Chapter 53: EXPEDITION
Azrael gazed down at the world beneath him.
It sat somewhere between medieval and modern.
The modern edge was subtle, but with what he was looking at, he could easily tell the technology was far more advanced than anything Earth had achieved by the time he died there.
It was like they had the technology, but still chose to embrace the ancient feel.
The demons below moved calmly, everyone going about their daily routine.
Traders were setting their stalls up.
They did not even glance at the streaks in the sky.
After all, it was a monthly occurrence. They had long since gotten used to it.
’They seem happy,’ he thought.
What he had expected when he left the estate was disorder, maybe even chaos. After all, that was how he had imagined a civilization built around the essence of wrath.
Previously, he had thought only the estate remained calm due to the fear of the Patriarch who lived in it.
But looking at it now, it seemed like everyone of them was just that peaceful.
’Its like Ymir said, to be a wrath demon, you need to control your wrath first.’
He gave an internal exhale.
’I still have a lot to learn about Wrath demons.’
Another thing he noticed was the sheer size of the planet.
They were moving at half the speed of light.
And they still had not arrived.
"I wonder how big this planet is," he muttered.
"This is one of the largest planets in the demon galaxy," Zephyr replied from beside him.
"Did I say that out loud?" Azrael asked with a wry smile.
Zephyr nodded.
Before long, a tear in space became visible ahead of them, stretching from the earth into the sky.
It was still far away, but its size made it visible from their distance.
All around the area, there were no buildings, no houses, no signs of a civilian population.
Only tents.
Inside each one, soldiers rested in full crimson armor.
"They sleep in their armor?" Azrael muttered.
He thought about it for a moment.
"Always prepared for war, I suppose."
Soon they were hovering directly above the rift.
With a single thought, Eriksen halted their movement, holding them in place for a moment.
Then slowly, they began to descend.
Azrael looked at the earth around them.
It was barren, as if every trace of vitality had been stripped from it.
In front of the rift, two soldiers stood on either side, their swords planted into the ground, their presence radiating something that felt close to supremacy.
As their eyes found Eriksen, they bowed.
Not because they recognized him, but because of the badge on his chest. The highest insignia of the Malvorin clan, bestowed only to those of the highest importance.
Eriksen nodded and led the students through.
The soldiers did not move to stop them. They only watched as the thousands of trainees passed.
Azrael felt a sudden disorientation as his perception of the world shifted.
The air was thick with a pressure that induced nausea in nearly everyone around him.
Most could not hold it back. They staggered, eyes losing focus.
Eriksen did not look back.
"I have brought you here. For the next five hours, your goal is to survive and gather as many resources as you can."
As he spoke, something wrapped around the students’ fingers.
They looked down instinctively.
A white ring glowing with a faint blue sheen sat on each of their hands.
Gasps escaped their lips.
"That is a spatial ring for carrying whatever you collect from the expedition," Eriksen said, pulling them back from their shock.
"Depending on how much you gather, the clan may allow you to keep the ring permanently."
Something about those words ignited the crowd. The students began to yell.
Eriksen furrowed his brows.
’Did I say something that warranted that?’ He wondered.
’This is what Dareth asked me to waste my time doing,’ he thought.
The urge to simply leave crossed his mind, but the thought of the consequences suppressed it almost immediately.
"Inside each ring you will find a tracker, an escape token, and a summoning token," Eriksen continued after a moment.
"The tracker monitors your position and vital signs."
His tone was cold.
He spoke of death the way someone might mention weather, as a fact and nothing more.
Some of the students whimpered at the word.
But none of them moved to leave. They had chosen to sign up and they were going to see it through, dead or not.
"The escape token will teleport you five miles in the direction you are facing."
He paused.
"As for the summoning token, only use it if you are genuinely about to die."
The temperature seemed to drop.
"If it is used otherwise..." A grin spread across his lips.
It was slow and carried something that felt like contained violence.
"I will show you what real danger looks like."
A shiver ran through every spine on the field.
"I cannot believe he is only tier five. Look how terrifying he is," one of the trainees whispered to the person beside him.
The friend only nodded, still shaken.
"Now, does anyone wish to form a party?"
’I wonder why this is necessary,’ Eriksen thought.
To him, if a party member was killed by their own allies, it simply meant they were too weak to protect themselves. Weakness had its own consequences.
But he still had to ask.
"Those who wish to form or join a party, move to the right."
His gaze swept the crowd.
"Those who prefer to go alone may begin now."
As if they had been waiting for exactly those words, every student from the academy launched backward simultaneously.
A few knight trainees followed, their bodies blurring as they tore through the rift.
Eriksen looked at those who had chosen to go alone.
A flicker of interest passed through his eyes before he buried it.
"Let us get this over with," he said, descending into the ranks of the trainees who had stayed.