Chapter 85: Lances Affinity with Demons

Chapter 85: Lance's Affinity with Demons

As the clock at Purgatory Corridor Academy struck five in the morning, time seemed to slow to a crawl, as if poised for a transformation. A faint, delicate glimmer of dawn stole quietly through the windowsill and into the botanical garden, filtering down through the gaps in the foliage. Bathed in this ethereal, silvery light, the entire Shadow Realm dungeon from the ancient Demon Kingdom began to rise and dissipate like a dissolving bubble.

Lance finally closed the book in his hands. The next moment, the ancient demonic grimoire, which had been weathered by the ages, slowly dissolved along with the experimental botanical garden.

In the blink of an eye, Lance and Hyperion found themselves standing in a small, transparent chamber enveloped by a starry sky of eternal night. Sparse starlight shimmered around them, providing just enough illumination to make out their surroundings.

This was the liminal space where the real world and the Shadow Realm intersected. Lance could see a hairline crack in the transparent barrier nearby. Through that narrow fissure, a few wisps of serene, swirling purple light spilled out: a small Void Gate.

Passing through it should allow them to return to the real world. However, the settlement phase for the Shadow Realm challenge had yet to appear. While a genuine Shadow Realm dungeon wouldn't fail to generate a result like an artificial one might, Lance had heard that if too many irregularities, such as actions that bypassed the intended mechanics, occurred during the challenge, the settlement process could take a bit longer.

He wondered just how long his own run would take to finalize. Lance smiled and looked up at Hyperion, intending to strike up a conversation. He recalled that she had been talking to him earlier, though he had been too engrossed in the final few passages of the book to pay full attention.

A look of slight puzzlement then crossed his face. He studied her expression and murmured, "Hyperion, what's wrong? Oh, right. Is it because that criminal called you a half-demon?"

It suddenly dawned on him. Hyperion had been perfectly fine until that criminal, moments before being destroyed by a demon, had accused her of being a "half-demon." That was when her demeanor had shifted.

Lance's gaze was as gentle and reassuring as ever, so Hyperion felt the tension in her chest ease, if only slightly.

"Mm."

In that moment, she became absolutely certain of one thing: she did not want to lose Lance as a friend, no matter what. What happened next, however, was something she never could have anticipated.

Lance stared at her, making no attempt to hide the look of admiration in his eyes as he exclaimed, "Holy cow, you have demon blood?"

That completely caught Hyperion off guard. It was the first time she had ever seen someone react to the revelation of her half-demon heritage not with revulsion, but with genuine fondness and excitement?

Hyperion said in disbelief, "You really don't hate demons? Even after spending an entire day with one? And spending this entire time with a bunch of demons?"

She had never met anyone in the present day who held such a friendly attitude toward demons! Even her father had initially loathed them; his stance only shifted gradually after he met her mother.

"Er..." Lance hesitated, resting his chin on his hand as he pondered for a moment. His gaze seemed to drift toward memories of the leadership team he had assembled back at Purgatory Corridor Academy.

Hyperion was left speechless as well. Oh well. This guy was basically a pure demon among demons amongst all of demonkind. It wasn't exactly strange for him to feel an affinity for them. She recalled the things Lance had done at the demon academy, and finally let the matter go.

She lowered her eyes. A whirlwind of thoughts passed through her mind as she confided in Lance, "My mother was a Great Demon who had wandered down from the North. She fell in love with my father, Duke Michael Aransar, while posing as an ordinary young woman, and eventually gave birth to me."

She didn't know if her father had realized her mother was a demon back when they first met, or if he had known all along but simply pretended not to. It wasn't until she, a half-demon infant, was born that the truth could no longer be concealed. Shortly thereafter, her mother had quietly left the royal capital of Hutton...

Hyperion still remembered the look of sorrow that would often cross her father's face. Even after learning her mother was a demon, his greatest wish had remained to win her back.

Duke Aransar had been the only person in the capital whom Hyperion believed deep down harbored no aversion toward demons. Of course, there might now be one more such kind-hearted soul.

Lance scratched his head upon hearing this. It all sounded so familiar, like something he had seen before. Yet another demon from the North, and a Great Demon at that. Could she be a relative of Talia's?

Looking puzzled, Lance said, "I feel like the demons I've met have all been pretty decent. Why does everyone look down on them...?"

He believed the world harbored an excessive malice toward the demons, even though they posed absolutely no threat.

Hyperion found it hard to make fun of Lance's naive outlook. "...Is it possible that you're just too kind-hearted?"

If anyone else had made such an outrageous statement in a human kingdom, they would likely face a public backlash and be branded a silly do-gooder. Coming from Lance, however, the context shifted entirely because, in his presence, demons truly were as gentle and harmless as little white rabbits.

Without anyone else to confide in, Hyperion sighed and spoke to Lance as if finally unburdening herself of thoughts she had long kept locked away. "That's exactly why I, a duke's daughter, am loathed by everyone in the capital. Ever since that war decades ago, people have been convinced that demons cannot coexist with humans, even part-demons like me, who only carry some demonic blood."

Lance had only recently arrived in the capital from a southern border territory. It was barely past five in the morning on his second day of school, so he was still unfamiliar with his surroundings and the culture of a city that had been ravaged in the past by demons. In truth, had he simply attended classes for a few more days and mingled with others, he would have inevitably learned of Hyperion's half-demon heritage. He would have naturally come to understand the hostility the capital's residents held toward demons.

"So, what you're saying is... even though the people here know you have demon blood, they still treat you with the respect due to a duke's daughter?" Lance said this while a faint, gentle smile played on his lips.

Hyperion was taken aback by his interpretation of her situation. She looked into Lance's warm, emerald-green eyes. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond. She didn't understand it. How was it that the fact that she was a duke's daughter shunned by everyone for her demon blood could be reframed by Lance to sound like something fortunate?

"You really are something else..." Hyperion looked at Lance with a helpless expression that clearly said she had given up. "You did the exact same thing when talking to Vivian and me before, saying things that left us completely speechless."

It sounded more like a complaint than anything else. Yet, in the end, she revealed a genuine smile of relief. It was neither a feigned expression nor a piece of acting mastered within this Shadow Realm dungeon, but a sincere smile of the kind that only a human could show.