Chapter 34
Horrors tore free of the ground around them. The tentacled balls of teeth were gibbering and squealing as they started to bite at everyone in the group. The wounded men, unable to defend themselves, were torn apart the moment the ambush happened. The Academy students twisted to move back-to-back as they began to cast their defensive spells. Tawny’s wand spun over her head. She twirled her wrist and a ribbon of lavender light circled around them, momentarily driving back the monstrosities. Nox summoned a glowing shield onto the back of each armored forearm, then swung her arms about to knock the foul creatures away, her magic charring their flesh as she stepped in front of Elizabeth. Darren swelled as his body took on the form of a wolfman once more, and his armor began flickering to life around him in glowing white lines.
Levi’s energy had risen the moment that bastard lion had raised his sword, and he snapped his cane out. The weapon glowed with his crimson fire, which he used to slice through the Horror closest to him. Not wanting to risk a backlash breaking his good arm, he wielded his cane like a sword—thankful for the training he had been doing with Nox. He sent spikes of energy out the tip any time he made contact with a Horror and the beasts burst like soap bubbles. A gap in the fighting showed him that most of the knights had gathered around the princess. The girl had raised a shimmering golden dome over them, and her men didn’t seem to be having trouble keeping the Horrors back from inside its protection.
Where the hell is that lion-headed bastard? he thought, just in time for a pristine white blade to try and slice him in half. “What the fuck are you doing!” he yelled at Sir Chambers as the man’s huge sword slammed into his cane and sent him skidding back over charred ground.
“My princess has declared you a demon! All demons must DIE!” the lion roared. This time when he swung his glowing sword the sheer volume of his voice seemed to cause shockwaves to tear toward Levi. He knew it had to be some kind of magic, but that didn’t make it easier to block.
The glow on his cane dimmed as he held the silver implement before him, and its energy rippled at the impact of Chambers’ attack. His boots crunched down into the soot, cratering the ground around him. Levi glared and felt his rage churning like an inferno. “You fucking kidding me? You’re going to attack me when we have monsters coming at us?” he shouted.
Levi lunged forward with his cane held out behind him and his growing spell tucked close to his stomach. He felt the energy Chambers was giving off press against him, yet all he could do was grit his teeth, even as cuts opened along his face. He thrust his fist forward, and the knob of his cane rammed into the knight’s stomach. The air rushed away from the pair and the energy detonated like a bomb, sending the lion-headed figure hurling back into a tree’s burnt husk. As the trunk shattered, Levi spun his cane around and whipped it in an arc. Crimson-and-black energy flared to form a whip and lashed in a half-circle ahead of him—every Horror it struck burst.
“Levi, look out!” Nox yelled. The Fox House student was unable to reach him; her magic had transformed into a huge scarlet hammer and she was smashing any Horror that came to close to Tawny and Elizabeth. Tawny herself was casting an intricate spell, weaving a circle of magic as she focused on a larger shape looming out of the shadows.
Levi spun in the direction Nox was looking just in time to see a half-dozen ivory blades flying through the air at him. Those attacks drove through his magic, one striking him in the abdomen. Levi coughed and tasted blood in his mouth as his eyes narrowed at the figure who had thrown the attack. Sir Chambers was breathing hard, and he hurled his shield aside as he charged Levi with his blade gripped in both hands. Chambers’ leonine jaws opened in a roar, exposing all of his fangs as he rushed toward Levi.
Flix swooped down and suddenly blasted the knight in the back with her blue-white plasma. The dragonet let out a fierce, crystalline sound as she released her rage. Her stomach glowed with her flames when she sent several more bolts into the back of the warrior, causing him to tumble. Levi didn’t give him a chance to get back up. His injured arm was tucked over his stomach to try and staunch the bleeding, but his good hand thrust his cane out—a ball of crimson energy glowed with black flames on the tip.
