"Demons, demons, where areeee youuuu?!" Grover calls out. "Man, I only have three points, I still need to find two more demons!"
But then, just like earlier, Grover then hears a rustling rustle noise come from the tree above him, and Grover's eyes dart right up to it. "Alright, demon, I know you're in there! You can't fool my perfect hearing!" Grover readies his leg before striking the tree in front of him with another mighty roundhouse kick, sending shock waves flying throughout the tree.
"Wahhhh!" A voice cries as a girl flops out of the tree above Grover, slamming into ground below.
"AHH!" Grover yelps as he points an accusing finger at the girl. "You were planning on ambushing me, weren't you?!"
"Oww…" the girl groans as she stands up and dusts herself off. "How did you notice me?!"
"I heard you rustling the leaves of that tree, dummy!" Grover snaps.
"Aw man! Austin is going to be sooo pissed with me! He hates when his plans don't go his way!" The girl whines.
"Who's Austin?! Your ally?!" Grover furious asks.
"Yeah! Er..wait...no!" The girl stammars. "I'm working alone! Either way, I'm Jamie and I've been looking forward to fighting a fellow contender!"
Grover punches his fist into his hand, cracking his knuckles, and smirks at Jame. "Oh yeah? Well I'm still looking for two more points, so it seems like it's my lucky day!" He taunts.
"Yeah? Well I need one more point!" The girl taunts, causing Grover to flinch.
"My name is Grover Bradshaw, and I'm going to be the next Chairman of the Slayer Organization! Points don't matter now, because in the end, I'll be standing above the rest! So come on, let's dance!"
Grover and the girl then rush each other, exchanging blows. While Grover was able to fire off many more blows on the girl due to the speed of his Wormhole, he was quickly overpowered by the girl's strength.
"Damn, she's strong!" Grover says as he teleports away from the girl, putting some distance between the two. "But I'm stronger!"
Grover opens up another wormhole, teleporting behind the girl, and aiming a powerful kick for the back of her neck. The girl then counters by punching her fists together, and when she does, the skin on her arms begin to morph, turning silver, cold, and hard, like iron.
"Ah, so that's her Cursed Ability, eh?" Grover asks as he launches his leg forwards, but the girl counters by spinning around and snagging Grover's leg, catching his kick mid air.
"Not bad," the girl smirks. "Remember the name of the girl who beat the future Chairman of the Slayer Organization, Jamie Ebba!" The girl -now known as Jamie- smirks. "Adaptability: Iron Gauntlet!" Jamie then launches her iron fist into Grover, jabbing him in the chest and sending Grover flying backwards, and spitting up a wad of flem as he does so. Before Grover could slam into the rocky terrain behind him, he opens up a Wormhole and teleports back to his starting position, recovering himself.
Grover teleports back over to Jamie and unleashes a flurry of kicks, which are powerless against Jamie's iron armor, as the skin of Jamie's arms return back to flesh, the skin on her chest turning into iron instead.. Grover yelps in pain before teleporting away from Jamie, his legs now sore from clashing against iron.
"This isn't the kind of opponent that I can just fight head on, her Cursed Ability counters my own, I'll need to think of a strategy," Grover mutters to himself, as he and Jamie circle one another. "It's a bit of a shame that I'll have to use that so early on!"
With a newfound intensity glossing over Grover's eyes, Grover swiftly reaches his hand into one of the pouches strapped to his thighs, but before he can even pull his hand out, a glowing orange object streaks through the air, striking Grover in his hand. Grover yelps in pain as he yanks his injured right hand out of his pocket, then drops to one knee, clutching his wound.
"Damnit…a bullet made out of Cursed Power?" Grover grunts.
"Austin!" Jamie whines. "I said I'll take this one by myself!"
Grover then hears a voice come from the tree that Jamie had previously leaped out of. "He was reaching into his pockets," the voice says, as a boy who Grover assumes to be Austin leaps out of a tree. In Austin's hands, appears to be a glowing orange sniper rifle constructed out of Cursed Power.
"What if he unveiled his trump card? You could have lost," Austin explains as he adjusts his glasses, before strolling over to Jamie.
"Right, you're so smart!" Jamie shyly laughs as a small blush creeps across her face. "And handsome, and strong too…with my raw strength, we're a great team!"
"I know," Austin apathetic replies. "You're a strong gorilla, you oaf."
"Uh-huh…" Jamie sadly replies as she turns away from Austin.
Austin then lifts the barrel of his sniper rifle up to Grover, causing the boy to flinch and prepare a wormhole. "Don't even think about it," Austin growls, before firing off a Cursed Power bullet towards Grover, faster than even Grover can teleport, blasting Grover in the chest and causing the boy to double over and spit up a glob of blood.
"Austin, if you kill him, you'll be disqualified!" Jamie exclaims.
"Don't worry, trust me, I know where his vitals are. That shot wasn't fatal, but it did guarantee our victory," Austin explains.
