William to Wilhelm

"Will, want to go out to grab a bite?"

"Nah, you should go."

"Come on…you have been cooped up in this room all day long. Let's hit the road."

"Haah…I hear you Mike, but I have to complete this topic today."

Will, short for William said as he pointed to the screen in front of him that displayed a series of words with diagrams one half of the monitor. On the other half of the screen, Ju-On was playing.

Crumpled paper, empty cups with straws, and small boxes with forks were littered all over the room.

Looking at the sight, Mike who was standing by the door of the room sighed audibly and said with a defeated look, "Fine…"

*THUD*

…and shut the door.

As soon as Mike left the room, William turned his attention back to the computer screen and began to spend his time away. He typed something on his keyboard, opened a CAD software on his iPad, and created something on it.

During this duration, the door to his room opened but only to either go to the washroom and collect food items. This kept on going on until…

"Finally!!!"

…he cried as he threw his hands in the air and rolled away from his desk on a chair. With a contagious smile on his face, he stood up and rubbing his eyes looked at the clock above his monitor, hanging on the wall.

"Huh! It's already 8:03 am? It was about 7 am when I sat on this chair." William said out loud as he opened his smartphone crashing onto the bed and started to scroll through. It was finally after quite a time that his eyes stilled on the image in front of his smartphone.

"Stark Expo…" William muttered off-handedly as he suddenly shot up from his bed. Quickly, he made a beeline to the door, before…

"Not in these clothes." …he commented on himself. An apt comment seeing that he was in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt.

Quickly, he started to scour through the room and kept on picking multiple t-shirts from around, brought them to his face, and with a creased expression kept on muttering, "No" until finally he settled on a pale blue one.

Then he took a blue pair of jeans and a black jacket. Getting into them, he gave himself a once over in the mirror. Quickly grabbing a comb, he shaped his hair which resembled Einstein's into something more tame.

Putting a few sprays of deodorant on him, he wore sneakers and left the room.

…

Walking to the metro on foot, William stepped into the crowded one, probably because most of the people in the metro were heading to Stark Expo as well.

"Hey! Keep your hands to yourself." A man with a buzz cut said to William with a narrowed look, but no one other than William, buzz cut guy's girlfriend, and a few people who were just touching them. However, they quickly lost interest in it and focused on making sure that they didn't fall due to push from the crowd.

"My guy, this train is jam-packed. I am sorry but this the way we have to go, 'kay?"

But the 'guy' clearly did not like William's reply, and William being a scrawny guy with an average build did not help the case at all. Leveling a glare with a look of confrontation, the guy reached out and grabbed William's collar with both of his, lifting him a bit from the ground in the process.

Surprised by this William flailed his legs in the air, "What the f*ck dude?! Put me down!"

"Listen here glasses, the one who gives orders here is me. And me says you to shut up and listen otherwise your face will hurt bad." But the guy in question replied with a sneer like a clique person.

This action quickly caught everyone else's eyes who suddenly brought their smartphones out and started to record the whole thing instead of trying to diffuse the situation.

"Greg, let him go. Everyone is recording you." Well, the guy's girlfriend commented, more scared by the repercussions rather than to help William who was feeling the strain of his t-shirt on the back of his neck.

"Let go!" William roared but Greg did not hear anyone of them.

"You know what? F*ck it!" William wheezed through his mouth and bit Greg's hand with full force.

"AHH!! You sonnva-"

Greg roared in pain as he withdrew his hands by instinct and William touched the floor of the metro, but instead of the matter ending there, William looked at Greg with eyes full of malice when he launched himself on him and…

"Aaaahhh!!!!"

…punched his thumb into his eye socket.

"How do you like that?!" William shouted with a crazed look, before Greg pushed him off of him, and rubbed his eyes in pain.

"I am going to kill you, you sick f*ck!!" Greg said as he launched himself at William with bloodshot eyes who was about to dodge it when…

*BOOM*

…fire enveloped everything.

