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While everything in the stadium and the outskirts of the school was happening, a small group of figures could be seen standing near the now-destroyed cafeteria. They were comprised of a multitude of Apprentice mages, no one over 5 years of study, and consisted of all disciplines of magic. Furthermore, their situation was not exactly the best. Ripples of Void magic were tearing up the surrounding space and their advancement had come to a standstill. Worse still, they were under attack from a group of corrupted that had broken away from the main horde.

"Hold the barrier!" Algon yelled as he raced over to give some of his magic away. The two Mythical mages in the group grimaced and strained as they flicked their hands and re-energized the spell holding the dangerous magic at bay.

"If this continues for much longer, we're not going to make it out of here!" Delta said. He shot at several more threats with his pistols before jumping back and holding up his arm. His gauntlet flashed with energy, retrieving the rounds he had fired so far, and he reloaded his guns quickly, already finding new targets in the next wave of beasts.

"I know, I know!" Algon said back frantically. "But you know as well as I do why we can't just leave!"

The main danger wasn't the rifts through the fabric of Reality, nor the corrupted hordes. Instead, it was the energy-draining spell. If on the outskirts of its range, it could cause so much harm to the students, it didn't require much thought to figure out that it would be absolutely devastating if they fell under its effects so close to the source.

Luckily, Algon and Delta had both known of the danger beforehand and had been supplied with a method to shield themselves, even if it was a bit rudimentary. The minute they felt their bracelets trigger, they had explained the situation and the few Mythical mages in the group set up a large barrier. It wasn't perfect, but at least it prevented them from losing all of their magic instantly and becoming defenseless.

Now, the only problem was the attacks from the beast horde. As the drain on the barrier increased, the mages eventually became unable to move and were forced to hold their ground to keep continually reinforcing their only form of protection. Luckily, the barrier was very large and so afforded them a great deal of space to move around and fight in. Unfortunately, however, it did not keep out the monsters.

"Algon! Some help RIGHT NOW!"

Algon looked over to see Delta being repeatedly bombarded by beams of white energy. The beasts attacking him were out of range of his quick-scope and he couldn't take the time to acquire a better aim while he was jumping around avoiding being blasted to pieces.

Algon's eyes narrowed and he spread his arms, generating a plethora of fiery sigils. With a bang, they erupted into huge fireballs that began to pelt the horde, dealing minimal damage but acting as a nice distraction.

Delta dropped to the ground next to his friend, panting slightly from magic usage.

"Have you figured out an escape route yet?" he asked expectantly.

Algon sighed. "Do you think I have the time? Besides, we're completely surrounded and unable to move. There's nowhere for us to go."

Delta snarled and spun his guns around, sending off another volley. His shots were accompanied by a pressure burst from above and a familiar figure dropped down beside the two friends, tail swinging about in agitation.

"Any luck?" Karrington asked. "From my observations, the situation is only going to deteriorate from here. There are a large number of corrupted beasts massing a short distance away."

Algon cursed. "They're going to charge! We'll gather the mages that are free. Can you keep watch and let us know if anything changes?"

The fox nodded. "Will do. Call me if you need me!"

He jumped off the ground, flying as high as the barrier allowed in a single instant. At the apex of his jump, Karrington spread his legs and landed on the air as though it was solid ground. He gripped his sword and looked around, taking note of the surrounding area, before unleashing a series of wind slashes at several approaching enemies.

Delta snorted and reloaded his pistols again. "Come on, don't get all depressed and worried now. Let's just blow them apart! Where's that upbeat Algon I've known for almost a year now?"

Algon took a moment to raise an eyebrow. "You know, you're going to get killed one day with that attitude."

Delta suddenly stopped what he was doing and chuckled. "Not something I can really help. And besides, it'll make for one hell of a story!"

Algon shook his head. "Sometimes I don't understand you."

"Ditto, hothead."

He zipped off, taking aim to assist a group Water Elementalists under attack. Algon sighed and turned back to look off in the direction Karrington had indicated. There was nothing happening yet, but that didn't mean that they would be safe forever.

"I hope that James and Lydia are alright," he said. "Hopefully, they're at least safe."

Algon summoned his fire staff and spun it in a circle, drawing a large sigil on the ground. Slamming the butt of the staff down to finish, he created a half-ring of flame that blocked off a large portion of the beasts' paths.

