They strangers' villainous enthusiasm caused the crowd to go silent. Everyone looked at them with shock an awe, were they truly from the Mesosphere? As I began to stand up, Blitz's behavior seemed to instantly change after hearing his blasphemous statement.

"Hey, Hugo, you're seeing what I'm seeing right?"

"Yeah."

"So then do you think this is a trick?"

"I... don't know."

It was a lot to take in if it were true. It has been over three thousand years since the layers were built to preserve the Earth, separating our social classes. The elite lived down on the surface of Earth, while we upper and middle class lived here on the Stratosphere layer. The Mesosphere though, was different. Apparently, The Patriarch, the one who organized and built the layers made an attempt to make the Mesosphere work with our resources. After a short while though, he declared that they no longer needed the other layers assistance. There are only very obscure details on why they no longer needed our assistance, but the world followed his words because he had already proven himself as a leader in the New Age of Stats. After time had begun to shape our new society, rumors began to be spread about the Mesosphere. They whispered the birth of monsters and corrupt machines, there were even rumors of them going feral and resorting to cannibalism as a way to survive. In the end though they were just rumors, because no one was able to go to the Mesosphere. The gravity bridges that connected them with us and the Earth surface were cut off, making traveling there extremely difficult.

But that was before today. Today, three people who claimed to be from the Mesosphere had crashed our orientation. One had metal bone like tentacles from their back and another had metal limbs. The girl though seemed the most normal, as she only seemed to be kind of mangey and had no physical altercations to her body, besides maybe her hair. After the silence that befell the crowd when the cloaked one made his statement, came the unwelcoming.

"What is that thing?!"

"He has arms coming from his back?! Disgusting."

"I'm going to vomit! This can't be real!"

The crowd continued to deny and throw insults at them. It was real. This was happening. I have tried to keep my thoughts reserved about the rumors as they never had any tangible proof, but they were standing in front of me. Disfigured and altered beyond recognition. My head began to spi as the insults continued to be heard.

"Send them back from where they came!"

"This shouldn't even be allowed! Why is this happening?!"

"They are gonna eat us, don't you know! They eat each other!"

"Not unless we do something about them first!"

The crowd then began to huddle around the disfigured beings while still keeping some distance between them. As everyone surrounded them, they stopped nearing them. They looked at each other with confused looks, debating who would make the first move. A flaw that wasn't realized during the people's tantrum had finally dawned upon them. They couldn't use their Stats as they lacked the necessary equipment to activate them, a release bracer. Moments later after continuous unspoken debate, someone had stepped forward.

"Allow me to deal with these wretched rats!"

He wore a yellow jacket and had long black hair. On the back of his jacket was a marking similar to that of a dragon's head. I felt as if I recognized it, but I couldn't quite pinpoint what it meant. As he took a few steps towards the causers of chaos, a spear emerged from the ground lock his path.

"I have seen quite enough of this pathetic behavior."

The director's presence suddenly oozed with a menacing aura. It felt that if you took one bad step you may lose a piece of your body. As he glared upon each of the students, he cleared his voice, readying himself for a speech.

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"It is true, these three are from the Mesosphere. Many of you may be wondering why is it that they may be here. As many of you might know, the position of director is the highest authority at any academy district. One thing many of you may not know is one of the biggest benefits to being having such a position, that benefits is getting your own designated domain. Within this domain, the director it is designated to has absolute authority."

He paused his speech to take a breath and stepped down off of the stage. He made his way between the crowded students towards the three "Mesophites". When he made it to the center he resumed.

"The domain I speak of is of course the academy district said director is in charge of."

He snapped his fingers and the spear that was sticking up from the ground teleported into his hand. He slammed down the blunt end of the spear before making a grand remark.

"I am Director Belrogue of the Academy District: Falcon! You all stand here at my school for either of the two following reasons! You either wish to learn how to maximize your Stat Values and become stronger, or you are forced here due to your own families' expectations of you! As you all are here you will face teachers, teachers under my jurisdiction! They do not care who you or your family is, they will not hold back on you as they have my permission to use the fullest lengths of their power! You will not be killed of course, but just know you will feel like dying, especially if you cannot keep with them! They are the some of the finest Stat users I have been able to hire for this place, so show them the respect you were unable to show these three today."

As he finished, his spear collapsed on itself making it vanish from existence. I would assume he had a trait that allowed him to create a limited number of weapons. When he turned towards the three mangey students, the one who was going to attack them blurted out

"So, we all are just supposed to accept the fact they are here?!"

The director stooped in place and turned his head towards him.

"They are here because I have the authority to house them here. My only wish is to create a school year of students that have unique backgrounds who normally wouldn't have the opportunity to attend here. So yes, you are supposed to accept the fact that they are attending this school."

"Bullshit! Do you know who my family is? Who my father is?! All it would take is a call and he would see them away personally!"

As the yellow jacketed student raised his hands into the air as if he were calling for an encore, a slashing sound could be heard.

*SHINK*

A moment of shock covered the crowds faces. As the raging student looked up at his right hand, he saw a spear extending from thin air piercing his palm. Confusion overtook his face before he started to scream in pain

"GYAAAAH-! WHAT THE FUCK?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST-!!"

He wasn't able to to finish because the spear pulled itself out of his bloodied palm causing him to stop and moved itself to the director's side. The director had the angriest look on his face he had displayed all evening. He turned toward and walked to the now kneeling student as he cried while gripping his wounded hand. The director stood over him and kneeled down to his level.

"You spoiled brat, did you not just hear a single fucking word I just said!? I AM the highest authority at this place! I know who your clan consists of, and I do not care. They have no hold over me while I am here in this domain, is that clear?!"

He then looked around at the other students as the looks on their faces now showed they had just realized the place and situation they were in. Belrogue did not care about the outside world, all that mattered was that we were in his world now. He created the rules of this place as much as he has the ability to bend them. It didn't matter whether or not our family was elite, as long as we were here, we were at his mercy and could do nothing about it. As he grabbed his floating spear beside him, he then twirled it and slammed the blunt end of it into the wounded student's gut, sending him backwards into the crowd. The director then stood up and shouted

"Does anyone else have any complaints!?"

Everyone just looked at him, murmuring amongst themselves.

"Good. This event is now concluded!"

His spear vanished back into nothingness. He whispered something to the three from the Mesosphere and the four of them began to walk off with each other, As they did so, the wounded student screamed

"IF HE OR MY FAMILY WON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT YOU DAMNED WRETCHES, THEN I WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOU MYSELF, AND THATS A PROMISE!!"

The anger and intensity in his voice was enough to corrupt someone's heart if not careful. A few moments later assistants began to run over to the wounded student as well as directed the others to their next location. I looked up at Blitz, he wasn't a part of the crowd, but he did seem to have a disappointed look on his face.

"Blitz?"

He looked at me startled, as if his head were somewhere else in the moment

"What."

"They are showing us to where our dorm rooms might be I think."

He nodded

"Hugo?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you hate the ones from the Mesosphere?"

His voice was hoarse

"I have my reserved opinions, but I don't hate them."

"Why?"

"I guess... I am just a bit of an optimist I suppose."