The blade sliced through the air with an audible swoosh. Its sharpness restored by his smoothing stone earlier that day. But yet, he had just missed.
"C'mon dammit!" he shouted to himself stabbing his kodachi into a heavily scarred wooden table. Taking a seat in a chair, the sinner wiped his face and protruding horns from the top of his head. Much like the pair goats have, they were thicker toward the base but sharp at the top where they leaned back but still pointed toward the sky. As like the wooden table, the horns showed a history of fights with old marks that scarred over from knife fights and claw scratches over the years. After the lamenting of missing his target, the man took a deep breathe, pulled the knife out of the table, and stood back up and to his full height of 7' 0". Impressive on Earth, but in this realm, he was average. The sinner looked up at the water jug he had set up on the ceiling of the dojo. Upside down with the cap facing the floor he waited for the next drop to leak out so he could swipe at it with his knife. With the way it was set up, it could take 30 seconds to drop, or it could take 30 minutes. Whatever it was, he would be ready. He looked straight ahead at a painting across the room hanging from a wall, waiting for a droplet to dare cross his line of sight.
3 minutes later...
The knife remained reversed gripped into his hand ready to swipe across his body from left to right. The heaviness of the blade began to set in. Nothing he wasn't use to as he had done this test a million times. Muscle fatigue wouldn't kick in until way later for him. A gust of wind from the open window caused his shoulder length jet black hair to move sporadically. The man would not be nudged by the distraction. It was not covering his eyes so therefore his concentration was still absolute. From the math he had done from times before, he knew that he only had a little less than half a second to react, move, and slice the droplet based on distance, time, and line of sight.
5 minutes later...
The painting admittedly made the training easier. With the dark backgrounds present, seeing the water droplet ever so slightly easier. The rest of the painting against the forementioned black background featured angels being cast off the edge of a cliff. their wings struggling to conduct lift with no avail as the figures continued to plummet. Standing at the edge of the cliff looking down on the defeated were other angels watching with smiles or looks of worry. But one stood out. An angel with Black horns that curved downward with golden tips. His black mask and golden teeth presented a conniving smile of joy. Meanwhile, a lone angel gripped onto the edge of the cliff hanging on for dear life. This was a moment of ecstasy, excitement, trickery, BETRAYL!
drip
SLICE
The droplet split in half between the blades as the fallen angel brought the kodachi across his body. Success.
The task was never perfect. He could practice 1000 more times and still miss at least a couple dozen times. The mental fortitude it took to stand there waiting for that quarter second of action to happen was brutal on the mind. But he had overcome it.
The knock at his front door followed by a turn of the knob signaled this part of his training was over. Doing droplet drills was an annoyance to his friend since it required undivided attention towards staring and standing.
Already having his shirt off for training, 4 black wings emerged from behind his back. They flanked his sides with two on each. The outsides were the color of new moon sky. So dark it was almost as if they were a portal through a black hole. The insides of his wings differed in style. Gray feathers that slowly morphed into a shade of indigo at the edges. The gray of his wings was maybe a shade or two darker than his body, which like his horns, showing signs of a fierce past. A knife evisceration across his chest, a puncture from a bullet below his knee, a stab wound on the top of his right shoulder, and a hellhound scratch to the left side of his abdomen were the most noticeable scars if you were to ever meet this man at a beach in Lust. Miscellaneous other minor scars surrounded his body to add a since of unease if you were near him.
Flapping his wings, the angel lifted himself off the ground with ease to grab the upside down water jug off the tall ceiling. After he landed again, the man folded his wings back into his back, picked up a hoodie that had been sitting on the same wooden table, and went out to greet the individual who had just walked into his home.
Walking out of the dojo he entered a hallway which housed side entrances to a bedroom and a bathroom. He ignored them walking straight past before hanging a right through more hallway which ended into a kitchen. Standing a few inches shorter than him, an aqua blue shark demon filled his cabinets with cans of spam. The dorsal fin on his back was a darker shade of said aqua color compared to his face and front side. His large hands showed off sharp claws as well as a pair of fingerless black gloves. He wore a plane green track suit with matching pants and hoodie along with a backwards red baseball cap. Two lion eyes on the cap signified it was from the local sports team the Pentagram City Predators. His tail hung behind him with a black and aqua color swirl. The two caudal fins at the end of it jutted out to form rather simple triangle design almost equilateral. They hung parallel to the ground with some scars covering both. Most noticeable was what looked to be a bite mark at the end of the top fin.
"Hey I'm back." The shark said finishing up and closing the cabinet.
"Dagger, what are you doing here? I told you to come by tomorrow."
