The classes in the academy were going on as usual with Mr.Woods teaching about some mana theory and application but nobody was paying attention to him. The students were still talking about today’s event.

 

Akira was still sitting in the last row all by himself and focusing on the class ahead but he could hear the others chatting about the stuff that happened back at the auditorium. Their perception about him had somewhat changed and it was a first step in the right direction.

 

He always thought that the isolation and neglect didn’t affect him as he had the psyche of a 20 year old but that was wrong. If he didn’t have the emotional support of his parents and the interaction with other peoples it would have affected him.

 

And the rumors were only getting stronger and at this rate not only him but his parents could have also gotten entangled in the future mess of things. So right now he was happy, ecstatic to be precise. 

 

Life was good, he was getting stronger, he had somehow managed to stay out of the plot or for the most part of it, he had managed himself a scholarship from one of the richest merchants meaning that he won’t be short on money for a good time and lastly he got a bravery medal.

 

But he also knew the dangers that were lurking in the dark and the uncertainties that the future held in itself. While prodding over this stuff he heard the bell rang for recess and then remembered that in between all the things that happened today he had forgotten to eat breakfast.

 

And today was as good as it could get to treat himself with Miss. Martha’s red velvet cake and some good meals so he headed towards the canteen but not before getting stopped by a boy.

 

“H-hey are y-you going to the ca-canteen?” The boy had a frail frame and he was wearing glasses too making him look pitiful.

 

‘Who’s this dude and why is so scared of me?’

 

Akira was taking his time to respond while also watching the other people in the class and somehow everyone was looking in his direction, Haruno was also there but she had complicated emotions.

 

‘He was most probably sent by the others to see my reaction towards him and if I really am as the rumors say. Sigh, seriously? They had to do this?’

 

“Sure, let’s go there.” He shrugged it off.

 

“O-okay.” The frail looking boy replied.

 

Like that they headed out to the canteen getting the obvious gazes of everyone who came across them as by this point everyone in the academy knew about the medal ceremony. Both the second and third year were awed by this was a first time for them too.

 

The duo quickly reached the canteen with the frail boy trailing behind Akira as he could not move as fast as our guy. They found an empty table and Akira asked him,

 

“What will you have?” 

 

“S-sphagetty and me-meat balls.”

 

Sigh

 

“Can you stop being scared? It’s not like I am going to do something.” Akira said and went towards Miss.Martha’s counter.

 

“I-I am sorry.” He muttered but Akira was already gone from there.

 

“Hello miss Martha.” Akira greeted her politely.

 

“Oh my who’s here?” The old lady came to the counter.

 

“Hmm it’s you Akira, how have you been my boy?”

 

“Great as usual grandma now why don’t you give me something to eat? I am starving by this point.” 

 

“Oh sure, just give me a moment.” She said and went back to gather the stuff.

 

Akira was waiting for her to come when someone tapped on his shoulder and he got frightened as he had kept his mana sense on but nothing ticked it off. Turning back he saw that there was no one which perplexed him.

 

Now there was a tap on his forward and he turned ahead and was immediately tackled by a redhead. He caught her and both of them fell on the ground. On the ground he could feel two soft balls pressed on his chest and red hairs covered his eyes.

 

“What an anime cliche.” He said while removing the redhead from himself.

 

“anime? What is an anime?” Evelyn asked him while still on the ground.

 

“Uhh.. Prez could you stand up? Everyone is looking at us.” He said while pointing towards the students.

 

“Huh? Oh yeah sorry about that.” She said and got off him.

 

“Now could you tell me what was all that?” Akira asked while removing the dirt from his dress.

 

“Oh I was feeling bored with all the paperwork and you know what, Ichi was not even letting me have an ice-cream so I came here and guess what?” She had a melodramatic face while saying all this.

 

“You saw me?” He guessed.

 

Her eyes quickly widened at that and she furiously nodded her head, “Yes you were standing here.”

 

‘I still can’t believe the strongest student is being this childish but well this is her coping mechanism so I can’t judge her on that.’

 

“And congratulations for getting the medal.” She added.

 

“Ah yes thank you but aren’t you forgetting something prez?” 

 

“Noo.. actually I did left some of the paperwork and yes I took Ichi’s share of candy yesterday but other than that?” The redhead thought while swaying her tail.

 

“Not that prez aren’t you forgetting to apologize to me?”

 

“Oops.. Sorry about that Akira-kun.”

 

“It’s fine.” Akira said and turned towards the counter only to see Miss Martha looking at them with a smile.

 

“Youth.” She said and passed the velvet cake to him.

 

He paid and left the counter leaving Evelyn behind.

 

“Grandma, could I have one too?” She asked in her cheery voice.

