21 Chapter 21: Good Deduction

"Who's that?"

Claudia had been watching everything that had been going on outside from Vice Principal, Claire's office, and just like everyone else observing the fight, she was curious about the third person.

"Another Demon Lord," Claire responded with her gaze still on what was going on outside.

"Another Demon Lord?"

"Yeah, that is Terebrare, number five of the Demon Lords." The Vice Principal revealed.

"Number five? They are ranked by strength, right, with number one being the strongest?" Claudia inquired.

"Correct, at the moment, there are fourteen Demon Lords and while Terebrare is number five, Melissa is number fourteen."

"I see, explains why Ariel didn't have much trouble dealing with her, but what about him?"

"What about him? That Domain she put up just a few minutes ago used up a lot of her mana. At full strength, she might be able to hold up for a while but if she tries to take him on in her current state, she will most likely…"

"Most likely what?"

"Get killed." She disclosed forcing out a gasp from Claudia at that moment.

Back outside, Ariel was well aware things weren't looking good for her now which was why she was holding off on making any careless move.

"I've heard a lot about you but I never thought you'd be able to take Melissa down so effortlessly," Terebrare remarked.

He sounded impressed but Ariel had a lot going on inside her mind at the moment to care about that.

"Well, when you go in for a fight underestimating someone you're doomed to fail."

"I see, I'll keep that in mind." He said before picking up Melissa with one hand to hang her over his shoulder. "I'll be taking her back now."

Her horns were gone now and her skin although still a bit red looked more human.

"You're lucky you acted fast or else there would have only been thirteen Demon Lords."

"You should know better, young lady." Terebrare sighed before slowly turning his back on her.

"Huh?"

"At the moment there is a truce between your side and our side and my side and that is because of the treaty. One of the clauses of infringement under the treaty states that when someone from either side kills an important person on the other side or takes part in an open assault against the masses, the treaty will be rendered invalid and war will break out once again." He articulated.

"Yes, I am aware of that," Ariel uttered with a nod. "But you know she would have broken that clause if I didn't get here when I did."

"Yes, and I'm grateful to you for that."

"Huh?"

She wasn't expecting him to say that, that was the last thing she would expect a Demon to say and he sounded quite sincere.

"And what about what happened at the arena today?" She inquired. "That was clearly an infringement of the clause."

"True but nobody knew who was behind it until recently so I wouldn't call it open, and besides, your leaders have the evidence, they're the ones who decided not to pursue it and I'm sure you know why." He turned his gaze to her at that moment before turning away. "I'm glad they decided not to."

'I thought Demon Lords were supposed to be battle-crazed freaks, he doesn't act like any of that. What's the catch here?' Ariel pondered subconsciously.

"Well, if you don't have anything else to say, I'll be taking my leave now."

"Wait."

He had gotten his legs ready to jump when Ariel said that.

"Hmmm?"

"Why are you happy with the way things are at the moment? I thought you guys had a goal of wiping us out." She inquired.

"Hmm. Let's just say that I want everyone to discover a bit of what their true potential is at least before things kick off, it will be more interesting that way, don't you think?"

"More interesting?"

"Yeah. Anyway, see you someday, Grand Knight."

Just after saying that, he lept high into the sky and disappeared into the forest.

Now that he was gone, Ariel slowly placed her hand on her left shoulder before letting out a sigh.

"Lost a bit of blood, I need to pay a visit to the clinic."

Back at the Vice principal's office, Claudia was a bit confused because he wasn't expecting Terebrare to just leave like that at least without a fight.

"He left?"

"Let's just say, he has a thing for wanting to fight people at full strength and letting them be when they are weakened." Claire disclosed.

"I see, so that's why you remained calm the whole time."

"Probably." She responded before turning to Claudia. "You should return to your room and check if the heat from that fireball affected something.

Claudia's eyes widened at that moment as she let out a gasp.

"Oh, no."

She dashed out of the office at that moment shutting the door just as she left and now that she was gone, Claire picked up the tablet on her table.

"I wonder what would have happened if Jake was the one here instead of Ariel."

Somehow, Claudia was able to get to the highest floor of the dormitory where her room was located ahead of anyone else but instead of making her way to her room, she was standing in the hallway staring down at someone with a confused expression on her face. Confusion wasn't the only thing she was feeling now but she needed answers first before expanding those feelings.

The person she was staring at turned out to be Arsha who was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and he seemed to be out of breath.

"What are you doing here?" She tried to sound as calm as possible as she asked that question.

"What am I doing here? Let's see…."

"Just answer the question already, you know boys aren't allowed in here." She snapped.

"Of course, I'm aware of that."

"Then answer…."

She wasn't able to finish what she wanted to say as she began hearing the sound of footsteps coming their way.

"Crap."

She grabbed him at that moment and turned to the room opposite them which turned out to be room seventy-seven, her room.

She used her watch to unlock the door and just before the girls entering the area could lock sight on them, they were already inside and the door shut.

Now that they were inside she dropped him on the floor before turning toward her bed which was the one on the right.

"I guess I'm supposed to say thank you," Arsha uttered.

"If you're going to say it like that then you're better off not saying it." She retorted before crossing her arms.

"I'm just surprised."

"Surprised?" She responded before slowly turning her gaze to him.

"Yeah, I thought that with what I did to you yesterday you would leave me to suffer the wrath of those other girls but you dragged me into your room to prevent that."

Hearing him say that, she let out a sigh before turning away from him.

"Well, everything will depend on the answer you give me, although, I can't think of a reason why you would be in the girls' dorm at a time like this so it's most likely that I'm going to throw you out there and tell them everything. And besides, in the state you're in now, I could very much return the favor." She articulated. "In the state, you're in now." She repeated before squatting down in front of him.

"What are you doing now?" Arsha inquired.

She didn't respond to that and proceeded to place her hand on his forehead.

"Your mana is depleted, why's that?"

"Well…"

"I know you have this mana deficiency problem but it doesn't run out that easily, does it? Unless." She turned her gaze to the window at that moment before turning it back to him.

"Unless what?"

"You know, when Rena and Aqua created that water ball to slow down the fireball, after just a few minutes it began to vaporize and get smaller but then suddenly, it began to grow again. I thought they might have found a way to bring it up a little again but I see that wasn't the case now." She articulated looking directly into his eyes. "It was you, they were right above this building so if you were going to give them a hand this was the best position, that's why your mama got depleted to this extent."

"Hmmm, and expected you to label me as a pervert the moment you saw me, you seem to be way more reasonable than I thought," Arsha responded before attempting to get up on his feet but he came crashing down almost immediately. "Owwww looks like my body is still feeble from the mana drain."

Claudia let out a sigh at that moment before getting up from her feet.

"If any girl calls you a pervert for being in here, I wouldn't blame her, the only reason why I was able to access this properly is that we were in the same room when it started and I saw everything from a higher point of elevation." She remarked before turning away from him. "Also, you're not as bad as I thought, I never expected you to put yourself through that to stop the fireball."

"Was that a compliment?"

"Interpret it however you like." She retorted.

"Alright,..."

Arsha wasn't able to finish that sentence as his ears caught the sound of footsteps heading toward the door.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Um….I think your roommate is at the door and she's about to open it."

"My roommate?" She muttered with her gaze on him and at that moment, her eyes widened. "You have to leave now."

"Sorry, but I still can't move yet." He shook his head.

"Shit."