After I bid farewell to merry band of hot-blooded fighters, once again, I find myself back into the labyrinth that is Melas castle. The hallways are silent, devoid of life and sound, making the near-Winter cold even more intolerable. If this place wasn't a school as it currently is, I wonder how lonely it would be if one have to live alone in this vast and old castle.

I keep walking in a slow pace, aimlessly wandering toward places I do not know. For a brief moment, I forget about the upcoming duel, about my life, about everything, and let my curiosity take charge to lead me ahead, toward the uncertainty on the road. Like a lost child inside a mythical forest, waiting for a chance to stumble upon the rabbithole and end up in some sort of Wonderland.

I’m not sure if fate is messing with me, but after a while, I find myself stopping near a huge classroom, not unlike a lecture hall from the universities back in my world. The fate part kicks in when I catch glimpse of a familiar figure in this class. A girl with long, dark red hair, sitting at the farthest corner of the class as she silently reads a book. I don’t need a lucky guess to realize that is my “Master”, Deborah Draconis.

So, this is her specialized class, I presume?

The teacher in charge of the class is spouting several complicated terms in his lecture while using some kind of 3D image projector, operated by a strange crystal-powered device on his desk. The students in this class are pretty focused on the lecture, some even write notes without averting their eyes. The serious atmosphere isn’t any different than a cram school before the test season, which makes Deborah look even more like an oddball compared to her other classmates. If you actually think about it, rather than being focused, it’s more like Deborah is actually spending her time slacking off, minding her own business while her classmates are still busy studying like diligent, model students.

“Not a very exciting sight, I guess?”

I jerk back a bit after someone whipsered into my ear out of nowhere. It’s pretty lucky that I managed to avoid screaming. I mean, when a ghastly woman wearing a grey drag-like robe suddenly whispers something in your ear behind your back, you’ll usually run away screaming like a little girl, right?

“Did I surprise you?”

“Well yes you did.”

I keep my voice low enough. Don't want to alert the whole class of my presence, after all.

The eerie appearance, blood red eyes, long silky dark hair, mixed with the strange witch-like costume in front of a tall and slender figure, all combined together makes a rather long lasting impression on my memory. I don’t exactly remember her name, but it seems she’s the one in charge of the Magic Arts Department, and of course, Amadia Deveraux.

“In case you don’t remember who I am, my name is Walpurga Hausmannin.”

Like she was reading my mind, the woman introduces herself.

“I suppose I don’t need to introduce myself as well?”

The woman giggles. She seems amused.

“Well yes, you’re pretty famous these days…for being those two girls' stepping stone, that is. Enjoy that fame while you can, it will fade into obscurity soon enough.”

She doesn’t have to remind me that. Though I certainly don't know she can be blunt like this. In a sense, her honesty is like Bjarni, but in a less friendly way.

“So, what do you think about this magic class?”

“Looks boring. You may find more excitement at a funeral.”

I speak out my mind. If she’s being blunt then there’s no reason for me to be modest as well.

“Of course, nobody like theory classes after all. It’s pretty unfortunate that you just happen to stumbled upon a boring class like this. But I assure you, if you stay around longer, maybe you’ll find magic is more exciting than chanting words and reading scrolls..”

“I’ll take your advice to heart.”

Provide that I can to get past the baby-tier magic bar, that is.

“As you can see. This is the Magic Arts Department, which of course, specialized in Magic. We train mages in many subjects of Magic. Mostly about magic of the five main elements.”

“Five main elements?”

“They are the primary elements that was chosen by the first of mages to represent this world’s natural cycle of life. Those five are Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth. They were engraved on our Department’s symbol to remind us of the basic elements that became the root of modern magic.”

The teacher shows me an armband of her Department which she has hidden inside her robe. It has a five-pointed star in the middle of an circle. In each of the tip at the points of the star lies a simplified symbol of the elements that woman just said.

“Of course, magic isn’t all about those five elements, nor there are only five elements in this world, but they do act as the fundamental elements that compose most of the substances in this world.”

It's probably the reason why Deborah made me try to perform a fire spell all these days. It’s the basic among basics.

“Just as I expected.”

I mutter to myself. Can these mages be more cliché?

I avert my eyes away from the woman for several seconds and gaze back to the class. Deborah is still lost in thought as she keeps her full concentration inside that book of hers.

“Another day reading novel in class again, I see.”

So that’s a novel? The guts of her! For the grand moniker she has, I expected Deborah to be some kind of prim and proper model student that people look up to. Now that image has shattered in my eyes when I finally learn about her…habit in class.

Though that’s not exactly a bad thing. It would be a pain to “serve” a goody-two-shoes Master.

“Is it alright for her to pull this kind of thing during class?”

“We don’t want to strictly enforce our rules on our students. This school encourages apperception from it’s students. If you want to go to an island far away in the sea without ships, either you learn how to swim, or stay away from the sea forever.”

Sink or swim kind of education, I see.

