Cursed Soul: Ch.5

“So, anyone wanna introduce themselves or are we all just going to play the silent game?” One of the older men with black slicked-back hair and light-brown coloured eyes asked with a smirk as he sat on his bed, to which we all looked at him before I cleared my throat and spoke up.

“Eric Creed.”

“Melissa Cole.” A young woman with her shoulder-length light pink hair styled into a low ponytail and dark blue eyes spoke up from the bed besides me.

“Nate Jackal.” The next to introduce themselves was the older gentleman that spoke first, nodding at us before looking at the only other older man of the group, to which his friend looked at him with a frown before shaking his head of blond hair as light-brown eyes looked at us.

“Matt Jackal, his brother.”

“Dante Blade.” The next was a young dude my age with luscious black hair, his eyes being heterochromatic with a dark gold right eye and a black left eye.

“Daniel Aegis.” A guy with ashen blonde hair and hazel-coloured eyes introduced himself and I smirked at the lazy smirk he had on his face.

“Titan.” Next was the biggest member of our team and possibly the entire platoon, his uniform stretched across his muscular body while his dark hair had been styled in dreads and his dark brown eyes looked stoically at us.

“Nova Scarlet.” A young guy that looked the youngest out of all of us spoke with an easygoing smile as he sat on the floor, his auburn-red hair styled into a ponytail while orange-coloured eyes shone with excitement.

“Weiss Eis.” The second of the three ladies in our team spoke with a frown as she sat on the bedside table besides her bed, her white hair cut short to shoulder-length and tied into a bun while her dark grey eyes looked at us in acknowledgement.

“Elise Myrsky.” The last of the ladies introduced herself with a smile and a wave as she sat cross-legged on her bed, her long dark gold hair styled into a thick bun while her stormy blue eyes shimmered with amusement.

We nodded before looking at the last members only to raise an eyebrow at how he looked like a picture perfect copy of Dante down to heterochromia except his eye colours was switched around.

“Vergil Blade and yes, I am that idiot's brother.”

“Twin brother, actually, but we're like night and day.” Dante said with a shrug, to which his brother rolled his eyes as I smirked and the others looked amused at their interaction.

“Hey, at least you're not the only brothers here.” Nate spoke up and Dante grinned and nodded while Vergil and Matt shared an exasperated look before they looked at me as I spoke up.

“So…why is everyone in the army?” I asked and a long awkward silence hung in the air before I rolled my eyes as they all simply looked amused at my words.

“We could just sit in silence until the Lieutenant comes fetch us.” I said before smirking as they all glanced at each other with slight frowns.

“Creed has a point. …Who wants to go first?” Melissa asked and I sighed as no one wanted to go first before raising my hand to show that I'd bite the bullet.

“To be strong enough so that I can't be forced into slavery by Zeref cultists again.”

“How long?”

“Dante!” Vergil barked and I smirked as Dante simply gave an apologetic shrug.

“Sorry, just wanted to see if we could know more.”

“Don't worry, you can. I was kept captive for ten years in a prison about a few dozen kilometers away from Lantana City before I along with the other slaves there escaped.”

“So, that's where all those older people came from.” Matt muttered with a hum, drawing everyone's attention as Nate clarified.

“About a month ago, numerous people came to our village and while us and the younger people didn't who they were, the older people seemed to be elated to see them. I suppose that means that all of those people were slaves.”

“That would line up with when we escaped. However, that's enough of me. What of you all?” I asked and Nate smiled as he was the next one to speak.

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“Recruits! It is with great pleasure that I am allowed to torture the rest of you from today until the end of your three month vacation with me! You will not rest without my order! You will not sleep unless I deem it so! You will train, you will cry and you will hate me, but most importantly, you will become the toughest sons of bitches of this unit! Now, I'm sure you're aware that a Rune Knight needs to be both magically and physically strong to apprehend criminals! Therefore, we shall start with the physical examination! Drop and give me as many push-ups as you can within the next minute! If I see you skimming out and trying to catch a break or you just don't want to do many, then rest assured that you'll be stuck doing five thousand push-ups with me and I won't allow you to even breathe unless you are on the edge of death! Am I understood?!”

“Sir yes sir!” We all shouted in unison before quickly dropping as Lieutenant Draco pointed down, the man holding a hand up before dropping it to make us start.

At the forty second mark, I thanked Mr. Adonna both for his magic and for his harsh training mentality as I had already crossed one hundred push-ups, focusing entirely on nothing but the dusty ground below getting closer and going further back over and over with each push-up.

“And time!! Top ten from first to ten are Titan, blonde Jackal, Creed, Eis, dark hair Jackal, calm Blade, idiot Blade, Cole, Myrsky, Scarlet. Looks like Team #11 is establishing their dominance already.” The lieutenant called out and I was ecstatic at my third place while some groaned and the others looked smug at their position in the top ten.

