March 15th, year 024 Angels Descent

The class were making their usual way to Alex’s lesson. Lately, the hubbub had died down, and they weren’t pestered to help others join their lessons. The only exception was Hugo, who was campaigning to get the remainder of the class to agree to dissolve the contract.

Though he was not having any luck as the majority of students who had signed were unwilling to give up a free pass and an early weekend, just as Alex had said. Arriving outside their lecture hall, the group paused in their step.

“Is it trapped today?” Daisy asked as she stared at the space in front of the door.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Gunter said, with Nicklas giving a squawk of agreement from his breast pocket as Bea had refused to relinquish her spot to the bird.

“It was visible last week when we last came here,” Maxwell pointed out.

As they contemplated how to test it, the door to the lecture hall slowly swung open. Turning their attention to the doorway expecting to see Alex, instead, they saw a small mousy girl with brown hair pulled down over her eyes.

“Hello, little girl. Who might you be?” Maxwell asked as he crouched down to her level and gave a comforting smile to the nervous girl.

“Alison?” Daisy said, surprised to see Alex’s niece present.

“You know this little girl, Daisy?” Tasha asked as she crouched down to offer a hand.

“Yeah, she’s Alex’s niece. I met her when I did the kindergarten class assist earlier this week,” Daisy explained with a shudder. It had taken multiple baths to get the sludge they had made with a mini alchemy set out of her hair. She had even needed to cut her hair short to get rid of the stubborn patches.

“Their bloodline has progressed?” Bea asked, seemingly amused.

“I must really thank you then, Daisy, for covering the lesson in my stead,” Kline added.

“No, guys! Alison is very well-behaved and quiet.”

“So she keeps her skills well hidden?” Maxwell asked.

Looking at Alison, the class could see she was terrified and doing her best to retreat without making any noise.

“Did Alex send you to let us know to come in, Ali?” Daisy asked to which Alison readily nodded before retreating fully with her teddy between her and the class.

“You guys were scaring her. Be nice!” Daisy admonished as she walked into the class.

“AEGIS!!!” She quick cast a flash shield blocking a sludge bomb that had been thrown at her.

“Ah, dammit, she blocked it. Did you tell them we were here, Ali?” Jacob asked. Alison rapidly shook her head no.

Stepping into the classroom, the rest of the class gawked as they could see the entire room was in a state of disorder, with five kids running around, one of which was on the ceiling. Alison gave a quick nod from behind her teddy before walking over to Alex’s desk and sitting with Freki in her bed to read a book.

“Sir… Why are there kids here?” Maxwell asked.

“Well, Daisy had a big ole surprise with her first lesson with them. So I thought it best to get you guys to have a class mixer of sorts. Get to know each other, and then you guys can decide if you really want to do the lesson. Also, Daisy, you still got some sludge in your hair,” Alex said, gesturing to the top of his head.

“ALRIGHT, TROOPS, LINE UP AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!!” At Alex’s command, the children stopped zooming around, and all rushed to stand in line. The rest of the class looked at Alex with suspicious gazes. Bea gestured for the group to go into a huddle to discuss something.

“Is he training them to be soldiers?” Bea asked in a whisper.

“They are strangely well drilled,” Maxwell said with a nod.

“They aren’t any better than I am, though!” Tasha protested as she broke away from the huddle and lined up with the children. Ignoring their idiot classmate, the rest of the class turned to Daisy.

“Were they like this when you helped out?” Daisy just nodded.

“Yeah, they can go hog wild, but at the drop of a hat, one time literally a drop of a hat, they will suddenly become well-behaved.”

“Yeah, it’s the hat of listening,” Alex added. The class all froze as they glanced at their teacher, who they hadn’t noticed had snuck into the huddle in Tasha’s place.

“So you done scheming, or are you going to exchange introductions?” Alex’s smirk told the class well enough he found the whole situation amusing.

“Sorry, guys. They wanted to get the courage to introduce themselves to such cool kids,” Alex said as he broke away from the now-dissolving huddle. The children and Tasha all seemed very pleased by this explanation.

“Ok, step forward when I call your name!”

“Alison, Cassius, Jacob, Lucas, Olivia, Zaparis.” As he called each name, the corresponding child stepped forwards.

