Yuri witnessed something that he would never see in his life.

Nico tapped a few spell formations.

Yuri could barely sense them, but it seemed the arrays were imbued with the smallest hint of magic. The power they held was so small, it could barely be called cantrip. What was Nico going to do with so little power?

On top of that, it was impractical to summon so many spells at once.

Two ghouls reached Nico first, swiping at him with the striking of an amateur boxer.

Nico dodged effortlessly from their claws by a hair's breadth. Twice.

He pointed to one of the spell formations and made a yanking motion, as if pulling on a string. A tube of ice shot out from one of the dimly glowing arrays.]

The ice spear appeared so quickly, it was almost as if the pillar of ice had teleported there. It smashed into one of the ghoul’s cheeks, its momentum pushing it back into the other ghoul's arm.

Nico spun backwards in a half circle, and stepped on another formation. He lifted his left finger as another glowing spell formation erupted in a pillar of flame catching both ghouls in red-hot fire.

Yuri recognized the spell. It was the same pillar of fire they were assigned to summon at the Union entrance exam. Judging by its residual heat, the fire was about half as hot as Yuri’s usual spells, but much more controlled.

The ghouls burnt to a crisp nearly instantly.

Yuri grew more confused than concerned. How is Nico able to summon such intense heat from such a small formation and so little magic? Yuri couldn’t begin to understand what was involved to make that happen.

The spear of ice disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. Had Nico dismissed the spell because he didn’t have enough magic to maintain it? If so, it was a smart move, one Yuri wouldn’t have thought of in such an intense situation. Even with several ghouls within touching distance, the hedge magician was able to make such a quick judgement to conserve his power.

Nico stepped on three more formations and expertly wove away from more three more oncoming ghouls’ attacks. He danced between and away from their claws as if they were on some sort of rehearsed ballet.

The ghouls were relentless in their attacks, but Nico’s expression was calm and focused.

Nico’s foot glanced a spell formation, and a chunk of ice the size of a head appeared. The monster closest to him tripped over the chunk of ice just before the ice vanished. It stumbled, forcing the others behind it to crash together.

Yuri finally understood what Nico was doing. The hedge mage was using their lack of coordination and singular focus on him to his advantage. It made their movements relatively predictable. The concept was easy to grasp, but would have taken years of training to implement in the field.

Nothing about Nico’s physique or the way he talked suggested any martial training.

The hedge mage trapped three more arrays that glowed brighter. From each, three more spears of ice shot out from each of the formations at various angles. Except, these were less clear than the first, probably more dense. The spears pierced through each of the ghouls. Stopping them in place.

Nico slapped one of the formations on the wall behind him.

Energy swirled around it then linked to the three formations that he had just used. The ice spears grew branches like trees, widening until the ghouls’ were half-encased in ice.

Nico slapped another formation that hazed at his touch.

Was that Gallahad’s control formation? Invisible force shot out, slicing the ghoul’s necks. Their severed heads fell to the stone floor.Nico pressed stood on his toes, pressed his heels pressed the bottom of his shoes against the wall and bounced off it with unnatural speed.

Yuri realized that Nico had probably used that jumping spell formation that had blown off his shoe.

But unlike Yuri's clunky use of it, Nico moved with the precision of an Olympic acrobat, twisting midair and barely avoiding the ghouls’s bites and claws who had invaded the space. He kicked one in the chin, and landed so that his back collided into the opposite wall. He slapped another formation, jumped to his right as a ghoul barely missed him, and the spell formation exploded.

Five more formations exploded behind the Nico, killing several more ghouls. When were those formations activated? Yuri could barely keep up.

Nico used the force of the recoil from being so close to the explosions to add to his momentum, and jumped again. He let his shoes connect to another spell formation on the ground. A pillar of fire erupted from the floor, burning all the ghouls that had been encased in ice.

Yuri realized that all of the ghouls that Nico had completely incapacitated or killed lined up one half of the hallway, forcing the remaining enemies in a narrower passage. In just a few seconds, the hedge mage had cut their forces in half while simultaneously removing their options for movement.

Had Nico been aiming for this the entire time? Or was he just some hidden warlock that had even eluded the grandmaster?

A few of the ghouls picked up their speed and roared. They attack from multiple sides. Four in front of Nico. Two behind.

Nico didn't bother checking his back, which Yuri’s teacher would have scoffed at.

And yet, he dodged them effortlessly as if he had eyes on the back of his head.

Yuri watched in awe as Nico kept repeating the pattern of dodging, weaving, activating spell formations, and luring the ghouls into spells before destroying them.

How was Nico so confident in his ability to control the spells that their residual damage wouldn’t kill him? Was the hedge mage able to control their area of effect so thoroughly? No. Impossible.

It took years of study and effort under the careful guidance of his teacher to make sure that Yuri wouldn’t harm himself and those he was bound to protect with his own spells. And yet, here Nico danced around his own spells without hesitation.

