8 Promotion Leads to a Traumatic Experience

Nearly three years have passed since James awakened his Senbonzakura ability. In these three years, James and the girls have made great progress in their education and training. They all know the devils' history and geography like the back of their hand. Human world history and geography have also been drilled into them. James and Rias have learned all necessary subjects to be at the top of their class in any elite high school in the human world. Sona on the other hand has taken her educational standard halfway through an undergraduate's degree.

As for high society classes, they all show impeccable etiquette... in public settings. But in private, when they think no one is watching, they act just like the children they are. With James and Rias having just turned eleven, and Sona's birthday only a couple of months away, they cannot be considered anything other than children.

Unexpectedly, James took a liking to ballroom dancing. Dancing in general really, but his talent in ballroom dancing is phenomenal. Consequently, Rias and Sona also took an interest in ballroom dancing, with less pure motives, of course. Both girls only genuinely enjoy dancing when they are dancing with James.

Magic training has been hit or miss.

Sona's control of water magic is flawless. However, unlike her sister, Sona's grasp of ice magic is only above average. Much like her other elemental affinities.

Meanwhile, Rias has put next to no effort into elemental magic. With the [Power of Destruction], to her other forms of offensive magic seem like a waste of time. [Power of Destruction] is the bloodline ability of the Bael Clan, Venelana's clan of origin.

James, on the other hand, has no talent for normal applications of elemental demonic magic. Because of that, he has taken it upon himself to recreate the Kido spells from the Bleach manga, which he declared to be his goal when he started learning demonic magic. To his credit, he has made satisfactory progress in the past five years of learning. He can now perform all Kido spells up to Hado number 37 and Bakudo number 30. Also, his recreation of the flash step has been a success. The only issue is that distance correlates directly to physical strength with speed unaffected.

On a side note, James tried teaching the flash step to all those he considered close. However, only Rias, Sona, Leona, and Serafall were able to learn it. Cassiel hypothesized that everyone else was too set in their ways. 500 plus years is a long time. The exception to that hypothesis is of course, Serafall. It seems Serafall's imagination is not as rigid as the rest of the older devils.

Since James awaken Senbonzakura, its power, speed and range have all increased by forty percent. The striking power is now firmly in the low-level of the high rank. And the effective and maximum ranges have increased to forty feet (approx. 12 m) and 46 feet (approx. 14 m) respectively.

James is the only one that trains in close quarters combat. Recently, ever since he created the flash step, James has been wearing weights both in and out of training. Weighted training is inaccurate, though. James has been wearing magic circles that increase the effect of gravity on his body. For the past two years, James spends three weeks under increased gravity. Then he regulates his strength and demonic power for the following week. Every time he deactivated the gravity spells, his physical and demonic power would increase by a noticeable amount, with his martial arts training and energy control exercises he was able to keep unintentional destruction down to a minimum.

By the end, James had raised his demonic energy reserves to the high-level, middle-rank. Unarmed striking power has also made it to high-level, middle-rank. Sword strikes have reached low-level, high-rank. And Senbonzakura's power reached the peak of the low-level, high-rank.

Another matter of which to take note, James has been taking jobs to exterminate stray devils and fulfill the wish of humans that summon him four days a week for the past two years. Amazingly enough, in only two years and at the age of eleven, he is qualified to take the promotion exam.

The plan is to take the exam during the next exam period. The Low to Middle-Class promotion exam is held twice a year. While the Middle to High-Class promotion exam is held every two years. The next Low to Middle-Class exam will take place in a little over a month. When James passes and becomes a Middle-Class devil, James and Rias have plans to go on a vacation to the Human World.

Rias is particularly excited about this trip as she has become enamored by Japanese culture. At least that is what she tells James. The truth is her excitement stems from the fact that she will be going on this vacation with James alone. More specifically without Sona. Somehow, Rias found Sona's schedule without Sona's knowledge then suggested the trip on a date she had a prior engagement.

When Sona found out that Rias had planned the vacation in such a way, needless to say, Sona was not happy. She did not have to wait long to get her revenge, however. Originally, both Rias and Sona were supposed to accompany James and his parents to the capital of the Devil World, Lilith. Sona, however, hinted to Venelana that Rias wanted to see a particular movie that came out on the day of departure.

With Venelana's wisdom, there was no way she could not see through Sona's little scheme. However, there were two reasons Venelana went along with it. First, she did not approve of how Rias went behind her best friend's back like that. And secondly, Venelana thought it was funny to prank her daughter. Over the years, everyone picked up a little of James love for trolling.

For the next month, James reviewed the topics that would appear on the test. The promotion exam is a two-part exam consisting of a written test and a practical combat exam. In other words, a one-on-one duel between participants. In the remaining days, James studied the material relevant to the exam with Sona and sparred with Cassiel. Eventually, the day of departure was upon them, and James, Sona, Leona, and Cassiel made their way to Lilith.

