Chapter 8

"Yuha wakes up," a soft voice called out. Hearing the voice, Yuha slowly woke up and looked at her sister, standing over her, smiling. Yuha was confused as her mind cleared. She remembered her entire world falling apart and appearing in a new world. Was it simply a dream? She was confused as her sister grabbed her. " "Yuha, it’s time! You will become one with us!"

Yuha looked up and saw her sister’s face was twisting into a horrible mockery with her eyes being sunken black holes. "No!" Yuha yelled in terror and rage as she bolted upright in her bed, panting. Trembling, she calmed herself down as she realized it was merely a nightmare. As she was calming down, a knock came from her door. "Come in," Yuha said. Lumi walked in and hurriedly moved towards Yuha.

"Are you ok? I heard you yell," Lumi said as she looked Yuha up and down with a gaze the caused Yuha to shiver.

"Senior sister, why were you outside my room in the first place?" Yuha asked while slowly backing away. Limi chuckled as she moved closer to Yuha.

"I was coming to get you as it is almost time for the testing to start," Lumi replied as she grabbed ahold of Yuha. "Hmm, why are you all sweating and shaking?" Lumi asked as she noticed Yuha’s condition.

"Just a nightmare…. Can you let go of me?" Yuha said as Lumi's hands began to roam, causing Yuha to feel embarrassed. Completely ignoring Yuha's cries, she hugged Yuha and stroked her head.

"Ah, my cute junior sister, don’t worry senior sister is here," Lumi said in a gentle voice. Yuha felt sorrow nearly overwhelm her. She had not thought too deeply about her current situation. She had lost everything she had known and loved, and it was only now truly sinking in that she was essentially alone with the weight of her entire race on her shoulders.

"No! I refuse! They are still alive," Yuha thought to herself as she pushed back the despair. "Senior, we should head to the testing grounds before we are late," Yuha said while pushing Lumi off her. Lumi simply smiled as she waved for Yuha to follow her. Lumi took Yuha to a large open area with an arena at the center that was already surrounded by people. Off to the side was an elevated viewing platform that the elders of the sect would use to view the tests. Yuha joined the other ten on the arena stage.

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Icewind walked up to the stage, holding a glossy stone. "I'll explain the first test. This is an elemental projection stone. When you inject your essence into it the stone will project what element you are most attuned to," Icewind explained. The ten new recruits formed a line with Yuha being in the middle. The first one up was the suave man. He calmly injected his essence into the stone causing a silver glow that warped the air to erupt from the stone.

The audience stared in shock as that was a spatial essence. The elders on the viewing platform were excited as they seemed to have picked up a genius. Soon it was Yuha's turn. She was pretty excited to see what elements she was attuned with. As a fiend she did not need to know what her affinity was as she relied on her fiend bloodline. Icewind called For Yuha to approach the stone.

Yuha placed her hand on the stone and injected her essence into the stone. As she did, she felt an odd force Invade her body as it began to draw out a certain type of energy. The stone shot out a stream of sky blue light indicating a wind affinity. Yuha was not surprised as she was an avain fiend so having a good grasp of the wind was common. However, the stone was not done as that strange force dug deeper into Yuha. Following the blue light, a gaseous black light erupted out of the stone stunning Icewind and the surrounding Nine Peak members.

"What type of element is that?" an elder sitting on the viewing platform asked.

"It's not darkness that's for sure," a black-robed elder answered.

"If elder Darkwind says so, then it must not be darkness element. Elder Runesong, what's the odd look for?" another elder spoke.

"If I am not wrong, that should be cursing energy. She must have trained in a skill that uses it as that should not appear naturally," Elder Runesong explained. The others nodded in understanding, but what happened next shocked them even more than the cursing energy. A blood-red ray of light spread out from the stone, causing all the viewer’s hearts to tremble. Elder Darkwind stood up with a serious expression.

"That's slaughter force," Darkwind explained with an incredulous tone.

"Slaughter force? Doesn't that take years of killing to accumulate? How could a young girl like her possess that," An elder with a sword strapped to his back asked?

"We should check her age. We all know looks can be faked, but the bones can't lie," an elder that was sitting in the center ordered.

"Yes, sect leader. I'll take the age testing jade down now," Darkwind said as he vanished from his spot.

While the elders had their conversation, Yuha was surprised as well as she could not figure out what the red light represented. The wind and curse energy made sense, but this violent red light made her uneasy. As she was lost in thought, Darkwind appeared on the stage. He whispered into Icewind’s ear before vanishing.

"Yuha, do to some suspicious results, we are going to have to test your age to make sure you fall within the recruitment criteria," Icewind Said, taking out a jade talisman. "It works the same way as the elemental projection stone,"

Yuha nodded and injected her essence into the talisman. The jade glowed a light green color showing that Yuha was under the age of twenty. Seeing this, the elders breathed a sigh of relief while also becoming excited as having a natural slaughter force meant that Yuha would have great battle potential.

Icewind smiled and put the jade away and continued testing the remaining recruits. After finishing with the elemental projection stone, she waved her hand causing racks of weapons to appear.

Icewind pointed towards the weapons before saying. "Take your pick. You will be using these in the next test."