The crowd cheered on and on as Henry's side stood in shock.Earl's hand still had smoke coming off of it when a huge smile plastered on his face."Nice one kid!!!!" yelled Leon as he ran up and high fived Earl."Nice going Earl!!" said Crystal as the two first bumped."Nice one Earl!!! Now let's just keep on repeating that!!" said the hyped up Ruby."Yosh" said Earl as he retook his position at the front."H-hey, you're friend's crazy huh Hen?" asked Billy as he played his massive hand on Henry's shoulder."y-y-yeah!!!" Henry squeezed out as he repeatedly tapped Billy's hand. "hey, your crushing his shoulder there Billy" said Tatiana Brown, Damian's trainer."oh" said Billy as he lifted his hand off of his shoulder."... Don't worry, I'll stop the next one" said Henry as he took a breath."were counting on you" said Billy as he returned to his position, and as a result, everyone else did."serve, Team Leon!!!" yelled out the ref. "okay..." said Ruby as she took a breath, and once a ne
The match continued back and forth, with each team using one tactic or the other, and monstrous moves and alchemy flying all over the place.The amount of balls blasted into the floor itself was shocking, but the spikes, set-up, and serves were all something as well.However, the match was now at it's climax, and ignoring all normal protocol, the score was 21-21, and the next team to score would win."Serve, Team Henry!!!" yelled the ref as he tossed a ball to Henry, who was already standing outside the court.Henry let out a breath as he received the ball. "Now or never!!" said Henry as he tossed the ball into the air.With a leap and a smash, the ball flew to the other side of the court, and headed straight for the corner."LET'S GOOOO!!!!" yelled Leon."HAHAHA, THE WIN IS OURS!!!!" yelled Nora as she jumped up into the air."TASTE THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR POWER!!!" yelled Nora as she spiked the ball with full power down at the front of the court."safe!!!" yelled Austin as he dived fo
With the conclusion of the volleyball tournament, the students had fully moved past their lost comrades.And although not forgotten, neither their anger towards the ORA, nor the memories of their classmates.It was no longer a burden, and they could fully concentrate without lingering thoughts.Mr Stevens and Miss Kayla we're both happy with the changes in the students behaviour, not to mention the conclusion of Ruby and Crystal's feud made staying in the same classroom a whole lot easier.With everyone either developing, creating or enhancing their new moves, the students growth was faster than most, and soon, after about a month more of training, their ranks were evaluated.The lowest ranked person was now sub-advanced, with the average ranking being sub-advanced.Earl, Ruby, Henry, Annie, Suzuki, Alice, Ralph and Damian all landed in the advanced JAP ranks, with the three prodigies, Sidney, Jake and Crystal, all still being ahead with JAP ranks of sub-king tier.With both the secon
All the students held their jaws open with excitement as they listened to their teacher."yep, you heard me" said Mr Stevens, as he and Miss Kayla took seats on their desks."it's the annual festival which most of the country comes for, and that also includes representatives from the AAO.Having won the award for the best festival in Helbrand 7 years in a row, I assume you all know how much the stakes on this festival rides.You all, being the first year's, are in charge of the entire festival. Your second years poured a lot of time and effort into helping you guys reach the stage you are now, so they're catching up with their studies in the meantime.The third year's are busy with.... Official business.... So this year's festival us left to you guys.So you'll plan all the events, stands, everything, the inclusion of fireworks, horror houses and the likes is all up to you..." said Mr Stevens.Grins grew wider and wider on all the students faces as they all stayed put and looked on i
Earl was idly smiling in a cheeky way as he followed the second year's to the dorm, through the hall of alchemy circles.Everyone noticed this, but hadn't said a word in a while.With a smile however, Kelly turned over to Earl, with her hair tied to one side, and her hands held behind her back."someone seems to be in a good mood" said Kelly, "yeah, what got you so cheeky?" asked an annoyed Leon."whoa, what's wrong with him?" asked Jake, referring to Leon, "oh don't mind him, he's just tired from helping the entire second year study last night" said Kelly."well if its got you so happy, might as well spit it out Earl" said Sidney as he rubbed his tired eyes."Oh, its nothing..." said Earl, "wait really? Nothing can make you happy?" said a clueless Art.Everyone except Earl slapped himself in the face as they all let out a sigh."No they can't" said everyone in unison."You know what? I don't have time for this, said Leon as he grabbed her by the collar, and yanked him while placing h
Earl was still baffled by the .an he recognised, the same merciless one he faced before in a dream he forgot, was standing right in front of him.But unlike in the dream, it seemed like he wasn't the one who killed all the surrounding people, no, in fact it looked like he was the one on the other end."why would you do this? We served you" said the man in tears.In his arms, he carried a dead person, who had a massive cut run across his open chest.They looked similar, almost identical, like brothers even, and the actions of the man Earl recognised seemed to support this."this world was not meant for the two of us to co-exist, the gods made a mistake creating you retusians, and I.... I am here to liberate you.Too long has this world been stained with your existence.... I'll kindly fix the gods mistakes!!" said the masked man.'.... Retusians? Is that what they looked like?... Does that mean this was during the Retusian war?...' thought Earl as he looked on."... You tricked us... Yo
Earl, Sidney, Williams and Jake we're all seated in the principal office, right across the table from their principal, Horace Glenn."and that was my dream, or at least I think it was..." said Earl as he held his head.Horace had both fingers locked, and holding up his chin as he listened closely to what Earl said.The others as well, Jake, Sidney and Williams, all had their curiosity cured after hearing what Earl said.But we're still seated and wondering what exactly happened."..... I don't know what to make of this, as far back as I know, the retusians instigated the war, and neither you nor I were born around that time period.." said Horace as he placed his hands on his desk."is that all that you can recall?" asked Horace, Earl held his head and closed his eyes.Trying to drag out any memory of last night, or the other dream he had during the tournament. But it seemed like nothing was popping up."I'm sorry, I remember the dream I had during the tournament clearly now, but the d
"so please enlighten us... Why did you let yourself be captured?" asked Charlie as he took a seat on his chair and looked down at the seated Xavier."well that's simple, because I wanted to" said Xavier."yeah duh... I mean why did you want yourself to get captured?" asked Charlie without a change in facade."well, first let me ask you two things. Do you know what my alchemy is?" asked Xavier."No, you refused to disclose it no matter how long you were tortured" answered Charlie casually. Xavier smiled before continuing."now, something you might not know is that the ORA have the necessary equipment to 'grant' a second alchemy into a person..." said Xavier."...wether you already have an alchemy, or whether you were born without one, the ORA, specifically the division I'm the head of, the alchemy resource division, are able to give completely opposite alchemy to anyone and everyone.The first subject was me, who, was born without alchemy.And with the privilege of being the head of di
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