The bus came to a stop. Looking out the window next to his seat, he saw the massive structure, towering above him.“We’re here,” called a gruff voice from the front of the vehicle. Picking up his bag, he slung it over one shoulder and walked down the aisle to the door. As he approached, a glowing panel on the frame above reacted to his presence, lighting up. The door slid open, the mechanisms attached to it pushing it along the grooves in which it was set. He stepped down from the bus onto concrete, and took his first real look at the place he had come to. In front of him were a pair of massive iron gates. Despite their ornamental design and the floral arcs extending from their bars, there was no mistaking that they were built for function, not form. Each of the bars was thicker than most people would grip with a single hand, and stood well over twelve feet tall. From the tops of the floral arcs, fittingly enough, extended metal spikes, numerous and sharp enough to make anyone attempting to climb over them regret that decision. For all of their impressive physical construction however, the true security measures of those gates lay not in what was evident, but what was unseen.

On a plaque built into the stone wall was inscribed a single word.

E L Y S I U M.

Throughout the world, that name was famous, and for good reason. It was the premier institution for the study of mankind’s greatest source of power. Thousands of years ago, a spontaneous mutation had led to humanity gaining that power. And now, by the laws of natural selection, almost everyone had it.

Magic.

Elysium was the greatest magic school, in a world built on magic.

Everything about the place seemed to be designed to remind people of that fact. Past the gates could be seen a massive compound, a sprawling field of close cropped green. At the edges of the field, and placed along the pathway crossing through it were tall trees. Beyond all of this were the school buildings themselves. Built with the best that technology and magic had to offer, they were a stunning marvel of human engineering and control over the arcane. Each tower stood over a kilometre high, so tall that even from outside the compound, they gave the illusion of being just a short walk away. The barest minimum of shining gold framework could be seen, while the entirety of the walls was built of pristine reflective glass. At the gates he stood, beholding this sight. A tiny crease under his eyes was the only reaction his face showed. He was here at last. As he stepped forward, the gates responded. Had he been an intruder or an unannounced guest, their reaction would have been different. As it stood, they swung inwards, allowing him entry. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. At his sides, his fists clenched tight. Looking straight ahead, he stepped past the threshold, entering Elysium.

The grounds were all but empty as he walked down the stone pathway leading to the buildings. Given the hour, it made sense. Classes would have already started. He was well aware that the semester had already begun a while ago. He had been asked to come to the Primary Tower, which was the central building of the lot. As with the main gates, here too, the glass doors opened on their own as he approached. While it looked impressive, he could see the tiny coating of Conducting Crystals layered over the frame around the door. The naturally occurring magic in this material could be programmed to behave in different ways. Such as reacting to a human being in their proximity by sending an electric signal to the doors, causing them to open. His lips curled slightly, but that was the only change in his expression.

Here in the entrance hall, for the first time since entering the campus, he encountered a human being. A lady sat behind the front desk. She read off some kind of document that she doubtless had open. “Mr. Shen. You’re right on time on your first day. Let me be the first to welcome you here to Elysium. I hope that during your time here, you will learn much-”

In the midst of saying the words, she looked up, setting eyes on him for the first time.

She stumbled slightly in her speech. “A-as I was saying, I hope you will learn much during your time here. Never before have the doors of Elysium been opened to your community, and with this, let’s work together to make the world a better place.” It was a clearly pre-arranged message, prepared and rehearsed in advance, and he made no reply to it. She waited for a while, but upon seeing him standing silently, staring right into her eyes, she was once more thrown off. It was not the response she had expected from him. A part of her felt outraged at his contempt, but the rest of her was telling her it was best to not push the matter. “A-any way, here is your orientation sheet and class schedule. Your classroom and its location are indicated there. G-good luck!” She held out some papers, which he took from her without a word. Not sparing her another glance, he went over the class schedule. It mentioned that he was part of class 3F, which was located in the Secondary Tower, on the third floor.

He did not encounter any students in the hallways. As he had suspected, classes had already begun, which meant people were already inside the lecture halls or homerooms. The Secondary Tower appeared to mostly have the latter. The ground level, first and second floors all had classes in session. As he reached the third floor, however, the bustling energy and voices disappeared. In stark contrast to the levels below, the entire hallway seemed deserted. Even the lights were off, so it was only the sunlight coming in through the windows that illuminated the place. The doors were all barred and locked. One would not have blamed anyone for thinking that they had arrived at the wrong place, some kind of unused floor, or off-limits area. However, there was no mistaking the floor plan that was printed on the orientation sheet. One by one, he walked past the locked doors, until he arrived at one which read “3F”. While this door was closed too, he could see light shining through its glass panel, and hear muffled voices from behind it. It also didn’t open by itself as he stood in front of it. Reaching out a hand, he slid it to the side.

No sooner had he done so than an abrupt silence followed. The voices all stopped, as their owners turned towards the new arrival. He felt their stares upon him, and wordlessly returned them.

