Luminine was one of the fifteen Elite schools in Artemesa, a kingdom ruled by a king: King Korrin.
But after the reveal of the six other races, the world was no longer the same, run by humans alone. Instead, only the powerful led peaceful lives, and the weak were forever picked on and treated like the dirt of the world.
However, there are seventeen incredibly strong people who control the seventeen most powerful animals in the world. These seventeen are called God-tier Amora users, able to use the near God-like powers the Amora let them use.
In Luminine, everything was ranked. The most powerful female student was the Queen, and the most powerful male student was the King. They each had two Jacks, typically, but Luminine's King had three, to accommodate the number of God-tier students.
And this story is a story about the Queen.
"Hey, are you listening to me? Asha!"
Asha blinked her sapphire blue eyes, raising her head dazedly from the shelter of her arms, the thigh-length. Had she fallen asleep? She yawned. "What happened?"
Caprain and Leana shook their heads in exasperation. Catherine said, "I can't believe you fell asleep while being threatened in a public cafeteria."
Asha just smiled sleepily. "That must say how much their threats scare me, right?" Asha asked, and the cafeteria burst into a round of laughter.
"Listen here, Asha," one of the young men snarled. "You act all mighty, but the truth is, after you entered this school, nobody's seen you fight anyone lower than the God-tiers."
Asha picked at her nails. "Why should I bother? I beat the God tiers, so why should I just unnecessarily hurt the lower tiers?"
"Or maybe it's because you've gone weak," he countered.
Now everyone's attention was on them, the whole mess hall falling silent.
Asha just stared at him for a long moment before bursting into laughter. "You've got to kidding!" she tittered. "Some Mid-tier herbivore is lecturing me on weakness! That's hilarious!"
Six other voices laughed with her, the other God-tier students, spread throughout the large hall.
"Maybe you should give them a chance, Asha," an older boy with light brown hair and amethyst eyes called.
Asha stood, swinging her legs over the bench so she was standing face to face with the challenger. She smiled, and it sent a shiver through the student. "Students of Luminine, listen closely!" she shouted, voice sharp and clear as it rang through the halls. "I, Asha Phantomhive, extend a challenge to all of you! In two hours, after classes end, you will all have the chance to fight me as a group. If you win, I will surrender my spot as Queen and you each may call in one favor."
"That's hardly fair to you--"
Asha's smile cut him off. It was by far the most bone-chilling thing he'd ever seen. "One-on-one wouldn't be fair to you. Now, get out of my face while I'm feeling generous. You're starting to annoy me."
He stepped back without knowing why, but he knew that instant that the look in her eyes was completely terrifying.
Asha let the smile fall from her face as she walked out of the dining hall. She twisted a lock of hair around her finger before combing her fingers through it as she walked, repeating the process. She did that when she was annoyed or nervous.
"Was that smart?"
She sighed. "Probably not, according to you, but I couldn't care less. I'm a God-tier for a reason. If I couldn't take out a couple dozen mid-tiers, what kind of Queen would I be?"
Cress jumped from the thick support beam above, landing next to her. His full name was Cresscent, and he had pretty, long, black hair and silver eyes. He was eighteen, if Asha remembered correctly, and he stood a good foot and a half taller, but they were fast allies.
"Do you eat up there all lunch?" Asha asked, glancing pointedly at the plate and cup he'd left up there.
"Most of the time." Cress shrugged. "Why not? It's quiet, at least."
"True," Asha sighed. "I could've used some quiet today." She rubbed her temples, as if she could squish the headache from her mind. "You should straighten out your uniform," she said, an automatic response. She was the Queen, which was the same as a Student Council or Disciplinary Committee President.
Cress folded the collar of his fitted white shirt, buttoning the two he'd left open, and tied the tie neatly over his chest. He kept the formal black jacket draped over his arm, matching the fitted black dress pants and shoes.
Asha's uniform was a white long-sleeved blouse and black skirt with gold-creased pleats down to mid-thigh. She'd left her jacket in her room, deciding it was too hot to wear it that day, and her inch and a half heels clicked against the tiled floors every time she brought one of her ankle boots down. There was a black tie around her own throat, but she loosened it, drawing in a deep breath.
"I've got to go. There's someone I need to meet," Cress said, sitting on the nearest windowsill. He waved before huge white wings unfolded from his back. "Try not to cause too much trouble." A smile, then he launched into the air.
Asha rolled her eyes. Show off. There weren't a lot of flying High-tier Amora, and there were only around a dozen snowy owls left in the world, thanks to World War III, only about a thousand years before the Great War.
