Chapter 269 - A Lesser Demon

"A lesser demon!?" The three shouted simultaneously. 

Confused, John looked at the surprised expression on their faces without saying anything. He didn't understand why there was such a grand reaction, but seeing it only reassured just how bad the situation he had gotten himself into, was. 

Master Sylvia nodded and the air around everyone only got more heavier, as they grew more and more nervous. 

"Why would you put John up against a demon on his own!?" Serena asked as she glared at Master Sylvia 

"Then, what would you be able to do, if went in there with him?" Master Sylvia asked as her dark cold eyes stared back. 

Without saying anything, Serena hung her head before clenching her fist. As she did so, her hair began to glow a golden colour. With each passing second, it grew brighter. 

"I'm tired of-" 

Serena was interrupted by John who placed his hand on her shoulder. 

"Serena." John called out to her 

"What!?" Serena asked as she turned towards John in anger. 

"Don't worry, Demon or whatever, I'll beat it and finish this trial." Said John as he stared straight at Master Sylvia. 

Master Sylvia didn't seem worried at all. Either she had confidence in John's ability, or... She just didn't care. John hoped it wasn't the latter, so he decided to place his faith on her. 

"Argh...! Fine! But if things get bad, I'm joining in." Said Serena before her hair slowly returned back to it's normal silver. 

Seeing this, John let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure why, but he felt more at ease when her hair wasn't glowing. 

"Sure, Thank yo-" 

John's eyes widened as he felt a chill go down his spine. It was so cold that he couldn't finish the sentence. 

Cold and pure bloodl.u.s.t. That was what John had felt. It was as if there was a pool of darkness right behind him. The scariest thing about it was that it wasn't being directed at him. 

John quickly turned his head to see what exactly it was, and there stood Ariel, staring straight at Master Sylvia. 

But Just as John had noticed that it was Ariel, the darkness disappeared again. It was short but he was able to see it. Ariel's pupils had been completed clouded in darkness, unlike her normal dark eyes. 

It was hard to notice, but John could tell, he could tell because he had similar ones. But why, why did it feel so different from his possession? And why did she look so confused after using it? As if he hadn't noticed it in the first place. 

"John?" Ariel asked as she noticed John's stare 

'Crap, Was I staring for too long?' John wondered 

"N-Nothing." Said John before quickly looking away 

"O-Okay...?" Ariel muttered 

John then looked over at Serena with a nervous look on his face, and noticed that she also seemed to have noticed it. He could tell from the nervous expression on her face. But they weren't the only ones. Lydia had also felt it. 

'Wasn't Serena able to feel if a person was cursed? Isn't that what's happening in Ariel's case? Like that time in the dungeon a year and a half ago, when I fought the giant spider...?' John wondered 

As all of this began to add up, John began to realise the fact that it wasn't all in his head and something similar to what had been happening to him, was happening to Ariel. 

"Ariel... You-" 

It happened in an instant, before Serena could even finish, John suddenly vanished from her line of sight along with a shadow following right after. 

*BOOM!* *CRACK!* 

The sound of something slamming into the ground behind them resounded through the room, causing everyone to quickly turn back. 

There they saw Master Sylvia, who had was still leaning on the wall. She hadn't moved a muscle and kept her eyes closed as if she had expected this. 

But everyone's attention and eyes were focused on what stood a few meters beside her, right in front of the black wall they had passed through. There laid John with his head and body partly submerged into the stone floor. 

As they noticed what had forced John into the ground, their eyes widened. The dark figure which had just been standing in the middle of the Cube mass ahead of the bridge, stood right in front of their eyes. 

It was crouched down as it had it's hand placed over John's neck. A dark miasma could be seen as it's blank and hallow face stared down into John's eyes as cracks began to form on the bottom side of it. 

John tried pushing away it's hand from his neck but then realised that it wouldn't budge. He was half submerged into the ground, his back was killing him from having hit his spine too hard, and he lacked the strength to move it away. 

As this happened, the cracks in the demon's face began to open up, forming eyes and a mouth on it's dark face. Seeing this, John's eyes widened, the mouth was contorted, it's teeth were white yet full of fangs. 

A monster, it was truly a monster. John could feel fear start to rise from within him as he stared straight into it's eyes. 

*CRASH!* *CRACK!* 

Suddenly, the dark figure which had John pinned on the floor was hit by a strong force, which slammed it straight towards and through the bridge. Following that, John ended up finding himself staring up at the figure of Serena, enveloped in a golden light. 

Her eyes and hair glowed a bright yellow colour as she stood beside him with her fist extended. John was able to see what had happened, but was still surprised. 

Her movement was fast, much faster than what he had expected. Not only that but she was strong. With a surprised look on his face, John slowly turned his head to where the demon had been punched before the surprised look on his face vanished 

[Fulgurationem, Modero] Translation: Lightning Flash, Slow down