The morning mist clung to the jagged spires of the Royal Aethelgard Academy like a shroud, a fitting welcome for the young man stepping out of the black lacquered carriage.
Axel stood at fifteen years old, though his presence carried the weight of a man who had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and decided to build a house there.
His shoulder length black hair was as dark as a raven's wing, framing a face of porcelain paleness. His eyes, twin voids of obsidian, held a terrifying stillness.
He didn't wear the vibrant red and gold silks of the high nobility. Instead, Axel was draped in layers of midnight: a high-collared Victorian frock coat with silver filigree, a black cravat fastened by a skull-shaped onyx pin, and leather boots that made no sound against the gravel.
"Prince Axel," a voice called out.
Axel turned his head slowly. Standing there was his elder brother, First Prince Julian, a man who radiated the "Seven Virtues" like a literal sun. Beside him was their sister, Princess Elara. Unlike the stories of bickering royals, the siblings of the Obsidian Empire were unnervingly harmonious.
"You look particularly... morbid today, dear brother," Elara teased, adjusting the lace on Axel's gothic sleeve with genuine affection.
"The other nobles are already whispering. They say you look more like a funeral director than a prince."
"Life is merely a slow march toward the grave, Elara," Axel replied, his voice a smooth, low baritone that sent a faint shiver down the spines of the nearby knights. "I simply prefer to be dressed appropriately for the destination."
Julian laughed, clapping a hand on Axel's shoulder. "Cunning as always. Come, the Entrance Ceremony begins shortly. The Duke's daughter, Seraphina, is already looking for you. I believe the word 'obsessed' is an understatement."
In this world, power was not just measured by gold, but by the resonance of one's soul with the Seven Virtues or the Seven Deadly Sins.
Axel walked through the academy gates, his aura naturally flaring. To the common eye, he was just a handsome, stoic royal. But to the sensitive the elves and the mages he felt like a bottomless pit. He wasn't just a Spearman; he was a Necromancer.
While a standard Necromancer of the 4th Circle could barely maintain ten skeletons without losing their mind to the "Rot," Axel's mana pathways were... different.
Deep within his soul sat an ancient, dormant Spear the Umbral Spine a weapon that grew as he fed it the essence of the fallen.
The ceremony was a sea of color, yet Axel remained a blot of ink on a white canvas. He took his seat in the front row, reserved for the highest nobility.
"Look at him," a young Baronet whispered three rows back. "Prince Axel... he hasn't smiled once. I heard he spends his nights in the royal crypts."
"Arrogant freak," muttered a Marquis's son, jealous of the way every female in the room was stealing glances at the gothic prince.
Axel ignored them. His mind was calculating. To build a kingdom that lasted a millennium, one needed more than just a crown; one needed Loyal Subordinates. He scanned the room, his eyes landing on a girl with silver hair and eyes the color of a stormy sea Seraphina von Hestia, the daughter of the Grand Duke. She was a Yandere in the making, her gaze tracking Axel with a devotion that bordered on the divine.
"Axel," she whispered as she moved to sit beside him, the scent of lilies trailing her.
"You didn't answer my letters over the summer."
"I was busy, Seraphina," Axel said, not looking at her.
"Busy doing what?"
"Counting the heartbeats of the forest," he replied cryptically.
She didn't find it weird. She found it charming. "As expected of my future husband. You're so much more mature than these children."
The headmaster, a man rumored to be an Immortal, stepped onto the podium. He began to explain the Elemental Magic foundations, but Axel was focused on his internal map.
In this world, Magic was divided into 10 Circles.
* Circle 1-3: Apprentice/Student
* Circle 4-6: Master/Knight-Captain
* Circle 7-8: Hero/Saint
* Circle 9: Demigod
* Circle 10: Divine/Origin
Axel was currently at the 3rd Circle, but his physical prowess with the spear was already at the level of a 5th Circle Knight. His true secret, however, was his Summoning Magic.
Most saw Necromancy as a Sin. Axel saw it as the ultimate bureaucracy. Why hire soldiers who need food and sleep when you can raise an army that requires only a command?
As the ceremony concluded, a group of upperclassmen led by the arrogant Viscount Kaelen blocked Axel's path. Kaelen was a practitioner of Pride, one of the Seven Sins, and his ego was inflated by his recent breakthrough to the 2nd Circle.
"Prince or not, wearing those rags in the hall of heroes is an insult to the Empire," Kaelen sneered, his hand resting on the hilt of his rapier.
The hall went silent. Axel didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't even change his expression. He simply stepped forward, entering Kaelen's personal space.
"Kaelen," Axel said, his voice like dry parchment. "Do you know what lies beneath the mountains of the North?...The Barbarians there bury their dead upright, so they can keep watch even in the afterlife."
"What are you blathering about?" Kaelen barked.
Axel's obsidian eyes glowed with a faint, necrotic purple light. "I can hear your ancestors screaming, Kaelen. They are embarrassed by you."
The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. A shadow, physical and heavy, crept from Axel's feet toward Kaelen. It wasn't just magic; it was a Dominator's Intent. Kaelen stumbled back, his face turning ashen. He tried to speak, but his throat felt as though it were filled with cold ash.
Axel walked past him, his black coat fluttering. "Don't block the path again. I dislike treading on insects; the crunch is quite unpleasant."
As Axel exited the hall, he looked toward the distant Mysterious Forest bordering the academy. He felt a pull a resonance.
"Axel!" Seraphina called out, catching up to him. "My father, the Grand Duke, wants to discuss the Alliance between our houses. And... I've prepared a special tea for you in my dorm."
Axel sighed. The politics of the Empire were complex, the magic was dangerous, and his love interests were potentially homicidal.
It was going to be a long fifteen years.