Chapter 82

"But what do we do if 'he' shows up."

"Just leave that to me and Alex." Drak said as sphere of chaotic spacial energy appeared into his hands.

Alex's eyes went wide. "You don't mean-"

"Exactly, we will pour all of our energy into this if things go sour."

"I don't think that I can control it though." Alex said as he looked at the sphere that was trying to absorb everything around it.

"You will have two spacial domains helping you, and you will only have to hold it in place. Once it has enough power you can leave the rest to me." Drak said before turning and looking to the remaining instructors.

"You all understand your part right?"

"Protect the kids, and assist if needed." Daniel answered.

"In just three short years our roles in your life seem to have changed completely. Even though we weren't able to help as much as we wanted, we are happy that you are our student." Michael said as Drak left through a portal.

"Don't get too sappy, you'll see plenty more students in the years to come."

"Will Taylor be able to make it?"

"We managed to reach out to him, but his father is extremely paranoid. Forcing him to move away from all of his friends was already extreme, but locking him away…" Michaels face twisted into frustration and regret.

A hand found it's place on his shoulder. "He will be fine." Daniel comforted.

"We will do everything we can Alex."

——————

"Alex Erebus!" Alex abruptly appeared on the stage. He looked around a mixture of applause and booing was heard as he stood there.

'The propaganda is already doing its job. People who haven't even met me or know me personally already have their own views of who I am.'

A somber expression was on Alex's face as he looked across the stage and faced his opponent. 'I wonder how ironic it is, that the reason I ever got to this point was because of you.'

The crowd which seemed to never quiet, hushed to the point that even the wind was heard as all of his emotions flowed out.

"Why do I feel this way?"

"I hated him just a few moments ago?"

"What's wrong with me?"

The crowd was left in suspense as they tried to understand what was going on. Luckily they didn't have to wait for long as the announcer spoke up.

"The final fight of the annual magic competitions begins in, 3… 2… 1."

"Begin!!"

Alex held out his hand as a ray of light shot towards him. He glowed brightly as he channeled his Noble class light affinity to the fullest.

After nearly being blinded, most of the crowd fumbled for the protective lenses they were given, only now understanding why they were handed out.

On the camera which was broadcasting this fight to the entire world, a bar of words was slowly moving across the screen. It read as, 'A new mage of balance emerges.'

All over the kingdom, several other channels were scrambling to cause chaos and lower the impact of the broadcast.

The ray of light collided with Alex who was glowing and did nothing. His affinity was just too far ahead of hers in terms of strength.

Alex heard a familiar laugh as the energy faded, he wore a sad smile as he watched Tori remove the hood from her head.

She stepped towards Alex as if trying to tell him something, but stopped suddenly her expressions told Alex everything.

Alex's hairs stood on end, immediately the entire area was filled with his spacial energy. Alex disappeared along with Tori.

She reappeared in the stands next to her classmates in the stands and Alex reappeared in the air above the stage which was splintering into pieces.

"Wyatt, I'm surprised you arrived so quickly." Alex looked the man over.

"Why don't you take off that silly robe, everyone knows that it is you?" Alex said to Wyatt who was wearing the signature white robe with golden lines running down it, that the head of the temple wore.

Wyatt spoke in a gruff voice as if trying to hide his identity. "Stay out of this, and turn those damned cameras off!" A rush of wind pushed back all of the guards and instructors who were attempting to join Alex, and arcs of electricity flew towards the press which was still airing what was happening.

The electricity however hit everything except what was intended as Alex redirected it with his spacial energy. "How about we keep the cameras on, after all today is the day a tyrant falls." Alex said while dodging the incoming blasts of energy.

Alex gathered electricity within his hand, or attempted to but realized that the dome was interfering.

"This thing is a marvel of technology so I wasn't hoping of this happening, but oh well." Alex's spacial energy fluctuated as it matched the frequencies of thousands of runes at once.

A sense of weightlessness settled on everyone present as the unbreakable dome disappeared completely.

Wyatt began laughing hysterically. "I didn't believe him when he said that you would be this dumb, but this really brings a smile to my face. Say goodby to everyone you love."

'Dark everywhere.' Alex looked up to see a massive meteor which had blocked the sunlight everywhere in his immediate surroundings.

"You idiot, even you will die to this!" Alex screamed out.

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Wyatt said not even trying to hide his identity anymore.

Suddenly everything became sluggish around him. Everything became silent, Alex looked around trying to think of something to do.

"I've bought you some time Alex, but you don't have long. Create a black hole while I keep everything trapped in time." Drak's voice called out from somewhere.

Alex nodded and disappeared several times as he got closer and closer to the mass above. All of his spacial energy concentrated in front of him and several hundreds of lazily created portals appeared within the mass.

'This is definitely not enough.' Alex thought as he gathered every bit of mana within himself. Light, darkness, and lightning were fed into the mass of chaotic spacial energy it grew to a massive size, but even that wasn't enough.

"Okay… unfreeze.. them, this is as much as I can do." Alex said in panting and groaning in pain as he continued to gather energy from the air channel it into the the sphere.

The sluggishness faded as Alex heard the scared voices of those below. He opened a portal and pulled out a crystal, and inserted his last remaining Emperor class beast core into it. The surrounding was instantly reilluminated. Everyone looked up to see Alex higher up and Wyatt still where he was just frozen in place.

A scream of pain was heard as a massive portal appeared close to everyone below.

A beam of bright light was seen going through the portal as Taylor appeared in the arena below. The crowd murmured as they saw the champion from last years competitions arriving just now at the end of the competitions.

A myriad of colors filled the sky as Michael and Daniel assisted. Above the sphere which flashed with speckles of all colors collided with the mass of energy above.

