The Warrior’s face turned blue with the water ball around his head.

No matter how strong his defense was, it was useless if he couldn’t breathe.

He tried to push the water ball away from his head, but it was futile as his hands only sunk into the water.

Surprisingly, despite moving, there was still a hardness to his body. So the not moving part must have been an extra condition he had added to make his ability stronger. The main restriction for his ability to activate was to close his eyes.

Carpy controlled the water around the eyes and forced his eyelids open.

"Ahhh!" The well-built guy screamed inside the water ball, and air bubbles came out of his mouth.

When he deactivated his ability, I cut the man from shoulder to waist. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Not long after, he started coughing and clutching his throat as water filled his lungs.

He fell to the ground, unconscious, which revealed the other attacker behind him, who threw two yo-yos at me.

I wasn’t fast enough to dodge, so I raised my sword to cut them.

Clang!... As soon as my sword clashed with the yo-yos, my wrist almost broke from the pressure they exerted.

Shit! This attack is heavy!

I got pushed until my back slammed on the other side of the compartment. My ribs buckled, and it felt like they were about to snap. The glass behind me crashed, and the yo-yos kept pushing on me despite the lack of momentum.

I needed to get out of this pinch before my sword broke. Otherwise, these yo-yos would cave in my chest as soon as my weapon gave out.

Shadows bubbled under the yo-yos guy. He jumped back and dodged a small shadow wolf about to bite his wrists. "Heh, your shadow ability is strong. But it takes about half a second to manifest. It's too slow!"

"Think again!" Gem yelled out and clasped his hands. "{Shadow Fang!}"

A giant fang rose from the ground, pierced the yo-yos guy through the stomach, and pinned him against the wall.

"S -Shit!" The guy swore under his breath, clutching at his pierced stomach.

The strong push of his yo-yos loosened up, and not a second later, they dematerialized as he fell unconscious.

Gem wasn’t even promoted to Queen. He had grown quite a bit during the time we were apart.

Good. Gem will become a significant player in the battles to come.

With the battle over, I went to the guy who could increase his defense by closing his eyes. I started doing chest compressions on him. "Carpy! Try and withdraw the water from his lungs!"

"What're you doing?" Asked the big-nosed exorcist. He was the only one still conscious amongst the enemies, but his arms were a mess.

"Saving him," I answered. Even my team looked at me weirdly. Regardless, they didn't question me.

Carpy pulled the water from the guy's lungs, and with my chest compressions, he started breathing again.

But he didn't regain his consciousness. I was a bit worried, but maybe this was normal after drowning to death? At least he was breathing. I always poison my weapons, so it was probably that. He should be able to move in a day or two.

I took some bandages I had prepared before the exam. I ripped off the warrior’s mangled shirt. The wound I had inflicted was deep enough to sink my fingers in, and blood poured out of it.

To save his life, I bandaged the slash I inflicted on him. Even the bandages turned red. Hopefully, this would save his life.

After that, I approached the yo-yos guy, and after making sure he was unconscious, I removed his shirt and bandaged the wound on his stomach.

Warm blood stuck to my hands, and I tried wiping it against some of their clothes, but that caused the blood to smudge in my hands. The yo-yos guy had an injury on the back of his head too.

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It must have been when the shadow spike slammed him against the wall. That was what knocked him out.

"Why are you trying to save us? We went for the kill against you guys," the big-nosed exorcist insistently inquired.

"We went for the kill too," I looked at him.

I wasn't lying when I said that. When I slashed at the big guy, I didn't hold back. "But at the end of the day, we're all exorcists on the same side."

Also, I was worried about the incoming war. Having more exorcists on our side would be better. We had to look at the bigger picture of the situation.

"Heh, that kindness will get you killed one day," the big-nosed exorcist snorted. But he still had a smile as he leaned against the wall.

I wouldn't consider my actions kind. If it came down to it, I wouldn't even consider saving them if they were still a threat. "You guys were pretty strong. It would be a shame to lose exorcists like you."

"Don't try and flatter us," the big-nosed exorcists sighed and glanced toward Bets. "The big guy hasn't even budged yet. No offense to you glasses-guy, but he looks the strongest in your team."

Bets was sitting on his seat and hadn't moved since the start of the battle. He looked emotionless, as if everything that had happened until now hadn't startled him. Like always, he appeared intimidating and thrice his age.

The train suddenly left the tunnel, the sunlight shone on our faces, and the green fields greeted our eyes. However, that beautiful view didn’t last long as the sun landed on Bets' bald head and lit up the room.

What the hell did he put on his head? There's no way this shine was natural!

***

Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! What the fuck?!

Everything had happened so fast!

One second, the compartment door was blasted open, and then the next second, Kon was slashing at the guy.

The whole battle lasted less than five seconds! Bets hadn't had time to react!

He was a guy who always thought things through before doing something. He preferred to see what options he had before doing something. That's why he was good at chess.

Bets knew that having a strategic mind was no excuse for hesitation. Kon was the first to react and was more intelligent than him. The plans Kon came with sometimes Bets couldn't make heads or tails, but they worked out like a charm.

Without Kon's careful planning, they would’ve died during their encounter with the eel demon. Yet everyone got out of that situation alive and with their limbs intact.

The eel demon still brought chills down Bets' spine. That kind of monster was more powerful than even average high class demons.

"Hey, Bets, can you help us move these unconscious guys into the compartment? Leaving them out here, with exorcists running amok, would be dangerous." Kon said, and Bets immediately followed his request.

After putting everyone in, something strange happened to the compartment. The debris started floating, the broken door fixed itself, and the compartment room returned to normal. It was as if time had moved backward.

The broken door, rummaged room, and debris floated and returned to their place. Everything started going into place as if time was moving backward.

'The whole train must be something created from Ord. How the hell does someone have so much Ord to make something this big?' Bets wondered, but he couldn't come up with any answers.

…

Hours later, they arrived at a small seaside train stop. It was weird since the place was in the middle of nowhere.

"Everyone, the fighting is over; those of you outside of the compartments will be knocked unconscious." A voice came over the intercom.

"Well, good luck on your path, guys," the big-nosed Exorcist laid down on the seat, using it as a bed. He glanced at Kon. "Also, I owe you one. Mark my word; I will repay this favor one day. I will repay this life debt."

Kon waved him off as they walked out. "Don't fret about the small things. I didn’t do it for you."

As they walked through the hallways, Bets almost threw up at the sight of mangled corpses. Some had half their faces missing, while others had limbs twisted like a screwdriver. But that wasn’t the worst, as some had their organs in their own hands, and almost everyone dead had a despairing gaze.

What was the meaning of this? Why did the exam have to involve so much bloodshed? How could this even be called an exam? It had more in common with a slaughterhouse!

What benefit would an exam have by killing so many exorcists? Bets couldn't make heads or tails of this.

Even amongst the survivors, some were missing limbs, and everyone else at least had some degree of injuries.

'Except for our team, I don't see anyone else who is uninjured. We were lucky! Or was this something Kon had taken into account?' Bets wondered and glanced at Kon's back. He was walking in front.

Bets couldn’t see his friend’s face. But he couldn’t help but wonder what was going through Kon’s mind.

Their team had survived due to luck—the luck of having someone like Kon as their team leader.

Will they survive another bloodbath?

Bets’ hands shook. He never thought the Expert Exorcist Exam would be so brutal and bloody.

Something caught his eye that brought Bets out of his anxious thoughts.

It was Agon’s team, the group with Sei and Anika in it. The geniuses of this generation and the pride of their country.

But Bets’ heart shook when he noticed the state their team was in.