Savior of Midtown.

Healing, healing, healing. Maybe thinking the words will make the spell happen. "Please..." the old man is fading fast. I grasp at all the straws in my mind, something to help, something that can change the way things are going. For a brief second a green light blossoms forth from my hands and towards the old man's body. The light then flickers and fades.

"I-I don't know!" He's dead.

"Get to the hurt! Stop the flow of blood and healers begin channeling your spells, I want to see all of these people healthy in thirty minutes tops." A loud voice can be heard ringing out from the north side of town. A squadron of twenty or so people dressed in white come rushing into the street. A woman is leading the pack, she's lugging around a large metal baseball bat, the words "One Chance" are inscribed onto it in flashy handwriting. She has a determined glare on her face, as if daring the injured innocents to die. She's wearing a black leather jacket with a pair of baseball pants on underneath, on her feet she has on steel toed boots. The squad of healers get to work, teams of three begin assisting the critically injured first, then the badly injured. Dillon watches, holding the dead old man in his arms. The healers begin to close their eyes and focus, Dillon can see the space around their brains light up with green waves of energy. A chorus of soft voices chant, "Heal your wounds to live today, for your health do I pray."

Pillars of green light shoot up into the blue afternoon sky, sighs of relief can be heard, bodies begin stitching back together through the magnificence of magic, legs reattach to torsos, arms back to shoulders, the only blood to mention is the stuff curdled up on the blacktop. "Good work! Keep at it, I still see injuries!" I know that girl. Clara Boon is her name, she was in the medical department at our academy. Clara herself walks over to me. She takes one look at the old man and my sorry state and her expression hardens. "It's not your fault. We should have been here sooner." I appreciate her words, but it doesn't change the bitter taste of the situation, Enlightened, but I still couldn't figure out a simple healing spell. "I know your type, this will stick with you, won't it? Well good, maybe you could have saved that old guy, it's unlikely but possible if you were smart enough." I look up at her, she's got her baseball bat slung over her shoulders and a wild smile on her face. The afternoon sun is blazing behind her. "You should stick with us."

"There's EXP to be had boys! Gar har har! Ahahah! Oh fuck there's nothing like this!" More goons from the same gang, looks like they got wind of the medics and showed up for round two. There's at least a dozen of them, and all armed to the teeth. Several are carrying broadswords in broad daylight and others have shivs and brass knuckles equipped. "FORM UP! I want Observes used on them ASAP!" Clara booms out, holding her bat aloft, a burst of gold light springs forth from the bat at her words. I can feel my body become stronger and more agile, I feel like I could get hit by a truck right now. "Oh what do we have here? The red cross?" The leader steps up to Clara with a haughty look on his face. The gaggle of goons cry out in laughter, "I'll give you one chance. Now, leave." Clara steps right up to the big man, her face calm and supreme. "Make me missy." The leader goes to hurl a right hook with a brass knuckled hand, his fist shatters against the steel of Clara's bat before he can even wind up his shoulder. Clara's next swing goes horizontal, swiping at the man's jaw in a heavy clubbing motion. The man staggers back and spits out several teeth. "Okay. Okay! You're pretty darn good with a bat girlie." the man steps with his feet, jumping in place, he whips out a nasty looking dagger, the blade is misshapen and twisted into odd directions, the edge gleams with a wicked black aura. "I'll be takin ya seriously now."

"Oh please." Clara takes her eyes off her opponents just to roll them. A deadly arc of steel is flung by the man the moment Clara's eyes are in the back of her head.

*Clang*

Clara parries the blade in a flash of motion, her baseball bat becomes a silver blur in the air as sparks fly out from the impact. "Return!" The man shouts out and the dagger hurtles back into his hand. The goons around him start to look nervous. "Now! Now! I've got this bitch, don't you lads worry." The man looks to Clara. "My name is Ento Ridge. A pleasure." Ento performs a slow bow, never taking his eyes off of Clara.

"You usually start with introductions." Clara's tone is dry, her foot is stepping to an unknown beat and her baseball bat is back home slung on her shoulders.

