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Chapter 41:

The final test

5:30 AM…..Velvette laid on her back, staring at the celling…it was a weird thought….about little over half a year ago, she was a vain, arrogant member of the Vee's, she never had to lift a finger and if anyone even looked at her funny, she could just bitch about it to Vox or Val and it would all be taken care off….

Now here she laid, in a room in the princess's hazbin hotel, semi-dating the woman she had developed a crush on, owning the sword of the former lieutenant of the exorcist army and training under one of said angels's former "top girls"

So much had changed….and yet….she did not regret a thing….

She had turned off her alarm already as she took a deep breath and got up, before hopping in the shower.

Not long after, she found herself at the breakfast hall, grabbing herself something quick and easy that she could snack on while on the go as she quickly made her way to the courtyard of the hotel…6:00 AM…..enough time to get some quick stretches in before…well before Velvette was probably about to get her ass handed to her….but she was ready….she was both mentally and physically ready.

Dressed in a simple set of form fitting training leggings and a tanktop, she had her hair in a tight bun as she did some stretches, followed by a few short laps around the courtyard, and ending with a few more practice swings with her wooden dummy sword.

At 6:55, she would see the figure of her mentor and soon-to-be opponent, Vaggie, emerge from the front door of the hotel, which made the short demoness a little nervous upon seeing her.

It seemed Vaggie really wasn't kidding when she had said she was going to come at her 100% as she was wearing the battle tunic she wore during Adam's attack on the hotel, her hair in a high ponytail as she put down a duffle bag, followed by her wooden training staff and her angelic spear.

Velvette would salute as her mentor approached and greeted her "I see you're getting ready for our big showdown?"

Velvette would smirk "Ready as I'll ever be, Feathers. Question is, are you?"

By now, the news of their showdown had made its way around as quite a decent crowd had formed. Angel dust, Husk, Nifty, Cherrie Bomb, of course Charlie, who was wearing a crudely made shirt with the text "Go Vaggie!" on it, tho bellow it said "And of course you too Velvette" seemingly added last minute as she was waving around small, self made paper flags.

Even Alastor had decided to show up, not wanting to pass up on this chance for some proper entertainment….tho what Velvette was NOT expecting to see were some of the other overlords….Zestial, Rosie, Ashley of course….and someone who seemed to be the most curious as she stood with a subtle but noticeable smile on her face, Carmilla Carmine.

Gripping her dummy sword tightly, Velvette took on her battle stance as Vaggie spoke from the other end of the battle field "I'm going to say this again, Velvette…..this is going to be a rough fight…..i want you to understand that I'm going to come at you with EVERYTHING that I got…..years of exorcist training and even more years of field experience….not to mention months of training with Carmilla to fight my own kind….i'm not going to go easy on you…..but I'll be expecting the same thing from you, do you understand? This is your last chance to back out"

Velvette gritted her teeth….she had mentally prepared herself for this "Ready when you are, Feathers"

Vaggie smirked "Good…." As she picked up….not her wooden training staff….but her angelic spear, which momentarily made Velvette nervous "Wait Vaggie, weren't we going to use our dummies?"

"We are" Vaggie answered "I only need this for a second" as she reached the tip behind her and tucked it into the neck of her battle tunic as with a swift cleave, the tore the back open as with a burst of golden light, 2 large, majestic, light grey and white wings burst free.

Vaggie would then throw her spear towards a nearby tree as it stuck into the wood at an angle, before Vaggie slid her foot under her training staff and kicked it up, effortlessly catching it in one hand.

"Ready?" she asked one last time.

Velvette gave her a determined look and nodded "Ready"

"Alright then…..THINK FAST" as with a flap of her wings, Vaggie suddenly shot forward with impressive speed.

Velvette had only a split second to process what was happening as her new reflexes kicked in and she just barely blocked the angel's first attack and with a swipe, redirected her to the side, after which Vaggie raised her staff and came at her again with a downwards swipe.

Velvette once again just about managed to block it as she used what she had learned to push back and create an opening for herself.

The 2 women dashed over the field, striking blow after blow as neither of them held back and were giving it their all.

At a certain point, Velvette had lost her footing, which Vaggie expertly used to thrust her to the ground with her staff, sending the sinner sliding painfully backwards on her back several feet, and as Velvette raised her head to see the former exorcist's next move, she was just in time to see Vaggie come at her again with her wings extended, flying only one foot off the ground.

Making a split second decision, Velvette jumped up as she ran at the vastly approaching angel as just before they made an impact, she dropped herself onto her knees as she used the momentum to slide under her, after which she rammed her dummy sword into the dirt as a makeshift break, got up and lunged herself onto the angel's back, whipping her sword around her throat.

Vaggie quickly send herself up high with a powerful thrust of her wings in a desperate attempt to shake off her pintsized passenger, tho Velvette held on for dear life.

On the ground, the crowd was in awe at the display as neither Carmilla nor Zestial could believe what they saw.

"Mine dear friend, it seems we hafth underestimated young lady Velvette's capabilities" Zestial spoke as Carmilla responded "Indeed we have, old friend. I find it hard to believe that this is the same Velvette who would throw all those tantrums during meetings all those months ago…and now, she's keeping up with a former exorcist"

Returning to the now aerial battle, Vaggie had finally managed to reach over her shoulder with her staff as she rammed it in-between her and Velvette as she used it to peel the short overlord off and send her plummeting towards the ground, however Velvette managed to negate the worst of the damage with a well placed tug and roll as she quickly sprang back up and ran towards the nearby half-wall.

As she jumped upon it, she began to taunt the angel, who took the bait as she landed on the half-wall before her and the 2 began to once again strike blows.

