'I have only been in this world for a day but what a strange one it has been…' Radius sighed inwardly as he walked the school hall in his disguise. Thus far no one has caught on to him.
He was one of the Monarch Watcher's students so he had mastered Sixth-Rank illusion spells that lets him masquerade as a human. On the outside, he appears to be a young boy with a first-year badge on his uniform. No one would suspect he's a Greater Demon.
Behind him was his "companion" in the disguise of a fat greasy girl who was absurdly tall for her age, bangs hanging over his drooling face that probably saw every single child in these halls as food.
Thanks to the thousands of students at this school, the two of them are able to blend in easily. The hard part is hiding when the bell rings. Radius might be able to disguise the two of them as a bush or something but not only is that a waste of mana but also humiliating for a Greater Demon.
How could he hide like a scared mouse when he is supposed to be the snake!?
In any case, the reason for Radius' complaints was simple—he had walked straight into a dragon's den, believing he would be the strongest to visit it.
But yesterday proved him wrong.
His old nemesis, Tyrgavion was blasted away by some human who could use Aether, something he believed no human could ever master.
That isn't the most absurd part about the human though. This human apparently wants to kill the Hero.
This would seem like the golden opportunity to strike up an alliance but there was no way he would take the chance. The human may be hostile towards the Hero but that doesn't mean he needs nor will accept a demon's help.
Radius would be lucky if he even gets out of the exchange alive.
He wanted to study this Arnold but he knows time is of the essence. He didn't take the chance to go through that open portal just to satisfy his curiosity. He needs to find a way to turn this academy into a "site". This "site" is what they call an area where conditions are suitable to create a portal.
With all this mana drifting around this academy, whether released by students or the magic items and equipment driving the little community in this academy, it would take a miracle to create a "site".
'If any demonic lifeforce is detected by the sensors, temple priests will flood the academy and ruin the plan.'
This being the case, the most important thing is to disable them. Since the Hero—that Luke boy—attends this academy, this is a golden opportunity to trap him inside.
His plan was to perform a ritual to turn every student on this school into demons. Easier said than done, however, since something like that will take a lot of time to prepare. He would also need to personally perform the ritual on students without their knowledge.
That's fine, he has the magic that will allow him to move them all in one place. While that was his plan, how does his creature companion fit into all of this? If he turns his back once, the savage will probably murder one of the students and feast on their corpses.
These things only ever tasted the flesh of the humans that were trapped on the other side, forever stuck being breeding machines after having their aging slowed down and giving birth to even more breeding machines. When their use runs out, they're thrown into the wild—allowing this creature's siblings to hunt them down.
The chase doesn't last that long since the humans are so weak and drained from years of heavy breeding.
In any case, to kickstart the plan, Radius had to locate the command center where the sensors connect to and are controlled from. The secretary ought to have a spare key for that place.
He has to be sneaky about it but with his "companion" along with him, that will probably be very difficult since it can't listen to specific orders. If he tells it to stay in a place away from prying eyes, it would listen initially but then cause a lot of trouble if he's gone.
"!" when he was about to turn a corner, an overbearing pressure weighed down on him and he quickly jumped back, pushing the creature away as well.
'What the hell was that just now!? My instincts kicked in before I could even take a step!'
Timidly, he took a look around the corner. As per usual there were students filling it—girls sitting next to each other chatting away, boys playing all sorts of games, and professors coming and going.
But what caught Radius' attention was the mass of pure dread that was slowly consuming the hallway as it approached from the far end.
Within that mass of darkness were two people—that human who killed Tyrgavion a dozen times, Arnold, along with an unknown girl.
The girl next to him was walking hand in hand with him, a big smile on her face. It was as if she didn't notice anything wrong.
His attitude contrasted hers completely.
Though his face was calm, his eyes were cold and there was a powerful dread around him. The other students likely couldn't sense it since none of them had senses sensitive enough to pick up on it but Radius, on the other hand, felt needles prickle his skin seeing that man.
For the first time in his life, he was scared of a human.
What and who made him leak such killing intent? How strong would that pressure be if he intentionally released the killing intent? Everyone in this hall would probably faint from the pressure.
Radius, embarrassingly enough, would most likely flee.
He knows all too well how impossible a confrontation is with that man.
A strong cologne whiffed passed the demon's nose, as if Death itself was letting out its aura as it travelled the River of Cocytus, ignoring the mortal souls as if they were insignificant in its quest to look for powerful divine souls.
At that moment when that man passed by him, Radius felt the hairs on his neck stand up.
Looking down, he noticed his legs were trembling.
The creature gritted its teeth and its body trembled. Luckily, the two blended in so well that no one saw that.
Radius knows this isn't fear.
Their "people" don't know the concept of fear because "they" are born mighty, from a parent that has no equal. It's not arrogance, just naivety. But with their incredible powers, drilled into their DNA, they would not even be phased by the consequences.
That was going to be proven wrong today.
In a blink of an eye, the creature charged at Arnold, its eyes glowing like crazy.
Before it could even land an attack, a thunderous boom resounded and a powerful vibration shook the hall as Arnold quickly grabbed it by the neck and slammed it into one of the pillars. Several windows shattered and screams resounded when they realized what had just happened.
"Gk!"
When Arnold was about to rip the creature's head off with his other hand, he stopped.
