Infernal Academia

Chapter 67 - Trayer's Righteousness: Part 11 (Once a Stroll, Now a Struggle)

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The roses rustled in the breeze, their white petals fluttering with every gust of wind.  Up above, the sky was pitch black and filled with glittering stars, and yet it was as bright as day on the mountaintop.  It was cold up here, and when Cobalt peered over the side of the rose garden, he found himself staring down at the top of a blanket of clouds.  Frowning, the Incubus leaned on the wrought-iron fence separating him from the sheer rock face down below.  Taking a deep breath, he felt a presence move through the roses behind him.

"I went too far," the Incubus murmured, rubbing his forearms.

"Did you?" spoke the familiar voice of the cat.

"I've... never hurt someone.  Not like that."

"There's a first time for everything."

Cobalt took a deep breath and gripped the iron rails of the fence.

"What was that?  What happened to me out there?"

"Most can't rightly say.  Incubi haven't been studied enough to put a name to anything."

"I'm not asking what the general consensus is.  I'm asking you."

He heard it laugh.

"I suppose carnimancy would be a good word for it.  Incubi have a tenuous grasp on their minds, but their bodies are a different story.  By boiling their own blood, they can sponteneously generate claws and fangs wherever they require them."

Cobalt swallowed hard and rubbed his arm again, remembering the painful sensation of a dozen sharp teeth ripping through his skin.

"I don't understand.  I'm not a fully-grown Incubus, at least not physically.  Why is this happening to me now?" he asked aloud.

"Who said it only started now?"

He furrowed his brow.

"I've never gotten so... violent.  No, this is definetely something new," he murmured, more to himself than to the cat.

The roses swished behind him.

"Well... putting a pin in that issue for now, let's talk about something positive for a change."

"What's there to be positive about?  I mutilated a man in front of my students.  They... They know what I am now."

"You saved their lives."

"I killed someone!" Cobalt suddenly yelled.

He went silent in order to catch his breath, listening as the wind rustled the white flowers all around him.

"Cobalt.  Surely as a student of History, you should understand just how violent Hell can be?"

He swallowed hard.

"I know, it's just... I've spent the past year trying to distance myself from my identity of an Incubus, only to wind up doing exactly what I always dreaded doing."

"Killing in self-defense?"

"Killing in general."

He heard the cat sigh.

"That Devil was willing to inflict unspeakable cruelty upon those you care about.  You did what you had to."

"I gave in.  I gave in to this 'hunger', and someone is dead because of my weakness.  I'm no better than those in the Undercroft."

"And yet you're still here."

Cobalt swallowed hard.

"... should I be?"