"I choose to be a hero," Aku answered with certainty.
His voice wasn't as inexpressive as always, perhaps because Aku was excited.
In that moment, a white light enveloped him. Aku could feel the warmth of that light. It was comforting and reassuring.
Then the light began to lose intensity. As it did, little by little a new world around him became visible.
Aku was stupefied.
The sun shone with a warm light in the sky, gently caressing Aku's skin.
A gentle breeze ruffled his white hair, bringing a floral scent with it.
He was in a green meadow where hundreds of flowers were scattered.
These were of all colors, painting the green canvas of grass with vivid colors beneath the blue sky.
The boy felt his cheeks warming. Observing that landscape had moved him.
It was very different from seeing it in a painting.
The demon king was invaded with the urge to frolic and roll in the field, but before he could do any of that, a voice spoke.
"Welcome everyone to the trial of redemption!" said a voice that resonated directly in his head.
Aku was puzzled, however he remembered the angel's words.
They had to take a trial to show their worth and enter the hero academy.
Aku decided to pay attention to those words. They would most surely be the rules of the trial.
"If you are here, it's because you are heroes who failed, frauds who failed a world and didn't accomplish your mission!"
Aku reflected on those words.
That wasn't his case.
Aku was the demon king. Technically he had won and usurped the hero's body.
Though perhaps from that perspective, the fact that he had usurped the hero's identity meant he had technically failed.
Maybe, since the demon king was still alive, Alexander had failed as a hero.
That meant by taking his body and identity, he carried that failure.
"Yes, you are failures, but you mustn't be depressed about it! You still have the opportunity to prove you're not useless."
Aku began to feel annoyed by what that voice in his head was saying.
While he didn't feel he had failed, why was that voice insulting the heroes who had failed?
They were still heroes. They didn't do anything wrong, except being too weak.
Perhaps insulting them wasn't the best way to encourage them.
"This trial is very simple to understand, but passing it is quite another matter."
"The trial will last 36 hours. In that time, you must find the rest of the participants and disqualify them. To do so, you must knock them out of combat, make them surrender, or kill them."
"Don't worry, even if your body is destroyed here, we'll reconstruct it outside the gate. All wounds inflicted here will heal automatically when the trial ends."
Aku was surprised hearing that information. They seemed to have a remarkable ability to heal wounds.
However, remembering his battle against Alexander and his group, Aku recalled that Sylvie was supposedly capable of resurrecting people, so perhaps that ability was more common than it seemed.
Though knowing that soul damage couldn't be healed, Aku had to be careful.
"You'll ask yourselves, can't I simply wait for the time to end? Well, the answer is a resounding no."
"When the time ends, 80% of participants will be eliminated. The remaining 20% will correspond to those who eliminated the maximum number of people possible."
Aku was surprised hearing those words.
Only 20% of participants would pass the trial. He didn't know how many people would participate, but there would surely be a lot of competition.
This wasn't a simple trial, though that didn't really worry Aku.
In fact, that made it much more exciting.
"We won't tell you how much time has passed, nor will you know your position, nor how many participants remain. In short, you won't know anything."
"You'll only know you've won when the trial ends. This is so you take the trial more seriously."
Aku stroked his chin, thoughtful at that new information.
Not knowing his position in the trial was inconvenient but exciting, making him have mixed feelings about it.
"Apart from that, there are no rules. You can set traps, make alliances, betray, it doesn't matter. Do whatever it takes to win."
"That's all, the trial starts now!"
Aku remained thoughtful.
"So there are no rules, huh? That's convenient," he said.
Though on the other hand, it was strange that a trial for heroes would focus only on power.
"Well, those who arrived here died from being weak. Maybe that's why the trial focused on that."
Aku shrugged. There wasn't much point in continuing to reflect on the trial.
Now he had to start hunting heroes, something he was very good at as demon king.
"Alright, let's begin. What could I use? Well, first I have to analyze the environment," Aku commented as he extended his arm.
However, when he tried to use his power, something strange occurred.
There was no response.
"Huh?" The demon king was perplexed at what was happening.
For some reason, when he tried to summon the essence of chaos, it didn't respond.
In other words, the demon king had lost his powers.