An uncomfortable moment followed, in which no one said anything. Each of the three people who were in the room before him waited for him to speak, say anything at all. Perhaps stumble over his words, or nervously ask if he was in the right place. But the utter silence that greeted them was one to which they had no answer. From his position at the door, he quickly evaluated the situation. Despite only having arrived, it was easy to tell from context what was happening. The unusual date and time at which he was asked to report; the classroom he had been assigned to, a far cry from the rest of Elysium; and finally, the fact that there were only four people here.

The intentions of the school were clear enough. His face showed no sign of perturbation at that realization. Instead, he quietly walked over to one of the desks, next to a window, and sat down. Leaning back, he pulled out a book from his bag, and began to read. The other three individuals observed this for a while, with growing bewilderment.

In particular, one of them anxiously watched, fists and jaw clenched. Without a doubt, her features were elegant. High cheekbones and a sharp nose gave her an air of nobility, though this was darkened by the scowl on her face, her fiery bright eyes glaring at nothing in particular, even as her full red lips were parted in an expression of anger. Her light gold hair gleamed almost like wire, and was styled in ringlets that framed her face. Elysium’s dark blazer, skirt and stockings suited her slender figure well. Despite her graceful appearance (or perhaps because of it), it was somewhat alarming to see the almost irrational rage on her face. “Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it all! Why did I have to be stuck here of all places… with them…”

“Hey.” A voice cut sharply through her ramblings. Its owner was a lean, wiry girl with almost unhealthily pale skin. Her untidy hair was short and dark, bangs hanging on both sides of her face. There was a hint of a shadow under her eyes, as though she hadn’t slept well in a while. “Don’ talk like ya ain’t one of us too. Ya ain’t no different”, she said.

The blonde looked up to stare at her as she spoke, eyes widening. “No,” she said, more to herself than anyone else.

“That’s why yer in this class, isn’t it? Yer just like us.”

“Shut up…”

“Flawed.”

The sound of that single word rang as though a thunderbolt had struck in the middle of the room. Of the four people in that classroom, not a single one was unaffected by that word. The blonde was glaring at the girl who had uttered it with nigh murderous rage in her eyes.

The last of the three girls, a small, shy maiden whose face was almost completely hidden by bangs of hair and far too large glasses, looked down, cowed by the mere sound of that word.

And as for him… he momentarily looked up from his book, glancing at the one who had uttered it. For just a brief instant, the corner of his mouth jerked upwards, before he went back to reading.

“You bitch… how dare you… how dare you call me that…” The blonde took a step forward, but the dark-haired target of her anger didn’t back down.

“So what if I did?” She in turn stepped up, so that the two of them were now right in each other’s faces. “It doesn’t matter what fancy label ya stick on it. Or what shitty label. The truth doesn’t change. We’re all here in this room because we’re Flawed.”

“No…”

“All of us here: no magic. Not a shred of it between the lot of us. That’s why we’ve been put here in the middle of Elysium’s own little fucking ghost-town. Or is it a ward? Well, not like it matters. We’ve been put aside. Shoulda figured people like us would never make it here the normal way.”

She looked down, the bitterness of years coming over her face as she muttered.

“We’re just a freak show to them, nothing more.”

“I said, SHUT UP!”

The blonde finally snapped.

Her arm was already moving, her hand pulling a yellow crystal from the side pocket of her blazer.

Before she could bring it out and point it at the one in front of her, however, an unlikely person stepped between them.

“Please, don’t fight…” The smallest of the three girls sounded like she was on the verge of tears, even as she somehow managed to step between the other two. She was shaking, clearly scared. In spite of this, however, she had managed to say what was on her mind. Perhaps because of that, both the other girls looked away, their anger gone.

“She’s right,” muttered the cynical, dark-haired one. “We’re fucked as it is. If we can’t even get along with each other, we’re not going to last a year over here.”

The blonde’s eyes flashed for a moment, but ultimately, the fire in them faded, as she reluctantly nodded. “I… I thought this would be a chance to start over,” she said. “With everyone else. Without…”

“... everyone knowing you’re Flawed? We don’t get to have good things like that. Sooner or later, they find out. At least this way, we know what the school really thinks of us.”

A moment of silence followed that statement. Everyone present had been thinking that very same thing. For the school to specifically choose this different time and place to gather them, the purpose was obvious. No one said it aloud. Because to do so would be to acknowledge just how difficult their situation was. On their very first day, they had already found out the school itself was against them.

“W-well, anyway,” said the blonde, brushing her hair back, and regaining her poise. Having calmed down, her usual, haughty mannerisms had immediately returned. “You should all be thankful. You get to be in the same class as me.” She smirked. “My name is Alice Wolvenheim. One should introduce themselves first before asking for another’s name…”

A collective mental note was made that no one had asked. Still, it was an ice-breaker, and taken as one.

“Fiona Arterton,” the dark haired girl replied.

