Chapter 54: Demons’ Awakening

“Ugh…where am I?”

Tigar, the leader of the “Lugall squad,” woke up with a throbbing headache and held his head while trying to make sense of his surroundings. He got up from his prone position, confused by his stiff muscles and the pain coursing through his body. 

Taking stock of his condition, Tigar realized he was naked, and a fresh set of clothes and underwear had been neatly folded beside him. Although he found this odd, he quickly donned the garments as the discomfort of his nudity was too much to bear. Placing a hand on his pounding head, he shook it in an attempt to alleviate the pain.
 

“Damn, my head hurts… What happened after that? Where am I?”

Tigar looked around while holding his forehead. He found himself in the same large room where they had been for the past few days. He noticed the familiar faces of his wife, his child, and fellow soldiers from his squad, along with members of the Kadaha squad, all lying on the ground beside him.

He quickly checked the condition of the people lying beside him and was relieved to find everyone was safe. Tigar decided to wake up his wife and son first, and gently shook their shoulders.

“Sharl, Leo, wake up.”

“Dear….”

“Hmm….Dad?” 

Realizing that Sharl and Leo were in a similar state to when he had awakened, Tigar immediately urged them to get dressed. 

Sharl was alarmed at her own nakedness and hastily put on her clothes. However, Leo, still groggy from sleep, took his time getting dressed.

Tigar and Sharl, dressed now, went around the room, waking up their comrades. While the reactions upon waking up were mostly the same, it was no surprise that the women in the group were quicker to put on their clothes than the men.

“For now, we can be happy that everyone’s alive, right?” Tigar asked Zald, seeking confirmation.

“I want to believe that. But if what that spiritualist said is true, then we might already be…”

“…………”

Zald’s words trailed off, and he avoided finishing the sentence. Apparently, Orvo had told everyone what he was going to do with their bodies. Remembering that he had deliberately avoided thinking about it, Tigar fell silent again.

They were no longer human. Although they didn’t feel any different at the moment, they couldn’t laugh off the fact that they had been subjected to something beyond their understanding. The fear of something unknown crawling up from under their feet was palpable.

“Ah…? Ahhhh!?”

“My leg, my leg is healed!?”

As the large room fell into silence, a sudden loud voice echoed, catching everyone’s attention. It was the voice of those who had lost their limbs in the battle, just before they were transported to this place. Surprisingly, their missing limbs had reappeared, and they were now able to move them as they wished.

The same miraculous recovery seemed to have occurred for those who had lost other body parts in previous battles. Even Tigar, who had sustained a deep wound to his left shoulder in the recent battle, had completely healed without any explanation. While the sudden change was a positive development, it took everyone by surprise.

“Huh? Is this a scar or something…?”

“Whoa, what the…!?”

Those who had lost significant body parts were the first to notice the strange transformation. When they touched their once-missing body parts and concentrated their thoughts on them, an unusual sensation washed over them. Before long, fur or scales began to sprout from the affected areas, eliciting screams of terror from the startled individuals.

As the commotion grew louder, others began to notice similar changes in their previously healed wounds.

Tigar glanced at his left shoulder, where a beautiful contrast of gold and black tiger fur had now sprouted. Beside him, Zald was now covered in a gray fur that encased one of his legs. The two leaders exchanged a quick look before springing into action to calm their panicked comrades.

“Shut up, all of you!” Tigar barked in a commanding tone.

“Quiet down and report the situation immediately,” Zald ordered in his usual manner.

The imposing presence of Tigar brought the Lugall squad to a sudden silence, while Zald’s order helped the Kadaha squad regain their composure. However, fear and anxiety still lingered on the faces of everyone present.

The two leaders surveyed their fellow warriors, most of whom had developed fur-like skin. Some had even sprouted scales or feathers. One particular individual had a single bird wing growing from their back.

“Fall, can you move that thing on your back?” Tigar asked.

“Huh? Oh, um… Yes, head, I can move it,” 

The guy with the wings fluttered them complexly with a troubled expression. Others were trying to pull their own fur or pick at their scales.

Through this, they realized that everything had become a part of their own body, and they couldn’t help but understand that what Orvo had said was indeed true. They were no longer part of the human race.

“I can’t believe we’re not even humans anymore… But you know, we’ve been treated worse than non-humans before. When you think about it, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Hehehe… hahaha! You’re right! There’s nothing we can do now that it’s come to this. Everyone, investigate your own body in detail,” 

However, their adaptation was quick. For the atonement soldiers, who were only being sent out to desperate battles, the speed of their adaptation was crucial. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to survive until now.

In the first place, the atonement soldiers were regarded as outsiders and were not treated as normal citizens by the Empire. They were viewed not as soldiers, but as mere instruments of war. Initially, the revelation that they had forfeited their humanity was jarring, but as Tigar had foreseen, not much changed for them.

Since the “binding collars” remained around their necks, some attempted to enhance their fighting spirit and spiritual power within the confines of what was permitted, while others turned their attention to their transformation abilities. Through trial and error, they sought ways to transform and revert at will.

