(note: this chapter will be told in both first and third person perspective, the first part will be told in Ruby's POV, and then the second will be in third person, any who enjoy) Earl looked at me with conviction in his eyes, what he had said was true, I did avoid eye contact subconsciously whenever I lied to someone, I don't really get how he knew this, or how he knew any of the other things about our other friends, but I guess my behaviour was too obvious for anyone not to notice, and it seemed like all my teammates were worried, I mean it was to be expected… I am their leader after all. but since I was more or less cornered in this room, there was no longer a reason for me to keep quiet, after all I hear talking about it with someone really lifts the heart. I mean there was nothing stopping me from just flat out ignoring him and going to bed, but he was my friend, at least it felt like that, they were all my friends. every single last one of them, and they
Ruby was sat on her bed, still reminiscent of her conversation with Earl, an hour ago, his words still rung in her head, and she was still contemplating on what to do next when Henry walked into the room,"Hey Ruby" Henry said with a cheery smile, "h-hey…" Ruby said as she hung her head low and locked her fingers together. "l-listen-", "You know I lost my next match" Henry said quickly interrupting her, Ruby was caught by suprise by his comment, "h-huh?" she said with a confused look on her face. "Yeah, it was against Jake, and that guys really something else" Henry said as took a seat next to Ruby, "compared to Crystal, I'd still say she's stronger, but losing twice in a row really sucks you know" he said as he hung his own head down. Ruby, on hearing this, raised her head and looked at him, "um… I-", "sorry Ruby" Henry said interrupting her once more, "h-huh?, for what?" she asked, "I over heard your conversation with Earl" he said as he looked up at her, "wha-, w
"Soki has made a full recovery" those 6 words resonated in Earl's mind rent free, he wasn't exactly panicked, just more or less distracted, he couldn't sleep well that night. and it wasn't due to some feeling of anxiety or anything, he just didn't know how everyone would feel, considering what had happened, he kept pondering on the idea, while getting little of amounts of sleep in-between, until it was finally morning, and every other person got up to prepare for club activities. "Earl?..." Annie asked as she rubbed her eyes, before letting out a yawn, "how long have you been up?" she asked as she crawled down her bed sluggishly. "A while…" Earl said while getting off his own bed, "you okay there buddy?" Henry asked with a merry smile while heading down his bed, "quit being so loud Henry… don't even know how your a morning person despite being a perv" Ruby said as she buried her tired face into her pillow. "And what's the correlation there?" Henry asked as he head
Earl and the others had all headed out of the Crystal cave, about an hour ago, and we're all now in class awaiting Mr Stevens. "Well the first meeting went well, but I wonder…" Earl muttered to himself as he laid his head down on his desk, "quit sulking Earl, we met Soki, and things went well, I think teachers in this school are really professional, so what are you worrying about?" asked Annie as she used her pencil to poke his cheek. "I don't know, I still feel real bad" Earl said as he kept sulking on his desk, "just apologize when he comes then" said the person sitting in front of Earl. Annie, Earl and Sidney were all confused and surprised as they heard what Austin had said, considering the bad blood between Earl and him, they had expected him to have hated Earl, but he spoke to them out of the blue, and his tone didn't seem like a hostile one. "What did you just say?" Earl asked as he sat up and looked at Austin, Austin then turned around looking at Earl with a
"what am I?" Earl asked confused as he looked at the serious faced Soki, "I'm Earl White, I'm fifteen years old, I live with my grandpa in Gillhill, and I am a first year student of Wallace's academy" said Earl in an innocent manner. "it seems you misunderstood me, I know you're identity, but I wish to know what exactly you are, because you don't seem… normal" said Soki. Earl was visibly confused, and he didn't even know what to say, "w-what do you…" Earl said before being interrupted by Soki, "when my hand was cut off back at the rainbow forest, I picked up my dismembered hand off the floor and attempted to reattach it using Ki. however I had somehow lost the ability to utilise ki, and had to rely on my deity spirit arts to reattach it. now I'll have you know, that the ability to utilise ki isn't something that could be stolen, it could only be sealed or forgotten, yet somehow after getting attacked by you, I had lost that ability completely, not being able to even
"okay, attention everyone" said Mr Stevens as he adjusted his glasses, the rowdy crowd of students then settled down to listen to their teacher, "tomorrow you first years will be going on a hunting trip, to the snowy taiga in the capital of Helbrand, Pike village, so pack your bags and-", "hol'up sir, did you just say we're going to the capital of Helbrand?!!!" asked an excited Austin. "like the Pike village?" asked another student who was equally beaming with enthusiasm, "and we leave tomorrow?!!!!" another sprung up with genuine enthusiasm. "never thought I'd see it before I'd die" said another, and soon the students Enthusiasm and Loudness grew as they began going on and on about the scheduled trip. "hey Earl, do you think?-", "yeah, I'm worried about it too" said Earl interrupting Annie, Annie then looked down at her desk sadly, "it must be hard" she said, "I know right?, scheduling a trip outta the blue?, plus it's to the snowy parts of Pike village, which real
The entire year one class of students stood in an open area, they could see machinery in the distance, and beyond that were thick trees, the place they stood in was enormous, and upon arriving in this strange place, their curiosity was semi answered by what their teachers had just said. "Wait, what do you mean to evaluate our ranks?" asked a confused bunch of students, "well remember when we said you'll move in groups of seven?Well we wouldn't want to get an unbalanced group now would we? so instead, were gonna evaluate your ranks, and ask you guys to form teams, based on your rank evaluation, we'll decide if your team is balanced, and necessary changes will be made" said Miss Kayla. "So hurry and form groups of seven," said Mr Stevens. the crowd of students were still a bit confused, but most had intended to travel in groups with friends and had already decided on their groups, suddenly changing things up might not sit well with everyone, but regardless they obeyed t
Everyone watched in silence as the LCD screen displayed the number 1000,it was far higher than any of the other students, and by a landslide at that, even his nearest contender was behind by almost 400 points, and when this realisation struck, having their mouths agape, was one of many things that they did. "d-does that make him the fourth" asked a terrified student, "I knew he was something else" said Austin with a look of disbelief on his face, "Earl, seems like I still haven't caught up?!!!" said a bitter, yet surprised Jake, "Holy shit!" said Sidney. Annie, Ruby and Henry, couldn't find the right words to describe their level of disbelief, this was expected, as any attack weaker would most likely not be too serious for a teacher. but seeing as Earl's attack hospitalised Mr Stevens, it was only a given it would be tremendously powerful. and yet, despite the students and teachers expecting this, they were all still shocked speechless, leaving the only person m
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