"You fail."

Zai froze in place while heading to the passing doors "w-what do you mean?"

"You fail, so head over back where you came from and wait in that lobby."

A guard came to escort Zai back "C'mon sir."

"How!?" Zai tried to fight back but he was still too weak as he was getting dragged out by the guard.

Zai was eventually forced out and he sat in the lobby while the assessment continued. He overheard the cheers and the awes from the crowds muffled.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨? 𝘐 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. Zai continued to contemplate how he failed, along with these thoughts was an overwhelming weight on his shoulders. A voice in his head screams he failed.

An hour passes by, in that several others failed, and they all left the arena the same way.

"FUCK THIS SHIT!" another failure left the arena "THIS IS SUCH SHIT I BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA THAT THING!" they storm out the lobby.

𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴…𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯? 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸. Zai looks around the room 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

In came Adonis, not seeming to be the least bit exhausted. As soon as he entered everyone's gazes turned to glares.

"For some odd reason, it seems I'm not welcomed. Though you all aren't either, so this is quite hypocritical."

Adonis looked around the room "Look at you all," he paced around the room pointing out several individuals "you have your feet up, your laying down, you all clearly don't have a care in the world about this."

Everyone, except Zai, scoffed.

"Each one of us was definitely stronger than any of those punk-ass motherfuckers that you let pass. So why are WE the ones that fail?" One of the guys laying down said.

"It's exactly because of this nature that I let non of you pass, treating it as if it were a game, a hobby. Last year alone there were an estimated 22 million deaths from demon attacks, and we lost approximately 6,000,000 soldiers to all those battles. The kingdom of Great Campii is still in ruins, and Arcadees is still secretive, which makes it harder for us to coordinate for the betterment of humanity."

The facts that Adonis was saying hit hard for Zai and a lot of others, just how severe this battle against demons was.

"Battle talent isn't the only thing we were measuring in this test you fools', it was the conviction, the drive, a test to see if you were motivated. For goodness's sake your beginners, how idiotic would it be for us to expect anybody to be able to win, and with no weapons at that. I assessed if you had a desire, I assessed that if you were to be put into an actual fight against a demon, would you keep fighting. Because that's what we need, in this cruel fight to protect humanity, would you keep coming back after you've seen all of your comrades die? I'm very well confident that if you treated this as just a hobby, you wouldn't."

The speech made Zai instantly think of Vas, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺, Zai looked at the tiled stone floor. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘍 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘝𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘮 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘵. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦… In this moment of Zai confronting his purpose, he faces the thing he put off for too long, perhaps he just wanted revenge, not for the sake of others but for himself. 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺?

Adonis continues to rant, pacing around everyone "It doesn't matter for what purpose really, the difference between you all and the people that passed is that they had one to begin with. Whether it's simply for money, fame, or perhaps you want to avenge the one person you care about, and so you decide to become a demon-killing tyrant."

"The last one, in particular, was the same thing the Hero desired, after his son's death, though he spoke about wanting to save people what he really wanted was to kill all demons, not for humanity, but for himself."

Zai immediately recalled his home, 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘝𝘢𝘴. Zai recalled a conversation between Vas and him:

"I joined the Demon Forces because of selfish reasons, but basically everyone's reason is selfish… I came in with a goal and realized it would be impossible, most are I believe." Said Vas. "Not for me, I dunno what you've been through, but there's no way ill fail in whatever my goal is." Replied a young Zai. "Stay optimistic I guess, if there's anything I can say to that; Whenever you feel like you've lost, or give up, remember the sacrifices for you to be here in the first place."

𝘔𝘰𝘮, 𝘥𝘢𝘥, 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘝𝘢𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴…

"𝘛𝘤𝘩 Screw this!" someone shouted, and others followed muttering their displeasure as they walked out.

"And you?" Adonis glared at Zai.

"No… I just can't." he stared directly into Adoni's eyes.

"If there's anything you do have, it's a lack of fear, ill give you that." Adonis continued to stare into Zai's golden eyes but Zai didn't even tremble.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

𝘚𝘓𝘈𝘔

The main door to the lobby was kicked open.

"HEY! Is everyone blind these days!?"

Huh, that voice! Zai turned around to Nira's shaking voice.

"Nira? Wait, what is all that?" He saw the shaking Nira carrying a dozen weapons in both her hands.

"Ah, Zonira, it's been a while, let me help you with that." Adonis came to Nira's aid and carried some of the weapons effortlessly.

"Ugh 'bout damn time, everything was going smoothly until all those people came out shoving me aside!"

"My apologies for that, I was caught up with something."

"Oh, wassup Zai!"

"Hey, what's up with all this stuff, is this what you went out to do?" Zai came over to Adonis and Nira.

"These are the equipment that going to be used for the next test, I told you my dad owns a pretty big armoury here, right?"

"Hey Zonira, you know this kid?"

"Nira, and yea, I met him like a week back or somethin' why?"

"Oh… I just… Failed my exam." Zai sulked.

"What! Seriously? Adonis don't do that to him!" Nira protested.

"He failed the test, for what reason does he have to join? Besides he's your friend, correct? You of all people shouldn't be protesting."

"Stop!" Nira interjected "You know my history so don't go blurting it out… Anyway, the guy is serious about joining this stuff. I only met him a while ago but already proved that, for the short time I met him, he came all this way for citizenship and you're just gonna make him leave?"

𝘖𝘩 𝘺𝘦𝘢, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"I have no part where he goes, just that he's not going to the DF."

