The journey back to the Academy was uneventful. They took a straight line east, and once they left the desert, retraced their steps along the coast (while doing their best to avoid the Spiritmongers' Guild estate).

It took a few weeks still, but the strain of travelling with Wraith wasn't nearly as difficult as it had been at Silver.

With each step Wulf took, it felt like he used less mana. Perhaps his body was just more efficient at allocating it to his Skills. Perhaps the Class Evolution had something to do with it. He couldn't say for certain.

Alongside the Class Evolution, though, there was something else slightly different. He couldn't explain perfect, but it felt like someone had shored up his spine and his mana channels, and his very existence. The impact he had on the world around him was greater, somehow. Outside the cockpit of Wraith, when he took a step, dust shifted away from his boot, the air parted slightly to let him through.

Upon reaching Gold, an Ascendant significantly increased their lifespan. At Iron, most Ascendants lived a hundred and fifty years, at Silver they lived two hundred. Given, of course, that nothing else killed them in that time. But a Gold could live nearly four hundred. It was a massive leap, and probably because of the spirit.

When they returned to Centralis City, not much had changed. Not on the outside. A few more Fiend corpses rested beside the gate, smouldering and smoking, but the wall was doing its job, and the fiends stayed where they were supposed to be.

The gate opened for Wulf, and he returned Wraith to the Academy hangar. As soon as they slotted the Oronith back into its hangar bay, Wulf un-socketed himself and said, "I'm going to bring this information to Azanthius and Athllas."

"Right away?" Seith asked.

Irmond said, "You do realize that we weren't, like, supposed to be exploring the Scorchlands, right?"

"Yeah, and we're probably going to end up doing a lot more things that we weren't supposed to," Wulf said. "It doesn't matter. We need to survive."

As he ran down the scaffolding around Wraith, Kalee said, "We took a surprisingly little amount of damage on that expedition."

"Surprisingly," Wulf replied. He reached out and touched one of Wraith's outer panels as he descended the stairs. "But I apologize in advance, bud. Because whatever happens next probably won't be so easy."

"It's a spirit," Kalee said. "It doesn't really feel anything, right?"

"I don't know for certain," Wulf replied. "I've caught primal emotive leaks from Wraith before. Maybe it was just reflecting what I myself feel. Maybe it was just reflecting our bond."

"I suppose…" she replied.

"You coming to see Azanthius with me?"

"I think that's a job for just you," she replied. "You've gotten a lot closer to him than I have."

"Alright." He turned back toward her. "Keep the others in line, though. Don't let them go starting trouble before it's time."

"Before it's time?"

"We're going to have to cause problems at some point. I'd rather keep our heads down until then, though."

~ ~ ~

Wulf had to spend a half-hour waiting outside Dr. Azanthius' office before the man let him in (and dismissed a group of Association Heads who he was giving a stern talking to). Wulf didn't catch all the details, but there was plenty of reminding going on, telling them about what happened to the Lions, and how they didn't want to end up suffering the same fate.

Finally, Dr. Azanthius said, "Hrothen. I know you're out there."

"Can I come in, Headmaster?"

"Yes."

Wulf stepped into the office and took a seat right in front of the desk. His flight suit crinkled as he leaned forward, and he was pretty sure there was still sand from the Scorchlands leaking out of every crevice. The Scorchlands' sand and dust got everywhere.

The Headmaster sighed and said, "What did you do?"

"That's the first assumption?"

"I was going to summon you here, Hrothen, because I have my own matters to discuss with you. But then you came here willingly, and I am very curious why."

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"We know what the demons are doing," he replied. "And we know where they're doing it."

"Do enlighten me."

"You have a map?"

The headmaster stood up and plucked a sepia globe off the shelf, then carried it back to the table and set it down.

"Alright, so, look," Wulf said. He twisted the globe until he found the Scorchlands, then the Rimegorge. Even from such a distant view, the Rimegorge had been marked out, and there was a slight intent where it ran straight across the Scorchlands. "In the gorge. They're digging something down there. They're making a massive underground cavern, and there's a portal in it."

"A portal?" Azanthius asked.

"The demons are harvesting our world, destroying it. But they're sending some of those materials elsewhere," Wulf said. "As well as using it to build more demon spheres. To expand indefinitely, destroying everything that's unlucky enough to stumble into their way."

"Some in the Church of the Field say it's divine punishment for our transgressions."

