Angels and demons (Closed)

[JadeKnight]

The war between angels and demons could be seen as a never ending war by outsiders. However, the true nature of things was much deeper and more complicated than that. It was actually a recurring cycle of balancing of power between the two. Since most mortals were only around long enough to see a small slice of how things went between the two factions, it could be though of as the two being mortal enemies. This could be true for a small sect, but it was mostly business as usual for the majority. Yes, the rebalancing of "power" was done through a large series of war games to determine the final winner in the end. The victor between the two would be the ones to have the most influence and power over the mortal world.
As time flowed, so too did the time once more for the mock war to begin. There were really few rules to abide by, if any in order to encourage creative ways of fighting. While the angels tended to go for straight forward and honorable fighting, the demons would try underhanded tactics to get ahead. There was one aspect that both factions tended to do, as it tended to make things more interesting, was to summon champions from the mortal races to liven things up. Their power levels often ranged from mediocre to the very rare super powerful.

Senji Hakada was just 18 when he graduated from high school. He had been seen as a nerd, with only a couple of friends thoughout his life. Although he had gotten a part time job as a cook, it was barely making him enough money to put towards college. He had grown up learning a bit of marital arts for self defense, as well as some sword fighting. He didn't consider himself as more than average, although he had managed to win a few small tournaments during middle school and high school.

It had been nearly a year since high school and Senji foundt himself looking at a poster on a telephone pole at the corner of the playground near his apartment. It was announcing a new tournament that would be happening in a couple of weeks. Judging by the amount offered, he was sure it would be a high stakes gamble to even get though. However, he was a little desperate right now to get out of his current situation and he felt this was just the thing he needed to do. He hefted his backpack on his right shoulder for a moment, his work uniform and marital arts uniform nestled inside it. He had his wooden kendo sword strapped on top of his backpack, which he was going to need for class after work tonight.

He took a moment to jot down the contact information for the tournament before moving down the street towards the bus station. He had gotten about half a block when a strange buzzing noise caught his attention. Looking down the alleyway he was passing, the buzzing and swirling blue spherical blob floating in the middle of the alley caught his attention. Curious, he stopped in his tracks to stare at the thing. Looking around, no one else was around, so he wasn't sure how long this thing had been here. Deciding he had time to check things out, he moved towards it slowly. He walked around it a couple of times, finding it unattached to anything. Stopping on one side of it, he watched the swirling color for a few seconds.

"Interesting."

He muttered softly to himself as he studied it. He reached forward with his free hand carefully, filling it going into the portal without resistance. He put his hand in to his wrist, before stopping. He was really sure, but he thought he felt a bit of heat on the other side. It wasn't very hot, but warm like a summer breeze. He thought he felt something brush against his skin, so he jerked it back quickly. e looked at his hand for a few moments, but saw nothing wrong physically except a little redness. He put his hand back inside once more, trying to explore once more. This time he cried out as something firm, but soft grab tightly around his hand and yank him through it.

 

[Poprockz]

"Well, wot 'ave we got he'e..." A demon, an honest-to-god demon had him by the wrist, studying him with interest. They had dark purple skin and horns that curled like a ram's, this particular one being a rather short, stout man with a bald head. His black eyes looked Senji up and down, silently appraising him and ultimately finding him lacking.

He gave a grimace and sighed, cursing to himself. "Fuck... anothah weakling... Oi kid, ya ever heard'a lifting? Ya look like an angel'd sneeze an' blow ya ovah."

More surprising than the demon himself perhaps, was the fact that Senji was no longer in the world he was familiar with. It was very warm there, like a tropical island, though much less relaxing. They were in a field behind a large, medieval castle with gothic architecture, several terrifying gargoyle statues watching them from above. The two of them weren't the only ones there either, a group of demons being in the process of pulling unsuspecting humans through the small portals they seemed to have created.

