With such an incident occurring, there was no way the concert could just continue.
Ellen let out a sigh, of all the times. Why did it have to happen now?
The academy was closed almost year round, completely isolating itself from the outside world for the safety. No one could go in or out unless they had a valid reason or were given permission by the academy. In essence, the academy practically functioned as a city within a city, that being the capital.
The only exception was during the end of year holidays and a few other minor public holidays when students were allowed to leave to visit their families, during missions where students obviously were allowed to leave if their mission took place outside of academy grounds and finally, the Rising Star Tournament. Which was a triennial event held at the academy in which outsiders were allowed in.
Raymond received permission to leave the academy on weekends whenever he wanted, but he was he.
For Ellen to leave the academy, it was a whole different ball game.
So she was very displeased with the current situation. More then displeased as a matter of fact.
Grabbing Raymond’s shoulders, for the first time. It was her pleading with him rather then the other way around.
Oh how the tables had turned.
"Raymond! Can’t you do something? What if you use your time magic to heal him, and fix the stage?!"
"...I think it’s too late for that already."
She shook him slightly. Only slightly.
"I could probably do so but he’s already in an ambulance being rushed to a hospital. What do you want me to do?"
"We could go to his ward and visit him there?"
"What are you talking about."
Ellen was usually pretty rational. Rational enough to not lose her cool over any accident or random situation.
But seeing her so distraught over something like this. Raymond felt the image of the World Crossing Arrow he had in his mind and heart get shattered to a million pieces.
To be fair, said image had already shattered long ago. Like a really long time ago, basically ever since he got trapped in this dimension. But still, he couldn’t help but feel the cool Ellen had been stuck inside of the prison which was normal (or crazy) Ellen. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had been seriously awed at her.
Even when she did it now, knowing what lay just underneath the surface really ruined the experience.
It just wasn’t the same as her past. The effortless, elegant aura she held back then was on a league of its own.
She shook him by the shoulders again. Snapping him out of his thinking.
"Raymond. Please?"
"Why not just call dad and ask him instead of me?"
"I’m not sure whether he would agree to this."
Rayez already spent the money just to get this concert here. Surely he wouldn’t mind?
But finding and entering the hospital ward of a celebrity, Raymond wasn’t sure whether or not this was illegal. It definitely felt illegal.
Her grip on him tightened, a scary looking light appearing in her eyes.
"Raymond..."
Uh oh.
He recognized that look.
"Let’s just find him ourselves."
"If we don’t get caught it’s fine right?"
"Even if we get caught, dad will make sure there’s no consequences."
"So let’s find him ourselves."
Faced with her rapid fire barrage of circular reasoning. Raymond took a step back, followed by another.
Shaking her arms off of him, Raymond’s fingers quietly formed a hand incantation behind his back. Quietly casting an illusion spell. Then casting another two spells to silence his sounds and make himself invisible.
While the clone spoke to Ellen and dealt with her nonsense. The real Raymond,
Tak tak tak
Ran away as fast as possible.
The entire stadium had magic cast over it to prevent any spells above a certain level. It prevented said spells for security reasons but it still had to let spells at the first or second circle mainly because there were a few people who relied on certain spells just to function. Such as paraplegics or people with disabilities that relied on magic to walk. Some people also relied on artifacts like Raymond’s glasses.
Some tired office workers even relied on spells the same way as caffeine in order to keep themselves awake.
So Raymond couldn’t just directly teleport out, he had to physically run out of the stadium first!
Casting another spell to boost his speed, he ran with all his might. Feeling his sides burn.
Damn it he wasn’t about to be involved in something like this!
This was against the law!
Seeing the stadium exit in his sight, Raymond pushed his legs even harder. Getting ready to summon his staff and teleport away the moment he could.
"Where are you running to?"
A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Turning his head to the side, he could see that despite being buffed and running with all his might. A certain someone was still managing to keep up with him, she didn’t even look tired as she did so.
"HEL-
Ellen immediately stuck her hand out, causing him to trip and fall.
Laying on his back, he tried to move his arms to no avail. A shadow blocking the lights overhead.
Her golden hair tickled his face, her multicolored eyes glimmering only a few inches away from his, and of course. Her arms which had pinned his wrists down, preventing him from moving them. Alongside her legs holding his down. He was completely restrained.
"Ellen..?"
"Trying to even run away now. I don’t remember teaching my Shadow this."
Completely ignoring him, she began speaking on her own. Which was frustrating because no matter how Raymond tried to squirm his way out, he found himself unable to escape. She didn’t even sweat after all the running, nor did she look bothered by Raymond utilizing as much strength as he could.
He already knew Ellen was really strong, but this was just ridiculous!
Still struggling against her grip, he asked. "How did you even realize?"
"It was pretty suspicious when your illusion kept nodding and only saying ’I see’. "
Since his magic was restricted, his illusion was unfortunately also restricted to extremely basic actions. Just making it resemble him perfectly already took up most of the spell. He couldn’t make it do anything else with so little left!
"Imagine my surprise. I just decided to use my innate power on a whim you see, and your weaknesses were vastly different then usual!"
"Is—that so!"
Ellen had once mentioned to him that his weaknesses were always very small, varying and hard to even hit in the first place. An illusion didn’t exactly have a physical weakness.
She smiled, "Ah, but I did see some weaknesses that matched yours moving quite slowly. Seemingly running away from me?"
"How interesting!"
His fingers formed a hand incantation, crossing his middle and index fingers.
Something she immediately noticed, swapping her grip on his wrist to completely cover his fist.
She even did the same on the other side as well!
"Raymond. You have two options now. Either you do as I say, or you make me make you do as I say."
"What the hell kind of ultimatum is that!"
Ellen might not have feared the law, but he did! He was still trapped here for another few years, he didn’t want to throw away a relatively decent life!
"We can talk about this so let me go will you?"
"Nope, just say. Option 1 or option 2?"
She had already gone fully off the rails here. Or maybe the rails had never existed in the first place.
Seriously, she had been on such a long streak since her last unhinged/irrational episode!
"...I’ll do it."
"Great!"
Letting go of his arms, she helped him to stand up.
Dusting his clothes, his eyes temporarily flicked to towards the exit.
’Another fifty or so meters...’
Making eye contact with Ellen again, she smiled. Practically screaming at him without even screaming.
"Try it. I dare you."
"..."
He stared at what was currently stopping him for another few seconds. Mentally calculating his escape chances.
’Hmmm...about 3%...’
His shoulders slumped.
Whatever, he gave up. If Ellen was going to do something, he might as well help. Just to make sure she wasn’t going to get into trouble.
Internally, his mind already regretted this decision.
But it also felt strangely happy for some reason. The idea of doing something so outrageous with Ellen made him ticklish in a way he couldn’t quite understand.
Maybe it was just the adrenaline, but agreeing to Ellen was starting to feel like a good idea now.
’Is this...stockholm syndrome?’
Nonsense, Ellen had never kidnapped him not had he ever done that.
The two of them hadn’t even changed much. If anything, it was she who had changed the most! Her emotional outbursts transforming into her playing with him like a toy.
Maybe it was for the better, Raymond couldn’t help but feel like this new Ellen was better then the old one. Who just kept everything bottled inside of her, waiting until it exploded.