A/N: This is embarrassing, but the DMC x Disney Crossovers were a little bit fun, so I did one more.

[Make A Man Out Of You]

Wu Ling adjusted her shirt so that the top of her bindings would not be seen, looking around self-consciously to check if anyone had seen her movements. It was good luck that she had grown up with small breasts, and flattening them had not been much of a problem with the bindings as long as they were tight enough.

It appeared that nobody had caught her strange movements, and she breathed a small sigh of relief. The guys around her were still discussing about the hottest girl in town; a topic that Ling knew that she would have to learn more about if she wanted to blend in. She hadn't been bothered to judge the looks of her fellow gendered species, but it appeared that the ones of the opposite sex made a hobby out of it.

"Next!" The no-nonsense voice called, and Ling rushed to the counter where a tired face had waved his hand to call her over.

"Wu Ping, reporting for conscription." Ling announced, passing over the letter of conscription that she had stolen just a few hours ago. Most of the information written on the form had been real, with the exception of the gender. It was quite fortunate that she and her twin brother had the same blood type, which would make things safer for her in times of emergency.

"Add a 'sir' behind every sentence, Recruit, if you want to keep your head." The man advised, and Ling took it well. The last thing she wanted was to be targeted by any of her superiors and be singled out. She needed to blend in and stay low for the next two years of conscription. That way, nobody would know that she was a girl, much less someone standing in for her sickly twin brother.

Ling and her brother Ping had been born as fraternal twins, but they looked so alike that most people had assumed them as identical twins. Unfortunately, looks was the only thing that they shared in common. While Ling was a happy, healthy and easy-going girl, Ping had always been sickly with weak constitution. Because her little brother had always been in bed or having troubles with his health, Ling had learnt over the years to grow stronger and more masculine to protect her little brother from bullying in school. Just like that, Ling –and her parents –had always put Ping as the number 1 priority of the family all the way until the both of them turned of age.

On the day of their 19th birthday, a letter had been posted to their home address for Ping.

It had been the start of the family's worry for the next month: Ping's mandatory conscription as a demon hunter.

The kingdom of Haven where they lived in had been facing the threat of demons for as long as history could be traced. In fact, Haven had been created long long ago for the single purpose of having a place that was free of demon invasion. For that reason, it was mandatory law for all boys who had turned 19 to be conscripted for two years of training to be a basic demon hunter. Those who did well in their training stood the chance of being a professional demon hunter and to join the governmental army of demon hunter. The cream of the crop were recruited in the Elite Force, where they would be able to work with the Lieutenants and General Commanders to mark out high-levelled demons terrorising the areas near the kingdom.

It was within the Elite Force where the most stories of grandeur about demon hunting came around. No normal man could make it into the Elite Force, and anyone who made it in was considered a legend. Of course, the Legend of legends always sat on top of this chain of command: the two General Commanders who were the pioneers of demon hunting. In the kingdom where demon hunting was the primary way of survival against demons outside their walls, the General Commanders sometimes held more power than the government –particularly in times of demonic emergencies.

But reaching so high was not what Ling wanted. All she needed was to get past these two years peacefully and without attracting attention. All she needed was to blend in with the crowd, struggle through training and graduate as a normal citizen just like everyone else here. On the records, it would say that Wu Ping had finished his demon hunting training, and would be allowed to do whatever he wanted as an official man of age.

"Recruit Wu!" The stern voice jerked Ling out of her troubled thoughts and uneasy determination.

"I-I'm sorry, s-sir!" She rushed to say, but the irritated man didn't bother sparing her an extra second, shoving the papers at her.

"You are posted to the GC Vergil's Battalion, Unit Alpha under Captain Shang! Good luck, and if you space out in front of Captain Shang like that, your head's going to be rolling." The man said irritably, then waved her away impatiently, calling out for the next person in line.

Embarrassed that she had been caught spacing out, she made sure all the papers were carefully tucked in her hands before moving towards where the officially registered recruits were to separate into the respective battalion and unit.

The words of the man upon registration did not sink in until she was faced with a large field, and direction boards as to where to go.

