For a few more hours after leaving the university, Maxence aimlessly skated down the pavement, just roaming around with no particular destination in mind. He felt absolutely miserable as he gripped his backpack, wondering if he’d be able to escape all of this and manage to survive with his humanity still intact. He didn’t know how he’d be able to escape completely and live the mortal life he has always wanted, but he will do anything.

He will not bow to Pandemonium, he will not become a demon like everyone wants him to be for the sake of it. He wants to keep living as a human. He will stay mortal whatever happens. He will not be forced to do something he does not want to even if he had to die for it.

"Maxence, stop where you are!”

Maxence abruptly dug his feet into the concrete to stop the wheels from turning, a close call since he nearly impaled himself on the blade of a scythe that hooked across his neck from behind, buzzing sinisterly with a red glow. He gulped, taken aback and surprised at the House of Pandemonium for chasing after him earlier than expected. Too early. He actually thought they would leave him alone and only take the initiative to look for him when he doesn’t show up at his ceremony.

“Maxence, come back with us,” he heard the voice belonging to Lily, light and airy yet strong and bold, forcing him to give in. “You cannot escape this. Prince Neo will cover every inch of the earth and drag you back to the Citadel if he has to. Don’t make this any harder for us, at least be filial.”

“I do not want to be a demon,” Maxence said through gritted teeth, stubborn and with conviction. “I want to stay human. Just like my mother, I can do something for the Citadel even if I am not a demon. After I find myself a good place in this world, I will come back and serve the Citadel in my own way for as long as I can keep my humanity.”

“You are not human, Maxence,” Lily carefully spoke each syllable, as if making a toddler understand. Maxence was so sick of hearing that line, having heard it so many times from all the demons who have been there with him as he grew up.

“Your demonic blood runs thicker. You are more demon than human, and it is fitting for you to come back and pledge your allegiance to Pandemonium. You know this.”

'Ah fuck this.'

Forcefully, Maxence pulled the blade away from his throat and threw it over his shoulder. Distracted by the weapon for a few moments, the demons gave Maxence the chance to put a bit of time ahead on the chase and dash away on his skateboard, screaming "I'm sorry!" as he reached for every single inhuman cell in his body to respond to the looming danger threatening him and maybe allow him to act upon his demon instincts at full level if it was possible.

And of course, with the help of adrenaline and fright, Maxence was able to tap into that and break out into a stealthy pace, fast enough to overrun a damned horde of full-fledged demons, coming after him and promising him no mercy once he falls in their hands.

“Die, you imbecile! After the Citadel took in your halfblood ass, how can you be so shameless and rebel like this?!” came the vicious voice of someone he could recognize as Alice, a stark contrast from Lily who had been reasonable and gentle in her approach towards him. He actually felt a chill down his spine, personally scared of the woman for very obvious reasons.

Maxence yelped, ducking just in time when he sensed an incoming object heading his way from behind. Sure enough, a scythe came whirling from behind him like a large boomerang, the blade glinting evilly under the late afternoon sun. It made a turn in the air, gliding back towards him. Maxence swiveled to the side to avoid it, holding onto a wall of a building to stop himself from toppling over and made a turn, disappearing into an alley and hiding behind a dumpster. He's meters ahead and the street he entered had lots of alleyways, so he hoped that they didn't immediately catch him.

The loud sound of boots against concrete approached seconds later, flying past the alley where Maxence was hiding. He heard the demons argue among themselves, wondering where he had gone to, underestimating the possibility of the first alleyway as they deployed demons to check on the alleys further away.

Curious, Maxence peeked out from his hiding spot and checked on the demons. In their uniforms of scarlet red suits, it was easy to spot them and be wary of their presence. He continued checking on them, occasionally hiding away when one of them gets too close.

Once they were off his tail, Maxence stumbled out of the alley and grinned, massaging his chest as he let out a heavy breath of relief.

"Fucking hell," he swore as he stepped back, breathing out the tension in his chest. He knew they weren’t going to actually kill him (In some ways, the daddy privileges that came with being Prince Neo’s son was something he relied on greatly for his life unless his father himself wanted to eliminate that privilege), but they surely will be merciless and force him to transform with all means necessary.

