The crimson beast with scarlet wings roared in mid air. Its roar rent the sky asunder, and its fire plunged everything into a burning pit of hell. The sky started raining, but instead of droplets of water, they were fire that burned away everything that lived. Everything within its sight got lit on fire, reducing them to mere ashes. A beast of destruction, a beast of the end. Its existence marked the end of all thing. A cursed being, brought to this world just to make it burn.

And the next time that very terrifying beast roared, I found myself waking up from my bed, with my body drenched in sweat and my breath heavy.

'That dream again…'

No…to be more precise, it was a nightmare. The beast in that nightmare was so vivid and terrifying to the point I thought I would never wake up again if I was devoured by it. This had been going on for a few days…I didn't know what started it, but when that time arrived…that dream just kept appearing in my sleep, over and over again…

And there was nothing I could do about it except moving on with my life and hoped one day it would end, maybe.

"Morning already…"

I was no heavy sleeper, and I would prefer not to have that dream again, but somehow I couldn't find enough care to get myself up. It's not like I was busy with work or anything, but …even if I got up, I wouldn't had much to do except wandering around the castle and tried to make myself busy. Would be nice if there were still something in the castle for me to see, but from the past few days I had already searched every nook and cranny in Melas castle out of sheer curiosity. Eventually, even that got boring.

But well, it's not like staying in bed all day would be seen as productive. It couldn't be helped. I had to get up.

I got myself off the top of the bunk bed. I didn't know why, but for some reason I liked to sleep in a high place. It was rather strange, but preference differed from person to person, I guessed. I would like a roommate as well, having a room solely for my own use could get lonely sometimes. Although as of now, there wasn't anyone around my age in Melas castle. The New Year holiday just started four days ago, it would take a while till every other students come back to this place.

But well, enough thinking. My body smelled from all the sweat I made in my sleep…I didn't know much about the common sense of this new world I found myself waking up into, but what I did know was no one likes a smelly girl.

"I'll need to clean this later…"

I would need to ask Nilrem on how to wash my clothes. I had been wearing this nightwear for almost a week, and even I knew clothes stink when you didn't clean them.

But first, let's take a bath! Or else the smell would catch on my body as well!

I walked out of my room. The girl's dormitory looked like an abandoned manor during the holiday. At this moment, I was its only inhabitant, which was why I could freely get out of my room in my pajama without the fear of being seen in such an attire. Although stuff like walking around in pajama could be normal in the girl's dormitory. Well, I might actually look forward to it, walking around with other girls in pajamas, it could be fun!

But not immediately, I needed to take a bath.

After a short trek, I arrived at the girls' bath house. It was large and comfy enough, not too luxurious nor too shabby. Rather average...in a way, but still acceptable for the girls' use. The castle as a whole looked rather rundown, slowly showing its age, but somehow this bathhouse was still in rather good condition, with an automatic water heating system powered by magic engine technology. I guessed a female Headmaster truly understood common females' basic needs.

After neatly prepared my new clothes for today, I took off the dirty pajama and threw myself to the biggest bath in the place. According to the rules, one must wash their body first before getting inside the bath, but screw the rules, I felt like owning the bath for myself today.

"Ahh…this is the best…"

For some reason, I really liked bathing in hot water. It was so relaxing, enough to ease away the terror that dream brought me lately.

'Maybe it has something to do with this…'

I touched my naked navel, the place where a strange seal resided. It shaped like a spiral, but with edges. Its color was dark red, making it look unnaturally ominous. I didn't know when, but when I realized it, this strange seal had already became a part of my body. I hadn't speak with Nilrem about this even though I wanted to. The woman had been rather busy lately, with the influx of soldiers from the frontlines coming to Melas castle, I simply couldn't find any chance to speak with her.

Well…she couldn't be that busy, right? Maybe I would eventually find a chance. Right now, the most important matter was to find something worth doing to pass the time I got.

But the bath was too comfortable…the water temperature was perfect, I didn't really want to leave this bath…

If I was not careful, I might find myself sleeping in the bathhouse.

Yet…the temptation was irresistible. No, fight it, Deborah! Don't fall asleep like this!

