Marvon's face looks twisted, as if Mammon were taking over his mind and body. His left cheek has eggshell cracks, and they were bleeding, so I could not bear to look at him for long. His left pupil has become reddened to the point where it looks bloodshot. His lips begin to split open on that side of his face, revealing pointed teeth. He hardly seems human at this point. The giant golden crow makes its way to Mammon’s side, lowering its head in submission to the demon prince. “I knew you would be after me soon enough.” Mammon’s grin caught me off guard. Was he waiting in anticipation for me this whole time? I was sure that I had masked my presence the entire time. I quickly get on my feet and poise myself for combat. I look up and meet his gaze. “How long have you known that it was me?” “It wasn’t that long, to be honest.” He shrugged. His small movement causes more cracks on his face to appear. “I already have my doubts about you because I sense a faint presence of demonic power
Archer has never been more intimidating than he is now. Even though his focus now is the demon prince, I still can’t help but feel afraid. The aura that he is emitting is more murderous compared to when he is just facing regular demons. The energy waves being emitted from his fist start to grow and change into a red hue. Even from where I am, I can feel the immense power coming from it. Mammon doesn’t even seem to be bothered. He’s more focused on the golden crow of his that was split in half. His face is empty, but his eyes are shaking with anger as he looks at what is left of his golden pet. His eyes lost all mirth when he was torturing me a while ago. In normal circumstances, I would consider this a good thing, as we managed to shake one of the demon princes, but angering them is entirely another story. Still, I was rather impressed with how Archer easily cut through the golden beast, like it was nothing to him. If there was a hunter who would be better suited to fight against Ma
Working with Archer, while disguised as the Dark Reaper, is kind of exciting and yet raises a lot of red flags in my head. He doesn’t seem to fully trust me, but I can feel like he senses that I am less of a threat compared to one of the demon princes. “I want to be the one to deliver the final blow.” I told him before he could begin telling me his plan. I manage to alter my voice with one of the voice altercations from the demon bats I previously killed. “My blade can kill him.” I did not give too much of an explanation that my blade has been—I can’t say blessed—but cursed with the power of the seventh born demon prince. That would place me in a more suspicious situation in the eyes of Archer. Even without saying it, I bet he already thinks that I am a demon. Thankfully, Archer did not question why I was so adamant on delivering the finishing blow. He probably thought that it was just me living up to my name. He starts to lay out his plan as briefly and as quickly as he can. Curren
I remember Belphegor getting me back to my room and then falling asleep, only to be woken up again when I was called out to lend a hand to the injured. I can’t say that it is fortunate, but I was running a fever when I woke up due to the fatigue from overworking myself. Needless to say, my fever provided an adequate excuse for me not to join the others in assisting in the aftermath of Mammon's attack. Speaking of the second demon prince, word has spread quickly that he has appeared. I would expect nothing less, as it is a sure sign of the impending apocalypse. People are starting to panic that school has been postponed the day after our battle with Mammon. It’s been the third day since sending Mammon to hell. My body is slowly starting to recover from the fever but still, I was advised to stay in my dorm and rest. I suspect that my unusually long recovery has something to do with the dagger, but until I can talk to Belphegor about it, I can’t confirm it.My brother, Logan, came in t
Marvon getting resurrected turned out to be more of a fitting headline, alongside the appearance of one of the seven apocalyptic princes. Everyone has mixed feelings about it. Some say that it is a divine intervention, while others call it a demonic practice. They weren’t wrong about the last assumption, but they have no way of confirming it. I haven’t seen Belphe since the night he delivered the news to me. He undoubtedly guessed that I was going to bombard him with questions and decided that it would be best to stay low for a while. It’s either that or he might be snoozing somewhere as the demon epitome of sloth. “Zarah, can you hit it?” Jackie, who is helping to keep me steady on the edge of a water tank, whispers while I try to take aim at a lizard demon crawling at the third building where the others are trying to keep it cornered through the fire escape. The lizard is a very agile demon since it can climb on walls and reach places that hunters commonly have trouble accessing.
