Zora was alert this time. As the twin colossal legs closed in on them, he grabbed Cecilia and pushed her down, trusting Julius and Marcus to do the same for Emilia—and all five of them ducked under the cleaving legs, bracing their heads as volleys of stone debris rained on them.

“... J-Jungle nymph!” Julius shouted. “Giant stick bug! They’re incredible at camouflage, and this one’s massive! At least twenty metres long with–”

Marcus yanked Julius and Emilia onto their feet as the giant stick bug stabbed three more spiky legs in, and this time, they were dangerously close. One smashed vertically down on where the three of them had been, making the floor ripple, while two stabbed forward like spears, stopping Zora and Cecilia from scrambling up and running forward. Immediately, the entire chamber rumbled; the bug had observed enough, and was no longer concerned with hiding itself.

Without a word, Zora and the rest of the teachers turned their wands and weapons on it.

“Amplify!”

“Strike!”

Their combination spell flew. Marcus picked up a pillar and threw it at the bug. Julius flicked half a dozen glowing syringes at its head, and, in response–

“Witch’s orders,” it rasped, and when it flapped its wings, the sheer power of the wind was nothing like the bugs before it. It shattered windows, ruffled banners, and cleared the toxic fumes in the air; Zora barely managed to cast ‘block’ behind him as the wind knocked him and Cecilia through the wall, throwing them into a completely different hallway.

Separated from Emilia’s group, the two of them groaned as they clawed to their feet, and yet the stick bug’s voice was still painfully loud.

“No human is to enter and ascend this building,” it drawled and Emilia’s group must’ve been flung through a wall into a different hallway as well, because it crawled away from the windows for a second—only to reappear outside the windows on Zora’s left, armoured compound eyes blinking slowly. “Witch’s orders.”

With that, the destruction began anew. Walls, windows, and floors shattered as the giant bug stabbed its legs through over and over, and all Zora and Cecilia could do was run and ‘strike’, ‘rise’ and ‘throw’. Sprays of shattered rock bounced off the giant bug’s rock-hard chitin. Moving through the hallways, Zora even added ‘spins’ to all of his ‘strikes’ and debris ‘throws’ to add just that little bit of piercing force to his attacks, but nothing worked. Even its eyes were armoured; its only weakness was its sluggishness, and so all they did was run.

Eventually, Cecilia ‘struck’ a door open and they bumped into Emilia’s group, running in the opposite direction. Zora tried to tell them to find the stairs to the fourth floor, but then another leg cleaved through the ceiling. Faster, wilder, and sharper than any that’d come before. Marcus shouted ‘toughen’ on himself and tried to catch the leg, but Emilia and Julius had the sensibility to tackle him out of the way. The leg smashed through the floor, and two more came stabbing at their faces.

“D-Don’t try to catch the damn thing, you oaf!” Julius shouted.

“Why don’t you help out, then?” Marcus snapped back, and then two more legs came stabbing in. Zora and Cecilia whirled and slung ‘blocks’ in unison, but the spells barely had any strength behind them; it was only Emilia yanking all of them with glowing threads that they avoided getting impaled through.

We have zero synergy.

I can work with Cecilia, Marcus, and Julius individually, but when we’re all together…

Dodging narrowly, all five of them raced backwards, sprinting through more doors, hallways, and winding through confusing chambers as the bug pursued. Three, four, five giant legs punched through the walls and let in cold moonlight, and it was only Cecilia dropping instruments from her satchel and making them play old tunes that distracted the bug from pinpointing their exact location. More legs stabbed at them through multiple walls in a row, and these ones they could only hear coming—Emilia and Marcus, the fastest ones, had to yank all of them down once again, but this time there was no avoiding it.

The floor caved in under them, and they tumbled all the way down to a giant lecture hall on the second floor. Marcus grabbed Julius as they smashed into the chairs on the upper row, his ‘toughen’ spell protecting both of them. Zora and Cecilia grabbed each other’s hands while Emilia jumped on his back, and their hyaline wings snapped out at the last moment, slowing their fall just enough for them to land on their feet; his ankles still cracked as they landed, and he let out a pained groan as all five of them hid behind their mounds of debris, coughing ash and dust.

