The sound of crackling thunder swiftly echoes throughout Cecilia's spacial office, having used her magic to turn it into an arena of sorts. Another couple of weeks had passed and Cecilia continued to do her promise to the young boy, training Alphonse into better controlling his abilities and giving him new spells to learn. More so of the basic chants and really helping him with word manipulation in order to shorten down the time to chant said spells, making it easier for him to use on the fly. After all, he was told that his test to truly see if he had learned anything was drawing near.

Another thundering noise was let out, a bolt of magic just going past his head as Alphonse dove to the side, rolling out of the way to avoid the thunderous bolt. His grey-eyed gaze looked up with fierce determination, eyeing his blonde-haired teacher, her hand now beginning to emit an orangy-yellowish flame, the color of the spell she was casting perfectly reflecting her own fiery gaze. Her posture was straight and poise, a refined nature as she simply stood still with grace, a great contrast to the tense and somewhat erratic movement of the young Euclidus mage.

"What's wrong? If you keep moving like that and have no plan at all, you won't be able to survive an encounter like that soon."

"I'm trying over here...! Whoa—!" Alphonse leaned to the side, albeit clumsily as the quickfire burst of flames waded past him with an enduring speed.

The flames struck the wall behind him and made a slight explosion of display, leaving a blackened crater of ash on the wall. Alphonse then let out another scream of surprise, jumping out of the way as this time, a blast of ice magic was hurled over to him, exploding upon impact on the ground as various ice spikes were created. This performance of his was a little disappointing, he wasn't going to lie to himself. All he's been doing is be put on the defensive, but no one could really blame. His opponent was his teacher. And even though his teacher is holding back right now, Cecilia is regarded as essentially the most, if not, one of the most powerful Magus' in the world.

Alphonse heaves a breath, exhaling whatever air he had in his lungs out as he raises his hand up and says a shortened chant. A simple reduced line that didn't require for him to spout out five or so syllables to cast the fireball that was shot out from his palm. Cecilia, however, doesn't bat an eye toward the projectile and merely snaps her fingers, a crystalline-pentagon barrier of sorts appearing in front of her, blocking the spell with ease. But of course, the boy wasn't slacking at all in his training, having become quick witted and more analytical when it came to analyzing the patterns of attack regarding his teacher. He was able to spot the slightest bit of movement in her arms, using this to his advantage to try and predict which spell she would use next. While his prediction was usually fifty-fifty, it was still admirable enough of him. Cecilia could note down that much. Despite only being a beginner Magus, he was advancing far faster than she had expected of him. He was determined and studious, something she liked in an apprentice. Her former apprentice was much like that before began his utter dislike of magic.

But those were bygone days and she had to focus on the now. Twisting her body in a graceful manner, the edges of her clothing missing the oncoming spells toward her by small centimeters of distance, Cecilia would retaliate back. This little spar of theirs had been going on for about six minutes straight, and a normal student wouldn't usually be lasting this long, even if the blonde Magus was holding back quite a bit.

However, the spar would soon end as Alphonse made a fatal mistake in his prediction. Expecting a lightning spell to emanate from the tips of her fingers, it was instead a large ball of flame that was heading toward him fast. He wouldn't even have time to dodge it, let alone even cast up a ward to protect himself. So unable to do anything, Alphonse took the brunt of the attack and grunted, being slammed against the wall as he gags and coughs, falling to the floor face first.

The spacial arena soon reverted back to the empty classroom look, Cecilia dusting her glove black-laced gloves. Though she hummed in astonishment.

"Not bad for six minutes, kid. I honestly didn't think you would be able to improve in such a short time frame."

The boy grunted as he got up onto his feet. "Glad I was able to impress, I guess."

Cecilia only smirked, "Well, even if this performance of yours was a bit lackluster compared to yesterday's, you still came pretty far. Be proud of yourself."

"Right. Any points I need to improve for future reference?"

"For one, remain calm for the most part. Sure, it's good to mix up your movements every now and then, but the best approach is to remain calm and straight posture. Another thing, keep having a diverse moveset. If you keep focusing on only lightning and fire magic, you'll only lead yourself to being predictable. While it may be simple to have that ingrained, when fighting trickier opponents, you'll want to be tricky yourself."

"Got it." Alphonse nodded. "Is that all that is to be learned today?"

"We're almost done. Now it is time to move onto a very important step in being a Magus. Figuring out your Thema and Archive," informed Cecilia.

"Thema and Archive..." Alphonse lowly murmurs, "I've heard of those, but we've never really dove into the topic as much."

"Not surprised. Second-years are exposed to it more than first-years, yes, but learning about Thema and Archives are much more personalized. Each person's Thema and Archive are different, after all."

"I see. So then... What's mine?"

"That's something for you to figure out," Cecilia replied quickly. "In fact, we will be figuring it out right now."

With a snap of her fingers, the room changes once again back to astral plane-like surroundings. It never ceased to amaze him with all the things magic could do, whether it be of a simple thing of summoning something or changing an entire room, it was something very marvelous and only something that his understanding had grasped the surface of. Once the shifting room had settled, vigils of sorts began to appear all around him, all these different symbols that surrounded him like the formation of a magic circle.

Nothing but fascination in his eyes as he continued to look at the seven different symbols around him, Cecilia smiling slightly. She then clears her throat to get Alphonse's attention back toward her.

"As you can see, there's seven different Archives you can choose from, these seven based off the seven deadly sins. Luxuria, the sin of Lust. Superbia, the sin of Pride. Acedia, the sin of Sloth. Ira, the sin of Wrath. Avaritia, the sin of Greed. Gula, the sin of Gluttony. And finally, Invidia, the sin of Envy."

