Right after the barrier turned into a pile of broken glass, the students who could fight quickly used their magic to knock down the nearest enemy. As for those who couldn't fight, they ran in a group, hiding behind Aries.
Aries stared at the strangers behind him; even though they were clearly scared, his eyes gave them a look of disdain and didn't hold the slightest emotion.
He turned his gaze at the corner of his eyes, coldly asking, "...anything else?"
Is it the right choice to hide behind him? They thought and slowly started to keep what they called a safe distance between them and him.
Seeing their actions, he rolled his eyes away.
"Tch, pathetic."
"Don't apply your ideals to them; they simply cannot live up to them."
A woman's energetic voice suddenly came from behind him as she slashed two of the masked people, completely erasing that emotionless state he was in before, replacing it with pure rage.
"You!..."
An elf with short sky blue hair and mint green eyes holding a sword in her right hand walked gracefully toward him in her school uniform.
With a bright smile, she greeted him.
"Hello, brother."
But due to the reckless move when she killed those two, her face and sword were washed with blood.
Aries raised his hand, stopping her.
"We're not that close."
"We're still blood related, so I will be the older person and won't argue."
"Hypocrite," he said as he threw his gloves, replacing them with a brand new one, looking completely disguised.
He thought, 'If Serenity caught that smell on me, she would start keeping her distance; simply put, they are not worth it.'
He didn't say anything yet, but all the people who saw him knew something was definitely wrong with his mind.
"Crazy bastard…!!"
A man with mint green eyes and black braided hair, wearing a classic black suit, suddenly shoved the girl aside, shouting at the top of his lungs at Aries.
"I've had enough of your temper for a long time by now; I must teach you a lesson for Ellia, otherwise I won't be a qualified elder brother."
Ellia took a handkerchief from her pocket and started wiping the blood off her face.
"Tourmaline, stop arguing with him already."
Tourmaline didn't hold it in; he shouted,
"He started it."
Aries gritted his teeth upon seeing those siblings' interaction. 'Why can they be carefree like this while we siblings meet only by chance?...I hate it...'
Aries's eyes full of envy, feeling so pissed by their loud noises, he left a single comment that made Tourmaline confused.
"Since when did an ant start to speak?"
Tourmaline started looking right and left, full of confusion.
"Ant?...Do ants even speak?"
Aries had a smug smile as he said,
"Yes, it does; I see a large one talking shit right in front of me."
"??!"
He took a while to process what he heard, but when he did, blood rushed through his veins, finally snapping.
"Who the hell are you calling an ant, you hypocritical lunatic...???"
He rushed at Aries, wanting to beat him, but Ellia caught his collar before he did something he would regret for the rest of his life.
"Keugh...wait...what the?"
"Enough already."
She let go of his collar, finally allowing him to breathe.
"Cough, cough, cough...what the hell was that?"
He turned at his sister, totally pissed.
"Why did you do this?"
"Just based on the fact that I know you're no match for him, and he's the oldest, so suck it up," she said.
Tourmaline pointed at Aries, shouting.
"Why are you taking his side? I am clearly your one and only brother."
"I hate it the most when people point their fingers at me," full of rage. Aries grabbed his finger and broke it on the spot.
-catch-
-break-
"Aaaah, you motherfucker, let go of me…"
With a harmless smile on his face Aries said,
"Want to let go?...Okay..."
Tourmaline fell on the ground full of agonizing pain, so Ellia got angry just looking at him like that and pointed her sword at Aries.
"You could've just talked it out; why resort to violence?"
Aries looked at her expressionlessly; for a second there it felt as if time had stopped moving from the tension between them.
Aries then lowered his gaze at his gloves, paying zero attention to Ellia. In his mind only one thought was running: 'disgusting.'
He quickly removed his gloves for the second time, but instead of throwing them on the ground, he held them over Tourmaline's head, telling him in a threatening tone,
"You're just like this pair of gloves, always disposable...
He threw it on the ground in front of Tourmaline's eyes and stepped on it with all his might. He lowered his head beside the boy's ears, whispering in a deep, low voice.
"Stop giving yourself a high value when in reality you amount to nothing."
