I woke up sticky. For a brief delirious moment I thought I had an amazing time out on the town last night. Then I remembered I was in a fantasy world as a demon. My brain was sluggish, slow, like a rag wrung until frayed into two. I couldn’t even form thoughts really, just bleary forms of words pulled together. The smell of iron was rich in my nose and it took me far too long to realize it was blood.

I blinked at the redness in my eyes, in front of my eyes, all around me going as far as my eyes could see.

I’d woken up in a pool of my own blood.

I tried to get up. Tried and failed. I couldn’t even get my arms under me.

“You’re awake.” Spoke the voice of a monster. “I was worried you might drown.”

I just lay there, before the sound of a fan was heard. My heart beat but it was a weak thing.

“Alright. Stop being lazy. It’s time to get up.”

Xilvia kicked me onto my side and I barely felt it. I looked up at her, her fans edges gleaming in the sunlight. She looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, as if waiting for me. She hadn’t healed me.

“I-I’ll die.” It shocked me the most that I could talk. I was sure I’d lost the ability somewhere along the way. The cut on my throat seemed to agree with me.

“Well of course.” Xilvia smiled and chuckled lightly. It was a cruel, mocking sound. “It wouldn’t be proper training if there was no threat of death. At the rate you’re bleeding, you probably have enough blood for another half an hour. If you manage to survive ten more minutes, I will heal you.”

That was all she said and then she swung down. Shit! Fuck! I used every scrap of willpower and strength in my body to roll away right before my head would’ve been slashed open. But that was only the beginning. I was still on the ground and Xilvia was already ramping up her speeds. In a pure act of desperation I squeezed and clenched my wings, using the muscles in them to throw me upwards and meet Xilvia with what was the rest of my tail.

A brutal, bloody fight continued. I felt delirious, every step, dodge, and movement was a herculean feat. Every action my body screamed at me. Soreness had already begun to set in and bruises were piling up. I felt like I was fighting a woodchipper combined with a hurricane. I didn’t have the luxury of thought or time. I lost feeling in my right arm and it became the shield I used to protect the rest of my body. That was a mistake, as my blood was a resource that was running out. My heartbeat was getting weaker and weaker and I’d never felt so tired in my entire life.

Another step, my vision blurred, a fan blocked.

Another roll and dodge, I slipped, my ear was cleaved in two.

Another swipe of my broken tail, more was chipped away.

Tired. Tired tired tired tired tired. Tired tired tired tired tired tired.

So tired. Energy, warmth, heat, all of it was seeping out of me. Death. I was dying, dying.

Dying.

A fan came for my throat, too slow, can’t dodge. Can’t block.

I’m going to die.

I lowered my head and bit.

Timing was pointless. The blade carved through my teeth and cheek, opening a massive grisly gash across my face.

The last thing I saw was Xilvia and her fans coming towards me.

****

Xilvia was quietly impressed. Derek was very different than most demons. She always felt a hands on approach were better than any words. She had learned a lot. For starters, Derek definitely had an Ability of some sort. He simply didn’t have the required experience to always know where she was going to be attacking from. If he reacted any faster, she’d suspect future vision or enhanced instincts. As it was, she suspected he merely saw all around himself in a radius. There was more to it than that for sure, but she could figure it out later.

The next bit of interest was his pain immunity. Any, every, other demon who had their tail cut off would have at least shown some expression of pain. Didn’t matter who or how strong they were. The tail of a demon was sensitive to an insane degree and cutting it in half was a debilitating injury for all but the most battle hardened war generals. Even then, they would only be able to handle it if they had had it happen before. Derek had reacted with surprise. A dangerous but useful ability to have. It would save a lot of trouble and training time, as well as help his mentality. But it could also become a crutch that could be used to devastating effect. She’d already seen that during their fight. Derek would need a much, much greater understanding and sensitivity of his body or he’d end up dead in any prolonged fighting.