----------------------

Thankfully, I managed to beat my desire and safely got out of the comfortable bath. After donning my normal attire, a plain white shirt and a long simple black skirt, I headed out to Melas's castle interior. Nilrem once said this type of clothing isn't fit for Dargoth's granddaughter, but I enjoyed dressing plainly like this. It was comfortable, easy to move in without attracting any kind of unwanted attraction. Beside, this castle was hardly grandiose enough for me to act like a fancy princess. This was fine for me.

I had already decided on what to do today. My plan was visiting the library and read every single books available there. Back during the brief confinement in my room, Nilrem brought me some books to determine whether I could read and write or not, which luckily I still could to some degree. I read through all of them during those time, and they were enough to keep me up to date on the current situation of the Demon Realm, along with some common sense.

But I wanted to know more, to learn more, about the culture of this world and the people in it, along with everything that happened in the past. It might shred a light on the mystery surrounding my hidden past that Nilrem wouldn't tell me. It would be tedious reading everything, but I had time to kill.

I stood right in front of the castle's library. The door was closed, but not locked. I slowly pushed it away without making a noise to come inside. Unexpectedly, there was someone inside the library despite the lack of students to use it. That was the librarian. An old woman who actually looked her age, she was sitting behind the counter reading some books to kill time. The name tag on the counter was written as Miriam Prophetissima, her name, probably.

"Ehh…excuse me, can I use the library?"

I approached the librarian and asked for permission. For all I knew, the library might not open, just because the librarian was here didn't mean it was open.

"Feel free to do so…Oh, you are…Lady Deborah Draconis, right?"

"You...know my name…?"

We just met for the first time, yet the old woman knew of my name, and I certainly didn't wear a nametag on my clothes.

"The Headmaster spoke of you."

"Nilrem did?"

The old woman simply nodded.

"She said to let you use the library should you come here."

"That was thoughtful of her."

That woman really had a plan for everything.

"Enjoy your read, Lady Deborah. I'll be here if you need me."

"Thank you, but I'm no Lady though…it's strange to be called like that."

The old librarian simply smiled.

"But you are a noble, Lady Deborah. After all, you are Lord Dargoth's granddaughter. A lineage is granted nobility when one of its member gains the title of Demon King. If Lord Dargoth is still around, I would have to call you Princess Deborah instead."

Princess Deborah…it sounded nice, but for some reason, I didn't really like being called a princess…It just sounded odd and unfitting to someone like me.

"Just call me Deborah…I really don't mix well with people talking to me in formalities."

The old woman just silently smiled as she replied.

"Miss Deborah then. Please pick the books you want to read, I don't have all day."

"Oh right."

I forgot I came here to read, not to talk. After I excused myself, I rushed to the bookshelves to find books worth reading. The library was small, but it wasn't lacking in the books department. There were a lot of bookshelves neatly arranged to save up space and still comfortable enough for students to take books away without any problem. The genres were varied, but the one interested me the most were history books.

After taking away three books that I fancied out of the history section, I brought them to the counter for the librarian to do her work.

Come to think of it…

"Why are you still here, Miss Prophetissima? I thought everyone, even the teachers, had already went home for the holiday?"

"It's actually Mrs.Prophetissima, and yes, I intended to go home as well. But there were some troubles with the number of carriages, and when it was resolved, there wasn't any left to take me home. That explains why I'm here, in case you're wondering."

The woman explained as she put a stamp on a reading ticket. Procedure, probably, even when there were only two of us in this room.

"I'm normally a teacher instead of a librarian, it's just a part time job that I enjoy doing. It's tiring to work even in the holiday, but procedure is still procedure. You can read these books in the library, but if you want to take any with you back to your room, please speak to me first, Miss Deborah."

"Right…thank you."

I took a hold of the books I borrowed together with the reading ticket and marched for the reading area. Of course, there wasn't anyone else here beside me and the librarian, I could pick any table I wanted, but although I enjoyed the silence, I still picked the table with a window nearby to hear the sound of nature and feel the wind of the winter. It just felt odd reading without feeling the world moving around. It was strange, but I enjoyed that feeling.

But today, rather than the feeling of the world, the sounds I heard from the windows were not the winter wind dancing in the air, but merry noises of loud and rude men.

"What's going on?"

