Having thoroughly derailed my first class and destroyed the antagonistic instructor of Arithmancy, I leaned further back on my chair examining the blue shimmers under my nails.

The tension filling the classroom did not last long. Inspector Lambert opened the door and stepped inside.

"Instructor Wickersmidt Phil Wert," he said, his lenses glittering dangerously. "By the Order of the Constabulary of Diamondias, signed by Chief Inspector Pomegrad Lima Zeendar, you are hereby placed under arrest for suspicions of plotting to blow up the house of the Misem family."

"I-I'm innocent, I swear!" Wickers stammered. "I..."

"Anything said outside of the truth-spell hexagram will be ignored by the court of law," Lambert commented. "If you wish to prove your innocence..."

"Anything! I'll do anything! I never... I would never plot to kill a student!" The Instructor rushed to the Inspector and slid to his knees, face covered in sweat.

"As Nemendias Security Officer, I believe that your presence in this Arcanarium will disrupt classes," Lambert pulled a piece of paper with a flourish.

"W-what is..." Wickers stammered, his eyes running over the lines of text.

"It's your resignation form as the current Instructor of Arithmancy," Lambert said. "If you sign this now, rather than later, the Constabulary of Diamondias will be more lenient towards you and won't dig too deeply into your... personal life."

"I... I..." Instructor Wert stammered. He finished reading the resignation form. "What does this line... the use of my image by Nemendias mean?!"

"You've been working at Nemendias for over four decades," Lambert explained. "The Administration of Nemendias is planning to make depictomancy portraits of all tenured Instructors in the future. You might or might not be contacted about it later on."

"R-right," Wickers nodded. "And this... Arithmancer Kovalzek? Why am I..."

"You're a tenured Instructor, thus we are legally unable to simply fire you," Lambert said. "This is a self-elected, general health-reasons resignation form. You'll still be paid for the year and given retirement pension. Arithmancer Kovalzek will be replacing you as the Instructor you've personally elected to replace you due to your... unforeseen health issues."

"Should I not interview this...?" Wickers stammered, his entire body trembling.

"Arithmancer Kovalzek has already been interviewed by the Administration of Nemendias and found to be an acceptable replacement," Lambert said. "Have you finished reading the contract?"

"I have," Wickers nodded, looking bereft.

"Place your finger on the hexagram if you agree to outlined terms," the Inspector said.

"W-where am I g-going after?" the Instructor shook. "Are you taking me to the Ministry of Justice?"

"I'll take you to Diamondias Gendarmerie. We will do a truth-hex interview and if you're indeed innocent you'll be placed under general surveillance, but otherwise you'll be free to go home. Do NOT leave Illatius," Lambert said.

"T-thank you," Wickers stammered. He pressed his fat finger into the contract and Inspector Lambert rolled the parchment up, sliding it into his black robe.

The Inspector and the ex-Arithmancy instructor left.

"That was freaking amazing," a Novitiate from the House of Infinity sitting to my right commented. "Damn, Grogs you sure showed that asshole old man who's boss!"

"Hear hear!" A girl from the back declared. "Three cheers for the Voice of the Revolution!"

"Horah!" The students of my house resounded.

I bowed to my peers with a flourish of my dress.

Emerald stood up.

"You think you're so special just because you managed to bully one idiot instructor don't you, Grogs?" She asked, flipping her glittering, silver-blue hair.

"Yes," I nodded.

"You're nothing, Misem!" Akadia voiced. "Sooner or later you're going to get..."

"Expelled?" I wiggled my eyebrows. "Are you perchance a supporter of Baroness Georgia's plot to assassinate me, Miss Solas?"

"Quit throwing accusations around," Akadia hissed, her gold curls fluttering. "You have no proof that..."

"A bomb was found in my parents house. What more proof do you need?" I asked.

"The courts will decide the matter," the girl declared derisively.

"How are you so confident that your family isn't implicated in some way?" I asked.

"You're just a freaking lowborn! A nobody from freaking Undertown!" Akadia barked. "You can't possibly think that anyone will be on your side!"

"Justice and Order are on my side," I shrugged, simply thinking of Baroness Amadea.

"How can you possibly declare yourself as the Voice of the Revolution and then say Justice is on your side?" Prince Ignius scoffed, looking down at me like I was a very annoying roach that had to be crushed underfoot.

"My Revolution isn't some idiotic uprising in which lowborns burn down a single tower," I said.

"Oh?" Ignius asked. "Pray tell, what will you be burning down?"

"I'm going to scorch the entire corrupt system from within using the power of Justice. Stubborn, old fools like professor Wert will help me do it. By the time I'm done here, you'll be on your knees begging me to spare your life, Prince Ignius."

