"Hey..... what's wrong? C'mon..... don't tell me you've already given up. Ah..... you're shaking, and it looks like you can't control your bodily functions anymore. Heh..... hehehe....."

The green eyed demon brought her deranged face close enough to breathe the same air as Ronaldo.

"M..... monster.... monster....."

It took every bit of his energy to even emit the slightest whisper, so low that someone in the same room wouldn't normally be able to hear him.

"Monster? Demon? How many people have called me those things since I came to this world?"

The spirit wrapped her formless arms around the throat of Ronaldo as if to choke him with a cloth, applying just enough pressure to make him uncomfortable, yet not in any serious pain.

"Too many to count."

And then, she squeezed.

Hard.

The throat of the man cracked, and the feeling of his own windpipe shattering could be felt inside the broken man as blood gushed into his lungs and out of his mouth.

The pain was enough to bring tears to his eyes, and he attempted to scream yet his own ability to speak had been removed- not due to any magical pressure which was exerted on him, but purely due to the destruction of his own vocal organs.

"Ulur....gruh...."

In an attempt to scream, only incoherent blubbering exited the man, accompanied with a waterfall of blood.

However, despite this immense pain, there was one thing which filled the terrorized mind of Ronaldo with confusion.

'Why..... am I not dying?'

He was suffocating, for certain.

Blood had filled his lungs, and the terrible pain of drowning now begun to spread throughout his entire body.

Yet he didn't fade out of consciousness for a single moment.

Not a single feeling of drowsiness overcame him, and he remained in every way conscious of everything that was happening to him.

Normally, this pain would be enough to make someone faint, however as if he were being kept awake, he continued to experience such horrid torment.

It was then that the spirit spoke in a tone which was so painfully ear wrenching, that the eardrums of the man literally exploded as blood shot out of his pointed ears.

"Why are you shaking so much? Crying and blubbering like a baby, pissing yourself..... ah, don't tell me..... you're scared of one of your students? And a cute girl like me at that..... hehe.... ah, wait."

The spiritual wretch slithered back, placing her own hand to cover the side of her face which her hair didn't cover, allowing only a sliver of her mocking green eye to peer through.

"You said I was ugly, didn't you?"

It was then that she begun laughing.

"Hehehe... heh heh heh..... HAHAHA!!!!"

The girl bent over with insanity, holding her own face as if she was trying to contain her own madness, yet failed terribly at doing so.

It was as if her own insanity was a liquid which she was trying to stop with nothing more than her hands, and it flowed out through the cracks without resistance.

"HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! I had fun, teacher!!! I really did!!!!! I liked going back to school!!!! It was fun, for the short time it lasted!!!! It wasn't like last time! I was able to talk with people!! I was able to ignore the people who disliked me and made fun of me!!! Unlike last time!! Last time, I would've crawled up into a ball if people looked at me like they did here. I would've been ashamed to even speak, and I would've been scared to be in the spotlight!! But this time.... this time was different."

With the wave of her hand, Ronaldo lost even the comfort of the floor underneath him as he was thrown into a state of levitation, then forced to the wall midair.

Slamming into the wall with enough force to cause cracks in the stone structure, he merely watched as the girl before him played with him without so much as touching him.

Upon hitting the wall, another spray of blood exited the mouth of Ronaldo, covering the spirit before him in the rain of red.

Wiping the blood off her face with one hand, she approached him with the other hand held forward, keeping him perfectly in place.

It was at that moment that an even greater pressure enveloped Ronaldo, so terrible that anything he had felt before felt like a cool breeze.

It was enough to make the pain of his windpipe being crushed seem like a papercut.

His body filled with magical pressure which boiled his very insides, and on seeing the blood covered mess before him, the mind of Ronaldo was filled with pure terror.

'How.... how how how how HOW!?!?!? HOW!?!?! HOW DID SHE BREAK THROUGH THE CHAINS!?!?!? They.... were they faulty!? They can't have been.... they can't they can't they can't!!!!! They are the property..... of this school!!!! This school, where no mistakes are tolerated!!! This school, where perfection is the norm!!!! Then..... then....'

The girl then walked forward, wobbling back and forth as if she were possessed, her own expression so filled with delight that Ronaldo wanted nothing more than for her to disappear from existence.

And then, holding forth her hand, she stuck it into his head.

It phased right into the head of Ronaldo, as if she didn't even hold a physical form.

"Ah..... I can't read your mind like the other one does, so I can't see what you're thinking unless I read your soul. But that's what you were wondering about?"

The girl stepped back with a sneer, holding forward both hands towards Ronaldo as she opened her palms.

"Hehe..... you know, you really seem to pride yourself on being some big shot instructor. You like deducting points from students so much, and you never like giving points, even when they do something good. You're pretty greedy, you know. What, you're students aren't good enough to ever receive any praise from you?"

"Yer.....har.....urb....."

"Ah, shh. You can't talk anyways, so why bother trying to spit something out? Unless that's just you crying, which I guess you can do as much as you want. Though it probably hurts to even cry, right?"

The voice of the girl was so tremendously filled with malice that every word she spoke dug into the heart of Ronaldo.

