"Ren!"
Malleus and Lilia hurried against the wind before Malleus scowled and casted a magic to block the wind.
"Dormleader Draconia!"
Malleus turned around to find Azul and the twins struggling to leave the site. Azul sighed in relief and pointed ahead, "I saw Ren hurry over to the direction of the scepter of Witch of Thorns up ahead! Is something wrong? He seems to be unfocused earlier. If this goes on, he could get injured!"
"If this goes on…" Malleus grimaced.
"You're the only one that can stop the idiot. So, we'll leave this to you and go find shelter." Azul responded hesitantly before turning away.
Floyd groaned, "Hey? Can we leave yet?
Jade nodded, "We'll only be in the way in this storm. Let's hurry."
"Huh, since we did Ren became friends with those from Octavinelle?" Lilia pondered with a look of surprise.
"Lilia!" Malleus called over to him seemingly agitated after hearing what they said.
"I know." Lilia nodded, "Don't worry. I'm here too. We'll stop Ren."
With that, the two hurried past the wind and another bright light flashed again only it did not fade away this time!
"It's not lightning, after all." Lilia grimaced, "It has to be the Witch of Thorn's scepter! Does it have residual magic? This isn't good. Stay here, Malleus."
Hearing this, Malleus nodded and stopped moving as Lilia took off his jacket, "I'll be right back with Ren."
The light continued to grow brighter as the two looked up in shock only to see the scepter having shaken off the crust and regained a beautiful luster they had not seen before! The orb of the scepter glowed a beautiful green as it glowed.
Ren was on the ground having collapsed before the scepter. Without hesitating, Lilia shielded himself with the large jacket before reaching out and pulling Ren away from the scene!
"Lilia, what's going on?" Malleus questioned hurriedly in confusion before retreating a few steps with the two next to him.
"I can't tell. All these years, it's safe to say that this is the first time I've heard this happening from the scepter of the Witch of Thorns." Lilia frowned standing guard before Malleus as his eyes widen in bewilderment, "This-!"
Suddenly, a strong energy of darkness gathered into a ball, creating a terribly heavy tense atmosphere, before being launched directly before them! Without waiting, Lilia flung Ren to Malleus before using his magic to create a barrier against the attack!
It was then that a loud roar echoed in the air and a tall dark shadow appeared before them! With a single wave of a hand, the ball of darkness was destroyed by a powerful bolt of lightning before it could hit the barrier!
Against the force of the blast, Lilia looked up with a shocked expression to see what it was that stopped the attack. Seeing the figure before them, Malleus's eyes widen in disbelief as he saw the familiar tall and bold figure with long wavy horns much like his. The figure gave a sense of assurance have to see the back of the cloak before them. The figure glanced back briefly revealing a shocking familiar face as she called out eagerly, "Dear third sister…"
However, she froze in disappointment when she realized that the person she was looking for wasn't there but found the unconscious body in Malleus's arms. The excitement quickly vanished before her once she saw his body, "She's not here, but he is here instead… How unusual… Third sister… Hm?"
Her eyes soon landed upon Malleus with a look of interest and curiosity before she huffed a sad smile. With that, she turned around with a depressed air about her and quickly vanished with the light. There was a loud thud as the light faded away with the storm and the scepter fell onto the ground.
With a shocked expression, Lilia and Malleus breathed a breath of relief as Malleus turned to Lilia, "Lilia, that person… She must be…"
"Perhaps." Lilia frowned, "Let's first take Ren back and talk about this later. Are you all right?"
Malleus nodded, "Thank you."
Lilia smiled, "I'm happy to help. If you need help again in the future, you only need to let me know."
As Malleus nodded again, Lilia sighed, "Still, it's been a long time since we've faced against something much more powerful than us. Let's first go find the nurse. Ren needs a checkup first."
Malleus and Lilia soon left after making sure that the scepter was properly put back on the stand and Lilia reported the events to the headmaster who was seemingly flabbergasted. Seeing this, he went ahead and found Silver to search for a nurse. Silver, knowing Sebek would kick up a fuss seeing Ren carried by Malleus the same way Ren first came to them years ago, carried Ren on his back instead and helped Malleus find a nurse. Leaving the exhibition Hall, he turned one last time recalling the scenes that had happened but barely knowing that it was real.
The same could not be said for the other dorm leaders who also witnessed the same scene from afar as if it was meant to be seen by all of them, but they could not hear a word that had been said. Only the sad expression could be remembered from her face as she turned around and disappeared.
…..
They were in the cafeteria as Lotus put a colorful bandage on Cheka's leg.
"Thank you, mister!" Cheka said with a bright smile as he jumped off the chair.
"If you don't sit down properly, you won't get candied haws again." Lotus warned him.
"Candied Haws?! Can she have some too after she wakes up?" Cheka asked pleadingly.
"You have to wait and see when she wakes up, but I'll save one for her too." Lotus nodded.
"Yay!" Cheka jumped up back in his seat before Lotus grabbed the stash of candied haws she stashed away in the drawer.
Since the ending of winter, Lotus had made more candied haws and wrapped them into a long plastic wrapper. She had a feeling that there would be children that would visit the Greenhouse café and she was right. However, she never expected that she would end up giving some to these two.
Leona grumbled and was pulling out a handful of coins.
"Don't." Lotus shook her head, "Just hand me two coins."
"Suit yourself." Leona threw two coins into her hand.
"Why is Uncle Leona giving the mister coins?" Cheka questioned curiously.
"He's paying for the snacks." Lotus wore a small smile, "These candies are being sold in the Greenhouse right now."
"I have a piggy bank in my room!" Cheka brought up innocently.
Lotus smiled, "You'll learn about it from your teachers in the future. For now, you can just leave this to the adults. Don't recklessly spend money, okay? You don't want the piggy bank to be empty of madol, right?"
"Okay!" Cheka responded with a nod, "But, when do I use it?"
"You can ask your mom and dad about it when you return." Lotus responded, "There are adults back home you can ask too, right? They know how to best use money. Right now, you should eat the candy and wait for your friend to wake up."
"Okay!"
As Cheka stared at glistening candy with bright eyes and took a bite, Leona grumbled, "Finally… He's quiet."
Lotus laughed, "It was quite an unusual sight. Dormleader Kingscholar carrying a little girl and his nephew like a kidnapper. Haha!"
"Shut up." Leona growled and glared at him, "Don't think I've forgot about that time."
Lotus raised a brow, "What time?"
"You… Hmph!" Leona scowled not talking further about the situation.
Seeing him so distraught and annoyed, Lotus snickered to herself. It's not like she didn't know what he was talking about. However, she also wasn't the one that was all that eager to remind the other about it! She cleared her throat, "Hehe! Ahem! So, why is your hair in a mess?"
"You don't know?" Leona raised a brow.
"Don't know what?" Lotus frowned, "I was in the nurse's office for a while."
Leona frowned, "There was an accident in the exhibition."
"Exhi…" Lotus paused with a shocked expression, "I recall seeing a light from the school building once."
"The staffs believe that the storm and flash of light came from a residual magic casted from one of the artifacts." Leona responded with a frown.
"Looks like I'll be busy, then." Lotus sighed, "And here I thought I could take some time for myself. At least, the storm is over"
She picked up the girl from the bench and put her in Leona's arms, "You should take her to the nurse's office for now. Her condition is very stable. Don't carry her the way you did before unless you really want to be assumed to be a criminal by outsiders. Being a criminal is different from being a villain, you know."
With that, she handed Cheka the other stick and left the cafeteria just as her phone rang.