Diabolical Letters

I wake up on the floor of my bedroom. It’s morning. I must have ran out of mana during those visions and blacked out. Alright, first order of the day, get up and start getting dressed. I’ll collect my thoughts during that.

Let’s see, there are three visions that I experienced last night. The last one being the most important by far. I was locked in combat against that girl that ordered my execution, and we seemed to be evenly matched for the most part. The main thing I need to be concerned about is that it changed.

I cut her arm off, and the boy stabbed her through the heart in this one. Last time he just held his sword to her neck, and she appeared uninjured. Not only this, my body died due to some sort of suicide bomb from her this time. Why has my death changed? The visions have remained consistent until now so why are they changing now?

Maybe they actually have no basis in reality, the second vision of last night supports that theory. No, they’ve remained too consistent for them to not be based on anything. What went wrong last night then?

Maybe my actions changed them? Yes, I certainly have the strength now to be able to fight against a few armed guards, so what would have happened if I avoided my death there by simply fighting them off? Is it believable that she would try to fight me herself, eventually culminating in that suicide attack? Judging from what little I’ve seen of her, yes.

Alright, I’ll have to do a bit of research. I want to see if an attack like the one she did to kill me can be done with normal magic. If it can, then it’s just proof towards these being actual visions of the future, and I’ll be able to plan around that.

Before that though, I want to make the same preparations for a sudden death that that version of me did. Now, in order to replicate it fully I’ll have to store my consciousness in my Gift, which I don’t want to do so I’ll simply make the preparations for this technique if I need to use it.

I walk through the hallway, towards the dining room for breakfast, but waiting for me at the door is Mother and Leah.

“Lilith, you’re late.” Mother says.

“Um… I don’t believe I’m any later than I usually am. You seem on edge. Have I done anything wrong?”

“No, you have a letter.”

“Huh? For me?” Why would I be receiving a letter specifically? What could it possibly be about that they wouldn’t go to Mother, Brother, or even Father about first? This just reeks of bad news.

“Leah, hand it to her.”

Leah walks up to me silently, and hands me a red envelope with a white seal. I grab it out of her hands. I keep a bit of rocks around my arms at all times in case I need them, so I simply use earth manipulation to pull some out and form a letter opener.

Mother doesn’t react at all, and she didn’t get me an actual one, so I assume she knew that’s exactly what I was going to do. I open the envelope and pull the letter out. Unfolding it, it’s white paper written on with red ink in a fancy font.

Dear Lilith Amber

We hope this message finds you in good condition. It is our understanding that you gained the Gift of Knowledge while you were sick in bed, and have harnessed it extensively since. We hear that not only have you applied yourself to learning the limits of your Gift, but have also pursued earth magic, and the art of the halberd. Truly, you are a very talented young lady.

“Sick in bed?” Is that what they’re calling it? Still though, the fact that whoever sent this message knows so much about me unnerves me. The flattery really isn’t helping their case.

It is because of that, you have caught our attention. As the season came around to start gathering up children with Gifts for education came around, we knew from the beginning that we’ve wanted you in our program. It is because of that, we have already spoken with King Wynn to secure you.

King Wynn? The King of Osnye? Oh no, this is not good. I can’t get out of this, I don’t think.

You will come to Krysdale, Nymet Kingdom by the 17th of Nyengale. Living quarters will be accommodated, and you will receive all the necessary school supplies after the opening ceremony. Personal items are allowed, this includes weapons. Pets must be given a week's notice before being brought in, and students may not bring in more than two pets. Your Gift is mandatory.

We wish you a safe journey. We hope your stay at Uxak Elite Academy uplifts all your academic pursuits.

• Head Mistress, Ibadea Griffin.

What? Uxak Elite Academy? That school? The one where I die in my visions? That school? I’ve received an acceptance letter from that school?

No, this isn’t even an acceptance letter. This is a “you are going here” letter. It says they even talked with King Wynn to “secure me.” I’m the daughter of a duchess, but is there really anything that I can do if the king’s in on it?

“Lady Lilith?”

“Lilith? Lilith, what’s wrong?”

I look up at Leah and Mother. They both look worried. Well, Mother looks just about as worried as she’s going to get. I just hold the letter up to her, and she takes it. I watch her eyes as she skims through the whole thing.

“Mm… they spoke with King Wynn about it, huh? Do you not want to go?”

“N- no.” I say. Since it’s to Mother, I kind of stutter.

“I’ll see what I can do about it then. Just know you’re going to have to have something else in mind for that to work. They aren’t going to just let you do nothing.”

“Y- yes, Mother…”

Damn it, damn it, damn it! What am I supposed to do here?! I summon my halberd from my Gift. I activate the “Sprint” skill. I swing my halberd at a training dummy’s head. Right as it hits its mark, I activate my “Explosive Strength” skill. Its head is split into several dozen powdery pieces, and even its body is knocked away from the force.

Hah… I need to calm down. Brutally murdering training dummies isn’t going to help. In fact, that’s probably the reason I’m even in this situation. The fact that I’ve gotten so strong is probably the main factor that caused them to go to such lengths to get me as a student.

