~SKYLAR AMBERLY VITALIS

---

There was something about the abuse of power that didn’t sit right with me.

However, in this case, I didn’t have much of a choice.

I needed a place to test my physical limitations… so I had the management close down the building’s gym floor for the next six hours.

I had never really thought about it until this point, but it made me shudder at how much power my stepfather’s name had.

He owned the skyrise anyways. It was the apartment place for more than two thirds of his employees!

All I had to do was mention my name and my request, and they reserved an entire upper floor just for my convenience.

“That’s kind of tyrannical, isn’t it?”

I voiced my thoughts to Fumiko as I casually bench-pressed a barbell with two-hundred kilos on either end. The only thing limiting me from adding further weights was the fact that the bar holding the weights had begun to bend slightly under the load, and I didn’t want to permanently warp it or worse.

“What is?” Fumiko asked from where she sat against the wall with a stop-timer and counter in hand.

“The fact that we live above the company employees…” I pointed out. “Isn’t that like… hypocrisy? Especially since Xander’s company deals in biotech prosthetics?”

“But he doesn’t live in the penthouse. We do.” Fumiko countered. “Perhaps it’s a show that he puts his daughters above all else.” she shrugged.

“Not if the building burns from the lower floors up.” I said.

“Thanks… now I’m going to have nightmares for weeks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyways, how long are you going to hold that?” Fumiko looked pointedly at the four-hundred kilos of weight I was casually holding up above my chest.

“Well, I can feel the weight and the slight strain on my arms. But to be honest with you I’m not even tired.” I told her. “Not to brag, but I think I can even fall asleep like this.”

We moved on from one machine to the next.

However, all that seemed to be limiting the use of my strength and stamina was the limitations of the machines and their mechanisms.

With the right stance and balance my tails could curl around a barbel and cap at lifting two-hundred kilos above my head with a little extra effort.

But the strength of my tails seemed to be the only limit we could find that my new body had.

“Well, the training machines and equipment are built for human-use after all.” Fumiko pointed out.

I was arm-curling hundred kilo weights in each hand at this point, and wasn’t even breaking a sweat after sixty reps each.

“I feel like I’m cheating.” I told her honestly. “I worked a lot on keeping fit and in shape before… but this is insane.” I sighed, “Makes me feel like all my effort went down the drain.”

“Well actually, if your transformation took into account your human body’s state – which I’m guessing it did, since you look more or less the same physically under all the demon stuff – then your efforts weren’t wasted.” Fumiko shrugged offhandedly.

I smiled a little, “Thanks sis.”

“Don’t call me that!” She turned around and pouted.

“Come on, we’re nearly done. All I need help with is testing my speed. Then I’ll cook dinner for a change.” I offered.

“Oh no! You keep your clumsy little claws out of my kitchen!” She shot out at me, “You cook with two left feet! And I’d rather not die of salt poisoning!”

I gave her a sheepish look. ‘Well, I guess becoming a demon can’t improve skills you don’t have…’

The treadmill maxed out at forty kilometres an hour. Which made sense. Since there was no point in making one that would go beyond natural human speeds.

In fact, even forty was too fast for an average human when one considered that over ninety-nine percent of the global population were not – and were never going to be – Olympic athletes.

For an Avnumi though…it felt just a tad faster than a human’s walking speed.

“It’s been over an hour.” Complained Fumiko in boredom.

“Really?” I snapped out of my thoughts.

I hadn’t even chipped at my stamina or even broken a sweat.

“What about your horns? Don’t you want to test those?” Fumiko asked as I was stopping the treadmill.

“No!” my hands went up as I grabbed my own horns defensively.

My sister arched a questioning brow.

“I can feel them.” I admitted, “I don’t think they’re just bones.”

“They look more like carved onyx rather than bones.” she pointed out.

I ran my fingers over the segmented ridges of my draconic horns up to their curved, pointed tips. “I don’t care what they look like. I’m not giving you the satisfaction of bashing them with anything.”

“Be logical.” she sighed, “I'm not going to bash your head against the wall. However, if they follow the trend of the rest of your body, then that won’t do anything to them either.” She elaborated.

