《Legend of the Phantom Hero》 Prologue : The boy named Jin Long ago, invaders known as Phantoms attacked the land of Victus. The Victinians were powerless and unable to defend against the malicious invaders. As their hope for survival faded, they begged the Gods for assistance, since they believed that only the Gods could save them. However, the Gods did not possess a physical form and could not directly battle against the Phantoms. Rather, they chose to bless individuals who they deemed deserving of their divine abilities. Those blessed with power were marked with seals that represented the Gods. With this new power, the Phantoms¡¯ invasion was pushed back. A barrier was then raised to separate the realm of the Phantoms from that of the Victinians, but it was created at a great cost. The lives of the blessed heroes were sacrificed to create nine pillars that became known as the Nine-Pillar Barrier. Thanks to the heroes¡¯ sacrifice, the Victinians now had a safe haven; an area that was safe from the other half of the world where Phantoms rampaged. According to legends, each hero possessed a seal from a great god. The majority of the heroes possessed dual seals, granting them two powers of two different gods. Yet, there was one hero who only possessed one seal. That hero was said to be of the Phantom race and was branded the ¡®Dark One.¡¯ However, his story was cast aside and never told in the Victinians¡¯ history. Three hundred years after this war subsided, my story begins. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C ¡°Jin, I need to talk to you!¡± ¡°Yes, Master!¡± I ran out of the cabin as I answered the call. The frail old man who called me was my master and guardian, Lucius Crimson. Regardless of his frail appearance, this person is a true monster. Bearing the seal of Apollo, the God of the Sun, he is skilled in both archery and swordsmanship. ¡°Jin, You will be leaving this mountain and shall enroll in Persona Academy.¡± ¡°Master, why?! I don¡¯t want to leave the mountains and I still have so much more to learn about swordsmanship.¡± ¡°I have nothing else to teach you in swordsmanship. You also need to learn about your seal¡¯s power; it¡¯s quite unique.¡± Hearing about my departure, I was pretty frantic. I didn¡¯t want to go to some unknown place, let alone leave my home. I never had any real contact with the real world and everything I knew were from books I read. ¡°But Master!¡± ¡°How about I give you some motivation?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°The Pendragons are there.¡± ¡°Pendragons¡­.¡± Pendragons appear to stand for peace and justice, but in reality, they are greedy pigs who do whatever they please, and is the name I detested the most. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C The incident took place ten years ago when I was still five years old. My mother and I lived next to the ninth pillar of the Nine Pillar Barrier, the pillar of the Phantom Hero. Even though my mom was human, I wasn¡¯t. I was born from my mom and a humanoid phantom that she loved. Branded as traitors, we were cast out into exile. One day, as I was returning from collecting firewood, I saw a group of knights surrounding my house. One knight held a flag with a symbol of a golden dragon. My mother was being dragged out of the house and was thrown down on the ground in front of a noble looking figure with a despicable arrogant face, their leader. Leering at her, the noble smirked. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re that traitor aren¡¯t you? You have such a pretty face, I wonder why they exiled you. Do you want your exile to be removed? If you do, just give up your kid and I¡¯ll remove it for you. I¡¯ll even take care of you.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡± As I backed away from the scene, I stepped on a branch, letting out a big ¡®crack¡¯ sound. I was noticed by one of the knights. As the knights approached me, a symbol of a sword on his hand shone. A sword appeared from thin air, like magic. ¡°Is that him? Bring him to me, unharmed.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± I turned around and tried to run into the woods, but instead, I was grabbed from behind. Fighting for my life, I kicked and hit the knight¡¯s arm to no effect. My mother was full of fear as she saw the knight take hold of me. Then, she ran towards me, pushing away the knights, grabbed hold of me and tried to run into the forest. However, more Knights blocked her way. ¡°Since you¡¯re disobedient, I don¡¯t care anymore. Kill the traitor but make sure you leave the child unharmed. We can still experiment on him.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Using her back as a shield, my mother protected me. Following every swing of the knights¡¯ swords was a trail of blood. Before I knew it, the ground was dyed red. When I thought all was lost, a golden arrow flew out of the forest and struck the ground. It then flashed a bright light, blinding everyone in the vicinity. An old man appeared with a sword on his belt and a bow in hand. ¡°Leave at once!!¡± This old man¡¯s voice pierced the air as the knights backed away in fear and the noble fell pathetically to the ground. Getting back up, the noble was filled with anger, and gazed at the old man. ¡°Who do you think you are protecting traitors like them?!¡± ¡°I am Lucius Crimson. I will be taking this child under my care and make him my disciple.¡± ¡°Lucius Crimson you say?! Why would a great figure such as you take a traitor¡¯s son under his wings?!¡± ¡°That is for me to know, and you, not to find out. I¡¯ll ask you again to leave this place at once. Any further disrespect to me will only incur my wrath.¡± ¡°Grrrr¡­ Everyone we¡¯re heading back! I¡¯ll remember this Lucius.¡± This was the day master saved me. However, he wasn¡¯t able to save my mother, who sustained fatal injuries. It was also on this day I swore to avenge my mother and obliterate the Pendragon family. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C ¡°Master, I shall go to Persona Academy.¡± ¡°Hahaha. That¡¯s more like it. Remember, when you face your enemy you must not let your emotion control you, but rather be calm. Those who are calm in a dire situation grow to be the strongest of people.¡± ¡°So¡­ When do I leave?¡± Master then had a wide smile on his face. What was he planning? Before I knew it¨C ¡°Right now!¡± I was kicked off the mountain along with the luggage that master prepared ahead of time. After crashing, I heard master¡¯s voice from a distance. ¡°Make sure you give the letter in your suitcase to the headmaster. Once he reads it, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll approve of you being a student at his school! The bus leaves in 5 minutes so you better hurry!¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to kick me off, you know!!! Anyways, thank you Master, I¡¯ll make sure to visit on holidays!¡± Turning my back on the only remaining place I could call home, I departed for Persona Academy, where I could become stronger to enact my revenge. The last thing I heard was a small whisper from the mountains¡­ ¡°Make me proud¡­ Jin Phantasma Crimson!¡± Chapter 1 : The Test As the bus jerked to a stop, I arrived at the City of Hearts, where Persona Academy was located. According to Master¡¯s instructions, I should stop at the Central Station where Persona Academy was located North of me. Once I was dressed in Persona Academy¡¯s uniform, which consisted of a black blazer, white dress shirt, black pants, and blue tie, I headed off towards the Academy. After around thirty minutes of wandering around looking for Persona Academy, I knew that I was lost. It seems that I had gotten lost due to my eyes browsing the city. I¡¯ve never been to a city before so I did not know how one looked like. However, as I continued to wander around, I came across a young boy who looked like my age, wearing the same uniform as me. The boy had long blue hair which he tied up into a ponytail, and deep blue eyes like the ocean at night. His figure was slim and his stature was taller than me, at around 180 cm. However, as I approached the blue haired boy, he seemed to have noticed me and greeted me first. ¡°Yo! You must be a first year of Persona Academy.¡± ¡°Huh?..How did you know I was a first year?¡± ¡°From your tie. Blue stands for first year, red stands for second year, and black stands for third year. My name is Aiex Tsukaru by the way. Nice to meet you!¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is Jin Crimson. Would it trouble you to lead me to Persona Academy?¡± ¡°Sure! I¡¯m on my way there as well.¡± The reason I introduced myself as ¡®Jin Crimson¡¯ and not as Jin Phantasma Crimson was according to Master¡¯s instructions. When Master took me in, he gave me his last name. The reason for this was so that people wouldn¡¯t find out I¡¯m half-Phantom due to my other last name, Phantasma. As we walked towards Persona Academy, we traded stories about our masters and how harsh their training was. Aiex seemed to be a pretty lively person; someone you wouldn¡¯t mind hanging out with. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t know who I am. My family is known for its dominance in lightning magic.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get out much really¡­Since you came from a prestigious family, I¡¯m guessing a God already blessed you?¡± ¡°You can say that. When my dad died three years ago, the God that blessed him, Zeus, chose me over my older brother. My brother was really angry when that happened. Since I didn¡¯t like the sibling rivalry, I decided to go to Persona Academy instead of the one my older brother is currently attending.¡± ¡°Ah..I see. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Haha. Don¡¯t worry about it! By the way, is that strange marking on your left hand your seal? Which god blessed you?¡± ¡°That...I don¡¯t know. If you can, I¡¯d like to not talk about it.¡± ¡°I see..Strange. Oh well.