"Ah, how delightful."
"No.. way... the leader was defeated...?", one person who looked especially strong dropped to his knees.
"Aughhh! Th-The leaders head!!", another screamed in terror.
The others all murmured at the very sight of a single man, on the throne. The room was in a chaotic mess.
"Now, now... don't worry. The Eight's may come about soon but they don't need to know the fact that the leader has died. I will be acting as the vice-leader and the leader will be on.. a vacation, let's say.", Archehon calmly stated.
"And if you don't comply... the same may happen to you."
He threw the head down the stairs, which then later rolled to the floor.
Of course, this was certainly a gamble. Archehon knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat everyone in the room. There were over fifty people there but that was exactly the reason why he needed to keep up the act.
The act of faking it so that others believe that he was far stronger than he actually was.
"Is that right?", another man who was wearing the attire of a thug, walked up towards the throne. It looked as if he had no fear, however,
Drop.
The man fell to his knees and bowed to the joker, and the potential new leader.
"In that case, then we'll be underneath your wing, sir."
"W-what are you doing, Harold?! He just killed the leader, shouldn't we just kill him no-"
Pierce!ー
A spear entered the crook who was about to speak, in his throat. A few seconds after, everyone else shivered at the sight of another dead body.
'He was taken care of in a matter of a mere seconds.. should we really take that risk?', another person among the crowd thought.
Harold stayed in his same spot, not letting go of his choice.
The others contemplated for a few seconds before eventually following through and bowing on their knees behind the man.
'If Harold, one of the strongest underneath the leaders wing is bowing, then I guess we have no choice too.'
Up to thirty-nine people bowed down to the mysterious new leader, despite having the minds of some who couldn't believe anything.
A cold smirk led the boy to lick his lips at the sight of rebuilding his power.
"May I ask for your name, sir?", Harold politely asked.
'My name? That's already decided.'
"Call me.."
Archehon adjusted his seating position to a more arrogant and dominant one.
"Lucifer."
'Lucifer! There's not many who know of the past but that's the one who led the Fourths and bested the Eights before in the past. To think that someone would choose the name of the leader of a fallen organization that easily. I never expected to ever say this, but honestly... I'm glad that Bsal died.', Harold felt even more convinced by his decision, even if it meant that he was nothing but a pawn. The lines on his face gradually moved upwards to form a smile.
"Then.. we bow to Lord Lucifer! The new leader of one of the Sixteen Slums!"
"Hail Lucifer!"
"H-Hail Lucifer!", the rest reluctantly followed the chant.
* * *
Two weeks later...
"That's it for today's class. But before you all go, I would like to announce that it's about time that you all take part in your first mission.", Mr. Burrok calmly stated as the slide transitioned to a newer one after the lesson ended.
The digital hologram at the middle behind John displayed, 'Practice Hero Mission'.
"I know that most of you have been confused on why we haven't done any missions until now. The reason for that being that we required all the students to settle and be strong enough for it."
The slide transitioned. It displayed a screen with a visual representation of what John was about to say.
"The mission:
- Is taking place One Month from now.
- Is a Rescue Mission.
- Does not account to your grade as it's a practice examination.
- Has rewards of Academy Points and Special Privileges' for the Top 10 Examinees. These special privileges' may also include Herbivore Grade Mana-based Private Training Rooms, which haven't been granted to any first year before."
Archehon who was sitting in his seat, listened intensively for the first time after the last few words were uttered. 'Finally, something useful in this academy. There are three different grades of Mana-based training rooms. Herbivore ranked the lowest, the middle being Carnivore grade and the top being Omnivore. Even the lowest ranked Mana room can help increase both my aura and mana exponentially.'
Even a couple of other students murmured at the word of the Mana-based Training rooms, since even in the current era, a lot of Od abilities reached their potential quicker with the help of richer mana entering the body.
"The objective is to save as many civilians, who will be the academy's staff and hired heroes to make the experience more human and realistic, as possible within the given time frame of two hours. The more who are saved by an student, the greater the points, which determines their spot on the leaderboard."
"That's it for the explanation. If anyone has any questions, please see my after everyone has vacated the classroom. Goodbye."
The hologram vanished and students began leaving. Atif walked next to Archehon with a hyper expression, "Archehon, let's go for the top spot. I'm going to double my training's intensity!"
"Sure, let's do that-"
But as he spoke, a girl with white hair and crystal eyes walked past with a stone-cold expression, slightly bumping into another person in front of Archehon by accident.
She didn't turn to look back and continued moving forwards.
"Hey, aren't you going to apologize?", a girl with velvet hair strands flowing down her shoulders asked with annoyance and a hint of shock.
Drifa turned to look at them and bowed gently, speaking in a polite manner, "I'm sorry about that, I didn't see where I was looking."
"That's i-", the girl spoke but was interrupted by the kind guy who was bumped into.
"Haha, it's okay, Drifa. You can continue walking, it was just an accident after all."
"But, Torill!", the girl tried complaining for him but was shut down right away.
Drifa bowed again and maintained her composure, following the academy's hallway path.
Torill remained walking by the other girls side. He had cyan hair and eyes, along with a tall slender build for his age being fifteen. He wore round glasses with a humble expression painted on his face. He was also pretty popular for his looks, personality and talent among many students in the general weapons class, being one of the two talented students. Of course, alongside Drifa.
"Jeez. What's with her deal?", Atif spoke with a mostly confused facial emotions. "She's so talented yet quiet, in a confident way?"
Archehon didn't input any further and observed Drifa as she walked. "Yeah."
'Her talent is definitely very high, and I think also along with her intelligence. I doubt I'd be able to manipulate her into becoming my underling, but I can definitely make her my ally.', he thought deeply before stretching and heading towards his dorms entrance.
"After all, I have a few ideas in mind..", he murmured.
The weapons department was almost in reach.
But at the entrance he saw Linda, patiently waiting with her arms crossed, and a not-so humble demeanor. Not just that, but another forgotten face was standing next to Linda, not making eye contact with her either.
"Xavier?", I asked in surprise.
"Why are you so surprised? Just because I'm in the wanderers department, doesn't mean that I can't visit other dorms.", Xavier snorted a little and spoke.
"Yeah, haha.."
'I have to admit.. I completely forgot he, or rather she existed. Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter since I can't really manipulate someone like her who is the daughter of the King of the Slums in many regions.', Archehon thought.
"And you haven't given me my apology yet, so of course I'm going to come as well.", Linda added, with her annoying demeanor that even Archehon couldn't get used to.
Atif looked at Linda with confusion at why she's would still ask for an apology for this long before sighing.
"What? You have a problem with that?", Linda's gaze pierced Atif after hearing his sigh.
"I guess not?", he replied, not intending to have more conflict.
"Alright, haha, everyone. I guess it's good that we all have come together.", Archehon settled the pointless chatter by speaking in his 'kind' tone. Everyone else looked towards him for his response. "I was hoping for us all to begin group training since the practice Hero mission is coming soon. Even for Linda, it would be nice since you are so spoilt and rely on daddy's money so much."
"What did you say?", Linda immediately had her face turn to slightly red and changed her posture. But when she was about to utter the next sentence, Archehon along with the others had already turned away, beginning to walk away.
"Hey, wait for me, you idiot!"