The first thing Brianna put on was her battle suit. She stepped into the black unitard, grimacing only slightly when she pulled it up until it fit snugly against her body. The clothing was pressing into her crotch, which always felt a little uncomfortable at first, but the fabric was at least breathable, so he didn’t have to worry about sweating. Because the unitard was sleeveless and the bottom didn’t go past the middle of her thighs, she could also wear normal clothes underneath it and no one would know she had this on.
“Now what should I wear…?”
Brianna wandered over to her dresser and began pulling out several articles of clothing. She selected a number of different outfits, which she placed over herself while standing in front of a mirror to see which one she liked better.
“Would Anthony like this one more… or would he prefer something a little more revealing…?” As she murmured to herself, Brianna realized what she was doing and shook her head. “Wh-who cares if he would like it? This isn’t about him. I just need to find a nice pair of clothes that are functional and won’t attract attention.”
Despite saying that, it still took Brianna several minutes to select what she wanted to wear. She ended up going with jeans, a white shirt with some frills along the hem, and a jean jacket with cuffs at the end of the sleeves. Looking at herself in the mirror, she ran her fingers through her hair and wondered if she should try something different. However, she had never styled her hair before…
“I guess I’ll leave it as is,” she said with a sigh.
Once dressed, the final thing she did was grab her music case and place the Geminus Sword inside. She closed the case, locked the hatches, and hefted it over her shoulder as she made her way out of her bedroom, slipped on her combat boots, and left the apartment.
There was no one in the hallway as she walked across it and stood before Anthony’s door. He was still inside. Anthony didn’t seem to realize it, but she had created a familiar to watch him, so she would know where he was at all times. This was a precaution in case she needed to find him for whatever reason.
She placed a hand on her chest and took several deep breaths, willing her erratically beating heart to slow down before she knocked on the door.
“It’s open,” Anthony’s voice came from the other side.
Brianna pressed the button that caused the door to slide open and stepped inside to find Anthony, dressed in black pants and a simple white shirt, sitting on the couch as he watched the news. She slipped out of her combat boots and set them to the side, then slowly wandered into the apartment.
“There’s a meal for you sitting on the table,” Anthony said without looking away from the holographic TV. “You haven’t eaten breakfast, right?”
“I haven’t,” Brianna confirmed as she looked at Anthony’s small table. There was a packaged meal of quiche sitting there, steam wafting from it to show it had just been cooked. She grabbed it and moved over to the couch. Only once she was sitting did she speak again. “Thank you. What are you watching? The news?”
“There’s been another attack by rogue demons,” Anthony said with a nod.
“Again?” Brianna furrowed her brow as she turned to the holographic TV, which was showing video feedback from a satellite of several demons running through the streets. It wasn’t just therianthropes this time but also succubus, vampires, and she even saw a couple of dryads among them. They were all low-level variations, though. For example, she couldn’t see any pureblood vampires among them. “There have been a lot of rogue demons showing up. Is this natural on Academy Island?”
“Of course not,” Anthony said with a shake of his head. “Academy Island strictly regulates demons entering and exiting at all times. In all the years since its founding, there has never been an incident like this. I really have to wonder what’s going on. What are the Academy Island Private Security Forces doing?”
Brianna said nothing as she watched the news, listening as the newscaster claimed the reason so many rogue demons were showing up was because someone had smuggled them in. She didn’t know if she believed that. It was true the occasional rogue demon could be smuggled into a place like Academy Island, but Anthony was at least right about the security around the island. It was incredibly tight. Even she was only able to enter because she belonged to Custodes Daemonium.
They finished eating their food in silence. Anthony took Brianna’s empty package and threw it away alongside his own. Brianna stood up and followed him. Then the two of them slipped their shoes back on and left the apartment.
As they stepped into the crowded streets, Brianna turned her head and could not help but marvel at how different everything felt. Nothing had changed since she arrived. Even so, Brianna felt like everything was different now, more vibrant, more colorful. It was like the wool had been pulled from her eyes, like she had been color blind her entire life and could now see.
She glanced at the person walking beside and felt her heart accelerate.
A lot of her new thoughts and feelings were caused by this young man, whom she had been sent to kill. Anthony was not like what she had imagined an incubus to be. He was, in many ways, just a normal college student, but there was a quiet strength within him that other people didn’t have. More than that, she found his personality endearing.
The faces he made when he was working on his homework were cute.
The solemn yet determined demeanor he showed when visiting his brother tugged at her heart.
His willingness to help her adjust to life on Academy Island made her feel comfortable, but it also caused her heart to flutter.
Brianna raised a hand to her chest as the blood pumping organ resting within began pushing more blood through her veins. All that blood went straight to her cheeks. She could feel them burning.
Anthony noticed as well.
“Is something wrong?” he asked with a curious frown.
“N-not at all!” she squeaked. “Nothing is wrong! Nothing! W-why are you looking at me like that?! I promise, nothing is wrong so just look the other way!”
