After awkwardly trying to explain to Lilith that he had still been awake by the time she was carrying him, she too left the hospital room.
It had been a close call, thankfully, even if he had supposedly lost his memories… he hadn't lost the ability to lie.
Which of course, he didn't feel nice about. But, it had to be done for now. He didn't want people to find out about his peculiar relationship with a Devil, of all things.
After a few minutes, Yoel began contemplating what had happened in his dream.
He still remembered the conversation that had happened in his dreams; especially the part where he would die if he used his ability...
Hopefully, Consequence wasn't lying about suppressing that energy of his…
He winced and slowly lifted himself off the comfortable bed, and he noticed all kinds of things had been left near him.
A cube-shaped device, his clothes, and a new pair of clothes, which looked more like a school uniform as well.
He hesitated for a second, remembering that his former companions had been wearing these when they came to visit him.
His own uniform had been colored with midnight-like colors, with its logo exuding a soft glow, giving off the feel of a faraway star.
Of course, the logo had been an enlarged "L" letter, with smaller letters accompanying it, in its entirety, it read "Lannister Academy."
Did this mean he had been accepted as a student..?
For a few seconds, Yoel's heartbeat had accelerated, as if someone had been aggressively playing drums, abandoning his previous aloof and calm expression.
This academy was his last chance at life, without a doubt.
After his parents had been killed, and he himself was thrown out of the house they had been renting… there was no other choice than to come here.
He was truly lucky, to overhear people talking about this academy, and how one could sign up to be a student for it…
As if waiting for this exact moment, the cubical device which Yoel had not paid much attention to, shone with green light.
It was almost as if it was beckoning Yoel to open it.
So… that was exactly what he did.
A familiar hologram appeared, one he had seen almost every day before the exam began.
He had explored its many options many times, looking for solutions and ways to quickly improve himself.
Somewhere near the top right corner of his screen, he saw a small mail icon, which had a red circle on it.
A message?
Without thinking too much about it, he pressed on the icon with his finger, opening up an entirely new panel.
Within it, were many other messages… mostly from the school system itself.
Reminders about the exams, important notices, announcements for whoever was not available at the time, and so on.
However, two new messages now stood above all of those, accompanied by a slight white glow, proof that they had been yet to be checked.
One was titled [Academy Announcement Reminder], which was supposed to remind students to visit the auditorium today, sometime around 6 PM…
And then proceeded to immediately check the second message, which Yoel had been a bit more interested in due to its title.
The title of the message read…
[Blessed Aptitude Test.]
An aptitude test, perhaps they wanted to check what kind of ability Yoel had awoken?
Yoel was unaware of the procedure of many things in this academy, and even more so what went down after one had been accepted into it.
He pressed his finger against the new message, and once again, the panel transformed into a completely different one.
[Freshman Yoel Voldren is to report to the Enigma Training Facility before 4:15 PM.
The Administration Department will be confirming Yoel Voldren's abilities for themselves. Although many have witnessed the individual's enigma, it is a step one cannot skip. The Department will note down exactly how they work, to enhance the student's routines in order to accommodate their enigma and increase effectiveness while using it.]
Without thinking about it too much, Yoel absentmindedly checked the time.
…
[4:05 PM]
Right. When did things ever go my way?
He felt the pain in his limbs slowly swelling and building up, and he tried his hardest to endure it.
He sighed in an attempt to try and relieve it, and quickly dressed into the uniform the academy had given to him, and walked out of the room.
While he went down the hallway and out of the building, he had been thinking about how exactly he would present this ability to the AD.
The Devil told him that it had been suppressed in some way, but he never explained it in too much detail.
He was not sure if the ability would be as powerful, or if it would severely diminish in power…
And he didn't even know how to properly call it out!
I'll just wing it, and whatever happens.. happens!
With this mindset in mind, Yoel was sure to meet many obstacles on his way, so he decided that he would at least try using his enigma while he ran.
He did not have high hopes, but he decided to test his luck anyway.
So as he ran, he extended his hand outwards and thought:
Move.
He waited a second, then another.. after a few seconds had passed, nothing had changed in the scenery.
Bypassers were looking at him weirdly, many noticing who he was because that specific area was lately populated by new students.
This only served to show that many others who were in that exam had managed to awaken enigmas of their own, allowing them to live and escape the dangerous jungle they had been trapped in.
Yoel really wasn't that special, even if he had awakened an enigma that could beat that gigantic ape, many others had exactly the same happen to them, he assumed.
After realizing that he had been distracted by the other people, he shook his head in frustration and once again focused in front of him.
This time, he turned to the shadow of a tree, and beckoned the shadows to come to life…
The shadows surged, under the authority of his command… is what should have happened, but instead, Yoel found himself looking at his face and body from the ground.
There had only been one problem.
Why was he looking at himself? And why had the world lost its colors?!
Now, the only colors Yoel could perceive were several shades of grey and a very dark purple, which mostly acted as an outline to objects…
Yoel was looking at himself through the shadow of the tree, his body now an amalgamation of purple and grey.
And similarly, as Yoel tried to turn his head around, he saw many others in purple and grey shades.
Coincidentally, he had turned to face someone who had been firing off an enigma ability of their own..
Whatever ability it was, it had been manifested in the form of an orb, which the student had been hovering over their hand.
Yoel could precisely see where the orb ended and where it floated...
Because the entirety of it had been covered in different shades of purple.
Its center had been filled with a bright, almost pink shade of purple… and as Yoel moved his eyes outward, he observed the color of it start to dim, instead growing into a darker shade…
Yoel was beginning to form a pattern in his mind.
Mundane things were colored in grey, and whatever was in purple, or accompanied by purple meant that it had been formed by Avon, or at least contained hints of it.
Undoing his enigma, Yoel felt a frown take over his face.
This had been a new side to his enigma, but it was not the side which he wished to access.
He wanted to bring forth the destructive power he had used against the disgusting ape back then, but no matter how many times he tried, the result was the same.
And for the cherry on top, the number of times he fell while he tried to walk and maintain his ability did not help him keep his composure.
In fact, many people had already witnessed this event happen.
So now, Yoel was headed for the Enigma Training Facility to get his enigma confirmed by the AD, with little of his previous confidence remaining.
He was cursing almost audibly enough for people walking past him to hear, but then again, he did not really care.
I'm about to get my ass handed to me by the AD, goddammit!
I guess, this is what that damned Devil meant when he said he would suppress that ability of his.
Surely, the AD wouldn't be that strict, if Yoel could somehow explain the situation, he was sure that they wouldn't interrogate him too much.
…
Who was he kidding?
There was no way.
With a deep sigh, Yoel gave up on all attempts at regaining his composure, and simply let his shoulders sink.
With half-assed determination, he walked into the Enigma Training Facility…