The room stirred into several movements at once. All of the teachers immediately placed the hoods of their capes back onto their heads and drew their blades. Mana started evaporating from the room as every capable mage drank it in large gulps, pre-emptively powering their spells.

  Ziggy once again looked into the corridor and tried to listen for the sounds. They were right there, all right. He didn't quite know how far away these sounds were, but he did know they were close, too close for comfort. He swallowed and copied the same thing the other mages were doing, albeit without a blade that would diminish the mana in his heart.

  Someone grabbed Mary and him by their shoulders, started pulling them away. "This way, there's another exit. Come, quick!"

  Considering that Ziggy felt a huge mana presence not far away, he didn't quite like the change in chances of these teachers. They were capable, yes, but whatever was coming was even more so.

  He focused inwardly, tried to look at his mana heart and how much it had grown, and found himself satisfied with the result. Meriel was far stronger still, of course, but his mana heart had grown so refined that he was confident in being able to cast stronger spells than any of these teachers. Not by a small margin either, since all of them used the spell-sword techniques. Going away…. it would’t be like leaving them without any weapon, but it would still be a risk.

  Would Master Meriel be angry if I protected them, or would he be angry if I let them die? He didn't have much time to decide and had to make a quick, rapid choice. In the end, however, it seemed that these people had his master's best interests at heart, or at least their own interests, which could serve with Meriel as well, which was good enough for Ziggy.

  He pushed Vera away and stood in front of the mages, looking into the tunnel. The steps were getting close now, easily identified as at least five fully armored people hitting the rocks. That wouldn't be scary, not really. Mages could easily deal with something like armor. Ziggy himself had seen Meriel do so several times, actually. Although it wasn't plate armor, sure, but Ziggy didn't reckon that those people he drowned in mud would do any better if they wore one.

  The case here was that the armor was clearly enchanted; he didn't even have to see the armor to know there was no mana heart coming in his direction, in their direction, magical artifacts donned by someone who had something to do with them all.

  How the hell did they even get through the Academy without raising suspicion?

  And then something clicked for Ziggy. If they didn’t get spotted in the academy…

  He cast a quick incantation. Felt as the mana left his body, his mana heart, and a giant burst of flame shot forward.

  [Dragonmancy - Dragon Breath - Level 25 - Activated]

  This spell of flame wasn't actually that large, sure, especially not compared to what Meriel could do, but for this small tunnel it was more than enough. The flame stopped only a few paces away, and screams followed.

  The air in front of them distorted, and three men stood there wearing similar capes to the mages inside the room, although these were quite a bit more pristine.

  They stormed forward, the flames on their cloaks quickly dissipating, and they were ignoring Ziggy as he prepared another incantation. He wasn't quick enough.

  They kicked him inside the room and began assaulting the mages. Much to the teachers' credit, Ziggy saw how they all readily jumped forward, and the combat turned ugly immediately. He didn’t even have the time to think about the damn bruise those men gave him. Probably cracked a rib too, or at least it felt like it.

  One of the spellswords made a wild swing, missing his opponent by a few inches, and was immediately punished by both of his arms being cut off. The smell of blood immediately followed, itself accompanied by screams of the mage that Ziggy didn't recognize. He only got to scream for a second, however. The assailant took his dagger and sliced Ziggy’s protector’s throat in one swift motion, immediately turning onto Vera, who was fighting one of the assassins on her own.

  Ziggy made a quick assessment of the situation. The footsteps coming from outside had only gotten louder. The armored being was walking closer with every second. Three assailants with daggers were battling the spell-swords of the Academy, which seemed to be an equal fight, or at least for now. Mary and the new rival stood in the back of the room, looking around with scared looks on their faces.

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  What a shitstorm. Ziggy would need to get them out if this got any worse. Worst case scenario, he needed to save Mary and get out himself too, and not bother with the others. He took a deep breath, gulped the few remaining strands of mana that remained in the room, and moved to action.

  He dodged under the elbow of one of his allies, and in the movement began undoing the transformation on his body. Not completely; sure, there was simply not enough space in this small room while so many people were fighting.