“You didn’t call my name, sir?” Tasha asked with a confused tilt of her head. Alex just pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Tasha, you aren’t a part of my kindergarten class. You will be called when I give the names of the higher education students,” Alex explained in an exhausted tone.

“Ok, from the big kids' side of the class. We’ve got Bea-” Bea stepped forward only to have the kindergarten students cut Alex off.

“Alex, isn’t she meant to be in our classes?” Cassius asked, looking up at Alex.

“Yeah, she’s little like we are?” Olivia added. Bea was quickly becoming bright red from embarrassment.

“Guys, I’ve told you about this. Some people are races that don’t grow big. Remember?”

“Oh yeah. You said they couldn’t grow big, but they grow very clever,” Jacob offered to which Alex nodded.

“Bea is one of those races. She is a gnome, so she will stay small. But in exchange, she gets to be very clever.” Bea looked at Alex with a grateful smile.

“Ok, back to the introductions. Next, we have Daisy, who you know already.”

“This Mountain is Gunter,” Alex said as he stepped forwards.

“He looks fun to climb on,” Zaparis said as she looked up at Gunter.

“Bea can attest to that, yes,” Alex said with a nod. “After Gunter, we have Kline, be nice; he is like Ali.” The class all gave little friendly waves at Kline.

“After Kline, we have Maxwell,” Maxwell stopped forwards.

“Wow, he looked like he has a bigger stick up his bum than your sis Jake,” Cassius said, pointing at a now seething Maxwell.

“Last but not least is Tasha,” Tasha stepped out of the kindergartener line.

“She’s funny,” Lucas said, pointing at Tasha and giggling, which quickly spread to the rest of the kids.

“Ok, we’ve had introductions. What now?” Maxwell asked.

“You know they are going to think you have a really big stick up your bum if you jump straight to boring lessons rather than getting to know the kids properly.”

“Fine, what shall we do then, sir?”

“Play games, chat with the kids. Get to know them properly. Learn about your juniors. It shouldn’t be too hard for you guys.” With this, the class began to split up as they each paired off with a different kindergartner.

Kline went over to Jacob and invited him to sit and play a game of cards, deciding that this would be a good icebreaker even he could manage.

“So Jacob, what do you do for fun?” Kline asked.

“I usually play pranks on my sister.”

“Daisy?” Jacob just nodded. “You must know lots of stuff about her.”

“Yeah, like she wet the-”

“No, I mean, like what stuff she likes, her favourite flower, her favourite sweets?”

“Oh… she likes the flowers she is named after. Cake, we both like reeeaaally big cakes covered in lots of icing,” Jacob spread his arms to demonstrate how big they liked their cakes.

“Why do you wana to know about Daise? I thought we were meant to get to know each other.”

“Oh, I know. I was just curious. Glad I know that you know your sist-”

“Do you have a crush on her?”

“Bu- Ha- no-” Kline began to sputter as he struggled to find words.

“You dooo….” Jacob’s face spread into a big grin.

“NO!!! I was just interested in Daisy, that’s all,” Kline said in an unconvincing tone.

“She is way out of your league,” Jacob said as he gestured to Daisy, who was in a fun conversation with Lucas.

“Daise is really clever and pretty. She may be a yucky girl, but boys get crushes on her. She is just too big a dork to notice them asking her out.” Kline’s face dropped to a despairing expression for a moment before he reasserted control.

“So you try to ask her out yet?” Jacob asked, looking interested in Klines attempts.

“No, I can barely get more than the odd sentence out around her,” Kline admitted.

“Wow… that's really pathetic,” Kline flinched from this barb Jacob had launched right at his heart.

“We can change the subject now…” Kline said, looking downcast.

“Well, I guess you can get me a really big cake later,” Jacob said with a devilish grin.

“Why?” Kline asked, confused.

“Well, you can get me a cake, or I can tell my big sis you fancy her big time. That your write poetry about her and practice kissing your pillow imagining her.”

“How do you know about the poe- Wait, you wouldn’t…” Kline felt his stomach drop out beneath him.

“Mr Alex always says seize any weakness your opponent offers and twist that knife so much they either submit or collapse.” Kline glanced at Alex in terror, wondering what he was teaching these kids.

“So you are blackmailing me?”

