He had it to hand it to the fates, this really wasn’t what he thought the end of his Monday would look like. Did he expect it to be eventful? Of course he did, this was Gnosis. Did he expect for one of the plots he was keeping track of to lurch forwards? Kind of. He certainly wasn’t surprised that it had happened. But did he expect for a golem wearing Melissa to be chasing Erea around an arena?

No. He most certainly didn’t expect that.

It seemed like Melissa’s golem suit was unlike Erea’s armor Spell. For one, it didn’t seem like this creation needed to continuously drain mana, since Melissa was getting tired, but not nearly at the rate she would have been if the suit was draining her mana to keep itself in one piece. It was probably only using it to repair itself. Which it did. To Erea’s growing fury.

Another difference was that Melissa seemed able to use her Spells and Skills directly on the creation itself. Yes, the girl lacked any ‘conventional’ fighting Spells, but when she used her golem enhancing Spells on her personal golem armor? Twice now Erea had to use |Haste|, as Melissa had charged her suit with |Decrease Weight| and |Enhance Mobility|. She even managed to clip the elf a few times. Not enough to break something, but Erea was now nursing her shoulder and sporting a bruised lip.

It was sturdy too. As the elf kept finding out.

“|Light Arrow Swarm|!” she cried.

Melissa just stood there, the Spell peppering her suit, but inflicting only minute cracks which fixed themselves in seconds.

“That’s it!” she snapped. “|Earth Fists|, |Haste|, |C-“

“No.” Nahlil cried out. “No using your specialty. I deem that to be lethal.”

“And she’s not?” Erea shouted back, pointing at Melissa.

“No. Just highly annoying. You want to beat her, figure out another way.”

Personally, Michael was relieved. He had seen what the ‘Erea special’ did to even an old, enchanted, powerful golem of Gnosis. Melissa’s artifact was something, but Michael personally though that if Erea has gotten to use her attack, she would have left Melissa with bruised internal organs. At the very least.

Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t suspecting Nahlil of having a little fun.

“You’re trying to rile her up, sir?” he asked.

“Nonsense.” He answered with a shit-eating grin. “I’m forcing her to surpass her limits.”

Uh-huh.

But Erea didn’t figure out a new plan of attack. She simply charged, ducking under swings, firing |Stone Orbs| point blank, dodging to the sides, casting her most destructive Spells. And she still came short of winning. Melissa’s artifact was simply too good. Michael privately thought that there was no way the girl had made it herself.

Which meant… the Artificers really were all in on this. Have they been completely infiltrated? Or were they in on this too? Thoughts for another time.

“This has been a blast, but we should really be ending this.” Melissa said, in a sing-song voice. “|Shockwave Strikes|”.

Her suit hands elongated and inflated, until they resembled short, wide pillars, coming straight from her elbows. She charged them, her suit benefiting from all her added Skills and Spells. Ere tried to cast a Spell, but Melissa struck the ground in front of her. A shockwave spread out from the impact. Not perfectly and not only towards Erea. It spread out in all directions, though the blast got caught on Nahlil’s shield. The sign of an inexperienced fighter.

Still, the part of the shockwave that came after Erea interrupted her casting and made her lose her footing. Which Melissa capitalized on in a frenetic kick. The earth-armored foot caught Erea in the stomach and launched her back, making Michael wince.

There was no question that Melissa was a poor fighter. She attacked without worry, almost frightened that she’d miss the opportunity. Her stance was full of holes. Yet, with an armor like that… how could Erea beat her? She was angry and that made her sloppy. And she was visibly starting to run out of mana. Even when she had fought him…

Wait. That’s it.

Michael saw it. He wondered if Erea would see it too… No. She was too angry and tired. But… should he tell her? That felt a little like cheating. Still, he didn’t want Melissa to win. That would just mean more chances for her to figure him out. And Erea… well. She was his girlfriend. Kind of. Michael supposed that made it acceptable to give out hints.

Gnosis, please don’t look too badly at me for this.

“Erea!” he called out. “Remember when you fought me! Remember!”

“Enough.” Nahlil calmly said. “But good thinking. Took you long enough.”

But Erea had heard him. She took one look at Melissa, at her golem-suit, at her earth golem-suit, before she grinned. And ran forwards.

…what? No, that is not what I meant!

