“This is a problem,” Brian sighed as he looked at Grisha, the robes she was wearing bunched up at her feet, the hood sticking up awkwardly around her horns, “Is there anything we can do about it?”
“I don’t know,” the principal sighed, “At least, not without letting another Mage know that she is still alive.”
“Uhm…” the girl said as the two adults discussed options, “Uhm…?”
“Huh? Oh sorry, were you trying to say something, Grisha?” Brian asked, looking down at the girl.
“Yes,” she nodded, “I am of the Wizard Class, one that specializes in transmutation. I have an Ability that allows me to change my appearance, though…it was only level two before.”
“Before?” Brian asked, “What’s it at now?”
“Level ten,” the girl replied immediately, “Though I have no recollection of levelling it up so much since before…before I was taken over.”
“Right, well that could work,” Brian nodded, “Think you could give it a try right now?”
“Yes,” the girl nodded, closing her eyes as she spoke the Ability’s name, “Form Shift.”
The pair watched as the girl grew in height by several inches, allowing the bunched-up robe to lift off the ground, and her horns retracted into her head, letting the hood sit normally. Her tan skin also darkened several shades, and her long white hair became dark and curly. Impressed, Brian just nodded as the girl opened her eyes again, still the same deep crimson they had been before.
“That should work,” he said.
“This…this is the most I’ve ever changed with that Spell Ability,” the girl gasped, looking at her new form in the nearby mirror, “This is incredible!”
“Actually, what level are you right now, now that I think about it?” Brian hummed, tapping his chin, feeling the slight beard that had started to grow again.
“Before I was taken, I was level seven,” the girl replied, “Now…now I am level twenty-eight.”
“What?” the two older Mages blinked, looking at each other in surprise.
“That is a lot of power for a child,” the principal said slowly, looking at the girl carefully, “It would be best that you familiarise yourself with what you can now do as soon as possible.”
“Right,” Brian nodded, feeling a little inadequate, as he was still stuck at level seven with an Experience Point deficit. Shaking his head, he quickly opened his Status Screen just to check.
Name: Brian Andrews
Level: 7
Class: Dark Mage
Job: Scribe
Skill Points: 10
Titles: [Holder of Forbidden Knowledge] [Marked by the Darkness]
“What?” he blinked, at first excited to see that he had somehow managed to offset the Experience Point deficit already, but then surprised by his new Title, “Well, that’s concerning.”
“What is?” Grisha asked, looking up at him in worry.
“New Title,” he said, “And it doesn’t seem like the good kind. Anyway, we can talk about this later, when is the research group going out?”
“In ten minutes,” the principal replied, “So you two had better hurry.”
“Right,” Brian nodded as he led Grisha out of the room, “Thanks again!”
------
“Ugh,” Archibald Luster groaned, “Why must I of all people be forced out onto a field of corpses to rifle through their remains?”
“Shut it, Archy,” the girl beside him sighed, “This is part of our education at the Academy, so just be grateful you were chosen to come.”
“And what of our two extra members?” the boy grunted, “Where are they? It is almost time for us to leave. I bet they are commoners, no sense of time.”
“Sorry we’re late,” the familiar voice called out as the two robed figures approached, Archibald paling slightly as he saw the face of the man in the lead, “Uhm…we were just in a meeting with the principal.”
“It is fine,” the leader of the group nodded, “We were just about to leave.”
“Great,” Brian said happily, glancing back at the shorter girl behind him, who was trying to hide her face under her hood, “Come on, Grisha, let’s go.”
“R-right,” she whispered, glancing around at the other Mages as they stared at her.
“Ah, Sir Brian,” Archibald said as jovially as he could, “I had not realized you would be joining us! And who is your…friend?”
“Another diplomat, from a different kingdom,” Brian said quickly, “Let’s not waste any time, shall we? Best we set off now that we’re all here.”
“Yes,” the leader nodded, turning away, and leading the group out of the Academy.
