My stiff shoulders creaked as my eyes slowly drifted open to a new day. I turned over and stood, rolling my arms to pop my shoulders. Tossing on some clothes, I headed out of my room. Following a pleasant smell, I found myself in the kitchen, where there was a bowl covered with a small plate. Removing the plate, I found the source of the smell. Thinly sliced beef laying overtop hot rice and broth. This was likely Mira's doing, and since there were two bowls in the sink, I picked up a spoon and ate the contents of the bowl.

Once I finished up and washed the dishes, I headed down to the training room where Beatrix and Mira were. Beatrix was levitating while conjuring a yellow ball in her hands, and Mira was fluttering next to her with her wings.

Instead of disturbing them, I went back to the lab and continued my experiments. After a couple dozen batches, I started seeing similar results to what I was getting before I started altering my methods. Instead of getting wholly unusable results, I started getting the occasional perfume or crystal and sometimes even finding new ways to brew pre-existing potions. These relatively positive results were very few and far between. Even fewer were of any actual use.

Eventually, I noticed Beatrix at the lab door again. She waited until I was done with the batch of experiments I was conducting before saying something.

"Um, Oscar?" she said.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"About yesterday... I'm sorry about how I acted."

"Don't be, it's fine. Like you said, you had your whole life to think about it. Everyone should be able to do what they want with their life. Even with cursed eyes, you should be able to do whatever you want."

"Well... I thought about it, and you had your whole life to think about it, too, right? That's a lot longer than me, so I thought maybe..." Her voice trailed off.

"No need to worry about it." I walked over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I'll try to work with your best interest in mind, but your decisions are yours and yours alone." I let her go and went for the stairs. "Let's go, you're about to get to studying, right?"

"Actually, this was a bathroom break, but I don't mind studying now."

"Well, might as well at this point."

"I'll just let Mira know." Beatrix bolted down the stairs and raced back up before I made it to the first-floor landing.

Mira joined us after we were already in the study room. Beatrix seemed to have trouble understanding some of the concepts presented in the book on dark magic. I tried to explain it in simpler terms than the book put it in, but that didn't help much. While it was an advanced concept, she was dead-set on grasping it even though it was something she was still far from being able to use. We stopped before she could get too frustrated and called it a night.

The next day, I had to pop every joint in my body as I stood, yawned, and stretched. It took me a while to notice Mira sitting on my bed until I was in a compromising position mid-stretch.

"I thought you went to Bea's room," I said, still popping joints.

"I did, but she seems to have trouble sleeping with me around."

"She gets too excited, huh?" I sat on the bed.

"To say the least."

"Care to say the most?"

"I don't."

"Come on, you can tell me."

"I will not."

"Embarrassed?"

"No-I..." She placed a claw on her snout to calm herself down. "She keeps trying to coddle me like a stuffed toy or a common housecat. It's embarrassing."

"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually tell me."

"Maybe I shouldn't have." She hopped off the bed and made her way to the door.

I stood and followed her. "It's okay to get embarrassed. Just let her know and... Wait."

"Exactly. She might just want to do it more."

"Wait, wasn't this a problem of her not sleeping and not you being embarrassed?"

"Forget that I brought it up."

We went downstairs and found Beatrix in the kitchen looking around in different cabinets, cupboards, and any other compartments she could find. Before I could ask what she was looking for, she turned and saw me then proceeded to hit her head on the bottom of the nearest cabinet in surprise. Afterward, she placed both of her hands on her head and started sniffling.

"Are you alright?" I said, trying to suppress a laugh. "What are you looking for?"

"Spices..." She sounded like she was going to cry.

"Oh, those are kept downstairs." I headed for the stairs and she followed me into the second-floor garden. "Most of the spices are here. I think the automated system for harvesting them broke a long time ago and nobody bothered to fix it. The rest are ingredients stored in the lab."

Beatrix looked around with a curious look on her face. "Yeah, I came down here first when I was looking, but... Are you sure these are spice plants? Also, what about mineral spices like salt?"

I folded my arms and looked up in thought. "I think there's a cabinet you missed upstairs if you're looking for that."

"Of course... You know what? I don't think I want to cook again after last time."

"Fair enough. I'll make something."

We went back up to where Mira was waiting in the kitchen and I made pancakes and sausages. Once our plates were cleaned, Mira and Beatrix went down to the training room. They didn't seem to notice me following them all the way.

"Alright, back to what we were doing yesterday," said Mira, unfolding her wings.

"What were you doing yesterday?" I asked.

"Dualcasting. She needs to sharpen her mind to better allow her to control her mana, in turn, allowing her to control her gravity if you will."

"Hmm, in that case, I think swiftcasting might help more."

"Explain."

"While in dualcasting, you have to focus on maintaining one spell while casting another, swiftcasting, on the other hand, forces you to focus on multiple spells in succession while maintaining a constant flow of mana. Just a little proficiency in that goes a long way."

"I see your point. How should we proceed?"

"Bea, how about you try casting 'gravity ball' at one of those targets and then another as quickly as you can."

Beatrix cupped her hands together. "Okay." Soon, a yellow orb appeared in her hand then she threw it and immediately started focusing on creating another. It took her a little longer to create the second one.

"Good start," I said. "Try doing that three more times if you can."

She nodded and followed my instruction. After throwing the first one, it took longer to create the second one and the third one fizzled out before it could stabilize while the second one didn't reach the target like the first one.

Watching her cast the spells, I had a question. "Do you concentrate on the spell even after it's already cast?"

"I try," she said.

"Don't. Once it feels like the spell's complete, you shouldn't need to concentrate on it anymore. You should only need to concentrate on the flow of mana."

"I don't know..." She looked like she was deep in thought for a second. "I never feel like it's done when I cast that spell like with the levitation spell."

"I see."

"What if the spell is not complete?" said Mira. "What if it's an entirely different spell than we originally thought?"

