Wearing a fur coat like a Madonna, a certain elven girl smiled as she warmed herself by a fire.
"That looks really good on you, Sarah! I can't believe you were able to make something like that out of the skin of that bear...."
Two girls sat across from her, also warming themselves by the fire.
The first was a cheerful, innocent looking high elven girl. With a sigh, the girl gazed at the ground, allowing her own thoughts to slip out of her mouth.
"You really were amazing..... I still can't believe you killed that thing...."
"It attacked us. Therefore, I killed it. That should have been the obvious thing to do."
"Er.... that's not what I meant. I meant.... well..... it's just....."
"We couldn't do anything. Is that what you're trying to say?"
The girl who made this statement was a dark elven girl, who smiled bitterly as she said this.
"But that's correct. The only thing I could do was slow it down, and just a tiny bit. I don't even know if it felt a difference. I sure didn't."
"Ah.... so you mean to say that you were surprised not at my resolve, but at my ability to kill?"
Running her hand through the bearskin coat, the girl smiled sensually as she brought her hand to her chin.
"Any ability can be shifted into a tool of murder. You merely have to be..... demented enough to figure out how to use it."
"Eh?"
Natalia, the normally cheerful high elf, looked up with confusion as Samantha said this.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that.... but I can't see any way to turn a slowing debuff into a weapon on it's own. You'd need someone to deal the damage, no matter which way you cut it, right?"
The two girls started thinking to themselves, after which the dark elf looked up at Samantha.
"Tell me then. Is your mind demented enough to find out a way that I could use this ability to..... defend myself."
"Do you not like using the word murder? You know, it was that way for me back then as well..... I always had to word things so nicely in order to get them to fall before me. Now I can say whatever I want, and people still recognize my greatness. Ah.... I'm talking to myself. I guess being away from them really is taking a toll on my mind?"
Looking over to the two girls, who were looking at her with confused and slightly disturbed expressions, Samantha thinned her eyes with a grin.
"Say you lead the bear to a jump where it has just enough strength to make it over. Using that ability, by slowing it even by a simple 10%, you would be able to trick it into jumping to it's own death. Right?"
"Ah...."
"I.... see..... but there are no cliffs around here."
"Hm? I guess that's right. Perhaps you need to prepare a scenario beforehand at all times then? I guess that's why he's always so obsessed with being multiple steps ahead. After all.... the less power you have, the more preparation you have to make for something to go well."
"He?"
"Sarah, why do you keep saying strange things. It's like....."
Looking down, with a slight sense of loneliness, Natalia quieted herself as she let out a whisper.
"It's like we're not even here...."
On hearing this, Samantha looked up from the fire, into the eyes of the two as she darted her glare back and forth.
'Ah. I almost forgot. The insects still think I'm one of them, and they should be kept that way for Trevor's plan to be properly enacted. I have to act like I'm.... equal to them.'
"Is that so? I'll be more careful from this point on."
"Be.... more careful?"
At this statement, Serina, the dark elf, questioned Samantha with thinned eyes.
"What would you need to be more careful about?"
"The way I treat those around me, of course. Or are you saying that you'd prefer I throw reservation to the wind when I speak with anyone?"
The two were further confused, but Natalia soon broke the tension.
"Anyways! So this is the last night that we actually have to sleep in this place. Thursday we can return to our dorm.... though it isn't that much better. So let's make the most of this little trip! I know! Why don't we....."
Natalia was about to suggest telling stories about their past in an attempt to get to know each other, however she stopped at the thought.
"Actually.... nevermind."
"You don't wish to know about my past? Ah, I suppose this is your version of being sensitive. You're quite caring, you know. I suppose with everyone here having such horrid pasts, asking about such a thing is quite rude. But I'll talk. After all, I've already told you a little bit, right?"
Looking up with a smile, Natalia sat forward with interest.
"Oh! Alright!"
Engulfed in the small joy of being responded to so positively, she failed to question the nature of the statement which the woman had just made.
She failed to realize that her own mind had been read.
----
"So you were living alone all your life..... because of those girls who scarred you like that? That's...."
With teary eyes, Natalia looked to Serina as she blubbered, wiping her own tears with her elbow.
"How cruel!!! How could those girls do something like that!?!?"
"Yeah.... that is pretty cruel....", Serina stated.
Having told an edited version of her own past, and using the reason she was living on her own as an excuse to justify why she had no parents taking care of her at the time of her entrance to this Academy, she told her own story which caused Serina to squirm with discomfort, and led Natalia to babble like a baby.
"It's nothing to cry about. After all.... they were merely jealous. I'll never see them again anyways."
"I.... I see...."
"What would you do if you did ever run into them?"
As Serina asked this question, Samantha merely smirked.