Asha twisted another strand of hair around her fingers. How was she going to proceed from there?
The bell rang, and she sighed, shaking her head. She waited until students had started flooding into the hall before stepping away from the window.
The students parted for her, leaving a clear path, six others already walking through it. They whispered as Asha's heels clicked against the tile.
"Slow as ever," a girl with blonde hair and pretty storm-colored eyes taunted.
"How did you like eating my shoe in our last fight, Amelia?" Asha retorted, smiling brightly.
"Settle down, ladies," Blyke, the boy with amethyst eyes said, but his tone was mocking.
Asha just flicked her hair in his face as she passed. "Whatever."
The next was a boy with black hair and gray-brown eyes. "Ladies first," he said, offering a mock bow.
"Babies next, Daniel." Asha kept her eyes forward as she walked down the halls. She looked strong, powerful, to the students around her. Just what the Ace of Luminine should. The mood of the school was determined by the most powerful. If she looked confident, the school would feel confident, knowing they were safe.
Asha laughed quietly to herself. It was her job to keep the moral of the school high, make them believe they were safe as long as she was there to protect them. Even when it felt like the secrets she kept would bury her under them.
.
Asha was really getting tired of hearing the old man talking.
She'd said two hours out of respect for the lower tiers. Luminine only accepted students for two reasons: if they were powerful enough, or if they were smart enough. For those who weren't strong, they had to make up for it in other ways, and if those other ways slipped even a tad, they'd be kicked out.
But all of the students of the Fifteen Academies loved the strong. Every year, there was a fighting competition held at one hosting school. Whatever school won for that year, they would have a swarm of new students, both from the higher families and from students that will resigned from their previous school to join.
Humans are such fickle things. They go after whatever gives them the most, then abandon them after the slightest hint of weakness.
"...and the legend of Yelain is a valid one due to…"
Asha stood suddenly, drawing the attention of the whole class, the old teacher finally looking up from the textbook. She smiled. "I'm very sorry, Professor, but I must be ending this class short." Asha tapped a thin brace on her thigh, hidden by her skirt.
A screech filled the room, the air swirling violently.
And a huge turquoise-scaled snake with the same color scale plated wings burst into life with a flash of light.
Asha smiled at it, and is hissed, emerald eyes narrowing pleasantly as it wrapped itself around her neck like a very dangerous scarf. "To the arena!" she shouted. "Follow Quetzalcoatl!"
Quetzico, or Quetzalcoatl, Asha's Amorai, took off from her shoulders with a great flat of its wings, wings that were easily the same length of the four-foot-long snake.
Asha followed after, her heels clicking excitedly against the tile as the other students struggled to keep up. All of the classrooms were connected to one long hallway, and all had windows facing that hall.
So everyone saw Asha and her class marching down the corridor, and as they passed classroom after classroom, more and more people joined the procession heading toward the outdoor arena.
A laugh split the sound of shoes on marble. "I should have expected this from you, Asha!"
Asha raised an eyebrow and turned toward the sound. "Got a problem, Blyke?"
"Of course not. This means the fun will start that much earlier." He grinned.
To some, the God-tiers' banter may look friendly, but it was anything but. All of them hated each other, for reasons unknown to others.
For Asha, they reminded her too much of something she would rather forget.
That thought hit her hard, and her lips curled into a sneer. But then it straightened back into a smile. Once again, this had to do with the well-being of the school. If they saw their strongest fighting and un-united, they would start to wonder if it would affect their safety. Those who had fear in their hearts were the most dangerous, because they thought they had nothing to lose.
Asha just turned her head from the rest of her court, the cadre, as the school called them. Her King was Daniel Odolina, and her Jacks were Ethelyn Liniguma and Blyke Hagani. Daniel's were Amelia Santhos, Rosaria Vapores, and Tim Pleped.
No matter how closely they had to work together, she could only stomach so much of their crap.
Asha kicked the front doors open, the bright light flooding her senses. But her eyes were trained resolutely on the five-hundred-foot tower in front of them, a diameter of a quarter of a mile.
Asha snapped her fingers and the wind rose with her command. Everyone who had followed rose into the air, boosted quickly into the air and toward the top of the tower.
"Still so slow," Ethelyn muttered from Asha's left. Ethelyn stopped her ascent with her own wind, her dark green eyes with gold cores glowing as her medium platinum blonde hair rippled in the sudden wind that pushed against Asha's own.
The light before the huge horse with the foot long horn and huge white feathered wings appeared was blinding.
