Union

A mythical beast.

Its body was that of a lion, but its head was of an eagle.

No one knows how and why it came to be, but it used to terrorize many villages in the past.

Usually living in the mountains, why it came to the populated place such as this school was unknown.

"What's a griffon doing here?!" Maria was shocked at the sight of a rare beast.

"And a Rank B, at least..."

Nayari instead focused on another thing.

Wounds appeared around its body, which looked like to be caused by a weapon, specifically a blade.

Maria shifted her magic which was aiming toward Nayari toward the flying creature.

"Maria! No!"

The attacks hit the monster, which caused it to let out a shriek.

It then shifted its focus on Maria, its eyes full of bloodlust.

As if feeling the bloodlust, Maria dropped a cold sweat.

The griffon then repeatedly flapped its wings, creating strong gusts of wind.

The gusts canceled out the whirlwind that was lifting Maria, making her fall down from a height that could possibly kill her if not doing anything.

Nayari took a leap and jumped up with all his might high into the sky, managing to barely catch the falling girl.

Maria, who had closed her eyes, slowly open them to see Nayari's face being close to her.

"Hey! Are you ok?!"

"W-what are you doing?! Release me!" She pushed Nayari away, which caused both of them to fall down.

"Ouch! That hurts... Oi! The griffon...It's...!!"

He looked up into the sky to see a ball of fire slowly forming between its beak, aiming at the group of students.

Then it was released, splitting into smaller balls and spread out everywhere and were heading toward the other students.

"<<Light - Barrier>>!!!"

Maria shouted, intending to cast a protective spell but to no use.

"My mana reserve...!"

The attacks landed, crumbling pieces of the arena.

Nayari could hear the helpless crying of the students.

Some decided to pick up their weapons and fight, mages and warriors alike.

"Hey! Nayari!" He heard familiar voices.

"Hildagea! What are you doing here?! And Lilith! You shouldn't be here!"

"We want to help too, you know?! We can't let you claim all of the spotlights for yourself, can we? Besides, with your help, I've been feeling a lot better."

Lilith answered.

"...Fine. Then get everyone to try and draw its attention and minimize as many casualties as possible. I'll go and help the students who had gotten themselves hurt. And you guys remember not to hurt yourself too, I don't want any more patients in my room."

"Roger that!" The girls started drawing out their weapons.

"And Maria, you go and help me."

"Me?" Maria was confused for a second.

Why did he want her to help him?

"Stop asking and get over here. I need some helping hands."

Maria and Hildagea passed by one another, their eyes briefly met before they each went on their own ways.

"Now then, let's not disappoint Nayari's trust in us, shall we?"

"...Um."

Hildagea followed along.

----

"Anyone?! Help!"

Nayari could hear a girl's cry for help.

Looking around in the rubble, he tried to find the person.

"Hey, Nayari..." Maria called out to him.

"Hmm?"

"...Nothing."

"Ah. Over there!"

Nayari pointed toward the direction where there's a girl lying under the rubble, her body's full of scratches and wounds.

Next to her was another girl which seemed to be her friend.

"Ah...Someone's coming..." The girl who was being stuck let out a weak voice.

"Please! Help my friend! She's dying!" The other girl ran up to Nayari and pleaded for help.

"Calm down first. Let me see her."

They moved toward the lying girl on the ground and checked the rubble.

"...Hmm."

While checking, Nayari suddenly grabbed one of the fragments and tried to lift it.

"Hrgh...!!"

"Hey! Nayari! What are you doing?!"

"Help...ing...her out...of course!! Stop talking and help me!"

He could only lift it up a little bit, before losing his grip making it fall down again.

"Argh..."

"Huh?! You're telling us girls to lift those?"

"Girl or not, I don't care! Do you want her to die?"

"Absolutely not!" The other girl spoke up.

"Then help me! You could just lift the smaller stones."

After a few minutes, they managed to free the girl from the rubble.

"Your legs...!!" Maria was shocked.

The girl's legs weren't looking so good.

They were crushed by the rubble and were looking in really bad shape.

Nayari also looked really shocked, before starting to rip parts of his uniform.

"O-Oi! Nayari! What are you doing now?!"

He picked up one of the wooden sticks he found lying on the ground and proceeded to tie it to the girl's legs.

But while he was doing it, suddenly a faint yellowish light emitted from his hands.

And a magic circle appeared.

"!?!"

----

"How much longer do we need to hold out for?! Where are the teachers anyway?!" Lilith, who was running around trying to dodge the griffon's barrage of magic attacks, whined.

"Hey! Are you guys still ok?" A familiar voice was heard.

"Nayari! You're finally back- Dodge!"

After almost getting hit by the projectiles, they continued to run and talk.

"Did something happen? You looked happy." Hildagea started talking.

"...I'll tell you guys if and when we've finished dealing with this griffon first."

As he observed the griffon once more, he noticed that its left wing had been damaged greatly, and seemed to be on its last leg.

"Everyone! Please hear me out!" Nayari shouted, attracting everyone's attention.

"Whoever can use magic, can you hold it down for me for a few seconds?"

"Hey, newbie! Who do you think you are to command us?!" One of the students spoke up with an angry tone.

Hildagea didn't know what he was up to, but his ideas had always helped them out in the past.

"Everyone, please hear him out! His plan might save us all!" She pleaded.

"Of course, my dear goddess!" The guy suddenly changed his tone.

"Hey, you changed face way too quickly, you know..." One of the students that were near him expressed her dissatisfaction.

----

"Go!"

Nayari let out a shout as everyone started attacking.

"<<Fire - Chain>>!!"

"<<Water - Chain>>!!"

"<<Earth - Bind>>!!"

"<<Wind - Bind>>!!"

"<<Fire - Bind>>!!"

Despite the fairly low amount of mages in this academy, they did an efficient job at keeping the griffon at one place.

The beast struggled to escape, putting strains on the students.

"Nayari! Quick!" One of the student mages said.

"Yes! Hildagea! It's our turn."

"Um!" Hildagea nodded before both of them ran off.

----

Lilith and Maria were told to go rest themselves at somewhere safe.

"I hope he won't do anything too dangerous..." Nayari expressed her worry.

"..." Maria instead remained silent.

----

Nayari ran forward, heading for the slope to the left of the griffon that had been formed by a large piece of the wall.

Hildagea followed behind, preparing herself.

They slowly closed up on the griffon.

The griffon, despite being restrained, released a magic attack at them.

As they approached the slope, Nayari managed to dodge the attack but not Hildagea.

"Hildagea!"

"Keep going!"

Nayari clenched his teeth, using his spear combined with the slope to launch himself off toward the damaged wing.

The launch wasn't enough for him to reach the griffon before a knife came flying from behind acted as a platform for him to jump off and gained himself a boost.

Hildagea, who was recovering herself from the attack, threw a knife at his direction to help him.

"...Show me...the light that you've once show me in the past..."

Thanks to her help, he managed to reach the height he needed.

While in the air, he took out his own knife and did a spinning downward slash at the flapping wing, cutting it off.

He then landed down onto the ground, breathing heavily.

The griffon also fell down onto the ground, letting out a shriek.

The warrior students, seeing it as a sign, started charging at the beast.

"GYARGHH!!!!"

As one last struggle, the beast used all its strength to break free from the restraining spells and let out an ear-piercing scream, the one filled with rage and anger, pushing away the approaching students.

Its body suddenly burned up a blazing red color.

"What the..." One of the students let out his surprise.