Prologue
The Case of
the Missing Students and the Not-So-Peaceful Academy!
"Man, I
really cut it close there…"
I sigh with
relief as I step out of the Midgar Academy for Dark Knights
auditorium. My breath fades to
white in the morning air. The third-term opening ceremony just
finished. "What the hell, Cid? Where were you all
winter break?" "Yeah, remember
how we promised to go hit on the cute Mitsugoshi girls together?"
Ah, how I've missed Skel's and
Po's oh-so-forgettable faces. "Sorry, guys. There was some stuff I
had to take care of." Between
the battle for the Oriana throne and my impromptu return to Japan,
my winter break was jam-packed
with excitement. "You really
left us in the lurch there, man," Skel says reproachfully. "Yeah, your sister put the screws to
us," Po agrees. "She did?"
"She was looking for you. I told
her I had no idea where you were, and she turned my head into a pincushion…"
"I told her she
was hot and asked if she wanted to go out with me, and she nearly
used her sword to turn me into a
human shish kebab…" "Damn,
that's rough. Sorry about that, guys." What I'm hearing is, I need to give
Claire a wide berth for a while. "Oh, and speaking of crazy shit that
went down: You know how President Rose went missing?" Skel asks. "Well, now she's
the queen of the entire Oriana Kingdom. The whole country's freaking out." "Yeah, I actually did hear about that,"
I reply.
Heh-heh-heh,
little do they realize that I am the one who paved the way for her.
No one has any idea that there was
a shadowbroker behind the monarch's rise, much less that the shadowbroker was a
run-of-the-mill academy student. That right there—that's what being an eminence in shadow is all
about.
"And that's not
all. People are talking about the Oriana Kingdom getting swarmed
with magical beasts and the whole
country getting hijacked and stuff."
Oh, I know. Who do
you think it was that set the whole thing up, and who do you
think it was that saved the day?
These guys don't realize they're talking to one of the star players behind the whole thing.
Skel goes on.
"Looks like Midgar's gonna be breaking off its alliance with the
Oriana Kingdom now." Huh? We're gonna what? "Yeah," Po agrees. "I never thought
President Rose would turn evil like that… She's never going to be able to get public
opinion back on her side." "You
never thought she'd turn what? Huh? What do you mean?" "I just told you, she summoned a bunch
of magical beasts, killed everyone ahead of her in the line of succession, and
hijacked the country by force," Skel says. "Her name's gonna live on in infamy forever."
"She seemed like
such a nice person back when she was here at the academy, too,"
Po adds. "I can't believe things
turned out like this. But then she went and murdered her own dad at the Bushin Festival. Goes to
show that you can't judge a book by its cover. I'd still marry her, though." "Y-yeah," I reply. "When you put it
like that, I guess she does sound pretty evil…" I assumed that she was in one of those
stories where a mighty monarch is born and leaves their mark on history, but now
she's taking a sharp left turn into a villain arc. But y'know what? That's kinda badass in and
of itself. The evil monarch shocking the world to its core, the shadowy puppet master
manipulating her from behind the scenes… Yeah, I can work with that. Never let it be
said that I can't pivot when the situation calls for it. "There's also a bunch of shady rumors
about her," Skel continues. "Yeah, yeah, like how she's got secret
ties to that Shadow Garden organization—" Skel hurriedly cuts Po off. "Whoa,
ix-nay on the Adow Garden-shay." "Oh, shoot, you're right. If I talk
about that, I'll get disappeared." "Huh? What're you guys on about?" I
ask. Skel's expression turns
serious. "We had four students go missing over winter break.
People are saying that the group
that tried to take over the school is behind it."
"Word around
campus is, anyone who tries to investigate the organization gets
silenced for good." I hem and haw. "Hmm, I dunno about all
that…"
"Oh, there's no
way it's actually true." Po turns around, his expression the
picture of confidence. "But a
couple of students did actually disappear, so everyone's having fun
coming up with conspiracy
theories. The Knight Order looked into things just to be on the safe side, but they didn't find any
evidence that anyone had broken onto campus."
