"What do you mean, Miss. Kragsten?" Professor Melvin asked.

Cynthia furrowed her brows now.

"He didn't do it alone. He did it with our help," Delia said with a gesture at Caius.

"Why don't you tell us how that happened, Miss Kragsten," Melvin said with a joyless smile.

"I patched Caius up. We got up and we helped Aurelius take the Fiend down," Delia said.

Professor Melvin looked between Delia and Aurelius and back while gesturing at the blond, blue-eyed boy to remark,

"He said something about a goddess…"

Delia shrugged.

"A quirky way to say we had divine help, I suppose. I mean, I'd like to think the gods favored us during that battle. How else would we have been able to defeat such a fearsome threat?

Our magic certainly wasn't cutting it.

The problem is that I— We—can't tell you how we did it."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't know. I certainly can't remember what I did differently. Somehow, the attacks we made that were shrugged off, had an effect. And the Fiend fell to our collective effort.

Granted, my Warhammer did most of the work…" Delia paused to say with a little laugh and when she saw no one was quite so amused by her joke, she carried on,

"Anyway, you may grill us as hard as you want. We really have nothing to say. Because we don't know what to say. It's unfortunate.

The gods know how much I'd wish to feel as I did in that moment. To be imbued with such perfect techniques. I'd so love to be able to replicate them at will.

Unfortunately, I can't. We can't. And that sucks."

A moment passed as Professor Melvin just stared. Headmistress Elvira looked from Delia to Aurelius and then to Caius where her eyes settled the longest. He looked back at her, expressionless.

"Be that as it may," Melvin said, "Your duty to the Acheron Empire demands that you remember…"

"Professor Melvin," Elvira said in her silky voice, calling her deputy to order, "I think that's enough. It's a shame they can't remember. The information would have been so good for the well-being of the Empire. However, we can't press them like criminals.

Lacking as their memory may be, they have done the Academy a great service. They saved their fellow students and averted what would have been a tragedy. They should be celebrated for that."

As she ended her words, Elvira laid her eyes on the trio of students and the more seconds passed, the more intense her stare became.

Cynthia cleared her throat pointedly, reminding the students of what was expected of them.

All three bowed.

"Thank you, Professor," They chorused in greeting toward Elvira who nodded at them, pleased, while the intensity in her eyes waned.

"Well, then, I suppose…" Melvin started when they heard a thrumming sound accompanied by a deep vibration.

For a second Caius thought the sound might have come from somewhere in the office but then he realized it was coming from the outside.

That was significant because there were powerful enchantments in place that kept sounds out of the Headmistress's office completely. Anything getting through had to be insanely loud… or very powerful.

With a bit more observation, Caius sensed powerful mana accompanying the throbbing sound.

And then they heard a single knock on the door. Again, it was a sound that should not have gotten through. The only way to alert the occupant of the Headmistress's office was through communication devices. A simple knock will never work.

But this knock wasn't simple. Like the thrumming, it carried powerful mana.

"Elvira, let me in!"

The voice was a deep male one that Caius instantly recognized. The Professors all had widened eyes but Elvira was calm. Her smile was also knowing. It appeared that, like Caius, she knew who was behind that door.

"Come in," she said with a flick of her wrist as the door opened and a man strapped in.

He was dressed in military attire. He looked well kept but there were a few dots of blood on his uniform. It wasn't his blood though.

"Father," Caius said with surprise.

Lucian Von Helsing's eyes landed on his son from the moment he was in the room and despite the stoic expression he wore, a smile managed its way onto his lips. Lucian stepped forward and descended the tiers until he was at the bottom and the center of the massive office.

Everyone, besides Caius and Elvira, had eyes filled with Awe. There was a current of mana so powerfully revolving around Count Von Helsing's body. It was so strong that it might have created his very own gravitational field. As though anything that reached that region would just begin to revolve around him, held totally by the inkling of his power.