"C'mon~ are you serious I thought the DF was all about helping and protecting the people? He's not even from Voua, you gonna leave him to possibly be eaten by demons?" Nira's face was getting red with bitterness.

"He's more than capable of taking on demons, I can assure you that."

"… 'kay, if you don't let him in, I won't give you this equipment." A demonic grin crept on her face.

"Zonira, you can't do that."

"You're right, you're going to get the equipment either way, but man, that'd be a hassle huh~ I wonder if people are going to like waiting for however long it'll take hmm~. Oh! And you can't use magic unless in a crisis, or during recruitment, or having a profession that requires you to do so! You're strong because of magic, but I'm strong naturally, are you going to break the rules to capture some girl?"

"…"

"well?"

"𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩, you've always been like this, very well, if he fails this third exam though, I'm not going to make another exception."

"eh?" Zai stood there starstruck.

"Great, then c'mon and help me carry all this stuff from the back."

"Yes, yes, I'll take this away first." Adonis left carrying the weapons.

"I didn't know you were so acquainted with an S-rank; did you really have to go that far for me?"

"He's my pop's friend, and of course, that's what friends are for. Now come on!"

𝘝𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘡𝘢𝘪 "Thanks."

Zai, Adonis and Nira carried all the weaponry to the third testing room past the arena. The third testing room was simply a smaller lobby similar to the one at the entrance of the arena, just smaller and with one large gate leading somewhere. Zai made it in time to start the third test, placing the last set of weapons in the testing room he heard Josh and the rest of his group members from across the room sitting on some benches.

"Woahh! Looks like another one of our group members made it!"

"4 out of the 10 members actually passed. It's embarrassing to even be a part of this group, but I guess your guys' performance isn't really a factor in my recruitment." Donte looked down covering his hand with his face.

"The fuck do you mean 'It's embarrassing to even be a part of this group'? I did better than you!" Josh mocked Donte "Shit, even that Iman chick did better, your ass was getting thrown around like a ragdoll!"

"I-it's ImON." Imon corrected with a blushed face.

"Yea, yea, whatever, anyway, how'd you even make it?" Josh turned to Zai.

"Someone was here to back me up thankfully."

"Yea? You know some big shot or something?"

"You were quite talented; I didn't expect you to fail," Donte commented.

"For real, only a couple others really impressed the crowd, I'm sure you heard them, right?"

"Yea, things must have been wild in there. I wouldn't be able to join the third test if it weren't for that girl over there." Zai pointed at Nira talking to Adonis.

"UH! Wait… the hottie?" Josh's jaw dropped.

"Uhhh, yea, she was nice enough to let me stay at her place for a while."

"STAY AT HER PLACE?" Josh's jaw dropped even lower switching between looking at Zai and Nira.

"I see, well, whatever means to get to the top I suppose." Donte avoided eye contact.

"O-oh, wow, I didn't know you were that type of person." Imon blushed at the thought.

"Wait, hold up, you guys are thinking of something else-"

"Alright, attention! We shall commence the third test, a field exam. In this test, your objective is to save as many people as possible with multiple ice golems created and controlled by Adonis on the loose. You will be put into groups and will be assessed on how well you all can coordinate with each other, and of course your efficiency together. Past this gate is an artificial forest, artificially made mountain range, and an artificially made open plain. We will now put you into groups and it can NOT be changed."

A couple minutes passed and Zai was put into a group with the people he was initially paired up with, along with the girl he saw previously on the last test, Jasmine. Well, at least most of the people in my group are people I'm kinda familiar with. Zai thought.

"I can't believe I'm reliant on you guys NOT failing." Said Donte, his eye slightly twitching.

"Way to fucking jinx it. Just don't get in my way." Josh flexed.

"Just please don't act rashly guys…" Imon was attempting to calm them down.

"She's is right, let's actually work together," Jasmine spoke up.

"Of course! This whole test is dependent on us working together anyway. I'M just saying with me on the team, you guys have nothin' to worry about." Josh boasted.

"Sigh I have a bad feeling about this~ Anyway, I think we can all agree the biggest threats, are Cosmo's, Vash's, and Sylph's teams." Jasmine proposed.

"Agreed, along with them, a particular individual I'm worried about is the first guy, Lucas Victor."

"As much as I hate ya, you got a point their, that guy doesn't seem like the heroic type."

"Thank you for your input…" Donte gave Josh the side-eye.

𝘊𝘰𝘴𝘮𝘰, 𝘝𝘢𝘴𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘱𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. Zai thought.

"Nothing personal, but I don't trust any of you, and I was arguably the best in this team, so I say that I'm going to lead." Jasmine declared.

"I'm in favour, as long as it's not the barbarian." Donte approved.

"I trust you, so please lead." Imon approved.

"WAIIT, WAIIIT, WAIIT C'MON I'M DEFINITELY THE BEST PICK," Josh Exclaimed getting in between everyone. "Right Zai?"

"Sorry, majority wins, besides, I was gonna go for Jasmine too."

"Wah-" Josh slumped with an expression like seeing a ghost.

"Okay, everyone! The third test will now begin, on your way out grab a weapon! on go you hurry through the gates. 1! 2! 3! GO!" Yelled one of the guards.

"YAAHHHH!" everyone charged through the gates and Zai's team followed suit, the hundreds of steps sounded like earthquakes.

"LETS GOOO!" Josh led the charge of his team, shoving everyone out of the way as if he was Moses.

"C'mon!" Jasmine and the rest followed.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰!