"I'm Zakira!"
'Oh, god.' I internally groaned, then took a moment to give the girl a close lookover. She was around my height, perhaps a few centimeters taller, and as slim as I was as well. Her skin was curiously smooth. And tan, but noticeably pale. Like she'd spent years indoors before arriving here.
Her mouth and eyes were the most eye-catching of all, however. Boasting large canines and almost bug-like red eyes that stared back at me, unblinking.
Based on that and her behavior, I was certain that I knew what she was. But I didn't think Peter was aware of her nature. So I calmly reached for her hand, then squinted in curious humor as she jumped in apparent surprise. "My name is Amun."
"Ah." She held her gaze on our hands for a long second before stepping forward and lifting her beaming eyes to mine. "Are you dead?" She excitedly asked.
"Uh." I shook my head in surprise. "Not yet."
"So then." She took another step forward. "You're a devil?"
"Well." I sighed, much to Peter's horror. "It's complicated."
"Yeah." She squinted and nodded as if we were agreeing on some sort of conspiracy. "You feel. Well, it's complicated. But it's… nice." She smiled cheerfully. "You're nice. Let's be friends."
"How about we start by letting go of each other?" I mockingly smiled while gesturing down to our hands.
But if she saw it, it went unnoticed. As she let go of my hand without delay and remained standing less than a meter before me. Smiling ear-to-ear as if it were her birthday.
'So that's how it is, huh?' I snorted to myself. In the words of Grandpa Lich, all undead saw us as sovereigns. That included vampires. But for whatever reason, he acted meekly whenever they were mentioned. It was dissimilar to the way he acted whenever I mentioned dragons in the past. It was as if they were the only creature in existence to make the great Necro King uncomfortable. And now, I knew why.
They were clingy as fuck.
While it was most certainly weird, I didn't want to force her away for something she couldn't control. Besides, she was on my team.
"Our other teammates are over there!" Zakira turned, yet still stepped closer towards me as she pointed across the way to a dwarf and goliath chatting idly on a bench. A comical sight, to say the least.
"Come on!" He waved to us before skipping ahead by herself.
"A-are you really a devil?" Peter whispered from my side.
"Only half." I shrugged. "But that doesn't make me a bad person."
While he was still objectively horrified, he seemed to take a second to contemplate my words before his head slowly started rocking back and forth. "I suppose you're right." He eventually said. "But, what's the other half?"
"Drow."
After hearing my reply, Peter assumedly felt another wave of horror come upon him, as his pace slowed to a near halt. However, my attention was focused on the two sitting before us.
The goliath at least looked like a male. With tribal markings painted across his chiseled face. He wore the same browns and greens as everyone else; only, they were morphed to resemble the leather and fur pelts they were wearing during the headmaster's speech. And a bag of holding was now tied off around his waist.
"Amun, this is Slate." Zakira bubbly reached towards the goliath before pointing towards the dwarf. "And this is Els."
"Elsgril Silverforge to you, woman!" The dwarf spat back. Short squat and hair as hell like all the others I saw, Els had the hardened callouses and scarred body of an artisinal warrior. The sides of his head were shaved, leaving a braided ponytail on the top that matched the elaborately braided beard dangling from his chin.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." I nodded to him and the goliath.
"The pleasure is mine." Slate stood to palm his belly and bow a few degrees. "Our instructor implied we should converse with one another and the day is young, shall we begin?"
"Ugh." Els turned from Slate with a groan. "I, for one, need to register my equipment."
"I do too." I quickly said.
"Uh, I would also like to visit the store." Peter sheepishly added.
"Then it's settled! Let's go." Zakira stepped between us with a resounding clap before pulling me off towards the center of campus.
"So, uh," I mumbled to her after turning into the halls. "How you just, walk under the sun with no issue."
"Uh, by stepping outside." She said in her chaotically cheerful way. Which made the ensuing burn all the more severe.
"I… heard that vampires are weakened in the sunlight."
"Well, yeah! But it doesn't hurt us or something!" Zakira laughed. "We just lose our powers, that's all."
"Ah." I nodded. In other words, she was like Dracula. Sunlight turned in her into a regular human. Quite the trade-off for superhuman strength, speed, and regeneration.
"Forgive my ignorance." I bowed at the neck. To which she simply hummed to herself and remained silent until we arrived at the arena.
Inside was a foyer lined with plants and statues along all the walls, save the one before us and to our left. The former led to the stands of what appeared to be a gladiatorial arena while the corridor on the left ended at a half-walled dead-end.
Our destination.
While a door sat off to the right of the hall, it was labeled to be for staff and duelists only. So our attention was gathered on the stall fashioned into the end of the hall.
While it was unattended, I could see racks and chests and mannequins meant for equipment storage neatly arranged throughout the quite spacious armor. Labeled from above as 'Zook's Armory.'
"Hi, hi. Welcome." A voice thumped from behind the walls before an aged gnome waddled around the corner hopped aboard a stood to bring his waist above the counter. "I'm Zook. Overseer of Zook's Armory. As you can see here." He swiftly pointed above and kept rambling. "You look like some mighty fine young Pages. Bet you're here to register. Well alright. Step up one at a time please and I'll get you sorted."
"I'll go first," Zakira muttered before prying away from me and stepping before him. "Hi!" She waved. "I'm Zakira and you talk fast."
"Uh- t- thank you, miss." Zook shook his head in shock. "You have any equipment you want me to hold? I'll tell ya, you can only duel and train with equipment that's registered. You needn't worry about it getting stolen or damaged. I'll take good care of it."
"Yeah, sure." Zakira hurriedly reached into her comparatively small Bag of Holding with a nod to withdraw a quite impressive mace and hand it over to the gnome. "This is my weapon, Blood Stain. And then." She drew out the word while reaching back into her back to hand over a suit of red and off-white armor piece-by-piece. "The Blood Weaver Set."
While it was impressive, there was no magic leaking off from any of the parts so I let the pieces gloss over my vision until she was done and trotted back to my side.
"Guess I'll go next."
With his arm dug into his bag, Els waddled before the desk and let out a grunt after meeting eyes with the gnome above him. Then handed over a set of armor in much the same fashion as Zakira. While I could see no signatures of enchantments coming from the pieces, there was a bit of mana pouring out from across their surfaces. But before I could hypothesize, Zook let out an awed gasp that pulled my attention to him.
"I see this is made from some rare materials." Zook gasped again.
"Aye. Though it has yet to face battle. As such, it has no name yet. But these!" Grinning wide, Els reached into his bag to retrieve a warhammer and shield made of the same gold and blueish iron-like materials and hold it up high before slamming it gently on the counter. "Are the Cave Maker, and Mountain Post!"
"Those names are dumb," I mumbled to Peter and Zakira.
"I heard that!" Els grumbled over his shoulder. Making Peter shy away and forcing Zakira's giggles to erupt into blatant laughter.
"I don't have any weapons or equipment." Peter sheepishly said.
While Slate pulled a large and unremarkable claymore from his bag, a part of me wanted to reassure Peter and tell him equipment didn't make the fighter. That said, I also didn't want to be a hypocrite and pull out a bunch of expensive equipment before his eyes. So I decided to forgo the former and do the latter.
"Hmm." Zook squinted upon my approach. "You look familiar."
"I have one of those faces." I waved the matter aside before gesturing around. "I was told we can use magic in here?"
"Of course!" Zook nodded his little head. "It's the arena. Just don't attack anyone."
"Alright." I sighed. "Just… prepare yourself."
He seemed confused but continued studying my visage until I reached into my shadow to withdraw my spear. And at that moment, he and Els practically leapt forward in shock.
"Now that. Is a fine weapon." Els hovered his hand above the haft as he stroked it from blade to pommel.
Once his gawking was done, I imbued a bit of shadow magic into the hilt to shorten it enough to fit on the table and set it down gently. "Be careful," I smirked at the gnome. "It's tainted."
"I can tell be the name." He recoiled, shaking his head as if he were in despair. "The Shadowsteel Reaper. And these enchantments. Hah!" He looked up to me, cackling madly. "This is amazing. And your magic. I haven't seen something like that in years."
"Wait." I abruptly leaned over the desk and eyed the man. "How did you know its name?"
"A perk of my Class!" Zook stepped back, spreading his little arms wide. "I'm a Grandmaster Artificer! I can tell what a lot of things are! Including the names of weapons, enchantments, or materials. I'm at the fourteenth level if you're interested. Been stuck there for decades." He muttered as he finished.
"I am interested." I grinned. "Why are you stuck?"
"Runes!" He said, making my ears cramp from how hard they perked up. "Don't know nothing about em. Never seen em. Don't wanna go exploring to find em. But, uh." He wagged a finger at my spear. "This here enchantment is a problem. Spectral Blade. And this other one without a name too. You can use the weapon against your classmates if you don't use those enchantments. Otherwise, you have free reign."
"That's fine." I put our talk of runes on the corkboard and nodded along. "But my other equipment may be more... problematic."
"Oh?" He leaned forward and watched with those curious beady eyes as I reached into my shadow again. Then the same scene as before replayed once I placed my daggers onto the table.
"The Shade Splitters." He gasped.
"I didn't name them." I hurriedly said and immediately sighed after hearing Zakira's giggles rise from behind me.
