The "Third Way" required more than just a fortress; it required a presence. If I was going to live in Kuoh, I couldn't be a ghost forever. I needed to walk among the players, and that meant stepping into the lions' den: Kuoh Academy.
But even a creator has to deal with bureaucracy.
I stood in the Occult Research Club room, the late afternoon sun casting long, orange shadows across the floorboards. Rias sat behind her desk, her chin resting on her interlaced fingers. She looked at me, then at the empty air beside me where my power hummed, and then back to my eyes.
"You want to enroll," she stated, her voice flat but laced with a hint of amusement. "A Sovereign of the Void wants to take Math and History with humans?"
"Observation requires proximity, Rias," I said, leaning against the doorframe. I held up my obsidian pen. "I have the power to create gods, but I don't have the patience to forge a birth certificate or a middle-school transcript. That's your specialty. You own this town's infrastructure."
I took a step forward, the small stars in my violet eyes shimmering. "Register me. Adjust the documents, weave the history, make the board of directors look the other way. In exchange, I'll consider it a favor. And believe me, a favor from me is worth more than a thousand years of servitude to the Underworld."
Rias stayed silent for a long moment, the gears of a Duchess turning behind her eyes. To have me in the school was a risk, but it was also a way to keep me under her watch.
"Akeno," Rias said softly, not breaking eye contact with me.
"Yes, Buchou?" Akeno stepped from the shadows, a playful glint in her eyes.
"Prepare the transfer papers for a Caelum Vance. Ensure his background is seamless. He will be a transfer from an international private estate. See to it that the Student Council—Sona—doesn't find any 'holes' in his story."
"Of course," Akeno purred, casting a lingering glance at my purple hair as she left the room.
Rias stood up, her red hair catching the light like flickering flames. "It's done. You'll start tomorrow. But Caelum... the school is a neutral zone for humans. If your 'imagination' gets out of hand in those hallways, even our deal won't stop me from intervening."
I smiled—a sharp, cold thing. "Don't worry, Rias. I'm just a student. For now."
The Kuoh Academy uniform felt strange. It was a badge of normalcy that didn't fit the weight of the pen in my pocket. As I walked through the gates the next morning, the air seemed to "still" around me. I didn't need a scrying pool to know that every supernatural eye in the building was currently fixed on my back.
I walked to Class 2-B. The teacher, a man who looked like he'd survived on nothing but coffee and regret, gestured for me to enter.
"Class, we have a new transfer student joining us today. Please, introduce yourself."
"I'm Caelum Vance," I said, my voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "I value my privacy and I don't care for gossip. Treat me with respect, and we won't have any problems."
I walked to the only empty seat, which—as fate or the 'System' would have it—was directly next to Issei.
As I sat down, I leaned over slightly. Issei flinched, his heart hammering so loud I could practically hear it.
"Relax, Hyoudou," I whispered, the violet stars in my eyes shimmering. "I'm just here for the education. Though, if that dragon of yours doesn't stop growling in my ear, I might have to draw him a muzzle."
Issei choked on his own breath. Inside his mind, Ddraig let out a low, cautious rumble.
"Partner... stay away from this one. He doesn't have a soul like a human. He has a soul like a Creator."
The afternoon sun was streaming through the hallway windows when a short, blue-haired girl with a stoic expression blocked my path. Saji Genshirou wasn't with her; instead, it was Momo Hanakai, a member of Sona Sitri's inner circle.
"Caelum Vance," she said, her voice formal and practiced. "The Student Council President requests your presence in the council room."
I stopped, looking down at her. I could feel the tension in her shoulders—she was trying to act like this was a standard disciplinary summons, but her eyes kept darting to my shadow, which was currently twitching with a dozen hidden, ink-black eyes.
Momo didn't blink, though a bead of sweat rolled down her temple. "Please follow me."
I followed her through the quiet corridors. As we approached the Student Council room, the air grew heavy. Unlike the Occult Research Club, which felt like an old, warm library, this wing of the school felt like a laboratory—sharp, cold, and meticulously ordered.
Momo opened the heavy double doors and stepped aside.
The room was vast and filled with the scent of ozone and expensive ink. Sona Sitri sat behind a massive desk of dark wood, her glasses reflecting the light so that her eyes were hidden behind twin white discs. Her entire peerage was there—standing like statues along the walls. Tsubaki Shinra stood at her right hand, her grip already tight on the hilt of her naginata.
I walked into the center of the room, my boots clicking rhythmically against the polished floor. I didn't wait for an invitation to sit. I simply pulled out a chair, spun it around, and sat astride it, resting my arms on the backrest.
"You have a very busy schedule for a transfer student, Mr. Vance," Sona began, her voice like a scalpel—precise and clinical. She didn't look up from the folder in front of her. "In four hours, you have managed to set off every spiritual alarm in this building. My sensors are currently screaming that there is a 'hole' in reality sitting in Class 2-B."
She finally looked up, her blue eyes sharp and calculating. "Rias Gremory may be satisfied with a 'favor' and a handshake, but I deal in variables and constants. And right now, you are a variable that threatens to break the equation of this school's safety."
"Order is a fragile thing, Sona," I said, pulling my obsidian pen from my pocket and twirling it between my fingers. "You spend your life building walls of logic to keep the chaos out. But what happens when the chaos doesn't want to get in? What happens when it's already here, and it's just... bored?"
Tsubaki took a threatening step forward, her aura flickering with a cold, blue light. "Watch your tongue. You are speaking to the heir of the Sitri House."
I didn't even look at her. "And she's speaking to the man who could turn this room into a vacuum before you could finish drawing your weapon. Sitri, tell your girl to relax. I'm not here to break your school. I'm here because your 'order' has a blind spot."
Sona's eyes narrowed behind her frames. "A blind spot?"
"The church," I said, the stars in my violet eyes swirling with a darker intensity. "Raynare and her group aren't just hiding. They're preparing to tear a piece out of this town. You're so focused on 'calculating' my power that you're missing the actual threat sharpening its spears in the basement across town."
I stood up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. The shadows in the corners of the room suddenly thickened, and for a split second, the many-eyed mass of Yoggy pulsed through the floorboards, a silent growl that made the pens on Sona's desk rattle.
I paused at the door, looking back over my shoulder. "If you want to keep your 'order,' Sona, stay out of the church tonight. My ink is going to get messy, and I'd hate for you to get a stain on that uniform."
As I stepped out, the heavy doors slammed shut with a boom that echoed through the entire council wing.
Inside, Sona Sitri sat in absolute silence. She looked down at her desk. A single drop of violet ink had appeared on her white ledger, seemingly from nowhere. As she watched, the ink took the shape of a small, winking eye, then vanished into the paper.
"Tsubaki," Sona whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "Call my sister. Tell her... tell her the world just got a lot bigger than we thought."