"It's that time of
year when people who failed too many classes start looking for a
way out," Skel says. "They didn't
get disappeared. They probably just ran off. How're you doing credits-wise, Po?" "Urgh… I'm just barely in the clear. What
about you, Skel?" "I-I'm doing all
right, I think. And you, Cid?" "I'm…probably fine?" "W-well, hey, go us. Sounds like we're
all gonna make it to the next grade." "Y-y-yeah, for sure, definitely," Po
stammers. "Ayup." "By the way, what do you guys wanna do
now?" Skel asks. "Today was just
the opening ceremony, so it's not like we have classes," Po says.
"We could go play cards back at
the dorm." "Wait, cards?" I ask.
"Yeah, check out what Mitsugoshi
just put out!" With a
shit-eating grin, Skel pulls out a deck of cards. It's the spitting
image of the ones I saw back in
my past life. Have they seriously started mass-producing them?
"Nina gave these
to us," Po explains. "Let's go play Presidents or poker or something!"
"This'll be
Cid's first time playing cards, right?" Skel asks Po. "Let's show
him just how cruel the world of
gambling can be."
"Hee-hee-hee… In
that case, it's gotta be poker. We can take him for everything he's
got."
Poker, huh? Odds
are we'll be playing Texas Hold'em. I taught the Seven Shadows
the rules way back when, and I
remember leaving them in tears after taking them for everything they had. Ah, the good old
days. I was being kind enough to teach them just how cruel society could be, so I
figured it was only fair that I get paid for my services…but they started getting scary
good at it, so I decided to quit while I was ahead.
This looks like
a golden opportunity, so I decide to charge Skel and Po for a crash
course of their own.
I crack my
knuckles. "All right, bring it on. I can't wait to see how cruel
this world of gambling of yours
is."
Skel grins.
"We'll be playing for ten times the usual stakes. Man, I can feel
my pockets getting heavier
already." Po nods. "You know
what they say about suckers and their money." "Heh…" Oops, almost laughed in their faces. I
quickly cover my mouth with my hand.
We end up playing
poker over in my room.
The sun's already
set by now, and Po's already started staring lifelessly at the
ceiling after losing all his
money. I grab a fat handful of
chips… "Raise." "Rrgh… A-all in." With that, Skel takes his paltry stack
of chips and puts the whole thing on the line. I call, of course. "Bwa-ha-ha… You fell right into my
trap." Skel shows me his hand, gloating all the while. "Dang, that is a nice hand."
"Sorry, Cid, but I've figured
out all your tells. This is where my grand comeback begins—" "Nah, we're done here." "Huh?" I show him my hand. "No way… You seriously have three of a
kind? Po and I trained so hard, and you tore through us like paper…"
"I can keep
going if I take out a loan," Po mumbles deliriously. "That was my
food budget for the month. If I
don't make it back, I'm done for…" "All right, time to pay up." After collecting my winnings from the
hopeless duo, I kick them out into the hallway. "Sorry, but if you're broke, you're
useless to me." With that, I
close the door on them. "Dammit, we'll get you for this!" I hear
them cry from outside. "Let's
cheat next time to really make sure we bury him!"
If that's the
way they want to play it, I'm happy to cheat right back at them.
When I cheat for real, not even
Alpha can suss me out.
After stashing
away my earnings in my Eminence in Shadow War Chest, I turn down
the lights and take a moment,
listening to the sounds of the night. Then I call out into the
darkness beyond my window:
"Apologies for the wait—you can
come in now."
"…Mm." With a muted response, a girl appears as
though from nowhere. Those hiding skills of hers are top-notch. You've really honed your talents,
Zeta. The girl is a slender
therianthrope dressed in a jet-black bodysuit. Her eyes are
icypurple and catlike, and she
focuses them straight on me. "Long time no see, Master." "Yeah, it's been a while." "You're a bit taller." "Am I?" "Mm." She nods briskly, then offers me a
dried fish. "For you." "What is
it?" "It's mackerel." "Huh." "I got it from the sea." "Dang, that's a long ways away."