¡± Arriving at the front gate of Persona Academy, we were met by two guards bearing a symbol of a golden dragon, the Pendragons. I had no hatred for the guard since they simply worked under the Pendragon; rather, the people who I was really after were those who sat at the top of the Pendragon family. As I parted ways with Aiex, I asked one of the guards to lead me to the Headmaster¡¯s office to hand him Master¡¯s leader. As the guard led me to where the Headmaster was, he gave me a little tour of the campus. However, since the academy was so huge, we only had time for him to explain two buildings to me. The first building was the dorm, a simple three-story building which was said to have a spa, lounge, and kitchen. Those who lived in the dorm were people who came to study at Persona academy from far away and had no place to stay. According to the guards, the people who stayed in the dorm were exchange students from other countries. The second building, the Hall of Learning, was our destination. The first floor were where all first-years learned; the second floor was for second-years, third floor for third-years, and the fourth floor was for teachers¡¯ use. The fourth floor was also where the nurse¡¯s office and teachers¡¯ lounge was located; all seemingly normal. However, in the middle of the fourth floor, there was a giant door which could only be described as a huge waste of space, bearing a plaque which read ¡°Headmaster : Gaeleath Terra.¡± ¡°Headmaster! You have a guest!¡± ¡°Come in.¡± The voice sounded surprisingly young but I felt that there were years of intellect in the tone. As the door opened, I felt an immense presence surging from an odd looking figure. I readied to summon my weapon, in case there was going to be a battle but suddenly, the intense atmosphere subsided. ¡°What¡­ was that?¡± I inquired curiously. ¡°Hohoho, you can feel my aura? Who might you be, interesting fellow?¡± The odd looking figure was a man who looked no more than twenty-five years old. He had medium-length red hair that was split in the middle and shining green eyes like emeralds. Sticking out from the sides of his head were a set of ears that were too long to be called ¡®Normal¡¯. I can¡¯t say I wasn¡¯t surprised. Upon first glance, you could immediately tell that he was an elf. I thought they were mythical creatures of the books that I read from Master¡¯s collection. ¡°That was shocking¡­¡± ¡°Boy you were pretty rude to be shocked by my appearance. Did you not know of the other races that lived on Victus? Listen, Victus is home to eight different races excluding Phantoms : Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, Elementals, Vampires, Valkyries, and Dragonkins. The City of Hearts have a greater human population so that¡¯s why when you arrived, you didn¡¯t see any other races around you.¡± ¡°Ahh. How do you distinguish between the different races besides some of the obvious?¡± ¡°That, you¡¯ll learn during class.¡± As I drove the conversation back to the main topic, I handed Master¡¯s letter to the Headmaster. Headmaster read the letter with a smile but then, his face turned serious. Nearing the end of the letter, his face distorted into shock but soon after, ¡°Hahaha you¡¯re an interesting fellow indeed. To think that you¡¯re half phantom and that you¡¯d go against the Pendragon, the highest ranking nobles of this city! But¡­ do you really not know which god blessed you?¡± ¡°Ahh yes. I had no contact with the god that blessed me. I got the seal days after my mother passed away. It was really unexpected.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­I see. Alright! I approve of your enrollment in this academy. But first, you have to take a test.¡± ¡°A test?!¡± ¡°Yes. It starts at the auditorium, so why don¡¯t we head over there now?¡± ¡°....Okay.¡± ¡®A test right off the bat?!¡¯ I thought to myself as I let out a sigh. I really despised tests since they were filled with gruesome punishments from Master whenever I fail. I had no escape from it so I followed the Headmaster unwillingly. Arriving at the auditorium, it was completely empty besides for the staff members and a machine taking up most of the stage. ¡°That machine right there is the ¡®Power Scanner¡¯. It will scan you and assess your body, weapon potential and god potential. As you know, most people that come to this academy don¡¯t start out with a God¡¯s blessing, like yourself, but have the potential to be blessed by a god. After being scanned, they¡¯ll be given an artificially-made basic seal of their weapon potential to be used in the second test.¡± As I already had a seal, I was not required to be scanned. However, I had no idea who the god of my seal was so I had my body scanned. The results were : Name : Jin Crimson Height : 170 cm Eye Color : Black Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.Hair Color : Black Gender : Male Age : 15 Weapon Potential : Sword God Potential : Not Found It seemed that the god of my seal was not in their database, so the god potential displayed ¡®Not Found¡¯. Upon looking at my results, Headmaster burst out in laughter once more, patted my back with an enormous amount of strength,and commented again on how interesting I am. As we headed toward the second part of the test, Headmaster gave me a quick explanation. The second test was a test of combat prowess. The student had to face either a third year of the school or a staff member of the school and survive for at least two minutes. If they survived for two minutes, they¡¯d pass but if not, they would have their admission revoked. The test took place in the arena, a huge dome-shaped building with a transparent protective barrier. The barrier was placed by the nurse, using the power of Angitia, to prevent death. All wounds inflicted would be healed after battle and life-threatening attacks would not kill, but instead cause the person to faint. Inside the arena were six platforms of 20m by 20m. It seemed the six platforms were originally one but was separated for the convenience of testing. Above the six platforms was a protective barrier created by a magical tool, to shield the audience from any stray attacks or flying debris. Immediately after entering, the Headmaster told one of the guards to call for their captain. The Headmaster wanted to know the full extent of my skill so he wanted me to face the guard captain. He even gave me the option of reducing the survival time to one minute since he didn¡¯t want me to fail but I refused. The guard captain approached. He was a middle-age man around 40 years. He had short blond hair with blue eyes and a tall stature. His arrogant face reminded me of someone I despised. He introduced himself as Richard Pendragon, brother of the current Pendragon head. Hearing the name Pendragon, my hatred flared from the depths of my heart. I gave him a malicious look but he ignored it with an arrogant snort. ¡°Sir you called?¡± ¡°Yes, Richard. I want you to face this student.¡± ¡°Sir please don¡¯t joke around. Do you really want him to fail that badly?¡± ¡°Hahaha. I don¡¯t think he¡¯d fail. He is from that Crimson family after all!¡± ¡°The Crimson family you say?!!¡± Upon hearing the name Crimson, Richard¡¯s face seemed to have turned red with anger. It seemed the Headmaster mentioned that I was from the Crimson family to manipulate Richard into accepting his proposal. Going according to his plan, Richard accepted and became my examiner. As Richard and I approached one of the platforms, I hear murmurs from students in the audience belittling me since my opponent was the guard captain. The headmaster decided to be our match¡¯s referee, and as the referee, he explained the rules to us:
  1. If you knock your opponent out of the ring, you win.
  2. If you knock your opponent out, you win.
  3. Special rule : If the student were to survive two minutes, he would be designated as the victor.
¡°Both sides ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Begin!¡± As the Headmaster announced the start of the match, I summoned my sword, ¡®Twilight Cutter,¡¯ a sword as black as night and charged straight at the guard captain. Richard summoned a regular iron sword and parried my assault, following up with a sideway slash. As I back flipped to dodge it, my uniform was scratched. Recovering from my flip, I braced myself for Richard¡¯s assault. As Richard strike downward, I dodged with a side step but it was a feint. I then blocked his side kick with my sword and used the force as momentum to create distance. With the distance, I built up speed and assaulted Richard with ten consecutive blazing strikes. ¡°Crimson Art : Dance of the Fire Flower¡± In a panic, Richard took a defensive stance and attempted to block the onslaught. However, I was still able to land a solid blow to his side. After receiving the heavy blow, Richard lost his balance and fell to the ground. Seeing that he was knocked down by an examinee, and a Crimson at that, his anger has reached its peak. As he used his sword as support to stand up he yelled out, ¡°I won¡¯t be done in by the likes of a student! Especially by someone from the Crimson family!!¡± ¡°Hmph. My master told me once, ¡®Don¡¯t let emotions control your actions; rather, be calm and think before you act.¡¯ You let your anger get out of control, and that is why you will lose.¡± ¡°What?!¡± As I coldly gazed at Richard¡¯s ugly distorted face with pity, I flashed past him; dealing a single decisive strike to end the battle. ¡°Crimson Art : Burst Flare.¡± The impact of my attack sent Richard across the platform, eventually exiting the boundary of the ring. I had won. ¡°The winner is Jin Crimson!¡± As the Headmaster announced my victory, the audience fell into shock. Richard was carried away, and the guards gazed at me hatefully. It was expected since I did defeat their captain. Later on that day, as I arrived at the dorm entrance, I was greeted by a beautiful woman dressed in a white lab coat. She had luscious long green hair with gentle hazel eyes. On her head were two long green horns extending straight up. She emitted a strong aura similar to Master and the Headmaster. ¡°Hello. My name is Varelia Aeros, a dragonkin of the Wind Dragon, Aeriosphyl. From today on, I¡¯ll be your dorm advisor and school nurse.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you. My name is Jin Crimson. I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± After giving my farewell and gratitude to the Headmaster, Varelia gave me a tour of the dorm. The lounge, kitchen, and spa were on the first floor. The males lived on the second floor while the females lived on the third. There were toilets on all floors and showers on the second and third floor. During the tour, Varelia explained the dorm rules to me. ¡°The dorm will be providing you with breakfast at 7:00 AM and dinner at 6:00 PM while the school provides you with lunch. Of course, there are rules involving this dorm :