“I don’t know what that word means. But if you don’t want me to tell her, get me a big chocolate cake later today.” Kline bit his lower lip as he considered this offer before shaking his head.

“No.”

“But I will tell her!”

“Go ahead,” Kline said, maintaining his resolve. If Daisy found out through her brother, he could gauge her reaction and, worse case, claim her brother was lying if it wasn’t positive.

“Wow… guess we are both Mr Alex’s students. I should’ve guessed you would not let me maintain leverage. Ok, I won’t tell her.”

Kline internally cursed at this outcome. He had already made countless scenarios on how to react, only for them to be useless. Exhaling an exhausted sigh, Kline just looked up.

“WOW, SO SPIDER FEET CAN WORK ON PEOPLE!!” Kline and Jacob turned to see Zaparis standing off the front of Gunter’s chest as Bea looked on from his shoulder and Nicklas flapped on Gunter’s outstretched hand.

“They look like they’re having fun,” Jacob said, gesturing to the trio.

“Why don’t we go join them?” Jacob suggested, to which Kline decided it would be best to agree.

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Maxwell + Alison & Cassius

Maxwell decided he needed a break from the noise and went over and sat next to Alison and Freki.

“So, what are you reading?” Alison mumbled her answer, clearly very nervous.

“Sorry, I didn’t quite get that?”

“Ali is very quiet. She gets very nervous around new people,” A voice that gave off a defensive tone said. Looking up to its source Maxwell saw the boy named Cassius.

“I’m sure she just needs to come out of her shell,” Maxwell said, giving a warm smile to Alison, only to have Cassius wedge himself between her and him.

“Mr Alex says some people just naturally feel comfortable in their shells and that we should be patient and let them come out on their own. Because, like with baby birds breaking into the shell on our own can hurt the birdy.” Cassius said, holding up a finger like he was giving a lecture.

“Sage words. I’m sorry, Alison. I was just curious. It looks like an interesting book, is all,” Maxwell apologised.

“Yeah, Ali is like super smart. She’s the smartest girl in our class,” Cassius explained, puffing his chest with pride.

“Who’s the smartest boy then?” Maxwell asked.

“Uh… think it’s between Jake and me. We always compete on the tests.”

“I was a similar way with Kline when I was your age,” Maxwell said, gesturing to Kline, who was grimacing as he talked with Jacob.

“So, do you help keep your Ali safe?” Cassius asked, looking towards Kline, who seemed to be on the back foot of his conversation.

“We try. But Kline likes to try his best to stand on his own two feet.”

“Oh, does he not walk good?”

“No, it means he wants to be brave and come out of his shell. We will help if we can, but sometimes he wants to try on his own.”

“Oh, I get it. Like Ali when she practices magic,” Cassius said, nodding as he patted the girl's back.

“I’m…” Alison said before her voice dropped back to a barely audible volume. Cassius leant in and nodded.

“She said she’s reading ‘Sloth’s greater laws of magical dynamics’. I don’t get what it means. It's got lots of weird pictures, though.”

“Sloth’s… That’s a textbook I currently use! Does she really understand it?”

“Mr Alex says Ali is very smart when it comes to magic stuff. He says she almost never needs to study.”

“I envy that; I have to study hard to remember anything for my tests.”

“She is only good with magic stuff, though. She gets really tired when we do physical practice with Miss Elissa.”

“I’ve done practice with her. I can only imagine how tough it must be.”

“Yeah, doing jumping jacks for five WHOLE minutes was exhausting. Ali couldn’t last more than a minute, though,” Cassius explained, giving a comforting pat on Alison's back.

“Sounds like she has a mana cell exertion deficiency,” Maxwell said, glancing at Alison, who was absorbed in her book, while absent-mindedly stroking a snoozing Freki.

“What's mana cell thingy?”

“Oh, sometimes mages can be born with really big mana stores. So their bodies prioritise filling those mana stores over supplying the body with energy. It’s why some really powerful mages are really physically weak,” Maxwell explained.

“He’s right, you know. It is the whole reason mages developed physical enhancement magic, so we could keep up with normal people,” Alex added, leaning over his desk and scruffling Alison’s hair, much to her annoyance.

“I thought it was made so mage knights who couldn’t project their magic could be fearsome physical fighters?”

“That is what it ultimately became. But it initially was made so weak mages could actually move around.”

