Rise of the Crusader

Aurora stood in place with shock evident in her eyes.

The sudden explosion was something she never expected, and as her mouth opened slightly, she spoke in a low voice.

"Self-detonation."

The magnitude of the explosion was at a level that could be compared to a nuclear explosion, and with all the rumors that had been said about Clement, Aurora immediately understood what had just transpired.

Those weren't rumors, and it was, in fact, true that Clement had the power to self-explode.

But, what made Aurora confused was, how he was willing to sacrifice himself all because he wanted to take Raphael down.

As the scorpions were moving close to her, Aurora stretched her hand out and shot a laser beam at them.

Boom!

Aurora took a deep breath afterward.

There was no sign of Raphael or Clement in the surroundings even as the explosion cleared.

Apart from the directors, every other person in the hall was startled. No one was expecting Clement to make that move or even possess that power.

The destructive level was enormous, and as Raphael was nowhere to be found after a few minutes of search, they soon began to believe that he was dead.

"What a pity."

One of the students blurted.

Meanwhile, Aurora had only taken a few steps toward the red scorpion and the others when she heard a footstep.

She abruptly paused, and this time around as she saw the figure who was walking towards her, she experienced a different kind of emotion.

"Y-You… You're alive." Aurora stuttered.

"How did you survive that?!"

Aurora wasn't the only one who had that question in mind, but the others did as well.

Raphael stood in front of her without the slightest bit of harm on his body. There wasn't any wound or blood on him, in fact, it was as though, he wasn't involved in any explosion.

As his clothes were spotless.

"Behind you."

Raphael mumbled, and as Aurora heard him, she shot another laser beam at the incoming scorpion.

Aurora had her eyes fixed on Raphael, she wondered if he was going to tell how it was that he survived that explosion, and what exactly happened to Clement.

However, as no response came from Raphael, she moved her gaze back to the scorpion.

Raphael soon a step forward, and appeared beside Aurora. He stared at the red scorpion, who has been protected by over a hundred scorpions, and said.

"You're no match for the scorpion, and if you want to insist on going after her, you should."

"But, you will end up dead." Raphael blurted.

A frown was quick to appear on Aurora's face.

She seemed to want to retort to Raphael when he suddenly moved.

Bypassing the other scorpion easily, Raphael appeared in front of the red scorpion. His hand was already balled into a tight fit and when he arrived at the scorpion's front, he struck out a blow.

The red scorpion wasted no time, and the moment it saw Raphael's fist, it sent out its stinger immediately.

Tssss!!!

Raphael had no problem dealing with the stinger, and when it collided with his fist, he was able to send the scorpion a few steps backward.

Tssss!!!

The red scorpion sent out another hiss, acting as a warning to Raphael.

"Shit!"

Aurora blurted as she glared at the other scorpion, who prevented her from moving anywhere closer to the battle.

Over hundreds of scorpions obstructed her path, and if there was one thing, it made her realize then it was that Raphael was right.

Even with her suit, she wasn't able to take down all the scorpions. They were still capable of harming her severely, so if she stood no chance against this one, then how was she able to face the red scorpion?

An A-rank metabeast.

Tss!!!

As the battle went on between Raphael and the red scorpion, it was clear as the day that Raphael had the upper hand.

He had the red scorpion moving backward, while it defended from his strikes, and also made moves of its own.

Seeing, how Raphael fought against the red scorpion, despite its huge build, it was very much obvious that this wasn't the first time he was fighting against a meta beast.

"Got it!" Raphael suddenly exclaimed.

Raphael had been trying to have his hand on the scorpion stinger, and once he caught it, a smile hung on his face.

It wasn't however the same feeling for the scorpion, as a second after Raphael caught its stinger what came out of its mouth was a scream that was simply full of pain.

Unlike the other part of the scorpion's body, its stinger wasn't only its mode of attack, but it was also the most vulnerable area.

As Raphael held the stinger, the absolute decay worked on it immediately.

This!!!