"I'm not overly concerned about what a fringe of the church says, headmaster," Wulf replied. "Blind chance, divine punishment, what have you, it doesn't matter. I want to live."

"What do you think the demons are, my boy?"

"Is this a test?"

"It's curiosity."

Wulf crossed his arms. "I can't say anything with certainty. I know there's more to them than heavenly punishment, but that doesn't mean they're not evil."

"What would you say evil is? Are they simply trying to survive? Are they another species like us, a plague unto their world, tearing it apart for endless expansion?"

Wulf narrowed his eyes. "Spare me that, Headmaster."

A grin slipped onto Azanthius' lips. "Why's that?"

The headmaster was goading Wulf into something. Wulf was pretty sure he knew what the headmaster wanted. "Because I know what they do, Azanthius. You think I haven't seen the suffering they cause? They lack something fundamental. They're not like us. You can point to a human, or a near-human, and we have similar thought processes, we have a similar range of abilities and moral expressions, no matter your homeland. That's clear enough to me. But you can't apply human thinking to a non-human entity. The demons do not think like us."

"It sounds like you have experience with them."

Wulf crossed his arms and exhaled. "What do you want from me?"

"You didn't say what you think evil is."

Wulf chewed his lip. "I—" He set his hands on the desk. "I don't think evil is something that exists. There's no dark wisp of black magic that infects you. Evil, true evil, is simply a lack of good. They come from the void, they come from nothing. They're monsters, like what we have here, but their spirits are different from our monsters', tainted by the void with absolute nothingness, except a will to destroy and spread." He pressed his hands down on the table. "Headmaster, if we do nothing, they will destroy us. I guarantee that. I'm not asking you to agree with me. I'm asking you to side with humanity."

"If we're not better than them—"

"But we are. We have the capacity. We're not born in the void. We're not emptied by it. Out there, I see people helping each other!" Wulf slapped the table. "You ever see a fiend help his neighbor plow his field because the is going to be especially bad? You ever see a fiend hold the door, or Field forbid, help his friend admit his love to another?"

"I see." Azanthius stroked his chin. He inhaled slowly. "I apologize, Wulf. I'm an old man, and things look bleaker by the year."

"I don't care if you change your mind. I don't care if you agree with me, or my outlook. Maybe I'm wrong. But don't let the world be destroyed. Not everyone is an Orichalcum."

Azanthius nodded slowly. "I believe we have gotten side-tracked."

"Perhaps." Wulf tapped the side of the globe again. "The fiends are building a portal. They're sending materials through it. They're harvesting our planet, building more spheres on the opposite side of the universe. I want to send a bomb through it."

"A bomb?"

"I can make one. As an Alchemist, I can do it."

"What do you think is on the other side of the portal, Hrothen?" Azanthius asked. "Another world like ours?"

"No. Because the demons couldn't come from a world like ours. And if it's meant to dissuade me, it won't. Whatever's on the other side of that portal, it's fuelling them. We take it out, they die too. If we don't, they'll destroy us. It's not about what I believe they ate, headmaster. It's about keeping us alive."

"You speak with a desperation I haven't seen in anyone else."

"I know you want me to reveal something, Headmaster. Well, ask. Enough dancing around it. Just tell me what you want to know."

"Ms. Arnau believes you have come from the future. That you have lived your life entirely already, and you lost. That you have come back to help us—to try one more time."

"You can't spread the word," Wulf said.

"I won't. I don't need the Orichalcums hunting you more than they already are. But I take it to mean I'm correct?"

Wulf sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, you're correct. But why would they hunt me down? I have my suspicions, but if you know something…"

"They don't like threats to their power, simple," Azanthius said. "They think they can beat the demons by doing things the same as they always have."

"So we're on the same page," Wulf replied. "Well, look, I'm going to work on that bomb."

"The Orichalcums won't like it if they find out."

"Why? They may not agree with my methods, but why stand in my way?"

"Because the demons let them hold on a little longer," Azanthius said. "They're an excuse to treat people however they want, to consolidate power. I imagine in your last life, it worked out quite well for them, up until the end. If you beat the demons quickly, then they won't have those chances."

Wulf sighed.

"They control the academy, Wulf, whether you like it or not. Eventually, they will stand against you, and much of the academy will too. But I think you already knew that."

"Will you stop me?"

"I'm glad you never told me about your plan to defeat the demons, Wulf." Azanthius grinned. "And I would be glad to keep providing instruction to you, as long as you need it."

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