He had been training the Chrono Candidate for a few months now and Geko's opinion never changed. Yin was a pain in the ass. She had ridiculous potential, ridiculous talent and a ridiculous attitude. With their specialized training over, Geko was already reaching for his fifth cup of coffee while staring at the young Alchemist hotly trot out, heading to wherever she pleased. "That lass needs a spanking!" The Lost Number spoke to himself, his head tilting towards the calendar, the final test was drawing near. One would think it would become mundane after so many years and so many trials and yet each and every time it made him feel uncertain and this year was worse because he had to debrief the students.

So the next few hours were spent with Geko visiting each of the classes that housed students who would be potentially appearing in the final test, clearing which would grant them the dubious honor of calling themselves Asylums. In each class Geko briefed them with the same mundane memorized words.

"Hello students, if you are unsure as to why I am addressing you lads and lasses, it is because you are soon to graduate but before that each of you has to attempt the final 'trial'." He spoke trying to hide his weariness despite this being his sixth briefing.

"I am sure you have heard rumors and some of you may have an idea of what is to come. You don't" The Lost Number made sure to stress the last bit for emphasis. "This is not a game, it is not just any test, this is the final test. The fact that you have come to this point itself shows you have a strong grasp of everything that is needed to be an Asylum. Strength, dexterity, ingenuity, imagination, foresight, alchemic prowess and the list goes on and on!" The veteran directed everyone's attention to him with a clap and proceeded to let them stew in silence for some theatric appeal.

"This test is where everything you have learned, comes into play. There will be no safety harness, when the trial begins you are considered Asylums and so that entails all the dangers that comes with the job description. Your final trial is the "Jungle". You will all be placed in, you guessed it, a massive jungle and the objective is simple. Reach the finish line within 12 hours. Failure to do so has dire consequences and the trial itself will be very dangerous. The first rule is you cannot use alchemy outside of combat, any detection of alchemy by the invigilators will result in a warning and then disqualification. Second rule is to clear the Jungle within 12 hours. Third rule is only the first half to cross the finish will pass. The entire will course will have....obstacles to deter you and some of this obstacles can be fatal. Prepare to your best of capabilities and perform to your fullest!" And with that Geko proceeded to leave the class and head to another.

Rinse.And.Repeat

-----------------xx--------------------xx-----------------

Bella and Zane had seated at their desired table within the cafeteria and not long after Elsa and Samad had also made their way to the same table, just sitting down for the prisoner to convenient appear next to them. Without a word the large man simply pushed a chair back and casually sat down, his tray an assortment of desserts that seemed rather unbecoming of his threatening stature.

"I see you are all alive and unharmed, excellent." The man spoke in a tone that didn't seem to be all that surprised or even all that bothered. His wrists were still chained, a multitude of alchemic sigils engraved on the metallic bracers locking his hands. This of course made scooping ice-cream a rather tedious task but one the prisoner was adamant to overcome. After finally taking a spoon-full of strawberry cheesecake the man once again turned his attention to pair of Asylum pairs. His fingers communicating with the deaf Asylum. "The strawberry is very mediocre, I'd suggest Vanilla".

"So anything of interest?" The prioner in the silver tinted glasses spoke once more, his fingers clasping to rest his chin on.

The transport ship rumbled and rattled as it hit a patch of turbulence, with the pilot tensed over the controls with hunched shoulders as he rode the turbulence out. It wasn’t very strong, truth be told. Barely an inconvenience to an AMRO pilot. What was causing him so much concern was the loud and petulant argument coming from the back of the ship.

“I can’t believe you made us late.” Kiara huffed at her partner as she drew a sigil over the tears in her clothes and repaired them, one by one. After finishing their assignment they had sprinted onto the transport and promptly collapsed into an exhaustive sleep. She was only lucky that they had woken up before reaching Innocence so she could put herself together. It wouldn’t do to have the students there see her walking in looking like a homeless person who had just unsuccessfully fought a family of raccoons.

“I made us late? You were the one who missed her shot when the target sprinted by!” Maeve, in contrast to her partner, was lounging on the opposite side of the transport. Her clothes were covered in small holes and tears and it was difficult to tell which ones were the tears from her own alchemy and which ones were from their fight with the target. She didn’t seem to care as much as Kiara did about presentation, which nettled her counterpart to no end.

“Because you let yourself get bored, and flooded our connection with daydreams! It’s hard to take a shot when your mind is filled with images of riding a dragon or a motorcycle or something like that.” Kiara snapped back, holding up her cloak as she finished the last repair. The target hadn’t gone quietly, and the claws had been surprisingly sharp.

“Yeah, and I did that because you got the information wrong and we were waiting hours when you told me it’d be minutes! What was I supposed to do? Stay still like a gargoyle and absolutely locked in focus waiting for someone that may not have been showing up due to faulty information?” Maeve positioned her body and face in a grotesque image, her tongue sticking out, as Kiara rolled her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry that you couldn’t be bothered to do your homework beforehand so that I was responsible for gathering all the information. And I’m sorry that you were caught so flat footed that instead of slowing him down so I could have an easier shot you let him sprint by and turned what should have been a quick and quiet ambush into a chase scene from every action movie ever where we had to tear apart a neighborhood to pin him down. Truly Maeve, my heart bleeds for the troubles you so unjustly had thrust upon you.”

“Listen here you….”

The argument had been continuing like this for the majority of the ride to Innocence. The pilot’s shoulders hunched a little more as the yelling continued to reverberate through his ship. 15 minutes later, he reached the end of his rope and spoke up.

“Could you two quiet down back there? It’s getting difficult to focus on flying with you two Banshees squ-”

He was cut off by unison, angry, yelling: “Shut up!”

Flinching, the pilot hunkered down once more and finished the rest of the trip in silence. Their bickering resumed, seemingly louder and more belligerent out of spite. He sighed, and one hand rubbed his temple. This was why he hated flying Asylum teams.

As they touched down on Innocence, he barely waited for them to step off of the ramp before bringing it up and lifting off. The Bean Sidhes were nearly knocked off of their feet as he left. Maeve cursed at him in Gaelic and chucked a rock futilely at his rapidly disappearing hull.

Kiara merely sighed and looked around. They were evidently in the middle of the day. With some luck, that would mean classes had stopped for lunch and they could almost seamlessly start doing their job. “Come on, let's see if we can’t find our counterparts in the mess hall and figure out which classes we can cover for. Might as well try to start off on a good foot.”

Maeve cursed one more time at the sky, now completely empty, and followed while she grumbled. “All of the good teaching gigs are probably taken, or we’re gonna be recalled to do some other stupid mission, or something terrible is happening here that we have to deal with cause even if you count Geko we’re the most reliable people here.”

“Sure Maeve. Sure.”

---

Samad waited outside Elsa’s classroom before he headed to lunch. The Iranian’s arms crossed over his chest as he pressed his back against the wall. He appeared completely relaxed as his eyes observed the students file out one by one, their chatter vibrated throughout the corridor. A few caught his glance then averted their heads when his expression hardened. The simple warning glare warned them off. It appeared his last lesson had driven home the importance of not messing with him or Elsa.

He pondered on their ignorance over how lucky they were here. Even with the limits gradually being released, each student held value and were pushed in skills to survive. Far better than simply tossing them into the deep end with nothing. When they became Asylums, it would sink in, and they would wish for these kind days back.

The asylum signed then moved. When his figure shifted his weight back to his feet, he strolled into the classroom. His eyes noted Elsa placed a few books into their cubbies on the shelves then clicked the doors shut. With a quiet click, she locked them up for the lunch hour. Her lithe figure twisted about to face him. A delicate, warming smile on her face greeted him. The ring spun on her finger twice before she slipped it into her desk drawer next to it.

“Read to go?” She looked up to watch him.

Samad nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“It will be fine. Zane and Bella are much better than some pairs we’ve worked with.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am, I can sense it.” She led the way out of the room with him close behind her.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the cafeteria. Students and staff milled around with trays in hand, their conversations created a dull hum in the air. As Elsa searched for Bella and Zane, Samad went for their food. Upon spotting the earlier pair, she smiled then took a seat across them. Her partner arrived shortly after and slid her tray over. With a grateful nod, she took a moment to enjoy the milkshake.

Any conversation that could’ve bloomed was stopped cold when their uninvited guest arrived.

Their eyes turned in unison to the larger man holding a tray filled with enough sweets for a sugar coma. Both Samad and Elsa struggled not to look surprised. It didn’t stop the tension that rippled through their link as they observed him. They took note of his statement about safe and sound, but made no comment on it. Elsa braved some small talk.

She pointed to ‘meal’. “Don’t they usually bring you food in your cell?”

Feeling waves of discouragement emanating from his partner, Zane glanced towards his partner while waiting in line to get the duo’s food. She seemed a bit more down for one negative incident to be the cause but given that nothing else happened within the past few hours, assumed that it must have been that. Unlike him, she put in more care and effort to prepare to mentor the students. He was about to reach out to his partner to try and comfort her but before he could say something he could feel Bella’s focus shift towards another telepathic conversation. Gleaning just information from their link to learn that the conversation was with the closest thing Bella has for a sibling, Zane decided to let things be and distance himself as much as possible. He learned from past experience that it was best to keep his nose out of girl talk.

Sliding a tray towards Bella, Zane ate without a word to allow room for the two ladies to chat until the other duo arrived. Zane started to share with the other duo how his training session went but stopped mid sentence when the prisoner took a seat beside him. Clenching the fork in his hand, Zane prepared a swing towards the man as the prisoner mentioned about them being unharmed. Before he could move his arm off the table he felt a small hand on his wrist and immediately stopped any movement forward.

Wait. A look of concern was on Bella’s face as she studied the man.

Alive and unharmed? He knew about the danger that was waiting for us. Zane retorted as he jabbed his fork instead into his food with enough force to rattle the his and the trays around him. “Alive and unharmed, my ass.” Zane mumbled out loud as he chewed his food.

Whether it was his intention or not, we should be cautious. There is a cafeteria full of students around us. Bella responded as she mentally went through yesterday’s conversation with the prisoner. Who was this man that has enough power or reputation to merit a private welcome from Tabion, know about the dead zone and be released or escape from the prison cell while being in shackles?

Yin had sat for all of fifteen minutes before abruptly standing, slamming the table, claiming this was stupid and leaving her designated class on alchemic theory. She made sure to slam the door in response to her instructor requesting her to come back and proceeded to walk onto the training field. This place was where she felt comfortable and it spoke volumes when the thought of battle soothed her. She was well aware of her psychological evaluation that claimed she was 'unhinged' and 'uncontrollable'. Did it bother her? Nope.

She was one of the 'old bloods', practically royalty in the alchemic world. She was a prodigious heiress of said 'old bloods' and she was one of the few Chrono Candidates destined to take a seat of power within Amro. What she definitely was not, was someone who could stand bullshit and weaklings. Yin always thought it was a testament to her sheer will that she had managed to spend all those years at Innocence without killing half her teachers and peers. Everyone knew of her Chrono potential and yet she was deemed unsuitable to be a Chrono Asylum and as such was forced to study among the refuse and cannon fodder. "I will burn them all and claw my way to the top," Yin finally spoke through clenched teeth as she observed her fellow peers spar.

Perhaps due to her state of rage or day-dreaming the girl was unable to counter the rock that smashed her between the eyes. For a few seconds her vision swam and blood trickled down the wound and then her alchemic drive activated. Her bleeding slowed to a stop and her glazed eyes became focused on the target. Her prey were a group of burley students, all by technicality her senior at Innocense.

"Ah if if ain't the queen bitch." One of the students spoke up, his own alchemic drive activated along with his peers. Each impressive in their right and each of them knowing it. The problem with thinking you are strong is often the fact, you aren't.

Before the student could continue with his well thought out confrontational speech, Yin instantly appeared in front of him. Her palm grabbing the shocked kid's face and hurling him across the training field right into a wall, the sound of bones breaking quite audible.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Yin screamed as darkness began to writhe around her and she began charging.

The group of arrogant boys instantly broke under her manic visage and began to retreat, but there was no escape as Yin Laofeng began her hunt. A lot of the crowd had already dispersed while some observed the spectacle with bated breath and yet no one dared to assist the doomed children who had assaulted Yin Laofeng.

Another child cried in horror as his own shadow coiled around his legs, shattering them, leaving bloody stumps.

"Please, please I'm sorry okay? Please….help!" One of the boys pleaded, his voice breaking under all the sobbing. And yet Yin still closed the distance, anger boiling the darkness around her.

Kiara and Maeve stopped as the fight began. Well, to call it a fight would be very generous to one side. It was more of a massacre. Kiara winced as the audible cracking of bones could be heard when one boy smashed into the wall. Maeve sighed, feeling her partner's thoughts through their channel.

“She’s gonna kill them, isn’t she?”

“Yep.”

“And we have to stop her.”

“Correct.”

“Because we’re the responsible ones.”

“Because we’re the responsible ones, yes.”

Maeve sighed again, cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders. This would at least be entertaining. She could feel the crazy bitch’s alchemic drive from all the way over here, and it was immense. The thing linings of bone began to expand over her, forming her armor. “Go and save the idiots. I’ll stop crazy.”

Kiara nodded, moving quickly towards the crowd of horrified watchers. “You and you! Go get the injured ones and drag them to the med bay.” She snapped, pointing out two of the faster looking students. When they just looked at her incredulously, Kiara growled in frustration. “DO IT NOW, OR I’LL THROW YOU TO HER MYSELF!” She commanded, using alchemy to carry her voice. The two students, responding to both authority and fear, immediately jumped to action sprinting to grab the two injured and possibly dead boys. Shadows raced along side them, helping them gather up the bodies and begin pulling them away.

