Kaen Phokus's Story

Kaen Phokus

---

Looking out at the assembly of students filing into the auditorium was boring and all too familiar for Kaen Phokus, as he would much rather be teaching his classes than waiting for the Headmaster to do his beginning of the year speech. There wasn't much he could do about it though so he made the best of it, sipping his tea and stroking the black cat on his shoulder named Goka. The black cat nearly blended in with his messy black hair, the only part of the cat able to be seen clearly being it's green eyes. As the speech started Kaen showed little interest as he tried to wake himself up from the nap he had just been taking in his classroom.

As the speech came to an end and the students began to either applaud, stare in horror or leave altogether Kaen turned on his heel and left to start his class. He made a stop at the office to pick up any memos or the like from his inbox and casually greeted students as he moved to unlock his classroom. He didn't seem to give a care who entered the room now, as it was first period and he had a class to begin. Combat Sparring was a rough class but luckily his classroom was only one of two rooms, the other having all the sparring equipment and mats they would need to make sure the training went well and no one got hurt too badly.

The first room was used for the academic portion of the class, outlining techniques and going over what set of workouts they were to do. Kaen was already in a basic black kimono which he wore almost all the time. Students didn't have to sign any wavers or buy any equipment for his class, but they were advised to bring their own separate clothes for the class. Kaen lounged in his chair behind his desk and leaned his head back in relaxation, his black cat crawling up to lay across his eyes and block his vision. If one wasn't careful they might think he was a Neko with a cat's face from the right angle.

Thomas sat inconspicuously in the sea of students utterly blending in with the intriguing shapes and colors of the various species of creatures there to attend. He appeared mostly human by comparison, with a small stature only a large pair of black cat ears evidence of his monstrosity. He hardly seemed monstrous regardless as he sat curled in his seat with his knees to his chest a gray cat nestled in his arms. The cat wasn't his. He hadn't even brought it from the last place he'd been staying. It had been wandering the school grounds playing among fallen leaves. After it had followed him through the halls during his tasks of confirming his arrival, turning in his luggage and consulting a map to find the auditorium itself Thomas thought it best to make sure no other student decided to eat it or something and held it during the Headmaster's speech.

Once the speech was over he went about searching for the first class he'd be attending. First class was sparring. Thomas was already regretting the choice as he made his way through the halls. He was not incredibly motivated to fight anyone. He would likely be the one to hide behind the stronger man in a group and shout insults at the enemy rather than fighting up front. Thomas sighed audibly at the prospect of dealing with fists flying at him and hugged the cat nestled in his arms his tail twitching agitatedly. He entered the classroom, giving off barely enough aura to be noticed as he slipped in and sat down towards the back closest to the wall. The gray cat mewled discontentedly and squirmed hopping out of Thomas's arms to escape the classroom without him, not comfortable with the idea of lingering in the other cat's territory. He was just a stray after all. Thomas let it leave without concern and slouched gloomily, sprawled across his desk looking far too comfortable there for the first day. His ears where level, mirroring his listlessness as he rest his chin on his arms crossed in front of him. The teacher seemed about as motivated as he was. Thomas peered at him, unimpressed until he noticed the cat taking ownership of his face in full view of the class. Thomas cocked his head slightly and watched the cat. Reading posture was like shaking a person's hand in the mind of a cat. Neither seemed aggressive nor playful so they appeared to ignore one another. Thomas was curious however, most cats didn't ignore him. It was a good sign that this teacher was a cat person regardless. Perhaps he'd go easy on him, Thomas smiled slightly at the thought and let his eyelids lower for a cat nap.

The three heads of Jodhal began to reconsider their choice in size. Standing outside the auditorium doors, too big to fit through, they argued mentally. Snapping at each other, hitting each other with their tails or trying to take control of the body. It wasn't until the 'leader' of the three, Dae, the middle head, stopped the fight somehow. As their conversations were all mentally, the argument could never be heard by others, but it seemed like the other two heads were sulking as the body shrunk down to the size a bit larger than a human. Finally, they could enter, only to realise that they had to sit on the door like any other dog due to seating problems.

