I followed Emma out of my room.
Not sure what I expected.
She led me through a long white corridor.
There were tons of guards with all sorts of weapons surrounding me.
Some were also stationed across the hallway.
They were decently strong too, which surprised me a little.
Each one was at least Grade 10.
I would have a little trouble getting out.
Only a little.
Even so, Emma continued leading me through the white hallway until finally, we reached an elevator.
A literal elevator.
It wasn't as modern as it was back in my world, but it was as modern as a Victorian era elevator could get.
We stepped on it, and soon enough, we began heading downward.
Within just a few minutes, we reached the bottom, and after taking a few turns through some more hallways, we arrived in a larger room.
There was still no color.
But with countless hallways leading into the room, I soon saw others arrive.
They were dressed just like me.
Probably the subjects.
I was kind of expecting there to be a lot of us, but nearly 30 minutes later, only 16 of us were here.
Each person had someone like Emma by their side.
Almost like a nanny.
I had a bad feeling about this...
"Ah! Greetings everyone!"
A surprisingly cheerful voice rang out.
Turning toward it, I saw a smiling long haired man skipping toward us.
He had a single monocle over his eye, and no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't remember who this was.
Maybe he was a minor character?
Maybe he didn't even show up in the game...
The man eventually positioned himself so we could all see him.
He dramatically bowed.
"You likely do not know me, but from this moment on, you may call me William. I will be the person who'll make you all into the stars you're supposed to be."
"While I'd like to keep today at basic introductions, I'm afraid we are short on time."
William glanced over every subject.
His gaze lingered on me for a little longer than on the others.
Even so, he walked up to the subject beside me.
"Hello there. What's your name?"
"Leon, sir. May I ask why we're here?"
William smiled.
"Well, that's why I approached you first, silly. You're the only one who was like a chatterbox, asking question after question. That's why I believe you should be the first person whom we test this on."
Test what...?
My question was answered instantly.
William pulled out a dark syringe from his coat's inner pocket and stabbed it straight into Leon's throat.
I immediately backed off, as did the others.
Even Leon, who got stabbed, reacted, punching William.
William was sent hurtling through the air and crashing straight into the wall.
Leon's definitely not weak.
And yet, when we all stopped and took one good look at what happened, we all froze.
Two horns emerged from the subject's forehead, and a moment later, a pair of crimson wings.
His skin started turning red, and within just a minute... Leon had turned into a demon.
No one could move.
I doubted that any of us were actually afraid of this thing.
It's just...
A human had just turned into a demon.
An actual demon.
This was the first time I've ever seen something like this happen.
Even in the game, the most I saw was someone getting a few characteristics.
A horn, longer nails, a wing or two...
Never a full transformation.
Even more importantly...
"W-What did you do to me?"
Leon could still speak.
He was still very sane.
William eventually emerged, and he was completely unscathed.
But instead of a smile, there was a slight frown on his face.
"Leon, Leon, Leon... I had very high hopes for you after Victoria praised you so. But it appears you weren't worth my time."
Leon recoiled in fear, and then he flapped his wings.
He launched straight into the air and headed for the ceiling.
But before he could even reach it, black flames enveloped him from head to toe.
"AAAAAAH!"
He screamed and flailed around.
Yet the flames didn't go out.
I watched with a blank look as Leon was burned alive.
And finally, all that was left of Leon was a pile of ash that landed on the ground beside me.
For a moment, there was only silence.
But then, the 'nanny' who came alongside Leon suddenly pulled out a switchblade from her pocket and, after muttering a prayer, slit her throat.
When she fell, I saw Emma's body stiffen.
It looked like when a subject died, their nanny, or even retainer, had to die with them.
Though I was still in shock by what had just happened.
"Now then, with one of the subjects already gone, there are only 15 of you left. I entrust you all to do better than Leon."
William glanced over everyone and bowed once again.
"Everyone knows demons are superior to humans in every aspect. But what would happen if you transformed a human into a demon and made the human cells take control instead of the demon cells?"
His smirk twisted.
"If a human can endure the infusion of demon blood and keep his sense of self without turning into a demon himself, then can you all just imagine the possibilities that such a being existing opens?"
He walked up to each one of us and inspected us closely.
However, he stopped in front of me specifically.
But what he said next didn't seem to be addressed to me.
"My goal here is to make you all powerful enough to survive the infusion of demon blood. So far, there have only been two successful subjects in the last two decades. So I truly hope the number increases today."
He then snapped his fingers.
The moment he did, Emma placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Your retainers will now take you to the mental aptitude test room. When inside, we will conduct a thorough test to see just how much your minds can handle."
"And fear not, our aim isn't to break you."
With those words, he waved at us and walked back the way he came from.
"..."
I didn't expect it to be something like this.
If anything, I expected them to try breaking us mentally so we set aside our limits.
Instead, it was something like this...
But it wasn't like I planned on wimping out just because it was more dangerous than expected.
I came here to get stronger, and that's exactly what I'll do.
"Um... Amon Everness?" Emma called out to me.
When I snapped out of it, I realized we were the only two still here.
"The others are already in the mental aptitude test room... We shouldn't keep them waiting."
I stared at her for a moment, then smiled.
"Lead the way, Emma."