[The Dueling Exam: Arc 11]
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Forest of Mistiness (Anthill) - Saturday 2:20 a.m.]
The earlier's capture of an examinee provided Shin, Kylin, Shoji and Yasu with a strange feelings. By finding out about Anthill, these heroes stepped down the deep dark tunnel, in the next several minutes they were cut off by Ant Demons right before preparing to kill the 'queen' of the underground. That caused them to be now faced with a group of Ant Demons, waiting to eat their fresh human meat.
"Huhuhu... I see your friend debated on how to enter, it took them quite decent amount of time to step in, my dear human." By the creepy voice that the Ant Queen had, the rest seemed to be in struggle, trying to find a quickest solution to leave and rescue the one examinee. "To save your pretty friend, you weren't supposed to let me bite him, now, the poison from my fangs prepares itself to soon flow through that man's body. As much as I'd hate to admit it - but that man's meat it's so disgusting. However, you friendly little girls might have much more entertaining taste." Claimed the Ant Queen. Stuck in the middle, surrounded by ant demons and wall behind them, they waited to proceed. "What are we supposed to do? Dropping in like a bunch of morons, really didn't help us out that much." Yasu added, quite concerned about their safety. "We don't have much of a choice now, do we? I suppose all that's left is to fight and kill this beloved queen of theirs." Explained Shoji, ready to partake in action. ("Their bite is poisonous, that's something we must be careful about. The man they caught is completely exhausted just after one single bite, suppose he wasn't that trained in 'Dueling', he was rather partaking in this exam for his own manners, probably to become rich, after all. The ones with experience of dueling have no intention to be reach, the poison shouldn't be as effective on us than normal duelists, so I suppose he managed to somehow get past the first test. Either way, there is nobody who could help us heal him, besides the point, nothing else we do, could help him out, guess he'll left to suffer, until the poison affects his inner organs....") Thought Kylin, quite suspect of the examinee who was roped up to the wall, half naked.
"Without further ado, may we begin? Well, my cutie ants, go ahead, strip them then tie them up to the wall, while you, have some entertaining - I'll go prepare several fleshes, just to be quite ready for the upcoming meal of the day." Giggled the Ant Queen and backed into the tunnel. "Hey. Why do they want us to eat at all?" Wondered Yasu, rather worried. "I believe these Demons know that three of us are trained in Kinetic Type, I believe their taste toward, Kinetic Type Duelists is much more helpful than the ones that those, mere human give." Explained Shin, holding his spear. "So, just for that reason? I guess their senses and feelings are quite strong." Claimed Yasu. "Yes, but not just that. They figured out I was a Kinetic Type user to what they saw." Explained Kylin, calm and ready to fight if necessary. "All right, enough of you bragging about your Kinetic Types, I may not have one, but they still seem to be quite 'beloved' with my meat, just waiting to get their hands on me or something." Explained Shoji, somewhat annoyed of three of them having Kinetic Type. The noises that Ant Demons were making, were not words, however, they were loud 'squirks' as if they were some sort of combination of snakes and ants. "Yes, but - this area is kind of small, we don't have much place to fight, while I do believe these Ant Demons are used to such narrow corners and tunnels." Explained Kylin, facing at Shin with her left eye. "Yes, my Kinetic Type uses an opened area, I believe all we can do, is strike with normal attacks, no kineticism." Warned Shin.
But instantly after their finished speech, the Ant Demons blasted into offense. "Here they come!" Shoji called to give them a heads up. The Ant Demon in front of Shoji was quite skilled on moving across the wall, so his expectations and knowledge about how to attack got frozen. The Ant Demon above Shoji's head bounced off the ceiling and prepared its sharp fangs to bite him. Luckily duo to reaction time on Shoji, he managed to twist his wrist and cut upwards, cutting one of Ant Demon's fang. Soon after doing so, he pushed his other short knife and cut the Ant Demon's thin legs, for falling before Shoji, he quickly raised his foot and stomped onto the Ant Demon's face, squeezing it and exploding it into blood.
On the other end of their line up, the Ant Demon began swinging with his legs, while Yasu began leaning around, avoiding the potential threat to her body. "You know, these Ant Demons sure move kind of different than Ants." Claimed Yasu, seeing how the Ant Demon before her, stabbed with its leg at her face - luckily she managed to move her head aside and then opened her palm and bursting out a hot flame strike, that knocked the Ant Demon into the wall and melted its purple blood. "And it seems their blood is different as well." Called Yasu, when just stepping aside - duo to the next Ant Demon already striking at her. Yasu managed to turn at the Ant Demon and return back in close combat.
Kylin and Shin seemed to have no problems dealing with their opponents, as both of them were quite more talented than the two allies of them. For the first minute, Kylin skimmed to the side and let out a small amount of electricity around her blade, that Ant Demon seemed to be focused on. The Ant Demon in front of Kylin swung with his head, releasing a poisonous splash, luckily Kylin jumped to the sides, avoiding the poison after seeing it digest the ground. Kylin became a bit certain about their enemies, what they were capable of. She quickly moved forward, and cut with her sword, through the Ant Demon's neck, letting it die and drop to the ground. "What's with these Demons? They don't seem to disappear after their death." Kylin just noticed the next attack coming from the right of her body, when she managed to turn her body toward that direction. By cutting sideways she managed to bounce the Ant Demon backward and followed up with a downfall swing, provoking a smaller amount of roaring electricity, that separated the Ant Demon's body parts and teared them down.
