Headmistress Aurielle sat in her office with a couple of documents before her.

Most of which were reports of lands that had been reclaimed from the Eclipsed that she needed to relay to the royal family.

Why was the report not sent directly to the royal mail or directly to the king himself instead of her?

Good question.

It was because the old fool was just too lazy to sort it out himself, though he claimed that her receiving it first was because he trusted her the most.

Yeah, she wasn't buying that.

Aurielle was a hundred percent sure that the old fool was just trying to increase her workload.

With a sigh, she continued going through them before she suddenly paused, lifted her head towards the door as a smile appeared on her face.

"Seems the kid has some questions," Headmistress Aurielle said with a chuckle, it seems her day was about to be a bit less boring.

A couple of seconds later,

BANG!

The door to her office slammed open and in walked exactly who she expected, Astra Dawn.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, blind bat," she said the moment she walked in, "what the hell is this kid?"

Ayla followed behind a couple of seconds later, again, with no expression on her face as she walked to a couch in the office.

"Whatever do you mean?" The headmistress feigned ignorance, even though she clearly knew what Astra was asking.

"Don't give me that," Astra said with a frown as she pointed towards Ayla, "what the hell is she?"

The headmistress looked at Ayla, who somehow now had a plate of cookies in hand, and then back to Astra before saying,

"A girl?"

Astra's frown got deeper as she realized that the blind bat was just messing with her. She very much wanted to hit her with a blast of light right now.

"I know that's a bad idea," she said to herself as the rings on her belt stopped glowing and she calmly sat down as looked directly at the headmistress.

"I know the kid's not using a solar tech," Astra said, "so what is she?"

Aurielle looked at Astra's serious expression before looking towards Ayla, who now, somehow, had a plate of cookies before her.

It wasn't as the child's abilities will remain a secret for long, especially since she'll be taking part in the IAT.

Besides, she needed Astra to protect the kid if anything went wrong due to the reveal, so she wouldn't risk said protector be surprised when she found out what the kid was.

Headmistress Aurielle tapped on her desk for a short while before sighing and saying, "the child is capable of using umbra energy instead of Solar energy."

Out of all the possible answers Astra expected, this was definitely not one of them.

She sat there in stunned silence as her brain processed the headmistress's words.

A couple of seconds later, she finally spoke up slowly, "…say that again."

The air in the room slowly turned colder, but neither the headmistress nor Ayla reacted to it.

"Calm down, she's not an Eclipsed,"

the headmistress said.

She understood why Astra's reaction was like this and if she was being honest, this was a lot tamer than what she expected.

"How can you be sure?" Astra asked, her voice was still controlled.

"Because I made sure of it myself," Aurielle said with a smile.

"But—"

"I know," Aurielle interrupted, "the fact that she controls umbra energy makes her an anomaly, but there's a lot that remains hidden, even from my eyes."

She paused briefly.

"But whatever she is… it is not Eclipsed."

The silence stretched for a moment longer.

Astra's gaze slowly moved toward Ayla.

The girl sat quietly on the couch, one leg tucked under the other, still eating cookies as if this conversation had nothing to do with her.

She then turned back to Aurielle.

"And the IAT?" Astra asked, "You're putting her on a public stage. The royal family, the High Council and even the nobles will see her. If they sense even a trace of umbra energy—"

"They will," Aurielle said, "and that's exactly why she'll be taking part."

Astra was a bit confused, that revealing a human capable of weilding Umbra energy was not a good idea.

She had heard stories of it happening once, and it definitely didn't end well, but then again, the blind bat would never do something unnecessary.

"And you're telling me this because?" Astra asked with a sigh.

"Because I'll need you to keep her safe during the IAT," headmistress Aurielle answered.

"From what?" Astra asked again, because as far as she knew, if the nobles or high council knew that the girl was under the protection of a Transcendent ranked Knight, then they'd restrain their actions.

The headmistress looked at her in silence for a while, she could tell Astra about what she 'saw', but knowing him there'd be no way of avoiding his schemes would be impossible.

Besides, revealing too much right now might just have an opposite effect than what was intended.

So for now, the best she could do was move a few strings here and there, while remaining vague.

All Aurielle could ensure right now, was that the kids remained safe and to do that, she needed Astra to be protecting them.

"You'll know when the time comes," the headmistress responded.

"Tch," Astra clicked her tongue, the blind bat was always this vague whenever it involved a future she saw.

"Fine," Astra said, "but if the kid shows any signs of mutating or tries harming anyone, I'll kill her myself."

"Don't worry," Aurielle said with a smile, "she won't."

Or at least, with all her preparations, Ayla wasn't supposed to, but then again, fate has strange ways of working, even to someone who could control its strings.

Especially given that she wasn't —

Aurielle shook her head before looking back at Astra, "I believe you should start preparing to leave in a few days."

She then watched as Astra stood up and walked towards the door, but not before looking towards Ayla one last time, and then exiting.

"I guess she really hasn't forgotten about that just yet," Aurielle said as Ayla stepped out.

She may not have seen her face, but she could tell by the SE visible through the blindfold, Astra was actively forcing herself calm.

The headmistress then turned to the quiet Ayla, what the kid was going to become was not her fault so she'd try as much as possible to prevent it.

Which was why she forced the meeting between light and darkness to be a lot earlier than she had seen.

Maybe that'd prevent her future.

Headmistress Aurielle sat in her office with a couple of documents before her.

Most of which were reports of lands that had been reclaimed from the Eclipsed that she needed to relay to the royal family.

Why was the report not sent directly to the royal mail or directly to the king himself instead of her?

Good question.

It was because the old fool was just too lazy to sort it out himself, though he claimed that her receiving it first was because he trusted her the most.

Yeah, she wasn't buying that.

Aurielle was a hundred percent sure that the old fool was just trying to increase her workload.

With a sigh, she continued going through them before she suddenly paused, lifted her head towards the door as a smile appeared on her face.

"Seems the kid has some questions," Headmistress Aurielle said with a chuckle, it seems her day was about to be a bit less boring.

A couple of seconds later,

BANG!

The door to her office slammed open and in walked exactly who she expected, Astra Dawn.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, blind bat," she said the moment she walked in, "what the hell is this kid?"

Ayla followed behind a couple of seconds later, again, with no expression on her face as she walked to a couch in the office.

"Whatever do you mean?" The headmistress feigned ignorance, even though she clearly knew what Astra was asking.

"Don't give me that," Astra said with a frown as she pointed towards Ayla, "what the hell is she?"

The headmistress looked at Ayla, who somehow now had a plate of cookies in hand, and then back to Astra before saying,

"A girl?"

Astra's frown got deeper as she realized that the blind bat was just messing with her. She very much wanted to hit her with a blast of light right now.

"I know that's a bad idea," she said to herself as the rings on her belt stopped glowing and she calmly sat down as looked directly at the headmistress.

"I know the kid's not using a solar tech," Astra said, "so what is she?"

Aurielle looked at Astra's serious expression before looking towards Ayla, who now, somehow, had a plate of cookies before her.

It wasn't as the child's abilities will remain a secret for long, especially since she'll be taking part in the IAT.

Besides, she needed Astra to protect the kid if anything went wrong due to the reveal, so she wouldn't risk said protector be surprised when she found out what the kid was.