The Editor Is An Extra-Chapter 114: Mid terms 9

"If this continues, I’ll burn before the next hour." I Muttered under the continuous assault of the dire heat. Just then, in my hazy vision, I caught a glimpse of a figure.

"What the hell?" I blurted. "How the hell did she get here?" According to the novel, she was supposed to spend the entire egg challenge phase of the culling games in the polar region. But there she stood, around twenty meters across from me, the uncanny resemblance between us almost becoming creepy. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’I should have known to stop trusting most minor events in the novel.’ I mused. Rose was supposed to be in those ice caves, but she was here in this desert. Was there anything I had done that triggered such change? I didn’t think so.

I knew for sure that I had most likely altered Alistair and Elsa’s way, since they’d have been in this desert if it hadn’t been for me. But I hadn’t interacted with Rose, ever since this morning, when she ignored and walked past me.

Now that I think about it, it should have been night already. The egg challenge phase had started a little over seven hours back, and that was at 4pm. Technically, it should be almost midnight, but the sun was still up in this desert, and was sending blazing waves of heat down here.

But then again, it wasn’t a real sun, and this was a pocket dimension. A good reference would be the tomb Anastasia and I had been to. We spent days in there, but we didn’t witness a single day. It was night all throughout.

Anyway, back to Rose, an invisible crackle of lightning flashed between us as our eyes met. Rose moved at once, creating a trail of dust behind her. Meanwhile, I didn’t move an inch. It took her less than a second to cross the distance between us. In an instant, she was before me, the cold tip of her sword slightly touching my throat.

I inwardly gulped. This girl definitely had issues.

"Your eggs, bring them out, or rather, give me your spatial storage." She went straight to the point without beating around the bush. Now if everyone was as straightforward as Rose, the world would be a whole less complicated.

If everyone were to be like me, on the other hand, the world would become a lot more complex.

Ignoring the tip of the sword that was pressing against my neck, I smiled. "Not even a greeting, dear sister, where are your manners?"

Rose on the other hand, wasn’t impressed. "I said, your spatial storage, now." She said flatly, the tip of her sword stretching my skin a little too much for my comfort.

I shook my head in mock disappointment, making sure to shift my neck back a little.

"Tell me, dear sister." I sighed. "Of all the years you’ve known me, do you truly think I would do such a thing?" I asked. "You would have a better chance eliminating me, than getting me to willingly give you my eggs."

"Is that so?" her eyes narrowed. "Then so be..."

"Wait!" I interrupting her. "What?" her eyes flashed to mine. "If you’re trying to stall for some trick of yours, I assure you it won’t work." she said.

"You didn’t let me finish, dear sister." I sighed once more. "I meant, of all the years you’ve known me, I would have never done such a thing. But you know I’ve changed right?" I asked, then continued without giving her a chance to reply. "I’m no more the unruly prince I once was, you yourself could testify to that."

"What are you trying to imply?" She frowned.

"What I’m trying to say is that, I know when to hold my head high, and when to bow my head down. And this time, it’s clearly the latter." I said. "So I’ll give you the spatial storage. Besides, I feel better that instead of giving it to someone else, the one receiving it is my dear sis..."

"Stop calling me that." She sharply cut me off. I had to give it to her, she didn’t look convinced one bit. Kind of my fault for pulling a few tricks some years back.

"Fine, take it." I said making a show of taking off the special spatial storage off my finger, but then suddenly paused. I took my eyes off Rose, and looked behind her.

My expression darkened. "What are you doing here, Emmett?" I growled. Like a domino, Rose’s head snapped backwards, only to see the ever present sands of the desert.

Of course, before she could turn back, I had already made a run for it towards the signpost that had appeared in my pheripherals while I was speaking with Rose.

Normally, this kind of trick wouldn’t work on Rose. First, this was an exam for the first years, there was no way a third year would appear here. And second, why would he even appear here under the eyes of all the instructors.

