Xaren stood among the other demons iraining yard, the m sun casting long shadows across the pound. Floch’s booming voice echoed through the air, carrying authority and a tinge of amusement. “First lesson! Release your wings!” The group stood frozen, unsure of how to proceed. Wasn’t learning how to release their wings the whole point of being here? Why was Floch them to do something they hadn’t been taught?Though the question lingered in their minds, none dared voice it aloud.Floch folded his arms, his gaze sweeping over the crowd of demons. Spotting a few with their eyes squeezed shut, as though willing their wings to emerge through sheer determinatio out a short, mog ugh.“Did you think your wings were just going to pop out when you wished for it? No! They’re aension of your body, and like your arms and legs, they’re trolled by your brain. You just haven’t found the switch yet.”He stepped closer, his sharp eyes narrowing as he issued his and.“Close your eyes. Feel for it. Somewhere in your mind, there’s a part of you that instinctively knows how to trol them. Find it, focus, ahem out!”Xaren obeyed, shutting his eyes and turning his thoughts inward. He trated on the memory of the first time his wings had emerged—the strange, alieion that had apaheir appearance. Floch’s words made se was like disc a new set of limbs and trying to figure out how to move them.But uanding the cept didn’t make it any easier. It felt like trying to move a phantom limb he wasirely sure existed. He strained, attempting to reimagihe sensation of them sprouting from his back.Time blurred as he focused, and at some point, he felt a faint ripple of demoniergy surging through the energy circuits in his torso. The energy seemed to be seeking a, and as it reached the surface of his skin, there was a sudden, sharp snap.Dark, leathery wings burst from his back, unfolding wide in a dramatic, sweeping motion.The wingspan was about 1.5x his height, equating to approximately 7 feet (3.5 feet per wing). This size provided enough surface area for lift without being cumbersome or disproportionate.As for the base width near his back, it was about 1.5 to 2 feet per wing at the broadest point, tapering as it extended outward.This way, the wings were sturdy, while not hindering arm movement and overall baer studying them, Xaren faced forward and saw Floodding in satisfa.“Good. Now retract them.” Xaren frowned. Retrag them proved far harder. His wings twitched and shuddered, resisting his attempts to pull them back. Meanwhile, other demons began to release their wings as well, some with more success than others. Beside him, Ilya seemed to release her own dark-hued wings with effortless trol, earning a nod of approval from Flo the meantime, Xaren tried to retract his wings again, but they stubbornly remaiended. “e on, you kids! Don’t just stand there like a tree! Pull them ba before I startle you into it!” Floch barked aloud and before Xaren could ask what that meant, Floch cpped his hands together with a deafening boom. The shock of the sudden sound made Xaren’s wings snap shut on instinct, a wave of embarrassment washing over him. He wasn’t the only one who had their wings pop out or snap shut on instinct, and Floch ughed at the lot of them, his amusement dripping into his words.“See? Happens every time. That’s why you’ll also o learn not to let your wings pop out whenever you’re startled. It’s undisciplined and could get you killed in a real fight.” This phase of training sted for days. Floch would test their trol with sudden shouts, fshes of light, or even tossing pebbles at them. What Floch called a geoss felt more like a bullet to the inexperienced Low-Rank demons, leaving maering on the edge of a heart attack.Time and time again, most of the new Low-Ranks, including Xaren, failed miserably, their wings instinctively fring out at every ued movement.“Again! trol your instincts. Your wings should NOT move unless you and them to!” Floch's booming voice lingered in their minds, even haunting their dreams.At st, after tless attempts, Xaren finally mastered the art of releasing arag his wings at will.The relief ress was short-lived, however, as Floch immediately moved them to the phase of their training: flight. ◇　◇　◇Flying, Xaren quickly learned, was nothing like he’d imagined. Floch’s voiow a staple of both Xaren’s waking hours aless dreams, cut through the air with its usual mog tone. “Fp your wings, lift yourself off the ground, and don’t crash. It’s not that hard.” It was THAT hard. The first time Xaren tried to take off, he fpped his wings too hard, ung himself into the air before tumbling down in a heap. Others fared er. Demons filed and spun in the air like drunken birds, crashing into each other or plummeting to the ground. All except Ilya. Xaren watched as she sracefully above the group, her movements smooth and trolled. