Chapter 256 - John Vs ???
John woke up with a satisfied smile on his face. He quickly got up without paying an ounce of attention to his surroundings.
He was happy, so happy that he had gotten an upper-hand on that annoying spirit, that he couldn't contain it. It was definitely afraid and pissed.
On top of that, John realised another thing which he had kept secret from the spirit. Something which didn't make any sense, but at the same time, made the most sense.
He knew who had saved him. John didn't believe it, but it was the most likely theory out of all the ones he had come up with.
"The person who had saved me... It was-"
Before John could finish, his eyes suddenly widened, before he leapt forward.
As the momentum from the jump pushed his body forward above the ice in the middle of frozen forest field. He slowly turned around in the middle of the air.
But before he even noticed, his body was slammed into the ground, before a mysterious force pulled him straight back
As the momentum dragged John back straight to where he had jumped, he felt his heart sink.
He gathered wind and rose spikes from the ground where whatever had caused the force which had been pulling him was standing.
John turned around and his eyes widened as he stared at the face of the person who had done this. In that instant, the wind which John had gathered along with the ice spikes which were supposed to rise from the ground, disappeared.
Not in a way as if time had reminded, but it simply dispersed into thin air. The person in front of John hadn't even chanted or said a single word.
It was the same person who had saved him, no matter how hard John tried, he couldn't see the person's face, almost as if it was under some sort of magic spell like John's mask only stronger.
Despite that, John already had an idea of who it was, from the person's skillset.
"Haha... I was right. You're-"
Before John could finish, his face slammed straight onto the hand of the person who had saved him. Long spiky dark hair, with a cold and dark air around him.
John couldn't speak as he tried moving the hand away. He put as much magic power to reinforce his arm muscles before grabbing the right hand which was covering his face.
It wouldn't budge, No matter how much power he used, it just wouldn't move.
John tried speaking, but his mouth, wouldn't open, as if there was something holding it down. Seeing this, he quickly sent a kick straight at the face of the dark haired man's face.
There was contact, a profound and hard contact which John felt travel throughout his entire right leg. But the person's head didn't move an inch.
It was as if, his head had absorbed the shock of the impact and sent it straight towards John's leg.
John's eyes began to glow yellow as the strength of John's grip increased.
His mouth slowly began to open and a smirk was formed on his face as he realised something..
"L... Lets... Ta...lk..." John muttered
He then stretched out his hand towards the face of the one who had neutralised him, before stretching out both legs and wrapping them around the young man's arm.
He then began to push with all his strength, with the intention to pull the young man's arm off. It was his only choice.
As he did so, for a moment just one moment he was able to see the mouth of the young man. His mouth was slowly moving as he muttered words even quieter than silence itself.
[Something is coming... and something big... Am... I going to die...?]
John began to pour more power into the push, but his arm just wasn't budging. Then suddenly, when John least expected it. Words loud enough for the two to hear came out of the young man's mouth.
"M: Erase"
John's eyes slowly turned up before he stopped putting in any power or pressure on the young man's arm.
The young man let go of John and John dropped to the ground. His eyes were closed and his body slowly trembled.
The young man then disappeared leaving a trembling John behind. John's body just wouldn't stop shaking.
But without any warning, it suddenly stopped, and remained still as John laid on the floor. John had once again lost consciousness.
***
"Argh... My head..." John muttered as he woke up
The sound of a wheels moving could be heard as he felt the cold and hard texture of wood on his back.
The feeling got worse and worse with every bump that came onto the wheel.
John stared straight up at the ceiling before looking down at what was in front of his legs. He was inside of a moving carriage.
"So, how are you feeling?" Ariel asked as she crouched down beside him.
[Feeling...?]
For a moment, John did nothing but stare at Ariel before he muttered.
"Uh... Fine..."
Serena then joined in as she gave him a light punch on his stomach.
"Good. So, why were you lying in the middle of a frozen ice field?" She asked
Hearing this, John slowly got up, and as he did so, he felt a strange feeling on his chest along with a throbbing headache.
"Frozen ice field..." John muttered
"Yeah, that's right. Do you know how hard it was to find you? If it wasn't for Ariel and Master Sylvia-"
John interrupted Serena as he asked.
"What are you, talking about?"
Serena then grabbed John by the collar as she asked
"Stop acting so mysterious! We wouldn't ask if you had just gotten off fine like usual, but you looked dead for god sakes!"
Serena then let out a sigh before muttering.
"You can't just disappear and then act like nothing happened..."
"Happened...? Disappear...? Serena... What are you... Talking about?" John asked
Serena's eyes widened as John slowly tilted his head while staring straight at her. He looked deeply confused.
Seeing this, the annoyed look disappeared off of Serena's face and was replaced with a nervous one. Ariel who heard this also looked worried.
"Hey... John... Tell me you're... Joking....?"