Vince swung his blade at the branch speeding towards his face like a bullet.

The cut piece of branch fell off but the branch was still extending towards him. Vince ducked and rolled.

He was panting, sweat dripping down from his face like he had just had a shower. This was crazy. He thought that this would be easier since they had trained with Cadence. But the second-years were no joke either.

He had no time to rest, he felt the earth beneath him shaking. He rolled to the side and watched as a branch shot up from the ground he was just lying on.

“What the fuck? That could have impaled me!” Vince exclaimed as he dodged two more branches that extended from the thicker branch that had just shot out from the ground.

“Don’t worry about it, focus on closing the distance.” Haru shouted back from a distance, summoning more branches from the ground. Vince spun and weaved around the oncoming branches, but he was getting tired.

“Don’t worry about it?” Vince was in disbelief.

Vince lagged and felt a branch cut his arm.

“You’re crazy!” Vince yelled. He was frustrated and exhausted.

“You can’t handle a little cut?” Haru taunted.

“Wow… you… really.. Don’t let up huh?” Vince spoke as he gasped and panted, constantly moving to avoid the branches that were popping up from the ground and coming at him from all directions. As he did, some of the branches managed to graze him, leaving cuts on his face and body. With the amount of branches that had popped up from the ground between him and Haru, it was like a mini forest was separating them.

Vince started to chuckle.

Haru raised an eyebrow. “Good to see you can still laugh… but it's not going to help you get closer…”

“You see, I thought I’d be able to last a lot longer without getting cut… After all, I hate it. Imagine… an ability that requires you to cut yourself every time you want to use it. That’s crazy… I was trying to not rely on it… but it looks like I still have a long way to go…” Vince looked up, his eyes glowing red.

“Yep, all lined up.” Vince smirked and prepared to snap his fingers.

The blood that was on the branch closest to Vince started to glow red. As did a few other blood spots on other branches. The blood spots glowed and traced a line towards Haru in a haphazard manner. Only Vince knew the path he would take. Vince took a sprinting stance, shifting his feet into the ground for traction.

“[Perfect Blade]”

As Vince snapped his fingers, the branches started to fall, an invisible blade traced a line between those blood spots, cutting a clean effortless path towards Haru. Vince leapt into the mini-forest, dashing on the path that he had just cut, using the branches that he did not cut as cover to hide his approach.

Haru smirked.

So he had planned this all along? Not bad…

But Haru was no novice. He soon spotted a branch shifting and prepared his stance to meet Vince.

But as the branches came crashing down, Vince did not appear from the opening.

Haru’s eyes widened.

A feint!

In a split second, Haru knew what Vince was up to. He focused in on his branches, allowing him to sense Vince’s movements and presence.

Behind!

A slicing sound could be heard as Vince chopped off the branches behind Haru and pounced.

Haru spun around, just barely avoiding Vince’s attack by stepping backwards.

He swung his arms in, commanding the branches to move to grab onto Vince’s arms before they could move closer.

Vince was trapped, his arms stuck in places, his blade inches away from Haru’s face.

A bead of sweat trickled down Haru’s face, his shocked expression very apparent.

“Looks like you really are Shen-sensei’s student. You almost got me.” Haru conceded.

“Good job…but you look like you could pass out any second.” Haru let go of Vince’s arms, and brought his branches back into the ground.

Vince collapsed to the ground, panting.

“Wow, I’m so glad that’s over.” Vince gasped.

“Let’s take a trip to the Purifying Lake… Might have pushed you too hard…” Haru spoke, a slightly guilty tone detected in his voice.

“Kali, you’ve got Hannah? I’m gonna take Vince to the lake.” Haru yelled.

Further out, Hannah was being suspended upside down.

“Yeah, doing just fine.” Kali turned her head and winked.

Hannah was being held upside down by a glowing golden halo wrapped around her left ankle. The halo was made out of foreign, ancient symbols.

Kali had her arms held up, fists clenched. Similar symbols were glowing on her forearms, forming ‘rings’ around it. Her left arm had 3 ‘rings’ while her right arm had 2.

Kali did a small hand gesture, and another golden halo appeared to shoot out of her hand, flying to restrict Hannah's other ankle. As she did so, a ‘ring’ disappeared from her left arm.

“What on Earth is this?” Hannah yelled, trying to shake off the grip of the halos. She couldn’t focus.

“Hannah, keep calm and think!” Kali yelled back.

Hannah had her pen ready in her arms, but she was swaying too much to draw anything that wouldn’t end up being a mess of swirls.

Kali grinned, she knew that.

Hannah slowed her breathing. She aimed at the space in front of Kali.