“Well, I'm not exactly going to use them as weapons. So, for now I can do without trying to see if I can break them off.” I dismissed the thought.

We gathered our things to go.

“Aren’t you just too absurdly strong already?” Fumiko asked as we took the elevator up.

“Strength is a matter of perspective.” I told her. “Right now, I rank level zero in the demon world.” I shuddered a little even before my next words had left my mouth. “And I’ve told you already. There are demons like Gaia.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “If there are beings out there that can bring you to your knees or kill you with just their presence alone…Then I can’t even begin to imagine what other horrors await me in the other worlds. You may think I’m strong now, but I feel sorely underprepared.”

~

“How do I look?” I asked Fumiko.

“Stupid.” She concluded. “Like a really poorly thought-out cosplay of a rip-off character.”

“Ugh… Drive the knife in deeper why don’t you.” I responded in mock hurt.

After spending the remainder of my time and day learning how to at least use my chains in some basic ways, I was now merely minutes away from being summoned.

“Can you even see in that?” Fumiko nodded at the wolf mask.

The mask didn’t have any physical holes for eyes – only the swirl of the silver designs upon it made a mock outline of where the eyes should have been.

Although it looked like that on the outside, on the inside I could see my surroundings just as clearly as when I didn’t have anything on my face.

“I can see fine. Don’t worry. Feels just like wearing my helmet’s visor.” I explained.

I was wearing a black tank top and black shorts, with a jacket tied around my waist by the sleeves to conceal the utility belt beneath.

My digitigrade boots were strapped properly, and the small shin guards were perfect fits for my double-jointed legs.

Aside from the Chains of Lucifer on my forearms, I had a hunting knife strapped to my lower back, over my tails.

The idea was, that the knife would remain concealed unless explicitly needed. And when that moment would come, I could easily lift the jacket out of the way with my tails and grab the knife with ease.

The Chains of Lucifer didn’t need concealment. Because unless someone knew that the half-bracelets half-gauntlets on my arms housed chains, it wasn’t anything obvious.

I had decided not to fill the chains’ slots for now. Figuring that I could bump up my evolution and gain higher level things to better suit my use of them.

Fumiko had stayed up late and worked in her own way to pack me food for five days. Of which surprisingly only took one inventory slot even though they were all separated in individually labelled containers.

I was warned that they were hot, but I assured her that it was perfect due to my heat resistance, and that my inventory would maintain the temperature without it dropping too much due to the way time worked within.

I was expecting my first trip to be a quick one, but we had plans to cover for the nature of my absence for a maximum of two weeks.

Which wasn’t hard, since I often disappeared for a few days to take scenery photos out of state.

“Aren’t you showing too much skin?” Fumiko fussed a little over the fact that my tank top only covered my chest properly, and my abdomen was left entirely exposed.

Not to mention the fact that I didn’t even have sleeves and that my shorts were… short.

“I’m maximising for mobility and flexibility of movement.” I justified myself, “Besides, I have a few scales here and there… and I think the style makes me aesthetically look the part.” I gestured to my horns, legs, and tails.

“The part of what?” She narrowed her eyes, “An adult with *eighth-grader syndrome?”

I cocked my head in slight confusion.

* [Author’s note: A Chunibyo. A Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.]

>SUMMON INITIATING

Sigils started forming around my feet in multiple bands of magic circles as the power became brighter and the air vibrated with the powers of the aether before I could question about the terminology.

Fumiko could obviously see the rings forming on the floor around me, since she quickly stepped out of range when they expanded.

>SEEKING CONFIRMATION FROM USER NOCTURNA

“Wish me luck.” I told my sister with a wink and a salute as I accepted the summon, and plunged into the abyss of the swirling webs of primordial energies.

I hadn’t taken notice of how nervous I was, until I was being washed along through the winding bends of the tunnel, and had a moment to take a few deep breaths.

I had avoided dragging along any unnecessary things in a backpack, and this had the magnified effect of making me feel more unprepared than I already was.

The only thing in my inventory from Earth, aside from the food, was my phone.

