The weather is cold today so I didn’t really want to go out. I really wouldn’t it it weren’t for the fact that I have errands to run for the demon children; I’d still be in the library. It’s a good thing that it is the weekend so students were allowed to go out. “I want lots and lots of grapes.” Speaking of the three princes, the three stooges are all walking alongside me, invisible to the public’s eyes. “We’re going to buy one.” I say, lowering my head to whisper so passersby won’t think that I am crazy for talking to myself. “What? Why only one?! One box is not enough for someone as great as I!” I almost tripped before looking at him with a flabbergasted expression. “One box!? I’m talking about one pack!” I covered my mouth immediately when I realized I was screaming. I lower my head and cover my face with my hood when I feel eyes looking in my direction. I need to start practicing how to ignore them; otherwise, I might be labelled as a loon. “One pack isn’t enough! Mast
Swarms of flies are gathering everywhere, and it almost seems like theres a black river devouring every edible display on shelves. It is only thanks to Mammon and his aura that I haven’t been swarmed by the flies just yet. Seeing how the flies were buzzing frantically as they hit the shield procured by Mammon almost made Belphegor faint. Amazing. One of the great demon princes is afraid of bugs. “NOOOO!” Speak of the devil. Mammon suddenly screams. I tried to look over to Mammon, but with Belphegor still clinging to me, I had to throw the seventh demon prince over my shoulder just to get him off my back. “Ow! Zarah, that hurts!” I ignore Belphegor’s whining.“What’s wrong?” I ask out of panic, ignoring how Belphegor was clinging to my legs at the time. Mammon responds to me by pointing at the fruit aisle. “They ate all the grapes!” This stupid little bitch. I know that I am cussing a lot in my mind lately, but can you blame me? “This isn’t really the time to be worrying about
As expected, the flies have become an issue. Several days have passed since the event in the grocery store. My life as Zarah is slowly getting peaceful, but my time as the Dark Reaper seems to have taken and over time during the night. Ever since the incident with the flies in the grocery store, there have been more similar incidents in the following days. There’s now a crisis of food shortages all over the city. Moreover, with the carnivorous flies on the loose, there have been a lot of casualties. I tried my best to control most of them, but I am only available to work during the night. Because of this, I have no choice but to ask Mammon, Leviathan, and Gorshe to do the work for me. Mammon and Levithan couldn’t do much but throw in a shield at certain distances. Anything more than that would risk revealing their presence. I don’t doubt that it would stir panic if the second and third demon princes were seen in public. As for Gorshe, he is more useful. With his black flames, he
The uproar regarding the flies soon turned huge. With no explanation on how to deal with the flies, range hunters have been placing pods that connect together to form a shield around evacuation areas since we could not possibly place them all over the town. However, against the flies from Belzeebub, it was futile. The flies could easily break through them. The only reason it is holding is because I asked Mammon and Leviathan to reinforce it and make it stronger. “Are you sure that’s where Belzeebub is?” Belphegor and I are now back in my room, discussing the whereabouts of the sixth prince. “Yes. I am definitely sure. How could you doubt me?” Belphegor sternly crosses his arms. “I know I may be a coward, but I doubled check the place. He is certainly there.” “Calm down.” I show him my palms. “Even though you are a demon, I trust you. I just want to make sure that I am not hearing things. I want to ask again—is Belzeebub’s location in the landfill?” I try my best not to gag at the t
It was an emergency, no doubt. And it is the type of emergency to which I should be going as the Dark Reaper. Normally, I would have been elated that a healer like me would be called to the front lines, but that would only limit me to minimal fighting and more on healing. If I trust that my teammates can handle the demons we are facing, I won’t have a problem with that. The thing is, the giant bug that they were talking about is without a doubt Belzeebub. They could probably take him down on their own, but that would end up in a bloodbath. If I want to ensure our safety, I need to be there as the Dark Reaper! “Are you worried?” Ellan asks me. He most likely assumes that I was nervous to head into battle. We were at the back of a military van as we headed towards the landfill where the giant bug Belzeebub was last seen. “Don’t worry, Zarah. We will protect you from the demons. All you have to do is get to the patients and heal them.” James adds with a pretty confident look. Healers
I have long since lost sight of the twins tailing behind me as I run closer to where the scene of action is. Archer and Belzeebub were still at it, firing and charging at one another. Belzeebub has the upper hand. He continues to charge at Archer brutally that the only thing that Archer could do was build a shield around him. Archer was alone. Where are the other hunters!? While the two were in the midst of clashing, Belzeebub seemed to have found a weak spot on Archer’s shield. Using his claw, he jabs long, pointed nails to Archer’s side. The claw punctured and broke the shield. Ajax screams and it is only then that I realize that the claw punctured his side right below his lower rib, leaving him in immense pain and bleeding. I fear that it must have hit one of his lungs because he seems to be having trouble breathing.Archer mustered up some strength so he could swat away Belzeebub. The sixth demon prince flew back with a shriek while Archer falls to his knees. Grinning, Belzeebub
“No.” This is my immediate response when the demon prince Belzeebub decided to enter my room the next day after I drove a dagger to him. He is kneeling beside my bed like a puppy, while Mammon and Leviathan stand on either side of me, ready to smack Belzeebub's head if he ever does something funny. Like his other brothers, Belzeebub looks very different in his demon form compared to when he is disguising himself like a human. Unlike Mammon and Leviathan, who are both dressed like they are Greek gods and have minimal clothing, Belzeebub looks more like a punk rock teen. His short cut red hair is already gathering enough attention for how bright and vibrant it was. He is wearing a tight fit black shirt with a black leather jacket over it, paired with some black jeans and boots. I know. He sounds like the typical bad boy heathrob in novels back in the 2000’s. “Why not? You made a pack with my two older brothers.” When Belzeebub looks at me with bright red eyes. I almost succumbed b
I’ve never been such a good liar. And even if I were, the guilt is always eating me up. With Archer, it feels more difficult because I am under immense pressure. I never expected him to ask me such a question that the alibi that I needed wouldn’t come out. How am I supposed to cover this up? “How could you say that I am the Dark Reaper just because the sensation of my healing ability is similar?” “You’re the only huntress here who has a superior healing talent.” “I am the only huntress that you currenly know to have such a talent, you mean. There could be many others like me that haven’t allowed themselves to be known.” I can’t believe that I am learning how to gaslight one of the academy’s top hunter. I can’t believe how low I have become. At this point, I don’t think that I can still blame this entirely on the demons. Archer looks slightly convinced by my alibi, but I know that it is not enough to fully disclose his suspicion that I am the Dark Reaper. “Yes. You’re right.” Arch
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