Chương 27: Book 2 Chapter 8: This is now a blood-boiling shounen anime!

Warning: Gore -/- The next morning, Jim slept in as he'd stayed up way too long deciphering the bank statements of the Calamity Cult. When he did finally wake up, it was to the resigned knowledge that it was finally time to talk to professor Quatzel about his offer. Many people had weighed in on his decision in regards to what to do about the time loop. Lebowski's words made the most sense. To simply ignore the calamity, and use the time loop to live a good life for as long as he could.

Jim himself knew that the time loop needed to be used to grow stronger and more magically competent as the world was simply too dangerous for the weak of society. Even he was dying all the time and he didn't even count himself amongst that category! What the detective had said also resonated with him. Professor Quatzel was one of the most powerful mages in the country.

Getting tutoring from him, no matter his personal disdain for the creature, was a good deal when he considered that the time loop would invalidate any favours he owed by making the lich forget. He thus stood up, got dressed and went to eat in the canteen, decision made. He still had to sit through divination class, which had now moved onto more complex and useless topics such as interpreting magical wards. Jim was happy with his remote viewing spell and continued working on that.

Not because the professor explicitly told him to, but because it was simply more useful, yes, exactly. After Divination came Mana Sensing, where Jim simply continued working on turning the active ability he'd gained into a passive one alongside his class-assigned partner, some ugly Mitelosian girl wearing rags and who didn't wash her hair often enough.

"Screw you too," the girl muttered, replying to the part that Jim had accidentally said out loud.

"Professor, she's insulting me! Can I switch partners?" Jim quickly complained, turning to professor Waters, who was making her way through the pairs and giving advice in the outside shadow of the colosseum where they were holding their lesson today.

"It's good to be spirited when you're young," the blonde professor replied succinctly before demonstratively turning her back towards him. Jim crossed his arms, pouted and formed a magic missile so his stupid partner would have something to practice on.

"Seriously did you have tutoring in becoming this insufferable, or does it come naturally?" his partner asked with gritted teeth.

"Don't talk to me, I don't know you," Jim muttered angrily. The girl gave a loud sigh.

"We literally sat in the same library section for two months." Jim looked at her blankly, tilting his head.

"Huh?" The girl ran red in the face.

"He's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it," she started whispering furiously like a mantra as she clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to feel Jim's magic missile. Joke's on her, Jim had let it dissipate the moment she'd closed her eyes.

A minute passed quietly while Jim focused on feeling the spells of the other students, who were further away, but still close enough to catch hints.

"Are you serious?" his partner eventually asked after she finally opened her eyes after a minute.

"Ran out of mana," Jim said apologetically before summoning the missile again. This time his partner kept her increasingly bloodshot eyes peeled on him like a mouse looking at a majestic dragon. When her turn was finally over, Jim threw her a kind, "you're welcome," as they switched roles. He enjoyed the twitch to her eyebrow. He did not so much enjoy the light slap to the back of his head as professor Waters snuck up on him.

"You have no idea how to treat a lady, do you Savant?" the professor asked with a tired sigh.

"Tell me when you see one," Jim snarked back and received the silent treatment from both women for the rest of the class. Mission accomplished, was all he had to say to that. -/- After both classes were done, Jim started making his way to the shack the lich professor resided in. While the electives were more recent, Combat Magic 2 was not a class that occurred every day. If it was, people would probably start dropping dead. No, Combat Magic 2 was three times a week and thank the gods for that.

The lich never taught spells, only forced students into situations where they decided which spells to learn through independent study. Having finally arrived at the shack, Jim hesitatingly looked at the door, not knowing how to proceed, before suddenly being interrupted by a pigeon landing on his shoulder once again. He paused and looked at the offending bird.

"Kid, if you're getting this message, I'm dead," the pigeon suddenly said, getting all of Jim's attention.

"I went to investigate this Alice at her new whereabouts, the fact I didn't return to deactivate this message means she's strong, pushing archmage likely. Alert the authorities somehow, anonymously if you can. I'm sorry…" Jim stared at the pigeon as it shook itself and flew off again.

"What's the point of saying sorry now," he muttered.

"What an incompetent idiot. I'll deal with this after the professor," he said, turning back to the dirty door of the shack. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Eventually he decided to bunch up a part of his black student robe on his fist and knock on the door to avoid the grime. No answer came, but the door slowly opened with the kind of creaky laughter you would have expected out of a forest-witches mouth.

The lich was standing silently next to the blank blackboard simply staring into space with his empty eyesockets. It took the creature a full five seconds to finally turn his head towards Jim and nod.

"Savant, bothering me outside of office hours? That will be another detention. Let's start now, there are many gaps in your knowledge."

"Why the farce?" Jim asked as he went to sit down at the desk.

"You do not fulfill the special talent requirements for personal mentorship, so we're stuck on detentions for now," Quetzal replied. Jim remained silent for a second.

"And who does, exactly?"

"It's by invitation only, the professor has to decide, but there needs to be sufficient justification. It's rare for a first year student to receive an offer. Very rare." The lich paused.

"In regards to the educational opportunity you recently received, what is your conclusion?"

"I accept the deal," Jim said with a fake smile, gleefully rubbing his hands together on the inside. Who cared if he freed the lich if the time loop would put the creature right back into bondage after every reset. Jim just had to avoid resolving the calamity accidentally until he'd drained the mage of all his knowledge.

"Good, as you probably researched there's no such thing as a magical vow that travels back in time with you, after all, the other participant ceases to exist so to say. Let's just shake on it instead," the lich said, extending a skeletal hand.

"I'll teach you what I know, specifically the parts that would help you the most considering your unique situation. In return you'll make sure I'm freed during the last loop. I trust you'll keep your word? It is your bond after all."