“A-Asuka Suzuki,” added the diminutive one.

The three waited for a moment, then turned towards the boy, who was still leaning back in his chair, reading his book. After a few seconds of feeling their gazes on him, he looked up at them, eyebrows raised questioningly.

“Yeah, I don’t think he does introductions,” said Fiona.

“There just had to be one absolute weirdo in a class of only four people,” muttered Alice.

“And that concludes phase 1.”

The three girls whipped around, alarmed at the sound of an unfamiliar voice that wasn’t coming from anyone they could see. At the front of the class, near the teacher’s desk, a shimmering silhouette appeared. It was made of many different colours, hard to distinguish from each other. Slowly, it solidified, and as though warping into existence, in place of the glowing lights stood a woman. To call her imposing would be an understatement. At well over six feet, she towered over even most men. It wasn’t simply height either: her build was both athletic and voluptuous, feminine curves accentuated by solid muscle that strained against her dark two-piece suit. A pair of sharp, crimson eyes were set in a stern face, while long, jet black hair trailed all the way to her hips. Her bearing was relaxed, but exuded authority.

The three young girls found themselves silent, looking expectantly (and nervously) at her.

But the biggest change came over the boy. He was standing up, staring at the woman with wide eyes as though he had seen an apparition. “You!” he said, the word bursting from him before he could stop himself.

The woman, on the other hand, gave no such sign of familiarity with him. Instead, her eyes narrowed. “Brat… you’ll address me as Teacher, and nothing else.”

The boy’s eyes flashed momentarily in surprise, before sharpening in a glare. It was clear he had more to say, but he held his tongue.

The teacher stared at him for a while before turning to the others. “The four of you are class 3F of this school,” she said, without any preamble. “I will be your homeroom teacher for the year. You are required to report to this room every morning before lessons, and during homeroom periods or class meetings.” She paused for a moment, making sure no one had any questions, before continuing. “The four of you should know why you’re here. But just in case even this basic knowledge eludes you, let me give a reminder. Elysium is doing what it has never done before. It has opened its doors to those without magic, and granted seats to them, provided, of course, they are able to clear the entrance examination.

"In addition, since this is the very first batch this school is accepting, we have decided to evaluate you on the basis of certain other criteria. Out of the one thousand applicants from your community, the four of you were chosen, because in addition to your scores on the exam, you fit those criteria.”

She looked at each of them, one by one, and her expression darkened.

“I will only say this once. You are not welcome here.”

The girls nearly took a step back.

Such a statement, coming so directly from one so intimidating, was terrifying.

As Flawed, they had each learned from a young age to be wary of the powers of Mages, since they had no way to defend against them. The students at Elysium were already among the top ten percent of the world.

Given that fact, the teachers here were most likely more powerful still.

The woman continued. “Here is the truth. Elysium has never cared about the opinions of the world, but times are changing. More and more, there are now those who speak out in favour of equal opportunities for those without magic. But not everyone here is convinced you belong here. The board is divided. Thus, we will watch you. Watch your every move, your every word and action. Be assured, you will not be given any special treatment. You will be evaluated carefully. And the moment we deem you unworthy, you will be banished from here, now and forever.” She turned to the boy, looking right into his eyes. If it were possible to convey messages through a glance alone, that stare might be saying anything at all. “That’s all for now. You can proceed to your lectures.” She paused near the door on her way out. “Needless to say, information regarding your lodgings is contained in your orientation papers. While at this school, you are expected to follow the same rules as all the other students.”

With that, she left. With the enormous pressure that her mere presence created gone, Alice breathed a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a groan.

“She was here all this time, listening to everything…”

“Yeah,” muttered Fiona. “How’d she even do that anyway? I don’t know of any Skills that allow for true invisibility.”

“Neither do I,” admitted Asuka.

Alice clenched her teeth. It was true. Given her family background, she had studied a wide variety of magic, though she did not have the power needed to cast any of it. Light Bending was a high level Skill. While the amount of energy needed to cast it wasn’t high, it required a level of understanding that most Mages lacked.

The three components of any use of Magic were energy, power and understanding.

Energy referred to the energy required to perform the task the Mage was attempting. This energy was the same when using Magic as it would be if one were to perform the task without it. It could be measured the same way as any other kind of energy. However, the energy being used was Magic energy, specifically that naturally flowing through a Mage’s body.

Power was the amount of energy a Mage could effectively use at once. It was not simply the amount of raw energy a Mage could move: it was how much of that amount was being properly channeled into the task they were attempting.

Power and energy were not necessarily directly proportional to each other. There were Mages who had massive stores of energy, but could only use a small amount at any given instant. Alternatively, there were Mages whose overall amount of Magic energy was average, but who were capable of using a large quantity of that store at once. The composite relationship between power and energy was what determined a Mage’s overall strength in Magic.

However, the strength of one’s Magic was not the only factor at play when casting a Skill.

