The Night Without You

"My darling..." Sola called out Virgo with tears running down both cheeks.

"I told you not to come into this room, didn't I?" he asked, the tip of his wand glowing with a violet light. A strange gust of wind swept through, extinguishing every candle flame.

"What are you going to do with our child, huh?" Her body trembled as she instinctively placed a hand over her swelling stomach, fear gripping her.

"I won't do anything to her. Now I want you to get out of my room first, so we can talk later." his voice was still low and devoid of its usual charm, but it sent shivers down my spine, as if the person before me was no longer Virgo, the husband I loved. "Sola... We will talk about this later.

Once we understand the same page, you will understand that what I do is for our family."

"Devouring our daughter's heart is for our family?! How is that!" Sola cried, heart shattering. She sensed the man before her was no longer Virgo, the man she knew. "Virgo... What are you becoming now?" 

"Well... Seems like I can't hide it anymore," the young man sighed before casting some kind of spell, lifting her body and suspending it in the air, floating above the ground. Sola cried out for help, even though she knew no one would hear in this isolated place, a deliberate choice on his part.

He planned it all along... The missing piece of jigsaws were here to complete the whole picture of his true color. 

Young man with crimson eyes extended a hand, a sneering smile revealing a pair of sharp fangs. The tattoos covering his arms writhed as if alive, sending a shiver of horror down the spine.

"Ascend to be a devil with me. I can now amplify my power to become the Demon Emperor because of the many mages I've killed and whose hearts I've consumed. If you let me eat our child's heart, I could destroy the gate and become Devil God myself and change the world." He spoke grandly, his tone beginning to shift from what she knew. "Join me... my beloved wife. With all my power, I will make you become the queen who sits on the throne of Caronia beside me."

This was beyond any remaining shred of my sanity. I decided to teleport out of the house, appearing outside. Then, I began to run barefoot into the darkness beneath the waning full moon. I didn't know where I should flee, but I knew I had to grit my teeth and keep running, with Anya still safe within me.

"You know... You can't run away from me, Sola." he teleported after her, immediately firing a purple spell at a nearby tree, causing it to crash across the road, blocking my path. "This life-severing curse is ingrained in me more than any other spell. The more evil in one's heart, the more destructive its power."

"If I die, the baby dies too! The Scarlet Moon Festival is still so far away! Your goal will never succeed!" Sola yelled through tears, but then a sharp pain shot through her abdomen, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground.

"Sola!!" Virgo lunged towards me, but something slammed into him, sending him flying.

And then, someone in a white cloak appeared.

"Headmaster Conner?"

"The Grimoire of Demonic Sealing isn't something to play around with, Virgo!" the middle-aged man exclaimed, his thick black eyebrows furrowed in anger. "I've told you countless times! Look at what you've done! You've stolen the lives of so many mages and turned them into demons!"

"Surrender now, Headmaster or I'll send you to the Eternal Prison instead," he continued.

"I've been defeated by you for countless times because I didn't have this power! But finally, I used that tome and granted myself the strength I needed. Great achievements require sacrifice!" Virgo declared, summoning two demonic minions. They fired life-severing curses, but Headmaster Conner easily deflected them and retaliated with spells that instantly killed both creatures.

"Until now, seeing you as a student under the school's care, my own care, I've tried to avoid seriously injuring you every time we sparred." He conjured a hologram in mid-air, causing alarm in his opponent.

"What's that!?"

"I suspect simply sending you to the Eternal Prison wouldn't be enough to contain you.

Besides, a demon who has evolved into a Demon Emperor probably can't be killed easily. Therefore, a strong sealing is likely the best option at this point," Headmaster Conner said, his voice strained. He then created a barrier that enveloped both him and me. No matter how fiercely Virgo attacked, he couldn't penetrate the barrier.

Then, the headmaster chanted something I couldn't understand.

"Commane, Conjugate, Subject, Virgo!!" A bright light flArshaed, forcing me to shield my eyes completely before everything went silent. I opened my eyes to find my husband gone. There was only a stone, shaped like a large chicken egg. The headmaster picked it up and placed it in a pocket on his ring, then let out a long sigh. He then checked on me and cast healing spells until the small wounds on my body were completely healed. "From now on, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Virgo has been sealed in a way that makes it impossible for him to break free. His minions will probably sense their master's sudden disappearance. After this, I will send you a monthly allowance for living expenses and the child's tuition. Under my care, this child will be safe. As for the stone egg that seals Virgo, I will keep it in a place where no one will ever find it."

...............

Back to the present.

