Black Solstice-Chapter 14: A Great Devil’s Depravity [1]

The Groveyard of Solstice Academy was a place most students preferred to pretend didn’t exist.

It sat on the farthest edge of the academy grounds, past the crumbling boundary wards and behind the abandoned lecture halls where even the wind refused to linger. Like the switchyards of the human world, it served as a storage and disposal site, but the resemblance ended there. The Groveyard was not for trains, machinery, or mundane clutter.

It was where the academy dumped everything it deemed useless and of little value.

The area stretched wider than three athletic fields combined, the earth twisted and cracked from centuries of absorbing demonic residue. The ground was a patchwork of blackened stone, blistered soil, and uneven platforms of fused debris. Dozens of rusted containment vaults lay scattered across the terrain, their jagged frames resembling hollowed-out ribcages. Some were toppled over while some were half-buried. High above, towers of discarded spell-containers were stacked haphazardly, causing them to shift and clink against one another.

From afar, the piles resembled mountains. Up close, they looked more like ossified titans left to rot.

A perpetual twilight hung over the place.

Even in midday, the sky above the Groveyard appeared dimmer, as though clouds deliberately gathered to avoid illuminating what lay below. The air carried a metallic tang mixed with the faint scent of sulfur, and the air felt as if it brushed against an invisible veil of static.

It was truly not a popular location. Even faculty members rarely spoke of it.

Now, the Groveyard was no longer empty. The uncanny silence that usually dominated the area had been shattered.

On this forbidden grounds, two silhouettes darted through the air, colliding and rebounding with relentless force.

According to the local time in the Human Domain, it would be around 8:30 in the morning. The flow of time in the Demon Realm mirrored that of the Human Domain almost perfectly.

The supposed dumpyard had become a battlefield.

Dagon and Seraphis kicked up the gravel at the same time.

The distance between them was less than ten meters.

"Now, now. Aren’t you a naughty girl? How much longer will you resist the advances of this Great Devil? How much longer will you continue to break my heart? How truly unforgivable! In retaliation, I’m going to make you cry, okay~"

Like a bloodthirsty predator, Dagon leapt into the air, his gaze locked on Seraphis as she fled like a cornered animal.

To cut off Seraphis’s path of flight, the Great Devil moved his hand in a precise, cutting gesture. In an instant, an invisible force tore through the air and struck its intended target.

A tremendous noise echoed.

It was a sound reminiscent of an industrial watercutter.

The gravel infront of Seraphis exploded outward and fragments of stone and rock sliced through the air.

Her instincts reacted faster than thought. With a sharp pivot, she twisted her body mid-motion, letting the storm of stone fragments — flying like jagged shotgun pellets — whiz past her without so much as a scratch. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The physical prowess of a vampire was nothing to underestimate. Even so, her expression darkened.

Before her, the ground bore a massive slash, carved deep as if by a colossal blade. The gash cut through the cracked earth with a force that suggested it went far deeper than what met the eye.

Dagon landed on the ground and laughed like a maniac.

"Oh, you actually managed to dodge that. As I thought, you’re quite special. Aren’t you?"

He shrugged off his blazer and tossed it aside as if it were nothing. The Devil Artisan who had painstakingly crafted that high-quality blazer would have been disheartened, no doubt.

But the Great Sea Devil did not concern himself with the feelings of others, especially not at this moment.

His unhinged smile made it clear he had already descended into depravity, consumed by a twisted, irresistible lust.

"Hehehe~ This is serious. I’ve never felt like this before. But it can’t be helped. Your beauty far surpasses those so‑called female nobles... or any of the human hoes I’ve touched."

Seraphis sneered.

"So what? You think that gives you the right to corner me? Can’t you take no for an answer, you damn pervert!"

Dagon felt a bit offended.

"Don’t look at me like I’m the bad guy here. A devil is supposed to follow their instincts. A devil who goes against them is scum. Screw that coexistence nonsense, that’s for the Lessers. Noble Devils like us shouldn’t have to stoop to such trivialities. And I’m not a perverted guy. I’m being completely serious when I say I want you for myself."

"Bullshit! You’re just after my body, aren’t you? That’s all you want, right?"

"W-What? What gave you the idea that I’m after your..." Dagon trailed off then frowned upon considering her words. "Alright, maybe a little..."

"Pervert! Pervert! Creep! Masturbator Sexual assaulter! Baldy! Pervert!"

"Um... you already said pervert three times now, and calling me baldy doesn’t make any sense."

"Fuck you!"

Dagon chuckled, utterly unfazed by her escalating insults.

"Oh? Such fiery spirit. That’s exactly what drives me crazy. The more you struggle, the more irresistible you become."

Seraphis bared her fangs.

"Come any closer, and I’ll rip your throat out."

