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<td style="width: 95.886364%">This is a bonus chapter!</td>
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I stood around lazily. There was one silver lining in this new promotion: I could slack off a lot more blatantly. Back in the day, I believed I used to stroll around the floor of that office, looking like I knew what I was doing. I figured being called a Nameless one here was similar to my past life. Unassuming and always overlooked. I didn’t notice it at first, but I learned that the locals here were quite unnerved by my presence already. I couldn’t blame them, really. If a tall woman, clad head to toe in black armor, approached me with burning red eyes I would be a little nervous, too. When the guys wanted me to get a name, or give myself a name, I simply couldn’t come up with one and refused them. I didn’t really know why. I guessed I couldn’t go by my original name, Park Yuuna, or simply Yuuna, and my small mind couldn’t afford to spend any time on creativity. These training sessions already costed me several brain cells to come up with.
Men from Noble Houses, coming from the Fair Demon lines, offered to give one to me. They were quite pompous and rich, making for decent entertainment before I skipped back into duty. I didn’t have a hard time shrugging off their marriage proposals to me. Demons were fairly simple: Those who were weak ran away from my rejection or did nothing and the more persistent ones, well, they didn’t live to tell the tale. I chuckled to myself. I guess that promotion to Captain gave me a second silver lining. I could kill any problem that bothered me. The splashing of weak bodies breaking against the Pit’s smelly flesh brought me back to the present.
The Ack’Sa, the Demon God King himself, rose here at some point. His old vessel’s Spine was shattered and scattered all over this land, apparently. They were as tall as fortresses and the larger ones as imposing as skyscrapers. Surely He wouldn’t mind me forcing his minions into climbing up and down the Spine repeatedly for training, right? I took a step back as one of the privates fell a couple feet in front of me, splashing some red blood from the Pit and potentially from his own body on my face. I groaned, kicked the lifeless guy into the abyss and signaled the end of this training session for the men. I wondered if the Ack’Sa was going to resurrect here again since the Pestilence bloodline was beginning their creepy rituals all over again.
I had them do this training for only a few months now, but everyone was pretty much on sync. They had to be. In this high stress, fast pace and constantly shifting workplace, a single moment of hesitation would cost one dearly. I originally opted to not kill subordinates, but the Hells seemed to be a revolving door. If a man ended up in the abyss down there in the Cycles, another would eventually take his place. Something white and as big as a hand was thrown at me, but Yokgu caught it. Tsk. He looked at the offender and before steam burst out his ears I raised a lazy hand.
“Is there a problem, Igrim?” I spoke lazily at the Hatred Demon. Of all the bloodlines, Hatred Demons enjoyed being annoying the most. A look of surprise flashed on the stupid demon’s face, since he didn’t expect me to remember his name. I guessed. Though, his meager internal programming process finally rebooted and he started to get mad again.
“You…!” Igram growled. He had another piece of bone in his hand, but he tossed it aside after Yokgu scowled at him. “Force us under these Suns…! Never do work…!”
I feigned annoyance, though I was inspecting my nails.
“I’m your boss, duh,” I stated without any emotions. The more sensible men amongst the unit calmed down at the dark shift in my tone. There were a bit more rebellious and newer transfers, each gathering around Igram like a bundle of angry kittens. Unlucky for them, I scoffed. I was not a cat person. I didn’t have my armor on, because it was hot outside. I leaned on my sword, which sunk into the Pit’s flesh and anchored to something hard underground. “Well, I’ll tell you useless idiots what. I’m feeling a little restless—“ I assumed a fighting stance and motioned them all to come at me. “Why don’t you give me some exercise?”
Immediately, a flurry of boots squished into the spongy surface of the Pit and surrounded the spectacle. Yokgu clapped, eager to see how horribly mangled the new recruits were going to end up as. I rolled my eyes, but a notification entered my visions.
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<td style="width: 95.886364%">Alert: Hostile Skill Users in the area.</td>
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Two Power fists came at me, but they were far too slow to me and didn’t pose any challenge to dodge. I swiftly ducked without any effort, aiming a punch of my own at one of the attacker’s gut. The blow broke through his flesh, like punching a damn sandwich. Skin, muscle, spine, skin. Oh, and a couple of gooey organs came through with my closed fist out the guy’s side. A couple of spinal column fragments flung out the other side like a paper shredder going haywire. Whoops, I withdrew my strike in an instant and lept back before the other Power Body Skill even had a chance to close the distance, shaking the jelly that coated my arm. A chorus of oohs and ahs hollered through the crowd as I observed the hostile crew. Four more idiots, unnerved by the sudden brutality I just displayed and their dead friend. I regarded them with a mild amusement, then began my assault. Despite several of them glowing white with their Power Skills, my fists made no distinction.