"If I hadn't helped him in the first place... things wouldn't have turned out like this," Sola sighed wearily, her slender hand still stroking my head, causing some fur from the top of my head to come loose and stick to her fingers. "If that cursed grimoire hadn't existed... ugh, never mind. Even now, whether he's the Demon Emperor or the Demon God or whatever, in the end, he's still Sola's husband and Anya's biological father. That will never change, even if the whole world collapses.

Back then, he was sealed away, but his wand was left behind. I kept it as a memento before giving it to Anya. It had been used to kill countless people, so eventually, I couldn't bring myself to use it and bought a new one instead."

I lay prone, listening to her story, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the Demon Emperor. Was he truly someone who desired to stand at the very top of this world? Even when he had become the number one strongest student at Escuria Academy of Magic, wasn't that enough for someone who was to be appointed a knight by the Magic Emperor?

"Does Anya know about this?" I asked, tilting my head against her thigh.

"Of course not. If she were to find out about something like this... I don't even want to think about how she'd feel." The woman raised a hand to wipe away tears. "I'm sorry... Anya, I'm sorry."

................

Following the Demon Emperor's attack on Escuria Academy, the headmaster announced a school closure, sending all students home until further notice. The tournament was indefinitely canceled. In my human form (now able to transform freely), I packed all my belongings into a bag.

While traveling back on our broom, the two of us were ambushed by three demon minions. I gritted my teeth in anger and transformed back into my human form, dealing with them until they fell lifelessly to the ground. Then, I returned to my original form.

"This is so much more convenient, isn't it?" Sola said, referring to my transformed state as she stroked my head. "It's like having a bodyguard with me all the time. I don't regret those two gold coins anymore."

"Glad to hear that. Though, in reality, you didn't pay a single red cent," I retorted sarcastically, recalling the time at the pet shop. She had wanted to buy that dangerously fiery little dragon for a few copper coins to save on family expenses, unaware that the corgi would become a muscular young man with immense magical power, rivaling even the Demon Emperor.

"That makes it even more worthwhile."

Upon arriving home, everything around us was eerily silent, barely a whisper of wind. Even though I had only been here for one night, it felt as if I had lived here since birth. It was hard to believe that this house had once been a place for secretly conducting dark magic rituals.

"You can go upstairs and rest first. I'll make something to eat," Sola said, referring to herself as 'Mom' in front of me, causing a thought that had been lingering in my mind the whole way back to surface.

"Aren't you going to help Anya against the Demon Emperor?" The question shot out as the woman, who was putting on an apron and walking into the kitchen, abruptly stopped in her tracks.

"Anya is your daughter, you know."

"I know that very well. Even though sometimes I think if that child died, I might find a new man..."

Thwack!

My paw struck the left side of her face sharply to snap her out of it. Rest assured, I wouldn't have used my human form to bring her to her senses.

"Over the past few years, you've watched your daughter grow up, provided her with food and water, sacrificed everything so that Anya could have a good life, and even hid the truth about your husband because you didn't want her to have any more emotional scars," I said in a flat voice mixed with annoyance. "If you're not ready to help Anya right now, I understand, because our strength probably can't match the Demon Emperor's. But don't you ever say something like that about your own daughter."

Sola was silent for a moment; her eyes fixed on me before a soft smile appeared.

"You like Anya, don't you?" Her words made me freeze. The anger from just now vanished completely. She picked me up and placed me on the kitchen counter, smiling as she cast a cooking spell with a single flick of her wand. "I can still accept it if you have a human form. If not, I definitely wouldn't allow it and might send you somewhere far away."

"Uh... well..." My mind was starting to go blank, my mouth opening and closing in a way it never had before. "No..."

"Seriously, as a mother, I definitely wouldn't allow my daughter to marry her own pet. But if you can elevate yourself to become a 'human' wizard, then I might accept it."

What is she even saying? I don't understand...

I didn't say anything further and jumped off the counter, walking to my food bowl and sitting obediently, just like a dog.

Hmm... I am a dog, aren't I?

After finishing a simple, home-style meal consisting of oatmeal, boiled chicken drumsticks, peas, and gravy, I decided to go up to Anya's bedroom and jumped onto the soft bed. Her scent still lingered there. Anya's scent... yes, my sense of smell was never wrong. That didn't even include the few strands of her hair that had fallen out. I remembered every detail about her: her sleeping posture, the rhythm of her snores. Sometimes, she would hug me like a doll when she startled awake in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. I would try to embrace her with my short legs and offer the warmth I always had until I drifted off to sleep, before waking up in the morning to the bright sunlight.

We parted in the final moments of the night and embraced our reunion in the first light of dawn.

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To Be Continue Ep.27