Callidus Rematch

Callidus and Stella sit on the bench together in silence, neither sure of what to say. After a while, they’re about to get up and walk somewhere else and more than likely part ways for the morning. Before they can, however, a glowing circle appears in the air in front of them, just barely hovering off the ground. From the circle exit an older man in the purple dress uniform of the Magic Corps, the golden trim clearly distinguishing it from the black uniforms of the Institute. At the man’s side, holding his hand, is a small girl with dark skin in a simple white dress, the same girl that had beaten Callidus only a day prior. She’s been cleaned up properly in that time and Callidus, taking a proper look at the girl for the first time, supposes she might be quite a cute child. Lama looks up at Salvo, excited.

“Teach me that spell!” Salvo laughs somewhat dismissively, trying to move along to hide his large lack of teaching ability.

“You should be asking Libarius for things like that.” Callidus stands up suddenly.

“Fight me.” Salvo looks at Callidus dumbfounded.

“What? I don’t make a habit of fighting random teenagers.”

“Not you.”

“You shouldn’t make a habit of fighting children either.”

“That’s not what I’m—!” Lama suddenly cuts in.

“Ah! You’re one of the weaklings!” Callidus glares at Salvo.

“It’s only been a day, so why’s she already talking like her damn master?”

“They’re not that bad!” Callidus doesn’t care about his protests. He squats down so his eyes are level with Lama’s.

“So how about it? Up for a match? Or are you too cowardly for that?”

“Shut up! Why should I have to fight a weakling like you!” Stella, still sitting on the bench, begins to talk.

“Callidus, why are you trying to fight a little girl?”

“It’s a matter of pride, Ms. Sidus. A matter of pride.” He says it like it’s obvious.

“But was losing really such a shameful thing, if you think about it?”

“Who knows. But if I win in the end, I won’t have to think about it anymore, will I?” He smiles at her, and that’s all she needs to be convinced.

“But I don’t think she wants to fight.”

“Maybe. But if she’s getting scared off because she knows I’ve seen through her only spell, then isn’t that my win too?” Lama gets annoyed.

“I’m not scared! I’m strong!”

It’s obvious from Lama’s posture that she’s gearing up for a fight. Salvo looks weary as he gets away, readying himself to stop the fight if something goes too far.

The ground begins to turn to mud and Callidus can feel himself beginning to slip in. He casts a spell, powerful winds blowing out of him in every direction and pushing the mud off of him. The mud shifts around, rising up to make a thin dome around him. Inside the dome, Callidus shoots a large blast of wind above him, boring a large hole in the top of the dome. As he begins to fall, Callidus shoots another strong burst at his feet and throws himself up out of the dome.

As he flies up, the mud begins to ripple then forms into thick tendrils that follow after him. Callidus flips himself around and shoots snaking flames down at the tendrils. The fires swirl around the tendrils and bake the mud, stopping them in the air.

Callidus falls onto one tendril and quickly makes his way down it, half-falling. He gets right over Lama. Lama looks up at him and flinches back, swallowing herself up in the mud. As the mud returns to being hard ground, Callidus creates a billow of wind below him to soften the landing. He falls onto his shoulder and rolls back up to his feet.

Lama reappears behind him at a distance outside his reach. Callidus whips his head around and shoots ice along the ground. It wraps around Lama’s ankles and a single sharp needle grows out of the trail to point at her neck.

Salvo walks over and pulls Lama out of the ice.

“Well, it seems you’ve lost.”

“I haven’t! I haven’t lost!” Callidus sticks his tongue out at her.

“Sorry, at the very least I haven’t made a habit of killing random kids. So stop whining.”

Lama bares her teeth at him then sinks one of his legs into mud. It was just as he was taking a step and almost tripped him. Salvo sighs, and the next moment Callidus’ leg is sent up out of the mud. He turns Lama around and lifts her up higher so that she’s looking right at his face.

“Stop it, Lama.” His voice is stern enough to make Lama droop within his grip in resignation. Salvo then turns his attention towards Callidus. “You’re pretty strong. You’re the one who was with Libarius yesterday? The youngest Mercurius child.”

At that, Callidus looks Salvo over and knows that he has no idea who he is. Despite the fact that he seems to know what happened, Callidus cannot figure out who Salvo is. All Callidus knows is what he knew when they parted, that Libarius had decided to make the girl his disciple and that he was to act as though it had always been the case, even if he’s already failed in that. He has no idea what happened to them afterwards. If there’s a soldier with her now, Callidus figures, then it’s perfectly possible that something has happened to Libarius.

“And who are you, to know all that?”

“Ah, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m—” Before he can finish, Gracia runs up to the group.

“Major General, Lama, I’ve come to take you to Master’s office. You don’t know where it is, right?”

“I’ve never even come to the institute before!” Salvo laughs. Callidus looks at Gracia.

“What are you doing here, Ms. Vis?” Her face keeps an easy smile as she answers.

“Libarius is an inconsiderate moron so I came to escort them in his place.”

“Hey, Libarius…” Salvo cut in to defend him, but his voice trails off. “…he would make things worse, so…”

“He really is indefensible, huh? And who are you? What’s such a high ranking member of the army doing here?”

“Right! My name is Salvo Mitis. I’m Libarius and Lama’s father.” Callidus quickly figures out what Libarius must have done last night, and stops himself from laughing.

“Well, I don’t want to hear anything else, so should we get going, Ms. Sidus?” He turns back to her. Stella stands up.

“I suppose we should.”

Stella bows her head to Gracia before the two of them walk off. Salvo puts Lama back on the ground.

“Well, we should get going too, Gracia. You and Libarius have a class to be teaching soon, if I’ve understood things right. And I’m sure Summe is dying to see me.”