"Luxuria, Superbia, Acedia, Ira, Avaritia, Gula, and Invidia..." Alphonse repeated slowly.

"And judging from the names, you should be able to tell what Archive deals with. But, there is a caveat to all of these."

"A caveat?"

"For starters, mages are to pick the Archive and Thema that is the complete opposite of their personality. Magic is an irrational nature, after all, so picking one that is opposite and contrary to you is something that will come easy to you."

"I see..." He nodded slowly in understanding.

Cecilia lets out a subtle sigh. "Well, the process of going through all of these different Themas and Archives tend to be complex and time consuming, so I'll just narrow things down for you. We would be here all day if I were to tell you each and every single detail about it."

And so, she began her dumbed down explanation, essentially.

As Cecilia had said before, magic is irrational by nature, and picking a Thema and Archive that is opposite to your personality allows magic to come easy to the individual. It is also noted that only one Archive can be studied by an individual, and Magus' typically tend to study only one Thema at the same time as well. However, if advanced enough and acquired enough mastery in one main Thema they originally chose, it is possible to take on one or two more. And each Archive focuses on particular concepts, Luxuria revolving around the concepts of life and soul, having no desire or interest in doing any world pleasures of the sort.

Superbia focuses on concepts closely related to domination, the users of this Archive being those that have no desire to attract attention to themselves. Acedia, the sin of the Sloth, focuses on concepts of stagnation and can be associated with things like time dilation, users of the Archive have little to no desire for rest. Ira's users have little to no desire to inflict harm upon others, and usually takes a lot for them to be angry, so it is granted that their concepts can be associated with related things like calamity or chaos. The sin of Greed, Avaritia, focuses on concepts of illusions and territories, users having no desire for things, ranging from worldly possessions or feelings. The sin of Gluttony, Gula, is centered around one's emotions. Their magic involves manifesting external entities or the ability to empower their physical bodies. Lastly, the Invidia Archive, focusing on concepts that are closely related to emotions as well, along with the concept of ideals. Out of the seven, Invidia is often regarded as the magic tailored toward combat, however, essentially all of them are capable of magic that is tailored toward combat and battle.

Eyes glossing over each and every Archive, hovering his hands over them. As he does so, a list of words would appear, most likely being the different Themas he could choose from. Just as he was told, only a beginner mage apprentice would normally practice one before eventually mastering it, then being able to move onto another or perhaps two other Themas in their respective Archive.

The known Themas for Luxuria were Abies, Everlasting, Fall, Origo, Sileo, Terminus, and Vanitas. Superbia contained Amore, Arbiter, Caritas, Idea, Imperium, Justitia, Missio, Sensus, and Verum. Fixation, Infrequentia, Ligare, Moderatio, and Stagna for Acedia. Analysis, Auxilium, Concordia, Cultura, Invicta, Partum, Ruina, and Victoria Themas under the Ira Archive. Avaritia only had four, those being Amicitia, Flaccus, Frux, and Sapientia. Gula with the least amount of three, Fides, Felicitas, and Voluntas, and Invidia having five Themas, Spero, Perfectus, Expecto, Ridic, and Studium.

Alphonse quickly asked his teacher as to why some Archives had many Themas while others had less. There were some reasons. Either the original founder of the Thema used their last crest, causing it to disappear, or it was simply lost to time, never to be heard of or seen again. Presumably buried under the rubble of lost civilizations or lost in an endless bounty of knowledge, possibly locked in the vaults of Master-class mages. Those were just some of the reasons as to why they don't exist anymore.

But to think that there were still some lost to time or just outright disappeared because their founder using their last crest didn't even hold a candle to what was even displayed right in front of him. Because of all these choices, the pathways for him seemed so endless. It felt like that this was the beginning of some sort of quest being bestowed upon him. A rather terrible analogy to say, but the fact that there were this many choices astounded him. But it was the picking that was the hard part. He couldn't necessarily just pick any one of these. He had to pick which one resonated with him, the one that is supposed to be the complete opposite to his personality. Thinking about this rather deeply, Alphonse closed his eyes and began to look back on his life, leading what was before to what it is now.

Before coming here, he knew nothing but despair and tragedy. When he was young, his parents and two of his siblings were killed, burnt to a char with their burning bodies lying in front of him, all while the home he was living in began to collapse all around him. Afterward, he was taken to an orphanage, which was nothing more but a shitty and cramped bungalow, stuck all the way down in Lower Manchester. The orphanage owners wanted nothing to do with him and paid no heed toward his cries and please, the other children in the establishment looked at him with fear and scorn, the result of his uncontrollable powers. Forced to drop out of school early and fend for himself on the dirty streets, scampering whatever he could come across. He got his first job when he was just fifteen years old, but because of how unstable his magic was, the part-time career was short-lived. Cast out from whatever part-time job he tried to obtain and living in a dump of an apartment, he just wanted to be consumed by the darkness, the negative thoughts that had permeated his mind ever since that calamity of his first struck. But he somehow kept pushing on, despite not having attained a single bit of goodness from that point on. The taste of victory being dangled right in front of him, dancing on the tip of his tongue, but unable to be remotely grasped at all.

Life for him had been nothing but hell. 

That's when it clicked for him. He opened his eyes, coming face to face with the sigil of the Ira Archive, his eyes going down to Victoria. Alphonse then turned back to his teacher with nothing but resolute in his eyes.

"I know what my Archive and Thema is."