Once the speech had ended and the strange students of unique shapes and sizes left the room, Jodhal followed. Thumping through the hallways until they had reached the room for their first class. Sparring. What kind of joke is this? Why would a being like Jodhal take part in some annoying sparring thing. And back during the speech, something about human guises, Jodhal would pass more like a dog than a damn human. No matter, there'll be a way somehow.

Suddenly, Jodac and Dae heard a crunching sound just as they decided to enter the room. The source, Vhal. The idiot of the three, somehow this head managed to grab a grey creature, crunching down on it as the furry tail was sucked into his throat. "Ahh, that was nice!" Vhal exclaimed as he licked his lips with enjoyment, oblivious the other stares of his 'brothers'. "Whatever, Dae, get in there." Jodac ordered, not caring at all about Vhal's idiocy. He just wanted an excuse to fall asleep...

"HEY!" The sudden loss of a cat's soul was jarring to Thomas' relaxed senses. He got to his feet before realizing his own movements and glared knives at the beast coming in through the doorway. Even then he watched as the faint whisp of a soul escaped between the mangy mutt's foul looking teeth as they worked on the small body of the feline. Thomas trembled with anger the hair at the back of his neck standing on end as well as all along his usually slim tail. Inwardly he quailed slightly at his own actions. His hands trembling as his fists clenched on the desk in front of him. He wasn't confrontational, this wasn't a part of his personality he wouldn't battle if the honor of the universe was promised, and yet there he stood glaring at the three heads. "Y-you can't just eat a cat here!"

Even as he said it he realized his words where weak. Why couldn't he? He was a monster after all monsters ate cats and rats and deer and human all the time. Thomas steeled his nerves nevertheless and took steps towards the three headed beast so he could look at them face to faces. He glowered at them, feeling whiskers force their way through the skin of his upper lip. Not now, not now! "I realize you're nothing but a stinking canine piece of filth with no reckoning of anything but yourself but at least try to have some civility in your own actions. This is school not whatever pit it is you usually crawl out of."

His own claws where digging into his palms, his heart racing if he didn't calm himself he'd find himself being devoured just like the cat before him and he'd be just as powerless to do anything about it.

As Jodhal made their way into the room, Jodac looked around for a suitable place. A corner for them to curl up and sleep, hopefully. The desks were obviously not designed for a creature like Jodhal, the corner will have to do.
However, the three's attention was grabbed by some weak complaints of another 'monster'. Some weirdo with cat ears going on about eating cats, makes sense for this being to be complaining really...

With the sight of the cat ears, Vhal began to pant, one of the two tails begun to wag as insults were thrown towards the Cerberus, completely ignored by Vhal who simply wanted to play. Jodac, on the other hand, growled towards the small being, his head stretched down to look him straight in the eyes. Finally, Dae kept quiet, his head held high as he looked down on the Bakeneko. Of course those insults would be thrown, Vhal was being an idiot as usual and apparently it was rare to have a sentient Cerberus...

And so, ready to prove himself. Dae swung his head to the left and right, hitting his two brothers. This had some kind of instant effect, bringing them back to their senses as their heads lowered down to focus on the small monster which stood before them. "And what are you going to do about it?" Jodac growled as Dae answered the insults,
"The 'pit' we crawl out of gave us experience in the real world. Instead of being all wrapped up and protected by stupid systems like you."

Vhal simply continued panting, his face showing some idiotic look as he waited for something fun to happen.

Thomas could feel the prickle of fur pushing its way through the skin at the back of his neck and across his shoulders but the progression of it slowed as a thought occurred to him. This was stupid. There are so many creatures in that place. Monsters that crawled up from the pits of hell, beasts that have laid dormant for centuries. Animals that have been cursed to walk the earth until their very essence wore thin. By comparison he was a young spirit. He could still remember the decades he'd spent as a spirit whose only intent was mischief. He barely had sentience then. His life was pure simplicity. Thomas looked at Jodac in front of him. He'd probably seen the world in a different light hadn't he. In fact all three of them...

