Leo walked into the wide hallway that only led to a few rooms, most being classrooms. Surprisingly, Leo found out that it was a relatively small building as he exited it. Outside there was a large dirt field surrounded by forest. He saw another building not that far from the one he just exited and that was where they were supposed to stay for the duration of the training.
The green outside matched well with the blue sky and the calm wind. There were purple, blue, and yellow flowers spread across the green grass surrounding the dirt. Leo took a deep breath, appreciating the fresh air, and stood there for a minute. Eventually, he started heading to his room. Upon entering the building there was a sign at the entrance for all to see.
Do not unpack your belongings. Rooms will be changed as you are assigned your squads. This will happen next week, only unpack things as you need them.
Leo read the sign quickly and went to his room. He entered it and found it housed three beds, a small closet, and a simple bathroom. Underneath the beds were footlockers and the bed themselves were small enough for only one person.
Leo walked over to his bed and placed his backpack on it. He hadn't packed much at all, only clothes, a toothbrush, some art supplies, and two books. He sat on the bed and just looked around for a few minutes.
Afterward, he pulled out the papers he was handed earlier and looked at his schedule. His next class was Basic Combat Training. He folded the papers after skimming through them again and put them back into his pocket.
He grabbed his backpack and put it on, he started heading to his next class. After getting up and going to the door he saw someone enter with a large suitcase. Leo recognized them as someone from the group Ethan glanced at earlier, the ones who wore extravagant clothes.
After seeing Leo, the person's face looked slightly disturbed but that was all, they quickly entered the room and placed their suitcase down. Leo left the building and went to the field he saw earlier.
A few students were there, and more were gathering. Leo went towards the group of students and sat with his backpack still on. He watched the scenery instead of talking to anyone, or at least that was his plan.
The person from the café, the one who tapped on his book, spoke to him. Leo jumped, slightly startled as he hadn't heard him sit next to him this time either.
"Yo! I didn't see anyone I recognized until I saw you. Name's Faust." He stuck out his hand.
Leo shook it and said coolly, trying to hide his previous brief fright, "Mathias."
"So, you're half angel, half demon. That's pretty cool! I'm just a regular ol' human." They said with a smile.
Leo laughed slightly through his nose. He asked Faust, "So why'd you want to become a demon?"
"Well, I've got problems back home, and call me a coward but I'd rather just not deal with them. I was scouted by a demon, and they found out I was a blank slate. I don't particularly care for the politics behind demons and angels, I just wanted to escape that dump."
"I see," Leo said with a warm smile.
"What about you?" Faust replied.
"Various reasons. But mainly, I've already got my life mapped out and this is just one of the stops."
"Oh, interesting."
Leo and Faust talked more until an elderly man walked forward from the forest. Despite being elderly, one could easily see how fit they were. Behind him was Olivia, who was pulling a large crate on a cart.
Eventually, they came to a stop and the elderly man spoke up, "You are to address me as Master and nothing else. None of you have the privilege to call me by my name until you're worthy enough. I will be teaching you all how to fight through various combat exercises. But first, those of you who are already awoken, we shall test your blood."
Olivia opened the crate revealing tons of thick books.
"These books were invented a long time ago by me, Augusto Griffith. Inside are various spells that will detect what your soul realms are capable of. Simply hold the book and various effects will happen. But first I shall explain the different classes we demons become.
"First, the dealer class. Those of you who are dealers with be bestowed swords and trained with them. In terms of using your soul realm, the dealer can summon contracts that can bind people in certain ways if they agree, but you must fulfill your side of the bargain. Secondly, you can open small pocket dimensions for storage as a dealer.
"Second, the grim class. Those of you who are a grim will be bestowed a gun, you will be trained to use them as well as explosives. Grims can see extremely far and are generally less receptive to pain. Their wounds generally heal faster too. Grims can form magic bullets from their soul realm, the rounds pack more power than conventional rounds.