The third component, understanding, referred to a Mage’s mental grasp of the process they were trying to accomplish. That included an intellectual understanding of the mechanics of that process, in terms of physics or chemistry. It also included an instinctive understanding, or a “feel” for actually causing that change using Magic. For example, a Mage who understood the structure of water, and the “feel” of moving it using Magic, could manipulate the substance with far more control than a Mage who lacked that level of understanding.

Light Bending was thus, a Skill that most Mages had the Magical strength to perform, but lacked the understanding for.

Alice, however, was aware that even with Light Bending, it was impossible to make an object truly invisible. In actual practice, no Mage’s manipulation of light was so flawless as to completely prevent any rays from striking the object at all. Thus, from some angle or the other, the object would be visible, even if partially. However, the woman had been truly, completely invisible to them. And it hadn’t been due to lack of attention either. Alice had been on guard when entering the classroom, and she had looked around, carefully making sure that there wasn’t anyone inside that she wasn’t aware of. It was something she had learned to do from her experiences in her previous school. Yet, she had failed to detect their homeroom teacher. Whatever Skill she had been using was one that went even beyond Light Bending, and she had been able to cast and release the Skill with ease, without the slightest sign of strain. However, that wasn’t the only thing worrying her.

“While at this school, you are expected to follow the same rules as the other students.”

“The moment we deem you unworthy, you will be banished from here, now and forever.”

“You are not welcome here.”

Aside from the obviously ominous implications of those statements, something about “following the same rules” did not bode well to her. Bullying and physical violence against Flawed was “frowned upon” (official terminology), but in truth, they were frequent, especially in schools. Normally, coming to a place like Elysium, where discipline was said to be better, there was at least some hope that it would be different. However, here, it seemed the school itself was discriminating against them.

“Just what have I gotten myself into,” said Alice.

The sentiment was shared.

Both the other girls were in the same position. When the announcement had been made that the greatest magic school in the Kingdom was accepting applications from the Flawed, they had all taken their chance to try and make it in. It was a rare chance. Most Flawed had limited employment opportunities in their adult lives. However, an education, degree and connections from Elysium could change that. All four of the students in 3F were transfers, in their final year of high school. This did not seem to be a coincidence. Most likely, the board was treating this as a trial year before accepting students for the full three year course. All the four of them would have to do was survive one year, somehow.

“They really put us in a bad position,” said Fiona out loud. “Can’t even lie low or blend in. They basically put us in a different class just to make us stand out. Might as well have had us all wear signboards around our necks.”

As this conversation was happening, the lone boy in the class picked up his bag, heading for the door. His movement drew eyes to him.

“Hey! Just where do you think you’re going?”

He turned to glare at Alice, but made no reply.

“Tch. What’s your problem?”

For the entire time, the single word he had uttered had been addressed to their homeroom teacher.

“I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but do you think you’re too good for us or something? What’s with the silent attitude? Is that your way of playing it cool?” Alice clearly did not intend to let it go. Something about the boy’s standoffish demeanour rubbed her the wrong way, especially since he too was Flawed, just like her. She hated being looked down on. There was little she could do about it when Mages did it. But she couldn’t stand it when the one doing it was no better than her. Moreover, it was as though the boy simply wasn’t interested in the situation at all. Despite being there, he didn’t have any of the worry that was plastered on the faces of his classmates. Was he not anxious at all about surviving the year?

Perhaps simply because he was tired of the conversation already, and didn’t want to prolong it, he decided to speak. “I’m going to class,” he said shortly, holding up his schedule, before turning around and leaving.

Alice’ eyes widened. “Tch! We’ve been wasting time. Come on, we’ll be late!”

They rushed out, having absolutely no intention of giving the school any excuses to get on their cases.

The actual lectures proceeded quite normally. While Flawed could not cast Magic, they could still study its theory and mechanics, along with subjects such as science or language, which were useful anyway. At Elysium, each individual subject was studied in its own lecture hall, which varied depending on the class in question. Along with this, subjects that required laboratories or other facilities had those as well. It was another four hours before they were done with lessons for the day. During each of those lessons, 3F didn’t have any problem finding seats. The lecture halls had much larger seating capacity than they would ever need. While none of the regular students bothered them, none of them saw fit to speak to them either, or even so much as look their way. As for the teachers, they were cordial, but that was the extent of it.

It felt more like they were being put up with than welcomed. Still, it was vastly better than veiled or direct harassment.

“If they don’t want us here, why invite applications at all?” Alice muttered after classes were done for the day.

“Didn’t that giant lady tell us? This is all basically one big political stunt. We’re just the ones who got roped into it”, replied Fiona.

“Tch.” Alice clenched her teeth but made no reply. She knew it was true: they were just stuck in someone else’ games.

Yet, this was too big an opportunity to just walk away from. Especially given her family situation… She shook her head. For the moment, it was best to get the lay of the land. She checked the map that was part of the orientation pack. “There’s a dining hall open to students, faculty and staff. We should probably head there. Once we’re done…”

“Dormitories, huh?” said Fiona, checking her own map.

