The Cloak of Merlin

“Follow me, Mr. Newman,” the halfling happily harped. She turned her back to him as she walked towards the door; obediently he followed, tracing the figure of her diminutive body with his eyes as he searched for other magical items and tried to plan his next move. Whatever her designs, they involved him, and only him, for now. Tricia was still in her lab, likely unknown to the Cabal for now, and Moira would be somewhere upstairs with the upperclassmen. Until the short stack tried to take him upstairs, they'd be safe... But what about the rest of the school? God damn it, where's Wentworth in all this?!

The door closed behind him as he followed her through the hall. With classes having just started, they were naturally left alone to walk the polished floor under fluorescent lights; nothing of the sun touched this central path, an absence John was suddenly keenly aware of. “Where are we going?” he innocently asked. She slowed her steps to look back at him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, before he added, “I... I may need to use the restroom soon...”

Nonplussed, she turned forward again. “We’re just going to have a brief chat about your career planning, Mr. Newman, and we’re going to have it in an empty classroom.”

John nodded quietly as he tried to recall when, if ever, he caught sight of an empty classroom during this hour. More, he had never bothered exploring the rooms on the first floor beyond his classes; he wouldn’t be able to tunnel to any he didn’t know. I’m also assuming she can’t detect my magic... which I could be dead wrong about...

“After the assessment, I was thinking we could join like dogs in heat on the floor until you fill me with the gray-babies you’ve got cooking in your rut-sack.” She turned suddenly, her eyes wide and wild as she sought his shocked expression-

“Alright, as long as I can use the restroom first,” John lazily answered, stifling a yawn as he caught her eye. “Sorry, Miss.”

Juniluny narrowed her eyes again before turning to continue her march. Relax, Juniloo: you're just being paranoid... potent as he is, nothing's about to overcome your second greatest spell!

John kept his breathing even as his mind reeled. He kept his Eye on her, ever on the lookout for spellcasting or effects in case she tried a surprise attack. None came, even as they finally reached their destination just a hundred feet away from the classroom: Room 149, unfamiliar but, based on its location, likely a different art teacher's classroom. With a wave of her hand and an order, John opened the door for his alleged teacher and, following her in, was greeted with an ordinary art class: marble tables meant to be shared, samples of legendary art on the walls and, foreign to the sort of trappings such a classroom would have, two heavy collars on the teacher's desk. Each was studded with clear jewels, and the metal of either glittered like white gold.

Collar of domination [programmable, branding]: a ring of enchanted silver that shrinks to close around a detected neck. The wearer becomes charmed by the programmer of the collar. This collar is [programmable], meaning it was built with a control wand for the purpose of deciding the wearer's master. This is also a Cabal [branding] collar, which makes the target **** to "mark" or "brand" spells, when cast by the programmer; this vulnerability waives almost all conditions normally required to do so. This unit bears the icon of the Cabal: an eye within a warped five-point star within an eye.

Well, shit. The door closed and Ms. Snick, bounding with her steps, quite unhesitantly moved to the collars to scoop one of them up. I gotta distract her if I'm going to get those rings off... right then...

"Before we begin our assessment, Mr. Newman, can you please put this over your head and around your neck for me?"

Sovereignty: Eye of the King neutralizes the Cloak of Merlin.

If the Cabalist had noticed the loss of her ward, she failed to show it.

Civil Ethics was quite the snooze for most of Moira's classmates. As such, it was quite the surprise to see the Brighton suddenly leap from her chair, wide-eyed and confused, as she looked down at and through the floor. She had felt that malignant presence before, of course, but she had taken it to be the natural course of the Academy, an unfortunate but acceptable variable in her presence... at least until an unknown spell was suddenly crushed. Wha- what do- Of course that's not acceptable! There's an evil mage casting- Lady preserve us, what have I done in letting this come to pass-?! Baffled and ashamed of her tolerance, she very promptly ignored the protests of the professor and ran out of the classroom, her shield icon already warm in her hand.

