Promotion Exam, Part 5

"This fight just got a whole 'lot tougher…" Jamie says to herself.

"You're outmatched," Chishiki says to Jamie, as she pushes herself off of the ground, reverting her iron body back into flesh. "I'm not even using my Alchemy to its fullest extent-" Chishiki continues as he touches his Cursed Power reinforced hands to the ground. "Alchemy: Fire Floor," Chishiki says as he changes the wooden floor into fire. Jamie howls in pain as she's scorched by Chishiki's flames. "Alchemy: Acid Floor," Chishiki then says as he changes the Fire Floor into a pool of acid. Jamie howls in pain again as this time, her flesh is burnt from Chishiki's acid.

"Do you see what I mean?" Chishiki asks as he stands back up, retracting both hands from the ground, reverting the floor back into wood. Jamie then drops to the ground on her hands and knees, grunting in pain. "You're out matched, Slayer Gorira."

Huffing and puffing, Jamie slowly peers up to face Chishiki. "If I attack him with my Rubber or Iron cloaks, Chishiki will just catch my attacks and revert them back into flesh. Plus, if he uses the Ice Floor, my iron gets stuck, and if he uses his Fire Floor or Acid Floor, I can hardly dodge," Jamie says to herself. "I need a cloak that'll make Chishiki not want to touch me." Jamie's eyes then widen. "Wait…Fire Floor…fire…that will work!"

"MIKEY!" Jamie then calls to Mikey. "I need you to shoot me!"

"Huh Why?!" Mikey snaps.

"I'll need to turn into fire to beat Chishiki!" Jamie answers.

"You won't be able to handle the heat of my flames!" Mikey replies. "Even I can barely handle it even with my Crimson Coat.

"My Adaptability will turn me into fire, so it won't hurt me!" Jamie explains. "Like Medusa's Stone Cloak!"

Mikey is silent.

"I need it to win!" Jamie cries.

"Whatever," Mikey grumbles as he struggles with all his might, eventually being able to wiggle a single arm free from Chishiki's tar. Mikey aims the barrel of his pistol in his now-freed hand towards Jamie. "Don't say I didn't warn you!" Mikey shouts.

Bam!

A gunshot rings through the air as Mikey shoots a singular bullet into Jamie's back, which explodes in a rush of flames. Jamie holds in pain before dropping to the ground in pain, a searing pain coursing through her entire body.

"You can do it, Jamie!" Ella cries.

"You need my power to win," Mikey sneers.

"Damnit…Jamie…concentrate!" Jamie grunts to herself. "Think back to Medusa's stone…where I felt it covering my entire body, then taking control of it with my body! It's now or never…to test whether or not my Adaptability can turn me into something that isn't solid!"

After a little while longer of writhing on the ground in pain, Mikey's flames spread across Jamie's entire body, before flickering out. A second later, Jamie's body then explodes in a glowing rush of fire, as Jamie herself becomes fire. Jamie stands up to face Chishiki again.

"ADAPTABILITY: FLAME CLOAK!"

"Impressive, Slayer Gorira. I didn't think that your body would be able to handle all that fire before transforming," Chishiki compliments Jamie.

"Yeah? Well I'm a lot stronger than you give me credit for!" Jamie replies. "Adaptability: Flame Gauntlet!" Jamie punches her flaming fists forwards, and with each punch, sends a fireball flying out of her fists and streaking through the air towards Chishiki.

"Copying my Crimson Coat, eh?!" Mikey snaps.

"You gave Jamie permission to, though…" Ella replies with a sigh.

"Alchemy: Tar Floor," Chishiki says as he touches his Cursed Power reinforced hands to the ground, changing the floor to ice and using his ice-skates to glide out of the way of Jamie's fireballs. But Jamie's flames melt Chishiki's ice in seconds.

"Alchemy: Water Floor!" Chishiki says as he places his Cursed Power Barrier reinforced hands to the ground, changing the floor into water. "I'll evaporate your flames!" Chishiki shouts.

In an attempt to dodge Chishiki's Water Floor, a steady stream of flames spews out of Jamie's flaming ankles, levitating her a few inches into the air above Chishiki's pool of water.

"Ho-holy crap! This is amazing!" Jamie cries.

"Alchemy: Lightning Air!" Chishiki says as he holds his Cursed Power Barrier reinforced hands into the air, turning the air into lightning, which electrocutes Jamie, causing her to howl in pain before falling to Chishiki's Water Floor.

But before Jamie's flames can extinguish, she recovers mid air, using a steady stream of flames to fly towards Chishiki. As Jamie flies, she brings her right fist up and prepares an attack. "Adaptability: Meteor…" Jamie begins to growl.

"Ohh…don't you dare!" Mikey snaps.

"GAUNTLET!" Jamie roars as she slams her flaming fist into Chishiki, before he can evade, enveloping Chishiki in a rush of fire and sending him flying backwards, slamming straight through the wall behind him, defeated.

"Oh come on, the house!" Ella snaps.

"Holy crap, I beat an Assassin Slayer!" Jamie exclaims. Jamie's flames then extinguish as she falls to the ground in pain, her body scorched by Mikey's flames.

Slayer Hachi's Squad has successfully repelled the Assassins' assault.

But the battle isn't over yet.

***

"There sure is a lot of commotion out there…" I say to Grover.

"Yeah, the battle has definitely started," Grover replies. He's been pacing back and forth across the room for the entire time we've been in here.

It feels awkward talking to Grover now. I feel like I don't have the right to talk to Grover, after keeping all of these secrets from him.

