---

"Look at the sky. So blue. The color your students are going to get beaten into."

Zeke lay sprawled in the teachers’ lounge, his legs resting on the head of the chair in front of him—the chair occupied by Aldric. He had gathered with his reluctant "friends"—Elio, Camille, Beckett, and, surprisingly, Aldric—to watch the students begin the assessment.

"I actually can’t argue with that," Beckett said, his eyes fixed on the students in the spectators’ stand.

"I can." Camille’s voice carried a note of defiance. "Mr. Elio has students who can beat yours. Three kings. And, surprisingly, the remaining two from your trio."

"And I have one of the kings. Or rather, a queen."

"Beckett has a king as well." Camille’s smile was smug.

"Aiya." Beckett shook his head, still smiling. "Such a shame students with more than one field can only choose their main field to represent."

"Remove your legs, you bastard." Aldric twisted in his seat to face Zeke. "The assessment is not an avenue to pitch your students against each other. It’s to see what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown all year."

Zeke sneered and opened his mouth to respond, but Elio spoke first.

"That’s why you’re teaching an A class." He took a slow drag of his cigar. "Who cares if your theory is good? Do you think demons or monsters care for theory?"

"And do you think the academy didn’t want us to compare our students?" Elio continued. "Tell that to the inter-field section of the assessment."

---

The assessment was divided into three sections.

The first was the normal academic section, testing theoretical knowledge. It contributed twenty-five percent to the final evaluation rank.

The second was the monster-fighting section. Students faced monsters of the same rank if they were in F to A classes, and one rank above if they were in S class. SS-ranked students faced five SS-ranked monsters, either all at once or sequentially, with their condition from the previous fight retained. The fight took place in a simulation where death was the ultimate decider; the conditions upon ejection did not affect their real bodies. This section contributed thirty-five percent to the final evaluation.

The final section was the inter-field combat: S-ranked students of one field against S-ranked students of another or the same field, also in the simulated grounds. It contributed forty percent to the final evaluation.

The evaluations were conducted by the dean and his cabinet—the vice dean, high bursar, grand archivist, lore keeper, and warden of discipline. They sat at the second-highest podium. The highest podium held the Emperor and his grand chancellor. Flanking the evaluators were the nobles and VIPs in the largest private section. Directly below them, but above the students, were the professors. The last section held the students and civilians of the empire.

---

"See, I know those are your intentions," Zeke said, grinning. "You want to tag-team my students."

"Well, bring it on. My students are ready to play anytime."

"The students that matter already have their fighting spirits ignited toward your students." Elio snorted.

"It’s almost unfair." Beckett’s insufferable smile remained in place. "You have five good contenders. I and the lovestruck professor only have one. Well, I can’t even count on my own."

"It seems you’re like me," Camille sighed, ignoring the "lovestruck professor" tag. "You don’t care for the top of the academy."

"It’s my ten students against seven of yours put together."

"It’s five against seven." Elio blew a puff of cigar smoke. "Do you think S-ranked students count? This is a battle of SS-ranked students. Get the ants to sleep."

"Hah. What did you say?" Zeke kicked the head of the chair to pull himself up, jabbing his face toward Elio. "Those S-ranked ants would give any other SS rank a run for their money. Who asked the rest of the students to be monsters?"

"Our students are monsters as well," Camille defended, mostly defending Elio.

"Hey, stop kicking." Aldric turned back to complain.

Zeke waved his hands dismissively.

---

Seventy percent of the class of weirdos had reached SS rank during their eight months of training.

The Winchester duo led the charge. Dean had begun his ascent to sainthood, having maxed out his stats at SS rank—one of three students to do so. Kenshin and Daemion were the second and third.

Zephyr, Virelle, and Seraphin remained S-ranked, with Seraphin closest to SS rank and Zephyr holding the lowest stat points. Aelric held the position of having the lowest stat points at SS rank. Nyssara and Rhaegar were also SS-ranked.

