"Excellent isn't it?" A tall white-bearded man in a lab coat asked his assistant, whose eyes were currently wide in shock. The hair on her body stood sharp as she watched a nigh supernatural event unfold in front of her. They watched from a conference room into the testing space, a little girl disposing of several masters of martial arts. These specialists were classified as the most experienced solid red belt holders and yet the scene unfolding in front of the eyes of these two supervisors indicated nothing of the sort.
"Hey, how did you jus- Wahhh!" one exclaimed as the little girl grabbed him by the foot and flipped him on his back. "Impossible! I'm a tenth dan grade, this can't be happening" exclaimed another who tried to ambush her from behind but got his knuckles fractured from the punch she blocked with. In the brief moment, he dropped his guard to scream in pain. She delivered a spinning heel kick to his groin, knocking him out.
"That was the last of them I suppose." the supervisor brushed his lab coat as he gazed upon the scene of ten unconscious supposed masters that had picked up the challenge he offered. The facility, although not federally approved, was backed by a agency just as large. Hence, recruiting masters in ancient and modern martial arts was almost like sticking up a vacancy notice. The girl, wearing a lifeless expression, began collecting the belts adorning the waists of these "masters" and tearing them in half. The very pride and joy of those who had dedicated decades to polishing their arts was being trampled on by a girl who was just a little close to her first decade in the world.
"That was just as terrifying as it was amazing. Just who is this monster? What does the boss plan for her?" The assistant, who had now regained herself, looked curiously at the supervisor as he made his way into the testing space to check on the little girl. She hurried her footsteps to catch up with him. This may be the only time in her life she would get to interact with something like this - more than the fear that kept her frozen, her innate curiosity as a scientist drove her forward.
"I'm coming in! It's the supervisor and not an enemy!" the supervisor shouted before opening the door. "I'm coming in too, I'm his assistant!" the assistant replied, with a monster like that, she couldn't take chances. The supervisor navigated through the fallen bodies and greeted her with a warm smile. He avoided touching her directly for obvious reasons and began questioning her about her body state.
"I almost forgot, Professor. What's her name? Or rather could you ask her to tell me herself? I want to hear what she sounds like" the assistant asked while also walking through the obstacles, but was met with a brief silence. The supervisor exchanged glances with the little girl before looking back at the assistant.
"Her name is still high-level confidentiality in the firm, but we all call her by the name of the project. It's quite a catchy one too". He paused for a bit. "LUCY"
***
Many Years Later
***
Please wait behind the barricade until the doors are fully opened. Do not cross the safety line before the doors are fully opened. Thank You.
The warnings of the train's automated voice rang out throughout the subway as the door slowly slid open. These warnings were subconsciously treated as part of the norm for most people. For experienced subway passengers, it is nothing more than white noise now. However, it was not the case this morning, for a particular young lady at least.
"Hey, hey, Get out of the way!!" A young man pushed and navigated his way through the waiting passengers. Without even sparing a glance at the caution signs, he leaped through the slightly opened doors into the entrance and started a wild sprint out of the corridor. The sprint continued into the streets, occasionally colliding with other pedestrians but still setting her sights on a glistering blue skyscraper.
The revolving doors made way for him as he dashed onto the ground floor, his eyes pacing fast across the hall for a certain woman, the receptionist of the company. He was only a sliver of a straw close from being disqualified from his position as a member of the scout party meant to inspect the recent netherworld opening.
"Hey!! I'm over here! Get over here before the registration portal shuts down." A silver-haired woman yelled from the other end of the room, holding up a mini laptop.
"I'll be right there Sharon!" the young man dashed towards her as quickly as possible, grabbed the laptop and put in my details in a matter of seconds. As the countdown reached the last five seconds, he hit the submit button almost simultaneously with the last second.
"Hahh, I made it at just the last second. Thanks for saving that spot for me, Sharon", he sighed, finally letting go of the laptop she tried to pry from his hands.
"Hmph, you should be more careful with things like this." She said as she strutted back to her desk, "I've known you to be careless for a long time now but you of all people should understand the severity of this situation. This is as close as you'll ever becoming a bronze class mercenary, finally climbing from the copper class, and you start off with late registration? What the hell Aries?" Sharon finally snapped and started to vent out her piled-up frustration. But who would blame her though? Aries had really put her through a lot.
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From the day Aries had his magical power appraised and was reported to have a gray colored affinity, an affinity only higher than the clear colored affinity, his struggles only increased with each passing day. He was only able to learn the
"I know I know, I'm really sorry about that. I was too excited to sleep last night and I just somehow ended up waking really late. Don't even get me started on how I almost missed the--"
"Ey ey! I don't need to hear any of that! Just go prepare for the quest, I need you in top shape to make me feel assured of your success", She interrupted, holding out her palm to my face with a slight smirk.
"Aye aye ma'am" Aries grinned and joined her to de-clutter her desk.
"Hey, I just told you to go prepare for something. Are you trying to pick a fight?" Sharon stopped immediately. He started helping her. "I'm really not. Are you allergic to good deeds?" Aries countered while picking up his things to leave. For sane reasons, he definitely would not get into a quarrel with her.
"Fine! Fine, I'm leaving." with that Aries made his way back to the training grounds.
"Don't tell me you're done preparing already?? You do realize that you're going to be up against higher-ranked demons, right?" Sharon yelled at Aries, who was nonchalantly helping her pack up her things. She was prone to walking late night shifts, some of which extended into even the early mornings. A young woman left alone in a gigantic building all alone at night was just a desperate plea for a death case.
"It's fine, I came here for you, you know? Did you really plan on walking alone this late at night? Just tell me you want to die." Aries responded as nonchalantly as ever, as he pried the keys from her fingers. Sharon kept quiet after that, having a few strings in her heart plucked. 'Perhaps he also has the side of himself too', she thought to herself.
"Hey say something already, you're making--"
CRASH
A sudden crash came from the office behind, echoing throughout the entire floor. Aries hurriedly stood in front of Sharon while scanning the environment. There wasn't anyone besides them inside the building a few minutes ago, without a doubt. The only explanation for that crash would be either the wind or an intruder. All the windows in the building were shut airtight, so obviously the wind wasn't a suspect. The other option, however…
"Sharon, I think it may be an intruder. I'm gonna go check the office. You wait here and call 911. Got it?" Aries explained while already making his way towards the office, not allowing Sharon to discourage him. Sharon surprisingly understanding the situation, pulled out her phone and quickly called the police.
Aries inched closer and closer into the office until he got close enough to hear the intruder's voice.
"Ugh, I can't see it here. Valos, you sure he said the ground floor?" A husky voice asked aloud from the office, apparently talking a second person.
"Geh, this sucks. Couldn't we have just killed all the filthy humans here during the day? Taking a hostage and then forcing the box out of them sounds like a far easier plan." The voice of the second was far more sinister than the first. Killing humans… was only something a demon or demonoid would easily say with this wicked tone.
"Well, whatever, let's just go. It's not like it's going to pop up after this much digging, and I'm already tired." Aries's ears were fully pressed against the door listening in. 'A box, they kept on mentioning a box. Was there something so valuable that barbaric demons would resort to petty theft?' he wondered.
"Oh, not so fast, Lith. Looks like we've got a helper. Isn't that right HUMAN??" His voice rang out in Aries's direction, petrifying him with supernatural fear. The demon called Valos sensed his presence. Human fea
r and despair were the only form of delight for a demon after all.