The aftereffects of the black patches—or, as we used to call them, the 'miasma' in the previous timeline—entered and left my system almost immediately. The hunter that I siphoned the miasma from recovered as well. There is no cure for the miasma, and even if there is, the ones who are already affected by it are going to die soon. I have taken it upon myself to siphon the miasma from the bodies of the patients, which is a lot. It hurts, but I have grinded my teeth and endured the pain as I keep on moving to other patients, and I have soon adjusted to the pain. “Zarah, take a rest. Eat something, at least.” Archer, who has been tailing me ever since I recovered from siphoning the miasma from my first patient, arches his brows with worry. “That was like your tenth patient.” I get why Archer is worried. I was sweating like crazy and fighting for air earlier. Anyone would have thought that I was going to die from how my body was burning up. I also believe that Archer’s concern might hav
As if I don’t have a lot on my plate already, and now I have to meet up with Marvon? What for?! I honestly just want to protest, but with my current rank, I am not in the place to say anything. I just did as I was told and followed my escort. I thought that we were heading to the Belingham estate, but I found out that we were headed to one of the most expensive hotels in the city. I guess that the damage during the battle was too intense that they had to stay at a hotel for a while. When the valet opens the door for me and the escort helps me out of the vehicle, I decide to ask what’s on my mind. “I thought I was supposed to meet with—” “Don’t speak his name out in public.” The escort cuts me off and snaps his finger. It was faint but I briefly saw the air around us change, like a barrier was forming around us. “I can trap sound with my ability.” He answers my unspoken question, which he must have seen through my gaze. “As you must have heard, Sir Marvon’s reputation hasn’t been go
A greater demon than the seven princes of Hell? That’s a theory I never considered. I don’t dismiss the idea, because there’s also a chance that it could be true. The idea alone frightens me and I can’t find much comfort in the prospect that there could be something more dangerous than the seven princes. I shake my head. I shouldn’t be focused on that. Right now, my top priority is Leviathan and how I could reach him. I have said it before, but he is a water dweller. Even if the hunters had found the gate that would potentially lead to him and even if I am immune to his miasma, there’s no way for me to fight unless I can move underwater. My legs feel heavy when I return to my room. Already, I can feel the unwelcoming presence of a certain prince, and my mood is beginning to turn sour. “Baby bug, you’re home. Welcome ba—” I stepped out of the way when Belphegor decided to jump at me for an embrace. A loud thud echoes in my room and I am glad that most rooms here are soundproof. “I
I know what I said to my parents and sneaking out despite their warning is a little risky on my part. But I do believe that using Beelzebub’s clones is going to keep me safe from getting caught. For tonight, the real me is going into the casino to hunt demons. And of course, I am wearing a disguise sponsored by the demon prince of greed. I did say that he is going to pay after all. “I still firmly believe that red is the best color for our master.” Mammon, the sponsor for all of my costume for tonight, holds out a sparkling evening dress that is too revealing for my taste. If there was no fire alarm in my room, I would have burned the dress already. Since I can’t do that, all I can do now is glare at the fabric and hope that it will come to ruin on its own.“Brother, that barely covers her skin. What if Asmodeous covets her?” For the first time, Leviathan sounds defiant when he speaks with Mammon. Meanwhile, Beel drools while looking at the dress before trying to take a bite out of
“I cannot believe that you went to the casino!” My mom paces the room. Her heels are clacking the room and I can feel their vibrations on the floor as I am kneeling on it. “First thing…the first thing that you do as soon as we get to the hotel is the casino!?” I flinch when I hear her raising her voice. “Zarah, you might be of legal age but you are still a hunter in training until you get your license!” Wow. She is definitely mad. It has been a while since I heard her this angry. Out of everyone, my mother is the scariest when angry. My brother and father would always act like they saw nothing and would keep their distance from her. Right now, my father and brother are in a far corner of the room, sharing an upside-down newspaper. It’s pretty obvious that they were eavesdropping on our conversation. “I was…I thought that I saw someone that I know.” The more that I look at my mother’s expression, the more that I can tell that my choice of words is wrong. “You saw a friend going t
Green field greets my side of the window when I wake up from taking a deep nap from the back seat of our family car. Currently, we’re headed to the fair, where the new hunters are going to take their oath to become full-pledged hunters. My father is driving me to the venue, which is like an eight-hour drive from where we are but my mother and brother decided to tag along just for the thrill of it. Also, so we can turn this event into a mini family trip.A chuckle makes me turn to my left. My brother is snickering while looking at me.“I knew you’d be asleep the entire ride.”“Are those cheetos?” I fought off my groggy state just so I could straighten up and grab the bag of junk food from his hands. My mouth water as I anticipated on eating something, but when I look inside, it is already empty. I turn to him with a disgruntled expression.“Hey, I offered you some, but you were busy sleeping.” He laughs when I toss the empty bag of Cheetos towards him. “You’re a jerk,” I grumble.“Lo
My room has never felt so smaller. Imagine being in your bedroom with five demons and three hunters—excluding me. I am still on earth but even I know how hellish it feels. Never has my room felt more suffocating than ever. I am in bed, for obvious reasons. My mother and father are sitting beside my bed while Archer is leaning on the wall facing me. The five demons are by the bathroom, making sure to keep their distance from us. They are demon princes for a reason, meaning they can hide their presence from Archer and my parents. I just hope that they behave themselves and not cause any noise. “Here, dear. Say, ah.” Getting spoon-fed by my mother and being watched by a number of eyes makes me feel sick. Even swallowing the food is a struggle. The porridge is threatening to rise up to my throat. If swallowing the food is the problem, I could have endured it. The problem was, the demon prince of gluttony is in the room with us. Eating in front of him is just a recipe for disaster. I
“What are you? Insane?!” I grab his coat and pull him toward me. “Are you asking me to let him be killed?!”The mask that portrays his emotion seems to be blank. “It is not for me to decide that. I am only telling you that you will fail to save everyone if you continue to save that person.”My mind grows empty at what I wish to say. It is not because I am at a loss for words. There are just so many things that I want to ask but don’t know where to start. I know that Belphegor avoids Archer for some reason. Whether it is because he is afraid of the captain’s power or not, I can’t say. I have a feeling that there might be something more behind it.I do my best to remain calm. “Why him?” Belphegor remains quiet. I clench my teeth in anger, feeling my temperature rise again out of anger. Why isn’t he answering me? “Why him?” I demanded. “Out of all the people in the world, why does it have to be Archer? What is so special about him?” Belphegor’s mask completely lost any expression.
