Rocky peeked at the savants as they sucked the souls from the corpses. Her foot tapped the ground while she chewed her bottom lip. It was happening again. Her stomach twisted into knots, and her vision blurred before returning to normal. She took a deep breath. "Screw it."
Bow grabbed Rocky's arm before the teenager left their hiding spot. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.
Rocky had a terrible habit of rushing head-first into battle without a plan. She opened her mouth but couldn't come up with an excuse. She pressed her lips together and glared at her fellow squad member.
Bow smiled before turning to Mr. Pascal. "What's the plan, sir?"
The headmaster remained quiet, his furrowed brows showing he was in deep thought. As a former captain of the Lost Halos and the only adult there, the teenagers looked at him for answers. "Divide and conquer," he said. "There are forty-two savants and one knight. Out of the forty-two, only three have nine eyes. We'll pair up, take out the low-ranked savants first, and then kill the higher-ranked together."
"We can't kill the nine-eyed ones. They're too powerful," Lillian, the oldest student among them, said.
"We're not trying to kill them," said Mr. Pascal. "We only need to hold them back long enough for the squads to arrive and save everyone."
"And how long do you think we can hold them back?" Lucas asked.
"As long as it takes."
"Don't worry, my fans. The superstar will protect you from the monsters," Rocky said with a smug smile.
Bow ignored her and asked the headmaster, "What happens when the nine-eyed revenants attack us?"
"You run away." Mr. Pascal glanced at each student. "Understand me?"
"Yes," they replied.
"Good. Here are the teams: Rocky and Bow, you'll fight the three-eyed savants. Lucas and Anita, the four-eyed ones. Lillian and I, the five-eyed ones. Then, together, we'll go after the six, seven, and eight-eyed savants. Remember, no matter what, don't fight the nine-eyed ones. If they attack you, run away. Am I clear?"
The teenagers nodded.
Mr. Pascal walked to the end of the fallen canteen, glanced at the savants, and then looked back at them. "Alright. On the count of three, we run out of here together." He turned away and raised his fist, using his fingers as a count-up. "One. Two. Three."
They dispersed into their groups.
With her scythe in her left hand, Rocky used her right hand to summon wind around her, forming an armor with wings. There were nine three-eyed savants. She flew toward one and swung her scythe at its head. It parried with its three right arms and kicked her. Rocky slid backward. She planted her weapon's pole into the ground and stopped moving.
Three Eyes opened its mouth, releasing a dozen black strings that connected to the corpses on the ground. The bodies stood and faced the savant. It pointed at Rocky, and they ran after the superstar.
Not wanting to waste time and energy, Rocky aimed her palm at them and fired a dozen energy beams. The rays were not strong enough to destroy the bodies, so she cut the strings the savants used to control them.
"Your turn." She flew toward the savant and swung her scythe. The revenant tried parrying it again, but Rocky had imbued her weapon with cosmic energy, slicing its arms off.
The monster screamed in pain as she cut off its other limbs. When its body fell to the ground, she cut off the top of its head, revealing its tongue and beating hearts.
Meanwhile, Bow had taken the easiest route to avoid the higher-ranked savants by flying on her scythe and landing on her target's head. The first one hadn't noticed her; it was too busy searching for a soul to consume in the corpses.
Lower-ranked revenants always feasted last when the higher-ranked ones were around. And because they only fed on souls, they were left with nothing to eat. Hunger made them rampageous.
Bow raised her hand, and a hundred silver swords materialized above her. When she thrust her arm down, the weapons tore the savant's body into pieces, including its tongue, which fell out of its mouth. She destroyed the hearts and watched the monster disintegrate.
The hair on the back of her neck stood, and she jumped out of the way before a tsunami of fire washed her out of existence. With a frown, she turned to the culprit and saw a nine-eyed savant smiling at her. She gulped, turned toward another three-eyed monster, and flew toward it.
Using the same tactic of summoning hundreds of swords, she killed seven more three-eyed savants. One remained. When she turned to see how Rocky was doing, she caught her about to destroy the last one. With a smile, she thrust a sword at the monster's tongue, destroying its hearts before Rocky could.
"Come on!" Rocky groaned before turning to Bow. "I had it."
"You're wasting time, shorty," Bow said. "There are more of them. Let's go."
Simultaneously, Lucas reached into his trousers' back pocket and took out a piece of paper. On it was a drawing of the late African dictator, Idi Amin Dada. He threw it in the air and aimed at it with his hand. A green light shot out of his palm and encased the paper, causing it to explode into green smoke. When it cleared, the drawing had materialized into reality.
