Chapter 218: A Reality Manipulator
"Master is awesome!" Isla let out as she understood exactly what the headmistress had just done.
"Right?" the headmistress said with a smile before turning towards the last corrupted human who seemed hesitant to attack, "Why don’t you take that one down?"
Isla also looked at the creature, noticing that it had remained completely still since the moment the other four had ceased to exist.
’It’s afraid,’ she realized before slowly walking towards it.
The headmistress’s eyes started glowing again, but this time, it was because she wanted to see exactly what the kid would do to the creature.
The corrupted human, seeing that Isla was only a child and there was no danger, unlike the woman back there, finally moved.
It launched itself forward with aggression.
Isla didn’t move or panic slightly as she slowly closed her eyes.
The moment she opened them, her pupils were now glowing, and her white hair seemed to gain a black hue.
The corrupted human, locking eyes with her, suddenly froze.
It seemed confused, and for good reason, because the moment the creature locked eyes with the child, it seemed to have been transported in the middle of the corridor, experiencing a world that had no consistent geography.
It couldn’t move forward, retreat, or even know where up and down were.
A second later, it started falling, straight down and towards what seemed like a sea made completely of darkness.
The corrupted human struggled as the waves pushed and pulled it, but the sea was far from the only danger.
The next second, what could only be described as a sea monster emerged from the depths of the sea.
It seemed like some sort of giant octopus or, more accurately, a kraken....which also turned out to be the anchor of this reality.
Unfortunately for the corrupted human, it had no way of knowing that; instead, it started thrashing around, trying to at least find a way to fight back.
The kraken slowly wrapped its tentacles around the corrupted human, only to have the golden glow around it suddenly flare as it bit the tentacles, forcing the Kraken to release it.
It then used the monster’s body as a foothold and launched itself towards the head, trying to at least use the creature as a means to find some type of land, but just before it could reach the target, one of the kraken’s tentacles slammed into it, launching it a distance away.
Before the corrupted human could recover or even hit the water, the tentacles grabbed it again and slowly pulled it towards the kraken’s mouth.
Struggling as it might, the Corrupted human quickly realized that there was no escape as the monster tossed it into its mouth.
The headmistress, seemingly standing in the sky, looked down with a smile on her face. It seems her student was quite creative.
At first, she thought that the kid could create illusions, but she quickly learned that it wasn’t the case.
Like her, this child seems special....more than special, the child was one of the fundamentals to Avera.
At least that’s what Evelina’s strings revealed, so she stopped treating the kid’s ability as a simple illusion ability.
And that’s when she discovered that it had nothing to do with illusions at all....at least, not in the traditional sense.
What Isla created were realities, ones she could freely create rules for. Rules that are actively enforced on anything that was within her reality.
The only way to escape said reality was to defeat its anchor, but what if Isla decided that her anchor was indestructible?
This was why the Headmistress was genuinely satisfied with the disciple the butler had brought her.
Though she was still curious about the butler.
Anyway, the reality Isla created was fading, and so was the corrupted human, so it was now time to praise her dear student.
"Well done," Evelina said with a smile as she watched Isla’s eye and hair go back to normal.
"Thank you, master," Isla said with a smile of her own.
"I guess all that’s left for you to learn is to form anchors into reality for your created realities," Evelina continued with a satisfied nod.
Although the child could now manifest realities outside an opponent’s mind, they still hadn’t figured out how to anchor them to this reality to keep them from fading.
"Isla?"
The master-pupil’s moment was interrupted by a voice, causing the two to turn towards it and spot Conan, who had been searching the entire arena for her.
"Conan?" Isla also called out.
"I’m glad you’re safe," he muttered, finally letting out a sigh of relief as he moved to hug her.
Isla hugged him back since she was also worried.
The headmistress, feeling left out, suddenly cleared her throat, and Conan finally acknowledged her presence.
"I think it’s better if we move to somewhere safe," she said.
"I apologize," Conan said with a slight bow, but before they could move, a heavy pressure suddenly fell on them all.
"T-the hell?" Conan let out as he struggled to breathe. Isla was the same.
The headmistress, on the other hand, wrapped the two in her mana, mitigating the pressure they felt.
She frowned, recognizing the pressure as something she had felt once before.....
From a Lightbringer....but she was certain that this pressure didn’t belong to the king.
***
Meanwhile, in another part of the arena,
"HAHAHAHA!"
The first thing that could be heard was the sound of laughter, followed by explosions.
The Grand Duke of the South, Grand Duke Ignis Lionheart, could be seen hurtling into large groups of corrupted humans. Every time he landed, a massive explosion followed, and so did the sound of his laughter.
In contrast, Grand Duke Boreas Ardent appeared far calmer. Yet all around him stood countless ice sculptures of corrupted humans frozen solid where they stood.
Even the aura surrounding him seemed completely cold, a testament to exactly how dangerous he was.
The same could be said about the butler with a monocle beside him.
Sebastian.
His green eyes calmly looked around, ensuring that none of those creatures caught his master unaware.
He looked at Boreas, noticing that his master seemed to be having fun. Normally, the old man would be worried about his children, but it seemed he trusted his daughter’s butler enough to leave them in his care.
"It seems all the Grand dukes are here," a voice caused them to turn around, noticing the Grand Duke of the West approaching with a small smile on his face.
"This had only happened twice in Avera’s history," He added, "and both times, it preceded something significant."
"Mm," Boreas nodded, which covered his thoughts on the matter entirely.
"Zephir," Ignis called out as he landed beside them without the least bit of elegance, "you’re late."
"I was handling the western part of the arena," Zephir said pleasantly, "some of us prefer precision over... enthusiasm."
Ignis just shrugged as he said, "More gets done this way."
"I find that hard to believe," Grand Duke Zephir said before looking around and saying, "We seem to be missing someone. "
As if on cue, a voice came from behind them, "I’m here."
It was Grand Duke Horus Everhart of the East, and he was also calmly walking towards them.
Zephir looked at him with suspicion, but chose to say nothing.
Ignis, on the other hand, was not so subtle as he voice out, "Horus, you seem different....did something happen to you?"
Horus looked at him with the blank expression before nodding, "I’m fine."
Ignis didn’t believe that in the least bit, but before he could say anything, one final voice joined them.
"It seems your all are already gathered."
The Grand Dukes turned to the side, noticing that the king and Archbishop were approaching them.
"It seems this is yet another attack from the cult," Magnus Lightbringer said as he looked at the sky, "And it seems I indirectly endorsed it."
And he was right, after all, he was supposed to ensure the safety of the Excalibur until it was passed down to Lucian...yet for reasons he couldn’t figure out, he had even ignored its disappearance.
The Archbishop behind him had a frown on his face as a single thought went through his mind, "it seems a renewal is in order."
Boreas noticed that thus was the Magnus he once knew, which confirmed his thoughts that something was wrong with the king.
But he chose to say nothing, for now.
"The festival grounds are mostly secure," Zephir said, filling the silence that had fallen between them, "and the children are ensuring the safety of the citizens."
"I see," Magnus nodded, but before he could add anything else, a heavy pressure suddenly fell on them all as they looked at the sky and their eyes immediately went wide,
"That is–"