Under The Moon

"N-No! What are you doing?! Stay away from me!" Evan shouted.

Feliciel continued to approach him, caressing the syringe filled with demon cells in her hand. Evan knew it wasn't good news, even if his entire body was tightly chained.

As Feliciel stood in front of Evan, she gently touched his cheek and leaned in close, saying, "Don't worry~ It won't hurt, my dear little rat."

"N-No—!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Feliciel injected the serum into Evan's neck until it was completely empty. Evan couldn't utter a sound because of it... It felt strange. As the serum flowed through Evan's body, the first thing he felt was emptiness. There is no sensation at all.

At one point, the cells began to act. All the nerves in Evan's body rebelled irregularly, his muscles felt as though heavy weights were pulling on them, his head felt as though it was nailed by a large spike, and his DNA started to break apart.

A long scream erupted from Evan's mouth, releasing all the pain he felt throughout his body, whether from within or outside. His body trembled and rebelled along with the screams of agony.

The sound of chains reverberated from the cell, echoing throughout the entire prison, accompanied by Evan's screams.

Feliciel smiled sadistically as she watched Evan writhing and said, "Yes...yes... Yes! Hahahaha! Excellent! Finally, what I've been waiting for has arrived!"

Evan's breath couldn't be regulated anymore. He was truly made to suffer.

The pain slowly subsided, leaving Evan gasping for breath. His heart was beating rapidly, and his head began to feel dizzy.

"How does it feel? Becoming a demon?" Feliciel asked.

With his breath ragged, Evan looked towards Feliciel and replied, "Wh-what... What do you mean?"

Feliciel's eyes widened in surprise as she saw that Evan's physical appearance showed no changes whatsoever. She even looked into Evan's soul with her demonic eyes, but still, there is no change.

"What happened?!" Feliciel exclaimed.

"It seems that his body is rejecting the demon cells, My Lady," one of her subordinates spoke.

"Rejecting...? Ah...so that's how it is..." Feliciel continued.

Feliciel then pondered for a moment, placing her finger on her chin, and then smirked wickedly, saying, "In that case, let's give him more demon cells until his body can't reject it anymore."

Evan's eyes widened, desperate for this painful ordeal to end. "No! Please, I beg you!" Evan pleaded.

The second serum was retrieved. Feliciel approached Evan and injected the demon cell serum into his body once again.

Evan screamed as loud as he could, seeking help from anyone who might hear. The pain he felt couldn't easily be described in words. Until finally, Evan realized just how ruthless demons could be.

In his subconscious, small sparks of fire emerged, growing larger as his intention to eliminate all demons to their roots intensified.

"Kill."

In his heart, he kept repeating the same phrase throughout the day, enduring immense pain caused by the serum injected into his body.

A pink-haired girl named Alicia seemed unable to bear witnessing it. She could only watch from outside the prion bar as Evan was continuously injected with demon cell serum throughout the day. She was the only one who could understand Evan's feelings at this moment. There was empathy within her, but she couldn't do much.

Time passed, and each day felt like a year of torment for Evan. He lost consciousness after receiving nearly hundreds of injections throughout the day.

"Tck, no serum left. You're lucky to get some rest. See you tomorrow morning, my little rat~" Feliciel said mischievously.

Feliciel and her subordinates left Evan, unconscious and chained in the middle of the prison cell, except for Alicia. She watched Evan from outside the cell and then left after a while.

Day after day, month after month, Evan endures the same torment. It's been so long, so excruciating that Evan's voice is nearly gone from continuous screaming. Even though he tries not to scream, the pain remains the same.

Half a year has passed, and someone wakes Evan up in the middle of the night. His body can barely move. He slowly lifts his head and sees someone standing with a black cloak covering the person's head, making it difficult for Evan to identify the person. Well, Evan's vision is becoming blurry anyway. Strangely, he feels blurred vision in only one eye when looking.

The mysterious person then uses something like magic, Freeze the iron bars of Evan's confinement and shatter it with a small push, just enough to enter.

The person approaches, accompanied by crow feathers emerging around. Though it's not clear due to the darkness, Evan senses something unsettling about this.

The person reaches out towards Evan, who is still kneel down some chain around his body, leaving Evan with no choice but to close his eyes as he is currently powerless and weak.

As the person shoots those feathers, Evan is surprised to find the chains that bound him suddenly shatter, causing him to fall freely after being restrained for so long.

Slowly, Evan tries to rise and looks towards the person, realizing something familiar in his eyes.