“Next up, timed sit-ups! Begin!” With this exercise unfortunately, I wasn't as good at as I still had a slight gut even after the harsh training with Mr. Adonna, but I did managed to snag that ninth place with Eis taking first.

The next exercise however was doing your maximum deadlift and here was where I was tied with Titan for first, the man giving me a nod of respect which I returned after the two of us did three repetitions of 2500 kg.

The surprising part was the fact that while I was slightly winded after them, it took me merely twenty seconds of rest before I was fully healed and ready to go back for more.

After that, the last two exercises were rather simple as they were just a five kilometer run along with a three minute plank and a three minute jump rope back to back, which most of us passed.

“Wonderful! It's good to see that you fucking recruits aren't dropping the standard for what it means to be one! Now, I will call out your name and you will punch this device so that I may register your scores, understood?!” We all saluted with a firm nod and a shout as a gold crest appeared next to him, the crest glowing right before it faded away as an MPF appeared besides him.

“We're doing this backwards now as we're starting off with the last team! Nate Jackal, you're up!” The lieutenant shouted and Nate nodded as he walked forward, rolling his shoulders as the rest of us watched him walk up to the orb.

My attention however was focused on his right fist as I watched ethernano visibly exuding from it, Nate not wasting any time as the ethernano began to rotate violetly like a drill right before he punched directly into the centre.

141

While none of the platoon gave audible reactions to show that they were surprised, there was no helping most of the shocked and nervous faces at Nate's score, but I hummed as I thought that it would be a lot higher than before.

“Matt Jackal!” Matt walked up this time and I watched as the two brothers shared a subtle high five before raising an eyebrow as Nate's presence diminished slightly while Matt's ethernano surrounding his fist shot through the roof.

However, I was confused as he simply flicked the orb and stepped back, the lieutenant going to shout at him for half-assing it right before the sound of a gunshot went off and we all watched as the orb rung from the second impact.

143

“…I stand corrected! Well done, Jackal! Next, Titan!”

'They shared a high-five and his power skyrocketed. Is it something to do with them being brothers?' I thought with a frown before shaking my head as I turned my attention back to Titan, not surprised to see him lifting a foot before being surprised as rocks coated his boot right as he stomped at the orb.

191

“Very nice, Titan! Next!” He shouted as Titan walked back, Melissa smiling as she walked forward while I looked on in interest at the scorch marks she left on the ground.

She pulled a hand back and went into a simple stance before ash wrapped around her hand right as she chopped down at the orb, the ash forming into a whip right before it struck the top right side of the orb and her score came up.

191

“Damn.” I whispered along with some of the others, a bit surprised at her score but not by much considering that she seemed to carry her in a regal yet powerful way.

“Very good, Cole! Next!” Melissa smiled and nodded as she walked back with a happy smile, Weiss walking up with a determined frown as she pulled a fist back before her fist was covered in a glossy iron shell right as she swung it and connected with a loud gong against the orb.

256

“Okay…Dante, you still want to piss her off?” I asked as I turned to the twin in question, his brother Vergil looking amused at the nervous smile on Dante's face as he slowly shook his head the moment Weiss turned back to look directly at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Nope, I'm good.” He spoke and I chuckled as I turned and walked over to the orb, nodding at Weiss as we passed each other before taking a deep breath as I stopped in front of the orb.

Clenching my fist as I began flowing my ethernano towards my right fist, I didn't do anything fancy as I swung and unleashed a full-powered hook to the side of the orb, surprising even myself as the orb shifted a few centimeters to the side before floating back to its original position.

331

Pleased at the number, I turned around and began walking towards my team, nodding at the wry smirk on Vergil's face as he walked past before stopping in the middle of my shocked team.

“…Dude, you sure you shouldn't be out there and not in here?” Dante whispered and I snorted as I shook my head.

Compared to Mr. Adonna's 1200, it was not something to be happy at for me and until I was 100% I was at that level, I didn't want to be settle for being happy for anything less.

“Nah, I'm not that stro-!” I was cut off by a loud explosion echoing in front of us, both Dante and I looking at what caused it right before my eyes widened and Dante groaned as we saw the numbers as Vergil walked back while shaking his left hand.

845

“I thought we were keeping it low~” The energetic twin whined as he walked forward, waiting until the numbers faded before delivering a punch with his right fist that was just as loud as the one his brother gave the orb if not louder.

853

“…Are you sure you two should be here?” I asked as Dante walked back and he chuckled as Vergil smirked and shook his head.

“We're strong, but our father Sparda wants us to go through the usual process to make sure there's no special treatment.” He explained as Daniel created a shield of light in front of him before throwing it at the orb, knocking it back slightly before giving a fist pump at the number shining on top of the orb.

