The impact of the car tumbling in the air and breaking all kinds of laws in physics should’ve been enough to break his neck and kill him right then and there.

But somehow, that wasn't the case.

When the car skids to the side of the pavement in its most devastated state – upside down, banged up and probably seconds away from exploding, Maxence finds himself still alive. Legs probably broken, the side of his head wounded and some metal pieces from the roof of the car pierced through his flesh.

And yet he’s still alive, nonetheless.

“L-Lucille?” he stutters out, blood dripping over his swollen right eye as he turns his head towards his best friend stuck in the front seat.

After much trouble, Maxence sees her. She’s unconscious yet strangely in good condition aside from suffering cuts and having an arm twisted in a bizarre way. Seeing her in such a state makes him nearly burst out crying, out of pity for their current situation and frustration about how none of this could have happened if he hadn’t dragged her into any of his business.

‘They’re all right, you’re a useless piece of shit,’ Maxence bitterly thinks as he closes his eyes and lets tears drip down his cheeks, not caring about how this just makes him even more worthless than he already is.

All of a sudden, the car moves violently, making Maxence let out a low yelp. Something had perched above them, creating a weird, predatory sound as it moved around, trying to look through the wreckage.

‘Crap,’ he thinks. ‘It’s a hound.’

Maxence panics, trying to control his arms. They hurt, covered in wounds, but they haven't been rendered useless yet. He brings his hands up, curling his fists and starts to punch at the window next to him. With all of his remaining strength, he manages to break through it.

But what did he even think this would accomplish?

Naturally drawn to the sound which pinpoints the location of the prey, a hound appears and screeches when it sees Maxence trying to creep out through the window.

It used to be either an angel or a demon, humanoid and all, but the hound transformed after they gave in to complete evil. Now, it's face is grotesque, sickly with hollowed features and bulging red eyes, no hint of hair on their body and just stretches of leathery skin clad in worn out human articles of clothing.

Maxence lets out a terrified yell when it shoots forward, maniacally laughing as it tore through metal to get to him.

Mind blank in horror with no idea how to escape the ordeals and get his best friend out of this mess relatively okay, Maxence sinks into thoughts of how he even got here.

He lived a miserable life.

It's not to say that he's an orphan or that he lived in poverty. No, none of that. While he was partially an orphan, Maxence had a dad who was alright. He actually lived in quite a massive place, all his needs provided for.

What made his life miserable is the nature of the people surrounding him.

"Grip your scythe tight, cambion shit."

This training room was just one of hundreds more within the Citadel, but it's no different from everything else. Gloomy, dreary, cold and reeked of misery. They all wore a red jersey over a black shirt matched with red pants, which was the standard uniform they had to use while training. Somehow, it gave some pop of color into the setting, but the red did nothing but highlight how brutal it could get training in here. These days, it's Maxence's scent of misery overwhelming the training rooms. It just drives the triplets insane with satisfaction, since they are the one responsible for it.

"Whoops," Emerald laughed out loud when she pushed Maxence a bit too hard and made him land on his ass, groaning in pain as the impact shook his bones and made him see stars. The weapon rolled out of his hand, shooting across the floor meters away.

"Hey, give him some slack. Combat him on his terms of prowess," Zeke sardonically called out to their twin sister from where he was seated.

"Maybe if he gave in to Pandemonium and turned into a full-fledged demon, I wouldn't have to stoop low whenever we spar. It is honestly tiring," Emerald hissed, kicking his side. "Come on now, get up. Your scythe-wielding skills bring shame to Prince Neo."

"Fuck…" Maxence groaned dramatically, eyes rolling, exaggerating his pain and acting pitiful in front of the triplets - but don't get him wrong, it really did hurt so much.

"Just tell me if you're trying to kill me already, it's been years. Sister Emerald, stop beating around the bush and just say it to my face."

The amusement across the demon's face scrunched in annoyance as she gripped her scythe tightly.

