Arlo starts to run toward the Djinn, but for some reason, it looks like his goal isn't even to reach the Djinn
"What is he doing?" Noah asks while running
Neant smiles
"Do you remember back when we were kids? Before that happened?" Neant asks with a smile. "Do you remember how Arlo was back then?"
Noah looks at Arlo
"He was free and unrestrained, just like the wind." Noah says while looking at Arlo after stopping. "So, this is what he chose, huh?"
"Yeah." Neant answers as he stops running. "But up until now, he still hasn't been able to use the Art. Seems like he realized something while we were being chased."
Wind starts to gather around Arlo's hands, but the Djinn is rapidly closing in on him. Noah, who had noticed the incoming danger, gets ready to dash forward, but Neant stops him by putting his arm in front of him
"If we help him now, he might fail." Neant says with a clenched fist. "He needs to do this by himself."
Arlo closes his eyes and tries to focus, and at the same time, remembers a class they had a few months earlier. Arlo was sitting down with his eyes closed while other students were doing the same or reading books
"I heard that you've already decided on your Art." Theo says while approaching Arlo
Arlo opens his eyes
"I have." Arlo says with a smile. "Ever since you explained to us the abilities of the different arcane energy colors."
"That's surprising." Theo says with surprise. "Most of the time, students take their time to choose one."
Arlo lifts his head and looks at the sky
"I've always liked wind." Arlo says while looking up. "Whether it's a gentle breeze or a strong gust of wind. I've always been free-spirited, and my freedom is important to me."
"I see." Theo says with a smile. "I'll give you a piece of advice then."
Arlo looks at Theo
"As you are, you won't be able to control the wind." Theo says seriously
Arlo frowns
"What do you mean, teacher?" Arlo asks
"There are two levels of ability usage for a Conjurer." Theo starts explaining. "The first is to control the element, and the second is to create or conjure the element. To be able to control your element, you first need to understand it and synchronize with it. As you are right now, you can't do the second."
Arlo looks down. Theo starts walking towards another student, and so back to the present, the wind builds up around Arlo's body slowly but surely
"At the moment, I can't be completely free." Arlo thought with his eyes closed. "As long as I haven't dealt with what's holding me, I'll never be free. BUT! I won't let those things stop me from enjoying the wind."
Arlo opens his eyes with a smile. He clenches his fists, and wind quickly gathers around his fists. He jumps toward the Djinn and starts unleashing a flurry of punches
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"Arlo yells as he keeps punching the body of the Djinn
Each punch Arlo unleashes creates holes in the body of the Djinn, and as he keeps doing so, the core of the Djinn finally gets exposed. The core was at its shoulder, and none of the three failed to notice
"DO IT, ARLO!!!" Neant yells
Arlo smiles widely and loads up a last punch to finish the Djinn off. Another huge fist hits him and sends him flying and crashing into multiple trees. Next to the one that Arlo was taking care of, another Gigas with the same height as the one they were fighting had appeared
"This just got really worse." Neant says with nervousness
[With Adam and his team]
"It's done." Adam says while walking out of the hut
The other four were completely wiped out since they had spent half of their day fighting against all the incoming Djinns
"What do we do now?" Lily asks with frustration. "It's not like we can take a break since we don't know when we'll be attacked."
"We don't need to worry about that." Byron says while dragging himself toward the hut. "This guy can use the advanced level of Sensus."
Elliot and the others look at Adam, impressed
"Stop standing here and come inside." Adam says calmly
The three come in and all sit down
"This feels great." Elliot says while relaxing
"So, what's the plan?" Alya asks to Adam
"I already said that I am going to act alone." Adam says while lying down with his eyes closed
"Do you not care about the event?" Lily asks with curiosity. "They didn't say it, but do you realize that this event is actually our mid-terms?"
"I already know." Adam answers calmly. "That doesn't change anything. "I don't really care about the exam. I am only here to train myself."
Adam looks at the katana that he had laid down next to him. Byron gets closer to Noah and looks at the katana
"This sword looks cool! Can I try it?" Byron says while reaching for the katana
Adam grabs his hand before he touches it
"This sword is cursed." Adam says while looking at the sword. "Touch it and you're gonna die."
"What!? That's not a good joke to make, Adam." Byron says while laughing
After laughing for a bit, he noticed that Adam looked very serious. The four of them back away from the sword at light speed
"If it's cursed, why are you carrying it around with you?" Lily asks with curiosity
"Because I can handle it." Adam explains. "Both the curse and the power of this blade."
Adam gets up after taking his katana and heads toward the door
"Where are you going?" Lily asks
"Hunting." He answers. "We need to eat to regain strength."
Lily gets up and follows him
"I am coming with you." Lily says while opening the door. "I hate getting things handed to me."
