February 9th, 2012 — Approximate Time: 12:15 PM

Asura Academy — The Evaluation Hall

Perspective: Kaiser Everhart

Her fingers were a vice.

Tight enough that I couldn’t move my wrist without it feeling like I was pulling away from her on purpose — which, apparently, was the worst possible thing I could do to someone in Elfie’s current state.

She’s overreacting.

I looked down at the small hand locked around my forearm. Her knuckles were still smudged dark at the edges. Her uniform sleeve was stiff and dark from the blood she’d walked through on the lower floors. The pink had drained from her hair in the dungeon’s bad lighting and left something colder, silvered.

Or she’s genuinely worried about me.

Both, probably.

Definitely both.

I let her keep my wrist.

She hadn’t said anything since we’d walked away from the others. The conversation we’d had — if I could call it that — was short. Mostly her looking at me with that particular expression she got, the one that managed to be both furious and devastated at the same time. A few things said. A hug that I’d initiated and that she’d collapsed into like she’d been holding herself at arm’s length from something for hours.

Which she had.

Now we were standing on the upper floor of the dungeon’s second corridor — the one that connected the sector to the Evaluation Hall — and Elfie was murmuring something under her breath I couldn’t quite hear.

Her free hand was raised. In her palm, a slow pulse of violet-white mana was building.

She’s making the portal herself.

I watched it form. The way her celestial mana reached — not outward, but inward, folding space rather than cutting it. Like she was finding the seam of something and prying it open with two fingers.

Incantis via, spatium flectis — duc me ad lucem meam.

The corridor walls shivered.

A tear appeared in the air ahead of us. Not violent — it split cleanly, like paper parting along a scored line, and through it I could see the fluorescent warmth of the Evaluation Hall. The sound came through a half-second before the image fully stabilized: voices, dozens of them, the low roar of students waiting.

This is going to be an iconic moment.

She stepped through first, still holding my wrist. I followed.

---

The Evaluation Hall went quiet.

That was how long it took for the nearest students to register what they were looking at: Elfina Lunaris, bloodstained, walking out of a tear in the air she had personally created, holding the wrist of Kaiser Everhart like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let go.

The silence spread outward like a ripple. By the second, it had reached the far walls.

Here we go.

Class A cluster on the left — they had been waiting at the edge of the hall, probably pulled back in from their dormitories once results were announced. Rose Valentine stood near the front of them. Julian just behind her. Cecily somewhere in the periphery, invisible as always.

Class B to the right. Victor, arms crossed, his expression doing the thing it did when something didn’t fit his model.

Sylvia, composed, saying nothing. Ivy’s wings had stilled.

Class C scattered throughout the center and far side — Delyra standing ramrod straight, her violet eyes wide. Leena’s hand had gone to her mouth. Rigel, beside her, was very still.

And then there was Elfie herself.

Perfectly upright. Dried blood on her collar. Stardust still barely visible in the skin at her wrists. Expression so calm it was almost abstract.

She looked, in that specific moment, like something that had just walked out of a myth.

This is either going to make her the queen of this academy. Or it was a massive over-correction.

Probably the former.

Definitely the former.

A murmur broke from somewhere in Class B’s cluster.

"Is that — was that a portal?"

"She made that herself?"

"Why is she covered in—"

"That’s her? The Rank Zero girl? I thought she was supposed to be—"

I stopped paying attention to individual voices. The collective register was more useful anyway. And the collective register was: awe, shock, the specific kind of silence that precedes something people will be talking about for weeks.

Elfie released my wrist.

I flexed my hand once.

She turned toward her friends first. Del was already approaching her. She was walking with a slightly faster gait than usual, which for her was practically a sprint.

"Elfina." Delyra stopped a meter away, looked at her from head to toe, and said: "You look absolutely horrifying. Are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine!" Elfie’s voice shifted — I noticed it immediately. "It looks worse than it is."

"It looks like you killed several things."

"I did."

"...More than one floor’s worth."

"About 27 floors’ worth." She touched her hair self-consciously. "The lower levels are really something. I should’ve brought a coat."

Delyra stared at her for a full second.

Then, precise and composed: "I will pretend that was a normal thing to say."

Leena got there next, and Leena did not pretend anything. She grabbed Elfie’s hands and looked at her with green eyes that were doing several things at once — relief, concern, residual anxiety, and the particular joy of someone who had been genuinely scared and was processing not having to be anymore.

"Elfie! I was so scared. Okay? I know you came back and you’re standing here and you’re fine but I was scared."

"I’m sorry." Elfie’s expression softened. "I didn’t want you to worry."

"You walked into a dungeon portal! By yourself! Without telling anyone!"

"I did tell you. I just... didn’t specify where it went."

"Elfieeeee—"

"I’m alright, Lee. I promise."

Leena exhaled and then did something with wind and water magic — just a small field, the kind that took a precise touch to maintain. It moved across Elfie’s uniform in a careful pass, lifting the dried blood from the fabric and dispersing it. The stardust she left alone. It was fading on its own.

"You don’t have to—"

"Stop talking and let me fix your sleeve." Leena’s voice was warm and firm simultaneously. "You are not standing in front of the entire academy looking like you ran through a war, even if you did."

Elfie went quiet. Let her do it.

I turned away before the moment got any more domestic.

The reactions from Class B and Class A were, predictably, different in kind.

I caught the tail of a conversation near Victor’s circle — Ivy’s voice, quieter than usual: "She was on Floor 27, Victor. And she made it back up with — look at her. Look."

Victor hadn’t answered. He was watching the portal tear in the air slowly close, something had exceeded his model and he hadn’t decided how to reclassify it yet.

In Class A, Julian was doing the social arithmetic out loud to Cecily.

"She made a portal. Inside the academy dungeon sector. The mana interference alone should’ve—"

"It didn’t." Cecily’s voice was barely above a breath.

"She had a hold of deeper floors."

Cecily said nothing.

"Half the boys in Class B are looking at her."

"Half the boys in Class A too." Still nothing in her tone. Just observation.

Rose Valentine had said nothing at all since the portal opened. She was standing slightly apart from her circle, and her blue eyes weren’t watching Elfie anymore.

They were on me.

I looked at her.

She looked at me.

She had the expression of someone revising a calculation — not dramatically, just quietly, with the particular precision of someone who tracks very small details very carefully.

Careful, watching me again.

I turned away first.

---

The hall was still buzzing when the far doors opened.

Not the dungeon sector doors. The main access doors — the ones that connected the Evaluation Hall to the Director’s corridor.

The sound came before the person did. A shift in the ambient pressure of the room. The kind of weight that arrived when someone with enough condensed mana walked through a sealed door.

Then Director Valerius Vane stepped into the hall.

The room dropped to silence.

He was tall in the specific way that made the ceiling feel closer. Sharp features, thick beard trimmed to perfect lines, piercing eyes that moved across the assembled students.

