***The World***

***Angrod***

“I wish you a nice day, little masters!” Rose smiles and waves at us as we pass through the school gate for another day of school, carrying our backpacks. I smile and wave her goodbye. Our first week turned out to be a full success, developing into exactly the kind of vacation I envisioned.

My ‘sister’ heads towards our first classroom, so I hurry to follow her, trusting that she knows where to go because I am too lazy to look up what’s first on today’s list. We walk in the direction of the schoolyard when we notice three students who are lying on the floor.

Two of them are twitching from time to time and the third has foam at the mouth. They look like they are alive, despite their pitiful state.

“A bio-attack on the school? Is it poison?” I fear the worst and step away from the other children. In this young life, I have already survived three direct attacks on my person and probably several more which my parents prevented before they came close.

Celes is unimpressed and walks up to the kids, probing one with her foot – getting no reaction. “That’s no poison. It looks like they were electrocuted with a taser.”

I want to ask them what happened, so I join Celes's side. “Heal!”

Strange. They show no reaction to my healing magic? Admittedly, I am just an amateur who memorized a healing spell without knowing what it actually does. But it’s a high-grade one, so it should have at least some effect.

“They aren't wounded, so I think you are wasting your mana, Angrod,” Celes comments. “The electricity knocked them out. Hm. I have seen this somewhere before. But I can't remember.”

“Don’t tell me that you are getting senile in your old age,” I tease her. If someone sits on as many memories as we do, he or she is bound to forget a lot of stuff. One can be happy if he manages to remember a few things of his first reincarnation.

“Hahahaha… Muahaha… Hihihihihi…”

Crazy laughter from the schoolyard draws my attention and Celes and I look at each other, then we start running in the direction of the mad laughter.

When we reach the schoolyard, we are confronted with a picture right out of a horror movie. Multiple students are lying on the ground. They apparently fell were they stood.

And in the middle of it all is… Margerie?

A small disc-shaped device is hovering about ten meters above her and she is dancing beneath it with her hands raised high up into the air like some pagan worshipper.

Then she notices us and lets out a jubilant scream. “Hohoho! Celes, Angrod, I am so happy! You won’t believe it!” the culprit calls out with a heavenly smile on her face.

Then she dashes over and bulldozes into me, giving me a big hug. “Angrod, I can't thank you enough for those designs! You are a genius! I thought my quest would take me a lifetime and you solved my problem in half an hour.”

“Haha, no big deal. More importantly, what happened here!?” I ask.

“Yes, Yes! Was there an attack!?” Celes follows.

Margerie smiles. “Oh, no. I was just testing Angrod’s prototype design. I made a few changes here and there to maximize the output and added some functionality. This is a completely new branch of science for this world! Who would have thought that some materials have such miraculous properties if you just cool them down enough!

“After Angrod gave us the hint, I stormed one of my parents’ research labs and enlisted all the workers, researchers, and materials for this project. They didn't have anything productive to do anyway. So, as of today, we have the first levitation-device which isn't dependent on ridiculous amounts of rare materials!

“Though, there is still a little safety issue, as you can see. No problem, though. Some bugs have to be expected after just one week of development. The strong magnetic field it emits seems to paralyse most living organisms I have tested so far. I need to find a way to dampen the output.”

I gape at her. Well, that’s what the regulation circuit was for! Wait, could I have forgotten it in the end? Let’s see… I am sure that was about to draw it when the bell rang… Damn it!

Margerie continues. “But that's no issue! For the time being, I used a very simple control circuit! Do you want to test it?”

“Ahem, why don’t we switch it off for now until we get rid of the bugs?” I suggest cautiously. This one is dangerous.

She offers us a device which looks like a remote control.

I know that I shouldn't, but the child inside me can't resist. Taking the controls, I fly a few circles and a small loop with the device. It is very easy to use, almost like flying a drone. Well, it’s a drone. It must generate a really strong magnetic field to hold itself aloft like that. I didn't expect that Margerie could put this together over the course of a few days.

Suddenly a few teachers enter the schoolyard. They don't look very happy.

“Give me that!” Celes grabs the remote control, plucking it out of my hands. Under her command, the device does a U-turn and flies with a buzzing “SSSsssmmm” directly into the group of teachers.

They twitch and fall to the ground, taken out just like the students.

“Let's run before they catch us!” Celes suggests.

“Yes!” I come to the same conclusion. The last thing I want is to earn a corrective detention class.

“Hahaha!” Margerie retakes control of her drone and deactivates the device after landing it close to us.

She picks it up and then we run for it because a group of people is already coming our way.

