DD 301 Ch 8

"Alright class, this should be a little more fun," Crimson said, leading us down to the first floor of the dungeon.

It was the same bog that we’d visited when we first started, the shuffle hadn’t separated the first floors attached to each of the entrances.

The space was completely empty. None of the freshmen had classes like our first day, when we were thrown in headfirst. Any other students going down today would pass us by completely.

With a negligent flick of her wrist, Crimson’s whip shot out and destroyed all of the Bogarts in the surrounding area. "We came down to the dungeon to have our little duels," Crimson said, her tone far too cheery. "Otherwise, we'd probably wreck any of Haylon's facilities. Don't let it go to your head, but you're stronger than the school was built to withstand." 

A small smirk escaped my lips, and I quickly squashed it before Crimson glanced my way. Crimson would destroy all of us just to make sure we didn’t get too cocky. That was a common killer in the dungeon.

"Anyway," she continued, "I'm sure you all feel like you've done some vast deed this summer, with whatever training you did. However, I can almost guarantee that Ken did more. So, I think it's only fair if you all just come at Ken at once." Crimson turned and smiled at me, giving a quiet thumbs up as if she was doing me a favor.

I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Penny simply raised a hand. "Ken is a member of my party. I prefer to fight with him rather than against him if we're testing ourselves." Penny stated.

Crimson shifted, narrowing her eyes at Penny. "Are you questioning my methods?" 

I could tell every inch of Penny wanted to say yes. However, her desire to live must have been at war with her. She hesitated rather than answering. 

"I think what my party mate is trying to say," Des put a hand on Penny's shoulder, "is that maybe our party of five should go against the other three parties." 

Des glanced around the room and the dungeon. We were a party short from the start of last year. The shuffle and our escape had claimed a life, one had joined a guild early and one had quit adventuring. Add on the two elves returning to their world to settle the populace after the shuffle and we had lost an entire party last school year.

Crimson pursed her lips but shrugged. "Fine. I suppose making Ken fight all of you himself would have probably been a touch too much." 

I squinted my eyes. Crimson had likely anticipated that outcome based on how quickly she gave in. It was not like her to make concessions for me.

Without any more fanfare, the rest of my party hurried to get behind me and put on a united front against the rest of our class. Lines were drawn and both groups separated.

"This will be fun," Felin said, bouncing on the balls of her feet like she was warming up for a fight. Which, to be fair, she probably was.

"I'm just excited to watch Penny tank this many people at once," I said. 

Penny looked at herself before turning and pointing at Charlotte. "I'm fairly certain these aren't monsters with aggro tables. They're all gonna go for the healer. The best I'll be able to do is slow them down." 

The rest of the class seemed to be waiting for a signal, pulling out their weapons and getting ready to attack.

"And Des's temptress is not as effective as I would like, especially considering they're all women," I added. 

Des grinned. "What do you mean? It'll work perfectly on Harley and the rest of her healer harem." The demonic mage batted her lashes at me. "And really, all we have to do is stall until our lovely Ken engine builds up some steam."

"Well," I hesitated, "I guess that's one way we can fight this.”

“Do you have another option?" Penny asked. 

"Sort of," I said, turning to the rest of the party. "If Des can get the healers, all I have to do is quickly dispatch their ranged damage while Penny slows the melee. And then we need to keep Charlotte alive. Actually, we can add Felin to the Charlotte and Penny team. Des, you can come with me. We'll go for all-out destruction from the start." 

“Crush their spirits and make sure they know who’s on top.” Des’ eyes flashed.

I paused. Even for Des, that was a little much.

"Alright, enough chit-chat," Crimson boomed over the chatter of our classroom. "This is the part where you all try to kill Ken." 

I did a double take. "Kill might be a tad harsh."

"Enough people have revive no need to hold back." She waved a hand in the air like she was discussing some trivial matter. "Maim, stomp, smash, pummel into the ground, those sorts of things. If anyone can actually manage to knock Ken out, I'll give you a free get-out-of-jail card for any exercise this school year." 

