A while ago;
When the Sun Academy student named Archie alias Ark reached the monster zone of Aurora, he already sensed that a battle was going on.
He didn't participate in it and decided to wait until they finished the boss and leave. However, he didn't expect everyone to be defeated despite collective efforts.
As the beast was chasing down the remaining three, Archie unleashed his soul skill that let him create an invisible spatial barrier even within a pocket world. As a result, Laura disappeared from Aurora's sight and senses.
And then, seeing that a guardian was going against it, he thought it broke the rules or something. He decided to act when it was vulnerable.
While that situation never came due to the fact that Aurora easily overpowered David, it still gave Archie a window of opportunity and he took it without any hesitation.
As soon as he captured the undead beast, Archie successively launched another soul skill. Something that seemed like a singularity was created right above its head, sucking it entirely before it got the opportunity to react.
The so-called singularity then turned into solid black marble and fell to the ground.
Archie then came out of a portal while carrying Laura above his shoulder and picked up the marble while putting her down.
He then used the remaining feeble amount of soul energy inside him to crush the marble, effectively killing the undead beast.
As soon as the marble was crushed to dust, a wisp of energy flew away from it. Archie kept his attention on that wisp until it disappeared from his sight and nodded to himself, "Okay, found where I should head next, but before that..."
Continuing to carry the frozen girl on his shoulder, he looked at the guardian and asked in a bit of a lazy tone, "By any chance, are there any hidden rewards or benefits to those who saved the guardians or other students?"
His lazy tone made it appear like he was rude but David could care less about it. The guardian came out of his shock and answered truthfully as he sat on the ground, "No, there is no such instruction passed down to us."
"Oh, I see..." Archie lost his interest and threw away the unconscious girl from his shoulder. She fell to the ground like a sack of rice.
Just as the boy was about to leave, David took a heavy breath and said, "However, it remains a fact that you saved me. As a thank you, I shall tell you a little secret. A scout from WAMO was watching everything."
As Archie stopped moving and turned around to look at the guardian, the latter continued, "Whether they were watching now or not doesn't matter. Your abilities will be reported by us either way. So, if you were to help them out, the scout will be more impressed."
However, as the second and third and the subsequent needles continuously struck them, the effect of those needles stacked upon each other, and it came to a point that they seemed like they were frozen for a long time by the time Serestia was only about a few meters from him.
Archie took advantage and continuously shot the spatial needles without stopping for the next minutes, striking the immobilized targets for atleast a couple of hundred times each.
Due to the fact that none of them have any external support, the three of them found themselves under the mercy of Archie, who just finished melting down all the ice on Laura and even making sure that her body stayed warm, as he left her and started walking toward them.
Archie stopped a foot away from Serestia and raised his hand above his head. As a dagger with a black blade appeared in his hand, he spoke to her, "Missy, I don't know who you are, but since you tried to attack me, you shall face the consequences. Consider yourself lucky that we met like this in a friendly contest, not in a real dungeon..."
He proceeded to pierce her stomach with the dagger. David was shivering a little bit as he was staring at the scene. He didn't expect this fellow to be very decisive.
However, just as the dagger was about to strike her, Raydon's body was warped in pure dark energy, making him look like a 3D shadow.
Archie's attention was slightly disturbed by the sudden changes in Raydon, and this pause from him became enough for the latter to rush forward a bit and throw himself between the dagger and the girl.
The black dagger pierced his chest and Raydon's attribute energy left him subsequently, taking everyone by surprise.
*thud*
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Raydon fell to his knees before collapsing on the ground.
"No..."
In the next second, Serestia's loud scream echoed in the surroundings while the black needles were expelled from her body alongside strange and yet mysterious energy that pushed away Archie for several meters.
"Ugh..." Letting out a groan of pain in his chest, Archie got up on his feet and looked at Serestia in a daze, "This layer of energy around her was extremely similar to mine. The spatial energy?"
Meanwhile, at the finishing line, Azzy was surprised just like the other spectators.
Unlike others who merely drew various speculations, Azzy had something click in his head, "Louis' spatial energy. Now it all makes sense as to why her birth date was years before Mia's marriage with Calder. Now that I think about it, even her other attribute is also wind, just like Louis, although she didn't have a bit of elven features. Must be taken after her mom...
Anyway, I think I should step in right now..."
He disappeared from there soon after.