Chapter 129: Ripples in the future

Linhardt was not what someone would one would call energetic.

He embraced that title rather easily.

Though when the time came for him to be invested in something, he would show his interest in a certain subject and put all he could into it. He hardly felt as though he could be blamed for being bored with tasks that were far from interesting for him. It was just that the usual aspects of academics didn't interest him.

History?

How dull.

Why would he want to be interested in learning the details about something he had been told time and time again? It was nothing that was truly there for him to care about and most of it was just some more detailed retelling of some awful bloody struggle or some skirmish to expand the influence of some lord.

He barely tolerated discussing violence at the best of times and being forced to sit through it?

Hmph.

He could certainly do without.

That was why he was actually interested in what he had been learning from Abyss because it was all new and fresh.

Who really cared if some of the text was from some man who just happened to be arrested for heresy for some unrelated reason? Even if he was arrested for talking about something, that was hardly evidence that meant his words were all to be dismissed. Perhaps they were wrong, but they could have been right about some things as well.

Which was why he frequented Abyss as often as he would be allowed the free time to do so.

Besides.

This was definitely something worth risking some small scandal.

It was interesting and it was new.

Certainly far more gripping for his attention than whatever else was being taught above in the classrooms. That was something he could search for in his leisure and find dozens of different authors spinning the same tale but from a different perspective.

This?

This was fresh and might not be around.

"Back again?"

He hummed and glanced in the general direction of the voice before he looked back to what he was reading.

"Don't sound too disappointed." He replied back, being met with a chuckle for his quip.

"As long as someone is using these books."

The footsteps drew closer, soon broken up by the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor. His eyes peeled away from the pages of his book - at great pains, he would admit - and towards the direction of his new guest. Slowly raising a brow as they sat down near him, folding one leg over the other and wearing an almost casual smirk.

Linhardt raised his brow ever so slightly. "Did you need me for something?"

Yuri shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe a bit of conversation. I'm somewhat starved."

Linhardt almost laughed at that.

Instead he raised a brow of faux bemusement. "Oh? I did not realise that I left such a hunger in those I spoke with. Or did not speak with at length."

Yuri huffed and rolled his eyes. "You say that like you aren't someone interesting."

"Am I?" He asked, turning his eyes back to his book. In his periphery, he saw Yuri lean forwards on his chair ever so slightly.

"How many other nobles would come all the way down here on the regular for some dusty old books?"

Linhardt hummed again. "There is a library in the academy as well. You would be surprised how many nobles frequent it for learning."

He did not need to turn his head to see the flat stare being aimed his way.

Of course he knew what Yuri meant.

"Oh please." Rolling his eyes, his head lolled to the side and he fixed Yuri with a half-lidded look. "Abyss is far from the danger it once was. I dare say it's become more peaceful than some of the academy's lessons."

With a blank face, Yuri leaned back.

"Sounds rough."

"Careful." Linhardt sighed. "You almost sounded sincere."

And now Yuri was back to smirking. "What do you come down here to read, anyway? Anything good."

Very slowly, he turned his head on the ashen wolf.

"Isn't this your library?"

Yuri shrugged unapologetically. "We had a few more pressing concerns than simply old books in the past."

Wearing a wry smile, he finished with. "Sorry to disappoint."

Hmmm.

He supposed it was a valid enough reason.

"You are forgiven." He replied with a tired wave of the hand. "Though I doubt you would actually care to hear about what I have been reading."

"It's got to be something good that you keep coming here."

Linhardt supposed he could not argue with such logic.

"Books on this 'Mother of stars' and the like."

Yuri blinked, looking truly surprised, then huffed a laugh and visibly fought back a louder reaction. Linhardt could tell as much from the wobble of his lower lip.

"...No wonder you'd want to be as far away from the Church if you're reading about that."

Yes.

Being branded for a heretic would put a damper on things if he were to be discovered. Though it was certainly fortunate that he did not have to worry about that sort of thing around here. Especially as even under the watchful 'guidance' of the Church, there was still much happening down here that they would frown upon.

Linhardt had not imagined the small church he had passed that was worshipping Gods not related to Fodlan in the least.

Though some of the names had seemed somewhat familiar upon the few prayers he heard, he could not place them.

Hmph.

Perhaps with time?

No, for now he was more curious about this 'Mother of Stars' and how she related to everything in regard to Nemesis and the Church.

