Qualifying Exams

A pair of red burning eyes looked at Devin. A grin appeared on Leonardo's face before his body erupted in black flames. The gym was filled with gasps as the fire slowly got smaller.

"I'm not mistaken then," a voice said from the flames. Deep, rich, and sound. A man walked out wearing a black suit. His hair was long and black and was slicked back. "You are an Exorcist."

Before Devin could mutter a word, a figure slipped past him and into Leonardo.

"Bring Out, Makarov!"

Yuri's flamberge slashed towards the tall man. Leonardo pivoted sideways, completely avoiding the sudden attack. The boy landed straight through the bleachers, destroying the concrete seats as he did.

"You!" Yuri growled under the debris and the dust. "You killed my father!"

Devin's eyes widened as Yuri attempted to attack again. Leonardo was calm, putting his hands on his suit pocket and avoiding the wavy sword without breaking a sweat.

"Sofia!" Kagura yelled. "Calm him down!"

"I'm trying!" Sofia used her Sanctity as best as she could, to no avail. "He's too angry! I couldn't get through."

Adonis appeared behind Yuri, wrapping his arm around the smaller boy. Yuri struggled out of Adonis' grasp, he was screaming and wriggling but the grip on him was too tight.

Eventually, he gave up. Tears started to fall from his eyes as his sword fell with a clank.

Leonardo walked towards him, "I have never killed a human in my entire life."

"But why are you Echelon 5?" Adonis asked with a deadly glare. Yuri, among all his teammates, was the closest to him. After the incident at the city, he felt like the boy needed an arm to lean on. And Adonis was more than willing to do that.

"Countless experiments, bizarre boosts, and a hefty amount of dumb luck," Martin said, leaping from the balcony and landing beside Leonardo. "Europe Branch's most famous Stained Soul, The Black Lion, Leonardo von Schweitzer."

The commotion was settled only a few moments later. Yuri calmed down and was sorry for his actions.

"Nonsense!" Martin exclaimed. "It was my fault for letting Leonardo go without prior information. I will take full responsibility for my actions."

Martin jumped from the bleachers back to the balcony with Leonard by his side.

Devin couldn't help but stare at Leonardo. His skin was like theirs, his figure, his hair, his eyes. It was as if he was an Exorcist himself.

"Pardon for the sudden anomaly," Liu announced. "But we will take a moment to breathe and discuss the upcoming task. Everyone, let us all take five minutes to rest."

"Martin von Schweitzer," Kagura said, turning to her teammates. "Europe's Mad Scientist. He used his own energy to implant his Stained Souls for them to level up. At Echelon 2, Stained Souls develop human thoughts. With this, he trained them. At Echelon 4, he treats them like his own children."

"That's why my uncle never married," Morris interrupted Kagura. He walked towards them along with his team. "12 Echelon 3s, 7 Echelon 4s, and Leonardo. That's how big his family is, The House of Black as we call it. Good luck to both of our teams, Ms. Kagura. I hope the best will win."

"We will win," Devin said. "I will win against you today."

Morris grinned and walked towards the small boy. "That's the spirit!"

He ruffled Devin's hair before walking to their designated seats.

"Yo!" a female voice said behind them.

"Leah!" everyone cheered.

"How have you guys been?" she asked. All the team leaders were called to be with their teams as they take the qualifying exams.

"Everyone," Liu called out. "Now that we took a moment to recollect ourselves, let us start our exam. This year, we have decided to measure everyone's capabilities."

The gymnasium doors opened and a few cloaked people came in. They were dragging a large screen that displayed several angles of different places.

"We have seven different arenas for each of the seven members of all the teams. One member will engage in a battle royale along with the randomly chosen members of the other teams. And these are the pairing."

Everyone's phone rang and they all looked at what it was.

'Devin Lewis – Arena 6'

Devin's eyes widened. It means he will be separated from the others. He will fight on his own.

"I'm in Arena 1," Kagura said.

Rodney nodded, "Arena 7."

"Arena 3," Sophia said.

"Arena 5," Yuri cheered.

Adonis looked at his phone, "Arena 4."

"Arena 2," Rain sighed. "I think I'll be in the same arena as Margaux."

