I could hear the roars of the new students as they chatted amongst themselves offstage.
"I wonder what the academy is gonna be like?"
"You think I can get a girlfriend before winter?"
"With those monsters in Class S, we're just extras."
But my attention wasn't focused on them, it was instead focused on my phone as I glared down at the staff groupchat.
[Lilllian: Lucien can you help me with this hydra]
[Kyle: Principal I'm stuck fighting against this dragon]
[Thomas: This minotaur is tough]
[Lucien: What tf are you guys doing it's like five minutes till we're all supposed to be up there]
I sighed and I swear a vein was popping from my forward.
Mana fluctuated around me as if it was wind and it just a few moments.
"You guys are really such a bother."
I raised my hand as waves crashed and turned around the beast standing before me.
The howling winds blew against my messy black hair and my hat–yet my eyes didn't falter for even a moment.
Lillian was sitting down on a nearby beach resting as the hydra was a tough match for her fire magic.
I was met with the hydra's roar as water began rising into tentacle-like attacks launching at me.
In just an instance the tentacles were inches from reaching me, yet it never did.
[Mana Commandment: Destroy]
The waters fell back down as if nothing had happened–the seas returned to a natural calm.
The hydra?
Collapsed into the water, completely dead.
A red blur dashed across the water and the hydra disappeared completely,
but I quickly caught that stupid little blur in the clutches of my hand.
"Hah..."
My hat almost fell off in the roaring winds in this vast sea and my deep green eyes lingered on that damn blur as I held my hat.
"It's rude to hold a woman by their shirt, you know?"
She still had the audacity to complain even after doing this.
"You have three minutes left professor better hurry up."
I teleported her offstage and quickly once again appeared before another fantastical creature as my damn coworker sat in a corner.
This time I didn't spare a single second and annihilated it without even giving it a chance to think.
I teleported back and just outright chucked him at Lillian and teleported away.
A damp hollow dungeon with absolutely no signs of life except for a single burly man who stood against a minotaur
holding its axe in place with his bare hands.
"Thomas, I didn't think you'd resort to this like those other two bastards"
'I thought I could trust you, Thomas.'
Masking my betrayal, I raised my hand, and it shimmered in a bright blue light that enveloped the dim room and killed everything before it.
I let out a sigh as all the professors were offstage standing next to me and there was still three minutes left before our entrance.
"You really have your work cut out for you, huh Lucien?"
A familiar man commented, his voice gently yet steady, the type of professor all students would want.
Kind, dependable, and downright handsome.
"Shut up, William."
I replied to him quickly as I tried to remember the speech that I had prepared for the students.
'Eh, I'll just wing it like every year.'
It was time,
The professor strode in as if nothing happened and calmly took their seats and I walked out silencing all the students before me.
I recognized the front row, I mean they were the main cast of The Rise of The Forgotten Prince.
Speaking of the Forgotten Prince, I looked towards the very first seat.
However, what sat there completely shocked me instead of a golden-haired pretty boy a boy with deep blue eyes and raven black hair calmy sat.
He looked at me as if he were analyzing me down to my very core.
Of course, I wasn't bothered by this.
He could look all he wants.
'Guess it's a butterfly effect. I mean have been here for a while.'
I could only assume I accidentally saved a random genius kid during the war.
I shrugged it off and began giving my speech,
"Hello there all, I'm Lucien Polstrey, the principal of Novius Academy. I'll be personally teaching class S as well as overseeing the academy."
I started out with a basic introduction, really nothing special.
"All of you need to be strong because this world simply isn't for the weak."
I said as small glimpses of war appeared around the crowd, fires, destruction, the brutal rampaging of demons.
The students who whispered about how boring this was were silenced as not a single voice spoke.
"I won't babysit you nor always come to save the day. Learn well and be strong. Only the strong get a say in this world."
And with that the illusions faded, and I walked off the stage.
Lillian announced a couple of things, and the student council president gave a small speech before the students dispersed.
***
"You're always so hard on them with your speeches, Lucien."
William remarked as he looked through a small stack of papers.
"It's a reminder of our high standards and I didn't lie, did I?"
"No, you didn't."
He passed me a few papers and quickly took his leave.
"This is the new Class S."
'Huh, Ren Valrona, a ducal son. How have I never heard of him.'
I went through some possibilities in my head as I looked through the other names listed on the papers.
'He could be a transmigrator like me.'
At least the other names were familiar:
Rank 2 Lucifer Kalen, Rank 3 Cale Arcanium,
Rank 4 Alexis Waywinder, Rank 5, Christina Caelus,
and Rank 6, Irene Selium.
'The main story finally begins, and this time I'll be a part of it.'
I've already spent years in this novel. I've made unforgettable memories,
met lifelong companions, despaired hundreds of times, and yet I was still here.
I had risen past all the obstacles in my path and become an Archmage.
The 13th Archmage, The Archmage of Mana.
Author's Note:
Bit of a shorter chapter to start, but what do you think so far?