The Demon Sword's Hunger
The day after the assassins who had tried to kill Eve were stopped by Cain and Panzy, Alex slipped deep into the forest, avoiding the investigators' eyes. The academy had launched its probe immediately the previous day, so most of the assassins had already been captured, yet he kept searching anyway.
"Found you."
What he discovered was an assassin with a deep gash across his shoulder. The man had clearly tried to erase his blood trail while fleeing, but he couldn't hide from Alex.
"I can smell blood. Even in the deepest part of this forest, that thick stench reaches me."
"Wh-who are you...? If you kill me, Arpa will not remain silent..."
Alex stepped on the assassin's wounded shoulder with a bored expression. Before the man could scream, Alex clamped a cloth over his mouth and leaned close to whisper.
"Whether Arpa gets angry or not isn't my problem. That god wouldn't care about the lives of insignificant bugs like you anyway, right?"
"Mmph! Mmph mmph mmph!"
The assassin thrashed in fury. Alex chuckled and ground his foot down harder. The man's eyes rolled back, but he forced himself to focus and glared at Alex.
"What, you think glaring will do anything? Your god already abandoned you, didn't he? I know everything."
White energy burst from the assassin's body—holy power. How could someone trying to murder a person chosen by god still possess it? What a hopeless fool.
Alex smiled. He drew Dainsleif from his waist and drove it into the assassin's shoulder.
"MMMPH! MMMPH MMMPH!!!"
"Sword taste good? This is our village's treasure, you know."
Alex twisted the blade with a smirk. The deeper he dug, the more venom filled the assassin's eyes. His holy power began to swell. Even as the light grew blinding and should have sapped Alex's strength, he simply kept smiling.
"Ah, fuck. That's bright."
The moment Alex spoke in that laughing voice, the holy power started to fade.
"??!!! Mmph mmph?!"
"Why so shocked? Scared because your god's power is disappearing?"
Alex shoved the sword deeper. The assassin teetered on the edge of consciousness, feeling his holy power being sucked away—into the sword.
"Mmph! Mmph mmph!"
"Ah, this sword? It's something special. Back in Orphe Village, I used to sneak it out and kill people a few times. Every time, it drank the blood like it was alive."
"!!!!"
The assassin's eyes flew wide. A demonic sword. It had to be. It drank human blood and grew stronger, corrupting its wielder until they became its host. Was something this dangerous really the village treasure?
Then this student named Alex... was he being controlled by it?
'This sword will become an obstacle.'
A demonic sword that devoured holy power—he had never heard of such a thing. Trembling, the assassin grabbed Alex's hand. Even if he failed to kill Eve Abraham, removing this threat would be a worthy martyrdom for Arpa.
He raised his remaining hand and struck at Alex with everything he had. Reinforced by the last of his holy power, even bare-handed, he could snap a student's neck.
Or so he thought.
"Krrk... kuhk..."
"Huh? Why the hell are you stabbing your own neck? That's no fun at all."
Alex watched the choking assassin with mocking laughter. The man had driven a holy-power-wrapped blade into his own throat.
"You're seriously fucking hilarious. Puhahaha! If you wanted to kill me, you should've done it before I stuck the sword in!"
Alex yanked the blade free and sheathed it without wiping the blood. When people eventually found the cooling corpse, they would call it suicide.
The demonic sword grew stronger by drinking blood. Discovering it could also absorb holy power had been a pleasant surprise. Alex was very satisfied.
"Means I can kill that annoying bitch too."
Eve Abraham. That woman who always looked disgusted whenever she got dragged into trouble. Soon. The day would come when he strengthened this sword enough to devour even the saintess's precious holy power.
"Maybe I'll turn it into a nice sheath~"
Whistling, Alex left the forest. Dainsleif hummed contentedly, trying to speak to him. It kept babbling incomprehensible words, but Alex ignored them. If it ever annoyed him, he could always melt it down or throw it away. He only kept it because the blade was so sharp. As long as it cut well, nothing else mattered.
"Hey. Stop saying shit I can't understand and speak like a person. Huh? You don't know the imperial language?"
-!@#!@$!$@%@
"Ha. Fuck. If it wasn't for how sharp you are..."
