Chapter 13 – Subjugation Class

Felix was looking at the ceiling. He just lost a battle, but despite the results, for some reason he did not feel any disappointments to himself. He was simply happy that he was able to understand and show to Hell two of Hee Van's abilities.

It was indeed an achievement to even do that to a monster-level human.

He looked at his wounds from the battle. It was slowly healing. One of the perks of being a monster in nature is their fast healing abilities though he's human now and it should've been slower. Earlier, some humans applied potions on his body, maybe that was the reason why.

He watched the empty white ceiling again. He must try again in 6 months. He must be beside her always. He must be with her always. That's the sole reason why he's here aboveground. She's the sole reason of his existence.

He was in deep thought when the door of the infirmary opened up and immerging from there was Shanks Chugger. For a human, Skank Chugger gained his respect when the latter sold weapons for him and Hell. Chugger's wide range of knowledge in weaponry was also respected by Felix. This guy was one of the few humans Felix does acknowledge.

"How's your injuries?" Chugger asked immediately.

"…Good. They're healing." He said. He looked into Chugger, "Why are you here?"

"…I saw how you used my chains… It's… so good. I can't believe those useless chains could be used this way." Chugger smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, Felix."

Felix was surprised. He didn't expect to be thanked for using the chains that way.

"…You… shouldn't be thankful. Your chains ended to someone like me who could not even pass the entrance examination for the Academy."

Chugger coughed twice, "About that, Felix. I have a proposal."

"Proposal?"

"Yes." Chugger fetched something inside his breast pocket and showed it to him. It was a pocket watch. But from the intricate designs, the blue gemstones placed carefully on the hours, and the small aura it emanates, it was not just an ordinary pocket watch. "Shanks Grain Chugger, Rank Eleventh of the Council of Cloven Elders. I can get you inside the academy but with a condition. Be my apprentice."

--

And, that's why Felix was able to enter the academy even though he lost to Van.

Anyway, I should really stop reminiscing about what happened. An annoying guy is currently stirring trouble to our group. A simple looking guy who wore extravagant yet ordinarily common knight clothing with all those metallic protective garbs. He's also the reason why I remembered the reason of Felix' admittance.

I leaned onto Felix while the guy argued with Zerxa.

"Oy, Felix. You're an apprentice knight right? Don't you need to wear those kind of outfits?" I whispered. He looked at me with disgust.

"Hime-sama, I am an apprentice but I am not a knight, and most definitely I won't wear that tacky outfit."

"What did you say?!" We all looked at the guy who suddenly shouted. He angrily strode towards us. "Tacky? Heh. How dare you mock the uniform of the Academy's Knightly Order! Ah, right. You do not even know anything except fighting and fighting."

His companions laughed with his 'insider joke'.

I can't believe a petty little argument of who's going to use the Holographic Room first got into this scale of mocking. Yes, holographic room! An invention not even my previous world has! It has the same function as the Nerve Gears in SAO and gears from Log Horizon and Overlord! It can transfer your consciousness into a holographic 3D clone inside a small spaced room while the body sleeps in a similar room. Inside the holographic room, all your skills and magics are usable so it's a good way to practice.

Anyway, we did properly file a reservation though. Our groups. The so-called warfreaks, consisting of me, Felix, Zerxa, Van, Belial and the new guy Eliezer. Though, I really can't argue with the nickname with this line-up.

The Academy is divided into three divisions: The Knight Division, the order which was given the highest regard among all the divisions. Or at least, that's what they believe. I mean, of course they are well respected by the people inside and around the Academy because all they do is wander around the vicinity and "protect" the people of the City of Carnage. They're the knights, after all. Well, as for me, all I can see is a bunch of self-important kids who thinks too highly of themselves.

The second division was the Cultivation Division – mainly the nerdy types of kids. If I was born the way I was Hellium Dexter, I may have joined this Division. I may not look like it but I really loved to study and observed. But in this body and these skills I have, it's a shame if I just focused on studying. And that's what this division is all about. Studying – cultivating magic. They're like the real magicians in this world, they're the scientists. All the magic spells, potions, and charms are products of the Academy's top Cultivators. Their image is quite good all over the world.

Unlike us.

