Chapter 13: First Class

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"Ahhh! It's a monster!!"

"Don't go near it, it will kill you."

"What should we do!? It looked at me!"

People look at me like I'm something gross. I didn't want to become like this... I wanted to be normal too.

"Die!!"

When I walk on the street, rocks fly at me.

"You're gross, stay away!"

When they see my face, they run away.

"Go away!"

Mean looks are always pointed at me.

I went into the house to get away from them.

"Get out right now!"

That person's blue eyes and my eyes used to be the same color. I really hate my silver eyes that changed color.

"You monster!!"

"I should never have had you!!"

A face that looks just like mine. Not long ago, the words from this person's mouth were kind and gentle... Everything changed completely from that day.

I get hit and kicked. Maybe it was wrong for me to be born.

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"I'm [******]. Nice to meet you, boy"

"Your name from today is '[*******].'"

The short man looked at me with warm eyes.

"Nice to meet you, '[******].' From today we're best friends!"

"Me? I'm [[*******].]."

The boy with blue hair is my first friend.

"You are my son."

"You're not alone anymore, okay?"

The woman with kind eyes gives me warmth.

"Oh, so you're his best friend! Then I'm your best friend too!!"

"Let's go, '[[*******].]'! There's a really cool place over here!"

The boy with red eyes is my second friend.

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Blood... blood... blood.

A red pool.

The cold body of the red-haired boy.

The boy's red eyes, open wide and blank.

Next to him, standing and smiling evilly—a demon.

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Dead bodies, dead bodies... dead bodies.

When I woke up, there were piles of dead bodies all around.

And a dark red sea of blood with blue in it.

Squish...

Something sticky and awful on my hands.

When I looked, my hands and body were covered in dark red blood.

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"────..."

Sakika woke up from a nightmare. Outside was still wrapped in pitch-black darkness, but the chirping of birds was annoyingly loud. Looking at the clock, it wasn't even five yet. But for him, this was his usual wake-up time.

As he sat up in the darkness, sweat dripped from his forehead.

A dream of past memories he hadn't seen in a while. He tried to steady his ragged breathing with deep breaths, covering his face with his right hand. Then he laughed bitterly.

How long was he going to drag this out? It was over. That black figure wasn't in front of him anymore, and he'd gained the power to defeat beings stronger than that. Yet he still couldn't escape that fear.

No, he knew exactly what the cause was. What he was afraid of wasn't that black figure—

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then exhaled. Finally his breathing steadied. Then he stood up and began his morning routine.

After getting ready, Sakika teleported to a forest within the academy grounds. The place was wrapped in deep darkness with no sign of people—only the presence of harmless animals.

Until now he'd been going to random forests around the capital, but since there was a good spot nearby, there was no reason not to use it.

Sakika looked around for a while, but judging there were no problems, he cast a spell without chanting.

"Anti-Physical and Magic Barrier"

Non-attribute advanced magic Anti-Physical and Magic Barrier.

A silver barrier surrounded an area with a radius of about one kilometer.

This barrier protected allies and himself from weapon attacks, bare-handed attacks, and magical attacks. It blocked attacks from outside to inside but allowed attacks from inside to outside—a convenient barrier. In other words, entry from outside was impossible and there was no interference from outside, which is why he often used it during training.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the clear morning forest air, and exhaled. When he opened his eyes again, it was time to start his morning training.

After stretching the tendons and muscles throughout his body and loosening up his just-awakened body, he took out a red bracelet that increased gravity ten times and a pale yellow one that increased it five times from his Box and put them on his left arm.

Then he enhanced his body and started running. The distance varied depending on how he felt that day, but when he was out of breath and felt pleasantly tired, he stopped.

After steadying his ragged breathing, he began strength training. That said, Sakika didn't build unnecessary muscle. Extra muscle would only get in the way of movement.

Repeating practice swings over and over was the best method. Sakika believed that the muscles needed to swing a sword were most efficiently trained by swinging a sword.

His weapon, [Black Phoenix Butterfly]. He summoned it to his right hand and practiced swings with both hands, left and right, one at a time.

