Chapter 2: Needle in a Haystack

Seeing images form in front of my own eyes was a slightly horrifying experience. Vague shapes and colors twisted and morphed to form something recognizable. Hopefully I wouldn’t keep my eyes open next time I have to go through that.

The first thing I noticed was that the vegetation here was very thin. I could see tree stumps left behind from what once looked to be massive trees. All that was left was a short grass and saplings scattered everywhere that barely reached my chest in height.

I could already see people wandering around, most of them just wandering aimlessly without a thing on their backs, others looked to be carrying enough to crush a normal person. I was fascinated by the large amount of people simply just wandering around without a care in the world in the middle of seemingly nowhere.

I started immediately hiding the demon power, as to not accidentally kill any of these wandering people. How none of them noticed me suddenly appearing was interesting, but I was just going to roll with it and start trying to blend in.

I noticed that no one in this area was carrying a weapon out in the open like I was, but I was just going to hope no one called me on it. If they did, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I figured the best way to see where I was and where I should go next was going to be just to ask one of the wandering people.

“Excuse me, where is the nearest city?” I politely ask someone, hoping the cultures weren’t too different that I wasn’t actually being polite.

“You hit your head recently? You’re in a city, genius.” The man rudely speaks to me then walks away without waiting for me to respond. In fairness, I was too shocked to respond immediately.

What part of this was a city, it was just a random little field of saplings, I didn’t see any houses anywhere. I guess if I tried to look past this large patch of flat land, I couldn’t see much as there was a haze that seemed to cover everything.

There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and the sun had a faint dim white glow to it. What kind of star was that, and why did this planet feel so normal despite the lack of a competent sun? I guess it wouldn’t be too absurd, in the universe with infinite possibilities, it just felt completely different compared to what I had grown used to.

I picked a random direction and started to walk. There wasn’t really much I had to go off of yet other than that I need to find this other demon, and I need to make sure that I stop the corruption they start spreading. I also had no way to know what the corruption effect was going to be like until I saw it for myself.

However, I could safely gather information over multiple days this time as I wouldn’t be melting people’s heads. This was a key factor in gaining information, not killing people. All jokes aside, I was just going to try and find the largest city and look around there for the demon or any signs off corruption on my way there.

Wait, I couldn’t tell that the demon in the first world was a demon right until the very end when he attacked me. If the demon here was smart enough, they would also do the same. I had a few questions left from the first world. Things like, how did the other demon know where I was and had someone sent there within the day.

Also, there seemed to be tools and such developed to detect demons, they attempted to find me with a coin that hurt, but anyone who’s ever had a headache wouldn’t even flinch with that level of tactic. What worried me was that the people there didn’t seem to be advanced, so they didn’t really have the centuries to develop anything something truly meaningful.

I worried that a society with a little more age behind it that focused solely on demons and finding them would be something that could pose some real danger to me. I was still very killable at this point, and I was going to have to work hard to make sure that didn’t happen.

I was also stuck at a bit of an impasse. I wanted to grow in power so it was harder to kill me, but that meant I would have to destroy worlds. I really didn’t want to do that if I could help it. My goal here was to prevent worlds from being destroyed, and while I knew I wasn’t on the straight and narrow as far as morals were concerned, I wasn’t going to break them that far.

Before I knew it, I could see buildings in the distance, and there were a lot of them. It seemed like I had been dropped in the middle of a tree farm of sorts in the middle of a city. One thing that was immediately obvious was that there were a lot of people, and a lot of houses to go along with that.

I thought city centers on Earth were densely packed, but here it seemed that if there was enough room to walk between the houses two people wide, that was a street. Most houses were a minimum of two stories tall with some reaching up to five. The foundations of these houses barely supporting themselves even with a light breeze.

I swear I could hear the stone foundations cracking as people walked around, and no one really cared about it. Not worried that the houses around them looked like they were going to fall over at any second. The ‘streets’ were densely packed with people as soon as I left the tree farm.

Thousands of people filling these small spaces, I wondered how I was going to find anything here at all. It took so long to get anywhere as everyone shuffled along the streets filled with people. I wondered if maybe this was just a high traffic time and maybe I would have better luck travelling later at night.

The farther I went into the city, the louder it got. Not because of machinery or technology, but because of the people. The roads were slightly wider where you could fit four people side by side, meaning that conversation with the person beside you was now more feasible.

My attention was being drawn in every direction as I walked, trying to find anything other than residential buildings. There was a serious lack of anything that I could even call a grocery store. No one sold any food at all. The closest thing I saw was a random street vendor selling water.

It was very popular with a long line of people waiting to get some water, which wasn’t too strange in a place this crowded, but something about it felt a bit off to me. Why was there nothing other than water everywhere, what did these people eat, and how far did they have to go to get some food.

After wandering for a few hours through the crowds of people, I came upon an area where there was a severe decline in people. One thing to note in my mind was that this city appeared to be absolutely massive. Ahead of me was a large gate with roughly thirty people in heavy metal armor blocked the way through.

“Halt, citizen.” One of the women who was in armor stops me as I approach them. “If you do not wish to join the military, only nobles may pass through this gate.”

“Okay, I’ll join the military then.” I make a split-second decision. I figure if I join the military, I can get closer to certain people who might be related to the other demon. It wasn’t the best idea, but it sure was an idea, and the other side of the gate appeared to have a lot less people in it.

“Commander!” The guard calls for their commander, probably going to get me to sign up.

“What seems to be the issue?” A man who I assume to be the commander walked over. The only visual difference between him and the regular guard seemed to be the red cloth on his shoulder.

“This civilian says he wants to be a soldier.” She points to me, clearly trying to mock me, and I didn’t even have to guess why.

“Alright, he’ll follow me.” The commander says nothing more and walks away, motioning for me to follow me. The other guard just looks confused at my stump of a right arm and just scoffs. I wasn’t looking forward to this.

The commander brings me into what is probably a guard station of some kind. Several large doors and passing by other personnel later, we arrive in something that looks almost like an office. There are bookshelves, but they’re completely empty, and the desk in the center of the room was covered completely by disorganized papers.

“Have a seat, Sir…” He waits for me to give him my name.

“Logan, sir.” I gracefully sit in the chair offered to me.

“Logan, you can just refer to me as Commander.” The Commander says as he sits down on the opposite side of the desk.

“Yes, Commander.”

“Can you read and write?” The Commander asks me, clearly starting an interview of sorts.

“Yes, sir.” I nod as well out of habit.

“Have you ever eaten any food?”

“Yes, sir.” I answer the same way, and somehow manage to keep the look of confusion off my face. There was clearly something up with this world and food.

“Are you, or have you been a noble of some kind?” The Commander glares at me seriously, it was an important question, I could tell.

“No, sir. However, I was once employed by one and was rewarded with food when I lost my arm defending them.” I explain to The Commander.

“That makes a lot of sense. May I have the name of the noble you worked under?”

“Unfortunately not sir. I was told only to answer to the King himself, and no one else.”

“I think I understand then. It must have been a royal that you worked for. That does technically mean you outrank me. Why start from the bottom, why not use your connections?”

“What connections will get a cripple into the military other than my own fortitude?” I waved my right arm around.

“Can you even use such a large weapon with a single hand?” The Commander eyes the ax that was on my back. He didn’t appear to not trust me, he just seemed doubtful, which was understandable.

“Yes, not with as much proficiency as I did when I had both arms, but I am confident in my ability to at least hold my own against equals with this weapon.”

“Would you be willing to showcase this to me? I have no reason to believe you are lying to me, it is just that the situation we are in doesn’t really allow us to be negligent in who we let join.” The Commander leans back slightly in his chair. I feel it was worth noting that he had a full helmet on, and his face was completely obscured.

“Of course.” I said full of confidence, but in my mind, I was a bit worried. First of all, I’d never fought against anything trained. Also, several things here didn’t quite add up. Food was the main one, and the fact that they were actively looking for people to enter their military when there were so many people just wandering the streets.

“Follow me, but before we leave, are you certain you want to do this? You will be the target of discrimination because of your arm.”

“Won’t bother me. I wouldn’t have even thought about joining if I was going to let something like a little bit of light teasing get to me.” To be fair, I didn’t think about joining, but I didn’t think people making fun of me was going to get under my skin at this point, and it would be good training to avoid letting it do so.

“Very well then.” The Commander stands up and once again motions for me to follow him. He walks briskly through the building with me following close behind, his pace much faster than last time. We end up walking back out to the main gate. I was expecting some training field, but I guess maybe the city can’t afford that kind of space.

The Commander motions for one of the guards to come over. I was extremely worried now, because all of the guards were dressed in the same full metal suit, I could only tell male and female apart. What I did notice, was that the female guard The Commander called over was most likely the same female guard that called out the commander.

“Yes, Commander?” The same voice as before speaks from the armor.

“Have a little skirmish here with Logan. Injure him and you pay for the medical bills.” The Commander strictly defines the rules.

“Yes, Commander.” She nods her head and the takes five steps back. I do the same while grabbing the weapon out of its sling on my back.

“Logan, the same applies to you. Any injuries to my subordinate will be paid for by you.” The Commander fairly gives me the same rules and I nod my head.

The Commander raised his arm high above his head and I focused completely on my opponent. I was wearing nothing more than a ripped t-shirt and loose cloth pants. The armor I had from the previous world was gone, as the demon had destroyed it when he attacked me two times.

The guard unsheathed her short sword from her side, readying it flatly in front of her. I knew absolutely nothing about sword fighting. I was just going to try and make this short and sweet. There was a small crowd starting form as The Commander drops his arm. He might have said something, but all of my attention was on the female guard.

She moved forwards, but I could tell it was just for intimidation. It was only a single step, so I walked towards her, with my weapon ready. She went for a short thrust with her weapon, and I slapped it to the side with face of my ax.

I quickly brought the ax back up to hit her chest with a jab, but it was easily blocked by the guard when she brought her sword across her chest in a diagonal. She moved fairly quick, but she was nowhere near as fast as that spider I had to fight near the bottom.

In fact, I would be amazed if any human could move as fast as that spider. She tried to go on the offensive, but I remembered everything from fighting against that table, being defensive was better than trying to win against more skilled opponents. I wanted to win quickly, but I was clearly going to have to play it safe.

Even more so since I wasn’t actually trying to injure the female guard. I kept deflecting and blocking her attacks until I understood everything she had to offer. It was maybe only about one minute since the fight started, and I knew on the battlefield, someone would have already died, but this is just a showcase match.

I decide to get inside her range with her on my right side. I could almost see her smirk as she though I had made a mistake when she tried to stab me with her sword. I deflect it with the handle of my ax and slam the stump of my arm as hard as possible into her metal helmet.

