Caedus kept pace behind General Voss. Captain Thorne and Captain Woods silently walked next to him, giving Caedus the occasional glance.
'I hope I am not in trouble.' While Caedus was aware he didn't do anything wrong intentionally, he is still familiarizing himself with how the world works. He wasn't sure what the process was for if someone had a more volatile power.
A few minutes passed by in awkward silence. The anxiety in the air was almost palpable.
Eventually, however, General Voss had led them to a secluded training ground. As soon as they first stepped foot onto the slightly elevated platform of the training grounds, Captain Thorne and Captain Woods halted their silent march and snapped to a salute before stepping off to the side.
General Voss turned around when he reached the middle of the platform and looked Caedus up and down with a deadpan expression before speaking in his deep booming voice.
"Do you know why I have called you here?"
Caedus tried his best to hold back a shrug before speaking. "No, sir."
"You really have no idea?" A frustrated look slightly appeared on the General's face.
"No, sir. I do not. I assume it might have to do with my powers, though." Caedus responded confidently. As anxious as he was, and as unsure of what was going on exactly, he still shouldn't act timidly.
The General scoffed before gesturing to Caedus to stand at ease.
"For some reason, after your evaluation last night. Several powerful people have contacted me." General Voss inspected Caedus, looking for a reaction. While Caedus has been training for the past few months on his military etiquette, his military bearing slipped just a bit, revealing a look of confusion on his face.
"I apologize, sir, but I don't know how that is possible. I ascended a few months ago and came here a few days later. I don't know who could have contracted you besides my sponsors, the Corvane family."
"Well, it happened." General Voss could hear the truthfulness in Caedus.
"The Divine General, Duke Steelheart, and that young man from the Corvane family all contacted me last night."
'What the fuck?' Caedus's confusion depended. While Umbra was less of a surprise, he still wasn't sure why Umbra would contact General Voss.
But the other two…
Duke Steelheart was Iris's father, a noble who held a lot of power in the Ironwood Kingdom.
And the Divine General… The highest ranking military official in the Kingdom, besides the King, no one except maybe a select few of the Dukes could rival him in combat prowess.
"May I speak freely, sir?" Caedus asked slowly, unsure if it was appropriate to ask.
"Granted." General Voss said with a straight face.
"What did they contact you about, sir?"
"Earlier, you mentioned this may have anything to do with your newly awakenedness, which isn't entirely untrue. But it is more about your evaluation than anything." General Voss inspected him again.
"My evaluation, sir?" Caedus was getting more confused as the conversation continued.
"Yes. Are you aware of how placement typically goes at the end of your basic training?" General Voss seemed to be in a slightly better mood when finding out how confused Caedus was, which made Caedus breathe a sigh of relief.
In the military, it was taboo to skip the chain of command. And the fact that people directly contacted General Voss about the status of Caedus… The thought of it made Caedus sweat a little.
"Not really." Caedus honestly said.
"I see. I guess it is a bit different considering how we just have placed everyone in combat roles or support roles." General Voss nodded slightly to himself. "Okay, listen good, Cadet Violetshade. At the end of your basic training, we will hold a small evaluation among the battalions. The representatives of those battalions will then express their interest in you joining them and may even provide some incentive. To join, it could be special permissions, extra pay, a promotion, or being in charge of your own cohort. Following?"
Caedus nodded without saying anything.
"Good. Now it is not just the evaluation at the end of the training that they use to decide whether to offer a spot; it is also the evaluation of everything, including your initial awakening, as it indicates how the rest of your awakenings will be in each realm. In your awakening ceremony, Captain Thorne felt obligated to advise that you be sent to a specific battalion." Caedus could feel someone shift slightly behind him—one of the perks of awakening, of course.
"Which battalion was that, sir?" Caedus focused his attention back on General Voss.
"It was the Slayer Corps." General Voss said sternly as if that explained the headache.
'Ah.'
There are several battalions that Caedus was aware of in the combat branch.
The Nightshade Battalion, Slayer Corps, Silentfang Battalion, Steelcrest City Guard, Ironclad Division, Stormward Battalion, the Crimson Vanguard, and finally the Royal Sentinels.
The Nightshade Battalion focuses on high-level, coordinated group operations, specializing in breaching heavily guarded areas and executing complex missions.
The Slayer Corp is an elite duo-based team designed for deep infiltration, sabotage, the complete annihilation of targets, and the capture of criminals. Dead or alive.
The Silentfang Battalion operates in the shadows, tasked with intelligence gathering, high-profile assassinations, and sabotaging enemy infrastructure. It is similar to the Slayer Corps, but the Slayer specializes much more in direct combat than in sneaking up on a target and killing them silently.
The Steelcrest City Guard serves as the kingdom's primary peacekeepers, maintaining law and order within Steelcrest and defending against internal and external threats.
The Ironclad Division specializes in investigating and eliminating corruption within the military and nobility, ensuring the kingdom remains free of betrayal and abuse of power.
The Stormward Battalion excels in ranged combat, providing fire support and disrupting enemy formations from a distance.
The Crimson Vanguard is a brutal frontline unit, trained for sustained combat in the thick of battle.
Lastly, the Royal Sentinels are the elite royal guards, sworn to protect the king and the royal family at all costs, maintaining the highest level of security and loyalty within the kingdom.
If he was recommended for the Slayer Corps, his awakening must have been a lot more dangerous than he originally thought.
"I see you know them." General Voss nodded. "And you may be curious what all three important figures contact me about."
Caedus nodded again, lost in thought.
"They asked me to deny the Slayer Corps representative from recruiting you. Which, ultimately, as your commanding officer, I do have the power to do."
Caedus almost swore out loud in confusion.
