(A/N DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER OR THE CHAPTER BEFORE IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO READ ABOUT GORE, TORTURE OR OTHER SUBJECTS. I HAVE INCLUDED TEXT SPACERS IN BOTH CHAPTERS.)
As I held up Oskarog I saw the faces of some of my classmates.
Many of them had already turned away, or were shielding the eyes of others.
Some were watching with satisfaction.
Others with horror.
I caught Charlotte's eyes.
She stared at me as if she didn't recognize me.
With how I was acting around the demon, I felt gratified knowing she thought so highly of me, that seeing me commit such an act, put her into disbelief.
I found Aura's eyes next and she looked, surprisingly a little sad, as if dismembering a demon was like putting veggies on her plate.
I looked at Mark who looked me dead in the eyes.
He mouthed to me.
'Your eyes.'
My eyes had turned silver I guess.
Not a bad thing, but this also meant my anti magic barrier had worn off.
Too bad I had destroyed the miasma core of the demon.
His demon core still existed as did his mana organs, but it was useless to him now.
I used the artifact to draw a anti-magic rune on the boar's body.
The silver eyes meant I had entered a partial draconic transformation.
I was now an unfeeling, less emotionally attached, more logically processing monster.
I assume I had begun to enter this state when I began to torture Oskarog.
Wow, the timing couldn't have been better.
Any earlier and Oskarog might've regenerated.
So I was thankful.
I sat Oskarog's body back down now that the intestines had fully come out.
I began to grab onto the intestine connected to his stomach as I pushed against his stomach with my other foot.
I tore the intestine roughly from it's connection to the stomach.
The stomach's contents began to pour out in front of me.
The intestine started to leak out onto Oskarog as well.
The boar roared out.
"I'll talk!"
"Alonso needs money and reputation to take on the number 5 spot."
"I was gonna make enough money and reputation from this."
"I said the recent plans, not his goals."
"He plans to store the power of the demons while I'm here, but with my death, he should go into hiding for a while."
"And his relationships?"
"...."
Looks like he needed some more convincing.
I used the artifact to open the underside of one of his arms.
I began cutting the muscles inside of the arms one by one, ignoring his now almost silent screams.
I held his arm up with my elbow and forearm.
I wedged my blade, blade side down on top of the next strand and cut down, and repeated the process.
After I broke his elbow, and then sat next to him.
"And his relationships?"
"He's allied with the 2nd and 3rd prince, hostile to the 5th and 7th, neutral to the 4th, and everyone is subservient to the 1st."
As I began to make Oskarog talk, the 3 faculty members including the original professor Ramos entered.
"Lucas what are you doing?"
"Getting information out of a defeated enemy."
I turned away as I couldn't reveal my eyes to the teachers, not yet.
I pushed Oskarog away from me as I began to remanifest my golden eyes.
It took a little bit, but when I reopened them, vice dean Rachelle was shaking me.
"Lucas! What happened to your right arm?"
I pointed to the crowd.
"It's gone and taken 'five'."
"Do you think now is a good time for jokes?"
"Well we still have the demon here don't we?"
"He will be kept alive for research."
"Okay."
I had to make a concession to Rachelle, and the body and core would fall to the school.
"Anyways, these students need to be taken to the recovery facility to check for injuries and..."
I whispered the last part.
"...mind magic."
"Agreed."
Both of us understood the ramifications of my identity being known, but also the effects of letting the students' mental health take such a severe hit.
Therefore we agreed that any student inside the building would go to the recovery facility to be essentially mind wiped.
As for the anti demon crew, if they wished for it they could undergo mind wiping.
At first the twins opted for the mind wipe, Mark and Celeste were undecided and Aura and Charlotte, now knowing of the plan, were opting out.
With Aura's adamant expressions of concern, those who felt oddly about what had happened left for the mind wipe.
Many students heard her talking to the anti demon crew and decided it was good.
Others thought that it would destroy them.
Thankfully we reassured them they would be told of the attack, but only lose memories of the pain and what they saw during the actual attack.
Once some of the details had gone out, Mark and Celeste individually came to the decision of opting out of the mind magic.
The twins realizing they were the only anti demon crew members opting in, changed their minds, as they realized they wouldn't be able to join us next time.
After the rest of the students were sent to the infirmary, the team came up to me.
Celeste was the first to ask questions.
"What was up with your eyes, was that an artifact?"
I looked at Aura who shook her head.
Time to be honest this time.
No more lies about using artifacts.
But I would still have to keep the draconic features of my body a secret.
The existence of draconic items will cause every person 5th tier and above to target my life.
I can't let people know since it would endanger Aura, and now, Charlotte too.
So I explained my ability.
"My eyes turning silver is a side effect of one of my abilities."
"Which is?"
"My mind is shielded from any attacks or destabilizers, but on the other side, it desensitizes me, causing me to be more cold, unresponsive to emotional anchors, calculating, more responsive to logical anchors, and become prideful."
"It's an ability I don't have control over yet, and it activates the closer I am to death."
