MIA — BETWEEN DREAM AND NIGHTMARE
Darkness pressed against me. Warm… heavy… like a blanket soaked in sleep.
My mind floated somewhere between dreaming and waking.
…Where… am I…?
My eyelids twitched but wouldn't open. My body felt weightless, like it didn't belong to me. I tried to move my fingers — nothing.
Somewhere far away, I heard voices.
Not calm voices.
Shouting. Steel. Screaming. Crashing.
"…someone… fighting…?"
My lips barely moved. I wasn't talking to anyone — just thinking out loud, lost in the haze.
What was happening?
Why did everything feel so loud… so sharp…?
Then a memory flickered—
Raze's hand gripping my shoulder.
His voice steady, cold, almost gentle.
"Don't move."
Pain.
A strike.
My consciousness slipping away.
My breath hitched.
He… he hit me.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was the moment before I fainted—
Kail's body.
My own hands covered in his blood.
His eyes lifeless.
And Raze's voice telling me what to do.
A tremor ran through me.
He made me kill Kail…
Why?
Why would he do that to me?
Was he… punishing me?
Punishing me because I left him?
Or was it my own fault?
My throat tightened painfully.
Because I know…
I know I was selfish.
I started dating Raze back then not because I loved him deeply at first… but because I wanted safety.
I had a stalker.
My father is important in politics.
People targeted me.
My whole life was danger.
So I chose Raze.
Because he was strong.
Because he could protect me.
Because next to him… I could finally live like a normal girl.
And somewhere during that…
I did start to like him.
More than I should've.
More deeply than I ever admitted.
But then—
Then I saw him fight that day.
Not the Raze who protected me.
Not the boy who held my hand.
A monster.
A demon of violence.
Someone who beat people without blinking.
I got scared.
I left him.
And now…
Now I'm lying here with Kail's blood haunting me…
Raze knocking me unconscious…
A battlefield raging in the distance…
My voice cracked into the darkness, barely audible:
"…Is he taking revenge on me…?"
Or—
A painful thought twisted in my chest.
—Or does he still love me?
Was he trying to save me in his own twisted way?
Does he want me?
Does he hate me?
Does he regret me?
I don't know.
I can't read him anymore.
All I know is…
I'm terrified of him.
But I'm terrified for him too.
And that confusion…
That longing…
That fear…
It was tearing me apart from the inside.
But I wanted us to be together…
Kail, me… and you, Raze.
Just like when we were children.
When I opened my eyes in this world and found both of you again, I thought—
it had to be fate.
A second chance.
A chance to protect Kail this time…
to stand beside him, beside you…
to be the three of us again.
I truly believed that if we were together, maybe… just maybe… the past wouldn't repeat.
But now everything is broken.
You broke everything.
You made me kill Kail.
You hurt me.
You struck me.
You marked me like an object.
And the worst part is… I don't even know why.
Nothing about you makes sense, Raze.
Not your eyes.
Not your voice.
Not the way you look at me like you own me…
and destroy me at the same time.
A tear slipped from my closed eye.
I don't know what you want anymore…
but I know one thing—
You're here for something.
You're using me for something.
I don't know whether it's power, hate, obsession, or all three.
Fine.
Use me.
Use me all you want.
Break me.
Control me.
Twist me.
But hear me, Raze—
I swear on Kail's death, on everything you took from me—
I will betray you at your darkest moment.
I will make you feel the pain I'm drowning in right now.
I will tear apart whatever heart you think you have left.
I will destroy you.
THE HALL OF SLAUGHTER
The moment Eldrick's body collapsed, the summoning circle beneath him flared violently—
FWOOOOOM!
Purple flames swallowed his corpse as his life was consumed.
His last breath dissolved into smoke.
And then…
Something stepped through the circle.
THUD.
THUD.
A massive silhouette.
Two curved horns scraping the cracked ceiling.
A hammer the size of a carriage dragging behind it, leaving deep grooves in the marble.
The demon inhaled once—
—and the hall drowned in pressure.
Guards froze mid-movement.
Students choked.
The air itself trembled.
Then it moved.
BOOOOM!
Its hammer came down like judgment.
A cluster of elite knights exploded into blood mist.
No skill.
No swing.
Just raw, monstrous weight.
Chaos erupted instantly.
"FALL BACK—!!"
"IT'S A HIGH CLASS DEMON!!"
"RUN—RUN!!"
The king didn't need to hear it twice.
He grabbed Princess Arlia's wrist and broke into a sprint.
"Arlia, with me! Guards—protect us!"
Her eyes widened, horrified, but she obeyed as soldiers surrounded them and rushed toward the escape corridor.
They didn't look back.
Not even once.
The demon slaughtered the slower knights behind them—
SHRRAAACK!
—SPLAT!
CRUNCH!
Body after body hit the ground.
I watched.
Silent.
Unmoving.
There was no need to act yet.
The demon wasn't here for me — it was simply following the chaotic residue of Eldrick's dying intent.
A beast without master or sanity.
Leon hissed through clenched teeth, raising his shield.
"D-Damn it…! Everyone, formation!"
Borden shouted, voice shaking beneath forced bravado.
"Come on! If we don't fight, we die!"
Nichel summoned spirit glyphs.
Tamao's chains materialized with a metallic whisper.
Reid's golem formed in front of them, shielding the group.
Their teacher exhaled, calm despite everything.
"Then I won't stop you. I'll support you."
A warm pulse spread.
—Acceleration.
Their bodies sharpened, senses aligned, reactions doubled.
The heroes charged.
"Go—!!"
