Chapter 0

"Wake up Markos! It's our big day at school!" says a teenage girl in an excited tone, trying to wake up a boy known as Markos. The girl was of average height, she had a figure that would mostly be described as cute, black hair, and a petite figure.

"Shit!!!! Are we late, Sofia?!" says Markos waking up, he has long dyed blonde hair, way taller than the girl known as Sofia, and a very athletic build. Both Markos and Sofia are roommates in a college, about Gods.

"No, it's just that I know you want to arrive early," says Sofia, going downstairs of their room to already be going to school. Markos gets up from his bed and changes as fast as possible just so they can arrive as early as possible. Today is the test for the students in the academy to graduate, with multiple processes to them. Markos was the most enthusiastic out of everyone, he has been working the hardest just to do it. Once both Markos and Sofia were ready, they left their room and got to the main halls, where they were able to see the World Tree with clear clarity, since their academy was a dimension disconnected from the World Tree, which gave the students a perfect view of it. The halls were full of beauty, with different forms of art from different periods, like the music playing in the background which is Mozart, or the paintings of the wall which are of Picasso, even without the people present in it, the academy is still very lively from just the interior, with beautiful gardens outside to give it even more life. As Markos and Sofia arrive in their classroom, someone is already there, which based on the outfit, is a teacher.

"Yo teacher! We are ready for the exam!" says Markos, as he and Sofia sit down at the best seats.

"Markos, stop calling me 'teacher'! Just call me Tom or something. I said this since the beginning of the year." Says the teacher, known as Tom. Tom had a bamboo hat and varying forms of blue kimono, he also has a medallion on the region of his left elbow, which signifies his rank as a general of the army "Preparations are almost complete so you two can... tell..." Tom says that as he then sees Markos and Sofia studying a little bit more together 'How was I able to handle these two? They have lots of passion for this. Although... wouldn't be surprised on Markos' end, she raised him like that, and Sofia is about the same as her, so wouldn't be surprised.'. Soon enough, another student showed up, much like Markos, he had blonde hair, was more muscular, and seemed more battle-hungry "Kenji! You arrived. Please take a seat, your exam starts today as well."

"Yeah, whatever Tom," says Kenji unrespectfully. This made Markos cross at Kenji, as always.

"You always say that to about everyone you meet." said Markos "You could at least show some respect towards the teachers at least."

"They're just a bunch of old men who just want us to get their work done for them," replied Kenji, Sofia just giggled a little, knowing full well how ignorant Kenji can be.

"I don't care what you think, I just know me and Markos are going to do amazing, you on the other hand will fail and fall back another year," says Sofia smugly. This caused Kenji to be cross.

"You say that again in my face! Flat chested bitch!" says Kenji menacingly. Sofia now lost all her confidence and is almost starting to cry, but is holding back her tears.

"If you all want to, you can just leave and start battling outside." Tom had a sudden change in tone, going from a very laid-back person to now very cold. Kenji was now feeling frightened, only individuals stronger than he can do it. Markos on the other hand noticed his mistake and got back to his usual behavior.

"Of course not, sensei!" said Markos, with Kenji blowing a raspberry instead, just to hide the fact he got scared just now.

"Great. Now all the students should be arriving soon," says Tom as all the students enter the classroom. Soon enough, the classroom was filled with numerous students, ready for the big day "Alright everyone, just one last quick preparation before the exam starts. After this, I highly advise you to go to your dorms and rest, because a key aspect of God Energy is that you need to be in your full capabilities before a battle starts. Whilst the physical and spiritual energies in it do allow you to fight for extended periods, it's always best to keep it at its maximum capabilities. No physical combat training as well, today what we will do instead is mention the rules just to be fresh in your heads. When you arrive at the portal, that transports you to a random location within the dimensions, you will be handed a ticket, that will have the mission reports for a specific combat-related purpose. These include Medic, Soldier, Weapons Master, and more. When you arrive at the dimension in question, there will be an inn where you will be handed the mission objective and a teacher will be present as well. A sign that you already failed is if the teacher has been given full permission to interrupt the battle and help you. When that happens, you can only take this exam again after a whole year has passed. You can't bring any extra weapons, you signed in a paper with a specific weapon in mind and that's the only one you will be allowed to use, any other unauthorized weapon detected will count as immediate disqualification, because since God Energy relies on your mental state in overall effectiveness, bringing in an extra weapon was generally viewed as a sign of no confidence so you will lose already. Now with that in mind, you can do some extra revisions with your friends before your exam starts, I suggest books that go over military tactics, but you can also leave early if you want." the students eventually paired up in some of their group of friends, but some were already alone.

