The primordial demon awoke thousands of years ago. Its origins and genesis remained shrouded in mystery. During that era, despair gripped the hearts of all who were unfortunate enough to witness its awakening. Those who encountered the primordial demon faced a grim fate—death or enslavement as mindless servants, plunging the world into chaos.
The mana in the air, once a source of magic, had turned poisonous, causing even greater casualties. The people of that era, desperate for salvation, turned to the churches of the Goddess Delva. They prayed fervently, and the Goddess responded. Delva emerged, purifying the tainted air and presenting the people with a choice: fight or cower. Those who chose to fight were granted power, while those who succumbed to fear were punished with enslavement.
Such was the way of Delva—merciless to those who refused to fight for their survival. This decision, however, came with consequences. Many forced into slavery eventually escaped and sided with the demon, strengthening its forces against Delva.
The demon amassed an army of servants, while Delva rallied an army of believers. They engaged in a brutal conflict that spanned decades. In the end, with casualties reaching millions, the goddess' army emerged victorious. Delva, however, couldn't slay the primordial demon, and she sealed it away using the last of her strength. She fell into a deep slumber, and the world reverted to its former state. Yet, not all demons were vanquished; many slaves who had joined the demon and those transformed into its servants survived and roamed the world, their purpose unknown.
"Hey, Mom, I think these flowers are growing quite well," Marie said.
"Thank you, dear. They should make our garden look wonderful this year," her mother replied.
A mother and daughter stood under a tree, admiring the view.
"I'm sure they will."
"Thank you for helping, Marie."
Marie and her mother had recently taken up the hobby of growing flowers in their garden. When her father went to work and her brother stayed in his room studying, Marie and her mother came up with the idea to start a flower garden.
"No problem, Mom. I'm just glad we can spend time together like this," Marie replied happily.
"We really need to get some more fertilizer or something, though. We've used all of ours already."
Their village was small, with only about fifteen other families. There wasn't much to do and not many new things to try. That's why they decided to grow flowers in their garden, nurturing them every day and eagerly awaiting the blossoms.
"Let's call it quits for today. The sun's starting to set, and I have to start dinner prep," Marie's mother said.
"Okay, Mom."
Marie and her mother headed into the house and began preparing dinner together. Little did they know they were being watched from afar. From the shadows of the forest, a figure approached.
Inside the house, Marie and her mother started dinner prep.
"Here, let me help," Marie's mother began peeling the vegetables.
"Thanks, Mom."
While they worked, Marie glanced outside at the flowers again. As she stared, she noticed something was different.
"Mom?" Marie called out. "Why are the flowers turning black and wilting?"
Her mother stopped chopping and turned towards her. She looked out the window and gasped.
"What... What happened to the flowers?"
The flowers had suddenly begun to wilt and turn black. Their beautiful vibrant colors became dull and lifeless.
"I don't know," Marie said, confused.
"This doesn't make sense. The flowers were fine a second ago," Marie's mother said, still bewildered by what had occurred.
The flowers began to die one after another until all of them were completely destroyed. Within a minute, they were gone, leaving only stumps. Just then, the front door opened, and the two heard a familiar voice.
"What's the matter, you two?"
It was Marie's father. He had noticed that his wife and daughter seemed concerned about something.
"Um, Dad, I think something bad has happened to the flowers. They all just started wilting and turning black all at once. It's very strange," Marie said.
Marie's father seemed unconcerned about it.
"So what? Flowers die, right? Maybe you two just didn't tend to them correctly or something," he suggested.
Marie's mother shook her head.
"No, dear, this isn't normal. Something is wrong here," she insisted.
Marie's father sighed.
"Whatever you say," he replied dismissively.
He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Marie and her mother continued preparing dinner together in a tense atmosphere.
After dinner was over, Marie, her father, and her mother went outside to check the flowers. The sun had set, so they carried lanterns with them. As they approached the flower bed, they saw that everything was still dead and dark.
"What is going on here?" Marie asked.