Instructor Aisha was a half-step behind him. Then Columbina. Then Sukuna, looking like a man who had been told to attend a morning meeting and showed up anyway despite all his principles.

Apollo brought up the rear, his hands clasped behind his back.

Valerius did not walk to a podium. He did not reach for a microphone. He simply stopped at the center of the hall, adjusted nothing, and let the room arrange itself around him.

"Classes A, B, and C."

"I was not originally scheduled to attend this results ceremony. Monthly examination announcements are standard academic protocol — instructor-administered. It does not require my presence."

A pause.

"However."

He let that land.

"The results of this exam are not standard. What occurred in this dungeon today — across all 3 classes — produced outcomes that the academy has not recorded in 11 years. I believe it is appropriate that the results be presented by the institution directly, not through any intermediate."

He looked at Sukuna. "Instructor."

Sukuna made a sound that was approximately the sound a man made when he was being used as a prop and had already made peace with it. He handed the clipboard across.

Valerius took it without looking at it.

"This exam measured more than combat capacity. It tested navigational intelligence, adaptive cooperation, resource allocation, and the ability to perform under the specific pressure of consequence — real consequence, not simulated. Groups who failed the credit threshold faced expulsion. That condition was real. The stakes were real."

He scanned the room.

"All three classes completed the dungeon trial without any group-expulsion events. No single group in any class fell below the credit minimum. For Classes A and B, this was the expected outcome. For Class C—"

His eyes moved briefly.

"It was not."

A few people in Class A shifted. Rose’s expression didn’t change.

"What was unexpected was how Class C chose to compete. Their deployment of Dwarvian-engineering communication technology and ambient mana detection devices constructed within the bounds of academy rules — and I have verified that it was within bounds — represents a specific kind of creative reasoning that this institution was designed to reward."

Rose’s chin moved, almost imperceptibly. Surprised.

Good. She should be.

"I will now present the individual rankings for this exam. Top 10 highest individual credit scorers across all three classes. I will begin from the 10th position."

The crystal board behind him lit up. Clean white on black.

"10th: Espen Caph — Class C — 980 credits."

A ripple of surprise from Class B’s side. Espen was Class C. He shouldn’t be near a top 10 across three classes.

"9th: Maren Solis — Class B — 1,020 credits."

"8th: Dorian Cass — Class B — 1,080 credits."

"7th: Rigel Ravin — Class C — 1,120 credits."

Leena made a sharp, delighted sound. Rigel’s neck went slightly red.

"6th: Milo Sterling — Class C — 1,450 credits."

Milo looked up from his arms-crossed position with an expression that suggested he had expected first and would be filing a complaint about this in his head for the next 3 weeks.

"5th: Victor Sterling — Class B — 1,610 credits."

Victor didn’t react visibly. Ivy, beside him, was watching the board with her wings tight against her back.

"4th: Sylvia Somerest — Class B — 2,960 credits."

"3rd: Rose Valentine — Class A — 3,480 credits."

"2nd: Lucas Reindhardt — Class A — 5,020 credits."

The board showed it in cold numerals. 5,020.

And then I heard it — the sound of someone not reacting. Because the sound of Lucas Reindhardt being told he was second place was, specifically, the sound of a boy going absolutely still.

I turned my head slightly.

He was standing at the edge of Class A’s cluster. Messy dark hair, half-lidded green eyes. His jaw hadn’t moved. His expression hadn’t moved.

But something behind his eyes had moved. A great deal. Very fast.

"Impossible." He said.

"And 1st—"

Valerius let the pause breathe.

"—with 5,100 individual credits, from a 3-person group that completed the dungeon in 9 minutes and 4 seconds—"

"Elfina Lunaris. Class C."

The hall erupted.

"Nine minutes?!"

"Five thousand—?!"

"She was in a 3-person group! That’s per person, not group total—"

"The Class B group with the credit farming scored more than that combined and she did it solo—"

Lucas turned and walked two steps away from his cluster. Then stopped. He must be devastated.

"That’s." Julian started a sentence and abandoned it.

"Number 2." Cecily completed it for him. Quiet. Precise. Merciless in the specific way that facts were merciless.

Across the hall, Victor and Sylvia looked at each other. It wasn’t a long look. More of a calibration — both of them adjusting something in their models simultaneously, without consulting each other.

Sylvia’s silver eyes moved from the board to the pink-haired girl being swarmed by her classmates.

The small dog did bark, she seemed to realize. And the bark was 5,100 credits.

---

Valerius let the noise run for exactly as long as it needed to. Then:

"Additionally."

Silence, again. Faster this time.

"This exam produced an event outside the established parameters. A student who is not a member of any group in this exam entered the dungeon from a separate access point — through a portal of her own construction — and cleared floors independently. This student reached Floor 27. She slayed the Floor 40 Sector Boss, Necros Osiris — a creature classified as S-Rank — in a matter of moments. She recovered a missing group from Floor 17. And she returned."

The silence in the room got a different texture.

"The dungeon’s mana-monitoring stones, placed at every 5th floor by academy architectural policy, recorded her combat engagements in full. What those recordings show is a combat capacity that exceeds any student currently registered in this institution. Not by a margin. By a category."

He turned slightly toward the board.

"In recognition of this, the academy will include a supplemental credit addition for the members of the Class C party who survived the lower floors independently. These additions reflect the extraordinary and unprecedented nature of what they endured."

The board updated.

The top 3 shifted.

2nd: Axel — Class C — 8,140 credits.

Victor turned to look at Sylvia. She did not look back.

"I demand an explanation—" The voice came from the Class B side. Not Victor. Someone behind him. "That’s double my total—"

"I agree, that’s absurd—" Another voice.

"He’s Class C—"

"Their groups spent hours in that dungeon—"

Then the board updated one more time.

1st: Elfina Lunaris — Class C — 22,310 credits.

The protest died mid-sentence.

Literally died. The boy who had been the loudest stopped speaking as if his voice had simply decided it wasn’t qualified to exist anymore.

22,310.

The second-place score was 8,140. Axel. The third-place was 5,020. Lucas.

The gap between 1st and 2nd was larger than most groups’ total scores.

"This is unfair!" Victor stepped forward. "The rest of us were not given access to a portal. We were not given the option of entering Floor 27. We followed the exam parameters—"

"You did." Valerius’s voice was even. Not dismissive. Just exact. "And you will not be penalized for it. Your scores stand. Your grades stand."

"Then her scores shouldn’t—"

"Mr. Sterling."

Victor stopped.

"Are you under the impression," Valerius said, very quietly, "that the purpose of this academy is to create conditions where everyone has an equal opportunity to be mediocre?"

The room went completely still.

"You had the same dungeon. The same floors. The same credit system. The same 10 hours. And yet you did not go to Floor 27. You did not slay a Floor 40 boss. You did not manufacture a portal with your own mana and descend into a sector that would kill most adult sorcerers."

He looked at Victor.

