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The first time, Iruma completely ignored it.
He had returned to Sullivan's house with a ring on the middle finger of his right hand that he had never seen before. On the one hand, he was worried about the ghost-like being that had come out of it, at the time of the assignment of ranks, as well as being worried about not being able to remove it from the aforementioned finger. On the other hand, he was happy not to risk losing a gold object that he believed was worth two years of wages.
That night, when he went to bed, he thought he saw a dark, giant shadow with undefined contours in the darkness of the room. Iruma, tired from the long day, from having almost died twice and relieved from not having become food for giant demonic birds, closed his eyes and ignored that strange phenomenon. 'It must be a trick of the lights. Or tiredness. Let's sleep' the blue haired boy said to himself, letting himself be cuddled by the warmth and softness of his new bed.
Unfortunately for him, it was not an isolated event.
When he was promoted from Aleph (1) to Bet (2) rank, that night he saw that strange shape for the second time. It seemed slightly more defined, even if he didn't understand what it could be. It was very tall, reaching the upper part to hit the ceiling of his bedroom. It didn't seem to move, which was another reason for Iruma to convince himself that it was just a simple trick of the lights.
However, under the curious gaze of the young human, the strange shadow remained still at the foot of his bed. As if it was looking at him. Iruma gulped, frightened by that thought. He fell asleep only after covering his head and mentally repeating that it was only a figment of his imagination. After all, even when he stayed for weeks or months in a tent in the middle of the woods, it was not uncommon for him to think he saw frightening and disturbing shadows reflected on the thin walls of his tent, making him tremble at the thought of the aggressive beasts that could want child flesh as a nighttime snack.
Iruma told himself that this was not the case, as sleep gradually came to his aid. He was in a world inhabited only by demons, he was forced to keep his human identity secret so as not to be devoured, but nevertheless he did not feel in danger when he slept in that room. "Danger sense" ability had not activated at the sight of the mysterious shadow, so he became even more convinced that it was nothing dangerous.
When he increased his rank again, going from Bet rank (2) to Gimmel rank (3), he met Alikred. Iruma set himself the goal of discovering the secret behind his existence, if there were other beings like him, to help him in short.
That night, the shadow appeared again.
Iruma trembled under the covers, it had been so long since the last time that he had completely forgotten about it. The shadow had taken on another semblance of contours, on the upper part (which Iruma imagined could be the head), they formed two elongated shapes facing the ceiling, which looked like horns. The contours of the shadow said narrower facts, as if the shadow was a tall and slender being.
"Ali-san...?" asked Iruma, hesitant. The one-eyed being had acquired the ability to reason only that day, maybe he suffered from sleepwalking or something, Iruma convinced himself. However, Alikred did not answer his call. The tall, dark thing did not answer his call, merely staring at him from the foot of the bed. Iruma could not explain why, but the being seemed like a demon to him. But, as far as he knew, there were no other demons in Sullivan Mansion besides Sullivan and Opera. Iruma covered his head with the blankets, lay down on his side and tried to fall asleep. 'As long as it doesn't move, it's just my imagination', the blue haired boy repeated to himself mentally, trying to let himself fall asleep.
He succeeded in his task, he fell asleep early. The next morning, he questioned Alikred about the matter. "Me? Awake at that hour? Are you crazy, Iru-boy? This skin doesn't stay free of wrinkles and elastic without a good dose of sleep!" Alikred replied, pulling his own cheeks to demonstrate his words. Iruma accepted that justification, but something still seemed strange.
At the table, during breakfast, he questioned the last suspect that had come to mind. "Grandpa, did you happen to visit me while I was in bed last night?" the blue haired boy asked, receiving a double doubtful look in return. "No, why? Were you lonely? Do you want me to sleep in your bed with you sometime?" Sullivan asked, stretching out his arms towards his grandson. Opera immediately intercepted him, grabbing his arms and lifting them up.
"No, no, don't worry! I just thought I saw someone with horns in the room last night, so I thought it might be you..." Iruma replied, chuckling nervously, before stuffing a large forkful of the food he was eating for breakfast into his mouth. Sullivan and Opera flinched. They had no idea what the young human was talking about. Opera approached Iruma, their feline ears and tail both pointing downwards. "Iruma-sama, are you sure about what you saw? We have no guests for the night. No one should be able to enter your room" the cat demon asked, a note of strong concern easily audible in their tone of voice.
