It was a heady yet terrifying thing to face a demon in combat, however friendly.

The demon in question had dark green skin, or maybe emerald colored would be more appropriate. He also didn’t have many ‘extra’ features, being a relatively basic demonic template with horns, hooves, and clawed hands. He didn’t even have wings!

He did, however, have a tail. Once I got a good look at this feature, it worried me more than a little.

The tail was barbed.

This was easy to miss when it just hung limp from the demon’s back, waving back and forth languidly. However, the second we took combat stances, the thing shot up to hover over the demon’s shoulder, quivering in place.

I even saw a few drops of some viscous liquid drip down to the demon’s shoulder, then roll off into the sand that covered most of the training area. The liquid hissed and bubbled, and I didn’t like the molten look of the sand once the demon’s poison was through with it.

Or was it venom?

The idle thought as I stared at the hypnotically waving tail was almost my downfall, because the demon shot at me with no warning.

Only the fact that I was already running my mana in technique patterns saved me. The demon plowed into and through me as my form collapsed into a cloud of mana. I reformed a few steps away, three duplicates forming up and flanking me immediately.

I hadn’t been able to dodge out of the way of his charge at all. If we had clashed, it would have been me splattered all over the training ground, rather than my mana. Thanks to my recent advancement in Mia’s movement technique, I had avoided the attack by changing places with one of my clones. But the feat was still difficult for me to pull off. My veins were literally burning from the mana influx I had forced them to withstand.

“Amazing! I thought for sure I’d have you there!”

The demon was smiling happily, and I realized he didn’t see the attack as something potentially lethal to me. No, he was just testing out another new soldier in Glaustro’s unit.

The fact that his casual opening shot almost killed me was… irritating. Painfully so. This is probably why I decided to commit rather than begging off from the spar and running for the hills.

With an unholy amount of effort, I forced my mind to work at its fullest capacity and my body to withstand uncomfortable levels of mana as my techniques slammed into place.

When I was in Berlis, no matter how swiftly I switched between techniques, I could never run more than one at a time. Now? I had three up, and they were straining every bit of my mind, soul and body.

Mana was literally streaming off my skin in vaporous form, even if it was thankfully whisked away and integrated into my shield instead of wasted.

My clones moved in perfect sync with me, spreading out to then converge on the demon from the trickiest angles I could manage.

Finally, my muscles bulged and strained as I ran the strengthening technique to the limits of my current abilities, which had definitely evolved past the Basic level of what body strengthening could achieve.

In other words, I moved faster than any regular mortal could track, was defended by the full force of my mana pool, and you couldn’t even tell which of the four bodies was my true self hiding behind mirages of mana.

The demon laughed.

He struck his foot against the ground and launched himself through a clone. Twisting in a way that should have been impossible midair, he dodged two different sword slashes. At the very moment he landed, he spun and lashed out with frightening swiftness, eliminating another clone.

I pursued, of course, pushing to capitalize on the moment of relative vulnerability. The good news was that I forced him to take one of my blows. Less impressively, when my sword slammed into his palm, the most I achieved was a minor spray of blood as I cut through the skin and was then halted by the layer of muscle underneath.

For the first time in my life, my sword failed to cut right through a person’s unarmored body.

The moment I afforded myself to gape did cost me this time. The demon’s leg sounded more like a whip as it displaced air and landed square on my chest. I was blown away, barely able to breathe, my shield cracked and starting to splinter.

Anger erupted in me at my blatant failure, and I switched places with my clone before I could even hit the ground.

The demon had started to pursue me already, grin etched on his face, when I silently drove my sword into his back with all the strength I could muster.

I had the advantage of an ambush, along with all the anger and mana I could leverage. Even so, the sword sank a mere inch into the demon’s back as my clone landed and skidded over the ground, still occupying the man’s attention until he registered the pain. His head snapped almost 180 degrees around to face me.

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I didn’t let myself flinch this time. Instead, even as the demon lashed out, I once again switched places with my clone, whose entire body was pulverized into a cloud of mana the next instant. Pausing, the demon actually frowned as he inspected his fist, then the cut in his back.

“Even more impressive! I didn’t think you could switch places with your clones like that, not so seamlessly. How does that technique work? I can see mana, but it’s not letting me detect the difference between what’s false and what’s real.”

Mia visibly perked up from where she was observing us in the crowd, but I didn’t have it in me to engage in banter. Truth be told, I didn’t have it in me to do anything but fight. Even my consciousness was starting to blur at the edges, reducing my perception to mere pinpricks when it came to everything and everyone other than the demon.

I had drops of condensation all over my skin, but it wasn’t sweat I was shedding so readily. It was mana. I was pushing so much of it through my body that whatever I failed to use was seeping out of my pores. This would have been a massive waste, if it weren’t all flowing to my shield with minimal effort on my part.

Back on Berlis? I wouldn’t have been able to replicate such a feat. I would have emptied my reserves halfway through the clash, and then I’d have been forced to scrape together whatever bits of mana I could rip out of the air or crystals.

