John whirled around, watching as Draco began to turn into something monstrous. His jaw dropped for a moment, but he quickly regained his bearings. This wasn't the time to be loitering around.

He was still on Scholaris. If he wanted to use [Infinity] to survive, he'd get caught. His pills, he could take one of those, and—

Wait. He'd left them at home. He couldn't fight here, not in the middle of the school grounds.

School grounds. Someone would come and help him. He just had to stall for time. Turning around, he bolted away, trying to make as much distance as possible.

Behind him, Draco had transformed into some kind of monster, radiating heat and demonic energy. He was no longer recognizable as a human; instead, he was some kind of twisted orc monster, horns sprouting out the top of his head, a jewel glowing in the middle of his forehead. Claws for hands and feet, bulging muscles under red skin, glowing green eyes, he looked the part of a demon.

John grimaced as he snuck a peek behind him. This wasn't good. He had no clue as to what was going on, but he did know that this wasn't a fight he could win. The messaging system was opened just in time to send a quick message.

[Prota come help me quick you'll know where I am]

"John Quarta!" the demonized Draco roared. "You will pay!"

"Shit," John cursed, picking up his speed.

It was too late. Draco leapt forward, crashing down on the road beside John, cracking the stone path underneath. The shock of the landing knocked John off his feet, but he managed to roll and recover, getting back up instantly.

"You will pay," Draco repeated, his voice deep, rumbling like a thousand earthquakes. "This… this is the power of a noble. I will show you! It is a noble's right to stand above the rest! You do not stand on the same ground as us! You do not breathe the same air as us! We are on a different level than you!"

John grimaced. For once, his first reaction wasn't to gag at Draco's corny speech. He needed to save his breath for what was about to come.

Using [Infinity] here would be bad, but dying would be even worse. He just had to pray nobody would be around to pay attention. Well, a little bit of power wouldn't be noticeable, surely. He'd used it against Lupin, and nobody had called him out for it.

With a sigh, he withdrew his pistol, then realized it wasn't going to cut it. Putting it back in the pocket dimension, he withdrew a double-barreled shotgun and loaded two shells.

"You made me do this," hemuttered, his left eye lighting up ever so slightly.

Draco roared, spitting out hell-flames from his mouth, forcing John to dodge and roll. The heat seared his skin, but [Determination] stopped him from noticing. There was a loud bang as he fired off the first shot, but he didn't even make a dent.

"Shit!" he yelled, loading another pair of shells.

The demon laughed. "Is that all you have?! Come on, where are those pills of yours? Take one, take one!"

Shit. He knew about the pills. How? Had John somehow been careless in taking them? No, now wasn't the time to think about that.

Draco stepped forward, slashing at John, who barely got out of the way once again. Another shot, another useless attempt, and John was on the run once more.

"Come back here!" Draco yelled gleefully. "Don't you want to tell me how bad I am? Aren't you supposed to be acting all high and mighty? Prove yourself!"

"Say that when you're a human again, and then we'll talk!" John yelled back, nearly tripping over himself as he ran.

A fireball landed next to him, knocking him off his feet. He scrambled to get back up, but there was nothing to take cover behind.

"Catch!" John heard.

He barely had time to react before seeing the stone bench flying at him. There was a crack as John fired his shotgun, shattering the thing before it could crush him.

"Struggle! Run! Fear me!" Draco cried out gleefully.

The power was getting to his head, and unfortunately, John didn't have the means to stop it. He was using the bare amount of [Infinity] to survive, but what was the point when he couldn't even hurt the opponent?

Suddenly, something clicked. That jewel in Draco's head. That had to be a weak point. If only he could get to it—

"Shit!" John cursed as a fireball nearly melted him alive.

"Where's all that cockiness now?" Draco taunted. "Come on! Say something! Or are you too afraid? Have you realized the difference between me and you?"

Suddenly, a piece of debris caught John in the leg, knocking him down and crippling him. He tumbled head over heels before coming to a stop.

John watched helplessly as Draco slowly approached. It seemed the noble turned demon wasn't in a rush now that his prey was helpless. He could only hope that his message had gone through. He looked back, seeing Draco chasing him once more, and the demon was gaining ground. In just a few seconds, there'd be no more distance between the two, and—

"Go away!"