"But when she cast it the first time, it was clearly the same spell. She even said the name." I took a moment to think. "What if we're both right?"

"If we are?" Mira hopped onto my shoulder and she folded her wings in.

"Alright, Bea, try casting the spell to completion. Not what looks like a finished spell, but what feels like it. Spellcasting is all about feeling."

Wordlessly, she cupped her hands together and a bright yellow light appeared after a moment. The orb started condensing until it came from the size of a baseball to that of a marble. From there, it grew to twice its then, current size.

Something seemed to be occurring in the space in front of her, but I couldn't exactly tell what it was. Out of curiosity, I conjured a fireball and tossed it into the air around five feet away from her where it stopped, outside my control, and hovered there.

Less than a second later, the orb between Beatrix's hands shined with an aura of light before it became a beam of energy firing forward, piercing the fireball, and continuing uninterrupted until it stopped at twice the distance away and dissipated.

"That was it," she said. "I don't think I can do it again, at least not now, but that was it."

"You definitely have a talent for this," I said.

"Indeed," Mira agreed, "That spell is called 'anti-gravity beam'. It's an intermediate-level spell and you cast it with less than a week of magical training. Very impressive."

I said, "Well if you can't do it again, for now, you should get back to studying. You'll need those advanced techniques soon." I turned around and went for the stairs with Mira on my shoulder and Beatrix behind me.

After a few hours of study, Beatrix was finally able to break some ground on understanding the concept she struggled on so much. After helping her with that, I let her get to work on solving the problems presented in the book on her own while I went to make lunch. On the way, someone knocked on the front door.

Knowing who was likely at the door, I went to the dog room and retrieved Borf before making my way to the door and opening it. Outside was a man and woman dressed in classy attire.

The man seemed elderly and was seemingly bald until his head fell out of the light, then long, jet-black hair could be seen tied into a ponytail. He wore a formal navy-blue and white suit and seemed to have a jovial air about him despite the perceived purpose of their visit.

The woman wore a midnight-blue dress and her left eye glowed just slightly blue from what seemed like layers of enchantments onto an artificial surface. In contrast to the man, she had a more serious air about her, and it showed on her face with a menacing scowl.

"Hello, sir," said the man, "I am Steven, the head caretaker of the Collens manor and household. Beside me is Mordred, also a caretaker." He gave a soft bow and so did the woman beside him.

"Greetings to you both," I said. "I am Azrael of the Twelve Wizard Demons. This is my tower, and here's your dog." I nudged Borf with my foot toward the door and he pranced to their side. "I assume this is the extent of our business?"

"No, please," Steven spoke quickly. "Lady Beatrix, she needs to come home. We can't leave without her."

"Can't or won't?" I folded my arms. "She seems happy enough here."

"Please, Sir Azrael, we need her to come home. Surely, you've noticed some... peculiarities about her. We urge you to reconsider."

"Oh? What peculiarities do you speak of? I've noticed nothing of the like."

Mordred's jaw was clenched the entire time, but she unclenched it to say, "No offense, but you're either blind or a liar. Have you looked into her eye for even a second? I find it hard to believe someone as powerful as one of the Twelve Demons wouldn't have noticed."

I narrowed my vision and focused on eye contact with her. "And what does how powerful I am have to do with it?"

She swallowed hard and took a breath. "It's... just that the more powerful the person, the stronger the effect."

"And what effect is that?"

"Please forgive her outburst." Steven was visibly shaking with a bow. "Beatrix. Her eyes elicit a fear effect in others who have proficiency in magic. The eyepatch she wears mutes the effect, but not by enough to completely nullify it."

"I'm aware," I said, "And now knowing the company she keeps, you still refuse to let her go?"

The frantic man straightened up. "We can't. If our master learns that we failed to retrieve her-"

"Basically, we'll be kicking rocks and someone less inclined to talk will be showing up unannounced," said Mordred, putting on a cocky smile. "I like my job and homelessness is a bitch. I ain't about that life. Listen, Bea's our boss's kid and he'd do anything to get her back, and I mean anything aside from coming to get her himself. He's that kind of guy. Doesn't matter how strong you are when he stops asking."

"Well, in that case..." I held back a smile. "I have a question for you both. Given how you both seem to be trembling, are you afraid?"

"Of course, we are." Mordred's response was faster than I thought it would be. "But our boss sure as hell isn't."

"He'd have to be, to want her back so badly." I infused my eyes with a bit of magic to trigger their change. "But he may have more to fear if he dares trifle with me."

Both of their jaws dropped and they stood silent as corpses.

"Tell him this: Beatrix has found kinship with someone not to be bothered. If she is to return, it would be of her own volition as a distinguished mage rivaling even a demon."

With that, I closed the door and went back to preparing lunch.

The next day, I woke up with Mira on my chest again. She was staring me in the eye as if she was waiting for me to say something.

"No morning kiss?" I said, reaching my hand up to pet her.

"I'll let you pet me this one time." She lowered her head to me.

"Oh? What's the occasion?" I ran my fingers through her feathers and she shuddered under my touch.

"It's to thank you for actually taking this seriously. You always seem so distant and nonplussed about everything. There were a few times I thought you brushed off my concerns, but it looks like you thoroughly acknowledged everything. I'm sorry I misjudged you."

"Now, I wouldn't say misjudged. You'd be right on the money if it was about anyone else. It's just hard not to be reminded of myself whenever I look at her."

"Is that all?"

"Well, it's a little hard to ignore when a cute dragon tells you something."

"Stop calling me that," she said, but she seemed happy about it this time.

"Forgot you can't take a compliment."

"Whatever." She shook off my hand and hopped onto the floor. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

We found Beatrix in the training room pacing around and playing with her hands. I couldn't tell if she was nervous, excited, or just anxious.

"Hey, Bea, you okay?" I said.

She jumped and said, "I'm fine, just- um, well, magic. I'm just excited."

