Adam Griffin
My eyes peered down at the hologram which displayed the ongoing battles between the students.
On one side, Lucas Claymore was engaged in a duel with Han Shu-hui and Derek Maer. But Lucas was mostly attentive towards Han Shu-hui, not giving much attention to Derek.
He pulled back, bringing his short-swords into a stance. He shot in Han Shu-hui's direction and hacked his short-swords near his shoulder.
His burgundy hair fluttered fiercely, by the weird angle at which he had twisted his body. Again, he twisted his torso and shot his short-sword at Han Shu-hui, like an upper-cut.
But Han Shu-hui simply stood there, not moving an inch away. Then just as the short-sword reached near his chin, he shot his right hand forward.
He precisely hit the intersecting part of Lucas’s short-sword, with a swift movement of his palm.
He propelled his other hand forward, but Lucas was quick to react, and kicked back, barely dodging Han Shu-hui's counter.
I could see a stiff shockwave rapidly flutter the air around his palm. Lucas locked his eyes on Han Shu-hui and again propelled toward him.
‘His fighting style is refined, but...’I placed my hand over my chin as I thought. ‘...but he is too impatient, and hot-headed.’
A green hue began to emanate from the body of his short-swords, as he pulled them forward and performed a counter diagonal slash.
Han Shu-hui stepped back, and created some distance.
“Ho, they are at it.”
I heard a crisp feminine voice from above my shoulder. I snapped my head backwards and saw Mary standing a few steps away from me.
But I ignored her. I didn’t wanted to get involved with her in any way possible. I had seen some rough days because of her, during my time in the academy.
“Are you ignoring me, huh Adam?” Mary wryly spoke. As a wide grin flashed across her face.
I shook my head, then with a long sigh, I replied with a fake bright smile over my face, “how have you been, Mary ?”
Mary Blaine! A Senior from my years as a student in the academy. And she was a little, kind of a wry woman and a pain to deal with.
She and I had a lot of duels in our past, and every time I won, she would request to have another duel. So the best thing I learnt from those experiences was that, to just ignore her.
And for note, she has never won against me, not even once.
“Come on, I’m not going to ask you to a duel... till next time,” she mischievously spoke, as she brought her index finger close to my forehead, and flicked it.
But I snapped my head to the left and dodged her finger.
I looked at her with a nonchalant look in my eyes. But her appearance had changed from the last time I had seen her. She had her long dark green hair cut to shoulder length.
She was wearing a beautiful dress, with a single button of her shirt undone, which exposed her cleavage. Her clay coloured eyes bore into mine, as she took the seat beside me, in the crowd.
“Like you can win,” I scoffed.
Her ears perked up and she scowled and responded. “Ho, hasn’t my junior grown into a fine man, who can now talk back to women.”
My lips curled into a smile.
Her attitude hasn’t changed one bit. Well beside her being like this, she had made mine and Amanda’s time in the academy quite memorable.
Even if she was a pain in the ass for me, for requesting to duel me almost every single day, as far as I can remember.
“Where’s my sweet Amanda?” She said as he played with a lock of her hair.
“She went to get some refreshments,” I replied.
Then I turned my head back towards the hologram and saw the ongoing fight.
“Hey, Adam?” Mary spoke.
I kept my gaze over the hologram and replied. “What?”
She paused for a moment, then brought her face close to mine, and whispered into my ear.
“How are things going with Amanda? Have you both made any progress?”
I was left dumbfounded by her sudden question. I took a moment, straightened, then re-composed myself and replied. “I don’t seem to know what you’re talking about Mary?”
She patted me over my shoulder a little too excessively, as she grinned mischievously at me. Like some teenage girl.
“Come on, if you are too late, then someone else might steal her away from you,” Mary smirked, as she brought her hand close to her mouth to hide the smugness over her face, as her eyes had a perverted look in them.
Genuinely, I could get used to burying myself in constant work, but dealing with this woman was the most head splitting thing, which I couldn’t get used too.
I sighed and solemnly replied. “Please keep your self assumptions to yourself, me and Amanda are not like that. We are just friends.”
Mary pulled her arm back and sighed, as she shook her head in a disapproving manner, like I had said something obviously wrong.
