Chapter 194 A Coward’s Last Stand

They exchanged a brief, understanding glance before heading in opposite directions.

Throughout Ambrose Academy the sounds of combat continued to roll like distant thunder. Explosions shook walls. Steel rang against claw and bone. The occasional cry of an injured student still cut through the air. Yet the tide was shifting. One by one, the remaining demons were being hunted down.

Near the southern stairwell, Professor Garrick Vane stood over a cooling corpse. Dark blood still dripped from the edge of his weapon. The creature had tried to force its way through the corridor toward a group of fleeing students. It had not succeeded.

Garrick looked back at the young faces gathered behind him. Some were trembling. One girl clutched a bleeding arm and stared at the dead demon as if she could not quite believe it was gone.

"Keep moving. Don’t stop here."

They obeyed at once. He turned toward the far end of the passage, where another presence had already been sensed, and walked on without slowing.

In the northern courtyard, Alaric Thornwood faced a second demon. The creature threw itself at him in a series of heavy, reckless charges. Alaric never closed the distance. His fingers traced a precise sequence through the air. A complex magic circle unfolded above his head.

"Seventh Circle Spell: Piercing Starfall."

Spears of condensed mana formed in the sky and fell like judgment. The demon raised its arms and flooded its body with dark energy, but the defense came too late. The spears struck. The ground erupted. When the dust settled, only a crater remained.

Alaric lowered his hand, adjusted his glasses, and continued toward the northern buildings.

Elsewhere, Professor Kaelen Draven found a wounded demon attempting to slip through a damaged side passage. The moment it saw him it tried to change direction. Kaelen raised his sword.

"Where do you think you’re going?"

The demon roared and charged. Kaelen’s expression did not change. His blade moved once. A thin, razor-sharp line of Battle Energy swept the corridor. The demon’s body parted cleanly before it ever reached him. Kaelen lowered his sword and walked on.

Professor Elowen reached the eastern courtyard at nearly the same time. A demon burst from the smoke, claws already coated in dark mana, aiming for her flank. She did not break stride. A small magic circle bloomed beneath her fingertips.

"Arcane Rupture."

The spell struck the creature’s chest. Its mana circulation collapsed inward. The body dropped. Elowen continued toward the next disturbance without looking back.

---

A ruined training courtyard.

Smoke drifted between shattered pillars. The air smelled of blood, dust, and burnt stone. Several injured students lay scattered across the broken ground—some unconscious, others dragging themselves away from the center of the destruction with the slow, desperate movements of the dying.

One boy, no older than sixteen, was still trying to crawl. His left leg was bent at a wrong angle. Blood soaked the side of his uniform. Every breath came out as a wet, broken sound. Tears streaked the dirt on his face, but he kept moving, fingers clawing at the cracked stone as if distance alone could save him.

A demon stood among them.

Its body was massive, covered in dark grey skin that looked almost like stone. Two thick horns curved backward from its forehead. Enormous claws glistened with fresh blood. It watched the crawling student with open amusement, head tilted slightly, as if studying a particularly interesting insect.

"Still alive?"

The boy’s voice cracked.

"P-Please..."

The demon laughed, a deep, ugly sound that rolled across the courtyard.

"Please?"

It raised one enormous fist, savoring the way the student’s eyes widened in pure terror.

"Did you beg when your friends were dying? I heard them. They screamed just like you."

The fist came down.

CRASH!

Stone exploded. The student stopped moving. A dark stain spread slowly beneath what remained of him.

The demon laughed again, low and satisfied. The sound was almost gentle. It lingered over the broken body for a moment, then turned its head toward the remaining students. One girl had pressed herself against a broken pillar, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, staring at the ground so she would not have to see. Another boy lay on his side, eyes open but empty, blood pooling beneath his ribs. The demon’s grin widened. There was still time.

Then a calm voice cut through the smoke.

"You’re making quite a mess."

The demon turned.

A woman stood at the entrance of the courtyard. Dark hair tied neatly behind her head. A sword resting easily in one hand. Her posture was relaxed, almost casual, as if she had simply stepped out for an evening walk and found something mildly inconvenient in her path.

Professor Valeria Draven.

The demon’s grin stretched wider. Fresh prey. Stronger than the others, but still human.

"Another human?"

Valeria’s gaze flicked once over the injured students. For a moment something cold and quiet passed through her eyes. Then it was gone.

"Move behind me."

They obeyed at once, crawling or staggering toward the far side of the courtyard with the desperate urgency of people who had already seen too much. The girl against the pillar sobbed once, a broken sound, before forcing herself to move. The demon watched them go with mild disappointment, then looked back at Valeria.

"You’re staying?"

"Unfortunately."

She raised her sword a fraction.

"I still have work to do."

Dark mana erupted from the demon’s body. Its muscles swelled. Veins beneath the thick skin began to glow a deep, angry crimson. An oppressive aura rolled outward, pressing against the ruined pillars and making the remaining students flinch even from a distance.

Valeria’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Fifth Circle Warrior.