I winced a little from the pain, but the guard was sent staggering. Her free hand went to her head, probably in an attempt to stop it from spinning when The Commander shouts.

“Alright, fights over. Helmet off.” He orders the female guard to take her helmet off, probably to go inspect her head.

The female guard takes her helmet off, and while I was kind of expecting this gorgeous female to appear from under the helmet, she really was just kind of average, maybe on the lower end of the spectrum. Short dark blonde hair, and nothing else really to write home about.

“Not vomiting and not falling over, then there’s no real damage other than being shaken.” The Commander motions for me to come over.

“Yes, Commander, did I hit her too hard?” I ask, unsure if I was going to have to pay with money I didn’t have.

“No, I’m checking your arm.” He holds out his and, expecting me to place the stump in it. I was pretty sure it was undamaged, but it was hard to see the stump part of it without a mirror.

“It’s going to bruise most likely, but not too bad. I do have to say though, while a little reckless at the end, it was a good use of what you had available. It is clear that your right arm was your dominant until you lost it, but your left has some skill.” I received an assessment from The Commander.

“Thank you, Commander.” I nod my head.

“As for you, Cynthia. You underestimated your opponent and got what was coming. For the good points, you put up a good offensive, and you really forced the opponent to use everything available to them. You need to be ready for everything that can happen.”

The Commander offers me a hand, probably for a handshake. I put my weapon back into its sling and shake his hand. He had a firm grip, and while I could tell he was gripping tighter than he needed to, it wasn’t too much.

“We’ll gladly take you then. Come back to my office, and we’ll start the paperwork. You’re already above the level of a common soldier, so I will put in good word with the higher ups to get you on a fast track.” The Commander makes me walk back to his office with him after sending Cynthia back to her post.

After making it into the office, I noticed a few new books on the shelf, when did they get there? Was there something more sinister going on here that I should worry about, possible corruption maybe.

“A good eye on you to notice a detail like that, I’m currently moving into this position. So, it isn’t too strange for some books to suddenly appear. Someone who is in charge of moving my things is clearly working on it.”

“I was worried that something worse was going on.” I say out loud, realizing that someone with even an elementary school education would be able to tell I was aware of something worse, but didn’t say it. However, The Commander just stares at me unmoving. I still couldn’t see his face, so I couldn’t see any facial expressions.

“No matter. I’ll just have you read over a few pages and then sign your name at the end, if that’s alright with you.” The Commander then casually takes off his helmet before digging through a drawer on his desk, looking for the papers. It took some time, but it seemed he found them at the back of a drawer.

He handed them to me after clearing a small space on the desk for me. He handed me a piece of charcoal wrapped in cloth to write with. It was interesting, and I’m not even sure what this time period normally used. Actually, how were the books made if the wrote with charcoal, wouldn’t it smudge?

I wasn’t going to question it too much. The paper I was reading on was a light brown color, but the words on it were written with some kind of ink. Perhaps a quill of some kind, and some person who was made to write all these documents. The pages were mostly square, but not perfect, oh well it was time to read legal jargon.

‘To whomever signs this, you are signing away your right to person and property. Your persons will henceforth belong to the Royal Palace to do as they see fit. Be it soldier or slave, your persons will belong to the Royal Palace upon signature of this document. If said persons wishes to not enter a slavery contract with the Royal Palace, please return this document and ask for the correct one.

In the case that said persons is forced to sign this contract, it will be denied. If you wish to force the signing persons to slavery of the Royal Palace, please return this document and acquire the correct document.’

“Is this a joke? Slavery contract?” I spoke as calmly as possible, but I wasn’t sure if my anger at this didn’t slip through. I wanted to be a soldier, not a slave. Was this a ruse from the start?

“Please, Logan. Don’t be too upset with me. I am required to give you that form first to see if you are actually capable of reading. It is not my fault; I’m just following regulation.” The Commander explains to me and then hands me a new paper after taking the other one.

‘In signing this contract, you agree to become a soldier for the Royal Palace. In that are the following terms: Conduct, Loyalty, and Determination. Each term will be described following this to further your understanding on that which the persons signing this contract will agree to.

In regard to the conduct section; as a member of the Royal Palace’s army, you must conduct yourself with grace befitting that of a soldier. You must never use your authority to harass or belittle the average citizen. You must never solicit anything using your title; however, you may use your title for benefits where applicable and nowhere else.

For Loyalty, it is required of those who wish to join the Royal Palace army to swear fealty to the King and the other members of the Royal Family. This loyalty extends to follow their every command, so long as it is righteous. The soldier does retain the right to deny the request in the case that said soldier deems the request either undoable or unachievable.

Determination, while being rather vague, refers to how far you go on your own. The soldier will be responsible for the maintenance of their own equipment and upon receiving Royal sponsored equipment must return said equipment no matter what condition it is in at the end of service. This section also refers to training and that you agree to train as much as the Royal palace deems necessary.

Compensation will be given to the soldier based on merits. Merits being a point-based system. Merits can be earned by either completing daily tasks or reporting for training. Merits will majorly be earned on the battlefield, if there are any remaining questions, please ask the distributer of this document.’

“Wow, this one is a lot better; I’m not signing my life away this time.” I laugh while signing my name on the dotted line. It was good enough and I didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary.

“With that, you’re almost officially a soldier. I’ll have Cynthia take you to the Royal Palace so you can register and get setup in their boarding rooms.”

“I didn’t ask for boarding rooms.”

“Logan, you look like you haven’t cleaned yourself in weeks, plus your clothes are one step away from being ruined completely. If you have a home to stay in here, be my guest, and I’ll apologize.”

“No need for the apology.” I sigh as The Commander stamps the paper with something and then hands it to me.

“Give this to the person working at the Royal guard station and they’ll get everything from there. Do you have anymore questions?” The Commander asks me while handing me the stamped sheet of paper.

“What constitutes the end of service?”

“Injury that is beyond recovery, which normally includes losing limbs. Very few people re-enter service after losing a limb, especially their dominant arm. You can still step away from this, just tear up the document and leave.” The Commander hesitantly let go of the stamped paper.

“Nah, I’m good. I know what I am getting into.”

“May the Royals be fair and kind to you, Godspeed.” The commander offers me a salute and leads me out of the room. He walked with me out of the building, as he was probably going to tell Cynthia she needed to walk with me. Once we leave the building with me holding the paper, he once again calls over Cynthia who was no longer wearing a helmet and was holding a bunch of leaves to her forehead.

“Yes, Commander?” She hurries over, walking normally, but there was a clear bump on her forehead now.

“Congrats, you’re getting a promotion. Royal army.” He hands Cynthia a badge that he seemingly pulled from nowhere.

“Sir, thank you so much, but didn’t I lose to him?” She nodded in my direction; her hair went into her eyes with this motion, but she brushed it out quickly.

“You showcased your strengths enough to finally warrant it. Also, as your final command from me, take Logan here with you to the Royal Palace’s guard outpost and help him get what he needs, you’ll most likely be assigned as a pair.”

“A pair? Why?” I asked, more confused than anything. Cynthia shriveled a bit at my questioning.

“It has been shown that people that sign up together and have some history normally work better together than randomly assigned pairs. Most of our military tactics tend to involve pairs of people as well, so you’ll be paired to someone anyways. Why not someone who you kind of sort of know?” The Commander smoothly answers my question.

“Understood.” I say, but it felt a little odd to me that it would be pairs and not whole squads. Maybe there were squads of pairs, but that seemed odd to me. Oh well, different world, different styles.

“That’s how it is then, Cynthia, Logan. If we meet again, I hope you two will have turned into excellent soldiers. Now go, before I change my mind on this.” The Commander gives us a pat on the back and walks back to his office.

Cynthia and I take a small door beside the gate to the other side. Cynthia said some quick goodbyes to the other guards, but she was really quick. The bump on her head looked like it hurt, but she was no longer holding those strange leaves to it.

“Logan, was it? Why decide to be a soldier with an injury like that?” Cynthia asked me while she was leading me towards what looked to be a massive castle.

“Well, if you really want to know… I was sent from another world to stop a plot to destroy this world.” I say seriously, only for Cynthia to smirk. “But seriously, I lost my arm then lost my home. I decided my best bet was going to be joining the Royal army, so I trained with my weapon for as long as I could.”

“Did you think I was dumb enough to believe that first story?” Cynthia laughs, and I laugh too, despite the fact that it wasn’t a story, and it was technically the truth. She didn’t need to know that though.

“Of course not, just a little something to lighten the mood. I don’t really care anymore that I lost my arm.” I wave the stump around knowing that it will eventually grow back because I am a demon. I was hoping it growing back wasn’t going to raise any suspicion, but I could always perform the old chop-chop to get it back to ‘normal’ length.

“From a young age, I’ve always wanted to join the Royal army. I was lucky to survive to the age of ten with the world the way it is. Deaths are down and the birthrate is way up. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the streets are insanely crowded everywhere. The entire world is full of too many people.” Cynthia goes on an unprompted rant.

“Don’t I know it.” I laughed, hoping this would get her to continue so I could hear more random facts about the world.

“Getting past age ten is easy, as it’s when you’re sent out of the home to make your own in the world. Getting to this age was easy, but it feels like I’ve done nothing but guard that gate for five years. It was only two, but that isn’t the point.” Cynthia continues to rant.

“Have you been trying to get into the Royal army for a while now?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“It has been about two years now. You can’t apply for the Royal army until you’re over age eighteen, which seems like too long to wait for me. Most people barely live to the age of fifty without dying from some stupid thing or another. Last week, the Collectors brought about five hundred people past my post, and that was only while I was working.”

“Oh, this city has Collectors too, I guess every city has them then.” I said something I had no clue about. I was hoping this wide lipped girl would just speak until her heart exploded. She sure did just keep talking given the chance.

“There was a time where I though being a collector was a good job. I heard the pay was incredible, enough to own an entire house to yourself, and maybe food once a year if you saved up. Then I learned what they actually do. I hear some Collectors even eat the corpses they collect. I could never do that. I mean, collecting the dead people from off the street must be a traumatizing job.”

“It really is a horrible job. I can’t wait to work for the Royal army. I haven’t slept under a roof in months.”

“Where did you even sleep then. Wait were you forced to sleep out in the tree farms? I’ve heard that only criminals will sleep out in those areas because criminals can’t get jobs anymore. I guess if you…” I almost felt bad about it, but I tuned out the rest of her rant. This girl really did just keep talking until I stopped her.

