For several days, nothing happened. Life inside the academy returned to its familiar rhythm with bells, lectures, murmured conversations, and the constant pressure of eyes that never quite landed on him. No cultists emerged from shadows and no cryptic warnings echoed in his dreams. The old book remained silent, describing its pages as stubbornly ordinary.
Anyway, the only real change here was food. Meals began arriving at his dormitory twice a day. At first, Baston thought it was a mistake. The first tray had been generous, warm, and unmistakably well-prepared. The second confirmed it wasn't an accident. When more arrived, stacked neatly atop the first, something surely wasn't right. He had a hunch that each meal try to overwhelm each other. The result was catastrophic.
Finishing two portions at once left him painfully full. His body was sluggish and his thoughts dulled. He could almost feel the weight clinging to him already as if the academy itself were determined to mold him
into something slower, softer, and easier to overlook.
That thing haunted him. Fat was not just flesh. It was an excuse. A label or a reason for people not to take him seriously. So, he did the unthinkable. He sent a message back. Small portions only consisted of one
meal and no more. It was polite, careful, and almost apologetic. After all, it was free meals yet he dared to reject the blessing. It was just like he was an ungrateful being. When the change took effect, Baston exhaled a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding.
Panto and Alicia noticed on their part. They pondered the meaning behind the request far longer than it deserved. Was Baston refusing charity? Was he testing boundaries? Or perhaps, was he signaling rejection? In the end, both of them complied. It cost them nothing since they didn't have any problem regarding money.
For Baston, it meant survival. With his body no longer weighed down by excess fat, his focus sharpened. The puppet responded better to his intent now, less sluggish in its transformations. He practiced in private with hands steady, breath controlled, and shaping it into animals, tools, or even crude imitations of people. He learned how posture altered perception. How a slight change in gait could suggest confidence or fear. How silence, when used deliberately, unsettled observers far more than words. The puppet became an extension of his senses. In night, it became his eyes.
He shaped it into a rat. It was small, quick, and unremarkable. He sent it skittering into the academy's streets under the cover of darkness. The campus felt different at night. Quiet did not mean empty. It meant exposed.
Stone paths stretched longer. Shadows clung to corners where laughter had been during the day. Baston couldn't see much through the rat's eyes but he could hear everything. The scrape of boots, the murmur of voices, and the faint hum of residual mana clinging to enchanted structures. It was
perfect for observation. He was already preparing to recall the puppet when voices drifted into range.
"Damn it… Today was awful."
"Tell me about it. Late for class, harsh lecture, and that teacher didn't even care that I'm a noble."
"That's because his status is higher than yours," another voice scoffed, "We're being targeted. Look at this, an entire page of homework. Others barely got half."
"That's because you're lazy."
Laughter followed while Baston kept listening. He was unmoving from his spot. He didn't recognize the voices but their tone was familiar. They were petty, aggrieved, and entitled. What he didn't know and what he couldn't know was that Alicia had already acted.
When she had first noticed the bullying, she hadn't cared much. Minor cruelty was common at the academy and Baston himself seemed oddly detached from it. But then, she thought of him. How quietly he endured things and how easily resentment could grow in silence. So, she intervened. She did
not intervene directly but efficiently. With extra assignments, stricter oversight, and consequences framed as discipline. It was given by teachers, making the clue disappeared completely. No one would know who had targeted them.
To Alicia, it was protection for noble boys. Once they knew who they had dared to disturb, regrets would soon come. Unfortunately to the boys, it was persecution. They held a grudge over the matter. And to Baston who had already forgotten the incident entirely, it meant nothing at all. The conversation then shifted.
"By the way… What about the magic circle?"
"I set it yesterday."
"So… What is the next?"
"Next, we wait for the explosion."
Baston stilled, listening to what he supposedly must never hear.
"Are you sure it's safe?"
"Relax, you've seen it before. It's basically just fireworks."
The word of fireworks didn't comfort him. The boys spoke with the carelessness of people who had never paid for consequences themselves. Baston pieced together what little he knew. How they would flaunt their status in the commoner section, waste food, and angered the cafeteria head. Punishment without humiliation was meaningless to them. This was a revenge. A spectacle they must do before satisfaction occurred. If they dared to do this, they must
have believed they wouldn't be caught. That meant safeguards or something worse.
"I'm curious," Baston murmured.
Not because he wanted to see it but because he needed to know. The cafeteria wasn't just a building. It was stability. The place was
filled with routine and food. Without it, he would return to dry bread and gnawing hunger. That was unacceptable. He recalled the puppet and retreated, already planning his next move.
*****
The following morning, Baston didn't return to his dormitory after class. Instead, he went to the cafeteria. Panto and Alicia noticed
immediately. They were careful not to react. Alicia's presence alone had already stirred enough whispers among the students. Nobles rarely lingered near the commoner side unless something or someone interested them.
Baston didn't order food. He also didn't collect his free meal. He scanned the room once then slipped toward the back. His curiosity overcame caution. Panto followed easily. Alicia struggled, delayed by admirers
and whispered greetings but eventually joined them. Baston was circling the area behind the cafeteria. His eyes narrowed and his movements were deliberate. Panto hesitated, saying nothing from somewhere hidden.
"What is he doing?" Alicia whispered.
Panto shook his head, but unfortunately, Alicia misread the gesture.
"So he won't tell me…" Alicia thought.
Her lips pressed together. Information withheld was information worth uncovering. Her curiosity couldn't be blocked easily. If
Panto didn't want to talk then she would just approach the main target. She confidently went toward Baston.