That seemed to be something interesting.

"Yes." He absently responded to the words of Yuri. "Quite."

"...Found anything good?"

"Not as such." He sighed and shook his head. "Though I have found some rather interesting texts on materials that have been banned by the Church in the past. Some manner of burning liquid that could have the potential to replace candle lanterns…though there was apparently the concern of its application for violence as well."

Yuri's response was a low hum. "Yeah, I could probably see that as well. What? You just throw this weird water on someone and then set them on fire? Or lay it down on the ground? Sounds rather nasty, I will admit."

Linhardt sighed and threw his head back, staring to the ceiling.

"You sigh a lot." Yuri chuckled. "Don't do that around Hapi, she'll think you're mocking her."

"I imagine that if I had her gift, then there would be very little left of the Monastery by now."

"That bad, huh?"

He leaned forwards and dropped his chin onto a raised fist, propping up his head and blankly staring out across the library. "I have already learned most of what is being taught. I did that by choice because it interested me at the time but now learning it all again because I have to saps any enjoyment out of it."

Yuri grunted. "Feel free to come down here and read through as much as you like if you're so bored."

"Thank you for the generous offer."

"Though you'll probably have some company soon."

At that, Linhardt turned his head to Yuri once more. "Oh? I did not realise there were others interested in the books here."

Yuri chuckled at that, for some curious reason, and then slowly stood up.

"Yeah. Abyss gets all sorts of curious types down here all the time. Though as far as company from above goes…we could probably do a lot worse than that guy. I'll leave you to your books until then."

Watching as Yuri turned on his heel and just strolled out of the room, Linhardt came to the conclusion that he was probably not going to be finding out the other person who was coming down here and reading through all the books. Which was quite a shame, but it was a mystery he could live without for the time being.

Really, the level of detail on the study of Crests was both expansive and limited down here.

So many different avenues of discussion that seemed to go nowhere.

Most of the reasons being the same.

'Trying to grasp the power of the Goddess was the height of arrogance' being the most frequently used reason for why the research went nowhere. Admittedly Linhardt could understand that for a time, he doubted that anyone was going to be replicating Crests any time soon.

But surely there was nothing wrong with better understanding them?

If anything, it would give people a better appreciation for the level of work that the Goddess went into making all of them.

Honestly.

Some people.

When he eventually returned to the surface, the very last thing he was expecting to be waiting for him would have been their house professor.

As far as he knew, he had not yet missed anything that would have warranted the sudden arrival of the Professor, but the thought did linger in his mind as he moved into the monastery and saw that the man was looking right towards him. In the mere second the pair of them made eye contact, Hanneman was crossing the distance between them like a man possessed.

Linhardt pinched his brows and stopped, Hanneman did not until he was right upon him.

"Ah, Linhardt. I was hoping to catch you on your way back up."

"Professor." He greeted rather evenly, still trying to work out if he had slept through something important.

He was certain he had not.

The thought slowly started to melt away as he realised the expression on the face of the Professor was less aimed towards something reprimanding and more akin to a sense of veiled excitement. It was enough for him to slowly raise an eyebrow and tilt his head to one side.

"Is there something happening?"

"Yes." Hanneman answered swiftly, then turned and walked away from him, calling back. "Walk with me. We shall discuss it on our way back to my office."

Well.

That was certainly something different.

Seeing no reason to refuse, and doubting he had the option, he took off after the Professor and trailed behind them ever so slightly. By no more than a step or two as the man started to speak.

"I assume you have long since heard of the dire situation in the Remire village?"

"I had heard it was some manner of resistant illness." That was the barest extent of his knowledge on the subject and doubted that there was anything more that anyone in the monastery was aware of. At least beyond those who had personally been to the village itself. "And that it has had those with a longer memory than my own thinking of the plague which struck the Kingdom some years ago."

Hanneman nodded his head. "Yes, that would draw some similarities, but thanks to the efforts of those present - and I suppose I will need to extend Manuela her due compliments for deducing this to begin with - we have a greater understanding of what exactly has been going on."

That sounded rather nice.

Though he was not sure why it would involve him.

"Goetia as well opened up this door for me and I could think of no one else who had shown such an interest in the study of Crests and bloodwork as you. Your research notes have proven to be most interesting on the subject and certainly show that you have a great deal of potential in the future."

