Chapter 3 – The True Face of the Great Demon Nimue: Part 2

!WARNING! vulgar language used

They finally arrived in front of the classroom. Adei slowly opened the door, and kneeled down to make the 2.5 metre scythe (8.2 feet) fit through the door. When he came in, everyone went blue. A normal demon weapon, although with the same ominous colours, was always smaller than 2 metre (6.5 feet). Normally, they are about 1 metre long with patterns, though ominous, not as frightening. This scythe on the other hand was extremely big, pitch black with hellish purple patterns, and an eerie shape. Although everyone welcomed him, they placed their desks at least 1.5 metres further (5 feet). Finally, he earned his goal. Everyone was avoiding him! Except… for one person.

The coal black haired, hazel eyed cheerful friend of his was still sitting beside him, paying no mind to the scythe’s looks. For him, Adei’s demon weapon was completely invisible, and would only look at Adei. More like everything else was invisible. Elijah refrained from conversing with anyone in the classroom, even the teacher. Whenever his name was called out for attendance, he didn’t even utter a sound, or didn’t react in any way. Sure, he was a weird guy, but he went out of his way just to give Adei all his attention, so he didn’t mind.

After everyone sat– and calmed down, the teacher set up a weird contraption on the floor.

It was a stone tablet made with mana stone, placed on the floor with an all-purpose pentagram carved onto it, and a weird machine that was probably placed there for safety reasons. The contraption was quite unusual, but most likely needed, so no one judged.

After setting up all safety measures, the teacher called one person at a time by their name, to summon their demon and make a contract.

After a while it was boring. At first it was quite exciting for everyone to summon a demon, but they soon realised that each and every demon stems from the same species, a marchosias**, only their elemental power is different. After a while, it was Adei’s turn to summon his demon. He nervously walked up to the stone tablet, glanced at Nimue for a moment but his head immediately turned back at the teacher when he instructed him.

–“Adei, please place your weapon on the stone tablet and say the incantation, ᛖᛚᛁᛃᚨᚺ ᛁᛊ ᚨᚲᛏᚢᚨᛚᛚᛁ ᚾᛁᛗᚢᛖ×ᛊ ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱ ᛁᚾ ᛞᛁᛊᚷᚢᛁᛊᛖ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛁᛊ ᚷᚨᚦᛖᚱᛁᛜ ᛁᚾᚠᛟᚱᛗᚨᛏᛟᚾ ᛟᚾ ᚨᛞᛖᛁ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚺᛁᛊ ᛒᛟᛊᛊ, ᛉ’.”

Adei slowly placed the pitch-black scythe on the pentagram carved into the stone tablet, and started the incantation.

–“’ᛖᛚᛁᛃᚨᚺ ᛁᛊ ᚨᚲᛏᚢᚨᛚᛚᛁ ᚾᛁᛗᚢᛖ×ᛊ ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱ ᛁᚾ ᛞᛁᛊᚷᚢᛁᛊᛖ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛁᛊ ᚷᚨᚦᛖᚱᛁᛜ ᛁᚾᚠᛟᚱᛗᚨᛏᛟᚾ ᛟᚾ ᚨᛞᛖᛁ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚺᛁᛊ ᛒᛟᛊᛊ, ᛉ’!”

A dark fog enveloped the room. Everyone panicked, but the teacher told everyone, that though it is rare, this is a normal occurrence. After the fog dissipated, a white snake appeared with three crimson red eyes and a white quartz blade for a rattler. It was quite a sight, everyone got the same type of demon, but him. Marchosias was a really accessible demon, but no one ever heard of such demon. It looked ethereal, rather than something that came out of the pits of Hell. Adei was baffled, how could Nimue send such a demon there? Although it is not in human form***, he will still most definetly stand out with such a demon. He looked at the others and then on the floor, trying to feign ignorance. Everyone looked at him with eyes that clearly told Adei what they were thinking, “Where the hell did you get this thing?”. Fortunately, the bell rang and saved Adei from that awkward situation.

–“Oh the bell is ringing! Got to get to my Magic Theory Class. Bye everyone!”

He quickly picked up the demon weapon, and fled from the Demon Weaponry classroom. He was quite embarrassed from all the looks. He piercingly stared at Nimue, she could feel the rays coming from his eyes stinging her back. She felt more and more uncomfortable, and finally blurted out an apology and the truth.

–“Okay, okay! I’m sorry, I guess… I didn’t have any choice. The only thing I can summon in a soul state is something that comes from my soul. Back in the day when I was a god, I got an angelic familiar melted into my soul. That is the only thing I have on hand that looks even remotely like a demon…” She turned her back at Nimue to avoid Adei’s piercing gaze, and feeling even more guilty.

–“Well maybe you should remind me next time.” Adei said with a judgmental tone, crossing his arms. “You know what? Whatever. Let’s just get to my next class” he said, still annoyed but with a hint of relief.

