CHAPTER 103— Alchemy City(9)
Kaya sprinted at full speed down the auxiliary corridors, her boots slapping rhythmically against the stone tiles. As she ran, her fingers flew across her phone as she
Send massages to someone.
She instinctively reached down to check her jacket pocket, feeling the solid, heavy contour of the metallic object nestled inside.
'Glad i managed to secure Epheiral.' Kaya thought, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she pushed harder.
After darting through another intersecting maintenance hall, she finally cleared the restricted subterranean sector and emerged into the expansive, open-air balcony corridor of the main GAA academic block. Towering, floor-to-ceiling glass paneling stretched along the outer wall, offering a panoramic view of the night skyline.
Huff... huff... Kaya leaned against a wall, gasping for air as she stared through the massive glass facade out toward the courtyard.
"Where the hell is she?!"
"Keep moving, don't stop!"
"Hey, get out of my way, you idiot!"
Kaya snapped her head back toward the entrance of the corridor.
'They caught up way faster than I anticipated.' she realized, panic tightening her chest.
A hundred yards down the hall, Seraphine, Ritvik, Rowan, and Sarina rounded the corner at a dead sprint, with Selene and Marna trailing closely behind them.
Though still a short distance away, the group slammed to a sudden halt as they caught sight of Kaya standing near the soaring glass windows.
"Hey! What is the meaning of this charade?! Explain yourself right now!" Seraphine roared, crimson flames instantly igniting and dancing furiously across her fingertips.
"You wouldn't understand even if I laid it all out for you," Kaya panted, her expression hardening. "And frankly, it's safer for your own skin if you stay out of this entirely."
"Oh, so you aren't going to talk? Fine. I'll just beat the answers out of you," Seraphine snapped, rearing back to launch her attack.
CRASH—!
Without warning, the massive glass paneling directly beside them violently shattered into a million glittering shards. Seraphine shrieked, throwing her arms up to shield her face from the razor-sharp rain of falling crystal.
Slowly lowering her arms, she stared out through the broken window frame in absolute disbelief.
Hovering mid-air just outside the balcony, floating effortlessly without any visible support, was a young man with soft, cyan-platinum hair and dark sunglasses. Thin, shimmering trails of thermal energy jetted from the soles of his heavy boots, stabilizing his flight. He looked remarkably young—barley older than Kaya herself.
"Al—!" Kaya gasped, breathing his name.
'Al? Could that be... Al Salvador's successor?' Seraphine thought, her eyes flaring with raw, blinding fury as she bit down hard on her lower lip.
"Did you secure it?" the platinum-haired man asked, his voice calm and carrying clearly over the wind.
"Yes," Kaya nodded urgently.
"Perfect. Let's get out of here before the perimeter locks down."
Without hesitation, Kaya leaped straight through the shattered window frame. Mid-air, the flying man caught her smoothly, scooping her up into a bridal carry as his boots flared with brighter blue plasma.
"You're not going anywhere—!" Seraphine screamed, thrusting both hands forward to unleash a concentrated torrent of raw, crimson flames directly toward them.
The floating man didn't even flinch. He lazily pushed his sunglasses up with one hand, and a blinding, brilliant beam of pale-blue light flashed instantly from his eyes.
BOOM.
The intense energetic discharge vaporized Seraphine's flames into nothingness the millisecond they crossed the threshold.
"What the... what kind of freakish magic was that?!" Seraphine gasped, stumbling back in sheer shock.
With a sharp pivot in mid-air, the platinum-haired man ignited his boot thrusters to maximum output, rocketing upward into the night sky like a shooting star.
"Damn it—where do you think you're—" Seraphine raised her hands again, but before she could cast another spell, Ritvik lunged forward and grabbed her firmly by the wrist.
"Hey! We need to move, right now!"
"Let go of me, you arrogant mutt!"
"Are you completely blind?! Look down! If we stay here any longer, we're going to get caught up in a very big trouble !" Ritvik yelled.
His outburst was so intensely uncharacteristic of his usual anxious self that Seraphine actually froze, staring at him with wide, stunned eyes.