Sullivan nodded vehemently. "My sweet grandson, I assure you! I did not enter your room! Oh, Opera! What do we do? What if some ill-intentioned demon has entered here to hurt my sweet boy?" the old demon asked in anguish, rising from his seat to run to hug his grandson. Opera, who had long since left their master's arms, took their chin in their left hand. "I agree with your concerns, Sullivan-sama. I don't sense any presence other than ours, but they could be hiding somewhere. For now, I would suggest that you personally accompany Iruma-sama to school. I will join you later, as soon as I have checked the conditions of the mansion and the state of the security measures" stated the cat demon, determined to start a no-prisoner mouse hunt.
Iruma gulped, worried by that prospect but above all for having agitated his guardians for something that, he kept repeating to himself, was probably just a hallucination. Asmodeus and Clara, who like every morning were waiting for him outside the gate, happily welcomed the idea of going to Babyls aboard the hell carriage driven by Sullivan.
At lunchtime, Opera arrived at Babyls and explained to Sullivan that they had found no traces of intruders. To be safe, that night the cat demon decided to spend the night in Iruma's room. Even though the blue haired boy did not want to cause that disturbance, Opera insisted on staying in the room waiting for the return of the mysterious demon who had shown themselves the previous night. The cat demon hid in the closet, alert and attentive to every little noise or movement. Iruma struggled to sleep, knowing how much disturbance he was causing to the demon's normal routine.
That night no demon appeared in the room, which is why Iruma asserted his opinion about having seen wrongly and apologized countless times, unexpectedly receiving hugs, reassurances and affection from the two demons he lived with. The matter seemed to have been resolved there.
When Iruma rose in rank again, from Gimmel (3) to Daleth (4), the mysterious figure made its appearance again.
Iruma opened his eyes in the middle of the night. Strange, considering he was dead tired after the four days of the Harvest festival. When he returned home he had collapsed from sleep, he barely remembered putting the covers on his shoulders. However, when he woke up he was lying on his back. The mysterious figure had appeared in front of him, but the situation had clearly worsened. The shadow, whose outlines were starting to become more and more defined, was no longer at the foot of the bed. It was above him.
The boy's ears heard the sounds of thunder caused by the storm, raging outside Sullivan mansion. A bolt of lightning crossed the sky at that moment, briefly illuminating the room and especially the figure. It was still immersed in darkness, but Iruma thought he saw a long fringe that covered the demon's eyes, as well as long hair gathered in a ponytail. Frightened that the being might actually be a demon that had sneaked into Sullivan's house, Iruma moved to sit up. As he did so, he realized he couldn't move. His body wasn't responding to his commands. As much as he wanted to get out of bed, his body lay still under the covers, deaf to his commands. Growing more and more frightened, Iruma tried to speak. He wanted to ask the demon who he was, why he was there, what he wanted from him.
"...!" No breath came out of his mouth. His lips remained closed, still. Iruma's eyes widened, terrified. That demon had definitely moved compared to the last few times. It had been illuminated by the light of the lightning, it couldn't be a hallucination. Iruma whined, trying in vain to call Alikred. Not a sound came out of his mouth. His arms, his torso, his legs, everything lay still, as if he were still sleeping.
'This is... it's a dream! No, just a bad nightmare!' the blue haired boy said to himself, breathing quickly in terror. He felt his limbs cold and stiff, while the demon was bent over him. Above the bed, preventing the boy from seeing beyond his figure. Iruma clearly felt the presence of the demon, which sadly excluded the possibility of a dream.
'Does he want to eat me?' the young human asked himself in anguish, who was not ready to meet that sad end. He wanted to continue living in the Netherworld, he wanted to stay close to the demons dear to him. It was a determination that he had definitively acquired during the Harvest festival, but it would have been useless if the mysterious figure had swallowed him in one bite there, in the darkness of his room. Iruma prayed to no deity in particular that, if he had to meet his death there, at least that the demons dear to him would not suffer too much, just as he prayed to have a quick and painless death.
