Achieving the First Rank Up Ever!
Alice and Iruma stare at each other intensely for a moment though to them, it felt like hours on ends while the rest of the Misfit Class are watching from the side.
"Oh my Devil! It's down to just the two of them!" Gaap realized in shock.
"Yeah, who cares if we're out. Asmodeus, get him!" Lied cheered for his classmate.
"Oh, Iruma! You can do it!" Elizabetta cheered for him as well.
"Go, go, Iruma-Kin! Fight on, fight on, fight on! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!" Clara cheered while sitting on Sabro's shoulder which he really didn't mind since he was a little mad that he couldn't be in the court anymore.
"If only I could return to the court." Sabro complained a little.
"Now, now, you were able to still the ball outside of the court." Elizabetta tried to comfort Sabro.
"Hey, you know what I just realize… This is their first battle since the entrance ceremony." Jazz pointed out.
Alice starts to slowly raise the ball in his hand, getting himself ready to throw it at Master Iruma to help him get rank up by using his fullest strength in this throw.
"(Azz seems completely different than usual, he's so serious. No… That's actual malice in his eyes.)" Iruma thought noticed this the more he looks at Alice, seeing he is about to face a powerful throw.
A second later, Alice's eyes widen feeling the time is now to throw and ready himself as he reels his arm back with the arm and the ball being covered in his fire magic.
"There it is! Get back!" Jazz alerted as the students move away from the court field.
"Looks like the final clash is about to start." Bachiko said as she and the Student Council have arrived just in time to see this.
"(I'm scared… I've gotten through some sticky situations before, and every instinct I've developed is telling me to run.)" Iruma thought remembered how his life was like before coming to the demon world, all the times he ran away back in the human world whenever they were danger that is about to hurt him.
"(But…)" Iruma thought started to move one foot forward, and remember what Opera and Bachiko told him about being scared.
"The more scared you are, the bolder you must be." Past Opera said in Iruma's mind.
"(Be bolder!)" Iruma thought charged towards Alice.
"Transform your fears into excitement."
"What/You have a death wish?!" Gaap gasped and Lied shocked to see Iruma just charging in like that.
""Don't worry about understanding it now, you'll come to it in the exam." Past Bachiko said in Iruma's mind.
"He's really going to face Asmodeus' throw head on!" Ameri shocked and worried for Iruma at the same time.
"Looks like he's really becoming bolder." Bachiko smirked, glad to see he is taking the advice he and Opera gave him this morning.
(Music: Clattanoia, NateWantsToBattle)
Alice threw the flaming ball right at Iruma as he promised himself to give Iruma everything he has into this powerful throw.
Iruma saw the ball coming and hold out his hand to catch the ball which made contact into his palms though the force of power from the throw pushes him back, and there is also the burning pain from the fire that is covering the ball.
"(This is… Azz's true strength! I can't… It's too powerful!)" Iruma thought shocked.
"Then it's a good thing mom helped me with this as well." Iruma whispered to himself.
Iruma starts to turn his body to the right with the fire turning around as well, and he jumps high while still turning that Alice was surprised to see this.
"(Time for the return counter!)" Iruma thought stared down at Alice with the determination to win this game.
Then Iruma removes his right hand from the ball and points his finger right at Alice, the pose he is doing in the air caught Bachiko's sight and gasp a little seeing that Iruma looks like he is holding a bow and about to fire the arrow.
"Iruma!" Bachiko shocked softly.
"Barbatos Arrow Throw!" Iruma threw the ball straight at Alice like he just shot an arrow.
It was so sudden that Alice just stood there in shock which allowed the ball to not only hit him on the right shoulder, but also tore off a little piece of fabric from that shoulder making a hole that shows the skin under it.
Everyone is so shocked to see that Iruma has managed to beat Alice Asmodeus in a battle once again as most are left speechless from this.
(Music End)
"What have I… just witness?" Quichelight asked shock as the other members are.
"It looks like you taught him well." Ameri commented to Bachiko.
"Yeah, all that training I helped him with seem to have paid off great." Bachiko smirked with her arms cross.
"(What the Hell was that move just now! Did Iruma seriously try to shoot the ball like he was shooting an arrow from a bow? I haven't even taught him the basic of archery which was supposed to be after the exam!)" Bachiko thought freaked out on the inside.
"(But still… He really did me proud.)" Bachiko thought smiled proudly for Iruma.
Kalego blew the whistle signaling the end of the exam.
"The winner of this match are team A!" Kalego announced loudly.
"We… We won… I won!" Iruma realized that he really beat Alice on purpose this time, and did it with his own strength too.
Team A ran up to Iruma giving him some congrats and telling him how awesome he was during that last moment before tasting victory.
"Well done, my brave, rival." Sabro patted Iruma on the head.
"You really won like a boss!" Elizabetta nodded, feeling her heart just skipped a beat for a moment there.