"Do you now? And what makes you think that Archive and Thema is the right one for you?"

"You said that the magic is erratic, right? And whatever one it is, it's supposed to come naturally to you, right? It just feels natural to me. That's all it is." He wasn't wrong.

The Ira Archive, latin for wrath, was a perfect fit for him. Alphonse was generally a calm individual. It took a lot for him to get angry, only having small bursts of anger, and he wasn't one to hurt or harm others. If he does hurt people, it isn't intentional. Not only that, the Thema is also perfect for him. His life before coming to Royal Biblia Academy is a testament to that.

Cecilia only smirked. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Ira and Victoria, is it? If it truly is the correct one for you, repeat this: 'Connecting to the Ira Archive. Execute Thema.' After chanting it, if successful, your Magus mode should appear."

Alphonse nodded and took a deep breath. "...Connecting to the Ira Archive. Execute Thema."

The fluttering noises of constant pages being flipped through quickly filled his ears. At least, that's what it sounded like. These blue holographic-like rings began to surround him with ancient inscripted text on it, all of it glowing brightly as a bright light engulfed him. Some sort of warbling noise surrounded him, Alphonse's eyes shot wide open as he looked down, his mouth hanging agape as he watched his clothes transform and change.

No longer was he wearing Royal Biblia's school uniform. Now clad in a dark grey dress shirt with a lighter grey double-breasted vest, the buttons of the vest having a black inlay and a silver border, and a loose red necktie that was wrapped around the collar. His dress shirt rolled up, the cuffs having a red inlay and silver border as well, his arms showing with black bandage wrappings sprawled over haphazardly on his right arm, the left arm only having wrappings that covered one-fourth of his upper arm and a bit of his lower forearm, reaching down to his wrist. Hands encased in black fingerless gloves with silver rings, both of his thumbs having rings with a particular red gem that shined brightly, the top of the left glove having this silver ornament, emblazoned with a howling dog's head, secured by chains draped down.

Alphonse's lower half was now adorned with a stylish belt, two pairs of shiny silver handcuffs strapped to it that looked like odd drapes. With grey dress pants as well, his brown penny loafers were now replaced with tall black boots with some hard material armor attached at the top of the boots. The most distinctive feature of his Magus mode, however, was the very same howling dog's head that served as a silver brooch that settled itself on the top right of his vest, and a dark grey trench-like coat that reached all the way down to his waist. A crimson lining and interior, rhomboid silver buttons, and a dark fur trimming to the collar of the coat, it's shoulders rested comfortably on his own, looking like if a strong breeze were to blow through it would still remain on, the sleeves hanging and sagged down like they were coattails.

The howling wind and fluttering of pages soon died down, the flapping of the clothing ceasing as the light stopped. Alphonse stared at his visage with astonishment, a mirror having been placed behind him as he turned around to look at himself.

This is his Magus mode.

(A/N): Yes, it is Wriothesley's outfit as Alphonse's Magus mode. Well, the whole entire appearance is him in general. Do I play Genshin or know enough about his character? No, and I don't care. I chose him simply because his outfit looks cool as fuck and the design of the character is what I was looking for when it came to making the OC. If you want to pick someone else, sure, but in my eyes for this story, this is how I imagined Alphonse to look like.

To be honest, he couldn't help but hold a big idiot smile on his face. The achievement of activating his Magus mode for the first time did give him some semblance of a victory within him, some sort of excited sparks being fired off within his brain.

Alphonse turned around to look at Cecilia. The blonde woman, however, was smiling rather warmly. Probably the most smiling she's ever done in the time he's spent time with her.

"Congratulations, kid," Cecilia starts, "you are now a full blown Magus."

"I... Don't know what to say other than thank you," Alphonse admits. Soon, an embarrassed blush runs its way to his cheeks. "This is really the first time I've made it to something this important, so it means a lot to me."

She laughed. "It's good to celebrate the small things, so don't feel embarrassed about it. Besides, not a lot of second-years actually unlock their Magus mode the first try."

"R-Really? Wow, th-that's... That makes me feel a little bit better, not gonna lie. The fact that I was able to achieve something like this."

"Be proud of yourself. From here on, the training will get harder, but you have determination and persistence. Just don't lose track of yourself from here on out, okay?"

"Got it." He nodded at his teacher's words. In many of the lessons he was told, it wasn't a surprise if a Magus were to lose themself off their beaten path.

"In any case, consider the lesson done for the day. Dismissed, Euclidus." She smiles at him one more time, "Go on and enjoy yourself."

He nodded appreciatively, his Magus mode deactivating and his mage clothing reverting back to the school uniform. With his penny loafers clicking in a rhythmic manner, Alphonse exits Cecilia's office, leaving the Supreme Magus by herself. As soon as he left the room, the smile that was on her face dropped and she sighed. Snapping her fingers, the room changed and it reverted to a small little office space, something akin to that of Headmaster Biblia's.

Walking on over to her desk, going past it to access the nearby nightstand, a bottle of champagne and a wine glass appeared. Gingerly pouring herself a glass, she let out a breath of uncertainty, a conflicted frown of sorts tugging on her lips as she took a sip. She was proud of her student, yes, having achieved something that not even most could. The fact that he was able to even access his Magus mode for the first try when it usually took many trial and error for students as they were still trying to figure out what their Archive and Thema is. Only the most astute and studious are able to clearly lock it down their first try.

But that wasn't what made her concerned and conflicted. Well, that was the feeling she was getting, anyway. It was the appearance of Alphonse's Magus mode that caught her off guard. The crimson lining to his outfit, the way the coat and suit formed the overall appearance. It felt awfully familiar to her.

