These weren't beasts, nor were they magic creatures. They had a linear train of thought— their moves, predictable and sluggish. They shouldn't be hard to deal with, but...

Every thrust of her spear into their bodies resulted in a blast of steam, and aiming for their heads didn't do much to stop their tracks— their numbers, along with the temperature around them, just kept increasing.

“What should I do?” Celeste muttered, her face dripping with sweat.

The Nifyr were constantly spawning, they were endless.

She looked over her shoulder, Elicia was punching at them with her fists, boring wide holes into their bodies with her earthen gloves. Behind her, the Nifyr they didn't manage to fully deal with and had gone past them were marching.

Celeste didn't go back for them however as they were kept at bay, being suppressed by the water magic conjured by Instructor Danny and the other students. Waterballs shot continuously at the Nifyr turning into vapor at first contact.

“We're can't last much longer like this!”

Elicia spoke what was on her mind. What could they do to turn the situation around?

“GGAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

“The headmaster?” Celeste had almost forgotten about him, he had been silent for the past few minutes.

“Didn't this all start with him!? Every time he screams, something bad happens!” Elicia complained.

Celeste thought carefully, “Every time the headmaster screamed—?”

“That's right, it all started with him. If they could cut off the headmaster from whatever these things were—“ Celeste waved her spear at a Nifyr clawing at her and split it down the middle.

“— but how?” Her first thought was of the Spirits,

“Undine...?” She whispered, but received no reply.

“Sylvestris...?” The name of the green wisp which her mother Rivelle had shouted.

Nothing. How could she call them? Were they even around?

“MY MANAAAAA!!!”

Another cry from the headmaster echoed out and more Nifyr started popping up from his direction.

“What about the brothers?”

Celeste glanced over the academy. The sky had since grown dark but behind the building was still a bright mixture of yellow and auburn. It seemed Vigril and Kyron were still dealing with the two huge Nifyr at the lake.

Celeste exhaled and took a deep breath, “Instructor! You have to hold out here!”

She didn't know from where or how, but they needed to hold out until help arrived.

“Celeste, let's head to the old man!” Elicia suggested.

Celeste replied with a nod. That seemed to be the only option they had available.

She looked down at the thin spear of ice in her hands. The edge had already melted away, making it look more of a pole than a spear.

She gathered mana to reinforce it, “—Hah!”

Thrusting the spear in front to block the hand of a Nifyr— drawing back after her strike and glancing at her spear once more. Half the body of the Nifyr turned into steam along with half of her spear. Her reinforcement was shoddy. It was getting harder to concentrate.

Another Nifyr's hand laying upon her made her swing her weapon as it was, but with its short reach, she stiffened herself, expecting to be burned.

“Watch out!!!”

Elicia jumped in and dispersed the incoming attack by countering it with her own fist.

“Celeste, are you alright?”

“I'm fine, thanks. How about you?” Celeste looked towards Elicia, her skin was incredibly flushed.

“Never better.” Elicia grinned, a light yellow glow emanating from her skin.

Celeste took the time to reform her weapon as Elicia shielded her from the Nifyr.

“Tag,” She said, pulling Elicia behind her and pouring on her a cold mist.

A few minutes like this, they slowly made their way back into the academy courtyard.

“GYAAAAH!!!” The headmaster wailed.

Neither Celeste nor Elicia could spot his figure as it was already buried under a mass of black fog.

“What's your idea?” Celeste asked.

“This.” Elicia released her earthen gloves and reached into her clothes, taking out a small clay doll.

Celeste wore a puzzled expression before gleaning a slight familiarity from the doll.

“It's from the Earth Spirit, Gnomus. He once told me to talk to this thing if ever I needed any help.”

Of course, it looked similar to the wisp body of the green man.

“So have you talked to him?”

“He hasn't replied...”

“Okay, another plan. Maybe we could drag him out of there?”

“Do you think we can?”

“We can try.”

“This stuff looks nasty.”

Elicia grimaced as Celeste stepped forward and tried to touch the black fog surrounding the headmaster. As her hands touched the fog, she quickly drew it back.

“What's the matter?

“Don't touch it. It took my mana.”

“Then what can we do?”

Celeste and Elicia tried attacking with magic, only to gain little to no results.

“It's eating the mana around my gloves!” Elicia shouted.

“Same for my spear.”

“Argh! This stupid thing doesn't have any use!” Elicia snapped, grabbing onto the clay doll and throwing it to where the headmaster's cries were coming from.

“Hmmm?”

Her act of frustration seemed to have had an effect, as a vibrant earthen glow emerged from the doll in mid-air and spoke in a loud voice.

[Child, sorry for being late. I was a bit preoccupied...]

“Gnomus!” Elicia shouted, “What can we do about that!” She pointed at the black fog.

[It's fine.] Gnomus sighed, [I'll deal with his shenanigans.]

