Inside the rustic room of the basement, Lilith just finished her first lesson on Magic. Isabelle understood most of what was taught, though there were still a few doubts inside her mind, those doubts would have to wait another time. At this moment, Lilith's teaching mode was off and her persona as a leader of Purple Solanum came out.

Every trace of enjoyment and aloofness disappeared from her face, only a serious and sharp shadow falling over her face. Isabelle was just to observe the situation, so she stepped back to the front of the door and stood there. Her face was covered with a hood, thus it was very hard for someone to tell that the girl in front of them was the former princess of the Nora Empire.

This being the reason why the five bound to the chair were unable to decipher the identity of the girl who was being taught by Lilith, but even if they could, there were far more pressing matters at their hands right now.

Lilith had just burst the finger of one of their comrade, it was a hideous and violent sight. The sight of Julia's middle finger suddenly exploding, the bits and pieces of flesh n bones flying in all directions, the oozing blood which followed the spectacle and Julia's scream which was filled with unimaginable pain.

It was a sight which was too much to take for John and his friends to take in. It was their first time witnessing the torturous way in which magic can be used. Sarah was already crying tears of fear, Jeremiah's pants could be seen stained with piss, Noeya's teeth were clattering and her legs were shaking. Julia's face was struck with dread, the phantom pain of her middle finger making the face twitch violently in pain.  Their leader John had his eyes closed, trying to not see the cruelty happening in front of him.

⌈Amanda, shut their mouths with cloth⌋

Upon Lilith's order, Amanda picked up the ragged pieces of cloth which were lying on top of the desk which was stationed beside the door. She went near the intruders and stuffed their mouths with the ragged cloth. John, Jeremiah and Sarah struggled a bit but to no good.

Lilith stepped forward and stood in front of John, looking down on the boy who had his eyes closed with sharp eyes. She crossed her arms and with an interrogating tone spoke to the boy

⌈Boy, I don't have time to play with you children all day. Save your friends some suffering and honestly answer my question. Tell me your names⌋

⌈...⌋

⌈I see, too much pride for a mere brat.⌋

Lilith crouched down and removed the shoe off from the boy's left foot, removed the sock and grabbed the thumb of the feet.

⌈mmmmmmffff,mmmmmm,nnnn⌋ John started thinking that this Lilith woman will do the same thing she did to his friend Julia, he started voicing his rebellion but the cloth stuffed in the mouth preventing him from speaking any logical words. He started shaking his head in denial and looked over his friends to ask for help, but none looked his way. They were all tilting their heads away from him, afraid of meeting his begging eyes.

This shocked John down to his core, weren't they friends? weren't these girls supposed to love him? From all the indications, he knew that Sophia, Jeremiah and Julia had romantic feelings for him, the only one he wasn't sure of was Noeya who hardly spoke or had any expression on her face.

John knew the feelings his friends had from him but he decided to ignore them, he first wanted to get stronger before indulging in the pleasure of love. He thought that something like love would get in his path of becoming stronger and thus deliberately acted naive and innocent to their advances. He just gave them enough responses so that they will stay with him and not leave him. Despite their feelings, he still considered them to be close friends and didn't want to ruin their current friendship by choosing one as a lover.

But when push came to shove, they didn't even look his way. He knew they were also bound and hence couldn't help him, but he just wanted someone to look into his eyes and tell him that everything will be okay in the end, but his wish was not answered. Anger started rising inside him for these girls he considered friends and ignored his own fault.

But Lilith wasn't going to take any of this bullshit. She grabbed the toenail of the boy's feet with her sleek fingers by the tip and slowly, very slowly started ripping the nail away from the flesh.

⌈MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!⌋ Lilith could have been fast and instantly ripped the nail off, but she wanted to teach the boy a valuable lesson

⌈Boy, you have too much pride but no strength to back it up with⌋ Lilith's mocking voice piercing very corner of John's body. He was violently spasming, the chair he was bound to was rigorously shaking and only kept in place by Amanda's hand. Blood veins started popping in John's eyes, the more of the nail that Lilith tore the more raw pain got written all over John's body. The slow squelching sound of his toenail being slowly ripped away from the skin, the blood which made the bits of his naked toe sting, the fact that his supposed friends had their eyes firmly closed, the love that they had for him was nothing not a sham, filled every fibre of his being with dread and nightmare....and it still wasn't over.

Lilith was ripping the toenail so slowly that it was only halfway done.

⌈Look your friends have closed their eyes to you, just like you closed yours earlier. So, it's not like you have any right to complain about them.⌋

⌈MMMMMMMGGGGGGGGFFFFFFF!!!!!NNNNNNNNGNGGHGIEAHhhh!!!!⌋

⌈But it's no one's fault. They and you are doing the right thing, giving one's own life more importance than someone elses⌋

⌈GGGGGGHHHMHMKMHHHHKMKKKK!!!!!KKKKKKKKKKKGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!⌋

and with the final push, the nail finally ripped off from his toenail. The immense pain which was followed by a dreadful phantom pain quickly made him go unconscious.

⌈Now then⌋ Lilith got back and this time walked towards the girl with long black hair, the one Amanda healed just moments ago.

Noeya looked over to John when his painful screams ended, she saw his face which was filled with pure horror and looked down to witness his toe which now didn't have a nail over it, the raw flesh which was covered with red blood, she saw it all.

She saw the woman responsible for their demise coming her way, the sinister aura, a face which had no trace of happiness or enjoyment, a face which looked more emotionless than her own. Something this sinister and twisted was coming her way, getting ready to make her experience hell on earth.

I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to suffer, I don't want pain.

⌈Girl, save yourself and tell me your name⌋

⌈NOEYA! IT'S NOEYA!! NOEYA SMITH!!!⌋

and she answered. The fear of pain, the fear of death overtaking her sense of pride.

She adhered to the most basic of human instincts. She just followed her basic nature as a human

The instinct to Survive

The instinct to be Selfish.

Thus the beans were spilled, she told everything and this marked a day when the fate of the world shifted.

Shifted towards imminent ruin. At the face of ruin stood Lilith and the one to oppose her, not the hero, not some monk or a priest, but a girl hated and feared by the entire world.

AmolJandial

Two chapters a week, sorry for infrequent uploads but thanks for reading anyway. Daisuki desu