"I don't know. This is unnatural," her mother answered.
They both stared at the plants and felt a chill run down their spines. They looked at each other, and Marie's father spoke.
"Isn't it just because you two didn't take care of them properly?"
"Flowers don't just die that quickly," Marie's mother remarked.
"Well, whatever. I'll be heading to sleep now. See you tomorrow."
Marie's father began to leave but stopped in his tracks as he heard a loud shriek from the house.
"What was that?" Marie's mother asked.
"Was that Anton?" Marie's father asked.
Marie's mother and father rushed inside the house and found the front door kicked open. They immediately rushed upstairs to find Anton's door wide open. In the darkness, they heard him pleading.
"Please don't hurt me! Please don't!" he cried loudly.
"Anton, what is going on here?!" Marie's mother shouted.
"Don't come any closer!" he begged. "I don't want to die!"
Marie's mother and father both rushed to the open door. Anton was on the floor, backing away from a man they didn't know. The stranger had two distinct horns growing out of either side of his head. His eyes glowed red, and he was unarmed. The stranger looked at Marie's parents.
"Who are you?!" Marie's father demanded.
The stranger glared at Marie's father and smiled mischievously.
"That doesn't really matter; all you need to know is that I'm a demon."
The stranger began to walk toward them, and Marie's mother backed away. Marie's father positioned himself in front of his wife.
"Stay back!"
The stranger rushed forward and tackled Marie's father to the ground.
"Dad!"
Marie, who had just reached the top of the stairs, saw her father being tackled by the stranger.
"Get Anton and run!" her father yelled.
Without hesitation, Marie ran into Anton's room and grabbed him by the arm.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Marie's mother declared.
"Why?! We've got to help Dad," Anton said.
"Just do it!" Marie snapped.
The three of them ran down the stairs with all the speed they could muster. However, they soon heard a voice at the top of the stairs right as they reached the ground floor.
"I love it when prey runs away. Makes it more fun."
The demon stood there at the top of the stairs with his hands covered in blood. All three of them stopped and stared, unable to process anything.
"You two need to run," Marie's mother whispered to them.
"But, Mom..." Anton began to say but was cut off by his mother.
"You two need to go find help. I'll be fine."
Reluctantly, Anton and Marie ran, leaving their mother to her fate. They ran to find help, but there was no help to find. Their entire village had been set alight by the demon, and all the villagers were dead. So they ran further. After weeks of running, scavenging for food, and feeling insecure, they reached the Capital City of Dawn on foot. Anton and Marie were 17 and 15 respectively, and they were on their own. Unable to find work that would allow them to secure lodgings right away, they turned to a man named Gil, who was a drug dealer.
After working for Gil for a few months, the two of them got jobs at the colosseum. Anton, despite being a bookworm with no fighting experience, took up the sword as a fighter in the colosseum, and Marie, despite only ever doing light cleaning around the house, got a job as a maid. The two of them had hoped that they could finally feel at ease again, just like when their parents were still alive. But fate was a cruel mistress.
A few months after Anton's debut, he had still not won a single match, and Marie had been assigned to be the personal maid of a new fighter. Now, normally, this wouldn't be a problem for Marie, but this new fighter happened to have horns growing out of either side of her head. She was a demon, just like the man who killed their parents and burned their village down.
Demons were violent creatures, capable of stealing life force just by touching living things like plants or people. Their inability to filter pure mana in the air caused violent tendencies and also granted them immense power, since filtered mana was less dense and less powerful, giving beings who could filter it, like humans, a disadvantage. In the short time Marie had been employed, she had studied demons passionately. She knew everything there was to know about them—their weaknesses, their strengths. It was an odd coincidence that she had met one of these so-called demons after being orphaned by the same creature.
She despised Laura from the very moment she laid eyes on her. The mere thought of having to help a demon like her made her sick. Marie knew she couldn't outright refuse to help her, but she didn't want to either. Marie had been on the verge of a mental breakdown when Roderick told her to be Laura's personal maid. She wanted to shout, to curse him out, but she couldn't. This job paid too well, and she wasn't prideful enough to give it up.