"What? I would never!" The Second Prince huffed. "I'll make sure that..."

"That I get expelled?" I wiggled my eyebrows.

"Don't waste your time threatening her," Emerald grabbed the Prince. "She's as stubborn as a dumb mule."

She put her left hand on her waist and pointed at me with her right.

"I won't stand for whatever nonsense you're peddling, Grogs! I hereby challenge you to a duel!"

"Armaci at dawn?" I tilted my head at her.

"I shall coordinate the duel with the Keeper," Emerald said. "In fact, I'll call her right now, because this class is clearly over and done."

"Class isn't over," Antoine commented.

He had stepped into the room quietly while everyone was paying attention to Emerald's overly-dramatic duel declarations. "Please sit down before I start deducting points, Novitiate Amadea."

"W-huh?" Emerald turned.

"I'm Artificer Antoine Delamond Kovalzek and I will be working as your new Arithmancy Instructor," Antoine grinned, numerous crystal lenses clicking atop of his head.

"My apologies Instructor Kovalzek," Emerald bowed and rapidly retreated to her seat.

The Artificer marched straight to the podium, gold-plated boots clinking on the black marble floors.

"Can anyone tell me what Arithmancy is?" He asked after a deep pause.

Akadia Solas put her hand up and cleared her throat.

"Arithmancy is the practice of using mathematics to design hexagrams within magitek tools!" she said confidently.

"Very good," Antoine nodded. "To be more specific, Arithmancy is a way to manipulate the very fabric of reality itself to bring about change through formulas hidden within numeric and probability sequences and their interaction with various amounts of magical materia. The Astral Ocean and the Infinite Dungeon present us a limitless number of patterns and materia. Finding the right sequence, the right combination of energy pattern and materia produces certain magical effects known as spells."

The class listened silently.

"I am an Armaci designer and a Crystallography Materia specialist and I posses a variety of tools that help me determine which materia is best for focusing certain spells. Now, can anyone tell me which is by far the best, all-inclusive materia for producing spells?"

I was the one to put up my hand next. At Antoine's nod I declared the answer "The human soul!"

"Correct," the artificer clapped his gloved hands. "I've read in the papers that you are able to produce spells without use of an Armacus, Novitiate Misem?"

I nodded. The class around me made noises of curiosity.

"Excellent," Antoine smiled. "Come and demonstrate this for us! Valedictorian Amadea! Please bring out the Astralscope!"

Agatha emerged from a side door with the fanciful magitek device on a cart. It wasn't the real Agatha - it was just Nemmy wielding a duplicate, magic-forged body. The real Agatha was being her nerd self, preoccupied with studying magic in some secret librarium.

The Astralscope activated and lit up a section of the air in the middle of the stage.

"Take off one of your armaci and fire an identify spell through the field at the blackboard, Novitiate Misem!"

I did as he asked, removing the armacus from my left hand and firing the spell with my fingers. The normally invisible spell made a shimmering line, casting colorful ripples through the Astral as it struck the blackboard. The ripples floated in the direction of the board and then back towards my hand.

I saw the gibberish letters appear in front of me, in a blue window framed by a purple-tinted shimmer.

"Write what you see on the board," Antoine ordered.

I tried to replicate the gibberish letters best I could.

"What is that text?" I heard the students ask.

"Why can't I read this text, Instructor?" I asked.

"Now, fire an Identify spell at the blackboard from your armacus, and write down the result," Antoine said without replying.

I did.

[Blackboard] the information window came back.

"Now, Identify the blackboard again, without your armacus," the Artificer ordered.

I did. The resultant answer was completely different gibberish text.

"What the heck?" I asked.

"Unlike an armaci Identification spell which is pulls at specific parts of your mind that understand Basq language, this gibberish text... is the language of the Astral Ocean itself. Some people believe it to be the language of the Builders of Andross. The most basic explanation is that it is an echo of all languages imprinted in the Astral. Some archmagi even speculate that it's made up of every language that exists or will ever exist."

"Dang," I whistled. "Omni-language!"

"Holy Freaking Oblivion," Emerald commented from her seat. "She's really doing unfocused magic. How in the Emperor's name is that possible?!"

"Things are tough in Undertown," I smirked at my pretend-nemesis from my position on the stage. "We can't afford fancy armaci. I learned unfocused magic when I was but a small kitten."

"Are you saying that any lownborn knob can do unfocused magic?" Emerald growled. "You have unfocused magic classes down there or something?!"

