Like I thought, this was a waiting room and people started coming in once they completed the physical assessment. Most of them were wearing armor and had weapons or their hips or back, while I was just wearing plain clothing and had no visible weapons.
Some of the examinees started forming groups when they came through the doors after the first part of the assessment. A group of black cloaked men came up to me and wanted to recruit me, but I said no. Something told me I should stay away from them, especially while I was drugged.
Around two hours passed before the first phase of the assessment ended. The second phase was soon announced.
"Congratulations on passing the first phase of the Hunter assessment! The next phase is surviving a week in a portal! Unlike the common knowledge, portals can be entered and some do not disappear!"
The whole room starts murmuring to each other. Unlike all of them, I knew this already, not just what came next because of Monica, but about the portals too. My team also entered a portal by accident and were able to hide out there for a while from enemy fire. No one is crazy enough to hide in there, except my team and me, we were all a little insane.
Besides me there was one other person who wasn't surprised by all of this. They were leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. I suddenly realized that's the person who was watching me in the alley. They noticed me and came over.
"Hello there."
He sounded like a young adult, but I could tell that he was much older than that. He wore a hood and expensive looking leather armor. I knew something was off about him like he had already experienced going through a portal before.
'Is he a Fiend?'
"Do you want to know if I am?" He asks.
'You can read minds?'
"Yes I can, but only the minds of other humanoid Fiends." He says, "Like you suspected I am a Fiend and I can tell what other Fiends people are, although I'm having trouble figuring out what you are. You're definitely a Fiend, but I can't pinpoint what type you are." He tells me, "You look like a normal human, but I know you're not."
Suddenly he looks like he realized something.
"What is it?" I ask him with a slightly harsh tone.
"Ohh nothing." He says, "I bet you'll find out soon enough."
'This bastard.'
"Now that's just mean." He says shaking his head.
"Oh! How could I have forgotten? My name is Fanzel, Fanzel Nyxas." He says, "But please, call me Zel."
"Sure. I'm Alexander." I tell him reluctantly.
"So what are you?" Zel asks.
"If you knew I would have to kill you." I tell him, staring coldly into his eyes.
I was trying to look at his soul to know what kind of person he was, but that was gone like the rest of my demonic powers.
"Y-yea?" He stutters, "Well If you need anything just ask. We should always help out our kind."
I needed to swallow my pride and ask him to protect me till the drug wears off. If I kill him in the process, that's his problem.
"There is something, actually." I tell him.
"Ohh?" Zel questions.
"While I was being tested in phase one, my powers got sealed and I now have no way to protect myself. I need you to guard me till they come back. This isn't a request by the way."
I look into his eyes again knowing that my stare still can crush someone under the pressure.
"S-sure, I'd love to." He says.
The explanation was soon finished and I missed most of it because I was talking to Zel. The important thing that I needed to know is if you can kill other people. Because when this drug wears off, people are going to die.
"Now then let us head to the portal where the second phase will take place, but would anyone like to drop out?"
Around 15 people decided to drop out after hearing what the second phase was.
I stood up and looked at Zel. I could tell he was scared of me, but I wasn't getting any joy out of it and it was annoying.
'All that fear going to waste.'
"What was that?" Zel asked.
"Nothing let's go." I say.
We made it to a room in the H.A.B. where a teleportation circle was drawn on the floor. Soon the circle lit up and we all were being teleported to an area outside the city.
When we arrived, the only thing that was around us was grasslands and a huge portal.
"Now I will ask one more time, does anyone wish to drop out."
This time three people dropped out after seeing the portal. There were around 200 people left, less than half of what there was at the beginning.
"Now enter the portal and complete phase two!"
When we walked into the portal we were surrounded by a huge jungle. A few seconds later I had sharp pains in my chest and my heart started beating faster. My breathing started becoming heavy and I could tell that the portal was dispelling the drug faster.
Zel looked over at me and could see that I was having a bad reaction to entering the portal. Once everyone started going their separate ways, Zel and I started walking and soon found a small clearing with some fallen trees.
I sat on one of the trees and grabbed my chest. It has been about an hour and the pain would not let up, it seemed to be getting worse and my heart beat continued to quicken every passing minute. I was feeling light headed and couldn't withstand the pain for much longer.
