The Final Test

I found myself questioning if I was an idiot, a genius, a pervert, or a simple battle maniac when I opened my eyes up to the world once again.

Surely a mixture of all 4, if one were to consider that it was my fourth time waking up in a health facility after a coma, covered with cables and drips and just a lot of medical equipment that I should not have been seeing once again.

My life had turned from being a doctor, to a permanent patient it seemed.

Although I was used to it by this point.

I wasn't sure how much brain cells I was losing with all of the heavy injuries I was adding to my list, complete energy depletion(deadly), punctured lungs, liver and cut in half stomach, multiple broken bones throughout my body;

And by this time around, 3 separate 50 cm long and at least 10 cm wide blades that the Chupacabra would call 'Claws' had penetrated my spleen, guts, and lungs. Very nice.

Though devils regenerated their neurons back a lot more efficiently compared to humans, so no brain damage anytime soon, hopefully…

Funnier thing is, even my parents had gotten used to my recklessness apparently. Since we were now staring at each other with deadpan looks, waiting to see which side would try to speak first.

Even my mom didn't look like she had cried all the time I was in a coma, she looked mostly fine.

Just a little bit like someone had drained the life out of her. My father and Cathy seemed fine though.

" I messed up big time, didn't I? "

" Well, actually for once in your life, you didn't. "

That was weird. My mom was being exceptionally calm. Was this what they had called 'Calm before the storm', or was she just actually getting used to my nonsense.

Was I missing something here?

" Huh, what do you mean mum? "

She sighed deeply, with an expression that said 'For the love of god, just act normal for once in your life…'

" I saw my ring activating for a second before it shut off, before I could question it though, a huge amount of energy started gathering in your room. We saw your teleportation circle light up, but once the teleportation cut off, I knew you were in trouble. I just tracked your location through the ring I gave you and teleported out of there… "

Huh, smart. Also wait a goddamn minute!

" Wait, you implemented a tracking device on me?!"

" Can you really not think of a single reason why I would do that, YOU IMP!?"

She grabbed me by the collar of my hospital gown, while looking at me in the eyes with fury that promised a thousand year torture. I gulped.

" I could, if I had to, think of a few maybe… How long was I out for and what's the damage like? "

" Well you were only out for two days this time son. Left lung puncture, spleen cut in half, mid gut ripped apart on the descending colon part, a few broken bones on your legs, lower spine damage, and just a shit ton of blood loss. How do you feel? "

DAMN.

" I feel mostly fine. Where are we? "

" Sitri Hospital. You needed a few surgeries to sew your insides up and required gallons of blood, so this place was our best bet. "

" Our little gremlin-chan was so roughed up once we teleported to you, but your parents and even I are really proud of you. Not everyone can say they beat a B-class monster at the age of 5, that deserves some praise at least. "

" Hehehe, thank you Cathy-chan… "

I smiled bashfully at the maid. I removed the covers in front of me and raised up my gown to see the damage with my own eyes.

I had three claw marks on the left side of my body, front and back, the first one started a little more left then my belly button and a little more down. It went to even more left and ended in a height slightly higher then my belly button. The two following were exactly parallel to those and each had a few cms apart.

... Sick, scars were cool.

Though looking at the top most one, I felt myself completely go pale…

" How many centimeters away from my heart… "

…

" 5 millimeters. "

…

I was 5 millimeters away from death.

'Fuck' I thought to myself as the panic slowly settled in.

This was cutting it way closer than anything else that came before. 5 goddamn millimeters, that's…

That's like one Riser's dick away from death. Way too close for comfort.

You have to imrove way more, Aether...

" B-class, huh? How does that work actually? "

" Well, both monsters and criminals are put into the same ranking system for bounty hunters to take care of.

For example a monster in B-class will almost always be stronger than a criminal, as their intelligence also gets taken into account when determining their threat level. However most of the time the criminal will be more dangerous due to intelligence factoring in.

A B-class monster can be a few times stronger than another B-class monster as well, however big jumps appear once the class changes.

