'An explosion?' Kesiar immediately furrowed his brows upon hearing the loud explosion. He then looked towards the group of five chatting inside a barrier of some sorts then at the door.
He was still in a state of confusion until his cafe's door creaked and another explosion echoed along with the surprised cries from the children outside
Then, without hesitating again, Kesiar sprinted towards the cafe's door while his mind was a mess.
'What's it this time, damnit?' He lamented sourly. 'The whole of Lower Street District was turned upside down due to a small scaled explosion of a Blevoics' truck before. But compared to this, the past incident pales in comparison...'
Opening the creaking door as it slammed into the wall due to the great force it was pulled with, Kesiar immediately covered his eyes due to the blow of hot wind that blew straight on his face!
"Cough, cough!"
He heard numerous coughs In his vicinity mixed along with his as he waved his hands vigorously in front of his face, trying to get rid of the dust that was making him cough.
Then, opening his eyes, he looked around as he was immediately startled!
The Lower Street District's Blanco Sector was considered to be well off in terms of the citizens of the Lower Street District.
Because of the cafe called 'Bright Days Café' that was situated here, along with the fact that there weren't that many wastes and that the street was rather 'clean' (even though it was by no means clean by Kesiar's standards).
But right now, Kesiar frowned tightly as he saw the street he was accustomed with covered in yellow and thick dust.
The dust was thick as if the whole place was barren and placed nearby a desert where heavy winds often carried with them sands that hit the walls of the houses, making them dirty on a regular basis.
But as far as Kesiar knew, those deserts only existed in stories and fairy tales and Lower Street District was by no means situated near a desert.
He looked around as he saw a "friendly" neighbour of his complaining on how much sand had entered the interior of their house due to a gap in the walls and another complaining about their clothes hung on a thick thread which were now covered in yellow sand, bringing about new terms of "fashion".
But that wasn't all, many glass windows of the houses were obscured by yellow and thick dust which almost resembled sand.
A small stall placed near Kesiar's cafe — so Kesiar's cafe could provide the stall and the stall owner some light at night — was long since blown off as Kesiar saw the familiar stall owner panicked, collecting all the stuff that was scattered all around the ground.
Then, looking back, he noticed that his own cafe looked dilapidated too.
Withdrawing his gaze back from the scared children, Kesiar turned to look towards the centre of the explosion.
There — far into the distance was a pitch black "thing" that shot from the sky.
If someone were to ask Kesiar how it looked, then Kesiar would immediately answer: "It looked as if some giant from the sky was spitting their phlegm on the earth."
But contrary to his expectations, the "phlegm" like thing got covered by the buildings of the Lower Street District, now obscured by his sight.
'Another explosion?'
Kesiar waited expectantly but nothing happened, not even the signs of an explosion happening in the distance.
"...A distraction for the authorities?" Kesiar muttered to himself while calculating many possibilities, at the end, sighing to himself. 'Gotta clean up the cafe...'
But just at this moment!
Crack!
'Wha—!'
Kesiar turned to his surprise and faced his cafe which was now covered in yellow dust as he furrowed his brows tighter.
The windows were broken with unaligned cracks!
"Do not move," But before he could even take a step forward, Kesiar felt a cold metallic sensation towards his neck as he didn't dare to even gulp.
The cold voice said coldy: "If you value your life."
Inside the cafe.
As the "barrier" placed by Estize was retracted, Belite got up to his feet and asked, "What happened?" But before getting a reply, his feet had already moved towards the wide open exit.
But his feet soon came to a halt.
Crack...
"Damn..."
Belite clenched his teeth as he looked down at a thick arm wrapped around his neck and it's muscles that were still visible while being covered in white bandages. He immediately tried moving his arms and legs as a thought appeared in his mind.
'Whoever it is, they are well prepared. They even took precautions against my Blessing.' Belite found unsurprisingly that his arms were tied behind his back while his waist and legs had limited maneuverability. He also noticed the bandages wrapped around the persons arms and legs as a precaution to his Blessing.' As expected, being a special needs student in the famous Cvoilics Royal Academy and having your Blessing broadcasted live on television is no good thing...'
He tried to make do with what he had and tried to wrap his legs around the calves of the person behind him but he stopped after he heard a stern voice.
"It's useless," The voice echoed directly in his ears. "Even if you manage to escape from me, the reinforcements are gonna arrive soon."
All of this happened in a few seconds. The four transfer student from the headquarters of the Everlasting Alliance had already drawn upon their artifact, relics or magic items — Belite didn't know much about them nor did he recognise them. But even with all the resources they had on their hands, they had grave expressions on their faces.
Belite soon got to know why.
"...But that's if you escape from me." The stern voice echoed in his ears once again as he felt that the head belonging to the voice slowly retracted from his ears. "'Unwanted Hand' Belite."