Well, everyone had potential.

The real question was whether anyone actually did anything to reach it.

Linhardt was quite content with publishing a few papers - enough for him to live comfortably - and then go off into some little corner of the world where no one would bother him and then just stay there until he eventually just fell asleep and never woke up ever again.

…A rather long winded thought for something that had been no more than a stray compliment, he realised.

"Thank you, Professor." Linhardt said outwardly. "But I'm not quite sure what my presence or my work has to do with this illness…my studies were aimed towards crests, not to medicine."

Hanneman, oddly enough, released a rather gentle and knowing chuckle. "Ah, but you see young Linhardt…that is where you are wrong. In this case, your work has everything to do with what has happened at Remire."

…What?

His feet halted and his brows furrowed, blinking twice and tilting his head.

"Are you suggesting…" The words did not quite come to him at first. "That Crests are somehow responsible for the illness?"

Hanneman stopped and turned on him, the older man running his fingers through his moustache as he shook his head. "Nothing quite like that, and yet it is similar enough that it cannot be entirely dismissed. I shall explain more."

Alright, now he was slightly more intrigued.

He had not been made aware there was a potential for health risks with crests beyond the rare cases which had been sparsely documented. Even then, it was assumed that some of the blame fell upon poor health from the moment of birth, rather than anything that was directly related to the Crest.

Linhardt was not so convinced that the crests were not wholly to blame.

They were rather burdensome things and not everyone had the strength to carry them.

"It was initially theorised that there was some sort of magical origin to the plague, as it had resisted all methods of known treatment. Professor Manuela had been writing to the Church to discuss the problems they faced."

Linhardt nodded along with the words.

"I am unsure as to what point he became involved, but Goetia travelled to Remire to examine this claim more closely and returned with one of the afflicted. Before you panic, he has come to the belief that the illness is rather, no ordinary plague in the least. It is something that has been forced upon the people."

"Then, it was a curse?"

Hanneman grimaced for a moment, the one other emotion he had shown beyond his excitement.

"In a…manner of speaking, you are correct."

Linhardt found that answer vague.

And unconvincing.

Clearly Hanneman realised the error as well, as the older man quickly shook his head. "No, you are right. They were cursed but it was in a different way than one would expect. They have been forced to carry something which seems to present the same abilities as a crest and yet their bodies are ill-equipped to hold such strength within them."

Linhardt felt his mind start whirling.

Had he been younger or less experienced, he would have outright dismissed the claim as nothing more than superstition.

Yet with every weird and outlandish thing that had happened to them all during this school term alone, he could not find it within himself to dismiss anything that was being said and rather, he found himself nodding along as though it made perfect sense to him.

He wondered when his life had become so convoluted.

"Strength they cannot bare…" Cupping his chin, he nodded along in thought. "Yes, that would present as an illness. The few cases I could discover related to crest related sicknesses presented themselves as the later stages of a sort of terrible sickness. It is certainly something I would never see presented in an entire village."

The thought that something like this could happen was mind boggling.

He could scarcely think of the origins for such an attempt, or even the sort of person who would think to do it.

As far as killing people went…well…

Even Linhardt could think of less time consuming and cruel ways.

That alone was enough to give him grief over this whole affair, as such a thing did not sound as though it would be natural in the least.

"Purposeful infection?"

"A possible experiment." Hanneman's face was grave. "I would not wish to believe it, but we are living in some rather trying times and recent months have shown that there are many in this wide world who wish harm upon us for reasons that we cannot explain…and with methods that would otherwise be too terrible to even consider."

Such was the sort of life he would prefer to avoid.

The Monastery was providing him with everything he both loved and hated at the same time.

Joy.

"You said that Goetia had brought back one of the afflicted?"

"He had indeed." The confirmation suddenly made him realise that both he and Hanneman were headed to the office of the man. "And has provided a means of stabilising them to ensure they do not suffer further. As Manuela continues her own efforts, we shall be doing our level best to find a solution to this crisis."

The door to Hanneman's office was thrown open, and the pair of them stepped into the room.

Linhardt glanced immediately to the bed where the unconscious commoner resided, a man who looked perhaps twice his age. Dark brown hair and a rather sorry looking face which might have seen a few too many winters outside of the warmth. At least judging from all the wrinkles.

"Come and examine their blood, tell me what you see."

