Chapter 277 - Devil Behind The Veil

I was gazing towards the playground from the hallway while reminiscing about the events that happened with me in the past few days. It was way too much for my mind to comprehend. I couldn't even concentrate during my classes.

Apparently, I was unconscious for a whole day. That made sense since when I opened my eyes, I didn't notice it at that time but my room was rather illuminated, which meant that it was morning time rather than evening when I lost my senses.

That also led to me skipping school for two consecutive days.

Also, in the process of kissing her, I somehow broke Lilith's curse, which prevented her from speaking about the contract itself. Both of us were taken aback by the turn of events, but it was definitely because of the insignia on my hand.

Lilith was making me feel someway after events of that I couldn't afford to hold a conversation with her without getting the image of her petite body between my arms and her crimson eyes sinking into mine.

Though, I got to know a lot about the contract and a bit about her past involving Asmodeus and how a certain event led her to be the way she was at that time.

From her voice that night, I realised how heavy it would've been carrying all that burden for ages of time while having no one to trust on. I knew that she didn't trust me enough to spill all her secrets, but I wouldn't blame her either was I interested in it.

I only needed as much information that could speed up my process of completing the contract. Nothing more or less than that.

Was I being selfish?

Yes.

This mark was granting me some strange sort of powers that I wasn't aware of how to implement properly but knew were salient enough to attract Asmodeus' attention and pique his interest.

"Heyoo Saishi!!!" I was broken out of my train of thoughts by an energetic voice calling out my name and patting my shoulders. Turning around, it was none other than Seryoku as I asked in a murky voice, "Ahh… what do you want?"

"Aww… you're not happy to see me." He said, wrapping his hands around my shoulders and laughing casually like he didn't just try to kill me yesterday.

"Dude…" I heard someone sigh from behind as I turned around and noticed Tsūmen narrowing his eyes at Seryoku who was goofing around, "Not it's alright… I'll just go and cry in the corner."

I could Kizhashi standing beside Tsūmen as well while looking at me with an irritated frown on her face. Tsūmen pounded him on the shoulder and laughed, "Ah shut up you over dramatic bitch."

"Areh? What's with that sulky look on your face?" Kizhashi asked, as Tsūmen's eyes shifted towards me and he asked as well, "Ayo Saishi! What happened, dude? You weren't answering my texts and even skipped school?"

That was right, I couldn't answer their texts and calls as I was probably dying thanks to a certain person. I woke up to a mobile full of text notifications from class groups and missed calls from a few people.

I couldn't believe that Seryoku was laughing as nothing happened. He wasn't even a human in the first place and I wasn't aware of what threat he posed to me, Lilith, or people who were close to me at that point in time.

I glanced at him and his sharp gazes were already piercing through me as it sent a chill through my spine. Clenching my jaw, I replied in a low voice, "It was… nothing."

"Huh? What's with that hesitance?" Kizhashi narrowed her eyes and asked, but I decided not to elaborate further, "Nothing… I'm just not feeling well."

"You look pale… are you sick?" Tsūmen said while staring towards my face, as I nodded, "You can say so."

"Hmph! You should have come to school then…" Kizhashi rolled her eyes as Tsūmen laughed and added, "She would be the happiest person if you skip school…"

"Yeah… she wouldn't have to sit next to him then…" Seryoku took the hint and continued while chuckling, but Kizhashi puffed out her cheeks and replied, "Hmph! It's not like that… you guys are so mean."

"Yeah… doesn't sound right coming from you." Tsūmen said while moving his head to tease her. I wasn't in the mood to take part with them, as I replied in an indifferent tone, "I would've missed out on a lot of things then."

The smile on Tsūmen's face faded slowly, probably noticing my tone as a frown formed on his face and he patted my shoulder and asked, "Don't worry man, I always send you the notes, right?"

Seryoku was standing right there and I could feel him monitoring my every movement. His eyes were making me sick to my stomach, as I couldn't dare to look him in the eyes. Even though he appeared just like any other high school student on the outside, he was way more malicious than what humans could even comprehend.

Asmodeus was one of the upper devils who overpowered Lilith like she was a normal human compared to his prowess.

"Let's go back to class. Lunchtime will end soon." I heard Asmodeus' raspy voice, as I raised my eyes towards him and he smirked while Tsūmen nodded, "Let's head back." and started walking.

Tsūmen glanced at me for a moment as I gave him a nod of assurance, but it didn't convince him much as he kept staring at me with suspicion in his eyes while walking ahead with Kizhashi.

I felt Seryoku's hand wrap around my shoulder as I twitched for a moment but gained my composure and glanced at him while asking in a low tone, "What are you trying to do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He whispered in my ear and chuckled, as I clenched my jaws and said in an agitated tone, "Don't play dumb with me."

"That's quite lively of you." He laughed as his grip on my shoulder got tighter, but my voice attracted Kizhashi's attention as she asked from ahead, "Huh? What are you two doing?" 

Seryoku gave a momentary side glance and just swayed his hand while smiling at her and paced towards them while dragging me along with him, "Ah, nothing…. let's go bruh."

I have to keep facing this menace every day in school for god knows how long.