(Erza’s POV)
I didn’t expect things to spiral so quickly.
All I did was release a trace of mana—a faint pulse, barely more than a whisper of warning. Not even 3% of my full strength. But apparently, in this world... even a whisper makes them panic.
The sirens hit first—sharp, chanical wails cutting through the air like blades.
Then the ground trembled, ever so slightly, as dozens of black-clad guards poured into the training field. Their boots struck the ground in unison, their rifles already raised—sleek mana-powered weapons glowing like they were ready to vaporize anything that moved.
They didn’t even hesitate. They aid directly at .
The other trainees went still. The smug idiot I’d flattened earlier was still groaning sowhere behind a pile of debris, but the rest? Pale, tense, lips sealed. So looked like they wanted to vanish. Others simply stared, wide-eyed, wondering what kind of monster they’d just been grouped with.
I didn’t flinch. I didn’t lift a finger. My arms remained folded across my chest, my expression blank.
This was ridiculous.
Then she arrived.
Her heels hit the ground like ticking clocks—asured, sharp, confident. Vice Commander Julie. You didn’t need to know her to feel the air tighten around her presence. The guards stiffened the mont she ca into view.
She stopped just short of the front line, her eyes scanning us one by one. Cold, analytical. The kind of gaze that weighed lives like numbers.
"Who released killing intent?" she asked. Not loudly. She didn’t need volu. Just precision.
Silence.
No one answered. Of course they didn’t. No one was foolish enough to point.
After a beat, I raised my hand.
"That was ," I said flatly.
Her gaze snapped to , sharp as a blade. "Na."
I tilted my head slightly. "Does it matter?"
Her jaw tightened. "It does when your aura triggers a B-rank monster alert."
I blinked slowly. "...That tiny pulse triggered a B-rank alert?"
These people really were soft.
Julie took a step forward, voice tightening. "Identify yourself. Final warning."
I let a breath escape, slow and bored. "You’re making too much of a scene."
"Enough gas," she snapped. "Refuse again, and we’ll detain you for military interrogation."
I t her stare without blinking. "Alright then," I said, uncrossing my arms. "Let’s make it interesting."
Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse ?"
"If you can make move even one step forward," I said calmly, "I’ll co with you. No resistance."
Julie didn’t waste ti arguing.
"Guards—activate paralysis mode."
Their weapons humd with rising mana.
"Target locked," soone announced.
"On my mark," Julie ordered. Her hand hovered in the air, then dropped like a guillotine. "Fire."
Bright bolts shot through the air—clean, precise, glowing blue. Three struck center mass. Another clipped my shoulder.
They fizzled out on impact.
No burn. No bruise. Just soft thuds as drained shells dropped to the ground at my feet.
I didn’t even blink.
The silence that followed was thicker than any fog. A few trainees gasped. One stumbled back. A guard near the edge muttered sothing I didn’t catch. Julie’s eyes, though still cold, had widened just a fraction.
I t them without emotion.
"My skin may look human," I said, voice low and calm, "but what lies beneath is not."
I let a thin veil of aura spread just around my shoulders. Just enough to flicker—a shadow moving under my skin like a sleeping serpent.
"Dragon scales," I said softly in my mind, "don’t shatter so easily."
Julie stared at like I was so kind of cursed myth.
"H-How are you still standing...?" Her voice was low, almost a whisper, like her logic was unraveling. "Those paralysis shots are strong enough to put an elephant to sleep..."
I tilted my head, calm and unbothered. "Maybe your weapons work on circus animals, but I’m not part of your zoo."
She clenched her jaw. Her pride must’ve been bleeding.
Without warning, she reached for her sword. I recognized the hum of the mana core even before it was fully drawn.
A demon-slayer blade.
Old model. Probably issued during the first incursion decades ago. Still dangerous. Still lethal—at least to regular humans.
I didn’t move.
I didn’t need to.
Let her try.
I stood perfectly still, arms crossed, watching as she lowered into an attack stance. The mana in the air shifted.
Then—
"Stop."
The single word sliced through the tension like a blade.
Julie froze.
Her sword hovered mid-air, trembling. Not from effort—but from fear.
I turned toward the voice.
And there she was.
A white uniform stepped out from the shadows of the observation platform above the training field. Clean, sharp lines. Not a single wrinkle. A blade—white-hilted—resting against her back. Her coat fluttered gently in the artificial wind of the training do.
A wolf-shaped crest glittered on her chest.
I felt a vein throb near my temple.
Of all people... why now?