Before the giant bug could crawl down to the second floor, Zora reached into the depths of his abdomen and shouted ‘silence’—hiding their pained breaths and gasps just as the bug stabbed two legs into the front wall of the lecture hall, prying it open like it was made out of paper.

“I know you’re in here,” it rumbled, ripping a ten-metre-long gash in the wall, half its body backlit by moonlight as it peered in. “I can smell you. All humans smell like nectared flowers, and the blood of Magicicada Mages smell particularly strong.”

Cecilia clamped a hand over Emilia’s mouth as Zora gritted his teeth, wiping trails of blood off his cheek and neck.

We can’t beat it if we’re not in sync.

Think, Zora.

How do we get through this thing?

“Oh, well,” the bug rumbled again, rearing both its forelegs back as it prepared to stab into the lecture hall. “Not like you can understand me, anyways. What a travesty. If only you humans were a bit bigger so it’s easier for me to chew on you–”

“I understand you!” Zora shouted, eyes lighting up as he stood up straight, raising two empty hands in the air as he looked the giant bug in the eye. “Let’s talk, you and I! Do you have a name?”

Silence.

Surprise.

It wasn’t just Cecilia and Emilia who were staring up at him with wide, dumbfounded eyes. The giant stick bug froze as well, its forelegs petrified; Zora could practically the gears spinning in its head as it tried to comprehend what he’d just said, and that was all he really wanted.

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Time.

“... You speak our tongue?” the bug mumbled, tilting its head slightly. More chunks of stone cracked off the wall it was clinging to, opening the hole up even further. “I must be mishearing. A human speaking the tongue of bugs? What a farce. I suppose I am just a bit too hungry–”

“You didn’t mishear anything,” Zora said, nudging Cecilia with his heel and beckoning them to sneak out of the hall as he walked away from the mounds of debris. “I’m Zora Fabre, a language arts teacher in this academy. It’d be remiss for a language arts teacher to not know how to speak the tongue of both friends and foes alike, no?”

The stick bug blinked. “You say… Fabreeeee?” it drawled, and its voice was deeper this time; he clenched his throat and kicked Cecilia again, not stopping until he felt the two girls shuffling away quickly. “I know the ‘Fabre Household’. You were a family of humans who could speak every tongue in the world. What do you call yourselves? Translators? Interpreters?”

“I’m… surprised you know my household name, too,” he said slowly, and he wasn’t lying. He walked out onto the stairs and began pacing down the hall, passing the hiding Marcus and Julius on the way. “You can call us a family of translators, yes. How curious. How is it that you know of my–”

“Your household was a thorn in our side for the longest time,” it replied, sounding almost giddy as it finally seemed to come to the realisation that he was, indeed, speaking its tongue. “For decades, the Fabres assigned to the major battlefronts could understand what we were saying and intercept our battle strategies, so we were told to make your household disappear. The Magicicada Witches were sent after your household ten years ago and wiped your name out, didn’t they?”

Marcus and Julius were glaring intently at him from the side, likely wanting him to cast ‘translate’ so they could understand the conversation, but he’d no plans on doing so.

As he continued walking, he kicked a pebble at the two men, and his eyes brimmed with cold, dark fury all the way down until he was standing right before the giant stick bug at the bottom of the lecture hall.

“... That’s right,” he said, sending the bug a cordial smile that didn’t carry the meaning behind it. “The Magicicada Witches came after us ten years ago, and I was the only survivor. Were you there on that night?”

The bug dipped its head, peering straight down at him. “Most of us who came to this academy were also there that night. We are the Magicicada Witch’s brood, after all. We follow wherever they go. We do whatever they tell us to do. You are mistaken, though, if you think you are the only–”

“You’re rather talkative and sophisticated for a bug,” he said, crossing an arm over his chest and sighing in mock relief, “compared to the other ones I’ve talked to, you’re a delight to speak with. I must say, you have remarkable self-control—the other ones would’ve gotten impatient with me by now.”

