"What's her deal?" Aeloria asked with a hint of annoyance as she watched Grace moving towards Fatima and Emily.
"She used to be an old friend," Angelina mumbled with a bitter expression, "not anymore though."
"What happened?" Out of curiosity, Aeloria asked, as most of the information about Angelina's childhood had been kept a secret from the people of the kingdom.
And even she doesn't know much about what happened before she met her at the awakening ceremony three years ago.
"Well, let's just say my stupidity made her lose her mother, and I lost a wonderful friend," she replied with a hint of sadness as she remembered what happened on that fateful day.
"You lost another friend huh?," Aeloria replied, her eyes now fixed on the princess. "That's so like you, losing people here and there."
"Ha... It sounds like you are mocking me," Angelina replied with a light chuckle.
"Think what you want," Aeloria replied nonchalantly as they soon arrived at the center of the city.
In the central square, a beautiful fountain stood in the middle, carved with an ancient design signifying its age.
Radiating from the fountain, four expansive streets stretched in cardinal directions, creating a crossroad.
The air buzzed with the symphony of diverse conversations, laughter.
However, amid the lively atmosphere, a discerning eye could detect an undercurrent of suspicious activity.
Figures clad in nondescript attire moved with purpose, weaving through the crowd like shadows.
Their glances lingered on the unsuspecting students,disrupting the natural flow of the bustling crowd.
As the students navigated the lively square, the suspicious individuals closed in.
A subtle tension permeated the air, a dissonance within the harmonious backdrop of the city.
"Now what?" Angelina mumbled as the group of students stopped moving and started to halt their steps altogether.
"What happened?"
"Someone is blocking the way in the front."
"Who in their right mind will do that?"
"I don't know, and where are the teachers anyway?"
The murmurs and whispers of the students around them grew louder as they moved forward.
"Did something happen?" Aeloria asked as they soon arrived towards the group of Fatima and Emily, with Grace also standing among them.
"Someone is blocking the way in front of us," Emily mumbled as they saw a man in beggar's clothes arguing with their guide, Connor Dhala.
"Move aside! You are blocking the way!" The loud voice of Connor resonated throughout the streets as he tried to move the beggar who had grabbed his legs.
"Sir, please help me! I haven't eaten anything; please give me something to eat." The man in his late thirties begged while grabbing Connor's leg, tears threatening to drop from his eyes.
"I said move!" Connor shouted, but the man remained unhinged as he begged, his face now hung low, making it impossible to notice his expressions.
"If you don't move in at the count of three, it will be a capital crime of blocking an official in the line of duty," Connor threatened, his voice filled with annoyance as he gave his last warning.
"Angelina." As the scene unfolded in front of them, Aeloria arrived beside Angelina and whispered softly.
"What?" She asked in confusion.
"We are getting surrounded," Aeloria said, her eyes scanning the area.
Soon enough, people with uncommon clothes came into view, blocking the path of all four streets around the fountain.
"1!" Connor shouted as the man continued blocking their way.
The streets soon started to feel less crowded as people, witnessing the unfolding scene, moved away to avoid getting involved.
"Get ready, Angelina," Aeloria mumbled as she slowly closed her eyes. "If things go out of hand, we need to move you away from here."
Angelina nodded her head as she took out a short sword from her space ring, effectively hiding it around her arms to avoid alerting the suspicious individuals.
"2!"
"Ivy, come back, it's important," Aeloria mumbled as she formed a connection with her contracted spirit, waiting to get any type of response back from her.
"Sigh...."
But even when some time passed, there was no response, which made her let out a tired sigh.
"Fatima." Having no other option, Angelina took the matter into her own hands as she called out to the person close to her.
"Hmm, what?" Fatima asked, shifting her gaze away from the scene, which she found interesting.
"How good are you at fighting right now?" Angelina asked, to which Fatima tilted her head in confusion.
"I mean, I am not the best, but I can at least protect myself if necessary," she replied, still in confusion.
"Good, then get ready to fight as well, and you too, Emily," Angelina ordered to both of them, who, although still confused, nodded their heads as they noticed her serious expression.
"Grace, you as well." Angelina shifted her gaze towards the blonde girl who had the same hair color as her.
"Do not order me," Grace replied without looking at her.
"It's serious," Angelina insisted, as the group of individuals had become so noticeable that even some students had also taken notice of them.
"I can see that myself." She replied with her blood red eyes moving around the place.
"3!" Connor shouted as he started to take out his sword ready to behead the man infront of him.
In the tense silence that followed, the man who had been begging before them abruptly shifted from a pitiful figure to a menacing threat.
"ARGHH!"
With alarming swiftness, he produced a glinting knife, slashing it across the inner thigh of Connor.
The sounds of large gasps followed suit as the students witnessed the scene.
With another swift movement, the man stood up, his face expressionless as he swung the knife, slicing across Connor's throat.
As soon as Connor's body fell to the ground, his hand holding his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, the individuals who had been waiting for the exact moment started to rush towards the students, each of them ready to attack the nearest student.
A figure also materialized in front of the princess.
"Teacher Sophia!" Angelina shouted as Sophia stood in front of her.
With a quick thought, Sophia created a wind shield in front of those students who were about to get attacked.
"There are too many of them," she mumbled as she took notice of the number of assailants attacking the students.
"Angelina, stay beside me," Sophia said as she created a firm shield of mana around her and the rest of the member of the group.
Then, she expanded her mana, forming more wind shields around the students trying to protect them.
*Swish*
Just as Sophia was about to make another move, a blade cutting through the air arrived right beside her.
With just a slight twist of her torso, she managed to dodge the blade aiming at her guts that was thrown at her.
Her concentration shifted as the wind shield that she had made became thinner and less sturdy.
"Would you stop interfering?" The man who was begging just a while ago said as he looked directly into her eyes.
With one glance, Sophia could tell that this man was strong, but she couldn't determine if he was stronger than her or not.
As they both stood in a standstill, measuring each other, the scene around them soon turned chaotic.
*Clap clap clap*
As they both stood in a standstill, three heavy claps resonated around them, and they both shifted their focus towards the new person.
The man stood at the top of a fountain which was at the centre of the area.
He had a protective barrier around him.
He had long black hair, and a mask covered his face, but the eyes that peeked through the mask had a threatening look.
"Boom," the man mumbled slowly, and within the silence of the area, his voice sounded loud and clear.
*BOOOOOOM!
As if waiting for his words, a large explosion occurred simultaneously at all four streets.
The blast and the shockwave were enough to nearly harm all the students if not for Sophia's quick thinking, making countless barriers and shields to protect the students from harm.
"Gasp.. Gasp... "
But because she had spent all her mana in a small amount of time, Sophia was having a hard time even breathing.
Cold sweat tickled her body as she witnessed the aftermath of the explosion.
Despite the students being mostly safe with light to heavy burns, most of the buildings and the people around them had been burnt to a crisp, with many of them being innocent civilians.
Despite all this, she forced herself to look towards the man who stood at the top of the burned fountain.
He nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the damage the explosion had done.
"Angelina," Sophia mumbled, but she couldn't hear her own voice as her ears weren't working properly.
Still, she quickly looked back towards the princess, who was in a state of shock after the large explosion.
A sigh of relief washed over her as the students were safe, but her expression soon turned serious as she noticed the man with black hair jumping down the fountain.