"Let's give him! Come on!" Jazz suggested.
The team started to life Iruma with their arms, all except for Agares who is just being lazy and watching as always, and they toss Iruma into the air a little for a moment giving him to being praised for the first time in his life, and he was enjoying this for a while.
But then suddenly Clara is now being the one toss into the air by the team.
"Weee! So high!" Clara laughed, enjoying this.
"Did they switch places?" Jazz surprised as he didn't notice this until now.
"When did thou…!" Sabro shocked about this as well.
"You can try too, Sabro!" Clara said as she switched places with Sabro now being the one lifted only to discover that he was far too heavy to even lift him over their heads.
Meanwhile, during Iruma's little celebration, Alice looked over at his shoulder and felt the spot where the ball hit is throbbing a little even though there is no physical bruise on it, he can still feel it.
"I gave it everything all I had…" Alice looked a little down for a second, and then move his head up looking happy. "I'm soundingly beat, I'm truly no match for you, Iruma sir." Alice smiled.
As Alice was getting up, Lied and the others of Team B came up rushing to give him their compliments.
"That was awesome, Azz!" Lied said as he jumped onto Alice's back much to the pink hair demon boy's surprise.
"That fireball was unbelievable cool!" Kaumi complimented excitedly.
"You were truly amazing!" Gaap smiled.
"Hey, can I call you Azz-Azz?" Lied asked.
"Get off me!" Alice demanded as he does NOT want others being this close to him except for Master Iruma.
While the students were having their own moments, Kalego was thinking about Alice and Iruma and how this exam went.
"Asmodeus has remarkable skill, not any upperclassmen could catch that." Kalego stated, seeing how powerful and skilled Alice is.
Then turn his sight towards Iruma, thinking about how he did in the exam.
"(And yet instead of fleeing in fear, he pressed ever forward. He relexify thrust the incredible strength of the throw to the side, put his own powerful spin to sustain its momentum and threw it back away harder at Asmodeus.)" Kalego replayed that moment in his head, and he was still in shock of such an incredible feat.
"(Iruma managed to use that bizarre evasion skill of his as an effect of attack.)" Kalego thought impressed that Iruma actually did pretty good in the exam.
"So, I take it you were blown away by how great my son was?" Bachiko smirked, walking up to the teacher who just huffs in silence.
"Iruma!" Kalego called out and threw something at Iruma who caught it in both hands.
"If it was obvious that Asmodeus had let you win, I was never going to allow you to raise your rank. Ever!" Kalego stated which Bachiko rolled her eyes.
"But both of you truly gave it your all. Therefore, Iruma, I hereby approve your promotion to Bet!" Kalego declared.
The scene finally shows the item in Iruma's hand that Kalego threw was a rank badge, and this one holds the symbol of the rank 2 badge, Bet.
"Whoa!" Iruma surprised beyond belief that he actually got a promotion in his rank.
"Good job, Iruma-Kin!" Clara amazed.
"I am so proud of you!" Alice smiled, glad to see that Iruma was able to get up a rank just like he said he would.
"Oh boo! You could've at least given him a Gimel rank!" Lied complained a little.
"Indeed, Bet for that performance is just insulting." Alice agreed, believing that Iruma deserves to rank up by two.
"Cheap-poo!" Clara mocked.
"Get over it!" Kalego yelled.
"It's a marathon, not a sprint. There will be more exams, if you lots want to be promoted then you must work harder. That is all!" Kalego turned around and walk away, wanting to leave for the day.
"Sheesh, harsh with the words." Bachiko commented.
"Mom, you're here!" Iruma finally noticed that his adopted demon mom is here as well.
"Hey wait, isn't my rank going up too?" Sabro asked.
"Negative." Kalego answered without hesitation, making Sabro feel extremely hurt on the inside.
"Sorry, big guy. You're gonna to work hard on the next promotion exam to get a rank up." Bachiko said.
With the extreme exam finally over, the Misfit Class started to leave deciding on going home for the day and talking about how exciting that was for them.
"Master Iruma?" Alice noticed that Iruma isn't moving and clenching onto his heart.
"Don't worry, Iruma is just feeling the new experience of succeeding a goal for the first time in his life. It's just sinking in now." Bachiko explained to Alice and Clara.
"Congratulations, Iruma." Ameri said, walking up to Iruma, getting his attention.
"Ameri!" Iruma surprised to see her here.
"I was watching your performance. Remarkably different than yesterday." Ameri complimented that seem to have made Iruma blush a little.
"But that's…" Alice recognized that girl as Ameri Azazel, the Student Council President.
"Why do you keep popping up, Lady Red Hair!" Clara angered, she wanted to go and pounce on Lady Red Hair for getting close to Iruma again only to be held back by Alice with one hand on her shoulder.
"Cool it, Clara. Those two are just gonna have a friendly chat." Bachiko said to Clara.