A Mutated Chupacabra, for example, is roughly 4 times stronger than a normal one, making it a high B-Class monster while the normal is a low B-Class. "

Well, I'm guessing the classes go from D to higher, so, B to A to S to SS… I have a long way to go if I want to catch up to Kuroka from the series. I had some business to do with the kitty sisters in the future, but that's future me's problem.

Well, I was alive and I was feeling fine. No point in crying over spilt milk.

" Mom, thank you so much for coming to my rescue, and also not getting too mad…"

" I can't really get mad at you this time around baby. Like you said, you need to be stronger if your claims are true. I won't always be right by your side 24/7, and assassinations, kidnappings, assault are not too uncommon down here.

You need experience, and accidents like these happen constantly in the supernatural world. Sometimes you come across the big fish that you can't hunt yet, and you did really well to inform us and even tried teleporting to safety, knowing your losing matchup and acting accordingly.

I can only thank our lucky stars that you hadn't bled out by the time me and Cathy got you to the hospital. "

OOoooohhhh~~! She didn't know… I probably shouldn't tell her, right?

Yeah, one little secret should be fine.

I don't want to die after all...

" Oh also mom, LOOK I UNLOCKED TOUKI ! "

[}-o-{]

" It's so nice finally being able to spar with you mom. "

I dropped to the ground covered in sweat and small bruises, but still smiling gleefully all the while. We had just finished a sparring session after our Senjutsu training since my mother wanted to see my Touki control. It had been a few days since I was released.

" Well yeah, I don't have the best control over my strength when I get in a combative mood, and I didn't wanna break you in half. Now though, your Touki should give you somewhat of an enough defense if I hold back to just be bruised badly. "

Ouch.

She was right though, I had a long, looong way to go. Thankfully-

" Son, are you sure growing up fast is the right way to go? I can already see the difference in your growth speed and I have doubts, you know? Would it not be the same or better if you trained your strength, reserves and speed before teenage years so the boost you get is more effective? "

An understandable logical question. Though, if you have the necessary medical knowledge-

" Mom, in a way you have a point. If my base reserve was 10 by the time I reached teenagehood, It would turn to a 100, compared to 50 if my reserves were just 5. So the growth will be bigger. However, that rate of growth isn't a one time boost at all. In fact, once I become a teenager, everything about me will start to grow better, not just get a boost. "

" Why is that? "

" (START SKIPPING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT A BIOLOGY LESSON) Well, we devils have this thing called an 'Anabolic state', humans have this as well. Anabolism just means 'building' or 'growth' metabolism.

The body is at this stage from a fetus to an old man. Then it turns into katabolism, which is just burning or lowering.

For childs though, anabolism works on what we call 'fundamental development'. This is where the body grows into it's actual shape, actual organs, actual bones, actual everything.

How a body is supposed to be, long story short. And it only produces fundamental growth. That is why training too hard physically as a child would actually destroy your growth potential since you would be taking away from your fundamental growth and trying to apply it to 'Secondary growth'.

This is where our muscles and bones and ligaments finish building into what they are supposed to be, and instead start growing in size and strength. This is where bodybuilding happens and strength is gained.

However if you steal from your FG, for your SG as a child, your body ends up not fully developing its fundamental structure.

You can end up with nerve damage, permanent muscle loss, misshapen bones, short stature, damaged spine… The list goes on and on.

That is why even humans are suggested to only start bodybuilding at the age of 13 and up, as the Fundamental growth will be done and they will have a proper body that can now focus on strength and stamina.

This also applies to us devils.

(BIOLOGY LESSON OVER CLASS!)

Long story short, if I end up being a teenager in a shorter time. Not only will I get the initial boost in power, I will also have a miles better growth rate for the rest of my life.

Shortcutting through devils natural growth in power each and every year.

You know how the older the devil, generally the stronger the devil right? That's why. We never end up having catabolism states since our bodies stay young enough all the time.

This also applies one to one with magic too, as souls also enter a enhanced growth state after secondary growth develops. "

I take a deep breath from talking so much.

