Pale didn't hesitate. The moment she heard screaming, she began to run for the door, only for Glisos to stop her by erecting a solid wall of earth between her and the way forward. Pale immediately rounded on him, leveling a harsh glare in his direction.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"I can't let you go out there," Glisos stated.

"Why…?" Cynthia asked, nervous. "What's going on?"

"The school is under attack," Pale told her. "Unless this is part of the exam, Professor?"

Glisos shook his head. "No, you're correct. Wait here, all of you."

Before Pale could say anything further, Glisos covered the only door out of the classroom in a thick wall of rock, then the floor beneath his feet shifted, seeming to swallow him whole before closing. Pale stared at the spot he'd been just a second ago, then turned towards Valerie.

"You're an Earth Mage," she stated. "Can you get me out of here?"

Valerie blinked. "I can, but… why-"

"Because I'm not going to just sit here and wait to die, that's why," Pale declared. "Especially not when they're out there killing people already."

Kayla stepped forward, glaring at her. "If you're going out there, then you're not going alone. I'm with you."

"So are we," Cal and Cynthia declared.

Valerie shook her head. "I'm not just going to sit idly by, either."

Pale stared out at them. She wanted to argue, to point out that it was too dangerous, but another explosion suddenly rocked the school, and she knew they had no time. Much to her chagrin, all she could do was nod her head in understanding.

"Okay," she said. "But be careful. Don't go looking for any fights you can avoid; let the upperclassmen and teachers handle the brunt of it."

Pale peered out past her friends at the other students who were in the room with them. The first-year students, at least, had been split into different groups for testing purposes; half of them were in Glisos' classroom, and the other half were elsewhere. Of the students grouped up with her, the majority of them didn't seem like they'd be of much use in a fight – they were already panicked and worried, and Pale could tell they'd just be liabilities more than anything. There were a select few, however, who seemed like they were more than willing to leap into the fray to protect their fellow students and professors.

And as much as it pained her to admit, they were all likely going to need the help.

"Anyone who's willing to fight, we're headed out into the hallway," Pale stated. "Valerie, can you open up a path through the walls for the others to escape? I don't like the idea of leaving them here alone – they'll be sitting ducks if someone breaches the door or walls."

Valerie nodded. "Just say when."

"Do it."

Valerie obliged, and a moment later, the stone wall shifted, revealing a new passage to the exterior part of the campus grounds. Most of the students needed no further prompting, and quickly ran for their lives, unwilling to fight whatever threat was laying siege to the school. That ended up being most of the students there among them; Pale counted only nine total who had chosen to stay and fight, and five of them were herself and her friends.

Pale let out a short exhale, then looked back over towards Valerie. "Before we do this, we need to establish our objectives."

"Which are…?" Cal asked.

"Rescue anyone who needs help. Stop the attackers by any means necessary." Her eyes narrowed. "For me, personally… I need to get to Virux's office, where my weapons are being stored. Otherwise, I'm useless in a fight."

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"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked. "You-"

"Are unarmed, save for my knife, and there's no telling who, exactly, is attacking the school," Pale pointed out. "I'm heading for Virux's office to get my weapons back. And I'm heading there alone."

Kayla stared at her, horrified. "Pale, you can't do that!"

"I have to. Professor Virux's office was in the direction of the first explosion. I'm heading right into the hornet's nest, and I will not allow myself to drag you all there with me." She shook her head. "The rest of you need to stick together and work to save as many people as you possibly can. I'll rejoin as fast as I'm able to." Pale looked over to Valerie and gave her another nod. "Open it."

Valerie hesitated for just a moment, then did as she was told and opened a path out to the hallway. Pale didn't wait for anyone else; she immediately broke off, sprinting down the halls, aiming for Professor Virux's office. Behind her, she heard the others calling her name, but she paid them no mind, instead focusing on her present mission.

Hopefully, there wasn't too much resistance on her way to Virux's office.

XXX

Pale crept through the halls of the Luminarium, one hand wrapped tightly around the grip of her knife as she went. Off in the distance, she could hear spells being cast, along with the screech of steel clashing against steel, followed by the occasional cry of pain or death rattle. The noises only grew in intensity the closer she got to Virux's office, which she'd realized by now was located in or near the epicenter of the initial explosions.

That realization couldn't help but make her wonder as to how the attack had started. Virux's office wasn't exactly at the front of the school; the attackers would have had to make their way deep into the Luminarium in order to launch their opening salvo there. Which meant, somehow, they had to have sneaked past the external guards.

