By the time the monster's claws strike the shield, Hailey is already darting forward and left, away from Laura and the gargoyle. As it stumbles toward Laura, Hailey drops into a crouch for a jump. Alisa fires a charged shot over the ravenette's head, striking the side of its head, detonating in an orange burst of flame and turning it away.

Hailey airboosts into a leap, kicking at the gargoyle's right shoulder and springing up and away toward a pillar. In the same moment, Rean darts behind the beast, slashing at its left hindquarters with his tachi, backed by a heavy gust from Gaius at the same spot. The monster twists to the side a bit, starting to skid-stumble sideways toward Laura.

As Hailey's feet plant against the pillar, over her classmates' heads, Machias levels his shotgun at the monster's knees, firing a heavy blast at its front right knee, which buckles. Hailey leaps high above the gargoyle, dropping down toward its left side as Fie dashes forward and drops into a slide underneath it. As she passes, Fie slashes her pistol-knives at its front left leg, pulling it out from underneath it.

In that same moment, Hailey twists in midair, wreathing her batons in swirling winds, and slams a hammer-blow into the left side of its back, knocking it the rest of the way over onto its side.

It skids across the stone floor toward Laura, neck exposed, roaring in shock and pain.

Laura gathers her chi and blasts into the air in a whirl of mana that resembles steam, soaring over the monster's flailing wing.

As she ascends, she transfers her momentum to her massive sword in a powerful upward swing. The very tip of her blade strikes a single spark against the stone floor before the broad edge bites into and rams up through the gargoyle's neck.

The gargoyle's head separates cleanly from the rest of its body, sailing up into the air in Laura's wake.

Laura completes the arc of her leap and lands, facing back the other way, just in time for the gargoyle's severed head to bounce to a stop at her feet.

The gargoyle's corpse turns first to stone, again, but rather than regenerate, the stone then crumbles into more sepith beads like any other monster.

Curls and whorls of loose mana escape the crumbling corpse, filling the air with sparkling lights for a few moments before it all dissipates.

Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, relaxing with a small relieved smile as she senses the last traces fade.

"I think that's the end of it."

Hailey giggles giddily, rising out of the crouch she'd landed in and looking around the room at everyone, grinning as she asks, "What the hell was that? All of us worked together flawlessly to set it up for the killing blow."

She turns to Laura, undisguised awe (and disguised arousal) on her face. "Aidios, Laura, that upward strike was glorious."

"Thank you very much, Hailey."

She slings her sword onto her hip and walks back to the center of the chamber, pleased smile shading into pensive frown.

"As for what that... uniquely odd experience we just shared might be, I have no idea."

    "It felt like, we were all glowing," Elliot ventures. "And it was almost like I could see through your eyes."

"Indeed. How strange."

Hailey nods, following the group, adding, "It felt like... I had this idea, of how we could get it tipped and vulnerable, and like all of you saw the same idea, and we all instinctively did the right things. It felt like..."

She trails off for a moment, then finishes in a smaller voice, "Like for a single shining moment I could trust that we were all working together."

Fie isn't the one standing closest to Hailey, but she is the only one with senses sharp enough to hear that last comment. She startles a little, like a cat that just heard an interesting noise.

Then she shrugs to herself and mutters, "Yeah."

Hailey startles subtly at Fie's response, freezing subtly for a fraction of a moment in shock. She gives the silver-haired girl a long, searching look.

Fie stares back, with basically the same expression and basically the same intent.

Then she shrugs again, relaxing with an agreeable air.

No one else seems to notice the silent exchange, with the possible exception of Emma.

A brief, tentative, tiny smile graces Hailey's face for a moment, then she turns her gaze back toward everything and everyone else.

"It did feel like something washed over me for a second there," Alisa agrees thoughtfully.

    "There was a faint blue light around each of us," Machias notes.

Alisa has a suspicion.

Laura nods toward Machias and toward Hailey.

"Perhaps it was just the blur of combat, but I felt like I could sense everyone's movements in precise detail."

    "I don't think it was just your imagination," Fie deadpans.

"That does seem to be the case."

Instructor Sara strolls in through the doorway at the top of the switchback stairs, descends to the first landing, and steps up to the railing to look down at the kids.

    "Agreed," Rean says to Laura, "I have a feeling that what we just experienced - "

"...is the biggest selling point of the almighty ARCUS? Give this man a prize!"

Sara applauds. It is only minimally sarcastic.

"Looks like friendship and teamwork save the day once again!"

Sara winks at them, then smiles.

"I'm so proud of you guys~!"

Hailey quirks an eyebrow at Sara. "That and fifty mira will buy me a cookie."

"Anyway, that about finishes up today's special... orienteering... exercise..."

Sara strolls the rest of the way down to meet her class on the floor of the chamber, but she trails off as the rest of the Class Seven prospects that line up to face her seem no more enthused than Hailey by her enthusiasm.

"Aww. What's with the long faces? I thought you'd all be happy!"

    "Wh-What are we supposed to be happy about?!" Machias blurts.