***

Adei in his Magic Theory class, wondered how he was going to keep himself sane. The “pesky fly” came back once again to haunt his daily life with flicking him, blocking his way, telling him jokes, and unbearably bad pickup lines. Although he’s always focused on class, it was clear that his mind was elsewhere today, his last two braincells trying to keep himself sane from the constant pickup lines. As the class continued on, the “pesky fly’s” actions became worse and worse, driving Adei to the edge. It spilled his ink, drew on his book, made the scythe rattle uncontrollably, and other actions similar to what was mentioned just to annoy Adei. She kept making worse and worse remarks, when Adei finally snapped.

–“SHUT THE F*CK UP!!!”

The whole class went silent. When Adei looked around, he realised what he had done. The teacher looked at him in disappointment, he never expected one of his top students to do such a thing. Although the teacher knew he didn’t do it out of spite, he still had to punish him in some way or the students would start complaining. The teacher called him out.

–“Ko Adei, detention…!”

The teacher kind of felt bad, but could do nothing about the situation. He looked down, slowly packed his bags, lifted up that scythe of his and left the classroom. The sighs of relief could be heard from outside the classroom, he kind of felt upset from hearing it, though he knew it wasn’t their fault.

He opened the classroom where the detention was hosted. Everyone looked surprised seeing him in such place, but quickly turned their heads away from feeling guilty. He quickly sat down and started working on his homework.

Nimue, feeling guilty, offered to get him out of there to cheer him up.

–“So uhh… I-I’m sorry and uh maybe we could like–… escape detention and go to the nearby market to uh chill..?”

–“Won’t that get me in even more trouble…?” He whispers, so no one else could hear him but Nimue.

–“Well–– You can cast illusionary magic with the scythe… and then you can go out wherever you want while still not getting in trouble!”

–“Hmm… The idea does sound plausible… but how do I cast it?” He looked up at Nimue

–“Simple! You just press the floating ball that is on the blade’s side” She pointed “and it will project any illusion you want.”

–“Ah…”

Adei sneakily went up to his scythe while avoiding suspicion. He slowly pressed the button without anyone noticing. The scythe’s energy went into Adei’s veins using touch, and thus him turning glass-like, most likely invisible, and leaving an afterimage at the desk.

Adei was astonished, although he was clearly breaking the rules, he has never been so excited before. Nimue instructed him to fly out the window with the scythe. He flew out, leaving a gust of wind behind in the classroom. The students sensed a strange breeze, but paid no mind due to the effects of illusionary magic.

They finally arrived at the market square, the most populated part of the market. The invisibility was about to wear off, when Adei made a clean landing and made it to the ground just in time. Both Adei and Nimue was happy about this successful endeavour.

–“Shall we get some kind of dessert?” Nimue suggested, while looking back at his contractor.

They got to a choco banana stand, and Adei bought two of them, one for him and one for Nimue. He offered to give her a choco banana to eat.

–“Oi Nimue, you want some?” He lifted the choco banana for her.

–“No thanks, I’m not really into choco bananas.” She shrugged.

–“Hmm… Oh yeah! I’ve always been curious about something!” He took a bite from the choco banana “What happened to you after the Tribus War?” he wiped off the excess from his mouth.

Nimue froze. It’s like she was prickled by thousands of needles after she heard that. She felt nauseous all of a sudden, for some unbeknownst reason. She looked back at Adei with cold, but hurt eyes filled with sorrow.

–“…I wouldn’t ask such questions from your benefactor, now would I…?” With a cold gaze, she turned her back on Adei.

–“…”

He only meant to ask it out of fun. He didn’t want to… What even happened? What scarred her so much that she acted so out of character. Although he was worried, there was nothing he could do about it. It was better to leave it for now.

When he looked back at Nimue, it looked like she was eyeing something at one of the booths.

–“Ooo look! What is this?” She went back to her normal demeanor.

–“O-oh, it’s called a lemon bread. Would you like to try some?” He looked at Nimue, a little bit nervous.

–“Yes! I wanna try it out”

Adei tried giving her the melon bread by hand, but she passed through it. It was like she was a ghost.

–“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… Just try to stuff it into the side of the scythe’s blade, and I will be able to eat it.” She pointed at the scythe.

–“Oh uh sure…!”

Adei carefully attempted to stuff it into the blade. The melon bread slowly disappeared from his hands, the scythe consuming the delicious treat. The melon bread appeared in Nimue’s hand, and she earnestly took a bite out of it, she lit up.

–“Ooo this is so good!” She swallowed the lemon bread in one bite “Can I have some more? Hm? Hm?” She circled around Adei with anticipation.

There she was, going back to her old ways of being a “pesky fly”. “She acts so randomly and chaotically every time… She’s like a child.” Nimue pushes him around,

“Is this really the true face of the Great Demon, Nimue Kardia…?”

He sighs in disappointment and anger.

**: In demonology, marchosias is a great Marquis of Hell. They are a wolf with a gryphon's wings, a serpent tail, and they spew fire from their mouth. They are very loyal to the "magician", and they were once part of heaven. In this universe, Marchosias slowly diluted with lesser species, making them  weaker and become a very common demon. What they spew from their mouth depends on their elemental power. They are also used for demon weapons, because of their loyality.

***: In this universe, when demons can turn into a human or humane form, They are indefinetily a very powerful demon. Lesser demons can't imitate the shape of the human body, because it's too complex, thus requiring a lot more magical power.