The entire class immediately perked up, and I wanted to yell at Crimson, but before I got the chance, Wendy's owl began dive-bombing me from above.

Charlotte stepped forward, a gust of wind escaping her palm and striking the bird, sending a spray of feathers into the air. Charlotte stood her ground as the rest of us braced. That attack had kicked off the fight.

Fifteen other students from my class threw themselves forward.

My team’s previous plan had assumed they were all going to go after Charlotte, which they would have if it had not been for Crimson’s encouragement. Now I was the focus of half a dozen spells that were trying to find my head.

Shifting into attack mode, I reacted naturally. Jumping forward, I activated [Arcane Singularity], which sucked the spells out of the air. I raced through them, using [Sprint], to try and get around my classmates to the ranged DPS as we had planned.

As I reached Harley, she looked at me with hearts in her eyes, blowing her flute and buffing me rather than her own teammates. Des cackled in the background. 

I slipped around Taylor and Meixie, activating [Metamorphosis] just as I crashed into Myrtle. My strength increased explosively as I pushed off her shield and rolled around the slabs of earth she used to try and pin me in. I was on the ranged damage a moment later. 

I smashed into Regan, not holding back as [Shadow Claw] ripped into her side, I caught her with the sharp tips and pulled her around behind me, right into the way of Taylor's mace.

It stopped a hair's breadth short of braining her teammate, only for Taylor to curse and throw herself up in the air with her mace beginning to glow. 

I cast Elemental Barrier between us as I rushed Leah, trying to use their teammates' bodies to keep all of them from being able to go all out.

"Use the healers," I called out, [Arcane Singularity] ended and spells smashed into my side.

Leah raised her staff for another spell, standing her ground even as I rushed her.

I smashed the short woman in the jaw and used 'disrupt' when she tried to retaliate, I heard Helen's voice over the crowd.

Leah tried to ward me off with her staff, but I dumped all of my abilities in quick succession blowing right through her.

I turned on Wendy and a cluster of their ranged DPS bowling through them.

"Switch!" Wendy called out, just before the fiery redhead came crashing down on golden wings.

Helen landed spectacularly right beside me. Her spell gently pushed her allies away before she tried to bash me with a golden glowing shield.

I caught her shield with my claws, spinning to the side and using my speed to overtake her. 

"You know, I think it's perfect that you became an incubus," she glared at me, refusing to back down as holy light blinded me from the front and her mace swung from the side. 

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" I retorted, happy to play with her. I blocked her mace, feeling a meaty crunch as it impacted my forearm. There had been a lot more force behind her hit than I had been expecting. 

"I mean, this was always your nature," she quipped back. The wings she had when she'd come crashing down remained on her back, growing larger and brighter as we traded a series of blows.

The two of us focused on each other, letting the others fight around us. Her glow intensified to the point that light began to beam out of her eyes. She roared in righteous fury as her momentum continued to build.

Yet, even if whatever she was doing might have been a match for [Metamorphosis], but it was not a match for [Liminal Speed]. I quickly began to overtake her, my strikes swinging around her shield and landing more decisive blows that staggered her and forced her onto the back foot for the fight. 

Still, she snorted and continued to slug it out with me, even as my claws began to make it past her shield and dug deep furrows in her forearms. Helen didn't flag in the slightest, but she was a tank by nature.

The fight got more brutal and I realized outside interference slowed down until no one was slinging spells into our fight. The two of us were just smashing each other. 

I knew that it was time to end the fight, activating liminal space. Everything around us froze, causing Helena to stand still before me as the world shattered in every direction. In the time that the world was frozen, I crossed my swords over her neck and smashed her down onto the ground, landing atop her.

When the world resumed and Helena realized she had been beaten, her face went bright red. I was not sure if she was reacting with rage and astonishment at her sudden predicament, but it was probably both. She had gotten her ass handed to her.

Though I wasn't one to gloat, knowing that could backfire as easily as work. "Good job," I said, glancing up and realizing the rest of the fight was done.

Between Des's domination of the healers and our swift but brutal victory otherwise, we had firmly declared our win.

"Are you going to sit on me all day?" Helena growled.

