Sara immediately realized what had happened and that Ethan had done it. Only he had gray hair with a black bandage covering his lost eye.
'Shit! This is exactly why I didn't want to leave Nitra! I knew someone would try to do it! Points have a physical form for a reason! Bastard! Only the second stage, and he's already decided to do it!' Sara inwardly exclaimed, gradually catching up to Ethan.
However, as soon as Ethan turned around, he immediately jumped through the window, making Sara's task several times more difficult.
'Agh...?' Sara's eyes went wide as she abruptly stopped, raising a cloud of dust.
If they ran straight ahead, Sara would catch up to Ethan in less than a minute, and he realized it, quickly moving away in the corridors.
Sara had no choice but to follow him, struggling to keep up the pace and follow every turn Ethan made.
'Damn... I was hoping she'd decide not to continue the chase, but I obviously underestimated her. Well, that's good, I was just about to check how it worked.' Ethan pondered, turning right and quickly climbing to a higher floor.
Then, Ethan moved exclusively towards the stairs, as if there were no other exits. Sara didn't have time to think about whether this was some kind of plan or a random choice, she was just trying to catch up with him.
Soon enough, they were on the roof of one part of the academy, there was no way out, only an observation platform that overlooked the entire academy.
Sara stared at him, glancing around to make sure there were no traps. She could expect anything from Ethan.
"I didn't think you'd do that." Sara said calmly, clutching her poleaxe while red streams of aura enveloped her body.
"What are you talking about?" Ethan asked, stepping to the edge.
Sara smirked, "Instead of playing catch up you decided to take a 1 vs 1 fight fairly. I respect that."
Ethan remained silent, staring at her with a calm gaze.
"Ethan, I actually appreciate that thanks to you we'll have a bonus in one of the Trials and that you killed Angel. If you give our crystals back right now, I'll let you go without beating you to death." Sara said confidently, pointing the poleaxe at Ethan.
"Oh, you misunderstood me. I'm not going to fight you, nor am I going to give the crystals back." Ethan shrugged.
"Agh?" Sara was puzzled as her eyes went wide.
Then, Ethan abruptly turned around and began to quickly run along the edge, heading towards the opposite side.
'Wait... Is he going to jump?' Sara thought, looking at the other part of the academy.
There was too much distance between the two buildings, even a professional athlete wouldn't be able to cover at least half of the distance.
"No! Ethan, Stop, you're going to crash! We can still negotiate!" Sara exclaimed, extending her hand.
Ethan was their enemy now, but they were still members of the same Area, and after all, they were all Humans. She didn't want Ethan's death, not for such a stupid reason as stealing crystals.
However, Ethan didn't seem to hear her. He ran forward steadily, only getting faster.
When he reached the edge, he jumped as far as he could, but even given his physique, that was only enough for half the distance.
Sara stared at Ethan, her gaze trembling as the momentum of the jump had already worn off.
Then, Ethan's coat shuddered like a shadow in the daylight, and in a heartbeat, Ethan turned into a blob of darkness, moving to the other side of the academy, to the very edge.
Ethan turned around, threw a cold glare at Sara, and rushed towards his tower.
Sara fell to her knees, just staring into the void.
"Shit... That's too bad... I should have attacked him and knocked to the ground, he definitely wouldn't have been able to get out of my grip. Fuck!" Sara exclaimed furiously, bringing her fist down on the floor.
The surface cracked, as her fist left bloody marks, with dark droplets dripping from her hand.
After a while, Sara calmed down and took a deep breath.
"Too bad we got Scenario B, if there were Princes instead of Princesses, things would have been a lot easier." Sara shook her head, turning back around.
...
The second wave of monsters lasted twenty minutes, so this time the break was much longer.
[The third wave will begin in 30:00!]
[Prepare yourselves! The third, sixth, and tenth waves will be special! Prepare as well as you can if you want to survive!]
Ethan returned to his tower and carefully examined the battlefield. All the hyenas were dead as well as the black one. There were no casualties among their men, but some were seriously wounded. They wouldn't die, but they couldn't fight anymore.
"Ethan! You're back!" Alisa exclaimed joyfully, running up to him. She spread her arms wide, about to hug him, but he stopped her by placing his palm on her head.
"Hey! Do you have to be so mean?" Alisa puffed up her cheeks, with her arms crossed over her chest.
Next to the fountain sat Magnus and Alf. Seeing Ethan, Magnus waved his hand, and Alf nodded slightly.
Then, Ethan looked at Alisa, "Let's go to the tower. We have enough points for something decent this time. I'm sure of it."
"Hmm? By the way! We've earned 250 Points! That's incredible!" Alisa said with an excited expression.
"Yeah, I know." Ethan nodded while pulling out seven red and two yellow crystals from his pockets.
When Alisa saw this, her eyes went wide.
"What...? How?"
"Stole it." Ethan shrugged and headed towards the tower.
At the same moment, Magnus and Alf glanced over and joined them.
"Well, well, who was your victim?" Magnus smirked, leaning against the doorway.
Ethan grinned, "Take a guess. I'm sure it won't take you many tries."
"Nitra, right?" Magnus suggested.
Ethan nodded.
"Hah, I even feel a little sorry for her." Magnus chuckled, then he pondered, "Though, I'd do the exact same thing. It's dangerous to go to Maris, she's probably already thought of everything. Freda on the other hand... Well, it might not work against her."
"Khm." Alf coughed, "If I understand correctly we have 520points now, right?"
Ethan nodded, inserting the crystals into the sphere, "Yeah. We're lucky that the third wave will be powerful, though nothing is surprising about it. First simple monsters, then mighty ones, and now something special."
Ethan turned to Alisa, "Get ready. Now we're going to spend all our points that we have. We're going to pass this Trial with the best score, that goes for both points and casualties!"