Rebellious Grey: The Demon Girl Rises from Slavery
In the city of Granveld, where human greed turns flesh into currency, demons are born already condemned. Gurei—thirteen years old, horned, hungry, and utterly alone—has known nothing but the stinking gutters of the Ash Bottom slum. When a bounty hunter's iron grip drags her from the rain-soaked streets into the slave market's cold machinery, she is stripped of her name, her rags, and what little freedom she had left, reduced to nothing more than "property" to be priced and sold.
But something b
Rebellious Grey: The Demon Girl Rises from Slavery - Declaration of Apprenticeship
The dirt of the training ground was heavy and damp, having drunk in the smell of sweat and blood.
The flames in the sconces along the wall flickered though there was no wind. Someone's breathing sounded unnaturally loud.
Gurei had already kicked off the ground.
She drove her left foot hard into the soil and threw her body forward. Longsword held level, she aimed at a single point—Serafina's throat.
*Fast. Heavy. Don't stop.*
The words flickered through her mind, short and sharp.
Serafina was still smiling. Her borrowed longsword hung loosely at her side, and her golden eyes narrowed as she watched Gurei charge.
*That smile—I'll cut it apart.*
Gurei's blade grazed past the side of Serafina's face.
—Clang.
The sharp ring of metal repelling metal.
Serafina had already raised her longsword—Gurei hadn't even seen her move—and deflected the strike with a casual turn of her wrist, as though brushing away a fly.
" Whoa there, that was close. Going all-out right from the start, huh?"
Her voice carried a laugh. But what burned itself into Gurei's eyes was the fact that Serafina's center of gravity hadn't shifted by a single millimeter.
*This woman—she read my first strike completely.*
Gurei gritted her teeth and swung her second cut. A horizontal slash, aimed at the torso.
Serafina slipped aside, light as a dancer. Her long black hair caught the sconce light, scattering golden threads through the dark training ground for just an instant.
" Nice. Your killing intent is straight as an arrow. I like that in a person."
"...Shut up."
Gurei pressed in.
Third strike. Fourth. Fifth.
She swung her longsword without pause. Her arms screamed. Her lungs burned. But to stop was to die. No—worse than dying, to stand still before this woman was humiliation in itself.
Serafina evaded them all by a hair's breadth, deflecting with her blade, sometimes leaning her body back to let the strikes slide past.
*She's fast. But that's not all.*
Gurei tracked Serafina's footwork as she thought.
*This woman watches my center of gravity before I even move. She reads the direction of my next strike from the way my shoulders set.*
*And just before my blade reaches her, she slips it aside with the smallest possible movement.*
*Nothing wasted. Not a millimeter wasted.*
That movement was more refined than any opponent Gurei had ever fought. Fundamentally different from the brute violence of a wild beast, the reckless courage of a criminal slave, or the seasoned technique of an instructor.
*So this is the arena's strongest gladiator.*
*The Queen of the Cruel Blade.*
Deep in Gurei's chest, something hot spread slowly outward.
*...Worth killing.*
She brought her sixth strike down with every ounce of strength she had.
For the first time, Serafina's smile vanished.
"—Ah. That's it."
The instant she murmured it, Serafina's body dropped low and smooth.
Gurei's blade cut through empty air.
*Below!*
The moment her instincts fired, Serafina had already vanished from Gurei's field of vision.
—Thud.
A sharp impact behind her knee.
Her feet left the ground.
*She swept my knee—*
Gurei's body crumpled onto the dirt. She couldn't even break her fall. Her back slammed into the ground.
"Gah—!"
The air was forced out of her lungs.
An instant later, a heavy blow drove into her side.
"—Ugh—!?"
Serafina's knee. Driven without mercy into Gurei's ribs as she lay on the ground.
Pain made her vision flash white.
And the longsword in her hand had been knocked away.
Clatter, clatter.
The dull, foolish sound of a lump of iron rolling across dirt.
Silence fell over the training ground.
"...That's one point to me."
Serafina looked down at Gurei's fallen form and spoke quietly.
Her voice was nothing like the bright laughter from before. No warmth. No emotion. Just a cold voice confirming a fact.
Gurei lay on the dirt, shoulders heaving.
*I lost?*
*I couldn't land a single hit?*
Pain, humiliation, and anger—more than she'd ever expected of herself—swirled in her chest.
*I don't like it.*
*I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it.*
Gurei gritted her teeth.
Her molars ground together with an audible creak.
She pressed a hand caked in mud and sweat against the ground.
Her arms wouldn't obey.
Her side burned with pain.
But Gurei stood up.
Her knees were shaking.
Her vision swam.
Even so, Gurei glared straight back at Serafina.
Her dark purple eyes held no light.
Only a burning anger and an unbreakable fighting spirit lived there.
"...Not yet."
Her voice was hoarse.
"I'm not done yet."
Serafina's golden eyes fixed on Gurei, unblinking.
Then her lips slowly curved into an arc.
"...Oh?"
That smile was neither the friendly grin from before nor the cold blankness. It was a sweet, dangerous smile—the smile of someone savoring delight from the very bottom of her heart.
"You're interesting. Really, really interesting."
Serafina approached Gurei slowly.
One step.
Another step.
Gurei didn't run.
She couldn't run.
And she had no intention of running.
