The cracks serve as a mouth to Djinn's open, and it lets out a deafening scream. The five cover their ears before the scream damages their ears. The Djinn randomly stops and suddenly starts to wildly swing at everything and anything
"Let's retreat." Seleph says to the others
"LET'S GO BACK HOME!!!" Lias yells while crying
Yasuke doesn't stop; in fact, he accelerates and runs toward the Djinn at full speed
"PREY!!!!" He yells as he runs forward
"Kaga." Nara says seriously
Kaga nods. It was a sign that the siblings were ready to support Yasuke's recklessness. Green arcane energy starts to surround the siblings' arms
"Lias." Seleph says while looking at the three running forward. "If we retreat and those two end up dying, there's no way we can finish our exam with only the two of us."
Seleph looks at Lias
"If we want to defeat that thing, we're gonna need you to fight." Seleph says while looking at Lias. "We're gonna need the you that you are hiding."
Lias looks at Seleph in the eyes and turns, avoiding his eyes. Seleph quickly runs and joins the other two
"I thought you were going to retreat." Nara says with a smile
"If I did, then we would fail the exam." Seleph answers with a smile. "Roboro."
Red arcane energy starts to cover Seleph's arms. Nara and Kaga look at Seleph with perplexity
"What is it?" Seleph asks
"Are you not going to use your Art?" Nara asks with curiosity
"I haven't discovered it yet." Seleph answers confused
"I see." Nara says with a smile
The other two speed up, and Seleph follows them. The first one to reach the Djinn is Yasuke
"Roboro." He uses while running
Yasuke uses the trees as a foothold and starts jumping from one to the other. He keeps doing so until he reaches the face of the Djinn
"Look at me." Yasuke says with an excited smile. "I AM HUNTING YOU!!!"
Yasuke punches the Djinn in the face with his fist covered in arcane energy, but it barely does any damage. The Djinn, however, notices the kid that appeared in front of it and lets out another deafening scream, which blows away Yasuke
"Nara!" Kaga says while running
The two accelerate and catch Yasuke before he crashes into the ground. Yasuke stands up with a huge smile
"THIS IS A PERFECT PREY!!!" Yasuke yells with excitement
"You won't be able to take it down if you're only using your arcane energy." Nara says with a smile
"I already know that." Yasuke says with a smile. "I'll need to use my Art."
"WHAT!?!?" Seleph says, surprised. "You already discovered your Art?"
"Obviously." Yasuke says as if it were obvious. "I am a beast, after all."
"WHAT DOES THAT GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING!?!?!?" Seleph yells
"This guy always looks out of it during class, just like that other guy who is always sleeping." Seleph thought with a bit of jealousy. "The two of them never pay attention in class, but Yasuke managed to awaken his art? How the hell did he awaken before everyone else?"
"Do you think you can beat it with your Art?" Seleph asks
"There is no prey I can't hunt." Yasuke says with a confident smile
"Alright, we'll support you then." Seleph says while facing the giant Djinn
The other three do the same and face the Djinn
"LET'S GO!" Seleph says, at the same time, he dashes forward
The other two do the same and follow him. Seleph puts himself forward, and when he sees a tree approaching them, he jumps and punches it, making it burst into pieces. He lands and continues to lead the charge. A few Mugio's jump out of nowhere and attack the group, but Seleph, Nara, and Kaga take care of them so that Yasuke can conserve his arcane energy. When the three get closer to the Djinn, they all go their separate ways. Seleph goes for its left leg and tries to attack it, but the Djinn's feet suddenly lift it.
"Is it moving?" Seleph mumbles
However, he was wrong. The foot that had lifted quickly comes down from above him. So quickly that he couldn't move away from it, so he blocks it with both hands, covered in arcane energy
"A Djinn's body is made of fire-like arcane energy; in other words, their body is made from arcane energy that has a high level of heat." Seleph thought as he struggled to hold the leg, trying to crush him. "Touching them with your body burns the body."
The ground at Seleph's feet starts to crack, and at the same time, his arm starts to tire
"Damn it! My arms won't last long, and I can't keep wasting arcane energy!" Seleph thought as he tried to push the Djinn's leg upward
Seleph's arm starts to lower little by little while he keeps making noise, proving his difficult struggle. Lias appears out of nowhere and slashes the Djinn's leg with his sword, disconnecting the leg from the feet and taking away the weight of the Djinn's body. Seleph looks at Lias with surprise
"You came back?" Seleph asks with a smile while sweating
"It was way scarier to be alone!" Lias says while shaking like a leaf
Seleph smiles and puts his hand on Lias's shoulder
"Let's help them!" Seleph says
"I CAN'T!" Lias yells while Seleph moves forward towards him
Seleph turns around and looks at Lias
"What do you mea- "
The Djinn's feet fell once more, cutting Seleph while he was finishing his sentence. Luckily, the feet fell in the middle of the two, and no one got injured
"LIAS!? YOU OK!?" Seleph yells with worry
"I'M FINE BUT I'M REALLY SCARED!!!" Lias yells to answer
Kaga and Nara jump up and reach the torso of the Djinn. With arcane energy covering their feet, the two kick at the same time, the Djinn making it stumble but not fall. The siblings land on the ground, Kaga with frustration and Nara with confusion.