At fifty feet tall and with black and white skin, Idi Amin hovered in the air, waiting for his master's instructions.
Lucas possessed art magic. It allowed him to bring to life anything he drew on paper. You'd think someone with such an ability would have a vivid imagination of what he'd like to conjure. Not Lucas. He was only interested in dictators, becoming an encyclopedia on the subject, often arguing for the various historical figures and how they were misunderstood. It made him a controversial figure at school, earning him the nickname "The Dictator".
"Attack!" he ordered the fifty-foot construct.
Idi Amin flew toward a four-eyed savant and punched multiple holes in its chest. Then it grabbed its tongue, tore off its mouth, and threw it toward Lucas. The teenager slashed it with his scythe.
"Another!" Lucas screamed.
Idi Amin dashed toward a four-eyed revenant that hid behind three higher-ranked revenants. It evaded their attacks with ease before grabbing its target. Holding the monster by its neck, Idi threw it toward Lucas, who destroyed it with multiple slashes. When the higher-ranked savants attacked the drawing, Idi blocked them before clapping his hands, releasing a sonic wave that thrust backward.
Lucas' drawings had Superman's abilities—his favorite superhero. If he were more powerful, then Idi could've helped them fight the higher-ranked savants. Sadly, because the drawing required a lot of magic to be conjured, it lasted for one minute before disappearing. After that, Lucas wouldn't be able to create another one for twelve hours.
Anita hadn't left the hideout. She had crouched behind the fallen canteen, crying with her hands covering her ears. Slimy liquid fell on her from above. Looking up, she saw a drooling, seven-eyed savant staring at her.
Anita screamed. "No! Please, no!" She fell on her ass and crawled backward, fear masking her face.
The revenant smacked the canteen away, stomped his foot, and the ground under Anita threw her in the air. It caught her in midair before smiling. "You're mine."
Anita screamed for her life until she lost consciousness. She woke up a few seconds later, a frown replacing the fear that had masked her face before. "Pathetic," she said to the seven-eyed monster. She seemed like a different person with the anger in her eyes.
Her long braids tore through her hijab and stabbed the savant's eyes.
It screamed in pain and released her. She landed on her braids, using them as extra limbs. She wrapped some of her hair around its body and threw it as far as possible. It was the smartest choice. The difference in power between them meant she had no chance of beating it.
Lillian was dealing with the five-eyed savants alone. She used her fungus magic to conjure seven giant humanoid mushrooms. Each wrestled a revenant, showing their master's obsession with professional wrestling. One mushroom grabbed a savant by the throat, chokeslammed it, and pinned it to the ground. Roots came out of the mushroom's mouth and connected to the monster's tongue, filling it with a liquid that made it dissolve, leaving behind its hearts that Lillian destroyed with her scythe.
While her attention was on the five-eyed savant, a nine-eyed one had stalked her from behind. It opened its mouth and fired an acidic wave toward the teenager. By the time she sensed it, it was too late. She couldn't move fast enough to block it or order the mushrooms to do so.
Thankfully, Rocky landed in front of her just in time. She created a thirty-foot energy shield and blocked the wave of acid.
Cracks began forming on the shield as the revenant didn't stop attacking. Before it destroyed the shield, a tide of silver swords struck its body. The monster tumbled backward, choking as some pierced its throat. It wasn't enough to kill it, but it would hold it back for now.
"Are you alright?" Bow asked Lillian.
"Yes."
"You'd be dead if it wasn't for me," Rocky said.
"Thank you," Lillian said.
Bow grinned. "You're welcome."
"Shorty, remind me: how many revenants have you killed today?"
Rocky glared at Bow. With gritted teeth, she said, "You've stolen all my kills."
Bow chuckled. "Don't blame your weakness on me."
Lucas joined them. "Where's Mr. Pascal?"
They turned and found him fighting three eight-eyed revenants. He maneuvered under their legs, evading their magic attacks. Since he couldn't kill them, that was his best option.
"How did he end up there?" Anita asked after rejoining. She wore her torn hijab and looked as frightened as before.
"I don't know, but we should help—"
Before Bow finished her sentence, the ground under Mr. Pascal opened, and he fell before it closed. He got buried up to his neck. The knight moved from its position quickly, standing before the headmaster. It stared at him before kicking his head off his shoulders.
The teenagers screamed.
The knight threw away its umbrella, and its body glistened under the sun's touch. It pointed its finger at the distraught teenagers. "I didn't come here to watch. I came here to kill everyone." It whistled twice, and the savants stopped what they were doing and ran away from the area, heading to the training facility where everyone else hid.