Sitting on the bench outside of the student dorms, Cobalt frowned deeply as he flipped through the contents of Cordelia Fesser's research journal. It was page after page of scientific experimentation and magical theory, but as he neared the back end of the book, her writing grew shakier and harder to read. Manic notes filled the margins of the page, and towards the end she began to substitute her once-rational rational language with interspersed Tongues and what he assumed to be some kind of made-up code. It seemed the closer she got to her breakthroughs, the more paranoid she got.
He squinted at the title of one of the last entries, his stomach feeling more uneasy the more he read.
It was some sort of in-depth study on Incubi, and the entire thing was damn near illegible, save perhaps for a few messy diagrams.
"And I thought Izzbelle's handwriting was bad..." he murmured, flipping back and forth.
"Like I said, you really should give it up, kid. Nothing in that book is gonna help you," Lilith said unhelpfully, her words immediately souring the Incubus' mood.
"I'm not giving up just because you said to. If there's a way to get you out of my head, you can bet that I'm gonna find it," he grumbled, flipping back to the notes on demonic contracts.
"Watch it, kid."
He gritted his teeth, but said nothing. As students lazily ambled out of the dormitories and towards the main campus, he just furrowed his brow and lost himself in the red ink and yellowed parchment. He barely kept track of time, only looking up once a dark shadow loomed over him, blocking out his sunlight.
Izzbelle Suyas stood before him with her legs spread and her arms folded, bearing down upon him with a flushed-yet-irate face. Swallowing hard, Cobalt shut the journal and put on a smile.
"Ah, good morning Izzbelle," he said simply, slipping the book into his satchel.
Furrowing her brow, she produced a battered copybook and dumped it into the Incubus' lap.
"Here," she grunted.
"What's this?"
"Fuck's it look like? Homework."
His eyes widened. Izzbelle, doing homework? Willingly?
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Izzbelle, but I'll be getting around to it in-"
"Just read it, dumbass!"
"Okay, okay!"
He flipped it open to the most recent entry. Sure enough, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Izzbelle had indeed done the most recent Language assignment; a simple creative writing assignment to help his class unwind from the stresses of study.
As he read the Oni's messily-written story - mentally taking note of all the spelling and grammar mistakes - Izzbelle shuffled back and forth on her heels, awkwardly clearing her throat every now and then as other students warily eyed her up. She had deigned to go for a soft, fluffy romance piece; stranger still was the fact that this wasn't the first time. She seemed to have a genuine interest in the genre.
"Hm. How maidenly." Lilith remarked disinterestedly.
Cobalt frowned, but kept his mouth shut in case his student overheard.
Her story was somehow both fairly rudimentary and atypical at the same time. A standard "knight in shining armour" plot line, wherein the knight was a brave Oni battlemaiden, and the object of her affection was a delicate prince. The Incubus was starting to notice a trend when he mentally compared it to the storyline of a previous project of hers.
"I think she's projecting," remarked the Devil in Cobalt's head.
"How, uh... How is it?" Izzbelle asked uncomfortably, looking rather unsure of herself.
The Incubus nodded slowly, trying to figure out the most delicate way to put what he was going to say next.
"Just say you know it's a self-insert piece, kid."
"... It's very original, Izzbelle. I can't really afford it the proper analysis it deserves right now, but I promise you I'll take a closer look at it in class."
"Coward."
Nodding slowly, the Oni snatched the copybook back out of her teacher hands.
"Thanks. Jelli was helpin' me out with the, uh... mushier bits."
"I never took you for a romance aficionado, Izzbelle."
"Wh-? I'm not! I just..."
Somehow, the Oni's cheeks burned even redder as she held the book close, crumpling the pages.
"... wanted to write somethin' you'd like, y'know?" she admitted.
Cobalt sighed. He had been worrying that was the case.
"Izzbelle, the assignment isn't for my sake. You needn't curtail creative freedom for my sake."
She raised an eyebrow, confused by his statement. Before Cobalt realised what he had just blurted out, the Oni bared her teeth and clenched her fists, a single coil of smoke eking from the side of her mouth.
"Well fuck me for tryin', dumbass!" she snapped.
A few bystanders gave her a strange look, prompting Izzbelle's eye to widen.
"Not like-! GRAAGH~!"
Like a self-propelled hurricane, the Oni whipped herself up into an indignant frenzy and stormed off, leaving the Incubus alone in the cloud of dust she kicked up behind her.
