Duelcrest Academy

«Sophia... this is...»

When she said she wanted me to spoil her, her sitting on my lap wasn't what I expected.

«What? You made me sit between your legs before. This is no different,» she said, shifting her position on my legs to be more comfortable.

But I could see from her ears that she was blushing. And so was I. For some reason this position was much more embarrassing than I thought it would be.

«I don't know about this... I used to sit like this with my mum, doing it with you is kind of weird!»

«Well, I'm supposed to act like you now and you're still a big baby.»

«Excuse me?!»

I took advantage of the situation and attacked Sophia's exposed sides from behind.

«You're supposed to spoil me, not molest me, idiot!» she yelled, jumping up.

When she sat on my lap again, she sat sideways instead, one arm over my shoulder, her legs dangling close to mine.

«Oh... this is much better!» I said, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her towards me. With my other hand I began to gently stroke her hair.

«See! You can be nice sometimes. Keep going,» Sophia murmured, leaning against me.

«As you wish, my lady,» I giggled. After her outburst earlier, I was glad I could help her relax a little.

Sophia closed her eyes and snuggled against my shoulder.

"So cute..."

It was a while before she spoke again.

«Elizabeth... have you decided when you are going to go upstairs?» she asked in a muffled voice, her face pressed against my body.

«Sophia... we don't need to talk about that now,» I replied, slowly caressing the back of her head.

«No... let's talk about it. We have to. Don't worry, I feel better now.»

"If she says so..."

«Tomorrow. We don't have much time. Assuming we find something up there, we'll have to plan our actual escape before Penny is eliminated.»

«I see... I'm worried, Elizabeth.»

«I know you are! But I'll be careful, I promise!»

«That's not the issue... the traitor, if there is one between us, they'll tell Skylark that you and Celeste are going there and...»

I pushed her away a little to look into her eyes.

«Sophia... you're the one who told me not to worry about the traitor!» I said.

My girlfriend gave me a sad smile:

«I know... but now that things are getting serious, I can't help but think about it. I know I told you that we should trust our companions, but... I'm really a messed up girl, like you said.»

"Sophia... I'm not the only one with dark thoughts, am I?"

How could I reassure her? I really only knew one way good way to cheer up. I pinched her cheeks and began to squeeze them.

«Hey!» Sophia complained, trying to pull herself free.

«Relax, you idiot! I'm going to be with Celeste, remember? Skylark's golden child! He won't kill us. Besides, I think he's interested in me now because of what happened in the dungeon. If we get found out, at most he'll put us in detention or something!»

Sophia stopped moving, taking in my words. After a while I could see a faint smile appearing on her face:

«I-I think you might be right... but be careful anyway.»

«I will!»

«Can you leave my cheeks alone now?» she said, grabbing my wrists.

«Oh, sorry!»

They were so soft that I kinda wanted to keep playing with them. When I let go, Sophia stood up again. I was about to do the same when she put a hand on my chest and stopped me.

«Sophia what...?»

My girlfriend sat on my lap again, this time facing me directly, her legs kneeling on the bed by my sides.

"This position... it's far too dangerous!" I thought, feeling a certain sensation brewing inside me.

But when Sophia wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her head in my chest, the lust I could feel building up instantly melted away, smothered by her overwhelming cuteness.

«I'm still worried though... what are you going to do about it?» she whispered, raising her eyes to look at me.

At that moment I really thought I was on deaths' door and I had just seen a glimpse of heaven.

"I repent of my perverted thoughts!"

«You are not being fair, I know you are acting cute on purpose... what am I going to do with you?» I replied, hugging her tenderly.

Another long silence followed. Again it was my girlfriend who broke it.

«Elizabeth, if we don't manage to escape... what are we going to do? I know I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. But... I can't help but think about it... what are we going to do if we're the only two people left?»

«Not easy questions from you today, eh? It's such a nightmarish scenario that I don't think my brain can handle it.»

«I understand... but for me it's very simple. I would let you kill me... because a life without you would have no meaning for me, even without considering the whole 'turning into a mindless weapon' thing.»

Sophia pulled away from the hug a little to look me in the eyes. I could clearly see an unyielding determination in her gaze. She wasn't saying it lightly... she would have sacrificed herself for me without a second thought. As for me... what would I have done? If my brain had no answers, my heart clearly did.

"For both of us to die... it wouldn't make any sense. That's exactly why I got mad at Penny..."

But as it turned out, I really was a big hypocrite.

«That's a problem, Sophia! Because I could never hurt you even if you wanted me to! I just love you too much!»