As Yin advanced on the terrified children, Maeve moved with a burst of alchemic speed and skidded to a stop in front of her. Her armor was covering everything except her face, and she gave a bright, fake, smile to Yin. “Now, now, you’ve proven your point. No need to beat up on those who can’t punch back. They’ve learned their lesson, so why don’t we take a step back and a deep breath, hmm?”

Yin's eyes hadn't even moved from the boys who cowered behind this new interloper. "This does not fucking concern you," she spoke while briefly glancing at the woman barring her judgement. Her fists clenching and her baleful gaze returning to the cowards. "These fucks assaulted me…..me!"

“Oh boy, you’re just full on the train to crazy town, aren’t ya?”

Yin screamed as she took a few steps forward. "The lesson has just started!" She spat while swearing in Chinese and striking the Asylum with an open palm sending a shockwave through her to strike at the students behind her.

Maeve stumbled backwards, grunting with the impact and grinning at the girl as her Ceannlann armor covered her face. Her eyes glowed with an emerald green light as her voice echoed out of the helmet. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She lunged forward with a cackle and swung at Yin’s face.

Behind her, Kiara cursed. “No, stop, WALL!” A barricade of earth shot up at the last second and took the brunt of the shockwave. Kiara breathed a sigh of relief before pointing at the terrified would-be assailants. “Get out of here! Go!” They didn’t need any more pushing. With the victims beginning to get out of the way, she could turn her attention to the main problem. “Okay, time for us to just relax, yeah?” She traced a symbol on the ground and chains of earth shot upwards towards Yin in an attempt to wrap her up.

" 你他妈的愚蠢的荡妇 " Yin swore at Kiara as she watched her prey escape and another interloper join the fray. The Asylum's sigils summonings chains of hardened earth to bind her only to shatter a moment later, giving Yin just enough time to side step the others strike.

"You think you saved them?" Yin spoke in English coated with her Chinese accent. "I know their faces, I know their classes, I know their dorms." She continued while readjusting her stance, one designed to fight multiple opponents. "You gave those fucks false hope!" The student had venom in her tone as she addressed the two Asylums, her gaze switching between the two as the darkness around her continued to writhe and slither.

“You do realize that this is the type of talk that gets students thrown in AMRO prisons, right?” Kiara called, beginning to draw another sigil in the ground.

“Does it sound like she cares?” Maeve snapped, bringing her fists up again.

"Way of the Lao, seventh stance" Yin mumbled softly as she finally became focused and managed to center herself. Her rage never dimmed but now she had it by the reigns, now she could direct it. Her left Palm facing Maeve who stood on the right and her right palm crossing her arm to face Kiara who stood at her left.

Then Yin Laofeng went on the offense, pivoting to ensure Maeve is between her and Kiara. Her palms a blur as she began working at her. Her striking style was similar to wingchun, though instead of punches she focused on open palm strikes that targeted internal organs or finger strikes at vulnerable points such as the joints, the eyes or the ears. Throughout the assault Yin's alchemic drive radiated calmly, despite revealing her monstrous potential she had yet to dip in it.

“Oh fuck, uh, way of the moving really fast!” Maeve called out, her form becoming a blur as her own speed increased and she dodged and deflected the strikes. The alchemic drive was only increasing in power, which was a major concern. Kiara cursed, unable to finish the sigil while Yin kept Maeve in the way.

“Why the hell is this kid so fast!” Maeve snarled as her counterpunch was dodged. Yin was moving faster than she had any right to be, especially with Maeve’s own alchemy involved. A finger jabbed her in the eye and, despite being blocked by the armor Maeve was wearing, it hurt like hell. An open palm hit her ribs and she stumbled backwards, gasping for breath “Fuck this!”

She leapt backwards out of range of the girl’s flailing strikes. “Ìre a trì!” The collar around her neck glowed a bright green. Maeve drew in a deep breath and then let out a scream at her opponent. A wall of sound rippled forward, tearing up the ground in between them as the scream raced towards Yin.

Kiara, seeing her chance, finished her sigil as the ground beneath Yin’s feet turned into quick sand and attempted to drag her down and hold her in place. She rapidly drew another one, sending a wall up behind Yin that shot in her direction to stun her.

Yin had anticipated the Asylum retreating, obviously she would and she had planned to follow up in order to bridge the distance to strike her heart. The armor would have absorbed most of the impact and the minor stroke would have been enough to incapacitate the annoying bitch.

"What the fuck!" Yin growled, before she could take a step forward to close the distance her stance was broken. Her dominant foot had sunk in the ground, breaking her equilibrium and before she could correct it the scream blasted her into the wall behind her, making her land amid the debris.

It took her a whole ten seconds to blast the debris apart, a wicked smile on her face as she spat out blood. She had forgotten her rage or rather she was now having far more fun and the anger now smoldered in her mind.

"You two...are very good team mates, strong too…..good...I can get a bit more serious," the girl replied with an enthusiastic smirk. Her stance had changed once more but this time instead of her palms spread out, it was her fists and then she vanished.

She reappeared inches before Maeve, headbutting her forehead despite the fact the Asylum had it encased in bone armor. The impact resulted in blood trickling down Yin's forehead. But now she understood the degree of strength this armor possessed.

"I really like your armor, your partner on the other hand…." As soon as those words finished Yin blurred and appeared in front of the sigil crafting support, her open palm slapping the woman's ear and the other reaching out to punch her throat.

Kiara’s cloak, shadow tail, whipped forward in a flash, blocking the punch. Kiara smiled, somewhat dazed from the first slap. The crazy student had some heat on her strikes. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think that she was the only one who could stand toe to toe with someone in a fight? Sorry to disappoint kiddo.” She got quickly to her feet, settling into her own stance. She opened her connection with her partner, her eyes glowing emerald. “And you’re right, we are a good team! Let us show you.”

Maeve was behind Yin in a second, and the two banshees went on the offensive. Shadow Tail striking and moving with Kiara’s whims as Maeve’s heavily knuckled gauntlets struck in perfect tandem. It was a whirlwind of two minds working as one. Kiara muttered as she fought, making more quicksand and loose dirt beneath Yin to keep her from setting her stance.

This time Yin was prepared, having accounted for both the annoying gaelic warriors. They had spunk and uncanny team work but they hadn't the luxury of training in the ancient arts since you could stand. Yin jumped right before the two Asylums launched their simultaneous attacks, pivoting her torso to drive her elbow into Maeve's gauntlet to redirect it into Kiara's cloak. As soon as that maneuver ended she stomped both her feet on the ground, the motion transmuting it back into solid earth. Carrying the momentum from her jump, spin and stomp she pushed both her palms outwards in the direction of the two Asylums who stood on her left and right. A weak kinetic blast dispersed at the command straight into the Banshees allowing the student enough breathing room to shatter the charm around her neck and summon her own weapon. A large Chinese broadsword which in one smooth motion she parted into two. "Way of the Lao, twenty third stance."

“How many stances do you have, for fucks sake!”

"You may need another good team to balance it out," Yin scoffed as she observed the two with an almost manic hunger for battle before suddenly twirling with the blades. Both blades slicing through air and releasing a far more dangerous and sharper kinetic blast. The darkness around her continued to slither, almost dancing and yet Yin hadn't even bothered to summon it.

The Banshees began to be pushed backwards, swords scraping against bone and shadow as Laofeng went on the offensive. Step by step the two asylums were driven back, still working in tandem. The girl was good. A psychopath, but good. They were being pushed against the wall to the cafeteria.

Maeve took another step back as a broadsword scraped past her fist and cut against her helmet. “Enough!” She drew her fist back and upwards into the air, bringing it crashing down as Kiara’s shadow tail whipped over her head in a dark fist to strike at Yin. As Maeve’s fist hit the ground, a shockwave of energy rippled outwards to force Yin back.

"But the fun is just getting started!" Yin screamed gleefully as she crossed her broadswords to block shadowtail and then slice the air. Her blades like a scissor, shearing through the shockwave and dispersing most of the force. However the energy that trickled through struck her like a truck but the Laofeng powered through with sheer momentum. Her blades discarded as she charged maniacally and tackled both banshees right through a window.

_{Location: Cafeteria
Time: Some point before the Throwdown collab
Collab Between Rina, Fallen and Ryver
Of Mind Links, Baking and Things}

---

Nothing makes me happier than brightening your day with some homemade love. You are doing a remarkable job at being Wednesday Addams. Something's bothering you.

Cici intended to start with a cheerful "what shall we have for lunch" but her plans changed when she encountered the thick fog emanating from Bella. It was a new, and interesting, development. She thought this level of perception was exclusive to linked Asylums. That or Bella sinking into a new level of despair. She remained a warm presence at the back of the Palladino's mind, conveying her supportive patience. It was usually the best way to lure this mouse out of her current funk.

Marmite toast and hot tea. How does that sound? Goes perfectly with what I'm bringing to you. Please air your thoughts until then. This is the most private we can get, I'm afraid. Not sure how much the 'prisoner' can bug our private conversation.

Her mind rattled off random recipe instructions, their code when an eavesdropper was suspected. She hoped her friend would respond in kind. Shifting the flour to prevent lumps. (Who is making you uncomfortable?) I used that new sieve you bought. (Is it the new person?) I swapped out the white filling with cocoa. (Or could it be Kannon? Something else entirely?)

There was a long pause as Bella thought over Cici’s questions. There was a part of her that didn’t want to respond knowing that her friend would try to cheer her up and feeling a bit guilty about inconveniencing her friends yet again. Brushing the thought aside Bella responded while being mindful of the code Cici was using.

How do you keep the oven from burning every single thing you put into it? (Every single thing I’ve tried has turned out bad/how do you deal with things when nothing goes well?)

Bella’s cheery disposition lacked in her response as her mind replayed every negative interaction since they arrived yesterday. As she shared she surveyed the crowd for the other duo they were to meet for lunch before her gaze returned back to Zane as he approached the table. Zane and I tried to make an afternoon snack yesterday which not only burnt to a crisp but caught on fire. (Zane and I tried to help yesterday with the incident and not only did that turn out bad, we are in a worse state than expected with Kanon). Zane has already brushed it off but there are still pieces to clean up (Zane is not worried but there is still more to do with this incident). Not only that, I also tried to be adventurous and bake something on my own this morning. (I stepped out of my comfort zone this morning by teaching) I thought I got all the measurements right and prepped everything but it still came out bad by the end of things. (I prepared everything for it and thought things would go well but my teaching session was a big flop) Bella paused for a second as she thought over what she shared about yesterday’s incident and how mentoring went for her before interjecting again. Sorry, that was a lot at once.

Relax, Bella girl. You've improved a lot. Last time you wouldn't even think of trying to bake something on your own. No, I mean it, Miss Crabby. I wished I could have tasted that crisp before you binned it (I'm sorry I wasn't there to help out and I'm still not sure what to think about the incident with Kannon).

Cici toned down the sunshine after turning into the main corridor. If she remembered correctly, the cafeteria would be at the other end. She tapped her chin. Elsa, you there? She quizzed after briefly telling Bella she was inviting another person into the conversation. Have you and Samad met up with Belle and Zane? I want to ask you about yesterday too. I … bollocks! Back with you soon! She exclaimed hurriedly before disappearing. Her feet carried her towards the boys' room up ahead.

Another fist impacted Cade’s diaphragm.

The impact knocked the air out of his breath, his cry stuck, and died in the back of his throat. His teeth gritted tightly when he fell onto his knees. The sting of the landing rattled through his body. On instinct, his body curled forward and his forehead pressed into the chilled floor. It jolted him back into reality. A wet, sticky sensation traveled along his face side. It licked at the edge of his vision, but he couldn't identify the source. Deep down, he already knew what it was.

Breathe now, Cade demanded of his body.

As expected, it didn’t work. He leaned there gasping helplessly for more breath. A phrase from class wormed itself into his mind. A down man was a dead one. It drove him to place his hand onto the ground then started to push himself up. His toes barely got underneath him before a well-aimed kick sent him onto his side. He slammed against the wall. The sounds of footsteps caused him to glare at his attackers. Through blurry vision, he could identify them as a small group of boys. Most of them were close to his age and all of them were satisfied with their victory.

The oldest, dark-haired and lanky, stepped forward. His right leg lifted then pinned Cade’s shoulder against the wall. A sharp yell exited his throat finally. The pack leader just pressed his foot harder into the joint.

“I. Said. Mind. Your. Own. Business.” Each word was punctuated with more weight ground into his shoulder.

Cade just glared back. He didn’t like individuals that felt entitled to something they wouldn’t. When he witnessed the group harassing a female student, he couldn’t simply sit by and let it happen. He foolishly asked them to back off. The leader didn’t like that and they stalked him into the boy’s restroom. There, they started to plummet him. Cade failed to put up much of a fight. The boys had both numbers and years over his own experience.

A recipe for disaster.

Cocoa, butter, and icing sugar made a mouthwatering combination but it was completely out of place in the loo. Cici's blonde hair draped downwards as she poked her head through the door. She tucked her hands behind her back and clicked across the tiled floor. Bella and Elsa would get an explanation later as to why she needed to end their mental conversation.

"You lads are sure in high spirits. Rowing like good boys do. Not a fair fight, I see, most unfortunately," she remarked. There was a hint of steel underneath her fluffy tone. An invitation almost to throw a blow in her direction.

Her blue eyes kept averted from Cade to give him enough time to salvage his pride. She noted that the scrawny boy had fight left in him and that won her respect. She beamed and encroached into the leader's personal space. She tensed her knees in anticipation now that she was bringing the fight into enemy territory. Not that she expected them to be much of a challenge. Bullies were generally all bark and no bite even in Innocence.

"I might be kind and let you have a late lunch if you're under me buuuuuut I shall not speak for the rest. So, your choice, lads. Fight or food? I know I won't want to go hungry during what comes next. It might be your last supper."

As cocky as some students could be about their skills, these boys were smart. Smart enough to know who and when to target. This woman was one of the new asylum teachers which made her a high threat. They still had another year or two before finals. When she entered the leader's personal space, she drew his eyes into her direction. His tongue rolled against his cheek in the debate. As a sign of resistance, he pushed a bit more weight into Cade's shoulder then stepped back.

