Exorcist-level Students

Several figures leaped from the branches of one tree to another.

"Ark..." Yuri yelled. "Flash Strike!"

Yuri turned mid-air, his long wavy blade curled towards the handle before it shot towards Franco. Franco only pivoted sideways, completely avoiding the attack.

"I missed!" Yuri yelled. "Kagura!"

"Ark: Dances of the Flowers First Form..." Kagura turned back and dashed towards where Franco landed. "Summer!"

– 7 minutes ago

"Let's take them down one by one," Devin said. "We can't take them all at once even if we do Formation Alpha. They overpower us one is to four."

"Do you think that'll work?" Kagura asked. "They do have a formation of their own you know."

"That's why we'll break that," Devin sufficed. "Mr. Franco handles the front line. If we could eliminate him first, their formation will be ruined. Let's try if we can eliminate all of them afterward."

"We can't," Morris said. "The twins. After Mr. Franco, 11 & 12 will take over."

"Then we will eliminate them next," Devin smirked. "This is what we're going to do..."

– Present time

Franco saw through Yuri and Kagura's attack. When Kagura's clone appeared, straightened his hand and shot himself through the clone.

"I'm sorry but your tactic is full of–"

"Ark!" Morris appeared behind him that made his eyes widen. "Desolate Strike!"

Franco turned and activated his Reverence. His long fingernails dug through the zweihander Morris was holding.

"As I've said, decoys don't work on–"

"Second Form..." Kagura yelled, stepping on the large sword of her teammate. "Fall!"

Morris turned his hand along with Franco. The guidance counselor lost his balance, making it easier for Kagura to target him. Her sword was only a few inches from the man when he disappeared.

"Still..." Franco kicked Kagura on the back, making her fall straight to the ground with a loud thud. "Too..." The foot he used to kick Kagura stepped on Morris's sword, kicking the boy with his other foot. "Far."

"Ark!" Rodney yelled after Franco landed on the ground.

"Another one?" Franco asked annoyingly. "Your attack doesn't–"

"Hero's Barrage!"

"Sh*t! It's different!"

Rodney slashed his sword forward, a flow of mirages followed his attacks. This was his second undeveloped Ark. He continued creating one and planned to cultivate all of it simultaneously.

This was both good and bad. If Rodney could pull this off, it would catapult him to the strongest students of Exorcism. But if he fails to do so, this would take a toll on his body.

'His attacks aren't as strong or fast most Arks are.' Franco thought. 'But the mirages are annoying.'

Rodney's new Ark allows him to conceal his true sword by playing different memories in front of him. He masked his true arm and sword with the hologram, making it extra difficult for his opponent to watch where he would attack next.

"Annoying," Franco mumbled, stepping back and avoiding the attacks as he did.

Little did he know, another student was aiming for him. Adonis was only waiting for a chance to strike.

"Ark: Desolate Strike!"

"Again?" Franco leaped to avoid the strong strike, only giving a chance for Adonis to strike.

A loud bang echoed throughout the forest. The other opponents of Squad Lewis had only noticed the disappearance of Franco.

"How?" Maltoise landed on the ground and saw the Franco that's been with them disappear like smoke.

Rain, who had been using his Sanctity all this time fell to his knees in exhaustion. "It worked."

While Rain was using his newfound ability, Devin, Yuri, and Sofia were distracting the adults. Yuri was using his Ark to disrupt their positions by shooting his sword while Devin and Sofia were throwing branches and leaves at them so they wouldn't notice that Franco was gone.

Margaux was also using her Sanctity. She was watching over the number of their opponents. The heat levels tell her a lot of things, including when someone notices something odd about the Franco that's with them. If one of the enemies' heat signature had changed, she would notify her teammates.

"Franco can handle them," Stephanie said.

Just as she said that, a loud sound of a shot from a gun reached them.

Adonis called Devin, "Mr. Franco is down! I repeat Mr. Franco is down!"

The adults' eyes widened. Their distress was a chance for Squad Lewis.

"Ark: Flash Strike!" Yuri shot Andrew on the foot but the latter avoided it.

"It's time," Andrew said and chorused with his twin, "Bring Out..."

"Andrei."

"Andrew."

A burst of white light lit up from their swords. A powerful gush of fearsome aura followed, exuding from the twins.

Meanwhile, Morris was standing beside an unconscious Franco when he suddenly found himself flying away. A force hit his stomach that made him choke before his body collided with a tree.

"What–"

Kagura wasn't able to finish. A leg swerved her legs, making her trip. An arm appeared above her body who was suspended mid-air. Andrei hacked the hilt of his sword down, hitting Kagura on her stomach.

A shot was fired against Andrei but he disappeared in a flash. The other twin appeared behind Adonis, hacking his hilt to the taller boy's neck. His body fell from the tree that was followed by an already fainted Rodney.

Devin's eyes widened when his teammates fell unconscious in front of him. There were two flashes of light blinking from places. One by one, his teammates fell on the ground.

"W-What?" Devin gasped. "This is impossible. We don't have the power to beat this kind of enemy."

'It's hopeless.' Devin thought and watched the twins walking over to him.

Their figures looked terrifying. An aura of bright white light was coating the twins but somehow, it looked like it was black.

It looked like it was the color of darkness itself.

"Franco wasn't the one who you should've feared," Andrew whispered from behind him.

"No!" Devin yelled. "I refuse to give up! Bring Out, Revelation–"

"You miscalculated." Devin felt a pang of pain on his nape. He felt his consciousness dwindling. All he heard was Andrei chuckling and said, "But well done. You passed."

–

"We lost!" Devin sat up and his vision blurred instantly. "Ouch."

"You need to rest," Xia said, entering the room. "Congratulations."

"B-But I thought…" he trailed off and touched his head that was spinning.

"Don't worry," Xia chuckled. "Franco was just being mean."

"The others?" Devin asked. "Where are they?"

"On their beds. You're back at the hotel," Andrew replied from the doorway.

Andrew and Andrei pouted before engulfing Devin in a hug.

"Little Curls!" Andrei cried. "We're so sorry!"

"Mean Franco wanted you to learn a lesson," Andrew said.

"What lesson?"

"That it's useless to fight against us because we're just too strong." Andrew sighed. "It's a stupid lesson, I know."

There was a moment of pause before Rodney from the other bed burst into laughter.

"That's so funny," he said. "So stupid, yet so funny."

"Ah, Rodney." Rain sat up. "Always finding humor in things."

Devin blinked a few times before he too erupted in laughter. The others couldn't help but follow them.

"But at least we beat Franco, right? He was the biggest threat," Rodney said proudly after the laughter died down. Xia had already left the room to tend to the others.

"Yeah about that," Andrew said. "Franco wasn't really in his prime."

Devin pursed his lips, "What do you mean?"

"He was wearing a limiter so he couldn't accidentally hurt you guys," Andrei answered. "Franco is just... too strong."

"So we didn't actually beat him?" Rain asked sadly.

The twins shook their heads, "No. But–"

"Beating me wasn't the goal." Franco walked inside the room. He had three envelopes in his hands, each with silver detailing on it. He handed the members of Squad Lewis one each and clapped.

"Congratulations, Squad Lewis. All nine members are now Exorcist-level students."