Leon walked through the forest alone.
Serafina, who was usually by his side, was nowhere to be found. Since she wasn’t a student, she hadn’t been permitted to enter the grounds.
The sensation of loneliness never reached him.
Nothingness.
His heart, having been stripped of all emotion, remained in that state perpetually. He simply accepted the facts of his reality with cold detachment.
Furthermore, her absence didn't pose any particular problem for his combat effectiveness.
Just before he had departed the Academy, Serafina had bestowed the Blessing of the Holy Heaven upon him. It was a special variant—weaker than her usual enchantments, but modified to last for an extended duration.
"It will place a burden on your body, but the current Leon-sama should have no trouble enduring it," she had told him, sending him off with absolute conviction.
As he ventured deeper into the woods, he stumbled upon a pair of Trolls. They were massive creatures standing over two meters tall, boasting immense strength and potent regenerative abilities.
The monsters lunged at him, swinging clubs that resembled gnarled lumps of timber.
Leon’s heart remained as still as a stagnant pool.
Expressionless and devoid of feeling, he closed the distance and unleashed his blade. Slash, slash, slash, slash! A tempest of steel carved through the walls of muscle, shredding their hearts in a heartbeat.
The Trolls’ massive frames slumped into the dirt before their regeneration could even begin to knit their wounds.
As Leon stared down at the motionless carcasses, he felt neither elation nor excitement.
It wasn't because they were mere fodder he was expected to defeat.
It was simply that he was missing the capacity for emotion.
However, that wasn't necessarily a disadvantage. Because his judgment was never clouded by hesitation, his reactions—both offensive and defensive—operated at peak efficiency. Even without Serafina’s buff, the outcome against enemies of this level would have likely been identical.
Then—
He sensed a presence lurking in the shadows of the trees.
Leon fixed his gaze on the spot.
There was no response.
As soon as Leon clicked his sword into a ready stance, a male student emerged with both hands raised in the air. "Wait, wait! Don’t attack!"
"...S-sorry, I was just curious. You’re incredible, Leon. I’m no slouch against Trolls myself, but I’m stunned you could take them down so fast."
The Leon of the past would have likely offered a friendly smile or a bit of small talk, but no such impulse existed within him now.
He didn't even grant the boy a reply. He simply turned his back and walked away.
He found no value in the conversation.
Leon had only one thing on his mind—killing the Demon King. To achieve that, he had to be designated as the Key of the Subjugation Unit.
(I don't intend to lose.)
To prove his worth, Leon vanished into the depths of the forest.
In a clearing elsewhere in the woods, Aristia found herself surrounded by three Forest Wolves.
They were dangerous creatures, far more vicious than ordinary wolves due to their nature as magic beasts. They growled at her, saliva dripping from between their bared fangs.
"Grrrrrr!"
"Uhehehe~ You’re so cute."
Aristia stopped and spread her arms wide toward the wolves, a beaming smile on her face.
"Come here, come here!"
"Gugaa!"
The bloodthirsty wolves lunged at her—
Thirty minutes later, the clearing had been transformed into a paradise for monsters.
Aristia sat on the ground with a Forest Wolf—whose eyes had been bloodshot only moments ago—frolicking in her lap. The other wolves were playfully chasing each other around her. In fact, their numbers had grown; there were now five of them.
It wasn't just wolves, either.
Goblins and Orcs had gathered as well, dancing around Aristia and singing clumsy, tuneless songs in high spirits. Trolls clapped along to the rhythm, while an Iron Claw Bear rolled lazily on the grass nearby.
"Everyone looks like they're having so much fun."
The monsters let out pleased cries in response.
It was exceedingly rare for monsters of different species to interact this closely. Monsters were bundles of pure hostility; they never lowered their guard or abandoned their enmity toward anyone outside their own pack.
However, there were those who could command them—
The Demon Race.
Demons possessed the power to subjugate and employ magic beasts. But even then, they merely enforced orders; they could never produce an effect of this magnitude.
This was, quite literally, the Demon King’s Authority.
Aristia tilted her head as she watched the monsters play.
"...Hmm, but this is a bit of a problem."
She pulled the magic tool used for counting subjugated beasts from her pocket. The number engraved on it was a flat zero.
"I was supposed to earn points, wasn't I?"
The idea of a Demon King striving to become the "Key" for her own subjugation was utterly nonsensical, but Aristia didn't bother questioning it. She simply didn't care enough.
However, she did remember that points were a requirement.
"Hmm... I guess I have to kill them."
The moment she spoke, Aristia’s violet eyes deepened into a dark, abyssal navy for a fleeting second.
The reaction from the monsters was instantaneous and horrific.
The Troll’s club, which had been keeping a rhythmic beat, suddenly came down and crushed the singing Goblin into a pulp. After obliterating the Goblin, the Trolls turned on each other in a murderous frenzy. The Forest Wolves that had been playing tag bared their teeth and began a ruthless slaughter of their companions. Even the wolf that had been using Aristia’s lap as a pillow bounded up and lunged at the remaining Goblins.
Bestial roars and dying screams filled the air as flesh tore and blood sprayed. The vibrant green meadow was quickly defiled by chunks of meat and gore.
In the blink of an eye, the paradise had become a blood-soaked hellscape.
Aristia remained seated.
"Wow, incredible! Go for it!"
She clapped her hands happily, appearing to enjoy the carnage from the bottom of her heart. Every time a magic beast fell, the count on her magic tool ticked upward.
"Ooh~ It’s going up!"
She giggled with a high-pitched "kerakera." Finally, when the last two Trolls simultaneously crushed each other's skulls with their clubs, the counter stopped.
The number 23 was now etched into the tool.
"Uhehehe, thank you everyone, okay?"
Standing up slowly amidst the heavy stench of iron and death, Aristia spoke to the corpses.
(Still, it’s strange... I feel like there are way too many monsters here.)
It would have been one thing if they were within the territory of the Demon King’s Castle, but there were far too many of them for a region so close to human civilization.
She was curious, but—
(Well, whatever.)
Aristia was the sort of person who lost interest in anything that wasn't magic. Even thinking was a chore.
But just as she prepared to move on to the next area—
A surge of bloodlust erupted.
The air shrieked as a Black Light Bullet tore through the clearing. Aristia stepped aside with a casual dodge; the projectile whistled past her and slammed into a tree, gouging out half the trunk in a violent explosion.
(Well, it’s not like I didn't notice you.)
Something radiating intense murderous intent had appeared in the tree line almost the exact moment the magic beasts were wiped out. She had intended to move on while pretending not to notice because dealing with it seemed like a hassle, but it appeared they weren't going to let her walk away.
"Tch. I missed?"
"Don't be so sloppy."
Two men stepped out from the shadows of the trees.
They looked to be in their mid-twenties—certainly not students of the Academy. Teachers, perhaps? If they were, their disheveled clothing suggested a serious lack of professional standards.
But more importantly—
The sclera of their eyes, which should have been white, were stained pitch black, and their irises glowed a vivid crimson. They were clearly not human.
They were members of the Demon Race.
Demons were capable of disguising their eyes, but they only revealed their true forms when they recognized their target as a fellow demon—or an enemy that needed to die.
"Hold it right there. We need to have a word with you."
One of the demons called out to her, a smile like a hungry predator spreading across his face.