Festival Time

As the mayor entered, everything went silent. Everyone turned to him in shock. The mayor was quite the anonymous man as he barely ever showed his face or came to his home. The mayor was an old wrinkled man who held a came to his side and looked as if he was suffering from hair loss as there were patches in his grey hair. He had a bent nose and a scar across it. As his face was pale, there were dark circles around his eyes and his lips looked dark as if he had an illness. The mayor looked to be around his 60s or 70s. He wore simple clothing that even a commoner or a mid-class could buy, he truly hadn't had any idea how to dress, or was it that he didn't care to? Eiheeway, because of that the mayor was now getting disappointed glances before they could even meet him in person. All because he dressed inferior to them.

" Ho! Ho! Don't let this old man disturb your meal, now that you mention it I'm quite hungry myself." The mayor energetically said as he sat down and started eating.

All he ate was vegetables, maybe he was trying to keep a healthy diet? The old man was receiving weird stares but he blanked it all out as he ate his meal.

" This is good enough to make an old man like myself cry." The mayor appeared to be someone with weird humor as he often said jokes that people questioned.

" He isn't bad," Alex said.

' This guy reminds me of my grandpa in my previous life.' Xavier thought.

" Of course, he isn't, he owns this whole place," Xavier reminded Alex." He doesn't look as bad as these other nobles, he reminds me of a regular old man."

" Eh? The mayor isn't a noble. He's a commoner just like us well you can say mid-class like yourself. Did you know the guy from the stories, Vlad had a younger adopted brother?" Alex asked.

" So the mayor is Vlad's brother?"

" No! Those guys died centuries ago, he's a descendant of Vlad's younger brother making him no different from a commoner since his ancestor was one too. Vlad's younger brother, Rill, who made this town out of respect for him, the role mayor of the town was passed down to every firstborn son of his family."

" That about explains it," Xavier said as he placed his hand on his chin.

The mayor then got up," I suppose it's about time to make my speech, isn't it?"

He then raised and pound his spoon against his glass cup, trying to gain everyone's attention." I would like everyone's utmost attention."

As the old man opened his mouth, an arrow flew straight past him almost hitting him. A man then jumped by the mayor's side to protect him, it was Wayne followed by Feran. They both guarded the mayor.

" An attack with poison arrows." Xavier looked at the arrows.

" Huh? Who are you? Never mind, whoever's attacking must be quite skillful. If I hadn't dodged one second before, I'd be dead."

As soon as everyone saw what just happened, a panic took place.

" Run! Attackers!" People started running away from their tables while screaming. They didn't even know where the attack came from yet they ran in a random direction. A group of men then came through the door carrying the two guards who held Alex and Xavier from before. They wore all black and had masks on. They were also equipped with weapons.

They then threw the men on the group," Don't make this harder than it already is." One of them said.

Wayne then fired earth spikes. The earth spikes slowly plummeted from the ground one by one. It was almost as if it was coming from underground. One could see and feel the floor shaking as the earth spikes came up. And as a huge earth spike came out from the ground a few steps away from the enemies, it shattered into pieces. One of the enemies had their left hand held out. He was most likely the one behind this phenomenon. And as the one who shattered the earth spikes finished, the others charged. The jumped from table k table approaching the mayor is was protected by Wayne and Feran. As one of them passed Xavier, they thought he was just a regular bystander but was wrong for underestimating him. Their body froze up in the air and they fell from the tables. Behind the was Xavier holding his daggers.

" Xavier! You should sit this one out, you can't use magic remember?" Feran shouted to Xavier as they were far away from one another.

But Xavier didn't listen.

someone then placed their hand on Xavier's shoulder," Let me help." It was Alex.

Most of the enemies had already made it up to the mayor and were clashing with Feran and Wayne as Alex and Xavier could hear the sound of swords striking against one another. The enemy having noticed that Xavier and Alex were not ordinary children, they attacked them. As an enemy approached them, Xavier took left and Alex took right. The enemy then disappeared from thin air. They looked all around the gigantic room but couldn't find them. As Xavier grew agitated, he felt a soft breath behind him. Xavier then spun around instantly and thrust his dagger, nothing, there was nothing. As he froze up from surprise, he felt a trickle of blood running down his arm. In fact, he felt something sharp in his arm. He felt an unbelievable amount of pain as blood gushed from his arm making his new clothing bloody. Xavier then spun around and sliced with his dagger. The enemy was now in front of him, they were most likely using teleportation magic or trickery magic. Xavier had gotten a cut on them.

" I can't move!" The person's voice sounded muffled from the mask.

Xavier, inraged, then stabbed the enemy in the stomach. It felt as if his dagger easily entered their abdomen.

" Ahhhh! Please let me go!" They scream relentlessly.

" So you inflict pain on others yet you can't take it yourself." Xavier grinned.

He then kicked the person straight in the temple rendering them unconscious. Xavier then ripped his sleeve and wrapped it around his wounded arm as he soon joined Alex back in battle.

Alex then turned around to face Xavier," Oh, Xavier, I need some help here! Wait, you're hurt!"

" It's fine, mom will just heal me later," Xavier assured Alex.

Facing them was three enemies. One of them went invisible, while the other attacked; the last one used their time to cast an incantation. Xavier held his dagger while the other was in his pocket, he couldn't hold it as his other dagger because his arm was stabbed. Xavier then clashed swords with one of them while Alex fought the invisible one using trickery magic. Alex didn't even let the mage cast their attack as he fought he kept sending earth spikes to their direction even though he was in a battle of his own. It was a bad matchup for the invisible because every time they tried to come closer, Alex would shoot earth spikes all around him as he had no idea where they were.

Meanwhile, Xavier clashed with the charging enemy. They shared their attacks equally, it was almost as if they were reading each other's minds as they blocked at the same time continuously. Alex sat down on the floor with his eyes close, trying to focus on pinpointing the invisible enemy.

Most earth users had a special ability, when they were completely focused they could communicate with the earth. In this state, they could hear echoes on the ground, anytime something stepped on the ground they could feel the vibrations, they could feel the enemy almost as if they were the floor the enemy walks on. Alex then soon found the enemy, he channeled his mana until one could see his veins. He then released it all creating an earth spike that extended far to the enemy. The invisible foe not knowing the in the coming attack was impaled with an earth spike. Alex had completely forgotten about the mage who was doing the incantation for a spell. As Alex turned around, the floor sank with him and the body of the enemy.

Xavier soon too sank to the floor. It was most likely an earth spell. It was almost as if they were in quicksand except it was worst as their bodies sank deeper and deeper. The mage had no concern for their comrade whom Xavier was fighting as they too sank with Alex and Xavier. They couldn't move one bit and they sank deeper and deeper.

" Xavier, you there?" Alex asked looking around for Xavier.

" Yeah. What's this thing?"

" I'm sorry, this is my fault for not paying attention to the enemy." Alex blamed himself.

" It's my fault too so don't blame yourself," Xavier said.

The mage looked at them and smirked like a mad man. He looked more than ready to finish them off.