Arcana Three: Beyond The Empress

"Spiritrons are akin to atoms." Alice.was now standing next to a stone tablet that projected her thoughts to the group. "Spiritrons are unique when they are taken in by a spirit. However outside of a spirit, they are uniform. For example, Spiritrons that form the mana that comes from the ley lines are no different from Spiritrons that form the mana that is found outside, in the Mirror World. Spiritrons, once they are absorbed by the spirit, they change. They take on the identity of the spirit and become processed to a form usable by that spirit."

Celia found that they did not need to take notes, nor the book that were given to them necessarily paper. It was explained to them that long ago the inhabitants of the Mirror World found that paper, although it held more magical power, was inefficient and wasteful to store knowledge in. What they did was imbue magical tablets and turned them into "Terminals". This allowed everyone to have access to every information currently available. The "book" Celia was given changed its covers. It was now "The Basics of Magic Volume One."

"It's pretty interesting so far, huh?" Yuki glanced over her. The stone room now has become a typical auditorium based classroom, terraformed by Alice's influence.

"Yeah." She was keen on listening, but somehow, she felt someone looking at her.

"Spiritron Signatures are how we identify any living being. Mythical Beasts, Humans, Monsters..." Alice looked at the window with malice, and Celia felt relieved all of a sudden. "...Gods, all have their own signatures."

A siren was suddenly heard.

"What's happening?" Some of the students asked.

Alice opened the door. "Chimeras are attacking, and I think I know who's behind it." She looked at her students, and had an idea. "Want to watch your seniors fight?"

The students all rushed to follow her to the outside where flying monstrosities were rushing at the barriers, shooting projectiles, or roaring. Celia took note on how they looked. The head of a lion, body of a wildebeest, tail of a scorpion. It was a hideous creature to the eyes.

"Your seniors are all engaged in mandatory defense service." Alice spoke. Surely enough, people were rushing from all the gates towards the outside.

"Knights and Paladins, form left! Mages, form right! Beast Tamers, take the north and the south!" A man in a Knight uniform with gold platings barked. "That is the top of the seniors, earning him command rights. One of the Knight classes, Gerion." Alice pointed at him. "Gerion, the east areas heavier. It's not just Chimeras, Manticores have also taken." She shouted at him. "Thank you, Ma'am Alice." Gerion ran towards the east area, shouting orders.

"When you graduate the first year, you will be given a class to belong to according to your skills mastery and preference." She explained. "The Knight class is where they fight physically, using magic as supplement to their prowess. They are subdivided into three. The Archers, The Spearmen, The Swordsmen." Alice walked them to the western area, where the Knight classes were fighting. One Spearman in particular was killing Chimeras faster than the rest. Her spear was faster than the eye could see, and she was jumping from beast to beast.

Celia watched her, but before she could be completely absorbed, she noticed something wrong. The Chimeras were moving in an easily predictable manner. She ran towards the outside of the barrier, and threw a gem at the Spearman.

"Burst, primal flame!" The gem exploded right as a Manticore was about to close its jaws on the Spearman's head. Celia could not rest, however, as now she was in the crossfire too.

"Celia!" Yuki tried to go after her but Alice Cancelled all of his magic. "Why?"

"Don't be an idiot." She said calmly. "Chimeras are a class D threat, meaning they can destroy an entire city by themselves, and can be killed by firepower no less than air strike missiles. We'll cover threat classification soon, but right now, trust me." Alice watched with her unseeing eyes. "The Knight classes can only handle one nuisance."

Celia was now running while leaving behind a trail of shattered gems behind her. "Silver dust of beautiful pollen, leave sparks in your wake!" She was being chased by three Chimeras who were slowly cornering her.

"Who's the mage?" One of the Knights asked.

"She's a freshman!" Another answered.

"Get her out of her!"

The female Spearman came down and striked the Chimeras down with one swing of her weapon, landing in front of Celia. "Not bad, kid. Now let's get you out of here." She grabbed Celia by her shirt collar and leaped a great distance. The Spearmen wore tight fitting bodysuits that had silver or gold armor pieces on their shoulders, elbows, chest, and knees. She dropped the young mage in front of Alice. "She's got a good eye, Ma'am."

"You always were the mocking type, Fiamma." Alice grabbed her with magic and flung her back to the battlefield, then turned to Celia. "Punishment. Later. Right now, we're continuing. This way, we see the Beast Tamers."

Yuki went close to Celia and whispered loudly in her ear. "Are you crazy?!"

"She needed help!" Celia whispered back.

"You could have just shouted 'Watch out', right? You saw how fast she was!"

Celia thought that in hindsight, that would have been the better idea, but some part of her acted on impulse. She wonders if she has what they called a "Hero Complex", and shuddered at the thought. Nobody with that complex ever lived past early adulthood.

The Beast Tamers were clothed in loose threads and wore light armor. All of them had a staff with a gem at the tip. The tips of their staffs were glowing as they ushered commands to different beasts.

"Beast Tamers are a class that focuses on training Mythical Beasts to fight on their behalf. Subdivided into two: The Summoners, and The Charmers. Summoners use magic to summon Mythical Beasts from a higher Spiritual Realm and make a contract with them using a combination of Necromancy and Invocation. Charmers use magic and charisma to sway Mythical Beasts into creating contracts." Alice explained. "The tamed beasts are called Familiars."

