As the man at the stage up front continued naming cadets who were either present or absent, nobody moved, and each person stayed in their row as they should.
The man up front was by himself on a decked-out black stage, five feet above the gymnasium floor, and had a mic in his hand. He had black-tinted glasses, orangish to blondish slicked-back hair, a slim face, a grimacing smile, pretty tall, about six feet, a sharp jaw line, no facial hair, and that was all. His suit was similar to the one the security guard was wearing, but Zylus's assumption led him to believe the man on stage's suit had thousands of dollars of fabric put into it. Comparing it to Esteavo's suit, it was like night and day.
There was no one around him on the stage either; he had no notes of any names, but he simply continuously called out if that person was present or absent. It's like he had memorised everything the day prior, all two thousand names. He yelled each one into the microphone. Black speakers were installed at each corner; each one had a high sound level, great quality.
"Cadet 2,000! Absent! Kenjin Osowe!"
Finally finished, this took so fucking long.
As the man on the stage finished yelling out each name, the entire room became even quieter than it was initially. As if they had sensed a dangerous presence among them.
"Now that I'm finished, it's time I introduce myself!" The man standing in the mic yelled, "Name's Kash. Kash Mezino. You can just call me Kash, though, which makes me sound rich!"
He began laughing into the mic at his own joke, but there was an embarrassing silence among this new generation of cadets. They didn't find that joke funny; they couldn't even fake laugh to make Kash feel good about it.
"How ruthless your generation of cadets is, jeez." Kash took a breather, then continued, "Anyways! I want everyone to get into groups of two. About one thousand pairs."
He stuck out four fingers as if the cadets were in kindergarten, and then paused.
"What are you doing? I meant now." Kash finished, as he shifted into a sinister smile.
Afterwards, noise began sky rocketing in the room, Demon cadets rushing to the highest ranking ones, friends running to find their friends to team up with, the absolute bums simply waiting for others to come to them, but they knew nobody would want to be with them, so they patiently awaited their downfall.
The truth is, most Demon cadets don't want to be here; most of their families force them to become 'the man of the house' or 'potential man,' the kids themselves want to do other things. That's why there exist many lazy individuals around the arena.
One of them walked towards Zylus.
"Hey…" The man who confidently walked up to Zylus now stood eye to eye with him, "Wanna teammup? We are low class after all, no one else would dare to be with people like us, other than lower classes."
Low class, huh? For some reason, it has a nice ring to it.
Zylus grinned, "Sure, why not. My name's Zylus, how about you?" He asked.
"Name's Michael Elric, nice to meet you." Michael stuck a hand out in respect for their first handshake.
Zylus took his hand and made a firm handshake; both of them smiled. Even though they were lower class, they looked as if they were enjoying life more than Emilia, the noble who was making fun of Zylus.
Michael was a short-looking boy, about five feet six, with a nice slim face, black hair with spikes on the end, and a muscled build.
He kind of has a mini Pecca type of build, yeah, that's it, Zylus thought.
Michael also had purple eyes and simply looked happy to be there. He had some nice-looking clothes on him, white ripped jeans, and a white short-sleeve shirt.
Whispers, screams, talks, and shoves all went towards simply teaming up with Emilia.
"Team up with me, Emilia!"
"Why should a low-class like you get to be with her? She should be with someone noble like me. A middle class."
"Hear ye, hear ye, everyone, move out of the way, time for me to step in and take her hand to be my future bride."
With that said, he got completely shoved to the back of the gymnasium, poor guy, just wanted to be with that girl.
They continued to ramble again and again about who gets to be with Emilia; there was clearly no stopping the crowd.
"Anyways, Zylus," Michael said, as he shifted his attention from that crowd to Zylus, "What made you try out to become a Demon Soldier?"
"Nothing in particular, just the benefits," Zylus said, lying with a great poker face.
"Yeah, that's what most people are here for." Michael replied, "I'm different, though. I'm here to find the trick to immortality."
That's honestly a really cool goal, just too bad I can't tell him mine, it has to be secret, that's what Chris Tall told me.
"But, another benefit is the fact that I had to live in a cell for two years straight, so coming here is a very nice refresher," Zylus said, smiling.
Zylus was now eighteen, and he felt matured, but never seen himself in the mirror yet. He wondered about his reflection: beautiful, handsome, or gentle.
"A cell?!" Michael screamed, accidentally spitting onto Zylus's face, "A cell is honestly insane." He proclaimed.
"Why? Where were you living?" Zylus asked.
"On the streets," Michael replied.
After Michael responded, there was a huge silence. That silence ended with a spontaneous laugh, and both their arms hung around each other now, in a buddy-buddy type of fashion.
Up until now, Zylus has just been living in that same cell that Chris put him into. However, Zylus had changed in multiple ways. His physical prowess, his looks, his fit, even everything, and all of that was from his system. Almost as if he went through ten years of puberty in only two.
You see, Zylus's system is unique compared to others, as he could expand every one of his abilities using points. Thus, by doing quests every day, including ones he stockpiled so he's not forced to do in advance, he spread all those points evenly. Earning him a now much more mature look. In the human world, girls would fall head over heels for him, but in the Demon realm, all they care about is strength. And that's why he hasn't been getting any girls.
He would live off any food found in trash, and would continue picking out random items to help him. Each item he had picked was thrown out late at night by higher-class demons.
Using some randoms in the marketplaces on the street, he also picked up much more information.
And now he has changed, looking more mature than ever.
He was ready to take on spirits without the rage mode he had earlier.
This was his time to make a name for himself, to get him into the spirit realm.