School of Elementals: World's End

A Different Friend

Keith looked behind him to find a boy standing there, holding dual pistols with star camos. He recognized him as Derick, but something felt off. "Why would he be using guns instead of his own hands?" he thought to himself.

"You okay?" Derick asked.

"Yeah, just fine. I was intrigued by your weapon choice, however. Did you decide to go long-ranged or something?" he answered.

"A couple of years ago. Anyways, what city is this? Doesn't look like Ergs to me."

Keith began thinking harder as Derick looked around him, trying to absorb his surroundings. "Why would be bring up a non-existent city? Is he immersed in books or anything? Wait, I think I know how to tell." he thought. He then turned to face Derick, and said, "Hey, can you mention everything you did in the moments before you got here?"

"Okay... so I was just peacefully enjoying my time in my house which was at the Asylum of Ambivalence of Ergs, and I was just heading towards the castle where everyone was talking when I got pulled through a portal and sent here."

"The f***?"

At that moment, the ground shook thanks to the energy being emitted from the Glitching Matrix. He then said, "Alright, we'll deal with this otherworld stuff later." before charging straight towards the Calamity of Time. He brought out the pocket watch, and as he stopped time, he ran straight through the barrier. His movements slowed when they should have stopped like the numerous amounts of people trapped there, and he threw a few knives. He then jumped back out of the barrier and towards Derick, and as time restarted, the knives stopped in midair. He tossed a few more as the outer barrier regenerated, putting it to a stop.

"Where's your sword?" Derick asked.

"Oh, NOW I know. NOW I know that you're from another world. I don't use swords here. I use knives." he replied, with realization. Derick decided to make a move, and he shot stars of varying sizes towards the entity. They stopped within the barrier, but Keith stopped time, countering the entity's stopped time thus making everything there move again. The knives pierced through the entity while the stars exploded, creating shockwaves that stopped the moment they went through the barrier. Time restarted, and Keith noticed the rest of the group approaching with a brisk jog.

"New person here?" Alexandra asked.

"Think it's someone the British brought over. They must've used the multiuniversal portal." the boss said.

"So, what do we do with this thing? How do we destroy it?" Sakuya asked.

"Stop time and attack. Everyone, hold on to me." Keith answered. No one else said a word as they held on to each other's shoulders, and the moment Keith stopped time, attacks started flying at the entity's direction. However, it broke through Keith's time stop, allowing it to attack. He clutched the pocket watch harder in his hands, and he put it in his right before leaping towards it. He charged up a punch, and it hit, damaging it. However, he jumped back just as the entity spawned several portals, and as Keith restarted time, he said, "Well s***."

Numerous lasers shot out in an instant, but Derick blocked them with his stars, and once the attack ended, he aimed at the entity and fired the lasers. It dealt a sizable amount of damage, but the barrier instantly regenerated. Stars then appeared on it, and Derick said, "Star Sight. As the Star Hunter, I can use this to mark its weak spots."

As he started shooting the stars, everyone attacked them with their ranged weapons. Not long after, the barrier shattered, and its time area fell, allowing everyone to charge straight at it. Stars flew left and right, bullets came at lightspeed and knives were being tossed, but none of them dealt a sizable amount of damage to it.

"Wonder what's it trying to do now." John said, shooting at it. Derick had already used Star Sight multiple times, but no stars came up. "No idea. Just be prepared for literally anything." he replied.

Keith glanced at his pocket watch, only to find that it was vibrating rapidly. He brought it further from the entity, and the vibrating lessened, but when he brought it closer, it vibrated more rapidly. He then said, "I think the only weapon that can deal damage to this thing is this watch."

Everyone looked at him just as he stopped time, and dashed forward. He was close to the entity when he brought out the pocket watch, held it in his right hand, and slammed it on the black square. Large cracks appeared, and started spreading throughout it, until it finally broke, black pieces flying everywhere and the time area bring destroyed, and he jumped down. He landed with a roll, and restarted time as he put the watch back in his pocket.

"Now that that's settled, how about we try to see your origins, other Derick?" he said.

"Ok, so in my world, you were there, but everyone else over here isn't there. You wielded a sword, and you had unimaginable powers. I was just taking a stroll when I suddenly pulled here."

"Did you see anything while you were being pulled?"

"Other than the inside of a blue tube, I saw 2 others, 1 girl, 1 boy. I think the boy's name was Alston, because he looked way similar."

Keith remembered his younger friend Alston, who brought his fists to a fight. He then asked, "What were they holding?"

"Alston was holding a sort of assault rifle while the girl didn't hold anything."

"I see. Think they were brought here as well."

The boss then came forward and tossed Keith a small headphone. He said, "The UK officers want a word with you."

Keith put his hand to the headphone, and heard a voice coming through it, "There's a boy who's holding various guns fighting the Calamity of Matter, and a girl in a lab coat using her extra powers to fight the Calamity of Life."

"Alright. Thanks for the info, sir."

He released his hand from the headphone, and said, "They're both in this world."

"Alright. They'll probably think you're from their world, just like me."

"How can you tell?"

"The fact that I was dragged from a different world and their faces of confusion while travelling through the portal. They must've come from other worlds, since I didn't see Alston nor the other girl in my world."

"I see. If that's the case, which Calamity do you think we should take on first?"

"You shouldn't ask that, kid." the boss said, approaching the two as the others were talking in the background, "You should be asking, is it better to die to being sucked in or die in an instant thanks to a cloaked figure with a scythe?"

"I'd rather die to being crushed to death. I'll be honest, I'd rather feel pain than die in an instant."

"If that's the case, then we're going to go to Cape Town. To be more general, South Africa."

"The f***'s an English-named city doing in the edge of a foreign continent?" Alexandra asked with disbelief.

"No idea. It was formed long before I was born."

"Anyways, how should we get there? Our transportation's all gone, and we don't have any airports nearby. Also, anyone notice that it's night time?" Keith said, making everyone look up. Sure enough, it was dark, and the surviving streetlamps were on. John checked his phone, and said, "Been 2 days since Bryan escaped from us. We better move now."

A large star appeared on their feet, and Derick said, "No worries. I can take you there."