At dawn after the weekend, Caelus approached the entrance of his Liberal Arts class. He readjusted his glasses and straightened his shoulders.
"Perhaps today with prove to be somewhat fruitful," he whispered to himself.
When he entered, of course, almost everyone turned from their prior business to fix their blatantly scornful eyes on him.
It was fine, though. He had already trained himself to ignore them. It was rather strange, however — the fact that demons couldn't care less that he was human, yet humans would shame him solely because of his status.
Quite jarring, but he'd be lying if he said he expected anything else.
Caelus walked down the aisle towards the middle rows. The moment he reached his seat, Kain stood up and gestured for him as if he were inviting him into a lavish carriage.
"My lord," he said.
"...Stop that," Caelus sighed.
"Pfft, what? You don't like the kingly treatment?"
"I'm in no such position to be on the receiving end of such treatment. Save it for your emperor instead."
"Hah. My emperor? He's your emperor too, you know. Unless... you don't see it that way."
"I wonder about that."
Caelus sat down in the center seat, where he always had. Next to him, Rosalina turned from her journal with that familiar aloof expression.
"Ah. Good morning, Caelus," she greeted.
"Good morning. How was your day?"
"So far? Bland. I wake up, and the moment I step outside, there's a mob of naïve young ladies wanting to introduce themselves."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Normally, no — but the empire's noble society is anything but normal. Those girls must've wanted to forge some kind of relationship with House Sigurdia, and they were trying to use me as a vessel to get there."
She sighed heavily.
"Seriously, how do I achieve your level of anonymity?"
"I don't actively try. And besides, it's not like I'm totally anonymous. Fallen noble and all that."
"Yeah, that's true. You wouldn't understand."
The moment those last few words left her mouth, she immediately realized how it could've sounded.
"A-ah... Wait, I didn't mean—"
"Relax, Rosalina," Caelus scoffed. "I took no offense."
"But still..."
"Remember what I told you during the orientation? As long as you know there was no malice behind your words, then there's no need to apologize."
She was reluctant to let it go, but she decided not to bother Caelus with useless drivel any longer.
"Alright, class," Professor Archeota's firm voice cut through the room. "I trust you all have had a much-needed weekend of relaxation after your first week. However, that ends here with me. Focus, for today's lesson will cover demon anatomy — specifically, the anatomy of our greatest enemy."
He gestured toward the transparent board, where sketches of twisted, monstrous figures appeared.
"The Incarnations of Strife. Abominations neither truly alive nor dead. They follow no creed, no instinct, and no conscience. They exist for a single purpose — to hunt the living, to drown the world in blood, and to eternalize the cycle of strife."
A hush fell upon the lecture hall, for the students had seen these demons in Erinel Forest. It was a callback to what was perhaps the most harrowing moment in their lives for some.
"Any questions before we get started?" Archeota asked to absolute silence. "Perfect."
For the next half-hour, Professor Archeota drilled into the students everything they needed to understand about the Incarnations of Strife.
Mindless and relentless, these creatures exist to perpetuate strife through violence. As long as the malevolent force known as the Ego of Strife endures, so too will these abominations.
During the era of the Holy Crusade, it wasn't the reigning Archdemon that posed the greatest danger to mankind. Instead, it was the incarnations themselves, and their threat extended beyond humans. Even the intelligent demon tribes under the Archdemon's rule suffered under their rampages.
Curiously, the current Archdemon was known to hunt these monsters personally, yet no one truly understood why.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have seen this type during your... impromptu orientation," Archeota said, pointing at a certain incarnation. "But have any of you been able to kill one?"
The image shown depicted a humanoid demon, its body blacker than the night sky. Wrapped around its head was a hood with a gleaming eye in the center.
Rosalina flinched, turning to Caelus, who didn't even so much as move. He simply sat there, arms crossed, as if the topic had nothing to do with him.
Towards the back rows, a hand rose.
"You in the back," Archeota said. "State your name."
"Ansel Cartier," the student replied confidently.
"Ansel. It would seem there is a true warrior in the making. Now, tell us. How did you defeat this creature?"
"After gauging its abilities myself, I learned that its weak point was the single eyeball in the center. The creature fell the moment I stabbed it."
A small wave of murmurs ensued as Ansel stood proud. He reveled in the fact that he was the only one among these top-class students to achieve the impossible. His gaze turned to the professor, fully expecting a shower of praise.
However, Archeota only sighed.
"I see. Has anyone else encountered this demon?"
As silence filled the hall once more, Kain leaned toward Caelus.