"It's extra fatty. The best
mackerel of the season." "Is it,
now?" Zeta's a feline
therianthrope and the sixth member of the Seven Shadows. She's
pretty smart for a
therianthrope, and she tends to be aloof and sparing with her
words. She's basically the polar
opposite of a certain dog I know. After I take the dried mackerel, Zeta
stares at me like a cat waiting for its dinner. "Thanks," I say. "I'll grill it up and
eat it later." "Mm." Zeta's golden tail twitches with a hint
of delight. "Now, then…" I put
on my serious face. "Have there been any developments in…the
matter at hand?"
Upon hearing my
question, her feline eyes flash with pride. "The Cult's been acting
as expected." "Hmm." I step over to the window with a
wineglass in one hand, and Zeta zips over and fills it with wine. As usual, her movements
are clean. Zeta loves playing spies. She's always been great at hiding and infiltration.
"They're restoring the right
arm," she tells me. "I see."
"They're running out of Beads of
Diablos. That's how this all started." "Makes sense." "The sealed right arm is in the campus
ruins." "Figures." "They're panicking. They're afraid
we'll interfere."
"That's well
within expectations." "There's not
much time left. They're sure to make a move." Zeta looks up at me like she's waiting
for orders. At some point, she spread some documents written in ancient script out
on my desk…but I can't read a word of 'em. "Any word on the missing students?"
"Not yet." "There's already been four…" "Right." "That won't be enough." "No." The
two of us stare out the window at the lights in the girls' dorm,
squinting to make it seem like
we're searching for something. "There's going to be a fifth victim."
"Right." Zeta peers up at me.
"What should we do?" "…Nothing."
"Are you sure?" "Fix your gaze, Zeta." "Mm… On what?" "On the future…and on what we'll need
after it's come to pass." "…If
that's your will, Master." The
mood in the room is solemn. Tossing in that ad-lib section about
the missing students, to make it
feel more real, was a fine bit of work, if I do say so myself.
The story is as
follows: Things seem peaceful at the academy, but behind the
scenes, the Cult of Diablos is
carrying out a diabolic plot. Zeta and I stare at each other,
satisfied that we're on the
exact same page. I nod, and Zeta
nods, too. "Leave it to me, Master. I'll make sure to fix my gaze."
With a gust of wind, she
vanishes into the night. Before
she does, though, she makes one superfluous move. Don't think I didn't notice you
rubbing that gold tail of yours all over my bed, girl. "Dammit, Zeta, I told you to stop
marking my stuff." I sweep off
the fur, then look up at the night sky. "To be in darkness eternal, or to wake
from eternity…?" I murmur. It's
getting pretty late, so I decide to hit the sack. I bet I'm gonna
wake up tomorrow feeling like a
million bucks.
"I swear, I'm
going to kill that child!" Claire
Kagenou puffs up her cheeks in her bedroom in the girls' dorm.
"How many promises do you break
before you're happy, Cid? We were supposed to go home together over winter break…"
The lamplight
illuminates her profile. She looks deeply peeved, and for some
inexplicable reason, she's
carrying a metal collar.
"I'm going to kill
him. I'm going to kill him. You're coming back with me over
spring break if I have to drag you
kicking and screaming."
The collar rattles
as she turns it over in her hands. After making sure that its lock
is on tight, she smiles. "You're not getting away next time."
Then she winces. " " The collar falls to the floor with a
heavy thump. "My right hand…
It's throbbing…" She grimaces
and squeezes her hand. "But why?
It's been so calm lately…" Ever
since the day the magic circle appeared on it, her hand's been
aching every so often. Recently,
though, it's largely stopped. "What's going on? I want answers,
Aurora." She keeps asking
questions, but Aurora has never once responded since that first
day. Claire sometimes wonders if
she just dreamed the whole thing up, but she's seen the magic circle engraved beneath the
bandages on her hand. She opens
her desk drawer and splays a series of papers across the table.
"I've been doing my research.
This magic circle on my hand shows up in documents about the demon Diablos."
Sure enough, the
circle that appears in the papers is a spitting image of the one on
her right hand.
"What does it
mean? What connection is there between me and Diablos? What's
happening to me? Please, you
have to tell me…" Suddenly, she
thinks she hears something. She looks around. "Wait, what was that?" "…un…" "Aurora?! Aurora, is that you?"