"Promises, promises." Dagon stepped forward, grinding his bootsagainst the broken gravel. Every shift of his weight caused the surrounding debris to tremble. "But you and I both know you’re running out of space."

She clicked her tongue and took a step back, only for her heel to tap against a rusted containment vault behind her. She grimaced.

A dead end.

Dagon’s grin widened.

"So? What will you do now? Fight? Flee? Or... surrender to me?"

"Can’t you sound any more cringe? Are you a villain from the 80s? Also, you’re completely delusional if you think you can break me with just this."

"Break you? Oh, no. I simply intend to claim you once I defeat you. Though it would be preferable if you surrender obediently."

Offended by the phrase "claim you," Seraphis launched forward. Her body became a blur, streaking like shadow across the Groveyard. Even so, Dagon’s grin never faltered.

Both leaped into the air and landed on a container. However, they collided in tht next speed and broke it apart.

Seraphis was at a deep disadvantage. Her full powers were sealed by the pendant, leaving her reliant on pure physical prowess as a True Vampire. Dagon, while not exceptionally strong physically, possessed the attributes of a Great Noble Devil that allowed him to match her. On top of that, she had no idea what his Mystical Arcana was, so she could not predict or counter his abilities.

Worst-case scenario, this would become a one-sided magical battle.

And just like that, her fears began to materialize.

After several collisions, Dagon slowly grew impatient with only physical exchange and activated his Mystical Ability, unleashing a series of slashing attacks. Slashing attacks in general weren’t deadly in and out of itself, but these were invisible and flew in an unpredictable manner. Seraphis could only sense their trajectory by feeling the reishi vibrations in the air.

She clicked her tongue and backed away, keeping a careful distance from Dagon. She moved unpredictably, veering right, then left, forcing him to adjust constantly.

It was high-speed maneuver calculated to evade the deadly slashes.

Each invisible strike carved deep, clean lines through rusted containment vaults, shattered spell containers, and the cracked earth beneath them. Debris was flung in every direction, metal shards clanged like chimes of doom, and fragments of stone shot outward as if the ground itself had exploded.

Even without landing directly on her, the slashes reshaped the environment. The blast from one strike toppled a stack of discarded spell barrels, sending them rolling like boulders down the jagged slopes of fused debris. Another swipe sliced through a container, shearing off a chunk of metal that spun in the air before crashing to the ground with a deafening roar.

Dust and sulfur-scented smoke billowed around Seraphis, clinging to her like a suffocating curtain.

Just then,

"Hey!"

Dagon’s bored voice echoed.

"Aren’t you quite stubborn? I gave you the chance to surrender peacefully yet you chose to deny me to the very end. You’re seriously taking the kindness of this Great Devil for granted. No matter how much time you buy yourself, there isn’t gonna be a miracle!"

As if declaring his intent to end this little skirmish, the Great Devil used the surrounding smoke screen as cover to launch a sneak attack. It seemed this was his intention from the start. To take away her visibility.

However, Seraphis had already seen through his intentions.

So when he emerged from the smoke and attempted to strike from behind, she reacted on pure instinct. Leaping high and twisting mid-air, she caught his attacking arm with one hand, using the torque of her movement to pull herself into a vicious counterattack. Her heel swept across his face in a clean, brutal arc.

A tremendous noise cracked through the air like a gunshot.

The force behind the kick was powerful enough to forcefully snap Dagon’s head sharply to the side at once, the grin wiped from his lips as blood spattered across the gravel.

Seraphis landed lightly, twisting to bleed off the momentum and springing backward until several meters separated them. She glared at him from there.

Dagon’s laughter returned, but this time it vibrated with genuine excitement. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Impressive. I truly underestimated you. That kick... it carried real affection! Good. Good. How excellent! You’re indeed a worthy opponent! Ha ha!! This is a refreshing change of pace! I’m actually getting excited!"

Like a devil struck by infatuation, he kicked off the gravel and charged again. Shockingly, his speed suddenly skyrocketed, surpassing what he’d shown before.

"...!?"

Seraphis’ shoulders tensed in alarm.

But it was already too late to evade.

With explosive force, as though rockets ignited beneath his feet, Dagon crossed the seven-meter gap in an instant. He appeared directly in front of her, his sudden closeness freezing her breath. She attempted to leap back, but Dagon moved forward with monstrous speed, outpacing her by several tiers.

His left fist clenched and smashed into her stomach, immediately followed by a right uppercut into her chind. The transition between the two strikes was so fluid and fast it felt like a single, devastating blow rather than two.

A sharp crack emerged from Seraphis’ neck as the impact snapped her head back.

Her vision flashed black and she briefly saw stars.

At the same time, her body spun violently through the air like a thrown bamboo copter, tumbling across a long stretch of the gravel before finally crashing down in a rough, skidding tumble.