He did not doubt that Hanneman was already aware of this, but merely wanted Linhardt to see it as well.

Turning on the crest reader, he stepped forwards and folded his arms, leaning and squinting his eyes.

He could see…the barest hints of some scribbles where a crest would have normally appeared.

Yet that was telling enough.

His eyes snapped to the man once more, his brows furrowing and his lips narrowing.

"...There is the barest hint of a crest within him."

Hanneman rapidly nodded his head. "Only a sliver, if there at all, but enough to drain the strength from their bodies at such a rapid and terrifying rate. Yet there is something more to this…the potency of the affliction may indeed be great, but the quantity is limited. That means it shall become all the more simpler to find the anchors in the blood and sever them. Hopefully curing this man."

Linhardt could follow along with the logic.

And yet…

"Why would you ask me?"

Hanneman straightened, then thinned his lips.

"Because, Linhardt…this is now a question we both would like answered. If crests can be given…can they be taken away?"

The boy slowly turned his head and spied the door, then back to the Professor.

"...Such talk could almost be considered dangerous." He noted without judgement, far be it from him to start criticising people for what they wanted to do.

And it was hardly as though he did not see the appeal for learning of such a thing.

If only because it was there.

"Perhaps." Hanneman did not deny it. "But…that dangerous talk might be the sort of thing that someone truly needs and right now, it is the people of Remire village. Therefore I shall ask you…will you help me?"

Linhardt could only twitch his lip.

This sort of thing was far more interesting than classwork.

"...When do we begin?"

Lysithea would not be one to accuse Goetia of anything.

But she could see that something was amiss in the last day or so, but until now it had been little more than some vague suspicion that was really unfit to be wasted on breath. At least until today, that was.

In a lecture where he usually would have been more active in teaching them, he had just strode in and told them to continue practising what they had been doing and then sat down and just watched them.

Well, watched most of them.

The only person he seemed to approach was Marianne.

At first she had thought the reason for that would have been nothing more than ensuring that she did not make any mistakes.

Except he seemed to be talking to her about absolutely nothing from what little she had been able to glean from the conversation across the room and she was definitely not eavesdropping, because that would have been childish. Rather, she was more bewildered as to what exactly was going on and where this had all come from.

Well.

Goetia was allowed to pay closer attention to more than one student and if he could somehow get Marianne to actually be a little less timid and a bit more extroverted, then that was certainly something that Lysithea would be fine with.

Except it did not feel as though that was the sole reason for it all.

Things had changed since everything kicked off at Remire.

What began as a small illness was now the talk of the entire monastery and though she did not pay much attention to gossip, it was hard to ignore now that they were currently under the tutelage of Goetia while Manuela was away and-

"Lysithea."

She jolted then whipped her arm backwards, widening her eyes considerably as she saw the little cube of wood had been sanded down into strips. Something fit only for sawdust at best, there was a silence about the room as she felt her cheeks start to heat up.

Footsteps drew closer and closer until the shadow of Goetia was cast over her desk.

"...You are distracted."

"I apologise." She replied quickly, hands down by her side. "I will avoid making that mistake in the future-"

He interrupted her. "It is unwise to continue attempts at spellwork while your mind is occupied with other tasks beyond the present. You are more than welcome to theorise until you have a clear head-"

Snapping her eyes up, she looked into his face and rapidly shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Goetia did not react.

Instead he just reached down and put his hand through the wood chips, curling his fingers and then pulling them back up and showing off what lay in his palm right towards her. The flush of shame grew all the more intense and she was certain her face would have been bright red at this point.

"I am not accusing you of being incapable." He continued. "Merely that if you had made a further miscalculation, the results would have been grotesque. For your own safety and for the safety of those who happen to be standing around you."

The woodchips dropped back onto the table before he twitched his hand.

In a flurry of movement, the cube of wood was back on her desk as if it had never been shredded in the first place.

"I would advise a clear head before practicing." There was a momentary pause before he leaned forwards ever so slightly, lips pursed and she felt something shift in the air around them. She had experienced it more than enough times to know he had closed off their conversation from the surrounding world.

"...Is there something that is affecting your capacity for learning that I can lend assistance to remedy?"

"It's nothing like that." Lysithea shook her head and sighed. "I was just…my mind wandered somewhere else before I could help it. I apologise and promise that there is nothing currently affecting me."

