Chapter 32: Demon In Human Skin

Rem pushed his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit as he strolled leisurely to the Soul Enforcement class… he was the only one that was free at the moment and of course he didn't plan to wait on the others.

'The weapon class was slightly interesting,' Rem thought to himself as he briefly remembered Krista and Cole's confrontation – one that was surely going to be horrifying to Cole, seeing a kind girl like that beat him up so brutally.

But Rem's major focus wasn't on fancily learning to wield weapons, they were just an extension of the Cavalier and helped the user in battles but in case of a life-threatening situation, Rem wanted to be able to reinforce his body with Soul energy or even Magical energy if it came down to it… Tobi's true abilities were still being kept under wraps and even Krista had gotten quite stronger upon unleashing her soul energy, Mika was definitely a noteworthy opponent but Cole-

Rem's spine tingled at the thought, there was a feeling that Cole was going to reach heights that even him could not attain.

'Meh,'

Rem pulled his thoughts together as he pushed open the door and sighted an adversely strange room- the tiles were far different from any other in the Mansion, with a star-like design engraved within each tile… in the center of the room, Rem could sight a crimson haired woman sitting in a meditative posture while her crimson soul energy slowly rotated around her body… by far she could be the strongest Instructor that Rem had seen so far.

Sure Instructor Maria had been strong and strange, She didn't come anywhere near to Instructor Maybel and this was her when she hadn't even stood up yet.

'This will surely be interesting,' Rem thought as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him while his gaze never left the crimson haired woman – he had to admit though, she was really beautiful with cascading locks of crimson hair but there was something even more unfathomable than her beauty, her power, a trait Rem liked to see in every human.

From the moment he entered the room, he was on-guard because while the teacher was in deep meditation… she could probably perceive his Soul energy and know that he was coming right for her. Rem honestly hoped for the crimson haired instructor to show a slight reaction but there was nothing, she was still doing her meditation, she didn't have the slightest reaction to what was going on.

Rem reached the back of the Instructor and called her name softly.

"Instructor Maybel," He said, his call did nothing to stir the meditating beauty, Rem called her three times and there was no reply… probably she was so deep into the meditation that she forgot the world aro-

Rem heard a slight snore from her, and her head drooped a bit. The respect for her control over Soul energy in Rem's eyes vanished, even if she was strong, she was just as lazy as the other Instructors but even though, Rem needed her lesson so he tapped her back only for the Instructor to disappear into thin air.

Rem followed her Soul energy and instantly spun around, raising his hands up on the defensive – the next moment, Rem found himself shooting backward, heading toward the walls of this class with his arms feeling numb. Nevertheless, his feet met the floor and he skidded to a stance while observing the instructor lazily rubbing her eyes.

Rem entered a combat stance, only to realize that his bones were still rattling under the force which she had kicked him… certainly something new.

"It's improper to touch a woman while she sleeps," Maybel said, "Many young boys are killed because of their ignorance everyday and what I gave you was a tip of the ice berg,"

"Well, isn't it improper for Instructors to fall asleep while meditating? Especially when someone wants to take their class," Rem said, his lifeless gaze fixated on Maybel who flinched a bit.

"You want to take this class?" Maybel asked and Rem gave her a questioning gaze.

"What other reason would I have to come to this classroom?" Rem questioned, "We just finished Magical weapon class and not only did Instructor Maria suggest this, the topic of Soul Enforcement is quite intriguing as well,"

Rem had hoped to delve into the topic with a reasonable instructor, not one that pitted each person with spars against each other the first thing in the morning.

Maybel chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head.

'I forgot the Apprentices are 14 – 15 year olds, not like our last batch filled with damn horny 17 year olds,' Maybel thought, she liked the Kid's guts and the fact that he was able to respond to her strike rather quickly although his arm strength needed some work.

But there was something eerie about him, something was off- Soul energy cascaded off his very being, he had vast amounts of Soul energy, something she had never seen before and not only that, his presence was queerly similar to that of a Monster although she shrugged the idea.

"Most Apprentices don't think it's a wise choice to take this class as the Apprentice tournament is approaching, they already have sparring, weapon wielding and their physical abilities to work on – but they do not realize that there's more to Soul enforcement than what meets the eye," Maybel said with a hand on her chin, "So are you sure you want to give your entire dedication to this class? If you're not ready, kindly step out of the door,"

Rem stood his ground and folded his arms.

"I'm staying, to give my full attention to this class," Rem said and Maybel clapped excitedly.

"Let's get started then," Maybel said, "First of all, my name is Instructor Maybel and I'll be your Soul Enforcement teacher,"

Rem nodded.