"Big Sister Erza!!"
The voice rang out like a cannonball of cheer exploding into a funeral.
She waved excitedly—like we hadn’t just frozen a military facility with a near-combat standoff.
And before I could take one step back, she ran.
"...No. Don’t—" I started.
Too late.
She collided into with the force of a charging deer. "Ugh," I grunted as her arms wrapped tightly around .
Erika Helmut. White Division Captain. Top four ranked officer. The walking disaster in a pretty uniform.
"I can’t believe it! You’re really here!" she squealed, tightening the hug.
I didn’t hug back.
I stood stiff, arms still crossed under hers.
Emotionless. Detached.
"So," I said coolly. "You were the captain here."
"Of course I am! But why not you look surprised?" she said, just like Elena.
I said, "Oh wow—I’m surprised, okay? Thank you. Happy now?"
She smiled and replied, "Yes!"
she bead, stepping back just enough to hold my shoulders. "I thought I recognized that your voice! You’re still crazy strong, huh?"
From behind us, Julie was struggling to find her voice.
"C-Captain..." she said, sword still in hand. "This woman... she just released a B-rank aura. She triggered a base-wide alert. Protocol says—"
Erika turned her head slowly.
Still smiling. Still cheerful.
"B-rank, Wow big sister you are so strong".
"C-Captain..." she said, sword still in hand.
Erika turned her head slowly towards Vice captain.
Still smiling. Still cheerful.
"Julie," she said, voice like silk over steel. "If you interrupt one more ti while I’m talking to my sister..."
Her smile didn’t fade—but her eyes darkened.
"I’ll send you straight to hell. And not the fun kind."
Julie went pale. She lowered her sword, inch by inch, like she was defusing a bomb.
I raised a brow. She hasn’t changed one bit. Still sunny on the surface, and deadly underneath.
The recruits behind were whispering now.
"...Wait, did she say sister?"
"No way. That’s Erika Helmut. One of the White Wing Captains."
"I thought she didn’t talk to anyone outside the Command Circle..."
"She just hugged that woman like they’re childhood best friends!"
I sighed. Loudly.
This was becoming a circus.
"Erika," I said flatly, brushing off my coat. "Tone it down."
She grinned. "Aww, co on, Sis! You never visit. I thought this was fate!"
"I’m not here to join your squad. I’m just... passing through and earn money that it."
She pouted. "Really? Boo. I was going to make you my Vice Captain!"
"I’d rather walk through fire barefoot," I muttered.
Julie finally found the nerve to speak again, though her voice was far more cautious now. "Captain... if I may ask... who exactly is this woman?"
Erika turned to her, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"Let’s just say," she said, eyes flicking back to , "you’ll want to stay on her good side. Because the last person who didn’t..." She tilted her head. "We’re still trying to rebuild that mountain."
I stood with my arms crossed, eyes flat and mind burning with silent irritation.
Perfect. I’d planned to slip through unnoticed. Join the recruitnt quietly. No drama. No spotlight. Just blend in until I figured out how things worked here.
But thanks to that wolf-brained idiot Erika Helmut, I’d been put directly under the spotlight. If she wasn’t so absurdly strong, I might’ve broken her jaw for the embarrassnt.
I exhaled through my nose. So much for subtlety.
Above, the static hum of loudspeakers crackled, then a clear voice echoed across the field.
"All candidates, report to the main training stage. The Chief will arrive shortly. Repeat—candidates, report imdiately."
Around , the crowd stirred, murmuring and shifting toward the massive stage platform rising from the ground like a buried fortress being unearthed. Magical runes lined its edges, flickering faint blue.
Just before I turned, Erika spun on her heel and bead at , her hand raised like we were childhood friends parting for recess.
"Don’t forget, Big Sister—you promised to join my squad!" she said sweetly.
I narrowed my eyes, my voice a cold, flat blade. "When the hell did I ever say that? Screw off."
She winked. "A promise of the heart is still a promise!" she sang, skipping off before I could vaporize her with my glare.
I sighed again, resisting the urge to rub my temples. One disaster after another.
Still... a part of was curious.
They said she would be here today.
The woman known as the Interrogation Queen. The only one who dared hunt Yuuta, claiming he had ties to a demon cult. I’d been watching her na for a while.
Sara Venom.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least interested in eting the woman who thought she could ta fire with ice.
So I walked toward the stage.
The energy in the field changed as soon as the stage finished rising. Where there had been chatter and casual posturing, now there was silence—anticipation. Recruits stood straighter, chins raised, as the ceremonial procession began.