I mumbled as the voices from outside the window grew louder when I looked outside. The source of the voices came from below, right near the castle courtyard. There was a group of men in armor, soldiers to be precise. Lay before them was a wooden scaffold, something that wasn't there yesterday when I passed through the place. The soldiers were shouting and yelling at the empty scaffold, it was hard to make out a logical reason for their actions…until other soldiers made their appearance, with a line of people in tattered clothes coming after, their hands were tied, their heads were covered in a dirty bag. Those who did not follow or walk too slow got beaten by the soldiers from the rear. Eventually, they all formed a neatly line leading up to the scaffold one by one. Another one appeared from behind, a shirtless man with his face concealed by a black hood. He was dragging a sword almost as big as him and together with it, he climbed up the scaffold through the stair.

The crowd of soldiers suddenly burst into cheers when the hooded man opened his arms to welcome the shower of laughter as if it was something to be proud of. Some of the tied up men were whimpering from the sheer weight of noises, enough for one to fall down on his knees. The cheering suddenly stopped at that moment, and quickly replaced by the booing of the crowd. The hooded man approached the cowering man, and with his ripped arm he forcefully dragged the defenseless man to the wooden block in the middle of the scaffold.

"No…!"

With the help of two other demon soldiers, the man with tied arms found himself lying his head on the wooden block like a fish preparing to get chopped. He tried to struggle, but his strength did naught to escape the restraint of two men in armor. He seemed to be screaming, but it was hard to hear what he was saying from my position, however, under the laughter of the crowd, his attempt was already futile from the start.

The hooded man readied his greatsword, the crowd's cheering got even louder than before, some even made a toast with vials of beer and some roasted dirty sausages. It only ended when the greatsword descended, and the tied up man's head came off from his body, with the remaining blood drenching the wooden floor in red. And only now did the crowd resume their thunderous cheering, as if the death of a defenseless man was something worth celebrating.

"What is…this…?"

"Oh, it's that day already…?"

Suddenly, I found Mrs. Prophetissima had already stood next to me, with her gaze fixed on the merry band of soldiers in the courtyard.

"It's an execution site. The soldiers bring the prisoners they found on the frontline back to this place, and publicly execute all of them."

"Who are those prisoners…?"

I asked. My question put the old librarian into a brief silence before she continued.

"Human soldiers."

"Human…?"

They were…human? The humans of the West continent - our enemy according to the books?

"But why now...why kill them now in a way like this?"

"Because you can hardly enjoy killing things when you're still fighting for your life. This yearly festive was justified by them as a chance to release all the pain and hatred they endured during their service onto their enemies. And those who were unfortunate enough to be captured became their scapegoats and playthings solely to safely sastify their bloodlust."

The librarian explained as she walked back to behind the counter, seeminly tired of the scene from outside.

How could something like this happen when Nilrem was still the Headmaster of this castle?

"Either way, you better stay away from them if you don't want any trouble."

I clenched my fists. People were literally dying outside of the window, and yet, I should continue reading my books like nothing happened?

"This cannot continue! I'll go stop them!"

There was no way I could simply pretend there was nothing out there. My previous nightmare was bad already, and I didn't want to add more of them to torment me for the nights to come.

With all my strength, I hurriedly ran outside of the library, if I was fast enough, I might be able to prevent another life to be senselessly taken away just for amusement!

"No! Don't do it Deborah!"

----------------------

"This stops now!"

I shouted, which turned the attention of the crowd away from the execution taking place on the chopping block. But even then, I was too slow to prevent another head rolling on the floor. The executioner and his henchmen had already finished claiming another life. But if I didn't stop this charade now, all the prisoners would die a horrible death solely for the fun of these terrible soldiers.

"You must put an end to this!"

I approached the crowd, but tried my best to keep a distance away from them. I needed to let the crowd know of my presence and intention, but the one who had to be stopped was the executioner running the place.

"You're a big girl, aren't you?"

"This is no place for a lady like you!"

Seemed like my initial impression was a failure. I guessed the key lied with the executioner, if I stopped him, then I could stop all of this. Without giving any care to the soldiers, I tried and found my way up to the scaffold before any of them could block my way and prevent me from stopping all these. My quick journey had been successful so far, apparently no one cared enough to drop their fun for a girl who showed up out of nowhere and started barking orders. Things went well so far, but eventually, I met some difficulty. The entrance to the scaffold was blocked by the two soldiers accompanying the executioner himself.

