•••

Aylin closed the door of the storage room with a look of determination in her eyes and then she jumped at Caius.

She spent her private moment with Caius like a continuation of their first time together in this very room. The snowfall was back and she and Caius rolled around in it as their bodies were joined together once again.

Aylin didn't have trepidation returning home. She also didn't have anything to prove. She left home as mommy's little darling and she was returning home still being exactly that. Everything that had happened in terms of her academics was as expected.

The one notable thing that could be a big deal was the fact that she was now at the Fourth Circle.

All in all, Aylin didn't want to spend her limited time with Caius talking about returning home and the dynamics within the Khione Family. If she did, she would probably talk about Baler, her useless brother. And what would be a worse mood killer than that?

No, this, feeling his cock spreading her apart and thrusting as deep into her caverns as it could go was how she wished to spend their time. The memory of his lips around her nipple as he pressed his face into the ample flesh of her tits was what she wanted to be the most prominent on her mind during that long carriage ride back home.

By the time they had to separate, Caius had ascertained that Aylin might just be the most insatiable of his lovers. He gave her much and she was always energetic enough to want more.

Caius helped himself to her arousal-charged Divine Energy-tinged Blood in many sucks that always had Aylin moaning and seemed to get her motor of pleasure running even harder.

Just an incredible time all around.

•••

Results were out on the last day of the school week before the Mid-Semester Breaks and it was immediately clear to see that what had likely held the results back for so long was the trio of Combat Magic, Study of Magical Beasts, and Mage-Knight Training.

The Professors in charge had difficulty deciding how they wished to allocate grades. The Tests had been interrupted and the various habitats prepared to test the Study of Magical Beasts' knowledge had gotten corrupted and contributed to the Demonic outbreak.

Sure, Combat Magic and Mage-Knight Training could be evaluated with what followed. However, the truth was that besides a very small group, no one did all that well against the corrupted Beasts so scorekeeping had to be stalled. And their traumatic moment was better not brought up at all.

So essentially, the Tests were incomplete. And if they were to award grades based on the standings before the interruption, there'd be considerable mass failures as many had yet to find their legs at the time.

They considered scrapping it totally and rescheduling but ultimately decided it was best to put the nasty business behind them and just grade while using the best performing students as a way to posit where students might be if the Tests were allowed to run their course.

They used footage of the Tests to gauge techniques because even in loss, a person can still be capable so they gave points even for losing. So long as the loss was 'graceful'.

Overall, it wasn't a perfect grading system. Some who already had their points high at the time of the interruption had to drop points to accommodate the new gradient but they likely wouldn't know because the whole process was shrouded and not open to Students at all.

However, even in the imperfect grading system, there were special considerations for valiancy;

The trio of Kaya, Eloise, and Aylin were awarded extra points in the subjects they took (Study of Magical Beasts and Combat Magic as well as Alchemy for Aylin) for going about the Forest helping their classmates to fend off attacks usually with knowledge from these classes.

Some might argue that the trio could only do this because they had the advantage of being a Magic Circle ahead of everyone else. But that would only solidify their case to lead the class in results. Because they broke the mold and advanced faster than projected or expected. They also didn't have to use their superior Magic Circle in service of the class and yet they did.

So while there might be some discord, it was silent and squashed wherever it reared its head.

Caius, Aurelius, and Delia received special consideration as well. It was their defeat of the Fiend that freed everyone after all. While it may not have come off as being done out of goodwill but rather necessity because they were actually targeted by the Fiend unlike Kaya, Eloise, and Aylin who actively put themselves in danger for others, they deserved all the praise they got regardless.

To really cement how significant this was, the First Years were gathered into the Orientation Hall where the Headmistress gave a speech about valor and keeping the values that Lochxen was built on alive.

Many really felt awed and humbled by this as the Headmistress was hardly ever around to give a speech on important events. Not to mention commencing a Mid-Semester Break. She didn't even do this for the other years who were much further along in their Magical education.

Caius saw all of it as a PR moment. Meant not for the students but to reassure parents that the Academy was taking the matter seriously by having the elusive Headmistress actually present for it all. Even handing out the Result sheets herself.

And speaking of Results, Caius had E for Excellent in all of his subjects except one;

"Theory of Magic: H for Horrid," Caius read off the parchment he was holding with a laugh.

He had actually dropped Theory of Magic on the Test day but as far as Professor Melvin was concerned, he still sat for the Exam and hence was due a result. This was of course ridiculous because Kaya dropped it on the same day and it was omitted on her result sheet.

Also, Caius had done well in other assessments before the Test so to fail this woefully was so artificial that it didn't make any sense.

But it was whatever. The fact that Professor Melvin had it out for him was really the least of things on his mind. Also, this was the man's last-ditch attempt to impose his authority as Professor over him because, going forward, that teacher-student relationship would be completely dissolved.

Besides, even if he included Theory of Magic, this was still undoubtedly the best result he had ever gotten in both his lives. He had never been academically sound and while some might say it was pathetic that he needed to shift realities to even be good in school, he saw it more as finally being somewhere where the 'Academics' actually excited him. Where he felt born for this world and its ways.

Caius wasn't delusional. He knew he had this body—crafted to perfection by Samantha's imaginative mind—to thank for his ability to retain information. But he liked to believe he brought something to it that the old Caius just never had;

If nothing else, there was at least his drive to do whatever it took to have the strength to survive in this world and achieve his goals. And his freedom to not be bogged down—at least not to totally detrimental levels—by a depressive outlook on his life. To realize that even his curse was a blessing.

That drive and that freedom led to his acceptance of his vampirism and everything that came after spawned from that;

Like his budding growth in Mage-Knighthood. Or his apparent talent at Blood Alchemy. He was hardly ever one to stoke his own ego (at least not like this) but he refused to believe that all that he was had no input and nothing to do with him. Just like he knew just he alone would not have achieved any of it.

He was a sum of two parts. And he embraced that. It was what made him what he was.

It was what made him… Otherworldly.

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