“Oooh... Now that’s something. Right, Beta?” Sikuna asked the emotionless elf sitting next to her rhetorically.

“Flash Cast, Levitation, Aegis Aurora, Mirror Dimension, Life to Lifeless.” The report delivered in a monotone voice only made Sikuna even more intrigued.

“Just who is this girl?” She wondered even as she stood, preparing for this situation to get completely out of hand. “Wait Mirror Dimension!? But that would mean...” Sikuna looked up at the sky and a bead of sweat trickled down her temple.

Down on the platform, the animated skeleton of an adult dragon had appeared fully. It was nearly a hundred feet long, though half of that length was its spiny tail. Even though it lacked the weight it must have had in life, the gravity of its unearthly power still struck awe and terror into any that witnessed it. Its black talons and spear like teeth were even more menacing than a living dragon’s and a foul green light glowed from within its hollow eye sockets. Its focus was on Rin, and it opened its jaws impossibly wide where a ball of pure blackness began to quickly form.

Agitha immediately exploded into action. She leaped toward Rin who was staring with abject terror at the skeletal dragon. She crashed into the petrified girl and carried her out of the way in a roll just as a wide beam of blackness erased that section of platform without a trace.

“YOU!” Vira screamed as the hated elf woman appeared. “Skeletal Dragon, tear that hag to pieces!”

Cora’s tone and sudden strange accent gave Agitha pause. “The lich girl from last year?” She called, her face screwed up in confusion. “How?”

“Losing a body is merely a setback for me, and really I should thank you for delivering my phylactery to such a perfect place to find a new host. This body has even more potential than my old one. That said, you brought the nasty angel-thing to my house and killed me so it’s time for payback.”

Zell couldn’t even begin to make sense of the scene chaotically unfolding before him. Suddenly Zell felt his father’s hand firmly on his shoulder.

“Protect the twins, this is beyond their level. Then protect yourself.” Arlim said no more as he suddenly disappeared from sight. How could his father be so calm at a time like this?

Zell pushed his surprise quickly aside and moved to follow his orders. He caught up to Nin, who had bolted to the arena floor the moment Cora had begun to levitate.

“We need to get Rin and you outside.” Zell told her as calmly as he could. “Let Teacher and my dad take care of this.”

“To hell with that. Like we’d just leave all of our friends behind!” Nin shot back as they reached Rin’s side.

Agitha had already leaped away and was furiously smashing her demon bone swords into the Skeletal Dragon’s flank. Rin was shaking, and staring at Cora with wide eyes.

“It all makes sense now...” She muttered to no one in particular.

“What makes sense?” Nin balked back. “No part of any of this makes sense to me!”

“Possession.” Rin answered. “The nightmares, the alien thoughts, and finally the full manifestation. Cora is being possessed by an incredibly powerful and cruel entity. I should have seen it sooner.”

“This isn’t anyone’s fault. We just need to figure out how to deal with it.” Zell said, pulling Rin to her feet. “For now I think our priority is getting people outside.”

“It’s interesting when people say their plans out loud. Like I can’t hear you. Just where is this ‘outside’, little dullard boy?” Vira still spoke from high in the air above, but all three of the teens below heard her clearly.

As if on cue a wave of shouting and screams came from the exit. The fleeing students seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall.

“What is this!?” Zell shouted. An unexpected voice answered him.

“Mirror Dimension.” It was the elf girl in the red dress, who was suddenly among them as if by magic. “The undead dragon didn’t manifest in our world. We were all dragged into a copied pocket dimension where it already lived.”

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“Hey! You’re pretty good. I can’t quite summon the big ones all the way to the mortal world, this kid’s mana isn’t there yet. But it’s cheaper than you’d think to bring a bunch of shrimpy mortals to a copy of it, a real bargain!” Vira smiled triumphantly as she spoke.

“You speak of it lightly.” Sikuna was bewildered. “But this is spatial magic of the highest tier, cast in a Flash Cast cluster. It shouldn’t be possible.”

“Hey... How would you know it was Flash Cast?” Vira’s voice was suddenly venomous and suspicious, and her eyes narrowed at the elven girl.

Sikuna was never given the chance to answer as a shockwave tore across the arena from the battle raging between the Skeletal Dragon and Agitha. The Skeletal Dragon was a fearsome undead monster, strong beyond measure with a near complete resistance to magic and physical attacks. It seemed to have Agitha in a desperate state, she was repeatedly forced into wild dives and frantic leaps to avoid the crushing impacts and deadlier breath weapon.

Zell looked around numbly. Of all the hopeless situations he had ever experienced, this was the worst. He couldn’t attack his sister, the dragon was clearly too much for anyone here if even his teacher was struggling, and he was still low on mana from battling Misazel...

“Why so glum, Boss?” Even as Zell thought of the strange dragon boy, he appeared. Misazel cracked his ringed fingers and had a wide toothy grin on his face as he spoke. “Seems like a pretty straight forward smash the skinny wannabe dragon game to me. That kid’s a little scary but she’s outta mana. Aren’t ya, runt?” He smirked up at Vira as he asked.

“Runt? You must not value your life.” She threatened, neither confirming or denying his claim. “Mana Sense?”