  1. Males are forbidden from entering the third floor after 5:00 PM.
  2. Get along with the other residences.
  3. Don¡¯t make a mess in your room.
  4. No fights inside the dorm. If you fight inside my hou- I mean the dorm I¡¯ll personally kill you.
Got it?¡± ¡°Yes¡­.¡± There was something strange about that last rule. While explaining it, Varelia had a gentle smile on her face. However, I couldn¡¯t help but be extremely suspicious of that smile. Receiving the key to Room 206, I headed into my room to find my luggage already on the bed. The rest of the day went by peacefully as I prepared myself for my daily life at the academy. Chapter 2 : First Day (Part 1) ¡°Jin¡­. Jin..¡± As I opened my eyes, my surroundings were all white. Standing in front of me was a figure of an old man with long white hair and white eyes which give off a divine aura. It seemed that he was the one calling me. ¡°A Phantom? Who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a phantom. I am Janus, the god of beginning, transition, and end. I am the one who blessed you.¡± ¡°Janus.. Why have you come to me now when you blessed me ten years ago?¡± ¡°Because I didn¡¯t want anyone to know about me and you¡¯ve finally reached the stage where you can use the first of my four abilities.¡± ¡°What? Why only four?¡± ¡°My powers are very powerful and special. That¡¯s why, unlike other gods who have many, I¡¯ve limited the people I blessed to four. Now to the main point, your first ability is¡­¡± As I was listening, my surroundings got hazy and then...I woke up. While I was preparing myself for school, I thought about my weird dream. ¡®What was that?¡¯ and ¡®Was he telling the truth?¡¯ were questions I kept asking myself. When I arrived in the kitchen, which also served as a dining room, it was surprisingly empty. I was greeted by Varelia. As the dorm advisor, she also cooked our breakfast and dinner for us. ¡°Here¡¯s your breakfast : Bacon, bread, and eggs. If you were wondering why it¡¯s so empty, it¡¯s because the other residences had already left.¡± ¡°Eh?! Do you have mind reading magic?!¡± ¡°No no..I can tell from the look on your face.¡± ¡°Ahh I see. Thank you for the breakfast Ms. Aeros.¡± After I finished breakfast, I left for the Hall of Education. There, I searched for the bulletin board which posted the homeroom of the students. It was easy to find since there were tons of people crowding around it. After squeezing through the crowd to find my homeroom, I headed to class, 1-F. Arriving at the classroom, I saw a familiar face. It was Aiex. ¡°Yo! Looks like we have the same homeroom.¡± ¡°Mhm. I look forward to the school days with you.¡± ¡°Hahaha but seriously¡­ I never knew you were so strong. To take out the guard captain, you must have been through hell training.¡± ¡°Hahaha...you can say that..¡± Remembering about the training master put me through sent chills down my spine. ¡®It can only be described as hell after all¡¯ I thought to myself as I sighed. I took the seat in the back near the window, next to Aiex. Class started, but our homeroom teacher had not arrived yet. As the class started to whisper about the homeroom teacher¡¯s whereabouts, I felt a piercing gaze. The one who was staring at me was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes at the front of the class. He was quite handsome and popular with the ladies, judging from the many girls surrounding him. His face looked awfully similar to that of Pendragon descendant. I returned his gaze and he instantly looked away. Then, the door swung open, and a young man of 30ish years old dressed in a sports jersey walked in. He was holding a clipboard while yawning and scratching his head. He had messy black hair and mean looking yellow eyes. On his head, he had a pair of fluffy ears out and behind him was a black tail. He gave off a ferocious aura. Arriving at the podium, he scanned the classroom and stopped at me, concentrating on me for few seconds and then proceeded with class. ¡°Hello everyone. My name is Harry Fenris. I will be your homeroom for this year as well as combat and magic instructor for class 1-E and 1-F. As you can see, I am a beastman of the wolf tribe. I possess the power of the evil wolf god, Fenrir. I look forward to the school year with you so lets start with self-introduction. State your name, race, your god potential, and something interesting about you.¡± So far, from the people who introduced themselves, I counted twenty-five humans, two beastmen, three elves, three dwarves. None of them interesting. The blond boy was Arnold Pendragon, just like I suspected, and typical of one of the Pendragons, he introduced himself arrogantly and ended his introduction arrogantly, saying ¡®I will be the one that will stand on top¡¯ as his ¡®something interesting about you¡¯, eliciting a facepalm from Harry. The next person was the first interesting student in class besides Aiex. She was a cool beauty of tall stature, around 165 cm. She had light blond hair and nebula-like green eyes. ¡°My name is Aero Alucard. I am from the vampire race and I possess the god of the underworld, Hades. Something interesting about me would be¡­.I was originally a girl but now I am both genders.¡± Upon hearing that, everyone excluding Aiex let out an ¡®EHH?!¡± sound. It was surprising to know of a person that is both genders. ¡°Everyone calm down. She..or he must have learned a rare magic from Hades. Don¡¯t worry about it too much. Every god has their own unique powers.¡± As Harry tried to calm the class down, I had a conversation on the side with Aiex. ¡°Aiex, do you know Aero?¡± ¡°Yea. I¡¯ve known her since we were little so you can say we¡¯re childhood friends.¡± ¡°Ahh I see.¡± ¡°Yea. She was originally a girl. I can¡¯t really go into details without her permission so I¡¯ll tell you later after I¡¯ve talked to her.¡± ¡°Next student, please introduce yourself.¡± ¡°Ah looks like it¡¯s my turn. I¡¯ll introduce you guys to each other later as well.¡± When Aiex gave his name, people murmured ¡®What is a Tsukaru doing here?¡¯ and ¡®Shouldn¡¯t he be in his own country?¡¯. Aiex was an exchange student similar to me but refused to stay in the dorm and got his own place in the city. After Aiex was finished, it was my turn. ¡°My name is Jin Crimson. I am human and possess...¡± As I was about to state the god who blessed me I recalled the weird dream. ¡®I don¡¯t want anyone to know about me¡¯ was what Janus said. ¡°I do not know the god that I possess... and for something interesting about me is¡­ I don¡¯t possess a magic attribute like most people do.¡± Upon hearing that I don¡¯t possess an attribute, many people in class started laughing and belittling me. ¡®He doesn¡¯t possess a magic attribute he says!¡¯ and ¡®He probably just got lucky during the examination then.¡¯ After finishing my introduction Harry explained how the education schedule works at Persona Academy. The morning was general education and after lunch was magic and combat training. The first half of the school day passed by peacefully. Lunch time arrived and I headed towards the dining hall with Aiex. After getting our lunch, two wrapped sandwiches each, we decided to go back to class. As we were walking back, we saw Arnold and his two lackeys. The moment we passed by, Arnold bumped into my shoulder with a little bit of force to make it look like an accident but I didn¡¯t budge and he was forced back instead. He paused for a moment, then turned around towards me and exclaimed: ¡°Hey! Look where you¡¯re walking!¡± ¡°I was looking. I didn¡¯t bump into him. It¡¯s more like he bumped into me on purpose.¡± ¡°Do you think Master Arnold would do something like that to low class nobles like you?! You¡¯re not even worth it.¡± ¡°Hey. Let¡¯s forget about it and walk away yeah? Pretend like it never happened.¡± Aiex broke up the fight and we turned around to continue walking back. As we were heading back, I heard them mutter a few phrases. ¡°Who does he think he is to bump into Master Arnold and not apologize?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. He¡¯s just a coward that needs protection. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s been like that all his life.. His parents are probably the same. Fallen nobles who only beg for protection. His father was probably a coward and his mother, a whore.¡± Before I knew it, my body reacted on it¡¯s own. I was holding Arnold¡¯s face with my right hand, squeezing it and lifting his whole body off the ground. As I coldly gazed upon his shocked face of agony. I asked him a simple question. ¡°You¡­.what did you say?¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.¡°Oi! What do you think you¡¯re doing to Master Arnold?!¡± As his two lackeys summoned their iron swords, I squeezed Arnold¡¯s head harder. He screamed loudly and his lackeys attacked. Instantly, Aiex blinked by and used his bare hands to break the swords. The two then cowered in fear and fell down pathetically. I raised my voice even louder than before. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you once more: What. Did. You. Say?¡± ¡°Oi oi..Jin calm down. Let him go. At this rate, you¡¯re gonna cause him permanent brain damage. He¡¯s not worth it.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± I let go of Arnold¡¯s face and he fell down. His eyes were filled with anger. As Aiex and I turned back around and headed towards class, I could hear Arnold screaming from behind ¡®I¡¯ll pay you back ten-fold!!¡¯ As we¡¯re about to enter the Hall of Education, I told Aiex that I needed some time alone and headed towards the roof. There, I ate my lunch and reflected upon my actions. ¡°Ah¡­. Master would be disappointed¡­ I let my emotions get out of control. I guess I really can¡¯t handle my mother being insulted¡­¡± As I reflected, I took out my wooden locket. Inside it was a picture of me and my mother when I was still a baby... She was really beautiful, a woman with long black hair, black eyes, and was short compared to Aero. She was really strong. To be able to take care of me and love me all on her own was something I could only describe as strong. I couldn¡¯t help but cry when I looked back on the past. As I zoned out, the roof door opened. ¡°Oh...Was someone already here?¡± Quickly wiping my tears I turned around. Standing at the door, was a beautiful light blue haired girl with matching light blue eyes like the sky. She had a short stature of 150 cm and on the side of her head were two little white horns sticking out. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Did I come at a bad time?¡± ¡°Aah¡­ No. I was about to leave anyways.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ I know it¡¯s not my place to ask but¡­ Are you okay?¡± ¡°Haha¡­ I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll be taking my leave now then.