She ran and jumped, even as Melissa’s fists impacted the ground. Erea landed on the girl’s chest, though the suit’s weight kept her from toppling. She aimed her hand at the armored face, even as Melissa’s arms went up and pulled the elf by her hair.

“|Water Wall|!” She cast, point blank.

The Spell blasted her backwards, not being made to be used as an attack Spell. It made Melissa flinch too. And Michael saw why, at the same time Erea did, standing up. The earth that made up the armor covering Melissa’s face softened, distorting itself. It didn’t fall down or turn to mud, but it had visibly deformed.

“It’s funny.” The elf said, walking forward. “I thought Artificers were supposed to be better at picking building materials. But maybe earth’s all you’re capable of. Me though? I can do |Stone Orb|!”

The Spell was not cast at point blank. But it was still cast by a vicious and currently enraged elf. The orb flew through the air as Melissa was trying to get her faceplate back in order. Trying to get her sight back. It blasted through the soft earth, impacting the girl’s face with a sickening crunch. Melissa flinched back and toppled, a spray of red temporarily visible before her fall.

“And that’s that.” Nahlil nodded, before turning to Michael. “You were on the right path, but not on the right answer. You baked Erea’s armor with fire Spells. But that was only because I enriched the environment with mana. She would have depleted hers long before victory, had she tried to do that. Water also acts upon earth. It was the correct choice.”

“Yeah, and even if it worked, casting |Fire Dart| so many times seemed boring. This way, I got to her in just two strikes.” Erea said, having come over.

“Congratulations.” Michael honestly said.

He’d been wrong. She’d been right. But at least he had helped her and she had managed to score her win.

Too bad for Melissa though.

“See?” Erea grinned. “Mind and beauty.”

The rest of Nahlil’s class was spent on him discussing the theory behind his casting Spells with body parts other than hands. Apparently, it was an obscure school of magic for most, but it came easier to species that had more magically inclined extremities. Like certain horns or tails. Micah looked interested in the prospect, but Michael didn’t really see much use in it. Still, Nahlil mentioned that if they wished to practice, they should first start by trying to channel their magic into a single finger and work from there.

Melissa attended the rest of the class too. Nahlil fixed her nose with a bone-setting Spell and a Healing Potion, but refused to allow the girl to be excused. Probably a character developing lesson from the centaur. That was why the girl had to sit through the rest of the Class, sporting a bruised face and blood stains. Not to mention being completely drenched in dirt. Even under her robe… well. It was easier to say that the jokes started quickly and viciously, so much so that even muttered they made the girl close in on herself and relocate to the back of the class.

“Cheer up.” Micah said as the class ended and the students started streaming out. “Maybe this means Erea broke her spirit. No more interrogations for you.”

“Keep it down.” Michael muttered. “And yeah, maybe.”

“Michael feels bad at seeing her in pain.” Bob explained. “It is a noble trait.”

“…thanks? It’s really just acknowledging the suckyness involved.”

They went to move out of the classroom, when Michael gave the defeated girl a last look and saw her… completely folded in on herself. She looked like a human pancake, with her knees drawn to her chest and face buried in them. Given her rhythmic shuddering, she was probably crying too.

Great. Now I feel bad.

He motioned to his friends to go on ahead, before he moved towards the defeated clump of mud and tears named Melissa. Which may sound uncharitable, but described the current state of the girl perfectly.

“What?” She snapped at Michael when he was five feet away from her.

“Nothing! Sorry, I just wanted, to- uh, check in on you.”

“Oh… Michael. I’m sorry, I thought… I thought it was someone else.” She said, wiping her face. “Sorry for looking like this.”

“No, no, it’s… fine. Uhm, is there any way I can help?”

“Yeah, you can tell me your deepest, darkest secrets.” The girl muttered, before freezing.

Gotcha!

“What’s that?”

“Oh. Uhm, nothing.” She tried to smile. “I think I got hit in the head too hard. Have to thank your girlfriend for that.”

“Right. I’ll talk to her. But, what did you mean by ‘deepest, darkest secrets’?”

“Uhm, nothing, really. It’s just…”

“Melissa, why did you disappear after our tutoring session?”

“Well-”

“And why did you go all out trying to become Nahlil’s assistant? That artifact looked important.”