His ears had long before ruptured, yet her voice somehow still carried into him as if the waves themselves were something that went beyond mere sound.

It was as if her voice was imbued with a horrid magical energy, traveling straight into the hearts of the people she spoke with.

The girl then slid her own hair to the side, unveiling the covered side of her face- and a single eye which was no longer green, but had now turned blue with energy.

"Ah, but it really confuses me what you were thinking earlier. You thought these things could contain me?"

The girl bent down and picked up one of the broken links of the chain which she had shattered to bits.

Holding the piece in her hand, a smug grin overcame the girl.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"This piece of garbage? It only reduces my power by a thousand. Is this all you can do to seal people?"

The girl let out a crackling laugh, flicking the piece behind her.

"If you want to seal my power, then you're going to need to rewrite the laws of the world itself. Contain my power to a thousandth of what it is? HAHAHA!!!"

The girl then swirled her hand around, and a black orb formed within it.

This orb, completely void of light, swirled at a speed so immense that it absorbed everything it came into contact with.

The air around the girl shook, and the room begun to suck inside of itself, all heading towards the orb within the hand of the girl.

Ronaldo watched with horror as the space distorted, and his own body was dragged closer and closer to the orb of destruction.

The entire room shrunk in size, converging on the single point which the girl held within her hand, and then....

Everything returned to normal as if it were nothing more than a dream.

Shaking her hand as steam came off her index finger, as if she were merely blowing the gunpowder off a firearm, the girl approached Ronaldo with a disturbing smile.

"Here's the thing that's wrong about reducing my power by a thousand times."

The pressure which held Ronaldo in place increased, and he felt his own body digging into the wall, which continued to crack under the immense force.

"If I were to use even a thousandth of my power, then this universe would cease to exist. I've been working with a handicap larger than you can imagine this entire time."

As the girl pointed her index finger downwards at the foot of Ronaldo, the elven man could do nothing in protest as his own senses fired off within him, shouting at him to escape the danger before him.

Yet he could do nothing in response to these warnings, for he was locked in place.

"Deduct.... deduct.... deduct.... minus points for this.... minus points for that..... I suppose I should start deducting a few points from you as well, right?"

As the girl said this, Ronaldo understood well that everything he ever knew was about to come to an end.

This girl was not just a mere demon.

She was not just a being of chaos with immense power.

She was someone who he had angered.

An existence which never should have been stirred, which he had offended without his own knowledge of her true form.

She was a calamity.

If he could scream, he would have fallen to the floor at that moment, begging in apology, yet he could not.

All he could do was watch as the girl begun her lecture.

"You're covered in blood, piss, sweat, and all other sorts of grime. Minus one."

The foot which the girl was pointing at flew off as a blade of magic made a clean slice, and blood gushed from the wound, dousing the floor further.

"Your outfit is ruined, and your hair is a mess. Minus one."

Pointing at his other foot, another blade of magic sliced the limb off in violent fashion, causing it to fly around the room, bouncing on a wall before eventually coming to a landing.

"Crying like a child when you are given punishment for your actions. Minus. One."

Now aiming at his hand, another blade of magic sliced off the limb as the girl refused to cease her own delirious grading session.

"Refusing to give points to those who have earned them, out of pride for your own harshness as a hurdle which the students must overcome. Minus one."

An explosion occurred on the other hand of the man, leaving his arm covered in burn marks, and his blood boiling as the hand shot towards the ground.

"Insulting students for their appearances. Refusing to understand their situations. Setting people in divisions where rankings are based on natural abilities, regardless of the effort put forth. Abuse of students, and consideration of them as your own property to be brainwashed and molded as you wish."

The girl looked up to Ronaldo, her own eyes twitching with madness.

"Minus one, minus one, minus one."

And then, his arms and legs were sliced into a number of slices, all of which fell to the ground in a pile of steaks.

"Ah..... but most importantly..... even if you saw me as promising, there is one more thing that you did which was worse than anything else."

Turning around, the spirit made a grasping motion, at which Ronaldo felt his own chest caving in on itself.

The pain was so immense that a thousand deaths would not be able to compare, and it was in a moment that he realized what was happening inside him.

In an instant, what was left of his torso had been sucked into a miniature black hole, so that only his head remained.

"You viewed me as worthless, didn't you?"

Stopping in place, the spirit begun to giggle to herself, trembling as she laughed in madness.

"Hehehe... minus..... one. Soul, that is."

Holding her own arm behind her, the being of chaos commanded the soul to exit the head of Ronaldo, at which a shadowy figure flew into her hand.

Holding this soul now by the neck, the girl held it up before her with complete freedom.

She held absolute control over the one within her arms, and could do anything she wanted.

She could submit him to any horrible fate she wished, and because of this, she grinned with madness.

"Hahaha..... but I guess since I was able to improve a little bit by coming back to school, then I'll give you something. You at least tried to teach class regularly, so I guess that's a plus one."

Holding out the hand which was free, the girl pointed it towards the door to the cell, at which the door was bursted through as if a cannonball had been shot into it.

The door was now in the corner of the room, and having flown into the door with immense might was an elven woman who wore the school uniform.

