Chapter 13:The First Test
Chapter 13: The First Test
Jack waited until the last echoes of Elara's footsteps faded. Then, with deliberate precision, he arranged the thin mattress and pillows into the rough shape of a sleeping body. A child's trick—but effective.
Satisfied, he slid under the bed, his body pressing flat against the cold stone floor. Shadows curled around him instinctively, drawn to his presence even with *Celestial Deception* dampening his power. He exhaled, letting his limbs loosen, his breathing slow. Only time would tell what would happen next.
He was not used to sleeping on beds , his years spent down of the floor of the church even tho he had a mattress sometimes he'd sleep on the floor directly for to him it felt more comfortable, always reminding him about being vigilant.
Then—he merged.
Not invisibility. Not illusion.
He simply let the darkness accept him.
To any observer, the room was empty. Just a lump of bedding and the faint, stale scent of old magic. To him being one with the darkness was now like his nature more so after he acquired the abilities of Daruga and made them his own , the memories of Solomon filled with days spend in dark worlds.
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The first scream came an hour later.
It was short. Guttural. Cut off with a wet *crunch.*
Jack didn't move. He simply lay there , he was no stranger to things happening after dark , just like the shadows in the church and even more so with this strange Lorain academy , Jack would not let his vigilance falter.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside—too light to be human. Claws scraped against stone. Something sniffed at the crack beneath his door.
Jack held his breath.
The door creaked open.
A *thing* slithered inside.
It was all spindly limbs and too many joints, its skin stretched taut over bones that jutted at unnatural angles. Its head swiveled on a neck that bent like a serpent's, milky eyes scanning the room.
It tried sniffing around but uts nose seemed to betray it as it came back with no smell of a living being inside , now it could only rely on its eyes.
A lesser demon. A test.
It crept toward the bed, its breath a low, rattling hiss.
Jack watched from beneath the bedframe, his gaze tracking its movements.
*Pathetic.*
Even with his power repressed, he could *see* it. Not with his eyes—with something deeper. The Abyss had marked him. Demons were not hidden from him.
But he let it believe otherwise.
The demon lunged at the bed, claws tearing through the pillows with a vicious snarl. When it found nothing but straw and fabric, it let out a frustrated screech.
Jack waited. Waiting was second nature to him, if he was not patient , he would have died back at Emag village within his first year of settling there , imagine he was only a tender 12 years when he first arrived there.
The demon sniffed the air again, then—
*Snap.*
The floorboard beneath its foot broke.
Jack moved.
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He rolled from under the bed in one smooth motion, his body coiling like a spring. The demon whirled, but Jack was already inside its guard.
He pretended to hesitate—just for a fraction of a second—as if he couldn't quite see it.
Then he *sniffed.* Loudly.
The demon froze. It was a bit surprised by the ations of the human in front of it , humans rarely used their nose more than the basic of what they use it for and humans are easy to panic at the unknown but now here was a human before it , doing the exact opposite.
Jack grinned. "Left side."
His fist lashed out, cracking into the demon's ribs. It howled, stumbling back.
"Now... right."
Another punch. Another feigned adjustment, as if tracking it by scent alone.
The demon lunged, claws raking toward his throat.
Jack let it graze him—a shallow cut along his collarbone. Blood welled, hot and bright. When a hunter hunts for prey they have to use bait and right now Jack was using himself as bait for the lesser demon , and he's also doing it to confuse the academy, making them think his nose is not all that powerful and he truly can't see the demons.
He hissed through his teeth. "Got you."
A brutal knee to its gut. A sharp elbow to its spine.
The demon crumpled.
Jack stood over it, panting slightly for effect.
Then—
The door burst open.
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Three figures stood in the doorway, their faces obscured by silver masks. The lead one—tall, with a mantle of crow feathers—stepped forward. Behind their silver masks they were amazed at how someone whom was only using his nose to fight , its like fighting blind folded. Even they themselves could not do this so Jack caused them to be truly amazed.
"You passed."
Jack wiped his bloody knuckles on his pants. "That was the test?"
"The first one." The masked figure tilted its head.
"You fought blind.Seems like gifts truly do come in all forms , look at you sniffing for demons Like some sort of human dog." Another proctor mocked Jack.
Jack shrugged. "I don't need eyes to kill."
A beat of silence. Then—
"Follow."
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They led him to a cavernous hall, its walls lined with iron cages. Inside, other students hunched—some bleeding, some unconscious, a few missing limbs.
At the center of the room stood a obsidian plinth, its surface etched with glowing red names.
The proctor gestured. "Blood the stone. Claim your rank."
Jack bit his thumb again and pressed it to the plinth. The stone felt smooth to the touch and he could feel something squirming beneath the stone after collecting his blood.
The stone screamed with a woman's voice, one could swear that the stone was a woman being whipped or something torturous was happening to her.
Names shifted. Reordered.
His appeared at the *top.*
**JACK - #1**
A murmur rippled through the surviving students.
The proctor's mask hid its expression, but its voice was tight. "Interesting."
Jack smirked.
"Just getting started."
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