"You could not. She could. The disparity between those 2 facts is not a rule violation. It is a measurement. And this academy measures."

Victor’s jaw was set. He didn’t respond.

From the Class B cluster, Sylvia was watching all of it with an expression I didn’t have a clean word for. Not anger. Something more considered than anger.

"Furthermore," Valerius continued, "the credit addition for Axel reflects the following: a student who, according to instructor testimony and dungeon monitoring records, led his group independently from Floor 10 through Floor 17, cleared multiple B and A ranked threats, and maintained the group’s survival under conditions this exam never anticipated. The grade reflects the reality of what occurred. Not the ideal of what we planned for."

From somewhere in Class C, Axel said nothing. He was looking at the board with the expression of a man watching his own coronation and trying to figure out how to accept it without appearing to have expected it.

He was almost pulling it off.

"Are there further objections?"

No one spoke.

"Then I will conclude."

He straightened slightly.

"Elfina Lunaris has, for the 2nd time in her time at this institution, produced results that exceed the framework designed to measure them. The academy has 1 designation for such cases."

The board didn’t update. It didn’t need to.

"Rank Zero."

He said it like he was simply confirming something that was already obvious.

"She has earned it again."

---

What followed was not dignified.

What followed was approximately 14 boys in Class C and roughly half of Class B trying to approach Elfie simultaneously, and approximately 11 girls across all three classes watching this happen with varying levels of irritation.

"Elfina, that was incredible—"

"You scored more than our entire class combined—"

"The portal — you made that yourself—"

Elfie was doing her best. She was smiling, nodding, clearly trying to look like all of this was both expected and not too much to handle at once. Her cheeks had gone pink. Her hands were clasped in front of her. She looked exactly like someone being praised who had genuinely not prepared a speech.

"Thank you—"

"Can I get your autograph—"

"I’m not — I don’t think I—"

Del appeared at Elfie’s side like a deployed shield, carrying an expression that communicated she would be managing this crowd on a meritocratic basis.

"She needs space."

"Back up."

The crowd shifted back a half-step.

Elfie shot Del a look of profound gratitude.

I turned away.

Okay. So the scores were not a disaster. The alibi held. Axel’s performance was accepted. Elfie’s addition is astronomical but it’s been justified. Everything went according to—

"Before I conclude," Valerius said.

I stopped walking.

Oh.

"The class rankings."

The board shifted entirely. Group scores now. The class-wide view.

Class A — Final Score: 23,180 total credits. Combined time: 110 minutes 19 seconds.

Then:

Class A — PASS.

A controlled, satisfied exhale from the Class A cluster.

Class B — Final Score: 21,990 total credits. Combined time: 139 minutes 24 seconds.

Class B — PASS.

Victor. Composed. Good.

Then the board updated a final time.

Class C — Final Score: 24,640 credits. Combined time: 119 minutes 21 seconds.

Class C — FAIL.

The Class C section of the hall did not take this quietly.

"FAIL?!" Rigel turned to look at the board like it had said something personally offensive. "We passed the credit baseline—"

"We cleared the boss on every run—"

"Every single group made it out—" Delyra’s voice, sharp and clipped. "By what criteria—"

Valerius raised one hand. Slight. Unhurried.

They went quiet.

"The group-wide results for Class C are as follows."

He read them from the clipboard.

Group 1 (Rigel): 26 min 12 sec — Total: 2,450 Credits

Group 2 (Kayla): 16 min 38 sec — Total: 2,610 Credits

Group 3 (Milo): 14 min 29 sec — Total: 3,100 Credits

Group 4 (Delyra): 15 min 57 sec — Total: 2,580 Credits

Group 5 (Vivienne): 16 min 51 sec — Total: 2,740 Credits

Group 6 (Elfina): 9 min 04 sec — Total: 5,782 Credits

"These 6 groups each met the individual credit baseline. They are not subject to expulsion review."

He paused.

"Group 7 — Axel, Kaiser, Scarlet. Due to extraordinary circumstances, their formal group score has been separated from the standard assessment. Their survival and combat performance during the extended dungeon engagement is credited to the supplemental addition already announced."

A pause.

"However."

I felt something. Not dread exactly. More like the specific sensation of watching a calculation complete.

"This exam included a secondary individual credit threshold. A minimum, separate from the group baseline. Every student must have personally registered a minimum of 250 individual credits to satisfy the full exam criteria."

A small, very cold silence.

"In the entire academy — all 3 classes — only 1 student failed to meet this threshold."

The board shifted.

A single name. A single number.

Kaiser Everhart — Class C — 1 credit.

Every head in the room turned toward me at the same moment, and the effect was identical.

1 credit.

The credit from the dying slime. The one hit I registered in the entire dungeon before everything collapsed and we ended up 17 floors below where we were supposed to be.

1.

I’d known this number. I’d known it since the moment Axel called the instructors from Floor 17 and I understood that the Lumina’s tracking log had been running the whole time.

I’d known it. I hadn’t expected Valerius to make it this specific.

"Mr. Everhart’s group registered floor clears from Floor 1 through Floor 17, primarily through the extraordinary individual effort of his groupmates." Valerius’s voice was the same temperature it always was. Which somehow made it worse. "His own combat contribution across those 17 floors amounted to 1 credit. The singular lowest performance recorded in this academy’s monthly examination history."

Class B’s side had gone very quiet. The polite quiet of people watching something uncomfortable and choosing not to make it worse.

Class A was less polite.

Julian wasn’t laughing, but he wasn’t stopping the person behind him from whispering, either.

From Class C, I heard Milo make a sound. It was a very specific sound. The kind that didn’t need words.

"Is Kaiser expelled?" Rigel asked. Directly. He always asked directly.

"No." Valerius looked at him. "The individual threshold does not carry expulsion status. That is reserved for group failure. Mr. Everhart’s group did not fail."

A beat.

"However."

Here it is.

"My opinion, stated for the record: Kaiser Everhart is the sole reason Class C does not receive first place in this exam. His 1-credit performance, in a class where the top individual scored 5,100 and the average was 412, created a deficit that pulled Class C’s composite ranking below the required pass threshold for overall class grade."

He turned slightly so he was addressing the whole hall.

"Class C demonstrated the most creative strategic framework of any class in this exam. Their Lumina devices were exceptional. Their coordination was exceptional. Their boss clear times were competitive. And yet — they failed. Because 1 student contributed 1 credit in 17 floors of dungeon while his groupmates protected him entirely."

There it is.

"Class C will be assessed a 75% reduction in their collective monthly allowance as the penalty for the class-wide fail grade. This is not Mr. Everhart’s penalty to bear alone — it is shared by his class. That is how collective grading works."

A very specific silence from the Class C cluster.

The furious kind.

"The exam is concluded." Valerius took one slow look across the room. "Elfina’s supplemental score will not be counted toward the class grading aggregate, as it was earned outside standard exam parameters. Her personal record is exceptional. Her class’s record is not."

