BATTLE - LUST

"Hey, stop that, it's not fair", I shouted at my silent instructor as he raised his arms again, his sword glinting in the evening sun. Quickly, I rolled to the floor to dodge the strike while feeling the cold air of steel wheezing past my back. "Alright, that's it", I said as I sidestepped to the right, making the sword wielding maniac miss again and push himself forward carried by the momentum of his strike, then I swiped my sword, just like I have done for years since I was five.

SWISSH.

The instructor paused mid swing, then a thin line on his neck became obvious as its head fell to the floor, rolling until it touched my feet. Unsurprisingly, there was no blood, why would there be, it was just an enchanted training dummy after all. "Bro, you've gotten faster", shouted a short chubby guy, with shockingly blue eyes, and blue hair to match it. He was handsome in his own fat, cheeky way and my best friend and only friend really, Brad. Running up to me from across the room with a stupid smile on his chubby face.

Brad stood beside me, handing me a bottle of water, to which I took a sip. I wasn't really tired, just sore after being almost killed by losing focus while training. "Dude, your sword has gotten faster, I'm pretty sure you can face up to a battle type Semi-demon now", Brad said as the fat in his cheek jiggled due to his excitement.

I just ignored him as I looked around the training room. It was a wide room painted white, with a weapons rack at the far end of the room. Spears, swords, staffs, short swords, sabers, knives, daggers, you name it and it should be there. At the far opposite of the room stood 5 black clothed wooden constructs looking exactly like the man who I just sliced his head off. Those were enchanted training dummies, whom we call trolls and crafted with the sole purpose of training Demon future hunters like me.

After a while I washed up in the next room then walked out of the training room, this is when I sighted the reason why I almost died this evening. Wearing a purple short gown with white skinny jeans, Jane looked as beautiful as a fairy, the high order Hunter bloodline running through her veins giving her an almost unearthly beauty. With her big watery eyes filled with mirth, stretching down into a small nose and full red lips. She was tall, and had all the bumps in the right places.

"Snap out of it dude, you're staring again", said Brad as he elbowed me to snap me out of my trance. He chuckled and continued, "You know you could have died with how distracted you were in the training hall, trolls don't stop until they see blood and that blood could have come from your neck. if you died to a troll I don't think Jane would even come to your funeral".

"Oh really, it seems like you want another beating", I said jokingly, facing Brad as he laughed at me. "Wassup guys", I heard as I turned back and saw Jane right in front of us, she was at least my height and I could see the black "S" mark on her neck clearly now. My eyes trailed the S down from her neck into her inviting cleavage.

"Ouch", I shouted as Jane hit my head. I used to tease her by staring at her family mark before and could dodge out of the way before she hit me. But I forgot one critical factor, and the reason why she was able to almost teleport from more than 5 metres away to right in front of me.

She had been awakened.

My head felt like it had been hit by a train as I clutched it. With her strength and speed multiplied exponentially after her awakening, Jane could easily kill me now if I truly angered her. Though she wouldn't because I'm sure she liked me too, even though she always called me her younger brother.

"You better watch your mouth and eyes these days Michael, or else you'll find yourself in serious trouble", said Martha, Jane's friend and troublemaker who just appeared beside me. She was a bit short of Jane's class of beauty, but not by much, with her hair tied up in a ponytail, she only reached my shoulder. "I will be having my awakening tomorrow so just have fun for today", I said, my head still throbbing. "Well in that case, let's have some fun", Martha said with a devilish smile I knew nothing good could ever come from.

And I was right. Martha suddenly held my hand then spun me around, I felt my legs leaving the ground as Martha swung me through the air. My training and instincts kicked in as I twisted in the air and landed on my feet, frowning, I think I bruised an ankle. Martha, still with her smile, took a step forward, as I got ready to face this awakened she-devil.

That was when Brad stood in front of me and said, "alright that's enough Martha, you've had your fun, you can face him the day after his Awakening". Martha stopped for a while, as if considering whether she could handle Brad, but later wisely stepped back.

Brad was also an awakened, and one of the strongest in the school. He could handle Martha with just half his strength, and that's not surprising. There were different types of awakening and it depended on your Family and traits in your Hunter bloodline. Martha and Jane were both non combat awakened from the soul branch, though with speed and strength above human limits at the Semi-demon grade, they still focused more on sorcery and charms unlike Brad, a full combat Awakened from the Body branch at the Higher-demon grade, my dream.

Brad and I said goodbye to the witches as we sprinted home. Well I sprinted while Brad just walked, I couldn't wait to get home and prepare for my awakening tomorrow. Reaching the junction after our school, I waved goodbye to Brad who just smiled and shook his head as I ran off.

Getting to my house from school wasn't far, just a 5 minute walk or a 2 minute sprint. And 2 minutes later, I stood right in front of a big black gate, there were two golden spiral designs on it connecting into a big V in the middle, then I rang the bell for the guards to open the gate.

"Good evening Master Michael, how was school today", said Mr Jones, our gatekeeper and my friend. He had helped me sneak back into the house more than once, after I went to a party or something to which my Mother disagreed. "Was good Papa Jones" I said as I walked past him, "can't wait for my awakening tomorrow, I'll show them what's what in school". Mr Jones just smiled as usual, he wasn't a man of many words.

