Everyone was still shocked by what had happened. No one knew what would come next; the scouts were writing nothing down, and the nobles remained silent.
The other students stared wide-eyed toward the center of the circle.
A tall man, not much older than Seraphine herself, stood there. He had deep black hair, and his pupils glowed with an intense orange light.
The only thing that distinguished him from a normal human—at least in appearance—was the vertical shape of his pupils, much like Ruby's Dragon Spirit.
The spirits summoned after the eight talents—with the exception of Ruby's dragon—were in absolute terror.
Whatever it was, one thing was certain.
Something powerful had answered Seraphine's courtship.
Headmistress Rosencrown approached from behind the two of them, standing at the center of the circle.
The man was completely fixated on Seraphine. The rest of the world seemed not to exist for him.
When the headmistress came too close, his eyes shifted toward her.
The dryad stepped in front of her mistress, an act that would hardly change anything if the man decided to attack.
But he didn't.
When he raised his hands, he noticed the pact's control circle glowing on the back of them.
The man seemed to enter a state of intense pleasure upon seeing proof of his union with Seraphine.
The girl herself was also staring at the circle shining in the center of her own palm.
She still couldn't believe she had become the master of something apparently so powerful.
Defying common sense, the headmistress addressed the two of them:
"Miss Seraphine, perhaps we should go to my office until this commotion calms down a little."
"Yes… let's go," the girl replied, still staring at the symbol on her right hand.
"Miss Seraphine, please ask your spirit to cover himself. It would not be appropriate for him to walk around the institute in such an indecent manner."
The headmistress unfastened her cloak and handed it to Seraphine, expecting her to convince the man to cover himself.
Seraphine hadn't realized he was naked until that moment.
Her face turned completely red. She shoved the fabric toward him.
"Cover yourself, you pervert!"
Seraphine finally took a good look at the spirit she had summoned.
He had fair skin, but with the appearance of someone who had spent too long under a harsh sun.
His muscles were as well developed as those of an imperial soldier. He was taller than Seraphine. And very handsome as well.
The entire situation seemed to amuse him.
So much so that he did something even more unexpected than accepting the summoning courtship of a girl who apparently had no talents.
"As you wish, my mistress."
He said this while making an exaggerated bow and wrapping the cloak around his waist.
Voices erupted from the stands and the students' seats.
"He spoke?"
"How can he speak?"
"Aren't spirits only supposed to communicate mentally with their summoners?"
"What's going on?"
Seraphine's situation was becoming even more abnormal. Her spirit was not only a perfect human form—it also spoke.
Defying even more of the established rules regarding summoning.
Seeing the commotion, Seraphine looked at the circle on her hand and ordered him to stop talking. She had already drawn too much attention.
The man seemed amused by the order, but obeyed. It was unclear whether it was due to the control circle or his own will.
After all, there was nothing normal about that pact.
Headmistress Rosencrown decided to put an end to any further rumors and prepared to leave the Summoning Wing.
She once again asked Seraphine to accompany her, and the girl did so. Her spirit followed them as well.
The headmistress's dryad positioned herself between her mistress and Seraphine's spirit like a living wall.
The look on her face had turned furious. Her green hair no longer resembled soft leaves, but large thorns pointing downward.
The spirits of the eight talents did the same as Seraphine approached the exit.
Especially Lucien's knight spirit, which stepped in front of its master with sword raised.
Ruby was already there as well.
Her dragon had remained in its miniature form.
It didn't seem to fear Seraphine's spirit.
If anything, it seemed to disdain him.
Ruby approached as Seraphine crossed the large doorway.
"Sera, what happened? Where are you going?" Ruby shouted.
Seraphine couldn't stop, but shouted back to her friend:
"I'll tell you everything later! Looks like my worm-spirit is going to give me some trouble!"
Ruby couldn't believe Seraphine was still joking at a moment like that.
She started laughing, while everyone watched Seraphine walk away from the building.
No one else laughed.
Ruby left the building shortly after.
The eight talents remained there, exchanging looks—some shocked, others filled with deep resentment at having their spotlight stolen by a talentless peasant girl.
Lucien, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much about what had happened. He looked proudly at his knight.
The rest of the people broke into rumors now that the source of the commotion had left.
Quills scratched parchment again, events being recorded with precision.
Nobles discussed repercussions and made speculations.
Some phrases could be clearly heard amid the uproar:
"But what was that, after all?"
"They said there would be eight talents today, but clearly two more exceptional ones appeared."
"It wasn't just the spirit. Did you see that perfect dragon?"
"Is this some trick by the imperial family?"
"What's so special about those eight talents anyway? One of the girls summoned a damned horse!"
"Aside from the humanoids, their summons are pretty mediocre."
"This is outrageous!"
As the rumors spread, some of the eight talents began to grow resentful—not only toward Seraphine, but also toward Ruby.
The girls would need to be careful in this final year at the institute.
They had barely completed their summons and had already made several enemies.
And, most likely, gained an unhealthy interest from the nobility.
Seraphine was still trying to process everything.
How had she managed to summon such a powerful spirit?
What was he?
Why could he speak?
What was his name?
"You pervert… do you have a name?" she finally asked.
With evident amusement, the man raised his arms to the sky.
The cloak fell.
"You are my beloved lady. Why don't you name me right now and complete our union?"
"Pervert," Seraphine said.
He seemed to enjoy it even more when she treated him poorly.
