King of Shadows

Adam

No one else seemed to notice my transformed arm. Only Kanda. I blinked. "I'm a part of what...?" I stared at him, and he gave me a warm smile.

"The Black Order," He explained, "It's not really an organization, but only people with innocence know about it. We call ourselves The Exorcists, we kill akuma - well, everybody does that, but we do it much faster - and we fight The Noah. There are different types of innocence too, Equipment types are like me, they use boots, Katana's, hammers, any kind of object. Parasitic types, like you, use their own bodies, General Suman Dark is a parasitic type too. Those types are more rare."

"So...my arm...can turn into this?" I asked, gesturing to the elongated black claws protruding from my hand. It looked pretty badass to me. Kanda nodded and put away his sword.

"Your innocence can evolve too, just like Akuma can. No one knows how innocence really does this, but it just happens, especially in high-stress situations. Your arm will probably deactivate in a few seconds." I watched my arm closely, and it took a minute or two before my arm turned back to normal. I inspected my arm, furrowing my brow as I ran my fingers down my arm. There was no sign of those claws from a few seconds ago. I grabbed my sword as everyone else began to mount their horses that somehow miraculously survived. The only signs of a battle were the mounds of grey sludge left behind from the dead akuma. No one on our side died. I mounted my horse, and joined everyone else as we started the ride back to camp. Viper antagonized me the entire ride back. "I'm surprised you survived," Viper remarked, "Someone as weak as you should've died in their first battle."

"Me? Weak? Who was the one that got attacked by a Shadow Creature and survived? Who was the one who had to deal with the brutality of your family and the village all those years? It definitely wasn't you," I snapped. My horse puffed out a breathe shaking it's head side to side, seeming as agitated as I was. Viper's nostrils flared. I urged my horse to go faster, and he did the same.

"Well, if you weren't so monstrous, then maybe they wouldn't have been like that." he said with disdain. I growled.

"I don't have control over my appearance, you ass," I muttered. Kanda was in front of us, and I couldn't help but stare. He didn't have a hair out of place even though we just went through battle. Viper clicked his tongue, and continued, but I didn't pay much attention. All I could think about was Kanda, and the way his shoulder muscles moved as he rode. He was god damned beautiful. "-Hey, have you been listening to anything I've been saying?!" Viper shouted, and I blinked out of my daze.

"No, I wasn't. Who'd listen to you if all you did was insult people?" I remarked. Finally, camp was coming into view and I let out a sigh of relief. I could finally escape Viper, but boy was I so wrong. As we entered camp, something was off. Someone unfamiliar was standing at the entrance. His eyes were green, and cold. He wore a red overcoat, he had a whip at his side, it glowed gold. "General Adam," Kanda said, looking surprised, and somewhat terrified. My heart stopped dead in my chest, why was he terrified? Kanda dismounted his horse and greeted the man with a firm handshake.

"Why are you here?" Kanda said apprehensively.

"I wanted to see if your soldiers were good enough," Adam responded.

"They're good soldiers," Kanda began, "They passed my training."

"That may be so, but it's mandatory," Kanda's face paled and Adam smiled cruelly. "Let's get started, shall we?" We all entered camp and we were lead to the Clearing. Kanda stood stiffly and sweat drenched his face."I'll test each of you," Adam told them. "By fighting you, Leo, please step forward, you're first," What did Adam mean when he said "test"? I rested my hand on my sword.

He took a step forward, and the rest of us backed away. Adam drew his weapon, it was shaped like a massive sickle with sharp edges. It was stained with blood. Red blood. Human blood. Adam rushed Leo, and swung his huge sickle. Leo dodged, and Adam rushed again, this time striking his unguarded shoulder. Blood instantly welled up and poured out of the wound. Adam tackled Leo to the ground, and Adam moved on to the next. And the next. Everyone ended up losing pretty quickly except for Viper who held his own pretty well for at least a minute. Now it was my turn. I didn't touch my sword. Yet. He rushed at me, just like he did with everyone else. I dodged, he lunged again, swinging his sickle shaped weapon in an arc. As fast as lightning, I unsheathed the weapon, and blocked the blow with my own sword. Sparks rained down on us, shhhngg! I jumped back, and he circled me, hungry for blood. I swung at him, and he blocked, and shoved me. I managed to keep my balance and stay standing. Evasion was my best strategy.