“Please don’t forget me, my precious student.” A woman’s voice echoed in Ren’s dream. Ren could see her, her lips talking to him as if to communicate with him. He could vaguely remember her name, Shan, her name was Shan. She was his master and he was her pupil, and she sacrificed herself to let him live. Ren wasn’t sure whether his memories before joining the Tengu clan were coming back or was he imagining it all. Lately his dreams have been getting more and more detailed.

Ren took the crystal he brought from the First trial. He asked his grandfather of what kind of a crystal it was and apparently it was Somnus crystal, a crystal that cast sleep related magic. Apparently that was the reason that during the first trial of the Selection, many demons fell asleep. Korgan told him that the crystals have limited consciousness and will, meaning when they are in large quantities, they are capable of casting sleep spells on unsuspecting victims in order to drain their life force and grow. The small crystal in Ren’s hand was not powerful enough to cast such a mighty spell by itself, but it did allow Ren to take a look at and unintentionally invade the dreams of his clansmen. After hearing of Somnus crystal having an effect on the mind and how the dreams could bring out suppressed memories, Ren began sleeping with the Somnus crystal under his pillow. It would have not enough power to make him fall asleep forever or drain his mana; the crystal was too small for that, instead it began to show him the visions that he could not quite understand. He saw the form of his teacher, fire, silhouettes of his parents, and a menacing shadow that chased after him, blaming him for all the pain Ren couldn’t remember causing.

In the end, Ren decided to leave things be.

He had much more important things in mind- like the training with Akjan around noon. She promised him to teach him how to manipulate mana more efficiently, right now whenever he uses someone else’s mana, he ends up running out of it very quickly, and the fact is, he did not have the mental stamina to sustain the control for too long. His control was shaky at best. She told him that by learning how to efficiently manipulate hard to control element like Darkness, he would be able to improve his overall control.

Also, she said something about improving hand to hand combat skills, but Ren wasn’t too sure, he wasn’t a fighter type, he was more of a gardener or cook variety. He wasn’t sure why Akjan insisted on training him, after all, for someone whose sole ambition was planting and kitchen, fighting was not going to be of much help. Little did he realize that not Akjan, not even any of the other Tengu clan members realize that he had no ambition for the throne of the Demon King? The sole reason he participated because he assumed it was the norm, his grandfather pushed him to participate in the Selection, saying something about how it was the path to fulfilling Ren’s great ambition, or something of sorts. Ren wasn’t sure; lately everyone kept asking him what his plans for the future were, and whether he was aiming to beat the other clans. Ren wasn’t really sure what they expected from him, just because he was the heir of Karatengu clan, it didn’t mean he understood what kind of ambition comes with it. Lately, everyone wants to have training practice with him, making him suspicious of their intentions. ‘Maybe they think I am too weak, oooh, that is too depressive to think about. My mana control aside, my physical strength did not grow at all~!’ he internally wallowed in his depression.

Now he reached the area inside Karatengu territory Akjan instructed him to go to. She should arrive any time around noon. Looking up at the sky, Ren sighed. He arrived at least an hour too early.

He sat down and proceeded to lay on the ground, sunbathing.

Then he heard a familiar sound, as if the air was being sucked away.

Then, he saw it, a black gate open in front of him, there was no mistake-it was Darkness magic teleportation, Akjan’s specialty. Ren was sure Akjan would arrive from the other side any minute now.

Instead, from the inside the Darkness, a needle shot out, landing on Ren’s neck. The minute it made contact, his body started to feel dizzy, now he fell down on his side, his goofy face facing up.

The one who came out of the portal of Darkness was not Akjan, but a Saber tooth demon, covered in fur, his horns were large as were as his canines, and his clawed hands had four fingers each. He had tribal tattoos all over his body that resembled flame pattern. He took a crystal out of his pocket and whispered “Mission complete, I got Ren Tengu.” The crystal replied “Excellent, bring him in.” The Darkness portal behind him closed already.

Now the Saber tooth demon lifted Ren’s limp body like a sack of potatoes with one arm. He took out a vial from the sack he was carrying, it was a vial filled with unmistakable mana of darkness. Without hesitation, he proceeded to smash the vial upon the ground. Now another portal of Darkness appeared through which the demon carrying Ren proceeded to enter.

Now there was nothing left there but a broken vial.

Akjan came to the designated location, but she couldn’t find Ren anywhere, she searched by his scent, but then she smelled an awfully familiar scent. It was the smell of the Saber tooth demon, a member of Kas clan, he tormentors.

“No, no, no. It can’t be! Not here!” then she saw the vial of broken glass on the ground, the smell of Ren vanished there as well. The broken glass vial had leftover mana, mana of darkness, her mana. She could feel that this leftover mana was originally hers, which meant only one thing. Kas clan took Ren.

The horrible realization caused her to run as fast as she could towards Master Korgan’s location. There was no time to lose. Ren’s life was at stake.

Unable to suppress the tears that seemed to be flooding her eyes, she begged the Great Ones for a miracle. “Ren, don’t be die, don’t die, don’t die….” She didn’t know what she could do, but if someone were to ask her whether she would rather die or let Ren be killed; she would chose to die without any hesitation. Ren Karatengu was the demon she loved and his safety meant more to her than even her own life. She would be happy to sacrifice herself if it meant that her last loved one could live, she did not want to lose him, just like she her family, her clan, now, he was the only one she had left. And she wasn’t going to let Kas clan take him away, they already took away everyone she cared for, now they dared to take the man she loved. Akjan clenched her fists. She resolved her heart.

“Ren, I Will Save You!”