Chapter 158 Shadow Puppet
Suddenly, with another large gust of cold wind, three kids were launched into the air and hurled off of the rooftop as they screamed in agony. One of them flew right past Lyrian, his face horrified and sad.
Lyrian shrugged off this and quickly looked at the other two examinees that were close to falling off of the tower. The first one was a random kid, who at this point was already a lost cause anyways.
The second one, however, had a short body and blonde hair, even having glasses on his eyes.
\'Rylan?\'
A tinge of concern grew in his eyes as he tried to widen them to look closer, but he quickly realized that was a mistake, as debris of ice quickly poked at them, causing him to block his face and rub out his eyes.
Looking back, Lyrian saw that the boy wasn\'t Rylan after all. However, even if he was, he too was now a lost cause.
"Help!"
A familiar voice suddenly sounded out of nowhere.
\'What? I thought there were only 3 at were thrown in the air. Did I miss one?\'
As he thought this to himself, both he and Leon looked over toward the sound that the voice was coming from, to see Alten hanging onto one of the ledges of the tower, half of his body flying in the air already over the edge.
Lyrian\'s eyes widened as he immediately Enhanced his body. Leon also took out his blade, his eyes turning white in a raging fury as both of them lunged forward and dashed toward Alten.
At that moment, a loud roar of thunder suddenly boomed through the sky as ice-cold rain began to pour down from the sky, along with sleet, hail, snow, and everything else one could imagine. This blizzard was one hell of an unforgiving disaster.
Seeing the two dash across the tower, Spade was equally bewildered and amused. He held onto his own pillar, slightly chuckling in confusion.
\'What in the hell are they doing? I have never seen such people in my life.\'
The other examines who held onto the several pillars that were only feet away from each other also saw the two streaks of light blitz across the tower, and were equally as shocked.
In under 1 and a half seconds, the two were halfway there. However, Alten felt as though he couldn\'t hold on any longer. He only had one hand left on the edge, and the nails he had dug into the black stone had torn off by now, so he was bleeding profusely.
The cold seemed to lessen the pain of his nails being ripped off, but he could feel his fingers, which were still clinging on for dear life, slowly slipping away.
Leon arrived first since he was closer to Alten. He leaned in and grabbed at Alten\'s hand, but only caught a few fingers. Still, he felt it was enough to pull his friend in when suddenly, Alten\'s fingers slipped out of grasp.
The eyes of both Leon and Alten opened wide as both of their hearts sink into their chest, feeling as though time itself had stopped. The culmination of slippery water that had just started to fall, and also the blood on Alten\'s fingers, which made the surface more slimely, was enough to loosen the grip by just enough for Alten to fall away.
Arriving there mere milliseconds later, Lyrian saw what happened. Time seemed to slow down, as he also tried to grab Alten\'s hand, but by this point, Alten was already 5 feet away from the tower\'s edge.
Alten\'s eyes were wide open... but dead inside. Rid of emotion... as though they were lifeless. His arm went limp, realizing that it was over. He had failed the exam.
...
However, at that moment, something dark escaped from Lyrian\'s chest, and he seemingly fell unconscious. As though it was smoke or some sort of soul, it traveled towards Alten at extreme speeds, still connected to Lyrian like a rope.
In size, the smoke of darkness was the girth of a large mug. But at the end of it, it was as large as a watermelon. This seemed to be its main body, where at the end was a face that had a set of dark-purple eyes and a little below that, two small hands made of the same dark material that looked like a shadow.
Reaching Alten, who was now thrown far away by the forceful winds, in a mere 2 seconds or so, the shadow grabbed onto Alten\'s body, before reeling itself back into Lyrian just as fast as it had surged forth, leaving Alten\'s body on the tower top edge.
Leon quickly grabbed onto him, pulling him farther from the edge, as the dark being returned inside of Lyrian. He opened his eyes again right afterward and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Alten couldn\'t speak, panting from shock and pain. While Leon looked at Lyrian with confused eyes.
"What was that..."
Lyrian put his hand to his chest, where the dark being had emerged from.
"I didn\'t know if that would work, since it was the first time using it..." He said to himself, and at that point, also to Leon.
Seeing Leon\'s face growing even more confused, Lyrian quickly made up a lie.
"It was a skill I was taught by someone... I hadn\'t tried it out yet, but it worked."
Leon seemed to be a little hesitant to believe him, but there was no point in not doing so at this point, having come so far with Lyrian as an ally.
Lyrian on the other hand was relieved, happy, and even exhilarated at the same time.
\'The reward I got from the Dungeon Quest... that was risky, but I\'m psyched that it worked! What a powerful ability!\'
<Moments Earlier>
[Dungeon Quest reward: Shadow Puppet (A skill that allows the user to convert his shadow into a lesser being and take control of it for a limited amount of time)]
[Warning]
[You will not be able to control your own body while controlling the Shadow Puppet, so use it wisely]