Blood demon leveling

'It's okay… I can do it… Just focus on breathing, it'll be alright… What was it mom always said? No, I shouldn't use her advice here, that'll only end badly… What would dad do… No that's also a bad idea, gosh why do I have such weird parents…Well maybe because they're literal demons… Well, I am too...'

Helia currently found herself in an auditorium packed with other new students, that's right she had managed to talk over her overprotective dad to send her off to college, specifically X college, this had taken a lot of pleading but finally, she was there, and was it just as exciting as Lily had said, if not a little intimidating

'I've never been around so many people before…'

Helia did her best to make herself small which looked a little funny, after all, she stood 1.80 meters tall or 5 foot 10 inches, though she was a little shorter now that her horns had been camouflaged by an optical illusion spell, the kind one used in state of the art military stealth equipment, the same with her vermilion skin that now appeared as fair though a little pale, for her vermilion pupils simple colored contact lenses and her 1 and a half meter long tail? That she had wrapped around her stomach, her long vermilion hair was like a beacon to unwanted attention

'Now I wish I had dyed my hair…'

She wore a pair of navy blue jeans and an army green 'USDC' T-Shirt by the request of her father

'Not that anyone is going to know that it stands for 'United States Demon Core' anyway…'

As the speech went on and on Helia's mind started to drift like many of the other new students in the auditorium and she started to look around, she was searching for Lily her only childhood friend but failed to find her in the crowd, then she remembered that Lily was a 2nd-year student and likely wouldn't be present for the welcoming of the new students and felt a little silly which made her shrink even more in her seat as she rubbed her knees against each other the person next to her suddenly whispered to her

"Nervous?"

Helia looked to her side a girl around 1 meter and 60 centimeters or 5 foot 2 with curly brown hair and glasses that wore a purple skirt and a 'Star wars' T-shirt, Helia remembered her mother's advice not to speak with strangers, still, she nodded her head a little, the girl showed a friendly smile and spoke to reassure Helia

"I'm nervous too… See?"

Then she held out her hand which was faintly shaking, though Helia didn't take note of that rather her nails were painted purple with yellow stars on them, Helia reached out and before she noticed she was grasping the other girl's hand as she muttered

"Pretty…"

The other girl was a little shocked by Helia's actions, before she could say anything Helia let go of her hand and quickly apologized

"Sorry…"

The girl showed a smile when she saw Helia got even more nervous and showed a smile and after hesitating for a bit she asked

"I can show you how later… If you want to of course"

Helia's excitement rose, though she quickly noticed that she had gathered even more attention to herself and whispered back

"Sure!"

With a little more volume than she expected causing her to lower her head even further, still, a shy smile spread on her face

After all the speeches were done did Helia walk out of the auditorium along with the girl she sat next to, the girl spoke up with a slight blush on her face

"Umm… My name is Penny, Penny Li, what's your name?"

"Helia, Helia Jacobsen"

"Then Helia… Do you want to walk around and see the different clubs?"

"Sure!"

Finding Lily gradually slipped Helia's mind as she walked around with Penny, their interactions were a little awkward at first, but by the time they reached the martial arts show they were chatting nicely, Helia looked at the Martial arts showing disinterest, this caused Penny to ask her

"Aren't you interested in martial arts Helia? I mean from how sporty you look I figured you did some sort of martial art?"

Helia was indeed very sporty built, in fact, she looked more like an Olympic fighter than a college freshwoman, she showed a slight smile as she looked at the demonstration and spoke

"That's not martial arts, that's more like kids playing around in the kiddy pool and calling it the deep end, let's go, Penny"

Penny nodded and just as they turned around someone yelled

"Hey, you! I heard that! Care to repeat it!?"

The crowd parted and revealed Helia and Penny, Helia sighed, in an instant, her demeanor had changed from the quite tall girl making herself small to something more… Sinister

'Grandma always said that the best tactic against the mortals is showing the difference in power and watching them squirm…'

Helia sighed before she spoke

"I said that your martial arts demonstration is trash, what about it?"

The handsome youth in the martial arts uniform showed a scroll before he was pulled back by another youth with glasses that showed a superior look and spoke sarcastically

"Then would you mind showing us how it's done?"

