CHAPTER 82 - GLIMPSE
I turned to the recognizable voice that came from where the unconscious Lances were. Alea's bright blue eyes were not fully open in excitement to see me like she would usually be in, instead they were narrowing the situation that was at hand.
She was in her full Lance attire and had both weapons she wielded from her own magic.
Her eyes jumped from her companions to me multiple times that I just lost count. I was sure that the sight of me actively having my beast will ignited was a true sight to behold, at least from my point of view.
"T-That boy is a… monster." Mica said with enough air in her lungs and now coughed as she wasted it. Lance Mica was struggling to regain her composure just like the rest of them. Olfred on the other hand was trying his best to command his lava golems to attack me but I wasn't so naive to let that uncheck.
I used my ice deviant to keep them covered in barrages of ice.
The hue of the deviant flowed over and essentially created the cold air around us, breaking the quiet moment that seemed to be overwhelming us.
Instead of giving my focus to my mentor, I only watched the Lances who–from what I know in the novel–would end up trying to kill me right here right now, perhaps even cripple me by taking an arm or a leg.
Also why are they here?
They all couldn't have possibly tried to apprehend me just by sending the Lances here, to me… wait how did they know I was here?
My mana signature wasn't strong enough to be sensed or followed, I was certain I used Tachyon…
"Mind telling me how they knew where I was?"
Alea stayed quiet.
Olfred moved and grunts interrupted my thoughts. I placed myself away from the Lance that I held down with DownForce before de-activating the spell.
"Olfred are you okay?" The elven Lance rushed towards her companion. The dwarven Lance nodded before retracting his spells, converting them back to dirt.
I had nothing else to do there, much less say something that might stir even more the situation at hand. I turned to leave towards Xyrus but there always had to be someone to be doing the impossible…
[Zone Zero]
Right behind me came the icy chilling air that overflowed my lungs as I breathed in the air. Right behind it came the cold ice that overlapped the ground below me, or perhaps overtook the ground and froze everything inside the dirt. The ice finally reached to me, grabbing my feet and resting them firmly on the ground with little to no resistance from my end.
I turned to the one responsible for the spell, but I was quickly turned to another one. Looking upwards, I spotted Mica with her hammer again, this time she was actually trying to hit me with it again.
"Don't try it Lance Mica." I spoke loud enough for her to hear my words of warning.
The petite woman shrugged and dived towards me at an astonishingly high speed. "You don't get to tell Mica what to do!" She replied back.
"Sore losers."
I thought of a way to melt the ice below me but I had no fire aptitude for it. Maybe wind or earth might be the key but I was running out of time.
[Typhoon]
I reluctantly started a wind spell as my arm was already raised towards the petite Lance, however it was quickly canceled by a lightning bolt that struck my body, stinging my core directly.
Pain shot up to me quickly as I began to once more look at the Lances that had no powerful attacks against me, now had they been keeping some abilities away in secret was perhaps the answer.
They were testing me, they were using me.
They played my game and made me lower my guard against them.
A smirk appeared on my face before the gravity spell that Mica launched on me took effect.
[Mica's World]
The gravity spell veiled my whole body without any excuse, trying its best to pull me down to the ground where the active ice spell behaved. My back began to bend as my neck tried to oppose the action, arms and legs tried to stay strong but with how long the spell was active was impossible.
I clutched my fingers and made a fist, my teeth were gritted as my eyes furrowed.
[Nerve Fracture]
A portion of lightning passed through my mana barrier, entering my body and nerves. Pulling them all into submission and rendering my body unable to move by my own will.
Dammit!
My own thought had seemed to be predictable that even the Human Lance, Bairon Wykes, gave me a 'you are not so powerful now' look.
"Bairon, please stop, you are hurting him!" Alea exclaimed, walking towards the blonde Lance. Her angered tone had reached not only Bairon but also the rest of the Lances around me. They all portrayed this confusion that was momentarily washed by anger.
Bairon stepped aside, "Stop? Lance Alea, are you asking me to stop attacking someone who attacked us in the first place?" Standing firm against the elven Lance, showing off his authority of the house of Wykes.
The mana around him started to rattle and quake as the atmosphere got more intense.
While they had their little argument, I felt my body almost collapse because of the Lance's spell. [Nerve Fracture] was entitled to be this strong but he never used it from what I remember.
Not only that but I could use [Tachyon] to disable these spells that veil my body but… I switched my view from the Lances to the opposite side of them. Feeling a sensation which I hadn't felt since I met Cadell with Agrona, a feeling of death and fear. A cold icy claw that crept down at your spine if you weren't paying attention.
In the distance, at the end of the forest of the Beasts Glades, I was able to see the city of Xyrus only with my augmented sight. The mana fluctuations… they all moved around with such haste that it could easily be mistaken that they were excited but something was completely off.
This place was rich in mana…
I turned my head to my surroundings.
Searching and finding everything I feared looking back at us like we were some meal to be devoured at any second.
Why… is the motes of mana making a path towards the end of the Beasts Glades?
Dammit!
At that moment I activated my beast will.
