In deep Slovakia, where the nights are endless with death-written Akumas swarms around a campsite full of Finders of the Black Order, waiting for an exorcist to arrive not knowing the fate of their comrades, and themselves.
"We can't wait any longer for the exorcist to come. Grab you barrier weapons and head out!" said Finder Vale
"Yes Sir!" responded the other finders
While the Finders prepare for the worst, a young Finder was still in his tent wrapping his arms with bandages. He tears the edge of the bandage from the roll with his teeth and tucks it in his backpack. By the look on his face, he was ready for battle. Shortly after, another Finder pops his head in the tent to call the attention of the Finder
"Let's go Orlando. You heard the orders." The finder named Kin franticly speaks to the boy
The boy looks up to the scared Finder and confusingly smiled to him "I'm coming, and calm down. It's not that bad, right?"
"You might want to look for yourself then."
Orlando grabs his barrier weapon and runs out of his tent to discover a massive Armanda of Akuma. His demeanor changed quickly at the sight of the swarm of demons in the sky All the Finders creates a large circle that surrounds their campsite and aims their weapons at the Akumas
With the raging intention of destroynig the Akumas, Vale unleashes a bellow of despair and order "Aim, fire!"
All finders starts shooting and trapping akumas in their dependable Anti-Akuma berriers trapping the malevolent demons.
"As long as these Akumas are level one, the barriers should hold until the exorcist gets here." Vale responded
"Yeah if the exorcist comes" with a relunctant tone added Grauni, a fellow Finder
"Have faith Grauni. Our job right now is to hold off the Akuma" Lex with the opposite intention as his comrades
Seconds after, Orlando appears next to Grauni and pats him on the back as if they were good friends.
"Don't be a spaz Grauni." Orlando remarks in the most kindest way to his impatient
"A spaz? Really? Listen here Orlando Leonardo Bravo, Grauni Edgar, is no spaz..."
"You didn't just called me by my full name!"
"I guess you didn't hear me right."
Orlando looks at Grauni with devious eyes, just waiting to land a hit on his smart-like facial expression. Lex, sensing an uprising among the argument, attempts to calm the matter, even though it's none of his buisness.
"C'mon guys, focus your energy on the Akuma."
The 2 slowly releases their anger by breathing and crosses each other's arms. Apparently it works. "Fine." Both signly responded
Suddenly, A large Akuma appears, rising above all the others and destroys parts of the barrier. At that instant, Vale knew, it's not like the other Akuma.
"This doesn't look good. It seems to be a Level 2 Akuma or higher." comments Vale in a tone that appears awkward in this type of situation.
"Level 2 or higher?" Kin bellows in distress. Seeing the Finders in distress, the Akuma is entertained and surprisingly responded to their stressful moment
"That's right!"
The Akuma then laughs with a devil like smirk; knowing that they have no chance of escape. Just to play with the finders a little more, the Akuma continues his moment of speech.
"It's too bad you won't be around for long to see my full potential..."
The Akumas releases themselves from the barriers and started shooting at the Finders. Finders dropping left and right from the Akuma's disease; dying and turning into piles of dust and is carried on in the wind
"Hahahahahahaha! DIE!" the Akuma yells in the air.
Everything worsens every second passes. The disease spreads across the campsite in a fast pace. As the situation worsens, the morale of the Finders decreases and their hope of a sudden rescue is at the bare minimum. As soon as though all hope is lost, a sudden multifire hits all the released Akuma, destroying them in its path. A white haired exorcist appears out of the air and attends to the aid of the Finders.
"Are you alright?" says the exorcist
Vale in a much needed relief, responds
"Just fine, now you're here."
"I'll take care of the level 2 Akuma for you. Attend to the rest of the finders for me" The exorcist gives a comforting smile to Vale reassuring that their nightmare is soon to be over.
"Thank you." Vale says
Allen jumps toward the Akuma in a determined pace; wanting to rid of the Akuma for good.
As the action elevates, Grauni and Orlando hids behind a pile of boulders to avoid any confrontation with an Akuma.
"I don't know how long we can hide from these Akuma before we get caught." Grauni says
Orlando peeks his head beyond the boulders and sees the young white haired exorcist fighting off the powerful Akuma
"Well, we have a little more time. The exorcist is here." Orlando comments
"About time".
Despite the good news, bad news was waiting to happen, and it happens to be right behind the 2.
"Yes it is." a malevolent voice came from behind the 2 scared Finders
Orlando and Grauni turns around to discover an Akuma right in their presence. It's another level 2 Akuma.
"It's about time I finally found my prey..."
Both young men were in shock; not believing their own sight. The Akuma quickly pick up from their wide open eyes and terrified expression on their faces and takes advantage of their moment of fear
"Try calling for your exorcist now. Haha!"
The Akuma aims at the Finders merciless and with pride. In reaction, the Finders try to back away from the Akuma's weapon, but the piles of boulders prevent them from their escape from their undestined fate.
"Say goodbye!"
It began its reign of terror by showering the Finders with his disease-written ammo. Out of the barrage, Orlando was hit with one of the bullets.