The armored greaves and vambraces of his armor, colored with a blackened steel that matched his rather gruff but luscious black hair. The draping sleeves of Alphonse's coat almost a close match to the casting shadow of a cape to that man's own outfit, the numerous belts that littered his visage with a blade hanging from his back. And his red and black vest he was clad in, chainmail on his arms and under the apparel for protection, albeit dull, suited his war torn appearance well, a somewhat tired expression on his face that held ambition within those grey eyes. She just couldn't shake that feeling. It was all too vivid and similar.

Alphonse's Magus mode was too close of a match of an appearance to that man.

---

A couple of more weeks had passed, Alphonse continuing his virtuous studies in her particular Thema. His profound desire to pursue more of the knowledge was quite adamant, the thirst to figure out what he could do, but most importantly, control whatever power he had is what drove him to continue. Aside from the fact that he needed to learn all he could in preparations for the test he would be given.

Speaking of which, the test was today, in fact. Instructed by Headmaster Biblia, he was told to head straight to his office right after classes had ended. Finished with Professor Lilith's alchemy class, he packed his things up and went to his dorm first to put it away before he made the journey to the headmaster's office. Along the way, he ran into Akio, along with a short, but pretty blonde-haired girl with a somewhat glowering purple-eyed glare.

"Yo, Al!" Akio greeted, waltzing up to the black-haired boy with a pat onto his shoulder, displaying her usual cheery attitude.

"Hey, Akio. You seem to be in high spirits. Something on the occasion?" He asked.

"Yep! Mira and I were just about to head on out somewhere," the coffee-eyed teen said, pointing her thumb back over to the blonde-haired girl behind her.

"I see. Nice to meet you, Mira. I'm Alphonse." The young Euclidus extended his hand out for a handshake. Did so in a polite manner.

The blonde girl, Mira, darted her eyes down to Alphonse's hand. Then back up toward him. A small huff escaped her lips, snorting and narrowing her eyes and simply brushing past him. Alphonse merely looked at her with bewilderment and a bit of strangeness to his stare.

"Let's go, Akio," Mira simply says.

Once she was out of ear shot, Alphonse looked to Akio. "What was that all about? Is she always that rude?"

Akio only sheepishly laughed. "No, that isn't the case at all. Mira just isn't... Fond of guys, you know?"

"I... Guess...that makes some sort of sense."

"Don't take it to heart, Al. She's just very shy because, well, I suppose you could say she's in a similar position as you."

Alphonse looked perplexed at the statement. "Really? When I first looked at her, she looked like a first-rate mage or something like that. I can feel a really powerful aura coming off her."

"She pretty much is. But she may be cold on the outside because, again, she's just shy and rarely interacts with a lot of people. But trust me when I say this, when you get to know her and she gets to know you, she's a good person."

"Alright. I'll take your word for it." He nodded.

"Anyway, I assume you have some business to take care of," Akio nods back, beginning to walk in the direction Mira went off in, "so I'll leave you to it. It was nice talking with you, Al."

"Likewise, Akio."

Soon, the two went their separate ways. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, heading into the direction of Headmaster Biblia's office, he took a bit of breath into his lungs as he went back into that plane of deep thought. Ponderment, imagining the sound of a river flowing in the background as pictured himself walking along a gravel path, the crunch of his shoes being stepped upon the rocky road ahead of him.

Thinking about how his magic worked again, he was surprised at how easy it was. Then again, like it was told to him, the magic is essentially the opposite to what he has done.

His magic was quite simple. There can be considered to be a fair bit of complexity to his system, but that's really the matter of developing a spell and figuring out a shortened name to it. Nothing too much of a change to what he's been doing for his spells. But there are some caveats to how he uses it.

For one, his magic requires strong emotions to use.

Because all of his life and what he's experienced, he's generally learned how to keep his emotions in check and rarely let anger get the better of him. However, as he continued to experiment and learn more about the pathway he has chosen, he noticed that the more angry he is, the more powerful the spell is. An example is a spell that revolves around explosive power. It is straightforward. The more emotion he feels and pours into the spell, the more destructive that explosiveness will be. But there was also another requirement to using his magic.

His magic requires that he uses it with a clear purpose; in other words, how he visualizes how the spell will take form.

If he were to have no purpose wielding the spell, having no idea how it will look like and what it will do, the power output will kaput. Or worse, not even activate in the first place. And another caveat, but quite normal for all forms of magic, depending on how much mana, or magic power as some people call it, will depend on what he can cast. All in all, his form of magic is the least complex compared to others.

But he's only been studying his desired Thema and Archive for a few weeks, so he's not the most confident and capable at using his capabilities. At least a few weeks of studying and learning about it was better than no time at all. But for right now, he needed to keep a level head about it.

---

Not long after his pondering journey throughout the hallways of the academy, he arrived at the Headmaster's office.

Having pushed the double lacquered doors open, the doors immediately shutting behind him as soon as he entered, Alphonse stood at attention. Master Biblia kept his grin, the usual one he always carried, and clasped his hands together. The silver-haired man kept a watchful eye on the boy, looking at his posture and examining the look in his eyes. Although slightly hesitant because the arrival of the test day is here, he was still brimming with confidence. To a degree.

Good. Better than going into battle with slight vigor and confidence than being a nervous wreck at all. Headmaster Biblia, without fail in changing his behavior, began to explain the terms of the test.

"Your target is what we can consider a Class A monster. The Siberian government has informed us that the beast was spotted attacking a small village in the tundra plains. There are no restrictions regarding your mission. Eliminate the beast by any means necessary. Do you understand, Mr. Euclidus?"

