As Sidney slowly fluttered his eyes open, his vision slowly unblurred, and he could see somewhat clearly.'... Ughhh, my head...' thought Sidney as he attempted to move his arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" said a stern sounding voice."Huh?" asked Sidney as his vision finally cleared up, and he could now see clearly.He knew he was laid down on his back, and could only assume that he was laid on some sort of hospital bed or something.He was in a grey room, with just one window visible to him, and a man at the head of his bed.'... So breezy..' thought Sidney as he noticed that he had no clothes on, and only had what felt like a single towel covering his privates.Thanks to this, all the scars on his body were very visible, and so was his finely toned abbs and muscles.But above all that, what bothered him the most was the fact that he could see what he could assume were needles, sticking out of his body.But oddly enough, he didn't feel pain.'... What exactly is this?...' th
As Earl slowly fluttered his eyes open, he felt a pressure resting on him. It was a horse, along with a pig and a whole lot of animals that dog piled on him for some reason."okay get off!!!" yelled Earl as he struggled and wiggled, but not even the smallest of animals seemed to budge."dammit...." said Earl as he laid there quietly. 'It's been an entire week since I've been here, and I still don't know who that girl is, who I am or where I am.And for some odd reason, she doesn't react to anything I say or do and only smiles.I even tried refusing food until she answered me, but still nothing.But at least I've learned a few things.She leaves at mid-day and at night, and always returns at the first crack of dawn. I still don't know if she's human or not, given her reptilian tail and all.But I still don't know where I am, and I'm still recovering from my injuries.How the hell did I even get so injured?!!!! And now I only know my first name!!!' thought Earl.Suddenly, the sound of th
Emilia remained shocked speechless as she saw the sight that laid before her eyes. A seething Earl with a closed fist and veins popping out the side of his head, and the woman, face down on the floor, with spit dripping out of her mouth, and her eyes almost shut as she slowly struggled to breath.Seeing this made Emilia to immediately start hyperventilating. She took on breath, then another, and another, and kept on going.Each time she did, the pace would increase, and a she felt dizzier and dizzier.Soon after, she became light headed, her eyes slowly rolled back, her eyelids became heavier as they closed shut, and her vision was blurry.As her mind became completely fuzzy, she fell to the ground, still barely hyperventilating, letting her consciousness slip away.**** (cue Opening theme 😁)**** As Emilia slowly came back to consciousness, she finally could make out the gentle, yet slightly aggressive way she was being shook.Her vision cleared up, and her mind began to as well.
"What is this?!!!!" said a certain man, the look of complete shock and betrayal on his face, tears running down is face as he held another man in his arms, the man in his arms void of life, a dead man, "Julius!!!" Screamed the man as sadness overwhelmed his spirit, the smell of blood and grief encircling him, his tears wetting the cloth of his dead companion,He raised his head slightly, meeting eyes with another man, one with a cold stare, one that held a crown in his hands, with blood having stained it's golden body and jewels, one who stood over countless other bodies, "Why?!" The man asked with tears running down his face, "why did you kill Julius?!!!Why did you kill my men?!!!!We followed you without complaint, why?!!!!!!" Asked the man as his tight grip on the Julius' body loosened, and his friends body fell against the floor,"To live is pain, to die is rest" replied the cold man, as he slowly lifted his bloodied fists, and rested the bloody crown upon his head, "yo
As Jake stood in the middle of the room, like a sumo wrestler, panting, sweating, and shaking, only one thought ran through his head. 'If it's for Earl and Sid, I'll do it in a cinch!!! ' Jake slowly took a breath and calmed himself and began taking small breaths. As he did a memory ran through his head, there he saw himself, Earl, and Annie's dad, Norman all standing outside. It was a few moments before Mr. Norman was about to leave. "Now remember, I said Heka is only meant to be used as a last resort, but there's a smaller microtechnique that you guys can use apart from the one I taught you. If you guys spread the mana immediately after gathering it in your ki point, and I mean immediately it gets there, you can achieve something called a fulmination constant and can temporarily increase your strength, even if by a little"Said Norman. As Jake's mind returned to the present, he slowly gathered his mana in his body and moved it toward his ki entry point. The moment it reached t
As Charlie stood in front of the thirteen students selected for the mission, he couldn't help but notice the confusion on their faces as they all looked at Williams confused. All other students had failed the test, but yet somehow, the weak, timid, quiet, stuttering Williams passed? And what's more, he had a serious, even threatening look on his face, which was all but normal to them. And although he was talking to himself, what he repeated over and over was quite clear to everyone. "I'll do it even if it kills me!!! ""Huh? " said Ruby as she looked on in confusion, voicing out what all twelve of the rest of them thought. "Williams?... How did you-" "Charlie sir, I can't accept this!!! " said Jake, cutting off Annie mid-sentence. Charlie then turned over to face Jake. "What did you say? " asked Charlie, "I said I can't accept this... For all we know, this guy could be working with them, need I remind you that he was the one who first ran off before Earl followed, and then righ
As Sidney took in the news, a look of disbelief and uncertainty got on his face, "No... It can't be" said Sidney. "You better believe it kid... One more hiccup like this, and your dreams of living a normal life will be over" said Hio. As Sidney looked down at himself, memories flashed through his mind. He saw his father, Horace, smiling at him. Then he saw his brother, Leon, carrying him up on his shoulders, he saw himself with Earl, Annie, Ruby, and Henry when they were all laughing away. Then he saw himself with Jake, Earl, and Williams, all training, he saw a lot of memories. He saw himself bathing with all his male classmates and he even remembered the times they spent together. '... You mean... I'm gonna lose... All of this?!!!' thought Sidney. He felt his stomach drop, and he immediately turned over to the side of his bed, threw aside the blanket, and hurled all over the floor."Whoa!!! Watch it, I just got this shit cleaned!!!" yelled Hio as he scooted a few meters back w
It was dark out, about 9pm or so, in the dorms where Earl and his group previously stayed, Annie and Ruby were both folding up clothes and putting them into their bags.The room was quiet, and the room's atmosphere became quite uncomfortable. Henry had headed off somewhere to clear his head... Or so he had said. Ever since the "kidnapping" nothing remained the same between the students. For one, everyone began living in fear of the ORA. After all, they had attacked their school multiple times, and a massive massacre had happened, effectively weeding em out like they were fodder in the world they lived in.During the time that the students mourned back at Pike village, there was talk of the school shutting down due to the amount of attacks it was experiencing.The full story never got to the knowledge of the students, but they say that principal Horace was somehow able to keep the school open.As the two in the room continued folding clothes quietly, Annie finally spoke up to break t
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