===Day before the Promotion Exam; Noon===

Underworld, Satan Territory, Capital City Lilith.

Near the middle of the city, there is a large plaza. This plaza is one of the areas in Lilith with the highest through traffic. On each corner of this plaza, you can find four of the most luxurious hotels in all the Underworld. Traveling east for six miles will lead you to the Four Great Satans' residential area. Traveling two miles south will lead to the Underworld's largest shopping mall. Three miles to the west you will find the Underworld's largest casino strip. And last but certainly not least, to the north after traveling five miles, you will find the Lilith Convention Center. Not only does the convention center serve as the venue for both the Middle-Class and High-Class promotion exams, but it also hosts many other events, as well. From concerts to plays to sporting events to... well... conventions, this building has played host to them all.

"Wow, are those the four hotels you and Rias told me about, Sona?" James asked with wonder in his eyes.

"That's right, they are supposed to be the most luxurious hotels in the Underworld." Sona responded with a smile.

"Okay, Kiddo, take it easy." Leona said as she hugged James. "Before you start running wild, lets check-in at our hotel and put our luggage down."

"Let's listen to your mother." Cassiel advised and quickly continued. "We have two full days here. Excluding the time for the test, we got a lot of time to sight see and shop."

James, Sona, and Leona's eyes lit up at Cassiel's words, for totally different reasons, though. James was excited at the prospect of exploring somewhere he had never been before. Sona and Leona, on the other hand, only had the thought of shopping in the Underworld's biggest mall. Cassiel, seeing the lights in the ladies' eyes, had every intention to sacrifice James to the shopping demons.

After a few minutes, the group was standing at the reception desk in one of the four hotels surrounding the plaza. This hotel is owned by the Gremory House and sponsored by Lucifer. Because Cassiel is a member of Sirzechs peerage, all fees are waved. The group received one of the nicer suites on the third highest floor from the top. A large suite with five bedrooms, each with its own full bath. A large common area with a living room, a kitchen, a half bath, a pool table, and a dart board.

Upon entering the room, James immediately began running around the room in excitement.

"This room is so big, are all hotels like this?"

As this was James first time staying in a hotel, it is little wonder he would ask a question like that, he has no point of reference.

Adjusting her glasses, Sona responded to James' question. "No, most rooms are much smaller than this suite. Normal hotel rooms are about the size of the bedrooms, I think."

"That's about right, Sona." Leona responded. "Most hotels aren't even half the size of this one. Human World hotels are considered huge if they are even a quarter the size of this one."

Hearing his mother's explanation, James was gob smacked.

After a bit more small talk, Cassiel suggested. "Well, before it gets too late, Leona, why don't you take Sona and James out shopping. I have some business to attend to while we're in Lilith."

"Okay! Sounds good to me." Leona responded with enthusiasm. "What do the two of you think?"

Sona was also excited, though her expression was still subdued. "I'm okay with it." She replied.

James, happily unaware of the hell he was just sacrificed into, agreed cheerfully. "I wanna see what kind of stuff they sell in the capital, too."

Ignorance is bliss.

"I'll take care of everything today." Cassiel stated as he made his way to the suite's exit. "After James' test tomorrow, we can go sightseeing and whatever else the three of you want."

"Okay, Pop, see ya later." James exclaimed still excited about exploring this new city.

After that... There was no after that. The trio of Leona, James, and Sona arrived at the mall at 1:15 p.m. and shopped for the next ten hours. The ladies even forgot to eat. By the time they got back to the room, James was so exhausted, he fell asleep as soon as he reached his room. He woke up so late that he had no time to eat breakfast, he made it to the exam sight just in time. He had only three minutes before they closed the door and failed him by default.

The test was a simple affair. James had basically been studying for the written test for the past five years and polished everything he learned over the last month. If he were unable to ace it, there would be reason to question his intelligence.

The combat practical was even simpler than the written test. As this is a promotion test from Low-Class to Middle-Class, most of the participants have barely made it into the middle-rank of power. James put his opponent down with a single Muay Thai clinch and knee to the sternum. After flash stepping into range, of course.

After that, James made his way out of the convention center and met up with Sona and his parents.

"So, how did it go?" Cassiel asked, not at all concerned about the outcome.

"It was a breeze." James replied just as nonchalantly.

With that perfunctory conversation out of the way, the group went to a nearby restaurant to have a late lunch. After eating, they returned to the hotel to change clothes and go to see the sights. However, James managed to fall asleep in the middle of changing his outfit. And he slept until after dinner. Because of that, he had trouble falling back to sleep, not that he needed much sleep being half-devil. He did, however, manage to fall asleep just before dawn. Of course, he slept until just before it was time to return the next day.

Sona and Leona were amazed at how poorly James' sleep schedule was timed.

Cassiel, on the other hand, shed one manly tear, while thinking to himself. 'You did good, Son.'

And finally, James had only one thought.

'There's no way in the Underworld that I'm going anywhere near the possibility of shopping with those demons, again.'