Ento shurgs and puts his palms up in the air and blinks out of view. Clara pivots and winds up a swing behind her, as Ento completes his teleport he's meet with the tragic fate of eating the business end of a baseball bat swing. Steel crashes into flesh and tooth as Clara sends Ento careening into a nearby building. By some miracle the man stands back up again, blood streaming from his forehead. "Fuck it! Get em boys!" The band of dogs roar out with glee as they are finally unleashed. Ento can be seen in the back, casting a spell. "That's more like it, act like the dirty mongrels you are!" Clara shouts out with a challenge, charging headfirst into the group of attackers.

I stand for the first time in twenty or so minutes, no more sitting around. I breathe in a deep draught of mana as the healers rush by me, they're armed with staves and maces. They look like clerics if you ask me. I can sense a surging of mana passing above me, it's rife with energy. Begging to be soaked up and used. The clash begins, I can make out Clara amidst the chaos, swinging her baseball bat with impunity, leveling whomever stands in her way. I can also see several healers trying to take on a slender man, wielding a greatsword. A blonde headed girl, holding a morning star in her right hand attempts to club the slender foe, but the swordsman moves like flowing water, dancing out of the way before crashing down with his massive blade. The girl blocks with a mana shield but the shield shatters easily against the **** of the swordsman's swing. The girl is unharmed but stunned, having your mana broken isn't fun. Before the killing blow can be dealt, a short burly man holding a wand fires three searing balls of flame. The swordsman flashes the flat end of his blade out and blocks the projectiles with ease, he moves with his parry to maintain momentum and execute a downwards slash on the still stunned girl. Yellow hair splays out into the air as the man beheads the girl in one swift slice. A cry of anguish goes up as Clara abandons her position to make her way to the swordsman. Ento can be heard laughing wildly in the background. All of this turmoil feels like a storm, both physically and psychically, I can feel Clara's despair at the **** of her comrade. I know that the swordsman is reveling in joy at the massive amount of EXP he just gained off of the girl's ****, he intends to invest it into luck. I can sense everyone's thoughts, some are louder than others, and some people don't make any noise at all. But it's getting debilitating, I need, dear God I need to shut it off. I fall to one knee as my eyes go crossed. I imagine an iron ball surrounding my brain, blocking off all external influence. It helps a bit.

"You fiend." She doesn't say, I've just heard her thoughts. Clara grimaces and motions for everyone to back off from the swordsman.

Clara and the dancing swordsman begin engaging in a hellish series of exchanges, the two are on a different level than the rest of the fighters. Their movements are mere blurs and the sparks flying from their clashes only grow in intensity. The spectators can hardly believe they're watching two humans fight. Clara lashes out with quick swings, meant to end the fight in one shot, the swordsman is also looking for a one shot opportunity, but is also able to make use of his sword's length, stabbing and thrusting at Clara. Clara whirls with a swing, warding off the swordsman, she steps in, her bat trails with her in a flowing motion, she ends the sequence with a heavy upward swing, the **** of the blow sends air blasting off. The swordsman is elusive as ever, slipping and stepping each swing with ease, he seems content to let Clara continue her barrage. Clara grunts and performs a downwards attack followed by a series of spinning swings, her movements grow faster and faster, until the woman looks like a tornado wielding a baseball bat. She presses forward, forcing the swordsman to stand his ground and meet her bat to sword. The swordsman parries the first four furious strikes, lifting and sliding his blade left, right, then up, then right again. Each blow shakes him to his very core. "Fuck me she's strong."

The swordsman attempts a duck under a wild swing from Clara, he's successful and feels a burst of air as a deadly arc is drawn just above his head. He counters, stepping so he's on Clara's right side, leaving her vitals exposed. The swordsman attempts to stab through the baseball toting warrior's liver but Clara is simply too fast. The warrioress deflects the stab and pummels the swordsman with the end of her bat. A strange aura can be seen flashing out from Clara's limbs as she hammers down on the slender man's face. Her hands look like they have a bright red gleam to them. The swordsman flops ****. "Bind him now!" Clara barks and refocuses her attention on Ento, who is still casting his spell. "We're gettin out of Dodge boys! Stay close to me!" Ento yells to his troops, he's trying to cast an area of effect teleportation spell. I can tell from the way the mana is forming in his hands, I can see all of it, where he's trying to go, how many people he wants to take. I can also interrupt it, I reach out with a tendril of my mana, a thin string that Ento will never be able to notice. Ento's dogs begin disengaging and retreating towards their leader. Clara issues a charge, hoping to disrupt their plans. I feel my tendril make contact with the ball of mana in Ento's hands. Immediate stress and pain from the connection, his mana is so turbulent and powerful, I can't get a grip. I grit my teeth and pump more mana into my tendril, he's bound to notice but I'm already in. His spell is wound tight though, without many flaws, but there must be something I can effect. I can't change the ending location, that's airtight, but I can alter the area of effect portion of the spell, looks like Ento is still iffy on that bit, with all my effort I cut Ento's area of effect down to three feet.

