"Khh!"
A wallowing writhing of a demon could be heard. His steps were heavy, and his weary mind couldn't discern which one was red and blue within the frame.
Large behemoth stature and height, adorned with the broken three horns amongst the red flame manifestation of his hair. Rayon's power-strode slowly turned into that of a limping, wounded beast.
"Must, stay conscious."
His own blood obscured his vision. His mediocre regeneration factor would have recovered the crack on his skill rather easily by now, if not for the gaping large hole in his chest that demands much more priority — making him create a whistling heave every time he breathed while the delicate tissues were being repaired.
For a moment, he stopped in his mindless track. His eyes lured onto his detrimental wound. Gritting his teeth, Rayon manifested a searing heat of flame on his palm before emblazoning the flare to cauterize the blood-dripping flesh. There was still a noticeable size of hole there, but it became less of an issue now that it leaked less blood as he walked.
"The Magus Academy should be responsible for all of this." Rayon grunted as he dragged his legs to keep on moving, trying to get away from here. "I'll lead a protest when I gather enough survivors, and probably take a couple of days isolated to recharge most of my Ein."
Even with the wounds, he passed through a path filled with stacking rubbles and laying corpses with no problem. At one time, he carelessly placed his feet into a small endless pit, trapping half of his body underneath the ground level. It didn't take much effort to free himself, but that accident was enough to heat his annoyance into anger.
Not having his full consciousness, he didn't see a good portion of infrastructure on his left begin to crumble. Materials of formerly fortified pillars and walls were dragged by gravity, with the majority of it falling on top of Rayon's head.
It didn't damage him as much as the black thorns did to his chest, but it was enough to get him off balance in both willpower and strength. Having his head sticking out from the rubbles, he took a deep breath. With no fuel to bring him up from being sandwiched by crushed concrete, Rayon decided to rest for a while until his wound got regenerated considerably.
"This is the worst X-mas," he testity muttered.
"Quite the contrary, actually. I find today to be a joyous occasion to end this year."
A voice of someone emerged on top of the rubbles that buried the majority of Rayon's body.
It was a playful, annoying, and riveting voice. It was like the voice of someone who decided to talk to a complete stranger after being fully drunk with mead — sticking out their nose to a place they didn't belong.
"Lothair, you really don't want to make things worse than they are." Rayon's head twitched, trying to keep his veins from exploding. "I won't even try to hold back anymore, now that the academy has no right to force their taboo anymore."
"Rayon Stethari." Lothair waggled his legs up and down with a beaming smile. "The second son of Duke Barthores Stethari who got elevated from mere officer in Thornar Town after venting off a siege made by the neighboring country when most of the demonpower was allocated to the construction of the great wall.
"Your family lived with power comfortably on the northern mountainous civilization, a large mansion sitting on the Kavashka Mount, 148 meters away from the peak facing the west. The occasional wind is eight thousand twenty-two meters per hour with a slight deviation every twenty minutes or so.
"Your mother's name is Ramuush Stethari, she loves your father a lot, but she had around twenty honey boys in the basement right below the secret chamber connected to her private garden. She likes battered steaks, and the butler of the house always provided her with one meat everyday, battered or not.
"Your eldest sibling is Ktroyash Stethari. He is an imbecile, but he pampered you specifically because your father is afraid that you will be badly influenced by him, which fills him with delight. Your younger sister is the same, taking an occasional pampering when they meet every 14th day of the month.
"And then there is you, 4.89 meters in height with the blessings of the Fire Devil, a magus prodigy with great affinity with fire elemental. There is a scar that cannot be regenerated on your inner thigh, which gives you a little bit of insecurity when dating your fifth demoness, as she tends to get a little bit throughout in your night activity.
Your favorite thing in life is sitting conspicuously within a closed room while snacking on junk food as you hear the morning.
"Aside from that, you always like to be the lead as you flaunt your strength to gain cheery flattery-"
"LOTHAIR!!!" The wrathful shouting reverberates across the tumbling rubbles. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS??"
