And so the Beast shall bear its fangs. The she wolf has been set loose.

Chapter 8

I can't believe a month has already gone by. I guess time does fly, but I enjoyed all of it. I've learned so many things and got to meet so many nice humans. I was moved to my room in the Rookie section. I would miss being with Saki but I still get to see him and I'd have some privacy.

I still miss my brothers, I wonder how they're doing? I hope Kage's wound healed okay. I long to see them, but the Director said when I become a God Eater, Fenrir would protect my family and I would be given 'vacation time' to visit them.

Today's the day of my 'Aptitude' test. As I walk to the Training Center I begin to be overwhelmed with nervousness. When I asked Soma about the test he got angry and walked away. I asked Sakuya about it, but she got sad and only said 'it'll hurt a little.' But what's pain for me. I fought for most of my life getting hurt along the way. But what don't kill you can only make you stronger, right?

I take a deep breath and enter the room, looking around the room I notice how strange it is. There are holes and blade slices on the wall and a giant window were the Director and people in white coats looked down at me.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting so long." The Director said, finally breaking the silence. "I will now test your compatibility as a member of the Anti-Aragami Primitive Force, the God Eaters. Please try to relax a little you'll get better results. When you're ready go stand in front of that case in the center of the room."

The case gave me a strange feeling, almost as if it was alive or something in it was. I slowly approached it, hesitation in my steps. When I was in front of the case I placed my arm in the area that my hand was supposed to go. Nothing happened, this isn't so bad and here I was scared for nothing. Suddenly the top came down slamming on my arm. It felt like something was eating into my wrist while pumping fire into my veins. I didn't cry out but endured the pain with a warrior's pride. Suddenly the case came back up and a red armlet was now attached to my wrist, and a blade was in my hand. Something black came out of the blade and attached to the armlet entering the veins in my hand, it looked like a tendril. The sword was lighter than I expected.

"Congratulations, you are now the first of the Far East Branches 'New-Type' God Eaters. This concludes the aptitude test. Now that we know that you are a match, you will next be given a medical exam. Now then… Please wait in the room outside. Don't hesitate to tell someone if you are feeling… unwell." Unwell, what did he mean by that? Was the black stuff going to make me sick or something? "I have high hopes for you."

With that I left and waited outside at the main floor on one of the cushioned benches. There was a boy in bright clothes sitting there. He must have taken the aptitude test too. He gave off a friendly aura so I sat next to him. He kicked his feet a couple of times then looked at me.

"Hey, you want some gum?" Gum? What's that? Is that a snack? He reached in his pocket looking for said 'gum' but came up empty handed. "Oh, I'm all out. I must have ate the last one, sorry." He gave me an apologetic smile, which made me smile at his good intentions.

"My names Kota Fujikim, nice to meet you."

"I'm Okami, it's nice to meet you too."

"So you're a match too?" I nodded at him. "That makes the two of us. You must be my age or maybe a little older. But I'm still your senior by a nanosecond."

"What's a nanosecond?" I would have said more but a woman who gave off a vibe of beauty and strength approached us.

"Stand up." Her voice was like thunder. She's an alpha!

"Huh?" Kota replied.

"I said Stand Up! On your feet!" she gave off the command with the integrity of an alpha female which reminded me of mother. I stood up right away out of respect and admiration, Kota on the other hand looked like he did it out of fear. "I'm on a tight schedule so I'll keep it short. I'm Tsubaki Amamiya and I'll be your adviser." Her name, is she related to Lindow? "This is your schedule, after your medical checkup you will go through base combat technique. If you don't want to die over something stupid then answer everything I say with a 'yes.' Answer me!"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Yes Ma'am!" Kota squeaked.

"Good, we'll start with you." She said looking at me. "Report to Dr. Sakaki for your medical checkup, on your way take a look around the facility and pay homage to your fellow God Eaters. Until now we have been the ones protecting you." Not really, I've been protecting myself, along with my mother and brothers since I could walk. "Now you'll be the one's doing the protecting. Dismissed."

I knew the way to Saki's lab like the back of my hand so I took my time looking around. Ever since I got here I've never really had a chance to look around. I meet up with the God Arc Engineer Licca, a God Eater named Kanon, and some other God Eater named Shun. He seemed to not be able to cooperate well in a pact but I felt he had some good potential deep down inside.

When I made it to Saki's lab the Director was there, he gave me one final briefing on a God Eaters' tasks which sounded a little strange to me. But I couldn't ponder deeper into his meaning since Saki kept interrupting from all his excitement he had over the data. But it made me happy when Saki got excited over his research. Afterward Saki told me to take a nap, when I woke up I was in my room.

Finally I would be able to fight with the others, instead of having to wait for their return. My muscles were getting rusty anyway. Tsubaki helped me with my training, I adapted quickly to changing from gun, blade, to shield. My aiming needed some work- I wasn't use to aiming with such a large object- but my style with the blade was flawless. It broke my heart fighting the virtual Ogretail; it reminded me of my brothers. I had to keep telling myself it wasn't real, it wasn't them. But I had a blast fighting the Vajra, I got so excited I asked Tsubaki to turn on its motion, she did with hesitation. Usually Rookies start out with easy training so they don't get hurt before even going into battle. But she was shocked by my results. Apparently I go too excited during the fight and used the Vajra's tail to stab itself in the skull, almost fried the system. The Director was there for that one, and even grinned at my antics. But I didn't care about that, what got me excited was the fact that Soma would occasionally watch my training sessions. But as soon as he noticed I noticed him he would storm off. But no matter, he came to visit me that's all that matters. I looked forward to fighting alongside him soon.

My training went by quickly, hell I was done by the end of the day… tired but done. I watched the tutoring videos in the Arcive and read the database on NORM to the best of my reading level, took longer than the actual training but I still got the job done. I think I've grown a fondness for long blades since they reminded me of my spear. But the moment I saw the jaws come out of my blade when I devoured that virtual Aragami, I knew… that my God Arc was alive. This God Arc would be my blade, my shield, my partner, my brothers-in-arms. I would take care of it and it would take care of me. After training I meet a man named Gen, he looked like he'd been through many battles which commanded respect. He told me of his experiences and I pitied that I could never see him in action.

My first mission is with Lindow, I can't wait to fight alongside him instead of against him this time. Lying on my bed I admired my room. I had some books, given to me by Saki to improve my reading on top of the dresser on the right wall of my bed. I had a coach and a notebook on a desk by my bed, to practice my writing, which was between a picture and a lamp. I had a stereo which I found my fondness for music, how creative humans could be. I had a sink along with a coffee maker with no coffee beans. Which confused me, I thought they would band me from coffee since the last time I had some I was quite literally bouncing on the wall that it took Lindow and Soma to hold me down till I crashed. I guess I can use the coffee maker for hot water. I had a fridge full of rations, a dressers, a bathroom in the back, and a Terminal. All these things are nice, but I wonder… am I truly ready for this?