The headmistress, visibly uncomfortable with the situation, quickened her pace toward the institute's main building.
The freshman students crowded the classroom windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the newly summoned spirits.
However, all they saw was the headmistress surrounded by her dryad.
Right behind her, Seraphine, followed by a nearly naked man, as he wrapped the headmistress's cloak around himself once more.
The headmistress's mood worsened with every step toward the institute's entrance stairs.
Being thrown away by her own reflected attack had also left her spine in terrible condition.
She muttered ahead, rubbing a cloth over her glasses' lenses:
"I was a decorated archmage… and now I have to tolerate this thing parading half-naked through my institute. And my cloak, a gift from the emperor himself? What a way to treat an old woman in her final years…"
"I don't think you're that old, Headmistress Rosencrown," Seraphine tried to soften things, in vain.
Seraphine climbed the stairs in silence, which worked until they reached the antechamber of the headmistress's office.
There, a woman sat behind a small desk, while a feline spirit rested comfortably at her feet.
The cat's peace didn't last long.
As soon as the spirit sensed the presence of the man behind Seraphine, it immediately went into protective mode.
It leapt onto the woman's desk, knocking over several books and scattering papers through the air.
The secretary, on the other hand—a woman not very old, but long past her days as a student of the institute, short and with black hair tied into a tight bun—watched the unusual group approach.
A clearly exhausted headmistress.
An extremely protective dryad floating back and forth.
A fifth-year student who should have been registering her spirit.
And behind her, the strangest sight of all: a man wrapped in a luxurious cloak embroidered with gold and silver threads.
Meanwhile, her feline spirit caused a scene atop the desk.
She looked to the headmistress for guidance, but received nothing more than a tired sigh.
"Don't even ask… I need a bottle of beer."
"But, Headmistress Rosencrown, you don't drink…"
"You know, Felicia? Today seems like a great day to start."
The group entered the office, leaving Felicia and her large cat in shock, surrounded by scattered papers.
Inside the office, the headmistress sat down in the large chair at the back of the room.
Her dryad still floated restlessly, forming almost an invisible wall in front of her.
"Emerald, that's enough."
The dryad instantly shrank in size and slipped into a flower vase on the headmistress's desk.
Even so, she made a rather rude gesture toward Seraphine and her spirit.
"Miss Seraphine, I won't beat around the bush. I expect you understand that what happened today was unprecedented."
"Your spirit is clearly an anomaly, not only in power, but among spirits themselves."
"It's not like I summoned this pervert on purpose," Seraphine snapped back. "When I stepped into the summoning circle, he was the only one there."
"I'm not trying to blame you," the headmistress replied, interlacing her fingers on the desk. "The pact was valid, just like any other. I'm only trying to prepare you for what comes next."
The headmistress took a deep breath before continuing.
"Your spirit is, without a doubt, among the most powerful summoned today. It would not be an exaggeration to say he is the most powerful."
Seraphine's spirit let out a very unsubtle laugh.
"The point, miss, is that today you became the target of three groups."
"Nobles who will try to take you into their houses and force a political marriage, since you hold no title."
"Merchants who will use your family's connection to the trade guild to open paths into the nobility."
"And the imperial family will not allow a power of this magnitude to slip away so easily."
"Foreign powers will also try to take you to their lands."
"And lastly, the eight talents of this year. Not only you, but Ruby as well, stole the attention they believed belonged exclusively to them. Some may not care… but others will certainly see you as obstacles."
"That won't happen."
Seraphine's spirit interrupted the headmistress.
The smile had vanished from his face.
"If anyone tries to impose their will on my Sera… be it the empire, foreign agents, or arrogant brats who think they matter…"
"I will burn them."
The spirit turned his gaze toward Seraphine.
"Besides being a pervert, you're also insane? Maybe I would've been luckier with a worm," she muttered.
Seraphine didn't take the threat completely seriously.
The headmistress, however, weighed every word before continuing.
"For now, Miss Seraphine, return to the dormitories. Tomorrow I will arrange the official registration of your spirit. Let's allow today's confusion to settle."
"Yes, Headmistress. Thank you very much. I promise I'll return your cloak as soon as I find clothes that fit this pervert."
Seraphine left the office accompanied by her spirit, still wrapped in the cloak.
Shortly after, Felicia entered, followed by her feline spirit, its fur still bristling.
The headmistress stared out the large window at the institute's garden.
Ruby's dragon flew outside.
"Ma'am," Felicia called.
"Yes?"
"Is it really him?"
"I'm afraid so."
"And is he as powerful as the Lady of the Forest warned us?"
The headmistress let out a brief, bitter laugh.
"Felicia… I think she didn't warn us enough."
"When the girl stepped into the wall of light, I tried to prepare a wind attack to stop the pact."
"He wasn't fully manifested in our world yet… and still reflected my spell with ease."
"I doubt I'd survive more than a few minutes against him, even using Emerald."
"So what will we do, then?"
"We?" The headmistress shook her head. "We won't do anything."
"The Lady of the Forest has been preparing for the arrival of that thing for over a thousand years."
"All we can do is trust her."
The headmistress closed her eyes for a moment.
"In the meantime, we must ensure that nothing happens to young Seraphine."
"Because if something happens before the Lady of the Forest makes her move…"
"I doubt we'll be able to stop him from destroying the empire."
She opened her eyes, filled with deep dread.
"May the gods have mercy…"
"A calamity demon lord was summoned at my institute."