The room was circular.

Twelve desks arranged around a central open space. No rows, no front, no elevated position for the instructor. Her desk was against the wall at the same height as ours.

I found a seat.

Lina and Aria sat together while Sylvaine occupied a corner seat alone.

The Hero had claimed the seat near the window

The novel’s female lead sat at his right side. Childhood friends, if the story remained accurate.

The door opened again.

She came through it.

Shizuka Hiratsuka. Crimson Lioness of Empire.

Tall, dark hair the color of red wine pulled back efficiently, a stack of documents under one arm and a cup in the other hand. She crossed to her desk and set both things down and looked at the twelve of us without any warmup.

"S class," She glanced over at us.

" Twelve of you. Going to Hell with me."

She did not elaborate on what that meant. She looked at the circle.

"Most of you have spent your entire academic careers being the exception, the one who did not fit. The one the instructors did not know what to do with."

She picked up her cup and drank from it.

"You are not the exception here. You are the standard. Which means the previous approach does not work and we need a different one."

She set the cup down.

"I do not teach theory. You can read theory. I teach application under pressure, decision-making under uncontrolled conditions, and understanding your own limits before you lose." She looked across the circle. "The last one is the most important. Most of you currently lack it."

"We start today," Hiratsuka said. "Tell me your names and tell me one thing you cannot do that you believe you should be able to. Not what you are good at. What you cannot do yet."

Nobody moved.

Lina was first.

"Elemental magic is something I still cannot use "

One by one, the others spoke about the things they lacked.

The room was already burning.

By the time introductions had finished the circle had a shape to it that had not been there at the start.

I had said: controlled sustained output across multiple high-rank casts without reserve depletion.

The half-elf had said: precise mana distribution across simultaneous spirit contracts.

Sylvaine had said: eliminating personal blind spots in domain-type magic,

Hiratsuka had listened to all twelve without writing anything down.

When the last person finished she looked at the circle for a moment.

"Good, those are honest answers. I have had S class students give me answers about what they wanted to improve about skills they were already exceptional at. That is vanity dressed as self-awareness and I cannot work with it."

She stood.

"My name is Shizuka Hiratsuka. My rank is S class, official. My title is the Crimson Lioness, which I did not choose and would not have chosen but which has followed me regardless."

The reason behind the title was absurd when you thought about it. She has killed over one thousand daemons alone in the field. Not in coordinated operations. Alone.

" I am telling you this not to impress you but because it is relevant to how I teach. I have made every mistake that can be made in a combat situation at high stakes and I have survived all of them, which means I know what the mistakes look like before they become consequences."

She picked up her cup again.

"I am a fire mage. You will notice that the curriculum I run does not favour fire users. That is intentional. Favouritism in a classroom is something I find more offensive than most things."

She looked at me briefly.

Then at Sylvaine.

The look lasted less than a second for each person.

"The first session is this afternoon, not a lecture. Practical assessment. Individually. I watch you work and I tell you what I see. You do not argue with what I tell you. You may ask questions after." She picked up the document stack. "If you argue with what I tell you I will increase the session length until the arguing stops, which historically takes longer than people expect."

She was not exaggerating. According to the novel, most students failed under her at least once.

"Afternoon session. Training grounds east of the main building. Do not be late." She looked at the circle one more time. "I have high standards and low patience for wasted potential. You are all in this room because someone assessed you as not wasting yours."

She walked out.

The twelve of us sat in silence.

The circle absorbed that information.

The thought of undergoing an individual practical assessment under the Crimson Lioness already sounded exhausting.

It’s going to be annoying.

Her training schedule was mentioned in the novel.

A five-kilometer run followed by basic physical exercises, then combat training, and finally mana assessment. The same routine would continue for the entire year.

Also something feels off about Elysia Valecrest.

***

(June’s POV)

"Wow... this is actually kind of cool, Elysia."

"What exactly do you find cool about this?"

"This is quite literally the worst thing that could possibly happen."

***

(Mysterious POV) 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

What is happening?

Did the plot change?

And who exactly is Kael Ardyn?

He was never part of S-Class when I read the novel.