Overhead, there was no sun, stars, or clouds- only darkness past the red glow of the lava lakes and rivers nearby. One might think that because of this there would be no plant life, but this wasn't the case. There were twisted vines gathered into bushes nearby, the ground covered here and there with a brownish-green moss-like substance.

 

[JadeKnight]

His attention was focused on the demon that had him by the wrist, so the surroundings were quite noticed yet. When the demon let him go in disgust after calling him a weakling, Senji instinctively took a couple of steps backwards. He had fully expected to retreat back into the portal he had come from, but it had disappeared already. The demon scowled for a moment, clearly upset and irritated by the whole situation it had been made to do. He reached out and grabbed Senji again, this time pushing him further into the crowded field.

"Go on, get inside. I've got more work tae dae and ya ain't helping."

Senji stumbled a couple feet forward before catching himself. Able to pay attention once more, he took in his surroundings as he moved to join the large line that had flowed out of the large castle. He managed to count about fifty other humans, both male and female. He wasn't sure sure what was special about any of them, being of varying sizes and levels of fitness. Besides humans, he had noticed, much to his surprise, other types of beings like dwarves, elves, and a handful of other types of creatures.

"Am I in hell?" The young man wondered aloud for a moment, overheard by the demon who was watching the line proceed from nearby. The large, muscular red demon snorted for a moment.

"No boy. This is the planet Zebox. Your new home for the foreseeable future. Now get inside."

Senji nodded quietly as he fell into moving along the line. As he got closer to the large door, a few hanging posters plastered against the worn brown stone catching his eyes. They all depicted a mixed group of human, elves, and other beings clad in various outfits and battle poses. Words were printed around the picture in a circular pattern.

"Join the Champions today. Join the best and brightest in defending the galaxy. Earn benefits like Free food, money, slaves, houses, etc. Become one of the elite. We need you."

Each poster seemed to be written in a different language, most of which the young man had no clue about. Moving inside the large door, the line continued into a large open area. It was lit by torches all around and several hanging chandeliers. Demons were positioned at the front of the line, directed everyone off to one of several booths lined along the sides of the room.

Each booth was manned by two demons, one making notes on a notepad before directing people further into the castle. A large crystal ball was floating in the center of the booth. As each being placed their hand on the crystal, it was flash a different color for each person. It seemed the brighter, more colorful shades seemed to please the demons, but the ones who couldn't get the ball to light up were a disappointment. The ones who had the dull colors or no color were sent further into the castle, while those with bright colors got sent through a large red portal setup in front of an empty throne.

When it was his turn, the two demons had a look of disgust on their faces as if they were expecting him to fail this test. He took a deep breathe for a moment before placing his hand carefully for a moment. Something in the back of his mind was hoping that he would be able to pass whatever this test was, even if he didn't know what it was about. He did wince a moment as he felt a sharp jolt in his hand, but he didn't pull away. The demons didn't seem to notice his reaction as they stared at the crystal ball. They stared even longer than they had when the other candidates had been up there, but didn't say a word. Finally the non-writing demon jerked his hand away.

"What a fine fail of a catch to get. Maybe you'll make good cannon fodder. Now get out of here."

The demon sneered as he shoved Senji towards a dimly lit passage behind the booth. The young man gulped and shivered, wondering exactly what the demon meant by cannon fodder. As he walked down the hallway, he felt his right hand itch a little and lifted it up to scratch it. He blinked for a moment as he could just make out a set of softly glowing numbers, 1/10.

"The hell?"

 

[Poprockz]

- ONE DAY EARLIER-

Captain Estrania De Lange took off her reading spectacles and squinted at the demon who had dared enter her office. They had knocked politely, yes, but she was in a foul mood and thus it seemed particularly insufferable today.

“Yes, yes. What do you want, Ferys?” She waved her hand impatiently. “I’m up to the balls in paperwork, and I don’t have time for anyone’s bullshit today.”

