"You guys cleared the mess in just two minutes twenty seven seconds! I give you 8/10"
The man made a remark.
The sight of thousands of corpses lying on the ground was very disturbing. Yet this man was very relaxed. This meant that murdering someone was like breathing for this man.
One of the other two humans asked.
"So, are we in the elites of the guild now."
"Nope."
The man said very bluntly.
"What? But you said 8/10. That should be above average."
The man's lips curled up. While startng at the dying Duncan, he said to the humans he had brought without looking back.
"The minimum passing grades are 10/10."
The two of them fell straight to their knees.
Killing Duncan was no joke. Yet they weren't in the elite? Then what kind of monsters were there in the elite of the guild.
The man slowly approached Duncan. He squatted down over, with his knees still up.
Duncan mustered the last of his might to speak.
"Just.. What are.. you?"
The man stood up, with his back as straight as a sword. With a very cold voice and expression, he said,
"King of Heaven Guild, Vice-Guildmaster, Aldern"
***********
The next morning, 10 A.M.
"Is this the place?"
Arman asked the Flame King while comparing the image of a building in Google maps and the building itself.
"Seems so."
The Flame King replied.
"Then let's get ourselves inside."
It was a very big building. Especially big, when the fact that it was built on the outskirts of Aokigahara was also taken into consideration.
And again, the big distance between the city and this building signified the gap between normal people and the Killers.
If this was where Killers worked, they needed to have access to quick transportation to this place. Meaning that Killers could cover such distances in minutes.
There were many people outside outside the building. Apparently, they were just out of a raid and were chattering on their way home.
One more thing, they all were dressed strangely.
Some looked heavily armoured and had a very big sword, like a knight.
A few others had tall hats that resembled that of a witch, or a wizard.
A few more had a minimal of dressing so that most of the body was exposed. The dressing would not only provide them defence, but would also not restrict any kind of movement. Maybe these were the guys who moved at the maximum speed. Or the so called "Assassin class".
And there were many other people present here.
The scene that stood before Arman reminded him of a fantasy-fiction genre video game, or some Wuxia manhua.
Arman said to the Flame King,
"Hey Flame King, the place where you come from, is this kind of fantasy stuff common?"
"Brat, I am not an alien creature. Back then, humans existed on earth alone. My origins can clearly be traced back to this planet, earth. It's just that I am so old, that the history has forgotten me."
"Oh, sorry. Let me change the question a bit. During your age, did people live this way?"
"Yes, they did. And back then, it was a lot more hard to survive than it is now. The feudal lords would exploit the peasants. What makes it worse is that, back then, the rulers were completely dependent upon the noblemen, this made the noble class stronger than the ruling class."
"Hmmm... Must have been really hard. By the way, what were you, a noble or a peasant?"
"I was born as the son of a blacksmith. But in the later part of my life, I was a ruler. And with my sword, I completely destroyed the feudal system."
"Alright, it's time we went inside."
Arman walked towards the gate of the building. Two men in black suits were standing on each sides of the gate, acting as a watchman.
"Show us your ID card, sir."
One of them said to Arman.
"Here."
Arman took out his wallet and and handed his ID card to the watchman.
The watchman took the card and slid it through a slot in a machine which had a screen in its front and was implanted on the walls next to the gate.
[Authentication Successful, JP-KR37807a]
A female mechanical voice was heard.
"You may go in, Mr Arman."
Arman held his phone in his hand.
"The e-mail they sent to me says that I am deployed to a portal in Section-C, of the Tokyo branch. What's that supposed mean?"
"Dunno, maybe we should first get in."
As Arman entered the building, he saw many rooms, a structure similar to that of an ideal school, and the rooms were like classrooms.
Each one had an electronic display board on it. With the name of the section written on it.
For convenience, a sign board was placed showing directions.
"Section-C is on the right."
****************
Arman was completely flabbergasted.
The room, which was called Section-C, was so big that one could play football in it.
Many officials and tech experts of the Killers' Association were gathered.
And people with the fantasy clothing were in here too.
Arman stood next to them.
He began investigating his surroundings once.
In the room, there was a machine of a colossal size.
To the sides of it were to big cuboid metallic structure, with some blue light flickering from them. And they were providing mechanical support to a round halo structure.
Four coiled projections headed straight to the centre of the halo.
This was the kind of stuff usually seen in Sci-fi movies.
"Has everyone arrived?"
One official of the Killers'Association asked another one.
"Yes sir, all 26 of the raid team have arrived."
"Okay."
The man then turned towards Arman and the other members of the raid team.
"Fall in."
All of them, including Arman, formed a line, standing next to one another.
"Our superior will now be confirming every one's attendance, so please form a queue in front of that table." Saying so, his hand pointed towards a table."
And everyone did so.
Then, a typical middle-aged man, with his belly sticking out, came over. He sat on the chair beside the table.
" 'kay, so what's your name?"
He asked the man who was standing first in the queue.
"Dai Ito."
"Age?"
"59"
"Rank?"
"Reaper."
"Type?"
"Mage."
"Next!"
Arman was a little confused.
He asked a female official of the Association.
"Excuse me, don't you guys keep track on info on the Killers deployed on each mission?"
"Yes we do."
The woman replied.
"Then why is that guy asking us all those things."
"It is just to confirm your identity. You know, a lot of people have got the same name. And on top of that, most people refrain from registering their surnames. So, in case there is a mistake, it can be corrected."
"Oh, sorry for bothering you."
"No problem. Perhaps, is this your first time attending a raid?"
"Yes, I am a new recruit."
"Good luck, then."
"I wish the same for myself."
Arman took a deep breath.
He tilted his head sideways to see how much of the queue was remaining.
Only to find that there were still 20 people ahead of him.
"Should have just stood on the starting of the queue."
Arman remarked, as there was only one person behind him.
Seventeen minutes later.
"Next!"
Arman came forward.
"Name?"
"Arman."
"Age?"
"17"
The man paused for a while and raised his head for the first time since he started confirming people's identities.
"So you are a kid?"
"So what? The Killers' Association now allows anyone above 12 to register as a Killer."
To this, the man stood up and patted Arman's shoulder. Though this would be considered an act of showing empathy, the man did it so as to express that Arman was a insect he could crush anytime.
Arman turned to his shoulder, which was being subtly squeezed.
The man then said.
"I am not a fool like the head of the Association. You still are a kid so go away."
While saying his later words, the man made the gesture of swatting a fly.
"But.."
Arman tried to speak, but was interrupted.
"Kid, as long as I will be the one to supervise, no kid shall enter the battlefield on which the Killers fight. I wish you luck that the next time someone else will be seeing you. Now f*** off!"
Arman turned around in disdain.
For today's raid, which would be his first one, he took a day off the college. It was very risky.
Since the time The King of Heaven warned him, he wasn't absent a single day.
As he was slowly trudging back, he overheard
the man and the final raid member.
"Name?"
"Arina."
"Age?"
"Fifteen."
"Rank?"
"Deathbringer."
Arman was greatly angered.
Though Arman was an underaged Killer, he atleast wasn't in his early teens. Yet, he was sent back. And here this man is, allowing a fifteen year to participate.
"Hahaha Hahaha Hahahaha Haha!"
The Flame King couldn't control his laughter.
"Old Bastard!"