But there were two reasons why it worked. The first was Emmett himself. It seemed he wasn’t only the boogeyman for me, but also for Rose. And the second, was still Emmett himself. Rose wouldn’t put it past him to obtain some sort of artifact that would enable him to sneak in here under all the noses of the instructors, and vice chancellor.

The reason I was also running, was that rose would simply decimate me, as I was simply a reflection. And I was not willing to waste time trying to find my way to this desert once more. And I wasn’t also keen on coming here with my main body. If I saw the eggs, my main body would swap, put away the eggs, and swap back.

Anyway, when running towards the signpost, I took the liberty to glance back at Rose. She stood frozen, probably in bafflement that I had tricked her using the same trick more than once. But then I saw it, frustration took over her features as she turned to gaze at me.

Oh oh. She charged at me with explosive speed.

Thankfully, in that moment, I had already reached within two meters of the signpost, the sand beneath me gave way, making me tumble downwards on it as if it was a slide.

Though I knew Rose would most likely follow after me, what I was more certain of was that even if she was going to do that, she would first wait, and guage for any impending dangers before doing so.

And true to my thoughts, when I glanced upwards, she had stopped, right at the edge of the opening that led underground. Flashing her a smirk, I turned away.

The tide of sand soon gave way to a row of descending stairs, after which I flipped myself onto my feet. I didn’t dare to waste any time as I rushed forward, descending down the stairs with impeccable speed. Rose could decide to come down any moment from now.

It didn’t take me long to reach flat ground where three doors laid before me. I didn’t hesitate to push open the door on the right. It was the one Alistair and Elsa had entered. While this was no labyrinth, the other two led to nothing.

The door opened, revealing a grim passage, illuminated by enchanted lanterns. I blurred into it, just in time to avoid the gust of wind that lacerated the ground I had been standing on earlier.

And just before I blinked away, I turned, catching sight of Rose, who was almost there. "You’ve got to be kidding me." I muttered as my body exploded forward in a series of spectres.

Out of the 8 percent of aether used to create this reflection, I only had about five percent remaining. And since my aether had had a qualitative leap, and had grown denser, this five percent that I had now, was almost comparable to the thirteen percent I had when I was in the Eta- rank.

So, I could still push aether reinforcement and mirage steps to the maximum, without having to fear shattering out of existence in a few seconds.

But still, maybe it was time to come here with my main body. I blurred through the passage which had turns at almost every three meters. I very quickly reached the end of the tunnel though, and emerged into a room.

The first thing I saw was multicolored eggs the size of car tires, all laid on the ground. There were around twenty two of them if my nonexistent proficiency in math served me right.

I quickly swapped with my main body, and flickered towards the eggs. Each one I touched disappeared into my special spatial storage in an instant.

However, just as I reached for another, something came down on my hand, an actual sword this time, rather than a wind blade derived from a technique.

I retrieved my hand at the last minute, but that wasn’t enough to keep me out of danger, as I had to completely flicker backwards to evade the follow up aimed at my head.

I glanced at my dear sister, who was now standing between the rest of the eggs and me. "You know, it’s very rude to interrupt someone when they’re doing something productive." I chided.

Inwardly meanwhile, ’Eighteen, a pity.’ I thought. Out of the twenty two eggs, I had only managed to get eighteen. There were four still remaining. ’I guess I could leave them to her.’ I thought, because I knew there was no way she was going to let me take those without a catastrophic fight, which would destroy the eggs, or even bring this place crashing down on us.

I swapped back with my reflection, before standing straight. "Fine, you can take those." I raised my arms in mock surrender.

"You’re not as crafty as I thought if you thought I was going to let you go with all the eggs in your possession." She said, as heat waves began rolling off her body, and distorting the air.

"I know." I smirked. "Which is why I won’t make you let me go, instead, I’ll just leave by myself." I said.

As if coming to the realization, her eyes widened, just in time for me to say; "See you, dear sister."

Crack!

I shattered in an epic display of light.

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