"A normal rookie would break here. Take one hit from me, get their sword knocked away, drop to their knees. That's normal. That's the smart choice."
Serafina stopped right in front of Gurei.
"But you stood up. And with eyes that glare back at me, no less. ...Aren't you scared? Aren't you scared of me?"
"...I'm not scared."
Gurei spoke through gritted teeth.
"I know you're strong. But I'm not afraid. What I hate most in the world is losing to someone stronger than me."
Serafina's eyes narrowed.
"...Hate it, do you."
Serafina murmured softly, then gently set her longsword down at her feet.
"Good. Those eyes. Those words. ...I want to know more about you."
With that, Serafina reached out and seized Gurei's chin.
"...!"
Gurei's face, smeared with sweat and mud, was forced upward.
Serafina's fingers were slender, long, and strong as iron.
Gurei tried to shake the hand off.
But it didn't budge.
Same as when her arm had been grabbed earlier. This woman's strength was beyond anything her appearance suggested.
"It's been a long time since a rookie held out this long."
Serafina spoke while gazing straight into Gurei's face.
"Just standing up after taking one of my hits is impressive enough. But you glare back at me on top of that. ...What's in the depths of those eyes of yours?"
Serafina's golden eyes peered into Gurei's dark purple ones.
In that instant, something cold ran down Serafina's spine.
*—Ah. This is it.*
Serafina felt that chill race down her back, unmistakably.
*This is what I've been searching for all along.*
Deep in Gurei's eyes, Serafina saw it clearly.
Madness.
And curiosity.
The same destructive urge she herself carried—the desire to break something.
And beyond that, a hunger-like craving to become stronger still.
"...Ah, I see. So that's the kind of girl you are."
Serafina smiled, satisfied.
"Let go."
Gurei spoke again, low.
"Let go. You're disgusting."
"No way. Let me look at your face a little longer."
Still gripping Gurei's chin, Serafina brought her face closer.
"What's your name?"
"...None of your business."
"It is my business. I'm going to be your master from now on."
Gurei's movement stopped.
"...What?"
"Your master. I'll teach you the sword. I'll teach you how to survive. I'll teach you everything—every method there is to become stronger."
Serafina spoke as though singing.
"I'm going to take you as my apprentice."
The words seeped slowly through the underground training ground.
A moment of silence.
And then, the next instant, the training ground erupted in murmurs.
"Lady Serafina, taking an apprentice...?"
"The Queen of the Cruel Blade, of all people...?"
"That demon whelp...?"
"Is she serious...?"
The surrounding gladiators, jailers, and Kenpei's men all stared at the two of them as though witnessing something impossible.
Gurei couldn't quite grasp what the words meant.
*Apprentice?*
*This woman—teaching me the sword?*
*Why?*
Gurei's mind was in chaos.
Sweat ran from her forehead down her cheek and dripped onto the dirt.
"...Why."
Gurei forced the words out while trying to shake off Serafina's hand.
"Why would you teach me the sword?"
"Because you're interesting."
Serafina answered without hesitation.
"I like people who are strong. I like people who try to become strong even more. You're both. ...And besides, I want to make you stronger, so you'll fight me for real someday."
Serafina's golden eyes glinted with a bewitching light.
"I'll watch and see just how strong you can become. ...Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
Gurei looked into Serafina's eyes.
*This woman is serious.*
*She wants to make me stronger so we can try to kill each other.*
*She'll do anything to make that happen.*
Gurei's heart gave a heavy thud.
*...She's insane.*
*But that's exactly why—*
Gurei's lips twisted, just slightly.
*—it's interesting.*
That was when it happened.
Gurei noticed a cold gaze fixed on the two of them from the entrance of the training ground.
The gaze belonged to the promoter, Varudo.
His portly frame sank into the darkness, and only his ash-green eyes glowed, glittering.
His gaze moved back and forth between Serafina and Gurei, appraising them slowly, thoroughly.
*That man...*
Gurei glared straight back at Varudo's stare.
*How long has he been watching?*
Varudo said nothing.
Only the corner of his mouth seemed to curve, just slightly.
His eyes were not smiling.
Gurei slowly peeled Serafina's hand away from her chin.
This time, Serafina didn't resist.
"...Do what you want."
Gurei looked away from Serafina and picked up her longsword from where it lay on the ground.
"But I won't be apprenticed to anyone. I'll become strong on my own."
"I figured you'd say that."
Serafina laughed.
"But you can't become strong alone. ...No, you can. But it's the long way around. And the long way around is what you hate most."
Serafina fell into step beside Gurei.
"I'll show you the shortest route. The path that will make you stronger than anyone."
Her voice was a sweet, dangerous temptation.
Gurei didn't answer.
She only gripped her longsword tighter, feeling both Varudo's cold stare and Serafina's sweet smile binding her in place.
*I don't like it.*
*I don't like either of them.*
*But...*
Gurei glanced at Serafina's profile.
*Everything I can take from this woman, I'll take. Her strength, her skill—all of it.*
*And someday, without fail, I'll surpass her.*
Deep in Gurei's dark purple eyes, a quiet flame blazed up.
The flames in the training ground's sconces flickered again.
In that place where master and apprentice had begun, only Varudo's cold gaze continued to pour down on them, endlessly.
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