Laura was only twelve years old, but Marie still hated her, hated her just as much as the demon who killed their parents and burned their village. To her, a demon was a demon. That's why the sight before Marie shook her to her core.
Her brother Anton had been impaled through the spleen. He had lost and was going to be thrown out onto the streets. The synthesis didn't work, Laura had won, and now her brother and her were going to be thrown out. It wasn't fair. She screamed in her heart that it wasn't fair. Why couldn't she escape the demons? She hadn't done anything wrong.
A few hours later, Laura woke up in an infirmary. She noticed someone sitting at her bedside. It was Roderick.
"You're awake."
"Yeah. How long have I been here?"
"Only a few hours."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"Yes. I've been informed by the doctors that your system was full of a powerful drug called synthesis. It's a drug that causes a person's body to basically shut down. It's quite popular among druggies if used in concentrated doses, but your body was full of it. Even though a demon's body should have resistance to drugs, a dose of that amount was enough to knock you out."
"So somebody drugged me before the fight?"
"We're currently investigating the matter, so you just relax and get some rest. Your body may be resistant against drugs, but that amount of synthesis would have killed a normal person ten times over. So you need to take it easy."
Laura looked down, disappointed. "But I wanted to enjoy the festival and watch some of the fights."
"Well, you've been out for a few hours, and the first day of the tournament is over, so there aren't any more fights today. If you feel better tomorrow, then you can do whatever. But for now, you need to rest."
"Okay..."
Laura's expression changed to a forlorn smile.
"Hey. I'm going to leave you alone for a while because there are some things I need to sort out. So just get some rest."
"Okay."
Roderick left Laura in the infirmary alone.
Once Roderick left, Laura sat up in bed and put a hand to her forehead.
"I think I know who did it," she thought. "That stupid maid Marie probably did it because she hates me and didn't want me to beat her brother."
With that, Laura laid back down and fell asleep again.
A few minutes later, the door to the infirmary opened quietly. The person who entered was none other than Marie. Sneaking toward a sleeping Laura, she brandished a kitchen knife.
Marie quietly walked over to Laura and lifted her knife up high, intending to stab Laura with it.
Just when Marie was about to plunge the knife into Laura's throat, her eyes burst open, and she caught the knife with her hands.
"Wh... wh... wh..."
Laura grabbed Marie's arm, digging her claws into her flesh, causing her to drop the knife. Laura then pushed Marie onto the adjacent bed and put her claws against Marie's throat.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I am... going to kill you."
Laura tilted her head in a sarcastic manner, with a smile on her face. "Oh, and why would you want to kill me? Aren't we just the best of friends, Marie?"
"I hate you!" Marie screamed. "I don't care! You are evil! Evil! EVIL!!!"
Marie attempted to break free but to no avail.
"This doesn't make any sense. You're only twelve; how come I can't get you off me?"
"The answer is very simple, you halfwit. It's because I'm a demon. Duh."
Marie couldn't believe her ears.
"Your kind needs to be eradicated. Demons may be stronger than humans, but we have the numbers advantage, and the only reason you're still alive is that Roderick thinks you can make him a ton of money!"
Laura looked at Marie with a cold expression. "So what? I don't really care about that. It's not like I thought Roderick took me in for free without expecting anything in return. Of course, a rare half-demon would draw crowds and make him money. Do you think I'm stupid?"
Marie's eyes began to fill with tears.
"My brother is going to be kicked out because of you! Do you feel nothing?
Laura, do you feel no remorse for getting my brother kicked out?"
"Of course I don't. What does it matter if he gets kicked out? He's got zero wins and fifteen losses since he entered this place, so of course he'd get kicked out. You seem to think that because you put your brother on a pedestal, everyone would recognize his greatness. You diluted yourself into believing it actually existed. I don't give a damn about you or your brother."