He walked with me into our yard, if it could really be called that, with fountains, lush gardens of flowers that were either extinct or impossible to find anywhere else due to the special environment in which they grew and how dangerous they were to mortals. Our yard alone was as large as a football field.

We continued walking into the yard, straight to the white mansion in the middle. The Mansion had five pillars and could rival castles from the past, the walls that had held for generations and generations of Vaders and spoke of our ancient history. I walked past the guards and maids as I went into the house. As you would expect, the inside was as opulent as the outside, with a hall that could fit hundreds of people easily, and gold chandeliers and chairs that gave the room a really oppressive but regal air.

I just went straight to my room, then sat on my king sized bed. I didn't bother with my PS 4 laying on the floor, or my limited edition Zenoir at the corner of the room, but instead took out a leather covered book from under my pillow. The book which easily weighed a pound, held all the history of the Demon Hunters, and my Family the Vaders.

Even though I had read it for the 50th time, I still opened the book again from the beginning as I went through the Hunters history.

Thousands of years ago, in the year something something, I always skip that.

Life was peaceful, full of struggles and strife, but just your normal old days, until all hell broke loose, like literally.

Demons, creatures with supernatural powers and an almost immortal lifespan, living for thousands of years while looking youthful, escaped from hell. Livin for ruin and destruction, they basked in the blood of their victims and revelled in their freedom, that is until the Demon hunters came along.

Demon hunters are humans tasked with killing rampant demons, blessed or cursed, depending on how you see it, by the Rashakal, the Asura god of death and cleansing.

Yeah, like the gatekeeper of hell who was practically sleeping when the demons escaped or something, so instead of fixing his shitty mistakes, he gives us powers and tells us to do it for him. Well, the powers are cool though.

We have supernatural strength, speed and healings that can rival demons.

The Demon hunters had been keeping their sacred duty for thousands of years and had almost wiped out the various Demon species among humans, then the Demon King was born.

Born to a Family of higher-demons, the Demon King ate his way out of his mother's belly and devoured her soul.

Like how f**king gross is that

Growing to a thousand years in a second, and with Demons getting stronger by every year they live, the Demon King/Devil was insanely powerful and named himself Ashrat.

Returning the favour to the Demon hunters and almost clearing them up to their last man. It took 500 Demon Hunter Elders who used their last breath to suppress and injure the Demon King Ashrat. Sending him sink back into his hell hole to recover and leaving the Demons and Demon hunters weakened and everyone slinking into obscurity

Aren't we cool as F**k, well the Demon King was just a child at that time, but he's practically a god level figure and we still took him down.

Well, almost..

Demons still walk the surface of the earth and the Demon hunters still live to fight again and again. Weakened by the battle with the Demon King and losing all but 5 elder level Hunters, the Demon Hunters all went into hiding for centuries making the outside world forget about us while we eliminated the Demons in the shadows.

"Michael, get your ass off the bed or else I'll drag you out", shouted Melissa from downstairs, her voice echoing through the house.

Who's Melissa?

Well that's my 13 years old sister, princess of the Vaders and the little devil of the house. Of course she's not really a devil, just a brat.

Sighing, I closed the book and placed it back under my bed then I walked out of my room. Going down the stairs I could barely see our Hellhound, savat, chasing its caretaker through the yard. Savat was practically a big dog that could breathe fire and had the mark of hell, meaning it could travel through realms. As I walked into the Dining hall, I saw my mother, Fiver Vader, wearing an apron I sewed for her saying "Best V Chef", with hardly any wrinkles on her beautiful face, and her golden hair packed in a bun while setting the plates and serving dinner. She wasn't your normal rich Wife, she made sure she cooked our food and served it herself anytime she was home from her missions.

She is a Demon Hunter from the soul branch and she married my Father, Modred Vader, one of the most promising Demon hunters of the last generation. My Mother is special in a way that she could manipulate the energies of the world and heal almost any injuries. Yes, most soul branch witches could do that, but not like my Mom. Smiling, I said, "Mom, what's for dinner, I'm starving". Mom just looked at me with a smile and gestured at the Samosa and fruits. I sat at the table next to my 13 years old sister, Melissa, who was yapping away at a maid. She looked just like our Mom but had black luscious hair, typical of a Vader. I just sat down and relaxed, as my mom served me. I immediately started to wolf down the food. Why wouldn't I? My Mom is not just the best healer, but also the best cook that I know. Melissa just looked at me like I was a slump child in disgust.

Ignored.

As I took my last bite, I felt it before it happened, an oppressive air that stifled my breathing and made me feel like a Demon was stepping on my throat, a man appeared in the head seat of the table. Dressed in a loose robe, with black hair and a dastardly handsome face, my Father, Modred Vader, was in the house.

The oppressive air vanished and my Father smiled apologetically, as he sat down in his seat. I realised again why people said I was a splitting image of my Father after he smiled and I knew he was going to be home today since tomorrow was my awakening, but It still felt strange to see my Father at home on a normal day. Being a powerful Demon hunter, my Father was a busy man, killing Demons and making the world safe. But that didn't mean that I didn't miss him.

After eating his food, my Father said, "Are you ready for tomorrow?".

"Yes sir, i can't wait", I replied with a smile, My Father just chuckled and waved his hand, then I suddenly felt dizzy. "This will help you to sleep" was the last thing I heard from my Father as I blacked out.