The clay doll floated in the air and headed into the black fog. From within, the glow of earth magic expanded along with the sound of shifting rocks. Then, the black fog dispersed, revealing a large circular rock.

“Where's the headmaster? Could he be inside this thing?” Elicia asked.

Celeste approached the rock. It was of a smaller size than her so how could it fit the headmaster?

“No way... Did you—!?” Elicia gaped.

[No child, he is very much alive. For now, that should keep him in place, but I'm afraid that you'll have to deal with the aftermath by yourselves.]

The aftermath— Gnomus was referring to the Nifyr.

“As long as there isn't any more of them coming out, we can handle it.” Elicia spoke and Celeste nodded.

[Then I wish you well, my child...]

The light of earth magic retreated into the circular rock as the voice of Gnomus faded away.

“Let's go back to the others.”

With no more additional Nifyr, Celeste and Elicia ran back towards Instructor Danny and the other students.

“Instructor! Is everyone alright?”

“Student Vinney, there are a few injuries but none life-threatening. Those things seemed to have retreated into the ground a while after the two of you entered the courtyard. Did you do something?”

Celeste scanned the surroundings. It was true, the Nifyr had disappeared.

“What about the big brothers?” Elicia asked.

“The Loeth siblings have yet to return.”

“They might still be confronting those huge Nifyr!”

“You two go, I'll watch over the students here.”

Celeste quickly ran towards the back of the academy with Elicia following from behind. Reaching the lakefront, they were met with a thick white fog.

The area was humid, even more so than the area where they were fighting the numerous Nifyr. Every step made different sounds as the ground was wet and damp on some parts— scorched around others.

“Big brother!” Elicia called out.

“Over here!” The voice of Kyron resounded.

Evident of a hard-won fight, they reached a clearing in the fog where Kyron and Vigril were resting on the ground— sections of their clothing were charred.

“A-Are you okay?” Elicia asked.

Kyron made a strong pose, “I'm fine! It would take a lot more than those monsters to bring me down— huh?”

He was ignored as Elicia ran straight to Vigril and assessed his injuries.

“Big bro's only just arrived and already he's more popular with the kids.” Kyron laughed softly.

Their faces were red but Elicia's was the only one blushing for a different reason.

“So, you done on your side?” He asked.

Celeste shook her head, “No, the Nifyr disappeared.”

“Disappeared, how?” inquired Vigril.

“The Instructor said they retreated into the ground?”

“Peculiar,” Vigril said, as he raised the frame of his glasses before standing up,”No time to rest, we better make sure they're gone.”

“Everyone! This is bad!”

Just as he was about to make a suggestion, Instructor Danny ran over wearing an urgent expression.

“T-the city— it's on fire!!!”

“What!!?” Everyone exclaimed.

Behind Instructor Danny, someone who Kyron recognized was from the tower accompanied him.

“Company Commander! It is as he said. I came over to deliver the news. Those who were at the tower are currently spread out across the city trying to mitigate the spread of the fire.” He said, while shocked at the unusual state of everyone here at the academy.

Celeste immediately thought back to when the headmaster first yelled out in grief. To the beautiful display of mana that shot up into the sky.

Maybe what had happened here was also happening around the city, she thought.

“Big brother Kyron!” She yelled, gaining their attention and sharing her thoughts.

“No rest for the weary,” Kyron exhaled, “Big Bro—“

“Yeah, I''ll take the Instructor and the students to the southern sector.”

“Then I'll go with Celeste to the western sector.”

Vigril quickly took off with Instructor Danny and the other students, including Elicia.

“Sir? What about the eastern sector?”

“Don't worry about the east, a monster lives there.” Kyron chuckled, glancing in the direction of the Loeth Residence.

A monster? Celeste was puzzled.

Kyron faced her and said, “You did good tonight, Little Red, but we're not done yet.”

She replied with a nod and followed him to the direction of the city, which in the dark of the night, appeared the brightest it could be.

*

- Age Thirteen – Urie Loeth -

“Little Urie...”

“Uuuuurgh...”

Urie Loeth groaned as he opened one eye and glanced at the open window. A pale red moon hung itself high up into the sky.

“Little Urie...!”

“Uuuuuurgh....”

He shut his eyes once again and tried to return to the land of dreams.

“Little Urie! It's time to get up!”

A voice ringing loud enough from the first floor of the house prevented him from doing so.

“Five more minutes!” He mumbled, his face still buried in his pillow.

“Five more minutes and I'll come up there to wake you up myself!”

Urie's eyes opened wide as he was jolted awake. He jumped off the bed and planned to head to the first floor, but not before spending a few seconds looking out through the window and up at the sky.

“It's been two years, huh?” He whispered.

“I wonder how everyone is doing? Father, mother, elder brothers, Celeste?”

“I'm counting to ten, you better be down here before five!”

“Coming!” Urie's ruminating was interrupted and he quickly made his way downstairs.