"To presume that any random child can do unfocused magic would be silly. However, prodigies exist all over our Empire, Miss Amadea," I said. "We are simply not utilizing them. If I was the Empress, I would cast my net far and wide, searching for talents and give Nemendias scholarships to such, no matter their social status or age. War with Novazem is coming and the Basquenate Imperium will need its best and brightest men and women to hold back the Necromag fleet."

"How are you so freaking sure that war is coming, Misem? What are you, a bloody precog archmage?" Emerald barked.

"I'm not. However, my patron and Master, Archmage Ishenko, is a very powerful precog! She chose me from all the children of Undertown to be the Voice of the Revolution to bring about a new era to Illatius," I said. "My presence in Nemendias isn't an accident, isn't some clerical error or deception."

"So the lowborn is nothing but a tool for idealistic desires of some haughty archmage," Akadia snidely commented. "No wonder..."

"In order to become the Empire we should be, we need to recognize and nurture talent from all corners of our world, including Undertown," I repeated my point. "Do you disagree with this, Novitiate Solas?"

"We are an Empire of highborn nobility who have earned their place through bloodline, privilege and family honor. Armaci and materia that comprise them come at an incredibly high cost that only the wealthy can afford!" Akadia answered, her chin held high.

"With enough magitek production the price of magical materia will fall," I said. "The price of armaci has been steadily going down."

"Irrelevant! Why should we provide lowborns with opportunities and resources to advance their magical abilities when they will just squander them? Highborns have been raised and trained from birth for the purpose of leading our Empire, and it would be silly and foolish of us to allow children of criminals to compete in the same field as us!"

"Valid points all around," Antoine nodded, joining our discussion. "The more magitek tools we craft, the cheaper and more powerful they become. Within twenty years every person will have access to an armacus and it will only become cheaper from there. When magitek technology spreads and becomes commonplace, the tides of change will be impossible to contain and social upheaval is all but guaranteed."

"We have been living according to the same social order for generations and any attempts at disrupting this balance will result in turmoil!" Akadia glanced around the room, making sure everyone was listening intently, before continuing. "It is true that magitek technology has the potential to revolutionize our world and it could very well bring about incredible changes in our way of life. However, these changes are best implemented very slowly and thoughtfully by highborns and archmagi over time with careful consideration given to the consequences they may have on our society should they fail catastrophically or be misused."

"Oh that would be lovely," I smiled. "...if we had time."

"What?" Akadia blinked.

"My Master showed me the future," I said.

"What future?" The gold-haired teen tilted her head. "Why should we believe you, you little pauper?"

"I, Novitiate Grogtilda Lic Misem, the holder of the two-shards of the Celestial Crest of Nemendias hereby request the truth hexagram of Nemendias ward to judge my words," I spoke as I stood on the stage. The floor beneath me ignited with magical currents, forming a massive truth-spell hex.

A deadly calm settled over the classroom as I spoke, my voice full of cold clarity. "Everyone sitting here today will suffer a slow and agonizing death in the future at the hand of our enemies. Your skin will blacken and your veins will fill with rot, until your bodies burst with black mold. The Necromags of Novazem have an ultimate weapon, a plague-bomb that will consume us all. The streets of Illatius will be left in ruin, the Infinite Dungeon will become silent and lifeless. The cobblestone walkways will be covered with ossified corpses of those who had once called this land home."

The truth-spell flared around me, green shimmers radiating through the air as my words sank into every soul in the room.

Even Akadia's face paled.

"You're lying! You have to be! That's just... something you think will happen!" Emerald shouted.

"I'm afraid Novitiate Misem is being completely honest," Antoine sighed. "The ward of Nemendias cannot be bamboozled by mere belief in something. The truth-hex is so incredibly effective because it pulls information from the soul of a person. If Misem saw Illatius fall, then that's what really happened to her. Our noble Constabulary would not be using this hex as a tool to dispense Justice if we could not trust its absolute power of determining the truth in words of suspects and criminals."

"But..." Akadia stammered.

Antoine’s words reverberated through the room. "I spoke to Archmage Ishenko's Patron about our future myself," he said, without specifying who was the patron of an archmage, his voice low and unwavering. "Illatius will fall... unless we all take a step off the path we're used to treading and change our future."

The gravity of the situation permeated the air, the sense of dread palpable among the first year students. Their eyes were filled with worry, concern, and disbelief but no one could walk away from this now.

I peered into their faces, searching for signs of courage and hope, for someone that was willing to take a risk and defy the odds. One by one, faces turned from anxiety to resolve as a few brave souls offered a silent vow. They nodded at me with determination, ready to fight the fate of Illatius despite of what lay ahead, despite of what they had been taught to believed in as children of the aristocracy.

I smiled at my future, little revolutionaries.