"Shit! Run!" John yelled, immediately scrambling to get away.

[Resets] were gone. He couldn't die, not here, not in this stupid exam that wasn't even meant to be that dangerous. Prota immediately hopped to his side, and it was a good thing she did because the beast immediately launched itself at what it sensed to be the weakest of the group.

"I-I-I want yo-o-our he-e-eart," the creature growled.

Its speech was constantly stuttering, like a broken record, scratchy and distorted, which only added to the fear factor its appearance was providing. Now that they could see it, it looked truly disgusting. Mottled skin, sharp teeth, claw-like fingers, greasy and twisted hair, as if someone had taken a human, thrown them into the forest and then forced them to evolve as some kind of beast-person hybrid.

Prota managed to push the thing away with a wall of ice just in time, but that wasn't enough to stop it. It skittered back, climbing up the trees like some kind of spider, then swinging from branch to branch like a monkey.

"Hit it!" John yelled.

The twins launched blasts of magic, but none of them could hit. It was simply too agile.

"John," Prota said, her voice cracking. "Strange- strange magic. I can't take it."

"You can't- what?!"

"I can take mana," Prota said. "But not magic."

"Shit," John cursed, moving back.

Was this [Deus Ex Machina] energy again? Prota hadn't been able to affect Doctor, either. But- no. It seemed that those with [Deus Ex Machina] energy recognized those with it as well. And, besides, this creature would've been able to defeat them on the first hit if it truly had the energy of a [Writer].

This was simply something new. And, to be honest, it was just as bad as dealing with [Deus Ex Machina] energy.

He was really starting to curse his lack of a weapon. It probably would've shattered immediately upon contact, but he felt a lot more defenceless without it. Besides, one hit blocked was one hit he could survive, and that was infinitely more than what he had at the moment. Right now, he was just a sitting duck.

Where were the teachers when he needed them?

Something else caught his attention, though, distracting him from that line of thought.

"Wait a minute," he frowned, squinting to get a better look.

There was some kind of purple haze coming off the creature. It was hard to notice, especially with all the flame, wind, ice and water flying around, but it was there. He'd seen that once. Where?

"The cultists…?"

Right. The demon cultists. Well, he'd anticipated they'd get involved at some point during their stay at the school. He just hadn't imagined they'd be so strong.

Then, by [Story] logic, there was a traitor. There had to be. A teacher had probably let the cultists onto the island to do… what? Well, he didn't know. It was a bit of a stretch, since there was little evidence to prove it, but [Stories] like this often took this route. If he wanted to take it even further, it was likely one of the Mystics. But who? No, that didn't matter right now.

"Fucking wonderful," John grumbled.

There was only one way out of this at the moment. If he got questioned for this, he'd just make up some kind of excuse later. His life was more important at the moment.

Even with Lilith and Ryan, it wouldn't be enough. John needed to fight.

[Infinity activates! Power: x500]

Pulling his bat out of his pocket dimension, he charged forward, the sound of bone and metal colliding as John's weapon met the creature's arm.

"Yo-o-our we-e-eapon… does not break?"

A glint came from the thing's eyes. John didn't take a step back, though. That alone wasn't enough to scare him. All it did was let him know that something was coming.

Flipping back, he barely avoided a claw to the face as the beast sailed through the air, launching itself like a javelin. It sailed right through a tree, slicing it in half before bouncing off another, jumping right back into the fray.

Suddenly, it howled in fury as an icicle from Prota caught it right in the chest. The wound wasn't deep, but it'd been hurt. Seriously? From that? Even though John had brought his weapon down with full force?

"Is this thing immune to physical damage?"

John sighed in disappointment. Once again, he was relegated to the task of being the frontline.

"Hit it with everything you've got!" he yelled without taking his eyes off the fight. "It's weaker to magic!"

"Why didn't you fight like this before?" Ryan yelled back, shooting another fire arrow.

"Don't ask irrelevant questions!" John shot back.

With that, there was no more time for talk. John was too focused on dodging. Left, right, duck, swing, parry, over and over. A single mistake meant death. A single slip-up would mean everything he'd worked for would go down the drain.

But wasn't that a lot more fun than playing for no stakes at all?

Prota, meanwhile, was doing her best to synergize with her brother's movements. Her finesse with magic was definitely a lot smoother than that of the twins, and so she was capable of sneaking in far more attacks. With each spell, the creature would take just a bit more damage, but it wasn't enough. It was like getting hit by a toddler. Annoying, but ultimately ignorable. Sure, if left alone, it could start to hurt, but you would put an end to it before it got to that point.

John had a sinking feeling that this creature was only putting up with them at the moment.