"He followed me in then decided to pick the fight by throwing the first punch. I decided to show him why he shouldn't pick fights with people stronger than him. The others can confirm it." The boy's words could've been butter if it wasn't full of shit.

In this situation, from any teacher's perspective, it was his word against Cade's. The odds were tilted in the other boy's favor only because more eyes would have sided with him.

He started to stroll around the teacher toward the exit. A single hand raised then gestured for the others to follow him, their figure followed him.

"Given what I heard, maybe it's best I don't hear the rest about what happened."

Cici grinned as she waved to the retreating students. She doubted it would hurt to let them think they managed to hush things up. She had, of course, heard about the harassing when she walked passed the girl and her friends in the hallway. It was the reason she was here instead of sitting in the cafe.

She spun around, crouched, and bowed her head enough to land her chin onto the back of her head. "You don't have any backup," she observed. "That's your biggest mistake. I'd probably have done the same otherwise. Bullies are the most unfortunate result of our curriculum."

She paused to let Cade protest if he wished. His words would give her a better understanding of what sort of lesson she could impart to him. After all, training Asylums that get themselves blown up on the first mission was a ridiculous waste of resources. She rowed her head to one side, narrowing her eyes to a feline's gaze.

"Say, how good are you at patching yourself up? I've got a kit on me. We can work together while I listen."

She grabbed one of the charms off her bracelet and crushed it breaking the seal. A red first-aid pouch appeared in her hand briefly before it toppled into Cade's lap. Cici grinned cheekily smug that it landed where she wanted it to. She leaned forward to retrieve the green slime containing vials cushioned inside.

"Recognize this?" She prompted, hoping to chip away more of the ice. That "woe-is-me" frown was a ridiculous waste of such a cute face. She continued waving it tantalizingly in front of him. "Yoooooou know this better than anyone, don't you? Biiiiiig tank. Heaps of bloopy green stuff. Makes you feel like a fish in an aquarium. No? Yes?"

Cade groaned under his breath. His arm pushed harder off the floor and propped him into an upright position, his back pressed firmly against the wall. A subtle flinch etched across his surface when a new pain flared at his movement. His eyes casually glared at the boys as they exited one by one. Of course with the asylum arrival, they didn’t dare risk having their asses handed to them.

“...” He didn’t respond to her comment on having back up.

It was hard to depend on others when they saw him as a weakling for being a pacifist. Even the teachers were less than pleased with his avoidance of conflict whenever he could.

His eyes locked with her stare then pressed back into the cold tile. Cade couldn’t ignore the fact her odd movements unnerved him the longer he watched her. Like a child who had found a curious toy in a place she least expected.

Another sigh released from his lungs, but it flared with fresh suffering. When the adrenaline finally died in the fight’s wake, he noted how much difficulty he had in breathing. Each inhale seemed to collect shards of glass rather than air. With shallow breaths, Cade ran his fingers over his joints then the bones. He checked for deformities, swelling, and pain. He placed the painful breath to the side to note it appeared to be just minor bruises or cuts until he hit his rib. Searing hurt flooded his system and he doubled over, crumbled to the pain.

“Fuck... “ Cade hissed.

Sweat poured from his pale skin causing his shirt to cling to his surface. At this point, his face scrunched up into a winch as he sized her up.

“It’s… fish tank goo. And yes, I do. Teasing me… doesn’t help the pain.” He decided to point out.

Cici hummed her bafflement at his reaction. She figured he hadn't seen this version of the goop or he'd be snatching the tube from her hand. She hated having to prod this bespectacled hedgehog more than necessary. That stare earlier made her question her welcome.

"Edible fish tank goo. Go on, take a sip. Doesn't taste like lemon sherbet but it doesn't make you gag either. Win-win I say. Hopefully, you won't need a second tube."

She popped the lid open with a sharp twist and wrapped one of his hands around it. She kept her hand around his until she was confident the tube won't slip to the floor. "I'm serious. This version is edible! Want me to drink a tube to prove my point?"

Not in a mood to argue with anyone, Cade pressed his back against the wall. The simple movement caused him to clench his teeth and bite back a cry in his throat. He sucked in shallow breaths of air while he let her continue her talking. Sweat shimmered across his pores as it drenched his crumpled shirt, signs of shock started to take hold.

“Look…” Cade took another breath, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m sure my rib is fractured or broken. I might be going into minor shock."

He let his words trail to try to collect his thoughts. It was difficult to determine the exact extent of the damage without the proper equipment, but he feared the worst.

“I doubt a teacher wants to explain why a student is dead outside of class so there's no reason not to trust you.” He held a hand out for the tube.

"You doubt me after I helped you out earlier?" She teased while handing over the goo tube.

Getting to her feet, Cici pulled out a handkerchief from one of her hidden pockets and wet it under running water from the closest basin. She crouched down beside Cade again and started sponging his clammy skin. Her lips peeled open as a second thought occurred to her.

"I don't know much about healing or how effective the goo is. Say, would you like a second tube? It may knock you out somewhat but I can get you to the infirmary easily."

She fished out a second tube in anticipation. Silently, she took one of his shaking hands and made him hold the damp cloth against his temple. Her own fingers wrapped themselves around the stopper. "Don't tell me you're already dozing off. I know this has some alcohol in it but you'd have to be a lightweight to get drunk this quickly."

Cade sighed, then took a moment to examine the ‘goo’. His mind replayed the facts as he noted he had drained a considerable amount of energy and thankful he didn’t titter on the edge of insanity. The young man shuddered. Alchemy was still a ‘science’ he knew very little about.

With a deep breath, he downed the first tube. A strong favor of Grey Earl invaded his tongue chased down by a hint of lemon. The texture reminded him of watered-down custard filling. He nearly choked on it from the surprise. Cade tightened his mouth shut while he forced it down, the sensation slid down his throat and settled into his stomach.

When she took his hand and used it to keep the wet handkerchief to his temple, he watched her outside the edge of his vision. She immediately reached for another tube.

“I will admit, I don’t know if I’m a lightweight or not. I’ve never drunk anything stronger than soda.” A light rush started to billow from his middle and spread across his veins. It centered on his wounds where they gradually began to heal.

Cici could already hear Elsa nagging. Her friend had always been skeptical about the 'goo' after the tasting session three months ago. The seemingly innocuous goop in plastic cups had turned many unsuspecting Asylums into roaring drunks by their third sample. A miscalculation in alcohol content, according to the staff, a claim which was still met with lots of skepticism to this day. Especially, after they realized that for lightweights, a second tube would be the equivalent of downing three-fourths of a bottle of vodka. A claimed side effect of all the energy thieved off the body to help it heal itself.

The lady appraised the injured student again, weighing the pros and cons of feeding him the second tube. She personally hadn't experimented with its efficacy since she seldom needed to get up close to her enemies. Samad was the only one she knew who had actually used it recently. She tugged at his consciousness only to back away.

"Well, this calls for an experiment, doesn't it? I'll feed you the second tube and we compare notes afterward. You don't have to down the whole thing, mind." She remarked as she popped the cap off. "This should taste like lemon curd and fresh butter scones."

She offered the entree to the tea party in front of the teen. Her mind now more fascinated by the prospect of seeing this serious boy drunk. Was he going to be a noisy drunk or asleep one? Or better yet, a gung-ho one. The prospect of him getting daredevil-like in the heat of battle was highly entertaining.

"Up, up. Lean on me please. I'll be getting you to the infirmary."

"I'm not sure I want to try another. The texture is so slimy and I barely got it down." Cade stated as he moved his arm and wrapped it around her neck.

"Just help me up and I can likely limp to the infirmary if I can manage to keep my balance. I'm sure you have places you need to be and lunch will be ending soon." He didn't want to inconvenience her. The woman didn't have to help, but he did appreciate it even through the pain.

"Not the last time you're gonna taste it."

Cici downed the tube to not waste it. A lopsided smile formed her lips as soon as it blossomed in her head. She smacked her lips in appreciation while hauling him up. "Steady," she warned. "Also try to keep it in when we arrive."

She focused her mind on the infirmary down the hall. Her brow scrunching slightly as she could feel the alcohol talking. She waved off any concerns the student had and she asked him to jump. She hiccoughed from the sudden rush of activity.

The world pulled apart in glowy threads. Spinning like a made spool on Aurora's spinning wheel. Cic whooped merrily, dancing around as they hit the firm ground. She waved to the shock medics chatting in the corner over their AO frappucinos from the coffee shop.

"Check on this kid here. He had goop for his injury. 'Spect he might be suffering from overuse too." She informed them.

Rubbing his back slowly to dull potential nausea, she gave him a goofy grin. "Soooo you good if I left you here? I'd be happy to keep you company otherwise."

Cade’s stomach twisted in his midriff. His arm tightened briefly before he let her go suddenly. He turned his head and his mouth open. In a wave of color, all the contents of his stomach spilled out across the floor into a putrid liquid. The strong soured carrot taste lingered at the back of his raw throat. Already a few of the medics started to move to guide him to a chair while another went for a mop.

“I think I’ll be all right. Thanks again. However, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to teleporting…” Already his stomach clenched in on itself threatening to purge more of his last meal upon the floor.

Cici wrinkled her nose and danced further away. "I - well, I gotta run. Take care, okay? I'll stop by to see if you are here in the evening. Bring you some soup, maybe." Curling inwards to avoid the medics touching her, the Asylum made for the door. She wasn't the type to overstay her welcome.

What did I miss? Bella … Elsa? She chirped into the echoing silence. She reached out again to no avail. She blinked slowly, realising that something must have happened.

She took off. The whizzing corridor barely leaving an impression on her conscious mind. And, she skidded through the door, made a sharp turn and slipped into place beside Bella. An empty chair appearing at that spot as if by magic. She sank down after a round of cheery nodding and non-verbal hellos. Crossing her legs, she leaned across Bella and scrutinised the strange man.

"You look like you could use a cuppa," she proposed after seeing him wolf down more cake. What she really thought of Angel underneath the friendliness was hard to deduce.

Removing one of her charms from the bracelet, she rolled it against the surface. The seal burst open, depositing a large thermos flask, a stack of plastic cups and a flat cardboard box, similar to the ones used to package donuts. The box she pushed towards Elsa before she poured out two cups of tea. She floated one towards Angel using telekinesis.

After settling it in front of him, she held her cup between both hands and inhaled the fragrant steam. "Mmm, dark roasted Samatra Oolong. I remembered you were impartial to it the last time I brewed some for you, Samad. Want a cup? Zane?"

She rested the edge of the cup on her lower lip. The sip never coming as she waited to see Elsa's reaction to her latest creations. She couldn't help beaming. "Chocolate not coconut just the way you like it. Made enough for five of us." Which five, while unsaid, was obvious to the outsider in the group. She wondered if he would be bold enough to help himself without permission. She expected him to since the way he carried himself suggested that he was the rebellious sort.

The man's presence lit all their tensions on fire as they each reacted differently to the situation. An unsettled silence proceeded and lingered after Zane's last comment. When Cici's question flitted over her mental link, Elsa didn't answer. She suspected the prisoner's specialization to be related to the mind because of how easily he deduced when she discovered the location. He didn't even bother to hide it afterward. Another red flag to add to her ever-growing pile and another reason to stay far away from him.

Cici's arrival broke the growing apprehension. Elsa gave her a raised eyebrow at her friend and questioned what took her so long. Instead of an answer, Cici set out treats and offered drinks to Samad then Zane. Her partner glanced at her. Understanding his hesitation, she smiled then reached out to slide the small package back to her.

"Yes, please." He turned to Cici and asked politely. His arms still remained crossed over his front, but his alchemy ready for unwanted surprises.

Meanwhile, Elsa began to open up the box lid and smirked at the treats inside.

"I envy your baking ability. Most of my efforts wind up becoming charcoal." The woman reached in.

Between her fingers, she pulled two snowball shaped cookies covered in powdered sugar. She passed one to Samad who examined it for a moment then took a small bite.

I trust Cici not to poison you, Samad. Enjoy it, not judge it. Elsa teased him.

It's too sweet, I prefer savory and fruit favors. I will never understand your addiction to chocolate... He retorted only to continue eating it.

-deleted-

Angel observed the new comer, casually tilting his head to greet her, her demeanor diminishing the tension around them. All the while he continued to silently observe these Alchemists, each groomed to err on the side of caution and hence it was no surprise most of them did not trust him. He was especially amused with Elsa and Samad, those two seemed mistrusting that bordered on paranoia. And so he simply finished his dessert while the British sounding Asylum did the most British thing, offer tea and biscuits.

“Right, excellent ice-breaker Miss Tea&Cookies,” Angel eventually cut in, his curiosity needed to satiated. ”But I believe none of you answered my question?” Angel merely smiled at them as his voice echoed in their minds, he had rerouted their telepathic channel and reconstructed it to include all of them in it, albeit forcefully, for privacy. Oh and no matter which prison you’re in, the meals are always horrible.” He replied to Elsa before switching his gaze to Zane, the same patronizing smile on his face. And no I did not deliberately send you into danger boy, that was all you. I merely pointed out that there was a strange phenomenon and you proceeded to find it through your own volition. You can’t coerce someone to do something stupid, they have to have the talent for it.

_out…

Elsa’s icy cool voice answered Angel. For all the time during training that both Bella and Cici had known the Ice mother, her tone rarely dropped to the degrees of freezing. On the other hand, being her partner, Samad had seen it on very rare occasions. Usually when someone crossed a line or became a threat. He subtly braced himself as the expected warning came out in the telepathic channel.

You really should learn to ask permission before you force your alchemy on others.

A small concern edged from Samad’s link when he noted the incident had evaporated her appetite. Underneath the table, his hand reached for hers and gently gripped with a reassuring squeeze. He knew the cause, but wisely kept it to himself.