I couldn’t tell if it was because she was dumb, or because she just liked the sound of her own voice. At least I was getting a good amount of information out of her. I was hoping to ditch her at the first available opportunity though. I was hoping that my luck would align and if they did partner me up, it wasn’t with her.

Soon after I started tuning out Cynthia, we arrived at the entrance of the Royal Palace. I had to say, it was rather impressive looking from this perspective. It was roughly ten times larger than any castle I had even heard about in my entire life.

“State your reason for entry into the Royal Palace.” A man dressed in decorative looking plate armor approached me and Cynthia. I had my paper ready and showed it to the man, while Cynthia showed him the badge. He nodded his head and signalled to someone else with his right hand.

The large gate of the castle started to move with a loud thud. I could hear large gears turning inside the walls, and slowly, and I mean really slowly, the gate opened enough for me and Cynthia to walk through while ducking our heads. The gate slammed shut behind us. Not ominous at all, however, Cynthia didn’t seem too worried by it.

I looked around just assessing my escape options when I noticed just how many people were inside the castle wall. I could easily count a few hundred people just wandering around. Some looked to be guards similar to the ones out front, some maids and butlers, and even someone who was most likely a Royal with the way they were walking and the fact there was at least fifteen men surrounding them in full armor.

This world had so many people in it, it was scary. Realizing that someone would stop me if I tried to run, I gave up on looking at an escape route, my fate was sealed now. At least Cynthia seemed to know where she was going, so I just kept following her. For the first time since we started walking together, she was finally quiet, she was a lot nicer to be with when she didn’t talk.

Walking inside the castle, there is what I can only describe as a reception desk with five people working behind it, all speeding through various paperwork. It was an odd sight to see these people work together in near perfect unison, that was until Cynthia walked up to the desk and put her newly acquired badge on it.

“Joining the Royal army then, and for you sir, are you going to be applying?” The leftmost receptionist speaks to us without raising her head beyond the badge placed on the desk, the remaining four continuing to work.

“I have this here.” I hand her the piece of paper and she looks at me finally. She looks at my face, then to my right arm, then at my ax, then back to my face.

“Discharge papers?” She asks as she grabs the sheet from my hand, only to look back at me after reading the page. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.”

“Who am I to stop you then.” She hands the paper to another receptionist, and they look it over. “Everything seems to be in order then, will you two register as a pair?”

“Yes.” Cynthia answers faster than I can say anything, so I just leave it. It probably won’t be the end of the world to have her with me for a bit. Well… it might be, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

“Alright then. I just need you names and your signature on the dotted lines as indicated, and I’ll get someone to guide you to the Royal army installation.” She hands us each a sheet of paper and a charcoal pencil.

I quickly fill mine out to see Cynthis struggling. The words on the page were flowery, but it was just a simple ‘I agree to work with this person until it is no longer possible, or death.’ Simple stuff, and realistically only temporary until I find the other demon, or Cynthia dies.

She seemed to be struggling with reading it. Was she not fully literate? I pointed to the areas where she would put her name and then sign, showing her mine as an example. She looked a bit sad for some reason but looked grateful enough for the help.

“Thank you, now wait here while I go grab someone to guide you.” The receptionist quickly stands up and runs off down the hall, only to take the first right. I wasn’t sure why we couldn’t just follow her, but if it’s Royal stuff, they might just require someone from within the army itself to guide us.

Cynthia and I just stood there for a while. Cynthia kept looking at me, then looking at a wall when I would meet her gaze. What was wrong with her, was she still curious about my arm? If that was the case, all she has to do is ask and I’ll tell her some made up story about a losing it when I was caught in a stampede of people or something.

It wasn’t too long after that I saw an extremely tall and muscular female wearing very, very light leather armor round the corner with the receptionist following close behind. The armor was clearly meant to showcase her muscles more than protect anything vital.

Hopefully she wore something more practical during actual battle. I know that raising troop morale is important but having someone die so pointlessly felt a little unjustified. I guess I was putting the cart before the horse a little here, maybe her skills more than made up for the missing armor.

“These two?” The tall woman asks, giving an evaluating glare to me and Cynthia. Cynthia shrinks back under the intimidating glare, but I accidentally let a smile creep onto my face. I swear, at this point, it was just a death wish of some kind. I have a nasty habit of taunting those that are above me.

It was actually something that I needed to get under control, especially since my goal here was to climb the ranks and see if the demon had infiltrated the Royal family somehow. The woman either didn’t notice my smirk, or just didn’t care.

“Send the girl to the dorms, you, Logan. Follow me.” She points to me and waits for me to start moving before turning around and walking at a brisk pace through the halls. I almost had to jog to keep up. Cynthia just looked confused as she followed the receptionist.

We walked quickly through the winding halls. I got strange looks from several of the maids and butlers, but not a single soldier could be spotted. No one else in armor, and no one else in uniform. I had no idea where I was being taken, but it didn’t seem like it was anything good based on how long I was being dragged around.

“Logan, we’re here.” The tall woman points to a door the appeared to lead outside somewhere.

“May I ask what’s going on?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know more about the situation. Why separate me and Cynthia at this point?

“Simply put, you signed a contract for high level training while you partner only receives the basic training. The man who stamped your document sent a runner to us to inform us you were arriving and told us to train everything we can into you in the next month.” The woman explains in a voice that doesn’t fit her frame; it was oddly soothing compared to her appearance.

“So, I get special training, is it because of this?” I wave the stump around.

“Not necessarily. All I was told was that I was to drill every combat skill I could into you given your condition and your foundation. Beyond that, it’s none of my business what happens, or why other people decide things.” She explains flatly with no bias.

“Alright then. Are we just going to sit around here and talk, or are we going to start this?” I asked with a smile. I was bored, to be quite honest. I was used to the high intensity of the floors. Save one of the last ones, but that doesn’t count. I’d been doing nothing but talk to people for basically the whole day.

“I like the way you think.” She pushes open the door and walks out into the open area surrounded with a tall and thick wooden fence. “This is the third private training area. This is where you’ll be spending most of your time from now on.”

I followed her into the training area. It was a lot more spacious than I thought it was at a first glance, there was a wall full of various imitation weapons. However, not a single one looked like my ax. I was a bit worried that I was going to be forced to use something not like my weapon.

“I’ll give you the choice, we both use practice weapons, or we both use real weapons. Otherwise, it isn’t a fair battle, and the training will be skewed.”

“Real weapons. If I was scared of a little cut, I wouldn’t have made it this far missing an arm.” I laughed while removing my ax from the sling on my back.

“You know, Logan. I do admire the battle spirit, but aren’t you a little too enthusiastic about all this?” The woman asks me, clearly becoming worried. She was right though, I really needed to dial it back. After a deep breath, I calmed myself, it was a bad showing to be too battle hungry during training.

“My apologies. I was falling back into old habits. I will work hard to correct myself so I can work as part of the team.” I knew the army was a team game. I had to prove myself better than the others so I could rise up in ranks, but I also had to make sure I was able to mesh well into teams I was placed in.

“Good ability to regain your composure. We’ll use real weapons, but no cheap tricks. This is training after all, not a real fight. We’ll start slowly so that I can see your skill, I’ve already heard your defensive skills are impressive, so I want to test that first.” The woman grabs a wooden staff with metal caps off the wall.

She lunges in quickly with the long staff. I quickly move my hand to the base of the ax head and brace the hand on my arm. When I block the overhead strike, the force is moved from my wrist, to mostly my elbow, which is much stronger.

The woman presses down into me, trying to use the strength of two arms against one, and with that much muscle, the difference between gender was negligible. I was losing in terms of strength. I would need to think of something quickly before I either got hurt or just plain lost.

I suddenly twist my body and drop my arm. The staff hits the dirt beneath our feet with a loud thud. I decide to step on the weapon to stop her from picking it back up, but it cracks and breaks. It honestly shocked both of us. I wonder if I stepped on it too hard or if the ang she pulled from was bad.

“Well, that sure was something. Even when I told you the wrong thing we were going to start with, you still defended properly. Shame you broke the weapon I was using, but it must have been damaged already.” The woman offers a simple explanation to what just happened, and I accept it. I did notice that she had broken a light sweat already though despite it not seeming to hot out here.

“I’m sorry, I must have stepped on it too hard, I only wanted to immobilize it.” I offered an apology, but she just shrugged her shoulders with a ‘don’t worry about it’ kind of expression on her face.

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She turned around and went to go grab another weapon. I could barely hear it over the loud hum of the nearby city, but I could swear I heard her whisper ‘How can a cripple be so strong’. Now, I wasn’t upset, because I might have misheard. In fact, I was more surprised it took this long to meet someone who hated me for my physical deformities.

This time, the woman who I realized still hadn’t told me her name, grabbed a two-handed sword from the rack. It looked quite dangerous, and heavy. If she swung that thing with all her strength, I’m pretty sure there was no way I could block it like I did with the staff.

Without even letting me get ready, the muscular woman attacked again. This time it wasn’t an impractical full-strength swing, it was something more easily blockable. She swung horizontally from left to right, but that does mean she would be aiming towards my bad side first.

I wasn’t worried about the durability of my weapon, so I casually let the blade hit the wooden handle of my ax. My confidence was founded, as the blade of the two-handed sword barely even left a dent as she pulled it in towards herself, clearly readying for a thrust. She was honestly really slow. Her only advantage was strength, and clearly, she wasn’t using it.

As I knocked the thrust to the side, I had a wandering thought enter my mind. What if she isn’t all for strength, but instead speed. Perhaps these heavy weapons were meant to see just how far my strength would go. I would just put up with the training, as it was good for me to get used to fighting other people so once I do go into battle, I’m ready for it.

This woman was way more skilled than Cynthia had been during our little fight in front of the that gate. This woman clearly wasn’t used to this weapon but was still swinging it with weight and precision that I doubt most people could even hope to do.

For probably ten minutes, it was like we were dancing. I would block, deflect, or redirect based on where the swing came from. I was sweating up a storm and starting to breathe quite heavily as the woman had just started to seriously sweat, her breath was barely faster. In terms of stamina, she probably has more because of her training, but I can drag mine lower by pushing myself a little.

She was taking notice of my dropping stamina and was starting to swing harder and harder. I however, refused to give up. I was fighting smart, using the least amount of energy possible and breathing deep and long breaths to give myself plenty of air.

This was thankfully training, and not a battle, but I’m a sore loser, so I’m going to push as far as I can go. There was absolutely no need to do this, but I felt I had something to prove, to myself more than anything. I didn’t care what this woman though about me, okay, maybe I did care about it a little. I just want to be better than her.