¡± As I left the roof, the blue haired girl had a worried look on her face. I didn¡¯t want to involve or trouble anyone with my problems. Returning to my classroom, I was confronted by Aiex and Aero. ¡°Like I promised, I¡¯ll introduce you two to each other. Jin, this is Aero, my childhood friend and Aero, this is Jin, my first friend at the Academy.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Aero.¡± As I extended my hand out to shake her hand, she did the same. ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± ¡°Aero. It¡¯s fine if I tell him about your ability to turn to a guy right?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me if you don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine with it since Aiex seems to trust you.¡± ¡°You heard her. Hahaha. When Hades blessed her, He gave her a condition. The condition was that she can only activate Hades¡¯s powers in her guy form. I don¡¯t know the full details but she says it¡¯s why her eyes are now green instead of red like all vampires.¡± ¡°Green eyes?¡± ¡°...Really? You don¡¯t know? *sigh* Normally vampires have red eyes, but because of Hades, she has green eyes. Man, you really are a country bumpkin.¡± ¡°Hahaha...I see.¡± ¡°Everyone sit down.¡± As Harry entered the classroom, everyone rushed to their seats. At the front of the class, I saw Arnold glaring at me maliciously. I met his gaze and my rage boiled. ¡°Alright everyone. Combat and magic training will be starting everyday after lunch and saturday morning from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. As you all know, combat and magic training will be done with two combined classes. For us, it¡¯ll be class 1-E and 1-F. Now, let¡¯s head over to training hall 9.¡± As we headed over to the training hall, by my side were Aiex and Aero. ¡°But seriously though Jin, you don¡¯t know any basic knowledge? How could you not know that vampires have red eyes? Were you living under a rock or something I answered his question with a nervous chuckle. ¡°You could say I lived inside a really big rock called a mountain.¡± As we entered the training hall, we met up with class 1-E and were given a quick explanation by Harry. ¡°This is a training hall. All training halls are exactly the same. It¡¯s around 30m by 50m. It¡¯s pretty small compared to the arena. Here, you¡¯ll be training your magic and combat abilities against each other. All the training halls are under the protection of Angitia so you don¡¯t have to worry about getting hurt but of course, you¡¯ll still feel the pain. You have five minutes to get changed. Boys changing room on the left, girls on the right.¡± As everyone dispersed to their respective sides to change clothes, Aero was standing still. ¡°Ooh right there¡¯s you¡­ umm¡­ you were originally a girl right? Use the girl¡¯s changing room.¡± As Harry instructed, Aero headed towards the girl¡¯s changing room. Five minutes later, everyone came out dressed in the training uniform of tight shorts and shirts. ¡°Alright everyone, let¡¯s start with an explanation about aura. Your aura is the measurement of your abilities. Those who have a really condensed and suppressive aura are those who have honed their skills and God¡¯s power to the limit and are really powerful. Being able to sense and see your opponent¡¯s aura will give you an advantage in battle. Auras vary from person to person. For example, if someone were to see my aura, it¡¯d be black colored. It being black colored means that I possess the superior darkness attribute. So to counter my superior attribute, that someone would use light magic.¡± ¡°Mr. Fenris, does that mean a person with no aura is very weak? Because I can¡¯t sense yours at all.¡± ¡°Yes and no. If you cannot sense your opponent¡¯s aura, it could mean a few things; Either your opponent is extremely strong and is capable of hiding his aura from weaker foes or your opponent is, like you said, very weak. But if you¡¯re not on near the level of your opponent, you won¡¯t be able to sense it all.¡± ¡°Mr. Fenris, does their aura being a certain color only mean that they can use that magic attribute?¡± ¡°No. Their aura will tell you about their superior magic attribute. So don¡¯t be fooled thinking that they can only use that type of magic.¡± ¡°Alright now that you know about aura, it¡¯s time to learn the basics about magic attributes. Magic attributes have 4 base colors, red for fire, blue for water, green for wind, brown for earth. Those who have other colors have magic of special attribute like mine, black for darkness. Now find a partner and practice sparring with your magic.¡± As everyone mingled to find a partner, Aero, Aiex and I met up. ¡°This is quite a problem...we have an odd number of people.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°Ahh about that. You guys go ahead and partner up.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yea. You guys have known each other longer than I¡¯ve known you two. Besides, I need to talk to Mr. Fenris about something.¡± As I departed from Aero and Aiex, I headed towards Harry. There, I met Arnold who¡¯s talking to Harry. ¡°Ah¡­ Jin. You came just in time. I was just about to call you over.¡± ¡°Hm? What is it Mr. Fenris?¡± ¡°The thing is¡­¡± With his right arm pointed at me and his left hand placed on his hip, Arnold arrogantly announced: ¡°Jin Crimson!!! I, Arnold Pendragon, challenge you to an official duel, with Mr. Fenris as the witness!!!¡± Chapter 3 : First Day (Part 2) ¡°Eh?¡± Louder, ¡°Jin Crimson. I, Arnold Pendragon, challenge you to an official duel with Mr. Fenris as the witness.¡± ¡°I refuse.¡± ¡°I see, so you acce- What?! Why would you refuse?!¡± ¡°Because it¡¯d be a waste of time.¡± ¡°A-a waste of time you say?!¡± As I looked upon his bewildered face, I noticed everyone was staring at us. It was a given since he loudly announced his challenge. ¡°Actually Jin..I was wondering if you¡¯d actually have an exhibition match.¡± ¡°Really? You too Mr. Fenris? Can I at least choose someone else other than him?¡± ¡°Choose someone else?! Who here is a better match for you than me?¡± ¡°Him.¡± I gave a quick answer while pointing towards Aiex. ¡°I¡¯m sure I could have a much more enjoyable match with him than you.¡± ¡°Ahaha... Jin. I¡¯d like you to have your match against Arnold. He already volunteered and I can¡¯t really say no since he¡¯s of the family that sponsors this school,¡± said Harry in a whisper. ¡°-Sigh-. Very well. I¡¯ll take him up on his challenge but¡­ if he¡¯s badly injured, I won¡¯t be blamed, right?¡± ¡°Yes. For those who duel, they¡¯ll sign a waiver saying that ¡®My opponent will not be responsible for sending me to the sha- I mean any permanent damage done to me excluding death.¡¯ The match will start 30 minutes before class ends.¡± ¡°Ahh I see. Alright then I guess we¡¯ll have an exhibition match.¡± Time passed by without troubles. Since I had no affinity for magic, I passed my time doing physical training. After signing the waiver, we headed towards the middle of the training hall. A barrier then enshrouded the both of us, expanding to an area of a basketball court. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Jin and Arnold prepared themselves for battle, Aero and I approached Mr. Fenris. ¡°Is this really alright Mr. Fenris?¡± ¡°Yes. I think it should be fine.¡± ¡°Well¡­ There was an incident between the two during lunch. Jin was really pissed off, almost crushing Arnold¡¯s head so I don¡¯t think Jin will easily let Arnold off.¡± ¡°Ooh? You seem to have a lot of confidence in Jin. What makes you think Arnold will be at his mercy?¡± ¡°... Jin is strong¡­ Right, Aiex?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°Master Arnold is strong as well.¡± Arnold¡¯s two lackeys arrived with sneering faces and stood to the right of Mr. Fenris. They started to boast about Arnold¡¯s power. ¡°He might¡¯ve gotten the surprise on Master Arnold that time but this time will be different. Arnold is strong, being blessed by Hubris, the God of Pride. He¡¯s also strong in fire magic, being able to cast a level 5 spell.¡± ¡°Level 5 huh? ¡­ Interesting.¡± ¡°... Jin will win¡­ ¡± ¡°Hmph¡­ Master Arnold will obliterate him.¡± After Jin and Arnold has finished their preparation, Mr. Fenris made an announcement. ¡°Alright, everyone! This exhibition match is for you to learn. As they fight, I hope you guys learn from them and the ways they use their abilities. Are both sides ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Begin!¡± As soon as Mr. Fenris announced the start of the match, Jin dashed towards Arnold with his sword. Arnold, wielding a silver spear, had the range advantage and used it to parry Jin¡¯s sword before it reached him. With Jin¡¯s balanced disrupted, Arnold went on the offensive, constantly thrusting as Jin dodged with a paper-thin margin. A hit connected on Jin¡¯s left arm. Using the momentum, he regained his balance and created some distance. ¡°What is this? Running away? So you defeating Uncle Richard really was a fluke.¡± ¡°Who knows? Maybe your Uncle was just weak.¡± ¡°What did you say?!¡± Provoked, Arnold started to cast magic. ¡°Fireball!¡± A red magic circle appeared in front of his left hand and multiple fist-sized fireballs flew out, targeting Jin¡¯s head. Instantly, Jin ducked, avoiding the attack and flashed past Arnold. ¡°Crimson Art : Burst Flare.¡± Arnold¡¯s left arm had a huge cut on it. Arnold let out an agonizing scream as he dropped his spear and held onto his left arm. ¡°After you finish casting magic, you¡¯re full of openings.¡± ¡°You sh*t! How dare you injure me!¡± ¡°This is a duel, you know. So an injury of that degree is to be expected. Don¡¯t worry. It should heal.¡± Arnold¡¯s two lackeys clenched their fists in frustration as they witness their master being injured. Arnold then picked up his spear and dashed backwards to create distance between him and Jin. There, he held his spear up high, and started to chant. Jin did not attempt to stop it. ¡°Here it is! Master Arnold¡¯s level 5 magic spell, Meteor!¡± Like the lackeys said, a giant meteor, taking up most of the arena, appeared and propelled itself towards Jin. ¡°With the size of this field, you will never be able to dodge it. The duel ends here!¡± As the meteor approached Jin, his sword glowed, and with a slash, the meteor vanished. Completely erased like it never existed. Everyone was speechless, including me. ¡°W-what did you do?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s my sword¡¯s ability. Because I¡¯m unable to use magic, I compensate by being able to cut it. There is of course a limit. I can only cut magic that is equal to my level or below, nothing higher.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible! How did you even know that you could cut my magic?¡± ¡°Your aura told me. It¡¯s weaker than mine.