Thomas' ears lowered He looked calmly at Jodac in the eyes. "I'm not going to do anything, but the least you could do is have consideration for the other creatures here. Maybe you've never had to face responsibility over a life before but I'm sure you know at least what it feels like to have one of your own taken from you. It was my duty to watch over that soul you so carelessly released. Perhaps I ought to put your soul in the body of a cat and see how well you fare."

There was no real way he could do that of course, not in his current state with the lock on his body but the cerberus didn't know that. He'd done it once with a sick human, surely he could figure out how to remove a perfectly healthy cerberus soul. If Cerberus had souls, that is.

Dae was already feeling irritated at this. He was told that a range of different creatures would be present around the school. All of which holding different powers, traditions, preferences. This small creature was a great example of this, the three may have experienced the hellish actions of the human world. But this lead to solitary conditions, the three spent their youth alone, hiding from others. They weren't prepared for things like this, they were only prepared for survival...

Dae hit Jodac once more, forcing him to back up from the small creature, allowing him to lower down instead to talk with it. "Let me just let you know that Vhal..." he gestured over to the retarded looking head to the left, "... Isn't really down to earth, got a few screws loose, something like that. He was the one who ate the cat, all three of us were unknown of your presence. We didn't mean any harm... Well, Jodac did." He gestured to the right towards Jodac, who was still bearing his teeth.

Without any other words, Dae lead the body towards a corner of the room. Proceeding to walk in a circle several times before dropping down, his head rested on his paws. Vhal still looked around the room with his tail moving excitedly. Jodac continued glaring at Thomas, his tail moving slowly around, taunting.

Kaen Phokus

---

The black cat on the warlock's face perked up and watched the confrontation of the two students but held little interested over the proceedings. Kaen was indeed listening to what they were saying, for he had heard discussions like that many times and was hoping it didn't end in a fight. He wanted the students to save their fire for the class itself. It was part of why his class was for all students, and his training room was open all hours of the day. It was important for students to both know how to defend themselves and have a place they can take out their aggression.

After the first two students settled their words, Goka moved off of Kaen's face and hopped from desk to desk over to Thomas and jumped onto his shoulder, sitting there comfortably. It was then that Kaen lifted his head and sighed, looking around at the first period class that was now filtering into the room with more and more students. He lazily took a sip of his tea and waited for the entire room to fill up and the bell to ring. He took this time to write his name on the board, using magic and the whisk of his finger to cause a piece of chalk to float and start writing his name for the students to see.

---

Thomas watched as they lumbered off to sit in the corner, fighting the urge to tremble and shake the fear that clammed up his skin. It was a miracle he didn't simply snap into cat form then and there. Thomas sighed and went back to his own seat feeling tired and wanting nothing more than to seclude himself away from the chaos stirred up by all the students. Making enemies on the first day, things were going just peachy. Thomas curled up on his seat with both knees against his desk, is tail wrapped around him so all parts of him where off the ground. He crossed his arms over his knees and sat faced forward pretending the cerberus didn't exist in the back of the room. His attention shifted towards the teacher who seemed to have simply been observing the conflict with little interest in interfering. Thomas supposed it had something to do with it being a combat class. Where else would students be allowed to work out their differences the old fashioned way? Thomas rested his cheek on the palm of his hand perhaps it was a good thing he was in that class. If confronting other beasts was going to start being a regular thing for him, better to know how to fight.

Shame walks into the school, slightly late on her first day. Her head lower than her shoulders as she trotted quickly down the halls. She barely made it to the speech as it was halfway over. She shifted into her human form so she could sit in an empty seat, her bangs hanging over her red eye that concealed her power. She paid no attention to the speech and just felt like all eyes were on her. Shame pulled up her hood so she felt more comfortable, slinking down in the seat. She knew this was going to be a bad year for her...