A few feet back, Rowan and Sarina shared an identical expression of astonishment, entirely unused to seeing Ritvik take absolute, commanding charge.
"Huff... what on earth was that massive explosion?!" Selene and Marna finally panted, skidding to a halt beside them.
"Great, you two are here. Let's get the hell off this campus before the entire enforcement division starts chasing after us." Ritvik urged, spinning on his heel.
---
Outside the GAA perimeter gates, the roar of heavy magitech engines split the night air.
"Huh?" Kaya blinked, looking down from his arms as they soared over the gates. "Look at that... Stalin's convoy arrived even faster than expected."
Down on the tarmac, a senior enforcement officer pointed a gauntlet toward the sky.
"Look! Up there! Is that the target?"
"By the gods... it's Al Salvador."
"Damn it! Someone must have disabled the the security mechanisms of GAA, otherwise we would have instantly known about his attack!"
"Captain! Do we have authorization to fire?!" another officer shouted over the comms, frantically leveling a heavy magitech anti-air rifle.
Cale' eyes flickered as he noticed something. "Wait everyone."
"Huh? What happened."
"Look he is holding someone."
Only then did the other officers noticed.
"Wait is that a student."
"He is holding a GAA student hostage."
"Shoot." a cold, terrifying voice cut through them.
Cale blinked, looking over at Alchemist King Stalin Bolievia, whose face was distorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated murderous rage.
"Sir, but the hostage—"
"I said: fire at Target!" Stalin said calmly.
"Understood!" Cale swallowed hard, raising his hand. "All units, concentrate fire on the target!"
Dozens of magitech rifles lit up the night, unleashing a relentless barrage of high-velocity kinetic rounds toward the sky.
High above, the concussive force of the incoming fire caused Al's flight path to waver slightly as he cradled Kaya against his chest. Frowning in annoyance, Al pushed his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, and once again, a searing beam of condensed pale-blue light erupted from his eyes, sweeping down toward the pavement.
"Scatter! Get down!"
The officers dove in every direction as the energy beam slammed into a parked enforcement cruiser, detonating it in a massive fireball of twisted metal and flame.
Meanwhile, the student faction was frantically making their escape through the labyrinthine back alleys of the GAA campus.
"What the hell? The back gate is opened?" Rowan huffed in disbelief as they reached the back exit.
"That Kaya girl must have left it unlatched when she let us in earlier." Marna realized, catching her breath.
"Tch... we should have seen right through her cooperative act from the start."
Seraphine spat, clicking her tongue in bitter self-reproach.
BOOM—!!
A massive secondary explosion echoed from the front courtyard, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
"What now?!" Seraphine flinched.
"Sounds like the enforcement unit is back," Sarina deduced calmly, scanning the streets.
"Alright, listen up. We need to split into pairs and take separate routes back to the hotel. It's our only chance to avoid enforcement officers." Ritvik instructed sharply.
"Agreed!"
The rest chorused in unison, instantly breaking apart into smaller groups and sprinting down diverging alleyways.
"Damn it... why am I stuck running with you, of all people?!" Seraphine hissed as she and Ritvik bolted down a narrow side street together.
"What are you complaining about?! I'm taking my own route—you're the one frantically chasing behind me!" Ritvik shouted back over his shoulder.
"What did you just say to me?!"
Meanwhile, a few blocks over—
"Wait... where did Sera go?" Marna huffed, glancing back as she and Selene ran side-by-side.
"Looks like she took a different turn." Selene replied between breaths.
And on yet another route—
"Do you think the authorities are going to trace us back to our rooms just because we were with Kaya?" Rowan asked anxiously, pumping his arms as he kept pace.
"As long as we manage to slip back into the hotel guest wing without drawing the attention of the night patrols, we should be clear." Sarina assured him, her stride remaining remarkably steady.
---
After another ten minutes of breathless running, the neon-lit facade of their luxury hotel finally loomed into view down the boulevard.
"Are we... are we actually safe?" Rowan gasped, leaning one hand against a brick pillar to steady himself.
