In a downward spiral stretching from unfathomable heights to metres above the air in which Lucas floats, the giant winged serpent coils like a tortile staircase in the sky. Its wings, vestigial or otherwise unnecessary, the monster hovers vertically in the air unaided by its sprawling wingspan.

Atop the head of the beast, a young girl stands, looking down on us from on high. Negating her innocuous appearance: her face, her otherwise plain-white shirt, and her oversized floral patterned trousers are saturated in blood. The gravity bearing down on me lessens. Fits of excited laughter bursts from the woman at my side.

'Mummy dearest, you came!' Standing to her feet, Huntress jumps up and down. She waves both hands in an attempt to draw her mother's attention. Her endeavour, fruitless; the Maverick standing on the head of the serpent neglects to look her way. Instead, her eyes focus solely on me before lifting to observe the blue-haired man.

Stepping from her perch, vast, black, membranous wings sprout from the Dread Mother's back. With a gentle flap of her wings, she halts her descent. Maintaining the rate at which her leathery appendages beat at the air, she lowers herself to Lucas' level.

Sweat pours down my face. I wipe it off, but it's replaced a moment later. The oppressive rank-five aura radiating from the girl in the sky suffocates me. My efforts to stand, denied, I remain on my knees, looking up at the two monsters hovering above me.

'Dread mother, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' With a wave of his hand, Lucas bows to the girl in front of him.

'Oh? You can recognise me despite my unfortunate appearance?'

'I would have to be blind, deaf, and devoid of all other methods of perception before I fail to recognise your mighty presence. Though I fail to understand what it is that has brought you here today. Presumably, the Tower breach was your doing. Was this academy your target this whole time? I assure you that if it was, you won't find what you're looking for here.' Scratching the back of his head as if embarrassed by his inability to cater to the Dread Mother's needs, Lucas chuckles.

'I'm not here for that. I have already claimed what I've been searching for. I'm here to apologise for my unruly daughter and her friend and to take them off your hands. Once I've retrieved the two, I'll make for you no further trouble.'

With a loud and turbulent sigh, Lucas covers his mouth with his hand as if conflicted as to how he should respond. Though he too is a rank-five Tension Master, the question of whether he could best the Maverick in an all-out conflict can be said to have only one answer.

Of course not.

Like everything else in this world, rank-five experts are not created equally. Though professor Lucas is unquestionably strong, next to the might of someone who has received the blessing of a transcendent one, his power is found wanting.

However…

A battle between gods, no matter the victor, leaves mortals in despair. With a stray thought, either one of these monsters could erase my existence from the face of Aspire. Should Lucas choose to fight, he may fall; he may flee, but I won't see what happens. I'll have been dead from the moment the first Art was cast.

'As things stand, I can't just let those two go.' At Lucas' words, a tsunami of barbarous energy washes over the campus. The ground rumbles; the air snaps and pops. Desperately, I labour to take a single breath. I claw at my throat but to no avail. The power the Dread Mother exudes…

It defies all reason.

'Is that to say you intend to stand against me?' Moving closer to her prey, the Dread Mother flies above the head of the blue-haired man and looks down on him from above. Seemingly unfazed, Lucas begins to laugh.

'Not exactly. It's just that, now that you're here, this relatively simple heist has devolved into a matter concerning a well-known Maverick. If you all leave without making a fuss, that leaves me in the unenviable position of having to explain to the headmaster of this academy, the Peace-Keepers, and maybe even the heads of the five ruling Clans, why it is that I didn't try and apprehend you.'

'Ah, I can see your dilemma.' My starved lungs rejoice as the visibly placated Maverick retracts the excesses of her malice. 'One must keep up appearances. What did you have in mind?'

'A performance of sorts.' Crossing his legs, Lucas sits, suspended in the air. Mimicking his movements, the Dread Mother does the same.

'You have my attention.'

'I doubt I would survive a serious battle against you. Even if I could, I'm not sure much would survive of this Academy. As it's still useful to my purposes, It would be better for me if the damage caused was kept to a minimum.' Lucas directs the Dread Mother's attention to several buildings in different directions. 'I'd prefer it if we could keep those buildings in particular intact.'

Nodding to herself, the Dread Mother points in the direction of a building Lucas had not specified to her. 'But that eyesore over there, it's not a priority?'

'I suppose not.' As the words leave his mouth, a colossal clawed hand composed of a seemingly ink-like substance manifests above the offending structure. Descending, it engulfs the construction, erasing it from the academy's skyline. Reducing it to rubble.

The ground shakes. An explosion of noise consumes the air. Smoke billows from where the building had stood. With a single Art...

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She reconstructed the landscape with a single Art...

Terrifying.

Uncrossing his legs, Lucas retakes his initial stance. 'I suppose we should get started. Try and go easy on-' Before he's able to finish his thought, the Dread Mother's arm blackens, morphs, and grows. Grabbing her opponent with her mutated hand, she winds back her arm and throws the professor into an unprioritised building.

Sound, catching up with action, a deafening boom explodes from where the Dread Mother sits. Unravelling her legs, she turns. Looking down at Huntress, she subtly shakes her head.

'Do you see what trouble your actions have caused me?' I suppress the urge to laugh at the absurdity of a blood-soaked, pre-pubescent girl lecturing a grown woman. The menacing aura emanating from the girl, and the sight of her casual destruction aids me in that suppression.

'But, Mummy?'

'No buts!' The Dread Mother says, cutting Huntress short. 'We'll discuss this at lengths when we get home.'

At neck-breaking speeds, Lucas shoots back into the sky, flying over the Dread Mother. Lifting his arm, he summons giant spears of twisting wind. With the drop of his hand, the spears are launched towards his adversary.

