Just what was it that she had seen? 

…

As the young man thought about these things, he couldn’t help but be captivated as they went to a stop.

They stood at the edge of the port, where they could see sailors and captains preparing their ship. 

There were also countless guards, and adventurers keeping guard or mounting the boats as usual. Portshell was a famous city in the magical continent, known well for it’s import and export. most of the important resources which came from other continents passed by this port.  Thus was why the security was tight.

However, none of that seemed to catch the young man’s eyes as he found himself staring at young lady. She stared into the distance, her mind seemingly drifting away with each passing second.

Suddenly, he reflectively turned his head away once she caught his gaze. He too was surprised by what he did.

“What, is there something on my face?” She asked

“No, nothing at all.” He replied with a smile

“Alright, now that we’re finally here. We can go… And then… I’ll find him…”

As he heard those words, the young man let out a sigh before saying.

“Yeah, Let’s go…” He muttered

——————————————————

The moment Hexo turned he felt a chill go down his spine as there was a sudden change in John’s presence. 

He quickly turned to John only to see a faint bright glow coming out from beneath his blindfold. 

“W-What…?”

The light faded over and over in a rhythm. Something was happening beneath the blindfold, but he had no clue as to what it could be. On top of that, John’s presence felt as if it was fading.

“H-Hey, John…” Hexo muttered as he stretched his hand out towards John.

[Don’t touch him.]

In that instant, he quickly retracted his arm in shock. 

“!?”

Confused, he hastily looked around to check to see who was it that had said that. It was a voice which he didn’t recognize. 

He looked and looked quickly turning his head, however what he found, was nothing. The other two were fast asleep. 

‘Shit! When did they!?’

“HEY! EVERYONE WAKE-“

[Sleep.]

Hexo’s eyes rolled back as he fell over. 

*Thud*

—————————————————

In the middle of a brightly lit room, two figures could be seen quietly standing opposite to each other. 

One was John, the other was-

“Zestari?” Said John, confused.

Ahead of him stood Zestari, he wasn’t sure why he had been brought back here or what it meant but something felt off.

Zestari slowly raised her arm and hand before pointing them towards John. 

Her now, slightly more recognizable facial features showed her mouth moving at an incomprehensible speed. Something was wrong.

As he saw this, fear began to rise in John’s heart. The experience which he had tried to seal off began to surface again.

He instinctively took a step back but was suddenly forced to a stop as she muttered.

“Stop.” 

In that instant, as John stood there paralyzed, a drop of water fell on his forehead. His eyes still free to move, slowly moved up only to then widen at the sight of what was above them.

A ice Spike the size of an ice berg split into four parts. The ice colored in a crimson red with sinister patterns going around them. 

A yellow wave seemed to resonate throughout the ice with every passing second. Just by looking, John could tell, if that thing hit him, he wouldn’t be able to handle.

But why? What was happening? No matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn’t understand. 

*Ba bump* *Ba dump* *Ba bump*

His heart began to beat faster and faster as he got closer and closer to a conclusion. No, he already knew it but didn’t want to believe it.

Zestari was about to betray him. What he didn’t know was why, why would she do it now when she had all those opportunities in the past?

“So you too… You of all people…? Zestari?” John asked

“What are you talking about? Dodge it.” She said

In that moment, the ice bergs were all propelled at John.

“Eh?” John let out

In that moment, the ice bergs were all propelled at John.

Without being able to move a single muscle, John could do nothing but stand there as they made the ice bergs made their way towards him.

“Release Magic Seal’s First Layer – Black Hole” He muttered

In that instant, a 10 Meter wide spherical black hole was formed above John’s head, right beneath the Ice berg as it was meters away from him. 

The ice bergs were sucked in a flash. Color faded away from the room and all that could be heard was a sound akin to that of a flash bang. A high-pitched screech.

Zestari then turned her head to the right as John was no longer standing where he was.

‘He broke through my magic? Interesting.’

In that moment, she flew up, barely avoiding the ice spikes which rose from the ground beneath her.

“What are you doing, Zestari?” John asked with a sharp glare

The voice came from behind her, upon hearing this, a smile formed on her face as she let out a sigh.

“John, that’s what I should be asking you.” She replied

In that instant, six golden chains with pointy edges rose from the ground heading straight at John. John quickly leaped back to avoid them, but they chased right after him, mid air locked on to him.

John instinctively tried to shadow step only to fail, by the time he realized that he couldn’t access his [possessed] state. It was too late, the chains were inches away from his body.

He reflexively used the wind to propel his arm and legs in the last second, allowing the chains to only scrape by him without completely piercing him.

It was a close-call and the cuts were deep but it didn’t hurt at all. The pain was so weak that he didn’t even realize that he had been cut.

The chains which went past him, quickly changed directions mid-air and turned back to pierce him from behind. 

But they quickly lost track of John as he suddenly vanished. 

Or so it seemed. John simply propelled himself higher by mixing gravity and wind magic  before they turned back. However, despite doing so, they quickly caught track of him again and began their pursuit.

This time, they were much faster. Moving at over 60 miles per hour.

John flew around the room with his eyes on Zestari, watching her as she remained motionless. He continued to dodge the endless amount of chains which wouldn’t stop flowing out of the ground.

He had grown tired of being on the defensive and began to leave magic circles behind everywhere few seconds he flew around. He was preparing an attack. As Zestari saw this, a smile was formed on her face.

‘Let’s see what you can do…’ She thought to herself

John circled around Zestari, there were around ten magic circles around her, each within a certain radius.

Matter began to take shape in front of each circle. One had fire, the other had water, then came earth, and air, electricity, sound, ice and so on. 

‘Each magic circle has it’s own elemental affinity. Good but…’

Magic beams of each affinity, burst out of each magic circle each heading straight towards Zestari. Rather than beams, high frequency sound waves launched themselves at her, in an attempt to paralyze her.

The sound waves reached before anything else, however to John’s surprise, they had no effect. Instead, a surge of wind bursted away from Zestari as the sound of *crackles* could be heard.

‘They were canceled?’ John thought to himself as he remained airborne

In that instant, the other elemental attacks all landed on Zestari who hadn’t moved an inch from her spot, creating a large smoke cloud.

Worried that he might have hurt her, John quickly changed his course and began propelling himself towards her.

When suddenly, he froze. 

‘Mid-air?!’

“Bam.”

John’s heart sunk as he quickly turned to the direction where the voice came from. It was right behind him. However, before he could even see what had happened.

*Boom!*

He was suddenly hit by an immense pressure which caused him crash into the ground. He didn’t see it nor could he feel it. It was almost as if it was-

“Gravitas.” Said Zestari. It was John’s own spell. “X1000” She added.

John’s body grew heavier and heavier by the second, causing his whole body to be planted on the floor from the sheer pressure. 

No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t lift a single muscle. 

“Hey, John.” Said Zestari as she suddenly appeared in front of him.

She crouched down at his helpless figure before muttering.

“If you don’t take this seriously, you’ll die.” 

The moment he heard those words, his eyes widened.

“Not by me, but by the other angels who are probably on their way right now to hunt you. Today, and tomorrow and every other day from now, you will be trained for one hour in this room with me. You mustn’t lose a single time, nor must you release the 2nd layer of the seal.. Are we clear?” Zestari asked.