8 large white direction boards stood side by side to her left, spelling out the name of the leader of the battalions. Below them were smaller cards of the leader of the individual units. But her battalion was not in any of the eight names. Her battalion was one of the two large red direction boards, font written in particularly large letters, title included:

'BATTALION OF GENERAL COMMANDER VERGIL SPARDA

BATTALION OF GENERAL COMMANDER DANTE SPARDA'

Ling's feet came to a stop, earning irritated grunts from the guys behind her that had been walking in the same direction. Unfortunately, her mind came to a stop as well, as she stared at the boards. She had not heard the rumours, but she realised that she should have known. It had been five years since the last time she heard something like this happening. It was set to happen this year; the same year that Ping was supposed to be conscripted.

The General Commanders had started to make tradition of individually leading one battalion of recruits every five years, always competing to see who had the better coaching skills. So far General Commander Vergil's battalion had always boasted the higher number of recruits being promoted to the professional level, and even some into the Elite Force than his brother's battalion. It had been said that while General Commander Vergil's battalion always faced terrifying training, the results were always miraculous as well. Past alumni from his battalion had always given testament of how particularly intense their trainings had been in comparison to their cohort, but also how much they had improved under the very strict and no-nonsense tutelage of the Captains within the battalion, and sometimes, the General Commander himself.

"Recruit. Get moving. You are blocking the space." A superior dressed in uniform gave an ordering hit on her shoulder, making her stumble a little. While Ling would argue that she had almost lost her balance from the hit because she had been caught by surprise, the truth was also that the seemingly-casual hit had been harder than what she was used to. And this superior seemed just like a man of the normal, lower rank.

"I-I-I'm not sure where to go..." Ling offered her papers meekly, hoping that the man could tell her that the guy back at the counter had made a mistake, and that she actually belonged to another battalion.

"Be careful about spacing out when instructions are given, recruit." The superior frowned, but took her papers anyway, reading the details.

"Recruit Wu Ping... General Commander Vergil's Battalion. Unit Alpha under Captain Shang." The man read from the paper, then handed the paper back to her before helpfully pointing her to the line that was already forming. "Your unit is that direction. Lucky you; you are under GC Vergil's care. Good luck, don't kill yourself during training, and I expect to see you with us pros in two years."

With the words said, the man turned and walked away, leaving Ling completely bewildered. Relief, worry and regret filled her in equal parts.

She was relieved to have stolen the conscription letter from Ping while he slept, relieved to have quietly sneaked out of the house while everyone else was still asleep during Conscription Day to cut her hair and bind her breasts so that she looked as much like her twin brother as possible. It would be impossible for someone whose body was as weak as Ping's to survive training, much less under the Famous General Commander.

But worry and regret was another thing that plagued her. Her brother aside, how was it possible that she could keep up with training here? Even the normally fit young men had complained about underestimating the training under the man's battalion. Her hope of blending in with the crowd with her stronger-than-average-girls strength was completely drained by the time she dragged her unwilling feet into the line, dread filling her up as she looked around at the Captains dressed in their uniforms standing strictly in front of the line.

As expected, Captain Shang looked as fierce as his name sounded. In fact, he looked so solid that if he didn't blink, Ling would have imagined him as a statue. And it would have been a damned fine statue worthy of museums anywhere.

One distantly reassuring factor that Ling found out was that the other recruits that had been posted to the General Commander Vergil's battalion didn't look very fit or healthy. While she was 99% sure that she was the only woman in disguise in the line, the other recruits beside and around her looked too scrawny, thin, pale, or generally unhealthy complexion. She was not usually one to judge people by appearance, because she knew she truly belonged in this group that would probably have the most trouble with physical training of any kind.

Time passed with her worries, and eventually the battalions were led away from the field towards where the chartered buses were to take them to their camp grounds. Ling did her best to follow the orders barked at them as closely as she could, wearing the same worried expression as everyone else around her.

And then, she found herself in the restricted area of the city that belonged to the Demon Hunting Army. With all the meagre belongings that she had –those that did not look the slightest bit feminine –Ling found herself lined up in neat rows beside the other units of the same battalion, attendance taken. None of the Captains that did roll call looked satisfied with the recruits, and the atmosphere was completely heavy when the man-in-charge himself finally appeared, walking from the small tent placed strategically beside the small podium in the middle of the grounds for her battalion.

