Chapter 321 - Missing
Polschk chuckled and stood. He raised both his hands and made four large pods from his vines. The pods were pulsating like hearts, slowly enlarging with their size, as Polschk chanted something under his breath.
Lance leaped and tried to take one pod out, only to be swiped away by a thick vine. He crashed to the bleachers, passing through the stone seats while cloud of dusts covered his figure.
"I can feel an immense concentration of magic from the pods," Ed said. "Connor, cover me."
Connor nodded and hovered in the air. He went above Polschk and pointed his sword at the old man. "Infernal Ring of Fire!"
With a vertical swing of his sword from above his head, Connor fired a blaze of fire. The blaze formed a ring that targeted Polschk. The latter's response was to block the attack using a thick wet vine.
The flaming boy in the air continued shooting flames at Polschk, the old man looked at him with boredom. "You cannot defeat me with such measly flames."
"I know I can't defeat you," Connor said. "Ed, now!"
On the ground where the floating island Polschk was in, right at the center of it was Ed, standing and looking up. He was raising his sword up to his chest while a four dark purple swords made of aura charged from the four directions around him.
"Swords of Chaotic Despair!"
The four swords made of purple aura was fired with Polschk not knowing about their existence. His attention was being taken completely by Connor who kept raining flaming balls at him.
He clawed forward that made his vines chase Connor. The latter was avoiding all of the green tentacle-like objects, the flame from his staff he was riding on lit brighter than ever.
Just when the old man was about to catch Connor with his vines, the large dark purple swords pierced his pods. Polschk gasped, seeing the pods slowly dry up and falling into the ground.
Meanwhile, Ed was running back to Hope's direction when a pod fell right in front of him. There was a heavy thud and splurging sound on the pod that made him scream in fear.
"What in the hell?!" Ed screamed. He brandished his sword and poked the pod, trying to see what was inside. He lifted one flap of the pod, peeking inside, only for his eyes to widen and his mouth utter words that he didn't mean. "Holy f*cking kangaroo of sh*ts! What the hell is this?"
Hope was running towards him when the younger boy had the same reaction. "That's a person!"
"Thank you detective– of course this is a person!" Ed smacked Hope behind the latter's head. "I know it's someone, but how?"
"The souls," Hope whispered. "Oracion Alma were collecting souls. Maybe they weren't collecting them to charge up the beam earlier, maybe they're–"
"They're regrowing them," Ed cut him off. "Hope that was actually smart of you. Very interesting how the world isn't having a stroke in shock right now."
"Hey guys!" Connor yelled from above. He waved at his two friends, chuckling in awkwardness as the vines twirled around his body like snakes. "A little help here?"
Hope rolled his eyes. He took of his weapons and some of his equipment. He was currently in a form where he can block attacks without using any armor, so it was only a hindrance to him if he wears heavy equipment.
"I'll save him," Hope said, looking at the shocked Ed. "You take care of Lance."
"How Hope became like that will be one of Terra's most mysterious mysteries," Ed said to himself. He shook his head to remove the thoughts and ran to where Lance was.
The dark brown haired prince was standing in a broken bleachers. His sword was dragging on the ground while he lowered his hands and head, with his knees split apart.
"Lance!" Ed yelled. The boy paused when he saw the large hole behind his friend. The hole looked painful to thrown past through. "Lance, are you okay?"
"Elliot's dead," Lance whispered. "And the last time I talked to him was when I argued with him. I should've given him a chance."
"You're too late if you're just going to worry about that now," Ed said. "Since you cannot bring back the dead to life, avenge his death."
"But Polschk is too powerful," Lance sighed. "He has all the counter attacks for all magic. He's been exploring for decades, maybe centuries."
"But then…" Ed trailed off, a smirk dancing on his lips. "He didn't know about anti-magic, didn't he?"
This lit up Lance's face. He looked at Ed who had a knowing look in his face, "Lance I know you're upset about Elliot's death, I am too. But then again, his death will only be in vain if you attack aimlessly."
"You're right," Lance took a deep breath. "There's nothing wrong with being sad, but this is not the time."
"Exactly," Ed patted his friend's back and smiled. "We're gonna get through this. Elliot is with us."
–
The sound of large explosions from all over the stadium woke Alice up. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes to see what was going on. When she remembered what happened, Alice gasped and stood.
Her eyes could not believe the scenes in front of her. There's nothing but chaos, and lights from different attacks in the scene. Screams of pain and war cries echoed in her ears as she slowly gasped everything.
"I need to help them all," Alice said. She snapped her hand to the side, conjuring her staff and slowly walking at the edge of the broken seats. "Blessing of the Gods, heal all the allies in this place. Boost them with all your might and give them the replenishment they needed!"
Alice's staff glowed with a bright white color. There was a large and thick cloud slowly forming in the air, taking everyone's attention. Slamming her staff on the floor, the cloud opened up with a bright white beam of light passing through it.
The light bounced in all directions of the stadium, randomly boosting the Adventurers and healing the wounds of some. The spell took most of Alice's mana. She dropped to the floor, panting when her hand felt a wet and viscous liquid on the ground.
She checked what it was, gasping after seeing that it was blood. Alice looked around to see who the blood belonged to, only to fail.
A thought entered Alice's mind. She crawled towards the edge of the rubbles and searched for a brown haired boy who just saved her life not long ago.. Alice tried and tried, only to keep on failing. "Elliot, where are you?!"