46. Ancient Book (part 2)

"Ahaha!! You've finally said it!" Next to Nathan, Eric suddenly bursts into laughter.

We all turned our cold glares at him, questioning why he is taking such words so lightly. But seeing how happy he is, looks like he had a different mindset compared to us.

"Then, you're telling us to void our lives to that monster? Are you really telling your own friends to die?" Eric asked with such a cold tone, and Nathan only chuckled hearing that.

"Then, forget it. None of you are as close to me as Felicia. In the first place, it was wrong for me to put my faith in all of you." Nathan said with such a cold tone, and it shocked us even further.

I turned to Lily to see how she's doing, and Lily looked like she already wanted to cry. Nyssa quickly wrapped her hands around Lily, and I knew right away that this isn't right.

"Fine by me! I'll be leaving, then." Eric said cheerfully while getting up, and the room went silent after he went to his room.

Now, it's just us. Eric was never really a part of our friend group, so now we can really have a heart to heart talk with Nathan.

"Nate. You can't blame us for wanting to escape from that situation." I said with annoyance at him, but Nathan only let out a sigh.

"You're right. That was my bad. I'm sorry." Nathan suddenly apologized, and that truly surprised me at how easy it was for him to change his mind.

However, that was never the case.

"Then, feel free to visit the new academy in the earth nation. I'm sure everyone is eager to hear more from you all." Nathan said before turning around, and I knew right away that he did not hear anything I've said before.

I grabbed him by his shoulder to stop him from leaving, and Nathan only smacked my hand away. He turned his angered gaze at me, but I know deep down as to why he is angry.

Felicia's death was already a week ago, and Nathan never got angry at us before this. Even a few days ago when we all forced him to rest after staying awake for three days straight, he still thanked us for thinking about him. He is a kind man towards all of his close friends and families, and he is not the kind of person who would blame the people close to him for a death. Especially not after a whole week has passed.

"We're facing the headmaster again. Whether you like it or not." I said to him coldly, and Nathan opened his eyes wide from shock.

He did not expect that I would catch on to what he is trying to do, and I was quite surprised that the thought even came to my head. I turned to Lily and Nyssa who seemed to be quite curious about what I'm talking about, and I told them.

"Nathan wants us to hide, because he doesn't want us to be hurt by the headmaster." I told Lily about Nathan's true intentions of pushing us away, and Lily finally realized it after giving it a thought.

"That's not happening. I won't ever leave you alone again." Lily said with such a firm tone while holding back her sadness, and Nathan turned his widened eyes to Lily. "Unlike before, I'm going to do my best from now on."

"Me too." Nyssa joined in as well, and that made Nathan more surprised considering Nyssa's personality.

For a moment, Nathan began contemplating what else he can say to us. I knew that he is not such an evil person to say such things, but I know he is the kind to do whatever it takes to protect the ones close to him. He will push us, just so he can protect us.

"I don't know what came over us that night…" I suddenly said to Nathan, and he turned his gaze back to me. And with him staring at me so intensely, I just grinned at him.

"But, such a thing won't happen again! The next time the headmaster appears, I'll make sure to beat his ass up!!" I shouted with confidence at him, and Nathan looked like he was about to cry.

Seems like he has been having his head filled with worrisome thoughts. He must be so afraid of us losing our lives because we followed him into battle, and he wished that we'd just go away before anything bad happens to us.

Nathan then closed his eyes, and I knew deep down he was trying to accept this idea. I just walked closer and gave him a faint fist bump to his shoulder, and he turned his concerned face to me.

"If the headmaster does show up… Promise me something. All of you." Nathan said to all of us, and we all listened closely.

"Don't face him alone. Face him together. Let's all beat him up only when we're together. Only then will we have a chance to win." Nathan said with a firm tone, and a confident light can be seen from his eyes.

We all nodded at him, and Nathan smiled from how easy it was for this issue to be solved. Lily then started circling around the round table to approach Nathan, and she punched him in the gut.

BAKK!!!!

"A-Aw!! What's that for!?" Nathan tries to defend himself from any more of Lily's punches, but the cruel princess is only getting started.

"Next time you're doing something like that again, I'll be sending a whole military to beat your ass."

"T-That's not funny!!"

"You think what you're doing is funny!?" Lily then proceeds to shoot more of her punches to Nathan, and the guy gets reduced to defending himself on the ground. 

As Lily proceeds to use her foot to step on him mercilessly, I walked closer to Nyssa with a big smile on my face. Nyssa noticed me coming, and she too smiled faintly.

"It's fun seeing another couple quarrel, isn't it?" I said while whispering a little, and Nyssa giggled cutely next to me.

"As if you and I ever quarreled."

"We don't, but you would always just ignore me every time you don't like something."

"How is that counted?"

"Oh, it definitely counts." I said with a cheeky grin, but Nyssa only turned away from annoyance.

As the beating continued, a door was opened from one of the bedrooms next to the round table. We all turned towards the light blue door that opened next to us, revealing a guy holding a large suitcase and a massive backpack behind him as if he was going to travel a long distance.

"E-Eric!? Where are you going?" I asked Eric out of confusion, but the guy returned me with an even bigger confusion.