"Well, if you're excited about learning, how about watching and learning?" I walked into the middle of the room and waved my hand, causing all of the targets to move to the far side. "Mira, you care to join me?"

"You want me to spar with you?"

"If you will."

She nodded her head a couple of times and said, "I'll indulge you this once."

Standing across from me, she started glowing purple before growing and appearing as a woman with a humanoid face, bright purple eyes with yellow sclera, a set of four short white horns across her forehead, and a scale pattern across her skin. Long purple hair made of feathers draped down her back and large plate scales around her waist made a skirt while more feathers wrapped around her shoulders like a poncho. She looked much like a stereotypical dragonborn.

Taking a deep breath, she blew a purple mist from her mouth into her hand. It soon coalesced into a solid purple polearm with a wide, sweeping, translucent black edge at the end, a glaive. It looked menacing in her clawed hand as she stood, poised and ready.

Reaching my hand out, I gripped my own weapon as it appeared. A black straight sword decorated with sparkling white lights and a flowing red hue across its surface.

"So, that's how that works," said Beatrix off in the background.

"Since you summoned your weapon, I assume you're going for full contact?" I said.

Mira gave an uncharacteristically cocky smile. "If you're not afraid of getting hurt."

"As long as you don't regret it." I dashed forward with my sword at the ready.

She responded with a full turn, trailing her blade behind her back and cutting off my advance. "I won't."

I stepped forward past her blade and conjured a fireball in my hand. In response, she turned again and then jumped away when the pole missed me as I ducked.

Releasing the fireball, I tossed it at her and triggered it to explode as soon as it was close enough.

As she leaped away from me, the feathers that created her poncho unfurled into wings which she flapped once to create a turbulent whirlwind and jettisoned herself upward as well as forcibly detonating my fireball before it could reach her.

Once she was in the air, she took another deep breath, allowing her uncovered chest plates to part slightly while she wound up to unleash a stream of deep purple energy at me.

I targeted that opening and slashed the air toward her. "Blade wave." A thin wave of red energy trailed from the tip of my blade and fired off, barely making contact as it skirted along the bottom of the wide laser traveling toward me.

As soon as I fired off my attack, I ducked to the side just fast enough to watch the diagonal column of energy wiz by me and crash into the ground.

My attack seemed to barely make contact since when her attack ended, there was only a faint red mark across her chest.

I raised my hand and cast 'blaze', causing fire to erupt around Mira. She noticed at the last second and dive-bombed at me, escaping the grasp of my flames as they sparked to life.

Readying myself, I noticed that I was being pulled toward her at the same time. The pull was strong but subtle. If I tried to engage her in the air, I'd be at a disadvantage.

Pulling my sword handle on each side, my weapon split in two, and swiping my blades at her in succession, I cast, 'blade wall'. The blade waves that leaped from my swords stopped mid-air between us and began passing blade waves between each other.

Tucking her wings in, Mira spiraled through the smallest opening unharmed and with her glaive pointed directly at me.

I recombined the halves of my sword and readied myself to disarm her as soon as she was within range.

Taking a breath, I slashed downward at her blade as it came within arm’s reach.

Halfway through the swing, I felt no impact and my instincts kicked in, causing me to leap toward her as she unfurled her wings and forced herself backward with another vortex of wind blowing me backward through the air.

Her glaive was still pointed at me as my sword was still down.

She straightened out her wings and halted her backward momentum, allowing her to fall toward me. By the time I realized she baited me into the air, my feet had just left the ground. In response, I cast 'flicker' and teleported behind her in a wisp of flame.

Knowing that she could sense where I went, I still did it because her wings would be in the way of retaliation, and as I expected, she furled her wings and was in the middle of turning around to face me.

I was already mid-action, casting 'fireball' as she turned and swiped me out of the air with the pole of her weapon, turning me all the way around and launching me upward.

She threw me into my 'blade wall' spell as it ended and vanished. In the process, I released my fireball, and it exploded in Mira's face, sending her to the ground where she landed on her feet.

Casting 'burning blade' with a delay on my sword, I readied two more spells to cast in turn. Next, I reached my hand out toward Mira. "Pull."

She started lifting off the ground toward me. "Push." Still hovering upward, Mira opened her wings and launched herself toward me while her own spell did the same to me. Well, it would have if I didn't cast another spell immediately.

"Disorder." With this spell, I transferred the properties of every spell still active in our vicinity, but since only two spells were active, their properties switched, causing me to accelerate down and her to become forcibly grounded.

Since Mira wasn't expecting to hit the ground, she landed awkwardly and fell backward as I zoomed toward her while my sword became engulfed in flame.

Our blades collided as I landed with Mira forced to unwrap her tail from around her waist and use it to pivot herself back into a standing position, but the force applied from me on the pole of her weapon forced her to stay bent backward. We stayed in this position for a moment.

I tilted my head over to Beatrix to signal that we had shown enough and my opponent nodded in agreement.

After helping Mira out of her awkward position, I said, "So, Bea, remember when you asked what weapons had to do with magic?"

"Yes." She nodded, staring at Mira as the draconic woman shrank back down to the size of a house cat.

"Well, that's why. Magic alone can get you far but include a weapon of some type and you can protect yourself from anyone." I walked toward the normal training room. "I'll teach you how to handle a weapon after Mira goes home. Until then, keep what you just saw in mind. It should be able to help in some way, hopefully."

Heading back upstairs, I got back to my experiments until Beatrix ducked into the room as had become normal. Once I was done with the current round of tests, she spoke up.

"Um, Oscar?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"This may sound weird, but what's your real name?"

"Oscar, what's yours? Or did you mean my last name?"

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"Well, my name never changed... I mean, Mira always calls you Azrael. I was just wondering if that was like, another name for you or something."