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of frustration at how easily she seemed to grasp it. Floch, however, wasn’t impressed. “You there. You think I don’t know what you’re doing up there?” At Floch’s voice, Ilya froze mid-air and she temporarily lost trol of her flight. Seeing this, Floch sported his usual grin.“You’re cheating with wind magic, aren’t you?” When Ilya didn’t respond, Floapped his fingers. Two of his subordinate Low-Rank demons appeared, g magic-restraining cuffs on her wrists.They moved faster than Ilya’s eyes could catch, and by the time she realised they’d snapped something on her wrists, she was tumbling to the ground.“Learn to fly the proper way, or don’t fly at all. At your stage, magic’s a crutch. You won’t always have it in a fight.You don’t have the necessary amount of magic for the Flight teique.”From that point on, Ilya’s progress slowed, putting her on equal footing with the rest of them. Days turned into weeks as they learo fly. Flotroduced gruelling exercises: races through obstacle courses, high-speed dives, and even aerial bat drills. The demons were pushed to their limits, often colpsing into exhaustion by the end of the day. ◇　◇　◇After weeks of flight training, Flotroduced a new cept: using their wings as magiduits. “Your wings aren’t just for flying. They’re built-in magic catalysts. Think of them like a wizard’s staff—only better because they’re a part of you.” Floch expined, his voice taking on a lecturing toer speaking, he demonstrated by spreading his massive wings, which glowed faintly with magic power. A moment ter, a burst of fire erupted from his palm, its iy clearly amplified by the energy c through his wings.“Casting with your wings makes yic stronger, faster, and more effit. But it only works if your wings are out.”He retracted his wings and cast the same spell again. The differen power was stark, even though the same amount of energy had beehat said, you won’t always be able to rely on this. There’ll be times when you’re in a fined space, or situations where revealing your wings could jeopardize a mission. There are tless other sarios where using them might not be ideal. It’s up to you to use your intelled judge when to use them and when not to.”Floch dismissed his magic power, his gaze hardening as he tinued.“Still, you o master this. On a chaotic battlefield, where it’s essentially a free-for-all, that one sed saved on casting could mean the differeween survival ah.”After this, he cpped his hands and began dividing the group based on their magical affinities. As a fire demon, Floch was best suited to hahose with fire magic, while other low-rank demon instructors were brought in for demons with different attributes. Xaren’s primary affinity y with Gravity, but his proficy with Fire wasn’t far behind, so he was under Floch during this period. Floch took the opportunity to teach him several new fire spells to expand his arsenal.At first, Xaren struggled to use his wings for casting.elling magic through his wings felt unnatural, like trying to write with his non-dominant hand. But with practice, he began to notice the difference. Ohey got the hang of it, Floch ramped up the difficulty. “Time for some sparring! You’ll fight in the air, using magic cast through your wings. Let’s see who stay airborhe lo.”The skies of the training yard became a battlefield as the demons cshed, their spells illuminating the air. Xaren was knocked out of the sky more times than he cared to t, but each fall came along with a lesson for improvement.◇　◇　◇Finally, after months had passed, they came to the st stage of their training: using their horns.Not all demons had horns, but for those who did, Floch had special training in store. “Horns are energy amplifiers. They boost the power of whatever energy you el through them—magic, aura, or demoniergy. But at your level, you only focus oype at a time.” Xaren, who had a pair of small but sharp horns, found this ability fasating. He practised elling his magic through them, feeling the surge of power as his magic power became stronger.However, the effort was draining, and maintaining trol was a challenge. Of course, Floch made sure they practised relentlessly, pushing them to use their horns in bat sarios.At times, he restricted them to using only energy amplified through their horns, throwing them into a magig he jured and f them to fight until only one remaianding. Injuries were iable, with demons making daily trips to the treatmere door. Yet, despite the difficulty of the training, it yielded undeniable results.◇　◇　◇It took over two months before Floch finally decred their training plete and the relief among the group alpable. They had spent two gruelling months under his Spartan regimen, enduring physical exhaustion aal strain. Their training ended o of April, exactly three months since Xaren’s rebirth.