Mark interrupted us.
"Dude, not to freak you out, but you are missing a whole ass arm, how have you not bled out yet?"
"Oh."
"Aurelia?"
"Yes."
With that I sat down and got ready to move to the infirmary.
"Lets continue this talk when I'm all in one piece."
With those words Aura casted a gate around the two of us and we were inside the recovery center.
"Hello, are you part of the- OH MY GOD!"
"Yes, and, my arm has been removed from my body, could you-"
"I'll arrange it for you right away, Mr Lucas."
Weird, that's not right.
How did she know my name?
I turned to look at Aura.
"The patients probably talked about you."
"Ah. Wow, you picked up on that fast Aurelia."
"What would you do without me?"
"I would die a hundred million times before I let you die even once."
"No. I forbid you to die."
"You are to live with me until I leave this plane okay?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Mr. Lucas, your highness Aurelia, we have a high recovery room ready."
"Then, lets go."
Aura and I had ourselves mana elevatored up to the 4th floor of the clinic.
"Hello, Mr. hero. The recovery staff and I have heard all about your exploits."
"Sorry, about the mental damage incurred."
"No, no I'm not here to admonish you, it's the opposite. If students had watched their friends die, they would have been far more difficult to heal."
"So you fighting the demon, losing your arm, and even from what I heard, torturing the demon, are still all better than the trauma inflicted by loosing a peer or friend."
"So as a doctor, I thank you for looking after the lives, and wellbeing of the students, physically and mentally."
"And what about your staff?"
"Well, over the past few weeks, since you brought Aisha here, she's gotten decent at mind wiping."
"She rarely makes mistakes, and could be a great healer like Celeste."
I got a little uncomfortable in this position so I tried to move.
"I need you to sit still, Mr. Lucas, your arm is yet to be fully attached yet, just a few more minutes and we can go back to regular healing to heal you afterwards."
"So do you think you could get the staff's minds wiped?"
"I think it's important we don't."
"Even if it risks allowing demons to attack them for information?"
"Yes, we thought of that, which is why only me, other head doctors, and the chairman, our top cleric, will know."
"We will wipe the regular doctors, nurses, and necessary personnel."
"I see, does that mean if I have any more injuries from my work, I can come here?"
"In fact, the dean has ordered us to allow you to come to the hospital at any time to receive medical work."
"He was very explicit in giving you the resources necessary to keep demons away from the academy, not to mention the vice dean also told us that you've already killed another demon aside from this one."
"You're quite the demon hunter."
"Thanks."
"Then I'll go ahead and leave, and let the magic cast do it's thing.
"Please look after him well, your highness."
Throughout the conversation Aura held my left hand quietly.
I turned my head to look at her.
"Aurelia are you doing okay?"
"How could you?"
"What?"
"How could you be okay after loosing your arm?"
"Well I-"
She buried her head onto my chest and cried.
After a few minutes she picked her head back up and looked at me.
"Where did you learn those techniques, why do you hate demons?"
"And most importantly why do you keep sacrificing yourself?"
"I've overheard you talking about some protagonist, some guy supposed to be the hero."
"So where is he?"
Shit.
I didn't even see him there.
Was he not the protagonist after all?
He didn't show up to the class, was he sick or was there some other reason.
Whatever the case, he wasn't growing or fighting the people he needed to.
I needed to tell Aura about this.
"Hey Aura, did you see a 'Noah Landerfall' there?"
"No."
"Could you send a magic message to Mark or Celeste downstairs for the hospital's records of an inpatient named 'Noah Landerfall'?"
"Yes."
"Alright it's sent so answer who is he?"
"So I've seen a future."
I began with the truth.
"Using fate magic I saw a hero named 'Noah Lightbringer'."
"But the Noah I saw here, was a person who shared the first name, but not his last."
"I got a message back."
"He is here, one of the very first."
"Admitted in with, a 'Maya Handle'."
"I see, then he has been mind wiped already?"
"Most likely."
"Then that means our protagonist is already lost."
"So where do you fit into all of this?"
"I've been trying to bring him into our fold, but letting him train on his own under supervision."
"Unfortunately he's failed to live up to our expectations, and is now mind wiped, so we can kiss the future of him as a hero goodbye."
"Our expectations? Did someone else know of the existence of the protagonist before me?"
"No, but I had Charlotte and Kimoria watch him for any changes in his power."
"And it was all unsatisfactory?"
"Yes."
"So then the reason you keep doing this is to?"
"Well, keep the people around the hero alive."
"But the hero's already defeated."
"Which means a new hero will rise."
"Who?"
"Whoever is chosen by the principality's sword."
"And until then I assume you're going to take that role?"
"Yes, I'll have to."
"Fine. But from now on I know every detail of your plans. Inside and out."
"If it can be put off, and I tell you to put it off, then you will okay?"
"Only if it's a health concern."
"Fine."
She smiled.
"Feels like when we were children again."
"When it was just me and you."
My arm was reattached, and began to heal using normal healing magic again.