The demon who entered her office looked somewhat smug, and she couldn’t help but wish she could gouge out both of his eyes. Maybe she would if she found him in a dark alley at some point. “I couldn't imagine what you did to piss off the war master, but it’s been decreed that you’re going to be receiving the newest shipment of dud soldiers.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She growled, slamming her pen down on her desk. “I’m a goddamned war hero and this is the thanks I get?! What, do they think I can work miracles, or are they just laughing at me?”

Ferys shrugged, “I mean, you did snub Commander Hoarfrost at the last military gala, so that might have something to do with it. Being pissed off with friends in high places usually means doing shit like that has consequences.”

He was given a withering look, “do you blame me? The last demon who got in his bed is now glued to the wall, pumping out eggs like it’s Easter Sunday.”

There was a moment or two of silence as they stared at one another. By the look on the assistant’s face, he rather liked envisioning her in that sort of situation. Another shrug. “It’s none of my business, frankly. I’m just an assistant tasked with delivering you the unfortunate news. Anyway, here are the files on the recruits and their assessments. Their training starts tomorrow, so hope you can get your balls worth of paperwork done in time. Toodles!” He wiggled his fingers at her before slipping quickly out the door, a file of papers on the ground and a coffee cup shattering on the wall where his head had been moments ago.

What had the Hells come to? She detested that she had to lower herself to teach the ones from the bottom of the barrel. It meant that when they inevitably failed, the blame would be placed on her and she could be used as someone else’s scapegoat.

Estrania got up from her seat and strode over to the folder to pick it up, her lip curling in disdain as she reviewed the unlucky fucks who had been tossed into her lap. If she ever got the chance, she was going to shove that Commander into a magma pit or feed him to a hell-worm.

…

The next day, she was in one of the large training rooms waiting for the recruits to arrive. She had a scowl set on her face, one that said that the next person who pissed her off was getting her boot up their ass. Slowly but surely, they trickled in, guided by the signs on the walls of the halls. They looked like a miserable bunch... She very much wasn't looking forward to having them fail her. It wasn't entirely that most of them looked like twigs; after all, there were plenty of small demons that were particularly lethal. It was that and the fact that they exuded timidness. They were soft, plain and simple.

The room was largely empty, given that it was primarily used for sparring. This was further reinforced by the fact that there was a long table with a plethora of martial weapons from swords to maces, to clubs and spears.

"Listen up!" she barked loudly, "Your real assessment starts now. Whether or not you eat a decent meal tonight or something that vaguely resembles oatmeal is entirely up to you. If any of you can land a hit on me, even a scratch, I'll make sure you don't leave hungry. If you manage to disarm me or knock me over, I will award that person three gold coins. You can use any weapon in this room and any tactic you can think of. You're even welcome to all try at once."

Usually her weapon of choice was a sword, but she was equally as proficient with a wooden staff. A staff was in her hands, blunt but solid. She didn't want to kill them, after all. Well. She wasn't allowed to kill them on purpose, at least.

"Any questions?" Her eyes scanned the crowd.

 

[JadeKnight]

Senji wasn't really paying attention as he walked in with the rest of the candidates. He ended up in an area across from the demoness, surrounded by a large group of male and female humans. He was busy studying his hand, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. When she asked for questions, one of the guys behind him decided to be a smart-ass. He grabbed Senji's kendo stick and held it high with a grin.

"What about-?"

When the kendo stick was pulled from the straps of his backpack, the shifting of his backpack caught his attention. The kendo stick had been a gift from his former kendo instructor and he didn't want to lose it. His next actions were more of an automatic response than anything. He frowned as he felt himself get a little more angry than normal, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he shifted around to face the thief while sweeping a leg outward. He also shot a hand out to punch into the man's shoulder. With such close quarters, Senji ended up tripping up three people total including the thief.

"Give it back."

