Life brought trouble to him fast.
As soon as Amari had put down his plate, his door swung open and Fuller strode into the center of the room. The demon wore his usual bland, stuck-up frown but the creases on his head were even deeper today.
"Sheesh, what's wrong with-"
Fuller interrupted and grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him out of the bed. "No time to talk, the academy entrance exams begin right away."
Amari eyed the demon with a small snarl, adjusting his sleeves a bit.
"Did you have to do that to prove your point?"
"No time. No time."
"Jeez, I heard you the first time," Amari muttered and followed after Fuller's rapidly moving figure.
They moved through the building's halls quickly. It was empty and the only sounds present were the consistent scratching noises of a broom moving against the floor. Amari gave a quick look to the side and saw the old lady from before staring deep into his own eyes.
'Weird old lady!'
He ignored her right away and focused on Fuller's figure. The ifrit had reached a door at the end of the building and pushed it open quickly.
And just like that Amari was outside.
It was a hot, scorching field of grass with a few trees sparsely planted all over the terrain. It reminded Amari of the large plains Amari had come across in the Pit. However, there was a large forest a few hundred metres away.
Apart from that, the other hundreds of candidates he had seen earlier were there, fully geared up in armor, robes, and whatever else.
Not that he cared about them anyway.
"Hey, Fuller, will I have to fight these weaklings? They're not very strong," Amari craned his neck to the side where Fuller stood, complaining loudly.
Audible grunts of anger sounded all around him, but he smirked ignoring them.
Fuller gave a disapproving frown and shook his head.
"No, you're aiming for the hardest exam. That one is a hundred times harder than anything any of these fellows are even going to comprehend. But you can handle it."
Amari sighed quietly in a mix of relief and worry.
"Is Belat okay?" he asked the Ifrit trying to picture his little brother's furry face in a sea of foreign, snobby demons.
Fuller nodded his head without much thought.
"He's fine. And quite popular with the ladies, I might add."
"Eh?"
Well, at least the little scamp was okay.
They stood there for a few minutes until something happened.
"Alright!" A hoarse, old voice called out, drawing everyone's attention forward. "All the candidates are here, so the exam will begin immediately."
The old voice called out from the forest started. Amari wondered how his voice could reach where they were and extended his vision to clearly see the person talking.
It was a short stumpy old man that could have passed for a retired elder in a rocking chair. He wore a long black shirt that resembled a Japanese haori from Earth. Its sleeves extended past his arms, hiding his whole upper body from his neck down.
The haori had red highlights trailing along the sides and finally a small patch with the Academy's logo on it. Amari still couldn't see it, though.
The old man also wore stumpy wooden slippers that elevated him a bit.
"Now then," the old man continued, "the first task is to go into the forest and hunt a Lower Demon Beast and bring back its head. Report back to me when you have completed it and I will instruct everyone on the details of the next round when time runs out."
"So go!"
At the old man's last words, each candidate sprinted off as fast as they could in each of their own unique ways.
Except for Amari.
"Come on, he's the one to meet if we want to go through your own exam." Fuller nudged his head towards the old man, already moving forward.
In less than a minute they had already reached the spot where the man stood.
"Oh my, what a pleasant surprise it is to see you Lieutenant Fuller. Is this young man a friend of yours?" The old man said enthusiastically.
He was a lot taller than Amari had initially thought, but still a little shorter than Amari. His hair had turned grey with only a few remaining black strands on the tips. It was also tied into a high ponytail that reached his waist.
The old man had the largest horns Amari had ever seen, excluding Lilia's father's own. The black keratin structures curved down, almost covering the old man's sharp green eyes.
Amari knew better than to antagonize this old man or even check his status using Observation. As far as he could see, that would be suicide.
To Amari's surprise, Fuller bowed politely.
"Good morning, principal. Yes, this boy here is Raion'shalang. He wants to take the Death Battle exam."
'Principal?? Thank goodness I didn't check his status!'
The old man raised an eyebrow, "The Death Battle," you say. That is indeed intriguing. He will be the first to attempt this in fifty years. Interesting, very interesting."
He glanced towards Amari, eyeing him for a split second, before turning back to Fuller.
"He certainly looks like he has enough spunk in him that's for sure. However, ordinary people cannot win. There's no turning back. There's no win or lose. You live or you die."
A small pause erupted, and Amari realized it was his turn to speak.
"Alright. I understand, sir."
The principal once again gave Amari a stern look.
"I sincerely hope you won't regret it, young man."
And with that, he grabbed Amari and Fuller with both hands. A massive gust of wind came in from all directions, threatening to destroy numerous trees in the area. Amari braced himself for a second but before he could comprehend, they were gone.