“What actually matter are the tests. If she does well, then we will tolerate small things like this. And that girl did pretty well in the earlier midterm test to begin with. Although she doesn’t seem to be the type who likes studying, getting good grades like that is rather suprising.”

“So, Deborah is the genius I-can-do-it-in-the-first-try type?”

The woman smiles in pride of her student before replying.

“Not too far from the truth.”

Does that make her my mortal nemesis then? Cause I’m the type who cram my ass off whenever a test comes up and only get barely passable grades.

“You seem to pay a lot of attention for that girl, according to the way you just spoke of her.”

I tell my thought out loud.

“Naturally, she’s a pretty big shot of a character, after all. It’s a given for eyes and ears everywhere to focus on her. Since she is a student in my Department, I cannot merely avoid paying attention to a girl like that even if I wanted to, don’t you think?”

The women chuckles.

“However, let that slide for a moment. Aren’t you interested in that girl too, Akuma?”

Me…interested in that girl? In what way?

“Is it love?”

Walpurga’s smile suddenly turns to a smirk, the type you can see from chatty housewives with nothing better to do.

“Well, I do have an interest in her, in a way. But love? No, that girl spouts death threats like she says good morning. One must be really crazy to interest in her that way.”

My time here hasn't been that long, but that girl did pique my interest. She rarely speaks of herself, while people around can't stop talking about her. Her origin, her powers, all of them make her a rather big mystery that keeps me yearning to uncover the truth.

“Ho ho, really?”

“Yeah, really.”

I reply the woman.

“I guess that would put her admirers at ease. Some guys in this school would kill to stand in your shoes, you know? Maybe not just a metaphor, if you weren't happened to be her familiar.”

The woman doesn’t pursue the topic further as she changes the subject.

“Anyway, we could say we are lucky that she chose to stay in this academy. She did get numerous invitations from other academies, especially from Flegma.”

Other academies? Melas isn’t the only one?

“There are other academies apart from this one?”

I ask. This is the first time I heard of this. The way Bjarni told me makes it look like Melas is the only academy in the Demon Realm.

“So you don’t know after all. Was your pact with her broken? Usually trivial knowledge like this are engraved to the familiar’s mind after the summoning.”

Why did you ask me an answer that even Deborah doesn't know of?

“I guess strange familiars have their own issues after all.”

Well, she got that right.

“Well then, let me give you a brief lecture.”

The woman leads me to a more quiet portion of the hallway before turning on her lecturer mode.

“There are actually four biggest academies in the whole Demon Realm that serve as educational institutes for its residents. These four are Melas, Sanguin, Kholler and Flegma. Each serves to train their students for a different purpose, but all have the same common goal that is ultimately to serve the Demon Realm.”

That’s just the beginning of a rather long lecture, however. After fifteen minutes or so, her lecture comes to an end, and I just stand there, trying to piece things together in my head and keep myself from falling down the ground.

Let me summarize her lecture for easier comprehension.

As she said, there are four main academy located around Demon Realm. That is Melas, Sanguin, Kholler and Flegma…Each has a different purpose and method when it comes to teaching stuff to their students.

「Sanguin」 is an academy made for war, as they train their students in the art of War and only for that purpose. They don’t have any special branches like Magic or Alchemy Department or anything like that. That academy train their students into high-class warriors and officers capable of combating armies. A military school deep in its roots. It’s like Ares the god himself has decided to give up fighting and went to make a school to teach people how to fight. Its representative color is also very fitting – blood red – that is also the color of their cloak uniforms, to remind them to bath in their enemies’s blood whenever they march for war.

「Kholler」 is a more sophisticated place than Sanguin. It’s more of a university than a military academy. This place specializes in Magic and Alchemy, be it theoretical research or practical experiment, with numerous infractures and manpower to serve that very purpose. While they do train combat mages and alchemists, they’re primary involved in the R&D (Research and Development) for military use. The color that represent them is Gold – the color of grandiose.

「Flegma」 is the most high-class of all the academies, or one would say, they are the “elites”, the “chosen ones” and the future of Demon Realm. Their entrance exam is top notch when it comes to difficulty. One either need to be rich and influential, which is mostly being a noble in this world, or is actually talented, to enroll in this school. They can also pick potential students from others academies to enroll in their school. This makes their size the smallest among the academies, yet also the one with the highest teaching and training quality. This school is multi-departments just like Melas, but the differences between them are like the night and the day. Due to being the elites among the elites, one who graduated from this school would have a high social standing in the Demon Realm. They usually become military officers, but that is the lowest position one would expected from students of Flegma. Their color of choice and uniform is White, as in infinite potential.

That leaves only Melas left.

As you may have guess, 「Melas」 is the bottom of the totem pole. The only good use this academy has is to serve as the shield for the rest of the Demon Realm. This academy has the highest enrollment rate out of all the academies, all because it has the lowest enroll requirements. The requirements is so low one would think they’ll get accepted as long as they know how to write their name, pay the school’s tution fee and is not a monkey. The reason for this is because of the nature of the academy itself: It serves at a fortress, so it requires its students to actively participate in the war as its own military force. Which means, you guess it: The school have low requirements because they need more cannon fodders to send to the battlefield. They are not so cruel to the point of sending fresh meats out to their death right at the bat however. All students are required to get one year of training in their Department of choice before they get drafted. Which means the reason why this school is such a ghost school because the 2nd and 3rd year students have already been sent to the Dark Line for battle. Thus, the color of this school, Black, is also very fitting for the purpose it carries.

