I woke up to the smell of someone cooking. It was Lucifer, and I kinda squeaked a bit. I would have awed at this, if it was another cat doing it. Not me squeaking.
"Good morning, Kitten" he said smiling, "You're just in time for breakfast."
"Ummm... wasn't I in a tree before?"
"Oh you were, " he said giving me my food, "But then you fell asleep on me so soundly, I just couldn't wake you~."
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"That's okay, " he said changing his tone with serious assurance, "If anything... I should be the one apologizing, not you. So, I'm sorry and... and I... I want to offend you! No! AH! I mean, I want to bend you! AHHH!!! No! I'm trying to say that I want to end you! DAMNIT, I'm making this worse, " he said covering his red tomato face.
Wow, I never seen someone who flirts so well and smoothly stutter on his own words this way. It's kinda cute.
"It's okay, just take a breath in and out and take it slowly."
He took a breath in and out, and looked at me with confidence but still red from blushing from before, "I... I want to be friends with you and start over!"
I smiled and nodded to him in accepting his request, as he felt relieved and overjoyed by my response. By gods, I just befriended a fallen angel, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. After all, he trusted her enough to take her request of keeping things slow and be friends instead of becoming lovers. So he probably won't kill me.
"So to start, I know you're name is Lucifer, but you don't know mine yet. My name's Catherine, I'm pleased to meet you."
Then it got quiet for a bit, but I tried to break the ice more.
"So... do you want to talk about what happened yesterday? It's okay if you don't, I-."
"No, " he said stopping me mid sentence, "You deserve to know my reasons~."
He explained his story as short as possible. About Lilith. About his family. And about how he was banished from heaven and the aftermath of it all. On one hand, Lucifer's rage scared me, knowing how many he slaughtered the moment he fell out of grace. On the other hand, what his angel family did to Lilith was heartbreaking. If I was in his shoes, I'd be engulfed in rage too.
"Now that I told my reasons, " he said as he finished his story, "Tell me about yours, Kitten."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Your reason you came to this world, obviously," he said smirking in curiosity, "Hybrids are super rare and you don't act like any Cat Kin or Human I'm familiar with. Not only that, but you told me a meaning of a Non-Astrania word. What's your deal?"
"Ummm... well... Uggh guess I can't really hide it, if it's obvious. I... was human as well as dead from another world before coming here, and was called here by a little girl's voice. So one thing lead to another and my soul was given permission to merge with her body."
"So that's what happened, " he said looking carefully and closely at my eyes, "Sorry if I'm so close, Kitten, I'm just checking your soul."
"My soul?"
"Well demons and angels have the ability to see a person's soul through their eyes, " Lucifer explained, "So your merge with this little girl's Cat Kin Body and your Human Soul made you a Cat Kin Human Hybrid? You know Kitten, you're very lucky I was the one here and not some other random person, they wouldn't be as friendly with you."
"Why's that?"
"Because they would have kidnapped you and tried to sell you for entertainment, experimented and used as a weapon or sold to slavery, " he said without hesitation.
"Is... Is that a joke?"
"No I'm serious, " he said in a serious tone, "Hybrids are often discriminated and rejected by society and because you're half Cat Kin, it makes you an very rare species given that they're almost extinct, so you're worth a lot more than you think."
I was shaken up and scared now. I was out in the open for so long training, any person could have snatched me with completely unawares. I could have suffered, tortured or even died on the spot! Screw my previous fear with Lucifer, knowing the reality of consequences of being a cat girl terrifies me. Lucifer obviously saw the scared look in my face and petted my head.
"Don't worry about that, Kitten" he said calming me down, "We're friends now, I won't let that ever happen to you."
He was comforting and very assuring. So when he stopped patting me, I was gonna thank him but...
"Besides, if it does come to that, I'll kill every living filth that dares to lay dirt on you for even thinking of taking you away from me, " he then said with a smile.
He killed the mood. A good gesture in its own way. But he killed the mood.
"Let's both try keeping murder to a minimum as much as possible, if you can."
"Heh. Well, okay sure, Kitten~. Although, am I allowed to at least hunt, " he asked.
"Well... I guess I can't deprive use of survival for meats... Yeah, sure... hunting is fine."
"Phew, that's good, " he said in relief, "I can at least feed you proper. If you don't want to kill, I will respect that and hunt for you, but Cat Kins need their meat it's part of their nutrition."
"Thanks but... you said you rule over demons, so aren't you busy?"
"Not at all~, " he said gleefully, "Which thank goodness for that, it's boring being a Fallen Prince. I just tell other demons what to do, I don't even own a kingdom. My status could give me one yes, but I prefer my freedom to do the things I want, killing or merely wandering. And wandering with you, makes my days all too interesting and happy, so I'll go anywhere as long as it's with you~."
He's sparkling and genuine with his words... still very flirtatious though. I know it isn't as direct or intentional anymore than how it felt yesterday but...
"That's sweet, but can we tone down the flirts just a teeny tiny bit?"
"I still creep you out, don't I, " he said in a sad tone, "Sorry, it's just how I speak usually... it always felt kinda natural... Ummm, I can try to stop talking this way if you like."