"John!" she yelled, and he ducked just in time for a blue fireball to go flying through the air, catching the monster right in the face.

It howled in pain again, this time clawing at its head as if terribly wounded. Maybe it was. John didn't hesitate and leapt up, bringing his bat high, smashing down with all the strength he had.

The creature didn't even budge.

"I-I-I… need to tell the masters…"

Without another word, it ran off before anyone could react. Everyone was left panting, stunned by the sudden retreat of the enemy.

"You two still want to stay?" John said, trying to regain his breath.

The twins looked at each other, hesitant, but an unspoken conversation determined their answer.

"We'll stay with you," Lilith said. "Or are you scared that we'll chicken out?"

Despite everything, John grinned. Prota, too, felt her lips curve up just a little. These two friends knew little about her, and yet they were going through all this just to help her. She didn't realize that she'd been doing the same for them.

"Glad to see you're still in it. Come on, let's-"

He didn't get to finish the sentence.

~~~

"Have we figured anything out?"

Leora and Lupin were busy trying to keep the situation quiet. They'd sent another team of teachers out in a boat to see if anything could be done about the barrier, but to no avail. Still, the assistant teacher had been gone for a good thirty minutes. In the worst-case scenario, the headmaster would be here then.

All they had to do was hope that nothing went wrong in the meantime.

"Sir!" another teacher yelled, bursting into the room.

It seemed their living space had become the central communications room. It was as if they were fighting a war.

"A large number of students are returning via the safety system!"

"Good," Leora nodded. "Then they're still safe."

"There should be no reason for them to break as long as the students aren't devoid of mana," Lupin nodded, "and that should be impossible. At their level, for a student to be able to completely drain themselves of mana-"

He cut himself off mid-sentence. Hold on a minute. The only student who knew how to truly bring out the last drop of their mana was Destiny, and Lupin had trained the boy to do so only in dire circumstances. His protégé was smart. He would know not to do such a thing in a scenario such as this.

But there was one. One boy who lacked any knowledge of mana at all but was still in danger. Far more danger than anyone else at the moment.

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"What is it?" Leora said urgently. "Do you know what's attacking our students?"

"Everyone out!"

"Sir, I-"

"Now!"

Everyone's eyes widened. Lupin almost never let his voice rise above more than a stern lecture. The two teachers immediately ran out, shutting the door behind them.

"Lupin, what-"

"That manaless boy!" Lupin gasped. "John!"

"But-"

"Think, Leora! Demon cultists! That boy! What do we know about him? It's too much to be a coincidence, isn't it?"

Suddenly, the phoenix was feeling as much stress as the wolf was.

"If he really is who we think he is-"

"He has no mana, Leora. The safety device won't work on him!"

Suddenly, Lupin was feeling his age. The hundreds of years felt as if they were piling upon him, as if they'd gained a physical weight and were now pressing upon his back.

"Then… what do we do?"

He stared out the window, far more worried than he'd been a few minutes ago.

"We pray. And hope."

~~~

"It came back?!" John yelled, spinning around and blocking the attack.

The creature had indeed come back. Its retreat seemed to be a fake-out, a tactic to get them to lower their guard. It had worked. John would've been dead had his reaction time been any slower.

"Shit!"

Prota was too stunned to react. The thing had come faster than she'd expected. It shouldn't have been John's responsibility to protect himself. She could tell he was using [Infinity], and she was glad he was, but even so, he wasn't meant to be the main force in combat against these kinds of enemies.

"Prota! Do something!" John yelled desperately.

The monster was faster than ever now, bouncing from tree to tree like a pinball. The twins weren't even able to keep up anymore, and even Prota could barely sense where it was from instinct.

John, too, had no clue where it was. [Infinity] was active, but since its stats were spread across all aspects of his body, his perception was nowhere near where it needed to be. He was simply blocking where his body told him to, and his years of experience took over from there. It was a little scary, trusting something so illogical to keep you alive, but then again, John had never feared death.

At the moment, it might've been prudent to fear death just a little.

"John!" Lilith yelled. "We can't hit it!"

"Yeah, I can tell! You guys need to get out of here!"

"What?" Ryan yelled. "We can't just leave you!"

"Yes, you can!"

"You look like you're barely holding on! Wait, no, how are you even doing that in the first place?!"

This wasn't the time for concentration. The question caused John to hesitate, just a bit, and in that moment, the creature struck. John's arms lifted the bat in time, but he was still pushed back. Normally, he'd brace himself and put all his strength into his parries, but now, unprepared, the force of the blow sent him flying.

