Cyril stood with his arms crossed, talking with Rhamn to spend the time.
Morpho sat on his head, twitching her antennae in boredom.
After about half an hour, there was finally a change.
From the disc-shaped crystal erupted a brief piercing noise, followed by a flash of light.
Finally! This must be the signal.
Cyril turned towards the tree in anticipation.
He grabbed the crystal and attempted to pull it out.
But it still didn't budge.
What is this?
Cyril's expression immediately became a level more tired.
I'm supposed to wait here for any challengers to arrive on their own like some villain from a storybook?
"It seems like it..."
"Perhaps it's because we are too strong. If we could move around, we would easily hunt every pathetic student out there. That would make the lesson a tad too short."
Are Myra and Cedric also stuck somewhere?
To avoid wasting more mana, he interrupted the light spell, plunging the area into darkness again.
With nothing else to do, Cyril sat down on the ground, not even minding the dust.
Morpho flew around the cave in frustration and then landed back on his head.
At least they had someone to talk to.
...
After a period of time that seemed way longer than it actually was, Cyril's hearing managed to pick up footsteps and the sound of someone talking.
He quickly got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and prepared for combat.
"I told you there would be a cave here! It was too obvious."
"I hope we find something good here. I still can't believe the academy planted treasures all over the area."
Treasures?
"We weren't told anything about that..."
Cyril cautiously moved closer to them, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"But what about our score? We need to find them and fight!"
"Oh, shut up. There is no way for us to win. I would rather enrich myself a bit first. Who cares about grades anyways?"
It seems this wasn't a particularly studious group.
They soon reached Cyril's tree chamber.
"Damn, it's too dark here. Hold on,"
The student stretched out both of his hands in front and focused.
With some effort, a circle of magic appeared, and a spell was beginning to shape up, though rather slowly.
"Tsk. What wastes" Rhamn sneered, her voice thick with disdain.
Finally the spell was finished, and an orb of light appeared, revealing a small area around them.
This was a group of five people, all warily staying close to each other.
"Is that...?" a student in front suddenly pointed ahead.
At those words, the others noticed it too. Right in front of them, at the edge of the lit area, stood a shadowy human figure.
"W-Who is there?" one of them asked, their voice trembling.
The students nervously pulled out their weapons.
Without answering, Cyril made a step forward, his figure revealed fully by the light.
"Thorne!? What are you doing in a cave!?"
Cyril immediately shot forward, driving a fist into the abdomen of the nearest person.
"Ugh!" The student dropped to the ground, clutching their stomach.
The barrier around them was immediately broken.
One down.
"Wait! We'll just leave-" yelled another student.
But before he could finish, Cyril lunged forward, grabbed his face, and slammed him into the stone wall.
A booming thud echoed in the cave.
The student slid down while clutching his head, the barrier easily broken.
Two down.
The others were finally able to master a response.
The students standing further at the back started casting spells, while the one at the front desperately swung their weapon.
Cyril easily dodged the slow-moving attack and retaliated with a fist to the head.
Like knocking down a puppet, he flung the student into the ground, shattering the barrier.
Three down.
Amid the chaos, the orb of light was suddenly extinguished, plunging the surroundings back into darkness.
A brief silence settled during which no one moved.
Soon, the light was recast by a student who immediately proceeded to run towards the exit.
Before he could go far a red blur shot out from somewhere, hitting the student like a cannonball.
The student was flung towards the stone ground, their body soon shaking in pain as the barrier broke.
The red butterfly triumphantly flapped her wings over the fallen human.
With this, the light spell was interrupted for the second time.
No longer needing the advantage, Cyril himself relit the room, observing the outcome.
That's four down...
Suddenly Cyril stepped to the side, dodging a dagger covered in vague green light.
Cyril calmly looked at the remaining challenger.
Almost missed this one.
It was an unremarkable young woman with black hair and black eyes, about a head shorter than Cyril.
She stood there with sweat trickling down her forehead. Her right hand was trembling as it held the dagger, while her left hand was casting a spell.
Cyril shot forward, grabbing her by the throat before she could react,
"...!"
The dagger slipped from her hands as she was raised in the air.
She desperately hit him on the arm while her barrier was slowly changing color.
Cyril observed her struggling face and frowned.
Do I know her?
A vague but familiar feeling of annoyance appeared within him as he looked at her.
"She looks similar to Jack! The thief we met at the train and near the village!"
Huh.
Cyril loosened his grip, letting the girl drop to the ground.
She took deep gulps to recover and quickly crawled backwards, eyes warily scanning him.
He didn't interrupt her, instead asking with curiosity, "Do you know Jack?"
"...Jack!?"
The woman flinched, the fear in her eyes replaced by surprise and then by a distant melancholic look.
"He is my brother..."
Cyril nodded, his blue eyes becoming colder.
"Hoho! That little thief had a sister? And she studies at Ailanthus? This is fate bringing us its gifts!"
Rhamn rubbed her palms together in menacing contemplation.
"Should we pay Jack back for his annoyance?"
As the black-haired girl stared at him with a distant look, a shiver ran down her spine, bringing her out of it.
She warily glared at him and slowly stood up.
...That would waste too much time.
"Morpho."
A red blur suddenly shot forward, hitting the girl on the head.
Before the young woman could even yell in surprise, she was slammed into the stone ground, her barrier shattering on impact.
As she lay there, she reached with her arm at him, trying to say something, but no words came out.
It's done.
Cyril looked over the outcome and gave a light, disappointed sigh.
I was worried at first given their numbers, but now...
"A bunch of weaklings. They are nothing."
He observed the uniform of the students on the ground.
They are from class III. Their spell making and fighting... everything leaves much to be desired.
"Why does he have to take it so seriously?" whispered one of the bodies.
When Cyril turned to look at the source of the noise, the student quickly stayed still, pretending to be unconscious.
"Coward"
While Cyril was staring at him, the student and everyone else around him started disappearing into thin air.
"...?
Soon only he remained in the dark cave.
Is this also illusion magic?
Cyril looked in wonder at the empty space where there were bodies before.
He even tried feeling out the ground but found nothing.
They were real, right? They must be, I even met Jack's sister.
"Maybe the staff took them away for treatment."
Maybe.
When finished, he turned to look at the bracelet on his hand, he could feel some kind of movement on it earlier.
Once Cyril injected mana into the bracelet, on its surface appeared the number 5 in bright lights.
Looks like it's also keeping my score.
"Convenient. It's an interesting idea."
With his battle here finished, Cyril turned around and walked back towards the tree.
Morpho soon landed back on his shoulder, her spirits reignited.
Let's continue waiting, I suppose...
...
But before even a few minutes passed, Cyril could no longer sit still here.
I just have to wait here for some students from class III? That's not really enjoyable.
He walked up in front of the tree and looked at the disc in thought.
"You want to..."
I'll try at least. The professor said that the crystal needed protection, not the tree.
Cyril carefully peeled away the tree bark from around the disc.
When nothing seemed to happen to the crystal, he became bolder, and soon it was completely free from the tree, with only a few fragments of bark still clinging to it.
There! Time to leave this cave.
Cyril nodded with satisfaction at his work and started walking towards the exit with a disc in hand.
From the students' words earlier, this place might have more wonders to it than I was led to believe.
"Let's go!"
The butterfly landed on his shoulder and eagerly twitched her antennae, her insect eyes filling with battle intent.