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"Let me through."

They didn't respond, or they just didn't care. If they didn't want to let me through, the only option I had left was to forcefully burst through them.

But could I actually do it…could I have the strength to push two grown men trained to fight away of my path…? I was a simple girl who barely knew the world.

But even so, someone had to intervene and stop this injustice. If no one was willing, then I would.

"Let her through. I'm interested in what she has to say."

The executioner suddenly spoke, and with his order, the two soldiers blocking the way stood aside before I had the chance to get violent. That was…nice, I guessed.

Now was the time for what I came here for. I walked up to the scaffold and found myself being the center of the stares from the crowd. I was rather nervous under all these unwanted attention, but I must face it if I wish to complete what I started.

"Please stop all of these."

I gently asked. The hooded executioner rested his hands on his bloodstained greatsword and prepared his own lines.

"And why should I? Tell me a reason of why should I stop all these, my lady."

"That's…"

Why was I stuttering? It was already clear why I came here to stop them.

"Because it's wrong!"

The executioner fell silent, and so did the crowd. But that was just the start of what yet to come, as they soon burst into laughter as if I just made a joke instead of declaring my intent to stop this.

"Hahahahaha…This is way more interesting than killing the human bastards!"

Said someone from the crowd. Apparently they found my presence and intention funny…And I would not accept that!

"Shut up! Stop laughing! All of this is wrong! It has to be stopped!"

"My lady…the only thing wrong here…is your head!"

The execution suddenly approached me and pushed my head away. I almost stumbled to the ground, but luckily failed to do so when I managed to regain my balance.

"Why should we stop killing these humans? They are practically dead men the moment they fell into our hands."

"Even so, killing them like this is just too cruel!"

I barked back at the executioner's attempt to refute my reason.

"So, what do you suggest, my lady?"

Said the executioner.

"What?"

The executioner turned his back to me as he faced the crowd and loudly announced.

"Do you suggest we end all this, get them back to the dungeon and let them rot there!? Or do you suggest we simply let them run free and tell their superior everything they've learned from their time in our homeland!? Which one do you prefer!?"

The crowd started to go crazy, like a horde of hungry dogs, they started barking the only thing in their mind when provoked by the executioner's words.

"Kill the bloody humans already!"

"We ain't got all day! Kill them!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Were the demons…really this bloodthirsty…? Or was I simply too naïve to understand what sort of world I was living in, what sort of land I was staying in? Was everything I knew from a land of proud demons merely an illusion? Was this everything that Dargoth stood for and died for? The more they shouted, the more the façade I made inside my mind started to fall apart.

Was this…the reality outside of my fantasy?

I didn't know…I was overwhelmed by the shouts of the savage demons demanding the blood of humans. Why did they desire the end of another's life? What sort of people would enjoy butchering defenseless enemies solely for the sake of entertainment? Why must they do this? Why? Why?

"Now, my lady. If you please excuse me, the crowd is waiting for their executioner, and I can't do my job with you on the stage. This is no place for a lady who knows nothing of the world. Leave now when you still can."

"Why must you continue?"

I replied to the executioner.

"These men are all dead men at this point, all I do is to make good use of their dead lives for something with a meaning."

Said the man.

"And being made a laughing stock is that meaning? Do their life only worth that much?"

"It's still something, don't you think?"

Unsatisfied with his answer, I found myself rushing in front of the line of prisoners and blocked his way, preventing him making contact with any of the prisoners.

"Move, my lady."

Unlike his tone earlier, this time, the executioner's voice was cold and deadly, befitting someone who ends life as a job. But I would not yield, not to someone like…

BAM!

He punched me! The execution actually threw a punch at my face. I found myself off balance for a moment, but my will and pride didn't let me drop down unconscious. Both of my feet still stayed firm, and despite my bloodied nose, I regained my stance and continued blocking his way. If he wanted to kill any of them, he had to go through m…

BAM!

"I won't say it again, my lady."

He punched me again! This time, it wasn't my resolve that helped, but my boiling anger that kept my feet from stumbling down. There was a fire inside my heart, ignited from the pain he inflicted on my face. I clenched my fist and glared at him with all of my hatred in my eyes.

