Chapter 2: A New Beginning

As I let out a yawn, my phone vibrated. "Her." I thought as I put my phone back into my pocket and looked out of the bus window while my head rested on the window. The bus then jolted to a halt and in a matter of seconds the students rushed towards the door and soon everyone exited the bus.

I got up from my seat and followed the students to the academy. I put on the backpack which I held in my hands and put my hands in my pockets and walked towards the colossal gates, the only thing that separates the school and the country apart.

"Hey there!"

I looked to my right to see a girl holding what looked like a leaflet in her hands.

"Hi." I said as I instantly continued my journey to the gates.

"Wait!" I stopped as a sigh of frustration escaped my mouth as I looked back.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Please take this!" She said as she held the leaflet in front of me while looking to the side as if trying to avoid eye contact.

"A spirit? They're rare." I thought. "Fine." I said as I took the leaflet from her hands. As I did, I felt the leaflet shake as if she was nervous or afraid, or both.

"Wait...Emilia?" I said as I recognised my childhood friend.

"Lexus?" She said as our eyes finally met. "Lexus!" She exclaimed as she jumped on me for a hug. I quickly reacted and dodged her as she fell onto the ground. "Why did you dodge?!" She said as she got up from the ground.

"Well, nice seeing you." I said as I took my leave.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

"Where else?"

"When did you enroll?" She said as she walked with me.

"Today."

"Really? It's been some time, hasn't it?"

The breeze of the cold wind caused Emilia's skirt to flutter in the wind and my dark black hair swayed with it as the leaves flew through the air, reminding me that autumn was on its way.

"We're here." Emilia said as I looked to see what was behind the gates I'd been seeing for the past minutes.

"Smaller than I expected," I said as I observed the academy.

The students walked talking with their friends as they walked with each other in groups and some with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

"How will I enjoy school life?" I thought.

"We'll need to go to the hall now." Emilia said as she looked at her phone and put it back into her pocket.

"Lead the way." I said as Emilia walked and I followed.

We eventually found ourselves at the door of a building. The building was no ordinary building, as I could tell from the mana signatures inside. As the doors opened, we both felt a great pressure, then followed by a wind. The wind was almost like a hurricane as our hair followed the wind in its direction. I opened my eyes for a second before they were forced to close because of the wind. When my eyes were opened I could only see Emilia's lilac hair blowing vigorously with the wind. After the wind's "breeze" came to a stop, I opened my eyes to see a girl, with white hair and glasses with round lens, watching us in confusion, as if we weren't supposed to be there.

"Larissa! You could've killed us!"

"Well...you guys survived." The girl said as she smiled weakly, I noticed her hair was messy, meaning she did this on a daily basis. "Hi there I'm Larissa, sorry for almost killing you. What's your name?" Larissa said as she introduced herself.

"An elf." I thought as I looked at her blazer. "I'm Lexus Arnoux."

"Did you enroll today?"

"Yeah."

"My decuria's mage, but mostly I just experiment with my magic."

"Mine's an assassin, same as Emilia."

"You guys know each other?"

"From childhood," Emilia replied as she grabbed my arm and hugged it.

"Where's everyone else?" Emilia asked.

"They changed the hall now, the new one's about two minutes from here."

"I know where it is."

"How?"

"I memorised the layout of the school before I joined."

"The whole thing?" Emilia said, surprised.

"Yeah."

"Lead the way then."

We then left the building and proceeded towards the hall.

"Stop there!" We turned around to see who told us to stop and we saw that a student who seemed to be strong because of his bodybuilder-type figure. I sighed as the student approached us. "I see another one has joined us."

"Put it to a rest, Diablo," Emilia said with frustration.

"Speak again and I'll put you to a rest. New boy, I'm Diablo Einar Brando and I challenge you, new boy, to a duel." Diablo said as he pointed at me confidentially.

"A vampire." I thought as I saw the red around his name and the school logo. "A duel on the first day? I haven't even been put in a class yet," I replied.

"Very well then, we shall duel after you are put in your class."

"That's not needed, you can duel now under my supervision." A teacher said as she emerged from the shadows with her arms crossed.

"Shadow magic." I thought to myself.

"Accept this duel then."

"He's not accepting-" I put my arm in front of Emilia, stopping her from saying anything more.

"I'll accept, but on conditions."

"State them." The teacher replied.

"If I win I will be put in a class of my choice, but within my abilities-"

"And if you lose you will become my slave."

"Do you accept these?" The teacher asked both me and Diablo.