'Weakening ant...if this is all you amount to, why bother opening your mouth?' He thought after seeing that Tourmaline dared not to move.
Aries raised his gaze at Ellia's sword. "Now it's your turn, bonehead," he thought, clearly up to no good.
He chanted a single word, and the sharp sword in her hand broke into pieces.
[RIMA]
- shatter-
"There won't be a next time, got it," he said and took out his mask and started wearing it as he walked away from them.
'What a waste of time; I need to go for my sister asap,' he thought.
Ellia suddenly shouted, which made him stop moving.
"Stop right there!"
Eyes full of anger as she looked at the broken pieces on the ground, 'That was a weapon made specifically for me under my mother's request.'
She turned her whole body facing Aries's back.
"I waited long for it, and you broke it casually....Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
Aries paused for a second and only delivered a single sentence.
"You're not worth it."
"What?!" She laughed bitterly as she said, "It's funny hearing you say it like that, but may I ask your excellency, if I am not worth it, then who is?"
"You know who," he slightly rotated his head. "It seems you've occupied her position for so long that you forgot who you really are?"
Ellia's previous bright face turned pale hearing those words coming from his mouth.
"You realize I am your legitimate biological younger sister, right?"
Aries looked ahead of him and started walking while saying,
"Don't flatter yourself. You're my sister only when she says so, but this joke is no more valid."
-bang-
He slammed the cafeteria's doors shut behind him, leaving people whispering between themselves.
Tourmaline fought the pain and stood up, cursing at Aries.
"What the fuck is wrong with that crazy kid?"
He turned to Ellia to be stunned by her sweating heavily while uttering the same words again and again with fear written all over her face.
"She is back...she is back...back...her..."
Tourmaline felt something was off and shook her shoulder.
"What's wrong with you? You're scaring me like that."
Ellia looked at her brother's face with shaken eyes.
"Don't you understand...she's back..."
"Who is back?"
"She's back...Serenity is back."
Tourmaline let go of Ellia and fell on the ground after finally knowing what she meant.
"We're screwed."
.
.
.
Back to the stadium after the wave of soul eaters was purified by Sylvia, the two corpses on the ground came back to life after being possessed by the soul eater and, without any further warning, jumped towards the crowd, breaking the ground underneath.
-Grawoool-
Luckily Baial was quick-witted, as she activated her bloodline ability right away.
[MUTO]
In an instant she exchanged locations with the possessed ninth circle, making her attack fall on nothing but empty ground.
And activated it a second time to exchange with Lana.
[MUTO]
"What in the world just happened?" Lana said after finding herself facing the people on the other side.
She quickly looked back at where she was standing and saw Daniel and Baial looking at the possessed person with stiff expressions.
"What are they up to?"
Baial pointed with her head at the possessed woman and said as she jumped,
"Use all your strength to punch me straight into the arena."
Daniel seemed to understand her plan as he smiled, pulling all his fire magic into his right hand and punching with all he's got at Baial.
Baial didn't allow it to hit her and chanted for the third time.
[MUTO]
Changing with the second one that received all the damage and was pushed straight to the center of the arena
-crash-
-bang-
Bail, upon using so much strength, felt weak in her knees, unable to stand; she fell to the ground, hardly gasping for air while coughing blood.
"Huff, huff, huff...that was a close one...cough..."
Daniel gave her a thumbs up from afar.
"Good job."
"Easier said than done." She wiped her sweat as her black cat form faded away. "Sure enough, using bloodline magic consumed most of my stamina."
Sylvia, sitting on the other side, praised her along with Bella.
"Beautifully done, little one."
"As expected, I don't befriend useless people."
Bella lowered her gaze at Sylvia, mocking her.
"Say it again after you stop terrifying the little girl."
Sylvia pouted as she heard those words coming from someone other than Belladonna.
"Hmph, try another one; my life's amusement depends on that."
"Bitch"
"Slut"
The stone border didn't have it easy as it collapsed by the shock from the possessed's pressure that she ended up on the arena's grounds.
At the same time on the arena's grounds, the third wave started coming out as the ground turned into a gloomy, thick, dark liquid that devoured the possessed one in the middle of the arena.