"Hey, man..." he whispered. "Why aren't you raising your hand?"
"I don't feel like it."
"Eh? But this is your chance to stand out. Show them all who you really are."
"I'm good."
"Hah... You're unbelievable, you know that?"
Suddenly, Kain stood up with his hand raised. At first, Caelus thought nothing of it. He already made his apathy clear, so he figured Kain would take the credit for himself.
That was nowhere near the case.
"Go on," Archeota said.
"Kain Diadalin, Professor," he replied. "I encountered one such demon, but I wasn't the one who defeated it."
Caelus' eyes sprang wide open, and that was when he saw Kain's hand pointing down at him.
"Instead, I would like to bring to light the one who did. Caelus de Luvelaine."
It was an understatement to say that the entire class was simply shocked, including Caelus. Gasps and murmurs filled the hall even more so than when Ansel declared his achievement.
"He did it? Seriously?"
"There's no way. It has to be a hoax."
"But Kain Diadalin himself is saying that he did!"
Kain turned his head slightly, winking at Caelus while giving him a thumbs-up as if he had done him a considerable favor.
"Very interesting," Archeota muttered. "Caelus. May you tell us how you defeated this demon?"
He hesitated, but since he was put on the spot like this, he had no choice but to stand in the limelight. Just this once.
"I disarmed it," he answered calmly.
The professor pinched his chin.
"Oh? Please, do elaborate."
"As you mentioned before, Professor, all incarnations are comprised of Ebondust. They can rapidly regenerate their body parts at the cost of being extremely fragile. This particular incarnation used its bladed arm as its primary weapon, so I closed the gap as much as I could and tore it off."
It sounded unbelievable. Most of the students here had faced this incarnation during the orientation, but they were either eliminated or forced to retreat.
How is it that this fallen noble was able to do what they could not? It would've been the prime opportunity to call his bluff, but for some reason, Archeota was paying more attention to him than Ansel... as if he was already convinced.
"Very curious," he murmured, nodding his head. "Now, let's take a moment to ponder. Ansel posited an entirely different method compared to yours. You already know where I'm going with this, don't you?"
Caelus hesitated. This was exactly why he wanted to stay anonymous in this matter.
"...I do not intend to discredit Sir Ansel's capabilities by saying this. He may have gravely injured the incarnation, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that he did not kill it."
The class was plunged into chaos. Ansel perked up out of his seat, his seething anger apparent on his twisted face.
"Are you saying that I'm lying?!" he shouted. "What do you even know, huh?! You're just a—"
"Silence," Archeota snapped.
With just that one word, the hall went completely quiet. Archeota turned his attention back to Caelus.
"It seems you've caused quite an uproar in my class, child."
"My apologies, Professor."
"No need to worry. All shall be forgiven... if you would only explain yourself. Why do you not believe in Ansel's claim?"
"Incarnations of Strife may be mindless by nature, but they do have a mind that is connected to their core. This goes for all incarnations. The only way to confirm the kill is by severing that connection. In other words... to behead it."
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Archeota's response. Instead, all they got was a slight chuckle, something he had never done until now.
"Are you telling me that you managed to behead one?" he asked.
"That is correct," Caelus replied.
"And I can corroborate his claim," said a familiar voice from the very back row.
Everyone turned, awing in the presence of a young lady with pristine pink hair and eyes that were very similar to the professor.
"Castorica Lancinox, Professor," she announced with confident gravitas.
Yet another wave of chatter fell upon the lecture hall.
"Lancinox...?"
"She's the professor's sister!"
"And if she's defending that fallen, does that mean that he really...?"
Archeota's eyes softened just a tiny bit, but his imposing demeanor did not falter in the slightest.
"Go on, Castorica," he said.
"I witnessed Caelus fighting that greater incarnation. He did, in fact, kill it, and there were two others present who can support this claim. Rosalina Sigurdia and Kain Diadalin."
The two people she named flinched as the eyes of the masses shifted once again. Rosalina, despite her usual composure, stumbled as she stood.
"What Lady Castorica said is true, Professor."
"I can second that," Kain chimed in.
The professor lifted his hand as the incoherent chatters grew louder. With his arms behind his back, he shut his eyes before opening them to meet Caelus' gaze.
"I see. Caelus de Luvelaine. Five years spent in the aftermath of the Shaduwar has taught you much, hasn't it?"
"...Yes, Professor."
Archeota cast his gaze upon Ansel.
"I hope you learned something today. Lying will get you nowhere in my class. Admit your faults and submit. Only then will you learn."