The Melody is Found

Theodore sprinted through the halls, his anxiety over the situation growing as he pushed past a wave of students that tried to flee from the Fractured.

Why were they running?

Weren't they ALL being taught to fight against things like this?

Theodore watched as a student stumbled amidst a screaming crowd, barely managing to catch them before they completely fell.

"Why are you running?! Turn back and fight… fight with us… with me!!"

This caused the student's face to grow pale and shake violently in Theodore's grip.

"Against a monster like that?!" The student screamed back, "I'd die!!"

"But I could protect you," Theodore's grip loosened, "We just need more people to help fight!"

The student took the chance to instead escape and join another crowd of screaming students. Everywhere Theodore looked, he found students running away from where the ray of light touched down. Theodore put his head in his hands as he scoured his brain to think of anyone that might actually help, and it finally clicked as he thought of his childhood friend.

The only problem being – that he hadn't a clue where she was.

So, Theodore ran down the halls, searching for his friend or for someone that had turned back to face 'God's Champion'. The more he ran, though, the more the halls began to clear until his feet were the only ones he could hear running. It didn't matter who he tried to inspire or who he managed to save, not even one was willing to fight.

This brought Theodore a great deal of shame. He was part of the greatest academy in all the world and everyone was a coward.

"Theodore!!" The feminine shout broke him from his melancholic meanderings.

Suddenly, the body that shouted out his name jumped at him and engulfed him in a hug.

"I couldn't find you anywhere!" Theodore looked down at his teary, amethyst-eyed childhood friend, "I thought you'd gotten caught up in the initial rapture! I'm so glad you're okay."

As she bawled into his shirt, Theodore stroked her hair, asking concernedly, "Emily, why are you here?"

"Because I knew you'd be." Emily released Theodore, wiping at her eyes and putting on a tough face, "And I won't let you fight that thing alone."

Giving a soft smile, Theodore couldn't help but give thanks for having a childhood friend as great as this, but his thanks were cut short as the sound of cracking emanated through the halls.

As both Theodore and Emily looked at the ceiling, they found fractures running amok, nearly bringing several of the chandeliers crashing down.

"Let's hope William managed to grab people on his way here…" Theodore bit his lip before grabbing Emily by the arm and running.

With his lungs burning and the wind slapping at his face, Theodore crashed through the already weathered door just to be flung right back out as a torrent of wind escaped from the study building.

As Theodore held his hands out in front of his face to at least give himself a moment to see, his eyes caught the appearance of William taking slow, begrudging steps towards the eye of a tornado. Theodore looked around even more, only finding six other people near the entrance of the building.

Drifting his way in through the wind, Emily clinging closely to his backside, Theodore tripped over himself upon entering a dead zone where none of the wind blew. This happened to be the spot where the six people stood.

With all eyes turning towards him and Emily, a fellow student with ash-colored hair suddenly appeared by his side, helping him and Emily.

"Ah… so, we have another pawn to join our ranks…"

Theodore found himself staring at a golden-eyed, golden-haired regal student – the crown prince, Caexar.

Immediately lowering himself, Caexar corrected Theodore, "We have no time for proper etiquette, so get your head off the ground and provide some help."

"Help?" Theodore listened to a rather chilling laugh, "Who in this situation can provide help? If we were to rely on anyone, it should be the headmaster or that disgustingly powerful mage from the third years, not some nobody who has yet to reach the second stage of his superpower."

Receiving a few glares of ire, the girl gave them a shrug, challenging them to correct her. And nobody did, causing all of them to stand there and continue thinking of solutions to the ever-present problem.

But that time was cut short as a student wielding a single shield with both hands crashed into the nearby wall, leaving a visible crater.

Ripping himself free, William rolled his shoulders, his face nothing but sinister. William was more than ready to head right back out to face the storm, but a delicate hand on his shoulder halted him.

"As much as we appreciate your effort…" A student with long golden hair and golden eyes gave William a strained smile, "If you take any more damage, our little safe zone here might disappear."

"If I take any more damage?" William sneered, "With all respect princess, but I know what I'm doing… and I'm not taking damage."

"You know what you're doing?" The snarky, cold voice snickered, "I doubt that…"

"At least I'm doing something merchant." William spat, "Unlike you lot."

"We'd love to do something William," A student with rolled up sleeves and fiery eyes spoke, "But you saw what happened to Veronica's construct… it got eviscerated when it got close to the heart. And as brave as I may be, I don't have a death wish."

"Then why are you even here?!"

The fiery-eyed student rubbed his forehead, muttering, "Because you asked me to come here…"

This caused William to fall silent before huffing and stepping back into the storm, his legs shaking as he tried to keep himself steady amongst the spate of wind.

As Theodore analyzed the situation, he couldn't help but say, "It's just wind isn't it, couldn't we come up with some way to break through?"

"We thought the same…" The ash-haired student spoke, "But there's a reason behind why our resident tough guy got flown back to here. You see, the closer you get to the source of this power, its true strength emerges."

"And what's its true strength?"

"Lightning." Caexar uninterestingly answered.

"Wait, lightning… then that means… it's…"

"Aila." Emily finished for Theodore, her eyes were just as confused and scared as he was.