“Get FUCKED!” Levi roared as he launched the ball of condensed power, forgetting all about incantations in his pain. The sphere crackled as it streaked through the air, and when it hit Chambers’ prone form an explosion of black fire shrieked toward the heavens and shook the forest around them. Levi dropped to his knees as his energy drained and immediately felt exhaustion rise up inside him. Zuzan climbed out of his pocket and jumped to his shoulder, her soft fur rubbing his throat as she clung to him.
Levi swayed while the air around him grew dim and his vision faded. He saw shapes moving all around him, the armored form of Nox distinct in the way the light of her magic illuminated her armor. Tawny’s spell caused flashes of lavender to explode all over the impromptu battlefield and Horrors all around her detonated. Darren loomed over Levi, a huge shape with fur lit by his own glowing power. The figure raised an arm and Levi knew things were ending for him.
Levi heard someone scream, and then Darren’s armored form shifted as the canid blocked the attack of a thick black tentacle. The wolfman snarled when his magic-enhanced claws tore the limb away. Then the canid was moving past Levi and leaving carnage in his wake, ripping into the Horrors that were closing on them. Nox moved to Levi’s other side and her steps were fluid and beautiful as she transformed her magic into different weapons to shatter the monsters. Tawny and Elizabeth dropped to either side of Levi, and he almost screamed when Tawny’s wand pressed into the hole in his side. It felt like the magic was grasping his blood and attempting to force it back into the wound.
Elizabeth pulled his mouth open and poured one healing potion after another between his lips while Zuzan massaged his throat to try and encourage him to swallow. The chittering squirrel stared up at him with round black eyes. Flix circled above them, and blue flashed up and down her throat as she cast her plasma at any of the Horrors that came too close. Levi tried to tighten his fingers around his cane, only to realize he had dropped it. He hissed in agony the moment Elizabeth started wrapping glowing bandages around his side. Levi vaguely wondered when he had lost his shirt and coat. His senses were starting to sharpen again, and as he came to, he saw that the Horrors surrounding them were larger. The knights had abandoned them completely. They were gathered around the princess and escorting her backwards, away from the Academy members. Her glowing shield burned any Horror that touched it, yet she made no effort to actually help anyone. Levi saw a torn figure move to join them and his eyes widened when he saw it was Sir Chambers. The man’s armor was shattered to pieces and Levi glanced over a back covered in tan fur. The knight was limping and his sword barely glowed, but he seemed likely to recover.
Just seeing Chambers caused Levi to burn with fury and he felt power rising inside of him once again. The desire to immolate… to shatter everything around him grew. His eyes cast a pink glow over Tawny and Elizabeth as they tried to get him bandaged properly. Nox cried out in pain as a huge Horror knocked her down. The thing loomed over her armored form as she bounced over the ground.
Levi raised a hand. “Burn!” he announced, his fingers clasping into a fist. His voice resonated with a volume of hatred he hadn’t realized he contained.
The Horror suddenly erupted in flames that washed over all of them and reignited the charred trees around them. Somehow none of the Academy students were harmed, though the princess and her knights were sent flying far enough away that Levi lost track of them. He turned his head to look around yet saw nothing. No sign of Horrors, and no sign of the princess and her knights. Darren was helping Nox to her feet and Tawny was staring at him in awe. Elizabeth looked at him like she had no idea what he was.
Zuzan let out a quiet chirp and Levi felt her stroking his cheek with her paw. His weight shifted as Flix came down onto his shoulder and let out a triumphant series of chiming notes. The dragonet preened as she held her head up, waiting to be scratched. Levi took in the people still within the clearing, his energy levels dropping like a stone. Before he could formulate a response, his consciousness started to fade. Blackness formed at the edges of his vision, then he collapsed.
Tawny caught him before he could fall face down in the charred soil, and then Elizabeth cast another spell over him, the pair working to keep the Demon Lord alive. His awareness of everything vanished once more and the black took him, leaving him unconscious and helpless. The last thing Levi heard as his mind retreated into the darkness was Tawny’s voice.