He didn't yell, but it would have been loud enough for those around him to hear. He didn't go for his kendo stick, but instead moved downward onto one knee beside the man. His other hand also came down open palm on the center of the man's chest. At the instant of contact, a intense red light flared outward from around Senji's hand. It engulfed a large enough area to cover over the man on the ground, while also touching the handful of others near them. The ones it touched disappeared in puffs of black ash while the light shot downward into the ground about three feet. The energy was then sucked up into the kendo stick, leaving it and Senji knelt down in a small crater.

The numbers disappeared from Senji's hand as a window popped up in front of him, along with one over his kendo stick. He barely had time to take in the words, catching "lightning" and "poison" above his stick before disappearing. The kendo stick had changed a little, green lines streaked along the bamboo pieces and little sparks as well. Senji grabbed the handle of his kendo stick and looked up a little surprised. He wasn't really sure what to do or say.

"Oops?"

 

[Poprockz]

Oh?

Her eyebrow cocked, but she certainly didn’t look like she was going to punish him for murdering a few of the others. If anything, she was more intrigued by that display than anything. Judging by the green streaks, she imagined that it either had stamina drain, poison, or health regeneration qualities.

Curious. Humans didn't normally possess magic, so he either had picked it up here or had some sort of latent ability that was activated in some way by being on the hellish plane.

"You there, boy with the wooden stick." She called out, pointing her staff at him. "I'll give you ten gold coins if you kill all the potential champions in this room." His response was awaited with interest. What would he do? Would he die trying to kill the others, successfully eliminate any too weak to withstand him, or refuse her offer? Whatever he chose would tell her something about him.

The rest of the people gathered nervously trained shocked looks, some of them inching towards the weapons on the table in case he was truly considering taking her up on it.

 

[JadeKnight]

If there was any words which would have kicked off a round of chaos, it was those of the demoness. They were exactly the thing to turn his day from bad, to completely worse. He stood up carefully holding his kendo stick in one hand loosely.

"I-"

He was interrupted by one of the large men who was nearby, yelling as the guy did a flying tackle towards Senji. A second one joined in, doing a flying tackle from the opposite direction. His world was spinning as the rest of the room erupted into chaos. Nearly half of those gathered scattered, trying to run screaming for the exits. They in turned were pounced on by the demons who had come in to see the fun. Others in the crowd turned on each other, grabbing weapons from the table to join in the fight.

Normally Senji might have been able to counteract in some way if they had took turns going after him, but several men and women had surrounded him, punching and kicking him. He groaned as he tried to protect himself as best as he could, his arms and legs trying to protect his vital areas. He did land a few blows, but it wasn't enough.

It was during this time that another window opened, printing out some words. Reading them, he decided someone or something was trying to enjoy a sick joke at his expense. He gritted his teeth in pain as blows injured him more and more.

Strike and receive a gift for you.

He groaned as he open palm struck one of the attacking women, yelling and cursing. Like before, she screamed in pain. A wave of red shot outwards through the crowd. The energy passed through the crowd, each individual evaporating into black dust, even the demons. No one was spared except the demoness. As the energy was absorbed into his kendo stick once more, he coughed and muttered a curse as he seemed to flip off the ceiling as two more windows appeared.

1st window - Git good rookie.

2nd window - Mission 2 of 2: Fuck the bitch - incomplete.

Senji coughed up a mouthful of blood, still flipping off the ceiling before his vision went black. His head hit the ground as he went into unconsciousness, more messages running down the windows before they disappeared.

 

[Poprockz]

He would awake to find himself on a cot, though a rather nice one. The pillow was plush and the blankets were soft and warm. They vaguely smelled of a rose-scented perfume, one that wasn't terribly cloying but rather subtle instead. Sitting atop his chest was a small letter pouch that contained exactly ten gold coins.

Nearby, Estrania was at her desk, doing what she hated most in this world: paperwork. She adjusted her spectacles as she continued writing her account of what had transpired in the training room. The higher ups wouldn't care that so many of them had died, not even the demons themselves. Not as long as there was a clear paper trail. It was controlled chaos, one might say, and it seemed to work really well for them.

