Earl and Jake stood in front of Christopher and Damian in confusion."uhh... Damian, what are you doing here?" asked a confused Earl, Damian who had a a flat look on his face let out a sigh before answering. "seeing as I lost to a fair maiden, I viewed myself as weak and decided to train when everyone was asleep" said Damian."fair maiden?!!" asked Jake in confusion, "He means Ruby" said Earl."exactly...." said Damian, "but in the middle of my training, I heard a loud crash and met up with Chris before arriving" he continued before tilting his head slightly to the side."is that a Krix?" asked a confused Damian, "was that what caused the loud sounds we heard?" asked Christopher as he walked closer to the dead beast."so Jake is able to kill even a Krix all by himself?" asked Damian as he too approached the fallen corpse."I'm flattered, but it was Earl who killed that thing, not me" said Jake as he began walking off.Damian, Christopher, and Earl all stood in silence as they heard w
Earl was standing at the start of one of the rope bridges, with the unopened treasure list on in his hand.He had an impatient and eager look on his face as he couldn't help but get excited for the second game to start.Despite the hidden motives inputted by the prime general, the idea and nature of the second game did nothing but put a smile on his face, as well as fill him with anticipation.That coupled with the outburst of Annie snapping back at her dad, made Earl nothing short of happy. 'Annie finally stepped up to her dad, and he couldn't do shit, now that she's down her best and put a bet of her own, I'll make sure to win this damn thing for sure!!!' thought Earl as his grip on the treasure list tightened."THE SECOND GAME, TREASURE HUNT, IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!!!!" yelled Mr Stevens, this jolted everyone into a starting pose.Some taking their marks like professional Olympic sprinters, Earl included, while others taking character specific stances.Such as Jake, who just leaned fo
Earl stood afar, seeing the treasure he was looking for right in front of him, "alright, just have to rush over there and grab it!!" said Earl.He then proceeded to hype himself up and limber up slightly as he prepared for the next action.As he planted his feet firmly, he immediately dashed out towards, the fountain, however, he noticed his body weight reduce, and time slow."third eye" said Earl as he swiftly shifted his face to the left, avoiding a sharp crystal shard flying past his face.'what the?!!!' thought Earl as he stepped backwards, before locking eyes with a face he recognised, bit hadn't seen all too often.'that's the girl that always follows crystal!!' thought Earl as he uttered "master's call", protruding his sword out of his left hand."I'll be taking that!!" said Suzuki with a stern expression as she locked eyes with the item atop the fountain.While she shifted her gaze up at the hazel eye of the beholder, Earl had unconsciously looked up at it as well.Using this
Earl stood in shock as he stared down the monster inches away from his face.'Damn it!!!' thought Earl as his movements seemed to grow even more sluggish.[Effects of poison has intensified][Speed will be reduced by 70%][You must receive medical treatment in the next 24 hours]The system messages he saw, had only made matters worse.The snarling noise of the wolf-lizard hybrid echoed through Earl's ears as he cursed at the girl he carried.'You just had to poison me huh?!!!' thought Earl as he managed to take a step back.Immediately after, the beast turned around using it's massive scaly tail and slammed Earl in the chest, sending him flying out at a tree.His body turned in the air, as he couldn't even prepare himself for impact, he could only manage to grit his teeth as his body slammed into the tree.Immediately shattering it, before slamming into another tree behind it, and flinging off to the side, leaving a huge indent on the tree, letting it fall over and crash into the floo
Earl and Suzuki sat silent in the cave, their backs faced one another, as each faced a different directions with different things on their minds.The cave in which they sat in was the same one Earl had spotted earlier, and despite its small entrance, it had a spacious inside, which was light up by a huge opening in the roof.After pitching the idea to the crying Suzuki, she threw a tantrum, and the two ended up arguing for about an hour, before Earl awkwardly carried Suzuki on his back into the cave.After dropping her, they argued for another 10 minutes, which resulted in their current positions.'The atmosphere's awkward now, I should say something' thought Earl. 'My leg seriously hurts, how much longer till this dumb exam is over?' thought Suzuki.Both still sat silent in the cave, till Earl got up from his seated position and turned over to the cave's entrance.Suzuki, who sat idly before, heard his footsteps and turned over, "Where are you going?" she asked."I'm going to go find
Suzuki was laying on the floor, looking up at the open ceiling keeping both her hands behind her head, lost in thought.'What's up with that guy?' Suzuki thought to herself as her hazel eyes flickered about.The 'guy' in question was of course Earl, ever since he left out to find his treasure, his actions, and departing words gave rise to various thoughts and contradictions in Suzuki's mind.'I mean, we've only been in this school a month, most friend cliques haven't even been completely settled in yet, but he seems to trust them,Even that dumb Ruby' thought Suzuki as she brought out a hand from behind her head, and bit on the nail of her thumb."Earl.... Earl..... Earl..... Hmmm" said Suzuki as she spat out the chewed fingernail.She then let out a sigh, and once again placed both hands behind her head. 'why am I even thinking of that guy anyway?' she thought to herself with pouted lips.Suddenly, she remembered how he gently massaged her leg, and applied each and every bit of cauti
Everyone stood in silence as they watched their teacher patiently waiting for the announcement."first off, I will explain how the scores are distributed" said Mr Stevens.With everyone's undivided attention on him, he then began speaking, "the maximum a team can score is 50 points for this second game""finding all four treasures is worth 20 points, 10 points for coming back in tact, that is, for coming back with your clothes mostly in tact.10 points if you return back on the bridge you left in, and an extra 10 points for everyone who participated in this exercise" said Mr Stevens.Like always, the students began talking amongst themselves as they heard what their teacher just said.Most were glad of the ten points for completing the exercise, but others were more worried about the other point distribution.With basic calculation, it was easy to know that, out of the four treasures, finding one equaled 5 points, meaning that having all four would amount to 20 points.This, along wit
Three men sat at a round table, each wearing a dark cloak, as the candles which sat at the middle of the round table lit up the room, thereby giving enough light for each man to be seen.Each man's face was shrouded in darkness, revealing only a slimmer of their chin and mouth."it's decided then" said one of the men, the one who sat on a chair bigger than all the others."we will kill the Prime general and seize this village, after all, he tried to push a branch family to run this capital" said another, this one having a small scar on the bottom of his chin."but when? How?" asked another, his own voice seeming a lot less mature than the rest, sounding like someone in his late twenties, as opposed to the other people, who had voices matching those in 50's and 60's."I heard that Horace's students were to arrive in two weeks time" said the man who sat on the long chair."you couldn't possibly mean-", "oh yes, I do mean. What better time is there to attack the prime general, than when
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