Arwen's eyes narrowed as Jun stepped through the door to the training courtyard with Shiori on her shoulder. "Jun, explain yourself," he said with a strained smile.

  Jun froze mid-step as she felt Arwen's gaze land upon her, the strange pressure she'd felt from him seemingly pressing down on her. Her heart started to race as it felt like a predator stalked her through the forest. Something pressed down on her, urging her to start spilling all of her secrets to answer Arwen's question. Did he know about the rest of the loot they cut him out on? The fight with the thugs? Her traits? The [Soul Parasite]? That she wasn't really from this world? All of her secrets passed through her mind, some minor, some that felt dangerous to even acknowledge. Jun rallied herself against the foreign urge to confess everything and focused on her breathing.

  In one. Out two. A breath to steady herself.

  In one. Out two. A breath to center her thoughts and emotions.

  In one. Out two. A breath to process calmly.

  They'd been careful, hiding the loot in her Void Bag and only going around to sell it early in the morning with her friends. They'd avoided going past the guild hall just in case some adventurers recognized Jun, and besides the people they'd sold to, no one else should know what they were up to. It seemed unlikely Arwen would know anything about the loot they'd cut him out on, or any of Jun's other secrets for that matter. As her heart rate settled into some semblance of calm, Jun cycled her mana through her channels, focusing on the movement of power through her to push off whatever the foreign feeling pressing down on her was.

  "Explain what?" she finally said in a steady voice, if slightly higher pitched than normal as she looked Arwen in the eyes.

  Arwen met her gaze and stared silently for some time. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. The prolonged eye contact increased her discomfort and she felt her lips loosening, but focusing on her mana helped distract from the awkward silence. Shiori shifted on her shoulder, her whiskers poking into Jun's cheek as her Master turned to stare at Arwen. The cat's movement seemed to catch the elf's attention as his eyes flicked towards her and the strange pressure on Jun faded away. Sighing, their team advisor squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before he spoke again. "Explain why you brought that thing with you to class. Pets have no place in the field and no place in training. It's just a liability weakening your team. Unless you want them to die, leave it home," he said, fixing her with a disapproving look.

  Her teammates exchanged some glances and looked at Jun and Shiori. Aya had a conflicted look on her face, and Jun could imagine what they were thinking, because she would probably be thinking the same thing if she didn't know a bit about Shiori. They were probably thinking about the fight with the goblin mage where they'd nearly died what felt like over a week ago, though it'd only been a couple days.

  Shiori hadn't stepped in to help then which had been all the clues Jun needed to know that they could handle it. That Shiori had joined in during the fight with the thugs had just been further proof that if things got too dangerous her Master would help. She wasn't sure how powerful Shiori was, but she suspected stronger than Arwen who was at high Gold. After all, she'd felt Shiori's presence silence an entire forest as she stopped that monster who'd hunted her and forced it to accept a duel a year later. If anything, they were safer with Shiori around. But her teammates didn't know that, and Jun wasn't sure she wanted Arwen to know either. She didn't trust him.

  As she tried to think of a way to push back against Arwen's demand, Shiori's voice whispered in her ear. "Say I'm your familiar."

  Shiori's suggestion provoked a flood of information that Jun read in the IAG handbook to come flooding back and she spotted the path forward that Shiori guided her towards. Steeling herself, she lightly puffed out her chest and took in a deep breath. "Per IAG policy chapter 5, subsection 12(e), familiars are considered an extension of the adventurer's person and any action taken against a familiar is considered an action against the adventurer's person. Shiori is not an 'it' nor a 'pet,' she is my familiar. Barring her from any activities is the same as barring me." Her words had come out rushed and she'd stumbled over herself as she regurgitated the guild's rule and drew a metaphorical line in the sand, but as the adrenaline coursed through her veins at the confrontation she couldn't help but feel a bit excited. Talking back to an authority figure wasn't something she was used to, and by the way her teammates were staring wide-eyed at her, it wasn't something they'd expected from her either.

