At the same time that the chimera's leg hit the ground, Jay's figure flew off to another side of the crop field.
Though of course, it wasn't because of the chimera's blow, but because said esper had used another air platform to escape at the last moment.
'Ouch! A little later and my whole arm would have gone to sh*t!' Jay thought as he held his left arm with his right.
Even though he had escaped, he received a scratch that came in the form of a large bruise on his left arm, serving as evidence of the chimera's physical strength.
Not wanting to give him any more time to rest, the chimera again turned to pursue Jay, who had used two more air platforms to make a quick escape.
His energy expenditure was rising considerably, but knowing he had no choice if he wanted to stay alive, Jay kept running.
'Just what is going on? Is this part of a surprise training... or did someone really dare to attack the academy so openly?' Jay thought with an intrigued expression on his face.
He had heard from students in other years that there were sometimes sudden trainings taking place at the academy, but he quickly dismissed this idea due to the damage received by the student the chimera had first attacked.
There was a good distance between them, but Jay could still see that said student was in a extremely bad shape, with bruises all over and most likely a high amount of internal damage.
The academy had a reputation for being tough on their practices, one only needed to look at the entrance exam to confirm this, but even by those standards, they wouldn't allow someone to come to mortal harm as they did now.
Thanks to that and the fact that the system itself had warned him that the purple smoke was fatally dangerous, Jay was confident that this was not a training.
'So... we're back to where we were before, my life, as well as everyone else's, is at risk... great.'
The moment he remembered that the academy conducted training, he couldn't help but have a little hope, but this thought had turned out to be futile.
The next moment, Jay then took a big breath of air and emptied his mind.
As to why he was doing this, it was simple.
He was psyching himself up to have to deal with this situation for what it was, a life-threatening situation.
Perhaps because he had been spending his days at the academy quietly and smoothly, he had grown somewhat accustomed to this tranquility, and it had taken him a while to come to terms with this, but he had doubted enough.
"...It looks like I only have one option left."
As of this moment, he was no longer Jay Sacrest the student of the Eitsirc Academy, but had returned to being that young man who infiltrated deep into the most dangerous area of his city.
The young man who went toe-to-toe with the leader of a criminal organization... and emerged victorious.
'Open, system, question, how much time do I have left before the purple smoke affects me too?'
_____________________
Answer: Since the [Carrier] still has indirect contact with the substance, the estimated time before collapse is.... (15) minutes, (54) seconds.
Warning: The time will shorten the closer the [Carrier] is to the source of the substance.
_____________________
'...Ok, it's not as bad as I thought, I can work with this... I can...'
Although a time limit of 15 minutes was a short time, Jay did not appear nervous, but rather his determination increased even more because of this.
Returning his gaze back to the chimera, specifically to the spot where he had thrown his own work tool before, the latter could tell that while the chimera had almost completely ignored him, this did not mean that there was no damage.
A little above the chimera's left eye, a cut could be seen, which although tiny, was more than enough proof for Jay to confirm that the chimera's body was not as impregnable a fortress as it seemed at first glance.
Quickly, Jay's gaze fell on all the students present, or rather, on the tools that each had dropped on the ground.
Fortunately for him, the fields were full of the same type of tool he had used, so without needing to slow down, it didn't take Jay long to run into another one of them, picking it up immediately.
Suddenly turning and throwing the tool towards the chimera's face, Jay then shouted, "Come on, we've got 15 minutes, you stupid monster, let's see who's left standing in the end!"
With those words as his last, Jay was now not simply running to flee, but little by little, he was fighting back.
"WRAAAHHG!!!"
In response, the chimera let out another roar, this time containing its visible annoyance in it.
Just like that, even though it had started off extremely abruptly, Jay right now found himself "fighting" a chimera, a monster that was several times stronger than him, on his own.
It was a disadvantageous situation whichever way one looked at it, but for some reason, unconscious to the person himself, the most striking thing about Jay's face that one could find was not his eyes that radiated an incredible calmness, but his smile.
Unbeknownst to him, a huge smile of excitement had formed on his face.
***
At the same time Jay was facing the chimera, a meeting was taking place deep in a forest located in unknown terrain.
In this specific part of the forest, there was a pond of considerable size, which served as a water source for countless animals.
The pond had pristine water that allowed one to see inside, in which a few fish swam peacefully, as well as a couple of turtles resting quietly on some rocks.
Drinking water from this pond were also three animals in particular that stood out.
Starting with the smallest, there was a raven, a wild boar, and a bear.
Each had taken a side of the pond and were quietly drinking water, apparently not wanting to disturb the other.
This scene, combined with the rays of sunlight streaming through the leafy treetops, left a scene etched in the mind of the person watching this that reminded them that even in these times of chaos when monsters were running rampant everywhere, coexistence was sometimes possible.
Though of course, they would be gravely mistaken if they thought this was a simple scene of "animals" resting.
The next moment, the two large mammals and the raven stopped drinking water and raised their heads slowly, looking at each other.
*Clang!*
Suddenly, the sound of metal clanging against something hard echoed in the surroundings, accompanied by the incredible effect that at this moment, the entire area surrounding the pond had completely frozen over.
From the crystal clear water of the pond, to the fish and turtles, ending with the leaves falling from the trees, each and every one of them had stopped dead in their tracks.
It wasn't that they were acting, far from it, but truly, time in this area had stopped flowing.
As to what caused this phenomenon, it was not difficult to discover, since the culprit, or rather, the culprits, were moving about without any difficulty whatsoever.
However, if anything else had to be mentioned that contrasted with the surroundings, that would be the fact that without anyone having been able to notice it, the appearance of each of these mammals and raven had changed.
"I see that your control over your magic has improved, there is not even a hint of this world's power in the area, you have completely isolated us." Suddenly said the boar, whose pigmentation had completely changed.