Afterwards, Maxence turned around to head back to the main road and find another street where he could disappear without the House of Pandemonium following after him.

They will inevitably find him, but Maxence didn't want to go down without a fight.

Without stopping, Maxence kept on skating away. People were starting to stare at him in confusion, wondering what he's being hysterical for while he skated down the pavement, but he didn't mind any of them. He could blind them from what he was doing by manipulating the Inbetween, the illusion that hid the world of angels and demons from mankind, but he had no time to do so. He kept on skating away like his life depended on it – and quite literally, it did. And as many times as he had stressed it already, Maxence just wanted to put it out again that he may be the only son of Prince Neo, but who knew what kind of things some of the demons would do to him behind his father's back when he’s being this difficult.

After all, they are creatures of darkness.

There are demons who do not let their very nature consume their rationality, but there are others who tend to give in to their wicked instincts from time to time at the expense of others, especially a cambion like Maxence who was weaker than the typical demon.

What felt like hours later while the sun began to set, Maxence finally came to a full stop. He panted heavily, leaning against his knees as he caught his breath. For now, he has lost the demons coming after him, but if he didn't pick up the pace and left the boundaries of Frost City, the other demons might catch up to him.

Closing his eyes while cringing at how much his chest is constricting from the effort he invested in overrunning his inhuman assailants, Maxence is shocked when the sound of a horn went off right behind him. He flinched, letting out an unmanly scream as he turned around to face a familiar car right behind him

“Maxence!” came a very familiar voice.

“Lucille?” he said, confused when he saw his friend get out of the driver’s seat and rushed over to him, face marred with worry. She looked like a mess, obviously just came out from her very stressful schedule that afternoon. Her slightly raddled countenance may also be because she still had another hour of class but her priorities brought her out of class and made her drive off.

"H-Hey you have a very important test today, too!" Maxence stuttered as Lucille hurriedly barrelled towards him, feeling speechless and taken off guard because of her sudden appearance. "Why aren't you at–"

“I knew something was up!” she cried out as she grabbed Maxence with unbelievably strong hands by the shoulders, forcing him to face her. “Who were those people?! Why are they chasing you?! Did you get yourself into something illegal?! You're supposed to celebrate your birthday with your family, right?! Did you lie to me?!”

Maxence shook his head erratically. "N-No… Let m-me explain– I didn't–"

"Then who were they?!" Lucille raised her voice. "Maxence, I'm your friend! You need to tell me things that are troubling you so that I would know how to help! You always keep things from me, and you never share your problems! What am I supposed to feel?! You always help me with things I have trouble with yet you… DO you know how worthless I feel? It’s like you do not trust me at all!"

Maxence was driven silent and filled with guilt, feeling like an insensitive ass for making Lucille feel that way, especially knowing that she really held great importance of their friendship more than anything else after everything that they have been through the years.

"I’m sorry, I do not mean to make you feel that way,” Maxence managed to say. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. “But I am stuck in something-”

“In what?!” Lucille snapped. “Are you going to skate away and disappear? You’re not going to tell me or to ask for help?”

“T-Then help me," Maxence reluctantly said, mentally slapping himself across the face but with Lucille being this pushy and all those demons catching up to him, he had no choice.

"I-I can't exactly tell you what's going on because it will endanger your life… But Lucille, if you could, can you drive me away from here as far as you can go? I need to get out of Frost City as soon as possible or those people will catch me."

Lucille grabbed his hands, her eyes watery as she gazed up at him.

"Maxence Aubert… what is going on? Who are you?"

'Who am I?'

Maxence bitterly smiled at her, heart aching realizing Lucille and Leo never really knew the real him.

'Really… my existence can be summed into being a no one,' he thought. 'I don't belong anywhere, may it be Pandemonium or earth. All I want is to just live normally without all this stupid business with angels and demons. I just want to be human, to study, get a job and to live with thirty cats, but I will have to fight for that right first. What a fucking hassle.'

"I am human, like you," Maxence grinned with mirth to ease the fright making Lucille tense up. "Do not worry, I've never participated in anything illegal. This is far from being illegal. It's more on… existence? Morals? Principles? All that jazz that are useless. It's not much of a big deal, honestly."