He handed the clipboard back to Sukuna without looking.

"Classes are dismissed. Academic schedule resumes after the 16th."

He walked toward the exit.

The instructors began to filter after him.

I watched them go.

Aisha’s face — she looked like someone had reached into her chest and pulled something out of it. She was looking at me with an expression that hovered somewhere between shock and something worse. She’d expected more. She’d been patient about expecting more, for weeks.

Columbina, passing behind her, said nothing. She didn’t need to. The small, tight line of her mouth said it already.

Apollo Einstein paused just briefly at the hall’s threshold, looked back once, and his expression was— complicated. He had the look of a man who had filed a theory and was now deciding whether to reopen it.

Then he was gone.

The door closed.

---

Class B and Class A began moving out.

They didn’t rush. They had the specific, gracious unhurriedness of people who had just watched something that wasn’t their problem and were grateful for that.

Sylvia was the last of Class B to leave. She walked past me without stopping.

She did not look at me.

Which, from Sylvia Somerset, was its own kind of observation.

Lucas was near the Class A exit. He had recovered his expression — or arranged something in its place. His hands were back in his pockets. He was moving at his usual pace.

Second place must really hurt.

Good.

Class C did not leave.

It spread in a slow, heavy rearrangement around me, I watched it happen without expression.

Roman was looking at the floor.

Xavier was looking at his notebook. He had written something in it and was not making eye contact with anything.

Delyra had turned to face me with her arms folded across her chest and her violet eyes.

I put one credit on the board in 17 floors and pulled 24 people’s monthly allowance down to 25% of its value.

That’s — accurate.

True.

Fair.

"One." Milo’s voice broke the silence. "One credit. In 17 floors."

I looked at him.

"We spent weeks," Milo continued. "Weeks running simulations. Memorizing spawn tables. Drilling runs so we wouldn’t burn out. We walked into that dungeon and played it perfectly." His voice started to rise. "Every single group passed! Every single person pulled their weight! And you—" He pointed a heavy, trembling finger at my chest. "You stood there like a coward and let us lose everything."

I lowered my eyes. "I’m sorry." I made my voice sound small. Hollow. "I know I failed you all."

"Failed us?" Daniel stepped up next to Milo, his face flushed with anger. "You didn’t just fail us, you humiliated us! Look at the board, Kaiser! Class A passed. Class B passed. We’re the only ones who failed, and it’s solely because of you."

"It’s pathetic," Sebastian muttered from the back, not hiding his glare.

"It’s beyond pathetic," Delyra added, her aristocratic tone dripping with venom. "It is an active liability. We carried dead weight, and now we are paying for it. All that talk about strategy, and we are brought down by someone who couldn’t even manage the absolute minimum."

"Guys, stop," Rigel stepped forward, raising his hands. His brow was furrowed, his voice steady but strained. "Yelling at him isn’t going to change the score. The exam was brutal—"

"Don’t defend him, Rigel!" Milo barked. "Look at him! He’s nothing without Elfina’s help! A weak, useless nobody who just tags along and expects to be carried. He’s a parasite."

"He’s right," Roman said quietly, still looking at the floor. "If he couldn’t fight, he shouldn’t have been in the academy."

I kept my head bowed. My shoulders slumped slightly. The perfect picture of a broken, apologetic student.

Keep hitting, make it convincing. The more they hate me, the less they look at what actually happened.

Elfie hadn’t said a word. She was standing beside me, her small hand wrapped tightly around my wrist. I could feel the faint tremor in her fingers.

"Maybe he was paid off." Xavier whispered it, but in the tense silence, it carried perfectly. "Maybe Class A or B paid him to throw the exam. Why else would he only get one credit?"

"I wasn’t," I said, my voice wavering perfectly. "I swear I wasn’t. I was just... I was too scared. The monsters on the lower floors... I froze."

"You’re a coward." Milo spat.

"Hey."

The voice came from the side.

Axel stepped forward, his black trench coat swishing. He looked at Milo, his dark eyes narrowed. "The dungeon was strict. You weren’t down there. You didn’t see what was on those floors. He did what he could."

Milo whipped his head toward Axel, ready to snap, but then he looked up at the board.

8,140 credits.

Milo’s jaw tightened. "I thought you were a joke, Axel. When you said you were a secret weapon, I thought you were delusional. But your results speak for themselves." He turned his glare back to me. "His don’t."

Across the hall, the remaining students from the other classes had paused near the exits to watch the spectacle.

Rose Valentine observed the scene with cool detachment. "It’s clearly unfair," she remarked to Julian, her voice carrying just enough. "But a failing class always needs a target to hate. It’s human nature."

Victor Sterling stood near the Class B doors, his hazel eyes fixed on us. Ivy stood beside him. Neither of them said a word.

I looked back at Milo. "I’ll make it up to you," I said softly. "I apologize. Truly."

"An apology won’t bring back our passing grade, you disgusting loser!" Milo roared.

He lunged forward, his massive hand reaching out to grab the collar of my uniform.

He never touched me.

A suffocating, crushing pressure slammed down on the room, so heavy that Milo froze mid-lunge, his eyes widening in primal terror. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

On the stone floor directly beneath Milo’s feet, a glowing, hyper-complex geometric ritual mark ignited in blinding violet light. A second, identical mark mirrored it directly above his head, suspended in the air.

Mana hummed — raw, destructive, and violently unstable.

I looked back.

Elfie’s eyes were no longer blue. They had shifted into a cold, abyssal pink.

She stepped in front of me.

"Shut up."

"Every single one of you. Shut. Up."

She looked at Milo, the ritual marks above and below him pulsing ominously. "Just because Kai can’t fight, you think you can act like bullies? You think you can team up on him? Blame him? Attack him?"

"Elfina, calm down!" Rigel yelled, stepping toward her, fighting through the pressure of her aura. Leena was right behind him, her face pale.

"I won’t calm down!" Elfie snapped, the ritual marks glowing brighter. "He did his best and had to survive hell, and this is how you repay him?!"

Milo gritted his teeth, struggling against the pressure. "Don’t act so high and mighty! Just because you had an opportunity to farm points doesn’t mean you’re special!"

Elfie’s head tilted. The air crackled with celestial static. A much darker, more jagged aura bled into her mana.

She turned her pink eyes toward Milo. "And you. Get lost."

Milo gritted his teeth, his posture defiant despite the crushing weight in the room. "I’m not scared of you. You’re the one I destroyed in a one-on-three during the practicals. Don’t try to intimidate me."

The ritual marks flared. Elfie raised her hand.

Enough.

I stepped forward, putting my hand gently over hers, pushing it down.

"Elfie," I said, my voice steady, stripped of the pathetic waver I’d used moments ago. "Stop."

She blinked. The fire in her eyes flickered, fighting the pink, before slowly bleeding away. The ritual marks around Milo vanished, and the suffocating pressure lifted.

