Eleven years later
---POV Yeji---
The past few years have been so hard, all I did was exercise and work on my magic, but today finally I get to go on my first mission. I learned a lot about demonkind and the Rubeus empire. Karina told me all the stories that have been passed down through the generations and even though there are so many stories we still don't know why the humans attacked us before and we will probably never find out. My magic power has grown so much, I was able to sense mana when I turned eleven, a year after I was rescued. I have talent with fire magic and became a castor-type mage.
Since we were in hiding, I learned a lot about the hierarchy of the remaining demons. There is a queen but I have never met her before, there are several commanders like master Crillon and normal soldiers like Karina. As for now, the mission is to rescue all the demons we can find and take them to a safe location. The Rubeus empire covers the entire continent so it is hard for them to have eyes everywhere. I heard a rumor that there are demons in high positions that's why we've been able to stay hidden so long but I doubt that is true.
The empire's mages are classed according to their ability to detect and manipulate mana. The weakest class is the tenth class and the strongest is the alpha class. In each class, four tiers determine what level of power you have. So the ranks go from tenth to first class then beta class followed by alpha class. The emperor is a Tier 1 alpha class mage which means he is the strongest mage the empire has to offer. After all my training, I am nowhere near close to that. I've only managed to get to Tier 1 Fourth class. I will probably advance to the third class soon.
I suspect that the demon queen is gathering all of us for one final strike against the empire. I am ready to fight. Every time I close my eyes I can still see my parent's faces as they took their last breath. I've been preparing myself to fight that guy that killed them. His cold gaze haunts my dreams. I heard that he is one of the most powerful imperial mages there is and as I am now I am not ready to face him. I have to get stronger.
"Yeji! Stop daydreaming and pay attention. " Commander Crillon said in his commanding voice.
"Yes sir!" We were in the briefing room. It was a big room with a huge flat screen tv. Karina, Amerie, and a few others were in the room with me. The commander stood in from of the room next to the tv in his training clothes. The past few years haven't been kind to him, he looks so much older than the first time we met. His face showed signs of exhaustion this war has taken a toll on him.
"Today's mission is to rescue one of our own. He is the former minister of finance, without him we would have never been able to buy as much time as we have. He is being held in a secure prison in the barracks. This is going to be the toughest fight any of you have been through. We are infiltrating a military base filled with weapons and soldiers with advanced magic. The prison is on the lowest floor, you will have to fight your way through five floors underground. We will help all we can from here but it is going to be loud and messy. No need to hold back, give it your all and come back alive. Karina will brief you on the rest of the plan." He said then walked out.
Karina pressed a button and a hologram of the barracks appeared. "The military base has five underground floors. The main building above ground is heavily guarded. We expect an Imperial mage to be there. All the soldiers are fifth-class mages and above, we have to go through all the floors to get to him. He is held in the lowest level guarded twenty-four-seven with six guards. They have placed nuclear restraints on his neck and hands. The first part of the mission is to find the mage who sealed it or at least the spell to unlock it. If he leaves the building with those things on we are all going to die. They are set to explode if he leaves the building. We will go in two teams. I will lead team A to rescue him and team B led by Amerie will get the spell. I will send you your team assignments before we leave. Rest up, we leave at nightfall."
I went to the training hall to warm up a bit before we left for the mission. It does seem a bit impossible but we need to do whatever we can. If we don't rescue that man he is going to have a public execution just like what happened to me. The humans are going to make a spectacle of it. My wristwatch vibrated to alert me of a message, turns out I have been placed in team A. My nerves shot up, I was finally going to show what all those years of training have to offer. I was going to give that man hope just like Amerie did for me that day. This mission had to succeed no matter what.
Time passed fairly quickly and it was finally time to leave, there were about twenty of us all lined up at the front of the building. Two vans awaited us and we loaded up pretty quickly. We all carried guns and grenades just in case our mana ran out before the fight ended. It took us a few hours to get to the location, I held my gun tightly to my chest and took a deep breath. This was about to be the most intense fight I have been in but I was shaking with excitement, the chance to finally get revenge on those disgusting humans.