Knock.. knock.. 

I heard a light knock on the door. Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice spoke.

"Daniel, are you in?"

I opened the door and greeted the man standing outside our dorm.

"Yes Professor Arthur, we are under lockdown orders either way."

The Professor chuckled, and shifted his gaze away from me. "Just wanted to make sure. The Headmaster wants to see you. I don't think you are in any trouble, but I wouldn't count on it. I tried my best to defend you as this is partially my fault as well." 

He clearly felt like he was responsible for causing this, which I found was an admirable trait. Although he was clearly not at fault - he simply wanted to make sure I lacked magic capabilites. After all, it was his quick thinking that had saved both of our lives.

"It is most certainly not your fault, Professor." I tried to console him. He gave me a quick smile, and then walked off. I followed close behind, trailing behind in the narrow corridors that lead to the Headmaster's office. We walked past many deserted classrooms, which really made me consider what issues I had caused in this academy. To say I felt guilty would be an understatement. 

Finally, we stood in front of a pair of large double doors. I saw the Professor as hesitant to knock, clearly afraid of what might become of both of us. We had caused a large incident, and although I did not see him at fault, the Academy may think otherwise. The Professor finally gathered the courage, and knocked on the doors. After a short moment that felt like eternity, the doors opened by themselves. 

What I found was a large room, large enough to fit three dorms inside. On the right side was a large desk, with a massive window pane that looked down to the courtyard just behind the desk. There was a large chair that almost looked like a modern throne, but the Headmaster was not sitting in it. We found him in the massive double story library located inside the room. 

He climbed down the ladder that he had used to pick up a book from the top shelf, and greeted us.

"Welcome to my office. Why don't you take a seat?" the Headmaster gestured to two couches in front of his desk. We did as ordered, as we did not want to create problems and dig a bigger hole for ourselves.

The Headmaster sat down in his throne-like chair and placed the large book he had been carrying. He placed it down with a loud thump!

The book's cover did not contain a title, nor did it have any images that hinted at what it may be. Our only source of information was what the Headmaster was about to disclose to us. 

"This book contains information regarding many folks and legends. Keep in mind, none of these have proper sources or confirmation, so I am going to be telling you both a story that may have some truth to it." the Headmaster spoke. 

"Long ago, there was a boy born without magic. This is likely before the discovery of magic by Europe, which means their knowledge of magic is deeper than ours. At first, no one truly understood why he failed to cast magic, while all of his peers could do so. Even his siblings from the same parents could become mages just as well as normal magicians, but something kept this boy from doing so. 

'Perhaps he lacks the skill to cast magic?' proposed someone.

'That is not possible. We would be able to tell if he was simply unskilled.' responded someone else.

The story gets muddy here. They say that the mother sacrificed herself for the boy, hoping it would fix her son. The ritual for the sacrifice is not detailed, nor is it explained just how much she had to sacrifice. But it is known that the ritual ended in her death, and the boy was finally able to cast magic like his peers. The boy was overjoyed and traumatised at the same time. He stopped speaking to others, and people who interacted with him claimed he showed an overwhelming amount of maturity for his age. It was as if he had lived many lives, and gained the experience to show for it."

The Headmaster sighed. "That was all. Do you have any suggestions how this mother fixed her son?"

Professor Arthur thought for a moment. "Perhaps she sacrificed her soul to a demon, who in return gave magical powers to the boy?" 

The Headmaster pondered for a moment. "That is a good thought. However, I believe otherwise."

Our interests piqued as the Headmaster held out the answer for as long as possible, for an unknown reason.

"If she had simply sold her soul for a deal, that would not explain how the boy was described as 'having lived multiple lives'. I believe that she migrated her soul into her son." 

Migrated her soul? Is that even possible?! I was shocked. 

"Does that not mean the mana capability lies within the spirit?" I thought out loud. "Does that mean my soul is.. broken?"

The Headmaster shook his head. "I agree with the fact that mana may be associated with one's own soul. However, I disagree that your soul is broken. I believe you simply lacked one when you were born." 

Lacked one?? How the hell am I still alive then?! 

As if reading my thoughts, the Headmaster spoke. "I do not know how, but I still sense a spirit within you. When you regained your spirit at some point, or gained something else entirely, you were not bestowed the magical powers of a normal human." 

I fell back on the chair. It made no sense, how I could lack something as basic as a human spirit. Professor Arthur had not spoken in a while, and I could see that he was deep in thought as well. 

In the legend, the boy gained a spirit and magical powers by the sacrifice of his mother.. So then, why can I still not use magic even though I have a spirit?

The days passed by quickly after that. I noticed that the teaching board had started paying more attention to me, but that was not much of an issue. What the headmaster told us haunted me, and it looked like it did to Professor Arthur as well, but after a month or two we had nearly forgotten about it. 

I continued my studies, although most magic teachers refrained from letting me attempt to use mana - not like I could anyway. Presumably a simple precaution. 

On the bright side, I had gotten better at chemistry and no longer felt like sleeping during every lesson. William has been more than helpful to me, especially after the incident where he helped me against the rumors that had been flying around about me.

My name had been dragged through the ground, but him vouching for me gave a bit of confidence. But one thing I did not expect, was Meran becoming a very devout Christian.