On the Shin's side - he too, didn't seem to have much of a struggle. An Ant Demon began gathering its venom around its fangs when it jumped and prepared to bite into Shin. By using his weapon as blockade for the Ant Demon to bite in, he quickly cut through the Ant Demon's mouth, cutting it's jaw wide opened. From the current stance, he quickly pulled the spear out and with a spinning cut, detached the Ant Demon's fangs and legs. He finished the Ant Demon up, by stabbings its head. Right after, another Ant Demon attacked with its ally and put Shin in the middle of their attack - but his skills were quite overwhelming, this let him cut in a full moon swing, and cut both Ant Demon's bodies, striking them down, when he made a tough stance. "There is still a decent amount of Ant Demons! What can we do - before we take them out - the Ant Queen may already call more...?" Asked Yasu, stepping backward and letting one of the Ant Demons jump above her, she quickly raised her right hand and opened her palm, emitting a strong and heated up, burst of fire. That blew the Ant Demon high up at the ceiling and caused it to turn its exoskeleton into pure ash of burnt bones. The next Ant Demon on the other hand, came swinging its strong body legs toward Yasu's back, she managed to turn around, but if she were to attack, she would be too late - so instead, Kylin managed to cut backward, behind Yasu's front and slicing Ant Demon's thorax, causing it to slip aside of Yasu's body. "Thank you very much, Kylin." Thanked Yasu, then noticing one of the Ant Demon's body structure behind her, only with her right eye. She emitted fire and began to manipulate it in a flow of her hands, in that instant she swing backward and released its heated atmosphere when burning the Ant Demon's abdomen and split up its thorax and head, she kicked it aside to keep distance and then turned back to her opponent a few meters before her.
"Still? There is almost like no end to it." Yasu added. But in the opposite direction, Shoji just prepared his sharp short knives and swung in a cross, seperating the Ant Demon's body part and shaping it into an 'X'. Shoji noticed the next Ant Demon running at him, but he quickly kneeled it into its head and noticed how he was about to get bit by venom. Luckily Shin managed to turn the spear backward and stab the Ant Demon's head, pinning it onto the wall and then pulling his spear back out. "Thank god. If it weren't for you, I'd get poisoned, right at this subtle moment." Explained Shoji with a helpful attitude. Shin on the other hand managed to sense an Ant Demon, jumping its way at his back, but in luck, he managed to spin his body and cut the final Ant Demon's face, Kylin, Yasu as well, both finished their enemies, so they were finally left alone. "That's all of them in this area. We must hurry and get to their Queen." Claimed Shin and faced at the direction that Ant Queen went. "Wait - what about that examinee?" But, to when Yasu asked, the rest reminded her of his body as it was getting digested by the poison. "There is nothing we can do about him. Touching him is not safe either, the poison could be put on us as well.... so come and let's hurry. The Queen is still alive - and for as long as she is, she'll constantly make more and more of her Ant Demon babies." As much as Yasu hated to accept another killed human, she needed to go with what she was told, the four of them continued their way, moving through the narrow and dirt tunnels.
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Forest of Mistiness (Anthill) - Friday 2:38 a.m.]
In the next minutes, they finally came in contact with the Ant Queen. "We've found you! No more running!" Shoji claimed, loudly and clearly. The Ant Queen quickly turned around, when she felt quite offended. "What? How have you gotten through my children?" The words that she described her Ant Demon helpers, made others let out an answer. "Those were taken care of. So will you be, this forest cannot be filled with more and more Ant Demons, or by the end of this year, the next year contestants will end up getting caught up to your fangs as well." Claimed Kylin, serious and holding her sword. "How can you kill my children? They weren't alive for more than 5 months!" The Ant Queen asked, disappointed at them. You're up next." Called Shoji, but because of Ant Queen's fear, she began crawling up a hole. "Where the hell is she running to?" Questioned Yasu. "Quick, we must not let her get away!" Shin ordered as they tried to follow her.
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Forest of Mistiness - Saturday 2:40 a.m.]
Sora, Ellie and Kanji were still searching for a way to get out of the forest. "Come on - where the hell are we supposed to go? Dealing with this fog is harder than an actual fight!" Claimed Kanji. "Hah, then why don't you go cry? We'll get out of here at some point!" Smiled Ellie, but while Sora and Kanji looked at him, very disappointed, the ground began letting some sort of vibrations. "What's this?" Both, Sora and Kanji wondered of the sound and shakes. "What's what? Aw - are you two scared, there is nothing here, don't worry ab-" But Ellie spoke too soon, a massive Ant Queen Demon jumped from the front of him, crushing the ground and splitting them when jumping high in the air. Ellie, Sora and Kanji faced up at the jumping Ant Queen, when Ellie's face became terrified. "Whaaaaaa! What the hell is that ugly thing?!" Questioned Ellie, worried and making a step back. "It's a Demon! Hurry up, you're the closest, kill it!" Shouted Kanji, when preparing to drag out his spear. However, Ellie soon became serious.
Ellie moved his right hand toward the left side of his hip, when the hair began to wave upward, the yellow electricity soon came to struck at his katana's blade. The yellow electricity began to swirl around his body when the gathered electricity continued to emit its sparks. While the katana was ready, Ellie made his left foot stretched behind his back on the wet floor. ("W-what is he, d-doing?") Wondered The Ant Queen, but those were her last thoughts, a yellow line of electricity pierced through her abdomen when Ellie instantaneously appeared behind her back in midair with his katana back inside of his case. (".....W....was that him, that did so-") However, the last words let go, the Ant Queen's body was split in half when dropping down toward the floor and squirking out purple blood, on the other hand Ellie stood on the floor, when covering his katana with his jacket.
To be continued...