Notes from the Demon King, page 142:

Of the six calamities that have been prophesized, we have experienced three. Two that have been conquered, plus one that is currently in progress.

The first was an explosion that rang out from the center of the planet, it’s said that it ripped across the world destroying structures and mutating all creatures that the wave of energy came in contact with. They also say that the six people closest to the epicenter of the explosion became the True Gods. I don't know if I believe that part buts that is what’s said.

What we do know for sure is that the explosion brought mana into the world, and thus magic was born.

The second calamity was a giant meteor slowly hurdling closer from space. Inevitably, when it struck the planet, all life would end in an extinction level event. That was a problem and all, but the strangest part of it was that the meteor was also radioactive. manaoactive? Magicioactive? gave off a strange kind of mana that seems to affect and change our own, the closer it got the more mutations occurred in people, especially new-born children, and their mana systems. These different groups are now what you know is the different races but really, we’re all just different breeds of the same species.

That was a calamity I was around for and actively took part in. And by took part in I mean personally stopped, but that’s a different story.

As for the third calamity, I don't know how people will stop it, nor even if it will be stopped. The world may not survive this one, but there is a chance. I think.

I don't personally know how the world would fare against this calamity, but I do know what the calamity is.

It's yours truly.

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Chapter four

Giel-

Geil loaded his spellarm, filling the magazine as the rest his party prepared themselves for the fight. He had always preferred the weapons over casting. Pushing in a little power, then pulling a trigger was much easier than forming complex symbols with the mana in his hands like Al and Hail did.

Spellarms were the perfect tool. Long raged, fast, and easy to use. Best of all, even without a cultivation base, anyone could use a spellarm due to their ability to absorb mana from the environment. That was a mentality that the artificer could get behind. He would admit without the elemental power that a magic user like him could provide they weren't very effective against more powerful creatures, but they were still useful in their own right, and would always have a special place in his heart.

And soon one of his bullets would have a special place in the Demon King head.

The Demon King was undoubtedly powerful, but a mana enhanced bullet was a mana enhanced bullet, and caught unaware even the strongest mage was still human-er…um… humanoid. A bullet to vital was still death if it wasn't expected. And who would be the less expected than a random no-trial.

So, that was Giel’s plan, get this whole thing done early, and be known as the hero -uh group of heroes who killed the Demon King before facing a single trial. Sure They would be sacrificing whatever training the Demon King had planned for them, if he actually had any planned at all. But with that amount of fame and eventual fortune, he...er they could get whatever trainer they wanted without having to worry about being killed by a literal demon in the end.

Just as Giel finished that thought the fight began.

Ali started them of with a fireball, as Kenn and Sandra rushed the Demon King.

“Oh? Are we starting?” the demon asked as the melee fighters closed, catching the fireball out of the air he said, “Basic spells are predicable Mrs.caster. You can't just use the casts you learn in books. You need to create something yourself,” He pivoted hurling the projectile back like a baseball, forcing Ali to dodge her own attack. At the same moment, Kenn reached the Demon King swinging his sword with all his might at the man’s head and neck, Sandra was on the other side aiming for the demons back and spine, both of them were failing miserably as the Demon King barely moved, but always seemed to be just out of reach of their blades.

“Damn it, he’s too fast” Sandra whined

“What did you expec-” Kenn began before he was interrupted by Ali

“Kenn, look out!” The caster shouted as the Demon King’s attention turned to Kenn, but it was too late.

“Too slow, warrior. It’s a sword not a baseball bat. Also, your grip is off, it's ruining your balance.” the demon said reaching down and adjusting Kenn’s hold on the sword, then, within the same second, sweeping the warrior's legs out from under his feet, causing Keen to fall to the ground. There was a horrible pop as the leg the Demon King had hit bent the wrong way on the way down, Kenn visibly stifling a scream.

The Demon King turned to deal with Sandy, shouting over his shoulder “healer why aren't you on this? You’re too engrossed in the fight. Not watching for enjoyment or out of horror you’re watching to see who’s injured, so you can get to them as fast as possible. A single second can mean you allies life or... DEATH!” he punctuated his statement by punching Sandra so hard in the stomach that she immediately threw up “You're too sloppy with your strikes, rouge. Focus on one or two points rather than stabbing willy-nilly” Sandra only groaning in response.

“What is wrong with you!? Ali shrieked at the demon, she was up now and sending a lightning bolt at the Demon Kings head.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you listen to anything I just said about basic casts?” the demon admonished. This time not even trying to dodge as the lightning seem to wrap itself around his body like ribbons, rather than electrocuting him. With a flick of his arm the bolt arced back to Ali, hitting her hand and sending jolts of twitching pain across the flesh of her arm, her body shuddered as volts of electricity coursed through her and the and the scream that began quickly cut of as she lost consciousness.

Seeing his chance Giel fired at the Demon King. Emptying his mag in a splay of bullets that were practically unavoidable.

Yet the Demon King avoided them.

