Through Vacant Halls

A loud sound, akin to that of a poof of a smoke like substance, awakened me from my half conscious state.

"That concludes our discussion on the foundational aspects of Feng Shui in an enclosed environment. The primary material you need for the assignment is listed on the board, and I expect all of you to have a proper shrine matrix by next month. Remember that we will have the second part of this discussion in Room 304. If you have no more questions, you are free to leave." The stoic faced, British professor at the podium, Lord El-Melloi II, concluded.

The dozens of students in the classroom all filed out, some of them a more rowdy bunch than others.

I simply sat there for a few moments, searching through the recorded memories of my astralized familiars.

{W̴̱̆ŏ̶̲r̸̘͒l̵̨̛ḓ̷̓l̴̺͝ỵ̶̆ ̵͘L̵̳͋i̵̱͘e̷͚͛.} The recorded thought was summarised into a pair of words, but I understood the entire breadth of it anyway.

The assignment was gonna be an extra burden on my workload with the Eulyphis faculty(Spiritual Evocation), but it was no biggie with an all-nighter and a cup of coffee. I could use the leftover animal bone and iron for a basis on the matrix, but was it worth using a sapphire to solidify the perceived harmony?

Meh, problems for a future me. I still had to finish my last year of General Fundamentals, and the course loads of studying in 3 different faculties stretched my ungodly multitasking abilities enough as it is.

"So, what is your excuse this time for inattentiveness?" I heard the suited professor ask me. And I knew it was me because I was apparently the only other person in the room, preoccupied with reviewing the magically recorded material in my mind.

"I had a long day." I began with a mildly frustrated tone, "First had Flat break into my room asking for my laptop at 2 AM. Then I had to deal with a hitman across a rooftop. Then I had to wait for a few girls to stop fighting over professor Codrington's love so that I could submit my homework. And now I have to work on several projects that range from a few weeks to a few years. Sooo… you know, the works." I waved my hand in a so-so manner.

The Brit gave a worried sounding hum, "How you manage not to break down from juggling that many full courses is foolish, but commendable. Just make sure not to drop halfway, Caules." 

I was sometimes the subject of ridicule on that front. Squeezing every class I have into a possible schedule, while simultaneously proving to colleagues that a lowly Yggdramillennia can, in fact, be a prodigy of the mystics, my free time should be shot to oblivion with how much stuff I had to write down and the many rituals I had to cast.

It's a convenient thing that I can just delegate the manual tasks to my familiars. Root knows how many times I would've dropped in despair without them.

{T̶͕́ḩ̴́á̴̗n̶͈̔k̶̥̄f̶̦́ú̵͓l̵̦̒ ̷̷͖͖̃̃L̶͒ͅi̶̙̽ë̷̬́.} The amalgamation of souls replied.

"Prof, you know me. I'd rather die than break- I'd rather die than stop halfway." I stuttered, but continued, "Like how you all but dropped Flat into my hands the moment our first conversation ended. And with how much I have to intervene in his shenanigans, I feel like I'm making decent progress curbing his…chaos. Yeah, chaos is an apt descriptor."

The teacher raised a doubtful eyebrow, "Does that include the 'accidentally' haunted research building, the pseudo reality marble on the 8th floor, or that unstable time loop we both got stuck in a few months ago?"

Well, when he put it that way, our lives did sound pretty adventurous.

Heh. The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II. A light novel like that would totally gain a following in both my past life and here.

"…okay, decently miniscule progress that'll be noticeable in a few months or so. It's a rickety, wobbly, magical bridge I'm walking, and the sharks under it are thirsting for blood. Can you blame me for stumbling here and there?"

"Hm. Good luck in that, by the way. At this point, even I wouldn't be surprised if Flat 'accidentally' initiated a Subspecies Holy Grail War. I'd keep a look out on that if I were you." He said in a perfectly serious, straightforward tone.

I, in response, held a deadpanned glare, "Please don't jinx my life any more than it already is. You're just saying that 'cause you directly appointed me as his legal guardian and am therefore responsible for his actions."

The Velvet heir shrugged, a hint of smug tugging on his lips, "You're the one who accepted; with you being one of the few people he often latches on to, and with my workload being even fuller than yours, the choice was obvious. I thought you didn't regret it?"

"I don't. He may be a chaotic genius of a magus - and I may have to deal with a few more homicidal sabotages than usual - but I'm not gonna let so much as a SCRATCH land on him if I can help it." I declared. Flat may be a pain the ass for a good time, but I still treated him like the little brother I never had…or at least I never thought I had. My past life's memories were significantly foggier when it came to numerous personal aspects. 