"Ah, I feel like I should have told you about that already." I sat back in my seat. My name is Oscar, but Azrael is more like a title. You see, like my master before me, I'm part of what some would call an elite group of Wizards. The Twelve Demon Wizards. Each of us has a title in the form of a demon's name. Mine is Azrael." I looked Beatrix up and down. She looked like she kept her poise much better and the look in her eye was much sharper than before. "I guess I should ask, what do you want yours to be?"

"Umm..." She looked away and blushed.

"My bad, that was a silly question." I stood and went to put my hand on her shoulder. "You'll know when time comes."

In an unexpected turn, her arms moved around me and pulled me into a hug. Since she was so much taller than me, my face was buried in her shoulder.

"Thank you," she said.

"Umm... No need? I literally didn't do anything." My voice was muffled.

"Sorry." She let me go.

"No need to apologize, hugs are nice. I just don't think I deserve one. I haven't even done anything yet." I brushed past her into the staircase. "So, was this a break, or were you on your way up to study?"

"Studying. I was just... You said your master was also one of the Twelve Demon Wizards?"

"Yeah, they went by Pan." I started up the steps and Beatrix followed.

"They?"

"My master's form altered daily. They were sometimes male or female, depending. I just called them by whatever they were on any given day. That's how it was."

Once we got to the study room, Beatrix got back to studying until she was tired. After I made sure we all ate, I cleaned up the dog room and converted it back into the empty room it once was before heading to bed.

Waking up with Mira curled up in a ball on my chest, I woke her up and made breakfast. Beatrix seemed to be waiting for me to start cooking because she appeared moments after I gathered the ingredients to help. Once we ate, I went on to conduct my experiments while the ladies went to the training room. Most of the day passed uneventfully until Beatrix stopped by the lab.

"Hey, Oscar, can we talk?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I want to know about your master."

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Were they afraid of your eyes?"

"Nope. Not even a little. Not unless I cast a fear spell or something."

"So, what was your master like?"

"Hm, not sure how to put it..." I looked up in thought. "I'd say, easygoing and free-spirited. Maybe a little too free-spirited. They'd go days without eating in the name of research and I'd often find them passed out in random locations. I'd always pick them up and put them to bed. Sometimes it felt like I was more of a babysitter than a protege. Although, I'm sure enough they could say the same from their perspective."

"Is that what it's like with me?"

"Not exactly. Feels more like I took in a stray from a bad home."

"So, I'm a stray?"

"You could put it that way. About as much a stray as the rest of us."

"A stray, huh?" She pursed her lips and took a breath. "How about Fenrir?"

"The wolf that kills Oden and starts Ragnarok? What about him?"

"That's the name I want if I become like you."

"Become like me?" I couldn't help but laugh at the notion. "No, you won't become like me. You're more likely to replace me entirely. But why Fenrir?"

"Well, like you said, he starts Ragnarok. I want to be the start of something, too."

I scoffed at the idea. "The start of a great cataclysm... A worthy name for a demon, indeed."

"Um, also, why are you called demons?"

"No idea. I've thought of that myself. What I eventually came up with is a power balance."

"Like angels and demons?"

"Kind of. Aside from the Twelve Demon Wizards, there are the Twelve Guardian Wielders, the Coven of Twelve Witches, the Twelve Sage Warlocks, the Twelve God Arm Enchanters, and the Twelve Celestial Summoners. It seems that twelve is the magic number, literally in this case, and between the groups, we keep each other in a sort of balance. I don't know to what ends, but it's not like we're a constant threat to each other or anything."

Beatrix was making a face as if my rambling fried her brain.

"You don't need to worry about that right now. Hell, I doubt you'll ever need to worry about it. Over-thinking it will just hurt your head."

"Sure..." She turned around absent-mindedly. "I'll just go study." She took steady steps up the stairs as if she was light-headed.

After more studying, we all went to sleep and repeated the process over the next two days until the day came for Mira to go. That morning, I was awoken by what felt like something licking my face. I figured it was Mira and just decided to leave it alone. Seeing her embarrassed was always nice but I wondered if she'd pretend it never happened if I pretended not to be woken up by it. To my surprise, it happened again. I continued waiting in case it happened again and this time, I felt a small, clawed hand pinch my nose.

After a few seconds, a whispering voice cooed in my ear. "I know you're awake. You're smiling like an idiot."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "And here I thought you'd keep licking me." I opened my eyes to the little dragon sitting on my chest. My waking mind was about to fire off a statement I would immediately regret, so instead, I shut my mouth and reached up to pet her, searching my mind for something else to say. "Do you purr?"

"No."

"Oh. Really?"

"Really."

I brushed my fingertips across her feathers to find a sweet spot. There would have to be some spot somewhere she liked to be petted more than others. Eventually, she started leaning into my hand when I started scratching somewhere near the base of her neck.

"Do you like getting petted?"

"No."

"Then why are you leaning into my hand so hard?" I stopped scratching and she shoved her head into my palm.

"You just found an itch I didn't know I had, okay? Keep scratching."

"You mean petting?"

"Ah, shut up, whatever, just keep going."

"Alright." I started again. "Does Belial pet you often?"

"Not at all."

"So, not often. Okay."

"Don't put words in my mouth."

"How about food instead, then?"

"Sure, just keep going a little longer."

I did as told and a few minutes later, I noticed something odd and stopped. Mira was completely motionless with her eyes closed and soft breathing.

"Did you really fall asleep?" I picked her up in my hands like a cat and she didn't respond. "You really fell asleep."

I got up and held the little dragon in the crux of my arm like a sports ball. She was unconscious the whole time. Heading downstairs, I cooked breakfast with one hand and Mira in my arm while Beatrix watched the whole time. Beatrix set the table for me while Mira continued to snooze away.

"How long has she been asleep? Asked Beatrix."

"Since before I came down here."

"Can I hold her?"

I laughed and said, "She's not a house cat." I looked down at the little lady still in the crux of my arm. "But if you really want to hold her, you'll have to promise not to do anything weird."

"I wouldn't... I mean- she's adorable." She started pouting almost like a child.