“That’s it.” The woman says while using the weapon to lean on and breathing heavily. “I tap out. You clearly would have won this exchange if this was a real fight, but all you did here was defend, not once did you lash out in anger.”

I attempt to speak, but all I can do is breathe. It takes about five minutes for me to catch my breath, in that time, the woman waits patiently, working to catch her own. I struggle to stay conscious as my body begged for more oxygen than I could breathe in, but I somehow managed to recover.

“It’s just training after all. No reason to be upset.” I calmly speak, my mind clear after the good exercise.

“Huh, I even tried to bait you with the whispering earlier. There’s no reason I would actually think that, with me being in this line of business for as long as I have.”

“Oh, I thought it was real, not that I cared. I’ve barely encountered anyone who’s hated me purely because of the arm. I manage to pull the pity card most of the time.” I laugh my way out of the awkward situation.

“That’s going to change. I’ll finally introduce myself; I’m Commander Era. I’ll be here every morning after the sun rises, I’d highly recommend showing up every day that you can. Your defensive skills are good, but we’ll still need to test them while you’re attacking too since you’ll be wide open when doing so. It changes the game more than you would think.” She reracks the two-handed sword, and I put my ax back into its sling.

“Got it, Commander Era. What happens from here though, were do I go?” I was thirsty and hungry, but I dared not say I was hungry.

“I’ll take you back to the dorms and we can sort out the rest after that. How’s your legs?” She asks me as I stumble over a small pebble on the field.

“My legs are tired from receiving all those heavy hits, but not as bad as my arm, I can barely even lift it now that I’ve had a second to rest.” I said while trying to lift my arm, and it barely went even with my shoulder before dropping back down. Of course, I could force it to go further, but there wasn’t a need to do so.

Commander Era walked me towards the dorm area. It was just a hallway with a bunch of doors that led to various sized rooms. Commander Era walked with me until the end of the hallway where she grabs the handle of the door and opens it.

“This is your room, since you registered as a pair, you aren’t being assigned a communal room to make friends. For now, don’t worry about bringing her to the morning training, but once you are completely comfortable with being in the Royal army, I expect you two to train together.” With that, she leaves, not explaining a thing more.

“Thank you, Commander Era.” I thank her as she walks away without looking back, only nodding her head in response. She was odd, I couldn’t get a handle on her personality, it is unlikely that she is the other demon I am looking for.

I remember the demon at the bottom of the floors told me that holding my demonic power in was like holding my breath, I would have to let it out eventually, but I barely even noticed it anymore. As if holding it in was the natural thing to do.

“Logan, there you are. I was worried that something might have happened to you.” I hear Cynthia call out to me as I close the door to the room.

“Commander Era just wanted to give a bit of an advanced assessment, so it took a bit longer than expected.” I explained to Cynthia the truth that I had made up. I was unsure of that woman’s motivations.

“I guess that makes sense, a lot of people are going to be skeptical of you because of your arm. Have you considered hiding it, so less people ask about it?” Cynthia proposes a simple solution.

“I’m not going to bother; I think it will be easier to make a name for myself if I have it clearly visible. At some point there might be no one left to ask questions and only the enemy will be confused. Until then, I’ll just deal with it, it isn’t all that bad to be asked a question every now and then.”

“If that’s what you think is best, then I won’t stop you.” Cynthia says perhaps her shortest line yet without continuing it. I use the chance to take a look around the room.

It was a fairly small room. In the corner was a small bucket with a cloth half inside of it, I wonder if that’s what we use to clean ourselves. There were two separate beds, I say bed, but they reminded me of a small military cot. The thin frames were made of wood and looked extremely fragile. Cynthia appears to have already claimed the bed furthest from the door, as her armor was already strewn across it.

Cynthia herself was wandering around in her base wear, I decided that my best option here was just to lay down and relax while I had the chance. I had a feeling the next few days were going to be hectic. If I could survive this, the rest of this world’s journey was going to be easy.

“You good Logan?” Cynthia asks me as I lay face first down on my bed.

“Just tired. Is there anything we need to do for the rest of the day?” I asked her, mostly deflecting the question as I was exhausted.

“Not anything we have to do for at least the next week. After that, they are supposedly having an orientation for the newer members. We’ll probably learn more there. Unless you meant when we get our water for the day, which we actually get it twice a day, maybe more if we do training. We just have to go to the counter at the front of this hall. You probably missed it on your way through here because it’s hidden around a corner.”

“Alright, could you go get me some, it’s hard to move right now.” I try to ask as nicely as possible.

“Sure, I’ll be back.” Cynthia leaves the room, giving me time to think.

I was going to have to eat food at some point, and I had no idea how I was even going to get any since it seemed that only the richest of the rich eat food here. I was either going to have to steal it or do something incredibly dangerous and earn it. That, or attempt to come clean to someone I can trust so that they can get something for me.

I wasn’t desperate yet, but in a day or two, especially since I have that fun training to look forward to every morning. I am going to be screwed if I can’t figure something out. I could always try and eat the grass out in the tree farm. It isn’t all that nutritious, but I’m a demon, my body should be able to handle it if I eat a good enough amount.

“I’m back, Logan.” Cynthia announces her arrival after opening the door.

“Thanks, Cynthia. That was quick.” I remark as I struggle to sit up in the bed, my arm not working the way I want it to.

“There wasn’t anyone else waiting to get any water, so it was really easy. They also didn’t even ask to prove my identity.” Cynthia hands me a glass bottle filled with water.

I watch as she uncorks the glass bottle and starts to drink the water. I was a bit worried that there would be some different way to drink in this world, but it appears to just be the normal person way. I watched Cynthia, perhaps a bit too closely and she stops drinking and squirms a little.

“It’s embarrassing if you watch me so closely.”

“Sorry, I’m more tired than I thought, I wasn’t paying attention to anything, just staring out into space.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She laughs it off as she goes back to drinking the rest of the bottle.

I looked at the bottle of water in my own hands and it actually was quite large, probably about two to three liters of water. I was extremely thirsty though, and while I would like to spread out my consumption of this, fitting in was more important than comfort. I leaned my head back and chugged like my life depended on it.

It tasted awful, and I swear I could feel dirt and sand in the water as well. It was gritty and left my throat feeling worse than before I had any of it. Was this the diet of the people in this world or was this just low-quality water.

“That was refreshing. It’s better than the water I had while I was a gate guard.” Cynthia crushes my hopes and dreams with a casual sentence. This meant that the sandy feeling was normal, and it was probably how these people got their essential minerals. I was going to hate this world.

“Goodnight, Cynthia.” I wish her a good sleep as I finish my bottle of water. I know I shouldn’t, but I was too tired. I fell onto my side and instantly fell sleep; I didn’t even hear Cynthia’s reply if there was one.

“Logan, it’s time to get up, suns almost up.” Cynthia shakes me awake, much to my displeasure.

“Alright.” I sit up in my bed. My body was still slightly sore, but such a long sleep really was just what I needed. I stood up and did a few stretches and was ready to go. I reached for my ax that I put beside my bed… it wasn’t there.

“I moved your ax so you wouldn’t fall onto it while sleeping. I’ve heard that it can happen sometimes that people will fall onto things placed beside their beds when they sleep.” Cynthia innocently speaks to me, and I do my absolute best not to get angry with her, she had the best intentions.

“Thanks Cynthia, but please, never do that again. You have no idea how much it scares me when I don’t have my weapon when I wake up.” I speak in a calm and even tone, I wasn’t angry. I really wasn’t.

“I’m sorry.” She shrivels up while sitting on the edge of her bed.

“So where is it?” I look around the room, not spotting it immediately.

“Under my bed, let me grab it for you.” Cynthia slides off the edge of her bed and lays flat on the ground to reach under the bed.

“Why under there of all places, just lean it on a nearby wall or something, not like I would have fallen that far to land on it.”

“I’m sorry, I tried using it a little bit…” Cynthia hands my weapon to me with her head down.

“I don’t really care about that as long as you don’t damage it. Just ask next time, alright?” I take the weapon and put the sling over my shoulder. I was thinking about heading straight to the training ground.

“The way you use it is very unique, I wanted to try and copy it, but it’s hard.”

“Well, when I was in a much worse place, this weapon saved me more times than I can count. You don’t learn to use a weapon like I do in a training ground. You should learn what they have to teach here. People like Commander Era are stronger than me anyways.”

“Is that the tall lady who brought you back here?”

“Yup, anyways, I’m off to training. See you when I get back, if you’re still here and not off doing other stuff.” With that, I walked out of the door while hearing the goodbye from Cynthia.

Arriving at the training grounds, I noticed that I was the first one there. Commander Era had yet to arrive. I guess she did say once the sun was up, she would be here, so being here before the sun is up would be too early.

I decided not to waste the time and started jogging around the perimeter of the training grounds. It wasn’t big enough to really call them laps, but it was good exercise nonetheless. I did that for a few minutes before I noticed the door to the training area open.

“Oh, you’re already here, Logan.” I hear the voice of Commander Era ash she walks into the training area, holding a large leather bottle and a plate of food.

“What’s the occasion?” I point to the food she brought in.

“You must be starving, and probably wanting some clean water.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” I state, completely confused. I had no idea what she meant; how would she even know?

“You’re a Demon, right?” Her words shocked me, what, how? Huh? What?

“Huh?”

“So, after I dropped you off at your room, I did a background check on you. Nothing, there hasn’t been anyone with the name Logan in well over ten years that’s been in this city. No one knew anything about you.”

“How could you even tell with how many people are in this city, surely some are unaccounted for.”

“Yes, but someone would have noticed your arm. Most of the time, if someone is sick or injured, the Collectors come for them. The only exceptions to that being Royals and Nobles. So, I checked the Royal registry, and no one with the name Logan has ever existed within the Royal or Noble lines.”

“Then, how would you just assume I’m a demon. How do you even know about them, and wouldn’t you want to kill them on sight, not feed them?”

“What are you talking about? Demons are heralded as a great thing for a nation. They’ll help us prosper for as long as they stay with us. We have literature that’s been passed down among Royalty for centuries.” She calmly explains to me.

“Am I in any danger then?”

“Only if another country hears we’re harboring a Demon without telling them.”

“Who knows so far?”

“Me… and probably my direct boss, since I had to go through them to get access to the documents that I did in such a short amount of time.”

“Commander Era, how reliable is this information you have on demons?”

“I’d guarantee it with my life, however limited it may be. All it says is that demons herald change, and not much more. If you’re looking for information beyond that, it either doesn’t exist or is a secret so closely kept that I have no idea it exists.”

“Alright. I won’t turn down food, but I want as few people to know about me as possible. I am looking for another demon here who wants to destroy the world, not fix it.”