She drew a squiggle, as she swayed in the air, it was hard to draw a straight line. But she was no longer aiming for that.

“[Aggressive Snake]”

Her voice boomed and a coiling, slithering snake materialised from the imaginary squiggly line Hannah had drawn. The snake appeared in mid-air and hissed at Kali, falling in her direction.

Kali smirked. “Now that’s what I meant!” she exclaimed.

She did another gesture with her fingers and another halo was sent out, constricting the snake in mid air.

“Now I might have an idea of what your powers are…” Kali grinned and sent another halo out. This time, it constricted Hannah’s mouth. Hannah struggled and opposed, but it came out as muffles.

“How are you going to get out of this one?” Kali taunted.

Without her commands, she couldn’t imbue her drawings with any properties and wouldn’t be able to get them to materialise.

“You can tap out you know…” Kali encouraged.

Hannah shook her head, even as her face blushed red from being upside down for so long.

An exorcist uses incantations to better activate their abilities using the theory of Spiritual Reinforcement. But an incantation wasn’t strictly necessary. Experienced exorcists could activate their abilities without incantations. Unfortunately, Hannah was not that experienced.

Her face now bright red, she tapped out, slapping her thighs.

With a quick gesture, Kali commanded the halos to lower Hannah to the ground. A second flick from Kali’s fingers sent the halos flying back into her forearm.

“Looks like we know what you need to work on.” Kali walked towards Hannah and extended her hand.

Hannah pouted, her hair in a mess. She was thoroughly embarrassed.

“Fuck this…” Hannah spat.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Hey now, don’t be like that. You’re lucky a spirit didn’t exploit that weakness. If they did, you would be dead.” Kali reminded Hannah with a stern face.

“This isn’t a game. You either train harder, or die. And if it ever comes to that, you better have the guts to break your bracelet. I don’t want to have to hunt your spirit down.” Kali spoke with a serious expression.

“Just like how we now have to hunt down Ryu’s spirit?” Hannah asked.

Kali shot Hannah a look of hurt and anger.

“Ryu would have sacrificed himself for the greater good any day. He knew that having his comrades hunt his corrupted soul down would be a greater punishment for himself and everyone that cared about him.” Kali lectured.

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t insinuating anything about Ryu…” Hannah apologised, thinking about how she had perhaps gone too far.

“No, it’s a good lesson… To know that when your time eventually comes, you have to realise the importance of letting go of your self-importance and focus on doing what’s necessary to maintain the spiritual balance of the world.” Kali once again extended her hand.

“Now, enough talking… let’s train.”

----------------------------------------

Royal High

Mark walked by the all-too-familiar hallways.

It was this very route he would take to the clubroom.

“So… you think you may find something in the clubroom?” Mai asked as she walked next to Mark.

“Yeah, Ruby spent a lot of time in that clubroom… with me… If her spirit bonded with me to fix some unresolved issues, that room would be the first place I’d check. Since we now can see spiritual energy, we might be able to find something there…” Mark elaborated.

“I see… and how do you think that girl with the spirit on her shoulder ties into this?” Mai asked.

“Sabrina? Well, she had connections to Ruby too… She was one of the bullies that harassed Ruby. If we visit places where Ruby spent time in, we may get a better clue of what exactly needs to be resolved. And we’re bound to find out more about Sabrina too, I’m pretty sure her spirit manifested because of Ruby’s death. ”

“Hmmm so we’re killing two birds with one stone huh. Look at you, you’re getting the hang of this exorcising thing already!” Mai exclaimed.

Mark smiled for a moment but then they approached the clubroom. He felt something.

There was someone there.

Mark opened the door to the small cosy club room that he knew as a place of refuge. Away from the crowds and the busyness of school. It was all familiar except for the stranger sitting in the chair where Ruby used to sit.

He was a short, rather timid-looking boy. He sported a bowl cut and was deeply engrossed in the book he was reading.

“Um…who are you?” Mark asked awkwardly, wondering mid-sentence if that greeting was too direct.

The boy paused and looked directly at Mark. He slowly placed his book down and stared.

Mark noticed that the boy had a scar across his face. The scar crossed the bridge of the boy’s nose, starting from near his right eye and ending on his left cheek.

“Oh, hi.” The boy spoke, not breaking eye contact. Mark felt highly uneasy.

After staring at Mark for an awkwardly long amount of time, he shifted his gaze to Mai.

He too maintained eye contact for an exceedingly uncomfortable time.

“Ummm…” Mai shifted her gaze as the boy stared at her.

“My name is Maximillian. But you can call me Max.” Max stood up and walked over to Mark, extending his hand.

“I want to join the Literature Club.” Max said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, umm…” Mark was caught off-guard. He was reminded that he was indeed the president of the club.

