The feminine figure.

"Oh my goodness. That man just came out from the ground!" Mr Parker exclaimed. He was filled with astonishment, at the same time he was deeply terrified. "W-Who the heck are you people?" He found the voice to question. Receiving no answers, he looked at the boys besides him. They weren't frightened, they were calm, and he could sense the glamor of hope emitting from their faces.

 'How come they aren't afraid? Is he the good guy? If so, does that mean those three are the bad guys.' Mr Parker inclined to himself. He had solved the entire equations of questions hovering around his head, with the theories from novels, or movies. A certain point of a movie where the bad guys appear, and the hero makes a dramatic entrance. But he still mumbled to himself, wondering if his theory was accurate. "Even if this is the same scene. This isn't a novel nor is it a movie. This is real life. So, how did that man come out from the solid floor? Or are my eyes deceiving me?"

 Still floating on the valley of his thoughts, a sudden chill jerked him to reality. He felt an abnormal and horrifying presence from amongst one of the men. Connecting his eyes to that of the man, who emanated the terrifying aura. He suddenly felt fear. One that he hasn't experienced in his entire life. His body quivered, drastically. He tried disconnecting his eyes from that of the man, but his entire body was numb. He couldn't feel his body, let alone blink an eye. His head was streaming with sweat. He felt uncomfortable!

 Sean, noticing Mr Parker's current state, immediately pulled him out of the reach of the man, shredding their connections. Derek immediately sized Sean up, seeing him break the connection between Eight and the principal. 

"Take him inside. All the students should gather in a hall, so they could be easily monitored and protected from harm's way." Sean suggested, ushering Vincent to take their principal inside.

 "The students are already gathered in a hall. So don't bother yourself." Vincent said. "And no! I am not going inside. I am not leaving you alone to battle these three men. Let's fight them together. Besides I was the one they came looking for, it's my responsibility to protect the people around me." Vincent shook his head sideways, rejecting the suggestion of going inside. He maintained a hopeful stare, dictating that he was strong enough to protect himself.

"Vincent, don't play the hero. Listen to the man, let's go inside." Brian inclined, his eyes were wet, he felt pity for his friend. But Vincent wasn't the type who easily accepts sorry looks from anyone. 

"Hey, brighten your mood, we will overcome this situation like we always do." 

These words felt like pests eating up his brain cells. 

 "Overcome the situation like we always do? Like we always do? When have we actually overcome any tough times? Jordan got his leg bitten off, we all got into grave trouble that almost took our lives. Jordan is still lying on that bed, while you're here not giving a damn concern about it! I faced Henry, what did you do? Well let me tell you, you just appeared from nowhere to act like the hero again. If only you're not a knucklehead brat, none of us would have to witness all these. Jordan would still be complete, and by now we would be having our lunch happily. You had to involve your love life into the issue, which made Henry choose a grave option." Brian voiced out all that had been bugging him on the inside. Feeling satisfied, he ushered Mr Parker to follow him. The latter who was lost to all that was happening, quickly followed behind the boy. He never ever imagined a day would come, where a student would be giving him orders. He felt totally embarrassed, but of course he had no choice, given that the fear he felt was more than his pride and egotistical feelings. They both headed into the school building.

 Vincent was motionless, he felt that all that Brian had said was the truth. If only he had given in to the beatings, and not attacked back due to his emotions, his friends would've been safe and unharmed. He stared at Sean and finally decided to speak. "Is there a way to regenerate Jordan's limb?" Vincent asked.

 Sean , drawn to the sudden question, felt awkward towards it. But he could tell by the serious looks on Vincent's face, that he wasn't playing. He knew that when people ask such unusual questions, they were willing to devote their all to the positive result, and they had made up their minds to carry out the request.

"There might be a way. With the use of a special grade healing tool, his entire limb might be regrown. Or with the help of a high exorcist who is an expert in the field of medicine, there is a possibility of regenerating your friend's leg." Sean answered.

"Then, I, Alexander Vincent, accept your offer to become an exorcist." Vincent responded just immediately.

"Are you certain, young lad? The path of an exorcist is a difficult one, you might come face to face with greater evil. You might not last long." Sean stared at the lad's eyes. His eyes were imbued with determination. He knew the kid might be able to survive it. The lad nodded affirmative to what Sean had just said.

"Alright then. All you need to do now, is to survive the very first step. Let's take down these guys, so we can discuss more on the topic." Sean suggested, he was surprised that Derek was patient with him. His eyes locked up to that of his. They both stared at each other, before he noticed Derek's grin. He knew something was off, but he couldn't quite grasp it. His eyes quickly started surveying his entire surrounding, while deeply searching for what was wrong. He noticed something unusual. The figure of "Eight" that stood besides Derek wasn't emanating any negative energies. He knew something was off. It was a fake.