“Are you serious?” Commander Era stares me in the eyes and I return the gaze.

“This is my second attempt at saving a world. I’ve already failed once. My goal is to kill every single Demon, as much as you may not like it. However, Demons do nothing good for any world. Just me being in a crowded place without actively stopping the power of a Demon, everyone’s head would melt within the day. We aren’t natural, and we sure aren’t good for worlds.”

“So, say I believe you, why are you different?”

“I was recruited for the sole purpose of following and killing demons.”

“Eh, I’ll trust you.” She offers the plate of food to me, and I take it. I wasn’t starving, but I was quite hungry.

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

“If you’re telling the truth about everything, then technically the historical texts are still correct, just not in the way we thought. We more thought along the lines of coming up with ideas to reduce the overpopulation issue.”

I guess, in a way, it was still right. I am a herald of change, just not one that will stop by and help the people of the world. I am here to kill the Demon and then leave. I could always drop help, but in a world like this, they’ll have to sort out the issues they have on their own. Just stop letting people have so many kids or something.

“So, you want to keep it hidden for now, with only the higher ups knowing, or are you going to let everyone who asks to know?” Commander Era asks me a serious question that I had been thinking about while I was eating the food.

“I’ll do my best to keep it a secret on my end. It is probably one of those things that’s out of my control in regard to the higher ups though, so I’ll leave that to you.” I take a big swig of water, and it didn’t feel gritty like the water I had last night. It was actually refreshing.

“How’d you even get a hold of food for me?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, later after training and we get you a military uniform to replace the rags you’re wearing, you’ll be on your way to meet a Royal. I had to at least trade the promise of you meeting them for the meal, after that, you’ll have to make deals with that Royal.”

“Alright, what’s going to happen to Cynthia, she’s dumb as a brick, but always means well.”

“That’s up to you. You’ve proven yourself to be someone not from this world, or at least not human, so whatever you want to do is whatever goes.”

“I don’t like that kind of freedom, seems too open ended.”

“Then, lets just keep everything going like it was before you were found out to be a demon. Just an exceptional cripple. I’ll let the higher ups know of your wishes, and hopefully, you can stop this other demon from destroying our world.”

“Wait, how did you find out just through this I wasn’t a human, or your kind of human.”

“When one of ‘us humans’ eats, we vomit profusely afterwards; it actually happens pretty fast after eating. That’s how I know.” She explains and my jaw hangs open slightly as I make a sound of understanding.

“So, eating really is only for the rich then. Its purely for the taste. That’s crazy to me.”

“From my perspective, it’s you that’s crazy. Able to and needing to eat. We have ancient history that says before the arrival of the first Demon that changed the times, we used to eat food and were facing an issue where we were potentially going to run out.”

“Interesting.” I idly mumble while finishing the food quickly. Getting caught with it probably wasn’t ideal.

“Shall we get on with the training, or do you need to rest after eating?” Commander Era asks me, purely curious more than worrying about me.

“I’ll be good. Strenuous exercise after eating makes it digest better.” It was a lie, but I knew it was fine for me, more than likely.

Without even saying anything, Commander Era walks over to the training rack and grabs a different weapon this time. It is a pair of two short swords. I had a bad feeling about today’s training, but I wasn’t going to turn it down, especially if it helped me in the long run.

I walked a good distance from her and unsheathed my ax. There was no need for words for what was about to commence. It was most likely more defence training, but this time there was going to be some speed to it. I was probably going to suffer a lot.

Commander Era comes at me with full force. I manage to block the first two attacks with ease, but she’s just too fast, and before I knew it, there was a sword against my neck. It all happened so fast it was hard to describe. I knew she wasn’t skilled with heavy weapons, but for the change to be this drastic, it was scary.

“Speed is your weakness then?” Commander Era asks as she moves the sword away from my throat.

“I usually ran away from things that attacked faster than I could react. Or just avoided them altogether. The only things I ever really fought against were creatures and things that couldn’t be classified as human, and they were usually larger than me.”

“We’ll have to work on that then, get you used to fighting people of different builds and with different fighting styles. Can’t be a frontline soldier if you don’t have the basics of defense down. If you’re good to go again, raise your weapon. We aren’t leaving today until you can defend for one minute against me.” Commander Era readies herself, and I do the same.

She lunges at me with only one of the swords, deflecting it to the side made her just bring the other towards me and I twisted my body in order to block the incoming strike. Suddenly while my balance was already precarious, she tries to kick my legs out.

I immediately widen my stance and take the kick to my shin full force. It stung a little, but it wasn’t enough to bring me down. However, it was a temporary victory as she once again throws me off balance with a feint followed by a heavy wing. This time, when she kicks her legs out to hit mine, its lower down, aiming at my feet.

I foot slides out from under me, and I tumble to the ground. I feel the cold metal placed against my neck. I was getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter, I wasn’t frustrated just yet, but I was sure that I could do better than this.

“Come on, get up.” Commander Era ‘encourages’ me to get up. I do but grumble a little on my way up.

She readies herself to fight as soon as I am standing, and I do so as well without hesitating. The best way for me to learn was failure until I figured it out. Her beating me was unfortunate, but I had to learn to fight someone faster than me eventually.

I just had to keep my balance so that she wouldn’t sweep my legs. As she starts swinging, I start to recognize the swings that have no power in them. I lightly block them in order to give myself plenty of time to receive the heavier more meaningful hits.

Just like yesterday, it becomes almost a dance. A quick and deadly dance that will have only one victor. I do my best to block everything, deflect weak hits, and redirecting the heavier ones. I dodged what I couldn’t block and focused on keeping my balance.

My mind was running overtime trying to make sure not a single thing was out of place. It was only a matter of time until I made a mistake. I was tripped, stopped and countered at almost every turn. Bout after bout, I would lose, but after every attempt, I was getting better.

An hour passes. I’m breathing heavily, but I kept going. The only thing that could stop me now was death or victory. I could predict where Commander Era was going to attack, and what her next moves were going to be. I would block them before they had even fully connected.

Slash, stab, swing, kick, stab, feint, kick, heavy swing. I could see it all. Even when she tried to switch it up, I could see what she was going to do next, and I could stop it. This final bout felt like it lasted for an eternity, my mind was tired, and my body was exhausted.

Commander Era does one final attack that I hadn’t seen before. It was an almost spin move where she held the short swords in a way that made them hit faster and harder than before. I struggle, but I manage to block every hit in the attack. As she stops, I realized that my axe was on her throat, ready to pierce skin.

I quickly pull it back. Some instinct in me acted without me even knowing it, I was ready to kill her without a hint of remorse. It was going to be a good skill in battle, but it wasn’t a good thing to see while training.

“Impulsive, but a win is a win.” Commander Era smiles and takes a few deep breaths. It gave me a chance to sheathe my weapon and collapse on the ground.

“Somehow, I managed a win.” I wheeze out, barely able to talk with how heavy my breathing was.

“Be prouder of yourself. I’m a commander, I shouldn’t be losing like this to a rookie.”

“You say that like you aren’t letting me win. Come on, I can tell that you aren’t moving as fast as you can, and you aren’t hitting as hard either. If you are, I knew an old lady that could hit harder with her cane than you can with a two-handed sword.”

“Smarter than you look.” Commander Era laughs. “Yes, I am holding back, but there’s no point to training if I just kick you to the ground in a few seconds every time. Just barely letting you win as you’re about to pass out is probably the best training.”

“Makes sense to me.” I take one final deep breath before my breathing goes back to normal and I stand up again.

“Logan, don’t beat yourself up about this.”

“What? Of course, I won’t, it’s just training. This is actually really good for me anyways, I mean, if someone thought that I was beating you in a fight like this when you’re a commander, they have something wrong with them. You’re pretty fast, but not the fastest thing I’ve every seen.”

“Really? How do you even know how fast I could go at full power?” Commander Era seems to take it as a challenge.

“Could you best a creature created for the sole purpose of trying to kill me? Massive spiders roughly four of me tall. Not even just them, there was this table on a floor filled with creatures than mimicked objects from my original world. The table was so fast, and it had so many tentacle-like appendages, that was back when I had two arms still.”

“Are you comparing my speed to a table?” Commander Era seemed offended at the comparison.

“I’d more say that the table was unnatural, just like your speed. It wasn’t actually a table; it was just a creature that had assumed the appearance of one.” I explained, hoping to not be stabbed. I probably wouldn’t she seemed level-headed, but you could never be too safe.

“That got me curious, how did you even lose your arm?” Commander Era plays with the swords in her hands, tossing them around and catching them with ease.

“A demon took it from me. It’s a bit of a story, so I won’t tell it.”

“I have time.” Commander Era’s curiosity seems to have won over common sense.

“Don’t we have to meet that Royal? The one you promised to bring me to?”

“Yeah, I should probably find you something to wear other than rags as well. Can’t have you meeting Royalty in that. They’d have my head for treating you poorly.” Commander Era sighs. I feel like I was starting to understand her personality a little, it was similar to mine in a way.

Commander Era lets out the heaviest sigh I’ve heard from a person and walks towards the weapon rack. She clearly wanted the training to continue, and as did I, I didn’t think it was going to be a good idea to make a Royal wait longer than necessary, there was always tomorrow for training.

“Alright, let’s go get you a uniform.” Commander Era walks out of the training area, and I follow her. She leaves the large leather bottle behind, and I’m tempted to take it with me. Water that didn’t have sand in it seemed like it was going to be a commodity that I wasn’t going to get very often since I wanted to blend in.

It was a long walk through the halls. I was doing my best to memorize the layout, but this castle was massive. It was still pretty easy to keep track of where I was compared to some of the floors I went through. It didn’t twist and turn unnecessarily.

It was a fairly long walk to wherever it was we were going. I was honestly surprised that the uniforms were given to people so far from where they were the most active. Perhaps it was a space issue, and the only place they had room for all the outfits they would need for an army would be in this spot I was being taken to.

“Go in, wear something that fits and come back out. Don’t take too long, we did waste too much time in training because you refused to give up.” Commander Era shifts the blame to me. I give a small salute, not even knowing if this world did that, and went into the room.

Inside the room, it was wall to wall with various folded uniforms. They were all the same colors, but there were various styles. I wonder if the meant anything or if they were purely for decoration? I leaned my head out and asked Commander Era, but she just said it didn’t matter.

I picked something random that looked to fit and tried it on. It was acceptable in the end, not too tight and not too loose. It looked vaguely like the military stuff from my world, but it wasn’t camo, the colors were more flat and almost brown. It made me wonder what kind of environments we were going to be fighting in.

