As the bus jerked to a stop, I arrived at the City of Hearts, where Persona Academy was located. According to Master’s instructions, I should stop at the Central Station where Persona Academy was located North of me. Once I was dressed in Persona Academy’s uniform, which consisted of a black blazer, white dress shirt, black pants, and blue tie, I headed off towards the Academy.
After around thirty minutes of wandering around looking for Persona Academy, I knew that I was lost. It seems that I had gotten lost due to my eyes browsing the city. I’ve never been to a city before so I did not know how one looked like. However, as I continued to wander around, I came across a young boy who looked like my age, wearing the same uniform as me.
The boy had long blue hair which he tied up into a ponytail, and deep blue eyes like the ocean at night. His figure was slim and his stature was taller than me, at around 180 cm. However, as I approached the blue haired boy, he seemed to have noticed me and greeted me first.
“Yo! You must be a first year of Persona Academy.”
“Huh?..How did you know I was a first year?”
“From your tie. Blue stands for first year, red stands for second year, and black stands for third year. My name is Aiex Tsukaru by the way. Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you, my name is Jin Crimson. Would it trouble you to lead me to Persona Academy?”
“Sure! I’m on my way there as well.”
The reason I introduced myself as ‘Jin Crimson’ and not as Jin Phantasma Crimson was according to Master’s instructions. When Master took me in, he gave me his last name. The reason for this was so that people wouldn’t find out I’m half-Phantom due to my other last name, Phantasma.
As we walked towards Persona Academy, we traded stories about our masters and how harsh their training was. Aiex seemed to be a pretty lively person; someone you wouldn’t mind hanging out with.
“I’m surprised you don’t know who I am. My family is known for its dominance in lightning magic.”
“I don’t get out much really…Since you came from a prestigious family, I’m guessing a God already blessed you?”
“You can say that. When my dad died three years ago, the God that blessed him, Zeus, chose me over my older brother. My brother was really angry when that happened. Since I didn’t like the sibling rivalry, I decided to go to Persona Academy instead of the one my older brother is currently attending.”
“Ah..I see. I’m sorry.”
“Haha. Don’t worry about it! By the way, is that strange marking on your left hand your seal? Which god blessed you?”
“That...I don’t know. If you can, I’d like to not talk about it.”
“I see..Strange. Oh well.”
Arriving at the front gate of Persona Academy, we were met by two guards bearing a symbol of a golden dragon, the Pendragons. I had no hatred for the guard since they simply worked under the Pendragon; rather, the people who I was really after were those who sat at the top of the Pendragon family.
As I parted ways with Aiex, I asked one of the guards to lead me to the Headmaster’s office to hand him Master’s leader.
As the guard led me to where the Headmaster was, he gave me a little tour of the campus. However, since the academy was so huge, we only had time for him to explain two buildings to me. The first building was the dorm, a simple three-story building which was said to have a spa, lounge, and kitchen. Those who lived in the dorm were people who came to study at Persona academy from far away and had no place to stay. According to the guards, the people who stayed in the dorm were exchange students from other countries.
The second building, the Hall of Learning, was our destination. The first floor were where all first-years learned; the second floor was for second-years, third floor for third-years, and the fourth floor was for teachers’ use. The fourth floor was also where the nurse’s office and teachers’ lounge was located; all seemingly normal. However, in the middle of the fourth floor, there was a giant door which could only be described as a huge waste of space, bearing a plaque which read “Headmaster : Gaeleath Terra.”
“Headmaster! You have a guest!”
“Come in.”
The voice sounded surprisingly young but I felt that there were years of intellect in the tone. As the door opened, I felt an immense presence surging from an odd looking figure. I readied to summon my weapon, in case there was going to be a battle but suddenly, the intense atmosphere subsided.
“What… was that?” I inquired curiously.
“Hohoho, you can feel my aura? Who might you be, interesting fellow?”
