Jake, Annie, Ralph, Williams, Henry, Ruby, Crystal, and every other person that once left for the mission to find Earl had spent the past three months roughly the same.None of the details of the other teams endeavoured were known to the students, they only knew that they remained in the forest.They went on to hunt down and defeat various members of the ORA. Knowing that Sidney and Earl were alive didn't quell their anger, it instead added as motivation to defeat the ORA.Improving their skills, sharpening their moves, and growing stronger and stronger, all of the students grew far beyond what anyone expected.However, with the fated day they were meant to meet with their long lost friends fast approaching, they all returned back to the school and prepared.They'd cleared out the forest closest to the school of all the ORA bases they could find, now all they needed to do was return there and pick them up.Early in the morning, there they were. Janet, Suzuki, Crystal, Alice, Ralph, A
Waiting for them at the doors to Wallace's academy was everyone. All their other classmates, all the other teachers, all the second years, all other staff, and of course Horace himself were gathered at the gate for the return of Sidney and Earl.It was as emotional as they thought it'd be. The classmates nearly piled on the two of them, throwing questions at them as they cried over their return.Everyone was glad that the prodigal sons had returned. Horace had the softest expression anyone had ever seen the moment he laid eyes on Sidney and Earl.He had bags under his eyes. Not the kind you get from crying—Everyone thought it impossible for a man of his caliber to cry—it was one you'd get from sleepless nights.Earl and Sidney would later come to know—From Leon Glenn, Sidney's older brother, while he was drenched in tears for his younger brother's return—that Horace had been working the hardest.He'd been not only personally training all the first years for the entirety that the other
Outside in the training grounds was Horace. He had in front of him all the students that chased after Earl and Sidney, as well as the two aforementioned boys.Standing outside, alongside him were Charlie, Mr Stevens, Mr Adams, Miss Edna, and Miss Kayla.All of them had gathered them for one purpose and one purpose alone, a purpose that would be told directly to all of them by Horace himself."I'm sorry that I gathered all of you on such short notice," Horace began, "I wish I could let you all rest even more, but there's some pressing matters we have to attend to first.""As you all know," he continued, "it's been months since any of you have been back here, as you all were either sent on a secret mission to save Earl and Sidney, or you were the ones being saved.""First of all, I'd like to thank all of you deeply. It is a stain on my name as Horace Glenn and title as Legendary rank alchemist, for me to allow two of my students to be kidnapped from the premises of this school," he lowe
Horace, Charlie, Mr Adams, and Miss Edna stood astonished. These kids had grown exponentially.All the other students that remained at school, the rest of the soon to be second years, they were all advanced tier, which was a feat in and of itself thanks to the efforts of Horace.But for even the 'weakest' of the students that left to be semi-king tier, it was a pleasant surprise."This... This isn't enough, but it could be," said Horace with conviction in his voice. "I'm guessing this means we crank up their training to 11," said Charlie.A huge smile sat on Horace's face. With this, they could look to the future. Mr Adams and Miss Edna were beyond pleased, they were astonished.This wasn't only impressive, but it was incredibly crucial. Most of the stronger staff was around Super tier or Semi-Super tier. With all their students so close to the power levels of the teachers, it seemed like the gods were on their side.Maybe the universe balanced itself, making the students incredibly
Earl arrived back in school, completely confused about what exactly just happened between him and the executives of the AAO.Everything seemed like it happened so fast, like a huge blur. Right now he couldn't even remember most of the questions they'd asked him.Regardless though, he was glad that he could finally rest. "Earl," said Mr Adams. Earl turned around, "yeah?""Your alchemy, it makes you kill people?" Asked Mr Adams. It was now that the details of that meeting rang in Earl's mind.He'd exposed the nature of his alchemy to the executives, and Miss Edna and Mr Adams were there to hear it."Uh..." Earl held his head low. "If that's true..." Said Miss Edna, "wait, when did you first use it?" She asked."You mean like, consciously?" Asked Earl. "you've used it unconsciously?" Asked Mr Adams, "like beyond your control? So you've killed people out of your control before?" Mr Adams looked worried."When?" Asked Miss Edna. "When what?" Asked Earl, "when did you first use it? Can you
Annie and Ruby were inside the dorm room, alone. They'd forced Henry outside the room against his wishes, all because of the words that escaped from Annie's mouth."Earl kissed me."Ruby was shocked. "Earl did what?" She asked again, just to be sure. "He..." Annie's face blushed, "he kissed me," she repeated.A huge smile sat on Ruby's face. "AHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed before giggling on her bed, "wait really? He kissed you?" She asked, full of excitement.Annie buried her face in her hands, embarrassed beyond belief. "Yesh," her mumbled voice came through. Ruby jumped onto Annie, hugging her.The sudden action knocked over Annie, making her squeal as the two landed on the bed.Ruby laughed as she hugged Annie tightly, roughing up her hair. "I'm so happy for you!!" She said.Annie blushed even harder. Ruby sat on the bed with a huge grin on her face, "you got your crush back, AND he kissed you!? This must be the best week of your life!" Said Ruby."... Not all," said Annie. "Huh?" Said
