ire was nice and all, but not when it was on me.

"Lee?!" Iruma gasped, eyes bulging out like melons. "Your foot's on fire!"

"Yeah…"

I kicked at the air, trying and failing to hide my growing panic. My foot was on fire!!

Strangely enough, it didn't hurt, but still…

"My foot's on fire!"

I screamed, hitting the ground, the cliff faces around us, and just about anything I could reach. The earth shook, cracks raced up the nearby walls, and the massive beast staring down at us did nothing.

Maybe it was just as surprised as I was.

My foot sunk into the rocks as if they were made of paper mache. The wilder I thrashed and the more force I put into it, the more violent my destructive path became.

Had I always been this strong? That small voice in the back of my head whispered.

The fire refused to fade, and with each kick, it only seemed to grow in intensity. Soon enough, the flames were melting rock.

"I-I think you're making it worse!" Iruma shouted. "M-My eyebrows are starting to hurt!"

Beside him, Sabnock struggled to sit up. He let out a bloody cough and stared. His eyebrows caught fire a moment later.

"Lee! Do something!"

Something?! Like what?!"

"I'm trying!" I said, deciding to just shove my foot into the nearest wall. Fire needed air to burn things, right? I sure as hell didn't go to school, but I knew that much. "There!"

Even now, I didn't feel a lick of heat from my leg.

"I-It worked?" Iruma asked, carefully lifting up Sabnock or trying to, at least. Behind him, the massive monster leaned in to get a closer look at my leg too.

What? I wasn't some damned circus act!

The popping of stones and a loud crackle echoed through the valley. For a brief moment, I saw what looked like lightning arc around my legs before everything exploded.

Stone was blown aside and melted. To no one's surprise, my foot was still on fire. The cliff wall I'd jammed it into was smoldering. Liquid rock ran down its face like cheese and a massive hole had been punched into it.

"Fuck it," I said and sat down on the nearest rock.

A loud, yet soft hoot or something that sounded like one came from behind me.

"Ahhh!" Iruma shrieked. "O-Oh, wait… y-you're friendly."

Right. The damned monster was still there. Clinging to its back was the bird who'd been flying us around not too long ago.

"It's your family?" Iruma whispered. "C-Cool!"

Of course. I somehow end up unlocking some demon powers or something and it was all a waste.

I glared at my burning leg. It better put itself out. Just thinking about trying to live with it made me want to punch something.

"Whatever," I said with a grunt. "I'm going to take five."

I'd really had enough.

———————————

The three of us laid back on the massive, fluffy monster and enjoyed our ride to the finish line. It wasn't the fastest, but it was definitely comfortable.

"Lee…. are you feeling better?" Iruma asked.

My brow twitched. I looked down at my half-scorched pant leg.

"I'm fine," I said with a shrug. "No point getting annoyed over spilt milk."

What I was really worried about was the fact that I could set my leg on fire. What if it happened while I was sleeping? What if I was taking a shit? No, I had to figure out how to control that… whatever it was.

"So your ability the power to wield fire?" Sabnock asked. "It's pretty common, though there are all sorts of bloodlines that use it differently."

"Yeah, a friend of ours is pretty good at it," Iruma said with a smile. "I didn't know you could do that, though."

"Neither did I," I said with a huff. "You bet I'm going to figure it out, though."

Iruma smiled meekly and nodded.

At this point, we were sure to be in last place, but Sabnock was alive. To be honest, it was a fine trade.

"I'd like to express my gratitude for saving me," he said, bowing to Iruma and then to me. "I made a grave error and my arrogance nearly cost me my life. If the two of you hadn't arrived as you did, I'd be dead."

Wow. The guy was a real nerd when it came to formal talk.

"The two of you are truly impressive."

Iruma chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, that was all Lee," he said with a sheepish smile. "All I did was flail around and distract it."

"Don't downplay your achievements," he countered. "What Lee did was, erm, something else, but your efforts took a great deal of courage."

Yo. Did he want to fight?

"And you were faster than me, Iruma" I added. "Besides, if you hadn't somehow charmed that bird, we'd have had to fight the big one."

Our ride chirped in agreement.

Iruma started to blush. He looked away and chuckled nervously. The kid was like one big tomato. There wasn't anything like seeing Iruma get all flustered when being praised.

"I guess it just goes to show that even the meanest-looking guys can be your friend if you try hard enough, right Lee?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe."

Sabnock wasn't that bad. That's something I realized now. Still, there were some really rotten people out there.

"We're almost there," I pointed out. "Let's hope Neby doesn't bite our heads off."

Sabnock coughed and Iruma snickered with a panicked look on his face.

"I've decided," Sabnock said with a grin. "The two of you are my rivals from this day forth! Let's test each other so that we may learn, grow, and rise to individuals worthy of being called Demon Lo-"

I pushed my palm into his face.

"Can you just shut up for a bit!"

Ugh! The guy had lungs strong enough to peel the back from trees!

"You're giving me a headache, man!"

"Lee!" Iruma fussed and tried to get me to calm down.