“You have no idea.” She said, face darkening. “But I can’t-”

“Not to mention you tagging along on that mission. No offence, but fighting doesn’t seem like your main interest.”

“It’s not.” She admitted.

“And now… sorry for saying this, but you look like a mess. Is this… are you doing all of this because you’re interested in me? Because, I’m sorry, but I already have Erea.”

The girl predictably went red in the face.

Hook, line and sinker.

“No! It’s not like that, I promise. I just… I can’t tell you.”

“Can you try? I want to help, I really do. You seem like a nice person.” He said, managing to sound honest. “And honestly, it looks like you could use a friend.”

Maybe it was because Melissa had only seen the honest, helpful, open-book side of Michael. Maybe it was because she was tired and hurt and lonely. Maybe it was even because she was on the wrong side of her faction, momentarily. Probably, it was because of all of these things. But she came clean.

Kind of.

She admitted to Michael that she had been investigating him, on behalf of her faction. The Artificers. Right. That was her sole lie. But other than that, she came clean. She told him how not many of her faction took a real interest in him, but she did. She told him how she had pulled favors, bargained and even threatened those she could in order for her faction to use their influence and get her to be Nahlil’s assistant, since it brought her closer to him. How she had used another sort of influence to maneuver herself as his rune tutor. Even how she managed to make herself be included in Alex’s mission team.

All of that so she could be closer to him. So she could ferret out his secrets. And she had been wrong. She admitted that she’d had the wrong impression, that he was unusual, but hardly more than a Gaindel or any other type of secrets Gnosis held. That she had gone all in with a target that returned no rewards and that this had made her the pariah of her faction. Her final act being a Hail Mary, a desperate attempt at replacing Erea, hoping against hope that becoming his fighting tutor might at least give her information on the Ascentionalists, if not a greater secret. It was a fool’s hope, because, as Michael said, fighting wasn’t her strong point. So, she stole a highly expensive prototype from her faction and used it to combat Erea. Before the elf broke it.

And more than everything?

She told him what he already knew. How her rune tutoring session had been a truth telling test. But while she told him with tears in her eyes that Michael just seemed like a regular student, his own questions made her look disloyal in front of her faction. The two mages who had accompanied her certainly capitalized on that information, increasing their reputation at the cost of her own.

“Wow.” Michael said. “Artificers sound really… cutthroat.”

“Yeah.” She weakly laughed. “Well, you asked for my story. This is it. I severely lost reputation with my faction and am probably going to be punished, one way or another. I lost my… faction’s prized artifact and will probably be ordered to pay it back. And I am currently the laughing stock of the entire school.”

“I’m sorry, Melissa.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I was the one who picked the wrong target.”

Don’t know about that.

“Still… what if I could help?”

“Do you have great secrets and con to dish out?” she laughed.

“Maybe.” He said, making her sober up instantly.

“Michael… don’t joke with me. Please. Not now.”

“I’m not. This… might be doable. And I’d like to help. But, help like this… you understand that it would require effort and more from me.”

“I’ll pay you back! I will, I promise.” She fervently said, the light of hope bringing energy back to her features.

“It’s not the coin I’m worried about… well, not only that. But, Melissa, you did try to infiltrate my social circle. If I were to help you-”

“I will make a public apology. Got it!”

“No. Nothing so… public. If I were to do this, I would need favors owed. Or a… social contract between us. Magically reinforced.”

He saw the exact moment when the penny dropped for her. Still, she only hesitated for a second. She was backed into a corner and he offered the only way out. And after all this, out of the two of them, he was the only one who seemed completely trustworthy.

Did he feel like a devil for doing this? He did. But this would both silence her faction and win him an ally, if not a friend. It was necessary.

“I understand.” She finally said. “Yeah… I guess I deserve that, don’t I? But don’t worry, I get your meaning. Can’t work on trust alone. If you can do it… I accept.”

“Alright. Then, ask your faction how much that artifact was worth. And maybe try and find out what the scope of the secret you owe is. We’ll talk more after that.”

“Will do.” She grinned. “I… I can’t believe you of all people are helping me. I don’t know what to say.”

“Say nothing. I haven’t gotten you out of trouble yet.”

“Still. Thank you.” She said, kissing his cheek before leaving the classroom.

Michael waited a few seconds, before letting out a hasty breath and inhaling deeply.

Damn me, but all that earth made her stink!