Then came the strange aspects. Xilvia knew demons. Knew demons very well, in fact. Hell was a harsh place most of the time and demons fought there almost religiously. And yet, she had never met a demon with so little combat experience in her entire life. Even demons who’d gone a more peaceful way or been blessed to live in this realm, had at least had a hard start. Derek did not. It confused her greatly. How on Ero did that happen? It made no sense.

And that only partially explained the next aspect. Derek… moved in an alien way. Demons do not move like that. His senses were all wrong, his balance, his weight, every single aspect of it was glaringly, obviously, wrong. She’d sooner believe a human glued a tail, horns, and a pair of wings to their back than that this was a demon. Because it wasn’t just the lack of way he moved, he also moved like a human. Every race had their own body from birth and they were not the same, no matter how similar they looked. There were countless differences and she’d fought just about all of them enough to tell what they were. Opened up enough of them to definitely see what they were. It painted a very confusing picture. She had theories running through her mind but nothing concrete. She’d have to pick them apart slowly, fight him some more, figure out if there was anything she was missing.

Their first session had merely been to gauge his capabilities but now… hmph. It was very clear that this green house flower needed a proper education in combat. He was so green it physically hurt to look at. She was already constructing a training schedule in mind. Before anything else… her pupil would need relentless combat training.

She’d make sure to etch the experience into his bones if necessary.

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Still, it wasn’t hopeless. She’d trained far worse before. He had a few natural advantages that would make him a warrior but she snorted at his choice of weapon. That wasn’t trying to run before you could walk, that was trying to fly before you could crawl. She plucked it off his body and threw it away. It was a good sword but her pupil wouldn’t be ready for that kind of training for at least a decade. Hopefully he survived that long.

She took out a small pouch between her breasts and began to sprinkle the powder from it on her pupil’s wounds. It wouldn’t heal them fully, just stop him from dying. Demons were resilient but Derek’s level of healing disgusted her. His body had clearly only been wounded a little bit over his life judging by those kinds of speeds. Demon newborns had tougher bodies than that! Absolutely ridiculous.

She’d make him a monster yet though.

****

I woke up again and nearly cried when I realized it was again in a pool of my own blood. I was horrifyingly starting to wonder if my last wake up and fight had all been a fever dream and I was really dying. The only difference was… I had a bit more energy. Besides my body continuing to bleed and my total inability to move, I was feeling so much better than when I’d passed out the last two times.

“Ah good, you’re awake again. Now, we can go over your training plan.”

Hands grabbed me and began to drag me across the ground. Soon, I was propped up against the wall and standing above me was Xilvia. Fear sung in what remained of my veins and a cold shiver over took me.

“You suck.” Xilvia said without preamble.

I didn’t even have the energy to blink. I just looked at her blearily. Blurrily too, now that I paid any attention to it. My thoughts were drifting away like the clouds.

Xilvia smacked me, then frowned when that didn’t work. She then ground her foot into my crotch and that had my eyes opening wide awake.

She snorted. “Your pain immunity might make keeping your focus annoying. Now listen before you fall asleep again. From now on…

“You’re mine.” She said with a deep smile on her face.

I shivered.

“I don’t train everyone. I only agreed to test you because you’re a demon in a Heroes party. First one there’s ever been, so I had to see how much of a disgrace or monster you were. Imagine my surprise when I found out you’re like a demon newborn with barely the strength of an adult and none of the experience. Absolutely… embarrassing to be honest.”

For once, I hated Xilvia’s more royal bearing and way of speaking. Prim and proper, in a way. It came off all the worse when that kind of voice lists out your failures and tells you you’re an embarrassment. Like a special kind of twisting of the knife. It’s not my fault I am who I am! I didn’t choose or want to become a demon!

“We will rectify that immediately. I have already talked to your Team Manager before this and she agreed to allow me to handle you however I see fit. From this point on, we will be fighting from dawn till dusk. Your only period of rest will be when you can no longer fight. We will do this for the next month or so. This should help catch you up on some of the combat experience you are so dearly missing. After that, we will reassess, but I suspect at least three months worth of this type of combat training is absolutely necessary before anything else.”