Elysium was a boarding school. It also followed the old rules from the traditional magic academies of long ago. Meaning, students arrived at the start of term, and stayed at school for the entire year, at the end of which they were allowed to briefly go home and visit their families. This would repeat until graduation, unless, for whatever reason, the student chose to leave. Doing so, however, would mean losing one’s place at the school. These were the rules. Barring emergencies or other events where one was given permission, students simply weren’t allowed to leave in the middle of term.

Like a prison, Alice noted mentally. No wonder she felt so on edge.

Throughout the lessons, she and the two other girls had stayed on guard even while listening to the lectures and taking notes. The three of them had taken seats together. The strange boy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any interest in the idea of safety in unity. As a matter of fact, he didn’t seem nervous at all. Or interested in the lessons, for that matter. Several times, Alice turned around to look at him where he was seated, right at the back of the hall, alone. He did not seem to be listening, either reading that book he had brought with him, or simply leaning back, looking slightly bored.

She glanced back, spotting him making his own way, presumably to the dining hall. As he passed by, people tended to glance at him. He wore a hoodie over his regular school uniform. This wasn’t against the regulations per se: students were allowed to wear functional clothing in addition to the standard uniforms if needed. In practice, however, it seemed that most people followed the dress code. As if covering up the school uniform wasn’t enough, his hood was drawn up too, making it difficult to get a proper look at his features. He was a decent height, but for whatever reason, his silhouette was much broader than was the norm, which is the reason most people stopped and stared when he walked by. He seemed unconcerned with any of this attention though.

“How does a delinquent make it into this school?” Alice wondered aloud.

“Eh, I don’t know about that,” replied Fiona. “I’m not exactly a straight-A student either. Are you?”

Alice stuttered a little as she answered.

“T-that… I’ll have you know I’m above average.”

“Riiiiiight."

Asuka remained silent as usual, not making any comment on the matter.

As the three of them walked, they noticed a change. It had been happening for a while now, since the classes had ended. More and more people were looking at them. Stares from all around, directed right at them. At first, they had just been glances, but now, they could feel the gazes following them. It was a distinctly and extremely uncomfortable feeling. They felt like prey.

Alice looked around, searching for a teacher, but couldn’t see one anywhere.

“Hey, slow down there, you lot.”

She looked around, seeing a group of people walking towards them. There were four of them. But as they approached, more and more people started to gather.

“You’re in a big hurry, what’s the rush? We didn’t get the chance to say hello earlier.”

Alice clenched her jaw. She recognized the boy. He was in one of their lectures. At the time, he had barely spared them a glance. As it turned out, he wasn’t indifferent to them. He was merely holding back in front of the teachers. She desperately glanced in every direction, but could not see a single member of faculty anywhere. Meanwhile, the crowd around them was growing larger.

They were already surrounded.

“An informal setting is better to get to know each other, wouldn’t you say?” said the boy. “That’s why we waited till after class.” He leered, and it sent an uncomfortable feeling through her. “It’s better without the teachers around, wouldn’t you say? Just us.”

The three girls instinctively drew closer together. The boy looked around at the crowd. “We’ve heard a lot about it, right? First time ever. Elysium’s open to everyone now. Even the Flawed. I’ll be honest, I was looking forward to it. I think it’s a step in the right direction.” His smile became bigger. “School’s finally giving us some proper entertainment.”

As all of this was being said, Alice’s hand had reached into her blazer, grasping the yellow crystal in her pocket. She knew how a hazing could be. And she knew what they had planned was worse. It wasn’t something she would be able to talk her way out of. But her experiences had prepared her for this.

There would only be one chance.

She whispered to the girls next to her.

“Get ready to run. Push past anyone in your way.”

As the boy took another step towards her, she pulled out the crystal, and squeezed it.

This particular crystal was programmed to release its stored magic upon force or impact. And that stored magic was elemental.

Specifically, lightning.

It exploded forth from her hand, arcing towards the boy. There was enough power in it to paralyze a full-grown adult, leaving them writhing on the ground.

As it flashed through the air towards him, however, it stopped a few inches away from his face. The air glowed dully.

Alice’s eyes widened.

“Hoh! A Lightning Crystal. That’s a neat little toy. I haven’t seen one of those since middle school. People still use these?”

She stared in horror.

He had a Barrier up from the start.

The External Barrier was a shielding Skill. It utilized Magic energy to form an invisible wall around the caster, protecting them from attacks. The amount of protection varied on the level of the caster.

The boy had one up even before approaching her. He wasn’t inexperienced, and was ready for a surprise attack. He raised a hand, and Alice felt her world turn upside down, even as the blood rushed to her head.

The Telekinesis Skill had raised her up into the air, and had her suspended, as though hung up by the legs.

