Axel tried to find some questions he could answer but without success. Having never gone to school, he didn't possess what could be called basic knowledge. He only knew the most common information, but that was nowhere near enough to answer those questions.
Hours passed, and as the students continued asking questions, their expressions became increasingly complicated, but the clan members didn't seem to struggle at all.
A silent sigh escaped Yuna as she watched the scene. From her point of view, the whole concept of the ranking made no sense. The clan members did not need the government's support to survive the Inverted World, while for the other students, the teachers would still make an effort to help them, regardless of their ranking, if they demonstrated the right discipline.
However, to bring all the awakened students together in one place, the government had been forced to make concessions to the clans, and the ranking was one of them. It served as a reminder of who truly held the power.
At exactly noon, writing was no longer allowed, and many had to sadly watch their incomplete answers be taken away. For Axel, however, it was more of a relief not to have to look at that test anymore.
Afterward, there was a short lunch break, but the teachers advised against eating too much because a physical test would take place shortly after.
'It's huge,' Axel thought as he saw the room they were led into after lunch.
It was an enormous indoor space, with countless rooms specifically designed to improve and test every student's abilities.
Some had already started their tests and were getting good results, but among them were real monsters.
Look at Hiro, he's been running on that treadmill at 50 km/h for ten minutes already.
"Why Lucas? Don't you see all the darts he's dodging?"
"No, no, no—look how much Cain is lifting!"
"Did you see Aria? She shot more than twenty flying targets at the highest difficulty!"
"Are they even human?"
Everyone was speechless, watching how each of them broke records. But someone else was setting records too, just the worst ones: maximum push-ups, 10; maximum weight lifted, 30 kg; longest running time at minimum difficulty, 8 minutes… and so on.
Naturally, those results belonged to Axel, but considering his skinny and frail body, it was more than expected.
Then came the final test, which assessed visual cognition. In front of him was a monitor that would briefly display something, and Axel had to say what he had seen.
The first rounds were easy, numbers would appear, and as long as you paid attention, you could answer correctly. But as the test went on, the time to react decreased and the content became more complex. Strangely, Axel didn't seem to have any problems. He passed round after round, and eventually, the numbers were replaced with full sentences, shown for only a fraction of a second, yet he still guessed them all correctly.
This slowly started to draw the attention of others, who began to try and follow mentally but quickly gave up, unable to read even the first word.
The growing crowd also drew the attention of the main clan members, who were genuinely surprised by Axel's performance.
"Well, not that it means much. In the end, it all comes down to your spirit weapon," Cain said with a shrug.
"As much as it disgusts me to agree with you, you're right," Hiro replied.
"Oh, my dear cousin, I'm almost touched by your words," Cain said sarcastically.
"...So childish," Hiro muttered, wasting no time arguing as he kept watching the scene.
At that point, Axel had reached the final stage, but the screen only showed a black display.
"Is it broken?" Someone asked in confusion—until Axel responded.
"976."
[Correct. Student Axel—maximum score in visual perception. New record.]
A chorus of surprised voices followed.
"Honestly, I didn't see anything. Did you?" Lucas asked, and everyone shook their heads. But Lyra disagreed.
"So what if he has decent eyes? He's not on our level and never will be, not with that weapon that won't even let him pass Grade I," she said bitterly.
"Lyra, that wasn't nice," Lucas said, trying to scold her, but Lyra didn't seem to care.
"Did I say anything false? Look, even she agrees with me," Lyra pointed out.
Lucas turned to Rita, who awkwardly looked away, making him sigh and drop the conversation.
Once everyone had completed their tests, the bracelet on their wrist vibrated, and the ranking screen became visible to all.
In first place was Lucas. In the second, Hiro and Aria tied. Third was Orion, fourth Lyra, fifth Cain, and sixth Rita. The remaining ranks up to the hundredth were filled by clan members, and only after that did the Government members start appearing. As for Axel, his position was quite dire.
[Axel, ranking position: 1001 out of 1001.]
Even though his visual cognition performance had been excellent, it couldn't erase his poor earlier results.
"What did I say? In the end, that's his worth," said Lyra, looking more satisfied.
"Too bad, history boy. For a moment you had me dreaming, hahaha!" Cain gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked off laughing, followed by the others.
Meanwhile, Axel watched them, confused, wondering who they were. No, it wasn't a joke, Axel genuinely had no idea who they were. He had even forgotten about Lyra, who had yelled at him that very morning. But that was just how Axel was: if he saw something or someone he wasn't interested in, he would forget about them in minutes.
"Damn dude, you really put on a show back there. Too bad about the result."
Someone else approached him.
"Do we know each other?" Axel asked, confused.
"...I'm Ethan, your desk-mate... we literally talked this morning," the boy said, speechless.
"Oh..."
With nothing more to add, Axel walked away, leaving Ethan standing there in embarrassment.
With the tests over and the rankings posted, the students headed to the cafeteria for dinner, and Axel had the same idea. Unfortunately, when he finished filling his tray, all the tables seemed full. That's when he noticed Aria eating alone at a table in the corner, so he decided to sit there. But as soon as he tried, he heard her cold voice.
"Go somewhere else."
Axel stood in silence for a moment, looking at the girl. Compared to the fleeting memory he had of her from childhood, when she had been soft, cheerful, and kind, now she seemed cold and kept everyone at a distance like she was wrapped in a tangle of thorns.
'She doesn't seem to remember...' Axel thought to himself, though the fact didn't seem to bother him.
From the beginning, he hadn't had any expectations—or rather, he had simply stopped expecting anything from people a long time ago. So he gave her a faint smile and sat down.
"I can't. Everywhere else is full."
Aria looked up and glanced around.
"I see some tables with empty seats. Go sit there."
"I don't like crowded spots. It's easier for people to steal something from you in those situations," Axel said, starting to eat.
"I like being alone," Aria replied, even colder.
"What a coincidence. So do I. Looks like we're more alike than I thought."
Bam!
"We're nothing alike. At all."
After slamming her tray on the table, drawing the attention of others, she walked away, leaving behind those harsh words, without even glancing at Axel once.
'That went pretty well, I'd say,' he thought casually.
Meanwhile, Orion, who was not far away, watched the scene, confused but curious. He knew Aria fairly well, having met her at several events, and he knew that unless someone brought up her clan, she rarely reacted to anything. And yet, that boy, Axel, seemed to have managed to get under her skin with just a few words. In a way, it was... surprising.
****
After finishing dinner, Axel headed to his room to wash up. Ever since he'd gotten access to hot water, he took every chance to clean himself.
As he undressed, his reflection in the mirror revealed the pitiful state of his body. Aside from the protruding bones due to malnutrition, his body was covered in scars. Cuts, stabs, burns, each wound told the story of a harsh life. But two scars stood out the most.
The first was the largest, stretching from his right shoulder to his shoulder blade, where the skin looked like it had been ripped off and sewn back on badly. The second was more unusual, located over his heart, five deep cuts etched into his chest.
Summoning his spiritual weapon, he placed his clawed fingers over the scar. They matched perfectly. A strange smile appeared on his face, one that made it impossible to tell what he was feeling.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to live constantly wondering if I'm imagining a life after death, or if you really saved me that day? Well, I doubt I'll ever get an answer, right, Hell Demon?"