The first impression that struck Ling was that the General Commander did not look as muscled as she imagined him to be. The man was lean, though she would never imagine to say that he looked scrawny. There could be no mistaking the muscles hiding underneath his cotton clothes and boots. The short sleeves revealed the arms of a man who had killed more demons than there were citizens in the kingdom. In his arm held his famous sword of the legends: Yamato. She had heard so many stories about the man that seeing him in real life felt surreal all of a sudden as he stood in front of his battalion, sharp eyes all but glaring out at them.

"None of you look like you have ever held a knife, much less a sword." The man began, his voice loud and confident. She was surprised that his voice was lighter than the deep baritone that she had always imagined him to have. "All of you look like a single sneeze from the lowest level demon will break every single bone in your bodies."

Unfortunately, Ling had never seen a demon before in her life, so she could not confirm if the man's words were true.

"But that is why I have collected all of you. You know of the competition I have with Dante."

Everyone knew that he was the only man who called General Commander Dante without title. Everyone also knew that it was the same vice versa. Even Haven's King and Queen called the General Commanders with their titles.

"I don't intend to win Dante by collecting strong, capable men. No. I requested the thinnest, the weakest, and the sickliest of your cohort. Every single one of you are here because I asked for it. When I am through, I want to see a quarter of you in my Elite Force. The rest of you should be with the professional army." The man smirked, two hands resting over the hilt of his sword, standing Yamato in front of him in a relaxed pose. "I assume you have left your wills at home and kissed your parents and lovers for the last time."

"Today is the day you die. Welcome to Hell."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you dead yet, Recruit Wu?" A painfully familiar voice shouted into her ear, dragging her back to reality.

Ling spluttered awake, coughing and wheezing for air. Coldness chilled her to the bone as she blinked at the eyes staring at her, then the dissatisfied look of Captain Shang standing beside her, arms crossed.

"Give me another 50. In four minutes." Captain Shang announced when Ling realised that she had missed the cue to give her answer. "The timer started one minute ago."

Pitiful eyes pinned on her as she scrambled to move her pained body, assuming the push-up position.

"Permission to carry on, sir." She wheezed. Doing push-ups was not something someone should do right after waking up from almost-drowning, but it had been clear from Day One that this place was not normal. At this point, she was too tired and too numbed to care about human rights.

"Carry on."

"Thanks to Recruit Wu's voluntary participation in the river, the unit is gifted with another five minutes in the Boiler." Captain Shang announced as Ling struggled to complete her push-ups. Two months ago, there might have been rouses of complaints or whatnot. Right now, nobody dared to speak a single word as the rest of her comrades turned and ran for the Boiler –the room where everyone was to complete a series of exercise for a set period of time while under temperatures that resembled Hell's fires.

"...50. Permission to carry on, sir." Ling coughed.

"Know that you are inches away of me reporting you to the General Commander himself, Recruit Wu. You are slow, weak and punch like a girl. I don't like to admit that I cannot train anyone after 10 years of experience in this job, but our GC has made it very clear to us Captains: if there is anyone we cannot train, we send them to him."

"I... I apologise, sir. Permission to carry on, sir." The words barely sank in beneath Ling's exhaustion. Right now, most words and threats just flashed past her. She didn't care about most things anymore. She had been put through life-and-death situations so many times by now that she was becoming more and more like a primal animal, relying just on fight-and-flight instincts to survive.

"Carry on." Captain Shang gave the approval, and Ling picked herself up, running with her limp to join her comrades in the Boiler.

Shang watched as the recruit disappear from sight, not following behind. He had given the order for five minutes, but he knew that most of the recruits could withstand seven minutes by now. He could take his walk to the Boiler slowly.

"Shang." In the current campgrounds, there was only one person who had the authority to call the Captain by name without title. Shang turned around with slight surprise to see the General Commander himself approaching him from behind, this time with his official coat. "That recruit that you just sent running; what is wrong with him?"