His eyes remained on her for several more seconds.

Then he blinked and leaned away, sound returned to her ears as the mutters of the class resumed.

"...If you are so confident, then you may continue."

And then he turned away and walked…right back to Marianne's table and looked down at her progress once again.

Lysithea squinted at the pair of them.

…What was even going on with that?

Surely she could not have been the only one noticing this, could she?

Her eyes wandered to the rest of the room and found that absolutely no one was really looking towards the pair, instead they were all too busy staring at their own work. Her lips started to thin as she realised that she alone was the only person who was probably making a bigger deal out of this than it really should have been.

Thinning her lips, she shook her head and stared down at the cube once again.

She was making too big a deal out of something like this and honestly, what did it matter?

"Ooof!"

It was a gasp as the breath was driven from her lungs, laying there on her knees with her head pressed against the sand.

Her eyes wound themselves tightly shut and she drew in whatever air she could to her lungs as she fought to reclaim some measure of control to herself. It was a slow and painful thing, it felt like fire right in her throat and she tried to resist the urge to cough up everything she just breathed in.

"Hmmmm."

And that rather irritable hum that betrayed nothing echoed above her.

"...You reacted faster." It almost sounded as though it was some form of mocking praise, save for the lack of anything in the voice. "But you are still too slow. For you…prediction is your ally."

Predictio-

Her jaw clenched hard to bury the remark that she wanted to spill between her lips.

Instead she raised up her forehead and twitched an eye as strands of hair dropped right over the top of her. She quickly brushed them aside and staggered back to her feet, wavering back and forth before hobbling away to the starting line where she had come, only when she was a safe distance did she drop her hands to her knees and start breathing a bit faster.

"Are you…"

So invested in her breathing was she that at first, she did not register the presence that had come up beside her.

Then she did and very slowly she turned her head towards the speaker.

…Marianne.

"'m fine…" Lysithea slurred, grimacing to herself and slowly rising back up her feet, though with her arms still clutched around her chest where she had received the elbow to the gut.

This was why she really did not like this sort of thing.

She just was not very good at it-

"Lysithea!" A rather loud voice had her flinch and then suddenly a shadow was cast over her, barely giving her time to respond before she felt a weight settle on her shoulders and cover them almost entirely. She knew there was only one person who was both as loud as that and would ignore personal space like that.

"You alright? That looked like it hurt."

"It did hurt." She replied through a sigh and wheeze, wincing and rubbing at her gut once again before pulling her hand away and resting it on her hips, turning and glancing at the large palm on her shoulder before looking to the owner.

Raphael peered down at her with that face of concern that made her feel more than a little irritable.

He was looking at her as though she was some small child again and she just knew it.

"S-she's just winded…" Marianne's voice came up a little, though still hard to hear. "She'll be fine…Professor Jeritza is very careful…"

Lysithea would certainly argue against the extent of his care from the way she felt right now, but it was enough for Raphael to nod his head and move away from her, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

Also helped by the fact Professor Jeritza looked their way and beckoned Raphael to approach, which the boy did and showed an utter lack of self-preservation as he walked into fist striking range of the Professor. Raising his arms and allowing himself to be pummelled several times over by the man.

Lysithea found herself wincing as the blows connected, but noted that they just seemed to be…

…She would not call them 'taps' but they were not anywhere near as strong as they could have been.

Reminders, maybe?

But she was sure that Catherine was better at this.

"A sword or axe does not limit your fighting. It provides further options." Jeritza had said before they began. "You will strike and kick, punch and claw, your weapon is your body. Use it to survive."

And that had been all he needed to say before they were all rushing through drills.

Unfortunately she was no exception to this, but she was noticing some subtle differences that seemed to be common sense at least. Namely that he was giving her smaller weaponry, knives for example. And then showing her different stances to use them and where the weak points were in the body.

Touching at the arms and the wrists, pointing to joints and gesturing to spots between the ribs.

And the back of the neck.

It was foreboding and somewhat ominous that she was being taught how to kill someone in an ambush.

But she had not asked why she was being taught to fight differently to the others.

"You two."

Lysithea jolted upright.

Pulled from her musings as Jeritza was pointing between herself and Marianne, then gesturing to a spot in the corner of the training field and jerking his head ever so slightly. It was an unspoken command but it remained more than enough for her to slowly nod her head and glance to the side to see what Marianne made of it.