  Arwen stared her down for a moment and Jun could almost see the gears moving in his head. After a few seconds, Arwen smiled wide at her. It didn't look friendly, and Jun had to fight the urge to shiver as she caught sight of his too-white teeth. "I see," he said lightly as he let go of the bridge of his nose and pointed at her. "Well if she's your familiar, she must be able to in a fight." As Arwen spoke, he snapped his fingers and a line appeared in the sand of the courtyard, marking a large circle that took up nearly the whole of the room. "Jun, you and your familiar into the ring," he said with a nasty smile.

  Returning Arwen's smirk with a glare, Jun walked into the circle. Having a feeling what would happen next, Jun started to plan out the spells she'd use against Arwen. She was confident Shiori could beat him, but wasn't sure how much help her Master would provide, and wasn't sure if it'd be better for them to put up a good fight and lose, or to win. Being more than 300 levels under her advisor, it might draw uncomfortable questions if she beat him even if he held back, and far more attention if a cat everyone seemed to think was just a pet beat him. Hoping Shiori would hold back enough that they wouldn't attract more attention, Jun started to design modifications to her new snare and shield spells, hoping they'd be enough, but her plans were interrupted by Arwen's next command.

  "Everyone else into the ring opposite Jun."

  Reluctantly, her four teammates filed into the ring while Arwen remained outside. As Michael finished crossing over the line it began to glow, and a massive barrier shot up in a large dome, trapping the five students and Shiori together. "Since Jun is so insistent that this cat is her familiar, she will prove it. And since her bringing that cat along affects your entire team, you all will do your best to beat her."

  Aya and the others looked at Jun and Shiori and back to Arwen in horror. As they started to protest, the same strange pressure Arwen had used on them the day they met came crashing down. Aya, Keira, Michael, and Cian fell to their knees, though for some reason Jun managed to remain standing. She wasn't sure if it was having Shiori with her, her new levels, or something else, but the pressure didn't feel anywhere near as suffocating as it had just a few days ago. Arwen looked at Jun and raised his eyebrow before the pressure came back even harder, slamming Jun down to one knee as Shiori hopped off her shoulder, her fur starting to puff up as she arched her back and hissed.

  "This bug pushes his luck," her Master's voice said in her ears, seemingly unaffected by whatever strange force Arwen used.

  "Don't..." Jun whispered.

  "Disobey me and you all fail," Arwen said lightly as the pressure vanished. "Begin."

  The students groaned as they pushed themselves back into a standing position. Cian, Keira, and Michael looked across the arena at Jun with hesitation and concern, but as soon as Aya got up she started walking over to Jun, her hands held loosely to the side. "What do you want to do Jun?" her friend asked, concern all over her face.

  Jun glanced between her friend, her teammates, Shiori, and their advisor. With her Master's help they could easily stop their psychotic advisor's power trip, but Jun wasn't sure what that would mean for her time at the Academy, nor what it would mean for Aya and her teammates. In the weeks since she'd gotten to know Aya, she'd grown close to fiery girl and they'd become good friends though neither had shared much of their pasts or dreams for the future with the other. The only time they'd spoken about it, Aya had just said she needed to get stronger to do something, and studying at the Academy was just a step towards her goal. She hadn't had much time to get to know Michael, Keira, and Cian, but she didn't want to blow up anyone's future by refusing to play their power-tripping advisor's game. "We should just go along with it," Jun said, looking her friend in the eyes.

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  "But what if you get hurt?" Aya said quietly. They both knew that Jun's barriers were powerful, but Aya had demonstrated that she could break through Jun's barriers with some effort, and the rest of her teammates weren't weak either.

  Jun looked at Aya, then at Shiori, then back to her friend. "I'll be fine, I have Shiori with me. Do what you need to so none of you get into trouble too." Even as Jun tried to project confidence, anxiety ate at her inside. She didn't want to fight her friend and her teammates. She didn't want Shiori to hurt them, but she also didn't want to lose.

  Aya stared at Jun for several seconds with a frown. "If you don't hurry up and start, I'll notify Galimund that you all refused to participate in training and failed. You won't just be kicked out of the Academy program, but kicked out of the IAG too," he said in a cheerful voice.

  "Let's just do it... I trust you Aya."

  Giving Jun one last look, Aya nodded and walked back to the rest of their team. Once she got there, the four of them huddled up and started to talk while Arwen stared at Jun with a smirk on his face.