“That was funny!” Margerie proclaims in one of the hallways a few minutes later. Now that I have time to look at her, I can see that she looks really tired, despite her demeanour.

“You should probably rest. You don't look like you are in a good condition,” I advice.

“Rest? Rest? How can you talk about rest now! There is so much to discover! What other secrets are hidden in your head!? You just walk up to a chalkboard and revolutionize our science in thirty minutes! What happens if you really put some work into it? Haaahaaa...” Margerie is now panting, looking like she is about to drool on the floor.

It makes her look like a dog who is happily waving its tail, looking up to its master!

“Ahem! Margerie, you should really take a rest. Your behaviour is strange. I will bring you to the infirmary-room.” Celes grabs Margerie at the neck like a kitten and walks off, pulling the smaller girl with her.

Margerie tries to get free, but the mad scientist doesn't have the brute force that’s required to resist someone like Celes.

“We'll see each other at special class, Angrod. Tell the teacher that I will be a little late!” Celes calls out while turning around a corner.

“Noooo! I have to dissect his brain! There is so much to leeeaaarrrnnn!” I hear a howl which is slowly growing weaker as the two of them increase their distance to me, leaving me alone on the corridor.

I suddenly realize that my convenient Celes-guidance-tool is gone and that I don’t know where to go. Grumbling, I rummage through my school-pack to find the booklet with the class-guide.

A minute later I am finally able to find my way to the so-called Special Class.

Speeding up my steps, I try to make good on the lost time. It would make a bad first impression to be late.

The special class turns out to be held on a training field that’s close to the normal one, only that it’s not as neatly maintained. After changing my clothes, I arrive at my destination.

Just seven students and teacher Tongord are present. I know five of the children. “I am sorry, but Celes will be late,” I inform Tongord upon walking up to him.

“Oh, the prodigy is late? Hrm. It’s no problem. We would have odd numbers with her.” Tongord nods.

He turns to the rest of the students, swishing his raccoon tail. “Introductions! We have two new students. One of them is already here, Angrod of Tirna. Unfortunately, our second newcomer, Celes of Stricc, will be late.”

He points out the various kids who gathered to greet me. “This here is Tanja Morden, Sven Hjavars, Iris Tulhelm, Gabriel Rosenquarz, Sarda Meltheim, Senda Meltheim, and Sandra Andros,” Tongord introduces me to the people.

As he points to Sarda and Senda I give them a happy smile, making sure to show all my teeth. Two more punching bags for Celes mean fewer punches for me! This is a good day! For some reason, both of them take a step back and Iris also keeps a respectful distance. I am amazed at this world's healing magic. Just a few days ago, Iris had all four limbs broken and some other injuries.

Then I take a closer look at the two new faces. Gabriel Rosenquarz is very human-like. His skin is reddish and he looks to be about eight years old. His physique is sturdier than mine, but far from what I would call fat. He simply has strong bones. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that he is related to teacher Samarin.

Sandra Andros is a genuine bunny girl with blonde hair and big, fluffy ears! Yes, there is no other way to describe it. A bunny girl through and through. She may be only ten, but it looks like she is already starting to develop her figure. Though, I don’t understand why she would choose to wear a skin-tight bodysuit for training!? Everyone else uses the school’s blue tracksuits.

“Unfortunately, we have a huge age gap, with Sandra and Sarda being the oldest, but that shouldn't be a big problem. We have only the strongest of the strongest here anyway! But to give you a better training I will have to know your fighting styles! All of you will have a test fight with me once Celes is here,” Tongord explains.

“What are we allowed to do?” I ask, unable to hold back my curiosity.

“Everything is allowed as long as you do it from a range no bigger than fifty meters!” Tongord answers.

“Can I cast spells too?” I am confused. I thought close combat lessons were all about martial arts and use of close range weapons?

“You can cast every spell you can manage to cast. Don't confuse this class with something stupid like magical combat or martial arts classes! Standing in fixed positions, casting spells, or to use just your fists and feet, has nothing to do with real combat. In my class, you will train for real life! Everything goes as long as you don't try to snipe the opponent from a ridiculous range.” Tongord crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“Thanks for waiting, guys.” Suddenly, Celes speaks from right behind me.

I turn around. “Good that you managed to find the way.”

Tongord points at me. “Actually, that reminds me! I know almost nothing about you. I already asked myself why a mage character fought her in such a strange way. Though I have to compliment you for holding your ground against her with nothing but enchants and a barrier spell! I can't wait to learn about your abilities.”

I grumble to myself while Tongord walks onto the open field. I dislike and distrust the man, so I will refrain from showing him my full power.