"An announcement," Liu said. "Although we promote proper punishment and does not tolerate harm to our own kind, we cannot turn a blind eye on talents. Therefore Team Maxime will participate in today's exam. However, the punishment for some of their members will not be lifted even if they win."

Everyone could only nod at the decision. They all understand that every Exorcist is crucial for the war against Stained Souls. The Union would not let talents such as Margaux and Orlando wither.

"Now that you know which arena you are in, you will have 5 minutes to go there. Students who will miss the entrance will automatically lose."

Everyone instantly got out of their seats and ran towards the direction of their respective arenas. Most of the arenas are located around the school while the other was in the city.

Arena 6 was located in the deeper parts of the forest that Devin liked. Throughout his training with Morris, they were in the forest. His perception was used to the ground and the atmosphere that he was confident he'll win.

That was until a weapon was thrown a few feet away from Devin. He looked beside him and saw a javelin that was piercing the ground. A quarter of its body because of the impact.

"What is that?" he yelled in fear.

It was a javelin thrown by one of his classmates.

"I missed?" a female voice said. She walked up to Devin when a figure appeared behind her.

"Don't let your guard down," a boy sad and hit the nape of the girl, making her faint.

It was one of Team Margaux's goons. His name was Elvis and he held anger towards Devin. His family was from a prominent clan in India and after his father knew about his scheme with Margaux, he received a scolding.

"There you are," he said and grinned. '"Bring Out, Anushka."

His sword became a flail. It had a head that's shaped like a diamond and thorns on every side of it. A chain was connecting the head toward the handle.

Devin wanted to back down but remembered Orlando. He fought with Elvis and along with three others. If Orlando could do it, he was confident he could.

Elvis whipped his flail and rotated the thorny head beside him. "They say accidents sometimes happen during one of these events. I already got a scolding, does it matter if I receive another?"

Elvis ran towards Devin, the intention of killing was evident in his eyes. "Die!"

Devin unsheathed his sword, ready to fight. He gripped his handle and felt Revelation's light throughout his body.

"Bring Out, Revelation!"

His bright glowing sword clashed with Elvis' iron flail. The sound was loud that the nearby students heard it.

Elvis wasn't giving Devin the time to think. He was trained to fight maliciously by his uncle, to which his father did not know of. His style was vigorous, not giving his opponent any time to rest.

His hand was used to rotating the flail that you could see him twist his wrist unconsciously.

"My father was disappointed in me like he always was!" he screamed. "Even my uncle who taught me violence scolded me. You're a piece of orphan garbage!"

This last remark made Devin angry. He felt a pull in his wrist like someone was holding it. He let this pull himself and the next thing he knew, he was beside Elvis. His body was completely open.

Another tug was felt by Devin on his wrists. His hands raised themselves, twisted the sword sideways, and struck Levis with the sword.

This made Levis roll on the ground a few times. When he recovered, he was angrier than before. There was a dark aura emanating around him.

'Help me.' Devin heard a female voice wail like she was in pain.

"Who's that?" Devin asked.

Elvis chuckled, "They were right. You are crazy! You delirious wrench. Do you think you're an Exorcist? Or at least do you think you're cut out to be one? You don't have the blood!"

'I don't want to do this," the woman said again.

He was looking around for the voice, unconsciously stopped activating his Reverence. He wasn't interested in Elvis' provocations anymore. There was someone who was sobbing somewhere.

"Where are you?" Devin asked and turned around.

Elvis grinned at this and dashed towards Devin. He twisted his body, gathering energy to strike the smaller boy with all his power.

But before he could, a long sword was swinging towards him, meeting his face. The sword was sideways and when it hit Elvis, it was like a racket hitting a tennis ball.

Elvis flew and hit a tree where it rendered him unconscious.

When Devin turned to see what's going on, he was facing Morris.

"What are you–"

Before Devin could finish, Afterlife was about to hit him. He barely dodged the attack, clashing his sword with Morris that made him drag away by the impact.

"We're enemies now," Morris said. "Let me see if you really don't want to let other people down."

Devin gripped his sword, "I won't. Bring Out, Revelation!"