Fragmented Swords

*Ringggg*

*Ringggg*

The loud alarm clock woke Liam up.

He lazily turned off the alarm clock and rose from his bed. He quietly arranged and clean his bed while yawning.

"What day are we today again?" He asked himself while looking at the calendar.

"Oh, it's Saturday." He sleepily exclaimed.

Then he suddenly frowned. After that, he turned angry.

"Then why the f*ck is my alarm on?" He cursed out loud.

His mom who was downstairs clearly heard him and yelled.

"We're not allowed to use those words in this house, young man!"

That's right. Although Liam curses out a lot, his parents raised him not to. Cursing was prohibited in the house.

So it was quite weird why a man raised not to say bad words, curses a lot.

His mom's words made him snapped out of it.

"Oh yeah. I finally remember now. I have to experiment a bunch with Azrael." He grinned.

"Speaking of Azrael, where the hell is he? I told him to come as fast as possible."

Liam scratched his head while opening the closet to change clothes. But what he didn't expect was that someone was inside...

"Holy cow, you scared the sh*t out of me Azrael!" Liam shouted once more. He also fell on his butt. Azrael really scared the shit out of him.

"Are you even listening, young man? One more time and you'll be grounded! Mark my word." Her mother's angry voice traveled upstairs.

"Sorry!" Liam shouted back.

"Hey, can you make a noise-canceling barrier or something? My mother is gonna beat my ass if this continues."

"Yeah, sure." Azrael plainly said. Almost like he just cried a while ago. Adding the fact that he's holding a wet towel. Or did he jerked off? Nonetheless, Azrael seems down today.

'That's strange. I didn't encounter any problem ordering him around. Something is off today.'

"Hey." Liam held Azrael's broad shoulder.

Azrael looked him in the eye.

"You just cried, right?"

"I did not." Azrael denied.

"So you jerked off inside my closet. Do demon also have weird fetishes?" He wondered

"Do you want me to apply a noise-canceling barrier in your room or not?" Azrael held his anger within him

"Forgive me oh great archdemon Azrael." Liam kowtowed.

"Apologies accepted." Azrael waved his hands and a yellow barrier appeared in his hand. It flew off and reach the center of the room. After that, it suddenly enlarged and covered up the whole room.

"All done, you should try it." Azrael proposed.

"Yeah, you're right."

Liam prepared to shout. He inhaled a huge amount of air and after that...

"F*CK YOU!"

***

Veronica, Liam's mom, was silently preparing breakfast. And now that she was all done, she decided to call him. She's also hungry at the moment.

"Liam, breakfast is ready"

After a minute, no reply came.

"Breakfast is ready, son"

No reply.

"Liam, I said breakfast is rea-" But before she could finish, Liam finally replied.

"F*CK YOU!"

"That's it. I'm done. Prepare your ass, young man." Veronica grabbed her husband's belt and went upstairs.

***

"Oh, it worked. I'm sure mom didn't hear that hehe." Liam felt satisfied.

"Oh, Azrael. You're the best thing that happened to me." Liam couldn't help but tear up.

"I know right. I just hope you won't regret what you've done." Azrael comforted Liam.

"What do you mean?" Liam was confused. But before he could add more questions, his door suddenly opened.

"This." Azrael replied, devoid of emotions.

"Goodmorning mom. Is breakfast ready?" Liam innocently asked.

"Yup." Her mom's smile creeped him out.

"Uhmmm. Did I do something wrong?" Liam gulped.

"Yup." Veronica's creepy smile was still etched on her face.

"Why are you holding father's belt? Don't tell me you're going to hit me with that."

"Yup" Her mom's smile finally fade.

'Azrael set up a noise-canceling barrier, right? Noise-canceling barrier? Don't tell me...'

*Slap*

"Ouch! That hurts! What have I done?!" Liam teared up.

"What's the reason? You curse out three times and the last one was directed at me, your mom!" Veronica spat.

Liam couldn't help but glare at Azrael. 'Noise-canceling barrier?! That was set up so I won't hear noises outside not the other way around. I hope you die a painful death a thousand times Azrael!'

He looked at the laughing demon with the same flaming vengeance in his eyes when Azrael became his slave. 'I shall remember this day. I'll have my revenge!' He silently pledged in his heart.