"While I don't disagree with that, she still deserves your respect. Besides, I think she's been stressed over the past few days. It would explain why she's asleep right now."

"Alright..." The pouting slowly lessened to just pursed lips.

"I mean, if you could control yourself, even a little bit until now, she might be asleep in your arms instead."

Beatrix nodded and said, "I'll try to work on my impulse control..."

"I'm sure Mira would appreciate that." I smiled.

A few minutes later, I felt movement as Mira lifted herself out of my grasp and hopped onto a seat next to me. "How long have I been asleep?"

After a moment of rewinding time in my mind, I said, "Minutes? I made breakfast and almost finished eating before you woke up."

"And you carried me the whole time?"

"Yep."

"Okay." She looked up and around. "Amy should be here any moment."

In less than a second, a couple of knocks resounded from the front door.

I stood and went for the door with Mira as she hopped onto my shoulder. "Speak of the devil and she appears." Opening the door, Belial greeted me.

"Yep, still alive," she said, apathetically.

"Belial, I told you I'm not killing myself."

"You see, Azrael, that's to be seen." She raised her arm and Mira hopped from my shoulder onto Belial's sleeve then up her arm to her shoulder. "Excuse us." She promptly turned around and left.

"Yeah, you're excused." I turned around and spotted Beatrix curiously spying the door frame.

"Was that her?"

"Yep. I'll introduce you next time. For now, how about we get to training?"

After finishing our food, we went down to the training room. The floating targets were still off to the side of the room from when I moved them days ago.

"So, what was Mira teaching you before she left?" I said, popping my fingers.

"Well, I have a hard time keeping control of my magic. It just sort of explodes on me a lot. We were trying different ways I could try to control it better."

"Oh, I guess she really took her job of only teaching you magic to heart, huh?" I went back out into the regular training room. "Grab a weapon. We're at the stage where you'll need it."

"Uh, okay." She looked between all the wooden weapons and touched a few. Eventually, she picked up the broadsword and held it ready. "What now?"

"Try to channel your energy through it. Just like when you cast spells except into the object instead of your hands."

Closing her eyes, Beatrix held the sword firmly between her hands with her eyes closed. After a few seconds, a dim yellow glow started traveling down the handle toward the sword. It didn't spread far enough to reach either edge of the blade, but it did reach the tip.

She opened her eyes. "Did I do it?"

"Mostly. How did it feel?"

"A little draining. It was like filling up a cup that just won't fill." She looked down at the sword. "And it's still not full."

"Alright, try a different weapon."

Next, she picked up the leather gauntlets. After putting them on, they started glowing bright yellow then very quickly popped off her hands like balloons.

"Looks like too small a cup," I said. "Next one."

With a sigh, she picked up another weapon, then another, and another. None of the ones she said she was comfortable with before seemed to work well with her. Either she couldn't spread her mana across it adequately, she'd force too much into it too quickly and break it, or it just felt awkward after pouring her mana into it. Next, she started on weapons that didn't already hold any of her attention. She skipped most of the smaller weapons entirely and eventually made her way to the polearms. Much like the smaller weapons, they glowed brightly, but not as brightly and they didn't break.

"I like these. They feel like they work." She held all of the polearms in her hands.

"You might want to limit yourself to one of those for now."

"Oh, alright."

"Cool, try attacking one of the dummies with your magic on one of the weapons."

She sat most of the weapons back on the polearm rack and came back with a halberd. Taking a stance, she swung the blade into a dummy, and it bounced off with a heavy clack. Her hands were vibrating for a second after and she dropped the weapon.

"Ow, I don't like that one." She looked down at the dropped weapon apprehensively.

I folded my arms. "Alright, try another."

She looked over the weapons selection and picked out the glaive. Before striking the dummy this time, she swung the blade around and felt the weight in her hands first. When she did finally strike, it hit more softly than the halberd despite her seemingly using the same amount of effort.

She looked at the blade in confusion. "I don't think that did anything."

"Keep going, you'll find the right one."

After putting the glaive back, she looked at the rest of them quizzically then closed her eyes as she lifted each one in turn as if to gauge their weight and distribution before choosing. Eventually, she picked up a long, curved scythe and appeared to drop it as she let it go and twisted her wrist, guiding it to roll around her arm before landing softly back into her hand. She opened her eyes and turned toward the dummy.

"Hold on a second," I said, reaching a hand out to the dummy. I cast 'protect' on the dummy and a red outline flashed around it. "There. Go ahead."

In a swift motion, she guided the scythe diagonally across the dummy fast enough that I wasn't sure she made contact with it for a second. After that second, the red outline appeared around the dummy again then shattered as a fresh blade mark embedded itself across the surface of the wooden dummy.

Beatrix took a deep breath and sighed as the scythe lost its glow. "I did it."

"Indeed," I said. "You cut through the protection spell I placed on it pretty easily. You might as well have cut through the dummy by itself three times over without breaking a sweat."

"I wouldn't say without a sweat." She fell backward and landed on her butt before starting to hyperventilate. "I'm exhausted."

"I'd be surprised if you weren't at this point." I reached out my hand and helped her up.

Her skin was hot to the touch, but I figured it was just from overworking herself. I was more right than I thought.

"Thanks." She dropped the scythe and fell into my arms, still hyperventilating.

I felt her forehead only to find a much higher temperature than her hand. She had a fever that might have been high enough to burn a normal person's hand. Wasting no time, I teleported us up into her room and laid her down in bed before going to get some medicine and a wet towel. She was incoherent and I had to hold her down since she wouldn't stop trying to get up. After a minute or so, I convinced her to stay down and take the medicine while I placed the cold, wet towel on her forehead. Within seconds, I saw steam rising from it and the towel was dry in a couple of minutes.