"Third, the soul mage class. If you are a soul mage, you will be given a special kind of lantern. This will help you channel your soul realm, but always remember the best soul mages don't need these. Soul mages can manifest their soul realm into the material realm, meaning you can summon things like fire or ice depending on your affinity. But, these things will be very unstable and quickly wither away when you stop sending your mana into it.
"And fourth, the specialist. Specialists will simply be taught advanced hand-to-hand combat and the basics behind fighting with swords and guns. Specialists are those who fail to fit into any of the beforementioned classes. Their powers are generally enigmatic and powerful. The less your enemies know of your power the better. People who have subclasses also are specialists, but they're slightly different from regular specialists. Specialists are the wild cards of the demons. How'd I do Olivia?"
"I think you described them just fine, Mr. Griffith."
"Really? I feel like I just missed the mark…" He thought quietly to himself for a minute. Eventually, he just shook his hand with a "Bah!"
"Anyway, just hold the book and your soul realm will automatically make contact with it. Dealers will get the pages wet, grims will slightly scorch the cover, and soul mages will make it illuminate. But all of you should be wary as it's different for every specialist. I once saw one of these books explode in a specialist's hands. Also, keep in mind that sometimes what you get is hereditary, other times it's completely unrelated. Now come here and line up."
Although he said that, a lot of the group was momentarily frozen due to his last remark.
"Oh, grow up you babies. Why do you think there were only three beds in your rooms? Specialists are extremely rare; most squads are only three people, a dealer, a grim, and a soul mage. I've only seen that one kid get blown up and he didn't even get hurt by it. Most of them were completely fine." There was a weird emphasis on the word 'most.'
The group of people who were still frozen begrudgingly got up after his 'pep talk.'
Leo had immediately gotten up, so he was towards the front of the line. There, three books were being given out at a time and the line was slightly away from the people using them. It was for safety reasons and most students were thinking something along the lines of, "Didn't get hurt from the explosion, my ass."
Mr. Griffith was standing at the front of the line watching all of his students and memorizing which got which. When Leo got to the front of the line, he was sent to the right, someone was sent to the left, and there was a third between them.
Olivia was the one who handed him his book. She told him to not use his soul realm if he knew how as that could skew the results. She handed him his book and got ready to write down what class Leo belonged to.
But nothing happened as he held the book. She looked at him and asked if he used his soul realm to which Leo said no. She frowned, then took his book and started inspecting it. She was wearing gloves so she couldn't activate them when handing them out. She quickly got another book and handed it to Leo, but nothing happened again.
This time Mr. Griffith walked over and inspected the books. After a moment he spoke to Leo, "You're the one John brought right?"
Leo nodded.
Mr. Griffith put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "I think whoever gave you the angel blood probably sealed you as well. It's usually a simple fix though. Come here."
Leo walked towards him and when he arrived, Mr. Griffith gave him some instructions. "Just sit down and cross your legs, calm your mind and think of nothing. I'll see if I can break the seal, if there even is one, that is. Depending on its strength you may be slightly affected, but you should be fine."
Leo did as he was told and sat down. He started meditating which was something he learned a long time ago but gave up because it didn't help him calm down all that much. But he currently wasn't stressed or anything like that, so it was enough for Mr. Griffith to start working.
Mr. Griffith placed his left palm on Leo's forehead and his right index finger on his heart. He closed his eyes but soon frowned. The seal was much more advanced than he would've thought, but for his student, he pushed on. He also knew he'd get his shit kicked in by John if he found out about the seal and that it wasn't broken immediately. So, Mr. Griffith had some extra motivation.
After a couple of minutes, both Mr. Griffith and Leo were sweating. It was a demanding process for both of them. Mr. Griffith was like a miner trying to pierce a rock in a certain way, and the seal was the rock, trying to endure the hits Griffith was dishing out. Leo just happened to be a bystander in the way getting hit repeatedly with a pickaxe.