"Yes, you're right." He nodded. "I can see why you'd think these would be problematic. But you can still use these in the arena. Some of your classmates will keep fighting no matter how much li-"
"I still have two more pieces of equipment." I nearly yelled. "Unlike the others, they're; for lack of a better explanation, bound to my soul."
"Oho?" Zook and Els stood on the tips of their toes at the same time. Forcing another round of giggles from Zakira's lips.
"Bound to your soul?" Zook slowly repeated.
"Yeah. I can't take it off."
I saw Peter squint in confusion from my peripherals but stepped forward in anticipation like the rest of them once Zook said. "May I see it?"
"Sure." I shrugged and allowed a bit of darkness to envelop me to summon the armor.
And like the umbral energy around me was a magnet, the pieces were pulled from the Shadowfell and clamped around my body in less than a second. Leaving my hulking form towering over the little gnome's desk.
Without waiting for him to move past his awe, I reached to the small of my back to pull Death's Key from its sheath and held the seax out to him. Then retracted it once he, Peter, and everyone else but Zakira took a step back in horror.
"P- please! Put that away!" Zook shuddered, much to my amusement and surprise.
But I still did as asked and put both the armor and the short sword away.
"So, much hunch was correct." Zook shuddered again. "You are-"
"A devil, yes." I groaned in annoyance and showed everyone my ears. "I'm also half-drow. Do with that what you will."
"Drow?" Else recoiled in surprise. "I-"
"Didn't know they bred with humans or left the Dark World." I stopped him as gently as I could. "I know."
"Oh, well. I didn't mean to offend." He harrumphed with a spread of his hands.
"None taken." I shrugged.
"Right." Zook hesitantly nodded once our banter had died down. "Your armor and that… cursed sword of yours is indeed a special case. As such, I will schedule an appointment with the Headmaster for you. But, keep in mind, it may take a few weeks for him to get to you. He's a busy man."
"I understand." I shrugged it off. It's not as if I used them anyway.
"Very well." He bowed and began hesitantly stowing my weapons away. "Before you go, I'll explain that there are terminals in the classrooms and facilities that will act as armories in their own right. That way, you won't have to come here to retrieve and stow away your gear. If that's all, I bid you a good day!"
With a nod, I bid farewell and followed the others out into the central hub to make a pit stop at a small room that sat within the cafeteria. Inside was a round room lined from end-to-end with pedestals supporting thick catalogs that contained moving pictures and spoken descriptions of the contents listed for sale.
'Magic manga.' I chuckled to myself.
In all, the school sold a wide variety of things that I both did and didn't expect. Of course, there were things like potions, simple armors or weapons, even snacks, and food. Surprisingly, however, a variety of enchanted and magical materials that granted resistance to certain magics were for sale as well. Which immediately made me think of how it coincided with our Classes.
Even though I had no use for such things, I took a long look through the listings while Peter purchased a few things for himself. My points, I decided, would be spent in the greatest place of all.
The library.
Once our purchases were complete, we returned to our dorms as a group and immediately saw Winston, brooding by his lonesome in one of the chairs.
At a glance, I assumed he was pouting because he wasn't paired with any of his followers. With that assumption made in my mind, I started to turn away. Only to realize a scowl wrinkle across his face after noticing us.
While we all went on towards our mailboxes to retrieve our schedules, Winston's scowl kept switching between Peter and me before eventually settling on me.
So I quickly shifted directions to sit directly across from him and match his stare.
"I'm Amun. And it seems like you don't like me much. Why?"
"Because you associate yourself with trash." He spat with a crude gesture towards Peter.
"Oh?" I leaned over his shoulder to take a look at Peter before turning back to Winston. "What makes him trash?"
"He didn't tell you?" He scoffed. Then raised his voice so that everyone in the common area could hear him say. "Peter was a slave! He was only freed because he awakened his cores."
"Well, congratulations." I met Peter's shaken eyes with a smile. Then turned back to Winston. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the only trash here."
"W- what?" He scoffed again. "You're going to fight his battles for him?"
"Definitely not." I laughed and let it drift off into a pitiable sigh. "That said, I dislike bullies."
"Don't look down on me because you're an elf, Amun of Odissi. I know what you truly are." He loudly spat, invoking more gazes than I was comfortable with to fall upon me. "Five cores or not- devil or not, you don't scare me."
"Oooh five!" Zakira tactlessly gasped.
"That's not why I look down on you." I amiably smiled. "I look down on you because you're a spoiled baby who thinks his status and lineage makes him better than everyone else. There's a difference. People like you make me sick."
As the snickering and murmurs from the crowd ensued, I rose from the couch and began descending towards the rooms with my team with nary a look behind me.
"You'll be the first I fight." He spat behind me.
"I'm free anytime." I waved over my shoulder.