*DF = Demon Force(s)

A week finally passes, the day of Demon Forces recruitment was today, Zai was laying in bed, in the basement of Nira's place. He gets ready and heads out to the recruitment area. Nira said that she had some stuff to take care of, so he left without being able to thank her for taking him in.

The walk to the recruitment arena felt the same as before as when he was touring Gleeland. Though when he came, When he made it his eyes scattered around the area to absorb everything. Easily hundreds of people, of all sizes. The area was noisy, and people were being put in groups as they were entering. When it was time for him to enter, he was put into a group of 10 then guided inside.

Zai and his group were greeted with a large lobby with multiple Demon Force soldiers standing on guard in Infront of doors. A man came up to Zai's group:

"greetings recruits, today is the day we filter the weak from the potentially strong. I say potentially because non of you are probably going to go far. As you may or may not know, there are multiple ranks in the DF's. From strongest to weakest, it goes; S, A, B, C, D. S ranks have privileges to run solo on missions, A can run solo with permission B run in squads on more difficult missions, C run in squads on less difficult missions and D work in squads on recovery missions. You'll learn more as you progress by defeating more demons and showing your talent on the fields." The instructor continued.

"of course, to even make it in you have to go through 3 tests where several A-rank DF's will assess you: A theoretical and practical assessment quiz of only 10 questions, so it shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes. There will then be a battle assessment fighting dummy demons, assessing how well you fair with your current skill set. With that, more than 25 percent of you will be weeded out. Then will come the field test, which will eliminate roughly 65 percent more. Any questions?"

Everyone stayed silent.

"Well then, get going into the room past the doors behind me where you will begin the first test." He finishes and signals them into the room behind him.

3 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘝𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘍 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳.

Zai looked at the 9 other people entering the room with him 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

Zai entered the next room with everyone else, simultaneously, everyone's expression turned sour and their hairs curled at the atrocious smell. Holy shit it smells like dirty rat poop and 15 frog corpses in here. For some reason, the room smelled terrible, and everyone had a visible look of despair on their face as a reaction.

"For such a fancy-looking arena, it smells like dirty rat poop and 15 frog corpses in here!" someone cried out as they pinched their nose.

"I'm gonna puke." Another responded.

"that's enough," the reply from one of the guards got everyone's attention back on the test.

"This is just a small quiz, you won't get eliminated, so don't take forever as the last group, so sit down and start the quiz."

Everyone sat down in the rows of tables in front of them, with a single pencil and paper on the tables. As Zai took his seat he noticed the girl on his right him with long black hair who already started. She was uncontrollably shaking and tapping her pencil on the paper sporadically and biting her lip. In contrast to the man on his other side who Zai thought was too immersed in an assessment. Sitting in the perfect form it almost looked unnatural, a Sterne expression on his face, and his hands moving on the paper with calculated aggression.

I already know that I'm surrounded by weirdos Zai looked embarrassed but paid no mind and forced on his paper.

The paper wrote: Demon Force Theoretical and Practical Assessment Quiz.

A DF is obligated to follow the following rules;

1. The priority is to kill demons

2. Orders must be executed without fail, regardless of the order

3. We were established in order to protect our citizens whether our own or foreign, keep battles away from bystanders

Zai nodded in his head, he was given the run-down by Vas before coming. Zai blanked and was working on autopilot, only his subconscious was working.

Question 1. Assuming a bystander was in an unstoppable position with a demon. In which killing the demon results in killing the bystander but letting it free results in the demon escaping and causing more havoc but rescuing the bystander. What do you do?

𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯.

Question 2. You have the power to stop a Duke-level demon, but it requires you to put a city of people at risk. Fighting the demon before it reaches the city can easily lead to your death. Do you fight to your advantage and risk the cities people, or fight it solo, and possibly lose your life?

𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

Question 3. Would you save a comrade or civilian first?

Well, I have to save the citizen since that's my job, I guess Zai thought to himself.

Question 4. A dozen lower-class demons that you are able to eliminate easily are en route to a specific part of town. A high-class demon, significantly more difficult to defeat is en route in the opposite direction towards town. What course of action do you take?

𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯.

Question 5. An area you were deployed to in order to investigate has multiple High-level demons active that your squad cannot handle. What will you do?

𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵

The following questions test your current knowledge.

Question 6. What is the only way to kill a demon?

𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.Zai learned this from Vas, in theory; demons reproduce by stealing the mana of living things or are simply born in Hel, which can be consumed through the heart. As a result, when someone has all their mana stolen, they begin demonization, all the mana stolen converts to demon mana stored in the heart.

Question 7. How many members in 1 DF squad? (DF means Demon Force(s))

5 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 1 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 2 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 1 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦.

Question 8. What is the role of each member in a squad?

𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯: 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭.

𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘳: 𝘎𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥, 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴.

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𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳: 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴

𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵: 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦

Question 9. Do you have any notable health conditions?

𝘕𝘰

Question 10. Why did you join the DF?

𝘛𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 Zai finished the test, and his mind felt a cool breeze as he inhaled, though looking back at the answers made his head scratch. He wasn't able to erase his answer to question 10 so he crossed it out and replaced it with, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘣. His face was still puzzled at his previous answer.

"uhmm s-so do we like, hand it to you guys or?" The woman next to Zai asked with a shaky voice.

"We finish when everyone's pencils stop moving,"

Everyone turned to the pencil that's still tapping and scratching away. To the left of Zai was the stern-faced man still writing away. It felt like he was trapped in time the only thing moving were his hands. Zai leaned over to see what he was writing so diligently.

Zai's face dropped and his eyes widened to disbelief. Ok wait, why is this impressive? He thought to himself as he glanced at the multiple paragraphs written for each question. Zai's head felt like it was overheating simply trying to comprehend how someone can have so much to say for such simple questions.

"oh my GOD, GIMMIE THAT" someone from across the table slammed his hand on the other guy's work and decided to finish it for him.

"HERE, why did you join the DF? Simple, cus it looked cool, you don't need to spend hours working on dis shit bro!" every blood vessel on his face looked as if they were about to burst.

"Well, That was not very polite of you." The man replied.

"Like I give a damn? I don't want my time wasted by a four-eyed freak writing his autobiography on a quiz!" He got up in his face, but the man stayed calm maintaining his stern face throughout the ordeal.

"My name is Donte, not 'four-eyed freak' that's all I'll say since it is impossible to win an argument with a barbarian." he says whipping his hair to the side

"Shut the fuck up." The 'barbarian' turned back around with his arms crossed, and the man named Donte maintained posture only slightly adjusting his glasses.

"You guys done? Good, you can pass through now, I'm pretty sure the 3rd set would've been done by now so you don't have to wait long for the second test."

Everyone got up and began passing through the doors. And the guard started collecting the papers. As they pass through the doors, they enter a waiting lobby with large gates being closed off by more guards. The guards whispered to each other as they looked at our group and one of the guards began instructions for the next test.

"The following is an assessment of battle using a dummy demon when you enter everyone climbs the big stairs on the walls and stay on the bleachers until your name is called out in the bleachers. Good luck everyone you're only two tests away from joining!" loud and confident, the voice of a mere guard was powerful enough to create cheers among the crowd as they opened the gates.

Here it is, Test number 2 Zai couldn't control a smirk on his face.

"HELL YEA!" the loud guy from earlier was visibly excited with his arms in the air.

The girl that was sitting next to him earlier was shaking so hard Zai could've mistaken it for an earthquake, as her breathing got heavier.

"Hey," Zai tapped her on the shoulder, and she jolted and turned around, revealing her dark silky hair, slightly tanned skin and eyes that looked like they lead to the depths of the universe.

"Y-yes?" she said.

"You look scared but hey, nothing to worry about y'know? Just try your best!" he tried encouraging her.

"O-oh no I'm not worried about that, thank you though." Her face turned to beat red as she turned back.

Zai frowned concernedly for her 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.

Everyone finally was situated on the bleachers and looked at the large terrain they had to fight on. Barrels, hills, ditches, makeshift trees, and more. It didn't look complete, the size of the area was cut off by another wall. It looked like only a quarter of the arena was open, the next test is most likely on the other side.

"Was good witchu? You wanna fight or somethin'?" the guy from the test-taking room continued to taunt Dontai in the seats ahead of him, though Donte paid no mind for the most part.

"Fighting isn't allowed right now, barbarian, so please put get out of my face." He closed his eyes as he tried to ignore him.

"You don't like me in your face now huh!? Whatchu gon' do bout it?" he leaned in closer while Dontai continued to look in front of him, unwavering.

