D to C rank exam

Rae's red hues scanned around the beach, searching for whatever or whoever had summoned her here. As she could not sense anything or anyone she ran a pale hand through her hair in frustration. The usually calm and collected demeanor of the nobility was her only savior to the knowledge of her position. The Beach, as a territory, put her in a position of weakness. Both, her weapon and her crown, used ice magic which was seriously weakened by the warmth that surrounded her.

In the blink of an eye the temperatures had changed. The Duchess could see a puff of warm air come out from her mouth. She coolly scanned everything in her line of sight. Looking around however she noticed something white falling from the sky. "Snow?" she muttered in confusion. She reached out a hand to touch the "snow" only to have her weapon, Ghelgath, release a wave of frost energy in disapproval. Retracting her hand she watched the snowflake falling onto the ground, only to create a cut through it. Rae narrowed her eyes at the sight before taking a third look around, now she was excited. All of a sudden, the "snow" swirled into a circle, causing the Duchess to close her eyes. Opening them, she noticed that in front of her stood a pillar with four figures which each made an introduction.

Her eyes scanned all four of the figures one by one. Knowledge? She was not really in the need to know anything was she? The owl made her wonder however about her devil heritage. What kind of person was her mother.... Love? The Duchess did not think love was necessarily was she needed. The white bear however reminded her of how much she at times needed a loving hug from her parents. Power? Yes, Rae looked at the wolf longingly. She wanted power, however her pride was too much to allow her to get it by a simple decision such as this one...Forgiveness? The red-haired female's knuckles turned white at the memory of her parents' death. She did not see why she would want forgiveness for something that she hadn't done.

The nobility thought about it for a couple of minutes. She did not understand why all of this was happening but her adventurous side was quite excited by it. With a sigh the Duchess turned towards the four figures and with a small smile said: "I, Duchess Rae of the Havoc Family, currently seek Knowledge." She announced to the four figures.

After the words left Rae’s lips the own tilted it’s head and flew up just as a loud, booming, rather crazy voice sounded. It called this a Trial… the red-haired nobility raised her eyebrows, so this was a challenge? She would not lose.- she felt that her pride was at stake here. The owl grew in size however did not seem to be unfriendly in anyway. The landscape around the Duchess changed shape in that of a town, and Ghelgath disappeared from her back. Now this made the devil feel uneasy.  Without her claymore she couldn’t fight as she lacked magic. If she had to fight a demon of some sort with her fists, she would die for sure.  Her red hues travelled back to where the large bird was, only to notice that it was gone.  The wind blew through the long strands of her red hair as she saw the sight that revealed in front of her.

Really close to her stood a young, blond, boy around the age of seven. He was trembling and crying and his blue eyes were staring at the man in front of him in fear. That man had no face, but was wearing a black tuxedo with a red bowtie. That man was pointing a gun at the boy and seemed to be ready to shoot him. Rae’s eyes afterwards met those of someone familiar to her, her mother. She was screaming her daughter’s name out for help as she seemed to be falling down into a ditch, ready to die.  The old Havoc Duchess from ten years ago was still save-able if Rae was to shoot a wire which would cause the bridge to collapse and save her.  The guildless mage’s red devil eyes glowed in anger.  “Why in the seven hells is she here?” The Duchess spat angrily. She knew that this was a trial.  Saving her mother or an innocent child? Calming herself down Rae calculated the possible outcomes of her choices. Looking at the boy she quickly pulled the trigger at the man in the tuxedo. “My mother is already dead, and even if this was the real her, she is older than the boy. An innocent boy who hasn’t even tasted life does not deserve to die.” The devil explained out loud, clenching her fist. She could not let her emotions sway her as she watched her mother fall and die into the ditch. As her knuckles turned white she breathed out a sigh. “I’m sorry, mother.” She muttered quietly, but calmly.  As a high class nobility she knew how to make choices.