The trio—Seraphin, Virelle, and Zephyr—had failed to reach SS rank due to luck and talent. According to what Zeke later discovered, aside from the freakish inhabitants of his home world, people needed moments of respite after taking stat potions. The acclimation gap varied by individual talent. And, according to Nox, different worlds had different inherent traits or buffs that their inhabitants were blessed with. Luck played a part in the amount of stat points gained from a potion.

The kings—Kya, Eden, and Khan—were SS-ranked as well, according to their professors. Jude remained S-ranked. Elijah was a mystery that Beckett claimed to have a hard time deciphering, but none of them trusted Beckett. For the sake of their mental health, they assumed he was SS-ranked as well. The last of the seven the three professors had hopes for were Aaron and Kai. Kai had reached SS rank; Aaron was just a step away, still S-ranked.

The situation raised the professors’ eyebrows, but they had the decency not to ask about others’ secrets—with the sole exception of Aldric. When he asked, the trio—Elio, Camille, and Beckett—joined Zeke in teasing him, effectively not answering his question.

---

"You know, it’s actually a scam having Aaron fight the S-ranked students," Zeke complained. "He’s effectively ten S-rank people."

"I thought you said your S-ranked students could give any SS rank a run for their money." Elio’s voice dripped with mockery.

"And from what I hear, you have a cloner in there."

"What!?" Zeke gasped dramatically. "Who leaked it?"

"You!" Aldric said, exasperated.

"Mm-mm." Camille nodded. "When we asked where your students were, you said you copied an ability to make a clone, which you kept by their side as they trained. The location of the training is the only thing you kept secret."

"You say that as though I go around spilling other secrets." Zeke waved a hand. "At least I didn’t tell you who she was."

"You did. And even if you didn’t, you just lowered the odds and made finding her easier."

Aldric had given up on Zeke. This bastard was a basket case.

"Well, at least I didn’t tell you she was the one with silver hair, black clothes, the oldest in my class, and that her name was Virelle." Zeke’s expression was smug.

Aldric was maddened. If he could just strangle this dumb bastard. The trio beside him were holding back laughter.

"Okay, that’s enough." Elio let out a laugh. "I don’t think Aldric can take any more of your stupidity."

"Wait, he was joking?" Aldric looked at them, genuinely confused, his face morphing into genuine anger as he realized he had been teased.

"Oh, Aldric, you really are fun to have at parties." Zeke laughed.

Aldric was taken aback. How did he know? Hmph. I guess you can’t hide excellence after all. His annoyed expression turned into a pleased smile.

"Hmph. Of course. As a noble such as myself, I’ve been to many parties, and I’ve always been fun at them."

The trio could not contain their laughter anymore.

"So innocent," Beckett said.

Why are they laughing? Aldric ran his gaze over the trio, unable to understand. He caught another professor in his side eye and turned to see if he was listening—which would be the case even if he didn’t purposely listen. When he stared at the professor, he saw a consoling smile.

These bastards were teasing him?

"You bast—"

Let’s not listen to him cuss them out.

---

"Why are you still weak?" Kenshin asked Jude as he walked closer. "The other one has surpassed you."

"Because I don’t need the extra boost at the moment." Jude met his gaze.

"Why don’t you try to fight him without the stat difference?" Khan teased.

---

The kings and the class of weirdos had moved closer together through a series of coincidences. The trio—Jude, Aaron, and Kai—watched the lower-ranked classes fight together. They had left their sections and camped around Yeon and Anton, a decision prompted by Kai. Michael sat in the VIP section as a result of his organization reaching the top ten. Only Yeon and Anton sat together in the "normal" section.

To prevent a fight outside the pit from erupting, Kai suggested they accompany them. The kings joined them later, having been looking for Jude. According to Khan, the assessment was boring, and to cure boredom, one should be around friends. As for the class of weirdos, Aaron spotted them in his peripheral vision and waved toward Dean. Noticing them and the kings, Kenshin and Dean walked over. They were the ones acquainted with the two groups; the rest of the class resigned themselves and followed. Thus, the strongest set of first-year students gathered together.

The students who had intended to stay around when the kings arrived, upon seeing the lineup, simply fled. Just breathing might draw aggro from the Twin Stars of Destruction.