Levi's throat ran dry, his own arms pressing firmly on his throat. It felt as though he was stronger than usual, his intense grip growing stronger with each second.
"Fine, have your way," Levi said, struggling to talk.
The voice within him for whatever reason, had the urge to periodically switch places with him. At least, that's what Levi had concluded on.
And it would do it by force, if necessary.
As Levi gave the voice permission to switch with his own consciousness, his vision slowly faded and his body grew numb. After what felt like ages, he found himself on the floor, cross-legged with arms spread apart.
"Is this some sort of crucifixion!" He struggled to move but he was too weak to lift an arm even though he felt energetic just a while ago.
'So when he switches with me, I'm the one who loses energy, not him,' Levi thought, his eyes slowly closing in fatigue.
'I wonder what he did after switching places, why did he help me, and why did it choose me?'
He moved to the side with the little strength he mustered, sighing heavily.
"Ugh, to hell with this! I just want to enter the AD," he let out his feelings in an intense burst and soon fell asleep after.
After his short nap, he picked up his shoes and headed to the nearest magic shop to his home. He wanted to buy a magic book and probably learn how to use his powers, considering it was a necessary requirement to being enrolled in the Attack Division.
He bought the cheapest one he could find. They weren't as effective but they would serve their purpose.
Or at least, he thought so.
[Over the heavens and the earth, draw into me thy essence]
After countless recitations of those old chants, he gave up and decided to take the exam into the AD.
"Maybe I'll just take the examination and learn how to use my powers before the physical test when magic is necessary," he thought as he rubbed his chin.
Ever since humans settled underground, time became meaningless. You only slept if you felt like it and stayed awake if you weren't sleepy. But people still had clocks from remains of their past life above the surface.
Fortunately, this meant that businesses were open almost all the time because there wasn't any need for closure.
Levi ran straight to the AD Department — a large premises with large offices and a few huge men in military uniforms. As he stepped into the first office he found, he was immediately gripped by anxiety.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this," he chuckled slightly, unable to contain his excitement.
He fidgeted around waiting to be called into the examination hall.
"Levi Asher-ton? Your age?" The officer in charge of enrollment asked, his face frightening to look at.
"21 Sir! I just turned 21 today. That's what my clock at home says," he replied, immediately shaken by the officer's voice.
The officer wrote something down and directed him and 3 others into the examination hall. There were a lot of people, about 120 taking the examination that day.
Levi sat at the back rows of the hall, sandwiched between a girl and a boy.
"Is cheating allowed here?" He asked the girl, hoping he could cheat without getting caught.
"I'm not sure if you're joking but that's what made me resit the exam for 2 years. One of those officers have magic that can let them catch cheaters and that's how I was caught. I was 18 at the time," she replied with a warm smile on her face.
The girl had long hair which wasn't ideal for the AD but she probably knew that. Her skin was just as pale as Levi's but something was definitely wrong with her — it was hard to read her emotions.
'Why is she smiling after telling me she rewrote an exam twice?' He thought, as he faced his desk.
Some papers flew to his desk and that marked the beginning of the examination. He picked the papers up and saw the questions written on them.
Soon, answer sheets arrived and a pencil appeared as well. It was a basic exam with only options to choose from.
'Just basic questions, good. I've forgotten most of what I learned in highschool.'
The examination was easier than he thought, no trick questions and nothing out of the ordinary. The hall was poorly guarded with just a few officers patroling but that was just a trap to make people cheat.
"We can't have dumb people in our faction, can we," one officers asked rhetorically as he chuckled slightly.
Something felt wrong. As an enrollment examination into a faction, there wasn't anything tricky going on to test your perception skills.
"Just basic math and common knowledge. This is too easy to be the real examination," Levi muttered, already done with his examination. "The officer even chuckled oddly, something is definitely wrong."
As the deadline drew nearer, the number of examiners reduced drastically. Levi had to put his suspicions aside and submit his papers.
"Now that we're done, we'll personally tell those who passed when the next exam will be," an officer stated as the last person had just finished.
Levi grabbed the small pouch he came with containing his magic book and headed out. Just before he could cross the door, he heard his name.
"Levi! Can we have a word?" Levi looked back, noticing it was an officer who had called him back.
'For a second there, I thought it was that voice again,' Levi thought, his lips trembling just by the thought.
He turned back and walked to the officer, his magic book partially slipping out. The book immediately caught the officer's eyes causing Levi to quickly push it back in.
He couldn't let them know he lacked magic power. He feared it would hinder him from taking further exams and entering the division.
As he pushed the book back in and closed the bag, the officer called again.
"Levi, don't hide it. We're all aware you can't use magic." The officer approached him, laying his hand on Levi's shoulder.
"We've been members of the Attack Division for years now and we're the second highest rank. Did you really think we lacked perception?"
Levi immediately stepped away from the officer, his heart pounding as the fear of his dream being crushed was slowly becoming reality.
"Don... don't tell me this is the end," Levi asked, his hands trembling as he envisioned himself dying of poverty.