DEMON KING'S Love Redemption

Chapter 7: The Cat Rescue Mission

The midday sun beat down on the central courtyard of Aethelgard Academy with an intensity that felt almost personal, as if the fireball in the sky were leaning in to witness whatever fresh drama Vann was about to cook up. Following the disaster in Magical Ethics that had left half the class psychologically scarred, Vann realized his reputation had hit rock bottom. He needed to do something. Something simple, cliché, and undeniably "heroic."

"I need a good deed that can’t possibly be misconstrued as a genocidal threat," Vann muttered to himself as he trudged along a path lined with lavender and rosemary.

"Talking to yourself again, Vann? That’s a surefire sign of someone about to perform a demonic summoning," Elric chimed in from two paces behind, maintaining a cautious distance as if Vann were a ticking time bomb.

Vann let out a heavy sigh, ignoring his friend’s jab as he scanned the gardens. In his past life, he would have reduced this entire place to ash with a snap of his fingers. Now, he searched every corner with desperate hope, looking for anyone in need of assistance. An old lady needing help crossing the street? Not a chance; this was a magic academy, not a nursing home. A child who’d lost their toy? Nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Vann’s keen ears caught a faint, high-pitched cry coming from the direction of the massive oak tree near the Pavilion of Light.

"Meow... meow..."

Vann’s head whipped around instantly. Perched on one of the highest branches of the fifty-foot oak, a tiny snow-white kitten was shivering violently. It seemed trapped, its claws digging into the bark with desperation as a stiff breeze sent the branch swaying precariously.

Below the tree, a group of first-year girls had gathered. They looked frantic, pointing upward with expressions bordering on tears.

"This is it," Vann whispered. His eyes sparkled—not with his usual murderous aura, but with a strange, burgeoning optimism. "This is the national-level rescue mission I need. Saving a kitten from a tree. No one could possibly interpret this as an act of evil. Even Freya will have to see me as a kind-hearted animal lover."

Vann glanced toward the pavilion corridor and, as if fate were finally on his side, spotted Freya walking with a few friends. She seemed deep in a serious conversation, but her gaze drifted toward the commotion under the oak tree.

"Perfect," Vann said, puffing out his chest. "Time to go to work."

"Vann, what are you doing?" Elric asked, his voice thick with suspicion. "Don’t tell me you’re going to burn the tree down just to make the cat fall out?"

"Shut up, Elric. Just watch and learn how a real man wins over the public," Vann replied with unshakable confidence.

Vann strode toward the group of girls. As he approached, the anxious murmurs died down instantly. They turned to see Vann walking with a firm step and an expression he believed looked heroic. To the students, however, he looked like the Grim Reaper closing in on a fresh soul. They instinctively scrambled back, clearing a wide path as if he were carrying a plague.

"Do not be afraid, ladies," Vann said, attempting his most soothing tone. However, given his naturally deep, resonant baritone, it came out sounding like a demon’s whisper in the dead of night. "I will... handle this."

Vann looked up, eyeing the kitten on the branch. He began running the math. He could climb it, but that was too slow and lacked flair. He wanted to demonstrate subtle magical control. He decided to use gravity magic—a high-level technique usually reserved for calling down meteors or leveling enemy fortresses—but this time, he would use it in reverse.

I'll manipulate the gravity around the cat, Vann thought. I'll create a vacuum cushion to lower it as gently as a falling feather. Elegant. Graceful.

Vann closed his eyes, focusing intensely. He had to suppress his wild, dark mana. He tried to visualize white clouds, open meadows, and other sweet things to keep his energy stable.

But Vann had overlooked one major flaw. In this world, one’s mana is a reflection of their soul. And Vann’s soul, despite his feelings for Freya, had been forged by centuries of pure darkness. Even when he attempted the gentlest of spells, the visual manifestation would always align with his true nature.

Vann extended his right hand toward the kitten. "Gravity Vortex... Descend," he whispered.

Immediately, the atmosphere around the oak tree shifted.

Instead of the golden or soft blue light that typically accompanied manipulation spells, a pinprick of absolute darkness appeared in the air, right beneath the branch. It expanded rapidly into a sphere of pitch-black energy so dense it looked like a tear in the fabric of space and time.

The sunlight around the tree seemed to be sucked into the black orb. The area around Vann plunged into total darkness in the middle of a bright afternoon. The wind began to howl, pulled toward the center of what looked like a miniature black hole.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" a boy shouted from the distance.

"HE’S SUMMONING A BLACK HOLE! HE WANTS TO SWALLOW THE ACADEMY WHOLE!" a girl shrieked, running away in terror.

Vann stayed focused, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. Sial, the visuals are a bit... much, he thought, panic rising within him. He could feel the immense gravitational pull starting to snap the tree’s twigs. Yet, amidst the horrific visual chaos, Vann had managed to create a stable zone for the kitten.

The white cat was no longer shivering. Instead, it was lifted from the branch by the tightly controlled gravitational pull. To an outsider, however, the poor creature looked like it was being devoured by a terrifying orb of darkness, as if being sacrificed to some bloodthirsty ancient god.

"VANN! STOP!" a commanding voice cut through the crowd.

Freya appeared, her practice sword already unsheathed. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the nightmare unfolding before her. A brilliant bluish-white light began to radiate from her body, reacting to the presence of the pure dark energy Vann was emitting.

"Let that poor creature go!" Freya yelled. She lunged forward, intent on striking the black orb.