"You're guess is correct." The fiery-eyed student took a step back just in time as William came rocketing back, "Which is why this is so difficult… If it were some nobody student, then it's likely their power would barely be over the third evolutionary stage, but since it's a genius… well, that makes everything that much more difficult."

"Even if it is difficult," William cracked his neck as he stepped out of the wall again, "It's our duty to stop this monster."

"Well yes, you musclehead," Caexar shook his head in annoyance, "But how do WE do that?!"

Ignoring his words as if having heard it more than enough times, William rushed back into the storm.

"But Aila shouldn't be able to do something like this," Emily cried out, her voice close to breaking, "Shouldn't she just get more finite control over lightning?"

Everyone except Theodore rolled their eyes at Aila's comment.

"The third evolution calls on the fundamental power of the superpower," The ash-haired student shook his head, "So, since lightning just so happens to come from storm clouds, then the fundamental power would be, you guessed it, Storms."

"So, this is a real tornado then?" Theodore asked the obvious question, receiving a bunch of stares calling him a moron, "Couldn't we go under then?"

Everyone tilted their head and quirked an eyebrow before coming to a sudden realization and glancing at the storm.

"Well, Ice Queen, what's your analysis?" The fiery-eyed boy turned to the merchant student who was now biting their fingernail.

"Just give me a moment." She scowled, "I'm calculating."

Everyone waited nervously until she snapped her fingers.

"It'll work."

As if to applaud her findings, William once again crashed into the nearby wall.

"So, you guys found anything useful then?" William dusted off his clothes, "Or are you still a bunch of useless nobodies."

"We have actually," The merchant girl harumphed, "We're going to go down. Avoiding the storm altogether. Plus, it'd keep us out of the sight of this monster."

Surprised they managed to come up with anything, William gained a bit of his initial demeanor, though he still was on edge, "Then what are we doing? Let's get digging."

With her hand pointed at the fiery-eyed student, the merchant girl said, "Anywhere is fine."

Nodding, the fiery-eyed student raised his fist into the air and then slammed it straight down where he stood causing the floor tiling to shatter and fly up. As the dust cleared, the stone foundation of the building was revealed, though it was quickly covered by another slamming fist from the fiery-eyed student.

And another.

And another.

The fiery-eyed student's body had long since disappeared into the pit with the merchant peering into the hole to monitor his progress.

"Alright, that should be deep enough." The merchant girl finally called out after several minutes.

With but a single jump, the fiery-eyed student popped out of the hole, completely covered in stone dust and his face turning a violent purple. Releasing his breath and gasping for air, the fiery-eyed student coughed as he tried to air his lungs of the dust he tried desperately to not inhale.

"Veronica, could you be a dea—"

Veronica had already stepped up before the merchant girl even began to ask and she held out her hands and formed a large fan from bluish energy and started to flap it wildly while aiming at the dug hole. This caused a massive amount of stone dust to fly out of the hole, and it would have dusted everyone had it not been for an invisible ceiling and walls.

After a couple of minutes, Veronica stopped flapping her construct and changed it to instead be a rope and nail. Grabbing the nail, the fiery-eyed student plunged it into the ground and then jumped back into the hole, completely ignoring the rope.

This time, it was Caexar's turn to step forward as he produced a ball of light in his palm which he then dropped into the hole.

"The storms are getting stronger, William." The princess spoke as everyone waited for the fiery-eyed student to come back up.

"I know…" William snarled, "I can feel it pressing against the force shield... We probably only have an hour before this monster has truly adapted. And by then, we'll be dead where we stand."

"You're not having any difficulty maintaining the shield?"

"None." William curtly answered, "The force shield is what I primarily focus on after all. It'd be shameful for me to not even be able to handle this…"

Sighing in relief, the princess jumped slightly when the fiery-eyed student jumped from the hole.

"Hey, Felix," The fiery-eyed student called out, "Clean it out…"

With a pout and a downturned head, Felix, the ash-haired student, stepped to the edge of the hole and then suddenly disappeared, an afterimage of himself remaining for a second. And just as he had gone, Felix came back a second later, absolutely covered in dust.

Shaking his head, and apparently his whole body too, Theodore watched as the dust flew off Felix and he was perfectly clean.

Giving a nod of thanks, the fiery-eyed student once again jumped down the hole, continuing his endeavor to get under Aila.

"How come I've never heard of any of you?" Theodore suddenly asked, perturbed by his lack of knowledge.

"Well, you don't ever seek any other students out, Theodore…" William answered, "You spend most of your free time training, with your girlfriend, or with me… you're not really getting out there and meeting others."

"Wha-" Emily blushed, "I'm not his girl—"

"But everyone here seems so strong…" Theodore cuts her off, completely unaware of the blush and looks aimed at him, "And yet, I've never heard of… anyone here."

"This isn't the time for introductions," the merchant girl bore into Theodore, "Save your people crisis for after we've dealt with this problem."

Feeling the chill of her voice wash over him, Theodore shrank slightly and stayed quiet the entire time. Even so, his eyes stayed active and desperately followed the fiery-eyed student and Felix until the very moment when the fiery-eyed student popped out of the hole and nodded at the merchant girl.

"Well, alright then… time to figure out a plan of attack." Her conniving smile and glint in her eye caused Theodore to shudder.

Surely this wouldn't result in all of them getting seriously injured, right?

…Right?