Making his way around, Arras supposed his day would be manageable at the least. It wasn’t too difficult to be awake after his “short” nap. He’d still much rather be asleep, but that wasn’t exactly an option. So, he made due with what little focus he had available in the moment.
So close to the starting time of class, there were quite a few students walking around. Arras didn’t bother to memorize the names or faces of anybody not in his immediate classes, so he couldn’t name many of them, but the outfits stood out from person to person. While it wasn't as if everybody wore something different, most outfits tended to differ from each other. Each of them the same color scheme, with varying patterns plastered across them. A red outfit with white trim etched over it, similar to his own outfit, just without the black that comprised a fair majority of it.
Most of those patterns eventually took shape after Arras paid them attention for more than a second or two. As if they were illustrations of various different things carved into the clothes themselves. A charging raigahma, a prong rabbit ready to attack, a bird of some kind in flight, almost every outfit had a different pattern, but sometimes those with the same crests tended to stick together.
On top of the red and white outfits, there was also a group of students that made up far less of the majority, wearing white outfits with a red trim, the inverse of the rest. Those red trims were always in the same pattern, starting from the shoulders and trailing down the arms, just like his own outfit. It was curious, and while Arras felt like he was on the verge of putting it together, whatever it was evaded his tired mind. Either way, it was nice to take his focus off the distinct lack of a presence “running” along with him as he bounded through the halls.
Darting across the floor, Arras’s paws clapped against the tiled floor on an off kilter beat, weaving his way around a group of at least a dozen students without a single one of them noticing, sliding through and around the gaps in the crowd with grace despite his sleep deprived state. Despite his time away from active combat of any kind, when it came to such maneuvers, he was always fresh.
HIs path had been entirely from memory, perhaps a blunder tired as he was, but Arras had faith in his own ability if nothing else… Well, that and faith in those he cared for. Regardless, he didn’t intend to slow down. With only minutes remaining, he slid to the side as a pair of legs almost knocked him over, whirling around the oncoming group without so much as brushing hairs against a single soul’s leggings, catching himself as he came sliding through with a haphazardly thrown together force barrier that shattered on impact. Though, it did its job of stopping his momentum well enough.
Bursting out of the front doors of the school a moment later, Arras’s head snapped to the side as he eyed his own class off in the distance, far fewer students now blocking the way. If he wasn’t wrong, he still had about five minutes to make his way to class, which was cutting it close, and was certainly different from what he’d usually be doing, but the extra sleep had been very necessary.
Despite not being transformed, Arras’s paws hit the ground with enough force to send dust flying as he bounded towards his class. There were no clocks outside, but he had the distinct feeling that he’d be cutting it within a margin of seconds. So even as he panted, he didn’t stop to slow down for a second. He was… fairly sure he sprayed at least a few people with quite the amount of debris.
Though if they had a problem with it, he certainly hadn’t stuck around long enough to hear about it. No time to waste after all! After making that mistake perhaps two or so more times, O7 was finally in sight, along with a few people who he, this time, did in fact recognize. Skidding to a halt, Arras grasped for the link he had with his artifact, and a moment later, activated the metamorphosis spell contained within.
Taking a form more human, it was much easier to feel the dust and pebbles that had stuck to him in his haste, and it was rather unpleasant. …It was also inside his clothes. He had been dirty before quite often, his entire life to be frank… but… he hadn’t really cared? How could he care about it when as far as he was concerned, that was the norm?
…It wasn’t the norm anymore. Showers were revolutionary. He actually quite liked feeling clean. His fur was lighter, and while his white hair never really got grungy, to Illia’s mild confusion, he just… felt better when not caked in dirt. Real shocker who would’ve figured. And while he wasn’t exactly caked in “dirt” at the moment, it was similar enough for him to be uncomfortable. Luckily, skin was easier to clean than fur. That required a bit more effort.
With a simple wind spell, Arras blew the rubble out of his clothes and continued forward as a few heads turned at the gust of cold air. It was rather unpleasant given the ever cooling climate, but Arras wasn’t exactly aiming it at them. They’d be fine. Besides, they knew better than to take issue with him.