"What?! No no! Be yourself around me, Lucifer! I wouldn't want to limit you of yourself! I mean, I still think it's creepy... but it doesn't mean you should stop talking like yourself. Just... try to be mindful of me when you speak like this."
Well I guess I'm not getting rid of his tone of voice, I'll just have to get use to it. Besides, I wouldn't want him to fell uncomfortable not talking the way he's use to. Maybe in a few more years it might die down, so I'll let it slide.
"Thank you, Kitten, " he said smiling.
"By the way, how long are you gonna call me Kitten, Lucifer? I already told you my name is Catherine. What, am I just Kitten to you now?"
I was joking with him of course, and he seemed to catch on pretty fast.
"I don't know, the name Kitten suits you well~, " he said hugging me in one arm by my shoulders with a big grin on his face, "Or would you prefer Kitty~?"
"Fine if we're going to play this game of nicknames, huh? Then I'll just call you Lucy!"
We both laughed and chatted the whole time while we ate. To think one day of getting to know each other brought us like this, a Cat Kin Human Hybrid and a Fallen Prince. It's almost feels too good of a friendship to be true. Finally, when I finished up, I went to look for another stick and stone to make another spear, when Lucifer stopped me.
"What's up? I'm just about to make my spear, Lucy."
"Why don't I give my spears, Kitten~?" Lucifer suggests, "It should make things easier than just making a crummy stick one, I don't use spears that much anyway and it was crowding my space anyway from all the kill item drops of the past."
"Thanks Lucy, that would help a lot."
"Would you like me to be your sparing partner too while we're at it, " he said, "It would help raise your stats higher, and you won't destroy the the forest's trees this way."
Right! I was totally doing that with all my training the whole time I was here! Aw shoot, I hope I didn't harm the fairies' forest too badly... Hope they can forgive me for that.
I nodded in agreement and decided to take his offer of being my sparing partner. And-HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF SPEARS!!! I was in awe with every single spear, the design, stats and abilities during battle. We fought while I swapped spears once a day, after my normal solo training was finished so I can get the hang of every spear. He'd try using other elements to fight me with so I'd understand how to use and defend myself from it. Sometimes those attacks helped me gain skills for my spear towards mastery. Like the water attribute frost attack he tried on my spear one time and I used it against him, similar to how I used the fire I made to create as a magic attack. I trained that skill for days and my results didn't disappoint.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER FROST SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER FROST SLASH]
We then played with wind attribute magic, which did the same training results as the previous skills.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER TORNADO SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER TORNADO SLASH]
Then the grass attribute.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER DRAIN SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER DRAIN SLASH]
Then the light attribute.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER LIGHTNING SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER LIGHTING SLASH]
After that was the poison attribute.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER ACID SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER ACID SLASH]
Then the earth attribute.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER TERRA SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER TERRA SLASH]
And finally, the dark attribute.
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER SHADOW SHOT]
[HUMAN RACE MAGIC SKILL UNLOCKED: MASTER SHADOW SLASH]
After we obtained all the mastery of the attributes of my spear skills, I was then given something unexpected.
[UNIQUE SKILL UNLOCKED: SPEAR SUMMONER]
Apparently because I fought with so many different types of spears, and used every single one with magic attacks it made its own skill to hold as many different types of spears as I wish as a magic skill as long as I used it previously had history of using that weapon before and even if it broke I could summon it again. So having over 100 different types of spears in my magic command instead of held inventory was pretty cool, but this would also mean I would have to watch out for how much magic I use. So I made a decision afterwards to train to strengthen my inner magic to handle skills more easily and with less worry. Looking back, it has been almost 5 months of training in Flair Forest and no one has come over and spotted us, which felt really lucky for the both of us.
That was until one night...
"I'm going to hunt again, " he said smiling, "I'll be right back, Kitten."
"Okay, hurry back soon! (Guide, show me my status profile.)"
[NOW LOADING STATUS PROFILE.]
"Wow, my MP really increased. Maybe it was from all the training with Lucy, so I guess the inner magic might turn out to be a much more faster process than my skill training itself. Huh, I never noticed I even had Charisma stats here. Let me just check-. MMPH!!!"
"I got her, " an unfamiliar voice called out, "HURRY AND GET THE APPLE POWDER!"
"HEY! LET ME GO! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! H-HELP!!!"
"KITTEN, " Lucifer yelled in a faint distance, "LET HER GO THIS INSTANT!!!"
"G-GOT IT, " another unfamiliar voice called out.
"DON'T YOU DARE-, " Lucifer's temper on the verge of snapping.
They opened the bag I was in and threw what I felt was dust in my face that smelled like apples. All of a sudden I felt sleepy and I couldn't get up, almost as if I fell into eternal slumber.
["CATHERINE" IS NOW UNDER DEEP SLUMBER.]
[STATUS PROFILE NOW CLOSED.]
[WARNING! "CATHERINE" CAN NO LONGER WAKE UP, ANTIDOTE IS URGENTLY REQUIRED! I REPEAT! ANTIDOTE IS URGENTLY REQUIRED!]
I wouldn't know it then, but I would feel the flames of anger rise in my sleep, as something obviously raged away while I slept.