When that was finished, Sakika summoned the scabbard.

"[Black Phoenix Butterfly], dual-wielding"

The scabbard scattered like black dust, changing to white and beginning to construct an elongated shape.

In an instant it formed a sword.

The color was white. A decorative cord trailed from the end of the scabbard. At its base was a red ornamental bead.

It was truly—a pure white [Black Phoenix Butterfly]. A pair with the jet-black sword in his right hand, two blades that made one 'twin sword.' That was the true identity of [Black Phoenix Butterfly].

He gripped the jet-black one in his right hand and the pure white one in his left, beginning to practice sword forms.

Sakika was originally a dual-wielder. For certain reasons, he no longer wielded two swords in front of people, but he still sometimes gripped both during training.

He just couldn't abandon this technique.

As he performed the forms, he smiled bitterly to himself. He hated his half-hearted self.

After finishing his review of the forms, Sakika sheathed his swords and stood naturally with his eyes closed.

He focused his nerves on the magical power circulating through his body, making it swirl around himself as the center.

Sakika's magical power was silver. If he opened his eyes now, he would see that silver radiance.

His best friend said this color was beautiful. But Sakika hated the color of his own magical power. This color reminded him of various dark events from his past. There was no way he could like it. Similarly, Sakika hated the color of his own hair.

Magical power color varied from person to person, and his best friend Gaia's magical power was a vivid crimson. When magical power took on an attribute, it was dyed that color, but the original color of magical power without any attribute was related to the person's attribute colors. Gaia's magical power being crimson was related to his specialty attribute being fire.

Then why was his own magical power this silver? It was probably due to the large number of attributes he possessed.

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After finishing his morning training over the course of an hour, he confirmed no one was around before using teleportation magic to return to his dorm room.

He showered in the bathroom to wash off his sweat, ate breakfast, then took out a book from the shelf to kill time.

He enjoyed reading while drinking post meal tea.

For him, who was usually busy, this kind of relaxing time was a precious moment and his favorite time.

Around eight o'clock, he stood up from the sofa, put the book back on the shelf and washed the cup that had held his tea.

As he changed into his uniform and was about to leave the room, he sensed familiar presences and magical power approaching. After a while, the magical device doorbell rang.

When he opened the door, his friends were there.

"Morning, Saki."

"Good morning, Sakika."

"Morning."

"Yo! Sakika."

At their various greetings, Sakika smiled softly.

"Good morning."

The five of them headed to the classroom together.

Along the way, they could hear whispers from people they passed.

"That guy's the rumored transfer student, right?"

"Yeah, the one who bought his way to being a scholarship student."

"For an E-rank, he sure walks boldly with Rentria and Suzukata."

But Sakika didn't care. In his life so far, he'd experienced much more obvious rejection. Something like this wouldn't break his spirit.

Besides—Sakika glanced sideways at Gaia and the others. Their expressions were all twisted with anger. Having people who got angry on his behalf was strong emotional support. He had reliable companions.

However, when he gradually began hearing mockery targeting not him but Lilith, Sakika clenched his fists.

"Ah... That hooded guy is E-rank too, right?"

"I know, I know! That guy probably got into S-class through connections too."

"That guy's always wearing a hood, it's creepy."

"I agree with that."

A girl who had just transferred to the academy yesterday and was trying to become friends with him, a stranger, was about to be defiled by dirty words. He couldn't just stand by and watch such a situation.

Killing intent leaked out despite his desperate attempts to suppress it. Gaia was the one who noticed.

"H-hey, today's our first high school class."

"...Yes."

He came to his senses at Gaia's somewhat awkward voice. he didn't even have the composure to maintain his polite speech and responded in his natural tone, made Gaia's face stiffen slightly.

"Wh-what? Weren't you looking forward to it?"

"...That's right."

He exhaled deeply. He needed to calm down a bit.

Naoma, Lilith, and Rate must have sensed that strange atmosphere, because they began talking in bright voices.

"That's right! Today's our first high school class day!!"

"I wonder what first period is?"

"Oh, I'm curious."