Alphonse nodded. "Yes. I understand."

"Good. The time limit you have until completion is tomorrow at dawn. I suggest you leave now to get a head start."

"Anything else I need to know? A bestiary or something?"

Master Biblia chuckled. "Gathering information is another part of being a Magus. Not everything is easy to access."

"Right..." Alphonse furrowed his brow.

"With nothing else to be said," Master Biblia leans back in his chair, "I suggest you begin heading out now, Mr. Euclidus. Best of luck."

"Glad to see that I have your vote of confidence." Alphonse twists his lips to the side slightly, cringing at his sarcastic remark. He made his way to the door before he stopped and turned around. "Wait... How am I supposed to get there?"

Master Biblia chuckled. "Ah, of course. One moment."

With a snap of his fingers, Alphonse's eyes shooting wide open, the boy was soon met with a rush of cold blowing onto his face. Screaming to the top of his lungs, the black-haired teen was sent plunging downward, crashing into a fluffy, but freezing pile of snow.

Forcing himself out of the pile, he brushes some of the snow off of his sleeves and shoulders. Shivering rather angrily, mumbling to himself at the fact that he was going to murder Master Biblia as soon as he returned, the sheer cold of the Siberian air began to settle onto him rather quickly. As if the initial crash into the snow wasn't enough, he felt his body already beginning to freeze up, the bodily functions of his organs feeling like they were already likely to fail. 

Rubbing his hands and hugging himself tightly, trying to warm himself up, Alphonse had no choice but to trudge through the Siberian tundra.

---

The frigid, freezing air tasted bitter. Nothing but the cold arid wind blaring onto his lips and skin, a chilled breath escaping his lips as Alphonse continued to slowly walk through the somewhat deep snow. His eyes scanned the left and right, nothing but a slight barren wasteland of white. The only thing seen in the distance on the left side of his vision was but the slight blue visage of distant pine trees, and the right side of his vision containing the ruins of a Siberian village.

Perhaps that was the one Master Biblia had told him in the report? The one the sighted monster had attacked?

He turned in that direction and began making his way for it. A loud crunch with each step on the snow. His shivering breath as the small chill began to increase in slight amounts, sniffling as he felt a bit of his snot trying to make way out of his nose. Alphonse wondered to himself how he hadn't froze to death. Especially in this frigid weather. 

 arrived at the destroyed village. It was a small one, some of the few still using carriages and wagons to get around. There was a sheltered post nearby where they would most likely keep the horses. However, the horses had either died from being eaten by the beast that was sighted or galloped away, most likely terrified from all the screams and commotion. Speaking of, Alphonse shouldn't have been surprised if he didn't see any sign of civilization here.

The destruction of the wooden structures and buildings looked rather fresh, the base cobblestone walling having been toppled over and collapsed inward. Some of the ends of the pillars and infrastructure had some burnt ends onto it, some areas of the snow having been blackened slightly, ash staining it from where fires had been burnt nearby. Blood had even stained the walls and snow as well, signifying that the creature of whatever origin had certainly attacked in this area. It certainly wasn't bandits, as the three slash marks looked rather reminiscent to that of claws being dragged upon the area to slash at unsuspecting foes, or rather, terrified ones.

For now, he needed to find some place to hole up in for at least a couple of hours and start a fire going. He'll need to recuperate some heat if he needed to get going again to continue his search for the beast. Picking the largest, but also nearest building there was, he hobbled up the dilapidated stone stairs and pushed open the door slightly. Alphonse quickly surveyed the inside to see if there was anything to be cautious of.

So far, nothing. The only thing that disgusted him was the sight of the deceased homeowners... And most likely the rest of their family.

The one he could assume was the father had half of his face and upper torso taken, most likely eaten from the beast, dulled and dried blood staining the floor. The rest of the family were in no better condition themselves. Most likely the mother, the middle-aged woman only had her upper torso intact, her arms draped forward on the table as if she tried to crawl away by hopping over the obstacle. The eldest one, probably the grandfather, had half a leg and missing both arms, and the two younger looking ones were the children, the ones that should've been better off. The shorter one was missing the head and both of its legs, and the last one had half of the entire body missing. The mere sight of it made him want to wretch. Alphonse had put a hand to his mouth to prevent him from puking. While he should've been used to the sight of a dead body, it didn't change the fact that he couldn't even stomach it. The idea of seeing a dead person was still alien to him.

Receding his urge to puke, he pushed the door fully open and stepped inside. He closed the door behind him, but it didn't seem to be of any point to do so, considering a good chunk of the wall had been broken and the howling wind could be heard blaring through his ears. Either way, he needed to ignore the fact that there were corpses all around him and get to work immediately if he didn't want to freeze to death.

Breaking off some of the breaking and creaking wood from the nearby shelves, he grabbed some pieces of the cobblestone base and made a circle of it. Placing the wooden broken pieces of the planks in the middle, he casts a shortened chant to shoot out a small spark of flame to light the planks. It took a few times because of the blowing wind, but a fire was eventually started, Alphonse letting out a sigh of relief as he huddled himself around it and began to warm himself up. His hands hovered over it, like he was hunched over in front of a great big fire of a great hearth in an inn, where delicious meals would fill the air right about now. Well, that's how it would be described in all the novels he's read about this type of situation. The fire crackles and pops, the fuel of light slowly burning away at the supply, Alphonse's eyes slowly beginning to be dreary and exhausted.

Soon enough, he fell asleep, the crackling of the flames slowly drowning out in the background.

