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
"you all need to unpack your bags, we can enjoy this place later, don't forget why you came here" said Mr Stevens as he adjusted his glasses slightly. "that's right, now hurry up, we don't necessarily have all day" said Miss Kayla. all the students, except Earl's group that is, all had sour expressions on their faces, as they began heading to their separate rooms. "this a total bust" said one student, "yeah, what's the use of giving us a tour of this heaven, if we can't enjoy it?!!" asked another. the gossip amongst the crowd of students gradually grew, and eventually died down as the students each despatched to their various rooms. Luckily for Earl's group, each of their rooms weren't that far apart, and were all on the same floor, although some were farther than others, having close proximity to one another gave them sort of a reassurance. "well then, this is where we part I guess" said Sidney to the group, who were all standing in front of Earl's roo
Earl and Crystal both sat in silence, they were in a blue room, about four cubic metres in size, and opposite the dark oak door on the wall was a white velvet coach, it matched the theme with everything they had seen so far, but was oddly plain, unlike the many other white accented furniture in the hotel. on top this couch was where Earl and Crystal sat in silent, both annoyed at each other, and both in their pyjamas,behind them was a still boiling Miss Kayla, ever since entering the room, not a single word has been said, and even simple things such as hate stares or petty insults couldn't be thrown around. both Earl and Crystal knew that doing any sort of acts or thing that would piss of their teacher even more was not in their interest, and would only result in even more punishment, as a result, the two sat still awaiting whatever reason it was that made them sit in this room to arrive. and like as if hearing their thoughts, they could hear the voice of two peopl
Earl was standing outside the hotel still in total shock, bags were being carried to the outside to accompany him, and beside him was a pissed Mr Stevens, "did you listen to nothing I told you before?" asked Mr Stevens in an obviously pissed tone, he turned his head over to Earl and gave him a disappointing stare, Earl hung his head low in shame, he bent slightly and picked up a travel bag before speaking, "why are you coming with me?" he asked in a shaky voice, Mr Stevens look then faded away and got replaced with a serious one, "that's obvious isn't it?" said Mr Stevens as the last baggage was dropped outside, "that's everything sir" said the tour woman as she gave a bow and headed back inside, Mr Stevens gave a bow in return before picking up a few baggages himself,"this is a school trip, I can't have one of my students sleeping off someplace, I have to ensure your safety, in short, it's my duty!!" he said as he began walking off, after Earl heard this,
"GO!!!!!!" yelled out Miss Kayla, all the students immediately bolted towards the opening gates, each with their own thoughts, motivation and emotions, "So what's the plan?!!!" asked a sprinting Earl, "hold on a second, we need to gain some ground on everyone first!!!!" yelled Ruby as she ran on ahead of the group, she then came to an abrupt stop, turned around, and placed both her hands on the floor, lying in wait, as the team caught up to her, the earth underneath their feet blasted out into a pillar, and in an instant, the five of them found themselves airborne, flying over the gate, "This wasn't part of the plan!!!!!!" yelled Henry as he clung onto Sidney tightly, with tears flying out the side of his eyes, "you know he's not wrong!!!" said an oddly calm Sidney, "um... do you have a plan to get us down?!!!!" asked Earl, who clung onto Annie tightly, with tears also running down the side of his face, "I'm sure she has a plan!!!" yelled Annie, who also c
"Huh? Why are you crying?" Asked a confused Ruby, unbeknownst to her, Earl had just might as well made the biggest mistake of his life."I'm sorry" said Earl as he gave Ruby a smile despite his crying demeanour, "sorry, for what?!!!" Asked Ruby in an angry voice. "I lost them," said Earl in a really low voice. Ruby looked at Earl blankly, her expression changing from an angry one to one of disbelief, her mouth hung open slightly, and her eyes were dead."Ruby?" Asked Earl, seeing the state of Ruby, he had never seen her like this before, no-one had, and frankly it was a bit scary. Any normal person would rant and scold Earl after hearing this, instead her face went blank, and her voice didn't raise by so much as a decibel. It was quite clear that her feelings of disappointment and shock far exceeded her feelings of anger.And like a mindless zombie, she simply turned around, and headed to the table where Mr Stevens and Miss Kayla sat. "What happened, where are the ot
"Okay Phoenix, lets go make it up to them" said Earl, Phoenix, who was sitting on his head gave a hearty caw in response. "Alright" Earl said as he approached the massive gates that sat in-between him and the snowy Taiga.He stood in front of it, looking at the massive gates for some time, before walking over to the walls beside it, "guess scaling the gates will be a lot easier than scaling the wall" said Earl, as he walked back over to the gates.Earl then squatted as he prepared himself, he looked up at the pointed end of the gate, and had a an anxious sweat run down the side of his face.'really hope I don't end up stabbing myself in the butt' Earl thought to himself as he planted his feet firmly into the ground.And using all the strength in his legs, he leaned forwards slightly, and vaulted over the gates, barely avoiding the sharp spikes at its tips.He then landed safely on the other side, feeling both proud and alleviated, "that could've been bad" said Earl as he once again l
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