Page 14 of The Fearless Witch

If a lower demon were to defeat a prince in these Ascension Trials, they were allowed to take their place. That was Lucifer’s favorite game, one that had existed long before I was even born. Dangling the holy grail in front of his underlings kept them fighting amongst each other and if they were busy with that, they wouldn’t think of foolish things like… working together or challenging those in power. Smart, really, considering how many demons Hell had, but what else could one expect from the Devil himself?

It was all bullshit. The whole thing was rigged from the start, but luckily for me, I also had a cheating card. I bet the King of Hell didn’t take into account that one of his demons could have a two-thousand-year-old deal that might give him enough power to rival a prince, even without a crown.

“Back so soon, eh?” Leviathan chuckled, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs. “Don’t you ever get tired, Beleth? It has been like what, two thousand times?” Belphegor chuckled while the Prince of Envy waved his hand in dramatic exasperation. “There is no way you can win, so stop making us work so much. It’s because of annoyances like you we have to come here at all.”

‘One thousand, five hundred, and thirty-two,’ I wanted to correct him, but I kept my mouth shut. Antagonizing him would be plain stupid if I ended up fighting him. Out of the three present, Asmodeus and Leviathan weren’t a good match. The only time I ever got close to winning was when facing Belphegor and that was who I had been hoping to find here today. While Celeste’s power kept growing with every passing day, I still didn’t think I’d be able to beat the other two. Maybe in a few years when she was at her peak, but I doubted we’d have that kind of time. Something was telling me she wouldn’t be able to keep the ‘nice girl’ facade for that long.

“I have the right to come here as often as I like.” I tried to keep my voice even when I met his gaze, but the pure mockery in his snake-like eyes made me snap. Before I knew it, I was baring my teeth and reaching for my power. “I hereby come to challenge you for the crown. Who will be my opponent?”

I glanced between them again. Asmodeus was back to sipping what appeared to be wine but might have been blood, barely listening to us, while Belphegor was inspecting her ruby red nails as if she was considering having them redone.

“He looks so fired up, I don’t feel like wasting my energy,” she sighed.

“It’s your turn.” Leviathan shrugged, nudging her shoulder until she glared at him. Hope surged in my chest at the sound of that.

“Well, we are all here, aren’t we?” she said with the sweetest smile, running a hand over the hem of her shimmering dress until the cloth parted at her hip. His eyes narrowed, and even Asmodeus looked away from his precious goblet. “How about one of you take my turn this time and then we can have some proper fun? I just did my nails. I don’t want to ruin them.”

The two men looked at each other for a long moment before the Prince of Lust rose to his feet, his drink clattering to the floor. The way the red liquid sloshed heavily over the stone surface told me that it was most definitely not wine.

“You better make it worth my time,” Asmodeus said as he strode past her, his piercing black eyes now locked on me. When he descended the steps leading down to the fighting ring, my heart dropped, but I tried to keep my expression plank, telling myself that I could do this.

‘We should run,’ Cyrus whimpered, his uneasiness spreading through my body. I steeled myself, reaching for our remaining power as Asmodeus finally joined me in the fighting arena.

His long brown hair was tied into a knot at the back of his head, a few strands falling in front of a face with deceivingly human features. His vessel was of a large man, larger than any human I had seen in the past five hundred years, with muscles bulging underneath his leather vest and breeches.

“I’m not running,” I replied, realizing too late that I had said it out loud. My opponent raised an eyebrow, and a smile stretched across his lips. His eyes turned a bright shade of red right before a pair of fangs jutted out.

“Of course not,” he smirked, sleeking his hair back. “You’re usually carried out in pieces. Or if we are feeling generous, just… dead.”

My shadows slid around my fingers, growing longer and longer until I was holding a blade in each hand. Asmodeus frowned when I didn’t reply, studying me with obvious distaste.

“Fine, let’s get this over with,” he sighed, shrugging his mantle off. The moment the cloth pooled on the floor, a pair of dark, bat-like wings sprawled from his back, their taloned tips brushing the stone ceiling and sending sparks in the air.

He didn’t bother changing fully into his demon form before beckoning me to attack. I didn’t hesitate. This was an annoying pastime for them, but for me, it was life and death. If I didn’t become a Prince of Hell before Celeste died, we’d be reduced to nothing again. We had sacrificed too much to let that happen.

‘Be careful,’ Cyrus whispered just as I sunk into my shadows and tried to sneak on Asmodeus from the side. I held no illusions about killing him, I wasn’t the Devil or a Prince of Hell… yet. But destroying his vessel was not impossible. I just needed to pierce his heart. Simple.

I reappeared right beside him, my blade flying toward his chest, but he was expecting me. His taloned wing met my weapon right before it pierced his skin, pushing it back with a strength that made me stagger. I steadied myself and tried to escape into my shadows again, but with just one flap, he had them dispersing like smoke in the wind.

Panic gripped my throat as he used his other wing to attack, forcing me to concede step after step while struggling against the sheer strength of his blows. The last one almost took my head off, but I managed to throw myself aside just in time.

“Are you going easy on him because he’s so pathetic?” Leviathan chuckled from the other side of the cave. He had propped his feet on the seat Asmodeus had vacated, looking more interested in running his fingers through Belphegor’s golden hair than watching us fight. “Consider killing him a mercy—imagine how stupid he must be to fail at the same thing two thousand times and still come back for more.”

Belphegor’s sweet laughter echoed through the cave, distracting me just long enough for Asmodeus to smack one of my swords out of my hand. His other wing collided with my chest, the talon on its end sinking deep into my flesh and wrenching a gasp of pain from my lips. It missed my heart, but before I had time to feel any relief, I was sent flying through the cave with crimson spraying like a fountain from my wound.

I crashed into the wall just above the other two princes, forcing the Prince of Envy to tilt his head so my fraying legs missed him. Belphegor sat up abruptly, her beautiful face twisting in an ugly grimace while she wiped my blood from it.

The air left my lungs, but even with my vision blurring and my power dripping away, I forced myself to my feet. Asmodeus waited for me in the fight ring, his wings folding and opening with impatience.

The fact that he only used his wings bothered me. If he didn’t need his full power to face me, then he didn’t even consider me a challenge. Bitterness spread through my mouth that had nothing to do with the blood there, and I glanced at the other two.

Belphegor held my gaze as she licked her red-stained fingers, her not-so-innocent eyes full of hunger and something else. The man next to her smirked like he could read all of my pathetic thoughts.

I circled their seats, descending the steps toward my opponent. The rules were clear: I could only fight the one who answered my challenge. Wasting my energy on them would be pointless.

I had barely cleared the stairs when Asmodeus moved again, his wings flying faster and hitting harder than before. I tried my best to tear through them with my blade, but it was like his power repelled my shadows even before they dealt any serious damage. I felt like a fly in the way of a giant beast, barely an annoyance worth killing.

When I was sent flying through the room again, I considered letting him destroy this body and be done with this fucking shitshow. Had I been a human, dying would have been a goddamn relief, but as a demon, I knew there were far more terrifying tortures than that of the flesh.

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