"I thought we're going to the academy." Eric said with such pure intentions, and both me and Nyssa only let out a sigh.

Outside of combat, our chemistry is just off. Everyone in this group is unique in their own way, and I guess that's what happens when you put together a group filled with people of different origins.

But, when it comes to fighting side by side…

"Jonah!! Cover!!!" Lily shouted angrily because she noticed I was being stupid, and I was immediately pulled out of my daze.

Right… I've promised that guy. I have promised myself too, that I will not stand shivering and run away when I see the monster once more.

I will not stand idly and let someone else die in front of me. I will do whatever I can… to protect them. 

"HoooOOOAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Just like… my father once did.

As the guttural scream left my throat, I swung my powerful golden blade forward, releasing a powerful lump of rock and sand piling up into a large amount of pebbles. The pebbles began to scatter midair and started going in different directions, and the headmaster lifted his shield up once more.

CTAR!!!

CTARRR!!!!!!

Like bullets, the rocky pebbles that I've thrown at him struck through his light origin shield, and the headmaster's face turned extra surprised by that fact.

"What!?" The headmaster shouted, but he had no time to process everything. 

By the time he turns his gaze forward, Nyssa is already above him, ready to throw her spear up close. Nyssa already charged up a ton of wind energy into the spear, and the headmaster knew that he would not come out unscathed if he took the spear head on.

The headmaster disappeared into a blink of light, but Nyssa threw the wind spear anyway.

VWOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And with nothing blocking the spear and the book, the powerful spear landed successfully by the lectern.

The spear then exploded massively and caused a powerful tornado within this gigantic pyramid. The tornado exploded all over the place, throwing both me and Lily backwards. The top part and some part of the walls of the pyramid were destroyed by the wind explosion, opening the pyramid and allowing sunlight to enter.

As the debris of the building falls, sand and dust is smoking the whole interior completely. It was quite difficult for me to see where Nyssa went, but I had no time to be worrying about it.

I turned around and followed Lily outside, because the whole pyramid was about to collapse. As the walls crumbled behind us, the soldiers outside immediately turned wary of what was happening. They all started preparing for the battle of their lives, and we all turned our gazes to the collapsed pyramid.

"Where is… Nyssa?" I asked while catching my breath, but Lily only pointed her hand really high.

"Up there!" Lily said aloud, and I followed where her hand was pointing.

About fifty meters in the air, a single individual is flying really high up above the smoke. Nyssa looked fine, but she is staying up there for quite a while. After being up for a bit, she flew back down and approached us.

"The book… it's still intact." Nyssa said to us right after she arrived, and we noticed that Nyssa was keeping an eye on the book when she was flying.

"That's… crazy." I commented, because it really was. 

Nyssa's wind spear is very powerful, and it flattened the entire pyramid as a result of the explosion. And she is telling me that a book that was right next to the blast… is fully intact?

"As always, my children always surprise me." From the center of the smoke and sandstorm, an echoing voice was heard.

Everyone turned their focus towards the headmaster once more, and we all found him slowly approaching us from the center of the fallen pyramid. The black book is floating above his right hand that is covered by a thick purple aura, and the book closes itself as if the headmaster commanded it.

"I'm guessing your… weapons, have all been enchanted by the darkness origin ability?" The headmaster asked with such a demeaning tone, and I was too shocked by just how quick he was able to guess our secret.

It's the truth. The golden blade that once belonged to my father has been enchanted by the darkness origin. It was made possible by the technology that Frisena came up with, and I'm not really sure how it works. One day, she just asked us to give her all our weapons, and the next thing we knew, our weapons were just different.

The same goes for Lily's short rapier and Nyssa's spear. Our weapons were enchanted by a darkness origin, which resulted in our abilities being able to pierce through the headmaster's abilities. 

Darkness origin can rule out light origin, rendering it useless. That's why my blade was able to make the headmaster's hand bleed earlier, and how the rock pebbles that I threw pierced his shield. Lily's water dragon didn't really break through, but it definitely weakens his shield. Had she tried a bit harder, it would've broken through.

Our abilities, weapons, and gears… were prepared specifically to face him. That's why we are confident that we're going to win this time.

"Amazing. To think that you all prepared this much after finding out my origin. I guess I should compliment you too for preparing all of this, right?

Frisena?" 

The headmaster turned his gaze up towards the fifty flying Steelbirds flying behind us, where Frisena had arrived with the hidden backup. The plan was to lure the headmaster away from Zero, and we have finally done it. Now, we just need to go all out against him.

Hundreds of soldiers with gears made specifically to face light origins, fifty Steelbirds equipped with deadly guns, and three of the most talented students of the academy.

The headmaster, no matter how strong he is, will not walk out of this place alive.

"It's quite sad that I will have to kill my own headmaster." From one of the Steelbirds flying behind us, Frisena spoke using a very loud speaker. "But, you did kill my favorite teacher, so I must avenge her."

"I didn't know you were that close with Hilda! Haha, I never noticed! You two hid it so well from me!" The headmaster replied so cheerfully, not caring about the fact that he had killed Miss Hilda cold heartedly.

"Now, then. My students. Show me… what you all have prepared." The headmaster lifted the book high, unleashing the purple power behind it.

And we all… can only face this head on.