I couldn't have gotten off of her fast enough, as if I'd been sitting on red-hot steel. 

She gave me a look of pure and utter indignance, got to her feet, and rolled to her knees, glaring at me. "Just so you know, once I get my own trial skill, we'll have a rematch, and I will beat your face in. If this is all you can do with [Liminal Speed], you don't stand a chance against me once I have something comparable." She told me.

I could not understand how Helena managed to roll out of bed grumpy every single morning. Honestly it sounded exhausting. But I also was not going to waste my energy on her.

"Sheesh, good fight," I said, holding my hands up. I noticed several of my classmates were being revived by an unusually happy-looking Crimson. 

"Do I want to know?" I asked, looking at her smile. 

"No, it was great," Crimson beamed. "And on the plus side, you helped me win a bet with the Harem Queen." 

I closed my eyes for a brief moment. "Please don't tell me you did all of this to win a bet with her." 

"No, of course not. I did it to prove a point," Crimson said with a giant smile. “A bet has chance involved. I was training you. Of course you were going to win.”

I braced myself, thinking I was going to be upset with Crimson, only to realize I wasn't in the slightest. 

"Well, how much of this bet do I get?" I asked. 

"Ten percent," Crimson offered. 

"Make it thirty, and next time tell me you have a bet with her, and I'll make it a little more spectacular so you can show her a video while you gloat." I rolled my shoulders and let metamorphosis fade away. 

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" Crimson grabbed me by the shoulder and planted a long kiss on my cheek. 

"Aww, they're so cute!" Harley completely destroyed the moment.

Only for Crimson to turn away from me slowly, a terrifying smile on her face. "Well, that's right, class. Harley just reminded me about your missed summer homework. Since you all lost too, I think we're going to have to go down to the gravity chambers. And you owe me…" She tapped her lips. "A hundred and fifty laps around one of the medium chambers at at least 10x gravity." 

Harley staggered. "I mean… you two are ugly?" She asked, trying anything to get out of a hard workout. 

"You're right." Crimson's smile grew even wider. "10x gravity is too light. We can make it far, far worse." She said the words in a sing-songy voice that held nothing but cold, dangerous darkness within them. 

Harley had another comment at the tip of her tongue, however I saw it die along with a piece of her. "Sounds great," she squeaked out. "Exactly like what I thought the first day of class with you would be.”

“I'm so happy to not disappoint you, Harley. After all, it is my life's goal to make sure each and every one of you is as strong an adventurer as I can make you. And the best way to make all of you tough enough is more continual physical conditioning until each and every one of you is a piece of well-tempered iron." Crimson's current smile was one of the more terrifying looks I had seen.

Then again, we all only had Harley to blame. 

"And, I had another thought. I think you'll love this, Harley. From now on, we'll do lectures in gravity chambers while you guys try to maintain rigorous poses like the horse stance. Because really, we can't waste any time. Now can we, Harley?" Crimson was nearly bursting with excitement.

"No we can't, Crimson," Harley said with gritted teeth. 

"Just so, let's all make sure we thank Harley for the new lessons, Class." Crimson called out across everybody

"Wait, it's over already?" The Harem Queen appeared in a flash, an older, more mature version of Helen, and more scantily dressed in a ball gown with a plunging neckline. Her bright red hair cascaded down in waves that flowed behind her as she moved.

"It is. I won and we are off to Star City for gravity training. No, we don't have room for more." Crimson ripped a portal mid-air. "All right, students! Please, single file. Ken goes first." She began to shoo me.

The Harem Queen narrowed her eyes at Crimson, a palpable tension sparking between the two of them.

Crimson had a giant and very unfriendly smile on her face.

Meanwhile, the Harem Queen's was more polite, but certainly not more friendly.

"If you would like," I said, opening my own portal, "you're welcome to use this one for your class, rather than take them all down the long way. I’d love to help fellow students at Haylon."

The Harem Queen swept me up in a fierce hug. "You shouldn't tie yourself down with that grouchy, unsuitable woman. Some of us would actually treat you right." She glared daggers at Crimson, who only rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, stuff his head full of lies later. Ken, I know you're trying to mediate, but she's not worth it. Not to mention she might taint your portal." Crimson stated.