Maybe if I hadn’t pursued strength so much, I’d have more options, and could just choose not to go to that school? No, hypotheticals are useless. Just think about how to get out of this situation.

Mother said she’d do what she could, but even as a duchess she can’t act however she wants if the king is involved. I need somewhere else to go. Where else can I apply this strength? Uxak Elite Academy is (big surprise) a very elite school that not many people can get into. Meaning I need to go somewhere on par with that at least.

Wait, I have an idea. I’m clearly overthinking this by a lot. Wolstan offered to take me back to Osyne’s capital so that his friends could continue training me. Surely practical experience is going to beat any school, right? Not to mention, I’ll be close to the king so he can keep an eye on me. Surely he’d want a Gift holder around in the capital training their skills?

Yeah, I just have to tell him that I decided to say yes to his offer. As long as I do that all my problems disappear!

“Sorry, but I can’t do that anymore.”

The cold response from Wolstan breaks my heart. It’s a feeling that I’m not familiar with at all. I know that I don’t like it one bit, though.

“But… but why?!” Apparently I don’t like it so much, I’ve reverted to the speech of a child.

“I also just got a letter. Two pieces of very bad news just reached me at once, and I can’t train you any more in the current climate. If it was up to me, I’d absolutely take you, but there are things that I just can’t control.”

“What’s even happened?” I ask. I need to know. It’s a hell of a long shot, but maybe I can think of a solution?

“Are you familiar with how the past king of the Pilcor Kingdom got kicked out, and had a bounty put on his head?”

I nod. I’m familiar with this story, because of just how major it is. The only kingdoms that the Osyne kingdom neighbors are Nymet and Pilcor. Of course knowing this story is important.

“Well word is that the guy came back. Apparently he walked up to the current king in his own throne room in front of everyone and just chopped his head off. He’s had himself sworn in as the current king of Pilcor and he’s started executing everyone responsible for deposing him without a trial.”

Huh?! That’s… that’s awful. That kind of thing could easily lead to civil war, right? What could I even do that would have any sort of effect on that situation?

“So… you’re going to be dealing with that?”

“Oh, no, that was the better news out of the two letters I received.”

“What?! Just what was the other letter about?!” I can’t help but shout. Now I’m really worried about just what’s happening.

“Word is that a Demon Lord’s nearing the border.”

“A Demon Lord?” That’s… depending on which one that could either be a bad thing, or an outright catastrophe with the survival of Cralia at stake.

“Um… do you know which one?” I ask, honestly nervous.

“No need to be so concerned. We do know which Demon Lord, and it could be a whole lot worse. That isn’t to say it’s good, just that it could be worse.”

“Then tell me which one it is!”

Wolstan sighs. “Alright, not getting out of this one, am I. It’s Diabolus.”

Diablous. I recognize the name immediately, although I could recognize any of the demon lord’s names. Him on the border… that isn’t a very good situation. He’s the 5th ranked Demon Lord, the 5th strongest demon in the world.

A demon known for his insanity and depravity. Responsible for all sorts of vile acts that Rain would recognize as war crimes. It’s thought he doesn't act out of cruelty, but at an insanity so deep he’s no longer recognizing right from wrong.

All the demons who follow him are outcasts, even by demon standards. Demons who have committed such vile crimes that other demons shun them and want them dead. Cralia considers all demons as naturally evil, but it considers Diabolus’ bunch to be particularly heinous.

I’ve read more than a few horror stories about just how evil he’s supposed to be. I’m not sure how much of them are true, and how much is just propaganda, I think there’s enough information to point towards Diabolus being evil among demons to be considered true.

“Wolstan… are you going to be OK?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine.” He says, he even smiles.

I remember a story about Diabolus. I think that there was a human village that figured out they were about to be attacked by demons following Diabolus. Instead of gathering all their weapons and fighting back, or even fleeing, the course of action they took was to kill all their children, and then themselves. The idea is that death is always preferable to being taken alive by Diabolus.

“Wolstan… is Brother also being sent to fight?” I ask, nervousness flooding my body.

His expression starts to turn sour. “Yes.” is all he says.

Brother… he’s being sent off to fight that? He just got back, too… that isn’t fair. What did he do to deserve to get sent against Diabolus?

“Don’t worry about it. Your brother isn’t a pushover, and he has a Gift of his own too. Assuming he doesn’t get sent against Diabolus himself or one of the stronger demons, he’ll be able to handle himself just fine. He’s a veteran like me at this point.”

Well, I certainly appreciate the reassurance, but that still doesn’t make me any less uneasy. I’ll have to act strong for him though. I don’t want him to worry about me on top of getting sent to face off against Diabolus’ army.

“I don’t think you’ve ever seen your Brother use his Gift before. Trust me when I say he’ll be able to use it to get out of any situation. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the first person in over a century to see Diabolus and live to tell the tale.”

Oh, I understand where you’re coming from, but you really didn’t need to remind me of that. None of the Demon Lords ranked 5th or higher have even been seen in over a century. Well, not by anyone that survived long enough to get away that is. Even if Diabolus is the weakest one in that group, he still holds that title.