  One of his arms began growing scales rapidly, in a fraction of a second transforming to its original form. Ziggy drove his arm forward, right into the chest of the assailant. If he saw it coming, he didn't have enough time to react, and Ziggy felt the bones crunch under his fingertips as he drove the fist forward. Then it emerged on the other side of his torso.

  Ziggy expected that outcome, sure, but it still shocked him. His physical attributes were not represented correctly in this form. He knew that, but this was gruesome. He listened to the appreciative, yet confused grunt from behind him, not looking who exactly he had saved, and then moved on toward the other.

  They were wary of them now, though, pressing their backs toward the exit from which they came, trying to limit how many people they could fight at once. Ziggy was about to cast a spell when he noticed something. One of his teachers cast another just as he was beginning to start the incantation of his own spell. The spell only deflected off the cape, not completely, but the spell wasn't powerful enough to pierce whatever protection the item offered.

  They were taking advantage of the weak magical capabilities, and they were better swordsmen as well. A terrific combination that only served to showcase Ziggy's and Meriel's former suspicions.

  Ziggy walked closer, trying to step around the mages that wanted to protect him, only to fail all the same. Lydia screamed as a dagger sliced her torso, ripping her skin. To her credit, though, she stood still, trying to assail the strange-caped man. Ziggy had to admit that she was very capable with the sword. If only she were able to escape a little with magic too.

  Finally, at the end of the tunnel, Ziggy saw what was coming towards them. Armored men. But not just in any armor. No, the armor they wore shimmered with magical energy, the air around their silhouettes distorted by the enchantment. Ziggy swallowed and looked behind him again.

  The boy was still there, of course, looking at the ground and biting his nails, but Mary wasn't there. What? Where was she?

  A small, sparkling sound came from behind him, and he looked forward, seeing one of the robed men holding his eyes as Mary stood behind Vera. The older woman took the opportunity, of course, and quickly jabbed forward, disconnecting the man's head from his body.

  Nice thinking, Mary! Ziggy smiled to himself and stepped forward again. Vera and Lydia made quick work of the last robed man, but there wasn't much help now. The armored men were maybe a minute away, visible from the end of the hall. The weight of their armor was probably the only thing slowing them down so much.

  Ziggy swallowed and stepped forward again, standing on the corpses that lay in the doorway.

  "What are you doing? Get back! You two escaped. Why are you still here?" Vera said, agitated, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

  "No time to explain. Can you stop absorbing mana?"

  "What? How do you expect me to—"

  "Just trust me, okay? Master Meriel taught me... something. You'll see. I can stop them, but I need all the mana I can gather. So, quick, stop taking the ambient mana in."

  Viera looked at Lydia and the last remaining mage, visible caution on her face, but slowly, finally, the mana stopped seeping into their blades and hearts, and Ziggy could see it gathering all around. He opened up his heart even more, taking in as much as he could, and began transforming.

  He focused on transforming quickly, far faster than ever before, and he did his best to ignore the yelps of surprise of everyone around. He took in even more mana, feeling his body grow stronger, feeling his heart set aflame by the pure mana quantity. It would have to be enough. He opened his mouth and activated the spell.

  Not the Dragon’s breath, this time. Ziggy remembered his years with Meriel, and the endless practice of magic that Meriel put himself through. Ziggy pretended not to care, but was always interested. But it felt as if something was dampening his curiosity back then.

  But those memories remained. And so did some things Ziggy didn’t deem useful before, as did the single spell he learned from this particular element. The magical circle came to him naturally, his draconic instinct moving his hand in a way he didn’t grasp fully.

  He had yet to get any levels in it, wanted to do so before showing off to his master.

  This should hopefully level it up.

  [Dragonmancy - Chain Lightning - Level 1 - Activated]

  Lightning shot out from Ziggy, connecting with the first armored man in front of him. The metal began glowing red immediately, heated by the energy.

  But the ray of lightning wasn’t done yet. It jumped to the man behind the first, and then to another, repeating the process until all of them were connected by a snake-like line.

  And all of them screamed as they hastily tried to get the armor down from their bodies.

  None of them made it.

  The tunnel was filled with the sounds of screaming and the smells of burning flesh. When the smoke cleared and he saw the armor on the ground, he transformed into his humanoid form once again.

  Viera stepped forward, looked him over, and put a hand on her head. "What the actual fu—"