Pandemonium examinations begin!

As the night fell, a beautiful full moon appeared in the clear sky and Demi transformed. Into a beast that has never been seen before by anyone except his parents. It was terrifying. A head of a wolf with eyes so black that one could drown just by looking into them. A robust ten-pack body with enormous bat wings, covering him from head to toe. Arms and legs with claws so sharp that they could tear through anything like butter. 'Alright,' he thought. Let's go! His journey would now begin. He traveled from his hometown of Muspell – a small village of outcasts to the capital city of the country Dragsa. The only country in the world where there was no discrimination between the races. His journey would end early in the morning. After undoing his transformation, he entered the city proper. Walking down its wide streets, he could see that they were very nice. Much nicer than the streets of his hometown. He liked them a lot. And he was not alone in this or so he thought as he saw children happily playing on the cobblestone. Looking around, he saw many buildings but amongst them one that was more important than any other (for him anyway): a steakhouse. When he reached the pandemonium, he saw its large metal black gates and a stream of people going in and out. The ones going in had hopeful looks on their faces. But the ones going out had the looks of despair. 'Alright!' He thought and punched the palm of his right hand with his left before joining the ones that went inside. Together, they would pass through the gates of pandemonium and enter its courtyard; it was very beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that they would all stop to admire the scenery. But they wouldn't get much time as a cute seventeen-year-old girl with brown hair and blue eyes approached them. She wore a uniform which consisted of a white shirt, a black jacket, a black skirt, and black knee-length socks. On the jacket, there was an insignia with a roman number two. She clapped her hands twice and said, "Attention please!" They all looked at her and she smiled. "I like obedient children." She coughed into her hand. "The first test will now begin!"

Demi walked out of the group with a wide smile on his face and said, "I am ready!"

"Congratulations," the girl said. "You pass and everyone else fails!"

"What?!" everyone behind Demi shouted out in unison.

"I guess that I should explain," the girl said. "Here, in the pandemonium where the demons roam, the one who will survive is not a coward who hides in the darkness of his shadow but the brave who cast it. In this group, there was one brave one. The rest were cowards."

"I don't accept it!" a burly man from the group shouted. "I won't accept it! I will enter the pandemonium even if I have to die to do it!"

"Looks like there is another brave one," the girl said.

The others from the group exchanged glances and started chanting, "I don't accept it! I won't accept it! I will enter the pandemonium even if I have to die to do it!"

"Now for the fun part," the girl said as she raised one of her two hands. "Earthicle!" Earth spikes formed in the palm of her hand. She fired them upon everyone that said – "I don't accept it! I won't accept it! I will enter the pandemonium even if I have to die to do it!". The spikes impaled their bodies and their screams filled the courtyard. There was only one survivor and he was the burly man. But he sustained heavy injuries.

"Nice to meet you, I am Demi," Demi said.

"Piss off!" the burly man said and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Demi shrugged his shoulders and looked at the girl.

"Alright," the girl said. "I will take you to your second test, let's go!"

"Won't you heal my injuries first?" the burly man said.

"No," the girl said and the burly man glared angrily at her.

"You bitch!" he said and coughed out another mouthful of blood.

"I dare you to say that again," the girl said and clear disdain appeared in her eyes as she said her next word, "Human!"

"Discrimination is forbidden in this country, monster," the burly man said and Demi looked at him.

"You are wrong," he said. "There is only one monster in this world and that monster is me!"

The burly man chuckled, looked at Demi, and said, "You and the rest of the non-humans!"

"Enough talking," the girl said and both Demi and the burly man looked at her. "I will take you to your second test, follow me!"

The burly man nodded his head and Demi said, "Okay." They followed the girl into a large building. What they entered was a lounge. It was very nice with a view into the courtyard, a bar, a kitchen, tables that could seat up to eight people, and both beautiful waitresses and handsome waiters.

"Let's go sit down," the girl said.

"This is the second test?" the burly man said.

"Who cares," Demi said. "I am hungry!"

"I care!" the burly man shouted and coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood.

The girl smiled and said, "You can order your food, then we will do the test and you can eat afterward."

"Thanks," Demi said. "My name is Demi by the way. What is yours?"

"Nice to meet you, Demi," the girl said. "But I will only tell you my name if you manage to pass all of your tests and become a black jacket."

"Sure," Demi said.

The burly man nodded his head and said, "The black jacket is also my goal."

Demi, the girl, and the burly man sat down at the table closest to the window and the waitress came over to them, but before she could even say a single word, Demi said, "I want everything!"

The burly man, the girl, and the waitress looked at him with shock.

"Are you stupid?!" the burly man screamed and coughed out five mouthfuls of blood.

"Pandemonium's grand menu contains five trillion items," the girl said. "Can you even eat one percent of that?"

"I don't mind taking that order, sir," the waitress said. "But can you pay for all that?"

"I could eat it as there is no limit to how much I can eat!" Demi said and thought, 'I have a stomach of a transcended werebeast after all!'

"You could?!" the waitress, the burly man, and the girl shouted out in unison.

"Yeah," Demi said. "But I can't pay for it."

The waitress laughed. "Sir," she said. "I will bring you some food on the house."

Demi smiled as widely as he could and said, "Many thanks."

The waitress bowed her head and walked away from the table.

The girl coughed into her hand which made both Demi and the burly man look at her. "Shall we begin the test?" she said.

"Sure," Demi said and at the same time the burly man said, "Yeah."

"The second test is the test of the dantian or your core," the girl said. "Specifically, how well it absorbs Qi." A black hole appeared in the air and she stuck her right hand into it. From it, she pulled out a colorless globe and placed it on the table in front of Demi and the burly man. "Who will go first?"

The burly man placed his hand on the colorless globe without saying anything.

"I want to see you fail, human," the girl said. "For that to happen the color of the globe mustn't change."

Demi, the burly man, and the girl looked at the colorless globe.

One second passed but nothing happened

Three seconds passed but nothing happened

Five seconds passed but nothing happened

Ten seconds passed but nothing happened

Fifteen seconds passed but nothing happened

Thirty seconds passed but nothing happened

One minute passed but nothing happened

The girl widely smiled, looked at the burly man, and said, "Qi absorption rate of 0%."

"Please wait!" the burly man shouted and coughed blood.

"You fail," the girl said but then the colorless globe turned white.

The burly man sighed with relief and the girl looked at the now white globe.

"You pass," the girl said. "Qi absorption rate of 5%."

"It's now my turn," Demi said. "Can you remove your hand?"

"Yeah," the burly man said and removed his hand from the white globe; it was once again colorless. Demi put his hand on it and both the girl and the burly man looked at it. But not even half of a second passed and it turned pitch-black.

The girl jumped up from her chair and screamed out, "Impossible! 100% Qi absorption rate!"

"What?!" the burly man followed suit.

"In the history of the pandemonium there was only one other who had the Qi absorption rate of 100%!" the girl said in an excited voice. "And he was the founder of the pandemonium!"

"Neat," Demi said.

The burly man sat back down and said, "My name is Xebec." He had long black hair, thin black eyebrows, blue-colored eyes, a round face, and a burly body.

Demi looked at Xebec and said, "You had your chance."