The man took another step forward. "They call me Adam," his gaze was like daggers in Annie's eyes, "it's the last name you'll hear before you die."A cold sweat ran down Annie's face, "I miscalculated. I waited to see if anyone would come out so that we'd find their entrance, but since no one did I assumed they knew our position and were waiting to strike," thought Annie."Striking first using Proper Impact and Thorz should've knocked down their base, but who would've thought that they already had someone on the outside!? Or maybe he dodged it and got up here before Thorz hit?" Thought Annie."Your deduction skills are commendable, but lacking," said Adam. Annie's eyes shot open in shock, "w-what?" She asked."I didn't simply dodge the attack or Pop out from the outside, that Thorz attack of that boy on the ground did in fact connect... And as great as it was, it wasn't enough to put me down!" He took a step forward."What's going on? How does he know what I'm thinking?" Thought Annie
Mr Stevens closed the distance between him and Adam in a second, swinging his tie sword straight at his belly.Adam dodged it, taking a step back before lunging at his opponent, "if that thing touches me, I'll be cut in two!" Thought Adam.Stevens slammed his hand into the air beside him, right in the direction of Adam's lunge. Adam slammed into the air between them."More tricks!" He yelled as he gathered mana in his fist and drove it with all his force straight into the solid air.A huge thud echoed through the woods, the air cracked in half and shattered, his fist ran through it like a bullet train."Be it solid or not, air is still air afterall!" Smiled Adam.Meeting the other end of his fist was Mr Stevens, with a punch of his own, the two fists colliding in a test of strength.A gust of wind blew about in the area surrounding them, "using your alchemy on yourself? Making your own arm more solid to resist the strength of a strong Alchemist, what brilliance!" Smiled Adam."I'd pre
Mr Stevens now stood face to face with Adam, Leo, and Kettle all boosted by the Storm drug, all looking to spill even more blood."When we kill you, we'll kill that girl over there, and then we'll experiment on all your bodies," said Adam."But you proved an admirable fighter, so we're giving you a few seconds, speak your last words now!" He smiled.Mr Stevens turned to Annie, "can you walk?" Annie looked at him confused, "if you can then run away from here... I don't think I want any student of mine seeing what I'm about to do next!" He smiled.Mr Stevens turned to his opponents and immediately pulled out a piece of chalk, and in the blink of an eye, inscribed an alchemy circle on his hand.He then bit on his thumb, drawing blood, and then smeared his blood on his palm, cutting the alchemy circle in two. Small blue particles began floating out of his hand and the alchemy circle turned black.The three opponents seeing this all had different reactions, Adam smiling, Kettle raising a b
The entire group of Ralph, Austin, Annie, and Mr Stevens were back at base, with all three of the kids huddled around the fire, and Mr Stevens off to the side doing his own thing.As the three sat there in silence, Mr Stevens turned and glanced over at them, "they're sulking? I guess that's a normal reaction... Let's hope they don't stay that way for long," he thought.He turned his attention to the letters he had in his hand, he took a good look at them, he then turned to his students once more."It's been a month already hasn't it?" He said as he sat down and looked up at the sky. "We'll be meeting in a month from now before continuing our journey..."His mind remembered the past, when he received a letter from Charlie, stating how he'd found Earl's familiar Plushmellow and how they were headed in the right direction.He gripped the letters in his hand tighter and looked down at the three alchemy return circles he'd drawn."We'll find you kids soon enough," he said as he dropped eac
Sidney was seated on his bed, it'd been three days since Ronda and Veronica had talked to him, and he'd been mostly alone the whole time.Spike and Viking occasionally dropped by, but he turned them away a lot of the time. Partially due to their excessive noise and trying to set off explosions and test out new gizmos in his room, but mainly because he was deep in thought.Take a risk with the enhancements, or stay natural but walk on thin ice, it was a decision he still hadn't made.On the one hand, enhancements would solve his current problem and put him at ease, but there were a lot of factors involved.Ronda said that his body would adapt to the poison, but wasn't it purely because his body failed to adapt to his new Channel spell that he ended up in a worse state than he was?But on the other hand, if he took the natural route, things would be even more hectic. His body was extensively damaged after all, and he'd been bedridden—and would stay bedridden—for days.And he'd had time
"The procedure will take a week," said Ronda. Sidney was laid on a bed in a room separate from the dragon's den.Surrounding them, all over the walls, in shelves, and by the bed he laid on, were potions and tools of different calibers.Potions, runes, talismans, so many different things were at the disposal of Ronda, in each and every direction."A week?" Asked Sidney, "I'll work you through the process," said Ronda."Your bones are going to be replaced with enhanced alchemy infused bones, or rather, I'll be enhancing your current bones with alchemy infused ones," said Ronda."Enhancing? Not replacing?" Sidney asked, confused. "It would be easier to tear out your bones and stick in new ones, but the danger of doing that and the extensive recovery time would be unbearable and bad to say the least, however, carefully injecting a certain fluid into your bones and slowly changing them from the inside would be more effective and faster, though a lot more painful," said Ronda.Sidney looked
In a different portion of the forest, a certain group trekked through the woods, with a woman leading them all.Miss Kayla took the lead, her steps cautious and graceful, yet firm, her hair packed, and her eyes sharp.Trailing behind her were all three boys, Jake, Henry, and Williams. Jake wore an unbothered expression, Henry as well, however the same couldn't be said for Williams.He seemed to be tripping over every tree root and rock in his way, and more times than not, ran into Henry or Jake.As the four trekked through the forest, Williams caught his leg on one of said exposed roots and fell over, falling flat on his face."Ow!" He groaned, the group stopped, Jake in particular had an irritated look on his face, "damn it Williams, this is the twenty sixth branch you've tripped on!" He yelled."Normally I'd stand up for you but he's right, this is getting pretty annoying," said Henry as he walked over to him."You three should hurry up, we'll be almost there. The night's almost her
"The students that are moles?" Asked Henry, "yes, Williams story just helped us figure that out," said Kayla."What were the names of the students that approached you?" Asked Kayla, "Oh... I-it was..." As Williams spoke, Miss Kayla pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the names of the students, along with something else.When she was done, she drew an alchemy return circle on the floor and dropped the piece of paper into it."Williams," she turned to him, "on behalf of both me and Jake, I'm truly sorry for how we've treated you," said Miss Kayla as she bowed her head.Williams looked at her a bit shocked, and so did Henry. Jake on the other hand just lowered his head, not turning to face anyone."I'm ashamed of myself not only as a teacher, but as an individual for putting you through all what I set Jake up to do. Please don't hold any ill feelings towards him, everything was my doing!" Said Kayla."N-n-no, you d-don't have to a-a-apologize—" "But I do!" Kayla said with determin
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