"That should hold for at least a moment," he thought before his expression faltered. A sudden bout of weakness hit him and he almost fell to the ground.

"I've been overusing my magic over the past few days. It's not a problem for the others, but if I keep going at the same pace right now... at the very least I'll be knocked unconscious. I need a quick break."

Picking himself up, Algon left the perimeter of the protective shield and headed for the center of the spell. There, the two Mythical mages were still constantly providing power to keep the magic-draining spell away while other students fed them scraps of magic and recuperated from fighting.

"How is it?" Algon asked.

"I think it's been about 30 minutes, but it feels like 2 hours," one of the Mythical mages grumbled. His face abruptly paled as a surge of magic left him, but one of the students quickly noticed and fed him a bit of power, restoring his strength. "Our style of magic already takes a ludicrous amount of time to learn and master. Having us in this situation is absolutely ridiculous."

"Well, we are the only ones that can do this right now," his partner pointed out.

"Just because that's true doesn't make it any better!"

His partner sighed and refocused his attention on the main spell. Algon looked around at the other resting students, noting their tired faces and disheartened expressions.

"We're holding the corrupted off," he said, trying to raise their spirits. "We just need to hold on for a little longer and the masters or dragons will come and rescue us."

"We don't have an infinite amount of magic," another Fire Elementalist said. "If we didn't have to worry about that barrier, then we could keep going for a much longer time, but as it stands right now, we're going to fall in a couple more waves or so. Something has to change."

Algon shook his head. "I don't have any ideas. Don't forget, I've only been a student at the Quintessium for about a year. This is already far above what would normally be expected of me and I don't know if I can create any new ideas."

Karrington's voice rang out from overhead. "Beast wave gathering. Prepare for a major defense in 5 minutes."

Algon looked around. "There's a horde getting ready to charge. Can anyone come to help?"

"I'll go," the Fire Elementalist said, getting up off the ground. She was joined by several more, one of them even a Celestial mage. The remaining students shook their heads, either out of energy or needing to stay behind to feed magic to the barrier.

"Let's go, then."

The group stopped at the edge of the barrier closest to where Karrington had spotted the horde.

"Holy Primes, that's a lot of enemies," one of the students gasped.

Algon bit his lip. There weren't just normal corrupted, but also a flock of gigantic black birds and even a set of Oucu.

"Alright, stay within the barrier at all times," he reminded everyone. "If you leave, you'll be rapidly drained of magic and unable to fight."

The others nodded in affirmation and summoned their various weapons. There were a couple of Earth Elementalist in the group that took point, preparing to use their magic to increase their own defenses and help block the beasts from reaching the others. At the same time, the longer-range mages in the back formed sigils in the air, ready to cast spells in an instant.

"Wait a minute, where's Delta?" Algon suddenly realized, looking around in a hurry. Normally, the Aetherling was very hard to miss, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Algon looked up at the fox in the sky. "Karrington, where's..."

A roar echoed around and the beast horde decided at that moment to charge. Chaos instantly erupted as spells began to fly. Algon was forced to jump back to avoid a beam of white energy, a barrier from the Celestial mage preventing the rest of the attacks from hitting. Nodding his thanks, Algon spun his fire staff and shot out several Flame Cannons. They flew at the horde and exploded, each hitting a large number of beasts. As the flames washed over their hides, the corrupted roared in anger but continued charging, fully consumed by the Void.

The Earth Elementalists smashed their fists into the ground, knocking up large walls of rock. Meanwhile, the Water and Air Elementalists unleashed waves of their respective elements, slicing the beasts and knocking them back. Karrington's ability was especially useful here, as he could create an incredible number of attacks without ever seeming to stop, while also having the advantage of height.

That advantage quickly turned sour as the corrupted birds took flight, wings tearing through the sky. Karrington was forced to stop his barrage and dodge their attacks instead, their sharp claws, razor wings, and pointed beaks missing him, and especially his big fluffy tail, often by a matter of inches. Blasting them back, he was forced to the ground for a brief moment to catch his breath while the other students tried to knock them out of the sky.

Algon hurried over. "Karrington, where's Delta? I haven't seen him."

The fox frowned. "I'm not sure. I haven't been explicitly looking for him, but I'm sure that I would have noticed his unique style of fighting at least once or twice. However, I haven't seen anything."