Azrael felt a shiver and stopped laughing. He turned the other way around while fighting the urge to laugh out loud.

After 20 minutes of being smacked in the butt, Liam could finally eat breakfast.

He sipped his soup while crying at the same time.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I already told you I stubbed my toe in the bed." Liam explained for the millionth time.

"That won't change the fact that you cursed out loud. You'll be doing the dishes today until tomorrow."

"But mom.." Liam's snot was already falling.

"No buts mister. Finish your food first. Also, I'll be going to my friend's house so please clean the house while I'm gone" Veronica reminded his devilish son.

Liam's face suddenly shined.

'Nice. This is a perfect opportunity. Mom would leave the house and my punishment is simply washing the dishes and cleaning the house. One word from me and my slave shall clean this house for me.'

"Ok mother. Your handsome and hardworking son shall clean the whole house while you're gone." He smiled sincerely.

"It's good that you understand. But you're neither handsome nor hardworking. You're an idiot."

Liam's smile was replaced with a pout.

"Where did my genes came from? Of course, it came from my mom."

"You'll also clean my room and the basement."

Veronica added.

"How lucky. I have such a loving and beautiful mom."

***

"I'll be leaving now, son. I hope when I came home the house is thoroughly clean up and dinner is ready." Veronica reminded Liam one last time.

"Yes, mom! Take care!" Liam pretended to clean the dishes.

When he heard the door being closed he finally stopped and wash his hands.

"Ok. Azrael, make the whole house clean. Absolutely no speck of dust must be seen. Also, clean the dishes. And lastly, put any protecting spell on my mother. It's better to be prepared than nothing. No one knows what's in the future after all."

Azrael did what he was asked for and the whole house suddenly became clean on its own. The dishes washed themselves. And lastly, a protecting spell covered Liam's mom.

After everything was done, Liam asked the question that was bugging him since yesterday.

"So... What did you forget in the alternate reality?"

Azrael suddenly frowned.

"Nothing."

"I order you to tell me the truth." Liam demanded.

Azrael sighed. He took out a piece of a blade in thin air and showed it to Liam.

"Remember this?"

"Yup. It's a fragment of that Angel's twin blade right?"

"That's right, child. I thought no one would find that place but it looks like many angels and demons have descended on Earth. I smelled their presence on that exact alternate reality. That only means the holy war is shifting its course"

Azrael explained.

"Cool. What will happen to Earth when the Holy War ends?" Liam questioned. He was also curious about this point.

"Two things. If the Angels win, then Earth will face an apocalypse where all the sinful people will perish. If we win, then humanity will become our slaves for eternity." Azrael stated.

'Sins?' Liam touched his chin. He was an open-minded person. For him, a sin was just a matter of perspective. Some might find something a sin while others will think otherwise.

"So where are the other fragments?" Liam dismissed what just Azrael said. He has no control over who'll win the war so he'll just let fate decide. But if there was a way to help Earth, then he'll help.

"I sensed 13 fragmented blades in total. The twelve are missing. Probably been stolen by both Angels and Demons since I sense battle from two sides. Luckily they forgot one fragment. This will help me track where they are no matter the distance. But my power is still lacking because of my injury."

"Nice. I'll help." Liam proposed.

"No need, child. What can you do with your meager strength?"

"Uhmmm. You know I could just wish you to give me power right?" Liam laughed.

"That's not how things worked, child." Azrael snorted.

"You said you can grant any wish, right? So how can I not wish for unlimited power?" Liam rolled his eyes.

"That's because your soul is the price. That means you can be the strongest human in the world or have any superpowers like the heroes of your world has if you still have your soul. But you already sold your soul. In short, I couldn't grant any more impossible wish like flying." Azrael slowly explained.

"Then could I wish my soul back?" Liam still doesn't want to give up.

"You can't. It's those so-called impossible wishes I could only grant with the help of a human's soul. How could I bring back your soul if you don't have the soul to pay for it? "

Azrael laughed at his own joke. While Liam was still silently thinking.

"But you can steal other human souls to wish something impossible. That's efficient and easy." Azrael grinned.

This way while this human ordered him around, he could also grow stronger the more soul he possessed.

But how could Liam be that evil? Using someone's soul as a price was practically the same as killing someone.