He moved so fast that Giel couldn't follow. Completely dodging out of the way of the first few bullets before blocking the rest with his steel like claws, his arm swishing through the air and slapping the projectiles away. Giel blanched as he watched crushed lead pellets plop against the hard dirt.

“H-how?”

"Bullets don't work Jon…" the Demon King grinned "I can already tell you’re way too reliant on that thing. You have an active core, right? Why didn't you cast a spell that would synergize with the gunfire? ” he said flashing forward and landing a kick to the beast-kin's chest that felt like it broke ribs. Giel collapsed helpless to the crushing pain.

With that only Hailey was standing, trying her best to heal her comrades.

The fight was over, less than thirty seconds having passed since the first fireball.

“I’ve gotten what I needed.” Demon King said gesturing to Hailey “This parts your training. Those injuries should be completely treatable even with the low rank healing magic you're using” He laid back on the ground, seeming to relax as he waited for her to finish “Now get to it chop chop!”

‘Y-yes sir.” Hailey whimpered scrambling to do as she was told.

About half an hour later, after a lot of golden holy mana and bones snapping back into place, The entire party was back to full capacity, The Demon King had been right. Even with the pain of the injuries they had all been insignificant enough that they didn't even scar when Hailey used her magic to repair them. That was saying a lot.

Once they were all healed the demon waved them over, the entire party flinching at that small gesture.

Ignoring or not noticing their fear the Demon King spoke as if nothing happened "take a seat, all of you. let's discuss your performance."

Not knowing what else to do the students sat, though keeping their distance.

“After seeing you fight I hav-”

“You attacked us!” Ali hissed, but her usual heat just wasn't in it.

“Attacked you? No! First off, you came at me. Secondly, I said I would teach, not coddle, you. You want to cultivate, to use magic? Power always has a price and you’ll need to pay it in blood, sweat, tears, and most importantly pain. More pain, deeper pain than you are capable of imagining now. That’s true with me on any other teacher, no one can protect you from it on the path of power. So, if you can't handle the minor discomforts of a few broken bones and some burns you should give up on getting more powerful all together” he said looking each of them in the eyes to linger on Ali “because by the time you’re done, all that is going to feel like child’s play.” He paused to let his words sink in “anyone want to back out now?”

No one answered, a couple of seconds passed until finally heads shook. Mana cultivation had always been a shared dream of the friend groups. It was something they all wanted and the reason that any of them had become adventures in the first place. Geil couldn't pretend what the Demon King said didn't make him nervous, but it would take a bit more than that to shake him.

“Good. Now, as I was saying, After seeing you fight I've determined three things. One, you most definitely suck. Two, you do have the barest amount of potential and I can work with that. Three, I realized I never got your names so spit’em out.”

The party introduced themselves one at a time until it came to Hailey, who seemed to freeze up with the Demon Kings attention, introductions had always been the hardest for her,

Trying to help the elf Sandra started, “and this is Ha-” suddenly the Demon King's hand was over her mouth.

“She needs to say it. would you be more comfortable introducing yourself to a woman?” The Demon King asked seeming to flicker, only to be replaced with what could only be described as a female version of himself (herself?) “For some people it helps if the person is even a little more similar to you. Does this help?” the voice coming out of the demon now feminine and light.

The demon king looked much the same in broad details. Same skin tone, horns, eyes, and, tail. His(her) crimson hair reached down to his(her) shoulders in a curly mess, and (s)he had lost about half an inch in height. It seemed in every way she was now a woman. Rounder face, less broad shoulders, smaller waist, wider hips, the demon’s pants had even been somehow replaced a plaid business skirt. Seeing them all staring the demon smiled in a way that said ‘like what you see? Impressive right?’ better than any words could

As absurd as it was to watch the change did seem to help the healer, “I-I-I’m H-Hailey,” she managed “s-sorry about t-that…”

“Don't worry about it, kid. Social anxiety can be a bitch. Now,” the Demon King continued, not bothering to shift back into turn back into his (her) original form, “on to the matter of you sucking. Hailey, Sandra, Giel, Kenn, Ali, do any of you know why I beat you?”

“You're a more powerful mage that us?” Ali guessed scoffing

“True, Not a high bar as none of you are mages at all yet, but I didn't use any magic during that sparring session, except for when I redirected Ali’s spells of course but that just takes having a similar enough affinity and more Mana, so that's not it.”

“Your absurdly fast?” Sandra ventured.

“Also true, but barring the bullets, my speed there was kept down to the level of a mortal stage cultivator, a first-trial. A normal person still has a chance to land a hit or two, even if your attacks wouldn't have done anything to me, why couldn't you touch me?

“Because… we don't know what we’re doing” Hailey muttered

“Bingo” the Demon King said, shooting finger guns at her, a grin plastered on his(her) now feminine face “You all seem to think you have a handle on fighting, but you have no idea! Have you ever even gotten any formal instruction?”

“No” Kenn answered for all of them with a shake of his head.

