Nova Genesis

Chapter III: Tag team of angel and demon

A week has passed since Lilim started to live with Alice and Beatrice. The succubus was slowly getting accustomed to her new life, with even plans for her to join the Extermination Force in order to help the half-angel. Right now, both girls were in the training hall, exchanging blows. The spear once again clashed with the blade, echoing throughout the hall. Lilim was on the offensive, not giving the angel time to catch her breath. She changed her dominant hand with each successful strike to further disorient Alice. The half-angel managed to block the upcoming strikes with her spear. She had to think of something fast. As she blocked yet another strike, she moved her right hand to the top of the spear and tried to bring the katana down with her weight. Lilim was having none of that and grabbed the spear with her hand, taking it from the half-angel's grasp and throwing it away. To end it all, she swiped Alice off her feet with a quick kick behind her legs. Before the half-angel touched the ground, the demon caught her, bringing her close to her face.

"That's the third time I've swept you off your feet today. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you are doing it on purpose." The succubus winked before letting Alice go.

"It's not really fair; you are much stronger than me."

"What isn't fair is how you treat your weapon. It's a spear, not a sword. You slash with it too much; instead, try thrusting. "Seeing the smirk appear on the demon's face, Alice knew what was coming next. "And don't worry about not doing it before; I can show you a few thrusts." At this point, the half-angel grew rather accustomed to her innuendos. Though, at the very least, she didn't let the girl tease her as much as before. It didn't mean, of course, that Lilim didn't take enjoyment from doing so.

"I mean, seriously, why won't you ask for a sword? You seem much better with slashing, and I would have an easier time teaching you." Lilim asked as she went to get the towels. An hour-long, nearly nonstop exchange of blows did take its toll on them.

"I couldn't really leave the Rosary behind after all this time." Alice replied, wiping off the sweat from her face. "Especially since it belonged to my mom." She added quietly, hoping that Lilim would ignore it. The demon knew that the matter of Alice's mom wasn't something to bring up casually, even if the angel kept saying that it was fine. The smile that she had at such times surely wasn't. Though it seemed like everyone in the Extermination Force knew that and had not dug around on the matter, let it be to either leave the angel in peace or be in danger of getting on Beatrice's bad side. While Lilim had not experienced it firsthand, she had heard stories about it. For an angel, she was quite brutal.

"At the very least, since the blade is longer than usual, at least try to mix up slashes with thrusts." Before the succubus could show her what she had in mind, an older brown-haired girl in a simple, long brown dress came into the hall.

"Miss Alice, Miss Lilim, bishop Ezekiel would like to see you in his office."

"I didn't do anything bad, did I?" Lilim asked, her gaze constantly shifting from the half-angel towards the 'maid'.

"No, I don't think so. Maria, did the bishop tell you anything more?"

"That's everything I was told. Though maybe it has to do with the application." With that said, all three girls went towards the office, or ran in Alice and Lilim's case. They entered the dimly lit office. The room was filled to the brim with closets of various heights and colors, all of them almost bursting at the seams with documents. Some loose papers and classifiers were on the bishop's desk and even on the window sills. Despite all of that, there wasn't even an ounce of dust anywhere in the office, not even on the polished wooden floor.

"It's good that you came here immediately." Ezekiel said as both girls sat opposite him, barely seeing his silhouette from over the stack of papers, which was swaying dangerously. Wasting no more time, he continued. "I, along with Chairman Tvardovsky and Miss Beatrice, have considered positively the application for Lilim to join the Extermination Force. From now on, you two, along with Beatrice, will form a new squad under the name Purgatorio."