The two exit the hut and walk in search of animals or anything else that could fill their stomachs
"Can we actually find food here?" Lily asks. "It's not like we've met any animals on our way here"
"I detected a few of them with my Sensus." Adam answers while walking
He suddenly stops and lowers himself while dragging Lily with him
"WHAT ARE YOU-"
"*Shush*" Adam makes
In front of them, three rabbits were hopping away. Adam grabs three small rocks and throws them with power. All rocks hit their targets and kill the rabbits as soon as they do. Lily looks at Adam with surprise
What kind of strength is that? He did it without even using Roboro! Lily thought as she looked at Adam
Adam gets up and heads toward the rabbits. After making sure that they are dead, he picks them up. But his eyes suddenly widen, and he quickly turns his head to the side
How did I not notice it!? Adam thought surprised
Next to him was a 3-foot-tall Mugio. Floating a little above his head. The Djinn looked just like a small human. Unlike most Djinns that have weird bodies, this one closely resembled a human's. The only difference was the fact that it had X's for eyes, a bit of a belly, small horns on its forehead, a long tail, and small wings on its back. More importantly, unlike most Djinns, whose bodies were like flames that couldn't keep an exact shape, this one's body perfectly retained its shape
"Kikikikikikiki." It makes while looking at Adam
Adam frowns with anger
"Roboro." Adam casts on his arm
He quickly turns himself and thrusts his arm at the Djinn
"Infinite Weapon Style; Swordless Form; Thrusting Point." Adam says as he uses his technique
The Djinn blocks the attack easily with a single finger, and large gusts of wind are unleashed to the side due to the power of Adam's technique
"No... way." Adam says with shock
Lily appears from the side, in the air with her sword raised. The Mugio swings its left arm and unleashes a powerful wind that blows away Lily
How strong is this thing!? Lily thought as she landed on her feet
The Djinn brings its head closer to Adam and starts inspecting him. Looking up and down at Adam. Truly odd actions coming from a Djinn since they normally kill humans as soon as they come across them
"Kikikikikiki."It makes while looking at Adam
Adam quickly backs away from it and puts his hand on the handle of his katana
"I definitely can't beat it if I only use the Swordless form."Adam thought with a frown."Even if I use Infinite Weapon Style with a weapon, I don't think I can kill it. There is no doubt about it. This is Djinn is an Exim."
Just as Adam was about to pull out his katana, the Djinn turned around and left. Adam lets go of the handle and looks at the small Djinn flying away
"What is going on?" He mumbles
Lily quickly joins him and notices the Djinn going away
"No way.... It's leaving." She says while looking at it with confusion
Adam picks up the rabbit and starts to walk away
"Let's go." Adam says while walking away after picking up the rabbits
"Huh? Oh, yeah!" along and follows Adam
"How do you feel?"Adam asks while walking
"I'm fine. Nothing's broken." Lily answers. "I thought you didn't care about us."
"Things changed." Adam says. "I could fight against Rae-level Djinns. If a Mae-level appears, it would be hard, but if I use my blade, I could kill it by taking it down with me. That one was an Exim, and he was Mae-level. If we meet it again, we're gonna need everyone."
[A little later at the hut]
After they arrived back at the hut, Lily told everyone what had happened while they were hunting
"A small Exim that could stop an attack with all your strength and Roboro with one finger." Byron says with worry. "How are we supposed to recover the Zone with something like that in it?"
"The worst is that you could only detect it when it got close to you." Alya says pensively. "Does it have some kind of cloaking ability?"
"What are Exim's?" Elliot asks
The others look at him, surprised. Then Adam sighs and starts to explain
"Exim's are Djinn's from any of the three types you already know, but have special abilities that the normal Djinn's from the three types don't." Adam explains after sighing. "Because of that, they're considered an entirely different type, Exim."
Lily thinks for a moment, then starts acting
"How are our supplies looking?" She asks Elliot
He gets up and heads toward a small box and opens it. Inside was some food and drinks
"Two more days if we control how we eat." Elliot answers after looking in the box
"Food is not a problem since we can hunt, the problem is water." Lily says pensively."While we were hunting, we didn't find a water source, and then we were interrupted by the Exim. Adam, can you send a wave of Sensus on the entirety of the Zone?"
"I can." He says while looking at the map. "The Zone is pretty big, so a single wave is possible. However, Continuous Wave is impossible. You want to know the location of the Djinns?"
Lily nods
"If you can use the Advanced level of Sensus, that means you can also feel the amount of arcane energy they have." Lily says
"If we have both the location and the threat level of the Djinns, we can come up with a plan and quickly recover the Zone."Alya finishes with a smile
[With Seleph's squad]
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HOW WEAK ARE YOU ALL!?!?!? WHEN WILL I FIND GOOD PREY!?!?!?!?" Yasuke yells while killing Djinns as he runs
Kaga and the other follows him from behind
He's killing all those Djinns so easily! This crazy guy is powerful! Seleph thought as he followed behind
"SLOW DOWN!!! WE NEED TO FIND A PLACE TO PLANT THE TURRES!!!" Seleph yells while running after the three
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT!!! I WANT TO FIND A GOOD PREY!!!" Yasuke yells as he accelerates
Kaga and Nara accelerate and follow Yasuke
"DAMN IT!"Seleph yells while doing the same
"DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!!!!"Lias yells with tears while also accelerating
Lias passes by the others, suddenly stops, and runs back
"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"He yells as he runs back toward the squad
He passes by the first three and hides himself behind Seleph
"What happened?"Seleph asks Lias who is behind him
Lias points to the front, and when Seleph turns around and looks forward, he sees a Gigas in front of them. A Gigas that was at least 13 feet tall, maybe even more
"This is really bad."Seleph says with a wide and nervous smile
To be continued