"The weakling and the newbie. We're going to get destroyed out there."

Ed grinned.

“At least it'll be over fast, then we can watch the cool fights.”

At that, two more figures entered the chalet. A slender waif of a girl with freckles and red hair, and a large Spaniard with a goatee. He spoke enthusiastically.

"Friends! We are bunking together! This makes us brothers!"

The girl rolled her eyes.

"Ignore him. I'm Songbird and this is Viper."

Ed and Gus shared a look.

"I'm Ed and this is Gus. Nice to meet you."

Songbird looked confused.

"You guys use your real names? Aren't you afraid of your family being divined?"

Ed spread his palms.

"No families to worry about, I'm afraid. I didn't even know we were meant to use pseudonyms."

Ed filed that piece of information away however. Why hadn't Grantham told him that family could be tracked?

"Damn. I don't know your family situation, but yeah, most of us pick new names once we make our Pact. It's just safer."

The two pairs continued chatting for a while, comparing their experiences, until the supervisor arrived.

She was a severe looking, grey-haired woman with a curiously unlined face.

"Names and demons. Let's not waste each other’s time."

"I am known as the Viper! The cobra of Catalonia, the fang in the night, the slow, agonising death! I have slain a thousand ene-"

The supervisor snapped her fingers and the wooden boards underneath him rippled like water before Viper sank straight down into the floor.

"Let's try this again. Name and Demon?"

Songbird had her face in her palm, sighing in exasperation.

"I'm Songbird, my demon is called Andrealphus. My... boisterous teammate is Viper, his Demon is Valac."

The supervisor nodded and turned to Ed and Gus.

"Gustaf, my Demon is Orias."

"Edward. My Demon is, uh, Abezethibod."

Songbird and Gus reacted, both turning to stare, but the woman was the most taken aback, her mouth hanging open. Ed didn't know what to make of it.

Abe, what is this shite?

Racism.

What the fuck??

I’d rather not talk about it.

Ed was nearly panicking, wondering if this was when they dragged him in front of an Inquisitor and executed him. Using his training, he nonchalantly shrugged, acting indifferent to their shock.

The supervisor shook off her surprise and stared hard at Ed, deep in thought. Seeming to come to a decision, she nodded and snapped her fingers again before leaving. Ed breathed a sigh of relief. Viper shot up out of the floor like he'd been spat forth. As Songbird tended to his coughing, spluttering form, Gus looked up at Ed.

"What's wrong with your Demon? Ori started chanting 'down with the colonisers' when you said his name and he hasn't stopped yet."

Ed shrugged, at a loss himself.

“Abe doesn’t want to say anything, so your guess is as good as mine.”

At this, Songbird interjected.

“How much do you two know about the history of Hell?”

Gus and Ed shared a look. Gus answered for the both of them.

“Nothing, basically. I’m mostly self-taught and Ed here is probably the least experienced of us all.”

She gave a sympathetic grimace.

“Yeah no wonder you’re confused. There’s a whole lot of history here but the gist of it is that the rulers of Hell weren’t always the Princes. They’re the third ruling dynasty actually. But the existing denizens of Hell, the demons they call Hellborn, didn’t just go away, and they weren’t too happy when several hosts of fallen angels came in and just took over.”

It was our right by conquest! They could not defend their home and thus didn't deserve to keep it.

Shut up, Abe, you had your chance to explain on your own terms.

Fascinated, Ed inquired further.

“So they hate Abe for being a fallen angel?”

“More like they hate him for being part of an oppressive ruling elite. Andrealphus tells me your dark passenger was appointed Warden of Tartarus just because of who his father is.”

Malicious lies spewed by my most craven enemies. These Hellborn know nothing of real war! I earned that position!

Gus looked between the two of them, confused.

“Who is your demon’s father?”

Ed gave him a sheepish glance. He was loath to admit it, but it would get out anyway as demons started communicating the info with their Squires.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“He’s uhh… Lets say he’s a pretty big deal in Hell.”

