Raia sprinted forward towards the stairwells at the end of the hallway. He followed alongside Oliver who matched his pace perfectly. In front of them, the Academy's two best track athletes lead the formation.
"You're evil," he spoke between breaths.
"You're more evil for going along," Oliver replied smuggly.
Raia rolled his eyes before focusing back on his running. He counted in his head as he ran. Each minute felt like an unholy amount of time that seemed to drag on and on. This anxiety was becoming unbearable.
One minute. By one minute, most of the students had ran halfway towards the stair well leading to the second floor. The screaming had just began and was louder in the hallway than compared to in the classroom.
Two minutes, three minutes. A handful of students were headed down the staircase while others struggled to keep up. A few were already falling behind.
Four minutes. The screaming on the third floor stopped and Oliver assumed that the monster was on his way to pick another student.
Five minutes. The front of the formation was on floor two running towards the next staircase - end of the hallway. The entire end of the formation was far behind.
Six minutes. Raia glanced at the second floor and noticed bloodshed beyond anything he had witnessed in his life. Each class door was open, blood splattered against the walls and limbs scattered across the floor. A black corpse, one that looked almost burnt, laid in one of the rooms.
"How horrible..." Meda muttered, "Did that monster do all of this?"
"Judging by how I saw it, I wouldn't be surprise. It was terrifying."
Seven minutes. Raia and Oliver shared glances as a series of screams began. A classmate of theirs had been chosen. The front of the formation had descended down the stairwell and onto the first floor. The exit was close.
"We're almost there," Mirelia panted, "To the main campus next."
"There should be reinenforcements there," Meda joined, "They wouldn't allow such monsters to attack an academy like Epíthesi so blindly."
Oliver nodded as he hurriedly took steps down the stairs. Raia followed shortly after until he slammed face first into the sweaty back of his best friend.
"What gives?" Raia rubbed his nose in annoyance.
The formation stopped.
"Oliver?" Mirelia moved up beside him, "What's wrong-"
At the end of the first floor, directly next to the exit, stood an ominous creature. It was black with horns and wings that protruded from its body. It had a face, but lacked eyeballs and teeth. A demon? It looked like a demon from fairytales that were pasted down through Epíthesi.
"Fuck," Oliver wiped the sweat off his forehead, "I miscalculated."
Similarly to the second floor, the first floor was a warzone but it was much more gruesome and intense. Blood was splattered from the floor to the ceiling. All types of body parts scattered throughout the classes and the halls.
Raia felt his gourmet lunch come back up his throat as he smelled the scent of fresh flesh. Andromeda hugged his arm tightly in fear.
The demon smirked upon seeing the class. It licked its lips in delight, almost as if it had been waiting for them to come down to the first floor.
"A trap?" Raia whispered. He glanced back at the formation and bit back his fear when he noticed half the students were gone. The entire end formation was missing.
The demon was supposed to attack once every seven minutes, how is it that almost fifteen students were wiped out in such a short amont of time? There should have only been two or three people attacked at most.
They had fallen into a trap. Oliver cursed as he glared at the dark figure. For being such ugly monsters, who knew that they could be so intelligent?
Another set of screams came from the middle formation of the group. The monster from the third floor had caught up with them.
"We're trapped," Mirelia stammered, "No matter what we would have done, we were dead to begin with."
Andromeda held back her tears as the first floor demon approached them slowly. They stood frozen with no other choice but to accept their death.
"I can't die... I can't!"
"Mirelia, Meda move to the front-middle of the formation," Oliver commanded quietly, "The front will give you time to run around him and get to the main building."
"But Raia.." Meda sniffed, "What about Raia?"
"Meda, I'll be fine," Raia smiled, pushing Meda off him, "Promise me you'll become a great Duchess."
"What? What do you mean? What does this have to do with the duchy..?"
"Oliver!" Mirelia begged as she tugged on his sleeve, "Please.. no don't..."
The demon approached closer with a smile so demonic that it would forever be burned into the crevices of Raia's mind.
"Men need to fight for the women they love," Oliver finally spoke after what felt like a long silence.
"What-?"
With a sharp silver blade in its hand, the demon approached the first formation with ease. It giggled to itself loudly.
Step, step. Oliver felt the presence of the demon right beside him. He felt the demonic energy and accepted his fate. As long as Mirelia could escape, he would die happily.
"I love you, Mirelia Verlice," he softly smiled at Mirelia before shutting his eyes to accept his death. Seconds passed by and Oliver felt nothing. He opened his eyes in confusion.