¡± Arnold was in a panic. His face was distorted into an unsightly scene, backing away in fear. ¡°I guess I have no choice. I¡¯ll play my trump card.¡± As Arnold cast a giant fireball, similar to the size of the meteor, he threw a ball behind it to hide it from Jin. After closely observing the ball I knew what it was¡­ ¡°Jin!! Watch out!¡± But it was too late. As Jin stepped to the side and cut the fireballs, Arnold grinned evilly. ¡°Extreme!.¡± ''BOOM!'' What Arnold threw was a bomb however, it¡¯s explosion was three times bigger than normal. Jin was blown away, colliding against the barrier. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡®What was that?¡¯ I thought to myself as I used the barrier as support to stand. My ears were ringing from the explosion. As I looked to the right, my right arm was gone, on the ground, a pool of blood. My sword was blown in the opposite direction and was embedded in the ground. I let out an agonizing scream. ¡°ARGH!!¡± ¡°Ahahaha!! That¡¯s what you get for messing with me! Look at your miserable appearance. This match is over.¡± With an ugly distorted smile on his face, Arnold slowly approached me. I dashed toward my sword and grabbed it with left hand. Upon taking hold of my sword, Arnold halted his movements and stared at me maliciously. His smile changed into a frown. ¡°You...Why won¡¯t you admit your defeat? Even after using my god¡¯s ability Extreme to increase power of the explosion so that you¡¯d lose a limb¡­ Why won¡¯t you just stay down?!¡± ¡°Hmph¡­ ¡± As I focused my gaze at Arnold I heard Harry and Aiex¡¯s conversation behind me. ¡°Mr. Fenris, will Jin be alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. Unless we find someone with a powerful healing god¡¯s blessing I fear that he will never regain his right arm. Our nurse¡¯s powers is limited to only healing wounds and some sickness. It¡¯s impossible for her to regenerate a limb¡± ¡°I see¡­ ¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.¡°... Should I intervene?¡± With a cold piercing gaze, Aero oozed out killing intent directing it towards Arnold. The two lackeys besides Harry jumped and shrieked in fear. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I can handle this myself. I still haven¡¯t used my trump card yet.¡± I shouted towards Aero and Aiex to subside their worries. ¡°Trump card?! What a bluff. You, who doesn''t even know the god that blessed you or even possess a magic attribute, have a trump card? You must be joking right? Hahahaha.¡± As I looked upon Arnold¡¯s ugly laughing face, I remembered the dream. ¡°Now to the main point, your first ability is Beginning, to return your body to the state before it was injured. This ability allows you to regenerate all wounds dealt to you even if you were to lose an arm or leg. There is no set back when you use it for yourself however, if you were to use this ability on others, it can only be used once a day and whatever pain they received, you¡¯ll experience it times one thousand. The only weakness to this ability is once your head gets cut off, it¡¯s over. So when fighting others, always protect your head.¡± As the symbol that represents Janus on my left hand shined, ¡°Beginning!¡± The ability activated and the arm I once lost regrew itself. Arnold¡¯s laughing face twisted and formed a disgusting face full of fear. The audience was speechless. ¡°Now where were we?¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s impossible! You don¡¯t even know your god but you can use his power and its regeneration as well¡­ T-that¡¯s just unfair¡­ ¡± As Arnold slowly stepped back in fear, I slowly approached him as I switched the sword to my right hand. ¡°Do you know the old saying, ¡®An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.¡¯? Since you took my arm, I should be able to take your arm to compensate right?¡± As I coldly stared at him, Arnold tripped and fell to the ground. I slowly raised my sword up, aiming for his right shoulder. The moment I swung my sword, ¡°I give up!!!¡± ¡°Jin stop!!!¡± Upon hearing Harry¡¯s yell, I stopped my sword one centimeter away from his shoulder. I de-summoned it and looked down at the pathetic Pendragon and the wet floor. It reeked of ammonia. Arnold seemed to have pissed himself out of fear. ¡°The winner is Jin Crimson!¡± The audience was silent. After the barrier was deactivated, Aiex and Aero ran towards me. Aiex patted me on the shoulder with excessive strength. ¡°You bastard. You didn¡¯t tell me you could do that! You¡¯re practically invincible.¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­ I kinda learned it today. That hurted you know.¡± ¡°... We were worried.¡± ¡°Sorry Aero. I didn¡¯t mean to worry you.¡± ¡°Seriously though. I can¡¯t believe he would go as low as to bring outside weapons into this duel.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Where did he get that anyways? I remembered that only the non-blessed military people were allowed to use them.¡± Arnold was taken home, still shaking in fear, while I was conversing with Aero and Aiex. After school was over, I decided to head towards the library to scout the place. I wanted to know if it was an appropriate place for me to do my research or not. As I entered the library, I saw a familiar face. Sitting by the window, was the beautiful blue haired girl from earlier today. She noticed my presence and turned to meet me. I didn¡¯t notice it at first but she seemed to be a first year as well, wearing a blue tie with the school uniform. ¡°Ah¡­ The boy from the roof.¡± ¡°... Hello.¡± There was an awkward silence between us for a while. As I was about to continue my survey of the library, she spoke. ¡°Right, we never introduced ourselves to each other have we? My name is Lulli P. Ragoths. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Jin Crimson. Nice to meet you too.¡± ¡°About the roof¡­ Sorry if I came at the wrong time.¡± ¡°Ah that¡­ It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it too much. Let¡¯s change the subject. Why are you here alone?¡± ¡°Oh right. The announcement hasn¡¯t been made yet but I¡¯ll be the school¡¯s librarian after school from today and onwards. The other librarian is expecting his wife to have a child soon, so he¡¯ll be in charge of the library only during school hours.¡± ¡°I see¡­ ¡± ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I was scouting this place to see if it¡¯s a suitable place for me to do my research.¡± ¡°Hoh~ Interesting. What are you researching on?¡± ¡°That¡­ Is my secret.¡± As I talked to Lulli, I walked around the library to survey it. It was two stories tall. A pretty huge library I¡¯d say. On another note, Lulli had a pretty interesting personality. She was always smiling and cheery while we were talking. She¡¯s also very persistent and stubborn. She kept on insisting that I tell her what I planned on researching but I kept on answering the same with a ¡®no¡¯ until I had enough. ¡°Come on¡­ Telling me what you¡¯re researching wouldn¡¯t hurt would it?¡± As I sighed, ¡°Hm¡­ How about this? If we were to become close friends, then maybe, I¡¯d tell you what I¡¯m researching.¡± Lulli made a small mischievous smile like my response was her goal all along. ¡°You promise, okay? Even though I can just check the library records.¡± ¡°... Sure¡­ I have a way around that though.¡± As it was getting close to dinner time, I decided to leave the library. For some reason, Lulli also locked up the library and followed me to the dorm with a gentle smile on her face while humming a tune. ¡°Why are you following me?¡± ¡°Following you? What makes you think that?¡± ¡°When I left the library, you locked up and have been following behind me ever since.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Coincidentally, my shift was over and coincidentally~, you¡¯re heading in the direction of where I live.¡± There was the small mischievous smile on her face again as she talked in a sarcastic, teasing way. ¡°Wait¡­ when you say the direction where you live, you don¡¯t mean¡­ ¡± ¡°Yep. I live in the dorm as well.¡± ¡°Really now¡­ ¡± I said with a sigh. As we entered the dorm, we were greeted by Varelia. As we enter the kitchen/dining hall, like this morning, it was empty. ¡°Everyone already got their dinner and brought it to their room if you¡¯re wondering why it¡¯s empty.¡± ¡°Amazing as usual, Ms. Aeros. Thank you for the dinner.¡± ¡°Jin. Let¡¯s eat together.¡± ¡°... Sure¡­ ¡± Though I was unwilling to eat together with Lulli, I had no reason to reject her. While we were eating, I felt an ominous aura from Varelia but everytime I looked over, it disappeared. After Lulli and I finished our dinner, we said our goodbyes and went to our separate rooms. As I was about to head to the second floor, Varelia called for me. ¡°Jin. Come here for a second.¡± ¡°Yes, Ms. Aeros?¡± ¡°Let me tell you about the secret rule of this dorm.¡± With a malicious, mischievous look on her face, she pulled the collar of my shirt closer to her and spoke in a mobster-like tone. ¡°Listen here kid. That girl seems to taken an interest in you but if you are to hurt a single little hair on that innocent girl¡¯s head or let anything else hurt her, I¡¯ll personally track you down and kill you. Of course, I won¡¯t let you die a painless death. I¡¯ll make sure you thoroughly suffer. With my powers, I can hurt you, heal you, and hurt you again, a thousand times over. Understand?!¡± ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am¡­ ¡± Turning back to her gentle self, or should I say her false self, she waved me goodbye while saying, ¡®It¡¯s good that you understand.¡¯ After taking my shower, I fell onto my bed, exhausted. As I sighed to myself and thought, ¡®If this is only the first day, how will the rest of my school year go,¡¯ I fell into a deep sleep. Chapter 4 : 茅toile Terra It¡¯s been a few weeks since the duel happened, and Arnold transferred to a different class. I hadn¡¯t seen him since then and as a result, had a somewhat peaceful life at the academy. The only part of my day which broke the peaceful atmosphere was after school, whenever I went to the library. Every time I was there, Lulli would always follow me around, trying to find out what I was researching. Though her presence wasn¡¯t unpleasant, I couldn¡¯t get any of my research done. It was more like I was keeping her company while she worked. One day, Harry had an announcement. ¡°Alright everyone, the Selection Tournament is coming up. It¡¯s a tournament to select three squads who will make up one team to represent our academy at the Phantom Squad Selections and will compete against two other academies. There will be three divisions for the Selection Tournament. Division 1 will be all A and B classes. Division 2 will be all C and D, and Division 3 will be all E and F classes. This tournament is not mandatory; however, if you were to win in the Selection Tournament, you¡¯d be exempt from all school work for the rest of the year. If you were to win the Phantom Squad Selection, you¡¯d have an early graduation and be shipped off to the front lines to fight against the Phantoms. For the Selection Tournament, you¡¯ll have to form your own team of three. That¡¯s all.