Shame was glad the speech was over with and jumped up, rushing to her first period class; sparring. She was excited. She loved sparring, even though she isn't very experienced. She could try, but she needed to handle her shadows that like to act on their own. She visualized herself sparring, shadow clones at her sides. She smiled at her thoughts. It wasn't a real smile. She hasn't smiled in years. She wondered if she ever will again. She sighed, making her way to the class. Once she entered, she made her way to the farthest seat in the class. She eyed the boy with the cat and narrowed her eyes at the cat as it moved to the warlock teacher. She let out a small growl; she hated cats. She took in a deep breath as her shadows gathered around her like a circle, resembling powder for the mere moment until someone passed the circle. She kept daydreaming, singing a song in her head as the theme song. She smiled and accidentally moved her bangs. The shadows shot up into the air and became a needle shape. Before she thought anyone saw, she quickly dragged her bangs back over her eye, the shadows fading away slowly. She sighs in relief, closing her eyes contently. This was going to be hard...

Irus had always hated ceremonies, they dragged on for far too long and she thought they were pretty pointless herself since they could always hand out a pamphlet or something; Irus had found out that a pamphlet was a few months ago and didn't know why more people didn't use pamphlets and chose to drag out a welcoming in the mos exhausting way possible.

As the headmaster began to drone on and on about the asylum and it's rules, Irus picked one of her scales and looked into it. She wanted to see what this school year held. "Nothing interesting." She mumbled. Well, it could've been interesting if this wasn't so foggy. But it still looked liked a void of anything particularly abnormal would come this year, well as abnormal as a monster training facility could get.

Irus was glad that the headmaster had finally finished his speech. As soon as he was done Irus got up and slithered her way down the hall back into the comfort of her divination classroom.

Waylen Monstrum

You are not, late Brienne. You're just... unfashionably not-on-time. Right. The harpy's father jokingly demanded she write him an old-fashioned letter every week to inform him of her progress. Flapping through the Asylum's hallways with a tattered map in her talons, she tsk'd unhappily. The only map she'd found of the facility and it wasn't even laminated. Wandering half-lost through the halls didn't appeal to Ms. Showalter at all. Frowning at the punctured map in her talons, she landed, shrugging her shoulders backwards.

If only Zarc hadn't spent so much time trying to give her all the fatherly advice her dad gave her almost a week before. Of course her real dad couldn't drop her off anywhere near Monstrum's, so the good-natured elf stood in for him. Yes, she would remember to write. Yes, she would remember to change her sheets every two weeks. Yes, she would remember what he said about harpies and preying mantises. Ew. By the time she'd wriggled out of his bear hug, the speech ended.

Taking a few click-clacking steps across the floor on her thin bird legs, Brienne followed the most noise. Even if she hadn't seen where everyone dismissed to, it couldn't be too hard to slip into one class and then borrow a map from someone else to end up at the second one on time. Content with her plan, the harpy nodded to herself and took to the air once again, far more confident on-wing than hopping along the ground.

Poking her head into a room that had quite a few people gathering in it, she cast her gaze this way and that. Shouldering the door open, she set her eyes on a large Cerberus-creature in the corner. A few other people stood out - was that a man with cat ears? - but Brienne hesitated on fully entering into the room. Luckily, a voice over the intercom helped her make a decision. Something about a student council? With a cursory wave just in case someone had caught sight of her abrupt entrance, the harpy backed out of the room. A single one of her midnight-hue feathers floated to the ground as she flitted down the halls. Knowing full well she would get turned around once or twice on the way, Ms. Showalter headed for the direction she thought the head office would be.

No Brienne, you're not unfashionably not-on-time. You're late.