Well, to be fair, he was more than happy if they wanted to do that, but perhaps not today. He wasn’t sure how well he’d be fighting on… he wanted to say, five hours of sleep? Somewhere around there. Probably better than any of his current students, but he had a principle on not allowing himself to relent in front of them. Illia was his primary reason for that, given her tendency to occasionally take his lessons less than a hundred and two percent seriously. If you viewed your teacher as somebody like the Headmaster on the other hand… Well, Arras knew HE wouldn’t be testing her if he wanted to continue living, so why would anybody else? Speaking of Illia… actually, no, he wanted to keep his mind off her for the moment, the dread that came from their current separation would do him no favors.
“Good morning, Professor!” Zeke stood straight and smiled, good to see him in good spirits. He had been one of the more active participants in Arras’s class when it came to demonstrations. He seemed to enjoy their sparring sessions, so Arras was usually more than happy to grant them. “You’re a little late today, is something the matter?”
“No… nothing’s wrong, of course… not.” Arras loosely strung together a series of illusion spells, slight slurs that otherwise wouldn’t appear in his “speech” working their way to the surface. Very smooth.
Smiling a little nervously, Zeke nodded. “Of… course! I look forward to class today!”
Conversely, Arras frowned. He was far too observant. Perhaps he’d just have Zeke and Miela keep each other occupied today. They were among the best of his class, but they were also more aware of Arras’s ticks, being the only two who currently sought him out for after class guidance.
Though, that still left three other students he’d have to worry about. Most of the twenty five students currently in his class were “average”. They kept up with whatever Arras tasked them with, the rest whom had long since given up, he would class as “below average”. He hadn’t kicked anybody out, but some were eager to leave. White and red students alike had fallen below the bar to keep up, and… overall… he had about… ten less students than what he’d started with? A few students had also applied to join his class a few days in, and most of the six who had done so had stuck it out so far. One, however, quickly realized that Arras’s class wasn’t for them…
That was a miracle of statistics according to Illia, but then again it wasn’t as if she had a better idea of this academy than Arras did. She’d had her own private education for what little time she’d spent with her family, but he didn’t know how well that translated over, neither did she. Frankly though, Arras expected more people to stick it out. They had wanted to learn, hadn’t they?
Now… for those three other “above average” students. Again, he could just have two of them pair with each other, but to put the third and final against one of the other students would be… unfair. Perhaps not in a matter of skill, given everybody was currently on a somewhat level playing field in terms of prowess, but those five… there was something else to them that the rest of the class just didn’t have. A willingness to learn that stoked something in Arras. He’d have to deal with them himself, despite his current predicament. The question remained however, which of the three would he choose?
Kori had gotten better with their defense over time, and while Arras could still crack it fairly easily, he wasn’t sure if he could do it precisely enough to not cause genuine harm at the moment. Illia was generally around to help with injuries incurred, even if she wasn’t exactly great with healing magic… but she wasn’t here today obviously, and Arras was even worse with that particular branch of magic than she was. He could barely use it at all, even less so on somebody other than himself.
So, Kori was off the table. That left Arras with either Leiaidis, or Pierre. While the former of those two could muster quite the offense, Arras was at the very least confident in his ability to deal with that easily. It was a simple matter to defend himself, at least from his students. He had no real need to control his magic in that faucet, it wasn’t as if he could harm them in any way unless they bashed their own heads into a wall he constructed. However… he wasn’t exactly sure if Pierre and Kori would be a good pair for each other.
Sure, there wouldn’t be any issues with them sparring… but that was sort of exactly the point. They didn’t have the skill sets to challenge each other in any meaningful way. Their sparring would be a test of endurance, but that had already been what they’d been working on for days at this point. Arras had placed much emphasis on efficiency and sustainability in his lessons. And in that process, he’d say that his students had fallen mainly into two categories.
Those focused on offense, and those focused on defense. And in his mildly hazy planned out day, he’d intended to pair the two groups with each other one by one. While learning how to deal with somebody who fought in a similar way to yourself could be helpful, learning more from others who could challenge your existing skills in a new way was a far better use of one’s time. In his opinion, anyway.
A few mismatches would occur, Arras couldn’t do much about that. There were more students who found their initial aptitude in defending themselves rather than attacking. It was understandable, he supposed. People who had lived a… more sheltered life, where they didn’t need to fight and kill to survive, would have more apprehension on that front. However, for those who were putting in the effort to absorb as much as they could from Arras, he wanted to give that effort back. Even if he didn’t really know any of them on a more personal level, he respected the drive to perfect one’s craft to the best of their ability.
