“What the hell is this?” he utters.
“What’s wrong?” I reply.
We come closer too, drawn in by his reaction. Inside, clad in white pajamas and hugging her knees, sleeps the young Treyse.
“What...? What’s the meaning of this?!” yells Nikeh, knitting her brows and twisting the corners of her mouth in bewilderment.
“There’s nothing around her head, unlike earlier,” says Prince Zenon, referring to Treyse’s possessor. “Alois said something about her being connected to demons, though, right?”
The prince checks her with magic just to be sure, then turns to look at me.
I can only muster a “Huh?” in reply. Then how...?
“You know, I’m pretty sure I told you to stay out of my way,” rings an indistinct voice throughout the room.
We shift our focus away from Treyse and turn to look back at the door.
“Oh no, it’s Nanalie!” shouts Benjamine.
There, dragging my apparently unconscious young self by the neck, enters a student with an eerie smile on his face, and glaring, bewitching red eyes—Alois Rockmann. With his long, fluttering golden hair, he licks his lips like a wolf eyeing a delicious meal. It truly makes him look like a savage beast.
I feel a shiver crawl up my spine. The two of us may have fought all the time, but I never thought I’d find him so repulsive. I can tell at a glance—what I’m looking at is both Rockmann and something else entirely.
The creepy thing in his guise approaches, dragging my little self. With every step, the chill I feel grows stronger, giving me goose bumps.
“That should be the same thing that was possessing Treyse,” theorizes the prince, gazing at the possessed Rockmann with the aid of Necromancy.
“Why is it possessing Rockmann now?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Perhaps... But wait, is such a thing even possible...?”
What’s got him hesitating like that? I can’t begin to imagine.
The voice we heard a moment ago was nothing like the one we heard from the possessed Treyse. It wasn’t Rockmann’s own voice either. It was completely different, something...wicked.
There’s a sinister magical power surrounding Rockmann. We magicians know of only one creature with just that sort of power. I’m sure Prince Zenon had the same thought as me.
“Who in the world are you?” I ask, holding down my shivering arm.
I must look pathetic right now, shivering like this... At least the real Rockmann isn’t here. He would no doubt make fun of me, saying I look like a newborn bunny-bird or something. Recalling the countless times Rockmann laughed at me with that “I’m so clever” mug of his, I face our unsettling visitor once more.
This thing in human skin can’t possibly be Rockmann or Treyse. As we stare “Rockmann” down, he laughs, a devilish look on his face.
How did it manage to possess him? He may be young, but he’s wary of dangers. It’s hard to believe it would overcome him so easily.
A lot of other things don’t make sense either. It’s highly likely it wasn’t the real Treyse who made contact with the Time Keeper—but if so, why did that person claim to be Treyse and have the gnome send them to this time in the past?
“If I said I’m a part of Städal, would that answer your question?” he says with a grin.
Absent-minded questions like “Where have I heard that name before...?” don’t cross my mind even for an instant. We all unconsciously take a step back.
“Why would that name come up here, of all places...?” utters Nikeh, hand over her mouth.
“I’m sure you remember a certain black demon you hate so much, mwah ha ha!”
The possessed Rockmann roars with laughter, seeming to find something genuinely funny. As his blond hair shakes around, he twists the corners of his mouth, holding his stomach and laughing. How repugnant. I can’t tolerate someone being made to laugh in such a grotesque way against their will, whether it’s Rockmann or not.
“As I thought. But aren’t you a little too eerie for a demon?” asks Prince Zenon, despite knowing whom he’s talking to.
We’re dealing with a demon. That sinister magical power is no different from the kind observed in one. It was just a faint notion tickling the back of my mind. However, the demons we’re used to dealing with don’t possess much intelligence; special cases like Städal, whom you can actually talk to, are extremely rare.
Which makes this all the more weird. Is this demon an equal of Städal? How dangerous is it, exactly?
It takes another step towards us.
