Layn opened his eyes and saw that he was alive. His whole shirt was stained in blood, how was he alive?
"L... Layn?"
Even Anna didn't understand what was going on. The man who was attacking Layn stood still, while his knife slowly dropped down on the floor, and with it, even the man dropped dead.
"what just happened... Anna did you?"
Layn was confused, he asked Anna if she helped him, but Anna shook her head, remarking that she didn't know what just happened.
Layn checked the person's body and found out that his neck had a big hole.
"wha... what is this?!"
Layn and Anna were now even more confused, not knowing how this happened. Both of them stood looking at each other, when just-
"who is there!"
Anna shouts while looking at the other direction from where the man came. Layn took a fighting stance while Anna stood in a guard stance. Footsteps were getting louder and clearer every second... someone was coming towards them.
Layn picked up the knife from the man that had tried to kill him... but as the footsteps got closer... they could see a guy walking towards them. He didn't radiate any killing intent; in fact, both of his hands were inside his pockets.
"I'm sorry for stealing your sacrifice, but I have been following this guy for a while now. Well thanks to you, I found an opening... otherwise fighting him head on would have been troublesome"
The person who said that had white silver hair, wore a simple framed pair of spectacles and was around Layn's age.
Both Layn and Anna were confused... but gradually Layn lowerd his knife, though Anna was still in alert mode.
"N... no. In fact, you saved me there... thank you."
The person smirked while he looked towards Layn's right fist. He then grabs the dead body by the collar and drags him away from where he came from.
"w... wait! What is your name?"
The person stopped for a second, and says-
"Gen Gueson"
And then he slowly fades away into the darkness...
"who was that guy..."
Anna murmurs to herself while Layn notices her... they both didn't knew what to do now... the time was running out and less than an hour was left until midnight, when from somewhere a faint voice came
"h... help m... me"
Both Layn and Anna were confused for a second and looked around to find the person, when they look a bit ahead... they saw a body on the floor facing downwards. Layn rushed to the person on the floor, stumbling and remembered that it was the body that the person who attacked Layn carried.
"hey are you okay!?"
"Pl... please-"
The guy was in a horrible state, blood was all over him, as if he was tortured and beaten up brutally. His face was barely recognizable as a person...
"don't worry I'll get help soon-"
The guy grabs Layn's hand and say-
"Pl... please kill me..."
Layn's eyes opened wide while he stared at the guy... he couldn't understand what the person meant, no, rather he didn't want to comprehend it.
"No way! Don't lose hope! You'll get treated soon-"
Someone grabbed Layn's shoulder, it was Anna... she had a sad disappointed look on her face and said-
"Layn, this person is gone. He cannot survive for long, and even if he did... he wont get back to his normal self. Layn this is your chance to get a sacrifice... do it. End his suffering Layn..."
Layn also knew this since the beginning, but he didn't want to accept it. Layn looked towards the suffering guy. Layn picked up the knife, pointed it towards the guy's neck, and...
"..."
"it had to be done Layn... it's okay..."
Layn stands up after putting the guy to rest, but he didn't respond back to Anna... he looks at the floor, and murmurs
"not again..."
Anna heard Layn clearly, but she didn't ask about it. She started to question if Layn really was an amateur. The fact Layn didn't panic in such situations, and the way he ended the guy's suffering with perfection... there was no way he was a normal demon. Those were the thoughts that Anna was going through.
But just when Anna was going through all those thoughts, Layn fell on his knees
"Layn are you okay?!"
Layn's left leg was still bleeding from the fight. Anna picked Layn up and supported him while both of them dragged the dead guy across the corridor.
"now what"
"now is where your future will be decided"
Layn was in pain and had many more questions, but neither did he have the power, nor the sense of asking any deep question. This was not the time for exchanging information and clearing doubts, that could be done later. Now, is the time to get back to the auditorium as fast as possible before midnight.
13 minutes till midnight
The auditorium was close by, in fact it's large double doors could be seen now. Anna steps back and said-
"I have helped you enough Layn. From here, it's all you. I know you have many questions, why am I here, how do I know so much about this, and many more. But right now, concentrate on what's going to happen now."
Anna treated his wound with the help of healing magic already.
"thank you, Anna. We shall meet again"
Both Anna and Layn smiled at each other and then Anna walked towards the opposite direction. Layn was injured, and didn't knew what to do with the body that he was carrying...
"I guess it's time"
Layn swallowed his saliva and stood in front of the huge double door. The doors didn't open until Layn realized and brought the body closer to it.
As soon as the body came close to the door, they opened up slowly with a squeaking sound like that of an old door... Layn left the body behind and entered the auditorium. Unlike before, it was all different. The chairs were gone and the lanterns were emitting red light. All the students were gone and not a single drop of blood was there on the floor. The room was lightened with a red aura, as if the blood on the floor were vaporized into the air.
"Ah, the last one has arrived. Come here, what is your name"
A girl on top of the stage said that, while behind her were 3 other students and below the stage in front of her were around 25 students in a line.
"wait isn't that..."
Layn murmured to himself as he recognized the girl, it was the student council's vice president, Aliana Agares. Layn joined the line with other students and he noticed that the person on his left side was none other than Gen Gueson.
"Now that everyone is here, I would once again like to congratulate you all for getting this far. I'm gonna make this as simple as possible, so listen carefully"
Layn's ears were all out to listen. He didn't know what to do next so he could only imitate what the other would do.
"There are 7 houses in this school. Each house symbolizing your true sin, and that will be the house you will be sent to. Though it seems that less than expected students were able to come, we would merge some houses. Anyways, let's start with the first student"
Layn was the last in the line since he was late. The right most students meant that they got their sacrifice the soonest. they must be pretty tough, Layn thought to himself.
"All you need to do is place a drop of blood on top of this orb"
There was a dark orb right besides Aliana. It looked like the orb back then with Miss Eveline Flauros, but it was different. The student picked up a dagger and slit his palm on top of the orb without hesitation. This could tell how brave he is. The orb started to grow green and-
"Ah, I see... so our first student will be sent to the house of envy. Congratulations."
As students took turns to come one by one, the color of the orb changed a lot. The orb changed color to green for envy, red for wrath, pink for lust, blue for pride, yellow for gluttony, orange for greed and purple for sloth.
"alright now we are going to finish up really quick. Only two students are left, so, come here"
It was Gen's turn. Layn didn't know Gen but he was still anxious to know which house Gen might be sent to, and then-