"Soul Enforcement is a phenomenon that occurs in the body of multiple living beings," Maybel said, "It can either occur automatically or manually, Humans fall under the manual selection and we will need to perform the Enforcement by ourselves unlike Beastkin who fall under the automatic selection, their body performs Soul Enforcement by itself,"

'So I was correct, what was happening with Krista is truly Soul Enforcement,' Rem thought.

"There are two types of Enforcement you will be learning in this class, the first type of Enforcement is Partial Enforcement which deals with the partial reinforcement of the body with Soul energy," Maybel said while making an example, Soul energy burst to life engulfing her right arm but Rem could feel the difference – She wasn't just summoning soul energy to wrap around her arm, she had reinforced the arm with Soul energy both from the inside and the outside ensuring that it wouldn't be damaged by any attacks that Rem could dish out, it turns out that the more Soul energy you pour into your Reinforcement, the stronger it got.

"But note that, Reinforcement burns down soul energy more than unleashing the full force of your Soul Weapon," Maybel said as the reinforcement around her arm vanished instantly, "Once you master partial Enforcement, we shall take it to Fu-"

Green soul energy burst to life around Rem's right arm, enforcing it from the inside and outside simultaneously much to Maybel's surprise.

'It's his first… time right?'

She had never seen anyone learning Partial enforcement in an instant, she wasn't even done explaining and he had already mastered it.

"Partial enforcement is quite easy," Rem mentioned, "It's just pumping soul energy into a specified point in your body and reinforcing it from inside to outside,"

Partial Enforcement was just what he needed, he had enough Soul energy… he would just reinforce multiple parts of his body with Soul energy to tank damage, of course there was a reason Full Body Enforcement didn't work to his taste, pumping even amounts of Soul energy around the body and enforcing it at the same time would have it's weaknesses.

"I was going to move onto Full body Enforcement but I guess we could do multi-partial Enforcement, reinforcing soul energy in multiple parts of your body," Maybel said with a confident smile.

It was going to be a long month.

#####

A Month later, Rem leaned against the wall as he prepared for the others to come out and head to the venue, he had already decided that whoever walked out the door first was coming along with him – he wanted to see the Competition before the tournament truly began, there were bound to be idiots who would be showcasing their capabilities at the venue and if he managed to be paired with one of these idiots, Rem wanted to end the battle swiftly.

He would have already left himself but the Cavaliers which stood at the gate said that they weren't going to unlock the gate until the Apprentices were prepared to head to the venue, of course they had to grab their Magical weapons, on Rem's waist was a sword's sheath for his Black shortsword which was definitely going to assist him a lot in battle.

Shortly after, the Apprentices came outside, each one having grown in their respective ways- even Rem had grown quite taller, almost reaching Cole.

"Are all of you ready?" Mika asked and they nodded silently- her gaze turned to Rem, calmly relaxing against the wall without a care in the world… there had been nothing blossoming between them, he hadn't even apologized for grabbing her hair a month ago.

The gates were slowly opened and Rem pushed off the wall, walking toward the opening- they had already been informed of the Venue which was the Big stadium, the biggest popularity the town held at the moment… they couldn't miss it.

'It's time to commence with my plans,' Tobi thought as they stepped out the gate and began their dash to where the Apprentice tournament was being held.

They passed a grassland route, a shortcut to making it there faster because even the other Apprentices were curious who their opponents were going to be.

"Guys," Krista said while noticing Tobi pull back, they had been transversing through the trees before but all of them were pulled to a halt by Tobi's actions, even Rem stopped- suspicious of what the boy was about to do.

"My fellow Apprentices… today is a new day," Tobi said as his demeanor changed, the air around him crackled with golden sparks of electricity and his once calm eyes gave a menacing aura… everything about the boy seemed to change in an instant and marks adorned his body, black marks which looked like they had been done by the most beautiful ink.

All of the apprentices were unable to respond to Tobi's transformation, except Rem who felt the most reasonable thing to do was to pull away and once he tried to… he noticed the branches on the tree he was standing on wrapped around his body immediately, they grew like vines, bounding his entire body within their rapidly evergrowing figures.

Tobi cracked a smile as he clenched his right fist and raised it to the level of his face, releasing two fingers… the forest turned dark and magical energy revolved in the air, the forces of reality cracked open behind Rem and behold a blue portal was formed- it was not just a mere portal, A dungeon gate was instantly materialized.

'So long, Monster Monarch,' Tobi thought as Rem was immediately suctioned into the gate, which closed directly after Rem had entered, the torn fabric of reality restoring under the surprised gaze of the Apprentices.

"Oh, where did we stop?" Tobi asked while scratching his chin with his fingers, murderous intent spread through the air, "Yes, I was about to kill all of you,"

Author's Note:

If you're enjoying the book so far, don't hesitate to add this to your library and throw in some power stones for me, and if you're feeling really generous- you can support me with a golden ticket or two, and a gift too! Support People, Support!

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