"Wait!" I gasped, blinking as my eyes widened. "I think I have an idea."

  "What's it?" Null asked, pulling out his sungsses and sliding them over his eyes.

  I raised my hands, motioning for everyoo follow me. "We should take a closer look at that oversized square key in the ter."

  "What for?" Forest Willow asked, tilting her head. "We tried everything already."

  "Let's just take a closer look," I urged, jogging toward the ter of the yout.

  The circle and triangur keys were reasonably portable - about the size of a human head. However, the square key was massive in parison, about as rge as a truck tire.

  I kneeled, iing it carefully. It had a deep spiraling fractal pattern that seemed to move and twist as I stared at it. It was the type of pattern that strained your eyes if you looked at it too long.

  Elysia quietly walked o me, eyeing me curiously as she leaned against the key. "So, Lux. What are you thinking?"

  I shrugged, shaking my head. "I'm thinking about how the instrus were worded. 'For the rightful path lies between opposing forces, and in the end, only one shall proceed.' There's something fishy about this whole setup, and I'm w if we're looking at this thing from the wrong perspective."

  Null stepped up to my other side, frowning as he rubbed his . "Yeah. This looks like a puzzle alright. Something straight out of an RPG."

  I walked up to it, cheg the altar it was sitting on. It had a square recess, and the square key fitted perfectly into it. If there was a way to take it out, it wasn't obvious.

  I traced my fingers over the edges, searg for a oint or seam. It was embedded deep into the stone, and I couldn't find a grip to even attempt to pull it out.

  "You know," I muttered, narrowing my eyes as I looked at the rest of the meism. "There's a triangle keyhole oher side of the circle keyhole, and a circle keyhole oher side of the triangle keyhole."

  Aurora raised a brow, ing up behind me and leaning over to get a better look at the square. "Y-yeah?"

  I tried to push against the altar, but it wouldn't budge. But it clicked in my head that something else wasn't right.

  "Hey, let me try something else," I muttered, rubbing my thoughtfully. "Cover me just in case."

  Forest Willow looked fused. "Huh?"

  But Null nodded, immediately taking a defeah his fists raised. "Oh boy."

  Elysia smiled softly, narrowing her eyes as she shifted into a defensive position by my side. "Go for it, Lux."

  I smirked, gng at her before crawling behind the stone sb.

  Something wasn't right. There were slight insistencies in the design, and the back of the square was loosely structed pared to the top.

  I held up both hands, breathing deeply, mana arg around my hands as I began to gather energy.

  Null looked at me with a sck jaw as my hair began to flutter, and Ace's eyes widened in arm.

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ace ughed, c her mouth with a snicker. "You 't be serious!"

  I gred at her, charging my energy as I felt the mana f in my hands reach the sed rank of power for the skill. "Maybe. I think it's time to take a closer look."

  "You guys might want to step back," Elysia grinned as she wi Forest Willow and Null, raising one hand in the air to get ready.

  "H-hold on a sed!" Aurora stammered, waving her hands frantically. "We 't just go shooting at a big, plex, potentially culturally signifit structure built by the school without care!"

  "I dunno," Null shrugged, his arms crossed as he sed the area. "This pce is weird anyway. There's some crazy thing going on here, and it seems like we're not the only ones locked in some screwed up test in this battle royale. It wouldn't surprise me the school expects colteral damage."

  "Huh," Ace suddenly spoke frht o me as I took aim. "Say, you've only been tracted sihe Cataclysm, Lux? You aren't actually standard admissions like Elysia here?"

  I nearly misfired out of surprise, but I set my shoulders a aiming as I gred at her. "That's right. What about it?"

  She chuckled, raising her hands up ily. "Nothing, nothing. You're a bit of a curiosity, that's all."

  "Just y off, Ace," Elysia muttered, leveling her gaze.

  Ace simply winked in response, smirking as she tipped her hat.

  "Hey, hey. Unlike my teammates I never oively picked a fight with you or her," she said, shrugging. "Why get everyone's feathers in a ruffle? 't we call a trud work things out, at least for a while?"

  "Yeah, yeah. Like you won't totally screw us over the moment our backs are turned, right?" Null hissed, rolling his eyes.

  Ace grinned, chug as she shook her head. "Hey, you never know!"

  "Hey!" I snarled, my teeth baring in frustration. " we focus, please?!"

  "Um. If I may." Forest Willow squatted down beside me, running her hands over the square key. "I think I help. I think we should think this through befoing with the brute force option."

  Her eyes fshed with a pale green glow as she held up her own hands.

  "Survival Art: One-Way Mirror."

  And suddenly, the key and the altar behind it faded into translut, see-through forms. It wasn't totally see-through, though. And we could make out patches of meisms, levers, and pullies, along with several mana crystals studding the interior.

  "Whoa," I blinked in surprise.

  "Okay. That's pretty cool," Null nodded as he kneeled beside Forest Willow. "Now we actually see what's going on with this thing. Thanks, Willow."

  She nodded, l her hands as the glow faded from her eyes. "No problem. You guys see anything? Any irregurities, any marks or symbols?"

  I tinued sing the structure for any clues or oints, searg for anything that stood out or was out of pce.

  "Ah. Look behind the square key," Aurora noted. "Something's carved there, and there's a lot of empty space between the key and the back of the altar."

  Null scratched the back of his neck, leaning closer. "Yup. Sure looks like it."

  The spiraling pattern at the ter of the square key was only half formed through Willow's ability, but a few details stood out.

  Aurora studied the carvings for a moment, squinting her eyes. "I do believe the square key be removed but it might take a bit of finesse and patieo extract it. It seems to be ected to the base with some intricate threads or wires."

