Disclaimer: All rights go to Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano, Ichiei Ishibumi, and Robert A. W. Lowndes. I own nothing and make no money off this story; wish I could though. With all that out of the way, Enjoy! :):)
The Abyss
After learning to fight in close quarters combat, Alastor decided that she needed to know how to fight magical entities. There were many entities that resided in Hell naturally and many that could be summoned; especially by a Seven Deadly Sin. One of the entities was the Adumbrali. These were entities that reveled in darkness and death. They were beings made up of shadow. They were known to send out tendrils to suck out the soul of their victim; these souls were then tortured until the entity consumed it entirely.
This may seem like a dangerous place to take the princess but with his increased power Alastor could finally control them. They stopped at the edge of the Abyss and Charlie looked down into the swirling mass of darkness and tortured screams; nervously she looked at Alastor. "Alastor, what are we doing here?" Alastor smiled and said "In order for you to grow stronger we need to teach you how to fight summons. Most of the other Sin's can summon help in battle. You need to learn how to fight not just one opponent but multiple at the same time. This is also a great way to increase your magic control. I want you to focus on learning what weaknesses your enemy has and appropriately summon an element to weaken them. You will have to use your weapons and agility until you can find their weakness."
Charlie still looked a little nervous and said "Alright, I trust you Alastor. What are these things though?" Alastor smiled before replying "These my dear, are Adumbrali. These entities spawn naturally in Hell and are exceedingly difficult to kill. They are beings made of shadow, they can teleport and ensnare their victims with tentacles. I would watch out for those tentacles though because they have a hunger for souls. Now get into your fighting stance." Charlie got out her dagger and held it in a reverse grip. Alastor smiled at her and yelled "BEGIN" as he snapped his fingers.
Three Adumbrali materialized around Charlie in a triangle formation. The two in front of her rushed forward as they let out wails. Charlie sent out her power to sense where they all were and suddenly jumped to the side as the Adumbrali at her back tried to ensnare her while she was distracted, instead it sent a tentacle into one of its Brethren. The impaled Adombrali let out a shriek and teleported down to the abyss so it could heal. Charlie jumped away from the other two and focused on her magic. She decided to try and crush them with her earth element. Her hand glowed a faint red and she summoned some boulders. As the boulders slammed into the creatures, they phased through it and kept charging. Charlie cursed and tried ice this time but again they phased through.
She had to whip out her dagger to fend off their tentacles as they had gotten too close. She decided to dispatch one by jumping behind it and stabbing down but its body easily phased out of the way. She growled and dodged the other's tentacle. The third Adumbrali had healed at this point and rejoined the fight. She knew that there was no way she could take on three in close combat so she jumped out of range of their tentacles and tried to use her magic again.
She tried to use wind and blow them away but that again had no effect. In a last ditch effort she tried setting them ablaze. Her hand glowed red and she sent a stream of flames at and they shrieked before teleporting around her making it impossible to hit them. Alastor smiled at this development. The princess had figured out a way to actually hurt them. Deciding to up the ante he summoned another seven to the battlefield. Charlie was startled but saw the gleam in Alastor's eye. He was testing her, trying to see just how far she could go. These seemed like impossible odds but she knew Alastor would never place her in harm's way without a reason.
She trusted him more than any other man and she knew she couldn't back down and show weakness. The other sins would tear her apart if they saw her crumble. There was a pull in her gut and her eyes turned blood red. She raised her arms and called out "I SHALL DROWN YOU IN THE DEPTHS OF CRIMSON PURGATORY!!!" In a perfect dome she unleashed a wall of hellfire that incinerated all of the Adumbrali on the battlefield. They let out a cacophony of screams leaving nothing but scorched earth behind.
Alastor slowly clapped as he summoned one last one mere feet behind Charlie. She sensed this new enemy and knew what she had to do. Charlie got out her knife and imbued it with hellfire. This made the dagger grow intricate patterns on the hilt and blade before the edge gained a red light. She stabbed the creature behind her and the mass of shadows burned, then something strange happened. Part of the Adumbrali's shadow was pulled into the dagger and just like with the hellfire the shadow formed patterns on the knife; the edge then turned black.
She smiled and when she willed it the different elements formed on the dagger or even fused together. When she slashed at empty air the dagger sent out a wave of the elements in a deadly attack. Alastor knew the training was a success. He teleported down to her and gave her a loving kiss. He pulled back and said "Well done darling, not only have you grown stronger but your dagger has as well. Looks like Carmilla was right about ways to increase its power. We still have training to do though and this time instead of fighting summons you will fight me. Are you ready for that my dear?"
He smirked and shadows started to darken and flicker around him. Charlie smirked back and whipped out her dagger before replying "Ready when you are, my love." Alastor was always happy to hear how much he meant to the princess. After all, no one ever loved him before; not even in his mortal life. He smiled and retaliated with "Just because I love you my demon belle, don't expect me to take it easy on you." Charlie grinned glad that he loved her just as much as she loved him. Her look then changed into a self assured smirk just like his and they both charged each other.
A/N: The Adumbrali were creatures described by Robert A. W. Lowndes so thats why he got credit and Charlies cry was a line from Highschool DxD, it's a line from when Issei kind of goes insane and starts his Juggernaut Drive Chant, thats why Ichiei Ishibumi deserves credit as well.
Review: I ask that all reviews be constructive criticism with suggestions on how to improve my story and writing overall. If you have nothing constructive or nice to say please do not leave a review at all. Don't like the story, don't read it. I know that many people loved the characters and story created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano exactly as they were but I wanted to put my own little twist on it. I plan to post a new chapter about once a week. Best wishes all and hope you enjoy :)