Ah, high school. How many times have I graduated from high school? At least one hundred thousand times, give or take, maybe a bit more. Sometimes uneventful, sometimes dramatic, mostly romantic. Yet I know, this high school experience will be one that I'll never be able to forget.
I walked through the sunlit halls of Raserry Magic Academy, with my short blue-purple-ish hair fluttering along with me. I took a quick glance at the chattering students in the courtyard before turning my attention to the two double doors ahead of me. On the left of them was a thin silver tablet on the wall were two emboldened words: 'Student Council'. I haphazardly pushed the large sliding doors open, revealing four handsome male students. These must be the male leads. It was all too predictable. Their looks, their positions, their status... It was too easy.
I took a quick scan of the room. The one sitting behind the desk centered in front of the double doors holding two sheets of paper in his hand must be the male lead. His predictable cold countenance was so cliche that it automatically made me cringe. The second male lead... hard to tell. Was it the person standing next to the dark oak bookshelf, who automatically exuded a flirtatious attitude? Or the person leaning against one of the backwalls, who had a faint fairytale-like charm clinging to him?
"Hello? What may I help you with?" The playboy-looking guy came up and smiled at me. It looked like there were roses blooming around him, how cute.
"I'm a new transfer student. My name is... Chalice." I inwardly smacked myself in the head. Me, the master of naming idiotic people, changed my name from Alice to Chalice?! How disgraceful! Ragdoll, Hothead, Airhead, Idiot Prince... I was the queen of names, the connoisseur of tags, the master of dubbing... and I changed my name to CHALICE?! ...Well... now that I think about it, I suppose it's only natural. I'm too perfect to be classified as idiotic like those princes, so it's only natural that I'm bad at naming myself. Hehehehe, indeed. My faults are too perfect to be counted as faults. I'm just not an idiot, so I can't name myself properly. Sigh... sometimes it's hard being so perfect.
While I was having an internal monolog in my head about naming myself, the handsome dude in front of me looked like he was waiting for me to finish speaking. I looked at him with an inquiring gaze. He stopped and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"A commoner..." He murmured before changing his facial expression a little.
I widened my eyes and smiled. *Boop* Second Male Lead Detector, Activated. 1: His eyes changed when he realized I was a commoner. He seemed to deem me not useful. He probably was being polite to me because he thought I was a high-rank from another empire. Sign of tragic past/competitive nature due to nurture! 2: Was the one to greet me, of high status? Sign of Vice President! 3: He doesn't look down on commoners, unlike normal noble children. Sign of ML nature! 4: Still looking down on me. Sign of a high-ranked noble child! Final Conclusion: 87.34% Likelihood of Second Male Lead.
"Please follow me. I'll give you the tour of the school, as the President is busy." He quickly added.
President... *Boop* processing new information... organizing data... reiterating past conclusions... *Beep* 91.17% Likelihood of Second Male Lead.
I let out a faint chuckle at my new realization. Hmmm... it seems that all the male leads are gathered in the Student Council. I'll have to get in to join the fun~ I smiled at the new decision I had and my eyes flashed with impishness. I kept my head down and concealed the slight sadistic grin I had on my face and replied, "Sure, thank you for your kindness."
----
"So, how did you get into Raserry Academy anyway? Maybe because you're a boy, but..." I raised my eyebrow in slight fascination. Aha! I knew there would be an unexpected surprise if I crossdressed. So it turns out that the second male lead is sexist, hmmm? That's a new one. Or maybe he's just telling the truth but it sounds offensive, who knows. Either way... I found a new hobby~ it's really fun to crossdress~! But seriously, sexist bastard~ should I just skin you alive~ My eyes darkened and my aura flashed with killing intent before I calmed myself down again and put back on my plastic smile.
"You... are a commoner, too, right? Is it even possible to get in as a..." He mumbled.
I raised the tips of my lips and smiled mysteriously. "I have my ways." Yes, indeed, there were many, many ways. But I won't go into detail.
I could tell that his usual playboysih charm intensified as he became more and more intrigued. I had a hunch... but this kind of male lead... I've encountered all too many of those 'you pique my interest' cliches. Next, he'd probably follow me to ease his 'boredom'. I guarantee that right now, he is probably thinking something along the lines of, 'This commoner boy... he's strange. He doesn't try to lie to me like the other damned noble ladies who I play around with... interesting.'
"Chalice, was it?" I nodded to his query. His question just verified my original inference. He asked for my name, which he originally paid no heed to. But...I'm a man. At least right now. So... does that mean that I replaced the female lead?
