Chapter 10. Fenrir.

She sat in class doodling in her notebook, head resting in her hand, dazing off as the instructor droned on in the lesson. It was rather clear that the girl was struggling to concentrate lately, for what reason, others were unsure. She was frequently seen zoning out, looking through one object or another for extended periods of time, or fidgeting with something. However, when prompted, she would just smile warmly and say it was nothing.

Inside her head were thoughts were so many that buzzed around, thinking about what had happened the afternoon with Faust. Was she remembering the events correctly or was her mind just embellishing? Perhaps this was something he did frequently with female students. Was he just toying with her, she wondered? Perhaps he was sincerely interested. But, she questioned, was she even interested? Of course, she found him rather good-looking and had enjoyed their intellectual banters thus far. But she couldn't help but to doubt whether was she getting caught up in what was happening or if was she genuinely attracted to him. What if she was making a mountain out of a mole hill? Forget professionalism at this point, she thought – it was obviously something more than just friendly exchanges like she had previously thought.

Her mind meticulously ripped apart every interaction that she had with the man, studying each movement he had made, taking in the devious looks in his powerful emerald eyes, absorbing each word that had crossed his lips in his artfully sultry tone. She couldn't help but to get hung up on it. Or when his tone was as sticky as honey when he called her a little flower; she felt herself blushing a little bit.

Scribbling in her note pad, she reprimanded herself internally to get a hold of her thoughts. There was no way he was actually interested in her, she thought; after all, the two of them were just walking and chatting, having a casual conversation. That got quite personal. But the two of them were just friends, of course. And then…he almost kissed her? Her mind shot through a replay of that afternoon, and the feeling of his skin next to hers, the sensations that wracked her body as he ran his hands along her... Her whole face was obviously red. She pursed her lips and scribbled loudly with her pen once more.

Oh my god, she thought – he was definitely trying something.

The deep squealing of wood skidding across the tile floors snapped her out of her trance. When she looked up, face still burning, she found the class up and pushing all of the desks towards the walls of the classroom. Eyes darting around the room for some sort of clarification, she noticed Rin was just waking from another nap of his, and the teacher was gathering some items at the front of the room.

Throwing her notebook and spell book into her pack, she pushed her own desk to the wall with the added help of Suguro.

The instructor, Mr. Noihaus, then ordered the class to stand round in a circle with him, and proceeded to hand out small papers with an inscription on it. He then began chalking a similar symbol onto the floor; a large circular symbol, in the middle of where everyone was standing. He spoke as he drew, explaining what he was doing along the way. The girl quickly realized that he was going to summon a demon right before her very eyes. And perhaps, she began thinking excitedly, this one would show itself to her since he was such a strong tamer.

Noihaus squeezed a few drops of blood from his hand and recited some words. The girl waited anxiously for something to happen.

A hazy image rose from the floor in the center of the large symbol, however, she was still unable to make out what it was exactly. She groaned in disappointment as the class went on oohing and ahhing the creature before them, and eventually plugging their noses, claiming it was a Naberious.

She turned her attention back to the misty Naberious, and then closed her eyes in an attempt to take in the perceptions the animation was putting off. If this was what a naberious felt like when it was near, she wanted to make sure she was able to recognize that feeling once again in case she was ever in danger. It didn't smell that great in the classroom to her, but for all she knew it couldn't have been someone's feet – the smell wasn't as strong to her as it was to the others, unfortunately. But when she relaxed her mind and opened herself up completely, there was a slight feeling of a presence, darker than those of her classmates. It wasn't much, but it was something.

The teacher then informed the class that if ever their summoned demon turned on them, that all they had to do was disrupt or destroy the symbol from which it was summoned. He skated his foot over the chalk outline, and the feeble presence that the girl could once feel disappeared along with the hazy image.

"Who would like to give it a try?" Noihaus inquired.

Always a bit of a showoff, but talented nonetheless, Izumo was first to volunteer. After smearing a drop of blood onto both of her strips of papers, she recited a chant. The class burst out with applause at what she had summoned. It must have been a lesser demon, being tamed by an obviously inexperienced human, for the girl was unable to feel much of a presence and there was definitely little that she could see with the naked eye. The instructor congratulated the dark haired girl, who scoffed as if it was nothing to summon a demon, and the girl sighed heavily.