"Yeah."

"Well then, let the battle begin."

A countdown started as we both got ready.

"3...2...1...GO!"

Instantly, Diablo fired an attack which I took, not even flinching as I did.

"What?" Diablo said to himself.

"Weak. He must be a tank then." I thought to myself. He quickly reacted to his first failure and threw a punch. The punch was avoided as I leaned backward. I quickly grasped his arm and lunged him towards me. As he became about arm's reach, I stabbed my arm in his stomach and I quickly unsheathed my hand from him. I then kicked him onto the floor, which then caused him to roll into the building behind him. Soon the audience grew as more students became intrigued by our duel. Diablo then got up and, to my surprise, his wounds healed and disappeared as if they were never there.

"You are strong and quick, I give you that, but an attack like that would never hurt me."

"Wasn't he bleeding?" I said to myself. "Fine then." Diablo then charged towards me with a barrier acting like a shield. I punched the shield as it shattered like glass on the floor and the impact sent Diablo into the building again. Diablo then charged towards me again with no signs of damage on his body anywhere.

"You should learn from your mistake, new boy, you lack experience."

"You lack power." I said as I snapped my fingers. Diablo was then stopped in his tracks and frozen, leaving only his head the ability to move. "What did you do?"

"What did I do? I put strings in your limbs, you are now under my control."

Release me! RELEASE ME!"

"Silence is bliss." I said as the world went quiet. The world around us made no noise, well, nothing we could hear.

"What did you do?!"

"They can't hear what I'm saying to you right now, so you better be quiet or I'll kill you right here and right now."

"Kill me then!"

"Fine." I said as I snapped my fingers. Diablos's limbs and blood were scattered across the ground. "Rise." I said as the limbs reconnected to each other, forming Diablo. "How was it...death?"

"I'll be your slave, I'll do anything. Just please don't send me back there!"

"Death has been kind to you. Drill that into your mind because I can send you back there whenever your immortality is useless to me." I snapped my fingers again and we could hear the world's natural sounds.

"The winner of this duel is Lexus Arnoux." I gestured to help Diablo to his feet and, without hesitation, he accepted. I looked deep into his eyes and so did he. He understood what I said even though I didn't use telepathy. "I accept." He said as he looked at the teacher, then looked back at me, "You may do as you wish, master." Diablo said as he knelt and bowed to me.

"You will be useful in the future." I said to myself as Diablo got up from his knees and proceeded towards the hall with us.

The great doors of the hall were opened as it revealed the luxurious interior with its intricate designs. There were chairs filled with students facing towards a stage which held a lectern. However, the lectern wasn't any ordinary one as it was worth more than half the neighboring otheoses. The lectern was grand in size and in wealth. We all found empty seats next to each other and we all sat down. I sat in the middle with Emilia and Diablo on my side and Larissa on my far left, sitting next to Emilia.

"Today we have attended here to either start or continue our school lives we left behind in the holidays. After a short speech from our Queen, Pandora Silva, we will begin the important matters." A man, who looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties, said as he stood at the lectern.

"Tartarus," I said to myself. A girl then stood at the lectern after the man ,who seemed to be the headmaster, had left. "The Hybrid Princess," I thought.

"After losing our King six months ago, the title of 'king' has been passed down to Arthur Apollinaris, who helped us win the Tournament last year. However, he was not able to join us today. I want to start by welcoming the new students who have joined our school this year..." After this certain part, I dozed off in my chair.

"Lexus...Lexus...Lexus." I woke up to Emilia trying to wake me up.

"What did I miss?"

"Why are you always like this? You're so careless. You missed all the speeches and the class classification, everything's finished."

"Can we go now?"

"Yeah."

"I'm gone then, I'm so hungry." I said as my stomach defended my statement with a growl.

"Lexus Novel Arnoux, you have business with me." The same teacher who supervised the duel said.

"You sure?"

"Of course I am."

"I'll come with you."

"No you wait at a restaurant, I'll find you with your mana signature."

"Mana signature? That's no easy feat," the teacher thought. The teacher then created a portal and walked through it as I followed.

After we entered the portal, the teacher then introduced herself as a teacher by the name of Lamia Heroidias.

"I'm Lexus-"

"I know who you are, Lexus, I've only heard so much about you."

"From whom?"

"That part is confidential, we knew you were coming here."

"Is that so? Did your beloved "king" say that to you?"

"I'm sure you are aware of the Devil Prince's abilities."

"Is that what he's called nowadays?"

"You knew him?"

