Lena leaves to let Caelus speak with his sister.

Caelus, who's been unbothered about the entire Andromeda Sector expedition, is suddenly stunned into silence now that his own sister is on the first list—and the first ones are the scariest because they are the unknowns, the guinea pigs that will ultimately write what the next course will appear like.

Before they left, Lena catches a glimpse of their back and forth:

"Let me go, in your place, I'm sure they'll allow if family members swap around—"

"And what makes you think you are more capable than I am?"

"That's not at all what I meant, and you know it. We don't know how dangerous it will be."

"And sometimes you've got to trust the process, and trust me," Celeste concludes. "Trust that I'll be fine. Because if it is as dangerous as you think it will be for me, then I think the same for you. All those times that you have left us as you go out on your little missions, have you ever stopped to consider how worried I feel?"

Lena doesn't hear anything more than that, mainly because Caelus doesn't seem to have anything else to say. He does hang back to wait for instructions with her, because those selected to go today are told to stay on the fields.

There's an uneasy feeling, and Lena is unsettled even if her name isn't picked today. This is inevitable; they will be safe only for a day, and every night, they will fear what is to come. Every day, even if they aren't pick, someone else's name goes up on the board, and they have to fear for their friends, too. It feels like war. Beside her, Roen looks similarly troubled, his features furrowed into a worried line as he constantly looks back.

"What do you think is going to happen?" he asks as they are being escorted by a few more guards along the corridors.

"No idea, but nothing good," comes Lena's reply under her breath.

If Lena had thought that the government is lacking in their staff this morning for escort duties, she certainly is wrong—Arcane Academy seems to have triple the amount of patrols that they couldn't see outside. The white uniformed guards pace between making sure the students are in their right classes, and ensuring checks at every possible corner. Already she has spotted two groups of students being stopped, probably being searched over, even if the use of their personalized virtual assistants are prohibited within campus grounds.

At where their class should usually be situated, they are stopped in a neat line with all of Lena's other classmates. It appears that they are taking attendance in their own way, and making sure those who'd been chosen for Sector Andromeda today are in their right reporting areas—a boy is just dragged off to the side, having supposed to be back in the courtyard with the rest of the expedition team today. Lean winces at his reluctance as the guards escort him by force.

"Have you seen Neesha?" she whispers to Roen.

"She's... on the list," Roen responds.

Not her too.

Roen has to shove Lena forward because she'd been frozen, unable to process this. First Celeste, and now Neesha—they're not going to be safe. No one is.

As they move up the line, Lena's turn comes with a quick scan that opens up her own profile window. The guard in charge grunts, and taps something into her account that she can later view as a whole new schedule.

Stepping to the side, Lena opens the view in her account and finds that the students in her year are to report to Weaponry immediately. General studies are cancelled, replaced with a simulation class without further information. She's shoved aside by the guards who do not seem pleased to be babysitting the students, but she persists and waits for Roen, who is done a moment after her.

Similarly as distracted, he is busy looking at his screen as he bumps into another pair of guards—who aren't exactly happy to be there—they yell at him to hurry off.

He fumbles as he complains to Lena, "Who woke up on the wrong side of their beds?"

"They don't exactly look happy to be here."

"Who knows? Maybe the pay is worth it."

At Weaponry, Ms Veronique, their Weapons Master, isn't alone in the room. She is accompanied by at least three pairs of white uniformed guards who mostly surround the room as if any of the students are ready to bolt anytime—not like they have anywhere to escape to, or that they have a reason to run in the first place. But as Lena recalls the boy in her class who'd attempted to avoid his role call from the first name roster to Andromeda, she now thinks that perhaps they do have reasonable justification to stand here like puppets and fish out the students who are trying to avoid certain regulations.

A metal table littered with a neat line of weapons is situated in the middle of the room as the entire batch of year twos file in. One quick glance at the weapons, and Lena can tell they are no ordinary ones they use in training. The weight of the special dagger Caelus had subtly sneaked into her pouch of glass is suddenly prominent within her leather seams; these ones before her also look similarly imbued with the ability to kill demons.

Ms Veronique clears her throat and clasp her hands twice for attention. "Today we'll be doing something different. No longer really a class—but I believe you've learnt enough from the past two years to have understood your preferred weapon types and adjusted yourselves to your fighting styles with said weapons. We are moving up the curriculum due to present circumstances, so I want you to choose the weapon you're most comfortable with.

"And from here on out, this will be the weapon that you will be using to fight," their instructor continues. "You may not be on the list to enter Andromeda today, but you will be eventually. And it's best to be prepared either way, with the rising demon activity in the city—you may be asked to stand up and fight sooner than expected, so I'd rather you be armed going into the battlefield."