Grover lets out another grunt of pain before pushing himself back off the ground, and peers up to stare Austin dead in the eyes. "You're looking at the future Chairman of the Slayer Organization, do you really think that I'm going to lose here?!" Grover roars.
"Save your squeals, I've heard your rant before," Austin snarkily replies as he raises the barrel of his sniper rifle at Grover.
Austin pulls the trigger, but this time, Grover was ready.
Before he can get hit by another one of Austin's pullets, Grover creates a wormhole behind himself, teleporting inside.
"What?! He's fast enough to dodge a bullet?!" Austin shouts.
A second wormhole then opens up behind Jamie, and Grover pops out of it.
"Jamie, look out!" Austin shouts, as Jamie spins around, just to be met with a swift kick to the face from Grover.
"Wormhole: Green Roundhouse!"
But much to Grover's surprise, when his kick makes contact with Jamie's face, Jamie's face caves in, like her body is made out of rubber.
"What the heck?! Did I kill her?!" Grover cries.
Jamie's caved-in face then bounces back out of her skull, sending Grover's leg snapping backwards. Jamie's arm then begins to stretch, flying outwards towards Grover, slithering through the air like a snake. "What's up with that freaky ability?!" Grover asks himself.
Jamie's rubbery-arm then wraps around Grover, constricting him like a snake with a mouse. "Adaptability: Rubber Gauntlet!" Jamie shouts, and by using her rubbery -arm wrapped around Grover, slams Grover back and forth between the two trees besides him, before unwrapping around Grover and slithering back towards Jamie. Grover limply falls to the ground.
"Good job, Jamie, just be gentler next time. We can't risk getting disqualified," Austin says as he strolls over to Grover.
"Oh, right, sorry!" Jamie sheepishly repelis as she rubs the back of her neck with her now non-rubbery arm.
"Now-" Austin begins to say as he kneels down before Grover, placing the barrel of his sniper rifle to Grover's forehead. "Gunsmith: Shotgun!" Austin shouts, and the glowing orange sniper rifle in his hands begins to change form, taking on the appearance of a double-barreled shotgun.
"Damnit, I need to teleport away, but where to?!" Grover cries under his breath.
"Have a nice nap, future Chairman," Austin sneers.
And then…he pulls the trigger.
***
I close my eyes. Is this how I die?
This is just like that time with Nick. A demon came charging at me, and I was powerless to do anything. I laid down and cried, accepting my fate, only to be saved at the last second. I thought I grew. I assumed learning Cursed Power would give me the strength I need to protect my family. But no…
"I'm still pathetic."
No matter how hard I've tried, I've never been able to change. Cursed to be a lonely, foolish boy for all of eternity. I've never been too strong, too smart, too much of anything. I was too scared to put myself out there after being hurt, but, Nick, hee saved me. To me, he looks like a real hero. Someone who goes out of his way for other people, someone I can admire. He ignited that spark in me to become a Pro Slayer, to finally do something with my life. And if I fail now, I'd be wasting this chance he gave me. And that's why…
"I'LL FINALLY CHANGE!"
My eyes flash open, as if I just caught my second wind. I emit my Cursed Power into the atmosphere, just as Slayer Mezame taught me, but unlike before, where I only used my hands to manipulate the wind, shoulders, head, back, legs, every part of my body is pouring as much Cursed Power into the atmosphere as I can.
"Cursed Power isn't just some weapon that I wield with my hands, it's a part of me. And my Cursed Power is a part of the wind, I am the wind. I don't just use my hands to control the wind, each and every last part of my body is able to use Cursed Power to control the air around me," I say to myself, as I begin spiraling my Cursed Power rapidly throughout the atmosphere.
Along with the first demon gnawing on my shoulder, the second demon then enters my range, my net of Cursed Power.
It's time for my counter attack.
"WIND CONTROL-" I begin to say as I take a step forwards, slamming my foot into the ground, and bringing my arms up towards my chest. "HURRICANE!" As I swing my arms outwards, I send my Cursed Power flying in every direction, rising it into the air and swirling it around in a rapid motion, creating a hurricane around myself, with me as the eye, one which wrapped around the two demons, sending them flying off of me and getting caught up in my hurricane, benign shred by my speedy, cutting winds in the process.
Of course, hurricanes are pretty damn large so obviously I'm not creating full-scale natural disasters, but compared to ym wimpy tornadoes from earlier, this hurricane is looking pretty damn good.
When my hurricanes dissipate, the two demons are sent flying away from Ella and I, deep into the forest. And although Ella and I can't see where the two demons landed, one thing's for certain;
Ella and I each just got another point.
I turn around towards Ella and smirk, a cocky grin plastered on my face. Meanwhile, Ella is kneeling on the ground with her hands covering her sobbing mouth, clearly overwhelmed by the gorey situation. I'm soaked in my own blood and the gunky blood from the demons, my entire body is matted in sweat, and my clothes were ripped so badly to shreds that I'm practically shirtless, I can barely even see with all the blood in my eyes, and I can hardly stand up anymore.
But still, I've never felt better.
"Who can't fight now?" I smirk at Ella.
And then…I collapsed.