Crack.
In the dark castle, a well-lit lounge shone the gorgeous interior of the black colored sofas and well-decorated furniture. Across the entrance to the large room, two steps rounded along the walls towards a higher floor where a large stone throne with carved depictions of large dragon wings sat before the room under the light of the green flame candles, which lit the entire room.
"MALLEUS-SAMA!!!" A tall boy with wavy green hair pulled back neatly cried out in horror as he jumped to his feet and hurried over to the source of the sound.
"Well, that was a surprise..." Lilia spoke up from the table as he put the cup down and looked across towards the source, "Is everything all right, Malleus? Did you get burnt?"
The source of the sound was a tall boy in his late teens much like the others with long black hair and a pair of dragon horns on his head. His green eyes shifted to the broken glass in surprise as he shook his head with a look of confusion, "No. I'm all right. There's no need to panic over to shattered tea cup, Sebek."
The tall green boy responded bluntly as he straightened himself reluctantly, "Y-Yes!"
"All you all right?" Lilia pondered curiously as he signaled Sebek to fetch the broom and dustpan from the supplies room instead leaving them alone, "You normally don't space out while having this type of tea."
Malleus nodded with uncertainty, "I am. I did not think I'd make such a simple mistake just now..."
"Well, it certainly is surprising for there to suddenly be a girl in the school." Lilia nodded with hesitation, "I wonder what brought her here in the first place."
"A human girl..." Malleus pondered in deep thoughts. He had thought it was unusual for a girl to suddenly appear as a student during the orientation. However, this didn't particularly fazed him too much. Yet, what surprised him for unknown reasons...
He looked to Lilia in confusion, "What was the name of the human girl again?"
Lilia looked to him in confusion before he opened his mouth and responded, "Her name... is Hoshi. She currently works as the school's new handyman."
"Hoshi? As in the star..." Malleus questioned.
"That's right." Lilia nodded hesitantly feeling a sense of unease, "Have you heard of her somewhere before?"
Malleus hesitated for a while pondering through his thoughts as the name certainly felt familiar to him. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't recall where he had heard such a name before. He shook his head, "No... However, it feels strangely familiar..."
Lilia raised a brow in surprise. Him too?
It wasn't just Malleus or Lilia who had felt a sense of familiarity when hearing this name. He recalled another dormmate amongst their group who also sensed a strong sense of familiarity upon hearing her name and, along with it, Lilia also felt a feeling of hesitation and discomfort from within. What was going on with everyone these past couple of days? Despite hoping that everything would go well regardless, a sense of tension filled him as he pondered over the newcomer's presence in this school.
…..
More ghosts?!
They're floating around here too!
One suddenly rushed closer to her and she could feel her energy sucked out of her. Instinctively she leapt back and shouted, "These guys can steal our mana!"
"What?!"
Ace and Deuce were trying to fight back but the consecutive advance of the three ghosts proved to be tricky to bypass without losing their mana. Grim thought it would be better to take this on as he had back in the dorm, but his fire would sometimes be interrupted by the other two and collide! From Hoshi's perspective, it was an utter mess!
Hoshi grimaced as she wrecked her head for a plan and noticed a small window of opening outside of the ghosts' reach. She could always pass through it herself. However, a sense of hesitation and worry gripped her and a thought told her to turn around as she turned back, threw Grim to Deuce, and grabbed the two boys by the back of their collars!
"Hold onto him!" Hoshi shouted firmly as Deuce caught the cat in time and both equally surprised!
"WOAH!!!"
With a tremendous effort of strength, she pulled the two out from the swarm of ghosts and through the opening! Instinctively, she pushed herself forward as a force propelled her at a fast pace! By the time she stopped, she dropped the two and braced herself as she crashed into the wall of the cave from the momentum of her speed!
"Hey! You okay?!" Deuce cried out in concern after hearing the heavy thud into the wall.
"Y-Yeah…" She managed as she pulled herself together and attempted to stand. Now was not the time to show weakness!
Hearing her response, Deuce hesitated but Ace continued with a huff, "We could've taken them on!"
"If we stop to fight, we'll never get anywhere. Let's just keep moving." Deuce confidently responded with a scowl.
"Sure. Fine, but don't act like we voted you team leader." Ace hesitated before he huffed in dismay, "The only reason we're here in the first place is because of that stupid stunt you pulled."
"Oh? I'm pretty sure this all started because you tried to shirk your window-cleaning punishment!" Deuce glared.