'Wha-' William wanted to say internally but his thoughts were drowned by the sound of a thundering explosion.

At that moment, he could feel nothing but searing heat all over his body and the train compartment around him crumpled.

"Gre-whoAA!!" Greg's girlfriend shouted as she reached her hand out to him, but was thrown off of her feet, crashed onto the side of the compartment, and…

*CRACK*

…broke her neck.

"AHH!!"

"IT BURNS!! IT BURNS!!!"

"MAMA!!!"

Different howls of pain took to the air, while some ceased due to their originator dying in the brief crash while the other only started to howl more.

As for, William who was subjected to an immense amount of heat, lay on the ground with blood clouding his vision.

'Haaaaah…what…happened?' William thought as he looked around through one of his eyes that was not bruised.

*CLANG*

One of the pieces of metal that was burning fell on the floor with a characteristic sound. As the metal fell, the sight in front of him became clear.

From the space created he saw…

'X…men? Of course…I had to just…get involved in their fight.' He thought before a pale blue pillar of light rushed at him from a blonde girl with black armor.

And just as it was a few inches away from hitting him…

"HAAAH!!!! HAaah…Haaaah…" Wilhelm woke up.

"…the…hell?"

*THUP*

He gasped with labored breath, the entire of his body covered with a thin layer of sweat, with his clothes sticking to his body.

Running a hand through his hair, he looked at it and rubbed the sweat-drenched hand on his pajama.

"Seriously, I am dreaming about that day after all those years." He commented in disbelief, before shaking his head and getting up from the bed, leaving behind the damp bed drenched in his sweat too.

He went to the window of his room and removed the curtains covering it. From the uncovered window came the chilly breeze with a very pale orange tone of light, indicating the time to be early in the morning.

"Hmm…it seems to be morning. No use getting back to bed." Wilhelm commented when his eyes drifted to his clothes.

'And I also need a fresh change of clothes.' With brief steps, he reached his cupboard and opening it, started to scavenge through the clothes until he finally settled on one.

A dark black fur-like coat over a white puffy shirt, and a pair of black pants made of comfortable fiber.

'Better to just change the clothes. I am not in the mood to take a bath this early.' Wilhelm thought as he used a towel to dry himself and changed his clothes. Getting in front of the mirror, he combed his hair into his usual hairstyle, tied a satchel belt on his waist, and hung his grimoire on it.

"Looking sharp. As usual." He commented looking at himself in the mirror.

*THUD*

With a loud thud, he pushed open the door and made his way down to the common room. And entering the room…

"I wish I could act like I am shocked but I am disappointed because I am not."

…he said looking at the devastation all around him.

Vanessa was lying in her undergarments hugging a bottle of booze for her dear life.

'I swear, if in the future I am not able to get 'it' up in bed, I am blaming her.'

Luck was passed out on the floor covered with bruises, along with Magna.

Gordon was standing at the corner of the room and staring…menacingly.

Charmy was sleeping with her head on the dining table, muttering some gibberish all the while drooling.

"E~~he…all this food…just for…me…"

"Seriously, other than a few people does no one know the use of bed?" Wilhelm sighed dejectedly before finding the absence of one very crucial person.

'Asta, he is not here.

Must have gone to train.

Guess, I should train a bit too. Need to try this new piece of magic I got. Got to get used to it before I am given another mission.' Wilhelm thought as he walked out of the common room making sure not to step on slobbering pigs lying on the floor.

Stepping out of the castle, he felt the gentle breeze of fresh and cold morning air, which made his face change into one of peace.

Stretching his arms wide, he inhaled a lungful of air.

*Exhales*

"Ahh…I can see why some people prefer to sleep out in the open." He commented as he stood in place for a second but quickly snapped himself out of his reverie.

With a gentle pace, he made his way further into the forest and only stopped when the headquarters was covered with a foliage of trees.

"Guess this is it." He murmured under his breath before he closed his eyes and opened them again, focused.