Now it was my turn to look at Crimson unamused as I pried myself free of the Harem Queen, though I found her surprisingly strong. Even though I’d improved vastly this summer, she was clearly still far ahead of me.

"You're better than that, Crimson. And so are you, Heather. You two fight like squabbling children. Please feel free to use my portal. I'll close it in a little bit." I turned to follow the rest of my class through Crimson's portal as the Harem Queen wiggled her fingers at me.

"If you do ever get bored of her, there are much more mature women that would love a resourceful man like you, Ken. Or please avail yourself of my daughter, that might even be better. Just having you in the family would be a delight." The Harem Queen winked at me and I wasn't even sure if she was actually interested or if she just enjoyed aggravating Crimson to no end.

I thought the chances of the latter were quite high. Either way, it didn't matter. I had a class to get to. Crimson would definitely punish me if I was late.

As for Helen, I snorted. Well, that was as likely as pigs flying.

Twenty-five students in my class all filed their way through, one by one, into Star City. I had just left several days ago. Yet, I was still awed by the grand city built by the Orkai every time I stepped foot in it.

A black-winged angel I knew, Ambrosia, swept down on our group. Her feathers danced in the air as she landed gracefully. From what I understood, she was not well-liked amongst the other angels and Orkai. They saw her as a bit of an anomaly. Even her penchant for black was unusual. Every other angel preferred white and gold. Those were quite literally the only two colors I had seen on any of the others. Meanwhile, Ambrosia had done something to make even her eyes red and different from the rest. 

"Welcome back," Ambrosia bowed to our group. 

Crimson had kept Ambrosia employed. In her own words, she found the angel incredibly useful.

What exactly that meant from Crimson was a mystery in itself. I was fairly sure it meant that she liked the angel. But who knew with Crimson? Perhaps she liked someone else that often stood out from the crowd. 

Despite Crimson's fame, and her many capabilities, I often thought she was lonelier than she would ever let people know. It couldn't be easy being number one, and from everything else I'd seen, that came with a lot of expectations from nearly anyone and everyone we encountered. I would be shocked if she wasn’t, in her own way, exhausted with that responsibility. 

"Welcome everyone to Haylon's new building in Star City," Crimson gestured with a sweeping hand. And a moment later, the headmistress stepped out of the building.

"I knew that I would find you here, rather than teaching a class like you were supposed to be doing," the headmistress spoke. 

Crimson blinked and turned around at the now open door. "What would you have done if I didn't come here?" She asked with a grin. "Would you have just been silly and sat in there waiting this entire time?" 

"I have better matters to attend to than sitting around waiting for you," the headmistress said, but at the same time, I noted that she had not said no.

The idea of Headmistress Marlow sitting in the building waiting for Crimson that never came was humorous enough for me to smirk, only to get a glare from the headmistress.

Somehow I took the brunt from her for Crimson’s antics. It wouldn't be the first time that the woman treated me like Crimson's keeper. If only people could understand just how hard it was to actually keep Crimson in line, they would be far more sympathetic to my plight.

Realistically, who was going to keep Crimson in line? It certainly wasn't going to be me.

"Headmistress," I greeted her with a bow and a smile.

"Yes, well... Since you're here, and undoubtedly up to no good, please do your best and don't do anything that would involve the Orkai arbiter in your next dispute." The Headmistress spun on her heels and swept away without much more than an idle threat.

Crimson continued, pretending as if the Headmistress hadn't spoiled her introduction. She swept the door open, introducing the space with wide, sweeping gestures. "As you can all see, we have a lovely new state-of-the-art facility, courtesy of myself and several other generous donors," she said. 

I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering who the other donors were. The way Crimson talked about them excitedly made me think it was more likely to be her. There were a few other people she seemed willing to acknowledge. 

Inside, however, the white marble and crystal design that was so ubiquitous with Orkai city was entirely absent. Instead, the interior was a replica of the halls and classrooms of Haylon.