"Let's just say I grew up with him."

"How did you take it then?"

"Should you be asking these questions?"

"I can ask whatever I want."

"In that case, I wanted him dead."

"You hated him that much?"

"Yeah."

"Did anyone tell you how much you resemble him?"

"Many times." I said. "I was his replacement." I said to myself in, melancholy. "Let's not speak about him."

"Okay then, you'll be in Class S."

"Class S." I said to myself. "If I had purple instead of gold I would be exactly him." I thought. As the portal came to an end, I realised where Lamia took me to.

"This is your dormitory. Don't do anything to upset your roommate."

"Roommate?"

"It's to teach cooperation."

"I prefer to be independent."

"Don't mistake it with solitude." She said as she handed me the key and walked back into the portal, leaving me in the hallway alone.

"Well, this is it, my roommate for the next five years." I said to myself as I twisted the door open. As I opened the door, I found a girl already about to open the door.

"Levantes?"

"Already?" I thought. "I'm Lexus Arnoux, not Levantes."

"Sorry, you looked so much like him."

"I get that a lot," I said as I smiled at her.

"Come on then." The girl said as she invited me into the room.

"It's mine as well," I said to myself. "Wow! It's so big!"

"I expanded it a bit after my previous roommate left."

"Who was your last one?"

"You wouldn't know them."

"What if I do?"

"Then I'll let you sleep in my bed." She said as she giggled.

"Let's not go that far." I said as she giggled even more. "When the hell did I become so funny?" I thought to myself.

"Should I give you a tour?"

"I've memorised all the layouts so it's alright."

"Wow! Your memory is on another level."

"It's not something that big."

"Not that big? You memorised the full layout of about 43,000 rooms?"

"The school."

"That's even more, you know."

"It's really not normal?"

"No! No it's not!" She said as she giggled again. "Sorry," She said as she wiped a tear, "You're making me laugh."

"Sorry?" I said as she laughed even more. Suddenly, the girl materialised a dagger in her hands and then almost stabbed me, but I quickly disarmed her and then I went to knock her out by hitting her nape, but she reacted quickly and got my arm in a lock. I then went for a punch with my left arm, which was completely free, but she dodged it then got in a stance.

"Explain why your malice is that high?"

"You noticed?"

"Of course I did. How would I not with bloodlust on that level," She said as she went for a kick, but I easily dodged and I then swept her leg which supported her balance, causing her to fall to the floor. I then used the dagger which she had made before and put it on her throat as she may on the floor, vulnerable. "Slit my throat then."

"Give me a reason then."

"I was about to kill you."

"Kill me? Who's on the floor right now asking for death?" I said, "I would've gone for the easier approach but you chose the harder path, Eris Dryadilas."

"How do you know my name?"

"I know more things about you than you know." Eris then kneed my stomach, but instead, Eris's knee was then shattered, not my stomach but her knee. She then shrieked in pain. "Heal." The pain then stopped as Eris's voice stopped with it.

"Who are you?" Eris asked as she lay on the floor with a dagger she had created in her throat.

"I believe I already told you, I'm Lexus Novel Arnoux."

"Let me rephrase, what are you?"

"I don't really know. A mix of the ancient ones, I guess."

"The ancient ones?" She said as she tilted her head sideways in confusion.

"You'll know who they are soon, but not now-" We then heard the door open. We both looked to see who it was in sync.

"SORRY! WRONG ROOM!" A high pitched female said as they shut the door and ran off as we heard their footsteps running off in the corridor.

"Well, that was some wrong timing." I said as I got up from the floor and put the dagger in my hands as I crumbled it as if it was a slice of loaf.

"Agreed. What do you want?" Eris said as she got up from the floor.

"I am in need of your assistance."

"What do you want help with?"

"I'll tell you when the time comes."

"Fine then." She said as she went up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.

"What got her so worked up?" I said to myself. I then went to the kitchen and made myself dinner. As I sat down at the table with my food waiting to be eaten in front of me, I realised something that I have experienced my whole life. I was alone. I looked at the empty seats which were tucked in under the table. It didn't affect me as much anymore. I have experienced isolation many times. I've lived in isolation my whole life because of him. I wanted to have the normal life he had but I couldn't and now I can't. My years of isolation have resulted in me having no social skills. Such things are taken for granted. I ate my meal and cleaned up before turning off the lights downstairs and walking up to my bedroom. As I lay down on my bed with my eyes closed, I thought of my time back then, a place not fit to raise children. After a few minutes, I drifted into a sleepless night.