"Well, what are my brother and I going to do now?" Marie said through tears. "If he leaves, then I'm leaving too."
"Hell if I know, and hell if I care. Maybe you can sell that Synthesis crap you put in my body."
"No way. I don't want to go back to living on the streets."
Just then, the door to the infirmary opened, and Roderick walked in.
"What's going on here?"
"Roderick, please..." Marie attempted to plead with Roderick, but Laura put her hand over her mouth and flashed Roderick a smile.
"Hey, Roderick, this girl tried to stab me in my sleep. I guess she must've been mad because I beat her brother."
Marie, with tears streaming down her face, let out muffled pleas.
Roderick looked at Marie and shook his head sadly. "Laura, please get off of her."
"Why? I was having fun. Besides, she started it."
"Because I need to hear her side of the story."
"Fine. Whatever."
Laura let go of Marie and sat back down in her bed. Marie immediately got up and sprinted to Roderick's side.
"Roderick, I'm begging you. Please give my brother another chance, and please make that demon kill herself."
Roderick shook his head in disappointment.
"Marie, I'm disappointed in you. Not only do you hold that much contempt for Laura, but you drugged her and even tried to kill her with a regular kitchen knife. This is a disgrace. I will not tolerate such behavior from you."
"I..." Marie began to say, but Laura interrupted her.
"Seems like reality is finally crashing down on you, Marie. HAHA!"
Roderick shot Laura a cold stare.
"Laura, I will ask you to please stop instigating Marie."
Laura stopped talking.
"Marie, I understand you were upset and angry after Laura beat your brother, but I won't tolerate this sort of behavior. Now please come along with me."
Marie meekly stood up and followed Roderick out of the infirmary. As she left, Marie looked back at Laura. Laura gave her a sarcastic wave goodbye with a smug grin.
"Bye-bye." Laura mouthed those words, and the door shut soon after.
Laura laid down on the bed once again and sighed.
"Well, I'm glad she's gone now."
The primordial demon awoke thousands of years ago. Its origins and genesis remained shrouded in mystery. During that era, despair gripped the hearts of all who were unfortunate enough to witness its awakening. Those who encountered the primordial demon faced a grim fate—death or enslavement as mindless servants, plunging the world into chaos.
The mana in the air, once a source of magic, had turned poisonous, causing even greater casualties. The people of that era, desperate for salvation, turned to the churches of the Goddess Delva. They prayed fervently, and the Goddess responded. Delva emerged, purifying the tainted air and presenting the people with a choice: fight or cower. Those who chose to fight were granted power, while those who succumbed to fear were punished with enslavement.
Such was the way of Delva—merciless to those who refused to fight for their survival. This decision, however, came with consequences. Many forced into slavery eventually escaped and sided with the demon, strengthening its forces against Delva.
The demon amassed an army of servants, while Delva rallied an army of believers. They engaged in a brutal conflict that spanned decades. In the end, with casualties reaching millions, the goddess' army emerged victorious. Delva, however, couldn't slay the primordial demon, and she sealed it away using the last of her strength. She fell into a deep slumber, and the world reverted to its former state. Yet, not all demons were vanquished; many slaves who had joined the demon and those transformed into its servants survived and roamed the world, their purpose unknown.
"Hey, Mom, I think these flowers are growing quite well," Marie said.
"Thank you, dear. They should make our garden look wonderful this year," her mother replied.
A mother and daughter stood under a tree, admiring the view.
"I'm sure they will."
"Thank you for helping, Marie."
Marie and her mother had recently taken up the hobby of growing flowers in their garden. When her father went to work and her brother stayed in his room studying, Marie and her mother came up with the idea to start a flower garden.
"No problem, Mom. I'm just glad we can spend time together like this," Marie replied happily.
"We really need to get some more fertilizer or something, though. We've used all of ours already."
Their village was small, with only about fifteen other families. There wasn't much to do and not many new things to try. That's why they decided to grow flowers in their garden, nurturing them every day and eagerly awaiting the blossoms.