After what went down earlier, she had taken him to her office for safe-keeping. One of the other demons had tried to poach him from her, citing that he clearly wasn't a part of the loser group she had been assigned. In demon fashion, she had told him to choke on a bag of dicks because his name was in gold on the list of contractees that she had jurisdiction over, so he would have to eat her ass before she would even consider loaning him out.

He was an enigma, one that she intended to exploit. If he could be trained to exert that kind of force at will, he might just not make her look like a shit stain on a bathroom stall wall when the tournament came upon them.

 

[JadeKnight]

He groaned softly as he slowly came to, feeling every bit of the pain from the intense battle. He wondered if she had even been gracious enough to get some healing for him. However, the first thing he noticed was a window open, showing the mission to bed Estrania, or at least that is what he thought of it. The status had shown he had failed it, which he hadn't planned on even trying. Written below those words was 'Prepare for punishment'. He was barely able to say 'What..' before lapsing back into a deep sleep.

Though his body remained where it was, Senji's mind was taken elsewhere. He found himself in a vast bleak desert of black sand. He was just dressed in a loose fitting white gown with no shoes on the cool sand. Large red letters formed to tell him to survive for one hour. A moment later, a large black horned beetle emerged from the sand one hundred yards from him. It's large pincers clashed together rapidly before it began to scurry after him. He blinked and then turned to begin running from the creature.

As he ran, he foundt he could easily keep the same fast pace the entire time, barely becoming winded. He was able to stay the same distance in front of the beetle the whole time, a timer in front of him constantly counting down the seconds. As the last second counted down, everything faded away.

He jerked up from the cot with a deep gasp, barely noticing as the bag fell to the floor. He cried out in the sudden pain of bruised muscles, shifting broken ribs, and other unknown injures before collapsing back against the cot.

 

[Poprockz]

The demon glanced up at his sudden sound, but soon looked back down at her paperwork and finished her thought before laying her pen back down.

"So the human is finally awake. Senji, isn't it? I bet you feel like shit right now. I could give you a healing potion, but it would cost you two gold coins. Fortunately for you, I'm a demon of my word and there's a little bag you threw off in your tossing and turning that has ten gold coins in it." She stood up from her desk and laid her spectacles down upon it. She then slowly walked to his side, looking down at the human who might not be a pile of steaming shit.

 

[JadeKnight]

Hearing her voice, he almost wanted to yell at her. He didn't know what was going on truly, and it felt like this place was making him just a little more crazy than ever. He had never killed before, and he was surprised that the sheer number he had killed in one go wasn't making him go mad. He had kept to himself for the most part, not really caring about other people. Animals, that was different. He couldn't stand to see an animal in pain and always tried to help it out when he was able. He had also been taught that his fighting was just for self defense and not killing. Everything he had known seemed to be going out the window and turning his world upside down. Even his emotions seemed to be affected by this place.

He watched her move around with his eyes, not bothering to say anything yet. He wasn't sure how much a healing potion would help, sounding more like a made up thing to him. Although he probably shouldn't be surprised such a thing existed alongside whatever had attached itself to him. At this point, he decided not to say anything as it was probably going to just get him in more trouble. This whole thing had a 'troublemaker sent to the principal's office' vibe going on.

He dropped his arm down towards the floor with a groan, fingers finding the bag of gold. He carefully opened the bag before pulling out two gold coins and held them up to her.

 

[Poprockz]

The two gold coins were plucked from his hand and placed into a pouch that had been in her cleavage moments before. Once she had the coins, it was placed back in its original spot between her breasts for safekeeping. She could usually see a demon trying to reach for her tits from a mile a way, and by now everyone knew that to do so was a good way to lose a few fingers.

With the payment having been made, she walked over to her desk again and picked up a small red bottle with a little brown cork in it. Her long nails dug into it as she pulled the cork free and returned to his side.

