"Anyways," Michael said, "What were you doing in that cell." He asked.
"System tasks, and I consistently trained my body to get better at each task, so I can do them in advance," Zylus replied calmly.
"Lucky you, I'm still as short as ever." Michael grumpily said.
[Notice! Marketplace Unlocks Soon]
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Soon I'm going to be enabled to purchase items from my system. Been wondering what type of items they'll be for a minute tho.
"Time's up!" Kash Mezino, or the man on the stage got back into position. "Hope you all have found who you wish to be with, but now is where the real challenge comes in."
The room went silent, and everyone's attention shifted towards the man on the stage.
"You see," Kash calmly said into the mic as he rolled a hand onto his slick back hair, "In war, you won't usually, or, yeah, wait no, yeah, you definitely won't fight others alone. Thus is why we made each of you get into groups of two. If you lose, you're out. Only one thousand cadets will remain after today."
His calm expression shifted into a grin, "While all this is said, we're here to only pick the strongest to help fight with us. You and your partner will now be facing any other pair of two."
He then moved his body to the tip of the stage, "Once the countdown right above me is over, you'll be automatically teleported to an isolated white room. Don't worry about damaging it, your newly fed systems won't be able to even lay a scratch. Good luck though." He ended with a calm giggle, pointing towards the screen right behind him.
It was a TV that measured one hundred inches diagonally, with a completely black background. However, some numbers on there were bolded in a strong white. And they kept decreasing by the second.
"No no no no no no!" Michael screamed, panicking. "Fucking hell! This is the one thing us lower classes can't take. Since you can only unlock your system at the age of sixteen, we're newly feds. Meaning, anyone else, with even a family, would have gone through rigorous combat training." He declared, then continued. "The only reason we don't get combat training is because we don't have families that can afford it prior to us getting our system. Father, mother," Michael looked up in the sky, and put his hands together as a tear dropped by his face, "I guess this just wasn't for me."
Are the other cadets here really all that powerful?
"Hey, on the clock it says two more minutes, so we'll just get teleported like that, then fight?" Zylus asked, intrigued.
"How are you not worried!" Michael responded, he was left senseless, too afraid to even think about what might happen to both of them, "If we lose now, that's that! We're out!"
The gymnasium was too loud to overhear Michael's little screams; he was a little guy after all.
"Why are you so worried? How about other lower classes?" Zylus asked.
"Oh Demon King Asterious, I'm cooked." Another tear now dropped along his right eye, "Can you not even sense it? Systemic flow. It flows around everyone's body, and yours is as low as it gets; it barely even shows. Mine is the same, so do not fret. But that was the reason I chose you to be my partner. Because we're both insufferably weak."
Ahh, so that's the white aura that I see glowing around people. But I didn't know everyone here is this strong, it just makes me more excited, honestly.
"One Minute Remaining!" Kash screamed on the stage, taking his glasses off.
"Truly, most definitely, one thousand per cent, we're fucked." Michael said, without a shred of doubt in his mind.
He then dropped himself on the floor, looking up into the roof of the ceiling in awkwardness. I mean, who could really blame him? He thought he was a goner after all.
"Don't worry, this is just a fight for strength. I think I can-"
"No Zylus!" Micahel screamed, cutting him off. "It's not some kiddy little human realm fight. Not that you're a human, but the fact is. We're weak. And if I don't pass this course, we're done for." Michael finished, and began breathing quickly in and out.
Can't wait to see how strong these people are.
As they continued awaiting for their fates to arrive, the other Demon cadets began dropping by to give a little laugh.
"Hey! Look over there! The Lowest Classes!"
"No way! Why would they even try out!"
"Just quit while you can! No one in this gymnasium is weaker than you guys!"
Each of them continued using words of torture, stuffing it into Zylus and Micahels' already wounded mentality, and it became more apparent to Zylus as he continued to get made fun of. Ah, I see now, I knew this world is run by power, but the Demon realm might even be worse than the Human realm.
But none of them cared; they continued to take the insults proudly, until finally... the other cadets began minding their own business.
[Combat Imminent]
Already? were not even in the combatant room yet.
Zylus lifted one finger forward, Not now, not in front of all of them.Once we get in the room. That's if I need it, of course.
BEEP!
An alarm went off as the timer on the screen hit zero.
"Everyone, be prepared to teleport!" Kash said, his final words in the mic flowed through them as Zylus and Michael closed their eyes.
Bam!
As they both opened their eyes, they were stuffed in the corner of a white tiled room, everyone else around them was now gone, and they lay in a 32-21 feet gymnasium. Everything around them was made of white tiles; it almost looked as if the material was made of plastic. But one hit from Zylus towards the wall from his corner, and it was clear, the material was too hard to leave a dent in. There were lights scattered everywhere on the ceiling, not gonna be running out of brightness anytime soon.
Suddenly, everyone's weapons began forming, including Michaels and the people placed on the other corner of the gym; it was a system repercussion automatically installed from the organisation leading the Demon Cadets.
Ah, so I don't even need to summon it, cool.
"Hey Michael," Zylus asked, but Michael's passed-out, guilty body just lay on the white tiled floor, not giving any response.
Whatever, I guess I'm gonna have to do this myself.
"So, I'm guessing, those guys in the other far right corner are our… No, my opponents." He whispered to himself, smiling.
"Fuck outta here," Zylus smiled, "glad it's her again."
Standing at the far right corner of the boxed white tiled gymnasium was Emilia. Emilia Scorce. The same girl who has been getting complimented over and over again while disrespecting Zylus the entire time. With her stood a male. He looked tall and muscular, and handsome. At each of their corners, they were covered in a small transparent barrier.
"Contestants!" A voice came from above, likely part of their artificial intelligence usages, "Send your first combatant to the middle!"
As the transparent barrier began to close, Zylus began walking towards the middle.
And it wasn't Emilia who began walking towards Zylus, no, it was the male. And he was grinning, as if he had already won.