Hahaha, I'm a fuckin' genius~ while I'm powerless, I can just have this dolt of a ML protect me~ crossdressing is so interesting~
"What spiritual roots do you have?"
I cocked my head to the side. Spiritual... roots? What are those? Sounds interesting. Can I castrate them?
"Don't tell me... you don't even know what those are? Does that mean you don't have any magic elements? How did you get into this school?" He gave me a look that practically screamed, 'This commoner actually found a way to coerce the director, a count? He's getting more interested by the second~'
"I... persuaded the director a bit, and he seemed to take quite a liking to me." And hey, don't blame me for not knowing. I don't even know my own age yet, okay? And this is the first time I've ever possessed someone.
"Who are you, exactly?" He asked.
"Hmmm... who am I? That's a good question, maybe you'll figure it out someday." I giggled and waltzed forward, leaving him in the dust, without so much as sparing him a glance.
"A rather bold commoner, isn't he?" He murmured under his breath. "But I guess that just makes him all the more engrossing."
----
After ditching the second male lead, I skipped around the majestic-looking east building. I stopped for a second and put my hand on the clear glass pane. In my view, I saw those noble children in the courtyard, some under large ornate umbrellas, some leisurely sipping tea... I sighed and smiled expressionlessly. The white marble shining underneath my loafers, the large tinted window panes, it all reminded me of my second life's first school. My second life... my first life in the world of novels, Griffon... the life in which I met my dear pure brother, Little Al.
I think... if I count all the years... I should be around 14,982,100,000 years old right now. That means... I have around 17,900 lifeforce to spend before I'll lose him forever. The experiments on the inscription always take so much lifeforce out of my body, though, to the point of collapsing. Every burst is around 300 lifeforce taken out of me... I snapped out of my morbid thoughts and frowned imperceptibly. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things.
I should make my way back to the principal's office. He'll tell me where my room is.
----
"Hmmm..." I shifted my eyes from the lavish and clean bed, then to the flashy blondy standing beside me again. "Why am I here again?"
I looked at the simple bed on the opposite side of the room, with dark red curtains draping down its sides, and smacked myself in the head once more. Right. He thinks I'm a boy. You know, how am I supposed to shower now? Or sleep? Or take off this itchy wig? Damn, I didn't think the second male lead was shallow enough to take so much interest in me in such a short period of time. I guess I underestimated his shallowness. Curse me and my pure, untainted soul.
He flashed a flirtatious smile. I think I'm gonna barf. "I requested that you would room with me in my dorm!"
"I figured as much, but why am I rooming with you?" I flashed a smile and asked.
"Because I requested it. It doesn't matter if you're a commoner, I wanted it to happen, so it did."
"Yeah, I get that, but why you?" I smiled again, wider.
"...Because I wanted you to sleep with me, and I wanted to get to know you better."
"Yeah, I get that, but why does it have to be you?"
His smile twitched at my smooth shamelessness. But I was really very sincere. I took sleep very seriously. Anyone who tried to forcefully wake me up would be punished severely. Really, the only one who would be able to wake me up and come out unscathed is Pervert who... ah, never mind, no use thinking of it.
He approached me and took a lock of my purple blue hair before gently kissing it. "Do you not want to room with me?" Red roses bloomed around him and his flirt meter exploded. If this was any other person, man or woman, they would have swooned. But I was an old geezer who's met so many of these trope incarnations, that not a single shade of blush graced my face. I could only manage to smile mystifyingly in response.
"Hmmm... I'm very glad to be your roommate, then. Let's get along in the future!" I reached over and planted a small kiss on the side of his cheek. I moved back and saw a small blush on the tips of his ears. I moved my mouth to his left ear and smiled bewitchingly.
"I really am glad to have such a considerate roommate like you." Oop! It turned a shade darker! This is fun. "Please be the best roommate in the world for me, okay~" Then my voice turned dark. "Being the best roommate in the world means to not disturb my sleep. So don't disturb my sleep."
His eyes turned blank for a moment with his ears still a deep vibrant red, before he let out an exasperated snicker. "A commoner dares to talk back to me, huh? You're getting more interesting by the second, Chalice."
----
I was laying flat on my bed, my legs dangling off the edge, while pondering my age. And no, not my soul's age, which is *ahem* 14 billion years old *ahem* (which does not affect my youthly charm whatsoever, by the way), but this body's age. This girl's body's age. Now, why would I possibly worry about what age my body is? Why does it matter?
It's because without knowing my age, I will never know how much time I have.
Before the Transformation happens.