So, given Arras would firmly place himself under the category of an “offensive” fighter, the question stood. Safety, or progress?
Wrapping up his internal debate, Arras cycled his magic for a moment as he prepared to cast a few more spells. It wouldn’t do to be slurring and stuttering in front of the class proper. And as he’d come to find out today, it was a pretty good way to shock his senses into properly functioning.
“Good afternoon, I apologize for being late. For anybody who has any questions, or would like extra pointers,-” he had a feeling he was going to regret this one “-feel free to talk to me after class. Now, class today should be fairly basic. You will all be sparring for the entire duration, with as few breaks as possible. Your sparring partner will be picked out by me, and you are to manage your magic usage as efficiently as you can. Sparring rules will proceed as usual, the more knockdowns that you can score on your opponent, the higher your grade bonus will be. Every minute you spend not sparring will decrease your bonus by one, you are expected to manage this appropriately in order to get as far ahead as you can. Any questions?”
Not a peep.
“Excellent. Step forward when I call your name.”
…
“P-Professor… how in the world am I supposed to get my bonus…?” Pierre mumbled apprehensively as various magical energies cascaded around the training grounds.
“Nothing to worry about, I’ll award you points as I see fit. With your skill you should have nothing to worry about.” Arras dismissed the concern as he huffed irritably. Despite his initial wishes, he’d resigned himself to doing his job. His previous class could do without his input, however… he wouldn’t ruin somebody else's effort by not putting in his own, regardless of his circumstances.
Weaving a final few illusion spells, Arras continued to survey the area around him. Taking note of the twelve other consecutive fights.
…It was going to be difficult to judge accurately. But he’d manage… somehow.
“Take whatever stance you see fit, the rules of the duel are the same for us as they are for everybody else.”
“...Yes Professor.”
All of that aforementioned business left Arras with frighteningly little focus to divert to controlling himself in the fight… but oh well, out of anybody Pierre would be able to take it the best. For now though, he’d start small… damaging the arena wouldn’t be a great idea given everybody else around, so earth magic was a no… but… wind, explosion, fire, illusion, manipulation… all of that should do!
Arras smiled ever so slightly, before his tails began to thrash.
“Do your best.”
…
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG
Every projectile nearly meets its intended mark, or at least what I think would be their intended targets. I can’t be sure if Professor Veile is even properly trying to tag me at the moment. His current attacks would be absolutely put to shame by some of the stuff I’ve seen him do in the past…
Explosive orbs circle above my teacher's head, each sphere eventually launching out towards me in rapid succession. It’s extremely difficult to defend myself, but I can at least scrape by with my meager skills.
Rather than creating multiple different spells on the fly, like what Professor Veile would do, I pour as much magic as I can reasonably manage into one specific spell; Redirection Barrier. Each projectile that enters its sphere of influence is just barely launched away from me, the impacts scattering dust and rubble into the air every other moment. The explosions are small, speed obviously far more important than power in the formation of my Professor's spell.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Occasionally, a more difficult spell to counter comes along. A wave of fire, a conflicting force working against my own manipulation magic. And with each one, I hastily throw together a spell to strike down the oncoming attack. A blast of uncontrolled lightning to disrupt the magic holding a flame spell together, a wave of frost to contest a strong gust of wind. While my own spells aren’t too powerful, they’re at the least enough to displace the attacks made against me. So, I manage to make my way through every offense. In fact… somewhat too easily, in my opinion.
So easy, that I’m hesitant to make an attack of my own. Is there… something that I’m missing? It’s never just this easy. I’d take a few steps back, but it’s not like I have the entire field available to me. If I go too far back I’ll just end up backing my way into one of my classmates. Is he… taking that into account?
I have to wonder if he’d really be that considerate. It’s not exactly in Professor Veile’s nature as far as I’ve seen so far.
Either way… just standing here defending myself the entire time won’t get me anywhere, and it certainly won’t get me any points. If I don’t score well, then I’m out, and that can’t happen!