The shark gave a white toothy smile as he threw away the grocery bag. "Check the clock old man." He turned around looking above the door that led to the hallway and saw the clock read 1:31 a.m. It was in fact the next that. The angel rolled his eyes "Spare me from your technicality bullshit. I don't want you showing up at my doorstep in the middle of the night and you know it."
"Well then Arkham, what are you doing still up in the middle of the night?" Dagger said doubling down on his smart-ass attitude.
Arkham furled his eyebrows knowing the answer to the question that he sure as hell didn't wouldn't admit it. He already knew what time it was but he once again had ignored his bodily needs. 24 hours was never enough time to do what was needed for his daily needs. Many a sleepless nights were spent over the years training with his weapons or powers to become faster and stronger. Weeks could go by where he would be awake for the afternoon and night but sleep through the morning. Decisions in the moment that he decided were for the best even if a proper sleep schedule would not be achieved.
"Besides, I knew you didn't eat," walking over to the counter and picking up a square box, he put it on the kitchen table revealing a pizza. "so I stopped by one of the pizza shops on Whiskey Street before coming here."
Arkham was hungry as he hadn't ate since lunch. The pizza that was half mushrooms and pepperoni looked appetizing enough. Definitely compared to the other half that was just tuna and sardines. Guess some stereotypes were true, especially shark demons and their love for fish. "Alright kid, not a bad offer." he said grabbing a slice and a plate. "But seriously, why did you come now instead of later?"
The toothy smile the shark was holding turned into an annoyed frown for the first time since encountering his friend's house. "New dumbass neighbor in my apartment downtown was a meth head who blew himself up in some trailer on Earth trying to make product. Guess what he did to himself and my apartment wall today."
Taking a seat on one of the window barstools looking to the outside, Arkham took a bite out of his slice of pie. "And you came here cause you needed a place to crash?"
"Only for like a week tops." Dagger said sitting down next to him. "Landlord said the sinners meth stash should cover the costs of the incident. So at least I didn't have to fight him about who was gonna pay for a new wall."
"Don't you have any other friends your own age Dagger?"
"C'mon Arkham. I got work off tomorrow, you want to keep training me anyway, and I want to learn. What better way than having me here with you. Or am I cutting into your brooding time?" He said with his white toothy grin back on his face again.
The angel closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to look back at the shark. "Fine, you can stay. But just cause I know you don't socialize enough to have another place to crash."
The two sat down eating their respective sides of the pizza enjoying the view outside the kitchen window. Arkham settled into the home years ago in his endless pursuit to stay on the outskirts of Pentagram City at all times. With the population of Earth always increasing, it was only natural the amount of sinners trapped in the pride ring would go up too. Anytime to many neighbors had moved into an area, he picked up and moved somewhere further from the center. His current residence sat on the mountainous forest overlooking the city. Likely in a few decades, like times before, demon contractors would blow up more mountains to make way for more apartments and homes for newly arrived sinners to live in. When that day comes Arkham would start the cycle again. Pick up and buy one of the homes far from the center of the pentagram with whatever money he could scrounge up from jobs.
Far in the distance they could see a new sight. The run down Happy Hotel had gotten a facelift. Now reading Hazbin Hotel, neon and bright lights adorned it showing new life which Arkham hadn't seen from the relic in a long time.
"Kid. You know if the princess has done anything since that interview with the she-devil on TV?" Arkham asked referring to the interview last week Charlie Morningstar had with news anchor Katie Killjoy, which turned from a passion project spiel, to a cat fight live for all of Hell to see.
"Nah. Same shit everyone else including you knows. She did that funny interview, The Radio Demon helped her spruce up the Happy Hotel, and... nothing." Dagger said pausing for dramatic effect. "You still think that whole redemption idea could work? Maybe you should give it a shot." Dagger joked.
"I've told you this before kid. The sinners and I are down here for a reason. No way under God's authority would Him or any other heavenly figure head let us in by choice. Nor do I think we qualify for our remission of our sins. It's too late to make a change when the clock has already struck 0."
Continuing to eat the same idea popped up into Dagger's head again. He needed to ask tactfully if he wanted to get his way. "You know he might be planning something big if this is how he's acting."
Arkham knew where this was going but he decided to entertain the idea for a bit to be nice. After all, he did bring him pizza at 1 in the morning. "You think so?"
"Just a hunch man. For someone who is as brash and ego driven as The Radio Demon, why would he make his big comeback and immediately go back into hiding after speaking with the Princess? I'm telling you something is going on there. We should spy on them, see how he might be trying to manipulate that girl." Dagger eyed the angel looking to see if his little speech got through to him.