There he was, standing on the top of the roof of the school buildings. Earl White. At age 16, Height of 175cm, O+ blood type, white hair, red eyes, two souls, and a butt load of mana flowing through his veins.His normally scattered curly white hair was swept back using some gel, giving him an elegant look. His face was impeccable, almost like he used a fair bit of make up.He wore a suit. Pure silk through and through. In his pocket was a broach of a flower, a poppy flower.He wore a bowtie, a black one, to match the rest of his suit. His shoes were leather, classy leather. He looked expensive. Very expensive.On his hand was a gold watch, one that reflected the sun's rays. In his hand were flowers, lots of them, and they were all roses.He stood there, waiting, for the one who was meant to meet him up there. The time was 5:57 pm. He'd been standing there trying to act cool for almost an hour now.Still, he was impressed. He never would've thought that Jake, Sidney, and Williams wou
While the lovebirds were having the night of their lives up on the roof of the school building, down in the depths of the dungeon, something else was going on.Not too long ago, before the arrival of Sidney and Earl back in the school, something else happened. Something bigger.Before that day, Horace and the rest of the staff had always been bugged over something. And that was how in the world something as dangerous as the ORA kept getting involved with their school.The first was the attack in Rainbow forest, which frankly made the least sense.The school goes to great lengths to ensure the safety of its students, and though the second and third years have had run-ins with bandits and beasts, those were under strict planned school activities.Things like letting your students go out on very low rank missions for experience and extra credit was nothing new.Ruby and Henry did that in the beginning of their first year. Earl also indirectly did that when he killed the evolving phoenix.
With the pact made amongst one another, talks about the ORA continued, and eventually everyone started sharing their experiences specifically with them.One-way or the other, it eventually divulged into a topic of backstorues, making all the students share details of their transformations during the search for Sidney and Earl.They all were glad to hear that Williams lost his stutter. Hearing his back story and what happened to him only lit a fire in their hearts concerning the ORA.They'd hated them deeply already, but to think they'd take advantage of abandoned children like that... It reminded them that there was nothing the ORA weren't willing to do for their goal.Giving them all the more reason to train and become strong enough to fight them and take them down.Henry revealed the promise he made with his village elder, and everyone showed their support, especially Crystal and Ruby.Earl, Sidney, Annie, and Ruby never knew anything about this, and how could they? Henry was always
Jake laid down on his back, completely shocked silent. He watched Earl distinguished the attack he would've hit Jake with, before smiling and saying the words, "I win."It took a moment for Jake to realise it, but he'd lost the match. The final match in the mini tournament that they were holding, he'd lost that match. He'd lost to Earl.He was completely shocked by the whole thing. The moment he and Earl's fists collided, he felt the brunt of Earl's attack send him flying backwards, and he saw Earl fly off too.But it seemed Earl either recovered insanely quickly, or Jake was thrown a lot harder by Earl's attack than he would've liked to think he did.Before he knew it, Earl was standing over him with an attack ready to be launched straight at him.For some reason his mind went back to when they were kids, back when he'd bully Earl, call him names, and always boss his around because he was stronger than he was.He then remembered the fight that happened back in the entrance exams, the
"Flaming lotus!" Said Earl. "Vortex!" Said Jake. "Whoa!" Said Sidney, "what the hell are those moves?" He asked. "I don't know... But this is getting fun," said Crystal.Both Crystal and Sidney knew that Earl was going to lose the contest no matter what. It didn't really matter what happened when it came to him, he'd already lost two matches, nothing could make up for that now.However the situation for Jake was different. If he won, he would 'officially' be the strongest soon to be second year student in the entire school.Earl wasn't fighting to win, or at least not to win the current mini tournament they were all having. He was fighting for his pride, he was fighting to win and prove himself.Jake was fighting for the same reason. For the longest time he'd been on top of Earl when it came to power and fighting prowess. Ever since Earl got his alchemy, he'd been growing extremely fast, but he still hadn't been able to beat Jake once.This fight wasn't just for the title of strongest