"That worries me. Did something happen to him?!"

"Yes, Mr. Reines. I would say that something has happened. Or rather, will happen if you don't do anything about it."

Algon spun around to see a man standing next to them. He was wearing simple clothes and reading a thick book with an old cover.

Karrington's mouth dropped open and he started to say something but shut up instantly when the man shot him a look.

"Now," he said, closing the book with a snap. "Your friend Delta ran off in that direction, I believe. He's currently being attacked by an entire force of corrupted, so I would advise heading over as soon as possible."

Algon blinked before getting over his shock. "Who are you? And how can I know I can trust you?"

The man laughed. "Funny, your other friend said the same thing before I handed him a nice pair of shiny blades and the information you all needed to enter that northern temple."

"You're him! The man James told us about!"

"Yes, I suppose you could say we're the same person. Unless, of course, I have a twin brother I don't know about." He laughed again and pulled out a silver pocket watch with a closed face. "I would advise that you don't say anything else and leave now, though. Don't worry, everyone here will make it out alive. However, if you don't reach Delta in say, 2 minutes, then... he won't."

The man clicked the watch. "Time starts... now! Better get going!"

Algon weighed his options frantically for a moment before dashing off in the indicated direction. After he had gone, Karrington allowed his mouth to drop open again.

"You're... you're..."

"Oh, you know who I am?" the man said with a smirk. "Considering who your master is, that's not terribly surprising."

"He only told me a few things about you... as well as a name," the fox managed to stutter out. "Eni..."

"None of that!" The man cut him off. "Too many people around. I can't have everyone knowing who I am, now can I?"

Karrington nodded. "Right, right. Um, why are you here, though?"

The man paused. "Oh, several reasons. A couple personal, and a couple work-related, you could say. Some of them even overlap. Out of curiosity, what did your master say about me to have you so worked up? It's been a while since we last talked and I'm dying to know what he thinks of me."

Karrington hesitated. "He said that you're respected even by the Primes and that when you take action, it's always for something big."

"Did he now? Well, he's right about that much, which is more than most know at all." The man sighed. "Something big is coming, Karrington, and it's going to spell change for all of Reality. A change that could have monumental effects on everything we've ever known."

"What is it?"

"Quite a few people don't know, myself included, and that's not a good thing. Either way, the situation needs to play out very carefully. Time is a fickle thing. The future's always unknown and the past is murky, important events lost in the annals of history. Of course, that's why it's called the PAST." The man grinned and reopened his book, flipping to a middle section and removing an ornate bookmark. "At least one thing is consistent, though. It's always sure to be interesting."

Karrington said nothing, still trying to process what he had just been told. The man rolled his eyes and shut the book with a light groan.

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is that things are a little bit complicated. And furthermore, you and the rest of these students can't stay here." The pocket watch appeared again with the face still closed. "There's about to be an opportunity to flee and when it arrives, I suggest you take it. You'll need to use the 2nd tail of that move of yours."

Karrington immediately opened his mouth to protest, but the man waved his concerns aside. "Don't worry, I'll clear everything up with your master. We're a bit overdue for that lunch he promised me anyways."

A corrupted black bird managed at that moment to make it through the barrage of attacks from the students. It plummeted out of the sky, talons outstretched at Karrington.

The man smiled. "Well, looks like my time here is up. Good luck, kid."

He clicked the watch again and this time it flipped open with a thrum of energy. A tiny voice shouted inside of the fox's head and he ducked, shielding his eyes. The bird wasn't so lucky. It took one look at the inside of the watch, its eyes widened, and then it disintegrated into dust. The man snapped the watch closed. "Although, not that you actually need luck right now. No... that really should be directed at someone else..."

Karrington looked up after a moment to see that the man had vanished. He blinked repeatedly, still in a slight state of shock, as a phrase his master had told him once before ran through his mind.

"There are possibly three to four people in the universe that actually understand him. And not for all the power in existence would I desire to be one of them. The knowledge alone would utterly destroy me."

---

As Algon ran in the direction the man had indicated, he soon discovered for himself just how bad of a situation Delta was in. He was trapped in the shell of a collapsed building, his back against the wall, and was facing down a group of five corrupted. They were slowly advancing but were kept being forced back by Delta's pistols. However, he knew they wouldn't stay back for long. After all, they were much more powerful than him, especially since he didn't have the advantage of his speed.

