emmeroloth and the other three reached the gate.

“Mithra,” Emmeroloth said to the youngest member of his team. “Take us to the roof over there.” He pointed at the dorm rooftops.

Mithra was a short and lean boy having rose-beige skin, a pointed nose, blue eyes, and brown medium messy bob hair. Like them all, he wore a dark red robe with black flame markings. Mithra looked like an innocent and energetic boy who loved learning new things. While the other members were in their mid or late 30s, he was a 15-year-old boy.

“Sure!” Mithra replied with a cheerful smile.

A level 20 magic sigil appeared below all of them.

“Warp!” he said eagerly, and the sigil transported them to the dorm rooftops.

They hid there, behind a generator while trying to track Lucy among the crowd of people.

“Claudia,” Emmeroloth ordered to the only woman in the group. “Find her now.”

Claudia was a tall and lean woman in her mid-30s having pale-ivory skin, a pointed nose, red eyes, and short red wavy hair without bangs. She wore light makeup with bright red lipstick. Like the other members, she wore the same red robe. Claudia was a sadist with a twisted view of beauty.

“Very well,” she replied.

She opened her pocket and took translucent marionette wires from her pocket.

“Flesh Puppet,” she muttered as she put the wires on her fingers and touched the ground.

The wires phased through concrete onto the second floor. The wires reached to the nape of a young technician girl, who sat far and at the opposite seat from Lucy, and phased into her nervous system.

“Success,” Claudia said with a smirk.

The girl became unconscious, and Claudia began moving her fingers erratically. The girl did the same but faster, causing the controlled girl to snap her fingers, but it didn’t matter the slightest for her. A magus girl next to her got alerted and freaked out seeing the bizarre thing from the controlled girl.

“Is everything okay?” the girl asked. “Why are you moving your fingers like that? They look… broken.”

Claudia closed her eyes to connect her vision to the controlled girl. She ignored the magus girl and focused on her current objective.

“Now,” she thought. “To find that Luxianne girl.”

The controlled girl rotated her neck wildly, snapping and killing her in an instant just to look around. But since she’s but a mere puppet now in her eyes, it didn’t matter.

“H… Hey…” the girl next to her said, terrified of the controlled girl.

“Not here,” Claudia thought from seeing the connected vision.

Claudia moved the girl, walking like a puppet, but since there were many people there, the controlled girl could move barely noticed.

After a minute, Claudia found Lucy talking with Gina as usual.

“There,” she thought as she moved the puppet closer without them noticing. Claudia looked at Luxianne and envied how beautiful she was. “Tch! My art is more beautiful!”

From the puppet’s finger, the translucent wire appeared and phased into Lucy’s right shoulder. She detached the wire there undetected and let the wire stuck inside Lucy’s right arm.

“Done,” she thought. “Now, to dispose of this useless puppet without a trace.”

Claudia brought the puppet away, moving to the rooftop. Before Claudia could retrieve it, the worried magus girl from earlier was secretly following the flesh puppet, causing Claudia to hide.

“What a pest…” she muttered as she moved the puppet near the ledge.

“Hey!” the magus called as she walked closer. “Are you okay? You have been acting strange. Also, I don’t think you should be on the roof during the time like this or Professor Arkana will scold you!”

“Tch!” Claudia thought as she moved the puppet to the girl erratically to scare the girl. The joints from the controlled girl popped wildly, enough to freak the girl out.

“What the…” the girl said as she moved back step by step with her limbs trembling. The girl felt terrified as tears of dread dropped to the ground.

Her instincts were telling her to run, but she was afraid.

“A—!” Before she could run and scream, Claudia forced the puppet to jump and strangle the girl with the controlled girl’s arms.

The girl tried to scream but failed as she felt life being squeezed out from her. Her face was turning blue while her eyes bulged, almost popped out.

“Hahaha! Now suffer!” Claudia thought as she giggled, enjoying seeing the girl struggling and suffering.

In her struggle, she placed a finger on the controlled girl’s face and a level four magic appeared. The sigil summoned fire, burning the controlled girl’s face, but she didn’t know the effort was useless against a puppet as she couldn’t feel pain anymore.