 

“Sorry dear it was the last one.”

 

“Owhh come on grandma I wanted some.”

 

“Well you could always share.” She said and winked at her.

 

“Ohh right.” Evelyn said and bolted off towards Akira.

 

He came back to the seat where the frail boy was sitting and eating his spaghetti.

 

“I never got your name.” He asked.

 

“I-I am Albert.” He said and offered a handshake which Akira took.

 

“Nice to meet you Albert, I am Akira.”

 

“I a-already know.” 

 

“That’s great.” He said and both of them began eating the meals in silence.

 

But how could silence ensue when there was a curious dragon on their trail, Evelyn quickly got behind their back and took a seat right besides Akira who was obviously oblivious to her and eating his meal.

 

She looked at the red cake and scooped it using one of her spells, it was so intricate that no one in the academy could have guessed that and after that began devouring it.

 

But she made a mistake of making too much sound which got the attention of Akira and he looked over only to see that half of his cake was gone and that she was happily munching on the other half.

“No my cake.” He quickly grabbed the remaining part of it.

 

“How could you do this? I was so excited about eating this.” Now was this an exaggeration? 

 

No, as Miss Martha had god level skills in cooking and that her red velvet cake helped in strengthening the mana stability of a body. It was a minor one but it was still there and that’s why Akira was quite unhappy with what happened.

 

“Hehe sorry but grandma said that this was the last one and I also wanted to talk to you.” 

 

Ichinose was practicing inside the swordsmanship block of the academy when one of the members of student council ran up to her and informed about Evelyn’s absenteeism from her work and that didn’t bode well with her.

 

She activated her mana sense and found that her onee-san was inside the canteen.

 

“She must be eating the ice-cream again.” 

 

Ichinose said and used gale steps to vanish from there and arrive at the canteen only to watch a commotion over one of the tables.

 

Her onee-san was bickering with a first year over some cake leftover? That puzzled her as her onee-san was not of those who would indulge with someone over a little thing. She decided to watch over those two as to what was going on.

 

“Come on Akira-kun you don’t need to get so sad about it.” Evelyn said to a downcast Akira.

 

“No, I am not going to give you the rest of my cake, not a chance.” He said while eating a handful of it.

 

“Aww pretty please just one bite?”

 

‘Sigh’

 

“Whatever here you go.” He said while handing her the cake.

 

“Thank you.” She said and ate it happily.

 

“Now why are you here?” His tone changed now it was not that carefree and jovial but slightly cold and stern.

 

“Umm what do you mean?” She said while tilting her head.

 

“You know exactly what I mean Evelyn Maddock, there’s no way someone like you, the president of the student council, would waste her time on a first year like me.”

 

“Why can’t I meet my junior?”

“Onee-san are you done with fooling around?” Ichinose came from behind and grabbed her shoulder.

 

Evelyn shuddered at that and turned her head only to see a furious raven head glaring at her.

 

“Akira-kun save me from the demon.” She said and got behind him.

 

All this drama was now causing a headache to Akira as he couldn’t understand why this redheaded half dragon would take an interest in him. All he wanted was to eat his food in silence and here he got the attention of the entire canteen.

 

‘Is it because of the medal? She and her father must have got a report from the castle but I had explicitly mentioned to Calvin that I don’t want any attention and he had said that he made sure to tell everyone that my involvement in that matter was quite miniscule so why’s doing this?’

 

“Vice president-san please take her away.” He said while moving aside.

 

“Onee-san let’s go.”

 

“Jeez Ichi you should relax a little.” Evelyn said while moving aside.

 

“Well let’s leave shall we onee-san?” Ichinose said it in a tone which meant no refusal.

 

“And you, I saw you running in the corridors that day. If you do that once more then I will have to ‘pun-’ discipline you.” Ichinose said sternly.

 

Gulp

 

“Sure vice president-san.” He felt a shiver ran down his spine when she said that.

 

And then the sisters finally left the place but the ruckus that they had made was surely going to attract some eyes.

 

“Oh shit I forgot about Albert.” Akira shouted as he remembered the blonde boy from before.

 

“I-I am here.” He said while raising his right hand.

 

“You are okay right?”

 

“Ye-yes for the most part but i-is that a usual thing around you?” 

 

“Do you mean the prez and her sister?”

 

“No t-these kinds of incidents.”

 

“Not really and I don’t want this to happen again as this would piss off some danger groups.”

 

“Danger gr-groups?” Albert asked.

 

“Fanclubs.”

 

Albert couldn’t help but get confused at that, fanclubs? Aren’t they a group of people who admire someone, devote their time and resources in spreading their name and fame. What could be wrong with a fanclub?