"A clone!" Sean muttered softly, feeling worried, he hated himself for not paying attention to his surroundings. 'How fast was that guy, that I couldn't even sense his aura leaving this vicinity? Where did he go?' Sean pondered inside of him. He calms himself down, to see if he could pick up the energy of the man that had left. Feeling relaxed, his inner senses, first picked on the energies around him, before they extended his senses widely to cover up the entire surrounding within the veil. 

Then! It was then that he picked up an aura from inside the school building. It was then that it occurred to him that Derek had given the order to go after the people inside the building. He feared that Brian and the principal were in grave danger. 'How could I not have thought that he wouldn't let anybody go free. That's what the cult do, they kill people.' Sean concluded to heart. He glared at the calm Derek once more. 

"A clone."

Derek, finding out that his plans had been figured out, wore a maniac smile. "You didn't think I would just let them go. At first I was only being merciful, assuring them that they would only be burnt to death. But seeing you here, I've changed my mind. Their souls and flesh would be fed to a devil spirit. In that way their souls are trapped inside of the devil spirit, and not until that devil spirit is terminated, their souls would never be free nor allowed to cross to the afterlife. You see, being burnt, is me being in my merciful state of mind." He withdrew his eyes from Sean, to the lad behind him. He could sense that Vincent was frightened by his words. But he was wrong, this gave the boy more determination to fight and win at all means. Derek was surprised, he hadn't seen such determination, especially from a weakling who couldn't control the flow of energy surging from within him. He felt that the cult's aims for this boy weren't worth it.

What surprised him the most, was when he saw Sean, place his two fingers to his ears. He knew that was a means of communicating between exorcists. The technique was to release the flow of devil energy to the two fingers' tip, and then concentrate that flow of energy to the ear, picturing who you want to communicate with, and with that, an access is granted. What puzzled him was who he was going to communicate with. There were no other exorcists present inside the veil of darkness. And the veil deflect the passage of anything from inside the veil, disallowing any communication methods to be carried out successfully.

"You are permitted to engage the attackers. Protect the people inside that building." Sean spoke to an unknown receiver, who was inside the veil. The veil Derek casted upon the school, was the one that disallowed exorcists from coming into it, it also disallowed anybody from leaving it, both exorcist and the ordinary humans. So he wondered who Sean was communicating with. Realizing his mistake he acknowledged Sean.

"Quite impressive. I swore I surveyed the entire surroundings, and you and that kid's energy, where the only energy I could sense. I was too reckless and didn't search deeper. I underestimated you. Didn't know you're wise enough to hide an undercover exorcist inside the school, who concealed his or her energy from being picked up easily. You're smart. But I am certain the exorcist inside that building is a third or second grade exorcist. If we were to follow the scaling method of the academy, then Eight is close to a mid level first grade exorcist." He gestured his hand forward, thrusting it to his side, extinguishing Eight's clone that stood besides him, in the process. "And Nine here, is a low level first grade exorcist. He might appear as a low level first grade exorcist, but he's not to be reckoned with. We outsmart and outnumber you, when it comes to power, we're overpowered compared to what I am seeing here. You can't possibly win against us."

He lifted his hand up, partially, waving it back and fro, signaling Nine to attack their opponents. Before his hand could retire to its initial position, Nine had already dashed towards the duo in front of them, leaving behind a gust of wind that tailed dust and sand behind him. He clenched his palm into a fist, and shot it drastically towards Sean, hoping to land a blow. But the latter was quick enough to move, blocking the attack with the surface of his blade. The impact deflected Nine backwards, while Sean was still standing unfazed. 

***

Principal Parker and Brian, ran through the large corridor inside the school building. The corridor had lockers fixed on both sides of the walls. It was illuminated by a bright white light that reflected the surroundings to the duo's view. They were approaching a right turn, when they felt a harsh wind blow pass them. They ignored the sudden feeling they felt, pacing through the corridor. Taking the turn, an individual stood, five meters away from their point. They immediately braked to a stop, realizing who it was. It was Eight, and he was blocking their path. The aura he emanated made them numb and unable to continue their pace, or flee away. They remained motionless.

 "How did you get here?" Mr Parker asked, remembering that they had left the fellow behind. 'How could he have passed us on the way, without us noticing? Was he running on Mach 10? We're done for it.' Mr Parker gave up, despair enveloping him entirely. 

 Even Brian was surprised. He then realized that the chill feeling he felt while they were running, was probably Eight, speeding past them, in a mach level, he couldn't make out. He too was imbued with despair. He felt that there was no hope for them. Unlike Vincent who could punch his way out of difficult problems, he (Brian), was a weakling.

 "Why not pick on someone your own size." An unfamiliar voice suggested. The voice was abrupting from behind Eight, the latter took a glimpse behind him, only to be graced with a feminine figure.

Mr Parker and Brian immediately recognized this female student. It was none other than; "Lance Deborah," Vincent's classmate.