The spear was about to punch through the creature's eye, when it twisted midair, only letting it draw a bloody furrow across it's form.
It let out a bellow that caused waves to arise from the lake, as it searched for it's attacker.
Alastor caught the spear once more, and stabbed at the Viscount hiding in the water as his arm lengthened unnaturally, the Rune of Change glowing on his forehead.
The creature bellowed once more, before leaping out of the water. A large amount of demonic essence began gathering in it's mouth, at in incomparably small point.
It swung it's long neck, as beams of demonic essence shot around at random, some nearly hitting Alastor.
'It held back it's evolution to Count. For quite a while now.'
Alastor swung his spear at the joint connecting the demon's flipper to it's torso, Spear Aura rushing out in a crescent moon shape. The demon felt the danger about to land on it and contorted it's body to dodge it, to no avail as the Spear Aura carved even more of it's body away.
It dived underwater, and Alastor's instinct screamed at him to dodge, just in time for another beam to pass by where his head had been.
'If this goes on for too long, other Viscount's might appear.'
Alastor danced through the beams that were being fired from underwater, before 'Changing' the water into it's gaseous form with a touch. The water in the direct vicinity of the Viscount did not Change, but it was certainly annoyed at the move as it bellowed at him.
It rushed at Alastor with it's maw opened wide, and Alastor dodged to the side while slashing the spear through it's side, even overlaying the rusty spear in his mind onto the Spear Aura for more damage.
The creature bellowed in agony, and the water surrounding it began entering it's wounds as it regenerated in a way different from most demons.
The creature seemed to curl up a little, exposing the back of it's head as a weakness to Alastor.
As Alastor made to attack it, the demon's head whipped up, a high pressurized blade of water slashing against Alastor's torso.
Alastor stopped. He looked at the thin cut across his body, diagonally from his waist to shoulder.
'An injury?'
'An unplanned injury?'
'Me?'
'An injury I did not take on purpose or calculate for.'
'An...imperfection.'
The demon looked at Alastor who seemed to be frozen in place, rushing at him with it's maw open.
As it approached, it caught a glimpse of Alastor's eyes.
And all it saw before reaching him, was rage, hate, and malice in those eyes.
...............................................................................
Alicia asked A once more, "Are you sure you didn't see wrong, A?"
They were resting after beating the horde of demons, albeit with Professor Bones' help.
A nodded, "I'm sure. The ground opened up, and it definitely smelled like demonic essence. Alastor fell in trying to save me, and the horde of demons came out."
Professor Bones returned with Amber tagging along and said, "I contacted the Academy, and apparently, multiple incidents like this are happening all over the realm. They have been termed as 'Dungeons' by the Alliance. Essentially, bits and pieces of the Nine Hells attached to ours. However, if a specific anchor point inside a Dungeon is detroyed, it collapses and spits out anyone that entered."
"Meaning the only way for Alastor to return, is to destroy that anchor point with no prior knowledge of it, while surviving the remaining demons within that fragment of the Nine Hells."
"For now, the Alliance has decreed that anyone who enters a Dungeon is declared MIA, and if they're not out in a week, KIA."
To have it put in such a blunt way, the other students seemed downcast, except Karna.
'So this is what he meant by vacation?'
'A vacation in the Nine Hells, only he could be that weird.'
Karna simply yawned and returned to his wagon to sleep, 'I'll sleep a bit more then.'
Amber couldn't help but ask, "How can you be so nonchalant? He was closer to you than the rest of us! How can you rest at such a time?"
Karna replied calmly, "Can you reopen the dungen and force your way in? Is your whining going to bring him back? Just have some trust in him, and calm down."
Professor Bones agreed, "As cruel as what he says may be, it is true. The situation is in Alastor's hands, and there is nothing we can do about it but trust him. Now, return to training."
As the two walked away, Alicia told Amber before leaving to her wagon as well, "Perhaps they have a point. Although it does not comfort me either, all I can do is train to get stronger."
A had already left to continue training, leaving Amber alone to think. She sighed as she returned to her own carriage and pulled out the blank page she had retrieved from Kranak.
It's very existence seemed to be connected to her, it's texture, size, shape, everything seemed tailor made for her.
She drew comfort from it, as they continued their journey, now one person less than when they had left the Academy.
...............................................................................
Alastor returned to his senses, snapping free from the frenzy he had been in just a while ago as he observed his surroundings.
He was in his demonic form, which was covered in small wriggling flesh buds, signifying he was on the verge of evolution.
He had some injuries on his body, but they were regenerating as his body devoured the demonic essence in the air, the Ohr Jinn's difference from other demons becoming palpable.
He was standing in the middle of a pile of crushed meat, the only clue of it once being a Viscount was it's lingering demonic essence as it slowly began converting into the energy.
He looked at his chest, relieved to see the wound from before had healed completely.
'There was no mistake.'
'There was no mistake.'
'There was never a wound, and there was no mistake.'
'Perfection must be maintained.'
Alastor returned the water vapour in the air to it's liquid state, as he himself slipped into the water, creating a big enough air bubble to last him a good while.
The wriggling flesh buds began writhing and growing frantically, before demonic essence rushed in to cover Alastor in a cocoon.
'Let's hope that the plan is going well out there.'
And the familiar void rushed in, as Alastor once again turned to look at the evolutionary options.
'Here we go again.'