The face of the puppet got charred black, but the puppet’s grips stayed the same. Claudia put more strength into the puppet, snapping the girl’s neck, killing and ending her vain struggle.

The four of them moved near the corpses now as Claudia removed her strings.

“Wow, Claudia!” Mithra said as he squatted near the corpses and poked the girl’s faces, making sure they’re both dead. “Was that really necessary?”

“For me, it is necessary, kid,” Claudia said. “Enjoy everything while it lasts!”

“You really love seeing one suffer, don’t ya?”

“Because it is beautiful,” Claudia said as she admired their dying position. “This is art! Just look how charming this position is!”

“Their positions looked awkward…”

“Enough,” Emmeroloth said to both of them. He looked at the last member. “Dyson, dispose of them.”

Dyson was a tall and bulky man in his late 30s having almond-tanned skin, a Roman nose, black eyes, and black medium slicked-back hair. He had tattoos shaped like black and red lines on his face, arms, and body. On the right side of his face, he wore a metal mask with a red eye socket. His red robe had their sleeves torn roughly, showing his arms. His voice was deep and solemn.

“As you wish,” he said as he squatted near the corpses. He touched both of them and their body got absorbed into his body, leaving only their robes.

“Now,” Mithra asked. “What do we do?”

“We wait,” Emmeroloth said as a level four sigil appeared on the robes, incinerating them, leaving no trace of the girls’ existences.

Meanwhile, in the grand dining hall, Lucy was eating the desserts gluttonously.

“Lucy!” Gina said. “Slow down! You’re going to choke!”

“Mmm!” Lucy ignored and kept pigging out.

After five minutes, Lucy stopped eating with her stomach full.

“Ahhh!” she said as she burped. “That hits the spot!”

“Lucy!” Gina scolded. “You’ve to keep your table manners when eating!”

“Aww, come on, Gina. No one minds it now.”

“You are a woman, Lux! Boys will not like a person like you!” She looked away. “Except for Lance…”

“Yawn!” Lucy stretched her arms. “So, since Arkana is becoming the headmistress, whom do you think she will choose to replace her?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you take her place?”

“A delinquent like me replacing her?” Lucy looked away with a smirk. “Heh.”

“You can put more effort to change your anarchism, Lux.”

“I know, but I’m too young.”

“But your skills and experience are those of the professor’s Lux. Come on. Professor Vennefer became a professor when he’s 21.”

“I’m still 17, Gina. I don’t want to teach people older than I. Besides, didn’t we promise to graduate together?”

“You can graduate any time you desire, Lux, and become a professor here. I don’t mind that.”

“Ah! That means I will be your teacher!” Lucy said with a smug, evil smirk.

“That face is worrying me…” Gina thought with her eyes squinted as she knew Lucy was planning something.

“So,” Gina asked. “What do you think?”

“Hm… I see nothing wrong with that. As long as Arkana didn’t force me with her strict rulings…”

“Let’s hope she makes an exception for you.”

“Which is impossible. Sigh.”

Lucy moved her right arm, but it felt stiff.

“Huh?” she said. “I have the rosary with me, but why does it feel numb?”

“Probably from muscle cramps. You moved your right arm too much when you ate, remember?”

“Oh? That makes sense.”

Everyone had left the grand dining hall into their respective rooms. Hours later, the students were asleep.

Meanwhile, on the rooftops, they noticed the light inside the dorm was off.

“Hey!” Mithra said as he noticed everything went dark. “Is it the curfew?”

Emmeroloth looked around.

“It is.” He looked at Claudia. “Where’s she?”

“Third floor, in the room near the stairs.”

Emmeroloth looked at Dyson; he was in a meditating position.

“Have you set everything?”

Dyson opened his eyes.

“Yes.”

Emmeroloth smiled as he held the colorless gemstone inside his pocket.

“Time to move!”

Inside their room, Lucy fell asleep with her usual red sleeveless top while Gina stayed awake, reading her grimoire with her wearing her black top. Gina tried to concentrate, but Lucy snored loudly, disrupting her concentration.

“Lucy…” she muttered, annoyed as she threw a pillow on her face.

The pillow lessened the noise she made, giving Lucy time to concentrate.

