LoRezInferno

Finally got it done. Here's a deeper look into the minds of my beloved characters. Also, Belial should be gaining a lot more depth from here on out. After making his character sheet, he became more of a person instead of a self-insert. Because of this, I changed how he acts in chapter two, so, even though it's a bit of a pain, I would highly recommend rereading it so that you aren't totally confused as to why Belial is acting so different.

After saying goodbye to Abigail, Belial turned, his smile already faded, and started making his way across campus. His first class was English, which was unfortunately in the furthest possible building from Belial's current position. And since the school grounds were quite expansive, it took him about five minutes to walk all the way there, arriving right as the warning bell rang.

"Good morning Belial," the teacher greeted. Belial just nodded in response, not even bothering to turn his head, before taking his seat. The teacher could only sigh at his best student’s familiar response. Or rather, lack thereof.

After sitting down, Belial took out his notebook and the novel the class was currently reading, Dune, and placed them on his desk. Pulling out a pencil from inside his bag, he opened up his notebook to the next blank page and headed it with the date and lesson number written up on the board. Finishing that, Belial just waited for class to begin while apathetically staring at the board.

The minutes ticked by as the class continued to fill up with students, until finally, the second bell rang, marking the beginning of class.

Class went like usual, with the teacher lecturing and the students taking notes. Belial, like usual, just mechanically jotted down what information he needed and only spoke when called upon. While he somewhat enjoyed the book, he couldn't really say he felt anything for the lessons.

His next three classes proceeded much the same way, with him arriving five minutes early and just going through the motions, failing to spark any emotions in Belial.

Finally, the bell signifying the end of fourth period and the start of lunch rang. At this, Belial packed his bag and made his way over to the cafeteria.

Walking through the doors, he took a look around before getting in line for his food. The lunchroom was a large hall with several rows of banquet tables in the middle and a few smaller tables lined up on outer edges of the room. The din of students eating and talking filled Belial’s ears as he waited in the queue.

When it was finally his turn, Belial approached the long counter of food set up in an “All you can eat” style. After getting a tray, he made his way down the line, grabbing a turkey club sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water. Having obtained a nutritionally balanced meal, he paid for it at one of the registers and made his way over to one of the smaller tables on the outskirts of the cafeteria. He sat down and placed his tray in front of him, but before he could even take a bite, another tray clattered down in front of the seat across from him. The corners of Belial’s mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly.

“What’s up, Bell,” the young man now seated in front of Belial greeted. He had short, wavy brown hair tousled up on his head, hazel eyes, and a strong jawline. In other words, stupidly attractive. Furthermore, Belial knew that if the teen in front of him stood up, he would see that not only was his face attractive, but he also had the body of an adonis. 5’9” and still growing, a broad chest with wide shoulders, and absolutely ripped muscles that were toned to perfection. 

Belial took a moment to consider how his only two friends were also the two most attractive students in the entire school. Deciding that it didn’t matter, and ignoring the faint twinge of envy, he shook himself out of his thoughts and asked, “Don’t you have anything better to do than bother me, Michael?”

Michael pretended to be greatly offended, “Bell, how could you!? I thought we were friends!”

“What gave you that idea?” Belial asked with feigned exasperation.

“Oh, how you wound me!” Michael cried out as he clutched a hand over his heart before releasing a chuckle and shifting into a more relaxed position. “Jokes aside, I have something to ask. Coach Henry wants me to help set up the court while the team warms up for the volleyball game right after school. You down to lend a hand?”

Belial tilted his head and couldn’t help but ask, “But you’re not even part of any of the sports teams, why is he asking you?” 

“Probably because I volunteer from time to time to help the teams either with practicing or with equipment management,” Michael said with a shrug.

“Haaahhh, of course you do.”

Michael just gave a small smile.

Looking at Michael with a slight frown, Belial explained, “Unfortunately, as much as I would love to turn my brain off for a while helping out the volleyball team, I can’t. I have to go run by the store on my way home and then study for my history exam, tomorrow.”

A defeated expression wormed its way onto Michael’s face, “Awww, shoot. Well, as long as you’re studying, I guess I can’t complain. School is more important than volunteering, after all.”

“Yup,” was Belial’s simple response before he took a bite of his sandwich. Michael followed suit and started eating his lunch, as well. Time passed as the two ate and chatted about their days. Michael also told Belial about his most recent volunteering job outside of school: helping build homeless shelters in the “slums district,” a place where crime and poverty ran rampant. It was an area even Michael with his overbearing sense of justice was hesitant to enter. But his desire to help obviously won out. The district wasn’t something Michael could just ignore.

“Hey, you two,” came Abigail’s voice as she took a seat to the right of Belial.

“Finally decide to grace us with your presence, Queen Abby?” Belial quipped.

“Oh hush, I was talking with some friends,” Abigail replied with a huff before a mischievous grin settled on her face. “Hey, did you guys know there’s a fanfiction floating around about you two?” 

“Really, what’s it about?” Michael innocently asked before biting into a pear. Even Belial seemed to take slight interest, sitting up slightly.

“It’s a romance novel where you two have lots of anal sex!”

“Agh-uuk!” Michael choked on his bite of food upon hearing the girl sweetly exclaiming such an obscene sentence. Belial just rolled his eyes, already losing what little interest he had.

“Haah, figures.”

“I mean, I can kind of see where the writer’s coming from. You two spend a lot of time together and sometimes disappear together after school~,” Abigail taunted, taking great pleasure in Michael’s discomfort.

“T-that’s because we’re volunteering!” Michael frantically explained with a bright red face.

“Uh-huh, sure you are~,” Abigail jeered back.