  Forest Willow nodded, her eyes fshing green again. "Hm... That doesn't seem too surprising. But any ideas on how to aplish that? Maybe there's a hidden switch?"

  "Ahem," I coughed, raising my eyebrows as their heads turoward me.

  I held up the ball of golden energy I had formed in my hands, putting on my best deadpan face as I braced myself in a wide stance.

  "Sheesh," Ace muttered, chug to herself. "Just as I expected. What a dangerous card she might turn out to be..."

  I tried not to think about the implications of that, and instead pulled back my energy just a bit. "Elysia? Put up barrier behind me, please."

  "You got it, Lux!"

  As I took aim, I allowed my energy to spark and shimmer around my hands.

  A gust of wind picked up, blowing my hair and clothes back as the golden light rose to the sed rank.

  "Are you sure about this?" Forest Willoed, eyeing me worriedly.

  "Yeah. Don't worry, I won't blow the altar away or anything."

  "Ready when you are," Elysia whispered, crossing her arms as a grid of honeybed blue barriers appeared around the group.

  The two of us shared a simultaneous nod and smile.

  "Here goes nothing," I turned back to the key. "Let's do it."

  I focused my tration, narrowing the size of the ball to half of its starting radius.

  It was my most taxing ability by far outside of the abilities I could 'borrow' through Hopeful Heart Alchemy, and it was something Twilight Aster had specifically helped me develop exercises for. I'd gained a siderable amount of trol just messing around in my own room iermath of the Cataclysm, and I still had a long ways to go with it.

  But the 'Ranks' I'd gained on Luminary Beam and some of my other more practical abilities had tributed signifitly to my aggregated level uhe System iwo weeks after the Cataclysm. My hair flew back violently with my dress as I added a torque and rotation to the ball of raw energy in my hand, taking a deep breath and l my stance.

  "Hopeful Heart Alchemy," I whispered quietly that only. "Love's Embrace."

  A faint pink light settled over my ball, and I felt a deep drain on my mana as it was imbued with an additional effect. An effect that would prevent excessive colteral damage.

  And with that, I let loose.

  "Luminary Beam!"

  The ray of golden light smmed into the square key, exploding with a blinding fsh and an expanding shockwave that toppled several nearby trees.

  An explosion of debris, mana, and thundering ripples of energy rattled through the air, sending a shockwave through the ground.

  After a long quiet moment, the dust and mist began to clear, and we peered through the fading aftermath of my bst.

  "hat the hell was that?" an unfamiliar voice squeaked from nearby.

  I turned, only to see the boy with the dress shirt, pocket protector, and katana.

  He was walking up the path along with the e-haired tall girl with the halberd Elysia had restrained. Both look visibly roughed up, with the boy's bck hair soaked and a trickle of blood dribbling from his nose.

  "Ah, just in time," Elysia hummed with a smirk. "Look at that."

  She poi the alter, where the ter square key had cracked down the middle, and the cra the ter glowed with a faint pulse.

  "Wowza!" Ace whistled. "That might've hit as hard as one of Sunny's bsts. How'd you mao do that without blowing everything sky high?"

  I simply gave her a shrug, and awkwardly held my arms behind my head. I didly want to reveal that card just yet.

  The e-haired magical knight gawked as she walked up to us, nursing a swollen eye. "What exactly happened here?"

  Aurora frowurning to look at her with a raised brow. "What do you mean? We've just been trying to solve the gate's puzzle."

  "The gate has a puzzle?" the boy asked, wiping his nose.

  "We're not even sure if there's a puzzle, but Lux split that thing open alright," Null sighed as he stared back at the key.

  "One key must be forsaken to alighs..." Elysia muttered to herself.

  I studied her rea, tilting my head in . "What's wrong?"

  "Oh, uh..." she stammered, staring at the ground. "I was just thinking about the instrus."

  roup moved together, examining the shattered remains of the massive key. Aurora squatted o it, poking at it with her finger before scooting behind the altar.

  The tall e-haired girl walked up to the shattered ter and picked up a piece of the square rubbing her fingers over it thoughtfully.

  "Hey guys?" Aurora suddenly spoke from behind the altar.

  "What's up? Found something?" Null asked.

  "Yeah. Uh, I found a button. It's camoufged with the structure. Hidden really well."

  I heard a clid a whirring sound, followed by the grinding of gears.

  And then the cracked, shattered remains of the square key fell away, nding piece by pieto the ground, revealing a brand new meism underh.

  The altar opened like a book, exposing a rge circur pte attached to the base with several sliding tracks. Attached to it were two empty receptacles - one for a circle and one for a triangle.

  Siletled over us, and Elysia covered her mouth, walkio me.

  "Um, so. Yeah." Forest Willow muttered. "Good job, team."

  Elysia tried in vain to stifle a small giggle as we shared an awkward look.

  "Yeah," I shrugged, biting my lip. "Sorry about that. I get caught up in the moment sometimes."

  Ace was the first to burst out ughing, spping her knees as she wiped her eyes.

  Null and Forest Willow began chug, and Aurora slowly began to smile. The two injured cadets who'd joined us shared a pained look and a shrug.

  Finally, Elysia joined in, shaking her head and muttering to herself.

  "Oh well. Nothing to do about it now."

  Um.... yeah.

  I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I sheepishly cleared my throat as I turned back toward the gate.

  If there was ohing I'd gotten good at in just the short time since accepting my tract, it was finding solutions to problems - even when I didn't have all the pieces.

  Unfortunately, sometimes it involved a little trial and error.

  I stared at the remains of the rubble on the ground as Null approached the altar with his key.

  Or a lot of trial and error.