Luzbel slowly turned her head to see who Helios was pointing at. Even though she already knew, she needed to convince herself it wasn't true. She needed it not to be true.
But what she feared most ended up happening.
Helios, with that twisted, venomous smile, was pointing at Morgan.
Rage surged through Luzbel's body like a sudden wildfire. She clenched her teeth in fury, her hands trembling, and before she realized it, she had Helios by the clothes, dragging her close to her face.
-What the hell are you trying to do?
(Luzbel said, furious.)
-Oh, come now… what's the matter, Miss Luzbel? Why are you reacting like that?
(Helios said, pretending to be afraid.)
-Don't play dumb, Helios. Tell me what the hell you're planning. Tell me now… or I swear I'll kill you.
(Luzbel said, in a dangerously threatening tone.)
-Calm down, calm down, Miss Luz… look around you.
Luzbel obeyed, almost on reflex. Then she saw it.
All the students were watching the scene with concern. Some with fear. Even her own… her own students were looking at her as if they didn't recognize her.
As if they feared she was the monster.
Slowly, her fingers loosened. She let Helios go.
Helios smiled.
Luzbel stepped back with a grimace of rage, looking away, trying to swallow the humiliation that was already beginning to burn in her chest.
-Yes… that's better.
(Helios said, satisfied.)
-Let's be realistic, Luzbel. That boy is too much for you. We both know it. In the entire academy, you are the least suited to polish a young man that brilliant. The best thing would be to leave him to me. I'll take care of bringing him to the peak of his potential.
(Helios said, barely concealing her malice.)
-And how the hell would you know that? You don't know what's best for him! How are you so sure I'm not the right one to be his mentor?
(Luzbel shouted, unable to contain herself.)
Helios sighed.
She looked at her with contempt. Unhurried. Like someone observing something already broken.
-This… all of this is exactly what confirms it. You can't even control your expression in a situation like this. Look at the example you're setting. Does that seem worthy of a guide in our academy? I proposed this wager so you would accept what everyone already knows. Look at your students. They barely surpass an ordinary civilian. Admit it, Luzbel… I did this to force you to face the truth.
She leaned closer until she was inches from her ear.
-That you are nothing but a mediocre, inept, useless teacher… who doesn't even deserve to be alive.
(Helios whispered, with extreme malice.)
The words were not shouted. They were blades.
Luzbel lowered her gaze. Her fingers tightened around her own clothes. Tears threatened to break her voice. Because no matter how much she wanted to deny it… deep down, a part of her whispered the same thing.
Maybe she was right.
-However… Helios continued with false courtesy, you are still an important member of the academy. I will honor our bet. If one of your students proves to have more potential than any of mine, the boy will stay with you and I will apologize. But if not… I will take him from you fairly. So you can see with your own eyes what your incompetence has caused.
(Helios said, with cruel satisfaction.)
She walked past her.
Luzbel remained behind, motionless, crying silently, feeling the unbearable weight of her own title.
Helios walked toward the students.
One by one she began analyzing them with her innate ability. Her eyes turned completely white, covered in symbols only she could understand.
The students lowered their gazes. Submissive. Afraid. Ashamed.
-Trash… trash… more trash.
(Helios said with contempt.)
When she reached Zarachi and placed a hand on her head, she raised an eyebrow.
-Oh… interesting.
(She said, slightly impressed.)
Zarachi lifted her face with hope. Her eyes shone for a second.
-Congratulations, girl. You're the weakest among the weak.
(Helios said, extinguishing that light immediately.)
The impact was brutal. Zarachi froze, desperation painted across her face.
Helios clapped slowly.
-As I expected. They're all trash. Exactly as I imagined. These kids are nothing but a reflection of your mediocrity, Luzbel.
(She said, humiliatingly.)
-As we agreed, the boy will come with m—
-And what about me? Aren't you going to analyze me?
A firm voice interrupted her.
Morgan stood with his arms crossed, upright, looking at her without lowering his head.
-I'm also Miss Luzbel's student. And I can't allow you to speak that way about her… or about my classmates.
(He said, annoyed.)
Helios let out a laugh.
-What's so funny?
(Morgan asked, serious.)
-Nothing… I just knew this would happen.
(Helios said, wiping a tear of laughter.)
-I assumed you'd refuse to come with me, so I'll offer you the same courtesy I gave that failure over there.
(Helios said, disdainfully.)
Morgan stepped forward.
-Take it back. Take it back now.
(He said, his fury restrained.)
(Helios smiled, perverse.)
-You want me to take it back, darling? Then make me.
-What?
(Morgan asked, confused.)
-If you want me to retract it, make me do it. Let's have a wager. If you win, I'll retract everything, apologize to everyone here, and never speak badly of her or her students again. And I'll never try to take you with me. Do you accept?
She extended her hand.
Morgan hesitated for only a moment.
-And if I lose?
(Morgan said sharply.)
-Then you'll come with me. No questions asked.
(Helios leaned her face close to Morgan's, provocative.)
Morgan clenched his fists. He remembered every word, every tear, every humiliated glance.
-I accept.
(He said firmly.)
-How delightful… then shake my hand and let's finish this ag—
But once again Morgan interrupted Helios.
-With one more condition.
(Helios' smile tightened.)
-And what is this extra condition?