In the room lighting, I could easily see what looked like yellow glitter covering her body. It was as if she was poisoned by her own magic. She could have been suffering this whole time with nobody noticing. After examining her for nearly an hour, I came to a conclusion. Since her powers were suppressed for so long by having that eyepatch on, when it was finally removed and she started pushing her limits, her body reacted negatively. It was like suddenly removing a dam to a river after a flood.

The choker she had on was supposed to act as a limiter, preventing this outcome, but it seemed that the eyepatch limited her powers so much that her body got used to it and the choker let enough out that it still caused this kind of reaction. Since her condition was caused by her own powers, there wasn't much I could do aside from just trying to make sure she stayed stable while her body adjusted on its own.

The next day came quickly and her condition improved slightly. She stayed unconscious after falling asleep and didn't awaken at all throughout the day. The day after, her temperature went back to normal, and she awoke as if it was just a nap. I was by her side asleep in a chair and woke up a moment after she did.

"What happened?" she asked almost absentmindedly.

"You almost died."

"What?"

I explained what happened and afterward, Beatrix just smiled as if she was happy to hear it.

I flicked her forehead. "What's up with the smile? You really almost died, you know."

"Ow." She rubbed her forehead. "I know, it's just... I guess this is the first time someone really worried about me like that."

"And I'll keep worrying until you can protect yourself."

"Thank you." She continued to smile so earnestly that I forgot who she was for a moment.

"Sure, Penelope."

"Penelope? Wasn't that the name of your partner?"

"Oops, sorry. Uh... You just reminded me of her for a second." I looked away, unable to make eye contact in my embarrassment.

"Did you love her?"

"More than anything," I answered before I realized it. It was as if I was waiting for someone to ask me that specific question.

Hesitantly, Beatrix reached a hand out, then retracted it similarly. "What about now?"

Finding my wits about me, I stood. "You should rest for the rest of the day to make sure you're better and we can get back to training tomorrow."

"Alright."

I left the room and made food. After making sure she ate, I went to conduct my experiments and checked in on her periodically. After making sure she ate lunch, then dinner, I went to sleep.

A sudden movement forced me awake and I sat up to discover it was my own. My arm had flailed out as if to protect myself from something that wasn't there. After a second, I noticed a presence. Unlike Mira, this person was no expert in concealing themselves.

I looked toward the door and said, "Bea, you could have knocked if you needed me."

On the other side of the door, her muffled voice barely reached me. "I didn't want to bother you."

"It doesn't matter if you bother me or not." I got up and opened the door. On the other side, Beatrix looked a bit sheepish with her hands behind her back. "What's wrong? What did you do?"

Surprise spread across her face. "How did you know I did something?"

"Wild guess. Experience might have had something to do with it, though."

"Well..." She produced two halves of a wooden scythe from behind her back. "I kinda broke it."

"How did you do that?"

"Uh... The dummy is still fine this time."

I sighed with a smile. "It's fine, everything down there was made with destruction in mind. Let me see." I reached my hands out and she handed the pieces to me. I channeled some of my magic through it and put the pieces back together as it mended itself back into one sturdy piece. "Here you go." I handed it back to her.

"Thanks, I, uh... Thanks. I'll... get back to it." She turned awkwardly and went for the stairs.

I followed her down to the training room. On the way down, I noticed the sway of her walk was a little awkward as well. It was as if she was trying to hide a limp. I took note of it as we continued down.

Once we were in the training room, I went to the side while Beatrix went to strike the dummy. She had no real form, but she had the flow of the weapon down already. Every motion sliced through the air and each strike saw an impact. Instead of helping her immediately, I waited until I saw a clear sign of the injury she wasn't telling me about. Sure enough, after a few swings, she twirled it in her hand and struck the top of the dummy. The pole recoiled up at her from below and she hopped away with a yelp before it could make contact, keeping her knees together and giving a sigh of relief after.

I said, "Where did you hit yourself?"

"I didn't hit myself; I was just startled."

"Not just now, I meant earlier. It's hard not to notice someone trying to hide a limp, you know."

She looked down in embarrassment. "It hit me... Between my..." She shifted on her feet. "It's so embarrassing, I just couldn't say anything."

"It's fine. Just try to be more transparent with your injuries next time."

"Okay, I also hit my shin... When I broke it... That's why the limp."

"Thanks for telling me." I went to the weapons rack and pulled out a wooden scythe except mine had a straight blade. "Alright, it's about time I teach you how to properly wield one of these."

She smiled with a hard nod. "Okay."

Over the next few days, we took a break from practicing magic so I could teach her the basics of wielding a polearm and the intricacies of using a scythe specifically. We also went over textbooks on the history of the tool as farming equipment, weapon use, and symbolism. After a couple of weeks, she had some sort of definable form and could put some real weight behind her strikes.

Since I was no expert on scythes, my direction was much vaguer than with magic despite being much more hands-on. Eventually, we were both learning something as we continued. During the nights, I started back on my experiments since I had no time during the day. Some of those nights, I could feel Beatrix watching me, but she'd never say anything and just silently lurk.

After one night of many watching Beatrix grow more adept at her weapon of choice, I started feeling a little anxious. I couldn't pinpoint the source until I remembered there was supposed to be a second blood moon that month. After checking, I learned it was that night. Thinking back on it, I also found Beatrix during a blood moon. I decided I would go out to witness the phenomenon instead of experimenting. Beatrix was too tired to stay up and went to her room, exhausted.

After making my way outside, I sat on the solitary step outside the front door. I felt like I had to see the moon with my own eyes instead of the observatory. While I could have sat atop the tower, just outside the front door felt right.

After a few minutes, the door opened. I got a mixed feeling of nostalgia and de ja vu, but also as if what I was feeling was about something that hasn't happened yet. That specific mix of feelings was one of the few things Zeta warned me of before they left.

"Changed your mind, huh? Or is it that you can't sleep?" I stood up and moved forward so Beatrix could join me outside.

"I couldn't sleep. I was kind of anxious." She stepped out but stayed behind me.

"Same. I think it's the blood moon. Something about it seems to have an effect on us."

