11 Practicing Powers

Adam spent the next hour and a half learning how to fly, and at one point, Leila started to fly with him, teaching him how to maneuver properly. She took off her white sweater, neatly folded it up, and held it under the crook of her arm like a precious treasure so she could bare her wings without damaging it.

"Flying is all in your mind," said Leila. "Because technically, we're flying with magic – our wings are just a physical conduit for it. That is how we however without moving our wings. Because we use magic, the most important part of flying is your imagination.

Imagine how you want to move, imagine it as clearly as you can, commit that image to your mind, and then flap your wings.

Now, try this, my darling-,"

Leila flapped her gleaming wings and did a somersault in the air, her beautiful, lithe body looking more graceful than any world class gymnast's. This also presented quite the upskirt shot of her, and again, this proved Adam's theory that the right clothes made things just way sexier. Because normally, Leila would just have worn skimpy underwear anyway, but that extra layer, that extra skirt, just made things that much more tempting.

"So, how was it, darling? I-I might be a little out of practice," said Leila.

"It was nice. Very nice," nodded Adam as he stared straight at Leila.

"Now you try it," said Leila.

"Alright," said Adam as he turned off his lower brain and got back into serious business. This training would make the difference between life or death in just twenty days, after all. He closed his eyes and imagined Leila, how she twirled through the air like she belonged in it, at her grace and agility, and nodded to himself.

Then, Adam flapped his wings and moved forwards, flying in a neat loop, though it was not as clean and precise as Leila's just yet.

"Yes!" said Leila as she clapped her hands. "Just an hour ago, you could only glide. Now you can hover and fly with me. Even I took a year to truly grasp how to fly."

"I'm getting used to things," said Adam with a nod as he flexed his wings out. They did not feel as 'foreign' as they did before. They felt like they belonged to him, that they were a part of his body, and he could tell soon that he was going to master how to fly pretty easily.

He just needed to fly more to get the lag between imagining what he was going to do and actually doing it shorter. "But just learning how to fly isn't just going to cut it.

This ritual, Walrus-Pug Night, it's going to have a hundred people who know magic and who have fought for years longer than I have. I need to figure out how to fight and my own powers, too. Whenever I fight, I feel this sort of…heat inside of me, and I think that's my power trying to come out.

But I only ever feel it when I'm in the middle of a fight. Or a life or death situation, like with Raum's final attack."

"Darling…what are you suggesting?" said Leila.

"I need to start fighting. I need to throw myself into fights that will put me in danger. That's the fastest way for me to get stronger," said Adam. He clenched his fist in determination as he looked down at the city below him.

It was night time now, and the night time city had its own charm. Building lights and streetlights gathered together in sparkling patterns like little flecks of gold and gems that shone against the night. But when Adam saw the city, he felt that it was small.

A small, little town compared to the battles and ordeals Adam would have to face soon.

Leila saw Adam's determined look, his clenched fist, and flew to his side. She put her chin on his chest and hugged him. Her breath felt warm against his neck, and he put a hand around her waist too, feeling her heart beat against his chest.

His heart beat at the same pace as hers, their synchronized beating a symbol of how linked they were.

"Can I admit something?" said Leila.

"You can say anything you want with me," said Adam.

"I'm…well," Leila squirmed a little, trying to find a way to voice herself. "Okay, I'll admit it: I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you, darling. Walpurgis Night is only twenty days away, and you may be an incredible talent, but twenty days is so little time.

It will be so very dangerous-,"

"Leila, you chose me because you saw potential in me, right? It's like what Raum said. You're basically my demonic sponsor for this whole ritual," said Adam. "Someone you thought could help you win."

"Yes, yes, that's what I thought at first," said Leila. She gripped Adam's back tight. "I thought I would give a mortal with potential my heart and then enslave them to me, make them grow strong so they could fight with me in the ritual.

That is how all the other royal demons do it. They bind mortals with contracts that essentially make them their pawns.

All of this, because I wanted to prove myself worthy to my mother and worthy to claim the throne. Because before I met you, that's all I wanted: the throne. Even now, my being burns with ambition for it – I have wanted it from the moment I laid eyes upon it.

But now…I'm not so sure. I still want the throne, yes, but-but if it's without you, if I have to lose you and the warmth you give me for it-,"

Leila looked up to Adam with misty eyes. "I'm fine with giving the throne up for now. We could fly away together. Spend our lives in quiet and peace and enter the next ritual, five hundred years later when you are at the peak of your might."

"Oh, Leila," said Adam, touched by her care for him. But he was realistic. He had a feeling that just running away, especially with a princess of Hell, was not going to be easy. "Say that we do run away together now. We fly away into the distance and live in some far off forest together. Will we be left alone?"

"No," said Leila. "No," she repeated, as if each time she heard the word, she understood the situation even more. "We will never be left alone. Not unless we take the Obelisk and Hell recognizes us."

