"Yes! what beautiful colors, white, red, and green. I can't make myself choose one. But today is a special occasion, I'd have to choose red, yes definitely. Red suits me very well.

I wear my ribbons red, like the passion in my heart burning away the abyss. I am the red fire dancing in the wind, I am your beacon of hope, falling in the darkness.

I am a murder, for my dearest friend, I am your fatal wound and the smile of its perpetrator. "

Dominus Karl felt today to be a sunny day, even if he knew that in Ceres there was no sun. Only a white agglomerate of light that did not deign them with their presence. It was as if the white sun purposely kept all its rays for itself, uncaring for all the lives below.

He loathed it, Dominus Karl was sure about it, one day, if not him it would be somebody else.

To destroy the fake sun and shatter the dark reality that occluded all of Ceres.

The old hunched individual stood up from his dearest chair, stretching all his limbs with a brimming wide smile. He trimmed his long white beard and hopped over to a wide mahogany table. Over it were multiple sets of half-top hats and bow ties of different colors.

Today it had to be red.

He quickly chose a black hat and a red bow tie. He picked up one of his trusty wooden canes and left his apartment, directed towards the Academy.

Back at the inner grounds of the academy, a group spanning about a dozen of people had just arrived. Leading them was none other than Dominus Karl.

"Lord Dominus, I am honored by your presence, I wonder what brought you here."

Captain cole upon seeing Mr. Domino's arrival immediately bowed as per military etiquette. As a Lord, Mr.Domino was higher than him by two ranks, and his titles had been earned with blood and sweat.

"At ease Captain, I have not come here for you and was waiting for an 'appointment' here at the academy. Yet I heard quite the commotion and followed right behind the infirmary team. Care to explain."

Mr. Domino's tranquil tone did not help ease Cole's tense expression, but fortunately, he knew he wasn't in the wrong this time. Thus he started a detailed report of what had happened just a while ago.

"... Yes Sir! This is exactly what happened, I am also sure she must be a relative of the Marquis. Here, I have her proof of authority if you need further examination."

Ending the narration of all that happened, Cole handed Karla's black coin to his superior officer.

"I see, it must be true then. Take back the coin and continue what you were doing, I'll handle this mess and call a 'mortician' to deal with the corpses. Also, I must still reprimand you, do not get the children involved with the grown-ups' affairs, alright?"

A verbal warning was the best outcome for Cole's brutality, murder wasn't seen lightly in Ceres. Of course, this case could be, somewhat, considered self-defense, even so, a mighty fine was about to come his way.

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Cole knew that much on his own, it was a calculated risk as they probably would not give an officer of the army exemplary punishment, they were much needed elsewhere. One couldn't go too far, otherwise, he wouldn't be much different than an enemy.

"Come here, little canary, do not fear. Have a sweet, everything will be ok, the bad boy here won't hurt you anymore."

Mr. Dominos' calm voice assured Karla, that was currently in a state of shock, crying on the ground. Even Cole was now aware of how hard he had hit the young lady, and at the same time left a horrific impression on the trainees.

That was it, he had to strike them now into fine weapons so that they wouldn't break later on. It was the right thing to do, even if he had to become their villain.

"Now that everything will be taken care of, Alais and Alex begin! And also, Green, you didn't get to fight yet, I will be your opponent soon after they finish.

Karla, get Nestor up I want you to fight as well."

A monster wearing human skin, that's what e had to be. Cole didn't care, he was as cold as the blood-stained ground just below her feet. Fine! If he wanted to play this game, she had to simply tag along, obey and wait for the right opportunity.

For Karla it had always been like this, it was her and her alone, none truly cared for her. But she still managed to keep going.

"Oh no, my little canary, do not wake him now for it is not time yet. The young Nestor is in the middle of an important spiritual process. He's cultivating a mantra, of course, you wouldn't know, but your instructor should have been more careful. Right?"

Being reprimanded for the second time in a single day was something that happened very rarely for the knight. For a moment he started sweating out cold, recollecting his younger days as a cadet himself.

"Sir, you're telling me he's practicing soul augmentation right this moment? How could he be this reckless."

Cole was genuinely speechless, he didn't have the words to defend himself. The thought of checking Nestor out simply didn't cross his mind, the personnel of the infirmary had come to heal him already. He saw him walking just fine soon after and didn't spare him one more glance.

If he did he would have surely noticed the energy fluctuations around him. Nobody would decide to practice soul augmentation in front of strangers like that, as you would enter a particular trance and would be unable to defend yourself from any harm.

"What a cheeky fellow, of course, he would, what place would be safer than under the eye of a veteran knight such as yourself?

He couldn't predict the involvement of the Marquis' guards, that's a given, but you handled them just fine. Now now, get back to work, I'd be sure to protect the little soldier here."

The captain didn't wait for Mr.DOmino to repeat himself twice and watched the next duel.

Alex, the fatty of this batch of trainees was very clumsy, had no particular form, and wasn't keen on fighting. He was the least promising of them all, and Cole doubted him even getting past their first mission.

Alais on the other end, was one of the best among the trainees, without a doubt. She was fast, extremely agile, and had good movements. There was only one element that took her away from the cadet's podium, she lacked endurance. He already saw it during the first day of training, and she didn't perform as well.

Alais was wielding a silvery curved sword, the shape of a crescent moon. While Alex had a very simple straight sword, his legs were slightly shaking every so often. He was afraid of both hurting himself and his opponent.

Which to Cole seemed quite strange, since the world they came from was one of violence, where various martial artists competed against each other. Or he had been told.

Which led to another question, how was Karla related in any way to Marquis Van Albert?

He would find out one way or another, yes, there was still much time before they were sent to a real battlefield. He would make sure to know about it before it happened.

Alais was the first to make a move, with wide strides closed into her opponent, wishing to end the fight as quickly as possible.

Seeing the enemy approach this quickly Alex panicked and trusted his sword forward by instinct, only to find no resistance whatsoever. Alais had elegantly dodged Alex's sharp blade with elegant steps as if executing a beautiful dance.

Everything went on very quickly, and before he knew Alex found himself with multiple wounds over his torso.

He had no chance to win the duel, he knew that much but was still afraid to withdraw. Witnessing Captain Cole murdering two people in cold blood had left in him an even deeper fear. He couldn't refuse to fight and could forfeit it either.

Yet, no matter how much he tried, his blade couldn't reach Alais, she would always elegantly avoid every hit, only to inflict more wounds soon after.

'I was going easy on him so that he would surrender and make this quick, he should have realized it by now. Does he want to keep this going? No, I can't let this keep going, my stamina won't permit me to. Fatty, it won't go your way.'

Surprisingly enough, Alais' speed suddenly increased as she darted forward, now aiming for Alex's vitals, tendons, and more painful weak spots. She had to win, for her burden was so much heavier. If to do that someone had to suffer, so be it.

It was not like she did not give Alex any signals beforehand. It was he that made her get to this point, right?

Yet as her blade was about to hit him straight in the chest, she suddenly stopped.

"It's my win, I don't think we need to continue the fight anymore, right Cole?"

She felt her tongue move on its own, and a cold, emotionless voice come out against her own will. Her body bent itself in a rigid bow and stepped out of the arena.

"Yes, I have lost. I will do better the next time, Captain."

The same was for Alex, he currently wasn't in control of his body, and it terrified him. But at least he knew the source of the anomaly, and exhaled a sigh of relief, or, well, he tried to.