Ethelyn sat astride the horse. "Let's go, Alicorn."
Asha shook her head, exasperated. To think she was being overtaken by one of her Jacks. And Ethelyn wasn't even the one who'd be fighting!
Asha sped up the flow of the wind until they were level with the Warrior-Angel, as the students called her.
And once everyone was safely on the arena, the cadre raised their hands, their Amorai elemental powers sparking at their fingertips.
The tower shook as the floor rose slightly, platforms sliding from under it, stacking on one another, creating stands around the circular arena, enough to hold Luminine's near-two thousand students and hundred-some faculty.
"All those who do not plan to participate, go into the stands, please. If you wish to remain on the main level, I will allow you to, but you will also be in danger. I'd hate for any of you to get hurt," Asha said, barriers appearing in front of the stands. They glowed before fading, offering full vision range while still protecting the crowd from anything that might hurt them, should something go wrong.
Half of the students moved into the stands, leaving the other half surrounding her in a circle.
"This is how this is going to go," Asha said, loudly, clearly. "I will give you a full fifteen seconds to attack before making any move of my own. I will only be allowed to shield against magic attacks, though I suppose I should be able to dodge physical blows. Does that sound decent to you? Or should I go easier?"
"It will be enough. Get ready to be dethroned, Asha," the challenger, the one who'd disrupted her peaceful lunch snarled.
Asha nodded, keeping her face blank now, closing her eyes. She felt the warmth of Quetzico around her neck like a decorative scarf, and she raised a barrier of wind and light. "Begin when you will," Asha said, and prepared herself.
"If you lose, you get to act like my stool for a month!" Daniel shouted.
Asha's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Her eyes opened as they launched their attack.
"That's not going to happen!" she shouted, as the world was devoured in light.
∽
"Did they get her?" Ethelyn asked quietly from Blyke's left.
Blyke looked back down at the arena, trying to see through the thick smoke and flashes as the students unleashed their full-power attacks on the Queen.
Blyke's lips curled. "Of course not."
"Hmm?"
Blyke's eyes seemed to glow. "Do you really think she's shown her true strength in front of us? Of course, use your strongest attack before anyone can move, and you'll win, but also keep an ace up your sleeve."
"…One."
Everyone except the cadre gasped.
"Two."
A strong wind blew the dust away, and everyone saw Asha standing strong.
"Three."
Asha dodged what seemed like hundreds of fists, jumping, rolling, not getting hit once.
Blyke's curled lips turned into a sneer. She was too good at her role as Luminine's Ace, Queen. Too good…
He tilted his head. Who are you, Asha Phantomhive?
∽
This was too easy.
Asha jumped over a fist. It was hard for her to fight the instincts telling her to fight back, but those same instincts also helped her dodge all of their physical attacks. All of the elemental or transcendental attacks delivered from the Amora were absorbed by the wind barrier.
"Four. Five. Six."
Asha bent backward to avoid a kick. "Sev--" Asha's eyes widened as a fist hit her collarbone. The pain was nothing. Had her Master been present, he would have beaten her for it.
Asha leapt back, jumping over the heads of the students trying to attack her. She landed on the outskirts of the ring, lips pulled up in a vicious snarl.
"She's over here! Get her!"
"Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve," Asha counted as they ran. They were slow and fumbling, tripping over each other in their mad rush to try to take her out. "Thirteen."
A girl with a cheetah Amorai, a high-tier at level thirteen, was the first to reach Asha, and she kicked for Asha's face.
Asha jumped over the kick, stepping back. But her back hit the low wall to the stands. "Fourteen."
The next blow came to the left, and Asha moved to dodge, but the first challenger appeared to the right, his own blow already much too close.
Asha grit her teeth. And then she smiled. "Fifteen."
The power she had been drawing since she'd started counting rose, blowing the rushing hoard of people back.
Quetzico raised its head, waking from its nap, before rising from Asha's shoulders. It flew above her and its long form glowed. The light reshaped itself, and when it faded, Asha's hand closed around the hilt of a sea green sword. At her touch, a dark blue aura surrounded the blade, giving off a heavy presence.
"Quetzalcoatl's third form: Sword of Punishment. Quetzalcoatl, common transcendental, Revenge: Counter!"
"Somebody stop her!"
The world went white, but before everything disappeared, Asha saw two things. First, the cadre leaping from the seats, a pair of amethyst eyes burning. Second, the fear in her student body's eyes.
A fear that she had seen in so many pairs of eyes. Gold ones. Green ones. Stormy ones. And two pairs of sapphire eyes.
One of which, was her own.