However, in the same instance, Varay got a two way transmission scroll. Her expression seemed to betray her as her eyes followed along the letter that scroll presented her. It was the council that sent her that scroll there is no doubt but what for?
No, fuck that. My objective to keep them here for long enough has now come to an end.
Now it is up to him to complete the plan…
ELIJAH KNIGHT POV:
I walked down to the room that everyone was at, more specifically, the disciplinary committee students, Arthur's companions.
The red haired girl stood there looking at the multiple books stacked on the bookshelf like they perhaps had the information that she was looking for only for her to remember that she read these books so long before. A sigh escaped her lips before she turned to the table, only four out of the rest were sitting with the same expression she had just a little more quietly.
The prince and princess of Sapin looked at the table waiting for something to come through the same doors I did moments before, yet when they all saw me nothing could change their moments of feelings for Arthur's current disappearance.
Along with them, an elf, blonde hair narrowed eyes, watched all of them twirled with their hands and expressionless faces look at their surroundings with some sort of correction that they yearned for.
Finally I spoke up.
"I have information about Arthur."
Only then did all five of them look up with a different facial expression than moments before, perhaps a better sweet feeling that there was actually some information about their companion that they grew to care about.
"Arthur is okay, actually he made it back with a few scratches here and there but he is okay and healthy."
Their expressions brighten.
Their depressed selves had now a smile and tears of relief and joy that the auburn haired boy was alive and well.
"You should've told us that first!" Claire said as she cleared a sigh, her hand on her chest like it was eating at her for sometime now. "Where is he now?"
Claire motioned for me to sit down, "He is taking a vacation from school for emotional distress. He is with his family as we speak." I informed them, my hands together.
Kathyln stood up faster than anyone at the realization of only one name.
"What about Luke?"
I could tell from her voice that she was more concerned about Luke than anyone else in this room. Perhaps everyone aside from the princess considers Luke as a special friend.
My eyes couldn't stare back at her the way she did to me, her black pearl eyes had some hope which I didn't bring with me for her to enjoy. In between breaths and pauses I was able to give her the answer she wasn't looking for, much more, the one that she would fear the most.
"I— I don't know."
Her eyes widened.
Her voice in disbelief of mine.
"What do you mean? I am sure Arthur…"
I shook my head. "He didn't know either. No one knows where he is at, much less know whether or not he made it out the dungeon—"
"He's alive! I— I just know it!" The princess stated, tears rolling down her cheeks, hands held tight as she continued. "He couldn't have died…"
"Sister…" Curtis managed to say before walking up to me and the princess. The red haired prince consoled the princess while all I could do was watch. I clenched my hands at the sole thought that all I could do was deliver the news that only one out of the two had survived and actually had some status.
The rest of the disciplinary committee walked up to us and gave us a glimpse of hope, a sense that maybe Luke was actually okay and it was just time for him to show up.
And that is when the loud explosion went off.
The room shook and the tremor took all of us by surprise.
"What was that?!" Claire said, looking at us for answers but none of us had any. "Let us go and find out."
When we opened the door we noticed a bunch of students heading away from the classes. They were going somewhere and we perhaps needed them to take us to that place.
Following the handful of students that were running at full speeds, did only one of us fully stop at one of the windows and fully grasp what was going on.
The light of yellow, orange and red engulfed the surroundings of the corridor. What's more, the face that Kathyln Glayder made had me in a confused state of emotions or at least to what they had extended to the ice-hearted princess.
I walked closer to the window that the Princess stared at and only then did I fully understand what her emotions were about. It was the tri-union church. Something that had to be protected by us students was now on a blazing flames of someone's spell.
Anger flared up in me and I ran as fast as I could to the sole building that was lit up in flames. Kathyln was the one behind me and so were the rest of the disciplinary committee as well.
The princess of Sapin conjured her water spell and tried her best to put out the flames that seemed possible for her at her current core level. I on the other hand tried to fetch some water and some of the water mages around that I had so much information about only for the small glimpse of hope that maybe the church was just in a decent condition to continue to stand tall and proud of unifying the rest of the races here in Dicathen.
"Well Well Well. Isn't this amazing?! Dwarfs, Elves, and Humans cooperate together to put out a measly fire that was orchestrated by one of the students." A voice said in a sarcastic tone almost too happy but just deep enough that it could have been considered like he had been the one who did this. "Just what this continent has become of."
I turned to face the owner of the voice only to be met with a man taller than I and perhaps taller than Theodore Maxwell, wearing a gray cloak and a mask that gave me chills. It was painted in red but who would have it distinguished by blood, turned to a smiling creepy face.
He waved his hands, not long after did he open his arms like he was the perpetrator of this act.
Seeing this, I was about to speak when behind him opened the oval gates. Multiple of them were behind the orange haired man and then came the beasts, mana beasts that could be considered S-ranked class or lower like A-ranked class beasts but they were still too much for normal student mages to handle.
I was confident to handle some of them but not entirely sure whether or not I was going to lose a limb or two trying to fight these things.
"Now where are you hiding huh? Luke Hodges!"