Upon waking up, Kenny got up from his bed and began to change into the standard Vanquisher uniform.
Kenny climbed the stairs leading up to Williams bunk and shook his shoulder lightly in an attempt to wake him up.
"Will, wake up."
William groaned and pulled his blankets over his head. Kenny grabbed the blanket and pulled it off William, throwing it onto the wooden floor. William turned his head toward Kenny.
"It''s time to get up, if you don''t, we''re going to be late."
William sighed.
"Why does it have to be so early?" William asked while still half asleep.
"Just get up."
William climbed down and prepared himself. Kenny equipped his baldric and placed his sword in it.
Kenny and William walked out of the room, William looking visibly nervous.
Upon walking out of the barracks, both Kenny and William assembled with the rest of their platoon. There were at least 60 Vanquisher''s present, Kenny''s recruit platoon of 20, another recruit platoon of 20, and an elite platoon of 25.
Two men opened the gates of the Vanquisher base, the group then walked through the gates.
Waiting for them was the people of Tillian, cheering and chanting. This made Kenny feel a little emotional, he never thought he would be the one to be marching the streets to go seal a pathway.
Kenny noticed that all the other recruits had a similar reaction to the crowd. They were excited yet unnerved.
They marched until they reached the plaza of the city. At the center of it, the same beam of white light that had mesmerized Kenny every time he saw it. He really couldn''t get used to the sight of the light that reached far into the skies.
He quickly composed himself. Three Lieutenants stood infront of the group, they began to speak about what their mission was in the expedition, which Kenny didn''t really listen much since he already knew what his role was.
After their motivational speech was over, the group began to marched into the white light, it took a while before Kenny reached the light since there were about 50 other people who needed to enter first.
The light grew closer and closer making Kenny and the rest more nervous. Eventually, the light was right infront of him and he walked through. After entering a pathway, there''s no going back unless you obtain a key and seal it, which Kenny had prepared himself for.
He felt quite nauseous after entering the light, which everyone probably does after their first time.
He had his eyes closed while entering the pathway, once he opened them, he saw a crimson red sky. The land was covered in red. Tall red rock formations could be seen everywhere, but were quite a distance from each other. The place looks like it would be boiling hot, but it wasn''t, It was warm but not too hot or cold.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
In front of him was what seemed to be a island floating in the sky, though from his perspective it looked like a spec. Black Metal chains protruded from the edges of the island, leading all the way down to the ground.
Only a couple minutes later after entering the pathway, a loud ear deafening roar could be heard in the distance.
From behind one of the large red rocks, a large creature emerged from it. The recruits looked horrified by the sight of the creature.
A demon.
It''s skin was pale and grey with a slight ashy texture, its body was skinny and bony making it seem like the thing had never eaten, and it''s slim arms lead to its sharp and long claws. But what what made the tall humanoid creature terrifying was that it''s head was not there, from the place where it''s neck was supposed to be was just open flesh, and in it''s stomach, was a large open mouth with countless sharp and deformed teeth.
The Demon on all fours and charged towards the Vanquisher''s like a starving beast. The thing was drooling at the sight of humans, but it didn''t really need any sustenance to survive, it was just our for the kill.
"It''s a D-Rank Demon!" One of the Lieutenant screamed.
Although the recruits were scared at the sight of the disgusting thing, they quickly calmed themselves and readied for a battle.
The D-Rank Demon was charging at the group all 25 of the elite Vanquishers. Though, they swiftly defeated the thing in mere minutes.
The only way Kenny could describe what he had witnessed was… spectacular.
Their attacks were coordinated and precise, they barely even spoke to each other throughout the 7 minute battle.
After the victory over the D-Rank Demon, one of the Elite Vanquishers took a piece of iron and flint. The female Vanquisher began to strike the two pieces together and created a fire, she then proceeded to set the Demon on fire which made Claire a little confused as to why the female Vanquisher had done that.
"Why are they burning it, do they despise demons that much?" Claire asked.
Kenny looked to Claire.
"How come you don''t know anything about Vanquishers?" Kenny asked Claire with a disappointing look.
Kenny sighed.
"It''s so the body doesn''t attract more demons to our area." William said.
"Ah… I see." Claire responded.
The group began to move, not wanting to take any chances of getting attacked by another demon.
While traversing purgatory, the group of Vanquishers surprisingly didn''t encounter any demons for some apparent reason, it was honestly concerning.
After a while of traveling through purgatory for a while, the sky island wasn''t getting much closer which made Claire visibly irritated.
"How long till we get there?" Claire asked.
"It''s going to be quite a while before we get there. Mabye in a day or two, depending on our pace." William responded.
"Two days?!"
Claire looked defeated. She was never the patient type so this expedition would be a arduous one for her.
Finally, night had befallen them and they settled down near a giant red rock to rest for the night. During the night, groups of around ten to fifteen people stood guard in case of an attack from a demon.
Kenny was sitting on the ground since it was his turn to take over the guard position. Then, an unexpected surprise came from one of the tents.
It was Victor Von. Victor approached Kenny and awkwardly sat down next to him.
Kenny looked at him with a confused look.
"Do you need something?" Kenny asked.
Victor stayed quite for a few seconds before he spoke. He scratched the back of his head and said:
"Uhh, I''m… uhh… sorry."
Kenny''s face froze.
Victor apologizing? The guy who was so prideful and arrogant?
But what puzzled Kenny even more was why he was apologizing, and why now?
"What for?" Kenny asked while still giving Victor a confused look.
"You know, for being an asshole, always acting like I was better than you. At first, I thought you were a nobody who thought he was strong, but after the mock battles and the mission to Mithilis, I instantly realized that I was wrong."
It was true, for some reason that Kenny didn''t know, Victor would always try to antagonize and belittle him over the short time they had been in the Corps.
''So that was it, huh?''
"Anyways that''s all I wanted to say." Victor said as he stood up and walked away.
Kenny sighed softly.
"So that''s what is was. But it still feels weird and awkward when you apologize, so dont, it''s fine." Kenny said.
Victor momentarily looked back at Kenny, then walked into the tent.