"Sofia, how about we rest for now? I wanna save my stamina for the battle," says Markos.

"I agree. And no worries, I got a few plans ready as well," replied Sofia.

"I also don't like the fame I have, if I stay here for a minute, people will swarm me with questions. Also, next time, don't get involved in a confrontation with Kenji."

"Well, I just wanted to tease him a little because he does sometimes infuriates me. Although you aren't one to talk to, you usually get into a lot of fights with him. And last time I checked you lost more times."

"I won the last match and we are still 50/50!" says Markos which caused Sofia to giggle. As fast they could, Markos and Sofia got back to their dorm "I am so excited... I wish she would be present..." says Markos as Sofia all of a sudden could feel the sadness surrounding the whole room "I will just sleep a little."

"I understand... is there anything I can help you with?" asks Sofia.

"Just some time alone," says Markos as he goes on his bed and sleeps.

9 years ago

Currently, there is a dark bedroom, with nothing in there to signify happiness, all that can be seen is a 9-year-old Markos and a giant mess in the same room. A happy sight to a child would normally be seeing the light of day, eating breakfast with their family members, seeing the sunshine, and playing with their friends or their toys, but for Markos, he had breakfast, could see the sunshine, but he was all alone, whenever he wakes up he has to go and eat lunch at the Academy, which doubled as an orphanage to some children, and he had no friends to fall back on, most people either ignored him or looked at him on a superficial level and don't interact with him.

"Why am I so alone?... Was I cursed with being unknown forever?..." says Markos to himself.

"Look at that kid over there, he is talking to himself again. What a weirdo." says a guy sitting at a table pointing at Markos.

"Maybe he is talking to his imaginary friends like a 5-year-old, he is a loser after all." says another boy.

"We best stay away from him." says a third one, this is causing Markos to lose his patience.

"Hey you 3!" Markos calls out to the 3 boys who made fun of him "If you got a problem with me, how about we fight it out?!"

"Alright there little hothead." says the first boy.

"Which one? All I see is air." says the other one.

"Maybe we should ignore it."

"Than you shouldn't feel this..." Markos was about to punch the three boys, but then a younger Tom appears, preventing Markos from attacking.

"You 3! Come to my office now!" says Tom to the boys.

"But but but! We did nothing wrong sir!" protested one of the boys.

"Did I ask if you did something or not?" asks Tom with a death-inducing glare "I said, go to my office now, I have a class to teach and I don't want to waste my time with your excuses." the 3 boys then go directly to Tom's office "You as well Markos, we will talk later." as Tom then leaves to his office. Markos was still really mad over those 3 boys, he wanted to punch them. Soon enough, Markos was called upon by Tom to enter the office. Markos sat down at the chair and tom is already seated.

"Hey Markos." begins Tom.

"I know what you are going to say, but they were making fun of me!" starts Markos, still heated over what happened at the cafeteria.

"Markos, I know you are a great student, all of your grades are some of the best of the class as a whole, but you have to understand when something is uncalled for. I know you are in the orphanage, but you have to learn this somehow."

"And by how?! Letting them get away with it?!"

"Those boys are already doing 3 months' worth of community service in the orphanage, on top of their actual schoolwork, but I don't want you to sink to their level. At some point, you need to learn that all of your actions have consequences by acting like this."

"We'll see about that," says Markos as leaves the office. Tom doesn't follow him, only chuckling, knowing that Markos will suffer the consequences of his actions eventually. Tom then leaves to teach a class.

In a classroom, a young teenage girl can be seen looking out the window, no words can be described as to how beautiful she looked, and the most defining trait was her book, which contains all of her progress since her very first day, detailing what she did right and wrong in each technique.

"Ah, Mika, I see that you outdid yourself, guess your dedication surpasses everyone else's," says Tom as the girl known as Mika looked at him.

"Well, I do wanna become a Weapon's Master, so that I can defend everyone who needs it," says Mika with passion and conviction behind her words.

"Now, class is dismissed, you can go now," says Tom as Mika and the other students walk out of the classroom. Mika then goes directly to the library, and on her way, she notices a young boy trying to do swod combat. He is using the training holograms available in the academy, but he is having trouble as it seems and can't tell what he is doing wrong. The boy was all alone, nobody was next to him, no one to support him, it was just him alone. Mika then immediately went to the boy to help him.

"Hey there." says Mika with a very kind tone to the boy, and the boy looked at her "What's your name?"

