Unsong Bird

"Wake up."

Jackal heard shouting, he couldn't gather his thoughts—his eyes slowly opened, and then he remembered.

"Oh right..." I'm at the military camp, he thought.

he finally opened his eyes enough to make out a figure. Tara...

"The Sergeant is coming soon. Apparently, you need to wake up."

Jackal gave her a glare, clearly not a fan of being woken up at such an hour.

"Give me a couple of minutes."

Around ten minutes later, twelve people were standing in a line in front of the big tent they had slept in.

Jackal was around the middle, next to Tara, and Lura—nearly half asleep, or at least that's what it looked like. Clearly, the early wake-up call wasn't only bothering him.Then, two figures came forward out of the tent in the middle of the camp. Mitsu, the purple-haired girl who had escorted Jackal and the others. And a male with black hair—his most eye-catching feature? A missing right arm. His face was battered with scars. He had clearly seen the battlefield before.

"This is the twelve candidates. They all chose on their own accord to join the army. Here is the list of information," Mitsu muttered, handing the Sergeant the list.

The Sergeant didn't even glance at it—he didn't act like he cared at all. Instead, he stepped forward and closely inspected the twelve candidates.

After a moment, he took a few steps back and spoke:

"You are all here to join the army? A bunch of students who couldn't awaken? Just to make sure you know what you signed up for—forget everything you previously learned. You're not special. You're normal. You are soldiers, and most of you will die. You will fight for humanity. That is why you fight."

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.

"Nine out of ten soldiers who enlist die within three months. And after a whole year? It would be a miracle for a regular soldier to survive. Only the strong get to choose when to die. That's how the world is."

The tense speech echoed in the cold morning air.

Faint snow had begun to fall.

Jackal looked down. He already knew how dire the situation was—after all, news from the battlefield was always a hot topic. But now, putting it into perspective... They were all dead men walking. An unawakened, joining the battle with no prior real fighting experience.

A death sentence...

"Before I relocate you to your new company, we need to conduct an interview where you'll have to answer some questions. This is purely for security reasons. I'm sure all of you have at least once heard of a Cursed Pact on the news."

The Cursed Pact—another phenomenon that emerged after the Merge.

Unlike being blessed and awakening a Manipura, where power grows gradually, a Cursed Pact is a contract formed with a creature of some kind. Usually, it's a spirit—but in some cases, it could be a monster. The pact allows the individual to borrow power from the entity they've bonded with.

But it's dangerous.

If the creature overpowers you… if something goes wrong…

You lose everything.

Your soul corrodes.

All that remains is an abomination, wandering in your body.

Jackal had, of course, had heard of a Cursed Pact before. Who hadn't? It was like something straight out of a horror movie when it went wrong. And whenever it did, the news made sure to broadcast it to the world.

He glanced around—others were doing the same. The thought lingered in the air, unspoken but loud.

Is there a corrupted among us?

He had studied the subject quite a bit back at the Academy. Apparently, even a Radiator Ball couldn't distinguish a Cursed Pact holder—their soul simply corroded away, replaced entirely by something new.

"How far are people willing to go for power?" he thought.

Mitsu and the sergeant stepped inside a nearby tent, calling the recruits in one by one. The first was a tall boy with black hair and glasses named Yugo. He walked in with the typical demeanor of an academic genius you'd read about in manga, pushing up his glasses every time he was about to answer a question. But his appearence most striking trait, that drew Jackals attention his ears, they were more sharp. typically related to the elves race.

They all sat on a bench, waiting for their turns to enter the interview tent. None of them spoke maybe everyone was nervous, each wearing a serious expression.

Tara leaned over and whispered, "Jackal, what do you think of that badass speech, huh?"

"The sergeant? Oh yeah, he definitely wasn't joking, that's for sure."

Jackal wasn't certain, but he had a slight feeling that either he or, more likely, Tara was being watched quite extensively. Tara seemed to notice it too but didn't appear to mind.

A blond-haired boy murmured, "A demon," almost silently.

He didn't look like he was 17 his military uniform was several sizes too big for him. His curly blond hair nearly covered his eyes, making it hard to see their color.

The blond boy continued, "Five elves, three half-elves, two humans, and a vampire."

"That's the races in our small little group," he muttered.

Tara's focus shifted to the blond male. "What about it?" she asked, her tone cold but curious.

He replied quickly, "It's just interesting. A hundred years, and the state of the world has changed fast."

Now even Lura, who had been sleeping on the bench, stirred a little.

"Because of the smaller numbers of demons and vampires, some races are looked down upon," he said, with a smirk on his face. But before anything could escalate, he continued, "But that might be because of how blessings work. Humans seemingly have a higher chance of being blessed and able to manifest a Manipura. Other species, like my own half-elves and elves, get drafted to war in droves because of our lack of blesses."

Tara shot back, "What does that have to do with demons or me? I couldn't care less."

"Oh, but you see, even though demons and vampires can receive blessings, unusual creatures—those that are far fewer in number—get looked down upon. So as a vampire or a demon, if you're not strong, you get treated like trash," he said with a cold tone.

Jackal sensed the tension in the air. It looked like the small blond boy was about to get jumped by Tara, but it wasn't necessarily because he'd said anything wrong. The state of the world had slowly driven society in that direction if you weren't powerful, you were seen as worthless—especially if you happened to belong to a race with limited numbers, like demons and vampires.

"It's quite a moment," Jackal grinned, putting on a small smile. "It's my first time seeing other races up close," he said, clearly trying to lessen the tension.

His remark caught the attention of the long white-haired girl at the end of the table. She had pale skin and blood-red eyes—a vampire without a doubt.

She eyed Jackal with curiosity. "I'm more interested in why two unawakened humans chose to join the army without compensation." She then glanced at Lura. "At least the other races have traits that help them in battle, so even without a blessing, we stand a better fighting chance."

Seemingly uninterested in what the vampire was saying, Lura turned her head the other way and closed her eyes again, leaving Jackal to answer the question alone. He couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by Lura's silence.

"Is it really such an incomprehensible thing, fighting for humanity?" he asked, his mouth twitching slightly.

Abruptly interrupting their conversation, Mitsu shouted, "Next, Jackal!"

He walked past the half-elf, who seemed to ignore Jackal's existence completely, and sat down next to the other half-elves.