_out…

Angel's smile hadn't wavered a bit as his veiled gaze settled on Elsa. "I apologize, I merely sought a private audience. You are welcome to accompany me to my prison and discuss all the finer points of Alchemic etiquettes, later."

_out…

Samad decided to inject himself into the conversation.

I assume you have a reason for this and the longer you delay, the less we get done. Can we please get to the point? He knew the apology wasn’t going to be enough.

It hadn’t been for her brother when he used his dying breath to utter one. The asylum's eyes narrowed on the man who upset his partner as he continued to try to ease over her internal fury.

_out…

A small hum could be heard through the telepathic conversation. However, being less audible than a soft whisper, Bella’s input was easily drowned out by the conversation taking place. Sitting frozen in place, Bella stared at the half eaten cookie in her hand. She could feel her heartbeat rise as a familiar tightness started to grow in her chest.

_{out…out…out...}

Bella’s volume slowly started to rise as the tempo of her demand started to quicken in pace.

Out. OUT. GET OUT!

Bella’s alchemic drive activated as her panic grew. The cookie in her hand crumbled as she clenched her hand. As she clenched, the metal utensils that were scattered on the table flew towards the prisoner’s head and chest with the intention of stabbing the man with the tines of the forks and the blades of the knives. As the utensils made their way towards impact, Bella raised up her other hand. A bot the size of a baseball came out of Bella's backpack and using her implant commanded it to fly towards the prisoner.

Angel's eyebrow had risen a fraction from Bella's outburst, her panic flooding the telepathic channel creating an empathic ripple where everyone could feel it rather than just see it. Before the prisoner could disconnect the channel the Asylum before him had launched a salvo of utensils seeking to impale him and from purely her perspective, she had succeeded. Each and every knife and fork and embedded in him and the baseball sized orb had smashed into his face, leaving a bloody mess. However this was only from the Asylum's perspective and eventually, even for her, the facade faded to reveal countless knives having pierced an empty chair. The prisoner on the other hand had remained seated where he was.

"Calm yourself child! The prisoner's voice flooded the telepathic channel, drowning her panic, drowning all and everything before finally allowing the others to be able to hear their own thoughts.

’Calm?’ Bella’s panic paused in growth as confusion washed over as she looked between the uninjured man and the damaged chair. She was certain that she hit the man. She lined up the attack well and even saw the impact. How could this man dodge an attack while wearing the chains and added safety measures inscribed on it? ’I am calm. I am fine. Perfectly fine.’ Bella said shakily through the telepathic channel.

With a few blinks of her eyes she turned on the recording capabilities of her glasses. Something wasn’t right about this man. Was he powerful enough that the chains are not enough to stop him? Panic started to rise again as she thought about the alternative. What if this man was tinkering with her perception again and the chains were fake just like the outcome of her attack. If that is true what all could this man do? How much around her could she trust to be real? She didn’t want a similar outcome to happen like the last time something like this occurred. After gaining so much these past few years she couldn’t let it happen. She could feel her body shake as she stood and glared at the man. ’You on the other hand better quit this mind fuckery. A soft hum started to grow from the woman’s backpack.

Seeing Bella this worked up concerned Zane. He had never seen her act in this way during their time together. Reaching out to his partner, the man grabbed Bella’s hand and tried to calm her down but was quickly shaken off as his partner continued to glare.

"Very well, begone." The prisoners last thoughts echoed in their minds as he banished them all from his telepathic channel.

"So troubled by your past that you barely perceive the threat to your future," the prisoner spoke in a tone similar to quoting out of a book. "I have lost what little interest I had however I will share some wisdom out of goodwill. An alchemic deadzone cannot exist. It is impossible to negate alchemy, I have a few ideas how it could be caused…"

"There you are!" A loud voice echoed across the cafeteria as a tall lean armored man walked towards the table at which the prisoner was seated.

"Rogues that don't know their place should be slain where they stand, you deserve no less for escaping your confines!" The armored man continued to speak as he approached the table, his hand hovering over the hilt of his blade that was strapped next to his waist. "Before I cleave your head off, how did you escape?"

"You are but a child wielding a stick and yet you dare face a dragon?" The prisoner replied and the chained constraints that binded him slowly cracked and chipped. Angel's smile had turned into a strange smirk, one that almost invited violence.

With a shattering of glass and screams of frustration, that violence arrived. Propelled forward by Ying’s mad rush, the Banshees flew through the window and crashed onto the floor of the cafeteria. Skidding across the ground, Maeve came to a stop with a violent thud against an empty table. She groaned out curses in gaelic, rising to her feet.

Kiara was more prepared, twisting in the air as she spoke quickly and softened her landing with alchemy. She landed in front of the table and its inhabitants, stumbling slightly as she did so. “What the hell is with this child.” She huffed, before looking over at the others. “Oh! Hello! You must be the other teachers. Well, temporary teachers. Like Maeve and I. Could we get a hand? The girl seems to have lost her mind and is surprisingly powerful. Her drive is, quite frankly, scary.”

“Alright you little bitch, you wanna play ball? I can play ball!” Maeve grabbed the table behind her and, using the motion of her throw, heaved it at Ying.

"I am going to snap you in two you stupid fuck!" Yin matched obscenities with the Gaelic Asylum as she planted her feet wide apart and smashed the table with her fist causing it to burst into splinters, sharpnels of wood bombarding the cafeteria.

"What in the hell?" Another student screamed as a splinter pierced his shoulder, inadvertently punching the student behind him and so it went as the cafeteria descended into chaos.

Yin on the other hand charged Maeve yet again, closing the distance while her arms blurred, striking the bone witch, chipping away at her defense.

“You can fucking try!”

Meanwhile at the table:

"A child wielding a stick?" The armored Lost Number in front of them gritted his teeth as he glared at the prisoner before him, apparently oblivious to the chaos around him.

"And a daft one too actually." The prisoner continued to mock the man before him, his blood lust had withdrawn and now he was back to his casual and impertinent self. "If you are trying to understand who helped me escape my confines, isn't it obvious?" Even while facing down the Lost Number, the prisoner had remained seated with his legs crossed, only his arm lifting and his thumb pointing back at the Asylums. "I give you my cohorts, especially the one standing on the table and the one fighting that terrifying child, I would call them my favourite minions!"

“Excuse me?” Kiara looked confused, her gaze switching between Angel and the Knight.

"You are all dead!" The Lost Number spoke in a whisper before drawing his blade, the kinetic energy from the motion destroying the table as well as the wall behind it.

“We just got here what are-AHH!” Kiara dove off of the table, as it disintegrated behind her.

"Impressive, that wall didn't stand a chance." The prisoner spoke a second later, his dominating figure standing behind the armored Lost number, his head leaning over the Knights shoulder and casually observing the broken wall before vanishing and leaving the Asylums to deal with the fall out.

"Coward!" The Knight screamed in sheer frustration before turning to face the surviving 'cohorts'.

"Yin you are to execute that woman, stop playing with her!" The Knight commanded before swinging his blade, each swing followed by a destructive shock wave.

“He’s lying! We don’t even know who he is!” Kiara shouted out, desperately dodging as best she could. Each time the wave was getting closer and closer.

"But it was just getting exciting," Yin groaned before stepping away from Maeve. "Bah it can't be helped, guess you're fucked." She smirked as the darkness around her finally took form, sickled tentacles and arachnid legs crawled out of her shadow, each darker than black.

“What are you, a shitty batman rip off? Afraid of spiders and octopuses so you flail around with them?” Maeve mocked, before two daggers of bones extended from her palms and into her grasp. She slashed them against the ground, muttering in Gaelic, and a tall wall of fire shot forward from the slash on the ground.

Yin just laughed as she pivoted and clapped her hands together, the motion slicing the flaming wall in half and dispersing it allowing her Lovecraftian summonings to bombard the Asylum with a flurry of attacks. With a snap of her fingers her twin Chinese broadswords came spinning back to her hands and we're now coated in a sickly dark aura.

"Way of the Lao, death stance!" The girl intoned in a whisper, a silent requiem and in that instance her Alchemic drive was terrifying.

"Stance is a bit wide," Angel spoke from behind her, his foot gently prodding at Yin's heel causing her front foot to slip, resulting in an olympic grade split.

"You fuck….." Yin growled, her face beat red as she quickly recovered, her fury directed at the prisoner who had vanished yet again. "Your friend just cost you your only chance at a clean death!" She growled before charging the Banshee with blackened steel.

Back at the table:

"Traitors and liars!" The Knight roared as his giant claymore sliced in massive arcs, each cleave followed by a shockwave that desimiated anything in it's pathway. Even in his rampage the Lost Number's attacks were precise, almost surgical as they avoided any bystanders and seemed solely focused on the Asylums that were present on the table.

Seeing the attack head towards the duo, Zane hastily pushed Bella aside as the impact of the knight’s arrived. The first wave hit Zane hard as his shield started to activate along with his alchemic drive but due to the shield not being at its full size quick enough he could feel the impact hitting him, leaving gashes on his face and throughout his body as he tumbled back into the wall.

By the second swing his shield was fully expanded and a handful of bots flew towards Zane and expanded to create a temporary shield as the man stood up and muttered an incantation under his breath. He could feel a familiar pain course throughout his body as he used his alchemy to promote rapid growth throughout his body. He could feel his muscles tear and stitch back together as they expanded and his skin felt like it was burning as it strengthened and hardened.

Bella winced slightly as she felt the pain over their link. Typically her partner was careful about blocking the pain from her but given the rush, she expected to feel a fraction of the pain. Seeing the man reach for his battle axe, Bella knew he wouldn’t be ready for a third swing yet. Switching to alchemy, Bella moved her hand in the direction of the broken bots and raised her hands and shaped them to form another shield as the third wave made an impact.

By the end of his transformation he gained six inches of height and weighed a hundred pounds heavier. As the bots crumpled again from the impact Zane charged towards the man and blocked the next swing with his shield. A loud clang was heard as his shield made the impact. He could feel the energy from the claymore reverberate through him as he was pushed back a few feet. His arm felt numb by the impact as Zane held his ground. “Maybe the rouge was right.”

‘Zane…’ Bella said through their link as she tried to stop his comment.

“Maybe you really are a daft child if you think that we would partner with the prisoner.” Zane said as he swung his battle axe towards the knight.

The sigils on the Knight's armor automatically began to glow as the battle axe struck it and all impact was absorbed as if all the energy behind the attack had just vanished. The Lost Number just stared at the Asylum with a baleful gaze, his blade heaved atop his head, clenched in both hands, before slamming it down.

And again the prisoner was there, his palm pushing Zane's back and sending him hurling forward and with the same force pushing himself backwards to avoid the fallout from the kinetic burst. The prisoner's movement was always so minimal, just enough to get away as if he deliberately refused to expend effort.

"Might I suggest working together?" He replied sheepishly before vanishing. Clearly suggesting he was not part of "together". The Knight on the hand had redoubled his efforts to pummel the Asylums, his blade a blur as he cleaved and sliced at his targets.

’Zane, can you and Bella keep the asshole distracted? If we don’t get the students out, they will get in the way and be slaughtered. I also need the room for a powerful sigil trap to encase him. Then we can gang up on the student, take her out, and return to the ass. I just need time to set it up!’ Elsa’s words appeared in Zane’s mind.

’We’ll follow your lead when the time comes’ Zane said, pivoting and moving back to dodge the knight’s attack as he relayed the information to Bella. After receiving a confirmation and seeing Bella work on activating a charm, he responded to the prisoner. “If you actually helped and didn’t depend on others to pick up after the mess you created here, working together would have been a piece of cake.”

Seeing an opening Zane charged towards the man and feinted an attack before jumping back and moving to the side. With the man focused on Zane, Bella would now easily be in his blindspot with the commotion happening in the cafeteria.

“Hey goth chick,” Zane said, calling out to Kiara with the only detail he had with only half an introduction given. “If you and Maeve keep the kiddo busy, Bella will add some more fire power. Reinforcement is on the way but we will need to hold on for a few minutes.”

“Sure, but what are you gonna do about the knight?” Kiara picked herself up off the ground, Shadow Tail writhing around her. She pointedly ignored the ‘Goth chick’ phrase.

“Doesn’t matter, I could use some help!” Maeve called, grunting as she blocked Ying’s strikes. Kiara shrugged, before launching herself on the attack at Ying’s back. Shadows lashed out at her command, attempting to wrap around the girl’s limbs.

"Did you just try to attack me with shadows you stupid bitch?" Yin replied while laughing hysterically as Kiara's shadows were just absorbed into the darkness that swirled around her. The darkness enveloping her completely before exploding outwards in a burst of sickly black spikes and shards.

Kiara merely shrugged, Shadow Tail rising up and blocking the shards that came her way. “It was worth a shot.”

Maeve dodged what she could, cursing a piece of her armor that fell off under the explosion. “Any other bright ideas then, partner?”

"Sister….this needs to stop!" A student that looked exactly like Yin stepped between her assault, his hands glowing blinding white as he struck her projectiles, causing them to lose tangibility and dissipate.

"Ah the mighty Chrono Candidate has dained to come meet the peasantry?" Yin scoffed as she stared down her brother, malice and hatred drilling off her face as she faced her serene and calm brother.

"You must calm yourself, do not shame the family," he replied with an almost patronizingly calm tone.

"Fuck the family, fuck you and fuck them! I have orders to kill, you get in the way you are added to the list!" She growled before slamming her fists to the ground and summoning two clones of herself from her shadow. And then they charged, each clone colliding with Maeve and Kiara with an arsenal of martial prowess while the student herself launched herself at her brother.

Maeve’s blades were up in a moment again, scraping against the shadow clone as she fell back under the assault. “Oh good! Family issues! That’s what this fight needed!”