“Wow, Mr Alex, how do you know that?”

“Sloth let me into his archive when I first became his apprentice. I read his notes from when he was my age. A lot of enlightening stuff about the evolution of magic. Anyways sorry I interrupted; carry on, kids.” Alex said as he rose from his desk and began to wander around the classroom.

“I know… You guys know about Lord Pride?” Maxwell asked, deciding to wow the kids with his familial connection.

“Yeah,” Cassius nodded. “I met him when my dad did a military inspection of Port Staine.”

“Oh, who is your dad? I might’ve met him myself.”

“Mikael De-Luca.”

“As in the next in line for the seat of Envy De-Luca?” Maxwell asked.

“Yeah, my dad is just waiting on grandpa Houstan to retire,” Cassius said with a smile.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Wow, so you are really big and important then?”

“No, Mr Alex helped me realise I should work to make myself who I want to be. Not use my dad’s name to get what I want.” Maxwell had to resist the urge to widen his eyes in shock as he glanced in Alex’s direction.

“So he’s teaching you not to be arrogant?”

“Yeah, his first lesson with us, Olivia made fun of him for leaving the Gluttony seat. He brought up four big rock walls like whoosh!!” Cassius thrust his arms up to demonstrate. “And put her in a big time out. Ever since then, we behave and listen to what he says.”

“Uncle Alex is fun,” Alison said in a half whisper as she pulled the book up to cover her face.

“That he is,” Maxwell agreed.

“What has he taught you then, Mr Max?”

“Lot of secret magic as well as stuff the army uses. We even got familiars recently. See Gunter there; look at his pocket,” following where Maxwell was pointing, the pair could see a little bird poke its head out of a pocket every so often.

“Whoah!!! Bet you got a really cool familiar,” Cassius said, his eyes gleaming at him. Maxwell averted his eyes, feeling embarrassed to admit what his familiar was.

“Not really. I got a squirrel,” Maxwell admitted. Both Cassius and Alison looked at him with wonder.

“Wow, that’s so cool. What did you name him? Can he breathe Fire? Can you summon him here and now?!” Maxwell was momentarily stunned by the unrestrained wonder the pair gave off about his little squirrel.

“Can you guys keep a secret?” Maxwell said in a whisper, to which both the children eagerly nodded.

“The rest of the class don’t know what I named him. But I named him Alex.” Both Cassius and Alison burst into a fit of giggles. Maxwell felt very pleased to see Alison start to express herself comfortably.

“To be honest, though, he is just a normal squirrel. Though I can share his vision through the familiar link.”

“So cool,” Alison said in a mousy whisper.

“To answer the last question, you rapid-fired at me; no, I can’t summon him.”

“Awhhh, why not?” Cassius whined.

“Well, Freki is there. She would probably eat him,” Maxwell answered, gesturing to the wolf pup that started twitching and moving its legs like it was running.

“Freki would not. She is a good dog!” Alison protested at what was probably a shout by her standards but was just a normal volume by everyone else's. Looking at her with surprise, both Cassius and Maxwell were left speechless.

“Freki is super nice. When I help walk her, she never pulls on the leash and sits when I tell her. She is the best doggy in the world.”

“I…” Maxwell’s voice trailed off as he was unsure how to answer.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t be a naughty doggy and do that. But doggies like chasing squirrels, don't they?” Alison could only reluctantly nod.

“And that would be scary for my familiar, wouldn’t it? Now Freki wouldn’t be doing it to be mean, but she might still do it, and I want to be nice to my familiar.” Alison finally conceded that it would be best not to summon Alex the Squirrel.

“WOW, SO SPIDER FEET CAN WORK ON PEOPLE!!” the trio all turned to see Zaparis, who was standing off the front of Gunter’s chest as Bea looked on from his shoulder and Nicklas flapped on Gunter’s outstretched hand.

“That looks cool,” Cassius said as he watched.

“Should we see how many people can spider feet off Gunter?” Maxwell suggested, to which Cassius readily nodded and ran towards them. The only one not to follow was Alison, who returned to reading her book.

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Tasha + Olivia

Tasha went over to sit next to Olivia, who had been left alone by the rest of her classmates.

