"We have five minutes until the barrier is disabled." Ayung informed Suijin as they stood along the battlements of the magic academy that overlooked the battlefield down below. Suijin's order had gone well, and they managed to get all of the students fighting down below to fall back.
Once they began to climb the beanstalk and head up to where the magic academy was, Riko activated a massive barrier that stopped their enemies from pursing them. Riko explained that the barrier wasn't made out of mana, but instead some sort of crystal substance.
Meaning that the magic nullifying tech these new enemies were using wouldn't be able to dismantle it easily. They'd be forced to break it down with brute force.
The barrier bought them a good 15 minutes, in which hundreds upon hundreds of students who were gathered round and rested and had their wounds treated.
It was a grim site. Dirtied and bloodied blazers and dresses. The long wall that they were gathered upon was filled with groans of pain and agony.
Multiple students who were in critical condition were gathered inside of the lobby of the magic academy. One of them was Kami. Suijin had seen it for herself. She lost a lot of blood from the wound on her side, however according to the students from the medical division who were healing them, she would live.
She analyzed the state of the magic academy. Having a whole entire wall being blown off in the battle with Wrath meant that the entire thing had been destained. It had a slight lean to the left. Thankfully, the castle like structure had a large base, so it wouldn't fall that easily.
However, there were many massive holes and pieces of the academy that were missing and damaged.
It was still a grim situation.
It didn't help that the rain didn't let up what-
At that moment, the ground shook violently. Suijin snapped her head towards where the barrier was, worried that they had already broken it down, however that wasn't the case.
Instead, she looked back to see a massive pillar of light reach into the sky, before a large blast blew all of the cloud coverage away, stopping the rain in an instant.
Quickly after, the sun began to shine down.
Every single student looked up in awe at the scene. The ground was still shaking from the force of things. As they watched, the clouds continued to be blown away for miles and miles.
They could know see outside of the barrier, in which a massive light show of attacks was occurring. There was a battle going on.
"What happened..." Suijin muttered to herself, wondering as to what could have been the cause of that massive blast of lightning.
She couldn't know for sure, and didn't have the luxury of being able to check it out, so she instead silently prayed, hoping it was something going in their favor.
The sound of footsteps could be heard, and Suijin turned around to see a student and a teacher approaching rapidly.
Suijin's eyes widen at the sight of the teacher that she saw approaching. It was Himitsu.
"Mr...." Suijin couldn't continue her sentence, however her eyes filled with emotion. Finally. There was an adult here.
Someone to help. She thought to herself.
Himitsu's coat was covered in blood and grime. As he glanced at all of the students gathered around in various conditions, his facial expression filled with sadness, regret, and anger.
As he walked over to me, he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Suijin." His voice was raspy, probably from shouting.
He paused for a moment as he tried to find the right words.
After a moment, his mind finally settled on, "Good Job."
Suijin stood tall for a few moments, nodding her head before allowing herself to lean into him. Himitsu stroked her hair for a brief moment, before he began to speak.
"It's going to be okay. I heard the situation from Riko on the way here. You guys did well."
"What about everyone else?" Suijin asked as she pulled away.
Himitsu shook his head. "So far I'm the only one who's woken up."
Suijin nodded, before turning back towards the barrier. It was showing extreme signs of damage. They had maybe 3 minutes before it completely broke down.
"But don't worry. I'll help you out from here." Suijin watched in shock as she saw Himitsu walk up towards where the loudspeaker was, before turning around and not even bothering to use it.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Himitsu began to shout. And just like always, he was the loudest thing there.
"Students of Theta! All of you! You've done well. Fighting and surviving to this point. Not giving up! Staying alive! All this time you've fought without letting despair consume you, waiting for help! And now, you may rest! I will take up the rest! I will finish what you all so valiantly started! All you have to do?"
Himitsu allowed himself to smile cockily.
"Is watch."
Himitsu gave a melodramatic speech that was befitting of him. Despite the perils that they faced. Despite the hopeless situation that was staring them directly in the eyes, Himitsu did not waver as he gave his overconfident statement.
He proclaimed that he would finish this battle.
He proclaimed that he would solve it all with absolute confidence.
