A Chaotic Matriculation Ceremony (2)
"Haah... haah..."
Upon arriving at the training grounds, I surveyed my surroundings. As expected, simply wandering around the perimeter wasn't enough to expose anything.
Of course, no matter how sturdy a barrier might be, there were bound to be relatively brittle seams or structural flaws, meaning a mage with sharp instincts would have sensed something amiss just by walking past. In fact, the reason the Hero had accidentally breached the demon's barrier in the game was partly due to his heroic destiny, but mostly because he had stumbled right past one of those weak spots.
Even now, I knew precisely where to go to break through. However...
There's really no need for that.
If I simply blanketed the area with a surge of sacred power, those monsters—who reacted to divine energy as if catching fire—would have no choice but to show themselves. Right now, they probably assumed I was oblivious and were biding their time in the shadows, looking for an opening...
Fat chance.
Looking down at the necklace resting against my chest—the Red Stone of Radiant Sun—I let a confident smile cross my lips. As its name suggested, it was one of the lost ancient relics forged in Varkan in the distant past.
Say what you will, but I had logged thousands of hours in that game. It was no exaggeration to say I knew the hiding spots of every top-tier item like the back of my hand. After all, this relic was the very reason I had ventured into the Demonic Realm in the first place.
It was dubbed the Red Stone of Radiant Sun because it amplified divine power meant for demon purification, blasting it outward like concentrated sunlight.
With this in my possession, even an Advanced demon posed no real threat. However...
Where would the fun be in that?
Now that I was finally facing an Advanced demon, steamrolling it in one shot with raw gear stats would be utterly boring. Besides, I had spent two long years rigorously cultivating my sacred power. With my current stats, it seemed entirely feasible to take it on properly.
And above all else...
It's going to hurt so good...
What wouldn't I do for the sake of my blissful hobby? Nobody was watching anyway, so all I had to do was let the demon beat me black and blue to satisfy my kinks, and then, whenever I felt like it, casually whisper "Die" and fire off the necklace.
Flawless...
It was a masterclass in planning. With my course of action decided, all that remained was to summon the demon lying in ambush.
Gathering my sacred power, I radiated it out into the surrounding space. Contrary to my expectation of an immediate reaction, nothing happened at first. Even for an Advanced demon, ignoring this constant prickling energy should have been profoundly grating.
Sure enough, the air warped with a sudden distortion, and accompanied by an eye-watering stench, a black-skinned demon shaped like a humanoid materialized into view.
"So, you came knowing I was here..."
Perhaps believing an ambush was pointless from the start, the demon showed no overt hostility, acting as if it wished to talk. Still, you never knew.
In the game, this guy was quite the cunning bastard.
Pretending to negotiate only to launch a surprise attack, or erecting a barrier beforehand to prevent any calls for help. So even if it didn't seem openly aggressive on the surface, there was no telling what tricks it was hiding up its sleeve. After all, this wasn't a game anymore—it was reality. There was every chance it might take actions it never had in the game.
And I had learned that lesson the hard way during my time in the Demonic Realm.
Back then, I spouted off monster traits from the game as if I had deduced them through observation, only to get several people killed...
Thankfully, I had managed to resurrect almost all of them. At first, the guilt had weighed heavily on me. The locals had patted my back and told me such mistakes happen, but watching someone die because of my own arrogance was hardly a pleasant experience. Especially when they died because of faulty meta-knowledge I had clung to.
Well, none of that matters right now...
There wasn't anyone here who could get hurt, because I was the only one who had come to stop the demon. To begin with, no one else could have even detected that an ambush was being prepared.
Normally, Evan the Hero would have wandered in, naturally kicking off the event, but I had intervened so he wouldn't end up suspended or sent out here. Skipping this very first event wouldn't hinder his growth into the Hero who slays the Demon King. Because I was going to see to that myself.
Which meant...
I've worked so hard all this time, surely I've earned a little reward, haven't I?
Time to play the helpless victim and have some fun. Besides, once the Red Stone of Radiant Sun bound to a master, ownership remained intact until death; mere injuries wouldn't cause it to slip off. Naturally, it fell under the 'soulbound' category in the game. No risk of losing it whatsoever.