"You want us to get in the same ring as Alastor?! Kid your either stupid, have a death wish, or both." Arkham said before chuckling to himself.
Dagger hadn't given up yet. "All were gonna do is spy on them! I never said anything about fighting him. Plus, we've been training for moments like this. I've seen what you can do even without using your angel powers. Imagine what you could do to him with them."
"Not even in the question!" Arkham yelled with a serious tone surprising his young naive friend. "Attracting attention of sinners is not on my plate. Unlike me, you can retreat to the other Rings of Hell without them pursuing, but you should not tempt a fight with them either."
By now they had finished up the pizza and were now enjoying each others company. Just in an argumentative manner.
"When are you going to let me prove myself to you Arkham? You've taught me how to defend and take care of myself, now I wanna do something for your dreams. Will you ever act on your revenge for yourself and the other Apostates?"
"Time and place for everything Dagger, and now is not the time." Arkham said. He wanted to get back into heaven for revenge but how? Those angels were hard enough to kill considering only weapons forged in heaven could kill them. Powerful and stronger he may have become, Arkham would still be outnumbered in the thousands during extermination day. No, he was a survivor. Keeping his head low to not draw attention and only fighting others when necessary. Distracting from continuing the conversation he looked behind him at the clock hanging above the door again. 2:12 a.m. By the time he went to sleep tonight he was probably going to wake up past noon. "Alright, I'm gonna shower and go to bed. Don't wake me up. You know the drill. Crash on the couch in the living room. The blankets are in the closet. We'll run some knife throwing training in the afternoon. And throw away that pizza box please."
"Aye Aye Captain." Dagger teased as the angel walked off toward the hallway bathroom. As Arkham disappeared away from eyesight, he fetched a lighter and box of cigarettes labeled Incubus Spirit.
"And no smoking in the house!" A voice from the hallway yelled.
"Damn... he's good." the shark demon commented before walking out the front door to the porch.
After Arkham showered and turned off his bedroom light he laid down on his pillow and thought about what Dagger had proposed. The idea was stupid there was no changing his mind on that. But maybe the kid was right about him not making moves on his dream. Of course he wanted revenge but how would he even act. Years of training and hiding he has undergone and he never had a true drawn out plan to enact on Heaven. What could he do. He was one angel against millions. Plus as much as he hated the bastard, Adam was one of the most powerful beings in any plane of existence. He would need a crafty and quick witted plan to kill him.
No matter, he didn't have to enact on anything by tomorrow. He was here forever. Or at least until some demon or exorcist finally got the jump on him after all these years. Arkham closed his eyes and fell asleep ready for more training with Dagger in the dojo tomorrow.
As his mind drifted into a deep slumber, a nightmare played out beforehand again. Like many times before he found himself and his angel comrades surrounded on a cliffside in front of the gates to heaven by the angels who stayed on the side God. Outnumbered and already badly beaten, they tried to stand there ground but were punch and prodded at like cattle toward the edge. Leading the Apostates, Lucifer with his wife Lilith stood front and center of the few dozen or so angels left trying to take the brunt of the hits.
"Please Seraphim! Elders! Think of what you are doing! It was my idea first and foremost! Banish me not everyone!" Lucifer pleaded.
Just then Adam landed in front of him with a wicked smile. "It's too late sucker! Father's orders and all that! You know how he is! Plus we already kicked the other thousands of traitors down that big fucking portal below where you're about to go!"
Lucifer ignored the blabbing immature angel and directed his attention towards the head seraphim who stood behind the angel guards watching. "Sera! You know this is wrong! You can't do this to them! Please!"
Unlike Adam, Sera had an apologetic look. She only lowered her head and shook it not able to look Lucifer in the eye anymore. towards the center of the group with a Kodachi still in his hand, Arkham knew they had lost. They were going to Hell.
"Well, time to get this show on the road." Adam said charging up a ball of light to attack with.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Both Lucifer and Lilith shouted quickly putting up heavenly shields to protect the group of Apostates. But it wasn't enough. After a few seconds, Adam's attack launched at them knocking everyone back and off the cliff like pebbles. The rebel angels were too tired or injured to fly fell into that portal into the unknown. Lucifer clutching his wife into his chest with closed eyes and acceptance was one of the last to enter.
"Ahhhhh!" Adam put his hands on his hips with a look of satisfaction. "Now that that's done lets all grab some lunch and-"
Grunting noises could be heard from the cliffside. This caught everyone's' attention.