Now was truly the time to see [Infinity's] lack of defensive power. Blood erupted from John's throat as he crashed through several trees, his body cracking under the force of the attack. The bones in his arms and chest were broken, if not shattered, blood pouring from his ears and head.

"John!" Prota yelled, reaching out, but there was nothing she could do.

"Go-o-o-t hi-i-i-m…" the creature hissed, finally slowing down.

Its head turned slowly to face the twins, its bones cracking as it slowly began to recover from the few hits everyone had landed.

"Yo-o-u-u… annoying."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, John came flying in, smashing the thing's head as if it were a ball on a stick, trying to go for a home run. It didn't seem to do any damage, but it was enough to send it flying away, buying them just a few crucial seconds.

"You two," John gasped.

It seemed like he was trying to yell, but his words were half muddled by his wheezing and gurgling, which was probably due to his broken ribs and blood in his throat.

"Leave… get out of here…"

"What? Look at you!" Lilith protested. "I don't know how you're even standing like that! We can't just-"

"Prota!"

Thankfully, his sister knew what he was asking for, and in the state he was in, she wouldn't think twice about anything else. Two giant blocks of ice went flying toward the twins, and they blinked out of the way just in time, having been sent off the island to where most of the students were now.

"Ha… hahaha…"

John let out a nervous laugh. The creature still hadn't come back. It was just him and Prota, now. The fact that Destiny had yet to arrive meant that it was very possible he was dealing with his own problem.

Were there more than one of these things? How? When did demon cultists start having such strong members? The only person comparable from the Town of Beginnings was Breaker, and John had never seen him fight. The only person comparable from his subjugation days was Jinae, and she hadn't even been a cultist. None of the members he'd fought had ever shown magic or strength like this before.

"Demonic magic?" John muttered.

It was just a guess, but stuff like that wasn't uncommon. It was strange, though. The connections to true demons had been rare up until now, with the only direct association being the fact that the Demon King had been the one to bring Doctor into this world. Otherwise, very little about the [Story] had really been about demons.

So why bring it up now?

"John," Prota said nervously.

"I'll be fine," he wheezed, giving her a thumbs up. "I can't feel any of this. I sure do hope they'll be able to heal me once we get back, though."

"Stop fighting."

"Nuh uh."

"Nuh-" Prota couldn't even finish the sentence. "...?"

"Look. I don't think either of us can take this thing on alone. You're my protector and all that, I get it, but right now, we're gonna have to work together, ok?"

She didn't like it, but she was forced to nod. Suddenly, John fell to his knees. He didn't cry out or anything, but it seemed his body was giving up on itself.

"Ah… shit."

"John! Go back!" Prota exclaimed, trying her best to hold him up.

"I- I don't think I can, Prota," John wheezed. "The safety device- probably relies on the user's mana. Guess what I don't have?"

"No," she pleaded. "John, you have to go."

Prota quickly tried to help him back to his feet, but she couldn't do anything about it. All she could do was stare helplessly as the rustling of bushes grew louder. The creature burst out, claws aimed right at John, but then out of nowhere came a flaming sword, slicing off one of the monster's arms.

"You… you're late, you know," John gasped, grinning.

Destiny didn't turn back, holding his sword before him as the creature howled in pain, squirming on the floor. He glanced back, grimaced as he saw the state John was in, then faced the monster once more.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

~~~

"...op, stop! You can't go in there!"

Lupin stared as the door burst open, the Rose twins stumbling inside. They were still dirty, bruised and tired from the fight, but upon arriving at the island, they'd immediately asked for the professors' location and sprinted straight here.

"Professor!" they exclaimed in unison. "Please, do something!"

"You two- hold on. Just what happened?"

Leora discreetly dismissed the teacher who'd tried to stop the students from barging in. Lupin closed the door, and together, they listened to everything that'd happened.

The twins kept stumbling over each other's words, but the story eventually became clear. They'd been fighting some kind of strange creature, neither a person nor a beast, but it'd been powerful. Incredibly powerful. So much so that the four of them together couldn't defeat it.

"How did John fight?" Lupin frowned.

"A club of some kind," Ryan gasped, still trying to recover his breath. "It was incredibly hard. Enough that it didn't break."

Lupin was familiar with it. It was, after all, the same weapon John had used during the midterm exams. It made sense that he was still using it, although Lupin didn't recall such a weapon on the ship to the island.

"So, it was immune to physical damage, and you say that this John boy managed to keep it at bay?" Leora said, frowning.

"Yes!" Lilith said, sitting up. "His mana reinforcement was really good. But- um-"

"What is it?"

"It didn't feel like mana reinforcement."

The room went silent.

"Why do you say that?" Lupin said cautiously.

"Well, the creature sent him flying, and then when he came back… he was all bloodied. He was wheezing and gurgling like there was blood in his throat. If he was reinforced, he wouldn't take that kind of damage, right?"

The teachers exchanged glances. What could it mean? Had the boy found some way to utilize mana without them knowing? But then why hadn't his defences increased? No, that wasn't important at the moment. They might come back to this issue, but for now, it would be forgotten.

"Then they sent us away. Professors! Please, you have to do something!"

Leora sighed. "I thank you two for coming, but we've been trying for a while now. Unfortunately, we can't get onto the island."

"But you- you two are-"

"That changes nothing. For now, all we can do is wait. You two get cleaned up and report to the nurse's office. A teacher will lead you there."

