He was right there, transforming parts of his body to make himself stronger. However, he was doing it subtly so that no one would notice. Only his eyes had changed, and only someone close enough to him would be able to tell. The only thing that might have alerted the public to his transformation was the roar he had just made. Still, no one had caught on, thinking he was simply frustrated.
After his eyes changed, the accuracy and speed of his movements increased exponentially. I got closer to him while gracefully dodging each of his attacks. I was so close that I could actually whisper to him.
“Nice eyes you got there.”
He pushed me away as hard as he could. However, it didn’t matter. I got close to him again in an instant.
“You’re a demon, aren’t you?” I smiled as I dodged his push this time around. “Tell me, how did you infiltrate the Royal Academy?”
No words came out of his mouth, but I could feel the anger in his heart growing more and more.
“Were you the one who corrupted the Cyclops I captured?”
I kept asking him questions about what I had found out over the weeks at the Royal Academy. But he wasn’t stupid; he simply kept fighting me. However, something had changed in his strikes. He wasn’t aiming to injure me; he was aiming to kill. Each of his strikes targeted my vital points—my neck, my heart. His attack patterns were getting more obvious since his choices were a lot more restricted.
“Why are you so angry?” I laughed. “Take a deep breath.”
“ROARR!”
This time, he roared even louder as frustration started to get the better of him. However, it wasn’t time just yet. I needed to continue. He was on the verge of breaking down, I could feel it. I got closer to him and whispered something else.
“Are there more of your kind inside the Royal Academy?” I asked in a low tone, making sure that only he would be able to hear me.
This time, he looked at me dead in the eyes. His attacks stopped momentarily. He grinned, revealing two extremely pointy canines, confirming that he was indeed a demon hidden as a human.
“What if there were?” His voice was nothing like before. It was deep and playful.
I had heard this kind of voice too many times in my life not to recognize it instantly. Still, I wasn’t sure what my best option was right now.
On one hand, I could kill him and prove to everyone that he was a demon. However, that would simply alert the rest of the demons hidden in the shadows, which wasn’t something that I wanted.
On the other hand, I could let him walk, and he might guide me to the rest of his kind, where I would be able to kill most of them. Analyzing those two options, I quickly made my choice and decided to let him live for a few more days.
“You should hide your demonic features. The director and the Emperor might notice,” I whispered in his direction.
He spat at my feet. “Why does the great Caedrel Stuart suddenly care about me, huh?” He smiled. “You think I don’t know your plan? I won’t guide you to the rest of them, and even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. We’re everywhere. Politics, noble families, professors…whatever you can think of, we have someone placed there. You have lost. It’s only a question of time.”
I gritted my teeth. He had seen through my plan right away. However, I wasn’t set on killing him just yet. I didn’t want all these people to learn about the existence of demons. If they did, then the rest of the world would be thrown into a state of pure chaos, and that was the last thing I wanted.
“Kekeke!” He laughed out loud. “Do you want to kill me?”
His head slowly tilted as he stared at me dead in the eyes.
The people watching us started to notice that something was strange as Derek had been acting quite weird for the last few moments of the fight.
“What’s with his laugh?”
“And did you see his smile earlier?”
“What about his eyes?! Just look at them, they look disgusting.”
People were starting to notice the changes, and when I glanced at the Emperor’s face, he didn’t seem pleased, to say the least. The director looked even more furious as I noticed her hand start to twitch. She was about to make a move to end this. I needed to act quickly.
Derek, or whatever his name really was, turned to look at the crowd and gave them a demonic smile.
“You don’t like my smile?” He laughed. “Well, I don’t like this shitty appearance!” He pulled on his skin, revealing black, almost burnt-looking skin underneath. There was no doubt—that was the skin of a demon.
“Just what is he doing?!” One of his students shouted. “His skin…why does it look so disgusting?”
Seconds passed, and he had revealed himself for everyone to see. He had taken on the appearance of a demon.
However, just as I was about to move, I felt a barrier form around me. In an instant, I knew who had made it. It was Alexandra. She didn’t want anyone to see that demons still existed. Still, in my opinion, she had moved too late. The sound from the outside of the barrier became nonexistent. They couldn’t see what was happening inside.
“Haha. Alexandra, you always were a quick one. But you were too late. They already saw my appearance. They already know what I look like. They already know that we will return.”
The director didn’t even look in his direction as she turned to me. “Can you kill him and give him his previous appearance again? You probably understood already, but the existence of demons needs to stay confidential.”
I laughed. “Sure, whatever. It’s about time I get in the loop about this whole thing.”