On top of that, both Grover and I are inching for battle. I feel useless sitting here while my friends are out there fighting for my life, while Grover's in here twiddling his thumbs, his only job is to be running away if everyone else fails.

Which they won't.

With a sigh, I stand up and make my way over to the window.

"Where are you going?" Grover barks.

"I wanna see if I can see the fights from my window," I answer.

"You think that's a good idea? There could be a sniper," Grover asks.

"Austin would have taken care of them," I answer as I peer out the window. And when I do…my heart stops. My entire body begins to tremble as I stumble away from the window. Trembling, with my breathing ragged, I collapse to the ground.

"What, what is it?!" Grover cries as he rushes over to me. That's when a rush of blood lust-filled Cursed Power floods the room, infecting me with intense aggression, so much so that I'm unable to activate my own Cursed Power Burst.

Grover is barely able to move himself, even with the intense Cursed Power being focused on me, but still manages to crawl his way over to the window and peer out. When Grover sees who's outside, his eyes widen.

Because outside my window, staring up at the dorm house…are King and Ace.

"WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Grover shouts. Grover then opens up a new wormhole and drags me inside. But when the two of us exit out of the second Wormhole, we find ourselves standing in the backyard before King and Ace.

"Miss me, Luis Tramontana?" Ace asks.

"We're here for you, Blue Demon. I think that you, especially, will find our offers quite appealing," King smirks.

I'm too paralyzed by fear to move.

"WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE, LUIS!" Grover roars. Grover opens up yet another wormhole and drags me inside. But before we can teleport, King slams his scepter into the ground as a transparent purple cube appears around all of us. When Grover and I exit out of the next wormhole, we find ourselves before King, yet again.

"Come quietly, Luis Tramontana," Ace orders as he draws his bamboo sword.

"GO TO HELL!" I cry.

"Wormhole: Knife Storm!" Grover shouts as he flings a few knives King and Ace's way. King counters by slamming his scepter onto the ground again, and in an instant, Grover's knives are back to where they were before, safely tucked away in his pockets. As for me, I'm teleported directly in front of Ace.

"Shit…" Grover sobs.

"BLUE DEMON!" I roar as my veins begin to glow blue, channeling the full extent of my Blue Demon powers. Swiftly I draw my katana and prepare a Sky God's Katana, but I'm interested when Ace cracks me in the head with his bamboo sword, causing me to slump to the ground.

The last thing I hear before falling unconscious is the buzz of electricity ringing through the air.

***

Ace reaches over and scoops up the unconscious body of Luis, slinging it over his shoulder.

"It's time for us to take our leave," King smirks as he peers over at Ace. King then brings his scepter up to teleport away, but the two men are interrupted when the buzz of electricity rings through the air, as a black and yellow flash charges towards them.

"LET GO OF MY KID!!!!"

Nick zips towards King in his Full Charge state, aiming a Bumblebee Sting Ace's way. Meanwhile, Grover teleports away. Nick launches his Bumblebee Sting towards Ace, but before Nick cna peirce Ace, Ace drops Luis' limp body to the ground then prepares his bamboo sword, striking Nick with it, and knocking Nick out, who's already weakened form his previous wounds.

"EXPLODING FLAME BULLETS: FLAMETHROWER!"

"KNOCKBACK WAVE!"

"WORMHOLE: LASER TAG ARENA!"

"ADAPTABILITY: RUBBER-IRON GAUNTLET!"

"GUNSMITH: ASSAULT RIFLE!"

"GIVE US BACK LUIS!" Five voices all roar at once.

"Oh?" King asks as he peers around with a smirk, turning into a circle to see five attacks all flying towards him, Mikey's flames, Ella's waves, Grover's Cursed Power Emission, Jamie's iron fists, and Austin's glowing orange bullets.

"Allow me to take care of them, my King?" Ace suggests as he crouches down, placing a hand on his bamboo sword.

"As you wish," King smirks as he brings his scepter into the air. "BLACK PRISM!" King booms as he slams his scepter into the ground, negating all five attacks flying his way.

Ace then reinforces his entire body with Cursed Power before dashing towards Hachi's Squad, slashing them with powerful attacks from his Cursed Power reinforced bamboo sword, and picking them off one by one.

In the process, Ace slashes Ella across her left eye.

She'll never open it again.

At once, all five conscious members of Hachi's squad all fall limply to the ground, blood exploding from their wounds.

"Black Prism: Advent of the Demon King!" King booms as he slams his scepter into the ground, transporting Mikey, Ella, Grover, Jamie, and Austin before him and Ace. Instantly, the five Junior Slayers find themselves kneeling on the ground before King, unable to move, as if the force of gravity itself is keeping them pinned to the ground.

King opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted when he feels something latch onto his ankles.

"Give him…back…" Nick weakly grants before activating his Cursed Ability, and singes King's ankle with his Cursed Power.

"You dare to my King with your filthy hands?" Ace growls before cracking Nick in the skull with his bamboo sword one last time, knocking Nick unconscious for good, as Nick's hand slumps off of King's ankle.

King then peers back over to the five restricted Junior Slayers and smirks.

"We're not going to let you take Luis…" Mikey growls.

"You don't seem to be in any position to stop us," King replies with a smirk. King then slams his scepter into the ground one last time, as a transparent purple sphere appears around him and Ace again. Ace crouches down and scoops up the unconscious Luis' body.

"Don't worry," King continues. "We'll take good care of your friend here. Although by the time we're done with him, he may not be your friend anymore."

And then…King and Ace disappear, as King's Black Prism fizzles out.

And Luis disappears with them.