The girl was quiet, as always, with her head down and eyes planted firmly to her feet.

She looked how Lysithea felt.

But there was nothing to be done about it, the girl caught her staring and Lysithea jerked her head in a silent command for her to follow. She had done this activity more than enough times with the others - Leonie seemed to rather enjoy it - and therefore she knew what to do.

She just hoped that Marianne had paid enough attention to know what to do.

Just in case, she prepared herself to explain.

Coming to a stop at their little spot from the others, she turned around and faced the girl, folding her arms and watching her for a couple more seconds and took notice of the fact her head was still pointed downwards and to her feet.

"Look." She began, keeping her own personal annoyance buried. It might have bled through a little, but it wasn't strictly aimed towards Marianne. More to the situation they both found themselves within and the clear reluctance they had for it. "This is clearly something neither of us wish to do, but we are going to do it properly. Professor Jeritza will be watching."

Marianne did not respond to her, just kept that silent and shy stare directed her way before quickly breaking contact.

Lysithea twitched her lip before assuming the stance she had been told to practice but never really found herself enjoying all that much. The exercise was simple as it had always been. She would aim for the joints and Marianne would try to block or duck out of the way of them. That was all it really was.

"Do you know what you're supposed to do?"

Marianne gave a silent nod of the head, then shuffled ever so slightly.

She stared down at the feet of the girl opposite her and barely resisted the urge to exhale once again at the utter lack of care that was being shown for the task. Or the lack of enthusiasm. It was not as though Lysithea did not understand either but at least she was making an effort to try.

This just looked like being unwilling to even make the attempt.

And it upset her more than it should have.

Without warning, she lunged forwards and thrust the wooden dagger towards the left arm of Marianne.

A slight widening of the eyes was the reaction of the girl and she flinched away, ducking right and avoiding the blow only by mere hairs. It was barely anything of a dodge and looked more instinctive than planned.

Lysithea drew her arm back and tried again from the other side.

Marianne repeated the process.

So she did from the other side once more.

Left and right, she worked the girl back and forth and tried to find a place where she could land a blow. Either because she was predictable or because she just was not as fast, she never quite managed to land any sort of blow on Marianne, but that was fine. She was not doing this and expecting much out of it.

But she was at least doing it.

But all Marianne was doing was just…flinching away from her and nothing else.

To the outside, it would have looked as though she was trying to bully the girl and Lysithea would admit that it was truly starting to bother her the longer she looked at it. The fact that Marianne was older, taller and stronger than her and yet like this…it vexed her far more than was logical.

It was just unfair.

She just did not understand how she was the younger person here.

She was nothing like that thug Felix, or like Leonie and her perseverance and determination.

Lysithea was just…physically the weakest and she knew it.

Everyone knew it.

Yet standing here and watching Marianne just flinch away from her without even trying, it was as though she was just not taking any of this seriously. But that was always the way of the girl, just sitting there quietly and acting as though she could just breeze through everything without anyone noticing her.

Rarely making contributions to class.

Rarely doing anything meaningful.

She would just stand there in silence and watch and then act like this when asked to do something - anything - and Lysithea didn't understand a single thing about it. Eventually she stopped moving and then stepped backwards, lowering her arms to the side and watching Marianne with squinted eyes.

It felt like she was being mocked.

Maybe she wasn't, as she doubted Marianne had the capacity for purposeful mocking, but the sheer feeling that this was just accidental made her feel all the worse. It was having her clench her jaw and watch the girl as she blinked in slight confusion at the fact the training had stopped.

"Do you…" Marianne hesitated for a moment, then started again with an unsure look. "...need a break?"

Lysithea blinked very slowly.

She opened her mouth-

"Too predictable."

She jolted instead and her words died on her lips, instead she whirled around and found that Jeritza was casting his shadow over her, eyes narrowed under his white mask as he looked down at her. An expression she could not quite place, but it looked to be disappointing. Her nerves rose as she realised she was the one being chastised here.

Lysithea had actually been trying and now this was what happened?

"Again." He commanded and stepped backwards, arms folded over.

She would have liked nothing better than just throwing the knife down and just leaving. This was not the sort of activity she was built for and anyone with a working pair of eyes would have been able to see that. She was smaller than the others, got tired easier, and was just weaker all around.