"I became popular beyond belief after that. I was loved by everyone around me at the time. That was before I met Gary, Ally, and Theo. If I really wanted to at the time, I could have gone back and rubbed it in their faces..... but I never did so. I wonder why? Either way, I am a far different person now than then. If I met them right now....."
Placing her hand to her lips, Samantha licked her own lips in seductive manner.
"Who knows what I would do?"
The two gulped as she said this, but Samantha quickly laughed off the statement.
"Haha.... well, I think that's enough of that. After all, we have visitors."
"Eh?"
"Visitors?"
Serina and Natalia looked around as Samantha stood up, fluttering her coat with beauty as she stepped forth like a model.
"Come on out, boys. After all, your minds are so decorated with sexual thoughts that I'm going to become traumatized if I continue listening to them. It truly is..... filthy."
The elven woman changed her tone quickly as she spoke with utter disgust, calling out to nobody.
"Hahaha!!! Looks like you caught us!!! And I thought we were doing so well sneaking up on you without making a sound.... tch! Looks like that rune of silent step which I purchased wasn't worth much!"
Stepping out of the brush was a group of roughly 10 men, a mix of dwarves and elves, all of whom were dressed in rags as if they had just escaped from jail.
Leading this group was a dwarven man who couldn't even be called a dwarf. He stood 10 feet tall, towering above all the others.
"Your steps? Do you think I would need to rely on something like that when you continue to assault my mind with your erotic delusions?"
Walking forth, Samantha's hair swayed as she casually approached the man without a glint of fear in her eye.
The two girls looked around with concern, but on seeing the confidence of Samantha they stood up as well with determination.
'Even if our abilities are weak....'
'We should be able to find out how to use them in any situation....'
"Haha!! You must be a cheeky one. Nice. Very nice. Alright boys! Looks like we got the best batch out of em all! All girls here, and all of em beauties! Let's grab em and go!!"
"You won't be grabbing anyone.", Samantha responded with a tone so filled with disgust that it sounded as if she was speaking to a pile of shit.
"Hahaha! Hear that boys! This one's really feisty!! She doesn't understand what position she's in. But later today she will! I'll be making her perform all sorts of positions. She'll be bending over backwards for me!!"
The men around laughed at the words of their leader, however Samantha approached the man without so much as looking at him.
Walking past the man, the man was filled with surprise as she acted as if he didn't even exist.
"Hey, what the-"
"You are the ones who will be bending over backwards for me. All of you. Now."
In the next instant, something happened.
The minds of the men were in tact, and they were still able to consciously think to themselves, yet their bodies begun to move on their own, as if they had their own will.
The will to obey the woman who spoke.
The men each bent backwards, leaning so far back that their own backs begun to creak.
"Wha.... what's going on...."
"More. Come on. That's nowhere near enough, filth. I said, bend over backwards for me. Jump through hoops, do whatever it takes. Don't disappoint me more than your tainted minds already have."
The men then stuck their own heads in between their legs, and that was when the screaming begun.
"Agh!!!!"
"Ugh!!!"
"Wha..... agh!!!"
The cracking of bones, the snapping of muscles and tendons, all these sounds were heard as the bodies were twisted in ways which should have been impossible for these people.
"More. Make another loop."
Weaving their heads through their legs, the men continued to press, tying themselves up like knots as their own bodies begun to rip apart with the tension.
"Agh!!!!"
"Stop!!!! AGH!!!!!"
"HELP!!!!!"
"Help? What would you like help with? You've done this to yourself, no? All I did was tell you to do so, and you listened..... just like the obedient and ever so thoughtless scum that you are. Now die."
The bodies of the men had been twisted in such a manner that their legs were now barely even attached to their bodies, with strings of flesh connecting the two as the men fumbled on the ground in agony.
Serina and Natalia merely watched in horror as this twisted scene played out, unsure what to even think.
"They..... were here to attack us?"
"Who.... are these men, Sarah?"
Trembling in fear, Natalia looked over to Samantha, who merely smiled over at her.
"They were insects who thought they had the right to violate us just because we were alone.... and supposedly powerless? But how obedient they are. After all....."
In the next moment, each man reached for his own dagger, grabbing it and stabbing it through their own skulls.
The men fell to the ground, their screams dying out and trails of blood tainting the forest.
"To kill yourself just because I said to do so.... that is very strange, isn't it? It's almost as if..... they were obsessed with me? Hahaha....."
Walking off with a smile, Samantha returned to the campfire, taking a seat as she grabbed her own wrist, reminded of the charm which she once wore everywhere but now didn't wear as a result of her undercover status.
'Ah..... should I obtain some new ones? No, that would look strange. It's harder to fit into normal society than I thought it would be. I once used to be so capable.... but I suppose becoming a succubus has truly changed me.'
"Why.... were these criminals here.... Sarah?"
Natalia asked her this with fearful expression, however even Natalia herself was unsure whether that fear was towards the men or the one who killed them.
