The Summit Has Been Suspended

Devin woke up to the bustling noise of the room. It seemed like people were arguing. His body ached even though he wasn't moving. It was as if all the muscles were screaming in pain.

And if he could, he would scream in pain too. 

"This is so bad!" Margaux cried. "What will happen now?"

"Let's just assume that everything will be alright," Kagura said, trying to calm down.

"W-What happened?" Devin asked, stuttering. He opened his eyes and was met by a familiar room.

Rodney walked over to her and handed him a glass of water. He repeated his question when no one answered, "What happened?"

"Don't freak out, okay?" Kagura asked.

Devin's eyebrows met when he saw the air conditioner. "Why are we using the AC? Isn't it cold in London?"

"We're back home," Rodney said.

"What?! Did I slept throughout the Summit?"

Kagura shook her head and walked over to him. "The Summit had been suspended."

– The previous day

"Did you get it?" Andrea asked Roy as they walked out of the coliseum.

With a beat up face, Liam laid on a crater on the floor. He was looking at the lights, wondering what happened.

Even the crowd was silent. After Devin yelled, he dashed towards Liam and mercilessly attacked him. He was a lot more powerful than he was.

When Liam tried to fight back, Devin seemed to got even stronger. His rapid yet destructive slashes were enough for Liam to lose. He even tried activating his hidden power but it was too late. The smaller frail boy was behind him, swinging his blade and throwing Liam mid-air where he appeared above and hacked his sword on the blonde boy's stomach.

Devin had just finished the match against Liam when his Reverence ceased its activation. His glowing cloak bursted into nothingness and his sword stopped glowing. Liam wasn't able to keep up and ended up breaking his nose and losing his pride.

After the fight, Andrea had a wide grin on her face. She could taste victory. It was within her grasp.

"Let's edit it so we can submit it to Doris," she said. "I bet she's going to air this tonight."

"Why are you so angry towards Exorcists?" Roy asked. They got inside the van and drove to their office.

Andrea shook her head, "Just drive."

They got into their office and directly went to the news anchor's room, Doris.

"Doris?" Andrea called out when she got inside. Doris was sitting on her chair, reading articles for their evening news.

Doris looked up and nodded, "Andrea, is there anything I can help you with?"

"I finally finished filming. Can I air it tonight?" Andrea muttered.

Doris sighed and clicked her tongue, "Is this still about the Exorcists? Andrea, you know we can't do that."

"But they have been forcing these children to compete in these matches that literally hurts them," Andrea argued but Doris wasn't getting none of it.

"Andrea, for the last time, no," Doris said sternly. "If you really want to taint the reputation of the people who saves us from monsters, you might as well join an online community that hates them as much as you. Then you might gain the attention you so needed."

Andrea was speechless. Doris was usually calm and collected but she was upset, no, she was angry at her right now. The woman took a deep breath and fixed her collar.

"If there's nothing more, you can go," Doris said and turned her seat to face the floor to ceiling window behind her.

"Thanks," Andrea said sarcastically and got out, slamming the door as she did.

Roy was talking to another cameraman when Andrea arrived. She got inside their news van without talking to anyone. The van drove away, leaving Roy behind.

'Exorcist Competition. Is It Really Safe?'

Andrea erased the headline she wrote. She was at her apartment, writing an online article against the Exorcists.

She thought for a few more minutes and thought of a title that's filled with impact. The one who would gain a lot of attention.

Gulping on a can of beer, Andrea wrote.

'The Tragedy Behind The Exorcist 6 Schools Summit'

She started writing the content of her article. There were a lot of articles like this in the past but they lacked something that she had.

Evidence.

Andrea was going to use the clips she got from the matches as her proof. She tweaked the videos, using angles and altering the sounds so it would look a few times worse.

A few hours later, Andrea was done. She had the article in her computer. Her cursor was hovering over the Submit button and she was only one click away from her glory.

"Why doesn't Doris see?" she asked and gulped her beer.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked and got inside Andrea's apartment. "I told you it wouldn't work with Doris. She supports them."

"Why?" Andrea uttered. "Why can't they just hate them?"

"Because Exorcists saves people," Roy said. "They have been doing that ever since the Stained Souls started attacking. It's weird how you can hate your saviors."

"But why didn't they save my family?" she sobbed. "My mother was the kindest, my father was the most hard working, my brothers were the most adorable yet… Exorcists did not save them."

"But they saved you," Roy pointed out.

Andrea was silent for a moment before she sighed and closed the lid of her laptop. "I don't think I can do it anymore."

"Let's just do the story right, starting with ending the last round. I bet it's the final match now. The announcement will follow," Roy suggested that made Adrea nod.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

A few moments later, the two left the apartment. A figure was waiting outside, waiting for them to go down.

When the two left, the figure got out of their car and into the apartment. It roamed the rooms until it saw Andrea's laptop.

The figure knew Andrea's password somehow. It opened the closed tab and pressed 'Submit'.

"Exorcists shall pay," it said after the upload was completed. It stood and took its hood off of its face.

It looked in the mirror and smiled, "Exorcists shall pay."

Doris smiled at herself and finished uploading.

The article contained videos and a series of discussions regarding how wrongly Exorcists treat their students. It also contained some scandals regarding the Alasyair and Windsor Projects. The brutal scenes were enhanced, especially when Dante was being mauled by Liam and Liam ended up getting mauled by Devin.

The article was flooded with users without even letting the minutes past. People were speculating and joining in on the talk. There were people who tried to say otherwise but the people who supported the article overwhelmed them.

This reached the Allied Nations and grins started to appear on their faces.

They have been waiting for a time where they can investigate the Union and tamper their reputation. Their growing influence was threatening the Allied Nations. They fear the Union would take over the government and they would lose their funds and the politicians' goldmines.

Before the second match could start, police raided the Great British Coliseum. The judges and the guests on the main balcony raised their hands while the police recited their bylaws and cuffed the officials.

"What's happening?" Xia cried when the crowd started to run wild. They were trying to escape as if what they were doing was illegal.

Xia was about to walk over her best friend but Schneider stopped her, "Let us not get involved. We cannot help her if we get caught too."

A man with five stars on his shoulders walked on the stage with a megaphone, "This competition is to be seized under the Allied Nations for abuse and mistreatment of students for entertainment purposes. The judges and guests will be temporarily detained for questioning while the President, Tina Godfrey and Vice President, Liu Zhang will stay in our custody. This is under the decree of the 163 over 163 countries. I may now request the crowd to disperse accordingly."

"What is happening?!" Margaux cried. They ran down the bleachers, through the crowd, and into their unconscious friend.

"You are participants of this game, correct?" A police officer asked.

"Yes sir," Morris replied. The police officer gazed at Morris's missing arm and looked at him.

"You will come with us for questioning. Your friend will be sent to the hospital to be treated," she said led the students to one of the several cars that lined up outside the Coliseum.

"I don't seem to understand what's happening, officer," Morris asked before entering. "Why would you stop this event?"

"I'm sorry kid, we're only in here for orders. Now get in," she said. Morris got in and the police woman slammed the door shut.

Morris was in the car with Rodney and Rain. They both have equally afraid-looking expressions in their faces.

"What in the world just happened?" Rodney asked. "Everything went so well… we even won."

"That's not what's important right now," Morris said and looked at outside. People were running around, police officers escorting students and the judges to their cars. It was a giant mess.

"The proper question is 'What are we going to do now?'."