"You are a Fiend, right?" Zel asks.
"Y-yes." I say between gasps of air.
"Then why are you having such a negative reaction to the other side?!" Zel shouts.
"T-this didn't h-happen before when I w-was in one." I struggle to get out.
"You make it sound like you weren't born here, are you a H…." Zel starts to say, but I hold my hand up and look into the jungle.
Since I entered the portal my < Stamina > has been enhancing every minute, which was making the drug dispel faster and soon it would be gone. I could start to feel the fear Zel was in and it was dulling the pain in my chest, I could breathe easier too.
-----------------------------------
===< System Unlocked >===
-----------------------------------
'The < System > is back.'
"We're being watched, they're surrounding us." I tell Zel.
The group of people wearing the black cloaks who tried to recruit me started coming out from behind the trees. All of them had their weapons drawn and were ready to kill both of us.
"You do know that Hunters are host to kill Fiends, not work or get along with them." The leader of the Cloaks said, "We all know both of you are those things from these portals."
'Shit is about to go down, this isn't go….'
I couldn't finish my thought because the pain in my chest that was being blocked by Zel's fear came back with vengeance. I fell off the tree onto the ground, grabbing my chest so hard that I started to bleed where my fingers were digging into my flesh.
I could feel my < Awareness > going into overdrive. The blood pumping throughout Zel and the Cloaks was piercing my ears. The fear that Zel was giving out started going up as he saw the blood leaking through my shirt. All the wonderful sensations around me started to cause me to convulse and started hungering for more.
The demon's voice enters my mind again.
"Flesh…. Blood…. Fear…."
-----------------------------------
===< WARNING >===
< Bloodlust Active >
-----------------------------------
I looked up at Zel and by his face, I knew he could hear it.
"An Elf? One of the best delicacies…."
Zel fell to the ground and scooted away from me until he hit a fallen tree. He knew immediately what I was and his fear was tremendous. As I absorbed I could almost feel his thoughts that he was going to die.
I stared into his eyes and could see his soul finally. His soul was kind and gentle, yet full of regret.
Because of Zel's fear I didn't notice that my hand started to claw into my chest so much that it was exposing my ribs.
"Ha! Look at that, they're so scared they can't even stand!" The leader of the Cloaks laughs, "Now let's do our job as future hunters!"
The cloaks started to move closer and I could feel the blood rushing up my throat. I started violently throwing up the blood this time and my whole body stiffened.
-----------------------------------
===< WARNING >===
< Forced Metamorphosis Active >
-----------------------------------
My blood turned almost immediately black and boiling, which started withering all the plants it touched. The horns started scratching my brain again and pressuring my skull to break. When it finally cracked, I started to have demonic screams.
My teeth fell out and were replaced by fangs soon after. My nails started to grow and started to cut through my ribs like they were butter. Then all the pain stopped and I stopped vomiting blood.
I could feel myself losing the control over my body and the demon starting to replace me. I tried so hard to push back the demon, but I couldn't. The sound of their blood and the blood I lost, the pain I was in and the fear from all of them. All of these were helping the demon take control.
Then the control finally broke away and I was only a spectator.
I managed to stand up and immediately looked at Zel, then started walking the short distance between us. The fear now coming from all the Cloaks was making me feel wonderful, I couldn't help but start laughing with a distorted voice.
Zel mustered up the will to stand up and started running away. I quickly caught up to him and slashed his back with my hand. He soon fell ground and I was standing over Zel. The smell of the Elven blood was filling my lungs and I started to lick my hand, the blood was amazing.
"Delicious!" The demon screamed, "This one tastes better than that Elven girl!"
Once the demon said that, Zel's hope for surviving this assessment completely disappeared. He seemed to realize no matter how fast he ran, I would catch up to him and he'd died.
I raised my hand into the air and was about to bring it down onto Zel when I heard a gunshot and felt a pain in my chest. I immediately turned around and looked for someone with a gun. With < Awareness > I could tell there was a sniper quite a bit away.
"You can wait, Elf." The Demon says, "These ones actually pose a threat."
'Zel if you can hear me, you need to run while he's going after the Cloaks. Get as far as you can and don't look for me after that.'