One of the students raised his hand. Alice acknowledged him. "Uh, I have a Familiar." He was given space and he walked to the center. His Familiar was a Slime, on his shoulder. The girls found it cute, while the boys found it cool. Celia thought it was fascinating to have a Familiar. No one in her family had one.

"Very well. You see a Familiar does more than fight, it also helps you if you give it commands. Slimes in particular are very useful in combat situations, but it does not fight on its own." Alice offered her hand to the Slime, and it jumped on her. "Your name is... Hysklifn? That's hard to pronounce. Why don't we let your contractor decide?" The Slime jumps back to the student, who was being interviewed by his classmates. His name was Jack

"Well, I summoned him by accident when I was playing around with my dad's terminal, but at that time he came with blue lightning." He said.

"How about lightning then?" Another student offered, to which the whole class agreed.

"I think I'll name him Blue." Jack decided.

"I think that's a great name! And it looks like he thinks so too!" Yuki exclaimed as the Slime suddenly glowed and started to jump around. "I'm Yuki." He held out his hand, and the large boy shook it. Yuki pulled Celia and introduced her. The group was now moving forward, to the east side.

"Hey, aren't you wondering how we're moving so fast around this massive building?" Jack asked them.

"Ma'am Alice told me we're normally moving at light speed. To us, I guess that might make our sense of direction and distance a little skewed." Cethlia tried her best to explain. "I think after a few days we'll go accustomed to it. Which begs the question," she faced the building, "how big is Arcana Academy?"

They were now in the east side, and the Mages were fighting in groups of three. One was in front who attacked with various offensive magic forms, while one behind focused on support and magnifying the power of their teammates, the last one at the far back was focused on covering blind spots.

"Mages are the most versatile class. Subdivided into three: Supporter, Fighter, and Healer." was all Alice explained.

"Why are they in that formation?" Celia asked.

"The three man cell," She turned to look at the one who asked, "is an important part of magical combat and was the prime formation used for wars." Alice then realized she should not have said that.

"There was a war?!"

"Next lesson!" She said.

"Tell us about the war-"

"Next. Lesson." She glared, and everyone knew hell hath no fury like a raging woman.

Sheridan was also taking his class out, but they were floating high above for a bird's eye view. "Where's Yusticia when you need her?"

The woman in question was walking the way to the academy, with books in her hand. She had corn yellow hair, and wore a diamond lain tiara. Her blue eyes were blank, signifying her boredom. Multiple Manticores and Chimeras tried to come close to her, but her aura easily repelled them, also the fact that she brought walls of water down on them whenever they even come slightly close.

"It's that woman's doing again. She's bored, so am I. Wonder if there's anything fun about to happen." She wondered, but dismissed the thought. Short of a war, there wasn't much that can peak her interest.

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Veronica looked out the window of the tower and enjoyed the chaos she had caused. She wondered if she was doing something wrong, but then she smiled. It wasn't her fault what might happen, after all, all she did was give the Mythical Beasts an idea. It was their choice to act on it or not.

"I did see that young lady in action. She didn't display all that much power." She sighed. "There's a zero chance I misread her. Perhaps she needs a... stronger catalyst to release that much power."

A loud footstep echoed within the chamber, causing Veronica to jump in surprise.

"So, it was you." A deep, judging voice made the Empress shiver.

"Grandmaster of the Arcana Academy. So good to see you." She tried to keep her calm. "Do you have business with me?"

"I do. I wanted to check the state of the seal, but it would seem I need to check up on you as well. Call them off, or I will. I am not against the extinction of these beasts." She tried to look at him eye to eye, but his glare could easily pierce through the Earth and right through her. His eyes could kill gods.

"I do not control them, as you know." Her voice was shaking. "I could give them suggestions, but it will be their choice whether or not to act on it."

"Veronica!" His voice suddenly boomed within the tower. "Now!"

She scrambled to a corner. "Yes, right away!"

"As you're doing that, please check the seal."

The Grandmaster walks out and checks his watch. Time was no longer on his side. "Report it to me through your aide. The dwarf."

"Fidsley."

"Yes. Fidsley."

The Empress produced a jeweled knife from her dress, and hid it in the corner she was from. She would need it soon. Right now, she needed something else. He was in her domain. She threw a small blade at his head with all her might. Before the knife left her hand, she felt his hand on hers.

"Fast." She spoke.

There was a small stream of blood between their palms. Veronica knew without looking that it was hers.

"If you wish to kill me, you have better learn to use your Authority as Empress." He smiled as his presence left the Grand Tower, leaving her to tend to her cut.

The Grandmaster walked the way to a far off area in the Mirror World, where countless gravestones littered the soil. The ground was not stone, but rather soft soil where small flowers grew.

"Ain. The time is soon. To join you."

In the shadows, a Knight watched him, his arms crossed. His armor like that of the royal knights. He was aged, but strong in stature. He was one of the instructors, and The Grandmaster's self proclaimed rival.

"I was going to challenge him, but now's not the time."

Today was the day Hell materialized on Earth, and Heaven shut its eyes. Where one's hope died, and another's death was denied. Today was the one day The Fool weighed more on his shoulders than The World. 22.