We left the honorable doctor Hua Tuo’s clinic, Addy, Becca, and I, the muggy air hanging low over our heads with a growing uncertainty. Clem and Akira were scheduled to be housed someplace near The Academy campus once the honorable doctor finished touching up her soul-situation; her condition would require observation over weeks to months, and they were going to have to pick up some prescription drugs only available via a pharmacy somewhere in this jungle.

  Addy was giving me a side-eyed stare, the kind that said she knew something wasn’t alright.

  “I’m ok,” I deflected. Beside having to worry about this mysterious disease affecting my bestie, the world saw fit to hit me with yet more pressing issues. The doctor's words were just stuck in my mind, is all.

  Those aren’t your eyes, she’d said. Someone gifted them to you. Did you undergo an operation you cannot remember as a child? Is one of your family members a witch, or a wizard?

  A wizard…

  “Addy, what is a wizard?”

  Addy gave me a quizzical look. “A wizard’s a wizard. They’re a bit weird, a bit eccentric, a bit old-timey, and incredibly powerful. Arrogant. Spiteful. It is said they did battle with the first vampire patriarchs in ancient times and, judging by how none of those patriarchs are still around, they won.”

  Hmm, yeah, nope. MY parents were definitely not wizards. The only way Mom could beat an elder vampire was in a cooking contest. Both Mom and Dad were only children too, so I didn’t have any odd uncles or aunts. Besides Auntie Esche of course, but she was a harmless cook. She also sent a huge package of christmas cookies every fall and winter, so consider me bribed.

  The fact remained that my eyes were weird, effectively acting as a power outside of the normal Custodian package. Sure, Addy’s transformations did too, but that was normal for a wereperson.

  I was supposed to be a normal girl before all this.

  What if I’m a supersoldier too? No, doesn’t work, nobody in my family has a lick of magic about them.

  I guess I’m the odd one out no matter where I go.

  I sighed, slapped my cheeks, and set my eyes on the next problem.

  [The Academy has sent a formal request for your enrollment.]

  “I still can’t believe you got a direct invitation, just like that.” Addy said.

  Wobble, Becca concurred.

  “Is it that big of a deal?” I asked. “I thought every Custodian goes through The Academy.”

  At that, Addy gave me even more of an awkward side eye. “Not everyone. Some don’t find the time. Some straight up die before they can make it this far. Nobody knows which people The Academy accepts for advanced education. Besides being a Custodian, and the parameters for those are neatly hidden within the blackbox of the system. You could come from a historically magic-inclined lineage, go to every tactical and military school, and still not be picked by either.”

  “Like Cawl, your friend at the Lodge.”

  “More like ‘associate’,” Addy grumped.

  I spotted a point of weakness. “Oh? Is my tuff lil’ tanuki embarrassed about having more than one friend?”

  I was practically hanging off of her with three arms around her shoulder when she shoved me off. “I just don’t get why anyone would want to be my friend.”

  “Girl, you’re a Custodian. Everyone wants to be friends.”

  “I suppose that’s part of the problem.” She frowned and I frowned back at her.

  “Hey, no, I didn’t mean to imply — I’m sure he didn’t just want you to stay in contact because of your status.”

  “Yeah. Well. He would be the first.”

  Oof. Yeah, maybe the downside to all these magical goodies was that people were expecting you to share. The implication of being a Custodian was that you were rich in soulcoins, which I was sure couldn’t be true of every Custodian. It was tough being a Custodian, especially with an upkeep-heavy build like mine or Addy.

  Better steer onto a happier topic.

  “So, The Academy. Another inventive name. I sure hope the tuition fees aren’t high.”

  “They’re zero for Custodians,” Addy said. “It’s quite exclusive. Families tear each other's throats out just for the chance to give their kid a shot at the entry exam. Getting an invitation practically implies they want to pay you for studying with them.”

  I stumbled, pushing a leafy frond out of my face. “What? Why? I’m not special. I barely started stat-training three weeks ago with you.”

  Addy stopped, turning around to face me. “You’re level 34. Not even a month in and you’re nearly equaling my level.”