Songbird laughed.

“Understatement of the year, lad."

Viper, who'd been silently recovering on one of the leather couches, jumped into the conversation.

"Brother Eduardo, did my ears deceive? You have a fallen angel as the other half of your Pact? You must show me the circle you used to achieve this, fallen ones almost never agree to be leashed."

"Not just any fallen angel, Vipe. The son of one of the seven big dicks."

The boisterous man received Songbird's words with a look of amazement, then he turned to Ed and made the sign of the cross.

"Santa Maria, I thought we had a chance at qualifying for the Games. If this is the caliber of our foes, we may as well depart."

He turned to Gus.

"And I presume you somehow have three Pacts simultaneously or something similar."

The group chuckled. Songbird took the chance to speak.

"You know, we really should get to know each other better. We're in the same chalet, so we know we won't be fighting each other. Why not strategise together? I can go first."

Gus and Ed shared a look before nodding at her.

"Okay, my demon's name is Andrealphus, he has a lesser dominion over birds that I can hopefully grow into a standard dominion at Scholomance."

She held up her palm horizontally and an intricately detailed whistle appeared, shaped like a bird.

"With Birdsong, I can whistle a call and summon birds from Hell."

Gus burst out laughing. Viper grinned like he knew why.

"You called yourself Songbird and your infernal Arm, Birdsong?"

Ed and Viper chuckled along in amusement while Songbird went as red as her hair. She shot a dirty look at Viper.

"I would have picked a better name but I lost a wager to a particularly odious ignoramus who thought it'd be funny."

Viper nonchalantly stretched out, clasping his hands behind his head.

"This 'ignoramus' sounds like a great guy. I can already tell he's a tall, virile, intelligent, devastatingly handsome specimen."

Songbird shot back with an evil grin.

"No no, that's his brother."

Viper frowned and conceded.

"Fair enough. We got sidetracked anyway."

This kid's brother must be impressive.

I was thinking the same.

Songbird continued with her breakdown.

"The way we were trained, I usually send a bird or two to distract my enemy while I move in close and get them with my talon."

At this, the whistle in her hand grew a razor sharp hook-shaped talon from its front, just big enough to be held in one hand.

Ed interjected.

"I don't think that would work against me."

Everyone turned his way as he held his hand out and the familiar weight of Sa’ar, his pistol, dropped into his palm.

“What would stop me from just shooting your birds out of the sky, then shooting you?”

Songbird scratched her head.

“Nothing I s’pose. But I don’t really have any way to defend myself other than my birds. I’m a lot faster than most Squires though, I could dodge a bullet or two.”

“Not these ones. Abe has standard dominion over wind, with a lesser sand dominion that I haven’t yet figured out how to use. I shoot wind-empowered bullets, and every six shots I have to wait thirty seconds for an automatic reload.”

Viper whistled in awe.

“A standard and a lesser dominion right from the start? And I thought I had an advantage.”

Spreading his arms, he manifested a green and black bandolier upon which row after row of 6-inch throwing needles were stored. Each needle had a slight green mist falling from its tip.

“As you can see, I also have a self-replenishing long range Arm, though much less fancy than a pistol. My demon, Valac, has lesser dominion over snakes, and my Fangs can either poison someone directly, or turn into snakes to either hunt them down or defend me.”

Ed nodded appreciatively.

“All that from a lesser dominion? You have both offense and defence, with long range and short range options. Great combination.”

Naughty naughty.

Ed ignored Abe. He didn’t expect to get far in the competition and saw no point in revealing all his cards before even attending one lesson. Grantham had taught him to rely on his fellow Knights and Squires. The grimy streets of London had taught him different.

After all, what self-respecting south Londoner doesn’t keep a secret knife?

Gus cleared his throat, bringing the group’s attention towards himself.

“So uhh, I mentioned I was mostly self-taught but that’s underselling it a bit. I did everything on my own. Everything. So my magick may seem a bit unconventional.”

Songbird raised an eyebrow.