"Let's call it quits for today. The sun's starting to set, and I have to start dinner prep," Marie's mother said.
"Okay, Mom."
Marie and her mother headed into the house and began preparing dinner together. Little did they know they were being watched from afar. From the shadows of the forest, a figure approached.
Inside the house, Marie and her mother started dinner prep.
"Here, let me help," Marie's mother began peeling the vegetables.
"Thanks, Mom."
While they worked, Marie glanced outside at the flowers again. As she stared, she noticed something was different.
"Mom?" Marie called out. "Why are the flowers turning black and wilting?"
Her mother stopped chopping and turned towards her. She looked out the window and gasped.
"What... What happened to the flowers?"
The flowers had suddenly begun to wilt and turn black. Their beautiful vibrant colors became dull and lifeless.
"I don't know," Marie said, confused.
"This doesn't make sense. The flowers were fine a second ago," Marie's mother said, still bewildered by what had occurred.
The flowers began to die one after another until all of them were completely destroyed. Within a minute, they were gone, leaving only stumps. Just then, the front door opened, and the two heard a familiar voice.
"What's the matter, you two?"
It was Marie's father. He had noticed that his wife and daughter seemed concerned about something.
"Um, Dad, I think something bad has happened to the flowers. They all just started wilting and turning black all at once. It's very strange," Marie said.
Marie's father seemed unconcerned about it.
"So what? Flowers die, right? Maybe you two just didn't tend to them correctly or something," he suggested.
Marie's mother shook her head.
"No, dear, this isn't normal. Something is wrong here," she insisted.
Marie's father sighed.
"Whatever you say," he replied dismissively.
He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Marie and her mother continued preparing dinner together in a tense atmosphere.
After dinner was over, Marie, her father, and her mother went outside to check the flowers. The sun had set, so they carried lanterns with them. As they approached the flower bed, they saw that everything was still dead and dark.
"What is going on here?" Marie asked.
"I don't know. This is unnatural," her mother answered.
They both stared at the plants and felt a chill run down their spines. They looked at each other, and Marie's father spoke.
"Isn't it just because you two didn't take care of them properly?"
"Flowers don't just die that quickly," Marie's mother remarked.
"Well, whatever. I'll be heading to sleep now. See you tomorrow."
Marie's father began to leave but stopped in his tracks as he heard a loud shriek from the house.
"What was that?" Marie's mother asked.
"Was that Anton?" Marie's father asked.
Marie's mother and father rushed inside the house and found the front door kicked open. They immediately rushed upstairs to find Anton's door wide open. In the darkness, they heard him pleading.
"Please don't hurt me! Please don't!" he cried loudly.
"Anton, what is going on here?!" Marie's mother shouted.
"Don't come any closer!" he begged. "I don't want to die!"
Marie's mother and father both rushed to the open door. Anton was on the floor, backing away from a man they didn't know. The stranger had two distinct horns growing out of either side of his head. His eyes glowed red, and he was unarmed. The stranger looked at Marie's parents.
"Who are you?!" Marie's father demanded.
The stranger glared at Marie's father and smiled mischievously.
"That doesn't really matter; all you need to know is that I'm a demon."
The stranger began to walk toward them, and Marie's mother backed away. Marie's father positioned himself in front of his wife.
"Stay back!"
The stranger rushed forward and tackled Marie's father to the ground.
"Dad!"
Marie, who had just reached the top of the stairs, saw her father being tackled by the stranger.
"Get Anton and run!" her father yelled.
Without hesitation, Marie ran into Anton's room and grabbed him by the arm.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Marie's mother declared.
"Why?! We've got to help Dad," Anton said.
"Just do it!" Marie snapped.
The three of them ran down the stairs with all the speed they could muster. However, they soon heard a voice at the top of the stairs right as they reached the ground floor.
"I love it when prey runs away. Makes it more fun."
