"There are some people who choose their soul, bodies, or even minds to create a separate storage. Of course, it's not impossible. Especially for the soul one, it's a good option. I hesitated to use it myself. It's the safest, most efficient, and the size just depends on the size of your soul. But the only problem is that you can’t put many things in it since it’ll put a toll on it past a certain limit. The mind one is something else. If you mess up you may end up with a perpetual headache. But it’s indeed possible to derive a storage from the theory of spirit."

 

"The real problem is with the body method. There's a lot of people thinking it's a good idea to imagine their bodies as the separate storage or a gate to it. But they don't know how it works. When they store something in their bodies, the objects will literally appear in their bodies, in a miniature form."

 

"At the end, when there's too much," Arima spread his arms. "Boom," he casually smiled and the students paled. "If some of you are using that, you really should abandon it. Unless you want some objects to lock your veins or arteries, damage your organs until you die, and then recover their original size and destroy your body from the inside."

 

Arima said and everyone shook their heads madly. The ones who used this type of storage once were already sweating and taking out everything they could have stored.

 

"Don't make a mess, please. But, well, that method can be useful in a certain way. If you’re bold enough, you can try to miniaturize sturdy materials to act as a sort of inner shield. Okay, I won't speak any more about space. I pretty much mentioned everything there was to know."

 

"It's the end of this period anyway," Arima stood up and the students nodded as they tidied their books. Except the twenty or so students he had gathered until now, the forty others left.

 

As the people were leaving, a cat-girl from Arima's group raised her hand. "Do you have a question, Melody?" Arima looked at her and asked. She was one of the talents he had picked up; an expert with earth magic and a gentle kid.

 

"Hm, I wanted to talk with teacher about something," she replied shyly.

 

Arima peered at her. "What is it?"

 

"I wanted to ask if teacher had heard about the latest rumors?"

 

"Rumors?" Arima frowned and tilted his head. "What is it? I'm sorry but I didn't pay attention to the news these days."

 

"Oh, are you talking about those 'deviants'?" Arister exclaimed and Arima glanced at him. Karma, Lanya, and Night also started listening.

 

"Yes," Melody nodded. "The rumor says that lately, there are apparitions of strange creatures in the night that attack innocent people. People started to call them deviants," she explained and the other students nodded, they had heard the same thing.

 

"One of our knights made a report about that rumor. But we have no proof at all," Ofia said.

 

Arima circled his desk and sat down on the chair, which he rarely did. "Are you sure it isn't a prank or a farce that went out of control?"

 

It was Lena who refuted him. "No, I don't think so," Arima was slightly surprised and looked at her. "For a simple rumor to spread like this, to the extent where the King hears it, it's not something random and should not be overlooked," she said with a grave tone. She seemed to possess a strong sense of justice.

 

"But if it's like that, then the royal family should have sent people to investigate it, right?" Isla shared her thoughts and Ofia nodded.

 

"We did, but for now, there's no result. As I said, we never found a proof that this rumor is true or false… Teacher, what are your thoughts?" She asked and everyone focused on Arima.

 

He sighed. "Well, from what I just heard, I can deduce three things. Firstly, this rumor has apparently a high chance of being true, as it already spread that much, as you said. We can also consider that there's a lot of victims already. For a rumor to spread, you need the foundations to be solid, meaning that there are enough disappearances for a rumor that big to appear."

 

“Secondly, if it's true, then they are not acting mindlessly. Spreading a rumor this much, but not finding a single hint about the source is very strange. It means that someone is erasing every trace and eliminating any witness. Apparently, they also have the aptitude to avoid soldiers."

 

"Thirdly, if this whole thing is true and the previous point is indeed valid, then that means there's a motive. It would mean that there is someone behind the curtains to which the killing of innocents has any sort of benefit. If it's to engender panic, it would be completely stupid to erase their traces, so it's not that."

 

Up to this point, the twenty students were already astounded by Arima's analysis.

 

"The other thing we could consider would be a murdering madman. Although it's not as if people like that don't exist, it's very unlikely. Then, the last idea I can come up with is that there is some reason, an advantage or a profit, to killing these people. Maybe it's also a way to do something."

 

"You said strange monsters. It can't be actual 'monsters' since it's very hard to control them. Even if you do it with mind magic, it's impossible to not leave any trace like this. So, let's call them, as you said, deviants. There're different ways to create this kind of creature. Darkness magic, death magic, life magic, and soul magic. These are mostly things I still didn't teach you about, but I can tell you that it's possible to create such creatures with it."

 

"With death magic, it's possible to curse a body to make it transform into something else, not necessarily an undead though. With life magic, you can directly change the composition of a body and even create a new one. With soul magic, you can make an artificial intelligence and transfer them into a corpse or a doll. With darkness magic, you can use the theory of, what people like to call, the underworld."

