The 6 other members of the 2nd tier class stood off to the side, unsure of how to interact with the 1st tier class who seemed very intimidating. Some of them wanted to talk to Viktor but just standing there in his mostly black uniform that stood out from the rest made him intimidating. Of course, his good looks and towering height didn’t help much either. 

“Um...it’s nice to meet you all…” Marianne murmured as she walked up to them, deciding to take the first step to try and make the 2nd tier class comfortable since no one else was even trying.

“It’s nice to meet you…” The 2nd tier class member that everyone was huddling around said as if speaking for the other six. He was the person the 2nd tier group considered their strongest now that their numbers had been cut down,  Alejandro Hernandez Vividal. He had a silver core and was one of the many 2nd tier group members who would’ve been in the 1st tier class if they had passed the ascension test the year before.

“Uh I wouldn’t say we’re nice people but...if you need help you can ask…” Marianne said and smiled a bit.

“Our leaders seem intimidating, and they are, but they’re nice people…” Alexius chimed in, standing beside Marianne and sliding in to cover her a bit.

Viktor seemed to sense that they were talking about him and looked over for a second, expressionless. His mood immediately switched and he turned to the door of the airship. The person who walked through those doors was just Walter, which left people confused.

“Miss Yue and Miss Mai on their way,” Walter said and pointed behind him, clearly speaking to Viktor before walking over to Marianne and Alexius.

Yue and Mai entered the room soon afterward and wondered why everyone was staring at him. He glanced toward the 2nd tier group’s members and was going to walk toward them with Anika but Viktor walked up to him and stopped him.

Viktor silently took Yue’s trunk and sent it into his storage ring. He had done the same with everyone’s bags but it was a touch more intimate because of the soft smile on his face when he looked at Yue. Yue put his swords on his holster and allowed Viktor to take the trunk with his other sword maintenance items.

“Is everyone here?” Yue asked and walked with Viktor toward the center of the room.

“Yes, we’re just waiting for Mr. Wagner,” Viktor responded.

“The other leader is a girl? She’s pretty but—” One of the 2nd tier students started before being cut off by the scary looks he got from Marianne, Alexius, and Walter.

“Miss Yue is by no means weak.” Anika murmured as she walked toward her group of classmates. The 2nd tier group still seemed unsure about that but they decided to not mention that since everyone seemed hostile if you tried to defame Yue. 

Viktor and Yue were just reviewing the information for the expedition, unbothered by the conversation that they could both clearly hear. Yue had his eyes settled on Viktor’s even as he slipped on his pair of black gloves as if telling him to not glare at the 2nd tier group.

Viktor broke eye contact after giving in and looked down at Yue’s now gloved hands. He looked at them carefully and furrowed his brow. He reached out his own gloved hands to grasp Yue’s but Yue swiftly moved his hands behind his back when he realized that Viktor was looking at them. 

Yue had removed the illusion on his body since no one would be able to tell that he had no curves through the thick armor-like reinforcement of his uniform but he had forgotten how his hands clearly looked much thinner than normal without his illusion. Viktor had probably caught a glimpse of his bony fingers or frightening wrist and was going to inspect it before he moved his hand away. Viktor seemed like he had no plans of letting the matter go and got closer to him to try and pull his arm out from behind him but he stopped as Mr. Wagner entered the room.

“Are you all ready to go?” Mr. Wagner asked, pushing up his round glasses as he addressed the class and walked toward Yue and Viktor.

“Yes sir,” Yue said and stood up straight.

Viktor almost sighed out loud and nodded. Everyone moved to enter the next room where the airship was waiting. 

“If you are not good enough at levitation magic to lift yourself, speak now, or meet death by gravity.” Mr. Wagner said and turned to the students.

Only a few people from the first tier group held their hands up and most the 2nd tier group raised their hands. They had used the teleport pad back when they first went to England for their expedition.

“I’ll use my magic on you so stay in the shop until I tell you that we’ll be jumping.” Mr. Wagner entered the airship. Yue and Viktor stayed behind until everyone else entered.

Yue sat beside Viktor, hiding his hands from Viktor’s view and quietly trying to figure out how much magic he would need to fly with his current body. He wasn’t sure how much he weighed and things could go wrong if he put too much or too little into it.

“Don’t know how much you weigh?” Mai asked as she walked over.

“Nope.” Yue murmured and looked up at Mai before glancing at Viktor who had his brow furrowed.

