“This must never get out,” Grandmaster Shun said, glaring at the three of them. The grandmaster sat at his desk, hands clenched with white knuckles hinting at his controlled anger. Serena, Alia, and Katalin stood to attention. The demon's presence wasn’t quite as intimidating as the Dragon’s, but it was enough that Serena felt a tinge of nervousness; a part of her instincts raised alarm bells at the sheer violence he was capable of.
After Alia had quite literally disard and then reard Katalin, they soon moved into the second half of the session. Only Serena, Alia and the three Head Instructors, Ryosuke, Nathaniel, and Joey, remained while everyone else, exhausted and gossiping over the events that had just transpired, left the room. Katalin seed especially eager to have Alia begin sparring with her newly ford red aura.
And what an aura it was!
Serena didn’t think she’d ever seen a red aura with such vibrant hues. Looking at Alia’s aura was fascinating; it sohow seed to give off more colour than it should have. It was so rich that it imparted a sense of density, which wasn’t a word typically used to describe a warrior's aura. An aura, for most warriors, is a subtle sheen across the skin, with short-lived rays of coloured light dancing along the body.
But Alia was not a normal warrior.
Katalin had expressed no real surprise at the magnitude of Alia’s aura, nor did she seem bothered at losing a limb. It was as if she’d expected both. Was that possible? Was the Highlord skilled enough to see the true depths of Alia’s talents? And, Empress forbid, did the sword maniac intentionally let her arm be sliced off to make a point to Alia and the rest of the class?
The latter was a question Serena kept to herself. It would be wildly inappropriate to raise the matter. The question itself implied sothing negative regarding the sanity of a Highlord. With the waves Serena had already been making for herself and House Halen, she didn’t need to cause any more trouble.
Yet, she found herself, along with Alia and Katalin, in the grandmaster's office, being thoroughly dressed down. The man had stord into the training room and demanded they follow him. It seed so instructors had imdiately run to the grandmaster to inform him of what had happened.
“This academy has trained warriors for almost a thousand years,” the grandmaster continued. “I follow in the footsteps of Grandmaster Kobayashi, who followed in the footsteps of Grandmaster Kimura and the chain continues right back to the founding of Cascadia. More than eight hundred years of history. A history of blood, dirt, sand and tal. We are not the only academy in Asamaywa, but we’re the only one that can trace their lineage back so far! The only academy that our Divine Empress visited four centuries ago!
“For all that ti, we were a small dojo. It is only recently, with new expectations and funding from Greatlord Oshiro and our Overlord that we’ve expanded to what we are today. Now, we no longer train only the talented children of the Eastern Nobility but entertain students from the far reaches of the Empire. The sword, spear and bow are no longer all we teach!” The grandmaster began counting with his fingers. "Magic. Crystalcraft. Cryptography. Battlefield dicine. We teach it all!
“Cascadian Lords send their children here to be moulded into warriors, mages, and most importantly, officers. They expect us to imprint the proper traits into their children: obedience, loyalty, discipline, and skill. They especially expect us to do it safely!” The demon's eyes narrowed as he emphasised the last word. “What ssage do you think it sends to Greatlord Oshiro and the rest of Cascadia if our instructors are running around cutting off each other's damn arms!?” His voice rose to a shout, slamming his hand onto his desk.
“What were you thinking!?” he jabbed a finger at Alia. “I would expect soone of your talents to be able to maintain control! You cut off a Highlord’s arm! Why do you think people are given the title of Lord-Prospect before they beco a full Cascadian Lord? Well!?”
“I-” Alia began.
“Exactly! To prospect the individual to determine whether they are worthy of the title! Do you think cutting off Highlord Driss’s arm, the daughter of Greatlord Driss, is an appropriate action for one of your station? Do you know what punishnt could await you should the Greatlord petition our Overlord for satisfaction? Do you!?”
