The Demon Priest

Chapter 3: Azazel

 Reginald watched as the sinister looking flames engulfed the boy. He heard him scream, but wasn't certain if it was out of pain or not. Looking back he saw that his knights stepped backwards a bit and considered doing the same. Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, the flames dispersed and Lance emerged, but was changed. His hair was now jet black with a streak of silver in it and reached down to his shoulders. Two curved horns sprouted from the sides of his head and his ears were now fully pointed like a bats. His right eye was still yellow, but his left one glowed red and two fangs protruded out from under his lips. He wore a black  suit of armor over his ghost white skin that looked to be made of some sort of black scales. A single leathery wing flapped from the left side of his back and below it was a long tail which was pointed like an arrow at the end. In his hand he gripped a black sword which had the same flames dancing along the blade.
 "What the hell?!" Reginald exclaimed, taken aback by the boys new form. "Be on your guard men, there's no telling what kind of powe-"
 He was cut off as he felt something brush by him. The commander looked back to see his knights on the ground, knocked out. He whirred back around and saw the boy in the same spot as before.
 'He moved? I didn't even see him lift a finger.' Reginald looked down at his hands to see them shaking. 'Am I scared? No that's not possible.'
 Reginald held his broadsword in front of him and charged. The monster seemed to twitch and he brought his blade up to meet the commanders, which saved him from being cut in half. Reginald sneered but this quickly faded as he felt himself being pushed back. He dropped his arms, rolled backward and jumped back up.
 Lance raised an eyebrow and ran forwards with such speed it seemed like he was flying. He brought the Demon Blade down forcing his opponent on their knees. He could see Reginald struggle and snickered. He kicked forwards with his clawed foot and the knight rolled across the ground, stopping in front of his unconscious comrades. "What are you? A demon or human?" The commander demanded as he stoop back up. He was resilient, Lance noticed. "Answer me beast!"
 "You answer me first. Are you a human or a monster because of the blood you drink?" Lance asked calmly, his voice smooth but now deep and commanding.
 "What?! I won't lower myself to answer a beasts question."
 "Tsk. You think yourself above me, above your other knights. But in reality you're lower than a common street rat."
 "What did you say monster?!"
 "Nothing, I suppose. It wouldn't matter anyway."
 Lance gripped his sword and stabbed forwards forcing Reginald to stray to the side. The boy spun on the balls of his feet and attacked his opponents side, their armor being the only thing that saved him from being gut like a pig.
 Lance grew closer as Reginald stood, although shaking. He rushed forwards, feigning a stab then turned and slashed at the boys exposed ribs. He saw the blade about to connect and smiled. However as he felt his sword being pushed back he looked to see that Lance had caught it and was forcing it away from him. Reginald jumped back and wiped the sweat from his brow. Meanwhile Lance looked to be smiling and twirling his sword in his hand.
 "That's enough Reginald. You are just making a fool of yourself." A deep male voice said.
 Lance and the commander both looked to see a man walk over, kicking multiple corpses out of the way. However the shadows seemed to cover him, concealing his appearance so Lance couldn't see him.
 "We're leaving, let's go." He ordered.
 "Yes professor." Reginald obeyed, running over to him.
 The professor looked over at Lance. "Hmm. You're interesting. Quite a specimen. Unfortunately I do not have the means to capture you right now, so I guess we will see you another time perhaps."
 The figure pulled a metal box from their pocket and threw it on the ground, enveloping them and the rest of the knights in a blue light. They were suddenly gone, leaving Lance mystified but more so angry. He started thrashing about, destroying the already wrecked homes even more.
 'Woah let's not destroy this place anymore. What we should do is get out of the town in case anyone comes back here.' Said a voice in his head.
 Lance calmed down and agreed. He needed to leave and he knew where to go. He ran through the forest until he reached a small clearing with a lake in it. The boy stopped and sat down next to it. All of a sudden the exhaustion hit him, he didn't realize how tired he was. Lance fell backwards and drifted off to a much needed sleep.

