Saga of Atlantis

Chapter 123: On the other side 2

"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.

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.