Nick then rips his bloody hand out of King's chest, who slowly stumbles backwards, peering down at his wound in agony, before peering back up to Nick.
At first, King is silent, as if he's accepted defeat at last. But then…King begins cackling. And cackling and cackling and cackling, until his eerie, booming laugh echoes throughout the entire church.
"Dammit…not yet?" I ask as I drop down to the ground on one knee, exhausted from the overuse of Cursed Power. "We haven't won yet?"
Mikey doesn't reply. He just stands above me, huffing and puffing heavily.
"I have just one Black Prism left in me, Pro Slayers!" King booms. "And looking at the state of you three, just one is all I need to kill you here!"
King's right. Nick, Mikey, and I are all panting heavily, and are out of Cursed Power. None of us has the strength to respond. But much to our surprise, when King activates his Black Prism…he forms a transparent purple cube around himself.
"But I'm not going to do that. If I don't heal my wounds now, I die. But that won't leave me with enough Cursed Power to escape, especially if you've summoned reinforcements. On the outside of this church, both of our sides are fighting to the death as we speak. I won't accept this as a loss, but I'll call my men off, Pro Slayers. We're leaving this church, and you won't be able to find us again," King says, causing my eyes to widen. "Good job standing up to the King." And then…King disappears from sight.
And that's the last thing I see before falling unconscious.
"Good job…you two," is the last thing I hear, but I'm not sure who said that line.
***
"I'm starving…red meat…"
When I wake up, I find myself in a familiar looking hospital room, a place where I find myself often; the infirmary of the Slayer Organization Headquarters.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" I cry as I instantly sit up in bed, the second that my eyes flicker often, causing Mikey to groan.
"Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep!" He groans.
"We've lost, that's what happened," a voice says, and I turn to where I hear the voice, seeing Grover seeing Grover laying in the bed beside mine. Jamie and Austin are with us, as well.
"After you three beat King, according to Mikey, King teleported the rest of the Cards of the King away as well," Jamie explains.
"If King decided to heal his wounds instead of teleporting the Cards of the King away…we would have died, all of us," Mikey adds.
"None of us died and we gained great intel on the Cards of the King's Cursed Abilities. That's what matters. Don't get too hung up on defeat," Jamie replies
"We're pathetic," Grover sobs.
"Yeah..we are…" I sadly nod. "Wait, where's Nick and Ella?!"
"They're in critical condition. Stable, but critical,"
"Nick did take a lot of blows when we were fighting King…" I sadly reply.
"We're pathetic, we wanted to go help Hachi and he still wound up in critical condition?! We're just liabilities!" Mikey sobs, as he grips his bed sheets in frustration. Tears form at the egds of Mikey's eyes. He's taking this loss harder than any of us, especially after just being recognized by Nick.
"How'd Ella end up in critical condition, wasn't she with you?!" I cry.
Austin is silent.
"Austin!" I bark.
"I'm…sorry," Austin stammars. "I used Ella to try to gain intel on our opponents, thinking that she'd heal herself. Ella used her Wave to transfer her Cursed Power to be and we still lost. I'm sorry…"
I feel my entire body tense up for a moment. I can;t quite explain, but for a second there, I feel my consciousness slip out of my body, replaced by just anger. But then…I recollect myself. "Save your apologies for Ella," I spit.
Austin nods sadly in response.
Ella…she's always forced to heal us, at the end of every battle.
I need to become strong, strong enough to protect my squad, and so that we don't always rely on Ella to heal us.
Ella…this is a promise from me to you.
***
A few days spent in the hospital went by, and the rest of the squad and I made a full recovery. Except for Nick and Ella, who are no longer in critical condition, but will still be out for a while.
Scary enough, the Chairman requested an audience with the members of our squad that aren't bed ridden.
And so, as I enter the office of the Slayer Organization Chairman, Owen Solomon, Slayer Atama, I feel five pairs of eyes staring at me intensely. Everyone's already here.
"Take a seat, Fūjin," the Chairman orders, and I do as I'm told, take the seat next to Grover.
The Chairman is silent for a moment, looking back and forth between the five of us. And then…he begins to speak. "I haven't been able to inform Hachi about my thoughts on your failure on the Cards of the King mission, so I will discuss it with you five now, and you will relay this information to Hachi and Hīrā," the Chairman begins to say. "Midori, Gorira, Takanome, and Hīrā are to be suspended for one week. No missions, no pay, and no use of your Slayer License or Cursed Abilities. Trust me, I'll know. I always know. That is all."
"WHAT?! ONE WEEK?!" Grover cries as he jumps out of his seat. "How can I become the next Chairman of the Slayer Organization if I get suspended for a week?!"