"Of course I will," Jim said with a puffed up chest and extended his hand as well.

"I'm more worried you won't keep yours."

"Don't worry about a thing, I am very reliable," Quetzal said as they shook on it. Touching the skeletal hand and the creature attached to it made a shudder run down Jim's spine and straight into his soul. Hopefully he'd never have to touch the abomination again. He retracted his hand when it was finally over and asked, "So, what do we start with?" Which was, obviously, the point in which the shack they were in exploded violently.

-/- Jim's ears were ringing and he felt a hard arm around his neck, holding him onto a body that felt more like a washboard than anything else. When the dust flying through the air finally dissipated he found himself standing in what used to be a peaceful part of the academy but was now just a crater. When he looked down and saw that the hand grabbing him was skeletal. He tried to scream, but his eyes widened as no sound came out.

A hand to his face confirmed that his mouth had in fact disappeared completely, lips having fused together, leaving behind only smooth skin. Full body shivers and spasms started wracking his body.

"It seems the lesson couldn't wait; a first-person perspective on how it feels like to be a god amongst men," the lich whispered into Jim's ear as the boy struggled against the hold but failed to break free.

"What have you done?" an old voice suddenly shouted, causing Jim to whiplash his head to see the headmaster, square beard and purple robe staring at the two of them from above the crater alongside what was slowly becoming a small armada of grim-faced professors flying and teleporting here from different parts of the academy. The heavy bells of the academy towers started filling the air with an insufferable noise and the screams of distant students didn't help the cacophony.

"Just protecting a student from your brutish attack, Leilei!" the lich still gripping Jim replied with a shout.

"The pact has been broken, your powers should be restricted by the array!" the red-faced old man screamed, forming a shining supernova in his hands.

"A teacher is allowed to go above and beyond in the protection of his students!" professor Quatzel replied, before laughing loudly.

"And right now you are the very danger threatening my favourite pupil." The skeletal arm not holding Jim went up and pointed towards the headmaster.

"You really should have read the charter," professor Quatzel said calmly, before slowly dragging his hand up through the air. With the motion, something horrific that Jim would never be able to forget occurred. The headmaster's skin split open at the feet and swallowed his clothing as it bunched up and travelled up his body revealing the red flesh and the white tendons beneath. Blood spurted violently as his body shook in place, many of the professors trying to cast magic to resolve the spell, but all failing.

The process was done incredibly quickly, barely two seconds, leaving behind nothing but a skinned corpse that was somehow still alive and standing. A guttural scream erupted from the skinned man's mouth and mixed with the blood to become a haunting gurgle as the remains collapsed like a puppet with its string cut.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," Quetzal whispered quietly to Jim.

"The only problem is that we're not getting out of this alive, so watch carefully." The collected professors, about twenty or so, led by the grim-faced professor Vector suddenly engaged the lich in a fight for survival. Jim's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was fairly sure that someone had cast a water spell at his pants as he saw the dozens of spells and effects flying his way, each enough to completely eradicate him from existence if they connected. If they connected.

The lich holding him simply waved his hand in the air and the spells came apart like frayed thread, collecting themselves in a large bright ball of light held atop the creature's palm, pulsating like a barely restrained star.

"Boom," professor Quatzel said sadistically, at which point everything became white again. When Jim opened his eyes, the crater was gone again, or rather, it had become an even larger crater. Half the academy grounds were gone, reduced to a large hole in the ground. Only the professors remained, blank and silent, behind translucent barriers that had somehow redirected the force, although some of them had disappeared, likely becoming nothing more than dust in the wind.

What followed was a fast paced battle between one mage holding up a student like a shield and a dozen of the academy's best. Jim's senses were pushed to the very edges and he barely stayed conscious as he saw, with horror, that the lich was winning.

"Aktash," the lich suddenly commented as professor Kyros violently lost the fight against his own intestines which had crawled out of his mouth to wrap themselves around his neck and broke it with a violent crack. Jim felt the heat first. Then he looked up to see a giant fire dragon flying towards them from above. It was as big as the now half-gone colosseum. The professors, the five of them still alive, blinked away before the attack hit while the lich simply held up a hand, pointer finger extended.

An orb of blood coalesced at his fingertip, before suddenly surging upwards and expanding into a river of red which flowed violently to meet the fire dragon in mid-air. The two primal forces clashed in the air above what had previously been the academy and created an iron-smelling red steam that was then blown away by the shockwave of the attacks colliding. Blood boiled and fire roared as Jim stayed limp in the professor's arms.

"Taking hostages?" a male voice said suddenly as the attacks cancelled each other out.

"Just when you think he couldn't sink any lower," a female voice answered.

"Paitana, you're here too," the lich said in a conversational voice.

"The number 2 and number 3 of today against the strongest in history. Do you really think you have a chance?"

"You're already fading," the tall woman said with a scoff. Jim looked at professor Quatzel's arm from where it was peeking out beneath the brown robe. It was crumbling. Cracks were forming and dust was being shed.

"I've had my fill," the lich said quietly.

"Sad that it doesn't matter. Seek me out in the next life, will you," he said to Jim who was barely aware of anything anymore.

"Will you at least go down quietly? The pact will do its work soon," Aktash said in a bored voice from where he was standing in the desolate hellspace that the academy had turned into.

"I ain't hear no bell, you little bitch," professor Quatzel replied casually and suddenly shot himself physically, Jim in tow, at the red-haired man who exploded into a bright ball of fire.

'I fucking hate this academyyyy!!!!' Jim thought internally with tears in his eyes as the most powerful mages in the country clashed, him in the middle.