"Hey, I can't restore this guy's body. Could you give it back to him?"

"OI!!!! Why the hell did you just fly me all the way here!?!?! What the hell!!!! You didn't even bother to open the door, and used my freaking body to burst through it!?!?!"

Sitting in the corner of the room was Samantha, and as she shoved the rubble aside she stood up with irritation, dusting herself off.

"Ah, sorry. I forgot you cared about your appearance and all that shit. Whoops."

"Whoops my ass!!! We're separated for a couple days and all of a sudden it's ok to just fly me across the country when you need me!?"

"Uh.... yes."

Samantha held her hand to her face in disbelief, but soon enough a light smile came to her expression, and she began to laugh lightly.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What the hell is wrong with everything here? Haha..... alright. You need me to restore his body? Ah, looks like you did quite the number on him. Will it be alright to just restore him like that?"

"It'll be fine. This is all part of the plan. If I just killed him here, then things would get a lot more complicated for us, after all. Ah.... one sec."

Holding out her hand once more, two more beings flew into the room, crashing into the walls in similar manner.

"Ahem.... could you please refrain from bringing us here at such short notice? Please send a memo before performing such an unexpected action.", Trevor said as he too dusted himself off.

Garett looked around from within his own pile of rubble, cracking a smile as he stood up.

"Ah. Looks like you made quite the mess here. So? You need me to fix things up?"

"Yes.", Ashley said. "Ah, and as far as you're concerned...."

Ringing the throat of the soul which was now within the hand of the girl, she glared at him with a smug grin.

"We're gonna revive you. And you're gonna quit this place, and never show your face here again. You're not gonna say why, you just up and leave by tomorrow. Or we can make this a daily routine if you want, Mr. Hurdle."

The soul immediately begun shaking his head back and forth frantically, clearly begging for anything but that result.

"I see. So by reviving him and allowing him to quit on his own reasons, we can temporarily avoid any suspicions of involvement in this matter. We rid ourselves of this strict instructor, and are able to continue our stay here with one who is hopefully more suited to our goals. After all, we could care less about the students and their 'high quality education'.", Trevor analyzed.

Nodding in approval, Garett touched the ground, and the room around him which had been distorted and destroyed beyond recognition was repaired in mere moments.

Samantha held forth her hand, and a white energy engulfed the blackened soul, allowing a body to quickly form around it.

"You heard the girl. Do what she says and you can go somewhere far, far away from us.... teacher. Or should I say, former teacher."

The body of the man reformed, and Ashley dropped the man on the ground, leaving him shaking in horror, his eyes filled with tears and his mind filled with madness.

The sound of the metal door slamming closed was all he heard as he sat there trembling.

Five, ten, twenty, sixty.

Seconds became minutes, and minutes became an hour, then two.

It was not until much later that night that Ronaldo gained the courage to even attempt to stand, at which he came to a quick realization.

"I have to leave this place....."

Standing up, he dragged himself out of that room, heading towards the office of the principal to inform him of his own resignation.

"I must leave this place..... and I must never.... ever.... come back....."

The man walked through the hallways in terror, glancing behind him every other second, begging for those beings to not be anywhere near him.

"Not to this place which those creatures have made into their nest."

----

"Look at this. My hair is all messed up now. Come on, Ally! I thought we talked about this!!"

"Talked about it?"

"YES!! As soon as we were able to leave each other's side, we talked about what we would do if we needed one another."

"Yeah, and that's why I brought you all to me. Cause I needed you. Isn't that what we said? That I would just float you all to me with my magic if I needed you?"

"INFORM US FIRST!!!!!"

"Oh. Why?"

Samantha closed her eyes in frustration as she was unable to get her own feelings through to her comrade, and she eventually dropped her head in resignation.

"Ah, maybe we should just stay together in the first place."

"I do believe we are the most efficient that way. It's somewhat pathetic to admit, but we've become quite reliant on one another. Given that our own abilities are specialized in such different ways, it becomes almost crucial for us to work together as a team. For the Determined that is not the case, but it would seem it is for us..... as much as I hate to admit that.", Trevor stated.

"Bah. Whatever. So uh, what next?", Ashley asked, turning to the other three.

At this point, she had returned to her own elven form, and was once again placed under the illusion spell which Samantha had cast.

"We remain in this school and await the time of action. It would be preferable if we could lower our profiles at this point, but with all the commotion recently.... I don't think that will be possible.", Trevor stated.

Stepping forth with a grin, he pushed up his glasses with confidence.

"Very well. Then, it's time to switch gears. We will become grade A students. We will rise in the rankings of this Academy, and we will drag the students in our class up with us. As we do this, we will become the top of this Academy, and we will be known throughout this nation as promising souls. I am continuing to run simulations on the best course of actions from here, and this is what I have arrived at."

A horrid grin overcame Trevor as he fixed his own jacket, walking forth beside his comrades.

"Soon enough, the people of this world will look around in attempt to find a haven free from our control. And when they do so, they will come to a single realization."

Folding his hands behind his back, the steps of this figure became in tune to perfection with the other four.

"That no matter where they look, no such place exists."