Demon Blade
Chapter 5: Exam Time
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist or any of the characters involved except Melody
Melody and the rest of her class were seated around a campfire late at night. They had been led here by Yukio for their next stage of exams. She sat on the ground, her knees pulled up under her chin as she stared into the fire.
"Melody… yo! Melody!" Rin's voice finally broke through her daze and she looked up at him.
"Sorry, what's up?" She asked.
"Any idea what this exam entails?" Rin asked.
"Why would I know that?"
"Well, your dad is the headmaster and all, I thought maybe you might know more about it," Rin replied.
"No… I don't. Dad was pretty adamant about making sure I didn't know anything more than you guys. 'It'd be unfair to the rest of the students, and we can't have you getting any favoritism just because you're my daughter!' he said."
Rin nodded, "Then I guess we just wait for Yukio to tell us about it."
Another hour passed uneventfully before Yukio finally stood up.
"Alright class, it's time for us to begin the exam."
Everyone sat up and focused their attention on him.
"For this exam, you'll find three lanterns situated throughout the forest. Your objective will be to light one of these lanterns and lead it back to camp," Yukio told them.
"Wait, three lanterns?" Kamiki asked as she raised a hand.
"That's right, there are three spots to qualify to go on live combat missions, so there are three lanterns," Yukio said as he held up three fingers.
The class was silent as they digested that piece of information.
"Let's keep going. I'll go over the supplies that each of you will receive: Three days' worth of water and food, a flashlight, a demon-repelling flare, and one match. If you feel like you're getting in over your head and want to call it quits, just light the flare and I or Miss Kirigakure will come to get you,"
He pulled out each of the objects as he spoke about them, and laid them out on the ground, showing the class all of their supplies. Then indicated the red-haired exorcist who had accompanied them.
"Why only one match?" Melody asked.
Yukio gave them an innocent smile, "In case you decide to light the flare, you won't have a match to light the lantern, so think carefully before you decide to give up."
The class looked from him, down to the pile of supplies on the ground.
A few minutes later, they were all set with their bags over their shoulders and their weapons ready to hand. They had been placed on the edge of the campsite, where a large circle had been drawn in the dirt to repel the demons that lived there. Each of them was placed to go in a separate direction once Yukio fired his gun as a signal to begin the exam.
"Good luck to all of you, and begin!" Yukio called as he fired his weapon.
The students took off into the trees, using their flashlights to see as they charged through the darkness. Melody was making good progress, her training with Amaimon had given her incredible reserves of stamina, but the going got significantly harder when she was swarmed by a cloud of moths.
She swatted at them with her flashlight, and the wooden sword she'd been given to substitute for her real weapon.
"Damn bugs," She said to herself as she fought them off, "Blood-sucking moths, can't let too many get near me," She said to herself as she managed to disperse the cloud. She turned her flashlight off, realizing that they were being drawn to the light.
Suddenly, a scream echoed to her through the trees. She turned in the direction of the scream and was off in a flash. She darted through the bushes and branches of the forest, and as she started to see a clearing in the distance a bright, blue flash nearly blinded her.
"That was Rin's powers!" She thought as she shielded her eyes with her arm.
She stopped as she got to the edge of the clearing. She crouched in the bushes and watched carefully as Rin lifted Shiemi and Suguro approached him.
"Did you see what caused that light?" Suguro asked.
"What? No, I didn't see anything," Rin replied awkwardly.
"He's an idiot," Melody sighed as she realized he was trying to cover up the use of his powers.
She rustled the bush she was crouched in before standing and entering the clearing, making it look like she had just arrived.
"Melody! Hey!" Rin said as he raised a hand in greeting.
She raised a hand in return and approached the two boys.
"What happened?" She asked, looking down at Shiemi.
"I don't know, I heard Shiemi scream and came running, batted off some of the moths, and found her like this," Rin explained.
"You didn't see anything out of the ordinary?" She asked.
Rin shook his head.
"These moths are low-level demons, cannon fodder. Even Shiemi, with her low combat abilities, shouldn't have been overwhelmed by them."
Melody was drawn out of her thoughts as Shiemi stirred.
"Hey! You ok?" Rin asked her.
Shiemi opened her eyes, "Rin?" She asked as she made sense of her surroundings.
"Yeah,"
"What happened?" She asked.
"We were hoping you could tell us that?" Suguro asked.
"All I remember is being attacked by some moths," She answered, "I tried to fight them off, but they tore my seal… and then I blacked out."
"This is too weird," Melody said as she put her hand on her chin to consider the events.
Suddenly, a figure burst from the bushes nearby, causing the group to jump in surprise. It was a human figure with a flashlight in its mouth and wielding a large staff.
It flew past them, and Suguro grabbed the figure by its shirt collar as he realized who it was.
"Shima! What the hell are you doing?" He asked.
"Hm? Oh! Hey Bon!" Shima replied, referring to Suguro by his nickname.
"Shima, why are you here?" Melody asked.
"Oh, well, I heard a scream, and then while I was on my way to check it out I was attacked by a bunch of moths. Then I blacked out and woke up here," He explained.
"That makes sense," Suguro said as he sighed, "at least when it comes to Shima…"
Melody smiled to herself as she watched her classmates, she hadn't had a real chance to work with any of them before other than Rin during the incident with Kuro. She went to comment on the fact when both Suguro and Shima pulled out their phones.
"It's Konekomaru," Suguro explained as he read the message, "He's found one of the lanterns, and he needs our help."
Suguro led the group to Konekomaru's location, following the directions his friend had sent in his text. As they arrived they immediately realized why Konekomaru had asked for their help.
The lantern was a large, stone object sitting on top of a small shrine. It was bigger than any of the students, and Melody could sense something coming from it. A kind of energy.
"It's a Peg Lantern, a demon that waits for someone to come light it at night, and then comes alive to eat them. It survives by burning living beings… it likes girls too," Suguro explained as he paced around it.
"So, we need to figure out a way to get it back to camp?" Melody asked as she put a hand on her hip and leaned over to examine the brazier portion. "You don't think lighting it and having it chase me would work do you?" Melody asked.
The others looked at each other before Konekomaru laughed and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Not a bad backup plan, but I had an idea while I was waiting for you all to get here. A formation that'll allow us to safely escort the lantern back to camp."
Everyone looked at him expectantly, Melody grinned "Do tell."