"No fucking way!" Adam laughed as a few angels with spears flanked his sides and walked to the edge of the cliff. Below them hanging on by his left hand was Arkham. His faced covered in golden blood and a swollen purple eye. Tears rain down his face as he looked up at the victorious angels laughing at his current predicament. He tightened the grip on his kodachi which still grasped in his right hand.
"Wow dude. You are doing way too much!" Adam giggled looking like he was about to pass out from Arkham's ability to hang on just a little bit longer. With the soon to be fallen angel now struggling to hold his weight up, the First Man composed himself. "Don't you get it? We don't want you here anymore. God definitely doesn't. I know Father says he loves all his creations, but if he truly did, would you be getting banished right now? He would have at least showed up instead of taking his absence, whatever that means." Adam's lips began to curl up across his face as he continued speaking softly. "You pathetic fucking sinners would be dead if it was up to me. Why, I would have-"
Arkham took his chance and swung his blade with his free hand, but he wasn't fast enough. Adam stopped it from cutting into his face by grabbing the already stamina drained angel's arm, taking the sword, and stabbing it into his right shoulder. Arkham screamed bloody murder as more golden liquid leaked from his body. Yet he still hung on, refusing to let him have more satisfaction by going limp and accepting his sentence.
"Damn!" Adam said unironically impressed now. "I'll give it to you. That's the type of resilience you need to show when we start sending more sinners your way. Buuuuuut..." he began raising his foot. "In the mean time. Have fun apostate!"
His foot slammed with tremendous force onto Arkham's hand. Finally he was forced to fall, Bloodied, beaten, and Adam's words ringing seemingly true in his head, he watched the First Man smile and turn around back toward the pearly gates. By this point in the dream, the one he has had thousands of times over the course of 3000 years, everything would slowly fade to black and he would wake up saddened by the instant replay of the worst day in his life. But something different happened.
"Arkham! Arkham! Wake up dude!"
Arkham looked to his right has he felt and saw a pair of sharp claws wearing fingerless gloves grabbing at his shirt and shaking him. "What?"
The angel woke up in surprise to see Dagger in his room shaking him in his bed. Still in a daze from the nightmare and not fully awake, Arkham was pissed.
"What in the rings of hell are you doing?!" He glanced at his alarm clock which showed that it was around 10:37 a.m. "I'm trying to get more sleep you jerk! I told you not to wake me!"
"Your ass isn't gonna be asleep when you see what's on TV!" Dagger said letting go of him.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Arkham questioned now confused.
Dagger wouldn't wake him up for something stupid or to play a prank. Sure, the angel sometimes saw him as immature. Being a young adult he had a lot of learning to do in his life still. But the look of dread and stress conveyed by his green eyes in that moment said that this wasn't a laughing matter.
"Just get up and see what's on TV!" Dagger said
Arkham followed his friend out the door, through the kitchen, and into the living room where his TV was playing a news report. When he read the headline at the bottom of the screen, his knees locked up with trepidation.
NEXT SCHEDULED EXTERMINATION TO BE IN 6 MONTHS
Arkham was a deer in the headlights. He reread it hoping he missed the word "not" between extermination and to. No such luck. This was happening. The angels upstairs had changed the rules of the game. Hell seemed to become even more hellish.
"Why would they do this!" Dagger said. "I heard our loses this year was some of the worst in the last century. Why would they feel the need to come back?"
Arkham took a seat on the couch as his knees still felt uneasy. "Something happened. Something that scared them."
"Like what?" Dagger asked. The shark demon was of course a hellborn. Demons born in hell who could traverse the 7 rings unlike sinners. The caveat being his life span was similar to a human on Earth. But that never bothered hellborns. Life in hell could be rough, calling it quits in a natural growing old sort of way eventually seemed like a nice idea for the ones that made it that far. Still, he showed concern for his friend Arkham. He was one of the few sinners who showed the shark an ounce of respect over the years. It helps when both your dreams are similar. Sure they could have their disagreements but whatever was a concern for Arkham would soon be a concern for Dagger too.
"I could take a few guesses, but one sticks out the most to me." Arkham said following up his question.
Daggers eyes almost bugged out of his head. "No way! That hasn't happened in almost a thousand years."
"I'm not saying it did but it's the first thing that comes to mind."
"But an angel being killed by someone? That's the type of stuff that I read in a history class."
"Again kid I never said it was that. Either way, things have changed."
The pair continued to watch the news. The anchors Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench seemed more concerned with arguing than giving an answer. for the new extermination day. Nothing new there. Still, they didn't know why Heaven's embassy in the city released this news earlier that day.