A giant block of ice smashed into Draco's head as Prota came flying in, her eyes glowing as she landed next to John. Draco roared in pain as he recoiled from the attack, holding his head as he tried to recover. Prota knelt down, using her charm to heal John's leg.

"What did you do?" she muttered, her monotone voice a little angrier than normal.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" John exclaimed. "I just played a game of Magecraft. Just some casual ragebait, you know? And then he turned into that!"

Prota glared.

"I'm serious! Do you think I would've told you to stay at home if I had anticipated this happening?!"

Draco was recovering. Their argument could wait.

"We need to take him down," John said, panting for air. "But he's pretty tough."

"Run," Prota said, but John shook his head.

"Can't. The school will get destroyed if he chases me."

Prota was surprised. John cared about something like that? He quickly understood her expression.

"No, you don't understand," John explained. "If the school gets destroyed, it'll get shut down. And if the school gets shut down, we'll get forcefully moved into the next arc. I don't know what that is, but we're not ready for it yet."

"Next arc?"

"The next- I don't know. The point is, if the school gets destroyed, we'll be pushed into a scenario we aren't prepared for, and if I don't have [Resets], then I'm not prepared for it either! We have to either stall for a teacher to come, or we have to take him down ourselves, you understand?"

John swallowed hard as he stared at Draco, who was almost fully recovered. They wouldn't get another surprise attack on him like that again.

"Based on the fact that a teacher hasn't shown up yet, they're being stalled by something. Probably another teacher," John muttered. "So it's up to us to finish this. Got it?"

Prota nodded. It was time to go all out.

John got up and began to run, acting as bait. Prota closed her eyes, feeling around for Draco's core, but to her surprise, it was almost as if there were two cores. However, the feeling wasn't like that of two souls. Instead, there was a heavy concentration of mana near Draco's forehead, kind of like the way her staff held mana.

This mana, however, felt thick, almost malicious, as if the energy itself were evil. Demonic mana. That was the only possibility. Well, it was the only option she was aware of. She didn't want any of it.

She watched as John dodged another fireball, and while her heart jumped a little, she knew better than to cry out. Her brother could handle himself. He wasn't incompetent.

Neither was she.

She formed a Blossom, then let it hover around her for later use. Summoning a volley of icicles, she fired them off, only to watch as they bounced off harmlessly. Great, another opponent with ridiculous levels of defence.

She fired off the Blossom, and while Draco's skin became coated in ice, slightly slowing down his movements, it wasn't enough. The demon roared momentarily, then melted the ice off his skin as flames coated his body.

Wonderful.

"Prota, no offence, but you need to hit him a little harder!" John yelled, dodging another blow.

She nodded, then fed mana into her nervous system, slowing down her perception of time. The wind gathered around her as a blue icicle formed, getting ready to fire off at rapid speeds. In an instant, time rushed back to normal as the spell fired off, piercing through the demon's shoulder.

Draco roared in pain, but it wasn't enough to stop him. He just kept chasing John, blinded by his rage.

"Prota! Can you slow him down?" John called out.

Draco was so enraged that he wasn't even processing the words being said. He just kept rampaging like a mindless monster.

Prota thought about John's words, then quickly went over her arsenal of spells. Blossom or Frozen Flame weren't suitable for this; those were high-damage spells. Her Frozen Bullet was good for piercing defences, not for a wide area. Plasma Disk was the same.

Then the only option was Absolute Zero. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to get it off. She was caught off guard as a fireball was sent her way. While her mana reinforcement combined with her cloak was good enough to prevent a fatal hit, it still took a lot out of her.

She cried out as she was sent tumbling back, but she was still able to cast mana recovery over and over while using her second charm of the day.

"Prota!" John cried out, but he didn't have the luxury of running to her side.

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With a cry, he fired off another round of shotgun shells, but like before, they continued to do nothing. John cursed. What the hell was he supposed to do here?

[You can fight a little stronger. Don't worry about the consequences here.]

John's eyes widened as he read Zero's message. Really? The [Author] was just letting him know, outright, that he could go all out?

"Why didn't you just say that before?" John grumbled, but his complaining didn't go any further than that.

A grin began to form on his lips as he threw the double-barrel shotgun back in his pocket dimension and pulled out a hand cannon and a new, stranger-looking double-barrel shotgun. His left eye lit up a bit more as he pushed [Infinity] to its limits.

