Maxence wasn't quite sure how long he's been unconscious. Judging by how frequently he slid in and out of his wake, he guessed it's definitely longer than just a single day. It's understandable, since he has been human for far too long and transforming was just too much of a strenuous task for his body to adjust to. He's already twenty-one, and sixteen was the appropriate age for transformation among cambions.

It was probably a miracle he was even able to last long against those hordes of hounds.

While deep in slumber, Maxence could hear the various people who visited him. There was Xifeng, from whom he heard that Lucille has been brought back home with her memory wiped safely. The junior demons also came, who chirped about him excitedly but with worry, along with other demons who were just curious about the son of Prince Neo but most of the time, it's just the triplets.

Sometimes, Maxence pitied the triumvirate. They were skilled and would accomplish so much if they spent full time outside of the Citadel and on the field, but they have to stick around and accompany him instead. Despite the way he hated how they treated him, Maxence knew he's a handful to deal with and training with someone as weak as him before he turned into a full demon was tedious work.

If he was them, Maxence would have beat him to relieve his frustration, too.

Maxence mentally sighed. Now that he was a full demon, he didn't know what to do anymore. He can't casually just hang around with humans anymore, and he'll be assigned with his duties. What duties will even be assigned to him? He's a neophyte, there was no way they would put him on the field. He'll most likely be stuck in here, running errands here and there. That's a good way to start and he would be satisfied if he could only do this for the rest of his life. A passive duty rather than bloody work was most preferable for him.

But that was not the case.

Demons decrease in population from responding to deadly situations, and the rate of births was so slow that it's only two births every three years. It won't be long after he gets comfortable in the Citadel work that he'll be made to wield his scythe against hounds and use his brains and effort to investigate various paranormal phenomena that may endanger their obscurity from human eyes.

He doesn't want that.

He just doesn't want anything to do with being a child of Pandemonium.

"The little fucker is stirring."

Maxence rolled his eyes mentally, snorting in amusement as he felt himself slide back into consciousness again. This time, it felt like he was really going to wake up and not just open his eyes to go back to sleep again.

"Our little demon child is finally awake."

Maxence was greeted by the mischievous smiles of the triplets, hovering over him like a bunch of surgeons while he was the patient.

Maxence gave them an awkward little smile and waved at them.

"H-Hey-"

"You little coward, how do you feel?" Blair asked, mocking worry. "Does anywhere still hurt?"

"Shut up," Maxence groaned, staring up at the ceiling. "I just know you people are up to no good."

"You're so smart," Zeke remarked, patting his cheek.

Maxence sighed, yet his interest is piqued. He turned to the triplets, eyes narrowed as he mumbled, "I'm curious."

"We have to make sure you have fully recovered first," Emerald said.

"Or I will die?" Maxence mused.

"Take it like that if you want," she waved her hand. "But it will be fun."

"You guys definitely know how to make it fun for you," Maxence said cheerfully.

"He seems fully recovered," Blair observed, still smiling yet his eyes are narrowed, hiding his growing irritation. "That mouth of his works, he's definitely fully recovered."

At that, the triplets suddenly seized Maxence, who yelped in surprise as their surroundings suddenly change. Only when Maxence found himself on the ground instead of the comfortable bed while groaning in pain did he realize that they have actually teleported. It's a common ability among demons just as much as wielding the scythe was, but it's a tricky ability to master and expends too much energy from an inexperienced demon. But with practice, one can discipline himself and use it no matter how many times without being drained out.

Seeing the triplets looking fine and unflustered by the teleportation, they have probably been working on it and were doing a good job developing this skill.

"Get up, you aren't as weak as you were before," Emerald coldly said, pulling Maxence up by the elbow, who didn't say anything and just did what she ordered him to.

"Where are we?" Maxence wondered, looking around. The place seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was.

"In the woods, but still in Frost City," Zeke answered. "Familiar, is it not?"

Oh... No wonder.