I pulled her back into the embrace, hugging her as tight as I could.

«You're hurting me right now, idiot!» she complained, but I could feel her hug me back with the same strength.

"I hope the day when we have to make that choice... never comes," I thought as I released her from my grip.

«You just had to make things gloomy! Let's change scenery a bit, should we? We should go to dinner, Sophia. You can sit on my lap in the dining room if you like!» I joked as I motioned for her to get up.

But before I could do anything else, Sophia pushed me down onto the bed. Suddenly I found myself under her, my wrist trapped in her steel grip above my head.

«Sophia, what are you...?!»

«You haven't spoiled me enough yet,» she said as she looked at me, her face completely red.

"Why is she doing this if it's making her so flustered?"

«This looks like you are going to be the one spoiling me and not in a pure way! But that's not the issue... we were just talking about some very heavy stuff... are you sure we should-?» I muttered, looking away, incredibly embarrassed due to the position she had put me in.

«Well... I'm still acting like you, Elizabeth! This is clearly something you would do!» Sophia said, grinning even though she had almost turned fuchsia.

«I didn't pin you down like this yesterday!» I complained, still avoiding her eyes.

My heart felt dangerously close to jumping out of my chest and hitting Sophia in the face.

"This is... bad. I can't even think straight right now..."

At my words, however, Sophia let go of me immediately.

«Sorry! I was just joking...» she said, «did I hurt you?»

I was finally able to look at her again. I sighed at the worry on her face.

"This is so embarrassing, but... I have to accept what I'm feeling. She's my girlfriend after all."

«I... didn't tell you to stop.»

Celeste rose from her seat to signal the start of our meeting. It was probably going to be the most important one so far. After all the bickering we had done yesterday, we needed to come to a consensus on how to proceed.

«So, as we decided yesterday, Liz and I will take care of the second floor issue. We'll probably act in a couple of days, after we've worked out a good plan. I know you must all be worried, but leave it to us. Instead, you should focus all your attention on what will happen in the future.»

I looked at my friend with a furrowed brow, confused.

"I thought we decided we would go for it today."

But I decided not to interrupt and to talk to her about it after the meeting.

«As we discussed yesterday, finding an exit is just the beginning,» Celeste continued, «Liz has been very clear about what she thinks we should do to ensure our escape is successful. Does anyone else have any other ideas they would like to suggest?»

No one spoke.

«Alright. Then I'll ask this: who's in favour of concentrating our efforts on finding a way to deal with Skylark? Raise your hand!»

I immediately did as she asked, as did Celeste herself. Penny, Nicole and Wilhelm in front of me soon followed. The majority had already been secured, but I still glanced to my right. Sophia smiled slightly at me as she raised her hand.

"Thank you... I really needed it..."

As I turned to look at Celeste again, I was surprised to see Philemon raising his hand as well. I tried to give him a smile, but the boy didn't even seem to acknowledge it.

"I think he hates my guts," I thought as Celeste clapped her hands.

«Well, that was easy!» exclaimed Celeste cheerfully, «all right, we'll concentrate on finding a way to kill or trap Skylark! I want you to give it your all! Squeeze your brains hard, ok? We need a big breakthrough to find something that the old fart doesn't expect!»

From their faces, it seemed that no one else was as enthusiastic as she was about the prospect of fighting a dangerous mage like Skylark, but everyone understood that it was a necessity.

«I hate to say it, but I don't think we should confront him directly. Like him, we should use underhanded methods,» Wilhelm said after a moment of silence.

«Poison maybe? That's bound to go through any kind of magical barrier!» suggested Penny.

«I don't know about you, but I didn't bring any poison in my luggage! Do you think we couldn find some conveniently laying around?» said Nicole.

Penny thought for a moment before answering:

«The infirmary. There are probably some potions there that could be poi»sonous in high doses.»

«That's possible, I suppose, but how would we even administer them? The professors don't eat with us. And we can't really go up to him and say, 'Hey, Headmaster, would you like to drink this perfectly normal cup of purple water?'» Nicole countered.

"She's right. Even if we could get our hands on some poison, Skylark wouldn't be stupid enough to let us use it on him. Besides, now that I think about it, I didn't see any room that looked like a dining hall on the second floor... I wonder where they eat."

Meanwhile, Penny was sulking.

«Since you're so smart, how about you come up with something?» she asked Nicole.

The redheaded girl seemed taken aback by the sudden question, but soon composed herself:

«The way I see it, he's a powerful mage, but he's also a very fragile old man! Remember how Montague knocked him out with a simple shove? We could find a way to distract him, and then we could all pounce on him!»

