Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 59: Tides of Blood

He arcane shifted quite some distance to get to where Lux was hiding.

He didn't even have a time to take a good breath when he realized he was already sinking. Everything was quiet for a short moment. He had opened his eyes, still submerged in liquid. He quickly realized that he was up so high that he could no longer feel the floor underneath his feet.

"Lux!", Ezreal yelled as he resurfaced and gasped for air.

"Ezreal!", the redhead flailed her arms a few meters away from him.

His vision was blurry yet he noticed that she was holding onto what looked like a chandalier. His eyes were stinging him as he dove again and arcane shifted next to her to get a grip on the chandalier himself.

"Are you okay?", he asked seriously worried.

Lux's face was red stained with blood. Her hair glued to her cheeks. The girl simply nodded as Ezreal gave her a quick hug while they were desperately trying to stay affloat. Another wave of blood made them sink once again. Lux's hand had slipped through his, as they were being drifted apart by the pressure of the wave. He didn't even know how but he had somehow managed to get a grip of the girl once again and teleported both of them to the room where Katarina and Jayce were.

Hopefully..

"Guys?", he scanned the place for his allies' faces but all he could see was a sea of blood from one edge to the other.

"Over here!", Katarina said from the other side in between coughs. Her and Jayce were holding onto eachother's hands. The boy was desperately trying to keep them both afloat with all of his strength despite the fact that his body was not in its best state.

"I have to use my power", Lux said.

"No! You can't control it without your staff Lux!", Ezreal practically begged her to rethink her decision.

"It's our only chance", she squeezed the boy's hand to get a nod of affirmation in exchange.

Luxanna Crownguard closed her eyes momentarily. Small particles of light filled the atmosphere and started to collide with eachother. They looked like fireflies. Ezreal was looking at her half mesmerized and half afraid. He could feel his heart begging to leave his chest. The light kept getting brighter by the minute. At the moment he could no longer keep his eyes open so he covered them with the back of his hand.

When he opened them again there was no blood. The only thing that remained was a terrible smell, along with stains on the walls and marble floors. Evaporated.

His clothes were stuck to his body but a light barrier was covering him and Lux. Same as Jayce and Katarina who looked just as amazed as he was.

"That was.. something", Ezreal smiled at his girlfriend whose cheeks had turned into a light pink.

"It was nothing", she managed to stutter shyly.

The door on the other side of the room opened.

An old man came limping their way. He was wearing what looked like a school uniform but his face was filled with wrinkles and spots. His hair was long and white. His fingernails seemed abnormaly long and his entire body looked remarkably frail and weak.

"Where is Rhaast?", he managed to say in between violent coughs.

The four Durrandal Academy students exchanged confused looks but they didn't reply.

"Where is he?!", the man shouted infuriated. For a second there, Ezreal thought that he was in the brink of tears.

The boy gulped in terror. There was just something in the whole presence of this man that made the hair in the back of his neck stand straight up.