He made his grimoire float into his palm, which without him using his hands opened and the pages kept on turning until they finally stopped where the magic that he had just gotten opened.

Without giving any imperceptible movement, he created a chair from mineral magic, along with a table. Then, Wilhelm pushed his hand into the air, where it disappeared without distortion in a black patch.

'Seriously, Spatial Magic is so convenient. It is a shame that Finral does not use it to its full potential. I could use it to separate someone's body from their waist to deal with them in an instant.' Wilhelm thought as he pulled out a stack of papers from the small portal that disappeared instantly when the pages were taken out of it.

With a practiced movement, he placed the stack of paper on one side of the newly created table and placed his grimoire on the other side. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a pen.

'Okay, let's begin. First, what I know…'

Wilhelm thought as he hovered the tip of his pen over the paper while his gaze remained fixed on the open page of the grimoire. Then he began to write.

Beast Magic

This magic takes a lot of its influence from the animals from what I read about in the spells.

It came to me with spells, namely Cheetah Charge, Rhinoceros Armor, and Banishing Whale.

Each spell focuses on increasing the user's physical abilities in one aspect.

From the brief use of the spell yesterday, I can say that instead of physical modification in the user to make them resemble an animal, a thick layer of magic-like mana skin is made, which increases the attributes.

In each of the spells, every physical attribute is raised, but a particular one is given priority over the other.

Cheetah Charge increases primarily speed, whereas Rhinoceros unarguably primarily increases defense.

This is a very useful magic that can help me bridge the gap in my lacking physical aspects compared to my peers who are unarguably faster and stronger than me.

But this magic does have a downside, or an upside depending upon person-to-person. This magic works as a multiplier. The same spell cast with the same amount of magic on different people will yield a completely different result.

'Hmm…now, possible questions…'

Possible Questions

Are the conditions for getting the spells different here?

Do I need to have a good relationship with animals to make the best out of this magic?

If I were to live as a savage, would it positively influence my magic?

Will the information on the biology of animals help me to direct my spells?

Can I use the abilities of insects as well?

'These are all the questions I have for now. Further testing will be required for me to create new theories.'

Wilhelm thought and was about to flip open the next page when…

"Oi, Mr. Creepy." Yami's voice sounded which made Wilhelm show a face as if he had sucked on a lemon.

"Haaahhh…what?"

"What is with that tone, huh? Shouldn't you be happy that the best magic knight captain in existence came back to talk with you?"

"Nope… (-_-)" 

"Fine, fine…geez. Young people these days. Don't have any respect for the elderly." Yami commented with an exaggerated shake of his head.

"You are not elderly."

"And you are not young." Yami said without hesitation as if he had been waiting for Wilhelm to say it.

'Inhale…Exhale…'

"What do you want?" Wilhelm asked with a tired look. Something that happened a lot when one dealt with Yami.

Ask his colleagues, and they will attest to this statement.

"A toilet with a seat made of the most expensive fur, but right now, for you to get ready for our next mission."

"This quick?" Wilhelm said with a shift in tone from tiredness to genuine curiosity.

Taking out a cigarette from his pocket, Yami replied.

"Hmm, Julius gave our squad a mission for the reason you are smart enough to find out…"

'He does not trust another squad fully'

"…and that mission happens to be related to the attack on Mr. Hardas* and Beanpole & co. Get ready."

"….Fine." Wilhelm replied to Yami who had started to walk away even before Wilhelm's reply. Then Wilhelm turned to place the paper back into his 'inventory' and prepared himself for what was to come.

**** 

Thank you Himanshu_Dwivedi_4919, Marcus_Leyero, Beleth_85,Selectials, can_kan, lord_of_Wright, Sheroe_Alpha, Camt2417, Dark_mist_03, DaoistfdjSMe, William_ashborn, DON_FLUFFLES, RockNRolla, StarfallEmpyrean, michael_copelan for powerstones.