“More unconventional than Chocolate Milk over here with his demon toff?”

“Hey!”

Hey!

Songbird shushed Ed as Gus stood up.

He took a breath, then turned his palm up. In it, an orb of made of some sort of bronze coloured metal formed, surrounded by a spherical framework of rings that wrapped around the central piece. Points of light reminiscent of stars slowly revolved around the thing and the entire contraption started hovering above his hand. The room was stunned into silence, only Songbird daring to say anything.

“Is… Is that an astrolabe?”

“Yes and I’d rather not talk about how I got it. Anyway, Ori, my demon Orias, has a lesser dominion over the zodiac. Depending on what time of year it is, I get a different set of runes to use.”

Ed frowned in confusion.

“Runes?”

“Yes, my grimoire, the Galdrabók, uses a-“

Viper sat up in his chair.

“Hold on, you have your own grimoire? Jesus Christ.”

Songbird swatted at Viper’s shoulder for taking the Lord’s name in vain, but she herself was visibly shaken. The entire Knighthood used one grimoire, the Testament of Solomon, written by the first demonologist himself, to base their magick off. The Demonologists wouldn't exist without both Solomon and John Dee, but somehow Gus had sidestepped both of their contributions and used a strange grimoire based on runes.

In a flash of realisation, Ed realised why Gus seemed so nonchalant about the competition, the Games, all of it. He’d probably been found using his grimoire by a Knight and given the option of becoming his official Squire or being given over to the Inquisition. No choice at all, really.

After that staggering piece of news, the group continued their discussion, going over each others’ strengths and weaknesses, though Ed doubted any of them revealed all their powers. During a heated debate over whether Songbird could theoretically fly, a knock came at the door. The four immediately went silent as they knew what this meant.

It was time.

----------------------------------------

Ed bounced on the balls of his feet in anticipation. Gus was lazily sitting cross-legged on the arena floor, most of his pale form obscured by his massive hat. Their first match.

All four occupants of their little house were brought out, then separated, Songbird and Viper going off in the opposite direction, presumably to another arena. Their own was basic, just a packed earth floor with a panel of judges, presumably school officials, sitting on stands shaped from rock. Apparently none of them had needed a special environment. An Inquisitor sat on a high chair above the fray, like an umpire, the distinctive St James cross on his breast, while an opaque enclosed screen attached to his chair hid a brilliant light from bathing the whole area in its harsh white glow. An angel.

Ed felt a palpable sense of danger when he looked at the box the angel was hid in. He knew it was there to heal them in case they took too much damage for their own healing factors to deal with, but something fundamental within him screamed ENEMY, and he was struggling to ignore it. His only consolation was that everyone on the field, judges included, likely felt the same thing.

Looking across the arena, he saw two Squires, a brunette girl and a raven-haired boy, huddled together, planning. He looked down at Gus, now digging into his ear with gusto.

It’s not too late to drop the deadweight.

Shut up, Abe. He’s probably powerful in his own right, no one said Solomon’s way was the only one.

No. Only the best.

I don’t know how I missed that you were an aristocrat, you have the classic blue-blood entitlement.

Tuning out Abe’s complaining responses, he spoke.

“Okay Gus, what’s our play?”

Making a great show of standing up, Gus ponderously stroked his chin, seemingly considering every variable. He shrugged.

“What the fuck, Gus.”

“Hey, we don’t know our opponents. No point making battle plans that will be forced to change the moment the actual fight starts. But sure, let’s start off with battle stance 3."

In their strategising session, they'd come up with 5 different stances they'd start a fight with. The third involved Ed getting behind Gus and readying himself to blast them all away when the time came. For his part, Gus, in his Gemini phase, would use his Split rune to double Ed's shots, hopefully bringing the other team down as quickly as possible under a hail of bullets.

The other team indicated to the Inquisitor they were ready and Ed gave a firm nod when the man's gaze swept to him and Gus. Raising an arm, the Inquisitor made one last ready call, then started the fight.