Capítulo 46: The Windsor Project

What the twins said was stuck in Devin's mind like glue. They told him that the matches of the strongest member of each team were predetermined. The other eight were the only ones who were randomly generated.

He went to the hall and saw the girls with Rain and Adonis there. The next round was Protect the Leader. With three participants each team, they would select a leader. They will enter a maze and find out who the leader of the enemy team was. The leader will have a small metal crown pin on them.

Once the enemy team steals the pin, they lose. The round will end once all the pins are taken. The team with the most pins wins the round.

"So, have you decided on who the team leader is?" Devin asked.

The three looked at each other and grinned. "It's a secret," Margaux winked.

"Hey everyone," Yuri entered the hall with a tray of chocolate drinks on a mason jar. "Oh, I'm sorry Devin. I didn't get enough drinks."

"No, it's okay," Devin said. "I wanna train with you guys tonight."

His teammates looked at each other before simultaneously nodding. "At least now we have a sparring partner for Rain. Kagura's still not in the best condition," Margaux said.

Not long after their drink, they went on to position themselves at either side of the hall.

"Bring Out!"

Devin did not want to lose all his stamina in the first phase of the battle. He trained himself to last in a fight even without bringing out his Reverence.

The two teams didn't hesitate to clash swords. Without knowing who the other's team leader was, each of them had to think critically.

Yuri leaped, twisting his upper body, and slammed his long curvy sword towards Adonis who barely avoided the attack.

It was a hard time for Adonis. Since he was a sniper or a long-range type, he shouldn't be fighting on the field. Although he knows how to defend himself, actual fighting wasn't his forte.

Margaux was stealthily sneaking at Sofia who was doing the same. Their fight was all about stealth, hiding their presence, and slashing as fast as possible.

Sofia had received a lot of training from Morris. She now has better control of stronger attacks, which Margaux had mastered a long time ago.

"Ark!" Margaux yelled. "Butterfly Flexion!"

She dashed towards Sofia and leaped. Her sword with an arrow shaped d swerved along with her body. It was like she was turning into a rubber.

"Oh, no," Sofia uttered when Margaux gor too close. Sofia tried to meet her attack but it suddenly bent, turning her sword and hitting Sofia's arm with the hilt.

Margaux's flexible body then spun, putting her leg out and kicking Sofia on the side. The attack made Sofia's body fly a few meters away. Margaux checked Sofia, although she was okay, she wasn't the leader.

Meanwhile, Devin was having a hard time against Rain. Rain was fast and stealthy. Along with his faux attacks and his unpredictable moves, it was hard for Devin.

"Why don't you use your Reverence?" Rain provoked. "Am I not worthy?"

Although irritated, Devin kept his temper and attacked Rain without bringing out his powers. His speed, strength, and all other aspects were far inferior from when he activates his powers but if he needs to get stronger, he needs to save that power for a critical moment.

Rain's clawed gloves were mercilessly punching and scratching at Devin's direction. He didn't showed any hesitation upon fighting.

"Ark!" Rain yelled. "Rain of Punch!"

Rain disappeared from in front of Devin. He looked around only to feel a strong force coming from him from above him.

He looked and saw Rain there, fists first and was only a few meters away. Rain was punching in all different directions, making it hard for Devin where to block.

'Should I use it?' Devin asked himself. 'What am I thinking? Of course, now!"

"Bring Out, Revelation!"

Devin flashed on top of Rain. He kicked the taller boy's feet, making Rain lose his balance and fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Just when he thought he had the win, Rain did a handstand and kicked Devin on his side. The pain was real, like Rain was indeed trying his best to win.

Devin flew a few meters back, rolling on the floor a couple of times before he regained his posture.

"That all the best you have?" Devin provoked which made Rain position his fists.

"I'm just getting started," Rain sand and dashed towards the smaller boy. He wasn't hesitating anymore. In this form, Devin was out of his league. Being too soft on him would cost him his win.

He struck several punches and slashes to Devin. Devin was avoiding the swift attacks that was aiming for him. He was only waiting for an entrance. One tiny gap in Rain's tight defense.

"Ark!" Rain yelled, positioning himself to jump in a flash on top of Devin.

