Alex ran a short distance. While running he quickly threw a number of glances at a certain direction. Blake noticed but ignored it. Before long he had been stopped by Blake as he caught up to him. Alex turned around quickly to again evade Blake’s attempts to touch him. He barely made two narrow escapes as his legs had seemed to hit their limit. He tumbled backwards falling on his butt. A panting Alex looked up as Blake’s hand reached out to his collar grabbing him and pulling up.

“I’ll take the stone now.” He said as he began to reach for his pocket when he suddenly heard Alex shouting.

“Key!”

*Whistle*

The sound of the whistle followed it concluding the game. Blake looked around confused until his eyes fell on Alex’s hand. It had grabbed Grey’s leg. Alex had deliberately made his way towards here all the while keeping an eye on the time limit on the clock at the top of the gymnasium building.

“Okay Grey, for your group since all the members are not locked, you guys’ win. Moving on to the next group…” The coach began to announce the results. Blake had forgot that they were in the middle of a game as did the coach. But Alex’s constant glances from before reminded him to time the game properly.

“Woah! We won, nice work Alex.” Grey cheered as he patted Alex’s back before turning towards Blake.

“How was that handsome boy?” He teased while sticking his tongue out.

Alex noticed Blake’s fists tightening on Grey’s teasing as his face became stiff. “What you want to fight now? Huh—

“Come on, coach’s calling, we need to line up.” Alex blurted as he quickly pulled Grey away with him. After P.E. was over Alex made sure to keep his distance from Blake at all times.

Later that night.

Alex had waited until it was lights out and sneaked out of his room. ‘So, how do you know that handing this over to Merissa would be the right choice? I mean I get that she’s strong but she can’t even use magic. Won’t the people who are after the stone snatch it away from her pretty quickly?’ Alex asked to Miracle as he tried to pass through the corridors silently.

‘That would be the case if she was acting alone. However, she seems to have a pretty powerful backer or at least somewhat of a connection to them.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Remember when you woke up back at her place? My own consciousness was somewhat dizzy at the time because of transferring power to you above your limit. I didn’t even know how she carried you back to her house. But before I was knocked out, I saw the armour which was lying in the corner of the room. More particularly I saw the symbol on the armour. It was of a specific type of bird found only in Emerald from where Merissa belongs. The point is, it represents a great organization in that world.’

While Miracle explained Alex had already reached the ground floor of his dorm. He looked around and at the reception to find that there was no one. He checked his watch which showed 1:31.

‘Exactly as Grey said.’ The guard at the reception usually takes a 15-minute break at 1:30 a.m. in the night as per the info provided by Grey.

Alex didn’t even want to wonder how he got his hands on such information. It was working to his benefit.

‘Okay, assuming that Merissa really is backed by someone or something powerful, how do you know all this?’

‘Why? Because I am myself am from Emerald.’ Miracle stated.

‘What? But then how did you come here on earth- huh?’

As Alex was asking that question he had walked to the front door and found it locked. But that shouldn’t have been the case. In case of a fire or other emergencies it was always kept open for students to exit.

‘Alex, he’s here!’ Miracle warned causing Alex to turn around as he saw Blake walking down the stairs.

“That wouldn’t really work human.” Blake said with a smirk.

“What’s up with this Blake? Did you lock the door?” Alex asked as he looked around for any prefects who might be passing through.

“Don’t worry about any disturbances, I put them all to sleep, Of course, they aren’t hurt. As to answer your question, I did indeed lock the door. Hand over the stone to me and you can keep your life.” Blake demanded as his tone turned cold in the last sentence.

‘So that’s why I didn’t spot anyone on my way down here…’ Alex thought to himself as he removed the soul holder ‘In that case I’ll just break the door and make a run—

‘Don’t. He is using zone. The same as that trash summoner. He wouldn’t hesitate to chase you. You need to fight him right here and now.’ Miracle interrupted.

‘But… didn’t you say after P.E. class that his mana control is good and that he seemed experienced in combat judging by his movements. How am I supposed to top that?’

‘While that is true, you aren’t lagging far behind. You have access to much more mana reserves than that boy over there. Come on kid, draw your sword now, I have judged this kid to be suitable for your sparring partner.’

‘Sparring partner?! He will be trying to kill me—

‘Don’t panic, if worst comes to worst, I’ll once more cross the limit and transfer additional strength to you. Although it’ll again be a hassle, you will be able to kill him with ease and get in touch with Merissa later.’

‘Kill him…’ Alex muttered the words in his heads.

‘Remember it will be either you or him!’ Miracle reminded as Alex’s eyes developed a sharp look.

“You haven’t seemed to change your mind, have you? Fine then, DIE!” Blake roared as a grey coloured mana ball the size of a fist formed and floated above his palm.