The demon stood there at the top of the stairs with his hands covered in blood. All three of them stopped and stared, unable to process anything.
"You two need to run," Marie's mother whispered to them.
"But, Mom..." Anton began to say but was cut off by his mother.
"You two need to go find help. I'll be fine."
Reluctantly, Anton and Marie ran, leaving their mother to her fate. They ran to find help, but there was no help to find. Their entire village had been set alight by the demon, and all the villagers were dead. So they ran further. After weeks of running, scavenging for food, and feeling insecure, they reached the Capital City of Dawn on foot. Anton and Marie were 17 and 15 respectively, and they were on their own. Unable to find work that would allow them to secure lodgings right away, they turned to a man named Gil, who was a drug dealer.
After working for Gil for a few months, the two of them got jobs at the colosseum. Anton, despite being a bookworm with no fighting experience, took up the sword as a fighter in the colosseum, and Marie, despite only ever doing light cleaning around the house, got a job as a maid. The two of them had hoped that they could finally feel at ease again, just like when their parents were still alive. But fate was a cruel mistress.
A few months after Anton's debut, he had still not won a single match, and Marie had been assigned to be the personal maid of a new fighter. Now, normally, this wouldn't be a problem for Marie, but this new fighter happened to have horns growing out of either side of her head. She was a demon, just like the man who killed their parents and burned their village down.
Demons were violent creatures, capable of stealing life force just by touching living things like plants or people. Their inability to filter pure mana in the air caused violent tendencies and also granted them immense power, since filtered mana was less dense and less powerful, giving beings who could filter it, like humans, a disadvantage. In the short time Marie had been employed, she had studied demons passionately. She knew everything there was to know about them—their weaknesses, their strengths. It was an odd coincidence that she had met one of these so-called demons after being orphaned by the same creature.
She despised Laura from the very moment she laid eyes on her. The mere thought of having to help a demon like her made her sick. Marie knew she couldn't outright refuse to help her, but she didn't want to either. Marie had been on the verge of a mental breakdown when Roderick told her to be Laura's personal maid. She wanted to shout, to curse him out, but she couldn't. This job paid too well, and she wasn't prideful enough to give it up.
Laura was only twelve years old, but Marie still hated her, hated her just as much as the demon who killed their parents and burned their village. To her, a demon was a demon. That's why the sight before Marie shook her to her core.
Her brother Anton had been impaled through the spleen. He had lost and was going to be thrown out onto the streets. The synthesis didn't work, Laura had won, and now her brother and her were going to be thrown out. It wasn't fair. She screamed in her heart that it wasn't fair. Why couldn't she escape the demons? She hadn't done anything wrong.
A few hours later, Laura woke up in an infirmary. She noticed someone sitting at her bedside. It was Roderick.
"You're awake."
"Yeah. How long have I been here?"
"Only a few hours."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"Yes. I've been informed by the doctors that your system was full of a powerful drug called synthesis. It's a drug that causes a person's body to basically shut down. It's quite popular among druggies if used in concentrated doses, but your body was full of it. Even though a demon's body should have resistance to drugs, a dose of that amount was enough to knock you out."
"So somebody drugged me before the fight?"
"We're currently investigating the matter, so you just relax and get some rest. Your body may be resistant against drugs, but that amount of synthesis would have killed a normal person ten times over. So you need to take it easy."
Laura looked down, disappointed. "But I wanted to enjoy the festival and watch some of the fights."
"Well, you've been out for a few hours, and the first day of the tournament is over, so there aren't any more fights today. If you feel better tomorrow, then you can do whatever. But for now, you need to rest."
"Okay..."
Laura's expression changed to a forlorn smile.
"Hey. I'm going to leave you alone for a while because there are some things I need to sort out. So just get some rest."
"Okay."
Roderick left Laura in the infirmary alone.
Once Roderick left, Laura sat up in bed and put a hand to her forehead.
"I think I know who did it," she thought. "That stupid maid Marie probably did it because she hates me and didn't want me to beat her brother."