A student doesn't hesitate to ask, "Will this be our official specialized weapons? I know we are only supposed to get it in our fourth year, custom made to fit our fighting style that we discover over the years of training here in Arcane Academy, but what if we change our minds halfway? We aren't exactly as prepared as we shall be."

"Which is why this spread here is mostly generic weapons." Ms Veronique crosses her arms. "Swords, daggers, bow and arrows, throwing knives, guns, and the sort. You can probably tell by now that these weapons here are different than the ones you have been using for training. These are made from the bureau, with the necessary essence to end demons. These will serve as your primary way of creating said creatures when your abilities fall short—and trust me, weapons are just as effective as abilities on the field. Not a single professional Catalyst go into battle without a weapon, not unless you have an extremely powerful and destructive type ability, or that you are one of the S-class."

Silence. Arcane Academy has always been the top institute for producing powerful ability users and eventually professional Catalysts on the field, but with Lena's wake up call yesterday with the demon and Ms Veronique's brutal honesty, it's true that abilities alone—unless you're exceptionally strong—can't defeat a single demon. They need tact, and most importantly, weapons. Those that are specially made for killing these beasts.

"And to answer your question: yes, you may change and put in your custom design as you please up until your fourth year, as per the original curriculum," Ms Veronique says eventually, her eyes softening. "Some examples are the custom katana the third ranked Azalea Hasegawa wields, and the special flexible whip Celeste Aveyard has grown accustomed to, or the lengthy chains Leviathan Corvinus somehow mastered with brutal efficiency. It is difficult for us to expect that you have an idea overnight, with only two years into your training, and it's entirely impossible for you to be able to grow an affinity toward said weapon in such short span of time. Therefore, you may use whatever is available from the bureau until you have figured out your own fighting style and technique that compliments your eventual signature weapon—all to be tested and approved by me, of course. All we are doing here is speeding up certain process, and equipping you with the necessary weapons required to fight demons should you be called to the fields. Do you understand?"

"Then what about the students who are currently being sent to Andromeda? How will they be prepared, especially the juniors?" another student asks; clearly, their friend is part of the rota today and they are concerned on their part.

Ms Veronique sighs, as if to express that she isn't being paid enough for this, nor did she sign up to counsel nervous students. "The bureau has apparently taken that into account, just as how they claim to have their so called strategic teams formed. If you've noticed, the juniors who are selected today are ones with higher weapons mastery. In your year—let's see"—she scans the room, and glances once at her own holographic screen—"Everett Storm has always been a master of shurikens and throwing daggers because these light handed weapons complement his telekinetic abilities well. Another student from Aquila, Neesha Zabar, is one of the students who, in my eyes, always had an affinity and mastery toward the scimitar. She is most likely ahead of most of you in weapons wielding, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was exactly her signature weapon in years to come as she yields a regular, blunt training scimitar so fluidly as if it were part of her own body. We have went ahead to make sure these are premade with the materials to combat the forces ahead, so they are far readier than you are."

Everyone falls silent after that; there are no longer any follow up questions, and Ms Veronique allows the silence to settle for a while, no longer prompting any other doubts.

Underneath all that elaboration, Lena feels extremely uncomfortable with the fact that Everett and Neesha are chosen because of their skills in weaponry; they are the top performers of this class, and happen to fit the criteria of being selected as the first batch to Andromeda. The seniors are definitely selected at random due to their balance of experience and weapons mastery that make up for their more passive abilities, but the juniors do not have that same advantage. Especially on the first day, they will have to send the more 'prepared' students, and that would mean either the stronger ones in terms of abilities, or those who make up for the lack of through either weapons mastery, or high physical combat ability.

There are eight students chosen each time for the excursion to Andromeda Sector. Lena is surprised to see someone as powerful as Nova still present in the room with them and yet to be chosen as the first one on the list, but since there are already two students from their year, it's hardly a so called balanced team according to the authorities if they pick any more from their year, however capable they might be. Year 2 alone, be it chance or something else entirely, has both Caelus and Nova—two top students of the academy possessing high ability talent and destructive type abilities. Lena can only believe that luck is somehow always on Caelus' side for his name not to be chosen at random even if he is one of the top priority picks among the juniors for the first rotation given his status, but she also wonders briefly why Nova isn't similarly chosen.

It's hard to believe that the authorities would balance the team with two students with great abilities but high weapons mastery and not one of that and another of higher ability mastery in general. Everett and Neesha are of the same average ranking, and have similar strengths and weaknesses, but if one of them are swapped out for someone like Caelus or Nova, the duo would be stronger as the destructive abilities can complement the other student, even if neither of the two powerful boys have as high a weapons mastery compared to the initial picks.

