Chapter IV.LX (4.60) - The Headmaster’s Battle

  Headmaster Ballarfulur stood on a platform of glittering gemstones that caught the sunlight. Small prisms glinted off his magic, which would likely have pulled every eye on the island if everyone wasn’t already focused on the fight between the professors and red Dragon.

  “Leave now with your life,” Headmaster Ballarfulur said. Despite the distance, his voice carrier and it sounded like he stood just a meter away from Kizu. “This is the single warning you will receive. I am in a poor mood.”

  The green Dragon’s rumbling laughter sounded like the clap of thunder in the sky. And its response was to bathe the human headmaster in green flames. Flames licked the air, splitting the sky above.

  Kizu shielded his face with an arm, the heat sweltering even from his distance. His mouth went dry again and his eyes itched.

  Kizu’s opponent had been immensely powerful. There were chunks of glass scattered across the surface of the beach as proof. But if he had faced this Dragon instead, his barriers would have shattered and he’d be little more than a pile of ash after mere seconds under its assault. This was another league of power altogether.

  When the heat finally dispersed from the sky above, Kizu risked another look up.

  Headmaster Ballarfulur stood on his shining platform unchanged from before, appearing utterly unimpressed.

  The Dragon roared again, this time in outrage. The entire island shook. It flapped its massive wings and Kizu felt the hot air replaced by a rush of wind that competed with the worst typhoon. He tried to create a barrier between himself and the Dragon, but it flickered and he felt a moment of vertigo. He was running very low on blood. The Dragon’s wind forced him to turn away from the fight once again as he struggled to catch his breath under the gale’s force.

  When he turned back, the headmaster now held out a weapon, pointing it in the Dragon’s direction. It was a short sword, barely longer than his forearm. It didn’t even match the Dragon’s teeth in length. But it glittered with that exact same crystalline shine of the headmaster’s platform.

  “You’ve chosen death,” the headmaster said. His tone was flat and lacking any of the amusement that Kizu was used to hearing from the man. “Pity for you.”

  A blink of the eye and the sword jutted from the Dragon’s snout as the headmaster now stood between the Calamity’s eyes. The Dragon reeled back and attempted to snatch Headmaster Ballarfulur between its teeth as its red companion had Arclight earlier.

  But before the Dragon even closed its jaws, the headmaster now stood on its back. A single swing of his sword, and a gash gouged into the thick membrane of the Dragon’s left wing. It pierced entirely through and Kizu could see blue sky within the split in the green wing.

  The Dragon hollered in pain. It spun around, belly now skyward, and lashed out with its legs. It attempted to grapple the headmaster between its claws as it flipped.

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  The gash in the wing made the flight shaky, and its maneuver dropped it halfway out of the sky, but it spun, righting itself in the air, prey now clutched. The headmaster dangled in its claws.

  The headmaster jerked while in his opponent’s grip. Then the Dragon’s claws rained down from above, sliced into pieces alongside the Dragon’s knuckles.

  Again, the Dragon cried out in pain and dipped in the air. This time, with the headmaster beneath it.

  The Calamity fell onto Headmaster Ballarfulur’s brilliant sword.

  A prismatic blast burst from the wound, even more blinding than the Dragon flames earlier in their battle. It took Kizu several seconds to blink the rainbow colored spots out of his eyes and for his vision to clear.

  The same time his sight returned, the Dragon smashed into the town below, sending out a shockwave across the island.

  The headmaster simply stood on his platform overhead, frowning down at his enemy. His tall hat had gotten scrunched from their battle and hung a bit crooked off to the side. Blood dripped from Headmaster Ballarfulur’s sword. Even still, light poured out from beneath the blood.

  The headmaster reached out and pointed the sword to the remaining Dragon that fought the professors and Wakino over the sea. At first, Kizu thought he intended a ranged attack with the weapon. But then the sword slipped from his fingers and disappeared from sight. The dark Dragon blood that had coated it fell from the sky. Then Headmaster Ballarfulur simply sat down on his platform and spectated.

  Perhaps his reasoning was that the professors did not need his help. While Kizu’s attention had been absorbed on the one on one fight between the headmaster and the green Dragon, the professors had slowly whittled away the red Dragon’s health. But, as Kizu watched, he realized there were only three professors and Wakino in the sky above.

  “Where is Ignis?” Kizu asked Taroe.

  But as he turned to face the former Elite, he realized he addressed only open air. It took a moment of searching before Kizu spotted Taroe standing on the waves far off to the side, attending to Ignis’ burns. He must have slipped away while Kizu’s attention had been consumed by the headmaster’s duel.

  Then Kizu felt ashamably silly. What if there had been another attack while the headmaster battled? Kizu would have been taken entirely by surprise. He needed to become better at remaining aware of his surroundings. Especially when standing in a battleground.

  All of his senses should remain alert. Otherwise, he risked getting caught off-guard. While he’d been fighting and spectating his mentors, his consciousness had been utterly absorbed by what took place right in front of him. Best to not deny another key source of information. At that thought, Kizu decided to take a glance through Mort’s eyes.

  Mort gripped Anata’s shirt. He was perched on her shoulder. At first, Kizu felt relieved. They were together and safe. Then he felt Mort’s unease and stiff posture.

  They stood in a dark hallway. Somewhere in the academy? But…no, maybe a cave? That was good, they’d gone somewhere that the Dragons wouldn’t have been able to strike right away. But where would they find a cave though? It didn’t look like Professor Knoff’s classroom. And where was everyone else at? The last time Kizu had checked in they’d been among a crowd from the performance’s audience.

  Mae stood in front of Anata with Kon at her heels.

  “She’s here,” the Kitsune girl insisted. “I saw her!”

  Anata shifted and glanced around. Then Kizu caught a glimpse of a familiar door. The same door he’d used to access the blood disposal back in his first semester at the academy. The door that led into the World Dungeon.

  Then, out of the shadows, echoed a chorus of cackles.

  Kizu’s blood went cold.

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