'Do you see that human, Náli?' Azrael asked me while focusing on our target.
I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see me and said, 'Yes, father.'
'Good,' He straightened up, holding his precious blade in a throwing position, and said, 'Now watch carefully.'
So I did. The petty human was too busy milking one of the many cows. It was a tough spot because we only wanted the human girl's soul and not any of the cows. It wasn't that the demon master would have a problem with extra souls, but we had to prove our precision about doing exactly what was assigned.
The blade soared through the air in a whoosh and landed straight into the girl's heart. My eyebrows shot up, impressed and envious of my father's skills. Someday, I was going to be just like him, if not better.
The body fell to the floor in a thud as the soul travelled to Limbo.
I turned to Azrael and asked, 'How will the soul get to Hell?'
This was one of my very early training sessions, so I was still learning the basics.
My father didn't bother turning towards me but raised his hand as a gesture to call back his blade. 'The girl you just saw, did she seem pure to you?'
'Yes..' I muttered hesitantly. My father hadn't told me any details, only that he had a job, and I was going with him. At the time, I hadn't bothered questioning. I was too excited about the prospect of collecting another soul.
'Ah, you're still young,' I frowned at him as he wiped his blade on the tree trunk we were hiding behind. Then, 'With age, you'll be able to see how dark or black a human's soul is.'
'This girl,' He pointed the tip of his blade at the dead body, '-was almost completely enveloped within darkness. She was disrespectful towards her elders, treated people rudely and had pushed her mother down a staircase in a bout of anger with no regrets.'
I smirked at the last part, imagining how Azrael would look with a snapped neck. The sound of metal clashing dragged my attention back to my father. He was done putting his blade inside his coat and said, 'So, that girl will definitely go to hell to be punished for her sins.'
With that, he turned around and started walking deeper into the forest. I was busy thinking over his words and asked, 'So the demon master tells you all this or do you figure it out using your powers?'
'Your powers, of course. Why would Samael bother with such menial tasks?' It was a rhetorical question and there was a hint of jealousy in his voice. At the time, I couldn't understand the reason behind his envy and decided to remain silent for the rest of the journey.
We were headed back to the centre of the forest, where we had come from. There was a clearing in that area, which provided easy access to open the portal to hell without alerting other humans.
My power wasn't too strong, but it was enough to hold back a demon long enough for me to run away.
As my father said earlier, I was still too young and our powers grew with age. It would take a long time before I could be as powerful as him.
We reached the clearing and my father pulled out his knife with a metallic clang that echoed throughout the empty forest. My eyes surveyed our surroundings as my father used his blood to open the portal to Hell.
Azrael was too busy with the portal so I was pretty sure he didn't notice the shadow that swiped on our right. I was immediately on alert, my fire at the tip of my fingers, ready to burn down the entire forest if need be.
'Come, Náli.' My father said, and I walked toward the portal backwards. My eyes kept surveying my surroundings as the shadow was moving much faster.
Just when I was on the edge of the portal, blue eyes rushed at me from out of the darkness. In a panic, my fire shot out of my hands, and I fell into the portal. It closed behind me, but I caught a glimpse of the shadow glaring at me as fire danced all around him. What bothered me was that the flames never touched him.
There was a sort of calm that enveloped me as I sat in on the council in my father's body. It wasn't hard impersonating my father, considering all he did was fight with the demon master.
Still, I had to be careful. I had been on the council once and that was only because they were debating whether to allow me to go to earth with Azrael or train here, in Hell.
Most newborn or young demons can't travel to Earth until they're at least a hundred years old. At most, seventy-five. This was to ensure that we were prepared and didn't create any problems.
Earth was polluted as it is. There were too many unknown creatures out there and it wasn't safe for us to venture out into the unknown.
These rules had been created after some incidents. Previously, demons were free to travel to Earth whenever they wanted. However, untrained demons weren't careful and restrained.
They never followed rules and did as they pleased. This was creating problems for the demon master and it was almost to the point that a war was about to break out between Heaven and Hell.
Hence, a peace treaty was signed between the two domains. It was agreed that untrained would not be allowed to travel to earth until they were a hundred. Unless someone wanted access earlier, they had to pass through a special test to ensure that they were capable.
This was exactly what was being debated when my father brought up that he wanted to take me to earth with him on missions. I was only ten at that point.
The demon master had a valid point, but my father was persistent. So they had agreed that I would go through a test, much to my father's dismay.
There were a lot of demons who had gone through such tests, but only five had passed. All of them had been older than me at the time of the test, but I was confident in my abilities.
The test was to be conducted the next day. Azrael had tried to make it today, but the demon master and Beelzebub had agreed on tomorrow. According to them, they had to do some preparations.
My father was determined. He would accept nothing but victory. This was personal, more than getting permission for me to visit earth whenever. He wanted to prove to the demon master that this was a waste of time, and I was Azrael's daughter and just as capable as him.
He made me spar with him almost every hour. Only stopping if I broke a bone or the room was in complete chaos.
