The Goddess Of Salvation

Chapter I

In the outskirts of a town full of rogue individuals, it is the place most suitable to hunt for souls, and in some of the deserted alleys, there would sometimes be bodies left to decay.

"NO! DON'T! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DEMONS!" stumbling to his feet, he fell down, scraping his knees and palms.

"Pft—running away won't save you." Closing the distance between us, I hold out my hand to reach for his forehead. His hands frantically search the grounds. Probably for something that could be a weapon. But he couldn't find any—not even a shard of glass. As I hover my hand over his head, a strong tug made my head sway to the left. Did he just... pulled my horn? This damn shit! Instead of his forehead, my hand wraps around his neck, almost instinctively. With each passing seconds, my grip tightens, and his, struggles to keep the strength.

"Maylea! Don't kill him yet."

As soon as I heard the command, I released my grip. Touching his neck, the man gasps for air desperately. Once again, I hover my hand over his forehead—only this time to actually manage to pull out his soul. Grey wisps begin to invade his eyes and nose, leaving the man with tears running down his cheeks and pleading for mercy.

"NO! Please! No..." As his voice soon stopped, the wisps came out from his mouth engulfing a darkened liquid state of soul. Guiding the liquid with the grey wisps, it flows into a cylinder capsule and is sealed with a spell already weaved on it.

"Well done! Though you almost screwed it." The man who was behind me is now by my side retrieving the capsule in my hand.

"Haa— I know." I sigh. I turn to look at his face.

"But seriously...HAHAHA! How could you let a human pull on your horn like that! It's even funnier when I remembered you're the daughter of Lord Aerginuth... that cold-blooded Aerginuth... HAHAHA!"

I'm gonna kill him. No. Hold it in. Hold it in Maylea.

"Whoa, whoa, what's with that look huh? Frowning much?"

"Well, I wouldn't be if you hadn't made fun of me." I say, smiling while holding in my earlier thoughts. He let out a single laugh and then turned away from me, making his way out of this alley.

"Hey, Vrex." I call out to him, making him stop in his tracks. He turned around revealing an emotionless expression. Sometimes it made me wonder whether I could rely on him or not. After all, we're only partners.

"Am I..." I stop mid-sentence, thinking of how I should phrase my question. But none of the words that came to mind could be used. "Am I doing good?" I blurted it out.

"Why?"

A moment of silence settles between us. His eyes are looking into mine, in search of the reason behind my question. For a moment his head went sideway and his eyebrows arched downward.

"Did Lord Aerginuth say something? Well I did hear of that incident you pulled at the academy. Very bold of you, by the way." He says, smirking.

"It wasn't even a big incident, why even you know it?"

"Because it's YOU... so, you wanna talk about it?" I know exactly what he meant by it. Because it's me. Because I'm Maylea Aerginuth. Because Maylea Aerginuth is the only daughter of Lord Aerginuth. And because Lord Aerginuth is one of the three Demon Lords,

"Maylea, you will be offering your services in the Soul Division II. With your previous incident, I wouldn't be accepting any failure." He said, while looking me straight in the eyes. His eyes glowed red as a warning.

I knew on instinct that day... that I shouldn't mess this job up. That he might not let me go like he did last time.

"No, he just said to do a good job." I answered Vrex.

"Hmm, yeah right.. but hey, relax... you're still in the trial period."

"Exactly. I'm on trial. Which makes my performance will be the one to decide whether I pass this or not." I gesture my hands to my surroundings. "Oh wait... what if I bribe you?" A sudden idea came to me. Vrex is my partner, also the senior evaluating my performance.

"Try it and I'll fail you on the spot." He said. His face looked smug, like he's being proud of his authority over me. In response, I gave him a small laugh.

"Alright. Let's move on to our next person." He declares. Just as we're about to exit the valley, a tall figure stops us in our tracks. Vrex heightens his guard but lowers it as soon as he realises the identity of the figure. He bows his head in respect as the man approaches us.

"Father calls for a meeting." He announced before continuing, "I'll be taking her for the rest of the day, you wouldn't mind that, would you?" He directed the question to Vrexdius in a way that it is almost demanding. In his so well-kept outfit, and the way he conducted himself, so poised, made me want to burst out laughing right then and there.

"Of course, I'll take care of the rest." Vrex replies. I followed the man away from the valley and before I could say a word to him, he warned me.

"No, don't. Not a word. I was forced into... these..." He motioned to his outfit (a brown jacket worn over a black plain shirt paired with skinny black jeans, definitely Val's work) "... and what was that back then? That was a whole century of embarrassment. You actually managed to get your horn pulled by a mortal. Please, don't tell people you're my sister. Man, I can imagine Caelius snapping at you over this! But I won't tell him. Aren't I a good brother? You should appreciate me more. I'm so glad I got to witness that. I mean, in my whole 90 years of living, I have never heard of such an incident happening! HAHAHA! And to think..."

Now, that's more like the Sovian I know, however, "hey, are we gonna walk all the way back to the Demon Realm?" I interrupted him. We've actually walked past a block now... for nothing.

He had a blank expression before exclaiming, "Oh right!" He grabbed my hand in his, and chanted "Elournach." In an instant, our surroundings changed like a speed motion to a different view, and I felt a surge of vomit climbing my throat. "You fuck-! Warn me before doing that!" I vent, but Sovian don't seem to care. He's even smirking. He did it on purpose.

"We're here." Looking around, the bricked walls fencing a land of trees which houses an ancient old mansion are all too familiar. He had brought us right in front of the front gate to our territory. "Brace yourself. All I know is that Caelius screwed something up and it had to do with us." He said while we made our way through the worn out pavements. The night should have been bright because of the moon, but the light shone was almost concealed by the overgrown tree branches. The whole walk to the mansion was filled with anxiety. Please, let it be nothing big, I thought to myself.