Alastor went back to the Level 2 Restricted Access Area, and chose to take a spearhead which was kept on display.
His spear rippled, before a mouth opened on the spear and bit off the blade already present on the haft. Black tendrils grabbed the long spearhead and pulled it into place, as the spear hummed.
Content with his gains, Alastor left the vault with a smile.
The next few days went by quickly, as the rest of the students returned from their missions one by one.
Alastor also decided to stop anyone else from using the Rune of Change, leading to Professor Bones going on a rampage as he interrogated everyone in the research team.
Alastor approached a haggard looking Professor Bones and greeted him. The old man seemed to have missed it, but Alastor knew he was deep in thought.
Professor Bones finally replied, "Everybody else was checked, and not a single researcher was able to use the Rune. The Rune has been mastered. But we were the only ones to see it. Other than...."
He turned to Alastor and said coldly, "Draw the Rune of Change into this table. If you are the master, you must know it's meaning, and thus it will react."
Professor Bones knew how outlandish it sounded, that a student who was present rarely for the research, not only found out the meaning of the Rune before all of them, but even mastered it to the point of denying them access.
However, this was the final hope he had. Aside from himself, no other human knew how to conceal one's mastery over a Rune, that he was sure of.
If even this lead failed, it would mean the owner of the Rune was some other being, and they would have to lose the Rune without a fight.
Alastor smiled sadly, "Of course, Professor."
'To think such a situation came about.....it's almost too simple.'
'Did he really believe that I would steal the Rune without taking appropriate countermeasures?'
Alastor coated his finger in sharp Spear Aura and drew the Rune of Change into the table.
Within his soul, the Rune of Change etched upon the Black Tree began to react, before he stopped it with a wave of his hand.
Professor Bones looked at the unresponsive Rune drawn upon the wooden table, dejected.
He mumbled an apology to Alastor, before returning to staring blankly at his table.
"This could have been humanity's chance to gain a Rune not granted to us by the gods. What an unfortunate turn of events."
Alastor listened to Professor Bones' muttered complaint as he left, smiling.
'This will indeed cost humanity a lot in the future....But why should I care?'
Alastor soon left the Academy for the holidays that came after the final mission.
................................................................................
Time passed, seasons changed, and the world spun quickly.
Before anyone knew it, the new academic year had begun in the Academy.
Amber entered the Academy, excitedly looking for Axel and her friends, but not finding anyone.
She went to her room and lay on the bed, 'This feels more like home than that shack.'
Amber thought to herself, 'I'm a lot stronger than before. I even forced myself to ask that drunk old man for help....but it surprisingly turned out to be worth the effort.'
'I wonder how much the others have improved?'
She got her answer as an explosion was heard, the grounds of the Academy shaking, as even the barrier surrounding the Academy activated.
In the training grounds, Illia was floating around in the air, sipping a drink as Alicia created a monstrous elemental storm.
Parts of the ground froze, other parts turned into swampland. Sharp wind blades flew rampant, with pressurized and boiling jets of water bursting out of the ground at random intervals.
Flames licked at the surroundings and lightning flickered between random charged areas of the field.
Yet, all of this was contained by a wave of Illia's hand, the rampaging elements freezing in place, as if space itself stopped them.
Alicia gasped for breath, quickly recovering as she finally stopped controlling the chaotic mess, letting it dissipate into nothingness, as a figure could be seen within the dust and debris.
A figure which could be mistaken for a large boulder lay steaming where the elemental storm had been a moment ago.
The 'boulder' unwrapped it's limbs from around itself, revealing a gigantic stone monkey, bleeding and bruised, it's rocky body crumbling in places but overall intact.
It roared triumphantly, the Battle Aura on it's body returning within.
A returned to his human form, as Illia warped space to make a large cloth wrap around his waist, concealing his nakedness.
Amber appeared behind Alicia silently, "So it was you guys after all!"
