Over the course of the next week, we've been training a lot. Surprise, surprise, Cleiera turned out to be our combat teacher. We've been sparring so far, which has actually caused me to be humbled quite a bit.
True to his word, Halsten turned out to be a hand-to-hand type combatant. He would use his powers as an incapacitation method, and rely on his hands more. Marie turned out to be a mainly long-range attacker, liking the scene of her enemies suffering in agony before her eyes.
And, to be honest, who wouldn't be ecstatic after seeing someone getting manhandled by flying blood spears? You just sit there and watch.
No effort required.
Sylvera's fighting style is pretty low-effort. All she does is subdue her enemies in ice and call it a day. I have no idea what that ice is made of, but it's sure hella persistent.. Every time I break a layer, more layers of ice form with a vengeance.
And Cleiera...
It's obvious her- I mean, his powers are related to luck. Joy of Misery, and Misery of Joy. The fuck that that mean? I still have no idea how the more your luck, the less your luck at the same time. He likes having more fun with his abilities, now that he can spar freely with us.
I've gotten used to the schedule thus far. The day starts of at 7:00 a.m. (yes, demons use human time) where we eat breakfast in the cafeteria, a rather dull white room with a rather nice old lady serving us food at a counter. The food is relatively nice, either some soggy pancakes or 'crispy' waffles which are not crispy.
Perfection.
After half an hour, we go to our classes. In our spars, it's always a coin flip. Either I get my ass handed to me or I get bodied like hell. It's clear that Halsten and I are the bottom of the class. As a result, whenever we fight, Marie always takes to opportunity to laugh at our poor fighting skill.
Lunch. Please. Don't ask. Let's just say I should've expected the majority of demons to be cannibals.
After lunch, we head to Mr. Branform's class. I don't know whose idea it was to not only put TWO TEACHERS in charge of the whole grade, but also to hold actual academics RIGHT AFTER a fight. Jeez. In his class, I can barely pay attention.
3:30 p.m. Finally. We're free. I rush back to my dorms, and take a long, hot shower. After that, I collapse on my bed, just for Halsten to flash my eyes to wake me up for dinner.
Dinner. Same as lunch. Nope.
After that, I go to the dojo to practice my power. I've negotiated with my schizophrenic double to trigger my brain to feel as much negative emotion towards an enemy, maximizing my demonic energy output. For now, I've found my attack style.
I stand in the middle of the dojo, extending my hand out, and making a gun sign. I flick my wrist upwards, and a tiny antimatter orb flies at high speeds out of my finger, making a rather nice explosion. Antimatter bullets.
Next, I summon an antimatter ball up in the air, and a knife in my other. I've gotten better at summoning two items at once. I throw the knife to the ball with deadly accuracy, causing the ball to explode.
I train for a while, before hitting the sack. But even then, sleeping is hard. Our dorms are technically next to Cleiera's, and what the fuck is she- fuck, I mean he doing? He's always making loud moaning noises. Once I barged into his room. The next moment I went to the bathroom and doused my eyes with bleach.
Somebody kill me.
~~~
After classes today, I go to Cleiera's office. "Hey, uhm, I have a question." I ask. Cleiera raises an eyebrow. He's wearing his normal thigh highs and bows, accompanied by very, very short pants and a blouse.
"What, sweetie? I gotcha covered."
"So...Sylvera told me that some Emptiness users could summon black holes, right? How?" Cleiera chuckles.
"To think that you could try...How ambitious. Come on, dearie. Like I said, I got you." We head to the dojo, sitting down cross-legged at the middle.
"First off, a science lesson. How are black holes formed?" asks Cleiera, smiling. I frown.
"Bold of you to think I know quantum physics."
"Well, a black hole is formed when a massive amount of matter is compressed into a tiny volume. So, Emptiness users create black holes by, you guessed it, summoning a huge amount of antimatter, and compressing it to the point it creates a miniature black hole. They're somehow not affected by it either."
"Cool. So, why don't I just do it?" I ask.
"You'd need a lot. Heck, a lot is a bit of an understatement. You'd need to summon a shit ton of antimatter, and contain it as it grows, to make sure that the room you're in doesn't fucking explode."
I summon a ball of antimatter in my hands, then ball my fist up. Sure enough, the antimatter shrinks, but after a while...nothing happens. I try to shrink it faster, but nothing happened.
"Fuck!" I throw the ball to the floor, causing a massive explosion that blew me straight into Cleiera's arms. He sits me upright.
"Chill there, buckaroo." All of a sudden, a buzzing sound comes from his pocket, He picks up a phone and answers it. "Hello? Oh, hey~! We still on for tonight? What?! You're already there? Oh, coming!" He closes his phone. "Gotta go!" he says to me before dashing out of the dojo.