Even Marianne was faster than her.

Was this all some elaborate effort to just humiliate her or maybe test to see how far she could be pushed before she broke?

…Well, she wasn't going to.

Fighting back a glare, she fixed Marianne with a sharp look and brought her arms and the knife up once more and settled back into her stance.

"Thrust."

She did.

"Slash."

She did that too-

"Legs."

Lysithea stopped and blinked for a moment, a single shared hesitance between herself and Marianne.

Jeritza repeated again, more firmly. "Aim for the legs. She is not just arms."

Lysithea thrust down and Marianne skipped backwards.

"Pursue." Jeritza commanded.

At this point, she was just doing what she was being told and was being met with the same amount of success as before. Something she did not quite believe was actually going to improve anything or change anything, other than having everyone watch her slump over and start panting like a dog.

The same commands over and over, but the order would change at random.

Then he was just throwing things out whenever he could.

Head. Arms. Legs. Hands. Fingers.

She was just aiming for whatever he was shouting out and the words were coming with an increasing level of intensity to them.

Lysithea felt sweat roll down her cheeks and brow, speeding up and swinging as she tried to keep up with the words being thrown her way and she was not the only one, she could read the expression of Marianne's face, the way it was shifting from shy to something almost like panic.

"You are smaller." Jeritza declared. "Go from below."

Lysithea was not sure how best to approach that command so she just froze for a couple of seconds-

"Below." Though he did not raise his voice, there was something firmer in his words that just spurred her into action.

She ducked forwards and thrust upwards, Marianne looked down with wide eyes and jumped backwards, there was a thud that greeted her ears as the girl backed away into the wall right behind them. Lysithea did not even realise how far they had been pushed to this and barely even noticed how far they had moved.

Actually, she was feeling rather tired-

"Faster." Jeritza ordered again and she could not find the breath to tell him that it was impossible.

She was feeling rather worried.

No, that did not do it justice.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, not only on account of the swinging of Lysithea desperately trying to reach her, but also the intensity of the words coming from Jeritza. There was a harshness to his commands and an sterneness in his eyes.

Marianne could not concentrate between the two of them.

Her eyes swung wildly as she paced backwards, leaning away once more as the knife just slipped past her arm and missed. But there was a fervency growing in the eyes of Lysithea as she chased her down and it was starting to unnerve her.

Or maybe it already had and she was just now realising it.

But she could feel her panic rising, between the orders of the professor and the repeated attacks of Lysithea, she was feeling her heart pound faster and faster inside of her chest. A thunderous roar that was drowning out all other sounds save for the voice.

"Head."

Marianne dropped down as a knife wisped past the top of her scalp and she all but scrambled backwards as it descended to try and catch her in the shoulder.

Whether it was a wooden knife or not did not register to her in the least.

"Hands."

Marianne yanked her hands upwards and jumped backwards as the wood just missed her knuckles, but there was a thwack as it struck the stone and rebounded away from it. She imagined that as her fingers and felt a phantom jolt of pain shoot through her at the mere thought that it could have struck her.

Her hands were clutched tightly to her chest as the knife was drawn back.

She looked to Lysithea and stared into her eyes.

The burning in her orbs had grown all the brighter as she approached once more, hunched over and breathing louder and louder.

Lips peeled back and hot breaths shooting from between clenched teeth, every exhale was like a hiss and Marianne was struck by the sight of the smaller girl. But in truth, she did not see much of the girl who was her younger by a couple of years. She was struck silent and froze on the spot.

A mistake.

Jeritza's eyes locked onto her own and he spoke with that same hardened voice, the one that all but commanded her.

"Keep moving."

Lysithea lunged at her and thrust.

Marianne fell backwards and slammed into the wall for a comfort, the tip of the knife struck stone and another thud echoed out, she could see the beads of sweat rolling down Lysithea's brow. The snapping of her eyes back onto her and the promise of a renewed assault.

She was scared.

There was no denying it now.

Her heart was screaming in her chest, thundering all the louder that she could hear nothing else as she backed away to give herself more distance. It no longer mattered about the exercise, now it was all a case of putting as much distance between herself and Lysithea as-

Her back touched something solid.

…She had walked into a corner.

Marianne's breath hitched.

Lysithea lunged at her.

Everything else after that became a blur to her.