"Its... Markos..." says the boy is known as Markos.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Markos. I'm Mika," says Mika introducing herself to Markos. She immediately noticed Markos' weapon of choice. It was a sword, it was well-edged and clearly, Markos takes good care of it "Can I see you doing a little combat?" asks Mika. Markos then begins the training holograms again. Mika noticed, upon closer inspection what was off. Once it was over, Mika had some advice to give "I can help you. Your stance was off and it seems like you have a fast-paced combat style. Try this stance instead." Mika fixed Markos' stance, once the training began again, Markos surpassed all of Mika's expectations, he was blindingly fast, attacking with quick succession each move, surpassing most of her classmates in speed-based combat ability.

'This boy has immense potential, he might even surpass me.'

"Congratulations!" says Mika excitedly "Tell you what, keep this up and you might become one of the greatest warriors in our generation!" this made Markos feel better.

"Thanks, Mika..." says Markos.

"Markos I have to go now, if you want, we can hang out more," says Mika with a smile and leaves.

Next day

Markos woke up, but something was different, this time Markos heard sounds of cooking and a great smell coming from the kitchen that he has never used before. Was it a break-in or did someone have the keys to his place? Out of curiosity, Markos goes downstairs and what he sees surprised him, not only was the mess gone completely, everything was organized beautifully, all the books were in their proper places, instead of scattered on the floor, but he also saw Mika cooking in the kitchen, the smell of the food was even better than the food that the orphanage served, and this was just breakfast.

"Oh hi Markos, you woke up," says Mika.

"Mika... what are you doing here? And how did you get in here?" asked Markos.

"It's simple, yesterday when we met, I asked Tom who you were... because I saw great potential in you." begins Mika, this surprised Markos as no one told him he had great potential "I went up to Tom, asked him who you were, he said that you are an orphan who was abandoned by his parents as it seems like. I got the keys as well through Tom."

"Does he think I can't take care of myself?" asked Markos.

"It's not that Markos. You can take care of yourself, but you still don't know things like responsibility and cleaning certainly. I mean when I came in here it was a mess." comments Mika "Compared to now, it looks much better." she finishes. The bell then rings "Breakfast is ready Markos!" Mika then prepared the table and brought the breakfast ready, it was toast with butter, as well as milk, but it tasted so good that it is above any of the food that was served in the orphanage. Eventually, Markos was ready to go to his first class of the day, it seemed like a normal day at first, Mika also left to go to her classes, so he thought he will only see her in the morning, but to his surprise, on his way home, he saw Mika there.

"Mika? What are you doing here?" asks Markos.

"I thought that tonight we could do something special." replied Mika "I don't have any homework but do you?"

"I don't..."

"Great! Let's go to the movies and eat in a nice restaurant in Midgard! I hear there is this movie being talked about recently, called 'Spider-Man No Way Home' and there is a nice restaurant as well that we can try out." says Mika, being curious and, for some reason, wanting to hang around Mika more, Markos follows her to Midgard. When they arrived to watch 'Spider-Man No Way Home', Markos loved his time there, he enjoyed the experience of watching something as strange as a 'stop motion video' with people in it as well, but it was so intriguing to him when watching it. The dinner was also great, it was admittedly weird to him how these humans got to catch fish and made food out of it when back in his place, he hears these animals are extremely dangerous and are willing to eat anything and anyone they see in their path and are bigger than the largest skyscrapers in Midgard.

"Mika, I have a question." begins Markos.

"Ask away, Markos," replied Mika.

"How did these humans catch all this food for us to eat? Aren't the animals stronger than them?"

"Some are, but not all of them."

"I don't understand."

"Humans have their economy, lifestyle, and food chain. The average foot soldier we have in our military has different physiology to humans, for example, not all humans can see ghosts, some can but through certain methods and means, but the foot soldier can see a soul since birth." Markos was still confused.

"I still don't get it..."

"You will one day Markos." once dinner ended, Markos was happy.

"I loved our time here Mika! Can we do it again?!"

"Of course we can!" replied Mika "I loved our time here as well." as they went back to the academy. Some days have passed since their day out, they have been going back to Midgard and hanging around more often there, Markos got introduced to this concept of art and drawings with her, through manga known as Bleach, Toriko, and Death Note, which he quite enjoyed reading. As many more days have passed, Markos started to call Mika his mom, but Mika wasn't sure how to take it. One day, Markos was seen in combat class, he was one of the top students in it and today it was hand-to-hand combat training.

"Hey, Markos! You are one of the best students, but I still think you cheated your way through it!" says Kenji, this made Markos cross.

"Oh really, tell that when we last fought and... let's see, who won? Oh yes! I ran circles around you and kicked you to Sunday town! You were there like 'He is invisible?! Where he is?!' it's super-speed dude, stop wasting your time with me if you can't get a basic concept like that." replied Markos.

"Oh, so you think it's right to look down upon me?! How about we settle this in hand-to-hand combat again?!"

