Chapter 8: A Better Future

Screeeech! Boom! Bang!

A wicked looking machete constantly collided with large amounts of blood waves in the air.

Atreus constantly rolled, moved and dodged as various Blood Dolls aimed at him.

"Piercing Claw!"

His spirit suspended the machete up in the air with force and pulled it down in a swinging motion.

Wooosh!

A claw shaped attack flew out!

Boom!

It collided with 3 Blood Dolls, destroying them on the spot.

Three more summoners died. Atreus' mana was now almost empty after using the Guillotine Assault and at best he could churn out two more attacks given the situation.

And looking around him he had already killed about 10 Summoners but now a dozen more were already closing on him!

Blood Dolls came from multiple directions sending blood waves at Atreus.

Shuiii!

The Devilman quickly defended with its machete, flicking it in the shape of a circle. All the attacks were broken apart by it but the foes didn't have any intention of stopping.

"These brats are on a power trip…" Atreus chuckled.

He was quite clear about the sensation a Summoner got when they contracted and used their Spirits for the first time.

"One feels invincible. To them it feels like the most wonderful drug in the World." It wasn't that suddenly these kids who hadn't even killed insects before became a lot more courageous. They simply became illusioned and liked the taste of power, it felt like expensive alcohol to them.

"Tch! My mana will run out at this rate…"

The Crazed Devilman moved once again as Atreus decided it was time to end this farce. Its bandages flared as it suddenly caught all of the Blood Dolls trying to escape from its range.

"Take this!" Atreus felt the last bit of his mana emptying out.

More and more bandages came out of the Crazed Devilman as cracks appeared on its body, it was clearly overextending itself.

The Blood Dolls were completely restrained and couldn't even move a bit. Their Summoners tried to attack but the Spirits were too constricted to do anything.

Suddenly they felt a chill going up their spines as a realization hit them.

"Oh! God, wha- what the…."

"The- They are dead aren't they…."

Some girls started to cry as tears appeared in their eyes.

"Please spare us! We didn't mean to do anything…."

Their thoughts become incoherent as all of them started pleading Atreus to let him go.

But Atreus didn't bat an eyelid at them.

"Gosh! I am about to faint aren't I…."

The Devilman moved once and for all.

Screeech!

The machete flew out extending towards to the Summoners who were too shocked to do anything.

Puchi!

A clean hit to their bodies as they flew apart in multiple directions. All of them were killed on the spot.

Bang!

The Devilman soon reverted to its normal state and flew back too Atreus's Mana Space. Atreus started to feel groggy and soon fainted.

Soon enough time passed. The Sun rose again over the blood-stained Killer Valley.

Magical Beasts flew on the horizon and a new day began.

"Argh!" Atreus opened his eyes and looked around him.

"We are all back in the field huh?"

Indeed, the ceremony had ended and all of them were brought back to the field from before. But compared to the 100 disciples in the beginning only less than half of them remained until now.

Atreus got up as pain stifled his body. He glanced around and saw varying reactions. Some disciples were shocked and traumatized staring on the ground, whilst others were looking extremely confident and happy. Overall, there were varying reactions.

He also saw Leo looking a little dazed in one corner of the field.

"Did he kill someone?" Atreus was quite sure that most of these people were shocked from having taken a life for the first time.

He didn't feel any pity for them, because it was necessary for them to face this reality in this Cruel World. In fact, he was even happy for them "They don't realize it yet but this is a very valuable lesson for them. As soon as they move out in this World, they will realize that this experience will set them apart from a lot of Ordinary Summoners."

Naïve people died first in the World of Spirits.

"I had lost quite a few friends to their naivety in my past life." Atreus sighed inwardly.

"Congratulations!" A voice boomed. Everyone looked up and saw Elder K descending alongside Leonard.

K began to speak, "All of you are now Officially Disciples of the Demon Chaser Sect and fully fledged Summoners!"

Leonard then followed up, "Don't think lightly of this Ceremony, once you look up at the Mission Board you will realize the immense opportunity you got."

K chuckled as he nodded in affirmation.

"Well let me announce the results of the Ceremony too."

Woosh!

A long scroll descended and on it multiple names were ranked.

1. Atreus: 200 Points

2. Lia: 92 Points

....

9. Leo: 40 Points

And the list went on. Lia was the short haired girl that had Earth Tier Talent. Apparently, she was quite competent too.

Lia was satisfied with her performance and thought she would get first position for sure but-

"200 POINTS?" She was shocked. Not only her all of the disciples looked at Atreus. They felt a little scared of him now.

"How many people do you think he ki- "

Another whispered, "Quite, do you want to get in his bad books too!"

Leo also stared wide eyed at Atreus. He never would have thought that the 'kind' and 'friendly' Atreus would be so cruel!

K cleared his throat and began to announce, "Anyways, there are also a few rewards we prepared to for the Top 3 of this Ceremony."

The Scroll flashed and rewards appeared on it for everyone to see.

1. 1000 Mana Stones, one Rank 1 Spirit of Choice, opportunity to meet the Sect Leader.

2. 500 Mana Stones, one Rank 1 Spirit of choice, a free lesson of choice from Elder K.

