Ch. 36: Snow White XII

Something bright and hot flash behind my eyelids. To my surprise, I can open them.

"Ugh." I shield my eyes from the source. Blinking a few times to adjust, I see Meu, Ariel, and a super stylish tan man, in a wine red and black scheme suit and black shades on. His silver-white hair was styled back to finish his look.

"Maybe if we burn her, she might wake up." He says while standing over me with a ball of flame in his hand.

"I'm awake, you crazy demon." I give him my best, 'don't do it' look. He flicks the fire away and flick at me this time.

"Woah!" He was moving me off the ground and to my feet.

"Thanks." I dust my clothes off. I was wearing a black sleeping gown, similar to the one I had worn in Ariel's place before I went to the banquet.

"So umm... what happened to me? Don't tell me I'm dead." I think of my character profile and relaxed when it pops up. Nothing has changed except for the new status that was by my name.

[STATUS ALIGNMENT: POSIONED - COMATOSE]

"This is the Invisible Abyss, nya!" Meu flies to me and shrinks, sitting on my shoulder. I didn't know he could do that. But then, he did turn into that scary humanoid cat killer back then.

"We deemed the situation a bit dangerous, so for safety reasons, we pulled your soul out and into this place." Meu licks his paw.

"So until those friends of yours figure out how to save you, you'll be stuck with us for a while."

"How long are we talking?" I hope not too long.

"I dunno. Could be a day, a week, a month. Forever..." I flick the tiny cat off my shoulder.

"Ariel?"

"It shouldn't take long. Give it 24 hours." She ushers me to a table. Everyone sits down while she prepares tea and snacks. I pop a macaroon one after another. Finishing a while platter, I realize I wasn't full from all that snacking.

"Ariel. Why am I not full?" The angel stops bringing another plate of snacks, "Ah, you're eating in your spiritual body, so you're feeding your soul. Not your physical one. But keep eating. You are strengthening your soul."

Without another word, I keep snacking. When everyone has their fill of eating, did things get serious.

"Human, you must learn how to fight properly." Baal, sips on his cup, "There are times where possessing you makes fighting awkward and hard to move half the time."

I frown. I feel like I've been fighting really well despite how 'awkward' it may seem to him.

"I suggest you train here with us while you're human friends. Find a way to wake you up." Baal's red eyes glint. In a flash, the table flips, sending everything up in the air to the floor. He then grabs a knife mid-air and lunges at me.

"What the-!" I dodge, just barely avoiding the knife that was aimed at my neck.

"Are you crazy!?" I jump back. Seeing a platter on the ground, I step hard, flipping it up in the air and catching it.

"I, the great demon prince, am graciously using my precious time and energy to make a killer out of you. I only have 23 hours to make that happen. Shut up and take my hits!"

His knife meets my metal shield-platter. I clench my teeth as each hit I receive increases in weight. By the 6th hit, he stabs through my platter. I gape at him while he sends me a devilish grin.

"Hehehe." He grabs my platter, pulls me, and kicks my stomach. I lurch out the tea and snacks I had earlier and immediately crumple on the dirt.

"Ugh..." I cough out, "H-hold up. Time out."

"Die!" Baal starts running to me. Being in pain, I did not react fast enough to parry his attack and stabs me in the heart. I let out a bloody scream as the wound burned me in the inside.

For a whole minute, I claw at my chest. Withering in pain with tears streaming down my face. The burning sensation increases until I pass out.

When I woke up, Meu, Ariel, and Baal were staring down at me.

"How long was I out? What the hell was that you demon spawn!?" I tried to kick his shin, but he simply takes a step back.

"Ahh, that's the punishment for dying in my hands. You've only been out for a minute." Baal rolls his eyes, "You couldn't even last a proper thirty seconds in a fight with me. You won't hold up long against another demon. Much less other gods."

"Can't you just take it easy on me?!" With much difficulty, I get back on my feet. Baal steps into my circle and gives me a bored look.

"No." He thrusts his arm into my chest. I could feel his claws inside, gripping on my chest. The burning sensation rips through my body again, and I scream out in pain again.

"Ahhhh!" I glare at the demon, "you asshole."

Baal only tilts his head toward, shades falling down the tip of his nose as he peeks over them.

"That, I can not deny... see you in a minute." He crushes my heart, and I black out.

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Baal and I had been at it for hours. I lost count of the time, but never lost count of how many times I've died in his hands.

"Again." I get up from the ground at his order. I have been improving since the 500th death, lasting a whole 3 minutes. I have become now made it a habit at watching and predicting his moves. After dying x-amount of times, by the 1200th time, I was starting to counterattack.

I open my eyes and immediately jump on to my feet. Baal had just decapitated my limbs and dealt a finishing blow to the face. His now thrusting his clawed hand to my neck. I parry his hands away from me and throw him a kick to his side.

He skids across the dirt before pivoting and running at me with another deadly blow. I did my best to dodge or redirect it while throwing a few hits his way. I manage to scratch his face, drawing black blood out of him.

"Yay!" I fist pumped the air, "How's that?!" I look at Ariel, who's been sitting and drinking tea the entire time. Meu had gone to check on other participants and causing 'havoc' as he liked to call it.

"You're doing great." She smiles. Her angelic smile really melts my fatigue away.

CRUNCH. The now familiar burning sensation comes back to me. I look down to see my heart outside my chest on Baal's claws. After all 1400th times, I have become accustomed to this pain along with all the different types of death Baal had me experience. I black out from the blow, and the next minute, I come back to my senses

"Ugh." I protest, rubbing my chest.

"Never let your guard down." Meu yowls, "especially to a demon."

Like the nth time, I wake up from the ground. Baal had taken a seat next to Ariel, who was still nursing her tea cup.

"Are we taking a break?!" I ask excitedly.

"You can't afford a break, stupid human." Baal takes out a large cigar and lights it with his finger. I had a feeling this was going to be his regular look.

"WEAK humans like yourself should be training till your puny little lives expire. But for now, training will resume next time we meet here." He takes a puff and blows out smoke.

"Huh? Why?" I sit crossed leg on the ground, exhausted and confused.

"Did you forget your half-asleep and half-dead?" The demon scrunches his face at me.

"Go back and finish the dungeon." Baal disappears and appears right before me. He blows a stream of smoke to my face before flicking a finger to my head.

"Chao."

"Haaaa!" I jolt up from my sleeping position only to collide with Mister Dark and Sexy's lips with mine.