(Julius Argenti POV)

"Ahh!"

I suddenly shot up sitting upright, taking deep breaths. The last thing I remembered was the death hornets attacking us and me falling unconscious.

'Where am I?'

I analysed my surroundings. I seemed to be in a large white room. I quickly understood it was an infirmary.

"Ah, you're awake Julius."

I turned to my left and saw Violet, James and Amina waiting next to my bed.

"What happened?"

"You saved us, Jules. If wasn't for you stalling the hornets in those last minutes, we would all become insect food."

Amina smiled gratefully at me. From her words, the last moments of the attack suddenly came back to me.

The moment when Mrs Rumbles appeared. Being able to destroy the swarm with a swing of her hand.

They all looked at me as if I was their hero. But I wasn't.

'I was going to abandon you guys. I would've used you as bait and escaped.'

I wanted to tell them that. Yet I felt as if my throat went dry. I didn't want them to think badly of me. I didn't want to lose them.

Violet and James who were my best friends in my previous lives and Amina who I practically grew up with.

'But would I sacrifice them for my life?'

I'd probably hesitate but if it came down it...

'Yes, I would.'

'God, I hate myself.'

I chuckled a bit before collapsing on my pillow.

"Are you alright Julius?"

Violet, unaware of my thoughts questioned my well-being.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. Anyhow, where are we?"

"We're in Ausburn Tree Resort in Ausburn Park. The training camp was cancelled early we are going to stay here until we depart."

Violet explained.

"Yeah, that death hornet swarm attack wasn't a part of camp training."

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

James interjected.

"No shit."

That was extremely obvious from how we nearly died.

"And I heard that a class nearly all got killed from the attack."

Amina also added a comment.

"Really?"

"We don't really know. The teacher will explain it to us tonight in the dining hall."

Violet finished retelling everything that they knew.

"Well... Ok. I'll come down for dinner. I'm going to rest till then. And by the way, you guys can call me Jules like Amina. No need to be formal."

"Yeah ok, Juli... Jules."

Viole hesitated before committing to it.

"And for your information Jules your room is 812 with me."

James on the other hand had no qualms about calling me by my nickname.

***

I tried to sleep but too many thoughts were circulating in my mind.

'Why did a death hornet appear so suddenly.'

'Was this caused by someone? But why did Ataxia target us.'

Many other questions ran through my mind and being unable to answer all of them made me stare at the white ceiling for hours.

I was told that I suffered from mana exhaustion and would recover fully in couple hours.

Soon a nurse came in and told me that the class was having dinner and asked if I wanted to come. I nodded and followed her to the dining hall.

The dining hall was massive, with tables lining the entire room. On the left side of the room were chafing dishes, though currently only filled with boiling water.

Massive chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling with a bright red carpet covering the floor. It truly was a 5-star resort.

Contrasting this was a solemn atmosphere. Everyone had gloomy looks on their faces and I could hear people from class 9A crying. They were missing a third of their class.

Normally this hall would be filled it noisy chatter but it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Sometimes you could hear some students whisper to each other before quietening.

After what felt like an hour of awkward silence, though in reality was only 5 minutes, Mrs Rumbles came to the stage.

Normally the stage was used by performers to entertain guests while they were eating but now was used to deliver a solemn message.

She spoke for a couple of minutes, apologising for the deaths of the students and mentioning other things.

I honestly didn't care so I zoned out and checked my phone. SUITE came in clutch and pulled all the information they could off the USB.

Though it wasn't much. All it was information about some mages. Most of them were only names of irrelevant D and 3 C rank mages. There were only 8 names that caught my eye, 7 of them being B ranks and 1 A rank.

Especially the A rank. He was one of the most famous mages in the human continent after the S rank. He was an S rank seed and had many contributions in the war.

But I was confused about these names. They had nothing in common, whether it be age, rank or birthplace.

The people at SUITE also realised this and dug further into their background, whether be public information or hidden records.

As I read further my doubts were cleared and my eyes widened in surprise. Just as I was about to exclaim in shock, I realised that I was still in the dining hall.

People were looking at me weirdly. I apologised to them before paying attention to the stage. Mrs Rumbles shot me an angry look before continuing with her speech.

Soon the speech ended and dinner was served. Finally, after the food arrived people started talking normally and discussing the contents of the speech.

But I didn't care about that. I was distracted by the information just revealed. If our deductions were correct, humanity would be embroiled in another conflict that could kill millions.

And if I was correct, then we would the Franz Ferdinand that would start the war. My theory was further backed up by today's unexpected events.

The first thing I did was tell Veronica about my suspicions. Unlike last time, this information was backed up by facts instead of a baseless hunch.

I also prepared myself for the consequences of revealing SUITE to Mrs Rumbles. If we were the target, then as the strongest here, she needed to know.