                                                                                                  *
Reginald and the professor walked down the long hallway of their base.
 "Explain to me what happened once more." The latter commanded.
 Reginald bowed his hand. "Of course, sir. Our knights completely destroy Axon, as ordered, and in the process captured a girl from the Marhune family."
 "Interesting. Go on."
 "Yes, well as we were about to leave a boy tried to sop us. Let me say this child was strong. He managed to fend me off while looking to be weakened, and this was before he changed into... whatever that was."
 The professor stopped. "I see. Very intriguing. I would very much like to study him. However we shall save that matter for another time. Now though, how about we go check on the Marhune girl, hmm?"
                                                                                                     *
Lance opened his eyes and sat up. What had happened...? Then it all flooded back to him. The village, Iris and... His father. Lance gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the ground. He wasn't strong enough and failed to protect everyone. This was all his fault. The boy stood up and immediately felt something touch his leg. He whirred around but saw nothing, yet he still felt something touch his leg. He spun again but still, nothing.
 The boy looked down, and between his legs he saw a tail flicking back and forth. He yelped and jumped in surprise. Why did he have a tail? He got back down on his knees and looked into the lake. He wore everything he did before the commander showed up, so his armor and headband around his ears, but his clothes weren't the issue. Coming out from under his hair, which now had a black streak in it, were a pair of small horns. He reached up to touch them but noticed a mark on his left hand. The outside of the mark was a circle, and resting inside of it was a cross with an X through it.
 "That's the seal of our contract." Someone said behind him.
 Lance jumped up and spun around, reaching for his sword that wasn't their. Standing in front of him was a demon. About the same height as Lance, this demon had long black hair flowing down to his shoulders. Curved horns sprouted from the front of his head and his mouth was lined with razor sharp fangs. It wore the same clothing and had the same pale skin as Lance did when he... transformed, but had two massive wings on its back. In its clawed hand it held that strange sword from before.
 "Stay back, beast." Lance shouted.
 The demon looked at him strangely before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
 "W-what's so funny?" The boy stammered.
 The demon began to calm down and answered him. "Nothing is funny, it's simply... amusing. Do you not understand that I'm with you, not against you?"
 "Ha! As if I would ever align myself with a demon."
 "You think I'm evil because of what I am? That's a bit unfair. Besides, you're wrong I am actually trying to help you."
 "And why would you do that?"
 The demon sighed. "Do you not remember that we have a contract, Lance?" I help you and you help me. to put it simply."
 Lance thought back to the battle between Reginald and himself. That voice gave him the power to get Iris back, and in return he had to... stop it's father?
 "So you're the one who gave me this power? I see, well if I knew that you were a demon I would have rather just died."
 "I thought the term 'Demon Blade' was a rather big hint. Either way it's too late. A contract between demon and master can't be broken until the terms are fulfilled." Lance frowned. This demon was a piece of work, usually he would have just killed it by now. However there was something bugging him.
 "I've never heard of a contract before. Especially not what happened to me. Does it have something to do with that sword?"
 The demon hefted the weapon in their hand. "Yes, you should be thankful, you know. Usually summoning a demon requires a human sacrifice which is, as you can imagine, very bloody and most of the time the demon disobeys their master and goes on a rampage. Even if someone manages to control one, the most that happens is that. They control it and tell it what to do. However what the Demon Blade does is more complex. It strengthens our, let's go with bond-"
 "We don't have a bond."
 "-and let's us form one being, a single entity. This way I can lend you my strength and assist you in battle. It lets demon and human become one."
 "Why would I need help from the likes of you?" Lance questioned.
 Once again the demon sighed. "One, if it wasn't for me you would have been dead already. Two, you will need my power to face the battles ahead. Trust me."
 Lance looked at the demon and knew it was true. He needed its strength to take down the Black Knights and get Iris back.
 "Fine, I will allow you to travel with me," He said. "What's your name, seeing as you already know mine?"