  “That’s because of the xp-share—”

  “You tore through the Creektin Containment barrier, tricked the Ur mimic twice, and then proceeded to kill it and the giant mobile factory. And then you stole a nascent queen and turned her into a Custodian. All in one week, and you weren’t even conscious for most of it.”

  “Hey now, we’re getting into historical revisionism here—”

  Addy turned into her hybrid form, suddenly standing at eye height with me. She leaned in close, whispering her next words with careful enunciation. “I am not trying to hype you up, Samantha. All of the above is true in isolation. It’s what everyone outside sees which, frankly, puts you at quite the risk of being meddled with, probably by the exact wizards who have been campaigning for a slow and steady approach to Custodian leveling.”

  “I… what?”

  “Who do you think teaches us magic theory?” She threw her hands out wide. “You’re the poster child for the Custodian dream. Level 1 to 30 in under a week, saving the world on the side. Wizards need to work decades for that kind of power, centuries if they want what you can get in three months. They’re a dying breed, and they know it, which is why they are using the capital they do have to sink their hooks in the next generation of magic users. Imagine someone as tenacious as Stromboli, but willing to go way beyond just stalking.”

  Worse than a stalker that can teleport? I shivered at the thought.

  “So, to summarize: The Academy is exclusive, and not everyone inside is my friend.”

  “You could say that much,” Addy muttered. “At least it's a good place to get experience and level up a bit. It’ll be especially good for you since you’re so...”

  “Inexperienced? Inept? Unversed in the woobly ways of magic?”

  “Enthusiastic.”

  “Ooh, I like that style. Sam, the enthusiastic girl spider vampire person thing — wait a minute, I thought we get levels through killing mimics and stuff?”

  “Anything that is in line with doing Custodian stuff works. Self improvement levels you slower than raking in monster bounties. It’s just a whole lot safer.”

  We turned around a bend on the path leading through the jungle when I noticed a tiny, termite-ridden sign. Each of its pieces was fashioned into a hand, pointing in every direction, including upwards. ‘Academy’ one of them read, and ‘sports-centre’ read another.

  Addy let out a long suffering sigh. “Speaking of self improvement, we’re here.”

  “Here?” I looked ahead, then behind me. Just jungle and more jungle. “Wow, they really let the place go.”

  Addy rolled her eyes, though I could see her trying to hide the beginnings of a smile. And then she pulled me off the side of a leafy cliff. I fell, and fell... exactly two feet. In that split second, the world folded in on itself around me. The forest disappeared. In its place was a different place altogether.

  A field of well-trodden grass stretched out in every direction for a half a mile, rolling hills circling around at the edge like waves turned into solid earth. Huts and other clustered buildings were strewn about between that barrier and here, a small town having grown from seemingly nothing. A water tower stood some ways away, with the tip of a sagging stone tower atop it, decorated in vines and graffiti. But despite how much the tower’s garish colors stood out, my eyes were glued to the larger structure towering behind it.

  It was like a university building and at the same time, not at all. A main structure of square buildings and adjunct tetris-shaped constructions was mixed with a medieval castle, walls with person-sized stones peeking out here or there where they weren’t painted over. Gothic spires wound their way out of the top, each standing at the peak of classic wizard’s towers both straight and crooked, rounded and hexagonal.

  Addy landed on her toes. I would have collapsed into a pile of limbs, were it not for my awesome skill and… ok, no, it was all [Proprioception Sensors].

  There were people all around, walking to and fro, the din of their voices and their steady shuffle making the air feel alive. At a quick glance I could see hundreds of them, and thousands of the little houses and huts they likely roomed in. Despite the sun showing that the day was nearing its end, the town and area around the main building were as alive as could be.

  Idly, I looked up at where I’d come from. The jungle was still visible through a coffee-mug sized cutout in the air, still showing Becca wobbling back and forth in distress what felt like a hundred feet away.

  Non-euclidean academy. Okay. Stay cool. This is normal in magic-land.

  “Come down here Becca!” I called. “It’s not a big jump, I swear!”

  Her currently orange slime form poked a pseudopod over the edge, looking for solid ground. She shoved more and more of her mass into it until suddenly it pulled the rest of her with and over like a slinky. She landed in front of me with a heavy splat, deforming into a flat discus shape that only gathered itself together very, very slowly.