---

The howling winds of the Siberian tundra still continued. But this was different, Alphonse jolting awake for what seemed like a mere two hours later. He wasn't sure what the time was at the moment.

But he was on alert. His fire had already died out, and the howling winds had suddenly stopped. The hairs on his arms had spiked upward, sweat beginning to formulate on his brow and trail down his face as he kept his breathing and sound to a minimum.

For what felt like a long minute, he was kept in complete fear. Loud thudding noises could be heard outside, the snarls and low growls of a lumbering beast abound. The monster outside began to sniff around, most likely trying to catch a whiff of Alphonse's scent; the wind likely having carried it. The noises only seemed to grow closer and closer, the heavy footsteps now being thundering claps as you could barely hear the crunch of the crushed snow.

A sharp breath left his mouth, now holding his breath and being careful not to make a sound. He didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from whatever was out there. Especially if it meant that it spelled his doom. The loud thumping of his heart perpetrated his ears in such a notion that it felt like the howling winds outside began to die down, nothing but fear having taken over. Despite living in England for the longest time, never once had he felt like his life was in danger. So this feeling of impending doom was still very new to him. As much as he wanted to stay put without making a sound, his body, however, began to make uncontrollable movements. He was already unconsciously moving toward the window, the tattered curtains moving rather violently.

Peering his head up just by a little, only so that a small bit of his head could be seen and a single grey eye of his was being looked out. Nothing. He could see nothing. But it was strange and ominous. The falling snow outside stopped, the howling winds had receded, and he could no longer hear the low snarls and growls coming from the beast he had previously heard. It had gotten quiet... All too quiet.

Alphonse turned around. And there it was. Right in between the gap of the large gaping hole that was made previously on the attack of this village was the head of the beast. The head was similar to that of a saber tooth tiger, great big front tusks and razor sharp fangs and teeth, a disgusting amount of saliva and spit dripping off of them. Two large and elongated horns rested on its head, the tips covered in a deep blood red, presumably having previously impaled some of its victims with it. A mohawk-like mane that went down its muscular and built torso, powerful muscles to the legs. The other known great feature of the beast was the big and long tail, the end being webbed and barbed with spikes. There were some scratches and slashes along its body, the inhabitants of the village most likely having attempted defending themselves before they inevitably met their end.

Slit-like irises staring into his own grey-eyed pupils, a loss for breath before Alphonse eventually tries to scramble and scamper away. The behemoth of a beast lets out a howling roar, pushing through the wood infrastructure and crushing the cobblestone base like it was nothing and lunged forward. The black-haired boy just barely dodged out of the way, diving to the side and hitting the floor as the beast rams through the wall like it was paper. The clattering noise of wood and stone colliding with each other as they crashed into the snow, slight plumes of it being launched into the air, the beast menacingly growled and turned its head back to the remainder of the house. The boy panted heavily, his body shaking and nearly collapsing to his knees, gazing at his arm, watching as small amounts of blood began to stain his school uniform. During the tussle of the beast charging through, small amounts of debris and splinters had scratched his clothing, going deep enough to cut through his skin. He tries to decrease the amount he was panting, his heart rate having felt like it was shooting through the roof at this point.

It was just like his teacher said. If he were to go up against an enemy, he needed to be rational and level headed, calm and collected. It would do him no good if he were to go up against an opponent without any sort of plan. His first order of business, however, would be that he needed to go into his Magus mode. But the drawback to that is that it takes too long to change into it. About a good few seconds or so. That much time is already precious enough to be attacked from.

Feeling a deadly presence coming at an alarming rate, Alphonse dived forward. Maneuvering so he could turn his back around, his eyes glancing at where he was once standing, he watched as the wall began to crumble. The cracks being reduced to smaller particles and pieces as the wood and cobblestone being flung elsewhere, the jaws of the beast coming through, the bloodthirsty eyes dead set on him like he was nothing more than feeble prey. Those eyes of the monster's... It deeply reminded him of being stared at by others during his previous home. A stare he was so used to, but now... A stare that made him deeply terrified as he felt his life flashing before him.

A flash of enormous pain wells within him, causing the boy to howl and writhe as the sharp fangs of the behemoth had lodged itself into his left leg. Alphonse began to desperately slam his fist onto the beast's snout, albeit quite in vain as the monster showed no sign of letting him go, the swelling in his leg only continuing as the behemoth only continued to bite down even harder. Blood began to seep out even more, staining his already ripped and ruined dress pants. No matter how hard he tried, however, the beast wouldn't let go.

Alphonse raised a hand, aiming it straight for the head of the beast and tried to utter out a chant. But he couldn't focus. He was in sheer utter pain, the beast's fangs digging deeper into the skin and already touching bone. He currently didn't have the will, the desire to even escape. With what he was currently experiencing, he felt nothing more but to accept that his journey is coming to an end here.

...Like hell he was going to accept that. He had come too far to just die and be devoured in a place like this.

The boy closed his eyes and tried to visualize, thinking of the goal he needed in mind in order to activate his magic. If he didn't have a proper goal in mind, the magic spell he was trying to cast could fluctuate and ultimately fail. His goal was clear. To simply defeat this beast and prove his worth. Now, he needed to think of the spell he wanted to use. As of right now, the only magic he was capable to use and learned are those of the destruction category. Of course, there were other types of magic in the Thema he was studying, but the only one he's learned is that of destruction. Those involving explosions and great flames.

He had it figured out now. Opening his eyes with nothing but pure resoluteness, his palm open clearly, he opened his mouth to chant.