After a deep breath, Beatrix said, "Oscar... I've been wondering..."

"Shoot."

"Well, it's about your partner..."

I sighed. "If your curiosity's gotten that far ahead of you, you may as well ask."

"What happened to her?"

I closed my eyes as my mind raced into the past, poking at a part of my memory that could never heal. "She's dead. Killed herself right in front of me. I couldn't even get to her in time. She was cold before I could even help."

"That's so sad... I'm sorry I asked."

I opened my eyes. "Don't be. Curiosity never killed the cat. To be honest, the cat should have been more curious."

After a long moment of silence, she spoke up again. "I want to leave before it starts getting cold out."

I shrugged. "What's that, in like, two months? You've come very far. With the skills you've already developed, if I were to fall dead right now, it shouldn't affect your growth too terribly." As soon as I said that, I could feel a line across my throat as if a blade had found its mark. "After all, you're developing your blade skills well enough that you should be able to figure the rest out yourself once you can control your magic better."

"So, if you were to die right now, would you really accept that?"

"Depends..." I looked up at the moon. My eyes were already on it, but it was as if the blood-red orb was beyond my vision until then. It filled the sky almost completely as if it was falling to earth. "The moon..."

The line I felt across my throat became more apparent as if impact became imminent. Whatever it was, I felt no need to react to it. It was as if the world was fleeting and I was fine with that.

Before I realized it, my hand was up, and my finger was pressed against something sharp. It cut into the surface of my skin just enough to make me bleed. I felt my body react to it as if something else moved for me. At that moment, I understood what my dad meant. I was going to let it happen, expecting the blade to stop short, but my curse knew better.

Focusing my sight on the object, I saw that it was a black, wide, curved scythe blade with little twinkling lights within and a yellow hue swirling around them. Everything fell into perspective and I understood.

"You've come a long way, haven't you?" I pushed the blade away. "Did you really come back in time just to kill me, Bea?"

"Are you angry?" Her voice sounded different now. The youthful naiveness left her voice and she suddenly sounded much more mature.

"No. I don't have much to live for, but you haven't earned the right to take my life. Not yet."

"Too bad."

I felt something hot pulling me to the left and I hopped to the right. When I looked, I saw Beatrix holding a bright yellow orb with arcs of energy crossing its surface. In her other hand was a scythe with a black pole dotted in yellow specks while the blade looked as decorated from farther away as it did up close. It also had a circular back edge that didn't seem as sharp.

She herself looked much different than the last time I saw her. She wore a pair of yellow ball earrings, a black zip-up hoodie with yellow trim over a black crop-top, a black skirt that barely reached her knees, and black boots with yellow zippers that reached up to meet her skirt. Her face was traced with a few shallow scars and the silver pupil of her right eye was in the shape of a star.

"Darkstar." She threw the orb at me and I hopped up and away from it before I could be pulled into it.

Summoning my sword, I sent a blade wave in her direction only to realize that she actually sent two orbs, and one just swallowed my attack as it careened toward me.

With barely enough time to react, I blocked it with my arm and the resulting explosion sent me careening into the forest.

I landed on my feet in the middle of a flower garden dotted with faeries that started scrambling away as what looked like a yellow lance of energy appeared in the sky and struck down at me.

Despite hopping away from the attack, the impact pulled me in instead of pushing me away. In response, I cast 'burning step' and coated my feet in flames, allowing me to fly upwards and away from the negative pressure.

Beatrix appeared where the impact took place and followed me upward, swinging her scythe using the back edge and closing the distance surprisingly fast.

I held my sword steady and blocked with the side of my blade, but she used that impact as a springboard to swing the front blade back around from the other side faster.

Pivoting my feet behind me, I jettisoned myself at her and landed my fist into her gut, sending her back to the ground.

She stood with a growl and seemed to swipe her hand at me toward the ground. "Skyfall!"

The flames at my feet disappeared and I fell at an accelerated speed while she dashed at where I was going to land with her scythe starting to glow yellow. Once she was there, she pointed the end of the pole straight forward as pebbles began to levitate in a straight line.

Understanding what she was doing, I cast a spell, "Fire drop," making myself fall faster coated in fire until I hit the ground with an explosion of flame.

She was knocked back on impact and couldn't complete her spell as I dashed out of the flames toward her. In reaction, she stabbed her blade into the ground to stop her momentum and ready herself for my next move.

I reached her quickly and she couldn't react more than just holding her weapon up in defense as I raised my hand toward her.

"Inverse horizon." Once I cast the spell, a translucent red bubble speckled with white from the top that faded to clear at the bottom appeared around Beatrix.

She kept her guard up and tried to move her weapon only to find it stuck on the walls of her temporary prison. I made sure the bubble was too small for her to use her scythe.

"Now that we've calmed down, I have to ask, where is the current you?"

She gritted her teeth and answered, "Where she belongs."

"I take it to mean, still in the tower? Why are you trying to kill me?"

Seemingly disgruntled by my question, she pressed her hand against the barrier, and what looked like a yellow spiderweb traveled across the surface before shattering the bubble.

I backed off and split my sword in two. "Not gonna say, huh?" I reached my hand out. "Suggestion." I cast the spell with the intention of knowledge. I wanted her to tell me what she was willing to share.

It seemed like she was fighting it for a second as she made a simple hand movement, causing the ground below my feet to sink in with a 'gravity well'. As I was pulled into a steadily deepening abyss, she started talking.

"I already killed you once, I can do it again. I need those eyes. Mine alone aren't enough. Another pair as powerful as mine to complete my spell." She clenched her jaw and her eyes flashed yellow for a second as she broke my spell by force.

"Thanks for the info." I cast 'flicker' to teleport out of her spell and onto a path carved between the flowers. "If what you said is true then surely, you can't be trying. Come at me again and I won't hold back. I'm not against putting down my own student."