Amelia Stuart
"Tsk." Amelia kissed her teeth as she looked up from beyond the parasol's rim at the castle-like structure of Monstrum Asylum, "I suppose it'll do.." she'd give a light shrug, then heading through the large gates and toward the entrance where various other pupils were squeezing through all at once. When finally able to make it inside, Amelia folded up her parasol and held it by her side, no-longer needing it due to the natural shade the interior of the building gave despite having some rather annoyingly large windows. Finding the shadiest spot, Amelia sat and listened to the introduction given by the headmaster, his words seemingly of little importance to the vampire, as all she really wanted to join the asylum for was to gain a place of refuge - the curriculum didn't matter to her, she'd been through school countless times already.

Once the headmaster's speech was finished and the hall of students and teachers was finally dismissed and emptied, Amelia followed a group of others to her first class, ignoring the hassle as she entered through the door and took her seat wherever she could that wasn't in an overly populated area of the classroom.

Gem raised his head at the sound of the intercom. Student council. The idea struck familiarity and served to calm his nerves. So it was like a normal school after all. He carefully adjusted his satchel and continued into the classroom. He bowed towards the teacher taking note of all the strange creatures in the seats. He didn't allow his gaze to linger on any of them for long for fear of drawing the wrong kind of attention. They all had a somewhat tense, hostile air around them like if you'd just walked in on a group of delinquents in the middle of them establishing their territory. He didn't think there was much difference in this situation. "Pardon, I'm Gem Kenji, a student in this class? I'm off to see about student council I just wanted to make sure you knew I was here before I went. I want to make sure I can find the main office on time, see."

He spoke in a low voice meant for the teacher to hear, not the entire class but still he could feel eyes on him as he did so. He glanced up and made eye contact with the neko boy by the window, basking in the sunlight. The boy stared at him with seeming uninterest but Gem couldn't help but stare at the ears perched on top of his head and the way the light shone through illuminating thin veins in the skin. He looked...like a character. Gem felt the urge to laugh at the strangeness of it all. This whole situation was crazy and he wondered how humans simply didn't notice any of this. Ghouls where meant to blend in so he looked entirely human, no pale complexion, no fangs or horns. His scent would be different but his appearance was 100% average. Save for his eyes, a dull purple, calm and cool. He could blend in easily if only it weren't for his newly awakened hunger for living flesh. There was something vastly different about it, the way it melted in your mouth the way it gave off heat through the blood, the smell of iron. Dead flesh was nothing like it.

Gem waited to hear confirmation from the teacher before he left to find his way to the headmaster's office in order to speak to him about being in the student council. He had an image to uphold after all. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and held his satchel close to him full of extra paper and writing utensils and the like. He'd conquered general education in his previous schools now it was time to ace knowledge in the supernatural as well.

From the message given by monstrum himself via the intercom, there were already a few students ready to accept the challenge of the student council. Vhal, who was busy staring at a fly buzzing around his head, quickly reacted to this. His head perked up with enough force to pull the other two up with him, waking Jodac in the process.
"For fuck sake, Vhal, what is it now?" Jodac questioned, irritated at the disturbance of his sleep.
"The student council sounds fun! I wanna go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Vhal replied, over excited as always, "Can we go, Dae? Please?"
"Dae, don't listen to the idiot. It's a lot of effort in the student council. I'd rather sleep." Jodac ordered in a begging fashion,
Conflicted by the two heads, Dae thought. Hard. Being the only head/personality which has some kind of logical thought processes left, it was always his choice on things to do. Using the other two as backups. Jodac would normally think of the simplest way to get things done, while Vhal usually went by impulse, but he also seemed to show some intellect at time. Which was worrying. For a head so laid back, a mind of a child and a retarded look. This intellect always gave off some fearful prospects, even other creatures grew scared of Vhal's strange aura he gave off...

Anyway, after thinking hard. Scheming even. Dae took control of the body and stood. "Yeah, let's go." Dae finally stated, adamant of his choice.

With the complains of Jodac and the cheers of joy from Vhal, Jodhal left the room. Heading towards the headmaster's office to join the student council...

