"I have to say, I'm glad we managed to get grouped together instead of getting stuck with a bunch of strangers. Besides Lect, the rest are still apprehensive towards us, so this is for the best," Remarked Iris with a relieved look on her face, as we walked through a shopping district.About an hour had passed since we split up into six groups, and it's been seriously slow progress since then. We've spoken to almost every single person we've come across, barring children who haven't yet awakened their Magic Systems.I can sense if a person has unlocked their Magic System or not by their Ether, those who haven't unlocked theirs tend to have stagnant Ether, no different than plants. I've been letting Iris know whenever we come across someone like that, it's helped save a small bit of time, but it still left a massive number of people to question. It's also earned a bit of suspicion from Rex, but at this point, I don't care...as much of an asshole as he is, I suppose I can grudgingly adm
"Bastard, I'll kill you!" Snapped Iris, as she drew out her blade and rapidly extended it towards him as he cast a massive, dark dome around all of us, before she yelled to everyone as he narrowly evaded her blade, "Snap out of it! He's the culprit, the person we've been looking for!""Wow, an Apocryphal Weapon, huh? What a sight, you don't see one of those everyday," Remarked Lect, glancing at his left arm, her blade having cut through his armor and grazed his skin beneath it."Get behind me, Li," I remarked, grabbing her wrist and moving her behind me as I stepped out in front of her, the other Mages starting to surround Lect. Damn it, this isn't good...the dome of Dark Ether he cast, it's slowly but steadily sapping our energy and stamina, I can sense everyone's Ether decreasing bit by bit with every passing second, the flow of their Ether gradually but undoubtedly growing smaller and less stable. "You tricked us, you bastard! Take this, [Lancer Art: Piercing Javelin]!""Yeah, yo
Point-of-View: Lilac Lero ———————————————————————————N-no, this can't be happening... "T-To? P-please, no...you can't be dead...," I stuttered in horror, a choked sob escaping my lips. "Your concern is so touching...but I'd be more worried about yourself if I were you. He's dead and gone now, it's over for him...and now, you're going to die too. Look on the bright side, if you believe in an afterlife, you'll be reunited with h-...," Began Lect as he raised his Dark blade towards my throat, before abruptly trailing off as an intense explosion of energy suddenly burst out behind him, startling him before he quickly turned his gaze back. My eyes widened in disbelief and immense relief at the sight that met me...Topaz, he's...he's standing up! He's alive! Thank goodness, he's okay! Huh? Wait, something isn't right. His eyes...they're fully blue, even the whites of his eyes, it's like the color of Ether, glowing brightly as streaks of Ether swirled around his body. His right arm was
Point-of-View: Lect Flair———————————————————————————"Tch...why the hell did we leave, damn it!? Just another minute and I could've eliminated that brat, no problem!" I snapped, as we teleported into our hideout and I was dropped onto the ground. "You dumbass...you know you're not supposed to act at your own discretion, you were pushing things as it was with the influx of organized crime that you were directly responsible for. Your antics made it a lot harder for me to move around freely, you damned idiot," Came the cutting response. "Why, you-...!?""Ooh, you guys look like you're about to throw down. Mind if I watch? Be as feral and violent as you possibly can, rip each other's dicks off!" "Tch, Cesla...fuck off, this has nothing to do with you," I growled, glaring at her. "Hey, now, no need to be such a dick about it, I'll kill you," She scoffed, as more footsteps echoed out, heading this way. "What did you do this time, Lect? Because whatever it is, the boss sure does seem p
Hm...? Where...where am I? What happened? I don't rememb-...huh, this feels familiar. No, wait, I do remember...As I slowly blinked my eyes open, I suddenly sat up with a start as it all came flooding back to me. What happened!?The last thing I remember is losing consciousness, right as Lect was about to...a-about to..."Lilac...no, please don't tell me she's...," I trailed off quietly, my body starting to tremble as my breathing grew sharp and ragged, panic starting to set in-..."Huh? You're finally awake! I'm so glad, To!" Suddenly came a familiar voice as the door opened with a creak, snapping me out of it."Li, you're...you're okay. Thank goodness," I responded as it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, my eyes wide as immense relief washed over me."Mhm, I'm just fine, good as new. Your eyes are kinda droopy, guess that means you only just woke up, huh? You were out for three whole days, you know," She informed me, shutting the door and walking in with a tray a
"Tch...I can feel you staring at me, you know. If you have something to say, then just come right out and say it," I remarked with an annoyed frown."It's not exactly that I have something to say to you...I've just got a lot of questions that are on my mind," Responded Rex curiously.It was the next day, the 12th of June, 505 PA, around 10 AM. We were finally heading back to Skyrouge City, though we probably won't arrive until close to midnight, it's going to be a long journey to get home.I still feel pretty worn out and tired, despite having slept for three whole days, and then sleeping a bit more last night. Hm, I suppose it could be a side effect of Ethereal Sleepwalking, though I can't be sure of that. After all, since it's such a rare phenomenon, there isn't much information about it, so I'm just guessing.But that said, to still feel fatigued after sleeping for that long, there's no way that's normal. I just want to curl up and snooze for a good long while, but that's easier sa
"Alright, I play two Qs," Declared Rex, setting down two cards facedown onto the pile. "Hm...I call your bluff, you're lying," I remarked confidently, as I narrowed my eyes at him."Damn it, come on," He sighed in disappointment, revealing his cards and confirming that I made the right call."Nice call, I thought his poker face was pretty good," Said Iris with a grin, as Rex grudgingly added all the cards in the pile to his hand."Well, I'm screwed, there's no way I'm winning this game. I've got like half the deck in my hand now," He frowned apprehensively."Yeah, you kinda suck at this," Chuckled Lilac tauntingly."Jeez, you don't have to rub it in..."About a week had passed since our battle in Limvert City, it was the 19th of June, 505 PA, today, and the four of us were currently heading out on a new Quest.After we got back to Skyrouge City following the incident with Lect Flair, if that's even his real name, the girls and I headed straight home, and informed Ifeus of what had ha
"Wait for us here, you'll be in danger if you take us too much further ahead," Iris informed the driver, as we disembarked the carriage and continued on foot, just a few minutes away from the north-east section of the border."Sure, I'll keep the carriage parked over here."Yeah, it's best that we continue on foot from here on. We don't want the bandits to see us coming, after all. There are a lot of trees and large rocks in this area, so it's not too difficult to sneak through this place without being seen if we go on foot.We'll just have to hope that the bandits don't have any members with sensory Traits, but that seems like a fairly probable possibility. They've ambushed, robbed and even killed a whole lot of people over the last week or so, it'd be a lot easier to do so if they had one or more sensory Traits between them.Of course, we've got sensory Traits on our end as well, my Ether Detection and Rex's Heat Detection. We'll need to be ready to respond the instant we sense othe