"We have to fight now," said Adam. "We could convince Raum through a combination of luck and the fact that she's your butler, but what about the next demon? Or the one after that? And Leila, I don't want you to lose who you are by being with me."

"What do you mean, darling? You are my everything," said Leila.

"I know, and I am yours, too," said Adam. "But that doesn't mean you have to give up your dreams. Deep inside, you've still got a princess's pride. I don't want you to throw away pieces of who you are to try and fit me."

"B-but-," began Leila, and Adam put a finger to her lips. She widened her red eyes and started to blush.

"Just tell me honestly, Leila, you want the throne, right? Deep down, you want to rule Hell," said Adam.

Leila nodded shyly, and when Adam saw that, he took his finger off her lip and gave her a kiss. "Then we take the throne. Together. Consider it an early wedding gift on my part, heh."

Leila hugged Adam tight and planted several kisses on his neck in joy. "Oh, darling, I can't wait to sit on that throne with you! Because together, anything that we desire to be ours will be ours."

"I still need to get stronger," said Adam as he smiled at Leila's enthusiasm and pride.

"We should not try to train your Shadow Magic today to let your body get used to it," said Leila as she broke off from Adam, putting a finger to her lip as she thought about what to train. "But all your other demonic powers should be fair game.

Shapeshifting, Surge, Illusions, and Hypnosis – which one do you want to train?"

"Let's try illusions and hypnosis," said Adam.

"Then we need mortals to test your powers on," said Leila. "Many mortals."

"I know just the place," said Adam as he clasped Leila's hand. She blushed as she let Adam lead him as the two of them soared through the air, descending on the city.

==

Adam landed discreetly first in a forest outskirts that bordered the city's college houses and apartments. Already, he could hear loud music bumping in the distance from houses that held parties every weekend.

In the forest, he copied Leila's ability to create clothes out of solidified shadow because his clothes were tattered from fighting Raum.

Like with flying, the steps were simple and grounded in imagination.

Imagine, commit the image, and then exert mana to shape it.

The end result was Adam coming out with a plain black t-shirt and pants. This was apparently part of his shapeshifting ability. The shadows were basically chunks of his essence that he could shape his body with or shape onto his body, though if his constructs left his touch, they would rapidly disintegrate.

Before Adam and Leila stepped out of the forest, they heard a rustling in the woods, causing both to tense up.

"A werewolf?" asked Adam, remembering the last unfortunate incident he had with one.

"No, I don't sense werewolf auras," said Leila.

That was when Adam saw a drunk guy stumble out from a tree trunk. His pants were half zipped, and it was pretty obvious he had just been done relieving himself. He swung a half empty bottle of vodka in one hand like a badge of honor.

"Dude, it's barely nine, and you're already drunk?" said Adam, shaking his head.

"Never too early to start the night!" said the guy before he froze up.

Leila's claws her out, and she started to move forwards, her killing intent flaring and scaring the drunk man senseless, freezing him in place like a dear in front of headlights.

Adam put a hand on Leila's shoulder. "Hold up, you're going to kill him?"

Adam and Leila had shapeshifted away from their demonic forms the moment they had landed, and Leila even wore her white sweater, so she looked no different than an ordinary woman.

"He might have seen us land," said Leila.

"This seems like the perfect opportunity to use my Hypnosis," said Adam. "Make him forget about us."

"You could, darling, but hypnosis leaves traces of your magic aura in the target. Traces that could be detected for up to several days," said Leila.

"Any way to remove those traces?" asked Adam.

"Cleansing rituals or substances that shape the mind," said Leila.

"Like that," said Adam, pointing at the vodka bottle the guy still held on to even with death staring him in the face.

"Hm, yes, but alcohol alone will not be enough," said Leila.

"Hold up." Adam looked at the guy. His eyes were bloodshot red from smoking weed. "Yeah, we won't have any issues with this guy. He's a bona fide pothead. Show me how to use hypnosis, Leila."

Leila snapped her fingers, drawing the man's attention, and then she spoke. "First, you will fall asleep. Then, you will lose all memories of the past hour."

Her voice reverberated with a faint echo, and the man's eyes went dull as he heard them. He fell flat on his back, bottle still in his hand, his chest heaving as he started to let out an awfully loud snore.

Adam stepped over to the sleeping guy and watched him with wonder. With just two sentences, he had been knocked out cold. While Adam lightly kicked the guy's head to see how deep the hypnosis was, he asked Leila: "So, how do I do that?"

"You must make eye contact," said Leila. "The eyes are the windows to the soul. If not, then a strong touch can work, but it will be weaker. Then, you must shape your intentions. You need to have definite, thought-out commands. The more specific, the better.

Once you have your commands ready, you speak them, and your words will carry the power your magic into the target's being."

"Got it," said Adam. "Seems simple enough."