The two kept going back and forth for a bit before the conversation switched to something less scandalous, with Belial occasionally joining in.

Eventually, the bell rang, marking the end of lunch and all of the students still in the cafeteria dropped off their trays at the rotating dish rack off to the side of the hall. Belial and his friends did the same and then reluctantly separated to go to their respective classes.

Belial’s next class was history, and it proceeded much the same way as the others; the only difference being that they were reviewing material for the exam tomorrow instead of learning something new.

After history was math, and for the first time that day, Belial smiled about something that wasn’t related to his friends. Sitting down, he pulled his notebook out and began going through practice problems for the current unit. He had to look them up online, as he had already finished all the ones in the textbook. For Belial, math was simple, and with how complicated his life could get, he learned to appreciate those kinds of simple things. Volunteering and reading fell under the same category.

Class started and Belial quickly looked up from the problem he was working on, eagerly awaiting the next lesson. Already being in Multivariable Calculus, the lesson was quite understandably very complicated for an average person of his age, but Belial was anything but average when it came to math. 

Time flew as the teacher kept explaining the material until the bell rang, far too soon for Belial’s liking. After finishing the problem he was working on, he closed his notebook, put his stuff away, and headed out of the classroom, ready to go home.

While Abigail and Belial lived in the same direction and usually walked home together, because it was a Tuesday, this changed. Belial was always a little late coming from math when it was his last period, so instead of waiting for him, Abigail usually decided to start heading home without him. Belial didn’t mind this since he occasionally got some practice in from time to time on days when Abigail walked home alone. 

Walking towards his house, he started making his weekly detour to the grocery store to get some milk, along with some other essentials. It just so happened that this was the exact route that Abigail usually took to get home. Belial’s lips curled into a frown as he strolled into the dirty, run down streets of the “Slums District.” Avoiding it would take more than triple the time, and it would cost too much to constantly use the bus lines that had long since stopped going through the district, instead circumventing it. Cases of vandalism had become too frequent, not to mention that the bus drivers didn’t feel safe driving through that area. The “Slums District” was the main reason Abigail and Belial walked home together, as they were less likely to be attacked or abducted if they were with each other. The only reason she went home alone on Tuesdays was because the girl abhorred waiting for others and was quite confident she would be safe, anyway. His frown deepened as he recalled some of the events that had taken place in this unholy area. 

“BEEEEELLLL!”

A scream tore into his ears, one that he hated hearing. Breaking into a sprint towards the direction of the voice, Belial turned the safety of his hidden blades off. It seemed this would be one of those times he got some practice in. Rounding a corner, Belial quickly scanned the area before he spotted a trash can knocked over next to an alley. Normally this wouldn’t arouse any suspicion, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Running to the alleyway, he looked in and froze.

Kneeling over Abigail were two thugs, one near her head, gagging and restraining her, and the other straddling her waist, trying to pull down her blouse. She was struggling, kicking and hitting the men trying to tear her clothes off. She glared at them with murderous rage while her muffled screams grated in Belial’s ears. 

A manic grin split his face.

It seemed he would get some practice. 

Belial shot off like a bullet, his footsteps nearly silent. Before either of the men even knew he was there, Belial had deployed his hidden blades with his arm swinging in an upward arc.

SCHLIIICK

The sound of meat and bone being butchered assaulted everyone’s ears and with a wet thud, an arm fell to the ground. The man on top of Abigail looked down at the stump right above where his left elbow should be, still not entirely sure if he wasn’t just seeing things. The man’s rapidly beating heart forced blood out of his stump, spraying it all over Abigail’s face and chest.

“AAAGGGHHH!!!! M-my arm! You fucking piece of SHIT!” The would-be rapist screamed at Belial as he realized that the pain he felt was very, very real. He scrambled off of Abigail and fell backwards on his butt, clutching his bloody stump in agony. The other assailant was still kneeling near Abigail’s head, frozen in shock. Belial didn’t let the opportunity go to waste and dashed behind him. He swung his arms out from his chest and cut both of the man’s Achilles Tendons. Belial gave out a crazed laugh and exclaimed, “No running for you!”

Forcefully ripped from his shock, the man holding Abigail down started screaming and tried to stand up. But his legs, now completely incapable of supporting his weight, gave out causing him to collapse into a heap. 

Abigail, no longer being restrained, sat up and started to watch the gore unfolding before her. A tinge of pink spread across her bloody face as she bit her lip. 

The first man went for the knife he carried in his pocket, but before he could get his left arm even half way there, Belial was in front of him. Another slash, another sickening sound of tearing flesh. The thug’s hand fell to his feet as blood poured out of the fresh wound. More screams filled Belial’s ears as the bleeding man fell back on his butt. 

“Hey Bell, give me a good show, would you?” Abigail practically moaned out, her thighs rubbing together.

Belial looked over with his manic grin, “You didn’t even have to ask.” Turning back to the terrified man collapsed in front of him, he said, “Since you’re going to bleed out first, I’ll start with you.”

Belial walked over, his haunting smile sending a chill down the thug’s spine. The screams had stopped after the man’s adrenaline started numbing the fresh waves of agony.

“You know, my parents taught me many things about the human body. How to pleasure it, how to shut it down efficiently, and how to avoid places that cause pain when killing them. But in doing so, they also needed to teach me what not to do when assassinating someone. I’m going to use you and your friend over here to showcase these skills to my best friend in the whole world. The girl you just tried to rape.”

The would-be-rapist scrambled backwards trying to get away as Belial slowly walked toward him. Abigail looked on in anticipation, ready to burn everything into her memory.

“Let’s begin, shall we?”

And with a slash and a scream, the thug’s belly was sliced open.