He was not speaking at all.

 

Elizabeth had been waiting for any response from Michael, looking at him calmly. Totally not glaring at him or any of the students that were in the arena with a thousand dragon eyes.

 

She also wasn't snarling at them using the dragon maws within the shadows, yep. She was totally acting as a reasonable adult.

 

"Can you please stop that? It is an interesting and humbling example of mana manipulation yes. But isn't it tiring to have manipulated this many eyes and mouths?" Michael said after a while.

 

"Weren't you going to explain what your problem with Rossie and Me? Is it because we are both girls? Are you all this antiquated?" Elizabeth asked.

 

She would find that hilarious, since she knew for a fact that girl's love was a normal and common thing among the [Magical Girl] community, it couldn't be helped since most spent way too much time with other girls fighting for their lives and being saved.

 

Friendship was fostered, and since most of the time, those same girls would see their more private moments be it in fights or in private... Yeah, it was normal.

 

Michael did a double take at her, then started laughing, some of the students around seemed to look at her weirdly too. Did they not notice how most of the girls on the [Magical Girl] front had girls as lovers?

 

"[Checkup how many females have same-sex lovers.]" She ordered into her shadows, the scouts had been checking extra information on their own after the round of evolutions. So she expected an answer soon enough.

 

"[Currently over 60% of all females have a female with whom they have established a romantic relationship. The other 40% has either 'Played' with other females even though they have a male partner or has shown interest in doing so, but haven't moved forward with it.]" Her scouts answered back.

 

...what?

 

Then what was the problem?

 

"The problem here Elizabeth isn't you having a girl as your lover, hell. If you wanted to have two, four, or ten no one would bat an eye at it." Michael said

 

That gave her chills to think, but she could see what he meant, her own reports on Akira's activities showed him having multiple [Companions] across the week and no one seemed to mind it.

 

"Then?" Elizabeth asked pretty irked about this whole thing.

 

"This all started at the start of this year," Michael started saying as he manifested a holographic screen, she could feel his mana in the construct, and also a mana thread going from the screen into his head. "Oh sorry, this projects my memories, it is a handy spell to explain things I have seen."

 

That was indeed a handy spell to have, "[Record all the nodes and formulae used in the making of the spell.]" She ordered into her shadow to the group of Royal Mages hidden within. It could be a good litmus test for those Royal Mages.

 

"Anyway, at the start of the year, everything was fine." The projection started as Michael spoke, it was showing the classroom being filled one student at the time, and Elizabeth noticed the ratio of females to males was more than currently.

 

And while the focus seemed to be mostly on a notebook, she also noticed that the rest of the classroom was showing perfectly fine, as if Michael was aware of everything around him...somehow.

 

"We even had some nice surprises in the form of someone you may recognize," And then in the image someone walked in, head held high, eyes brimming with energy and with a smile so big her face seemed to be about to burst. "Rossaline Singh, happier than anyone had ever seen ever."

 

It was Rossie, but...different. She seemed "What happened to her?" like another person, Elizabeth found it weird, granted, she had seen Rossie happy plenty of times.

 

Each time she finished part of her recuperation exercises, each time she managed to finish her meal when in recovery, each morning she greeted her... When they ate, when they spoke, Rossie always had a smile on her face. But this?

 

She looked like the happiest girl in the world, and seeing it like that? "Who...who hurt her?" She didn't know at what moment her control over the shadows weakened. Or if she gave the command, but Elizabeth found herself kneeling on the arena floor with only a circle of shadows of around five meters surrounding her.

 

The shadows that encompassed the Arena had receded, and while most of the students seemed to take this opportunity to run away, some had decided to stay.

 

She, of course, ignored those and focused on the image projected of Rossie, and of her sweet smile.

 

"...We don't know, fast forward around two to three weeks later..." Michael said separating the frozen image of Rossie and putting it to a side (She would take a picture of it later), "...we arrived to class to this."

 

Now the new projection started showing, as before, the classroom with students trickling one at a time, everyone seemed to be happy enough. Agatha arrived and started taking attendance even, though she already looked younger. So Father and Mother had already ascended...

 

Then the doors to the classroom were kicked open, "Some showed surprise and were worried, of course, one of the most cheerful students had turned into...that." Michael paused the video and enlarged the image.

 

On it was a Rossie way different to both the current and the previous, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her makeup was all over the place trying to hide her puffy eyes. Her clothes weren't ironed and she was even missing a few buttons here and there, she didn't seem to mind showing skin and just searched the classroom till her eyes focused on Agatha.

