[7/3 (Wednesday) - Morning]
[Beacon Academy — Dorm Room]
He woke up in his room.
For a moment, Clerval simply stared at the ceiling, trying to piece together how he had gotten back here. It confused him, considering Elizabeth had mentioned picking him up from the rooftops before transporting his body to the Velvet Room.
Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he reached for the Scroll resting on his table and flicked it open. The foldable screen unfolded, displaying the current time.
Only six in the morning.
"That's early..."
Clerval closed the Scroll and slowly rose to his feet.
Nothing hurt.
Not even a little.
In fact, he felt amazing.
Considering the condition he had been in before losing consciousness, the complete lack of pain was almost unnatural. His body felt as though he had gotten a full night's rest rather than having been pushed to the brink of exhaustion.
Perhaps the residents of the Velvet Room possessed some impressive healing capabilities after all.
Still, he wasn't about to take any chances.
Clerval reached for his Steel Blade and tested his body with a quick drill.
He shifted his stance before launching into a series of practiced basic movements, each swing flowing smoothly into the next. His footing was steady, his breathing remained controlled, and there was no lingering stiffness in his muscles.
Nothing felt out of place.
If anything, he felt better than he had before the fight.
Sheathing his sword, Clerval shifted his attention toward his spiritual capabilities. After what had happened during the battle, he wanted to make sure that his Spirit had recovered as well.
He expected the now-familiar migraine to flare up the moment he called upon his Persona, but to his surprise, nothing happened.
Raising his Evoker, Clerval squeezed the trigger.
"Odysseus."
His other self emerged amid the sound of shattered glass, fragments of light scattering through the air as the Persona fully manifested into reality.
[To heal even the Spirit in such a short amount of time... Impressive.]
Odysseus muttered before fading, disappearing into motes of velvet blue.
Holstering the Evoker, Clerval glanced around the room for a moment. After everything that had happened, he considered going back to bed.
Instead, he decided it was better to simply start his day.
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[7/3 (Wednesday) - Morning]
[Beacon Academy — Dorm Lounge]
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Everyone silently watched the footage of today's battle at the docks this morning playing on the lounge's large TV screen.
"Geez, what the hell is even that thing...?"
Clerval could hear Yang mutter under her breath as her eyes remained fixed on the superficial damage inflicted upon Asinious.
"Not even military-grade Dust could do anything!" Ruby whispered to herself, hurriedly jotting down details in a little notebook.
"Maybe ascended-grade?" Weiss mused beside her, only to shake her head a moment later. "But I doubt Vale would use such a precious rarity of Dust on an enemy like this."
"Was there any official confirmation on what killed the Grimm?"
Ren glanced over at Jaune, who was busy searching the web for information.
"Hold on, there's a lot of traffic on the server—gosh, why don't they upgrade them when taxpayers literally fund their entire—here we go!"
Jaune's fingers stopped moving as the page finally loaded.
Everyone's attention shifted toward him as he expanded his Scroll.
"They don't know what killed it either?"
Pyrrha leaned over to look at the Scroll over Jaune's shoulder.
"There was a lot of green, though. Maybe it was wind Dust?" Nora chimed in, her chin resting atop Ren's hair until he gently moved her aside.
Blake shot down the theory.
"But it's been established that Dust didn't have much of an effect on its skin. Only Aura was remotely useful against it."
"What'ya think, Gray-Gray?"
Yang turned toward where he sat, waiting for his opinion.
He merely shrugged.
"Whatever it was, it took a lot to kill it."
The clearest footage, recorded by a nearby news station, appeared to show the entire confrontation from beginning to end.
Yet something was missing.
Where was the barrier that had separated him and the Shadow from the outside world?
Nearly twenty minutes of the battle had simply vanished from the footage, as though someone had taken a pair of scissors to reality itself.
No.
That wasn't quite the right way to describe it.
It was as if the twenty-minute fight had never happened at all.
And at the end of the clip, when Asinious was finally killed by Fortuna's final Garu... Clerval couldn't find even the slightest hint of his involvement.
The footage only showed Asinious being struck by a massive green explosion before collapsing, exactly as it had happened this morning.
Could this be one of the gifts Igor's Master had provided to him?
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[7/3 (Wednesday) - Afternoon]
[Beacon Academy — Library]
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They were given the day off after what had happened that morning, so he was free to do whatever he pleased today.
In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this free. Ever since he'd received the countdown for Asinious the Zero, his life had been constantly busy.
First things first, he had to return the book he'd borrowed ages ago.
And the librarian was not pleased.
"The book was to be returned on the 26th of June."
They sent him a glare before stamping the book.
"That'll be 38 Lien as a late return fee. 1 Lien per day."
Sighing, he reached into his wallet to pay the fee.
He then asked if he could borrow another book, only to be shunned out.
"You can only borrow another book when the week is up!"
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[7/3 (Wednesday) - Afternoon]
[Beacon Academy — Staff Room]
============================================
"Hahaha, thank you for your concern, young Clerval, but I assure you that Miss Florence has healed me back to my usual 100%!"
Professor Port, who had been one of the Hunters with even a slight chance of standing against Asinious, laughed heartily as he patted Clerval on the shoulder.
Clerval had noticed the staff of Beacon engaging the Shadow while he was making his way up to the rooftops for his eventual confrontation with Asinious. From his vantage point, he'd seen the majority of Beacon's teachers fighting on the front lines.
"Though Bart and the others are taking a short break today, they'll be back this evening while I hold down the fort!"
Nodding, Clerval then vaguely asked about the excuse he'd given prior to the incident, hoping to confirm a theory of his.
"Oh, yes, you mentioned that you wanted to visit a relative of yours last night, yes? In Zone 8."
Port stroked his mustache with a thoughtful hum.
"What amazing timing that you suddenly caught a cold! It's a good thing you didn't meet them then, or else you'd have gotten caught up in the whole mess this morning!"
...
After talking to the professor for a little while longer and promising to help him with a live capture of a Grimm in the next few days, Clerval soon left the staff room.
Closing the door gently behind him, he aimlessly wandered around campus, his mind racing.
So Professor Port had even forgotten that he was the one who had escorted Clerval to the Bullhead pad late last night?
This...
Reality had been manipulated to a certain degree.
He didn't know whether he should be terrified or relieved that Igor's Master was helping him...
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