'This nickname...' Belite felt a headache. 'The last time it was mentioned, chaos befell...'
Belite swept his gaze past the four grave transfer students as he tried to make minimal movements lest his neck gets snapped the next instant.
"What are you all waiting for? Help guys! Help!" Belite said, his voice reverberating on the dilapidated walls as a lone lizard stared at him with it's vertical pupils. He suddenly felt that the lizard was enjoying the drama.
But despite his words, the four transfer students — Estize, Benchike, Arlecco and Beatrice remained frozen on their spot, not making a move.
"Good kids," Belite heard the stern but familiar voice echo in his ears once again. "If even one of you makes a move, then this kid gets it. The one outside too."
The four transfer students of the Everlasting Alliance had grave expressions as they watched the man who gripped Belite's neck in his arm smile.
"But o' citizens of the Alliance, don't think that your selfish acts to attack me just because you don't care about this one's life will go unpunished." The man grinned. "If I'm forced to kill this kid, then you all will join him."
Listening to the crude and street-like common language coming out from the man's mouth, the four transfer students looked at each other in unison and nodded, as if coming to a decision.
Under Belite's surprised gaze, all of them dropped their weapons to the ground as he then heard Beatrice, who was the most quiet among all of them, say.
"Why are you here?" Beatrice had a scowl on her face as her next words surprised Belite to the core.
"...Leader of Blevoics — 'Mountain' Armado."
'Shi...' Belite almost cursed, realising how bad his predicament was. 'The 'Mountain' Armado? Even the 'Bald' Kennedy is better than him!'
Belite was frozen on the spot until he heard the sound of glasses cracking and the door opening.
Creak~
Belite heard as the door creaked once again as two pairs of footsteps rang in the cafe.
'Kesiar...' Belite clicked his tongue before he forced out a smile.
"Uncle Armado—" He tried lifting his head. "It's been a while—"
His words died in his throat as he felt the grip around his neck tighten, rendering his ability to speak useless as he felt the oxygen reaching his lungs reduce.
"Looks like you can still speak," The 'Mountain' Armado snorted loudly. "Little Bell." He then turned his head to look at the door. "Looks like Kesiar is with you as well."
He sneered. "Well look at this... Both the 'Unwanted' brats meeting their wanted fate."
Belite smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth to the four transfer students even though he was unsure whether Armado could see him.
"Why such unpleasant and drastic measures after all these years? Why don't we sit and have a nice and peaceful chat?" Belite pleaded. "After all, 'No one is irreconcilable in the Lower Street District.'"
"Hmph, those are for the weak." Armado snorted as the smile of a ghost appeared on his face. He then declared. "We of the Lower Street District will no longer be the weak."
'Will no longer be weak...' Belite shuddered.
Belite immediately saw Estize shudder at a distance.
Armado's eyes shone with an extremely hostile glare as he stared at Belite.
"...And you owe me a blood debt as well. I should have killed you the moment I saw you entering this café."
Belite's expression froze as he instinctively gulped.
"'We of the Lower Street District?' When has the Lower Street District been so united?" Benchike asked with beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead, completely ignoring Armado's seemingly complicated relationship with Belite. "C'mon now, don't tell me..."
Belite felt the grip around his neck relax slightly as Armado sneered.
"You have tested our limits for long enough, nobles and citizens of the Everlasting Alliance," Armado said coldly. "It's time we test yours."
"Let's see if the great and mighty Alliance, the Temples, and the sixteen star noble families remain unchanged after this."
'A plan that affects the whole of Eastern Peninsula?' Belite was stunned. 'What has the Lower Street District of Cvoilics — the biggest district in the capital city of the Welleysworths Union planned?' Belite tried his best to piece the puzzles together but he lacked enough information to guess the accurate information.
"It's hilarious, Mister Armado." Estize said with a grave expression. "You know that you can't escape from what you have done." Belite noticed that Estize might have realised something as he looked at the young boy curiously.
"All of this for what?" Estize sighed. "Just because some no-named nobles threatened your authority for a short amount of time?"
Belite looked at Estize and heard Armado laughing coldy beside his ears while he felt the grip on his neck tighten as he lamented.
'Gods, what am I now? A venting machine?!'
"Kid... Kids, you have no idea on what we have went through." Armado shot a glance at Belite coldly. "Even this unwanted trash only knows bits and pieces."
Belite felt the grip slowly tighten around his neck as he was barely able to breathe.
"Mi-Mister Amado..." Belite squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth. "Maybe... Maybe it's better to not kill a hostage 'unwantedly' and 'accidentally?'"
Amado looked down at him, his emotions undecipherable as Belite's face turned as red as an apple.
'Shouldn't have said that...'
These were Belite's last thoughts before his world turned blank and he lost consciousness.