A barrier of hardened space blasted out to smash one of the corrupted away. A gasp echoed out and Delta looked back in alarm.

"I told you, don't do that! You're going to run out of energy!"

Aura grabbed the wall to keep herself from falling down. "And you're going to die if I don't help, right? Besides, I'm not out yet. Whatever the Ikirians did to restore my magic was really strong."

A corrupted abruptly howled and dashed forward in a blaze of white light, intent on ending the standoff right then and there. Delta flashed around and brought his pistols up, firing a barrage of bullets. The beast roared in pain and flew back to crash against the wall, spots on its pelts smoking as it tried to get up. The others growled, antsy but unwilling to be put in the same predicament just yet.

Delta bit his lip as he considered his options. It wasn't looking good. If he attacked, there was a good chance that Aura wouldn't make it, and he wasn't sure if he could grab Aura in time to make a run for it before they attacked.

"Leave me! Go!" the girl cried before finally running out of energy and collapsing.

Delta narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Not happening. Sorry!"

The injured corrupted regained its footing and joined the group once more, this time absolutely furious. It roared, riling up its brethren, and Delta could feel the tension in the room rise considerably.

"Looks like this is it!" he yelled, spinning his guns around and charging them with energy.

The beasts howled one last time and half of them charged while the rest fired glowing beams of energy from their mouths. Delta roared back and pulled the triggers.

A massive blast of fire came screaming out of nowhere, slamming into the three charging beasts. At the same time, a huge earthen barrier erupted out of the ground to block the energy beams.

The blazing form of Algon came into view as he shot out from behind a building on the opposite side of the street. He arrived next to Delta just as James dropped down from above. The two stopped and stared at each other in a brief moment of surprise.

"Uh, hi. Wasn't expecting to see you here!" Algon said.

James laughed with an air of disbelief at the situation. "Well, it was a lucky coincidence that you showed up when you did. I'm not sure if I would have been close enough to stop all of them at once!"

Algon's mind flashed back to the man's words. "Right, I guess that was the case. Lucky coincidence."

The entire building rumbled as the nearby walls cracked and shattered.

"Everybody out!" James shouted as he blasted a piece of falling rubble to bits.

Delta zipped over and picked up Aura before following his friends away from danger. Behind them, the building fully collapsed to the group, kicking up an enormous amount of dust and debris.

"Is everyone ok?" James called, coughed slightly.

"We're all fine," came the responses, along with more coughing.

"Good, let's get you all to safety. The Ikirians arrived and are evacuating the students and masters," James said. He pulled out his extra bracelet and passed it over to Aura. "Put this on. It'll stop your energy from being drained until we can get out of here."

"How's Lydia," Algon asked worriedly. "Is she safe?"

"She's already gone with the Ikirians," James said. "Don't worry. Priority number one is now getting ourselves out."

The rubble of the building suddenly lit up with white energy and exploded, showing them all with rock. Four of the corrupted emerged from the building, injured and very pissed off.

"Oh... that's not good."

"No kidding!"

As if the situation already wasn't bad enough, several more corrupted of varying types appeared from around the nearby buildings.

"What do we do?" Delta asked. Everyone looked at James.

"What, why do you think that I have any ideas?"

"Because you came to rescue us," Algon said. "Didn't you make a plan first?"

"Uhh."

Algon slapped his forehead. "You're as bad as Delta sometimes and you call me a hothead?"

"Alright then, here's a plan," James said. He snarled and unsealed both of his blades in a flash of light. "Blow them up and leave in a hurry."

"That's your... never mind. But I'm having words with Headmaster Sherru when we get back about what exactly constitutes standard school outings for first-year students!"

Algon roared, spreading his arms out. "Alpha's Rise!"

A blast of flame lit up the area, cracking the ground, and the surrounding rocks melted into lava before flowing up to cover Algon in pieces of crude armor. His eyes turned orange and he flicked his hand, summoning his fire staff.

"After me! Combustion Ordinance!"

Multitudes of fireballs began to appear, flying at the corrupted. James and Delta followed, the former arcing lightning off of his blades and the latter sending out a wave of rapid shots.

Explosions began to pepper the corrupted, sending many stumbling back. They roared in anger, charging up energy beams.