Grumbling, he passed through the commercial district on his way to the dorms. Normally he would have gone straight up, taken a nap, then met Panzy Vlad to work on the professor's assignment. As the protagonist of Spirit Savior, whether villain or hero, Alex couldn't avoid getting tangled with the people around him. He had been growing steadily in his own way.
The problem was Cain. While passing the library, Alex spotted him walking somewhere with the top student of the magic department.
"Ha, a new fuck buddy? This is getting ridiculous."
Half envious, half exasperated, Alex laughed and turned toward them. The unfamiliar ring on Cain's finger suggested something had changed, though he couldn't tell if it was magical equipment or some lovers' token. He wanted to know everything about him.
Alex's goal was simple: make Cain his equal. Drag him down to the same level. He couldn't quite remember why he felt Cain was similar to him. It was just... a feeling. This person was different from everyone else here.
"Spirits...?"
The conversation he overheard while tailing Cain and Shub was strange. Spirits. The language of the Otherworld. It sounded like they gathered here periodically to train. Maybe they were practicing spirit manipulation.
"The contaminated mana of the Otherworld..."
Demons were vulnerable to Otherworld mana due to their high sensitivity. Alex suddenly had an amusing idea. A slow, deliberate plan to push people into despair... and savor the superiority that followed.
He wasn't some baby bird that just sat around with its mouth open. Alex moved immediately. He told Eve Abraham that Cain was acting suspiciously in the park, creating a point of contact. Once Cain, Eve, and Shub were absorbed in spirits, he approached his real target.
"You. You're Shub from the magic department, right?"
"Hueek...?"
Shub had been lost in ecstasy, staring at her notebook filled with spirit arts research. Annoyed at the interruption, she forced a smile for the stranger. The boy standing there had short blond hair and clear blue eyes, grinning widely.
"Uh... so..."
"Alex. Just call me Alex."
Alex spread his arms as if genuinely delighted. Shub backed away, unable to understand why a stranger was acting so friendly. Then the sword at his waist caught her eye.
"That sword..."
"Ah, as expected of a demon, you recognize it?"
Alex casually drew Dainsleif and showed it to her. The demonic sword that grew stronger by drinking human blood. Shub knew it well—it had crossed from the Otherworld and slaughtered countless demons.
"How did a human obtain that...?"
"It's our village's treasure. Passed down for generations. Gets stronger the more people you kill."
Alex smiled crookedly and sheathed the blade. Its surface had turned dark red from all the blood it had absorbed. Shub fought to keep her expression neutral.
"A-are you saying... you're going to harm me here?"
"Hmm? Who in their right mind would attack the top student of the magic department? I just happened to run into you and felt like saying hello~"
Alex approached while making light excuses, arms slightly raised to show he meant no harm. The gesture only made him more suspicious. When Shub remained wary, Alex sighed and offered a deal.
"Fuck. Hey. You met that bastard Cain, right? Let's trade. Information about those spirits or whatever."
"I have no intention of trading knowledge that could endanger others. Leave."
This was the cold, exemplary academy top student—not the dazed girl she became around Cain. Alex feigned surprise and played his trump card.
"Even if what I have is information about the Otherworld?"
"Information... about the Otherworld...?"
Shub's mind spun. This man had been so insignificant she barely remembered him. Now he claimed to possess knowledge of the Otherworld? She couldn't believe it. Unless... it had something to do with that sword.
"I don't know where you heard it, but I'm not interested in the Otherworld at all..."
"This sword told me. It says it knows you. And that even if you pretend to be a pretty, model student on the outside, it knows how filthy you really are."
"..."
The bluff landed perfectly. The sword only ever hummed; Alex couldn't actually understand it. But Shub didn't know that. She glared at him seriously. Good. She was shaken.
"Ah~ Fine, fine. Then, as a show of good faith, I'll tell you about the Otherworld for a few days. How about that?"
"Wh-what makes you think I would accept...?"
"This sword."
Alex tossed Dainsleif to her. Shub caught it reflexively, eyes wide with shock.
Dainsleif trembled faintly in her hands, radiating its presence.
Shub's red eyes trembled as she stared at the blade, entranced. Perfect. This was enough.
"This should prove I'm not lying, right~"
"..."
Alex snatched the sword back and smiled. The bait had been cast. The trap was set. Cain. What choice would you make?