Baial stared at the arena and started pulling her hair like a psycho from the pressure on her back.
"Is this not going to end?"
Daniel, sensing danger, ran towards Serenity, but seeing her not moving, he had no choice but to move her himself.
"Excuse me, then this is an emergency."
He took her in his arms and placed her on one of the back seats.
"Here you go. I'm still wearing my golden gloves, so that doesn't count as touching. Don't hold it against me when you're up, deal."
Seeing what Daniel did, the rest of them that were still close to the arena moved away, keeping a safe distance.
They stared at the weird liquid, and a weird light was moving inside. The moment it reached the edges where the other possessed woman was, it released wipes made of liquid wrapping around her body and lastly pulled her in.
Sylvia stared with wide eyes.
"It's as if the ground came to life."
Only after swallowing the entire front row did it finally stop spreading.
Lana stared at the frozen liquid. "Is it over?"
Suddenly the liquid had a black crack spreading until it was covered whole; under everyone's worried gazes, one of those cracks finally shattered as a hand made of bones suddenly burst out, followed by countless more shattering their way out.
Upon seeing the sight, all the people at the stadium turned their gazes at Lana.
Lana jolted in her place, feeling the creepy gazes from all the young and old around them.
"What?"
"Fuck, you had to ask?" Bella said
"Look at the bright side. What worst could happen?"
The moment she finished saying that, a violent, sudden shake hit the whole flying island.
Bella shouted at her, full of anger.
"Fuck you, Lana; stop talking."
"Shit ,maybe, maybe I shouldn't have talked?!"
As most of the buildings started cracking and the stadium that was mostly destroyed hit the most damage with most of the walls that started to fall down, Lana used her wind magic.
[Animae venti, spiritus qui hanc terram protegitis, ad vocem meam venite et alas vestras super nos omnes expandite.]
On her side the power of wind covered her and the people beside her, but only half of the stadium was protected while the other half, where Serenity and Daniel were, had no one.
Seeing Daniel in danger, Bella became so restless that she used what was left of her magic by wrapping herself in her wings; she disappeared from there, leaving only a drop of blood in her place, and reappeared beside Baial.
Daniel, surprised by her sudden appearance, asked,
"How did you get here?"
"Later, babe." She spread those wings and flew into the air after wrapping her body with a thick bloody red aura, swallowing her whole.
From the red aura, a huge amount of bloody butterflies spread around the stadium, catching the roof before it collapsed over their heads.
Bella turned her head at Daniel, all exhausted.
"I can't keep this for long; this place is not safe anymore. What should we do?"
'The island is about to collapse, and Serenity is still not awake... At this rate all of us are dead for sure.' After quick thinking, Daniel looked at Serenity, then at his exhausted girlfriend, and then he made up his mind.
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Leave...everyone leave the stadium this instant."
"What?...Then what about the plan?" Lana asked.
"Fuck the plan," she said. "Do this but never say not to improvise," Bella said as she was slowly losing her strength.
'All the audience in the stadium are dead weight; protecting them will dry us dead instantly...this won't do.' Sylvia finally recovered enough power and got up.
She turned a dangerous killing intent on the whole stadium, making all the noise stop, and coldly said,
"Since you can't fight, then step back and stop being a burden."
The people present were stunned, all frozen, not a word or a move till she shouted again.
"Just get the hell out of here already."
With that move she was drained again and fell on her back, but they finally snapped awake and started running for dear life.
Lana, knowing she can't move for the time being, attentively raised her voice, asking,
"Are you okay, kid?"
Sylvia replied with a faint voice, barely allowing anyone to hear,
"Still alive, won't die that easily, don't worry."
"What did you say?"
"She's tough, don't worry," Bella said.
"Seriously, you heard what she said?"
All who were still in the stadium shouted in one voice,
"Shut up."
"Sorry."
During the evacuation, the bones that came out of the arena finally appeared complete. An army of the undead skeletons emerged from under the grounds, spreading panic among them.
"Shit, people are still here."
"Leave it to me," Daniel said and wrapped his whole body with fire and ran straight towards the skeletons.
A golden bloodline circle appeared in front of him, having the shape of a fire qilin in the middle.