"Why?" Caedus managed to get out. 'Why would they care?'
"I don't know the specifics of why all three asked me. For the Corvane family brat, you will have to ask him yourself, as you are their sponsee. For Duke Steelheart and the Divine General, you will have to ask them yourself. I would ask their kids, as you seem quite close with those two."
'I mean, Eric, I would say I am close with him, but I barely know or have spoken to Iris.' Caedus thought to himself, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.
"Now, going to the reason I brought you here. Ultimately, I want to be able to say for myself whether you can join another battalion without harming others, going against your initial evaluations, or if I should piss off a Duke, my boss, the Divine General, and the Corvane family, all to let you join the Slayer Corps."
As the General Spoke, he slowly took off his military uniform top, revealing the incredibly huge, bulging muscles.
"Wait." Caedus stepped back in surprise.
"You are going to summon every ounce of power you have, and attack me with all you have." General Voss ordered. Stepping forward. His mana began surging around him, causing Caedus's heartbeat to quicken.
"Sir, I don't know exactly-" Caedus tried to reason, but General Voss cut him off angrily.
"Hit me, now! If you don't, I will take it as insubordination, and I will court-martial you!" The General took another step forward, causing the platform to shake slightly.
"This is an order, Cadet."
"Sir, I don't know if I can control—"
"Good."
Voss took another step forward.
Cracks spread through the stone beneath his boots.
"Because if you can't control it against me, then you certainly can't control it when with your fellow soldiers."
His aura exploded outward.
"Now stop talking and attack."
Mana was now flooding the platform, swirling like a storm.
'Fine. I'll give it my all.'
Caedus got into a fighting stance, bracing himself against the swirling mana emitting from General Voss, before gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.
General Voss stopped his march forward but didn't stop the mana from being emitted; he wanted Caedus to feel threatened. But he also wanted to make sure Caedus gave it his all.
Caedus focused all of the mana he could muster to surround his body. Images of his soul would flash through his mind.
The black ocean.
The obsidian spire.
The endless violet storm.
Doing his best to ignore the horror of it, he yelled in effort before opening his eyes.
*Crackle*
Tiny arcs of violet lightning danced across his skin.
Then the mana around him surged, creating a deep purple and black aura around him
*Boom*
Dust exploded outward from the platform as violet lightning lashed through the air like enraged serpents.
While the mana surrounding him wasn't nearly as much as the storm of mana emitting from General Voss, it was still like an unyielding flame that refused to be blown out.
Caedus staggered slightly, under the weight of his mana and the General's mana.
"What the—"
*Crack*
A bolt slammed into the stone beside him, blasting a fist-sized crater into the platform. Which was just the beginning.
General Voss, who was standing stoically with his arms crossed, watched Caedus with a frown. "Looks like Captain Thorne may have been right."
*Crack*
*Crack*
*Crack*
The training ground became a storm of violet light. This caused the two captains, who had been silently watching, to take a step back.
Caedus clenched his jaw, trying to control his mana.
The lightning immediately responded.
Most of the violent arcs rushed toward his limbs, wrapping around his arms and legs like living streams of violet energy. They crackled and hissed across his skin, illuminating the training ground with flashes of purple light.
For a moment, the power stabilized. But it was hard to move his body and keep control of his lightning.
A bolt would escape from his control before striking the air, leaving a metallic smell of ozone lingering, or striking the ground, creating a small crater.
'Concentrate, Caedus.' He thought to himself, trying his best to reign in the lightning to be contained within his aura.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the occasional bolt from randomly striking.
"Enough, Cadet Violetshade. Just attack me. You have spent enough time trying to get it under control." General Voss's voice boomed through the mana storm.
Caedus shot forward like an arrow, the world narrowing to a single point—General Voss standing unmoving at the center of a storm of pressure and mana.
He drew his fist back.
Violet lightning screamed along his arm, wrapping around his knuckles like it wanted the impact more than he did.
For a split second, everything went still.
Then he struck with everything he had
His fist slammed into General Voss's abdomen with a thunderous crack that detonated at the point of contact.
A blinding burst of violet-white light erupted outward, and Caedus lost sight of everything.
Despite the explosion, Caedus didn't need to see to know what his fist felt. It felt like he punched a mountain.
There was no pushing the general back even a step.
Then, just as quickly as the lightning blinded him, his vision returned, confirming what he knew.
The General was unharmed and unmoving.
Caedus staggered back a half-step, chest heaving, arm still extended, fingers trembling as residual arcs of lightning crawled over his skin before fading away.
The General slowly lowered his gaze to where Caedus's fist had struck him, then back up to Caedus's face.
"Understood. " Voss said flatly.
General Voss bent over and picked up his uniform top before walking away, leaving Caedus standing there confused.
Caedus watched General Voss's back as the General walked towards the exit of the training grounds, followed by the two captains. Then he paused and spoke in his booming voice.
"I will allow you to join the Slayer Corps if they offer you a place there. If you get multiple offers, though, you can join a different battalion if you so choose. Now go to breakfast. You have your first day of weapons training later, don't you? Captain Thorne will show you to the weaponsmith later." And without waiting for a response, the General continued his exit.
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Caedus waited a few minutes before exiting, and he took in the whole experience while walking back to the chow hall. He had a lot of questions.
'What do Duke Steelheart and the Divine General want me to do? Are they really interfering because of Iris and Eric? And why would Umbra contact General?
Voss also? I should speak with him.'
The morning sun had just begun to come over the horizon, giving a beautiful orange glow to Caedus's walk back to the main training grounds.
Caedus sighed loudly, hanging his head before looking up at the orange and blue sky.
"Fuck, I'm tired."