Expanding her monstrous arm, The blood-soaked girl batters the spears with the back of her hand, dispersing the torrent of swirling air that had formed them.

Resummoning the, ink-like clawed hand, the Dread Mother sends her disembodied appendage in the direction of Lucas. Flying out of the way of the attack, Lucas centres himself before whatever retaliation he had devised is cut short by the hand's return.

Chased through the sky by an immense claw, Lucas swerves, dips and dives in an effort to escape his pursuer. His evasion, futile, he turns to face it. manifests a tornado, and carves a hole through the middle of the outstretched claw.

Flying through the hole he had created, he soars towards the Dread Mother. From behind, he generates five titan spears of wind. They converge on the Dread Mother's location, only to be nullified by layers of translucent barriers surrounding her.

A tar-like liquid pools in the sky. Melding together, it takes the form of a single eye. It directs its pupil at Lucas. A buzz like the sound of a swarm of Ten-Eyed Hornet-Sharks pierces my ears as a beam of blood-red energy is fired from the giant eye.

Lucas avoids the attack but it tracks him. Carving through academy buildings and the ground below, wherever the eye looks, destruction follows.

To think, neither one of these demons are taking this fight seriously. What utter devastation would they bring if they were to fight in earnest? It's unimaginable.

Just as the beam is about to incinerate my professor, it vanishes. The abominable eye evaporates into nothingness, and combatants slowly fly towards one another.

'Is this enough carnage to satisfy enquiry?'

'More than enough. I thank you for your indulgence.' Bowing once again in a formal manner, Lucas raises his head and flies beyond my line of sight.

From below, a hand lifts Huntress and me into the air. Rising steadily, we come level to the Dread Mother. Looking at me and then huntress, in turn, the Dread Mother shakes her head.

'Mummy!'

'Shush!' The girl says, cutting Huntress short. 'We'll talk when we get home.' Lifting us to the head of the serpent, the hand deposits Huntress and me onto its crown and vanishes. The Dread Mother flies up to join us. Taking her place at the front, she strokes the beast's head. At once, the snake lifts vertically towards the tip of its tail, taking the three of us into the clouds.

Straightening itself out, the snake flies horizontally through the skies of Aspire. Radiating heat from its body, despite the temperature above the clouds, the warmth spreading from the serpent banishes the cold. Looking down, all the world is a blur to me. From this height, all definition is lost.

Sitting cross-legged, the Dread Mother lifts herself from below, turns around, and faces me.

'You can take off that filthy mask. I already know who you are.' Though hesitant, the slick feel of the blood I had vomited earlier, pooled at the base of my mask, motivates my compliance. Uncovering my face, I allow the wind of our flight to carry the stream of blood from the inside of my mask out into the air behind.

'Isn't that much better, my dear?'

'Why did you save me?' Following my words, the Dread Mother laughs a girlish laugh, and yet…

Her appearance, her voice, her demeanour. Everything about the girl is a contradiction. She has the face of a child, but the eyes of a sage. The frailty of a mortal, but the aura of a god.

'You're wondering about my appearance, aren't you? There'll be plenty of time to discuss all of that over a cup of tea.' Standing up, The Dread mother stretches out her hand. Gripping the air, she pulls from nothing, a scroll. Unravelling the scroll, she rips the paper in half.

The space in front of the serpent distorts. Without slowing, the winged beast continues on its path towards the distortion. Crossing through, we arrive mere metres above a mansion. Reforming the black hand that had carried us onto the beast, the Dread Mother lowers Huntress and me onto the black-grass field surrounding the manor.

Though I don't see her, the beat of her wings informs me of my host's descent. With the rustle of grass compressed beneath feet, the Dread Mother lands.

An earth-shattering roar booms in the sky, and the monstrous winged serpent ascends further into the heavens before vanishing from view.

'Beatrice, show our guest to an en-suit bed-chamber. I'm sure he's eager to wash away the stains of your misadventure.' Provide him, also, with one of my high-grade healing potions and a corruption expulsion potion.'

Nodding meekly at the girl, Huntress gestures for me to follow. Though every step brings with it waves of pain, I allow myself to be guided by the clown-faced woman into the Mansion.

'You know, my love, if you get lonely in the bathtub, I'd be willing to keep you company.' Taking my hand in hers, Huntress gives a gentle squeeze before I'm able to retract my palm from her grasp.

We arrive outside of a room, walking within, I'm met with luxury I could only have wished for in the days spent with father. Large enough to store my dorm back at the academy at least four times over, the chamber houses every furnishing one could possibly require over the course of a lifetime.

Leading me to a shelf holding rows and rows of differently shaded glass bottles, Huntress selects two and passes them to me.

'Here you go, my sweet boy. I'll have to leave you be, for now, make myself more presentable. Of course, my offer to bathe with you still stands.' The maintenance of my silence, triggering a sigh from the madwoman, Huntress turns and leaves.

I remove the corks from the potions and drink. Warmth spreads through my body. Congregating around my damaged organs, the heat seeps inside and intensifies. Gritting my teeth, I fortify my mind against the searing calefaction of my heart, kidneys, and spleen. My torment ends. As if finding an oasis in the desert, relief washes over me.

Removing my clothes, I walk naked into the adjoining bathroom. Running the water from the tap, I allow the tub to fill and place myself inside. Submerged in comfort, I focus my mind on the situation at hand.

Though the treasures I stored in my satchel were crushed under the weight of Professor Lucas' spatial Art, I still can't consider this venture to have failed. The majority of my pillage remains safe around my neck. Caressing the spatial storage ring resting on my chest, I allow myself to slip further under the water.

My problem now is the Dread Mother. She's far too powerful to go against.

Escape?

Only if she'd let me…

It's an uncomfortable thought, but for now…

I'm at her mercy.