343

Next was Nova and while he seemed to be confident at his power, he looked a bit disappointed when he created a fireball and slammed it into the orb to see his score above it.

281

The last was Elise and since she was standing in front of our team's row, she only took a few steps forward before creating a dark grey magical crest in front of her and unleashed a powerful blast of wind that slammed into the orb as well as cracking the ground behind it for a meter or so.

781

“An average of 423, 3 for Team #11! The rest of you idiots have a lot to live up to! Now, Jackson, up front!”

'…Oh, this is going to be way harder than I thought.' I thought to myself with a frown as I watched a dark-skinned guy from Team #10 making it forward, my mind ignoring it as I focused on the results of our test.

I now realized that I was not the top dog like I expected and while I did feel disappointed at that, there was no helping the anticipation in my body as I fantasized about how glorious my victory will be when I'm #1 at the end of this camp.

'First place or nothing.'

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“So, no one going to talk about what we just saw?” Melissa asked the moment we all walked into the room, to which Dante and I smirked while Vergil sighed and Elise giggled.

“I feel like if we do, we're never going to shut up about it.” Nate answered her with a shrug and she rolled her eyes before looking at me.

“So, you want to go first?”

“Uh, not particularly to be honest.”

“Titan?” She said and the man rolled his eyes as he stood in front of the only door in and out, to which I sighed before pointing at the surprised Dnate with a smirk.

“He got the highest score so he goes first.”

“Wait, what?”

“That…is very good logic. I approve.” Vergil spoke with a nod and I hid my smirk as Dante glared at his twin brother.

“You're just saying that because you don't want to explain.”

“Indeed, I don't. Now explain while I go and take a shower.” He spoke as he walked towards the door, Titan moving out of the way before blocking it as Dante groaned before answering.

“Okay, fine. Our father is Sparda Blade, the General of the Scarlet Mantis which is one of the nine battalions of the Rune Knights.”

“W-Wait, Sparda Blade? As in…the Demon Knight Sparda Blade?”

“That's the old man.” Dante said to Nova with a simple shrug, the guy in question having a shocked look of awe before Elise spoke up after him.

“Same here. My aunt is the General of the Grey Lightning, Natalia Wyrsky.”

“Oh, isn't that lovely? What about you? You got any Generals in the family too?” Melissa asked and I simply raised an eyebrow before shaking my head.

“No, I was recruited by Sergeant Major Silus Ramsbottom and then trained by former Captain Matteo Adonna.”

“As in the Saint Matteo? The guy who fought in the Bosco-Fiore war and was the reason we kept them at bay at the border?”

“Wait, the old guy's that awesome?” I asked with a look of surprise and they all nodded as Dante spoke up.

“He was even up for a direct promotion from Captain to General, which is something that never happens. However, some personal stuff in his life came up and he quit the Rune Knights.”

'That must have been at the time when Lisa was kidnapped by the Zeref cultists and he focused all of her attention to rescue her. Still, did not expect him to be this famous.'

“I didn't know he was that incredible. To me, he's just the man that took me in and helped train me up for this.”

“Wait, you said you escaped a month ago, right?” Titan asked from the door and he raised an eyebrow as I nodded, the others catching on as Dante smirked while Nate hummed.

“So, you're saying that you've only been training for a month? Is that it?”

“That would be it. Is that good?”

“It's incredible, dude! Most struggle to get to this level but you seem to have some latent potential at least. You aiming to join a guild?” Daniel asked and hummed as I smirked and nodded.

“Yeah, after my six months of service is up. My top choices so far are Lamia Scale and Quatro Cerberus.”

“What of Sabretooth? They seem like a pretty cool guild.” Dante spoke up and I frowned slightly before shaking my head.

“Nah, they seem good, but not for me.”

“Ah, I see. Well, Vergil wants to work with Dad, but I want to go out and explore the world as a mercenary for hire.”

“Of course you would.” Weiss muttered with a shake of her head and he simply shrugged before we turned to the door as Titan moved the site to let Vergil in, who blinked at our attention while adjusting the towel around his waist.

“Just so you all know, shower is ours for only five minutes and it's been two.” That was all I needed as I charged right past him, racing towards the showers with the others right on my heel.

'The one with hot water! Get the one with hot water!'

A/N: Another chapter done, this one being a simple world building chapter to show how vast this world of Fairy Tail is.

Next chapter, training is done and time to be a Rune Knight!

Also, yes, some characters are inspired by characters in other franchises but they do not possess any abilities that their counterparts have.

I just simply ran out of names to use so I picked random names.

Also, as you all can see, Eric is strong and he still has some power but not enough to be seen as the strongest of the group, both to show how much others have trained and to show how much he needs to work to make it to the top .1% of the world.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!