The whole crowd stood with an energetic expression. Some of them had looks of maximum excitement, while the others had a beaming smile on their faces, but deep down inside, their nerves were filled with a chilling fear.
Dean stayed far behind the crowd, inspecting the layout of the new obstacle course that was laid out before them.
The instructor spoke, reducing the murmurs around.
"Alright. All you have to do is stay within the yellow box around you while trying to avoid physical contact with any of these obstacles," she said, staring at the boy who stood with a confident look.
The square was about twenty feet wide from one side to another. The boy stood in the middle of the box as he waited for the timer to start. He didn't feel nervous, nor did he give off any sign of uneasiness.
The instructor looked at her wristwatch one last time before speaking.
"Your time starts… NOW!"
Almost instantly, the obstacles began moving at an incredible speed. They moved in random patterns and directions, making it impossible for one to predict their movement.
The boy stood sharp and focused. He focused intently, trying to spread his perception across the entire field for any incoming obstacle, until he noticed a quick movement coming from the side.
A large rod about twice the size of two people moved forward, heading directly towards the boy. He noticed the large rod just in time, and just before it reached close proximity, he released a surge of energy directly from his palms.
Dark crimson-colored infernal torrents of energy blasted forth from his palms, scorching the ground beneath him. The force lifted him upwards, making way for the obstacle to pass without making contact with him.
The obstacle flew directly underneath him, missing its target entirely. The boy did a backflip mid-air and landed safely on the ground.
More obstacles made their way towards the boy from all directions, making him dodge, swerve, and jump, evading all the barriers.
The speed of the incoming obstacles intensified as time went by, making it harder for the boy to evade them. He kept on evading them until a slightly larger rod made its way towards him from behind.
He jumped up, trying to avoid a rod that came from his side, but right as his body was landing, a large boulder lunged from behind, making contact with him.
A blaring sound quickly went off, indicating that the target had been acquired. Thankfully, all the obstacles were holographic, so it didn't cause physical damage to him.
The instructor stared at her watch; a small curve could be seen on her lips.
"You lasted for a total of 6 minutes, congratulations," the instructor said.
The entirety of the students watched the spectacle in awe. They were genuinely amazed at how the boy evaded the obstacles in a fluid and smooth motion. The boy made the whole thing seem easy, whereas in reality, the whole challenge was to be met with extreme difficulty.
The instructor wasted no time as she introduced the next set of challenges.
Before the students were several simulated targets situated at different sections of the field.
The instructor spoke once more, commencing the challenge.
"This challenge is pretty straightforward. You have two minutes to hit as many targets as you can. And your time starts… now."
The targets began to move in random directions at an impossible speed. They moved rapidly, changing positions in a matter of seconds, making it hard for even a demon's eye to follow.
The boy focused. He squinted his eyes, following the movement of one particular target as it moved in a rapid, random motion. His eyes followed the target's every movement.
It moved to the left, and diagonally to the left, then upwards…
The boy watched the target for a while before unleashing an attack towards it. Right between his index and middle finger, a tiny, condensed pellet of demonic energy formed.
It swirled at an intense rate, pulsating with power as it vibrated with speed. The boy's hand could be seen shaking violently as he tried to hold the condensed energy between his fingers.
He kept his eyes on that particular target, and once he was ready, he released the energy.
A loud booming sound could be heard as the bullet-like energy flew towards the target. Nobody saw when it left his fingers, or when it hit the target.
The only thing they witnessed was the explosive residue energy on his fingers and a red light that glowed on a particular target.
The boy didn't stop. He kept on hitting target after target, missing a few, but hitting most of them until he heard the instructor's voice again.
"Time's up!" she said.
"You managed to hit a total of seven targets, now we move on to the last test."
A large machine was brought up. It seemed to be covered in some crystals that emitted a yellow hue.
The instructor stepped forward as she spoke. "This is a machine that ranks one's demonic energy. All you have to do is release a bit of your energy towards the machine's downward slot, and your demonic rank will display on the screen above."
The boy stepped forward. He raised both hands, pointing them towards the opening of the machine. He pulled them backwards and thrust them forward, releasing a beam of crimson-colored energy.
The energy slowly entered the slit in the machine, and the monitor screen lit up. After what the boy had displayed so far, what was seen on the screen didn't surprise anyone.
[ Rank: Alpha Ranked Demon ]
Everyone stared at the boy like he was a god. The way he handled each of the challenges was nothing but breathtaking. The instructor congratulated him once more before he was set aside for the other contenders to be tested.
More students stepped forward, taking their tests. Some of them performed not too poorly, while the others flopped completely.
After a long while of testing, it was finally Dean's turn to get tested. He was seated in the far back, making him the last person to get tested for the day.
He stepped forward with a nervous look. His eyes were filled with determination, but his heart was already giving up on everything. Whether he liked it or not, he needed to perform the testing, even if it meant embarrassing himself.
He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.
"Let's get this over with."