To distract my mind, I tried thinking of ways to present myself, and as to what kind of persona I wanted to adopt as a demon.

Then I gave up on the idea. Since it would be too bothersome to keep up such an act.

There was nothing wrong with staying true to my own character after all.

‘Here we go Skye!’ I hyped myself. ‘Get your game face on!’

The pinching of the tunnel was different this time.

Instead of chucking me out like a spit ball, I slowed down and then slowly started ascending.

I felt a tingling sensation wash over me as I rose through what was definitely a barrier – and found myself rising out of a magic circle.

I was standing under are large wilted tree, whose gnarled branched and roots that had long withered and blackened.

The three-ringed magic circle surrounding me was etched into the stone of the ground, of which a few of the tree’s roots had upheaved… and because of a few of the missing sections, I could feel the waver and splutter in the charge of power that was pulling me from the abyss.

The shimmering of the summoning circle died gradually as the portal closed and my boots met the stone of the ground.

When the rays of magical light were no longer blinding me, I could see that the tree was under the open sky.

A light, fresh breeze was blowing and outside of the stone ring that surrounded the tree was flat open plains covered in short, lush green grass.

In front of me was a stone path that led to a massive building – probably a castle – about a hundred metres away.

On the path stood a werewolf…

A she-wolf to be precise.

I stilled. ‘Well… she’s the only one here, so she must be my summoner.’

The werewolf had a towering form of about two metres high, with a surprisingly lean yet muscular furred beastly body.

Even though I was taller than average by human standards – a bit taller now due to the new legs… The she-wolf still towered a head above me.

She was humanoid in shape and standing upright on strong dog-like digitigrade hind legs.

Her face retained its wolf form, with a long snout and long pointed ears.

Her glacial-blue eyes eyed me nervously. A pair of tiny black horns poked out about five centimetres out of what seemed to be her hairline.

However, there was a thick ruff of fur that adorned her jawline and flowed down around her neck to finish up in the middle of her chest between her ample breasts.

It was like an unruly mane of hair.

Her arms ended in clawed and padded hands.

A wildly fluffed tail, which reached down behind her knees, swished lazily behind her.

Her fur was black all over… with a metallic sheen over her coat where the daylight caught it at an angle.

She wore a minimal amount of leather that covered her most important parts, and a simple black skirt that was secured by a belt.

Aside from the simple attire she carried nothing else, not even a dagger.

“Demon, make an oath with me!” the she-wolf demanded immediately, “Remain at my side for three days, promise to cause me no harm, fight as my second and you will be rewarded upon your return to where you came.” She spoke with a strong voice that dipped a little and carried the slightest note of a growl in the tone and pronunciations.

“I choose to accept on the condition that you provide proper lodging for me, adequate rest when required and that you treat me as well as an equal.” I crossed my arms.

“Deal.” She agreed.

I felt a stir from the depts of my very core, and black threads burst from my chest like oily webbings, mingling and merging with the golden-white ribbons that burst from the she-wolf’s chest.

There was the sound of sizzling as the amalgamation of threads and ribbons wrapped and ignited! They burned a solid green, but the reaction was scentless.

Then in a short flash, everything was still and the reaction was all gone.

I felt a weight settle on my mind like a physical warning based on the content of the formed contract.

‘Interesting…’ I noted. ‘I can recall the exact words of the contract at will.’

The she-wolf seemed to be having a harder time. Shaking her head vigorously and growling a little.

“My name is Amelie.” She huffed a little after recovering. “What should I call you?”

“Nocturna.” I told her.

It was at this point that I was starting to notice the subtle differences… I had been worried about the language barrier, but the aether system obviously made provisions for that.

~

~AMELIE FLOE

---

The summoning had gone rather successfully, but Amelie was a little sceptical and apprehensive of the demoness.

She hadn’t been entirely accepting of the counter-conditions and the contract had made her feel the full backlash of it as a warning.

Amelie also felt slightly offended at the sight of Nocturna’s mask… wondering if the demoness was openly mocking the Lycaos race or if the piece was merely an extension of her face, since it wasn’t held in place by any straps.