Viktor seemed like he was holding back a comment and seemed displeased. 

“Mr. Ivanov!” Mr.Wagner called and waved Viktor over.

Viktor walked over, hiding the fact that he wanted to groan and Yue and Mai were left alone.

“How about I lift you—“

“My rib is still injured. It will hurt like hell if you do.”  Yue said and looked away a bit. It was mostly an excuse for her to not notice his weight was odd but his ribs still hurt a lot.

“Huh? Were you not wearing corsets to the auctions?” Mai asked, confused about how Yue could wear the corset without being in pain.

“Viktor probably told the maids about it or something, my corset was never tight enough to hurt.” Yue murmured, rolling his eyes when he noticed Mai was grinning after hearing him.

“Ugh, just get married already,” Mai whined playfully and rested her head on Yue’s shoulder.

“We can’t just skip a relationship and go straight to marriage...We still don’t even know each other that well...” Yue sighed.

Mai was silent for a bit before she raised her head and decided to sit properly before cutting off the silence.

“You probably have a lot of secrets right…?” Mai murmured.

Yue gulped and didn’t know what to say. Regardless of whether he confirmed or denied Mai’s words, he felt like he could end up offending her regardless.

“I…”

“Oh! You don’t have to tell me your secrets or anything! I’m sure you have your reasons and all...but if the reason is that it might ruin how we think of you… At least for me, I think you’d have to betray me and leave me to die for something like that to happen.” Mai said, trying not to force Yue into saying anything.

Yue blinked, shocked.

“Why do you...trust me that much..?”

“We’ve fought together in life or death situations already, we’re also close friends regardless...and the person I trust the most trusts you so...” Mai said and blushed as she murmured the last part.

Yue felt touched but he doubted that he was really such a trustworthy person. He still smiled softly regardless and silently thanked her for saying that.

—

“What is it, sir?” Viktor asked Mr.Wagner as they got to an empty corner of the airship.

“Do you know if Lady Elena will be joining the raid on the Scotland abyss? Your father has already denied the request.” Mr.Wagner asked, turning to glance out the windows on the airship.

“If my father will not be joining then she probably will be joining instead.” Viktor murmured.

“I see...you’re not worried at all are you?” Mr. Wagner chuckled.

“Of course not. If there was ever something that could make my mother bleed I’d be worried for the future of this world.” Viktor said smirked.

“You’re right.” Mr. Wagner laughed.

—Moscow, Russia—

“Mistress, I’ve brought a letter from Miss Natasha and Miss Anya’s painting.” A Maid said as she walked into one of the main offices of the Ivanov manor. The room was just like the rest of the manor, spotless white floors, high ceilings, and white and blue baroque style walls. It was only an office but it was the size of a ballroom. 

Everything in the room had the Ivanov family’s typical white and blue all over it. The only exception being the woman sitting at the desk in the back of the room. The woman at the desk was Elena, the mother of Viktor and Natasha. She didn’t look exactly like either of them but the resemblance was there in terms of facial structure.

Elena had waist-length ebony hair and yellow/gold eyes like Viktor. She wore a black and gold dress and gold jewelry with diamonds. She smiled with a look of excitement as the maid walked over and placed Natasha’s letter and the wrapped up painting on her desk.

“You sent my response to the mage association right?” Elena said as she looked done at the two items in front of her, she was excited to look at both items but she picked up Natasha’s letter first.

The maid simply nodded before walking to the other side of the room to continue what she had been doing before she went to get the mail.

Elena read Natasha’s letter and gushed a little as the letter changed from Natasha’s handwriting to Nikolai’s handwriting near the end.  In his little note, he thanked her for the birthday gift and said that he was really looking forward to seeing her for the holidays. The note seemed very refined for a 10-year-old until the end where he signed as ‘Kolya’ instead of his full name which made Elena gush about him even more.

“Now, let’s see who has captured My son’s heart,” Elena said and picked up the wrapped up painting on her desk. She motioned for the maid to hurry over, knowing she was probably also curious.

The painting was made by Viktor’s head maid, Miss Anya, while in Paris. She had secretly and carefully studied and drawn Yue’s features throughout his stay and had created her final sketch and painting when they arrived in academy city, keeping it all a secret from Viktor. It had been a special mission that Elena had tasked her with after Natasha had told her about Yue.