“Now,” she thought. “Time to continue reading—”

“Aww, Gina! No, you can’t take my—! Zzz…”

Lucy was sleep-talking, causing Gina to lose her concentration again.

“Sigh…” Gina facepalmed as she stood and went to the balcony to read. She looked around and noticed her room was the only one to have the light still on.

The night view of the academy was calming to look at. The air was cold but refreshing, enough to wash away stress for a second. From the balcony, one could see the beautiful view of the imperial street from afar, lit by countless lights similar to fireflies.

“At least I can read in peace like this,” she said as she opened her grimoire.

Without Gina knowing, Mithra was sitting on the edge next to her.

“Hello!” he said.

“Hello—What the—?!”

Gina dropped her grimoire on the ground as she looked at Mithra.

“W-Who are you—?” she asked, surprised.

“Me? I’m Mithra Ascer, nice to meet you!” Mithra held Gina’s mouth as he pinned her to the ground and cast teleportation magic. “And goodbye.”

Gina tried to scream, but Mithra’s hand muffled the noise. Before Gina could cast any magic to defend herself, the sigil teleported them somewhere else.

Inside their room, Lucy woke up after hearing Gina’s muffled scream. She sat down on her bed and looked around with her sleepy eyes. She noticed the light inside their room was still on, meaning Gina was still awake.

She knocked on the bathroom door, thinking Gina was inside.

“Gina? What was that noise before? Are you having severe diarrhea there?”

No one responded so Lucy opened the bathroom door; the bathroom was empty.

“Huh?” Lucy thought as she moved around.

She noticed the balcony door was open, but no one was there. Lucy stood there and looked around. She accidentally stepped on Gina’s grimoire near the ledge and picked the book up.

“This is… This is Gina’s book, but where’s she?”

Meanwhile, Gina arrived with Mithra in an unknown grassy place similar to an empty night savanna lit by an unnatural red super-moon.

“Where…” Gina muttered as she held her head, feeling dizzy. “Where am I?” She fell to the ground; her head felt like it was splitting into two.

“I’ve brought her!” Mithra said with a wide smile as he ran to Emmeroloth.

The three looked at Gina and noticed Mithra brought the wrong girl.

“Mithra, you fool!” Emmeroloth scolded. “She’s not our target!”

“Ehhh?!” Mithra said aloud, surprised with his eyes and mouth opened agape.

“Sigh…” Emmeroloth shook his head.

“S-Sorry…”

Gina stood and backed away.

“W-Who are you people?” she asked as she felt a terrifying aura coming from them. “Why… Why am I here? What is this place?” Her legs couldn’t stop shaking while her lips quivered.

“What do we do with her then?” Claudia asked.

“Kill her,” Emmeroloth replied. “And this time, Mithra, make sure you take the right target.”

“Okay!” Mithra used his teleportation magic and went to retrieve Lucy.

“Kill?” Gina thought, surprised. “What the…?” Her instinct told her to get away from them, but before Gina could move her legs and ran, Dyson lunged high towards Gina.

Gina stretched her arms towards Dyson, and twin level two sigils appeared in front of her hands.

“D-Dual Sylph Wind Blast!” she uttered in fear, and the sigils ejected sharp winds, wounding Dyson’s body and pushed him slightly, causing him to fall three steps away from Gina. All the wounds on Dyson’s body healed in less than a second, surprising Gina.

“No way…” she thought, afraid, as she moved back and pointed forward. “What could I do?!”

She cast several wind magic to Dyson as she moved back step by step away. But any damage he sustained healed without a trace.

“I’m going to die!!!” she thought in an intense dread. She couldn’t stop trembling as she cried, ready to accept her fate as she lowered her finger.

Claudia laughed, seeing Gina’s priceless reactions.

“I’m sorry, Lucy,” Lucy muttered as she stopped moving and closed her eyes.

“Hey!” the voice of Lucy in her head called her. “Don’t give up!”

“I…” Gina thought. “I can’t win!”

“You have to! We made an oath together, didn’t we? Gina, we shall graduate together! Whatever happened!”

“I’m sorry—!”

“Don’t say that!” Lucy huffed. “You can win, Gina! Use that magic you were trying to learn before you got here!”

“The sigil is too complicated, Lux! I can’t remember that!”

“Just do what comes naturally!”

