Chapter 33: The Last Academy
"Good work, Angel. Hold position," I replied, exhaling a long, steady breath as the sapphire lightning around my suit dissipated.
One core. It was a massive win, but the realization was bittersweet. One core meant we could only power up the Liger or the Fox. We were still going to have to hunt another one of those nightmares before the Z-Frames were truly online.
Behind me, the Elementalist let his broken shield fall. He collapsed against the massive armored leg of the Guardian Mech, his breathing ragged and shallow. The younger children peeked out from behind the heavy shield-plates, their eyes wide with absolute awe as they looked at the giants that had saved them. The two teenagers—Elara and Jax—rushed to the old man's side, their hands glowing with the weak, desperate light of healing magic.
They weren't looking at me; they were looking at Fenris, who was casually shifting back into his quadrupedal mode, and at Aria, whose silver armor was still venting residual GM Particles like a halo.
I walked over, pulling a pair of crystal vials from a secure pouch on my belt—a high-grade health potion and a dense mana potion we'd refined in the Archangel's lab. I tossed them to the boy, Jax, who caught them with a flinch.
"Give those to him. They'll heal the internal bleeding and stabilize his mana pathways," I said, my voice modulated and low through the helmet.
The boy hurriedly uncorked them, helping the old man drink. The color slowly began to return to Master Elias's face. He looked up at us, his eyes tracing the stylized Storm-Winged Crest on our jackets.
"You... you are the ArcVeil Guild," he rasped, his voice full of disbelief. "The Ghost Guild. I am Master Elias."
Aria stepped forward, deactivating her visor so they could see her face. The silver light in her eyes softened. "You held out against an Alpha while protecting fourteen people. That's no small feat, Master Elias. Who are these children?"
Elias leaned heavily against Jax's shoulder, his gaze moving to the orphans. "These two are Elara and Jax... my apprentices. We are—we were—members of the Detroia City Arcane Academy."
Aria's expression tightened. Detroia City was a major capital, a bastion of learning miles to the north. "Detroia fell? The high walls were supposed to be impregnable."
Elias nodded grimly, his voice hollow. "The Outsiders... they didn't just attack. They bypassed the wards. They shattered the city walls in hours. They weren't hunting for territory; they were hunting anyone with high-tier magical affinity. They wanted the scholars."
He looked back at the huddled group of children. "Jax, Elara, and I were visiting the orphanage in the lower ward when the breach happened. We couldn't leave them to burn. When the academy gates fell, I used a desperate, overcharged mass-teleportation spell to get us all out. It dropped us here in the frontier... directly into the hunting grounds of that Alpha."
Aria's expression softened into something deeply empathetic. She looked at the kids. Despite the dirt and the terror, the air around them hummed with latent magic. Fire, water, wind, spatial manipulation—these orphans were incredibly gifted, even if they didn't know it yet. And in this world, that made them targets.
"You protected them well," Aria said smoothly. "Where were you trying to take them?"
"Nowhere," Elias admitted. "The remaining settlements won't take us. A dozen orphans with high mana signatures? The Outsiders will just track them and burn whatever town shelters us. To any mayor or lord, we are just dead weight and a death sentence."
I looked at Aria. She looked back at me, her eyes drifting to the massive Guardian Mech standing protectively over the kids, and then to the massive, fortress-like hull of the Archangel hovering silently at the canyon's mouth.
"You aren't dead weight," I said, my voice steady. I looked Elias dead in the eye. "My rule has always been that no strangers set foot on my ship. It's a safety risk I've never been willing to take."
I paused, looking at the youngest girl, who was currently reaching out a tiny, soot-stained hand to touch Fenris's nose. The wolf didn't growl; he leaned into the touch, his optics glowing a soft, friendly blue.
"But I think I need to make an exception," I continued. I tapped my comms, opening the channel to the bridge. "Angel. Drop the ramp. Spin up life support in the passenger holds and prep the medical bay. We're bringing people home."
Elias blinked, entirely stunned. "You... you would shelter us? A dozen orphans and a broken teacher? Why?"
"Because you aren't just a teacher anymore, Elias. And they aren't just refugees," Aria said, a confident smile spreading across her face. She gestured toward the Archangel. "You're the future of this world. And we're the only ones with a ship big enough to keep that future alive. Welcome to the ArcVeil Guild. Class is back in session."