"You mean setting yourself up for failure again? Sure thing, it would be an honor to have you go down there again." Markos and Kenji eventually got on the battlefield. Both got on their fighting stances, with Markos showing a significant improvement, incorporating a speed-based element to his fighting stance. Eventually, the fight began, upon closing their distance, Markos attacked Kenji with a blinding flurry of punches, with Kenji sustaining some damage on his face, but then using his chin to break Markos' hand then punches him back with immense force.

'Damn, what power!' Markos recovered from the attack and healed his hand 'Guess he got stronger since the last time I fought him' Markos and Kenji then exchange a flurry of attacks, an intense confrontation was occurring, which ended with Kenji blocking Markos' hand then kicking him to the edges of the ring, then as Markos is mid-air, punch him countless times until Markos is left there scared.

"Heh, I told you I would win! You stood no chance, arrogant hot head!" says Kenji cracking his fists, using light as well to regenerate all of the wounds that he sustained from the exchange he and Markos had. Kenji then leaves.

"Really? We're still 50/50... And you're an arrogant hothead too." Markos tries to get up but is having trouble. Mika then notices Markos and immediately runs towards him.

"Markos!" yells Mika.

"I'm alright... It's normal for me," says Markos, trying to shrug it off and heal, but it's pretty slow.

"That was so stupid of you!" says Mika as she begins to heal Markos, creating a force field around Markos that heals him, healing Markos' soul "I overheard what happened and I was hoping you wouldn't do such a thing, but you did the one thing I was hoping you wouldn't do! You are such a hot-headed person!" Markos started to feel down from the inside "It's not that it's a bad thing, sometimes being hotheaded can lead to some good things, but keep this in mind, you have to keep your emotions in check whenever making a decision, you can't just leap into every challenge because someone pushed all your buttons or something. You will regret it, Markos, a friend could die at a moments notice because of that one decision." Mika then hugs Markos once she finished healing him completely.

"Why are you helping me?" asks Markos.

"Because I care for you and I want to help you reach your goal," replied Mika, this made Markos happy and made him more motivated. Now he has the emotional support needed and a mother figure as well.

Next day

Markos was heavy asleep, but then he started hearing numerous yells which woke him up. With curiosity, Markos goes out of his room and sees a swarm of people running from the academy to a portal. Markos spots a fight occurring, with Two Demons and all the teachers, so Markos runs towards the portal as well instinctively. Tom is seen fighting one of the Demons, he gets knocked down towards the school, destroying most of the area.

'Damn, that was an attack alright, and all my normal attacks aren't affecting them! Did Lucifer do something to them?! Because they are a lot stronger than normally!' says Tom to himself, as a Demon charges towards him and he blocks its incoming attack, destroying the canopy of the school. What Tom didn't notice was a Captain with a very damaged body, multiple scars, a missing eye, and his mouth seemed burned on the surface which revealed his teeth.

'Who would have thought that giving these two my energy would come at such a price? But it's being used to their best efficiency, I will give them that.' says the Captain as he sees the two Demons fighting. One of them comes up to him.

"Sir, Bael is currently destroying the school." says the Demon referring to the Demon, Bael, who just destroyed the canopy of the school "What do I do now?".

"Well, Abbadon, you can take care of the teachers, make sure Tom stays out of the picture, and try to kill some students as well." replies the Captain to Abbadon "Our goal is to make sure this school is destroyed and help Lucifer's reign over this universe, we can't have these children growing and eventually becoming more powerful than Demons like me.". Meanwhile, all the people were selfishly pushing Markos out of their way, which sometimes almost caused Markos to fall, so Markos has to get out of the way, but then out of nowhere, rubble falls on Markos, crushing his legs completely, causing immense pain to him.

"Help! HELP!" yells Markos to other people, but none of them noticed him. Mika was in the swarm of people, but she heard the yells from someone, she looks at the source of the yells and she sees Markos.

"Markos!" says Mika and she runs towards Markos to help him "Oh my God! Are you alright?!" asks Mika.

"Just my legs... I can't feel them," replies Markos.

"Let me help!" Mika then pushes the rubble off Markos and then begins to heal Markos and Mika then leaves the current area and goes to the portal. Once they reached the portal, Mika then feels a sudden rise in energy and notices a beam of light coming towards Markos, it was fired by Abbadon! Mika then jumps in front of the beam protecting Markos but getting hit herself. Blood flew all over Markos' face and he looked horrified as Mika was standing there limp. Mika found something odd in there, her wound was there but she wasn't able to heal it.

'Wait... I am not regenerating... that ability nullifies my healing?!... damn...' Mika falls limp with a gaping hole in her chest, still smiling at Markos.