This is where he first raged as a fullblooded demon.

"To celebrate your transformation into a demon," Zeke clapped his hands together as he stood on his tiptoes in anticipation.

"We are going to do something interesting."

"Hopefully not an orgy," Maxence snickered, patting his jeans.

The triplets all turned to him and gave him a pointed look.

Maxence raised his arms in defense and added, "Hey, don't get me wrong. You guys are gorgeous but it will feel like incest because you are my designated brothers and sister who have taken good care of me since I was young so-"

Emerald twirled and suddenly, she aimed her scythe over Maxence's throat. He immediately shut up, biting into his lip as he smirked in amusement. He's usually snarky and liked annoying the twins, but it was always subtle because he still valued his life. Now that he was a demon, he had nothing to be afraid of so he was more vocal about bantering with them this time.

"You seriously have a death wish, don't you?" Zeke spoke out from the side. He was still calm, and it's a bit creepy to witness. They were repressing their emotions pretty well despite Maxence's bickering with them.

"I always feel like I'm about to die when I'm with you so might as well make it worthwhile," Maxence answered, winking at him.

Blair rolled his eyes, but hid his annoyance by smiling gently.

"Put the scythe down, Sister Emerald. Let us not be too harsh on Brother Maxence. After all, this is all for him."

"So nice," Maxence mocked the eldest, who just smiled at him before walking a few meters ahead. The cheekiness of Maxence's smile lost color as Blair came nearer, his intimidating aura overwhelming him.

"I'm letting you keep it up a few more hours even after you irritated us," Blair told him with a sickeningly sweet voice.

"But now, your time is up."

His voice dropped into a lethal, low whisper that seemed to rumble deep into the ground. Suddenly, it started quaking, which abruptly stopped as Maxence suddenly feel something grab his ankle.

"What the fuck?!" he screamed when he looked down and sees that it was a ghastly hand gripping him in place. Another one sprouted out of the ground and held on to his other ankle, shackling him down into place with an iron grip.

"W-What-" Maxence stuttered as Emerald and Zeke stood next to Blair, grinning at him devilishly, their faces sinister under the light of the moon.

"Brother Blair has been promoted as a reaper while you were gone," Emerald explained. "So many souls have evaded the afterlife, and you know what happens to souls that do not move on."

Maxence felt his nape tingle in fright. Blair was now a reaper and he has been reaping ghosts. When you reap one, that ghost will be under your control since they will not be legible to travel to the afterlife anymore. Over time they will fade but while they continued to exist, they will bow down to the reaper as their master.

"I have quite a powerful ghost under my command," Blair spoke with a sick little smile. "He was a crazy man killed in cold blood and so, he continued to haunt malevolently until I went on ahead to reap him. You should meet him."

The way Blair's voice kept on lowering deeply like that was scaring Maxence, since he has now figured out that that was his way of summoning his little arsenal of ghosts. And sure enough, one ghastly hand did appear from the ground next to him. It descended like a transparent zombie, his body bent in strange ways with a grotesque face that has Maxence screaming internally in fright. It had bloodshot eyes trained intently on him as if he was prey, mouth barbed with broken, sharp teeth and lips dripping with blood.

"W-What will you do..." the new demon stuttered, breathing heavily as he stared in horror at the ghost.

"Your initiation will determine your readiness to be a full-fledged demon," Zeke said, smiling eerily. "For one night, you will endure this ghost's malevolent inflictions and prove your worth."

"Just don't die from the terrible things that he will make you see," Blair winked at him as the ghost moved to stand in front of him. Maxence quickly shut his eyes, breathing heavily at the terrifying creature. He was no coward, he didn't chicken out easily but fuck, this ghost was like nothing he had ever seen in real life or in anything depicted in horror films.

Suddenly, Maxence felt the ghost grip his face. His eyes flew open as he shouted in terror at the incredibly harsh hold, like the thing had the intention to make his whole head explode akin to a watermelon under pressure.