  Ignoring their advisor, Jun crouched down as Shiori padded over and she started to pet her Master as cover while they had a quick conversation.

  "What would you like to do, kitten?" her Master asked, yawning wide. "Your advisor irritates me and I could use a snack."

  "Please don't kill him Master," Jun whispered quietly. "Can you hold back and we make it a close fight, like you did with the thugs?"

  Shiori flicked her tail as if offended by the question. "Play fight with you kittens? Easily," she snorted. "Just don't hold back. They're your friends, but holding back will just ensure they get nothing out of that bug's game. Your wonderful Master will give your friends a free lesson. You will assist."

  As Shiori outlined their plan, Arwen's irritated voice filled the room again. "If this were a real battle, all of you would be dead. Jun's busy playing with her familiar and you lot are trying to plan out a way to hold back. If I detect anyone holding back, they fail immediately. Get to it or get out."

  Sighing, Jun straightened herself out as she reached into her bag and pulled out her new shield. Channeling her mana, she reviewed the plan her Master gave her as she shifted into a defensive position.

  "This isn't fair to her," Keira grumbled as Cian nodded along with his sister. "Let's just tell Arwen to shove it!"

  Aya shook her head. "Jun said we should just do it. I know none of you want to hurt her, but she's willing to fight, so let's not insult her by holding back. Besides, I have the most experience with her barriers. She's a lot stronger than she seems."

  "Her barrier stopped that goblin mage's spell and her snares were enough to capture three of the warriors," Michael said, reminding them of the fight just two days prior.

  "Just don't hurt Shiori, she's a wonderful cat and Jun loves her. If you hurt her, I'll hurt you," Aya threatened, her eyes narrowed.

  "And I'll help, even if you're my brother Cian," Keira said, though Aya wasn't surprised. The way Keira had been enamored when Jun showed up with Shiori on her shoulder, she had a feeling Keira had a soft spot for cats.

  "If this were a real battle, all of you would be dead. Jun's busy playing with her familiar and you lot are trying to plan out a way to hold back. If I detect anyone holding back, they fail immediately. Get to it or get out," their asshole of an advisor said, sending a jolt of irritation through Aya's core. She felt her fiery mana start to twist towards her spells as her anger rose, but she managed to hold back. Arwen's an ass, but he's a strong ass. Even though the fight with the goblin mage had been enough to push her to the peak of bronze rank, their advisor was still high Gold. Mentally, she made a note of her anger and ran through her focus exercises. One day she'd collect her due from him when she was ready.

  "Let's just do this," Aya said, channeling her mana into several spells. She wouldn't use [Piercer] on Jun, not like this, but she knew Jun could handle her other Apprentice ranked single affinity spells, and she didn't think Arwen had found out about it yet. He couldn't accuse her of holding back if she used the same level of spells she'd used against that goblin mage. Creating three tendrils of mana, Aya fed one each through her Fire, Wind, and Earth affinities, then into her Apprentice spells. A [Firebolt], [Wind Burst], and [Boulder] started to coalesce around her as she eyed her teammates, making sure they readied themselves.

  Cian had pulled out a shield and mace and stood in a ready position, his shield held out in front of him. Keira was to the side, holding a pair of unfortunately sharp daggers since none of them had been given a chance to grab training weapons. Michael stood with his fists up, his knuckle weapons conspicuously absent in a small act of rebellion.

  On the opposite side of the ring, Jun stood in a stance mirroring Cian's, the new shield she'd mentioned buying to Aya strapped to her arm and held out in front of her. To Aya's surprise, Shiori stood in front of Jun, her ears pressed back as she flicked her tail back and forth. Maybe Jun was telling the truth and Shiori was her familiar, an animal companion leveled and trained to help a mage. But still, Aya didn't want to hurt such a cute kitty.

