Short chap from Asmodeus's point of view.

I decided to add some more to this chap.

It was well after dark before either of them managed to find their way to their homes. And once they were both home, they went about their usual business with one exception.

Az couldn't keep his mind off of his master. He had learned so much about her today, including what kind of person she was deep down. And he was still reeling from his good fortune.

She was kind and generous.

Kind and generous enough to go against many social norms for young demons and reach out to someone who was alone and lonely and decide to go out of her way to help them.

She was kind and generous enough to play with Valoc despite everything in him screaming that the girl wasn't normal and would only cause them trouble the longer that they associated with her.

Yet even after being told this, his master was unbothered enough by the thoughts and opinions of others to spend hours upon hours chasing after the other girl. And not once become angry, frustrated, or upset with Valoc or her boundless energy.

She was thoughtful.

Thoughtful enough to think of other people's feelings as well as their wellbeing. Both physically and mentally. Honestly, she had blown him away with her thoughtfulness.

She was fierce- she had already proved this to him once during their duel. But she had proven this to him yet again when they had been fighting the group of kids from earlier.

Even though they hadn't known the other kid's abilities any, she had still managed to protect them both when the kids had started to use them during their fight.

There was one point when he had been so mesmerized by the violence that she was capable of that he had dropped his guard and nearly been hurt.

The only thing that had saved him was his master moving to intercept the attack heading his way.

She had managed to save him from taking a possibly damaging hit by catching him around the waist with one of her arms and used the forward momentum from her mad dash to get to him to bend his body back. While simultaneously flipping herself over his body so that she could plant her feet against the wall behind him and use it to force herself forward like a missile at his attacker. Catching the other kid in the stomach with a vicious kick that had brought his feet up off of the floor doubled over in pain.

The attack missed him completely and by the time he had straightened his body up again he'd seen her slam the leader of the group up against the wall and pin him in place by his throat, snarling.

He'd been so startled by just how breathtaking she had looked when she was pissed that he hadn't even been able to breathe for a moment. He wasn't even sure if his heart had beat for a few seconds either.

And when he finally did breathe again, she was asking him in a worried tone if he was alright while stepping over the fallen form of the guy that she had just taken out.

He had been so flustered by her concern that he hadn't been able to do more than stammer out a weak sounding 'yes' to her question as she walked over to him and reached out to frame his face with her hands and gave his face a quick once over before deeming him truly okay and then dropping her hands back to her sides and stepping back away from him.

He took a moment to dust himself off a bit while she rested her back against the wall with her arms folded across her chest and her ankles crossed in a deceptively relaxed manner that he was able to pick up on instantly from the way that she was watching the crying and groaning kids at their feet.

There was no doubt in Az's mind that if even one of them had attempted to get to their feet- she would have struck as quickly as a snake and put a stop to the movements completely.

To be honest, for a moment he had half hoped that one of them would make the attempt to get up so that he could see her strike again. But he wasn't disappointed by the fact that that didn't happen.

In fact, he felt oddly content about how things had ended before he and his master had left the school to return home.

Even now, several hours after going home and locking himself away in his bedroom where he lay stretched out on his bed with one arm draped over his eyes, he couldn't stop thinking of a new desire that had risen up within him during the fight.

He wanted to protect his master.

Her heart, her smile, her kindness- her everything.

He wanted to be her unfaltering shield and unbreakable halberd. He wanted to be the one to strike down her enemies and bring her peace.

Granted, he already knew that the desire within him would lead him down some truly dark and gruesome roads in the future. I mean, he wasn't a fool. Not entirely anyway.

Yet even so...it was still what he wanted more than anything else in the world. So much so that he decided to get up and start planning. After all, if he was going to be his master's shield and halberd then he would need to train himself more. Sure, he was already pretty strong and very talented with his fire magic as well. But it wasn't enough. He needed to become even stronger.

He needed to be strong enough for her to be able to rely on him and not worry for his wellbeing. Strong enough to slay all of her enemies without fail. And to do that, he needed to learn more, to train more. He needed to grow more than he already had.

He needed to become a fiend of unparalleled strength and power.

Sitting up on his bed, he thought for a moment about how to go about doing just that. True, he had some of the best tutor's and teachers that his family could find but given how easily his master had beaten him when they had fought- he was betting that they wouldn't be able to help him much more than they already had.

Could his master somehow help him? She appeared to be not only very proficient at hand to hand but other things as well. And the way that she moved when she fought- with a practiced sort of ease that belied years, and years of conflicts and battle.

His eyes widened ever so slightly at that last thought as it finally occurred to him that his master was battle tested and experienced at combat. Though he wasn't exactly sure how that could be since their school principal lived in a fairly peaceful place not too far with his own home.

And he knew that their region was pretty untouched by the ravages of war as well as other horrors that typically went hand and hand with war.

He also doubted if the principal would have put up with one of his kin, especially a young girl, to be anywhere near any fighting or conflicts. No- the great demon Sullivan would have sheltered his kin from such things.