"You're not an assassin…?" genuine confusion was on his face before his frown vanished, "Pick a fight another day. I don't feel like leaving someone alive if they get on my bad side."
After letting go, the creature coughed violently.
His red eyes looked down at it like trash. His fingers twitched as the bloodlust lingered in the air.
"T-That surprised me…" the girl by his side stepped closer, only now realizing what happened.
At least he couldn't see past the illusion with those eyes. Perhaps he is too blinded by some kind of emotion—Radius could guess what that was. Emotions tend to make the eye become unstable from what he recalls. But that fated coincidence would be ruined if the two of them don't leave right now.
"P-Please excuse my sister!" Radius tried his best to mimic a young boy, though it sounded rough since he was yelling, "S-She's always been l-like this!"
He tried to reason.
"Been like what? Aggressive to strangers?"
The man's red eyes assessed Radius, that gaze making his legs tremble even more. The killing intent made everyone freeze.
"S-She thought y-you wanted to h-hurt someone so—so, she wanted to prevent that!"
He came up with what he could.
'Please let this all be the actions of a stupid child who consumed too many heroic tales!'
There was no way the two of them could take this man down. If his magic is strong enough to kill an Ancient Dragon in one hit, there was no telling what other heights he had reached with Aether.
An army is needed… No, an army led by a Demon Lord.
Like a dragon exhaling its hot breath, he sighed and looked back down at the trembling "girl".
He then began to speak, "Trying to be a hero… huh? Do you know what heroes leave behind after blindly motivating everyone? Not peace. Not hope. Just rubble and corpses. They swing their blades in the name of justice, and entire towns get buried under the weight of their glory. Someone picks up a sword and says they'll 'save everyone.' And then when their strength isn't enough—when reality doesn't match their fantasy—innocents are the ones who pay for it when they weren't the ones looking for a fight. Something you just did."
He then bent down and looked at the Freak face to face:
"I don't like those kinds of heroes. Do you know what I define as a hero? Someone who finds competent people to fight alongside him, knowing he shouldn't lead millions into a fruitless battle. What he does is take out the strongest then let humanity fight for themselves. Like eliminating the king in a fortress, he lets the rest then storm the encampment to wipe out the fodder. Because what good is a hero if he can't inspire others to help themselves? If you are too stupid to notice the difference: the one I hate motivates others to fight alongside him, never thinking that they will only die needlessly. The ones I grew up with and think deserve the title hero are those who says they will save everyone and storms the battlefield by himself or comrades he knows are worthy enough to fight alongside him."
His monologue felt so out of place from an outsider's perspective but Radius could guess right away why he was speaking so hatefully about heroes—
His anger was directed at that hero in the palace.
He then got up, "Play Hero again and you won't get off freely like the first time."
He then walked away with his companion.
Radius rubbed his chest, his heart feeling as if it will explode from his body. His heart had never raced like that before.
…
After dragging the creature to an isolated location, Radius threw it against a wall and slapped it.
"Do you realize that we were almost caught!? That man would've been able to see through our disguises!"
There's no doubt about it—he would have killed the two as well.
Being near him, Radius could sense the hatred fueling the dread surrounding his body.
Every time he said "hero", a disgusted tone shift could be heard in his voice.
As mentioned before, under normal circumstances, he would be a very useful ally but the risk is something Radius isn't willing to take.
"Ghhh…" the creature was oddly timid.
Was that one interaction really enough to make it like that…?
"—I see you've met that interesting human already."
A familiar voice came from behind Radius.
"Madam Ekterina!? H-How?"
Though she was in the form of a young girl—coupled with her cute uniform—the signature and voice were undoubtedly Ekterina Foruthflame's.
"What happened until now doesn't matter. That human you met isn't against us continuing with our plans."
"Pardon…?"
"He agreed on a truce—so long as we make the Hero's life hell."
Radius isn't usually so expressive but even he had to pull a confused face.
"But how…?"
"I just said it doesn't matter. From now on, we look towards the future." She grinned, "As we can't bring the Perdition Core here yet, we'll have to turn this capital into our new home, trapping the Hero so that he can witness everyone he ever loved, die by our hands."
"E-Even if you say that! That human…!"
"He won't be a problem right now. He said that he won't move unless we threaten his family or city. That will be a problem since I don't know any of them so I will need to observe him, ask around or connect the dots myself. Other than that, the truce is broken once the Hero unlocks his full power. By then the Empire will not be an issue for the war to come."
She stared somewhere with a smile, "Hmm, that human may be like an unmovable mountain right now but I will definitely find something that will pull him to our side."
Radius knows that smile. Ekterina typically only smiles like that either when with her sworn sister or when she finds something she's interested in.
She's not one to like jokes so she almost never laughs unless something ridiculous amuses her.
But right now, it seems like she had found something that truly interested her—that human, Arnold.
"Oh yes, one last thing—" Ekterina pointed her palm towards the creature, "I don't want filthy beasts near me. I tolerate your eldest sibling already. His mindless brothers and sisters that know only to kill and be meatshields? Not so much."
"Hkkk!? Yakkkk!" in a blink of an eye, it melted into boiling goo, the faint bubbling sound the last indicator that it was once a living thing.
Dusting off her hands as if she did hard labor, she spoke to her subordinate, "Let us prepare the ritual to turn this capital into our home."
"Yes, Madam!"