"I am close to admitting that he can't be trained; at least not by me, General Commander." Shang kept his eyes embarrassedly low.

"He cannot be trained?" The General Commander repeated, voice betraying nothing. "He had potential."

"He is slow and weak. He throws punches like a girl, and passes out too easily."

"He has legs. Good balance."

The reply was the strange type of compliment that all the Captains knew the General Commander would give to anyone he saw potential in. He had already heard from his comrades about how the General Commander had made comments like, "He has arms. He has fingers. He has eyes" as if they were compliments of the recruits.

"Send him to me when you admit that he can't be trained." The General Commander nodded as if he had made some sort of reply, turning to walk away without a second word.

Shang sighed. He had been working as a Captain, training recruits for the past ten years. He had had the luxury of being able to work with the General Commander Vergil for the last two times the man had conducted personal trainings.

But even after four years working with the man, Shang still found the man strange.

It didn't matter; strange or not, Vergil was still the most dangerous person in the entire campground.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ling did not have much thoughts at all in her head when she dragged her exhausted body to the stream near the campground. She had found this place a week after she started her training, and it was a good bathing spot because nobody in her battalion would have enough energy to make the trek all the way out here just for a bath. The Captains had their own private bathing quarters within the camp, so she was not afraid of her higher-ups spotting her.

Months of going undetected, paired with the bone-chilling lethargy that left absolutely no thoughts except a strong desire to jump into bed once she got back to camp, Ling was caught like a deer in the headlights when she heard voices. By then, the voices were already too close to escape, and Ling rushed to grab at least a towel to cover her dignity before the men in conversation appeared.

Her heart almost escaped from her mouth when she saw a familiar pair of twins, still deep in conversation, not having caught sight of her yet as they appeared from the clearing that opened up to the stream.

"-I swear if one of my Captains say that the men I have are 'talents' again, I am going to murder them personally." General Commander Dante's words became clearer as he came closer. Ling was surprised that she could distinguish between the pair of identical twin, considering the fact that she had only seen her own battalion's General Commander only once. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that General Commander Vergil was still holding on to his sword on his right hand.

"Murder them, and you are going to have to train those men personally. I doubt you have the capacity of patience for it." General Commander Vergil answered neutrally, as if there was nothing wrong with his brother wanting to kill his subordinates.

"If I didn't want to defeat you so badly this time, I might have. I asked for the best and got arrogant pricks."

"I asked for the worst." GC Vergil answered. "They are struggling, but there are some potential."

"Don't pretend to be nice." GC Dante waved as they came closer to the stream. "You and I both know that we saw more talents in some girls down in town. Damned the government and their rules about not allowing women into demon hunting..."

"I will come up with something to convince them." GC Vergil promised with a tone so convincing that Ling couldn't find an inch of doubt at his ability at all.

"I don't think you need it, but remember that they are giving us the best strawberry sundae that we can find anywhere within this part of the globe. Don't piss them off because I still want to have-" GC Dante's words were cut short all of a sudden, and despite Ling's silent and hopeful venture towards the darker part of the stream to hide her presence, she felt eyes on her and froze immediately. "Hello there, Beautiful."

Still clutching tightly to the towel to hide her body, Ling did her best to turn her face away so that neither of them men could catch sight of her face clearly in the semi-darkness.

"This is restricted territory. How did you get in?" GC Vergil's suspicious tone of voice was not a good sign at all, and Ling tilted her face to the side even more.

"I-I got lost..." Ling replied in a shy voice, pitching it higher than her normal range to sound more convincing as an innocently girl who had accidentally wandered into the campground.

"My camp is far away from the walls that should be keeping people like you out. Wandering in here and getting lost is hardly a likely story."

"I... I... was serving up meals for the Captains, and I had to turn for the washroom. I got lost!" Ling grasped at anything she could say. The only role for women in this restricted area was to serve food to the higher-ups, then leave the walls after the designated meal times.

"I like your way of thinking: taking a bath when you are lost." GC Dante answered, and even though Ling did her best to avoid eye contact, she was very sure from his tone that he was grinning from ear to ear. Clearly, the rumours she had heard about GC Dante being a hopeless womanizer was not far from the truth.