So, how? How could his master have experience in combat?

He turned the idea over and over in his mind but couldn't seem to come up with an explanation of any kind. Maybe I should try asking her about it? He thought before then asking himself. But what if master didn't want to talk about it?

What should he do then?

He thought long and hard about it before finally deciding that he would ask her. Not about the fact that she was battle tested but about who had taught her to fight to begin with. Maybe he could convince her to let him train with her own teachers? Then after a while, he could try asking them about her combat experience.

To be honest, he wasn't sure if that would even work. But he was willing to risk it anyway if it meant that he could become stronger and learn more about his master.

And with that thought firmly in his mind, he slipped off of his bed and walked over to his desk and turned on the small lamp that rested on the corner of it and grabbed a pen and some paper and began to make a list of what he should do to become stronger and learn even more about his master.

Despite his best efforts, Asmodeus wound up staying up all night pouring over his notes and planning. So, because of that, he didn't get any sleep at all. Which he didn't mind. After all, he often suffered from insomnia anyway, so he was used to going without rest for certain periods of time.

Besides, his plans and stuff had been much more important than his sleep anyway since the extra time put into them all helped him to finish coming up with what he should do. How he should approach his master and ask her about being trained by her own masters/tutors so that he could be more on par with her strength and fighting ability-wise.

If she said no at first because she felt that he couldn't handle it, then he would simply explain to her that any new skills that he learned would be used to serve her better in the future. After all, she was an intelligent demon. And once she knew what he would be using the skills for, then she wouldn't be able to refuse his request again.

It would be sheer madness for her to do so!

Sighing, he switched off his lamp and stretched his arms up over his head to help work the kinks out of his back and shoulders from staying hunched over for so long. And once he felt that he had worked enough of the kinks out, he then stood up and went about his usual morning routine.

He used the facilities, showered, and then got dressed in his immaculate white uniform. Smiling a bit to himself as it occurred to him that he and his master matched a little bit. Well, their uniforms kind of did, anyway. He couldn't help but think that his master's uniform suited her very well and made her exotic appearance really stand out.

Once he was dressed, he went over to his desk and grabbed the notes that he had made during the night and folded them so that he could place them in his pocket and then grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

His first stop would be breakfast. And then after that he would go to his master's home so that he could walk her to school.

The second that he stepped through the door to the dining room and cast a quick look around to make sure that his mother wasn't present, he allowed himself to smile when he noted that she wasn't. In fact, the only one there seemed to be his family's security devil, David.

The elderly man had just placed his breakfast plate down on the table and was moving back into position to await him when Asmodeus made his presence known with a cheery, "Good morning, David."

"Master Alice, good morning," David said with a slight bow as Asmodeus moved over to his seat and pulled the chair out so that he could sit. "Would you like some tea with your breakfast?"

"Yes, please."

David hummed and went about preparing his drink as he picked up his fork and knife and started to cut his food into bite sized pieces so that he could eat it as he heard the elder suddenly ask, "How did things go at school yesterday? Did you see your master?"

Asmodeus paused in mid motion and suddenly responded with a pleased, "Indeed I did. Would you like to hear what I learned about her yesterday?"

"Yes, I think I would." David said as he finished making the tea and then set it next to him while Asmodeus began to tell him all about his day yesterday, in-between taking bites of his food.

His table manners be damned, this was important.

So, he told David that the time spent alone with his master was the most pleasant and wonderful time. Then he told him about meeting the Valoc girl, and how there are rumors about her and how no one can stand her. And the fact that he disappointed his master by repeating some of those awful things in an effort to get her to leave the girl alone.

He told about how she gently chastised him for believing such silly things about someone without even getting to know them first and telling him that he should always be kind.

He told him about how she simply didn't seem to care at all about what others thought about Valoc or those that associated with her.

And that she had even played with Valoc for hours and hours without stopping or resting.

Then Asmodeus told him that they had both gone and beat the hell out of some other kids for taking advantage of the Valoc girl's bloodline ability. And how his master had protected him from taking what could have been a very bad hit from one of the other kid's abilities and being injured.

To say that David was hanging on his every word as he told him about everything would be an understatement. The man was in total awe of his master. And how could the security devil not be in awe of her?

Asmodeus's master was amazing!

Finally, once he was done telling David everything the elder said, "My, goodness. You're master sounds like an interesting young lady."

"Yes, she is certainly going to keep me on my toes from now on." Asmodeus chuckled in amusement as set his fork down and then picked up his drink and took a sip. Once he swallowed what was in his mouth, he then tacked on in a serious tone, "I'll have to be careful not to take my eyes off of her for long or she might get into trouble."

David didn't say anything for a moment and when he did, it was to suggest that he invite her over for dinner or tea sometime in the near future. Both of which Asmodeus intended to do as soon as he could.

But first thing was first...he needed to speak with her about his training.