“They’re over here!”
“Don’t let them get away!”
“Encircle them!”
“She’s too fast!”
“I don’t care if she’s fast! Break her leg if you have to as long as she’s still alive!”
Lily, who was carrying Ethan, ran along the forest floor, while zigzagging through the trees to evade the spells that were flying in her direction.
“Lily, just leave me and escape on your own,” Ethan said. “You will be able to escape without me.”
“Shut up, Princess,” Lily replied as she continued to run. “Just behave like the little beauty you are, and stop talking!”
After Ethan and Lily separated from the others, the bandits split up. One group pursued the Merchant, while the rest hunted the two teenagers.
Right now, there were three Wizards hot on their trail, who were riding broomsticks.
They would cast spells from time to time in an attempt to cripple Lily and slow down her movements.
Some of these spells managed to hit her. Fortunately, the Academy’s robes had a protective enchantment on them, minimizing the damage she received from their pursuers.
Even so, with each spell that hit her, Lily suffered internal injuries, making blood seep from the corner of her lips.
She might be able to escape if she had left Ethan behind, but she refused to give up and carried the teenage boy despite her injuries.
“I got you now!” one of the Wizards sneered as he aimed his wand at Lily.
“Impediendum!”
But at that exact moment, Ethan also pointed his wand at the direction of the wizard and cast his own spell.
“Glacies Murus!”
A wall of ice appeared beside Lily, blocking the enemy’s spell and negating it.
Knowing that the young lady had no plan to abandon him, Ethan decided to play his part in order for them to escape their pursuers.
The teenage boy lightly tapped Lily’s chest with his wand and chanted another spell.
“Faerie Fuga!”
A pair of Fairy Wings appeared behind Lily’s back, allowing her to increase her speed, and evade the incoming spells from the other Wizards.
While the young lady was doing her best to evade the spells that were coming at her from every direction, Ethan pointed his wand in front of them and used his third spell.
“Nubes Atra Fumus!”
Black smoke erupted from the tip of Ethan’s wand, covering Lily and him in a black mist.
The smoke expanded inside the forest, reducing visibility to zero.
Lily furled her wings and resumed running on the ground. She was afraid that her wings might blow the mist away, revealing their position to the bandits.
Just as they thought that they managed to get away, a stone bullet hit the side of Lily’s head, making the latter collapse on the ground.
Ethan groaned as he rolled a few meters away from Lily, who was knocked unconscious by the stray spell that came out of nowhere.
Knowing that they were in grave danger, Ethan summoned his Sea God’s Trident and held it in his left hand.
The moment he held the handle of his weapon, he felt himself growing stronger as the passive spell, Magna Amplifico, boosted his body’s performance.
His mind also cleared up, and even though the black smoke was thick, he was able to see up to ten meters in front of him.
He didn’t know if this was one of the passive abilities that the Sea God’s Trident possessed, but he had no time to find out.
The young man picked Lily up from the ground and ran toward a random direction. Time was of the essence, and the sooner they distanced themselves from their pursuers, the better.
He could see blood flowing from the side of Lily’s head, dyeing her head and hair a crimson color. However, there was nothing he could do about it.
For now, his only option was to run away as fast as he could before they were discovered.
Suddenly, he felt a powerful gust of wind pass through the forest, blowing away the black mist that he had created.
Ethan didn’t have time to look behind him because he was afraid of what he might see.
It was at that moment when something flew past him, which made his face turn pale.
A stone bullet, the size of an adult’s face hit the tree in front of him, embedding itself in the tree bark.
“They’re here!”
“Damn brats! They’re like slippery eels!”
“Hurry! We can catch up to them!”
Ethan gritted his teeth as he pushed himself to the limit.
He ran like there was no tomorrow, making him feel pain in his right side and his lungs crave for air.
Even so, he didn’t stop.
The moment he did, it would be over!
A stone bullet hit Ethan’s shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. If not for the fact that he was holding Lily tightly, he might have dropped her due to how painful it was.
Ethan forcefully bit his lip, as he willed himself to withstand the pain.
He knew that Lily had suffered more than he did, and that thought alone gave him the strength to continue running.
However, even with the boost of Magna Amplico, Ethan was just human.
Their pursuers were riding on broomsticks and were closing in on them with every passing second.
As Ethan was desperately thinking of ways on how to escape this impossible situation, he saw something flash at the corner of his eyes.
The young man glanced to his right side and saw a white portal shimmering between two trees in the distance.
He recognized this portal because he had read about them in the library.
It was called a Nexus.
One of the phenomenons that appeared only in the magical world. It was also the cause of many disappearances because almost everyone that entered them was unable to return alive.
The reason?
A Nexus was a one-way portal that would send them to the past.
Unless they manage to find the Nexus that would return them to the present, they would be trapped in the past forever.
For a brief period of time, everything around Ethan came to a standstill. 𝑜𝓥𝑙xt.𝒸𝑶𝓂
It was as if time itself had stopped, giving the teenage boy a chance to make an important decision that would decide his and Lily’s Fate forever.
‘If we stay, we will definitely be captured,’ Ethan thought. ‘Although there is a chance that we will be rescued, there is also a possibility that we won’t.
“If I enter the Nexus, we might temporarily be safe, but what if we become trapped in the past? How are we going to return to the present?”
Faced with an important decision, Ethan felt as if his body was paralyzed, but this paralysis didn’t last long because he heard Lily’s voice, which brought him out of his daze.
“Enter the Nexus,” Lily said. “Let’s take a gamble.”
The young man looked at the lady in his arms. Lily was looking back at him with an exhausted expression on her face, and yet, her eyes were filled with determination.
A second later, time returned to normal, and Ethan dashed towards the Nexus with everything he had.
However, just as his right foot stepped into the portal, he felt something hard hit the back of his head, making him black out.
His momentum carried the rest of his body, making him fall forward towards the Nexus, with Lily in his arms.
The moment the two teenagers entered the White Portal, it glowed brightly for a few seconds before vanishing without a trace.
The Five Wizards, who were hunting Ethan and Lily, glanced at each other in dismay.
“Let’s regroup with the others,” one of the Wizards said after a minute had passed. “Although it’s a shame, those two brats are goners. Only a handful of people have managed to return after entering a Nexus, and I doubt that those two will be as lucky as them.”
Knowing that they could no longer pursue their targets, the three wizards soared into the sky to catch up to the Merchant and his escorts.
They knew that the chances were slim, but they still hoped that they would be able to salvage something from their failed operation.