The Captains had arrived.
The first to appear was Captain Fiona.
She moved with the deadly grace of a predator who didn’t need to snarl. Dressed in an obsidian-black combat suit, the Phoenix Crest emblazoned across her back flickered red and gold in the light. Her eyes were sharp, calculating, but distant—like soone who always thought ten steps ahead.
Can’t believe I am saying this to my love rival.
Her vice-captain, Jenny, followed at her side, holding a flag with proud colors of fla. Red and gold rippled through the air like heat waves.
I heard the whispers begin around .
"She wiped out a phantom battalion with one sweep of fire magic."
"Fiona? She’s top-tier elental class. They say her flas can lt enchanted steel."
The next figure to step onto the stage was small—almost childlike.
But the silence that followed was colder than before.
Captain Rika.
No older than fifteen. A girl with glacier-blue hair and the kind of eyes that weren’t made for childhood. Void eyes. Hollow. Beautiful. Dangerous.
Her white-and-blue uniform bore the Whale Crest, and behind her, a blue flag fluttered quietly in the breeze.
"Isn’t she too young?" one recruit whispered.
"She’s a prodigy," another said. "They say her magic works in dinsions... no one even understands it."
I glanced at her. I’d seen eyes like that before—in the abyss between stars. She wasn’t to be underestimated.
Then ca thunder.
A laugh—bold and rough—echoed over the field like a challenge.
Captain Elga. The Lion.
Tall, built like a fortress, with wild yellow-brown hair and sun-scorched skin. She wore a yellow-and-white combat uniform that barely contained the raw, muscular power beneath. Her teeth were pointed—actual fangs—and her golden eyes glead like a beast stalking prey.
Her vice-captain, a lean woman just as fierce, hoisted the Lion Banner with proud defiance.
"I heard she once tore the arms off a demon ogre barehanded," a guy beside muttered.
"Is she part fantasy beastkin?" another asked, nervously.
"She’s part sothing," a girl whispered. "Look at those eyes."
And then—
Her.
Erika Helmut.
All white hair and sunshine smiles. She stepped onto the stage like she was dancing in a fairytale—radiating an aura of naive charm and dumb luck. Her white combat suit glead like polished ivory, and the Wolf Crest on her back marked her authority.
Her vice-captain, Julie, stood beside her with a blank expression, holding the pure white flag high.
"She’s so pretty..."
"She’s crazy."
"Wait—isn’t that the girl who called that silver-haired one her big sister earlier?"
Of course they noticed. I sighed internally.
Let them talk.
It didn’t matter.
What did matter was how the recruits reacted. Many of them looked at the captains like gods had descended. Soone behind even muttered—
"Those four... I bet they could take down a dragon."
That’s when I scoffed. Couldn’t help it.
A dragon? Please.
The weakest of my world’s beasts could give them a run for their money. What they fought was nothing but weak demon.
A puffed-up hatchling wasn’t a dragon. It was a glorified gecko.
I let a small smirk slip across my face, not even bothering to hide it.
And then—
"You."
A single word. Flat, sharp, emotionless.
It wasn’t loud—but it cut through everything.
I looked up.
She stood near the edge of the stage, flanked by no banners, no ceremony.
I hadn’t even noticed her arrive.
She wasn’t here before.
And yet, now she was everywhere.
Wearing a dark uniform, a steel-gray coat trailing behind her like a shadow given form, she didn’t radiate power the way the others did.
No.
She contained it.
Eyes like polished stone. Movents controlled down to the last breath. Aura so thin it was invisible—but now that I knew to look for it, it coiled around her like a blade sheathed in velvet.
Sara Venom.
Her finger pointed to , steady and unblinking.
"Is it funny to laugh at the Captains?" she asked.
The entire crowd froze.
Even the other captains glanced toward her—not with irritation... but respect.
Or fear.
I didn’t flinch. But deep down, sothing shifted.
I didn’t sense her. Not even a flicker. Not even a whisper.
Even dragons couldn’t mask their presence that well it’s only possible who lived almost hundred years.
But this woman? She was empty. Like death in a quiet hallway. More like Vampire
Soone behind gasped.
"Captain Sara... it’s really her..."
"She’s the one who caught three infiltrators during the Nuclear blast—alone, so that she can get Infromation from them."
"She interrogated a high demon it begged for death."
And now she was looking directly at .
I stared back, calm but alert.
This... might be the first real challenge I’ve seen since arriving in this world.
And for the first ti all day—
I smiled.
To be continued...
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