  “Well, that’s just sad.” Addy and I turned to watch a vaguely persian-looking guy on a floating beanbag hover over to us, a stack of papers in hand. “Heya. Haven’t seen you around. Custodians Adelaide and Samantha, right? You from the London branch?”

  [Custodian Alexander, Benevolent Conqueror, Level 25, Second-Year]

  I looked at the system message and was about to respond when a second one appeared right after the first.

  [Cover identity generated: Sam, Untitled Custodian, Level 7, First-Year]

  [Abyssl, Envoy of Sadness here. I’ll cut to the chase, Samantha: Models predict that, given current circumstances, you are going to have a bad time. As such, we are giving you a grace period so to say, to observe and learn so you may broach the gap between yourself and those native to the magical world. You can use the cover identity given without repercussions, it will be noted down as one of Mochi’s pranks. You’re free not to use it as well. The consequences that follow are yours alone to bear.]

  That was incredibly ominous. Bu-ut wait, an undercover identity. Just for me?

  This is… so magical girl coded.

  Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes! Undercover Sam, just a normal Custodian joining a normal magic university. But in secret it is I, Sam, not entirely a normal Custodian, here to purloin all your soulcoins and secret knowledge.

  I can barely wait for my dramatic reveal. Eee!

  “I’m a previous student,” Addy said, ignoring my quiet chuckling. “Was gone on a mission for the past two years.”

  He whistled in appreciation. “Must’ve been one hell of a mission. You can probably count that towards your practical studies, cutting down on BatTac I to VII—”

  “Hello yes, I’m level seven!” I said as he turned to me. “No, wait — I’m Samantha. Normal Custodian. Level seven and incredibly excited to learn more about this magical world. Pleasure to meet you?”

  Addy raised an eyebrow and I gave her a smug smile, flicking my eyes at the nametag floating above my head. The moment she read it, she froze in shock, mouthing unsaid curses.

  “I, er… yes. This is Samantha,” she said. “I found her. In a convergence event. I am her… provisory mentor?”

  “Wow. Making mentor at your age is pretty insane. Who’d you study under?”

  “Mentor Irina, Level 57 Dogged Contender.”

  “Oh. that explains it. My condolences.” He turned to me. “Welcome to The Academy, Madagascar branch. I heard you’ve got the world’s biggest glamor down in London. All we’ve got is natural dimensional folds and a bit of gnome magic.”

  “Must take a lot of gnomes to upkeep this,” I said, gesturing all around, “This dimensional magic thingy.”

  “Oh no, the dimensional folds are all natural. The gnomes just keep the paths clean, and nip any that might lead to a bad place in the bud. People disappear, slip through to other worlds, y’know? Apropos, the department of extraterrestrial curiosities still has some spots open for our four week study trip to The Fun Place. Custodians get in for free. Interested?”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I took his flyer, while Addy just frowned at hers.

  “An excursion to… Hellworld?”

  “Yes, well, they are trying to rebrand, but that won’t change the brimstone, the unbreathable atmosphere, or the sulfurus smell. Ever smelled a pile of rotten eggs?”

  “Dad loves omelettes so Mom never really lets eggs stay in the fridge for that long,” I said.

  “I have,” Addy chimed in. “I was dumpster diving once when I was out of soulcoins and sandwiches. Found a box of what seemed like good eggs. Ate them despite the smell. I think I only survived because of my high Body stat.”

  Alexander gave us a look. I handed him the flyer back with an apologetic face.

  “We just got here, we’re not exactly keen on leaving immediately. Sorry! But maybe next year?”

  “‘Course. Next year, of course, yeah.”

  As he left, I slowly turned to Addy. “You ate rotten eggs?”

  “I had a cold. I was hungry. I didn’t think they were that rotten!”

  “You are not beating the raccoon allegations.”

  Her squint could have cut through glass. “What allegations?”

  “Oh, nothing, nothing.” I cleared my throat, letting my gaze wander across the students moving toward the main building in groups of twos and threes. Most of the nametags didn’t belong to Custodians, but associates. I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference without the system putting a neat little name and rank above everyone’s head, and marking the Custodians in gold, sort of like a premium cosmetic in a video game. When I blinked those away, all that was left was… people. Normal people. And not a ghost in sight.