Celes notices the Meltheim brothers and gives them a sour look. Iris is also branded with a devilish grin, which makes her back up a little more.

Using the chance, Tanja walks up to us and starts a conversation with Celes.

“Okay. The first hit counts! You are first, Gabriel!” Tongord turns around and walks to the centre of the field.

Gabriel walks very carefully towards Tongord and as soon as he reaches a distance of about fifteen meters, he suddenly thrusts out his hands and a jet of flames shoots into Tongord's direction. But the teacher just jumps and evades while closing the distance.

The student swings his flame-thrower into Tongord's direction, but he just turns to mist as Gabriel is about to hit him. Reforming above Gabriel, he falls down and flattens the smaller student under his weight.

“You depend too much on your ability. You should have countermeasures in case someone is able to avoid your flame attacks. Next!”

Sarda walks up to the teacher, relying on the same sword-skill I already saw him using against me. He puts up a better fight but looses in a similar way. His speed gave him the ability to avoid the same fate as Gabriel, but it didn't change the outcome in the long run. After eight tries, Tongord caught him and threw the boy to the ground like a world-class judo artist.

After this Senda puts up an incredible fight while using just his bare hands and feet. Just from watching, I can tell that he is much stronger and faster than Sarda! So why did his family send the weaker one of the brothers against me? I am confused!

I don't get an answer, as the geezer calls an end without touching Senda. It seems like he has seen enough. Or is he going easy on the boy? It would be in line with my suspicion that Tongord is playing for the other team.

Celes and Tanja have a nice chat about martial arts in the meantime. Tanja seems to be a martial arts maniac. She is all over the stuff, forcing Celes to tell her everything about inner mana manipulation.

Then Sandra Andros goes for it. As the teacher approaches her, she suddenly jumps up into the air and remains there thanks to a levitation spell. Using her hands for assistance, she casts an altered form of a blizzard spell, encasing herself inside a little tornado of dust and ice shards. The spell is so powerful that it shreds an area of ten square metres around her.

When Tongord tries to get close, she moves herself and the entire tornado forward, catching him.

It’s like Tongord ran face first into a combine harvester. His body simply dissolves in a spray of gore, blood, and pieces.

I raise my hands in triumph, wanting to cheer Sandra on, but Tongord’s body reforms above her, posed for an attack from above.

Sandra was waiting and performs a somersault, kicking the teachers head with impressive leg strength, snapping it sideways!

While Tongord's limp body falls to the ground, Sandra makes a perfect landing like a ballerina.

“I think that I am in love,” I jest and Celes pokes me from the side.

The teacher's body dissolves again and reforms right in front of the bunny girl. He congratulates her, calling it quits.

“Sucks! That raccoon has the same ability as grandpa! In the first few fights, I hoped he does the mist thing beforehand to avoid injuries! But he seems to be immortal too,” I complain.

“The ability of those with the raccoon heritage is a very powerful one! It allows them to turn their body into mist and reform themselves in any form they like. They are able to regenerate from almost anything. Their attack power may be lacking, but you have to kill them so many times that it is almost a given that they will get you at some point. Their only restriction is their mana reserve. If they run out, they are easy prey!” Tanja offers a nice explanation.

As expected of a noble House which is famed for their intelligence network! But why is she talking about our teacher as prey!?

“I am next!” Tanja calls out cheerfully and runs out onto the field. While she closes in on her target, she suddenly falls into her own shadow, disappearing into the ground! Tongord takes a defensive position and looks at the ground. Suddenly a knife stabs out at his ankle from his own shadow.

Having anticipated the move, he jumps up and with a short incantation, he releases a shock-wave against his own shadow. Landing again, the game starts anew.

Tanja seems to be some kind of fucking ninja! If she starts to pull out the shadow clones I will walk around on my hands for a day!

After five minutes and a few injuries on Tongord's side, he calls an end again.

Tanja emerges from the ground and returns to us.

“You did very well!” I conclude.

“Hahaha, not really. It's true that I had the upper hand, but that's only as long as I have mana. If we had played this game for another ten minutes I would have lost because Teacher has much more mana than me. The same would probably be true for Sandra. We can't kill Tongord often enough to drive him into a corner.”

“So, how many times do I have to kill him?” Celes asks.

“Huh? I don't know? I never got him to admit that his mana is low. He never shows any indication of that, even after dying dozens of times in a row,” Tanja answers, chewing on her lower lip.

What did she do to the guy!?

Iris is next. As the fight starts, she uses the same strategy she employed against Celes. Coating herself in mana to enforce her power, she gives Tongord a terrible beating. It lasts for about ten minutes, but then she runs out of steam and gives up. The geezer is still standing, even though he should have died over ten times!