Eventually, we had to take it outside to the blood hills. I was wearing a black catsuit, with metal knuckles and daggers hanging by my sides.
None of us held back despite being related. We sparred like there was no tomorrow and we were fighting for our lives.
The clash of knives was the only sound I could hear. At this moment, Azrael was my enemy, and I would take him down with me at any cost.
Azrael's blade and my dagger clashed with a roar. His dark powers were already affecting the weather. My fire was already covering me with its warmth.
My blades were hot to the touch as I swiped out towards Azrael with both hands. The blades soared through the air when Azrael knocked them out of my hands. But I was holding two more daggers from my sides.
My power went to the fallen daggers and took control of them with my mind. While I was keeping Azrael busy at the forefront, I let the other two knives soar for his back.
Unfortunately, he threw me to the ground with a powerful kick and deflected the blades in my direction. I rolled out of the way to avoid the blades and jumped to my feet.
We circled each other with narrowed eyes. Azrael was deadly for a reason. I had to be clever if I wanted to win this fight.
He came for me with his knife again, and I barely avoided getting stabbed. Although it did leave a slash on my side, it also give me the opportunity to slash out behind me.
I fell to my knees in a slide and swiped out my blades, hoping that one of them caught his legs.
The hiss that sounded was music to my ears, and I almost smiled. I stood up and looked at him. This time, I was the one to make the first move.
Our blades clashed again and we were engaged in a deadly dance. I decided to use the earlier trick but was more careful this time.
When the blades came for him from behind, I jumped away from him when he made a move to push me away. Just when he turned towards the flying blades, I ran for him and plunged my knife into his back.
He turned at the last second, so the blades didn't go in as deep as I'd wanted. But it was still painful, and I was ravished in his misery.
Azrael eyes were dark as his black power swirled around him. I narrowed my eyes at his form. He knew my powers were no match for him.
My eyes flared golden as my fire surfaced. I was covered head to toe in orange, like a blazing ball of sunshine. My knives and daggers were hovering by my side, ready to attack at any second.
But, my father calmed down. He stood tall and looked down at me. I lowered my knives and frowned at him, 'We'll take a break now.'
With that, he turned and vanished. I stared at the spot he was standing in a second ago. The Azrael I knew would've definitely attacked me with his dark powers. I had almost accepted death, maybe I could've survived it but that was highly unlikely.
I felt a presence beside me and snapped my head to the left. Leviathan, too, was frowning at the spot my father had been standing in, 'Was that really Azrael?'
'You tell me,' I raised an eyebrow at him in question. After all, he was the same age as my father.
He laughed, 'Who knew Azrael had a heart?'
I gave him a weird look, 'That's highly unlikely.'
He just smiled at me and took my father's spot. I readied my stance as Leviathan transformed into his original form of a snake.
There are perks to having a snake as your best friend. Leviathan was one of the most powerful demons for a reason. Although he didn't transform completely into a snake. It would still make him a much faster and stronger target.
I had fought beside Leviathan once, but never against him. He never agreed to a fight because he thought I was too weak. So for him to actually agree to fight me meant that the test tomorrow was going to be pretty tough.
My eyes were still flashing golden and so were his, only they looked a bit more yellow. He slithered towards me at breakneck speed, and I barely jumped out of the way.
My daggers were in my hands as I thought of a possible way to defeat him. It made me slightly nervous that he wasn't even using his full power right now.
The yellow eyes found me again, and I was paralysed. Luckily, my telekinetic abilities were still working so I let my daggers fly for his head freely. Leviathan avoided them at the last second and made his way toward me.
But the distraction was enough for him to break eye contact. I raised my hands and my knives flew to my hands. My fire heated them up as I ran and threw one knife after another.
It went on like this for a while, and I knew I was growing tired. So I came up with a quick plan. I let a burst of fire shoot straight towards him. It would be enough to blind him for a minute and that was all I needed.
I let my knives sink into his tail at different spots. His tail was moving constantly, so the knives only ended up making small cuts.
Just in case something like this happened, I had come up with a backup plan. Five of my daggers floated behind the firewall at different angles.
The smoke and embers were clearing up, and I saw the bright, yellow eyes as Leviathan slithered towards me. But my knives were my shield and he had to move away at the last second.
I collapsed to my knees on the ground, breathing harshly. The firewall required a tremendous amount of energy. It was something I had never tried before, hence using up a lot of my power.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw a hand and looked up at Leviathan, 'You okay?'
I nodded and slapped his hand away, 'Yes, I just need some souls.'
He chuckled, and I stood up. When I looked up, he was staring at me intently so I raised an eyebrow, 'What?'
'I think you'll do good.' I looked away because he was making me uncomfortable.
I snorted and searched the castle in the background for my father, 'Of course, I will.'
'Do you think he heard it?' I looked at Leviathan with wide eyes.
He frowned, 'No,' He thought for a second then looked at me, 'No, I don't think so.'
I exhaled in relief, then noticing that I was standing too close to him, I cleared my throat, 'Well, we should get going then.'