  As the four stood across the ring from their teammate trying to work up the nerve to make the first move against their only member who hated violence, five snake-like spells shot out of the sand and moved to snare them all around their ankles. Keira danced out of the way as two of the five magical ropes chased after her, whipping around in sweeping strikes. Cian slammed his rectangular shield down on the snare going after his feet, while Michael let the snare wrap around his wrist and grabbed it, his immense grip strength crushing Jun's spell. Aya used her [Wind Burst] to blast the spell targeting her away and send her [Boulder] to crush the snare even as she instinctively directed her [Firebolt] to retaliate against Jun, in her haste not processing that even if Jun blocked her explosive spell, it might harm Shiori.

  As Aya drifted up in the air and processed what she'd done, she looked at Jun in a panic, worried she might harm her friend and her pet, but her concern was unneeded as Shiori had simply vanished from Jun's side of the field while her friend's four-part barrier coalesced in front of her fire spell, the pink tinged energy sucking in the mana and force of her spell as it harmlessly exploded halfway between them. Before Aya could decide what to do next, she found Shiori. Or rather, Shiori found her.

  One moment, Aya was watching as her friend's barrier absorbed her spell, the next her vision was filled with two black cat paws as Shiori landed on Aya's face with her hind legs and kicked off, launching herself down on her teammates while Aya was sent back into the barrier of the arena with surprising force!

  As Aya slammed into the barrier and fell to the ground, she watched as Keira sliced through one of Jun's snares, shattering it while she moved to parry the other with her off hand. Just before the scout's dagger would have struck Jun's spell, Shiori landed on Keira's shoulder, throwing her blow off. Missing her blow, Keira flinched as Shiori ran down her arm and batted the dagger from her grip as Jun's spell wrapped around her other wrist and squeezed, causing the girl to drop her other weapon.

  "Keira's snared!" Aya yelled out as Michael whirled around, charging to help her.

  Cian charged for Jun, his shield held out in a shield bash with his mace held ready, only to recoil as he struck something invisible and bounced off. His charge disrupted, Cian didn't notice as Jun's barrier empowered by Aya's spell slammed down in a dome around him and quickly thickened as it closed in, trapping him like a bug under a glass. Wind swirled around his mace as he swung his weapon into Jun's barrier, filling the arena with the sound of metal ringing against glass, but her barrier held. As Cian continued swinging, Aya frowned and instinctively started to cast [Piercer], only holding back at the last second and instead funneling the mana into an [Earthen Spike], [Wind Burst], and [Firebolt]. Sending the [Firebolt] into the sand between Jun and Cian caused a cloud of dust to erupt, hiding the barrier from Jun's position while her [Wind Burst] slammed into the back of her [Earthen Spike], propelling it even faster to strike into Jun's barrier at an angle away from Cian. While the combination lacked the raw power of [Piercer], the two Apprentice level spells combined to have a greater piercing effect as the earth spell tore a hole through Jun's barrier and slamming into the sand.

  Taking advantage of the hole in Jun's barrier, Cian slammed his mace into the energy next to the slowly closing hole, shattering the innermost layer. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

  "Her snares drain mana!" Michael called out, just in time for Aya to notice no less than three new snares moments before they wrapped around her, gently tying her arms and legs together. As Aya started channeling mana into a [Water Blade] to sever the spells, she felt her mana grow sluggish, only a fraction of the mana she'd meant to use making it to her spellform. Despite not meeting the minimum amount, the spell still coalesced, though the [Water Blade] was anemic and only managed to nick one of the snares before it ran out of energy and vanished. As Aya struggled to pull even more mana from her dwindling supply into a stronger spell, she spied Keira struggling through a snare around her wrist as she desperately tried to avoid being caught by three more.

  Michael was a short distance away, his amulet glowing as he healed himself while bleeding from numerous cat scratches all over his face and arms. Shiori bounced around him, casually biting and scratching at the healer as if she were playing with a toy. Growling, the healer instinctively punched at Shiori only for the cat to twist away even as a small barrier manifested in front of his fist, blocking the strike. In retaliation, Shiori launched herself into the air and redirected herself by landing and kicking off another small barrier that suddenly appeared behind her to land on Michael's shoulder, where she casually grabbed the boy's necklace in her mouth and jumped away, stealing his equipment!

  If not for all the blood, Arwen's presence, and the distressing feeling of her mana getting snatched away, Aya would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the scene. They'd been worried about hurting Jun and her cat, but her friend was winning!

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