----
In my third life as Athea Hunt, daughter of a marquis, my 'parents' were scoundrels, and I was grieving over the loss of my brother. I thought back to my second life. The life in which I spent ¾ of my lifespan on trying to resurrect my dead brother.
When I first reincarnated as Athea Hunt, my mind was fuzzy. The memories I had from my second and first life were still b\lurry and faraway. But by the time I turned one year old, I properly recovered all of my memories. But that wasn't the only thing that happened when I turned one year old.
My parents began to abuse me. "Die, bastard child!" "Filthy whore." "Swine." For a few months, I could ignore them. I could ignore their whippings and cursings, and instead just regulated my breath and tried to push through.
But when my patience finally wore thin, and the final thread of my respect for them broke... I decided to make them disappear, obviously.
Usually, I wasn't as inconspicuous with my executions. In my second life as Alice Novea, whenever I had enemies, I would completely humiliate them in public, curse them with all my breath, then finish them off horribly. But I was still in a small body, and it was a pain to deal with all of that drama. So I thought, 'At night, make them disappear. When no one is watching.' It would be an easy process. All I had to do was use my [Destruction] attribute, cast a high-level spell, and no one would ever know that the little infant ever killed their dear parents. But when I went into their room that night, while they were lovemaking, and tried to activate my destruction magic, I couldn't. My attributes and mana pool were blocked, like there was an invisible chain to keep it from moving.
And no matter what I did, that chain wouldn't unbind it.
In haste, I went back to my room. And took off my clothes. And double checked the tattoo-looking inscription on the left side of my chest, which I had carried with me ever since I read a book that led me to discover that I was half-immortal in my second life.
The usual three character gray colored inscription had disappeared. In its place was a five character green colored inscription which I have never seen in my life. I couldn't conceal my panic at that moment. When the one familiar thing that tied me to my past life had changed.
Ten, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen... As I grew older, nothing really had changed. Until I turned eighteen.
Eighteen, when everything began to change.
Eighteen, when I could finally get rid of those idiots that I couldn't even call 'parents'.
Eighteen... when the inscriptions began to warp and radiate with a purple light.
----
As I approached my eighteenth birthday, I had to accept three things.
1. No matter what I did, I was still physically a child. Plus, I couldn't use magic, which was frowned upon in society. With my lack of power, I wouldn't be able to kill my 'parents'.
2. I still lived in the world called Griffon, where I lived in my second life. Judging by the world's setting, I was somewhere in the far future compared to my second life. That meant that Al's corpse was still somewhere. However, it also meant that the setting of society was different, the concept of magic was different, and the social hierarchy was different. Not only that, but I had to accept that without my magic, I would never be able to get my dear brother Al back.
3. My identity as a half-immortal caused my reincarnation from Alice Novea to Athea Hunt. I must have lost my final strand of lifeforce in my past vessel/body, and then disappeared before reappearing into a new vessel, which could handle my regenerating lifeforce. When the changed inscription on the left side of my chest slowly started glowing, that probably meant that I would finally unseal my magic.
And indeed, two weeks before my eighteenth birthday, the light illuminating from my chest became too bright for me to cover anymore. Even with thick black clothes covering my chest, there was still an exorbitant brightness bursting from the warping purple inscription.
When my bastard parents discovered it, they used it as an excuse to lock me in the room. And as usual, the servants starved me, trying to curry favor with their master and mistress. There was nothing else to do for me but wait. And wait. And wait. Whenever I tried to look directly at my chest, it was like I was looking at the bright sun on a warm spring day.
----
I still vividly remember when the transformation occurred. 2:13 a.m., just when dawn broke. The light emanating from my chest flashed and an intense movement of mana and demonic aura jolted me up. The brightness that blocked my sight, the loud ringing that pounded my ears, the feeling of being left immobile by the intense sudden circulation of energy through my veins... it lasted for days.
I can still distinctly recall that after a long period of arduous effort, my aura started to surge and expand, all before rapidly retreating.
And that rush. The rush when I stood up on wobbly familiar yet foreign legs, with longer and more slender arms, to the bathroom. The rush when I looked in that cracked mirror, and instead of seeing my usual orangy-red hair, my droopy, deformed face, and my beaten and bruised body... I saw an unscarred girl, with shining silver hair and deep blood red eyes.
I cried tears of joy and sorrow. My second life's body, filled to the brim with vibrant mana and bursting demonic energy. The body that represented my bond with Little Al. The body that represented my joy from my distant past memories. Alice Novea, the former heir to the dukedom of Novea, the Demon Queen, was back and out for blood.