The Abyss had no such limitations. I noticed as soon as I started actively training: everything here was saturated by mana, to a ridiculous degree. I wouldn’t be surprised to find mana crystals condensing randomly in fountains or even falling out of thin air.

It was no wonder demons didn’t value mana springs nearly as much as mortals did. Here in their homeworld, mana was an inexhaustible resource. It could power my techniques as long as I wanted. No, if anything gave out in these beneficial circumstances, it would have to be my body.

My body, which already felt strained, pained, and on the verge of collapse.

Of course, I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut and take my loss gracefully.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I managed to say, fully faking the confidence in my voice as I raised my sword again.

The demon’s smile widened. He looked ready to rush me again, though he was clearly holding back and giving me the right to attack first.

I can’t let this drag on. If I do, I’ll make myself pass out, no need for anyone to knock me over the head. The only thing I can do is go in hard and—

My thoughts cut off as pain bloomed in my skull. Something knocked into the back of my head with enough strength to lay me out and force my face into the sand, hard. Hearing a boom, I peered up through bleary eyes to see the demon I’d been fighting slide down to the ground from where he had crashed into the wall of the compound. His groans didn’t make me feel better.

“How many times do I have to tell you idiots not to start trouble? But no, I leave for a while on an important meeting, and what do I see when I’m back? One of you is trying to kill the mortal I recruited, and said mortal is trying to rush to his own death! Can you lot stop behaving like fucking stupid children?”

Glaustro’s voice echoed from above me. I barely managed to tilt onto my side and stare up at the demon, who speared me with a glare.

I wasn’t sure what to say. It wasn’t because of the mild concussion he had given me. A flood of mana to my head made it tingle unpleasantly, but it got rid of any serious cognitive damage within moments. I was just… speechless.

“Sorry, sir!” The demon jumped up with a grin fixed firmly on his lips. “We were just sparring, I swear! No animosity or anything!”

Seeing how easily the man got to his feet made me smile wryly as I picked myself up, too. He looked absolutely no worse for wear, while I felt like someone had torn all my muscles and nerves out and replaced them with burning wires.

“It’s true, sir, it was just a spar,” I echoed awkwardly, not sure if I should even risk voicing my agreement.

Glaustro eyed first me, then the other demon, before he snorted in dismissal. “Forget it. I’m not here to play a mother hen. That’s my brother’s method, and he’s welcome to it. Still, I didn’t bring you guys here to let you murder each other. We need to talk about our next assignment.”

It was like a current passed through every single demon around us at those words. The good mood evaporated, replaced instantly by bloodlust, greed, and so many other emotions I couldn’t identify. That I could faintly feel them at all was mildly concerning.

“We are ready, sir,” Tybalt declared, stepping up next to his superior with a determined gaze.

The others echoed the sentiment, each in their own way. Some stepped forward aggressively, some voiced their agreement, and some were already reaching for weapons as if to draw them. Glaustro snorted again, though he looked considerably amused.

“That’s good, but we won’t be teleporting into battle immediately. We won’t be teleporting today at all, which you would know if you idiots could keep track of the itinerary I sent you!”

More than a few demons flushed and fidgeted, but none looked affronted or upset, which I was still not used to. They just tamped down their enthusiasm a little and proceeded like nothing had happened.

Already, I was loving my new unit.

“Where are we headed, exactly? Tryglaph? Ferlorn?” Bronwynn melted out of the crowd, offering up a few guesses. A few demons echoed him, most seeming to favor his first suggestion.

“Neither, I’m afraid,” Glaustro replied, and he actually did look regretful as he spoke. “We’ll be heading off to Lagyel.”

The proclamation was met by silence, one which was swiftly interrupted by excited chatter. Judging by the happy glow on the demons’ faces, this was supposed to be great news, but I just felt confused.

My expression made Bronwynn sigh and shake his head as he approached me.

“What’s so special about Lagyel?” I whispered to the demon.

Then I flushed in overwhelming embarrassment as nearly every eye turned to look my way, including Glaustro’s.

Right… demonic senses.

“Lagyel is a world the legion discovered several months back, before your initiation invasion, in fact,” Glaustro explained. “The world is powerful, and rich in resources. However, the local resistance is, well… far more fierce than anyone could have imagined. So, the general has ordered all available units to reinforce the world, regardless of level or competence. The only ones spared are recruits, which is probably why you didn’t end up there for your initiation, too.”

I couldn’t lie and say the news didn’t excite me. The fact that demons described the world as resource-rich was telling. Then again, my greed was tempered by equal amounts of trepidation.

Glaustro hadn’t come out and said it, because demons tended to cling to their pride even when it didn’t help them, but the fact that resistance was ‘fierce’ on that world meant that our side wasn’t winning. At least, we weren’t winning as cleanly as we should have. Considering how ludicrously strong demons were and that they could resurrect, this was concerning.

Still, as my eyes landed on Mia’s to see my excitement mirrored in their warm pools, I couldn’t bring myself to be worried. We had that advantage too now, after all. No more fearing death. No more cowering at every threat.

I wouldn’t throw my life away, obviously, but I was finally ready for more than just a scramble for my life. I was ready for a true adventure.

I was ready to invade Lagyel.