"I-I was tired of walking and wanted to take a break..."

"With a towel that belongs to one of our recruits." GC Vergil continued her sentence in her stead, and she startled to hear the man closer to her than she initially thought. "That makes you a thief on top of being a trespasser."

"I didn't steal it!" Ling turned to the man in surprise, then backed up in shock at the proximity that the man was standing in front of her. She hadn't even realised it, but GC Vergil had waded into the water without a single sound in their conversation, and stood dangerously in front of her.

"The emblem on the towel says it belongs to a recruit in my battalion, under Shang's unit." GC Vergil answered with blue eyes so sharp that Ling almost felt herself pierced full of holes. "Either you are a thief, or you claim yourself to be a recruit, which would be impossible because a woman would not have survived thus far without detection."

"I... I found it dropped on the floor while wandering around!" Ling was really grasping at the straws now, backtracking with every step that GC Vergil took forwards. The man had no qualms in getting his pants wet as he waded deeper and deeper with her, determined to get rid of all personal space between them that she currently had.

"I will punish Recruit Wu Ping after this for leaving his belongings behind." GC Vergil announced, and Ling jolted in shock to realise that she had held the towel the wrong way, and the embroidered name of her towel (like every other recruit) showed clearly. "We must first deal with your trespassing, and your apparent lack of skills at convincing lies."

"D-Don't come closer!" Ling found herself back against a rock, the water having risen up to her chest so that she had no more need to cover them. Pulling the towel up, she brandished it like a shield between her and the terrifying General Commander who was still closing their distance.

"Oy, Verge. I didn't know you took interest in raping people at night." GC Dante's call from the bank thankfully stilled movement for a short while.

"I have no interest in raping women." The answer that came was completely neutral, as if nothing was wrong with GC Dante's suggestion about him intending to commit sexual violence all of a sudden. "What I have interest in, however, is how Recruit Wu Ping is going to explain her crimes."

"I-I-I am not Wu Ping! Ping is back in his room sleeping!" Ling probably should have voiced her protest stronger, but it was a hard thing to do when the General Commander was standing right in front of her, close enough to feel his body heat.

"A check would suffice to rid you of anymore excuses, woman. You should be informed, however, that I am considered more observant than many others, and I am very certain that I have seen your face and heard your voice in Recruit Wu Ping. You may either come clean to me right now, or we will simply proceed with standard procedure and have you and/or Recruit Ping charged in trial."

"Don't do anything to Ping!" Ling cried, squeezing her eyes shut as if she could not even bear the mental image of her sickly brother being forced to stand in trial and explain that he had his enlistment letter stolen by his sister. "If you want to punish anyone, just punish me! My brother is innocent!"

"Your brother... I will assume that your brother is Recruit Wu Ping? How has he sneaked you inside here, and for what reason?"

"He didn't sneak me inside." Ling sank down further into the water until it covered up to her neck, using her free hands now to cover her face in shameful defeat, leaving the towel to sink through the water. "Ping has never stepped foot in here since Day 1."

"Oy, if you're making some sort of secret deal with the woman, at least have a decency to invite me into the secret. Talk about men and training is boring, let me have something to do with her." GC Dante who was still safely and dryly on the bank spoke up, just out of earshot of their low conversation.

"Ignore him." GC Vergil said under his breath, then turned his attention back to her. "You mean you have been taking part in the trainings in your brother's stead? How did you manage to make it past registration?"

"I stole my brother's letter..." Ling whispered, both afraid to let the General Commander know, but also afraid of keeping secrets because the man was seriously threatening now that he was standing up close and in her personal space. Not to mention the fact that she was still completely naked underneath the water surface. "Ping and I are twins, so we look alike. I gave the excuse that I –as Ping –got stronger and healthier while preparing to enlist..."

"Then your brother: he is still at home sick and weak?"

Throughout this whole conversation, Ling had not dared to look up at the man at all, continuing to stare at the water surface, almost sure that she could see ripples from how hard her heart was beating in her chest.

"Y-Yes."

"What is your name?"