"This doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't taste good either. Think of it like drinking the salty water left over in a can of olives. You can either drink it, or I can administer it to you anally. Whichever you prefer, really." She smirked at him, finding no issue with playing around with him a little. She wasn't lying- it really did taste like that, and she truly could put it up his ass. Still, she was more suggesting it for the possible reaction she might be able to provoke from him.

 

[JadeKnight]

He watched her take the coins and deposit them between her breasts without comment. He really wasn't in the mood for anything except trying to get a better grasp on things. He almost rolled his eyes at her words about the whole administering it anally, but he refrained from doing so. It could have tasted worse at the moment, but the pain was more than enough incentive to just down it.

Plucking the vial carefully, he opened his mouth and poured the stuff in. She was right that the stuff was pretty bad tasting, almost gagging. However, he forced himself to quickly swallow it down. He still held the empty vial as he sighed, lowering it down to his side on the cot. Much to his surprise, he could feel the aches and pains going away after a few seconds. Though he hadn't believed it, the healing potion was real. After what seemed like an eternity, but only a couple more minutes, his whole body was healed.

"Can I please get some idea of what exactly I've been dragged into?"

He slowly shifted to sit up on the cot, carefully moving each part of his body to make sure he was whole and without pain.

 

[Poprockz]

“Well, you’ve been provided an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to increase your wealth, power, and influence!” She began, though one could tell that there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. It was the same bullshit spiel they were required to give to potential champions. Having to say the same thing over and over again wasn’t a foreign concept to her since she was used to issuing orders, but there was something very tedious about trying to fool suckers into thinking that all that awaited them was fame and fortune. Of course, it was possible they could make it out alive and with considerable wealth, it just wasn't very likely with how weak humans were.

"Successful champions have been able to acquire a sizable payment in gold, items like houses or cars, as well as access to personalized intimate companionship. Anything your heart desires for the most part could be yours if you’re successful.” The demon studied her nails for a moment before continuing.

“But... if you don’t want to take advantage of this offer… Well. Then I’m afraid we’ll have no choice but to demand restitution for trespassing. Sticking even part of your body in a plane that isn’t your own can make you subject to harsh consequences…” Though she knew exactly what the penalty was, she thought it best to leave it up to his imagination.

 

[JadeKnight]

He was quiet as he listened to her speak, his hands resting on the cot beside himself. He got the hint that she had said these things over and over before. After all, he had pretty much read the same thing on the posters coming in. He did feel a little shiver up his spine as she spoke of consequences for not accepting the offer as it stood.

If he was going to accept the offer, he had the feeling the way he was would get him killed very quickly. However, whatever gifts he had been given would most likely be able to turn things in his favor. What he need now was time to try and figure out how to access and use the new power he had been given. He also didn't quite trust revealing everything to the demons was going to be the best move yet.

"I see. Well, it sounds like you've put me into a position of damned if I do and damned if I don't. Fine, I just have one request before I make my decision. Give me a place to think things over by myself and I'll get back to you. I think that should be reasonable enough for you."

 

[Poprockz]

"Hm..." She eyed him thoughtfully, ultimately deciding that despite his "freedom of choice," he would likely make the more favorable choice as they all did. It didn't matter if he took a bit more time to do so.

"You have a maximum of..." Her wrist was lifted as she checked what time it was. He had been out most of the night, so it was now roughly 11 am. "Nine hours to make a decision. If you need an extension, let me know and we can renegotiate, but I'm just making sure you know that your time is finite."

There was a snap of her fingers, and a portal opened up next to him, one leading to what looked like a lavish woman's bedroom. It was her bedroom, to be exact. The reason she was allowing him entry was because other than her office, it was the only place she could be comfortable that he would be safe from other demons. If one of them stole her prized pup then she would have to go through all the trouble of a throat-slitting spree until they gave him up again. He was rightfully hers, after all. No one would bat an eye if she reclaimed her contractee.

"You'll be safe in my room, but if you steal anything of mine, I'll know." He was given a pointed look, conveying that if he did swipe an item, he would suffer her wrath.