“Master, I do not understand.” The demon prince of gluttony nonchalantly asks me as he hangs by his feet inside my room. He was hanged using the thread that I got from Kirin’s core, an object that he gave me in return for allowing him to eat Asmodeus’s pet. “Are you punishing me because you are upset or because this is one of your kinks like brother Mammon?” Mammon chokes on the grape that he was seating. “I do not!” He protests. “Mammon, shut up before I make you sit.” I threaten him, making the demon prince of greed sit Japanese style on the floor. “Sorry.” He utters. “If not brother Mammon, then perhaps brother Leviathan.” Beel moves his head to look at the demon prince of envy, glaring at him from the corner of my room in a gloomy state. The majestic demon has tears in his ears has his face contorted with an envy expression. Gorshe and Remoire surround him, like they are trying to console Leviathan. When Leviathan sees my gaze, his eyes begin to fill up with tears and the lo
It’s pretty obvious by now that the cocoons have humans inside of them. The form of the body alone is enough evidence for that. From Archer’s pale expression, I know that he figured it out as well. His alarmed expression never faded away since he couldn’t move. If the demon responsible for this finds us, there’s no way that he could defend since he is paralyzed.“Zarah, we have to get out of here. Zarah?”I am frozen solid where I am standing as I am staring at the cocoons. There’s no way for me to figure out who is behind them. I don’t have x-ray vision. But from the flying sparrow of a demon circling the cocoons, my heart starts to sink. “Wait. Isn’t that your sparrow?”Remoire seems to have noticed us and is flying in our direction. He perches on my head.‘Master, I am sorry. By the time I found them, they were already captured.’My strength nearly left me and I almost dropped Archer. My suspicions were right. These are our comrades!“We have to get them down.”“Zarah, we can’t.”
The loud blaring of an alarm started as soon as the tremor slowly subsided. Archer and I were still holding onto each other and we didn’t even realize it until both the tremor and the alarm subsided. I withdraw myself from him quicker than I normally would when I hug my friends. “We should head to the evacuation area.” Archer hides his face by lowering his head and starts to head off first. I pause for a bit, letting the sparrow version of Remoire rest on my finger. ‘Go and scout the area. Find out what happened and make sure that the others are safe.’ Remoire nods curtly at my command before taking flight. As soon as Remoire left, I start to follow Archer. Oddly enough, as we started to walk, there were no demons in sight. It’s as if they were gone or they have all gone into hiding. The later sounds more probable, as there’s a giant demon scorpion on the loose. Archer seems to have noticed the lack of demons in the vicinity, but he was being quiet about it. All my senses were
The giant sinkhole that appeared where we once were was a huge puzzle for us. I wish I knew what it was—I feel like I should, but I am currently drawing a blank. There’s something about the crate that’s familiar. “This wasn’t part of the obstacle.” My sharp hearing picked up on what Archer was muttering. I decided to play oblivious that I heard his talking and pretended to look puzzled while staring at the sinkhole. “Zarah, how were you able to tell that a sinkhole was going to appear?” I can understand Archer’s curiosity. No one would be able to move fast enough or guess that there would be a sinkhole beneath our feet a few seconds before it appeared. My senses are just sharp enough that I was able to tell that it was coming. “The tremors on the ground. Didn’t you feel it?” I don’t want to do this, but the only way that I can slither out of his question is by gaslighting him. I lived with demons, literally, in my room. I know how it works. The key is to make up a scenario and ins