Milo stood there.

I looked at Milo. "I’m sorry about her," I said quietly. Then I turned to the rest of the class, bowing my head slightly.

"I formally apologize to all of you," I said, my voice carrying a quiet, exhausted dignity. "I was too weak and too scared to fight. I take full responsibility for our failure today. But please... we haven’t had sleep or food in 24 hours. The lower floors were... difficult. Keep your anger. You have every right to it. But give me some time. I will find a way to make this up to you."

Nobody looked convinced. Delyra scoffed and turned her head away. Milo glared at me.

Rigel stepped into the middle of the standoff.

"That’s enough," Rigel said with absolute finality. He looked at the class. "We failed. That’s a fact. But as a class, we shouldn’t be tearing each other apart." He turned to Leena. "Leena, take Elfie and Kaiser back to the dorms. Get them out of here."

Leena nodded and took a step toward us. "Come on, guys. Let’s—"

Elfie’s eyes narrowed instantly.

She stepped between me and Leena, her expression shifting from cold fury to a sharp, intensely territorial glare. She grabbed my wrist with both hands this time, her grip tight and possessive.

"I’m taking him away." Elfie declared, glaring at Leena as if she were a sudden, unexpected threat.

Before Leena could respond, Elfie pulled me hard toward the exit, dragging me away from the remaining students and out of the Evaluation Hall.

Behind us, I heard Rigel’s voice attempting to settle the rest of the class down.

I didn’t resist Elfie’s pull. I let her drag me down the long, quiet corridor of the academy.

My words and that hug back in the dungeon had calmed her down.

But seeing the class turn on me brought back the darker, volatile side I’ve been trying to suppress. The possessive side. The side that thinks she has to protect me from the world.

"Elfie," I said softly, looking at her white-knuckled grip on my wrist. "You can let go now."

"No." She didn’t stop walking. She didn’t look back. "If I let go, they will try to hurt you."

"They won’t hurt me."

"I won’t let go."

I looked at the back of her head, the pink hair swaying with her hurried, determined steps.

This is a problem.

A very useful, highly dangerous problem.

---

February 9th, 2012 — Time: 6:15 PM

Asura Academy — Ivy’s Dormitory

Perspective: Ivy Faerydae

My bedroom window looked out over the western cliffs. The sea below was the color of slate under the dying winter sun, the waves churning into white foam against the rocks.

I sat on the sill, my knees pulled up to my chin. My pastel lavender twin buns were slightly messy, and my crystalline wings hung limp, catching the red glare of the sunset.

In my mind, a familiar hum resonated. It was the scent of crushed jasmine and cold, ancient earth.

"[ Scarlet Hearst was the one who was bitten, then. ]" The voice did not echo in the room. It vibrated directly within my consciousness, smooth and heavy as liquid silver. "[ A pity, but a necessary end for her. She should have been eliminated by now. ]"

She isn’t, Mother... She survived.

A long, heavy silence stretched across the telepathic link.

"[ Impossible. ]" Sylaphine’s voice lost its smooth cadence, replaced by a cold, sharp edge. "[ The Necrotic Phage is a molecular reconstruction of the host’s mana pathways. Without my sovereign blessing, her cells should have dissolved into toxic slurry within six hours. There is no counter-agent in existence. ]"

I obtained the medical logs from the academy infirmary. I replied mentally, watching a flock of gulls circle the cliffs. She is unconscious, but the healers confirmed the poison is 99% percent cleared. Right now, they have her in an induced metabolic stasis to allow her rewritten mana channels to stabilize.

"[ Who was in her party? ]" Sylaphine demanded. "[ She could not have healed herself. The phage induces immediate neural paralysis. ]"

Axel and Kaiser. Both from Class C.

"[ Details, Ivy. ]"

The dungeon records show Axel carried the group. He fought through the lower levels from Floor 11 to 17. Kaiser has no physical or magical feats. The Director publicly announced he was the worst of the worst. He only registered a single credit in the entire run.

I paused, letting the telepathic silence settle before continuing.

The entire class is furious with him. Because of his single credit, Class C failed the aggregate exam score. He has become a complete pariah.

"[ One credit? ]" Syla’s presence hummed with a deep, analytical vibration. "[ That is... anomalous. ]"

Could it have been one of them who healed her? I asked.

"[ If one of them cured the necrotic disease, they possess a level of biological or magical mastery that defies standard classification. But it is contradictory, ]" Sylaphine reasoned, her tone distant as she calculated the variables.

"[ If this Kaiser were the mastermind behind the cure, why would he bring all the negative attention to himself? If I were in his position, the ideal outcome to avoid suspicion would be to make the odds 50-50. Split the credit. Split the spotlight so both boys look equally ordinary, or equally heroic. But he took the absolute negative spotlight. He made himself the target of a class-wide hatred. ]"

The voice in my head grew colder.

"[ The last thing a mastermind wants is attention, Ivy. Positive or negative alike. A true shadow player seeks absolute invisibility. By making himself the absolute bottom of the food chain, he invites constant monitoring, scrutiny, and disgust. It is highly inefficient. ]"

Then... it must have been Axel’s doing? I thought. Axel wanted the glory for himself and forced Kaiser to take the fall?

"[ ...Perhaps. But it feels too clean. Axel is a brute, a thunder mage with high capability but little intellectual depth. Keep your eyes on Axel, Ivy. Monitor his movements, his mana signatures, and anyone he contacts. ]"

And Kaiser? I asked. Should we not watch him too?

"[ No. The academy’s human nature is enough. The hatred of his classmates will act as a natural cage. He will be under a microscope by everyone in Class C. If he makes a single move, it will be noticed. He is neutralized by his own infamy. Focus on Axel. ]"

I shifted on the window sill, my wings fluttering briefly. Mother... how could Axel even cure it? From what I gathered, they had no potions, no high-tier scrolls, nothing.

The telepathic presence went silent for a long moment, the hum of her mana deepening.

"[ To reverse the Necrotic Phage without my sovereign magic, one would have to do one of two things, ]" Sylaphine said, her voice dropping into a register of profound, deductive gravity. "[ Either they used doctorial engineering to chemically isolate the prion chain, neutralizing the Draconic signature by binding it to a cellular carrier—a feat that requires a laboratory we know they did not have—or they executed a healing magic so complex it bypassed my own sensory wards entirely, rewriting her soul’s blueprint to reject the virus. ]"

A cold chill ran down my spine.

"[ Whichever process was used, Ivy... we are dealing with someone truly special. A force that has managed to neutralize my designs. Do not underestimate them. Keep your guard up. ]"

Yes, Mother, I thought softly. I understand.

The presence receded, leaving my mind quiet. I looked back out at the gray sea, the darkness slowly swallowing the horizon.

