Volume 3: Chapter 1: Preparation - Part 1

It was early in the morning. The sun was peeking beyond the horizon, not yet fully out, but granting enough sunlight for us to see. What’s more, the sunlight was painting streaks of color across the sky. At any other time, I would’ve enjoyed watching it.

But today was not any other day. It was a training day.

“Don’t get distracted!” Alicia shouted as she fired off several dark red bullets of demonic energy at me. I did my best to dodge, racing through the trees, avoiding what shots I could and blocking what shots I couldn’t with trees.

I ran behind another tree, but I didn’t keep moving this time, and instead stopped on a time and went the other way. Alicia was standing several meters from me. With my hand shaped like a gun, I took aim, a magic circle appearing on my finger, and fired.

It didn’t hit.

To be more accurate, Alicia blocked it with a shield made of demonic red energy.
I cursed when she returned fire, forcing me to run.

Sweat had already broken on my skin, and my breathing had grown ragged as Alicia, firing at me as though using devil magic was going out of style, relentlessly pursued me with bullets. It wasn’t just bullets, though.

I winced as a branch exploded next to my face. Splinters peppered my skin, though they didn’t break it. Before I could recover, Alicia sent another attack at me. It wasn’t a bullet. It was a crescent wave of energy that cut down everything in its path.

Not knowing what else to do, I fell onto my belly and let the attack pass over. Loud crashes echoed all around me as trees were felled. The rumbling from their falls made my stomach clench.

I stood back up. Alicia was still standing several meters away, but her shoulders were slumped and she was breathing heavily. She was strong, powerful, and had massive reserves of energy, but she’d been tossing attacks around like they were candy. That meant her reserves were dwindling.

Now was my chance.

I rushed forward, pumping my legs for all they were worth. Alicia swiveled around to aim at me. She fired several bullets of dark red energy, but I responded by canceling her attacks with my own bullets.

Clicking her tongue, Alicia created a more complicated magic circle, no doubt to launch something big at me.

I wouldn’t let her.

Putting on one final burst of speed, I tackled Alicia to the ground. We rolled for several meters before stopping. I was on top. I also had a fist with a magic circle covering it in front of her face. Sadly, she was poking me in the chest with her finger, and there was a magic circle over it.

“Looks like… a tie,” Alicia said, smiling sweetly at me.

“Looks like it,” I agreed.

I confess to being a bit disappointed. I thought I had her this time.

As we stayed there, me straddling Alicia’s waist, I became aware of the way her clothing had become soaked through with her sweat. The chest wrap she’d been wearing had come undone. This meant her breasts, which were massive to the point of being obscene, were perfectly visible. The way the binding fell haphazardly across her body, covering her nipples but allowing them to poke through, was more erotic than if her breasts had been on full display.

I quickly stood up and turned around.

“Well, I think we can both say that we’ve improved,” I muttered.

“Yes, I think we can,” Alicia said. She paused, and then added, “are you going to just stand there, or are you going to help me up?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

I turned around and helped her up, though I quickly turned away again because I didn’t want her seeing my erection. After discreetly adjusting myself, the two of us began our journey back home. While on our way home, we critiqued each other’s fighting prowess.

“I think you’re really good at using your power,” I told her. “But you have a tendency to fight too hard at the beginning. It leaves you vulnerable after you exhaust yourself.”

“Yeah.” Alicia grimaced. “I’ve always gone all out at the beginning because that was the only chance I would have at winning.”

Before coming to Japan, Alicia had been on the run, fighting against Belial’s peerage of devils. Perhaps not surprisingly, most devils were arrogant. They never went all out right at the beginning. Alicia had used that to her advantage, unleashing all her power at the start of the battle, which was how she’d survived long enough to reach Japan.

“On the other hand,” Alicia continued, “you don’t use your powers enough. Had you actually attacked me, I probably wouldn’t have lasted.”

“I know…”

As they walked along the road, the rising sun at our backs, I wondered if I would ever be able to truly use my powers.

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Here's the first part of chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Please don't forget to give the story a like and share it on facebook and twitter. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for reading! (^-^)