The voice feels like it's coming
from directly inside her head. "…un… It's dan…" Little by little, she starts being
able to make out the words. "Run… It's dangerous…" "Huh? Run?"
Right as a look
of bewilderment crosses Claire's face, she hears the sound of
something cracking. "What was that?!" Her field of view shatters as the world
collapses like a broken mirror. She tries to grab at her desk, but it splinters into
pieces, too. A new world emerges
from behind the cracks. "This is…my
room, right?" She's in her room.
That much she's sure of. However, there's a strange white mist
wafting through the air. All
external noises sound distant, and all she can hear is the sound of her own breathing. No, wait—she hears the faint rustling of
clothes coming from behind her. "Nice try." She acts fast, whirling around and
elbowing her would-be assailant in the jaw in a single motion. "Hurgh!" The attacker's knees give out, but he
just barely manages to remain upright. However, he soon wishes he hadn't. His
face is at the perfect height for Claire to smash her knee into, and she does exactly
that. "I stole that little trick
from Cid." Her uniform's skirt
flutters from the movement. The
man faints and collapses to the floor. Claire doesn't recognize
him. "Who is this guy?" Claire crouches and tries to search the
man. The moment she does, though, his body shatters into pieces. "What the…? This again?!" The man is gone without a trace.
"What's going on? Hello?! Is
anyone there?!" Claire heads out
into the hallway and opens the door to the next room over. However, her classmate is nowhere to be
seen. She tries the next door down, then the next one, but comes up empty each time.
There's no one there. The only
person left in the world is Claire. "I don't get it… Hey, Aurora, I know
you're there!" "No, I'm
not," comes the annoyed response. "Yes, you are. This is no time to be
cracking jokes." "I told you
to run, you know." "Hey,
don't put this on me. You didn't give enough of a warning." "I didn't want to say anything."
"Excuse me?! I'm in peril!"
"Well, I've got circumstances
of my own I'm dealing with." "Circumstances like what?" "Like how I didn't want to get you
involved." "Well, maybe you
should have thought of that before you put this thing on me!"
Claire cries, glaring at the magic
circle on her hand. "That was to
protect you." "I know that,
but…you could at least explain why you did it." "I was planning to. But then I
couldn't." "What do you mean?"
"He's protecting you." "Who…?" "He wants to protect you, to keep you
away from danger. That's why I can't tell you anything."
"I asked
you this last time, but who is this mystery guy you keep talking
about? The way I see it, there's
no one protecting me."
"That's not
true at all. He's been protecting you this entire time. He always
has been, and he always will. As
a matter of fact, it makes me a bit jealous."
"I'm
going to say this one more time," Claire tells Aurora, getting
audibly angry. "I don't know who
it is you're talking about, but I have no intention of letting
anyone protect me."
"And that's
fine. You can stay ignorant, just so long as you're safe. I'm sure
that's exactly what he would
wish for—" "Enough with that
junk! I never asked for that!" There's a hint of displeasure in
Aurora's voice. "I'm afraid I really can't say any more. I owe him a great debt." "I swear, I'm going to make you
talk." "And how do you intend
on doing that?" "Um…" Claire lapses into silence. What can
she do to threaten someone who exists only as a voice in her head?
"Uhhh… Well,
I'll scream at the top of my lungs until you tell me what I want to
know." "Knock yourself out." "I'll stop talking to you forever."
"Be my guest." "I'll…spread nasty rumors about
you." "So what?" Claire bites her lip and sulks.
"Are you quite finished yet?"
"Oh, I haven't even
started getting frustrated with you." "Don't worry. What I will tell
you is how to get out of here." "What even is 'here'?" "That's a secret." "Oh, bite me." "For starters, you need to go straight
ahead." "No." "If you don't, you'll be trapped here
for the rest of your life." "All right, all right, fine. I'm
going." "Good, exactly like
that. Now spin three times." "I'm sorry, what?!" "I'm joking." "One of these days, I'm going to
murder you." The dark-haired
girl strides forth into the world of mist. Behind her, the image of
a violet-eyed woman overlapping
her is faintly visible.