Luckily for him, the mysterious demon had no intention of devouring him. Or at least, not at that moment. The strange being simply sat there, hunched over his bed, staring at him in silence. Iruma, unable to move, could do nothing but do the same. He began to stare at the demon, trying to identify other details, something that would make it recognizable for a possible description.
Iruma didn't know how much time had passed, but he realized he had fallen asleep when his noisy hell clock activated, interrupting a sleep he hadn't realized he had slipped into. He jumped up, blowing all the covers off him. He looked around, sitting, in search of the mysterious figure. Like the other times, the next morning there were no traces. Distressed, Iruma went down to have breakfast, less hungry than usual, something that did not go unnoticed.
"Iruma-kun, are you okay? Are you still tired from the Harvest Festival? If you want, you can sleep more, there's no school today" Sullivan suggested, while Opera served him a steaming cup of hell tea. Iruma thought for a few seconds about how to respond. He had already alarmed his guardians once in vain. If he had told them that he had seen that mysterious being in his room again, he would have worried them. On the contrary, they might have thought that he had some mental problems, just like when he had mentioned the existence of Alikred.
"No, everything is fine. Harvest Festival was a unique experience, I'm just recovering" replied the blue haired boy, smiling to reassure the two demons.
When he returned to Babyls, after the short break from classes for the first-year students who had finished facing that ordeal, Iruma decided to do something he had never done when he lived in the human world: he talked about it with an adult.
"Ehm, I'm afraid I suffer from the sleep paralysis demon. Is there any remedy you can recommend, Balam-sensei?" the blue haired boy asked innocently, while the teacher was handing him a cup of helltea. Student and teacher were in the Netherworld History prep room, it was their first demon-human information exchange meeting since the Harvest festival ended. The gargoyle flinched, surprised "Sleep paralysis demon? What are you talking about, Iruma-kun?" Balam asked, taking his cup of helltea in his big hands.
Iruma blew on his drink, then replied "I thought demons had it too? I don't know much about it because it's never happened to me before, but from what I've been told... it's like when you don't sleep well because of stress and you see a demon that immobilizes you in your sleep. But I don't feel stressed right now. Harvest festival went well"
Balam lost his grip on his cup, which fell to the floor and broke, letting the boiling drink spill out. Iruma was scared by that reaction and ran to lend a hand, but Balam anticipated him "No, I'll do it! It's my fault, I'll take care of it!" the demon stated, leaning over the broken cup and cleaning up the damage done.
Balam cleaned up the mess in no time. As he threw the broken cup into the trash, the floor already clean and dry from the spilled hell tea, he asked, "Could you explain to me how this 'sleep paralysis demon' works? Is this something that's happened to you recently?" Iruma took a sip of his drink, thoughtful. After a moment, he replied, "It's happened... several times, so far. Only since I've been in the Netherworld, though. Maybe it's because I'm in a world full of demons? I don't think so... I don't know. I usually see this hallucination at the foot of the bed and I'm unable to move. I told Grandpa and Opera-san, but they didn't find anyone, so it's definitely just me. I'll try to get more sleep and don't be stressed"
Despite Iruma's intentional omission of the details about the sudden paralysis and the mysterious figure's progression over time, Balam was not reassured by the explanation. He decided to change the subject, since Iruma didn't seem to want to delve into it. After the meeting was over, he let the student go into the classroom for the next lesson.
Balam ran off, scaring the shit out of all the students who saw him darting through the hallways. "Danger!" the gargoyle yelled, entering the teachers' lounge after swinging the door open. The teachers turned, curious and alert, while Balam strode over to where Kalego was sitting. The gargoyle slammed his left hand on the purple haired demon's desk, earning a surprised look and a raised eyebrow in return.
"Kalego-kun, please reduce the Misfits class's homework load. Iruma-kun is stressed! Heavily stressed!" The teachers around the two Chet (8) ranks gasped. They hadn't forgotten what it was like to see Iruma's Evil cycle. Too much stress meant the return of that cocky version of the young student. Kalego sighed, giving up quickly. "Fine. But I'll only reduce them for Iruma, since you claim he's close to the Evil cycle. The other Misfits won't get the same preferential treatment. If I had to do it for every time one of them feels stressed, they'd never follow the entire school program" the demon replied.
