As the crowd stared blankly and silently, not a single word was said, and not a single soul made a move.The only sound that remained was the sound of the thrashing beast still clawing on its eye and slamming into the debris.As the only thing that remained of the first battle, was the scattered debris, terraformed Arena floor, blood and limbs scattered about, and Earl's laying dead body.No one, not the crowd, not the Drakemen warriors, no one, could've expected this outcome, and no one could even utter a single word at the sight of it."I-its... over..." said one Drakeman warrior, breaking free from the spell as he managed to take a step forward.As he did, his footsteps seemed to echo throughout the arena, as no one had moved or made a sound aside from this man."K-Kipple..." the man said as he placed his hand on Kipple's shoulder. Kipple was still in shock as well, speechless and unable to move at the sight of what happened.But the subtle touch seemed to snap him out of his dazed
As Charlie's command left his lips, it seemed to not have hit Alice or Janet quite yet."Wait a minute, this is still too-" said Alice before her jaw buckled, feeling a strong right fist landing straight on her jaw.As her face twisted, her eyes began spinning and she could feel herself loose her footing."The floor? It's growing, it's coming straight at me" thought Alice as her face fell straight at the ground.Right after her face collided with the ground though, she felt a hand grab her by the collar and pull her back, scrubbing her face on the ground a little before lifting her up to be on her feet, right before a heavy kick came slamming down, tearing up the earth beneath them."Useless!!" Said Janet as she pulled Alice closer and threw her over her shoulder, before turning around and sprinting off.Narrowly dodging huge pillars of crystals that sprung up from the floor. "Nice punch Sukz!" Said Crystal as she lowered her out stretched hands, in turn, lowering the crystals back in
As Alice continued to race throughout the forest, increasing her speed and mobility through the use of her chains, she kept blitzing with a thought on her mind."This plan has got to work!" She thought to herself as her mind revisited the short exchange she had with Crystal."Crystal was even crazier than I thought, those punches and kicks looked weak, but it felt like I would snap in half at any moment.If Suzuki uses the same techniques..." thought Alice as her eyes spun around and met up with Suzuki's, who was hot on her tail."As much as I respect you, I'll not be going easy on you, Suzuki!" Yelled Alice as she quickly increased her pace, dashing even faster."Right back at you!! Thought that's not what someone who's running should be saying!!" Smiled Suzuki as she increased her own pace, tearing the ground behind her.As Janet and Crystal made some distance between each other, their eyes locked and they both readied in battle stances."Military stance 4: Long Knife short Saber" s
As Crystal got into her stance, she locked eyes with Janet and had a serious look on her face."I've got it! I figured it out! It was pretty hard to tell what exactly you were doing, but after being hit with it up close, I know exactly what your doing!" Said Crystal.As both girls stood panting with blood running down their faces and burn marks on their bodies, a smirk landed on Janet's face."Oh, really now?" Said Janet, "your alchemy, it's space-time isn't it?!" Said Crystal."Obviously, I don't really go about hiding it!" Said Janet. "But you haven't exactly mastered it. But now that I know how you use it, your defeat is eminent!" Said Crystal."Don't think you can defeat just cuz you know how I fight!" Said Janet, "But I can defeat you, for that exact reason. You basically warp the space around yourself or objects don't you? You warp the space around the surface of that stick so that it becomes a thin blade or warp it so that it becomes a thick club right?That's the only explanat
Deep in another part of the forest, completely separate from all the other students, scattered across from one another was another team that was on the lookout for Earl."This suckz!!" Said Austin who was on a boat, swaying his hand across the surface of the water."This absolutely blows...." he said once more with a droopy expression. On the boar with him was a fishing rod in his other hand, with its cord cast into the water.The salty taste of the air and the gentle wetness of the water brushed over his hands.The dead silence was loud, with the only other sound being the occasion bubble pop and clashing of small waves.As his boat continued to drift in the middle of a huge lake, he pulled his hands out of the wet water and had an excessively long yawn.As he slammed his jaw shut, a bored expression sat on his face. "This reaaally blows" he said once more."Why am I the one out here fishing anyway?! Damn it Annie!" He thought to himself with a sour expression as his mind visited ear
As Ralph stood face to face with his opponent, he took a stance, glaring his eyes at the man who stood in front of him.The man in turn spun his knife around before settling into a stance, lowering his center of gravity and holding the knife out in front of him.Instantly, Ralph blasted out with an explosive jump towards his opponent, and threw out a punch."No alchemy huh?" Said the man as he dodged the shirt and swung out his knife at Ralph's head.Ralph ducked under the slash and threw out his huge arms in a huge bear hug, "not smart are we?" Said the man as he spun the knife and thrusted down at Ralph's back.As the knife came hurling down at his spine, Ralph paid no mind and went in for the attack."If I let this kid grab me, I have a feeling It'll all be over by that time!" Thought the man, planting his feet into the ground.The instant the knife made contact with Ralph's back, the man thrusted hard before immediately creating distance.Jumping back a few meters, barely escaping
In a certain location, somewhere on the outskirts of Luckage city, but not too far from the cities borders, there was an abundance of very tall trees.So tall that it was difficult to see the birds nests that nestled at the top of the tree.Each tree was absurdly thin, so thin that it was a stretch to even call them trees, yet their leaves spread out so far, that even though each tree was roughly 10 meters apart, it's branches and leaves touched and intertwined with one another.They stretched so far and bundles so much, that the shadow it cast remained both day and night, allowing only a little sunlight- enough to make the lighting resemble that of a calm afternoon- to pass through its leaves.For this reason and this reason alone, travelers called it the umbrella forest, others called it the tall overcast forest, and the locals at Luckage city and the small settlements around it, all called it evernoon.The lush peaceful green nature of the ground that slowly went up and down in slo
As Julian stood in front of the approaching carriages, he wore a tired nonchalant sour look on his face.The sound of the approaching carriages became louder and louder, and the sour look on his face became even more so as he recalled the look on Sidney's face."Damn freeloader..." He said as he recalled the words that he told to Sidney, "why the hell did I even tell him that?..." He thought to himself.A few images flashed through his mind, one where he was on the floor with someone standing over him, with a hot rod, one where he stood over dead bodies, one where he cried in the rain, one where he was freezing and had frostbite on his fingertips.As the images flashed through, his face became even more sour, "pfft! Hell? You haven't seen shit yet" he said as he raised up his hand.The carts were now up close, and the very first one stopped right in front of Julian.Seeing him, the guard riding shotgun was the first to hop off and walk towards Julian, who had a nonchalant look on his
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