Eventually, both of them were drenched and the rest of the class had finished getting tested. The humans had been watching the scene since it started as it was the most interesting thing happening. But the demons only started watching after they sat down. And the royals and those from military families mainly ignored it and watched what the other people awakening were getting, that is until everyone finished. Once that happened all eyes were on Leo and Mr. Griffith.
Eventually, Leo gave out and slumped over slightly, but he was caught by Olivia before he fell over and ruined Mr. Griffith's concentration. Only a few more minutes passed by until Mr. Griffith finally opened his eyes.
He slowly laid on the grass and rested.
"Mr. Griffith… was it successful?" Olivia hesitantly asked.
"…" He huffed in and out but eventually answered her, "Yes. That was a tier nine seal. Forget whatever Mathias is thinking, I'm going to personally murder whoever gave him that angel blood. Who puts a tier nine seal on a child? Buffoons, simply buffoons. We'll give him the book when the humans wake up in a week."
Mr. Griffith looked towards his students and sighed out, "Class is over, today is simply supposed to be the basics and tests. The humans will be awoken at the end of the day and should be dormant until next week. In other words, after today, no classes will be held for demons until next week. Dismissed."
Mr. Griffith simply laid in the grass looking towards the nice blue sky. He mumbled out to no one in particular, "He managed to hold out for so long… What a monster." After which he grinned nearly ear to ear.
An endlessly bright expanse. Paper. Endless paper. Amongst the field of paper were two lone figures talking. One of them was sitting at a desk, scribbling with both of his hands like a madman. He was adding to the already mountainous stacks behind him. As soon as he finished writing as much as he could, the paper flew from its place on the desk to a seemingly random location. He then continued writing on the paper that was underneath. The other figure looked bloody from behind as if they had been in a big fight. They wore a jet-black suit if you could even call it one. It had been torn to pieces and not much remained beside his undershirt.
Then suddenly, the world felt as if it was falling. Within seconds, the previously bright and clear expanse took a dark turn. The writing man and his paper had disappeared, and the other figure was still standing where he previously was. The darkness of the world seemed to be originating at this person's feet. The blood from their wounds seemed to be endlessly pooling, creating an unnatural lake. After what seemed like hours, yet only a couple of seconds the figure turned. As if they were a picture, their face seemed to be scratched out by the world. Their face was hidden, yet they exuded a sense of sadness or maybe failure. Perhaps both. Their nonexistent eyes met the young man who was asleep, and they uttered a single phrase.
Wake up.
Leo opened his eyes and found himself in a bed and slowly leaned up. His head felt extremely groggy, and he even fell out of the bed when he tried to get up. Landing on his face he could only groan.
Someone entered the room Leo was staying in and helped him off of the floor. They seemed to be saying something as they put Leo back in the bed. He didn't hear any of it though as he had already fallen back asleep.
This time when he woke up, he was much more alert. He looked around and quickly got out of the bed without a hitch. Standing up, he stretched his muscles and the door opened upon hearing a disturbance inside.
"I see you're awake again. You seem much better this time…" It was the person who was taking care of the humans who were dormant due to becoming demons.
"We gave you the required demonic blood after the seal was released. Your mind was under extreme stress when we gave you the blood, so it took longer for you to wake up. Most of the humans have woken up and classes start tomorrow, so get some rest today. Let me be the first to congratulate you on walking the line of death and making it back unscathed. And might I say it was a remarkable idea to use souls repair the imbalance of your body, if even only temporarily."
Leo just nodded with an uninterested face and didn't say anything else.
The nurse told him he could stay here until the next day or head to his dorm. He had no reason to go there, so he just stayed in the room. After stretching and exercising slightly, he laid in the bed.
His hand went to his neck, and he found the cold metallic object from earlier. He lifted it to his eyes and stared at the silver bell. The bell was still completely silent, but Leo didn't care. He just smiled and held it in his hands. His smile eventually faded, and he stared at the ceiling while clutching the cold bell.