They hurried through the streets, past the destruction caused by the swarm of Demons that had invaded but a few days ago, blood stains still visible on the ground, though no corpses were in sight. That didn’t last long as they arrived at the destroyed gates, a literal sea of bodies visible through the wide-open gap in the wall.
“To think, one being did this,” one of the other Mages muttered as they looked at the destroyed gate, scraps of wood and twisted metal still lying around, “Such power for such a vile abomination.”
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Brian glanced back at Grisha as the rest of the group murmured in agreement, seeing the way she was curling in on herself. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as they walked through the gate, squeezing it gently while the leader showed the guards some papers. They made their way through quickly enough, the leader directing them deeper into the carnage.
“Right,” he said as they finally seemed to reach the middle of the ocean of gore, “Spread out and start inspecting the bodies. Try to find anything of value, magical or otherwise.”
“They’re…they’re looting the corpses?” Grisha whispered as Brian led her away from the group, the rest spreading out on their own.
“Thus is war,” Brian sighed, “I’m sure it must be hard to see all this, Grisha, but we need to get far away enough while looking like we’re working to be able to make our escape.”
“It’s just…” the girl suddenly sobbed, “This…all this…it’s my fault…I caused…I killed all these people!”
“No, you didn’t,” Brian said as he spun around, kneeling in front of the young girl as he took her shaking shoulders gently, “You weren’t in control of your body at the time, or your mind. You didn’t do any of this, the living Curse did.”
“But…” she sniffed.
“But nothing,” Brian said gently but sternly, “Now come on, let’s get moving.”
“R-right,” the girl muttered, following silently after him as they pretended to loot the corpses, moving further and further away from the group.
“Ah, Sir Brian,” the nasally voice made Brian cringe as the noble sauntered over to them, “I had not realised that I was moving towards you.”
“Yes, you did,” Brian sighed, “You’re trying to get into my good books for clout.”
“Clout?” the boy blinked, “What exactly is this… “clout” you speak of?”
“Political power,” Brian replied, “Look, Grisha isn’t doing too well seeing all this, so could you leave us alone? I’ll talk to you some more after we get back to the Academy.”
“Ah, well…of course,” the boy said dejectedly, “I shall leave you be, then. I apologize for disturbing the two of you.”
“Not a problem,” Brian muttered back as the Mage wandered off slowly, glancing back at them frequently, “Dammit, we can’t afford to let him see us run.”
“I…I might have a way to fix that?” Grisha sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, “I also have some illusion Abilities. The one I could use is only at level five, but I should be able to make it appear as if we are still here for about ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” Brian blinked, “Perfect! Can you do it now?”
“Moving Image,” the girl said as the copies of them appeared standing beside them, Brian grabbing her by the shoulder to pull her behind a pile of bodies. The illusion quickly started to run through a slightly stilted animation of the pair of them reaching down to the corpses, before standing up and repeating the exact same action, “Sorry, that’s the best I can do.”
“No, it should be enough, as long as that other guy doesn’t try to bug us again,” Brian nodded, “Let’s sneak away now.”
The two casters hurried away as quickly and quietly as they could, leaving the capital behind them.
------
Dylan scowled as the group marched slowly through the fields, his nerves starting to get the better of him even though they were already several hours away from the capital. He glanced back at his class, swallowing slightly as he saw them all staring at the ground, obviously just as worried and nervous as he was.
“We need to split up,” he said, the group stopping as they looked at him in confusion as he continued, “A group this big will be too easy to track. So, we should separate, and each make our way to the coast and the Elf lands.”
“Alone?” Richy asked, sniffing slightly, his eyes till looking haunted after the experience with the Demon Lord.
“No,” Dylan shook his head, “I think it would be best if we split into our usual parties. That way everyone knows each other’s Abilities and can work as a team.”
“But that’ll leave one group with only four members,” Samantha said, looking at Richy again, “Is that safe?”
“We’ll be fine,” a tall girl in splint mail said, “I was the off tank for our party before Tyler…so I can take on the role of full tank. It may actually be easier for us to get around as a smaller group, anyway.”
“Yeah,” Richy nodded, obviously forcing a smile onto his face, “We’ll be fine. Dylan’s right, we should split up for safety.”
