"Well first off, let's stick together" I say to Grover and Ella. "Sure, we'll need more points, but we're stronger as a unit. With Ella's Wave it's impossible that we lose or even die."
"Well...I'm not a miracle worker," Ella quietly whispers.
Grover pauses, thinking to himself for a few moments, before holding his hand up to me.
"Nuh-uh, no can do," Grover says to me.
"What?! Why not?!" I cry.
"I'm going to be the next Slayer Organization Chairman, Luis, not just some schmuck," Grover sighs. "And if I stick around with you two, how can I stand out? Heck no, I'm doing these exams on my own!"
And then…Grover says with a smirk, causing chills to run up and down my spine: "If I see you two later, don't worry, I won't fight 'cha. I don't want to kill you guys, afterall! Just try not to die."
And with that, Grover opens up a wormhole form behind his back and teleports away.
Grover…that little dorky lookin' kid the same age as me…could kill us?
"Well then," I sigh as I turn bad to Ella. "Looks like it's just the two of us."
"Have you ever fought before?" Ella asks.
"No," I answer. "I've also never used my Cusred Ability in combat before. You?"
"No," Ella answers.
The two of us pause.
"SHIT!" I cry out. "I don't even know how to fight! The only fight's I've been in were being pounded by bullies! I've never I've never done any hand-to- hand combat practice in my life!"
"We're so dead…" Ella whimpers.
***
"All right, time to scout the area." Grover says to himself as he wanders around the mountainous arena, searching for demons. "This mountainous region is pretty good for me, with my "Wormhole," I'll have an easier time moving about the arena compared to any other contestants."
Grover's rambling is then interrupted when he hears a rustling come from the bush beside him, causing Grover to pause and flinch. Grover then smirks to himself. "ALRIGHT! I found my first demon!" He cheers.
In the blink of an eye, a demon bursts out of the shrubbery beside Grover, charging Grover at speeds fast enough that Grover has little to no time to react.
"Just one? Piece of cake!" Grover smirks. A wormhole then appears behind Grover, which Grover hops into. A second wormhole then appears in the air behind the demon, which Grover leaps out of. Grover tucks his knee to his chest mid air, and leans to the side.
"You should feel honored, demon! You're the first sacrifice to the Slayer Organization's next Chairman!" Grover booms.
"WORMHOLE: GREEN ROUNDHOUSE!"
Grover launches his leg outwards, slamming it into the demon in the form of a mighty kick. The demon is sent flying backwards, landing on the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust dozens of feet away from Grover. When the dust settles, all that remains is the corpse of a once-breathing demon.
A one-hit KO!
"Aw man, that was too easy!" Grover wines. "Way easier than expected! I should go try and find some stronger targets." Grover gets up, dusts off his pants and heads out to find more demons.
***
"How have we seen so little demons?" Ella asks.
"Yeah, it's weird," I reply as I look around. "But, if we don't find any soon, then we're not passing these exams."
Maybe there's a God or something up above watching, me taunting me, but after the very second that I said that, Ella pauses.
"What, what is it?!" I cry.
"Do you…sense that?" Ella softly asks.
"Umm…no, what do you sense?" I ask.
Ella doubles over, and begins panting heavily. "You alright?!" I cry.
"I feel…some menacing presence coming from behind me. I can feel it's bloodlust," Ella grunts.
"This must be what Grover meant when he said that he could sense your Cursed Power," I explain as I kneel down beside Ella. "Or what Slayer Mezame meant when he said that my Cursed Power felt more sinister than others."
"It's…so overwhelming…" Ella pants. Ella's sweating heavily, she looks truly frightened.
"Wait, does that mean that there's a demon nearby?!" I cry.
As if on cue, I hear a roar come from the shrubbery, and then, a demon pops out of it, charging Ella and I as fast as humanly possible.
I let out a small scream as I fall backwards on my butt, the memories and feelings that I experienced on the day that I met Nick flooding back into me. My demon-induced PTSD overwhelms me, paralyzing me, and rendering me too afraid to move.
Compared to the first demon that I ever saw the other day, this demon is way smaller than that one. Rather than being a huge, hulking figure with various eyes, and myths, and tendrils, sticking out every which way, like a mass of flesh, this demon is a little bigger than a large human, and resembles more of dinosaur figure, with long, powerful talloned legs, short, stubby arms, and fierce fangs. The dinosaur-demon lets out a hideous scream as it charges me, sending a substance that I can only explain to be saliva flying everywhere.
"Ahh…ahh…ahh…" I whimper, too afraid to move under the presence of the demon. I then peer over at Ella, and see that she's still curled up on the ground in fetal position, overwhelmed by the bloodlust aura that she senses from the demon. So that's what this intense pressure I'm feeling is. Not just fear, but bloodlust. The unsensational hunger of the demon. That's it. It's not just my fear. I'm not afraid, I can't be afraid. If I'm afraid, then I can't pass these exams. Nick isn't here to save me anymore. Ella is out of commission. She's had her Cursed Power a lot longer than I have, so she can sense this demon's bloodlust a lot harder than I can.
