"Retreat!! Don't engage….slowly pull back while defending…." Arthur commanded his teammates.

"No!! We will end up going into the deeper end of the area….we need to head towards the exit…" Erina intervened on hearing him. ​​

"We can't move out from this place...we have to venture deep and then possibly find another way out….'' Arthur shook his head.

They might even get away from the beast once, but fighting other humans and getting away would be difficult.

"If I find the person responsible for this….he isn't getting away…" Erina gritted her teeth in anger. Their plan had truly been destroyed and she couldn't even see a few of her teammates who were most likely eliminated by now.

"Crackle!!!!"

The loud noise of thunder accompanied by the huge discharge in the distance, immediately attracted everyone's attention specially, Erina. She knew who it was….

As expected, she didn't even think twice before trying to move towards the area.

But, the next instant a chill ran down her spine and she immediately moved away.

But the person behind her from Ishtar wasn't so lucky. Totally caught off guard, the bullet hit his chest and he disappeared.

Both Erina and Arthur's faces turned ugly. They immediately raised their head to look at the person idly sitting on the railing of the building looking down at them with a smile.

"Apologies, but dogs and Ocien are not allowed this way…."

"I have no problem with you people of Ishtar though….that guy was just unlucky...it has nothing to do with me…"

Axel's words immediately infuriated both the Academies.

Erina obviously recognised him, after all there was only one weirdo who used guns among Mages.

Ishtar students were the truly furious ones. But Arthur stopped them. He looked at Axel and recognised him at a single glance. After all, he had done his research on Arcane due to Lear.

"Don't!! We need to get out of here and not fight. Besides, the path he is blocking is even more chaotic...we don't need to take that path…" Arthur made a calm and rational decision stopping his teammates from engaging in a fight.

"But…"

"We will note everything...now is not the time to get emotional!! Retreat!!" Arthur's shout made everyone give up their thought and they obediently did as he said.

Erina still stood there though glaring at Axel.

"Didn't you owe me a favor? How about not showing me your face anymore and leaving?" He wasn't going to let this chance slip. He was the type to hold grudges.

Erina's eyes were almost spewing out fire. She had no idea why this guy had attacked her when he was the one who saved her on the first day….secondly, why block her path? And the thing which was most infuriating was the fact that he kept insulting her and her Academy.

"Zeld! You take the lead and retreat alongside Ishtar…." Erina said without turning back.

Zeld obviously knew what was going on. He had seen the lightning too and knew it was the sibling problem and didn't want to interfere….

Hence, he quietly led his group away.

Erina looked at Axel but in the end didn't do anything. She turned and went in a different direction.

A while later….

"Don't cross your line...I already have repaid your favor…." Erina gritted her teeth in anger as she looked at the guy blocking her path again.

She had taken a long way to reach Wilson and gone through a few fights before reaching here only to be blocked by Axel again.

"Repaid my favor? I didn't know your life was so insignificant….." Axel said with a laugh.

"Why don't you say that in front of me? Do you really need to be standing so far?'' Erina said with a menacing smile on her face.

"I don't remember being that close to you lady….now, do I?" Axel smiled, making Erina grind her teeth in anger.

Axel wasn't a fool to let his advantage of distance go just like that. Not to mention, fighting head on wasn't his style.

"Was it him who sent you to block me? Who are you?" Erina asked with a frown.

'Crap! She turned out to be much smarter than Wilson…' Axel cursed inwardly.

"I don't know what you are talking about…" Axel obviously wouldn't answer her.

"Boom!"

At this moment, another explosion rang out behind and the shockwaves were really terrifying.

Erina knew that a serious fight was going on. She couldn't delay any longer. Flames burst out of her feet.

"Bang!"

Before she could react, a bullet punctured a hole in her thigh and she immediately fell flat on her face.

Her face contorted in pain. She couldn't understand why a mere bullet was working against a Mage...this was just too unbelievable….

'He really shot….' Erina gritted her teeth. She was still believing that the guy who desperately protected her wouldn't just shoot her like that….

If she hadn't idiotly charged ahead, worried about Wilson. She would have definitely avoided being hit.

It was just that Wilson was avoiding her and she really wanted to talk with him once.

"I am not playing around….the next one will be in your head…" Axel said calmly as he looked at her.

Erina looked at him and next moment her body erupted in flames.

"Bang!"

Another gunshot rang. But this time, Erina was ready for it and her flame avatar immediately put up it's shield to block the attack.

Still, Axel managed to shoot a hole through the flaming figure although the bullet was burned to crisp before reaching Erina.

'I don't like where this is going…' Axel sighed as strange black colored runes began to appear on his rifles and the next instant, his weapon began to change shape.

The barrels had multiplied to four and it had grown monstrous in size. This was Axel's custom made shape shifting weapon.

The only one of its kind in the world.

If Lear had robbed the headmaster's personal collection then Axel was the one to have torn apart his wallet.

Axel looked at Erina rushing towards him and without a shred of hesitation fired at her.

….

On the other side….

Wilson and Neo clashed and were almost evenly matched.

The guy turned out to be an Expert Tier as well….

Lighting never ceased for a second and rampage all around. It was quite clear that Wilson himself wasn't in full control and was consuming his mana very quickly to maintain his state.

But this had totally negated the poison which Neo was using.

Neo suddenly felt that he was being overpowered and released his blue colored flames pushing Wilson back.

Wilson knew that this fight was going to be a tough one. But he didn't have much time as his mana was depleting rapidly.

As if making his mind, Wilson suddenly looked at Neo and his body erupted with all the lightning he had conjured.

This was one of the main characteristics of his true spell which was extremely difficult to control…

If he could control it well, even escaping from a Master Tier Mage wouldn't be difficult for him.

Within a second, his speed surpassed every limit. Even Wilson himself couldn't see where he was going. But he had already properly aimed himself.

"Zmmn!"

Neo only felt a huge impact when Wilson tackled him and drove him all the way to the entrance of the area where they crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact.

Neo groaned as he felt his bone crack while Wilson himself didn't go unscathed in the suicide attack.

"You b*stard!!" Neo cursed as he kicked Wilson off and got up with blood flowing through the corner of his mouth.

Blue flames burned furiously around him as he raised his spear and thrusted it towards Wilson.

Wilson smiled as the lighting trident appeared in his hand and he stabbed it behind him.

His action made no sense to Neo but to his surprise, his spear went through Wilson without hurting him.

"Illusion!''

"Shnk!''

But he was too late to realize it. Wilson's trident that was supposed to be thrusted behind him suddenly emerged out of Neo's chest as if he was stabbed from behind.

Wilson looked at Neo's wide open eyes as he slowly grabbed the dual-sided spear and pulled it away from him.

'That guy really did a good job with illusions...if I didn't know beforehand, I would have been fooled as well..' Wilson muttered inwardly as Neo fell to the ground and disappeared. His eyes were full of panic instead of resentment as he looked the weapon that was snatched away.