"Burn and rot in hell! Great Flame!"

Anguish, pain, and anger riddled in his voice, sparks of orange and yellow fire were emitted from his palm. Shrouded in a great ball of flame, the beast howled as it was greatly burned, the fires having disintegrated the fur on its face and head, and permanently blinding the foe. Shrieking to such a degree, comparable to that of a screaming and crying mandrake as it shook and wiggled its head profusely, letting go of the boy's leg. Alphonse took this chance, scrambling to his feet, nothing but pure adrenaline fueling him as he began to limp away. Though he could only go a small distance, it was better than not being able to make no trip at all.

Heading to another nearby building, his hands fumbled with the doorknob, almost clumsily turning the knob and letting himself in, crashing onto the dirty floorboards. Hurriedly shutting the door behind him, lowering his body down against the door, his breath shaky and in shambles, he tried to slow it down and bring his heart rate down to a calm degree. In and out, slowly... One. Two. Three. Slowly, but surely, he calmed his nerves. But he still remained cautious. He had to be.

For now, he needed to assess the damage the monster had done to him. Swiftly pulling him the pant sleeve up, Alphonse grimaced and looked at his leg in disgust. A good chunk of his flesh had been gashed and gnawed on, the teeth having punctured through the muscle and tissue a good amount that it led to a lot of bleeding in his leg. The pain was still there, of course, but at this point, the adrenaline had been running its course and numbed the feeling to a considerable amount to the point it was just something of an irritation and annoyance. But he would have to cover it up and stop the bleeding fast if he needed to take down the opponent much faster and survive. Thinking quickly and using whatever materials that were available to him, namely some old clothes of the previous homeowners tucked away in a nearby cupboard, he fashioned himself a homemade bandage using it and tightly wrapped around his leg. With pressure applied to it by the tight squeeze, it should hold the blood and stop the bleeding.

Now, the current objective at hand. The thumps and crunch of snow could be heard as the beast was now using one of its only remaining senses to detect the boy. Its sense of smell.

Low snarls and growls, sniffing noises as the beast smelled the air for any sort of trace the boy left. Of course, there was one. That distinct stench of iron. Blood.

The great big feline-like behemoth moved for the kill. It rammed itself straight through the building, collapsing the infrastructure in on itself, the roof slamming down right on its head. However, that only added more to its anger, the skin on its body more similar to that of metal itself. But the beast could tell that it did not get the prey it was looking for, growling and continuing to use its nose to look for its target. It didn't smell anything of presence from the boy, however, a new smell entering its nostrils. Smoke and that ashy scent.

Outside, now clad in his Magus mode attire, Alphonse had set fire to the house using Great Flame once more. Entrapping the beast in the home and using it as a big oven to cook it alive. Morals and what not didn't matter right now. All that mattered to him was that he kill this beast to accomplish his goal of returning back to the academy with victory. But of course, beating this foe wasn't going to be easy, the beast running out of the flaming house, its barbed tail now encased with fire. 

The beast thwacks its tail at him, Alphonse dashing forward and belly flopping onto the snow covered ground. He picks himself up and runs at him and began to assault it with a barrage of more flame spells.

"Charge up and wreak havoc! Phoenix Flower!" He shouted this with nothing but pure rage, his magic also connected to whatever emotions he was feeling. The more meaning and emotion put into it, as well as visualizing the clear goal in mind, the more destructive power packed into it.

Dozens upon dozens of flames shoot out of magic circles that appear around him. Taking on the namesake of the spell, the flames would soon morph into a flying phoenix, opening its mouth wide as if it were to fire a beam out of its beak.

The spell struck true, a direct hit as the beast howled and screeched with anguish. Its violence thrashing and attacks grew vigorously, throwing its body wherever it could possibly go in the hopes of hitting something. Both fighters were simply operating under their pure bloodlust and instinct to win. Alphonse continued to remember the lessons he was told, remaining levelheaded and remaining watchful of his opponent's moves. The brash and easy to read movements of the beast made it easy for the black-haired boy to figure out his next tactic as he continued to dodge and weave his body. The clothing of his Magus mode just barely nicked and grazed the flaming barbed tail as the ensuing fight continued to thicken.

However, Alphonse didn't anticipate the amount of tenacity and resistance of the feline-like behemoth. Continuing to follow up with his destructive flame spells, it was doing damage, but not the amount he was hoping for against the beast's tough defenses. The beast's skin must've toughened and adapted the more it kept fighting and surviving out here in the Siberian wild, making it so it was a formidable foe. If that was certainly the case, he would have to take it down in one fell swoop, strike at a vital point that would destroy the beast completely. And he would have to do it soon because he could tell that his magic points were depleting rapidly with how long he was fighting. If he were to deliver it, it must be a close, direct shot. Something rather risky.

But he would have to put it all onto this one final move.

Going accordingly off his plan, Alphonse fired a Great Flame spell toward the best. Smelling the gaseous smell of the fire, along with feeling the heat that was emanating from the direction, the beast weaves and whips around and charges forward. Snarling and roaring with conviction, a statement of bloodthirsty desire to devour, it opened its mouth to consume the boy. But this is what he wanted.

Rushing forward as well, rocketing his fist forward and sticking his arm right into the beast's mouth, not even giving a damn of the pain he felt from the beast chomping down on it, Alphonse only responded with his own conviction. His own burning passion and desire to end it right here and now.

"Incinerate into nothingness. Crimson Death!"

A small, slight silence occurs. But in a fraction of a second, the sound comparable to a sonic boom erupts, some sort of white mushroom puff could be seen in the distance if you were to stare at it from afar.