“Capital punishnt, right?” Alia questioned, slightly tilting her head. Surprisingly, Alia didn’t sound all that concerned. To be fair, neither did Serena. The last ti a Lord-Prospect had been put to death for harming a Lord was more than a century ago. If the knowledge of the event got out, and Katalin and her father sought remuneration, then a fine would likely be all Alia would get. Given what Serena understood of Katalin so far, she suspected the Highlord didn’t even care about losing an arm.
After all, it was reattached.
And, Empress forbid, even if Alia was sohow sentenced to sothing more...
How would they enforce it?
“That’s right,” the grandmaster growled, glaring at Alia for a few seconds before turning his anger towards Serena. Despite her battlefield experience, she still felt herself bristle under his glare.
“And you,” he said, jabbing a finger in her direction. “What in the seven hells were you thinking to prepare a Word? Against a Highlord? What were you going to do? Strike Highlord Driss down?”
Yes, Serena thought. She had been about to do exactly that. Seeing Alia bleed had switched sothing on in her head. Sothing primal. An instinctive need to protect those she loved. Of course, Serena knew she couldn’t explain it that way, so she chose an explanation that ever so slightly bent the truth.
“I was concerned the duel was developing out of control,” Serena explained. “I was concerned Alia’s life was in danger, and I knew without a Word I would have no hope in intervening against soone of Highlord Driss’s strength.” Serena turned slightly, bowing to the northern demon. “My sincerest apologies, Highlord Driss. I should have trusted your judgnt. If I were a man, I would shave my head in sha.”
“Do not worry yourself, Instructor Halen,” Katalin replied smoothly. “Trust needs to be earned and we are still so unfamiliar with each other, yes? I take no offence. I am more than happy to take responsibility.”
ntally, Serena breathed a sigh of relief. She’d suspected Katalin would take this approach and was glad to be proven right. At no point had the northern demon indicated she cared about her injury. Given Serena’s position as Lord of House Halen, many demons would have taken advantage of this opportunity. Luckily, Katalin seed more than willing to let it go.
The grandmaster, on the other hand, wasn’t.
“At least soone’s taking responsibility,” he said, turning his ire to Katalin. “Highlord Driss, it was out of respect for your father and the belief that having soone of your talents train my Instructors would be beneficial to the academy that I permitted your request. I never would have thought soone with your reputation would be so reckless! This must never happen again, understand?”
Katalin turned sharply to the grandmaster. Placing her right fist against her chest, she bowed deeply. “You have my apologies and guarantee that this will not repeat itself, Grandmaster. Seeing a powerful mage form an aura is so rare that I could not help myself. I should have prepared properly for this scenario. Rest assured, I will not ntion these events to my father.”
If the grandmaster was surprised at having a Highlord apologise so earnestly to him, it didn’t show. He grunted his acceptance before turning back to Alia. “Assistant Instructor Thornheart,” he intoned with a voice slightly more devoid of anger. “You haven’t been here three days and you’ve already damaged one of our Speaker Rooms and cut off a Highlord's arm. Do you think you could continue your tenure here as an Assistant Instructor with a little more control?”
“Mmm!” Alia nodded enthusiastically. “Sure thing!”
“...Get out then, all of you.” He waved his hand dismissively. The three of them quickly began exiting the office. As Alia was leaving, the grandmaster called out to her once more.
“Assistant Instructor Thornheart?”
“Yes?” Alia answered, turning in the doorway.
“Congratulations on reaching red. You’ll make a fearso warrior.”
“O-oh! Thank you, Grandmaster!” Alia bowed again.
The door closed, and the trio began walking back through the corridors. Once they’d travelled so distance, Katalin stopped suddenly. Turning her purple eyes towards Serena, she said, “Instructor Halen, although I hold no grudge, I am surprised you are prepared to Speak against in protection of a human. Is your connection to her so strong?”
Serena couldn’t help but swallow nervously. She quickly covered it up with a light cough. Of course, she expected she would be fielded with questions like this in the future. Serena didn’t want to hide her relationship with Alia. In many ways, she was proud of it, despite it being against her faith and her family's ideals. However, now wasn’t the ti to be completely honest about it.