Shiemi volunteered next and began to beg her little piece of paper to show her anything.

"A baby greenman," the instructors voice came. "Excellent work Moriyama."

The girl chuckled to herself. It seemed fitting that Shiemi would summon something rather small, and adorable. The rest of the class grumbled lowly about how they were unable to summon anything from their papers. Someone made a remark that theirs might have been faulty – but everyone knew the truth.

"It seems we are not at a loss for potential tamers this year," Noihaus said, his voice indicating he was getting ready to dismiss the lecture.

"W-wait!" the girl stammered, unsure of what she was even doing. "I would like to try, if I may."

The professor eyed her and gave a half-assed smile that made her feel like a child who would never be able to accomplish such a task, but he would humor her anyways. Her gut sank. "If you wish. Give it a go, I suppose."

"Thank you, sir!" she exclaimed, turning her attention to the inscription in her hand with the most concentrated look plastered across her face. She may not be able to see it, she figured, but maybe she could still summon something. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and pricked her finger, and stamped it onto the trifling scrap of paper as hard a she could. Gripping tightly, she spoke the first few words that entered her mind in a manner that commanded attention:

"O Lord, I ask thee to release thy bonds, so that thy servant may in turn serve me in the fight for humanity…"

The lights suddenly went out, and the room grew even darker than the normal. The whole class gasped loudly as the ground began to shake, and Shima shouted, "And earthquake?!" Everyone scattered for the heavy wooden desks, gripping onto the legs and sitting under them for shelter. Suddenly, a strong whirlwind of gray dust blew out from the piece of paper held tightly within the girls' grasp, blowing her backwards and into the wall where she collapsed. For what seemed like minutes, the windstorm ravaged the classroom in its entirety; every person clung to something to keep from being tossed around like a ragdoll. Rin had grabbed Shiemi and stood, clinging to the door frame, shielding her with his own body. The girl managed to scurry to a desk and held on to one of the legs. The powder within the air was so thick that one couldn't see clearly across the room, and was blowing so harshly that each person had to shield their eyes or else risk being blinded by sand scratching their corneas. Struggled shrieks were drowned out by the sheer whir of the wind within the enclosed room.

As the gusts began to subside, the dust congregated a few feet in front of the girl. The class slowly unveiled their eyed to witness the stack swirl before her, until finally all of the grey matter condensed into one being; and the room was still.

Wiping her eyes, the girls initial reaction was to check on her classmates to make sure everyone was okay. Instead of everyone softly recuperating like she had envisioned, her eyes fell upon the expression of horror basted across every face her gaze landed on. It was then that her eye was drawn towards the dark mass which they all cowered beneath.

Standing before her was a large wolf-like creature, two of three times the size of a normal timber wolf. It faced the audience and inspected the humans, growling lowly within its throat.

"A wolf…?!" someone cried out, muddled.

The creature responded by snapping in the direction of the voice, but the girls shaking eyes could not be bothered to leave the beast in front of her to see who it was.

"No….!" Noihaus howled.

"Fools!" came a murky, bellowing voice. "I am no mere wolf! I am Fenrir, son of Loki!" the creature roared, it's lips curling into a menacing snarl. Slowly, it turned around, looking the girl dead in the eye. She couldn't conceal her trembling; one of the first demons which she ever got to truly see, and it was a gigantic, malicious beast.

How the fuck did I manage to summon this thing?! She questioned internally.

Fenrir lowered his great head down to the girl's level, his twisted snout relaxing with a flick of his tongue. "Sweet, innocent girl…" his voice was grand, but he spoke softly when addressing her.

"T…Tear it…." Came her instructors' voice.

"My soul now belongs to you for releasing my bonds, and I bring you one warning," Fenrir continued. The girls eyes widened in disbelief. "Do not be fooled by the trickster king."

"Tear the paper!" Noihaus screamed in horror, making a move to cross the room towards the girl.

Fenrir growled once more and bore his fangs, swiftly turning to lunge at the man. The girl scrambled to grab the strip of paper, and in one rapid motion, tore it in three, just as Fenrir's great jaws were around her instructor. He vanished into dark sand that covered the floor like a desert of ash.