Kiara darted backwards, dodging the strikes of her own shadow clone. Seeing the other student appear, an idea struck her. She leapt backwards to give herself space, and then clapped her hands together. “Let there be light.” As she spoke, pure light began to shine off of her as she glowed. “And let Darkness fall.” With a gesture, she directed a wall of light directly at the clone in front of her.

Even as Yin's clones vanished from the burst of light summoned by Kiara, she had only redoubled her efforts against her brother. Their alchemic drives were a terrifying thing to behold, each evenly matched and a perfect counter to the other. Yang glowed with a blinding light which clashed with Yin's abysmal darkness, their fists striking each other sending blasts of energy across the cafeteria. The very structure of the building around them was compromised and starting to collapse. Getting close to them had become impossible in itself, let alone stop them.

“After the miserable attempt at a sparring match earlier with the students it will be fun crossing blades with this man until reinforcements come.” Zane said as he grabbed a nearby table and threw it at the knight and as it splintered he grabbed another and chucked it as well.

’Ready when you are. Bella said to Zane through their link as she kept the Knight and Yin in her vision and took a slow deep breath.

"Perhaps if you said please. The prisoner replied telepathically, his tone laced with sarcasm and amusement.

Hearing the prisoner’s voice, Zane immediately stifled his link with Bella to limit her ability to hear the prisoner. After the freak out she had earlier he wanted to make sure to limit what she heard in case it would distract her from the fight. Zane gave a small chuckle as he reached for another table and reached out telepathically into the void in hopes that the man would hear.

’Oh please, great and malicious prisoner. Bestow your blessing in this fight to those you called your minions. I’ll even supply you with my share of the vanilla ice cream or any other dessert you would like for a week to satisfy your sweet tooth. I doubt we would ever work together after today but if we ever do cross paths you can continue to have my share of sweets. The Asylum’s response was facetious in nature but given the prisoner’s choice in lunch he was willing to keep his promise.

The Knight's sword swing was now barely visible, such was his speed. Every obstacle thrown towards him would be sliced to pieces. The man barely even attempted to dodge, just tanked forward annihilating obstacles. In a matter of seconds the Lost Number had begun to run and his body glowed as the kinetic energy slowly built around his armor. This was a juggernaut of unbridled force, but instead of charging into Zane the Knight had altered his course to Bella and behind her were plenty of rioting students. The juggernaut knew Bella would stand her ground to protect the others, but right now he had so much kinetic energy he was a force of nature.

Zane’s lax demeanor vanished as the charging Knight altered his direction towards Bella. Dropping the table in hand, Zane sprinted after the man. In a loud angry voice Zane yelled out “Reckless growth in exchange of a worthy gain.”

A stronger burn compared to the first roared through the muscles in his legs and his arms as he focused his alchemy on targeted parts of his body. As the muscles in his legs grew his speed started to quicken as well. Given the Knight’s headstart he knew he wouldn’t make it in time but Zane charged regardless.

I suppose you did say please. The prisoner replied as he finally appeared in the path of Bella and the charging mad Knight. In his hands a charm which he casually shattered while observing the Lost Number with a lack of urgency.

"Aegis.."

With that word a strange distortion appeared in front of him and just seconds before the Knight collided with them, a large metal coffin materialized to shield them.

Windows shattered all around them, tables and students were hurled away and the closest wall had been completely obliterated by the sheer force of impact. However Angel's coffin was still standing and behind was the female Asylum and the prisoner.

"You should attack him now," The man replied before taking a seat, in front of them the Knight tried to correct his center of equilibrium, clearly rattled from the crash.

Bella gave a gasp as she saw the Knight charge towards her. Forgoing the original plan, Bella moved her hands to sign out her release for her charm early. As she started to make her second sign the prisoner appeared before her, momentarily halting her progression. Bella watched as the coffin appeared and everything around her turned into shambles as the knight made impact.

Zane! Bella exclaimed loudly through their link as she watched the man tumble back into a pile of broken chairs before hastily scrambling back on his feet to continue his charge.

Zane could feel the muscles in his left calf snap as he tackled the man and repeatedly attacked the man with the edge of his shield as he aimed for any possible source of skin or weakness in his armor to stab the man with the anti-alchemy laced edge. “Now Bells.”

Bella gave a nod and finished the final few signs. There was a flash in front of her and as her vision cleared she saw a large pile of decommissioned bots laying before her. “Spear. Stab. Entangle.” Bella signed before clasping her hands together. The decommissioned bots came together and shaped into twenty long poles that were ten feet in length with a speared edge. Moving her hands apart, the woman aimed the palm of her hand at the Knight and Yin. Eight of the spears flew towards the aggressive girl while the other twelve aimed for the Knight with the intent to pierce any exposed limb. Although her aim was to hit her target’s she was more concerned about getting the spears closer to her targets. After the spears made contact, Bella clenched her fists. The spears reached towards her target and coiled and tightened around any arm, leg or body part within reach to restrict or slow any movement.

Given a breather from the assault, Maeve and Kiara paused to pull themselves together. Maeve stumbled over to Kiara, exhausted. “Should we...should we help them before the building collapses around us?”

Kiara nodded, numbly. With a moment to think, her body was screaming at her about the exhaustion it was feeling. “Yeah.” She drew a deep breath, shaking herself. “Alright. I’ll take the knight, you take the crazy girl. We gotta end this fast.”

Maeve nodded, shaking herself as pieces of bone armor fell off. She took two steps forward towards Ying, arms moving in rapid motions as she muttered in Gaelic. As she pulled her hand down towards the ground, a pillar of bright light came crashing down over Ying.

Kiara, for her part, knelt on the ground and drew a series of sigils on the ground as Zane and Bella launched their attack. As the final sigil was completed, they flashed a dark black and the ground beneath the Knight turned to soft earth as grabbing hands of shadow burst from it and attempted to drag him down, or at least impair his swings.

"ENOUGH!"

Both Yin and the Knight screamed in unison as their alchemic drives soared.

A shockwave emerged from the Knight pushing everyone back, all the damage done to him turned into a kinetic push. Now he stood, sheer rage on his face. He took slow steps towards the Asylums while shedding his armor, his blade glowing an ethereal blue. This was the Knight at his strongest where he would forego all defense and focus entirely on offense. Very few had ever pushed him this far and it was a testament to the efforts of these Asylums. Death is all that awaited them.

If the Knight's alchemic drive was scary, Yin's was terrifying. Her eyes were now entirely black and the darkness she now summoned enveloped light itself. Black ichor spread from her shadow and began to pull everything into itself, a bottomless void. Death is all that awaited them.

"No more of this foolishness!" A middle-aged woman with red hair and now stood at the entrance of the Cafeteria. Her eyebrows furrowed with anger which looked misplaced on her kind face.

Her alchemic drive instantly activated and even a novice could tell this was a Chrono Asylum, one of the twelve strongest Alchemists in the world. Such was her dominance over alchemy. She was Terra, number X.

Her hands flung seeds into the cafeteria, each seed instantly sprouting into massive vines that grew to a gargantuan size. These vines spread all over grabbing every single person in the cafeteria, protecting them while also restraining them.

As soon as she was certain, Yin, Yang and the Knight had been properly constrained she observed the damage to the surroundings and noticed Elsa and Cici's efforts at trying to minimize the damage.

"Child this is a dangerous thing you attempt," Terra kindly admonished Elsa who had gone in overdrive, ice spreading from her in order to prevent structural collapse. Almost the entire roof of the cafeteria had been frozen but Terra observed how the power was going out of control. The chill had spread to Elsa and her own alchemy had begun to damage her.

"You did a great job, both of you," she nodded to Elsa and Cici before gently striking Elsa in the middle of her forehead, knocking her out before serious backlash could occur.

In a few minutes the entire cafeteria looked like some exotic jungle. Vines had crawled to every inch of the place, acting as support to prevent the place from collapsing.

Once everyone had been evacuated, Terra was seen patting Elsa on the head before having a strange plant monster drag Yin, Yang and the Knight away.

The prisoner however had already vanished and was back in his cell, in fact reports had said he had never left the place.

_{Location: Cafeteria}

When the prisoner ejected the Asylums from the channel, everyone jerked into the present. The experience left Samad weary and drained as the prisoner’s arrogant speech faded into the background. He only took note of the important detail about the dead zone, intended to research it later. At this point, he cared little for lectures to perfection or bigger pictures. The production of the afternoon had been poisoned by the man’s self-centered attitude and lack of manners.

His attention shifted to Elsa’s condition. Through their link, her icy temper crackled through and threatened to consume her. A rare thing when she usually kept her emotions in check. He let the concern distract him much to his cringe later.

A man’s voice bellowed out as he marched over to the table.

Samad leaned back into his seat and observed the scene deteriorate between the prisoner and the newcomer. The asylum’s eyes absorbed the image, noted the armor and similarities to knights of old. It drew a soft scoff of amusement in the Iranian. On occasion, his eyes shifted from Bella to Elsa while the exchange of insults continued.

You all right? Samad’s thoughts poked into Elsa’s head.

I’m trying to be. She answered in a soft, unease way to his question.

A loud crash followed by screams ripped them out of their own world. A red-haired woman hit an empty table, her body skirted along the length and ground to a stop. Her cursing cut through the student’s panicked sounds.

Meanwhile, what appeared to be her partner twisted about and landed far more gracefully.

“What the hell is with this child.”

She huffed, before looking over at the others.

“Oh! Hello! You must be the other teachers. Well, temporary teachers. Like Maeve and I. Could we gend? The girl seems to have lost her mind and is surprisingly powerful. Her drive is, quite frankly, scary.”

Samad’s and Elsa’s peripheral vision caught the Gaelic woman jerk up then toss a table at the attacking student. The young girl rushed forward, her fist punched it and wood scattered into pieces. The splinters flew across the room before the two clashed again.

A curse uttered underneath the Iranian’s breathe.

Of course, things merely went downhill faster when Angel’s claims of ‘minions’ dragged them all into the Knight’s attention. Before Elsa could reply, the man unsheathed his blade. Energy rushed from it and plowed into all the asylums at the table. Zane acted fast. He shoved Bella out of the way and took the blunt force of the impact, the Knight continually struck out at it. Thankfully he had a shield through it didn’t appear to help much.

Everything felt like it happened in a matter of seconds.

As Zane stood against the rapid strikes of the asshole, Elsa glanced around. Students cradled various wounds had started to scramble for safety or engage in fights. Chaos rolled through the cafeteria increased by the screams, protests, and spells flying everywhere.

Elsa turned to both Samad and Cici.

“I’m going to need your help, Cici. We need to get the students out. The Knight might be considerate enough to not kill them, but I doubt the stupid powerful student is. I need room to place the sigil to trap him. It’s going to have to be a big one to hold this guy.”

“I assume we’re helping the other two while he’s trapped?” Samad asked, airing his partner’s intentions to Cici in the conversation.

“Yes. We’ll gang up on her together, then deal with the Knight afterward.”

A slender body hunched over crossed legs, giving a better view of the striped leggings stretched across both knees. The owner swayed to and fro not bothered by the burst of wind whipping her hair nor the stray rubble clattering her way. Cici's focus was absolute; details of the various combatants filtered through her mind - their speed, the type of attacks and most importantly, their physical condition.

She tried her best to find as many potential weaknesses as possible since that would determine their level of success. Thankfully, for the students, she managed to find plenty simply by observing them - old injuries and new being the most glaringly obvious ones from her point of view. Her rose-kissed lips split upwards into a lopsided smile as she leaned her head back as far as her neck allowed.

"I can roll with that," she assented.

‘Good,” Elsa stated then projected her idea to Zane.

’Zane, can you and Bella keep the asshole distracted? If we don’t get the students out, they will get in the way and be slaughtered. I also need the room for a powerful sigil trap to encase him. Then we can gang up on the student, take her out, and return to the ass. I just need time to set it up!’ Elsa’s words appeared in Zane’s mind.

"The prey is setting a trap, how intriguing." The prisoner's thoughts echoed for Elsa alone, his location however, still uncertain. The man appeared and disappeared from varying points of interest at the Cafeteria.

The woman fought the rolling of her eyes then glanced to her allies.

Cici’s mind calculated the most efficient way to clear the room - as per Elsa's request - and she recalled that there was a lake near the cafeteria. Just beyond the tree line, in fact. A metaphoric stone's throw away. Speaking of, she had a good feeling about the plan forming in her head.

As far as she could tell, few students were badly injured or dead. This meant that plunging them into those chilly waters shouldn't rake up unnecessary fatalities. Absol-spiffing-tastic! We could totally do that then. She exclaimed. Not quite caring if the Wrecking Crew caught on; she was simply too excited to slow down.

Stretching out one leg then the other, she rose like an unfurling ballerina. Her arms finding their way towards the sky and dipping past her head towards her shoulder blades. There was an audible sigh as her knots loosened.

"There's a lake not far past the trees behind that wall. Samad, could you help me level it? A dip will work wonders on these hot heads." Straightening up and cracking her knuckles, Cici crouched low, ready to start sprinting. A necessity if she wished to gather enough energy for the motem cast. "As you do that, I'll teleport the injured students to the sick bay."

Samad smirked. “Of course and I agree.”

His eyes narrowed on a small group of students that had started to beat the crap out of each other. A few words flowed from his lips as he activated his specialty. Immediately their attacks began to slow. Their eyes widened in surprise, but they couldn’t locate the source. Samad then touched Cici before she sprung into and with some quick gestures surged the speed into her.

“That should help, but you’ll need to come back for a recharge. I’m going to see if I can slow down the flying alchemy attacks.”

"No, I need the wall down. I doubt my body can hold so much for so long. T-minus 40, please."

“All right, I’ll focus on taking it down. Elsa needs to focus on the sigil, so keep an eye on her. With all the attacks flying around, one risks hitting her and ruining the rune. We don’t know how long Zane and Bella can hold out.” His dark eyes looked to Cici to see if she agreed.