"Mom?!" says a concerned Markos "Please don't leave me... MOM?! LET'S GO INSIDE!" Markos tries to carry Mika inside the portal, but isn't strong enough, he tries harder and harder, not giving up, but at the same time, can't help but begin to cry.

"I am sorry Markos... I am sorry that you had to see that... why are you crying?" Mika places a hand on Markos' face "Don't cry, you got a bright future ahead of you..."

"But you got a future as well! Please don't go!" replies Markos. Mika begins to feel her last few seconds in the living.

"So is this how it feels like?..." Mika asks herself as Markos brings her inside the portal, bringing them to a whole different dimension.

'Markos... I remember when we first met? You were all alone, no family and friends, so I helped you and I began to feel a connection with you. You were the star in my dark world, I am happy to sacrifice my life for you. All I wanna say is, grow up Markos, find your dreams and achieve them, find a girlfriend who you can love, don't lose your essence... I love you, Markos.' Mika's last thoughts before she died with a smile on her face, happy about what she did and remembers all the moments she had with Markos.

After the Demon invasion, the academy was relocated to a dimension of its own. A memorial was being held in the memory of Mika, the most selfless student in all of the academy.

Present-day:

Markos woke up, feeling a little lightheaded.

'I'll just walk, maybe it will help get my mind off of things.' says Markos to himself. Once he goes outside, he notices some students, they looked way worse than usual, it was as if they were in an entire war. Markos never heard of the exams being this hard as it seemed so being curious, he went directly to Tom. He arrived at Tom's office.

"Hey sensei," says Markos to Tom.

"Is there anything you need Markos?" asks Tom.

"Yes, I was curious. Why are these exams harder than normally? I am saying this because some of the students came back and they look like they suffered an entire war."

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that."

"What do you mean?"

"You remember that event from almost a decade ago? We were under attack, caught completely by surprise, by two Demons that were even more powerful than usual, most likely performed by the King himself, Lucifer, we had to completely relocate to this disconnected dimension that has only one way in and out which is with that train, we even made sure that they were equipped with state of the art technology like facial recognition scanners that can even detect things like usage of masks or make up. We of course, also made the exams even harder than normal as a result, we need the best warriors around to combat these Demons and win the current war that is happening."

'I mean yeah, of course, attacking schools and the Headquarters do make sense.' Markos thinks to himself.

"I understand sensei..." says Markos to Tom, but he was subconsciously thinking about Mika, how much he missed her. Tom noticed it, reading Markos' emotions like an open book.

"Markos, this may be hard, but I want you to know that she will be proud of you," says Tom.

"I hope so..." replied Markos.

"And Markos, I want you to keep in mind of the lessons that were told to you, if you wanna pass this examination, you need to keep your emotions in check, the key is to keep calm of mind and stamina, not running in there and doing whatever you want."

"I mean Tom, I will simply do my best, this is just another standardized test for me, I am very certain I will pass." before Tom could reply, Markos confidently left the office. Eventually, it was lunchtime, Sofia had no one to sit next to, no group of friends to socialize with, she only had Markos, without him now she felt alone. Eventually deciding to sit at the loneliest corner of the mess hall. Sofia was about to eat her beef stew but is currently having difficulties because she can't help but feel how alone she is, the insult Kenji gave doesn't help her either.

"Gosh, have you seen those students?" says a girl. Sofia was able to hear perfectly a group of gossip girls, who try to act like the good people of the school but can't accept that they aren't.

"Yeah. they so failed the exams. We're going to pass through, right?" says another girl.

"We will, we most likely studied even harder than all of the students in our class put together. Especially Markos."

"I hear his father is Odin."

"What?! No wonder he is more famous, he never did those things out of talent."

"His friend Sofia is even worse. I also heard that she had to use her body to get into this school."

"No way?! Does she like older people?! If so, gross!" Sofia was slowly beginning to cry, slowly starting to remember comments like 'You have no talent!' or 'You will never achieve anything in life because you are useless!' from her dad, people who were so ignorant to what she does.

'Can I just be recognized for my hard work? Why do people only make up things about me? I just want people to accept me.' says Sofia to herself, eventually breaking into tears that nobody was able to hear or even cared to notice. Markos eventually arrived and sat next to Sofia.

"I'm here for you..." he says to her, Markos then gives Sofia a hug, which made her feel significantly better.

"Thank you, Markos..." says Sofia. They soon enough finished their lunch and returned to their dorm. Soon they heard the bell.

"It's our time. Grab your sword, and let's go," says Sofia with her weapons ready.