Then Sven is up against Tongord, handling two knives, one in each hand. The boy who is smaller than me moves so fast that there are just flashes to see. Tongord is holding his ground with defensive magic, like stone skin and shield, but he is unable to counter Sven's speed.

As much as Sven has the upper hand on the offensive, he lacks the needed power to penetrate Tongord's defence. After a few minutes, Sven is completely exhausted and throws the towel.

I am impressed, I didn't think the timid, shy boy had such potential.

“I will go!” Celes confidentially walks up to Tongord and starts the fight with a head-on approach. Storming in, she tries kicking Tongord in the chest, jumping high. Smiling, he evades by ducking beneath her kick.

Celes turns in the air and thrusts an open palm at the ground. While she is being pushed up by the recoil, the ground dents in around Tongord and he is flattened like an insect!

Oi! She watched too many eastern martial art movies in some past life! No sane martial artist would get such an idea by himself! That was the Open Palm of Buddha!

While Tongord dissolves, Celes starts hammering out the same attack in quick succession, not giving Tongord any respite. The stream of attacks holds her up in the air, while the crater with Tongord inside it becomes deeper and deeper.

After about forty seconds of hammering blows, Celes lands again in front of us.

“Whew! I think that's my limit for now! I hope the geezer is a goner. I dislike zombies.” Celes has sweat on her forehead. In about forty seconds she hammered out eighty Palms.

“I am fairly certain that you just violated some copyright,” I comment, hoping that I’ll never end up on the receiving end of such an attack. Was she holding back when we had our training fight?

Catching on, she turns around and gives me a wink. “Who says that I am not the original inventor of that technique?”

Suddenly something crawls out of the crater! “Cough, We need to have a talk about destroying the fighting grounds little miss!” Tongord gets to his feet and folds his arms in front of him, a nasty look on his face.

“Hii!?” Celes runs up to Tanja and hides behind her. It seems our time with Nicosar caused some kind of trauma inside her.

I understand her. Seeing Tongord standing after all of this causes a shudder to run down my spine, even though Tongord hasn't done anything to us!

Yet. He hasn't done anything yet. Yes, that's the correct way to think about it. You are right, Celes! All raccoon geezers are some kind of monster cockroaches!

Touching my chest, I feel for the hidden amulet beneath my tracksuit. It was finished just two days ago and I might already need it. I walk up to Tongord and put my hands into my pockets, not wanting to give away the fact that I am cheating. I don't really have a good idea of how to fight him either. How do I fight a guy like him without a huge difference in strength?

For starters, I pick up a small stone with telekinesis and accelerate it, aiming it directly between Tongord's eyes.

‘Splash!’ A cloud of red goo exits the hole in the back of his head and the falls backwards like a felled tree.

Who ever said that I need to throw big rocks at someone to kill him? But I know this won't work. I did that already a few times to Nicosar and it just made him angry. What I achieved, though, is to incapacitate Tongord.

Now that I have won some time I need to put up some defences! “Shield! Stone Skin!” My preferred defence skills.

Tongord is already done with healing up, small wounds being no problem, even if a vital spot was hit.

He sits up. “Somehow it disturbs me that you fight with your hands in your pockets! I was at your introduction party and I know your abilities are no joke. I want to correct your manners!” Tongord complains to me.

“I am sorry, but it is my style of fighting. There isn't much my hands can do that my mind can not anyway,” I answer.

“Then I want to see what happens when you use your hands!” a voice says from behind me. I turn, but Tongord already struck at me, breaking my shield.

“What I wish is thunder!” I call out as Tongord grabs my collar. Holding the spell matrix in existence, I channel my mana to convert it into electrical energy. Sparks of electricity run over my skin and lash out at Tongord, scorching his skin and constricting his muscles. We both light up like a Christmas tree and are blown away from each other.

I fight to stay conscious. Thanks to that body of mine the lights didn't go dark completely and I manage to land on my feet. “Heal!” Yeah, that feels good. Much better now.

This was a little bit risky, but electrical attacks are the only thing I didn't already try on Nicosar. I sit up and see Tongord coming my way.

“That ability is just a cheap cheat!” I scream.

“Then use your hands. If you don't I will find ways!” Tongord is almost on me!

“Fine!” I scream and hold out a hand to him in a gesture as if I would grab him. “Force!”

Tongord stops in mid-step and is lifted up like being grabbed by a gigantic hand.

Argh! Not good, this is tiring. It's the reason why I find this fighting style stupid. I strain myself again and smack him in an arc into the crater which Celes created.

