The two men were at a standstill for a long time.
Eventually, Nyx ground his teeth fiercely and scrambled to his feet, grabbing a pen on the table as he did so and scribbling a few random strokes on a piece of paper.
Ellis stood aside and watched as he wrote a few quick sentences, then pushed the paper towards him, "Here, turn in."
Ellis swept his head down, and it was written crookedly - "Socialization system of contracted demons: those who can fight are allied, those who can't fight act like grandchildren."
Ellis: "..."
He raises his head and looks at Nyx with an indifferent expression, "Is this your thesis?"
Nyx looks indifferent, "You didn't say how detailed it was going to be."
Ellis looked at him for a few seconds and suddenly stretched out his hand, gently waving it, and Nyx instantly levitated in mid-air.
Nyx froze for a moment, then exploded and struggled, "Hey, hey, hey!Ellis!You're crazy!"
Ellis watched him struggle, his tone still cold, "Aren't you going to make a scene to the end?"
Nyx wanted to say something else, yet the next second he was placed firmly in front of the desk, the confinement of magic not allowing him to resist.
"Sit down."Ellis said faintly, "Now, write carefully."
Nyx glared at him through gritted teeth, his face a shade of green and white, and finally, with a heavy sigh, he grabbed his pen fiercely and began to scribble on the paper.
The entire room was dead silent, except for the sound of paper being rubbed hard.
Ellis knew that sometimes, Nyx just had to be pressed.
There was something off about Nyx lately.
Ellis had noticed that Nyx's magic fluctuations had become more and more frequent.At first, it was just subtle anomalies, such as the pages of a book would flip for no reason, and a scent that didn't belong in this world occasionally surfaced in the air.But soon, the situation became serious - passing tutors reflected that the lights of the academy flickered from time to time, the moods of low-ranked magical creatures were abnormally manic, and some trainees even began to have strange dreams which were filled with distorted visions of the abyss.
No matter how slow Ellis was, he understood that Nyx's power was skyrocketing and was even beginning to affect his surroundings.He approached Nyx for a talk.
"Have you felt that lately your magic-" Ellis paused, his eyes sharpening, "has become more and more unstable?"
Nyx leaned against the window, dangling his tail and wagging it with a couldn't-care-less look, "Oh?Yes?"
Ellis stared at him, not fooled by his casual attitude.
"You know very well."His tone was firm, "You can't help it."
The smirk at the corner of Nyx's mouth paused for a split second, but soon, he shrugged again and smiled disarmingly, "Demon magic isn't supposed to be something that's 'controllable on a whim', we're not like you humans."
"So you're going to let it go?"Ellis' gaze sank, "You know your magic is starting to affect the Academy."
Nyx looked at him, Ellis' face reflected in the red pupils of his eyes.He didn't answer right away, but instead inclined his head and looked out the window at the stars.
Of course he knew his magic was spiraling out of control.He could feel that the energy in his body was growing wildly as if it had been catalyzed by some force, even exceeding the limits of what he could withstand.Those magic that should have been easily controlled could now go berserk at any time.He had already woken up more than once in the night to find black flames floating in his bed, or the sky outside his window briefly cracking open to an abyssal slit.
"Can't help it."He laughed softly, his tone so relaxed it sounded like he was talking about something unimportant, "Ellis, I'm not even a teenager yet."
Ellis' knuckles tightened slightly.Of course he knew Nyx was underage, Nyx's bar mitzvah was going to be a disaster.
Humans grew up in a controlled manner, learning from a young age how to discipline their power, how to use it and control it.Demons, on the other hand, grow up very differently; they are powerful, chaotic, destructive, and every increase in power is accompanied by extreme instability.Nyx, on the other hand, was at just such a stage.
Ellis looked at him deeply, his tone softening a little in a rare way, "So, you didn't mean it at all."
Nyx blinked and seemed to freeze for a moment, then but suddenly smiled.
"You just realized that?"He propped his chin up, his red eyes curving slightly as if he were looking at a slow-witted human.