The odd looking figure was a man who looked no more than twenty-five years old. He had medium-length red hair that was split in the middle and shining green eyes like emeralds. Sticking out from the sides of his head were a set of ears that were too long to be called ‘Normal’. I can’t say I wasn’t surprised. Upon first glance, you could immediately tell that he was an elf. I thought they were mythical creatures of the books that I read from Master’s collection.
“That was shocking…”
“Boy you were pretty rude to be shocked by my appearance. Did you not know of the other races that lived on Victus? Listen, Victus is home to eight different races excluding Phantoms : Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, Elementals, Vampires, Valkyries, and Dragonkins. The City of Hearts have a greater human population so that’s why when you arrived, you didn’t see any other races around you.”
“Ahh. How do you distinguish between the different races besides some of the obvious?”
“That, you’ll learn during class.”
As I drove the conversation back to the main topic, I handed Master’s letter to the Headmaster. Headmaster read the letter with a smile but then, his face turned serious. Nearing the end of the letter, his face distorted into shock but soon after,
“Hahaha you’re an interesting fellow indeed. To think that you’re half phantom and that you’d go against the Pendragon, the highest ranking nobles of this city! But… do you really not know which god blessed you?”
“Ahh yes. I had no contact with the god that blessed me. I got the seal days after my mother passed away. It was really unexpected.”
“Hmm…I see. Alright! I approve of your enrollment in this academy. But first, you have to take a test.”
“A test?!”
“Yes. It starts at the auditorium, so why don’t we head over there now?”
“....Okay.”
‘A test right off the bat?!’ I thought to myself as I let out a sigh. I really despised tests since they were filled with gruesome punishments from Master whenever I fail. I had no escape from it so I followed the Headmaster unwillingly.
Arriving at the auditorium, it was completely empty besides for the staff members and a machine taking up most of the stage.
“That machine right there is the ‘Power Scanner’. It will scan you and assess your body, weapon potential and god potential. As you know, most people that come to this academy don’t start out with a God’s blessing, like yourself, but have the potential to be blessed by a god. After being scanned, they’ll be given an artificially-made basic seal of their weapon potential to be used in the second test.”
As I already had a seal, I was not required to be scanned. However, I had no idea who the god of my seal was so I had my body scanned. The results were :
Name : Jin Crimson
Height : 170 cm
Eye Color : Black
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Hair Color : Black
Gender : Male
Age : 15
Weapon Potential : Sword
God Potential : Not Found
It seemed that the god of my seal was not in their database, so the god potential displayed ‘Not Found’. Upon looking at my results, Headmaster burst out in laughter once more, patted my back with an enormous amount of strength,and commented again on how interesting I am.
As we headed toward the second part of the test, Headmaster gave me a quick explanation. The second test was a test of combat prowess. The student had to face either a third year of the school or a staff member of the school and survive for at least two minutes. If they survived for two minutes, they’d pass but if not, they would have their admission revoked.
The test took place in the arena, a huge dome-shaped building with a transparent protective barrier. The barrier was placed by the nurse, using the power of Angitia, to prevent death. All wounds inflicted would be healed after battle and life-threatening attacks would not kill, but instead cause the person to faint. Inside the arena were six platforms of 20m by 20m. It seemed the six platforms were originally one but was separated for the convenience of testing. Above the six platforms was a protective barrier created by a magical tool, to shield the audience from any stray attacks or flying debris.
Immediately after entering, the Headmaster told one of the guards to call for their captain. The Headmaster wanted to know the full extent of my skill so he wanted me to face the guard captain. He even gave me the option of reducing the survival time to one minute since he didn’t want me to fail but I refused.
The guard captain approached. He was a middle-age man around 40 years. He had short blond hair with blue eyes and a tall stature. His arrogant face reminded me of someone I despised. He introduced himself as Richard Pendragon, brother of the current Pendragon head. Hearing the name Pendragon, my hatred flared from the depths of my heart. I gave him a malicious look but he ignored it with an arrogant snort.
“Sir you called?”
“Yes, Richard. I want you to face this student.”