~~~

"Destiny!" Prota exclaimed.

A wave of relief washed through her. Destiny was here. In one strike, he'd cleaved through the enemy's arm. Surely they had the advantage now, right?

"Here, take this."

He tossed over a vial filled with red liquid. A potion.

"You… had one of these?" John wheezed.

"Drink it," Destiny frowned. "You look like you're about to cross over to the other side."

"Hey. How'd you get this?"

Prota was helping John sit up, feeding him the potion, but she, too, was curious.

"From the supply crates. You never found one?"

"What? No, I- argh, goddamit! Seriously, that guy!"

"...who?"

"Don't worry about it."

Prota stared at John. Was he seriously blaming this on the [Author], too? Well, in a way, if she thought about it, it kinda was the [Author's] fault. Still, this one felt like a stretch. The contents of the supplies were random, right?

Well, random didn't exist in a world where everything was determined by—no. She didn't want to think about it anymore.

"John," Destiny said, snapping Prota back to reality. "There are more of these guys, by the way."

Their eyes went wide. Now that she was getting a good look at him, she could see that he'd been in a fight. His clothes were torn, and he had several cuts that were still bleeding. His silver hair was singed and dirty, his sword still stained with a bit of blood. The bag he'd had when they'd first met him was gone, and he'd pulled the potion out of some kind of dimensional ring.

"I took one down. He was apparently the weakest of the group," Destiny continued.

John nodded, seemingly aware of what was going on. "They're demon cultists, right?"

"Yeah. Apparently, there weren't supposed to be this many, but… well, he didn't get the chance to finish. He blew up before I could get any more info out of him."

John nodded, getting up. He could feel his body knitting itself back together.

"Alright. Just like old times, eh?"

"We're stronger now. Well, you…" Destiny turned back for the first time. The creature was still struggling on the ground, giving the hero time to look John up and down. "I can't really say the same about you."

"Hey!"

"Am I wrong?"

'...no."

"That's what I thought."

Suddenly, the creature bolted, escaping. It must've been playing dead. Now, it was gone, having slipped back into the shadows of the trees.

"You could've killed that thing first," John pointed out. "Now we have to fight it again."

"Did you or did you not want my help?"

"I'm just saying, instead of yapping-"

John was interrupted as the beast leapt forward, but this time, with two skilled fighters, they were able to suppress it. Its movements were no longer as agile as they were before, likely due to missing a limb, and both John and Destiny were constantly on it, allowing Prota to land far more hits than before.

"Prota! Charge it up!" John yelled.

She nodded, holding her hands out in front of her, her mouth soundlessly chanting her spell.

"Frozen Bullet."

The wind began to swirl as ice condensed into blue ice, forming an icicle that she began to pull back. The creature noticed this and screeched, trying to make its way toward the immobile target, but Destiny was faster.

"Your opponent is me."

In a single strike, he cut the other arm off, causing him to fall and howl in pain once more. John didn't waste the opportunity and slammed his bat onto the creature's head over and over, but it yielded no result.

"Why do you get to cut it?" he complained.

"What? Shouldn't you be asking why it isn't taking any damage from you?"

"Immune to physical damage, probably," John panted as he continued to strike.

"...the flames on my sword. That's magic, right?"

With that, Prota's spell was ready. With a cry, she fired it off, and the icicle pierced cleanly through the monster's head, ending its life in an instant. The noise immediately cut off, rendering the jungle silent once more.

"Phew," John sighed, getting up. "That thing was really loud-"

At that moment, a single arrow came flying out of the trees. Before anyone could react, it zipped right through where Destiny had been, sending him right to the rest of the students. Another arrow caught John in the stomach, and then another to the arm, pinning him to a tree like a rag doll. A boulder smashed into his chest, breaking his just-mended ribs, causing him to vomit blood once more. He struggled to look up, gasping out one last order.

"Prota… run…"

With that, he passed out. All Prota could do was tremble as two hooded figures stepped out of the trees, silently putting a bow away.

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