"Smooth," Lilith sighed.
"Just... shut up, please," Cobalt responded, wiping his brow.
"I don't think you understand how painful this is to bear witness to, kid. She wants it. You want it. Get it over with."
"I don't see her like th-!"
"Liar."
"I am not-!"
Cobalt's phone went off right as he was about to make a show of himself in front of everyone. Swallowing hard, he sat back down on the bench and produced his phone, flipping it open as he tried to ignore all the staring eyes around him.
"Hello? Cobalt Trayer speaking," he said in what he hoped was a professional tone.
"Ah, Cobalt! It's me, mon amour!" cried the voice on the other end of the line.
They sounded incredibly congested, but he could recognise that put-on French accent anywhere. Sighing, the Incubus crossed his legs and sighed.
"Madam Pudon."
"Oh come on~, enough with the cold shoulder! Call me Monique!"
"Right. Why are you ringing me?"
"Ah, therein lies the rub, pois de senteur."
"What did you just call m-?"
He was cut off by a sigh so loud and dramatic that Cobalt was forced to hold his phone a foot away from his ear.
"I had something of a sniffle these past few days, and while I thought nothing of it, my affliction has since... progressed. I'm afraid that I've come down with a teensy-weensy case of rubiginfluenza," recounted the AD teacher, occasionally breaking up her explanation with pronounced sniffled.
Rubiginfluenza. Rose Flu, as it was colloquially known.
"I see. So you're on sick leave, I take it?" Cobalt asked.
"Of course. I can't risk infecting every Succubus in the school, now, can I? Imagine the scandal!"
As far as he was aware, rubiginfluenza was a mutation of the common cold that only infected Lust demons. Less potential infectees meant it was less virulent, of course, but an unfortunate side-effect was that it caused the body to overproduce pheromones.
"I... see," he said, frowning at the mental image.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"It's a nightmare, mon ami. Why, even now its taking every toy I own just to keep focused on this conversation!"
He shivered, only now just registering the faint buzzing noise in the background.
"I really didn't need to know that, Monique."
"Yes, yes, well... I'll need you to cover my third-year class today," she concluded.
Cobalt shot forward in his seat.
"What?! Why me?!" he cried.
"Oh please, la chérie! They're behind on their umbramantic theory and I know I can rely on you to help them revise it! You were one of my best students, remember?"
"I'm not qualified to teach Applied Demonics!"
"You'll do fine! Besides, they'll like you! You're a very popular subject of discussion!"
"I'm what?!"
"Good luck~!"
The called abruptly ended, leaving Cobalt without much choice in the matter. With a heavy sigh, he buried his face in his hands. He hadn't the fondest memories of his Applied Demonics classes, but then again, third-year students needed all the help they could get.
"Alright then..." he murmured, steeling himself for the day ahead.
-----
Cobalt stared at the doors leading to the Lust Applied Demonics room, frozen in place as he tried to steady his breathing. The bell had rung almost five minutes ago, and he could hear the hustle and bustle of students clamouring about within the room. Yet he just couldn't will himself to open the door.
"I don't think I have the strength of will for this," he whispered aloud, hitching his satchel up onto his shoulder.
"You agreed to this."
"I didn't agree to anything."
"Suck it up."
Grinding his teeth, Cobalt just sighed irritably. Lilith - annoyingly so - had a point. It was only common courtesy to lend his colleagues a hand when they needed it. It wasn't as though Madam Pudon intended to get sick, and he couldn't let her students down.
"Get it together, Trayer..."
He took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.
The Applied Demonics room hadn't changed much since the Valentines Day incident last year. Stained glass windows dyed the sunlight an unsettling shade of pink, and several of the students had already lit the various incense burners set up around the room. Third-year Succubi excitedly bustled about the chamber, lounging about on pouffes as they chatted with their friends or texted on their phones. As soon as Cobalt cleared his throat, however, they all turned their eyes onto him.
The smoky air seemed to get sucked out of the room as they all gasped.
"Um... Hello everyone," he said, awkwardly raising his hand.
The collective ecstatic shriek that followed was nearly enough to blow the Incubus' eardrums. They swarmed the Incubus, asking him a barrage of excited questions as they encroached far too much upon his personal space.
"Mr. Trayer~!"
"Omigosh, are you subbing for Madam Pudon?!"
"Well he certainly isn't domming for her!"
The entire class burst out into fits of laughter, causing Cobalt's cheeks to start burning. Clearing his throat, he tried to raise his voice over the crowd. Try as he might, however, they just nattered over him.