As of right now, this was one of Alphonse's strongest magical moves he's learned. Designed to be a double-edged sword of sorts, the user must strike the target in close range, almost like they were going for a punch. Once doing so, they must lock the target in place and keep them from moving, saying the desired chant with the correct amount of conviction and vigor to activate it, a great big explosion shall be made. But the catch was that it will both trap the user and the target, the possibility of ending if not one, but both of their lives. It was only by chance that you could survive it.

In fact, popping up from a pile of snow, a refreshed but exhausted sigh escaping his lips, Alphonse had risen from the crater. His form now ragged and covered with dust, the arm he used to activate the spell nearly covered to a char, and his clothing nearly incinerated, he trudged through the blackened snow. His eyes full of relief as he stared down at the smoldering and burning corpse of the beast below him, nothing but pure satisfaction as he began to smile lightly.

"Choke on that, you damned cunt," he spat. He could only look up into the sky.

For the first time in his life, Alphonse had finally achieved victory. The feeling that was so alien to him... Was now no longer that.

He had no words to describe it. It was simply an amazing feeling. Like drinking ambrosia.

He felt... Alive.

---

The dawn of the next day soon approached. Both Master Biblia and the Supreme Magus, Cecilia, awaited outside the academy doors.

While the Headmaster held a simple behavior, quite calm and a posture filled with poise, Cecilia was a little restless. Tapping her foot vividly and repeatedly, her heel making a rhythmic clicking sound as she crossed her arms. Her expression was stoic and serious, but hidden in her fiery orange eyes was that of concern for her precious student.

It was only natural, of course. This was her first student in quite a long time since Lorenz. It would be a shame if he were to be lost now, especially when it was his first test to evaluate his aptitude.

Master Biblia only looked over and chuckled. "Calm yourself, Cecilia. The boy will be fine. I have faith that he will succeed."

"Easy for you to say, old man," Cecilia scoffs. "Compared to a lot of the students here, he's as green as they come. And the mission you sent him on is very close to that of an A-Rank mission. You really think I'd be calm after hearing about that?"

"This is all to test him, of course. If young Euclidus cannot pass a mission caliber such as this, then he has little hope of becoming a Magus. Even control his abilities, no less."

"Oh, shut your trap already."

She snapped at him with a bit of flare. Literally. Cecilia had raised her hand a little bit to show the flaming tips on her fingers, leading for Master Biblia to chuckle at the notion. The man simply resigned and held his hands up in mock surrender, only earning a heavy sigh from the blonde-haired witch.

As the seconds turned to minutes, her internal clock ticking to no end, the time limit was nearing. Cecilia only frowned. Perhaps Alphonse wasn't meant to be a Magus, after all.

Though as soon as they were about to retire themselves into the building, they heard the creaking and clanking sound of metal, the gate in the distance having been accessed and opened by someone. The two quickly turned their heads back and scanned it intently.

Master Biblia only grinned widely and Cecilia, who would rather keep her stone cold expression and show no feeling whatsoever, couldn't help but smile herself. Walking through those metal gates, albeit tiredly and feeling like this was pretty much his last stop in life, Alphonse walked down the stone road with his own proud grin. Not even how badly damaged he was could ruin the moment of victory.

Securing his spot for a good while before another test comes around, Alphonse Euclidus had come back as fully fledged Magus.

---

[0.6] | Birth of a Magus

---

Elsewhere, in the dimly lit, but vibrant lightened Red Light district street of Osaka, Japan, a Yakuza member could be seen flying out from a dark alleyway.

The man's silver colored suit was now stained with dirt, standing up with anger as he rushed back into the alleyway, whipping out a knife and a pistol. But as soon as he disappeared into the darkness, the sound of blows being landed upon skin and the cracking of bones were heard. Whimpered pains and screams of agony echoed throughout the night before it eventually stopped.

Soon after, a young man in a black tuxedo, a little bit disheveled, but still looking prim, proper, and pristine, had walked out. A cigarette hanging from his mouth, flicking a lighter out from his pocket, he raised it up toward the small stick to light the bud. A clank was noised, flipping the metal clamp lid back onto the burner to extinguish the flame, he tucks the lighter back into his pocket before taking the cigarette out briefly and exhaling a good puff of smoke from his mouth.

Running a hand through his aqua-teal hair, the multi-colored lights of the many signs shining down upon his tanned skin, the young man simply let out a bored sigh.

"Those damned idiots. I told them to back off and look where it got 'em. Fucking dumbasses," he muttered, kicking a can out of his way. He soon looked around, "Now... Where is the thing I'm supposed to take down—Oh, there it is."

Glancing into a nearby building, the lights flickering in an ominous manner, the large glass paned window was shattered. Blood littered the floor with numerous body parts, a woman's eyes wide open as they simply laid there, deceased.

Hanging from the mouth of a dark creature was a mafia member, groaning lowly. But he caught sight of the young man, extending a hand out.

"O-Onegaisuru... T-Tasukete— (P-Please... H-Help me—)" The man spoke, his voice incoherent for the young man to hear. But he was cut short when the creature simply bit down on him, swallowing the person whole.

The young man simply stared up at the creature. "So... You're the fucking ugly I need to get rid of, huh?"

The creature simply growled and roared at him.

Shrugging, and cracking his neck in the process, the young man began walking forward. "Hope you'll be entertaining, at least."

As he walked forward, his silhouette receding into the shadows, it briefly morphed. The visage of large, razor sharp teeth, and the gaping jaws of...something.

The darkened creature had let out one final roar before it fell silent.