“The elites, heh…?”

Back to the topic at hand, as Miss Walpurga has said earlier, Deborah received numerous invitations from other academies, especially from Flegma. And yet, she’s still here, studying among those that could be called her inferiors. Well, that probably would include me as well.

“For some reason, the girl turned down all the offers so far and stayed with this academy to this day. That girl will go very far if she chooses to study at Flegma, you know?”

Says Walpurga.

“Do you have a slightest hint of why she did that?”

Of course, she’s the head of the Department which Deborah studies in, and it hasn’t even been a week long from the day I arrived here. Maybe that woman knows something I don’t.

“I have heard several rumors from the Headmaster. It seems like rather than for the academy, that girl…she stays here because of this castle itself.”

This castle…itself?

“What do you mean by that?”

“This castle…used to belong to the Great Demon King Dargoth.”

That explains it. Of course the granddaughter of a Great Demon King would want to study and live in the castle that belonged to her grandfather. And yet, this actually brought more questions than answers. If it was her grandfather’s castle, then why did it become an academy in the first place? If this place is indeed her grandfather’s castle, doesn’t that make this place Deborah’s own property due to heritance? Yet, the girl doesn’t seems to have any special privileges from her status that she deserves?

“The more you explain, the more mysterious her background become.”

I reply to the woman.

“That girl is indeed mysterious. Other than being the granddaughter of Lord Dargoth, we hardly know anything about her. Everything I heard about Deborah came from the mouth of the Headmaster herself. Though, the Headmaster rarely spills more than what she wants you to hear, so even if you come there asking questions, you won’t know anything more useful than what I have told you today.”

“True.”

I still remember that night where she announced my verdict. That woman is indeed the type who knows more than she would tell people.

“I’m still wondering, though. Why did you tell me all of this?”

“Because I enjoy chatting about meaningless things, fufu. Classes is in session right now, I’m currently free of work and I don’t have anyone to talk to. You were just happened to be here when I walked by.”

Another wild chatterbox appears! She’s like a female Bjarni if he’s specialized in teaching magic and be more of a jerk.

“Beside, enough talk about her. You yourself is also an enigma in the eyes of others, you know?”

I simply nod instead of talking back. So the mysterious girl summoned an equally mysterious familiar. Is this fate or is this another joke of fate?

“Speaking of which, not just Deborah, but the girl you’re gonna fight, Amadia, also got invited for enrollment in Flegma as well. But just like Deborah, that girl refused and insisted on staying here.”

“I definitely don’t want to think she did that solely because of Deborah.”

These girls just want to do things the hard way, heh? Walpurga however doesn’t reply directly to my response and makes a new question instead.

“Are you prepared to face my favorite student, Akuma? Have you train yourself and hone your skills before battle?”

“Well, training is part of the plan. But since I was forced to choose an Department of choice for myself today, so I haven’t got the time to continue training.”

“So there’s that…”

The teacher begins to look deep in thought.

“Okay. You may go back to your room and continue your training. I’ll do my best to reschedule the time for your choice to another day.”

“You can do that?”

“I may not be able to postpone it forever, but it’s fine if it’s just two or three days. Use that time wisely.”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t thank me just yet, boy. I’m doing this because I don’t want Amadia to use a low-quality stepping stone prior to her fight with Deborah. Beside, the Headmaster herself also wants to see what you’re capaple of.”

“I promise I won’t dissapoint her.”

I put a smile on my face. That is the only thing I’m sure of right now.

“You better be, boy.”

I nod as I begin to return to my room after the conversation. However, before I leave, that teacher gives me one final adivce.

“When it comes to concentration, if you can’t concentrate hard enough, then just keep your mind blank and let your feelings drives you.”

-----------------

In the rest of the day and the day after that, I keep practicing basic magic. Namely, a simple fire spell. In the little time I have, no matter how hard I concentrate, nothing would come out from my hand except sweats. The day after that isn’t much better, until I remember Miss Walpurga’s advice. I use the remaining time trying to empty my mind, devoid of emotions and leave only a handful of feelings left.

The hopeless training comes to an end when I managed to produced a fleeting but warm tiny ball of fire in my hand. Not the size of a normal fireball, but it’s still something since it takes a form beffiting a fire, although as small as a burning match.

Deborah congratulates me on performing a spell a three-years old kid can do in their sleep, only for me to remark that it would be dangerous if they are able to use spells like this easily.

Still, let the mandatory snarky comment from Deborah aside, this is the first time I feel glad when I accomplished something.

Yes, I can do this. I can survive in this would if I keep this up. I’ll aim higher than that, of course, but for now, let me do what I can.

And thus, the fateful day arrives.