Another dread Lena immediately identifies is the fact that Ms Veronique, who has the power to grade them based on their affinity toward weapons, have reported all students' mastery to the authorities and granted them the information and access to choose from the best under such circumstances. Whether or not their instructor is dooming them all by carelessly nominating the students or perhaps saving them by only choosing the most capable of students, is in an entirely grey zone for debate.

"Now that that's cleared up," Ms Veronique continues at the front of the class, "please take this period to choose something you'd likely be taking with you into an actual battle scenario. Once you think you've chosen your weapon, I'd be approving your choice once you demonstrate your capability to wield it well."

The class begins to move, and their instructor also wastes no time in advising certain students of their handling or whether or not their weapon of choice is suitable. She also starts to lecture about how these weapons are different from the regular ones they have been using during training, because these are the weapons that have been molded with the necessary formula to exorcise demons.

"A weapon is an extension of yourself in battle, just as much as your abilities. Where your abilities lack in strength, it is up to your weapon of choice to make up for it..."

Lena and Roen make toward the table in the centre of the room, each going for their usuals: Lena and her daggers, Roen and his sword. But they stop moving forward in their line or listening to Ms Veronique's advice as the back of the room begin parting ways for a certain someone, who makes his way over to them naturally.

"Look who's decided to show up in class for once!" Roen begins to exclaim, earning a glare from Caelus, who is trying to fit into the class as subtly as he can—apologizing to the students he passes.

It helps that the usual Weaponry class is hosting three times as many students as usual, given that all three classes of their year are here for this particular session.

Lena glances to the front row. If Ms Veronique notices anything happening at the back of the class, she either chooses not to comment, or decides to let it go. She continues to talk about how to properly use these weapons against a demon's weak points, and mentions that they will have to remember—and execute—all their lessons in Arcane Academy in tandem for their upcoming simulation in the afternoon. Their revamped timetable did mention a whole new 'field training' simulation that will take place later on in the day, replacing most of their theory classes.

"Have Cel—" Lena stops herself, and chooses another approach. "Have the students left for Sector Andromeda?"

As usual, Caelus is unreadable. His eyes seem to roam around the room, then the table full of weapons, as if cataloguing them and silently choosing them in his head. He'd arrived late—and Saints know how he does it all the time, even with the protocols—mainly because of Celeste, but there is no telling how he's dealing with this situation. If anything, he seems as calm as ever.

"There's been a delay" is Caelus' casual reply, before the trio are ushered further into the line, nearing the weapons table once more.

At the front of the room, Ms Veronique is already engaged in evaluating certain students' choices. There is a steady stream of activity in the room now, most of the students testing out how the weapons feel by using them directly on the available simulated targets in the room.

"So, what's it going to be?" Roen fires the question at Caelus, as he weighs different types of swords in his hands, then swinging them for effect and testing. "Mister 'I-can't-pick-a-weapon, because I'm-good-at-every-single-one-of-them'?"

Lena is in the process of feeling out the throwing daggers and the longer, hand-wielded daggers—she doesn't suppose that they can bring as many as they want since there is a limited supply on these demon killing weapons, so she'd have to choose her limited arsenal wisely—when she hears this comment. She tucks her finger into the seams of her pocket once to make sure she still has the one Caelus gave her, before looking at him in disbelief. This guy just has to be good in every single thing, including weapons.

She's about to make a remark when Caelus frowns and says, "I've never said that."

Roen shrugs, snickering. "I mean, when have you not use all the available weapons in this room, and successfully make a show of using every single one of them with deadly efficiency?"

"I don't attend Weaponry."

"That's worse; that means we all remember it from the once or twice you actually decided to show up in class."

"I'm just not as creative as some people when it comes to picking something that will complement my ability," Caelus admits, his gaze on the spread of weapons.

Lena looks up, and even Roen falls quiet suddenly, and they both trade a quick glance. They know he's talking about Celeste, for one, without mentioning her name.

Lena thinks back to earlier, when Caelus had offhandedly mentioned about how the students supposedly going into Andromeda Sector today were now delayed.

Before she can ask if the delay is a good or bad thing, Caelus says, "Roen, I need a favor."

"Sure, anything," Roen responds cheerily. "What is it?"

"Later," Caelus replies airily, distracted.

Lena notices what he's now observing: the room has begun to slowly cease its activities—first from the guards, who are now whispering among themselves as if to pass a message; then Ms Veronique, who has paused in her evaluation of the growing student line to listen in on what they have for her. Soon, the students in line grow fidgety, and the remaining ones who are still firing weapons back and forth or swinging against one another halt their movements as their surroundings fall into stillness.

Lena whispers, "What's going on?"

"The delay," Caelus offers, still indifferent.

"You didn't do anything crazy, did you?" Roen says under his breath.

"No," Caelus answers plainly. "It's just that the old man's returned."