 

"I need you to approve my leave." Said Rossie, her voice seemed raw, as if she had damaged her throat.

 

No one seemed to know how to react in the video recording, and Agatha took a few seconds to even process what was happening, "Miss Singh? Is everything okay? We can speak about this in the nurse's office..." Of course, after coming out the shock Agatha started moving toward Rossie.

 

And yet Rossie answered back "I don't need the nurse's office. I'm probably the best healer this forsaken school will ever see, I need you to approve my leave [Now]." Rossie's mana was leaking, but unlike what she was used to.

 

It didn't flare in her eyes as hearts, no. Instead, it seemed to want to flare on her forehead, as if growing horns on her.

 

"I can't approve leaves of any kind, that is the work of admin-" Agatha started speaking when a magic circle flared at her side, the video couldn't catch on what it was saying.

 

"Oh wait a second, I have the memory of that one here..." Said Michael as he started rummaging with a magical circle. "This memory was saved in multiple pieces, the hearing memory, sight memory, taste memory...And here it is, [Magic Memory]."

 

He seemed to rewind the memory projector and soon a new sound was added to it. "Agatha? If you see Rossaline Singh detain her, she is currently a hostile target. She has attacked and neutralized multiple administration members and is seeking authority figures to approve of a leave that we can't allow. She is suspected to be able to interact with her [Soulscape]. We must learn how she is doing that." Was the new sound added to the memory.

 

"-The work of administration staff, even if I signed that if the Administration Staff doesn't sign it you will not be granted the leave." Agatha, however, seemed to ignore that message or act as if nothing had happened.

 

"Administration staff already signed, see. I only need my homeroom teacher to sign it." Rossie said as she showed the paper, it was dripping blood at the bottom, but the magic paper seemed to not be damaged by it. "It took some effort to [Convince] them, but they let me go when I made some concessions."

 

"Under no circumstance must you sign anything, we are speaking with the [Nine Stars], they will come to subdue her soon enough. The Student council refused us already, but the [Nine Stars] should want this information too. We can get-" The second audio seemed to cut at that, Elizabeth turned to look at Michael for an answer, but he just shrugged.

 

"Agatha cut the signal after that, it wasn't me." On the memory projection, Agatha took the paper and read it.

 

"Why do you want this leave?" And asked as such Agatha, she took a pen from her robes and seemed to be thinking about signing the paper.

 

"I need to fix a mistake," Was all Rossie said.

 

"...You do realize that this could ruin your chances of getting the needed grade?" Agatha said while signing the paper. "Hope you don't regret this, and for what is worth. I'm here for anything you need."

 

Rossie didn't even look at Agatha while taking the paperback and just ran out of the classroom.

 

"We didn't see her for a few months after, not till we fully started the second-year classes and we started doing the ranking at least." Michael said as he moved the picture of Rossie's harried state next to the brimming with positivity one.

 

The next projection started on the arena floor, the ranking was already written on it, only missing Rossie's name.

 

"Next is...Rossaline Singh...*sigh*" Said one man with a mage's robe, he seemed to glare at Agatha from his spot, but the witch only shrugged and acted as if she hadn't noticed. "We wouldn't be having so much trouble if you-"

 

And as he seemed to want to start arguing the doors to the arena opened and Rossie walked in, she looked...better, or more like. Closer to the Rossie she remembered when she awoke.

 

More of a person whose body was the only thing alive. "Oh my, Miss Singh happy to see you. We at the administration office und-" He started speaking only to be cut by a magic circle hovering on his face.

 

"Miss Singh I know that they don't look like it, but the administration office does have [Souls] so [Soul Magic] is effective on them, please refrain from using [Forbidden] type spells on faculty members." Agatha's voice sounded as a mana pulse flooded the room and disturbed the spell.

 

The mage dropped to the floor with an ashen face and didn't seem to comprehend what just had happened, "Please just do the test, Miss Singh." Was all that the faculty member said.

 

"The test in question will prove if you have been studying as promised the syllabus provided by the school, starts with incapacitating the targets. You will be evaluated by time taken in this test and by the results of your written exam." Agatha said, Elizabeth couldn't help but think that this was the same test that she had done.

 

"Miss Singh didn't finish the test in the allotted time, so her written test is null. She will be evaluated only by the might of her offensive magic and by a fighting test against the students in the class. She will need to defeat at least 50% of the contestants, anyone that manages to defeat her will get bonus points." The mage that had tried to speak to Rossie before said.

 

Having recovered (And after he had a few magic barriers surrounding him) he seemed composed.