The demon roared, voice thick with anticipation.

"Abyssal War Ogre Bloodline!"

Its frame grew denser still. Dark energy gathered around its fists like living smoke.

"Rending Momentum!"

A violent crimson aura flared around its entire body. At the same time, Battle Energy condensed along its arms, reinforcing muscle and bone. Three sources of power layered together—bloodline, talent, and Battle Energy. The air itself seemed to thicken under the pressure. Each step it took sent a low vibration through the cracked stone.

It charged.

Valeria moved.

BOOM!

The fist slammed into the stone where she had been standing an instant before. Fragments sprayed across the courtyard. Valeria reappeared several steps away, expression unchanged.

The demon wheeled toward her, laughing.

"You’re quick!"

It attacked again. This time Valeria met the blow.

CLANG!

The impact drove her boots across the cracked ground. The strength behind that single strike was considerable. The bloodline amplified raw power. The talent accumulated force with every continuous movement. Battle Energy turned already dense muscle into something closer to living iron.

Even a clean block carried risk.

Valeria steadied herself.

"Not bad."

The demon roared and came again, fists falling in a relentless barrage. Each strike carried more force than the last, the talent feeding on its own unbroken momentum. The ground trembled beneath its weight. Valeria slipped the first, redirected the second with the flat of her blade, and twisted past the third. The fourth caught her across the ribs.

BOOM!

Her body flew. She struck a broken pillar hard enough to crack the stone. Dust exploded outward. For several heartbeats the courtyard was silent except for the harsh breathing of the injured students watching from the edge.

Then a figure stepped out of the haze.

Valeria wiped a thin line of blood from the corner of her mouth. Her breathing remained steady, and her gaze was cold.

"That one actually hurt."

The demon laughed, the sound thick with triumph. This was the part it loved most—watching confidence break, watching strength fail.

"You’re finished!"

Battle Energy surged around its fists once more. Valeria watched it carefully. The pattern was becoming clear. The talent rewarded unbroken momentum. The bloodline demanded direct, overwhelming force. And confidence had made the creature careless.

She lowered her sword slightly.

"Come."

The demon charged with everything it had left, crimson aura blazing, fists raised high. The ground shuddered under its steps.

This time Valeria did not retreat. She stepped into the attack. At the last possible instant she shifted her weight, letting the massive fist pass a hair’s breadth from her shoulder. The demon’s own momentum carried it forward, slightly off-balance.

Her sword flashed.

A deep, clean cut opened across its thigh. Black blood sprayed across the stones, thick and foul-smelling. The demon stumbled, surprise flashing across its face for the first time. Before it could recover she was already moving again—another precise cut across the back of the knee.

CRACK!

The leg buckled. The creature roared in raw pain and surprise. Its breathing turned ragged, harsh and wet.

"What—?!"

Valeria stepped lightly out of range of the flailing counter.

"You rely too heavily on your strength."

Rage and fear flooded the demon’s face at the same time. Dark mana exploded outward as it forced the damaged leg to hold. Its body swelled again, trying to overwhelm the injury through pure power. The crimson aura flickered, no longer steady. Each labored breath came louder than the last.

Valeria was already inside its guard.

Her blade carved a deep line across its abdomen. More black blood poured onto the stones. The demon staggered backward, suddenly smaller somehow, its earlier arrogance collapsing under the weight of real danger. The pleasure it had taken in the students’ fear was gone. In its place was something smaller and uglier.

"W-Wait!"

Valeria stopped.

The creature that had laughed while crushing helpless students now raised both hands, voice breaking. Its eyes darted toward the exits, toward the smoke, toward anything that might offer escape.

"Wait! Don’t kill me! I can give you information—I know where the others are!"

She said nothing.

"Please! I don’t want to die!"

The words came out high and cracked. The same voice that had mocked a dying boy now begged with open desperation. It could not accept that the roles had reversed so completely.

Her expression cooled further.

"Interesting."

She took one slow step closer.

"You didn’t seem particularly concerned about that when you were killing those students."

The demon’s face twisted with pure desperation. For a moment it looked almost human in its fear.

"Please—!"

Valeria moved.

Her sword flashed once.

The head fell. The massive body collapsed onto the shattered courtyard with a heavy, final sound. Black blood pooled slowly between the broken stones, the foul smell rising with the smoke.

Silence settled.

Valeria lowered her weapon and looked at the corpse for a long moment. Then her gaze shifted to the injured students still watching from the far side. The girl who had been pressed against the pillar was shaking so hard she could barely stay upright. The boy with the vacant eyes had finally lost consciousness.

"Is everyone still alive?"

One of them managed a weak nod.

Valeria slid her sword back into its sheath. Her voice was quiet, almost gentle.

"Good."

She turned toward the eastern passage. Smoke still rose from the broken pillars behind her. Somewhere in the distance, another explosion rolled across the academy. Valeria’s expression remained unchanged as she walked into the haze, leaving the ruined courtyard and its dead behind her.