I can see Clara's charge from the side of my eye, they'll be crashing any moment now. Ento's spell is done, he's also noticed me now, I can feel his mind sitting in mine.

Get out! My head splits with pain but I have to hold it. Ento isn't casting his spell due to my interference.

Stubborn fuck! Blood begins seeping from my nose.

"Goddammit!" Ento shouts with his mouth this time and casts his spell while blinking towards the bound swordsman. Teleporting with his fiendish comrade and leaving the rest of his cronies behind to face the wrath of Clara's medics.

A victory cry goes up in the afternoon light as the medics beat the goonies senseless and bind them. The clouds pass lazily overhead, without a care in the world. I take my first relaxed breath in what feels like years. Is this what ADVANCE is capable of? I look at my hands, now stained with blood. It's been thirty three days and thirty three nights since I achieved Enlightenment.

I've never been more lost or scared in my life.

After the victory, Clara and her crew still have quite the clean up on their hands. I do my best to help and try to learn a binding spell from one of the healers, but my brain's shot. I can't even form a ball of mana at this point. I spot one of the medics placing a call on a black phone. Thirty minutes later a crew of vans pull up to the area. All of them are painted with the logo "ADVANCE ACADEMY!"

"We're taking them to school?" I ask, baffled. "You went to the Academy before all of this didn't you?" One of the medics kneels next to me and takes a seat. "I did. Haven't been there for at least a month now. I kinda got, held up."

"Help up?" She asks.

"Long story." How do you tell someone you achieved enlightenment without sounding like a complete douche?

She shrugs it off, "A lot has changed ever since ADVANCE, the headmaster has a completely new vision for the school now. We still have departments and such, but he's changed the name of the Academy to ADVANCE Academy, and has formulated all the new lesson plans into "developing ADVANCE to it's highest potential." It's one of the leading institutions in regards to ADVANCE and its mechanics."

"And they know enough to keep these roided out meatheads in captivity?"

The medic laughs, "That and much more, the containment center is only one of the new things the headmaster has added. Crazy bastard that guy."

A new school. All about ADVANCE? It intrigues me to no end. There's so much I've missed out on, my new perk is unique but my basics are out of whack. Hell most of these medics know more spells than me. Clara walks over towards me. "Hey." She has a grim expression, no trace of that easy smile from before. "You give my offer any thought?" She looks tired. "It has its pros and cons, you won't have much time for schooling. But you'll get plenty of hands on experience, and the quests we get give way more EXP than the ones at the academy. The more high stakes and dangerous the mission, the more EXP." Clara explains.

"We've run the numbers on you, your stats are remarkable you know." The medic sitting next to you speaks up as well, she has a bright look in her eyes. "Sorry, probably should have asked to use Observe on you, but I couldn't help it." She tosses her brown hair over her shoulder and leans in closer.

"Observe?"

"I'm Calon by the way. Nice to meet you, Observe is a spell that lets you see another person's stat screen, at higher levels and good perception you can tell everything there is to know, from quests, perks, and rewards. And when we used it on you we found that your INT, PSY, and MAG, stats are at extremely high point total for your current overall level. A person like you has so much potential in the psychic and magic fields, you're a perfect match for our needs in the Medics Corps. But I get if you want to get back to the Academy, I understand, they can teach you things that even we can't." Calon has beautiful feline eyes, brown like her hair. The Medic Corps are looking pretty good right now.

"We're headed to the school right now to stow away those damn murderers. You can make your choice when we're there, the Medic Corps are apart of ADVANCE Academy by the way, Headmaster Park created the group after the unprecedented increase in violent crime. But we exist as a separate entity, none of us are considered students, we're actually accounted as employees." Clara shrugs. "Logistics and bullshit is what it is, point is he pays us to do good work."