Chapter 8: Skills

It has been a day since the party, to be honest, it was fun, very fun. I'm not a party guy myself, but that was the first time I ever enjoyed having a party.

Meeting the other Generals was nerve-wracking though, but all in all, they're very cool people.

After the party, my father and the Generals decided to train me the basic fundamental of skills, even though my sister and mother didn't want me to but knowing the fact that I can learn those cool skills that El and the other used are amazing, so I agreed.

My training will have three categories, and I'm gonna have to learn each one of them.

First is the skills category, Both Ifrit and Shota Beelzebub will teach me the basics of skills.

The second category is academics, this time Millie and Akemi are gonna teach me the history of Hell, skills, and the world, also they'll teach me the politics of Hell.

The third category is the one I'm most nervous about, it's swordsmanship. And the one who would teach me is also what I'm nervous about, my father and finally Milicas Lucifer.

Hearing that the Generals training me is very frightening, but Milicas training me?! Is what would I call the real gate of hell.

He's the son of Lucifer, the guy who rebelled against God is his freaking father, so talking to him will kill my mind.

I'm okay with my father training me... But coming into mind why are we even the Rulers of Hell? Isn't supposed to be Lucifer?

"*Sigh* What do I do? Is Milicas strict as a teacher? I seriously hope not."

"Don't sweat it, Prince."

"Oh really– hah! Belphegor?! What are you doing in my room? Most important of all, how did you get in?"

The General of Sloth is here and is currently laying on my bed like he owns it, this guy... I can see why he's the devil of sloth.

"Belphegor? Come on Haruki... Since we're gonna live on the same roof, then why can't we get more familiar with each other? I heard you're calling Akemi by her first name, so why not me also."

"Okay, Sora..?"

Snore. Snore.

This guy... He enters my room without permission, and now he's asleep at my bed... Hmm... Many people would definitely punch someone who has done the same thing, but in rare cases, if you find someone with the same personality as you, then it's okay.

Pushing Sora along the way to make some space, I went to bed to get some sleep, but an unknown force came without notice.

"Looks like you're having fun, Haruki."

The same old guy who I first met here in Hell, and the guy who sneaked to my party is actually in my room right now.

Will I live my life like this? Full of disturbances from shady guys? Also, knowing the fact that this guy can stalk me to my sleep? Of course, I would live like that, this is a place where privacy is not a rule if you can do magic or skills, so I better get used to it.

"You know Haruki, I can hear what you're thinking right?"

Well... Better not leave the old man hanging, after all his done many things that I'm grateful for.

"Yo El, why are you sweating a lot? Did something good happen?"

"Well I had a meeting with some few friends, but I'm fine, for no–."

El after seeing the small dagger flying to him, jumped instantly to dodge the dagger.

Seeing who threw the dagger at him, I saw Sora pulling out another dagger and coming at El.

Did Sora wake up? But where did he got those daggers? Did he know that El is gonna come when he came to my room? No his hand, it's glowing.

After his hand stopped glowing, another dagger came out of thin air.

Seeing that I wanted to say 'Wow that's cool!' but didn't because I have to stop them before they destroy my room.

I ran up to Sora and wrapped my arm on his knees, while repeatedly telling him to stop.

El isn't fighting back, but if he kept dodging my room will be destroyed.

"Let go of me Haruki, this guy kidnapped you before, so let go of me!"

"Stop! My room will be destroyed, and he's not a bad guy; we'll explain what really happens." I cried.

After calming down Sora and telling him the entire truth about what Satanael did to find me, he was dumbfounded and angry at the same time. "That old bastard, he was bragging about beating the kidnapper, and saving you, but it's all a f*cking lie!" Sora shouted with tremendous anger.

"The next time I see that geezer I'll kill him!"

"I don't think you can."

"Agreed."

"Come on... Why can't you two support me..?"

Sora and El fought a moment ago, and now they're acting like buddies, now I can see why I think I can get along with Sora.

But getting along with Sora huh? I wonder how're they doing? Homura, Asahi, do you still remember me and our friendship?

