The next morning, Axel woke up suddenly to the sound of the alarm, with the images of his nightmare still fresh in his mind, as usual. With a long yawn, he stretched and got ready for the day. The day before, he had spent all day and most of the night trying to understand how the bracelet on his wrist worked. Luckily, there was a user manual — otherwise, he had no idea how he would've figured it out.
After washing his face, he put on the academy's student uniform, a mix of elegance and comfort. But from a technical point of view, those clothes could easily block bullets.
After a final glance in the mirror, he left his room, which closed automatically behind him and headed toward the dormitory exit. Once outside, he turned on his bracelet and, after tapping a few times, set the destination to the cafeteria.
As he walked, he enjoyed the fresh, clean air and the gentle warmth of the morning sun.
"I'm really in paradise," he murmured to himself.
When he arrived at the cafeteria, his presence quickly drew attention. After all, how could anyone forget the person who had supposedly made history? Of course, that was pure sarcasm. Many whispered while pointing at him, others openly mocked him, and some simply pitied him. But Axel didn't care at all.
With his tray full of food, he was more focused on eating until he burst. While doing so, he summoned his spiritual weapon and, after concentrating on it, a screen appeared before his eyes.
####################################
|Unique Name: Blood Fiend|
|Grade: I|
|Potential: ???|
|Blood Echoes: [0/5,000]|
|Weapon Type: armored gloves, ??? (Blood Runes [0/1000])|
|Abilities:|
|-Hemostatic (I): slightly reduces blood loss.|
####################################
The screen he was looking at was only visible to the weapon's owner, and even if someone had a high-grade appraisal skill, like Miss Emily, all they could see was the name, grade, and potential. Everything else remained a secret, though that's exactly what puzzled Axel.
The first strange thing was the unknown potential, marked with question marks. But the rest was even weirder.
Even someone like him knew that a Sinner grew stronger by letting their weapon absorb spiritual essences, concentrated energy released only by monsters killed in the Inverted World. But in his case, it was replaced by blood echoes, and the required amount was five times higher than normal.
He had tried researching it in several ways but found nothing. As for the blood runes, they were even more mysterious, he had no idea what they referred to or why it seemed like more than one type of spiritual weapon existed within him.
[The first lesson will start soon. Please head to your assigned classroom.]
Seeing the message, he recalled his spiritual weapon and, still full of unanswered questions, walked toward the building that held the classrooms.
He walked down a long hallway with classrooms on either side. When he reached number 10, he stepped in and was surprised. The classroom was spacious, with a few students already inside, and natural light flowed in through the windows. But Axel's attention immediately focused on Aria, who was inspecting her spiritual weapon.
'What luck.'
Since they were in the same class, Axel no longer had to worry about how to observe Aria. He chose a seat at the back of the room to minimize interaction with others and have a better view of her.
More students began to arrive, including some of the most well-known figures of the year.
"Why don't you back off a little? Can't you see you're bothering him?"
"Remind me which clan you're from again? Ah, right, the Aether clan. So maybe you should be the one to back off."
"Why don't we all calm down—"
"Shut up, Lucas." (x2)
Lucas entered the room looking tired, flanked on one side by Lyra and on the other by a stunningly beautiful girl.
It was Rita Seraphim, a 16-year-old with long, straight platinum-blonde hair, crystal-blue eyes, and a slender figure. She was the daughter of a high-ranking official from the Seraphim clan and had awakened a high-positive potential spiritual weapon, even if it didn't have a unique name.
"Surrounded by girls, huh? You're a lucky guy, Lucas."
"Please don't joke like that," the boy sighed.
The one who had just spoken was Nyx Aether, a childhood friend of Lyra's. She was also 16, with silver eyes and hair, and a carefree attitude.
"I still can't believe I got a light-type spiritual weapon. It's just not fair..."
"What should I say, then? I ended up with a freaking dark scythe. I mean, do I look like the Grim Reaper?"
"At least it looks cool."