---

February 9th, 2012 — Time: 7:52 PM

Asura Academy — Commercial District, The Gilded Hearth

Perspective: Rose Valentine

The restaurant was tucked away in a quiet corner of the commercial district, its interior lit by the soft, warm glow of mana-lamps and the crackle of a stone fireplace. The scent of roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate hung thick in the air.

I sat in a booth near the back, my head covered by the deep hood of a dark travel cloak to obscure my blonde hair.

Across from me, Lucas Reindhardt was slouched in his seat, slowly stirring a cup of black coffee. His dark brown hair was as messy as ever, his half-lidded green eyes fixed on the dark liquid.

I pulled my hood back slightly, letting a faint, mocking smile touch my lips. "An invitation to meet? I thought the lion never bothered himself with barking dogs."

Lucas didn’t look up, though his spoon clinked sharply against the porcelain. "Shut up, Rose. I didn’t call you here to listen to your voice."

"And yet, here we are," I remarked, leaning my chin on my hand. "What is on your mind, Lucas? Or did your loss in the exam finally force you to seek company?"

"It wasn’t a loss," Lucas said, his voice flat, devoid of any warmth. "Your group won by sheer luck. If Class C hadn’t been dragged down by their dead weight, their aggregate credits would have surpassed ours. They had the higher overall output."

"Ah, yes. The class averages," I countered smoothly. "But if we are discussing individual metrics... Elfina Lunaris scored higher than you, didn’t she? 22,310 credits. A historical anomaly that puts your solo speed-run to shame."

Lucas’s hand tightened on his spoon. He took a slow, deliberate sip of his coffee. "If her useless lackey hadn’t failed, their class would have beaten ours. But he did. And Class A stands at the top."

"Indeed. But it must have stung," I teased, watching his jaw tighten. "The great Lucas Reindhardt, surpassed by a Class C commoner. Does it hurt the lion’s pride?"

"I told you to shut up with the jokes." Lucas snapped, his green eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous intensity.

I straightened, adjusting my cloak. "Very well. Let us drop the pleasantries. What do you want, Lucas?"

Lucas leaned forward, resting his forearms on the wooden table. "The next monthly assessment. It’s a Class-against-Class territory war." His voice dropped, carrying a quiet, refined threat. "I want Elfina Lunaris. I want to face her head-on, crush her celestial magic, and get her expelled from this academy. But to do that, I need the class to coordinate. I need you to create the opening."

I stared at him for a long moment, analyzing the raw, unyielding determination in his eyes. "Reindhardt. Your noble family... I have heard about it. Since your birth, you have never lost once. In your private tutelage, your magical duels, your actions against other factions. You have helped your family’s standing dramatically, unlike your sister—"

Lucas flinched. The coffee cup clattered violently against the saucer as his hand slammed onto the table. "That girl is not my sister. Do not speak of her."

I raised an eyebrow, maintaining my calm composure. "My apologies. A slip of the tongue. But losing for the first time... it must have made you quite angry."

"Angry?" Lucas let out a low, mocking chuckle, his voice thick with pure, unadulterated ego. "I am not angry, Rose Valentine. I am furious. I never imagined a world where a peasant exploiting the rules could stand above me. How did she do it? How did she navigate that dungeon at a speed that bypassed my own?"

"They used a device called a Lumina," I explained, tapping my fingers on the table. "Apparently, it mapped the dungeon floors in real-time. If I had to estimate, Elfina used it to map the layout, locate the monster dens, and then cast a combination of a lure and a high-tier kill spell to obliterate everything in her path without losing momentum. She did not clear the dungeon; she mapped it and farmed it."

Lucas laughed, a dry, dismissive sound. "So engineering cheats, party tricks and teamwork. Pathetic. She relied on a metal toy because her own senses were too dull to find the prey." He leaned back, a sneer gracing his lips. "But then again, you got outsmarted by an orphan. How does it feel, Princess?"

My eyes narrowed slightly, but I did not falter. "I admit I overlooked the dwarves in Class C. I forgot that engineering could be synthesized with exploration so effectively. But I do not make the same mistake twice. From now on, Class A will be utilizing mapping tools and tactical engineering as well. Adaptability is also a royal trait."

Lucas looked at me, a flicker of genuine respect crossing his lazy expression. "Hmph. At least you don’t whine like the others. You adapt."

He extended his right hand across the table. "I am not working with the class. I do not fight with borrowed strength. But I am willing to align my path with yours for the next exam. I will act as Class A’s weapon. Under one condition."

"Let me guess. Elfina?"

"She is mine." Lucas declared, his voice cold. "I will face her head-on. You will steer the rest of the class to keep the others off my back."

I looked down at his extended hand, then back to his green eyes. "I accept, under one condition of my own. You will not go rogue. You will not sabotage our strategies or run off until the designated moment. If you agree to follow my tactical directives until the main event, I will personally engineer a situation where you can face her alone."

Lucas stared at me, his eyes searching mine for any sign of deceit. Then, he nodded slowly and withdrew his hand. "Deal."

I looked out the window, watching the streetlamps flicker to life in the gathering dusk.

Lucas stood up, throwing his hood back over his dark hair. "Pay for the coffee."

I blinked, looking up at him in genuine disbelief. "Excuse me? Why should I pay? You were the one who invited me here."

Lucas smirks, his lazy indifference returning. "The lion does not carry a wallet. It has no need for currency."

He turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving the heavy wooden door swinging behind him.

I sat in the booth, staring at the empty cup of coffee.

He... he actually just used that ridiculous line to get out of paying for a copper-coin coffee.

A Reindhardt. One of the richest noble houses in the empire, and he is dodging a restaurant bill with a lion analogy.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, letting out a slow, exasperated sigh.

I paid the bill and stepped out of the warm restaurant, pulling my hood low against the cold night wind. I looked up at the dark sky, where the first stars were beginning to pierce the thick layer of clouds.

Elfina Lunaris scored 22,310. The highest score in the academy’s history.

And her friend, Kaiser Everhart, scored exactly 1.

Why is the difference between them so vast?

What is actually going on within this academy?

---

February 9th, 2012 — Time: 8:30 PM

Asura Academy — Kaiser’s Dormitory

Perspective: Kaiser Everhart

The sizzle of chicken breast on my small electric griddle filled the room, sending up steam that smelled of rosemary and garlic.

I stood over the counter, flipping the meat with a pair of metal tongs in one hand while my other hand tapped rapidly on the screen of my Dwarvian phone.

A private text channel was open. The contact header simply read: Valerius Vane.

I tapped out a message:

Thanks for the show during the evaluation results. It played out exactly as discussed.

A few seconds later, the screen flickered. A reply came through, brief and cold.

Never expect another deal from me, Everhart. You have exhausted your leverage.

I smirked, typing back:

Understood. As agreed, the records of the dungeon’s sensor feeds are deleted. Our transaction is concluded.

I locked the screen, slid the phone into my pocket, and turned off the griddle.

The dungeon collapse was far too clean.