"Are we gonna be having any 'practical' demonstrations today, sir?"
"I heard you've got a silver tongue! Wanna prove it~?"
"Hey sir! I read in the toilets that you've got a ten-inch-!"
Thankfully, before Cobalt could hear the end of that cursed sentence, everyone in the room was alerted to the sound of someone loudly clapping their hands. The gaggle of Succubi parted to reveal Karazelle standing by the teacher's desk, holding both hands aloft as she stared them down.
"C'mon girls, give them man some room to breathe!" she called, leaning against the desk.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Cobalt carefully maneuvered his way up to the front of the classroom, breathing a sigh of relief once he reached the desk. Karazelle gave him a gentle smile and gestured to the chair.
"Here. I adjusted it to suit your height a little better," she explained.
"Ah, thank you," he sighed, sitting down.
"No problem, sugar. How are you holding up?"
"I'm..."
He swallowed hard.
"... I'm alright."
Karazelle looked into his eyes for a moment, as if searching for something. Before long, however, she just nodded and patted his shoulder.
"Okay then. Try not to buckle, alright? These girls can smell fear," she whispered, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at her classmates.
They were all ambling back to their respective seats, but he could tell that they were each keeping a close eye on their substitute teacher. Cobalt swallowed hard.
"... I'll keep that in mind."
With a wink and a thumbs-up, Karazelle returned to her seat up by the front of the class. After steeling himself for the oncoming hour, the Incubus planted both hands on his desk and stood up, fixing the AD class with what he hoped was a resolute gaze.
"Good morning all. As you can probably guess, Madam Pudon is currently off with... a cold. So, she's asked me to cover this class for you," he announced.
One bespectacled girl down the back put her hand up.
"Are we gonna be demonstrating psychomantic infatuation charms today, sir?" she asked in a singsong voice.
"No, actually. Madam Pudon has said that you're all to revise your umbramantic theory."
"Hah, I told you he wouldn't fall for it!" called another Succubus.
The Incubus took a deep breath, shutting his eyes for a moment as he tried to steady his nerves.
He always felt awkward in this room. He couldn't remember much of the Applied Demonics classes he had back in the day, but he knew for a fact that they were anything but fun. Being the only boy in a class full of girls made him a ripe target for picking on, and even the teacher herself seemed to have a habit of singling him out. Third-year was especially tortuous. There was this one girl that... that...
Cobalt scrunched up his face. Red hair. Mean gaze. Cruel line of thinking.
Who...?
"A- Anyway, I'm sure at this stage you're all perfectly capable of independent study, but if you need any assistance, be sure to call on me. I'll do my best to show you what I know," he said, shaking his head.
That seemed to incite a round of giggles from the class.
"Ooh la la~!" one student called, mimicking Madam Pudon.
The entire room burst into fits of laughter. Strangely, Karazelle seemed to be the only one who remained calm, sighing and shooting her teacher apologetic looks as her classmates continually fired off rapid successions of lurid jokes at Cobalt's expense.
"Alright, that's enough!" he called, raising his voice.
"Oh, we made him mad!"
"Are you gonna punish us, sir?"
"Oh, are you?! Are you?!"
Pulling several textbooks out of his satchel, the Incubus slammed them down upon the desk, silencing the lot of them before they could cascade into another bout of teasing.
"That's enough. Take out whatever materials you need to begin your study. Should you need to practice your incantations, I implore that you do so quietly," he said sternly, before flipping open a book of his own.
By some miracle, this managed to convince them to give up on trying to fluster the Incubus. Before long, they each retrieved schoolwork of their own and began to study, much to his relief.
"Someone's popular," remarked Lilith as Cobalt set about organising his lesson plans for the day.
"You're making it very difficult to pretend like you're not there," he grumbled beneath his breath, taking care than no-one heard him.
"Forgive me for wanting to voice my opinions."
"And what inane observation are you trying to make now?"
"I'm just noticing something. For one, you are absolutely drowning in women. What's up with that?"
"There's nothing up with anything. I thought I told you to drop this."
"Hm. You're unusually passive for an Incubus, you know. Did something happen to you, kid?"
He didn't answer that.
"Are you really the lesser demon that killed a Devil?"
He clenched his fists.
"Sir?"
"Y- Yeah?!" Cobalt cried a little too loudly, desperate to focus on anything other than the Devil's constant questions.