“Hi, my name is Tasha,” Tasha said as she offered her hand. Olivia looked at the offered hand the same way people would look at a disgusting-looking meal.

“I don’t do that,” Olivia said, waving her hand to dismiss the offered handshake.

“Well damn… Guess we can get to know each other another way.”

“I’ll have you know I am a princess,” Olivia asserted as she gestured to her tiara.

“Whoah, that's cool. Where’d you get it?”

“My daddy bought it for me from Hopridge and Sons Jewellers,” Olivia explained, looking very smug.

“Never heard of them. Do they make costume jewellery?”

“Guh?!! You can’t be serious?”

“Never heard of a Hap-Bridge and Suns,” Tasha confirmed.

“No, it’s Hop… It doesn’t matter. What is it you do exactly?”

“Me… uh… I fight stuff mostly,” Tasha said, puffing her chest with pride.

“Oh, one of those… I suppose I could accept you into my service,” Olivia said firmly, holding her head up to the point she was looking at the ceiling just to look down her nose at Tasha.

“Something on the ceiling?” Tasha asked, looking up.

“No… Listen, I’m a princess. You should serve me. It’s a great honour to serve a princess.”

“An honour to serve a princess?” Tasha repeated before her eyes widened in sudden realisation. “Yeah, I know that. Serving the princess is the highest honour ever, ever, ever.”

“Glad you understand,” Olivia said, crossing her arms and giving a contented huff.

“So when do we start serving Lady Elissa?” Tasha asked, leaning in so close her nose was almost touching Olivia’s.

“Who?” Olivia asked, retreating back into her seat.

“Wait?!!!” Tasha shouted in near shock. “You don’t know who Lady Elissa is?!”

“Of course, I know who Lady Elissa is…” Olivia said, her eyes darting around for an answer to who Elissa must be.

“GREAT!!” Tasha exclaimed, seizing Olivia’s hands in her own.

“We can serve her together then. It’s more fun to serve with friends.”

“Serve? What, no, I serve no one. I am a princess; it’s people who serve me,” Olivia said, breaking her hands free of Tasha’s grasp.

“I don’t get it. Everyone I know wants to be with Lady Elissa,” Tasha said, tilting her head like a confused puppy.

“First of all, I don’t know who she is. Second I already said I am a princess.”

“But only a pretend one, right?” Tasha asked, which caused Olivia to freeze in shock.

“NO! I AM A REAL PRINCESS!!”

“But you aren’t. Lady Elissa is a real princess.”

“I TOLD YOU I DON’T KNOW WHO SHE IS!”

“She is the most magnificent princess on the Dark Continent. She is the strongest fighter that ever lived. No one can ever beat her,” Tasha declared, clenching her fist for emphasis while conveniently forgetting Alex technically won their sparring match.

“She’s that strong?”

“The strongest. She could punch a dragon from the sky with just a flick of her beautiful blonde hair.”

“Whoah… Really?”

“Yes, and I heard when she was your age, she could throw a redwood tree really far.”

“She could throw a tree?” Olivia asked, becoming more animated.

“Not just any tree. A redwood. They are trees that grow so big you can build a house for everyone in this classroom and still have tree to spare.”

“WHOAH!!” Olivia was now enraptured by this warrior princess Tasha was describing.

“She’s not scary, is she?”.

“Only to baddies. To her friends, she is like the Angel Vespasia.”

“I hope I can meet her someday,” Olivia said, looking excited.

“Well, she knows Alex,” Tasha said, gesturing to Alex. “As much as it annoys me, she really likes him for some reason.”

“Wow, so Mr Alex knows a real princess?! He’s so cool.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. He doesn’t want to share Lady Elissa with me, and if you want to be with her, he will probably be greedy and not share her with you as well.”

“But Mr Alex always tells us to be kind and share if we want to.”

“Well, he doesn’t want to share her,” Tasha said.

“You girls, ok? It looked like you were arguing?” Alex asked as he casually strolled up to the pair.

“Mr Alex, do you really know Lady Elissa?” Olivia asked as both her and Tasha practically vibrated with excitement.

“Yes??? What about her?” Alex asked, utterly bewildered.

“Why won’t you share her?” Olivia’s question surprised Alex, only for him to quickly recover and shoot a glare at Tasha.

“Tasha, what have you been telling Olivia? Olivia dear, don’t believe she’s been telling you.”