"I like that look in your beautiful eyes. There's a burning rage within you. You're angry, aren't you? Good, then maybe one day you too will understand…how good it feels to kill the things you hate! Now, punch me, my lady! Punch me with all your hatred! Only then will you understand why we did this!"

With my rage at the helm of my body, I threw a punch that contained all of my boiling hatred at the executioner's torso. What was the strength of a girl to a muscular executioner? I thought my punch would barely faze him, but at the very least, I wanted him to taste pain, I wanted him to know how it felt to be hurt by others. This punch held all of my strength and hatred, it would make him feel pain, I knew it for sure.

But what I didn't expect was my punch didn't stop solely at his skin on contact, it went straight through of his torso, destroying every internal organs it found on its path until my fist felt the cold of the winter air through his back.

"What…in the…?"

The executioner mumbled as blood came out of his mouth like a waterfall. His strength grew weak, and eventually, the full weight of his remaining body fell on my hand as his remaining life force escaped his body, resulted in his final death.

And all I could do was standing there in awe of what just happened, without having any ideas of what to do in front of the enraged crowd of soldiers who had already drawn their weapons, with the closest ones being the soldiers guarding the stairs leading to the scaffold.

"You bitch!"

A soldier swung down his sword. The executioner's body kept weighting me down, and by the time I managed to push him away, it was already too late.

"Urgh!"

My neck got slashed, but thankfully the wound wasn't deep enough to cleave the head off my neck. Despite the disbelief of a soldier failing to behead a plain girl, the wound he inflicted on me was still extremly painful. I ground my teeth in a futile attempt to ease the pain, but the soldiers simply didn't want to let me act. The other soldier who guarded the scaffold rushed at me with his sword and stabbed my stomach. His sword didn't go through my body despite his strength, but it still stayed inside my stomach and caused intense pain to my internal organs. The pain forced me to act, and I swung my arms at the soldiers to make my escape.

But my arms proved more deadly than merely pushing the soldiers away. The sheer unknown strength I mustered tore the two of them into two halves, as if their iron armor were made of paper. Their bodies started flying away and landed at the crowd, which made them half furious and half afraid of what happened before their eyes.

"Damn…!"

But I didn't have time to pay my attention to them. I fell down to the ground from the pain in my stomach and my neck. The wounds didn't stop bleeding, and it hurt more than having hot iron glued on your skin. A normal girl would had died from all of these.

But at this point, I had already realized I was no normal girl. The bleeding wounds suddenly burnt themselves with fire, and after that when the fire disappeared, the wounds had already healed themselves without my input. My stomach, my neck, even my face after being punched twice, all of them healed to normal. And with that, I found the strength to get back on my feet…

…and gazed at the angry crowd of soldiers with weapons on their hands and were making their way to the wooden scaffold.

…

…

…

"What…happened here!? Deborah! Answer me!"

I heard a voice from afar. For a moment, I seemed to doze off from reality. That was bad of me. I really should had sleept more. But I didn't want to sleep. I was afraid of those dreams, of those nightmares. I just had a bad one. In that dream, demons were killing humans for fun, I tried to stopped them, things got out of hands, and somehow I found the strength to kill all of the demons.

It sounded like a really bad dream. But Nilrem was here at last, she was probably mad because I slept in again, but she was here for real. It meant I had returned to reality again.

Thankfully it was over…That was a really bad dream.

"Why did you kill all of them!?"

What…? I…?

I opened my eyes, and the very first thing I saw was my blood-soaked hands, a result from the corpses of dead soldiers littered everywhere in the vicinity. The most natural thing I could do was to scream with all the force in my lungs.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

My clothes were tattered from the fight, yet despite the signs of having a lot of wounds inflicted on me by the soldiers' weapons, my body was still fine with barely any scratches, contraried to every evidence that said otherwise. I didn't remember what happened, it was so sudden, but the harsh and blunt truth lied in the result of everything after that.

I killed…all these men…

I was standing on the scaffold, looking dumbfounded as Nilrem approached me together with the old librarian who followed behind. Suddenly, she hurriedly grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the site. The last glimpse I could catch at this place were the corpses of the fallen soldiers, and the line of prisoners too scared to even make a move.