"Gotcha," Devin whispered and flashed in front of Rain. Using his sword sideways, he swung it, hitting Rain on the side and throwing him a couple of meters back. In a glance, he looked like he copied Morris's move.

"Your Ark takes too long to cast," Devin said, walking over to Rain who was looking at the ceiling in shock. His glowing white cloak and glowing white sword ceased to exist the moment he deactivated his Reverence. "Where's your pin?"

Rain smirked and pointed on the side. When Devin looked where he was pointing at, Yuri fell to his knees in defeat.

"What in the–"

Rain rolled, stood up and locked his arms around Devin's. "Now!"

"Whoop," Margaux appeared in front of them. "Sofia got so much stronger."

Margaux fetched the pin from Devin's left pocket. She had always known it was there since the coldness of the metal was detected by her Sanctity after her battle with Sofia.

"We won!" Rain cheered and hugged Margaux. They ran to Adonis and joined him in the hug. "We won!"

–

A swift kick on the thigh made Rain fell to his knees. His teammates were already knocked out and there were still three enemies in front of him.

"Princess Felicia…" Judith trailed off.

The other participant on their team checked Rain's pockets. The small crown-shaped pin was snatched away by a boy not an inch shorter than Adonis.

'It all happened so fast.' Rain thought.

'We were winning.'

"Your team had been winning," Princess Felicia said. "Just know that the game had just started. Europe will win again. Judith, finish him."

Felicia walked away and left Judith with Rain. She sighed and mouth something before knocking Rain out of consciousness.

"Team Europe had won!"

The night came and Rain woke up because of the soft voices that were ringing throughout the room.

The voices stopped after seeing him sit up. He rubbed his temples after feeling the pain that went inside his head.

"What happened?" Rain asked. Devin smiled and sat on his bed.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Devin asked to which Rain shook his head no.

"Just tell me what happened," Rain asked sternly.

"Well…" Devin trailed off and took a deep breath. "We lost the round. But that's okay. Those guys are too strong anyway. Even the Team Oceania was no match for them."

A tear escaped Rain's eye. He looked at Devin with welled eyes, streaks of tears threatening to fall. "I-I thought we would win."

His grief was instantly met by the embrace of his teammates. After all the training they spent, they still lost. They were coated with layers of silence. No one threatened to break it so everyone could take everything in.

A soft knock interrupted their moment and a blonde head with long curly hair popped. "Hello."

"Maxime?" Morris asked and walked over. "What are you doing here?"

"Got permission from Uncle Martin," Maxime said simply and walked inside. Everyone's eyes were starting at him that made him shudder in discomfort. "Don't stare at me. It's weird."

"What brings you here, Maxime?" Devin asked and walked over to him.

"Oh, saw the match earlier and you guys are so going to be f*cked," he said. No one said anything, making him click his tongue. "Sorry about that. Well, the next matches are bound to be not in our favor. They're at it again. Them and their power-thirsty bloodline."

"What do you mean?" Morris quirked his brow.

"You prolly noticed how vile the royal family is but no one's saying anything, right?" Maxime asked to which everyone nodded. "Good. Now, I want you to know that some families are untouchable even by the Union. This is why they are basically free to do whatever they want."

Kagura scrunched her face, "And?"

"You prolly don't notice but there are a lot of weird things going on in that family," Maxime sighed. "They're reactivating Facetus."

Everyone apart from Devin gasped. Before he could ask, Maxime had beaten him to it. "Facetus is the infamous result of their family's experiment. If we have the Alastair Project, we also have the Windsor Project. There had been only one before and now they are doing it again."

"Wait," Devin interrupted. "What does the Facetus do?"

"Well, they basically draw out dark powers from the Purgatory instead of their Reverences," Maxine said, looking at Devin's shadow for a moment and looked at his face and smiled.

"Is that bad?" Devin asked. Rodney gave him an awkward smile and walked over.

"Bud, the Windsor Project is more brutal than the Alastair Project," Rodney said. "Drawing dark powers comes with consequences. The last time such a thing was drawn, something bad happened."

"Something bad?"

"An Exorcist became a Stained Soul."