Our class, the Fighting Class, focuses primarily on self strengthening. Often seeks acknowledgement through fighting. Consists of warriors trained for battle, specializing in offense, defense, or a mix of both. These combatants rely on strength, skill, and sometimes magic or technology to dominate their opponents.

By the way, my senpais are also called adventurers because they travel most of the time. The fighting class are also the ones who are mainly hired for missions outside the Academy. That's the main reason I chose this Division.

I got to call somebody a senpai, I feel like I'm one of Levi's squad because of the Subjugation Division, I get to be called an adventurer soon, and I got to travel the world! Yey! This is soooo cool.

"Hey," Van called onto that knight.

The knight sneered at Van, "That's senpai for you, young man. Don't you know who I am? I'm Kersch Valenton, ranked third at the Knight's Order!"

Van shrugged and while looking bored he smirked towards Kersch, "Ayt, Kersch Valenton-senpai, since the main problem here is who's going to use the room first, why not let's all use it simultaneously?"

Kersch was taken aback. I looked at Van and when I realized where he was going to, I softly thumped my right fist onto my left palm.

"Ooooh, that's a great idea Van!" I seconded, and looked at Kersch. "Senpai, won't you agree to our proposal?" I smiled evilly.

"What proposal?"

"Fight us." Belial was the one who answered that.

"Wha—"

"We've filed a reservation properly yet we're letting you in, senpai, will you really let this chance of a good practice slip?" Zerxa was the last straw. In the end they agreed, and we all transformed into holograms.

Good practice? I smirked. This will never be a practice. Everyone on our team thinks so. They're the ones who started to piss us off without any reasons, so they can't blame us if we kill them, right?

Since our team has 6 players while the knights have only 5, we decided to have one of us become the referee. Eliezer volunteered himself which was a good decision since most of us are really eager to eliminate the other team, and I think he sensed that.

"Hime-sama, you won't use your full power, right?" Eliezer smiled sheepishly. What a cute and innocent child!

I only smiled at him to answer his question. And with that smile, he immediately understood my intentions and while scratching his head, went onto the sides and calmly explained the rules.

"The rules of this game is simple: Kill all the members of the opposition by any means." Eliezer announced. I could see people started to gather to watch our match. I smiled. The larger the crowd, the sweeter it will be for us.

"Heh. Let's give those guys a good beating, shall we." Zerxa's eyes fired up.

"You could just sit here, ojou-chan. You probably won't be any help, anyway." Van argued.

"Hah?!" The red girl angrily yelled. "I could even finish them all without you guys!"

"One swing." Belial uttered two words.

"Can you please stop arguing over small things?" Felix grunted.

"Ohoh. So shall we have a bet, then? Whoever kills the most this time will get a price from those who lost." I said. Everybody looked at each other then smiled evily.

"Way to go, hime. You just gave the other team a death flag." Felix said.

"Why not? It's fun!" I said.

When Eliezer declared the start of the match, everyone on the room moved swiftly. I was aiming for Kersch by trying to land a blow on his face. But when I was about to land a hit on a surprised Kersch, my punch was black by the blades of a large sword. Belial.

"He's my prey, Hell." He said with such a serious tone.

"Ohhoh. Try to snatch him, then." I said, and kicked poor Kersch stomach that he flew away. I immediately used

I was about to snatch Kersch away from Felix when an opposition's body went to my way that I have to kick him away, as an initial reaction. It seems that Zerxa's wrecking ball did that to the poor member.

The match continued for a few minutes, one-sidedly. I can't even afford to narrate everything since Kersch' team would just be embarrassed on the events the followed.

It's not a match anymore. It's like a game of cats and mouse where the cat just plays with the mouse, without actually killing and eating it. It also looks like a catch ball. Really, poor knights. Being thrown here and there only to receive another attack from another opponent.

Umu… This is definitely catch ball with five balls and five players.

When we got too tired of 'playing', we stopped. Nobody was killed yet, however the opposing team was too exhausted and damaged that even their hologram was starting to have frequency disturbances.

The five of us looked at Kersch.

So this is ranked three on the Knight Order.

We were utterly disappointed.

"Do we still have that bet?" Zerxa asked. "Honestly, they're not even worth the bet."

"I agree." Belial seconded.

