“Halt!” Belial shouted.

Every student in the Practicing arena halted, standing perfectly straight. Wearing an adapted teacher's robe with shorter sleeves and length, Belial stood in front of the group holding a stick. The stick was, actually, her improvised wand.

Demons didn’t need wands, but her students couldn’t know her identity, so, by Blanche’s brilliant idea, the snow Foxian gave Belial a training wand that could adapt to the user. To Belial’s surprise, the training wand turned into a boring stick… well, she could use it to hit someone’s head or knees at least.

When Belial first showed it to her class, the students looked at the stick in disbelief, but the moment Belial hit it on the desk, they didn’t dare to press on further information or doubt her capabilities. It was wise to shut their mouths before their teacher used her magic stick to give them bruises.

For their first lesson, Belial took them to the Practicing arena to check their body awareness and endurance. After all, nobody could rely solely on magic and forget how to control their own body, especially those who would work in the field like her students of Magic Defense.

Watching her students work hard reminded her of her cadets back in Hell. That made a faint smile sketch on her lips.

“All right, I see you aren’t slacking off… that’s really good,” Belial acknowledged, walking among her students in rolls. “Now, you’re all dismissed. The upcoming training session will also take place here. There’s no better thing than to learn it while practicing,” she raised her hand and then dropped. Her students nodded and, in order, were leaving the arena.

Belial huffed, satisfied. Humans and hybrids are surprisingly disciplined nowadays, much in contrast to the barbarians she once met hundreds (actually, thousands) of years ago when Earth was a wasteland of brutes.

While gathering the backpack Mephistopheles lent her – after almost choking on his coffee –, Belial was surprised when an ivory fur touched her hand. She looked to the side and saw a snow Foxian sitting right beside her bag, her hand holding its strap.

“Oh, Blanche,” Belial voiced, but nothing further came out because her brain was adjusting from her serious to casual mode.

Blanche was there, not wearing her usual high bun. Her hair was loose, and her ears were no longer pointy but the same as Ajal’s; her ghostly appearance still had some hidden warmth by her peach cheeks, nose tip, and fingers. She looked at Belial as if squinting her eyes, and the demon could picture a happy fox wagging their tail while looking at her.

Dots connected, and Belial’s cheeks burned.

“What?” Belial asked, avoiding looking at Blanche.

“I’m just happy seeing you fitting in,” Blanche smiled.

Belial’s knees faltered, and she hid her face behind her burgundy hair. “I told you I’d do fine,” she said, sounding like a brag.

Blanche touched the demon’s hand and tilted her head to look at Belial’s face, taking a glimpse of her blushing. “That’s a relief, but why are you blushing?” She asked, her fuzzy tail wagging behind her.

Belial, noticing the wagging tail, wanted to bury her face in a hole. “It’s hot here, and I’m sweating after the class, that’s why,” she came out with something.

Blanche squinted her eyes, teasingly grinning while touching the demon’s calloused hand. “It’s not hot today because it’s sunset.”

Belial jerked her head to where the sun was setting and cursed mentally her inability to come up with a quick excuse. She would ask Azazel later for some tips in case she needed them; he was an expert and was surely having lavish fun wandering in Hell.

Blanche made sure to grab Belial’s attention back by twirling the demon’s burgundy hair strands while intensely looking at her. “How’s life going in Belial’s world?”

“Stop makin’ fun of me,” Belial grumbled, her cheeks burning even more.

Blanche stood up and caressed the demon’s face, making Belial freeze in her spot. She leaned in and purred before pressing a smooch on the demon’s cheeks.

Not too far from there, at the Practice arena’s entrance, someone sank their feet on the sand. The person stared in stupefaction at the scene unfolding before them. It turned out that Addai had just witnessed such interaction because he would use the arena to practice a little before going to the Dark Mana building and taking a few books.

WHAT THE FUCK?! Addai screamed in his mind.

Before the duo noticed his presence, Addai quickly vanished into the shadows.

Yeah, he’d only take the books and go home.