She could hear laughter around her, though all she could see was the ground and the feet of the people around her.

“White lace, huh? You’re probably not as pure as you’re making yourself out to be." More laughter followed.

“What say we have the other two join her?”

The sound of cheers was heard.

“You keep them out of this!” shouted Alice, even as she hung helpless in the air.

An invisible force struck her in the face.

“Hey. Toys shouldn’t speak back to their owners.”

She grimaced in pain.

Around her, people were still cheering.

So this is how it’s going to be, is it? We’ll always be less than human to them.

The anger and humiliation burned in her, but she resolved not to cry. If nothing else, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of breaking her. Next to her, she heard alarmed voices as her classmates were also hoisted into the air.

Damn it. Damn it all.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing at all.

Helpless. After all, how could someone without power strike back at those with Magic?

Unbidden, memories from her childhood surfaced.

“... a disappointment. She’s a failure…”

She clenched her fists, willing her anger to somehow reach them. For them to feel even a tenth of the pain she had experienced all her life.

It was in the midst of this that she heard the absolute last voice she had expected to.

“Hey, let them go.”

The weirdo?!

It was the fourth member of their class, the strange boy.

His voice was close by, though she couldn’t see him from her current position.

The Mages gathered there could, however. As one, they turned to look at the boy who had stepped through the crowd, into the middle. They recognized him as the fourth and final Flawed student who had been granted admission by Elysium. What they did not understand was why he had stepped into this situation, though he could have easily remained unnoticed and slipped away.

“This guy insane or something?”

“Is he trying to stand up for those other toys?”

A burst of laughter followed the quip.

He ignored them. Instead, he rolled his neck a few times. What happened next was so fast, no one could react to it at all.

A meaty thud was heard, as something collided with flesh. Somewhere in there, a nasty crunch was audible too.

A moment later, one of the four Mages who had started it all fell to his knees heavily, before collapsing to the ground. His jaw hung limp on his face, twisted forty five degrees to the left off its hinges. His tongue hung out, while his eyes had rolled up into the back of his head. Several teeth lay on the floor next to him as blood poured freely, pooling around his mouth.

A stunned silence hung over the scene.

The Flawed boy clenched and unclenched his left hand a few times.

The leader of the quartet that had been reduced to a trio, stared at the boy in alarm, trying to understand what had happened. His eyes simply had not been able to catch the movement.

One moment, he’s standing there. The next, he’s five feet away, and Chris is lying on the ground with a broken jaw. Did he have his Barrier up? No, there was no reason. He wasn’t expecting anyone to show up and save them. But even then… that asshole was able to clear the distance faster than he could react. He’s Flawed, so all that attack was… was a regular punch.

“Nice suckerpunch,” he said out loud, hoping to mentally disbalance the boy. “Why don’t you try attacking head on?”

It was an attempt to goad him into coming right at him.

The mysterious boy did not say a word.

He knew that the three Mages were each holding one of the girls up in the air with their Magic, a task that was taking up both energy and concentration.

So, unhurried, he took off his hoodie, and dropped it to the ground next to him. Not a single pair of eyes present there could help but widen.

The boy rolled one shoulder, the muscles in his arm almost tearing through his sleeve with the simple movement. The reason for his unusually imposing physique was now clear. Every inch of his frame rippled with lean, powerful muscle. His upper body was broad, with a thick back and wide shoulders. His arms and legs were thick as tree trunks, and even his neck looked like it could support the weight of a ceiling falling on it. His hands were veiny, and his knuckles were abnormally large, looking more like rocks than anything that belonged on a human body. With his hood off, his face was now properly in view. His features were hard cut, as though carved in stone, with a firm jawline and sharp brow. No smile was to be seen on his lips, even as ice cold, blue eyes glared at the three Mages in front of him.

The entire atmosphere had changed. The three bullies stared at him, almost transfixed. In a world where Magic could be easily used to enhance one’s physical abilities, seeing a trained body was rare. They quickly broke out of their trance though. No matter how impressive his power might be, it was physical. He was a brawler, nothing more.

And thus, no problem for a Mage.

Attacking while also holding a person in the air was difficult.

And so, the first thing they did was lower the girls to the ground. However, they did not let them go. Two of the three boys released their hold on the Telekinesis Skill, while the third kept it active, extending his grasp so that he was now holding Alice, Fiona and Asuka immobilized.

None of this escaped the strange fighter’s notice. Being Flawed, he couldn’t sense Magic. But he could see and analyse posture, body language, breathing.

The situation had changed. Two of them would now face him together, while the third continued to hold the girls, most likely as hostages of a sort.

This did not bother him at all. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

He began to walk forward towards them.

As he did, his eyes momentarily met those of the three girls, who were looking at him. There were many words that lay in those eyes, unspoken.

He had not intended to get them involved in this.

From the very beginning, his intention had been to distance himself from whatever classmates he found himself with. Because he knew they too would be Flawed.

