"Now, be very careful about what you say." Groll said, before knocking on the door and opening it.

A masked figure looked at them for a moment, and before Groll could even introduce the new elite soldiers, the masked man spoke gratefully. "Oh Groll! You brought me three new test subjects? You didn't have to!"

"N-no, Jamess, they're new elite sol-" Now that James had fully turned around, it was revealed he actually only had half a mask.

"I see! So you failed to get promoted again? Sucks to suck." The mad grin on Jamess' face only served to further taunt Groll. "You lost our bet, so can I experiment on you now?"

"Uhh, some other time. I'll leave you to take care of the new recruits. Bye!" Groll said, before hurrying away from Jamess' room.

Jamess waved jokingly at Groll. After the warrior was gone, Jamess spoke. "Come in and close the door." he commanded, his voice sounding more serious than before. "I have a proposal to make."

Mizuya and Javi walked into the room, with Javi closing the door behind them. "What's your proposal, Mr. Jamess?" Mizuya asked.

Jamess voice instantly shifted to its normal tone once more. "Just call me James, I messed up when I was first introducing myself to Hexpectro... My proposal is simple, help me kill Hexpectro!" James said, waiting to see if he was being taken seriously. "He'll probably kill all of you, so obviously the best choice is to kill him first."

"If it means I get to beat people up, count me in." Javi said.

"Is Hexpectro a human?" Mizuya asked.

"... No, though I don't see why that-"

"I'll do it."

"Interesting, interesting!! That's two of three... Let's wake this one up, shall we?" James said, putting a hand on the unconscious demihuman's head, causing a blue light to be emitted as he transferred his own mana to them.

The demihuman slowly opened their eyes, before looking around. "... W-Where am I- OW!!" they yelled as Mizuya dropped them on the ground.

They quickly got up, brushing themselves off. "Ya got a fuckin' problem, ya furless ape? If ya do, let's solve it right here, right fuckin' now!!" the demihuman started shouting at Mizuya.

"Of course I have a problem with a filthy beastman. I would fight you, but I don't want to have to touch you ever again, my hands are already filthy enough from carrying you around." Mizuya fought back.

James was grinning like a madman. "An unavoidable, but unwilling alliance! How very interesting!! Tell me, hyena, what is your name?"

The demihuman stopped arguing with Mizuya, turning to James. "Name's Rita. Why do ya wanna know?"

James explained the situation about Hexpectro and his reasons to Rita, and then she asked: "Okay, what do I get outta it?"

James grinned at Rita's interest in getting an award. "I have a pretty sizable collection of magical artifacts I've hidden away. I'll give you one artifact for Casner's head, one for Joke Card's, one for Skull's, and three for Hexpectro's."

"Can we really trust ya, tho?"

"Please... A man as noble as myself has no reasons to lie. I'll make only the best choices for each of you."

"Well, if ya don't deliver..." Rita's face turned grim. "I'll kill ya."

James was grinning from ear to ear. "Sure thing, you will! Now, each of you put this on." James handed each of his three new allies a dormant yellow halo.

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Once they put it on their heads, the halo activated and turned red for a moment, before each of them became a different color. Javi's became black, Mizuya's became dark red, and Rita's became pink.

James' grin at this point was so wide it felt like his mouth was going to tear."... HOW INTERESTING!! Three abnormal people in one go?!"

"Huh, what do the colors mean?" Javi asked.

"This is where it TRULY gets INTERESTING... You're abnormal, so the only way to REALLY find out is to ask Yahweh or Satan. You could ask the guys who first made the halos and even they wouldn't be able to answer you."

"That'll have to wait, then." Mizuya stated. "What is the first thing we have to do?"

"Well, aren't you enthusiastic! I don't fully trust the three of you yet, so I want you to do a sort of... Initiation." James explained. "What I want you to do is very easy! Just kill Groll. Be careful, though, because Hexpectro doesn't like traitors."

As the three abnormals were leaving the room, James noticed something. "Hey, you with the swords. That white one is pretty crappy, right? I can try to fix it for you."

Mizuya turned around, before throwing his sword to James. "Good luck trying to make the Unseen Hand usable. Many have failed before you."

James grinned. "I'll do it."

...

The trio, along with Groll, were walking in the desolate wastes. "I can't believe I have to help you newbies with your first mission... But at least I can get promoted this way!" Groll said, speaking arrogantly. "Now, don't get left behind, I know I might be a bit quick for the average person..."

"As your superior, I order you to be quiet."

"Wh- Fine..." Groll whined, before he became silent. After a bit more of walking, they reached a forest, with huge trees, the largest of them being over 60 feet tall.

"I can't believe there's really a forest all the way out here... And these trees are huge! It's almost as if we aren't in a wasteland." Javi commented.

"That dragon's nearby, I can sense 'em."

"We should let Groll battle it, he is the one who wants this promotion, after all." Mizuya said.

"Sometimes ya say things I can agree with, hairless ape." Rita chuckled slightly.

"You will soon notice I am always right, beastman."

"W-wait! Why do I have to fight the dragon alone?! Hexpectro sent the four of us on this mission for a reason!" Groll was exasperated. Were these guys trying to kill him?!

"If you can't kill a measly dragon on your own, you aren't worthy of being an elite soldier on Lexapro's great army." Mizuya told Groll.

"B-but-"

"As your superior, I order you to fight that dragon and win."

"F-fine! It's just a dragon anyway. There is no way I, the great Groll, will lose." Groll hyped himself up, but as soon as he began to walk into the forest, someone spoke from behind him.

"Wait, Groll. There has been a change in plans." Javi said as he took a kanabo from his ring.

"O-oh! Mr. Javi, you're going to help me? Thank you so much!" Groll seemed very grateful, because despite his previous bravado, even he could tell he wouldn't be strong enough to beat a *dragon*.

"Yeah, I'm gonna help you. You won't have to fight the dragon... Because I'm gonna kill you right now."

"You... You bastard!" Groll firmly gripped his silver greataxe, before attacking Javi, trying to cleave Javi's head off in one swing.

Unfortunately, that kind of attack had already been used on Javi before. He crouched under Groll's axe, before sweeping his legs, causing the larger man to fall to the ground.

Javi quickly got up, before focusing his solar aura on his arms and his kanabo, striking down at Groll who was on the ground, caving in his chest.

"Y-you fools... You got yourselves into something... That you could never understand..." Groll said, before exhaling his last breath and dying.

"Another job well done." Javi congratulated himself.

"Wait, wasn't that too easy?" Mizuya asked.

"Ya did it! I'm Rita, what's yer name?" Rita asked Javi, extending her hand for a handshake.

"And are you guys not gonna question the cryptic thing he said before he died?"

"I'm Javi, nice to meet you, Rita!" Javi shook her hand.

"Nevermind, then." Mizuya shrugged.

Just as Mizuya did that, a roar could be heard through the forest. "The... The dragon's comin' 'ere!" Rita exclaimed. "By how far it is, we have like, 5 minutes before it arrives!"

In less than a second, the dragon was in front of them. It was huge, easily 20 feet tall, with scales that shined like emeralds.

Rita was frozen in fear. "How did it get here so fast?!"

But... Javi and Mizuya didn't even flinch. Each of them had their own reasons, but they were ready to fight this dragon, even if they couldn't sense how strong it was.