"(I do wonder what they are talking about.)" Alice thought wondered about the conversation Master Iruma and Ameri are having.
"It just… I've… I've never worked that hard for just my own sake. But now I finally know how it feels to accomplish something just for myself. What an amazing feeling!" Iruma smiled brightly, feeling like something had been lifted from his shoulder.
"(Ah, this must really be a first time for Iruma to feel this way since he had to live a hard life back in the human world.)" Ameri thought felt happy to see Iruma experiencing something more than what he's used to for the first time.
"Yes, that warm and happy feeling you get after overcoming your obstacles, using your strong will in both physical and mental. That is truly…" Ameri paused for a second for affect.
"Ambition!" Ameri smiled greatly like a fire just exploded right behind her.
"Say what…? It is?" Iruma shocked and confused at the same time, and Ameri nods.
"Your passion towards it! Your fighting spirit to see it all through!" Ameri pointed out the things what she knows as ambition and other things.
"(So, ambition feels kinda warm and fuzzy?)? Iruma thought confused, not really sure if these feelings he is getting truly means ambition in a word of a sentence, but it also feelings good at the same time. So, he decided to just go with it.
"Regardless, you step up! So, well done, Iruma!" Alice smiled.
"Thank you!" Iruma smiled back, feeling glad to have Ameri as a friend.
"Well, with that done, let's go home and tell the good news to Sullivan and Opera." Bachiko said.
"And you know what, since you did really great out there with the exams and getting your rank, I'm gonna buy you and the entire class some drinks!" Bachiko decided to reward Iruma, and his class, with something a little special.
"Really?" Iruma surprised.
"Yay! We're getting drinks together!" Clara cheered, completely forgotten her anger towards Alice at the moment.
"Oh man, that's so much better than Kalego buying us drinks!" Lied said.
"Like I would ever buy you drinks." Kalego glared at the boy.
(Sullivan's Mansion)
"We're home!" Bachiko and Iruma announced.
"Welcome home, you two." Opera greeted.
"So, so, how did your promotion go? Tell me, tell me!" Sullivan asked excitedly.
"Cool your jets, he's gonna tell." Bachiko chuckled.
"I ended up facing Azz in the last round, but I safely raise my rank one level." Iruma showed his Bet badge.
"Hoohohooo! I knew you could do it! I'm so proud of you!" Sullivan cheered.
"Safely? With all those wounds on your hands?" Opera was not confused, and they grabbed hold of Iruma's hands to see and feel the bandages.
"Oh yeah, Alice was going all-out with his Fire Magic to support Iruma in his own freaky way." Bachiko explained which Sullivan nods thinking that sounded like him.
"But he started apologizing for a lot and I couldn't get him stop." Iruma mentioned, remembering how many sorry and begging for forgiveness Alice did.
"Still, you were able to focus your full concentration in the exam and did great. You really made all three of us proud!" Bachiko smiled with a thumbs up.
"Thanks, mom!" Iruma smiled chuckling.
"Man, you two should've seen what Iruma did in that final moment in his throw with the ball. He looked like he was firing an arrow from a bow!" Bachiko mentioned while mimicking the pose Iruma did during that exam.
"Oh my, it looks like he has taken quite an interested in archery more than ever." Sullivan commented.
Later, Iruma has now changed into his pajamas on and holding his new rank badge as he looks at it with a proud smile.
"You earned your first rank up, never thought I would see the day when a human would have done that and yet, here you are." Bachiko said.
"Yeah, it feels really great! I can't wait to see what I'm gonna do next, even though I don't know what my next goal is gonna be." Iruma smiled as he goes onto his bed.
"You silly little boy, have you forgotten what I promised you after you pass the exam." Bachiko chuckled, this confuses Iruma until he was about to piece this together.
"Oh right, you promised to teach me how to be an archer!" Iruma remembered with an exciting smile.
"That's right, it's finally gonna be time for you to truly embrace the path of the Barbatos clan and shoot yourself a path that none can get in the way!" Bachiko smirked, feeling excited for this.
"Alright, now get to bed and get ready for school tomorrow. But be prepare for when your archer training starts because I can promise you, it's gonna be intense." Bachiko smiled as she walks out of the room.
"Yes, mom!" Iruma nodded.
"(Oh man, it feels like my life has already gotten better right now!)" Iruma thought looked at his Bet badge one last time before going to sleep.
Iruma Suzuki, age 14, has acquired his promotion badge and moved up to Bet.
"Yeah, my boy, my son is definitely gonna be the one I've been waiting for." Bachiko smiled excitedly and really happy.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Iruma was able to defeat Alice in that final moment of the Execution Cannonball Promotion Exam and was able to rank up to Bet, and next up is learning to be an archer from his adopted demon mom who is also looking forward to teaching him the ways of the Barbatos clan!
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!