"So, we're bringing up ancient history now? Then if you wanna get down to brass tacks, this all started when furball torched that statue!"
As Ace's eyes turned to Grim and Hoshi, Grim scowled at them in utter disbelief, "Myah?! Maybe you shouldn'ta made fun of me, then!
"Guys! We're in real hot water, remember?! If we don't come back with a magestone by morning, we're all being expelled!"
"Yeah, which is why we don't need you ordering the rest of us around. It gets old real fast." Ace pointed out.
"All of you, calm down." Hoshi intervened but froze in spot, "Wait... I think I heard a voice just now."
They paused with a brief moment of silence. Right as Grim was about to open his mouth. A sound echoed in the caves.
"...iiivvv... ...oooouuu..."
"Huh?!"
"Wh-where's that comin' from?" Ace cried out in fear as he shuddered.
Hoshi paused as she could feel a familiar aura creeping towards her. What is this? Why does it feel so familiar yet dangerous to her?!
Hell, everything felt too familiar these past few days!
"...neeevvvaaa... ...iiivvv... ...ooouuu..."
"Sounds like... it's getting closer..." Deuce warned them as the voice became louder.
As he said this, a larger floating figure in ragged clothing and a large broken black jar of ink for a head appeared with a pitchfork in one hand and a lamp in the other! It raised its pitchfork and shouted, "Stooonesss... Stooonesss aaare miiiiine!"
"Bwah! There it is!"
They began to run as fast as they could. However, Hoshi heard a thump behind her as she stopped and looked back just in time to see Ace's lit pen slid across the cold dirt path. Ace had fallen before the monster!
Ace looked up in horror as the monster raised his pick at him. However, right before it could hit him, he was swiftly pulled away!
"Come on!"
Surprised, he managed to scramble to his feet and looked up to find that it was Hoshi!
"What is that?!" Ace shouted in disbelief.
"Myaaah!" Grim shouted angrily, "No one said there'd be monsters! Let's get outta here!"
Ace nodded in agreement, "That thing's super creepy! ...But didn't it just say something about "stones"?!"
"Wait, what?!"
As if it heard them, the monster groaned a shout, "Stooonesss... ...nevvva give stooonesss...!"
"Ah!"
"So there ARE still magestones here!" Deuce halted his steps determinedly.
"Myaaah... Even as a master sorcerer, I... I don't think I can take that thing down!" Grim stopped after him and hurriedly began tugging on
"But we need a magestone or we'll get expelled! I'm going in!" Deuce stated determinedly
"We need a plan!" She insisted!
"Are you outta your mind?!" Ace shouted at them.
"I'll go in! You guys distract him!"
"You can't do it alone!" Hoshi stated hesitantly, "It's too dangerous!"
"I won't be expelled! No matter what!" Deuce declared.
"Begone! Begone! Begooone!" The monster shouted and hooked Deuce's leg onto the other side of his pickaxe!
"Bwaaah!" Grim shouted in horror.
"Aw, crap! He's got Loosey-Deucey on the ropes!" Ace shouted hurriedly and launched a wind magic attack on the monster, "Not on my watch! Heeyah!"
"Rrroooarrrgh!" The monster flailed as he struggled against the wind attack before waving it away with a pickaxe. The action threw Deuce off as Hoshi leapt in and caught him yet, the weight of the child launched her against the wall with a thud!
"GUH!" She winced and gritted her teeth as a shot of pain rain through her left arm.
"Myaaah! Stay away from me!"
Grim's cry snapped her out of her daze as she looked up to find Grim and Ace facing off against the monster. However, no matter how strong their attack was, it was of no use against it!
"Grrraaawrrr!"
The monster's cry startled them as Grim screamed in horror, "It's like nothin's even hurtin' it!"
Just as she climbed up to her feet, she noticed something sparkle from the corner of her eye, "Huh?! Did you just see that sparkle?!"
Hearing her voice from afar, the other two noticed it too as Ace shouted, "Behind the monster! There's something sparkling in the mineshaft!"
"Could that have been a magestone?!" Deuce gasped in shock.
Suddenly, the monster wounded back up and slammed his pickaxe to the ground, "GWAAAAAAAH! Nooo giiive yooouuu stooooooone!"
"Hoshi, we need to book it, and fast! That thing's gonna pound us into tuna paste!" Grim shouted hurriedly.
"Then let's both run for it!" Hoshi exclaimed and forcefully picked up Deuce with great strength before dashing forward, "Retreat! Retreat!"
"GRRRAAAWRRR!"