She opened her mouth and spoke, “I’m serious, how long are to going to make her wait, huh Mister Thickhead.”
But just as I was about to reply, I was interrupted by Amanda, who held a bottle of water in her hand and stood behind Mary, as he spoke. “Ehh, Mary,” Amanda quickly walked toward her from behind, and hugged her.
“How have you been Amanda?” Mary asked as she patted Amanda over her head.
Her hand brushed passed Amanda’s auburn hair, as both of them held the hug for a moment.
Subconsciously, a smile tucked up my lips, as i saw the both of them.
Amanda had a hard time in the academy when she was a student, but Mary was the one who always helped her and took care of her like an older sister. So Amanda really respected and loved Mary.
“Haaa, only if I was born as a man, I would have married you Amanda,” Mary said, as I saw a shining twinkle in her eyes, which were directed towards me.
I smirked at her as I pressed my eyes into slits, “says the woman who is still single even after all these years.”
She scowled at me as she spoke with an irritated voice. “Griffin you better not go there.”
But the smug over my face subconsciously widened, as I heard her.
Relationships were a hard topic for Mary, as she had never dated a single man. And in her ripe age—which was twenty-seven—, many women her age were already in a relationship, or either had kids by now.
She bit down on her thumb-nail. As she whispered in a low voice, but I was nonetheless able to hear her.
“Even I want to fall in love and live a happy life.”
Here it was, the depressed phase of Mary. Fake tears covered the edges of her eyes, as he bit down on her nail.
Her phase was always a comical act to my eyes.
But I turned my gaze from Mary, towards Amanda who was seated beside her. For some reason, I remembered Mary’s words, before Amanda had arrived.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I had never seen Amanda in the way Mary was talking about. And even if I did, I still had the responsibilities as the next head of the Griffin family. So I always thought of relationships as nothing less than boring and a waste of precious time.
The life expectancy of us humans had doubled. So rather then wasting that precious time. To research and form some answers to these phenomenon which started occurring after mana became pre-eminent in our world was more important. And as the heir of the Griffin family, I held a responsibility for each action I took.
And I knew Amanda didn’t feel the same way, even if I liked her. She had told me in the past that she has no interest in getting in a relationship.
“What?” Amanda asked. She had caught me looking at her.
I snapped my head towards the hologram and replied, “it’s nothing.”
I once again focused on the match. It was going smoothly, Han Shu-hui didn’t give an inch, while Lucas slashed again in a counter diagonal manner.
Han Shu-hui created some distance. But my eyes laid, upon there sudden change in actions. Han Shu-hui stopped and stood still like a statue.
And Lucas had also stopped. Derek Maer, the boy from Han Shu-hui team approached the both of them.
Han Shu-hui pulled his watch forward as a frown flashed across their face. Lucas bickered with Han Shu-hui, but after a moment, he calmed down and nodded his head.
I felt like something was wrong. Why would they stop all of a sudden? Then all of them stepped back, and started making their way towards the north direction, where the fort tower was.
“What the hell are they doing?” Mary asked.
Her phase now over and she attentively looked at the hologram. Even she knew something was wrong.
But I simply scanned their movements. This could be a plan that they had made to conquer victory. But I was skeptical about such a plan.
Five minutes passed and nothing happened. I was merely looking at the hologram which displayed the previous place where Han Shu-hui and Lucas Claymore were fighting.
“Why aren't the other sides shown?” I whispered to myself as I locked my eyes at the hologram.
And I had not seen Seo Jiwoo from the start of the match. As if the cameras placed across the fort were not working and providing footage to be seen over the holograms.
Something was definitely wrong.
I saw many silhouettes approaching from afar. I channelled mana towards my eyes and focused them on the silhouettes in the distance.
My eyes shot open, as I saw Ryuya, who was carrying his teammate’s body over his shoulder, and Haris, his other teammate, both running back in the facility’s direction.
On the west side, I saw Han Shu-hui, Lucas and Derek making their way back too.
But they were missing four people.
Park Jiyoung, Seo Jiwoo, Felix Blúte and Stephen Mayer. Those four were not present amongst them.