The Snow appeared again, swirling around and the ghost of the owl was visible yet again for a small amount of time. As the scenery changed the red-haired female found herself inside the setting of a large, dark dungeon. In front of her, chained to the wall was a middle-aged brown-haired man. He had no arms and no legs. Rae’s red eyes turned to slits at the poor sight. A voice rang inside her head. It said to kill the man who was begging her for mercy. He was begging a devil for mercy…the irony of the situation. To be honest, she did not see any reason to not kill the man, he would not be capable of earning any income for his family when he was limbless. It would also probably scar the kids to see his state of manner. Then again, humans did value life quite a lot so maybe having a father would be better than not having one. The Duchess stared blankly at the man as she muttered a “No thank you.” Under her breath.  As she said that, a bag full of gold appeared in front of her, and that same loud booming voice repeated the words, “Kill him.” With a roll of her eyes the proud nobility ran a hand through her crimson hair. It was bribing her with money… her? A Duchess? “I’ll pass.” Rae refused again with a roll of her red hues. Another large sack full of gold appeared in front of her, landing next to the previous one. This was when the Duchess’ icy sarcastic side came in as she spoke. “Seriously, if you are going to bribe a Duchess money is the worst bribe ever.” She stated in a matter-o-factly tone but her smart-ass smirk was wiped off of her face as her parents reappeared in front of her. Her face went pale as the voice she heard spoke again. “Kill him, and they’re yours.”  The red-haired female felt her blood boil in anger at the statement. Her eyes glowed in their amazing shade of crimson red as she looked down at her feet. She was not used to doing so. Rae usually walked with her head in the skies and a confident stare ahead but right now she felt pathetic. It seemed to her that being so stuck on her parents would be her weakness in battle.  As the thought of the word “battle” passed through her mind the Duchess remembered about her state. The sword user’s nerves seemed to calm down a little bit after she remembered that this was a trial….a challenge, which she was supposed to pass through without any problems. Her blood seemed to calm back down just in time to hide her appearing large devil wings and tail.  Sucking in a deep breath, the Duchess calmed her thoughts down and came back to her senses. That was correct, emotion did not matter in business, even if whatever game she was playing right was not exactly of any use to her, right? “I refuse.” The mage announced causing another swirl of dangerous “snow” to appear in front of her, larger than before. She could fell her long hair swishing around at the string wind that was created when the owl flashed, yet again, in front of her eyes.

A train. It seemed to be going at unimaginable speeds. Next to her a young man was shouting at her, telling her that she should pull the pin in the connector of the train and that if she doesn’t everyone on the train except them would die. However if she were to save the people then she herself and that man would die. She tilted her head at this though.  She was not stupid enough to believe that her life outweighed those of two-thousand people, as much as she wanted too. Looked around she spotted her reflection on one of the windows of the train.  Did she want to kill two thousand people in order to save herself? Her red eyes glowed at that though. Her bloodlust would be very satisfied at that, but how would that help her achieve her goal. Staring at the reflection she noted that she had beautiful pale skin, adorned only by the best of cosmetics. Her short red hair had grown over the years, making up that gorgeous crimson mane which she was so proud of. Her clothes were always made from the finest of materials. .. What she wanted in life was glory. She did anything for it, in order to be able to make herself known around the world. Saving these people… a sad smile appeared on her face. A honorable noble death. She hated the idea of dying at a young age, however knowing that this was a trial she couldn’t help but pull the pin out. Just as the Duchess did that the train exploded loudly, engulfing her in flames. Closing her red eyes, as if truly believing that it would help reduce the pain, Rae felt a warm shiver run up her spine. All of a sudden, she felt herself sitting on something.

The red-haired devil slowly opened her eyes, and placed her hands next to her, only to notice that see was sitting on the ground. “Everything is white…” She noted calmly as she took in her surroundings. Slowly getting up and dusting herself off, the Duchess noticed a tall man, made of white. He was shirtless however that did not really attract Rae’s attention. On the other hand what did attract her attention was what that man was holding. A two sided scythe. Would this be the reaper? No, if he was the reaper he would’ve worn a cloak which would’ve been black. Pausing her observations of the creature, the nobility looked around for the owl but it appeared to be nowhere in her sight. Turning back to the white-cloaked figure she blankly stared at it for a couple of minutes. It seemed to stare back. Awaiting something. A wave of cold air pushed Rae towards the creature, as if telling her to speak to it. A small smile appeared on her face as she immediately recognized The Lord of Frost’s anger at her slow movement. The crown did always expect the best from its owner after all.  She was supposed to introduce herself? Is that what the crown meant? Looking back at the white creature she curtsied politely but with a dominant tone.  “I am Duchess Rae Havoc of Fiore. Conqueror of the Demon of Ice, Ghelgath and owner of the Lord of Frost’s crown.” She stated, it was a strong introduction, but it was a true one. She would not usually introduce herself with so many words, however after those trials she felt that she needed to boost her own self-confidence a little bit.

((If you wish to make an exit post, you may do so. I am declaring this exam to be passed and you are now approved for C Rank.))