“Well, if you’ve submitted the paperwork, then, I guess you’re welcome to stay…” Mark didn’t know how to handle this.

He extended and shook Max’s hand.

A wave of energy shot up Mark’s hand. He didn’t realise this until now, but the feeling of uneasiness was more than just awkwardness. No, this was spiritual energy.

His eyes widened as he stared at Max. Something was off about him.

The spiritual energy he felt from Max wasn’t like Sabrina’s wild, untamed beast.

Max’s was controlled, coming off in small, tamed waves.

“Um.. I’m.. Mark…” Mark blurted out.

“Nice to meet you. I wanted to meet the president earlier but I heard you were not feeling well and thus were not at school. Which is understandable given how one of your close friends had just committed suicide. My condolences, by the way.” Max spoke, maintaining an iron grip and unwavering eye-contact all the way. His formal tone made Mark and Mai feel highly uncomfortable.

“Well, since you’ve come expecting some privacy with your… friend… I shall not disturb you further. Have a nice day.” Max stepped out of the clubroom and hastily walked away without looking back.

“Hey… that was… weird, huh…” Mai broke the silence.

“Yeah… but did you feel that?” Mark asked.

“Hmm? Feel what?”

“He had spiritual energy flowing through him like crazy… I felt it when I shook his hand…”

“I didn’t sense anything… Wouldn’t I be able to detect it if he was giving off crazy amounts of energy?” Mai asked.

“Hmm… yeah…” Mark pondered.

Did he somehow only show it to me?

Mark decided to leave that thought behind him for now.

“You sure the feeling you felt wasn’t because of that?” Mai spoke, pointing to the seat and the book that was left on the table.

Mark focused and saw what Mai was talking about. Spiritual residue wafted around the chair and the book, a glowing trail of energy lingering around the two items.

Mark walked closer and saw that the book was one of Ruby’s favourites.

Was it a coincidence that Max was reading this book in this chair?

Mark thought as Mai walked over to inspect the chair and the book.

“Hey I’m not sure what we’re going to do with this…” Mai admitted. She had no idea what this meant for their next steps.

“Well, it basically confirms that there is spiritual activity here… It could be Sabrina’s spirit? We might need to look for more spiritual residue. We can go back and report our findings to Shen-sensei.” Mark said.

“Hmmm okay, here, you check the book.”

Mark took the book from Mai. The instant he touched the book, the spiritual energy shot up though his hand. Both the spiritual residue from the chair and the book flew into Mark.

“Arrghgh!!” Mark yelled. He felt an intense pain in his head.

“Mark?” Mai exclaimed, worried.

Mark crumbled to the ground, still feeling the surge of energy in his body. Images started to flash in his mind, flowing into his mind and playing like a long-lost memory.

…

Mark opened his eyes.

He was in the clubroom.

Mai was no longer next to him. Instead, in front of him, sitting on the seat, was Ruby reading her favourite novel.

“Ruby?” Mark called but no noise came out. He yelled again, but no noise came out of his mouth.

He tried to reach out but he couldn’t move his hands. In fact, he didn’t have any at the moment. He was simply a pair of eyes, watching.

The scene around him felt nostalgic, it felt more like a memory than real life.

The door opened.

Sabrina and two other girls entered.

“Hey, we’d like to join the reading club!” one of the girls asked in a mocking tone while the others snickered in the background.

Ruby looked up, an uncomfortable expression on her face. Her eyes darted to the clock.

It was 4.30pm. Mark usually only came at around 5pm.

“Umm.. it’s called the literature club… but if you want to join you need -” Ruby was cut off when one of the girls slammed the table in front of her.

“We’re just joking… we wanted to see where you go off every time after class.” the girl that slammed the table spoke. She had twin tails and wore eyelash extensions.

“Nice place you have here… hope you don’t mind us joining you…” Sabrina grabbed a chair and sat down next to Ruby.

“What’s that you’re reading?” Sabrina snatched the book from Ruby’s hands.

“Hey, we can smoke here right?” The third girl took out a pack of cigarettes.

“Oh, pass me one!”

“Me too!”

“This is peerrfectt!! A hidden classroom away from the prying eyes of those snotty teachers. Way better than the girls toilet on the fourth floor!” Sabrina exclaimed.

“Hey, Karmi, pass the lighter would you?” Sabrina called out.

Ruby sat there in silence. She was shifting about in her seat.

“Okay, once I’m done…” Karmi, the girl closest to the door, lit up her cigarette. She donned short pink hair.

“Ahhh, this is the best…” She said as she took a puff.

Karmi tossed the lighter over to Sabrina.