Elsa, I'll be leaving two bottles of customised ink on the floor. They have a tiny snowflake on their label meaning they should spread easily when you use your alch-spec. I hope it'll hasten the process.

Elsa nodded with gratitude then gestured out her hand. The two vials she spotted floated to her and she popped the first one open. Its liquid immediately bonded itself to her finger. The blond-haired woman rushed to the farthest point of the room where she bent down. She began to paint it across the surface of the floor. Her alchemy stretched it into intricate designs, but the process took time. Her attention absorbed into her given task as she climbed to her alchemy limits.

Those hurried thoughts barely registered before Cici cut the channel. Her hazy after image fizzing to nothing as a blur of red, black and chestnut wove around the skirmishes. Her hand, black-gloved and barely noticed, would tap shoulders at random and those students vanished with a gentle pop. Sometimes, their combat partners would be sent along as well.

Sparks tickled her dewy skin, they ran along her limbs, gathering nowhere in particular. Not yet, at least. Cici could feel the fire growing in her lungs but she continued pushing herself. The energy collected hadn't reached the optimal level. She needed more, she had to speed even more, cover more ground, push these limits. Her mind couldn't decide what was best given the frailty of her outer flesh.

Samad focused on the wall Cici indicated. His hands moved and hit set points, his alchemy pushed into the solid mass. It cracked along invisible weak points as it became to fall down. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the Knight charge at Bella and turned away. He couldn’t let that distract him now. A faint hope pulled at the back of his mind that Zane would protect his partner. Unfortunately, that wasn’t easy. A small group of students locked in the riot began to move toward Elsa.

For a moment, his heart stopped in his chest until a blur of chestnut, crimson, and black caused him to relax.

Cici solidified in front of an advancing group before they got too close to Elsa. Sweat painted her blushing cheeks but she showed no signs of fatigue. A leap assemblé towards the stunned students made them retreat a half-step and no more. Cici landed on both feet, they flexed en pointe on the cracked cement floor, and she pirouetted with her arms outstretched. The palm-strikes swiftly diminished the crowd of eight to o, leaving the dancer with no calls for an encore despite her giddy bow.

Switching gears -- from agility to might -- the asylum stood like a solid wall with her arms tucked to the side, fisted hands turned ceiling wards, and her diaphragm engaged. Stepping back, her body curved in the same direction, gathering energy along her lower back and arms. She crouched low and punched forward yelling.

Chestnut hair, uncharacteristically messy, whipped wildly in the brink of the storm unleashed. Angry winds fanned east to west, an inescapable front that swept the students away in an Ozian manner; their bodies tumbling endlessly over the steepled-tops of the conifers. Cici would have ended up one of the many Dorothies in the air if Samad's firm arms hadn't anchored her to the ground.

“Easy with your alchemy,” Samad had managed to speed up his feet. He reached his arms out and snapped onto Cici’s, her outfit whipped by the indifferent winds. With a few quick words, his alchemy fastened him firmly into the floor and stopped him from being taken along. Gradually, the wind died down letting her fall back to earth.

Their respite ended with skipped heartbeat. Energy thrumming from the prisoner wormed deep into their bones, a foreshadow that didn't prepare them adequately. Cici watched as the room groaned in almost surrender, begging the question if the supports would hold much longer. Samad did a little too thorough a job, it seemed.

"We need to reinforce the shell," she yelled.

He spotted the Knight charge at Bella, her partner desperate to save her, before the prisoner appeared in front. With the summoning of a coffin, he dispersed the kinetic wave. The aftershocks rippled out to catch anyone nearby. Including Cici, Elsa, and himself. Samad acted quickly. He shouted intangible words then followed up with gestures. Cici’s tossed body jerked back into his direction and he braced for her. Meanwhile, another spell redirected the rest to flow around Elsa’s workspace. In the background, it appeared one student had rushed to assist the redheaded woman with Yin’s pesky behavior.

Cici flagged into the warmth finally consenting to a breather. Every student - save the dead - was out of harm's way. Her attention shifted towards Bella and Zane's fight, which she watched semi-distractedly. Elsa would remain their primary concern until the sigil was fired.

"They get more impatient every year. I swear we didn't feel the need to toss a perfectly good dinner all over the floor." She commented snarkily as her stomach rumbled. "I could have done with their share of chips and gravy."

Samad didn’t answer. His head hurt as he pressed his fingers into his temple. His body hunched over a bit and his breath became harder, Elsa’s mind frantic. He glanced to her location to see her attention fixed on scribbling the rune on the floor.

Eyes the colour of summer seas surveyed the hall with trepidation as she realised the last tremors weren't caused by the latest alchemic barrage. It was a split second call - a risk - she had to take since the others appeared oblivious to their predicament.

"Elsa! Switch to strengthening the pillars and remaining walls. We'll be buried if no one does anything."

Elsa looked up to note the cracks in the wall.

They raced up and spider-webbed across the walls then the roof. Small chunks fell down then crashed into the growing piles. She had to stop it, her overdrive kicked in. Her hands made some exaggerated and quick gestures. Her palms then slammed into the nearest pillar. Ice formed on contact, the ends developed and shaped into dragon heads. They crackled as they spiraled upward. Their paths erratically alongside the stone and wood, little spikes reached into the air. The frozen air fueled its stretch across the surface. In the general start, the temperature dropped drastically.

Even the asylum’s breath frosted out into the usually warm room. Faster, faster! She screamed at her alchemy as she poured more fear into the spell. Now half the room had started displaying the cold results. Wall and roof chunks began to topple down, only to be sealed back up by her ice. Elsa’s eyes began to coat over with pure white. Her fingers covered in the frigid evidence and dart out of her control. She heard Samad holler in the backdrop, but her attention fixed on the task she dedicated herself to.

Samad’s eyes widened at Elsa’s behavior. He cursed then rushed toward her, only for the agony to drop him to his knee. A sharp ice-cold nail drove into his temple. It needled there then spread rapidly within his brain. Millions of tiny points stabbed into his nerves and stalled his higher functions while his hand clenched his head.

"No more of this foolishness!"

Through the blurry vision, he caught the sight of a middle-aged woman with red hair lingered near the entrance.

Before he could respond, a few seeds scattered near his legs. The vines shot up and weave around him, the branches and leaves condensed into a semi barrier. Any attacks that tried to escape or debris that crashed down were batted away.

He needed to get out. Elsa still climbed and surged into her overdrive, her body started to break like the ice her alchemy made. Every time he tried, his body just crumbled from his efforts. He spied through the vines to see Terra approach Elsa and Cici. The Chrono spoke then struck Elsa’s temple, the woman crumbled instantly. All the ice shattered. The frosty crystals danced in the air as the vines caught her. With a small pat on the blond asylum’s head. Terra turned and escorted the trouble makers out. Leaving the Aslyms to recover from their experience.

"Tend to Elsa. I'll check on the rest, see if anyone needs immediate medical attention, if not we should get her to the sick bay." Cici explained hurriedly.

After leaping up to her feet and offering Samad a hand up, she patted him reassuringly on the shoulder and threaded her way around thawing debris that spilled out the demolished cafeteria. Occasionally, Cici would stop when the ground rumbled under her feet, checking to see if the damage had spread further from the epicenter.

Other than earth peeking between the cracks and brief dumps of crumbling paint from above, the rest of the building held together, a true testament of AMRO engineering. They claimed to have planned for all sorts of disasters. And, the list included a full student riot it seemed. She couldn't help smiling wryly at that realisation. Perhaps a little more care to student survival would have been nice even if most of them ended up as cannon fodder out in the fields before they retired at a ripe young age.

They were, honestly, no better than white armoured clones. Those helmed soldiers, she had watched, trooping across the big screen on rare movie nights. Satisfied with that analogy, she hummed the opening theme of the Clone Wars and went her merry way.

"Hey Belladonna! How are you and Zane faring?" she asked, leaning forward so that she appeared upside down in her friend's eyes. Her cursory gaze towards Maeve and Kiara indicated that she included them in her concern. What stopped her from addressing them directly was the lack of a name, and thus familiarity.

It had become a learned reflex to approach unknown Asylums with caution. You could never tell who the crazies are from a single glance; everyone under the AMRO banner were a bunch of eccentrics, most of them anyway. Save nudists, those fell into a category of their own, forever exiled to the darkest parts of her memory. She hoped there would be less of them at headquarters in the near future.

Still she felt compelled to be a bit friendlier after such an action-packed introduction. "Are you and your partner in need of goop or bandages? I have some to spare." She offered Maeve with her sweetest smile and a slow bat of her eyelashes.

An act, she prayed, that would entice the woman to let her guard down. Not that Cici would ever admit subconsciously stereotyping a red head. Maeve had lived to type more or less from the spurts she saw during the fight. Basically, loud and angry - fiery, if anyone wished to be more poetic.

Slow or fast, time ticked on at that ambiguous pace. Cici swimming along with what was necessary, talking at a minimum, until she ended back at Samad's side. "Need help moving her? I don't know if we should teleport her in her current state."

Samad looked over Elsa as Cici departed to check the others. Anxiety filled him, the thoughts of loss, and how close he came swam in his head. He gritted his teeth then focused on the present. She was not gone, he reminded himself. When Cici circled back around, his head lifted and he spoke.

"I will carry her. It is better not to risk it. Thank you for your help." With those departed words, he lifted Elsa into his arms and briskly left the cafeteria.

A day after the cafeteria incident:

...’How leg?’… Bella questioned, her distorted voice coming from a mangled bot sprawled out on her desk. Sitting on the ground the woman looked up from her makeshift work area at Zane as he walked in and headed towards his partner's bed. “...shoes off…”

“I can walk so that’s an improvement.” Zane said as he slipped his shoes off and laid back on his partner’s bed. “Apparently I ripped my calf completely in half when I didn’t give enough focus on reinforcing the growth.” The man pulled out his sunglasses and placed them over his eyes before continuing.

“...That’s good…” Bella said as she refocused on her bot.

“Is there a reason you sound like crap?” Zane asked as he lazily waved in the direction of the bot.

“...Still off?...calibrate good though…” Bella said as she transferred her voice back to her glasses.

“The pitch might be in tune but you sound like some sort of robot from a horror movie. Maybe Miss. Tutu can help you out later.” Zane said as he gave a yawn.

“...Speak of visit… who visit?...” Bella asked as she switched her tools.

“Before I came up here? I heard rumors that the prisoner never left the cell so I had to see for myself. He seemed to enjoy the cookies I dropped off” The two sat in silence as Bella worked and Zane thought over the recent incidents. “I’m going to see him again. “

“...What?” Bella asked as she put her bot down. Even with them talking through their link it was evident that she wasn’t happy with his response.

“He’s crazy strong and is treated too differently by the others to be a nobody.” Zane said as he fluffed his pillow. “He knows more than he shared with us and I want to find what it is.”

“... Kanon’s enemy?...”

“I’m guessing not. I’m guessing he came here apart from the dead zone and later found it rather than coming here for it but I’ll probably ask him which came first in a future visit to confirm. If the man wanted to do something with the dead zone what is stopping him? He’s powerful enough that could waltz right up and take what he wanted if he was hired by someone and not waste his time by telling us or pestering the guards.”

“...talk to Kanon?” Bella asked as she resumed her work.

“I’ll probably head over there after classes. Want to join me?” Zane asked as he gave a final stretch.

Sure. Sleep well. Bella said through their link before letting her partner rest.



Three days after the cafeteria incident:

’Do you really need to go back to the cell today?’ Bella asked as the duo exited the cafeteria and walked down the hall with each carrying their lunches in a takeout container. ’Why don’t we go eat outside and enjoy the sun.’

’I made a promise.’ Zane said as he gave a slight wave to a group of students greeting them.

’Yes, I know. But are you sure that is a good idea?’ Bella said as her concern trickled through their link.

’How come?’ Zane asked as he nodded towards an alcove. The two took a seat on the bench as he waited for Bella to formulate an answer. He knew that this has been something that has been lingering on her mind but opted to wait until his partner was ready to talk.

Bella stared out of the window in front of her as she shared. ’I'm trying to see the good in the prisoner but it’s hard to do so after everything that happened because of his doing. The cafeteria, the students and...’

And because of Elsa? Zane asked and after seeing a slight nod reached his arm out and gave Bella a quick side hug. ’I’m sorry that I made that promise without making sure we are both in agreement. At the end of the day your safety and well-being is what is most important to me. I was able to keep you safe because of the prisoner’s involvement but in return I’ve also hindered your well-being. I’ve only promised the prisoner a week so I’ll do my best to be careful around him and avoid a similar incident. After the week I doubt we will see him after that.’

“...Stay safe…” Bella said using the voice command on her glasses.



“I hope that you weren’t waiting for me too long.” Zane said as he gave the guard and the prisoner a wave before he took a seat on the bench. “There might be a little mouse following me here but we will leave them be, right?” Zane said as he gave a nod towards Angel. If today was like the day before, it wouldn’t be long before Bella came down to the basement and lingered just out earshot at the bottom of the stairs in case an incident happened.

Opening up his lunch, Zane handed the guard the boxed dessert that came with his food. “As per the policy, check for any poisons, machetes, nuclear launch codes that I might try and smuggle to the prisoner.” Zane said as he took a bite of his food and in between chews continued. “If you can, try not to drop it this time.”

The guard scoffed at Zane, his attitude always seemed to worsen when the sass joined the condescending. He just shook his head, checked the lunch and passed it back to the Asylum before ushering him in the prisoner's cell. "I half hoped it was a nuke, be rid of you both and half this Island." He replied before shutting the metal, rune inscribed cage.

"Ah if it isn't the little fox" the prisoner jeered while tilting his head to meet Zane as the Asylum came in. "This saves me the trouble of leaving this place to get some decent food, though with all the chaos you all created at the cafeteria, more woe to me." The tall man mused, his metal coffin standing near a while beside him. "Where is the little mouse?"