" Huh, never thought of it like that. I did have a higher growth rate as well, although the growth rate's own increase stops once you reach your twenties, you still end up with a way higher rate than when you are a child. "

" Yep. I thought about things like technique improvement as well, maybe getting used to fighting stronger and faster opponents as a child and increasing my baseline speed, since my speed boost will only improve from that. Until I realized I can already do that even while training with my speed on. Even if I were to go 10x faster, I still can not hold a candle to you or Cathy, friggin annoying maid, and I don't even have to mention Father and Gianna as they can literally go 1000's of times faster on a whim. "

" Yep, ain't no way you can catch up to us in speed anytime soon baby."

My mother showed me a teasing smile. Enjoying the annoyed look that appeared on my face from being put in my place…

Although she didn't know she was wrong.

I would catch up to her and Cathy sometime in the near future. I would leave them in the dust.

I would set my next target as Gianna, reaching whatever rate she could boost herself to most.

Then,

... Then came my insane father. Not only did I learn that he was a high tier Super devil now, only one step behind our Ultimate Class Satans, I also knew his nonsensical time abilities.

I had held the amber he created in my own hands.

I was now wearing it as a necklace by the way.

It symbolized what my father stood for in my eyes. And it constantly reminded me how much of a speck of dust I was, compared to him.

I held the amber a little more tightly now, and promised myself that I would reach that level.

" That's true mother. I need to get used to fighting enemies faster than me anyways though, so you guys make a great challenge for me to rise up to. And of course, beat that challenge one day… "

" There's my confident ambitious gremlin. Since you are feeling so fired up, wanna go for round 8? I still haven't beate-... Taught Touki properly to you, yet. "

I'm just gonna ignore that freudian slip there.

" Yes, mother, let us do that. "

Did I mention how hard it was to communicate while the world around me was slowed to my perception before? Well, it was. It really was.

So I generally closed it off while interacting with people, and made that little difference by boosting to slightly higher rates once I was alone.

[}-o-{]

It had now been almost two months since my mishap in the cave.

I had grown immensely since then, Senjutsu was improving steadily (I could bloom and wither an area of flowers with my Ki now, and we started on my Aura manipulation, concealment and such), I had gotten used to the feeling of my Touki, being able to spread a thin layer throughout my whole body, acting both as a small defense buff, and an offense buff.

The extra speed went nicely with my time abilities as well. I had enough Illusion mastery to make myself appear a little younger too.

And maybe most importantly, my 2x growth had become a 24/7 spell way earlier than I thought possible (I was expecting 5 years and 6 months). I was 5 years and 3 months old now, which meant by the time I was 8, I would be 11 years old.

This was IF I stopped growing my rate even further… I would not stop growing my rate even further.

I would probably reach true teenager-hood levels of growth at 15 ish years old. According to my mother though, her growth rate itself had grown immensely until she was twenty.

If the same workout gave her a boost when she was 15, it would end up giving her more than twice the boost once she reached twenty.

It also never went down once it reached that point, so I kind of wanted a twenty year old body now.

Although my little fun of growing 'older-younger', would have to come to a stop today. As I now stood in front of Ajuka Beelzebub and my other sensei, waiting for them to explain to us what our final exam was going to be.

This would end up being my fourth and final exam, which meant that if by some catastrophe I fail, I'd end up having to go to school another whole year.

I needed to nail this shit, so no risking it by going easy.

" Children, I want to congratulate you first for these last three years. Not you, Aethernum-kun, but the rest of you will earn the right to your own peerage if you pass this test. Today's test will be significantly more different than your previous chess matches and Rating Game duels.

... Can someone tell me the most important part of owning a Peerage, and the benefits of it? "

A few kid's answered a few different answers, one person got the correct answer though. It was Gandoma Balam.

" It's teamwork, trust and coordination, Ajuka-sama. One can fill their ranks with the strongest people, and it will mean nothing if one of those strong people goes against the team. "

" Correct answer, Balam-kun. So for today's test, all of you will be working as a makeshift Rating Game team to fight against one of your teachers. You will be judged both by your teamwork, and your individual contributions. "

Hooo~, bold uncle, I like it. Way better than beating up these poor kids again.

