Liv stumbled back as the Headmaster signaled the old man to walk out of the room. Her attention was immediately brought to his clothes, adorned with gold and made as princely as possible. As the old man walked out of the room, Liv's heart shuddered. "How did you know?"

The Headmaster chuckled. "I have spirit sensing arrays built into the door, and I only detected a single bound one other than the ones I stuck in the objects around this room."

Liv opened her magical eyes, seeing spirits trapped in objects around the room, the desk itself filled with possibly hundreds of them. A few wind spirits that had come in with her sadly floated around the room, flying between the objects. She looked directly at the Headmaster. "What are you going to do?"

He smiled, a chilling sight for someone with his face. "I'll find out what makes you able to command spirits without binding them. In other words, I'll dissect you. You can submit and I'll kill you quickly, or I'll add a bit of torture to the mix."

Liv spat at him, getting up. The headmaster's grin increased in size. "Well, I've always like torturing people."

She watched, in slow motion, as a giant wooden rod formed behind the man, shooting past him as Liv almost dodged, but still getting hit by it. She reinforced her body, preventing her immediate demise, but was still shoved through the wall, the power behind the strike unmistakeable. The spirit in the man's staff lost it's glow, quickly regaining it as the man fed it energy. She recognized it as a wood spirit, with an image of solid wood popping up in her mind whenever she focused on it. Liv looked back at the man, achingly getting up.

"Why do you do this to spirits?"

The man smiled. "I do this to spirits, as if I didn't, I wouldn't be one of the strong. And the strong... are the ones who rule."

Liv called a wind spirit to her, now having more options because of her location outside of the Headmaster's office. The man sauntered over, summoning a wooden rod he took hold of as a staff. Liv Whispered, launching an invisible wind blade at him. The man attempted to parry it with his staff, but was slightly off as he took a small cut. The staff was almost sheared through, but the Headmaster just created another one. "I'm going to enjoy this torture," he said, looking at the gash in his robes. Liv kept shooting wind blades at him, but he parried every single one, unceasingly walking towards her.

She kept shooting to no avail, as Liv backed up into a wall. She saw another burst of magic from the spirit within the man's staff and tried to jump aside, but she wasn't fast enough. A spike pierced through Liv's clothes from behind, curling into a hook to keep her trapped as more wood wrapped around her from the wall. The Headmaster reached her. "Do you understand how powerless you are, child?"

He shook his head. "You had no hope of challenging me."

Liv didn't deign to respond, again opening her mouth to call a spirit over. His staff immediately rose into a defensive position, to block whatever she was going to strike with, before the spirit even approached. Liv's eyes narrowed. "You can't see magic, can you?"

The man, now angry, smashed her in the face with his staff. Liv's nose broke, blood spilling out. However, she didn't feel the pain. Finally! Headway in this fight! Liv opened her mouth, and the man once again held up his staff. However, she wasn't sending a wind blade at him this time.

The wood holding her to the wall cut, and Liv jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding another strike from the man's staff. "IMPUDENT BRAT," he screamed. Suddenly, he forcibly calmed himself down, though his smile was now gone. "It does not matter whether I can see magic or not, I'll win anyways."

Liv wracked her brain for what she could do. The only Named move she knew was Wind Blade, the strike she had been relying on so far. There were no other options. The cannon she had made earlier wasn't named, making it take an immense amount of energy and time to create. A wooden staff suddenly flashed towards her and Liv threw herself aside, making it barely miss. She had to concentrate. Liv looked over at the Headmaster, who now had sharpened spikes of wood floating around him. Liv pushed a table over and hunkered down as the wood struck the ivory tabletop in front of her. She got up again, a stray wooden piece clipping her in the side. Liv cried out, jumping back to avoid another swing from the Headmaster.

A wind spirit drifted over to Liv, poking her in the shoulder. She looked over for a brief moment, and the spirit drifted in front of her, writing letters in the air. Spirits, acknowledge the naming of this technique. I have forged this _____ in the _________ and ask of you to answer my call.

The words resonated with her sense of self, and Liv immediately knew what the blanks were for. The first one was for the type of technique she was asking to be recognized. The second one was about how she forged it.

This was an ancient ritual for creating new Named Techniques. The spirits had entrusted her with it. Liv looked at the spirit, now expectantly floating. Why not? If she didn't have any other abilities, what if Liv just created them? She nodded to the spirit, and it drifted to the side, ready to hear whatever she would say. Liv walked forward, changing the ritual in her mind. The words were flexible, and needed to be the ritualist's choice. Then, avoiding a final barrage of wood, Liv spoke. "I ask for recognition from the eyes above who watch me. This technique- it was crafted within the heat of battle, created from hammered ideas put together. Please recognize this art, Dance Through the Breeze."

Wind rose around Liv, a gentle breeze forming from the surrounding green balls of light as new spirits arrived on the scene. They proved not all spirits were balls of light, the dream spirits shifting from form to form, only staying in the same shape if Liv focused on them. They flew into the breeze, changing its nature, subtly enough that only Liv noticed. Her idea had been fulfilled.

As they joined her, Liv looked directly at the headmaster, stepping forward, towards the wooden spikes. He laughed, sending them towards her, suddenly surprised as they went around her, following the illogical currents of dream. She walked forward, stopping directly in front of the Headmaster. He unleashed a strike, trying to hit her as Liv leaned backwards, letting it pass over her head. She straightened, pulling out her sword and imbuing it as well. She slashed at the man, but he stumbled backwards, suddenly scared after this quick turnaround.

The headmaster's spirit glowed again, another burst of magic incoming, but far more powerful than his previous attacks.

Large wooden rods formed a lattice around the Headmaster, strong enough that Liv's wind couldn't break through. She sighed. There was one card she had left to play. Liv Whispered for the final time during this fight, watching the spear of wood emerge from the ground and pass directly through the unwitting Headmaster's body. The wind around her receded as the spirits of wind and dream dispersed again. Liv sighed, seeing her remaining energy. Almost nothing. As a final act, she dragged the spirits out of their prisons using a small rope of power. Liv staggered out of the school, all of the students still inside their classes because of the silence runes liberally plastered over the school. Almost falling over before managing to climb up to a roof, Liv immediately fell asleep, sprawled out on the hard stone ground, away from prying eyes.