-If I win, you won't just retract your words and stop harassing this group and Miss Luzbel. You will also promise that you and your students will never again harass anyone in this academy. Including humans.
Silence fell heavily.
Helios was taken aback for a second… then she began to laugh frenetically.
Morgan did not look away.
-Will you accept?
Helios observed him. Her eyes gleamed.
-How interesting… very interesting. Fine. I accept.
(Helios licked her lips, smiling.)
They shook hands.
In that instant, Morgan felt a brutal heartbeat in his chest. As if his heart were being squeezed by an invisible hand. And not only his… he felt another heartbeat, foreign, pulsing in his palm.
It left him breathless.
-The wager will be the same one I made with her.
(Helios said, turning on herself.)
-But with a small change. Your potential will not only have to surpass my group… it will have to surpass the entire academy.
She stopped in front of him, spreading her arms toward the sky, euphoric.
Then she walked toward Morgan, slow and determined, with that smile loaded with perversion and anticipated triumph.
-Come on… now you are completely mi—
Helios placed her hand on Morgan's head with an almost feverish movement, as if she were already savoring victory before it was secured. Her fingers sank into his hair with possessive certainty.
She closed her eyes.
She activated her innate ability. The sacred gift of the desert elves.
It was always the same.
Information flowed before her like a river of white symbols, living formulas, structures of power stripping themselves bare without resistance. Talents. Limits. Potential. Fears. Everything. She always saw everything.
But this time…
Nothing happened as it should.
At first she thought it was a delay. A second of interference. A mental flicker.
Then the flow was cut off.
Abruptly.
The murmur of data went silent as if someone had torn the sound of the world out by its roots.
When she opened her eyes…
She was not in the training hall.
She was not in front of Morgan.
There were no students. No walls. No floor.
Only darkness.
An absolute, dense, viscous darkness. It was not the absence of light. It was something deeper. More invasive. As if the blackness breathed.
Helios tried to move her hand.
She could not feel her own body.
She tried to speak.
She could not hear her voice.
The air was heavy, suffocating, and yet there was no air. There was nothing. Only that vast blackness pressing against her thoughts.
-What… is this…?
Her voice did not echo.
There was no echo.
Not even the void gave her company.
For the first time since awakening her gift, she saw no symbols. No structures. No information.
She was blind.
Completely blind.
And what terrified her was not the lack of data.
It was the sensation.
Something was there.
She did not see it. She did not hear it. She did not understand it.
But she felt it.
Like a presence that did not need form.
The darkness began to pulse.
Slowly.
Deeply.
Like a gigantic heart hidden within the nothingness.
One beat.
Another.
Another.
Helios tried to force her ability, to push deeper, to break the barrier. But the more she tried, the more the darkness seemed to close around her, wrapping her, compressing her.
It was as if she was not analyzing Morgan.
It was as if something was analyzing her.
Stripping her bare.
Measuring her.
Weighing her.
And finding her… insufficient.
An icy pressure ran through what remained of her consciousness. For the first time in years, she felt something she had forgotten existed.
Fear.
Not the theatrical fear she played with in front of others.
Real fear.
Raw.
Primitive.
The darkness leaned over her.
And then she understood.
She was not alone.
She never had been.
And in that absolute void, without symbols to protect her, without information to guide her, Helios understood something unbearable:
She was not seeing Morgan's potential.
She was staring into an abyss.
And the abyss… stared back.
She tried to take a step.
Something brushed against her feet.
She looked down and saw them: small black insects crawling up her ankles, up her legs, slipping beneath her clothes. She shook violently, trying to brush them away, to shake them off, to crush them.
It was useless.
They kept climbing.
The silence broke with a distant murmur, like wings fluttering far away. Then, before her, the darkness began to take shape.
Shadows.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
They lined up like a parade of nightmares. Beasts that belonged to no world she knew. A gigantic reptile with three bodies embedded in its head, dragging itself forward with a wet crunch. A figure resembling what she would call a Sephiroth, suspended in the air, unfolding six disproportionate wings that seemed to tear the void apart. A colossal serpent whose eyes shone with a dead glow.
And more.
Much more.
Faceless creatures. Shapes that defied logic. Shadows that breathed.
Helios stepped back, but the void offered no refuge.
Then everything grew even darker.
The shadows parted.
Something was emerging behind them.
A colossal silhouette rose slowly, towering over every previous monster. Larger than any beast. Larger than a mountain. Its outline was imprecise, impossible to fully grasp.
Two eyes ignited.
Pink.
A deep, unnatural pink, like frozen fire burning in the eternal night.
The creature tilted its head slightly.
And opened its mouth.
It did not roar.
From within, pink smoke began to emanate—thick, dense… as if it exhaled souls turned into mist. The vapor spread through the void, wrapping everything in a sensation of imminent death.
The terror was not immediate.
It was slow.
It seeped into her bones.
Helios understood, with brutal clarity, that this was not just any vision. These were not mere possibilities.
This was the boy's potential.
This dwelled within him.
This slept beneath his skin.
And if one day that child decided to rebel against them… if he ever stopped containing what he carried inside…
No kingdom would withstand it.
No army would be enough.
It would be the end.
And for the first time since mastering her gift, Helios wished she had never looked.
End of chapter.
Next chapter: He is a monster.