3. 200 Mana Stones, a random Rank 1 Spirit.

"You can claim the rewards at the Treasury any time you want. Also, your points in the Ceremony have already been converted to merit points in the Treasury."

K and Leonard gave a little encouraging speech to the Summoners below.

Soon supervisors from the Outer Sect came to lead their disciples to their places of residence. Only Leo, Atreus and Lia were left in the field.

Atreus ring flashed!

"Come back." Sia had called him back her place.

Atreus quickly moved away and ran back to where Sia was living at. Leo looked at the fading back of Atreus feeling a little estranged from the whole experience.

Time passed and Atreus stood inside the Mansion of Sia.

Sia simply glanced at Atreus with a little smirk on her face,

"Not bad you actually managed to come out at the Top. Do you know your biggest gain from the Ceremony?"

Atreus replied back, "The opportunity to meet the Sect Leader?"

Sia laughed loudly, "Not really, its more of a custom rather than anything."

Then she informed him of something that he had already expected. It was quite simple actually.

In fact, the Sect trained over a 100 New Disciples every year. 'So why the Ceremony then?'

Simple!

Because every year, the Sect received recruits from other Summoning Families weaker than itself!

They were not very powerful and directly under the Sects control. But they still had a little influence and managed to directly send their people in the Sect, these people already had a Spirit Contracted and also resources provide to them by their Families.

So, the Sect made use of the Blood Letting Ceremony to equalize the gap between the two types of recruits. The ones from the Families and the other from the mortals.

Atreus had already expected this and it was nothing new to him.

Sia smiled charmingly at him as she called a maidservant over. A woman with long blonde hair and beautiful a face appeared; she was a Peak Rank 1 Summoner!

"Since you are a Heaven Tier Talent, the Sect has given you this maidservant. She will lead you to your quarters to settle down. The classes will begin in a few days, you can attend them or simply rest for a while."

Atreus nodded.

Sia also casually added, "Also remember that although you are a Core Disciple in name, you are too weak to attend to the duties of one. So, for the mean time you can try to do missions from the Task Hall if you want.

Regardless, remember you will receive a mandatory mission after one month. It would be best if you can become a Peak Rank 1 by then."

Atreus simply nodded and followed the blond maid who led him to small mansion that stood on the foot of Elder Sia's abode.

"Ah! They didn't place me with the other Core Disciples it seems."

This was naturally a good thing for him. If he received a normal residence of a Core Disciple it would be disaster as the higher ranked Summoners would definitely want to suppress him.

The maid opened the mansion and bowed in front of Atreus.

"I am Yor, I will be looking after this mansion."

Atreus glanced at her "You are not allowed to enter the Master chamber without my permission. As for other duties just do them normally as you would."

Yor nodded as Atreus went towards the Second Floor.

He entered the master chamber soon. It was extremely big almost 20 Meters in width and length and was designed mainly for Cultivation having a bed attached to one side of the room.

Atreus nodded in satisfaction as he decided to take a quick nap to restore his body. He called for the maid to bring him a set of clothes and instructed her to warm the water for him.

Yor quickly made all the arrangements and left as Atreus had earlier instructed.

Atreus cleaned himself and soon fell soundly asleep inside his bed chambers.

The Day finally came to an end as all the new Disciples finally got their well-deserved rest.

The wind blew, night chimed and the Moon settled across the Sky.

Somewhere in another part of the Sylven Region.

There stood a tall mountain surrounded by mysterious and flowing from it was a beautiful and clear Spring.

The Clear Spring Sect!

In the middle of the Night the New Disciple assessment was taking place. Many beautiful girls were gathered here.

They were sitting beneath a Cold Waterfall occasionally fighting Magical Fish beasts that came down from the top.

Among them was a white-haired girl controlling a Spirit that looked like a glowing Midnight Blue Smile, the girl looked quite heroic and determined. It was Lily!

Somewhere else in another part of the Region.

In the depths of a green jungle was a massive hut! It was the size of enormous Mountain!

Sage Gotham's Hut!

Aurora was currently trying her hardest to memorize a gigantic Book on Herbs and Alchemy.

"This is my only chance to rise up in the Summoning World!"

Back at the Chasing Demon Sect

Leo was thinking about all that had happened today. He thought back to todays events.

He had been walking through the Forest hunting magical beasts. As he was moving across the plains, a Blood Doll tried to ambush him.

But Leo instinctively reacted. Commanding his Flame Toad to first burst out a slimy burning charcoal like attack from its skin, it instantly doused the Blood Doll and burned it severely.

As it was slowing down, Leo followed up with a flaming spit and destroyed it. Killing the Summoner in the process.

And this weighed heavy on his conscience.

But thankfully he had Elder Karlos as his mentor. He had freed Leo from his misery.

He advised Leo, "Listen kid. In this World a lot of people are born everyday and a lot of people die everyday. You cannot take the weight of everyone on your head you know?

Demonic Path, Righteous Factions or anyone for that matter.

No matter which path you walk, at the end of the day you are responsible for yourself. So, straighten your back and think of what is important to you! Work hard, brat!"

Just like this, Leo soon fell asleep, wondering if he could create a 'Better Future' for himself.