“Even if I didn’t have that, it’s obvious. You’ve been doing nothing but yap to buy time ever since this started. You led with the grand finale, and now you’re barely able to hold onto appearances. You gambled that we would attack you and feed Aegis Aurora. Oh well, we all make mistakes.” Misazel shrugged halfheartedly as he continued to walk toward the raging battle between elf and undead, fully ignoring the now fuming Vira.

Agitha moved with all the lightning speed and grace that marked her as the most physically capable of all known Hunters. Any one of the attacks she was narrowly avoiding would utterly destroy nearly anyone, but close observers would notice something else also. She was keeping one eye on Vira, and slowly dragging the Skeletal Dragon away from her and the kids. “Any time now Arlim...” She muttered under her breath as another black beam shot past her.

“Hey Big Boss!” Misazel called to her. “Want some help?”

“Oh, hey dragon kid.” Agitha huffed as she continued to evade. “Nope, just hang back. We’re about ready.”

“Ha! That’s quite the boast...” Vira sneered. “My Skeletal Dragon is practically invincible. As long as Life to Lifeless tethers us, it can’t be so much as scratched.”

“Yeah.” Agitha grunted as a wagon sized claw smashed into the ground beside her. “That’s pretty much what that big brain Arlim said too.”

Something in Agitha’s tone shook Vira’s confidence. She frantically searched her memories for any possible way they could overcome the barrier of Aegis Aurora and sever the Life to Lifeless tether that kept her treasured Skeletal Dragon invulnerable...

“Okay, all set Aggie.” The voice of her host's father called from somewhere near her. Where had he been this whole time? “That was a ton of work but we’re all shielded now.” The man wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead as he spoke.

Even as he finished speaking, Vira felt a twinge of fear shake her spirit body like a discordant note being plucked on a harp. This human had...

“No way. There’s no way you can destroy it! Life to Lifeless makes it invincible!” Vira’s scream of denial echoed across the arena.

“Crying impossible after the fact is a predictable trademark of the defeated egomaniac. Alright Agitha." Arlim dropped the nickname and put a great deal of respect in his tone as he continued. "This little realm is a good place, and my negative mana barriers on everyone will protect us from your full release for a few minutes. I’m sure you’ve been itching to blow off steam for a few decades. Might as well crack all three seals.”

“Oh, can I!?” Agitha’s face suddenly lit up with almost childish excitement.

Zell looked from his father to Agitha and around to everyone else. They all wore the same confused look. “Dad, what do you mean? Protect us from Teacher?”

“Attend carefully, my son.” Arlim replied. “It isn’t every day the world’s strongest hunter shows her true self.”

Zell did watch, as did everyone. Agitha suddenly leaped backward far out of the Skeletal Dragon’s range. She flashed through a series of runes and spoke a word. Immediately a vortex of wind and pressure formed around her, lifting her mane of grey hair straight into the air. It was as much raw energy as the devil Onigoro had emitted in The Tear. The Skeletal Dragon seemed to be repulsed by it and staggered briefly but regained its footing quickly and began forming a ball of black energy in its jaws.

“One of Three.” Arlim said loud enough for only Zell to hear.

Before Zell could question the cryptic statement, Agitha drew another symbol and spoke another word. Instantly the ground beneath her boots cracked as though struck by a meteor and Zell’s jaw dropped. Agitha was now levitating above a small crater within a tornado of raging sand and raw visceral mana. The Skeletal Dragon was now losing ground, being driven back and over the short arena wall. Its breath weapon fired harmlessly high as it was thrown back.

“Two of Three.” Arlim had to shout to be heard. Zell didn’t need to guess what was coming next.

When Agitha removed the final seal, all went silent like a tranquil predawn field of freshly fallen snow. The power had become an abstract sensation. There was only quiet and darkness beyond the hovering avatar of Agitha floating through a seemingly empty vacuum. She was beautiful, Zell thought briefly. Then she flickered and disappeared. All was a sensation-less void for what could have been a few moments or several years. Then suddenly light and sensation returned in a frenzy of sped up imagery as though reality itself was struggling to catch up.

When Zell was finally able to focus, his teacher had returned to her normal self. She had a relieved look, like someone that had finally gotten over a bad headache. As for the Skeletal Dragon, there was only a dark shadow cast on the stands where it had once been. A perfect silhouette stained into the very stone of the arena.

A soft thud nearby drew Zell’s attention. His sister had fallen from her levitation. He rushed to her side along with everyone else. She was breathing but unconscious.

The world around them seemed to subtly shift, and the massive damage caused by the battle disappeared to be replaced by the normal scenery from before the incident. The sounds of the breeze, the river, and the birds in the sky returned and only then did everyone notice those sounds had been missing at all.

“That damn lich...” Agitha growled, kneeling next to Cora’s unconscious form.

“The one you put down last winter? The half human girl?” Arlim asked, cradling his daughter’s head in his hand.

Agitha swallowed hard and nodded, feeling fully responsible for Cora’s condition.

“How many times can I fail her?” She sighed and touched Cora’s cheek gently.

“You couldn’t have known she even had the power to create a phylactery like a true lich.” Arlim consoled her. “All we can do now is seek advice from someone more knowledgeable in possession and expulsion of entities.”

“I guess we know some demons now, don’t we?” Agitha said, trying to shake her melancholy.