" Starting now, you now have 10 minutes to strategize, your teacher will be sent towards the battlefield after that. Have a lot of fun, you lot! "

And with that, he forcefully teleported us to the Rating game arena. Though this time it was a different one. We stood in a gigantic square room that had four openings in the middle of its sides that each went into a hallway.

" There are 8 more rooms like this one, and we are in the middle one currently. This is a 3 by 3 arena everyone. "

I saw the 5 other kids nod.

" We haven't been told which room the teacher is gonna spawn in. That means that we are mostly being tested on how we will position ourselves to get ready for sensei. I believe we should split up into four rooms that connect to one another so we can regroup easier if the teacher spawns in one of the rooms. Although if you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them now, time is quite limited. "

The kid's looked at each other, before looking back at me. It was Balam who spoke,

" Nah, you are the leader now, chief. Tell us the plan. "

I felt my eyes widening. I had trouble understanding why they trusted me with this, before I realized the simple fact that the herd was following the strongest in an impromptu situation.

... This was the power that strength and charisma had, the power to inspire and rally people behind your back.

" I thank you for your trust in me then, and promise to not let you guys down.

For the plan though, I'll stay in this room as I think it is the likeliest case our teacher will spawn here, and even if he doesn't I could get to his position in one room travel time.

Balam-kun, I want you to choose one of the corner rooms, you will also be alone as us two are the strongest combatants especially in a 1v1 situation.

For the four of you, two of you are strong elemental blasters while the other two are weapon users. I need you guys to team up with one melee fighter and one ranged mage, choose your teams by whoever you are closer with and know most about. Teamwork between a frontliner and a backline damage dealer can mean 1+1 = 3 if the fighting is coordinated.

Take the rooms that are adjacent to ours. Do all of you know how to use Communication circles? "

Everyone nodded, and we set up a communication line. The one with the flameboy would be team A, while the one with the lightning girl would be team B. Fireboy had a spearboy on his side and electricgirl had a macegirl on hers.

" Now once you get to your rooms, precast your barrier circles but don't pour magic into it. Once the timer starts, I want you to finalize casting at the last second before the target gets here.

We do not know what kind of power he will have, and he might start with an immediate attack. Our biggest advantage will be our numbers, so try to stay on one side of him. The reason we are splitting is because if he has an AOE room wide blast, I want at least 4 people to still be in the game.

We will then try to cover him in all 4 sides to give him less chance of countering our attacks. Balam, you and I will be on opposite sides. If one of us gives a signal to switch, we will be switching sides with each other in a coordinated attack. I don't want the target to have a chance at a backstab attack because we were uncoordinated.

... Now before we get into the match, I want you guys to tell me any other tool you have that we could use to beat the shit out of our sensei. "

I hoped it was a decent strategy considering my limited knowledge.

[}-o-{]

[ The match will begin in, 3, 2, 1, Match Started. ]

...

Fuck!

He didn't spawn in the middle room. Where is he-

A loud explosion was heard from the room right next to me, before I could even sense the sensei's aura.

[ Electra and Maice has been eliminated. ]

…

Team B was already down, fuck me.

I started running towards the room activating 3x speed for now.

When I reached the room, I saw that it was the teacher that held our written portion of tests.

I wanted to beat the shit out of him for a while now, as he kept messing with me during tests, probably on the command of Ajuka.

This would be a great opportunity, I thought, before I had to jump sideways from large ball of [Plasma] that came my way.

I remembered Ajuka saying something like 'Well I have found other ways to use plasma other than just casting barriers and blades, but, for the most part it is the same.'

... That fucker had actually left me a clue all the way back then. Shit. He could probably bestow those powers on someone else.

I kept jumping and rolling on poor balance as the teacher was now raining those blades and balls on my head like it was fucking downpour.

" You can't beat me on my own game, Sensei! " I yelled as I upped my speed to 5x, now just sidestepping the shots in a way more controlled manner before I unholstered my dual tantos.

We had gotten far in Tanto Jutsu with Cathy as well and I was confident in my skill with them (I also lsot my first daggers to the Chupacabra).