"Then, let's kill them now." Van said, all of us nodded. Our spiky head pointed his fingers to the place where the knights was resting and catching their breaths, after a few seconds, the something in the holographic room exploded and we're the only ones left inside.

"Oy," I said in awe, "You did not really kill them, right?"

Van looked at me with an innocent smile, "Saaa…"

--

Thankfully, when we went outside, they're alive however you can see how exhausted they were. Also, with the way they looked at us, I think we stirred up another trouble. Those pairs of eyes were looking at us with such killing intent. I totally understand them though, if I get shamefully defeated like that, I would want to kill my opponent too.

Even so, they could only glare at us before they left.

"Hell!" I heard a familiar voice. When I looked around I saw Fenrir with Jelal, as usual. They seem to have seen the match a while ago.

"Master, sugoi!" Jelal immediately looked at Felix with sparkling eyes. "You defeated 5 knights without breaking a sweat! You're really worthy to become my master!"

"Uhm, we're there though?" Zerxa said.

I looked at her, "Don't mind him. He's like that when it comes to Felix."

"That, I agree." Fenrir said, then looked ta me seriously, "But Hell, you guys are really something! You managed to defeat those knights too easily! Even Kersch who's 3 years older than us, you managed to defeat!"

"You know him?" My brows furrowed.

"Of course! Just like us, Kersch is a noble. But not just any noble, he's a close relative of Shura Vendict-sama. The Shura Vendict, you know!"

"Shura Vendict?" I think I've heard that somewhere. "Eh, Crimson Synclaire's bestfriend? The Shura Vendict?"

Fenrir nodded violently, "Who knows what he'll do to you next time! I've heard Shura Vendict is a scary man! He's bald with thick stubbles, they said he even had horns and his eyes are bright red like those of monsters! Just even imagining him is scary—Hell, where are you going?!"

While Fenrir was in hysterical mode, I was really planning on hearing her out but my eyes caught a familiar figure walking away. That's why, I left without saying anything. I hurriedly ran and chase that girl. That familiar long green curly hair. The first real-life mahou-shojou I've ever encountered, and probably the reason why I was reincarnated here in this world.

"Hey!" I yelled when I almost reached her. But she did not flinch and continued walking instead. She's already in the cafeteria and there are a lot of students hanging around, it's becoming harder to follow her.

A few moments of chasing, I finally managed to catch her. I held her forearm making her face me.

When I carefully looked at her, I can't believe what I was seeing. I was expecting that I'd see her, yes. But not in this form. It's already 16 years since I reincarnated in this world yet she did not change at all. With the same dry look, height and posture. She's still the witch I've encountered that night on the bridge on my way home.

"Question: You've been following me. What are your queries?"

Wah, even the manner of speaking is still the same. Is she really the same girl back then? But how come she did not aged at all?

Tilting her head, she looked at me straight in the eyes, as waiting for an answer.

"I…I…." Damn it, my voice is failing me. "Uhm, do you remember me?"

"Answer: I don't remember meeting a girl like you. If ever I did, it would have been stored in my memory."

I was speechless for a couple of seconds but I went face palming inside my head, even hitting myself inside my head. Of course, she won't know me. Not me as Hell.

"I mean… Do you remember a guy that you've kissed 16 years ago?" I asked and for the first time, her expression changed, which only lasted for a fraction of second.

"Kissed?... Failure to comprehend… I… have not kissed someone…" She said looking at me as if I were a puzzle she's trying to solve.

Looking at her, I think she really doesn't know. I was hoping that from her change of expression, she remembered something, but I guess she was just shocked by the word kiss seeing how she wasn't able to answer properly. Was it new to her?

Maybe it really wasn't her. The age does not fit after all. Maybe she's her daughter? Umu. That's a possibility.

"Uhm, I see. Maybe I've gotten the wrong person." I said, I was still holding her arm and even though I dismissed the conversation, she was still looking at me curiously. "Uhm, ah, I'm Hell Freia. I'm in the Fighting Division, how about you?"

I chose the introduction route. To save myself from the embarrassment of mistaking her from someone I knew. She seemed to have understood my intention as she freed herself from my grasp and instead offered her hand to me, properly.

"Answer: Zenith… Zenith Synclaire, Assistant Librarian."