¡± When Harry finished his announcement, the class was in an uproar. ¡°Exempt from all school work, doesn¡¯t that sound great?!¡± ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m so psyched to aim for top now!¡± The merry atmosphere was interrupted by a certain individual entering the room. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. You guys will be going against upperclassmen that have been blessed by a god. There¡¯s no way freshmen who aren¡¯t blessed like you can win.¡± The person had a haughty attitude. Standing at 110 cm, he had brown hair and brown eyes. Everyone looked down at him but there was a bit of fear in their eyes. Some were speaking in whispers. ¡°Oi¡­ Isn¡¯t that Torauk Nordukr? The Dwarf that was blessed by Hephasteus?¡± ¡°What¡¯s a third year doing here?¡± As his entrance caused a commotion, he slowly approached me with an haughty aura surrounding him. He scanned me once over. ¡°Are you Jin Crimson?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡± ¡°Torauk Nordukr. I heard you possess an ability to cut magic and regenerate. I¡¯d like you to join my team for the Selection Tournament.¡± As I pondered, my question was already answered for me. ¡°He refuses.¡± It was Aiex. ¡°Who are you to answer for him?¡± ¡°His teammate.¡± ¡°Hoh~ You¡¯re going to be entering the Selection Tournament as well? Very well, you can join my team as well.¡± ¡°... That won¡¯t be happening.¡± said Aero as she entered the conversation. ¡°Like she said.¡± ¡°And why is that?¡± ¡°... I¡¯m their third member.¡± ¡°Hoh~ Interesting¡­ But why don¡¯t we hear the answer from the man himself?¡± As Torauk rebuked Aiex and Aero, their gazes were focused on me. I let out a tired sigh. ¡°Like they said, Torauk. I won¡¯t be joining your team.¡± Torauk stood there with eyes full of anger; eventually he let out a huge sigh and headed towards the exit. ¡°Very well¡­ I¡¯ll be seeing you guys at the finals, then. If you can make it, that is,¡± he said with an evil grin. As Torauk exited, the class was once again in an uproar. It took a while but Harry managed to calm them down. Class proceeded without any problems. Lunchtime came and Aiex, Aero, and I headed towards the roof with our food. There, we were greeted by Lulli. She has been joining us for lunch since we¡¯ve met. She greeted Aiex and Aero with ¡®I¡¯m here to become close friends with Jin.¡¯ and the three of them clicked right away. I always asked her why she didn¡¯t hang out with her other friends and gave me an instant reply of ¡®I see them enough during class.¡¯ ¡°Heh~ So you guys will be entering in the Selection Tournament? Interesting~¡± ¡°Well¡­ Aiex already decided for me so I guess I¡¯ll go along with it. I don¡¯t see anything special about it anyways.¡± ¡°What?! Jin please. No matter how much of a country bumpkin you are, how can you not understand how special the tournament is? Listen, being in the top 9 is an honor. Even getting to the top 9 of any division will have major families and organizations keeping an eye on you. It¡¯ll also increase your family¡¯s reputation and build your connection network. Right, Aero?¡± ¡°... Mhm.¡± ¡°Still¡­ I don¡¯t see what¡¯s so special about it. Besides, we have two more years. Why did you decide to enter this year?¡± ¡°It¡¯s something my late father wanted me to do. He told me, ¡®When you enter the academy, you must enter the selection tournament despite your year. It¡¯ll be good experience for you,¡¯ or so he says. So will you help me, Jin?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess so. I just don¡¯t want to attract any unwanted trouble.¡± Upon agreement, Aiex hit me in the back with excessive strength, saying thanks. With this our team was formed. ¡°Hoh~ Maybe I should join too, then.¡± ¡°Do you already have a team?¡± I asked. ¡°Well~ A second year asked me and my friend to join her during class today. I told her I¡¯d think about it while my friend agreed right away. Since you guys are entering, I guess I¡¯ll enter as well.¡± ¡°Oh. Too bad we can¡¯t fight each other with you being in class 1-A and all. I really want to see what you can do.¡± ¡°... Me too. Especially because Jin seems to be interested in you.¡± ¡°Oi Oi¡­ I never said anything about that.¡± ¡°Really now Jin?¡± Aiex and Aero made up a false accusation to tease me with smiling faces though Aero just had a small smile. Though I knew it was a joke, it seems that Lulli didn¡¯t and looked away with a red bashful face. Aero then proceeded to clear up the misunderstanding. ¡°... Lulli, it was a joke.¡± ¡°O-Oh. A joke¡­¡± she said in a low tone. Lunch was about to end as Lulli departed from us to head to her class. As we were walking, Aiex ran ahead saying he had something to do until¡­ ¡°Ow! Watch where you¡¯re going, plebian.¡± said a girl in a noble-like tone. The girl was almost as tall as Aiex but a bit taller than me, around 175 cm. With long red hair and grey-ish green eyes, she gave off an imperial aura. She had a beautiful figure with perfect curves. Truly, a sight for sore eyes but¡­ her personality had problems. ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry about that. Are you alright?¡± As Aiex extended his hands out to help the girl, she slapped it away and proceeded to stand up herself. ¡°Hmph. Who do you think you are, talking to me in that tone? I am ¨¦toile Terra, the daughter of the headmaster. With this knowledge, learn your place.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ll apologize but since you won¡¯t accept it, I can¡¯t do anything. I¡¯ll be leaving then. Let¡¯s go Jin, Aero.¡± As we were following Aiex back to our classroom, we heard a scream from behind us. ¡°Who do you think you are to brush me off like I¡¯m dirt?!¡± ¡°Hmm? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m anything. I just bumped into you and apologized. That¡¯s all there is to it.¡± ¡°You call that an apology? You should¡¯ve been on your knees.¡± ¡°... You¡­ ¡± As Aero was about to release major killing intent from the annoyance, Aiex stopped her as he put his hand in front of her. I then tried to break up the fight. ¡°Um¡­ It was just an accident. How about we just leave it at that and forget all about it?¡± ¡°Hmph! No way I can forget a disgrace such as this. You¡­ who do you think you are giving me orders?¡± ¡°Well since you won¡¯t be accepting my apology I guess I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± Once more, we turned around and was about to leave. Then, ¨¦toile took off her gloves and threw them at Aiex. ¡°Pick it up. I, ¨¦toile Terra, challenge you to a duel. If I win, you¡¯re to get on your knees and apologize to me.¡± ¡°Oh? What if I win?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not gonna happen but if you win¡­ I¡¯ll listen to one command of yours.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. With an intrigued expression, Aiex put his hand on his chin and looked down at her breast and said ¡®Anything, huh?¡¯ Once ¨¦toile found out what he was looking at, she covered herself and said in a flustered tone, ¡°A-Anything but perverted stuff, you-you beast!¡± ¡°I was only joking. I¡¯m not a pervert after all.¡± ¡°Or so you say,¡± I said jokingly. ¡°Really Jin¡­ Well, I¡¯ll take you up on the challenge. When and where?¡± ¡°Hmph. Good. It¡¯ll be in front of the Education Hall tomorrow after school. Don¡¯t worry, they have Nurse Aeros¡¯s barrier for dueling everywhere.¡± ¡°Oh~? Well then, I¡¯ll see you there.¡± Due to the commotion we arrived late to class. Mr. Fenris sure wasn¡¯t happy about that. We were punished and forced to hold weights with our arm straight while running a mile. It wasn¡¯t as cruel as Master¡¯s but it was still kind of tough. School ended peacefully and I headed towards the library. ¡°Hey Jin~¡± ¡°... Hi Lulli.¡± ¡°You¡¯re here once more. So~? What will you be researching?¡± ¡°Oi Oi¡­ We¡¯ve only known each other for a couple of weeks you know. I haven¡¯t even been able to do my research since you¡¯ve been following me around trying to find out. Don¡¯t you have your own work to do?¡± ¡°Well~ Not really. Not many people come to the library and at most we¡¯ll only get twenty people so it should be fine.¡± As I let out a tired sigh, I stared at Lulli¡¯s mischievous smiling face. Once again, I was not able to start on my research and accompanied Lulli as she worked. Our conversations were pretty plain, we just talked about our past, hobbies, and what happened during class. ¡°Oh right. After you left, Aiex bumped into this girl named ¨¦toile today on accident. She caused a huge commotion and ended up challenging Aiex to a duel. Thanks to her, we were forced to run a mile with weights attached. It was really tiring.¡± ¡°Huh? ¨¦toile?¡± ¡°You know her?¡± ¡°Mhm~ She¡¯s my friend and teammate who¡¯s going to be participating in the Selection Tournament.¡± ¡°Oh. That¡¯s interesting. That must mean she¡¯s pretty strong right?¡± ¡°Yea. I¡¯ve sparred against her a few times and can certainly say that she¡¯s strong. Though, she uses a really unique weapon.¡± ¡°What would that be?¡± ¡°Well~ You see, it¡¯s ¡­ ¡± ¡°Really?! This duel just might be interesting to watch.¡± At my surprised expression, Lulli let out a little giggle. Lulli then said with a smile, ¡°Despite her self-centered personality, she''s a really good girl. So once this duel is over, please try to get along with her okay? I want you guys to be friends with my friends too. I¡¯ll even talk to her afterwards.¡± ¡°O-okay, I¡¯ll try.¡± Her smile caught me by surprise. It was quite cute, I might say. ¡®If it wasn¡¯t only for the fact that she seems to always be planning something¡­ ¡¯ I thought to myself. The rest of the day passed by like usual and my excitement for tomorrow¡¯s duel was reaching its peak. ¡®I could finally see what Aiex can do.¡¯ I thought to myself before I slept. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After school, I parted ways with Jin and Aero. As I was walking home, I encountered some thugs who seemed like they were waiting for me. A black-haired guy with an ugly face came out. He looked to be their leader. ¡°Are you Aiex Tsukaru?¡± ¡°Oh? Mhm. Who might you guys be?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know. All you need to know is, you. die. here.¡± ¡°Really now?¡± As I dropped my backpack, one of the ruffians attacked me with a steel pipe. I stopped it with one hand and stared at him with a bored expression. He looked surprised. I crushed the pipe with my bare hands and the ruffian fell on the spot. He fainted out of fear. ¡°Y-You bastard!¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t want to do this, so can we end it here? I probably already know who hired you too, so can I just go home?¡± ¡°D-Don¡¯t mess with us! Guys, attack!¡± One by one, the ruffians surrounded me. I counted around 20 in total excluding the one who fainted. As I let out a huge sigh and said ¡®Really now¡­ ,¡¯ they started their onslaught. Since it was against the rules to harm normal people unless they took out a deadly weapon, like a knife, I couldn¡¯t physically attack. I grabbed all their steel pipes, crushed them all into a ball and threw it into a trashcan. The ruffians then backed away in fear. The leader had a surprised look on his face. Then, a brown little stray puppy passed by. I accidentally let out an ¡®Aww¡­ ¡¯. The leader of the ruffians took hold of the puppy and pulled a knife out. ¡°Take another step and I¡¯ll slice this dog¡¯s head off.¡± My nerve was struck. The leader had an ugly distorted smile on his face. ¡°You...you dare involve an innocent life like that? It¡¯s a cute little puppy, no less.¡± ¡°Hmph, like I care. This is just another filthy mutt, like you. Guys, get him.¡± As the ruffians surrounded me once more, wearing their disgusting smiles, I could no longer hold back my anger. The sound of thunder could be heard even though the sky was clear. As blue lightning struck my two arms, I equipped my gauntlets, the ¡®Thunder Breakers¡¯. ¡°Gauntlets ON.¡± ¡°W-what do you think you¡¯re doing? Don¡¯t you care what happens to this dog?¡± said the leader with a dreadful face full of fear. ¡°B-besides, you¡¯re not allowed to harm us normal people!¡± ¡°Hahahahaha¡­ Looks like you got the rules wrong. You see, I¡¯m not allowed to harm normal people unless they take out a deadly weapon. In your hand is a knife. That¡¯s classified as a deadly weapon.¡± My tone was low and chilly. Blue lightning struck the ground and my opponents surrounding me were blown away and collided with the buildings around us. The leader took a step back and let out an unpleasant screech. Once he lifted up his knife, I made my move. I instantly flashed in front of him, staring him down with cold eyes. I grabbed his left arm that was holding the knife and squeezed it, the knife fell from his hand and he let out an agonizing scream. ¡°ARGH!!¡± ¡°Now, give me the puppy,¡± I said coldly as I extend my other hand out. He let go of the puppy and it jumped into my hand. Once I received the puppy, I fractured the ruffian¡¯s left arm. I unequipped my gauntlets and proceeded to walk home. ¡°I could¡¯ve ripped off your arm, but I didn¡¯t. Now, don¡¯t mess with me or these harmless animals again.¡± Arriving home, I was greeted by my butler, Niles. He was a tall old man with grey hair and blue eyes. His family has served mine for over 50 years now. Though he may be old, he¡¯s really strong, being blessed by Mars, the God of War. ¡°Welcome home Master Aiex. You¡¯ve brought home another one? That makes 5, you know? If you include the 5 kittens, that¡¯s 10 in total.¡± ¡°Mhm¡­ It was caught in a fight between me and some thugs so I¡¯d feel bad if I left it.¡± ¡°My, my, thugs you say? What did they want?¡± ¡°It seems that they were hired to take care of me by someone at our school. I¡¯ll tell you who it is so if anything else were to happen, I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± My house was fairly large with eight bedrooms. Two of the rooms were guest rooms, one was for the animals, one mine, one Niles''s, one the cook, and two for the two maids. As I ate dinner, I consulted Niles about tomorrow¡¯s event. ¡°Hey, Niles. Do you have any information on ¨¦toile Terra?¡± ¡°Miss Terra? Why would you need information on her?¡± ¡°Well, she challenged me to a duel so I was hoping to research more about my opponent to get some advantage.¡± ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll report to you after I gather the information.¡± After taking a shower, I played with the 5 puppies and 5 kittens to wait for Niles. ¡°Master Aiex, I have returned.¡± ¡°Come in.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Master Aiex, but I could not find any detailed information on Miss Terra.¡± According to Niles, ¨¦toile¡¯s strongest element was Earth, blessed by Gaia, Mother Nature, and used a unique weapon. As to what the unique weapon was, he didn¡¯t know. I slept peacefully as I pondered on the information. Chapter 5 : First Encounter The day of the duel came. Aiex and ¨¦toile were facing each other with 10m in between them. Unexpectedly, the news of the duel spread out through the whole school and almost everybody was there to witness it, including the Headmaster himself. Lulli, Aero, and I stood besides him. ¡°Fufufu¡­ What young fellow has incurred my daughter¡¯s wrath?¡± ¡°That would be my friend¡­¡± ¡°Ho~... This will be an interesting match indeed.¡± The Headmaster said in low tone. ¡°... Lulli, who are you cheering on?¡± ¡°Hm~ Aiex is my friend but since ¨¦toile is my teammate, I guess I¡¯ll be cheering her on.¡± ¡°Fufufu¡­ Thanks for always taking care of my daughter, Lulli.¡± ¡°No problem~! However, I think this match might be a bit difficult for her. I mean, judging from Aiex¡¯s blue aura, he has strong affinity for water magic right? Even though it isn¡¯t the weakness of earth magic, the magic that ¨¦toile uses, she¡¯ll have some difficulties.¡± ¡°You think so? I¡¯m pretty sure this will be a harder match for Aiex though.¡± ¡°Hm~? Why is that?¡± ¡°... Aiex uses lightning.¡± ¡°Fufu¡­ A lightning user with a blue aura? Now that¡¯s interesting indeed.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll understand when you see it.¡± While our conversation was going on, Aiex was doing some stretches playfully while ¨¦toile just stood there with an elegant aura. The match was about to begin. With Varelia as the referee, there were no worries about any injuries. ¡°Let¡¯s have a clean match, you two. If I see that one of you is about to get their limbs ripped off, I¡¯ll be interfering. Understood?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright. Begin!¡± With the announcement of the start of the duel, everyone was amped up. Excluding us, the audience was mostly filled with students that had no blessing. The duelists started by exchanging blows in hand-to-hand combat. ¡®No weapon?¡¯ I thought. From what I saw, Aiex currently had the advantage. He fought like he was used to fist-fighting while ¨¦toile was being pushed back. The female audience was cheering for Aiex with phrases such as, ¡®Kyaaa! Aiex, you¡¯re amazing!¡¯ or ¡®Please go out with me!¡¯ while the male audience was infuriated. At the same time, the male audience was also enchanted by ¨¦toile¡¯s elegant combat skills. Their cheers were along the lines of, ¡®Go ¨¦toile! Beat the shit out of that womanizer!¡¯ or ¡®The grace in her techniques are absolutely stunning!¡¯ As the two halted their attacks, they created distance once more. ¡°Hee~... You¡¯re pretty good for a plebeian.¡± ¡°Now listen here¡­ I don¡¯t know why you insist on calling me plebeian but I have a name, you know! It¡¯s Aiex, Aiex Tsukaru.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter what your name is, you¡¯ll be a plebeian in my eyes. Shall we continue with magic?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Like they said, the two started to cast magic. In front of ¨¦toile appeared a dozen of sharp drills made from earth and were launched at Aiex, ¡®Earth Bullets!¡¯. As they were launched, Aiex countered with wind magic, ¡®Wind Wall!¡¯ A wall of condensed air appeared and blocked all the earth bullets heading towards Aiex with ease. ¡°Tch¡­ Wind magic? I thought your specialty was water.¡± ¡°Hahaha. Don¡¯t you listen during class? You can¡¯t just think that I¡¯d cast my specialty just because of my aura. Besides, water isn¡¯t my specialty. This is! Gauntlets...On!¡± Suddenly, blue lightning struck Aiex¡¯s two arms and two blue gauntlets appeared. I was astonished ¡°Hee¡­ So your specialty is lightning magic but¡­ Why is it blue? I¡¯ve never heard of such things.¡± ¡°According to Zeus, my lightning is more refined, pure, and destructive. Which caused the change of color.¡± ¡°Hee¡­ Your weapons are gauntlets as well¡­ No wonder you were so good in hand-to-hand combat. Well since you equipped your weapon, I might as well do the same.¡± As she announced that she was going to equip her weapon, the crowd was trembling with excitement. ¡°I wonder what her weapon is going to be.¡± ¡°Since she¡¯s so elegant and refined, it¡¯ll probably be something along the lines of a rapier, right?¡± ¡°Mhm! I¡¯m so excited!¡± ¡®Those poor misunderstood souls.¡¯ I thought to myself. ¡°... Jin, do you know what kind of weapon ¨¦toile uses?¡± ¡°Mhm. Lulli told me about it yesterday. I feel sorry for those people with high expectations¡­¡± ¡°... What is it?¡± As ¨¦toile¡¯s symbol representing Gaia glowed, a large light enveloped both of her hands and out came¡­ ¡°A chainsaw.¡± ¡°EH?!¡± Everyone in the audience let out a shocked expression. Their eyes were bulging out of their sockets with their mouths opened wide as they witnessed the unknown phenomenon in front of them. The males had a more dejected look than the females. ¡°The elegant¡­ beautiful ¨¦toile¡­ to use such a weapon¡­¡± ¡°This world is too cruel¡­¡± ¡°Fufufu! As expected of my daughter. She has to use a unique weapon afterall!¡± ¡°Oi, Headmaster¡­ Don¡¯t you think that weapon is a bit too unique?¡± ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? Before she was even blessed by Gaia, I made her a chainsaw seal myself!¡± ¡°So you were the cause¡­¡± Aero, Lulli, and I said at the same time with a blank expression. Preparations were finished and the real match was about to begin. ¡°Lightning Speed!¡± Instantly, Aiex vanished and with insane speed, he appeared in front of ¨¦toile, he thrusted his right fist into her abdomen which sent her flying a few meters backwards. Recovering from the blow, ¨¦toile charged at Aiex. ¡°Nature¡¯s Retaliation!¡± Her chainsaw roared and she started to swing it at Aiex with blinding speed. Since Aiex wasn¡¯t able to dodge it, he countered with his own skill. ¡°Panzer!¡± With that, his body glowed a brilliant azure color as his defense was raised to its maximum. ¡°Not so fast! Nature¡¯s Blade!¡± As Aiex activated his defensive skill, ¨¦toile activated her offensive one. The blade of her chainsaw shown a bright jade color as she broke through Aiex¡¯s defense. And with a slash, he was sent flying, colliding against the barrier that was set up. ¡°It¡¯s not over yet! Gun of Gaia!¡± ¨¦toile continued her onslaught as she raised her hands and a cannon made of earth appeared, shooting earth bullets rapidly towards Aiex. Once the bullets made contact, they exploded. However, as the smoke cleared, Aiex was standing there with scratches all over his body as it glowed the same azure color when Panzer was activated. ¡°W-what?!