Chapter 001

Serephine’s POV

“Noooo!” I shrieked, retreating in terror. “Not again!”

I shook my head, staring down at the man whose souls I had just harvested. Instead of the usual white vapor, an inky black mist escaped his body, coiling upward in a violent, ghostly spiral. I had claimed a corrupted soul.

Without wasting another second, I flapped my wings, sliding out of the apartment in a sideways blur as I rushed back to the gates of the Ninth Hell. With my heart pounding wildly, I peered back at the house I’d just fled, I had made many mistakes before, but this was epic. How was I going to explain this to Lilith?

What should I do? My brain spiraled, running short circuits as I tried to come up with something— anything—before I reached my superior. But just as I arrived at the Eternal Point and was about to summon the entrance, Lilith burst forth from the shadows, with Sycora right beside her.

“M…my Lord!” I stuttered, nearly bumping into her.

“Another ‘dumb’ mistake, huh?” Lilith’s voice was calm, but not enough to conceal the rage threatening to explode beneath the surface.

“My Lord, it was a mistake. I didn’t realize the mortal wasn’t pure. He looked so—”

“Why didn’t you run a profile check?”

“I only took a glance at the—“

“Enough of the excuses, Serephine!

With or without a profile, you should be able to tell mortals apart. You are a demon, for crying out loud. How could you be so careless?!”

I lowered my head and tucked my wings behind my back, landing abruptly on the ground. I dropped to both knees, hoping she would see how remorseful I was, but Lilith’s expression didn’t flinch. Her face remained like a rock.

“No, Serephine. This won’t work this time. I won’t let you get away with more chaos,” she maintained. “If I do, the others might start to flop on purpose. What will become of the battle if we can’t recruit more soldiers? How will we defeat the Deity?”

Sycora—a succubus around my age, but hard working and dedicated enough to become Lilith's escort—smiled nastily beside Lilith.

“Exactly what I was going to say, My Lord. Vilesse is already whining about your softness for… Serephine.”

For this worthless demon, was what Sycora really meant to say, but since Lilith was present, she was forced to choose her words wisely.

Lilith has a soft spot for me? Had I heard her right or has something suddenly affected my ears?

Lately, I had mysteriously fallen from being a top, reliable demon to a bottom-tier, tactless trouble maker. I was also being treated like a servant by Sycora and Nyctos. Even though I had a stellar track record in the past, it didn’t stop them from treating me like trash, and no one did anything about it—not even Lilith—the Demon Lord. The only time she chided them was when the disrespect happened in serious moments like this.

“For flunking another task and contaminating my territory with this cursed mortal’s soul, I hereby shut the gates of hell to you!” Lilith declared. “You shall roam the streets of the Earth until you undo this grave mistake.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “Roam the street as a mortal? No! I can’t be a mortal. Those creatures are fragile and prone to all sorts of diseases! What if I die there? I’ll never have the chance to return.”

Those mortals weren’t just fragile; they were also insanely wicked and untrustworthy. How was I supposed to survive as one of them without any prior experience? Most importantly, I wouldn’t just be at the bottom of the barrel when I returned to the Ninth Hell—if I returned to the Ninth Hell—I’d be what the mortals call an “ex-convict.” A tainted demon.

“Then ensure you don’t die there,” Lilith spat, her tone sounding more like a threat than a concern.

Sycora scoffed. “ Talking about returning like you’ve actually carried out the assignment to earn it.”

“Quiet, Sycora! I’m not done talking,” Lilith ordered, before turning to me. “The only way you can set foot in the Ninth Hell is when you’ve successfully re-inserted his soul through a mortal-to-mortal transfer.”

“W…wait a minute a minute. I have to sleep with him in my mortal form?!” I asked in disbelief. “I’ll be tainted if I do. Isn’t there anything else any other way?!” I asked, tears pooling up in my eyes.

Lilith only glared at me, telling me all I needed to know, before turning her back and flying away.

“I knew you didn’t deserve even the bottom rank. Now it’s obvious where you belong. Go! Go to the world of the mortals, where lowlifes like you belong,” Sycora sneered.

“I am not a lowlife!” I fired back. “I’ll get this done and return home!” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“Good luck then,” Sycora laughed sinisterly, her voice piercing the calm of the night as she flew after Lilith.

Once they were gone, I rose to my feet, flapping my wings as I slowly floated upward. But just as I was about to spin and head off to the world of the mortal, I heard a subtle, unfamiliar sound—like a quick snap. My balance shifted immediately and I had to flap my wings a hundred times in a nanosecond to remain in the air.

“What was that?” I whispered, my eyes rummaging through my environment for a possible intruder.

No one was in sight, but a sharp pain shot through the root of my wing. The snapping sound followed almost immediately—loud and real this time.

Before it clicked that my wings were being confiscated, I was already crashing to the ground face-first.

I landed with a loud thud, but that was nothing compared to the agonizing pain I felt the base of my wing ripped. My wings fought to remain in its root even as they were clipped out in the most excruciating way imaginable.

“Agh!” My shrill cry slit through the night as the invisible force that was tearing my essence apart continued its brutal tug. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, a crack echoed in my head, and just like my wings, my horns followed.

The deep, gut wrenching pain screwed into my heart. It was a sensation I’d never wish on anyone—not even Sycora.

Soon, thick liquid trickled down my back and my head once everything that mattered the most to me were taken in a flash, in the cruelest way possible. Shortly after, a rapid squelching sound echoed as my wounds closed back up on their own, leaving me with an odd emptiness that was worse than death.

I lay there on the damp earth, worn out and completely helpless without my wings and my horns. Slowly, my eyes closed. The pain hammered at the back of my head like an iron fist to the skull, but that was quickly replaced by an inexplicable need to sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I was sprawled on my back on a cold surface somewhere.

My eyes fluttered repeatedly in a desperate attempt to recognize my environment, but the memories of my wings and horns being ripped out of me came flooding back instead, causing me to relive the agony. I squirmed in anguish, shutting my eyes to shove the memory away—until a distant voice jerked me back to my new reality.

“Where am I?” I murmured, my eyes traveling across the high, glistening walls and a chandelier hanging above my head.

I exhaled in sheer frustration. “A kitchen of all places. Really?”

“Are you seriously sleeping while everyone else is breaking their backs to serve the Alpha?” A voice barked. A chubby woman in white and black apparel that looked just like mine came into view.

“Not now, please,” I mumbled under my breath. My teeth chattered as the unbearable cold seared into my bones.

Ignoring the woman, I rolled onto my side and curled up until my knees almost touched my chin, determined to go back to sleep.

“Did you just talk back to me?” The woman questioned. “Get your lazy ass up before I have you punished!” She bellowed.

As soon as I heard the word ‘punish,’ I scrambled off the floor. I bolted toward the door with a speed of lightning, even though I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. I slammed right into the wooden door as I attempted to walk through it. It had totally slipped my mind that I was a mortal now, and I no longer possessed the ability to phase through solid objects.

“Ouch!” I heard her wince behind me before she called me back.

“Take this herb to the Alpha,” she said, handing me a tray.

I grabbed it, not missing the quizzical look on her face, before dashing for the door.

“Be careful!” She warned, but it was too late. I had already slammed into a man coming into the kitchen, splashing the scalding liquid over both of us.