The door creaked open and a professor with an Auburn hair and a beard stepped inside, his presence demanding attention. Arriving at the podium, he dropped the books he had in hand as he put a glasses on his eyes. "Students of the Class A, I am professor Galvin and I will be in charge of the Lecture : Forsaken."

"During this lecture, you all will learn details and information classified as secrets" Holding a chalk, he then scribbled on the blackboard, it took quite a while before he stared at the seven students before him. "Now, if you’ve all really studied hard to get here, what makes a Ghoul rank Forsaken dangerous? "

Zeres stared at the window, the lecture was just some kind of re-read part for someone like him who proofread his sister’s novel. He cupped his mouth to yawn quietly, but then—he made eye-contact with Professor Galvin who was searching for someone to ask.

"Special admit Zeres, it seems you know a lot, given by the way you’re behaving before my class—would you care to answer my question?" Professor Galvin asked, the nerves in his forehead bulging as he stared at Zeres.

Zeres clicked his tounge at his foolishness before he stood up. "Even though Ghoul-rank Forsakens are at the Low-Level Threat Classification, what made them dangerous was their own capabilities to grow by devouring flesh and mana." After answering, Zeres sat down immediately he doesn’t want unwanted attention—much more if it’s the named characters. But contrary to his expectations, they’re all staring at him.

"Hmm, it seems you’re in a position that require you to enroll as a commoner despite having access to such info, do not worry, student Zeres—you secret’s safe with us" coughing, Professor Galvin made a thumbs up then continued his lecture like nothing happened.

Zeres stared at the ceiling for a long time, he just realized his mistake, Professor Galvin had indeed planned to humiliate him for obnoxiously yawning in his class, because there’s no way a commoner will have such access on information about the Forsakens—and it’s even accurate. The information about the Forsakens were all being kept by nobles, mages tower, prominent clans and the royalties—and that was the reason they have mistakenly thought of him as a student undercover.

’Such a pain in the ass’ he ruffled his long hair in frustration, he really needed to watch out to every single of his actions starting from now on, as it can lead to serious cases.

____________________

"Zeres, see you at the Class A training grounds" Aeliz winked as she put her things on the lockers of Class A.

"Just my life" Zeres sighed, smiling bitterly, he made his way at the training grounds exclusive for Class A. It was a spacious open ground—though no one is allowed aside from Class A students and professors. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Aeliz stood at the center stretching, her long white hair tied into a ponytail, she wore clothes suited for battle as it clung tight to her figure.

"The match will start once I fired this spell! " Vairel shouted, his red hair fluttering as he spread the blaze in his palm. "I expect a good performance from you Zeres" Aeliz said, shifting her stance, lightning cracked at her finger tips as she waited for the signal.

’How tedious’ Zeres shook his head as be pulled out his dark sword, it’s black sleek blade gleamed under the sunlight.

After a moment, the sound of something exploding echoed in the tense atmosphere. Aeliz moved, too fast for the human eye, her estoc crackled with lightning as she thrust it straight at Zeres’ neck.

’At revenant-rank’ Zeres thought, he tilted his neck, the estoc gleamed dangerously beside him as strands of his long white hair was severed and a small wound appeared, he swung his sword upwards to deflect Aeliz’ strike. Just then, Aeliz twisted then crashed her legs straight towards Zeres’ face.

The force behind the kick distorted the air itself, Zeres was sure that taking it head on would hurt. he bent backwards immediately, narrowly avoiding the attack. The match was supposed to be hard—if he was a human that is, but as a vampire, his senses were far beyond the norms.

That was what he learned while getting accustomed to his new body.

_____

Aeliz’s brow furrowed ’how annoying’ She clicked her tounge as another strike missed . ’Is he on the same level as Saelyz? ’ her gripped on the estoc tightened as she stared at the man before him. He stood there quite leisurely, his long white hair fluttered everytime a strong wind swept across the training ground.

Their blades clashed more times than they could count, every blow was perfectly deflected by Zeres, it made her instinctively realize that Zeres wasn’t the special admit student by luck. And maybe—he really did kill all of the participants of the trial because of his bloodthirst.

Stepping back, Aeliz made the lightning coiled around her estoc cackled more violently, the surrounding mana stirred as she gathered it all to make the lightning run wildly.

Zeres’ sensing the tense atmosphere, shifted his stance, the longsword in his grasp vibrated slightly then it was immediately engulfed in a crimson mana.

’Too bad, I still don’t want to reveal all of my skills in front of this class’ She knew it better than anyone the risks of revealing everything. "Let’s end this" Saeliz muttered, the lightning on her estoc roared, countless sparks scattered—then she lunged forward.

They both lunged at each other, dust and sparks covering the entirety of the training grounds.

"What happened? " Vairel asked quietly, not taking his eyes off at the ground. After some moment, the smoke subsided revealing two standing figure—their blade aimed at each other’s throat.

Aeliz glared at Zeres, she had felt it, he weakened his mana on purpose, and he also wasn’t going all out. "Zeres, I’ll kill you if you ever repeat that again!" She shouted, her fist was clenched too hard, then she walked out of the training grounds.

’Uhh, she noticed? ’ Zeres scratched the back of his neck as he stand at the center of the training ground, he had made a mistake, he hadn’t expected Aeliz to have such a discerning eye.

____________

’It’s morning though, does he wear an artifact that made him resistance to sunlight? ’ tilting her head slightly, Saelyz smiled softly. "Hmm, it looks like there’s really something to look forward in this academy" she stared one last time at Zeres who’s fixing his clothes, then she went out of the training grounds

______________

"Headmaster, what are your thoughts about that vampire? Is it worth letting him stay here" a voice from the office echoed as a knight wearing silver-plated armor stared straightly at Arthur Thorne, the Headmaster of Lunaire Academy.

"Let’s watch for now, if he isn’t going to meet my expectations, it won’t be bad to send him to the church as a sign of my goodwill" Arthur said quietly, his aged face staring at the window.

"Please give it some more thoughts before sending that vampire on the church, you can send it into the Royal Palace first—Giving the church more authority than what they currently have is dangerous." the man replied, his deep voice heavy with meaning.

"Well, that wouldn’t happen if the 34th Emperor of Mersell Empire didn’t get manipulated by the Saintess at that time" Arthur stated, his eyes closed as he leaned against the wooden chair behind his table.

"Careful, Arthur Thorne, you might be one of the few Exalted of the human empire, but we won’t hesitate to cut you down if you get in the way of his Highness"

"I’m only giving you this chance because I know you, if I didn’t, I would have already declared it as a treason."

"You should first worry about the two prince, the first won’t even hesitate to bring his own blood brother down just for the throne, if that’s how it’s going—then it’ll inky be a matter of time before the other Empires made their move. This Empire is even barely standing right now because of the treaty the 1st Emperor made" Arthur said calmly.

"And we’ve heard an interesting intel lately, the apostles of those damned Forsaken were seen on the move"

"There’s something brewing behind the scenes, even the Erithia Empire didn’t send even one of their kind to study here" Arthur stood up slowly, he then stopped in front of a portrait. It was a portrait of a woman, her blonde hair cascaded down her back, bright emerald eyes and a soothing smile on her lips.

"But why are you here, isn’t the Empire’s brain the one that should be here? " Arthur glanced at the man seating on the couch, his hands clasped behind his back.

"He didn’t want to see you, he told me he might just kill you if he ever saw your face" the man replied coldly.

Arthur nodded "Hmm, I see" then he turned his head back at the window, after some moments, he spoke, his voice devoid of the softness it usually had. "Tell him I’ve found a clue, that she’ might be one of them’"