Algon slammed his staff down. "Wall of Fire!"

The wall appeared, burning several meters into the air. James stepped forward and pressed his hands against it, closing his eyes. A ripple spread through it before the wall glowed brighter and became threaded with blue magic. Suddenly, it began to spark with electricity.

"Lightning and fire. One of the most dangerous combinations of elemental magic. Heads up!"

The corrupted fired, blasting the wall with attacks. It was eventually torn to pieces, but as it fell James charged out, practically flying through the air. He struck out at the ground as he ran, sending a huge shockwave through the ground that knocked several enemies into the air. They were immediately shot down by a barrage of bullets and fireballs, while James continued onwards to appear directly in front of one of the largest corrupted.

He slashed down with both swords, carving a line through its pelt. The corrupted howled and retreated back, swinging its head and unleashing a stream of beams. James dodged them all and pressed on, narrowly avoiding the other's attacks as he did so.

Meanwhile, Algon and Delta were doing a fairly good job of holding off the remainder of the enemies. In short time, however, Algon soon found that his magic was running out. Not due to a dark reason like the energy-draining spell, but simply because his Alpha formed consumed way too much power for a mage of his age and level. In a year or two, he might have been able to continue on, but at the current time, he was simply too weak.

Delta looked over just in time to see Algon fall to one knee, barely managing to cast another spell to blast back an attack.

"Algon, what's wrong?! Get up!"

"Can't, I'm out of magic. I'd say I have enough for one, maybe two more spells. After that my reserves will be empty."

Delta cursed. "There's too many left and even if there were none, there's still no way I could get you all to safety. Damn it, if only I had more power! Then I might be able to actually do something!"

Algon held up his hand. "You need power? Then take what I've got left."

Delta was shocked. "Are you serious? No way!"

"You could do more with it than I could, anyway. Give me your guns!"

Algon snatched the weapons out of his friend's hands and held them up. "What did the Librarian say? These things can absorb and store energy to use, right? Let's see how they like Alpha power!"

He closed his eyes and energy rippled up through the cracks on his skin, entering his hands. The pistols shuddered before beginning to glow with energy. An orange glow tinged their surface and Algon's aura faded away as he opened his eyes.

"That's more or less everything I've got. Do what you can with them."

Algon fell back and Delta held the pistols in his hands. He could feel the power in them waiting to be used but he had no idea what would happen when he pulled the triggers.

"Well, here goes nothing. James, move!"

James turned around to see Delta leveling a pair of weapons that were practically vibrating with energy at the horde of corrupted. He snapped out of his surprise a moment later and jumped away, landing next to Algon.

"Go for it!"

Delta concentrated and charged his body with magic, rapidly increasing his speed. His eyes scanned over the corrupted, taking note of everything before his hands flashed out. Delta took in a deep breath.

"I hope this works. New Ultimate: Devastating Inferno Storm!"

He pulled the triggers and the resulting gunfire almost knocked him off his feet. Hundreds of bullets fired near instantaneously, emptying his magazines and all of his reserves in a single go. A single wave of death and fire swept over the corrupted, tearing the ones in the front to shreds and severely injuring those standing near the back. Every piece of rumble and building behind them vaporized.

Delta sat down with a thump, still not completely realizing how much his one attack had done. Algon walked up and nudged him several times and when that didn't work, hit him over the head.

"Hey, wake up! We won!"

"Oh, yeah. Uh... wow. That was a lot of damage."

Algon laughed. "No kidding. We'll have to work on that later."

"Alright, that's enough. We can talk when we get out of Rioyda. Let's go before things get any worse!"

Algon stumbled to his feet and Delta picked up Aura. The friends walked towards the main street and James got his bearings before pointing off in a direction.

"That's where the Ikirian are evacuating. If we hurry, we should be able to make it without any troubles."

"Keep an eye out for any more corrupted," Algon said. "We don't want to be delayed at..."

Behind them, a massive pillar of blue energy erupted out of the stadium. Above Rioyda, a white line appeared before cracking through the sky. The entire planet shook and an immense pressure bore down on the group.

"What's going on?! What is this?" Delta yelled as they all struggled against the formless might.

Algon slowly fell to his knees, unable to remain standing. Delta soon followed. James was the only one that remained standing, rapidly circulating his magic to avoid being pushed down.