Brianna felt a cold sweat pour down her face as Anthony continued to look at her. Could he hear the sound of her heart thudding against her ribcage? Was he aware of how much blood was rushing to her cheeks? Did he even realize that his intense stare was causing her body to feel all tingly and strange?
As she worried herself into a tizzy, Anthony turned away.
“Well, if you say nothing is wrong, then I guess nothing is wrong,” he said at last.
Brianna sighed in relief.
“By the way, your face is red.”
“Meep!”
Anthony arrived in class and sat in his usual spot, brought out his laptop, and then quietly waited for Professor Incanscino to arrive and start class. More students poured in as he sat there. A few glanced his way. He received several glares from the men, while the women looked at him oddly, like he was a puzzle they couldn’t solve. This was all par for the course, so he wasn’t concerned.
Several minutes passed before the teacher arrived. Anthony frowned when he saw that it wasn’t Professor Incanscino. This man was tall, had a head of full black hair that looked like a lion’s mane, and possessed a sturdy body with broad shoulders, a thick chest, and powerful legs hidden underneath his black suit. He walked up to the podium under the watchful gazes of the students and turned to face them.
He also had black ears on his head; they were shaped like triangles and covered in fur. He was a therianthrope. More specifically, he was a pantherian.
“Due to some unforeseen events, Professor Incanscino is currently unable to teach class right now,” the man spoke in a gravelly voice. Despite his tone being a low growl, he spoke in a refined manner that made him seem sophisticated and scholarly. “For those who do not know me, my name is Lionel Heartfert. I’ll be your instructor for the time being until Professor Incanscino returns. Now, let us begin class.”
As the man began lecturing them on the different methods of curing D and C-rank
Magic Catastrophes like standard curses and hexes, whispers broke out amongst the students. Anthony didn’t pay them much attention. However, he was certain those whispers were the many students speculating about why Professor Incanscino was not teaching class today.
It must have been the rogue demons.
Professor Incanscino was a member of the Academy Island Private Security Forces—a high-ranked Assault Magician at that—which meant she was occasionally called in to deal with situations that the normal forces couldn’t handle. It was her position within their forces that allowed her the power to grant him the opportunity to live relatively freely on Academy Island.
Anthony wondered if the rogue demons were really that big of a threat. Even the weakest demon was far stronger than a regular human, but it wasn’t like the Academy Island Private Security Forces fought against demons one on one. When a demonic threat occurred, they worked in units and used advanced magical weaponry to fit any given situation. Unless they were up against something like a Vampire Warlord from the European Federation or the King of Beasts from the Russian Empire, they should have been able to handle anything that came their way.
Or so Anthony thought.
Class eventually ended and Anthony shut off his laptop, stowed it away, and stood up. He left class with everyone else. Professor Heartfert didn’t call him to stay like Professor Incanscino sometimes did, so he was able to quickly make his way to Building #2.
Anthony ate his lunch alone that day. Neither Secilia nor her half-brother Alex showed up like they often did. He wondered what they were up to. Maybe they’d both been called into work.
School passed uneventfully, and outside of Professor Incanscino not showing up, nothing truly interesting happened—not until Anthony was walking toward the station.
“Anthony!” a voice called out.
Turning around at the sound of someone calling his name, Anthony found a grinning Secilia running up to him. She was dressed fashionably as always. Her dark hair was styled into ringlets that day. They framed her attractive face and really highlighted her vibrant eyes. The stockings covering her legs were partially translucent. Jean shorts wrapped around her hips, while a sleeveless green top hung loosely off her shoulders.
“Secilia,” Anthony greeted. “I thought you were working today since I didn’t see you during lunch.”
“I was. Now I’m not.” Secilia grinned as she stopped beside him. She placed her hands behind her back and leaned over slightly, which allowed him to see a small hint of cleavage. “And you? Heading home?”
“That’s right,” Anthony said.
“You’re going to see that girl again,” Secilia accused.
Anthony almost winced but maintained his composure. “That is correct. She lives right next door, so it’s kind of hard for me not to see her.”
“I really don’t like how fast that girl is moving,” Secilia mumbled.
Anthony had created what he believed was a relatively believable story about how he and Brianna were just acquaintances who had met after she moved in. Everything he told her, like how they had met under unique circumstances, was true. He just didn’t tell Secilia that the circumstances were that Brianna had been sent to kill him. Either way, Secilia had accepted his explanation.
“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” Anthony said with a shrug.
Secilia rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t. Anyway, I’ve decided that you aren’t going to head home just yet.”
“Is that so?” Anthony raised an eyebrow at the woman. “Then what exactly am I going to be doing if not heading home?”
“I am so glad you asked.” Gracing Anthony with a seductive smile that he couldn’t help but find attractive, Secilia walked closer to him and grabbed his hand with both of hers. Her hands were warm and soft, but she had several calluses that came from working with engineering equipment. “You are going to take me out on a date.”