It had been engineered to seal the exits, trap Group Seven, and unleash an S-rank boss like Necros Osiris to hunt us down. Coincidences don’t happen in a place like Asura Academy.

The moment I mapped the cave-in and realized we were trapped, I had used the Lumina to route a secure connection to the instructors’ grid, but I didn’t contact Aisha or Sukuna. I bypassed them entirely and routed a direct line to Director Valerius’s private terminal. I knew he was monitoring the dungeon through the diagnostic crystals.

I didn’t ask for a rescue. I offered him a bargain.

I had observed the structural mana fluctuations during the collapse—signatures that could only be manipulated by someone with direct, high-level administrative access to the academy’s core arrays. I told Valerius that if he didn’t orchestrate a narrative during the evaluation to spotlight Elfie’s feats while completely minimizing my involvement to a single credit, I would leak the diagnostic logs proving the faculty had compromised student safety.

A director’s reputation is a fragile thing. Valerius folded. He engineered the "Kaiser the coward" narrative, publicizing my single credit and cementing my role as the class scapegoat. It was mutual, and it turned out ideal.

After all, only a faculty member could have authorized the Necros Osiris release. Valerius must have been testing me, or perhaps he wanted to see if I would survive the pressure.

I plated the food.

It was a balanced, high-protein meal: grilled chicken breast with perfect dark char marks, a neat mound of fluffy white rice, fresh cucumber slices, and a vibrant tomato-cucumber salad tossed with olive oil.

Honestly, this looks so good I want to eat it all myself. I thought, adjusting the plates. But nah. I have to feed my princess.

I picked up the two plates, nudged my bathroom door closed with my elbow, and walked over to the bed.

Elfie was sitting in the corner against the pillows, wrapped tightly in my heavy comforter like a cocoon. Only her head was visible, her neon-pink hair messy and her bright blue eyes watching my every movement.

I sat down on the edge of the mattress, setting the plates on the small nightstand.

I know how to cook a decent meal. I reflected in my inner monologue. But the ingredients are ridiculously expensive, and I have exactly zero copper coins to my name. Fortunately, Rigel was kind enough to buy the chicken for me, and Leena got us the fresh vegetables. Technically, this entire meal is a high-interest loan. But who cares. Food is food.

I picked up one plate and held it out to her. "Hey. Look at me and smile. You’ve been staring at the wall for an hour."

Elfie didn’t move at first. She looked at the grilled chicken, then up at my face. Slowly, her small hand slipped out from the folds of the blanket, trembling slightly. Instead of reaching for the plate, her fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist, pulling my hand down.

She held it against her chest. She was still terrified I would disappear if she let go.

I didn’t pull away. I let her hold my wrist, the warmth of her hand slow and steady.

"You’re the top-ranked student in the academy now." I said, keeping my tone light and teasing. "With a score like that, your popularity is about to skyrocket. Everyone in Class C is going to be talking about you. The beautiful celestial princess who not only broke the academy record a second time, but also single-handedly cleared the lower levels to save her classmates. It’s a very attractive story."

"Everyone is going to want your attention."

Elfie’s grip on my wrist tightened. She looked up, her pink eyes shimmering with sudden, heavy tears.

"I only want your attention," she whispered.

She suddenly pulled her knees up, burying her face against her arms, her shoulders shaking as a quiet sob escaped her. "I was so scared, Kai. When the ceiling fell and I couldn’t reach you... I knew you couldn’t fight. I couldn’t trust Axel. I couldn’t trust Scarlet. I felt so weak. I was just sitting there, unable to do anything while you were trapped in the dark."

I reached out with my free hand, gently patting her pink head through the comforter. "I’m okay, Elfie. I’m right here. It’s fine."

"It’s not fine!" she sobbed, looking up at me, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "What if I had been too slow? What if you had died down there? I don’t care about the records, or the academy, or the other classes. If you are not here... then none of this matters."

I looked at her, realizing her dependency on me had grown even more volatile. I slowly pulled her closer, wrapping my arms around the comforter-cocoon.

"I won’t die, Elfie," I said softly, resting my chin on her head. "I promise."

She didn’t stop sobbing. Her hands, still wrapped tightly in the heavy comforter, pressed against my chest.

"You can’t promise that!" she choked out, her voice cracking. "You don’t have mana, Kai! You have nothing to protect yourself with! When the ground shook and the ceiling came down, the portal just... it shattered. The instructors said it would take a week to reach Floor 11. A week! In a place filled with monsters!"

She pulled her face back, her eyes red-rimmed and wet, looking at me with a raw, desperate vulnerability. "I kept calling you on the phone. It just kept ringing and ringing. I thought... I thought you were lying under the rocks, bleeding out, and I couldn’t even reach you. I had to sit there in that stupid hall while everyone was gossiping and laughing, and I was completely useless!"

Tears spilled over her cheeks, dripping onto the blanket. "I don’t care about being Rank Zero. I don’t care about breaking records. If I can’t protect you, then why did I even get this magic? Why am I even here?"

Her breakdown was getting worse, her breathing turning shallow and frantic.

I let out a soft sigh, tightening my grip around her. "Elfie. Look at me."

She shook her head, burying her face back into my shoulder.

"Look at me," I repeated, my voice dropping its usual dry, mocking edge, replaced by a quiet sincerity. "I’m proud of you, Elfie."

She went rigid. Her sobbing paused, a wet hiccup escaping her.

"I’ve been watching you," I said, gently stroking her pink hair. "Each day after class, you and Leena go out to the training grounds to practice. After the dungeon runs, when everyone else goes to sleep, you stay up practicing your spell coordination alone. You didn’t get this strong in one day. You put in the hours. You worked incredibly hard."

Elfie sniffled, her voice small and muffled against my shirt. "You... you also worked at the taverns in the commercial district. You had to make money... I wanted to work just as hard as you...

"I know," I murmured, patting her head. "You made me proud."

That did it. A fresh wave of tears burst from her eyes, and she let out a loud, emotional cry, throwing her arms completely out of the comforter to wrap them tightly around my neck. She clung to me like a child, weeping loudly into my shoulder.

I held her close, rubbing her back as she let all the built-up terror and stress pour out. "Alright, alright. I don’t like it when you cry. Stop."

"I’m—I’m trying," she sobbed, her grip on my neck tightening.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" I asked.

"No..." she mumbled, her voice thick. "I don’t want to eat. I just... I don’t ever want to lose you, Kai. I want this forever. I want us to stay like this."

I pulled back slightly, forcing her to release her grip so I could look down at her face. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her eyelashes wet, and her nose slightly red from crying. She looked incredibly pathetic, yet entirely sincere.

I leaned down and kissed her cheek.

Elfie froze.

Her blue eyes went wide. The crying stopped instantly. Her entire mind seemed to short-circuit, a deep, bright crimson flush rapidly spreading from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears. She stared at me, completely paralyzed, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"That, Elfie," I said calmly, pulling back and picking up the fork, "is proof of my happiness seeing how much you’ve grown."