“I promised a week so enjoy it while it lasts.” Zane said as he handed over the box. While doing so he reached out through his link towards his partner before responding to the prisoner’s question by pointing upwards with his fork. “Currently working through some mental gymnastics to determine if she should head downstairs. She won't be keen about coming out of her hole after our last incident.” Taking a bite of his food Zane continued the second part of his comment internally. ’But I’m guessing with your skills you already knew that’

“However I’m not here about the foxes, the mice, goats or the cows. I came to chat with you about the chickens.” Zane said as he tapped his chin as if he was thinking. “What really came first? The chicken or the egg? Your transgressions that brought you here or your fascination with the dead zone?”

Angel slowly ate his dessert as Zane chirped, the man was straightforward and that was quite refreshing especially seeing as how almost everyone was cautious to borderline paranoia.

"Neither, both were a product of evolution. So their precursor came first." The prisoner replied before setting his fork down and crossing his legs. Even sitting in a prison cell Angel managed to appear regal in his demeanor.

"It wasn't a transgression, it was a misunderstanding and political agenda I suppose." The prisoner continued while staring at Zane through his silver tinted spectacles. "And I am fascinated with the deadzone because I am not an utter imbecile. A deadzone is a theory, it is an impossibility. Alchemy is a foreign source of power, alien. It can never be completely negated." A smile slowly spread across the prisoner's face as he discussed alchemic knowledge with a child.

"The only time alchemic energy truly manifests itself is through an alchemist's drive. Now here is a question for you. We are both standing next to each other and we both activate our alchemic drives. I am far superior to you and so naturally I draw more. Will this affect you while you are in my vicinity?"

Before Zane could answer for just a few seconds Angel activated his alchemic drive and completely engulfed the cell. His power resonated with such viciousness that it disrupted the flow of alchemic energy all around him.

Feeling the foreign alchemic drive being activated, Zane reciprocated by activating his own but with far less success. Zane chuckled as he started to piece together what was shared. “You’ve made this imbecile very curious. Do you have a theory on what might be hidden there? Have you gone on a field trip to test if you can overpower it? Your concern has me curious on how strong whom or what might be there.” With his interest more focused on his food, the man closed up his lunch and sat it down besides him.

As Zane placed his food down, the man paused for a moment to think over what he wanted to share before giving a slight shrug. From what he has seen from the prisoner, Zane assumed that he would already know the details of what he would share and if not it would be something he would figure out anyways. “If you do visit I’d be cautious about startling the guard in charge. After last night’s chat he shouldn’t be after your head but if his paranoia is big enough to threaten shooting me again, it wouldn’t be hard for you to set him off.”

Angel nodded towards Zane, accepting the useful bit of information. "I have not ventured to that area, I try to avoid grunt work. But I do want you to understand something. I used a burst of my alchemic drive and that disrupted your capability to use alchemy for a few seconds. That takes exceptional skill. The deadzone is constant negation of any form of alchemy. Whatever is in there…." For a few seconds the prisoner was quiet, almost contemplative.

"Whatever is in there is drawing so much alchemic energy that it has rendered an entire field…..barren. A.M.R.O has something contained whose potential is beyond Chrono."

“The world would be in a precarious situation if anything were ever to happen.” Zane said solemnly before turning his head to the side as the sound of footsteps approached the cell.

“Your five minutes are up.” The guard said as he opened the cage.

Zane gave a dramatic sigh as he grabbed his lunch and walked out of the cell. As the guard locked the door Zane asked the prisoner one last question. “What is your name? I haven’t heard you be called anything other than Rouge and Prisoner since we’ve met but If I have another four days of visits I might as well call you by your name.”

“I go by many names.” The prisoner said before laying down on his bed and facing his back Zane.

“Very well then.” Zane said giving a shrug. “I’ll see you two tomorrow.” Zane said as he gave the guard a small wave as he walked out. As he walked up the stairs he met Bella who was waiting for him.

“...You okay?...” Bella asked with a worried expression written on her face. “...felt drive…”

“I’m good. Things are good.” Zane said as he rested a hand on Bella’s shoulder. “He was just giving a little demonstration but it’s fine. I’ve learned some important things though. Let’s go find the others.”

---

Day 1

After Samad took Elsa to get checked out, they returned to their quarters. Elsa had been put on bed rest for the next three days. Needless to say, she wasn’t pleased about it and forced to endure it. No alchemy had put her at risk in his mind causing him to request aid from the other Asylums. Cici appeared enthusiastic to be creative and actively encouraged to set traps for brazen students. While they needed an asylum’s permission or one to bear witness, Samad didn’t put it past some smart individual to find loopholes in the system. Especially with the numerous teacher favorites. Not long after things were properly set up, Samad and Cici settle down to chat about Elsa’s reckless behavior.

It was an exhausting affair, but the point was clear: never do it again.

Day 2

Samad returned to his classes. First day back to a routine, a fight broke out among the students. Several tossed alchemy and tested the merit of their peers leaving several minor injuries. While he rather let them sort out, he didn’t let them kill one another. It didn’t help an alarm went off in Elsa’s room causing him to be rougher than he intended.

Upon investigation, it appeared a few students were testing limits and only a few found out how bad of an idea that was. It took Samad a while to release them from the trap. Frustrated and angry, he didn’t spare releasing on their asses when he booted them out into the hallway.

Day 3

Samad gave into Elsa’s plea for something to distract her. After hauling a few books back into their quarters from the archives, Elsa starts to research and collect information. The subject ranged from the prisoner to causes for the dead zone. When Terra arrives to check in on Elsa, Samad realized he was late and rushed to the classroom. Later that day, Zane approaches him with information on the deal with Kanon then insists he focuses on Elsa. With heavy gratitude, he thanks the Asylum for his help.

Day 4

Early that morning, Samad woke in his bed to find a few students frozen solid in a block of ice. Elsa was already up and dressed. A small smile on her expression that warmed her whole face up. She greeted him then request he transport the idiots to medical so they could thaw over time. With that, she hopped out to speak with their teachers and arrive at her classroom in time.

Samad sighs then starts the task, including it on his list. He had been observing the Isle routines and norms, then organizing them into notes. The dead zone still bothered him, but the information over it was lacking. Like someone went to great efforts to either not record it or erase all traces of it. Whatever it was, he hated to be in the dark about it.

To make teaching easier for all of them, the wrecking team helped to set up traps, sigil protections, and more to create a more orderly teaching environment. Anything to make their day easier in the end.

Day 5-6

The days blend a bit with Samad and Elsa teaching their classes, renewing sigil traps, and retrieving students from Cici’s traps. One student, Cade Markell, appeared to have repetitive bad luck. He had been caught numerous times by several different traps. Needless to say, Samad didn’t see the student living beyond his Jungle finals in the future. Elsa noted down all the traps that Cici reset and their location as if she suspected something to happen.

Day 7

When Cici came to them, stating she lost her map… Samad mentally groaned. Elsa smiled and passed Cici a copy of the traps she knew the whereabouts of. When Cici suggested that Samad zip through the hallways and various rooms, his partner shot it down. Elsa was firm on the point causing Samad to chuckle.

As the days passed by and the trial grew ever closer a strange silence loomed over Innocence. The rowdiest of students had gone tame and all energy was now focused in preparation for what would be their greatest test. Sleep was a luxury and all students poured hours in understanding terrain, geography, battle tactics, calculating fastest route, understanding probability of success, forging alliances, gauging competition.

Despite the trails occuring every year, very little information was available to the students. They were told it would take place in a large jungle. They would be told their objective is to reach the end point before 24 hours. And finally they were told of all the participants entering, only half would pass.

Almost all of A.M.R.O's tests are designed to groom an alchemist into the perfect soldier. They are given little information so as to expand their imagination and observe their pre-planning. A time limit exists so as to observe how they react under stress and pressure. And finally a ceiling on passing rate exists to observe the human element. When a hundred students know only fifty of them are allowed to pass, what will be their reaction?

Most student behaviour fell into pre-defined patterns. Some began accumulating information on the trial through bribery and espionage. Students engagement slowly broke and consolidated into trusted groups. The paranoid ones began to completely isolate themselves. By the first few days alliances had already been made and now the planning stages had begun.

Students now begun to access the best course of action to take. With their limited information they planned for everything. They planned for obstacles and traps, they planned for dangers, they planned for betrayals and sabotage. And finally they prepared to eliminate their peers.

On the second last day the final rule was announced which none of them had been prepared for. Each and every student entering the trial will be given a dose of Anti-alchemic poison which will inhibit and or disturb their alchemy for the first twelve hours.

And so on the second last day, chaos ensued. Some broke under pressure, others began restructuring their plan, alliances broke and new ones were formed. Trust broken, enemies made. All of this for A.M.R.O to observe how they would react to unforseen and undesirable circumstance. Most students would never know, but the Trails did not begin when the students entered the jungle. The trials had already begun and the psychological part was always the first.

--------xx-------------------------------------------xx--------
Final Day Before The Trail

Throughout the week Yin had shown zero interest in preparation or any of the other foolishness her peers were participating in. She was not a sheep, nor was she going to give in to A.M.R.O's little games. She smirked as she imagined them gritting their teeth as they observed her with one of their many hidden cameras. All of A.M.R.O's tests were designed to elicit some form of response, and Yin refused to do so out of pure spite. She was a Laofeng, her potential in alchemy was superior to her brother and yet she was not deemed fit to be a Chrono Candidate. Instead they demeaned her by demoting her to the ranks of A.M.R.O dogs. And so she already knew what she was going to do. She would simply mediate under this large tree and let A.M.R.O pull their hair out. When the time comes, she will succeed like she always did, by herself.

--------------------
The Trial Begins!
--------------------

A large group of students had assembled near a porting sigil along with their designated mentors and invigilators. The students numbered at least two hundred and all of them knew only half would be passing this trial. Each of them was injected with a controlled dose of Anti-alchemic poison before the Porters arrived to begin the teleportation sequence.

While the preparation for mass teleportation was being made, Terra briefed all mentors telepathically.

"You are observers this day. All of you have been here and you know the dangers and yet you faced them through your own wit and power and so must these students. Do not interfere unless a student willingly disqualifies himself by asking for your aid. There are rogue alchemists dispersed across the jungle, they are given leave to harm our students but not kill. If a fatal blow is coming, only then are you to interfere."

"I wish you all good luck!" Her last words were spoken aloud for all to hear right before the teleportation sigil activated and everyone standing within the circle vanished.

--------------
The Jungle
--------------

Yin found herself standing in what A.M.R.O aptly described as the jungle. There were trees and foliage every where, sounds of birds and insects echoed around her. She found this place strangely relaxing. She calmly began walking, trying to understand her location while also trying to ascertain where exactly to go. It was no surprise that A.M.R.O just randomly dropped them without telling them where to go.

"I assume everyone was teleported to random spots, so much for building alliances." Yin chuckled as she tested her alchemy, trying to summon a raging fire but only succeeding in creating sparks. "Fantastic", Yin spoke to herself as she began climbing a stout tree. It took her longer than she liked, but she finally made it to the top and her eyes slowly widened at the view.

This place was massive, it was so gargantuan that she could not see the end. What she did see was the tallest structure available which was a large spire near the center. So that was where she would need to go in order to get her bearings.

"I hope you perverted peepers are having fun!" The Lao screamed loud enough for any hiding invigilator to hear her before making her way to the spire.

’You seem a lot more chipper today. I was wondering how today would be after you refused to leave your room yesterday until Cici got involved.’ Zane said through their link as he looked across the crowd towards Bella who was standing on the outskirts with two other students working on last minute first aid tips before looking at the small crowd students that have been joining him during his sparring sessions after classes. Unlike previous times where he was more harsh on the students during class or the extra sparring sessions, Zane acted more milder towards them and allowed the nervous energy to flow through the group.

’Things are better today’ Bella said as she watched the two students in front of her chat. I think I was stuck on thinking about that one trial we faced with Cici. Things are different this time with us being mentors but the worry of one of us getting seriously injured to the point of almost dying is still there.‘

’I could lie and try to make you feel better by giving you a reassuring promise about being there and making sure neither of us are killed but unfortunately it is a promise I cannot make in this life. I can promise that I will give it my all to keep us safe Bells.’

The duo’s focus turned towards Terra as she gave her final instructions before they were teleported



“You have to be kidding me.” Zane muttered with gritted teeth as he looked at his surroundings. “Of all the places you can teleport me to, of course Terra has me dumped in the midst of thorn bushes.” Working his arm free, Zane reached for his axe and worked on cutting a path free. The man grumbled and cursed as he pulled off the rest of the vines that clung to him. “Is this your way of payback for the cafeteria?” Zane said as he returned his axe onto his back and picked a random direction and started to walk forward. As he walked he focused on picking and any remaining thorns on his hands and arms before stopping when he heard a familiar voice nearby.

“Sheesh, hopefully that brat finishes before the first twelve hours are up or she will be a handful.” Zane grumbled as though whether or not he should follow the girl. Following her would mean extra effort that he didn’t want but he knew she would be one that bulldoze her way through any peer that got in her way which could lead to a fatal blow. Zane let out a sigh as he trailed behind the girl as he made sure to give her extra space compared to if he was following another student. It would have been much easier to let the girl be if he didn’t witness her chaotic nature in the cafeteria.



Bella took a few seconds to look around her surroundings and gather what information she could around her before turning on the thermal imaging on her glasses and took note that there were three other humans near her along with a few other animals before turning it off. There was a faint blue haze on the outer rim of her right lense and she turned in that direction. Her glasses were picking up the sounds of moving water possibly nearby. The glasses registered the sound as quiet but her glasses struggled with detail so it could be a small stream nearby or a larger source of water that was further away. Although where and what the source of water might be, she was certain she should head towards it. Water would be essential for the students who knew they would be here for the long haul or keen on survival. If this was a potential point of convergence for the students and possibly the rouges, it would be a good place to head towards in case something were to occur. Bella took a deep breath to calm her nerves before heading towards the sound.