“Hey… please… don’t.. “ Ruby muttered under her breath.

“Huh? I can’t hear you…” Sabrina stopped and held the lighter and cigarette near Ruby.

“Don’t what… light this?” Sabrina lit the cigarette up in front of Ruby.

“Stop… please…” Ruby begged.

“Look at her… giving us this pitiful look.” Karmi spoke.

“Fuck that!” The girl in the twin tails yelled as she grabbed into Ruby’s sweater.

“You really piss me off… what’s wrong with smoking here… You don’t like it? Get out then…” Twin Tails threatened as she held Ruby’s face close to hers.

“So what now Ruby? You gonna leave?” Sabrina asked.

Ruby sat there in silence, looking down.

Mark found it hard to watch this scene unfold.

He wanted to close his eyes and look away but he couldn’t.

I can’t believe I wasn't here earlier. How often did she have to face this?

“Hey, it's rude to ignore when someone asks you a question… You think you’re better than us?” Sabrina spoke with malice.

“No… I don’t! Please, just do this somewhere else…” Ruby begged softly.

“Huhh?? I can’t hear you… speak up! It’s rude to mumble y’know… Looks like you need to be taught a lesson…” Sabrina grabbed Ruby’s arm.

She tried to pull up Ruby’s sleeves but Ruby used her other hand to stop her.

“Hey! Get your hands off me!” Sabrina yelled. She took the cigarette out of her mouth and threatened to burn Ruby’s hand with it.

Ruby’s eyes widened and in flash stood up and gripped Sabrina’s hand tightly. So tight, Sabrina dropped her cigarette with a yelp.

“OW! Hey what the fuck?”

“Looks like you need to know your place bitch!” Twin Tails yelled and lunged at Ruby.

Ruby quickly raised her other hand and slapped Twin Tails across the face.

The room descended into silence as the sound of the slap reverberated throughout the small room.

Twin Tails fell to the floor, her face bright red.

“Hey… oww!! You fucking bitch!” Twin Tails started to cry, tears streaming down her face.

“Camie, are you okay?” Karmi went over to help her friend up.

Ruby looked up now. Her helpless stature now replaced with a cold frightening stare.

“Don’t ever touch me again…” Ruby’s cold voice pierced through the air, silencing the three girls.

Mark was in shock himself. He had never seen this side of Ruby before.

Ruby bent down and held the dropped cigarette in her hand. It still had embers of flame.

Ruby forcefully pulled Sabrina closer to her.

“What exactly were you planning to do with this?” Ruby asked.

“Looks like you’ve finally shown your true colours huh… Bitch…” Sabrina spat back, her voice shaky.

Ruby rolled up Sabrina’s sleeves.

“Hey what the fuck are you doing?” Sabrina struggled but Ruby’s grip remained tight and firm.

Ruby said nothing and proceeded to bring the still hot cigarette bud closer and closer to Sabrina’s arm.

Despite Sabrina’s efforts to pull Ruby away, Ruby had an uncanny level of strength and held Sabrina in place with just her two hands.

“What they fuck.. You’re a freak! What’re you just staring for? Fucking help me!” Sabrina called out.

Ruby held the cigarette bud a mere hair’s breadth away from Sabrina’s arm.

“Speak a word of this, and I’ll burn you. You can call me names, insult me. But if you threaten this space anytime ever again…” Ruby proceeded to make a hissing sound.

This shocked and frightened Sabrina so much that she collapsed to her knees.

“Get out. And keep this.” Ruby crushed the cigarette and placed it in Sabrina's shirt pocket.

The girls scurried out frantically.

“Bitch!” Camie threw a final insult before exiting and closing the door.

Ruby stood in the room once again all by herself. She glanced at the clock.

4.40pm.

Ruby breathed in deep. Her legs were shaking. She collapsed to the floor, kneeling down. She started to heave and pant. Her breathing increased as she gripped her arm.

Mark was in utter shock. He didn’t know what he had seen but he felt it was all real. This happened.

He felt a force pulling him out of this scene.

“Mark! Hey! Mark!” A voice called out.

Mark shook his head. He was back.

Mai's face stood over his, her big eyes looking down with concern.

Mark sat up.

“What happened?” Mark asked, dazed.

“You tell me! You collapsed screaming and next thing I knew you were out cold for like a minute or so.”

“I saw a vision… no it was a memory…”

“A memory? Whose?”

Mark took a second to think. The scene he felt was too real, it was like he was actually there, almost as if he had experienced it himself.

Mark stared at Mai, a look of anxiety on his face, he felt out of breath. Before he knew it, he realised he was panting and heaving.

“Mark? What’s wrong?”

“The memory… It was Ruby’s…”