It looked like something incredibly basic, but it was oddly comfortable, yet also restricting in weird ways. The sleeves were long and covered the whole arm, so it the sleeve was just flopping around on my right side. Before I exited the room, I rolled up the sleeve to just below my shoulder, proudly displaying my arm.

“I’m done, lets go.” I walked out of the room to see Commander Era speaking to someone in the hall. She waves me over to come join the conversation.

“This is Logan, a promising new recruit.” Commander Era gives me a short introduction.

“Oh, the boy you were looking into earlier, did you find anything?” The man asks in a low, but soft voice.

“Yeah, he’s just a boy from a different city, took a while to find his records, not much out of order.” Commander Era waves it off, completely dismissing anything bad or abnormal about me.

“Shame, but you say he’s promising regardless?” The man asks, staring directly into my eyes.

“We don’t have time, Commander Chrome, we have to go meet a Royal and are already behind schedule, unless you want me to name you as our reason for being late?” Commander Era’s tone shifts to something between serious and joking.

“Alright, alright. I give. Just call me over when you find time to have him train with me. See you again, Logan, Era.” The man nods his head at us and takes his leave.

“Alright, let’s go.” Commander Era walks the other direction of the man, and I follow her.

“Commander Chrome, he seemed interesting.” I say while looking at the man who had his back to me. He was wearing a long jacket that reminded me of nobles from the renaissance era. This world couldn’t pick an era it wanted to copy.

“He’s not a bad guy once you get to know him, a little secretive, but who isn’t? He’ll be a great person for you to train against, his strength is no joke. Trained for many years as a recruit before even trying to become a commander.”

“What even is the rank structure of this army?”

“Recruit, where you are, Team Head, Platoon Head, Commander, and then High Commander. There are only five High Commanders, I never hope to reach that position as High Commanders are only appointed in times of need, and if you’re previously of noble or Royal blood.” Commander Era explains to me while we walk.

The structure seemed off to me, but at least it kind of made sense in a way. The scaling was about good enough for me to accept this, but to be fair, I couldn’t remember how my world did the ranks in the military, I can’t even remember how it was in games.

We walked in silence as we presumably made our way towards the Royal that wanted to meet me. I really hope it isn’t the king. I think I would have some form of mental breakdown if I king treated me as something unique, but at the same time, a king would better be able to keep their mouth shut and most likely wasn’t in contact with the other demon.

Thoughts raced through my head until I realized we were outside of the main castle entrance. Commander Era was walking me back the way I went to the castle. Was she bringing me back to the guard station? Oh, I wonder if she is taking me back to the guy who made me call him ‘The Commander’.

About an hour of fast paced walking past nobles that gave us nods and other soldiers that did the same. I wonder if there was even a salute gesture in this world. The more people we passed that only nodded almost made me sure of it. At least one person would have saluted a commander.

“We’re here, be on your best behaviour.” Commander Era spoke seriously. I was starting to paint a picture in my head, I wasn’t going to do anything too stupid, but lets see if The Commander wants to play along.

As we walked back into the rooms inside of the wall, I saw there were more people than before. We walked all the way until a familiar door, and Commander Era knocked on it. We waited a while, but the door opened to reveal the average face of The Commander still dressed in armor from the neck down.

“Come in, oh, welcome back, Logan.” The Commander greets me instead of Commander Era.

“Back?” Commander Era looks at me, confused.

“How are you doing, Commander, or should I say, High Commander?” I give him a cheeky smile, which the man returns and tops off with a hearty laugh.

“Come in and close the door, you’re letting the air out.” It felt like an odd phrase, but I obliged with the command and stepped into the room with Commander Era and The Commander closes the door before he walks over to the other side of his desk, with significantly less papers than before. The shelves were now also stocked fully with books and various decorations.

“You two have met before? That’s surprising given the circumstances.” Commander Era says as she takes the only other seat in the room. Time to stand here awkwardly.

“Imagine my thoughts when I find out someone that I had sent off to be a soldier with advanced training was actually a Demon. For it to be you that was the Demon, you could have said something, but I guess you must not have known.”

“Sorry, I have my reasons for keeping it a secret. On that topic, I was wondering if you could continue to keep it a secret, I would be extremely grateful.” I practically beg him, hoping he’ll agree to keep it a secret.

“No worries, I was planning to anyways. Not even the King himself will know you exist if I can help it. Any particular reason why?” The Commander asks me, probably curious as to why, let’s give him an abridged version, something that’s the truth, but not the entire story.

“I’m looking for another demon who doesn’t have good intentions like me. They are here to destroy this world. If they find me, I will either be completely avoided, or even killed.”

“Works for me.” The Commander says casually as he leans back in his chair.

Over the next hour, we just idly chatter. I talk about my past as the two of them just listen. I tell them nothing of my life before the floors, and in fact, I kept it to everything after floor sixteen. When they asked questions about my childhood, I ignored them.

I also implied that I had been a Demon for much longer than I had in actual time. In reality, it had been maybe a week since I became a Demon. What a long week… wait, it’s only been four days…

“Well, I’ll let you get back to training. If you need something more than just whatever extra food I can get my hands on, just ask Commander Era. Is once a day good enough for you?” The Commander asks me politely.

“Once a day is plenty. Same with water, I’d like a bottle I can keep with me for it, but if it draws too much attention or if someone asks for a sip, I’ll be in trouble. I want to keep a low a profile as possible and just work my way up the ranks. See if the other demon is hiding themselves here.”

“Alright, if they have already hidden themselves here, there’s no helping it. If you have anyone harassing you or you suspect that might blow your cover, come to me directly and we will deal with it. Take this.” The Commander tosses me a badge, it looked similar to the one her gave Cynthia, but it looked to be made of gold, and was more heavily detailed.

“What’s this?” I ask, inspecting the badge.

“My Royal Insignia, solid gold. If you absolutely find yourself stuck while dealing with someone of higher rank than yourself, use it. If you want to stay low profile, use it as little as often to never. Most situations will be over before you should have to sue that insignia.”

“Yes sir, High Commander.” I offer him a nod, seeing as that was what everyone else appeared to do when acknowledging a higher rank or person of equal… maybe, I still wasn’t completely sure.

“Good, now go back to the castle. Take good care of Cynthia, don’t get her killed too quickly, I think she will go places.” With that, Commander Era stands up and we leave the room.

Before I knew it, we had arrived back at the training grounds, ready to continue our training. Commander Era looked at the weapon rack and was clearly thinking hard on what weapon she was going to choose next.

“How many weapons do you even know how to use?” I vocalize my wandering thoughts.

“I have a basic foundation in all of them, but really only specialize in a few. I am best with two medium length daggers, but I won’t use them when training against you until you can at least hold your own against me normally.”

“Understandable, how far off of that do you think I am?”

“A few months, at the very least. Your skills are good, but they could be better. You learn quick but seem to lack initiative.” Commander Era tells me a very familiar line, and all I can do is nod my head.

“I’ve been told that before.” I sighed as I muttered this.

“It’s fine. You can be trained still if I have anything to say about it. Before you know it, you’ll be a proud member of our Royal Army, if not, I’ll take my own right arm just to prove it to you.”

“Don’t do that.” I hurriedly stop her train of thought. “My arm will eventually grow back, yours won’t.”

“Wait, so even if you do all this training, it’ll be useless for you once you get your dominant arm back?”

“That’s what you’re focusing on, but maybe, maybe not. I could always just pretend it doesn’t exist, plus there will probably be weapons in other worlds that will need to be trained for again.”

“You make a fair point. Well, I’ll still say that I’m betting my right arm if I can’t train you.”

“What if I actually can’t be trained?” I asked, curious if she was actually going to follow through in the worst case.

My mind is not comforted when she makes a scissor motion with her fingers, and mouths ‘snip, snip’. Do I really act like this sometimes? I guess I can be really grating on people then. I feel like I have several people I need to apologize to. Even some old friends.

“On that note, are you ready to continue?” She asks as she grabs a small spear.

“Of course I am.” I say as I pull out my ax. It was time to train.

…

Then train I did, the first week was brutal. A few visits from various people who were all stronger than me. Commander Chrome, and a couple of other commanders I didn’t bother to remember the names of. It was fun, but I spent five hours a day out in this training field. My body was tired after the first week, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t keep pushing it.

…

By the end of the first month, I still couldn’t find the other Demon. I would occasionally wander the castle where I was allowed to, but not even once did I feel anything that could even remotely be demonic in nature. I was slowly getting stronger too, and I say slowly, but it just felt slow.

I couldn’t compare to Commander Era, and I probably won’t, just due to lack of time and natural talent. I didn’t need to remind myself that I had spent most of my time behind a screen long ago. Commander Era seemed happy with my training, but it didn’t feel that much different yet, the fights still went the same.

…

Month two, and I think I was finally starting to see some progress with not only my training, but how I looked at situations. As it turned out, the training wouldn’t move forward unless I did. That is, if I didn’t attack, Commander Era wouldn’t attack either. I had to take the initiative.

Sometimes, Era would take the initiative, and I would have to react to it, and attempt to take some form of my own. It was interesting training, but it really got me into the mindset I needed. I was also getting much better at using the ax with one arm. My arm itself was also becoming a weird type of muscular.

The muscles looked misshapen, but I guess it was to cover for the weird forces applied to my arm when I block hits from various angles. My stamina had also improved massively, and the training was gradually increased to seven hours a day.

…

It was now month three, and a significant change had occurred. While it was kind of disheartening, Era had said that my strength was now about half of hers, but I could adapt to abnormal situations faster than she could. A strength that carried over, no matter what happened to me.

Suddenly, Era stops in the middle of training once there was no one left in the training field but us. She hands me a piece of paper silently, she doesn’t even look at it, but just idly does things until I put it in a pocket.

“We’re ending training earlier today; I have some duties to attend to.” Era walks out of the training field quickly, barely even re-racking her weapon of the day.

Obviously, this note was important. I immediately went back to my room to read it. Cynthia seemed to be out doing something, so the room was oddly quiet. It felt wrong not to have her talking my ears off. I had gotten used to it over these months. Oh well, time to read.

‘Logan, there was another country found to be harboring a Demon, our King has declared war on them. Ready everything you need for deploying tomorrow. Work fast enough when it matters, and I can promote you to Team Head.’

It looked to be written by Era, so she must be in charge of the soldiers here. This meant that if I was one of the first ones to arrive during a summons, I was going to be told to start organizing people more than likely. I could get behind it.

It seemed a bit rushed, but people ask less questions when they’re under stress and command. Is this what its like having friends in high places? I could get used to this, but I won’t. I got lucky here that they think demons are a blessing, and not what they actually are.

