After the Myth class had surprised everyone by winning thirteen against one-hundred plus, then the sophomore's Myth class had also won, the juniors began their simulation. Currently, Erebus, Tear, and Vyne were sitting under their favorite tree which they had claimed as their base, there was a small picnic set out in front of them that didn’t at all fit.

This was because the time they tried to gather in the female dorm rooms after the class yesterday, Vyne and Erebus were flocked by the girls, and the same thing occurred in the male dorms to Tear.

So, they now congregated under this apple tree!

But since they had been there for barely two days... their claim to the tree didn’t really count for much. The sounds of the distant sophomore battle could be heard, even the faint shouts.

“Haa... it’s nice to be young,” Erebus said, sounding like a true old man as he sipped on his tea. He squinted his eyes while wrapping his fingers tightly around his clay cup. “They’re so full of energy, how refreshing~”

Tear turned her head to the mountains. “If Lord Erebus says so, then it must be so.”

“You’ll understand when you get older, Tear is still so young. Aiya, you’re only six hundred and some change years old... how youthful.”

Tear, who, by most definitions would be considered an old lady, smiled. “If Lord Erebus says so, it must certainly be so!” she repeated this time with more confidence.

Vyne shook his head, he said nothing and kept his lips on his cup.

“Oh my, could I have just stumbled upon our infamous transfer students?” a lovely voice questioned. The three turned their gaze to the newcomer, an elegant man wearing a dazzling smile. His hair was glossy and brown, long on one side while the other was shaved short. His silvery blue eyes were enthralling and seemed to be laughing a little as if he found the situation to be funny.

The robe he was wearing was black, and his pendant was gold signifying he was a senior belonging to the Myth class. On his arm, there was a band that read COUNCIL in bold lettering and he was accompanied by two girls who wore impassive expressions.

“Who are you?” Erebus didn’t bother showing respect to his upperclassman.

The handsome man chuckled. “I suppose you wouldn’t know who I am, eh?” He cleared his throat before continuing. “My name is Xaltiq, but everyone calls me Xal. I’m the student council president, a pleasure to meet you all. These two lovely ladies behind me are both members of our school’s disciplinary committee and they insist on following me around and guarding me.

“I may not look it, but I’m actually strong!”

Erebus who already knew quite well what Xaltiq’s strength was smiled wryly. “I’ll take your word for it. May I ask, what do you want from us?”

“You.... you really don’t care about school rankings, do you?” Xaltiq sounded amused. He was used to people treating him with respect after finding out who he was, he’d also been put on a pedestal and isolated. As the number one ranked in the school, everyone feared him. He was used to seeing people draw back from him... but these three continued to stare at him as if he was an annoyance.

The beautiful woman narrowed his eyes. “Should we be? A number is just a number.”

Xaltiq laughed. “That’s true! Do you mind if I sit with you?” Even though he asked politely, Xaltiq moved to sit down and started pouring himself a cup of tea. “You two can leave,” he said to the girls behind him.

They looked a little apprehensive but after a few counts they nodded their heads and moved away.

“I didn’t say that you could sit here,” Erebus remarked.

“I have no friends, you’ll have to excuse my lack of social awareness,” Xaltiq said painful words easily and sipped on his tea, instantly blending in the with three.

Erebus’ hand clamped down on Xaltiq’s shoulder, emotion burning brightly in his eyes. “Comrade!” he said firmly.

Xaltiq returned Erebus’ gesture. “Comrade.”

Erebus’ eyes continued to shine. “We can become each other’s friends! Yes, from today on, we’re friends.”

“Uu... Erebus doesn’t consider me to be my friend, Vyne, what should I do~”

“I don’t consider you to be a friend either,” came Vyne’s swift response. Tear was taken out with a one-two finish! She coughed up blood and clutched her heart.

Xaltiq smiled. “You’re new here, right? Ask me anything and I’ll give you information, as the president, I know a lot about this school and its people.” Xaltiq thumped his chest proudly.

Erebus’ ears perked up. “You’re right, as a new student, I know nothing. It’d be so useful if Senior helped me out by telling me about things so I wouldn’t be ignorant~”

Xaltiq, in Erebus’ eyes, had transformed into a treasure trove.

“Fufu, it’s fine if you rely on me, my darling!”

“All right, I’ll be counting on you then.”

Xaltiq smiled. “It’ll have to wait until later, though, I’m busy today, I’m the commander for the Myth senior class. Here, I’ll give you this to contact me.” Xaltiq fished out a small medallion from his pocket. “Now then, I’ll be taking my leave. Hopefully, we can see each other soon.”

The student council president smiled and then walked off, his two guards seemed to materialize out of thin air and followed him as he headed towards the main school building.

“What a dangerous kid,” Erebus sighed. “Vyne, that brat could probably give you a run for your money, actually, he might even defeat you once or twice. From the looks of it, he wasn’t touched by the transmutations, but the two behind him were both resurrected. Their auras were repulsive.”

Vyne frowned. “And he’s a human?”

“From the looks of it, he’s a bona fide human. He has immense skill and talent, ah, I want him to join my castle, too...”