"You little piece of shit, that mouth of yours will be your end!"

Maxence sighed as he continued to just lay there, limbs spread out as he stared up at the dim light bulb just overhead, ignoring Emerald's barks at him. He liked annoying the hell out of them even at his expense (he’s kind of a masochist at this point), but it’s a cycle of constantly hearing the same insults from them so it's getting kind of boring at this point.

Just like everyone else in the Citadel, the triplets were demons. Creatures of darkness, children of Pandemonium. Reapers of souls, masters of darkness. Not necessarily evil, since they were only there to exterminate the imbalances of the world. They absolutely enjoy dangling in front of his eyes the fact that Maxence does not want to adhere to the social norms shoved on cambions – half humans, half demons – yet showing him how he's better off being a demon.

It's not that they want him to be their ally, it's more like they see Maxence as nothing but a little rodent. Yet, they have no choice but to force him into their side because he is the son of Frost City's House of Pandemonium head, Prince Neo.

It's a matter of keeping the pride.

"Maxence!"

The eldest of the three, Blair, finally got sick of his antics and walked over to forcefully bring him up to his feet. Like a limp puppet, Maxence allowed the twin to pull him up like a sack. Another pained groan left his lips when he gets punched in the gut, crisp and heavy.

‘That fucking hurts.’

"Stop playing around," Blair hissed, green eyes narrowed as he shook the cambion. "Grab your scythe and continue the spar. You've barely even started."

Maxence smiled bitterly.

Will today be the day he successfully dies in their hands, the way he should have years prior? That doesn't even really sound so bad, if it meant being set free from this complicated life. His misery isn't self-pity, it's mostly because he's tired of the routine.

Maxence is just simply sick of everything.

There's still strength left in him even after an hour of sparring with a demon who wasn't willing to make it a bit more convenient for him, and Maxence mustered it all up. He's feeling a bit faint already, so it meant that it won't be long until he passed out and they'd have no choice but to stop and let him rest.

He just hoped he doesn't rest too much, he still needed to study for a test tomorrow.

"Okay," Maxence breathed, tightly holding on to his scythe. It has always felt strangely comforting to him, and clinging on it made him feel a bit better even if it actually meant that he needed to fight.

"I'm ready."

Emerald's eyes glinted devilishly as she twirled her own scythe around expertly, showing off. The cold metal gleamed coldly as it glowed, crawling with red energy to signify its diabolic qualities. There's an even more wicked touch to the weapon since it's personally hers, the one she uses on the daily for exterminating hounds and other nightly entities. Maxence simply stood at attention, figure slightly bowed, waiting for her to come to him.

“Heads up!” Emerald said as she launched forward, twirling gracefully in the air as she brought her scythe down with a sick clank of metal against metal. Maxence blocked the blade of her scythe with his own, the contact creating sparks as Emerald put her whole strength into it. The cambion could barely hold up against her supernatural strength, staggering backwards when Emerald finally pulled back and landed on the ground.

Without further ado, Emerald moved swiftly, sending a kick his way. Maxence dodged, and despite the fact that their inhuman strength will never be something he can be on par with while still in his human form, his years of training with them paid off by improving his agility. He actually does a good job in combat with Emerald today, their movements almost like a dance as their scythe blades clashed against one another.

Drunk on the idea that he's actually satisfied with himself for the first time in a while, Maxence miscalculates the fact that the better he performs, the harder Emerald will make it for him. She's been making it easy for him, but seeing the way he progresses, Emerald found an excuse to lash out. With a mischievous gleam in her eye, the demon hit him with increasing difficulty. She utilized her inhuman stealth, slowly but surely becoming nothing but a mere flash of gray coming at Maxence who's probably just able to keep up because his own demonic instincts were taking over.

