Back at the academy, a good number of students could be seen moving around outside and the only explanation for that was that it was already time for lunch break.
While most students were enjoying their lunch break, Ariel could be seen making her way down the staff section of the second floor and she didn't stop until she got to the last door on the left.
"Sir. Gravin." She called before knocking on the door.
"Yes, come in." He responded from the inside.
Getting that response, Ariel proceeded to open the door and walk into the office.
Compared to every other staff office in the building, the room was dark because he didn't bother to open the windows but not too dark for her not to see anything.
There was a large bookshelf on the right with a couple of stuff on top of it and a couch on the left. These two furniture had one thing in common and that was the fact that they were both covered in dust.
The whole office was covered in dust to be precise and there were a bunch of cobwebs in the corners. The seat he was in right now along with the desk he had both of his legs on were the only things dust-free in the whole room.
"Do you even bother to clean this place at all?" She inquired, looking straight at him with a disgusted look on her face.
Some of the dust would be getting in her eyes and nose now but she was using her ability to repel them, anyone looking at her wouldn't even be able to tell that she was doing something.
"Well, don't you look lovely today, Ariel." He smiled before slowly bringing his legs down from the desk.
"If you're not going to do it at least tell someone to do it." She said before slamming her hand on his desk. "I feel embarrassed for you." She sighed.
"Well, I don't see any point to it, nobody ever meets me here anyway." He shrugged.
"That's because you're rarely here."
"Precisely."
"You're hopeless." She sighed before shaking her head.
"It's not nice to call your teacher hopeless, Ariel."
"Well, it's true but let's push that to the side for now, I came here for something."
"And what might that be?" He asked before pushing back on his seat with both of his hands joined together.
"The last time I checked, students didn't need to leave the academy grounds for breaking codes of conduct so tell me why I can't find my brother or his classmates anywhere here?" She demanded.
"Oh, I see, I guess it makes sense that you caught wind of that."
"Answer the question." She retorted.
"Calm down, lovely, your brother is safe, I just have them doing some extracurricular activity." He disclosed, maintaining his smile and calm composure.
"And what are the chances that this extracurricular activity does not involve fighting a beast?"
'Hmm., she seems to be spot on but I can't have her interfering.'
"Don't worry, they're just going through a couple of drills, they'll be back before lunch break ends." He assured her.
She wasn't too quick to respond to that and kept his gaze on him for a while before the fierce expression on her face calmed down a bit.
"Somehow I find that hard to believe but if it's what you're saying I'll hold you up on your word and if I don't see my brother after lunch break ends….. "
"Always feisty when it comes to matters regarding your brother, Arsha doesn't know how lucky he is."
"I'm leaving." She said, ignoring what he just said.
After that, she turned and began to make her way to the exit.
"Hey, hold on a moment."
"What is it now?"
She quickly turned around to find him standing right in front of her.
'Oh, come on.' She sighed inwardly.
"Hey, come on now, can't you see I've been lonely here all by myself?" He intoned as he placed his hand on her chin.
"If you're lonely then leave, you're always moving around anyway." She retorted before knocking his hand off.
She turned away from him after that and continued her walk to the door.
"Rest assured, I will tell the vice principal about this." She threatened before opening the door.
Like a name-calling summon, she found Claire standing outside in front of the door and she had an inquisitive look on her face.
"And what would that be?"
_________ _________
Back in the forest, Arsha was still trying to fight off this sudden urge that was overwhelming him and filling his head with thoughts that weren't exactly his.
'Do it! Do it! Doesn't she look delicious?!'
'What are you waiting for?!'
'Go ahead! Sink your teeth into her flesh, no one will know what happened.'
'Keep quiet!' He screamed in an attempt to call his mind to order but it was to no avail.
Claudia could tell he was suffering with the way he was shaking his head with his hands covering his face, she wanted to reach out to him but she told him not to, and not just that, she was scared.
"Arsha." She muttered as she stared at him with terror-filled eyes.
She tried to reach out to him but before her hand could get close enough, he turned to her but with his hands still covering his face.
"I told you to stay away!" He yelled before charging forward.
She thought he was charging toward her and got ready to protect herself but he ended up running past her.
He was charging toward the beast and as soon as he got to it, he sprang up and slammed both of her hands down on it forcing out a loud screech.
It was weird that it left them alone all this while but there was a reason for that, there were four vine-like parts sticking out from the part Arsha cut off.
The first two were covered in ice and the other two in flames.
Out of desperation, it swung the flaming parts of its new tails toward Arsha and sent him flying back.
"Why won't you just stay down?" Claudia grumbled as she folded both of her hands into fists.
She was starting to embrace her rage now, turning it into fuel for her ability, the lightning around her body was starting to run haywire and that was exactly what she wanted.
"I'm just going to kill you and take the blame." She muttered before charging forward with her sword now in her arm.
Just as she got to the, she channeled most of her lightning force into her force and swung it down aiming for the beast's neck.
If she had tried that earlier she might have been able to kill it but effort now was meant with a clang before it could reach the beast.
Something strange was going on, the beast seemed to have summoned some kind of ice shield around itself and although she was able to make a dent on it, it restored itself after a few seconds.
The ground suddenly shook at that moment, almost knocking her off her feet.
She quickly turned to Arsha at that moment to see that he was still on the floor and when she turned back to the beast, a sharp shrill ran down her spine.
It was back on its feet now and was staring down at her furiously but that wasn't the only reason she was terrified.
She was surrounded by numerous ice spears hanging in the air, it was just a matter of time before they would rain down on her.
"This is supposed to be a master-tier beast?"