The King

Chapter 3

In the morning, Iruma woke up a little earlier than the alarm clock, and after turning it off, he lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. His mood was a little less than zero. I didn't feel like getting up at all. And where had Amelie gone. After half an hour of thinking, Iruma got out of bed and got dressed and went to school all alone. Wandering to school Iruma's consciousness wandered in a lingering smoke. Familiar voices rang out behind her. Asmodeus and Clara caught up with Iruma, and then the trio walked in complete silence. When they reached the school and once again didn't see the student council at the entrance, Iruma was jerked around. The blue-haired guy walked resolutely toward the student council office. Clara and Asmodeus tried to stop him, but his eyes filled with the despair that drilled his soul to the darkest depths dismissed the idea out of hand. Now Iruma was like a trapped beast, trying in one last attempt to cling to the last chance to find the one he had become so dear to him. Opening the doors of the student council office, Iruma began to look for the deputy with his eyes.

- Who are you? What do you want?

Iruma bit his lip until it bled and turned back out into the hallway. The blue-haired man stood against the wall and pounded his fist on it. Clara and Asmodeus stood beside him without speaking. But when a trickle of blood started running down the wall, the best friends panicked and pulled the boy away. Asmodeus looked at Iruma's hand and was horrified. His fist was smashed in blood to the knuckles. Iruma ripped his hand out and walked toward the classroom. No one in the classroom touched him. Kolego's teacher was still uncomfortable with the boy's appearance. At the third lesson, the teacher suggested that Iruma go home. Sullivan's grandson silently stood up and headed away. Twenty minutes later, the space shuddered with concentrated bloodlust. Everyone in the classroom gasped for breath.

- What the hell was that? Whose power was that?

- Azz-Azz, maybe?

- I don't know. Come on, let's go. We have to hurry.

- Yeah.

Asmodeus and Clara flew out of the classroom. The whole class ran after them, despite the teacher yelling behind their backs. The whole class was surprised when they ran outside. The weather outside was furious. The clouds came in and a strong wind came up. It seemed as if in a little while there would be a real hurricane over the school. The bloodlust in the air was gaining concentration.

- What on earth was that monster out there?

Once they reached the courtyard and entered the grounds, Iruma's classmates froze in place. In the middle of the courtyard, hunched over and arms outstretched, stood Iruma. An unknown purple substance covered his back, legs, the outside of his arms, and the top of his head. On his hands and feet it formed paws with sharp claws. On her head, where Iruma's eyes had been, the purple smoke had the appearance of empty eye sockets. In those eye sockets, a shade of blood with the texture of a distant star, glowed two dots. The kid's teeth gritted and his fangs grew almost twice as long.

- What's the matter with him? What the hell is going on?

- Look, who's there?

Elizabeth pointed to the group of demons huddled against the wall. There was pure terror in their eyes. There were wounds and abrasions here and there. One of them had an eye out and a trail of blood ran down his face. White as a sheet and trembling like a leaf, the six men stared at the monster that was Iruma. The boy moved toward the demons, and every step echoed in the air. The demons shuddered and sprinted away, screaming.

- Help!

- He's a monster! Help!

- He wants to kill us! Fucking monster!

- Stop right there!

Iruma slashed at the air with his claws, and the air wave traveled a few dozen meters in half a second and crashed into the wall right in front of them, creating a decent-sized crack in it. The smoke covered Iruma completely and began to grow in size, taking on the appearance of something resembling a large wolf. The monster howled. The volume of the howl shattered the windows of the building. The giant wolf gritted its teeth, growled loudly, and glared at those who crouched on the ground in terror. The beast seemed to bite the six of them off. There was another source of power in the air, and it was getting closer. Sullivan flew toward the classroom.

- What's going on here?

- Director? We've got what you might call a bit of a problem here.

- A problem? And by the way, where is Iruma?

- Mr. Director, Iruma is right here - Clara pointed her finger at the big wolf standing in the middle of the courtyard.

- What? Damn, that's bad. And who are those young men there?

- Mr. Director, we saw three of them.

- That's right. We have to help Iruma first, or this will end badly. Koliego, help me.

- Huh? Help?

- Exactly. You must distract him.

- Okay. I understand, I'll do my best.

Koliego headed off to distract Iruma while Sullivan began to cast the spell. The teacher couldn't think of anything better to do than scream, but as soon as he got ready the scream stuck in his throat. A stare of red dots sparking with anger was directed at him. His heart felt like it was in a vise, and the devil himself burst into his mind, ready to tear him to pieces. It was as if the king of the demon world himself were standing in front of him. His legs buckled, and the dark-haired man sat down on his knees, staring into the black eyeballs, where two red dots were burning through his depths. Suddenly a black circle formed around the smoke wolf, and from the borders of this circle, at equal distances from each other, upward streaks sprang and reached a height of ten meters and met each other at precisely the same point above Iruma. The vertical stripes began to expand, gradually enclosing the boy in the cage. As soon as the cage collapsed, the weather instantly returned to normal. The wind calmed and the clouds parted giving way to clear skies.

- Is it over?

- Looks like it. Director, how's Sir Iruma?

- He'll be fine. I'll take him home for a while until he gets better. Teacher Koliego, take care of those students who were injured and check the school for casualties.

- Okay, Principal Sullivan. You can leave that to me.

- Asmodeus, Clara.

- Huh? Yes Principal- Iruma's best friends answered almost simultaneously.

- You don't want to come with me. I think having the support of friends right now would really help Iruma.

- Okay, fine.

- If you say so.

Sullivan moved Iruma's cage to his manor and went there himself in the company of Clara and Asmodeus. The situation was bad to say the least, and now they had to figure out what had happened.