“Right,” Dylan nodded, “But first, what are everyone’s levels? I’ve never had the opportunity to ask.”
“Our group are all level twelve,” Richy said.
“Level fourteen here,” the second party replied.
“Level fifteen,” the last group said, surprising Dylan slightly, “What level are you guys?”
“Nineteen,” Miles answered, making the rest of the class murmur in surprise.
“That actually makes sense,” Amanda spoke up from her group, “You five were always being sent on more dangerous and numerous missions than the rest of us.”
“We were?” Dylan muttered, “Well, that doesn’t matter right now. We need to split up for safety. Remember everyone, do whatever it takes to get to the coast and on a ship to the Elf lands. And stay alive.”
“Right!” the class replied as one, the various parties grouping up as they started to walk down the road separately.
“Bit awkward to say all that when there’s only one way to go,” Gregory sighed as their party followed behind the others, “There should be a crossroads up ahead in about an hour though, so we can split up there.”
“Right,” Dylan blushed, wondering if he should have waited until they’d gotten to the crossroads to make his small speech.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” Mary hummed as they continued to walk, “Let’s just get going.”
------
“Right, where should we go?”
“What do you mean?” Grisha asked as they walked down the eastern road, the battlefield about an hour behind them.
“I mean, should we try going to the Demon Lands? You have a family name, right? Does that mean you’re a noble or something?” Brian asked.
“I am the fifth princess of the Astralion kingdom,” the girl replied immediately, “Twelfth in line for the throne, and second youngest child of the king Vergut von Astralion.”
“A bit more info than I needed, but that’s a good thing, right? We could go ask your dad for protection.”
“No,” Grisha muttered, shaking her head, “If we go to the Demon lands and they find out who I am, they will execute us both immediately.”
“What? Why?” Brian blinked.
“Because I was the last bearer of the Curse,” the girl sniffed, “They will not care that it is dead, only that I stole hundreds, if not thousands, of the lives of our people.”
“So, the Demons aren’t too happy when a Demon Lord appears either?”
“No, though we call the person the Soul Stealer,” Grisha explained, “Because they steal the minds and souls of other Demons to build their armies.”
“Interesting,” Brian muttered, looking down at the robed girl as she sniffed again, “It’s okay, Grisha. What happened wasn’t your fault. You were being controlled by the living Curse, but it’s gone now.”
“But for how long?” the girl asked, looking up at Brian with tears in her eyes, “It spoke of something more powerful than the gods! Something that created it! How long until it makes another one and steals the body of another Demon?”
“That…” Brian trailed off, “That’s actually a really good point. Shit, I didn’t think of that. Well, if it happens again, we know I can at least kill the living Curse and free the person it takes over.”
“But what is to stop them being taken over again? Will you form another Soul Contract?” she sniffed.
“Maybe, if I have to,” Brian nodded, “I’ll make a Soul Contract with every living Demon if I have to to keep them safe.”
“That’s impossible,” the girl shook her head, “Your Soul would implode from the stress, killing you instantly.”
“What do you mean?” Brian asked.
“A Soul Contract is a link between Souls, it takes a certain strength of Soul to even be able to form one,” the girl explained, “To take on too many Soul Contracts would severely weaken your Soul, stretching it out in a manner of speaking, until it eventually broke, and you died, ending all Soul Contracts you’d made until that point.”
“Ah, I see,” Brian sighed, “So that plan is out the window then, I like being alive. For the most part, at least.”
“I also don’t want you to die,” Grisha muttered under her breath.
“Thanks,” Brian smiled at her, the girl’s cheeks darkening slightly as he did so.
Shaking his head, Brian turned back to the road they were walking down.
“So, where can we go if not to the Demon Lands?”
“How about the Dwarf Lands?” Grisha asked, “They are known for being exceptionally lawful and neutral on most matters regarding the other races. Perhaps we could seek asylum from them?”
“So, kind of like Sweden, then?” Brian hummed.
“I don’t know what a Sweden is,” Grisha replied.