Chapter 84: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 84

"This is a demonic beast," said Dwight, pointing at the small worm-like creature wriggling in Rhea’s brain.

The school nurse mumbled in disbelief, "A demonic beast... It can't be... There shouldn't be any demonic beasts inside the barrier..."

Dwight responded to the question. "Judging by the detected amount of demonic energy, it seems to be in an extremely weakened state. This means it didn’t originate inside the barrier but came from outside. Even demonic beasts can enter the barrier if they can tolerate being weakened. The problem is..."

"No matter how weak it is, we can't just mess with something inside a person's brain..." Eve said, grimacing.

The brain is the most sensitive and important organ in the human body. Even a small injury can cause significant issues, making it difficult to handle the demonic beast lodged in Rhea’s brain, despite its weakened state. Eve looked at the demonic beast wriggling inside Lea's brain with a hardened expression.

"...At any rate, there's only one entity capable of handling demonic beasts, so it's clear now. They must have used some method to control Rhea through this demonic beast. Given that it’s inside her brain, that’s the only plausible explanation."

Hearing this, I said to Eve, "That means people controlled by the witch will have demonic beasts in their brains. The scratch-like wounds on the necks of those who were controlled could be due to these creatures."

"If they’re scratching their necks because of these things in their heads, then yes. We need to find people with these neck wounds and remove the demonic beasts from their brains somehow. But what if the demonic energy leaks out if we kill the beasts with magic?"

At that moment, Leonor, who had been listening to Eve, exclaimed in surprise.

"...Wait, wait a minute. Does that mean anyone with those neck wounds can be controlled?"

"Senior, is something wrong?" I asked Leonor, whose face had turned pale. She answered in a trembling voice.

"...I saw similar wounds this morning in our class."

The moment Leonor said that, a commotion erupted outside the cafeteria.

"Careful not to make the wound worse!"

"Quick, move them to the cafeteria!"

A group of students rushed into the cafeteria, urgently carrying a student who was bleeding profusely and had numerous stab wounds all over their body.

Seeing their gruesome appearance, it was clear they had almost certainly been fatally wounded.

The witch had controlled someone else to try to kill this student.

"Teacher! Please save them! It looks like they were stabbed by someone!"

"Carefully lay them on the ground! Hey! Stay with us!"

As the school nurse ran toward the groaning student, who was still barely alive, I made eye contact with Eve.

I could tell what she was thinking.

We needed to find the controlled person before more victims appeared.

Eve looked at Leonor and asked, "Who are they? The ones with the neck wounds."

Leonor answered, "It's not just one person."

With a serious expression, she stood up and added, "...It’s ‘people’."

---

While wandering around the school, checking every corner, I spotted a group of male students talking near the stairs.

Seeing a familiar face among them, I checked my reflection in the window.

My face was stiff.

This wouldn’t do, so I took a deep breath and muttered inwardly.

Control your expression. Control your expression.

I pulled the corners of my mouth up into a fairly convincing smile.

Satisfied, I approached the male students with the smile still on my face.

One of the male students, staring at me as I approached, spoke up.

"Hey, you look like a first-year. Do you have business with us?"

Fortunately, the student who spoke was my target.

He was looking at me warily.

To ease his suspicion, I kept my smiling face and answered, "Yes, you’re Richard from Class 2-B, right? I’m Scarlet Evande from Class 1-A. I have something to discuss with you."

"Something to discuss?"

Richard seemed flustered at being addressed by name, but my smile seemed to have lowered his guard a bit.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and walked right up to Richard, grabbing his arm.

Standing close, the height difference was noticeable and a bit unpleasant, but I had no choice if I wanted to prevent him from escaping.

Looking up at Richard, I asked, "Can we talk privately for a moment?"

"Uh, sure."

Richard, clearly nervous, quickly agreed.

I was relieved he didn’t refuse.

As I turned, holding his arm, I heard the other male students muttering behind us.

"No way... How did Richard get such a cute girl?"

"Damn, I thought I’d get a girlfriend before that guy."

For some reason, Richard’s steps grew more confident.

I led Richard to a deserted landing.

Once there, Richard, seeming nervous, asked in a trembling voice, "Um, why are we here...?"

"Could you lower your head for a moment?" I asked, pulling his collar down.

Then, I began to unbutton his shirt, which was buttoned all the way to the top.

Richard, startled, stammered, "W-wait, it’s not even after school yet. Someone might see..."

Ignoring his protest, I continued unbuttoning his shirt until his neck was exposed. Richard, blushing, closed his eyes.

Confirming the wound on his neck, I raised my right hand and lit a flame.

It was the prearranged signal.

Lighting the flame meant I had confirmed the wound.

A flash of light appeared from the stairwell above.

"Ugh!"

Richard let out a strange scream and rolled his eyes as a sphere of light hit his head from above.

I caught him as he collapsed and checked his condition.

I hoped his head was alright.

I shouted towards the stairwell above, "Sylvia, did you control your strength properly?"

"I’m not used to knocking people out, but it should be fine. I made sure he’d be thoroughly unconscious to prevent any danger to you, Scarlet. Well, he seems okay on the outside," Sylvia mumbled, looking down at the unconscious Richard.

Her words were a bit unsettling, but I trusted her not to hurt people easily, so I was reassured.

Leonor had said there were three students in her class with neck wounds.