But the school had done what it wasn’t supposed to.

It had gone after them first.

He could see in the eyes of the girls the same humiliation he had faced.

The same anger.

He didn’t think he was going to speak much at all.

The school had done what it wasn’t supposed to.

And now it must pay.

He was planning to inflict violence from the very beginning.

Now, it must be multiplied manifold.

As he approached, it was the Mage further away from him who began casting first, all the while keeping his hands low. Raising the hands is unnecessary for casting; it is merely a method to help one visualize the channeling of energy. By Casting from a walking posture, he intended to catch his opponent off guard.

It is impossible for a Flawed to sense Magic. Their bodies simply cannot feel the energy.

However, whenever Magic is accessed, a sonic pulse is released.

The exact timing of this pulse is less than one second before the Skill becomes active.

It is unavoidable, and true for all Magic Skills.

Normally, it is impossible for human ears to detect that pulse.

But he could.

Explosively, power was concentrated to the legs, as he pushed himself forward. The distance between him and the Mage was ten feet, and it was cleared in a single sliding step-in. Even as he neared the opponent, his front leg slid forward. As this happened, it pivoted on its balls, causing the hips to rotate. That rotation was carried to the upper body, all the way to the left shoulder, which turned upwards and to the right. The momentum from all of those movements was transferred to the left arm, which shot forward.

The result: a textbook body blow that collided with the Mage’s solar plexus.

Sheer agony exploded in his chest like nothing he had ever known.

Every last drop of air was driven from his lungs, leaving him streaming from the eyes and gasping for breath. The pain was so overwhelming, it drove every other thought and sensation out of his brain, even as he doubled over, almost throwing up.

From somewhere above him, he heard the voice of the Flawed boy.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

Absolute terror flooded his body.

From the strength of the blow itself, which felt like a car crash, to the fact that it had landed at the exact moment he had thought about Casting, to the fact that it had come from an opponent who had been ten feet away.

He had come into this thinking he would bully a few Flawed, have his way with them.

Instead, he had encountered some kind of monster.

His thoughts were interrupted by a pair of iron hands grabbing hold of his arm, and twisting it behind his back. Before he had any idea what was happening, his shoulder was dislocated, the sickening pop echoing in his own ears.

A scream burst from his mouth, even as tears rolled down his face.

The Flawed fighter pushed over the Mage, who was clutching his shoulder, still shouting in agony.

Not a single move had been wasted. The body blow, to drive the breath out of the Mage, which would prevent him from casting. The kimura lock, to dislocate the shoulder, incapacitating him with pain.

Walking over him, he headed towards the Mage who had started all this.

He hadn’t seen the whole thing: he would never have allowed it to go this far if he did. But from a distance, he had heard that boy’s voice mocking his classmates, so he knew that he was the ringleader of the lot.

The Mage in question was backing away, fear in his eyes.

This was all going wrong.

They were supposed to be Flawed. How was one of them fighting back? The speed and power… it was beyond frightening.

“Hey, that’s enough. It was just a little joke. A friendly hazing is all… please…”

The words died in his throat.

All around, he could see the disgust in the eyes of the crowd.

Their disgust at seeing a Mage beg and plead in front of a Flawed.

Yet, none of them dared step forward to face that very Flawed.

The boy, who had not uttered a single unnecessary word so far, now spoke.

“A friendly hazing, is it? Well, I do know that Elysium has a reputation for encouraging competition among its students. The teachers don’t step in unless it goes too far.”

Several feet away, Alice, still held in the Telekinetic grip of a now cowering bully, gasped as she realised that this was what had bothered her earlier about their homeroom teacher’s words.

“While at this school, you are expected to follow the same rules as the other students.”

“The moment we deem you unworthy, you will be banished from here, now and forever.”

“You are not welcome here.”

She had essentially warned them that fights among students were common here, and they would most likely be attacked because they were Flawed. Since the school “officially” would treat them the same as any other student, it meant that teachers would not intervene in these conflicts. She felt a surge of anger and betrayal at the unfairness of it, but it was quickly overcome as she looked at the sole male member of her class, who had turned out to be an inhumanly strong fighter. From his words, it was clear that he knew about Elysium’s policy on fights between students.

Knowing that… he still applied to this place?

But seeing him, it was clear to her why that was the case.

There was no tremor in his frame. Not one single ounce of fear or submission in his eyes.

The instinctive realization of the truth sent a chill down her spine.

He came here for a fight. He’s here to fight Mages.

The eerie confidence and calm he had displayed earlier were now justified, the reasons behind them clear.

The next words he uttered only sent a second, even more pronounced chill through her.

“Then you won’t mind if I haze you back, right?”

Even as she watched what was happening, she realized that he was within the school rules.

The homeroom teacher had said it herself.

“While at this school, you are expected to follow the same rules as the other students.”

In other words, if fighting was allowed by the school, there was nothing stopping the Flawed from fighting back.

