EQUINOX || The Catalysts Series, #3

III

Her first physical class of the week went disastrous, to say the least.

Viktas told them to treat the lesson as they normally would. And yet, most of the students did otherwise.

But Viktas wasn't the only reason. In fact, he was nearly forgotten for most of the class because the moment Caelus stepped up for a demonstration, the attention was all on the Ace alone.

The Ace who hardly ever attends classes, is evidently dragged into a forced display. They sealed a corner of the room like they always do to separate students of varying abilities in Ability Mastery, to facilitate training and continuous improvement of each individual. The room is powered with enhanced automation to gauge specific statistics of different powers, and is the perfect starting point for the government's initial analysis: to understand the ability spread. It is the reason why Viktas picked that lesson.

Caelus had unleashed a storm, but even the technology could not damper the raw power coming from him as the entire training room hummed with energy. It wasn't just storm—it was a hurricane, amassed with lightning and flashes of light waves. And when the chaos cleared enough, the little zone where Caelus controlled fogged, vapoured and eventually broke out into a light blizzard.

It was meant to be both a display of Arcane Academy's potential talents and the technology of the school, of how classes are being conducted to best cater ability users.

Viktas was certainly impressed.

But that didn't make him more kind. The man had proceeded to clap—mockingly—and approached the class despite having claimed he'd be merely an observer, demanding to see more. Fortunately, Arcana reassured him that each student will work on their abilities independently, advising him that not all students are comfortable with an open showcase. Viktas had backed down reluctantly knowing he'd overstepped, but not before noticing Lucifer.

It was a full attendance that class, perhaps due to Arcana's efforts to uphold an image for the trials. Lucifer had been absent for a number of lessons previously, throughout the time he rampaged across the academy and the time he was involved with the Shadow Syndicate. He'd been back for the past week, though, proving his diligence. While some students are beginning to warm up to Lucifer, many still keep their distance.

It was apparent that Viktas heard of the incidents Lucifer was involved in, because he proceeded to scrutinise the student during class. At one point, Lena even heard the man asking Arcana about Lucifer's ability class. The moment Viktas started noting down something on his tablet, Arcana wasn't the only one stiffening. Lena paled at the sight that she lost focus. But not for long, for Caelus got in her way, as if intentionally blocking her mistake from view—she'd dropped her glass shards.

And yet perhaps she wouldn't have attracted any attention anyway, because Viktas continued to question Arcana about how Lucifer grew from a mere C-class to an unscalable power display when he attacked the academy, ignoring the progression of the lesson. Lena found it rather unprofessional of him to stray from his own supposed task here, but she was glad to be out of his sight nonetheless. In fact, Arcana probably only entertained Viktas because of the fact that he's from the authorities.

Now, walking down the hall from Ability Mastery, Lena finds herself relaxing once more. If that is how she's going to be like every lesson with a government representative overseeing them, she isn't sure how she's going to survive the next week. The trials has just begun, and she is already all over the place.

She can't seem to get what Caelus said to her earlier out of her mind: Do it for me; keep your potential in check.

Lena shivers. She supposes it's very easy to demonstrate that she can only use the glass medium as a way of transporting herself. But how does that explain the visions? And how will she explain her registered clairvoyance? Even if no one can see the images she see upon looking at glass surfaces, she can't exactly lie now that Arcana obviously put her as an extrasensory preceptor.