Amelia Stuart
Once the class had seemingly settled down and the tutor because talking, Amelia gave a heavy sigh, wondering just how many more years of dull education she'd have to repeat over and over again. Being around the age of 18 when she was bitten meant Amelia has already sat through countless repeat years of highschool, and Monstrum - though it had it's quirks - didn't seem to be quite different.

Amelia considered getting up and leaving the room, it seemed a good handful of students already had, possibly with the same motive as her; boredom. Sparring wasn't much use to Amelia anyway, she already knew how to attack and how to defend, fighting for a meal was all she ever really did, of course she did have a few hobbies such as reading, but 152 years had given her plenty of time to finish reading an entire library or two, so now most books seemed rather dull to her.

As the teacher lead the class through to a separate room, Amelia paused by her desk for a moment as she fought within her mind on whether she should use now as an excuse to leave or not, but she only had a brief moment to think as the classroom was emptying through the portrait rather quickly - "Bother.." she bit her lip and sighed, following the other through the painting and into the apparent 'physical activity' room.

---

Aiko Nozaki
Being one of the only secretaries at Monstrum, and also being the main Librarian, Aiko was forced to sit alongside the other teachers and facility staff as the headmaster gave his welcoming speech which Aiko had heard oh so many times before - infact she could even repeat it word for word if she wanted to, though luckily for the sake of anyone who didn't want a word-for-word repeat of the headmaster's speech, Aiko didn't talk much.

As soon as the assembly was over, Aiko darted her way back to the main office just outside of the Headmaster's, and sat at the desk she had proudly claimed hers after having proven to be a worthy secretary of the leading head Monstrum himself. Aiko sat and waited silently at her desk, her porcelain fingers making a dangerous sound as the tapped against the keyboard keys of the computer she'd been provided in order to sort all of the needed files so Mr.Monstrum knew where to find them. Mr.Monstrum was a very busy man, running a school was difficult, especially when the students were all non-human beings with special needs to be taken care of.

Aiko had just finished typing up the names of all the students who required 'fresh meat' for their meals when the arrival of the Headmaster made her jump. Aiko quickly scurried from her seat and stood by the office door to bow in greeting and see if the Headmaster required anything of her, though strangely he didn't say a word and simply strode through to his office, Aiko too returning to her post at the desk. She heard the Headmaster's phone buzz within his pocket, and from the corner of her eye she'd seen him jump visibly, clearly he was on-edge over something, Aiko assumed it was down to it being a new year with more and newer student joining, meaning lots of work to be doing. Aiko gave a soft sigh, slouching back in her seat slightly for a moment as she looked over her checklist of forms and other such things to complete before the first week of the year is over, lessons and accommodation had been sorted, but there were still various other necessities that had yet to be completed.

The familiar crackle of the intercom which sounded just before whatever the Headmaster was going to say told her that he'd already been thinking about the workload too, "Would anyone interested in taking part in the student council report to my office in half an hour?" the Headmaster said over the intercom, leaving it at that. The student council! Of course! How could Aiko have forgotten the Headmaster's plans for forming a student council? Quickly, Aiko jumped up from her seat and hurried to the Headmaster's door, giving it a quick tap of her knuckles before entering.

"M-Mr. Monstrum, I..!" the girl sputtered out, but was cut short when she noticed another presence in the room- Imdius, the science teacher, "M-my apologies.." she mumbled in embarrassment, giving a bow of respect before backing out of the room and closing the office door behind her, stopping outside the door for a moment to take a deep breath to calm herself, "Student council.." she mumbled to herself, heading back to her desk to frantically look for an empty register and a few other things she could set up for the student council members-to-be could sign.

Waylen Monstrum
He owns this school. Behave.