"You know, I could make you a hero. I could make all this hatred disappear… I can even make her love you again. We don't have to be enemies."

Alex glanced to his side to see the all too familiar Samael smiling at his situation.

"You know as good as I do that ever since I was born, I was your enemy. Am I not right, prince of this world."

"Haha, it's been a while since I've been called that one." Samael laughed before preparing to attack Alex.

"Timothy!" A portal appeared next to Alex and his former instructor dashed out. A weapon the size of a small tree was swung and collided with the devil next to Alex.

"It's no use, everything you try will fail. Everything you attempt will not change the fact that you die today Alex."

Alex didn't respond he only chuckled. Nearly every muscle with in his body twitched as they were being exerted to the maximum Alex's eyes drooped as he used his mind affinity to buy himself the last bit of time he needed.

Samael groaned as his body was forcefully contorted into an unnatural shape. A loud slam was heard as Timothy reappeared from another portal slamming the Samael further away from Alex.

Timothy landed softly on the ground as Alex could no longer create another portal.

Above Alex, the black hole which had already ate a large crater out of the mass of energy was growing exponentially. With in a few seconds sunlight reappeared as it was warped around what now looked like a translucent marble.

Alex slowly lowered himself to the ground.

"Where do you think you are going?!" Samael bellowed as he rushed towards Alex.

"He is going to get some rest. The same can't be said for you however." Drak said as he appeared in front of him. The invisible force above moved as if being funneled. All of it entered into Drak.

"You! You aren't supposed to interfere with the lives of humans!" Samael said as he looked at the man in front of him.

"And neither are you, but you have more pressing matters at hand. I'll come back, but you… you only live once."

A bright flash was seen before there was only silence left in the sky above, the two figures gone as if they weren't there in the first place.

Below Alex a crowd was seen gathered. He smiled as he saw everyone that had helped out.

He let out one final sigh as his eyes landed on Tori, she was being embraced in Sareth's arms who comforted her and told her that everything would be fine.

Alex ignored Wyatt who had a confused expression above and he stared at the chained up soul within himself. The soul shattered as he gripped it and tore it apart. Tears flowed out of his eyes ceaselessly as Alex finally broke free from everything.

He cried from the pain within himself that felt like he was constantly being cut from the inside out. He cried because of how his heart ached. He cried because… because he wanted to.

Emotions flowed throughout him like never before, as he sat on his knees, his hands on the ground and his face mere inches away from the dirt.

Everywhere everything, he could feel it. His vision darkened.

"Where did it go?" Wyatt asked in confusion. "What are you doing?" He asked Alex who was unresponsive.

The crowd began murmuring again.

"The sky is darkening again."

"Is there another one?"

"Oh god, we're all dead this time."

"It's Alex, he breaking through to the overlord class, but how he wasn't even close?" Daniel whispered to Michael.

Little did they know it wasn't only the surrounding area. Even the opposite side of the world was not blessed with the sight of the moon and stars at the moment.

Alex's consciousness was pulled away to the abyss once more as he broke through.

He felt a hand on his shoulder lifting him up, but he paid little to no attention to if as his head buzzed ceaselessly and memories filled his head.

'Are you okay?'

Alex didn't respond as countless emotions played throughout his face.

'Alex!'

Alex looked up to the voice speaking to him but found no one.

'Listen, you seem to be a bit out of it, and I have been watching how my siblings faired. Unlike them I learn from the mistakes of others, so don't worry about me interfering, or picking on you, or even just being an ass. You've already gotten this far on your own anyway.'

Light flooded Alex's sight as he returned to his senses. 'Pride, humbling himself? How scared would he have to be for that to happen?'

He looked up to see Wyatt's shoes a few inches from his face.

Alex stood up as the sky lit up once more.

'Hundreds of thousands of times I have lived this life, soon it will be in the millions, and then into the billions, but one day, I will break free from the cycle.' Alex pushed his newly regained memories of the past Alex's lives and looked up to Wyatt who was charging up another attack.

'I've bought a little bit of time, it should be enough to deal with Samael, before I answer my summons.'

"Where is your master." Alex asked, his rage palpable as he looked at the man in front of him.

Wyatt didn't answer and kept quiet.

Alex smiled. "He broke you, but doing so will be much more easier for me."

A strand of darkness latched onto Wyatt as he screamed and tried his best to remove it. Light was absorbed into the darkness empowering it further as he tried to remove it.

Alex pulled back his hood revealing his face to the world.

"Where is your pride now? You've been stripped of everything, do something decent with your life and allow yourself some mercy from me."

"I don't know where he is, I lost my connection right when he attacked." Wyatt said with a pitiful look.

Alex nodded. "At least you told the truth."

Alex clinched his fist and an audible snap was heard as Wyatt crumpled to the ground.

Alex walked away stunning everyone watching, he had just defeated their leader and now he was looking at nothing just waiting.

His vision spun and his body grew cold, but even still, he gritted his teeth and carried on.

Suddenly Alex reached out. In front of him a wooden door appeared, a patch of blue grass surrounded it.

Instead of entering he waved it away and turned just as a bloodied being with wings tackled him to the ground and dragged him through a rift.

Alex readied himself as he got up and saw that he was in a dimly lit room.

"Whoa there, that's enough fighting." Alex turned to see the wounded devil trying to calm him down.

"Listen I just want to talk. Tell you my side of everything, besides you've already ruined your own soul, it useless to me." He furled his wings up and sat in a comfortable chair which appeared from nowhere.

A wooden chair appeared next to Alex which quickly quickly transformed into a comfy office chair.

Samael frowned but summoned a table in between them.

"Start from the day the seal broke, even if you are not human, I can tell if you are lying." Alex said while leaning back and using some light mana to rejuvenate himself.