Zylus now felt a different type of aura to Michael than he ever did, or, just like how everybody would call it, 'Systemic Flow.'
Zylus nervously grinned, "Did the weapon I gave you do all this?"
Michael smirked, "I guess you'll just have to find out."
It was odd; he didn't seem as grateful as before, especially when he told Zylus he would pay him back for his kindness. And it wasn't his ideology that had changed; it was he himself, his physical appearance. He stayed the same height, same build, just as a Mini Pecca, but it looked like he gained more muscle mass. Similarly, there was one characteristic that Zylus was surprised to see.
"Did you dye your hair white?" Zylus asked.
Before, Michael's hair was black; now, its color has changed to white.
"Nope, came naturally." He responded, sticking his hand out to complete their handshake.
He still had purple eyes, though, which wasn't new, but now, he wasn't the weakest. Not even close.
"Let him join." Zylus said to the others, "He's a viable asset to our team."
Each one of them agreed.
"Not like we were gonna find somebody else either way." Emilia proclaimed.
Now, they had five members, each consisting of strong-ranking individuals; it seemed like the squad had no flaws whatsoever.
"Time's up!" Ivy's yell reached across the entire field, "Everyone, circle your groups. You'll each be given a quest to complete, here in the Demon Realm!" She said, "It'll appear on your system, but first, you need to choose a leader! Everybody's system will give some questions based on your group! So answer the quick little QnA!" Ivy finished.
Kind of like a Google Forms, nice.
As Ivy finished, everyone shaped into a circle of five, organization at its finest. But now it was time to pick a leader.
"I think the leader should be me," Emilia said confidently.
Everyone stared at her in disagreement.
"No, Zylus." Zenos declared.
"I agree with Zenos," Frey added.
"Yeah, he always comes out victorious in situations after all." Michael finished, "Plus, he's the only person I know well out of you guys."
"Fine…" Emilia agreed angrily. "I guess that'll do." She said.
Zylus smiled, agreeing with the rest, then moving on to his system.
[QnA on Group]
[Accept or Reject]
[Accepted!]
[Loading the questions…]
[Questions Loaded]
[#1: Who's in your group?]
[Group members: Emilia Scorce, Frey Fross, Zenos Mezino, Michael Elric, and Zylus Elwis]
[#2: Who will be your group leader?]
[Decision: Zylus Elwis]
[#3: Your Fighting Style?]
[Main: Hand-to-Hand combat]
[Submit]
[Questions Submitted!]
Each one of these questions appeared on everybody's system, and they each agreed that the leader would be Zylus, so they input that into their system.
[Leader Confirmed: Zylus Elwis]
[The leader must decide a name for their group]
[Name: ___]
[Submit]
"A name, oh, I got it," Zylus whispered.
[Name: Misfit Cadets]
[Chosen Name Submitted!]
Zylus decided not tell the others and keep it a secret, so they simply continued. A while later, they finally got a notice from Ivy Noctis.
"Now that we've received everybody's submission, you guys will be given a quest to go on! This quest will involve you guys traveling to further places, stabilizing communities, and creating a better society." She said, taking a quick break, "But anyways, each mission will be the same level, so you guys don't need to worry about anything."
Each cadet simply listened to her every word as she decided to continue.
"Once the leader decides to take on the quest, they will be automatically teleported to the mission's designated location." She continued, yelling into the microphone, "This quest must be finished over the weekend, and once you come back, it must be completed." She finished.
Everyone looked at each other, prepared and not worried about what was to come. Each cadet felt prepared, as there was not much left of them.
"Since only five hundred of you remain, the worst fifty scores on this quest will be cut off."
"Five hundred?" Zylus whispered, "Oh yeah, forgot I was away for their last mission with the quest Kash gave us. So they cut another half just like that, damn, sucks to suck."
"Now name tags will appear on your uniform, it'll say your name and the title of your group decided by your leader!" She finished, "You are all now dismissed. Enjoy your weekend." Ivy dropped the microphone, smiling.
"Title of group?" Everyone said out loud, all looking at Zylus.
Right after, small name tags started to appear on each of their shirts, right in the middle. Each of them looked down…
"Hey, Zylus," Emilia's glare darkened, "What's this about, 'Misfit Cadets'?" She sarcastically smiled.
"Fuck," Zylus whispered low, bringing his hands up in surrender, "Misfits?" He nervously smiled, "Who would've ever named us that?"
I honestly thought it had a nice ring to it.
Afterwards, Frey jumped in, "Hey, it's fine, it's about what we achieve, not about what we are named."
Emilia turned around with a clear grudge, as Zylus sarcastically smiled through it all.
"We're dismissed now," Zenos said.
"Yeah, what are you guys going to be up to?" Michael asked, trying to fit into this new friend group.
"I was going to go to the colosseum later, maybe add a couple of skills to my fighting style," Zenos responded.
"I was just going to chill at my home," Zylus said.
"Same here." Both Frey and Emilia added.
And then, his system began to show the quest they will be going on soon.
[Quest received from the Demon Realm's administrators]
[Quest: ???]
[Accept]
[Quest must be completed by Monday]
[Date Due: December 15th, 2025 by 11:59 PM]
[Approximate Calculated Time To Finish: One Day]
Zylus, upon looking at the quest, decided it would be okay for them to take a break since they have a span of three days to complete this quest, and it'll only take one day out of their time. Upon this, each one of them parted their separate ways.
But then, Zylus got stopped.
"Hey you," Somebody in the shadows said, "You low-rank bastard, I'll kill you."