The ghost had his own empty, gray eyes trained into Maxence's eyes, pulling Maxence into the freaky things that lay beyond.

As if pulled into a dream, Maxence found himself in an illusionary plane. Everything had no substance, like an abstract painting of variated yet dull colors painted in indefinite brush strokes.

"A poor excuse of a full-fledged demon like you will die soon."

"Your mother will regret giving birth to you."

"Prince Neo should have sent you to eternal sleep as a child."

Those kinds of words were nothing to Maxence as he snickered in contempt at the continuously multiplying voices that echoed around him in a three-dimensional scope. He's already self-deprecating and used to his own cruel words, these were nothing.

But Maxence soon realized the magnitude of this ghost's power.

Figures began appearing around him, as if the voices had evolved to grow their own bodies. As they took more solid form, the voices began to change as well, as if gaining personality.

And these personalities were horrid.

Each face that the voice had were more grotesque than the previous, putting the ghost's own appearance to shame. They were so disproportionately formed face-wise with brutal additions like exposed flesh and blood here and there, it's too much for Maxence to handle.

They all towered around Maxence, miasma of resentment and malevolence growing stronger and more overbearing as the figures closed in around him. All Maxence could do to keep his sanity was to bring his hands up to eyes and try to block everything out.

Only, when Maxence brought his hands up to his face, he found out that his fingers were nowhere in sight!

Screaming with tears in his eyes, Maxence could only thrash around and do just that, engaged in a tantrum. He flailed and cried even more when he felt hands start to restrain his limbs as he felt some whisper their insults right into his ear, each word making his brain sizzle and his nose wail for mercy as the putrid scent of blood and rotting flesh blended in to flow into his senses.

He's succumbing to madness, and Maxence doubted the night has advanced closer to the end.

But something strange started to happen. Instead of colorful strings of insults and whispers of soul-crushing words, Maxence began to hear ghastly screams as the hands around him loosened. Interest piqued, Maxence experimentally opened one eye to survey the happenings.

So strange, what a curious sight to behold. The deceitful creatures of illusion have started to throw tantrums as well as they rolled on the ground.

And then, it's suddenly black.

"Demon, wake up."

Back in the woods, Maxence shot up into a sitting position. He panted harshly as he looked around, still high from the terror that he had witnessed.

"My, even young demons that barely have three decades to their name know how to meddle with dark tricks, huh."

Maxence finally turned to his right and squinted when his eyes were struck on the ethereal glow of a group of angels, especially the one who was closest to him with his large, pure white plumage.

And it's not just a random group, it was the same group that helped back then with the hounds.

The one crouching over with one knee was the only man, and standing behind him were two seemingly older women who held resemblances with him.

"Archangel Ayden is too wonderful for helping out a new demon who was being subjected to a wrongful act," one of the women said, though her voice was more teasing than praising.

"This isn't the first time, you can say that this young demon is indebted to Archangel Ayden now that he has saved him twice over," another chimed in with a little giggle.

Maxence saw the way the boy flushed red all over, and with a sharp move to look over his shoulder that has the chains of his piercings making a delicate tinkle, he bitingly said, "It was embarrassing to see him being so ridiculously helpless!"

...

Maxence definitely resonated with this one. He'd also be embarrassed to see a creature endowed with demonic attributes look like meat just awaiting to be skewered for the grill.

"Um, thank you?" Maxence spoke up, pitying the way the girls mock the boy's heroic acts.

"The situation demanded it, so keep your gratitude!" the boy snarled at him as he stood up and unsheathed his sword.

For a moment, Maxence felt his heart grow chilly, assuming the angel had resorted to killing him to quench the way his sisters mocked him. But suddenly, the angel flew forward with his sword high in the air, glinting under the moon's beam. Maxence followed him with his eyes and saw that a few ghosts have appeared, and he's hacking at them aggressively but with expert precision. Even the three other women soared past Maxence and joined in the ruckus.