"Ling... Wu Ling."

"Do you understand that you have committed a very serious crime, Miss Wu?"

"Y-Yes... but I just wanted to save Ping from the training here! He is a really weak person and his conditions will only get worse if he comes here. You can blame me for pulling a stunt like this, but I'm not going to regret trying to protect my brother like an elder sister should." Ling would have made her protest stronger, but at the moment her heart was beating so hard that she almost couldn't breathe properly.

"Regardless of your regret, you must be prepared to receive consequence." GC Vergil announced clearly, never moving a single inch closer or further; just standing there in front of her without care about the fact that the lower half of his body was completely submerged. He didn't even seem to care about the fact that his sword was being submerged in water as well, the idea of rust coating his legendary sword seemed to completely evade him despite it chewing at a corner of Ling's mind.

"I'll do anything as long as you don't do anything to Ping. He's innocent."

"I think you are past the point of negotiating with me, Miss Wu." The man said formally. "Get dressed and come with us back to camp. Don't bother to run. Your speed is nowhere near a demon's yet."

"Y-Yes sir..." She whispered, finally feeling the presence standing right in front of her leave. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." GC Vergil's voice was retreating, but he was still close by. "You are exactly what I need. You want to be a man? I will make one out of you."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Recruit Wu!" GC Dante's excited call was no longer something special now that she had spent almost two years interacting with the man whose personality was the furthest possible away from an upright, serious and stern leader that his twin brother was.

Spinning around, Ling watched as the man detached himself from his battalion's Captains, running over and waving at him. Self-consciously, Ling looked around once more, and was disappointed that everyone within her immediate surrounding had clearly heard the General Commander's friendly call.

It had been slightly less than two years, but the looks of jealousy and irritance were still going on. While the recruits from both General Commanders' battalions had improved by leaps and bounds, none of them –the Captains included –had had the opportunity to be as close to the two of them as Ling had been allowed to. To the outside, it appeared that this strange recruit had suddenly gained favour from the two leaders enough to have GC Vergil pull 'him' out of Captain Shang's unit and throw 'him' in a privately-sectored area where nobody knew whatever happened to 'him'. All the recruits and Captains knew was that Recruit Wu Ping had somehow received special treatment, and seemed to be doing well under the combined care of the General Commanders who hadn't explained their actions to anyone else.

The truth was much scarier than rumours made it out to be.

Ling had surely gotten 'special treatment' from the two men, but it was a type of special treatment that never in her life would she ever wish on anyone. She had been pushed so many times past her humane limits that she felt like she had somehow achieved an invincibility that nobody else (except her tutors themselves) could replicate. She was sure that the trainings she had been made to go through personally by both men were not ethical, and she had many scars to prove it. One thing was for sure: the General Commanders had not taken into account any rules or laws regarding the protection of women. Both of them knew that she was of the fairer sex.

Neither of them bothered themselves with that little piece of information during training.

Of course, the same could not be said for after training. While GC Vergil still treated her very formally, he had always been sure to call her 'Miss Wu' every time they met after training. Ling's relationship with GC Dante was slightly... different.

Because of the nature of the life-threatening training that she had always been made to put through, Ling had initially searched desperately for an emotional support, and the person who had provided it the most often was GC Dante himself. What developed over the days, however, was less of an emotional relationship, and more of a physical one.

Eventually, sometime past the one year mark of the start of her 'demonic' training with the two General Commanders, GC Dante had made a very befitting comment:

GC Vergil was striving to make a man out of her in the day. GC Dante was keeping her a woman at night.

"Recruit Wu, how are you doing?" GC Dante said loudly, as if he was deliberately –and doing a poor job –pretending to be professionally formal with her. It was an agreed-upon consensus that the two General Commanders would treat her like a normal male recruit outside of their private trainings within campgrounds and in view of outsiders.

"I am doing very well, sir." She reported respectfully, politely neglecting to say that she was hiding a very well bandaged arm up the long sleeve of a recruit's uniform from the last training session with his brother. One thing –other than demon-hunting skills –that had clearly improved by leaps and bounds after training with the twins was her self-bandaging skills. She doubted that either of them knew how to patch themselves up from injury considering the fact that neither of them seemed to ever get hurt or even have any scars to show that they had been injured once.

