Chapter 20: The Fall
"What's the whole fuss about?" one voice drifted from the crowd.
"Some nobles having fun," another answered with a dismissive tone.
"Seems like it."
"Don't they know the mystic world could open at any moment?"
"Kids these days can be stupid at times."
"Ugh."
Eliot stood up. Blood flowed freely from his body, but he didn't seem to care about it. The wound meant nothing to him right now. Pain was distant, secondary to the problem unfolding in front of him.
"Eliot!" Jenica suddenly rushed toward him. Panic filled her expression. He raised his hand before she could reach him.
"Stop. Enough already," he said.
He looked around at the situation unfolding before him. No matter how he examined it, this thing was spiraling further into something he couldn't handle. He had tried to manipulate the circumstances. He had tried to walk around this situation. The truth remained clear. He was stuck. Completely and utterly stuck.
"Looks like I missed," Lungris said. He brandished his spear with a cold smile. "But don't worry. I won't miss a second time."
"LUNGRIS!" Jenica screamed. He turned to her with gritted teeth. "You had your revenge already. Let it go," she pleaded.
The blonde boy intruded before Lungris could respond. "No, Jenny. Don't interfere. He brought it upon himself, so let him face the music."
Jenica glared at him. Her frustration was visible on her face.
"You guys just get this over with. You're all being too dramatic. Kill him and end the issue," spoke a girl who had kept silent all this while. She had pure white hair and green eyes that showed no emotion.
"Didn't I just say he's my friend?" Jenica asked.
"So are we," said the one with tangerine hair.
Eliot had had enough. At this point, one emotion became prominent. The sole emotion that returned amid the blankness that usually filled him. Anger.
"Shut the heck up," he said.
His mask began breaking apart. He tried to hold it back, but it was completely shattered from that punch Lungris had delivered earlier. The pieces scattered across the ground.
"Huh?"
He heard gasps around him. His hair, which had been black, turned to an aged grey. His eyes glowed a fierce amethyst color.
"Ugh," he groaned in pain. He was finally feeling something, but it wasn't from the wound in his abdomen. It was that drawback again. The one that always came when he pushed his abilities too far.
He was running out of time. He needed to reverse his mana veins. If he did that, he would become powerless and completely vulnerable. That would further diminish any chances of escaping or surviving this situation. The odds were stacked against him already.
From how unperturbed Jenica was throughout this whole thing, he realized she had no plans of defending him whatsoever. So staying here was just plain stupid. He should have blown her off that railing as he did to Lungris when he had the chance. Future consequences be damned. At least it wouldn't have gotten so dire for him. He was at this point cornered with no way out.
"Fine then," he said. He looked at every one of them with those glowing amethyst eyes.
"I am not a forgiving person. Just pray we don't meet in a situation where I have the advantage," he said.
The blonde frowned at those words. A sword manifested in his grasp. One also appeared in Kaeden's hand. In a split second, five young men were upon Eliot. They moved to eliminate a potential future threat that had just made itself known.
"Wait, don't!" Jenica screamed.
Her scream further enraged Eliot. At this point, he saw her as that one person he came to despise to the soul. Sasha. She reminded him of Sasha. Deceitful snakes pretending to care. Why was she acting so concerned now when she was literally the one who orchestrated the whole thing?
She knew Lungris would survive the fall. Eliot, on the other hand, had expected some severe injuries that would keep him down for a while. A total miscalculation and first failure on his path. Knowing this, she had kept him with her even when she knew Lungris would return. Perhaps the whole thing about the enforcers attacking him was a lie. Now that he thought about it, why were they all confused when he mentioned it?
Could it be she MADE him see those things? If that was the case, then it only meant she wanted all this to happen. So why the hell was she still acting like she wanted to help him?
Whooom!
Before they could even reach him, he let himself fall back from the railing.
"We have to kill that bastard now!" one of them shouted.
"Don't let him escape!" another yelled.
In that instant, a huge surge of lightning erupted from the outstretched palm of Triston. It headed straight for Eliot as he fell. Just as it struck him...