It's a girl, with pink hair and two oni horns on her forehead; she is Alicia.

Evan can easily see Alicia's face illuminated by the moonlight shining through the holes in the prison ceiling. The moon that night happens to be very bright.

"Y...you...." Evan said.

Evan's voice sounded very weak, and his body was starting to become thin due to being fed only one piece of bread per week. Frustrated with the demons, Evan gazed at Alicia with an unhappy, angry, and disdainful look, but...

"Don't talk too much, you chatterbox!" Alicia scolded, pulling Evan's hand.

"What--?" Evan uttered.

Alicia pulled Evan out of that dreadful cage, running as far as she could with Evan in tow. During their escape, Evan saw all the guards who were assigned to watch the prison were now dead, each with a hole in their necks as if they were shot by something powerful. Some also died from Alicia's ice attacks, which left half of their faces shattered.

As they climbed the stairs to exit the underground prison, they were blocked by a group of guards, cutting off their only way out. "It's them! Capture them!" one of the guards yelled.

"Stay behind me, Evan," Alicia said.

Evan followed her instructions and observed what Alicia was about to do. Well... although he could actually handle it himself because, for some reason, he could feel his magic energy returning after being unavailable for so long.

Alicia then drew a bow, not an ordinary one; it looked extremely dangerous with a blue icy pattern and a mixture of deep black color and carvings like a large feather on each side. The bow materialized as black smoke enveloped Alicia's hand, as if the bow was summoned by her.

"That bow--!" one of the guards exclaimed.

"You traitor!" they shouted.

They recognized the owner of the bow, and they charged down the stairs towards Alicia, knowing she was a real traitor.

As they moved to attack, Alicia assumed her stance, tilting and drawing the bowstring. Three ice arrows formed with a single pull.

Alicia then released the bowstring, firing the ice arrows towards the group of guards, along with a powerful shockwave she generated from her attack. Despite being in a position climbing the stairs, Alicia could still hit the guards accurately. The arrows seemed to be under her control, allowing Alicia to easily eliminate all the guards at once.

"They were hit with three arrows. There should only be three casualties, but where did the other seventeen arrows come from?" Evan mumbled to himself.

"Let's go!" Alicia said.

Evan's hand was pulled by Alicia as they climbed the stairs and successfully escaped from the underground prison.

But it didn't end there, many guards chased them from behind.

Alicia stopped once again and turned towards the horde of guards. She pulled her bowstring again, but this time she aimed it at the sky, creating a black arrow unlike before. She then released the tension, launching the arrow into the sky, and it exploded with tremendous force.

"C'mon, let's go!" Alicia said.

Alicia pulled Evan's hand, and they continued their escape. When Evan looked back while running, he realized that the explosion from earlier had produced many more arrows than he expected. Initially, they looked like crow feathers falling, but soon they transformed into arrows. The demon guards died instantly with a single attack.

As they reached the border, they were once again confronted by a deep abyss. Even if they tried to find a detour, it would be futile.

"Hey, your name is Evan, right? Can I ask you something?" Alicia inquired.

"Yes, what is it?" Evan replied.

"Can you catch an arrow that's flying towards you?" Alicia asked.

Evan was surprised and said, "Maybe... It wouldn't hurt to try."

"Great," Alicia said, smiling, then she pulled the bowstring again.

Alicia created a large ice arrow and shot it into the sky.

"For what?" Evan asked.

"I want you to catch it," Alicia said.

The arrow flew away and miraculously returned at incredible speed, heading right back towards them.

"But... why?" Evan asked again.

"Just catch it," Alicia replied, grinning.

As the arrow came closer, Evan positioned himself to catch it.

"On the count of 3!" Alicia said.

"One...!"

"Two...!"

Alicia suddenly hugged Evan from the front and shouted, "THREE!! CATCH!!"

Following Alicia's calculation, Evan caught the arrow, and they were carried away from the edge of the abyss by just one arrow.

"Yeeaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!" Alicia shouted.

The girl seemed to enjoy their journey using this makeshift transportation.

"Wooohoooooo!!!" she continued.

She continued to tightly hug Evan, with her head against his chest. She seemed to be enjoying the ride... Evan was just stuck, watching Alicia hugging him so tightly, though it didn't need to be that intense...

They flew away with Alicia's arrow that seems so strong and consistently staying on its line forward.

"By the way... how are we going to land?" Evan asked.

"Ah, oh right..." Alicia replied.