With that, Laura laid back down and fell asleep again.
A few minutes later, the door to the infirmary opened quietly. The person who entered was none other than Marie. Sneaking toward a sleeping Laura, she brandished a kitchen knife.
Marie quietly walked over to Laura and lifted her knife up high, intending to stab Laura with it.
Just when Marie was about to plunge the knife into Laura's throat, her eyes burst open, and she caught the knife with her hands.
"Wh... wh... wh..."
Laura grabbed Marie's arm, digging her claws into her flesh, causing her to drop the knife. Laura then pushed Marie onto the adjacent bed and put her claws against Marie's throat.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I am... going to kill you."
Laura tilted her head in a sarcastic manner, with a smile on her face. "Oh, and why would you want to kill me? Aren't we just the best of friends, Marie?"
"I hate you!" Marie screamed. "I don't care! You are evil! Evil! EVIL!!!"
Marie attempted to break free but to no avail.
"This doesn't make any sense. You're only twelve; how come I can't get you off me?"
"The answer is very simple, you halfwit. It's because I'm a demon. Duh."
Marie couldn't believe her ears.
"Your kind needs to be eradicated. Demons may be stronger than humans, but we have the numbers advantage, and the only reason you're still alive is that Roderick thinks you can make him a ton of money!"
Laura looked at Marie with a cold expression. "So what? I don't really care about that. It's not like I thought Roderick took me in for free without expecting anything in return. Of course, a rare half-demon would draw crowds and make him money. Do you think I'm stupid?"
Marie's eyes began to fill with tears.
"My brother is going to be kicked out because of you! Do you feel nothing?
Laura, do you feel no remorse for getting my brother kicked out?"
"Of course I don't. What does it matter if he gets kicked out? He's got zero wins and fifteen losses since he entered this place, so of course he'd get kicked out. You seem to think that because you put your brother on a pedestal, everyone would recognize his greatness. You diluted yourself into believing it actually existed. I don't give a damn about you or your brother."
"Well, what are my brother and I going to do now?" Marie said through tears. "If he leaves, then I'm leaving too."
"Hell if I know, and hell if I care. Maybe you can sell that Synthesis crap you put in my body."
"No way. I don't want to go back to living on the streets."
Just then, the door to the infirmary opened, and Roderick walked in.
"What's going on here?"
"Roderick, please..." Marie attempted to plead with Roderick, but Laura put her hand over her mouth and flashed Roderick a smile.
"Hey, Roderick, this girl tried to stab me in my sleep. I guess she must've been mad because I beat her brother."
Marie, with tears streaming down her face, let out muffled pleas.
Roderick looked at Marie and shook his head sadly. "Laura, please get off of her."
"Why? I was having fun. Besides, she started it."
"Because I need to hear her side of the story."
"Fine. Whatever."
Laura let go of Marie and sat back down in her bed. Marie immediately got up and sprinted to Roderick's side.
"Roderick, I'm begging you. Please give my brother another chance, and please make that demon kill herself."
Roderick shook his head in disappointment.
"Marie, I'm disappointed in you. Not only do you hold that much contempt for Laura, but you drugged her and even tried to kill her with a regular kitchen knife. This is a disgrace. I will not tolerate such behavior from you."
"I..." Marie began to say, but Laura interrupted her.
"Seems like reality is finally crashing down on you, Marie. HAHA!"
Roderick shot Laura a cold stare.
"Laura, I will ask you to please stop instigating Marie."
Laura stopped talking.
"Marie, I understand you were upset and angry after Laura beat your brother, but I won't tolerate this sort of behavior. Now please come along with me."
Marie meekly stood up and followed Roderick out of the infirmary. As she left, Marie looked back at Laura. Laura gave her a sarcastic wave goodbye with a smug grin.
"Bye-bye." Laura mouthed those words, and the door shut soon after.
Laura laid down on the bed once again and sighed.
"Well, I'm glad she's gone now."