Even more astounding was that even though the spell formations seemed to emanate with the power of a cantrip, their output was that of at least a first class spell. There was no possible way these were just Gallahad’s formations.

Yuri had never seen such efficient movement and use of spell formations and spells.

In another minute of spells exploding in the small area, the remaining ghouls were completely dead.

Nico looked a little out of breath but confident. He hovered his hands above the pile of dead ghouls like a freezing man above a warm fire. Yuri could not sense any energy transferring either from Yuri or the ghouls.

What was he doing?

Yuri managed to back off the ground, but only up to the point he could lean on one elbow. Pain lanced up the back of his neck. He cycled his power through the recovery formation as steadily as he could, but it would be a bit before the concussion went away.

Nico stretched his back like pulled a muscle. He turned to Yuri and grinned. "Pretty cool, huh? I should have prepared some debuffs, but drawing the control and element formations were my first priority. I thought lured more here, but this should be enough for now."

Enough for what? The guy was talking nonsense again. Yuri shook his head in disbelief, and gave Nico a thumbs up. His stomach did a backflip, so he put his head between his knees to let it subside.

"Take it easy," Nico instructed gently.

Yuri did as he was told. When he spoke, his voice was rough and dry. “The input of your spell power does not match the output. How is that even possible? More control should not equal more power."

Nico opened his mouth as if he was able to go into one of his long rambling answers, but his eyes widened. He looked confused, then angry.

Before Yuri could ask what was wrong, Nico burst-jumped, knocking Yuri flat on his back again. He pinned Yuri’s arms with his knees and raised his hand in a grabbing motion.

One of the formations behind him rippled in a menacing glow.

Despite Nico’s angry expression, he spoke in a cool, even voice. "What happened to your Russian accent?"

Yuri froze. He messed up. He couldn't think of the right thing to say.

Nico didn't wait for him to find the words and grabbed at him.

By the time Yuri realized what was happening, Nico had already pulled at the leaf pendant, burst-jumped backwards hard enough to create distance between them and yanked the leaf pendant off Yuri's neck.

The Russian stood up very slowly.

Nico looked at the pendant with the curiosity and wonderment of a small boy with a new toy. Yuri’s mind raced with options. He couldn’t attack Nico. It would break his geas. Besides that, he didn’t want to hurt the person who had saved his life.

He could run away. But what would that accomplish except to validate Nico’s suspicions? Maybe it was best to do nothing. He kept his hands at his sides to show he meant no harm.

Nico’s attention went back to Yuri. His eyes seemed to grow in focus.

Yuri couldn't exactly describe the look on Nico's face, except that he suddenly felt as if he was under a microscope. It was as if the hedge mage was looking straight into his soul.

Nico mumbled something inaudible to himself while simply staring at Yuri.

It was the tensest Yuri felt since he decided to go against Pullman and protect Nico, as instructed by the grandmaster. How long had Nico just stared at Yuri in silence? Two seconds? Five seconds? It felt like an eternity.

Something about the hedge magician’s gaze unnerved Yuri.

Nico's body language relaxed. He almost looked relieved. Yuri had a hard time understanding what was going on in the guy’s mind before, and even doubly so now. But Nico’s expression was not a sign that the danger was over.

If he attacked, Yuri was screwed. The rules of his geas were strict in not harming the hedge magician, at least until they returned safely from the NextOver.

Nico closed his eyes and sighed. He opened his eyes again and tossed the leaf pendant back.

Yuri caught it, surprised. "You’re not going to attack me?"

Nico gave him a wry smile. "I get it. You can’t tell me anything. You’re under a geas, right?"

Yuri’s mouth went dry.

How did Nico know?

A million questions ran through Yuri's head, disorienting him just as much as a concussion had.

Nico approached him calmly, and Yuri tensed up.

The hedge magician lifted his hand and patted him on the shoulder, his tone friendly when he spoke. "I don't trust you entirely. But I trust you enough that you won't kill me. We need to work together anyways if we’re gonna take out Pullman and get out of here before we starve."

It was the first time in Yuri's life he had no idea what to do. Was this also in the grandmaster’s plan?

Yuri checked inside himself. The geas was still up. He could feel it both binding and enhancing his magic and will. That was all he needed to know.

He still had a mission to complete.

Nico acted as if nothing strange had happened. He lifted his hands above the first set of ghoul he had killed. Nothing visible had happened.

Was it some kind of prayer?

Yuri had no idea what to make of the situation or if Nico. But his mission was the same.

He finally realized what he needed to say, the truth, or at least as much as his geas allowed him to speak.

Yuri spoke in his real voice, a standard American accent. "I'm here to protect you."

“Cool,” Nico nodded without looking as if expecting Yuri's answer. "I’m done here. We need to head back to the treasure room. I think I missed something important."