 

"How is that possible? No one should take that much time answering 5 questions." Agatha asked confused about it.

 

"Five? That is for students that come to classes regularly, she was tested with questions about all the classes that have been taken in the school. Of course of all the topics we teach. So she had around 100 questions I think?" The mage said smirking.

 

"HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO FINISH THOSE IN 10 MINUTES?!?" Agatha screamed in outrage.

 

Oh, so that was why she had been the one to give her the exam, and the reason behind the time-dilation she had cast...

 

"Not our problem, we had recommended against her leave. And the school was willing to give support to her friend, but she refused both our generosity, so now she needs to deal with the consequences." The mage said back to Agatha. "We are willing to renegotiate Miss Singh, you only need to sign the contract and all will be ready by the end of the day."

 

"When do we start?" Was the answer he got from Rossie.

 

"Just sign here and all will be done." Said the mage sending the said contract towards Rossie.

 

"I meant the test," Rossie answered as she cast a spell to burn the contract. The flame was black for some reason, and that shouldn't be the right color, Rossie's mana was golden, so at worst the flame should be golden if not red. "I don't have time to lose, Elizabeth is waiting for me."

 

Rossie's voice was flat, her eyes seemed empty, it hurt to see her like this.

 

"...Whatever, we will get what we want when you fail anyway. Start the procedure!" The mage said as he walked away from the arena to the safe area. A place highly guarded by multiple barriers.

 

Soon enough the arena was full of dummies ready for action, but unlike with the testing Elizabeth had done, these seemed more... smart.

 

"THOSE ARE MEANT TO TEST A-TIER MAGES THEY FIGHT BACK! STOP THE TEST!" Agatha seemed angry as she hit the barrier that separated the arena from them.

 

"She wants to act as if she is better than us, then she better prove it." The mage, however, seemed smug about it. "You can stop the test at any moment you wish Miss Singh, we will always be ready to accept you back."

 

Rossie for her part ignored both of them and instead closed her eyes and let her mana flow, she wasn't sure if it was her eyes deceiving her or not, but the mana seemed...weird. "Does your spell record everything? Even things you can't see?" Asked Elizabeth to Michael, unsure what was going on.

 

"The spell doesn't actually record what I see, it takes a snapshot of the mana around and saves that. Then it just reproduces it back, so it should record even things I can't perceive." Answered Michael.

 

So she really was seeing it as how it was.

 

Rossie's mana wasn't golden as she was used, it wasn't warmth either, it was deep black, it wasn't like her shadows either, it was more like...The mana seemed sad, it reeked of a Melancholy feeling.

 

And if that wasn't a proof enough of her feelings, she started speaking.

 

"Darker than the void where nightmares thrive. From the depths of human anguish and woe-" Her voice sounded so sad, so much anguish in her voice. " With the punishment missing in this cursed place... by the blackened skies and the stars that weep, Their souls descend to the abyss so deep, where echoes of anguish forever resound, And the weight of their sins is eternally bound."

 

The chant seemed to resonate with Rossie's [Core], her eyes showed an emotion for the first time in the recording, but it showed an incredible amount of anguish and pain.

 

"In this abyss where the [Soul] resides, may this cursed world feel the pain that it inflicted upon my beloved..." The mana Rossie was gushing out coalesced into a magical circle with blood-red letters filled with curses and hate speech, "...May those that defy the well-being of the divine be tied by these infernal chains, and may their cries be lost in the void's cold embrace."

 

And afterward from below the floor, hundreds upon hundreds of arms made of mana rose from the floor and strangled the dummies with chains made of red mana. No one seemed to speak a word at that in the recording.

 

"Every time I see it I find it quite impressive, it isn't quite Ritual Magic yet, but at the same time, it isn't something made with [Idea] either. It seems like she materialized emotions fueling it with her mana." Michael once again paused the video and put that image at the side. "And of course, we were impressed, well most of us."

 

The video resumed and then the mage showed up on the video once more "THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" He quickly went on throwing the diagnosis spells around trying to see anything on the spell Rossie made, "...FINE, STUDENTS FORWARD! WHOEVER DEFEATS HER WILL GET A PASS."

 

No one seemed to want to move forward, which was understandable, even now the mana seemed to condense around Rossie's forehead, Elizabeth could swear Rossie was growing horns, wings, and a tail even.

 

Of course, this couldn't end at that. It wouldn't be able to end at that. "I will do it." A black-haired student moved forward, Akira was about to stand up in the middle of the arena, fighting against Rossie.