“Sir please don’t joke around. Do you really want him to fail that badly?”
“Hahaha. I don’t think he’d fail. He is from that Crimson family after all!”
“The Crimson family you say?!!”
Upon hearing the name Crimson, Richard’s face seemed to have turned red with anger. It seemed the Headmaster mentioned that I was from the Crimson family to manipulate Richard into accepting his proposal. Going according to his plan, Richard accepted and became my examiner.
As Richard and I approached one of the platforms, I hear murmurs from students in the audience belittling me since my opponent was the guard captain. The headmaster decided to be our match’s referee, and as the referee, he explained the rules to us:
1. If you knock your opponent out of the ring, you win.
2. If you knock your opponent out, you win.
3. Special rule : If the student were to survive two minutes, he would be designated as the victor.
“Both sides ready?”
“Yes.”
“Begin!”
As the Headmaster announced the start of the match, I summoned my sword, ‘Twilight Cutter,’ a sword as black as night and charged straight at the guard captain. Richard summoned a regular iron sword and parried my assault, following up with a sideway slash. As I back flipped to dodge it, my uniform was scratched.
Recovering from my flip, I braced myself for Richard’s assault. As Richard strike downward, I dodged with a side step but it was a feint. I then blocked his side kick with my sword and used the force as momentum to create distance. With the distance, I built up speed and assaulted Richard with ten consecutive blazing strikes.
“Crimson Art : Dance of the Fire Flower”
In a panic, Richard took a defensive stance and attempted to block the onslaught. However, I was still able to land a solid blow to his side. After receiving the heavy blow, Richard lost his balance and fell to the ground. Seeing that he was knocked down by an examinee, and a Crimson at that, his anger has reached its peak.
As he used his sword as support to stand up he yelled out, “I won’t be done in by the likes of a student! Especially by someone from the Crimson family!!”
“Hmph. My master told me once, ‘Don’t let emotions control your actions; rather, be calm and think before you act.’ You let your anger get out of control, and that is why you will lose.”
“What?!”
As I coldly gazed at Richard’s ugly distorted face with pity, I flashed past him; dealing a single decisive strike to end the battle.
“Crimson Art : Burst Flare.”
The impact of my attack sent Richard across the platform, eventually exiting the boundary of the ring. I had won.
“The winner is Jin Crimson!” As the Headmaster announced my victory, the audience fell into shock. Richard was carried away, and the guards gazed at me hatefully. It was expected since I did defeat their captain.
Later on that day, as I arrived at the dorm entrance, I was greeted by a beautiful woman dressed in a white lab coat. She had luscious long green hair with gentle hazel eyes. On her head were two long green horns extending straight up. She emitted a strong aura similar to Master and the Headmaster.
“Hello. My name is Varelia Aeros, a dragonkin of the Wind Dragon, Aeriosphyl. From today on, I’ll be your dorm advisor and school nurse.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Jin Crimson. I’ll be in your care.”
After giving my farewell and gratitude to the Headmaster, Varelia gave me a tour of the dorm. The lounge, kitchen, and spa were on the first floor. The males lived on the second floor while the females lived on the third. There were toilets on all floors and showers on the second and third floor. During the tour, Varelia explained the dorm rules to me.
“The dorm will be providing you with breakfast at 7:00 AM and dinner at 6:00 PM while the school provides you with lunch. Of course, there are rules involving this dorm :
1. Males are forbidden from entering the third floor after 5:00 PM.
2. Get along with the other residences.
3. Don’t make a mess in your room.
4. No fights inside the dorm. If you fight inside my hou- I mean the dorm I’ll personally kill you.
Got it?”
“Yes….”
There was something strange about that last rule. While explaining it, Varelia had a gentle smile on her face. However, I couldn’t help but be extremely suspicious of that smile. Receiving the key to Room 206, I headed into my room to find my luggage already on the bed. The rest of the day went by peacefully as I prepared myself for my daily life at the academy.