"Huff... huff... looks like we made it," Sarina wiped a stray bead of sweat from her forehead. She glanced sideways, raising an eyebrow. "You don't even look winded, while I feel like my lungs are collapsing."
"Oh? It's really nothing," Rowan replied honestly. "I used to run much farther than this through the rugged terrain back in my hometown."
Having successfully slipped through the rear service entrance, Rowan and Sarina reached the second-floor student guest corridor.
Huff... huff...
Two more exhausted voices echoed up the stairwell behind them.
"I swear... if anyone ever asks me to do that again, I will personally break their kneecaps." Marna wheezed, slumping against the wall.
"Same," Selene panted, lifting her head to see Rowan and Sarina standing outside their rooms. "Oh—you two managed to beat us back."
They exchanged glances, sudden dread dawning on them.
Selene whipped her head around. "Wait... where's Sera?"
Rowan and Sarina exchanged an identical, panicked look. "And Ritvik isn't back either!"
For a terrifying second, visions of enforcer crackdowns and secret service extractions flashed through their minds.
"Don't tell me something went wrong—"
"You absolute, ungrateful, four-eyed mutt! You made us take the longest, most convoluted detour in the history of cartography!"
An intensely familiar, deeply angry voice echoed down the corridor.
"It was longer but safer!" Ritvik's defensive voice shot back.
The heavy wave of tension instantly evaporated from the hallway, replaced immediately by collective, heavy-duty sulking.
"Huff... huff... huff... what? Why are you all staring at me like I just committed a felony?" Seraphine demanded, stumbling around the corner out of breath, glaring at her friends' blank expressions.
"Nothing. We're just profoundly thrilled that you managed not to get arrested," Selene deadpanned.
"Hh? As if some rent-a-cops could ever actually detain me."
Seraphine scoffed arrogantly. But a second later, her defiant expression fractured. She slammed her fist against the hallway wall in pure, frustrated agony—causing Ritvik, who had just managed to lower his shoulders in relief, to jump straight up in panic.
"Tch... I can't believe we got played so effortlessly by that girl." Seraphine muttered, grinding her teeth.
"Ah..." Ritvik scratched his cheek awkwardly, staring at the floor, entirely unsure what to say.
Nearby, Rowan stood silently, his fist clenching and unclenching at his side. He closed his eyes, taking a long, stabilizing breath as his mind raced back to the balcony.
'So that guy... Is successor the Al Salvador.' Rowan thought heavily, replaying the image of the cyan-haired platinum-eyed man who had carried Kaya away into the night. 'He looked younger then I expected. Maybe... maybe he's roughly around the exact same age Bhaiya would be if he were standing here right now.'
Rowan dropped his gaze to the floor, his thoughts tangling further. 'And what on earth was that beam that fired from his eyes? Was that some kind of high-tier spell, or... something else?'
"Hey, Sera. Let's get inside and get some rest," Marna murmured gently, taking Seraphine by the arm and leading her toward the girls' wing.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Rowan's eyes blinked open. He turned his head to find Sarina standing right beside him, her expression soft yet deeply observant.
"I'm just... processing everything that went down tonight," Rowan admitted quietly.
"Processing?"
Rowan shifted his gaze back toward Ritvik, who was hurriedly waving goodbye before darting toward his own suite to escape further interrogation.
"Hey, Ritvik," Rowan called out softly. "Did you happen to catch what kind of magic that guy used? The one that came out of his eyes?"
Ritvik paused with his hand on his doorknob, shuddering visibly. "Ah... don't ask me. First of all, I have zero clue, and second of all, I am actively trying to purge every single terrifying memory of tonight from my brain so I can sleep. I'm going to bed." With a brisk wave, Ritvik slipped inside his room and locked the deadbolt behind him.
Rowan sighed, turning back to Sarina.
Sarina simply offered a subtle, knowing shrug, as if she didn't even need to hear the question he wanted to ask.
She reached out and gave his shoulder a firm, grounding tap. "Hey. Stop overthinking every single detail. You have a terrible habit of getting stressed over every little thing."
"Oh... right," Rowan blinked, offering a weak smile.