Today's the
first full day of our third term. With finals drawing ever closer,
the whole class is really
buckling down.
"Apparently,
that stuff we learned today about the theory of mana control shows
up on the test every year," Skel
says. "Dang, Skel," Po replies.
"You really know your stuff." "It's about time I started getting
serious. If I have to repeat a year, my parents'll kill me." "Yeah, I should start getting serious,
too. I've been letting myself get a bit sloppy." "Once I actually start getting serious,
this'll be a cinch." "Yeah,
it'll be dead easy once I start getting serious." Their eyes are bloodshot. "You've got pretty bad grades, too,
right, Cid? You'd better start getting serious." "Yeah, good call," I say. "I'll start
getting serious, for sure." I've
been keeping my grades at just below the middle of the class. To be
honest, I spend most of my
classes training my magic, so I'm always at a total loss when test
time rolls around. That's never
a problem for me, though. When I need to get serious, I'm the
best cheater around.
I haven't been
paying any attention in class today, but during the course of my
training, I've proved the theory
that compressing your mana can make it a thousand times stronger. Practicing like this is a
key component in becoming an eminence in shadow.
Here I am,
secretly refining my mana like always, when the door loudly slams
open to reveal a silver-haired
girl on the other side. It's
Alexia. "Nice weather we're having
today, huh?" I say, nonchalantly looking out the window. It's overcast. I can feel every head in the room turn my
way. I dunno why, but everyone always looks at me whenever Alexia shows up.
It's weird, considering that I'm just your average forgettable guy. "Hey, you!" "Oh huh, a bird just went by." The sky is uneventful. It's as ordinary
as can be. "Eyes over here,
Fido." "Man, just look at those
clouds drifting by." And today's
just an ordinary day. Surely, nothing strange or eventful will
happen. "Don't you ignore me."
I feel someone grab my jaw, and
my neck makes an alarming crunching sound as it gets forcibly twisted to the side.
Alexia's red eyes stare back
into mine. I try giving her the
most unremarkable greeting I can. "Oh, hey, if it isn't Princess
Alexia." "Hello there, Cid Kagenou." "I'm afraid you've wandered into the
wrong class, Princess Alexia." "I assure you, I'm exactly where I need
to be. I have business with you, Cid Kagenou." "Ah, sorry, class is starting soon.
We'll have to continue this chat some other time." "That's irrelevant." Alexia turns to
Skel and Po as she grabs me by the collar. "I'm going to be borrowing him for a bit."
"G-g-go right ahead!" "H-h-he's all yours!" I hear their traitorous voices as
Alexia hauls me off.
Dunno why, but
Alexia drags me into the girls' dorm. "Are you sure it's okay to bring me in
here?" I ask her. "Don't worry, I
got permission." "You know I'm a
dude, right?" "It's fine. You're
an involved party." "I'm a what
now?" Alexia stops in front of a
particular door. If memory serves, it's the one that leads to
Claire's room. "Your sister didn't show up at breakfast
today." "Huh." "Someone got worried and went to check on
her, and they found her room unlocked." With that, Alexia opens the door. Sure
enough, there's no one inside. "We checked all the places she seemed likely to be, but
there was no sign of her." "Weird." "Do you know anything?" "Nope," I answer without a moment's
hesitation, and Alexia looks at me like I just grew horns. "Aren't you worried about her?" she
says. "Nah, this happens all the
time." "I'm sorry, what?" "She's been going missing all the time
ever since she was a kid." "That's the kind of information that
falls under the category of 'anything.'" "Oh yeah. So it is." "Where did she go when she went
missing?" "Beats me. She always
just kinda showed back up." Ever
since the Seven Shadows came onto the scene, they've always been
bringing her back. Zeta was in
the area this time, so between her skills and the fact that she
hasn't taken any action, I
assume everything's probably hunky-dory. "So she runs away from home?" "Basically, yeah." "I hope that's all there is to it, but
there's something that has me worried." "What's that?" "Take a look." We step into the room, and Alexia picks
up a collar from the ground. "Is
that a dog collar?" I ask. "It looks really sturdy." "That's not all—it also places a seal
on the wearer's magic. This isn't the kind of thing a normal girl would just have
lying around in her room." "I
dunno if I'd describe my sister as 'normal,' per se." "Someone might have broken in and tried
to use the collar to kidnap her." "But
why's it still here?" "Maybe it
fell off during the struggle. There's something else that has me
worried, too." Alexia's gaze falls to the documents on
the desk. I recognize them the
moment I lay eyes on them. "Oh
boy…" There's ancient script,
badass magic circles, and incantations that look important but
don't actually do anything. It's
one of those notebooks—the cringey ones that edgelords
make. "Do you know anything about this?" Alexia
asks me. "Nope. Nuh-uh. Not me. No
ma'am." "Are you sure? You're
acting shifty all of a sudden." "Y-you must be imagining things."