The children were particularly quick to grasp the techniques. Transformation, which relied heavily on sensory perception, was something that children were better at than adults. Some adults learned the sense of transformation from being taught by children.

“Garruruuru…Wow, I just breathed and a beast’s growl came out!”

“Gururururu…I’m the same. My fighting spirit and spiritual power are increasing, my physical abilities are improving, and my five senses became quite sharper. It seems that I can become stronger when I transform. As the spiritualist said, there’s no doubt we can get stronger.”

Tigar was amazed at the sound of his own growl as he patted his tiger-like head with his paw-like hand. Meanwhile, Zald’s expression became complex as he realized that Orvo was right about the possibility of increased power.

As they checked their condition, their newly beastly heightened sense of hearing caught the footsteps of someone approaching the large room. Tigar and his companions immediately reverted to their former appearance, assuming a nonchalant posture as if nothing had happened. 

Without the need for anyone to say a word, even the children among these warriors held such smooth movements. One would have to admit that this can only be the result of years of experience.

“Oh, everyone’s up. Alright, let’s move,” 

“Ha! Follow me.” 

The people who came to the large room were Orvo accompanied by an imperial soldier who gave out the order. Tigar and the others followed the soldier in two rows, obeying his orders. They were led to a vast space located in the basement of the mansion.

The room they entered was larger than the one they had been in before, and the ceiling was higher. On the opposite side of the entrance, there were more than a hundred cages stacked on top of each other, containing individuals similar to Tigar and his companions when they underwent their transformation. 

However, unlike Tigar and the others, the individuals inside the cages were all in a state of frenzy. Unbeknownst to them, all of them were demons created using the souls of non-human species.

“Sorry to start the day on a bad note, but we’ll be conducting a performance test and disposing of defective products simultaneously. You’ll be fighting against the defective products over there. Please feel free to use your weapons we brought on the carrier.”

The uncontrollable demons were useful for experiments, but they were useless as weapons. That is why Orvo decided to confirm the power of the new demons created using human souls while disposing of the unnecessary ones.

Tigar and his companions had no idea about the situation, but even if they knew, they could not oppose the given orders. They picked up the weapons piled up in the corner of the room.

“Are you ready? Let’s begin~,” Orvo said casually while tapping the floor with his staff. At the same time, the cages were opened, and the raging demons burst out.

Despite the charging demons and their cries, Orvo and his group remained calm. They organized their formation, and Tigar and Zald stood at the forefront with their weapons ready.

“Fire!”

“Release!”

When the two gave the command simultaneously, the team members specializing in spiritual arts and those carrying bows and arrows fired in unison. The synchronized attack crushed the demons’ spirits, and at that moment, the front-line warriors charged in and began slashing with their weapons.

Tigar hoisted his ancestral greatsword onto his shoulder and swung it down from a high position. The greatsword, which would normally feel heavy even with his fighting spirit strengthened body, now felt as light as a twig in his hands.

“Ooooooh!”

“Gyaaaaaah!”

The greatsword cleaved through one demon from its head down to its crotch effortlessly. Before the bisected demon’s body hit the floor, Tigar had already moved on to the next target, cutting it down with ease. Members of the Lugall and Kadaha squads also fought bravely, taking down the demons one by one.

However, the enemy’s numbers were almost three times that of their own. The limited space they had to fight in made it seem like Tigar and his comrades were cornered.

“Enough of this! Grrrrrr!”

“Guaaaaaaah!”

Tigar and his companions transformed into their demon forms, bestowed upon them by Orvo, to even the odds against their enemies. Covered in fur and scales, their bodies grew larger, and their physical abilities were enhanced.

With their newfound power, the battle quickly became one-sided. The mindless demons had no chance against Tigar and his companions, and they were swiftly hunted down and eliminated. It was a pitiful sight to behold, as the demons were destroyed by their own kind.

“Wow! You guys have already mastered the use of your demon forms! Very good～I wonder If that’s related to your experience. Anyway, leave your weapons here and come with me. I want to introduce you to a special demon,” Orvo exclaimed excitedly as he led the way with the Imperial soldier following behind.

As they walked, the group found themselves in what appeared to be a prison-like area with rows of empty cells. But at the very end of the hall, there was a strange sight waiting for them.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the sight of two ordinary ox and horse, which were not fitting for a prison, lounging on a pile of hay and peacefully sleeping. It was an abnormal situation that didn’t match the surroundings of a prison cell.

However, even more abnormal was the cage inside the cell. In the cage, there was a chair, and sitting on it was a demon with an exoskeleton covering part of their body and a thick tail growing from their waist.

“Allow me to introduce them! They are your senior demons! Especially the one sleeping on the chair who is the first demon…the strongest demon as of now.” 

Orvo said, proudly puffing out his chest. However, the attention of Tigar and the others was focused on the demon, the scorpion demon, who remained motionless with all three eyelids closed.