In an instant, a cloud of smoke permeated across the entire room, obscuring the boy's vision. For a moment he panicked, but the fog quickly dispersed, revealing a myriad of renaissance paintings hung up on wine-red walls.
''Woah, where are we?'' Alix said, his eyes darting about the place.
''My office,'' the headmaster replied.
''What?!'' Alix blurted, his eyes bulging. ''But--but what about an actual, uh, fighting place? I don't know--an arena, maybe? Why in your office?''
The headmaster shrugged with unprecedented indifference, he was more lax than that damnable dragon tamer. ''Most matters are settled in my office.''
Alix gave the place one more look. He took in the eloquently dressed figures in the paintings, the giant curtains behind him that partly swallowed up the light of the sun--light that desperately tried to seep through the glass windows of the silent office. Turning back to the headmaster, he allowed himself an awkward smile. ''Summon Raina.''
The giant worm materialized in front of him, already eager to accost the ancient figure that it beheld. Alix quickly summoned the creature window and dispersed the other two. In his time with Mei and Vaylor, he had finally learnt how to summon the only one he wished to look at, and it had made things a lot easier for him.
[CREATURE WINDOW]
[Raina]
Evolution Capacity: 3
Evolution Lines: None
Abilities: Secretion, Parasitic
Evolutions Made: 2
Soul Fragments Until Next Evolution: 694/2000
Description: The flatworm crawls without a care in the world, for its cells duplicate rapidly without a thought, and its body knows no permanent wounds, nor can it suffer them.
He narrowed his eyes and studied the two abilities.
[Secretion]
Description: Raina is able to expel enzymes from her body in the form a thick, blue substance. The liquid is able to slowly break down and liquefy creatures that are weaker than it, a creature that has swallowed Raina, or creatures that Raina has successfully bound and strangled for a short period of time.
The ability was extremely useful, Alix noted. But he wasn't trying to kill the headmaster. He looked at the other ability that he didn't have the time to study in the arena--he had gone a whole indolent week in Vaylor's home that he didn't think to inspect there either.
[Parasitic]
Description: Within the confines of a host, Raina is able to expel chemicals that can kill and interfere with the unfortunate creatures hormones, stress signals, and neurotransmitters. At Raina's behest, the creatures behaviour will be controlled to her liking, making for a potentially staunch and faithful companion.
Dammit! I can't use that either. Jeez, Raina, why do all your abilities have to be so murderous?
''Well? What are you waiting for?'' The headmaster said, gesturing with his hands to beckon them forwards.
Don't have to tell us twice!
''Go, Raina! Bind him!''
Raina slithered towards him with great speed, but the headmaster was much, much faster. He vanished from where he once stood, and appeared on the back of the slithering beast. ''What a newfangled creature you have here.'' He said, carefully traversing Raina's back. Without warning, he raised his leg and slammed it hard into Raina's body.
The man snickered and smiled with glee. The force behind his limb had formed a giant crevice in the ground, and Raina found herself buried deep within it. Alix's jaw was hung low in shock, much less for the condition of his partner, but for the lack of care the man seemed to have towards his own office.
His office! This is his office! He just--he's still laughing?!
Alix raised his palm, torrents of yellow mucus shooting out of it. He had aimed for the headmaster, but, of course, the man had moved just as fast as he did last time.
He appeared in front of him, with a whimsical smile plastered on his lips, and his milk-white eyes narrowed in amusement. The smoke followed him wherever he went, and Alix found himself suffocating in his presence.
Taking a giant leap back, he raised his palm once more, and the yellow mucus that came out of it found nothing but air and smoke. ''Dammit! Dammit!''
''You lack for speed, boy,'' the headmaster said, his voice slithering into Alix's ear. Alix twisted his entire body to find the man behind him, but he had vanished from there too.
''Behind you!'' The headmaster guffawed.
Alix twisted his body again, only the smoke and the air had greeted him.
''I said behind you, behind you! Ha-ha!''
Enraged, Alix clenched his fist and swung around for the irreverent headmaster. The japing figure had caught his fist with ease, and grabbed another one that Alix had tried to bury into his face.
''Tell me, boy. Did your parents ever swing you around as a child?''
''W-what? Swing me around?''
''Mhm, like this!'' The headmaster roared, lifting Alix off of his feet. Alix felt his world spinning, the walls and the paintings were now a blur, and All Alix could see was the cheerful smile that was now forever plastered on the headmaster's face.
What the hell?! Am I a damn child?!
''R-Raina!'' Alix bellowed.
The giant worm hurried towards its master, but before it could divorce the distance between them, the headmaster hurled Alix towards her. Alix crashed into her body, and landed harshly on the cold marble floor. He could feel a raging headache daring to burst through his skull, and his entire back had been pained by the giant steel wall that was meant to be the body of a worm.