“Can I meet her then? If I could meet a real princess, I would be so cool. I bet even Cass would be jealous of me.”

“Olivia… You’ve met her?” Alex answered, looking thoroughly confused now.

“I HAVE?!!! WHEN?!!!”

“PE, yesterday,” Alex answered.

“Wait, was she watching as miss Lissy was teaching us?”

“What? No, Olivia miss Lissy is Elissa.”

“YOU HAVE LADY ELISSA FOR PE?!!!” Tasha was now looking incredibly jealous of the five-year-old who sat next to her.

“Sir…” Tasha said as she fluttered her eyelashes.

“No, Tasha. You may have the right mentality, but you can’t attend my kindergarten lessons as a student.”

“Awh, you’re no fair,” Tasha said, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Ok, I’m going to check up on the others,” Alex said as he stepped away from the seething elf.

“So miss Lissy is a princess?” Olivia asked.

“Yes, she is the princess of the Ironwood Elves,” Tasha explained.

“Wow, she must be strong if she’s an Ironwood Elf,” Olivia muttered, having a deeper appreciation for her PE teacher.

“I’m also an Ironwood Elf,” Tasha said with a smug grin.

“You must be powerful as well?”

“I am… I am nowhere near as strong as Lady Elissa, but I am the strongest in this class.” Tasha gave a flex of her skinny arm to demonstrate her strength.

“You sure? That big Mr Gunter looked really strong,” Olivia gestured over to the young titan, who now had a girl now standing out from his chest.

“WOW, SO SPIDER FEET CAN WORK ON PEOPLE!!” Bea shouted from her perch.

“That looks cool!!” Tasha said, her eyes already gleaming.

“Hey Livy, me and Max here are going to see how many people Gunter can have stood on him with spider feet wana join?” Cassius said as he approached the pair with Maxwell in tow.

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN!! LET'S GO, OLIVIA!!” Tasha shouted as she dragged Olivia behind her

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Daisy and Lucas

“Hello, miss Daisy,” Lucas said, staring up at Daisy with a starstruck gaze.

“Nice to see you again, Lucas,” Daisy said as she sat down at the desk where Lucas was sitting.

“You got Bally with you today?”

“Sure do,” Daisy answered, showing off the innocuous appearing bracelet on her wrist.

“Cool, you going to show off the transformations of bally today?” Daisy just shook her head.

“Not today. Sir said the only one I got down was Gladius, and swinging a sword around during lessons would not be good unless we were sparring.”

“Well, dats dumb,” Lucas said, looking melancholy.

“Well, I could answer more of your questions. You had so many when I was in your class I was left with my head spinning.”

“Your head spins?”

“No, it’s an expression. Means I had lots to think about and couldn’t decide what to focus on.”

“Oh, dat makes more sense,” Lucas said with a nod.

“I do have more questions if you are willing to answer them?” Daisy just nodded.

“Have you ever seen a dragon?”

“Not a real one; I did see someone supposedly as strong as a dragon run around wearing a dragons skull.”

“Whoah, they sound crazy,” Daisy just nodded, sparing a quick glance in Alex’s direction, seeing him lean over his desk and join Maxwell’s conversation.

“Ok, if you haven’t seen a dragon, what’s dah biggest monster you’ve ever seen?”

“Hmm,” Daisy began while tapping her chin in thought. “Ah! I know a Slime Matriarch. The rest of the class and I went on a mission in the sewers, and there was a humungous slime called a slime matriarch.”

“How big was it?”

“It would fill this entire classroom and then some,” Daisy answered, spreading her arms wide to help Lucas imagine it.

“Miss Daisy… I have a question that is more a request…” Lucas said, looking up at Daisy all starry-eyed.

“Sure,” Daisy replied with a big smile.

“Would you be my girlfriend?” Daisy was stunned for a moment by the request.

“I think I’m a bit too old for you, Lucas.”

“I know dat. I just want to make Olivia jealous. You are cool, strong and smart. If you were my girlfriend, she would want to be my girlfriend even more.”

“I don’t think starting a relationship just to make someone jealous is the right way to go about it.”

“But Miss Daisy. Olivia is meant to be my wife when I grow up.” Lucas said, looking at Olivia, who was in an animated conversation with Tasha.