 

Religion had lost a large base after the discovery of magic, and learning that Angels and Demons were simply a race similar to humans. Although many still saw them as deities, it was clear that they did not serve a higher being. Instead, they fought each other for years on end in order to gain a small advantage over the other. Often, humans would be caught up in these disastrous wars. They would cause natural disaster-like earthquakes, storms, explosions and the like. They did not care to ensure humanity's well-being. They saw us as lesser.

So when Meran started preaching how the angels were holy beings, I was extremely confused at how someone like him could still believe in something like this. To each their own, I guess.

Right now, Professor Arthur and I were working on something that could give me the edge in combat in his office. Me lacking mana meant that I had little to no chance of development, but that could be changed with potions.

Professor Arthur handed me a small vial with black slime-like goo in it and spoke,

"Try drinking this. I am not certain what it does, but the ancient recipe states that it can bring out a person's inner talent."

I simply nodded and opened the cork of the vial. Immediately, a disgusting smell slammed against my nostrils. It smelled like onions that had been forgotten for over a year. Trying to ignore the smell, I shut off my nose and drank it all in a single gulp. I felt the icky goo go down my throat, with a small stinging feeling following closely behind.

"That was disgusting." I said flatly. The Professor gave a short laugh and sat down in his chair. "Feel anything different?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I only feel disgusting." 

"Back to the drawing board then.. you may leave." he dismissed me. 

I bowed slightly and thanked him for his help, as always he simply nodded and started looking for books in his private library. I walked out of the room and started heading back to my dorm room. I got to my door and I started feeling very heavy.. as if I had taken sedatives. I opened the door with great struggle and immediately flopped on my bed.

I opened my eyes to pitch blackness. A loud voice boomed in my head,

"What the hell is that disgusting thing?!" 

The voice that lacked a body seemed disturbed by something. All of a sudden, black flames coated in a purple tint started to appear all around me. I sprang up in a panic, until I noticed that the flames had spread to my arms. 

I panicked and started rolling on the ground, but soon realised that the fire was not actually giving me any pain, nor did my skin show any sign of deterioration. 

I heard a chuckle from the voice again. "How interesting.."

My eyes shot open again, and this time I was in my bedroom. There was no sign of the flames that coated my body in flames before, and I realised I had left the door open in my rush to get to the bed. I got up from my bed and closed the door. 

Was that a result of the potion..? I should tell Professor Arthur..

I looked at the time and was confused. 

9 AM..? But I got back at 4 PM..

Then the realisation hit me. I had been asleep ever since then! I panicked and rushed out of the dorm, straight to Professor Arthur's office. I knocked on his door while taking short breaths. 

"Come in," said the Professor. I opened the door without a second thought, and saw the Professor reading a large tome. "What the hell happened? You look horrible. Hold on, what happened to your eye?"

"My eye?" I asked, confused. He gave me a handheld mirror and let me see for myself. One of my irises had turned a purple hue. It must have been the potion.

I next explained to him what I dreamed of, and how I had felt extremely tired after taking the potion. The Professor grinned and spoke,

"So it has worked, then. Try to channel something, anything." 

"How do I channel?" I asked, unaware of how things such as that worked, as I was not experienced in channeling mana like a mage. 

"It's a feeling like you are trying to push out something from your palm. You have to squeeze it out without physically doing anything." he responded.

I nodded, and gave it a try. I focused heavily on my palm, and increased my efforts. I do not know how long I had been trying for, but finally, something happened.

My right arm burst into purple flames. The feeling was familiar, so I did not panic. I accepted it's warm embrace without concern. I looked over at Arthur, and saw that he was in pure awe over my sudden development. I saw that one of his eyes had gained a slight green tilt, and as I had learned from him during our countless experiments, that was an ability that allowed him to see mana.

"That's not mana.. Are you not in any pain at all?" he asked, seeking to confirm what I felt.

I shook my head. "No, but it does feel draining.. it's using something other than mana, but I cannot put my finger on it." 

Next, Arthur approached me and tried to grab my hand. However, what he was greeted was immense heat from my arm. It left a burn mark on his palm. He yelped and jumped back, seemingly baffled.

"Are you okay, Professor?" I asked, worried about his condition. 

He shook his hands in the air and responded, "I'm fine, but I have never heard a type of magic like this before.. A flame that doesn't hurt it's user. Try to withdraw it by doing the same thing, but pulling in instead of out."

I did as ordered, and felt the flames retract back into my arm. I had understood withdrawing easier than channeling. 

"This could be pretty useful. You should invest time into training it to perfection." said Arthur. 

I was pretty excited to finally have a power of my own. "Yes sir!" I replied with enthusiasm. 

"Additionally, keep this a secret from everyone else. We do not know the source of this strength, nor do we know how to control it properly. If word gets out, the government may even send soldiers to seize you and use you as a test subject. I am certain you cannot fight off many talented mages."

I gulped and nodded. He was right, as excited as I was, I couldn't afford to let others know about this strength. 

Over the next few days, I attempted to refine this ability. The first thing I learned to do was carrying over the ability to a sword, which I did was relative ease. Afterwards, I tried to turn it into a projectile, which failed spectacularly. Although, I was able to leave a trail behind me as I walked which was a huge advantage to get someone off my trail. 

Professor Arthur and I looked through old records of abilities, but were not able to find anything similar to this. As such, I was free to name it as I pleased. Much to the dismay of the Professor, I called it..

Invicta.