Chapter 256 - Before.

The walk back to their tent was hilarious.

Loki kept throwing around the word 'loser' while talking to Fleur like when he asked her to pass the popcorn he'd say, "Could you pass me the popcorn, loser?" or when he wanted her to move out of his way he'd say, "Losers should give way for the winners."

The slight pause before he ended his sentence with the word loser caused Fleur to get annoyed even more.

But instead of shouting or even glaring at Loki, she looked at Nicholas, who was looking at Loki with innocent eyes, trying to get him to stop since he was getting a really bad feeling from Fleur.

"That was fun." Loki said with a smile as he bade everyone a short farewell to go into his room in the tent.

"Yes. I agree." Prenelle said with a smile on her face and then she added, "It feels great to win."

Nicholas shivered since Fleur glared at him again.

'You're an angel Nick. You don't have to worry about a schoolgirl.' Nicolas motivated himself, but one look at Fleur's glare made him shiver a little. 'Come on Nick! I'm sure Prenelle won't let her do anything to you.'

"Goodnight. I feel tired after all that, I need some rest!" Loki said, walking back into his room and shutting the door behind himself. "That was a good show. It really felt like a World Cup."

Collapsing on his bed, Loki was about to fall asleep when he suddenly felt a disturbance in the space around him, a bony hand tore through and dropped a letter beside his head.

"Oh? Dominic replied?" Loki opened the letter and quickly read it since it was short.

[I'm patrolling the outside to keep away any Muggles. Nothing too magical. I am on guard duty, do you want to meet up? I'll be at the entrance of the camping grounds if you want to find me for about an hour from when this letter will find you.]

Loki was feeling tired all over but he motivated himself to get out of bed since he hadn't seen Dominic in a long time.

Arriving at the common room in the tent Loki spotted Nicholas sitting on the couch with his hands folded, staring off into space with hollow eyes.

"I'm going out to meet a friend old man." Loki said calmly, knowing Nicholas was still reeling from his losses.

"....wait." Nicholas said with some hesitance.

"Huh? What happened?" Loki asked turning around to see Nicholas was looking at him with innocence like a baby.

'Did he practice this or what? How's he so good at it?'

"Please don't call Fleur that word anymore…I'm scared I'll get cursed."

Loki raised his eyebrows but finally *sighed* audibly and turned around while speaking, "Don't worry, I was only joking about that. I've already had fun with it. I don't want to bully her."

Walking out of the tent, Loki heard a *sigh* of relief escape Nicholas which made him laugh a little.

'Maybe once or twice more wouldn't be that bad…'

Stepping outside and breathing the fresh night air, Loki felt his lungs cleanse.

"The entrance was that side?" Loki murmured and continued walking.

A sudden warning flared up in his mind as Loki vanished from the spot he was standing, reappearing at least ten meters away.

*BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM*

The spot he was standing at exploded with force enough to knock away a few poorly planted tents.

*Screams* and *wails* were suddenly very common all around the camp.

Loki's ears were ringing because of the proximity of the explosion but he maintained a focused look.

'An attack?'

'On me?'

'No, it's happening all over the camp!'

Before another explosion could go off Loki found Nicholas stepping out of the tent.

Nicholas looked around for Loki and when he found him he relaxed a little, but that expression immediately vanished from his face when a streak of green light powered through the dust that had been lifted.

Just when Loki thought the beam of light would hit Nicholas, he dispersed into a pale white fog that harmlessly allowed the spell to pass through.

But almost instantly, Loki felt a severe pressure erupt from the fog.

"Ahh…." A faint gasp escaped Loki's lips as he realised what had happened.

'This….is this how powerful an Angel is?'

Loki's heart started to beat faster.

The pale fog coalesced back into Nicholas. He raised his hand and grabbed at something in the air before he pulled it away like a blanket on a bed. His actions somehow caused the dust that had risen into the air to fly off as if a gust of wind had blown them away.

It revealed a band of wizards cloaked in black robes with white masks marching through the camp, firing spells randomly in every direction possible.

Loki watched as one random spell struck a child, causing him to be lifted into the air, hanging upside down as the other robed people cast several spells that were about to strike him.

Loki clenched his wand tight, his brain firing quickly to try and find a way to get the child away from the world of pain he was about to experience otherwise.

But before Loki could speak or even move, the air around the boy turned into a tornado, protecting him from all the spells that were bound to reach him.

Loki looked at Nicholas and found him looking at the tornado that had formed around the boy.

Then with a small flick of Nicholas's hand, Loki watched as the tornado moved away from the boy, leaving him unharmed, as it moved into the group of robed men.

Even with their masks on them, Loki saw them panic instantly and scatter away like flies.

Each used their own abilities to either protect themselves from the tornado or escape from its influence.

"Loki! Go scour the situation and tell me everything about it." Nicholas shouted, "I've got a handle on things here. I suspect things aren't as simple as they seem."

Loki immediately nodded, ignoring the ridiculous size the tornado had grown into as he dipped along the shadows, walking while covering himself in illusions, rushing around the camp to see exactly what was going on.

'I can hear screams and wails from all directions.'

'Does that mean there are more of those robbed guys?'

'Who is doing this? And Why?'

In the rush of the crowd of people moving around and searching for somewhere safe, Loki saw a girl stumble and be trampled on.

He quickly moved to help her get up and save her but it appeared to be too late for her.

Loki's eyes trembled as he spotted a streak of blood trickling down the side of her temple.

He felt her breath after teleporting away from the crowd and towards a tent but it was faint.

'Alright. All she needs is some medical care and she should be able to pull through.'

With his eyes set on the target Loki started to walk towards the exit of the camp where everyone else was rushing towards.

However midway through his steps he froze.

'Wouldn't the exit be the most common point of exit?'

'What if this is what the person who instigated this mess wants?'

Loki didn't know if he was right or wrong so he searched around for any indication of theory being right.

'Damn. I can't see anything from so low.'

Loki teleported to the top of a tent and began to observe the situation better but he didn't like what he saw.

Tents that appeared to have been burnt at random earlier now had a clear pattern. They were funnelling everyone towards the exit by using the burning tents to create a temporary wall.

'But why?'

However Loki didn't waste time on that question, instead, he blew the whistle to summon Sunny who poked his head through the spirit world.

"What happen-"

"No time to explain, could you please put all those people rushing towards the exit to sleep?" Loki asked with urgency.

Sunny looked around and after a little thought nodded, "I might be able to do it, but I can only make them sleep for about thirty minutes."

"That will be enough.", Loki said and teleported away from Sunny, standing on a tent a little further away so that he wouldn't be caught in Sunny's performance.

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