BOOOOOM!

Klein tentatively opened the doors to the principal's office, and in a voice as quiet as a mouse, he spoke.

"Mr Weathers...? I'm here"

Klein walked in and waited in front of the principal's desk, behind which an empty chair stood. It wasn't his first time here, and despite Mr Weather's warnings and punishments, it surely wouldn't be the last either.

Not unless the world ended.

After a few minutes, Mr Weathers appeared on the once empty chair. He had dusted himself off and regained his bearing, calming himself considerably after internalising the incident.

He realised that Klein had begun to cast 'dispel' sometime after the start of his appearance. This meant, that, while conversing, acting, and playing the fool, he had simultaneously cast a complex spell and accurately directed it to the nodes of his own 'levitate' spell.

Not only that, Klein had managed to do so under, at most, twenty seconds. All while escaping his own notice as a Grand Magus. And also accurately calculating he would be able to activate 'dispel' before 'levitate' deactivated.

'Truly a genius of combat...' Mr Weathers couldn't help but sigh.

"Umm... Mr Weathers...?" Klein touched his index fingers together in a guilty expression as he surreptitiously glanced at the principal, attempting to figure out his mood.

Weathers looked up at the student and couldn't help inwardly sighing again.

'It's just that rotten personality of his. Even now, I know he's thinking of something malevolent' Mr Weathers accurately assessed Klein.

"Dispel Field" Mr Weathers said, and all the enchantments in the office ceased working. The auto-write enchantment on the quill, the time-telling enchantment on the clock, and even the moving-picture enchantment on the painting of a sea beast on the wall.

Klein gulped.

'He saw through it...'

"Klein Stanfield."

Klein stood at attention after hearing his full name being spoken. He knew this would only happen when the principal was serious, which was why he had panicked a little earlier when he was shouted at across the campus.

"Yes... Mr Weathers?" Klein asked as he looked at the principal.

"What do you plan on doing after graduation?" Weathers asked as he made eye contact with Klein.

"I don't know yet... heh, maybe I'll become one of those shady magicians in the countryside scamming the elderly" Klein chuckled.

"You can stop it Klein. I know what you're really after, so you can stop playing games" Mr Weathers' gaze did not falter as he maintained his demeanour.

Klein's smile faltered.

"Heh... Well then, why did you ask?" Klein dodged the gaze fixed at him.

Mr Weathers sighed.

"You know, you'll just be giving your life away. They can easily kill you. The only reason they haven't -"

"I know. Can't really let them off though, can I?" Klein cut Weathers off and grinned, his crazed eyes shining in the light.

Weathers paused, and then let out a deep sigh.

"You know, wherever you go, and whatever you do, you'll probably be successful. Can't you just enjoy your life?"

Klein looked at Weathers and smiled more sincerely.

"Of course. Isn't that what I'm doing? There ain't no better way to enjoy myself than getting myself called into your office hahaha" Klein laughed and the mischief in his eyes returned.

In response, Mr Weather simply began to sift through some papers on his desk, and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course, see, I'm having the time of my life seeing that perpetual frown on your face, why I-"

"Clean the courtyard. Null Magic" Mr Weathers said, nullifying Klein's ability to utilise any spells for the duration of his punishment.

"Ah... C'mon I was just joking, I gotta make up my class now or I'll lose out -"

"You already know the syllabus" Mr Weathers cut him off and a broom made its way into Klein's hands.

"Ah, well, this isn't so bad" Klein sighed as he reluctantly grasped the broom.

"Float upside-down" Mr Weathers continued.

Klein was lifted in the air, and was then flipped over, his eyes meeting the floor of the office.

"Ah ah ah. Hey wait wait wait. This is abuse, you can't - "

"I expect a clean courtyard by noon. Teleport." Weathers snapped his fingers, cutting off Klein's nonsense, and causing the boy to disappear from the office.

"Haaa... That child will be the death of me one day" Weathers sighed, exasperated, returning to his paperwork.

--------------------------------------------

Klein hovered upside-down with a broom in his hands in the Academy courtyard.

'Well, it can't get more ridiculous than this, can it?' Klein thought as he shuffled his legs in the air to navigate his way around, becoming somewhat dizzy and lightheaded.

As he began his terrible task, something passed in his peripheral vision. He turned his head down towards the sky to get a better look, and saw a light fading in and out.

Upon a closer look, it wasn't a single light, but many lights of varying shades and colours and shapes . Klein craned his neck to look up at his feet dangling towards the sky, and saw that many of the lights were a lot larger than even the Academy building.

"What..." Klein's eyes widened.

The lights were becoming more corporeal, and then fading back to nothingness. Klein glanced around and noticed the same phenomenon all over the whole sky, as far as he could see. Lights in different shapes - people and buildings - faded in and out of reality, all approaching the ground.

'Did getting upside-down really make me this dizzy?' Klein wondered to himself.

"Hey Klein!" Victor called from one of the windows of the Academy overlooking the courtyard.

Klein shifted his gaze towards the sound and smiled.

"Hey, Victor, mind helping a brother out here, being upside-down is really making me dizzy" Klein chuckled, flailing the broom around him.

"Hahaha no way, seeing you like this is a riot. Hey Jane! C'mere and take a look at how Klein ended up"

"Klein? Where did he even go?" Jane's voice approached the window and looked over.

"Pfft... Hahaha that's one for the books. You must've really gotten under Weathers' skin bad today" Jane laughed happily at Klein's misfortune.

Amidst the laughter and joy and banter of the three friends....

BOOOOOM!

The land quaked, and loud crashing sounds shook the air, deafening the world.