Another set of pillars erupted and energy soared through the sky. The white line in the air began to widen, planting a seed of terror in James' mind. He didn't know why, but there was something wrong with it on a fundamental level.

"What do we do?! Get up, get up!"

"I'm trying!" Algon yelled back.

A flash of light caught James' eye and he stared in disbelief as a man silently appeared, his simple robes whipping back and forth under the magic pressure. A silver watch materialized in his hand and he checked the time before clicking it twice.

Like magic, the pressure the friends had been feeling vanished completely. After a moment of shock, they shakily climbed to their feet. Around them was something akin to a tunnel, created out of clear rippling magic of an unknown origin.

The man smiled and looked pointedly at James before gesturing at the stadium. The boy went to say something but closed his mouth in the end and hesitate before turning back to his friends.

"Guys, head back to the Ikirians without me. I think... I've got something I need to do."

Algon blinked. "Wait, what? You want us to do WHAT?!?"

James gulped. "Head back without me. I'm going to the stadium."

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!? THAT'S WHERE THE DRAGONS ARE FIGHTING!"

"I know," James said. "But I think it's something I need to do."

"There is no possible way we would let you..." Algon trailed off as he noticed the man with the watch. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognized him from earlier and he frowned.

"I told you we couldn't trust him, James! If you go to the stadium right now, you'll die!"

"Why would he help me with my swordsmanship, then, if he only wanted to kill me later? Besides, it's not just him. My magic's urging me that way too."

The man suddenly raised his watch up and clicked it twice. For an instant, the friends all felt the massive pressure return, almost knocking them back to the ground. The man tapped the watch and once again gestured at the stadium.

"I think he's saying that we're out of time," James said. "I'm going. Get back to the Ikirians and Lydia. GO NOW!"

"James..." Algon tried again, but he was yanked back by Delta.

"He's made up his mind and obviously trusts the guy. Arguing is pointless. Also, if we don't leave now, we will die."

"...Fine," Algon finally said with a pained expression. "Let's go, BUT YOU BETTER NOT DIE OR LYDIA WILL NEVER LET ME HEAR THE END OF IT!"

"Fine by me," James said with a smile. "See you shortly. I promise."

The group watched him walk towards the stadium before turning and heading down the tunnel of magic. James glanced back for a brief moment and then looked into the storage space of his amulet. The Divine Seal medallion still flickered brightly with light and he removed it, weighing it in his hands.

"I've got no idea who you are and yet I'm trusting you for some reason," he muttered.

"Your worries are justified, considering everything that's happened. However, this is something that is extremely important, and something that your friends cannot be a part of."

James looked up to see the man suddenly standing next to him. The boy glanced down in thought before holding out the medallion. The man raised an eyebrow.

"You said to give it back to you the next time we met," James said. "So here it is."

The man grinned. "Good memory but keep it a bit longer. Things aren't over yet."

James put the Divine Seal back in his amulet before narrowing his eyes. "Why exactly did you call me over and why is my magic pulling me towards the stadium right now?"

The man shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. As for your magic... interesting. That's also a mystery."

"You don't even know?!" James cried.

"No, but certain things need to happen and for some reason, you are right in the middle of a very important event. Your final decision is still up to you, of course. I'm not going to force you to do anything. However, everything is pointing towards you entering this stadium here and now."

James looked up at the pillars of magic still pouring from the top. The ominous white crack was still there as well, now significantly wider, but he still couldn't see through it. He swallowed hard and pressed his lips together.

"Fine, I'll go. Just... will my friends make it out ok?"

"They'll be fine. I'll make sure of it personally. And James," the man said, pulling out his watch again. "Do your best."

"Understood," James said. Steeling his resolve, he walked towards the stadium and disappeared inside of its massive doors, heading towards an unknown fate. The man shook his head before flipping open his watch's face and studying the inside.

"Whenever I look at your future, everything is an absolute mess. I don't understand it. How can one person be in the center of so much chaos and change? It's a complete mystery. An enigma."

The man chuckled. "An enigma. What a funny coincidence."

He looked off into the distance and clicked his watch, vanishing from sight. The only thing left behind in the ruined school was a mutter.

"This is the finale. James, I think I speak for everyone when I say 'good luck'. You're going to need it!"