  “It’s remarkably similar to a normal university.”

  Becca had reformed enough of her mass to wobble an affirmative. I scooped her up into my backpack as Addy made to move to the big building with all the wizard towers sticking out of it. I was assuming they were wizard towers at least. Never heard of a witches tower, or a Custodian tower.

  Suddenly, a figure in hazmat clothes burst out from one of the buildings.

  “Everyone out, out!” they yelled.

  There was a flurry of movement. Five seconds later, the windows of the university building burst outwards. Green ferns sprouted fifteen feet high, roots slumping out the windows, vines coiling up and along the school wall. The lone figure in a hazmat suit fell on its knees as it watched the plants slowly collapse under their own weight, desiccating and mulching in front of everyone’s eyes. Everyone else took a minute to check if the plants had spread into the hallways, then went about their day.

  “Maybe it’s not entirely normal,” I added.

  “I am amazed they kept professor Wugwort around,” Addy muttered. “Not like getting all that mold out of his classrooms is cheap. I was half expecting the forbidden magic allegations to stick.”

  I watched the figure in a hazmat suit, likely said professor, scrabble for a dry vine, which turned to dust in their hands. They leaned back, staring skywards in a sort of ‘why god?’ pose. “They seem rather harmless. How much damage can a botanist and a couple plants do?”

  “Destroy the world, if it’s the wrong kind of plant. He’s a xenobotanist. He’s constantly trying to solve world hunger using the magical flesh eating plants of Marrus IV in various crossbreeding schemes, plants which were later classified as a pest on the level of mimics.”

  “I… find that hard to believe.” I gestured at the sobbing hazmat-suited man. “Look at him, he seems so invested.”

  Addy sighed and turned to me. “If it’s self replicating and adaptive, it’s forbidden magic, be it a spell, species, or robot filled with angry code. He may be an expert without compare, but that also means nobody can follow along fast enough to notice when he’s about to try something dangerous. But you’re right, he’s not trying to be actively harmful; he’s no Jonas Smeldenheim.”

  “What’d he do, summon a demon at school?”

  “Pff, no. He invented hayfever. But of course nobody can prove it.”

  “I see.” I paused, then walked up right next to her. “What do you mean he invented it?”

  Addy was moments away from brushing my question off because she apparently gained some sense of smug satisfaction from dropping bombshells on me, when a literal bombshell appeared straight above the main Academy building. It looked like a bomb at least, with fins to stabilize and a fat corpus for holding an unknown payload.

  For a moment, it just levitated in the air. Then the house-sized bomb suddenly accelerated, bouncing off of an invisible dome around the academy building, and landing a couple hundred feet to the side among a gathering of already scorched huts and houses.

  [Dimensional breach detected. All Custodians assemble to ward off invaders.]

  Figures in the crowd moved, some immediately, some taking a second or two to understand the gravity of the situation. Addy and I were among the first wave sprinting towards the convergence barrier forming around the foreign object, with many Custodians in tow and many more flying above.

  Everyone stopped a good distance away from the edge of the barrier-dome as it thunked into the grass.

  “What was that?”

  “Is anyone inside? Civilians? Custodians?”

  “Someone has to go inside. The barrier needs charging or else that thing will blow us all up. That bomb is huge!”

  More and more Custodians kept arriving. There were over a hundred of us now, maybe multiple hundreds, though that didn’t help much. It was a rather small barrier for such a big object. Not a lot of space to move around in there. And it had a capacity of three.

  “Whoever goes inside dies,” I muttered, looking to Addy. “We have the lives. And we have close range builds.”

  “You’re supposed to be undercover,” Addy hissed, “Can’t you go five seconds without doing something monumentally stupid?”

  “I think you mean monumentally heroic. Addy, what if—”

  A voice bellowed out from the assembled throng. “We’re going.”

  Three gray-skinned individuals walked to the front. They were vampires, one cocky man in front, a girl with red eyes and redder hands flanking him on his left while an uncharacteristically buff vampire man with an afro flanked him on his right. A hush and mutter rose and fell through the crowd.