Lucille gave him an unimpressed look, totally not convinced at what he said.

"Okay well… kind of?" Maxence shrugged as he reached for his nape and massaged it. "It's not really nothing… losing my life is a pretty big deal."

"Even though you promised you'd never leave…" Lucille sniffed, her nose red. Maxence felt his chest constrict, because it was the first time he saw her upset. "I'll help you. Whatever it takes, I will help you. This is how much I care for your ass, Maxence. You better survive whatever… whatever you are going through right now."

He must have been a saint in his past life to deserve someone like Lucille in this one.

When Maxence heard suspicious shouts not far away from where they were, he turned to Lucille and urgently said, “We need to hurry or they will catch up to us. You have no idea how scary these people are. They are hellish and insufferable, and they are coming for my ass. It is best you never meet them.”

“Then go hurry up and get in the car!” Lucille hissed, grabbing him by the collar of his clothes and dragging him to the car, eventually throwing him into the front seat before she gets in the driver’s seat and drives away into the setting sunset.

The sun has fully set and the sky has now been inked with midnight ink. Maxence's eyes were tired and in grave danger of drooping shut, but his wariness kept him up in alert as he steadied his gaze past the window, staring out into the darkness of the evening as the sceneries drenched in night light zoomed past in a blur while Lucille drove the car with an above-average speed down the highway.

"Take a nap, we are probably reasonably out of their radar," Lucille said, concerned as she glanced at her best friend.

"For as long as I am alive, I will never be out of their radar," Maxence mumbled grimly.

Lucille let out a heavy sigh. "What kind of trouble did you even get yourself in? Maxence, I don't want to leave you on some highway outside Frost City only to hear about your corpse on the news months later found in some dark pit."

Maxence burst out laughing at how cliché that sounded, yet it did make some sense. He’s going to be dead when they catch him - but not really the dead most humans consider. He will be dead in terms of humanity, losing everything that made him human as they force him to pledge allegiance to Pandemonium.

"I'm a bad bitch, they can't kill me,” he finally said.

Lucille rolled her eyes as she chuckled.

"You're so obnoxious, even if you are in danger."

Maxence closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat. He wanted to tell Lucille everything, tell her everything about what he actually is and why all of this was happening. He wanted to tell her everything from the start - about his existence as a mix between human and demon, how he was raised in the Citadel, the residence of the demons serving Pandemonium, how his father is the prince of this city’s Citadel, how that meant he will have to bend to the wishes of the House of Pandemonium and if he does not, he will have to be forced no matter what…

She deserved to know, and now that she was feeling worried for him well-being, Maxence felt guilty about burdening her like that.

"Soon, you will know," Maxence spoke up, breaking the silence. He opened his eyes and smiled at her tenderly. "I don't want to keep this from you, but this is for your own good. I don't want to harm you. Any human who has ever known about us never survived to tell the tale."

There was a glint of fear in Lucille's eyes as she met Maxence's gaze through the rear-view mirror, accompanied by goosebumps spreading across her skin. He can't blame him – she's probably terrified of all the bullshit that Maxence still had the audacity to shyly feed to her.

And then, it happened.

Maxence had no time to comprehend what in Pandemonium was happening before they bumped - or rather, something bumped right into them. He was only able to see the silhouette of something inhuman before everything started to succumb into chaos.

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 skidded to the side of the pavement in its most devastated state – upside down, banged up and probably seconds away from exploding, Maxence found 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 stuttered out, blood dripping over his swollen right eye as he turned his head towards his best friend stuck in the front seat.

After much trouble, Maxence saw 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 thought as he closed his eyes and let tears drip down his cheeks, not caring about how this just made him even more worthless than he already is.

All of a sudden, the car moved 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 thought. ‘It’s a hound.’

Maxence panicked, 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 managed to break through it.

But what did he even think this would accomplish?

Naturally drawn to the sound which pinpointed the location of the prey, a hound appeared and screeched when it saw 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 let out a terrified yell when it showed forward, maniacally laughing as it tore through metal to get to him.

And that's everything that happened leading up to his current dilemma – a mere mortal in the face of a more ruthless demonic enemy.