"Very well? You must do more than very well! You are graduating from being a recruit in an hour's time!" GC Dante still continued loudly, putting his arm over her shoulders and leaning his weight on her. Two years ago, Ling would have staggered and maybe fallen to the floor with his sudden shift of weight. Now, she stood strong easily like a rock.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I am actually more nervous than anything." Ling reported, though the both of them knew the truth behind her nervousness.

In every Graduation Ceremony for every batch of recruits, the government would send officials down to watch a group of selected recruits defeat low-levelled demons in front of a crowd to signify the completion of their trainings. The selected recruits were usually the best of each battalion, but this time Recruit Wu had been added into the list under the event title of 'special performance'.

The performance was sure as hell going to be special. Not only was it going to be the first time ever that a high-level demon would be summoned to be defeated in front of a crowd in a Graduation Ceremony, it was also going to be Recruit Wu's big reveal of 'his' gender.

"Nervous? What for? Enjoy the show!" GC Dante continued to act oblivious as he forced her walking towards the tent where she had previously seen his twin brother walk into with the Captains of her battalion.

"I am going to be the show, sir." Ling corrected quietly, then lowered her voice. "It is not the demon I'm nervous about. It's the humans."

"Don't worry." GC Dante lowered his voice as if in conspiracy with her as well, playing along without a single problem. "In all truth: I'm scared of the humans as well. They might not give us our strawberry sundae on time after your reveal."

The man clearly had his priorities set crystal clear.

"I can still make you strawberry sundaes, sir."

"That's my man... I mean, woman." GC Dante answered proudly, then steered them into the tent to bear the eyes of the many Captains –including Captain Shang –and the General Commander Vergil himself.

"Hello. Are you guys done? The show is starting, and I don't want Verge to miss his prime seat."

"What is Recruit Wu doing here, Dante?" GC Vergil answered in demand –a tone of voice that Ling had learnt was used very often when it came to his twin brother. None of the Captains were surprised at that tone, so it was apparently very well-known and accepted as well.

"I caught him on the way here."

"Then send him back on his way. He needs to prepare for his performance."

"Waste more of his time, Dante, and I will skin you alive if he fails."

"He won't. Right, Recruit Wu?"

There was only one answer Ling could make when asked such a question in front of so many Captains of General Commander Vergil's battalion. She did her best to ignore how doubtful they looked –including Captain Shang who knew the best her condition before she had been taken in by the General Commanders.

"Recruit Wu." GC Vergil was clearly done trying to communicate with his brother given how his piercing blue eyes turned to her instead with instruction written clearly in them. "Go to your preparation room and change into your outfit. I had it specially tailored and prepared for you."

"W-What?" Ling was taken by surprise at the sudden information, then caught herself. "I-I mean yes, sir. I understand, sir. Permission to continue, sir."

The permission was given, and Ling knew better than to stick around to ask more. Escaping from GC Dante's grasp before he could trap her again, Ling ducked into her personal preparation room next to the performance square.

The outfit that had been specially prepared for her sat folded on the table near the shower, and it was a stark blue that was the iconic colour of General Commander Vergil. Nothing seemed wrong as she checked her surroundings (locking the windows and doors tight) before she stripped and entered the shower. Her nervous fluttering heart managed to calm down a little as she wiped herself dry, then reached for her bindings for her chest.

Careless hands knocked the outfit off the table, and Ling sighed as she stepped out of the bathroom to pick it up. The cold air on her semi-wet body suddenly didn't make a difference, and her world stopped for a single moment.

Ling had learnt how to blend in as a man for the past 2 years. She had learnt how to identify all sorts of demons with just a smell. She had learnt how to clean and maintain a sword so that it would last at least 10 years without a single bit of rust. She had learnt how to kill demons without being splattered dirty with blood.

What she had not learnt was how to wear a dress in the middle of a camp meant for men.

The card that had apparently been put in between the folds of the dress (which was beautifully practical in its own rights) had made clear her General Commander's instructions, written in the exact same tone as his usual speech to her.