Bit by bit, Emerald chiseled down Maxence's energy. He's struggling in every aspect while Emerald seemed like she's only taking a walk at the park. She still looked stunning, her silky blond hair flowing with her movements in perfect coordination, her beautiful face unmarred with stress or physical strain. It’s with this observation that Maxence lost his focus, his movements starting to go sloppy.

“Why are you slacking?!” Emerald yelled out as she landed a kick square on Maxence’s chest. Fortunately, it wasn’t strong enough to knock him down, but it was strong enough to push the air out of his lungs and make him go breathless for a second before he regained his composure and dodged another kick from the demon.

“You’re a cambion, part human, part demon. You’re naturally weak, that’s why you need to work twice as hard as us. But what you’re showing right now is pathetic, it’s like you haven’t been training with us ever since we were children.”

“I’m trying!” Maxence dared yell as he surged forward, attempting to land his own kick at Emerald, but she’s more focused and aware of her surroundings, she easily dodged with a side step and took the situation to her advantage. With Maxence giving her a moment of distraction, she’s able to appear behind him and successfully push him to the ground.

Maxence rolled over, groaning, and he’s greeted by the sharp end of Emerald’s scythe right in front of his eyes

“And you’re not trying hard enough because you deny your nature.”

The door suddenly slammed open, and the blade in front of him disappeared. He saw Emerald twirl her scythe until it became a pure, smooth black ring on her finger while her twin brothers rushed to stand next to her, facing the newcomer. They then bowed to show their respect.

“Minister Xifeng.”

Even upon hearing that it is one of the twelve ministers of the Council and the person who had been taking care of him, his Aunt Xifeng, Maxence didn't move. He’s too tired, the adrenaline that had been keeping him alive during the sparring session finally subsiding from his body. He can’t feel his arms, and he couldn’t breathe properly. The normal human would have passed out already after just ten minutes of training with a hard-headed demon who wouldn’t level down to his capabilities, so he felt less worthless since he was able to put up with Emerald.

“Is Maxence okay?”

The triplets nodded their heads in perfect synchronization, and Maxence himself voluntarily raised a trembling arm to make a thumbs up, signalling his condition. Truly, he was okay. He didn’t feel like dying yet, unlike the other sparring sessions that he had with them for the past couple of years.

“Ah, you three were too much on him again,” Xifeng scolded them, suddenly reaching out to slap the back of their heads with a scary crack. The triplets let out howls of pain as they sank to their knees, clutching their heads in agony as the minister walked past them. These triplets weren't actually triplets since Blair was older than them by two years, but everyone thinks so anyway due to their perfect synchronization.

Xifeng went up to Maxence, towering over his motionless form on the ground.

“Aunt Xifeng, hi,” Maxence timidly greeted her with a little salute. Xifeng had a calm, tender face, with soft dark eyes, rosy cheeks and no hint of her three hundred and eighteen-year existence in this world, and all of those combined into an intimidating feeling that strikes the cambion. It made him anxious and indecisive of his approach towards her despite their familiarity.

“How’s it goi- ugh...” He doubled over when the minister mercilessly kicked his side with her boot, wincing in pain. Did he look like a sack of potatoes for these people to just kick around?

“Get up,” Xifeng said, pulling him up by tugging at his wrists. Her strength alarmed Maxence, who had no choice but to move according to her wishes if he didn’t want his arms ripped out of their joint sockets.

“P-Please let go of me, A-Aunt Xifeng...” Maxence said, and the older demon did.

"Follow me out," she said sternly as she walked past the triplets who were still on the ground, groaning in pain.

After Maxence retracted his scythe into a ring and hid it in his pocket, he followed Xifeng out, closely walking behind her. They walked down the cold hallway, leaving the Training Wing to enter the Commons Wing, a large portion of the Citadel used for interaction and governance by the House of Pandemonium. She led him into one of the private tea rooms, where a meal was already placed for them.

"Sit, let us have a talk."

Maxence, tired and obviously hungry as well, obeyed happily and sat down, immediately indulging himself into food.