Everything seemed to have been resolved. Iruma received a smaller amount of homework, much to the envy of Lied and other classmates. He didn't seem stressed, so it was thought that he was out of danger from entering the Evil cycle. The following nights he slept very well.
Everything was fine... until he rose in rank again, going from Daleth (4) to He (5).
Iruma was very happy. The Music festival had gone well, Purson had become an integral part of the Misfits and was recognized for his musical skills, but above all Purson and Elizabetta had risen in rank so the risk of losing the Royal One had completely vanished. Iruma curled up under the covers, satisfied and happy.
He was sleeping, when he thought he heard a voice. He opened his eyes, thinking that it was Alikred who wanted to tell him something strangely urgent, considering the late hour. However, when he opened his eyes, it was not Alikred who found himself in front of him. Leaning over him, in all his gigantic form, was the mysterious demon. Long, straight hair fell to Iruma's sides, obscuring his side vision. The demon still lacked fully defined features, but Iruma could confirm the presence of a long fringe that covered its eyes. A left hand, very large and with long fingers, was open above his chest. The hand moved up and down over his small body, as if it wanted to touch him but was being held at bay by some mysterious as invisible barrier.
"...!" Iruma tried to shout, but to no avail. For the second time, he found himself immobilized. His limbs were unresponsive, his mouth refused to open. Iruma could only lie still, lying on his back, staring with wide eyes at the demon that had approached him and closed the distance between them. Even though the figure was still immersed in darkness, Iruma could see long fangs on either side of the open mouth.
Iruma trembled, unable to move. He tried to convince himself that it was just a hallucination, that it was just the product of his poor and scared imagination. However, the being was moving above him. Iruma could clearly feel its presence, it was no longer just a play of shadows and lights. The demon's left hand slowly moved above his face, as if it wanted to try to grab his head. Iruma tried to move to avoid the contact, but even there his body was unresponsive. Stiff and immobile, with his eyes starting to fill with tears of fear, Iruma remained waiting for the touch he feared so much. The hand, just as it had when it had tried to touch his chest, did not grab him. The figure above him bent even more, bringing its gigantic face closer to his.
"My poor sacrifice..." said the demon, taking Iruma by surprise. It was the first time he had heard it speak, and yet it seemed to him that he had heard that voice before. 'Why? What are you talking about? Who are you?' the blue haired boy wanted to ask him, unable to speak. His eyes began to shed hot tears of fear, while a sob was heard from his closed mouth. Iruma hated that feeling of helplessness and immobility, he hated not knowing how to solve that mystery.
The mysterious demon drew back, perhaps moved by pity for his reaction. Iruma continued to follow its movements with his gaze, unable to do anything else. The being returned to the foot of the bed, straight and still. It was almost like the first time, with the difference that now his silhouette was well defined: very tall and thin but not skeletal, with long arms at his sides, long hair hidden behind his back.
Iruma tried to control his breathing, which he had unconsciously accelerated when he saw the unknown demon above him. The two remained like that, in silence, until Iruma slipped against his will into sleep again. He was scared. He feared that the being, who until that moment he had considered harmless, wanted to harm him. Why, after all, talk about sacrifices? What would he have to sacrifice? Why? And above all, for whose good?
When he woke up the next morning, Iruma felt the bitter taste left on his tongue by those gloomy questions. He didn't want to give in to despair, so he promised himself to investigate the matter thoroughly. As he got out of bed, he set himself the goal of going to Babyls' library as soon as he had a free moment. He could no longer consider that strange being a hallucination or sleep paralysis demon, because that night he had felt it strangely, heavily, dangerously close. But it wasn't even a real demon, one of flesh and blood, because Opera hadn't found any intruders.
Iruma would try to make a map with the little information he had, connecting the common points and hoping to find other useful information. Maybe it was a curse. Maybe it was a warning. For sure, the shadow was getting closer with time. Iruma shivered, ignoring what Alikred was telling him now, thinking of what would happen to him if the shadow advanced in his direction again. If, next time, it would be able to catch him.
It was a race against time between him and the shadow.
THE END