The next to enter were a pair of twins: Rhea Seraphim and Sora Seraphim, Rita's younger sister and brother. They both had the signature blonde hair and blue eyes of the Seraphim clan, and both wielded spiritual weapons with high-neutral potential.
"Oh, there's the guy who's going down in history," said Nyx in surprise, pointing at Axel.
"This has to be a joke."
Furious, Lyra walked toward him, ignoring her classmates calling after her, stopping a short distance from Axel.
"Hey, I don't care how you do it—just make sure you switch classes. Got it?"
"…"
"Are you ignoring me?! Answer me!"
"…"
"I swear to God, if you don't answer, this won't end well!"
Meanwhile, Axel was busy researching, trying to clear up his doubts and curiosities. The only problem was a constant annoying noise in the background.
"Your name's Axel, right? Could you answer her, please?"
Feeling someone touch his arm, he turned toward the boy who was looking at him pleadingly, then looked at the source of the annoying sound — someone who looked like they were about to have a nervous breakdown.
"Yes?"
"Why the hell didn't you answer me earlier?!" she said, through gritted teeth.
"How was I supposed to know you were talking to me?" Axel replied, confused.
"I was screaming right in front of you!" Lyra shouted, exhausted.
"Well, in the containment zone, there was always someone a bit crazy yelling in your ear. Most of the time, if you just ignored them, they'd go bother someone else. I tried the same thing," Axel said honestly.
A heavy silence fell as Lyra's face twisted with even more rage, but the final blow came from Rita.
"Pfft, this is hilarious. Even from his point of view, you seem insane. I think that says something, don't you?" Rita said, trying to hold back her laughter.
"...Come out, Vitalis."
At her command, a fairy-like spirit appeared from her tattoo and happily landed on her head.
Seeing the situation getting worse, Lucas and Nyx quickly moved to hold her back and get her under control while she struggled and shouted.
"I just want to talk to him!"
"You could've done that without summoning your spirit!" both Nyx and Lucas shouted as they dragged her away.
"That was... wow. Anyway, sorry I'm late. I'm Ethan Blackwood. Nice to meet you," said the sturdy boy with brown hair and dark eyes.
Now that things had calmed down, Axel's desk partner introduced himself, extending his hand.
Axel glanced at him and the hand for a moment, then went back to looking at his bracelet.
"...Great." Hearing no response, he awkwardly withdrew his hand.
Soon after, Orion Umbra entered with two more members of his clan – Darius and Lucy Umbra – who both summoned a spirit weapon with high-neutral potential. Finally, Hiro and Cain Drakon entered, completing the class.
Once everyone had arrived, the teacher assigned to them walked in. To their surprise, it was Yuna Valoria, but she didn't look very happy.
"What the hell was that computer thinking when it made this class?"
Looking at every student, she wondered what she had done to deserve a class full of the main representatives of each clan.
"Miss Yuna, I have a proposal that I think represents the whole class—"
"Shut your mouth," Yuna cut her off bluntly, leaving everyone shocked.
"Let me make something clear. I'm not your mother, your friend, or your therapist. My only job is to make sure you don't kill each other before your first entry into the Inverted World. Are we clear? Remember, you're not here to play whose clan has the biggest dick or the coolest spirit weapon. You're here to learn how to survive in the other dimension at the end of the year."
Her cold tone brought a dose of reality to the students, who quickly realized what kind of situation they were in.
"Now let me explain how today is going to work. This morning, you'll take a test to assess your theoretical knowledge. In the afternoon, there will be a physical condition test. Your final ranking will be based on the average of both scores. Any questions?"
"W-When does the theoretical test start?" someone asked nervously.
"Right... now," Yuna said after checking the time on her watch.
Each student's desk lit up, displaying page after page of questions. Not wanting to waste any more time, they all began working. Axel did too, but after reading the first question, he immediately noticed a problem—he didn't understand even half of it. He moved on to the next ones but eventually came to a sad realization.
'I'll be lucky if I even get one point.'