Solaris and Lucian looked at the blood-soaked girl, Lucian in fear and Solaris in awe.
Under the two boys' gaze, Selen moved her arms to cover herself; her emotionless face remained unchanged as she spoke.
"Creeps."
"NOO NO No, you misunderstand; it was the blood."
"Selen, stop teasing the new recruit."
While Lucian's face reddened, Solaris shook his head at the audacity of the girl.
Lucian looked at Solaris with an embarrassed smile and whispered.
"What's with this girl?"
Solaris raised an eyebrow in confusion before responding.
"What do you mean? I think she's pretty normal."
Solaris watched as Lucian's eyes filled with horror.
"If you think thats shes normal..."
Lucian shuddered to think of what Solaris thought would be weird.
Solaris laughed internally; he had not initially wanted to tease the guy, but after seeing how easy it was, he decided to give it a shot.
Selen moved her arms down, placing her fist onto her hip.
"I had just been hunting; that's the reason for the blood."
Solaris looked at Selen closely, ensuring she had no wounds; he would hate himself if he- her teacher- had let her get hurt due to his own terrible advice. Luckily, she seemed fine, and the blood was not hers.
"So, Selen, have my teachings been of help? A lot of them will be much better once you are forced to go to hell. Since there is no wind, the air resistance is nonexistent; I could even fly!"
Solaris spoke in a carefree tone, a smile playing on his lips.
He had been in much turmoil about their "date," yet at the moment he was feeling much better; it was something he was having trouble understanding but was very welcome to it.
"It has a little; I assume you are going to prepare this one as well."
Solaris looked from Selen to Lucian, his face displaying a terrified look.
"You okay there, buddy? You look horrified."
Lucian's smile had faded during the conversation and flipped into a frown.
"Did you say she's going to hell? And then did she say I would also have to, and then did she kill a demon on her own! again! That's something the senior hunters can do but not us! We're just recruits!"
Solaris looked at Lucian in pure confusion and asked bluntly.
"Have you killed a demon before?"
Lucian shook his head and then spoke.
"I have, but I was in a team of three; you know the normal number of hunters typically deployed to combat."
Solaris's confusion deepened, and then he turned to Selen and asked.
"Why don't we do this?"
Selen looked the same as before, yet Solaris could tell she was looking at him with a small amount of disappointment as she spoke.
"We're somewhat of an elite division; unlike Lucian, we were brought into this division after killing a demon, while typical recruits are brought in after simply awakening their Extramicy, or in some cases their Micy, and in very rare cases they just walk into a crimson cross and join."
Solaris looked at Selen for a moment; the explanation was a lot to take in.
Who decided I was an elite!!!
Not wanting to scare the recruit any more, Solaris forced all his emotions into his next words.
"Damn, okay"
I CAN'T!!!!!! THIS PLACE KEEPS MISCATEGORIZING ME!!!!! FIRST, THE BEING INSIDE OF ME MAKING ME LOOK STRONG!!! THEN ME BEING FORCED TO FIGHT A DEMON ALL BECAUSE A SEASONED FIGHTER CAN'T DISCERN A HUMAN GIRL WITHOUT EMOTIONS AND AN ACTUAL DEMON!!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!
Had the two others in the room looked into Solaris's eyes, they probably would've seen the blazing infernos roaring within his eyes.
Before Solaris had a complete aneurysm, Lucian spoke.
"So not only am I going to have to fight demons alone, but I'll also be considered an elite, and on top of that, I have to actually go to hell! What is this branch!"
Solaris's flaming eyes looked at Lucian as his head shot back in exasperation, his shoulders slumping.
The flames in Solaris's eyes disappeared, and a moment later a small giggle left Solaris's mouth.
Lucian looked at him.
Selen placed a hand over her mouth, pretending to stifle a laugh.
Then Solaris broke out into hysterical laughter, throwing his head back; his laugh resounded across the room while his eyes began to water.
Lucian began to laugh with Solaris, starting as a nervous laugh; then, as if he understood a joke, he also burst out laughing.
After a moment, he wrapped his arm around Lucian and spoke in a cheery voice.
"Let's be best friends!"
Lucian's smile widened, and he responded quickly.
"Definitely!"
The two laughed for some time. Selen attempted to join in, but without emotions, she had a very difficult time.
After a long time of laughter, the three began talking a bit more before the most important topic besides hell arose.
The tournament- Solaris knew all about it, while all Lucian and Selen knew was that there was a tournament and not what it was for.
Solaris decided to explain the basis of the tournament's purpose while keeping some finer details to himself in case Jon Smit did not want others to be informed about it.
All he said was that some of the people participating in the tournament were going to go to hell, and the others would be tasked with another mission.
After a while, Selen and Solaris began to grow tired and headed off to Cedric, who made a room for Lucian. While Solaris spoke with Cedric, Selen went to bed.
After the room's creation, Solaris dropped Lucian off and headed to sleep in his room. Luckily for Solaris, the room happened to be made directly next to his own, so he didn't have to walk far.
Entering the room, Solaris snapped his fingers, and the room shifted into a lush landscape with a bed in the middle of a field.
Solaris had been sleeping like this since he returned from hell.
Something about small, dark spaces made his heart race.
Climbing into the bed, Solaris made himself comfortable and fell asleep.
Unknown to Solaris, tomorrow the tournament would begin.