Only I can do this.
"Damnit, body, MOVE!" I roar as I slam my fist in the forest floor below me, staining my knuckles with blood and dirt. Mustering up all the strength and courage that I can, I stand up and stare the demon straight in the eyes.
"Luis…wait…" Ella grunts. I peer down to where I hear Ella's voice, seeing Ella wrap a weak hand around my ankle. She's still panting incredibly heavy and looks disturbed. "Here." All of a sudden, I feel a burning sensation in my ankle, which then spreads across my entire body. But unlike last week with Mezame, Ella's Cursed Power feels…comforting. Feeling Ella's Cursed Power enter my body, I instantly feel my body become soothed, and I can think clearly again. But more importantly, I feel stronger.
"It's my "Wave." I gave both your body and your Cursed Power a strength boost. You should be able to take out that demon now," Ella weakly explains.
"Right!" I reply. Just like Nick, I clasp my hands together, and when I bring them apart, a small tornado forms between my hands. "By emitting my Cursed Power into the atmosphere and spiraling it around quickly, I can manipulate the wind to create tornadoes at will!" I shout.
"WIND CONTROL: TORNADO!"
I throw my hands forwards with all my might, sending my tornado flying towards the demon and slamming into it. My tornado wraps around the demon, shredding it with my spiraling wind, before dissipating, sending the demon flying backwards, and slamming into the tree behind it, then sinking down to the ground. The demon is no longer moving.
"I did it…" I whisper. "I did it!" I then say again, louder this time, as a goofy, Grover-lookin' grin spreads across my face. "I DID IT!" I cheer as I throw my fists in the air.
"You did it!" Ella cheers as she pops off of the ground and rushes towards me. The two of us do a dorky high five, goofy grins plastered on our faces. Ella and I stare at one another, panting heavily for a few seconds, before blushing and turning away.
"Um…thanks for your help," I awkwardly say.
"Yeah…no problem. Good job," Ella sheepishly replies.
Mine's and Ella's mini celebration is interrupted when we hear a small groan come from the shrubbery that the first demon popped out of. And then another, and then another.
"Oh no."
All of a sudden, three more dino-lookin' demons pop out of the shrubbery.
"Oh shit…RUN!" I scream, and Ella and I take off sprinting, with the demons hot on her heels.
All of a sudden, in the midst of our run, Ella begins speeding up, and passes by me with ease. "What the Hell, you're fast!" I cry.
"Here!" Ella replies as she slaps my shoulder, and instantly, I feel strength flood into my legs and feet, massively increasing my speed, so that I'm able to keep up with Ella.
"Here, wait, I have an idea!" I call to Ella, before pausing.
"What are you doing?!" Ella cries.
I spin around to face the demons, holding my hand out to my side. "Emit my Cursed Power into the atmosphere before thrusting it outwards in order to push my wind forwards,'' I whisper to myself, remembering Slayer Mezame's teachings. "Wind Control: Sweeping Eagle!" I shout as I swipe my arm outwards, sending a strong gust of wind flying towards the demons which knocks the creatures off of their feet. "Yes, it worked!" I exclaim.
The demons let out a small roar before climbing back up to their feet and charging us again.
"Damnit, it didn't work," I growl. I clap my hands together before thrusting another tornado towards one of the demons, which sends them flying away just like the one before, and earning both Ella and I another half a point. I then try using another Tornado to take out another demon, but when my Tornado attack hits into the demon, it doesn't even budge! Instead, the demon lets out a small growl before charging me again.
"What the Hell, what's the deal?!" I shout, but when I see Ella fall to the ground out of the corner of my eyes and spit up blood, I understand.
She's out of Cursed Power.
"Sorry…" Ella apologizes as she looks up at me and fakes a weak smile. "Both of us have never actually used our Cursed Abilities in combat before, remember? I thought I could last longer, but using two different Waves on you at once really drained my Cursed Power."
I grit my teeth and ball my hands into fists. Damnit, that's right. I'm not strong. It was only thanks to Ella that I was even able to take out those first two demons. I'm still weak, still pathetic. It's only thanks to Ella that I can be anything more than just weak. I'm no hero. Creating my Cursed Ability hardly made a difference.
I suck.
With a roar, one of the demons charges me, and within seconds, it's on top of me. Before I can even react, the demon opens its jaws up wide, and chomp down on my shoulder, instantly piercing my flesh with its razor sharp fangs.
"LUIS!" Ella cries.
All I can do is grunt in pain. I've never felt pain like this before, in my years of being bullied. I can't even describe it other than numb. I hurt so much I just feel numb.
So this is what the Chairman meant when he said that the Slayer Organization isn't liable for the injuries we sustain during the exam. It's our fault for being weak, for biting off more than we can chew.
The demon sinks its fangs even deeper into my shoulder, causing me to howl in pain as my blood goes squirting everywhere, dousing both me, the demon, and the forest surrounding us.
With me immobile from the first demon's attack, this gives the second demon a moment to strike, and it pounces on me, using its demonic claws and fangs to carve away at my chest.
And then, everything goes black.