“Well, you’re still young. She might want to marry someone else,” Daisy explained.

“No, her Dad and mine arranged our… uh… bet… we are going to marry when we are grownups,” Lucas explained.

“I don’t want an unhappy wife. I want her to love me…”

“Oh, Lucas… these are things you are too young to be considering…” Daisy trailed off, unsure of how to elaborate.

“Everything ok, guys?” Alex asked as he approached.

“Yeah, Lucas just asked me to be his girlfriend,” Daisy explained while Lucas went beet red.

“Oh? But Olivia would be heartbroken.”

“She would?”

“Oh yes, she thinks you are her best friend in class. Olivia would be beside herself if you started hanging around a cool, powerful older woman.” Daisy herself couldn’t help but blush at the compliments.

“WOW, SO SPIDER FEET CAN WORK ON PEOPLE!!” Bea shouted from her perch.

“They look like they’re making their own fun,” Alex said with a calming smile as he watched as more of the unified class began making their way over to Gunter.

“Mr Alex, I want Olivia to be happy. I’m meant to-” Lucas stopped as Alex held up a hand.

“Lucas, that is a grown-up problem to worry about. You should just focus on being the best friend you can be for Olivia. That’s all a husband and wife are.”

“Best friends?”

“Exactly. Me and Elissa understand each other to an absurd degree.”

“What about Big Chief Yuu?” Lucas asked.

“We are more brain friends. We can understand each other's thinking. But Elissa gets me emo-” Alex stopped midsentence and began rushing towards the classroom door.

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Gunter & Bea + Zaparis

“Nice to meet you, Zaparis,” Gunter said as he offered his hand for Zaparis to take.

“Likewise,” Zaparis said as she let Gunter engulf her hand and shake it gently.

“I’m Bea,” Bea said, giving a salute from her perch on Gunter’s shoulders. “So go ahead, tell us about yourself?”

“Not much to say,” Zaparis said, looking gloomy.

“Come on; you gotta have something. Like me, I lost a finger last week,” Bea said, holding up her hand with a metallic finger.

“That looks like Mr Alex’s fingers. How did you lose it?” Zaparis asked as she took a close look at the finger.

“I made a deal with a demon,” Bea answered. Zaparis looked taken aback by the declaration before she began to giggle.

“You are funny.”

“I’m not joking, Zappy. I gave up my finger to contract a demon.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Needed a familiar. Also, my family are demon specialists, so we kinda all do it at some point,” Be answered.

“Interesting…” Zaparis said as her voice trailed off, and she looked up at Gunter.

“Is he the demon?”

“What? No Gunter here is a Titan. He’s very friendly, aren’t you, Gunter?” Gunter nodded.

“I wouldn’t ride on the shoulders of someone if they were scary.” A squawk escaped Gunter's pocket at this point as a metallic head poked its way out the top of his pocket.

“Wow, a bird,” Zaparis said as she reached out to pet it, only to have Gunter gently place his hand in the way.

“Sorry, Zaparis. Nicklas is a very dangerous bird. She could cut your fingers off,” Gunter warned.

“Then how is she staying in your pocket?”

“I made a little pocket protector she can sit in,” Gunter explained as he pulled a bit of the pocket down to show a metallic case.

“So if she can’t cut that metal, it should be ok?” Gunter just nodded.

“How do you touch her then?”

“Gunter here has skin tougher than that metal, so he can hold Nicklas,” Bea explained.

“So if I had skin tougher than that metal, I could pet Nicklas?” Zaparis asked tentatively.

“I don’t see why not,” Gunter said. “Though we will want to check with the chief first just to be sure.”

“I thought my ears were burning,” Alex said as he approached the trio from Tasha and Olivia's table.

“Sir, if Zaparis had tough skin, would it be ok for her to touch Nicklas? I’m sure we could find a gauntlet or-”

“No need to worry. Zaparis will be ok. Nicklas won’t even leave a scratch on her.”

“How is that possible?” Bea asked.

“I’ll leave that for her to explain. I gotta continue my rounds.”

“What did he mean, Zappy?” Bea asked.

“I’m from a special species…” Zaparis answered.

“Oooh. Like what?” Bea asked, leaning further from her perch.