The claws of fire intertwined and weaved a net of the deadly element before closing in on the stoic, blue-haired woman. Her gaze never left the runt trying to kill her in an enclosing inferno, but her nerve couldn't be melted away. Bizarre, thought Layla, that the stranger didn't so much as sweat despite the flames coming so close to her body.

But the weave of flames suddenly perished... and Layla, absolutely dumb-founded, froze in her attack pose. Her opponent readied to counterattack as Layla's guard was lowered... until she realized the rogue mage was actually pulling the flames back. The lean woman stood upright, gauging Layla's new alarm.

The Firesmith student, dressed in a shady workout getup inspired by Tara, suddenly realized the importance of the stranger's dark aura that had gotten her attention... and its unacceptable proximity to his aura! Layla remained a novice, but she was trained enough to understand illusions... and when they were broken, just like the one that was hiding this realization from her until now. She never would've let that dwarf pass her by without investigation... and she surely wouldn't have accepted it anywhere near the Academy where her hidden love attended. She had been deceived, and now... "Oh no, he's in trouble!"

The Order mage raised an eyebrow. "He? I don't know who you're talking about, but the Cabalist I smell is a woman."

"C-Cabalist?!"

The strange barrier erected by the Order mage in the middle of the sidewalk shattered... but all that changed in the tall caster's expression was a deepening of the creases of her frown. This runt didn't smell like Cabal, and sure enough, she wasn't. Meanwhile, she let the real threat waltz into the Academy. Galley felt like an idiot. "Geez," she grumbled in her bassy voice before picking her Academy blazer off of the floor. Her narrowing eyes homed in on Layla as she half-turned. At profile, her pixie mohawk reminded Layla of something like a bird. "This is Order business... so just back off, will ya?"

"Not until I know he's safe!" Layla cried out, her heart singing the hymns of her inevitable marriage to that beautiful energy she could now feel.

Galley gave Layla a once over and then looked back at the Academy. Something very close to a smirk grew on her face. "Alright... I guess that would make my job easier, in a sense." Without another word, the pants-wearing "schoolgirl" of 27 years hung her student blazer back on her right shoulder and began an earnest run towards the Academy. Layla, freed from the barrier and intent on finally meeting her destiny, followed.

Incredible. I had meditated before class... I have felt such foul winds before miles away from their source, but... but this corruption... I was aware, and yet, not... Kim Moon was struggling through her Advanced Literature class when it hit her like a truck: the presence below and, connected to it, the structure that had engulfed the school. The Order, and mages of all stripes, called these creations "barriers," but few would so brazenly engulf the school in one. It remained separate from her space, of course; the students around her, naturally, wouldn't have an inkling of it. As long as no one pulled them in, they'd be safe from whatever it contained. But Kim knew the barrier was huge and, disturbingly, powered by what felt like nothing apart from **** itself. She focused on the presence... and found, standing near it, that familiar boy's own spiritual energy, alarmed and worried.

She had a duty to improve her grades... but what was that duty before her duty to destroy evil or the protect the innocent? Even if he's probably more involved in this than a mere bystander... With the excuse of a restroom break, she escaped the teacher's eye and quietly marched towards the staircase.

Rave perked up, suddenly keenly aware of the barrier--no, she was always aware, wasn't she?--that now engulfed her and seemed to go on for miles. Who the fuck made this?! Couldn't be less low-key... ah, but fuck it: not my business, and the Golden Brats'll probably take care of it... Yawning, she tried to focus on her class... and on ignoring the urge to take a peek.

"Sure," John finally replied. She put the collar in his hands and stepped back, admiring her work as she leaned against the small wooden desk of some unknown teacher. So she doesn't notice the effect dropping... well, how about some magical gear going poof? He lifted the collar over his head... and cocked his head towards the other collar as if curious about it.

Acquisition successful.

The second collar, just behind her shoulder on the table that was nearly as tall as her, vanished from where she had placed it. She glanced casually over her shoulder before returning to savor his enslavement... and took a violent double-take, wide-eyed, at where the second collar used to be. The other collar, in John's hands, simply vanished into his inventory. There! She was distracted-

Quickcasted acquisition failed. Target item's removal would injure the possessor.
Quickcasted acquisition successful.
Quickcasted acquisition failed. Target item is too intimately connected with the possessor.

