Cecilia made a decision, a defining snap of her fingers tearing open a gateway in spacetime as she let the teleportation magic engulf her. In under a second, she was standing within the courtyard of Alanax, the highest institute of magical learning in all the lands. Her arrival was announced by a resounding CRACK that reverberated throughout the campus, as the school's ancient wards snapped and were torn to shreds trying to prevent the unauthorized arrival of a magical being multiple magnitudes over their limits. Unseen to most eyes, the multicolored shields around the sparkling castle collapsed, millenia-old mana constructs evaporating.
Of course Cecilia cared for this not, those measly barriers barely even worth her notice. She observed the courtyard of her former school, the students spending the sunny day doing homework or socializing outside. Many of them were currently looking around, trying to deduce the source of the loud, sudden noise, while many had their gaze locked upon the new arrival, curious and lecherous eyes scanning her newly perfected form. Her nightgown-esque outfit fluttering in the light breeze, combined with her jawdropping looks made Cecilia a sight to behold, especially compared to the crowd of teens around her. She smirked. A fitting crowd to witness her majesty. Wannabe sorcerers playing tricks, with no clue what true power meant.
Perhaps a demonstration was in order.
Her eyes spied a small group underneath a tree some way off. The Conjuration Club was apparently trying to summon a familiar to help them with their homework. She watched, amused, as they fumbled with their reagents and tripped over their words while reciting the incantations. A small portal could be seen flickering in and out of existence, their efforts to manifest anything clearly in vain.
She extended her finger towards the group, and curled it inwards.
Instantly the small blue portal the group was manifesting boomed in size and intensity, becoming a whirling mass of blood-red energy that expanded by the second. Two meters, five meters, fifteen meters, fifty meters, the diameter of the portal expanded and expanded by Cecilia's casual exercise of power, the incantation she had hijacked swallowing the poor Conjuration Club members as something new was delivered in their stead.
A huge, clawed hand gripped the edge of the portal, as a humongous red-skinned humanoid figure pulled itself through. Fifty meters of rippling muscles eclipsing the lowers towers of Alanax, tattered wings spreading forth, a scowling face filled with hatred, its pitch black eyes radiating pure malice. Narja, The Annihilator Demon, manifested in the material place for the first time since the Age of Dragons.
A furious roar rang out as Narja stepped out of the portal and begun to rampage. Striking his tail against the battlements, sinking his claws into the castle proper as panic erupted all around, students running for their lives, trying to avoid being crushed as the demon continued doing what it was born to do: destroying everything in its path.
Cecilia giggled. They really were like ants! Even now the massive demon of destruction could've easily been subdued with a simple gesture from her. But decided to let it have some fun first. Bitter memories from a previous life still attributed this place with a sense of wrongness. Perhaps a clean slate was in order. While her pet rampaged, she started to observe the fleeing crowd.
While most of them were wisely fleeing for their lives, one unpleasant exception made itself known. Cecilia felt a rare surge of anger as she saw Maxwell Bodiar, a notorious school bully, tackling fleeing underclassmen and taking their valuables, taking advantage of the general chaos to fill his own pockets.
Such pettiness should've been underneath her, but she couldn't suppress another half-forgotten experience relating to that boy. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Maxwell was already forgotten about.
***
Maxwell couldn't believe his luck. A huge demon appears and everyone loses their minds! The few teachers that happened to be outside were busy contending with the creature, leaving him free to snatch a few souvenirs. As another first-year girl he'd tripped scrambled away, crying, he pulled out his newest prize: A necklace, made out of pure gold and adorned with diamonds! His fingers were itching just holding it. These pampered kids got all sorts of trinkets, while all that awaited him at home was an alcoholic father and a beatdown! Well, with the money he'd get from selling his newest acquisitions he could move out once he graduated, get some proper clothes, start living the high life as a wealthy and trained mage.
Still in his fantasies, Maxwell started to notice that the itching in his fingers wasn't ceasing. In fact, it seemed to intensify. And it wasn't just his fingers either, it was spreading down his arm, and soon his whole body, as the itching slowly became pain...
He screamed as he saw the flesh slough off his fingers, briefly revealing bone before they too turned into mush, the horrific pain spreading down his arms, his legs, engulfing his torso as he dropped the necklace and screamed, his body seemingly melting into itself. Maxwell sobbed as his skull became misshapen, the pain giving way to oblivion as his nerves were melted off and Maxwell Bodiar collapsed into himself, his earthly form eroded to slag.
***
Cecilia didn't sacrifice another thought to the former bully as her transmutation spread across his body, replacing the boy's blood with the acid of a Tunnel Crawler. A simple and quick death, especially compared to the pure agony her magical arsenal could've unleashed upon the mortal.
Her brief distraction finished, she started levitating across the courtyard, littered with bodies, crushed statues and signs of magic from where students and teachers had attempted to stop the beast, now clawing its way inside the castle. But the space wasn't entirely abandoned. Her senses informed her that out in the northeastern corner, huddled behind a collapsed caretaker shack, was one still one human.
The girl didn't react as Cecilia teleported next to her in an instant, nor did she acknowledge the breathtakingly beautiful woman who had brought about the destruction of her school. Cecilia's old memories informed her that the girl was Amaya Duskrain, a transfer student specializing in illusions. Rank 591. A brief divination into the girl revealed that her entire home country of Fuaxhu had been destroyed by Abar, the eastern empire that had stood for thousands of years collapsing under the might of the kingdom. Amaya had been enrolled into Alanax against her will, natural talent trumping personal wishes. Cecilia scoffed. The girl was clearly an experiment to integrate eastern magic into Abar's arsenal. The girl had been purposefully flunking her schoolwork, leaving her ranking at the bottom of the barrel, but the higher ups refused to let her go in the hopes that living at the grand school would turn her allegiance towards the country that had destroyed her home.
And now she sat here, in its soon to be ruins, facing the woman who'd brought about its destruction.
"Why didn't you run?" Cecilia asked, her angelic voice piercing the silence of the courtyard.
Amaya looked up, seemingly only now acknowledging the floating goddess. She went back to sulking.
Cecilia suppressed the sudden urge to smite the girl for her indifference as she began speaking.
"What's the point? Where would I go? My home is a smoking crate, my relatives are dead, and I am in the country of my enemies. There's no future for me." Amaya's voice was devoid of hope.
A smile curled on Cecilia's lips. This girl could prove to be entertaining, if utilized properly. She was a blank slate, broken by Abar, ready to be moulded by a skilled artisan.
Ever since she'd drunk from that pond, Cecilia had been closely attuned to the potential of others, and this girl was overflowing with it.
A brief wave of her hand, and the threads of Amaya's fate were in her hands.
"You're in luck, girl. I am giving you a chance to make change your own future."
Cecilia pushed her magic into Amaya, bringing forth her potential.