Nicole really did have a good memory. I had completely erased that particular incident from my mind. It was probably because Skylark had turned Montague into a pile of ashes right after that.

The horrible smell of burnt flesh, now that I could really remember.

"Wait... But... this doesn't make sense!"

Was Skylark really walking around the school without a barrier to protect himself from attacks? Especially when he wanted to tell us that we were all trapped in his deadly game?!

I could see from the expressions on my classmates' faces that they had realised how strange that was too.

«Wait... could it be that we could've already killed Skylark with ease all this time?» asked Wilhelm stupified.

«He could have activated some barriers to protect himself later... maybe he was counting on the fact that no one would try to kill him back then. You know... the killing game hadn't really started yet,» Penny suggested.

«With people like Valentine among the students? No way he would be so naive,» Sophia said.

«But then...»

«There must be a trick, maybe a power that activates when he takes fatal damage or something,» Celeste said.

We all stood silent for a second, pondering the implications of this idea. It was Philemon who spoke:

«In any case, it seems that physical attacks are the way to go. If that's the case, I think we should plan a strategy based on Thornton's power. It's our best weapon against someone like Skylark.»

At his words, I suddenly realised that I had made a mistake.

"Fuck me..."

I hadn't considered this situation. In my mind, when I had decided that going after Skylark was the right thing to do, I had seen myself delivering the final blow to him, vaporising him with my mana. But, of course, since my allies didn't know about my newfound power, they would look in Sophia's direction as the perfect executioner.

I looked at Philemon. His face was impassive as usual, but part of me couldn't help but think that he was trying to get back at me for yesterday. But there was no way I could accuse him of that without proof. His suggestion made sense after all. Sophia's power would've allowed her to cut through any kind of defensive barrier.

«Sure, if you manage to find an opening for me, I can be the one to deliver the final blow.»

Sophia’s tone didn’t betray any hesitation. I looked at her to see a cold expression on her face. I knew that look, it was the same she had before the duels she had fought in the past. Her sword would’ve come down on Skylark clasped into a steely and unwavering grip.

"But… I don’t want this…"

It was Skylark we were talking about, but I still didn’t want my girlfriend to have to kill someone again. Besides, she would’ve been in danger. If Skylark would've realised what was happening and hit her before she could close distance… would have power saved her from the kind of spells the headmaster could cast?

Sophia’s eyes met mine and on her serious face lit up a faint smile. I could tell she was trying to reassuring me, but it wasn't enough. Now I could really understand what my girlfriend and Philemon had felt yesterday. I wanted to jump up and found a way to object, but without breaking my promise to keep my power hidden I had no way of doing that.

"I really really am an hypocrite, everyday I realise that more."

Sophia’s hand dangled on her side and I grabbed it, thankful. I took a deep breath before saying my piece:

«As Sophia said, we need to come up with a plan to distract Skylark, so we can attack him without him noticing…»

«Seems like we got a good starting point!» commented Celeste, «we are going to start having daily meetings from now on. You are dismissed now! Sophia and Liz, stay here please!»

I looked at her surprised: it had been a very short meeting.

"Maybe she wants to give us some time to think..." I thought as my classmates left the room, leaving me and Sophia alone with her.

«I’m not going to keep you here long, it’s better if we all rest since we won’t sleep much tonight,» said Celeste, after looking out the door and closing it.

«Wait... so we are going to do it tonight! But then why did you...?!» I looked at her confused while she closed the door of her room behind her. But soon thought of something that could explain her behavior and Celeste soon comfirmed it with her words.

«For the same reason I made them leave now... because of the possibility that one of them being a traitor. I want to keep the details of our operation a secret.»

It was the second time in two days that someone who had previously denied his existence had mentioned the traitor.

«I really want to believe there isn't one, but I can't ignore the possibility. It would really put us at risk this time. Anyway... we will start at 3:30 am, even night owls should be asleep by then. As for where we get in... I chose the girls' bathroom!»

«So much for a heroic entrance!» I commented, but I could see why she had chosen it.

«It's the best place I could think of. Our rooms are well protected by barriers, even on the ceiling, and we can't really do it in a random corridor, someone might be taking a night stroll. That leaves the bathrooms, the dining room and the classroom. The bathroom has the lowest ceiling, and no one should ever go there at night, as we all have a personal one in our rooms.»

«Sounds good, I assume you want me there to get rid of the barrier,» Sophia said after nodding.

«Yes, your power is the quickest way to do it, and you also have to stay there in case a guard patrols in there.»

«I see...»

I could imagine what was going through Sophia's mind.