FWOOSH
I was skeptical at first, I really didn’t think that Professor Veile would actually do it, but after displacing his fifth blast of flame, it seems as if he’s relegated himself to a pattern! Explosive magic is a constant, but every few seconds he’d switch from that for a moment in order to unleash a more widespread attack. This being one of many in a long line.
If he was waiting for me to figure that out… thirty seconds might be a bit… bad… in his opinion, but there’s no time to worry about that! Loosing hold of my Redirection Barrier, I redirect the focus used on that spell into a new one. An empowered ice magic spell; Frost Wave, which quickly tears through the blast of flame, encroaching towards Professor Veile in kind.
Though, while the ground quickly saw adverse effects, a thin layer of frost settling over, the Professor’s visage didn’t so much as twitch. And… of course, it must be illusion magic! He’s been demonstrating barely any of the usual trickery that he usually would, his attacks have been easy to counteract, and now that I’ve dealt with that, he’s going to appear from… somewhere! I get it, this isn’t a test of skill but of my perception! But, from where?
The “He” that I can see still isn’t moving, I can’t sense any magic near me either, but I can’t rule out the possibility of his having casted an unseen illusion spell on me to dampen my senses. I could just check, but if he’s about to make a move then I don’t have the time to properly purge anything from my system! I need to do something now-and-hah! There’s not enough time for this!
Whipping around, I quickly dismiss any of my other active spells and form a new one on the spot. It’s difficult, something I wouldn’t have even bothered to try before my time here in Professor Veile’s class, but even with the short amount of time I’ve spent here, the ability to create a spell, even of just one type of magic on command, was immensely useful. I didn’t quite have a name for it, but… A moment after I whirl around, I unleash dozens of cascading arcs of electricity, scorching the ground all over and almost hitting a few of my classmates! Though, they’re all so focused on their own opponents that I don’t even think most of them notice. The lightning strikes individually didn’t hold much power, I’d barely had any time to cast the spell after all, but a hit was all that mattered! I just needed to do it fast, and cover a wide distance! As long as I touched the Professor, I’d score a hit, and covering everything around me was the best way to do that! The… the… why… why hasn’t my magic made contact with anything?
Immediately my mind pictured what I needed most in that moment, doing the most I could to construct another Redirection Barrier. Where was he? Had he not-
“Ghk!”
Smashing into my back, an impact sent me careening to the ground before my magic had a chance to even form, the image of the spell fading from mind as I tasted dirt, the blow leaving me sputtering.
“Once again, you’re too worried about defending yourself.” Professor Veile started nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just blown open a hole in my shirt.
“The attempt at a counter attack in the last moment was a nice change of pace, but you over-thought it, I’d imagine. I never even casted an illusion, if that’s what you were worried about. All I did was counteract the cold with a flame spell.” He seemingly punctuated that statement with the dispersing of his magic, a quiet “fwoosh” emanating from his direction, as flames drifted from his form. I myself couldn’t tell you for sure though, I was still face down trying to push myself back up.
“If you sense nothing wrong, if you don’t even feel so much as a hint of something amiss, trust your instincts. Your own skill does not lie to you. Even if you’re against an opponent who could perfectly deceive you, at the very least, attempt to produce a wider range of attack. Even if I had been behind you, there wasn’t even a guarantee of your attack landing. The speed was appropriate for such an attempt, but there were gaps in your attack range.”
Before I could muster any argument against the somewhat unfair criticism, he carried on without a moment's hesitation. “I understand the only magic that you’re able to properly use Primordial Casting with is your lightning magic, and that it can be difficult to control… but that’s no excuse. Continue to practice so that you might be able to do it. To the point that you can do what I ask of you. To control it at a moment’s notice, to take that one magic of yours to the limit of your capabilities. Faster than anybody else, stronger than anybody else. If you can only use one magic, then make it the strongest.”
I could argue, say “that’s ridiculous and you know it”, but… there’s not much of a point to it. He won’t stop pushing me, or anybody else for that matter, to that level that he seems to think everybody can achieve. I’m not exactly special in his unrealistic expectations, evidenced by the shocking amount of students that had already dropped the class. But more than that… with how certain he sounds… I want to believe that it’s possible too. That I CAN reach that level, even if it’s unlikely.