It was like a scene taken straight out of a pirate adventure movie as the 2 women went back and forth, Vaggie periodically managing to knock the dummy sword out of Velvette's hand, only for her to quickly recompose and grab it before recovering and striking either another blow, or going on the defensive.

Charlie had taken to climb onto her own section of half-wall which she was previously sitting on as she cheered on both women from the other side of the field "GO VAGGIE, GO VELVETTE, YOU'RE BOTH DOING GREAT!" as the princess had singlehandedly become a one-woman cheer squad as Angel, sitting next to her, whispered to husk and Cherrie "Holy shit, ok guys, remind me to NEVER make either of them angry"

Back to the fight, it seemed as if the former exorcist was gaining the upper hand as she had backed Velvette against a nearby tree that was growing closely to the half wall, blocking any hope of an exit that the short doll demoness had, tho just as Vaggie was about to thrust forward her staff, Velvette had grabbed onto one of the low hanging branches and used it to swing around the tree, only to emerge from the other side and with a swift kick in the jaw, knock the angel off the half wall as she used the final bit of the swing to leap into the air and swing her dummy sword downwards.

Vaggie's eyes widened as she just barely blocked the attack with her staff, which pushed both women backwards.

Both Vaggie and Velvette managed to use their respective weapons as breaks by ramming them into the dirt and hanging on for dear life.

As the dust settled, both women raised their gazes to meet one another's.

Both their bodies were glistening with sweat as they were panting, deep wet sweat stains under their arms and grime covering their faces as they both slowly got up, they were both reaching their limits….. this next fury of blows would determine the winner and the loser of this fight….

Both women readied themselves as Vaggie would once again push herself off the ground with a powerful thrust of her wings as she swooped down towards Velvette like a hawk closing in on a prey.

In a split second decision, Velvette used her sword to scrape over the ground and throw up a big cloud of sand, dust and debris that flew right into the fallen angel's face, who sneered as the dirty trick stung in her eye.

"Using your environment to your advantage hu? Smart move, but not smart enough" she barked out, but once she gained her bearings again, all she could hear was a whizzing from slightly above her, and as she looked up, her face fell.

In the short time Vaggie was blinded, Velvette had used this small window of opportunity to run towards that same tree, use the momentum of her run to quickly dash up the trunk and push off as she was now in mid air and vastly approaching the slightly hovering angel, sword raised for one final blow.

At this point, everything seemed to go into slow-motion for Vaggie as she had barely any time to react before Velvette's wooden dummy sword made direct impact with her face, sending her tumbling to the ground with a loud thud and a painful yelp as Velvette rolled to the side.

The short demoness would quickly get back up and ready herself for a retaliation, tho once she looked at her opponent and mentor, she saw Vaggie was not getting up, instead, she was on her knees, clutching her face as she could faintly make out the sounds of angry muttering in Spanish.

"Uhm…Feathers?" she said as she slowly approached "You ok there?" Velvette spoke, tho once she got closer, her eyes went wide in shock as the whole front of Vaggie's battle tunic was covered with golden ichor.

Once Vaggie would finally fully turn to the short fashionista, Velvette's face took on an expression of horror as the fallen angel's nose seemed to be crooked at an unnatural angle.

"OH SHIT VAGGIE" She screamed as by now, Charlie and the others quickly ran towards her "Fuck…..Vel…..i think you broke my nose" Vaggie hissed out painfully as she tried to stop the bloodflow.

"Oh fuck, oh shit shit shit shit! Feathers, I am SO sorry, I didn't-" Vaggie would put up one hand "Vel…..don't ….we both knew what we were getting into…." She said with a pained grin, holding her head back as Charlie pulled out a napkin and started dabbing Vaggie's face in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Velvette stumbled over her words "B-but…your nose…i…"

"Vel…it was just wood….not angelic steel….give me a couple of hours and I'll be right as rain" she said as she slowly got up "First tho….comes the most shitty part" as she held out her hand "Can I borrow your dummy for a sec?"

Velvette would oblige and hand the injured angel her wooden dummy sword as Vaggie would clamp it between her teeth, to Velvette's surprise, before bringing 2 hands to her broken, crooked nose and with a swift motion and a wet, painful sounding crack that send shivers across the spines of everyone present…..well….everyone except Rosie and Alastor….for….reasons….she snapped the bone of her nose back into place, sending another torrent of golden blood to trickle out of her nose, followed by a loud "MIERDA?!"

By now, Vaggie had taken the napkin offered by her girlfriend, Charlie and held it against her nose to keep the bleeding to a minimum until it would stop on its own as she gestured for Velvette to come with her as she hopped onto a nearby half-wall, retracting her wings as she did so.

Velvette would join her as Vaggie spoke up "That was one hell of a fight…...you might be only one out of 3 people to ever be able to injure me, you know that?"

"And who might the other 2 be?" Velvette piped up curiously "Well, the other one was Lute, and the third….well…" Vaggie would gesture to the overlords present as the angelic arms dealer wound take a courteous bow, causing the short demoness's eyes wo widen "Wait really?!"

Vaggie would smile as she pulled back the napkin, the bleeding having finally stopped, tho the lower half of her face still covered with golden blood as she put a hand on Velvette's shoulder "it was a joy training you….but your training is complete….i have nothing more to teach you…..i'm proud of you, Velvette" the fallen angel said.

Vaggie would then slowly get up, walk over to Velvette had laid down Lute's former sword, pick it up and return to the shorter overlord "I can think of no one better to wield this then you, Velvette….i have no doubt that you'll use it for a good cause…." As she would hand it to her "You've earned it"

Vaggie would then take a deep breath "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pop in some painkillers and sleep until my face is no longer throbbing….you DID kinda break my nose after all" as Vaggie would give the short fashionista one last salute and walked off.