As the smoke cleared from the battle fought, on the floor was Jake and Sidney, both with satisfied looks on their faces.Earl and Crystal had their mouths held open in complete shock. They had a feeling the match would end quickly, but not in one attack.Both of them had their mouths held open in complete and utter shock and confusion. Crystal slowly turned to look and Earl, and Earl slowly turned to look at Crystal."That was..." Said Earl, "... So cool," said Crystal. Their shocked expressions slowly turned into huge smiles."Those guys are crazy," laughed Crystal. "I know right... They're even crazier than I am," said Earl with a huge smile on his face.Both of them hopped down from the training dummies and made their way over to the middle of the training grounds.Sidney and Jake were both huffing and puffing on the floor, breathing heavily. Blood ran down the side of both their faces."Wh-what... are we gonna... do now?" Said Jake. "What do you mean?" Said Sidney, "I won that fig
The explosion was large and huge, far bigger than what anyone was expecting. Not Jake, not Sidney, not Crystal, not Earl.However as the dust slowly settled, the aftermath came into view. The dome of crystals that Crystal had made to protect herself from Earl's attack was shattered to pieces, with only a few stems of crystals sticking out of the ground.Earl was standing there, with his hand held out, and with dust all over him. He began coughing as he waved his hand in front of his face, trying to clear away the dust.It didn't work very well. Earl opened one eye, looking at the place where Crystal was supposed to be. The dust hadn't cleared up, and as a result, he hadn't seen her to confirm she was down.'On second thought, maybe I used way too much firepower,' thought Earl, 'I hope she's okay,' he thought to himself.As he looked down into where she was once—the shattered dome of crystals, he saw a silhouette, one that closely resembled Crystal. It wasn't moving, and it was laid d
Sidney was there, holding himself up using nothing but one of his hands, and with a crystal spike not too far away from his throat, he accepted whole heartedly that he lost the fight."I can win her in close quarters combat," said Crystal. "That's probably what you were thinking right?" She smiled. Sidney couldn't help but see the irony of the whole situation.He'd known that the Lloyd's were stronger than normal, but he'd put his hopes in his enhanced body holding out. And it was the right call at the end. He bet on himself and won.His enhanced body proved strong enough to withstand the 100% force of the Lloyd's, but what he'd misjudged was Crystal's battle iq.She waited for the instant his hand made contact with the floor and picked her moment to strike perfectly.As Sidney remained upside down, he dispersed the mana he'd gathered in his throat, allowing the tiny alchemy circle to show itself.A mouth came out from the alchemy circle, biting repeatedly like a pair of jittering tee
Earl was panting on the floor, pinned down by a butt load of straw, which doubled as the other end of Sidney's arm.Earl messed up. He'd let the curious side of him out too much, egging Sidney on to press on the offensive. This was what ultimately caused his failure. Earl hadn't even shown all the tricks he had up his sleeve. But to be fair, neither had Sidney, both men had simply fought, and one ended up being the winner.Earl didn't feel bad in the slightest though. The thrill of fighting Sidney for the first time left him with a smile on his face."That's the match!!!" Yelled Jake, "Sidney wins, and Earl loses!" He added. "You're amazing, Sid," said Earl, wide grin on his face as he remained pinned down. Sidney reverted back to normal, the straw dissipated.He walked over and held out his hand, "that was a lot harder than I expected," he smiled. Earl grabbed his hand, Sidney pulled him up."So you can like, transform into Gy now?" Asked Earl. "It's a new spell I got," said Sidney
Chapters 225: A winner, Earl Vs SidneyCrystal still stayed in shock as she slowly turned her head around to see Jake. He had most likely used his wind to slow his fall so that when he landed next to her it would sound like he was farther away.She was still completely capable of fighting. They'd only just started the fight after all, and she hadn't shown all she had to offer, but the fight was already over.If this was a real fight to the death, he would've lopped off her head in that moment. Perhaps she was just overconfident before, but she'd been sloppy in her first match.No, she couldn't even make herself think she would've done better. There were still two people she would fight later, she could show more of her power then.As for now? She'd totally lost. A smile sat on her face. "Whoa... You weren't playing around," said Crystal. "I kept your face in tact, now you can seduce Henry another time without worrying about how pretty you are," Jake smirked."You think I'm pretty?" As
The rules of the mini-tournament were clear enough for everyone to follow. Whoever won the most battles would be the winner, and the ones who lost the most would be the fourth strongest.Though it wasn't completely official, it was still going to be had. The four of them knew that the difference in power between them would most likely be miniscule at best.Crystal was a natural talent, and she came from the family of the Lloyds, known for being incredible combatants. She was bound to be one of the strongest in the school from birth alone. Jake was the epitome of hard work. Luck was on his side from the beginning, so he was something of a big fish in a small pond.But now that he'd been introduced to the river, he still held his own. Wind alchemy wasn't seen as something incredible or noteworthy by most, but Jake had changed that fact in the minds of the students.He'd held his own as one of the strongest people amongst them, and he didn't look like he would stop growing anytime soon