"Grover, calm down. At least we weren't fired," Austin replies.
"Takanome is right," the Chairman interrupts. "I have every inclination to fire you right now. But I won't. Do you know why?"
The five of us are silent.
"It's because you kids have proven yourself to be strong, strong enough to rush head in into combat and defy my order just to save your comrades. And we need that strength," the Chairman explains. This shuts Grover right up, who sits back down.
The Chairman then points to me. "You, Fūjin. You were the one to suggest saving your comrades after they were taken hostage. As noble as that action was, it led to even more bloodshed. Also, your comrades should never have been captured in the first place. Two weeks of suspension, no pay," the Chairman says.
***
I take a deep breath in…then out. There's no sense arguing with the man who can fire me in a second. "Yes, sir," I sadly replied.
"And you, Kaen," the Chairman continues as he turns to face Mikey. "I've been waiting for you, boy. The famed rogue demon hunter and Slayer hunter, the Pyromaniac. Three weeks of suspension, no pay. If you didn't lose your cool during the mission, none of this would've happened and we would have instead received valuable information because of the Cards of the King. Because of you, they have changed bases, and we no longer know their location. Kaen, not only have you failed yourself and your team, but you have also failed the entire Slayer Organization. If you weren't a fresh air of natural talent, you would have been fired. Hell, I should execute you myself!" The Chairman booms as he jumps out of his seat and slams his fist on the table, causing me to flinch.
Mikey opens his mouth like he's about to start screaming as per usual, then shuts it, settling himself down. Mikey then opens his mouth again and calmly says: "I didn't fail myself. I stuck to my ideals. And yes, I am not fit to be a Pro Slayer, nor do I want to be. Oh, and one more thing-" Mikey then jumps out of his seat, and before the rest of us can stop him, he grabs the Chairman by the suit collar and pulls him in close.
"Mikey, what are you doing?!" I cry. "Do you want to make our situation any worse?!"
"I ought to put a bullet in between your eyes!" Mikey roars. "Luis is in the wrong for going back and saving his comrades? Are you a dumbass? Does "no man left behind" not apply here, ya' son of a bitch?!"
The rest of us are speechless for a little while, even the Chairman. And then, I burst out laughing.
"Mikey, you idiot, what the Hell are you doing? That's our boss, put him down!" I laugh.
"ONE MONTH OF SUSPENSION!" The Chairman roars, but Mikey ignores him.
"Tch," Mikey sneers, before dropping the Chairman, who flops back into his seat. Mikey then stuffs his hands into his pockets, before turning around and walking away. But before Mikey can exit the Chairman's office for good, he pauses.
"I won, Luis, remember that!" He snaps.
"What?" I ask.
"I won. I was the last one standing. After King teleported away, you fell unconscious," Mikey explains.
"But we weren't even fighting?" I ask.
"Doesn't matter. I still won," Mikey replies. "Oh, and one more thing: I'm not gonna to thank you for saving me because I will return the favor. So you can't hold anything over me, got that?!" Mikey snaps, causing me to laugh.
"I won't have it any other way, my rival!" I reply. "Next time…I'm gonna win!"
"As if I'd ever recognize someone as weak as you as my rival!" Mikey sneers. But I can tell, that behind his sneer, Mikey can't help but to smirk at me.
"Yeah, we'll see about that!" I smirk back, as Mikey turns around and exits the Chairman's office for good, slamming the door as roughly as he can on his way out, causing what feels like the entire building to shake.
***
"Man, I'm beat!" Sighs the golden haired boy sighs as he flops down onto the couch of a dorm room which looks similar to the dorm house of the Slayer Hachi squad.
"Hey, Ivy," the white wolf sheepishly begins to say as it begins to stand up on two feet and transform, taking the appearance of a naked teenage boy, blushing red. "Mind getting me my clothes?"
"Oh, of course, Lycan" the girl with the green reef halo sheepishly replies before hustling away. "Anything for my wolf prince!"
"Ralph, Ivy, Lycan, great job today, you three!" Says the older woman as she sets her camera down on the table. "We may have lost, but this is an important learning experience for you all. Our enemy was just too tough this time."
"Thanks, Renzu!" Replies the golden-haired boy, Ralph. "How much cred' did we get for this one?"
"Unfortunately, you three didn't gain as much prestige as anticipated due to our defeat," Renzy explains. "But by helping aid in the rescue of Slayer Hachi and Slayer Kaen -who foolishly rushed into combat with the Cards of the King, disobeying orders- we should be the highest ranked squad in New York now!"