This country we are going to be fighting against might have a demon among their ranks. Because they were found, I assume they found out how Demons are treated here and have been working their way up quickly in the ranks. They might not even have any idea that I am here this time.

If that’s the case I just need to be on the front lines and not die, and I should easily find this other Demon. That was the new plan, and I knew it was going to work. For now, I needed to get ready to be deployed tomorrow. I packed all my gear into a thick cotton sack that I had been given as standard issue.

Once Cynthia arrived in my room, she stared at me in confusion. She stared silently as I kept packing things into the bag. I wonder if she was confused that I was back super early from training, or that I was backing all of the standard issue supplies for deployment.

“Welcome back, Cynthia, close the door.” She does as instructed before slowly turning to me and blinking a few times.

“What’s going on Logan? Did you manage to get a hold of some juicy inside information?”

“Yeah, we’re going to be deploying tomorrow. Won’t tell you why, but we’re aiming for a promotion, so pack your things.” I laughed as she went through panic, more panic, and a side of existential crisis before grabbing her bag from under her bed.

“What are we getting promoted to?” Cynthia asks while she stuffs seemingly random things into her bag.

“Team Head, more than likely. I assume promotions work on the same buddy system, so if I get promoted you get promoted.”

“Only for Team Heads, anything beyond that is solo promotions. Are you aiming to be promoted to commander or something?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think I have enough time to train to equal the strength of one, so I would have to earn merits another way.”

“I thought you would have the strength of a commander by now. You seemed like the kind of guy they talk about in stories where you go in for training, then after some time passes, you’re better than everyone else around you save for some super strong commander.”

“Where did you even hear a story like that? Regardless, that doesn’t happen in real life. I need to train just like everyone else, if not harder. I am missing an arm after all.” Cynthia gives me a disappointed smile. What do you want from me woman; I’m doing my best.

“So, say that, in theory, if you had enough time, you would be able to become a commander then? Where does this confidence come from?” Cynthia changes tunes and give me a sly smile as she finishes packing her bag.

“Well, get as good looking as me and I’ll tell you the secret.” I barely manage to choke out my joke as Cynthia bursts into laughter.

“Aren’t I good looking enough?” Cynthia chokes out between laughter as she makes an awkward looking pose.

“In your dreams.” I laugh as she walks over and punches me.

We joke around for the rest of the night, keeping the atmosphere lighthearted. She knew without me telling her that things were going to be tense from now on, so she just decided to let loose and have as much fun as she could.

…

The morning arrived without incident. Cynthia and I went to sleep early and woke up well before the sun had risen. Looking outside the room’s tiny window showed me that there weren’t even any signs of the sun starting to rise.

“WAKE UP RECRUITS, WE ARE DEPLOYING IN TWO HOURS, PACK YOUR THINGS AND COME TO TRAINING FIELD FOUR.” I hear Era’s voice echo through the halls of the area we were in.

Cynthia and I were already out our door in less than a minute wearing our issued military unforms. Our large bags on our backs, rushing towards the requested point. Other than high ranking army members, we were the first one’s to arrive.

“What a fucking mess!” I hear Era shouting at various people that I can only assume are people ranked below her. She locks eyes with me as I walk into the room and uses her arm in a gesture that screams, ‘get your ass over here’.

“Commander Era.” I nod my head as I greet her.

“Logan, Cynthia. Congratulations on becoming a Team Head, this incompetent fool,” She points to one of the skinny, and dumb looking guys beside her and keeps talking, “and his partner has decided that they didn’t want to do this anymore.”

“Thank you, Commander Era.” Cynthia and I speak at the same time with the same words.

“Why him, literally anyone else, even me should be more qualified than that?” The dumb looking guy points at me.

“What do you need us to do, Commander Era?” I ignored the guy as he continued fuming.

“Once the team you lead all gets here, I will instruct you. For now, wear these badges, they denote you as a Team Head.” Era reaches over and rips the badges off of the other guys’ shirts, and when I say rip, I mean it. There were now quite large holes in the shirts where the badges once sat.

Cynthia and I put on the badges after removing the shredded remains of the shirts from them. I have to say, there is probably quite a lot of strength required to do what Era just did so casually to those shirts. Ripping them is easy, but with no hole to start with and to rip them so cleanly, I was impressed, more so than I had been during our training sessions so far.

It took about twenty minutes for more people to start showing up. I wonder how many people were still somehow asleep in the dorm area. Cynthia paces around nervously, not sure what to do, but I just stand basically motionless as the field starts to fill with more and more people.

“Cynthia, Logan, follow me.” Some random short woman comes over to collect us. She maybe came up to my armpits in height, she was a lot shorter, and I was surprised I hadn’t seen anyone this short yet, but I was getting too held up on it regardless.

“Team Head Cynthia, Team Head Logan.” Era greets us as we arrive.

“Yes, Commander Era?” I nod my head formally again. It was weird being so casual during a formal greeting, but it is the way it is.

“You will lead these five pairs of partners during the march. Keep them in line, discipline as needed. Logan, you have permission to do as you see fit regarding insubordination. Additionally, you will act directly under my command, there are no spaces under any Platoon Heads.”

With the important commands over, Era told us where to stand until it was time to deploy. There wasn’t much to do, so I observed the people I was now half in charge of with Cynthia. They looked like a bunch of average people, with some of them sneaking glances at my arm. All but one seemed just curious.

“If you have questions for me, just ask them.” I looked at the people who stared at my arm in particular.

“Team Head, sir. How do you fight?”

“With my other arm. Next?”

“How did you get promoted so quickly?”

“Doesn’t matter. Next?” I dismissed him, not wanting to explain.

“Logan, did you suck a commander’s dick to get that position, you surely wouldn’t be able to rub one out for them.” The man snickers as he tries to taunt me. I keep a flat expression as I walk over to them.

We are roughly equal height, with the other guy being a bit taller. I walk up to him until I am standing less than a hand width apart from him. I just stare at him for a little bit, seeing if he would break on his own, but he didn’t back down, he seemed to be a cocky one. So, I used my knee on his.

“Next time it comes off. You will refer to me as Team Head Logan, and you will respect me, or I will beat you until you do.” I talk to the man in a calm voice as he crumples to the ground.

“Team Head Logan, sir. Isn’t that too much?” His partner asks me, clearly scared and doing his best not to cover his groin.

“No, that’s a light punishment, and if you double over in pain from a light hit like that, you’ll die in no time in a real battle.” I walk back over to stand beside Cynthia.

“Logan, are you sure that wasn’t too far.” She whispers in my ear.

“People like that will never respect you with words. Sure, removing it might be too far, but that’s a threat he has no idea that I won’t follow up on. He does it again, I report it to Commander Era, and who knows what she will do to the guy.” I speak quietly enough that the team shouldn’t hear me, in fact, I think Cynthia barely heard me, but she still nodded her head.

“Alright, anyone else want to make fun of my arm. If you’re going to do it, do it now, get it over with so I can deal with it.” I look through the ten members of the team, and only the person who was initially hateful looking didn’t speak up so far. She continued to look at me full of pride, and just as Cynthia was about to step forwards, I stopped her. I was curious what she had to say so I pointed to her.

“Team Head Logan, sir. Can’t take a little heat, have to deal with it through violence?” She immediately taunts me. What is wrong with these people, do they lack a brain? Is this what only living on water does to people?

“What’s your name, and how long have you been in the Royal Army?”

“Rebecca, and I’ve been here for two years.”

“Wow, two years and you’re still a recruit. What do you even have to show for it other than your partner cowering behind you?” She turns and glares at her partner and he stands up straight, clearly more scared of her than me.

“I’ve won several inter platoon matches, despite this partner.”

“Cool. Take out your weapon, we’ll settle it this way then, with a quick match.” I take my ax out of my sling after handing my bag off to Cynthia.

“What can a crippled husk of a man even do with a weapon clearly meant for two hands?” She taunts me and smiles, which is wiped off her face when she gets a look at the odd shape of my arm when I take the overshirt off. The rest of the team clearing a small area for us. They were standing on the edge of our designated area.

I see Era glance over, as do a few of the other Team Heads and Platoon Heads just to see what was going on. I didn’t initially want to draw attention, but I figure this is one of my better options for this lady. This way I might not have to deal with her later when I actually have to give commands for something important.

“Your arm is grotesque, was it crippled to, just like the rest of you?” She doubles down, despite not being able to make sense of my arm. I was going to be honest here though, it did look weird. I probably could have spent some time making it look more like a proper arm, but oh well.

She unsheathes the single short sword on her side. She had no accompaniment to it, which seemed odd. At least use a shield or something in the other hand. I make Cynthia the judge and the initiator of the fight, actually this was a well and proper duel, wasn’t it?

“Start.” Cynthia drops her hand and I take the initiative and lunge for Rebecca with an outstretched ax.

She almost panics with how I approach her, but she attempts to knock my ax to the side only to be met with a counterforce that knocks her sword back the way it came as I move my arm at an odd angle. I make myself appear wide open by swinging much farther out than I needed to.

She goes for a stab, only for me to move the ax to the end of my grip hit the back of her hand hard with my ax as I twist my body to dodge the stab with too much force behind it. She loses grip on her sword and the fight is over. I didn’t want to break anything, as she was still a member of my team, so I didn’t hit her all that hard.

“Rebecca, good attempt.” I put my ax back into its sling and offer her a hand. Cynthia declares me the winner and begins to walk away.

Rebecca grabs my hand, but she also grabs her sword to slash at me. With her holding a decent grip on my hand I didn’t have time to grab for my ax. I use the side of my right arm to block the quick upwards slash and she cuts a decent chunk of skin out, blood immediately starts to fall as I free my good arm and swing it as hard as I can into the side of her head.

She’s out like a light with just the one hit, collapsing to the ground. I’m tempted to just cave in her skull right here and now, but I hold back due to the amount of people. Cynthia turns around in a panic as several people start to scream.

“Medic required over here!” I shout out, hoping someone with any medical supplies at all would patch me up. It didn’t really hurt all that much, it just felt weird with the chunk on the back of my arm just above where my elbow would be just being gone. Breezy almost.

“Logan, what even happened here?” Era arrived on scene before almost anyone else.

“Rebecca wanted a duel, so I gave her one. After I was declared the winner, I offered to help her up and she attacked me again after grabbing my only arm.” I explained the whole thing in detail.

“That’s a lot of blood.” Era comments as what looks to be a medic finally arrives to help me out.

The stop the bleeding by pouring something on it, then wrap it with cotton soaked in the liquid that stopped the bleeding. Then a compression bandage over the top. The medic gave me some supplies to redress it whenever I needed.

