Willow sat down in one of two matching, hard oak chairs across from Veneralia’s desk. The Demon Lord wore the persona of Principle Deus, a little too ageless for the apparent seniority of her character, red hair in a tight bun on the back of her head. She made an act of paying no attention to Willow, focusing her eyes on her desktop computer as she typed away. After just long enough for Willow to start to feel self-conscious, Ven made one final, loud strike of her keyboard and looked up at the younger demon for the first time.

“So,” she began, “do you know why you are here today, Willow?”

Because you don’t like that someone else was the highest bidder.

“No, miss. I was hoping you would tell me.”

“I have been reviewing your activities lately and found your community hours activity to be somewhat...lacking, Willow.”

“Oh? I was under the impression that I was a model Demon in terms of my contributions to the school. The last time I checked, I was right near the top of the time charts for non-student council members.”

“True, your performance has been exemplary in terms of time commitment. However, the tasks you have chose to put that time into...Well, I think it’s fair to say that you have a talent for finding the low hanging fruit.”

What!?

“That being the case, if there are no objections-” Meaning that there had better not be any, if you don’t want me to find something even worse for you to do. “-I have decided to add your name to the advanced classes list."

Willow did her best to not react to that news. The advanced classes included the best and the worst of Venus Cloacina. They volunteered for the hardest jobs and represented an entirely different paradigm and scale next to the regular students of VC. It took all her effort for Willow to not shake with nerves at the announcement.

“I look forward to seeing you excel in your new environment.” Veneralia wore a vicious smile. “I think we can all agree that it is best for everyone involved to avert a big fish in small pond scenario.

- - -

History of Nobis
Maou’s of the 5th Universe
Makai and Tenkai
The Sea of Lost Souls

Willow pulled the last book off the shelf and put it on the pile of promising-sounding books. The problem with the Library. One of the problems, at any rate, was that it’s sorting was so nonsensical. It had a copy of everything. One copy of everything. There were hundreds of sections, if not thousands, and each book could only be in one of them. Within the sections themselves, there was no obvious method to how the books were arranged.

Instead of returning to the shelf, Willow took a brief look around the area they were searching. They all moved about a circular clearing lined with shelves on the outside, with benches and desks in the middle. Raven sat in the center, going over the volumes to verify their usefulness, while Willow and the other two girls scavenged for more.

This was the center of the Makai section and all of the shelves around it would be related to the subject at hand. It was safe to go 2 or 3 rows out, but any further than that and the risk of being unable to find their way back to each other starter to grow. All told, they were surveying only a small sub-set of all of the books in the section, but the collecting was practically endless. Even a Demon would run out of lifespan long before they would be able to read every book, scroll, paper and tablet in the library.

The table pile had quickly swollen to a stack as large as Willow was tall, but Raven was ruthlessly efficient in identifying what was useful to her purpose. Nine books in ten were discarded to places unknown, the remaining 10% joining a much smaller collection for more in depth review. Many from that smaller pile had small sections transcribed before joining the discarded as well.

The inflow pile now sat nearly empty, as Willow and the others struggled to find more relevant books within the safe zone they had set.

"Hey, Raven?”

The Tengu jumped a little at the sound of her name and looked up from her book to see Willow.

“Don’t you think this is enough? There are a lot more sections after this.”

“Oh...right, I guess so.” Despite sounding momentarily unsure of herself, Raven put on her determined face and immediately started packing up.

Besides the lion’s share of works that would hopefully help with Raven’s research, each of the other girls had put aside a couple of books that caught their own interests. In the case of Willow, she had the “G” volume to The Encyclopedia of Alternate Makais that she hoped would contain an entry on Goddessly.

Once everyone was packed up, Willow once again reached for her blue pass and focused on their next destination, the Purgatory section. The card glowed faintly as point-by-point directions aligned themselves on its surface.

1. Enter Aisle 3240-shi, to your left.

the party proceeded like this, Willow leading the way and occasionally checking her card as it scrolled through further directions. Occasionally Willow would notice a previous instruction change as the library shifted and the path changed. The library card ensured that they never hit a dead end, but she knew it was full of them. Indeed, it would actively entrap scholars who disrespected it.

The shelves behind and ahead of the group swung suddenly outward, trapping the group in a boxed off section of hallway.

...Which wasn’t to say it wouldn’t entrap respectful ones, too.

“We have a problem.”

“We appear to be trapped,” Beatrix confirmed.

“Well not too trapped. We can still climb over the shelves to get out.”

“And that is still a bad idea.”

“...What’s this?”

They all turned to towards Raven and what she was looking at.

All of the shelves were lined with books, but one of the walls of their prison was arranged differently. There was a gap in which a single open book sat on a small stand, on an angle, allowing it to be read without hovering over it.

“In what word-worlds can delirium poppies be found and what are their effects on the ecosystem?”

“It’s a Quiz!?”

“Do Willow or Raven know the answer?”

“There’s more questions,” Raven turned the page. “Twentyish?”

“You can’t make me take a test like some VC School girl...no offense, Willow. I’m climbing out.” Goku reached for the nearest shelf and started climbing. Beatrix looked a little concerned, while Raven focused on the quiz. Willow just pursed her lips and waited for the inevitable to happen.

“Okay,” Willow said as she turned her focus fully to the problems in front of them, “I think I can handle these questions. Who can do this one?”

Goku came crashing down cursing, landing in a pile of heavy books that came down with her.