Killing the Clacking Centipede had been the end-goal for the Beast even before the corruption.

Lea Gilligan was a Beast expert and part of that was knowing that not all Beasts can be pacified without killing. Not all Beasts can be 'reasoned' with.

Nature operates on a balance and for every terrifying-looking creature with a soft side—like the Bulcroc—there is also a terrifying-looking creature whose entire reason to exist is to kill. Hell, there are some cute and cuddly ones who would kill if given the chance just as there are those who just want to be loved.

Suffice to say, the Clacking Centipede was meant to be stumbled upon and then killed to teach this message to the students who happen upon its 'habitat'. As such, Lea didn't mind that the Beast had been slain. She did mind though that the uneasy feeling in her chest had yet to go away.

And sure enough, after the trio seemed to exchange words, with Delia even looking right at the Recording Crystal as though she were speaking to her sister directly, which she may as well have been doing because Cynthia was paying attention, a swirling vortex of ominous energy appeared a few feet away from them.

…

•••

-Inside the Lochxen Forest-

"What do you mean they're here for you?" Delia asked.

Caius said nothing. He knew Aurelius had said that on an impulse and not even he truly understood what he was talking about. He did know it was the absolute truth though.

And then a surge of energy spilled out from the vortex, slamming all three of them, and causing their knees to tremble while swarming them with the need to recoil.

It said a lot for their will that all three only took a step back. As the energy persisted, Delia was about to step back even more, when Caius spoke to her.

"Reach for 'it'," he said.

They were still being watched and all they said could be heard by anyone who decided to tune in to their section of the Mid-Semester Test. Which, let's be honest, after what they just faced—a Clacking Centipede with horns made of ominous aura—might as well be everyone. Every student, every Lochxen Professor— Every Parent.

There were things Caius still wished to keep to himself and would rather not blurt them out. No matter how much the Aura shook him.

Fortunately, Delia understood him.

After all, there really were only two things about her that Caius would speak so vaguely about. And since she doubted calling inactive muscles to action with the Von Helsing Regimen would help against what had been said to be Demonic Energy, Delia knew there was only one thing left it could be.

When he gave her the Arcane Circle that gave her the Divine Seed she now reached out to, Caius had made it clear how important it was for it to remain their secret.

A trickle of Divine energy spread through her, alleviating some of the pressure that had borne down on her and she managed to keep her recoil to a single step.

A hand stretched out of the edge of the vortex then.

It was a light crimson color, tipped at the end with dark claws that tore at the ground as though looking for something to grip and help hoist itself out of the hole it was in.

Veins popped out of the back of the hand and they flexed in a motion that twisted Delia's insides. But she couldn't look away. Neither could Caius nor Aurelius.

They also didn't act.

Not one of them got the idea to strike first and maybe destroy the creature before it could complete its ascension. They were just stuck watching, horrified.

And then, they were forced to look away when a column of Demonic energy blasted out of the Vortex in a torrential wave that blasted their hair back and forced them to close their eyes. The thing was, even if they kept those eyes open, they wouldn't have seen anything. The column was so thick in its redness, that it obstructed everything. Including that singular light crimson hand that had surfaced.

Caius's chest ached. As did Delia's. As did Aurelius's.

The energy was far too overwhelming and the pressure forced Caius to bring to mind the passage where this happened in the original story and as he practically read through it all over again, he knew for certain…

"Something's wrong."

Aurelius had said that earlier and it seemed like Caius was just echoing it. But Aurelius had been in the dark. Caius was not. At least, he shouldn't have been.

Aurelius leading them to the Centipede? He knew it would happen. He was counting on it, even.

In the original story, Aurelius had been with Baler and Doran among whom he had been the de facto leader who led them into combat situations with Beasts and classmates alike before eventually getting them here.

At that point, they were spent and it ended up with him having to basically face the centipede alone. He survived that fight barely and was then thrust into the actual main event.

This.

Caius had avoided the weakening by asking that Aurelius only lead them to non-violent beasts. And he had known they would arrive to find the Centipede because, it would only surface to face Aurelius.

After all, when the beast emerged, it was to Aurelius that it had slithered first. Both in the original canon. And in this altered reality.

Despite how much he had caused things to change, Caius had kept a lot of this intact.

One, because he knew it couldn't be avoided. Not really anyway.

And two, because he knew if it didn't happen, it could cause a disaster of a scenario with terrifying ramifications.

So things had been kept mostly the same. Just replacing the original dead weight team members, Baler and Doran (sorry Doran), with capable ones; he and Delia. All so Aurelius could have an easier time and he(Caius) could get what he wanted out of the encounter.

So why did it feel like that wasn't going to be the case?

The aura from the column of Divine energy spread all about the entirety of the Lochxen Forest. It even caused the spinning discs floating in the air to wobble slightly even if they remained right where they were.

And then the column vanished. Along with the vortex.

And the creature that had 'struggled' to emerge now stood before them.

•••

-Back Outside-

"My gods…" Raoul said and leaned closer to the screen like he couldn't believe what he was seeing,

"Is that…?"

"A demon," Lea completed for him. Only she wasn't asking. She was telling.

It wasn't that she knew—because Demonkind were not at all commonplace in the Acheron Empire or anywhere she had adventured to—but rather, that was the only thing that made sense to call the creature.

You see that thing… and you just know.

"We have to get them out of there," Cynthia said, "Right now!"

Even as she was talking, the Combat Magic Professor was already moving. Ready to save her students, which included her sister and her… lover?, she approached the veil that demarcated the border of the Lochxen Forest and could instantly tell something was wrong.

What should have been clear and only felt, now had a visible shimmering red hue. Still transparent, but very foreboding.

She reached out to touch it and it was like touching a wall. This was how the veil should feel to anyone not granted entry. But she was allowed in there. She should be.

She did all she needed to do to get through but the veil—the corrupted veil—remained solid.

"What's wrong?" Lea asked, noticing Cynthia was still outside the Forest.

"It won't give!" Cynthia said and the frustration was clear in her tone.

Lea waved her hand to make the required gestures. Nothing changed. The red hue remained and Cynthia was still outside.

Cynthia stepped back then and a spell circle appeared, surging with the very peak of her Magical Ability, and she attacked the veil.

Her attack hit, there were tremors deep in the earth and the entirety of Lochxen was sure to have heard/felt it.

Alas, the veil remained.

Whatever was about to happen behind it, the Professors were not invited to partake.

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