There's a little bit of violence in this chapter that might be a little disturbing to some readers.
"Be on guard today, even more so than yesterday." Hiro says.
"What are you expecting? Nothing happened yesterday, so why's today any different?" Rose says.
"Just take my word for it."
"Yes sir."
They start walking towards the meeting room, and once they arrive, they see the other kings arriving in the meeting room at the same time.
After some small talk, Hiro officially opens the meeting. It goes roughly as Hiro expected with no real progress being made. However, throughout the conversation Hiro feels something pass over him. Magic? Ether? Both? He couldn't quite make out what it was at that moment, but it gave him a slight uneasiness. After he finishes one of his points, he shoots Faust a look, to which he nods his head in agreement.
"Excuse me, did anyone feel that wave of energy just a moment ago?"
"No, but what kind of 'energy' was it? Ether?" Asks Arthur.
"It feels like a combina-". Hiro is cut off by yet another wave. This time, everyone in the room feels it.
Hiro taps Rose's arm. She instinctively enters Hyper Speed and awaits the next move. There is another wave that passes over them, only this time it's more forceful than before. Immediately following are a few painstakingly long moments of silence. Regardless of the stances they held previously, they were all of one mind now.
More waves come in at smaller intervals, gradually increasing in forcefulness, and starting to come from above them. After a few more of them hit, the waves stop, allowing for a brief moment of reprieve.
"Hiro, is this what you've been feeling in Rahu? If so, it makes sense that you're so concerned." Says Relve.
"Something like that, but with more force and less individual waves." As Hiro finishes his statement there's a loud crash from the room above them, followed by something falling through the ceiling and shattering the meeting table.
Fear.
This 'something' was a short, muscular man with a spear in hand. He had an immense, heavy, grotesque aura about him. He felt... monstrous.
The entire room stood still, until he looked over his shoulder directly at Hiro. As soon as his head turned, the teleporters in the room all reached for their respective kings in an attempt to withdraw but to no avail. He releases a strong wave of ether, shaking everyone in the room before rushing towards Rahvas's teleporter effortlessly decapitating him.
"It's Xander! Run!" Zero shouts before Xander throws his spear towards him. Sera manages to reach around him and deflect it, but not without getting nicked by it in the process.
This was exactly the thing they were afraid of. The absolute worst case scenario. Xander's malicious reappearance.
After deflecting the spear, Sera picks Zero up by his waist and leaps across the room towards the door, carrying him under her arm. Xander tries to intercept, but Rose leaps in, tackling him to the ground.
"You better come back to help!" Rose shouts at her, before Xander throws her off of him.
Sera gives a thumbs up to her and sprints out the door. By this point, the other two observers teleport Relve, Therius, and Arthur out of the room, presumably to their home countries. The only ones left in the meeting room are Xander, Rose, Hiro, Faust, and Laura.
After being thrown off Rose teleports back on top of him, attempting to wrestle him into submission. Before she can gain any kind of advantage, he points to his spear, that's now lodged blade-first in the floor, and magically pulls it towards them. As it flies, she is forced to let go of him to dodge the spear. She scrambles to get back up, but once she does, she's met with a door sized fireball exploding in her face.
Meanwhile, Hiro puts Laura in a water bubble, and shoves her through the door into the hallway. He exchanges looks with Faust and joins the fight. Faust launches a fireball out of his hand cannon while Hiro swings at Xander with a water sword and fills the room with fog in the process.
They continue to exchange blows, but something seems off to Rose. She knows that she's the worst fighter in the room, but she seems to be doing the best by a decent size margin. Faust's earlier shot was dodged with ease and Hiro has yet to land a clean hit.
"Why are you two doing so badly?!" She says while saving Hiro from Xander's attack.
"That's what we're trying to figure out!" Faust and Hiro shout back at her in unison.
"Well, figure it out faster!" She shouts as she gets sent flying across the room. Before she hits the wall, she feels herself bump into something, or rather someone.
"Looks like guys have your hands full." Rex says while helping Rose to her feet.
"Do something! Hold him off!" Faust says.
"I hear you, but I'm waiting for someone." Rex says while joining into the fight.
He engages Xander while parrying a few of his attacks. They both graze each other with their strikes. Hiro takes the opportunity to retreat and regroup with Rose and Faust. While he does, Elajuel teleports in, touches Rex and Xander, and teleports them away.
"While we have this opportunity, let's figure out what's going on."
"Agreed. Firstly, Rose. Did you feel anything strange while Xander was in the room?"
"No, not really. It felt like a normal fight for the most part. The only thing that caught my eye was that Sera and I were moving just fine, but you two weren't."
"You and Sera? If I had to guess, it's probably something to do with your abilities." Faust says.
Hiro puts a hand on his face in disappointment.
"It's time." He says.
"Time for what?" Rose asks.
"Not time for something, your abilities are time based."
"That... makes a lot of sense. I guess that means that I'm just speeding up time for myself then?"
"Sounds about right. Then that would mean Xander is slowing down time for everyone else around him, hence why you and Sera were moving fine."
"How does Sera fit into all this?" She asks.
"Everyone that has an ability has a resistance to that element. For example, someone with a fire ability will have a resistance to heat. Assuming we're right, you have a resistance to other time based abilities, like Xander's. Sera fits because she probably has a time-based ability." Faust explains.
"But this is just a theory, right?" Rose asks.
"Sera and Xander's abilities are a guess, but I feel confident in yours." He says.
"Hey, where'd Xander go?" Sera says, popping in.
Out of breath, she returns without Zero, looking around at the damage caused. They catch her up on the situation, and she tells them about what's been happening outside of the fighting. The rest of the children were being evacuated by Elajuel and Rex while Vuella, Helen, and Vuella took care of moving the surrounding townspeople. While they exchange information, they are covered by a massive shadow from overhead.
"It's been a long time since I've seen him get this big." Hiro says.
"Why is it... or rather, why is he so big? And where is it going?" Sera asks.
