“You’re not stepping a foot out of here, demon,” Angharad said, pointing his amethysts studded wand at the once perfect student.

A cocky smirk grew on Noah’s face. He tilted his head to the side, his eyes clearly mocking the professor.

“Attack formation D,” the man ordered.

Hoods keeping their identities secret swayed as the apprentices looked at each other. One of them was brave enough to ask if it was necessary to cast such a devastating spell. “Sir? But that’s–”

“This is an order.”

Angharad’s sharp tone made the apprentices stand taller. They simultaneously slammed their right fists into the palm of their left hand and began chanting the spell. The room temperature dropped to freezing degrees while large ice shards formed above them.

He gave one last look at his possessed student. As the son of Noelle von Vinter, the brat could have been a great mage at some point in his life. His mother was cunning and ambitious by nature, and there was no doubt in his mind that they were cut from the same cloth. After all, who else would be desperate enough to sign a contract with a demon, if not the spawn of the greediest wench known to mankind?

The clear icicles moved to point at Noah. Reflected in their ragged facets were the darkness of the ceiling, the apprentices panting in concentration and Noah’s smile.

Owain Angharad clenched his wand and swung his arm down swiftly. He suppressed the smile growing from his lips as he imagined Noelle’s despair upon losing her heir.

The barrier was dropped quickly to let the icicle rush at their target. Their speed and weight easily shattered the stone ground of the platform. Ice spread on the ground, daring the brave to come closer and test their luck.

Frigid air caused mist to form and cover the surroundings. Angharad gestured for his apprentices to follow him out of the summoning room. He was confident no one would have survived such an attack, after all, it was also used by the Xuprevian military to subdue the Ruxurian army decades ago and was ultimately the reason for Ruxuria’s defeat.

Casting such a spell required various assistants to manage the mana consumption, and a master acting as a conductor to control all the shards. No fire in the world has ever managed to be hot enough to melt the ice.

Angharad let out a quiet sigh. He was glad this was over and done. He has to return back to his post and check if any of the other students messed up their summoning rituals before writing a report in the evening. He also has to notify someone to come clean up the mess in this summoning room, so that the next student can use it.

Noah's body that was encased in ice, will be transported somewhere no one will see before it was sent to his mother’s office. He’ll let the higher-ups deal with the politics of the von Vinter heir’s death.

Surely, he won’t be punished for this? He was acting according to the law after all.

Plip.

He paused in his tracks at the sound. Dripping water was not something he should be hearing when he’s surrounded by eternal ice.

“How conceited of you, to think that you’d be able to harm me,” a voice full of arrogance said.

Noah lifted his hands to touch the icicles. They melted like butter getting run through by a hot knife. His smile widened and Angharad felt a chill travel down his spine.

“Now then, it’s my turn.”

Catlike and predatory green eyes stained with magenta stared at them like they were mere insects under his shoes. Despite all of these oddities, the fact there’s still some green in his eyes indicated that somewhere deep down, Noah was struggling to regain control of his body.

Dark energy bubbled from Noah’s skin until it settled like a liquid jagged crown floating above his head.

Cold sweat dripped down Angharad’s neck. It was not because of the rising temperature, he was sure of it. The power oozing out of the demon, despite being contained within human flesh, made his heart beat wildly in his chest.

He let out a shuddering breath filled with fear. Something far more powerful than man can imagine entered Nymphaea’s sacred grounds.

Flames the color of a bright summer sky flickered in between the tips of Noah’s pointer and middle fingers. Angharad instantly knew he was in big trouble.

“Retreat!” he yelled.

Rumours of four powerful demons governing Hell have been spreading around for ages. Each of them corresponded with the four primary elements of water, earth, fire and air. They were powerhouses that brought calamity wherever they went. Years ago, some fool from the Island Kingdom of Endibiya summoned one of these entities and the resulting disaster wiped out their capital Adhara.

Those who were privy to this information knew that their elements have a distinctly different color from the norm, and the Ruler of Fire was known to surround himself with blue flames hotter than the sun itself.

“Noah, what have you unleashed upon this world?”

With a simple flick of Noah’s wrist, a trail of blue fire rushed towards them in a raging roar.

Angharad hastily cast a barrier over him and his apprentices. They looked at each other, their postures filled with fear as they huddled close behind him.

“Contact back up now!” Angharad yelled. “We can’t beat this one!”

“Yes, sir!” One of them said and began casting the murmurs of a spell in his hands.

The sound of shattering glass echoed in the summoning room. Angharad stumbled back as his barrier broke and Noah appeared behind the apprentice in a speed impossible for the eyes to see.

“And who might you be inviting to our party?” The demon asked. He gripped the hooded person by the neck with a single hand. A thin film around it made his eyes narrow. He tightened his grasp. Barely visible cracks appeared around his hands and he watched in satisfaction as the barrier shattered around the puny human. Now he can feel their skin and the thrumming of fear on the palm of his hands.

A choke escaped the hooded apprentice as he struggled and clawed at Noah’s hand. The beaded bracelet on his arm lost its lustre.

“Let them go!” A jet of water escaped the palm of another apprentices’ hands. A quick nod from them had the others scrambling to help. Their combined spells would have blasted a normal person to the other side of the room. Sadly for them, the demon inside Noah’s body was far from normal.

Blue flames erupted in front of Noah in a straight line and the jet of water evaporated before it could so much as splatter a droplet on the young man’s uniform.

Noah flung the person he was choking to the side. Angharad pointed his wand and cast a barrier before the poor guy could crash into the wall and smash their head into a splatter. The assault against Noah stopped, and the apprentices rushed to check on their comrade.

“You’ve got some pretty great reflexes for a human,” a voice said behind the professor.

Angharad did not hear the demon move at all, much less sense it standing right behind him. He swung his arm, the water around him formed into a sharp blade. The demon ducked away from his blow with ease, bending Noah’s body backwards like he did not have a spine. He straightened and glanced at the fluttering stand of hair, the smile on his face was bland.

“You’re no ordinary demon alright,” Angharad said as he slowly created distance between him and the possessed student. “The blue fire should have clued me in sooner. But I did not want to believe that such evil was summoned on these sacred grounds.”

In hell, there is only one being capable of controlling blue fire. A being so cruel and powerful, other demons deferred to him as their Ruler, their King.

“The Harbinger of Death, Azrael.”

Azrael showed Noah’s perfectly white teeth in a disturbing grin. “I see my reputation precedes me,” he said in a friendly voice. “But this type of information is not something you should be privy to.”

His eyes darkened in disdain. With a deep voice that very much did not sound like his wayward student, Azrael said “Tell me who snitched.”

Angharad steeled his nerves. Pissing off a demon at Azrael’s caliber was definitely bound to get him killed.

“I’ll tell you if you break your contract with the von Vinter brat,” he tried to reason. There was a traitor amongst their midst if such information was supposed to be secret. Surely catching them was more important than his spoiled student.

“Break my contract?” Azrael murmured, his voice sounded like he was in deep thought. Blue flames lazily followed his pointer and middle finger, “Even if I break my contract, this one–”

He flung his hands down, whipping a large fire towards the humans.

“–is mine.”