Yeah, whatever.

—————

Unsurprisingly, we were in last place. What was surprising was the fact that our teacher just had us sit in the corner with some weird signs around our necks. Iruma had been shaking like a leaf when we arrived.

"You dare go against everything I said? Are you idiots?!"

The guy looked like a volcano about to pop! If this was all he did after getting so worked up, maybe he wasn't so bad.

I took another look at Sabnock.

"Once more, I want to express my gratitu-"

The guy just wouldn't give it up, huh?

Maybe Iruma was right. These demons all looked scary and like assholes, but maybe they were like really big dogs?

"Let us begin your rank evaluation," Nebe said as he pulled an owl out of nowhere. Another magic trick?

"Come forth when your name is called and reach into its pouch," he said, plunging his hand into the small pouch on the owl's chest. Was that normal? Did owls have pouches like that? "This special owl has been watching all of you. It'll decide your rank."

Huh. Just another weird quirk, then?

He sent an annoyed glare toward us.

"Those who think themselves special will go last."

Yeah, yeah. We did mess up, so I couldn't even blame him there. Still, we made it, didn't we? That had to count for something.

We'd shown up on the back of that massive monster. Like hell we were getting the lowest rank!

"Hehe," Iruma giggled beside me. He was staring up at me with an amused expression. "For someone that didn't care about the ranks, you seem pretty excited to see what you get."

I rolled my eyes.

"After all the trouble we went through, I'd be pretty pissed if we got last place."

He nodded and then turned back to the owl.

"I don't want to lose either," he said with a determined expression.

Soon enough, it was our turn.

——

I reached into the owl's pouch. It went still and then looked at me with a horrified expression. Still, it didn't say a thing.

"Hey-"

It chirped out a panicked cry and then I felt something cool brush against my fingers.

"Hmm? What the hell is this?" It was a small badge, just like the others, but it was faded, cracked, and practically falling apart. "I can't even make out the damned rank!"

The owl hooted and then flew away, practically begging for Iruma to take his turn so it could leave.

Nabe moved closer, snatched the emblem from my fingers, and then studied it real close like.

"I think this is Rank Five?" He said, furrowing his brow. "Though it also looks like Rank Six. We'll go with the lower interpretation for now."

What? Why the lower one?!

"Rank five?"

"Wow!"

"No way!"

"And I thought hot stuff's Rank Four was amazing!"

Whatever. Five out of ten was a passing grade.

"Moving on, it's your turn," Nabe said as he urged Iruma forward.

Like everyone else, I watched the next few moments with my full attention. Iruma slowly pushed his hand into the pouch, and just like when I did it, the damned bird froze. This time, what came next was much worse.

The owl practically jumped away from Iruma, screeching wildly as it flew in terror.

"W-wait! You didn't give me a rank!"

Iruma called out, waving his hand in desperation. Rank or not, the bird had given him something. Attached to his finger was a plain, silver ring.

It was just a ring. So why? Why did I suddenly feel this strange, oppressive feeling weighed down on me?

"I-Is something wrong?" Iruma asked as he took a step closer to me. The others stepped back, but not I. Whatever the hell was going on, I wasn't going to just let it push me around.

"Lee? Are you ok?"

I shut my eyes and took another step forward, smashing straight into this "wall" that was making my hands twitch. It wasn't fear, not quite. Rather, my instincts were telling me to punch Iruma's head off.

Fuck that.

"I think that ring of yours might be doing it," I said and reached out, only to freeze as two massive, shadowy claws tore through my stomach.

I blinked and then looked down, mouth open in shock. It had happened so fast that I couldn't even react.

I winced and held back a scream. The claw was digging through my guts, looking for a very specific organ. My heart. Sharp talons cut through meat, and bone and then wrapped tightly around its mark.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move.

And then it clamped down, ending my-

"Lee?" Iruma spoke, ripping me out of my mind. "You're looking a bit pale. Do you have a fever?"

He reached up and put a hand on my forehead. It took everything I had not to punch or push him away.

Fuck this. Fuck that ring. And fuck whatever is making me feel like that.

"I'm fine," I said, staring at his ring with dagger-like eyes. "Let me take a look-"

I'd smash the damned thing to bits. If I had to throw the thing into a volcano, then I would!

"The ring? Oh, su-"

The instant he reached for it, an earsplitting shriek erupted from the ring. I saw a dark, shadowy creature poke its head out and roar.

It was annoying, but-

"Ahhhhh!"

"My ears!!"

"It hurts!!!"

"It's like death is shouting at me!"

The other students weren't handling it very well.

"Iruma, cover it! "

"Shut it up!"

Iruma's eyes went wide, and in a desperate attempt to keep it quiet, he cradled the dark monster as if it were a baby.

What. This was dumb. The dumbest part was that it actually worked!

This place. God, why couldn't things be normal for one bleeding moment?!

"Can't take off the ring, can you?" Sabnock said as he stood up and walked closer. "Leave it to-"

The shadow touched him and he spat out blood, falling to the ground in an instant.

Fuck this place.