"It's not working," Grey muttered as he tried activating the array again.
Just like the first time, it didn't work as well.
"Damn it!" Grey exclaimed in frustration.
"Grey, what's going on?" The Principal was the first to notice something was wrong before Grey's sudden show of annoyance.
"The spatial array in the building is not working," Grey answered.
"Is that bad?" The Principal asked with a downcast expression.
He didn't really know what Grey was speaking about, but before he reacted this way, it meant it was probably a bad thing.
"Very, someone must've thought of a way to stop us," Grey as he tried to sense the area around them.
He was unable to notice anyone. But he knew for a fact that someone or even some people were around the building.
"What do we do now?" Klaus asked.
"We'll have to think of a way to stop whoever blocked this spatial array thingy Grey's speaking about. Once we're done, we'll leave this place since it's been compromised," The Principal didn't take long before coming to a decision.
"I don't think things will be that easy since they could successfully stop us from teleporting out of here, it means they're not people we can take lightly. In fact, I'm at least ninety percent sure that they are from the Aurora Continent since they know of the space element," Grey replied after giving it some thought.
The only people who knew of the space element, and ways to counter it are from the Aurora Continent.
"Hmm, what do you mean by the space element?" Blake asked.
Grey didn't hide the existence of the space element from the trio any longer.
After his explanation, the faces of the Principal, Instructor Blake, and Delia were one of incredible shock.
"Wait, what?" The Principal as well as Instructor Blake and Delia asked in surprise.
This was their first time hearing of the space element.
"I'll explain more about it later. But all you should know is that it's the only reason we were able to leave the Blue Wind Empire without any hassle. Naturally, I made another array here in case any unforeseen issues arise," Grey responded.
"Let's go out and see our visitors," The Principal said to the others.
They nodded before following the Principal outside.
As soon as the Principal stepped outside, he sensed something that made him stop to look around.
"There's an eerie feeling around the entire town," He murmured while staring around.
"Something's wrong," Klaus said when he didn't hear the voice of any of the townspeople.
"Yes, I can't sense any living thing within a kilometer," The Principal said with furrowed brows.
This was a strange situation. Even though the war was happening thousands of kilometers away, there have been a few people who decided to leave early. When the others heard the news that the Qilin Empire had started to enter the territory of the Blue Wine Empire, they felt reassured that the war wouldn't reach this town, so they decided to stay.
But for some reason, no living person could be sensed by anyone from the group.
'Void, where are you?' Grey asked.
'I'm on my way there, at least in three minutes time or so I should be there,' Void replied.
'Why did you urge me to leave?' Grey tried to see if Void knew the people they were about to face.
'Unfortunately, no. I only had a terrible feeling. Also, I sensed an aura that I've sensed in the Aurora Continent before, I just can't figure it out,' Void replied.
'It's alright. The spatial zone here has been locked, so there's no way to use the space element here. I don't know how far it covers. Try to figure it out before coming,' Grey said.
'Alright,' Void replied.
They were going against an enemy they knew nothing about, but this enemy seems to have a good technique to stop them from leaving. Now, all they could do was rely on the Principal.
"What's this dark fog circulating around?" Alice asked when she noticed the faint dark fog.
Her question brought everyone's attention to the faint black fog around. If one didn't look properly, they wouldn't notice it.
The Principal studied it for only a second before his expression changed, "Don't inhale it. It's extremely toxic. Luckily, Alice noticed it sooner, if we took in any more, then we would've died without even fighting against whoever our opponent is,"
"Doesn't that mean all the townspeople are dead?" Delia asked with a sad expression.
"Unfortunately, yes. Given the strength of their bodies, it's impossible for them to survive after inhaling this fog for a minute," The Principal replied.
"We should get going," He added.
"Sir," Grey called on the Principal to stop. Seeing that he had stopped, he continued, "Can we wait for a minute longer? Void's trying to see how far this restriction is. Knowing the limitations of this lockdown will at least give us a certain amount of precautionary measure,"
"Hmm, alright. Once he's done, we'll leave," The Principal said.
He still didn't know how Grey was communicating with Void who was nowhere to be seen, but he trusted Grey. Although Grey tends to hide things from him, when he saw the expressions of Grey's friends when he was speaking of the space element, he could tell that they knew of it.
When thinking of this, a thought suddenly came to his head. Since Grey knew so much about this space element, it only means that he has it as well. If he recalled properly, Grey already had three elements he knew of, lightning, earth, and the fire element he somehow managed to acquire back at the trial land. Now with the addition of this space element, it meant Grey had four elements.
'Hey, so I've got the exact range of the lockdown. It's around two and a half kilometers. However, it's weaker once you go past the one-and-a-half-kilometer mark. You can find a way to escape once you've gone past there,' Void explained.
"Okay, we can go now," Grey said.