Tbate | A clash between times | The beginning after the end

Chapter 23

(A/N so I'm going to switch to a chapter every other day because of school, but I'll try and make some chapters longer.)

Grey

It's been about 5 months since I've arrived. The disciplinary committee has been training hard, well Doradrea said the class was too hard for her and dropped out. Arthur advanced to Solid yellow, which is 5 months earlier compared to me. He also managed to use Mirage Walk while running. The training we did also paid off because his movements are getting closer to mine.

I've also told him about Aether and Epheotus. Arthur now understands everything about the Asura's and the Vritra. I've essentially told him everything, but we decided that he should still go to Ephesus. Tess was upset upon hearing this but after we explained the importance of the training that I couldn't replicate, she started to understand. Unfortunately, this meant she wanted to be with Arthur as much as possible. I've had to go give him some gold from the relictombs so that he could afford all the pastries she eats.

Caera is also much stronger. She's about on the level of Jagrette, that annoying poison retainer. She can now heal herself with soulfire and has gained the ability to turn her soulfire into small weapons, although her weapons aren't that strong yet the fact they're made from soulfire makes them pretty dangerous. She can now control up to 15 soulfire wisps or 12 when she augments herself. Caera has also become much more expressive, she has even been going shopping with Kathyln, Claire and Tess.

Sylvie and Regis also got much stronger. Regis came up with a really scary tactic. He's been training himself to unconsciously turn incorporeal when he's about to get hit. What else he does is he runs around his opponents only to go through a wall or floor and reappear somewhere else to attack. Because of the high speeds he moves at even a silver core would struggle to even parry him, right he could even defeat Varay. I sent Regis out to hunt mutated mana beasts himself, he seemed to really like it.

Sylvie can now manipulate mana into more complex shapes. Her favorites are long chains which she uses to catch Curtis when he tries to skip class for a date. Curtis even tried to ask Caera out. I didn't even think you could dropkick a person but Caera proved me wrong.

As for Virion, he got teams to raid dungeons for the corrupt beasts. The cover story was an unknown artifact was mutating them and they needed to be eliminated. Fortunately, only me, Arthur and the council know the truth, so Agrona still thinks we're ignorant to his plans.

Arthur has avoided Elijah to the point they don't talk anymore when they meet. Sylvie keeps trying to kill him but for some reason my gut is telling me that right now isn't the right time.

I decided that we should have a field trip to Willow's crypt. I mainly wanted to go so I could beat up Uto, but showing Arthur the power of a retainer is also equally important. If we go now then the dungeon will be fine for Glory's class and the mutant will be gone.

I walked up to Goodsky's office and knocked. "Come in" I heard her say. I entered and sat down. "So, what do you want today?" she asked me.

"Well, I want to bring my class on a field trip, to a dungeon to be more precise." I replied, knowing she'll agree.

"Do you have one in mind?" she asked. "Yes, I want to go to Willow's crypt. One, because a mutated beast is there, and two, because Uto is there." I said.

Cythina's eyes went wide, probably because of the fact a powerful retainer is there. She then composed herself, "I see, how will you manage to rent an entire dungeon?"

"I already have, you have no idea how easy it is to convince Kaspin. Since I'm training his niece he was more than happy to help ," I said with a smirk. "I even got everyone's parents to agree. I haven't told my student's yet, since it'll be a surprise."

"You were going to go even without my permission weren't you?" I didn't say anything as I left to go tell my class the news.

Tessia Eralith

I sat in class waiting for Grey to come. Caera and Sylvie were going through some exercises. I had fully assimilated with my beast will. Everyone was really surprised by how quickly I did it, but according to Sylvie the way I did it was much more efficient than what Arthur did.

We all turned our attention to the purple lighting that appeared in the middle of the room. Grey did it solely to show off. "Good news everyone, we're going on a field trip!" exclaimed Grey excitedly. "And don't worry, I already have all of your parents' permission."

"A field trip? I wonder where we're going? It'll probably mean I get more time with Arthur," I thought with a huge smile on my face.

"Where are we going?" asked Curtis. "We'll be going to a dungeon in the beast glands. Willow crypt to be precise. Don't worry, Caera, Sylvie and I will be there to protect you." explained Grey as he saw the worried looks on our faces.

"When do we leave?" asked Art. I noticed an excited look on his face. It made sense, from what he told me about his adventures. "Right now"

***

We stood outside the dungeon. Since Willow's crypt was so close to a teleport gate we didn't need to sleep outside. I was very excited, this was my first time in a dungeon. Everyone else was too. "Now listen up, we'll be going down to the deepest part of this dungeon, since it might take a few days, I've brought everything needed to survive." explained Grey. He had a very serious tone and expression. "Does everyone understand the situation?"

"Yes!" we all replied. "Very good, now you're all responsible to create a formation. I recommend asking Arthur." said Grey as he left us to our own devices.

***

As we entered the dungeon we saw mana beast come from every corner of the cave. Arthur, Curtis, Claire and Theo were in the front while Kathyln, Feyrith and I were in the back. Grey, Caera and both Sylvie's were standing away from the chaos to let us train.

We had been killing them for about ten minutes when Theo shouted out," Their numbers aren't decreasing!!" He was right, I had killed about 25 of them and there were more than when we started. "There are less than I remember, well I did come here five months later," said Grey, more to himself. Caera noticed our struggle and shot out her "soulfire" as she called it. Every monster that was hit started to wraith in pain and slowly turn to ash.

About half an hour later they were all dead. "Grey knew there were going to be a lot more than normal, if not why would he bring us here?" I sat down next to Art. I was really tired but he barely looked tired.

"You knew there were going to be a ton of these things, didn't you?!" Exclaimed Theo. He was angry, and rightfully so.

"Of course I did, why else would I bring you here." said Grey with a smug look.

"If it helps, we have a surprise for you," said Sylvie as she approached me. "What is it?" I asked.

"I can speak now mama!" said Sylvie as she jumped on my lap. "When could you do that?! And why do you call me mama?" I asked suspiciously. "Because you and papa raised me. So you're mama and papa!" she said.

"I helped her try to talk ever since we started training. She managed to do so yesterday but we wanted it to be a surprise," said Sylvie.

"Thanks for the surprise then Sylvie," I replied as I rubbed my face with my little white fox. "Okay, deviating from the talking fox, shouldn't we stop with this dungeon?" asked Kathlyn.

"Why would we? Did you forget that I knew the situation here? We'll keep going until the dungeon is cleared. " Grey said with an eyebrow raised.

"Ugghh. Why did I agree to come, oh yeah I didn't!" yelled Theo as he stared Grey down. Grey just chuckled and shrugged him off. He then started to go to the next floor. "Come on everyone, you need to get used to this."

We all sighed and followed Grey, no one wanted to argue with him. As we descended I felt an ominous feeling, but I dismissed it because Grey said he knew what was in this dungeon.