It wasn't even a full minute before the ghosts have disappeared and the angels calmly sheathed their swords as if they had just been polishing them rather than exterminating some ghosts that Blair probably had no time to seal before they hurriedly left the scene to avoid getting in trouble with the angels.

"That brother of yours is a troublesome reaper, demon," one of the girls spoke as they all turned to Maxence. "To summon ghosts that he has control of to pick on another brother... Unspeakable! Demons are vicious species, even on each other!"

"That's why I didn't want to pledge and turn into one," Maxence sighed as he stood up. His legs were wobbly at first, but they started to function well once he took a few steps.

The angels' golden eyes all turn to him with curiosity. "An unwilling cambion... How interesting!"

One angel stepped forward. "What is your name?"

"Maxence Aubert," he spoke his human name out of habit, and he quickly corrected himself, "Maxence the Infernal, son of Prince Neo."

That left a pretty bitter taste in his mouth.

"So it is you," the man nodded his head in acknowledgement. "It seems that the rumors are true. Prince Neo's cambion son has officially joined the House of Pandemonium."

"Why do you know me?" Maxence wondered. He's never done anything worth propagating his name across not only other Citadels but across Cathedrals as well.

"We keep track of your species just in case something happens," the man crinkled his nose, and Maxence can't help but find that kind of cute. He looked like an annoyed cat.

Wait, why was he even comparing a full grown angel to a cat? This is so weird, what is wrong with him?

"We are sorry for being rude! By the way, I am Archangel Victoria, the eldest of us Four Generals," said one of them as she slung her arm over the male angel's shoulders. All the girls looked similar, and the only defining thing that separated this one was her high ponytail and crooked, playful smile.

But wait a minute.

These people are the Four Generals? Maxence did not think they'd be this young! Of course, with a title like theirs that has been appearing multiple times over the course of several thousand years across ancient scriptures, it's obvious that it is inherited by younger generations.

It's amazing to think about. How ancient and highly regarded their title is, it probably means these four are very capable with their jobs despite their age.

‘Of course they are capable,’ Maxence thought. When he was sixteen, a huge uprising at the Frost City’s House of Avalon happened, and from the stories told to him by Xifeng and the other demons, this sibling quadruple were the ones who frontlined the movement against the atrocious seraph of the time and they were successful. He didn't really know if this really is the case, but they probably garnered the rank of general after that successful uprising.

These people were no one to be underestimated.

"This over here is Archangel Ayden, our youngest," Victoria introduced their only brother, who haughtily looked away.

"The one who hasn't spoken is Archangel Layla and the one with the braid is Archangel Rosie."

One of the two women waved at Maxence with a friendly smile while the other simply smiled hesitantly, quickly averting her gaze.

"Why are we even staying here to chat with some demon? We need to report the unacceptable behavior of abusing reaped ghosts one of them has been doing and seek proper discipline so this would not happen again," Ayden impatiently said as he gripped his sword and did not even look at Maxence.

This man has quite the temper, it's amusing.

"You are the one who got us into this after you recognized Infernal Maxence, why are you acting like this now?" Rosie loudly said.

Ayden rolled his eyes and walked out of the scene, leaving his sisters behind with the demon. Maxence was baffled - he never thought he would meet an angel with that kind of temper, so snarky and impatient. He had always thought they would be righteous and gentle and if they feel threatened, they would only remain passive-aggressive in favor of maintaining a peaceful appearance.

Looks like being an angel didn't guarantee any of those. Interesting.

"We're sorry, our brother has quite the attitude," Victoria apologetically said. "But he's right, we should continue with our job. Please warn your brother, he will be facing some disciplinary action at our request. Abusing power to pick on the weaker even if it's their demonic peers is not right."

As expected from the angels, they will seek justice even if it is not their kind when they get involved.

"Thank you," Maxence said, giving them grateful smiles before each side turned to different directions and separated to go back to where they came from.