'Wear this. Do not bother thinking about wearing something else for the performance.'

It would be nice to say that Ling obeyed her General Commander's written instructions immediately upon seeing it, but the reality was far from the truth. It took her ten minutes to dare to touch the fallen dress, and another 15 minutes to work up the courage to put it on. She cringed a million times on how well the dress fit her, very sure that GC Dante had studied her body sizes very well when they spent time together at night, and passed the knowledge to his brother.

Ling knew she had been evilly manipulated by the pair of twin, but this had to be the worst as she stood in front of the mirror, barely able to recognise a woman standing there. Her shoulders were broader with muscles, her legs strong and lean. Her breasts were small to begin with, but the training had somehow made her waist thinner and the effect somehow accentuated her figure.

Standing in front of the mirror, it struck Ling after two years of convincing herself and everyone else around her the opposite: She was a woman.

"Miss Wu, you are up next." GC Vergil's voice was nothing but informative when he appeared through the door of her room, completely guiltless about the fact that he had torn the lock off the door just to get in. What was more impressive was actually the fact that GC Vergil looked as if he had completely expected her to take so long to get dressed. Two years clearly had been enough for the man to understand her inside out, and he silently slid up to her side at the mirror, dressed up in his formal uniform for the Graduation Ceremony.

No more words were spread across them as the man silently reached up. Ling braced herself for anything, but was frozen all over again when he reached up behind his own neck. A short moment passed, and the pendant that the twins had always around their neck came off.

"Sir; I-" Ling began to move away when it became clear that the man was trying to put it on her.

"Do not move."

By purely bred instincts, Ling obeyed, freezing as if the man had put her on gunpoint. Eyes straight in front, she watched as the man surprisingly gently rested the pendant over her chest, then latched it on.

"Do not try to remove it." The warning came. "You have done well for the training. This is your reward. My mother's amulet. For blessings."

"But isn't it-"

"Keep it. If you lose it..." The man did not continue the sentence, but Ling knew better than to tempt fate. In all honesty the man had never raised his voice nor done anything in punishment against her, but for some reason had she never dared to disobey his orders and warnings. It was perhaps just the effect that the man exuded, but Ling knew that she –and probably everyone else –would rather die than to disobey whatever the General Commander said.

"But, sir..."

"Call me Vergil."

The sudden instruction blanked Ling's thoughts. Call the man Vergil? Just by name like that?

"V-Vergil, why are you giving me your mother's amulet? Is it not precious to you?"

"A precious gift is the only kind worth giving. I want to give it to you, so I am. Now ask no more question and show everyone the woman I have made out of you."

"But, sir-"

"Call me Vergil."

"But, Vergil," she corrected quickly, "Didn't you say you were trying to make a man out of me?"

"If I were, I would not have pulled you out of Shang's unit. You wanted to be a man, but I needed a woman. What would be the point of making a man out of you? It was all about proving your worth as a demon hunter, regardless of your gender. Demons do not have genders. Why should demon hunters be limited to genders? Such human social structures and illusions; I fail to understand even after all these years."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you giving me the amulet. It is precious to you, I can't take it." Ling tried to protest, trying to take the amulet off but freezing up at the hard stare that the man gave, paired with the slightest hint of a frown tugging at the corners of his lips.

"You might have graduated from being a recruit, but you are far from done with me, Miss Wu." The man turned sharply on his heels once Ling withdrew her hand from the accessory around her neck, clear that she was no longer trying to disobey his instructions.

"The amulet is simply a reminder for you that you still belong to Dante and I. Whether we make you a man or woman is our choice and you will have nothing to say, because you are our property. Keep that amulet around you, and keep that thought in mind, Recruit Wu Ling. We made a man out of you, and now show them outside the woman you are."

The walk out of the room was paired with a heavy aura of expectancy that Ling would follow, and she found her mind blanked as she did.

It was true; the two General Commanders had made a man and a woman out of her.

Somehow, though, she felt like she had lost a human from inside her as well, as she followed General Commander Vergil to the stage.

Man or woman, Ling no longer felt human.