"Greetings recruits!" The attention was instantly gained by the soft yet masculine voice projecting through the arena, a blonde middle-aged man standing in the middle of the stadium was talking.

"T-the Ice Lance of Voua…I can hardly contain myself." Zai heard the shivering voice of the girl that he tried to comfort behind him. Except for this time, she didn't look nervous. Her face was red, beads of sweat running down her head-𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦?-a complete face of ecstasy.

"I'm so glad there are so many of you participating in this year's recruitment, and it's time we begin the second test. This will be an assessment of battle I shall create a dummy demon that you will fight and I shall judge how well you do." Each word was a musical note to the women in the stands, blindly listening as if hypnotized. Even the men wore faces of respect and admiration.

Zai turned to the girl behind "Um, who?"

"Who? What do you mean 'who?' that man right there is The Ice Lance of Voua, the second strongest S rank in Voua and 4th strongest in the world, Adonis Leon!" she started speaking swiftly in complete contrast to the before, it's almost like she practiced that one line for hours on end.

"So, let us begin!" Said Adonis, a guard ran up to him and whispered into his ear.

"Lucas Victor!" as soon as the name Lucas was said, someone jumped from the bleachers.

The atmosphere of the arena was interrupted by some half-naked boy with a creepy smile on his face. He skipped and hopped his way in front of Adonis in the middle of the stage.

"Yeeeeeee." Said the man.

Adonis asked with a simple smile "Are you, Lucas Victor?"

"uhhhhhhhhuuuuuhhhhhh."

"I guess that's a yes, welcome I'll go ahead and start the test." Adonis backed up from the crazy-eyed Lucas. Without moving an inch Lucas shivered slightly but his crooked smile only grew. Ice began to form in front of Lucas, sculpting a large 9-foot ice demon that looked like a golem.

"Now obviously It won't kill you since I'm in control, this is pretty much a low-level demon and ill make it behave as such so please take it seriously." Adonis raised his hand out and began controlling the ice demon replica like a puppet.

The ice demon lunged towards the unarmed Lucas, the lunge caused the ground to freeze behind it.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

A large blow to Lucas's stomach sent him flying and tumbling on the ground crashing through props on the stadium, he caught himself by digging his fingers into the solid ground. The sight made everyone in the stadium cringed.

"h a h a h a h a h a h a" an eerie, spaced out, laugh came from the undamaged Lucas. The second lunge from the ice demon was coming but Lucas was still laughing. Inches away from getting another gut punch, Lucas jumped, a skillful jump that landed him perfectly on the arm of the ice demon. As if not a single amount of energy more was expended into the action.

He ran across the arm with elegance and situated himself behind the ice demon after jumping off its shoulder. Once his toes touched the ground, he launched himself faster and harder than the ice demon was able to, into a side kick cracking the ice demon's back.

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒

The air became heavy as the expression of the onlookers turned pale, the drastic difference between when Lucas's first impression and him fighting the ice demon shocked the stadium.

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥-𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘵, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸. Zai was looking intently to spot a technique that he might be able to pick up himself.

Lucas continued to dodge the ice demon's fierce attacks, constantly going behind him, and striking at that one crack he created earlier.

𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏

Punches 𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒

𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏

Kicks 𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒

𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏

Even headbutts 𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒

It became a stalemate until the ice demon used a new attack, shoving its fists into the ground the ice demons began breaking the floors and large icicles erected from the ground. Lucas smiled once more, jumping from icicle to icicle, his limbs were freezing, but his smile only grew bigger. He infused mana with the last jump from him to the ice demon.

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘚𝘏 the icicles behind him all broke instantaneously by the sheer force.

A front flip landed him behind the golem once again back-to-back. Except for this time his crooked smile disappeared.

"I want, a thrill…" Lucas murmured to himself.

Lucas jumps and performs a spin kick on the golems head.

𝘉𝘈𝘔

Losing its balance as he lands, he does a roundhouse kick on the crack as the ice demon's head, completely obliterating it.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘔

Jaws drop as shards of ice go flying everywhere before Adonis dissipates them.

Adonis walks up 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱, congratulations you can go up ahead and recover in the next room behind me."

The same smile creeps up back on Lucas's face "iiiiiiiiiigghht."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 Adonis thinks to himself.

Zai leaned back in his seat, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯 he thought as a crooked smile began to uncontrollably irk its way up on his face.

The guard came back and whispered the next name into Adonis's ear.

"Imon Willow!"