Tear twisted her face, not pleased by the thought of someone else to compete with for Lord Erebus’ attention. “I’m sure he’s not worth much.”

“Tear, he’d wipe the floor with you,” Erebus said. “The only reason Vyne has a fighting chance against Xaltiq is because of his illusion magic.”

Tear’s face flamed with embarrassment. “Do you think the other members of the Myth class for seniors are on his level?”

“I doubt it. That kid probably stands alone at the top. Mm~ I’m sure of it. Those two guarding him were also in Myth class but his strength was far beyond theirs, it was almost embarrassing.”

Tear pouted. “Do you think he could fight against Magnus and Stone as equals?”

“No, I don’t think his strength would take him that far, but, he’d probably put up a fight before he was defeated.”

Tear paled. “To think there would be a human with such monstrous strength, I’d also like to recruit him to our side before he belongs entirely to the humans... he could become a great power for them.”

“Indeed, Vyne, I want you to investigate more about Xal, he may not be synthetically enhanced like the others, but his existence is still worrisome. I feel as if he’s connected to my mission somehow,” Erebus said, placing down his tea.

Vyne nodded his head. “I will find out as much as I can about him.”

The earth began to rumble and an alarm blared, signifying the end of the junior's battle simulation.

“When the seniors fight, Tear, you’re going to record the Myth class, specifically Xal using a familiar that I’ll be giving you. I will be casting transformation magic on myself and creating some interference, I want to see the extent of the transmuted student’s power along with Xal’s. Vyne, it’ll be your job to make sure any officials don’t get through, kill them if you must, they’re irrelevant. Actually, kill at least two, I want to collect their bodies as samples and send them to Mira, ah, wait, her name’s Mae now.”

Vyne squinted his eyes. “There’s no guarantee that they’ll be enchanted still...”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see, you’ll see~” Erebus sipped on his tea while speaking like an old sage. “The chances that they will have some minor tests done on them are high enough for me to do this. Even if not, I want to see the effects of the polluted mana on their bodies since they should have been exposed to it for long enough.”

“Should I assist with the experiments?”

Erebus shook his head. “She should be fine on her own.”

“Understood.”

“Contact the stable head and tell him to send out a Sleipnir along with Dark Mist to take the two corpses, I want them here by tonight out some distance from the school. Vyne, you’ll deliver the bodies to Dark Mist and he will take them back to Mae at the castle. Ah, and tell Dark Mist to bring two doppelgangers, too.”

“I will do so immediately.” Vyne didn’t understand why the doppelgangers were needed, but he didn’t question his master’s orders.

“What about me, Lord Erebus?” Tear piped up, her cheeks still slightly red and puffed out. Tear, when you do that, you really look like a spoiled brat~

Erebus sighed. “Bind this familiar to you, hide in your room, go quick.” He handed her the drawing of a raven and Tear took it in her hand. She said her goodbyes and made her way to the girl’s dorm room.

Vyne said to Erebus, “I contacted the stable head, he said he’ll send Dark Mist on his way.”

“Hide the bodies with your magic after you kill them, if they’re discovered, I’ll kill you,” Erebus commanded Vyne, his threat was not empty. He would seriously end Vyne’s life. To Erebus, this mission was far more important than Tear’s or Vyne’s life and safety, so, the failure of it would mean the termination of their existence.

Vyne, who was used to Erebus’ line of thinking, simply bowed his head slightly. If they weren’t in public, Vyne would’ve stood up and bowed until his body was perfectly parallel to the earth.

“Good, good. I’ll be leaving now.” Erebus stood up and disappeared, if anyone had actually been watching them, they would have instantly known something was off. But alas, there were hardly any students in the humungous courtyard, and the ones that were there were paying no attention to Erebus and his subordinates.

Vyne also stood up. “It’s time for me to do some serious work,” he muttered. Vyne hadn’t been able to kill anyone for a while except for his experiments, so, the thought of being able to go wild was stimulating. “I’ll have some fun... Lord Erebus didn’t say their bodies had to be completely intact.”

...

Xal stood with his back straight and his handsome face no longer displayed the carefree smile, but instead, it was befitting that of a commander ready to lead his soldiers into war.

He had changed out of his normal school robes and was wearing a black version of the uniform Erebus had been wearing this morning. The rest of the Myth class students were also wearing that, there were only fifteen of them, but all of them had gone through this simulation plus others multiple times. They also had actual combat experience, so they weren’t like the untrained freshman.

The conditions for the seniors were also different, for the three lower classes, the weapons had been blunted, but in this, all of the weapons were sharp and were capable of slicing through bodies like nothing.

Of course, killing still wasn’t allowed, but the injuries the students received in the senior simulation were far greater than those from the others. It wasn’t unusual to see students being carried away missing all of their limbs or close to bleeding out and at death’s door.

For the Myth class this year, they had divided up into three squadrons containing five students each. Xal was the overarching leader and also in charge of the main attack group, which was composed of the “elites of the elite” so to speak.

Unlike the freshman, the air for the senior simulation was full of bloodlust, so much so that it felt as if this was an actual war and not a training battle for students at a school.