Harry raised an eyebrow. Well, this'll be interesting. "Are you sure about this?" "Oh, I wouldn't be too worried." Ed reassured Harry. "He can handle himself."
Charles frowned. "Why do you talk as though you've seen me fight before?" Ed chuckled. "Please, I could get a good read on anybody if I wanted to."
"That's discomforting. Anyway, Ed, give us the laydown of their positions." "One sec." Ed took deep breaths. "They're closing in on the head office." "Then we're closing in on them."
Charles quickly darted to the left. "Where are we going?" Harry asked. "We're taking a shortcut. We'll cut their headstart by about half, and we'll be able to clean them up faster."
The three boys quickly and silently sped across the pavement, and the head office came into view. Ed's eyes flicked upwards into the distance.
Without needing verbal confirmation, the three understood that they had caught up with their foes. "Looks like they do have movement type abilities." Ed observed.
"That'll make things difficult. Are you-" "Harry, let's get going." Charles wasn't the least bit concerned. "...Sure."
The two scaled the building and slipped in through the window. Charles had used his blood to unlock the window from the inside.
They landed, their footsteps quiet as they shuffled to the desk, waiting patiently for their uninvited guests to arrive.
The landing was so soft that Harry and Charles almost didn't hear it. "..." "So, is it clear?" A male voice asked. "No, sir. We aren't alone."
Harry and Charles shared a glance. "..." They darted in opposite directions. At the same time, the desk was smashed into the wall.
Without wasting a moment, three throwing knives made out of blood flew at the intruders, with two drawing blood and one bouncing off what seemed to be air.
"Harry?" Charles called out. "He has some kind of force field around him." Harry responded. "Can you-" "Already on it."
He dashed forward, picking up the throwing knife and rushed headfirst, and as expected, the force field dissipated as soon he touched it.
"What the-?" Despite being surprised, Harry's current enemy still dodged the attack, and only got grazed. "Could use some backup here!" The intruder shouted.
The other two had recovered from the knives and began to slowly encircle them. "What do we do now? Harry asked Charles. "Do we fight our way out?"
"No need for that." Charles said calmly. "Nobody move." His voice was chilly. All of a sudden, all three attackers stopped moving. "Urk!"
They were actively struggling against it, but their bodies had stopped moving. "Keep struggling and risk getting hypertension here and now. Worst case, heart failure."
As Charles spoke, the breathing of the three became more erratic, and they collapsed to their knees. "Good, now wait here while the school authorities deal with you."
"It doesn't matter anyway; we now have information that will be useful to the Deus Council." Charles chuckled coldly. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you've found out nothing."
He smirked slightly. "I'm not participating in the inter-school's tournament, and you don't know anything about his powers." He gestured at Harry.
"Not only did you fail to retrieve information, your school will probably be penalized, but that's pretty lucky, considering how lax Excavre is with ethics."
He turned to Harry. "Let's go. It seems the authorities have arrived." "...Yeah." The two vanished almost as quickly as they appeared, leaving the three weakened boys to their fates.
Nora and Ed stood nearby, waiting for them. "Has everything been resolved?" Nora asked. "It's all been taken care of."
Charles reassured, his tone no longer possessing that icy undertone it did before. "That's good. Well done." Nora said. "It wouldn't have gone so smoothly without Harry though." Charles said
"I can imagine that being the case. Troublesome abilities?" "Not really, apart from one guy. I needed Harry to break through his defenses." Nora briefly glanced at Harry.
"...I see. Well, since this matter has been resolved, there's no need to linger. Well then, we'll meet again." She turned to leave.
"Wait. What were you even doing in this part of the school at this time?" Nora stopped short, then began walking away with an increased pace. "Whatever do you mean?"
She asked as she speedwalked away. "It's perfectly normal to be out here by this time." Ah. She was tailing us, wasn't she?
***
The first rays of sunlight peeked in through from the window. "Uh-oh. Sunlight. We overdid it." Leon said turning to Shiki who was wiping of sweat from his brow.
"Well, I have a lot of energy left to spare, plus we did get some more practice in." Leon sighed at that. "What a workaholic. All this for a spot on the council?"
Shiki glared at him. "It'd do you some good to be a little bit withholding with your thoughts. Your insensitivity is genuinely astounding."
"I get it, I get it. No need to be so blatant with the truth." Leon sighed. "I'm sorry, okay?" Shiki sighed. "Fine. Just remember that this is also beneficial to you."
Leon nodded. "Don't worry. I've not forgotten. No matter what happens, either you or me have to be on the council, otherwise there'd be no point to playing along with this farce."
"Lower your voice. We can't have people hear us." Shiki berated. Leon shrugged. "I don't know what you're concerned about.
Even Harry isn't aware of the situation yet, and Roxy's missing. The others are on the same side as us, so what does it matter. Everyone else is oblivious anyway."
"As it should, and I would very much like to keep it that way." Shiki emphasised, and Leon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."
"Excavre better be in the stands. This nonsense is all centered around him." Shiki muttered as the sound of raucous applause and shouts became more eminent as they made their way to the arena.
After all, we promised that this would be the last time we do this.