"Great."

He fired off a round from his hand cannon, and while it didn't pierce Draco's skin, it did push his shoulder back, just a little. Encouraged, John fired off the shotgun. The blast was like that of a cannon. Draco roared in pain as he stumbled back a bit, but still, no significant damage.

But it was infinitely more than it'd been before.

"Prota! Let's go!"

Prota, fully recovered now, nodded as she closed her eyes once more. Now that John was a far more active threat, Draco couldn't afford to attack another target. John dashed around the field, switching between his two weapons as he continued to fire round after round, pushing Draco back a little at a time.

The bullets and shells were all carefully placed, hitting the shin, the knee, the shoulder, the head, throwing the newly formed demon off balance and ruining his chances to charge in for a melee attack. Like his human form, Draco continued to perform poorly when it came to accuracy, so John wasn't too worried about spells, either.

"John!" Prota yelled, her eyes glowing bright as her spell was ready to cast.

John nodded, leaping back as Prota's spell activated, chilling the very air in which Draco stood. The demon roared, trying to break free, but it couldn't help it as its muscles were chilled. Impressively, he didn't quite freeze or die, but his movements were now stiff and frigid.

"Nice work," John grinned, patting Prota on the head before going back in.

With his enhanced physique, he pushed off the ground, leaping up and climbing up the demon's arm. Pulling hard, he launched himself up, landing on Draco's shoulder.

Without another word, he shoved the shotgun barrels directly onto the crystal. This had to work.

"Please."

A loud crack rang out as John pulled the trigger, two shells worth of highly penetrative metal piercing through the weak point. Another cracking sound was paried with a violent flash of purple light as the orb shattered, blinding John as he fell back down to the ground. He managed to recover just in time, rolling to disperse the force of the landing and immediately got up, running away.

"John!" Prota cried out, but he was fine.

She, too, couldn't see, but in the end, there was no cause for alarm. John was fine aside from a few cuts and bruises, both of which could be healed in a number of ways. What was more interesting was the now bleeding noble child on the ground.

His demonic form had faded. What was left was a burnt Draco, his skin charred black, eyes bleeding as he struggled to speak. He wouldn't live.

Just like that, the fight was over.

"Prota," John said grimly. "The charm."

She nodded. She didn't like it, but if the noble died, it might cause problems they weren't ready for. A faint green light was

Nothing. Draco didn't heal.

She tried again, but once more, nothing happened. John grit his teeth. He'd wanted Draco dead, but now that it was happening…

"You… you bastards… this isn't how it should be," he wheezed.

John just sighed. "To the very end, you're going to be a whiny bitch? Yeah. That tracks, actually."

He sighed again. What a fitting end for the Wynton child. He'd been a thorn in their side for longer than John really cared for, but what mattered was that he was gone now. He didn't even have to dirty his hands; the [Plot] had done it for him. They had even tried to save him. This couldn't be pinned on him.

"No… my father told me… it is our right," Draco wheezed, reaching out. "This shouldn't… be possible. I am supposed to be… the superior."

John flinched. "Your father… what?"

"I am… a noble! We are superior to commoners… that is who we are," Draco said angrily, his voice barely audible. "So why… do you keep getting in my way?!"

The John from the Town of Beginnings would've just shot Draco there and then. But now, he felt the slightest bit of pity. Great, a child who was an asshole not by choice, but by nurture. He'd never been taught anything else.

John let out a heavy sigh. He hadn't been expecting such a long lasting feud to end so abruptly.

There was no satisfactory ending to this. Draco truly believed he was superior to others. He really believed that it was his right to trample over others. A terrible thing to believe in, but how were you supposed to convince him otherwise when he was raised like this? It was all he knew.

The problem was that it didn't excuse his actions. He'd done far too many terrible things to just be forgiven like this. All they could do was let him pass and hope this would all blow over.

And, in the end, Draco was a [Character] in a fictional world. His death, ultimately, would not mean much.

But then again, by the same logic, his actions hadn't meant much either.

"So your dad raised you this way?" John sighed. "I… I see."

"My father… he'll get revenge," Draco muttered. "The orb he sent me… didn't work. But he'll do something to you… and you'll regret having ever messed with me."

John just turned away. Prota closed her eyes as she felt Draco's soul fade away.