---

Elsa hated teleportation alchemy. Out of all her options in alchemy, it still gave her dread and anxiety. Her breath fixed in her lungs as it settled down, her body was frozen in place until the experience ended. A tingling raced down her limbs with the sensation of pins and needles. It faded into the air to signal its completion causing her eyes to open. The foilage curled around her legs and grew into a thick jungle setting.

She was glad she brought proper attire rather than her casual uniform. The thick humidity blanketed her as she absorbed her position.

Terra never gave hints to the location specs when she designed them for the trials. The Chrono felt it risked giving some students unfair advantages from their favorite teachers. Elsa couldn't argue against it since the teachers enjoyed pitting their favorites against each other. Something to chase away the boredom she assumed.

The sounds of water rushing along drew Elsa's attention. With a small smirk, she began to carve out a path to the source. Tall trunks began to thin out as a clearing came into view. It didn't take her long to recognize Bella's dark hair and quirky glasses. The words started in Elsa's throat when someone's screams broke the silence.

Her head snapped to the side. A dark-haired student, Italian in descent, bolt into the clearing. The girl continued to shout behind her.

"Run, you idiots. NOW!"

As the student rushed over fallen trees and bushes, Elsa rushed forward. Her arms tossed about Bella's shoulders and immediately pulled themselves down onto the ground. Their figures vanished out of sight as two more boys burst into a small clearing.

Elsa's finger pressed against her lips in a universal hush signal.



Samad frowned as they were teleported into the trial grounds. A thick, humid blanketed the Iranian while his eyes scanned the stage for the student's trials. He should've assumed Terra would've picked something green. A sigh slipped from his lips as he began to look toward the trees, a quick judgment over their high ground. With only a bit of help from Alchemy, he managed to scale it to the highest branch.

When he finally found purchase on its surface, a scene began to unfurl beneath him. His dark eyes narrowed on someone below. A woman with long, dark hair stood in the open. She appeared to be scanning her whereabouts for other students.

Bella watched as colors ebbed and flowed from her vision as she continued to walk. Most of the colors were soft with an occasional jagged burst of color when she stepped on a decaying tree branch that snapped under her weight or kicked over a rock. As she reached the clearing a larger burst of orange came into her vision and Bella tensed up as she looked for the source of the intrusive noise. She got her answer when she saw a girl followed by the written captions of her yell appearing.

Multiple sources of running appeared as an indicator on her glasses at the last moment she noticed that one source was coming from behind her and growing stronger. Bella turned around and saw Elsa as she pulled her down. Bella gave a small nod to Elsa’s gesture along with a small smile. She was glad to find a friend amongst the jungle.

Bella turned her attention towards the students as they rushed through the clearing. They nearly made it to the edge when Bella observed a vine dart out towards the students and wrapped itself around one of the boys which caused the student to fall forward before being dragged back.

“Dan!” The other students yelled as they ran back to their ensnared peer.

“Run? Run where?” A woman said as she slowly walked towards the students as the trio frantically tried to undo the vine. “Why run? That’s no fun? Let’s dance or skip or play but don’t run away from me?” As the rouge stretched her arm out a second vine grew out and formed a whip. A large crack was heard when the whip landed which was followed by the girl screaming out in pain as the whip tore into her back.

Bella winced as she watched the student get hit. If the students weren’t there for the exam Bella knew she would have rushed out with no hesitation but with the order given to observe the woman unhappily watched with clenched hands.

“I thought we were friends.” The rouge continued before swinging again as she laughed, this time hitting the tangled boy. “I just wanna play with my friends.” Seeing the second boy charge, the woman lifted up her left hand which caused the first vine to lift Dan up about twenty feet in the air before the vine thrashed twice, causing him to be thrown into the nearby tree trunks before dangling the boy by his leg between the two. Another fit of laughter erupted from the woman as the boy stopped his charge and glared at the woman. “Let’s play Simon Says.” The woman said as she nodded frantically. “Yes! Yes! A marvelous idea but we need to keep this fun. Yes, very fun indeed. But we need more fun. Yes. A lot more fun. Let’s say if one of you lose I will kill Dan Dan.”

“Run! Leave me-.” Dan started to yell before the vine thrashed around again.

“No no no no no no! Simon didn’t say that.” The woman yelled angrily before turning her attention back to the other two. “The first one is a piece of cake. Simon says pull off your left thumb nail off and have your partner eat it.”

---

The damp, earthy scent snaked into her nostrils. Greenery half shrouded her vision as it hid her from sight, the scene unfolded before the pair. She pressed her arms into the soft ground just enough to proper herself to watch the scene unfold. The woman’s vision sent a shiver down the blond’s spine. Every living, breathing cell within her nature screamed to interrupt the sadistic event. The rogue toyed with her prey like a predatory cat with an appetite for malice.

Despite her training, Elsa hated the exams. She saw them as a barbaric practice. One long overdue to be culled from AMRO’s educational programs and faded into the history books. Samad was confident it would never happen, but she held hope.

Elsa gritted her teeth to silence her protest when the vine lashed across the female student’s back. It retracted, a bloodied and torn aftermath left in its wake. The uniform barely hung off her form now. Impulsively, Elsa’s eyes shifted to the right and noticed Bella’s reaction. She carefully placed her hand on her ally’s in a comforting gesture.

The blond asylum turned back to watch the widened eyed students track the rogue’s smirking form. She circled closer, her mockery filled the thick jungle air. While the rogue twisted an innocent child’s game into something dark, Elsa tapped Bella’s arm. She pointed to another location just outside the immediate area. Somewhere safer to talk than where they were. With a cautious movement, Elsa began to lead the way toward it.

Meanwhile, the boy trapped earlier glanced at the girl and gave into his fate. He pressed his thumb to his mouth. The nail edge pinched the nail edge between, a firm grip. A tug began to peel the nail away. Blood trickled from lips onto the boy’s chin as it muffled his groans. With a rough tug, it came off in his teeth in a jagged strip. He fought back a gag before he passed it to the girl. She stepped back, her hand covered her mouth, as she glanced at him in total horror. It was clear she wasn’t willing to carry out her part of the game.

It was hard for Bella to unglue her eyes for what was taking place in front of her to turn to Elsa when the woman tapped her. Bella gave a hesitant nod when she motioned for the two to meet a bit further away from the commotion. She didn’t want to leave the students unmonitored with the uncertainty of how quickly the rouge could escalate things. With a flick of her hand Bella dispatched a small drone and hid it amongst the branches to keep tabs on the situation. She kept the feed running as she followed Elsa.

As they neared their location Bella adjusted the volume level of her glasses. Fine tuning the volume level based on decibels was a newer feature Bella and Cici added to her glasses during the past two months to give her more options outside of the three options of whisper, talking and yelling but correlating the decibel to the desired volume level was still something she was working on mastering. Aiming for a sound between a loud whisper and quietly speaking Bella hoped that 35 decibels would be quiet enough to hear without being drowned out by the sounds around them. “...What do?...Certainly no death…Stop if attempt...” Bella said before wincing when she saw the boy rip the nail off his thumb. “...Stop torture?...Okay to intervene?...”

Bella watched the girl’s reaction as she started to cry and appeared to beg to the rouge. A shiver went down the woman’s spine as she watched the defeated expression on the girl’s face. “...Girl declining game…”



“Stupid thorns” Zane muttered to himself as he picked at a thorn that was embedded in his palm that he missed when he first exited the bushes. Zane leisurely walked in the general direction that Yin was heading. He wasn’t too focused on the girl’s exact plans and gave her more space than the ever diligent mouse might give her but as long as there wasn’t any loud commotion and he periodically checked for alchemic energy in her vicinity he was content. He doubted that the girl would be able to skirt around the bounds of anti alchemy substance but in case she was another outlier like the prisoner he wanted to be certain to sense it.

During one of his sweeps he sensed another Asylum high in the trees. The man gave a slight shrug as he decided that meeting with someone else would break up the monotony of following someone. Using his alchemy to aid him in his climb Zane reached the top quickly. The man gave a small wave when he reached Samad and sat in a nearby branch.

“You got a nice view from here. It’s a great place to keep an eye on the students although the light breeze also makes it a good napping tree.” Zane said as he took in the scenery. “Would you believe me if I said I failed the first time I took the trials napping my time away in a similar tree? What about you? Did you pass on your first try or are you also fellow first attempt failure?”

---

Once they were out of hearing range, Elsa’s eyes shot back to Bella. Naturally her friend was the first to break the silence and share the same hatred over the situation. She assessed her ally’s state of mind through her fragmented statements. They had known each other long enough to at least properly assume the other’s emotional state. The blond woman took a deep breath, her mind cleared and focused on their options.

“We can’t interfere until the students ask for it. Then we have full permission to do whatever it takes to save them, even if it’s excessive force.” Elsa’s voice indicated she didn’t mind doing the latter even if it wasn’t required.

The rogue’s games had left a bitter taste on her tongue. A type not washed out with a thorough brushing or mouthwash. Her eyes had returned to the scene, the individuals smaller and blurred by distance.

“I’m sad to say, that doesn’t include torture. I’m not fond of it myself, but if we get involved too soon… Terra won’t be happy.” Elsa said through gritted teeth.

Her fingers had started to clench into fists as her vision refused to leave the small, unfortunate group. The rogue laughed at the refusal. She snapped her fingers and a new vine erupted upward, the thorns slithered along the girl’s surface. A fresh rip of clothes became drenched in blood when new scratches formed.

“If I get a chance, I’m putting an icicle through that bitch’s face.” She growled low enough that only Bella could hear.

---

Samad didn’t move when Zane abruptly appeared beside him. Their weight sagged down the branch’s main anchor, but it held firm and silently stopped creaking. The Iranian’s eyes continued to monitor the woman until she vanished into some shrubbery. He hated this test as he didn’t want to engage the students, especially the pompous student below. The destruction in the cafeteria still lingered in his memory after Elsa nearly killed both her and himself.

At Zane’s chit-chat, he leaned back and gave Zane a questioning look. Elsa was usually the most social one of the pair. Unfortunately, his partner was somewhere else in this gardener’s paradise gone wild.

“From what I’ve seen, yes. It fits you. Unlike you, I didn’t. I was actually actively trying to avoid the rogues. It was in an oasis setting rather than a jungle.” Samad answered calmly as he scanned the scenery for signs of Elsa. He didn't answer the last question.

Much to the boys credit he kept his whimpers under control as blood trickled down his thumb from the nail he had just torn. His gaze observed the rogue and his peer who had been tasked with eating the torn nail. Anger boiled inside him as his fingers subconsciously twirled, his thoughts leaning on past lessons.

Anti-alchemic poison does not negate alchemy instead it disrupts alchemy as long as the substance is within your blood stream and based on it's potency it can last up to 12 hours. If injected with alchemy complicated forms of casting become impossible, as such teleportation and healing will be out of the question.

The kid's gaze slowly switched to his environment, branches, rocks and dirt. Things were seeming dismal already, this rogue no doubt had access to alchemy and from his actions he was a morbid son of a bitch.

"I could run and leave the girl as bait". The kid thought before dismissing the idea, he wasn't so callous to leave his peer. There was only one option left to try then.

"Burn asunder!" The boy screamed which successfully drew the Rogue's attention and just for a second there was fear. Capitalizing on that split second hesitation the kid charged the rogue, his knee connecting with his ribs followed by both palms clapping his ears.

"Run you dumb bitch!" The kid screamed at the crying girl who was now clutching at her torn clothes, but in her shock there was little she could process.

"That was a mistake you little shit!" The rogue growled who had already recovered and now was casually walking towards the boy, leaving the weeping girl.

"Let me give you a lesson in pain!" He screeched while laughing. The Rogue's hand enveloped in flame with which he grabbed onto the boy's face, searing it slowly.

"You smell that boy? That's the smell of your flesh burning!" He commented while branding his palm onto the boy's face.

"I forfeit! Help me!" The boy finally screamed aloud unable to bear it no longer.

Bella gave no pause to check in with Elsa or hesitation when the boy surrendered. Bringing her hand out, the woman aimed the palm of her hand towards the rouge. Bits and pieces of the nanotechnology that was untethered to any completed unit flew out from her backpack and towards the rouge. Bella brought her hands together as her use of technology and alchemy intertwined with each other. Nearby pieces fused together and flattened into four sharp circular disks. As she returned her hand to face the rouge the speed grew from the normal unassisted speed of her bots and she propelled it faster with her alchemy. The first disk was targeting the wrist that was holding the boy with the other three following on hitting the rest of the woman’s body

“...Job done…” The mechanical voice of Bella's glasses said as she darted out from where she was hiding and stopped in front of the rouge and reached towards her backpack. She could feel the weight of her backpack being lifted off of her back as it disassembled and reformed into a glaive into her hand. The remaining parts formed into two larger bots that hovered besides her. “...Back off…”



“Hmm,” Zane hummed as he tapped his chin dramatically. “Have I seen the Oasis trial? With all the tests and trials they throw at us, it’s hard to keep track of them all.” Zane said as he gave a shrug. “I think the instructors finally got fed up with me when they gave me an ultimatum during the final run through. I wanted to stick it to the man and fail just to see what they would do but my partner has a way with words so here I am.”

“Did you pass before or after the twelve hour threshold the year you passed?” Zane asked as he looked towards the spire. While on the ground he wasn’t sure where Yin might be headed towards but with the vantage point he had now, he was pretty certain about her destination. The man gave a defeated sigh and pointed towards the landmark. “How long do you think it will take before that brat stirs something up? With something that visible it won’t take long before rouges, or even other students, cross paths with her. My nap will have to wait if she is as psychotic as she was in the cafeteria.”

“Wanna come?” Zane asked as he started to climb down. “It might be good to get closer to where the action might occur.”