“… Huh?”
Brianna waited for Anthony to show up at the maglev station like she always did, but when the time he normally arrived came and went, she began frowning as a small niggling feeling entered the pit of her stomach.
She looked at a clock on the wall. 4:25pm. For the past week since she arrived on Academy Island, Anthony had always shown up at the maglev station at exactly 4:15pm every day. That he wasn’t showing up now caused her to worry.
Closing her eyes, Brianna chanted a short spell under her breath. A small portion of her mana drained out of her as she connected herself to the familiar she had created. She could track Anthony by using her connection with her familiar to track its movements.
She furrowed her brow when she saw that Anthony was heading in the opposite direction of the maglev station at an incredibly fast speed—too fast for a human to move on their own.
Anthony might be an incubus, but she had already learned that his powers were weak because he hadn’t bound a single woman to him. According to him, incubus were like succubus. To gain strength, they needed to build a harem of women who would grant them power. Without even a single woman bound to him, Anthony was barely stronger than a human. He couldn’t move that fast even when he was using physical enhancement magic.
That meant he was on a maglev.
Why was he moving away from her?
Brianna thought about chasing after him to see what was going on, but the moment she took a step forward, her body straightened as though it had been zapped by lightning. A strange sensation like an electric jolt hit her mind. Her eyes widened. Someone had just entered her apartment! They weren’t hiding their presence, but they hadn’t broken her barrier either.
After biting her lip in indecision for a moment, Brianna hopped onto a maglev that would take her to her apartment. She wanted to know what Anthony was doing, where he was going, and whether or not he was with anyone. However, if someone broke into her apartment, it meant they were a highly skilled individual. Only someone extremely powerful and knowledgeable about barriers could slip through the barrier she had set up without breaking it.
The maglev was crowded, but she ignored the people around her as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, impatiently tapping her foot against the floor. The fifteen minutes it took to reach her stop felt agonizingly slow.
When the doors opened, she burst out before anyone else and began running through the streets, dodging pedestrians left and right. She blinked once. As she did, a trickle mana drained from her reserves as she activated a powerful magic known as Foresight.
The world around her seemed to slow. Then afterimages began appearing, though they were not true afterimages. No one was moving at a speed that exceeded light. It just seemed that way.
A person on her left was going to move in front of her shortly, so she stepped to the side and avoided them. Another person was coming in from her right. They would smack her in the face if she didn’t do anything. Brianna moved on the balls of her feet, ducked underneath that person’s elbow as they shouted into their wristwatch, and continued on.
The afterimages formed from each person were, in actuality, visions of what would happen five seconds into the future. That was the power of Foresight. While Brianna was just a novice at using it and could only look five seconds forward, her combat instructor had mastered Foresight to the point where she could look thirty seconds into the future. She’d even heard that the Priestess could look a full minute into the future.
Of course, for combat, five seconds was really all you needed.
It didn’t take more than five minutes for Brianna to reach her apartment, and then another minute to reach her floor. As she walked down the hall, she undid the latches on her music case, grabbed the Germinius Sword as it fell out, and adopted a combat stance as she crept down the hall. She used Foresight to make sure no one would be coming as she moved. The last thing she needed was for a civilian to see her weapon.
Finally reaching the door to her room, Brianna paused as she spread out her perceptions to the other side. She fur
rowed her brow. She knew someone had entered her apartment, but there was not a single ripple or undulation of mana coming from beyond this door.
The hairs on her arms prickled.
Taking a shaky breath, she unlocked the door, slipped inside, and hit the button that closed the door with her elbow before adopting a combat stance with her feet spread shoulder width apart and her legs bent. She swept her gaze from side to side, looking for an intruder. There was nothing. At least, she thought there was nothing.
Until she saw the owl sitting on her windowsill, that is.
The owl was completely white and possessed yellow eyes. Its pure feathers the color of fresh snow looked quite fluffy. As it stared at her, the claws on its feet clacked against the windowsill.
“I-Instructor!” Brianna gasped as she realized what this creature was.
“Brianna,” a voice said. It came from the owl, but it did not belong to the owl. The person speaking to her was simply using this familiar as a medium to speak through. “It seems like you have settled into your new accomodations quite well.” The owl blinked its big eyes and craned its neck to look around the living room. “You have even bought furniture.”
“I didn’t know how long I was going to be staying here,” Brianna said as she slipped out of her boots and wandered over to the owl. She set the Geminius Sword against the couch and knelt on the floor. “I thought it would be prudent to have a place to stay while on my mission.”
“Yes… your mission. That is what I am contacting you about.” Now that she was closer, Brianna could see the magic circle inside of the owl’s eyes. She knew her instructor was gazing at her through those eyes from the Custodes Daemonium headquarters. “We have read and reviewed your report on the incubus known as Anthony Amasius.”
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