She just thrust again as Marianne skirted back along the edge of the wall, the wooden knife thudded off stone and Lysithea turned, slashing out and just narrowly missing the front of Marianne's waist. She heaved as she struggled to draw air into her, but if there was any thought she was going to have a rest now.

She was left to be mistaken.

"Pursue."

She exhaled and swung again, thrusting right towards Marianne's face-

The blue haired girl hit the corner of the room and flinched.

Lysithea watched something rather strange.

She might have been dazed, but for a split second she was sure that Marianne's eyes contracted-

She dropped down to the ground, the knife clattered down as it slipped from her grasp and she stared up with wide eyes, panting heavily as she struggled to breathe in properly. But she was barely focusing on her own lack of strength.

Rather, she was staring up at Marianne with wide eyes.

Slightly hunched forwards, she was turned side on to her with her left hand clawed against the wall.

Had she swung at her?

Lysithea could not really say she remembered, she assumed that was what happened but she must have missed.

A terrible scratching sound came next, she winced at it and glanced to-

She blinked very slowly and looked down.

Dust was falling away from the wall where Marianne had struck it, small little chips dropping down under the fingernails of the girl. She watched the fall rather dumbly and eventually found herself staring at the small little pile that was built up. A sharp gasp met her hears and she looked back up.

Marianne all but wrenched her arm away from the wall and staring at it with wide and panicked eyes.

Her skin turned pale, there was something horrified on her face.

Next thing Lysithea knew, Marianne was staring down at her and looked even more frightened, but all she could really see was the stark contract in expressions.

From the almost primal look moments prior to this usual terror…but it was a bit worse.

Then Marianne stepped away from them and looked down at her hand, Lysithea barely even followed her gaze to see that the tips of her fingers were almost bloodied, the nails were cracked and chipped.

In a sudden flash of movement, Marianne took off away from her and went charging across the room.

The speed at which she took flight was almost impressive and rather…surprising.

Lysithea found herself more shocked that she still had that much energy.

Jeritza stepped around her and towards the wall that Marianne had struck, he said nothing and instead reached out and ran his fingers along it, a mere glancing touch before he pulled them back and turned around.

"Continue."

It took her a moment to realise he was not talking to her.

She looked and saw that virtually everyone was staring in their general direction.

Their expressions were rather strange as well, the sort she had never quite seen on them before.

It was just…surprise.

"Marianne! Wait!"

The shout of Hilda was enough for her - and the class as a whole - to jolt into action, the pink haired girl taking flight in direct pursuit of their escaped classmate.

Before Lysithea could even think on that, suddenly there were dozens of faces crowding around in front of her. All of them asking things at the same time, a cacophony of noise that she could not even begin to make sense of. She just blinked and looked around with rapid confusion and a touch of unease as they were all just continuing to speak.

What she wanted right now was-

"Give her some space!"

Someone stood in front of her.

She looked up and found herself rather puzzled as to when Von Riegan had managed to get there, arms raised and acting as some sort of fence as he started to back up the others until they were a good distance away.

Then he turned around and dropped down to eye level with her.

"You good?" He asked, but did not wait for an answer before taking her by the shoulders and frowning, his eyes roaming over her. "Doesn't look like she got you there which…well…that was probably lucky for you. I'd say you're a little exhausted there-"

Lysithea huffed and shook off his hands.

"Exhaus-" With a scowl on her face, she launched herself to her feet and staggered for a moment, sending a glare the way of her house leader.

"I am not some child." She seethed. "I slipped and fell and Marianne missed me. She did not even so much as lay a finger on me before she decided to run off and-"

She stopped as Von Riegan cleared his throat, she glared at him once more. Preparing another barrage only to stop when she realised that he was not actually looking at her. Rather his gaze was situated over her shoulder and towards the wall. There was something poignant in his gaze, coupled with him jerking his chin.

Lysithea turned her neck.

Then blinked.

Then blinked once more.

"...Oh."

Now she felt more than a little faint.

Especially as she could see the bloodied claw marks in the stone.

Where Marianne's nails had somehow managed to carve a clear line through them.

…If that had been her then…

Lysithea wavered for a moment.

Having her arms grabbed was about the only thing that kept her upright, but that was on account of her legs.

They were just tired.

There was no other reason.

And if she could not take her eyes off the claw marks, then it was purely because she was surprised Marianne could do that and for no other reason.