Ronan woke with the system notification already in front of him.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[Foreign Entity Bond Confirmed]

[Name]: Demon Leech

[Classification]: Tier 5 Corruption Parasite

[Status]: Heavily Injured

[Host Synchronization]: Initiated

[Assimilation Progress]: 0.6%

[Projected Outcome]: Gradual Demonification of Host Body

[Estimated Time Until Complete Assimilation]: 394 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes

[Warning]: Forced removal will result in catastrophic mana core collapse.

"Fuck."

The word came without thinking. Ronan wasn’t the type to curse in private, thinking it unnecessary at best and childish at worst, but he had no other way to describe this situation.

But he didn’t let himself dwell on it. Analysis followed soon after.

The ribbon – the Demon Leech – had bonded with him. And there was nothing he could do to stop it from the looks of it.

He tried to detect it within his body, but he couldn’t. Was that a result of this synchronization, or was that because he was simply too weak to detect it?

He focused on the most urgent uncertainty. Whether "synchronization initiated" meant demonic energy was already leaking from him or whether detection would only become possible after later stages of assimilation.

If it was the former, he had to leave the Academy. Instantly. He would be captured, tortured, and then killed or imprisoned.

That, he could not let happen.

But if the detection could only be achieved after a certain stage – say maybe 80% – then he had some leeway to work with.

He tested his mana circulation carefully.

The flow responded normally. Pathways intact, core stable, and no visible corruption.

That made sense. This was normal. Demons could use mana normally, so nothing unusual should be happening.

But something else existed beneath it now.

Like a small flame ready to ignite into something far bigger.

Ronan felt it intimately, like a second heartbeat tucked behind his ribs, warm and alien and aware, like a second skin.

He wasn’t sure if this was demonic energy or something the leech had planted to begin transformation, but it felt unnatural in a way that normal mana did not. But at the same time, not wrong.

Then he noticed his heartbeat.

No.

His heartbeats.

Two rhythms pulsed inside his chest. His normal one beat steady and familiar.

The second one moved slower, heavier. Almost like it was still getting used to his body.

Ronan tried to will it to move.

He wasn’t sure why, but for some odd reason, he knew he could.

It obeyed.

The second heart shifted through his body as easily as breathing.

Arm. Neck. Stomach. Foot. Anywhere.

Each relocation happened without resistance. It felt like he was moving a limb, not a literal organ inside his body.

So many things to figure out. I’ll have to properly digest this later. Right now, I need to attend to matters in front of me.

Right now, there were more immediate problems.

Ronan turned his head.

Reddy’s corpse lay slumped against the roots a few paces away, drained completely.

The body looked deflated, skin gray and papery, as though every drop of moisture and mana had been pulled from him and consumed.

His eyes remained open and glassy, fixed on nothing.

And his heart was gone, a massive hole that looked almost surgical in the center of his chest.

The Demon Leech hadn’t simply killed him.

It looked to have harvested him to begin building Ronan’s new demonic body. Or at least that’s what he took from it.

Ronan wondered briefly if the second heart came from Reddy.

That created two immediate problems.

First: his body may already be detectable if anyone sensitive to demonic energy got close enough. Aura would notice instantly. Grace might too, if his hunches of her being some kind of transmigrator were right. Even if they weren’t, she was the Saintess candidate. If anyone could find out, it would be her. Even Luca could sense something off if Ronan wasn’t careful. All of which meant the Academy would also find out, leading back to the problems he realized before. Capture. Torture. Death.

Second: Reddy’s corpse was evidence.

The Academy monitored the war closely enough to minimize fatalities.

A drained body would trigger investigation.

Not because someone died. Marcus had died, and he doubted the Academy would hold it against Aura.

But Reddy’s death had happened way out here, away from the Academy’s eyes.

And there was also the odd nature of the death. Pale skin, drained, hole in the chest. If that didn’t scream ’investigation’, he didn’t know what would.

If anyone connected Ronan to the scene, the transformation inside him would become exposed before he had time to understand it himself.

Ronan pulled the communication ring from his storage pouch.

The artifact was cheap, purchased before the entrance exam as emergency backup.

It sent location and urgency through a paired connection, nothing more.

It was easily discardable, and that’s what made it useful. Kind of like a burner phone.

He channeled the smallest amount of mana into it, activating Aura’s ring. If anyone could offer him answers as to his situation, it would be Aura.

While he waited, Ronan grabbed Reddy’s wrist and tried dragging the corpse deeper into the undergrowth.

His body was too weak.

Reddy’s dead weight barely moved, even when Ronan pulled harder. His stamina had already dropped from the battle, stealth overuse, and whatever the Demon Leech’s bonding process had taken from him.

He tried reinforcing his arms with mana.

It was inefficient, but it helped, and he slowly dragged Reddy’s body into a drier area.

And he burned it.

Flames caught Reddy’s body as the scent of burning flesh filled Ronan’s nostrils.

He remembered his past life, and recalled a similar scene when he was a child.

How nostalgic.

Roughly 3 minutes later, a figure appeared in the distance.

Black hair. Purple, almost glowing eyes. Aura Acheron approached him, adorned in a gothic black dress.

But when she caught sight of him, she froze.

Her beautiful face turned into one of shock, then horror, then it turned absolutely cold.

Demonic energy pooled at her fingertips, and in an instant, she was in front of him.

She pointed the finger at his forehead, demonic energy ready to blow his brains out.

"Who are you? Answer me honestly, and I may offer you the liberty of living a few more minutes."