“I’m an Arachne,” Zaparis answered after hesitating for a moment.

“Like a spider lady?” Zaparis just nodded.

“Aren't your legs meant to be spider legs?”

“They don’t grow in till we reach like thirty. Before that, we can live like normal people,” Zaparis explained.

“My mum hasn’t even got her spider legs yet.”

“Is that why you are so good at the spider feet spell?” Gunter asked.

“Yeah, I learnt lots of stuff about the spell people don’t know about.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it can’t stick to living beings.”

“Yeah, everyone knows that.”

“But if you have someone in armour, you can stick to the armour instead, as it isn’t living.”

“Really? Hey Gunter, you got a breastplate on?” Gunter nodded; he had finished it earlier that day in the workshop and wanted to wear it all day.

“Well, go on, then stand on it,” Bea said, her eyes gleaming with the offer of a show.

“O-ok, I will try,” Zaparis said as she waved a hand for Gunter to crouch down. Following her lead, Gunter crouched down and took Nicklas out of his pocket to hold her at arm's length.

“In case you stumble and try to grab something. Don’t want her to fall out and get hurt,” Gunter explained.

Pressing her right foot against Gunter’s now exposed breastplate, the pair watched Zaparis in anticipation.

“Ok, here I go,” Zaparis said as Gunter manoeuvred his free hand behind her back. With an almighty heft, she stuck her left foot to his breastplate.

“Ok, Gunter stand up,” Bea said, slapping his shoulder. Standing up, the pair were pleasantly surprised to see Zaparis still stuck on and standing there like it was the floor.

“Tahdah.”

“WOW, SO SPIDER FEET CAN WORK ON PEOPLE!!” Bea shouted, feeling excited.

“Wonder how many people we can get stuck on you?” Bea asked as she began to get lost in the idea.

“Can I try?!” Tasha said, storming up with Olivia in tow behind her.

“We were just discussing whether that’s possible,” Gunter said.

“Only one way to find out,” Maxwell said as he arrived with Cassius.

“Agreed,” Kline added as he arrived with Jacob.

“Ok big guy, crouch down and take off the jacket, so we all have space on the breastplate.” Following her suggestions, Gunter knelt down and took off his jacket, exposing his backplate as a bonus spot.

“Ok, spider feet go!” Tasha shouted as she jumped and dove foot first, landing against Gunter’s lower back.

“Ooof! Tasha, could you not do a jump kick?” Gunter asked.

“Sorry, got too excited,” Tasha said in a tone that made it clear she wasn’t really sorry.

“Ok, Olivia next,” Gunter said as he gently picked her up and stuck her to where his right pectoral would be.

“Then Cassius,” Maxwell said as he lifted Cassius up and stuck him to Gunter’s belly.

“Me next!” Jacob insisted as Maxwell lifted him and stuck him next to Cassius.

“Where shall I go?” Maxwell asked.

“Got a free spot on my back,” Gunter said, gesturing to the spot in question. Lying on the ground, Maxwell lifted his feet and stuck them to Gunter’s back, shuffling his feet so he would be in contact with Gunter’s shoulders.

“Ok, your turn now, Kline,” Bea said.

“I-i’m not sure,” Kline said, looking at the strange form Gunter was rapidly becoming.

“Come on…” Tasha whined.

“Ok, I’ll go here,” Kline said, sticking his feet to the last free spot on Gunter’s back.

“That everyone?” Gunter asked.

“Yep, you have everyone who came over,” Bea confirmed.

“Guhhh!!” Gunter grunted as he slowly stood up. Slowly but surely , he reached his full height and had six people standing on his new armour.

“WOOO!!!” The entire assembled group cheered from their various spots.

Just as the fun reached its peak, the door to the classroom opened, and a vial was thrown in. Watching the vial sail through the air, the class watched on with confusion. The moment it landed, there was an ear-splitting bang followed by a blinding flash.

All at once, the entire group stuck to his armour lost focus and fell to the floor in a heap.

“Ow, what happened?” Cassius groaned.

Just as they were getting their senses back, another two objects were thrown in through the open door. Looking at Alex, Gunter, the only one of the group still standing, could see he was rushing to intercept the objects before he could though they exploded in a cloud of smoke that rapidly filled the room.

Quickly everything went dark as everyone lost consciousness.