  “Who’s that?” I whispered to Addy.

  She squinted. “Prince Lakan. Level 39. An upstart talent in the Mind-focused mage area. He does something that screws with his enemies’ perception. His lackeys are the brawn to compliment his brains. All in all, a competent trio.”

  “Could you take them?” I asked, half jokingly.

  “Depends. In an ambush maybe.”

  We were interrupted when some sort of titanic black-furred wolf grew from out of the crowd. And grew, and grew. When I said titanic, I meant that he was about twice as tall as Addy was in her warform, a literal walking house.

  “And who said those’re your soulcoins to take?” he rumbled.

  I whispered to Addy. “I think I understand what you meant when you said you were small for a wereperson. Who’s the mountain?”

  “Old Beni. Lodge-representative, fraternity senior, eternal student. This is his 68th semester. He basically commands the respect of all the werefolk.”

  Young blood versus old power. “Bit of bad blood between them, isn’t there?”

  “Yes. So whatever you do, don’t signal that you’re on either side, or your life will get complicated.”

  Prince Lakan smiled genially at the house-sized gray wolf. “Please, I am not here to exclude anyone. But time is short and there are exactly three slots. I will gladly pay you a generous ten percent of my share for standing there, and another ten if you shut your trap and watch me win this shit.”

  Old Beni made a rude gesture with a clawed finger half as long as I was. “Fuck off. Keep your paltry coins, pissant.”

  “I’ll take that as acknowledgement that I was here first. Later, losers.”

  The vampires at his back hissed at Beni’s assembled throng. Which, yep, very hissy, very cool, so vampire. Then the werepeople growled at them, some even going so far as howling and tearing their freaking shirts off.

  “Hey, Addy, don’t you think this is a bit… much?” I turned to her, only to see her baring her teeth with a low grumble. I flicked her forehead, causing her to yelp in surprise. “Hey, Addy. Cut that out.”

  She just stared at me with a confused frown. “Cut what out?”

  “The thing you were doing.”

  “I wasn’t doing anything.”

  Okay, now I was really weirded out. With nervous apprehension, I and many other Custodians watched the three disappear behind the opaque barrier. Barriers had to be charged from the inside because the extra risk to those charging it increased the magic’s effect. I was just glad someone else had already volunteered, when after a few minutes of waiting, suddenly the air was filled with a dozen notification sounds.

  [All Custodians within barrier neutralized. Prepare for breach.]

  “It’s barely been five minutes,” Addy muttered, brandishing her sword while I just stared at the notification in shock. “Fuck.”

  “Neutralized? Not killed? That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

  “Means it wasn’t a bomb.” Addy watched the Custodians fan out, a trickle of them arriving even now. “There’s a saying among Custodians: The more lives you gain, the more you have to come to terms that there are things out there worse than death. God, I hope it isn’t lizards this time.”

  The dome broke and a scaled figure of a sort tumbled out. Its eyes were sunken and pinks strips of skin showed where its green scales had fallen off.

  “Friends!” It rasped with a throat not meant to speak any language from Earth. And when it lunged forward, I noted the thread-like tendril hooked to the back of its neck, and the fact that its eyes weren’t sunken. They were missing entirely.

  “Oh fuck, it’s the teddy bears!” someone cried.

  And there were indeed teddy bears. They rose up to their stubby feet, some as small as a dog, others matching Addy’s warform in size, with the largest three equalling Old Beni, a variety of expressions sewn onto their faces. A jagged line tore through their stomachs horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and from the inky darkness inside stretched threads white as snow, the jagged hooks at their ends prowling through the air like predators.

  Those threads that weren’t were stuck into the backs of lizards and murderbots, of elfine figures and demonic ones, and of voracious animals from beyond the solar system. Some of them were alive, some of them little more than ragged corpses. The teddy bears were using them as a wall of disposable meatshields, dead and alive both.

  “System firewall won’t help you with this one,” Old Beni yelled, “Anyone under 200 Mind in the back. Upperclassmen, on the big smilers. Ranged casters, focus the closest ones. Everyone else, hit the runners the moment they break through, but no matter what, do not advance. And if you can, catch one alive, ol’ professor Nemo pays a handsome bounty for vivisection subjects.”