I walk out of the dojo, defeated, until I hear some pots clanging. I head towards the sound and see...Sylvera? Cooking? She's plating what seems to be a fried dish. Reluctantly, I knock on the door.
"Hmm? Come in." she says. I walk in. Immediately, I'm struck with the smells of wine and fresh herbs. I look at the table, and I see what appears to be what suspiciously looks like the shape of a tongue, deep-fried. There's also some red drink next to it too.
"What is that?" I ask Sylvera.
"It's meant to be the first course of a meal. Deep-fried human tongue stuffed with a Riesling wine and honey reduction sauce, and a Manhattan on the rocks."
"The fuck? The Manhattan's not served on the rocks."
"Shut up."
I plop the tongue into my mouth. I don't know what black magic she casted on the thing, but it's surprisingly soft. The sauce in the middle's really sweet, and it would have not mixed well with the tongue, if unless there wasn't some magic involved. Like, how does someone do that?
Sylvera's washing the dishes. "You know, ever since I became a demon, I've always thought of being a chef. I don't know my past as well, but I imagine that I was a cook somewhere," she says. I chug down the Manhattan.
"Hey! Stop! You're not supposed to..."
"...chug it down like that! Savor it! Relish it! This drinks costs a fortune!" says a woman, throwing her hands up in the air. We're in a bar, a quiet environment, filled with nothing but jazz music.
"Hey, I mean, if I can drink it, it's good enough, right?" I respond.
"Jeez, have some class..." The woman turns her back and starts walking away. "Women..." I mutter under my breath as I call the bartender. "Drink, p-"
"-lease?" I say aloud. Sylvera looks at me quizzically. "What?" she asks.
"N-nothing..." I say. "Your food's delicious, anyway. If it wasn't human meat." Sylvera smirks. "What do you remember about your past?" I ask.
"I don't remember much, but I do remember a man. He offered a hand to me...and I don't know what happened after. A deal made with the devil. Although, there's this feeling I have without him, like an empty place."
"Of course. Do you ever think of seeing him in the real world?" I ask.
"I've tried. During missions, I've tried searching for his face. I couldn't. Why doesn't he want to find me? Could he be in hiding? I don't know." I guess everyone has their loved ones left on Earth. "Do you think he'd still love you even if he knew you were in Hell?" I ask.
"Yes. I do think so."
~~~
Same old breakfast again. It's been precisely 8 days since I got here. Today, there's a different vibe in the cafeteria today. Marie seems overexcited from normal, Halsten seems nervous, and Slyvera seems really tired.
I take a look at my schedule. DSE? What's that? A new subject, it seems. What does it stand for? Our schedule doesn't provide short forms; they expect us to know everything by now.
I look over at Marie, almost jumping out of her seat with excitement. "What's the occasion?" I ask.
"Oh, it's a special day today! I've been waiting for this, for so long now~" Marie says quickly. She seems more overcaffeinated than normal. Halsten, on the other hand, seems like he's mentally preparing himself.
"Dude, what's going on?" I ask. Halsten looks at me with a shocked expression on his face, but it quickly subsides.
"Oh...right. You don't know. You're a beginner." says Halsten.
"Know what?"
"DSE, dumbass." says Sylvera, sighing. "Demonic Sexual Education."
~~~
We go to class, Cleiera standing in the middle. He's wearing a pink singlet with a pink sweater, black shorts and what looks like bunny ears. And is that a...cottontail? Of course he'd be our teacher.
"Heeeeey! Class! Good morning! As you know, this is our first DSE lesson together! So exciting! Okay, in this class, we'll cover the basics. As you all know, the basics of seduction, is of course, the deed itself. It's the core of all seduction. So, today..." Cleiera smirks. "Why don't you give me a demonstration?"
"Wait a minute, what?" I ask. Marie's smiling like hell now. Halsten, on the other hand, is sweating profusely. "Dude, why you afraid?" I ask Halsten.
"You'll be using the groups Mr. Branform set for you. Halsten-Sylvera, and Ethan-Marie," Cleiera chips in.
"That's why." Halsten says. Oh my God. "I believe Ethan heeeere is a noob too! So, how about..." Cleiera winks. "...I help the two of you?"
"WHAT? Nah, I am not doing that. No, no, no."
"Too bad!" The whiteboard splits in half to reveal a door, which Cleiera pushes me inside. It's dark, but slowly my eyes adjust to the light. A queen-sized bed...really? I feel a cold breath behind me, and a hand grazing my shoulder.
"Let's begin, shall we?" asks Cleiera.