This pain was nothing, but I was scared they would actually melt through my wrists and tear my hands clean off… that wouldn’t be the most fortunate thing.𝗈𝗏𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

“Up here,”

From my sitting position, I snapped my head upwards, finding myself in a large tent with a singular man, his blood-red eyes glowing as he stared down at me.

A lion… that’s not a human, that’s an entire lion, manticore, chimera… a monster.

“We patched you up. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?” He asked, but his voice was so cold that I just couldn’t reply as my eyes shifted down to my bandaged wound. “Your healing properties are quite good… though, you’ll have a dent there due to the flesh being ripped out.”

“Thank you for your generosity in healing me….” I muttered but wasn’t too happy as he was the one who did this to me.

“Well, there wouldn’t be any use in healing you if I didn’t find you interesting. Deserters are executed… or are you possibly not part of our army?”

He was keen on watching for any slip-up in my words, and even if I did nothing wrong, if I said something wrong, he could use that against me and get me executed on the spot.

I needed to somehow get out of this situation whilst bringing the least amount of suspicion to myself as possible… otherwise, today might be my last day on earth.

“I apologize for my actions. I was considering flanking around the mountain to try and get the upper hand on them, but upon seeing your greatness, I saw that was not needed,” I lightly smiled, rubbing the cold cuffs, which were sturdier than I had imagined.

Shit… I’ll have to use a skill if I want to get out of this, but I might get trialed as some kind of magic-practicing demon… or possibly revered as a powerful man?

Well, only the gods can tell.

“So you completely ignored direct orders from me,” The man muttered, his dry lips slowly opening to allow a single pipe to sit limply in his mouth.

It wasn’t lit, but the aura of this man was only accentuated by the fact he was so powerful… and almost seemed like he could light the pipe with just his imagination or possibly just his overwhelming willpower.

“I can have you executed for that as well. So, do you have anything else to say?”

Shit… I guess I can’t work around it.

“I apologize for deserting and attempting to come up with an excuse. If you allow me one more chance, I will be sure to use it wisely and swear my utmost loyalty to you,” I begged on my knees, and although my posture was completely heartfelt, my face was expressionless… which is why I didn’t raise my head until I heard the man take the pipe out of his mouth.

“No need to praise me with dead words. I know you don’t mean such a thing… I mean, all of you men were practically forced to come with me. I see why some would desert, and I would normally execute them… but you’re different,” He muttered, walking forward and grabbing the cuffs binding my wrist.

With just an ounce of his strength, he shattered the metal cuffs that I would have needed a skill to break out of in a split second.

The pieces crumbled to the floor as I looked upward at the man’s long black hair, with two golden strands woven like feathers, limply drooping before his face.

“Show me you have even an ounce of worth in you,”

I slowly got up, and I rubbed the red marks on my wrist before following the towering and muscular man just outside of the tent.

We were in a base camp on the edge of the mountain path, and many soldiers were currently recovering from the previous battle, which had been utterly dominated by the man I was currently following.

His naked back was covered in scars; so many scars that his back looked like a modern battlefield in itself with trenches and large dents due to bomb shells blowing up and making way for new trenches to be created.

But, there were so many scars that it was almost to the point of negligence as if he fought uncaring of whether he got injured or not.

“Pick,” The man announced as we reached some kind of training ground where I was presented a rack of weapons.

Of course, I selected my trustworthy spear, causing the expressionless man to almost crack a smile before walking into the only tent nearby and coming out with halberd as long as himself.

“Show me what you’re made of… boy,”

As I felt the weight of the spear in my hand, I noticed it was much lighter than what I was used to, despite it having a sharp metal blade.

We both walked to an empty spot in the training grounds, but it was not like the others continued to fight as they watched from a distance the fight between a young man and the flying general of their army.

“You get three moves. I will not attack during that time, but I will defend. If you manage to land a blow on me before or by the third move, you pass my test. Then, I’ll consider sparing your life… but for now, you’re nothing but a dead man walking,”

I was still currently injured and was recovering from the previous tear on my shoulder, which honestly should’ve healed by now due to my demonic properties.

Although I felt strangely mortal here, as if I was a human yet again, forced to withstand everything presented to me with mortal intelligence, strength, speed, magic, and endurance… everything seemed to have been powered down.

I took a quick glance at my status, which appeared in front of me, and fortunately, everything was normal besides my race.

Race: Temporary Human (Demon)

“ALRIGHT, BOY! SHOW ME WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF! FIGHT AND SCREAM FOR YOUR LIFE AS YOU ATTACK ME!” The man’s voice boomed before I took a heavier stance, getting ready to unleash my best attack yet.