The Headmaster leaned back and slid a cabinet open on his desk, taking out a large bottle of rich alcohol, ignoring Imdius for the time being. He poured four glasses. scooting one towards the demon and shotgunning... the entire bottle, tossing it back into the drawer and letting the shot glasses sit. "What do you need, Imdius? Any issues today? Something causing your skin to crawl?" As his trusted maintenance man, adorned in tools and weapons, entered the room, he rose and set a shot glass on the other side of the desk. "Is everything in order beneath us, Strelok? No leaks? No seals busted? The gate is stable? This year your job will be ever more important. My son is here, and you know what that means. Oh, Aiko, come back in here. I have need of you." As he called his secretary in, he set down yet another shot.
"A demon prince's spawn, my son, and a godling among other things this year. Remind me to retire after this, please." He took his own shot glass and held it up. "I don't remember who we're protecting anymore. Humanity from our kind, or our kind from humanity. Be that as it may... I toast, to another year of disappointment, stress, and saving the world.

The tall immortal stood slowly and began to pace behind his desk. "There are many things that I require everyone here to do in the coming week. First things first, make sure that there is no fighting. Keep the vampires away from the werewolves and visa versa. On the subject of vampires, make sure that they are well fed before they get close to Sanguin. I don't want another incident. Strelok, I need you to run a few errands outside of just your usual work. If you can find the time, I need you to procure a displacer beast and three unicorns. Don't ask. He circled the desk and put his hands on Aiko's shoulders, smiling warmly at her "Aiko, my gorgeous, trusted secretary. I need you to pick up a few things. The necronomicon and the mask of nyarlethotep. Strelok can show you where the vault is. He knows his way around the sub basement. He kissed her on the cheek before turning and facing the demon. "Now... Imdius... can I trust you to look over the student council? The children will be arriving any minute, and as such I need you to help me choose the best candidates. We need three positions filled. Can you handle that?"

Waylen turned and leaned against his desk, looking at the four assembled around him. "Now. You have your jobs. Go do them."

Randal "Flags" Monstrum

Flags stood from his chair in the auditorium and shrugged at the two dispondant girls, choosing to find a new stage instead of being ignored. He brought up his schedule on his tablet and read over it, noting that "Sparring" was first on the list. It didn't take him long to find the class, and enter the painting with the rest of them.

He really didn't need this class. He knew how to fight. He knew the magic to get him out of situations if he couldn't fight. In the end, even if he couldn't fight, it's not like he couldn't die.

so, seeing as he had nothing really to risk, Flags decided that it was time to get this show on the road. "So, teach... What's this class for again? Seems pretty silly considering most races are naturally gifted at fighting" The boy stretched, popping his back and sighing as he turned and punched the student next to him in the face.

There was always one student who questioned the value of the sparring class. This year it just so happened to be the headmaster's boy, bringing an evil grin to Kaen's face. He gestured to the ring and watched as many of the students made a path for Randal to move through.

"Be the first to enter the ring and find out." The ring itself was enchanted by Karen to erase any and all fatal damage that is done inside the ring. If (and when) someone would die in the ring they are knocked out instead, but with the full appearance of harm. Pain was still present and minor wounds wouldn't be stopped, but that was all part of the fun.

As Randal entered the ring Kaen tossed him a school training sword then held one sword up for the class to see. Anyone want to challenge him to a friendly brawl? The winner of this match gets 1 Silver star and a free magica act from yours truely."

He made the same offer every year he has been a teacher, and helping the winner was always fun. Last year the student saved her act until hallows eve and asked Kaen to conjure up a party, which in the end shut out that nights dance. Monstrum wasn't happy with that but got over it shortly after.

Shame looked over from the boy to the warlock. She saw a student enter the ring and smiled. She rose her hand as markings appeared on her skin. "I will challenge Randel to a brawl..." She stood from her seat and walked over to the warlock and held out her hand as he set the sword in her hand.

She gripped it tightly, closing her red eye as she entered the ring. She could smell his aura, which only made her smile, her canines poking over her lips. She pulled her hair up in a high ponytail, leaving down her bangs and got into a stance, her feet promptly side by side, both hands on the sword and faced her opponent.