Pale shook those thoughts away almost as soon as they'd entered her head. The how of it didn't matter, she supposed; the important part was that they were under attack now, and she needed to stop it while she still could. And that started with getting her properly armed. She still had a supply of weapons and ammo back aboard her pods, but calling down a pod in the middle of the Luminarium would no doubt draw every hostile in the area towards her as they tried to investigate the commotion, and while she was confident in her ability to defend herself, Pale did not agree with the idea of facing that many people at once, particularly if they were skilled enough and bold enough to launch an assault like this in the first place.

With that in mind, Pale continued to move through the halls. She passed by several classrooms that reeked of blood, and grit her teeth as she did so. Whoever was attacking them, they'd definitely started towards the center of the school and worked their way out; she saw no trace of any of them as of yet, even though there was plenty of evidence of their handiwork scattered about. There were no dead students in the halls, though that was almost certainly because they'd all been in class at the time of the initial assault. Rather, she saw bloody footprints spattered across the floors, and knew the attackers had come this way.

Pale approached a branching path in the hallway before her, one that split both left and right, and was about to step out into it and continue on her way when she heard a pair of unfamiliar voices echoing through the halls. Hurriedly, she flattened herself against a nearby wall, keeping a tight grip on her knife as she heard them approach.

"Where is this kid, anyway?" one of them said.

"No idea."

"Damn it… this school is a fucking maze. How does anyone find their way around this place regularly?"

"Look, the kid's just a secondary objective, right? We'll let his father know we weren't able to get to him in time, or that one of the teachers found out and killed him before we could stop it. I mean, what choice does he have but to believe us?"

Pale's eyes narrowed even as she committed the overheard conversation to memory. Whatever was going on, it was clear that this wasn't just some random attack. Whoever was responsible, they had some agenda of their own, and it sounded like it involved one of the students at the school.

Pale had no time to think further on it, as two people dressed in ragged tan cloaks suddenly turned the corner in front of her. Both of them were armed with bloodstained knives, and coupled with the conversation she'd just overheard, that was enough for Pale to determine they were threats.

She launched herself at the nearest one, a tall, tan-skinned man, and leaped onto him, slashing his throat in the process. Blood splashed against the nearby wall and against her, and she let go of him as he fell to the ground, clutching at his wound with wide eyes. The other hostile, having seen his friend get his throat cut, raised a hand up towards her; Pale had barely enough time to dive out of the way before a bolt of lightning came arcing towards her. It missed her by mere centimeters, leaving a small crater against the stone floor as the accompanying thunderclap echoed against the walls.

Pale recovered quickly, rushing her next target down and going in for a series of stabs. To her dismay, he was able to counter each and every one of her incoming strikes with ease, and finally, after she accidentally overextended a bit too much, he made her pay for it with a stab directly to her chest.

Her body armor saved her life, the ceramic plates turning the blade before it had a chance to penetrate and do any damage to her. She felt a part of her armor crack inside the plate carrier, but it didn't matter – her enemy had made a mistake, and she made him pay for it with a quick slash directly to his jugular vein. Blood began to gush from his wound as he choked, and his knife came clattering to the stone floor below as he fell, trying desperately to clamp his hands over the wound and stem the tide of blood. Pale didn't let him, though – she drove her knife into his heart with a series of three stabs, and then he was gone.

The fight wasn't over, though – the first man suddenly charged at her with a feral yell; she could only assume he'd cast some kind of healing magic on himself while she'd been distracted, because when she turned towards him, the only remnant of the wound she'd inflicted upon him was a trail of scar tissue stretching across his throat. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up before thrusting her up against the nearby wall, choking the life out of her as he did so; Pale thrashed in his grip, trying desperately to free herself as his hand closed around her neck. It was no use, though – his free hand kept her arm pinned to the wall as well, preventing her from retaliating with her knife. Pale began to desperately gasp and sputter in his grasp, black closing in on the edges of her vision as her supply of air dwindled with every passing second.

Then, suddenly, she was showered with a spray of blood. The man choking her stiffened, and then his eyes glassed over and he fell to the ground, releasing her in the process. Pale fell to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath, but had the presence of mind to look up.

To her relief, Virux was standing above her, wielding a spear. He was covered in blood, but none of it appeared to be his own.

"Are you okay?" he asked, offering her a hand. Pale accepted the gesture, allowing him to pull her to her feet, though she stumbled a bit as he did so.

"Fine…" she managed to get out between coughs. "Where… your students…"

Virux shook his head. "I got them all out already. What about you? Why are you wandering the halls alone?'

"Need… weapons…"

Understanding dawned on Virux's face, and he nodded. "Follow me. I'll get you armed up right away."

With that, he took off down the hall. Pale took a moment to finish collecting herself, then followed after him.