A bitter end to a two-year-long rivalry. Could it even be called that? And should it have really ended this way? John thought about it. Should he have tried to help Draco? No, that wasn't his style. Even if Draco had a sliver of hope, a smidge of redemption, he probably wouldn't have tried to take it. Redeemed villains were nice, but they weren't John's thing.

Suddenly, he began to feel rage build up in his heart. What a piss poor, lukewarm ending. It was neither heartwarming nor satisfying. There was no revenge. There was no justice. Nor was there redemption and reconciliation.

There was just… whatever the fuck this was

He yelled out in rage, momentarily scaring Prota.

"Damn!" he cursed, throwing his gun to the ground.

[Determination activates! New limit: x10000000]

Now that he thought about it, Draco had probably evoked some kind of emotion out of the [Readers]. Probably hatred. They'd probably wished for his death, his execution, much like he had.

But then again, John hated to play judge and jury. He was just the executioner. He killed if he wanted to, not caring about whether the death was justified. But now that someone he wanted dead was actually dead, he couldn't help but feel a little pity. Did Draco truly deserve to die? Was death the best possible option for someone like him?

Was it really "right" to kill Draco?

Well, he couldn't do anything about it now.

"John," Prota said quietly.

John looked at her. Objectively, she'd suffered far more. He wasn't sure how long Draco had been blackmailing her, but he'd been in her way far longer than he'd been in John's way. Draco was just an annoyance to John.

He was far more than that to Prota.

Yet, even still, she too looked at him with pity. Something about the circumstances just made the situation a little sombre. Draco had never been that evil.

Well, in hindsight, he'd been a pretty terrible person. But compared to Doctor, Diaboli and the Demon Cultists, he simply wasn't that much of a threat. He'd simply been painted as the more terrible being, simply because he'd been around longer.

Was it really fair? For the [Author] to do that to someone like Draco?

John sighed, sitting on the ground. There was no point in getting philosophical about something like that. Draco was dead. That was good. That was all that mattered.

"Hey, hold on," John frowned. "Did he just say his dad sent him an orb?"

Emotions forgotten, he scanned the area, ignoring Draco's body. Unfortunately, there was no orb to be found. The pill Draco had taken was broken, shattered by John's shotgun blast.

"Pill?" Prota said, confused.

"He mentioned taking a pill or something. There was also this weird orb in his forehead; it was a weak point. If I could find it…"

Prota's eyes widened. "In the forehead?"

"Yeah, why do you say that?"

Prota shook her head. "It had demonic mana. Not a soul, but… strong. A lot of mana."

John raised an eye. "Demonic mana? And he said his father sent it to him…"

He sat on the ground, letting out a sigh as he let [Infinity] drop back down to zero. With no power to fuel him, he was exhausted.

"What the fuck is going on?" he muttered. "It doesn't have anything to do with the tournament. Why here? Why now? How does this fit into the plot? Or maybe… it doesn't?"

Prota sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the future to come. They'd be going through something again, and it seemed it'd be far more dangerous than whatever they'd done at the casino.

"Shit," John cursed, snapping Prota back to her senses. "What do, what do… seriously, what the hell do we do now? Tell Destiny and leave it at that?"

That would be the wise decision to make. Leave the mess to the hero. John had an inkling that Destiny was originally meant to deal with this mess anyway. It wasn't uncommon for a story like this to have some kind of corrupt noble interlude.

But on the other hand, he wasn't satisfied. He'd killed Draco, yes, but there'd been very little satisfaction. In the end, like he'd told both Kit and Olivia, it was the living who suffered and the dead who were at rest. Now that Draco was dead, he effectively no longer existed. John, on the other hand, was still capable of thinking, and he didn't like that he could do so.

Draco had been a terrible person, yes. But his parents were even worse. John still hadn't forgotten about the noble who had put a hit on him all those years ago.

It was time for revenge.

"Prota," John said quietly, casting one more look at Draco's corpse. "If I said I was going to do something stupid, would you stop me?"

Prota hesitated. Normally, she would've said yes, but something about the way John asked his question made her think. This had something to do with Draco. It had to be. There was no other reason for John to ask this question.

And if that was the case, then at the moment, she, too, wanted to do something stupid.

"Not now," John continued. "Later. But… just me and you. No Destiny. No Kit. None of our friends. Just me and you. What do you think?"