"Oh shit!" Markos then in the blink of an eye grabbed his sword and immediately went outside at about the same time as Sofia, although he went faster. When both Markos and Sofia arrived at the hanger, there is a portal opened and multiple other students are present there.

"Alright, so I will be handing you all some missions right here." says Tom as he shows a slip of paper with different tasks and missions for each of the students "Once I place these slips of papers on all of you, you will be instantly transported to your location where your mission will occur. Remember, you should be expected to complete it all in an hour, if you don't complete it in an hour, you will be pushed back, or if you do fail it, you will be immediately placed back here and you will have to try again next year." once Tom finished, he instantly placed the slips of papers on all of the students. When everything was set and done "Alright you all may proceed!" Tom orders it and all the students walk towards the portal. Following Markos and Sofia's perspective, both of the slips of paper on them have the same kanji (Team) written on them, which means they will be on a mission together. Once both entered the portal and exited it, they arrived in a mountainous area, all of it covered in snow.

"Jotunheim. The universe of the Frost Giants," says Markos.

"Look, Markos. An inn," says Sofia pointing to Markos' left.

"Should we go there?" Markos wonders. When then a Frost Giant appears and waves at them.

"Come in!" says the Frost Giant.

"A professor here..." says Markos as both he and Sofia enter the inn.

"I told Tom again and again not to place you all outside!" says the teacher as both Markos and Sofia entered "Now, go to that room, when inside there will be a recording of Tom explaining the objective of your mission."

"Thanks, teacher," says Markos and Sofia as both entered the room. When both Markos and Sofia entered, a hologram projection of Tom is present.

"Alright, Markos and Sofia. Please take a seat. Oh and Markos, knowing you, you can have that apple to help you focus better." says Tom pointing to a basket of apples which Markos notices and he grabs one to eat "Now, your mission is dual, this will require you both to complete this task. Right now, your task is to take down these 2 demons." a picture of the two demons is shown and Markos instantly recognized them as the Demons who killed Mika, a sudden urge in anger can be felt around him. Sofia noticed it and she feels overwhelmed by it

'What is this power from Markos?' Sofia thinks to herself 'It's not normal for someone of his level. It feels as if I am seeing a wild beast staring at its prey...'

"They are located somewhere within your current location, about 500 meters." Tom explains further "Your mission: Kill them." says Tom and the recording ends. Markos immediately walks out.

"Markos, wait!" Sofia exclaimed as she grabbed onto Markos' arm to stop him from doing this.

"It's 500 meters! I'm not letting these bastards getaway!" Markos replied, gritting his teeth as he tried to get his arm away from Sofia's grip.

"Stop! If you go in there, you're gonna get yourself killed! You don't know exactly where they are!" Sofia warned him, pleading for him to listen to her. "We need a plan!"

"There is a plan! It's called ripping these bastards to pieces!" Markos rebuked, his anger bubbling like a volcano ready to erupt.

"That's not the plan! You're going to get yourself killed if you charge in blindly! Please, listen to me on this!"

"I can't just let them walk away! Not after they can brag out about murdering her and get away with it scot-free!" Markos yanked his arm and began to walk away. Sofia then got in front of him as held her arms out.

"I understand where you are coming from! But you'll die if you don't get help! They may have killed her back then but she is still here with you!"

"And just let them do that again?!" Markos' eyes began to form a glare at his dearest friend. Markos then instantly leaves in a flash of lightning with massive rage.

"Ah, shit! I need to go after him!" says Sofia to no one in particular and goes outside. Once she got outside, the gust of wind was too strong for her, but that didn't matter to her as she went to higher ground so that she can find Markos before he does anything reckless. Meanwhile, with Markos, he is covering the area in the Tom said the 2 Demons. Massive amounts of energy are going off on Markos, he feels the rage that he has towards the Demons that killed Mika years ago, and now he can get his revenge over them. Suddenly, a massive crater appeared out of nowhere in front of Markos, which caused him to stop moving to analyze what is in it.

"Can you feel that energy coming off him, Bael?" says a monstrous voice coming from behind the smoke, sounding like a Demon, most likely Abbadon.

"Yes, and it's most likely that young boy." says another monstrous voice coming from the same proximity, most likely Bael as well. When the 2 Demons reveal themselves, it's revealed to be the same Demons that Markos was tasked to hunt down. Bael appeared more muscular and Abbadon seems thinner. In an instant, Markos takes out his katana and in is a fighting stance.

"I am Markos, remember this well, because I am going to kill you 2," says Markos to the 2 demons.

"Huh... do you recognize him?" says Bael.

