Leon trailed behind Luke, his eyes staring intently at his back.

As the other boy turned around, almost as if he could feel the gaze, Leon swiftly turned around, pretending to admire a statue of a huge demon with a katana.

Elvis appeared behind him, his face popping in Leon’s field of vision. “What are you doing?”

Leon shook his head in reply. Turning to Elvis, he asked, “Where are we going again?”

The other boy gave an exasperated look. “Did you even pay attention? We’re going to attend some classes inside this school.”

As Leon absently nodded, the students arrived in front of a classroom.

Entering, the teacher - an old woman who was very tiny - bowed to them, gesturing to the class of other students to do the same.

As they did so, Leon noticed the outfits of Goreduhan students were unique, as they all wore cloaks that covered their whole body, draping down onto the ground.

Some of the students noticed Leon and the class began whispering frantically.

‘They know me here too?’

Cursing his luck, he gave a grave stare at the students, which discouraged most of the talking.

The teacher introduced herself as a Duke, pointing the entering students to sit in the back of the class.

As Leon and Elvis sat next to each other, and Lily was also about to join the group, Luna pushed her away, jumping onto the seat next to Leon.

Lily grumbled, finding somewhere else to sit.

The petite girl turned to Leon. “Did you see King?”

As he nodded in reply, she continued, “He said that you knew some things that you shouldn’t know. But he didn’t tell me what. He’d never done that before.”

Leon shrugged. “If he didn’t tell you, then I can’t either.”

As Luna was about to retort, he chimed in again. “So what does he mean by absorbing elements into my Core?”

“Ooh. You got that?”

Leon turned in confusion. “He says different things to different people?”

Luna nodded. “He’s a special case. He can look inside your Mana Cores, and then figure out the best way to increase your Elemental affinity or Mana channels. He used to be very popular, but he wanted to be more private.”

She continued, “If he told you to absorb the elements, then that technically just means to eat it. I mean, unless you know of another way to bring elements into your body.”

Leon face-palmed in exasperation. “How do I eat light? Or fire? Is that even possible?”

“Are you stupid?”

Luna gave him an exasperated look. “You know that there are Resurgences that can do that… right?”

Leon nodded innocently.

‘What is she talking about?’

Elvis chimed in, saying, “She’s right. I knew someone who had a good sponsor back in the orphanage, and he ate a ton of those Resurgences to increase his affinity with light.”

However, as he was about to say more, class started, causing Elvis to shut up.

The class was conveniently about Elemental Affinity, where the teacher introduced the four key elements.

“The elements are fire, water, light, and the Prima Materia. Who here can use one of these elements?”

As most of the class raised their hands, the teacher continued, “Who can use two?”

As nearly half of the class lowered their hands, Leon’s and Luna’s remained lazily up.

The teacher said jokingly, “Who can use three?”

Soon, only Leon’s and Luna’s were up.

The Duke smiled at the student’s shock. “Why don’t you come down here and show your affinities?”

As Leon and Lily walked down, he whispered, “I didn’t know trio-users were so rare?”

Lily shrugged. “This is expected of us. I’m the prodigy of the Wrath Clan, while you’re the Blessing of the Abyss.”

Climbing up the stage, the Duke clapped her hands excitedly. “Mind showing us?”

‘Is this woman just using us for entertainment?’

As Luna shifted water and fire inside a glow of light, Leon had a rather childish thought.

‘Well, I get to have some fun. I worked so hard.’

And so, as Leon’s turn came, he brought his hands up…

And burst the whole room on fire.

***

As students screamed in panic at the overlapping flames, they quickly realized something.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The flames weren't touching the wall. There was a tiny gap between the wall and the fire, preventing any sort of accident.

As the students clapped, Leon showered them with water, stopping just a second before contact with the demons.

Quickly, he ended the show with an enormous flash of light that showered the room.

As they both stepped down, Luna grumbled a bit.

“Show-off.”

Leon grinned. However, it quickly faded as Luna added, “Your overall control was horrible. What was the deal with the light? Let's face it, it was only that bright because you didn’t know how to control the output.”

Mumbling an excuse, he sat down, making sure to drag Lily into Luna’s previous chair.

Watching the rest of the class struggle to light a fire, Leon felt his self-esteem slowly come back.

The teacher spoke again. “Does anybody here know what the element of Prima Materia is?”

A girl wearing very thick glasses raised her hand. “It's the source element where all the other ones spawned from.”

The teacher nodded. “Now, what would happen if someone were able to use this element?”

Leon looked on as the girl spoke again. “They would be able to create things from existence.”

‘But… I can’t do that.’

As Leon’s face turned to one of confusion, the teacher relieved him of the pondering.

“You’re wrong. We mortal beings aren’t supposed to be able to use such power. And so, as presented by King Asmodeus in the War of Ignorance, the power would become corrupted, making it do the opposite of creation.”

“It would erase something from existence.”

At the remark from the teacher, Leon’s hands gripped the amulet in his pocket tightly. ‘So it’s that powerful.’

As the class ended, their group went to lunch, where a feast awaited them.

Gobbling down a chicken leg dipped in a savory sauce, he chatted with Elvis, when someone grabbed his shoulder.

Turning around, he saw Luke, who spoke first.

“C’mon. I have something to show you.”