I had taken down one with Sylvia, who had come along out of concern.

I was worried about what might happen if they were suddenly controlled, but fortunately, we subdued him without incident.

Rushing back to the cafeteria, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Yoon Si-woo and Leonor, who had gone to subdue the other two, had also returned safely and were already there.

The two students they had brought lay inside glowing magic circles.

It was likely a restraint magic circle drawn in advance by Dwight, who had been waiting in the cafeteria.

With the circles in place, nothing would happen even if they woke up.

I laid Richard inside a magic circle and asked Leonor, "Senior, did anything happen when you went to get them?"

"No, I just called them out from among the others and knocked them out," she replied.

When Leonor nodded, I asked the same question to Yoon Si-woo.

He gave a similar answer.

I sighed and muttered, "Damn it, then that means there are more people like this."

The newly injured student had been brutally stabbed all over their body.

There would have been a significant amount of blood spatter from such an attack.

But the three people we had just subdued were clean, not a drop of blood on them.

Moreover, since they were with other students, it was unlikely they had committed the attack.

We had only captured students from Leonor’s class, 2nd Year B.

I had suspected that there might be others with neck wounds in other classes and among the teachers, and it seemed I was right.

At that moment, Eve returned to the cafeteria after searching for such people.

Her expression was much more serious than when she left.

"I never imagined there would be this many..."

She muttered as she snapped her fingers, and more people appeared on the cafeteria floor.

We all fell silent at the sight.

Over ten students.

All of them had neck wounds, and one of them had blood stains on their uniform from somewhere.

Including the students we brought in earlier, there were now fifteen in total.

The fact that so many people could be controlled was terrifying.

In the midst of our shock, Dwight's voice broke the silence.

"...Wait, who brought this person in?"

Dwight, who had been checking the demonic beasts in the students' brains, stopped in front of one student.

It was none other than Richard.

When Sylvia and I stepped forward in response, Dwight said something unexpected.

"Everyone else has demonic beasts in their brains, but this person doesn’t."

Sylvia was visibly flustered.

"...Could it be that he had neck wounds but no demonic beast in his brain?"

Dwight answered with a confused look.

"...The neck wound looks too similar to the others for that. Did anything unusual happen during the capture?"

"Not really, we just knocked him out and brought him here..."

I recalled the process of bringing Richard in.

We called him out, confirmed the neck wound, gave the signal, and Sylvia cast a spell on his head...

Then, a memory flashed through my mind.

"Sylvia, wait a moment. Can you use a spell on a person with a demonic beast in their brain? Like the mental stabilization spell you used on me before. Doctor, would that be okay?"

I asked the exhausted school nurse for permission, and she slowly nodded.

A glowing sphere appeared in Sylvia’s hand and was absorbed into the head of a student lying in the magic circle.

I pointed to that student and asked Dwight, "Can you check again?"

Dwight examined the student's head and then muttered in amazement.

"...The demonic beast is gone. Completely."

"How is that possible?" Sylvia asked, surprised at her own actions.

"Your spirit has the ability to suppress and purify demonic energy, right? If the demonic beast is small and weakened, a little contact with that power might be enough to eliminate it. You did use an attack spell on his head earlier."

I was relieved that I remembered the incident when Jessie had started scratching her neck during dinner. Sylvia had used the mental stabilization spell, and Jessie had calmed down. If we hadn’t taken that action, Jessie might have been controlled.

After some thought, Dwight placed his hand on another student's head and then spoke with relief.

"I tried it just in case, but it seems normal purification magic works too. We can cure them quickly."

"Really? Thank goodness..."

One by one, we started using purification magic to remove the demonic beasts from the students' brains, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But for some reason, I couldn’t relax.

A lingering feeling of unease persisted, but I couldn't figure out why.

As I pondered, I noticed Eve taking out her phone and making a call.

She held the phone to her ear, then looked puzzled and put it away. She approached me and asked, "Evande, can I borrow your phone for a moment?"

I handed her my phone, but after examining it for a moment, she shook her head and handed it back.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I was trying to contact someone outside the school to see if there were any problems, but I can't make a call. It keeps saying there's no signal. Could it be because of the rain?"

Listening to her, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

No signal.

Then I realized the source of my unease and asked Eve in a trembling voice, "...If someone suddenly can't do something they normally could, they'd notice, right? Like not being able to make a call right now."

Eve, puzzled, looked at where I was staring and her face turned pale.

I was looking at the people purifying the demonic beasts.

If someone suddenly couldn't control the people they were manipulating, they would realize it.

If the person who had been killing to avoid detection realized they were discovered, what would they do?

I didn’t want to imagine, but I had a feeling I knew.

The phone screen showed no signal.

It couldn't just be the rain.

Something must have happened to the base station.

Eve ran to the cafeteria window and threw it open.

Heavy rain was pouring down, and through the downpour, the city was faintly visible.

Fifteen people in the school, including James and Rhea.

How many in the city?

The sound of the rain echoed.

Raindrops.

Raindrops.

Screams.

---

Hmm, I thought I was being careful not to get caught.

I went through the trouble of getting new toys, but now they might break quickly.

I was told not to get too excited, but it’s not my fault.

I really hate it when others ruin my fun.

Guess I'll just have to play to my heart's content.

Alright, kids.

[Run wild.]

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