Alice and Annie sprinted through the forest, they passed tree after tree but still felt they weren't running fast enough, they could hear two sets of footsteps following closely behind them, they hadn't turned back since they took off, they didn't need to, they had a clear idea of who was giving them chase, all they needed to do was continue sprinting, "Alice..... *pant*.... I have.... *pant*.... an idea" Annie said as she sprinted beside Alice panting, " what.... *pant*..... is it?" Alice replied panting heavily, "Let's.... *pant*.... split up" Annie said, "Huh?" Alice said with a confused look on her face, she couldn't understand her reasoning, they were being chased by two unknown masked people, and her first idea was for both of them to split up?, it didn't make any sense to her, ".... *pant*.... why?!!!" Alice asked, still sprinting, "sooner or later..... we're gonna have to fight... *pant*.... and if we get exhausted before that... *pant* we'll be dead for sure" Annie said, "so

Alice sped through the forest in a panicked state, she had a huge smile plastered on her face as she did though, despite her somewhat controlled demeanour, sweat ran down her forehead as thoughts ran through her head, she had responded to Annie on impulse and hadn't actually thought up a plan, all she did for the past four minutes was run, she didn't know what to do, she just wished that someone would come to her rescue, it was wishful thinking yes, but it would be the best outcome for her if Soki finished up his battle and helped her out of her predicament, however the chances of that happening was slim, so she racked her head trying to come up with a plan, while keeping the huge smile on her face, suddenly a purple liquid shot out from behind her, it came as a surprise, she was unprepared and unaware of the nature of the liquid, or how dangerous it was, but thanks to her catching a glimpse of it at the corner of her eye she was lucky enough to avoid it, she jumped just in time off r

Earl kept on speeding towards Soki and Dia while Annie gave chase, although Earl moved rather quickly, at least quicker than any normal human eyes would be able to perceive, Annie had enhanced her eyesight and speed interchangeably, she wasn't yet able to enhance both attributes at the same time, so she had to result to careful switching amongst attributes to get as close to a simultaneous experience as possible. She didn't know where he headed to, but she had a feeling that he was still in there somewhere, she thought it strange that he had left them alone, while killing the masked man, although there were many possibilities, like he recognising actual threats and disposing of, or them just having dumb luck, but she had the feeling that he did it on purpose, he was still there, and she felt like she needed to pull him out. Soki's blood spewed on the floor as Dia's foot drove itself into his lower abdomen, however Soki in turn grabbed Dia's foot and pulled him in close,

It was early in the morning, around 6am or so, the fresh morning breeze and the elegant sound of natures music filled the air, gentle and subtle footsteps could be heard ever so slightly as Earl walked about the shop, he had a broom in hand, and other cleaning tools by his side. With light yet vigorous strokes of his hand, and a sweet humming melody, Earl cleaned the entire shop, from dusting the shelves, to mopping the floor, the presence of a speck of dirt was unfathomable, and what's more, the graceful dance that went with the cleaning motions were nothing short of euphoric. eventually another set of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. although not as elegant and gentle, they too had a blissful rhythm accompany it, Earl turned his head ever so slightly towards the stairs as that was where the second set of footsteps originated from, the light red bandana he had tied up to his forehead waved slightly as his neatly packed hair had their own set of mo

Earl, Jake and Norman all stood outside the shop out on the front porch, a gentle breeze blew past the three, with a warm fuzzy smile on Norman's face, he addressed the two young boys in front of him. "I'm gonna teach you guys something called Heka" Norman said with a smile on his face, both boys looked at eachother confused before looking back at Norman, "What's that?" Earl asked. "You see mana is used in performing alchemy, Ki is used in performing ki based attacks known as Hiori, Heka on the other hand is kind of like an in-between of both of these" Norman said maintaining the smile on his face. Jake looked rather confused, and Earl knew why, although both of them were well versed in Alchemy and mana, Ki was a concept only Earl and his club members had learned of so far, so he kind of knew why Jake was confused "Mana is the eternal energy of someone, it's what allows us to do alchemy" Earl said to Jake, Jake turned over with an annoyed look on his face"I kno