"Yeah, I think I do. IT'S THAT ONE KID WHO WAS YELLING ABOUT THAT GIRL FROM YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" says Abbadon and he starts laughing about the enjoyment of killing Mika and Bael joins in on the laughter as well. Suddenly, Abbadon got stabbed by Markos.

'How?!' says Abbadon to himself 'The kid is still standing there...' he references the fact he still sees Markos standing away from them, but that same Markos disappears 'Wait... a physical afterimage?' Markos then pushes Abbadon yards away with one strike.

"Your turn..." says Markos with an angry expression to Bael. At God-like speeds, Markos then stabs Bael hundreds of times over, but then Bael instantly regenerates and at the final stab makes his skin tougher.

'What?!' Markos wonders and then gets kicked to the side by what felt like 3 kicks 'Wait, the other Demon got back and there are two more?!' says Markos referring to Abbadon, who created 2 versions of himself. Markos was sent back by the kick 'I get the game now. The muscular one can adapt and recover from almost any situation and the other one can clone himself. Demons have their special abilities so it's most likely the case here. But good thing I trained my speed.'

"Alright, wanna play this game?" Markos then moves so fast that he blazes by both Demons, attacking Abbadon, before he could create more clones, then, unconsciously, dodges the attack from Bael, who just moved as fast as him.

'Wait, does he needs his eyes to learn about my power?' Markos asks himself then fires a lightning beam attack, too swift for Bael to adapt from and gets damaged. Markos then dodges unconsciously again a series of attacks from Abbadon, who just created 10 more clones. The current battle was going on so fast that no human can comprehend what was happening, it was truly a battle of the Gods and Demons fighting.

"Too bad. I can go even faster," says Markos and uses lightning to charge up his speed, increasing all forms of speed, moving around so fast that whenever he attacked Abbadon, the clones and himself would get damaged before they even register that it was even there and by the time they do register it, several more attacks were being thrown at them.

"Damn damn damn damn DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!!!! YOU RAT!" yelled Abbadon, then he and all of his clones shoot a beam of light to the ground and caused a massive explosion. Markos got hit by it and is flown back to a mountainside and got completely covered in rocks and snow. Using his God energy, Markos creates a barrier around him and instantly vaporizes the debris that was around him, but it was only temporarily as the next thing he knew, he got stabbed in his shoulder, elbows, and heart by icicles.

'Fuck! Where did these come from?! They aren't ordinary.' said Markos as he looked at Bael and he now looks completely encased in ice.

"I was just taking in the cold environment more and I adapted to it. Now all my abilities are based on ice. Take for example this attack." the Demon then shoots an icicle at Markos' head and destroys his brain "Child, you weren't even that much of a challenge." Markos then grabs onto the icicle and pulls it away, the hole on his head then regenerates like it was nothing.

"Did you forget all Gods can regenerate their souls? I am known for my speed and agility, so obviously, I would have the fastest regeneration," says Markos and then gets the icicles off him and throws them back at the enemy. Not noticing that Abbadon has cloned over 2000 versions of himself and are all charging beams of concentrated light. They then fire it. Markos looks behind him, all the beams of light converge and form a new light that is even faster. Markos immediately tries to move as fast as he can, moving faster than the light, but the explosion blows him away, knocking him off his feet, then they fire it again directly to Markos and he gets hit.

"Be glad your Hagane no Jōmyaku (Steel Veins), which can be used to amplify your defenses protected you in time, otherwise you could have been wiped out completely." says Abbadon "Bael, try to adapt, with your power you should be able to now cleanly kill him."

"I was planning to," replies Bael.

'No... I can't lose... GET UP! JUST GET UP! I HAVE TO WIN! I HAVE TO WIN! I HAVE TO WIN!' as Markos keeps repeating these sentences in his head, he tries his best to get up, but that attack took a toll on him, his regeneration is making up for it, but the damage sustained was too much. When Bael adapted, he was going to fire more concentrated beams of light at Markos, but when he does so...

"Sen no Tate." says a voice and a thousand layered shield of wind and fire takes in the incoming attack and neutralizes it with the wind element, then fires an even greater attack back with the element of fire, this covered a massive area that destroyed both Demons "You won't kill my friend..." says the voice again. It was Sofia! This allowed Markos to regenerate and recover just in time.

"Sofia! I..."

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! IF I HADN'T HAD THIS TECHNIQUE PREPARED BEFOREHAND YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED JUST NOW! I AM NOT AS FAST AS YOU, WE COULD HAVE COME UP WITH A PLAN AND ENDED THIS BUT INSTEAD, YOU GOT HOT-HEADED AND JUMPED IN HEAD FIRST! YOU WERE MAKING AN EXCUSE TO KILL YOURSELF!!!!... just please... don't do that again to me." Markos felt the words that Sofia said, she was right, just now, he was mere seconds away from getting vaporized completely and Sofia saved him.