Gina got the image of the sigil inside her head, flashing and burning inside her eyes.

“Now,” Lucy said. “Do it!”

Gina opened her eyes and pointed forward. She stood firm with her face serious, full of concentration and resolve.

“Oh?” Claudia thought, impressed. “Even in the face of death, she could stare back at death’s gaze.”

A level 12 sigil slowly projected in front of her finger.

“Say it with me, Gina,” Lucy said inside her mind.

“Yes!”

Dyson ran towards her, and a level 12 sigil projected completely in front of her finger.

“Sky God’s Advent!” both Lucy’s voice in Gina’s head and Gina uttered.

The sigil summoned endless microscopic needles of wind from the sigil, piercing through Dyson’s body

Both Claudia and Emmeroloth had to get away from the attack, as they knew such magic could kill them both.

After the magic stopped, the only thing left on Dyson was only his legs and abdomen; his upper body got destroyed and fell to the ground, lifeless.

Gina fell on the ground, sitting with her breath heavy.

“I did it…” she thought, relieved. “I did it, Lux…”

However, Gina’s victory didn’t stay long. Both Emmeroloth and Claudia smirked, impressed by her outstanding will to live, but they knew her endeavors were useless against Dyson.

Dyson’s body stood and regenerated fully in less than 10 seconds. The moment Gina realized it, Dyson pinned her to the ground hard by her right side of the face with his big arm, breaking some of her ribs.

“Don’t move,” he said, threatening.

Gina endeavored to crawl in vain, but Dyson broke both of her femurs and crushed her right arm, preventing her from moving.

“AHHHHH!!!”

“I said don’t move!”

Gina couldn’t think of anything else except she knew she would be dead painfully in a second now. She screamed and cried from the immense pain, desperately asking for anyone to help her, but her screams were but a sweet, harmonic rhythm and melody to their ears, especially Claudia who couldn’t help herself but to admire her sufferings closely.

“Dyson!” Claudia called. “Don’t kill her too early!”

She squatted in front of Gina.

“Yes!” Claudia said as her body trembled in excitement. Her face was insane and twisted like an insane psychopath. “Scream! Scream! Scream! Beg for your life!”

Gina couldn’t scream anymore as her lungs were empty.

“Scream!!!”

Claudia broke Gina’s left fingers one per one, causing Gina to scream more. Her screams were bloodcurdling, filled with pure terror and pain as she wet herself.

She screamed until she strained her own throat, causing her unable to scream anymore. Now, only death rattle came from her mouth.

“Beautiful…” Claudia muttered in thrill as she clapped her hands from seeing Gina’s sufferings. “Beautiful!!! The face of a girl who vainly struggled to live only to realize nothing but despair awaits her…!”

Dyson put more strength, fracturing Gina’s skull. Gina’s eyes were empty as she lost her consciousness rapidly. She couldn’t even feel anything else as everything went dark and cold.

She was afraid to face death; she wasn’t ready to part from this world yet. She still wanted to enjoy her youth and spend more time with her friends. She wanted to graduate with Lucy, become an imperial magus, find her true love, get married, and have children.

“What did I do to deserve this?” she thought as everything went black. “Lucy… help… me…”

A teleportation sigil appeared from afar, meaning Mithra had brought Lucy with him. When the portal projected both of them, someone threw the unconscious and badly beaten-up Mithra to Emmeroloth.

Someone walked out of the portal and pointed at the unaware Dyson; a level 15 sigil appeared on the caster’s finger.

“Light Ray of Obliteration!” the sound of a girl familiar to Gina uttered.

“Lucy…?” Gina thought before completely losing her consciousness.

A white and yellow destructive beam of pure energy and light launched to Dyson, destroying the right side of his face to his abdomen. Dyson fell to the side, bleeding out from the damage.

“What the—?!” Dyson thought as it was too sudden to realize that he lost half of his body in less than a second.

Emmeroloth and Claudia saw Lucy from afar. Her face was dead serious, enough to send chills to their spine even though their aura was frightening, meaning Lucy’s killing intent overpowered theirs.

She frowned with her eyes sharp, cold, and full of rage to kill.

“How dare you…” she muttered as she looked dead on Emmeroloth and Claudia’s eyes. “How dare you…!”

