C26: Appossha

We arrived at our destination. But what awaited us wasn't hope. The Warrior teacher had cuts all over his body. One of his 'arms' was only a stump he had tied with a string to stop the bleeding.

He was pale and half-dead.

A guy so muscular, energetic, and strong. He always looked like an unbreakable mountain. But today he was just another man about to die.

Damn it! I was late!

I wanted to curse out at everything out there. But instead of doing that, I calmed myself down. Trying to think back at the time when I used my special ability.

When using Perfect Me, I couldn't move or even control my own Ord. But the way I moved, how I reacted to certain things, the pain, how the muscles moved. Everything that happened, even my calmness. My body remembered it all. I had felt everything despite the lack of control. Almost like muscle memory.

The demon he had been fighting against all this time, looked like a big black egg with a nose. Wings that were like those of a bug, and it had eight limbs that were like monkey arms. But the two limbs he stood on, were longer than the others.

Like every damn demon out there, this one was nightmare fuel too.

But I knew about this demon. It had the special ability of poison touch. In the future, there would have been a mini-revenge arc where Agon took a mission to avenge a dead comrade. Killed by this demon.

It wasn't a good idea to stay too close to the main character. You might die just so Agon could get some character development.

"Ah, newcomers," the demon's voice sounded as if it was gurgling water.

Appossha was a high class demon. Someone even Professor Chain would have had trouble against.

The Warrior teacher, I don't fucking remember his name. He had the Blood Lost ability. The less blood in his body, the stronger he would become.

If I had a special ability like that I would've become a vampire and got a nice permanent boost. But now wasn't the time to think about all that.

The warrior teacher's ability was horrible against the demon he was fighting against. Not only was the black egg demon a high class, above the teacher's Expert Exorcist qualifications. The Warrior affinity generally relied on close combat and was weak against certain creatures. Like this one, who could poison its victims with only a touch from its hands.

We needed a plan, and fast! What was there around that I can use?

Agon was crying over a girl who was wincing in pain. She was poisoned, and Agon too had a purple tinge all the way up to his neck. So for now, they were useless.

Most of the other students were alive and doing well. As well as someone who had been at the Exorcist Academy for a week, and seen their classmates die, and their teacher mutilated. Both mentally and physically, they weren't in shape for combat.

"Sei, do you think you can fight against a high class demon?" I still had him as a trump card.

Creators with strong abilities can rise the fastest to the peak of strength. Sei was the definition of that.

He rubbed his chin as he thought about his chances and in the end sighed with an uncertain gaze. "I don't know. I haven't seen him fight. It depends on the compatibility of our abilities. Also, I'm a little low on Ord. I don't think I can use my ability more than a dozen times at best."

He has a good poker face. I had thought for sure he wasn't that tired. Well, a tired Sei was still better than most Expert Exorcists out there. I had to make due with the situation.

What no one except me knew, was that Agon's friend, the only girl that had shown him kindness, was pretty much dead. Or she would be soon. Which was a ticking time bomb for the thing inside Agon to pop its head out.

It had crossed my mind a couple of times to try and save the girl. But I didn't know how. How would I find a cure for her poison?

"Ohhh, look at that. You have a beautifully ruthless look in your eyes, little boy," the demon said and I finally came to my senses to notice that it was looking at me. "You wanna kill me so bad don't you? Did I kill someone precious to you in the past?"

"No, not really," I stretched while keeping my eyes on the demon. I didn't need to stretch, but sometimes getting on the opponent's nerves was the best move. "You sure you should be here? Last I heard your master was being reckless and fighting against a Special Rank Exorcist."

"What do you think you're doing?" The Warrior teacher stared. He didn't seem pleased with my actions. But he looked ready to pass out.

"Sei. You and I will attack the demon. Bets, keep the teacher from moving around too much. He's poisoned, and moving around will just worsen the situation," I decided to ignore whatever the teacher was going to say.

Gem and Bets nodded and immediately went to do their jobs. But Sei only narrowed his eyes at me. "Who went and made you the leader?"

"If you have a better idea. Then I'm up for suggestions." I knew that Sei would be difficult.

His pride would get in the way of things. But instead of giving him time to think, I went and charged at the demon.

"Stop! You fool!" The teacher tried to warn me. Ord burst out of his body, and he was about to come after me. But he was stopped by Bets getting on his way.

"Teacher, believe in Kon," Bets said.

It was a very shounen moment. But I didn't have time to mull over it.

"Well you're a brave one," the demon chuckled, and then his body fizzled out of existence. At least that's what it seemed like, as I knew it was actually moving too fast for me to see.

"Or maybe you're just stupid." The words this time came from next to me.

My heart stopped as I could smell the demon's rotten breath. Turning around, time seemed to slow down as I saw the demon's hand heading for my eyes.

They say that your life flashes before your eyes just as you're about to die.

For some reason, mine were just embarrassing moments. Like how I was rejected by a girl and then rumors spread through the school about it. That was almost twenty years ago. Why the hell am I remembering it now?

But as the demon was about to hit me, Sei moved to my side and manifested a mirror. The demon's arm sank right through it.

The Absorption Mirror was a broken ability. But it could manifest only within a radius of around two meters from Sei.

The demon hesitated for a second as his arm sank into the mirror all the way to its shoulder. "What the hell is this?"

Whether he hesitated because of cautiousness, fear, shock, or something else. I used it to my advantage and swung my sword at his elbow.

The sword cut through its flesh like a hot knife cutting through butter.

I knew this demon's weak points. Its arms were its strongest weapon. I was one touch away from a poisonous death. But those arms were also its weak points. Its limbs were fragile for a high class demon.

"Sei, transport my attacks!" I called out.

Sei might be a genius, but he had just created this ability of his. So I will be stealing some of his future moves.

Taking out some knives. They were a bit dull as they had been thrown at a lot of demons. The weapons wouldn't last past today, but I didn't need them to!

I threw all my weapons at Sei. Mirrors appeared and my knives sunk into them.

New mirrors formed behind the demon and my projectiles shot out, hitting the demon's arms. The weapons scratched him.

"Sei, teleport me!" I called out once more and I charged at the enemy.

"What the hell are you talking about?! I haven't tested if it can carry living beings!" Sei yelled back. But he didn't have a choice but to listen to me because I didn't stop charging at him.

A mirror appeared in front of me. I sunk in. The mirror felt like falling into a bed made of water.

There was only darkness...