She swallowed hard as if she couldn't foresee this scenario. "They don't call me Fenrir for nothing." She readied her scythe.

"I guess you think that makes me Oden." I split my blade in two and let a half fall in my other hand before taking a stance.

A flash of yellow met my eyes and I heard her move. Soon after, I felt the pressure of an incoming attack and guarded in the direction it came from. Nothing came from that way and instead, I immediately reacted to the feeling of wind from the other way and ducked as the scythe blade swiped over my head.

I reached my blade toward where the scythe was going and they made contact. With that, I cast 'blast back', sending it farther away from me as my vision returned to normal.

Beatrix was holding onto her weapon as it careened into a tree with a hearty thump before recovering and dashing at me again.

As soon as she started moving, I swiped my blades and cast 'blade wall', creating only a temporary barrier as she cleared the difficult terrain easily.

My next spell was 'wall of fire', which I cast right in front of myself before backing off a distance and preparing to cast two more spells while she bounded over it as if she was being pulled by something.

She soon reached me and the air around us began glowing with yellow particles floating upwards as she swung her blade at me from the maximum distance she could.

As soon as our weapons made contact, my next spell activated and a column of red energy burst upward under her feet, a 'red pillar'.

Her spell was still completed and the air around us became energized with electricity. Because her magic was primarily gravity based, the possibility of her being proficient with light or electric spells completely slipped my mind despite her elemental color being yellow.

The electricity caused my muscles to pulse uncontrollably and stifle some of my movements. A second later, I realized that I was levitating slightly off the ground as the spell under Beatrix ended and I saw her standing with her scythe pointed at me with a yellow orb at the end of the pole.

"Anti-gravity cannon." The orb at the end of her weapon filled my sight with yellow as it shot toward me.

While I couldn't move out of the way in time, I was able to snap my fingers and cast my second spell, reigniting the magic left in the air from 'red pillar' in a 'flash fire'.

The resulting blast sent me into a series of trees before one stopped my momentum while Beatrix was knocked into the wall of fire behind her.

My chest stung as I stood and coughed up blood. "Internal bleeding." I placed my hand on my chest. "Soothing warmth." My wound ignited and I felt better almost immediately.

Beatrix was slumped against the firewall but I wasn't sure she was down, so I cast 'burning sight' and focused on her. In less than a second, she combusted in flames and disappeared. It was an illusion.

Since none of my senses were particularly trustworthy at the moment, I turned my hand toward the sky. "Blade rain." Solid red copies of my sword appeared high in the air and started falling like rain. Despite the area of effect, I made sure the spell could only harm my target.

While my spell played out, I noticed what looked like severed strands of thread floating through the air. It was likely a trap I dismantled by chance. There was a chance that I didn't get all of it, so I moved carefully.

Taking a single step, I felt something sharp under my foot, but I saw nothing there. I dispelled the blade rain and focused my sight. All of my surroundings were layered heavily with extremely fine yellow particles. With that in mind, I could assume that I was surrounded by multiple layers of illusions. In that case, I figured I'd get rid of all of it at once.

"Blast inferno." The ground became engulfed in flames that rose into the treeline, burning away the illusions and revealing the truth of my surroundings.

Metallic blades were jutting out from the ground around me and Beatrix was a couple of meters in front of me aiming another spell with her scythe anchored into the ground. Her weapon was glowing bright yellow and it looked like she was trying to charge the spell as much as she could before I became wise to her trick. She was covered in scratches and burns from my spells. It seemed like she either dropped all defenses in favor of charging this one attack or I had already broken through them all unknowingly.

In light of her already charged attack, I dashed at her, ready to dodge at a moment's notice. As soon as I did, she retrieved her blade from the ground and twirled it in her hands before engaging me directly.

Coating my blades in flame, I went on the offensive, casting 'infernal rush' and causing every clash to release a buildup of heat that splashed out as if it was water.

Beatrix seemed to have problems keeping up with my speed, so I pressed harder with 'dance of flames'. Now, not only did every impact send flames everywhere, but now my blades rebounded, allowing me to strike even faster and build up more heat.

Eventually, I wore her down and bypassed her scythe entirely, aiming for a non-lethal spot in her chest to strike.

My first mistake was trying not to kill her.

She took the hit head-on as it pierced her back and used her scythe to lock me in place. "Black bolt." A flash of electricity ran through me, and I would have been thrown away had she not kept me in place.

I tried to teleport away, but I was dazed by an unexpected headbutt. I couldn't even pull my sword out of her and my other sword was pinned to my side as she used her free arm to pull me closer.

"Sun void." Our surroundings faded into darkness as for the first time, her magic turned black.

I could feel myself being crushed from all sides and more than a few joints popped into unnatural positions. I was caught directly in the middle of the spell.

Before I could lose consciousness, I was able to keep focus just enough to cast a spell. "Red pillar." The red of my spell filled my vision in place of the darkness and I was able to fall back onto my feet as I twisted one of my knees back into its proper position.

As soon as I could see again, Beatrix was in the middle of casting the spell she already charged. "Event horizon."

Realizing that there was no time to go on the defensive, I met her spell with one of my own. This spell forcibly heightened my senses as I scoured any point I could possibly land a fatal strike with my blades as time seemed to slow down. Regardless, I could feel that there was no chance of me dodging the spell aimed at me.

Since my arms were twisted awkwardly, I couldn't actually use my blades in any real capacity, so I just walked past her, reciting the ritual to complete the spell, only possible and necessary when one is at death's door.

"My mark; my blade, known to fell a thousand with one. Now, must land true a thousand into one. None shall bear witness to that which cuts the thread of fate; the branding severance."

Once the spell was cast, I heard the clashing of magic as if blades clashed in every direction, cutting into even the very light itself, fracturing the view of my surroundings.

The next thing I knew, I was face down on the ground, staring at a solitary white flower, turned red at the sight of the blood moon gaining ever closer, barely within the scope of my sight as my vision faded to black.