Prota sighed. She wanted to say no, but found that she didn't have it in her. Part of her wanted to play along, and the other part of her didn't want to argue with John. Either way, she definitely wouldn't pass up an opportunity to go on an adventure with him.

"Nn," she nodded.

Suddenly, there was the sound of running. John and Prota both snapped up, scanning the area for the source of the sound. The footsteps were light yet rapid, like an animal dashing through the woods.

"What happened here?"

Hikari Dormier, head of the Magic Circle class, came to a smooth stop, scanning the area in the dim lighting provided.

John suppressed a grimace. Of all the professors, Hikari made him the most cautious. The cat Mystic had a different appearance every time he saw them, although they kept their cat ears and tail to let students know it was them. Hikari's personality matched their chaotic appearance, too. Always tricky with their words, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes not, and it was impossible to tell between the two.

John liked reading about these characters. He wasn't a fan of dealing with them. They made things harder for him.

"Draco Wynton turned into some kind of monster," John said, trying to look as fatigued as he felt. "I challenged him to a game of Magecraft, and I won. I might've… taunted him a little, and then he took some kind of pill and turned into this demon-like thing."

"A demon-like thing?" Hikari frowned. "How… interesting. And if that's the case, then where is this demon? And why is your classmate on the ground, dead?"

John frowned. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't see the huge burn marks, giant craters and claw marks all over the place."

"That is true. But those are entirely possible to create in a fight without a sort of demonic manifestation."

"And why would we even be doing that?" John pointed out. "And which one of us can make this many craters like this?"

"...I understand." Hikari sniffed, closing their eyes. "I do sense a faint trace of demonic mana in the air. Did Mister Wynton tell you how he acquired this pill, by any chance?"

"Something about his father giving it to him," John muttered. "He didn't really say anything else, though."

"I see," Hikari nodded. "Well, hopefully we can find the messenger who delivered it to him. You two go to the infirmary and rest up. You'll need to give an official statement tomorrow. A messenger will arrive to take you to the headmaster's office."

John wanted to argue, but Prota put her hand over his mouth. They'd just gotten off easy. Whether it was a gift from the [Author] or something else, they didn't know, but it was better to just accept it.

Hikari left without a sound, vanishing as quickly as they'd come. John let out a sigh of relief, falling back and sitting on the ground.

"Thank god the cat believed us," John muttered. "Now, what next…?"

~~~

"Sir," the servant said, carrying an envelope in his hands. "A letter for you."

"I believe I made it clear I was not to be disturbed," Emotor Wynton growled.

"The envelope is… that, sir. The ones you told us demanded the utmost attention."

That got the noble's attention. He took it from the servant's hand, then shooed him off, tearing at the golden paper.

He scanned the contents, his brows furrowing more and more as he consumed the contents of the letter. His face began to turn red with rage as he finished.

"My son?! Killed, by commoners?! Even with the pill I sent him!"

A hooded man appeared from the shadow of a pillar, gliding forward.

"My liege," the strange man muttered. "I explained to you that the demonic mana pill was in its experimental stage."

"You said it would give my son power. An almost tenfold increase in strength," Emotor growled.

"And that it did. All this means is that his opponents were… stronger."

"Impossible! You told me that we nobles would rule the world after the war! That we had been chosen by the Demon King to control the mindless masses!"

"And that you did. But with the rise of the Demon King comes the rise of the hero. And the hero is not one to underestimate."

Emotor wanted to argue, but he couldn't. He just mumbled to himself, burning the letter and sitting back down on his throne.

"Did you ever find out what happened to that girl and that bartender?" the hooded man continued. "The girl, especially."

"I did not," Emotor muttered. "It is as if they do not exist anymore."

"That is good. We cannot have someone impersonating a demon. As long as they are gone, you have done the job I set out for you."

Emotor just sighed. His son was supposed to be special. All his life, Emotor had raised Draco to use his power to the most he could. How could this have happened?

"That being said, my liege, we should expect guests soon."

The head of the Wynton household snapped back to attention.

"What do you mean?" he said cautiously.

"Well, there are a few individuals who might know that this household is involved in… some interesting business. It may be time to implement some changes."

"You mean-"

"Yes."

At that, Emotor grinned.

"Very good. You may begin."

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