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
After killing the sixth prince, I never imagined it would cost me my life. It no longer matters, as the world has finally come to an end. I am free.I, Zarah, am the last human in the area. There's no point in fighting if I'm going to be alone in the end, regardless of whether I liberate the world from the demons. “Is that it? How boring. I didn’t even get to have my turn to fight.” The seventh prince sighs in disappointment. I can no longer remember which prince among the seven he represents, after all the princes I killed. I even lost track of their names. “Hey, lady. You’re name is Zarah, right? Are we still going to have a brawl or what?” I can hear the impatience in his voice Try to remember, Zarah, which prince is he? I urge myself to recall, but my mind is drawing a blank as much as I try. I am dying, which makes it harder for me to focus. “Hmm? Wow, my brother’s poison is making you go numb. That’s unfortunate. I wanted to have a go with you. I heard that you are really str
When I woke up, I realized that I was back. And I don’t just mean that I am alive. I am back in the past! I felt like I’d been staring at the mirror for a while now. No injuries. No signs of being poisoned. My fingers were complete. It’s like a dream. The only thing that is out of place with my youthful features are my eyes. They are red from crying. The moment I woke up, I immediately rushed downstairs, where I greeted my mother and father. They’re alive and well, and so is my brother. They found it odd that I ran over to them and cried for no reason. Honestly, I was glad that they didn’t ask more questions than I wanted them to.Looking at my hands, I tried manifesting a few of the siphoned skills from the demons that I acquired over the years once again. Nothing. Great. I guess that the demon prince wasn’t kidding when he said that he'd take away all of my accumulated abilities over the years.And there were a lot of them! Good ones at that. I sighed as I stared at my pa
“Where are you going?” Logan asks as soon as I come out of my room wearing a shirt and some jeans. He sits on a couch and eats some ice cream while scrolling through social media.“Outside?” I suggested and cocks an eyebrow at him. “Why aren’t you at the training grounds yet?”He sighs. “Holiday. Nothing I can do about it.” He finishes the rest of his ice cream before studying me again with a curious look. “Seriously, Zarah. Where are you going?”I purse my lips as I debate whether I should tell him or not. I just remembered something from my past. Something I find irrelevant, but I have to deal with it right now, so it won’t become a problem.Also, I wanted revenge for what happened in the past. Again, it’s pretty minuscule compared to what I will face in the future, but getting back at your cheating boyfriend is something that I don’t want to throw out.“I’m going to see Kain,” I answer.Logan suddenly has a teasing grin on his face. “I see. Well finally. It’s about time you two wou
I glance at my clock. It is about 10 pm now, and I am still awake. I wasn’t planning to sleep just yet. What I plan to do right now is to hunt. I need to siphon a talent that I would have to show as my own. If I don’t have a talent, I doubt that my parents would take me seriously as a huntress. I’m not sure what type of demons are lurking in the city at this hour, but I just hope that there are some valuable demons out there. My siphon is a little tricky. It can only absorb talent from a demon with unique abilities. Thankfully, I already have one in mind. It’s not the talent that I plan to showcase as my own, but it would assist me in future events. There have been rumors about a woman behind the abandoned theaters who would randomly tell someone the date of their death. But the woman only appears when she wants to. Sometimes, she does not appear at all. It is a long shot, but I figure she must be a demon if all she can see is death.Nonetheless, it would not hurt to dig more into
The familiar sensation of awakening my talent surges all over my body. And the feeling of gaining a new power inflicts me with pain as my body is trying to get accustomed to the magic. And soon, it’s over. The magic transfer is complete. I now have the gift of foresight. Good. But now comes the next question. Should I hunt for more demons? I look at my phone. It’s already almost 11 p.m. Crap. If only the foresight demon wasn't so far away, then maybe I would have more time to hunt more demons. Come to think of it, I wonder if there are any demons nearby that I can kill to make this day satisfying? As if my new gift of foresight was answering my question, images started to enter my mind. I see a convenience store that seems to be nearby. Then, a familiar man exits it with a can of soda in hand. It took me a while to realize that it’s the driver from before. That’s odd. Why is the vision showing me this? I watch patiently as the driver drinks the whole can of soda and heads for
After my encounter with the shadow monster, I was supposed to head back home and treat my wounds. But I guess that my empathic power reacted to my needs and led me to the closest demon with the ability to heal. But of course, I needed to go through a lot of demons since they seemed to be in a pack. I managed to target the demon with the healing ability first, using my shadow weaving to heal myself before I took care of the rest. Among the pack of demons, I managed to acquire a keen eye and brute strength from them. Since I am satisfied with my talent haul, I decided that it is time for me to head back and go to sleep. At least, that’s the plan, but when I finally managed to reach my room using my shadow weaving, I sense another presence in the area. I went to grab my knife when I realized that it was already broken down and no longer useable. As I figured, I need a proper demon-slaying weapon made of sturdy material if I am to hunt every night. But I will have to worry about th
After my encounter with the seventh prince of hell last night, I decided that I need more training. And I need to get enrolled as soon as possible so I can stay in my own dorm and have the freedom to sneak off when I want to. And the only way for me to secure a dorm in the academy is if I have a talent to show. Right now, I am in the kitchen with my mother, helping her prepare dinner for tonight. Truthfully, I am nervous. I can’t show them my real talent, but I can pick one among the many other talents I acquired last night. And the one talent that I see fit to present as a mediocre huntress is: healing. As far as I remember, hunters with healing talents usually stay at the back of the groups so they can provide assistance whenever the teams are in trouble. I want to become a huntress and kill demons, but I also do not want to stand out too much or I might get picked out for important and time-consuming missions. I need to have as much free time as possible and get called on s
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