Chapter 11: Leon the Slayer | 4

It was the morning of the next day, and Leon just woke up in a bed that wasn't as comfortable as the one in the hospital, but still nicer that his old straw bed. He was in a military training facility.
Leon took up the general's offer and joined, with his objective being to kill as many Larkan mages as he could, get revenge for his family, his hometown.
The stressful sound of bell ringing had woken him, along with the other trainees, signalling the start of their day. This training facility was specifically for daemons. Some people here already knew each other, but some of them were here alone. All had their own reasons for being here.

***

After going to the cafeteria for a light breakfast, their instructor called them in the main field of this training facility. He wanted to see what he was going to be dealing with, a stress test to measure the capabilities of each trainee.
"Gentlemen! All attention to me!" The instructor shouted with a stiff and commanding voice.
"I know a lot of you are here because you have no other choice. With the war that has started recently, things have been tough for everyone living in this empire."
"..." The trainees paid attention to his speech. Some of them had a gloomy expression but most of them looked determined.
"That's the reason you are here. With your great powers, you will help defend this land! Defend your family! And if you don't have family, you will fight to defend your very own freedom! Who knows what these barbarians will do to us if they manage to win..."
As his speech went on, more and more gloomy expressions turned to determination and confidence. All of these people gathered here had something in common. War had taken something very important from them.

"First of all, I want to confirm that all of you can transform at will, and that you can control yourselves in that state..."
Multiple soldiers with peculiar looking weapons were gathered around the new trainees and aiming at them. If only one of them went rogue during transformation, it would be disastrous for everyone in this facility.
"Go!"
With his signal, the trainees transformed in a matter of seconds. All except Leon. He had to concentrate a lot and it took him a while, this was nothing like the previous time he converted.
Most eyes were on him, but eventually he was fully altered.
"Show me your greatswords!"
The now transformed daemons ripped of their tails and they took the shape and hardness of a blade almost instantly. Leon took longer than usual once again.
"Thrust your blades!"
All of them stroke forward into the air with their swords at once, like a perfectly synchronized choir.
"Get off the ground!"
They unfolded their devilish wings and started levitating off the ground. Leon struggled to keep himself in the air, like an infant sparrow who had just learned how to fly.
"And, fire!"
The sky above was lit up by the fire breath of the daemons.

***

The same exercises were repeated around 5 more times, until eventually;
"That's it for today, I'm letting you off the hook early since it's your first time here. Make sure to relax because tomorrow you will be assigned to a company."
And with that, Leon's first ever military training session was completed.

***

Leon was sitting in an indoor picnic table by himself. Eating a bland dish of broccoli, meat, and rice. He could barely eat this flavorless food. Anything that wasn't made by his mother was considered bland by him.
After being set free for a couple of hours, all the trainees were called in the cafeteria again, for lunch this time. Leon was alone in this table, while everyone else had found a group of friends by now.
"Ahhh..." He sighed softly. Maybe military life wasn't for him after all.
Did I make the wrong choice?
"Hey there."
"..?"
"Mind giving me your name, man?" A young gentleman his age sat down in the seat opposite of him, and started talking to him.
Leon did not know what to do, so he eventually just answered the question.
"I'm... Leon."
"You are not from around here, huh? Must be hard getting used to the life here, I can relate."
"I'm from..." Just thinking about this place was enough to bring him down.
"It's fine, you don't have to tell me! Your name is enough for now, heh." This young man was a bit taller than Leon. He had medium length blonde hair and narrow blue eyes. He was looking at him with a smile and with great interest, but it didn't look like he harboured any hostile intentions.
"So... what's your name?"
"Mikhael. Call me mike please!" Mikhael looked surprisingly positive, even though he was in a military facility. In the end, it doesn't matter where life brings you. You just have to learn to have fun along the way.
"N-Nice to meet you." Leon wasn't much of a social butterfly back in his hometown. But now things were even harder in the social department. He had to communicate with people who grew up in big, advanced cities. A rough challenge for Leon.
"I'm from Gerla. Don't know if you've heard of the place but it is.. used to be somewhat of a big city down and close to the south border. The Dakans just had to come and ruin it though... what can you do..." He looked sad and happy at the same time. A weird expression. Leon didn't know what to make of it. He could tell one thing though, this is another person who had lost his home.

***

The next day, morning.

"Leon Thaleus, and Mikhael Hansen. You will be assigned as scouts for the 4th squad! Your performance in transformation has proven inadequate for prolonged combat, thus your job will be to fly high in the skies and report to the rest of your squad information about the enemies.
"Oh man..." Mikhael looked displeased by that announcement from the instructor, but Leon took it much worse.
But what am I gonna do now? The only reason I am here for is to kill these scum...
That was his main motivation for taking up the general's offer and joining the military.
"It's alright dude, what matters is that we're helping in the process of killing them, right?" Mikhael tried to cheer him up but it didn't work.

***

1 week later, in the front lines of the western theater. 

"Listen up here, daemons!"
The air smelled of ash and the sky was grey.
"Our troops are being decimated by magical artillery that is being protected by Warmages and a grand barrier!"
A total of 100 newly trained daemons were standing on soil that was dirtied by the horrors of war.
"Your job is to break through the barrier and get rid of the artillery mages."
Their general had just given them a task that was easier said than done, and these bloodthirsty daemons were lusting to spill some mage blood.
"The scouts move first. You will fly as high as you can, observe the formation of our enemy, find weak-spots and paths, and then get back here to report them to the rest of your company, so we can get this show on the road!"