Blood gushed out of a female student’s neck. A girl in a gothic maid’s outfit stood opposite her, with a bloody knife in her extended hand. She smiled as the red liquid continued to splatter all over her face. Her name was Ophelia.

The other students screamed in horror. Some dashed for the second door out of the classroom, but only crashed into it and piled on top of one another.

“It’s no use”— Ophelia grinned—“I locked both doors. The only other people who had the keys were our homeroom teacher Ritsuko and that sleazy janitor.”

“Break down the door!”

“I’m trying! It won’t budge!”

“Let me try!”

“What the hell is that thing made out of!?”

“Quickly, who has Ritsuko’s number!?”

“Why would you need it?” Ophelia seemed perplexed and tilted her head sideways. “You know that the dead can’t speak, right? Did you pay any attention in biology?

“You... You didn’t!”

“I left their bodies in the boiler room,” Ophelia licked the blood off the edge of her stainless steel utility knife and jumped to the one boy stupid enough to still be standing close to her.

“Two down,” said a girl with long, wavy purple hair—the only one still sitting at her table, in the front row, where the students gathered. She nonchalantly licked her finger and turned another page in the massive black tome that laid on her table.

“What the hell are you doing Felicia!?” A skinny girl with brown hair done in a pony-tail screamed at her. She was among the many students standing with their backs against the chalkboard, as far away from Ophelia as possible.

“Casting a second barrier,” Felicia answered and proceeded to murmur in a strange language.

“Leave that stupid chuuni be!” the biggest guy in the class shouted. “There’s only one of her and twenty-three of us! You hear that, you psycho bitch!? Either unlock the doors and get the fuck out of here or we’ll beat you to a bloody pu—”

The muscular student gagged mid-sentence with a throwing knife lodged in his throat, then fell to the floor. Dead.

“AAAAAAH!” The others screamed.

More shouting came from outside the classroom. Someone was banging on the door, trying to open it.

“Help!”

“Open the door!”

“I’m calling the poli—” another knife flew across the classroom. Another boy fell to the floor, pushing the knife deeper into his throat.

“Don’t worry, I already called my dad,” Felicia said calmly and once again slowly turned pages after page in her tome. “The police should be here any minute.”

“That’s goo—” this time a girl was rudely interrupted.

“AAAAAAAAAAA!” the others near her screamed in union.

“How is she even that precise!?” the girl with the ponytail protested this absurd situation.

“I’ve practiced for years,” Ophelia answered, crouching on a table on the other end of the classroom. She pulled out another knife from a belt strapped to her leg. Her skirt was high enough to see her white panties between her slim thighs. “I’ve invited you thirty-four times to come and see my collection.”

“I was nine! I didn’t want to see your stupid knive—”

“They’re not stupid!” Ophelia hissed. “Isn’t that right Felicia?”

“Yes, they’re amazing,” Felicia said flatly and finally stood up. “I especially loved the fillet knife.”

Felicia walked up to the other horrified students and stabbed one of them in the eye, pushing the blade all the way up to the handle.

“Think happy thoughts!” Felicia grinned and roughly pulled out the knife.

“You, bitch!” One of the boys shouted and punched Felicia in the face.

“Argh!” The boy held his wrist in pain. It was bruised and bloody, but there wasn’t even a scratch on Felicia’s face.

“Barrier success!” Felicia announced with a vicious smile.

Three minutes later Felicia was sitting in a pool of blood, surrounded by corpses, with Ophelia sitting beside her. Neither of the girls seemed fazed by the sight. The noise coming from outside seemed to bother Felicia far more.

“Too bad the barriers on the doors don’t block out any sound,” Felicia complained while flipping through the tome, soaking in blood.

“You didn’t have to get involved—I told you I could do it myself!” Ophelia hugged Felicia tightly. “But it was cute that you thought I needed help! By the way, you promised to tell me why I needed to wear a maid’s outfit.”

“At the time it seemed funny.” Felicia’s voice remained cold as ice. “The concept of a personal battle maid that is. But something just kept bothering me.”

“Huh?”

Felicia swiftly stabbed Ophelia in the neck and showed her away to bleed out among the corpses.

“I think I really don’t like girls with glasses after all.” Felicia threw one last look at the trembling and confused Ophelia and returned to her black tome. “I needed one more sacrifice for the final ritual anyway.”

Felicia read aloud from the ancient tome in a strange, corrupt language that graded the ears. She chanted louder and louder, and finally, stabbed herself in the heart. A black light appeared from floor to ceiling, engulfing Felicia. After only a couple of seconds, it disappeared. Felicia’s corpse fell onto the tome and the door to the classroom finally broke down.

 

“Ugh,” Ophelia was conscious. She opened her eyes, but could not see anything, only darkness.

“Are you sure about this?” A beautiful female voice echoed around Ophelia.

“We tried it your way over a hundred times already!” A far harsher, male voice echoed.

“Who’s there?” Ophelia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“Yes, but this time—“ Female voice still tried to argue.

“No, it’s decided already! This one might be just crazy enough already, to survive the Fusion.”

“Fusion? What fusion!?” Ophelia tried to understand. No words came out. She tried to move. She didn’t move. Or she couldn’t move? She couldn’t see or feel, or taste anything, and was forced to resign herself to powerlessly continue listening to the two... things converse.

“Five souls say she goes catatonic in a month.”

“You’re on!”

“Well, crazy girlie,” the female spoke to Ophelia. It seemed for the first time her existence was actually acknowledged. “You might just get to see your girlfriend after all!”

“After that Demonic Ritual you helped her conduct, using the Dark Tome of Ancient Evil, your girlfriend transported herself to a pure and innocent magical world, and was reborn there as a Demon Lady.”

“For over four hundred years she has plagued that world and no hero we sent has been able to stop her.”

“That’s where the Crystal Of The Damned comes in! Among other things it will grant you near-immortality, as long as a single cell of your organism remains.”

“But it has in it’s time already corrupted, driven insane and destroyed thousands of Heroes!”

“It’s gonna be fine. Have faith! Now, let’s begin!”

“Wait—“ Ophelia wanted to speak, but suddenly her body jolted. Did her ability to feel return? Or was the pain so strong that it pushed through her numbness anyway?

Next thing Ophelia knew she was on her knees on a dirt road. Looking around she was in the middle of some medieval city. Humanoid people of all kinds of races walked back and forth. So far, apart from a few glances, none of the passersby seem too concerned. So, it seemed that having a female human in a gothic maid outfit on her knees in the middle of the road was not that unusual.

Looking up Ophelia saw a sign on the building “Adventurer’s Guild”. Then she heard the voices...