As Daniel moved forward, he passed through the circle, and his body got covered with golden light, clear on him, wearing golden scale armor with a huge red jewel engraved deep in his left hand. From it, a total of three chains wrapped around his body.
Upon getting closer, he jumped straight into the air, raising his right hand, ready to punch with his other hand paving the way with a huge bloodline circle. He punched it, and the whole arena turned into a sea of flames, destroying everything in its way.
Bella stared at the flames in shock.
"That was hot."
Baial looked at her with an expression, 'Seriously?'
Seeing how easily Daniel destroyed them, those who didn't leave stopped for a second to admire the sight.
At that time Bella finally lost her strength, turning back to her original form and being about to fall down along with the walls.
"This is bad."
She closed her eyes and covered her face, but she felt a hand grabbing her waist, so she quickly opened them, and her face couldn't hide her joy.
"It's you!...Dan."
Daniel smiled at her and bunched the fallen walls with a huge burst of fire energy, turning them into smaller pieces.
After that his transformation ended and he fell to the ground, but he held onto Bella tightly to ensure she landed on top of him and wouldn't be hurt.
The first thing he did after landing was make sure Bella was fine.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
As he frantically searched her upside down with that worried face, Bella smiled as she raised his chin, landing her plumpy lips on his.
-mwah-
She quickly let go and got up, leaving him still stunned on the ground.
"Now then, what should we do next?"
His dazed state couldn't last for long as a second shock hit the ground, but unlike the last two, this one didn't stop on just the collapsing of some buildings.
As a violent roar rushed from the grounds The previous cracks started splitting the ground, showing the inner structure before it calmed down.
Lana looked around her with a forehead full of sweet sayings.
"Is it finally over?"
All of them turned at Lana, eyes totally terrified from what might happen next, and sure enough, a pressure like power pinned them to the ground.
Bella shouted as she was pinned on her knees on the ground.
"Why the fuck did you open your mouth?"
Sylvia, who was flat on the ground, had a clear view of the sky, so she was the first to notice the strange pattern the clouds were moving in. 'Why is it going up?'
She shouted in panic, pointing up.
"The clouds are being sucked up."
"Up?"
All those who heard her looked up at the sky, and one glance was enough for Daniel to figure it out.
"The clouds aren't going up, but the island is going down."
"What the..." Bella turned to Serenity with a worried expression. "Fuck, she's still not up."
Daniel held Bella's hand while looking at the sky.
"At this rate we're scrwa...a...acho...why is it cold all of a sudden?"
Bellarubbed his back. "Are you okay?"
"I...am a bit cold." He rubbed both hands on Bella, then raised his head up to the sky before she finally froze in place.
Following his gaze, she looked up and saw it: a huge magical circle covered the whole sky above them.
A soft, luminous, and serene light took the shape of an ice folk centering the sky, descending a pillar of white ice folk that fell directly in the middle of the arena.
Just as the whole arena started to turn cold, the pressure on their backs suddenly became lighter; the sound of heels stepping onto the ground echoed through the arena.
Daniel turned back with a bright smile, saying,
"Thank god you're finally awake, or else I wouldn't have known what to do."
Serenity walked gracefully from behind with a fixed, emotionless expression on her face, coldly saying,
"You would've died, that's all."
"You got a point." Daniel was so tired he had no power to argue with anyone; he collapsed on the ground saying, "This shit is all yours. I'm out."
But Bella kept staring at the sky strangely. 'This doesn't seem right; the mark on the sky is a mark of entering a domain that requires a seventh-circle magician at least ...we're not at Regis anymore, but is Serenity even capable of something like this?'
She turned her gaze from the sky at Serenity but received the shock of her life.
"WTF?!?!?"
As Serenity walked away, with every step a magical circle appeared under her feet until it reached a total of ten circles. From the shock, the whole arena was covered with an instant silence.
Sylvia slowly raised her head, seeing the source of the huge amount of mana she just sensed. 'How in the name of God did we reach a concoction where that woman is weak?!...The power I am feeling from her...that pressure she reeks of without even trying...a queen...a queen has awakened.'