I shot up from my seat and so did Amanda and Mary.
But the moment I left my seat, the hair at the back of my head stood, as I felt a tingle in the air, which made me nervous. My body felt the change of mana, which was increasing moment after moment.
My sensitivity for mana allowed to me sense even the slightest of change of the mana. And I felt the mana moving around me in a weird motion.
I reinforced my body with mana, and with the manipulation of mana in its highest form—Mana Conglomeration—, I lifted off of the ground.
A gust of wind made my clothes flutter, as I looked at Mary and Amanda.
They nodded their head back.
Without even thinking, I pushed the mana and shot in the direction from where the students were coming from. They were at a least a quarter mile away.
I reached them within no time and landed from my flight and asked.
“What’s going on?”
Ryuya gashed hard for air, as he put his teammate—Karan’s—body down, and soon he was able to move.
Then after catching his breath, he opened his mouth and hurriedly spoke, with his voice panicked.
“Instructor, Felix and Stephen were demons’ contractees, and they have installed a bomb which is about to detonate,” his voice was rushed, but there was not one trace of lie laced in his words.
I closed my eyes, and searched through the mana. I saw a pattern, which led to a more frenzied mana. I followed that path, and soon sensed the explosive mana gathering, in the south direction.
My eyes shot open, and I looked at Ryuya and the others.
“All of you go back to the facility at once, and inform the other instructors.”
I pulled my watch close and spoke into it. “You heard that didn’t you, Amanda?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, me and Mary will take care of things here, you go and do what you need to,” she hurriedly replied.
“But where are Jiyoung and Jiwoo?” I asked, directing my gaze back at the students.
Han stepped forward and answered, “Jiwoo was the one who told us about the bomb and Felix and Stephen being contractees.”
My brows knit as many thoughts crossed my mind.
“And Jiyoung said she had something to do, so she said she will be right back,” Ryuya said.
I nodded my head and then once again lifted off the ground, and shot in the direction I had felt the massive combustion of mana.
“Just what is going on?”
***
Seo Jiwoo
I shook my body forward and pushed the mana a little more. Allowing the mana to dissipate in anyway possible.
My mind was now completely in panic. In situations like these, I would have normally remained stoic and unbothered. But now Jiyoung had arrived here.
I couldn’t even hear her approach me. My senses had weakened so much, by the damage my body had undergone.
The bones in my body or most of them were now numb, from the excessive discharge of mana.
“Jiwoo...,” Jiyoung's voice panicked, seeing me in such a state.
I mean if a normal person saw me right now, they would puke all over themselves.
My face was covered with my own blood, my left arms skin and muscles were ripped open—but the potion was steadily regenerating my damaged body. Every inch of my body bled as I felt unimaginable pain enshroud my being.
I couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of my own blood in my head. Every noise felt deaf to my ears.
I couldn’t even hear my own groans, as the pain was overtaking my rationality.
I could feel it vividly, my body was dying. The effects of the potion I had consumed were being overpowered by the destruction my body was undergoing.
But I was close, through Mind’s Eye, I was able to inspect and gauge the amount of mana left inside the bomb's core.
‘Just as little more,’ I pleaded inwardly as I gave myself a few words of reassurance.
My bones shook, and my channels creaked as the mana converged towards them and out of my body.
A drop of sweat dripped down my side and onto the pool of blood beneath me.
Finally my body gave out. I couldn’t absorb the mana any longer. My grip loosened over the cube and my body fell backwards.
But Jiyoung caught my half dead body and softly held it in her embrace.
“Jiwoo.... Jiwoo.... Jiwoo,” she shouted my name, called out to me. But I barely heard her.
From the edges of my blurry eyes, I saw Jiyoung crying. Her cheek were a bright red, as her weepy voice called out to me.
Her own body was shaking as she held mine. This was also a first for me, seeing Jiyoung cry.
‘So the ice-queen knew how to cry.’
But I weakly held my hand upwards and then pushed it forward. Blood dripped from my arm, as I pointed my finger towards the cube.
“It enough, you have done enough,” Jiyoung's pleas rang inside my head, like a soft lullaby. She increased her embrace, and held me softly. My eyes started to lose focus, darkness began to surround the edges of my eyes. The last of the energy I could muster, disappeared. I felt weak.