Penny didn't take well to the unwanted attention and sneers all around and quietly pulled Helia's hand as she whispered

"Let's just go Helia…"

Contrary to anyone's expectations Helia simply nodded and spoke confidently

"Sure"

Then she looked at the uncomfortable looking Penny and after a bit, she remembered what her dad always did to help her calm down and so she raised her hand and put it on top of Penny's head before she ruffled her hair as she spoke

"Don't worry, I'll be right back"

Penny looked at Helia's confident expression and after a bit, she nodded and spoke

"...Okay, go kick some ass"

"Sure!"

Helia passed through the crowd and stepped onto the elevated platform, it was only then that the guys that had sneered at her saw how tall she was, Helia stood face to face with the guy with glasses and asked with her dad's signature slight smile on her face

"How should I enlighten you?"

The guy's eyelid twitched slightly before he spoke loudly to bolster his own confidence

"Let's go with something easy, plyboard breaking"

He nodded to another two in martial arts uniform and they walked out with a plywood board then he spoke rather arrogantly

"If you can punch through this I'll consider you my opponent!"

Helia nodded before she gestured for them to put it up, then she took a casual stance before she punched out with amazing speed, a bang was heard before her fist passed through the plywood board with ease, then she slowly pulled it out again and cracked her knuckles before she asked

"So now that I am your opponent, what are we competing in?"

The guy with glasses realized that he had kicked a steel plate and quickly tried to back out

"N-Now N-No need to get violent, let's just say we're equal, r-right?"

Helia tilted her head slightly before she asked in a low voice

"Equal..? With this piece of trash?"

At that moment the crowd fell silent as the first guy in martial arts uniform snapped and yelled out

"This bitch!"

As the words flowed out of his mouth something flowed right next to his head at amazing speed, it was Helia's leg that she had raised in a kick, nobody saw how she moved through the fact was that she had just sent out a kick instantly, her form was perfect and the part of her shoe that glanced the guys face had left a long cut on his face, Helia's eyes were cold as she lowered her leg in silence before she asked

"What did you say?"

"N-N-N-Nothing!"

At this moment a group of people stepped into the gymnasium, they were the student council, the elite of the elite, one of them exclaimed once she saw the person on the platform

"Helia!"

Helia turned her head and saw a girl standing 1 meter and 74 centimeters, her hair was long and near golden blonde and she had bright blue eyes that were sparkling when she saw Helia, Helia exclaimed at once when she saw her as her eyes lit up

"Lily!"

Then she leaped from the stage and landed several meters away before she bolted over and was about to embrace Lily when 3 people from the student council blocked the way, or they attempted to as Helia weaved in between then before she embraced the waiting Lily that already had spread her arms wide, taking a blow that would normally blow away a college football player (though only due to her mana strengthening) as she hugged Helia, the two of them rubbed their cheeks together in happiness for a bit under the gazes of the stunned crowd before Helia began speaking rather fast

"Lily! You'll never believe these people they dare claim that their playing around was martial arts so I roughed them up a little, I also made a new friend, her name is Penny she smells nice and is nice and also---"

Lily's smile gradually got more strained before she interrupted

"Hold up just a moment Helia, slow down, you said you made a friend?"

"Yeah, her name is Penny and she just over here"

Helia was about to drag off Lily when another member of the student council stopped her

"Hold it right there! Who are you and do you even know who this is!?"

Lily showed a slightly frosty look and spoke

"It's fine Jesica, I've known Helia since I was a child"

"B---"

"No, and, if's or buts! Move aside please, also clear my schedule for the rest of the day, I need to catch up with Helia"

"...Understood"

"Very good"

Then Lily and Helia went to find Penny and quickly found her as the crowd made way for the two of them, Penny looked slightly stunned before she quickly introduced herself

"My name is Penny Li"

Lily showed a smile and nodded before she spoke

"You probably already know me, feel free to call me Lily"

"S-S-Sure"

"Then let's be off, I'll show you guys around the entire campus!"

As Lily dragged along Helia and Penny, Penny asked Helia

"Helia, you actually know Lily, you know who her grandfather is right?"

Helia tilted her head slightly and nodded as she spoke

"Yeah, He and my dad go way back"

"Wait, what?"

Helia showed an enchanting smile as she spoke

"I'll tell you all about it later~"