"You know, multiple angels have started becoming feral, transforming into hounds," Xifeng started the conversation as she assumed a graceful sitting position across the cambion.

"You have to be careful, the angels are still dealing with them. They're having trouble. Soon, we'll probably receive their go sign to actively help them track down the hounds."

Maxence hummed. He's not really interested in the affairs of the angels and demons, but this information was vital.

"So are they saying we can't deal with those tainted angels even if they want to prey on us?"

Xifeng chuckles. "The angels are a proud bunch, but they are allies."

"Have they identified those who have turned?"

"Angel Timothy, Angel Hannah and Angel Eurydice are the only ones identified in the meantime."

The cambion only hummed again, enjoying his food.

"How is training going on with the triplets?" Xifeng broke the silence moments later.

"I haven't died yet, fortunately," Maxence smiled at her, stuffing himself with more of the food. He's really hungry from all that fighting that drained much of his energy

"You know, if you actually snitched about what they do to Prince Neo, he'd do something about it."

Maxence erratically shook his head, laughing cynically.

"Aunt Xifeng, using my daddy privilege card won't do me any good. None of you people are willing to let me be human any longer, and I'd have to suffer their company forever. I have to make myself less of an enemy to them," he mocked, laughing sardonically..

Xifeng sighed, sympathizing with him.

"I'm sorry if this will add salt to the wound, but I summoned you here for a talk about something related to that."

Maxence perked up, nervous. He should have known that this wouldn't turn up well. Almost any talk that he has with people older than him don't end up well or is just the delivery of bad news.

"W-What is it?"

The older demon cleared his throat, leaning forward on the table. She placed her arms in front of her, fingers weaved together before she took a deep breath and prepared to drop the news.

"On your twenty-first birthday tomorrow, Prince Neo will hold a ceremony for you as a formal transition to your demonic nature. He will not tolerate your denial of Pandemonium anymore. You will become an official member of the House of Pandemonium."

Silence enveloped them, so loud that if a needle fell to the ground, the delicate tinkle would echo through the room.

"I do not want to become a demon," Maxence said, tone cold and firm.

"Maxence…"

Preposterous! He knew he was a disappointing bastard, but he won’t let them deprive him of his right to choose what he wants to happen to his life!

Fuming silently, Maxence shot up to his feet and dashed out of the room, Xifeng calling out for him but not chasing after him. He ran to the Living Quarters, mind clouded with anger that he didn't even see the younger generations of demons on their way to their classes greeting him, leaving them confused as to what was wrong with their senior.

"Is there something wrong with Brother Maxence?"

"He might have been bullied again by Sister Emerald and her brothers…"

"Why are they so cruel to him.. He's a brother even if he's a cambion. They should go easy on him."

"They have no shame, being so cruel to Prince Neo's son like this."

Once in his room, Maxence quickly packed his bags, a task that did not take too long because he does this frequently. He's going to leave for tonight and stay with his mortal friends to cool off and try to work his mind around this bullshit.

Good thing Xifeng did not alert the demons on guard at the gate. They barely paid him any heed as he passed through carrying his bags and trusty skateboard, on his way to the nearest bus stop.

The world of Pandemonium will never be one that Maxence can fully accept. He's been trained all his life to be skilled in the demonic arts, but he has made it clear to his elders and his peers that he wanted to stay human despite their insistent desires to turn him. Seeing how weak he is should be enough proof on how he will never be a capable demon. He will be useless, he will be a waste of space. He will be an embarrassment to his father, he will bring shame to the House of Pandemonium.

And high up in the atmosphere across space and time, Pandemonium itself, in its calming glory of death and immorality as it twined with Avalon, will personally spit at Maxence's face once he becomes a demon and proves how it's a big mistake to turn him into one and expect that he'd do the duties properly.

Or maybe Maxence existing has been a mistake from the start.