Grunting as I finally push myself all the way up, I rise back to my feet and nod without resistance. Compared to everything that the Professor had to list about me in the past, the criticisms he laid out as of late were far less scathing. For example, I wasn’t acting like a “cowering prong rabbit” or “casting like an incensed herier”, so… that was progress! And if I could do that, then I could take another step forward as well, couldn’t I? I can keep walking forward, no matter what.
“Are you ready?” He spoke. It wasn’t really a question, just another expectation to be fulfilled.
“Yes, Sir!”
…
“...Arras”
“Arras!”
“Arras, wake up!”
“...Why?”
“We need to get moving, there’s only a few hours until the gathering starts, and it’s going to be a two hour ride to the Veile estate.”
“Oh… right.”
Arras couldn’t quite put his paw on it, but a fair few of his students had been quite spirited in class that day. Perhaps there had just been some sort of uplifting spirit going around today…? He certainly hoped it would visit him at some point in the near future, because he was dead tired.
“Did you… finish up?”
“Uhhhhh, kind of??? I think I can hold a metamorphosis spell for about… twenty minutes maybe? Still no clothes though…”
Stumbling to his paws, Arras bolstered his own weight with the weight of his magic, giving himself a far more solid platform than the bed to stand on. “Alright then, let’s go get some. I should have the space to hold it in-”
Knock.
Knock.
“Uhm…”
“He~llooooo…” A sing-song voice called out from the other side of the door, one that… didn’t quite make sense, if Arras wasn’t wrong…?
“...You hear that too, right?” Arras asked with a tilt of his head as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes.
With a dejected tilting of her entire body, Illia nodded slowly. “Yes, I do.”
“My, my! How long do you intend to keep me waiting? I certainly hope I’m not intruding on anything!”
“...What is she doing here?” Arras asked with a bit of genuine confusion as he brought his full focus to bare, taking hold of the various magics he needed to be making use of in short order should things go according to his current expectations.
“How should I know?” Illia muttered in kind, a kindred spirit in the spirit of confusion.
“Come now, we don’t want to be laaaate~!”
Stepping forward, first with paw, and then with boot, Arras rubbed his eyes as he walked towards the door. Stringing together a few more spells all the while.
“Alright… I’m ser-”
Just as the voice broke character, Arras loosed his rapid fire series of spells.
“I’m coming, calm down.”
“Ah, good, so I’m not about to walk in on… oh my, am I?” Lilly cupped her chin as the door cracked open, Arras gently squinting as the purplish light streamed into the room.
“What are you talking about?” Arras tilted his head at the chipper fellow before him.
“Oh, nothing, nothing~ it’s just you look so… ragged.” To be fair, Arras’s hair was indeed a mess as of the moment, his usually long flowing white hair frazzled and strewn about, not properly groomed in the slightest given he’d just woken up. “Clearly you only just now got out of bed, but it’s… rather late.”
“...What?”
Despite the rather confusing tangent, Arras was still proverbially scratching his head as to how the heck Lilly was even here. He’d never seen a student in The Library before.
“How… are you here?”
“...Hm? How, you ask? While students aren’t usually allowed into the staff section of The Library Between Realms, the Headmaster allows special cases such as this. You really must be coming along, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“...Hm.”
Well he wasn’t going to contest anything that monster of a woman had said. The more he could avoid her the better.
“I see… but, we still need to get Illia clothes, surely there’s time for that?”
“...But of course.” Lilly smiled more genuinely than she usually did as she tilted her head. “You didn’t expect to be allowed to show up at the gathering wearing the insignia of a free knight, did you now? This gathering is being hosted on our part for you after all~!”
“Wait, I’m sorry… I don’t quite understand, you want me to get… new clothes?”
Pausing for a moment, Lilly’s general facade faded, at least enough for Arras to notice a crack, an awkward smile spilling through as her usual energy dissipated somewhat. “Yes? Obviously…? I assume you’re a commoner by birth, but surely you’re not… that dense? Why would the main attraction of the Veile’s… not show up in the attire of one…?”
“That…”
…Made sense.
“I see, then we’ll be getting clothes for the both of us…?”
“Bah,” she playfully scoffed, regaining some of that former exuberance Arras had been coming to associate with her bit by bit.
“Of course we will, can’t have our main events showing up in anything less, no? I certainly won’t be letting you two cause any more grief for mother.”