What the hell are you made out of, Raina?!
Alix groaned and staggered to his feet, scratching his head as he wrestled with all the pain he was experiencing. He could still feel the world spinning, and for a moment he almost lost his footing as he turned around to find the headmaster.
''Has Lord Vaylor taught you nothing?'' The headmaster darkened.
As the world returned to its rudiments, Alix could see clearly the expression that had washed across his face. It was hardened, austere, and slick with warning. It seemed the headmaster had hurled away his merriment too.
''What are you talking about?'' Alix replied, leaning on Raina.
''All tamers truly grow in battle, Alix.'' The headmaster sighed.
''...Is this not a battle?'' Alix blinked, confused by the lecture.
''Nay, I'd say not. A tamer must always fight with the thought of death lingering in their minds. Every battle between tamers is a battle to the death. Do you understand?''
''So you want me to kill you?''
''I want you to try and kill me,'' the headmaster said, a wry smile appearing on his ancient face.
''You don't preach what you teach, headmaster.''
''Oh? Whatever do you mean?''
''You tell me that all tamers truly grow in battle, and to come at you with the intention of killing you. But you've been fooling around this whole time. Are you growing, then?''
''Ah, to point out my hypocrisy! Sound, sound logic! If this were a class, I'd give you points for that.'' The headmaster commended, cheerfully stroking his beard. But then his face darkened again. ''So, you want me to come at you with the intention of killing you, yes?''
Alix swallowed hard and weighed that for a moment. The headmaster wasn't appointed as the headmaster for no reason. This man was extremely powerful. Could Alix survive this? Surely he wouldn't actually kill him, right?
Alix's throat went dry, and for a moment he wouldn't allow himself to respond. But then the boy thought back to the reason he was fighting in the first place. To help his friends--at least he hoped the other two were his friends--who had helped him against the paladins.
''Preach what you teach, headmaster.'' Alix said, his smile shivering.
''Very well,'' the headmaster said, returning his own smile. ''Stand stall, and be ready.''
''Raina! Kill him!'' Alix commanded. The worm was on him then, blasting a beam of blue liquid at the headmaster. Alix raised his palm and fired his own. The headmaster was gone, as was expected. Scanning the room, Alix found that the man was nowhere to be seen. Deeply troubled, he stayed beside Raina with his hand resting on her body.
''You see him, Raina?'' Alix asked, half-expecting the worm to reply. She did, in her own way. The worm was looking upwards, and Alix traced her gaze to the ceiling where the same headmaster was glaring at them.
Somehow, the man was defying gravity, standing upright on the ceiling. A black cloud of smoke surrounded him, and covered the entire ceiling with its thickness. Alix could see some of the smoke shaping into strange, pointed objects. Other sections began resembling beasts that Alix was all too familiar with.
Black, smokey dragons were now snarling and glowering at him, their entire wingspans covering the length of the ceiling. There were so many that Alix didn't even bother to count them, and the sharp objects were equally malicious in that they were now pointing directly at him.
What kind of tamer is he
With his heart in his throat, Alix had to conceive a plan quickly. Looking at Raina, he had remembered something important. Back in the sweltering cells, that wretched jailer had stabbed Raina numerous times, but her body kept re-healing almost instantly.
Would that work now? Surely it would, and her healing factor might be even better due to her evolution.
There were two more things that Alix took into consideration. Firstly, Raina's senses were much better than his. The worm had found the headmaster first, and had casually looked up as if she knew exactly where he was. Secondly, it seemed that the black smoke allowed the headmaster to teleport wherever it went.
Would he teleport inside of Raina's body? Maybe if I was inside of it.
Alix knelt beside Raina and brought his voice to a whisper. ''Raina, as soon as that smoke comes down I want you to swallow me whole. I have a plan, and a theory.''
Raina wriggled a little to mark that she understood. As the smoke came down on them, she did as she was told. Alix was sucked up through her body and dragged into a dark and slimy place. The stench was too much to bare, and Alix found himself swimming through her vast gastrovascular cavity.
The smoke pierced through Raina's flesh and found Alix's own. It had pierced through his stomach, his thigh, and had almost made a mark on his neck.
Crap! He really was serious. What kinda headmaster is this?!
Like Alix hypothesized, Raina's body was healing instantly at a rate that could put her previous evolution to shame. His own body was healing at a rapid rate, too. This went on for minutes, every puncture the smoke made would begin mending itself, most of them, to Alix's luck, had missed their mark due to Raina's cunning.
The worm was fighting the headmaster alone out there, fending off most of his smoke while protecting the master that hid inside of it. This would be a battle that could go on for days, weeks, months. Nobody was more tenacious than Raina.
Let's see just how patient you are, headmaster