Dyson’s body started regenerating, but very slow.

“My regeneration rate…” he thought. “Why is it so slow?”

Emmeroloth pointed at Lucy and a wide level 8 sigil appeared above her.

“Abyssal Purgatory Gehenna!” he uttered aloud, but level 5 sigils appeared on Lucy’s arms and legs.

“Deus: Phos Chronos Epitach!” Lucy muttered, and the sigil glowed white before Emmeroloth’s sigil rained brimstones and black flames upon Lucy.

“I’ve got her,” Emmeroloth thought, but as soon as his magic stopped, Lucy was nowhere.

“What the—?!” Emmeroloth muttered, surprised.

Claudia looked around and noticed four light and yellow translucent broadswords pierced Dyson’s limbs and Gina’s body was nowhere near him.

“Emmer!” she called. “She had brought the girl away!”

Dyson should be able to regenerate from any wounds, but this time, the regeneration was halted.

“Those swords…” he thought. “Light magic shouldn’t be able to deal physical damage, but those yellow auras… It must be energy magic…! To think that girl could have mastered complex sigils combination…”

The energy magic would incinerate any cells attempting to regenerate, stopping Dyson’s body from recovering.

“Emmer!” Claudia shouted. “Behind you!”

Lucy appeared behind Emmeroloth with two light and yellow swords on her hands, ready to behead him, but without Lucy knowing, Emmeroloth oozed black azoth from his sleeves in the worst-case scenario. Black liquid surrounded Emmeroloth and hardened like a thick wall, slowing the swords.

“This liquid—!” Lucy muttered, recognizing it from her battle against Malus.

Lucy’s speed-enhancing magic stopped as the sigils broke.

Spikes protruded from the wall, wounding and causing her to drop her energy swords. Her rosary’s chain got torn by the spike, causing Lucy’s right arm to go numb. The black azoth mixed with Lucy’s blood, causing her to feel pain.

“Now, Claudia!” Emmeroloth shouted, and Claudia controlled the wire she left on Lucy’s hand, causing her right arm to move under Claudia’s control.

She forced Lucy’s right arm to choke Lucy, causing her to fall to the ground.

“Agh—!” Lucy tried to fight back as she used her left arm, but a piece of the black azoth turned into a thick wedge that pierced her left elbow to the ground.

“The capture is complete,” Emmeroloth said as he took the colorless gemstone from his pocket. “Now, submit—!”

Before Emmeroloth could use the stone, blood wildly flowed from Claudia’s orifices and eyes. She felt pain all over her body, like her body was turning inside out. She fell on the ground, squirming in pain as she felt choked on her neck. Claudia reached her arm to Lucy, but she coughed and puked blood.

“What’s… happening?!” she thought while writhing in pain.

Unknown to her, Lucy’s right arm belonged to Archdemon Corson. Any attempt to heal or control her right arm meaning dealing with the demon itself. The moment she tried to control Lucy's right arm when the rosary weakening the power fell, the demon assaulted her.

Claudia forced the wire inside Lucy’s arm to destroy itself, freeing Lucy’s hand from her control, and stopping Corson from assaulting her, but she went unconscious from the blood loss.

“What just happened?!” Emmeroloth thought, surprised as he raised his guard.

The ground below Lucy darkened, signalling a Maleficium.

“What?” Emmeroloth said as he jumped back.

There was a hexagram sigil below her, created from Lucy’s blood mixed with the dark azoth from the wedge.

“Asmoday…” she muttered, and the hexagram sigil called the demon, taking the form of Lucy.

“Oh?” Asmoday said as it looked at Lucy with a sneer. “Do you need any help, darling?” It caressed Lucy’s cheek.

“Quick!” Lucy ordered. “Remove the wedge on my elbow!”

Flaming serpents appeared from its arms, and one coiled Lucy’s elbow, incinerating the wedge. Lucy coiled the fallen rosary on her right arm and stood next to Asmoday.

“So,” Asmoday asked as it summoned two flaming bidents on its hands. “Your order?”

“Kill them,” Lucy replied as she summoned two white and yellow swords in her hands.

“Very well!”

They both dashed to Emmeroloth with their weapons ready.