His usual brown hue had now been changed to a blue that seemed to pulsate from time to time, combined with his eyes which radiated a glow of green, gave him a mystical look.
"I concur, although I don't know as much about magic as I do about qi, I must say this is an impressive technique." Added the bear, who likewise as the boar, had undergone changes in pigmentation.
Its fur was now a golden color that although there was no wind, was fluttering thanks to the power of the bear itself, several streams of golden energy pouring out of its body in heaps.
"I thank the brothers for their words, but I must admit that this is only possible for me thanks to both of you being here, otherwise, I'm afraid the net wouldn't let me use so much energy." Replied the raven in a humble manner.
Unlike the bear and the boar, the raven had not had many changes to its body, only developing a pair of new eyes underneath the ones it already had.
However, even though the change was not that striking, if one were to take a closer look at the raven's eyes, one could observe that in each of them, there was nothing but a cold and desolate tranquility.
It was as if in this raven's eyes, nothing in this world was secret.
"Now then, am I correct in supposing that you did not come simply to make some small talk?" Continued the raven.
Looking at each other for a moment, the boar and the bear nodded to each other before the latter began to speak, "That's right, while we know our jurisdiction has nothing to do with the brother's, we couldn't help but wonder... why did he initiate an attack just now?"
While both the bear's demeanor and tone of voice were respectful, there was a firm hint of confidence and seriousness in his words, making it clear that he wanted a straight answer.
However, without seeming the least bit affected, and almost as if he had already foreseen that this would be the question they would ask, the raven calmly replied, "It's simple, because this, my dear brothers, is the perfect time, with the vice principal out of the academy for a long time, the already tiny risk of being discovered has now been completely eliminated."
"...I'm not saying it's not a good time, in fact, we both also thought that testing our strength with the defense of the academy was a good idea, but... you had to make such a big mess...?" Said the bear, who had an expression that made it clear he disagreed with the raven.
"What exactly do you mean by big mess...?" The raven replied.
Not wanting to be left behind, now the one who spoke up was the boar, "I think sending 50 chimeras simultaneously counts as a disaster, both for the academy and for us. You must remember that we have not yet fully mastered-"
*Crack!
Suddenly, the boar was interrupted by the sound of a crack forming in the air.
Immediately, the bear and boar's expressions changed, startled to hear such a sound, after all, the crack meant that the area the raven had created was undergoing changes.
"Oh, what an unexpected surprise, who knew such a guest would decide to join our meeting, although.... I find it rude of you to arrive unannounced.... Vice-Director Dur." The raven said then, his gaze fixed on the exact spot where the crack had appeared.
Stepping nonchalantly through the same crevice, the figure of a large man appeared, on his face an expression of absolute seriousness.
"...How?" Blurted the bear.
"..."
The boar on the other hand just remained silent, analyzing the situation.
"Hm, and to think they were hiding here... in my own academy, what a nerve." Said Dur, the vice-principal of Eitsirc Academy.
*BOOM!
Immediately, an explosion of qi with Dur at the center erupted in the area, emanating a heat and glow so powerful that it even resembled the sun itself.
If a normal pugilist saw this, they would undoubtedly totally deny that this was the effect of pugilist flames and instead think that Dur was using an ancient martial technique.
*CRACK!*
The barrier then cracked even further, the flow of time returning to its original state forcibly, though it had not yet completely broken, it was clear that it would not be long before it came to that.
Faced with this, of course, the three assembled animals not only stood by and watched, but also acted.
The bear appeared in front of Dur in an instant and began to expel its own pugilistic flames before lashing out with a ferocious strike towards the pugilist.
At the same time, the boar became the center of an innumerable amount of blue lightning which immediately shot towards Dur.
As for the raven, it positioned itself behind the bear and boar as its hooves struck the ground, an extremely complex magic circle appearing out of nowhere.
"Stall him for a few seconds, I'll see to ending this soon." Said the raven then.
Hearing this, the bear and boar nodded, although they themselves were aware that they could stand up to Dur, they knew that victory was not something they could achieve unless they did not work together.
"Pugilistic flames, esper skills and magic...good thing the person who came was me, if it was any of my head teachers...they might have been in trouble." Dur said with the same serious expression on his face.
Just like that, Dur as well as the bear and the boar engaged in a fight of calamitous proportions, the only reason the forest remained unchanged being the raven's barrier preventing any kind of energy leakage.
Finally, after a few seconds, the raven finished his spell.
Noticing this, both the bear and the boar abruptly backed away... or rather, they tried to, before colliding against the raven's barrier itself, which despite being in its last moments, was doing its job.
Surprised by this, the eyes of both quickly fell on the raven, wondering what had happened.
Unbeknownst to either of them, the raven was now at a much greater distance than before, more than would be necessary to help them in the fight.
"...You!" The bear shouted, having realized something was wrong.
"I hope you understand why I did this, brothers." Said the raven, "Take it as a small price to pay for the future of this world!"
As he finished saying that, the barrier then began to give off an intense blue glow, the amount of mana gathering inside was so much that it even dulled the energy of Durm the bear and boar.
"Space magic... looks like you're the one I should finish first." Dur said before leaping straight at the raven, leaving a huge crater in the ground from the force he had used.
*BOOM!
In only a moment, his hand was already touching the raven's neck, but to his bad luck, the spell inside the barrier took effect, transporting both him and the other animals to another location.
Silence then reigned in the surroundings, the only traces of the intense fight that had just happened being the raven with a pale expression on its face, a huge crater on the ground and finally, a severed hand.
"Without a doubt... that's one scary human."
With those words as his last, the raven then fell to the ground, his body exhausted thanks to the enormous amount of power he had just used.