    Alisa folds her arms pensively. "I have so many questions, I'm not even sure where to start..."

"Oh?" Sara asks leadingly.

    "I'll take a stab at it," Jusis speaks up. "What exactly is the purpose behind this 'Class Seven'?"

    "We... get that it's supposed to be some sort of melting pot that includes a broad cross-section of people..." Emma adds.

    Laura completes the thought. "But why were the ten of us chosen in particular?"

Sara hums.

"That is a valid question. There's no single, monolithic reason why you all made the list, but if I had to name a major contributing factor, it would be those ARCUS orbments you've got there."

    "How so?" Rean is the first to ask, pulling out his own ARCUS to look at it.

As the rest of the class follows his lead, Sara settles back on her heels.

"Well, like I explained earlier, the ARCUS units are developed jointly by the Epstein Foundation and the Reinford Company. Like any battle orbment, they cast Arts, and these have communication functionality built right in. But their crowning feature is what's known as combat linking. That's the phenomenon you all experienced just now."

    "So that's what that was," Alisa says, like she knows exactly what Sara is talking about.

    "Seems like a pretty apt term," Elliot opines. "It did feel like we were all connected somehow."

"Precisely! It doesn't take a genius to imagine how much of an advantage a feature like that would be on a real battlefield."

Sara shuts her eyes and makes a sweeping gesture, as though leading them all to imagine it.

"An elite unit that can sense each other's movements, acting in perfect sync even in the most chaotic conditions! You can hardly put a price on that. It could bring about a revolution in the way wars are fought."

    Laura hums. "It does sound rather..."

    "...idealistic," Fie suggests.

"Well, yeah. The technology has its limits. Some people have a natural aptitude for it. Others just... don't."

This was the dramatic reveal Sara has been building toward:

"Annnnnd~ Out of this year's fresh batch of bright-eyed students, the ten of you turned out to have the highest aptitude. And since aptitude trumps background in Class Seven, we~ell... here you are."

Really? She's one of the top ten students in combat link aptitude this year?

Well. They wouldn't actually sabotage their own program, and the combat link is special enough that it would make sense as being the actual testing priority.

Wait.

"You explained the selection criteria, not the actual purpose."

"Didn't I?" Sara teases.

Wait. Did she? Sara mentally reviews everything she just said.

Huh. The little noirette has a point. But this isn't really the time to get into the unofficial hopes she and the school's board of directors have for Class Seven. The true purpose of Class Seven isn't something she can just tell them. It has to rise up from within their own hearts.

"Suffice to say, the hows and whys of your situation mostly do boil down to being a test cadre for the ARCUS... but we have plenty of time to get into the nuance around that, later. Unless any of you have objections to being in this class? If you do, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

Sara pauses for a moment to measure the class's response, then continues.

"This program isn't cheap to run, so we're not about to force anyone into it if they don't want to be here. You should also be aware that Class Seven's curriculum will be tougher than any other classes' coursework. Just a fair warning~. So that leaves you all with an important decision to make: Will you stick with Class Seven? Or not?"

Sara pauses again after this dramatic pronouncement, only to remember one last fact she forgot to include.

"Oh, if you opt out, you'll be placed in the class you would've been assigned to otherwise. There's no pressure. Nobles will land in Class One or Two, commoners in Three, Four, or Five. It's still just the first day, so there's no real catching up you'd have to do. I'm sure you'd fit in just fine."

Rean takes a firm step forward.

"I'll do it. Whatever Class Seven has to throw at me, I'm game."

    "Just like that?" Elliot observes.

    Alisa's head whips around toward Rean. "W-Wait, what?!"

    "So you're the first, then," Sara says knowingly. "You seem pretty sure about it. Any particular reason?"

"Not really. I just feel like I've put my family out, asking them to send me to this school. So if it gives me more to show for my time here, I'll take whatever opportunities come my way."

    Sara hums agreeably. "A noble sentiment."

Rean stiffens in surprise a little at the instructor's inflection, there, but doesn't show anything outwardly.

This is what'll push her hardest, make her strong enough to actually find all her answers. Nothing else in this school will push her as hard as Class Seven.

"Bracers Onward," she mutters under her breath, shaking her head at herself.

"There's work that needs doing, answers that need finding, and I need to be ready to go after that," Hailey says, stepping forward as well with a nod to Rean. "Push me as hard as it takes to get that done."

Laura glances over at Hailey and smiles.

"Count me in as well."

She takes a step forward.

"The greater the challenge, the more I can push myself to excel. One can't hone a blade without grit, after all."

"Let's make it four."

Gaius takes a step forward.

"Considering how far I came to attend this school, it'd be silly to back down before I even started."

"Looks like we've got the country's strongest freshman on board, our foreign exchange student, and our orbal baton prodigy too."

Sara is possibly having too much fun with this.

"Any more takers?"

"Allow me to take part as well."

Emma takes a step forward and earnestly clasps her hands in front of her skirt.

"I was only able to come here because of the school's generosity, so I feel it's my duty to help in any way that I can."