"Follow me. Although you are a member, that's still not official. You have things to do before you become a member." The commander orders Ivar.
"Alright."
Ivar followed the commander to a long dome-shaped hall. It was well decorated with the logo of the demon sect being carved on the walls. Of course, I had the flags of the demon sect hanging beside the main door.
The commander opened the door and Ivar followed him. All the eyes inside were on them. The Sabertooth team members were situated all over the hall keeping watch on the people.
The commander walked to the other end of the hall, with Ivar following him. Ivar glanced at the people on the ground. Most of them were awake with their hands untied but their legs still tied. He looked around the room to search for a familiar face.
He saw the familiar face of Aira. Aira was looking at him.
Her hands had curled into tight fists, and her brows were furrowed as she looked at him, clenching her jaw. There were tear lines adorned on her face.
'It's natural for her to be angry. She should have realized that they killed her father. And seeing me with the robe in my hand… I am sorry Aira but I don't know you enough to care about your feelings.' Ivar stopped looking at Aira and kept walking.
At the end of the hall, They reached a raised platform, where the leader of the Sabertooth Team was standing with a stack of paper in his hand.
"Commander, here is the information we have gathered about them. 12 of them haven't woken up yet and Out of the remaining ones, 13 of them are between the ages of 20 and 25. We didn't check their talent."
"Hmm… So that leaves 27 of them—Wait no 26 as Ivar was climbing the stairs. How is their talent?"
"This one is bad, 13 of them aren't even below average, 12 of them are average, and Including the ability user, 2 of them have good talent. If we hadn't found the caravan we wouldn't have the last two."
"Hmm… Good. We will begin the acceptance ceremony right now then! Isolate the ones between the ages of 20 and 25 and those unconscious."
"Yes, commander." The team leader waved his hands at the team members as they quickly jumped to the older and unconscious people and put them together in a separate corner.
"25 lambs and 27 to be trained. Looks like we have 2 extras" The commander contemplated. "Well first… bring the medicine, Team leader."
"Yes, commander." The team leader walked toward the boxes in one corner of the raised platform
"Ivar, You go stand in a corner for now. I will call you later."
Ivar nodded.
"Alright kiddos!" the commander shouted, intimidatingly. "Listen well. I won't repeat this ever again."
Everyone in the audience—except the unconscious ones— straightened their backs and perked up their ears.
"You lot might have already guessed the situation you are in. You have been kidnapped by us—The demon sect Or die."
"Like hell, I will join the demon sect, you bastard! I would rather die!" The commander was interrupted by a loud shout from a man in his late teens.
"Did I tell you to interrupt me?" The commander's face darkened.
"So what? Who are you to- ACKK!" The man's shout changed into screams of pain as the commander appeared in front of him, picked him up, and slapped both his ears with his palm.
"Who am I? Now listen closely with your deaf ears. I am Isshin, the rank 5, commander of the demon sect. Now repeat who am I"
The man on the other hand could only hear bits of the information Isshin said, "Deaf…rank 5…demon sect…Who. I?"
"Say my name." Isshin insisted.
"If you say it, you get to live."
The man couldn't hear the question, "AAGHHH- Spare me! Spare me! Please, sir. My dad is crippled. I want to marry my childhood lover…" The man suddenly started tearing up, seeing the ear-to-ear smile of Isshin.
Creak-Crack-
Isshin started to slowly press both palms together on the man's skull from each ear, making sure the man felt every movement of the pain.
"Please…sir…" Before the man could continue, his skull was compressed into a macabre mixture of blood and brain matter. The mixture slowly spewed out from the gaps between Isshin's fingers as the clean wooden floor was stained red.
Isshin walked back to the raised platform and said, "Now, I think no one has any more objections right?"
The hall wasn't silent. It was filled with heavy breathing sounds and teeth-grinding sounds.
"Good. Now let me continue. You lot have been kidnapped by us and if you don't have to die then you have to join our sect. And, to join our sect there is an acceptance ceremony. The first part of the acceptance ceremony is to…" He extended his hands towards the sabertooth team leader and the team leader passed him a clean syringe filled with a yellow liquid. He continued," Injected this on your blood."
"Hughgh!" A sound escaped from the mouth of an, once again, late teen man.
"Oh? Do you have any objections?" Isshin smiled with his muscular face lightly.
"N-no, sir" The man stuttered.
"OK then. Come here." Isshin casually ordered the man.
Looking at the headless corpse of the previous man still on the ground, the man shakily walked towards the raised platform. As his legs were tied, He used his hands to press him up on the platform. He dragged his body upright and slowly walked towards Isshin.
"Good. You are a good kid. Now, you won't have any objections to taking this medicine right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Ok, Sabertooth leader. Do it." Isshin ordered the man standing by his side.
The man nodded and swiftly caught the hand of the young man and inserted the syringe directly inside one of the blood vessels.
The young man gritted his teeth, making sure not to make a single sound throughout the process.
After the "medicine" was successfully injected, Isshin extended his hands toward the sabertooth team leader. The team leader gave him a sword.
"Now that you have done this. Why don't you go and kill one of the unconscious ones." Isshin unsheathed his sword and cut the man's chain on his legs before the young man could react.
"Unconscious ones, sir?"The man shakily questioned.
"Yes, those on the other corner of the hall. Why don't you kill them? Or do I need to repeat myself?" Isshin tilted his head looking the man in the eye and extended his hand with the sword in it towards the young man.
The man took the swords with shaky hands and started walking towards one of the unconscious people. He stopped in front of the unconscious man.
Shing-
He unsheathed his sword. "I am sorry…"
The man's grip faltered, his breath coming in heavy gasps. He had never killed before, and the thought of it twisted his insides.
"But I can't-", Before he could finish, before the sword could slip from his grasp, there was a sudden flash of red. Isshin's merciless strike burst apart the man's head in a gruesome explosion.
"And that is what you get for being disobedient." Isshin coldly stated.