As I sat in the dressing room, I looked at my face in the mirror. My naturally white hair and piercing red eyes were incredibly distinct, especially for a human. I pulled out a bottle of temporary black hair dye and began lathering it into my scalp. Once I was satisfied with the color and style of my hair, I removed the contact lenses from my eyes and donned a pair of plain black glasses. Despite the use of the skeletal mask as Judas, I still dyed my hair black and wore glasses when I went to school or went out in public. 

As a matter of fact, even before becoming Judas a year ago, I still used to dye my hair black due to the abnormality of my appearance. In truth, I would have probably also worn colored contacts to hide my eye color if I didn’t find them so irritating. The only time I wore regular contacts was when I was wearing the skeletal mask as Judas because my glasses didn’t fit under the mask. 

I was in no way ashamed of my appearance but I had never been a fan of standing out. As a child, most humans had never seen an otherworlder in person, only on tv so having white hair and red eyes led many to believe that I was some kind of demon or demi-human.

Aside from the people I worked with, nobody knew that I was Judas. I had already changed out of my suit and into more casual clothes. I opened the door of the dressing room to find that Grace was waiting outside. After informing me of the transfer, she had told me to change and get ready to take a tour of the new school and campus. 

The two of us walked outside and made our way down the bustling street. It was around midday and many people were out eating lunch. I say people but in truth, there was everything from pixies to minotaurs crowding the sidewalk. After making our way to the subway station, the two of us boarded a subway car and began talking about Avalon Academy, the school I would be attending. 

It was one of the first schools built for the sole purpose of accommodating humans, demi-humans, and monsters. Avalon Academy was part of a massive campus that sat in the center of Avalon city, the fastest growing magical city in Europe. It was also one of the first special designation zones, areas inside of a country that were governed by a separate council of humans and otherworlders. These special designation zones were made by the government to introduce otherworlders to humans in controlled environments free of any prejudice or restrictive laws. At least, that was the idea. 

“Hey scales, how much did you have to pay for your escort there?” A crude man with a toothy grin asked Grace. “I wouldn’t fuck a snake no mater how much you paid me. Ha ha ha ha.” Grace shifted her eyes down and grabbed onto the hem of my shirt. While her frequent bouts of shyness were cute, it was somewhat frustrating that she didn’t stand up for herself more. I stepped in front of her and called out to the man “Listen pal, I don’t want any trouble so why don’t put your head against the floor and let me step on it, then we’ll call things even” I channeled a bit of my Judas act as I stepped forward gave him a sly smile. 

“Hey four eyes, you an escort or a bodyguard for this snake bitch” he chuckled “Either way you're Dead Meat! He yelled as he lunged and swung his fist. There were a number of sparks surrounding his hand and flames licked his arm as he activated his magic. “Fire Fist!” He yelled. Compared to the heroes I faced as Judas, this guy was nothing. I sidestepped his punch and stepped on his foot before grabbing his neck. The flames around his fist sputtered out and I lifted my foot off of his before driving my knee into his chest.

A few people on the train began clapping as the man dropped to the ground, clutching at his stomach. When we arrived at the next station, I was briefly questioned by the authorities and the man was taken away for the illegal use of magic in public and assault. Grace began apologizing for getting me involved. “It’s fine,” I said as I adjusted my glasses, “but you need to stick up for yourself more. That guy was a total jerk and you shouldn’t just let people like that say whatever they want to you.” After the little pep talk, she nodded her head and the two of us boarded the train to continue towards our destination.

We arrived at the final stop of the train and exited. This station was located directly in the heart of Avalon campus. I climbed the steps of the subway station and ascended into the heart of the campus. There were several shops arranged in a circle around the station and a large road leading uphill to the campus. “Are you Alexander Whitehall?” A voice behind me asked. I turned around to find a blonde haired elf in a school uniform standing behind me. “Yes, are you from Avalon Academy?” I asked, gesturing to her uniform. She nodded her head before responding “I’m the student council president, Lia Serenade, the headmistress asked me to meet you here and give you a tour” 

Grace excused herself to take care of something while Lia led me down the road towards the academy. The main school building sat on a hill facing the rest of the campus town and city. It was quite massive, featuring over a hundred classrooms. As we approached, I realized that a large archway cut through the center of the building allowing you to essentially pass under the building without going inside. Lia explained that the building was designed this way so that students and vehicles could go from the student dorms behind the school building to the town below with relative ease.

After reaching the top of the hill and the front steps of the academy, I turned around to survey the campus town and city. I could just make out the entrance to the subway station that brought us here and the myriad of small shops and restaurants around it. Further out in the distance were the rising skyscrapers of Avalon city. “It’s beautiful” I muttered to myself as I took in the view. The academy and town below were filled with a certain peaceful charm that city life had deprived me from. 

Lia led me to the dorms behind the main building which were separated by gender with a large park in between. After we reached the front of the boys dorm, Lia handed me the key to my room as well as a map of the academy. After seeing her off, I headed up the stairs to check out my room. As a third year student, my room would be on the third floor. Reaching room 317  I inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted the handle.

The room was sparse but contained all of the essentials. Supposedly, Grace had arranged for my belongings to be delivered to my dorm room later. After quickly growing bored of sitting in the empty room, I looked at the map to see what other areas of interest were around. Bingo, I found the Academy's Mana Battle stage. After locking my room, I headed off in that direction in order to see it in person. I was curious how big it was considering I would be hosting raids there for the foreseeable future.