The night air was cold.
Very cold.
I stood in the school courtyard with a metal spear in my shaking hands. Around me, dozens of students in strange uniforms ran toward the south yard. Some had glowing weapons. Some had wings. One guy turned into a wolf.
I was still in my hoodie.
And I had no clue what I was doing.
Rei ran past me, shouting, "Stay close if you want to live!"
Vella tossed me a belt full of glowing vials. "Demon acid. Only throw if you're sure. Unless you want to melt your own face."
Juno bounced beside me, dual daggers spinning in her hands. "This is gonna be fun!"
Nyx was just… gone. Again.
We reached the edge of the south yard.
That's when I saw them.
Demons.
At least ten.
Crawling, flying, stomping—ugly monsters that looked like nightmares made real. One had six arms. Another looked like a skeleton wearing someone else's skin. All of them were growling.
Students charged in from all sides.
Swords clashed. Fire roared. Shadows twisted.
It was chaos.
I froze.
My body wouldn't move. My heart was beating so loud it hurt.
Then—
A demon saw me.
It was tall and thin, with a mouth that opened sideways. Its long arms dragged on the ground, and its skin looked like black leather soaked in oil.
It let out a screech and ran at me.
I raised the spear.
Too slow.
The demon leaped.
SLASH!
Rei jumped in front of me, her blade cutting the demon's head clean off.
She didn't even look back.
"Move, Agla!" she shouted. "You freeze, you die!"
I stumbled forward, hands shaking.
Another demon came from the side.
Vella threw a fireball and burned it to ash. "Get your head in the game, new guy!"
I ducked just as a winged demon flew over me. Its claws sliced through the air where my head was seconds before.
Juno landed beside me, stabbed a demon in the eye, and giggled. "You're doing great!"
I wasn't.
I was terrified.
But then something strange happened.
A demon charged at me—too fast to dodge.
My chest burned.
The mark.
It glowed bright red.
Time slowed.
I saw every move.
Every breath.
The demon opened its jaws.
And I moved.
Without thinking, I stepped forward and drove the spear straight through its mouth. The creature let out a gurgling sound—and then turned to smoke.
I stood there, breathing hard, the spear shaking in my hands.
Everyone stared.
Even Rei.
"Well," Vella said, raising an eyebrow. "Looks like the boy's not useless after all."
Nyx appeared beside me. I hadn't even noticed. "The mark awakened. You fought like one of us."
"I… I did?"
Rei sheathed her sword. "Don't let it go to your head. That was just the warm-up."
Just then, a loud crack echoed across the sky.
The clouds above us turned black. Thunder rolled.
A deep, horrible voice spoke from the sky.
"Return him to the Abyss. Or we will take him by force."
All the demons froze.
So did the students.
Everyone looked at me.
"Uh," I said, "I feel like that was about me."
Nyx looked pale. "That voice… that wasn't a normal demon."
Rei looked worried for the first time. "That was a royal. A high demon. One who shouldn't be able to speak into this world."
Juno tilted her head. "Oops. Guess we're in trouble."
Vella grinned. "Nah. We've got King Boy on our team now."
I blinked. "Wait, what?! I'm not a king!"
The mark on my chest pulsed again.
Nobody looked convinced.
To be continued...