"If you say so." Alexia looks back down at the notebook
of cringe. "I don't think you're
going to find anything important in there," I offer. "We'll see about that." She begins earnestly thumbing through
the notes. Sorry, Princess, but there's nothing written there but the mortifying
ramblings of a teenage edgelord.
Now that I think
about it, that magic-sealing collar is the exact kind of thing that
edgelords dig, and I've seen my
sister drawing magic circles on her hands and covering them for her own amusement. From the
look of it, it would appear that her condition has kicked into overdrive. Suddenly going missing is a classic
symptom of edgelord behavior. "I'm sure Claire is fine." "You really believe in her, don't you?"
"I mean…I dunno if I'd go that
far…" It's more like there was
nothing we could've done to stop her, so it is what it is. "When it comes to my own sister, I…"
Alexia frowns like she's gazing into the faroff distance. "I feel these days, I
don't understand what's she's thinking half the time." "Huh." "Do you ever feel that way, Fido?"
"Oh, I never understand what
Claire is thinking any of the time." "Is that so…? Maybe everyone has things
they don't understand about each other." "We're related, but we're practically
strangers." "That's a cold way
of putting it." "Is it?" "I want to understand my sister.
I really do." "Fair enough."
Alexia lets out a
little sigh. "You can return to class now. I'm going to do a little
more digging." "'Kay." I
leave Alexia behind to pore over the notebook of cringe and head on
my way.
It's the end of
the day, and my sister still isn't back yet. But hey, Zeta's
around, so even if there is
trouble, I'm sure it'll be fine.
I head to the
yard behind the dorms and grill the dried mackerel Zeta gave me.
It's past lights-out, and
everything is dark. "All right,
it should be about done." The
mackerel fat makes a delicious sizzling sound as it drips into the
open-air fire. "Actually, maybe
it needs a little longer?" I'm
enjoying this little one-man barbeque I've got going on. I can feel
it cleansing my heart. Hearts
pick up a lot of rot just going through life, you know. As I stare listlessly at the fire, I
sense something approaching at an incredible speed. "Boss man!! I finally found you!!"
Delta comes rushing in with her
dog ears twitching. "Hey there.
It's late, so try to keep it down." "I hunted the Black Juggler!!" "That's nice. It's late, so try to keep
it down." "And Alpha praised
me!!" "Good for you. It's late,
so try to keep it down." "You
should praise me, too, Boss man!!" "There, there, there, there. Good
girl." I give her head a rough scritch, and her tail wags vigorously. "Now, it's late, so
try to keep it down."
"I'll be
quiet!!" she shouts, then clamps her hands over her mouth. "I'll
talk real quiet-like," she
whispers. "Yeah, that's perfect."
Her voice gradually starts
creeping back up in volume. "Got it. I dug that hole you asked me to, Boss man." "You dug a what? Are you sure I told
you to do that?" "You did!"
Her voice is back to its normal
level already. "I did? Well, if
you say so."
"And inside, I
found this! You were right, Boss man! Look at how great it is!"
