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 arrived at the location when Belphegor told me that the demon with the ability I needed would be. Traveling in the shadow realm is easier when it’s at night. However, Belphegor failed to tell me that the distance would be great. It is a good thing that I got at least a few hours of rest before I decided to come here—Eastern Port, where the weapon trading ships usually dock. I have never been here before; it no longer existed by the time that I was able to walk on my own two feet. This part of the city was completely destroyed back then so despite how far this journey was, I wasn’t mad. CRASH! There was a loud commotion behind me that made me sigh. “Would you mind telling me why you are here, Belphegor?” “Wow.” A puff of dark smoke ignites beside me and soon, the seventh demon prince is standing by my side. “How did you know that I was there?” I turn back to all the fallen crates from the closed, standing stalls behind us. I furrow my brows and let out a sigh. I feel bad about
I hit the water more harshly than I would have liked. I almost drowned when my body started to sink. My lungs burn from the thirst for air. Mammon said that he had already given me what I needed to breathe underwater. The impact from the water made my body temporarily unmovable because I had fallen so low from the surface. I desperately claw my way up but my arms and legs feel like lead. My chest and head tighten, and I know that I am going to pass out if I don’t get air soon. I feel a presence beside me. Just as my arms and legs gave in and I started to sink, strong hands gripped my shoulders, preventing me from sinking further. ‘What are you doing? Breathe!’ Belphegor’s grip tightens. When I was having a hard time focusing, his hands flew to my cheeks, urging me to look at his frantic looking mask. ‘Focus. You can breathe. Come on. With me now.’ I see Belphegor’s chest puffing as he inhales and deflating as he exhales. He repeats the gesture, allowing me time to observe and copy
I swam away almost immediately the instant the huge monster before me blinks. Swimming isn’t my best skill, as I believe I said before, so when the monster began to move, I was swept back by the turmoil it created. I feel chills just watching the creature flickering in and out of view in the sunken vessel. Seeing the thorn tentacles writhing in and out of its camouflage made me realize that it is a demon. And octopus-hermit crab kind of demon. ‘I didn’t think it would wake up.’ I hear Belphegor wondering, sounding terrified. ‘It shouldn’t have woken up! The Kraken has been asleep for centuries.’ ‘Excuse me, what did you just call it?’ Whirling around to face Belphegor might probably be the fastest action I did underwater. ‘Did you just call it Kraken!? You’re not referring to the one in the legends that sank ships before, are you?’ ‘That’s the one.’ Mammon answers, looking rather guilty by the way he is fidgeting. ‘It shouldn’t have been real. This…’ I turn back to look down at t
Lately, the number of sick hunters due to the miasma has increased. They undoubtedly tried to cut off the source, but the closer they got to the portal that’s emitting the miasma, the sicker they got. Some hunters even lost their lives from being exposed too much. Right now, the hunter’s association is already declaring the city in a state of calamity. I must get rid of Leviathan as soon as I can. Unfortunately, I have not fully explored and practiced the new skills that I have as I am juggling between school and field work. I stopped hunting most nights just so I could get in tune and practice my movements underwater. My sharpness and powers are not as effective as they are on land, but they are getting better. It’s probably because I am exhausted during the day that my movements falter when I train. I wanted to pull out of the field work for a while—something that a student can do when they are not fully hunters yet—but it is impossible, as I might as well subject them to their d
I bolted. No matter what happens to me as a result of this–I could care less. All I wanted at the moment was to get to my brother and save him. I know that going off like this has a high chance of jeopardizing my identity as something more than a healer, but does it matter? My goal is to keep my family and the world safe. If I lose either one, it would be meaningless. I managed to take the growing restlessness and mass panic to slip away from Archer, who tried to stop me. Running against the crowd is driving me insane. There’s no way that I am going to get to my brother in time! I planned to make a detour to a less crowded area so I could go in the shadows and use it to travel. However, the push of the crowd was starting to become so heavy that it was difficult for me to slip through. “This way.” A hand grabs my wrist and pulls me aside, freeing me from the grasp of the crowd. The voice gave away the identity of the stranger helping me. “Belphe—” “Shh. Not now.” “Are you m
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
In the city, there’s an area that has been long abandoned because it was rumored to be a nesting ground for demons. But that was years ago. This place isn’t what it used to be. The nest was already eradicated and most of the demons were hunted about two years ago. The town was supposed to be safe for people to live once again, but because people were too afraid to go back, the hunters decided that it would be a good testing site for a hunter promotion exam. The group stops in front of a massive steel gate. All around the perimeter of the site stretched thick metal walls with an electric fence at the top. You know that we are dealing with land demons with long leaps if they place those wired fences on top of the metal ones. “There better be no dangerous ones here.” My brother comments. I was startled by his sudden presence since I was so busy gawking at the gates. This is my first time being here, even in my past life so I was amazed by the facilities in this area. It looks like it w
The next day, everyone was busy with the clean up. Debris, rubble, and tons of steel bars are scattered all over the campus. It was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Only one building was damaged in the attack and it was the study area. If there were anyone who was happy about this, it’s the students. I wish I was lying when I said this, but I wasn’t. You can clearly see the happy faces on most of the first years because that very same building is where the demonology exam is going to be held. It’s clear that most of the first year students aren’t ready for the test, judging from the broad grins on their faces while helping to clean the place. Biron, the head professor of the subject, wasn’t too thrilled, especially when he saw the smiling faces of his students. He decided to divert his anger into yelling and ordering the students to move faster. Although I am grateful that I wasn’t part of the group that’s being reprimanded, it doesn’t mean that my situation is any bette