 

Arister’s eyes narrowed. "Hell?" He muttered and the students shuddered. The mention of that word in this context was terrifying.

 

"Yeah, that’s one option," Arima answered. "I don't know if the place we call Hell actually exists, but if Heaven is a thing, then the opposite is not impossible at all. In any case, either darkness magic or death magic, or perhaps both, could maybe form a path between here and there. It doesn’t have to be Hell per se, but with that kind of theory, you could very well summon imaginary monsters and demons."

 

"Anyway, if that rumor is actually true," Arima’s eyes fell on Ofia. "You all have a really big problem on your hands. It would mean that someone is planning a large-scale ritual and strike this city from inside,” Arima smiled and stared at her meaningfully. “Tell me, who were those people that targeted you last time?"

 

Ofia trembled and instantly stood up. "Please excuse me," she bowed and directly left the classroom in haste. Lena followed after her.

 

Afterward, Melody along with every student, Lanya, Arister and Night stared at Arima. Only Karma was kind of laid back and didn't care.

 

Arima laughed lightly and waved his hand. "Don't worry, I'm sure they will take care of it in time. Anyway, as long as I am a teacher, at least this school will never fall and none of my students will get hurt. Don't mind," he said to calm them.

 

"Well it's time for the next period," Arima declared and everyone listened to the next lesson with heavy hearts, but they quickly were appeased.

 

***

 

The same day, at the Inn.

 

"Arima, maybe I need to tell you. When I received Ares's inheritance, I learned about Hell," Arister suddenly said.

 

Arima's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

 

"Yes," Arister affirmed and everyone looked at him.

 

"Does Hell really exist then?" Lanya asked.

 

"Yes, Ares managed to leave an inheritance with some of his knowledge so I can say, it exists. But it's not as you may think it is. Hell is not really a place where the dead goes, nor it is a place for redemption," he paused. "Well, actually, it might be close to the latter."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"The ones admitted in Hell are atypical people that possessed some power while they were alive, and also were extremely lucky to be caught by Hell.”

 

“Lucky?”

 

“Yes. If one is lucky, well, or unlucky enough to have his soul and mind saved by Hell, they have a chance to resurrect. But most of them become crazy because of Hell's environment. It's not called Hell for no reason. Apparently, it's an infinite land of despair. The legend says that if you survive long enough there, you'll have a chance to be revived," Arister explained.

 

"Did Ares go there?" Night inquired.

 

"No, he got that information by someone who claimed to have escaped Hell. That person told that he had been fortunate. He hadn't been in Hell for a long time but a portal formed not far from him one day, which allowed him to escape."

 

"I see," Arima mused. "So, a portal to the underworld is really possible, huh?"

 

"Yes, probably."

 

"Well, as long it's a place existing somewhere in this plane, I'm confident in reaching it with the Second White Art," Arima claimed.

 

"The Second White Art?" Lanya and Arister raised their voices at the same time.

 

"It's basically an ultra-range transfer magic. The places it can bring you to are only limited by your imagination. But still too dangerous for you to handle," Night explained.

 

Arima pondered for a few seconds then summoned a small cat in his palm. "Anyway, for now, I'll just mobilize some familiars across the entire city. I'll soon know what those deviants are."

 

Karma laughed. "As expected from you. Always so practical."

 

"Is that a compliment?"

 

She smirked. "Of course, it is.”

 

Arima rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'll stroll around the town for a while. I'll put around ten thousand familiars, it should be enough."

 

Lanya and Arister almost fell from their seats when they heard that number.

 

"How do you plan to control that much familiars?" Arister asked with a twitching expression.

 

"I developed a parallel thought magic recently. Although the created 'minds' don't possess a big capacity compared to the original one, it should be enough to control familiars.”

 

"Teach me that magic!" Lanya and Arister both shouted.

 

"Next time," Arima said and teleported away.

 

For an hour after that, he visited every corner of the city whilst leaving familiars behind him. He then constructed numerous parallel minds and linked them together. They were all small animals or insects capable of camouflage. Cats, dogs, mice, rats, spiders, birds, and many others, except some; especially centipedes. Each familiar was even ordered to destroy them completely if they ever met one.

 

"Do you realize you're bullying insects that never did anything to you?" Night remarked while resting on Arima's shoulder.

 

"I don't care," he responded and Night sighed in helplessness. "Should be enough…" Arima mumbled and sat down on the roof. He laid down on his back and gazed at the sky, admiring the stars. Night jumped on his chest and sat there.

 

"What? You're star-gazing now?"

 

"Well, it was a hobby of mine when I was a kid," Arima answered and closed his eyes. "I'll sleep here tonight. The familiars will alert me if something happens," he added and Night hummed before going to sleep.