Upon hearing the nice sound of an impact I strain myself again and close my hands in front of me, which makes it easier to create the effect I wish for. The earth around the crater starts moving and piles up to bury Tongord beneath it.

After a nice little mound is formed, I push down with all my might to compress the matter as airtight as possible. If he turns to a gaseous form to heal, then what happens if he is caught inside an airtight prison six feet under? Only once I am sure that I succeeded, I relax and go to my knees.

“Haaah, haaah, stupid... way... to... fight...” I am exhausted now.

“Yay! We won! The geezer is no more!” Celes runs up to me and picks me up, shaking me happily like a doll. Stupid strength monster! Tanja, Sven, and Sandra run up to us too and cheer!

Suddenly, a part of my burial hill moves and a hand thrusts upwards! We all go silent.

“Uum, isn't the class about to end?” I ask.

All of them nod and we make a run for it!

“Don't leave me behind, I am out of power here!” I scream.

Celes turns around and grabs me by the neck, pulling me with her over the rocky field.

Ow! Ow! On second thought, just leave me with the monster!

***The Pathways***

***Seria***

I walk through a white nothingness. But when I concentrate, I can see currents and paths which allow the gods to instantaneously walk the limitless places of the multiverse. When I reach out, I can feel them, and if I grab one, I get carried away to the place it leads me to. It would be impossible to grasp all of them with my mind, but instinct tells me where each of the countless pathways ends. When I search for a place I want to visit the right thread simply jumps to my attention.

Inside this network, I can see the dead zones.

Places where a soul can neither move forward nor backward. If a god loses himself in one of those, he may never find a way out again. With no path to guide you, you are damned to wander there forever.

That's why the others fear those places, but not me. At least not anymore. A long time ago I got lost in one of them. I don't remember how long I wandered there. In the end, my mind knew nothing but white darkness and I gave up. I sat down and just watched the nothingness surrounding me.

But then I saw it. The place wasn't truly void of pathways. They just flowed so slowly, so faintly, that I had to remain still and silent for an eternity in order to become aware of them.

Half delusional, I found my way back, but the multiverse had changed when I returned and I didn't like it.

The path I walk on ends and I step onto a world of crystals. Spanning out in front of me is a shining city, populated by beings who are beyond comprehension. Above me shines a blue sun which is dancing a deadly dance with a black hole.

This is the Crystal City, the Council’s seat of power. Like megalomaniacs, they decide the fate of all. They wield the greatest powers under all the gods, but in my modest opinion, I think they can only wield their influence because they have this city at this special place.

The centre of all things, the place where all the pathways meet. Nobody knows whether it’s their place of origin or the place where they ultimately end. Though, most of the scholars lean towards the former theory. At some point in long forgotten history, something created the pathways, causing them to spread out from here.

Unfortunately, the Council took control of this important place and the very first law they decided upon was for their rule to never end. Greedy for power, they strike down anyone who threatens their rule.

A step is enough to transfer me into the city and I walk through the streets, watching gods who are just empty shells. They walk around and talk, but their souls are dead. They are too old to remember what it feels like to truly live.

Unlike me, they are unaware of their dead emotions. Having abandoned their ambitions, they just go on to exist and don't care about anything but their continued existence. That is not enough for me.

I step into the great hall in the centre of the city. From here the council officially rules them all and presents itself to the public. All who step in here just blindly obey in awe.

“Seria!” an ethereal voice calls out to me.

The Council sure likes to play games. Hiding and just speaking with a voice from the heavens... do they already believe themselves to be even above other gods?

“I am here to answer to your summons.” They sure like it if I flatter their ego, so I’ll continue to do so for as long as it benefits me.

“We heard from Tjenemit that you wandered the Void Zones?”

“I just take a look from time to time in order to satisfy my curiosity,” I lie.

“We also heard you couldn't show him the fallen ones?”

What the heck did he tell them!? Does he want to create trouble for me?

“I threw them into a Void Zone. Only I can wander it, as I already know it well from my past missteps. I keep them there, caged in nothingness. I already explained to Tjenemit that I would take him there if he wishes it. But there are still risks! I can't guarantee anyone's safety who accompanies me on such a voyage.” I bow slightly, locking my eyes on the ground.

“So he refused?”

“Yes.” Ooh, it seems like the Council is at it again, playing its own games of power. That makes Tjenemit even less worthy of the role which he wishes to play. Did he brag to the others about playing the inspector and failed to show up with results because he was too afraid to follow me?

“We will talk about this again. You may go now.”

“Yes,” I answer.

Deal with your internal problems first and forget me in the course of it. That would be best. Hopefully, they will need quite some time to sort this out, whatever their games are.