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-Outside the Lochxen Forest-

"Is any of this supposed to be happening?" Raoul asked with his arms folded and his brows furrowed as he stared at the screen while the trio of Caius, Aurelius, and Delia faced the Centipede.

Neither Cynthia nor Lea spoke, so he looked to the side to see that the expressions on their faces were dumbfounded and inched close to horrified.

"Gilligan," Raoul called and Lea started and looked at him with a brow raised like she hadn't heard anything he said thus far.

Raoul gestured at the screen with his head,

"I mean, you're the Beast expert here," he said, "The escape from confinement, the horns, are they supposed to happen? Is it all part of the plan?"

Lea opened her mouth to answer but when the Beast roared, she stopped and blinked hard as she felt something within her react. That something was her Divine Seed which she had been able to grow with the Arcane Circle Caius had given her a few weeks ago.

Lea didn't know how but she understood the reaction within herself. She knew she wasn't actually reacting to the Beast's roar. She was reacting to the fact that Caius reacted to it. She had felt it since she had first meditated on that Arcane Circle; She was now connected to Caius in one more way.

That connection was what let her know just how dire the situation was.

Raoul became a bit frustrated at the lack of an answer. Cynthia was also looking at Lea now because while they had both prepared the Forest for the Mid-Semester Tests, all things relating to the Beasts and securing them were overseen by Lea almost exclusively.

"Lea," she said gently, "Are we to interfere?"

Lea heard the question and her first instinct was to say yes. But then she resisted that urge. Things hadn't gone too awry and to interfere now was to diminish the talent of the trio. If anyone could still handle this, it was them.

"No, not yet," she said, "Let's observe."

As she spoke, she tapped a section on the massive projected screen and a piece broke free to draw closer to her where she took hold of what looked like Gear icons and began to move them this way and that.

Raoul let out a sigh of relief.

"So all part of the plan then," he said and began to relax until he heard Lea speak in an urgent voice.

"No. No, it's not," she said, "Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. And we need to find out what it is.

Cynthia, help me."

"Already on it," Cynthia said and she had indeed pulled away a piece of the screen just as Lea had done and she began to move around the gear icon, causing a good number of spinning discs they had in the Lochxen Forest to break out of what had been a programmed formation. The crystals stopped recording and playing the feedback and instead unleashed the sensory ability infused within them with enchantments.

The discs went all about the Forest, scanning for the source of the disruption to the normal flow of the Tests. The logic went that if they could find the source, they could get rid of it without having to stop the Tests.

As they did the scanning, Cynthia was all the more convinced that Lea's decision was the right one. And it wasn't easy for her to have such a thought.

After all, she had both Caius and Delia in danger from this anomaly. Delia being her sister and Caius being… well, certainly more than just her student. She knew that much.

Still, to be an efficient teacher, there's a need to be objective in situations like this. Hell, the potential lack of objectivity had been why Cynthia had a problem with the budding relationship with Caius in the first place.

In any case, only one section of the Lochxen Forest had been affected by the oddity so far; and it was the section where Caius and his team were currently battling the Corrupted Clacking Centipede. For now, the anomaly was contained and the rest of the class was still well into the Mid-Semester Tests. The goal at the moment should be to make sure the situation remains contained and see if the anomaly wouldn't spread….

"Hey, where are these three going?" Raoul asked then and pointed at a section on the large screen.

With their hands still working, both Cynthia and Lea raised their heads and they saw the trio of Kaya, Eloise, and Aylin running purposely in a direction that would no doubt lead them to Caius and his team. I.e lead them to the anomaly.

As though to prove that very thought, Raoul made a pinching motion on that section of the screen and the view pulled back so a larger area could be observed and there was no doubt. The trio of ladies were even ignoring habitats and some of their other classmates like the ongoing Tests didn't matter.

Lea and Cynthia wore similar frowns but returned their eyes to the small sections they were using to control the spinning discs that were still scanning the Forest for more Anomalies.

That was until Raoul exclaimed again.

"Oh, solid block Von Helsing!" He said in a loud and proud voice.

The two ladies looked up and watched as Caius held off the Beast's pincers for a second before he was blasted by its beam. Then they winced because even with the protection of the Earthen wall he created, he still got hit. And then they watched him cast Water Magic just to get back close to the beast.

A move that ended with him stabbing it.

"Jolly good!" Raoul praised but both Lea and Cynthia just looked on with apprehension.

"And here comes Delia…" Raoul commented as Delia landed a hit with her Warhammer and lightning struck at the same time.

"Man, that sister of yours sure is something," Raoul threw at Cynthia, "And to think you wanted to pull her out of my class."

Cynthia had a few choice words to say to that but her worry caused her to hold her tongue. Still, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at Delia's display. And even more, at the fact that Delia was casting Fourth Circle Magic.

For that matter, so was Caius.

And also Aurelius.

That was such an insane advancement speed, it should have been impossible.

'If we're looking for anomalies, we might as well start with them,' Cynthia said and managed a little smile as that feeling of pride swelled. It swelled because it wasn't just referring to Delia, her sister, but to Caius as well.

How long had they known each other, how much time had they spent together—especially alone—to warrant her mind and emotions placing him and her sister on the same level in her thoughts.

Lea wasn't at all surprised by Caius being at the Fourth Circle because she already knew. Just as she knew what he was. She was a little surprised about Delia though but her thoughts went to the Arcane Circle in her head and the advancement-speed benefit it promised and she felt that was answer enough. Caius must have given it to her as well.

Did he also give it to Aurelius? Lea doubted that. Besides the fact that Caius's favors had a clear gender requirement, she had always sensed something different about Aurelius. She was sure that whatever it was, was responsible for his speedy growth.

Like he was on the same train of thought as Lea—which was impossible—Raoul spoke up again,

"And Aurelius for the finish," he said with an air of satisfaction as Aurelius' spell split the Beast in two, ending the life of the Anomaly.

Or so they hoped.

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