Raphael had the scorpion's stinger destroyed in no time, and as it was demolished, the red scorpion hurried away from him.

The scorpion, however, continued to watch and experience antagonizing pain that came from the decay of its body.

Meanwhile, Raphael slowly bent, picking the key back up. He stared at the key for a few seconds, before wrapping his hand around it.

Raphael began walking towards the table, and after watching how the red scorpion was dealt with, the other scorpions didn't think of seeking revenge on him, instead, they moved far away from him.

The hate and murderous intent were present in them, but none of them dared to act on it.

Raphael was only a few meters away from the table when he abruptly paused. He then stared at the person in front of him with an eyebrow raised.

"Hand the key over!" Aurora blurted.

And seeing the look that was on Raphael's face after she spoke, her lips curved inwardly.

"What so funny about what I said." Aurora paused, "Hand the key over, Raphael."

"Don't make me come at you."

A light frown was on Aurora's face. She balled her hand into a tight fist and glared at Raphael with killing intent evident in her eyes.

Aurora had expected Raphael to at least change his demeanor once she expressed killing intent to him, but she was instead stunned that the mocking smile didn't leave his face.

Aurora heaved a deep breath, "If you don't hand over the key, I will come to get it."

"And you wouldn't like how I would obtain it from you," Aurora said.

Raphael sneered, he took a step forward, and before Aurora could even react, he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Aurora wanted to retort to him when she recalled what he was capable of doing to her at the moment. She stared at his right hand that was pressing on her shoulder, and fear swept all over her.

She gulped hard, and beads of sweat appeared all over her forehead.

"Y-" Aurora stuttered.

Raphael, however, had a smile on his face, he seemed to take great satisfaction in the expression on Aurora's face.

"H-How…"

Though she was wearing a suit made of gold-titanium alloy, Aurora was deeply scared to extent that she couldn't move a muscle.

She had witnessed a complete human being torn apart from merely being touched by Raphael. And now, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen to her if Raphael were to use his powers.

"The look on your face reminds me of someone," Raphael mumbled.

A second after he spoke, he removed his hand from Aurora's shoulder and walked towards the table.

Despite Raphael already moving away from her, Aurora was still unable to get over the fear that she had just experienced.

Her body was trembling violently, after all, she had just come close to death itself.

Raphael soon placed the key on the table and right away the key was there, the surroundings changed as they did earlier.

Everyone was soon back in the gladiator stadium.

However, among the ten who had been on the stage earlier, only four were present at the moment.

Raphael, Jeremy, Hilario, and Aliyah.

And as soon as Raphael appeared on the stage, Gus who was sitting on Aliyah's shoulder flew from there and came onto his shoulder.

A loud hiss was then let out by Gus a second after it sat on Raphael's shoulder.

"Really," Raphael mumbled.

A chuckle then escaped his mouth once Gus nodded his head.

There was a smile on a couple of the director's faces as they stared at the four in front of them. They had been through all sorts of tests, and events, but these four were able to overcome them all.

"Congratulations, Kai! The elite division future is bright." Nicholas blurted.

Kai flashed a light smile, "The research and support division is also in safe hands."

Kai replied.

"The finale will begin shortly, the four of you have three hours to recuperate, and get back here."

"I wish you good luck, you may leave now," Nicholas said.

As a nod came from the four of them, they walked off the stage. The finale was going to determine whether or not their effort was worth it, so there needed to be in their best form.

After the four of them left the stage, Nicholas spoke.

"Aren't you all curious about what exactly he did to Clement?"

"It would be a lie to say I'm not," Layla replied.

"Same here."

"Even until now, I still haven't understood how he was able to come out of that explosion alive, and Clement is also nowhere to be found." Said Iris.

The directors were then staring at Kai, he was after all the strongest among them and if there was someone who could understand what happened, then it had to be him.

As they waited for a response from Kai, a chuckle suddenly came from Vermont.

"I was right, the assassin division is where he truly belongs," Vernon stated.