Suddenly, a lot of pieces were clicking into my brain. This… I did not expect this. No, I knew exactly what I expected when we walked into this place. I expected us to spend two or three months breaking into B-Rank, pouring through the libraries and information, fighting the dungeon a little bit, and then move on to the next city and the next, searching relentlessly for hints of a body changing potion or the gems. I hadn’t expected anything like this. Three months of just this type of training? And it was clear Xilvia planned on having me do more. It looked like if she had her way… we’d be stuck here for years.

“I… have plans… and goals. I don’t… want to stay here that long.” I said, my voice weak and breathless.

“Irrelevant.” Xilvia said and smiled down at me.

I glared upwards. “Thank you… for the training. But I… am going… to have to go.”

Xilvia looked at me and quirked an eyebrow.

“I am surprised. I did not take you for an idiot.”

Anger stirred in me.

“Fuck. You.”

“You came to a B-Ranked city. Despite its primarily Elven population, many War Veterans of all three races retired here. It is a peaceful and strong City, after all. News of you has already reached most ears. If you leave this city weak, you will be killed and ambushed before you make it to another. I am not trapping you here, I am merely giving you the bare necessity of tools to survive. A demon outside demon lands usually dies, regardless of where they go.”

I looked up in surprise and shock.

“But… demons aren’t…” I grimaced.

Xilvia nodded though. “Yes. Demons are allowed in the Elven, Dwarven, and other Territories besides Human. However, I fear you are even more inexperienced than I predicted. Perhaps you have not had the talk yet? No, you definitely haven’t.”

“I don’t even know what you’re-”

Suddenly, Xilvia got on one knee and looked me directly in the eyes from where I was propped up. I was surprised and would’ve tried to scramble back if I could. She looked deep, peering into my soul it felt like.

“Derek. I do not know your past but you must listen. There is only one thing in this world that matters.”

“Power.”

“Nothing else matters. Might makes right. If you’re strong enough, you can do whatever you want. Laws are followed because the powerful will harm you, kill you, or imprison you if you don’t. But the truly powerful? They follow no laws beyond ‘don’t attack or hurt those stronger than you’. No one and nothing else in this world can protect you for long besides yourself. If you continue to roam the world, people will kill you. Even if you tried to go to the Demon Territory, you will not make it before an A-Ranker learns of you and kills you. No one will stop them, no one will help, no Kingdom, City, or Guards will be enough. In fact, all three of those will definitely try to kill you at different times. Especially considering your status as part of a humans Hero team. If you were an A-Ranker, you could kill entire families here and the City would let you. Do you know why? It is because they could not stop you. Power decides who is right and who is wrong. That is all. Only that.”

My heart clenched but…

“I knew that. I… know that.”

She nodded.

“Your training begins in five minutes. Stand up by that time or I may kill you.”

I wanted to scream but I had nothing to say. No, in fact, I did have one thing.

“Why?”

“Hmm? Because obviously yo- Ah. I see.” Xilvia was quiet for a moment, but her eyes practically glowed with… resolve. Determination.

“Because I have taken you as my student. My disciple. From this point on, I shall train you to the best of my ability and…”

For once, the facade that Xilvia wore cracked a little. A demonic smile, a face radiating cruelty, battle lust, and pleasure. The face of an absolute demon, mired in one hundred battlefields, born of a blood lust I could never match. I felt my soul shiver.

“It’s going to be fun.” and like smoke, the cruel and playful look on her face vanished.

Right, I knew it. I wasn’t lucky enough to get an entirely kind ‘master’. She was a sadist. Still…

I bowed lightly. “Thank you… Master.”

If she is willing to go so far for me… then I’ll be glad to train like my life depends on it. It just might.

Xilvia broke the facade again for a moment, visibly retching.

“Bleh. I hate that kind of sentiment. We are equals. You are paying me, after all. Two minutes instead. Hurry up.”

I grimaced. Kindness met with punishment!

You demon!