And despite what he was saying, how outlandish it should have seemed, not a single student sitting there doubted his words.
Everyone believed in him. The confidence that he had given his speech with was enough to convince everyone to at the very least, believe in him.
Stepping down from where the loudspeaker was, Himitsu rejoined Suijin and Riko.
Students began to chatter amongst themselves about Himitsu's speech.
"So, the plan is to hold them off for as long as it takes for you guys to get this machine of yours working?" Himitsu asked for confirmation of the plan. The barrier was going to shatter at any moment now.
Riko nodded. "We shouldn't need more that 10 minutes."
"10 minutes is a lot of time." Himitsu joked, as he moved to stand on the ledge.
Suijin followed him. "If I may ask, how do you plan to fight them. They possess mana nullifying technology. Magic is useless against them."
Suijin spoke softly. She was remembering the shock they all experienced when the first unveiled their tech that rendered all magical spells useless.
Himitu's eyes widened in shock slightly as he made a realization. "It's so early on into the year that I didn't get a chance to introduce my lesson about combat without using magic sequences." The way he spoke of it, it was an even more pressing matter than the current army in front of him.
"That's a shame, most of these guys here have yet to see the new and improved lesson I've prepared. I'm sure it'd get a 5 from you Suijin." Himitsu winked with a proud smile on his face.
Suijin just shook her head, unable to stay in a serious mood with Himitsu rambling the way he always did. He was talking about the fact that last year when Suijin had gone through his lesson on fighting without magic, she had given it a 1 out of 5.
Clearly, Himitsu had not forgotten about that moment. What Suijin didn't expect was for it to be at the forefront of his mind in a situation like this.
SHATTTTER!
Parts of the barrier began to break, and the men in high tech futuristic white suits began to push their way through.
Himitsu watched this all with a smile on his face, his expression never once wavering.
"You guys just watch and see! Take it as the introduction to my lesson!"
Just as Himitsu was about to jump down, he was shocked to see multiple students appear by his side.
He looked down the ledge to see Masayoshi, Erika, Genji, and Ichijo all standing next to him.
Erika had a fiery smile on her face as she said, "We've fought for so long. We're not just going to stop now."
Masayoshi was silent as he stared down at the army rapidly approaching.
Ichijo simply waved, with an innocent smile on his face.
Genji supplanted an explanation. "We were fighting one of the 5 when we feel unconscious. When we awoke, she had been defeated and the rain stopped. We rushed her as soon as possible."
Suijin's eyes widened to see all of them, however she was thankful. It reminded her that she wasn't alone.
Himitsu on the other hand, shook his head. "Theres no need for any of you to risk your lives anymore. As your teacher, i can't stand for it. All you guys having to do is sit back and j-"
"Just watch?" Suijin asked. She shook her head. "That's not happening. We're planning to see this battle on to the very end."
Immediately after Suijin had said those words, all of hte students who were sitting around resting shouted their agreement, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Himitsu looked at all of them in a bit of shock, before heaving a sigh.
Then he smiled. "I shouldn't be surprised. After all. You all are my students!" He laughed. His expression turned serious as he looked down below.
Turning around to face everyone, Himitsu took off his fedora before bowing dramatically. "Thank you! Thank you! Prepare yourselves for the Himitsu show! Starring, Theta magic academy!"
With that, Himitsu allowed himself to fall of the ledge, and the rest of the students followed.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
At the same time, three groups were currently on a crash course for each other.
The first was Hikaru and Aura. Both of them deadest on the massive tower that stood atop of Theta magic academy.
Their one and only goal was to locate Phi, who was supposed to be in critical condition.
The other was Shindo and Phi. Both of them heading towards the same massive tower for a different purpose.
Freeing the headmaster from the chains that Pride had trapped him in. They planned to not only free him, but also defeat the monster known as Pride in the process.
And the final group was Pride, Raiden, Yuri, and Nova. Locked in a large scale 3v1 versus an enemy that seemed completely invincible. Their destructive battle tore its way through the fields of the magic academy, heading for the very center.
These three groups would all come across each other soon. All of them clueless to the others existence.
And when they did, tragedy would occur.