Volume 1: Chapter 4: The Battle Against Belial - Part 3

Three years. For three years, Alicia had run, barely getting any sleep, never knowing peace. She had traveled the world in her attempts to lose her pursuers, only to find death hounding her footsteps in every country.

She could still remember that day when she had realized that no one was coming to save her. It had been two months after she’d been sent to that hideout in the human world. Like always, she had been waiting for either her father or Matilda to appear before her, alive and save. Instead, she had been attacked by a legion of demonic hordes under the command of Belial’s peerage.

The demons had surrounded her. They’d bombarded her hideout, breaking through the meager defensive barrier. That time she had barely escaped with her life, but she had known that it would happen again if she didn’t become stronger and smarter. Necessity had dictated that she learn how to survive on her own.

The first thing she had learned was that if she wanted to live, she needed to remain on the move. Her first week after vanishing from her hideout had nearly seen her killed. She had been attacked by Aamon, a member of Belial’s peerage. Luck had saved her back then. Aamon had been arrogant, and his arrogance had been what allowed her to bury him under several million tons of rubble known as the New York underground railway.

She stopped staying in one place for any longer than a single week after that. Sometimes she would pose as a student, tricking the students and faculty with standard mind manipulation powers. Other times she became a part-time worker, earning just enough to keep moving.

Alicia had traveled across all of the major countries; The United States, Canada, France, Italy, Russia, China… and then she had heard a rumor. Japan was apparently a hot spot of supernatural activity. Creatures known as yokai had made the island nation their home. For the first time, Alicia had believed she’d found her salvation. If she could infiltrate Japan, the hundreds of different yokai that made the small island nation their home should have been enough to mask her presence. It might allow her to finally get some rest.

How naive she had been.

Belial stomped toward her, a sick smile twisting his already horrific features. His footsteps left depressions in the ground. Miasma wafted from his body, vile and repulsive, like a sickly aura that made her feel like she was being choked.

She tried to stand. She knew that she couldn’t stay on the ground like this, but her body wouldn’t move. That last attack had done more than just slam her into the ground. Belial had injected his energy into her, and that power, which ran rampant through her body, was affecting her ability to move.

“Look at you,” Belial chuckled. “This is exactly where you and your father belong: lying on the ground before me, defeated, humiliated. My only regret is that I won’t be able to play with you before you die.”

Alicia shivered in disgust. She’d heard stories about Belial from her father and Matilda. He had several women that he used as sex slaves. Humans. Devils. There was even a rumor that he’d once had an angel that he kept in captivity and raped until she committed suicide. When humans thought of devils, Belial was the kind their minds conjured.

“The day I let you play with me is the day you’d be a match for my father.” She smirked at the red-skinned devil. “In other words, it will never happen. You’re pathetic, a loser who needs to degrade and humiliate others in order to make himself feel better. I would never let a sad, pitiable creature like you touch me.”

It wasn’t her smartest move, insulting Belial like this, but when she saw how his red faced suddenly turned purple with rage, she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She could only think that it was totally worth it.

“YOU FUCKING CUNT! I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU!! YOU’LL REGRET EVER MOCKING ME!!”

Belial charged toward her. All common sense had fled from his mind, which explained why he neglected to use any speed or projectile techniques to kill or reach her faster. It was a small comfort. Even if he didn’t use those, she was still as good as dead.

Belial reached her in seconds.

“Now. You. DIE!!!!”

He raised his foot to crush her skull like it was rotten fruit–

–When a fist plowed into his face.

“Not on my watch, she’s not!!” Jacob shouted as Belial was sent flying.