El and Sora noticed me thinking with a sad expression and both sighed, Sora came to me and told me. "You know Haruki, not gonna lie but you actually look embarrassing and awkward to look at, what's wrong?"

The moment I thought of being friends with this guy, and he said that... D*mn this guy wants to die.

"Sora's right Haruk–"

At the same time Sora and I interrupted El and both said at the same time. "Shut up old man, you should talk to someone with the same age as you."

"Kids this day are very special huh?" That is what El whispered to himself.

"Now that I think about it, what are you even doing here El?"

"I wanted to tell you something, and it is to make sure to succeed in your training tomorrow."

'That's it?' Is what I want to ask him, I've been thinking that this guy has a sick mind, and doesn't have anything to do but to disturb my peace. "Yeah, yeah, than–" Opening my eyes I noticed that he left without a trace again, even Sora looked shocked that El was gone.

"Now that he's gone, goodnight." Sora didn't even give a care about what happened, and he went to bed instantly.

"Yeah, I'm kind of tired too."

Sleeping in a second after saying that, I finally noticed this, I already have one close friend here in Hell.

Preparing to already sleep, I noticed Millie peeking through the door.

I sighed and spoke to ask her what she's doing there peeking at us. "What are you doing there Millie?"

She responded by saying that she's taking a close eye on both of us to see if we're already asleep, especially me who has training tomorrow.

I answered that we're already starting to go to bed.

Millie sighed and said. "Okay big brother goodnight and sweet dreams, you better wake up early tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight to Millie."

The next day, Sora woke up early, and woke me up too, even if I don't want to, he insisted that I'll die if Millie founds out.

I thought he was just joking, so I stayed in bed for a while, but still... He still keeps waking me up, and also now he's crying.

He's really desperate to wake me up, and I don't know why, I wanted to ask him what he means that I'll die if Millie finds out, but my body is numb after sleeping.

"Haruki! Millie's almost here! Wake up now, or we'll both die!"

Is he joking? No... If he's joking then why is he crying and shouting for real? No way... Could it be that he's telling the truth?!

The door slammed loudly, and there come Millie standing there with a metal ruler.

"You two have training today, and here you two are still in bed... I guess you two want to die early huh?" Just by her voice, Millie's pissed off.

Being scared after seeing that, I stood up and wore the clothes that I'm gonna use in my training today in an instant

"Come on Sora... Let's go!"

Apparently, Sora is learning academics with Millie, because he's stupid enough to make a child he's taking care of die, but what shocked me is that he's the only General that's still training right now.

He's strong because I saw what he did last night, but I didn't expect him to be dumb, but well... Better not judge people, after all he tried to protect me last night.

Millie said that Beelzebub would come and get me here at the castle, I wonder where he is? Maybe he doesn't have that cool portal skill?

What comes was suppose to be Beelzebub, but I saw a weirdly deformed bee coming toward me from the distance.

It's very spiky shaped makes it looks weak and sick, but when It got closer I noticed that it's as big as a normal house, and what's more shocking I see Beelzebub riding it.

Don't tell me we're riding that thing? It's creepy to look at, and very traumatizing to ride at.

"Good Morning Prince Haruki, so are you ready?"

"Good morning too, Beelzebub... So... I'm guessing we're gonna ride on that?"

"Oh you guessed it, this is my pet Quegbee, Anya."

This thing even has a name? And what's a Quegbee? I'm guessing it's an animal here.

I climbed up on Anya, and sat on it, weirdly enough its hair is fluffy and soft like a marshmallow.

Anya began to fly as fast as she can, and not even 20 minutes has passed, we're already here at Ifrit's arena. Even it looks very chubby and looks like it can't run, I was surprised that Anya was faster at running than me.

The arena is huge, and wonderfully designed, also to think about it; it actually looks like the colosseum in Italy.

Beelzebub told me that this is where Ifrit trains recruits of knights, but today it's reserved for me.

But... If the arena is this huge, why can't they just make me some spaces I could train in and the recruits a space for them to train? Hmm... Don't tell me...