“It’s okay, master, you saved us. We’ll get you safely back to the Academy, don’t you worry. You can rest now.”
The promise of safety soothed him as he lost himself, yet the darkness was all too brief. Levi woke to pain, his side feeling like it was burning. He hunched forward, but straps seemed to be holding him down on a padded table. His attempts to get to his feet were prevented by heavy restraints that glowed with powerful magics. The next moment, a cold wet cloth was pressed down over his forehead.
“That’s enough of that, young man. I won’t have you undoing all of my hard work by flailing around like a brainless eel. You settle back and let me work,” came a cool voice, almost disdainful… but not. Levi suddenly recognized the voice, and he heard the faint, motherly tones hidden behind pretended contempt.
“I owe you an apology for my reaction when I first arrived, Ms. Silvia,” he said. He tried to say that, at least—the words came out a croak and he realized his throat was incredibly dry. The pink shape looming over him took care of that, however—one tentacle slipped a small ice cube between his lips so the water could trickle down his throat as it melted.
“Never mind that nonsense. Every student who gets reincarnated here says something stupid the first time they come to the infirmary, that is just how it goes. Not every student shows up with a hole punched straight through them by a divine blade though. You’ve claimed the prize for the strangest wound I’ve had to treat this term,” the eldritch nurse murmured as she washed him with several cool rags.
Levi gave up trying to keep track of her limbs. He didn’t have his glasses on, so everything was a blur. He appreciated that she was helping him feel clean, however—his skin felt amazing after she scoured the grit and grime off him. “Did the others make it back safe?” he asked, his throat feeling slightly better.
“That’s a good lad, asking over his friends. Poor Vardis was the only casualty among the Academy members who left. The rest of them came back with just a few bumps and bruises, nothing the medical serums I provided couldn’t fix up. You, however, managed to get yourself mostly dead, and if it wasn’t for the quick thinking of house mistress Goldenrod and young Ms. Zephyr, you’d be gone,” Silvia announced with a hint of approval.
Levi felt tension drain away—no one else had died. “That’s good… I think I’ll rest now,” he murmured.
He vaguely heard Silvia laughing as he faded back to sleep. He woke several times, each time in pain. It took him a while to get his energy back up enough to remain conscious for long, but he did come to realize that several individuals had been taking turns visiting him. Nox, Glint, and Beatrice were often there bringing him news and making sure he knew that Flix and Zuzan were okay. His animal companions were staying with Nox at the moment, though apparently it had taken some work to get them to leave Levi’s side. He gradually learned that the survivors of the airships had been gathered by a second flotilla of Costilian airships after the emperor had returned.
He was less thrilled to find out that Princess Veronica was going to be attending school at the Academy, escorted by a squad of warriors. Tawny dropped by several times to make sure he was healing well and to help him stay abreast of his homework. The dark elf was remarkably good at putting things in a way he understood. With her help and the help of Nox, he managed to pass all of his technical papers from his room in the infirmary. His wounds were healing well, though the blade had done some serious damage and it was going to take a while before he was up to running around and trying to pass practical exams.
After three weeks, when they finally allowed him to move back into his room in the Raven House tower, he was ecstatic. He felt overjoyed to have Zuzan and Flix framing his neck once more, the pair curling against him and producing noises that reflected their own happiness. Nox brought him a tray full of cupcakes and watched him like a hawk until he’d eaten at least two of them. Only after he had was she willing to have some for himself. He couldn’t help thinking she might set out to assassinate Sir Chambers when she realized it would be a while before they could have fun in bed.
Tawny informed him that once he was feeling stronger, he had to join the Director for a meeting in their office. Apparently, the Empire had made a fuss over the events that marked the princess’s rescue, so the Director wanted to speak with him about it.
Levi didn’t relish the sensation that he was being called to the principal’s office for a scolding.
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