Alicia jumped in fright at the sudden appearance of Amber, instinctively trying to freeze whoever it was. Amber faded away from where she was, before appearing behind Alicia once again, a teasing smile on her face.
"Cool down, scaredy cat~"
Amber suddenly noticed thin strings appearing around her, set to limit her movement.
The ever silent Tori Kento had evolved further as well, his sword now being composed of near invisible, sharp and almost-unbreakable strings, but his greatest trump card remained hidden.
Tori saw an arrow land in front of him, with letters etched in orange flame into it's shaft, 'What is this, a reunion thing? I'll play as well then.'
Everybody (except Illia) felt the threat of death as Karna nocked an arrow into his bow from an unseen location.
Illia clapped her hands, teleporting everyone into the training grounds, "How cute. You guys can go ahead and have your little reunion battle royale then, while I go deal with a nuisance that's appeared in my flower garden."
Alicia thought to herself, 'The Grand Sorceress keeps a flower garden? Perhaps it has uses I cannot fathom at my current level of strength. I shall keep one as well!'
As the group began their destructive 'spar', Axel entered the Academy grounds as well, excited to rejoin his friends, only to suddenly be teleported into the middle of the battle royale at the exact second he stepped foot inside the gates.
................................................................................
After a round of intensive healing, the group wandered into the cafeteria.
"And none of you knows where Alastor went?" Alicia asked for the fourth time.
Amber replied, "And somebody seems too curious about his whereabouts."
Alicia remained calm externally as she answered, "It's just that we had established a deal. I would hate to find out he was forced to renege on it due to external factors."
Internally, she was planning on how to dispose of Amber in thirty different ways.
Karna said, "He told me he was going to master his weapon further. He asked the school to extend his leave a bit, and apparently, Illia asked the Spear Hero to teach him."
They went silent for a while, before Axel said, "All we can do is wait."
Meanwhile, much farther away from the Academy, a cliff could be seen on the verge of collapse.
One could hear sounds of weapons clashing, yet nobody could be seen.
Alastor appeared at the edge of the cliff, swinging his spear towards an old man impossible fast, as if trying to cleave him in half.
The old man brought his own spear up slowly, yet it interecepted Alastor's strike all the same.
If one looked closer, their weapons weren't even touching, an unseen force keeping the weapons apart, but the sound of the weapons clashing still rang out.
The old man leisurely swung his spear again, and Alastor prepared for the aftermath as he disappeared from his location, just in time before the entire cliff exploded into rubble.
Alastor jumped off the falling stones as he rapidly approached the old man from behind, and swung his spear, sending a slice of Spear Aura towards his back.
Alastor felt it when his Spear Aura was forcefully dissipated, and the old man attacked back.
Everything felt like it had become a spear, pointing right at Alastor. The air in his lungs became sharp, the water in his eyes became sharp, his own skin seemed sharp.
'This is his Spear Domain I see. And he calls this incomplete.'
The battle ended as the two reappeared on the bottom of the cliff, their Battle Aura flaring to stop the dust form impeding them.
The old man said, "You are the most talented child I have trained. If you used a sword instead of a spear, I would have thought I was looking at the Sword Kid from ten years ago."
Mentally, the old man assessed Alastor, 'Extremely refined Battle Aura. His Spear Aura is also approaching the limit of the Knight stage and soon, he too shall enter the Hero stage. He absorbed everything I taught him like a sponge.'
Alastor thanked the old man, bowing at the waist respectfully, "Thank you for helping me grow further, Master Eregor."
The old man said to Alastor, "You, child, when you came to me, your style was already forming. All I could do was to push you further into polishing it, and remove some weaknesses. The rest is a product of your own efforts."
"Teaching you was like gaining a blank canvas. I simply painted my experiences upon it. It was quite enlightening for me as well, for my ascension to the Lord level."
They parted ways, the Spear Hero, and the strongest Spear Knight.
Alastor smiled as he thought about the Academy, 'The new batch of students must have joined by now.'
'Meaning......the protagonist is here!'