 

Seeing the confusion on his face Akira decided to indulge him a bit as there was still some time left for the break to end.

 

“You see these girls have a massive following in the academy and guess what? The 99% of them are boys who are enthralled by their beauty and treat them like their Goddess and believe me you don’t wanna piss them off.”

 

“They ar-are that dangerous?” Albert asked.

 

“Yes and I am kind of surprised that no one has come up to us yet.” He said and instantly regretted it as he just jinxed himself.

 

“YOU.” A first year boy with a good crowd behind him came up to their table and shouted.

 

“Shouldn’t have said that.” Akira muttered to himself.

 

“Are you ignoring me?” The voice now became even furious and came near him.

 

“Th-they are talking to you.” Albert barely said that as he was quite nervous of the crowd there.

 

“Yes, how can I help you?”

 

“How dare you talk to our Goddess?” Another boy came forward and said.

 

“Goddess?” 

 

“President-sama and vice president-sama.” He clarified.

 

“Ah you got it wrong they were the one who approached me not vice versa.” Akira clarified and cursed at the academy as somehow the break was not getting over even though enough time had passed.

 

“Haah! You have the gall to lie to us? Our Goddess is the most perfect being in the academy. How can they talk trash like you?”

 

“I would advise you to mind your tone.” Akira said coldly, making some of them go stiff.

 

“Yes I would advise you the same.” A feminine voice came from behind the crowd and everyone turned their heads to find a typical black haired amazonian with a scowl on her face.

 

While Akira was baffled to see Alexandria standing there and the crowd too faltered as they couldn’t afford to offend someone from A section.

 

The bell rang at that time indicating that the break was finally over and Akira left the place, he was expecting the girl to come over and talk with him but she didn’t.

 

On the way back to his class he was in deep thought.

 

‘She was the one following me yesterday but I shrugged her off and there’s no way she can see through my concealment spell so why’s she on my tail?’

 

“Why do I get in the center of all the mess?” He muttered to himself.

 

“Do-don’t worry it will be fine.” Albert said to him.

 

“Ah yes you are here too.”

 

At the Apocalypse HQ

 

Inside of a dilapidated and run downed underground cave many men wearing black hoods and white masks with red patterns were talking amongst themselves. The place itself was giving off a negative vibe and coupled with the people who were shrouded in darkness it was suffocating there.

 

But the people there were not showing any reactions to it as if they were habituated to the darkness. Suddenly a huge aura came from the entrance of the cave and everyone became silent.

 

A man was escorted inside by four guards and everyone parted to sides allowing them to come in the middle. The man was different from the others as his white mask had golden patterns and his four guards had black lines on their mask.

 

“Show yourselves.” The man commanded and everyone removed their masks and their visages came in the light.

 

 The crowd was filled with men and women of different ages but their eyes was filled with determination and dedication towards a common goal, goal of destroying all the empires and ushering in a new age.

 

“Report of the last mission.” He said again.

 

“Yes supreme leader.” An elderly looking figure came forward and handed a report to one of the guards who came forward.

 

The supreme leader read the report and with each passing second he was getting furious and his aura was running wild. It was so massive that it forced the majority of them to get down on their knees; only the four guards were capable enough to withstand it.

 

“Amelia.” He calmed down and called her.

 

“Yes supreme leader.” Amelia came forward and bowed her head, the rest of the group she was heading also came forward.

 

“You have failed.”

 

“Yes and I take full responsibility for it.” She replied.

 

“Supreme leader, a mission of this caliber should have been completed by her.” The father of Arata who was supposed to marry Amelia came forward and said.

 

And that got quite some response from the crowd as all of them believed that she should have completed that mission, it was an important one for their cause.

 

“There was a godkin on their side, descendent of the God of light.” Amelia responded, making the crowd go haywire.

 

“Silence.” The man said to stop the commotion.

 

“Are you sure about that?” He asked her.

 

“Yes fat- supreme leader, I fought him and he used a skill.”

 

“Hmm.. that makes things interesting.” The man said and put his chin on his hand.

 

“Bear, get me all the details about him from his childhood to this very day.”

“Yes supreme leader.” One of the four guards came forward and bowed his head.

 

“This mission was way above their capabilities but still a failure is a failure and as a punishment Amelia would go in the dark chambers for extra training while others would be dealt accordingly.” The man made his decision and everyone nodded.

 

“Tiger, contact our spies in the royal guard and find their version of this.”

 

The guard nodded and disappeared from sight.

 

“Now who should I send to follow this godkin? Amelia could be perfect in infiltrating the academy though that old man is a tough cookie.”

 

Sigh

 

“I am getting too old for this.”