"Davonte, you go first," Zion commanded, nodding toward him.

Davonte crossed his arms, leaning back with a slight frown. "But you already said my name. Is that even necessary?"

Before Zion could reply, Yukei cut in, leaning forward with an indignant pout. "Yeah! And why isn't it a four-man and woman squad?"

Zion completely ignored both of them, his stoic expression unchanging as he repeated his earlier statement with a firm look.

Davonte exhaled a sharp sigh, giving in. "Fine!! My name is Davonte Forger and I died and ended up here."

A brief, heavy silence covered the room as the weight of his blunt words settled in the air.

Then, the new guy slumped even lower in his chair, his long bangs shadowing his eyes. "Uhm, my name is Sai Jin," he muttered, his voice trailing off in a thoroughly miserable, emo way. "And I wanna go home and enjoy my meaningless life."

"My name is Tama, but you already know that," Tama stated evenly, breaking the gloomy atmosphere.

"And I'm Yukei Yukei," Yukei added with a bright, energetic wave.

Now that everyone had introduced themselves, Zion's tone sharpened as he proceeded to lay out the specifics of the mission.

"Cleaners headquarters received word that there have been reports of missing souls," Zion explained, tapping the map on the desk. "At first we thought it was just demon beasts, but then it was confirmed to be demons from hell, and that's how us cleaners got involved."

"Sorry to cut you off," Davonte interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "But according to what I've been told, i'm half demon. Doesn't that concern you guys? Cause it seems like you hate demons."

An uncomfortable, brief silence then covered the room. The sudden tension lingered until Zion finally broke it, answering him with a calm, reassuring shrug.

"Yeah, but fear and hatred of hybrids ended years ago after a half-breed saved our world," Zion said smoothly. "Although not everyone accepts you guys, I assure you that this cleaners headquarters has no problem with you."

Davonte narrowed his eyes, studying the commander's face. "So am just supposed to take your word for it?"

Before Zion could double down, Tama jumped in, looking directly at Davonte. "You know am a hybrid like you, right? And no one seems to dislike me."

Davonte turned his gaze toward Tama, his eyes lingering on the distinct feature resting against Tama's hair. "Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I was wondering how you had a horn. But with that attitude, I seriously wonder if no one dislikes you."

Tama’s eyes widened in sheer shock. Annoyed and deeply offended by the blunt shot, Tama quickly looked elsewhere, crossing arms tightly and refusing to look back.

"Ok, like I was saying," Zion continued, completely unfazed by the bickering as he wrapped up the briefing. "After that, we sent Yukei and she confirmed that they were demons, so now we are sending you guys there to deal with it. Any questions?"

Sai Jin tentatively raised a trembling hand, but Zion completely ignored him and looked straight at Davonte. "Hey kid, I left a uniform in your room. Go put it on. You guys leave in 5 minutes."

Davonte groaned, dragging his feet as he stood up. "Oh, come on, I don't wanna look like these guys."

Moments later, the door creaked open and Davonte walked back into the room, adjusting the dark fabric. He wore the official cleaner uniform, complete with a face mask. Reaching up, he pulled the mask off his face and admitted, "This isn't that bad actually. It looks like only we go different in forms."

"Of course," Tama noted, glancing over at him. "Cleaners with diamond rank and above get to customize their uniforms, and for some reason, they decided you're diamond rank."

A smug grin spread across Davonte’s face, his usual arrogance flaring right back up. "Of course they did, am a strong guy," he said arrogantly.

Shortly after the final preparations, the four of them officially left headquarters and set out for South Bisilia. Their transport was an old-fashioned wooden cart carried by a single horse, bumping heavily along the dirt road as the hours dragged on.

Later that day, as the afternoon sun began to dip below the horizon, they finally reached the borders of the district.

Sai Jin leaned precariously over the side of the wooden cart, his face turning a sickly shade of green. "Uhm, hey guys... did anyone else get motion sick?"

Davonte looked over from his seat and burst out laughing. "Nah twin, it's just you." He watched the boy struggle for a second, then a thought crossed his mind. "I forgot to ask you, Sai—did you also die to get here?"

Sai looked up, thoroughly confused by the question, and let out a bleak sigh. "I wish. Sadly, I was born as a child in this cruel world."

Davonte shrugged, turning his head back toward the road. *Tama and Yukei told me the same thing,* he said to himself, realizing his own unique circumstances.

Suddenly, a heavy wooden broom came sailing through the air, smacking Davonte squarely in the chest. He caught it instinctively, looking up to see Tama glaring at him with an expectant look.

"Did you figure out how to use it yet?" she asked.

Davonte tossed the tool casually onto the floorboards of the cart. "No, and i don't think i will."

"Don't worry, i believe in you, Davonte!" Yukei cheered from across the cart, trying to lift the mood.

"Am so sick RN," groaned Sai from the corner, clutching his stomach as the cart finally ground to a halt.

To an outsider, the weapon looked entirely ordinary. In this world, Cleaners utilized common brooms as their primary armaments. To unlock its true power, a Cleaner had to completely channel their soul into the object. Only then would the spiritual energy trigger a manifestation, instantly changing the broom's form into a lethal weapon unique to its wielder.

After arriving in South Bisilia, the squad checked into a local hotel to rest and settle down for the night. However, the quiet didn't last long. Tama had called out Davonte, asking him to meet up on the rooftop.

Davonte pushed open the heavy metal door, stepping out into the cool, open night air. The moonlight illuminated the entire concrete roof—and standing right there was a young woman. The masculine disguise was completely gone.

Davonte stopped dead in his tracks, blinking in pure realization. "So I wasn't high when I saw a girl. It's you, huh?"

Tama turned around, meeting his gaze steadily. "Yep, I'm a woman who uses her inherited ability to disguise as a man."

"But why though?" asked Davonte, taking a step forward. "Do the others know about this?"

"Yes, Yukei and Mr. Zion know," Tama explained, her expression softening. "As to why I..."

Before Tama could finish her sentence, the entire atmosphere violently shifted. A heavy, suffocating wave of demonic pressure dropped onto the rooftop out of nowhere.

Tama's eyes snapped wide. She spun around to face the source of the pressure, but she was a millisecond too late. A brutal, high-speed knee kick caught her squarely in the face, the sheer force of the impact sending her flying violently across the rooftop.

"Tama!" yelled Davonte, his eyes widening in fury as his instincts kicked in.

He surged forward to go to her, but before he could take a step, a strange woman materialized out of thin air, completely blocking his path. She glared at him with a predatory, wicked smile. "So you're the hybrid? Heh, am gonna enjoy this."

Without giving him a moment to react, she slammed her hands together. The entire world around them instantly shattered. In a flash of blinding light, the hotel rooftop and the night sky vanished completely, dropping both her and Davonte into a vast, empty, white void room.

Davonte planted his feet on the invisible floor of the endless white expanse, showing absolutely no fear. Instead, a dark, dangerous irritation washed over his face as he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, you're a demon, huh?" Davonte muttered, his voice echoing sharply in the blank space. "You know, i've had enough void rooms trap me."

The demon woman's smile widened into a lethal, bloodthirsty grin. Staring each other down in the dead center of the endless white, they both spoke at the exact same time, their voices overlapping with absolute hostility:

"You're dead."

END