“That went worse than I could have imagined. I’m happy you weren’t killed.” Era sounds legitimately relieved after I get all patched up.

“That’s nothing, I wasn’t in danger at any point there. Hardest part was not killing her back by accident, my instinct almost kicked in.” I expanded the truth a bit, I did almost kill her, but not because of that.

“No one would have batted an eye. She’ll be executed later, that is if she even wakes up.” Era looked to the still unconscious Rebecca that wasn’t receiving any medical attention.

“Shame. She could have been something entertaining to deal with if she didn’t attack me again. So, I only have to lead nine people now.”

“No, if one partner gets executed for military crimes while a recruit, it is customary to do the same to the other partner. Exceptions are sometimes made for people that exceed the common soldier.”

“Dang, ruthless.”

“Not like we lack people; we could find people like them a dime a dozen off the street. In fact, most of the people here were dragged in off the street yesterday. We gave them free water and a uniform, and they complied. We use them as transporters for water and other supplies.”

“Fair, what is the population of this city anyways?”

“I don’t have time, I have to get back to my post, just don’t get killed while I’m not looking for a few minutes.”

“No promises.” I joke, only to be met with a glare I back down from. She was serious. I won’t start anymore fights then. I will deal with my problems using words, like an adult.

The rest of it went by quickly. Someone took away a limp Rebecca and her partner to somewhere else. The rest of the team fell into line pretty quick and there didn’t seem to be any more issues. They intentionally avoided looking at my right arm, going so far as to look at anything but my right arm, it was comical.

The people feared me, and it was quiet. As quiet as it could be with a few thousand people squeezed into a small field. Eventually, I see a familiar man, The Commander, walking through the field, as if looking for something. Once he spots Era, they talk about something, and The Commander quickly leaves again.

The fence surrounding the field opens up large enough for several teams to walk side by side through it. Era shouts for use to follow her lead, and we begin the march. The order was a single commander who I didn’t know at the front, followed by a wall of recruits with their Team Heads behind them, and then the Platoon Heads behind them. Commanders went wherever they were needed. I was currently in the position of a Platoon Head, situated close to Era.

The march towards our first goal had begun. It was a steady pace all day with very few moments to stop. We marched through the wide street that had clearly been made exactly for this scenario. I was amazed how few normal citizens I saw wandering the streets. However, there was more than one occasion where a normal citizen tried to blend into the ranks of the soldiers.

It was disheartening how many people were being pushed out of the way by the soldiers. Not that I went to stop them or made any motions to do so, I just wasn’t sued to seeing the acts that were probably normal in this world.

At the end of the first day, we had only made it out of the city and were faced with what appeared to be desert. I wasn’t expecting it, but the color of our uniforms made a lot more sense all of a sudden with the environment I now saw ahead of me.

My team set up our mats, drank our rations and I snuck off to meet with Era. At some point while we were marching, she put a note in my pocket, which once I read it told me to find her at night and she’d have food for me. Once I found where I saw he earlier, I saw a decently sized tent set up, so I walked over and called out.

“Team Head Logan, come on in. Don’t let anyone else in.” I hear Era’s voice respond back to me. Once I entered the tent, I saw Era laying on a large mat on the ground. I walked over to her, just to see what was up with her laying on the ground, but she was face down.

“You said you had food for me. Bleeding out in the morning really does make a guy hungry.” I ignore everything but the current topic.

“Yeah, one weeks worth. Dried meat that shouldn’t go bad.” Era rolls over and hands me a bag she picked up.

“Thanks, Era. I’ll sneak back now, before Cynthia notices that I am missing.”

“Want to stay here for a bit?” Era smiles creepily, and just shake my head. I wanted no part of this.

I left without looking back. I wonder what her intentions were, that woman… she’s always a few steps ahead of me. She clearly wasn’t propositioning anything. If she was, knowing her, she would have been direct. Her plans were probably far more nefarious.

Returning to my campsite, I notice everyone there waiting for me. Cynthia looks at me questioningly, but I just shrug my shoulders and hide the small bag inside my large bag. They didn’t need to know anything about what just happened.

…

The next few days were full of just pure marching and me eating small bites of food whenever I got the chance away from people. I should have stayed longer inside of Era’s tent to give myself a chance to eat. Oh well, I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it.

March, sleep.

March. Sleep.

…

Eventually after walking for a week through the desert, we see an opposing group of people marching towards us. I still don’t feel the presence of another demon, but maybe they’re just waiting it out. People on our side were starting to get nervous. I don’t think many people knew that this was actually a war and not a training deployment.

Now everyone was starting to realize what they had just signed up for. I wasn’t worried, I had trained specifically for this moment. I was hoping that my training with Era was going to save me here. Without it, I was sure that I would easily die during the skirmishes that were bound to happen.

Without anything else on my mind, I went to sleep for the night with there being a rotation of people on night watch to make sure the other army didn’t attack us at night. I was sure they wouldn’t but who knows, this world is fucked even if I do save it.

…

Once I woke up, I heard shouting, the enemy was approaching. How I woke up just before these shouts is a mystery to me, but I’ll take it. I dot my weapon read and stood in the formation that Era drilled into us over the days of marching. It was time for combat. I donned my leather armor and made sure my team had everything they needed.

We weren’t on the direct frontlines, but we were the rear support to the frontlines. So, still in great danger, but definitely not going to be the first ones to die. I was expecting a few people to die from ym team as we charged the enemy.

The sound of metal-on-metal rings out through the desert as the two armies finally collide. The first row of people are quickly impaled by spears. The frontline soldiers mostly used spears, which I guess made sense. Enemies were weaving their way through the unorganized soldiers on both sides.

I swung my ax down on the head of an enemy trying to pose as someone under my command. Blood soaked into the sand as I stepped over his corpse, pushing my way forwards with the rest of our army. More and more people were breaking through the front as more and more recruits lost their lives.

The battle was looking relatively even at the moment as their side seemed to be structured mostly the same as this side’s army. One of my team members stupidly dies as they take a spear to the side when their partner didn’t warn them of an approaching enemy.

I jump over and take the spearmen’s life as their weapon sticks inside of my dead team member. An equal trade, I guess. Cynthia was pushing too far forwards and I was having to defend her sides as enemies approached. Cynthia kept pushing up, it might have been something in her mind breaking as she lost focus of everything around her and pushed into the enemy side of the war.

I had to make a choice, protect Cynthia with everything I have, or tactically retreat and let her die while keeping myself safe. It wasn’t that hard of a choice, I was here on a mission, and I had more to lose than gain by pushing into the enemy line like this, so I did my best to shout her back to reality, but she kept walking into the enemy territory.

Swearing to myself, I made a stupid decision.

I should stay back and keep myself safe. I found myself rushing in to save Cynthia. I had found that I had become attached to her over the months I had spent here, and that was bad for me. I couldn’t be making emotional decisions like this.

I blocked enemy swings and protected Cynthia. I grabbed her and dragged her back to our side while dodging swings. While there is fighting all around of us, I find myself slapping some sense into her. I was literally slapping her, but not hard.

“Get yourself together, don’t get yourself killed like a fool!” I shout in her face as her eyes focus on me. She just starts to cry, sobbing to herself, I send her back to the base camp with another member of my team.

I had to keep fighting, but that’s when I saw the absolute worse case scenario. I felt it even. The feeling of wrongness, but it wasn’t the demon. I looked around, and all I saw was blood-stained sand… but beneath it, I felt something moving and shifting.

The sand was moving, as if it was breathing. The corruption of this world had already started, and with how fast it was spreading, unless I found a way to stop it right now, I was already too late. With no one important to me here, I released the feeling of holding my breath and let my demonic powers run wild.

Most of the people turned towards me in fear, the aura hitting them full force. None of these people having anywhere near enough mental fortitude to just tough it out. Some people kept going, but they were already broken from seeing their fellow men dying en masse.

I felt for the corruption, tried to get a hold of what it actually was. The demon at the bottom of the floors told me it was just a twisting of the true name, so what if I untwist it? I couldn’t get a hold of it though. Any point I tried to focus on moved away to quickly. If I tried to unfold something that felt wrong, it just made it worse and started spreading faster.

I…

I failed.

I failed again.

I watched as everyone started to sink into the sand slowly, panicking. I looked back to see half of the army I came with gone already. Era… Cynthia… they were dead, and there was nothing I could do to change that now. I fucked it up again.

As I fell to my knees in the sand that was swallowing people, I punched it in frustration.

“Welcome back, Logan.” The floor forty demon greets me.

“I was too late.” My head touches the hard ground of nothing while I still sat there on my knees.

“This one isn’t your fault, Logan. I couldn’t predict that the other demon would act the way they did.”

“Huh, what do you mean?” I pick my head up, questioning the demon.

“I mean that, the other demon killed a member of the other countries royal family and posed as a demon. They became king and corrupted the country within the first month. They were… different. Once you can save at least one world, I’ll tell you more, but just know this wasn’t entirely your fault.”

“Fuck, man it hurts though. I thought I was going to get it for sure this time. I even trained and everything.”

“The training was alright, however, kind of slow going, she could have pushed you harder. Though, you should know your ‘friends’ you made are alive still.”

“Huh? How, are they going to become demons?” I asked, my only knowledge of surviving a corrupted world being myself in another timeline that became a demon.

“No, people can survive in some corrupted worlds. In fact, that world might be better off corrupted as there are going to be less people around.”

“Then why bother trying to save it?”

“To stop other demons from growing in power. Remember, they grow in power for every corrupted world?” The demon reminds me.

“I nearly forgot. So then, that eases my mind a bit, but I really need to avoid getting attached. I will leave them regardless of if they survive or not. Make it easier on myself and them, emotionally anyways.” I stand up off the ground and dust myself off.

“Do as you see fit, just know that anyone that becomes a demon will one day need to be killed in order to achieve our goal.” The demon harshly reminds me.

The atmosphere grows cold as I nod solemnly. It was a dark thing, what I was doing, but it needed to be done. Not just for the sake of a better reality without them, but so that no one has to worry about being killed by something they can’t control.

“Hey man, is there something I can call you other than ‘Floor forty Demon.’ It’s getting too wordy in here as it is.”

“Then just call me Titan.”

“Alright then, Titan. What’s next.” I asked, ready to go to the next one after checking how my weapon was holding up.

“Something even easier. Something even you shouldn’t screw up. I think, anyways, good luck.”

Without even waiting for me to reply, Titan sends me to the next world. My mind was already recovered from the shock of failing. Hopefully, this next world is easier, not only for my sake.