In response, his face slightly scrunched in what looked to be pity, "I swear, sometimes you act too honest and selfless to be in this institute."

"And you don't?" I fired back.

"Don't you have a class in Mystile(General Fundamentals) you have to get to, which is in a whole other building?" He deflected.

"Don't you have more pressing, lordly matters to attend to, like investigating scandals and murders for Reines?" I snarked.

A surprisingly laid back smile appeared on his slightly wrinkled face, "I'm actually free this afternoon, luckily enough. That Reinforcement trick you taught me has been a Root send for my sleeping habits, so I moderately get more work done than usual. A bloody overlooked blessing, that is." 

"Well, you're welcome for that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to attend." I said, grabbing my backpack and going out of the lecture hall, stopping just outside of the doorway.

"Going to pull High-Level Reinforcement again?" The reclaimer of El-Melloi asked.

"Hmmm…maybe not this time. I aim to be at least 10 minutes early after all, and it's already 10:30." 

With the clap of thunder ringing in my ears, I muttered, "I promise."

At my usual chant, I sat down on thin air, as if I was riding a car seat.

I slapped my palm on the nothing in front of me, eliciting a very real sound of a honking vehicle.

Professor Velvet's face was struck with a small amount of exasperation, and a sigh left his mouth, "This is why one of your titles is 'Poltergeist'. To consistently abuse a System of Nature to such a level…the prana expenditure would be both absurd and wasteful."

"Nah, only the sounds are being made by the poltergeist System. I'm just de-astralizing my familiars at different invisible points to carry me on thin air." I responded.

He glared at me in a scolding manner, "…are you sure you should be disclosing your mystics out in the open like this?"

I chuckled at the question, "Prof, I barely use anything in the Forvedge Crest. What you're seeing here is sheer ingenuity and circuit power through properly established Foundations. It's not my fault that 80% of Clock Tower is too rooted in stiff tradition and have a stick up their asses, to try and find alternative uses for the arcane. Because, my dear Lord El-Melloi the second, in this modern era…" 

A pause of silence passed by for dramatic effect, until the sound of a roaring engine echoed through the hall - an imitation made by my Magecraft, for the sake of fucking with one of the few people I can be casual around in this clusterfunk of a magical world.

I didn't need a mirror to visualise the shit eating grin on my face.

"It is our job as students of the Norwich facility of Modern Magecraft, to innovate, to improvise, to adapt, and to overcome the deficits of the outdated, mystical methods of last century! To become the pioneers of tomorrow! To be proud Magi taught by the great Waver Velvet, piercing the heavens to touch upon the Root of all existence!"

For even more effect, I JoJo posed the best I could while sitting on my familiars that imitated the car seat.

The substitute Lord's glare looked like it could burn stone from the amount of chuuni energy I was exuding. It lasted another moment before he sighed and shook his head, unable to dignify me with a response.

I knew that look on his face. The one that wanted to berate me and lecture me about what blasphemous statements I said, spitting on what Magi strive to be...or it could also be easily described as Cringe with a capital c.

But I knew that he knew, that I cared none for that part of Magus philosophy.

My eyes, aided by the thousands of hidden eyes that belonged to my binded spirits, caught the minute blush of embarrassment on the stoic man's face at the end of my statement.

"You're insufferable." He finally let out.

The non-existent engine roared louder.

"I can't hear you, Professor Charisma! My very soul has a yearning need! A NEED FOR SPEEEEED!" I shouted, propelling through the vacant halls of the research building and startling a few walking bystanders.

It must look like I'm hovering at a scarily fast pace; I too would be surprised if some random dude was flying in a supposedly invisible car through a building, turning tight corners at 60 miles an hour.

Just before my familiars and I got out of range, I heard the professor mutter.

"And he's supposed to be the saner one between him and Flat…"

I laughed, and posited a command to my familiars to blast a song while I was at it.

[I came up from the bottom, and in to the top~

For the first time I feel ali~i~ive~

I can fly like an eagle~

And strike like a hawk~

Do you think you can surviiiiive~

The Top!~]

My imaginary vehicle went even faster, passing by a few teaching staff that could barely catch a glimpse of my speeding figure.

I arrived at my class only a minute later, walking away the dizziness of going from 80 to 0 within the span of a second.

~•~•~

AN: Not dead, just slightly bored with writing/typing. Had a lot of fun reading stuff by Parcasious and Ideas-Guy, both on FF.net.