"Why? Well, shouldn't that be obvious? We are the rejects of society. Our prosperity is something which will make everyone else look bad. Therefore, they will do anything and everything to ensure that we fail. Ah.... but isn't that how it has been from the moment we entered this world?"
----
The night came to an end without further incident.
Having sent criminals to invade the training grounds, Elisa and the principal had expected those who were incapable to be killed off quickly, likely as sacrifices for those who were somewhat capable to at least escape.
Those who were truly capable would have been powerful enough to fight off the enemies, and as such would be worthy of continuing their study within this school.
Those who were incapable would be eliminated before they could become a liability.
This was the method used by the principal to ensure that his students would be pushed far beyond their limits, excelling in all that they did- for failure to do so would result in their own demise.
Those who lived would grow to become great.
And those who did not didn't matter.
Unaware of the fact that this was a plot by the school, the students continued their survival exercise in slightly disturbed peace.
Having been shown the dark side of their own classmates, many were stunned and filled with suspicion and fear.
However, they could not condemn them.
Their classmates had defended them, saving their lives and defeating criminals.
Despite their brutal, villainous, sadistic methods, they could say nothing in protest.
For would they rather have died?
In the end, the students overlooked this, accepting that their classmates had done what any normal person with power should have done.
They protected those weaker than themselves.
Even so, a rift appeared and closed at the same time.
This rift had been present from the day in which the students gathered together, and were told of the slaughter of their instructor.
However now, the students had seen it with their own eyes.
They had seen a killing, and more importantly, they had seen the reason behind the killing.
They were right.
They were right to do what they did.
And because of this, the students accepted the antiheroes into their midst as comrades.
They were different from one another, yet they were not enemies.
This was the conclusion many of the students came to.
'I have to be tolerant and accept those who are different from me.'
'So long as they are not evil....'
'So long as they are not against us....'
'So long as they are fighting for what is right....'
'Then I won't treat them any different.'
'They are my classmates, after all.'
How terribly wrong these students were.
----
"Not a single orb went offline.... which would mean that not a single person died. Just how can that be explained, principal? Were those men so weak that a fresh group of students could defeat them? Or were the students simply.... that exceptional?"
An elven woman with pink hair spoke into a communication orb which floated by her side as she sat at a desk within a log cabin.
It was Thursday night, right before the students were about to return from the exercise.
"I suppose after all, those four were to be watched out for. And not just one of them. But all four.", the principal replied with a slightly intrigued tone.
"Continue fostering their growth. They will become fine soldiers for our army if they are given proper guidance."
"Of course, Principal."
The woman smiled as the line was disconnected, standing up as she walked out to approach the students.
"I'll guide them as a proper instructor from this point on. That is what I was meant to do."
----
A week passed.
The students were all given passing grades, awarded 5 points each and allowed to return to their dorms, after which they returned to classes.
From there, things settled down for a while.
As if she was a normal instructor, Elisa taught the class. They acted like normal students, and she interacted with them without issue.
They didn't act cocky or disobedient, nor did she do anything to provoke them.
However, she could always feel it.
There was something off about the four in particular who the principal had called out.
They fit in perfectly from that point on, learning like regular students, performing the exercises, and excelling in everything they did.
However, success was no reason to be suspicious of them.
Even so, Elisa couldn't help but feel strange every time she caught eyes with one of them.
'Is.... was it my imagination? I could've sworn.... that girl..... she was looking down on me, wasn't she?'
'Bloodlust? From the creepy one....'
'Why does that one always seem to assume he is right, without even confirming his answer....'
'And the last one..... he..... his eyes.... they don't show it often, but every once in a while, I can feel it..... madness.'
Elisa continued her duties as a teacher, and the students listened in on her lectures day by day.
She taught about magic, how to use it, and a number of specializations which they could attempt to utilize based on their own abilities.
They would go to the gym each day to hone their skills and sometimes they did mock battles.
And finally, the end of the 2nd week of classes had come.
"You will all be taking your first exam tomorrow. Please ensure that you've studied all the content well. Those who fail will have to go on a remedial trip, according to school policy."
With this statement, Elisa walked out of the room, smiling to herself.
'Ah..... the remedial trip. It's finally that time of the semester, isn't it? Of course, this semester is going to be quite exceptional. I wonder just what will happen due to the change in the location? Will it be easier? Or will the difficulty skyrocket?'
With eyes closed, Elisa felt a strange feeling, as if someone was listening in on her own thoughts.
'Must... have been my imagination. Anyways.... where was I? Ah, that's right.'
Holding back a laugh, the woman exited the room, shutting the door on her students, leaving them all to converse with one another.
'Either way, only those who are worthy will survive. Even the strong will not have time to think about saving the weak. The only ones they will have time for.... are themselves.'