“You are responsible for the demise of our king, Ice,” it says, sneering and pointing at me as I back off. “All our brethren are Städal’s memories, incarnations, and fragments of his power. Had it not been for you, this world would’ve become his paradise. That’s what was meant to happen.”
The “fragments of his power” part makes me recall the words of the Ice Ancient:
“Despite my efforts, however, he was not utterly defeated. Years later, the shards that had been scattered across this wide world became conscious...”
Those scattered shards she mentioned... Maybe what we’re looking at is a demon born out of one of those shards Städal shattered into after the Ice Ancient and I froze him on that day. That would explain quite a lot.
“I tried to go back in time and kill you, but tragically, I found that the flow of time is protecting your life.”
So it tried to erase me from this world by going into the past and killing me before I defeated Städal.
“See for yourself. You won’t die no matter what I do.”
With that, the demon begins to choke my young self using Rockmann’s hand. The whole thing about the flow of time protecting my life does align with what the Time Keeper said. You can’t save someone destined to die. The opposite is also true.
“If you travel to the past and turn white to black, it will remain white.”
You can’t kill someone in the past.
“Stop it! This is so cruel!” shouts Benjamine as she lunges for the demon, flame in hand.
I hurriedly reach out to stop her, but don’t make it in time.
“Benjamine!”
“You can have her if you want her so badly. After all the time I spent finding such a compatible soul—what a waste. I can’t even bring this useless twerp back with me.”
The demon hurls my young self at Benjamine. She stumbles from the impact after suddenly having to make the catch, but before I can do anything, Satanás leaps to her side using his wind magic and props her up. The two quickly distance themselves from the demon and cast a healing spell on my young self to heal the injury on her neck.
“‘A compatible soul’? Are you talking about Treyse? What did you do to her?”
“Something not too different from what my king did with his own puppet. Oh, how pleasant are those who fall easily to temptation.”
By “puppet” it probably means Dr. Aristo.
“Keeper, what did Treyse look like when she went back in time?” I ask the gnome poking his head out from Benjamine’s cleavage.
“Why, she was a charming young lady. ’Twas no demon, rest assured.”
“Because she sold her soul to me. I’m sure you saw me as a charming woman.”
From what it’s saying, it sounds like it wasn’t the real Treyse who came to the Time Keeper, but this demon in her guise. The real Treyse never came to this past world.
“And now, at long last, this man too has become an obedient vessel for me. Mwah ha ha!” After continuing its ominous laugh for a while, the demon sighs and stares at us with Rockmann’s red eyes. “However, it seems even his powers won’t allow me to kill her... But wait... I see now! If I can’t kill the one protected by time, why not simply kill the one who isn’t?! I must get rid of this threat to prepare for the day my king awakens!”
It summons an enormous, sinister flame in his hand. Apparently being in Rockmann’s body gives it the ability to use his magic.
Now wait just a moment... Isn’t this pretty bad? I don’t know how much exactly he had to suppress his powers at the time, but I’m not sure I can handle him if he goes all out.
“Hmph! I’m not scared of you!” I exclaim, slapping my cheeks to psych myself up.
Stop being so pathetic inside your mind, Nanalie. Being so negative won’t get you through this. I can’t afford to lose when his powers are being used by some foreign presence. And besides, I take pride in my track record fighting that flame on equal footing for years. So I really don’t feel like I’m going to lose, as a matter of fact. I’ve gotta figure out how to leave Rockmann’s body pristine while slaying what’s on the inside.
“Huh...?”
As I ready myself and assume a combat stance, the demon suddenly comes to a halt. I see its arm shaking as it tries to move it, but it looks like Rockmann’s body won’t listen to the demon’s commands. It seems to be at a loss as to what’s going on as well.
We raise our eyebrows at the demon.
“Agh... Ugh... Argh...” it groans.
After a while, something like an arm starts growing out of his—the young Rockmann’s—chest with a squishy sound. It resembles plant seeds sprouting from the ground, and evokes an entirely different kind of revulsion from the demon’s puppeteer act. What’s happening to his body...?