¡± ¡°Hahahaha¡­ Really now? Don¡¯t just write me off that fast.¡± ¡°Well¡­ They do say the revolting cockroach is only good at surviving. I suppose you are just a bit higher. A filthy cockroach with a neck. ¡°Haha¡­ Then. How about this?¡± As Aiex raised his hand, the duel was interrupted by a loud roar. GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. A black portal appeared in the middle of the field, breaking the barrier, and something came crawling out¡­ a Phantom! It was a Phantom Dragon, one of the strongest Phantoms there is. With its white cold eyes, it scanned the audience. The audience was in a state of panic. Then, some guards started to evacuate the students as others went to engage battle with the Phantom Dragon. ¨¦toile was stunned from the sight of the Phantom and stood there, absolutely frozen in fear. Seeing this, Aiex quickly dashed towards her as an attempt to protect her. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Aiex screamed. ¡°A-Aiex¡­¡± ¡°Get up and leave! We have no chance against this Phantom so we shouldn¡¯t sacrifice our lives in vain!¡± ¡°D-don¡¯t make fun of me! I¡¯m the daughter of Gaeleath Terra! I won¡¯t back down against a Phantom!¡± she said while trembling. Aiex reached his hand out to help ¨¦toile start moving. Surprisingly, she took it. Aero, Lulli, the Headmaster, and I finally arrived at the scene. ¡°Aiex, are you alright?¡± I said as I saw him. ¡°Yep. To think a Phantom would invade the school¡­¡± ¡°... We need to dispose of it,¡± Aero said coldly. ¡°I will be helping too~,¡± Lulli said cheerfully. While the three of us were conversing with Aiex, the headmaster was extremely worried about his daughter, ¨¦toile, as he constantly asked if she was alright. She seemed pretty annoyed by it but was still smiling as she knew her father cared about her. ¡®What a nice family,¡¯ I thought to myself. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°So what¡¯s the situation, Headmaster? How did a Phantom break through the barrier in the first place?¡± Aiex asked after ¨¦toile¡¯s father-daughter reunion. ¡°Ahem. That, we don¡¯t know. So, I¡¯d like to ask all of you to evacuate and let us teachers handle this.¡± ¡°T-that won¡¯t be happening, Father! I¡¯m a proud noble and your daughter! I cannot run away from a Phantom that interrupts my duel!¡± said ¨¦toile with a disgrunted face. ¡°B-but I can¡¯t let my cute daughter go into real battle¡­ I hardly allowed the duel today too!¡± the Headmaster said with teary eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Father! I¡¯ll take Aiex along with me. Even though he might be a filthy plebeian, he can still act as my meat shield when the time comes!¡± ¡°Really now? Don¡¯t worry, Headmaster. I¡¯ll make sure to protect ¨¦toile,¡± Aiex said with a respectful tone. ¡°Hm¡­ Very well! Without military weapon and no god blessing, I won¡¯t be of help since my magic is no enhanced by a god¡¯s blessing. I¡¯ll go call for reinforcement. Varelia won¡¯t be joining you since she¡¯s busy healing the injured at the moment.¡± ¡°... Understood.¡± ¡°Roger~¡± ¡°Might as well.¡± I agreed. That being said, the five of us headed towards the Phantom. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we headed towards the Phantom, the surroundings were dyed red with the blood of the fallen guards and their teammates tried desperately to keep the Phantom at bay. The Phantom had no regard for the guards and it slowly crawled towards the Academy¡¯s exit while trampling on the guards standing in his way. We met with the Phantom as it was closing in on the Academy¡¯s exit with us blocking it. The Phantom Dragon stood 7 meters tall including its two long white horns, It was covered in ghostly white scales which were almost transparent, and had luminous white eyes. It casually continued his stroll, not giving a care for us. However, as the Phantom approached, ¨¦toile started casting her magic and dozens of earth bullets flew towards the dragon, but they had no effect. Because of the Phantom Dragon¡¯s strong scales, weak level magic could not harm the dragon. ¡°Tch¡­ How about this?! Gun of Gaia!¡± ¨¦toile was growing impatient as she used her god skill to summon a cannon made of earth and shot out dozens of exploding earth bullets. This time, the Phantom flinched as the earth bullets exploded directly in his face. However, there was no major damage dealt to the dragon. We¡¯ve only angered it even more. It raised its front right foot, it stomped on the ground with tremendous strength, causing a tremor and we lost a bit of our balance. But, that wasn¡¯t all. White spikes erupted in a line and headed towards ¨¦toile. Aiex immediately ran in front of her and used his body as a shield. ¡°Panzer!¡± He was then sent flying backwards. ¡°Aiex!¡± I called out to him. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Even though he had a skill that could increase his defense, he still took a lot of damage. That was just how strong a Phantom Dragon was. ¨¦toile quickly rushed to his side and laid him down. ¡°D-don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll heal you now. Nature¡¯s Healing,¡± she said in a frantic. Aiex then got up as soon as his injuries were healed. GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The Phantom let out another ferocious roar as it stared at us while releasing immense killing intent. ¡°Looks like we can¡¯t directly take on his attacks,¡± Aiex said as he let out some small gasps of pain. ¡°... How shall we proceed?¡± Aero inquired. ¡°Hm¡­ This dragon is troubling indeed¡­¡± said Lulli with serious face. ¡°All we need to do is stall until reinforcement gets here. Aiex and I will be the vanguard because of his high defense and my regeneration ability. Since Lulli is proficient in magic, she¡¯ll be the rearguard with ¨¦toile who could cast healing magic. Aero will be the middle guard, in charge of protecting ¨¦toile and Lulli. If there¡¯s an opportunity, we can try to kill it.¡± As I explained my plan, everyone agreed. That said, we engaged the Phantom once more. ¡°Gauntlets ON!¡± ¡°Come, Twilight Cutter.¡± ¡°Engulf everything, Underworld¡¯s Darkness!¡± Aero¡¯s weapon was also somewhat unique: a scythe with a mysterious, ominous dark aura surrounding it. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± As the vanguards, we were to keep the Phantom at bay while the rearguards bombarded the enemy with magic. The middle guard¡¯s job was to protect the rearguard while dealing with any stray attacks. Though I say I¡¯m the vanguard, my role was to clear an opening for Aiex to attack with his god techniques and magic. The Phantom was formidable. Its tough scales negated most of the physical damage Aiex and I dealt to it with our weapons. However, the scales were vulnerable to god enhanced magic and god techniques. With the constant bombardment magic and Aiex¡¯s god skills, we were able to deal some major damage. ¡°Tch¡­ This Phantom doesn¡¯t know when to give up.¡± ¨¦toile said. ¡°How many more spells can its body take?¡± Lulli said while gasping for air. ¡°... Tiring.¡± ¡°You said it, Aero. How much longer till the reinforcements arrive?¡± ¡°Hm¡­ just a little bit more, guys. Reinforcements should arrive soon!¡± I said while trying to reassure everyone. The fight dragged on and neither side was giving up. The Phantom had some parts of its scales torn off by magic, which was causing it to bleed immensely, while on our side we were only depleted of our energy. As we fell to our knees, the Phantom once more gave out a ferocious roar and it took to the sky. In the sky, the Phantom stood tall and triumphant. It inhaled a vast amount of air and then¡­ ¡°Everyone dodge! It¡¯s a breath attack!¡± I yelled. As Lulli and Aero used their last ounce of energy to put up a magic shield small enough to shield themselves and Aiex and I stepped outside the attack¡¯s range, ¨¦toile didn¡¯t have enough energy to cast any more spells. ¡°Really now?! That dumbass!¡± Aiex yelled as he jumped towards her. With every last bit of strength, he activated Panzer once more and shielded ¨¦toile. Protecting her with his body. As his body was engulfed in radiant white flames, ¨¦toile stared at Aiex with a blank expression while tears flowed from her eyes. Harry and Varelia finally arrived. As they looked down at Aiex¡¯s burnt, destroyed body, their eyes were filled with rage. Instantly, claws of dark energy appeared on Harry¡¯s hands and he jumped on the Phantom. With all his strength, he struck its head, sending it flying into the ground. As the dragon was flying towards the ground, Varelia stood there with her hand raised. A giant red circle appeared before Varelia¡¯s hand as she casted an enormous spell. ¡°Explosion!¡± Fire instantly engulfed the Phantom and with a ¡®BOOM!¡¯ the Phantom¡¯s body exploded into pieces. The sky rained flesh and blood. As soon as the matter was taken care of, Varelia and Harry rushed over to Aiex. When I tried to assist Lulli and Aero, they told me to not worry about them and go check on Aiex. I did like they said and it was not a sight to see. His body was half destroyed, missing both legs and an arm. Barely breathing, ¨¦toile used her lap to support his head as she tried her best to heal him while tears formed in the corner of her eyes. I guess this is what you¡¯d call the suspension bridge effect. ¡°Nature¡¯s Healing! Why isn¡¯t it working?!¡± ¡°¨¦toile¡­¡± Harry and Varelia said as they looked down on Aiex¡¯s condition. ¡°Ms. Aeros! You should be able to do something right?! With Angintia¡¯s power you should be able to restore his body right?!¡± ¡°That¡­ It¡¯s impossible with my powers.¡± Varelia said as she turned her head away. ¡°... You idiot¡­ Why did you save me... It¡¯s my fault¡­ Because of my incompetence¡­ someone got hurt again¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s a way to restore him.¡± I said to appease their worries. As I said that, everyone looked towards me with a shocked face. ¡°Really?! Can you do it?!¡± ¨¦toile asked loudly. ¡°... Please Jin¡­¡± Aero said with a worried expression. ¡°Hee~ You¡¯re full of surprises~.¡± Lulli said in a joking tone. ¡°Of course. He is a good friend of mine after all.¡± I said with a gentle smile. As I raised my hand towards Aiex¡¯s body, my seal shined a bright black color. ¡°Here I go. Beginning!¡± A black aura released from my hand engulfed Aiex¡¯s body and instantly, his body was restored. ¨¦toile proceeded to hug the restored body of Aiex as she whispered. ¡°I¡¯m glad¡­¡± However, the moment the black aura dispersed, a burning shock struck my body. I let out an agonizing scream, waking up the unconscious Aiex. ¡°ARGH!!!¡± ¡°Jin!¡± Everyone yelled out as I lost consciousness.