"I've been hit!" he exclaimed
"Oh man!"
The disease starts to spread all over his body; covering his skin in the most feared symbol of any human.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay alive, Grauni..."
"Don't say that!"
Orlando turns black and his soul ready to leave his body, But miraculously, the disease was suddenlt rejected, and his flesh was returned to its original color.
Grauni was in complete shock. Thinking he lost a great friend, was never to be taken away form him in the first place.
"But how? I was hit..." Orlando frantically rubbing his shot wound along with the rest of his body
"Intereting, this human has Innocence. Awe, that's one less human I can kill. Oh well, they're always the other one..."
The Akuma stares and smiles as he aims at him for the final blow, but Orlando gets in front of Grauni, utilizing his new found immunity.
"What are you doing?" Grauni asks in terror "You can die!"
"Look, I survived the shot, didn't I? Just let me protect you"
"Oz..." Grauni comments on Orlando's bravery
Before the Akuma had a chance of setting off another barrage of bullets, it was fatally shot at from the side
"RAH!"
The Akuma blows up in the sky, and Orlando and Grauni was in a moment of relief and surprise. It was the exorcist from earlier. He walks toward the 2 scared Finders and offers him his hand in trust
"Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah...I guess we are..." Orlando replies
"That Akuma I just shot was the last one."
"Thank God.." Grauni says
The 2 Finders stood up from the ground and dust themselves off.
"To tell you the truth, I thought you'll never come, exorcist." added Grauni
"Sorry I wasn't here earlier."
Orlando looks left and right for other Finders, and he saw nothing but remnants of what was left of their destroyed campsite. "Are we the only Finders left?" he asks
"I'm afraid so." responded the exorcist
Orlando and Grauni looked at each other in despair and guilt that they were too scared to face the Akumas with heir fellow comrades.
"Well, thank you for saving us, exorcist." Orlando says
"No problem. My name is Allen by the way."
"Hey, I'm Orlando, and this is Grauni" Orlando states; Grauni briefly waves at Allen followed by a short greeting "Hey"
"Found any Innocence?" Allen asks shortly after
"I'm afraid not. It looks like our trip was in vain." Grauni responds
"I'm sorry to hear. We're gonna have to call the Order to come and pick up whatever bodies remains. May they rest in peace." Allen adds
"Yeah." comments Orlando He turns to look at the campsite and can't help but to feel so ashamed of his actions.
Soon after, Allen and Grauni starts walking to the barely noticeable campsite
Orlando takes a second and looks at his hands and wonder to himself...
"(Was that Akuma right? Do I really have Innocence?)" His moment of self reflection was interrupted by the voice of his remaining comrade
"Orlando! Are ya coming?" Grauni yells
"Huh? Yeah, sure."
Orlando walks behind Allen and Grauni, in curiosity to know the answer to his daunting question. As they wait, Grauni and Orlando looks around the carnage and fatalities of the fallen Finders.
"This is unbelievable…" Grauni exclaims
At that moment, it become too overwhelming to Orlando and begins to shed into tears. "Why? How come I had to hide like a coward..." he states
Allen witnesses Orlando sudden breakdown and walks over to Orlando and puts his hand on Orlando's sholder.
"Hey, at least they die with honor. They won't be forgotten. I can almost guarantee that." Allen says, trying to comfort the melancholy Finder
Grauni then tries to does his best to confort his friend's self criticism.
"There was nothing we could do about it." added Grauni
"Yes there was!" Orlando exclaims in regret
Allen and Grauni looked at Orlando in sadness for him. They wish they could cheer him up, but they let him continue on with his pouting
"Instead of fighting, I coward behind a grotto of rocks! I could of saved 'em all! Lex, Kin, Vale, all of 'em!" Orlando continues
"We were going to be killed out there! Even if that Akuma was right, you still would've been wiped out." Grauni responded
Allen's attention was caught by what Grauni said.
"Wait, what did the Akuma said?" asks Allen
"I was shot by the Akuma and I wasn't infected. It said I might have Innocence."
"Innocence? Do you know what this means right?"
"What?"
"That-"
Allen was interrupted by a giant spotlight from a distance. It grew larger and larger and eventually engulfed the trio.
"That light,They're here." Grauni comments
The light became less illumitaing, revealing a flashlight, Reever, a group of Finders.
"Allen, what happened?" Reever asks
"Well, I wasn't here the whole time. Those 2 are the surviving Finders. Maybe they can be of assistance to you."
Reever passes Allen and walks up to Orlando and Grauni "Are you guys alright?"
"We think so." Orlando responded
"How many casualties?"
"Everyone else but us didn't make it. So I would say about 20 others." Grauni replied
Reever looked at both Orlando and Grauni in grief. "The Chief isn't going to be happy about this."
"Well, we got to finish getting the remains up. C'mon"
Reever walks to the remains and Grauni and the other Finders follows after. Grauni looks back a Orlando and wonders why he isn't coming.
"Oz?"
Orlando turns to Grauni.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."
Grauni turns away and keeps walking. Orlando takes a last look at his hands, clutches them together, hoping next time he enters onto the battlefield, he could do something about it.