Warrior Academy

Chapter 6

Amalie was taking all the prey. I was upset about that, but didn’t let it get to me.

When she finally called for backup, I was ready and primed. The specific demon was a mid-class ogre-bear demon. Reverend Mother hadn’t told us there were a couple of mid-classes in the woods.

“I don’t think we can handle this one, Sera!” Amalie started to shake.

“If you believe you can’t do it, then stay and continue your sniveling. I am going to kill this demon whether you decide to help or not. Just don’t come crying to me when you get hurt,” I harshly replied.

The downside to our Weapons in Weapon form was that they couldn’t hear outside conversations. Well, in my case it was a plus because all three Weapons would reprimand me for speaking so callously.

Using Layton first, I fired non-spirit ammo filled with holy water.

“Stop, human! None shall pass into the threshold of Lord Amikias!” The ogre-bear demon wasn’t even fazed by the holy water bullets. Its voice took me by surprised. It wasn’t deep and grumbled. I could perfectly understand it.

“How long have you been in the human world, Ogre-Bear?” I asked it. It was crazy talk—conversing with a demon was probably the dumbest thing someone could do. But I had been taught differently. You could learn a lot from talking to them—given they don’t somehow wind their words around to make you agree to giving up your spirit.

It cocked its head at me. “Many centuries, human. Many, many centuries. But that is not what’s important. You shall retreat before Lord Amikias finds you in his claws.”

“I’m not the only one who is in these woods. There are more than a hundred Exorcists in Training here.”

The ogre-bear demon straightened its hunched back and looked around in distress.

Unfortunately, Amalie decided to use its momentary distraction and slammed her staff down on its shoulder. The force of the impact sent the ogre-bear down onto his knees.

It roared out in agony and I watched as the skin bubbled. She had coated the staff in holy water.

But Amalie wasn’t done there. She proceeded to jab spirit enriched blows into the ogre-bear mercilessly.

“Amalie! Stop!” I commanded her, but it was too late. The ogre-bear was down for the count and she had driven him backwards—into this Lord Amikias’ sphere of detection.

I wonder if anyone else had been seen yet. Those foolish enough to take on the mid-level demons would find themselves in a tough situation. And those who had the brains to go around them would be caught anyway, but by something much worse.

I barely sensed its approach, so I was powerless against the being. Except, it didn’t come straight at me, it went for Amalie.

“Ama-!” My warning words were cut short when I realized it already had her. Its hands—if even that, more like claws—were wrapped around her neck.

“The human who dared try and sneak up on me while I was asleep,” the demon snarled. I remembered something Tally had said when she was babbling.

“I think out of all the Demon Dukes, Amikias has the biggest reputation of being a monster,” she said and looked back at me. “If you ever even hear he is nearby, run in the opposite direction and don’t look him in the eyes. His stare will steal all willpower you have—no matter how much you have.”

I gaped at the lion-like demon. Another thing I learned from Tally was that the higher up the demon was in rank, the more it looked like a human. Its tuft-tipped tail flicked back and forth agitatedly. The fur covered its hind legs, which belonged to that of a lion, and climbed all the way up its chest and formed into its mane. The thing that made it creepier was that its face was human, aside from the razor sharp K9s. There was a certain appeal that made my heart pound. At the time I blamed it on nerves and being scared.