Delta grins, revealing the bright
red jewel clutched between her teeth. "Why's it in your mouth?" "So I don't lose it!" "Can't argue with that logic." "Hee-hee." I take the saliva-flecked jewel from
Delta. It sparkles a beautiful shade of red. "Let's have a look… Ooh, I bet this'd
sell for a lot." It's only about
the size of a marble, but there's something fantastical about the
way it's gleaming. "I did good!!" "There, there, there, there. Good
girl." I give her head another
scritch. She practically melts in my hand. "I want a reward!" "Yeah, that's fair." "Ooh, something smells tasty!" The instant she looks over at the fire,
the mackerel vanishes. "Is this
my reward?!" It's in her hand
now. "No, that was actually a
gift from Zeta…" "Thanks!"
She's not listening. Delta takes a big bite and smiles in
delight. "It's so good!" Eh, she
did do well. "I guess this
is fine." Right as I come to
terms with it, I hear a branch snapping. "Doggy…what're you eating?" I turn around to find Zeta. The look in
her eyes is ice-cold. Delta lets
out a threatening growl. "Grrr, Felid! I'm eating my reward!"
"I got that mackerel for our
lord. It's not yours." "Back off!
It's my reward!" With that,
Delta swallows the rest of the mackerel whole. Zeta lets out a wordless gasp. "Ah—!"
Delta, meanwhile, doesn't have a
care in the world. "Mmm, tasty." "You little…" Zeta's throat starts rumbling. "You're being a pest, Felid. Go away,
or I'll send you flying!" "I
saved the tastiest mackerel for our lord, and now… This is
unacceptable." "All right, guys,
let's all take a deeeep breath."
Things look like
they're about to get a little bit ugly, so I step in and get
between them. Both of them fix their gazes on me.
"Uh… Look, I was just grilling the
mackerel; I didn't actually give it to anyone—" Self-preservation is key when things look
like they're gonna get ugly. The most important thing to do here to keep from
getting sucked into whatever's about to happen is to impress on them that I had nothing
to do with this. "—so the bottom
line is, this isn't my fault." "Yeah. Not your fault." "Boss man did nothing wrong!" "Exactly. I did nothing wrong." At no point did I ever mishandle the
mackerel. It got eaten because of an unfortunate misunderstanding, nothing more. ""And that means—"" Zeta and Delta point at each other…
""—it's her fault!!""
…then finish each other's
sentences. "Huh?" I
splutter. Their magic
flares up and explodes. The shock
wave sends me flying, and I spin gracefully through the air before
sticking the landing perfectly a
short distance from them. "You
stole my tribute to our lord, you mangy mutt. You're dead meat."
"You made a big fuss over my
rightful reward, Felid. You're deader meat!" "Uhh… Look, I don't think I'm really
following here, but what's important is that we're all in agreement that this isn't my
fault." I decide to quietly back
away. Zeta and Delta have never
gotten along, and the two of them fight constantly. Their brawls usually last until they tear up a
field or knock over a house or something and Alpha gets pissed at them. "Make sure you guys don't go too
overboard, 'kay?" The one silver
lining is that the shock wave didn't reach the dorms. "I'll crush you," Delta says, readying
her sword and entering her combat stance. "You need to be punished." Zeta narrows her cold eyes—then
vanishes. There's no warning or anything. She's just gone. Delta cocks her head in puzzlement.
"Did she run away?" The moment
the words leave her mouth, a black blade materializes behind her
back. " " Delta dodges just before it can mow her
down, but doing so forces her into a precarious position, and she tumbles to
the ground. Voom. Voom.
Voom. Another set of blades comes raining down on her. "Hmph." Delta dodges them all. After crawling across the ground, she
rolls over and leaps back up in a way no human could have pulled off. "Where are you hiding, Felid?" Zeta is nowhere to be seen. The only
thing visible is the array of black blades hanging in the darkness.
Hey, I know that
move. That's the one the Blood Queen used. I had no idea Zeta
could use it, too, but knowing
her, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Of all the people I know, she's always been the cleverest.
Whenever I ask her to do something, she always nails it, even if it's her first time
trying it. On top of that, she improves superfast, and her instincts are fantastic. She might
very well be one of the biggest geniuses around. When it comes to raw talent, she's as
good as it gets. However, even
Zeta the Prodigy has a glaring weakness. "…Huh?" I hear Zeta's voice, and her tail
materializes out from the darkness.
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