"Looks like the class is full."
A soft, seductive voice of a woman echoed through a certain white classroom in the first-year building.
The young woman had black hair streaked with blue and deep blue eyes.
She carried an alluring aura that made all the boys of Year 1 Class 1 stare at her with desire.
At least, most of them.
’Hmm... so that’s our Apex,’ Mirabel Kaelen thought as she stood before the tiered seating arrangement.
The Apex of the first years, the one everyone had deemed a psychopath.
However, unlike what everyone had said, the boy appeared rather calm.
And besides, he was...
Mirabel licked her lips. ’He’s quite handsome.’
She had seen her fair share of boys, even male demons supposedly tied to the Lust Order.
But none of them came close to the young man, and unlike them, he didn’t start fawning over her.
"Interesting," she murmured under her breath as she faced the class.
With a sharp clap, she drew the students’ attention to herself.
"Okay everyone, nice to meet you. Many of you may already know me as the hunter of the demoness pathway, but just call me Miss Mirabel Kaelen."
The stares of the boys grew even more intense, while the girls looked at her with disdain.
With a sigh, she continued, "I will be in charge of this class until you graduate, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me."
A young man with black hair and glasses slammed his palm on the desk. "Miss, are you dating anyone?"
Mirabel’s eyebrow twitched. "No, I’m not, and I don’t plan on dating anyone."
The boy opened his mouth to ask another question, but she cut him off.
"Please refrain from asking inappropriate questions, or I’ll expel you."
He quickly sat down, and the class fell silent.
Mirabel walked up to the podium and tapped the microphone on the wooden stand.
"Usually, around this time, we’re supposed to have a combat test, but I decided to change things."
She paused, letting her words sink in. "Today, we’ll be practicing practical magic application."
Without hesitation, she cast a simple wind spell.
"For mages like us, we can’t exactly train our bodies to become stronger like knights. That’s why mana control and spell mastery are so important."
She extended her hand, releasing an arc of wind that etched a faint mark on the wall.
"This is a Tier 8 spell, Wind Cutter."
She stretched out her hand again, but this time her mana flow and timing shifted.
She launched another arc of wind, and this one pierced straight through the wall.
"That was also a Wind Cutter."
She smiled at the stunned students. "Now, can anyone tell me the difference between the two?"
Her gaze swept across the classroom before settling on a girl sitting beside the Apex.
"You over there, Sylvia Draven. Why do you think the spells had different outputs, even though they were the same?"
The young woman with black hair and blue eyes rose to her feet, glared at Mirabel, then sighed.
"The mana control was different. And you also added mana at the last second in other to boost it’s speed and power."
Mirabel smirked. "Seems you aren’t that old man’s granddaughter for nothing."
She nodded. "Mana control is what makes mages stronger and the only way a mage can defeat a knight."
She raised a finger. "Fundamentally, we’re weaker physically than knights. But we’ve found ways to enhance not only our spells, but our bodies as well." The source of thɪs content is ɴovelfire.net
She leaned forward on the stand, her clothes tightening around her figure. "That’s exactly what we’ll be learning now, or rather what you’ll be learning."
The room grew still with anticipation.
"Instead of a combat match, we’ll have a different challenge. Each of you will learn Flashstep. I won’t explain it, you’ll figure it out yourselves. You have one week."
She lifted a book from the podium as if ready to leave. "In a week, we’ll hold a competition, and that will count for 60% of this semester’s marks."
She walked down gracefully, then stopped and turned to the class with a grin.
"Oh, I almost forgot, the Apex isn’t allowed to start practicing until the fifth day. To make things fair."
All the students’ faces lit up as they turned toward a certain man, their eyes sharp enough to kill.
"That’s all. You’re dismissed."
The students slowly filed out, leaving only two behind.
The girl who had answered the question, Sylvia Draven, and the Apex of the first years, Allen Vanderbilt.
"So, what are you going to do?"
The young man turned to her with an expressionless face. "What do you mean? I’m going to win, of course."
Sylvia’s gaze darkened, emotions swirling within her.
’Nothing happened in the game, so why now?’
She knew Allen was a transmigrator who inhabited a weak body.
That meant, unlike her, who started with a strong body and mana control, he had to start from scratch.
Even if he was a genius who had closed years of progress in a week, mastering a technique like Flashstep in just two days was an absurd task.
And yet, the young man simply rose from his chair and waved at her without looking back.
"Where are you going?"
He shot her a lazy look. "Checking in on Quincy, nothing serious."
Sylvia stared at his back as he walked out.
"Dammit... what am I supposed to do with that idiot?"
She leaned back in her chair, eyes drifting to the ceiling. "All I wanted was a normal life... and here I am, falling for a game’s villain."
She sighed, long and heavy.
It was only a fleeting thought, but—
If Allen failed, he wouldn’t just lose.
He would be stripped of his title as Apex.
Forced to shatter his core.
Reduced to nothing more than a mockery.
And yet—knowing him, he wouldn’t lose.
"Dammit," she whispered, placing a hand over her face. "Why am I holding him to that man’s standards?"
But if Allen really was that Oppa... then defeat was impossible.
Sylvia closed her eyes and exhaled. "Let me worry about myself for now. Bodyguard duties can wait for another day."
Beyond the classroom windows, the sky darkened.
The countdown to the test had already begun.