“Alia has saved my life and the lives of my crew. I feel a great debt to her, regardless of her race. She is also an advisor to House Halen, and we’d much rather she remain alive and well for that purpose.”
Katalin's eyes sparkled and for a mont Serena thought her mouth curved slightly. “And if you had Spoken against ? Do you think you would have been able to defeat ?”
“...No,” Serena said after so hesitation.
“Yet, you still would have, yes? Even now, you would, knowing I cannot be defeated?” Katalin’s words were empty of any pride or arrogance. They were stated plainly as if they were an evident truth of the world.
“...Correct, Highlord.”
“Instructor, please.”
“Instructor.” Serena bent her head slightly as an apology.
“And you?” Katalin turned her attention to Alia. “Do you think you would be able to contend with ?”
“Um… maybe?” Alia answered, shrugging her shoulders.
Katalin laughed softly. It was a sweet laugh, gentle yet polite. It was the kind of laugh you wouldn’t expect to co from a rigorous warrior like she was. “After everything you’ve seen, that is your answer? How amusing.” Katalin walked past them before turning and saying, “I look forward to continuing the training. Now that you’ve reached red, you will not have to take such risks to reach orange. Saturday morning. First light, yes?”
“Mmm! We’ll be there!” Alia chirped, flashing her characteristic thumbs up.
“Goodbye, Instructor Halen, Assistant Instructor Thornheart.”
The pair watched the auburn hair demon stroll away without a care in the world. Serena faced Alia and said, “I was surprised you trusted her enough to bring down your wards.” Alia blinked her crimson eyes. “You’re intuition? Instincts?” Serena asked.
“Mmm,” Alia humd, nodding slightly.
“Even so,” Serena continued, letting her voice quieten. “I would prefer it if…” She took a breath. “...If you never allow yourself to be in such a situation again. Regarding your wards, I an.” Just the thought of an unprotected Alia made Serena uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction her request would get her, but she didn’t expect Alia to burst into a wild grin.
“What?” Serena asked.
“You were really going to Speak Narean to protect , weren’t you? Against her.” Alia giggled, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly. “That ans a lot to ! Thank you!” She leaned in and whispered, “If we were elsewhere, I would show you exactly how much it ans to …”
This incorrigible human!
“Just…” Serena crossed her arms and looked away, forcing her heartbeat to calm down. She’d beco sowhat used to Alia’s crass form of flirting. It was so unusual compared to what she had been brought up to expect. A part of Serena appreciated the direct nature of it, although she wished Alia would hold back sotis.
“What?” Alia asked.
“Just shut up, idiot.”
Alia finished her al and followed Serena outside. She had to do her best not to skip or jump with joy. Red aura! She’d reached it! Finally! Sure, the length of ti she had taken was outrageously fast compared to a normal person, but she had beco impatient! The sense of achievent ward her heart. It may have only been red aura, but to Alia, it was more satisfying than any of the magical abilities she had demonstrated thus far!
She couldn’t wait to be free that afternoon to train more. Now that she’d ford an aura once, she felt the second ti would co quickly. The feeling of it was still fresh in her mind. She planned to play around with her cloaking magic to see what worked best in covering up her new abilities. After that, she would-
“Mmm? Sorry?” Alia asked. Serena had said sothing.
“I was saying, co find when you’re free. We’ll go over your red aura together.”
“Sure!” Alia chirped, feeling her face beam. “I have to monitor a first-year class now. Then I was hoping to catch Lunaria, I an, Instructor Inoue, for so advice.” She looked around quickly, thankful no students were nearby. It was easy to forget to use the proper titles in public. “I’ll find you after, okay?”
“Okay.” Serena nodded. “See you later.”
Alia humd happily as she left Serena and headed to the magic tower. After the upcoming lesson, she had so topics she wanted to cover with Lunaria. Now that they had a good working relationship, Alia reckoned the Head Instructor would be the ideal person to ask about the other reality she detected while transford by the Second Word.
And whether the instructor knew anything about Anathor and his kind, the mysterious Formless.
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