“Oh?” The bug pulled its giant mandibles apart in what seemed like half a grin, half a snarl. “Thank you for the compliment, but it is only because I have not talked to a Fabre in a while that I–”

“What say we negotiate a little?”

Another pause.

He heard faint footsteps behind him—Marcus and Julius sneaking out of the lecture hall, hopefully—but the giant stick bug seemed to be in deep thought, and it didn’t notice the sounds.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” he said, keeping his voice calm and steady as he shrugged nonchalantly. “Seeing as you’re far, far smarter than all the other bugs I’ve spoken to thus far, I’d like to ask you a few questions, and in return, you can ask me anything you’d like to know about humanity. Even if you’re not a Lesser Insect God, you do communicate with your bosses, don’t you? Wouldn’t Nona appreciate more information about humanity’s battle strategies?”

The bug clicked its mandibles, ‘laughing’ sharply. “Why would I want to negotiate with a human? I’ve been ordered to kill anyone who enters the northern building–”

“And I don’t want to die,” he said casually, turning his wand into a sword and stabbing it straight down, leaning on it like a walking cane. “Unfortunately, I know my match when I see one. You are far stronger than me, so there is no point in even trying to challenge you alone. I’m right here in front of you, aren’t I? You can kill me anytime you want, right? Why not entertain yourself with a bit of intelligent discourse while you think about whether or not you really want to kill me?”

“I do not have to think. I want to–”

“If I promise to get out of the northern building right after this conversation? Will you still want to kill me then?”

The bug cracked its head sideways. “Of course. The more humans I devour, the closer I will be to becoming a Mutant, so why wouldn’t I just kill you now–”

“Because you’re intelligent, unlike the others,” he said, feigning genuine surprise as he tilted its head, matching its gesture. “You’re not like the others. You clearly deserve to be a Mutant, but instead, Nona is ordering you around, right? Do you know how many bugs I’ve talked to these past three days?”

“I don’t.”

“More than the fingers on my hands,” he lied. “All of them cried for ‘mother, mother’ as they died, but Nona never came for them. They all trusted her so dearly, but she never even glanced their way, right? Even now, do you have any idea where she is?”

The bug didn’t respond immediately, and that was the answer he needed.

“I presume, of all the Giant-Class bugs in this academy, that you are the strongest. That’s why Nona told you to guard the northern building, right?” he said, before jabbing a finger at its head. “But Nona wouldn’t save you if you were hurt, right? She doesn’t actually care about you. She doesn’t believe you are her equal, and until she believes you are every bit as intelligent as a Mutant, you will never even be acknowledged… and how does one become a Mutant-Class, exactly? Is it really enough to only consume humans?”

Then he swept his arm around, gesturing at the lecture hall.

“Behaviour precedes nature. Those who act like a human can become human, and what does a human do best?” he asked. “We talk. We prattle. We negotiate all the time whenever we have to settle a dispute, so how about it? Why not use me to practise your human skills?”

“...”

“Come on, smart guy,” he urged, putting all his restraint into his face as he forced himself to grin up at the bug. “A Mutant is considered a Lesser Insect God when they can speak even a single word in a human tongue. How about I teach you a few human words? Wouldn’t you, theoretically, be on par with Nona as Lesser Insect God the moment you’re able to pronounce it?”

The bug didn’t speak. Its expression didn’t change. It just remained clinging to the outside of the lecture hall, its spiky and gargantuan silhouette backlit by moonlight, and for a good few seconds, Zora wondered if he may have pushed its buttons a little too hard—but then it laughed and rested its forelegs on the walls again, relaxing visibly as it bobbed its head back and forth.

“Why not, then?” it said. “I can kill you whenever I want, after all. Now teach me how to speak your human tongue–”

“The first bee to buzz sets the tune,” he said, raising a finger. “In human culture, it is appropriate for the person who requested the negotiation to ask two questions first. Let me speak my piece, and then it will be your turn.”