«You want to come with us, don't you?» I asked, looking at her worried face.

Sophia nodded:

«I could help you get rid of any obstacles you might find and... we could also look for a way to deal with Skylark while we are up there.»

Celeste seemed to consider her words for a moment, then shook her head:

«No. I want us to think very carefully about how we deal with Skylark. We will only have one chance. If we fail, he'll kill us for sure. On the other hand, if things work out tonight, we can just go back up. We also have no good way of getting you to the second floor. Phase Shift is far too advanced a spell for us to doublecast it on you, so you'd have to use your power to break through the ceiling. I don't think we could repair it in time for tomorrow.»

She was right, a careless and hasty approach would put us in danger. Sophia seemed to understand that as well:

«Alright, I'll leave Elizabeth in your care,» she sighed.

«Still treating me like a child, eh?» I said, giving her a little nudge with my elbow.

But Celeste took her seriously:

«Don't worry, I'll do everything in my power to keep her safe. I know yesterday I said that we would split up to cover more ground, but I actually have no intention of doing that. We'll stay together and use a special spell I've researched to stay hidden!»

«That's a great relief, thank you! I hope she doesn't cause you too much trouble.»

«Don't worry, I'll keep her on a short leash!»

«Now you're talking about me like I'm an undisciplined pet!» I shouted, feigning indignation.

I felt the nervousness that was starting to build inside me fade a little as I looked at Sophia and Celeste burst out laughing together. By the time we left the room, I really felt like everything was going to be all right. But there was still something else that was bothering me.

«Sophia, could you wait for me for a minute? I'll be back soon!»

«Sure... I'll wait outside our room. Is something wrong?» she asked.

«No, don't worry! I just want to ask Philemon something.»

And so, after saying goodbye to Sophia and asking Celeste where it was, I went to his room. The boy responded very quickly to my knock:

«Oh Belvoir, what's going on?» he asked with just a hint of surprise when he saw me outside his door.

I couldn't blame him. I had never really spoken to him one-on-one, apart from when I had found him on the second floor before the battle.

«Nothing much, I just wanted to talk to you.»

«I see,» he said, gesturing for me to come in.

His room was, as expected, extremely tidy with not a single object out of place. His desk was orderly, with his books neatly arranged in piles of the same height. I sat down on his chair while he leaned against the wall in front of me.

«So, what do you want to talk about?»

I did my best to keep a neutral tone and not sound aggressive.

«Today, when you said that Sophia was the best choice to kill Skylark, were you trying to get back at me for yesterday?» I asked.

The boy looked at me for a second without showing any emotion:

«You're very straightforward, just like Celeste said. I can't lie, the thought did cross my mind, yes. But that's not the reason, I really believe that Thornton is the right choice,» he replied.

«I see... I just wanted to make sure. I'd rather not have any resentment brewing between us. I've already caused Celeste a lot of trouble with Wilhelm, so...»

«There is no need for concern. Yesterday I got carried away. As you saw today I agreed with your idea,» he said nodding.

I could've left things there, but there was something else I wanted to say.

«I... I still want to apologise. Today, when I thought about Sophia being in danger, I really felt terrible. You must have felt the same when Celeste suggested coming with me, so I'm sorry that she's going to put herself in harm's way because of me.»

This time I clearly saw Philemon's eyes widen before he could hide his reaction.

«Celeste is free to do as she pleases. That's the way she always acts anyway,» he commented dejectedly.

"These two obviously have at least one thing in common: denying how much they care about each other."

«But you worry a lot about her, don't you?» I pressed him.

«Isn't that normal between friends?» he replied calmly.

Normally that would have been a perfectly acceptable answer, but I really didn't think it was just that.

"But I suppose it's none of my business."

I got up and headed for the door.

«Belvoir... wait a second,» Philemon stopped me.

«What is it?» I asked, looking at him.

«It's kind of a personal question, so feel free not to answer. You and Thornton met at this school, right?»

«That's right. Why are you asking this?»

«I'm just surprised that you decided to get so close to each other knowing what would happen in the end.»

His words somehow reminded me of what Sophia had said to me in her room, which seemed like an eternity ago.

«It's not going to happen.»

«But if it does... what are you going to do?» asked Philemon as calmly as ever.

This time I found very easy to answer this question.

«I would die for her and she would do the same. Isn't that normal between two people who really love each other?» I replied, turning to look at him.

«I... see, of course it's normal,» he replied, nodding with the same blank expression as before.

But this time he was too slow to hide his clenched fists behind his back.

"Just a childhood friend, eh? He definitely doesn't see you that way, Celeste."