Bodies flew around me and it was only then when I noticed my shoulder felt a bit sore. White glowing bodies thudding on the red stained plains, making the place look like a damn dancefloor. They were like shredded ships caught in a storm, draining rapidly and inevitably into a whirlpool. That whirlpool was me, naturally. I whirled around after flinging a screaming man down into the Pit’s maw, noticing that there was a Demon who managed to land a punch on me.
“A lucky hit,” I sighed, then shoved him into the bloody ground with a hook punch.
Beyond him, the crowd of my recruits were suddenly shoved aside by someone bigger fast approaching. I immediately recognized the stranger by the black and golden trimmed armor, his tall figure, and confident look on him. The Knight Vastil, huh? Instead of saying anything after taking the sight of me beating up my soldiers, he simply stood a few head tallers amidst the soldiers and watched the show. The last man, Ingram, was stronger than the rest of the morons. Or perhaps his brain hasn’t processed all the wounds he had on him, making him think he could still fight.
My face must have unnerved the crowd enough, remaining indifferent as ever, killing the excitement that once buzzed. Even Vastil seemed to shift imperceptibly after watching me finish Ingram off without any further fuss.
“What’s up, Knight Vastil?” I asked nonchalantly, wiping my hands and turning to salute him. I could speak a bit more casually with him, owing to the fact that he still liked me for some reason. He looked at the piles of armored bodies scattered around me, then at me. I realized I was still dressed in my commoner clothes. “It’s hot out.”
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I gave him a hurried excuse.
“You’re active today, Captain,” he noted aloud. Yokgu scoffed, but I grinned. So beating up some unruly subordinates was considered active? I could adjust my metrics accordingly, then.
“You want a turn?” I gave him a friendly taunt. Vastil stared at me, then at the Black Blade plunged into the flesh. It was a silent witness to all the carnage that happened before, unmoved and untouched.
“They say that you have ran your little band differently than the rest of the armies,” he said with a hint of resignation. “Now I see.”
He strode over to me, but his eyes were still on the Black Blade. I stood off to the side. If there was anyone else in the Ack’Sa’s armies that could lift that thing, it was certainly Vastil and the higher ups, right? He stuck his hand on the handle, but it would not budge. A wave of gasps spread across the crowd, including an involuntary one coming from my mouth. Surely he was just messing around, right? After shaking his hand and exerting a considerable amount of effort, the blade deemed him unworthy of moving. I sighed and walked up to the Blade and took it out without any problem.
“Is this thing enchanted by magic or something?” I asked, performing a couple of effortless strikes with it. Vastil laughed. It was not a pleasant one, but not his original and arrogant laugh. The men were thoroughly scared of me now and no hostile notifications showed up anymore, so I could humor this guy without worry.
“No. You’re just a… What is it that you say, orc?” He directed his question to Yokgu. The orc scoffed and ignored him scornfully. I still haven’t figured out why they didn’t like each other.
“A freak,” Yokgu finally answered. “By the Ack’Sa, she is a freak.”
“So there it is, Captain,” Vastil chuckled contentedly and patted my shoulder. Was being strong a problem? As if reading my face, he smirked. “You’re not just strong. All eighteen of those men you destroyed were Power Skill holders, and all they were worthless.”
“One of them hit my shoulder,” I muttered. Vastil sighed, but said nothing and sauntered off.
I thought that would be the last of him, but unfortunately for the next few weeks he kept showing up and even participated in my training regiments. I began to feel gloomy over my inability to slack off, but the Knight surprisingly did not complain as he followed my movie-inspired training sessions, mixed in with the military training from my old world’s college days. With his presence, however, nobody could complain. I did not know if those muscle building sessions and endurance missions helped Demons at all, so I cranked the difficulty up even more, partly out of revenge against Vastil.
In a few months, all of the Hatred Demons were swiftly under my command. Vastil had skipped training for the entirety of the last week, but he showed up one afternoon with a wicked grin. I stared at him blankly.
“Sword,” he pointed at my blade. I didn’t need to know what he wanted to test, so I simply unsheathed it. The vicious hiss of its demonic presence sang in the air, but silently crushed a crater into the fleshy ground when I dropped it. Under a flock of gorestabbers flying overhead, Vastil approached the sword as if it was a sleeping tiger.
Then he picked up the sword after considerable effort. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Impressive,” I heard myself say, but that made Vastil’s ears perk up at the compliment. They were pointed like mine, but the rest of his features were sharp like a vampire from a movie or something. Despite him showing up often to train with us, I still didn’t pay him any attention.
