In the middle of a severely damaged city stands a huge monster. Its appearance is reminiscent of an animal, its skin as black as the night sky, and its eyes glowing in a bright orange.

  Around it in the rubble of the city are multiple people with similar-looking uniforms that resemble some kind of military group. Some are rescuing or keeping civilians safe, while the rest are fighting the monster.

  After one of these soldiers delivers a finishing blow to the monster, its lifeless body falls to the ground and dissolves into black sand.

  Inside of a military car sits Teon, a 19-year-old wearing a similar uniform to the soldiers from before. Next to him are sitting a few others, all seemingly in the same age range. His emerald green eyes are glued to a screen at the back of the car, which shows a live broadcast of the battle. The car drives behind others towards a big militaristic base in the middle of a desert.

  After passing through a gate, the cars stop next to each other, and their passengers leave.

  Teon, after closing the car's door, looks around the parking lot, mustering the other recruits, before one of the drivers calls all of them to follow him.

  Teon walks through a long hallway with a couple of doors on the walls. After taking a look at his phone and putting it in his right pocket, he stops in front of one particular door and opens it with a keycard. The keycard has the same number on it as the door. Inside the room are four empty beds. He throws a backpack on one before unpacking the few things he brought with him. While he unpacks, the door opens again, and a boy, who looks like he is around the same age as Teon, enters.

  "Oh... I'm not the first here."

  The boy throws his own backpack on one of the free beds before walking over to Teon, reaching out for a handshake.

  "Looks like we're going to be roommates for now. My name is Lloyd."

  Teon grabs Lloyd's hand to shake it. He looks up, his eyes wandering over the other boys' facial features. Lloyd is a bit taller, with middle-length bright blond hair and lime green shining eyes. A big grin is spread over his face. After letting go of Lloyd's hand, he speaks.

  "Yeah, looks like it. My name is Teon; nice to meet you, Lloyd."

  "Nice to meet you too."

  Teon turns around and lies down on his bed, gazing at the ceiling. In the meantime, Lloyd started unpacking his stuff. A few moments later the door opens for a second time.

  A boy roughly the same height as Teon looks through the doorway. He has spiky brown hair and crimson red eyes.

  "Ah, finally found the right room."

  He enters and accidentally slams the door behind him, causing Lloyd and Teon to wince and look in his direction.

  "Oops, sorry for that, guys."

  After walking to another free bed and putting his backpack on the ground next to it, he turns back to the other two.

  "I'm Kai; it's a pleasure to meet you guys."

  He smiles brightly at the two.

  In this moment all three boys get a notification on their phones. Teon opens it and reads a message that says that every recruit is supposed to be at the great training field in around 15 minutes.

  He looks up from his phone at the other two, who were also reading the message.

  "Looks like it's about to start."

  Kai says while walking towards the door.

  The training field is a ceiling-free area in the middle of the base, surrounded by thick concrete walls in an octagon shape; on each wall is one big door. As the three boys arrive at the training field, it is full of recruits, standing in small groups, all chatting with each other.

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  Suddenly Teon's body starts to shiver, and his eyes widen in surprise. Some of the recruits on the field fade and fall until only one-fourth of them are left standing.

  In this moment Teon feels a hand being placed on his shoulder. Still shaking, he looks behind him and sees a man, who seems to be in his thirties. While this man stands beside him, he could feel how the shaking of his body intensifies, together with the pressure that caused it in the first place.

  "Who is this man?"

  Teon thinks to himself while staring at the man beside him.

  "Everyone still standing passed the first entrance exam."

  He calls out before patting Teon's shoulder and walking past him.

  "Further tests led by me will follow shortly. These will determine if you're really suited for the Soul-Corps."

  The man walks around the training field, talking to other recruits who passed and helping up the ones who passed out before sending them away. Lloyd steps closer to Teon and asks in a confused tone.

  "Do you know who this is?"

  Just as Teon opens his mouth to answer, he is interrupted by Kai.