He’s untouchable, she realized.

The combination attack that followed was as beautiful as it was savage. Alice’s eyes were not quick enough to see each individual movement. To her, it looked like he had swiped at the Mage a few times, thrice at most.

In truth, he had delivered no fewer than nine blows.

Kick to left thigh, twice.

Kick to right thigh, twice.

Left punch to solar plexus.

Right handed body blow.

Left handed liver shot.

Right hook.

Left hook.

He stepped back after the combo.

The Mage was only beginning to register the pain from the attacks, starting to lose consciousness from the hits to his head.

Before he could fall, a front kick caught him on the chest, sending him flying back till he smashed against a pillar and toppled to the ground.

With the “leader” knocked out, the one remaining boy released his grip on the Magic holding the three girls in place. He had seen enough, and he wanted absolutely no part of that monster. Pushing his way through the crowd, he ran for it before anyone could stop him.

The crowd of Mage students watched him leave.

On the one hand, there was their disgust that any Mage would turn tail and run from someone who had no magic at all.

On the other, they had seen exactly what he was running from.

Even now, they looked warily at the dark-haired boy, who was picking his hoodie up from the ground. Shaking it clean, he slung it over one shoulder, before turning to eye the crowd.

He didn’t say a word, but the message in his eyes was crystal clear: if anyone else wanted a fight, they should step right up.

“... move aside. Aside, I say! What’s going on here?”

Alice couldn’t hold back the contempt on her face, as a teacher broke through the crowd.

Of course they intervene now.

The faculty member observed the scene: three boys lying on the ground, two of them unconscious, and the other groaning in pain, clutching his shoulder. Standing above them was a single boy. One of the new students, a Flawed.

What had happened was abundantly clear, but no one answered the question.

Because to do so would be to admit to a teacher that four Mages combined couldn’t take on one single Flawed boy.

Before anyone else could say anything, that boy took it upon himself to answer.

“Hmm, I was told a little bit of friendly roughhousing between the students here is normal. Unfortunately, I think they weren’t as tough as I was expecting, so they seem to have gone to sleep a bit early. Nothing the Infirmary can’t fix, eh?”

The teacher’s eyes were fit to pop from sheer anger, but there was absolutely nothing he could do as the boy walked away, his classmates joining him as he did. He continued to walk, not slowing down until they were out of the building, at which point he finally stopped.

“... wait up!”

Turning, he saw his classmates, who had followed him.

Initially, he hadn’t been planning on talking to them at all.

But they were already involved in this now, so that was meaningless.

“... You three. You’re okay?”

“...”

“Ya ask us that now? A little late, don’t ya think?” said Fiona in a deadpan voice.

“... right.”

Despite her quip, however, the expression on her face told a different story, same as the two other girls.

“Still… thanks for helping out. Ya got us out of a pretty shitty situation back there.”

“About that… it’s my fault that happened. I should have been there to stop it from the start.”

Genuine regret crossed his face, but it was replaced by the same cold determination they had seen earlier.

“It won’t happen again,” he said. “From here on out, I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

“Look at you, playing the white knight,” said Alice.

“Hey!” said Fiona, glaring. Even the normally docile Asuka looked angry.

Alice knew she was being unreasonable. After all, all of the pride she had fought so hard to hold on to for so long, which had nearly been lost today, had been saved.

It annoyed her immensely.

That the one who had saved her pride in the end hadn’t been herself.

That someone just like her, Flawed, just like her, could be that strong.

That he could, somehow, some way, overcome his place in the world.

Climb up.

And strike back.

In a strange way, this was a blow to her pride too. Being saved.

Before that anger could grow however, another unexpected thing happened.

“You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for.”

Alice looked up at the words, staring at the one who had uttered them.

The boy was looking at her. There wasn’t any sign of falsehood or flattery on his face. He looked completely sincere.

“Y-you… are you messing with me?”

He shook his head.

“You didn’t fold,” he said aloud. “Not once. You didn’t buckle in front of all of them. That takes real courage.”

She nearly took a step back.

Partly because this honest praise, coming from him, had taken her completely by surprise.

And partly because she knew well exactly what she had done in her previous school. And thus, she felt hollow inside, knowing she hadn’t earned that praise.

She had merely been pushed into a corner today, and fought back, like any cornered animal.

Thus, the praise rang hollow inside her.

Still, her anger subsided somewhat. At the very least, she calmed down enough to acknowledge what she had already seen.

He was strong.

She shot him a sidelong glance.

“... If you’re going to be in the same class as us, you should at least introduce yourself.”

He blinked.

Again, this wasn’t something he had planned on doing. But it was already happening. He couldn’t just walk away.

“Name’s Sura Shen”, he said. “Flawed. Just like you.”

“Sura, huh? Your name’s weird, just like you.”

“Hey!”

But unlike before, there was no malice in her quip. Everything else aside, it was true that they were all in this together. And so, they would have to get along if they were to survive.