"That should've been enough to make it fall." Nara says confused
"*Tsk*" Kaga makes with frustration
"How are the preparations going with Yasuke?" Nara asks
"It's going well." Kaga says. "We just need to keep buying him some time."
Seleph and Lias join the siblings
"Something's wrong." Seleph says seriously to the twins
"What is it?" Nara asks
"I just activated my Sensus, and I felt a lot of new arcane energy coming toward us." Seleph says nervously
[With Eve]
Eve raises her head and looks around. She had finished dealing with all the Djinns that attacked her squad, and finally noticed that her squadmates had left her behind and escaped
"They left?" She says while looking unbothered by the fact that they left her behind. "I have the Turres with me, so I should head into the Zone."
Eve starts walking as she remembers the instructions the teachers gave them the day before, with her eyes closed.
"The last step is the hardest of all." Ryoma says while smoking
"Why?" A student asks
"The Turres attracts arcane energy emitted by the main tower to make a connection." Ryoma starts explaining while yawning. "The arcane energy that the tower uses is Leo's arcane energy, and that means that the Turres emits arcane energy that's dangerous to Djinns."
"And they can feel it." Theo finishes. "The Djinns will be able to feel the arcane energy from the Turres and will rush to it because of their instincts."
She opens her eyes and looks at the Turres in her hand
"Mother, everyone." Eve says while remembering everyone from the orphanage. "I'll keep killing them so that your anger dies down, and when I finally kill the one that caused your death, you all will be able to rest in peace."
[With Adam and his squad]
"That's what I felt while using Sensus." Adam says while marking a place on the map
Adam had marked multiple places on the map. Alya looks at Adam
"He covered the whole Zone and was also able to tell the difference in arcane energy between every Djinn in the Zone." Alya thought as she looked at Adam, amazed. "Is he what people call a Genius?"
"Something wrong?" Adam asks while looking at Alya
"Nothing." Alya says as she turns her eyes back to the map
She closes the map and gets up
"Let's rest and recover our energy, then we'll recover the Zone." Alya says with a smile
[With Noah and the others]
Neant rushes to Arlo's side
"Are you good?" Neant asks while looking at Arlo
Arlo slowly gets up
"I'm fine. I cushioned the impact with wind." Arlo explains after standing up
"You just started using it, but you're already using it this well." Neant says with a smile
"Thanks." Arlo says while looking around. "Where is Noah?"
Neant looks forward to where the Djinns were
"He stayed behind." Neant answers worried. "Looked like he was going to push himself to awaken his Art."
The two start running back towards the Djinns. A little farther from them, Noah was continuously dodging the attacks that the Djinns threw at him. He jumps to the side to dodge the first, then quickly backflips to dodge the punch of the second.
"Roboro plus Balnielk; Virtous Hastae!" Noah use
He kicks the leg of the first one, making it fall to the side. He then clenches his fist and starts emitting arcane energy from that fist. Just as he was about to finish off the first Gigas, the second punches him again. This time, the punch makes contact without Noah being able to even put his guard up. Noah crashes and rolls on the ground until he hits a few trees. He coughs up some blood and lifts his head to look at the Djinns approaching him
"You've got to be kidding me." He says with anger. "Fighting two of them is too hard for me right now."
Noah slowly stands up while staggering. He starts falling to the side, but quickly uses his sword as support by planting it in the ground
"I'm not done yet". He says with anger. "I am not going to fall here!"
As the Gigas's were closing in on him, the imminent danger and his unwillingness to fall started awakening something within him
"I can't die here. I can't die until I've accomplished what I need to." He says with even more anger
The ground starts to shake and tremble. The Djinns stop right in front of him, they load their fist, and just as they were about to throw a punch. The core of the first one explodes, surprising Noah. The body of the Djinn flames away, and behind the body were Neant and Arlo. The ground stops shaking, but the Djinn quickly throws a back-handed punch to both Nean and Arlo, which makes the two fall to the ground, but by using wind, Arlo manages to stop their fall
"NICE!" Neant yells with relief
However, the two still took a hit from the Djinn, and that made them cough up some blood. Arlo falls to his knees, tired.
"I used too much arcane energy." Arlo says while panting
"This is bad!" Neant thought as he looked at Arlo coughing. "Without Arlo's Art, we barely have any chance at slaying the Djinn. We still haven't found the location of its core, which makes things even worse. Do I have no choice but to use it?"
"If you can get me up there, I will be able to kill it." Arlo says while panting
Neat looks at Arlo with confusion
"What do you mean?" He asks
"Ever since I awakened my Art, I've been able to detect things that the wind touches." Seleph explains while panting. "And I felt its core."
"You know where the core is?" Neant asks
Arlo nods with a smile. He then points at his forehead
"That's where the core is." Arlo says with his thumb on his forehead
Neant smiles
"You don't have to worry about it." Neant says while patting Arlo's shoulder. "I'll take care of the rest."
Arlo looks at Neant confused
"Take care of it? How are you going to do that, Neant?" Arlo asks with confusion. "Do you already know an Art?"
"I do." Neant says with obvious nervousness. "It's an Art that's passed down in our family. I can use it, but I don't know how to control it, so I can only use it for a few seconds."
"Neant? What are you talking about?" Arlo asks
Neant starts running towards the Djinn, and as he does, an odd phenomenon starts happening to him