Charlie was knelt down on the floor, when Horace, Soki and Miss Kayla approached him."Charlie!!! Are you okay?!!" said Horace as he knelt down in front of him and began checking him all over, placing a hand on his shoulder.There were a few bruises on his face, but in general, he was mostly fine."I'm fine....... Where's Mr Stevens?" asked Charlie, "one of those men took a suicide pill and escapee, the other managed to as well, Mr Stevens is trying to pursue them as we speak" said Miss Kayla."where are the students?" asked Soki, Charlie's eyebrows crunched upwards as his normally dull face became filled with disappointment and concern.Without an answer not given, all of them knew what the answer to the question was."so the ORA got both Sidney and Earl?!!" asked Horace as he gritted his teeth."... Yes" said Charlie as his eyes started swelling with tears."under your watch?!!!" said Horace as his anger began to rise "..... Yes" said Charlie as he gripped his trouser tightly, and
Soon after Horace gave the instruction, the entire school went on lock down, and each and every living entity that was within the school grounds at the time was search without mercy.Despite their best efforts however, nothing was found that tied any of the visitors to the ORA.Leading the investigation, which lasted 5 hours, to a dead end.After the investigation was over, visitors were free to go back home, and many did, but a few family members of the students ended up staying behind.Grandpa Ollie, Annie' family, Prime general Fester, just to mention a few.But these people stayed behind all for various reasons, reasons that needed answering.Horace was seated in his office, he had his head held in his hands, and he was lamenting and racking his head over various matters.That's when a knock came to the door, "Horace, you in?" said a elderly voice from behind the door.'... Only a hand full of people address me by my first name, and I recognise this voice...' "come in" said Horace
Dia, Earl and Sidney all leapt through the other side of the white rift, and ended up tumbling on the floor."ughh!!! Damn this one time rifts, they do practically nothing..." said Dia as he slowly picked himself off of the floor.'... That's him, that's Dia!!!!' thought Sidney as he stared down Dia, he too, slowly picking himself off of the floor.".... I knew that crack job Xavier was a dunce!!! This damn one time rifts just transport us a million miles away from our previous location.And now I'm lost.I don't even know where the hell I am, or what direction to take..... Leaving all the good rifts for you and that brat, Light!!!!" said Dia as he turned around and began looking all over for Earl.The three were transported to a desert, a place filled with only sand, the scorching heat of the son, poisonous and deadly creatures, and the occasional cacti for as far as the eye can see.The heat of the sun proved too intense for Dia, as his face crumpled up, and he shaded his eyes using
As Earl opened his eyes, he once again found himself inside of his own mind, a familiar space he has been to before.It was the same place he was consumed in, before waking up back at the rainbow forest."so this is it huh? The mind's eye.... This is the place that consciousnesses reside according to the book Soki gave me.So this where it is.... The 'darkness' within...." said Earl as he began walking around the place.He was dressed in what he wore during the battle, and he made sure to move with caution.'.... According to the book, a stronger willed consciousness is bound to take over when the two consciousness collide.But a stronger willed consciousness would need an 'anchor' to win the battle, an emotional attachment stronger than the will to live.But that's the part I didn't quite get, and I'm gonna have to battle the second consciousness when the time comes' thought Earl.Shivers ran down Earl's spine as he felt a shadow run past him, "... Wha- I'ts here already?!!!" said Ea
"where..... Where am I?" asked Sidney as he blinked his eyes open, he found himself in the dorm room.He was on his usual bed, lying down, as he slowly picked himself up, Jake was busy applying gel to his purple hair, to keep its smooth consistency.William was off to the corner of his own bed, rubbing his tired eyes as he had just woken up."hey Sid!!!" said Earl who was busy brushing his teeth as he waved in Sidney's face.Seeing Earl and everything else, along with the fact that he still had the same torn clothes he wore when everything happened.Made him confused."huh?" said Sidney in response."how long you gonna stay down?" asked Earl, "hey!!! Hair for brains!!! Go brush your teeth inside the bathroom!!! It's disgusting!!!" said Jake."yeah yeah airhead!!!" snapped Earl as he began walking over to the bathroom, '... Earl....' thought Sidney as he watched Earl slowly get farther away from him.As he shut his eye and opened it back up, he found himself in the same hopeless situat
As the announcement rung through the ears of all the students, "Earl White and Sidney Guy have been captured by the ORA""... Wait, what?!!!" said Henry in disbelief as he clenched his hair in his hands, "that can't be right!!!" said Crystal."Gosh darn it!!!!" yelled Ruby as she stomped her foot on the ground angrily.Annie couldn't even speak a word, she could only hold her own mouth shut, using both her hands.Tears filled her eyes, but didn't flow down, only keeping her in pure fright and uncertainty."Earl..." said Suzuki with sad eyes, "they kidnapped one of the 'prodigies?" said Lan, "Earl!!" said Ralph.Janet was quiet, with a puzzled look on her face, "how could this school let this happen?!!!" she yelled out in anger."Earl!!!" said Christopher, Alice, who was beside him said nothing, and could only place her hand on his shoulder."How come?!!!" "Why?!!!" "when?!!!" "I thought this was one of the best schools in Welgrid!!!!" "how many times will they attack us?!!!" the screa
Sidney slowly opened up his eyes and found himself surrounded by masked people.They all had varying heights, builds and weapons, from tall to short, muscular to fat to skinny, from swords to axes to makes and lances.Each different person each had a different weapon of their own.And each was fully dressed in black, with all of them wearing masks over their faces, showing only their eyes and everything above."you think he's dead?" said a short man, wearing masks, "nah, I bet you a hundred pebs he's wakes up" said the tallest in the group."your on!!!" said the short man confidently."guys shut up, I think he's waking up" said one with orange spiky hair."wait really?" asked the short man, "hahaha pay up Shorty!!!!" laughed the tallest one.'... Huh?.... Bandits?!!!' thought Sidney as he began scanning all the faces around him."hey, can you hear me?" asked the spiky haired man, "wh-who.... Are you?" asked Sidney, "well that's obvious" said the tallest man."We're bandits!!!" said th
Having heard the news about Earl and Sidney, and the added fact that none of them could do anything about it made school life a lot less enjoyable. As one would imagine.The most affected were those who were directly intertwined in their lives, Ruby, Annie, Henry, Jake and Williams.Other people too like Crystal, Suzuki and Christopher were the next most affected of the bunch.As they hadn't been as close, but their lives were greatly affected and change thanks to primarily Earl's contribution.All in all, Earl had made his input and image cemented into the minds of all of Wallace's first year students, and having neither him, nor Sidney around felt weird to the students.Even the teachers were affected, especially Soki and Mr Stevens, as both had close ties to Earl in one way or the other.And knowing the ORA for the reputation they had, they could only imagine the worse that could've happened to the two.The second years were affected as well, not all, but most, as their class rep'
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