Putting back the meat into his plate, he stood up in anticipation.

As Leon followed the boy out of the cafeteria, he pulled out his falchion discreetly from his Storage, clipping it onto his belt.

‘Better to be safe than sorry.’

Luke quickly pulled him behind a wall, whispering, “Are you done with your preparations?”

‘What? Preparations?’

Hiding his confusion, Leon nodded.

The other boy sighed a breath of relief. “We need to be careful. I’m pretty sure that Archlord Rangda suspects us.”

Leon spoke next, “Are you done with yours?”

Luke nodded. “Almost. I’m waiting for the shipment from the Duke. We should be able to start the operations by the Proclamation Fest.”

Leon nodded. “Is that all you wanted to ask me?”

As the boy nodded, Leon tested his luck, ending the conversation with, “The First, the Last, the Eternal.”

Luke grinned, clapping him on the back.

As he left, Leon leaned on the wall, letting out the breath he had been holding.

He had wondered about what was going on with Luke, but…

‘He also mentioned a Duke. Is the thing that’s going to happen that important? And why did he think that I was part of it…?’

Keeping his legs steady, he went back into the cafeteria, sitting next to Lily.

“Do you know when the Proclamation Fest is?”

Tilting her head, she stared in confusion. “How do you not know? It’s probably a week from now. There’s going to be a big celebration at Velereth.”

Leon absently nodded, getting up. “I’m going to the restroom.”

Leaving, he quickly grabbed a Genesis Plate from a table - they were readily available for everyone - and went into the online market, using his allowance (Clement had left the money in his account untouched) to buy a multitude of Elemental Resurgences.

[You will receive your purchase in a day]

Turning off the tablet, Leon nodded in anticipation.

‘If something is going to happen, I should be prepared.’

***

Luke’s POV

I knelt in front of the Great Being, sweat pouring down my face.

“I- I have confirmed.”

The Being drifted down, stone tentacles crushing the floor with every step.

“So does he know?”

The scratchy, horrible voice echoed out, making me shiver.

“Y-yes.”

Although I still wasn’t sure how Leon had found out about our group, after seeing camera footage of him eavesdropping on my conversation with the Handler, the Being had instructed me to act as if he was a part of this, signifying that if Leon told me that he didn’t know, then it would show that he didn’t suspect us.

But he had gone with the flow.

The Being continued, “Work with him a little bit. We can’t underestimate this demon. I will work on a trap.”

I shakily nodded my head, slowly standing up.

Suddenly, a terrifying presence crashed down on me, causing me to plant my face on the ground.

“Who said that you can stand up?”

Groaning in fear, I shakily bowed over and over again, pleading for forgiveness.

When no reply came, I again stood back up, grabbing onto the walls for support as I walked out, trying to staunch the blood flowing from my nose.

‘Who does this bastard think he is? I’ll get my revenge on you, you fucking ass.’

As I walked down the stone corridor, the Handler appeared from the wall. His face was covered by a couple of scarves, signaling he had been to the Sybil.

The Handler spoke. “He did a number on you, huh?”

I shook my head, wiping tears from my eyes.

The demon sighed in sympathy, then handed me a folder filled with papers.

“This is the information on that demon you asked for. Something is interesting.”

The Handler opened the folder, showing a history of Leon Estes.

“The thing is, that he doesn't have a history.”

I looked in confusion at the blank page. “That doesn’t make sense.”

The older demon shook his head. “Our Sybil looked into it. It’s true. This person doesn't belong in Sheol. He didn’t exist until a month ago.”

Nodding, I asked, “Then why is he here? How did he get into Velereth?”

The Handler shrugged. “We can’t see. Whoever did this had someone powerful backing them.”

“Then just looked through Leon’s eyes.” I was getting annoyed. I thought the Handler was supposed to be smart.

The older demon sighed, massaging his head. “We can’t.”

“Wh-what? There's no way that he has the mental protection that ca-”

The man cut me off, saying something that shook me down.

“He’s not a demon.”

“He’s a human.”

I stepped back in shock.

My thoughts reverted to that duel that Leon had done with Astarte.

Although the girl Ensnare was most likely the most powerful of all the Deluders, the masked boy had easily destroyed her.

I had been taught my whole life that humans were just a smaller race that was pitifully weak, with only a select few even being able to use Mana.

“Are you sure?”

The Handler nodded. “The Sybil can look into the eyes of every race, except for the lesser ones. The only lesser race that looks the same as demons and elves are the humans.”

I sat on the stone floor, staring at the cracks in shock.

‘A human is fucking stronger than me?’

I punched the ground, blood splattering from the harsh impact.

However, a thought suddenly pulled away the fog of anger.

Although Leon was strong, he definitely couldn’t stand a chance against the teachers of the Academy.

‘Maybe there’s no need for a trap.’

If the teachers just knew about who Leon was, then getting rid of him would be a piece of cake.

I stood up, gesturing for the Handler. “Can you get me some demons that can use Mental Control Skills?”

The man nodded, asking, “I can, but what do you need them for?”

I smiled. “If all we need to do is to show the world that the ‘Blessing of the Abyss’ is just a human, we can just make Leon take off his mask.”

I grinned, crumbling up the file in one hand.

‘Better pack your bags.’

‘Human.’