Amelia walked back towards the academy and Nocturna trailed behind.

The wolf-girl could have sworn that the demoness was more interested in the environment rather than anything else, but she couldn’t be sure since the mask lacked eyes.

There wasn’t even anything interesting around.

Loki’s Academy City stood in the centre of the neutral zone and didn’t belong to any one country.

In fact, it was a place for a diverse array of Lycaos species, that were both students and teachers.

It was pretty rare to get a place as quiet and as isolated as the fields of the Sakura Mortem to conduct a summoning. But Amelie wasn’t a summoner and the base of the old blood-lusting tree was one of the few places in the academy designed by the ancients to summon demons without any adept understanding of the arcane arts.

“What kind of demon are you?” Amelie asked as they walked. “You don’t look like a Lycan.”

“A Lycan?” Nocturna puzzled.

“Yes. A member of the Lycaos race.” said Amelie, “What I am.” she gestured at herself.

“I consider myself closer to human despite my looks.” Said Nocturna.

“What’s a… hue-man?” Amelie was a little confused at the term.

“Is Lycaos the only race in this world?” Nocturna changed the subject.

“Aside from the animals?” Amelie eyed the demon, “There’s temporarily you.”

Nocturna lowered her head slightly in thought.

“You never answered my question.” Amelie noted.

“I’m an Avnumi.” Nocturna answered offhandedly.

Amelie got the faint impression that she had heard the word before, but she couldn’t place it.

“Amelie, you mentioned fighting…” Nocturna prompted.

“Yes, I have a series of practical tests to pass to graduate.” The she-wolf explained, “I’ve already done the written exams, but starting this afternoon for the next three days, there’s an exhibition match. Nothing is ranked but recruiters come to see the talents the students have to put on display.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’d need to summon a demon for that.” Nocturna pointed out.

“Participation requires a group of two and upwards.” Amelie said. “It’s easier to summon a demon than find a partner. Familiars or contracted spirits are also acceptable.”

“Sounds like a clash of magic on an impressive scale.” Nocturna sounded genuinely impressed.

“Yes. In truth, since the match isn’t ranked and participation is voluntary, we might get pitched against a group of eight or ten people eventually.”

“Sounds like really bad odds…”

Amelie shrugged, “Depends on how you use the environment… and what environments we get.”

“Environments?”

“The match is held in the gauntlets for three days. We might get arctic or rain-forest or lava terrain… it’s random, but based on this year’s application of students there might be some really dangerous things.”

“Wait! It’s one exhibition match that lasts three days?!” Nocturna stopped in her tracks. “If a gauntlet is the environment… how big is it?”

“The environment shifts every twelve hours. So, there’ll be five in all.” Amelia shrugged, “But this is my first time participating so I don’t know much else about the rules. I’ve only ever watched as a spectator.”

“How dangerous is this exhibition match exactly?” Nocturna seemed… concerned.

“Last year, nine students died. But I doubt that’s of any concern to you. I’m sure you have your…demonic ways.”

“Amelie, exactly what kind of powers are you going into this with?” Nocturna asked.

“Oh, I don’t have any magical powers. My family line was never gifted with those. That’s why I had to borrow a friend’s power to summon you.” Amelie answered. “However, I do have hunter-skills and despite not being powerful, they are useful. But they sometimes require concentration and time to use, that’s why I need power to compliment them.”

Nocturna sighed heavily, “Amelie… I don’t have a shred of magic to spare. I’m a physical fighter. And even then, my skills aren’t designed for outright attacks.”

Amelie paused. “Ah… this… this might be a problem.” she thought about it for a moment, before continuing on, “But I’m not going to give up here. I’ll finish this even if it kills me.”

“Why so determined?” Nocturna asked in resignation. “It doesn’t sound like this is just about your graduation.”

“You just have to stick with me till the end of this. The reason doesn’t really matter to you, now does it?” she narrowed her eyes at the demoness.

“Fair.” Nocturna replied simply.

“However, you still have a registration test to pass before we’re both eligible for the match. They don’t just let students enter on a whim. After all, this is the most dangerous thing the academy makes provisions to host.”