"Wait, Freya! This isn’t what it looks like!" Vann shouted back, but his voice was drowned out by the roar of the gravitational winds.

Vann realized that if he cut the spell now, the cat would plummet and die from the unstable gravitational shift. He had to see it through. He pushed his mana even further, trying to soften the "black hole" so it would dissipate slowly.

Crack! Snap!

The massive oak tree began to groan. Smaller branches around the kitten crumbled into dust under the uneven gravitational pressure. The scene looked like the end of the world. The once-clear blue sky above the academy appeared distorted, warping around Vann’s workspace.

"HE REALLY IS A MONSTER!" shouted the students who had gathered at a safe distance, watching in absolute horror.

Vann ignored them all. With a trembling hand, he slowly lowered the black sphere toward him. The kitten inside floated calmly—though its face looked like it had already made its peace with death.

Just as the obsidian sphere grazed the earth in front of him, Vann severed his mana flow.

BZZZZT—POP!

The dark energy detonated in a contained burst, unleashing a frigid shockwave that instantly withered and froze the surrounding grass. A flurry of dust and debris kicked up, veiling everyone’s sight for several long seconds.

As the dust began to thin, Vann stood there, panting with his face streaked with magical soot. He was cradling the white cat in both hands. The creature was physically unscathed, though its fur stood stiff from static electricity and its eyes were wide as if it had just stared into the abyss and back.

Vann forced a smile—one he hoped looked gentle and sincere.

"See? The cat’s safe," Vann said, holding the feline out toward Freya, who had just skidded to a halt in front of him.

Freya stopped exactly three paces away, the tip of her sword still leveled at Vann's chest. She looked at the cat, then at Vann, then at the Great Oak that had just lost half its canopy and the blackened earth that had collapsed into a shallow crater.

"You..." Freya spoke with a voice trembling from a mix of sheer fury and utter confusion. "You destroyed academy property, endangered the lives of hundreds of students with black hole magic, and triggered a gravitational anomaly that could have leveled the nearest building... all to rescue a cat?"

Vann blinked. "Well... he was stuck up there. I only wanted to help."

"Help?!" Kael appeared from behind Freya, his face twisted in disgust. "You just practiced high-level dark arts in broad daylight, Vann! You weren't helping; you were flaunting your power! You wanted to show us all that you could crush us as easily as you brought down that cat, didn't you?"

"No, that’s not what I meant—" Vann tried to defend himself.

"Look at that cat!" one of the female students cried out. "It’s terrified to death!"

Sure enough, when Vann tried to stroke the cat’s head, the little creature hissed violently and swiped at his hand before leaping away and bolting into the crowd. The cat chose to flee toward complete strangers rather than spend another second near Vann.

Vann’s heart felt like it was shattering into a thousand pieces. Even the cat hated him.

Freya lowered her sword, but her gaze was now filled with something worse than hatred: a wary, cold fear. "Vann, I don't know what your endgame is. But using that kind of power for something so trivial... it only proves how dangerous you are. You have no moral compass for your own strength."

"Freya, listen to me—"

"Enough," Freya cut him off. She turned and gave instructions to the campus knights who had just arrived. "Secure the area. Report this incident to Professor Mordred. And Vann... don't expect to get away with it this time."

Freya walked away without looking back. The other students dispersed, casting looks of disdain and fear at Vann as they went. Elric approached, patting Vann on the shoulder with a face full of forced sympathy.

"A word of advice, Vann," Elric whispered. "Next time you want to save a cat, use a ladder. Not a pocket armageddon."

Vann stood alone in the center of his small crater. He stared at his palms, which were still emitting faint wisps of black steam. He just wanted to be a good person. He just wanted Freya to smile at him. But why was it that every time he reached out a hand to help, the world saw it as a hand reaching for a throat?

"Being a hero..." Vann clenched his fists, "is a massive pain."

Vann looked up at the sky. He realized one thing. The more he tried to bury his darkness by acting "normal," the more that darkness exploded in uncontrollable ways. He couldn't be a hero the way ordinary people were.

Suddenly, a shadow emerged from behind the mangled Oak tree. It was Professor Mordred. The man didn't look angry. Instead, he was examining the blackened crater at Vann’s feet with an unsettling fascination.

"Exquisite gravity control, Mr. Vann," Mordred said, his tone sending a chill down Vann’s spine. "To manipulate a singularity without obliterating the living organism inside it... that is not the talent of a second-year student. That is the talent of a world-ender."

Vann turned to him with a cold stare. "I was just helping a cat."

Mordred offered a thin smile, a smirk that suggested he knew far more than he was letting on. "Of course you were. And tomorrow, you might 'help' this academy right out of existence. Come with me. We need to have a serious talk about this... explosive talent of yours."

Vann knew that his "Cat Rescue Mission" hadn't just failed to fix his reputation; it had kicked open the door to a much larger conflict. Fate seemed to be mocking him, dragging him back into the very role he was desperate to avoid.

In the distance, atop the academy’s highest tower, an ancient artifact designed to detect demonic energy began to glow a relentless, pulsing red. It was a sign that the Demon King was no longer merely hiding—he was starting to show his fangs, even if his intentions were pure.

Vann followed Mordred, a new resolve hardening in his chest. If the world refused to see his kindness in the light, then he would make them see his protection through the deepest shadows.

Just you wait, Freya, Vann thought. I’ll make you understand, even if I have to be the villain in your eyes forever.