“Then who let you dipshits become adventurers!? How are you not dead yet?" The demon said with a sigh "we’ll need to fix that, but not now. Now let's fix your other major problem, lets get you a cultivation base.”

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Sandra-

The Demon King Sat them all down in a line, their legs crossed in a lotus position. (s)he began speaking in a lecturing tone.

“Let’s start with the theory. Do you know what mana cultivation is?”

Ali scoffed, “Obviously, everyone knows that.”

“Just humor me. What is cultivation in your eyes?”

“You absorb mana and put it in your core to… make it better?” Sandra answered, her words shifting from a statement to a question as she spoke. The way the Demon King was looking let her know she wasn't quite right.

“That’s almost not wrong” the Demon King praised “It would be more accurate to say, that the basics of cultivation are the act of increasing the density and purity of your mana. Doing this improves your capacity, power, and control, among other things. There's more to it than that of course but that's the simplest way to explain it.”

“Okay” Kenn nodded along with the demon's statement “and how do we do that?”

“You can’t. Not yet. Cultivation is split into stages, and before you can get into real cultivation, you're going to have to make your way thought the first of these. We call it the mortal stage in the business, because during this stage your little more than a no-trial mortal with a few extra tricks.” The Demon King Waved his(her) hand making gestures to emphasize his(her) words "That’s our goal for the day, activate your cores, get you through your first trial and get you started on the mortal stage. And it’s nearing noon, so I’d prefer if you were first-trial mages by lunch.”

Sandra looked up, based on the position of the sun she would guess it was about eleven o’clock maybe ten thirty, she got the feeling that completing their trials by noon was a tall order. She wasn't complaining though. On the contrary, she was fucking pumped! She was about to learn to cultivate! She would have magic. She was still suspicious of the Demon King and his motives, all of them were, he had punched her in the gut after all, but that was no reason to pass up such an opportunity.

Getting your magical powers from the enemy wasn't unheard of in the books, and she had read on earth. In fact, it always led to the most powerful characters. Sandra willfully ignored the fact those types of characters just as often went insane or turned evil by the end.

“Lets get started.” Sandra said excitedly, practically vibrating with enthusiasm.

The Demon King laughed seeming to echo her emotions, “Lets do this then!”

He flickered, five of him popping into existence where there had been one before, each matching the gender of the student they stood in front of “lets get these cores fully active” all the Demon Kings said in unison pulling back their arms, and before any of the students could move landing a palm strike to each of their stomachs.

Sandra’s whole body buzzed, there was a strange crackling feeling, and with a sensation like being pulled into deep water, the world went dark.

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Captain Conmael-

Captain Sandril Conmael sat at a table within the guild hall of the small town he had come to recruit the students of the Demon King, Wallowdale he thought it was called, staring down at his drink, lost in thought.

He wasn't sure what he had gotten those kids into, but it couldn’t be anything good. He had reason to truly believe that the Demon King did intend to train the young party. As for how, he didn’t want to guess. There were only so many ways to reach the levels of strength the kids would need in as short a time as five years that he knew of, and none of them were pleasant, or would leave the practitioner sane after the fact.

Whatever that demon wanted with them was sure to be something he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.

Sandril couldn't allow himself to regret his actions though, he had done what he did for the good of his kingdom. No, the world. Yet still he looked into his cup as if it would provide solace from his guilt.

Just as he finally worked up the willpower to take a sip of his ale, he felt a vibration within his core.

With a sigh, that he immediately admonished himself for, he activated the communication construct intertwined within his mana network.

The buzzing immediately ceased to be replaced by a voice

“Captain Conmael,” The unmistakable voice of his commander spoke into his head “how is your mission progressing.”

Sandril responded silently, speaking only in his mind “It has gone well, Ma’m. I delivered the party to the Demon King and am now waiting for their return and decision.”

“Decision?! I thought I made it clear that you weren’t to offer them a choice!”

"I did not. The Demon made it optional. He says he does not want to force them.”

“Bullshit!” the commander cursed “What is that creature planing?”

Sandril stayed quiet his opinion wasn't required here.

“Do you still have our ‘other option?’” The commander asked her voice turning somber.

The captain winced, “Yes I... I do. But Ma’m, if I may speak out of turn I would rather not use it.”

"I feel the same. But His Majesty required it as an… alternate extermination method. I need to update him on the situation one moment please.”

The commanders voice disappeared, several minutes passing as Captain Conmael waited for her return.

She broke back in suddenly, her tone bitter

“New orders from the crown” She said informing the captain of what he was to do.

Sandril listened, hating every word. His table cracking and splitting in places as the weight of his anger pressed down on it. Finally, the commander finished, and he had his order’s.

“Yes, ma’m” He forced out, trying to keep his voice neutral

“Good luck captain. And for what its worth I’m sorry.”

With that Sandril’s mind went quite, his inner voice alone once more

The captain choked down the rest of his ale and ordered another, it wouldn't do much for a fifth-trial mage, but he could use any buffer he could get for what he was about to do.