Serenity stopped in her place surrounded by her magic circles and chanted the word.
[AVIS]
She instantly teleported into the sky above the arena, while all the magical circles wrapped around her body as she chanted.
[corpus augurium]
Her body was wrapped with a white light just as the summoning circle from underneath produced a whole herd of skeleton-headed ghosts with a red source of energy instead of in their chests; all rushed toward Serenity.
The light cleared on a blue-grayish-white tight icy strapless jumpsuit and a white belt of eight ribbons with ice-folk-shaped jewels on her waist.
Wearing double white hair clips like small horns on both sides of her long, flowing, silver-platinum hair with soft curls
Her pale white skin has marks of ice covering all over it; her elf-long ears are connected with tears like jewels.
With small shimmering snowfolks near the corners of her eyes, she opened them slowly, showing the glowing icefolks in the middle of her pupils.
"Noisy"
Only a glance at the ghostly skeletons, and all of them were dead with a single clean cut from the sword in Serenity's hand that appeared out of nowhere and cut both the monsters and the land underneath in half.
-slash-
-Fwishhhh-
"You want to ambush me with such strength? Dream on," she said.
Raising her hand slowly and with just a flick of her fingers, the pile of stones Lana was holding with her wind magic turned into dust.
'Is that supposed to be this easy? Or am I the weak one? ' Lana's jaw dropped as the weight on her back became lighter.
"Umm?...Maybe I should say thanks?"
Sylvia jolted from the ground, standing fully awake from the shock.
"What the hell was that?"
They all got under a state of disbelief seeing what happened right in front of their eyes, and that marked the time when Astrum, Aries, and Fear reached the stadium.
Aries spotted them in the crowd just as he did, but they didn't talk as Astrum shook his head as if telling him "not now."
Both agreed on it and looked at the source of the icy mana in the sky, even though her black cloth from earlier had changed, but they still recognized her.
Serenity chanted a rhythm in the sky.
[utilizing the miri śajutnipen as a channel, I give the order to the duxurenqe kadale universumeske to come under my authority]
The pillar of snow started narrowing as the snowfolk started taking a dragon form, bowing his head in front of Serenity.
"Astarel," she chanted, and the dragon flew around her in circles as it grew in size till it was big enough to surround the entire island.
The dragon connected itself to the island using its large scales and started going down slowly with it.
Serenity opened her palm to the ground, saying, "This mess should come to an end already."
[piel]
She chanted the word, and her palm started to glow in white, the same with the floor.
The mana underneath started coming out of it all, rushing into her palm till nothing was left in the ground and the summoning magic fully disappeared.
Lana ended on her knees, stunned beyond belief. 'I thought those kids were gifted enough, but it turns out I missed the greatest gift of them all.'
Baial's jaw dropped seeing Serenity using her powers for the very first time with emotions going up and down in circles. 'Fuck me! ...Who the hell did I offend?...I'm glad I apologized in time...Wait, what if she holds a grudge? Then what should I do?...But I helped them, so she should leave me alive...right?'
"Why is it that when she's the one doing it, it doesn't feel that scary anymore?...Hah, hah, hah...a hidden monster indeed," Daniel said, unable to contain the excitement he felt after witnessing that grand power display. "Sure enough, I made the right call."
"That chanting feels familiar ...but where did I hear it?" Hearing that way of chanting, Bella instinctively stared at Sylvia, who was staring at Serenity with wide eyes.
Sylvia's face drenched in sweat instantly from the confused thoughts in her head, 'Why?...why?...why is a Voldemort elf able to use it without burning alive?...This can't be real...'
Serenity closed her palm, and all the mana she absorbed formed a pitch-dark orb. At the same time, the dragon landed the island into the sea and shrunk back into a smaller size, landing on her shoulders. She patted his head as she played with the orb, raising it up and down.
"Hmm...easier than I thought."
Aries stared at the flying figure in the sky and murmured the word.
"Sister..."
While Astrum, on the other hand, had a look of pride on his face as he couldn't contain his smile, 'Welcome back ...the queen of our family.'
She felt their presence as she turned her head slightly, smiling back at them as if that single look marked a secret code no one recognized but the three siblings.