"..."
Bernadette Edemsworth was gritting her teeth as she ran.
Despite the words of the headmaster's secretary, she cut through the door with the ice dagger and burst into the headmaster's office, only to find it actually empty.
Lord Victor Lazalarius went to investigate the unrest within the Academy.
Well, he did not show up on the training ground where a deofol appeared, so what could he possibly be investigating!?
The petite girl was now dashing through the hallways, taking the liberty of changing the order of tasks the white-haired giant bestowed her with.
She was rushing over to the floor where seventh-year students had their lectures to pick up Mira Vultress…
"...eh…!?"
"Young Miss Vultress!"
Bernadette had much better luck with that, as she barely dodged colliding with the tall, black-haired girl who was already on her way somewhere after clearly riding the alchemy lab of a sizable portion of its ingredients and stuffing them into her bag.
"Sorry, not now! I need to help Tsar!"
"Young Miss! Wait! Your fiance asked for you to help me! We need to get to my sister and student Justin and aid them! The deofol on the training ground isn't the only one!"
The tall girl nodded her head awkwardly and tried to hurry past the petite blond one, but Bernadette grabbed her arm and called out.
"...! My Tsar did…?"
"Yes!"
Mira flinched and gasped, and Benradette nodded decisively.
"..."
Mira bit her lips and looked towards the window with the outlook on the training ground where the pitch-black half-sphere looked particularly menacing.
It didn't seem that such a scene was as foreign to her as it should be…
"He told me that he will send us help if things get bad!"
"...us…? So he's more worried about us than himself… Alright. Let's go."
Furrowing her brows at the older girl's expression, Bernadette fidgeted, clenching her fists and said urgently, causing Mira to tense up before finally breathing out and nodding.
"Where's the rest?"
"The rest…? Oh…! I-I think they're still in their classroom. I couldn't find the headmaster, so I went to search for you…"
Mira asked, taking Bernadette by surprise.
*gulp*
"...first…"
The younger girl would compose herself faster, if not for the fact that Mira's bag moved and let out a perfectly audible sound of swallowing, causing her to momentarily lose the train of thought.
Bernadette's working under pressure and distraction skills were being put to a test from all the different angles that day.
"That's a good decision… and this is my fae, Bi-em. She can't exactly attack, but she makes it up with the shockingly large storage space she provides. She's a newborn fae with part darkness, part nature attribute, and very little consciousness."
Mira nodded and started walking until she realized the younger girl was still rooted in place, so she stopped and showcased the bag with a shrug.
The two girls then used internal spells and rushed away, the younger one being far more proficient in enhancing magic despite being only a first-year, was only a proof of her brilliance as a mage. She had to slow down just so the older girl wouldn't lose her.
"R-right… Right! We need to go join my sister and Student Justin. They should be around their usual classroom, at least, right? Even with all the chaos..."
"I'm more surprised that girl didn't rush over to my Rotsard's side the first chance she got. How did you even meet him?"
Bernadette bit her lips, stopping and waiting for Mira to catch up for the fourth time already, striking the brief conversation just to keep herself from rushing off.
"Oh, he…."
As Bernadette was about to explain, her eyes suddenly darted towards the floor and widened…
"WATCH OUT!"
"???"
*SHING*
She shouted and tackled Mira to the side, not a moment too soon, as a massive metal spike pierced the floor and the ceiling of the spot the black-haired girl had been.
The spike retracted slowly, leaving a hole in the floor through which a brand new monstrosity crawled out.
This one was different than Brice Hervolst, but also quite horrid in its own right.
While Brice got polluted with a corrupted nature attribute, this one simply must have been of metal!
In its entirety, it was made out of an unidentifiable, corroded metal that was dripping with blackish-red ooze.
With a vaguely human silhouette, it appeared to be based on a half-exposed skeleton hosted in an open, mutilated body.
It was impossible to tell whether the monstrosity had a gender, just like it was impossible to tell what its vacant, glossy-white eyes were focusing on.
"Tsk. Why would you make things more painful for yourself?"
"!!!"
Its sharp metal teeth clacked against each other as it spoke, shocking both girls, especially because its voice didn't seem to come out of its mouth but rather from within the exposed ribcage, and the jaw movement was just for show.
It also had a surprisingly soft and feminine voice, almost maternal… but paired with its disgusting looks and the overwhelming stench of blood and crude oil spreading from it, made for just the creepiest show.
The monstrosity reached one hand to the side, and one of its bones grew into a spear-like spike within a second.
"..."
The monstrosity dislocated it and held it like a sword at first, only to grit its teeth in anger and change the grip to that more fitting for a spear.
"STONE WALL WAVE!"
While the monster clearly believed it had an advantage and wasn't treating the two seriously, Bernadette slammed her hand against the hallway's wall and roared…
"!?"
*WHAAAAAM*
And an entire classroom shifted and slammed against the monstrosity and the window, flying out the rest of the building and crashing against the ground below!
"MISS MIRA, WE NEED TO GO!"
"...wha…!?."
Bernadette roared and grabbed the baffled older girl, jumping down the hole in the floor that the monstrosity's initial attack created.
"It wasn't strong enough! It definitely wasn't strong enough! That was a deofolized human! Another one! I mean, one that made a contract with a completely different deofol than teacher Hervolst!"
"...!"
Bernadette shouted as she pulled Mira with her, causing the older girl to fearfully glance outside through the windows they passed.
*BOOOM*
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!
As if waiting for that moment, the rubble that the monstrosity was burrowed under exploded, and the defoolized human let out a frenzied howl and then launched itself, spear in hand, back to the building…
"Bernadette!"
"MUD FORTRESS!"
Mira called out urgently, and Bernadette bit her lip before chanting a spell and turning filling the hallway behind with mud up to the ceiling…!
*WHAM*
*SPLASH*
And not a second too soon, as the deofolized human burst through the window and ended up diving deep in the improvised trap!
"TRANSMUTE! DILATANT"
Not wasting any time, Bernadette stopped in place and chanted another spell, turning the mud into an ooze-like, beige substance that started dripping almost immidiately…
But for some reason, despite looking to be a downgrade from the mud fortress spell, the monstrosity was clearly stuck within, unable to escape!