In response to such an aggressive questioning, Lothair grabbed sharp bar of steel on the nearby rubble before repositioning himself in a place where Rayon's could clearly see him — right in front of his face
With no change of expression, Lothair hurled the crude spear onto Rayon's lower jaw, suturing him to the ground.
"Your family anticipates you to be the next High Guard of the Nether Country, flags are emblazoned within your father's territory when you return with a high decree and skills to take over his position." Lothair twisted the bar of steel, like he was trying to ensure the molar that he stabbed was crushed into bits. "Must be nice being you, power comes as second nature~ Must feel amazing, to be longed for~ longer for~
"In contrast to you, I'm just a mere candle who's waiting to be used, a plain resource, a self tormenting machine to keep someone's heaven running… I was there, lighting myself on fire, so that everyone could see their path in the dark.
"I only had one thing that I treasured in my life, and I want nothing more. It was taken away from me in the end, I felt hopeless, self-deprecating, and anguished by the fact that I can't kill myself when I stabbed my heart with a sharp rod.
"Aaah~ Just, which home — should someone, as weak as I go? Which sky should I aim for? When I've only been low? For years, I walked a road less taken with my own bare feet. That is, until I met you.
"I should really be thankful to you, Rayon. You planted a seed of disgust within me back when we first met in Thornar Town. Albeit frail, the seed feeds upon the creeping intricacies of demon's existence as a whole.
"As my gesture of thank you, I shall give you the taste of your bountiful harvest." Lothair infused his healing factor into the iron bar as it traveled into Rayon's lower jaw.
The wound wanted to heal, but it couldn't, because there was a thick heap of iron in the way. More healing factor was injected, but the obstacle was still there. The lost teeth kept growing back regardless, and the damaged gum began to deform completely than its original shape. Slowly, and surely, crawling away to the ground.
"Aaaaa… aaaaa…"
"You see, Rayon. The revolting abhorrence you're experiencing right now is because I'm currently healing you. Remember the list of taboo that demons shouldn't attempt? You've broken one of them! Yes! You! The Almighty and privileged you have become a sinner!"
"Aaaaa…! Aaa…! Aaaaaaaa...!"
"Your action towards me is unforgivable." Lothair leaned forward, wearing his sanest expression of contempt. "You're the kind of person that should never be forgiven, the kind of person that should be tormented and deformed beyond recognition.
"But I'll do something worse."
Lothair took away the bar of steel and threw it to the side. He then reached out for the pile of debris near Rayon's face, precisely digging a stone or two before extending his hand towards the wounded demon's sandwiched arms.
With a mere ease, Lothair pulled Rayon's arm out of the piles. He then hunched, and placed his other hand on the backhand of the tormented demon.
At the same time, a healing spell was cast upon the entirety of Rayon's body and soul.
With a malicious sneer, Lothair whispered, "I forgive you, I forgive your sin. You don't need to give me anything, you don't need to sacrifice anything.
"You owe me no favor, you owe me nothing.
"All of the abuse you have done to me within the academy, I forgive all of them."
There was one thing that was on Rayon's mind right.
It was fear — fear upon something that he couldn't understand, fear that left him questioning the existence of himself.
Physically, he wanted to puke. The gush of revolution he felt right now was bigger than anything he had encountered so far. His eyes shook uncontrollably, his hair stood in impending danger…
There was one time where he was trapped inside a claustrophobic room. His senses began to churn. Right now, he felt the same kind of reaction. Ten times greater, in fact, as he wet both of his legs and face with the amount of piss, sweat, drools, and tears.
Slowly, his heartbeat began to decline. Unrelentingly fuzzy feeling began to consume his mind, as if his instinctive repulsion wasn't enough — he felt an unknown warm being forcefully rammed inside his soul.
That warmth began to cleanse the toxic and degenerative trait that makes a demon who they are. But with such a great amount, it began to act like an insidious poison, stripping him away from every malevolent thought.
Just like that, Rayon was freed. He was freed from the burden of thinking, the burden of living, and the burden of pumping his veins.
"I hope you have a sweet dream, Rayon."