I studied the demon before me. Just as expected, it looked identical to its in-game model. Even its demeanor was identical: perfectly relaxed in front of a Saintess, overflowing with arrogant certainty that defeat was an absolute impossibility. Given its scripted personality, that was only natural, especially since the divine power radiating from me right now must have felt laughably feeble.
I didn't spend all those years grinding for nothing.
My innate talent for sacred power ranked among the highest in recorded history. On top of that, having rolled through the Demonic Realm for years, I didn't need to fear for my life in the slightest unless an executive-tier demon suddenly materialized. And...
Ah... this is pure bliss...
Just imagining how this creature was about to ravage me sent delicious shivers running through my entire body. The demon had almost certainly stepped out intending to toy with me, making this situation nothing short of a five-star banquet. My mouth was practically watering.
Even so...
It defeats the whole purpose if I let my excitement show.
Only if I put on the display of an unyielding Saintess—clinging stubbornly to my duty and benevolence even while writhing in agony—will our dear actor put his heart into the performance, won't he?
Steeling my expression into a solemn mask, I directed my mental resonance toward the demon.
"[What were you planning to do in this place?]"
"Oho, quite the bold one. My underlings warned me to be wary of this generation's Saintess, but..."
The demon swept its gaze over me from head to toe, its voice dripping with sudden boredom.
"Nothing more than a fledgling, are you?"
The moment the words left its mouth, the demon was already standing right in front of me.
"[...?!]"
"Let's see..."
As if inspecting an intriguing trinket, it reached out with a massive, brutish hand and clamped down around my slender throat.
"Hngh... cough..."
Reflexively, I clawed at its hand with both of mine as the agonizing pressure crushed my windpipe, but with the fragile strength of a young girl—further crippled by my physical penalties—prying it loose was utterly impossible.
I, I can't... breathe...
Any ordinary person would have been engulfed in sheer torment from the suffocation, but for me, it was quite the opposite.
Aah...♡
As my focus frayed, the mental map of my surroundings, painted by my sacred power, began to blur. I could vividly feel my oxygen-deprived body inching toward death. Between the excruciating pain—no, the sheer ecstasy—it felt as though I had ascended straight to heaven.
And then—
Snap.
My consciousness blinked out in an instant.
"Gasp...!!"
When my senses returned, I was splayed across the cold ground. With trembling fingers, I fumbled at my neck.
Just now... I died, didn't I...?
My neck had definitely snapped. I had died.
"To think you survived that... Your regenerative capacity puts most demons to shame. And if you can revive even after death..."
Looking down at me as I huddled on the ground, trembling from the brush with death, the demon curled its lips into a grin.
"You could prove quite useful."
Aah...
What an intoxicating high. I wanted to beg it on my knees to do it all over again. Yet I was someone who understood patience for the sake of greater pleasure.
There was no time to lose myself in bliss. Forcing my jelly-like legs to stand, though they still threatened to give out from the overwhelming euphoria, I raised a tightly restrained trickle of sacred power.
Right at that moment—
"Gah...?!"
As if swatting away an annoying insect, it merely flicked its tail across. The next instant, I catapulted through the air like a loosed spring and slammed violently into the training ground's wall.
Haaah...
A shudder racked my frame as exquisite ecstasy drove straight into the marrow of my bones.
"Blunt force trauma regenerates as if it were nothing, too. In that case..."
Squelch!
Ah...
The shock... still...
My head...
"Ugh... blaargh..."
Vomiting up the dark blood surging up my throat, I directed my trembling gaze downward. Blood was gushing out as if someone had turned on a faucet. The demon's tail had impaled me straight through the heart.
Unlike me, reeling in a stupor from the cascading waves of supreme bliss, the stimulus seemed too mild for the demon, who muttered in a disinterested drone:
"So even puncture wounds mend at this speed."
Its tone was thoroughly businesslike.
"Hmm, I've grown curious."
A cruel thrill washed over the demon's impassive face.
"What happens if I pump demonic energy into you like this?"