  Runners?

  The Custodian bombardment started at that moment. Chants were sung, staves flung towards the sky. Lasers zigged and zagged past the hostages, fireballs exploded in contained balls as spiraling beams and homing heart-bombs filled the air with the song of violence. This was the power of a Soul-meta, of casters who specialized in targeted aerial bombardment.

  I was half expecting their body-jacked slaves to come running at us, and while some of them did — especially the dumber animals and anything not holding a ranged weapon — movement among the smaller teddy bears caught my eye first.

  They looked entirely like any teddy bear you’d find in a convenience store. Round, fluffy, buttons or beads for eyes and colored however your inner child desired. These ones had added features: an eye-patch and a beret, or other such military-ish headwear, and one jagged scar somewhere on their face or body that was sown shut. These teddy bears barely reached about up to Addy’s leg, even if they stretched on their stubby little nubs. You might think they’d be the slowest. And you might be proven wrong.

  A thin row of assault teddy bears burst from the throng of assembled foes, sprinting right for our lines with purpose in their gait.

  “Intercept!” Old Beni yelled as the ranged Custodians moved backwards, leaving those that were determined to fight in melee at the front. Addy was included in this wave and me, well… I couldn’t exactly stay in the back, or one look at my weapons and style and people would immediately guess that I wasn’t just level 7. So, I moved in as well, taking a sip of Clem’s mind-strengthening potion in case one of their tendrils took a lucky stab at me.

  [Potion effect: +250 Mind for the purpose of defense against mental attacks and intrusion.]

  Clem, you beautiful witch, you. You are insane. I love you to bits.

  Now was my time to shine. Pistols were always more of a short-range weapon anyways.

  “Arms & Arms proficiency,” I whispered, and shot at the first teddy bear, which freaking dodged.

  It dodged my bullet. How rude!

  It weaved back and forth like a hare as I shot, shot, shot with my Pricklers. Finally, a shot connected, only to glance off of a round, translucent bubble around the teddy bear.

  A shield. The damn teddybears had shields.

  Screw this, I need my Lucky 7.

  It was on me in moments.

  “Friend!” It yelled. “Happyhappyhappy!”

  Its scar tore open and five rail-thin tendrils stabbed for my stomach. The tendrils didn’t get too far. I was always wearing a stab-proof vest these days, even while not geared for war.

  “Happy? Happy happy!?” Its face twisted around 180° and suddenly, its body turned from yellow to fiery red. “Anger! Angryangryangry.”

  It punched me, and oh boy did that hurt.

  I winced as the damn thing pushed me back, despite not weighing more than your average dog. My forearms hurt from blocking and for a moment, all I could do was duck, weave, and dodge. It was like training against Addy, except an exceptionally short version of her that didn’t pull its punches and didn’t let up no matter what.

  One Mom— ow, fuck.

  Gimme One Momen— Ow! You little rat!

  Finally, I managed to kick it away far enough for a silent cast of [One Moment].

  Okay Samantha, think.

  That personalized shield is a problem. Could’ve killed it three times without that.

  It has a functioning eye under the eyepatch. Does that count as a sacrifice of potential to increase its magic? Maybe that’s how its shield is so strong.

  Observable shield rules: Blocks lasers. Blocks bullets. Doesn’t block knives, punches, or kicks. Is energy the key?

  I unholstered a pair of knives. The old knife I borrowed from the restaurant was sadly too unbalanced to use in fighting. The two silver knives I got in the Creektin convergence event were decent enough, but these weren't those knives. These were bowie knives as long as my forearm. They were Addy’s old weapons of preference before she dumped a dozen ivory coins into that stupidly cool transforming knife-sword of hers.

  I advanced, keeping the gall of wounded dignity down as the damn thing parried my knives. Once, twice, thrice — then it grabbed both at the handle, one with each hand.

  I snuck a Prickler inside its shield and lasered the damn thing’s head off. I may not be the best in a close-in scuffle, but in a contest of arms, I was always the winner.

  [You have killed: Plush Commando x1. Soulcoins: 150]

  This is infinitely worse than deathworms. Nasty bastards. But lots of soulcoins.

