Upon entering their classroom, the five students stumbled upon six other students who were scattered around the room. Two females are talking in the back seat next to the window: one with brown hair and with cat ears-like headband is talking to the serious girl with white, short hair. The white-haired girl's face is not amused at what the other girl is talking about.
Near the wall is a big guy with red hair talking to a girl with purple hair. The girl radiates a lady-like aura and somehow giggles at what the red-haired guy has said.
In front of the two girls, two rows away on the right are two guys: one with a bob cut mint green hair is talking to the other guy with orange hair who is only covering his ears in annoyance for what the other guy has said.
"Wow," Ian said as he looked at their other classmates. "Seems like only a few of us are here."
"Looks like it," Mike said.
"Please excuse me." a voice suddenly called out to them. They all jolted and saw the pink-haired girl fashioned in twin tails trying to enter the room. "You're blocking the doorway."
"Sorry." Sephiram apologized. "I think let's find our seats guys," he added to the others.
Minutes later, the teacher arrived, and all the students went to their respective seats. The teacher is a twenty-eight-year-old man with sharp features. He puts his attendance book on the table and clears his throat.
"Starting today, I will be your instructor for this year." He introduced himself. "I'm Instructor Richard Westeria and I hope that you can be able to grow your potential as Liberia's top elite soldiers in the future."
The cat-like headband girl raised her hand. "Sir?"
"What is it, Ms." he opened his attendance book and looked at the profiles. "Lena?" The girl nodded at her name.
"Why there are only the twelve of us here?" Lena asked. "Most of the classrooms consist of 40-50 students. Why are a few here?"
"It's better to have a few classmates than many." the white-haired girl retorted.
"And besides, no one can stand to your ditzy-minded attitude." The red-haired guys said and laughed.
"Hey!"
"Quiet!" Instructor Westeria scolded the arguing students, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "All of you are chosen in this class because we see your results in the entrance exam, and it was decided by the board themselves." He explained. A pout was only a response from Lena and the rest of the classroom fell in silence.
He saw this as an opportunity to speak. "Our first lesson as newcomers is choosing the weapon you will be wielding for the rest of your career as elite soldiers." And by that, he walked to the door and looked at the students. "Follow me."
*
The arena is located on the far eastern side of the Academy Building. It was used for student exams and other ceremonies. But today, the arena is deserted, and the whole class formed in line horizontally, their teacher in front of them. Behind the teacher is a long table with various weapons lying in view.
"These will be your weapons starting today." Instructor Westeria explained. "You may freely choose your weapon and have our blacksmith here-" he is waving to the big guy in his forties wearing a blacksmith suit. "To fuse your weapons with the ores.
"As you all know, the Solaris weapons are made by these ores. And sunlight is the natural weakness of vampires. Although we are safely hidden from them thanks to Muffula, we don't know when they will be attacking us. So, you must be prepared when that time comes. By the way, you can customize the weapons of your choice."
"Questions?" He asked the entire class. Silence was the reply. "Well then, I'll start with..."
*
"Chakrams? Carol?" Ian sarcastically said to Carol as she chose chakrams as her weapon of choice.
"At least, I'm not choosing a rifle as a weapon of choice." Carol shot back at Ian.
"What weapon do you want to choose, Seph?" Mina asked Sephiram as they saw almost all of their classmates choose their weapons.
"I'm thinking about swords, but" he wondered as he saw the pink-haired girl choose a longsword as the weapon of her choice and she approached the blacksmith to give the weapon to him. "Never mind."
"Cadet Davis!" Instructor Westeria suddenly called his name at last.
"I've been called now." Sephiram waved at Mina and approached the table.
His other classmates observed four meters away.
"Seems like he will get the worst weapon." The red-haired one said arms crossed.
"No one asks your opinions, Fred." The white-haired girl scolded him.
"What did you say, brat?!" The red-haired guy glared at the white-haired girl, who has the same height as a twelve-year-old child.
"Don't you EVER dare call me a child!"
"Well, you looked like a child, Misty." The mint green-haired guy said to her. "I mean, are you 17 years old?"
"For your information, you're correct: I'm 17, but not 12," Misty answered with a frown.
"Maybe two to three years from now, you may grow a little. Just wait a while longer." the violet-haired girl said in her mature lady voice.
"Don't give her hope, Nadeshiko. She will be expecting that in the future." the orange-haired guy said while Misty glared at him.
"At least, you're dealing with Leon's ramblings earlier, Marcus."
"Hey!"
Meanwhile, Sephiram looked at the weapons lying on the table. There are nunchucks, hand axes, and a chain ball. He knew that none of them were his weapons of choice. He scanned the table further and saw a rapier. He took the rapier in his hands and examined it. A wave of memories suddenly flashes in his head. In those memories, he saw himself wielding a rapier.
'It's like, I wield this weapon in my dreams before.' He thought.
'But for what purpose?'
"Are you sure that's your weapon?" Westeria's voice snapped in his thoughts when he was surprised to ask him. He looked at the weapon again.
"Yes, sir." He spoke. "I feel like I wielded this weapon before."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing, sir."
Westeria sighed. "You may give your weapon of choice to the blacksmith."
"Yes sir." Sephiram approached the blacksmith and handed over the weapon to him.
"You made a fine choice, lad." the blacksmith said in his encouraging voice. "No one has been able to choose a rapier before, as the blades are so thin that they can break easily."
"Really?" Sephiram asked. He never knew that no one had chosen a rapier before.
"Of course." The blacksmith answered with a wink. "And since you chose this weapon, I will craft it into something suitable for your fighting style."
This makes Sephiram's hopes up. "Thank you!"
"Welcome." The blacksmith replied. "You may get your weapon for two weeks from now!"
Sephiram went back to his classmates. Westeria saw this and cleared his throat. "Now that all of you have chosen your weapons, I will dismiss you for the rest of the day. This will give you time to get to know each other because starting today, you are now officially Class Alpha: the best of the three classes of this Academy."
This earned a reaction from the class.
"What?"
"Class Alpha?"
"Wait, is this for real?"
"I thought it was only just a joke!"
While the students were rambling about their class, Sephiram touched his left shoulder, where his birthmark lay. He sighed to himself.
'I'll need to hide this from now.' He thought. He never noticed that the girl with pink hair was somehow looking at him in suspicion.
"All right, class dismissed!"
*
"That dream again."
A man was sitting on his golden throne, clutching his head in pain while his other was resting on the armchair. Scattered in the dark room that is covered by thick curtains are the piles of corpses. He came recently from a feast that his servants forgot to dispose of them. "It's been haunting me."
He stands up and walks around, ignoring the corpses on his bare feet. "50 years. It's been 50 years since his last incarnation was brought to me dead. I began losing hope that he was still alive in this era. Not only that, but I can also hear lately the rumors from those lowly humans about a hidden city and an upcoming rebellion. Humans have a wild imagination, thinking that they will be saved."
He stopped when he met face-to-face with a large mirror. He is a large man, wearing white and gold robes that are hung around his god-like body. His feet length long, straight dirty blond hair flowed on his back, and bangs covered his bloody red eyes.
He places his hand in the mirror, his long sharp nails making a screeching sound as he scratches on the glass, its force breaking it into several cracks alone. He growled in anger as he looked at himself in the mirror. A beast hid in an unearthly beautiful face.
He is the Vampire God himself.
"Where the hell are you now and why are you still defying me?"