Since my T4 would drain my energy a bit too much, and magical weapons were not allowed in the test like my gun, I'd have a greater chance at not draining myself too soon with the blades.

I saw from the corner of my eye, Balam, now making it into the room, jumping the teacher from behind using a…

... Using a goddamn baseball bat.

Huh. Cool.

Although without even looking his way the teacher created a plasma infused barrier right where the bat would land.

" If you were any slower, I was going to have to take the glory all for myself, Balam-kun. How nice of you to join us! "

" Shut up you speed-pervert, some of us need to actually run here! "

I closed in on the teacher, dodging each of the blades rushing my way like goddamn Kirito from the Gun season (Best season ever, by the way. Fuck everything else about SAO, that was a good fucking arc and I'd die on that hill.)

Before taking a swipe at my teacher's throat.

Though he swiftly dodged backwards, I cut a piece of his black hair from the action, and at the same time created two large barriers in each of his hands.

Before the fucking barriers slammed into me and Balam, making us crash into walls on the opposide side of the room.

" Who the fuck uses barrier magic to attack? What is wrong with you!? "

The Sensei just smirked, still refusing to talk.

He created a gigantic 3 meters blade that was rushed my way, cutting the very ground like it was cake while coming my way.

I saw Balam making an attack once again from the corner of my eyes while Team A also appeared and the fireboy started casting while the spearboy rushed in to help Balam.

... I needed to give them a small opening.

I activated my Touki and punched the blade into shattering, sending an evil grin his way. The action was enough to surprise him for a second. And a second was all that was needed to let Balam lend a hit…

Or not.

As he was now stabbed through the stomach by a green spike.

Fuck.

Would he-

[ Gandoma Balam has retired. ]

Nope, no he wouldn't. The teacher's evil smirk was still plastered on his face as he conjured a barrage of small bullets that was now raining down on the poor Team A.

I wouldn't let that happen though.

I rushed to their side helping strengthen the barrier the spearboy was casting as we protected ourselves, barely, and the fireboy behind us.

Once the barrage stopped, our fireboy was quick to use the opening given to him by us dispersing the barrier, as he let off a lance made of fire that actually looked strong.

... Huh, guess I kinda motivated these guys to pick up some training. Way to go me.

The lance crashed against our teachers barrier before exploding and covering our teachers side of the room in an explosion.

" Way to go man! That had to have-"

WHY WOULD YOU TEMPT FATE LIKE THAT YOU SPEAR HEADED RE-

A gigantic hammer made out of plasma appeared right next to our spearboy before, kindly, it crushed him to the ground. Leaving a boy and a spear shaped crater before-

[ Lance has retired ]

God damn it!

" Fureym-kun, time to go plan C! "

I saw him nod in fear, seeing his friend turn into a smash burger probably affected him a bit. His face was pale and he looked like he was about to vomit.

He understood the assignment though, as once he raised his hands the whole room started filling up with huge amounts of smoke.

This was my plan C, when I learnt his toolkit. If it was the last two of us left, I would be able to breathe using my air magic to create a bubble around my face like a mask and could still 'see' where the teacher was by his sound.

The kiddo was mostly immune to his own smoke so he would wait for me to give him commands on where to attack. I felt the teacher get up from the ground, as the fire lance had apparently knocked him to the ground.

... Really good job fireboy.(fucking Riser wished, he had such good control on fire...)

Though the teacher looked around, he would be unable to see. He had no problem breathing though, as my hopes for an easier victory were crushed.

I conjured a mostly hidden Razor that was slowly growing in power behind me and rushed to the teacher's side.

I slashed at his feet only for him to dodge me easily once again, and send a blade my way. I crushed it once again and made a feint attack, acting as if I was trying to slash him from top down, and bend myself forwards with the slash.

The teacher dodged backwards only for him to realize that my Double Hidden Razor combo was flying his way at Mach 4 speeds.

Charging up was a great idea, thanks Ajuka for the electric vacuum idea.

What I didn't expect though, was the teacher just taking control of the two Razors like they were his bitch, and redirecting them to flameboy's way.