  I shook the shock from my system and hurried over to my left where a Custodian with a medieval towershield and nothing much else was having trouble inflicting any significant damage. In helping them, I ridded this part of the battlefield of the final commandos.

  The wild animals and beasts on leashes were obliterated by the massed ranged firepower at the back of our lines. Nonlethal abilities consisting of magical string, telekinesis, and floating clouds tore the hooks out of the shoulders and carried the meatshields back through our lines for medical attention.

  We were inflicting catastrophic losses on the enemy. And yet, the three giant teddy bears were still standing, their shields flickering in their respective colors of blue, red, and yellow.

  “They’ve got a replenishable power source,” someone yelled in the back.

  “Well, you get one guess as to where they got it from.”

  I gulped. The three vampires were still in there. They’d gone in knowing the risks, likely with extra lives to get out if things went sideways, but this… yeah, I could see how fates-worse-than-death were a bit of a problem to a Custodian used to having a few extra tries. Not that death wasn’t also a threat, but we just had better countermeasures for that than being used as a magical battery for a bear the size of a small kaiju.

  There was only one person who could reasonably be expected to fight them in melee, and he was in the back. You didn’t get as big as Beni by investing two hundred stat points into Mind.

  Alright. Time to take a risk.

  I walked up to Old Beni and poked his big toe. He glanced down at me and I gulped, feeling the weight of this old soldier’s gaze.

  “I, uh, hey. My friend’s a witch. She made this to ward off mental attacks. If it helps, you can have some?”

  He pinched the cup I’d poured exactly one cup of Clem’s potion into, and drank it. His eyes went wide at the notification that popped up in front of his eyes.

  “Buff me,” he said to the people around him. “I’ll finish this in five.”

  The stream of outbound magic slowed as Old Beni began glowing like mario with star power. Then he charged at the mass of explosions, a howl of fury rumbling through the air.

  “He’s tearing them apart!” Someone yelled.

  “Clip that, clip that,” called someone else. “Does anyone know what potion that was? ‘Cause I’m definitely getting some for myself.”

  Some eyes were wandering in my direction.

  “We gotta leave,” Addy said. “You’re drawing too much attention.”

  “But what if I can help with—”

  “No, shut it,” she grabbed me by an arm and pulled me out the back. “You’ve done enough, more than enough. There are hundreds of Custodians present that are more suited to this than you are. I refuse to have my… girlfriend… risk her life for no particular reason.”

  “I suppose my build isn’t really good at dealing with teddy bears anyways.”

  I would probably need some sort of Body/Mind abomination of a build to reliably take care of them. The teddy bears just had too many defenses; hostages against big area attacks, shields against ranged attacks, and the moment you got into melee they tried to hijack your mind and body.

  I let Addy pull me along until we were in the shadow of the academy building. A number of students and some staff were huddled behind. They looked up at us with large, confused eyes.

  “She’s got a Mind-wound,” Addy lied while also smoothly calling me an idiot in one sentence. “Which room is the hospital in today?”

  “E704,” a young woman with blonde hair done up in a frizzy bun said.

  “How’s the fight going?” asked an even younger looking kid. He looked like he was visiting for his orientation. The poor guy would have one hell of a story to tell when he returned back home.

  Addy peeked around the corner. “They’ve got it handled.”

  I shot everyone a smile and a grin and let Addy pull me inside the building.

  “Soo,” I said once the explosions sounded muffled enough for polite conversation. “The hell did I just witness?”

  “Hm? Oh, right. Did I mention that the dimensional anomaly the Academy is built around connects to our sister worlds?” Addy asked. “Welcome to The Academy, the rear position in the London-Madagascar-Chonqing defensive line. If it fails at any one of those points, Earth is screwed, terminally.”

  I blinked at her, trying to tell if she was serious or not. “I don’t get it. If this place is so important then where are the higher level Custodians?”

  “Where do you think?” Addy tapped the ground with one foot. “The front lines of course.”

  teddybears.

  does not enjoy long chapters released twice a week has likely already been sorted out. If someone were to ask this question in, say, Sky Pride, which has an average chapter length of 2300 words, the answer might be a bit different.