Karazelle had raised her hand, the other holding an advanced umbramancy textbook open on her lap.
"Could you help me with this real quick?" she asked.
Cobalt cleared his throat, settling himself down.
"Yes, yes, of course."
Stepping away from the teacher's desk, he hunkered down next to Karazelle's pouffe. Handing him the book, she tapped one of the techniques outlined upon the page.
"I've been practicing this one, but I can never quite seem to get the pronunciation right," she explained.
No kidding. It was a fairly complicated spell. It drew upon every available pocket of shadow around the caster, forming a web of darkness that they could warp and mould to their will.
"Could you run me through it?" she asked, gazing up at him.
Cobalt's eyes widened.
"You... want a demonstration?"
"Is that okay?"
The Incubus swallowed hard, acutely remember what happened back in Alison's lab.
"U- Um..."
That wellspring of shadowy power that all Lust demons had was gone. There was no refuting the fact that something terrible had happened to his magic. But... He couldn't leave Karazelle hanging. He had to at least try.
Swallowing hard, Cobalt raised his right arm and began to incant.
"Menidutitrof ihim ad... Arbmu..." he chanted, clenching his fist.
A few other students looked up from their work, interested in the display before them. Cobalt felt cold sweat run down his neck.
"Tiureop ni sirbenet muc sitcip subitepat!"
It was an advanced spell. One that drew massive amounts of energy from the caster, and could even cause an untrained Lust demon to pass out if incorrectly cast. But Cobalt felt nothing, just a dull ache in his horns as a few pathetic wisps of bluish magic eked from his fingertips.
"Um..." Karazelle mumbled, watching on with a confused gaze.
He strained every muscle in his body, struggling to force the spell to fruition. But like before, the surge of power just wouldn't come.
"Sugar, are you okay?"
He shut his eyes, desperately pleading for it to work, just this once.
In the back of his mind, he heard Lilith sigh.
"You're using the wrong word, kid."
Cobalt swallowed hard. He had a terrible feeling that he already knew the word he was supposed to use... Part of the incantations he heard on the rooftop last year...
He took a deep breath. He could only hope this worked.
"... Orref," the Incubus whispered.
The effect was immediate.
In every nook and cranny of the classroom, the shadows began to pool together and bubble like pitch, causing every Succubus present to watch on with interest. But something was wrong. The magic coiling around Cobalt felt unnaturally hot and heavy, and it had taken on a silvery-grey colour. It ran through his nerves like molten metal, causing him to wince in pain.
And just like that, the shadows exploded. Coils of barbed wire shot forth from every corner of the classroom, eliciting screams of shock from the AD class as they ducked for cover. Karazelle just about managed to throw herself to the floor as the countless spiked strands of iron furled themselves around Cobalt's arm, biting into his flesh as he held it aloft.
As blood trickled down his arm, he stood there with wide, terrified eyes. Everything was silent, save for the creaking of the wires.
"Wh- What...?" he breathed, too shocked to move.
"Guess the horns aren't just for show, then," was all Lilith managed to say.
Covering her head, Karazelle carefully plucked herself off the floor. Looking around to make sure that everyone was okay, she turned her attention to Cobalt.
"Sugar...?" she breathed, looking up into his eyes.
He didn't respond. He couldn't.
"What's going on? This... This isn't normal, right?"
Cobalt slowly shook his head.
"Just... Just calm down, alright? There has to be an explanation for this."
He gritted his teeth. Clenching his fist, the Incubus pulled his arm down, causing the barbed wires to creak with distress. With a pained grunt, he opened his hand, whereupon they all snapped simultaneously. The wires all shot back into the walls, causing another fit of screaming from the class.
Staring down at his bleeding arm, the Incubus staggered back to the desk, looking up at the students with wild eyes. Their stares were different now; they looked frightened.
"I'm... I'm sorry..."
He shook his head as Karazelle approached him, hands raised.
"Cobalt, keep calm. Whatever is happening, we can talk about it, okay?" she said in a calm and measured voice.
The Incubus gasped for breath.
No. He couldn't involve her.
"... No. I'm sorry. Just... I'm sorry...!"
He pushed past her, clutching his wounds in an effort to hide them.
"Sugar, please! Why do you keep running off?!" she cried after him.
Cobalt barged through the door and kept going, panting for breath as his entire body struggled to make sense of what was going on. In the back of his mind, Lilith clucked her tongue.
"You really are a fucking coward, kid."