As Elena unwrapped the painting, a note fell from the back but she ignored it as the painting came into view. The portrait was of Yue on the day of the Grimoire auction, Anya had been inspired by the small smile Yue showed when he saw Viktor was wearing yellow as well. Elena’s smile widened immediately as she looked at the painting.

“She’s very beautiful.” The maid murmured, picking up the piece of paper that had fallen from the painting. She passed it to Elena who was pleased to see that Anya had written up all of the information she knew about Yue.

Yue Xia, 19 years old, around 170 cm, the young mistress of the Xia family. Fluent in 8-9 languages. Expert in swordsmanship and martial arts. A bit shy.

“I think even Andryusha would approve of her…” Elena said and grinned, she was particularly impressed by Yue being an expert in swordsmanship and martial arts. It was not a conventionally feminine thing and she didn’t expect Yue to know more than the simple things they teach in the academy.

“She definitely seems very suitable for the young master but I thought the young master liked men..?” The maid asked, a bit confused.

“...I will have him explain it to me during the holidays but I have some idea of what’s going on,” Elena said and chuckled a bit. She stared at Yue’s painting and smiled.

“Schedule an appointment with the painter for around the time of the academy’s graduation. I want a family portrait...Oh and put this in Vitenka's room, on his bedside table or just somewhere where he’ll see it when he comes back for the holidays.” Elena giggled and passed the maid the painting.

The maid nodded and quickly stepped out of the room. As she walked out, Viktor’s father walked in.

“Good Afternoon Andrei, I haven’t seen you all day,” Elena said as she slipped the note with Yue’s information into one of her drawers in a slow and not suspicious pace.

“What was that painting? Was it a painting of you?” Andrei said, ignoring the greeting as he sat down on the chair in front of Elena. 

“Yes,” Elena said with a grin, leaning her chin on her hands as she watched her husband raise his eyebrow.

“I only saw it in passing but you have not worn yellow since April,” Andrei said, a bit suspicious.

“That’s when the painting is from.” Elena immediately countered, giggling a little at how her husband paid attention to every detail.

“...Alright.”

“Are you gonna say good afternoon yet?” Elena said with an expecting look.

“Good Afternoon Lena...”Andrei grumbled a bit, he was uncomfortable but he couldn’t deny her. Elena just giggled and they moved on to talk about why Andrei had come to her office.

—

All the students gathered in one area of the airship as they arrived in London. Yue was still unsure of how much power he needed but he figured that he’d figure it out as he did it.

“My group is staying behind so who wants to jump down first? Leaders?” Mr. Wagner asked and looked toward Yue and Viktor.

“Alright.” Yue and Viktor said without hesitation and in unison. They glanced at each other as they did so.

The doors to the bottom of the airship where they’d be jumping from opened but Yue didn’t even bother going off the little ramp area that was set up. He just jumped off without even setting up the levitation magic, making Mai almost scream with horror as she watched him. She then watched Viktor do the same thing and looked at them both incredulously as they both fell down quickly.

Yue was focused on feeling the way that the air hit his body to try and measure how much power he needed to use to levitate so he didn’t hear the almost scream and he didn’t really notice how Viktor was already using levitation magic to fall at the same speed as him.

“Can’t figure it out?” Viktor asked and tilted his head, raising his voice so Yue could hear him.

“I-I’m fine!” Yue said and blushed, a bit embarrassed. He looked at Viktor and then up at all of the other students who were carefully floating.

He steadied himself and started floating down lightly beside Viktor. They couldn’t see the ground for a while as they floated so they just relished in the pretty hand clear blue skies.

“Yue,” Viktor said and called Yue’s attention to him. He pointed at his wrist to remind Yue to use his bracelet to protect against negative energy as they got closer to the ground.

Yue did as Viktor suggested but he just watched Viktor for a while as well as they floated. For the time that they were floating above the clouds with no one around them, it seemed romantic. Yue blushed a bit and Viktor just smiled a little.

“No time for flirting, you two!” Mai exclaimed and grinned as she flew down between them.

Yue blushed bright red and looked away, trying to focus as they floated through some clouds and the entire atmosphere changed completely.

The ground was visible and you could see the absolute destruction that was occurring. Most of the land was leveled and completely devoid of life and buildings. The monsters that roamed those areas were grotesque as they carried around human limbs in their mouths from people who hadn’t made it.

“Well...Maybe I should’ve let you keep flirting because this is definitely going to be beyond stressful.” Mai murmured and gulped.