"Kid, I'm borrowing your cigs. I need to think." Arkham said getting up from the couch. Dagger didn't even respond as his eyes were still glued to the news. The angel took it as a yes, grabbed his lighter, box of Incubus Spirit, and headed out to his front porch.
Like his kitchen window, the porch faced toward the city on the side of the mountain mostly surrounded by thick tall trees. Getting up to the property required you to either drive or walk on a dirt road uphill out in the middle of the woods. Therefore other than people he wanted to see, no one ever came to bother him. Arkham sat on the porch bench and lit a cig in his mouth. The smoke escaped through his nostrils a few seconds later as he felt more relaxed now deeper in thought. "What now?"
It wouldn't be a problem for him to hide. Almost every extermination day for the last thousand years consisted of him watching the chaos that enveloped downtown. His homes were too far and remote from the general population that no angel would know nor much less care to go after one stray sinner. Sure a lot of those sinners in Arkham's eyes had what was coming for them. They were in hell for a reason. But the principle of it didn't sit right with him. The winning team gets another go at the hapless idiots below faster than what they had made it in the past. It sickened him. It had to be Adam behind this.
He took another drag of his cigarette. As the smoke left his nostrils another thought occurred to him. "Is it time to act?"
The question bounced in his head again and again as he sat and watched the wind blow gently into the trees. He continued smoking cigarettes contemplating what to do. He wanted his revenge against heaven. That was clear. He has been training his mind and body for a very long time waiting for his moment to strike. But was that moment now? Depending on how far he got, he would only have one shot at this. But that scared him even if he would never admit that to Dagger. Being killed down here, he was unsure where he would end up next. Nobody did. Rumors had spread over the centuries that another Hell may lie under this one. What if that were true?
"No." he said snapping those childish rumors out of his head. At some point he had to act and this was the first sign of it. Putting out the little green flame at the butt of his smoke, he got up and walked back inside hearing sounds from the dojo. Inside he found Dagger practicing some moves on a punching bag.
He had taken off his tops off so he would wouldn't get his shirt and hoodie all sweaty. A large scar ran through his back from his right shoulder blade, under his lower left back, and disappeared into his running pants. Much larger than any of Arkham's, it looked as if someone had sliced his body in half and put him back together at some point. Arkham leaned against the doorframe to the dojo and watched his student practice.
Dagger repeated the motion of a right hook, left hook, and a ribcage uppercut. The punching bag stood its ground as chains supported it attached from the ceiling and ground causing very little swinging. The shark then began throwing his knees up hitting the bag as well as continuing to punch it. Arkham noted his technique had improved again. He was now much quicker with his already great technique proving for it to become more second nature. But improvements could always be made. Faster and faster Dagger punched and kicked with his adrenaline rising. Eventually, he jumped and roundhouse kicked the punching bag with enough force for it to break off the chains. It skidded onto the ground before stopping against one of the walls with a thud. Satisfied, he grabbed a towel off the wooden table and wiped sweat off of himself.
"Had to blow off some steam." He said. "I'll put that back up in a second."
Arkham got up from the doorframe and walked in. "I remember all those years ago when we first started training. You had the athleticism, agility, and the drive to learn how to become a great warrior. But you lacked technique and better decision making."
"Yeah, if I had a shot for every time you reminded me about proper tech-"
"But over the years you have proven to learn fast and execute better. Always by my side to help me with fights in Pride and always learning from your mistakes. Dagger what I'm trying to say is that I'm proud of how strong and smart you are now."
Dagger almost smiled at the heartfelt speech, but chose not to knowing what would come next. "Okay master, now that you raised my ego what are you gonna say to bring it back down to even?"
"Were gonna stop this extermination and kill Adam."
This wasn't what usually came next. The demons eyes almost bulged out of his head in shock. "Huh?"
"You heard me kid. We've sat around for too long. It's time to fight heaven and take our revenge on those who have wronged us. Now meet me in the living room. Were gonna draw up the first step to our plan." Arkham turned and began leaving the room. "But if you must know, your left hook still doesn't hit with as much force as your right. Keep practicing."
Dagger stood still shocked by the interaction that had just occurred. But slowly, a smile crossed his face as he fist pumped the air.
"Finally! This is actually happening!"
I'm gonna keep this as short as possible. I felt like writing a fanfiction on this show but didn't like some of the in universe events or rules in the show. VivziePop is very creative and a fantastic artist but damn her writing can be bad at points. I'm not gonna act like I'm some writing professional but I still wanted to make changes to the rules and past events of the show as I write this. The two big ones right now being sinners can die permanently when killed and that only heavenly weapons can kill angels but they have died in hell in the past. Anyway like and follow if you want :)