•••

-Outside the Sealing Cube—

It had been several minutes since Caius, Delia, and Aurelius were locked in with the Demonic creature inside the Sealing Cube.

The trio had long left the location. As much as it caused their hearts to ache to leave Caius—and Delia behind in the Sealing Cube, they could tell they had no hope of breaking through the walls. It's the sort of thing that is instinctive. Not only did they know they wouldn't be able to destroy the Cube, they also knew they weren't allowed to. What was keeping them out seemed more than just a matter of strength. It was a matter of authority as well. Even if none of the three truly understood this.

Plus, they soon realized they had their own issues to deal with.

The red vapor that was made up of the same energy as the Sealing Cube had spread all over the entirety of the Lochxen Forest, infecting many Beasts and causing them to break out of their confinement and spread all about the Forest, attacking any student they found.

It didn't take long for the first cry of horror to split the air…

…

A trio of students had happened upon a Beastly Habitat that was crawling with Fire-Cracking Lizards. Reminiscent of the very first Study Of Magical Beast lesson and while troublesome to handle when there are multiple, the exercise was still doable once one was aware of their nodes.

The trio of students approached and only then noticed the aura of red energy, and that there were now layers of it around every single one of the Lizards. That was the first sign of trouble and made them stop in place and take a step back.

The second sign came when just one of the Lizards flew at the Dome wall, created an explosion at least five times stronger than the demonstration they remembered from that first day of Study Of Magical Beasts, destroying the Dome instantly and setting the near-hundred remaining Lizards free.

The scream of horror that then rend the air was courtesy of the one student who wasn't instantly blasted in the chest by tens of Lizards and got to watch his two classmates hit the ground ten feet from where they had been standing, their entire front blackened and smoking.

It was terrifying enough to have witnessed the destruction of the Dome that should have kept those things in and away. It was terrifying enough to see that many dangerous critters out and about. It was horrifying to see the attack bypass the protection that should have been enough even against Fifth Circle Magic.

What hope did a Third Circle Mage, First Year Lochxen Student have?

What hope did he have that his teammates still lived?

The student's scream of horror was cut short though when he suffered the same fate.

Or he would have suffered the same fate had a sound of deep bass music not played all over the clearing, conjuring Musical Notes that made up Arcane Symbols that made up a shield.

So many blasts against the shield destroyed it still and the force of the blowback slammed the student in the chest, sending him flying but he wasn't blackened. He wasn't burned.

But he was about to hit the tree the wrong way though and with how the situation had become, he didn't know if the Vest he had on even worked well enough to save against the impact.

But then he hit a soft cushioning as he slammed into a pile of vines instead. Vines that received him in the air and settled him down in the ground gently.

The student found it somewhat ironic that he was saved from dangerous contact with a tree with side contact with vines.

'Wait, vines? Music?' The student asked in his head with surprise and looked around looking for the casters of the spells that might have just saved his life.

"Kaya?" he called out in recognition, "Eloise?"

Kaya was still meters away but she heard her name called clearly enough. And was confused by the near-familiarity because she didn't know the student.

Eloise, who was about three feet from the student she saved, smiled lightly.

"Hey, Dean," she said.

Unlike Kaya, she actually made some effort to know at least some of her classmates.

Kaya shook her head, pushing aside that thought. It was so completely unimportant. Also, she was closer to the clearing now.

"Way to leave me behind!" Aylin's voice sounded from on high and the two ladies and Dean looked up to see Aylin Khione in a cyclone of ice swirling with powerful wind. She had one hand raised delicately and with a twist, she summoned a spell circle that rained down rods of ice. At least they looked like rods.

Whenever the 'rods' hit a Fire-Cracking Lizard, the Magical Beast was sealed up in Ice.

While doing this, Aylin's eyes were on Eloise.

"Seriously, how were you so fast?" She asked and then narrowed her eyes, "Was it— No way, was it a Fourth Circle Spell?"

Before Eloise could answer, there were simultaneous *Bang!* sounds as the Lizards broke out of their ice with purpose. The reddish energy around them began to prime like an attempt at an explosion and then the ugly things opened their mouths, releasing what looked like pillars of fire. All aimed at Aylin in the air.

Aylin felt the energy from those attacks and she knew her usual defensive magic would not be enough. So it seemed just about the time to reveal her trump card.

'To think it'd be because of those fucking ugly little things,' she thought with a 'tsk' sound from her mouth.

Before she even completed that thought, Aylin had cast her spell and a spell circle appeared. A Fourth Circle Spell Circle with all the posh fixings that came with that level of Magical acumen.

Eloise gasped.

The pillars hit, exploding on impact. Basically, it was the Fire-Cracking Lizards' usual attacks, just given the ability to be delivered at range.

But the sound and power of it though…

*BOOOOOMMMM!!!*

… There was nothing 'usual' about that.

The explosion reacted with Aylin's defensive spell but her magic won out, creating a massive cloud of freezing mist that rained down snow that covered the Forest Floor in a light layer of frost.

When the fog cleared up—mostly—Aylin was fine. But more than a little ticked off.

"Well, that's certainly new," she said in a whisper.

"We need to hit their pressure Nodes," Kaya said in a spell-casting stance as more than a few of the Lizards gathered around her, priming to blast her at range.

"I already tried that," Aylin answered and with a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a vial of Mana recovery Potion she had refined before today, drinking it down.

Staying in the air was sapping her Mana at an insane rate but she didn't want to return to the ground. Even if the attacks of the Lizards could still get to her in the air, she preferred it to risking the ugly things actually touching her.

Fortunately, thanks to Caius and his 'gift', she was well prepared and could replenish all lost Mana ten times over. Even more actually.

"When did you try it," Eloise asked, and as though to answer Aylin's earlier question, she cast a Fourth Circle spell to defend against ten unified blasts.

She managed well enough but the blowback still hit her fairly hard.

"When I encased them in ice, of course," Aylin answered, "What did you think I was doing? Preserving their disgusting skins?

The ice placed pressure on their Nodes. Since they broke free…" Aylin started to say.

"The Nodes have no paralyzing effect on them now," Kaya completed for her, letting her Vines carry her backward away from the Lizards, avoiding their blasts at her.

"We're going to have to kill them," Aylin said.

And there was silence. As though everyone on the scene—including the Lizards—was so surprised by how quickly Aylin had gone to 'kill'.

But then Eloise shrugged and was the first to speak.

"I'm fine with that," she said and when Kaya looked at her surprised at the response from her combat-avoiding friend, Eloise wrinkled her nose and said through gritted teeth,

"I never liked those ugly things anyway."

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