Are you going to let them die... again?
No... I can’t stop right now. J-Just a little more.
“Uekkkkk...”
I painfully groaned as my arm lost strength and it plummeted on the ground.
I pushed my right hand forward, and pulled two potions out of my inventory. By now the effects of the instant regeneration potion was over.
The injuries my body had sustained, had stopped regenerating.
I firmed my grip over the flasks, but my fingers kept shaking and the potions dropped down on the ground.
But Jiyoung was quick to act, and grabbed both of the potions from the ground. She took the lid off and gently placed the tip of the flask inside my mouth.
The cold potion poured inside my mouth, but I coughed hard, as I choked on my blood and the potion.
But after coughing a few more times, I drank both of the potions and a subtle warmth washed over me. Making my body slightly lighter.
My body recovered, barely. But my eyes focused on the cube once again. An eerie black glow emanated from its body, as the air began to flutter and crack, again.
But a soft smile crept up my face, as I felt someone approaching us.
I turned my head to my left and saw, Adam’s mana signature approaching here. He was coming here at full speed.
We need to get out of here, both me and Jiyoung would simply be a bother to him.
Now that Adam was coming here, he could reinforce the area and erect a barrier around the bomb to stop its resonation even more.
But there would still be a blast, which is why we needed to escape from here.
“Jiyoung h-hold on to... my a-arm tightly,” I weakly said.
Jiyoung did as I said and wrapped her arm around mine. I lightly moaned, as she loosened her grip. But I stopped her.
The only way for us to escape from here was to use my skill. Leap!
But using that skill in my current condition would be overkill.
But it was the only chose I had at this point. The mana spiralled around us, as the air cracked with a bright black glow.
‘L-Leap,’ I activated my skill, and my mind blanked momentarily.
I felt a splitting headache shroud my head, as my brows furrowed in pain.
But the moment I activated my skill, my vision focused on hundred of spirals like lines, moving in the atmosphere. Small black motes—about the size of my palm—floating between those line. There were almost hundreds of motes in a single line. Or so I thought. Like a starry night sky.
But upon closer examination, I saw those motes, they were connected to somewhere. Had some meaning. Some information. Some purpose. Like a dungeon gate, but in a miniature form.
My body began to shiver under the effects of my skill. But I formed an image inside my mind. Where I wanted to go—to teleport too.
The headache increased, as the image almost crumbled, but I firmed my focus back on that image. And soon with a blinding black glow, I saw a mote shine with an obsidian black light.
I reached out to it, like it tangibly existed. But was only visible to my eyes, connected to my mind. Soon my mind connected to that mote—wormhole—, and I felt my being disappearing into a void, connected to another location.
Jiyoung kept her grip firm.
With a flash of black lightning, I leaped, and in less than a second I found myself laying on the cold hard ground behind the training facility.
Where Thomas had brought me a few days ago.
My lungs stopped working for a moment, as blood gushed out of my mouth like a stream.
I searched for Jiyoung. She was right beside me. Her face looked a little pale.
“Jiwoo... can you hear me?” she asked. Her voice laced with panic.
[Waring] [The Host’s HP is low!] [Consume a potion immediately!]
[Waring] [The Host’s HP is low!] [Consume a potion immediately!]
The system's monotonous voice rang inside my head as my body became cold.
The sunlight fell over me, enveloping me in its warmth. I felt weirdly at peace. I was close to dying. My body was giving out.
My body didn’t move an inch. My breathing was shallow. My eyes losing their focus. Jiyoung kept crying over my cold body, as a lock of her hair fell over her face. I pulled my arm up, and tucked that lock of hair behind her ear.
But soon after, a cold sensation filled my mouth, as I felt my body becoming lighter. My vision became a little better and I saw, a woman sitting beside me.
It was the same woman who I had accidentally bumped into yesterday.
“Its alright, you can rest Jiwoo,” she spoke.
Her words reassured me for some reasons. Soon afterwards, my ears rang as a deafening blast could be heard in the distance, which shook the ground around us. And a moment later I lost consciousness.