She stepped forward, "What are you doing?"
Baston flinched but only slightly, "I'm looking for a magic circle."
"What magic circle?"
"I don't know exactly," he said, shrugging, "Someone placed it yesterday."
He stopped there and Alicia's curiosity sharpened. She didn't press him but she joined the search. Panto followed, reluctantly
enlisted. They searched walls, corners, and crates but found nothing. Their doubts crept in. Then, Baston looked above at something.
"No wonder I can't find it. The magic circle was up there…" he muttered.
The warehouse roof was the only option. He climbed the wall. By then, it was revealed in front of him. At the top, he found it. The magic circle was etched faintly into the stone. It was quite elegant and complex.
Panto climbed up after him in curiosity, "It's real…"
Alicia joined them using magic to propel herself up. Then, her expression darkened.
"This design… I don't recognize it."
The magic circle did not look like something meant for mischief. Even at a glance, Alicia could tell that much. Its lines were thin but impossibly precise, etched deep enough into the stone that time alone could not have worn them away. Mana channels intersected at unfamiliar angles, weaving together in a pattern that felt excessive. It was not decorative, not experimental, yet purposeful.
"This isn't academy-standard," Alicia said quietly, fingers hovering inches above the surface without touching it, "Even fireworks arrays don't require this many stabilizers."
Panto swallowed, "Then… Why would they…"
"They shouldn't," she replied, "Not without any help or instructions from someone else."
Baston said nothing. He was staring at the center of the circle. It pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. The magic circle was not active. It
was seemingly waiting for any sign to work. The sensation crawled along his spine. He wanted to reach out, examining the so-called magic circle. Even though the danger loomed in front of him, the urge to touch it seemed to be stronger. Unexpectedly, his fingers started to explore the array line.
"We should leave," Panto said, his voice was tight, "Right now…"
"Yes," Alicia agreed, already stepping back, "I'll inform…"
The magic circle suddenly flared out of nowhere. Mana surged outward in a violent wave, snapping the air like a whip. The stone beneath their feet vibrated and the etched lines ignited one by one, glowing white-hot.
Alicia's breath hitched, "It's activating on its own!"
She didn't hesitate. A complex barrier spell unfolded around her, translucent layers stacking over one another like panes of reinforced glass. The sigils were elegant and advanced just like something drilled into her since childhood. Her understanding about magic barrier had already been instilled since she was young.
The barrier slammed into place just as the first shockwave hit. The impact was immediate and the barrier screamed. It wasn't audible but through the mana itself, Alicia felt the feedback rip through her control. Her carefully constructed spell was buckling as if struck by something far heavier
than raw force.
"This isn't right!" she shouted, "This magic output. It's not dispersing!"
The magic circle wasn't exploding outward like a normal detonation. It was collapsing inward. Then, it would release everything at
once. Cracks began to appear across Alicia's barrier. The layers shattered one by one, each breaking faster than the last. The spell wasn't being overwhelmed. It was being ignored, bypassed by a mechanism that didn't recognize it as an obstacle.
Panto froze in terror. Alicia gritted her teeth, pouring more mana into the barrier even as her instincts screamed that it was useless. The barrier trembled violently. Mana screamed as it was forced through pathways
never meant to carry such pressure. Alicia's vision blurred, her teeth clenched so tightly her jaw ached. Sweat ran down her temples as she reinforced the spell again and again, layering sigils atop one another in sheer refusal to let it fail.
It didn't matter. It was futile in the end. The cracks widened. The entire sections of the barrier simply vanished as if the magic
passing through did not acknowledge its existence. The spell structure collapsed inward, folding in on itself like glass pulled into a vacuum. Alicia's breath caught in her throat.
"I can't stop it!"
The words barely left her mouth before the barrier shattered completely. The mana backlash threw everyone nearby backward. She hit the ground hard, air ripping from her lungs as pain flared through her ribs. Her
ears rang, the world spinning as she struggled to focus.
Panto could only scream. Even the pain in his back had already been forgotten fully since the mana accumulated in front of him was more dangerous than anything. The magic circle reached its peak. It almost
blinded him of light.
The air itself seemed to compress, pressure building to a suffocating density. The etched lines glowed blinding white into crimson, then something darker that everyone had no name for. The ground beneath them buckled, stone groaning as if protesting what was about to happen. This wasn't a firework. This was an explosion.
Baston stood frozen inside of the blast radius. Not because he was afraid but because his mind was moving too fast. Running was impossible. The pressure alone made movement feel like wading through deep water. Alicia was down and Panto was paralyzed. Their fates were imminent. He could feel it in his bones, in the way mana screamed around the circle like a living thing about to be unleashed. There was no time to warn them. No time to explain, so Baston acted. In the middle of blinding light, he summoned the puppet from deep inside the old book. He poured everything into it.
The puppet erupted into existence in front of him. Its form was unfinished and raw, expanding violently as Baston forced more order into its structure. It was not shaped like an animal this time nor a tool. It became a
mass dense, layered, and its surface folding inward again and again as if trying to become heavier. It was a shield born of desperation.
Baston planted himself behind it, arms trembling as the puppet continued to grow, spreading wide enough to cover not just him but the space where Alicia and Panto lay. The magic circle soon detonated. The world then vanished in white.
Pressure slammed into the puppet like a tidal wave. Its surface was warping instantly, cracking under the force. Baston screamed as the impact drove him to his knees, pain exploding through his arms and shoulders. The puppet groaned and started to crack. Fortunately, it held just long enough before the explosion swallowed everything.
"BAM!!!"