They struck together — blades colliding with demon bone, skills lighting the room, chains binding its arm as Reid's golem tackled its leg.
For a moment — a brief one — it looked like they could hold.
Then the demon turned its head.
Its empty eyes locked onto them.
…GRAAAAAAAAAH!!
One roar — and the shockwave alone blew them away.
Leon slammed into a pillar.
Borden rolled across the floor coughing blood.
Nichel's spirits shattered.
Tamao's chains flickered and dispersed.
Their teacher staggered, but still stood, barrier flickering around her students.
The demon raised its hammer again—
—and finally looked at me.
The world fell silent.
Its steps echoed slowly across the hall as it approached.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.The air got heavier with each step, but my expression didn't change.
Then, quietly—too quietly for anyone else to notice—I murmured:
"…So she's here. I should finish my work now."
The demon lunged.
BOOOOOOM!!
Its hammer crashed down, shattering the marble where I had been standing.
I shifted my weight at the last possible moment—just a step, nothing more—and the hammer missed by inches.
The shockwave tore through the hall.
I raised my arm, letting the force slide past me, boots dragging across the fractured floor as I absorbed the impact.
Leon gasped from the ground.
"H-How is he… still standing…!?"
The demon roared again, swinging its hammer sideways.
I ducked, rolled beneath the massive arm, and slid under its towering frame—right between its legs—my dagger flashing only once.
SHHHK—!
A deep slice cut through the demon's inner thigh. Thick, black blood oozed out like tar.
The demon staggered, turning with a hateful bellow.
I didn't stay there.
I used the momentum to leap back, landing beside Eldrick's burnt corpse. Kneeling. Still. Silent.
It looked, to everyone watching, like I was exhausted or injured.
But I wasn't.
I simply whispered—
"She's here now."
And then—
BOOOOOM!
A golden shockwave ripped through the hall.
The demon froze mid-step.
A figure appeared between the students and the monster, long red hair whipping in the wind, eyes blazing like molten gold.
An absurdly powerful presence crashed over everyone—
Knights collapsed to their knees.
Students couldn't breathe.
Even the demon paused.
She looked like an angel dropped into a battlefield.
Knight & Academy Instructor — Seraphina Hartwell.
She glanced at the trembling students behind her, her jaw tightening.
Then her voice thundered across the hall:
"What the hell are you doing to my students?"
Her golden aura surged, cracking the floor beneath her.
"How dare you," she continued, eyes burning into the demon,
"try to harm my students… when they're not even hatched from their eggs yet."
Her power flared—violent, divine, overwhelming.
The entire hall shook.
The demon, for the first time, took a step back.
Seraphina's aura shook the entire hall—
But I wasn't looking at her.
My eyes remained on Eldrick's burned corpse.
His mana. His essence. His summoner core.
Still pulsing faintly in his remains.
My fingers curled.
This was why I stayed still.
This was why I waited.
I whispered—
"Devour."
A deep, invisible force rippled from my palm like a beast exhaling.
FWOOOOSH—
Eldrick's corpse twitched once
Then collapsed inward
Then dissolved like ash being sucked into a vacuum.
His mana flowed into me—
Cold. Violent. Forbidden.
Like swallowing a storm.
A dark interface flashed before my eyes.
──────────────
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED
[ NECROMANCY — Lv. 1 ]
──────────────
Description:
The most basic form of Death Magic.
• Can summon lesser skeletons (current limit: 3)
• Corpses can be used as catalysts
• Strength scales with level & mana control
──────────────
Note:
This skill will evolve with further devouring.
──────────────
The screen vanished.
Power settled in my veins—quiet, cold, waiting.
I exhaled slowly.
"…As expected."
Behind me, Seraphina slammed her foot down.
BOOOOM!!
"Stay behind me, hatchlings! This thing isn't something you fight while half-awake!"
The demon roared back, hammer lifting—
But I wasn't watching them.
I was still watching the black blood evaporating from my fingertips.
Necromancy.
Eldrick's final secret.
Exactly what I needed.
THE KING'S ESCAPE
The king stumbled as he ran, dragging Princess Arlia by the wrist while soldiers struggled to keep formation.
"F-Faster! Move faster!" the king shouted, voice cracking under pure fear.
The guards tried, but their armor clattered, boots slipping on blood and shattered marble.
Only Arlia kept her posture stable — breathing quietly, eyes sharp despite the chaos.
Suddenly, she slowed.
One of the guards looked back. "Your Highness? We must continue—"
"No… wait."
Arlia's pupils narrowed, the faintest tremble running through her lashes.
"There's… another presence in the hall."
The king panicked. "Another demon?!"
She shook her head.
"No. This mana… this rhythm…"
She inhaled, as if tasting the air itself.
"…Knight Seraphina has joined the battle."
The guards froze.
The king swallowed, fear mixing with fragile hope.
"Seraphina…? Are you certain?"
Arlia nodded once.
"My senses don't lie."
Their footsteps echoed through the corridor—
Clak… clak… clak…
But then another sound overlapped.
A second pair of footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Getting closer.
The guards spun around, blades raised.
Princess Arlia's breath hitched. "I… I hear someone. But… I can't sense them. Not their mana, not their presence… nothing."
The king's blood ran cold.
The torches flickered—
and from the deep shadow at the end of the hallway…
A silhouette emerged.
Step by step, the darkness peeled away from his face.
Expression unreadable.
Eyes half-lidded.
Walking as if he'd been there the whole time.
The king staggered backward, voice cracking in fear and disbelief.
"W-What… what are you doing here?
RAZE KYLER