"Good. Now get to your room. We need a proper night's sleep so we're fully functional for whatever absurd institutional commotion happens tomorrow morning."
Sarina instructed firmly, turning on her heel and heading down the corridor toward the girls' wing. Rowan raised a hand in a quiet farewell as she disappeared inside.
He stood alone in the hallway for a moment longer, staring down the corridor.
'Wait?! What does she mean by 'bad habit of taking stress'?'
Rowan wondered blankly, scratching his head as he unlocked his door.
'I barely stress about anything...'
---
The next morning, the bright Alchemy City sun crested the horizon, casting golden light over the campus courtyards where the student cohorts had been hastily assembled into neat, disciplined rows.
At the front of the formation stood Instructor Valeria. However, her appearance was noticeably disheveled—her face was flushed a deep, embarrassed crimson, and she was visibly doing everything in her power to avoid making eye contact with Aiden, who stood right beside her.
Aiden, for his part, was casually applying medicated lip balm to his mouth. Deep, raw abrasions and torn skin lined his lips, making it look as though someone had aggressively tried to chew his face off the night before. Elias stood a few paces away, staring blankly into space with his usual deadpan expression.
"Why on earth did they call us out here at the crack of dawn?"
"Wait... what happened to Instructor Aiden's mouth? Did he get into a bar fight?"
"Hah... I'm sure he must have been to some club last night?"
The students whispered among themselves, trading snickering remarks.
Rowan stretched his arms overhead, taking a deep breath. Despite the chaotic events of the previous night, he actually felt surprisingly well-rested.
"Look at you. You actually managed to sleep like without any stress." Sarina noted, walking up beside him.
Rowan smiled faintly. "Well, you know—I never take any stress."
Sarina let out a soft, amused chuckle.
Yawn... Ritvik dragged himself into formation a few feet away, rubbing his sore neck with a miserable expression. "Why on earth did they schedule an assembly at zero-dark-thirty..."
"Look at you, looking like you slept pretty well last night, mutt," a cold, dry voice sneered from beside him.
Ritvik slowly turned his head—and for a split second, he felt like his heart is gonna jump out of his mouth.
Seraphine was standing right next to him. Her face was etched with massive, dark circles under her eyes, her posture slumped with absolute, bone-deep exhaustion.
"The hell are you staring at?" she muttered hoarsely.
Judging by her desolate state, it was painfully obvious she hadn't managed to close her eyes for a single minute the night before. Seeing the usually fierce, hyper-energetic fire mage reduced to a sleep-deprived wreck, Ritvik wisely decided that making fun of her was a fast-track ticket to the afterlife, keeping his mouth firmly shut.
"Ahem. Quiet down, everyone," Instructor Valeria cleared her throat, her voice returning to its usual commanding cadence, though her cheeks remained pink.
"Attention, students. Due to a severe security breach and an unauthorized terrorist intrusion on the GAA campus late last night..."
Valeria's sharp eyes swept across the student rows. "...The Grand Aetherion administration has officially decided to terminate this field trip prematurely. We are heading back via train immediately."
"Aw, come on man!"
"Hell nah"
"Are you serious? We literally just got here!"
Groans of deep displeasure rippled through the student body.
A few yards away, another group of students was staring in absolute horror at Zephyr.
The young playboy looked like he had just crawled out of a meat grinder; his face, neck, and arms were covered in a galaxy of red and purple bruises, scratches, and bite marks.
"What happened to your face?"
"Did you get into some kind of fight?"
"Looks like you got beaten up pretty badly last night?" The student beside him mocked him geniunly.
"Yeah~ I got beaten up pretty badly last night." Zephyr murmured, staring up at the morning sky as a dreamy, utterly unhinged smile spread across his lips. "But still... I won at the end."
Zephyr closed his eyes, drifting off into his own world.
'You were truly incredible last night, Circi. I had no idea you were harboring such intense, lonely passions. I promise I'll sneak back into this city to visit you as often as I can.' He thought blissfully, mentally picturing Circi blowing him a final, flying kiss..
---
CHAPTER ENDS