"I am sorry, Sofia. I won't do it again," replied Markos.

"Please don't." the Demons then recovered, but Bael changed form again "I see, so he adapts. I gave you too much time. You use what you take in to amplify your attacks, defenses, and speed, this would include enemies and allies since you replicated your friend's techniques." says Sofia.

"She is the brains of the two," says Bael.

"But the guy is also the fastest out of all of us." Markos moves behind them with a lightning beam. Abbadon clones himself and fires two beams of light, but using his lightning blade, Markos blocks neutralizes the attack.

'So he saw my ability and somewhat replicated it, even though our abilities are completely different. No God has the same technique, we all have our variation of abilities, but we can train and use them to our own free will. Markos is a fast learner.' says Sofia to herself as she creates orbs of fire, that is so small nobody can notice them, even with the brightness fire gives off.

"So he is also intelligent in his way," says Bael as he goes for an attack, but he feels a force fighting against him and notices Sofia with a whip. Sofia pulls the Demon and using her whip creates an immense tornado in an instant that reaches up the sky and mixes it with the element of fire.

"I wouldn't touch it, you will get burned," says Sofia. Abbadon then clones himself and sticks together with his clone to make an orb to overpower the pressure from the tornado and negate it. Markos takes the opportunity and swiftly attacks both Demons. A clone then holds tightly to Markos then immediately punches Markos in the face, sending him flying. Both Demons then feel like they are getting peppered with energy bullets, which created an explosion behind them that almost burned them away, immediately after that they dodge the next shot, by flying up the air, and more keep appearing everywhere.

'I created several orbs of fire so small you can't even see the brightness of the fire, then placing them at random points of the mountains. These orbs can shoot tens of thousands of shots per second, nearly impossible to evade them. Should be giving Markos enough time.' says Sofia to herself. Both Demons were doing their best to dodge, countering them with their beams of light, Bael tries to move faster and faster, and the Abbadon tries to form an army of his clones to counter the shots.

"They have to run out! An attack on this scale created by her needs a limit!" says Abbadon.

"Which should be..." says Bael as all the shots stopped "NOW!!!"

"DO IT NOW MARKOS!!!!!!" Both Demons look behind them and see Markos at the air heading for them. Markos then aims his sword at the Heavens and is supercharged with lightning.

"I WILL TELL YOU SOMETHING! THIS POWER WAS MADE TO PROTECT ALL THE REALMS FROM LUCIFER AND TO PAY BACK FOR WHAT YOU TWO DID ALL THOSE YEARS AGO! AND I WILL BECOME KING OF THE GODS TO MAKE SURE WHAT YOU TWO DID NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! TENNO RAKURAI!" yells Markos and he shoots a beam of lightning, the strongest attack out of everything seen just now, towards the 2 demons.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" yells both Demons as they get incinerated. Markos then lands on his knees and sits down a bit "Sofia... are you..."

"Shut up... I am here... You went overboard honestly with that last attack..." says Sofia as she points to the massive crater that Markos created "The lightning from the explosion also destroyed some mountains as well." she points to some mountains that are no longer present and were cut in half.

"I did my best to control it, but I guess I went overboard as well, I am nearly perfecting it," Markos replies. Both of them were tired from the whole fight and then both were transported back to the academy. Once they got back, they see Tom clapping.

"I would like to congratulate you two. It feels like such an honor to have been your teacher. So it's official, you two are now Specialists, for combat." says Tom. Markos and Sofia were delighted that they couldn't show it.

"Thank you, sensei." says the both of them. Soon, they were passing by the corridors of the academy.

"Sofia... I just wanted to say something." begins Markos "I am sorry for what I did in the test. I got too emotional when I found out that they were the Demons that killed my mother, and I..."

"It's alright Markos, but I won't say everything is alright because we are both alive, if it wasn't for me, you would have almost died and we would have failed the test. I understand your feelings, but you could have gotten worse than just failing. I care about you too and the only way for you to prove to me you are sorry is by never doing it again." Sofia then holds up her pinkie finger "Promise me, you will never act like this again and you will allow me to help you in this." Markos then crosses his pinkie finger with Sofia.

"I promise," he replies "But, I broke her promise, she said that I shouldn't get hot-headed and jump into situations headfirst, and I broke it... how can I make up for it Sofia?"

"Here is the thing Markos, you were just being emotional. But you can make up for it all by showing that you learned your lesson and grow from this experience as a God, and one day, you will show it." this made Markos feel better.

"Thanks, Sofia..." replied Markos.

The end

You just read chapter 0 of Reincarnate