Only the soul-eater band came free, much to John's dismay; her mind remained warded by the cabal jewelry, and her protective underwear remained secure. Juniluny turned with fury in her eyes as her ringed hand squeezed the bare one. "You were faking it?!"

"Only because I care about you." John focused on her shielding with the Eye, ready to unleash a barrage of attacks on what he thought would be a **** caster.

Sovereignty: You tried to claim Sovereignty over Umbra with the Eye of the King, but the Sovereignty of Umbra cannot be claimed without taking the Throne of Umbra.

Fucking... what? What does that even mean?!

"I wanted to do this the easy way," the hobbit growled, her fingers dancing as she spoke, "but if I'm honest... I like my food warm anyways-!" Her waggling fingers ended in pointing her index fingers at John and, upon their touching each other, launched familiar crimson flames in a cone that filled John's vision. Instinctively, he forgot his first plan and called a tunnel open instead, shielding the length of his body while framing him in fire that quickly ate through the wall behind him. The other end, as had become rote...

Juniluny casts hellfire blast at level 25!
Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 149 fire damage.
Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 149 dark damage.

Copycat successful.
Copycat is now level 5!

The hobbit squealed as John's portions of the fire blasted down from over her head to eat away at her, half the desk behind her, and the floor beneath her feet. As John brought the tunnel down at the spell's conclusion, he was faced with a desk and floor still alight and, standing in the ashes and coughing, Juniluny Snickerbottom... with all her clothes burned away save the black bustier that desperately hung on to her voluptuous body. Her massive tits threatened to spill out from the grasp of those leather cups, and the gentle curves of her sides remained sheathed in black. The magical gear ended at the leather panties over her crotch, barely censoring the violently thick bush of pubic hair poking out from its edges, and now John could also see her remaining magical gear: rows of daggers that ribbed the corset at various angles, each one registering as a +1 dagger of painful bleeding. Letting mana conservation fall to the wayside, John made use of the last seconds of this "round" to unleash his attacks.

Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 551 damage from your quickcasted serpent's lunge.
CRIT! Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 1,653 damage from your quickcasted serpent's lunge!
Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 551 damage from your quickcasted serpent's lunge.
Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 551 damage from your quickcasted serpent's lunge.
Juniluny's Umbral skin absorbs 551 damage from your quickcasted serpent's lunge.

The hobbit began to panic as she felt the blows raining down on her back; the corset did little to shake the vicious amounts of damage she could feel registering on her enchanted body. John cursed his bad luck on the crits.

... but with equilibrium, and one more round of that-!

"Fine," she yelled, leaping sideways and away from John, "we'll just have to do this the hardest way!"

She was done for, he surmised, and suppressed her corset's power with his Eye as he readied to beat her into submission. As she landed, she kicked aside a trash can... and revealed a symbol underneath, burned into the wood.

Sovereignty: Eye of the King suppresses +6 Bustier of High Inspiration.

Glyph: Maze of Tadeas: Entrap. This spell glyph can hold any spell the caster knows and casts into it, to be activated on whatever condition the caster wishes. The caster needn't perform the casting rituals again, but the spell's level cannot exceed that of the glyph / 2. This glyph contained the spell "Maze of Tadeas: Entrap," level 4. The glyph is level 15.

John cursed under his breath as he scrambled to get the Eye on the sigil, but it was too late; he had too recently chosen a target to nullify in those precious seconds he had. Her toe struck the fifth point on the star. The classroom shimmered... and spun suddenly, violently, into trails of the straight lines that the room provided: the edges of desks, of windows, of the chalkboard. These lines coalesced, separated, and merged into paths and forks and twisting trails until John felt his stomach lurch in his gut. Screwing his eyes shut, John was overcome with a real sense of vertigo as he was thrown, ass over elbows, to the ground. As the cold stone unfamiliar to the school hit him, the Cabalist's voice echoed in taunt.