-------------

"Why did you kill all of them?"

The Headmaster dragged me to her office. This place was still as messy as ever, but it got even more messy when Nilrem threw me into a pile of books as both of us made our entrance to her office.

"I…"

"I ask you again. Why did you kill all of them?"

Nilrem's voice was calm, yet her face looked furious. She had every right to be angry…

"I…just wanted to stop them."

"And save the humans as well, am I right?"

Nilrem sighed as she approached her desk and used it as her arm support to keep her from collapsing from sheer anger and terror.

"So, did you accomplish your goal?"

What was she talking about?

"You stopped them, by butchering every single soldier there. But did you save the humans? Did you free any of them from their binds, show them the gate and let them return home? Did you do it?"

Asked the witch.

"I…"

"No, you didn't. You killed all the demon soldiers, but the human prisoners were still there, helplessly waiting for their fate. So, what was the purpose of all of these? For what reason did those demons die? Can you explain it to me, Deborah?"

I already had my answer.

"Because what they did was wrong!"

"That doesn't make killing every single one of them right. You did it with a purpose, yet you couldn't even know what is wrong or what is right, and just do things the way you want it, because you simply believe it's wrong in your head. And what's the result? Did your action save the humans with the price paid by the lives of those demons?"

Every single one of her words hurted more than the swords of those demon soldiers. Why couldn't she understand what I did? I…just wanted to stop the killing…I couldn't stand all those demons who killed defenseless men for simple entertainment. How was that right? And why was I in the wrong here…?

"I don't have time for this…"

The woman turned her back on me and sighs.

"You saved the human prisoners, for the time being. We will reschedule their execution date later. Right now, I still have a lot of work to do to cover up your mess."

"After all of this, and you still want to kill them!"

I yelled. Yet, my protest proved to be pitiful when the Headmaster slammed hard on her desk as she yelled back at me.

"And what do you suggest, Lady Deborah!? Simply let them go home? Or let them rot to death in a cell!? If it was up to me, I would get all of them killed right this instance to save the future trouble! But unlike you, I don't have the sort of freedom to make troubles and let someone else clean up my mess!"

She was angry…This was the first time I saw Nilrem got angry like this.

As Nilrem's yelling stopped, the woman sit back behind her desk and brought out a bunch of blank papers. With her quill pen, the woman focused her gaze on the white papers and wrote down something. Silence befell the room, aside from the writing noise made by the quill pen. Nilrem's room was dark, she had yet to open the windows in her room, the only source of light was from the still opened door that led to this room's entrance.

And from that light, I could see my blood-soaked hand, dirtied from taking away the lives of those who attacked me. It was rightful self-defense, yet I couldn't help but feel I was the evil one.

"Those soldiers…no matter what they did to me, no matter what weapons they used, they all failed to kill me. All my wounds healed back to normal after a while. Yet, just from a simple punch of mine, they all fell apart, as fragile like a piece of glass. What…exactly is this strength…this power…?"

The woman stopped moving the pen and sighed.

"You asked me of who you are, and I answered that you are Deborah Draconis. But you never asked me 'what' you are."

"Then what am I!?"

I yelled.

"You are a dragon, Deborah. The last Flame Dragon in this world."

Her blunt way of talking made such a revelation sounds plain and unexpected. Yet, it hit me like a falling boulder from the sky. It fitted and explained everything, about how I could even survive a horde of battle-hardened soldiers, about how such warriors could die from a simple touch of mine, and how my wounds endlessly healed themselves to keep me alive.

It was because I was a dragon, a being with eternal life and endless power, one that seemed to only exist in myth and legends. But after today, I knew…it was the truth.

"That dream…"

No…it coudn't be…

"You were imprisoned in that hidden basement for a reason. What happened today is part of that reason. You are a danger to others, Deborah. You and your power."

"You're lying! There's no way it's true!"

Despite me saying things like that, deep inside, I knew the truth, about why I dreamed of a word-ending dragon that brought destruction to everything, because…I was that very dragon…

"You already realized it. Don't try to run away from it."

"No…you're wrong!"

I burst out of the room and ran away from that place, without being able to hear what Nilrem had left to say.

"If you don't accept who you are…and what you are…all of this will only end in tragedy…"

(To be continued)