" DODGE RIGHT FUREYM! "

[ Fureym has retired. ]

" FUCK! "

" HOW DO YOU EVEN CONTROL MAGIC AFTER IT HAS-"

The smoke around the room dispersed as flameboys magic stopped working.

I looked at the teacher grinning at me like an actual psycho, before he spoke-

" You exceeded my expectations tenfold once again, Nephew~ "

" You have to be shitting me.

... Uncle?"

" The one and only. " He spoke.

Before his illusion disappeared and there stood my green haired nemesis of an uncle, looking at me with a teasing smile this time.

" I'm embarrassed to say, I kind of suck at Illusion magic so I had to utilize my output in my looks and my smell. I knew that your nose could tell me apart, so I had to forgo speaking. Be proud that you found a way to force my hand, Ace-kun~ "

I suck at Illusion magic, my ass. You just couldn't change EVERY aspect you asshole, even your magical reading was completely different to my sixth sense.

EVEN YOUR AURA WAS DIFFERENT YOU BI-

" Force my hand, my ass. I was just born smelling better. What is your deal man? Are you that excited to traumatize a bunch of children for your entertainment? "

I was probably the only person who could talk to a Satan this way, and not end up as minced meat.

" Now, now, nephew. They need the experience, and I wanted to see your growth with my own eyes in practice. The strategy, the speed, the power, the technique, how you utilize other's strengths for your own benefit…

I must say I give a 10 to all of those. Wanna keep fighting~? "

" Yeah actually, I am feeling a little suicidal today I must say. All of the effort I put in turning into all five of my teammates becoming minced meat has truly shown me that there is no point in me living anymore. ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME? OF COURSE I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT A SATAN! "

" Aww, I was looking forward to it as well. Very well. You'll be glad to know that each of you has passed. The strategy was good, yes, but your teammates also showed that they were willing to follow a potential winning condition without holding onto their pride as devils.

Each of them followed the plans to the end no matter how stressful the situation. Even team B was resilient in their efforts to create a strong barrier, and they also took a small initiative to prepare a trap for me.

... An electric bomb triggered by me stepping on it. "

" Wait, don't tell me-"

" That I sent the electric their way? If you don't want me to, sure. "

The very, very annoying smile on his face was still very present.

" I need some well deserved sleep after this shit. "

" Very well, let us go back to the Underworld. "

He grabbed my shoulder in a comforting manner,

And we disappeared from the destroyed arena.

...

[}-o-{]

The night time came and I now held my graduation papers in hand, signifying my freedom from this prison called a school.

Wait for me more and even more training!

Though I would visit Brianna from time to time and keep contact with her using our 'phones'.

She was nice.

" I'm so proud of you, my everything. You are the first devil to skip 2 years and finish the whole curriculum in just a single year. "

" I must add on to that as well, I certainly didn't expect Ajuka to personally test you like that. Actually now that I think about it, we all should have guessed something like this to happen. After researching magic, his next favorite thing is probably messing with you. "

I sighed, being done with life.

" That makes me feel so much better dad, thanks. "

" MY GREMLIN-CHAN IS SOOO TALENTED~~ " My maid ran up to me to hug the life out of me,

" Want a reward~? " She made the suggestive eyebrow gesture, raising them twice.

Although I was getting plenty a reward from the two pillows on my chest,

I planted my palm on her face and pushed her away.

" Get away you perverted maid. "

" Son, do you know how old you are physically right now? You do look a bit older than I think a five year old should. "

I thought for a while trying to calculate all the time I sped up until this point. Even counting the separate body part speed-ification to the mix.

Hmm… something something this many months, something something this rate of speed,

something something Seekvaira is the cutest, most beautiful, most talented, most precious, most PERFECT-

" Now that I think about it, I did start learning T4 a few weeks after my 4th birthday. Which was a year ago. I could only keep it active for a few minutes at first but once it grew to an hour so in two months I just kept using it as much as I could.

Holy shit, I should be around just a few weeks short of 6 years of age now."

...

Damn.

""" Damn. """

[}-Chapter End-{]