  "Do you have no internet where you come from? This is Lucius, the number two Hyper-Lethal, aka the second strongest man on earth."

  The two boys look at Kai as if they had never heard this name before in their lives before they slowly turn their heads in Lucius's direction. Lucius stands on the other side of the field, talking to a girl with short black hair and brown eyes. Next to her stands another girl with long, bright blond hair and blue eyes.

  After Lucius talked to a few more recruits, everyone was sent back to their rooms. Back inside their room Kai sits on the edge of his bed, watching Lloyd doing push-ups, while Teon lies on his, looking at his phone.

  Kai's gaze wanders from Lloyd over to Teon before he speaks.

  "So, guys, how skilled are you with your Soul-Energy?"

  Teon looks up from his phone and over at Kai.

  "Pretty decent, I would say. Pretty good with the basics."

  Kai looks excited, his gaze wandering to Lloyd on the ground, still doing his push-ups.

  "Same for me, but we'll see if that's actually enough to pass."

  "What about you, Kai?"

  The question draws Kai's attention back to Teon, who is now also sitting on the edge of his bed. A faint grin began to spread across his face.

  "Well, not to sound cocky or anything, but I think I'm going to pass effortlessly."

  Before the other two can answer him, it knocks on their door.

  "Yeah?"

  The door opens, and through steps a woman, who wears basic militaristic clothes and looks like she's around 24 years old. Around her waist is a tactical belt that carries two guns.

  "Follow me!"

  She turns around without saying another word or waiting for the three and walks down the hallway. The three quickly jump up and follow the woman quickly, while looking her up and down.

  "Less staring, more walking! Show some more respect to your superior!"

  The four arrive at a door, which opens on its own before they enter. Inside the room stands Lucius, who at the moment is talking with another man. As he sees the four enter, he turns to them and smiles.

  "That would be all; you can go back to your work."

  He says to the man before walking towards the four.

  "Thank you for bringing these three to me, Nova."

  Nova scoffs before turning around and leaving the room again. As the door closes behind her, Lucius turns his attention to the three boys.

  "Your room was the only one where every member passed the first test. Follow me, please."

  He starts walking through the room past many technical machines and devices.

  "Because you succeeded in the first test, I expect that you're already capable of using your Soul-Energy to a certain degree."

  Stopping in front of another door with a window in it, he turns around.

  "I want you to get inside here and release all your Soul-Pressure at once, so I can see how powerful you are right now."

  The first to enter the chamber is Lloyd. As the door slowly closes behind Lloyd, Teon asks a question.

  "Why do we have to get inside this room to do it? Couldn't we just do it on the training field?"

  Lucius smiles, and the door falls into its lock.

  "This room is supposed to suppress the pressure, so nothing gets damaged."

  He gives Lloyd a thumbs up, and Lloyd releases his soul pressure. Screens start to flicker, and all people inside the room, except for the boys and Lucius, start shaking slightly.

  "Not as much as I've hoped, but enough."

  Lucius thinks to himself, before signaling Lloyd to stop, the door opens and Lloyd steps out. The other two follow, each with a similar result as Lloyd. After Teon leaves the chamber, Kai and Lloyd grin at him.

  "You three barely have enough output to pass this test."

  The grins on the boys' faces drop as they hear Lucius's words, and some of the workers inside look over at him confused.

  "This should make them try even harder."

  He thinks to himself before turning around and signals them to follow him. He stops in front of the exit.

  "Anyways, let's meet at the training field in 20 minutes so you can show me how capable you are with the use of your Soul-Energy."

  The three nod before leaving the room. As the door closes behind them, one of the workers turns around on his chair and looks up at Lucius.

  "Sir, why did you lie to them? We haven't had such strong recruits in a long time."

  Lucius looks down at the man and smiles.

  "I know."

  Without saying another word, he leaves the room and makes his way to the training field, where Lloyd, Kai, and Teon are already waiting impatiently.