“Ah, your first generous compliment to me, Nameless,” Vastil smirked. I groaned. Seeing my disappointment, his grin grew even longer. “Don’t you worry your pretty crimson eyes, Nameless. I bring you good news. I heard from some Pestilence Imp friends of mine that you’re quite the fan of bugs.”
Pestilence Imps? I furrowed my brows in disgust and disbelief. Fair Demons don’t like those guys. Vastil let out a laugh and I sensed genuine amusement in his tone, so I snatched my sword from his arms and sheathed it. He produced a scroll. I noticed the insignia on it and groaned once again.
“A transfer,” Vastil shoved the scroll in my hands. “You’ll be serving the Abyssal Army a week from now. Plenty of time to do all of… this.”
I glanced at the men who were training furiously behind me. Their bodies bulged with muscle built over surviving these months, so I guessed my training worked after all. Vastil gave me another glance, but left me to my own devices. After unraveling the scroll, I was decisively disappointed. I was to serve a General in the Abyssal Army. What a nightmare. Those bugs were fine, I guessed, but they were not fun to look at. Much like Vastil’s smug face.
The sun blazed as I strode over to give my guys the bad news, but they cheered. Whether that was due to not having to train a week from now or the prospect of battle coming with the transfer, I didn’t know. For now, we had limited time to train and make proper preparations. I wandered over to the Abyssal hives in the Spine’s Pit. The hives were brown structures, complimenting the red flesh of the Pit’s infection in an odd kind of way. This particular hive took over a human village. The bones and remains fused with the hive’s waxy skin. It grew over human villages that were build by their original ancestors. Sand stone, bricks made out of tiles, stucco and other similar materials were exposed in open patches, revealing traces of human culture behind it. Green and orange painted tiles in geometric patterns stretched across the sandy surfaces, tucked underneath the wax’s veil.
I observed all of this, avoiding eye contact with the gross bugs hiding within every hexagon of the hive. As I stood in the last remaining room still standing in this rundown village, a lot of buzzing suddenly came to life beneath the wax coated walls. A thousand tiny buzz saws bothered my ears, but then a million tiny black dots suddenly crawled across my skin. I shuddered involuntarily, but to my horror I realized that they were insects! Hells, I steeled myself. If I was in a hallway with a bunch of people, I’d do my best to avoid touching them. These Abyssal bugs didn’t care for personal space at all. In between the streaks of the black misty bug swarm, the suns’ amber streaks reflected off the translucent film of the wax. A form shaped in front of me. This creature, a hivemind of sorts, was an Abyssal Watcher. I’ve heard of them, but they operated as spies and deadly warriors since electric flyswatters haven’t been invented yet.
If I was honest with myself, I assumed everything insect related in Demon territory was in fact the Abyssal Army, though logistics and management of trillions of bugs was someone else’s job. Not a single natural bug remained in this part of the world, I guessed. I wasn’t really sure what part of the Abyssal insects classified it as demonic, but it was an easily overlooked detail since all bugs were demonic in my books. The Swarm eventually fully fused into themselves, revealing a man sized “bug” form that could walk and fly on its own. Once all of the hivemind finally noticed me standing there expressionlessly, it started chittering before it spoke.
“Greetings, Nameless One,” it said, sounding like helicopter blades whirring. Its sharp blades tapped together, creating a spark as the noise bothered my ears. It kind of looked like a giant mantis. I stopped myself from cringing and saluted.
“Uh, Vastil informed me of our transfer,” I said blankly. “We’ll be in your care from now on.”
“We have heard much about you,” the mantis man clicked. “Please inform your men that we will be departing to the beastmen countryside a week from now. The Ack’Sa desires feed…”
Polite and to the point. After the bugs slowly dissipated into a mist that spread back into the hive, I bowed and turned on my heels. I was finally out of there. The Reaver Moonfall painted the sands in a deeper shade of red and loud thumping came from the hills. Trolls, I mused. I had nothing better to do, so I climbed up a hill to watch the big guys wander around aimlessly across the desert. They were just a torso the size of a billboard with elongated arms that dragged along the ground and massive legs. I thought the unnerving eye in their stomachs would creep me out, but they were blind. No one really explained to me how they came to be and everyone worked around them as if they were just natural workplace hazards.
When I gathered the men around to tell them we were headed out soon, cheers erupted. Again, I couldn’t if they were happy because they didn’t have to climb up and down the Spine bones or that they got to finally get out there and conquer the beast man territory of Sarwitz. To their dismay, I decided that their training would be doubled for the remainder of the waiting period. Two days worth. After they moaned and whined, I simply stared over the burning fields and the Abyssal Demon’s hives in the distance.
This is truly the start of my career, huh?