I extended my pinky finger toward her. "And I promise I won’t disappear. Pinky promise."

She looked at my pinky, then at my face, her voice a stuttering, flustered mess. "Y-You... you just... did you just..."

"Open up," I said, scooping a bite of the grilled chicken and rice with the fork and holding it to her lips. "Say ah."

"K-Kai! You can’t just—"

"Ah," I repeated.

Too flustered to argue, Elfie instinctively opened her mouth. I fed her the bite. She chewed slowly, her face still completely red, her nose twitching as she swallowed. A stray tear still sat on her cheek, but the panic had completely vanished.

"Good girl." I murmured, scooping another bite. "My princess has to eat."

Elfie’s face burned even hotter at the nickname, her wings—if she had them—surely fluttering in chaos. She chewed in silence, too embarrassed to mumble a single coherent word, her blue eyes darting everywhere but my face.

After a few more bites, she seemed to recover some of her spirit. She reached out, snatched my plate from the nightstand, and scooped up a piece of chicken with a spare fork.

"Now you," she mumbled, holding the fork out to me, her hand still shaking slightly. "Say ah."

I blinked. "I’m supposed to be the one feeding you."

"I’m your best friend," Elfie declared, her chin lifting with a sudden spark of her usual stubbornness. "And don’t forget, I always feed you when you’re too busy thinking. Now eat."

I let out a dry laugh and accepted the bite.

We sat on the edge of the bed, trading the plates back and forth, feeding each other in a quiet, comfortable rhythm until both plates were completely clean. By the time we finished, the heavy, suffocating anxiety that had hung over the room was entirely gone.

I stood up, gathered the empty dishes, and walked over to the sink to wash them.

When I came back, the room was quiet. Elfie had retreated back under the heavy comforter, her head propped up against the pillows as she scrolled through her phone. The pink in her cheeks had faded back to its normal color, and she looked completely relaxed, her feet kicking lightly under the blanket.

I walked over to the side of the bed. "It’s late, Elfie. You should go back to your room and sleep."

Elfie didn’t look up from her screen. "No. I want to sleep here."

I stared at her. "Okay."

A bright, victorious smile spread across her face.

"I’ll just go sleep in your room," I added smoothly. "You can sleep here."

Elfie’s smile froze. She threw the comforter off, standing up on the mattress and glaring down at me with her hands on her hips.

"What is the point of that then?!" she yelled.

I looked up at her, completely unfazed. "The point is that you get a bed, and I get a bed. We both sleep. That is standard rooming rules, Elfie."

"I don’t care about rules!" she argued, crossing her arms. "I said I want to sleep here!"

"Elfie, I’m tired," I said, letting my shoulders slump. "I need proper rest. And look at you—you didn’t sleep either. You have dark circles under your eyes."

Elfie’s expression softened slightly. She looked down at the mattress, shifting her weight from side to side. "Are you... really that tired, Kai?"

"Yes. Surviving a collapsing dungeon and dealing with an S-rank boss isn’t exactly a walk in the park."

Elfie glared down at me suddenly, her blue eyes narrowing into a sharp, cold look that made the temperature in the room feel like it had dropped five degrees.

"I suppose carrying Scarlet while she clung to you the entire time must have been very hard, then."

"Eh?" I blinked, taking a half-step back.

Elfie stepped closer to the edge of the mattress, looking down at me with an intense, possessive focus. "She was holding you so tightly. Aisha said she wouldn’t let go of you even when they tried to take her. Why did you let her hold you like that? You held her in your arms, didn’t you? You carried her all the way down."

"Axel was busy fighting, Elfie," I defended myself, raising my hands slightly. "She was poisoned, unconscious, and dying. Someone had to carry her. It was purely practical."

"I don’t care! I’m still upset!" Elfie declared, pouting her lower lip, though her eyes remained locked on mine. "You’re only allowed to hold me. You can only hug me, and you can only kiss me. Nobody else. Ever. If anyone else tries to touch you, I’ll..."

I stared at her, my mind briefly stalling.

She was a completely flustered, trembling mess just ten minutes ago. Now she is standing on my mattress declaring monopoly rights over my physical contact with the confidence of an imperial dictator. What is this girl?

I let out a slow breath, rubbing my temples. "Okay. How am I supposed to make it up to you then?"

Elfie’s yandere glare melted instantly into a bright, sweet smile. She sat back down on the bed, patting the space next to her. "You have to hold me while we sleep. Otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep at all."

I let out a soft sigh, but there was no real heat behind it. "Fine."

I walked over, flicked the switch on the wall, and plunged the room into near-total darkness, save for the faint silvery moonlight filtering through the window.

I climbed onto the bed, sliding under the heavy comforter.

The moment I lay down, a small, warm force immediately collided with my chest. Elfie wrapped herself around me like an octopus, her arms locked around my waist and her legs tangling with mine, securing me in a hold that would require a high-tier escape spell to break.

I chuckled softly and patted her head, my fingers running through her soft pink hair.

Elfie rested her chin on my chest, looking up at me in the dim light. She began to mutter in a quiet, sleepy, yet intensely possessive tone.

"I don’t want other girls talking to you."

"Okay."

"I don’t want them looking at you either. Especially that blonde girl from Class A."

"Okay."

"If anyone tries to smile at you, you have to ignore them."

"I will."

"You can’t carry anyone else."

"I won’t."

"You belong to me, Kai."

I listened to her sleepy ramblings, feeling the absurdity of the situation.

This is escalating quickly. Should I kiss her again to quiet her down?

...No. If I do it too many times, it will backfire and she’ll stay awake all night.

I gently rubbed her back, smoothing down the fabric of her shirt. "Go to sleep, Elfie. I’m right here."

"Mine..." she muttered, her eyelids growing heavy.

She whispered a few more things, her voice slurring with exhaustion.

"Don’t go..."

"Always stay..."

"No other girls..."

"My Kai..."

"I’ll protect you..."

Her breathing stabilized into a slow, rhythmic pattern. Her grip on my waist relaxed slightly, though she remained firmly anchored to my side.

I looked down at her in the faint moonlight. She was already fast asleep, her expression peaceful, completely different from the terrifying entity that had threatened to flatten Milo hours ago.

I smiled, a genuine, quiet warmth touching my eyes.

She worked so hard.

She even tried to tear a path through the dungeon bedrock just to rescue me when I didn’t even need it.

In this entire academy, in this entire world... she is truly the only person who would go that far for me.

My cute, troublesome princess.

Elfie shifted slightly in her sleep, unconsciously sliding my hand up to rest against her soft cheek.

I gently cupped her face, pulling her slightly closer, resting my cheek against the top of her head.

My expression gradually shifted, the warmth in my eyes fading into a cold, absolute resolve.

I will never let anything harm you, Elfie. I promise.

You mean everything to me.