There was no one here who hadn't been in the presence of powerful beings. But one, people hardly ever get used to such things. And two, there was just something different about Lucian Von Helsing.

Even Cynthia, for all her dislike for the Mage-Knight ways—which Lucian Von Helsing was practically the epitome of—could only just stare. She didn't sneer.

The first person to move was Raoul Raoul who went from being stunned into silence to undulating. He stepped toward Lucian and bowed so low that his head was very close to hitting his knees.

"Lord Von Helsing," he said in a voice filled with emotion, "It's such an honor to be in your presence."

'Oh, right,' Caius thought reminded of Raoul's fascination with his father.

Lucian's brows furrowed a little,

"You walk the way of the body," he said in a profound tone.

"Yes, I do, My Lord," Raoul said with excitement.

"Simmer down," Cynthia whispered to him.

"Shut it," Raoul told her through gritted teeth.

The Mage-Knight Lord of the Acheron Empire was rare to see. This was Raoul's first time being this close to Lucian and he didn't want it to go to waste. His mind was already blank of the matter at hand. Or the fact that it was why Lucian was here at all.

Lucian patted Raoul's shoulder then.

"Keep it up," he said, and while he did mean that, his tone made it clear that he had something to get to and could not quite continue a conversation with someone he didn't know.

Lucian stepped forward then, his eyes on Elvira whose smile remained sweet as ever but with a subtle edge to it.

The blue lens of Lucian's glasses glinted as he leaned forward and pressed his hands onto the desk and began to speak.

"Picture this;

I was out on a hunt. It was against a violent thing. A threat, that if allowed to fester could put the Capital at risk. I couldn't just leave it to my subordinates. And then I hear the news that my son's Academy was under attack. I watch the feed available to parents and see my son struck down. Barely hanging on for life.

I am stuck in a predicament where I have to choose between fending off this terrible threat or hurrying to make sure my son is well.

So imagine my annoyance, after enduring a lengthy period of mental turmoil to finally make my way back only to learn that not only did my son have to fend for himself with children just like him, but you decided to hold an inquiry instead of sending him home right after."

As quiet as Lucian's voice was; there was a clear turbulence that backed his words. One that he was ready to let loose depending on the response he received.

Melvin cleared his throat. Or at least, he tried to but it came out as more of a croak.

"Lord Von Helsing," he started, and squealed when Lucian looked at him. Still, he continued,

"It is paramount that we learn all we can about this incident when the memory of it is still fresh…"

"Elvira, I'd like an answer from you. Not him," Lucian said with barely a gesture at Melvin who went red but said nothing more.

Elvira said nothing for a minute and then she parted her beautiful lips.

"It was an error. I apologize. Of course, we wouldn't knowingly put our students in any distress."

Elvira and Lucian locked stares for a while before Lucian nodded once, unsmiling. He stood up straight.

"Caius," he called, "Come."

With that, he turned around with a swish of the cloak he wore over his military attire.

Caius shared a look with Delia and Aurelius who then shared looks with the Professors.

"You may go as well. We're done here!" Melvin said. He sounded angrier than before. A transfer of aggression maybe.

And thus, with Lord Lucian Von Helsing leading, the three students exited the Headmistress's office. Caius caught Lea and Cynthia's eyes. Lea looked longingly. Cynthia looked… confused.

The office door closed right after the students and Lord Von Helsing were outside the office. Clearly, the Professors still had something to discuss with the Headmistress.

The students put distance between themselves and Lucian. The other two were intimidated. Caius just decided to hang close to them.

They got out of the waiting room and had only taken a few steps across the hall when Delia groaned.

"What is it?" Caius asked.

"We're a long way from the First Year Dormitories. I either take the long walk or wait till they're done with their stupid meeting."

Caius didn't know what to say to that. And then he realized he was in the same predicament.

"Father," he called when Lucian began to walk toward a wall, "The stairs are this way."

"I know," Lucian answered, "But I'll rather go the way I came."

And with that, he thrust a hand at the wall and a Portal Gate appeared.

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