Whoa...
I never even dreamed of that.
You're the absolute best...!!
For a moment, I instinctively stared up in admiration, but given the circumstances, the demon took my look for sheer terror rather than awe, breaking into an amused smirk.
Once again, there was no time to prepare. Demonic energy began pouring through the tail skewering my heart. As the corruptive demonic energy flooded directly into a heart brimming with sacred power, my body triggered a violent rejection reaction, sending searing agony ripping through me.
"Guh, nggghhh...!!"
In... sane...
"Tch..."
Suddenly, the demon's face hardened, and with a vicious flick of its tail, it flung me away. As the tail ripped out with a tearing burst of secondary ecstasy, I tumbled across the training grounds and skidded limply across the ground. Blood pouring from my pierced heart painted a grotesque red streak across the stone floor.
"A Saintess is still a Saintess, after all... That was a close call."
...
That almost blew my cover.
Just in case, I suppressed the boundless sacred power swirling within me even deeper, gasping for air through the freshly regenerated heart. Likely due to the demonic energy just injected into me, the healing was significantly sluggish. Seeing the scrapes from skidding across the stone still unhealed, demonic energy was undeniably lethal when it came to impeding regeneration.
Still...
Should I start fighting back a bit...?
Even if my role was the punching bag, I couldn't just lie there taking hits forever. I forced my trembling frame back to its feet. Compelling my shaky legs to move even as they buckled, I clutched the lingering ache in my chest and projected a fierce pulse of mental resonance toward the demon.
"[I won't... let you have your way...!]"
Radiating open hostility, I finished preparing to unleash a Novice Purification Holy Art. Under normal circumstances, any ordinary demon would cower in fright just watching a holy art gather power.
However—
"..."
Instead, the demon smiled. A split, ear-to-ear grin split its face as it glared with smoldering crimson eyes.
"To see your will unbroken even after suffering painful deaths by my hand again and again... And to think you dared stand against me all alone despite such physical impairments. Truly admirable."
As if offering genuine praise, the demon even began to applaud.
"I like you very much."
It muttered under its breath before declaring grandly:
"Go ahead. Shoot if you dare."
With supreme confidence, it spread its arms wide, leaving its upper body completely undefended. The gesture struck me as so strangely adorable that I barely choked down the laugh bubbling up my throat.
I had a role to play right now. If I giggled here, it would undoubtedly find it bizarre...
What I needed to say right now was—
"[...You will regret this.]"
Yes, exactly like that.
Delivering the line with grim resolve, I channeled my sacred power to cast the Novice Purification Holy Art I had prepped, hurling it straight at the demon. A sphere of brilliant white radiance enveloped the creature.
"[Repent!]"
Instantly, the white light flared into a massive burst, swallowing the demon whole.
"..."
Normally, one might breathe a sigh of relief here, wondering, Did that do it?
...Yet I knew better. There was no way a measly spell like this could kill it.
As the dazzling shroud illuminating the training ground gradually subsided, the dark silhouette reappeared unscathed. Yes, just as expected. I projected a quavering pulse of mental resonance.
"[N-No... It can't be...]"
A display of utter despair that my 'all-out' holy art had accomplished nothing.
"Is this... all you've got?"
I feigned overwhelming defeat, looking as though everything I had struggled for up to this point had been entirely meaningless.
Yes! That's it! Keep going just like that!
Only then...
"Then... I suppose it's my turn?"
Only then could this grand performance reach its climax. Inwardly, I beamed with euphoric delight.
Right at that moment—
The demon, who had been sneering at me with malicious intent, suddenly stiffened and whipped its head around.
"It seems we have uninvited guests."
The demon clicked its tongue in annoyance. My entire body froze.
Uninvited guests? That's impossible.
Do you know how much tedious hassle I went through to keep those two away? Could it be...?
Cold sweat trickling down my neck, I focused my divine senses toward the direction the demon was staring. And right away, I sensed them.
What the... How did they...?!
Evan and Stella were standing right there. What was worse—
Are you fucking kidding me...
They hadn't even arrived separately; they were walking in together like an established party.
I was so screwed.