No way, Is it because getting a skill is dangerous? Wait, I better ask Beelzebub before going, I don't want to die now.

"Hey, Beelzebub... Is getting a skill dangerous?"

"Not really... But if it's a human doing it; it's dangerous, the problem is that you were raised on Earth for 18 years, so because of that you might've evolved to a different species of demon."

"Really... But it's still dangerous!"

"Well, base on our calculation, the rate for you to die is close to 20%, so don't worry about it."

Really, but 20% is still dangerous, now I'm scared.

"There you two are, let's begin!" Looking at the distance, we saw Ifrit running toward us excitedly.

"Sit here Haruki." Shota said to me when we entered the arena.

"Wait why are you two in a hurry?" I was confused, because everything seems fast, and they were in a hurry to get me to use my skills.

"Okay close your eyes now."

Why are they in a f*cking hurry about me obtaining a skill?! Is it really that dangerous?!

I listened to them and closed my eyes nervously, but when I did, I can't hear them anymore.

Do I open my eyes now? Sh*t I guess I'll do it, I'm probably dead anyway.

Space, that's what I saw after opening my eyes, and beside me is a black orb that began to talk, it said. "It's nice to meet you, Master. I am your Guidance Soul, I'm guessing you want to have a skill so please wait for the time being."

Soul? Is that my soul? And it's called the guidance soul, so I guess it guides me to anything I don't know of.

Without a warning, my Guidance Soul turned blue and said "I'm the Skill Soul, please to meet you, Lord Haruki. Now... Let's begin to get you skills..., calculating..."

After it said that, I began to feel like something exploded within me.

A vision came from somewhere else, and what I saw was some sort of memory that I don't even remember.

It was a beautiful girl with blonde long hair, and she said "I missed and love you Haruki, stay safe and get stronger to protect everyone."

Opening my eyes I saw Shota, Ifrit, Millie, Akemi, and Sora looking at me worried,

and right on top of my chest was a piece of paper with ink that shone even if there's light inside the arena.

Millie hugged me tightly while crying a bit, I want to ask them what happened? And who was that girl that I saw from an unknown memory?

"*Sigh* You're okay Haruki, dang... What happened to you bro? You looked like something happened to you when you're in the soul space."

"Everyone... What happened?" I asked them slowly, just from their faces I can see that they're worried about me, something must've happened when I was obtaining my skills. Something about that girl I saw...

"You suddenly screamed and fainted." Shota worriedly said. "so I called Akemi and Millie to check on you."

Really? But I don't remember screaming at all?

"Come on don't think bad about it Haruki, look here's your skill list on your stomach." Ifrit shrugged off the incident of me screaming in pain when I got my skills, and instead he looks at the paper on my chest. "We haven't check it yet, so come on."

Trying my best to stand up, but the only thing I can do is sit.

My body is in pain, but it's not worse than the time I got transported here.

"Just sit still for a moment Haruki, here have some water."

I took the bottle of water that Akemi gave me "Thanks Akemi." I drank it and it was very refreshing.

"Then let me just read your skill for you..." Ifrit looked at the paper that was on my stomach, and when he saw the content. "Ha!! What the h*ck!?"

"Ifrit what happened?"

"His skills... There's no way a beginner can get skills like this."

"Let me see." Shota took the paper from Ifrit's hand, and like Ifrit's reaction, Shota was shocked. "Fire Manipulation, Electrical Manipulation, and Space Cutter! these skills are something that can only be obtained with hard training."

"Is it really impossible for me to get these types of skills?" What's happening? I got a strong skill that's hard to obtain, am I lucky? Or does this mean something?

"Also, is this a new type of skill? Cause I never heard of a skill like this. Soul Bound, that's what it's called."

Don't tell me I got a skill that's very rare that nobody has heard of it?! This is definitely luck! Thank you, god of luck!

"Soul bound? I never heard of it too... Big brother before obtaining your skills, what did you see in the soul space?"

"Well..." Answering Millie's question, everyone was shocked by what they heard and began to make theories on what happened(except Sora, he's just standing there doing his own thing.)

