56 Chapter 41: Talking to Easton

"Rei… you might want to hurry up." I gestured at the glass door with piles of spiders starting to create cracks.

"I'm on it." Rei answered as he concentrated on summoning orbs of wind to his disposal.

Crack…

Crack…

Crack.

"Rei…" I warned, glancing at the shattering door.

Rei ignored me, giving no indication he heard me, focusing on creating a sheet of wind for three people to sit on.

The cracks widened and a few of the smaller spiders squeezed in. Luke and I immediately stomped on them, however, the crack continued to increase in size.

"I appreciate that you're taking so much time to make it perfect." Luke blocked the crack temporarily with ice, "But we're going to die if you don't hurry up."

Rei frowned, "OK, I'm done! Hurry on!"

Just as Rei stepped onto his carpet of wind, the glass door finally shattered into tiny, sharp shards and millions of spiders immediately crawled over the debris.

"QUICKLY!" Luke flung himself towards the wind carpet.

The number of spiders was mind-blowing, spiders were crawling over one another as they neared me. A few spiders crawled onto my shoes,

"HURRY!" Rei yelled, controlling the wind carpet with some difficulty,

"I know!" I replied, attempting to shake off the spiders,

"Just get on now!" Luke screamed; his expression full of concern as he tried to freeze a few spiders.

I jumped onto the wind carpet, successfully shaking off the rest of the spiders on my leg.

"I'm on!" I yelled towards Rei as he concentrated on bringing the wind carpet; with us on it, back to lower ground.

We landed swiftly and peacefully on the ground, albeit the billow of dust that was created.

"Students, please evacuate the school grounds calmly and immediately." An announcement boomed in the Academy, "I repeat, please evacuate the school grounds calmly and immediately."

We stayed silent, avoiding each other's eyes as we dusted the dirt and dust off us. Finally, with a sigh, Luke looked up,

"We can either choose to evacuate or… face Easton." Luke spoke with great hesitation, as though he was forcing all the words out, "I know we're just teenagers, and that it shouldn't be our responsibility to kill Easton, but I think if we don't do something, Easton's going to kill everything we love."

"…The teachers may not even make it in time." I mumbled in agreement, "But we might be killed in the process if we try to stop Easton."

"I reckon Easton's going to kill everyone before we escape." Rei shrugged, "I prefer dying trying to stop him, than getting mercilessly slaughtered while I run away."

"How cute."

"Seriously Luke?" Rei huffed, irritated, "I'm being serious here."

"…That wasn't me." Luke replied, his brows wrinkling in confusion."

"It's adorable that you're discussing about stopping me, but that's not happening anytime soon." A voice above us chuckled light-heartedly on the balcony, "I've prepared for this day for aaages."

Easton's violet eyes stared at us intensely, a fire burning in them. I had always thought of him as a golden child, a boy bathed in the brilliant sunlight, but here he was a completely new person, the son of darkness. His eyes held a sort of dark seriousness, maybe he always looked this way but he was just adept at masking it, or maybe he was simply studying our emotions and movements, I would never know.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Rei demanded, "I have the knowledge of a thousand men, yet the world will never truly grant me what I want (Refer to Chapter 32: The Slips of Paper)."

"You figured out exactly?" Easton laughed, tilting his head in a boyish manner, "My, my! You always exceed my expectations Rei! To be honest, I thought you would have died already! How much mana did you use to get all three of you back to the ground?"

Easton clapped childishly, a cheerful grin playing on his face that didn't seem to reach his eyes. Easton waved his hand towards the ground and suddenly, vines shot out of the forest, tangling themselves and finally, a staircase of vines was made under Easton's feet.

"That isn't your power-" Luke gasped, flinching at the sudden, abrupt movement he made.

"Wow, way to point out the obvious." Easton sighed, "Woohoo."

"What did you do Easton?" Rei ordered, "Gaining a second element should take at least a hundred years!"

"So rude." Easton sniffed indignantly, "You should at least use the word 'please'."

"Stop beating around the bush and tell us." I frowned, uncertain on how to treat Easton.

"I'll tell you if you say 'please'~" Easton replied in a sing-song voice, slowly walking down the stairs.

Rei and Luke shifted their stance as they watched Easton step down towards us and slowly unsheathed their weapons.

"…please." I gritted out.

"Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll show you." Easton beamed, "Take a close look."

Pink and yellow flowers bloomed onto the vine, while a small beam of light shone over the flowers and small droplets of water rained onto the plants, creating a tiny rainbow.

"Isn't magic a beautiful thing?" Easton smiled joyfully, his eyes blank and devoid of any emotion while his twisted the shadows around him to dance like puppets, "Especially this."

A wave of lava jetted towards the Academy building, and it was engulfed in fire. Screams from the staff and the few students who had not yet evacuated was clearly audible from where you were standing.

"How could you-" Luke choked, storming up the vine stairs, "They were all innocent!"

"Oho?" Easton smirked, "Getting a little brave, aren't you?"