 The demon smirked, "I'm Azazel, Prince of Demons."
 Lance stood there, making no attempt to hide the shock on his face. Did he say prince? More importantly if he was the prince of demons, that means...
 "Your father is the King of Demons, Abraxas!"
 "Yes, that's correct." Azazel said like it was no big deal.
 "W-why would you want me to kill your father?"
 Azazel sighed and sat down next to the lake, staring sadly at his reflection. "You see, my father wants to wipe the humans off the face of Chiyolas and is using the Black Knights to do so. He thinks that your kind is weak and useless and should all just die."
 Lance raised an eyebrow. "and what do you think?"
 "I think he's wrong, plain and simple. You humans are very interesting and I think that rather than killing you, we should live side by side. I know for a fact lots of other demons feel the same way, but with my father in charge there's no way it will happen."
 "I see. So you need my help to do this because why exactly?"
 "Abraxas can literally control demons, forcing them to do things or stop them from doing things. However I figured that if I was in a human vessel that it wouldn't work on me."
 Lance looked at the demon. He still didn't trust him, but yet there was truth to his words. Azazel really did want to make peace between the two races and wanted to do what was best for his kingdom.
 Lance sighed. Hopefully he didn't regret this. "Alright, I'll help you."
 Azazel jumped up and actually bowed. "Thank you Lance. It's not like you had a choice anyway but thank you nonetheless."
 "So once we get this over with all of my new, er, oddities will go away. Correct?"
 "Correct. However we should probably get you something to cover up your horns. As for your tail just stuff it in your armor. Let's see if anything in the village can help."
 You just told me to leave, now you want me to go back?"
 "I don't sense any life in it, so it couldn't hurt to check."
 Lance just rolled his eyes as the demon dragged him along.
 After rummaging through multiple destroyed houses, Lance found a black hooded travelling cloak. Hopefully that would do. He threw it on and pulled the hood up, making sure it covered his horns completely. He also check his headband to make sure it covered his ears, which it did. He looked to see Azazel floating in the air tossing a sword around.
 "Why do you need that?" The half elf questioned. "You already have a sword."
 Azazel snickered. "Correction, you have a sword. The Demon Blade is yours to use. However if I need to fight I'll need my own weapon. I think this will do nicely."
 He tapped the sword and it suddenly turned black as night, with the hilt turned silver. Then with a snap of his fingers the Demon Blade appeared in a sheath in his hand and he tossed it to Lance.
 "Does the blade have a name?" The boy asked as he equipped it to his side.
 "Well no, not technically. However I've come to calling it Betrayal."
 "Betrayal?"
 "Yes. A Demon Blade was forged by demons, but now will slay my father and many more, no doubt. So I think Betrayal is a good name for it."
 "Hmm. Yes, I think so too." Lance thought of another question. "So how do I get back into my... demon state, if I ever do need to again?"
 "Simple. Just draw Betrayal from it's sheath and call my name. That's it. Of course, you can still use the blade as a normal sword, but becoming a demon is just so much more fun don't you think?"
 "Let's just agree to disagree. Just how are you going to get around anyway? It's not as simple as putting on a cloak for you is it."
 Azazel chuckled. "No it's not. You'll actually be the one carrying me around."
 The demon shut his eyes and in a flash turned into a ball of black energy. It, or he, went to the Demon Blade and into the silver gem, which flashed a dark blue for a moment.
 "That's... strange. Although I suppose it's convenient." Lance stated.
 "Yes, it is." Azazel agreed, appearing next to the boy and startling him.
 "Don't do that demon! Ahem, now what is our objective, or rather I should say the next place to go?"
 "Well, what's the nearest town?"
 Lance thought. "Well it would probably be the city of Cardinal, although I've never been there before."
 "You haven't been to Cardinal?!" The demon exclaimed.
 "Er, no. I have never left my village."
 A grin appeared on the prince's face. "This is going to be fun. You won't be disappointed.