"A blonde girl, saying that she missed and love you, while also saying to you to be safe and get stronger, what could this mean? Who is she? And what's Soul Bound?" Millie mumbled, but I still clearly heard her.

"Wait... All of you never experienced something like this?" Am I the only one who experienced this?

"Yes, and the others never experienced something like this also, and probably everyone who obtained a skill never also experienced something like this." Wait, is it bad that I'm the only one who got something like that?! No way is it a sign of death?!

"We're gonna stop your training for a week, we need to check the stability of big brother's body."

"Then I'll contact the King, and Queen, also the other four Generals about this." Ifrit replied with sheer disappointment.

For a week I was in Millie's lab to see if something was wrong with both my body and mind.

What shocked everyone the most is the fact that there's no sign that there's something wrong.

After one week in the lab, they wanted me to rest, but I forced them that I still want to train, which they happily agreed with.

My mother didn't want me to train, and kept insisting me to rest for a bit, I know she's worried about my health, but something about what that girl said kept telling me that I should train.

Millie and Akemi taught me the basic knowledge of skills.

Apparently, skills have many categories: magic, medic, support, synergy, and many more.

They said magic has types or elements, the example of this are the four famous elements: fire, water, earth, and air.

They said that my skills are powerful because, for example, newbies would look to learn fire elements like Ignite they said, but if you have Fire Manipulation you can use every fire type skills.

"Listen Haruki, all of us is powered by a certain energy, which is mana. Mana is the creator of everything, hence even Gods are made of mana." That is what Akemi told me, I asked her who created mana, but she said that the creator is still unknown.

Because of this, I kept asking myself, is there a supreme deity that created a God? Everything is possible, so I guess my theory is possible also.

In swordsmanship, I was amazed by the technique they showed with their sword fighting.

The way they combined skills and sword technique is amazing, it's like using a gun on a sword fight, which means it's kinda cowardice if you have stronger skills.

Well, I said stronger skills, but when I found out that my father has no manipulation skills, I suggested that we spar, but still lost.

I lost at swordsmanship obviously, but in terms of skills, I lost too.

"It's not because you have more powerful skills means that you'll win, but if you know how to use it, you'll win even if the enemy's stronger." That is what my father said to me after I lost.

Better not get cocky next time...

Every day I trained with everyone, it was lots of fun, I became closer to them, and more happier at the same time.

Calling them now in their first name, and Ifrit for some unknown reason is now my Master.

Well being Ifrit's student is not a bad thing, the problem is his childish personality.

Apparently, Ifrit also trained both my father and Millie when they were still young, so that means he's our Master.

Me, Sora, Lucas, and Shota became good friends and sometimes have sleepovers, but the way that Lucas is close to Millie is killing me a lot.

And Akemi... I want to be more than friends with her if possible, but... I don't have the courage to tell her that I like her, because I'm afraid that she'll reject me.

Am I gonna live my whole life as an awkward virgin? Probably... No, definitely.

But even days have passed, and yet... We still don't what happened to me when I got my skills, and when we tested Soul Bound, nothing happened at all.

Which makes it more impossible to learn about.

And It's already has been 2 months since I came here, time flies faster than I thought, and it still feels like that I still got here yesterday.

El has never visited me since he met Sora, I'm starting to get worried about him, but that old man's strong, so I guess he's just busy.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna train with Satanael, because he said he wants to see me beat him, which is impossible to do.

But... Let's see what happens next.

***

[Michael POV]

On the seventh floor of Hell, there's a group of warriors in armors, and they're sharpening their swords preparing for battle.

There stood in the middle their leader Michael, he said to them. "Everyone, it's the time to give our Lords what they ordered, remember only kill if you are in a state of danger, cause our only objective is to kill the King and his family, so remember that."

Everyone replied with a "Yes sir." and began to move to Hell.

For Haruki today was one of the happiest days he has experienced, but he doesn't know that someone would take that happiness from him.

Who would win? The devils? Or the angels?